Knitting Pharm

Stop, knit and breathe

Life around here is not quite as it should be.  None of it involves huge personal trials, just a bunch of little things that have left me not myself.  The mojo, she's left the building.  In the spirit of appreciation, here are the small things I am taking comfort in as I ride this blip.

A pattern that I can do in my sleep.

A cool stitch pattern,

that can even be added to a heel flap for the funkiest sandal socks ever!

A yarn that does the work for me

A very tidily [if I may say so] turned heel.

Out of province yarn acquisitions

Book previews, where my name appears with some quite amazing people.  [I affectionately call the author's list a "Who's who (them) and a Who's that? (me)!]

Hats that will bring comfort

And readers who bear with me, even when I take myself far too seriously.  Thank you, all!

One more darned try

Thank you for all of your wise words re. blogging platforms.  I'm trying very hard not to overreact, but since Typepad ran a major upgrade, I've had a hard time with posts disapearing.

Head to toe for June will follow (backdated, natch!), but for now I must bore you with the same project, with only the colours changed.

Like a certain Canadian treasure, I've been blessed with girl babies.  They're all I know, and I love them dearly.  Now that they're a bit older, there are more girl babies in my life, namely their sweet girl baby friends.  There is a nice balance at this stage, because while they're old enough to have friends, they're young enough that I can have some say as to who their friends are, a luxury I'm told I will lose as they get older.

This time last year, all of my girl baby friends were receiving felted backpacks.  The felted backpack of 2008 is not a backpack at all, but a ruffly little tank I can't seem to stop making.

The pattern, as I'm sure you will recignize, is Christine Schwender's Monica, from Knitty Spring 2007.  I made a pair of these for my own girl babies last year, but, as they have a habit of doing, my kids have grown and needed some new pretty knits.

Between a trip to Halcyon Yarns in the spring and the leftovers from a recent sale at Tangled Skeins, I had amassed 20 skeins of Cotton Fleece in many, many shades.  Monica is a perfect pattern because you can work a tank in just a skein of each of 2 shades, or just a smidge more for the body if your girl is a Glamazon-in-training as my beautiful Amy is.

Little time commitment + little yarn commitment = many, many tanks!

First up, for little Eve, in Terracotta with a Blush ruffle.

Next, for her big sister Angeline, in Raging Purple with a Blush ruffle.

For my pal Mikayla, in Candy Apple and Blush, with little ladybugs.

For my own firstborn, in Wisteria with a ruffle in Spryte.

For my baby, in Raging Purple and Wisteria, or, as she calls it, "Purple one dark one", I suppose to distinguish it from big sister's "Purple one light one."

It seems it's photo posting that is giving me grief, so please forgive the multiple saves if you've landed on this post from Bloglines more than once.  I will persevere.

This post was inspired by Heather, Ravelry name scrappygurlknits, who mentioned my blog and described it as a favourite, albeit an infrequently updated one.  For you, Heather, I'll try harder.

Typepad ate my post

So all I have are pictures.

Anyone have opinions on Wordpress as a blogging platform?

 

 

In praise of Jen

You know those friends who love and appreciate your knits so much, you'd knit them anything, anytime?  If said friend requested you knit her a treehouse, complete with a tree to hang it in, you'd ask her how tall said tree should be and start scouring the 'net for knitted tree patterns.  You get the picture.

I have one of those friends.

Her name is Jen, and as well as being a lover of all things knitted, she also happens to be a delightful person and a dear friend, albeit one I don't see nearly as often as I'd like.

This time, her request was a simple one.  A knitted hat, scarf and mittens before next winter.  Brown, maybe tweedy, definitely special.

I found the Rowanspun Aran while on vacation in Freeport, and it screamed to me,  "Hey Deb, I'm perfect for Jen!"

The yarn was right, and I'm glad I listened.

First off the needles:  a hat for her not-small hair.  Le Slouch, with some added slouch, fit the bill perfectly.

Next, a simple pair of mitts, worked seamlessly in the round.

Then the perfect Irish Hiking Scarf.

Cheers to Jen, and to knit lovers everywhere.

Little People, Big (piles of) Knits

All around me, people are making babies.  Friends, coworkers, acquaintances, you name it.

Let it be said, I'm done with having babies.  I have two sweet daughters with the man of my dreams, and we were fortunate to have that moment of closure when we first laid eyes on our second.  We had our family.

That said, I still love babies, in a thank-God-for-vasectomies kind of way.  I am relieved that my Breedy McHumpalot friends are keeping me supplied with babies to hug and love and hand back when they cry.

And knit for.  Never forget that part.

 

Teensy raglan and socks in Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream, Sugar Maple colourway.  This has been sitting in my stash since last summer, so it was great to fish it out and fall in love with it all over again.

Teensy raglan and socks in Crystal Palace Panda Wool, Basil Curry colourway.

And as I whip off teeny knits, I have two constant reminders that I am no longer the parent of a baby.  This outtake from a recent portrait session perfectly shows the silly side of my sweet girls.

Have a great day!

Sock Speak

Despite what a certain blog has been suggesting, I have actually been both busy and knitting.  Lots and lots of socks were produced as the family and I whipped through New England on our yearly road trip.

Marilinda from Cookie A., worked in Opal solid.  Love this pattern.

Another Cookie A. pattern, Monkey, worked with Cat Bordhi's Riverbed architecture.  These ones are in Colinette Jitterbug, slightly beyond ankle length.

Broad Spiral Ribbed socks from More Sensational Knitted Socks.  Done toe-up in Estelle Arequipa.  The second photo shows the patterned heel flap I seem to be stuck on working lately.

A Cat Bordhi/Charlene Schurch hybrid here, Tall Tibetan Coriolis with a Garter Rib leg.  The yarn is from the road trip and is Seacoast Handpainted Panda.  It's a yummy, soft bamboo blend I'm glad I had the sense to buy more than one of.

In not socks, I snatched a ball of Marvel from my mum's stash on the way through to the States and made a super-quick scarf for Jen at work.  (She's been eying Lou's like a ravenous tiger, so this is to keep conflict at bay...)

Just simple garter, 14 sts on the largest needle from the Denise set.  At this gauge and stitch count, the thick and thin pooled into nifty little patches that also gave the scarf a bit of a scalloped edge.  I'm more pleased with it than I should be.

And Jen placed an order for a hat/mitts/scarf set, so I found her some nice Rowanspun and did Le Slouch to test the waters with the yarn.

Late to the game as always, a wonderful gal at Halcyon Yarn led me to Jared's blog and the Hemlock Ring blanket, which I'm working in smaller gauge but larger stitch count.

Not bad for a daft cow, yes?

The blog, she's pissed

Dear Deb,

This is your blog speaking.  Don't look away.  Don't tell me how busy you are.  Listen up.

You've been a neglectful, cruel keeper of me.  Don't tell me you didn't have time.  There are many small and meaningful ways you could have kept me in the loop.

You could have shared photos of Cameron's knee socks, complete with yet another rant about the Sisu you claim to hate but keep going back to.

 

 

[and your commenters may be too kind to say it, but the pooling on these is fug.]

You could have shared the wee sweater you banged off in a frenzied afternoon when you realized you had a hair appointment and hadn't given your hairdresser a baby gift.

 

You could have bragged about the pretty STR socks (in Mist, lightweight) that you ignored me to finish.

 

But no.  You had to work.  You had to travel.  You're totally cheating on me with Ravelry.  You never stay up late with ME anymore.

You stay up with HER...

 

and tell me that she's important, because she's helping you to destash your sock scraps.  But do people visit her from Google or Bloglines?

And would you really rather spend time with your spindle than with me?  Really?  I know you thought the Kureyon sock was crap, that you were disappointed that you (sock knitting legend in your own mind) couldn't make good on socks with it, despite multiple attempts.  Really, the 2-ply you made with it was pretty good, and helped to balance its twist,

 

and the hat it yielded wasn't so bad.

 

But was it worth it?

And you Pomatomus obsession is getting weird, even for you.

 

But it looks awfully cute scaled down to kid size in Sockina Colori.

But I'm still mad at you.  Even when I see those sumptuous Lace Ribbons, worked in a Fleece Artist mill end.  Steph and Megan are right, this could be the Clapotis of 2008.

 

 

[I could forgive you, if you let me have her.]

NO!  I'm MAD!

But that STR tube scarf, while in an odd colour combo, may just be the perfect winter scarf for your BFF's dad next winter.  I sort of like it.

 

[Mudslide and Stormy Weather in a tube, with the colour change halfway so it's hidden at the back of the neck.  Who'da thunk it?]

In closing, I think you can do better for the both of us.  And your persistent backdating of posts isn't fooling anyone.

With love and frustration and the usual stuff,

Your blog

And the Juno* for best sweater in a cotton blend yarn goes to...

Cables and Os!

*cue music*

Design by Brooke Snow, from the Amy Singer book No Sheep for You.  Yarn and needles by Knitpicks.  Buttons by Mission Falls.  Sleeve caps by Barbara Walker.  Knitted by, and fitted to, me!

Knitpicks Cotlin, Key Lime colourway.  Modifications:  longer body, full length sleeves, buttonhole band and top-down sleeves.

I'm told that the sleeve method I've yoinked from cyberspace can be found in the Barbara Walker book Knitting from the Top and is called the Seamless Set-in Sleeve.  Thanks to Becca for clarifying that for me.

And, just in time, Knitpicks has gone and expanded the colour selection in Cotlin to include some softer shades.  I may just need another one for next winter.  Somebody stop me!

[As if you could.]

* if you're wondering what the heck a Juno is, it's like a Grammy, but more apologetic.  And it says aboot.]

Lucky, lucky baby

I started blogging around the time a very dear friend was preparing for her wedding.  In fact, I believe one of my first blogged projects was her wedding shawl.

Time has a way of passing.

My sweet married couple friends will welcome their first child by month's end.

When my March selection from the Rockin Sock Club arrived, I fell in instant love with the colourway, Lucky.

I loved the accompanying Leafling sock pattern, but the combination of the pattern and the medium weight STR just wasn't doing it for me.  So I did what I'd done with my last skein of mediumweight yarn - a baby raglan!

All this one needs is some four-leaf clover buttons, and it will be fit for a lucky baby...  lucky to have chosen such wonderful parents!

And with the leftovers, a wee cap with the whale-tail Azure pattern and a tied i-cord top.  (Are your teeth aching yet?)

Top of the mornin' to ya, Lucky Baby! 

Previously, on a very special Lazy Knitter

When last the Lazy Knitter reported, the retained armhole stitches were waiting to become sleeves.  Today I have 2 sleeve caps that each look like this:

[pretty freaking perfect, if you ask me.]

I joined on and worked each stitch (concealing wraps as in Cat Bordhi's latest book) and picking up stitches to a total of 106 (the final stitch count for my size).  I then worked in short rows, starting with 32 centre stitches, increasing one on each row until all stitches had been incorporated.  Now it's just a matter of working in the round to the wrist, reversing the shapings.  I love this method and its effect.

The only change I would have made would be to centre the pattern on the body of the sweater.  It's not written this way, as the intent is for a row of Os in the pattern to serve as buttonholes.  Once I opted to add a button band instead of doing this, having Os on the buttonhole edge became less important.  The knits of half-cable on the edges would have made a cleaner canvas for picking up stitches, but I think I did pretty darned well with the purl background.

Speaking of facings and buttons and all good things, check these out:

I.  Love.  Them.

True to form, once the hardest parts of the sweater were done, I set it aside to work some other projects.  Lots of them.

A felted purse for my niece:

The beginnings of a pair of socks for my nephew:

More clogs, just because they're quick and fun...

And a completed and blocked Swallowtail for a draw prize at an upcoming charity luncheon.  (Click for bigger.)

I'm Toronto-bound in the morning, hoping to do a run-by visit at Lettuce Knit for Knit Night before having a sleepover with a dear, dear friend.  Have a happy hump day!