Welcome to the Knitosphere

Say It Loud - FREE PATTERN

2011-06-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

One of my friends is recently out of the closet - and when I say out I mean VERY out. When I stumbled across this rainbow yarn, I knew I had to get it to make something for her to show her pride. I decided on a pair of mitts so that she can say it loud, say it proud.

Even without the rainbow yarn, this star stitch pattern makes a lovely look for both variegated and single color yarns. Knit Picks Imagination substitutes perfectly for this pattern, as would any fingering weight yarn.

Click here for free pattern: Say It Loud

If you are on Ravelry you can also access my patterns through Ravelry free download.

All pattern links will divert you to where they are saved at www.acrobat.com. When that opens in your window click "Download" (located in the top left corner) to save the pattern to your computer. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and view the pattern. You can download Adobe Reader for free.

Derby Love FREE PATTERN

2011-03-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

I’ve recently started up with the local roller derby team. Inspired by our fantastic new jerseys, I wanted to make a hat that would show my love for derby, while coordinating with the jerseys (as well as hiding post-bout helmet hair!). This pattern is done in NOtown Roller Derby colors, but naturally can be adapted to any color scheme of your choosing.

This pattern is knit flat because it uses a combination of fair isle and intarsia techniques. There are 3 different versions - the first is a regular beanie style and has two skates, one placed on either side of the head, the second is also a regular beanie style with a single skate on the front, and the third uses a 3 needle bind off and has some funky tassels on it.

Click here for free pattern: Derby Love

Check out NOtown Roller Derby!

Almost there!

2011-02-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

I'm getting closer to finished with my new Roller Derby hat pattern - I have a few test knitters lined up and then I'll be posting it here as a free pattern.

Here's a picture of newer version:

I swear, this roller derby is becoming a dangerous obsession, but one that appear to cross over nicely with my knitting. I banged out these super fast legwarmers in a day, which I'm going to wear for (squeal!) my first derby photo shoot this week.

Bulky yarn, giant size 15 needles, 2 by 2 rib, minimal color changes and no decreasing. Easy-peasy!

Knit Still Happens

2011-01-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

Oh blog, how I have forsaken you! Sure, at first it was a forced knitting hiatus, but then it just became laziness on my part. I did manage to get a few projects pumped out in the mean time, so to catch up...

I actually did a couple of these Morning Walk Headbands. They make great quick knits and you can get a couple out of a single skein of bulky. It also helps that they are in fashion right now (so I'm told by my 15 year old sister).

Of course I had to make a little cap for my new nephew, who joined our brood in December.

I finished up Skylar's Easy Baby Cardigan which I made out of the leftovers from my Twist & Shout Sweater. When she's 16 she's gonna hate that we were ever matching, but for now, she doesn't complain...much.

I also managed to bang out a pair of Maple Leaf Mittens for my Canadian friend, but forgot to snap a picture before she left to visit family.

Ooh oooh, and last night I happened to meet Sabrina, the amazing local spinner of Anzula yarns, which I had used to make Skylar's first Sweater. She's super sweet and I liked her in an instant. Even more amazing is that she remembered me from Ravelry and extended an invite to join her in her shop or at a knitting meet-up any time. Swoon!

But what has really been keeping me away is a new obsession...roller derby. I started skating with the local league in November, and now I'm drafted to one of their home teams and full on hooked on the sport. So naturally, looking for a little balance, I decided I should try to unite my two obsessions. I've already made several changes to the charts (on this one the wheels are way too big for my liking) but here's a sneak peak of the first prototype I've been working on:

It will probably take a little while to get the pattern to where I'm satisfied enough to post it and on top of that I went ahead and signed up for another swap, which means I'll be working on this on the side instead of primarily. Either way but I'm hoping to still be able to refining this pattern so I can get it posted here within a month or so.

Shut Down!

2010-10-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm on a forced knitting hiatus right now, and I'm not happy about it one bit!

Ok, so that's a little dramatic, but I've been having a major flare up of my tendinitis and going to physical therapy, where they are telling me that if I want it to heal, I need to relax it as much as possible. Since I can't avoid signing or typing at work and something's gotta give, the answer to that is "no knitting." Which naturally I take as, "Do some knitting, but be sure to take an anti-inflammatory before, only knit for a measly 1/2 hour per day, and then afterward ice it and put on the splint."

Sigh. I try to be a good patient.

Ugly Hats for a Good Cause

2010-10-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

Every year my work is a partial sponsor/coordinator for an all day holiday celebration, called Silent Sleigh, for the local Deaf kids. A lot of hands go into the preparation for this day in which countless kids get to socialize with their Deaf peers from all of the local school districts, watch performances all in sign, and best of all, tell a signing Santa in their own langauge what they want for Christmas without the use of an interpreter (and actually have him understand!).

Last week at my works community center there was a group of 5 Deaf/hard of hearing women hard at work at their sewing machines. When I inquired further, I discovered that they were making a slew of hats, so that every kid in attendance at the Silent Sleigh would be able to wear and take home their own holiday hat.

Since one of the virtues that I want to instill in my daughter is that of volunteerism and the best way to teach this is by example, when I saw this group of ladies sewing away at 100 plus hats, I knew that I had to lend a hand. I mentioned that I had a sewing machine at home and the ability to sew a (sorta straight) seam and they were more than happy to have my assistance.

I was sent home with a stack of neon green felt, thread, and some quick instructions how to sew it up. I was surprised that even with my novice abilities I was about to whip out 10 hats in only about 2 weekend nap times (so like a total of 2.5 hours).

Here's the final product:

Sure, they're an ugly color, but I'm certain that in the spirit of the holidays these kids will wear their hats with Joy as they carol in sign language and anxiously tell St. Nick their christmas wishes.

It Is What It Is, Flaws and All

2010-10-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

As I had previously mentioned, I finished up the lovely Summit Shawl, only to discover a major flaw about halfway back. I contemplated for mere seconds whether I should rip it all the way back to the error, but seeing as that would have meant undoing nearly 500 yards of work I just couldn’t make myself do it.

Here’s the blocked picture of it... can you find the error?

How about now?

At some point in the middle of knitting I accidentally switched the direction I was going, creating a larger hole and two branches out of one. You’ll also note the circle on the bottom left – that’s where for some reason I decided to simply go back the other direction, rather than making the outer loop.

The thing of the matter is, I can’t help but still love the final product. Sure, I can see (and unabashedly point out) its flaws, but its overall beauty shines through regardless. I know that the recipient of this shawl won’t be sitting down to analyze my work and will admire it for what it is, not for what it isn’t.

Civetta Pattern

2010-09-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

I’m not the kind of girl who wears legwarmers, so it had never occurred to me to make some, until a friend asked specifically for a pair. As often happens, I couldn’t find a pattern that I particularly liked for this recipient, so I went to the drawing board. I hope you have as much fun knitting these little owls as I did! These were originally designed as legwarmers, however they can also be worn as gauntlets.

Click Here for pattern: Civetta

All pattern links will divert you to where they are saved at www.acrobat.com. When that opens in your window click "Download" (located in the top right corner) to save the pattern to your computer. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and view the pattern. You can download Adobe Reader for free. Click Here to be linked to Adobe Reader.

Knit Know How = Fast Gifts

2010-09-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

One of the good things about being a knitter (with a sizable stash) is that when you look at the calendar and see that you have a baby shower to go to and no moolah to spare for a gift, it's not to hard to whip up something quick and cute.

Skylar graciously modeled this boy version of the Cadence Baby Hat which took me only two lazy nights of knitting to bang out.

And by graciously, I mean she let me snap photos for all of 30 seconds before deciding that it was way to hot to keep wearing this beanie.

Knitters Pop Up in the Funniest Places

2010-09-12T20:49:00.001-07:00

One of the little joys of knitting in public is that every now and then other knitters and crocheters will approach and break the monotony of the "wow, I've always wanted to learn to knit but..." conversations, and actually engage you in a real knitting conversation.

I was at an interpreting workshop yesterday (which was phenomenal - if you're a sign language interpreter and ever have an opportunity to go to an Austin Andrews workshop, DO NOT pass on it!). While I love the learning I get while I go to these professional trainings, I also can't bear the idea of sitting for 6 hours without a pair of needles clicking away in my hands so, as always, I was knitting to my hearts content. During a break, one of the other attendees approached me and not only was she a knitter, she was also on Ravelry, had the exact pattern I was working on in her queue, and her current WIP hidden away in her bag. The cherry on top? We also had the exact same glasses. Neat!

In the too-short break we got to admire each other WIPs and engage in a discussion of how I could have improved upon the decrease of the Coffee Tunic that I had started back in January (and have just now picked up again after I don't know how many months). And then of course that evening I logged into Ravelry to get a glimpse of her other works. Gotta love that!

Oh blog, how I have mistreated you...

2010-09-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

...but I swear the neglect has its reasons! I've been working on two original patterns, the first drafts of which are knitted up and awaiting revisions. I also manage to finish up the awesome (and sometimes tedious) Summit Shawl. Unfortunately, as I was binding off I discovered a major mistake at about the mid section of the shawl. Did I frog it back? You better believe your britches I didn't! Ha, if you think I'm going to watch as I unravel countless hours of knitting, you gotta be out of your freakin' mind!

Coming soon...

pictures and discussion of the summit shawl
patterns for leg warmers and (yes, my new favorite) mitts
a quick peak at the adorable LYS I visited while in Vermont last week

happy knitting!

Baratto

2010-07-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

These mitts developed out of my husband’s request for a crocheted hacky sack. I don’t crochet very well at all, so I turned to my knitting group where a barter was arranged: two hacky sacks for a pair of mitts.

At the same time I found myself obsessed with diagonal stripes - Hats, scarves, you name it, any time I picked up a pair of knitting needles I was yielding similar results, diagonal stripes. It was really no surprise that when I went to knit some mitts this pattern developed out of my diagonal obsession.

Baratto is a fast knit and makes a great last-minute gift project, especially for those knitters (like myself) who like instant gratification projects.

Pattern: Baratto

Say it Loud, Say it Proud!

2010-07-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

A friend of my is recently out and when I say out I mean VERY out. So when I stumbled across this vibrant yarn from Moonlight and Laughter I knew that I had to get it and make something for her to show off her pride.

Over the past few weeks I've been playing around with making a pair of mitts with this awesome rainbow yarn so that she can say it loud, say it proud. I've definitely found a good stitch pattern to show off the colors but I've had a few false starts with my gauge being off. Now I'm back on a roll again and moving along although since it's an original pattern it's slower going than normal. As always, depending on the results I may share it with the world.

I've also decided to self-publish the other mitts pattern of mine that was rejected by Knitty. I've just got a few more edits to do and am hoping to be able to post it by next week.

Sipal-oops!

2010-07-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

One of my off-and-on-again projects this year has been the Sipalu Bag by Knit Picks. I got the kit a while back and was somewhat daunted to see just how many different balls of yarn the project contained.

Once I dove into it, however, I quickly found my fair isle rhythm and started moving along on it - perhaps a bit to fast. One of my biggest knitting rules is that I regularly need to stop and admire my work, for two reasons. One, sometimes I just need to take a moment to sit back and admire my handiwork. Two, in the course of admiring you also have the opportunity to check for mistakes. and naturally, in the course of doing so, I discovered this:

Yup, rookie mistake - I twisted my stitches when joining in the round and didn't even notice. so I naturally did what any knitter in the same situation would do. I yelled, "Ahhhhh!" in exasperation, then threw it back into my knitting bag to be ignored for about a month.

Once I was done sulking and glaring at my project bag I was able to make it to the somewhat cathartic stage of acceptance and began frogging. Riiiipppitt...Riiiipppitt!

Now I'm back on track and have finished half of the bag. For a brief moment I entertained the idea of just doing a single color on the backside instead of the full colorwork again, but then my vanity and love of fair isle won out. Don't get me wrong, it's still my favorite fair weather project and may take me the better part of the year to finish, but I figure that it's reasonable to expect that (barring no further mistakes) I can gradually finish it by the end of the year.

It Itches

2010-06-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

I picked up a late birthday present for myself last weekend:

Knitters, if you’re not familiar with the Panopticon, go visit Franklin and Dolores for a while, I’m sure you’ll fall in love like I did!

No So Much Success...

2010-06-23T20:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I received a very nice rejection letter for my submission to Knitty. I am okay with it. For me it was a good practice in going through the steps toward submission and just another experience under my belt - that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Now I'm trying to decide whether I want to just self publish here or take the time to reformat and submit to Knit Picks Independent Partnership Design Program. we'll see...

Also, I totally missed out on the June Phat Fiber Box. For some reason I didn't get the notification email, so I need to check in with Phat Fiber and see what happened. I'm actually more excited for the July theme any way: Seaweed, Ships and Scallywags. That seems up my alley!

Phat Fiber

2010-06-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

I've just stumble upon a neat fiber site: Phat Fiber. It's self described as "a mystery box of awesome samples for the yarn and fiber enthusiast in us all. With a focus on the independent artisan, this box is a super grass-roots treat for the senses."

The more I search around and learned about the Phat Fiber box, the more I want one - Apparently it's a total competition every month to even purchase one of these mystery boxes, so much so that the Sheepshape Spinning blog made a tutorial complete with screen shots.

Oh it's on. I'm going to aim for one of the June boxes, as soon as they notify me that they are available. What's that? You say that it's silly because I wouldn't actually need all that unspun fiber since I lack any sort of spinning skills? Ah, well, if I am one of the luck ducks who actually gets a June box then I am taking that as a sign that it's time to figure out how to use that cute little drop spindle my mom brought back from Alaska last year (spinners, don't worry, I'm not planning on starting with the raw fleece that is pictured - that'll just have to keep sitting patiently!).

The other neat thing that Phat Fiber does is regular giveaways on their blog. Seriously, all I have to do is look at the items you're promoting and make a comment about them to be entered to win. Hell, that seems too easy!

Uninspired

2010-06-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling totally uninspired by my knitting right now. Sure, I keep working on the projects I have laying around, but they are all bigger or more intricate projects - Coffee Tunic, Summit Shawl, and Sipalu Bag - and are taking me foooorrrreeeevvveeerrrr to complete. Normally at this point I'd be distracted by a cute hat or pair of mitts, but even that's not happening. I gotta face it, 90 degree heat is not conducive to knitting. Period.

The heat is, however, inspiring me to small fits of green-thumbery in our little container garden out back (because there's no way I'm planting edibles in the same ground where my dog pees).

Well...okay... I'm more of a black thumb who like planting stuff who's married to a green thumb who remembers to water stuff, but mainly because he's out back every hour smoking a cigarette anyway. Either way, it's a good deal, really, and is yielding some delicious herbs (basil, sage, rosemary), yellow tomatoes, cute little strawberries, jalapenos that are too hot for whities like us to eat, garlic that's nearly ready for harvesting, some squash plants which I'm hoping will someday do more than sprawl, and finally some hearty flowers.

And I was even inspired by the suggestion in Martha F-ing Stewart's magazine (don't judge, you wouldn't be able to turn down a year's free subscription either!) of a succulent planter for arid regions and made this little cutie to sit out front of our home.

Thank goodness it will only need water every month or so, because I know (from experience) that I won't remember to bring a watering can out front regularly.

Checkerboard Slipper Tutorial

2010-05-23T11:26:00.001-07:00

A while ago a buddy gave me a holey pair of slippers that his grandma had made for him in hopes that I could reproduce them. Flash forward a year, during which time I still hadn’t gotten around to making them, when one of the Knit knack girls started talking about these checkerboard slippers they wanted to make. I didn’t really pay attention to it until I saw the picture - it was the exact pattern that he had asked me to make! Naturally, when something like that falls into your lap, you know you can’t put it off any more, so I quickly made them up for him.

(those are his hairy legs, not mine)

Recently I was messaged by a couple of knitters for advice on making these rad slippers, so I thought that I’d go ahead and make a photo tutorial of the major features of the pattern. The original pattern is written well enough, but simply lacks pictures of any kind.

The first thing that you need to understand about this pattern is that its structure is based on the biggest NO-NO of colorwork: carrying your unused color tightly. 99.9% of the time when you are working with multiple colors you want to carry the yarn loosely on the backside of your work, however with this pattern, you actually need to pull the non-working yarn tight. That’s what makes these neat bumps all over the slippers.

If you do it correctly, the backside will feel more smooth and flat, looking something like this:

You’ll also notice that the edge has a rippled effect. That’s okay! This will become the heel portion which will be stitched together.

The pattern tells you to anchor the contrasting color at beginning of each row, which just means that you need to twist the contrast color around the working color before the first stitch. In the picture below, white is the working color which twists around the green, kinda like this:

This anchoring of the yarn at the edge, along with pulling the stitches tight, will eventually make for a very nice turned edge, which should look like this:

When you’re working on the wrong side you have to switch your yarn colors between the needles to change color, much like when you are switching from knit to purl if you were ribbing. As shown in the picture below green has just been worked so I move that between my needles to the front (wrong side), and move the white between the needles to the back (right side) to begin knitting with the white.

The rest of the pattern should be fairly simple – just garter stitch knitting, simple decreases for the toe and then sewing seams.

Voila!

Alot of Winners

2010-05-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

And the Alot competition winner is...

...drumroll...

Maiya! She sho' knitting Alot of Fun fur!

You also gotta love her creative use of photoshop to mimic the original illustrations from Hyperbole and a Half:

Maiya's acceptance speech:
Oh my god! First, I’d like to thank the academy. I’d also like to thank my husband. He’s put up with yarn all over the place, needles strewn hazardously and patiently listens to me mumbling craziness about short rows or yo’s or bitch about fun fur. I’d like to thank Allie for the idea. Without her sassy, smart-ass mouth, we might not ever care for alot. And finally, I’d like to thank my fellow knit knackers. You guys are such an inspiration. It is an honor to be nominated among such amazing talent.
cue music- cut to commercial

And of course her Alot Pattern can be found HERE

Some honorable mentions include Monte, with Alot of crochet

As well as Mary, who pointed out that Chickens eat Alot

thank you to all who participated, cheered on, and voted on ravelry!! I love you, Knit Knackers!!

ALOT!!!!!!

2010-05-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

Today is picture posting day for the I Knitted Alot Competition. I can't believe how much fun I had making this creature and I am so looking forward to seeing what all the other Knit Knackers came up with. I went for a felted Alot.

What the...??

Mom! Make it stop looking at me!

the unfelted and lumpy looking Alot

I hung uside down Alot!

Seriously, I'm utterly amazed at how much I learned with making this mythical monstrosity. Anyone who may be reading this but doesn't know how to knit, feel free to gloss over the next few paragraphs, as they really won't make sense to you. I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures in the process, since now I have to try to use my words to explain.

To start with, I knew I wanted to felt it and I also didn't want to have to worry about a ton of seaming, so it posed a bit of a challenge for me. The solution was to make the leg holes by putting a number of the stitches on the underside onto a holder, using a provisional cast on on a separate needle to continue knitting Alot in the round, then knitting up the rest of the body and head. After that was done I went back to do the legs, picking up the provisional and held stitches. Instead of closing up the legs, I made a flap for the bottom of the foot which was left open for the felting process then sewn after stuffing.

For the head, again, I didn't want to sew it on afterward (are you seeing a pattern of motivation here?) so I made a chin coming out of the body in the same way. at first I played around with making a gusset like you would for a thumb on a pair of mittens, but I realized that would take too long and would make too many rows on the top of the head. Instead, I went with a series of short rows, working back and forth adding a stitch at each short row until I had a substantial chin. At the same time, I decreased the stitches on the top side of the body.

For the bulgy eyes I basically made a button hole, then came back to pick up stitches in the hole after the head was completed. right off the bat I doubled the stitches that were picked up by knitting in front and back of every stitch. The before casting off I switched to the black. The white center was embroidered on later. Again, for the horns I just made a button hole and picked up stitches in the void.

The tooth and claws were made by picking up stitches. I'd rather pick up stitches than sew a seam any day!

Voting will take place over the next two days, then on Wednesday I will post the winner, as well as the full parade of Alot contestants. It's gonna be awesome!

Going, Going, Back, Back

2010-05-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've just learned how to knit back backwards and I'm totally stoked about it. This technique is totally easy and fast that I can't believe that I didn't think of it myself! Basically, instead of turning your work to do a purl row, you keep the right side of your work facing you and you backwards knit from the right needle to the left. Here's what it looks like:

Ingenious, isn't it? Knitty has a great tutorial for knitting back backwards here: Put It In Reverse

The Summit Shawl I've been working on suggests using this technique, which makes sense because it has a bajillion small sections over which you use stockinette stitch. When I started the shawl I gave it a quick try, but I couldn't get my fingers to work it right and was getting frustrated. So I waited until had the pattern memorized and was completely comfortable with it, then gave it another shot. Success!

I think I'm giving up purling from here on out.

----------------------

Just a few more days left on the I Knitted Alot competition. My Alot is felted and drying as I type, and I cannot wait to post his picture here, along with a parade of other Alots.

Alot of Great Knitters

2010-05-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, I did not expect that so many of the knit knackers would get as excited about the I knitted Alot competition as I am! This is a good thing, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone has dreamed up. Already I can tell that we're going to have some hilarious results! Stay tuned, as I think I'll be posting alot of photos!

Meanwhile, I've been shirking most of my other knitted projects. Remember that Knit-along I started in January? Yeah, neither did I. I've only had a bit of progress on my Coffee tunic.

It's good mindless knitting for the most part, but that's part of the problem - it's a little too mindless. I think the end result (whenever that may be) will be lovely despite the not so attractive decreases. I take issue with the fact that the side decreases force the knitter to stop cabling at a certain point along the sides, so for several inches where were once cables there are just lines of stockingnette ribbing. There are much more attractive ways to shape a piece. And yeah, I am complaining without doing anything about it because I've hit the point of no return with this tunic and I just can't bear to frog it back to the first decrease, sit down with pencil and paper to figure out a better way to do it, and start over. Forget it! Honestly, it's the kind of detail that only a knitter would notice, so as long as I don't gift this to a fellow knitter I'll be in the clear. With that said, right here and now I vow to finish this before Christmas - mainly because I want to give it away, and what better time than christmas for giving?

I've also been working pretty steadily on the Summit Shawl, since the day that knitty posted their Spring + Summer issue.

I love this shawl! It's one of those addicting patterns where I find myself saying "just one more row, then I'll put it down" about 500 times before I actually do set it aside. It also helps that I found the reasonably priced yet divine to the touch Serenity Garden yarn at JoAnn's. I've been using the Grass colorway. I love the color, especially how it has fallen in color chunks. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't give it justice, largely due to me snapping the photos in low light.

And in case you were wondering, still no word back from Knitty as to whether or not they have accepted my mitts pattern for the First Fall issue. From what I gather around the Ravelry forums the longer it takes them to get back to you, the better your chances are that they will accept it. so nearly 2 months now and no news...

I Knitted Alot - Competition

2010-05-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

I’m kicking off the Alot knitting/crochet competition starting…right…NOW!

First go read Alot is Better Than You at Everything

The Competition: Who can knit or crochet the best Alot.

The Rules: You can get as creative as you want but you must use 90% fiber/yarn in the process ~~and your results should be reproducible~~. Pictures need to be posted in the Ravelry Knit Knack group I Knitted Alot Competition thread on the Deadline date.

The Deadline: 2 weeks from now (so uhm…that would be May 16).

The Voting: will begin on Monday May 17 and end on Wednesday May 19 and will be held in the Knit Knack Group. I’ll deal with the HOW of voting later.

The Prize: Major bragging rights, and I’ll post your pattern (if you have one) on my blog! (I know, total motivation!)

No Cents Spring Cleaning Swap

2010-04-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hands down, one of the best things about my knitting group are the swaps. Several times a year we do a secret swap in which we are assigned a secret buddy for whom we knit a specific kind of something (like a purse) or something within a certain theme (like naughty knits). This time our theme was particularly awesome: No Cents Spring Cleaning Swap. Basically we had to put together a package for our buddy with no less than 4 no more than 8 items that we already have or could make with resources we had so that the only money spent would be on postage.

Naturally, I had a blast putting together my No Cents care package for my buddy, and I knitted up a Tuesday's Miracle in red for her.

Of course I was in such a rush to make sure I mailed it by the deadline I forgot to get pictures of anything else, but I'm hoping she'll take a snapshot or two of what she received.

Lucky me, yesterday when I was having a bad day (for no particular reason) I came home to a nice care package from Knit Knacker Jeanne (lilpixiestix). Yay! What a way to end a crappy day! She knit me this gorgeous Red scarf (the color is a little off because of the lighting) out of Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton silk:

You better believe I wore that bad boy all day today, even when my office mate insisted on setting the heater to "sauna."

Jeanne was also nice enough to include two hanks of the Misti in a pretty pink shade:

And the rest of the loot:

In addition to the two hanks, I got a great magnetic notepad with an "S" on it (I'm wondering why that was laying around her place, since there isn't an S in her name), two sets of light up needles, and two wonderful smelling lotions. I'm particularly stoked about the light up needles. That's something that I have thought about buying countless times for night knitting on long car rides, but could never really justify. Now I don't have to. Thanks Jeanne!

Baby Gift Crochet/Knits

2010-03-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

One of the small joys of having a baby is all of the handcrafted goods that have been given to me for her. It seems to me that at the heart of crafting is the need to give to others, and who better to receive these gifts than a new little one, who hasn't yet been tainted by the world's greedy and unappreciative influences. I also think that the gifters may know that as a crafter myself, I'll actually put to use the items that they have made, rather than keeping them "safe" where they "won't be ruined." I don't know about you, but when I hear that I cringe immediately!

To start with, I was given several family heirlooms. The first was a gift from one of the seniors that frequents my work, this cardi that their grandmother had made for them to wear. I can't even express how honored I was that she chose to give this to me rather than her own brood. I can only think that she must have known that I would truly appreciate the craftmanship of it.

Then my mom gave me this blanket that my Nonny knit when my brother was born (which I'll give to him if he ever has kids). The neat part is that there is a ribbon tied to one stitch, which apparently my Poppy knit.

The third is a hat that Skylar's grandma (my mother in law) wore when she was a baby- I think her own grandmother knit it for her:

Of course, we also received several things made specifically for the baby. A crocheted hat made by Skylar's Nana (my stepmom):

An awesome skully cap by Knit Knacker Georgia:

This non-pastel sweater (she must have heard my pink pastel rant!) that came along with one of our Knit Knack exchanges last year, made by Kelly:

And of course here she is as a hodgepodge knitwear model wearing what I made for her, a little sweater and cap (yup, that's the knit knack blanket in the background). The red portion of the cap I made while in labor with the little one. I had intended for her to wear the cap home from the hospital but I ran out of yarn, so I finished up the top (blue section) when I got home:

I don't have a picture handy, but she also received a (somewhat scary looking) crocheted bunny from one of my mom's 7th grade students, and a darling little purple bear from another friend.

Final Edits

2010-03-13T22:46:00.001-08:00

I finished up the photo shoot of the mitts with my friend Beth, which brought to my attention the fact that what I had originally thought was a "one size" pattern actually needed some adjustment. I discovered that Beth's hands are considerably smaller than the mitts. We made do for the photos and despite the size issue I think we got some great shots.

Needless to say, it was an "ah-ha" moment for me when I realized that my hands, the models for all of my glove/mitt/mittens knitting, are actually quite large. The good thing is that it enabled me to again revise my pattern so that it can be offered in a small and a large size. I'm working out those (hopefully) final kinks and my goal is to email it in tomorrow, one day before the deadline. Oh what a mental game it will be to press that send button!

What was I thinking?

2010-03-11T14:48:00.000-08:00

I've finally decided to submit a pattern to Knitty Magazine. The mitts that I made for fellow knit knacker Amber (and mentioned in a previous post) rolled right off of my needles so effortlessly and I couldn't believe how much I liked they way they turned out. On a whim I checked Knitty's submission page and found out that the next deadline is March 15 - right around the corner - so I thought "why not?"

Since I made the decision last week to go for it I've been pouring over the pattern again and again with a fine tooth comb. I think it's finally as good as it's going to get. The next step is taking quality photos, so this afternoon I have a girlfriend coming over to do a photo shoot wearing the mitts. After that, all there is to do is send it in and wait.

Needless to say, I'm really nervous about this submission.I honestly don't expect my pattern to be accepted, especially since this is my first time ever submitting one (but it would be cool if it was!). Even so, I think this is a logical next step for me. Plus, I've heard that the editors give valuable feedback, and who couldn't use that?

Suzy Homemaker (for now)

2010-03-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

Being home all day really is turning me into a crafty homemaker. Fret not, hubby, I'll be back to work in three weeks and hopefully just knitting again so the craft messes around the house should dwindle some!

Earlier in the week I spent some time making wall mounts for some awesome ABC cards that my little sister made for the baby. I wanted to figure out a way for them to hang on the wall, but also to easily come off the wall for the baby to learn/play with. Here's what I came up with:

Basically they are lines of ribbon which the ABC cards attach to with velcro. it was pretty simple to put together and I think I've already rearranged how they are displayed on the wall at least three times since Tuesday.

I have also started working on some dark curtains for the baby's room, in the hopes that a darker bedroom will make nap time a little smoother (we'll see on that count). After I lugged out my old 50+ pound hand-me-down sewing machine and got it all set up, I discovered that it was broken (again). After some searching around I figured out that it would be faster and cheaper for me to go out and buy a new simple sewing machine than to get the old one serviced.

My new singer sewing machine in all it's glory:

Don't assume that because I'm making curtains I'm some sort of seamstress. Oh, I can hem with the best of them (a skill I've developed because my hubby's legs are freakishly short in comparison to his height and they don't make men's pants that short) but beyond that all bets are off. I learned long ago that a curtain is just a series of simple hems and if you get a solid fabric people won't notice as much if they are crooked.

Naturally it's taking me longer to complete the curtains than it really should, but I've finished one and will hopefully be up to start the second one tonight.

As for the mitts I'm making, they are coming along swimmingly. So good, in fact, I'm toying with the idea of submitting the pattern to Knitty. For that reason, I'll not be posting pictures here for the time being (if the pattern is posted elsewhere in any form they won't accept the submission). I've got to check out their deadlines and see if it's even a possibility, but I'm stoked that this is one of my best original patterns in a while.

Coming soon to Knitosphere will be a preemie hat pattern that I developed for my cousin's baby. the stitch was inspired by A Scarf Askew (ravelry link) so it isn't a super original pattern and in my mind, not fitting to be submitted to a knitting mag. As soon as I get the kinks out it will be all yours!

The Trouble with Tribbles...

2010-03-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

...is that they are fast and easy to make, thus becoming an addiction for those knitters (ahem) who like instant gratification projects. I think each one took maybe 2 hours tops to do, including the seaming. Here are the Tribble dish scrubbers that I pumped out last night during the last hours of the Olympic games:

I've put the Coffee Tunic on hold for the time being, because I want to get started on a pair of mitts of my own design for a fellow knit knacker who is crocheting a hacky sack for Guy. Last night, when I couldn't get back to sleep after the baby's 3 am feeding, I lay in bed brainstorming what the mitts should look like. This morning when I got up I jumped on the computer and threw down my ideas on paper, along with a chart, and scoped out the stash yarn that I could use for the project. I found Knit Picks Palette in Cream, Marine Heather, and Calypso Heather which I think will work nicely. If the mitts are a success I'll put the pattern up, otherwise you'll probably never hear mention of them again!

Finish Line

2010-02-25T17:47:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I doubted that I would get this blanket done on time. But with a little motivation from Zuzu...

and Brisco...

I kept plugging away. By Wednesday I was able to finish piecing them together (show below at the the half way point, when I had finished putting them in rows).

Today, thanks to Skylar's patience and contentment with hanging out in her swing, I was able to finish up the border and cross the Ravelympics WIPs Finish line!

The final product as modeled by the lovely Skylar:

Ravelympics after 1 week

2010-02-19T10:30:00.000-08:00

We’re one week into the Winter games and Ravelympics, and I have some marginal progress on the blanket. I’ve knit two of the three additional squares, and have started on the third.

Bob Costas Commentary:

In a surprising development, Shannon experienced two false starts on that third square. She took the risk of not swatching with this one, and really is paying the price in this competition. This move, forgoing the swatch, isn’t normal for this knitter and one could say the pressure to get it done under the deadline guided this ultimately fruitless move. She’s put herself behind the game and should know better than to try to take such erratic shortcuts.

In between the knitting I’ve also gotten some good headway with the crochet borders on the other squares. So far I have finished the double crochet border on 13 of the 24 squares. Once I get the borders on, I’ll join them to each other with a slip stitch.

With nine days remaining, She’s really going to need to pick up the pace if she wants to make a showing at Ravelympics this year. We saw Shannon compete successfully in several events the 2008 summer Ravelympics games, however this is by far one of the biggest undertakings that she has ever done. Stay tuned as we see if she’ll be able to hold up under the pressure of this event.

Oh Canada!

2010-02-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

I got a great start on the first of the remaining three blanket squares during the Olympic opening ceremony last night (as well as a great start on a good gin & tonic buzz - note the pink cheeks... apparently after nearly a year without booze I no longer have the tolerance of the Irish. Give it time).

And today during Skylar's nap I was able to get the mitered square finished. One down, two to go, then the joining will begin!

Who knows, I may actually be able to pull off finishing this blanket by the end of the Olympics.

Makin' Memories

2010-02-11T16:12:00.000-08:00

This isn’t a knitting project, but I’m proud of it nonetheless. While waiting to start my Ravelympics project I’ve painted a memory box for Skylar (all that remains to do is the gloss coating, but that first requires an outing to the craft store – perhaps tomorrow?).

Having lost my Birth Mom at a young age, I’ve always felt the importance of holding onto keepsakes and cherishing memories. Over the years I’ve had several memory boxes to hold the various trinkets and letters which for one reason or another are important to a child. I know that in my own way I have tried to hold onto those bits of my life that I worry I might otherwise forget. Those treasures are still boxed up somewhere in my Aunt-Mom’s attic where they have resided since I packed up my childhood room and went off to college. Perhaps someday soon it might be time to dig up these treasures again.

Nonetheless, with Skylar’s birth I realized that I already have some neat things that she might want to have for some future time – her hospital band, sweet letters and cards from family and friends, and a bracelet and locket which belonged to my Birth Mom and were given to me for Skylar at her birth by my Aunt-Mom.

Normally something like this wouldn’t take me too long to finish, but with the stop and go nature of being home with a two month old it took about a week to paint all of the butterflies. Here I am in all of my multi-tasking glory:

Whoops! How did that las pic get in here? Ah, well, that’s one of my secrets to good crafting, a nice glass of Yellow Tail.

Ravelympics 2010

2010-02-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

We’re closing in on the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics, which for knitters also means the start of Ravelympics, where we challenge ourselves to start and complete various projects during the span of the Olympic games (for more information, check out the Ravelry Group). During the 2008 summer games I competed in quite a few events, all of which were smallish projects such as hats and dog sweaters

This Olympics, I’m taking on a bigger challenge – the completion of the Knit Knack group blanket (Previously referred to as the Great Square Extravaganza). To recap, this was a great idea that was proposed in the spring of 2008 by the wonderful KellyD. The idea was simple: Those that wanted to participate would complete a 10 x 10 square for each of the other participants and mail it to them. When all squares were received and then assembled each participating member would have a blanket made by the entire group.

We had lofty dreams of getting it finished by the end of the summer – oh were we mistaken.

Nearly two years later there are still group members who did not finish and send out their promised squares and have no intention of doing so. Fortunately, I have enough of the squares to make a decent go at completing the blanket, so I’m taking a giant leap and entering the blanket into the WIPS-dancing event this Ravelympics. Here's what I have so far:

This is going to be an especially big undertaking for me for two reasons:

1) I’ve determined that the best way to affix the squares to each other would be to crochet them. I am a lousy and slow crocheter.

2) Upon laying out the squares that I have, I discovered that I still am 3 squares and assembly shy of a full blanket. This means that prior to beginning the joining, I have to knit those 10 x 10 squares myself.

I considered the possibility of cheating and knitting those last three squares secretly prior to the opening ceremony but that would be akin to ‘roiding. I can’t abide the unsportsmanlike conduct and therefore I am resisting that temptation.

I’m actually relishing the idea of this challenge, because at the very least it will give me a jumpstart on finishing this awesome blanket. Really, even if I don’t get it finished by the end of the winter games at the very least I’ll be that much closer to a full blanket!

Tunic or Not Tunic, that is the Question

2010-01-29T23:19:00.000-08:00

With the Knit Knackers on Ravelry I’m doing a loosely structured KAL. We all couldn’t decide on one single pattern to work on, so we picked from a list of patterns to work on simultaneously. I choose the Coffee Tunic.

This has turned into a perfect project for late night pumping because it has simple to follow directions which don’t have to be referenced often and it’s easy enough to work on in low light (ie, a night light). I’m not too fond of the decreases right now, but I’m going to go ahead and work them as the pattern is written. I fell in love with the increases and decreases on the Twist & Shout sweater and think that something like that would be much more streamline. Here's how the decreases look as written:

Many other Ravelers noted that they originally cast on 224 stitches instead of 220 then increasing 4 stitches after the initial ribbing. I did not, a fact that I discovered later would have made my life easier. I really struggled with figuring out to increase the stitches without messing up the established ribbing. As many suggested (and I ignored) there really is no reason NOT to start with 224 stitches. So future knitters of this pattern, take heed and cast on the larger number!

Despite these two parts, I'm really enjoying this project and it is inspiring in me the want to design and make more tunics like it. I know, hold my horses, I’m not even half way finished with it, but the basic framework for a tunic worked in the round is awesomely simple in construction and has the potential for a lot of variety. I can play around with colors and cables, as well as the decreases and neckline, and I don’t even need to worry about sleeves. It doesn’t get much better than that, my friends!

Little Did I Know...

2010-01-27T11:39:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while since I’ve updated Knitosphere because of a major change in my life, the addition of my daughter Skylar Sheree. Whoa nelly has the world changed since she entered our lives on December third! Yup, that concept of “everything is going to change” is a cliché for a reason.

The biggest change that I did not expect was how little knitting time I would actually have. In all sincerity I actually thought that I would have more time for knitting while on maternity leave. Oh my blissfully naivety! Images of me happily knitting while my cherub suckled at my breast were replaced with the frustrating reality that it takes two hands and a lot of false starts to get a hungry screaming baby latched on, then continual monitoring because she is a “bad eater.” (La Leche Leaguers relax, no need to give me advice, I have been working with a lactation specialist). This wasn’t the only knitting bubble that was burst – I also imagined that I would be able to knit while Skylar napped. Ha! Turns out that nap time isn’t just for baby!

Now, nearly 8 weeks later I am finally finding my knitter groove, one little row at a time. Sure, it’s not as much knitting as I had anticipated, but I am pleasantly surprised with the progress that I am able to make in small bursts while I pump breast milk or hold a sleeping baby in my arms - that one took a little bit of figuring out on my part, Proof that it works:

Kntting sizes

2009-11-22T07:41:00.001-08:00

I recently found found this great knitting resource so I thought I'd share: Size Charts

This really cuts down how much I need to chase people down with my measuring tape in hand!

And because posts are better with pictures, some gratuitous Brisco Fancypants footage:

Cadence Baby Hat

2009-11-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

I decided I needed to design a coming home hat for my soon to be born baby girl. This one ended up being perfectly sized for a 6 month old instead of a newborn, which worked out nicely since I know one of those! When I started charting out this hat I was going for a triangular motif. Imagine my surprise when I swatched this and discovered that in the repeats it became cute little hearts! Perfect for a sweet baby girl.

Pattern: Cadence Baby Hat

All pattern links will divert you to where they are saved at www.acrobat.com when that opens up in your window click where it says "Download" in the top right corner to save the pattern to your computer. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and view the pattern. You can download Adobe Reader for free. Click Here to be linked to Adobe Reader.

A Piece of Crafting History

2009-11-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

I received the most touching gift yesterday from a senior citizen client (and friend) from work yesterday. She stopped into my office just days before I take off for maternity leave to give me this sweater that was crocheted by her grandmother:

I couldn't be happier to receive such a special gift for my daughter! When I let her know that I would be sure to take care of it and return it to her in good condition when our baby outgrows it, she made the gift even more special by telling me to keep it and pass it down in my family. I'm reeling from the honor! I figured out that this will be the 4th generation of this sweater, and I intend to keep it going.

The thing that I found interesting was that she had chosen me and my daughter to receive such a special piece of her family history. Guy surmised that she recognized that a knitter like me would understand and cherish this gift more than another non-crafter might. And I suppose he's right about that.

Picture Time

2009-11-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

As promised, shots of my most recent FOs.

Twist & Shout - which is perfect for showing off the baby bump

Baby Girl's first mom-made sweater, Sherbet, with the addition of arrow cables down the front panels. Lovingly modeled by Pooh bear

Bella's Mitten's - A fun and fast knit!

A quick self made baby hat - too big for a newborn as I had intended when I started out, but just perfect for a friend's 6 month old. Eventually I'm going to rework this pattern for newborn size as well, then will post on this blog.

And my best work of this year, the gorgeous In The Pink. I truly am thrilled with how this one turned out - so much that I'm thinking I can't be selfish keeping it for myself. I have a certain person in mind who I'm hoping might make good use of this.

Halloween!

2009-11-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

It's not knitting at all, but I am very proud of my handiwork on my Alien Halloween costume this year:

I pieced this bad boy together Thursday night after a brilliant suggestion by a co-worker. This one's going in the baby book for sure! It'll just be another piece of fuel for whenever my daughter grows up and needs therapy...

Block Party!

2009-10-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but I can't say that I haven't been busy with knitting. Shock of all shocks, I've actually finished all of my current knitting projects. Tonight I had a block party to celebrate:

In the center you've got Twist & Shout, which I so excitedly started last January, then lost steam on mid summer when it came time to work on the sleeves. Now that it's starting to get cold again I decided I had better finish this up in time to wear it! After seaming and trying it on I think I may have made the sleeves too long (as a result of not wanting them to be too short) but we'll see how it lays after it dries completely.

Below that is my baby girls first mom-made sweater, Twinkle, which I refer to as the sherbet sweater. I modified the body to be all stockinette stitch instead of garter then added an arrow cable down both sides.

On top in the red is a set of Bella's Mitts, which is a totally quick and satisfying knit. I think these only took me a couple of nights in front of the tv to finish up. Totally cute and similar to the styles that I'm seeing all over the mall this season.

What's left are three hats. The middle one was actually made for me by knit knacker Kelly and I decided to block it to stretch it a bit so it will fit more over my ears. Love this hat and am so glad it finally became cool enough here for me to wear it!

The hat on the left was supposed to be for my baby girl, but since it's too big for a newborn I think I'll see if it will fit a friend's baby. That's a pattern that I developed on the fly last weekend while on a road trip up to San Francisco with my mom and sister. I'm hoping to fix it up a bit and publish it here on my blog eventually.

And on the right is a second draft of a tam pattern that I've been working on for way too long. I feel like I need to make one more version of this before it hits the street, but alas I don't think I have it in me. We'll see...

I also successfully finished In the Pink, but since I don't have a lot of space in my condo that will need to wait for another day to be blocked. All I can say is that it turned out lovely and I'm excited to have it finished as well.

Hopefully I'll be able to post some modeled pictures of these after they finish drying completely. All in all, it's rather satisfying to get so much blocked at last!

Mmm... Sherbet

2009-09-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

It's official, I have started my very first knit item for our little baby girl. It's not that I didn't want to start knitting something for her, it's just that no pattern was really yelling to be made. When I stopped in at Ancient Pathways last week to order the ball of yarn for my shawl they were having a trunk show of Anzula yarn (the same company that made the yarn that I used for Waiting Room). I found this gorgeous superwash merino/nylon blend that looks just like Sherbet (it's a little lighter in shade than the pictures make it appear).

I couldn't resist and I knew that I needed to make something for baby girl!

When I got home I started queuing baby sweaters and ponchos. I decided to go with Twinkle. So far it's been easy going, and I'm at the garter ridge of the yolk. I'm thinking on the arms and the body I'll add in cables (because I love knittin' me some cables) rather than just going with a stockinette or lacy body.

Balls!

2009-09-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

Balls! As in, ah crap, I don't have enough balls of yarn to finish up In the Pink! In my excitement of finally getting to the homestretch on the shawl I didn't take a look at how the skein was quickly diminishing. In all honesty, I suspected that I wouldn't have enough from one skein to do the whole project, but my denial knows no bounds.

Now it's off to the LYS to see if they can order another skein of the somewhat expensive Spanish Dancer fromBlue Heron Yarns. Well, at least I get to go and fondle some yarn, and maybe pick up some more Anzula, since Ancient Pathways is having a showing.

Again I say, Balls!

Keep Moving Forward

2009-09-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

I'm learning that with knitting (and in some cases life as well) sometimes I just need to follow directions whether or not they make any sense at all. I can't tell you how many times I've read and re-read a section of a pattern trying to figure it out, and have just not been able to see where I'm going with it. I'll get to a point where I'll do one of two things: either throw down the project in exasperation and ignore it for months or just start blindly following the directions, hoping for the best. The funny thing is that when I go with the latter, nine times out of ten it'll be exactly right and actually make sense once it's on the needles.

Case in point is the edging for In The Pink, the spiral shawl that I was working on in spring. My goal was to have it finished in time to wear to my girlfriend's Tahoe wedding in June but clearly that did not happen. Mid May I hit that border edge, didn't totally understand what I was to do, and put it down in frustration.

Just last week I finally picked it up again. I read through the directions a couple of times and still couldn't picture it but thought, "What the heck, I'll give it a shot." Lo and behold, it actually started to make some sense! I hadn't realized that the edging would be worked perpendicular to the body of the shawl until I actually gave it a shot:

It's amazing that time and time again if I just take a "Keep Moving Forward" stance on knitting I will have success. It's not like this is a new lesson for me, yet I still have to remind myself of this fact every time I hit a wall.

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

Why Yes, Yes I am!

2009-09-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

One of the most common things that folks ask me when they see me knitting is, "Are you pregnant?" (The second most common comment is always something oh so witty about being an old granny in a rocking chair. Very original, people). There's something about knitting that makes non-knitters assume that the only reason a person would do it is because they're old or nesting.

Historically this has been an annoyance to me but now, I can actually respond in the positive. Yup folks, after five years of marriage hubby and I have finally decided to reproduce. We're really excited to meet the little girl, who is currently due December 2.

Over the past few months of being pregnant, I have discovered that pregnant women spend countless hours in waiting rooms. The remedy? This scarf, Waiting Room, which is interesting enough not to become boring and simple enough to quickly memorize. These factors combined make it easy to put down or pick up at a moments notice, a necessity when knitting on doctors' time lines. It also helps using a yarn that is delicious to the touch, such as the camel silk blend that I used by Anzula (check out the etsy shop at www.anzula.etsy.com).

The first shot above is for all you knit knackers who have been bugging me for a baby bump picture. Happy now?

Click for the pattern: Waiting Room

The pattern link will divert you to where they are saved at www.acrobat.com when that opens up in your window click where it says "Download" in the top right corner to save the pattern to your computer. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and view the pattern. You can download Adobe Reader for free. Click Here to be linked to Adobe Reader.

If you are on Ravelry you can access my original patterns through Ravelry free download.

Sign Me up for Spinning Class

2009-09-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

My mom recently went on a trip through Alaska. When I arrived at her house to hear all about her vacation, she was nearly bubbling with giddiness to show me what she had brought back for me. For the record, let me just mention that we're not the kind of family that brings back trinkets for everyone when we go on trips - we just don't do that. So imagine my shock at not only seeing that she did bring back something for me, but that she was ever so excited for me to see what it was.

Without even having a chance to put down my purse, this was thrust in front of me:

A drop spindle and raw fleece.

Some of you are probably thinking to yourself, "wait, I didn't know that Shanny spins." You're right, I don't. I've avoided it up until this point for several reason, one of which being that don't have the foggiest idea how to do it. The other and more pressing reason is that I know me and when I start to enjoy a past time I have a tendency to go fanatical about it . I'm now imagining bundles of fleece and various spindles, not to mention dying accessories, overtaking my small townhouse. I just have this feeling that as soon as I get the knack for spinning I'm going to get all energizer bunny about it.

But my mom was so excited as she gave me the fleece and told me tales of the cute little Alaskan lady sitting on the street spinning wool with the drop spindle who even went so far as to try (unsuccessfully) to teach my mom how to use it, a fact of which brought mom to raucous laughter. I couldn't help but get equally excited about the prospect of spinning as she went on and on. As her eyes gleamed with joy she got me hook line and sinker: "I know you've said that you are avoiding spinning because you think you'll get too sucked into it, but I just couldn't resist!"

Ahhh mom, you are such a fiber enabler! Now for the next step... learning what to do with this stuff.

Instant Gratification

2009-08-30T09:49:00.001-07:00

As per usual, it's been way too long since my last blog post. Don't fret, floating in my brain and waiting for a few finishing touches I have a few good blogs in store for you including a new free pattern, some exciting news, and a possible new obsession!
Just to prove that I am still knitting and even finishing projects from time to time, here's a little instant gratification for you:

This is a quick and easy project, The Runner's Companion, (version 1) which probably took around 5 hours, if that, to complete. I used the pattern's specified yarn, Cascade Fixation, in red to match the ipod. I imagine that any stash yarn in the same weight would work fairly well, although yarn with elastic will yield the best results.
Big thanks to Mary for bringing this pattern to my attention! Check out the one that she made here: Knit To My Lou

Some FOs and Yarn Porn for ya

2009-07-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

I was able to finish up Windansea rather quickly - she turned out just lovely! I still haven't added in the elastic around the base of the crown, but that shouldn't take too long at all. The only problem was getting the wire to sit in a nice circle (I'm still working on manipulating it just right). For that reason I thinking that a little thicker gauge wire might be better than the 18 gauge that the pattern calls for. After finishing up this project I've discovered that this would be a perfect hat for Guy's Grammy, so it will probably go her way come Christmas time.

I also started a set of Spirogyra mitts last week. Guy and I were going for a double feature at the theater and I needed something that would be simple enough for me to work on while in the movies. This pattern is perfect for that!
I'm also in love with the buttery tones of the Art Yarns Supermerino (color 223). It's hardly noticeable in this picture, but there is a subtle change of the yellow throughout the yarn which gives it a little more texture. Many thanks to the Knit Knacker who sent me this gorgeous yarn in a previous swap (I think it was Steph, but I might be wrong - sorry I don't remember exactly!).

I'm so pleased with the Spirogyra pattern that I've decided to dump my other swap project for my Knit Knack Buddy at the 11th hour and make a set of these for her instead. Sure, there's only a week until mailing, but I'm confident that I'll make the deadline. I think I found a great yarn that she'll like as well. It's Schaefer Yarn's Lola, a superwash merino wool. The color initially attracted me, and then I liked it doubly when I read that it was part of the Memorable Women color series. This particular color is called Indira Gandhi and the tag has a short little bio of her life (Click the link above to see who else made the cut).

I found that yarn yesterday when I was picking up a quick class at Ancient Pathways. They were holding classes all day yesterday for their "Christmas in July" event so that we could all get a jump start on our holiday knitting. Here's the cute little ornament that I made:

Isn't that just adorable? I'm debating whether or not my folks would appreciate this kind of ornament or think of it as just another kooky gift from me.

Aside form the Lola yarn, I also got to pick up these two skeins. The top one was hand dyed locally by AP shop owner Meg and will be sent to my Knit Knack swap buddy with her mitts. The bottom one is from another local artist, ravelry user French75. This sock yarn is in the color Marronnier (Chestnut Tree) and if you're not in my neck of the woods you can check out her stuff online at her etsy shop Here.

Attack of the UFOs!

2009-07-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I stumbled upon the perfect summer pattern, Windansea:

For me, there is nothing better than the perfect floppy hat, and frankly I think I found it with this pattern. It simple and unassuming, what more does a girl need in a summer hat? After just one glance at Windansea I knew that I had to run out to the yarn store immediately after work to get the yarn to start.

It wasn't until after I had wound and swatched the yarn that, upon searching for an empty project bag, I realized that I have way too many UFOs (UnFinished Objects) in my project basket. Out of simple curiosity, I decided to pull everything out and take quick inventory:

Yikes! We've got...

Twist & Shout, one sleeve and assembly short of finished
Two original hats. One was commissioned by a co-worker in December; the other needs only about an inch to be completed but requires me to wind a second skein of yarn
Baby hat and booties, which are for my good friend's child that was born in May. Hat needs about 3-4 inches more, the booties need to be hemmed
In the Pink, which I put down just as I was to begin the home stretch, the edging
And of course the mitts that I am making for my Knit Knack buddy for our One Skein Exchange
Pictured also is Windansea, which, being the ever optimist, I'm hoping will break my nasty UFO pattern

And Just to be fair, here's my list of FO (Finished Objects) for 2009:

Shalom (which technically hasn't been blocked yet)

Ouch.

It's a sad, sad day when a knitter realizes that she has more UFOs then FOs for the entire year. But honestly, could you really blame me for wanting to start Windansea, especially once I was Seduced by the yarn color, Sorcery?

A Eulogy for Jill St. Onge

2009-05-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

I had to force myself to sit down at the computer tonight to compose this blog, so I apologize in advance for what will probably be a rambler. For knitting readers, the only relation this will have is perhaps a loose theoretical concept of the unexpected ways in which the fabric of our lives knit together and often unravel. Other than that, I got nothing for you at this time.

In journalism, they say that you gotta start with the facts, so here's the best I can do with that: My long time friend, Jill St. Onge, died suddenly and tragically this past Saturday while on the last leg of a three month journey throughout South East Asia with her fiance Ryan Kells. The details of how she died are chronicled in a blog that her brothers have set up here so I will not go into further details on that.

It's the why of her death that we can't seem to get to the root of, partly due to the distance, foreign government's cover-up attitudes, diplomatic bullshit, and who knows what other mysterious factors. The St. Onges and the Kells are doing their best to get to word out with as much media coverage as possible in an effort to get some actual answers and to prevent future deaths (the day after Jill died, two other tourist staying in the bungalow next to them became ill with similar symptoms, one of whom died).

This all feels so surreal. I can't really even think of how to string together words to express my sorrow and love for this crazy and wonderful person. I've been friends with Jill since we were 12 (so that's like, what, three, four years? I'm bad with numbers) and we have joked over the years that when we're old and have outlived our partners we'll be the crazy ladies of the neighborhood sitting out on the porch together sippin' brews. I guess now I'll be going solo in my rocker.

We have had that kind of friendship in which time and distance never meant much of anything. Whether it had been one day or one year since we last saw each other, when we came back together it was like no time was lost at all. Hell, she's knew the stuff that great friendships are made of. I love that girl to no end and I'm struggle to come to terms with the fact that this is one distance that I won't be able to cross. I'm learning what a broken heart feels like.

I've often thought of Jill as one of those crystals that hang in a sunny window, taking the light and reflecting it in new and unexpected ways throughout the room. Jill does exactly that - shining a new radiance on everything and everyone that she comes in contact with. I know in my life she did wonders, teaching me how to let go and not feel like I always have to be in control, to enjoy the moments in life as they come without over-planning for the future. Life happens and for Jill that's no understatement.

With Jill there is always a sense of adventure. As kids exploring in the hills in her back yard, teens sneaking off to check out the "haunted" abandoned boys school, taking hour long road trips to check out some ska/punk band that we've never heard of, driving, just driving anywhere to see where we'll end up, moving cross country on a lark... there was no end to her sense of curiosity. The thing I learned with every Jill adventure, be it big or small, was that it's the journey, not the destination that counts. When she said that she was taking a three month vacation backpacking through South East Asia with just a loose itinerary and some money in her pocket, I wasn't surprised. With Jill, you learn to expected the unexpected.

I feel like there is so much more I could write - pages, in fact - about my dear friend and our 16 year friendship and yet I don't have the words right now. If I could, I'd post some pictures from over the years to fill in for my lost words. As it is, I don't have a working scanner nor do I have the heart to sift through all my old photo albums.

I suppose that these will have to suffice for now. Here's a very un-Jill-ish photo at my wedding (because only if asked by a friend would she wear a dress like that) and then at her college graduation in 2006.

I guess the only thing left to say at this time is that I love Jill dearly and I can't imagine this world without her in it.

Shalom & In the Pink

2009-04-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

I finished up Shalom.

I much prefer a people model for FOs, but since the intended recipient is skinny and I am, well, not, I had to use a chair instead. I added a little embroidered OM (or at least the semblance of, I hope) to cover up a mistake in the border. Mom always said, if you've made a mistake you might as well show it off in style! To tell the truth, I actually like the way it turned out.

Oh yeah, and remember how I was bemoaning my stupidity at ordering so few skeins? It turns out that skinny people don't need as much yardage - I ended up using one less skein than I had originally ordered. Which means that now I have a shitload of Knit Picks Shamrock in Connolly. Go figure!

Sunday night I started working on In the Pink using the gorgeous Blue Heron Yarn featured previously in my blog. The pattern, despite the way it looks when you print out the directions is actually very simple and easy to follow so far. In fact, it's somewhat addicting, which could be the combination of the easy-to-memorize pattern, luscious yarn, and the fact that whatever fragrance was in the yarn shop where I purchased it still permeates the yarn so with each stitch I get a whiff of deliciousness. (FYI - The shop is Knit and Pearl).

I honestly believe this gem of a pattern would be queued and knit more frequently if it was written more simply and with the addition of pictures (currently the pattern is very wordy and has nary a photo). For example, I realized that on the center circle from round 12 through 54 it could have been written simply like this instead:

Round 1: (yo, k1) 3 times, k to 2 sts before marker, k2tog. Rep to end of round
Round 2: k to 2 sts before marker, k2tog. Rep to end of round
Repeat these two rounds until you have 27 stitches between markers. Then, repeat round 1 once more (29 sts between markers).

I think that a lot of knitters are intimidated when they have to follow page after page of instruction and don't always take the time to sit down and look at what is really going on with a pattern. Also more detailed and step by step pictures of the process are very useful for visual learners (myself included).

So far I've finished the central medallion and right side (picture above shows the center medallion at about halfway done - more pictures to follow when I have good lighting).

Tonight I began working on the left side and found that Rows 5- 7 didn't make sense. A quick Ravelry search lead me to these alternate instructions by Ravelrer KnittingToday which I have copied below directly from her pattern notes:

5) K3, (YO, K1) twice, YO, PM, SSK, (K1, YO) twice 3 times, SSK, YO, K1, YO, K3
6) K3, P24, K3
7) K3, YO, K1, YO, PM, K3, Yo, K1, Yo, M, SSK, K1, (K1, YO)twice 3 times, SSK, (K1, YO)twice, K3

I'm scurrying off to try this out now - hope it works!

New Kids & New Yarn

2009-04-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

My sister Colleen and I went to a New Kids on the Block concert this Friday night. Colleen as a teen was the worlds biggest New Kids fan. I'm talking posters all over the wall, their entire tape collection, a binder full of clippings from every teen magazine in which they were featured, t-shirts, videos... the list goes on. So when I found out they were having a reunion tour I couldn't deny her inner 13-year-old the chance of a lifetime to see NKOTB.

Turns out, the cheap general admission seats were the ones to have at the Santa Barbara Bowl because we ended up being closer than the most expensive tickets - or as Col put it, close enough to see the sweat on their foreheads. Go ahead, squeal with delight, you know you want to.

In anticipation of the start of the show:

The No-So-New-Kids:

If you were a pre-teen around the same time I was, you may recognize this dance move:

Col, with "her" New Kid, Donny (Because all girls pick out their favorite New Kid. I wanted mine to be Jon, but since my oldest sister had already laid claim to him I had to do with second choice Danny).

Good times!

And so as to not make this post completely unrelated to knitting...

While in Santa Barbara I got the chance to stop in on LYS, Loop & Leaf and pick up some yarn. If you are ever in the Santa Barbara area I highly recommend stopping by this cute little shop. It's located in what was once a house just off of the touristy State Street. When I arrived there were groups of knitters sitting around the yard enjoying the sunshine, as well as one woman spinning yarn under a tree. If I didn't have to jet out of town I'm fairly certain that I could have spent an entire afternoon out there!

The yarns were at times pricey (I saw one skein of hand spun for over $100. Ain't no way I'm buying that!!) but the shop is very well put together with a lot of variety. I ended up picking up 3 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in the lovely shade of Ashburn.

I'm not sure what this will be yet (perhaps a shawl?) but I just loved the color.

Merkins Abound

2009-04-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

I gotta love The Anticraft for their ingenuity with issues. This issue they are featuring patterns (which aren't always knitting) for different kinds of Merkins.

What is a Merkin, you ask? It's well, wig for your nether regions. Getting a little chilly from a wax gone bad? This tiny toupee is the answer!

Below are a few of my favs from the issue. You can thank me for not posting the pictures of Merkins modeled by a hirsute man - if you check out the site you have been warned!

Honey Pot

Be Prepared

Superbia

Knits for Chicks

2009-04-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

What will they think of next??

Other proposed titles: Frozen Chicken, Coats for Cocks, Chicken Knits, WTF?

Tiny Sweater and Herbs

2009-04-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

I'm making some real progress with the Knit Knack KAL, Shalom. As I was going along with this I thought that there was no way that this could possibly fit an adult, even one as thin as the intended recipient, but those fears were quelled when my just-as-thin girl friend gave it an initial try on for me. I guess I'm just so used to thinking in large sizes!
I'm really enjoying this knit for it's simplicity, with the exception of the increases - my brain doesn't seem to be able to pay attention when I have to alternate m1, k1, m1, k2 and I've had to go back and re-do the increase rows at least once. It's really not a problem with the pattern, just my short knitting attention span. I'm contemplating doing another after I finish this one, adding in some cables on the front panels. We'll see what my knitter's ADD has to say about that when this is all said and done though.

What's that in the background, you ask? Guy's decided to go a little domestic and put in an herb garden. I think it was just another excuse for him to play with dirt. It makes him happy, so who am I to say no? Plus, the garden gnome approves.

Ah Crap

2009-03-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

I somehow managed to totally miscalculate my yarn order for Shalom. How did I not notice that each skein only has 82 yards? Why did I not check other Shalom projects and see how much yardage the ones modified to use worsted weight actually consumed until after my eensy weensy box of yarn arrived??

The only excuse that I could think of is that I took the calculations from one of the other types of yarn I was debating and just applied that same number to this yarn without double checking. That's a little lame, even for me.

Here's hoping that Knit Picks still has plenty of the same dye lot in stock!

Mary, to answer your question, yes my guess is that knitting limbo is where you have to do one of the following tasks and nothing else:

sew seams and weave in ends
calculate and re-calculate gauge without ever getting it right
be surrounded by gorgeous yarns but have no needles to work with (nor any way to construct makeshift needles)
Pick up dropped stitches 100 rows back on a project that is either extensively cabled, fair isle, or double knit.
Work on a complicated lace using a dark colored fingering weight yarn (which constantly splits) in very low light without a row counter, life lines, or stitch markers.
order yarn for a project and then finding out that it won't be near enough and you'll have to wait another 2 weeks for the shipment.

I'd rather be in Knitting Limbo

2009-03-27T17:00:00.001-07:00

my friend just sent me this link and I thought it was cute:

I'd rather be in knitting Limbo

Seat me next to the quiet starer, please

2009-03-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this neat website, plinky.com, which is dedicated to the amelioration of bloggers block. They provide you with various prompts to get the creative juices flowing. Curious as always, I decided to check it out. This prompt caught my eye:

Who would you rather be seated next to on a daylong bus trip: a talkative person with a really irritating voice, or a quiet person who keeps staring at you?

So here's my response:

As a knitter, I usually spend long trips knitting away at my most recent project. This naturally draws stares from curious passengers. I'd much prefer having a quiet person continually staring at me then the talkative person who would ask me a million dumb questions about my knitting starting with "are you expecting a baby?" and moving on to my all time favorite, "I've always wanted to learn but just don't have the time to knit." Puh-leaze! I hold two jobs, don't talk to me about not having the time - I manage to fit knitting in my schedule any way I can, one of which being bringing my project with me on a daytrip.

As my husband can attest to, when working on an intricate project the worst thing to do is to distract a knitter. I imagine that if I'm riding the bus alone I would absolutely take one of my most complicated projects because I know that I won't be distracted by others. It's no wonder that "Not now, I'm counting" is an oft heard knitter's mantra. If I had to sit by that annoying talkative person I would go batty with irritation and it would be all I could do to hold my tongue.

The thing I've learned about those quiet starers is that sometimes they will have the best and most original knitting questions. Face it, they've been watching, and calculating all the while so when they do finally speak up it's usually worth listening to. I would take that kind of stranger over the other any day!

So now, how would you answer that question? What would your rational be?

Work is Sabotaging my Knitting

2009-03-24T14:57:00.001-07:00

Yup. It's a sad fact.

I swear in the last week I've only knit about an inch of my sweater. Yeah, I'm still working on the same front flap that I've been working on all month. And that unnamed tam I was so diligently working to finish up? Today was the first time I was able to even touch it, much less sit down and fix the errors I'd made.

The conundrum is that I need to work to buy yarn, but then I don't have time to play with said yarn. Instead, I spend my spare time at work flipping through ravelry (in case any co-workers happen to read this, I swear I'm still productively multi-tasking and fielding calls simultaneously!!) finding all sorts of yarns and projects that I still don't have time to start. If only I was independently wealthy and didn't have to work to support my habit...

The good news? I actually got 2 hours tonight where I had nothing pressing to do and could just knit ('cause honestly, how pressing are bills, really??). I'm really looking forward to spring break, where I'll only be working my day job and will be able to spend my evenings working on my own unnamed Tam, Twist & Shout, and Shalom.

I'm still waiting for my yarn from Knit picks to come in - hope it makes it here soon! In the meantime, I'll leave you with this delicious hank by Blue Heron Yarns, a rayon/metallic blend in Spanish Dancer, which I purchased last summer during a meet up in Santa Barbara with some of my Knit Knack girls. I'm dying to make this into a shawl but I have yet to find or design the perfect pattern for it. Can't you just imagine how elegant those dark colors and gold sparkles would be draped around your shoulder while all dolled up?!

Shout out!

2009-03-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

I was given a shout out at Canary Knits for Indie Designer Day. Thank you Canary Sanctuary! If you get a chance, check out some of her original designs Here. I'm a big fan of this sweater, Alatus:

April KAL

2009-03-18T04:15:00.000-07:00

In April, along with the Knit Knack girls, I'll be doing a KAL for this lovely Sweater: Shalom by Meghan McFarlane I'm leaning toward using Knit Picks Shamrock yarn, even though it's a heavy worsted rather than a bulky yarn. Since the person that I'll be making this for is on the smaller size, I'm hoping it will work out in my favor. Here's the color, Connolly, that I'll be using:

I wasn't initially drawn to this colorway, but as I browsed projects on Ravelry I discovered that I really like the way the colors fall.

I've also been asked by a coworker to design a beanie for him, so as soon as I can wrangle him down to pick out his colors I'll be able to place my knit picks order. I'm actually looking forward to working on this hat for him!

Certification!!!

2009-03-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is totally not knitting related, but a huge accomplishment nonetheless:

I passed the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf National Interpreter Certification Test which means I am now officially certified!

I'm on cloud nine!

New Knitty is up!

2009-03-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

The new issue of Knitty is up! I can't help but wonder if I'm on the same brainwaves as some of these designers. I've been working on and off on a pair of mitts that resemble Sourwood so when I saw the small image for Reverie I freaked out momentarily. After viewing the full picture I've decided that it's different enough from the tam that I've been working so diligently on. This designing stuff is a lot harder than I had anticipated!

And Perhaps Not...

2009-03-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Per Mary's request, I finally sewed the buttons onto my Bulky Cable Sweater and took some shots. Well actually I had to drag my hubby away from his ukulele in order to snap the photos. See how happy he was?

Guy insisted that I had to show off some of the cables on the arms, so we ended up with quite a few hammy poses such as these:

After finishing up this sweater, I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed. It's a little big, which is normally okay, but the neckline nearly falls off my shoulders. I'm thinking that I may want to pick up some stitches for a yolk of sorts. Have any suggestions how best to do this?

The buttons that I picked out worked perfectly, although I think I may want to reposition them. Only time will tell if I actually put forth that effort. I'll probably end up giving this sweater away, since all I can see in it are the flaws.

In Knit Knack news..
I mailed out the last of my blanket squares today, so those of you who were (not so) patiently waiting for my squares now have your very own. Of course, in my (not so) hastiness to ship them off I totally forgot to snap a photo. If any of you feel up to sending me a photo of the square I made I'd really appreciate it for my ravelry page!

And lastly the design-in-project...
I was making some serious headway on this draft of the tam, then I noticed that it was getting a lot bigger than the first draft. I hadn't realizedthat I was nearly finished with one too many repeats of the pattern! Then I frog backed to the end of the previous repeat and somehow really screwed the pooch.

Yup, I managed to mess up my own pattern. It takes an extra special knitter to do that! So test knitters, don't hold your breath, since I've clearly got some kinks to work out.

Conversations with my Sweater

2009-03-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks to an unexpected afternoon off of work I finally had the time to washing and blocking my first sweater. It went something like this:

Me: alright you, in the wash you go
Sweater: hey, not so hot! I'm part wool, remember??!
Me: Oh shit! sorry about that.
Sweater: Ahhhh... cool water. That's much better.
Me: Ok, we'll just soak you for a few minutes there and I'll be right back.

30 minutes later

Sweater: Hey... hey... HEY! The water's freezing! Get me out of here!
Me: sorry... I got distracted
Sweater: It's a good thing you don't have any kids
Me: Geeze you're heavy when you're wet
Sweater: What's that supposed to mean??
Me: nothing, just, that you're well, not exactly a lightweight.
Sweater: Are you calling me fat?

after the first attempt at pinning

Me: Why is one sleeve longer than the other when I knit the exact same number of stitches?
Sweater: I don't know what you're talking about...
Me: Don't make me bust out the measuring tape
Sweater: You shouldn't have called me fat
Me: sigh Here we go again...

And for all you knit knackers, yes, those are your blanket squares still drying above the sweater.

Testers needed

2009-02-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

Because it's been raining so much here these days, I've been wearing my mitts everywhere. The good thing is that my hands have stayed warm; the bad thing is that many folks have noticed the mitts and asked that I make a pair for them. The good thing is that the mitts are a super simple project to whip out; the bad thing is that I have been putting aside the tam I've been designing to work on the mitts.
Yeah, that's right, I've been working on a lacy tam. I've decided that it's too soon to submit any of my designs to Knitty or Knotions (my favorite and the least intimidating of the web mags). Both of them have deadlines at the beginning of March, and I'm just barely working on my second draft of this tam. Instead, I've decided aim to either self publish or submit this one at a later date.
I am, however, looking for testers for this pattern. If you're interested in working on a lacy tam that uses fingering weight yarn then let me know. I'm aiming to have the kinks worked out and the pattern ready by the end of this month and testing finished by the end of April. If you're interested, shoot me a message either here or on Ravelry (My username is Shanny) and I'll send you the pattern. The only stipulation is that I ask that you DO NOT post any pictures or portions of the patterns online until I give the go ahead - in case I do decided to submit it for publishing in an online knit mag.

Instant Gratification Achieved

2009-02-17T12:47:00.000-08:00

The problem with trying to design patterns is that if I want to try to get them published, I can't post pictures and talk about them before I submit them. With that said, I've been dedicating all of my knitting time to some originals and the lovely Twist & Shout which all in all makes for some lousy blogging! I'm a knitter who loves some instant gratification, so you can imagine how keeping hush-hush about my projects and working on a sweater can be akin to torture for me. The remedy? These simple mitts:

These are inspired by the pair that Stephapalooza gave me during one of the last swaps, which I wear on a daily basis. They are simple and I'm thinking I might need to make a pair in every color! These ones are knit in 2nd Time Cotton by Knit one Crochet two in Scottish Moor colorway (which I also used to make myself a Reasonably Hip hat).

This is what I did in a nutshell:
CO 30 stitches
knit garter stitch for approx. 3.5 inches
k 8, bo 8 sts, k across rem sts
k to bo sts, co 8 sts, k across rem sts
knit garter for 3.5 inches more
bo all sts
use mattress stitch to sew seam.

rinse, lather, repeat. Always repeat.

Rest in Peace

2009-02-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

Nonny, I will miss you.

Adorableness in puppy form

2009-02-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

Guy and I have been fostering this adorable cutie for the past week.

Our friend found her at a school baseball game but couldn't keep her because her landlord already frowns on the four dogs she currently has, so we said that we'd watch her for a little while. We're guessing that she's a Jack Russell and Chihuahua mix and it looks like she hasn't been fixed yet. She's quite the snuggler and likes to crawl under the blankets - for this reason we've been referring to her as Snug Bug, or Buggy (but that could change).

Brisco and I wouldn't mind keeping her, but Guy maintains that we still need to find her a home (although I've seen some covert acts of cuddling between those two) so let me know if you're interested in meeting her.

The Great Square Extravaganza

2009-02-12T12:15:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, I've been stuck knitting squares for a group blanket with my knit knack girls. As of last night I am officially done with the knitting. Fina-fricken-ly!
Just gotta ship these bad boys off and wait for all my squares to arrive to assemble my own blanket.

Progress!

2009-02-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

I'm working my way through my second sweater of this year, and it's coming along rather nicely. Okay, so technically I haven't blocked the first sweater, but I've finished the knitting and seaming parts. Honestly, I was overly anxious to get started on the beautiful Twist & Shout to take the time to clean off the futon so that I have a large enough space to block sweater numero uno, so that is still stilling in a pile in it's project bag.
It was easy for me to make the jump to the next sweater since Guy, the ~~enabling~~ loving man that he is, had gotten me a $100 gift card to one of the three LYSs. I popped over there to try to find the perfect yarn and with a little help from Mrskitch I picked out some Cascade 220 ins a pretty teal blue/green. I had thought when I was going in there that I wanted something neutral, grey, or black that could go with anything, but Cascade told me different!

I'm truly enjoying this pattern, especially the tapered decreases and increases, which seem so simple and beautiful at the same time. It's funny, I've always openly avoided sweaters but now that I've started doing some I'm realizing that they aren't so big and frightening as they had once seemed.

I was making some great headway on this sweater until I noticed that I had received packages in the mail from fellow knit knackers Fey, SeahagMary, and KrisKnits. With some guilt, I was reminded of the fact that I have a group project that I'm seriously behind on.
Last year my knitting group came up with a great idea: we would make a group blanket for each other, each knitting a 10x10 for the 24 other participants. Once all squares were received, we would all have a blanket make by each other to snuggle up under while knitting. This was a great project in theory (and honestly I am still excited to get to the final project) but has now been dubbed the Great Square Extravaganza (thank you Mary!). I've learned that knitters are fickle creatures when it comes to projects and yarn. We should have known that few of us would have the attention span required to make it through all of those squares, which after a while start resemble swatches (we all know how much knitters love those) without being distracted. This was a lesson learned after three extensions of the deadline. Lord knows I surly wasn't able to resist!
Begrudgingly, I'v set aside my sweater and picked up my squares again. The most recent deadline extension was the end of January so it goes without saying that I've missed that too. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel - I've only got four left to knit and then I'll be fancy free to do as I please.

Urban Knitting

2009-01-19T09:59:00.000-08:00

Sometimes knitters want to stick it to the man as well! Urban Knitting

Thanks to Allen for finding this gem of an article. I've know a few knitters who do knit graffiti, but I'm yet to do any myself.

Sheldon Mopes Hat

2009-01-14T20:59:00.000-08:00

This was one of my early attempts at working without a pattern. I was inspired to make this hat while watching Death to Smoochy. The main character in the movie, Sheldon Mopes, wears this bulky green-toned hat that I just had to make for myself! This hat is simple to make, meant to be large and fits loosely over the head.

Pattern: Sheldon Mopes
All pattern links will divert you to where they are saved at www.acrobat.com when that opens up in your window click where it says "Download" in the top right corner to save the pattern to your computer. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and view the pattern. You can download Adobe Reader for free. Click Here to be linked to Adobe Reader.

Extreme Library Makeover!

2009-01-14T20:20:00.001-08:00

When my husband and I bought our condo two years ago, that sweet and wonderful man of mine allowed me to dub one of our rooms as a library. I had a great vision of a classic library with deep and enveloping colors, books lining every wall, a place where I could escape into with my other passion, reading. After applying 14 bazillion coats of red paint, moving in our puny unmatched bookcases, plus a year and a half of junk piling up, this is what my supposed hideaway had become:

An ugly, splotchy catch-all of a junk room. Not so cozy, huh?

In June when Guy asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I said that I wanted my library redone, complete with new paint and new bookshelves. "Your wish is my command, dear lady!" he responded with glee... or more accurately, "you sure you don't just want some jewelry?"

To his credit, within a week or too we had been able to box up the books, junk the most decrepit of the shelves, and primer & repaint over the horrid red (yes I admit I picked that horrid red - c'mon, it looked great on a 1x1 card!). I was thrilled -just a few more days for my perfect bookshelves to arrived...just a few more weeks...a month.. a letter in the mail that the company had folded and here's your money back. Shit.

By that time we both got too busy to deal with it and unfortunately had because utter used to having piles of books in every room, waiting to be shelved. Until the day after Christmas when I was sitting there thinking of what books, yarn, and/or books about yarn I wanted to buy myself and I realized that I should get up, get Guy and his big ol' truck and just buy some damn bookshelves already.

It only took one trip to the store, three guys to get the shelves up the twisty staircase, and 2 hours for me to get the books re-categorized and alphabetized (I'm kinda fanatical about that, perhaps due to the college years spent working at my local Borders) and voila!

My new and improved book nest, with walking space to boot!

Sure, I still need to actually hang the art on the walls but I love my library. I'm very much looking forward to spending this upcoming weekend as a hermit, holed up in it with a cup of coffee in hand, reading my buddy's top secret pre-released first novel. Yes, if the author of said novel is reading this blog now do note that I said first, as in, I expect there to be subsequent novels outta you.

Scarves keep resolutions better than I do

2009-01-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

I got the scarf completed with just enough time for it to do a quick workout on the Iron Gym before embarking on it's marathon to the Special Olympics. Ah, dear Red Heart Super Saver - should I never be forced to wrap my fingers around you again for knitting I would be a happy lass indeed!

I've put aside the much frustrated mitts that I was trying to design. Really, I'm doing this for the good of the mitts, definitely not because I've got a tasty new skein of Knit Picks Imagination in Pixie Dust which I desperately want to making into a lacy tam. And no, I haven't been pouring over my size 4 needles yarn-over-ing my eyes out.

Okay, okay, I know, I've got knitter's ADD. That sweater only needs one more time to that button band, that scarf Askew could be bound off, those slippers for Guy need to felted, those last 5 of 20 wonderful/damned Knit Knack blanket squares need to be punched out by the end of the month...

I'm seeing a pattern here in which I almost reach the finish line and then I jump into a new race.

As for those mitts, well, just because I'm not actively knitting them doesn't me I'm not working on them. I've already got a few ideas of how to make it better, one of which involves a provisional cast on. I dislike doing a provisional cast on, but I know that for what I have in mind this will yield the best results. The other is to make them just a tad larger - I don't exactly have tiny hands and while they did fit on, the cable got all stretched out and cattywonkus (yes, it's a real word). I swear, after I finish all the aforementioned projects I'll get back to these bad boys.

Special Olympics

2009-01-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

Thursday night I started working on a scarf for a project to provide each participant at the 2009 Special Olympics with a homemade scarf. (For more information, see here: Special Olympics)

Upside: An excuse to knit and support Special Olympics participants.

Downside: the project requires that I use scratchy Red Heart Super Saver and it must be received by 1/15, which means that I need to finish this by Monday to ship it out.

It's taking every fiber of my being not to put this aside and start working with some more luscious wool. Wish me luck! I'm working it up using the Reversible Cable Scarf pattern.

Back to the grind

2009-01-05T19:28:00.001-08:00

We just said farewell to our final house guest, having had various friends in town with us off and on over the last two weeks. Now that they're gone I've got to get back in the habit of the day to day, but visits like this remind me that I love to have company because it's a brief opportunity to suspend real life (bills? what bills?) and really just enjoy life.
Throughout these weeks I've been working intermittently on an original pattern for some mitts. This has me stymied! I had this vision, and it just doesn't seem to be working out, no matter how many times I've worked and re-worked it. I'm starting to come to a place in the pattern where it's looking okay, but something just isn't right. I think I might have overestimated my designing capabilities with this project. The worst thing is that I keep looking through patterns on ravelry and finding things that are nearly the same as what I'm working on and thing, "why not just scrap it and make one of those?" It's frustrating. Who am I kidding?

Felted Vase Pattern

2009-01-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

This is an older and simple pattern I developed a few years back and am now finally posting.

I made some Knitted Lilies for my mother in law for her birthday and decided to whip up a quick felted vase to go with them.
Pattern: Felted Vase
All pattern links will divert you to where they are saved at www.acrobat.com when that opens up in your window click where it says "Download" in the top right corner to save the pattern to your computer. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and view the pattern. You can download Adobe Reader for free. Click Here to be linked to Adobe Reader.

Brand New Year, Brand New Knits

2009-01-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

I'm not one for new years resolutions in the rest of my life, but when it comes to knitting they come more easily. Before I get into this years resolutions, let's take a look at last year's knitting resolutions:
1) knit more socks and less hats
I rounded out the year with six completed pairs of socks, one pair abandoned which will eventually be frogged, and along the foot apparrel line I completed 5 pairs baby booties and a pair of slippers. Not too shabby, however I did manage to plug out a whopping 16 hats and 1 calorimetry. What can I say, I love hats!
2) finish or frog everything in my WIP/UFO basket
Alas, this is a somewhat hopeless cause. There seems to always be something in the WIP/UFO basket - two of which are still there from when I made that resolution last year. I swear, I'm gonna pick them up again! This is one resolution that will not be attempted again - really, why set yourself up for failure?
3) knit something for my currently-in-utero nephew before he is born
Ok, so that was sort of a gimme - how difficult is it really to made baby stuff? Cooper pulled 5 knitted gifts outta auntie Shanny this year.

I didn't do all that bad, so here are the goals for 2009:

1) knit sweaters this year. I’m coming to the end of my first ever and I've got the bug to do Twist & Shout as soon as I'm finished (which will hopefully be soon - I'm almost done with the second arm and just have the button band left to do after that!).

2) Become a better blogger and blog more. I'm new to all this and while I know I'm no Crazy Aunt Pearl,Yarn Harlot or Panopticon, butI'd like to be half as proficient as they are!

3) Start designing more. I'd like to be able to put out a few good and interesting patterns if I can. I've come to a place where I think I can start putting stuff out there. The challenge I'm having so far is originality - thankfully ravelry makes it easy to check if I'm inadvertently being a copy cat.

So there we have it folks. Best wishes for a brand new year of knitting challenges!

Do American's Read?

2008-12-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

Okay I saw this on another blog I read and I to have decided to post this.

************************************************************************
This one is originally from The Big Read. Apparently they reckon that most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1. Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2. Underline those you intend to read (I'm making them red because it's easier)
3. Italicize the books you LOVE.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. 1984 - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (Okay, so I started this one and never finished it because I hated it)
11. Little Women - Lousia M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbevilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulkes
18. Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisted - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold comfort Farm - Stellla Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stroker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Slyvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (this is my all time favorite novel)

So it looks like I've read 44 on the list - not too shabby!

Christmas Card 2008

2008-12-23T16:02:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

2008-12-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I said it.

Guy & I love to get festive over the holidays - the decorations, the music, the corny Christmas movies, all of it. Is it cheesy? Absolutely! Is it still fun? Definitely! Today we spent the better part of the day finishing up the shopping then I spent the evening wrapping everything up and stuffing it under the tree. From here on out, we can just sitback and take in the holidays - and by that I mean rush around to all of the parties and family events that we have scheduled.

As I wrapped, I realized just how much I'd been downplaying all my holiday knitting. More than a few times I'd said, "I'm not really doing much Christmas knitting this year" and what's worse is that I truly believed it! That is, until today when I counted 19 knitted gifts. 19??!! Oh, yeah, noooo I didn't do any Christmas knitting at all. Barely any! Add in the two Christmas sweaters for the dogs and my count hits 21 (No fake ID needed, thank you very much). I can't wait to see what happens when I actually do put my mind to knitting Christmas gifts - sign me up for carpal tunnel surgery when that happens. Good grief!

Tuesday's Miracle Pattern

2008-12-05T16:38:00.000-08:00

I started knitting this hat on a Monday, as I sat by my grandmother Nonny’s supposed deathbed. I finished it the next day, Tuesday evening, right about the time that the doctor announced that despite all odds, Nonny was recovering – a “Miracle” he said.

Without Further Ado: Tuesday's Miracle
All pattern links will divert you to where they are saved at www.acrobat.com when that opens up in your window click where it says "Download" in the top right corner to save the pattern to your computer. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and view the pattern. You can download Adobe Reader for free. Click Here to be linked to Adobe Reader.

Weekend of Thanks

2008-11-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

What a busy few days this has been. Thursday I headed south to see the in-laws for Thanksgiving. My nearly two-year-old niece and my sister-in-law's foster children, ages six and eight were with us for the occasion, and I have to say that there is nothing like a bunch of kids to invigorate a holiday function. the kids kept us up and playing, whether at the Wii (even Grampy got in on the action) or out in the backyard with a baseball. Some examples of the cuteness:

Every time the 6 year old caught the ball he'd fall on the ground, forcing the 2 year old into fits of giggles. The eight year old was an ace at the wii and annihilated most of us. Thank goodness that she wanted to take a break from beating our socks off to join me in playing a little dress up with my mother in law's fancy gloves. I love that unbeknownst to her, the 2 year old flashed the sign for "I Love You" in the picture above. How very fitting for a day of family togetherness. And yes, I did manage to slip in a shot of our cute ~~kid~~ pooch Brisco Fancypants.
Friday I got to meet up with a couple of friends who live near the in-laws and do some knitting. Well actually Lara and I knitted while Guy and Jesse played with Photoshop and sent us on a second honeymoon to Niagara Falls - see how I'm cheerily punching him because he has a beer and I don't:

This was the first time that Lara and I got together to knit. She'd been telling me that she's a baby knitter and that there was no way that she'd be able to make something without a pattern. I completely disregarded what she said and coached her along as she designed her very own mitts. See Lara, you ain't no baby knitter anymore! They turned out great, and I'm thinking I might need to knit me a pair of those.

Friday night we decided to head north to our friends cabin for the rest of the weekend. Up there it's normally cold and snowy by now, but instead it stayed in the 60s. Bad for my friend, an avid snowmobiler (or if you're like some Alaskans, snow machiner) but good for me, 'cause I got to spend hours sitting on the deck knitting and drinking coffee/wine/beer. Here's the view of the lake just a short stroll from the cabin and me knitting on the porch, wearing in the hat and mitts that steph sent me for the knit knack hat exchange.

If you're wondering about the grin, it's due to the fact that the cabled sweater pattern that I am working on finally clicked. I had started this, my first human sized sweater, back in August and pretty much haven't touched it since early September. This weekend I decided that come hell or high water, I would make some progress on this damn thing. As I was knitting along I just couldn't see where this is going even though I had the picture and was following the pattern correctly. Finally, I put down my knitting, pulled out the pattern, and re-read it from start to finish. There it was, at the start of the pattern: top down construction. Ah-ha! I flipped my work over and finally it all made sense. Talk about a "duh" moment! I was able to make some headway after that.

We got home mid day today with enough of the day left to deck the halls. I let Guy and Mike take care of the lights, with their little assistant Brisco, sporting his 2007 Christmas sweater, Buster. Brag alert: For those of you on Ravelry, our little Brisco's picture is on the pattern page for both that sweater and his 2008 Cables & Bits Christmas sweater. You better believe I'll be shooting for a trifecta next year.

Now I'm off to enjoy the Christmas lights and work on another Cables and Bits for Brisco's cousin Rocky (my sister's dog).

Vermont Hat

2008-11-25T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here's a hat that I knit a couple of years ago, when I was newly fascinated with fair isle. I couldn't find just the right pattern so I pulled out my graph paper and played around creating something that would be easy yet interesting. I knit one for each member of my family that lives in Vermont (Californian thinking: They must need a lot of hats - it snows there!) so it got the very unoriginal name, Vermont hat.
Pattern: Vermont Hat
All pattern links will divert you to where they are saved at www.acrobat.com when that opens up in your window click where it says "Download" in the top right corner to save the pattern to your computer. You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer in order to open and view the pattern. You can download Adobe Reader for free. Click Here to be linked to Adobe Reader.

Miracle Tuesday

2008-11-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

My Nonny has been in the hospital since Sunday night. Monday morning I got a call from my mom that they didn't expect her to live past noon that day and the pneumonia she has comes with a 60-70% mortality rate. I took off work and spent the entire day by her bedside, waiting and watching as she was supposed to be dying. And then I did it again on Tuesday. When the doctor came in to see our family yesterday he literally called her a miracle - he hadn't expected to be seeing her again. I can hardly put to words what an emotional roller coaster this has been. Nonny's still not out of the woods, but today is another day that I have with her, and for that I'm thankful. I tell you what, that 87 year old woman is quite a fighter!

While bedside with Nonny I started and finished my own pattern for a cabled hat, which I think I'll probably call Tuesday's Miracle. I need to refine the pattern since the one I made turned out child sized and I want it to fit an adult. After that I'll post the pattern. I'll be back in the hospital with her tonight as well as on and off throughout the next week, so I'll probably be working on that more and posting blogs a lot less.

Another Tuesday Miracle, my nephew Cooper crawled for the first time! I got the text from my sis while with Nonny, so I told her and she grinned ear to ear. Here's a video of the benchmark:

I swear one of these day's I'll have a post that doesn't start with a catastrophe!

A Little Thing Called Gauge

2008-11-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

The termite situation is nearing to a close - by tomorrow construction should be done on my walls and we'll have had a visit by our friendly neighborhood exterminator. The gods must have been smiling on us because this whole debacle hasn't set us back as much as I originally anticipated. Knock on wood! Knock on wood!
As any good knitter would, I used knitting to deal with my stress and was able to punch out a Pi Topper while making numerous To-Do lists (just ask my hubby how effective the lists are). Apparently I was a little more distracted than I thought because I didn't even notice how huge this was until after I had added on the embellishment. While it's perfect sized for a person with unruly dreadlocks, it's WAY too big for it's intended recipient, a middle aged woman going through chemo. Evidence:

Time to find a friend with dreads to gift this too, 'cause I'm sure as hell not frogging it! I've started over on this project with needles 3 sizes smaller, but the second time around it never goes as quickly. I've got an interpreting workshop this weekend, so I'm sure it'll be done soon enough.

In other news...

I broke my new knitter friend Erin's LYS cherry.
Erin had already become a major stasher of craft store yarn, so I figured she was ready for the next step in knitting addiction, the Local Yarn Store. She was so overwhelmed, which I knew because she kept repeating, "I'm so overwhelmed!"

I took her to the newest LYS in town, Swatches, which I had never been to before. It's a cute little shop where I met owner Fran and her friend/assistant/talky-talker Janet. I have to admit that I felt like a super baby knitter talking to them - I can't imagine what was going through Erin's 6-month-old-knitter mind! Talking to them did firm up my resolve to start working on creating my own patterns again. Here's what I got, which I'm thinking I'll make into some sort of lacy mitt:

The best part is that while I was there I got to meet Angela, the maker of True Love Fiber, the yarn porn from last post! She was really sweet and was sitting out front of the shop knitting with her son. I'll tell you this, there's nothing cuter than a boy knitting his first skull and crossbones washcloth!

Termites Schmermites

2008-11-09T12:27:00.000-08:00

We just found out that termites are ravaging our walls, so we're going to have to basically replace all the studs. I'm not happy about this at all.
To brighten this day, I just came across this gorgeous sock yarn in my stash that I had forgotten about. Wake Up by True Love Fiber. I got it at Ancient Pathways, the owner of which messaged me on Ravelry to let me know that she had saved a skein for me after I had commented how much I loved the colors of one of her projects that used this yarn. Very cool lady!!!
With no further ado, Yarn porn:

Calorimetry Revisited

2008-11-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, I like oh so many other knitters, excitedly knitted up a Calorimetry only to find that it was HUGE! Seriously, I've yet to find a knitter who was able to follow the pattern to specifications and yield a perfect Calorimetry. Here's mom being a good sport on Christmas day wearing the one I gifted to her:

Her extreme good will continued all through Christmas morning as she didn't take it off until all presents were unwrapped. Oh, and I forgot to mention that not only did I knit up one of these huge head coverings, I knit TWO! Evidence that I knit a second one, apparently hoping that it would magically turn out smaller than it's predecessor:

Denial. I know.

This was pretty much the last time these head coverings were seen until yesterday when I came across this monstrosity and decided to do something I've never had the heart to do before: I frogged the entire project. I've always though there was some level of shame in frogging, but in all actuality it was almost a cathartic experience, and on top of that I got to knit with this lovely Katia Mexico yarn again. Win-Win! Honestly, with the exception of the size issue, this pattern is a good and simple one to make - I don't think I spent more than an hour or two on this bad boy.

So with no further ado, I give you Calorimetry revisited:

Maybe I can get mom to pull her Calorimetry out of whatever closet she stashed it in so I can frog and reknit hers as well.

Yes, that is Mike in the background pretending to stab me with my own knitting needles

Getting Started

2008-11-06T23:38:00.001-08:00

Yes, my obsession with knitting has finally compelled me to start a blog.