31 posts tagged “knitting”
I had to help her get in good with the teacher, of course. :-) Not that her charm and intelligence alone wasn't enough.
I made a similar one (inset photo) about a year ago. Her teacher's apple cozy shows me that I've improved my knitting skill since then, but you can't tell it in the photo with my daughter.
Now to just get the addendum to the Spring Forward sock pattern written so that I can post it for all my fellow knitters. I'll have it by next week...I promise!
The start of the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing began three hours ago. That's 7:00 a.m., CST. I was supposed to be up and casting onto my knitting needles my second pair of Hand Spring Mitts for my entry in the Ravelympics, which is coinciding with the regular Olympics. It may sound boring for non-fiber people, but I assure you, it is great fun for yarn enthusiasts world-wide. So, I was really excited about waking up, casting on and posting pics on Ravelry.com with my fellow teammates. A little too excited to sleep, evidently. I got about five hours of sleep when I require at least seven or eight! When my husband woke me this morning, I didn't make it to the metaphorical 'starting line' like I thought I would...but instead, slept another twenty minutes and then 'stumbled out of the gate' once I made my coffee.
I hand-dyed some lovely Silky Alpaca Lace yarn yesterday for these mitts. I call it 'Pecan Praline'. I ran out of brown, or it would have been darker.
Now, I won't bore you with constant update photos here on my blog. Maybe one or two more and then a photo finish at the end. Closing Ceremonies in Beijing will also close our Ravelympics. Just seventeen days to finish the new mitts, plus finish my swap with Patchy and complete my mom's second mitt. Oh...and give our daughter a 5th b-day party, and get her all set for her very first day of public school! (Sigh.)
Wish me luck!
RM
Hello lovelies! Sometimes I use Flickr as a blog instead of posting here on my craft blog. That is because there are more of my crafty friends on Flickr than there are on Vox and they can easily post comments there. So, before I forget...
Here are some fingerless mitts I've been knitting for my mom. She says that the hospital, in which she receives her chemotherapy treatments, is as cold as an ice box. So, I wanted to make her some nice hand warmers out of the lovely cashmere and silk light-fingering-weight yarn that Amy of www.MadelineTosh.com hand-dyed for me. It has been a lovely experience! The yarn, plus KnitPicks size 0 circular needles and a sock pattern that I adapted to sprout a nice, graduated thumb gusset has yeilded an exceedingly smooth knitting week. The sock pattern, "Spring Forward" by Linda Welch, is found here on Knitty. My Ravelry page has some preliminary notes for this project here. Once I have tested my notes on the second mitt, I'll post instructions (free gratis, of course) for adding the thumb gusset, thus turning them into 'Hand Springs' fingerless mitts.
Click on thumbnails to view larger photos.
Wee! My sister sent pictures of Little Emily in her Auntie Micol's knitted goodies.
I knew the bonnet would be too large for a newborn. In fact, Big Brother Austin can almost wear it! But, by the Winter or early Spring, she'll have grown into it. I'll probably make a pair of larger booties to match it by then.
I guess knitting for babies appeals to me because the garments don't take as long to knit as full-size adult clothing. Besides...babies need to wear layers all-year long, as the air conditioning in buildings can often be too cold for them.
So...what shall I knit next? (Aside from my friend Laurraine's dishcloths?) I don't know...but I have sewing and some commissioned spinning to do that I am way behind on, so that might put any new knitting project on hold for a while.
Ciao!
RM
Wow...my younger brother and his wife had their baby Samuel yesterday! Yes...that would be Father's Day for those Vox friends celebrating along with the U.S. calendar.
So, I whipped up the finishing touches to my Baby Surprise Jacket (pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman) and ran it up to them in the hospital today. My....what a beautiful child he is! No mottling of the skin, nor conical head. Just perfect!
Here are some photos of the precious family..Click on photos for larger pics.
And happy cousin Lizzie holding the jacket that I made for Samuel Joseph.
I wonder how many independent and stubborn knitters in the world who, like myself, have all but banned the books written by the 'most popular' modern-day Knitting Gurus from their bookshelves because they see it as hopping on a bandwagon, going main-stream or being too trendy for them.
I have to admit...I never had the desire to read any of the Yarn Harlot's stuff before today.
I thought it was cool for her to get to have photos of thousands of people holding her socks, or her holding other's socks in progress on the needles (as is her signature move) while she travels to speaking engagements all across the globe. I guess I felt like she must have enough fans without me becoming one. Does that make any sense? Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe I felt like it should be me.
I don't know...anyway...here's where the Traveling Mercies post title comes in. Today at the library, I came across one of her books called Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off - The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting. Now, anything having to do with traveling just intrigues me. Well, this was a knitting book with a travel theme! Doubly interesting! When I scanned through the book, I noticed the clever way she compared knitting to traveling. It really got my attention. So, I checked it out.
I came home and started to read it. I was extremely INTO the book, almost instantly. I thought to myself, "Oh no. I'm becoming a Yarn Harlot Fan!" Argh!!!! The thing that I didn't want to do! I didn't want to become some sort of freaky fanatic who drives three hours to get my photo taken holding a Yarn Harlot sock! I didn't want to give up being 'too avant-garde for the Best Seller List Club'.
Then, I saw them...three or four words within the first few chapters. Words that you don't want your young children repeating. As harmless as they are to most people in today's society, the words suck, hell and crap were never allowed in our vocabulary growing up. I don't even use them to this day out of respect for my elders (who probably blurt them out on a regular basis by now)...in fact this post is the first time in 35 years that I have ever spelled them out in that context. It's just the ultra-moral conservative code I have made for myself.
So...NOW I have a reason to retreat, right? NOW I have a reason to put the book down. I mean, I WILL NOT read such things written by someone called a Yarn HARLOT!
Would you believe, two years ago, I would have stopped reading at the first offensive word? In fact, I may not have checked it out at all for the sake of the moniker 'Yarn Harlot' alone. It's true! That's how I lived my life. You couldn't say 'butt' in my presence without me either sneering, scolding or marking you as an uncouth lout for using such a word. "We don't say that word...say 'bottom' or 'rear-end'". Seriously, you know people like that, don't you? Are you such an individual?
Well, I am so proud to say that within the last two years I have certainly mellowed and learned a lot about acceptance, tolerance and love. Can you guess from where I've learned these things? Well, I'll tell you...from a wonderful on-line crafting community. I joined Craftster.org about two years ago and it opened my eyes to different cultures, ways of life and camaraderie that I had never known before. I quickly found that I could either cancel my membership because I saw some posts with words that I didn't like to read and realized that some folks there were of different sexual and religious persuasions than I was, or I could stay in that super-creative atmosphere and learn so much from crafters from all over the world. Obviously, I decided to stick it out and not run away from fear of the unknown. I tell you, I learned a lot more than great crafting techniques there. I seriously learned to connect with and not 'disconnect' from people who did some of the things in the morally grey area that I saw as 'wrong' in the morally black and white world in which I lived.
So, my friends and family...I'm a changed woman. I know some of you who are 'on the straight and narrow' will be just as narrow as I used to be in your thoughts about my revelation, but I really can't help that. You may think, "Well, that's what she gets for consorting with sinners." I know that's what you might be thinking because I had the same thoughts you do about it for the first 30 years of my cognitive-thought life. It's what I was taught. Oh...and if you are offended and think that I could not be referring to YOU, then chill! I must not be talking about you. Hee-hee.
Obviously, not everyone can relate to this way of thinking...but I really used to feel sorry for people like me. I felt as though they had lost 'the righteous way'...and had fallen into a sea of mediocrity. Please, my dear family and long-time church-going friends...may I put your mind at ease? I feel set free! I have had a world of people put before me and I've been asked to love them, genuinely. And only now can I love them, faults and all. So, be encouraged...because that means that I can even love myself now. My imperfect self...and even you, too! :-) Even if you say the word 'butt'! Whoa!
So...back on topic. Today, I've become a Yarn Harlot fan. You may even see a photo some day of me standing next to her with a sock in both of our hands! I can't wait to finish reading this book. It even made me cry two times thus far. Not because it's sad in any way...but I had to shed a few tears for being blessed with the Traveling Mercies that have led me to a greater love of people, art, hobbies, excellent authors, traveling, culture, tolerance and humility.
I am forever your humble creative friend,
RM
Yes, I said that I had been crafting lately. Here's the proof. There are comments on each photo if you click them.
RM
By the way...I wove the background fabric on my loom. I thought it came out well for my first cloth of significant size.
Well, not to give away too much of the surprise...
I have been whipping up something for my sister
Alisha's new baby. Emily came almost two weeks
early, yet she weighed 8 pounds! I'm almost done
with the set and I'll post pictures of the whole
gift after she opens it.
Yay for babies!
RM
I was just about to destash this yarn when I found a group contributing handmade items to our local hospital nurseries. The hospitals require easy-to-launder yarn, so most charity work given is acrylic.
This is a newborn baby pattern, free from Bev’s Country Cottage, called the On The Road Again Hat. Here’s the link: www.bevscountrycottage.com/bevs-baby-set1.html
The pattern calls for a cast on of 70, however, I used dpns and had a double-wide rib at the end of the round when I do this. I would cast on 72 or 68 to make the ribs come out right IF YOU decide to use dpns or circular needle only! If you seam it like the instructions say (doh!) you will not have a problem! I obviously did not even read the instructions clearly enough. Now I’m only going to do the hat…as the mitts and booties are seamed as well, and I prefer to do them in the round.
RM
