Category Archives: Knit

A cavalcade of FOs

Posted on February 24, 2011 | 17 comments

This past weekend was Crafty Mom weekend at the beach. This was the 10th year for some of us, and it was highly productive for me.

I finished my Heather Hoodie. It’s not blocked yet, but I love it already. It’s big, squishy and warm. And it weighs a ton. It has 9.5 skeins of Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky, which means 950 grams, or 33.25 ounces, or nearly two pounds…

…but it doesn’t feel that heavy when I put it on. Working on the button bands was making my hands tired, with all the hood and front stitches crammed on a 26 inch needle.

I started the button band with a full skein of yarn, and this is all I had left when the bands (including around the hood) were done.

This sweater was supposed to be a vest, but I wanted sleeves. I changed the straight armholes for a modified drop shoulder, indenting about 2 inches at the underarm. After seaming the shoulders, I picked up stitches at the sleeve cap for no-sew set-in sleeves and knit them flat to the wrist. I’m happy with the result.

What else did I work on? I finished my Athena with my leftover Chroma Worsted. I think this one is for me…finally!

I finished a cowl in Dream in Color Classy, the color is Deep Sea Flower. I can’t really show it to you yet; I was re-knitting a new design that’s going…somewhere.

I took pictures of an FO in this pretty Pico Accuardi Dyeworks Worsted; the color is Rodgie’s Midnight Dancing. I can’t show you the FO of that, either, but here’s the wrong side so you can admire the yarn.

And I started a new project for Sock Summit, but there’s no picture yet. Mostly I was just trying to get it started. I’m using Knitted Wit‘s Bling yarn, the bluer one on the left.

But enough about me. Carole made a necklace that everyone wanted, so she made a bunch!

And of course the view was spectacular. I woke up on Saturday morning, and where the sun had set the night before, there was a pink orb over the horizon. It was a perfect moon set.

Twin Rocks was pretty as always. They remind me of a sea serpent.

Although it’s trying to be spring here, there was snow on the hills, and it’s snowing tonight, too.

I could watch the sea and the sky forever. Always changing, but constantly lovely.

How was your weekend?

17 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged Athena entrelac, crafty moms, heather hoodie

Podcast: Entrelac. Forecast: Sunny

Posted on February 18, 2011 | 3 comments

I’m on the Knit Picks podcast, Entrelac-tastic! Stacey asked if I’d be a part of an entrelac episode, and I was happy to say yes. The episode begins with an interview with Rosemary Drysdale, author of Entrelac: The Essential Guide to Interlace Knitting, which I reviewed here. The episode also has an interview with in-house designer Kerin, and a review of Gwen Bortner’s book, Entree to Entrelac.

It was fun to chat with Stacey in my current role as entrelac evangelist. She asked me how I started designing, and I gave a roundabout answer, but the real answer is this. Sometimes I want to knit something, and can’t find a pattern that’s exactly what I want. So I have to come up with a way to match the picture in my head. It’s that simple.

Knit Picks is giving away a copy of Rosemary Drysdale’s book. Leave a comment on their blog to enter!

The funny thing about this interview is that Stacey and I live in the same city, but I was a continent away when I spoke with her. Another college visit, this time to University of Central Florida in Orlando. This is a huge school, 46,000 undergrad. But the 1700 student Honors College appears to be stellar; we were quite won over by the director’s presentation.

The teams are called the Knights; the school logo is Pegasus. There are a lot of constellation names on this campus (Gemini, Apollo, Orion), which makes sense because the school started out as Florida Technological University, a support system for the nearby Kennedy Space Center. The campus is laid out in concentric circles, with the student union at the center, classroom buildings on the next circle, housing at the outer edge. It feels a little theme-parkish (very Orlando!), but it makes perfect sense to keep traffic out of the main pedestrian campus.

Speaking of theme parks, we had an extra day in Orlando, so we went to Epcot. It was ok, but I’m not much of a theme park person.

This fellow came to lunch.

Here are a couple other birds; I made them in a needle-felting class last week. My friend Carole signed us up for this class at Collage as a Christmas present. It was great!

I’m scheduled to teach at Twisted next Thursday evening; coincidentally, it’s entrelac! We’ll be doing my Infinity Entrelac Infinity Scarf, and the Lacy Entrelac Infinity Scarf will be a bonus option included in the pattern that comes with the class. If you want to learn a spiffy provisional cast on and the basics of entrelac, this class is for you! You can even learn to purl back backwards (without turning your work). Contact Twisted to register.

3 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Knit, pattern design

Tagged entrelac, knit picks, needle felting, orlando, podcast

Lacy Entrelac

Posted on February 11, 2011 | 18 comments

When I saw the new Chroma yarns from Knit Picks, I knew that it would be perfect for entrelac. It’s a 70/30 merino/nylon single ply yarn with a very long, slow color repeat. It comes in 16 color combinations; this one is called Midwinter.

I liked the look of this yarn so much that I designed a simpler version of my Infinity Entrelac Infinity Scarf for Chroma Worsted. It’s big, soft and squishy, and I absolutely love it.

This is my new Lacy Entrelac Infinity Scarf, and the pattern is now available for purchase through the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program. It’s priced at $3.99.

I’ve also added instructions for this lace as a bonus to the original Infinity pattern. If you purchased Infinity online, you should have received a message that the pattern has been updated.

I had some Chroma Worsted left over, so I am knitting Athena again. I’ve knit so many of these, but they’ve all gone out as gifts. Maybe this one will be mine?

Oh, one more thing: I’m having a drawing for some greeting cards and tape measures over at the Lantern Moon blog. Stop on by for a chance to win!

18 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged chroma, Knit, knitpicks idp

Potpourri post

Posted on February 4, 2011 | 11 comments

A little of this, a little of that.

We’re in college visit season, as you could see from my last post. We have another trip coming up, to another warm place. I think theTeen wants to escape the rain!

Too bad theTeen no longer knits. He used to knit, a long time ago. He even knit one red worm. (Naomi Dagen Bloom’s worm; she used to live in NYC, as did we, and now she blogs here in PDX as A Little Red Hen. Small world!) Anyway, I found out about this scholarship opportunity recently.

Five $3,000 scholarships are now available to hardworking students who can knit or crochet (that’s $15,000 total)! Jimmy Beans Wool has teamed up with many people in the fiber arts industry to provide the Beans For Brains Scholarship for deserving knitters and crocheters! This merit-based award is for students who will be attending an accredited institution in the Fall of 2011. You can get more information and an application by visiting the Beans For Brains Scholarship page (the deadline for submissions is April 1st). Not attending college but know someone who is or will be? Spread the word and help the next generation of fiber artists fund their dreams of higher education!

Maybe I should get him started again. I’m a knitting evangelist! What else? I finished the project I was working on at last week’s knit nite, but I’ll blog about it next week. This week? I finished the first sleeve on my Heather Hoodie cardi, and started the second. It goes really quickly, when I actually knit on it!

Oh, you want to see the *knitting*?

I also started on a project for Sock Summit. I’m using Knitted Wit’s lovely Bling (sparkly) yarn; she dyed both of these for me and I am having a hard time choosing which color to knit first! I think I’ll eventually use both of these, separately. The one on the left has blue overtones, and the one on the right is more gray.

My tiny start here isn’t quite what I want, so this will get ripped out and I’ll start again. This is my favorite part of designing: the dreaming about what it’s going to be, and starting and re-starting until it matches the dream. Frustrating sometimes, but that’s okay.

What are you knitting now?

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged heather hoodie, Knit, scholarship, sock summit

Sunny, fake i-cord, and a survey

Posted on January 31, 2011 | 13 comments

The Teen and I went to Tucson this weekend to visit the University of Arizona. We loved the weather: sunny and warm, 70 degrees f.

The flora was quite different from PDX.

It was an Honors visit weekend, and they did a great job of promoting the Honors College and the UA in general. The engineering department presentations were stellar. It’s a pretty big university (30,000 undergrad) which makes for a vibrant campus. We both really liked the school. It’s good to know that this is a viable option. Next month: more college visits. ‘Tis the season!

I knit through a lot of presentations, and finished a project which I can’t blog yet, but will blog soon. Meanwhile, here’s a tiny bit of another project I can’t blog yet. Do you ever use knitted cord? You can knit a tiny 2 or 3 stitch i-cord, which can be really tedious. Or you can crochet a chain, but then it’s not knit, and it looks a little unfinished. Or…

you can cast on a bunch of stitches, and on the very next row, bind them all off. That’s my new favorite cord.

One more knitty thing: My friend Lorajean (Knitted Wit) is conducting a survey to help her decide how to shape her business. If you complete the 10 question survey and share it to Facebook or Twitter, you’ll get a coupon for 40% off in her store. You get a discount, she gets your helpful information, everybody wins.

Go!

13 Comments

Posted in Knit, travel

Tagged knit cord, tucson, UA

Entrelac madness

Posted on January 29, 2011 | 4 comments

Looking at next month, I hereby declare February to be entrelac month. I’m teaching two entrelac classes at Twisted. One is for Athena, which is entrelac in the round, on Saturday, February 5.

And the other class is for Infinity, which is entrelac knit flat (so it has side triangles), with a bit of lace in the center rectangles.

Want to sign up? Contact Twisted. Hope to see you soon!

4 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Athena, entrelac, infinity, Knit

Books!

Posted on January 26, 2011 | 14 comments

Just home from knit nite. I brought five new books with me. One was Lorna Miser’s The Knitter’s Guide to Hand-dyed and Variegated Yarn that I told you about here. Another was The Complete Photo Guide to Knitting by Margaret Hubert that I told you about here. The third was a Christmas present that I haven’t taken a picture of, so I’ll tell you about it later. And the last two were from TNNA. Let’s pretend that you went to knit nite with me; you can see the two new books (and go back to the other two linked books, if you’d like).

At TNNA, there were book signings every hour, and the books were free. Two came home with me. This is Rosemary Drysdale’s Entrelac: The Essential Guide to Interlace Knitting. As you know, I’m completely entranced with entrelac lately, so I was thrilled to get this book. Actually, Lorajean (Knitted Wit) picked it up for me, because I was already on my way home during this book signing. Thanks, LJ!

This is a gorgeous book. Drysdale constructs her entrelac a little differently than I do; she starts her base triangles on the purl side, and has right side and wrong side rectangles. I work everything from the right side, and so I call mine left and right leaning rectangles. I don’t think it matters. If you don’t already do entrelac, it’s a good place to start. If you already do entrelac, the rest of the book is a treat. She goes through several different things you can do to spice up your entrelac,

including texture, lace, cables, colorwork, beads, embroidery…all lovely. And the photography in this book is gorgeous. Here’s a little embellishment.

I saw these fruit caps at TNNA; they are really cute!

There are several patterns in the book too, incuding a felted bag, scarves, a poncho, a cardigan, the fruit caps. I love this book.

The other book is Nicky Epstein’s Knitting Block By Block.

She accidentally signed the book in the back, upside down, so she signed it again in the front. It was worth a giggle!

You can use these blocks for anything: a blanket, sweaters, scarves, hats. There are blocks of cables

colorwork

other embellishments. The i-cord here is sewn on to a plain block. There are so many ways to use this technique.

I love this blanket.

And there are patterns, too. Another beautiful, inspirational book by Nicky Epstein.

What else am I reading? Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua! This book has gotten a lot of attention recently since an excerpt appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

My in-laws sent this to me. Are they trying to tell me something? I actually think it’s rather tongue in cheek; some of the things she says are so over the top that I can’t imagine saying them for real. (“Why not A+?” has been a joke for many years in our house.) I had theTeen read the chapter on Suzuki piano, and he just smiled. We did Suzuki piano for nine years, and it was pretty wonderful.

Oh, at knit nite I was knitting with this. I’ll show you what, when I’m further along.

It’s unseasonably warm here (about 55 degrees fahrenheit), and the tulips think it’s spring. (I like they way they’ve pierced the dead leaves that I never got around to raking. That’s violent growth!)

The hostas think it’s spring, too.

I think they’re all going to have a rude awakening.

What’s happening in your neck of the woods?

14 Comments

Posted in book review, Knit

Tagged entrelac, nicky epstein, rosemary drysdale

BOLO

Posted on January 22, 2011 | 7 comments

Be on the lookout…

for a suitcase full of lovely knitwear. Local designer Mary Scott Huff’s car was broken into here in Portland, and her knitted garments for her trunk show were stolen. You can read her letter to the thief, hoping against hope that these knits will be returned to her.

I hope she gets them back. That’s six months of intensive knitting, gone in a blink.

7 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Knit

Tagged Mary Scott Huff

Hot new colors for spring

Posted on January 21, 2011 | 11 comments

At least according to Pantone! These are the top 10 colors for women’s fashion this spring, as chosen by NY designers. I learned about these at a mini-session with Vogue Knitting editor Trisha Malcolm at TNNA. She gave us these color cards. (You may get a truer reading if you go to the Pantone website.)

The color of the year is honeysuckle, or Pantone 18-2120. Pretty.

What else did we learn? White is the biggest trend for spring. Plan on seeing lots of it, especially with navy, because navy is the new brown. Remember when brown was the new black? We’re so over that. You’ll also see navy with citrus (green or yellow) and honeysuckle.

Other fashion trends for spring: sheer layers, especially lightweight cowls, scarves, and wraps. Less shape: we’ll be seeing comfortable billowy shapes replacing the refined look of fall 2010. Trisha says that the long sleeveless vest will be the “it” garment, and knitters will make it more interesting with embellishments like lace or cables. Sounds good to me.

Here’s the back of the card with the rest of spring’s trends.

And when you’re done with spring? The color for fall is wine. Trisha says that the good news is that wine is a color that looks good on almost all skin tones.

Do you follow fashion colors? I still mostly knit with blue and purple, because I like them. Wine looks good, too. In fact, this reminds me that I should finish my Heather Hoodie. I set it aside last spring when I realized that it wouldn’t be done before the weather got too warm. I’m cold now, so that’s a great incentive to pick it up again, and I can wear it next fall, too, when it’s the very fashion-forward wine color! (Really, it’s called Bing Cherry, but that’s our little secret.)

Instead of a vest, I’m making this with long sleeves. I’m so glad I wrote good notes before setting this project aside! I picked them up at the shoulder, worked a modified drop shoulder sleeve cap, and am knitting them flat down to the wrist. Yes, I could have done it in the round, but I like my 26 inch circular and didn’t want to have to change to dpns part way down. And I like mattress stitch seaming on stockinette.

One more tidbit from TNNA: The Noro rep told me that Silk Garden Lite is coming back this spring. I’m pretty pleased, because that means that my Infinity scarf is no longer designed with a discontinued yarn. I’m feeling so au courant…

11 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged color, heather hoodie, Knit

30 seconds of fame, and a book

Posted on January 19, 2011 | 11 comments

If I’m mentioned in two blogs, isn’t that 15 seconds of fame, twice?

This week Beverly from Yarn Intercept interviewed me for a feature on her blog. Click here to visit Beverly’s blog and find out 10 things about me and my knitting!

And I discovered that my new Yarn Train friend Sandi is a blogger, too. She chronicled our yarn crawl here.

What else is new? Working, working, working, and no daylight pictures. But here’s a book I bought before going to TNNA.

It’s The Knitter’s Guide to Hand-dyed and Variegated Yarn by Lorna Miser. I borrowed a copy from the library, and liked it so much that I had to buy one. I have a prickly relationship with variegated yarn. They’re so pretty in the skein, but they don’t always do what I want or expect them to do when I knit with them. Sometimes you get this:

These are all the same yarn; the only thing that has changed is the length of the row. Crazy, huh? I remember a lovely yarn that I used for a shop sample. I wasn’t anticipating this:

The book first goes through how to predict what might happen based on the length and frequency of color patterns in your yarn. It then gives all sorts of stitch patterns and ways of combining yarns that might mitigate some of the craziness in variegated yarns. There are also patterns for garments that show how this is done, if you don’t want to figure out your own. I’m using some of the ideas in a super secret design project that I’m working on. I’ll show it to you…someday. For now, I’ll keep showing you my new books. There are several more!

Do you like variegated yarns? How do you use them?

11 Comments

Posted in book review, Knit