Category Archives: Knitting

Knitting. Love it.

Baby Chalice Blanket

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Last week I finished a baby blanket.  This was a great pattern.

It is a  lace pattern, but it’s not difficult.  I had to pay attention, but I used my stitch markers at each repeat across the row, and I had no problems.  I could even watch tv and knit on it!

The blanket went to friends who just had a sweet baby boy.  They named him Beckett.  I love that name!

Yarn – I used an acrylic blend so that they could toss it in the washer and dryer.  It had a really soft nice squish to it.  It was this yarn:  Baby Bee.

I highly recommend this pattern!

So that’s about it on knitting.  I’m working on that Advent Calendar Knit a long.  The designer reveals a bit of the pattern each day.  I guess they are on Day 13.  I am on Day 1.  hmm.  Well, now that school is out for awhile, I should have some time to knit again!

The Grey Shawl

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Back around June, I started knitting some patterns as a test knitter for a book a friend of mine  is co-writing.   The finished projects will be photographed and the pictures will be included in this new book.  So I was (still am) excited to participate.

I knit two hats which are awesome hats, and I can’t wait to be able to show pictures.

Then there was the shawl.  The grey shawl.  I loved (still do) the idea of a lace shawl out of a bulky weight yarn.  We used Knit Picks yarn for this, and I really like this grey color.

I blocked the shawl yesterday.  It took me 5 months to work my way through this process.

There were a few problems along the way.  I was test knitting the pattern, so it was natural that there might be a few kinks to work out with the pattern.   The problem with me was that I am still gaining confidence with knitting lace and so when I ran into a problem, I didn’t really know how to diagnose it.  Fortunately my friend Susan (who is co-writing the book) patiently helped me several times.

For awhile, it was one step forward two steps back.  I messed up on the double decrease which has to be done right to look right in the pattern.  There were a couple of other things along the way.  I have forgotten the specifics (or blocked them out).  It’s probably better that way.

For the final part of the shawl, I had to knit the border.  I had to pick up stitches all the way around the shawl.  So by the time I had them all picked up all the way around on my circular needles, I figured (assumed – never good) I would be just knitting round and round.  I did a few rounds, and then I looked at the picture that Susan had sent me of the border of the original shawl.  The pattern had a garter stitch not stockinette.  I really glared at that shawl then.  I may have thrown it down the stairs into the basement.

But then I realized it’s about the process (yes, that’s what I always tell myself) and I tinked back to the beginning of the border.  Then I did back and forth rows.  Then I bound off.  And then – I blocked it.

And I learned another valuable lesson.  The things that are not the easiest can bring the most reward.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of a project.  I draped it around me and immediately took a picture.  (I love the feel of that bulky weight shawl – but it still is very open and lacy).  I’m grinning like crazy in that pic.

It’s one of the prettiest things I have ever knitted.

I gained lots more confidence in knitting lace.

I learned to calculate and adjust as needed to make the pattern work!

I learned about a different type of shawl construction.

I learned a new really cool stretchy bind-off.

I can’t post any pictures yet, but here’s just a little piece of it:

Today I am starting a new knitting adventure.  It’s the Christmas Advent Calendar Scarf.  It’s a knit along on Ravelry.  It’s lace and I am using some Jojoland light fingering wool that I bought back in Arkadelphia. I’ll post some pictures in the next few days after I get it going.  I don’t know if I will be able to keep up with the daily clues, but I’ll give it a try!

So that’s knitting.  I’m working on way too many projects, but I have declared a yarn buying moratorium until I finish some of the projects.  (Of course, I might make certain exceptions).

It’s snowing like crazy here today.  Davey and I ran to the store this morning, but we are staying put for the rest of the day.  We got out and shoveled this morning.  It was my first time to shovel snow.  That’s some kind of good exercise.

This afternoon we will make soup and a pumpkin cake.  I let Davey pick out the recipe.  I think his choice was based on the photograph which shows a thick white glaze on the cake.  I got a new cookbook the other day (thanks again to my friend Shawna!) which should help me bake better at this higher altitude.  It’s called Pie in the Sky.  It is really neat because the author tested all of these recipes at about 4 different altitudes and then adjusted the recipes accordingly.  I’ve not had the greatest luck baking here, so I am very much looking forward to trying it out!

Pollock and Poultry

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I have too much fun with blog titles sometimes.

Yesterday David and Davey went to Home Depot.  They just happened to perfectly accidentally time going when Home Depot was doing their monthly kids’ workshop.

Davey got an apron.

He built (with David’s help) a picture frame.  Davey then painted it in the style of Jackson Pollock (as David pointed out).

Once Davey got home, he went off in search of his tools and then he started “fixing” stuff.

From Home Depot to knitting – I’ve been knitting some tiny things.  It’s a little tricky, but I’ve gotten better at it with practice, and it’s become really fun.  I bought Teeny-Tiny Mochi Mochi, and I’ve made a few things out of here.

I made some chickens for a friend.

Then an unusual chicken showed up.

I tried the pattern for the cupcake.  Not sure I pulled it off.  I asked Davey what it was.  He looked at it carefully and said, “Mommy, it’s a yellow snowball with a hat.”

I made a Christmas tree.  It was the trickiest of the bunch in a fiddly trying to maneuver 4 metal size 1 needles with 12 stitches kinda way.

And then finally, little Davey helping me out with pictures.

 

 

Monster, Hexi-puffs and Hulda Holly

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I made a monster the other day.  I love Rebecca Danger’s monster patterns.  The pattern for this monster was in the latest edition of Knit Simple.  I had so much fun, that I checked out her knitting book yesterday from the library.  It’s her Big Book of Knitted Monsters.  Davey and I have great fun with these monsters.

I’m also making a hexi-puff here and there.

I’m also now moving along nicely with the beginning of Hulda Holly.  No moebius this time around (I hope!).

There is a red stripe at the bottom of the sweater, and it is a blend of 3 different reds.

It’s hard to tell, and I’m not done with the reds yet, but it’s fun to see how these fairly similar colors blend.

So that’s knitting at the moment.

Davey wanted to help me take pictures the other day, when I was trying to get a picture of the monster.   His monster impression:

Soup and Hulda Holly

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I made the best soup the other day.  I think it might be the best soup I ever made.  I have got to get the ingredients written down so I don’t forget how to repeat it.

I’d been talking to a friend about kale soup with beans and chorizo.  I also looked up a recipe on the internet, and then I kinda made it my own.

Ingredients:

Chorizo (I think I used about 8 ounces.)

Chard (it’s what I had. I am not sure how much I used.  One rubberbanded bunch.  You could use as much as you want since it wilts down so much.)

2 cans of Cannellini beans.  (I drained them.)

1 onion

1 green bell pepper

1 box of chicken broth

a little Tony Chachere or whatever seasoning you want.

salt and pepper to taste

I think that’s it. (I feel like I am forgetting something major.)

Chop the onion and bell pepper and saute them in a little extra virgin olive oil.  Add the sausage and brown it.  Add the beans, chard, broth and seasoning.  (I think I wilted the chard a little on top of the chorizo and onions.  I can’t remember for sure and I’ve no clue if this would be at all necessary.  Probably not.)

Let it cook for an hour or so.  It was a very thick and hearty soup.  You’ll want to double the recipe if you want leftovers or have more than two people.  We had plenty for one meal and then a small bowl for leftovers.  I did this on purpose as it seems like I always make this huge pot and we get tired of it before it’s gone.  I don’t think we would have gotten tired of this though.

I was reading some cooking blog the other day and I learned about what I think is the crowning touch to this soup.  A fried egg on top.  I like a fried egg on just about everything, but it really made this soup.  David is the expert egg fryer in our family.  He can get the white done and the yolk is still perfectly runny.  I’m not as good at it.

So anyway,  it was really really good.  I have only a horrible picture to serve as reference.  There was just a little soup left so the egg dwarfed it.

I ended up focusing on the ceramic bowl and left the soup dwarfed by the egg blurry.

And on the knitting front, I’m working on the sweater for Holly.  The name of the pattern is “Hulda” and my sister in law is Holly, so I’ve dubbed the sweater the Hulda Holly.

Unfortunately, I had a bit of a mishap with Hulda Holly.

I had to cast on 326 stitches in this laceweight yarn.  Somehow when I joined it in the round, I twisted the stitches.  I thought I was so careful not to get them twisted.  The lovely part was that I didn’t notice this until I finished the ribbing (3/4 of an inch) and about 3 of the beginning stockinette rows.  How did I not notice?  I don’t know.  It was a bunch of stretchy stitches winding around a 32 inch circular needle.

So I unintentionally created a moebius.

All I could do was to try to take a neat picture and cast on again.

So last night I cast on again and I am a row or so into the ribbing.  I was very very obsessive about making sure it was not twisted.  Hopefully it’s not.

As I usually do when I mess something up – I kept reminding myself that it’s about the process.  And I do love knitting with this yarn.

We are waiting for snow to hit Denver tonight.  Davey just went to the window to look for David again and to see if it has started snowing – again.

Still Knitting

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I’ve not blogged about knitting much lately.  I’m still knitting.  I just don’t find quite as much time to do it as I’d like!

I am starting a new sweater.  It’s for my lovely sister-in-law Holly.  That’s the plan anyway.  If it turns out to be a disaster, I will not try to force her to wear it.

It’s going to look like this:

There is some color blending between the stripes which is subtle but really pretty I think, so I wanted to use the same yarn as was used for the above sweater.

I could only order it from Iceland which I thought was very fun.  It’s an Icelandic wool.  When I first opened the package and felt the yarn, I was not sure.  It’s not incredibly soft.  However, knitting with it is really nice, and it is supposed to soften up and “bloom”.  (Now Edelweiss is going around in my head.  “Bloom and Grow”).

One of the challenges of this sweater is that the yarn is laceweight and I am knitting it on size 2 needles.  Yikes.  The body is in the round though so that should be a definite plus!

I’m also working on a scarf.  The pattern is called Candle Flame.

I’m knitting with Panda Silk.  It’s a wool/bamboo/silk blend, and it’s so nice to knit with!

It should block out really nice so that I can get some better definition of the “flames”.

Finally I knit Davey a little ghost finger puppet. Poor little ghost’s eyes are kinda crooked, but Davey loves him.

(I love Davey’s little blurry face in the background of the pic!)

The blob is complete (Girasole)!

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I finished my Girasole a few days ago.  I absolutely loved this pattern.  I’m already debating on what yarn I want to use for my next Girasole.

I think that this was the first thing I’ve knitted where I really saw what blocking can do for a piece.  I guess because it was pretty large.

So this is not a great picture, but I wanted to try to show how kinda ruffled up it looked pre-blocking.

I’d had planned to block it on our bed, but I quickly saw this was not going to work too well, so after giving it a nice bath for about 30 minutes, I took it downstairs to the floor for blocking.

Even this required some adaptation.  I have some great blocking squares, but I didn’t have enough of them.  David suggested cardboard.  Yay David, because this worked out really nicely, even though it wasn’t too pretty.

This was actually pretty easy to block as far as the shaping went because I just had to put a pin in every point and try to get a good tight block all the way around.  It took a lot of pins, but they were well worth it.  I love this pattern.  I think I have said that 50 times now.

I let it dry all day long.  We had to keep Koko out because that girl.  As soon as I looked away, there she was standing in the middle of the blanket.  I just knew her claws were going to wreak havoc, but thankfully no damage was done, and I lifted her off the blanket and deposited her outside (Luckily, it was a beautiful day). I would have liked to let it block overnight maybe, but I couldn’t have left Koko outside all night, nor could I confine her to a room because she’d try to chew the door down.  Or scratch it down with those claws after she realized she didn’t have enough teeth left to chew the door down.

I tried to take a few pictures that might do it justice, but it’s pretty big so this was not easy for me to accomplish.

This is not a picture that does it justice, but Davey took it of me holding the blanket, so I love it.

This picture is ok, and it captures the color well.

Here it is a little closer.

So as it is becoming painfully obvious, I am pretty proud of this!  A year ago, I felt so inept at lace, so it was nice to succeed with it.

I  made this throw for my cousin and her fiancee (now husband) for their wedding gift.  I’d planned to finish it by the time we went to Omaha a few weeks ago, but it didn’t quite happen.

I confess that by the time I had it blocked, I was having some second thoughts about sending it away.  But I have a great cousin who married such a nice guy. My cousin was the flower girl at our wedding.  I babysat her when she was a tiny little baby.  Plus, it gives me an opportunity to make another one which I hope to start and gradually work on it over the next year.

Here’s Angela and her husband.  It was a beautiful wedding!

And then here is Angela with Davey.  When we took him into the room where Angela and everyone were getting ready, he got so serious.  He had big eyes and he was just taking it all in.  I think he liked having his picture taken with her.

More Letterboxing and Tinkerbell

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Davey and I went on another letterboxing excursion today.  David had meetings at school so Davey and I decided to head out.  I didn’t know it was going to be one of the hottest days of the year, but fortunately, we were mostly in the shade, and we finished before it got too too hot.

So we went to an area that had the prettiest stream running through it.  There were actually 4 boxes hidden out there.  We could not get to one of them because that portion of the trail had been closed for restoration.  We found the other three though!

So we set off with our packed lunch and letterboxing supplies.

Davey carried the backpack.

Not really.  It was a little heavy and bulky on him.

I took the backpack and off we went.

Doesn’t it look like he has found a snake here?

Looks like Davey has him by the head.

It’s a stick.

Davey always looks so pleased to find a letterbox.  He does not hesitate to reach in and grab it.  I have to stop him and we poke around with a stick first.

We stopped for lunch in a shady spot by the stream.  It sounded so nice with the water flowing past, and it was a such a pretty spot.  My picture just doesn’t do it justice.

We attempted a long-armed shot together.

After lunch, we had one more box to find, and then it was time to head home.

On our way home, we stopped at Target.  Davey wanted to get David a present.  Something they could do together.  He got very excited to find a game called Molehill Mania.  They whacked something with a mallet, and then these little moles pop out which have to be captured.  I didn’t play it with them, but they had a good ole time.

While at Target, I found a lunchbox in the $1.00 section.  It was actually $2.50, but it was perfect.  I’ve been looking for something inexpensive to carry my hexipuff supplies for my beekeeper’s quilt.  I have had more fun with preparation of this project.  At some point, some knitting needs to happen.

So I would not usually have chosen Tinkerbell, but it was that or Toy Story or Spiderman.  You can probably guess what Davey’s choice was.

It is perfect though. I didn’t want plastic or cloth bags, because my needles and/ or scissors might poke through.

Small pleasures.

And then everything is all packed away nicely (I’ve got to stick some stuffing in there too).

So now all that’s left is the knitting!

Monday mish mash

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Today Davey told me that he wants a Surprise Party for his birthday.  He said that he wants to walk in and everyone should be hiding.  I was instructed to hide under the couch (that will be a bit tight).

Then he said that he has to start working on forgetting that he wants a surprise party so that he will be surprised.

So we will try to pull this off best we can.

I wound some yarn this morning.  Here is my yarn swift.

My hands serve as the winder.  This is actually kind of relaxing to do.  It probably saves me time, as I am terrible with a yarn swift.  I have a knack for making a huge tangled mess 90% of the time.

I probably just need more practice.  Maybe I will get one one of these days.

This yarn is Madeline Tosh Chunky.  It is for a hat I am test knitting for my friend for her book.  It is incredible yarn.  Soft and squishy.  It feels great to knit with.  I love it.

Let’s see, oh yes – Davey and I had a lovely picnic lunch outside today.

He also decided that he wanted a super squirter.

Unfortunately it was a little much for him to wield.

And finally yesterday Davey and I went letterboxing again.  We went 2 for 3.  Two boxes were so much fun to find.  Clever clues and one was in a particularly pretty location.  It was a big open area with the mountains to the west.  Very nice.  The third box had been placed by a bridge.  I think that creek flash flooded at least once this year, so it may have washed away.  Or I just didn’t find it.  Either way, Davey has so much fun exploring the area around where we find the boxes.  One box was under the ridge of a really big flat rock, so we sat there for awhile.  The second was in a park, and we looked at totem poles and walked all around.  It’s enabled us to find new fun places around here.

I could be a spokesperson for Letterboxing America!

Oh and I almost finished my second hexipuff today at McDonald’s.  Davey played at the playland.  We are in search of Smurfette, Gardener and I think his name is Grumpy?  No luck today though.  Apparently Smurfette is a hot item and difficult to find.

That’s quite a mish mash!

Crocheting Craze

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I’ve started crocheting again.  I used to make afghans and I’d crochet the occasional stuffed toy.  But I decided to try a hat.  Or two.  Well, I’ve started on my 3rd.

I’ve been working on my Girasole for awhile, and I needed a break  (The blob is ever growing). Crochet goes so quickly, and the patterns I’m working on are really fun.  It’s a great way to knit up some of my yarn too.

So I crocheted a couple of hats.

I began with a simple beanie.

That was so much fun that I decided to try another.  My second hat was of a slouchier style.

It was fun taking outdoor no flash pictures of my hats on my little mannequin lady head.  However, it was more fun to involve Davey.

We modeled together as well.

I’ve started a black hat that is going to be very slouchy and will be done with primarily a puff stitch.

I’m having mucho fun.