Seems I missed my third anniversary as well as 6 fo's. Sigh. I need to think about the future of this project. Clearly I am not really as excited about it as I once was, and even though Ravelry is fun and super-easy, it's not quite the same. Maybe I should do the unthinkable and merge with my real diary - about half of my readers are knitters these days anyway, so it's not like I'll automatically bore them to tears.

118: say it with a fried egg

Blake's Valentine's Day present was an amigurumi-style fried egg from my go-to pattern set by Ana Paula Rimoli. It's made out of white Cascade 220 superwash & yellow Headwater Marupe (which you may recognize from the bee hat). Super quick and super fun. A lady at work asked if I made it in the shape of a heart. "No," I said, "I made it in the shape of an egg."

majesty

119: February is for bunny slippers

My first goal for this year's February is for Finishing was these long-suffering bunny slippers from the Happy Hooker. One has been made for a year and a half, just waiting for a mate. So here it is. It's made out of Naturally Yarns "Sensation" which is an angora/merino blend and plenty fuzzy without the mohair strand. I added extra rounds to the ankle piece and changed all single crochets to half-double crochets to get some very needed height. These slippers will not stay on my feet as originally written. The other weird thing was that the second slipper came out too big, so I had to rip back the upper and sole until it fit my foot.

I know the eyes are crooked. I don't care.

120: another hat for the Nic

This is Nic's birthday hat, Swell, a sturdy confection of Patons Classic Merino. After the first set of pics were taken and the hat was gifted, Nic complained that it was too small, so it was ripped to the crown and reknit with an extra 1 1/2" above the colour work. It fits! And it covers his ears! Yay! There's not a lot of contrast in the colour work, but this is what he wanted. And I kind of like the idea of this black wave sneaking up on everyone. As Arcade Fire likes to point out, "there's a big black wave in the middle of the sea." Alright.

I think he likes it

121: chocolate cookie

I think this pattern is a crutch. This is the second time this month that I've used it before a children's birthday party. So: Tiny Ami by Ana Paula Rimoli in Lily Sugar and Cream (brown) and CoolSpun Cotton (white) in honour of Hestia's third birthday party. I like the naturalness of this cookie compared to my grey attempt this summer.

tiptoeing through the kalanchoe

122: eternity cardi

I started this cardigan in March 2006, driven by a desire to take the edge off Sockapaloooza and a low price for Lana Gatto Ontario that promised a full cardigan for $30. It took maybe three months to knit the pieces - I seem to remember knitting and marking essays, and I definitely remember doing one of the fronts during a Meet the Teacher Night. Then, once it was done and summer arrived, it lingered. I put all the pieces in a bag for safe keeping. I got a new job. I bought a house. I moved. I sewed one whole seam right before a crazy-hot Thanksgiving that had me putting away the wool for awhile. And now, goaded by NaKniSewMo and my desire to CO for a Noro vest, I finally finished this simple little cardi.

Now that it's done, the collar kind of looks like a tumorous mass. I can't tell if it's my sewing or the fabric to blame. Also, I didn't put on the ribbon closures because it seemed dumb. for now, I'm using a 1" Bridesmaidmania 3 pin to close it, but will come up with something more dignified shortly. My knitsibs can't believe that I've never finished a sweater before. I'm just glad that I finished this one.

blurry but more-or-less accurate

pay no attention to the muffintop

123: loopy hemp pillow

When I asked Sister Silver what she would like me to knit her, she quickly decided on a loopy pillow. As it was beastly hot in the valley, I found a beautiful hemp (All Hemp 6) in the exact colour of her couch throw. What I didn't realize was that hemp is rough as hell on the hands, especially if you're fiddling with it to make loops. The knitting dragged. My hands chapped. I started to watch episodes of Lost while knitting it, thinking that an hour a week was enough. And then, once I got a square, I figured out that I didn't get gauge and my square didn't match the pillow form. Grr.

I ended up picking out the cast-off, knitting more rows, then binding off and picking up stitches along the side, log-cabin style to make this panel fit the pillow form. Exhausting. I threw it in the washer/dryer to soften it up, which it did, beautifully. It’s backed with fabric from Ikea because i couldn’t face the idea of buying a third skein. True to form, handstitching the back to the front took more than 6 months as it went hibernating for a long time.

Now that it’s done I have the damndest case of Stockholm Syndrome: it looks so good with my colour scheme that I may need to make another. But not of hemp, goddammit.

a front and side view of my new master

Labels: crochet, fo, knitty, naknisewmo, repeats, snb

Remember when I used to finish items one at a time? Yeah.

This latest Urchin is made from Manos del Uruguay for Alleen. I finished the knitting right before my dance class on Monday night. I grafted it over two nights, as I made a mistake with the first try and had to rip it all out. And just when I was congratulating myself on being able to kitchener stitch in hockey bleachers, too.

More news: soon there will be matching wristwarmers. Fun!

Labels: fo, friends, knitty, repeats

110: exotic urchin

I've been finishing hats like a woman possessed. The first was last Saturday, when I took time that I should have used to mark exams to knit furiously and joyfully through a handspun Urchin. Sophie gave me this Studio Loo skein called Violet Fiction for a housewarming/birthday present. You may remember the yarn when it used to be this:

Now it's this:

Reaction is mixed, by which I mean everyone loves it but my mom, who hates it with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. I think she's just jealous.

111: beanie redux

The second hat is part of my attempt to use my knitting for social good instead of just relaxation, practice, artistry, cheap gifts, etc. It's a Boy Beanie from the Happy Hooker in variegated Patons Classic Merino called Jungle. The contrasting green is the Lemongrass Lion's Brand Wool left over from my mittens. It's going to a local homeless shelter/soup kitchen, where it will hopefully clothe one of the visitors.

112: Queen Bee hat

The third hat was done before the second, but needed embellishment. It's a Bzzz Hat for Queen Bees out of Sn'B Nation. The yarn is Headwater Wool Marupe that I picked up at the DKC Knitter's Frolic last spring with the change I found in my pockets. I've been dreaming about this hat for a long time. I've got a bit of a thing for bees, and this will eventually be a set with a scarf and possible wristwarmers. The bee buttons aren't that great, but they get the job done. I found them at the local Michael's.

113: belly dance socklets

This isn't a hat, although I finished it in the midst of my binge. They're little socklets to wear during my belly dancing class for a bit of slippage on turns. Why buy ballet flats or (ugh) cut up other socks when you can spend a few hours making small colourful tubes? I knit these while marking exams, and finished them minutes before beginning class last week.

114: kara

Also not a hat. It's an amigurumi carrot that I decided to do after an argument with Blake, in which he insisted on orange hot chocolate for my in-process toy cup. Instead of such an abomination, I made a carrot. The pattern is my own, although it's way too simple to need one. All I did was make a circle, crochet a tube, and start decreasing. When I thought it was too short, I did a plain row, then kept decreasing. It took a bit of finagling to make the tip, and I don't know that I followed any recognized crochet technique other than "givin'r," but the end result is quite pleasing, with that purposely frayed end coming off there. The orange is Sugar n' Cream worsted cotton, and the green top is more Lemongrass Lion's Wool, which I attached and chained until I felt like stopping. Then I picked up the other end and chained that too. The result is marvellously eccentric, dready leaves. The mouth is the same yarn. They eyes are 8 mm safety eyes. Tremendously fun, tremendously simple. Her name is Kara, after a girl in Blake's class. Kara the carrot.

115 & 116: cupcake & chocolate cup

The reason that I had to make Kara was because I was in the midst of making these guys for the Jakaitis kids. It's K8rs' birthday party on Saturday, and we decided to make a cupcake and a cup of hot chocolate for her and her brother to play with. They are a mix of Sugar n' Cream cotton, Butterfly cotton, and Cool Spun cotton, with fun mail order safety eyes and beads from Michael's. Do they look like sprinkles to you?

There are still a few more pictures hanging around, but I am totally knackered, so they'll have to wait. And I'm almost done another urchin!

Labels: birthday, blake, crochet, drunken knitters, fo, friends, gifties, knitty, snb

I had a golden skein of Elspeth Lavold Silky Wool that was destined to become a scarf for my grandmother. It took more than a year to decide to be an Argosy. And it's birth was slow. Finished within days of her 82nd birthday, but delayed as it was in need of fierce blocking. This Thanksgiving weekend was the time to just giv'r.

my blocking partner

Labels: birthday, family, fo, knitty

Last night I went to a yarn tasting event. The tagline was "a yarn tasting event like no other," but I can't say as I've ever heard of a yarn tasting that I could compare it to. It was hosted by Knitty magazine and featured some of my favourite locals, sweet treats, and a tonne of yarn. My swatches tell the story.

the yums and the yucks, with one lace AWOL

There was only one bit of unpleasantness, which I hope will be resolved next time. Let's just say that some of us become aggressive when the words "free yarn" are spoken, and others absent themselves from the fray in disgust. Then still others, who have some yarn, get pissed off on behalf of those who don't. I'm in that last group.

Still, my upset made it necessary to go eat snacks with Amy, Lisa & Jacquie, and there's nothing wrong with microbrewed beer and fresh hummus at midnight. (Even though it was this last bit of socialization that turned me into a gut-rotted zombie this morning when Blake came back home, I regret nothing. Nothing! No comeuppance! (shakes fist at heavens))

Labels: friends, knitty, outings, swatch

finished on August 27, 2006.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

For my 30th birthday, my mom took me out to see Hair. It was an exciting event for me: I was basically unfamiliar with the so-called storyline, but I loved some of the songs and wanted to see it all unfold. So my mom, being the theatre push-over she is, bought us some tickets and I got me an early birthday present.

In addition to the play, which was pretty awesome, we also indulged in one of our other theatre-going vices: clothes shopping (a third vice is eating, but we won’t go into that). There’s a store near the theatre called Timbuktu that’s run by an ex-hippie and filled with gorgeous exotic fabrics. Last time we were there (“Urinetown”), my mom bought a traveling suit. This time we both bought dresses. Hers was red with a flower pattern; so perfect for her that we both felt strongly that she already owned it. Mine was a blue & white layer cake of a dress, a floor-length sundress blockprinted in shades of Delft blue. Air currents want to frolic with this dress, and it’s long enough so that the world is not surprised by my nudity when the wind gets whimsical.

But as I am the type of personality that I can never be satisfied, a problem arose. To whit: I hate hate hate hate current sandal styles. So this pretty pretty dress, clearly a summer dress, would be matched with my grody flip flops, my 8-holes, or my ‘vogs. I loves my ‘vogs, but they really need socks. Therefore, I decided to knit some. All of the lacy socks I saw were way too substantial for my purpose, which was to match this confection of a dress. So I picked up a couple of skeins of my favourite Koigu PPPM, found a lace stitch on-line, and swirled in as many girly touches as I could manage.

Specs: these socks were to be super-feminine, super comfy in summer as I defied sandal fashion and stomped around in my 'vogs. I combined a picot cast-on with a simple 7-stitch, 4-row lace pattern (called Lace Wings), added an Eye of Partridge heel for the birdy implications, and then named it after my shoes. (I also watched Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy obsessively while knitting the first sock, so there's a little bit of Vogon in there too.)

I took the first one to a Drunken Knitter’s Night in July, where it was much beloved. Since drinking was involved, there came a point when I messed up the lace. I pondered tinking, but the people around me told me it didn’t matter.

”But what if I want to submit this pattern to Knitty?” I half-joked to Amy, who was sitting beside me.

”I’m sure I won’t notice,” she replied graciously.

Holy shit, I wondered, did I just pitch a design to Amy, Editrix of Knitty? Did she just say something nice instead of rejecting my lame ideas and incompetent design-work out of hand? Will I actually go through with this crazy idea? This requires much pondering.

From that point on in the summer, these were my submission socks, kept under wraps. I approached a few of my knitting friends for help with the photos, but nothing was resolved until the September Drunken Knitter’s Night, when Jacquie B. offered her sharp artistic eye and her ginchy new camera in service of the submission socks. Thrilled to be doing something before all the leaves turned, we settled on the following weekend.

The shoot itself was great fun. I’ve always wanted the glory of modelling (I am, at least technically, a Leo) but lack the traditional attributes to realize this goal (such as grace, poise, passion and beauty). Jacquie was patient with my lack of experience, and made the shoot into a big romp through Kew Gardens. If these socks look good, it’s because Jacquie made them look good.

Jacquie B's fantabulous vog on gallery

The next part of this story took place months after, as the completed socks were waiting for a seasonal submission date. Widdershins had been out there for awhile, and I found myself wondering if I had a toe-up version in me. When Michelle offered to test-knit, I knew I had to try. So I did the math, bought her some co-ordinating Koigu PPM in fire colours, and asked her if she could make my bird rise from the ashes (in this case, ashes = toes). Then we spilled tequila on the yarn. Hee!

She did a terrific job, knit them longer just for fun, and then used her mannequin feet to model. I can't help but think that her clutch-knitting is what sent us over the edge. And now, I'm a published knitwear designer! I'll try to let it go to my feet, rather than my head.

the pattern

Labels: design, drunken knitters, fo, friends, knitty, socks

Speaking of Dirk Nightshade, he's famous (albeit anonymously)!

The other day, I met a young man (when you're my age, they're all young men) who was knitting his first project. Unsurprisingly, it was a garter stitch scarf. It was about six or seven inches wide, and he had about six or seven inches worth done, so he had what looked like a lovely square garter stitch potholder. He told me that he had started the scarf nearly a year ago, got this much done, put it down for a while—like ten months—and only now had he picked it up again.

I nodded and smiled and told him he was doing a good job and that it would get faster and easier—but in the dark recesses of my brain I thought: “Oh, just bind it off. Call it a potholder and bind it off. It's fine, you've learned garter stitch, it's time to move on.”

- David Demchuk, "It's the little things," Knit Like a Man, Spring Knitty

I'm proud to have been the enabler that brought Dirk to Lettuce that night, not to mention giving him knitting lessons in the first place. It's almost like being famous myownself.

Labels: friends, knitty, silly

Knucks!

I finally finished a pair of gloves for the Boy, right in time for Christmas. I even clothes-pinned them to the tree (I'm such a Martha). They're Knucks, made out of Rowan Felted Tweed (the pattern yarn, no less!) and embroidered with the name of the Boy's tutoring affiliation.

the boy poses outside my school

I'm very proud of myself.

Labels: christmas, embroidery, fo, knitty

Pixie's birthday present took off after I broke up with the Quick and Dirty Fishnets and rebounded with the Lolita Stockings from Knitty. I knit both stockings at once and I bought some pretty ribbon for the lacing weeks in advance. What can I say? We were in love.

However, the honeymoon came to a screeching halt when I tried these stockings on for the first time. It's such a regular pattern that the two places I made mistakes are really, really visible. I wish I hadn't bound off before trying these on. I have the feeling that Pixie will never wear these oddball beauties.

Just for the record, they're made out of two balls of Cascade Fixation, colour #2706 (turquoise). I had some trouble keeping a decent tension with this yarn, and I came up something like 10 rows short at the top. So that's not cool, either. In fact, the only cool things about these stockings are that I knit the best music of StanFest into their fabric, and they're knit fishnets. Other than that, I think we need to see other people.

Update: October 28, 2007!

Labels: family, fo, knitty

Project #10 was another birthday gift for The Boy's step-mom: feline dim sum from knitty. Really easy to make and rather impressive to behold. I loved constructing these.

Labels: birthday, fo, knitty, toy