Tag Archives: Knit

summer slow down

Posted on July 14, 2010 | 5 comments

I thought I’d have a lot more knitting to show you, since I had 3 hours in the car and 6 hours on a plane on Friday, but I’m just a little further than I was in the previous post. Why?

See how the lace pattern on the back gets wider every 6 rows? Apparently I forgot to increase the lace on the left edge on the last increase set, and then I knit merrily on for 30 rows. Oops. I blame it on the spa at the resort. I had a delightful body polish/mud wrap/moisturizing treatment, and was so relaxed when I came back to my knitting that I wasn’t really paying attention. But it was worth it.

We passed through Boston’s Logan Airport on the way back, and I met up with a friend that I’ve known for years but had never met in person. We frequent the same piano forums, and Ravelry, and we’re Facebook friends, too.

Not only did she drive to the airport to meet me, but she brought me a gift.

Truffles from Dante Confections, made by Santi Falcone, her neighbor, the ex-piano maker. How cool is that? I read about him in “Piano Lessons: Music, Love and True Adventures” by Noah Adams, way back before I ever went to piano camp. Thank you, Kerri!

Flight home was uneventful, but I didn’t do a lot of knitting there, either. There was free wi-fi on the plane (in-flight wi-fi seems so wrong, since they’ve always told us to have our wi-fi OFF before this), so I caught up on my blog reading. Now I need to go knit, instead of reading about knitting!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, travel

Tagged Dante Confections, Knit, passiflora

Just in the nick of time

Posted on June 27, 2010 | 16 comments

I was knitting the Sweetie Pie hat for a Sunday baby shower. It’s been a busy week. Saturday came and the hat wasn’t done. I had work in the morning, a wedding to attend on Saturday afternoon, and the wedding reception on Saturday evening. Saturday night found me reading blogs in bed with my laptop, madly knitting i-cord. I was getting to the end of the ball, and I wanted the two i-cords to be the same length, so I knit one with the inside of the ball, and one with the outside. I’d show you a picture of this little trick, but it was 1 a.m. and the lighting wasn’t great. Next time!

So cute! There was a bit of a setback when I was working the heart motif. The last three rows crossed the transition between blue and black, and it offended my sense of order. I ripped it back down to the beginning of the blue, and started the lacy hearts earlier.

The hat is supposed to have bobbles on the top color stripe. I don’t enjoy making bobbles, so I left them off.

The topknot is cute!

When I bought this yarn, I wondered how the transitions between the colors would be handled. It turns out that the colors are just tied to each other, so I cut the knots out and did my own joins and weaving.

I also wondered how that lace motif would fit into the stripe sequence, and as you can see from my comment above, it didn’t! So I changed it to suit my own tastes.

If I were to do this again, I think I would start from the inside of the ball and knit with the pale pink first, which would give me a pale pink picot edge, and a purple stripe with the lacy heart motif. But by the time I thought about this, I was halfway done with the hat, and wasn’t willing to start over. Blue hearts are cute, too.

Details:

Sweetie Pie Hat by Tanis Gray, knit with size 6 Lantern Moon ebony circular needles
Be Sweet Bambino Taffy yarn, 70% organically grown cotton, 30% bamboo

Done in time for the baby shower!

16 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged be sweet yarn, Knit, sweetie pie hat

Sweetie Pie

Posted on June 24, 2010 | 14 comments

On Tuesday, I remembered that I’m going to a baby shower this Sunday. I dashed into Twisted to get some yarn for an Elsa hat, and while I was there I remembered that I may have designed this hat for baby’s big sister two years ago. Oops. I cast about for a different hat project, and spied this.

It’s a cute skein of Be Sweet Bambino Taffy yarn, and the pattern for the Sweetie Pie hat by Tanis Gray is on the label. What could be simpler?

I like that there are several colors in one little 100 yard ball.

The provisional cast on and picot edge would have been easier if I’d had the right tools with me, but I just took the yarn and needles to cast on at knit nite without reading the instructions. It all worked out, eventually.

Speaking of sweetie pie…

This strawberry icebox pie is a hit around here. I’ve made four in the past two weeks for various events (birthday party, graduation party, knit nite, just because). It’s really easy, absolutely gorgeous, and tastes divine. Most of the berries are uncooked, so the flavor is out-of-this-world fresh. Go ahead; you know you want to make one! I saw this in my local paper, the Oregonian, but it turns out to be from Martha Stewart.

And one more sweetie pie…

I found this picture on my camera. Apparently the Teen likes taking pictures of the cat. Who knew?

Have a great weekend! I’ll show you the hat when it’s done.

14 Comments

Posted in Knit, recipe

Tagged be sweet yarn, Knit, sweetie pie hat

origami cranes

Posted on June 19, 2010 | 10 comments

Last week I happened to be downtown by the Ace Hotel, which was displaying Seann McKeel’s Knitnotwar 1000 project. This is based on the legend that if you fold 1000 origami cranes, your wish will be granted. Wishes are traditionally for health or peace. The twist in this project is that the cranes are knitted and felted yarn instead of folded paper.

A closer look shows that they’re not crisp like a traditional origami crane.

But they’re pretty, anyway.

I like the novelty yarn on the one in the center.

I didn’t participate in this project; I know it was years in the making. But it reminded me of a project I spearheaded several years ago, for the pastor of our church at that time. The goal was to have the congregation fold 1000 paper cranes as a wish for his health and healing, and to have it be a surprise. We ended up with about 2000 cranes.

He was very moved when we presented these to him. He didn’t recover his health, but he was heartened by this sign of love and affection. A little bird can mean a lot!

10 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, knitnotwar, origami, origami cranes

in which I show you an FO

Posted on June 18, 2010 | 10 comments

FO: as in finished object.

CollegeDude graduated from the University of Oregon on Monday. We’re all very proud of him, and thrilled to pieces. But now I need a new name for him…

It’s been super-busy around here, with just a little knitting. I did have several hours of knitting time in the car on the way to and from graduation, so I worked on Passiflora. My gauge swatches told me I needed to go down 3 needle sizes, so I did. It’s worked in the round, so it takes a while to get much length on the needles! I got about 3 inches done, and saw that it was way too tight. So I went back up 2 needle sizes, and started over. Depending on how I looked at it, I was either spot on, or way off. So I just kept knitting. I’m now halfway through the third ball of yarn, and I’m pretty sure I’m making gauge…or not.

The hem really curls. If I had any sense at all, I would steam it to see if it’s going to hang straight.

But I don’t want to get the ironing board out. It’s hiding to the left side of my IKEA shelves. You remember these.

They’re still this neat and tidy, except I filled that empty space with the knitting bag that’s supposed to be there. Perfect.

Eventually I’ll check about that hem. But not today…

10 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged graduation, Knit, passiflora

Just enough…

Posted on May 27, 2010 | 8 comments

Barely. I finished knitting my amended Pacific shawl this morning, binding off a bazillion stitches. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Here’s the yarn I had left.

I don’t think there’s enough for even one more complete row. Glad that worked out! Now I need to block it, and then I can show it to you. I’ll be writing the pattern for several sizes, too, now that I know the outer limits of the skein…

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit

Bubba’s Blankie

Posted on May 19, 2010 | 13 comments

What’s this?

A beautiful basket from Lantern Moon.

And inside is the group project for Lorajean’s baby-to-be. She’s temporarily named him Bubba, so this is Bubba’s Blankie. It’s modeled on one I saw on the Yarn Harlot’s blog. Simple garter stitch strips, sewn together.

They’re matched at the center, and the ends stop when they stop. The gauge varies wildly, but it doesn’t really matter.

We had 14 strips, because we had 14 knitters. When Lorajean and I laid out the strips last week, we realized that this blanket was bigger than life! So the plan shifted, and she’ll have two blankets, nearly identical.

I slip stitch crocheted the strips together. I thought this would be the back of the blanket, but I like the look of this the chain loops. The other side of the blanket just shows little blips of color; it’s equally handsome.

Edit: Apparently I single crocheted the strips together. I don’t crochet much, so I never remember what the stitches are called. Sorry for the misinformation!

Lorajean loves it! She dyed the yarn for this project; it’s wonderfully soft superwash bulky merino. The colors seem to glow.

I have almost all the strips for the second blanket. One piece left! And then it’s time to get cracking, because the baby is due in two weeks…

Crochet like the wind!

Thank you to all the other knit nite knitters on this blanket: Shari, Shannon, Leigh, Marilyn, Peggy, Toni, Helen, Margaret, Cathy, Charlotte, Sarah and Paula, and special thanks to Cathy for providing the beautiful basket.

13 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged baby blanket, Knit, yarn

Virtue is its own reward

Posted on May 5, 2010 | 11 comments

That’s what they say. But it’s pretty sweet to get an additional reward.

Dez over at Knitting Asylum had a drawing for people who donated to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti. I won a prize! Pen and tape measure, and a beautiful stitch marker necklace made from Czech glass and shell. These are really pretty, and what a great way to keep track of them.

Thanks, Dez!

I was away for the weekend up at Menucha Retreat Center, working at our annual women’s retreat. This one was filled with music! We sang through the Holden Evening Prayer Service on Friday evening, which was lovely. Some of my Day Old Pastries were on hand to help with the music for the rest of the weekend. I love my Pastries.

I did get some knitting done. See my prototype shawl on my knee, and the new one in my hands? The new one is coming along swimmingly; I really like it. I’ll show it to you, soon. Check out the handknit socks, too.

My favorite thing at Menucha, besides the view…

…is the labyrinth. It’s a good place to be silent and meditative.

It’s always interesting to discover a new epiphany when I reach the center.

This beautiful garden is across from the dining hall.

There’s a hidden space up there, with a rock bench facing this.

I love spring, in all its glory.

How was *your* weekend?

11 Comments

Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit, music, travel

Tagged Knit, Menucha, music, spring

Color blast

Posted on April 27, 2010 | 8 comments

Lorajean (Knitted Wit) is expecting her second baby in June. The knit nite group wants to knit a blankie for Bubba-to-be. Our first group project was a blanket for Little e, two years ago. I learned some valuable lessons about group projects and gauge back then!

We were stymied when it came to color, though. We asked Lorajean for input, and she said that she’d love to dye the yarn.

I love these.

There’s one more color, but it’s already in Cathy’s capable hands. It’s like the limeade green in the picture, but darker, and semi-solid.

We’re planning to knit garter stripes like the blanket at the end of this Yarn Harlot post. It’s quick (bulky yarn, 14 sts), easy, and gauge will not be an issue. We’ll have two stripes of each of seven colors. Yarn gets distributed at knit nite tomorrow. Perfect! And you can see that I’ve already started…

8 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged baby blanket, Knit, knitted wit, yarn

April fugit

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 6 comments

April is flying away from me, but I finally managed to cast on Star Athena’s April Fool’s sock before the month evaporated entirely.

This is Fly Designs Monarch sport weight yarn; the color is called Sailing. I’ve used this yarn before, for my Seafoam Socks. I’m reminded how much I like knitting with it; it’s quite bouncy! The sock is cast on at the toe, worked up through the cuff with a waste yarn bit before continuing to the other cuff, down the leg, and to the second toe. I love the elegance of Judy’s Magic Cast On. So simple, so tidy, so perfect.

Rather than a plain vanilla stockinette sock, I’ve added ribbing because I like snugger fit of a ribbed sock. I add a baby cable twist every 6th row, so I can see my progress, and it makes it easier to count rows and see if the second sock is the same length. I’ve decided against the short row heel; I’m going to knit my standard flap and gusset heel. I like how it fits my foot, and I know how many rows this takes me on this many stitches, so I know how long the flap will be, which means I know how long to knit the foot before I start the heel! No surprises, please.

Do you think I’ll be done before these are gone?