good-natured ribbing

Many of you know of my little one’s dislike of knitted items, at least for her own wardrobe. She’s 3 (almost) and fascinated with yarn and knitting but rejects most knitted things and turns down all my offers. I’ll say “Would you like me to knit you a new sweater (or socks, scarf, hat, mittens…)?” Her answer is always “No. I already have a sweater.”

About a week ago, I thought I’d offer again – this time it was a vest. I made her a vest once before and she loved it. Unfortunately, I ruined it in the dryer. She accepted with enthusiasm. I showed her the yarn I intended to use and that the vest would be striped, like her old one.

She quickly elaborated the design of the vest by telling me that it would have a zipper and pockets! If she’ll wear it, I’ll do anything! Here is the start of the vest:

I’m not following a pattern for this – just winging it. I couldn’t find instructions for the side-entry pockets I wanted, so I sort of made that up, too. Worked out pretty well if I do say so! My goal is to be done by the end of the weekend, so stay tuned.

Anyone know why Eunny hasn’t posted since December? I miss her !

You know, that woman that does Wee Wonderfuls makes such cute stuff I could cry. Check this out. I would be content with half her creativity!

I’m participating in the Secret Pal 10 exchange. I’m supposed to answer a bunch of questions for my secret pal to get to know me better. Here goes:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
My favorites are natural fibers, and in particular alpaca wool. I freakin hate acrylic and novelty yarns, especially eyelash. ick.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
Well, everywhere pretty much! I have a Denise set so that has its own case. I keep straight needles in a glass jar and all the rest are in my knitting tote bag.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting for almost 5 years and learned by going to one class at a knitting store. The rest I taught myself by books, etc. I think at this point I’m advanced, which is to say that I can follow pretty much any pattern and execute it so it’s not a disaster ;) .

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do….wish list

5. What’s your favorite scent?
That’s a tough one, I guess it depends on the context. I like the smell of campfires and vanilla (but not necessarily together).

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Not really. I love dark chocolate.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
Knitting is pretty much it for crafts.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I’m pretty picky when it comes to music (kind of a music snob), I will just warn you now. You can check out my last.fm list for a good idea.

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?
I like dark red, olivey green, deep blue.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I’m married with no kids. We have a really annoying siamese cat named Josephine.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I’m very anti-poncho ;). I love hats scarves and mittens though.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
You know, I’m kind of going back to the scarf. I hated them for so long because that’s like the first thing you knit and it can get boring. But when you start realizing all the possibilities for such a simple garment…well it’s much more interesting then non-stop garter.

13. What are you knitting right now?
A twisty scarf for my mother-in-law

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
I do as long as they’re in good taste. The eyelash scarf my aunt gives me every year? No.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I like both straight and circular. Bamboo is the best, followed by plastic. I can’t stand aluminum.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope, I have a system involving a wooden chair.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
I don’t know what this means.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas….I like the coziness of it.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Cool vintage salt and pepper shakers.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Ooh, would love a subscription to Interweave. I’ve got plenty of needles. I would love some fair isle patterns and how-to’s. Haven’t learned that skill yet.

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
Hmmm, that’s a good question. I’d like to learn how to make ribbing look better. I constantly struggle with the tightness of the edges. And Fair Isle knitting.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I hate knitting socks and must admit that I don’t much care for wearing them either.

23. When is your birthday?
September 2.

Sherry and I visited Kira in Virginia a couple of weeks ago. It’s a good thing Kira finished my mittens while we were there, because it was freakin’ cold. Almost as cold as Michigan. Almost as cold as ICE…….ummm, well, yeah.

Anyway, she made me these beautiful mittens. And they have a Cascade Pima Silk lining. My fingers have never had it so good.

I’ve been making some good progress on a new pair of socks in Sweet Georgia’s Rusted colorway. Unfortunately, I started the heel in a social setting yesterday and messed it all up. Actually, I made the heel perfectly, I just forgot that I adjusted the stitches per needle to better accommodate the pattern – so my perfect heel had the wrong number of stitches. I was able to redo the heel this morning.

I’m just past the heel now and find the pooling of “rust” very interesting. It started to spiral then zigged when I thought it would zag! I can’t wait to see what the second one will look like.

The pattern is based on Thuja, though I’ve made some changes. I’m using size 1 needles so had to add a bunch of stitches. I also put a 1×1 twisted rib cuff and a short row heel.

I’ve been pretty good about finishing a pair of socks before starting another – but I don’t know if I can keep it up! I have so much new and beautiful sock yarn just begging to be used.

This is the baby kimono from the Mason Dixon book. It was really easy and fun to make. The book shows the sweater in garter stitch but says you can follow the same directions with stockinette. Just don’t forget to put some ribbing or garter edges to prevent rolling.

I couldn’t decide which picture I liked better – so you get both.

I used size 6 needles and Cascade 220 (well under one skein). I meant to get the superwash, but I guess I didn’t. Oh well, it’s not like babies are messy or anything ;)

Ava was actually intrigued by this little sweater. I may consider making one for her. I have two more balls – I bet I could just hold two together and use the same number of stitches.

Courtesy of the Catalog Card Generator

Chapter 14

Woke again in the arms of my office chair. First order of business, a call to Jack to see what’s the toot, and to pass on the deal with Rolf. After something very like communication with the coy French dame from Jack’s own message service there in France, I headed down to the Picot for some coffee and grub. Lola was there as usual, serving it up.

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So I signed up for another swap… Secret Pal 10. I’ve admired the great packages other knitters have received from previous Secret Pal swaps. Now it is my turn. There is still time if anyone else wants to sign up – until the end of the month.

Here are my answers to the SP10 questions…
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Chapter 13

It was dark and cold, but windy. I was wet. Cold. Dim diffuse light all around. My face hurt again, but the cold wet was nice. I tried to focus, rolled my head to the side. The flat surface became a roof-top on inspection. I had been dumped on the roof this time. Maybe it was more convenient. It was sprinkling, and full night, low thick clouds glowing. I rolled the other way, saw the doorway down. I felt about myself with my hands for a bit: nothing broken, just a ringing head. Someone had rifled my pockets, and someone had rifled my bag. Wallet and keys were still there, and they had left me some of my clues.

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Just a quick post to say I finished my green socks, for the Green Sock Knit-a-long, and my Tiny Toes. This brings my 2007 total to 3 (my goal is at least 14 pairs of socks this year).

This pair was not without its heartbreak, though. I discovered that one skein of Claudia hand-painted is not quite enough for two full socks. With all my recent stash enhancement purchases, I didn’t want to buy another skein, nor did I have the patience to wait for another, so I finished the second sock with some green Mega Boots yarn I had on hand. These are for me, and no one should ever see the full foot when I wear them, so I will consider them a unique addition to my sock collection.

These are my Interlacement Tiny Toes, oak ribbed socks. Also for me. It’s about time to knit for somebody else now.

Here is my latest stash enhancement:

It is Fearless Fibers superwash sock yarn in Brick House. It is a huge skein (550 yds!!!) and so very soft. I’m going to wait until my new book arrives before deciding what to use it for.

In other news, I’ve slowly been converting our computer/junk room to a yarn and sewing room. Today’s task was to empty all the old books and other items from the bookself to make room for knitting books and other related goods. Stick with me… this gets good! In with all the books was a stack of old greeting cards. Most were for Ava – 1st birthday, Valentine’s Day, etc. However, there was one birthday card that was either for Nick or I. Inside there was a sticky note that said “Love Gran & Gramps” and…

… a $100 bill!!!!!

I asked Nick if the card looked familiar – neither of us remember it. The extra exciting part is that the conversation ended with him saying “Don’t spend it all at one yarn store.”

Chapter 12

The apartment was as we’d left it, a stringy, tangled disaster. I locked the door behind me, and took in the scene. I needed to see something other than a furnished apartment full of yarn, I needed to see the clues.

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I finished these about a week ago but didn’t take pictures until now. I really love the way these turned out. I expected the yarn to be more variegated and less stripy, but I like it anyway. And they fit just right, too!

Pattern: Monkey
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted in Chocolate Cherry
Needles: Size 2 for the leg and Size 1 for the rest (it was a little snug on my leg at size one, but too loose for the foot on size two – so I did both)

I really enjoyed knitting these socks – the pattern was easy to memorize and to work on with a moderate amount of distraction.

Thanks to Beth I don’t have to keep my weekend yarn purchases a secret! When we went to Washington DC last week, Kristen and I visited two yarn stores. First we went to the Capitol Hill location of Stitch DC. Then, Kira took us to Vienna to visit Uniquities. (Thanks again Kira!) Here’s my resulting stash enhancement. You can see from my plans that I can make good use of them all.

Mega Boots sock yarn: For a pair of ribbed crew socks
Regia Sock Yarn: Socks for Nigel!
Schaeffer Anne Sock Yarn: Socks made out of this would make a lovely gift
Supersocke Yarn: More socks for Nigel
Kidsilk Haze: For this very simple scarf that I saw at Stitch DC
Alpaca with a Twist Fino: For a black shawl such as the ones I’ve admired in Victorian Lace Today
My favorite: Cherry Tree Hill in tangerine, maybe socks for me…

Well, here you have it – the start of the very first Expand Your Stash! The goal of this “knit along” is to give every knitter the guilt-free pleasure of adding wonderful, scrumptious yarns to his or her stash. You need not have a pattern in mind or a purpose for the yarn to make that purchase. You’ll use it one day. After all, if you are ever to participate in a “Knit from Your Stash,” you need a stash that will last you those many months!

Go forth and buy, make, or trade; beg, borrow, or steal all the yarn of your dreams!!!
All you have to do to participate is acquire yarn and blog about it!

Spread the word and let’s go shopping.

Or Screw Knitting From My Stash

Right after Christina decided to participate in Knit From Your Stash, I also decided to give it a try. In preparation, I got all my yarn out in hopes of organizing my stash for more efficient project planning. After about an hour of trying to keep the little one from swimming in the pile, it all just got stuffed back in the bins. Granted, I do have enough for a couple sweaters – but other than that, my stash isn’t that impressive. And I barely have any sock yarn.

So, I think I’ll start a new movement – Build Your Stash 2007. I bet there are lots of willing participants out there. There are no rules – buy, make, trade… what ever you can do to add to your stash. Anyone want to make a button for it!?

Here’s my progress so far:

Sweet Georgia – Rusted

Gems 100% Merino – Charcoal

Claudia Hand Painted – Butter Pecan

Twilleys Freedom Spirit Yarn – Earth

Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran – Chocolate, Pink (it was 50% off!)

A pretty good start, eh? The Gems, Claudia, and Louisa Harding are from Knit A Round in Ann Arbor and the Sweet Georgia and Twilley’s is from The Bead and Yarn Gallery in Windsor.

I also have to share this (it is too good not to):

My sister-in-law turned me on to this wonderful product – The Lip Scrub. My winter lips are nice and exfoliated. I love it!!

Chapter 11

The Grumler was topping off as I walked back, and black sedan was still next door. The Grumler is pretty hard to hide, a distinct draw-back. What I needed was some heavy traffic, but that wasn’t for a few hours. Shenanigans were no good, then the tail knew you were losing them. This tail so far didn’t think it had been detected, or it wouldn’t be hovering so close. Or maybe they were just dumb, Linda had complained of sub-par employees.

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Chapter 10

I leaned against the car, observing suburbia. Suburbia didn’t look back. I had some news. Frieda probably knew more about Rolf, and she might know more about this Linda Fringle character. Jacques’ perky librarians might be able to use Rolf as well, a famous person of some kind always brought things out of the wood. Just shy of noon. I wasn’t going to be making international calls from a pay-phone. Might be a good reason to visit Sofakissen. The Stelmford was back Downtown, but I’d get on her lunch hour.

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Well, I figured maybe I should contribute to this blog every now and again, since my name is on it. This scarf took me about 3 months to make just because the 24-row lace repeat got tedious. But it was all well worth the tedium. Here it is, falling leaves:

And here I am after being attacked by the scarf!

It only took me about a week to make (I’ve had a few sleepless, worriesome nights that allowed me to knit a lot). The pattern is Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl. I’ve been wanting to make a shawl for a while know and I was drawn to this one for a few reasons – I wanted something simple using yarn I already have. This one is geared toward beginner lace knitters and called for yarn I had on hand.

I used Mountain Colors Weaver’s Wool Quarters with size 8 needles. I followed the pattern exactly, though my gauge must have been off – I have quite a bit of yarn left. I probably could have done anothe 1 or 2 repeats. When I finish binding off, it was only 31 inches wide and 15 inches down the center. It was barely big enough to be a shawl for Ava. After blocking it grew to be about 49×22. The sample shawl in the pattern was 52×23.

It is a little small to comfortable tie so I rummaged through my collection of stuff and found the perfect solution. I pulled the tips through a key ring and slid it up until snug. Perfect! Well, except for how it looked ;) At lunch, I got the knitting bag out and crocheted around the ring with the same yarn. Perfect!

I always forget about the crazy hairline! I guess I don’t look at the back of my head very often.

This was very quick to make and the pattern was easy to remember. I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of the mini-shawl, but I’m proud of it! I did wear it to work today (and good thing – it was cooooooold!).

Even though I love to knit small things, once in a while I have to break out the size 10+ needles and knit something big and fast. After knitting these kinds of things for days on end:

I feel a real urge to do things like this:

This is Emily, happy with her big hat, but unhappy at being photographed first thing upon awakening. The pattern is from Handknit Holidays , the Earflap Elf Cap, knit on size 15 needles. I’ve had the big pink yarn for awhile (yes, Christina, I am trying to knit from my stash, too) and can’t remember the brand. Size 15 knits up fast. How fast? I finished this hat during one and a half episodes of MacGyver. He saved the Wish Child from being kidnapped and was on his way to breaking out of a high-tech maximum security facility when I wrapped it up.

I also took advantage of my urge to knit big (and used more of my stash at the same time) by knitting the Lopi Lace Scarf from Weekend Knitting. I used Lamb’s Pride bulky, in raspberry, instead of a lite weight yarn so it’s not so lacy, but it is warm.

This took more than a few episodes, but the pattern is so repetitious that I could watch without having to look at the pattern at all.

Because I mentioned it earlier and need to keep myself motivated, I will end by pointing you to runagogo.com, where knitters are moving, moving, moving. In addition to knitting, I have run/swam 66 miles so far this year. Look me (emzocor) up!

Here is what I finished today. It is happily blocking and will be dry in no time!

More pictures soon…

I’m so excited that my knit mitt kit finally arrived! It took a while because it came from Estonia! My pal, Siret, is from the island Hiiumaa. It was worth the wait. Look at the beautiful things she sent me.

This kit includes a lovely fabric bag with a nice long strap suitable for wearing cross-shoulder. It has a nice big pocket on the inside, too. Somehow, she managed to exactly match the color of my living room walls (a color I love). There are three balls of yarn, dark green and yellow; a book of Estonian mittens – Kirikindad Patterned Mittens II (reconstructions of mittens based on the collection of the Estonia National Museum), some needles, a giant chocolate bar, and some postcards. To top it all off, there was a separate little package with a pretty shawl(!!!) with a crochet and bead flower shawl pin. It will be perfect for keeping the chill off!

Some wonderful milk chocolate. You can see that Ava started to get in to the corner before I took the picture. She smell is and exclaimed “Mom! I think this is chocolate!!” Very perceptive child.

The inside of the book.

I’m not sure what technique is used here, but it is really pretty. I figured after the recent tube top picture, I should stop modeling for a while ;)

Love the bag!

Thanks so much Siret! I love everything.