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

My sock pal got her socks yesterday. Thank heaven she forgave me for not using cotton, as was her clear preference. Now it can be revealed that my pal is Allison, who was part of NaKniSewMo, my finish-a-thon last February. Fun!

Farewell, little socks. Have a good life. I'll miss you.

socks on film: the second sock strikes a cheesecake pose in sackett's harbour - or is that, sockett's harbour?

Labels: kal, naknisewmo, socks, swap

I bet Preacher never knew he wanted an Sn'B Nation Rockstar Doll, Palaver style!

palaver with gasmask, c. 1997

preacher, palaver & poet, c. 1997

This doll is largely improvised, but I love a challenge. I passed the deadline for Preachtoberfest, but I was determined to do this one right, no matter how many times I had to knit the head. The embroidery was damned finicky as well. Fun.

my apologies for this garbage picture

Yarn Specs: the grey yarn is Lamb's Pride worsted from the robot knitting of the summer. The white, black & medium brown are all Paton's Classic Merino - white for the Boy's mittens (never used), black for Nic's anarchy cap and brown for Hank Rollins' pants (my first Rockstar Doll!). The beige head & hands are DK King Cole yarn from Blake's bunny hat. The black outline for the suit is Patons Kroy, purchased for Little Spider's no-zombie wristband. The blue tie & flower are my last little bits from my sea silk shawl. Safety eyes & embroidery floss complete our ensemble.

This guy is coming with us to his new home NY this March Break. Good thing I managed to finish him in the last gasp of NaKniSewMo!

Labels: birthday, embroidery, fo, naknisewmo, snb, toy

All of my new year/new yarn resolutions are holding up remarkably well, and giving me lots of energy. I continue to knit stash yarns into great things, and I'm even diving into my work stash. Now, I built this small stashlet to teach other people to knit, so I feel like I get a free pass where its concerned, and nevertheless it is getting smaller. So that's excellent.

I bought yarn yesterday for Dirk's next birthday present: 3 skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash. I don't think I'll even need three balls for his socks, but since they're intended as kilt hose I don't want to take any chances. He was there and confirmed the colour choices and everything is good.

There are just three more days in February, and I've only finished 4 out of the 8 projects I wanted to end this month. We'll see what I can do in the next half-week.

Labels: naknisewmo, stash

This is why I need deadlines. As soon as I decided to give Blake his robot for Valentine's Day, it went from completely knit, no finishing to completely finished in 2 nights.

check out the love between boy & robot!

It's the Jess Hutch pattern in Lamb's Pride Worsted. I had a brainwave during finishing, and instead of knitting, felting & attaching appliqués to the front, I dug through my buttons to find some excellent remnants. The heart button is my absolute fave - the Boy used the name Heart Shaped Robots for a music project once, and I knew that our robot would have to have a heart on it somewhere. I also used some of the safety eyes I ordered a few months ago, since Blake is past the swallowing everything phase (I hope).

His name, Ro-Bert (or more formally, the title of this entry 81:Ro-Bert), is a reference to our imaginary second son, Bert.

This was such a satisfying project to finish. When the Boy saw it for the first time he said, "our family is complete." Hee.

bert watches the snow day develop

Labels: blake, embroidery, fo, naknisewmo, repeats, toy

My first Dulaan 2007 hat, knit from a Caps for Kids pattern in Knitting for Peace and my leftover Plymouth Galway worsted from the marsupial bag. Now, with pompom! I wonder if it will be warm enough for the little Mongolians - I'll solicit more opinions before I take up space in the shipping box.

Isn't it cool that I finished my eightieth project on my second knitversary? Another victory for NaKniSewMo!

Labels: dulaan, fo, knitting for peace, naknisewmo

I'm done! Another victory for NaKniSewMo!

This was supposed to be for Blake's birthday (cough*mutter*cough), but I had trouble working up the nerve to install the zipper. I did it the way I do anything pesky: pin the crap out of it, go very slow, and check progress all the time. And lo! It turned out okay.

It's an Accordion, knit from Peace Fleece in three colours (hemlock, shaba, ancient fern). The main knitting was done in time for his birthday, as was the sewing up. If not for the zipper, he'd have been wearing it long since. And plus, since it's comically oversized, he'll be wearing it for some time to come!

And no, he doesn't always look like he's been caught out by paperazzi. Just when I'm trying to get him still for a pic.

Labels: birthday, blake, fo, naknisewmo

Remember when I was moaning about the UFO's that clutter my house? Well, yesterday when I was procrastinating marking final exams I cleaned up my stash area and was able to fill three bags with knit, unfinished projects. So I started a KAL called February is for Finishing or National Knitting Sew-up Month (NaKniSewMo).

So far three people have asked to come along. I'm very excited!

eta: 3 more have emailed! Eee!

I also have an addendum to my Knit Yer Stash Along Rules: I am allowed to spend unexpected income (i.e. cash from Grandma, money for food testing, a dollar I find in the street) on yarn. Cheques from the government don't count - it's my money anyway and it should prolly go to the student loan. But that quarter you dropped and didn't bother to pick up? Yarn, baby.

Labels: kal, naknisewmo