Tag Archive | handmade

Save me, knitting

OMG guys, Christmas is coming. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and for some reason it hit me that Christmas is just a little over a month away and I am so far from being ready that it’s not even funny. I haven’t even had the brainpower to start thinking about it. I have no idea what my kids want, let alone what the nieces and nephews want. I don’t even know what *I* want. (That’s not true. I want yarn and time to knit. That would be plenty.) So there’s a ton of shopping to do, plus decorating, and we have A LOT of decorations. I know, they don’t all need to be put out, but I do love having the house decorated. I’m feeling overwhelmed by it today. I think I got spoiled the last few years, when I wasn’t working and I had time/mental energy to put toward this kind of stuff. It’s a little different now. I have to readjust. I think I’ll make a list. Maybe two lists. That always helps.

Let’s try to refocus and think of happier things: I have a FO! I finished my second Color Block Wrap yesterday and wove in the ends this morning and I LOVE it.

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For as big as this is, it is a super fast knit. It took me about a month, and I am not a monogamous knitter. This was mostly lunch break/ kids’ concerts knitting. Here’s the project page if you want details. I’m so glad I went down a needle size; I love the denser drape. This will get a lot of use this winter.

I also have a new cast-on. I had to go to the LYS last weekend to get yarn for an Etsy order, and I knew I was getting some money for a previous custom order, so I splurged on a gorgeous skein of Anzula Cricket in Charcoal. I’ve been wanting a black cowl for myself for a while. It took a bit of searching but I decided on the Saltfleet Cowl pattern, and I’m calling mine the Black Diamond cowl.

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The Anzula is a treat to knit with, that’s for sure. Soft but not limp, not splitty at all, great stitch definition, and there’s enough color variation that it’s not like knitting with black yarn at all. I’m loving this project.

And since I finished my previous mindless knitting project (the Color Block), I pulled out a project that’s been in hibernation for a long time. I got the set of gradient purple yarns (Knit Picks Palette) for Christmas two years ago and cast on Purl Soho’s Gradient Cowl. It’s pretty, but boring, so I work on it for a little while and then tuck it away again. I’m now over halfway through, I’m a faster knitter than I was two years ago, and I have a lot more time for mindless knitting. (Unfortunately that means I have much less time for complicated knitting, but hey, it’s a trade-off. I gotta find the silver lining where I can.) Anyway, I took this with me last night when I went to an author event and made good progress.

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What author, you ask? None other than Rainbow Rowell, super-talented author of Eleanor & Park, Fangirl and Landline! She’s so fun to listen to; she’s funny and smart and snarky and honest and I just love her. I mean, look how cute she is:

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Oh, and I found other knitters there too! There were two of them sitting right in front of me–I recognized a handknit hat on one, and a handknit shawl on the other. They noticed me knitting during the break, and we chatted a bit, and then during the second half, one of them pulled out her knitting too. I love to encourage knitting in public!

Okay, this was a fun interlude but I’m afraid I must re-enter the scary world of holiday prep. We’re hosting Thanksgiving this year so cleaning must happen today, and I’m definitely not doing it all myself so I’ll be dragging some unhappy helpers into the mix. Wish me luck!

Silverleaf Complete

Oct22

I just finished it this morning and had to share it right away because I’m so excited!

It’s nice and long, and the garter stitch sections are squishy and soft.

The leaf pattern is gorgeous. It amazes me how people can take a relatively simple lace pattern and make something so beautiful. I love knitting designers.

The color is also perfect for me. It looks predominantly gray, so it should be nicely versatile, but in person it’s got a hint of purple.

This might be my very favoritest knit of all time. So much love for my Silverleaf! If you don’t have it already, go buy it and make it. You won’t regret it.

Progress on the WIPs

Oct21

Yes, it is Friday, and here I am blogging! Thanks to a dentist appointment today and a book event this evening (I get to see JODI PICOULT!!! SQUEE!) I decided to just take the day off. I’ve got errands to run too, of course, but thought I’d take advantage of my rare quiet morning at home to slip in a quick new post. So: lots of knitting time this week! My beautiful new Color Block Wrap is coming along nicely. I’d forgotten what a fast knit it is. I decided to just go with the size 10 needles because I liked the resulting gauge. I figure I’ll do the first three sections, see how long it is, and decide then whether I need to add another skein or two. I don’t have more dark pink but I’ve got a light pink and more grays, so I could easily add more yardage.

And I was a winner this week! We went to a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra and there was a silent auction, and I won a new knitting tote! Yes, I totally DID need another bag, thank you for asking. Isn’t it cute?

I also won a gift certificate so I’m ordering another bag and I think I’m even going to splurge and get it personalized!

Look at this: I also managed to work on Silverleaf this week:

Yep, that’s the leaf section! I made it through half of the leaf lace pattern, so just the other half and the final boarder left to do. I’m still loving this project. It’s just perfect. But I’ll love wearing it too!

This weekend promises to be quite busy. Another band competition (the last of the season) will give me plenty more knitting time, so look for a FO on the blog soon!

I Love Yarn Day

Oct17

This past Saturday was I Love Yarn Day. Did you celebrate? You bet I did! I made an impromptu trip to my LYS, Yarn Mercantile (which is actually two stores: Knitcraft, and Angelica’s) and found some treasure!

I already had the grays, but I found the dark pink at Knitcraft, and knew immediately I needed them so I could make this Color Block Bias Wrap. I have the original version and adore it. I keep it my desk at work and it keeps me warm and I get so many compliments on it. Why not make another version, right? I immediately wound the yarn and cast on.

My only complaint with the original (and it’s very very minor) is that the bigger needles give it a very loose gauge, and it stretched out a bit with blocking and wear. So for this one, I’m trying smaller needles. I started with 10s and it’s much tighter gauge, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it as wide as I want. It might just be an awkwardly wide scarf, not big enough to be a wrap. I can’t decide if I should see how wide I get with this (I’ll be able to tell when I reach the end of this pink) or if I should go ahead and frog and start over with 11s. I’m pondering. What do you think?

I also managed to work on Silverleaf this weekend! We went to a band competition for the girl (they got second, WOOHOO) that was about 90 minutes away. Yep, that’s prime knitting time.

I have two rows left of the last garter stitch section and then I get to start the leaf section! I’m really hoping to get there in the next few days, if I don’t get distracted by my other WIPs.

Here’s my other purchase, this one from Angelica’s. It’s Frolicking Feet in Anemone Wildflower and I think it’s STUNNING. I’m pretty sure this will become a narrow asymmetrical triangular scarf. (Hm, Martina Behm pattern, maybe??)

I know many of you probably celebrated at Rhinebeck, and I am very jealous and also can’t wait to hear about your adventures and new yarns!

Bad Knitter

Oct8

Well, I kind of sucked as a knitter this past week. And crap, did I forget to blog last weekend? Wait, no, I did, about the hats. Okay, whew, I don’t completely suck. My brain has just been kind of fried lately. I haven’t been sleeping well, so I have enough mental energy for work but not much else. Plus, trying to keep up with all the kids’ activities takes precious brainpower. So sadly, knitting and blogging are getting a little neglected. But not completely! First I’ll show you my super exciting FO, my KC Royals Crackerjack scarf!

I cast on 56 stitches and did 2 rows per game. With 162 games, that’s 324 rows, which makes a perfectly cozy double loop. Yes, it’s too warm for most of the typical baseball season, but it’ll be great when the Royals get back to October baseball next year. Anyway, now that it’s done I love it, but I don’t anticipate ever making another one. I didn’t enjoy having a WIP that by design hung around for six months!

My only other FO is this little pumpkin.

It’s for one of my bosses; her birthday is next week and she loves pumpkin spice stuff, so of course I had to make her a pumpkin. It came out super cute, but I wasn’t sure about it until the very end when I was pulling the yarn around to shape it. It was a pretty quick and easy knit, so I’m tempted to make one for myself. I used this pattern, random worsted weight acrylic leftovers from the stash, and size 6 needles. I also did a plain knit stem instead of the fancy one in the pattern. Fun, huh? And if you’re really clever with duplicate stitch, you could make a pretty awesome jack o’lantern!

And that’s kind of it for knitting. I decided I was tired of looking at my craft show inventory, since I don’t have much time for craft shows anymore, so I’m doing a 50% off sale on my Facebook page. I got several orders for that and processing those took some time. But I was happy to clear out some stuff, and it led to another project too. One of the things I sold was a small Santa hat, and the person who bought it asked for a second one. I don’t have time for many custom orders but this is a work friend, so I agreed. And hats are pretty fast. So this is the extent of my knitting this week:

(The one on the left is the completed one from ages ago. The one on the right is my current project.)

Silverleaf hasn’t been touched this week, so it will be up next as soon as I finish this hat. And when that’s done, I’ll be down to only two WIPs! And they’re both old, long-term WIPs, so they don’t count, so I’ll be free to cast on for a few new projects, hooray! I’m most looking forward to starting this shawl, Ennui, in gray and pink. What project in your queue is calling your name??

Three New Hats

Oct2

Three new hats done! Two are more chemo caps. The first is another Shelbi hat; she liked the white one and requested dark purple. Well, you KNOW I have purple in my stash so that was easy enough. I love how quick and cute this pattern works up.

Yarn: Loops & Threads from Michaels. Hooks: G & H.

The second is another Nottinghamshire. The first one I made came out too big (I think the pattern runs big) but she liked the style enough to ask for one in blue. KC Royals blue, to be exactly. Not surprisingly, I had that in my stash too.

Yarn: Bernat Satin in Loyal Royal. Hooks: G & H. Mods: I stopped at 72 stitches instead of 80, and did the lower portion with an H hook instead of I. It’s still a bit bigger than I’d like, but I’m hoping it’ll work.

The third is my Sockhead hat! I had so much fun knitting this hat. I can’t believe it took me so long to make one. And I LOVE it.

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Black Velvet. I did the brim in size 2 needles and the body in size 2.5. It came out just a touch bigger than I’d like but it works. I haven’t decided whether to keep it or try to sell it. And if when I make another one, I’ll cast on fewer stitches.

I’ve made much progress on my Silverleaf shawl too: I’m SO CLOSE to the leaf pattern! Just a few more rows and I get to start the fun part. But really, this has been a satisfying knit. I do love knitting garter stitch, and you can’t beat the feel of Malabrigo.

There’s just one project that’s tripping me up, and that’s Here Be Dragons.

I can’t quite visualize the final piece, and right now it looks kind of dumb to me. And then there’s the fact that the yarn isn’t really soft and I don’t think I’ll be able to wear it next to my skin. So I’ll probably frog this, but I still love the colors in the yarn and I have two skeins of it. What do you make with not-soft worsted weight yarn?? Fingerless gloves? Felted bag? Help me find a way to use this yarn!

And Thursday at knitting group, I learned I’ve been discovered: one of the girls said she saw a picture of a really pretty scarf and clicked and ended up on this blog! Of course then a couple of other people asked about it. So, yay, more readers, but crap, now I can’t say bad things about them. Anyway, if you’re reading this, knitting group ladies: *waves* Hello and welcome!

So that’s my knitting round-up for the week! Tune in next week to see if I manage to finish Silverleaf!

Bittersweet Birthday Cowl

Sep24

I have made some progress on my quest to knit all the things. Yes, I only have one FO, but I think that’s reasonable given my WIPs. One is a Sockhead hat, yes, a hat knit with sock yarn on tiny needles. It’s my brainless knitting so it doesn’t come out all the time. But I do love knitting on it. It’s so pretty and the yarn feels so nice. I have about two inches left before starting the decreases.

I also worked on my KC Royals Crackerjack scarf, and I’m all caught up to last night’s game. We only have eight games left, which is 16 rows, and then I’ll graft the ends together and it will be done! And I’ll probably set it aside and not want to wear it right away because I’m tired of looking at it. I just should have made it last year, when we won the World Series. Oh well. Who knew, right?

Here’s the FO, the Bittersweet Birthday Cowl. I worked on this during lunch at work and really enjoyed it. I modified the original long cowl to a short version, and I think it’s perfect. The lace pattern is beautiful. And this might be some of the most gorgeous Malabrigo I’ve used yet; it’s Rios in the Sabiduria colorway. The photos don’t even portray the color honestly. It’s deeper, darker, richer. Just gorgeous.

It’s not blocked yet. It will look neater when it is.

I didn’t work on any of my other WIPs this week, and I might not get much done this week. I have a couple more chemo caps to make, special color requests, so those come first. But when they’re done, I might be casting on a new project. Check out The Secret Way of Patterns. It’s a beautiful buttoned cowl pattern, but the story touched me too: a young girl who wants to be a fashion designer, who lost her grandmother and now wants to support her grandma’s charity. Yep, I bought the pattern, and would have even if I hadn’t thought it lovely. But I do, and I’ll enjoy making it.

Until next time, I’ll leave you with a nice thought from a movie we watched last night: “Have courage, and be kind.” Just about says it all, doesn’t it?

Knitting all the things

Sep20

Ha, I finally finished that dumb ribbed beanie! I mean, the pattern was fine–I just messed up at first and then got tired of it. I tried to modify and guessed wrong and ended up with a hat that was too small and too short for the boy. Okay, fine. I frogged and started over. But 1 x 1 rib on size 3 needles with fingering weight yarn, even held double, takes a while to knit. It got rather tiresome, which is probably why I set it aside for a while. Then I got tired of seeing it so Sunday I decided it had to get done. I was at the decreases anyway, so I was thisclose to the end. Before too long I had a finished hat and the boy put it on and said…”It’s a little big.” Argh. Yes, he’s still alive, but only because I had witnesses. Anyway, it’s done, it’s close enough, and he can wear it or not, I don’t care much at this point.

After that I was free to cast on something new because I only had 4 WIPs. Of those, one is a blanket (hibernating WIP), one is a long seed stitch cowl (hibernating WIP) and one is my Royals baseball crackerjack scarf, which is by design a summer-long project. I needed more! First I started Here Be Water Dragons with Stitchjones Dyepot Superwash Merino. I’d actually started it a couple of days ago, but didn’t like the fabric with the suggested needles, so it got frogged and I’ll start over with size 9 needles. I love the colors in this yarn–they’re perfect for fall/Halloween knitting–but it’s not the softest. I don’t know if I’ll be able to wear it next to my skin.

Then there’s Madelia. I started it last week and accidentally pulled the needle out of several stitches, and there were way too many k2tog and YOs to try to pick them up. No biggie, I wasn’t that far in. Plus I used the opportunity to switch from my Karbonz to bamboo needles. I adore my Karbonz; they’re usually my favorite needles. But they were too slippery for lace with this yarn: Berroco Fiora, which is 40% cotton and 30% rayon. After yesterday’s knitting session, I’m on to the fourth section and having a lovely time. It’s a really fun knit. I think I needed to add a more complicated pattern to the mix.

I also cast on for the New Bittersweet Cowl. I’m calling in the Bittersweet Birthday Cowl because I’m using my birthday yarn, and because it was my 40th birthday, which is a little bittersweet. I’m modifying it to be a one-loop cowl because that’s all the yarn I have.

And in that picture you can see my only FO for this post: the yarn bowl! It was actually made by the Knitting SIL for my birthday, and I added the black frog closure over the weekend. I LOVE it. It’s so pretty, and fits one wound skein perfectly.

I’m still working on my Sockhead hat and it’s knitting up beautifully, but it’s definitely too simple and mindless to be my at-home knitting.

Finally, I have Silverleaf. I’m loving knitting with the Malabrigo Arroyo but I’m a little stuck in the garter repeats. I’m so eager to get to the leaf pattern! And eager to wear it, too, so I guess I better keep on knitting.

Now I have this fun, varied collection of WIPs to choose from when I have some knitting time! I’m not sure I’ll even do much gift knitting this year: my knitting time is so diminished that I don’t know if I want to spend it making things for other people, unless I’m 100% sure they’ll love it, and use it. So far I don’t have anything like that in mind. Selfish knitting for the win! I’m sitting at 8 WIPs right now, and that’s a great number, don’t you think? Heck, I think I’ll add one more–I just remembered a birthday gift I need to knit. But it’ll be a small, quick knit, so that barely counts, right?

As if all of this wasn’t enough, I did some blocking over the weekend too, and now my Saroyan scarf and Fern Lace Cowl are ready to wear! The scarf is especially scrumptious and makes me long for a colder day.

Yes, with all this crafty stuff going on, I’d say it was pretty darn close to an ideal weekend. I definitely felt like it recharged my creative battery–and that helps keep me sane and happy throughout the week. Now, let’s see how much I can actually get done on all these projects this week!

Random Photos from a Birthday Weekend

Sep11

This weekend saw a bit of celebrating, since I seem to have a birthday coming up tomorrow. It’s a big one, too: 40. Really? 40? I don’t feel like I always imagined 40 feeling, but at the same time, I’m loving the freedom that comes with age. It really is true that you get more…confident, I guess. I care less what people think. I dye my hair purple and knit at football games and pretend to dab at assemblies to make my kids laugh, and I don’t really give a hoot what people think. So yeah, that part of 40 is awesome. We just won’t think about the not-awesome parts! 🙂 Last night I had some family over and we had a marvelous time eating tacos and cupcakes, and maybe opening a few presents too. My family knows me well.

A gorgeous purple felted yarn bowl from my Knitting SIL, a set of 6″ DPNs, and two Wonder Women. Pretty fun! And look at this:

My brother ordered this, because of course you’re never going to find my name on a Coke bottle otherwise. It’s pretty nifty.

I also celebrated by casting on three new projects, including the Manly Mitts in some Manos del Uruguay Maxima. These will stay at work for when my hands get cold. I absolutely love them. I mean, I’ve only got one done and there’s no second-glove-syndrome going on at all. They’re just so pretty and so soft and so squishy and snuggly.

Now I’m going to finish this second mitt while I watch the US Open and maybe later this week I’ll have a chance to share my other new WIPs!

Silly Selfies and FOs

Sep10

I have some FOs to share, and apparently I like to take silly photos of myself wearing them. Here’s the Cruella Cowl, a beauty in black and white. The pattern is Darn Knit Kinetic Cowl and it’s the fastest cowl I’ve ever made. In case you don’t recognize it, the yarn is my vacation Berroco Brio.

And then we have the Squarshy Hat, finished tonight, which I adore. I could have added another half-inch to the body, but it’s just fine as is.This is also vacation yarn, the Malabrigo Mecha.

Lastly, we have Fractal Danger, completed at last! But no silly selfies with this one, sorry. This was an interesting knit with unusual shaping, and was also my first experience with short rows. They’re not really my favorite. Kind of fiddly, turning so often and making sure your stitches stay on the needles and all that jazz. They slowed down my rhythm, and anything that does that is not my favorite. Still, I like this a lot, and I do think the shape makes it wonderfully wearable. I just need to get it blocked!

Next on my needles: Silverleaf with Malabrigo Arroyo! Can’t wait to get going on that one; I’ve been itching to knit it since it was released.

It’s been a while since I shared some puppy photos, hasn’t it? Grace is as much a love bug as ever, giving as many kisses as we’ll allow.

And Jack, silly cute Jack, he forgave me for boarding him after a day and went back to his charming self, always asking for belly rubs no matter where we’re sitting.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!