Category: Knitting
A Happy, But Sort of Slow Week
I've been a really bad blogger, and I apologize!
I've been off doing lots of fun things, like shopping for my oldest's dorm room and getting the littles off to the first day of school. I've also been doing some downright dull things too. Long overdue yardwork, like the dreaded task of cleaning out and thatching the tall garden iris.
Even that mundane work uncovers some beautiful surprises, though.
Anytime I work in the garden my dyeing muse goes into overtime and I find that I have to translate the colors onto fiber. The large yarn storage unit in the dining room sideboard in our dining room is overflowing with yarn waiting to be reskeined. It makes me think we have a late-summerl harvest of yarn, instead of melons or squash.
And knitting time! It seems like everyone we know is suddenly pregnant, so I have been spending a lot of time on baby sweaters. This one, in organic cotton, has a fun construction. The cardigan part of the sweater is knit in one piece, sleeves and all.
The lace panel buttons onto the body. I'm about three-quarters done with the panel and clearly in love with this sweater. The yarn (Blue Sky Alpaca) is very soft and a pleasure to knit with and the lace is simple enough that I haven't done it any major damage, even while laughing through the Daily Show and Colbert. I can't wait to finish this one and see how it looks!
And The Winner(s) Is (Are)!
Remember the grainy photo from last week and the promise of a bit of yarny goodness to the person who guessed what it was? Here are the results.
There were two many good answers to have only one winner, so I’ll engage in a bit of stash reduction and send yarn for all of the following answers.
Correct Answers:
Hmm — it's either the yarn you took with you on your vacation, or it's the yarn you bought along the way…….
Posted by: Jen P. | August 07, 2008 at 11:29 AM
(Jennifer, you know the Judge well enough to know he wasn’t letting me near a yarn store on this trip after my “excesses” on the Arkansas trip – mmmm Alpaca!)
Yep, I'm guessing it's the projects you took with you on vacation.
Posted by: Knit Witch | August 07, 2008 at 01:15 PM
This one is very close too; and I like the image:
it's your dream basket… a mix of WIP and projects that are crying out to be cast-on.
Posted by: Rita | August 07, 2008 at 01:55 PM
It was actually the basket of all of my knitting works in progress (WIPs) that I took on vacation last week:
• The Manos Silk Shrug
• Juliet
• Baby Bolero
There was also yarn for a few projects that I wanted to cast on.
I managed to start an organic cotton baby sweater.
I also swatched for the Chantal Sweater in Rowan's Big Row (for those of you who noticed, Juliet is smaller than when I left due to a nagging issuing involving me not realizing until lace repeat four that I had misread line 2 of the pattern. Chantal's relative ease may be just what I need to get me through Juliet)
And, I felt compelled to bring along some “extra” yarn and my Option needles because I live in fear of running out. Some leftover Shibui I want to do Saartje’s Baby Booties out of, some of my own yarn to knit myself a hat, and a few other things because really, what if it had rained all week or something?
Next is my favorite answer, because it is so true!
It's a basket of time well spent.
Joanne
Posted by: Joanne Huffman | August 08, 2008 at 08:44 AM
And this post really stopped me in my tracks, because it’s the answer that should have been. I wonder if I could start a prison knitting ministry?
Hi Joyce,
Well, it's quite obvious that these are odd balls of yarn that you are donating to a women's prison so that the inmates (is that a politically correct term?)can learn to knit. This way, when they re-enter society, they can spend time knitting and not revert to their former, ill-advised illegal pursuits.
Judy
Posted by: Judy | August 07, 2008 at 07:20 PM
If your comment is included in this post, will you email me with your address?
(joyce at elliebelly dot com) Joanne is getting fabric because I know she makes art dolls. Here is some of the other yarn I’m sending out.
A guessing game
Can you guess what this is? I mean aside from the fact that it's obviously a basket of yarn.
Post your guess below and I'll send whoever comes closest a skein of yarn (or fibers if you're an artist not a knitter).
I’ve Been Cheating On You
Shameless. I’ve been cheating.
I’ve knit up the entire body of a baby sweater without even mentioning that I was casting on, let alone showing you pictures in progress.
In my defense, let me say that this little bolero knits up very quickly — and it’s so simple you can even knit it with a migraine. And, adorable! Beyond words adorable.
Here are all of the pieces, done and sort of stupidly artfully placed together so you get an idea of the final design.
There is a little eyelet motif on the back that I just love.
It knits up all in one piece, except for the sleeve, which are done separately.
All I have to do is sew the shoulder seams, set in the sleeves, and then knit the edging (picking up the stitches left live at the neck along the way).
My only concern is that the sleeves look a bit big, um, actually huge, in the circumference. I compared them to an actual baby today and they were ginormous. I’m hoping it’s some brilliance in the pattern that I’m missing. If not, it won’t be horrible to rip them out and reknit them a bit smaller.
The pattern is Leigh Radford’s Baby Bolero from the One Skein book. I’m having dreams of knitting a second one up (it seems like everyone I know is pregnant all of a sudden) in cashmere, or perhaps a silk cotton blend. It’s a fun, and very satisfying pattern, because it takes shape so quickly!
Monday Morning Notes
It’s Monday. It’s early. I really don’t like either one.
But, I started my morning with an email from my cousin Gail, telling me she had finished her knitted bear. Y’all have GOT to jog on over to her blog, Darn I Need To Get More Yarn, and see it!
We originally saw these bears when Gail, her older sister, and I went to their LYS while I was in California. The store is collecting them to send to children in Africa as part of the Mother Bear Project. We decided we would all knit one. Gail did this one as a test — a smaller version to use as a gift. Now I’m seriously motivated to get started. I’ve been hung up on finding a washable yarn (there isn’t a lot of washability in my stash), but I think this is a good excuse to spend my lunch hour buying more crack at the yarn store.
It’s still Monday, still way too early for me to take on human form, but I just loved the bear and wanted to share it!
Now I have to go face the fact that the Baby Bolero I started Saturday night is, in fact, at least big enough to fit a 10 year old child and must be completely frogged if it is going to fit it’s intended wearer, at least any time this decade. I really hate Mondays!
Baby’s Got Socks!
My baby has got socks. Not just any socks, but the blue bamboo socks, knit from yarn he picked out himself.
They’re beautiful. Almost as beautiful as his big blue eyes.
They’re perfect for sitting on the front porch and watching summer thunderstorms roll in.
It is absolutely incredible that a pair of socks could make someone so happy, but then they aren’t just socks. They an expression of love. And he clearly gets the message: all the stitches knit while driving home from family trips, the half-knit socks creeping out of the top of my carry on as I left for the airport, early morning coffee with colleagues where I knit and talked. Love. That’s exactly what a pair of handknit socks are.