My Mailman thinks I'm crazy

Shovelling snow once again. 

Talking to myself as usual. 

I turn around to see my mailman standing right behind me.  Now that I wasn't expecting.  He was holding my mail, a little package, and a delivery confirmation to sign.  I had almost forgotten about it, but here it was!  I ripped open the package and twirled the contents around my neck with glee.

One thing I know for sure, my mailman obviously doesn't know anyone who knits.

This lovely new addition to my wardrobe is Isobel.  Made by a Raveler who just couldn't stand the curling.  I happen to love the curling so I offered to swap her for it.  It's hard to describe the color.  Is it avocado, moss, olive, lettuce, or kiwi?  Frankly I don't care.  They are all my favorite colors!

More mittens...

This week I finished a pair of super cute mittens, if I do say so myself!

A friend asked me to make mittens for her 5 year old son, a friend and classmate of kidster #2. She wanted something that could go with his two winter coats, one blue and one brown. He asked for either Santa, reindeer, or a snowman. At first I thought about making these Cabled Snowman Mittens which I think are adorable (and will make for someone in the future!). While searching the Ravelry project pages, I came across these made by fellow raveler ironknitter and then I had my aha moment.

I am pretty proud of them and they even turned out just like I had imagined. They got thumbs up approval from both of my boys, and the look on Sam's face when he put them on was totally worth it. His mom approved too!

The Good, the Bad, and the Party...in reverse

The Party:
We had a family party to go to and my friend is one of those people who prefers that people remove their shoes when inside the house. I don't mind doing that but her floors are all tile or hardwood and my feet are always freezing there. I started thinking about making slippers. If you've been with me for a while, you might remember that last year I made two pairs of French Press Slippers for Christmas presents. I thought about making another pair for a few days, but by the time I was ready to knit them I knew I wouldn't have enough time to knit all the pieces, sew them together, felt them, wait for them to dry, sew them again...ugh. I think Freud may have been working in the back of my mind.

Do you get where I'm going with this?

Then I stumbled upon the pattern for Duffers (non-Ravelry link here). Can I tell you how much I love this pattern? It is so easy. The fit is fantastic and there is only one seam to sew up. Can you say 5 minutes? Seriously! And it's free, too. While I still like the French Press pattern, now that I have tried this new pattern I will not turn back.

The Bad:
I had the strange notion that making them with some of the half-boatload of Lopi I have in my stash would be a good idea. Um, no. I feel like I need to drag my vacuum around behind me when I wear them.
The Good:
Luckily I still had one more day before the party. I made these in three hours. That's like instant knitting for some of you high speed knitters out there (and you know who you are)!
The pattern is so addictive I want to make these for everyone!

So about the Lopi, you ask? Before you get all defensive on me, I know that every knitter has their own feelings about certain kinds of yarns. I get that. I have discovered that I dislike Lopi. Very much.

But if you like it and you want my Lopi slippers, or my Lopi stash, just let me know. Merry Christmas, it's yours. Seriously.

Done, and in time too!

Picture courtesy of 6 year old kidster #1. Enough said.

Details here.

Project update

I've been plugging away on my latest project, the Easy Top Down Raglan that I am knitting as part of a KAL in the Spud & Chloe Ravelry Group. It's from Wendy Bernard's Book, Custom Knits. It has been going much quicker than I expected, which is good, because it is in this very fall like color and it would be a shame if I didn't finish it until April!Whew, enough links for you?

I love quickies!

Well who doesn't?

My last few projects have been nice, quick knits! But not just mindless either, I learned a new technique. Bobbles. They were surprisingly easy, but I was glad to practice them on a not so important project, if you know what I mean.
I have a boatload of this cotton that my neighbor gave me last summer. I was going to dye it, but that is another one of those someday projects. So when my mother in law started complaining about the price of Swiffer cloths, I did what every knitter does. I thought for about half a second and said, "I can knit those!". In her somewhat skeptical, non-knitter voice she said, "and they will work as good as the Swiffer ones?" I gave them to her this week, so we will have to wait a bit to see what the verdict is.

The first pattern is available here on Ravelry or from Birdysknits directly. I modified it only slightly by purling the first and last three rows to ease the curling edge.

The other one I made was just 65 stitches knit in garter until it fit. Even though there was only minor sewing involved, I think if I make more I would knit the other one just to avoid it :).

Ok, who isn't getting the biggest kick out of the fact that this yarn is the EXACT same color as the Swiffer???

Cool Cat pattern available

The pattern for the cat I test knit is now available!
Ravelry
The Pattern Box

I've been avoiding the subject.

Here is my spring hoodie. It is an Ugh.

The pattern has a few errors. The hood does not make a hood, it makes a flap. You know, like a big sailor collar. Yeah, not attractive. And the yardage requirement is way off. I should have known that 750 yards for a hoodie sweater was not going to cut it, but I was wearing my rose colored glasses. So I now have a pointy hooded vest. And if you would like to have a pointy hooded vest, just let me know!

Another cat in the house

This little guy is the latest off my needles. I needed something small and portable to take with me on my trip to Ohio. It had just so happened that my friend Anita, of The Pattern Box, was asking for test knitters for her two new designs in our Ravelry group. I knew the cat would be perfect since I did owe kidster #2 a knitted toy. Back when his brother got the ninja turtle I had asked him what he would like and he said a cat. I searched around but never settled on a pattern that I liked. In fact, the only pattern that I even considered was another of Anita's, the Scaredy Cat.


I made this one black to resemble our big black cat Zoey. I didn't do a face...and I probably wont. I like that our Mini Zoey can feel however Kidster wants him to (that, and I'm not good at embroidering)!


I'll let you all know when Anita releases the pattern! In the meantime, here's my Ravelry project page.

Selfishness and RAK's

I was perusing the projects I've completed this year and it seems I am on a bit of a selfish knitting jag. So far this year I've made myself a scarf, mittens, socks and a sweater. If I knit some pants I'd have a new outfit. Ok, just kidding! My newest project is this:

The Cables and Eyelet Hooded Cardi

I've been taking it everywhere with me trying to get a row in here, there, and where ever possible! I'm hoping I will finish it by the end of the month.

I was searching on Ravelry for something, I don't even remember what now, and came across the group Random Acts of Kindness; actually it was a particular post within that forum that touched me. I sent my hearts off to a fellow Raveler who is having a tough time right now. If you have knitted the hearts and want to offer yours in support, I know a fellow Raveler who would be very comforted by them.

Since then I have offered up two more parcels to members of the group. It has made me feel a little warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe a little voice inside my head is trying to even out the knitting karma :)

My second First

In my last post I showed you my first sweater, the one I made 17 years ago. Besides the 13 year hiatus from knitting in general, it has been all of those 17 years since I knit another sweater. Enough time, I think, to say that whatever I learned the first time has long since been driven from my brain by the tolls of motherhood!

So it was with an abundance of cheap acrylic yarn lying around that I thought, "why not make another sweater, I mean what else am I going to do with it?"! That wasn't actually my thought process, but we'll go with it because it doesn't contain any profanity.

I made the Nimbus sweater by Berroco. My only change was to knit longer sleeves instead of the short sleeves in the pattern. (Edit: I actually made another change, the garter bands are 3" instead of 4. I forgot about that one.)

On the bad side, it's acrylic. I can practically hear it pilling. And something is going on with the wider than expected collar. Not at all what it appears to be in the pattern. It's not too bad, but remember, tiny head syndrome :).

On the good side, it fits. I made it 5" longer than called for; I probably could have gone another inch but it works. It was inexpensive, downright cheap. To make this in wool would have cost me more than I can afford. Luckily Hubster got me one of those nifty clothes shavers!

Are you a yarn snob?

I don't really like to use that term, Yarn Snob, because it just sounds bad. I'm not trying to alienate anyone either. But if you detest acrylic then you will want to click out of this post now. Right now. And I don't want that, I'd hate to see you go. Well, maybe just hang around for a minute to find out why?

My husband's aunt used to knit and crochet like the wind. She would make samples for the LYS. We still use a beautiful blanket she made for Hubster years ago. In fact, she made dozens of the cutest baby booties as the shower favor for my baby shower. For some reason (grin) she has always loved me. Hugs the daylights out of me and packs a lipsticked kiss on me every time I see her. I must be like she daughter she never had or something. Aunt Rita has been cleaning out her house lately. Her husband died this past summer, and now her son and daughter-in-law are going to be moving in with her. She has also had problems with her hands and isn't able to knit or crochet anymore. (Pausing for a moment of silence) She has been gifting me with all of her stash. Yup. Loads. And loads more on top of that! There is no way one human being could possible knit up this much yarn if all they did was knit constantly!

There have been some interesting finds; quite a bit of Swa Laine, which looks like a mini i-cord instead of plied yarn strands. And some Lite-Lopi. But the majority of it is Acrylic. Lots of Red Heart and Caron Simply Soft. I can hear the mouse clicks now. Come back soon, will you please?

So in honor of Aunt Rita and her stash I will be holding yarn giveaways on a regular basis in the hopes of reclaiming our guest room (my craft room) before anyone visits and needs to use it! Details yet to be determined, but stay tuned!

The redirect

Have you ever started a project and got about halfway through when you thought to yourself "this would look so much better as ...."? It doesn't usually happen to me because I tend to plan ahead and deliberate about the next project while I work on the current one (or as of late, four). Well, it happened to me this week. I had about ten minutes to kill off in between kidster taxiing so I sat down with my socks. I had the weather channel on (Why? They never get it right.) and was listening to the forecast of teens and negative degree wind chills. I happened to put my feet up and this was the view.

Normally I take my shoes off the second I come in the door, but like I said, I knew I was leaving again in a quick 10. I thought how funny it was that this yarn that I seemed to have no use for matched my sneakers. Then I thought about how I don't have any mittens. I have thin fleece gloves for driving and thick insulated gloves for snow, but no mittens. So the socks were redirected. I've had the peekaboo mittens pattern queued for about as long as I've been queueing in Ravelry, and what I had so far was perfect for changing over. Here are my mittens, that are just as good as gloves but better! The cuffs are a little long since I decided not to rip back the progress I had made on them as socks, but rolled up they fit just fine, perfect actually! And just in time too, it is 18 degrees with a -5 windchill today! I guess they got this one right.

Why did I do that?

I've done it again. I now have four projects going at once.

The first project was Auntie Mitts in the Atacama I had used for the scarf. I hadn't decided on a hat pattern (and still haven't) but needed to get knitting. I found one skein that was much lighter than the rest with very little of the gray and red in it. I thought it might look nice in this lace pattern and it does.

I had planned to wear them with the cast on edge at the fingers because I like the gentle scallop it has. I am mostly done with the first one, but have put this aside. I'm now thinking of just some wrist ruffles (cuffs?) instead. So while I muddle it they have taken a back burner to the other projects.

My Nimbus is going along nicely. The back was a piece of cake. Then I made the two fronts at the same time. Figured it was the best way to make them the same size! I'm about to start the sleeves already!

Then last Friday night I started this heart, a new pattern I found on Ravelry. I was at the point where the decreases start for the sweater, and being beer night I decided I had better wait for a weeknight or else I might end up with three armholes! I finished this little guy up Saturday and it is so cute, even without felting. (Apparently the designer thinks my photo is cute too because she put it on the pattern page!!!) I am hoping to make more and turn them into some sort of Valentine's Day item. Maybe a wreath, maybe some conversation hearts!

And to top it all off, there are the socks that I am making in the KAL. I am rationalizing this one away as not really being a WIP because we only get one step every Friday. It's done later that night (beer and all!) and then I have the rest of the week to work on the other items.

So as far as the WIPs go, lets look at this rationally. The socks don't really count since the that week's step gets finished right away, right? And the mitts don't count either since they are in hibernation, right? With the sweater being my weekday knitting and the hearts my weekend project (with each heart getting finished by the end of the weekend), I really only have one WIP which is the sweater!

All right! I think I'll be ok this time. I promise I wont get stressed out. And I also know that I am not casting on anything new until at least the sweater gets done!

The bean head hat search

Remember my scarf I just finished? And remember that thing I have about wanting matchy things? Anyway...I am on a search for a hat pattern. And maybe some gloves, mitts, or fingerless somethings, too. But I am having a time of it, even with the help of Ravelry. I'm hoping you can help me.

Here's the issues:

I want to use the Atacama in my stash to keep things all matchy.

I do not like the way Atacama knits up in stockinette since the color repeats are so short. I love the way it looks in the scarf lace pattern though!

I have a ridiculously small head. A bean head. Yes, it's true. OK, well, maybe not that bad, but I am tall (5'9"), have broad shoulders, and a long thin neck, all of which emphasize the slimness of my head.

I'll wait for you to stop chuckling...

I do not look good in caps. If you don't believe me then look at this. (I can't believe I'm showing you these!)

And I have bangs. Been cursed with them ever since my mother gave me my first haircut. Except for a little feathering stint back in the 80's, I can't seem to shake them even after 37 years. Jeez, I need a new look! But I digress...

So I have been thinking that something with texture or a beret of some sort. Give some dimension to my head and puff it out a bit. But not too puffy or we'll be in the same "look-how-small-her-head-is" situation. I've only been able to come up with these three possibilities:

Ripple by Wendy Bernard

Ruche by Susan B. Anderson

Fountain Hat by Phoe M. White

So I need your help! Do you have a hat pattern in mind that might solve my head problem? Should I keep the Atacama for mitts and go with another yarn for the hat?

HELP!!!

Twins!

Scarves, that is.
I knew one of my Christmas gifts was a new coat from my mother (since I had picked it out, tried it on, and brought it back from Ohio with me a few weekends ago!).

I knew that I had a good yarn candidate in my stash. Boy, that doesn't happen too often! Once I started the pattern I was sure I had made the right decision. The various shades of gray (so my favorite color to wear, it seems) and the little pops of maroonish red in the Atacama knitted up into a really nice fabric.I also knew halfway through knitting the Mustard Scarf that I would be giving it away. Those pops of red kept reminding me of my Mother-In-Law's maroon leather jacket, and her struggle to find a nice neck warming accessory to match it.

It was finished the morning of Christmas Eve. I steam blocked it and attached the button just before we were leaving for our big Christmas Eve celebration at Hubster's parents' house. I gifted the scarf to a very thankful MIL then realized that I hadn't taken any photos!!!

What to do?

Make another. And I did. This one's all mine.
Sorry for the bathroom shots. It's the room with the best lighting!

About the big ticket items

I've had two "big ticket" items in my immediate mental queue for a while now. The first (you might remember from this post) is the Heather Hoodie, but in a regular person size. I've been wanting to make it for a while now. I bought the Fall 2009 Knitscene magazine and even bought yarn for it, too.

The second is Mayer. I loved it immediately when I saw this picture on the Berroco website. I loved it even more when I saw this picture on the Webs Yarn Store blog. I have eight balls of this yarn perfect for it. Shhh, I've even done the S word for this project! Yes way! So this has been in the top position for when I am done with Holiday knitting, kidster knitting, and the other small projects I want to finish first. I figured it was about time I made something big again. And for myself. I even thought about returning the bulky yarn I bought for the Hoodie.

Then it happened.

I was out gift shopping and with an arm full of stuff when I saw this. It's not exactly the same but it has a lot of similar elements, the most obvious being the wide collar and the similar (not exact) stitch pattern. It has snaps that can turn that wide collar into a turtleneck (which at first I didn't think I'd like, but once I tried it I did). I tried it on in off-white because it was close to what I was going to make. But because of the snaps being a darker color it looked a little odd and they stood out too much. There was a black marl that I liked but three quarters of my sweaters are black or gray and I couldn't justify it. This brown one was a nice color and those big snaps blended in a lot better.

I hemmed and hawed, a lot.

1. This one is longer than Mayer.
2. I'm tall and can manage a long sweater.
3. If I did try to make Mayer it would probably take me until next winter, at least!
4. With a 30% off sale and a coupon in my pocket it would cost less than the yarn I had at home.
5. If I buy it then I wouldn't have the pleasure of making it.
6. The brown blends in with my hair color and I might look too washed out.
7. It's still not the same as Mayer and I might still want to make it and then where would I be?
8. Buy it for $20 and you can wear it right away.

Get it, or not? What do you think happened?

We Won!

Thanks friends! Thanks to your support, the Braided Cable Handle Tote is the November bag KAL in the Bag-A-Month Club on Ravelry! I'm going to be joining the fun and knitting another one. Another one you ask? Yup. This time in a "way huger than that" size, requested by one almost 15 year old niece. Details will surely follow. Hope you join us!

Campaigning for your vote!

Hi fiber friends! I have some exciting news. This week my Braided Cable Handle Tote pattern was put into the running for the November KAL in the Bag-A-Month Club group on Ravelry!

So I am calling on all of you out there to vote for me! Come one! You don't have to leave a comment. You don't have to fill out a ballot and mail it out. All you have to do is go to this thread in the group then click on the "agree" tag within post #5. And you'll be transported into online knitting heaven at the same time. How easy is that?

Thanks for your generous support!

Even superheroes need lace!

What do superheroes and lace have in common? Apparently a lot, since I've already been commissioned to make a small one in white and a huge one in green.

The lace pattern is from Water Web. Kidster #1 and I thought it would make a perfect net for catching those bad guys. Besides being a chance to practice all those yarn overs it was a good car project, since a few "five minutes at a time" seems to be about all the knitting I can get in these days. But an FO is an FO so I'm not going to complain, even if the rest of you could have done ten of these by now!