Sunday, January 15, 2006
Mom's gift
For Mom, the fog chaser jacket from Knitter's Stash. (I can't believe how many projects I have made, and want to make, from this book!) The jacket still needs to be blocked to Mom's measurements, and hopefully once that's done I'll have a shot of it on her. The yarn is from Mountain Colors and uses 4 strands of mohair, wool, silk, and ribbon, in the ruby river colorway. I loved the seed stitch pattern and really enjoyed making this. Hopefully Mom will like it as well.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Confession
Today, January 6, 2006, marks the day I sent out my holiday cards. Knowing they would be late, I did have the good sense to order Happy New Year cards, but that is not much of an excuse.
How odd that the holiday knitting was finished before the holiday cards? (Not counting Rob's sweater of course, but that's what he gets for being 6'4" - he'll never get a sweater on time!)
How odd that the holiday knitting was finished before the holiday cards? (Not counting Rob's sweater of course, but that's what he gets for being 6'4" - he'll never get a sweater on time!)
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Knitted Gifts
Lots of people received knitted gifts from me this year. It was such a joy to knit for so many of the loved ones in my life!
My dad got these Lithuanian socks, knit from Nancy Bush's pattern in Folk Socks using Elsebeth Lavold's silky wool. Dad is 50% Lithuanian, and I've wanted to knit these, or something that would speak to our Lithuanuan heritage, since his dad, my Papa Tony, passed away this past February. The picture shows the pair unfinished, but by now both socks have been given:
My brother's girlfriend, Kristyn, got a Sophie bag knit from Lopi. The burgundy color was actually a variegated yarn with flecks of the teal, but they disappeared during the felting process. Also, I used an I-cord bind off and like the more stable top edge.
My mother-in-law got these cool flower-petal washcloths. The pattern is in Weekend Knitting and, for once, I got to use the yarn that the pattern called for - 100% cotton chenille from Crystal Palace. I left one as a sample with my LYS and inspired sales of several books and yarn! I have a a bunch of colors and plan to make them as thank you and hostess gifts, given with a bar of nice soap. Each one took about 4 hours to knit, and the pattern was easy to memorize.
My brother got the coolest present, custom designed for him. He's admired the Norwegian mittens that I made after a knitting workshop with Beth Brown-Rensel (author of Knitting Ganseys, so I wanted to make him something along those lines. The skull is of my own design, since nothing I found in books or on the Internet were quite right. I needed a specific number of stitches to fit the pattern, both in width and height. I used a bulky-weight yarn to fit my brother's large hands without completely changing the basic pattern that I had to work with. They are knit with Berocco's Pleasure (angora and merino) and wow is that nice yarn to work with! I'll share the skull chart here soon.
Shot of the back and thumb:
More gifts to be posted soon!
My dad got these Lithuanian socks, knit from Nancy Bush's pattern in Folk Socks using Elsebeth Lavold's silky wool. Dad is 50% Lithuanian, and I've wanted to knit these, or something that would speak to our Lithuanuan heritage, since his dad, my Papa Tony, passed away this past February. The picture shows the pair unfinished, but by now both socks have been given:
My brother's girlfriend, Kristyn, got a Sophie bag knit from Lopi. The burgundy color was actually a variegated yarn with flecks of the teal, but they disappeared during the felting process. Also, I used an I-cord bind off and like the more stable top edge.
My mother-in-law got these cool flower-petal washcloths. The pattern is in Weekend Knitting and, for once, I got to use the yarn that the pattern called for - 100% cotton chenille from Crystal Palace. I left one as a sample with my LYS and inspired sales of several books and yarn! I have a a bunch of colors and plan to make them as thank you and hostess gifts, given with a bar of nice soap. Each one took about 4 hours to knit, and the pattern was easy to memorize.
My brother got the coolest present, custom designed for him. He's admired the Norwegian mittens that I made after a knitting workshop with Beth Brown-Rensel (author of Knitting Ganseys, so I wanted to make him something along those lines. The skull is of my own design, since nothing I found in books or on the Internet were quite right. I needed a specific number of stitches to fit the pattern, both in width and height. I used a bulky-weight yarn to fit my brother's large hands without completely changing the basic pattern that I had to work with. They are knit with Berocco's Pleasure (angora and merino) and wow is that nice yarn to work with! I'll share the skull chart here soon.
Shot of the back and thumb:
More gifts to be posted soon!
Monday, January 02, 2006
Christmas Knitting: All Wrapped Up!
Christmas is over, and the compelling urge to complete as many knitting projects as possible has passed. What a relief to again be knitting any old project. The holiday deadline did wonders for my UFO status, however, as I finished nearly everything on my list. Rob was, once again, this year's knitting victim, and my dad's 2nd sock was delayed by a few days. But it felt great to give away so many knitted gifts.
We also drove to Chicago to attend a family holiday party. Here's a shot of me and Marty at the hotel, sporting our hand knits:
More pics coming soon!
We also drove to Chicago to attend a family holiday party. Here's a shot of me and Marty at the hotel, sporting our hand knits:
More pics coming soon!
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Christmas Wish List
Am I hard to shop for? I think when you have an obvious hobby, like knitting or deer hunting, that makes it easy to shop for someone. On the other hand, you can go overboard. Just because someone loves to golf doesn't mean they would love to have a gold-plated gold ball. Wish lists become almost more necessary as you get older. My pre-schooler is happy with a $.50 can of Play-doh, while my husband requires very sophisticated gadgets and tools to have a merry Christmas. I know that someday, Marty will be as hard to please as Rob is.
Anyway, here's my holiday wish list:
Gift certificates for Stitch in Time in Howell, Threadbear in Lansing, or yarnmarket.com.
Emeril non-stick pots and pans (they have them at Bed Bath and Beyond).
I had a beautiful baking dish that I loved. It was a splurge when I bought it, but I've always wanted the other pieces that match. The other night, I dropped the dish and it broke! I got mine at La Bella Vita in downtown Brighton and would love a replacement and any matching pieces. It's the Emile Henry Artisonal Collection of baking dishes, in a brown and cream color - although I like all the colors La Bella Vita carries. You can see what they look like on my amazon.com wish list, too.
My amazon.com wish list is here, with books and music and stuff.
Iron Gate candle holder from Pottery Barn, set of 2
Zoe console table from Pottery Barn, in black, plus the square utility baskets to go with the table.
Anyway, here's my holiday wish list:
Cute knitting warning
Sometimes it seems so insane to be knitting for my kid. He's as likely to throw it on the floor as he is to embrace it as a beloved item. And the next day may warrant a completely opposite response. Still, these were too adorable to not knit again in the next size up, and this time I've made the matching mittems. (They were finished before Halloween, just to show how behind I am in blogging.) And yes, I have picked them up off the garage floor and other assorted dirty places.
The pattern is from Fiber Arts, one of those you buy in a plastic sheet with 3 holes along the side. I recently organized all those sheets and put them in separate binders - Costco had a sale on a set of 6, and I used my label maker to get really anal about the whole thing. I love that all my patterns are now put away and easy to find!
I've recently finished another item for Marty, a sweater with a very cute reindeer, tree, and snowflake pattern. It was good chart practice for me, and fun to knit. The pattern is from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Little Cherubs. The downside was stranding colors on the purl side; I'd have preferred steeks and sewing for better results, but it turned out ok. Just as well since the kid is probably going to get ice cream or something all over it. We are going to use it for our Christmas card picture (is that too self-serving, to force your kid to model your hand knits under the preface of spreading holiday cheer? I hope not, because you know this new baby is going to be wearing a hand-knit sweater on his birth announcement!). The yarn I used was lovely, and truly not appropriate for this garment, but I loved it and wanted to work with it and I can always get more. I must make an adult sweater from it, to be sure. It's Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool, a 35% silk, 65% wool blend for my 2 1/2 year-old child. But the colors were perfect and there's just the hint of tweediness to it. Here's how it turned out:
You'd think I might be done with knitting for Marty, but I recently cast on something very cute from the Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits for Kids. There is a pattern in there that uses Manos, my big weakness, and it has sizes for newborn to 3 years, so I'll be making one for the new baby to match Marty's, and doesn't that sound like a photo op to you?
I am so looking forward to the holidays and all the get togethers, though at 8 months pregnant it's hard to find something great to wear. The thought of buying maternity clothes for festive occasions was hard to swallow - I only have a few weeks left in my pregnancy, how can I justify buying something new to wear once or twice? (haha ask me to justify the yarn purchases I make!) Of course the solution was to buy yarn instead. I loaded up on various novelty yarns and designed a pattern. I wanted something drapey and sparkley that I could wrap around my arms to wear with a tank. I used Berroco Quest in silver, Berroco Plume FX in black metallic, and SRK Ranee in black. 3 strands held together on size 19 needles, and I had a wrap in 2 nights that I can continue to wear after I have this baby. The photo is not great, but I'll share it now anyway and hopefully will get a shot of me wearing it one of these December nights:
The pattern is from Fiber Arts, one of those you buy in a plastic sheet with 3 holes along the side. I recently organized all those sheets and put them in separate binders - Costco had a sale on a set of 6, and I used my label maker to get really anal about the whole thing. I love that all my patterns are now put away and easy to find!
I've recently finished another item for Marty, a sweater with a very cute reindeer, tree, and snowflake pattern. It was good chart practice for me, and fun to knit. The pattern is from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Little Cherubs. The downside was stranding colors on the purl side; I'd have preferred steeks and sewing for better results, but it turned out ok. Just as well since the kid is probably going to get ice cream or something all over it. We are going to use it for our Christmas card picture (is that too self-serving, to force your kid to model your hand knits under the preface of spreading holiday cheer? I hope not, because you know this new baby is going to be wearing a hand-knit sweater on his birth announcement!). The yarn I used was lovely, and truly not appropriate for this garment, but I loved it and wanted to work with it and I can always get more. I must make an adult sweater from it, to be sure. It's Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool, a 35% silk, 65% wool blend for my 2 1/2 year-old child. But the colors were perfect and there's just the hint of tweediness to it. Here's how it turned out:
You'd think I might be done with knitting for Marty, but I recently cast on something very cute from the Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits for Kids. There is a pattern in there that uses Manos, my big weakness, and it has sizes for newborn to 3 years, so I'll be making one for the new baby to match Marty's, and doesn't that sound like a photo op to you?
I am so looking forward to the holidays and all the get togethers, though at 8 months pregnant it's hard to find something great to wear. The thought of buying maternity clothes for festive occasions was hard to swallow - I only have a few weeks left in my pregnancy, how can I justify buying something new to wear once or twice? (haha ask me to justify the yarn purchases I make!) Of course the solution was to buy yarn instead. I loaded up on various novelty yarns and designed a pattern. I wanted something drapey and sparkley that I could wrap around my arms to wear with a tank. I used Berroco Quest in silver, Berroco Plume FX in black metallic, and SRK Ranee in black. 3 strands held together on size 19 needles, and I had a wrap in 2 nights that I can continue to wear after I have this baby. The photo is not great, but I'll share it now anyway and hopefully will get a shot of me wearing it one of these December nights:
You could sell these!
Don't you love it when friends compliment your work by suggesting you sell your hand knit goods? It really is meant as a compliment, and I try so hard to take it that way. I always ask, "Oh? How much would you pay for this hand-knit baby sweater?" The response is usually around $35, which is probably inflated from what they would truly be willing to part with so that they don't hurt any feelings. It's so fun to then clarify that of that $35, $12 of it would cover the yarn (newborn size at least), leaving me $23 pay for 10+ hours of work. Hey $2.30/hour's not bad (in Taiwan)!
I recently attended a purse party where a friend launched her hand-made purse business. She had a beautiful display of hand-knit and hand-made gifts. Such beautiful items! I love the way she's creatively shopped for sweaters that she can recycle into purses - you get a discount if you bring her a 100% wool sweater. She felts them and cuts the fabric, which is then sewn into her own purse designs. I bought myself a very cute black clutch-style purse for the odd occasion when a diaper bag is not needed. The prices here (staying on topic) ranged from $59-$150 - much more on target for what a hand-crafted item warrants. Could I buy something similar at Target? Yes, something similar would be $15, though not one of a kind, and not special, and not recycled!
I recently attended a purse party where a friend launched her hand-made purse business. She had a beautiful display of hand-knit and hand-made gifts. Such beautiful items! I love the way she's creatively shopped for sweaters that she can recycle into purses - you get a discount if you bring her a 100% wool sweater. She felts them and cuts the fabric, which is then sewn into her own purse designs. I bought myself a very cute black clutch-style purse for the odd occasion when a diaper bag is not needed. The prices here (staying on topic) ranged from $59-$150 - much more on target for what a hand-crafted item warrants. Could I buy something similar at Target? Yes, something similar would be $15, though not one of a kind, and not special, and not recycled!
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