Holiday gift knitting, a gift, and a sale

Do you knit gifts for the holidays? Do you start early and end late? Do you get stressed out by your lengthy list of unfinished gift knitting? I’m getting stressed just thinking about it, which is why I don’t knit gifts. At least, not on those terms. I do my gift knitting under the radar, so it’s never expected. If I think someone might like what I’m knitting, it turns into a gift. But if I don’t finish the project in time, I give something else. No stress!

But I have a gift for you. You can use it to knit for yourself, or for someone else. My As You Like It Cowls pattern is now free for download through Ravelry. The pattern is for two cowls that can be worn three ways. This one is my favorite. It’s a simple broken garter rib stitch.

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You can see the stitch pattern better here. And some crazy pooling/flashing, too.

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The other cowl is a 3×1 rib. I originally designed this set of cowls for a fundraiser knitting party for our high school foundation at the beginning of 2010. It’s a quick project with bulky yarn. Chewy! I hope this helps you with your gift knitting.

Not a cowl person? I’m also having a pattern sale, now through December 3, $1 off any of my pdxknitterati patterns, no limit. Enter the code giftknit at checkout. Here’s a link to my Ravelry design page so you can see what I have. My current favorite is my Pippi Earflap Hat. I knit two of these last week, the first because I needed a sample for my trunk show (I had given all my Pippis away as gifts), and the second because it was fun!

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And this design is seasonally appropriate…


Snowflake Christmas Stocking

Soooooo, are you knitting gifts? Under the radar? What’s on your list? Have fun!

Edited to add: Edited to add: I just found out that if you use the buy it now button from my pattern pages, it doesn’t give you the opportunity to use the coupon code. You’ll definitely want to go to my Ravelry design page so that the checkout options come up before sending you to Paypal! Thanks.

Stash

Do you have a stash? I try not to stash yarn, so most of my stash consists of yarn left over from projects. But I did encounter a Stash of a different kind this weekend. Stash, the lovely new yarn shop/social space/gallery in Corvallis.

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Sonia invited Lorajean (KnittedWit) and me down to do a dual trunk show at Stash on Sunday. It was my first PDXKnitterati trunk show! As I packed my basket of samples, I realized just how much I love designing pretty things, and how many pretty things I have. It was even more fun when I laid all my samples out on the table and saw what I’ve done over the past several years.

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(An obligatory pic with Lambert/not Lambert. I forgot brown Lambert on my desk at home, but I always have Baa-bette in my tool kit. She’s a little grubby after 5 years, but still serviceable.)

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Dawn came to visit, and picked out colors for a Ziggy Hat. You can pick your own colors through Lorajean’s Etsy shop. Check out Dawn’s Traveling Woman sweater; it’s perfect.

We did some knitting at the table during the afternoon, and I did demos on purling back backwards (so handy for entrelac) and thrumming. Amy learned to thrum!

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I had a great afternoon with Sonia and Lorajean. I “met” Sonia through her blog when she lived back east, and was so happy to meet her in person when she moved to Corvallis last year. I’ve known Lorajean for several years; we met at knit nite but the details are fuzzy! Like wool. Knitters are the nicest people.

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If you’re in Corvallis, or just passing through, I hope you stop in at Stash and see Sonia. She has lovely yarns and a great space. Check out her Ravelry group to see what’s on the event calendar!

And how was *your* weekend?

Community knitting project

Leigh Radford, designer and author of several books including One Skein and One More Skein, is spearheading a community knitting project, and you can be a part of it.This is the Albers Stash Blanket from One More Skein. Leigh says:

Please join me in knitting blankets to be donated to those in need this winter! Knit and send me one panel of the Albers Stash Blanket. I’ll be gathering a team to assemble and complete the blankets. Blankets completed here in Portland will be donated to P:ear, Cascade Aids Project, and Raphael House. If enough panels are completed…, I would love to expand this list of recipients and will include non-profit organizations outside the Portland-metro area.

If you’d like to coordinate your own effort and donate a blanket within your community, please send me photos of your work in progress and completed work as I’ll be posting photos of everyone’s efforts as this project progresses.

Due date: Panels need to arrive in Portland/OR by January 31, 2012.

You can find more information on Leigh’s Facebook page. Questions? Not on Facebook? You can email Leigh at OneMoreSkein@leighradford.com.

I ran into Leigh at Twisted last weekend, and she passed on this panel to me. Leigh mentioned that she has started several panels and passed them on to other knitters. Lantern Moon has generously donated some needles so that Leigh has multiple panels going.

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The pattern is simple, and is available through Leigh’s Facebook page. I’m happily knitting away on it, and will go into my tiny stash of leftovers (I’m not a stasher, remember?) and see what the next color will be. It might be a challenge; I’ve worked mostly with jewel tones, and this is not!

Would you like to be part of this project? You don’t have to knit an entire blanket, or even an entire panel. You can organize your knitting friends to complete a blanket, one panel, or even just get a panel from Leigh and knit on it for a while and send it back. But the more you knit, the more stash you use, and that means that more blankets will be donated. I hope you’ll join us!

The Thrill of the Thrum

Autumn is definitely here, and it’s chilly. I’ve been experimenting with wooly ways to be warmer, and my current infatuation is with thrummed knitting. Here’s its latest incarnation.

Thrumster is either a cowl or an earband, depending on where you like your warmth. Or do both! Me, I don’t like messing up my hair, so I got DH to model the earband. I’m all about the cowl.

Things look pretty straightforward from the outside, but the inside is where the action is. These babies are *warm*, because they have thrums knitted in. So cozy!

What are thrums? They’re bits of fleece that you work into your knitting. Thrummed knitting originated in northeastern Canada, where they know how to deal with cold! I’ve written a pattern for this thrummed earband and cowl set, and it explains all about the art of the thrum. I’m also teaching a class on thrumming at Twisted next month on Tuesday, December 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. Come learn a new technique with me!

Not in PDX? The pattern is for sale through Ravelry. I made a video tutorial, too.

What’s your newest knitting technique? What did you knit with it?

oops

at dinner the other night:

Me: That’s a beautiful sweater you’re wearing. Someone must really love you.
DH: This one? I think it’s store bought.
Me: Why do you think that?
DH: It has a tag in it.
Me: What does the tag say?
DH: I don’t know. I never looked.
Me: Go in the bathroom, take the sweater off and look right now.
DH: No. Um, what does it say?
Me: Handknit by Michele Lee Bernstein.

duh.

and the view out my home office window today:

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It’s kind of like living in a tree house…

Why is it that…

…as soon as I get past the heel turn on my sock, I lose interest?

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(basic ribbed sock in Knitted Wit’s Bling)

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(basic stockinette bed sock in Malabrigo worsted. toasty, if I ever finish!)

It suddenly feels like an endless project, as if I’m knitting for Sasquatch. And that’s just the first sock..

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(not really a footprint, just a curious formation in the Hawaiian lava, I hope)

In other news, I’ll be over at Twisted tomorrow from 10 to noon for a reception for Created in Oregon: A Knitter’s Datebook 2012. The trunk show is already there, and will be there through Sunday. My Rockaway Beach Beanie/Cowl is there, along with 11 other fabulous designs from Oregon designers. Come on by!

2 way rockaway

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Getaway!

I went on a little getaway last weekend with friends that I met at piano camp in Vermont years ago. We don’t play the piano as much as we used to, but we’re still friends and still get together, even though we’re scattered up and down the west coast. This time we headed further west than usual, to the Big Island of Hawaii.

There were beaches.

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There were spectacular sunsets…

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through rose colored glasses, even. (Really they’re charcoal shade lenses, but they really enhance the pink.)

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We went to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where we saw petroglyphs…

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and old lava flows.

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(Doesn’t this one look like melted faces?)

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(End of the road, apparently)

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The ocean has carved out this arch from the lava rock island. This is the Holei Sea Arch. And Lambert.

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Kilauea is a live volcano!

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(Come closer to the steam and sulfur dioxide! The ring road around the crater was closed. Too much sulfuric gas.)

There were good things to eat…

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and drink.

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(utterly frou frou!)

And there were good friends to share it all.

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But not much knitting!

This Little Ziggy on KnitPicks

It’s up! This Little Ziggy has debuted on KnitPicks. It can be knit for sizes 2T and 4T. Do you have a cute little munchkin who needs a little Ziggy pizazz?

Also in the KnitPicks department, I’ve heard from some of you that my Lacy Entrelac Infinity Scarf is in the current KnitPicks catalog. I haven’t received mine yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing it!

infinity entrelac scarf

Go, me! And no, I haven’t forgotten the vacay photos. Just waiting for the Lantern Moon contest to close…

Not quite yet…

I said I’d tell you where I went, but I’m not ready. Go over to the Lantern Moon blog and see if you can figure it out. I can’t post here until my contest is done over there! Here’s a hint.

Vacation. Knitting. Vacation knitting?

I went on a little getaway last weekend. I’m at the point in my design projects where I can’t take them anywhere because they involve a lot of swatching and note taking, as well as ripping and re-knitting. Not a good travel companion. I was trapped in a “what to knit” conundrum. I finally decided it would be easier to knit someone else’s design so I wouldn’t have to think, and I’d be able to converse with my friends. I chose Annis, and the lovely red Luxe B silk/merino yarn from Alpha B. But after five days away, here’s what I have to show for it.

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Not much, huh? I guess that means I had a good time. I’ll tell you all about it in the next post. My question here is, why does the top of my yarn cake look like this instead of the nice criss-crossy way it looks near the bottom? I’m still new to this ball-winder thing, but it’s got me puzzled. It still pulls from the center, but it’s not aesthetically perfect.

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I misread the pattern, and thought there were 18 repeats of the lace, so I brought 20 stitch markers. These don’t actually exist; they were a prototype but Lantern Moon doesn’t carry them. I just got lucky one day in the office. But there are 29 repeats of the 18 stitch lace pattern, so I had to resort to this.

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Cut up bits of a straw that should have been in a mai tai! They work pretty well, except that the straw was black, and so are my ebony knitting needles. I’m home again, so I’m back to blue. And here’s my dilemma: Vacation is over, and I have design work that needs to get done. Do I even believe that I’ll get back to Annis anytime soon? Should I leave it on the needles, or let the lovely yarn go back to dreaming in its yarn ball state, in case it wants to be something else by the time I get back to it? What would you do?