WIP: Holl sweater

So I am still knitting--just not very often. I finished knitting the body of Holl, a dolman-sleeve sweater for myself, around Easter. It is knit from the bottom of the front up to the neckline and then back down to the bottom of the back. After putting it in the "I don't feel like dealing with that pile" for a few days, I bit the bullet and started seaming. I don't mind seaming stockinette stitch, but this sweater is almost all reverse stockinette--and that is not as much fun for me because this is the first time I've really had to do it--so I'm not very good at it. It took me several nights of seaming and I don't love my seams, but this sweater is seamed and now just needs the rest of the sleeves knit. I am VERY happy with the fit and am excited to wear this next fall/winter. Just thought I'd share my progress. Please excuse the cruddy photo complete with a dirty mirror, lovely workout pants, a bad hair day and a little cutie peaking in.

Happy knitting, everyone! So what are you knitting these days? I'd love to get some inspiration for future projects.

Knitting WIP

I know I haven't blogged about it recently, but I am still knitting. A few weeks ago, I finished knitting this sweater for J. I still need to attach the snap tape.


I am currently knitting this dolman sleeve sweater for me. The pattern is Holl by Kirsten Johnstone.
Will blog more about these soon (I hope).

Empowered: A Post about Women & Knitting and (a giveaway)

I was recently contacted by Laura at Open Road Media about participating in a Blogfest for International Women's History Day. The goal of the Blogfest is to build on the 2012 National Women's History Month Theme of "Women's Education - Women's Empowerment" by talking about how women are empowered by knitting. Each blog post starts with the above video made by several Open Road Media authors (Joelle Hoverson, Andrea Berman Price and Melanie Falick).

I was instantly intrigued and agreed to participate. I was so honored to be asked. So here are my thoughts on Knitting and Empowerment. I found I had a lot to say.

When I first thought about the history of knitting and women, I thought about how women began knitting as a necessity. They needed a way to make warm clothes and thus they knit them. And I too see the power in knitting something that meets such a basic need. Clothing. It's right up there with food and shelter. And there is something very empowering about creating such an essential item, especially when I am knitting for my children. I feel a little bit like Supermom every time I see one of my boys in a sweater I've knit him. I love that I created something that both keeps him warm and brings a smile to his face.

Knitting gives us women not only the power to create a functional piece of clothing, but it also gives us the power to create exactly the piece of clothing that we want. It starts small--the power to choose the color yarn that you want to use. Next you might chose a specific yarn fiber to meet your specific needs of climate or wear. After that you get to make choices about sizing--making parts larger or smaller to fit just right. Next you get to choose to follow a pattern or even create your own. Finally, and in the mind of my boys, most importantly, you get to choose the finishing touches, the trim, the buttons or other embellishments. I don't know about you, but I've never seen a rainbow cardigan with red elephant buttons in the store, but that is exactly what my son needed. I have to power to make that for him and it is wonderful. Knitting has the power to create not just knitted items, but the power to create smiles.

Knitting to me is truly a labor of love. Knitting something for myself or my child or a friend, is the process of putting that love into an object one stitch at a time. That finished object, whether a sweater, a shawl, a hat, a blanket or a pair of mittens, can be worn, held, treasured. It is a tangible, lasting symbol of my love. I have the power to create that each time I knit and it is amazing.

The power of knitting is not just in the finished objects, but in the process itself. There is a special kind of magic in the way two sticks and some yarn can turn into beautiful fabric. I am always amazed when I look at the simple beauty of stockinette stitch. The fact that by combining a few simple stitches I can create cables, textured patterns, and lace--LACE!--it is magical.

Knitting is a kind of therapy. The repetition of stitches, the process of producing something gives the knitter a sense of peace and purpose each time she sits down with needles and yarn. I often call knitting my happy place. It is the one thing guaranteed to make me feel at peace. It is both soothing and rewarding. Knitting can turn mindless TV watching into something productive. I no longer feel guilty about the hours spent watching drama evolve in fictional characters' lives. I'm not just sitting--I am knitting. I am creating. I am being productive.

After a knit item is complete, the joy continues. Now knitters are empowered further by the kind words and complements we receive each time those items are worn. It is always fun when a non-knitter is amazed by something I've knit, but it is even more empowering when I share those items with a fellow knitter, for other knitters know the labor of love that went into that knit item. And knitters are an amazing bunch. They love to share their knitting knowledge and to encourage their fellow knitters. Knitters have built themselves such a community of support using the internet to spread the love and information. Locally at knit shops and internationally through Flickr, blogs and Ravelry, I have been adopted into that community of knitters. And each time I get a comment from a fellow knitter, I feel further empowered--empowered not only by the accomplishment of another skill learned and another project completed, but also empowered by my membership in this community of women who all embrace the art of knitting and all it stands for.

Knitting gives so much. The power of productivity. The power of creativity. The power of purpose. The power of pride in a job well done. The power to show my love, my knowledge, my creativity one stitch at a time. Knitting is not just a craft or a hobby or a skill or a job, it's a superpower that this community of women have shared and will continue to share for generations.

So what do you think? How does knitting empower you? If you're not a knitter, what craft "superpower" do you have?

Don't hold back. Comment away. Next week, Laura from Open Road Media will give me and one random commenter from this post a complimentary review copy of the ebook edition of Michelle Edwards' incredible A Knitter's Home Companion via NetGalley. This looks like a wonderful book about knitting and I can't wait to read it!

To check out the rest of the Blogfest and read some great posts, go to the Open Road Media Blog here.

A New Goal

I just watched this snippet from the Ellen show. It shows an interview with actress Amanda Seyfried. She talks about how she knits while she's on the elliptical. I've always thought I'd work out much more if I could knit and workout at the same time. I've tried knitting and doing Wii Fit and quickly injured myself. (Stupid idea I know.) I've tried knitting while on the treadmill and had to go too slow to really feel good about it. Apparently, what I need is an elliptical. Then I can knit and workout to my heart's content.

New Goal for 2012: Find a cheap elliptical machine :).

Finished: Rippled Cardigan for Cat

I finished knitting, blocking and seaming my sister's Ripple Cardigan. I made myself this cardigan in orange a while ago and wear it often. It's great over simple dresses, tanks, t-shirts and even long sleeved-shirts. A few months ago my sister requested one in cream and here it is:

When I knit my Rippled Cardigan I had a lot of trouble with dropped stitches. Since that time I have knit with this type of yarn (laceweight Mohair blend) a lot and thus had very few dropped stitches this time around. This sweater knit up very quickly. The seaming seemed to take almost as long as the knitting, but was enjoyable in its own way.

One trick I used for seaming, was holding the sweater pieces together with carefully placed bits of yarn. I lined up two end points (for example, the top and bottom of a seam) and tied them together. Then I folded each piece in half and marked the center points and tied them together. Then I kept halving the distance between two tied together points until the ties were only around 2 inches apart.


My other tip for this sweater is to make sure you bind off VERY loosely--especially on the fronts. They are knit side to side and the back is knit top to bottom. Thus if you bind off the fronts too tightly, it will make the side seams bunch when you sew the fronts to the back.

This detail on the back of the neck is one of my favorite parts of the sweater:

Pattern: Ripple Cardigan by Coralie Meslin
Size: Smallest
Yarn: 4 skeins of Debbie Bliss (76% Super Kid Mohair/ 24% Silk/ 200m/ 25g/ laceweight)
Color: Cream (15006)
Mods: I changed the sleeves to elbow length bell shape sleeves. See my Ravelry page for more details.

Finished: Folded

I finally finished Folded, a fun sweater pattern by Veera Valimaki, that I have been working on since the end of August! I can't believe it took me so long to knit this sweater. For the first few months (September and October) I had very little knitting time due to J's new school schedule and various Halloween-related crafts including making Halloween costumes for B and I.

Since then, I haven't had a good excuse. I had some real issues with the sleeves--but not all the sweater's fault. I knit my first sleeve 4 times. The first time, I misread the pattern and forgot to put in the increases. The second time, the sleeve just felt too tight. The third time, I changed the increase placement but still felt the sleeve was too tight. Finally, on my fourth try I moved up a needle size (to 4s for ribbing and 6s for stockinette) and did the increases earlier. Details on Ravelry.

Anyway, I finally finished knitting the sweater in December, but left it waiting to block and ends waiting to be woven in until after I finished knitting the pieces for my sister's Ripple Cardigan. I ended up blocking both at once and then finishing this one. I am still seaming the cardigan.

I wore my Folded sweater on Sunday and like it a lot. The fingering weight yarn makes it nice and lightweight. After blocking, it has a really nice drape to it. I like the simplicity of the stockinette stitch with the little bit of added interest the folds at the center above the bustline add.

Pattern: Folded by Veera Valimaki
Yarn: 3 skeins of Araucania Itata Solid (fingering weight, 70% super wash wool/ 15% silk/ 15% bamboo, 100g, 430 yd)
Needles: Size 3 body ribbing, Size 5 body stockinette, Size 4 sleeve ribbing, Size 6 sleeve stockinette
Size: xs, 32" bust
Mods: Changed increases for sleeves. Knit sleeves on larger needle. Made sleeves bracelet length. Added 3 rows of 2 x 2 ribbing around neckline to keep it from rolling.

A Knitter's Christmas

Christmas was good to me this year!

I got four new knitting books.


Can't wait to start reading them and hopefully get inspired to design some new knits.

In the mean time, I also got lots of yummy yarn to knit with.

I got these four skeins of worsted weight yarn that I hope to knit into this lovely dolman sleeve pullover by Kirsten Johnstone. I really like this version that I saw on Ravelry.


I also got this yummy laceweight yarn that I hope to knit into this fun lace tunic by Melissa Wehrle.



Not sure what I'm going to knit with it, but I also got this delicious laceweight yarn from Sunrise Fiber Co. This is the same yarn, in a different colorway, that I used for my Lemongrass Island.

Other yarn waiting to be knit include my recent purchases.
To knit a sweater for N:

To knit a sweater for J:

For Paper Dolls or another colorwork pullover:
I'm currently knitting a Ripple Cardigan for my sister. It is a cream version of the one I knit during Ravelympics in 2010.

I have also mostly completed my Folded sweater which I have been slowly working on for the last several months. It's a little snug through the raglan and I am trying to decide if I need to frog and knit more or just block it hard. Will share once it is 100% complete.

So much knitting, so little time. The story of my life.

So did you have a good knitterly Christmas? What goodies did you get?

Ysolda Teague

This week Ysolda Teague came to Texas and taught four classes through my local yarn shop, the Woolie Ewe. This morning I was lucky enough to take a 3 hour "Perfect Sweater" class taught by Ysolda. It was my first ever knit class and it was awesome! I learned a lot. The info was all from her latest book Little Red in the City. It's a great book and I highly recommend it.

I wore my Summer tank that I designed and knit this summer to the class. It was chilly this morning so I wore it as a vest over a button up.


Anyway, I got to talk to Ysolda briefly about my sweater before she signed my copy of Little Red in the City. This is a close up of what she wrote:
Pretty awesome, huh?

Yes, today was a good day.

Juices are flowing

All of a sudden my creative juices are flowing and I have more ideas than I have time. (Thanks Pinterest!) Had to get some out of my head so I'm posting here.

Wreath of fall colored fabric flowers.

Fabric covered beaded necklace.

Fabric flower accessories.

Halloween costume (already got invited to a party and I can't wait).

Knitted lace bib necklace. Have seen some cool crochet ones, but not really knit ones. Need to chart out some stitch patterns from my old Vogue Knitting Stitch dictionary and play on paper before I can even consider casting on.

Lightweight knit sweater for B--yes, I think I'm finally ready to tackle that one. If I can only find the right yarn and afford a B's sweater amount of it.

Knit lace cowl. A long skinny continuous circle made up of a variety of lace/textured stitches. Probably in fingering weight. Lots of planning before I can do anything about this one.

Doubleknit coasters. Need to find or create a pattern. Never done doubleknitting, but it sounds interesting and I think the double thickness would be good for a coaster. I just started using a gauge swatch as a coaster because it was handy, but I think one made for this purpose would be even better. Maybe in grellow (gray and yellow <3).

Still want to knit a striped pullover with yarn I bought almost a year ago. Still need to design it. Trying to decide on neckline shape and stripe pattern. Here's my inspiration.

Just cast on for Folded. This is the perfect mindless knit so I can think of all my other ideas while knitting it :).

Lemongrass Island: AFTER

I took my Rock Island shawl and gave it bath in warm water and Eucalan (no rinse wool wash).


Rolled it in a towel to get out excess water. Stretched it out and pinned it in place with blocking wires and pins.
And now, in less than 24 hours, this:


Has become this:
But to really appreciate its beauty, you have to see the outside shots where you can really appreciate the pretty color of this yarn and the delicate nature of this shawl.





Pattern: Rock Island by Jared Flood
Yarn: less than one skein of Sunrise Fiber Co. Lace Silk Merino in Lemongrass (80% Merino/ 20% Silk/ 50g/ 656yds)
Needles: Size 7
Finished size: 48" (at widest point) by 22" (at deepest point) [relaxed after blocking]
Mods: I wanted a smaller shawl--so I might actually wear it. I only did 61 repeats of the lace edging and thus only had 248 YOs to create 251 stitches. Then I only did 4 sets of garter stitch decreases to get to 235 st to start the Rock Island lace chart. For the chart, I only did 14 repeats (instead of 17) of the six stitch repeat. After the Rock Island chart, I followed the pattern as written until I had 13 st. I then did this as my final decrease row: K2, K2tog, K1, SSK, K2, SSK, K2. This left me 10 stitches. I grafted them together (5 and 5) using the Kitchener st.
On Ravelry here.

Lemongrass Island: BEFORE

Finished knitting my lace shawl! Here it is:


My Lemongrass Island!

Okay, so it doesn't look like much yet. But just wait to until I block it. Then the magic happens.

AFTER pictures coming soon.

WIP: Rock Island

Although J's starting Kindergarten has been the focus of our household this week (and the last few to be honest), I am still knitting when I get a chance. I've been getting up early and thus heading to bed early so not doing as much knitting as I would like. However I am still making progress on my lace shawl, Rock Island, or as I've renamed mine Lemongrass Island.

This is where I am now.

I am making mine on Size 7 needles to meet gauge. But I wanted mine slightly smaller than the original pattern, so I did 61 instead of 71 repeats of the lace edging. Picking up stitches into YO loops took much longer than I expected. Some of my loops were obvious and some were not. Had 248 YOs [2 + 244 (61 x 4) + 2] and picked up 251 stitches (increasing 3 in middle 4 stitches as suggested). I realized that I needed to do just 4 sets of the two garter stitch rows (a total of 16 stitches decreased) to get the correct stitch count to start the Rock Island chart. After these rows I had 235 stitches to start Rock Island chart. I followed the chart as written except did the 6 stitch repeat 14 times (instead of 17). I messed up the Rock Island chart a few times early on and had to redo those rows. I then highlighted the SSKs and soon memorized the pattern. After that, it was smooth sailing. I have since finished the Rock Island chart and am slowly working my way through the garter stitch decrease rows. I have about 40 more rows to go. Can't wait to finish and block. This shawl is BEAUTIFUL after blocking.

Rock Island: Work in Progress

I could not resist my new Sunshine Fiber Co. Lace Merino Silk. I'm already knitting with it.

I enjoy knitting lace, but I am not a person who wears shawls so I often pass on many of the "in" projects for lace knitters. But when I saw Rock Island by Jared Flood, I was tempted. It's a lace shawl, but it is so delicate and beautiful and modern that I was having trouble resisting. I was doing just fine until I realized my new yarn is just enough yardage for this project and then I caved.

I swatched on Tuesday night and although I had just bought lovely size 6 lace needles from my local yarn shop (the size recommended in the pattern)--it turns out I needed to move up to size 7 to get gauge--even after blocking. :(. I thought about using the size 6s anyway as I wouldn't mind a smaller shawl, but decided not to as the open, airy look of the shawl is part of what attracted me to it. I am sad to not get to use my new needles, but so far my old size 7 bamboo needles are working just fine.


Rock Island starts with 71 repeats of a 8 row lace edging. I have completed 14 repeats so far and am getting into a good rhythm. From everyone's comments on Ravelry, the edging is the hardest part. One thing I've done to help me are adding a "lifeline" at the end of each repeat (the purple yarn in the picture). This way if I make a mistake, I can just go back to the beginning of that 8 row repeat and know that all stitches are on the needle correctly. I made a few errors early on (a few forgotten yarn ons) and when I worked back, I felt undoing the SSKs was right fiddly--thus my addition of the lifeline. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up in those early repeats as I've now gone far enough that I don't want to go back. I am also using a magnetic board with magnets to hold my chart and isolate the row I am working on. I am also using a counter to keep track of how many repeats I've completed.

People were complaining about the difficulty of reading the chart and keeping K2tog and SSK straight. I've realized that all right side rows start with a YO and a K2tog. Then rows 1 and 3 switch to SSK. Rows 2 and 4 are all K2tog. Rows 5 and 7 are all K2tog. Rows 6 and 8 are all SSK. Because of the yarn overs at the beginning of each right side row (they make little loops that stick out), it is easy to tell if you are on the right side or wrong side.

Anyway, as in all lace, the pattern has some logic to it that helps make it easier to remember. This edging is done in garter stitch which is harder for me to read than stockinette lace so I'm glad to have my aids to keep it straight. Anyway, I am enjoying knitting this so far. Can't wait to see this lovely lace all blocked out. It is amazing what blocking does to lace!

Finished! My First Sweater Design

I did it! I can't believe I actually did it! I knitted a sweater from a pattern I designed myself and I LOVE it! I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning!


A few months ago I saw a hat (Courtyard) on Ravelry that I just fell in love with. Well, not the hat exactly, but the stitch pattern. I loved the cool hourglass-shaped twisted stitch pattern. So I bought the pattern, knit the hat and decided that I needed to knit a sweater in this stitch pattern.

I've read a number of books on knitting and designing your own knits. All of which, I referred to during this process. My favorites are:
Knitwear design Workshop by Shirley Paden
Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard
Knitting from the Top by Barbara G. Walker

I love knitting in the round and top-down which is what both Wendy and Barbara teach. Shirley's designs all focus on knitting in pieces and usually bottom-up, but her attention to detail and using math really helped me a lot.

Anyway, I originally pictured a long-sleeve sweater in the same color scheme as my hat (golden yellow and white). However, I just couldn't figure out how to make this stitch pattern cooperate for a raglan and I just didn't feel like messing with set-in sleeves--so I decided to knit a boatneck tank. I also decided to knit in the round and from the bottom up. Although I often prefer top-down, bottom-up seemed to make more sense with this stitch pattern and style.

Next came the search for yarn. I just couldn't find yarn that I loved in the golden yellow and white (and suitable for a boatneck tank). Finally, as I perused my local yarn shop for the umpteenth time, I found the yarn: Sublime baby cashmere merino silk 4 ply. It is so soft (perfect for wearing next to bare skin) and lightweight (perfect for a summer tank). This was a step outside my comfort zone as I don't usually knit with anything quite this nice, but it worked out beautifully. I chose a white and a very pale greenish blue.

My next step was making a huge swatch (7 inches by 15 inches) knit in the round like my sweater.

Next, I looked through my shirts to find one with a fit I loved and that would work well for a model for my tank. I have a boatneck 3/4 sleeve shirt from Gap that I love and I decided to use it for measurements. I measured the shirt's width at the bottom hem and then continued measuring the width at one inch intervals until I reached the top of the shirt. I made note of armhole location as well. I kept these measurements with me throughout the process and they served as a sort of schematic for me.

Next, I did lots of math. I had already found my gauge from my giant swatch (8 st per inch and 10 rows per inch). I figured out how many stitches I needed to cast on (for the ribbing). I had decided to do a K2, P3 ribbing (instead of my original K2, P2 ribbing on my swatch) so that the bottom did not pull in. I figured out that I could simply decrease on the first row after ribbing to get everything to line up nicely from the ribbing to the twisted stitch pattern. After I figured out my cast on number and how to transition from the ribbing to the stitch pattern, I started working out where and how my decreases and increases would work. I even charted out the pattern to see how the decreases/increases would affect the flow of that part of the stitch pattern. I was lucky in that my stitch gauge was 8 stitches. Thus I had to decrease 4 stitches to decrease 1/2 inch or just 2 stitches to decrease 1/4 inch. My row gauge worked out to 10 rows per inch which was perfect as the stitch pattern was split into two 10 row repeats.

At this point, I just had to cast on and start knitting. So I knitted up to the armholes and then stopped to figure out the math for the armholes. I used Shirley Paden's Knitwear Design Workshop to help me. I was really nervous about it, but finally just did it and it worked out great. At this point, I had to switch to knitting back and forth. I thought this was going to make me end up with lots of ends to weave in because the pattern alternates between using the blue yarn one row and then the white the next and then the blue again, etc. This is no biggie when working in the round, you just leave the yarn and then carry it up after the next row. But when knitting flat, suddenly the yarn is at the wrong end of the row when you need it. After cutting ends for a few rows, I suddenly realized that I could just knit back when the yarn was on the wrong end. So I would do two rows right to left and then two rows left to right and then repeat. Very exciting to not have all those ends to weave in!

Finally, I approached the finish line--the top neck! I knew that I wanted a little bit of shaping, but not too much. I decided to do short rows on the outside edges of the front to give a slight dip without changing the pattern too much. I made sure that I got to a point in the stitch pattern where things were worked even so I didn't have to work twisted stitches in my short rows. I did about one inch ribbing on the top to match the ribbing on the bottom. I increased before the ribbing to do K2, P3 again. Ribbing was done on a smaller needle as well. For the back, I knit as the front except that I knit 10 more rows in pattern and no short rows. This raised the back neck up enough that the front wasn't too high. If I knit this again, I might do 2-4 less rows in the back. I think it might be a tad high. Finally I did a three needle bind off to join the top at the shoulders and a regular bind off across the front and back necks.


Now I had unfinished armholes to deal with. The fabric was too flimsy (because of slipped stitches right at the very edge of the armhole) to pick up stitches evenly. I was at a lost at first because I had originally planned a row or two of ribbing or a single crochet stitch edging. But both looked too messy with the loose slipped stitch fabric. What I ended up doing was knitting a crochet chain directly onto the front surface of the armhole. I used the blue yarn doubled and a medium sized crochet hook. I put the crochet hook directly through the fabric at the edge of the armhole, picked up a loop of yarn and pulled it through. I did this all around the armhole and am happy with the results.


Pattern: My own!
Stitch pattern from: Courtyard by Melissa Thomson



Size: Mine! Approximately 31" bust
Yarn: Sublime baby cashmere merino silk 4 ply (50g/ 170m/ 184yds/ 75% extra fine merino/ 20% silk/ 5% cashmere) 2 skeins of white, 3.15 skeins of blue
Needles: Size 4 for body of sweater, Size 3 for ribbing, US G6/4.00mm crochet hook for armhole edging

Anyway, there is way too much information about how I designed and knit my first sweater. Now all I have to do is come up with a good name for it. Any suggestions?


I was originally calling it Courtyard Tank after my inspiration and source of stitch pattern. Then I thought of the oh-so-exciting Boatneck Tank. But I want something better. Maybe one catchy word that captures it's essence. Would LOVE some suggestions (hint, hint)...

And, of course, my boys decided to join the photo shoot. Got to love them!

Sneak Peek

Just couldn't wait any longer. This is a shot of my almost finished boatneck tank--designed and knit by me! More photos and details to come once it's 100% finished. Still need to finish the armholes and weave in ends.

Bad Words

J has recently gotten back into a PBS show called Wild Kratts--a pretty cool show as children's television goes. Two brothers go around learning about and rescuing wild animals. An amazing female inventor helps them by making creature power suits that help them use the same powers animals have. J's learned a lot about animals and loves to pretend to be Chris or Martin with "creature powers."

Anyway, he was doing this yesterday and decided he really needed some creature power disks. I looked on the Wild Kratts website, but couldn't find anything so I did what any smart mom does--I googled "Wild Kratts coloring pages." As I browsed through the results, I saw it--a Draco creature power disk. Perfect! I clicked on the image and all hell broke loose on my computer. Some program started running, messages with scary words appeared and my computer started scanning itself. The last virus we got that almost killed our whole computer pretended to be a program scanning for viruses so I freaked out and turned off the computer. When I went to start it back up (trying to find the "go back and boot up from previous date option"), my computer started scanning drives and I freaked out again and just turned it back off. Now I'm working from the laptop I bought B for Christmas when he switched jobs before the-move-that-never-was.

Anyway, so that's my excitement these days. Needless to say I wanted to say many bad words, but amazingly only said "crap" a number of times. I guess this whole motherhood thing is starting to help clean up my potty mouth ;).

I was going to blog about my twisted stitch boatneck tank I'm designing and knitting, but I won't be able to upload pics. I am knitting bottom up and have about 6 inches done so far. Not the fastest progress, but not bad either. Hope to get some pics up soon.

Hope your life is going a little more smoothly than mine these days. Take care and happy Thursday. TGIAF! (Thank Goodness It's Almost Friday!)

Knitting Update

I finished knitting my mother-in-law's Peacock Tail and Leaf scarf a few weeks ago. Blocked it about a week ago and wove in the ends today. This is the second time I knitted this pattern and it's a relatively simple one if you are comfortable with lace. This one went quickly with very few errors to correct along the way. There is something to be said for knitting a scarf you have already knit before.


Pattern: Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf by Nancy Bush
Yarn: 2 skeins of Schulana Kid-Seta in Color #13 (70% Kid-Mohair/30% Silk/ 25g/ 210m/ laceweight)
Needles: Size 3
Modifications: Added two repeats of middle lace pattern for a little additional length.


Then I decided to knit this hat.

The pattern is called Courtyard and I spotted it on Ravelry a while back and fell in love with the twisted stitch pattern. I want to make a boatneck shell featuring this stitch pattern and thought that knitting the hat would be good prep for that. I really wanted to do a bright marigold yellow and white (inspired by one of the hats on the Ravelry page). The only yarn I found that I liked in these colors was full o' sheep yarn by Stitch Nation. Although this yarn worked fine for the hat, it was too itchy for a shell. I like the way this yarn looks--and the colors are lovely--but I didn't really enjoy knitting with this yarn. Can't tell you exactly why.


Pattern: Courtyard by Melissa Thomson
Yarn: Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller Full o' Sheep (100% Peruvian Wool/ 100g/ 155yd/ 142m) One skein of Little Lamb (white) and one skein of Honeycomb (yellow). Had between 1/2 and 1/3 of each skein leftover.
Size: Larger size. Probably could have gotten away with smaller size for my pea head.
Needles: Size 6 for ribbing. Size 7 for rest of hat.
Modifications: None.


Since I didn't love the yarn I used for the hat, I went to my local yarn shop and looked through the tons and tons of yarn options. After much debate, I decided to go a different route. I chose a 4ply in a white and a pale blue. I think it will be a much subtler combination, but nice all the same. The yarn is very soft--baby cashmere merino silk--and will feel nice next to my skin. Here's a picture of my swatch.


It's a 14" circle that is about 4 inches tall. I knit it in the round since I plan to knit my boatneck shell in the round. This will be my first real design project so wish me luck. I'm going to try and work out the numbers tonight. Can't wait to cast on!

Best Visit EVER!

Sorry for the blogging absence, but life has been too busy to blog. My sister and her two children and my mom just came for a week long visit and it was WONDERFUL! My sister and her children hadn't been here in two years and it was so exciting to have them back. We just had so much fun. Her son is 7 (almost 8) and her daughter just turned 6. The boys love hanging out with them. We spent lots of time at the pool, a morning at Build-a-Bear in honor of Lizzie's birthday and a day at the zoo. I didn't get a lot of pictures because I kept forgetting my camera--oh well. Trust me, we had a blast. To top off the awesomeness, I got to spend a decent amount of time knitting with both my sister and my mom. Can we say "little piece of heaven"? I think we can.

Here a few pictures to show off the adorable children.

Everyone coloring their Build-a-Bear "houses:"

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the actual animals. N built a Dalmatian complete with a button that played the Star Wars theme in his hand and a set of Cars 2-themed pajamas. He named him Spot. J built a panda bear with a button that played the Star Wars theme and a Darth Vader costume. He named him Pandy. Michael built a camouflage-colored bear that played the Star Wars theme and had a Jedi warrior costume. He named him Camo. Lizzie built a pink daisy print bunny with a button that said "I love you." She picked out a cute top and skirt, Hello Kitty underpants and pink jelly sandals for her bunny. She named her Daisy Bunny.

Mooma and four of her grandchildren at the pool:

J jumping in the water: He just decided yesterday that he liked jumping in on his own and did it over and over.

Michael jumping in the pool:
Love this photo and this little boy!

And a bonus photo:Cat and I knitting together. Heaven!

Oh, That's Clever!

I recently received my copy of the Summer 2011 Interweave Knits magazine. I've been getting this magazine for a few years and I don't knit that many things out of it, but I find it fun to look through and I always learn something from it.


In this issue there is only one project that I immediately wanted to knit, The Swirl Skirt by Annelena Mattison:

I think it is so pretty. I love the diagonal lines (it is cast on waist to knee and knit on the bias) and the fun play of the cotton (for stability) background and the fun color-changing wool (for a little more elasticity) accent stripes. The short rows that add some flare at the bottom of the skirt seem nothing short of genius. So clever!

Anyway, as I ponder more and more the idea of designing my own knits, I am always on the look out for clever ideas in others' patterns. So I decided to read through the patterns to see how the different pieces are constructed--even though I didn't want to knit that particular piece. Here are some of the clever ideas I found:

In the Camp Smock, Mary Keenan added this nice pleat detail. The smock is knit from the bottom up. To create and hold the pleat in place, she does the clever "folds" where she places two sets of stitches on doublepoints and then knits them together (kind of like a 3 needle bindoff without the bindoff part). SO CLEVER!


In my other favorite clever find, Lisa Shroyer makes this lovely curved V-neck in her Banstead Pullover. To create this lovely v, she adds that simple column of slip stitches in the middle of the bust. That creates that lovely v shape without any decreases. How simple and how very CLEVER!

Sorry for the sideways photo, don't know why Blogger does that sometimes!


I found a few other little design ideas in the following projects. In Allyson Dykhuizen's Cumulus Tee, a decorative band is knit in a long strip, then joined and turned to make a neckband, then stitches are picked up and the tee is knit top down from there. Very clever.



In Alice Tang's Al Fresco Camisole, stitches are dropped and the resulting ladders are crocheted together (four at a time) to form the interesting vertical bands of large stitches.


In Stacey Gerbman's Lion Oh! Sweater, the decorative lion body shape is added by making a crochet chain (crocheted directly onto the finished sweater). I don't think I'll ever knit this sweater, but I might use that technique sometimes. Seems like a simple, but clever way to add some embellishment.

I am so impressed with people who can come up with such interesting knits. So what clever ideas have you seen lately?