Saturday, January 30, 2010

Finished!


Maybe everyone knits this fast and easy, and I'm just not aware of it. I can't say it enough. This is truly a great knit. I've enjoyed every hour of it. I cannot say that about most patterns I knit. There is always some boring bit with yards and yards of stockinette or garter stitch or worse, there are the ones that I just can't seem to translate the right handed writer of the pattern for my left handed brain. Those buggers make me wanna give up knitting all together. My kids know that when mom says "shit" it means she's got some frogging to do.

Try this pattern. You won't be disappointed. I only used three skeins of Knit Picks Palette in Tumeric for this project. That makes the yarn a little more than 12 dollars, and it took me 6 days to knit.

Blocking (last night)

Friday, January 29, 2010

Its Growing!


This shawl is probably the easiest thing I've knit in a long time. It is beautiful and intricate looking, but looks can be deceiving. The repeats are easy peasy to memorize. I find I can easily answer math questions, break up sibling arguements, keep an eye on dinner and even watch the news while knitting this baby. I highly recommend this for beginners in lace. I'm at the edging now. I've only been knitting this shawl for about four-five days. Yes, I'm a fast knitter (as you see in the video of me knitting), and I've been knitting for a long time. You try it. You'll see what I mean. This is a great pattern. Its easy to modify the size by reducing the repeats which is what I had to do to incorporate the larger gauge yarn. It takes no math at all to alter for size and gauge. I give it two thumbs way up!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Birthdays Coming Up


I have a couple of birthdays on the horizon. My niece and my mother have birthdays in February. I just started the Fountain Pen Shawl by Susan Lawrence. It is printed in the Spring 2009 Issue of Interweave Knits. I actually ordered this to do Eunny's vest in this issue and still haven't knit it. I'm so tired (for now) of fretting over writing patterns I wanted to take a break and knit someone else's pattern. I really like this one. Its fast and easy. Don't be intimidated by the fact that its lace. If you can do deacreases and and yarn over you're good! It woud be a great first lace project for someone. I'm loving it. I'm knitting it in a golden colored fingering weight yarn. Its Palette by Knit Picks in case anyone is interested. Its not the gauge yarn called for, but I love this color and I like a slightly heavier shawl personally. I wear very few things only because of the way they look. I absolutely demand that they be comfortable. This will be more of a winter shawl for sure. She may even decide to leave it draped across her couch. We'll see. I'll keep ya posted on any modifications I need to make while changing the gauge.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Love Ewe


I designed these little sheep last summer. My children love to play with them. I have always preferred my children to play with Waldorf-esque toys to plastic, battery powered junk. Somehow it just seems like they are using their own imagination more without all the fanfare.

These really are a quick and easy knit. It is also a great opportunity to use up bits and pieces from your stash. I used Cascade worsted 10ply, but any ole worsted weight would do.

Working the body.


The inside before stuffing.

This pattern is available on Ravelry for free. Just click on the link to the right.

Enjoy!