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What's on my needles: Chameleon-style
I have been working on redrafting my Comfy Mitten pattern. I was just going to re-write it to be more coherent, maybe add a size, and redo the photography. Silly me. The primary knitting and drafting is done and I have 6 sizes ranged from a medium kid-size to a men’s XL. There is a bit of work to do before I can release this (translated: gah!, so much to do!). I have, however, completed the preliminary round. This will be called Comfy Mitten-Family Style, and replace the existing pattern.
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And so it begins…
Barely (read, not really) done with my happy sock pattern, I am heading north this week with 2 skeins of Malabrigo Rastita, the book “Knitting Brioche,” and the word cowl running through my brain. Ah, the fun part of designing!
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Still focusing on warm toes
The snow isn’t letting up. It is what I get I guess for living this far North, but I am growing tired. Not a whole lot I can do about it other than whimper softly into my yarn stash. How to brighten it up? Knit orange socks! I am working on a toe-up pattern for a simple sock. This is the second draft. They make me smile. I also love the feel of this yarn (Indulgence from Knitting Fever) and this style of sock. Happiness all around. I also finally got photos taken of the slippers that have kept my toes warm all winter. Based on the Malabrigo Loafer,…
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Its working mostly!
Post next in the ornament saga. 25 ornaments knit, and then I ran out of yarn. This was followed by a mass felting this weekend. It is the way I do things. I throw ’em in and hope they survive. I have lost one item this way in the past, but mostly things are ok. Some colors under felted, some over felted, and many looked wonky. I have learned a few things this weekend. 1) When you find that the wonky one have felted to themselves, it is ok to stretch them and actually tear the improperly felted bits apart, and then when it is all detached and cooperative reshape…
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A massive amount of miniature knitting
This Summer my mother, her sister, and hopefully their brother will be visiting family in Norway. They are all getting older, and one, possibly last, visit would be wonderful. These Norwegian relatives are also generous, and one winter sent us all hand-knitted socks for Christmas. I wanted to return a gift in kind, something wonderful and hand knit. The intent is that they be hostess gifts for the visit. If the visit does not happen they will be Christmas gifts. Nice intro, whatcha makin’? I am knitting a rather large quantity (the goal is 24) of the pattern “Felted Ornaments” by Two Old Bags. The photo shows a bunch of…
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Yipes Stripes
I found this lovely technique on Ravelry. I also love it because it messes with one’s mind. And, though it may shock some, it is not using the double-faced knitting technique. The third cool thing is that it is way easy. I chose to knit it in Noro’s Silk Garden and Juniper Moon Farm’s Moonshine. The yum factor is almost painful. Whether or not it ever materializes, I thought this would be perfect for a shawl collar, or even a gooshy reversible vest. And yes, I will be kind. The link to the pattern is here. Mandyz Moon’s Indecisive Stripes Rib Pattern.
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Last you heard….
I was on my way to Yarnover. Well??!! What happened? I had 2 great classes. One from Susan Newhall on “Blended Intarsia”, the other from Amy Singer of Knitty on “Making the next Monkey” I was greatly inspired by both of them. I bought some great MadTosh from StevenBe, a bit of Habu to experiment with, and A lovely skein of fingering weight Grinning Gargoyle, in their Signature Red. Whew. That is quite enough links for any one paragraph. What happened when I got home? My class with Amy and the Grinning Gargoyle got together, and I feverishly worked on a shawlette to try and make the Knitty Deep Fall…
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Yarnover!
Today is my prep day for Yarnover. I am fortunate enough to get to take a class on presenting patterns to publications from Amy Singer of Knitty fame. She asked us to bring 4 items. I am finishing off three of them, and quite happy. Nervous, but happy. We will see what becomes of this venture.
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So, who uses an abacus nowadays anyway?
I was set to the task of coming up with a knitter’s abacus. One of the gals at my LYS had purchased one but it snagged her knitting. She wanted one with my flush-cut jump rings. Apparently they do not snag, and folks love them. I chose to do my first prototype in shrink film. I love playing with that stuff, and it turned out very well. I added a definite geek factor to them by using the same color code used in transistors. I will be following with a bead version, and increasing the number of links to 10, per requests by those who have seen them.
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The learning curve
It has been mentioned to me that when developing patterns potentially for publications, one is advised to not post pictures, regardless of how excited one is about said pattern. Soooo. Sadly I have removed part of my previous post. I do get to post things once they publish though, so the excitement does remain, it is just postponed.
