Busy busy!
16 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in A Picture's Worth 1000 Words, Knitting Content Ahead
I had a few more posts planned of recent knits and activities, but things have been crazy in my house. This past week/weekend my niece and nephew were in town for spring break. I never have this many people, meals and loads of laundry in my house. It was fun and exhausting!
For today I’ll leave you with a peek at some “yarnbombing” that a friend sent me. Check out this great tribute to the Olympics left by a knitter on a pier in London!
They tried to make me go to rehab…
02 Feb 2012 1 Comment
Yes, here it is, another knitting addiction.
Several months ago (ok it was August 2011) Target unveiled an “epic 400-piece Missoni” line of items ranging from sweaters to rainboots.
Tragically I am neither hip nor funky, and more often look like I should have stepped out of an episode of What Not to Wear (definitely the before pictures!)
Anyhow, not being particularly mod, I took note of the craze and moved on. Until I saw the cutest pattern on Ravelry. For a baby blanket.
And just like that, I’m addicted. Envisioning 20 odd versions of this blanket in scrap yarns and Wollmeise and handspun and….
Double knitting: a.k.a. How I broke my brain.
28 Jan 2012 3 Comments
in Knitting Content Ahead, Off the Needles
One of the things I love about knitting as a hobby is that there are always more opportunities to learn things. Just when I think I’ve mastered my craft, I find some new technique that makes my brain hurt so much I have to put it down after a few rows and regroup. Except, by the end of the project I’m usually swimming along (rather than sinking to the bottom of the pool in a heap) and feeling that rush of pride that comes from learning new skills.
A few weeks ago, while perusing my Twitter feeds, I saw a retweet from someone saying that Lucy Neatby was looking for test knitters. Ms. Neatby happens to be a very important person in the knitting world. (I do believe when telling a friend about this project I referred to her as Lucy effen Neatby – meant entirely in complimentary awe of her talent). I shot off a quick email and next thing I knew I was signed up to test knit.
The pattern arrived a day or so later, and I had those first pangs of anxiety – you know that sort of stomach dropping moment where you think maybe you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?
The pattern was for a double knit baby bonnet. Our good old friend Wikipedia defines it thusly:
Double knitting is a form of knitting in which two fabrics are knit simultaneously with two yarns on one pair of needles.
Clear as mud?
The pattern called for a tubular cast-on, which was also something I hadn’t ever tried. I’m sure had I invested in the collection of Lucy Neatby technique videos, I’d be well versed in this method, but I went looking for a tutorial online and found one of my favorites, Eunny Jang, here:
Duly fortified with this knowledge I set about casting on and it worked beautifully.
Now I by no means consider myself an expert at the technique of double knitting, but here’s how I went about it. I kept my chart close at hand. Normally I don’t need to track the chart excessively with highlighter tape, but because each stitch on the chart was actually TWO stitches (both the inside and the outside color) and because sometimes these colors were switched (to create the patternwork) I tracked it VERY carefully.
The top panel of the hat is worked back and forth meaning each time I turned my work over, I had to reverse the “main color” and the “contrast color.” In color terms: on one side red was my dominant color, with the white snowflakes in contrast, and on the other side, white was my dominant color with the red snowflakes in contrast. I only did a few rows at a time through the top panel of the hat. Also, I knit with both colors of yarn in one hand, but I switched each row so that the dominant/main color of that row was the more tensioned yarn (with the contrast color just following along). If you knit continental, this may be easier for you.
The rest of the instructions in the pattern were clear and concise. It took me a little over a week, but I got through the pattern and save one (unfortunately very visible) mistake, I completed the project.
Let’s talk turkey.
18 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Family, Knitting Content Ahead
We are now less than a week from my FAVORITE family holiday. Growing up Jewish meant that the big family holiday was Thanksgiving, a tradition we continue today. Now my sister and I both celebrate Christmas with our husbands’ families, but Thanksgiving is still the big WOLF holiday.
This is the time of year that visions of pumpkin casserole and Grandma Ruthie’s homemade stuffing and of course that chocolate cherry Bonnie Maziotta cake dance in my head. Where we make the stuffing on Wednesday night and then on Thursday I put the mashed potatoes through the Foley food mill, and the little sis stirs the gravy. And we eat too much and talk and laugh.
It’s also the time of year I’m thankful: thankful for my family and most especially my wonderful husband, thankful that we all have good jobs and roofs over heads and plenty to eat, thankful that we’re healthy and happy and have survived another year.
The only problem is that this year I may have to go naked at Thanksgiving because I’ve been concentrating on what knitting projects I’m going to take. The yarn and patterns and implements are all packed, but nary a stitch of clothing. This is normal right?
Retreat
04 Apr 2011 1 Comment
in Adventures in Travel, Knitting Content Ahead, Weekend Update
The last two weeks have been very stressful and less than pleasant. So it was with a decent amount of anticipation that I headed out this past weekend to Nebraska City, Nebraska for the Sunflower Knitter’s Guild Spring Knitaway at Lied Lodge. A weekend of knitting and spinning was just what the doctor ordered.
Most of the weekend was spent knitting and spinning in this beautiful lobby.
We also managed to take a detour to Omaha and participate in a little retail therapy. We visited both String of Purls and Personal Threads. I might have died a little in the second. Please excuse the blurry camera phone photo of the wall of Koigu. This might be what heaven looks like.
And I even made a dent in my first April sweater:
Now I just need a weekend to recover!
I’ve lost my March.
28 Mar 2011 2 Comments
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend, Knitting Content Ahead, Spinning a Yarn
I can’t believe I last posted on March 1. I don’t even know what I’ve been doing with myself.
I fear that March’s sweater was a disaster. I returned it to yarn form tonight. It’s always a little sad and depressing to me to come to the conclusion that what I’m knitting just isn’t going to be what I hoped it would be. It’s a combination of the time, and effort, and seeing something not become what I saw in my mind’s eye.
But I’ll move on. I’m already planning to start two sweaters in April to make up for it.
I’ve been spinning this month. Spinning a lot. There’s more to talk about there, but I’m not quite ready to share yet. For now I’ll just show you something I recently got off the wheel:
And there’s been knitting. But I can’t really talk about that yet either. Oh ok, maybe a little peek:
There’s also been a lot of reading. I’ve recently been using the Kindle app on my phone and enjoying reading a variety of books. So far, in the last month I’ve devoured: The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Too by Kate Jacobs, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
So that’s what I’ve been up to. More in a few days when I can talk more about the secret projects.
Knitting the winter away…
01 Mar 2011 2 Comments
in Knitting Content Ahead, Off the Needles, Spinning a Yarn
Well February has been a mixed month for us here in Kansas. It has been VERY VERY cold and snowy and icy. And then it has been warm (70 degrees!) and muddy. I’ve also been feeling a bit under the weather, which allowed me to finish up a few things this past weekend.
The Pattern: Off the shoulder cabled aran by Calista Yoo
The Yarn: The Plucky Knitter MCN, “Tara’s Velvet Drapes” inspired by Gone With the Wind
The Needles: US 2 & 4
The Verdict: I started this on January 1, 2010. It got abandoned pretty quickly because I was upset that the yarn kept bleeding color onto my hands. This month I decided to suck it up and finish the sweater since I really really want to wear it! I still need to soak it in vinegar and try and exhaust the rest of the dye, but I love the overall look and fit and the yarn itself feels divine.
***
A while ago I spun up approximately 440 yards of yarn from some Beemiceelf fiber. While I loved the individual braids, I was a little disappointed in the resulting yarn. I wondered if by plying the variegated with the semi-solid, I had overpowered the lovely transitions between colors in the variegated braid.
Then I found a pattern that I thought might work. This is Chrissy Prange’s (LeftSideKnits) Unwinding Hours. As I knit this pattern, I was thrilled to see that the subtlety of the colors hadn’t been lost. I think I’ve fallen in love again!
It’s not just me!
15 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
In case you think I’m crazy (well ok we KNOW I’m crazy), knitting IS experiencing a resurgence.
Even NPR says so! Listen here
.
In which I further convince you I’m crazy.
18 Nov 2010 2 Comments
So I admit that I’m a wee bit obsessed with this knitting thing. (Ditto the spinning thing.) What my mother once described as a phase I’d grow out of, I haven’t. In fact I’ve burrowed in even more.
I spend a large amount of time knitting. A large amount as in a few hours each day. It’s a bit like breathing to me.
This year a group on Ravelry was started to encourage shawl knitting in 2010. They called it “10 Shawls in 2010.” I enthusiastically joined and at last count I have shawls #14 and #15 on the needles.
A month or two ago, I started thinking about the end of the year, and the start of 2011 and what I wanted to accomplish in 2011. I surveyed my stash, and realized that I had an embarrassingly large number of sweater quantities of yarn. The answer was elementary (my dear Watson). I would knit sweaters.
Thinking Knowing everyone would think I was crazy, I started telling selected individuals my plan. And to my surprise people wanted to join me. So I did it. I took the plunge and started a group. I named it, most originally, “11 Sweaters in 2011.” If you want to join us – to participate, to watch, to cheerlead, or to chat, all are welcome. You can find us here.
