Monthly Archives: December 2008

Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2008 | 14 comments

Here’s my last FO for 2008.

It’s the Head Hugger beanie from Ann Norling. I made it last night. I’m teaching a class at Twisted in February and again in April, Intro to Circular Knitting/Basic Hat. I needed a shop model/teaser for the class. This is a good basic hat pattern that a relative newbie can master, and then customize as they wish. Should be fun!

I was going to make a mosaic of all my 2008 FO’s, but organizing all the pictures was daunting. There are about 30, and I’m out of time. So instead, here are things that I’ve designed/written during 2008.

They are, from left to right, top to bottom: entrelac socks, felted slip stitch tote, log cabin baby blanket, zigzag lace pedi socks, stitch markers, checkerboard scarflet, Athena entrelac neck warmer, Pippi (pattern coming soon), and the square for the Afghans for Afghans afghan. Someday we’ll finish all those squares!

I started this blog in March, and it’s been way more fun than I anticipated. I started selling patterns on Ravelry and at Twisted this year, too, and that’s been a good experience. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Happy new year and happy knitting!

14 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Knit, pattern design, ravelry

Here’s Pippi

Posted on December 30, 2008 | 11 comments

The hat is finished! DH says I look like Pippi Longstocking in it, so Pippi is her name.

Crochet edging took care of the curling issues. I tried single crochet, but it didn’t have enough oomph to tame the curl, so half double crochet is the winner here. The hat is really fun to wear, even though I don’t wear hats.

Now I want to make it again, a little bigger, a few tweaks…but I have another project that I promised myself I would finish by New Year’s Day, so that one is first in line.

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged earflap cap, earflap hat, hat, Knit

Stashbusting improvisation

Posted on December 29, 2008 | 9 comments

Well, I didn’t make another pair of socks. I decided to try something else with the stash yarn.

What is it? Besides bright and cheery.

It’s trying to be an earflap cap. I’m designing as I go. I mostly like it. But I don’t like that the brim in front is flipping up. I should have started with some garter stitch at the edge.

The earflaps themselves tend to curl. That’s their nature, being stockinette stitch. I think some crochet around the edges will tame that problem. The flaps could also be about half an inch shorter, but I’m not going back to the beginning to change them!

I generally don’t wear hats; they mess up my hair. But after all the snow of the past couple weeks, I decided that a hat could be a good thing. Earflaps and some braids on the flaps would give some visual interest (pretend to be a hairstyle?); I think I’d like that better than a beanie.

First try at the crown shaping was not what I wanted, so I’m on the second attempt. It’s all trial and error here.

Happy new year!

9 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Warm woolies, happy feet

Posted on December 23, 2008 | 16 comments

I finished my Ukrainian Socks last night. Here they are, unblocked.

I used an afterthought heel, so the heel is basically another toe. It fits well. It should, because it took three tries to get it right.

Feet are the best sock blockers!

And I have happy feet. I wore these to work today, in snow boots.

Worsted weight socks, adapted from Ukrainian Socks in Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. Knit from stash yarn, KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, and US size 5 dpns.

I really like how these turned out. But there were a million ends to weave in! So my next socks will have fewer colors. I’m considering the Finnish Socks from the same book, adapted again for worsted weight yarn. Did I just say “next socks?” Me, the non-sock knitter? Hey, it’s cold out there!

What’s wrong with this bird bath?

16 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, knit socks, snow

Warm socks

Posted on December 21, 2008 | 9 comments

Well, they will be, when I get them done. I’m knitting them with worsted weight yarn, KnitPicks Wool of the Andes.

Yes, that’s an insane number of needles in that sock. Eight, to be precise. The sock is based on the Ukrainian Socks in Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. I love the color pattern on those socks. Since the stitch count is different, I had to choose different stitch patterns that would fit into a 10 stitch repeat instead of a 16 stitch repeat. I’m keeping the peasant heel, sometimes called an afterthought heel, but messing around with it a bit. I’ll do a plain blue toe, no pattern on it for me. I don’t want them to be too bulky.

I didn’t want to go all the way to the toe and find out that the sock would be too long or too short, so I’m doing the afterthought heel before I finish the toe. I put the heel stitches on my short dpns before I took out the waste yarn, because I like the security of having the stitches accounted for before pulling the waste yarn.

Enough needles for ya?

We’re snowed in here in PDX, and are having freezing rain on top of that. There’s a crunchy crust of ice on top of the snow, but it’s not so hard that I can’t crunch through and walk somewhere. It’s just a lot of work. I’m hoping it all thaws gracefully when it should. I’m glad we played in it yesterday before it got crusty. I was glad to have these.

These are the Selbu Mittens from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I made them years ago, but they’re still in great shape. They were a bit big when I made them, so I felted/fulled them a bit in the sink. This made them fairly wind-proof, too. Perfect!

I think the birds are hungry. I threw some seed down on the snow/ice under the bird feeder. There have been birds all day, and Mookie has been enjoying the view.

“Hey, it’s me!”

“Here, under the bird bath.”

“Wanna come out and play?”

9 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, knit socks, mittens

More, more, more…Athena

Posted on December 19, 2008 | 6 comments

I finished my second Athena entrelac neck warmer last night. Purling back backwards (not turning the work each row) makes this go pretty quickly. But it looks like this Athena won’t be for me. She’ll be going on to her new life as a shop model. Shannon and Emily will be selling the hard copy pattern at Twisted, and they’d like a sample. Done! So I picked up more Taos and will make another one for myself, in a bit. Check out this color:

And I bought myself a little present for the next one: 16″ ebony circulars from Lantern Moon. Mmmmm, I love these needles. I didn’t realize that they made 16″ circulars, but now that I know, I had to get a few. Great tools make knitting even more of a pleasure!

I’m also dreaming of some quick worsted weight socks, because it’s cold and snowy, and my boots are just a tad big so there’s room. I think I’ll use some stash KnitPicks Wool of the Andes and make something fun with a color pattern, because I have a lot of bits of different colors left from other projects.

I guess I should be cleaning my house for Christmas, but if I clean it now, it will be messy by Christmas Eve. Maybe tomorrow!

6 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Athena, cowl, entrelac, Knit, knitpicks, lantern moon, neck warmer, twisted

Sing a song of entrelac

Posted on December 16, 2008 | 13 comments

It’s finished! Introducing Athena, an entrelac neck warmer.

This yarn really lends itself to entrelac. I did try four other patterns, but ended up having to come up with something on my own. I knew I didn’t want to knit a long scarf; time was of the essence. I thought about knitting an entrelac scarflet, but I’ve only knit entrelac in the round, and didn’t feel like learning a new trick in a hurry (it’s just learning about side triangles for flat entrelac, but a mood is a mood). My next thought was a hat, but I didn’t think the intended recipient would wear a hat. And it would be floppy. I went to bed thinking about it, and the next morning I woke up with this neck warmer idea springing from my head. And I love the name Athena for it.

I did have to start it three different times. The fun of designing is making all the mistakes for you, so you don’t have to! The pattern is available as a pdf download for $5 US through Ravelry. See the pattern page for more information.

Here’s Carole with her new neck warmer!

13 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, ravelry

Tagged crystal palace taos, entrelac, entrelac cowl, entrelac neck warmer, Knit

A different kind of music

Posted on December 13, 2008 | 3 comments

Country!

I love the song “El Paso” by Marty Robbins. It’s so much fun to sing it with my Day Old Pastry friends. My friends Mitch and Karen introduced me to “Red Velvet Slippers” by Juni Fisher, the same story told from the girl’s point of view. The Pastries puzzled it out, and we love to sing that, too.

When blog friend Dee mentioned “El Paso” on her blog, I commented with an introduction to Juni Fisher. That got her wheels turning, and she invited Juni to do a house concert as a surprise for her husband’s grandmother. Nanny’s a Marty Robbins fan. Sounds like the event was a hit!

No pix; I didn’t make it to the event. But Dee was so sweet to invite me!

3 Comments

Posted in Blogging, music

Tagged juni fisher, marty robbins

Humming along…

Posted on December 13, 2008 | 8 comments

The Taos project continues. The idea popped into my head as I was waking up the morning after I abandoned the Pioneer Braid. It wasn’t quite as cleanly executed as Athena springing fully formed from Zeus’ forehead, though. The first cast on was enormous! The second cast on, still pretty oversized. The third attempt appears to be spot on. It’s an entrelac project (yes, this yarn is perfect for entrelac!) so it’s hard to tell how large the project is going to be without working through at least two tiers of blocks. That’s a lot of knitting and ripping. But this yarn is a bit fuzzy, and ripping doesn’t adversely affect it at all. Thank goodness. No picture yet; it’s a surprise.

So what can I show you? Not Hey, Teach; she’s been languishing while I’ve been playing with Athena. How about something I found in my yard?

I think it’s a fungus, next to a weed and between some dead iris leaves. It’s so vibrantly orange! It caught my eye when I was leaving the house.

Oh, a bit of knitting news: I’m going to be teaching some classes at Twisted in February and March. I’m signed on to teach a class on basic hats in the round (will knit up a sample soon), and a class on my felted slip stitch tote! Schedule should be going up soon.

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged crystal palace taos, Knit

Sing to me

Posted on December 8, 2008 | 8 comments

Or, behind the scenes in the process of choosing a project.

The new yarn (Crystal Palace Taos) is being a bit difficult. It’s lovely stuff, very soft, and the colors are beautiful. But I’m still not sure what to knit with it. Nothing is singing to me.

At first I thought a bit of feather and fan would be fun. I’ve always wanted to knit a feather and fan lace pattern, and Two Weeknights with Warrick looked like it would be perfect. Great pattern, easy to memorize. Alas, it doesn’t do justice to the yarn. I’ll knit this pattern with a different yarn somewhere down the road.

So I cast on for the checkerboard scarflet. But the checkerboard was getting lost in the color changes, or the color changes were getting lost in the checkerboard. I’m not sure which.

I poked around on Ravelry to see what other people made with this gorgeous yarn. A lot of entrelac! And some mitered scarves. Aha. How about the Pioneer Braid Scarf? I cast on this morning and knit for a bit. The pattern is ingenious. Here’s what it looks like. And this is a much better depiction of the true colors.

It’s better than the first two tries, but it still doesn’t sing to me. And I’m not sure I want to knit an entire scarf right now. Tempus fugit! I’m thinking that I’ll play with some entrelac. I’d make a Quant, but the intended recipient isn’t a headband sort of person. On the other hand, I’m not sure she’d use the entrelac item I have percolating in my mind, either. But at least I’d get a design out of the yarn. If I do it. What I thought would be a straightforward project, isn’t. Le sigh.

Well, the yarn isn’t singing to me yet, but I was singing yesterday! The Day Old Pastries, my folkie group, played and sang carols at our church Advent Festival in the afternoon. From there I went to sing with the Everyone Welcome Community Choir at Artichoke Music, and that was a blast. Here’s a clip of one of my favorite songs from yesterday, Siyahamba. It’s South African (Zulu). Enjoy!

8 Comments

Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit, music, pattern design, ravelry

Tagged Knit, singing, siyahamba, taos yarn