actual knitting content

knitting up this sweater for girl-child. i am loving it! started ten days ago and i feel like i'm almost done! i know i'm not, but still. digging how easy the pattern is to follow. the yarn is so soft and i love the construction - top down, raglan sleeves and the cabled ribbing is so nice! i know i just spoke in a foreign language to my non-knitterly friends. my apologies. but for those who do understand, check out this amazingly easy pattern by amy swenson.

yarn is by elann, peruvian sierra aran. pattern is mr. greenjeans.

stitches

i had the deep pleasure of going to stitches, midwest last week with a couple of great knitterly friends. i went on their website to see if my new favorite yarn, madelinetosh was hosting a booth. i sadly discovered they were not. but! webs was there with a huge lot of this gorgeous yarn. don't you just love the name? i came away with this little lovely in composition book grey. but really, i think of it more as storm clouds. it's very similar to my dear mmmalabrigo. now, what does it want to become?

indiana state fair

we had a great time at the fair last week. we arrived early to beat the heat and the crowds. though i didn't get to see everything, i did get to spend close to an hour in the poultry barn, talk cattle with a cute cowboy and got my fill of lemon shake-ups (my favorite).

we spent the first part of our visit checking out the antique tractors and visiting all the activities in pioneer village. there was primitive woodworking for the mister and fiber arts for me. we just kept giving girl-child cotton candy and she was happy. some things never change.

the day was too short but it was about all we could stand in the indiana heat. i forget how blasted hot it gets here in august. i think it's like childbirth that way - too painful to remember.

i'm seriously thinking of entering a project in next year's fair. think this lovely would win any ribbons?

i finished my modern quilt wrap.

if you missed it on facebook or ravelry, here it is for your viewing pleasure. i don't see how i'll ever knit anything so lovely again. even though it's simple garter stitch, the colors are so striking against each other it looks quite impressive. i can't believe it's done! finally! it would be fun to enter something in the fair and i can't think of a better project. stay tuned...

wednesday webshare

i found the most adorable patterns for dishcloths ever! kris patay, of kris knits has designed some serious cute. i bought one set and went back the next day and bought four more! i mentioned it to a friend and she said she just couldn't pay for dishcloth patterns. the next day i got a text that read, "i just spent eight dollars on dishcloth patterns!" serious cute.

with inexpensive cotton and just a few hours you can easily create a whole set of cloths to keep for yourself, or gift to someone special.

i made all of these in the last week or so, all available in her free pattern section:

picture courtesy of kris knits.

this is the first one i did as a blanket square. it ended up a little small, but with some tweaking, i think many of her patterns would be usable for blanket squares.
this is the one i did in blue for the schuyler blanket project:

 

they knit up in a jiffy. go on and buy yourself some cute.

Schuyler Blanket Project

i haven't been knitting much lately. i don't know if it's just a summertime thing, or maybe grief, but i just haven't felt inspired. i've gone to my knitting group a few times in the past weeks and that has helped. but otherwise, i've just not felt creative, until yesterday. 

a few weeks ago i joined a particular knitting group on ravelry but it's ties are much closer than just an internet forum. the schuyler blanket project was founded by my friend, tammany. her daughter, the namesake of the project was born last summer. when schuyler died the same day, tammany's knitting friends put together a blanket of squares, hand-knit by them, in the hopes she would feel the comfort of their love as she wrapped the blanket around her. tammany started the schuyler blanket project to share that love with other grieving families. 

i pledged two squares on a blanket for a woman i don't even know. but i do know her pain. and i  know the magic these blankets hold. these squares, hand made with love are no great miracle but in some small way they matter.

if you have some spare time (literally, my first square knit up in just a few hours), and a willing heart, please consider knitting (or crocheting) an 8 x 8 square for this wonderfully worthwhile project. send your squares to me directly and i will see they find a home in a blanket for a mother who has experienced life's greatest loss.

cage the elephant

i started her weeks ago. she sat patiently in my knitting bag. surviving dog attacks, she was waiting for me to pick her up again. she probably wanted me to knit her some legs so she could run from that pesky dottie!

but here she is! posing for her closeup. ready to make girl-child smile. i'm calling her valentine.

isn't my trunk fine?

third time's a charm

finally finished my cousin's hat. now that the average temperature in california is well into the 40's...

ah well. she'll love it because she loves me.

thanks again, jared for a fantastic pattern!

and then i fainted

i gasped aloud when i pulled these from the wash yesterday. they are among my favorite socks, second only to the purple stripe socks i knit myself. i wear them all. the. time. and now it shows. :(

this is why hand-knit socks are such a labor of love. they wear out. the more you love them the faster they go. i'm so sad. i think they can be fixed. when red rhonda gifted them to me, she also gave me a teeny hank of the yarn. just for this purpose, i'm thinking.

can anyone help?

*sigh*

french press felted slippers

i've been staring at these slippers for weeks. i can't even tell if they're cute any more. i fell in love with the pattern when i saw it on ravelry back in november, and i thought i'd love the finished product, but i don't. and i'm sad about that. they knit up like a dream - super quick! and they don't take very much wool so i thought they'd make great gifts but how can i gift something i don't love?
i do have one more pair to knit up for a friend. we'll see how i feel after that. i'll let you know.

i'm no scrooge

but i wasn't going to do any christmas knitting. proclaiming christmas a knit-free zone was one way to lighten my holiday load. i wasn't going to send any christmas cards either. . .funny how these things work. or not.

i mean, i have things on the needles, i am knitting: a clapotis for girl-child and manly socks for ken but i wasn't going to have this mad dash to the finish line, pressured to finish last-minute gifts.

enter exhibit a:

ashley's boyfriend put in a hat request. and i'm doing a gift exchange with some knitters after the holidays. then i found this blog and her felted slippers and it's been downhill since. i have procured more wool in the last week than i can shake a . . .a knitting stick at!

this is the french press felted slipper, before and after. ravelry is the best way to get the pattern, especially after poor melynda was 'harlotized'. i think i've been staring at it too long. i can't even tell if it's cute any more! it needs one more good run through the wash so it's not so floppy but i think it's cute. now to find the perfect buttons...

and one more knitting related bit. can i just say my mom rocks? i asked her if she could knit girl-child a sweater. ashley said, "omg! i love that sweater!" when we were watching a scene from the movie juno. so, i took a picture of my TV with my cell phone, emailed it to my mom and said, "can you knit THIS sweater?"

she took that crappy cell phone picture, bought some yarn, found a squirrel chart and worked her magic:

ashley was squeeing all over the kitchen. i couldn't even get her to hold still for a picture.

well, maybe one.

she absolutely loves it. as in, wears-it-every-day loves it. cried when she opened the package loves it. wasn't going to let me take it to my knitting group to brag on my mom loves it.

thanks mom.

manly socks

ken loves his handknit socks so much. i thought he might need an alternate pair to wear while his never ending socks are in the laundry.

for those inquiring minds, this is one of the harry potter yarns by opal - hedgewig, i think. not bad, eh?

ribbed lace

i know a lot of people have knit this pattern. ravelry told me so. i've knit this pattern! i don't think it's difficult, per se: it's an 8 stitch repeat with a 24 row pattern repeat. it's a combination of increases, decreases and yarn overs that creates this lovely fabric of lace. i remember it being a bit challenging the first time but the end result was a pair of socks so. . .

since then i have tried no less than four times to create these socks again. and i'm not sitting here with a single pair of ribbed lace socks.

i tried once with some beautiful yarnlove. it certainly wasn't a problem with the yarn: silk and wool. for your feet. delicious.

i tried again this summer in seattle with some lorna's laces. again, lovely yarn but the pattern just wouldn't come off my needles.

the other day i cast on these:

and, here we go again. i'm having trouble already. i know what i did wrong but do you know how fun it is to un-knit three rounds of yarnovers, increases and decreases?! ::maniacal laughter:: do you?

but. i will say, i'm a much better knitter now than i was last year when i knit these socks the first time so fixing should be a breeze. right?!

grizzly trying on his new sweater. he LOVES it!

national pizza month

october is national pizza month. really. it is. when i found out on chan's blog i said, "to heck with meatloaf! we're having pizza for dinner!"

and remind me next time the good crust recipe is in the food processor cook book.

it was ooey, gooey and delicious. chan is hosting a triple-B contest. supposedly a pizza party gains another entry. i don't know if having pizza for dinner constitutes a pizza party but here's hoping!

speaking of hope. . .

this here is known as my hope hat. i'm knitting it for a friend who has a friend who needs some hope in her life. each stitch is infused with that hope. i believe in that sort of magic.

here's hoping. . .

when knitting goes to the dogs

literally, folks think i've gone pure mad.

first with the hat, now with a sweater. i'm knitting my dog a sweater. of malabrigo no less. it's going to be gorgeous. she'll be the best dressed dog around to be sure.

now, to those of you who think i've gone totally nuts, when little girl Ginger goes to the groomer, she gets all her hair cut off. and when it's cold out, she shivers. and the coldest is yet to come - it snows here. but in this gorgeous wool sweater, not only will she look fabulous but she'll be toasty all winter long. and i get to knit with my very favorite yarn. malabrigo is the most luscious wool yarn i've ever wrapped my hands around.

i'm using the left-over lettuce from the koolhaas hat and a smidgen of girl-child's pornstar pink (bought for her clapotis) to create the edging. they both go perfectly with the hank of melilla i picked up yesterday in zionsville.

i can't wait to show her off!

The Absent Tears

post title created using random title generator cause i'm lazy like that.

i've been trying to jumpstart my knitting. since the cool ass hat i haven't really knit anything. i cast on another pair of never ending socks but set them down shorty after and i haven't picked them up again.

so, nothing jump starts my mojo like some inspiration. i spent some time browsing patterns on ravelry but just didn't find what i was looking for. i don't know why i was feeling inspired to knit for my dogs, but that's the direction i headed. i got some doggie knits books form the library. and i knit a doggy hat. i think i've officially gone crazy. i'm knitting hats for dogs. i'm a crazy dog lady. somebody save me.

the funny thing about knitting a hat for a dog is they really don't like hats. at least my three little ones don't. i initially knit this hat for fatboy. he must have a weird head. the hat didn't really work on his head. in this hat ginger reminds me of a cheerleader or something with big fluffy pony tails for ears. grizz won't even come near me when i'm holding the hat. i think he's the smartest one of the bunch. myself included.

koolhaas redux

jared flood of brooklyn tweed is pure knitting genius. i've been a long-time admirer through his blog - his knitting, spinning and photography are just so inspiring. when i knit his koolhaas hat the first time last year, i was smitten. but now i'm 100% in love. this pattern looks complex but knits up so easily, and it creates this amazing lattice that honestly makes me look like a much better knitter than i am. how can i ask for more than that?

if you're a knitter and haven't made this hat yet, well shame. on. you.

halfway

i'm finally halfway done with my modern quilt wrap. it's seriously the finest thing i've ever knit. and i'm not just talking yarn weight. it's absolutely lovely. and halfway done.

and now i know

i've been knitting socks for more than a year now. i've knit probably half a dozen pair. some have been on double pointed needles, some magic looped on one long circular needle but up to this point always one at a time and always from the cuff down. after spending a week with the fabulous two-at-a-time sock knitting ms g i was seduced into knitting socks two at a time, toe up. she made it look so easy. plus she gifted me with this fabulous yarn. how could i refuse?

and easy it is! i learned judy's magic cast on. i like it!

but i'm not sure i like working on one long needle.
there are some knitters who hate double pointed needles. and while i agree, sometimes it does feel like wrestling a porcupine, knitting on one long circular, for me, isn't any better. it's just different. i'm glad to have this new technique mastered but did i love it? not really. and now i know.

as a portable project, one at a time works better for me and i swear it's faster! i always laugh at knitters who say one way takes longer than the other, because really, isn't it the same number of stitches? but i swear, two at a time felt like it took forever!! surely i can knit two socks one at a time in less than 16 days!

and i'm not crazy about the afterthought heel. it's easy enough to work but i do like a good heel flap. when you knit socks from the cuff down, once you cast off, you're done. with this, i cast off both socks late last night, then spent all day working just one heel. it's done. mighty pointy, but i know how to fix that next time. this heel does seem much less bulky, so less likely to bunch up out the back of my shoe. that's a plus. and now i know. but i'm done with only one. it will be at least one more day before i have a finished pair of socks.
/whine.

i guess besides all the whining, the point of this post was to encourage you knitters to reach outside of your comfort zone and try something new. you may like it or not, but at least you can say, " i came. i saw. i knit it and now i know."

sydney's woobie

i have a new baby niece. and every new baby needs a woobie, right?
sometimes i find a project as a gift and sometimes the project finds me. that was the case with this blankie. this is the opart from knitty and it is fabulous.
a quick knit, done in a washable acrylic/nylon blend makes the perfect, drag around the house while i suck my thumb sort of gift.

happy baby, dave and lis.
love you.