Ear Warmer

Younger daughter is taking a winter term class that is was kicking her butt.  So she could concentrate on studying and not be lured by the appealing "let's go out tonight" invitations from her friends, she decided to come home each weekend.

As you know, I am taking a sock knitting class and my rendezvous with the needles sparked a renewed knitting interest in younger daughter.  During one weekend home, she made a beautiful "infinity" scarf and this past weekend, she made a lovely ear warmer head band to match.

She chose a medium weight, variegated yarn, casted on 70 stitches on size 5 circular needles and knitted until the piece measured five inches in width.  When done, she said "this really needs a flower or something."  I sat down with my crocheting needle and whipped out that little bud you see.

Very easy. Adorable for a quick, two hour project!

Finish Your Knitting

As you may have observed, I have a problem finishing my knitting projects.  I don’t lack enthusiasm or the will to execute; I lack, well, quite frankly, patience.  I get bored easily while knitting so I try to choose projects that I can finish quickly before I become disinterested.  I wish I was one of those people for whom knitting is relaxing, but I am not. Writing relaxes me and that’s why I write this blog, but if I don’t have any knitting projects for which I can write posts, then I’ve got myself quite a conundrum, don’t I?

For post material, I do a lot of cooking and baking, but knitting is so cathartic….and I yearn to proudly say “yes, I knitted this sweater!”

One day I'm browing through a magazine and I see a plain black sweater embellished with a white knitted Peter Pan collar.  So onto ravelry.com I go to see if there was a pattern and, sure enough, there was a cute little number, a pattern called "Sophie" by Jones Vandermeer.  This little gem will gussy up any plain sweater and to knit it, all I need is a ball of yummy white cashmere yarn, a crochet hook, some ribbon, and size 7 straight needles, but – what do you know – I don’t have size 7 straight needles. Off to the local knitting store, Finely A Knitting Party I go.  I procure the required knitting needles and the latest copy of KnitSimple and while exchanging pleasantries, Kathy, the shop’s owner, asked me how my knitting was coming.  I explained that I had more on the needles than a reasonable person should and she said “Oh, we have a class for knitters like you, it’s called ‘Finish Your Knitting’ and we are meeting Friday at 1:00.”   

This is the perfect kind of class for me…I enroll.

I arrive at the appointed time and there are several other perfectly delightful knitters joining me. 

While we knitted, Kathy made her rounds to check on our progress, right our knitting wrongs, and/or suggest fixes.  Additionally, there was a steady stream of customers including one in particular visiting her family from Kansas who knitted this lovely little frock...

The pattern is called “Daybreak” from designer Stephen West. 

Another knitter presented the West creation she knitted called “ClockWork.”

Both are absolutely stunning.

And, finally, thanks to Kathy’s gentle push, I can happily report that I finished the capelet I’ve been knitting.

I will gussy this little number up with some ribbons and other bobbles.  I wrote about the beautiful pattern here.

Now it’s on to sock class in mid-January.  The class meets every other week but the approach is brilliant….learn the skills and knit one sock in class, practice the skills learned and knit the other sock during the off week. Because, what good is one sock?  

The Amazing Mother's Day Self-Striping Yarn Shawl

I see this pattern for a shawl on lionbrand.com and it calls for using six skeins of “Amazing” self-striping yarn. The pattern seems easy and I am fascinated by how self-striping yarns work to produce such an even, non-random pattern. I decide to knit one for my mom for Mother’s Day who is always cold when she comes to my house.

They say the skin thins as we get older making it harder to stay warm.

Another thing to eagerly anticipate.

Anyway, first I decide to investigate this self-striping business (maybe I’m just dense and the rest of the world gets it). Here are my search terms:

The first result is from one of my reliable go-to answer sites, about.com. They tell me that “self-striping yarn is yarn that is dyed in a specific, technical manner to ensure (or at least make it pretty likely) that the color changes will line up more or less in stripes along the knitted fabric.” They also say the yarn works best on projects using simple patterns, such as the stockinette stitch. So glad that I decided to follow the Lion Brand pattern instructions or I may be giving my mom a jagged mess – although I suspect that she would love anything I knitted for her. I used five balls of Lion Brand Amazing's self-striping yarn in the Glacier Bay color so it's not as long as the pattern calls for.

Redwood Shawl
Lion Brand® Amazing®
Cast on 81 stitches.
Row 1: Knit 1, *purl 1, knit 1; repeat from * across.
Row 2: Knit.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until about 2 yds (2 m) of yarn remains. Bind off. Weave in ends.

Here is my finished shawl. Lion Brand touts that this line of yarns “creates gorgeous color combinations without changing yarns.” I agree and would love to hear what you think. I think my mom will love it and I won’t have to turn my thermostat up to 80º the next time she visits!

This shawl was truly a labor of love (because of the stitch repetition especially considering the length and width) and --bonus -- it's been to Ireland! For an Irish lass, that will make this gift even more special. I knitted on the plane to pass the time.

Incidently, some of the search results showed how to dye your own self-striping yarn.

That would be pushing it…besides, I don’t own any sheep.

My next project is a felted clutch....it should be done by Christmas!

The Side Fringe Scarf

Younger Daughter visited Swarthmore's local knitting store Finely, A Knitting Party and while there, she saw a side-fringed scarf. This fancy feature was achieved by pulling stitches out from the side of the scarf once fully knitted. She bought the required balls of yarn, a chunky Berecco "Sundae,"
in a variegated cobalt blue -- Snozzberry -- and proceeded to explain the look to me. Getting a headache and unable to completely comprehend how one might attempt such an undertaking, I handed her my size 13 needles, she casted on 20 stitches and she knitted....and knitted. Since this was a chunky yarn and rather large needles, the knitting went quite quickly.

When the mysterious creation was about 36" long (all knit stitches) we moseyed on back to the knitting store where Natalie, the shop's very helpful and capable knitting assistant, explained what daughter had to do next.

1. Bind off 14 to 16 stitches depending on how long you want your fringes.
2. Secure the bound off stitches.
3. Begin to unravel the unbound stitches working from the middle of the row to the edge of the row....from the inside to the outside.
4. Repeat Step 3, working your way down the scarf to the last row.
5. Like magic.... You have a side fringed scarf!
6. Enjoy!


With wear, the fringes will tighten up so don't bind off too many stitches in Step 1. I think Younger Daughter did a fantastic job...great University of Delaware color too. What we thought would be fairly insurmountable, turned out to be quite doable. Great project for an advanced beginner or intermediate knitter.

Yarn Bowl

I received many fantastic birthday gifts, one of which is a lovely handmade item from Foodie that required bit of an explanation….a yarn bowl. The idea is quite clever and when function meets fabulous, how can one possibly go wrong? The bowl is big enough to hold a standard skein of yarn and is constructed with a little canal through which yarn is threaded to keep it from escaping as knitters or crocheters work their woolery magic. The yarn is pulled easily from the skein as a project progresses and, because the bowl confines the yarn, it does not roll around and pick up dirt and other stuff (like dog hair).

Creative, huh?

And useful.

Foodie is an excellent “thrower” of clay on the pottery wheel and as you can see from the shape of the bowl, she began with a standard bowl shape and then pushed the clay in as she worked her way towards the top. She probably created the little canal with a needle tool or pottery knife. One of my favorite features of thrown pieces is the circles you see from the throwing process…I tried to get a good photo of that for you. Once fired, Foodie glazed the bisque piece and made the fun design with “slip” which is merely a more liquid form of clay used to decorate clay pieces. It was fired again to give it the gleam you see.

I am normally too lazy to roll my yarn in a ball, but wanting to use this practical and handmade gift, I dutifully rolled my yarn for my current v-neck vest project (I have a few “current” projects going and maybe one day I’ll finish one, besides a doggie sweater). It’s a beautiful silky 75% acrylic/25% bamboo blend from Caron in an “ocean spray” color. Simply exquisite yarn that is knitting up nicely.

When older daughter saw the yarn bowl she said “wow, cute and nifty”…..high praise from a cautious critic! So here you see two types of transformations…clay into a delightful and functional piece of art and yarn into (hopefully) a warm and wearable piece of art.

The Accidental Knitter

I browse Ravelry.com for many of my knitting ideas (sometimes that’s just what they remain – ideas…my projects occasionally sit for a spell because I am not a fast knitter). Regardless, there are some great patterns on the site. Some patterns are free, others require a nominal charge and a PDF of the pattern appears in your “favorites” on the site…did I mention that the site is like a knitter’s social network, complete with chats, favorites, shops, commentary, etc…? Sometimes (just when you think you found the perfect pattern), the site merely refers the knitting explorer to a periodical in which the pattern was published……this can be annoying, especially if the magazine was published in the last decade! Well, such was the case recently…however, not easily discouraged….I clicked a new tab, moseyed myself over to amazom.com, typed in “knit simple fall 2008” and to my downright amazement, a copy appeared for sale! Since I have an amazon.com account, I quickly purchased the available copy (before it sold out because you just never know who, besides me, might be searching for the Fall 2008 edition of Knit Simple).

This particular edition is a treasure trove of patterns and information. In addition to the pattern of my original desire, a SIMPLE V-neck vest, there are sweaters, swing jackets, scarves, crafts, felt bags, hats, gloves, etc…. Of course, there is information on knitting basics and a marketplace for knitting supplies and yarn. This is a delightful (and useful) publication.
I get a little frustrated when a pattern isn’t readily available on Ravelry.com, but in this case, I was accidentally pleased because instead of just one pattern to simply print out on an 8 ½ x 11” sheet of plain, white paper, I received a book full of inspiration!

BTW…I have begun to knit the vest with a silky-bamboo blend yarn from Caron called “Spa” in a lovely pastel blue/green “Ocean Spray.” I know what you’re thinking.

Be nice.