VKnitz

Main Street Yarn (my LYS)

2010-05-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

I spent the afternoon at Main Street Yarn in Mill Creek yesterday and I was impressed with everything I saw. A picture is worth a thousand words and so here are 12,000 words for you to feast on! As you can see I am so lucky to have such a gorgeous store filled with a fantastic selection of delicious yarn, patterns, mags, books, needles, bags, everything a knitter needs and really nice helpful people. My knitting buddy, Claudia, and her partner, Elaine, just bought this fabulous store and I for one am so happy for them AND for me. I love their store :)

Plenty of books, mags and patterns to choose from...

Comfortable places to sit and knit and visit...

Lots and lots of beautiful colors...

My shopping bag (I even stayed within my self-imposed budget!)...

Here are Claudia & Elaine, the new owners...

Even more beautiful colors....

A gorgeous store inside and out...

If you live in the Seattle area take a trip up to Mill Creek. You will be so happy you did.

Variation on a Theme

2010-04-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

If you look closely you will see that this beautiful silk scarf is knit in the same pattern as the cream colored scarf that Jenny is wearing in the 12/30/2009 Christmas Presents Post. The pattern is featured on the cover of the 2008/2009 Vogue Knitting. I love the pattern so much that I wanted to knit it a few different ways just for fun. This version was a birthday present for my BFF, Nancy, in January. The yarn is one 270 yard skein of Silk Twist by The Great Adirondack Yarn Company in the Kenya colorway. A beautiful scarf for a beautiful lady.

Monica's Accidental Sweater

2010-04-03T13:20:00.001-07:00

Well… my gauge was way off on this one (note to self: ALWAYS knit a swatch!). I meant to knit a size large for my friend, Marita, and I ended up with a size small that fit my friend, Monica, perfectly. All’s well that ends well ;) I loved the construction of this jacket and the lack of seaming. I did have trouble figuring out the instructions for the increases of the raglan sleeve. I want to thank Ravelry friend, woolnutzi, Susan, in Boston, Ma for her help. She went above and beyond with her diagrams and emails in answering my questions and staying with me until I “got it”.

The pattern is Mona's Jacket from the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Knits. Here at Ravelry. I knit it with Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande in color number 798, green heather. It's a gorgeous green color with a hint of lavendar running through it. I knit this during the Winter Olympics and finished a day or two after they ended.

Even though my gauge was way off I am completely happy with the finished product and Monica is thrilled with it. She is a knitter and spinner too so she got a chuckle about the error of my ways as well as a beautiful heavenly soft baby alpaca jacket :) I hope to have a picture of Monica wearing it soon to add to the story.

In a Perfect World...

2010-04-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

In a perfect world you find cute little clogs on sale that are a perfect match for the socks you've just finished knitting. Here is the delightful Nelly modeling her Christmas present from Auntie Val. Sometimes everything turns out perfect :)

Red for Kerry

2010-04-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

This is my beautiful niece, Kerry, wearing the shawl I made her for Christmas 2009. The swatch shows nice detail of the stitch pattern. I enjoyed this pattern but I did keep putting it down to work on other projects. Red is Kerry's favorite color and I wanted to knit something beautiful for her Christmas present. The pattern is Rococo Shawl by Elena Rosenberg. It is available on her Etsy site at http://AtelierTPK.Etsy.com My niece, Jenny, bought me this pattern last year and I'm thinking there will be a soft grey version sometime in her future. I knit Kerry's with Cascade 220 Quatro in color #5013, a chili pepper red.

Christmas Presents

2009-12-30T23:18:00.000-08:00

After a 6 month break from knitting due to a repetitive strain injury I am finally back on the sticks :) I finished 3 projects in time for Christmas prezzies and of course JennyK was the lucky recipient of one of them. Here she is modeling her beautiful lace leaf scarf and my generic mitts in Baby Alpaca Grande. The scarf is knit up in a much grander version on the cover of the Winter 2008/2009 issue of Vogue Knitting. I am in love with the pattern and I am knitting another finer version right now in 100% silk for Nancita. I'll post a picture when it's done and blocked.

A Masterpiece

2009-05-14T13:06:00.001-07:00

If you saw the picture of my delightful 8 year old niece, Emiley, below then you know this dress and hat I knitted for her are from several years ago. I think she is 2 maybe 3 in this picture. My knitting teacher, Birgitta, helped me a lot with this early project. I was amazed and delighted with myself when I finished it! I am still so grateful to my sister, Donna, for getting this picture taken of Em in the dress & hat. Treasures all: Emiley, Donna, the dress & the hat.

Both the dress and hat are Fiber Trends patterns. It's been so long since I knit it that the only thing I can remember about the lavender yarn is that it was a wool/cotton blend.

Marita's Coat

2009-04-23T19:35:00.001-07:00

Marita's coat is all about the sleeves... when she saw the sleeves she just had to have it! So she bought the yarn, Lion Brand super-chunky "Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in the wheat color, and I knitted it for her as a birthday gift even though I hate knitting with acrylic. I will admit that the price for the yarn was great but I did NOT enjoy knitting with it.

The pattern is called Long Coat designed by Pierrot and it is a Vogue pattern. I tried to find which issue it came from but I never did figure it out. She copied it from a friend's old magazine and gave it to me with the yarn. I like the pattern and it was easy to knit. I may make it again for myself in a larger size in alpaca and add some big patch pockets. The alpaca would be heaven to knit with and I think that along with the larger size would give the garment better drape.

Marita loves her coat and that makes me very happy :)

For Justus

2009-03-23T10:45:00.001-07:00

I must be attracting babies so I can knit for them. Another patient of mine recently had a baby boy, Justus, and this cutiepie set is for him. The Baby Kimono is from Mason Dixon Knitting and I made it with Bernat cottontots in color #91129, Wonder Dreams. The bootie sox are my made up as I go pattern. I will write it up and post it soon. I will be knitting for Em's baby soon... a Baby Bolero for her build-a-bear :)

I Love Knitting for Babies

2009-03-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

I love knitting for babies. Everything turns out so cute that you just want to cuddle it and because the pieces are so small they knit up quickly. I adore this set I made for a beautiful new girl named Shaina. The corally pink will look beautiful on her. I used Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in color #609, shrimp for this set and I like it better than any cotton I've ever knit with. I will definitely buy it again. It is soft and had a tiny bit of bounce. Most cotton wears my hands out but I enjoyed every minute of knitting these tiny pieces. The Baby Bolero is from Oneskein by Leigh Radford. I've enjoyed poring over this book many times... when I'm up at the cabin I often read knitting patterns in bed before going to sleep. This book has been on my nightstand for the past several months. The hat is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson another bedside book with great patterns. Both of these books have ended up being faves. I made up the little sock booties as I went and was very happy with the way they turned out. Aren't they the cutest?

EmKnitz Too!

2009-03-21T12:12:00.001-07:00

This is Emiley and Shane, my niece and nephew who live in Arizona. Paul & I just got back from a visit. While we were there I taught Em how to knit and she was an amazing student! She was attentive, quick to understand, focused, diligent... I have to say brilliant :) While we were there she learned to knit and finished her first two projects: 1: a small pink square that became the "cleaning cloth" for her Nintendo hand held & 2: this lovely pink scarf. This picture was taken at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix last Sunday. It was 90 degrees out but Em just had to wear her new scarf.

Shane took on the needles too after sharing his personal knitting device with me. He has a circular thing with pegs on it that he wraps yarn around and then lifts loops over yarn with a little tool thingy. He makes hats and scarves with it and says that some kids like sports but he is happy with no injuries and something cool that will last ;) He tried his hand with Em's needles and he almost has it. I have faith that he will be a brilliant knitter too if he wants to be :) How cool.

I Finally Finished!!!

2009-03-11T09:52:00.001-07:00

I am not really a quilter but over the years I have made several log cabin quilts. They have all been machined and hand-tied and while I have enjoyed making them, quilting never really seduced me the way that knitting has. Anyhow, I have been working on this quilt for my sister, Donna, for the past year and a half. I am going to visit her tomorrow and thanks to that deadline I finally finished it last Sunday! I spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the barn watching hail, snow and blue sky through the big hayloft windows and working on the quilt. I am happy with it and I really truly hope that Donna & John love it. It is their housewarming gift for their "new" home in Arizona. They have been in it for well over two years... these things take time ;)

P.S. If you look under my work table you will spy a beautiful hand-painted floor cloth. It is the project my sister, Julie, and I did while she and Mikey were visiting last October. I LOVE it! Julie designed it and I was her assistant. By helping her I got to learn how to do it (not to mention have all the pleasure of playing with her). I think I'll do another when the weather warms up a little and the barn warms up with it. I had to wear 3 layers and mitts this past weekend while working on Donna's quilt; it was cold out there :)

A Scarf for Sweetie

2009-02-07T15:20:00.001-08:00

Paul loves his new scarf! It is a great match with his gold barn coat that he wears on the island all the time. I knit it up with Manos Silk Blend in color #300X. It is a gorgeous coppery gold color (they call it Topaz) that the pictures really do not do justice to. I loved knitting with this 30% silk 70% merino blend. Paul is sensitive to wool and this blend feels great on his neck. The silk gives it a slight sheen that makes the color glow. I knit it with US size 6 needles in the same rib as Mikey's scarf (see my November 18th "Cashmere & Alpaca" entry for the pattern). The scarf is handsome and just chunky enough to be masculine. Sweetie is a manly man and he could make a pink lace scarf look manly ;) If you look carefully at the picture Paul took of himself using his webcam you can see me in the background spinning :)

Kid Stuff

2009-01-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

These adorable children belong to my niece and nephew, Jeanie & Jesse. Jesse is JennyK's brother and she is in love with these kids. While she was visiting for Christmas she helped me with ideas of what the kid's might like and I came up with a purse for Kiki, a hat for Dilly and a scarf for Chanze. Please note the cute little orange scarf that Jenny made for Dylan to match his hat (she learned how to purl!). The purse and scarf were made up as I went but the cute little earflap hat is my version of an Nicky Epstein pattern that I found in my Family Circle easy Baby Knits book. I found all the yarn for these projects in my stash and it was a great way the spend the week we were all snowed in for Christmas.

More Socks!

2009-01-15T17:55:00.001-08:00

A girl can never have too many pairs of handknitted socks. My beautiful striped socks are made from a gift of yarn that one of my girlfriends brought to me when we had a dinner party here at Woodinvilla. I'm sorry but I can't find the yarn wrapper to give you the details :( I just went with my standard sock pattern. I LOVE plain socks because they are so comfortable to wear and so relaxing to knit. Jenny's tweedy house socks are Cascade 220 Superwash. They are a little tight on her but she loves them and says they're toasty. I knitted them for her while she was here visiting for Christmas.

I LOVE Blocking!

2009-01-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun with this project :) This lovely scarf is a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law, Mel. I still haven't given it to her because the snow storms in December eliminated our family holiday get together. That's the bad news... the good news is I get to fondly gaze upon it a little longer.

The pattern is Lace Ribbon Scarf which you can get for free on knitty.com by following the link. It is not a difficult lace pattern and is easily memorized after you get through a few repeats of the pattern. I did find it slow going on the size 3 needles. Overall I have to say I did enjoy the knitting of it. The really fun part was using my new blocking wires! The transformation from clump to lovely scarf was as good as I've read about on many blogs. When I finished the scarf and looked at the rumply blob after casting off I had to call upon my faith in the process. I got online immediately and ordered my blocking wires from Angelika's (it's called Fiber Fantasy's Blocker's Kit). As usual her service was impeccable and I had them at my doorstep within a couple of days. I gave the blob a good soak in some Eucalan and went to work with the wires. I was nervous until I saw it pinned out on the guest bed and then I just kept coming upstairs to look at it. It was really hard waiting the requisite 24 hours to unpin. But it was worth the wait! I held it up, folded it, tried it on, folded it again and again. A blocked lace piece is just so irresistible.

The model is our delightful, delicious, well-fed JennyK. She just left for home in Portland this weekend after a two week visit. We miss her already even if she did eat us out of house and home ;)

Mitts For a Friend

2008-12-20T11:18:00.001-08:00

We're snowed in... maybe I should say iced in. When it snows in Seattle the big problem is always the icy roads. Ice on a hill is very dangerous and we live on and are surrounded by hills just like everyone else around here.

Anyhow, the nice thing about being homebound is I get to knit and fool around with yarn to my heart's content. I just took pictures of these cozy mitts I made for my potter friend, Jean. They are a gift for her 60th birthday last month. I had one done when I went to her birthday dinner so at least she got to see her present on her birthday! I was in the middle of painting my living room and my knitting time was seriously diminished by that project. Anyhow I've got them done but I can't get them to Jean this week because all our plans have been cancelled by the snowy, icy, very cold weather.

I knit up these generic mitts (I used a mitten pattern for the basic shape and and changed it to please myself) with Classic Elite Moorland in tawny birch and some left over Paca-Peds in fireside as an accent on the ribbing. I used the Moorland for my friend, Sally's, neckwarmer and I loved it so here it is again. The Paca-Peds if left over from, the now famous in certain circles, Mikey's sox.

Fingerless mitts are one of those things I just didn't get until I had a pair of my own. Sometimes you want to warm your hands a bit and keep your fingers available. These little mitts are the perfect way to keep busy fingers free.

Cashmere & Alpaca

2008-11-18T12:43:00.000-08:00

I got to knit these scarves with fabulous yarn. The long scarf is for my brother Mike for his 50th birthday and it is knit with Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande Paint in color #8815. This stuff is thick, soft, luxurious, cuddly... you get the idea. The whole time I was knitting the scarf I kept stopping to fondle it. I even made Paul & Mike & Julie fondle it so they would understand my idiosyncrasies ;) The cute little neckwarmer is for Julie. She saw the scarf at Island Wool in Friday Harbor and fell in love with it. How could I say no when she offered to buy the Classic Yarns Cashmere Tweed if I would knit it for her. I never say no to cashmere! Her color choice was Sisal and it will look great on her.

I knit Mikes scarf on size 10 (US) turbo addis and it is a simple rib pattern:

row 1: *k3, yf S1PW yb, repeat from*, end with k3

row 2: k1, yf S1PW yb, *k3, S1PW yb, repeat from *, end with k1

b/o on row one in a k3, p1 patten

This pattern is know as Eve's Rib

For Julie's scarf I used the same rib pattern. For the ruffles on the ends I c/0 60 and then k2tog for the first 2 rows to end with 15 sts for the length of the scarf. A couple of inches into the scarf I did a one row button hole over 9 stitches. At the end of the scarf I k1f&b of each stitch for the last 2 rows to end with 60 sts and b/o knitwise. This is a free pattern that I got from Island Wool in Friday Harbor. I took Mike & Julie in during our island vacation and let them pick their own yarn. You have to admit... they both have VERY good taste!

Finally thank you very much to Julie for sending me the picture of her and Mikey wearing their beautiful new scarves. I didn't get them finished before they had to leave and go back home to Pennsylvania so I had to mail them.

Real Men Love Handknit Socks Too

2008-11-16T15:33:00.000-08:00

How irresistable is he? My brother, Mikey, was admiring these socks again while I was finishing them during his recent visit from Pennsylvania. Mike & I saw each other in Florida in September where we met up with our other brothers for a wake... our dad passed away on September 2nd. I miss him every day. These socks were the project I took with me on that trip. I needed something portable and mindless for the plane and while I was there. So Mike saw these socks on my needles in Florida when they were just a few inches big. I didn't get very far with them on the trip because I just couldn't stay focused. When he admired them again as I completed them I had him try them on and they fit perfectly and he was so nice with his compliments and seemed to REALLY like them. So of course I had to give them to him. Doesn't he look adorable?

I knit my standard plain sock on size 2 turbo addis with Paca-Peds alpaca blend superwash in color #604, fireside. This beautiful yarn was a gift from my knitting buddy, Claudia. You can find her at A New Yarn in Seattle. If you haven't been there and you're in the area go check it out.... you never know what treasures and fab deals you might find there.

My First Handspun!

2008-11-16T15:14:00.001-08:00

Needless to say I am VERY proud of myself! I spun this lovely yarn from Teeswater & Cottswold roving I bought from Marilyn Lucero of Black Hills Woolies in Custer, SD. She doesn't have a website but you can email her at mclucero@gwtc.net I found her at The Black Sheep Festival in Eugene, OR last summer. I spun it with my spindle from SpindleWood Co., I plied it using my Katie a-Go-Go, I wound my skeins using my Nancy's Niddy Noddy then I gave it a bath in Eucalan, whomped it and wound this gorgeous ball. I think I have enough to make a very cozy pair of fingerless mitts for myself. Since it is my very first handspun I've promised myself not to give them away... I'm always giving my stuff away, but a girl's gotta keep some history for herself. I think I'm just going to keep this ball to gaze upon for a while though... I can't bear to part with it.

Fisherwoman Socks

2008-08-27T10:37:00.001-07:00

You may recall from an earlier post that my friend, Jean, gave me some gorgeous Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn in the Wildflower colorway. Well Jean likes to fish so I designed a pair of socks for her with a fish scale lace panel down the front of the sock. I am very pleased with the outcome and Jean loves them too. You can find the fish scale lace stitch pattern in the "365 Knitting Stitches A Year" perpetual calendar. It is the May 31st stitch. I knitted a 60 stitch sock on size 2 turbo addi circulars. The stitch pattern is knitted over 17 stitches so I decreased one stitch after the 2x2 rib at the cuff on needle #1 (the front/top of the sock) so that I would have an even 6 stitches on either side of the pattern. I added the stitch back to knit the toe. Other than that the pattern is just my generic top down sock. Even so I think this means that I am a sock pattern designer now :) I like my design so much that I am going to make myself a pair too.

Jenny's Purse

2008-07-08T22:16:00.001-07:00

As I've said before, Jenny is the owner of many of my knitting projects and this Noni Bag is one of my favorites. This was an easy project to knit but of course when the knitting is done there is still plenty to do: felting, adding reinforcement to sides and bottom of the bag so it stands up nice, making a lining and attaching the cute little feet & handles. It was my first time at making a lining of any kind and I found a VERY helpful tutorial on Noni's site. I used the recommended Cascade 220 colors called for in her pattern because I loved everything about the design. My only difference is I ended up using one large flower because I liked the way it looked. I'm working on another Noni bag for myself and I am changing it up a bit to put my own spin on it. It's kind of on the back burner though because I keep getting sidetracked by other things like mittens, socks & spinning ;) I promise to get to that post about spinning soon!

Bird in Hand Mittens

2008-07-07T20:15:00.001-07:00

As you can see I finished Jean's mittens! I had a knitting quota every day of my vacation last week and I got them done a day early... thank goodness because it took 2 days for them to dry after their Eucalan bath. I am very happy with the way they turned out and I think Jean really likes them too :) I love Kate Gilbert's Bird in Hand pattern. It was a fun knit and I will make another pair for myself some time. I did have trouble getting gauge with Cascade 220 Superwash but when I switched to the 220 Quatro I got the gauge I was looking for with US size 2 Turbo Addi circulars. Knitting worsted weight on size 2 needles was very fatiguing for my hands so it will be awhile before I go back for seconds. My hands were so tired by Saturday that I've had to take a break from knitting and save my hands for work :( I'll do a few rows on my Fisherwoman socks tonight to get a little knitting fix and if that doesn't work I can always spin a little ;)

On Vacation...

2008-07-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

We're on vacation this week... a whole week at our little island house. Paul was sitting in his rocker on the porch having coffee this morning and he looked up to see this deer out near the barn having a morning snack. He quietly went into the house and got his camera and the deer hung out long enough to have her picture taken. When I woke up this morning the picture was waiting for me on the desktop of our computer. Even though I missed it I still got to enjoy the view :)

I am finishing up Jean's birthday present today. I can't wait to show you (so beautiful!).

Birgitta

2008-06-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

Birgitta is the loved teacher of many knitters, myself included. Years ago after knitting 30+ scarves I wanted to knit something else and learn more. I was lucky enough to find Birgitta at my local knitting store. I started taking classes and she gave me the help and confidence I needed to venture on. Whenever I asked Birgitta if she thought I could do something she said yes and I believed her... so I did it. Another bonus of being in Birgitta's Tuesday morning group was that I met my knitting buddy, Claudia. So here we are on Thursday lucky enough to be knitting together and eating pastries from Hoffman's Bakery at the wonderful store, A New Yarn, that Claudia is now managing. Birgitta's life has led her back to her native country, Sweden, and I can tell you she is missed by many. We are so happy she comes back to visit :)

P.S. Yes indeedy I am holding up a spindle with yarn I spun myself! More on that later.

I Learned to Spin!

2008-06-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun in Eugene, OR this past weekend at The Black Sheep Gathering. I drove down on Thursday with my friends, Marita & Monica. It was a beautiful day and we were all excited about our girls' weekend :) I had never been to Eugene before and I was charmed by the beauty and friendliness of the town. The festival itself was at the Lane County Fairgrounds a short drive from our hotel. I LOVED everything about it! Seeing the all the different sheep and starting to grasp the differences between them and their wool was a beginning to finding my way to what breed I may want to keep when we move to Friday Harbor full time. The marketplace was full of talented people that were friendly and knowledgeable who were willing to talk to a newbie to the spinning universe AND they all had really cool stuff that I wanted to buy. My budget kept me somewhat in control but I had to splurge a little ;) The highlight of my weekend was learning to spin. Connie Paulsen of Spindlewood Co. was so patient, kind and fun to sit with. She stuck with me until I was comfortable enough to think I might be able to spin on my own with my beautiful new spindle that was hand-turned by her talented husband, Steve. In my next post I will share the beautiful roving I bought and the results of my first yarnmaking adventure.

Island colors

2008-06-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were up at our island house and I could see a patch of yellow from the porch and it kept catching my eye.... so we drove down the road to take a look and this is what we found. The picture almost does it justice. I love all the seasons on the island and the colors that each brings. I am under the spell of color these days more than I have ever been in my life. I think it is one of the gifts that knitting and my love of yarn has brought me. I am drawn to it everywhere and can't possibly pick a favorite. I guess I'll just have to love the one I'm with :)

My Kiss Purse

2008-06-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Kiss Purse

From: The Knitting Experience Book 3: Color

Yarn: Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool in Black Noro Kureyon

Needle: US 6 Turbo Addi Circulars (my favorite needles)

Here is another great Sally Melville pattern. This is my first stranded color project and yes I used both hands! I was so fascinated by the color progression of the Noro that I made quick progress because I hated to put it down. This is a GREAT first stranded color project... especially if you use the Noro because you get lots of gorgeous color with only 2 strands, the chart is an easy 10-stitch/8-row repeat, and because you knit in the round no purling just knitting. I over felted a little so my bag is on the small side but I love it and it makes a perfect petite project bag. I often use it to carry a sock-in-progress when we go to Friday Harbor.

Pink, pink and pink!

2008-06-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here are three pink scarves. I think I was having a pink attack :) The mobius is knit from 100% silk in a double seed stitch. I made it for myself and it feels like heaven on my neck. The light pink is chunky baby alpaca in a 4 x 4 rib with garter ends and it graces the neck of my delightful funny friend, Michelle. She is spending a lot of time in Alaska these days and I need to do some matching mitts for her! The pink mohair is straight garter and it is as light as a feather. This confection floats on the neck of my neice, Kailey, in Arizona. I may have more pink in my system...

Isn't she lovely?

2008-06-04T10:42:00.001-07:00

This is my neice, Jenny, who has been the recipient of more of my knitting than any other human on the planet. I think it is because she is a crafter too and appreciates my work and creativity. She is a lovely young woman with an artistic/creative soul... now if she could just support herself! She is wearing Jen's Poncho (the real name of the pattern) which is in Sally Melville's book, The Knit Stitch. I LOVE Sally's books and they have helped me more than any other knitting resource except for my adored knitting teacher, Birgitta. More about Birgitta at another time. I knit this poncho for Jenny out of Patons Divine, an inexpensive VERY fuzzy soft yarn. It's just okay to knit with but a very pretty synthetic with 18% mohair. I love the colors (Frosted Green for Jenny's poncho) and the price, $5.00 for 142 yards.

I have taken a class from Sally Melville at Churchmouse Yarn and Teas on Bainbridge Island. It is the VERY best yarn store I have ever been to. If you live in the Seattle area and have not been there yet you are in for a completely delightful experience. It has absolutely everything a shop needs to be the best. Sally is a great teacher, designer and writer.

A Set for Em

2008-06-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

This is a little set I knit for my niece, Emiley. She is 7 and an amazing, beautiful, SMART girl. I have asked her mom to send me a picture of her wearing it but I'm still waiting... I really want to see that hat on her :) Purple and green are Em's favorite colors and I knit this up with Tahki Yarns Torino. This yarn is so soft and springy but a little pricey at $8.25 for a small ball of 94 yds. I did love knitting with it. I bought it at a beautiful local yarn store up in Mill Creek. Main Street Yarn is a light-filled, big for a yarn shop, store with a great selection of yarns, patterns, books, bags, needles etc. I can spend hours there just browsing.

Anyhow, back to Em's set. The hat and mittens were both free patterns and I did plain old garter on the scarf and just changed colors when it felt right. I guessed on the size of the mittens and they are way too small. I hope Emiley will put them on one of her prized Build-a Bear friends and I will knit her another pair :)

I'm a very lucky gal :)

2008-05-31T15:57:00.000-07:00

Will you look at this! My friend, Jean, wants a pair of socks so I told her to buy me some sock yarn and I would knit her a pair. Not only did she buy beautiful Fleece Artist hand dyed merino... she bought two skeins so that I could have a pair too :) So, I think we can all agree that Jean is a thoughtful generous friend with VERY good taste!

Starting a new project...

2008-05-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

I've wound the skeins and I'm ready to go. I've even swatched a bit and learned a new stitch so I'm really ready to go ;) As you can see I'm starting on May 29th and I need to be done by July 6th so I have just over a month which should be plenty of time. I'm making a gift for my mother-in-law, the fabulous Jean, who is having her 80th birthday soon. She may be turning 80 but you would never guess it if you met her. She looks fabulous, acts fabulous, does fabulous things... she is indeed fabulous! I'll let you see what I've done after I give the gift. The gorgeous yarn is Cascade Quatro in colors 5014 & 9438.

Mitts for Jenny K.

2008-05-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

I knitted these beautiful fem mitts for my niece Jenny in February and according to Jenny they are loved :) I found the pattern (and the stolen picture) at the Rainey Sisters (FREE pattern). They are a fun knit and I did get to learn a few skills. I have to admit that I knit the right mitt 2 times. I figured out the graphing and counting on the chart when I had to move the thumb gusset to the other side... that's when I realized I had done it wrong on the right mitt :( When I finished up the left and saw how much prettier it looked done the right way I started ripping and redid the right one so I could send Jenny a perfect set. Now that I've figured it out I think it is an easy pattern. I made them out of Baby Uhl which was the perfect weight and the perfect yarn for Jenny since she is laundry challenged ;)

A Knitting Adventure

2008-05-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

When I went to Baltimore with my husband a few years ago I found a charming little yarn store named A New Yarn in the Fell's Point neighborhood. I had called the store before I went for directions so I wouldn't get lost trying to find it. Getting there was fun... I walked to the waterfront from our hotel and caught a water taxi to Fell's Point and then walked a few blocks in the beautiful historic neighborhood. For us west coast natives the history and charm of east coast cities is a revelation. We think 50 years is old for a building ;)

I found the store and in the window was the cutest baby sweater. I wanted to buy the pattern, but sweater had been knit by the store's owner, Lorraine, and she hadn't written up a pattern. She was kind enough to let me photograph the sweater and then she let me take notes while she explained what she had done. She is a talented knitter and her store is a gem. If you're in Baltimore you will enjoy looking her up.

The top picture is my take on her pattern. The bottom picture is hers and the one that was hanging in her window (look closely at the picture of her shop and you will see it hanging there). You can see from the picture of the outside of her shop what a charming neighborhood Fell's Point is.

Both sweaters are knit with Cascade Luna and because of the crimp the yarn has a great bouncy feel for cotton. I really enjoyed knitting with it and will use it again. I knitted the sweater for a patient of mine, also named Lorraine, for her granddaugher.

EZ's Baby Surprise is one of my favorite patterns...

2008-05-20T10:06:00.001-07:00

Here are four of the many Baby Surprise Jackets I have knit over the past 4 years. I love knitting this little jacket. I think of it as a blank canvas that I can embellish and I've had a lot of fun with it over the years. I look at other baby sweater patterns and, I've even knit a few, but I seem to keep coming back to this one. Even though I've knit it so many times the cleverness of the pattern still charms me. You can buy the pattern at: www.schoolhousepress.com If you haven't read any of Elizabeth Zimmerman's books I think you're missing out. I wish I could have met her... I love her intelligence, wit and straight forward manner. You can buy all her books at School House Press too.

Sample Socks for Claudia

2008-05-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

My knitting buddy, Claudia, is the manager of a delightful yarn store in north Seattle called A New Yarn. To find out more about the store and the special work they are doing please click on the link and go visit their website. I am knitting these socks as a sample for the store so knitters can see the Pagewood Farm sock yarn knit up. I am using their Yukon blend that is 20% bamboo, 70% washable merino and 10% nylon. I love knitting with this yarn; it feels really good and the picture really doesn't do the colorway justice. I like this yarn so much that I am going to knit myself a couple of pairs with it... I love to wear colorful handknit socks with my Dansko clogs :)

Kat's Birthday Socks

2008-05-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

These socks are my first try at coming up with my own pattern. I wanted to make some socks for my friend, Kat, for her birthday and I wanted them to be pretty. I knitted my standard plain sock with Baby Uhl and used the Staggered Eyelets stitch from April 16th in my 365 Kniting Stitches A Year Perpetual Calendar on the leg and top of the foot. I was soooooo proud of myself!

Then I was browsing Ravelry and saw my sock :( Turns out that Cat Bordhi's Rushing Rivulet Socks have the same eyelet stitch and look almost exactly like mine. Hers are more elegant. Her Riverbed Architecture allows one to knit the stitch pattern on the whole sock except for the sole. You can see hers on Ravelry or in her latest book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters which I highly recommend. The pictures, illustrations, patterns and directions are all fantastic and easy to understand.

So I guess this less elegant one is still "my" pattern...

Barbie's Blanket

2008-05-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of my knitting blog. I will admit my successes, mistakes and frustrations here. Of course there will be plenty of pictures since I am not really a writer.

I’m starting with a success. The above picture is one of my all time favorite projects: a baby blanket for my friend, Barbie. When her first granddaughter, Grace, was born I wanted to make something beautiful for her and this is what she got. The blanket is my interpretation of a pattern I found in the book, Family Circle easy Baby Knits. The name of the pattern is “Tickled Pink”. I changed up the colors and added the crocheted shell border and pom pom centers. I also crocheted all the squares together in my accent color because it seemed so much easier (not to mention more fun) than sewing them together. I confess that it was VERY hard to give the blanket to Barbie... I wanted to keep it for myself to fondle and gaze upon (you knitters know exactly what I mean).