When the going gets tough, the tough get ear warmers

I ran into this photo I took back in 2012.

It made me smile and I thought that it might do the same for you.

Apparently it seemed like a good use of my time to make leg warmers for my niece and matching ear warmers for this Ugly Doll.  

I get these creative urges sometimes and in hindsight I do at times wonder what possessed me.

Anyhow, I'm sure these things were appreciated at the time.

It will be cooling down soon enough (right?  please?) so quilting and knitting will seem like less of a sweat-inducing activity.  For now, I plan to cower somewhere that has A/C.  Sans ear warmers.

Stay cool people!

Argyle love

 I set out to knit a pair of argyle socks for my DH because after all he watched the boys while I took the class.

It turns out that these socks unfortunately fit our 8 yr old, and not my DH.  Oops.  Well, the boy is excited about them, even a little extra excited because he is getting them out from under the nose of his daddy.

I guess this means a second pair is in order.

The class I took was from Anne Berk, a wonderful teacher.  I would actually love to take another class with her.  She did a nice blog post about teaching our class where you can even see a photo of me and some girls from knit nite. 

I intend to buy her book when it becomes available.  It will probably be great.  Until then, I have about 3 more socks to make if not 5 if my younger boy chimes in.

Feeling Super

Recently one of my best friends knit a couple of one inch tall super hero characters for my boys.  I kinda wanted to steal them for myself, but they are very loved and take care of by the kids.

It made them feel super to get them and she did a super job of knitting them.  Well of course she did, she's a super knitter.

Anyhow, I'm finally feeling super myself after finishing my Alabama Chanin DIY skirt.  I work it around town last weekend and it was a lot of fun.

The girls a A Verb for Keeping Warm got a kick out of seeing it, as the all the employees at Heath Ceramics.  I felt like a rock star.

I hope to get back to Verb to their Alabama Chanin sew in event later this month.  It's on a week night so it will take some doing to actually end up there, but I hope to go.  If you're in the bay area, check it out...it doesn't cost anything but you will want to register to hold a chair for yourself.

Stitches West 2014: Recap

Stitches West is a knitting convention in San Jose, California.

They have lots of vendors and tons of classes so for me it's a great chance to pick up some cool new yarn and take a class or two.

This year I took the argyle sock class with Anne Berk.  She was an awesome teacher and everybody in class learned a ton.  Class was especially fun because three of my best friends took it with me and we had a serious blast.

The above photo is of swatches that we all made in class.  Mine is the aqua colored one near the lower center.  

I'm looking forward to making some fun socks with what I learned.  I may even make some mitts for the kids.  That would be even faster to finish.  

Spring is coming though, so time to knit faster is here.

I got some yarn from this vendor Plucky Knitter.  They have their own yarn base that no other vendor uses, it is made strictly for them.  It gives you amazing stitch definition and I think that may be due to it having more twist in the yarn.  Either way, their yarn is hard to come across so the booth was wall to wall people.  I did work my way in though so plucky socks are on the horizon. 

I also got some Bugga! yarn and started in on a shawl called Catkin.  It may take me a zillion years to finish it.  Maybe more than a zillion.  I'm still very focused on my DIY Alabama Chanin skirt, so the knitting is happening but...at a certain pace I guess.

Oh and I tripped over some stitch markers by Neese's Pieces that were made out of hand blown glass.  Very unusual and pretty.

Next year I hope I can take another class with my buddies.  I cannot remember when I've ever had so much fun.  See So Sue's blog post about it here, and check out my friend Sharon's blog Knits are for Kids too!

Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter

For Christmas, I'm not the easiest person on the planet to shop for, but yarn is always welcome. 

Between my little sister and my DH, they gave me a sweater's worth of yarn from Brooklyn Tweed's yarn line called Shelter in colorway Thistle.

I have not swatched for the sweater yet, but I'm looking forward to it.  I want to make this pattern called Greenwood that is a pretty simple looking cowl neck pullover.  

Some impressions on the yarn:

It is super squishy and lofty.  It will probably be very warm.  I has a lot of bounce and personality, more than most yarns I've seen.  The color is out of this world. 

It did break when I first put it into my yarn ball winder, so I think it is quite delicate.  I don't knit super tightly so hopefully it will not break during the process of knitting.

I noticed an unusual amount of VM (AKA veg matter, AKA hay or other prickly scratchy stuff) in the yarn.  I guess I'll try to pick it out it as I go although I'm still not totally sure what to do in truth. 

The yarn is otherwise very nice so I will press on. 

Call me a sucker for a good shade of purple and an nice bouncy yarn.

Happy 2014!

Hope that your new year was full of joy and peace.  We had a great holiday in general and relaxed for once.

I'm still working away on lots of creative projects.  Progress is more tortoise than hare, but progress is progress.

My Alabama Chanin DYI skirt is almost 1/4 done after a road trip of working on it and some evenings watching movies.  It will probably be a while before it is actually done.  I may have to have a small party whenever I get another quarter of it finished.  I'm also thinking of playing around with some embroidery on the waist band just for decoration and to have some fun.

Some movies I saw were good, some not so much:

The Internship - feel free to skip it
South Pacific - time to re-watch this movie is always now, I could watch it all day
The Perfect Game - awesome, inspiration story of a Mexican little league team, highly recommend

Next up for me is The Lightening Thief.  I hope it's worth seeing.

I'm also knitting my first KnitSpot knitting pattern by Anne Hanson.  It's a sock pattern so very portable called Waffle Cream socks.  I'm knitting them for my DH.  It's a lot of 1x1 work, so slow, but looking ok so far.  Photos of that soon.

As for my theme for 2014, I think it will be Finishing.  I have so many incredible projects that deserve to be finished, let's see what I can do to put a fork in a couple big ones. 

Wish me luck on that.  It won't be easy.

You have your theme picked out?  Broken any juicy resolutions yet?

'Tis The Season

With Thanksgiving behind us here in the US our thoughts are starting to turn to the Christmas Holidays.

The kids and I made an Advent calendar together today 'Just In Time' to open the first installment on December first.

It was a lot of fun, I'll have to take a decent photo of it for you.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we ended up visiting Southern California with a brief stop through Los Angeles.

The Last Bookstore is located in downtown LA and is a HUGE shop where you can get almost any book you could imagine, used, for a great price.  The kids went crazy in the children's section, grabbing up handfuls and handfuls of books, begging me to buy out half of the store.  I bought them a copy of A Light in the Attic which they have fallen in love with.  It makes them really laugh.

The shop itself is a beautiful space, I highly recommend a visit if you have the chance.

On the 2nd floor, there is a small but very interesting yarn shop called Gather.  I was smitten by their boxes of tiny 'mystery yarn' balls for $5.  You could make a lot of striped socks for next to nothing.  They also had sock yarn by a British company called The Uncommon Thread.  I picked up a skein of their Lush Twist in a cream colorway called Manuscript.  Very pretty, will have to finally knit myself some socks from it.

I also did some sewing on the trip.  I'm working on an Alabama Chanin style 'coaster' - meaning a very small piece of fabric that you may use to put your coffee cup on.  It has a ton of bead work on it and has been quite slow going.  Sewing with beads has proven to be fun but it is far from a speedy undertaking.  I want to eventually use this technique on a larger project but it will likely be limited to the lower couple inches of a skirt or the lower sleeves of a bolero or something.  Photos of it soon for you.

And in other news, Jay recently left me a comment to a link where you can get EVEN MORE Yoko Saito books in English (thanks Jay!), so check out this shop called Willow Lane Quilting Company - it looks quite cool.

Knitting with a friend

I ran into this old photo that my sister took two years ago of me knitting a sock while holding her darling baby.  

Quite moments are generally few and far between for me but this photo proves that they do in fact occur. 

This baby now talks to me on the phone, and chases after the big kids, keeping up with them very well.

It's magical to watch them grow, but all the same - they were so very cute as babies.

Here's hoping we all find a quite moment or two this week.

Creative Queue

Do you have a creative queue of some sort?

I have a long running list of projects that I want to work on, with a priority/interest order that shifts with my mood, time, and my ability to concentrate.

I find this queue of creative endeavors to be unfortunately mostly managed on post-it notes stuck to my phone, my desk, and at times (dark times) my pants.

Do you have tips on how to manage your creative projects, how to list them all down, how to organize, prioritize, and keep them all in your thoughts to someday be at last completed?

If you have good ideas on how to do this, pleeeeeease, pretty please share them with me.  I'm all ears.

Until that happy day, here are a few things I'm kicking around...not really in priority order yet (I need help, obviously!).

• Wrist Warmers (above) out of Lollipop Yarn, colorway Life Is Beautiful
• Basket Quilt: applique handles down, baste it and quilt it (small, so will go quickly!)
• Owl embroidery project from kiriki - starting it as soon as my new embroidery hoop arrives, apologies in advance to the owl, your destiny is probably to become a pincushion!
• Sweater for my 8 yr old
• Socks for my mom 
• Wedding Signature Quilt: for goodness sake it's been almost 10 years, this awesome quilt deserves better
• Birthday Signature Blocks: you have seen me working on these for ages, time to pre-applique down all the numbers for my kids and nieces
  
  
  That's the short list, I swear!

Twisted Limone Yarn: 2 Day Socks

I've never made a pair of socks over the course of a weekend before.

I would not have dreamed it possible actually, even for kid sized feet.  

Truly, 'kid' sized feet of an almost 8 yr old boy are getting quite close to the size of my own feet.  He's a little like a puppy with those huge feet.  I often wonder how tall he'll eventually become.  Much taller than me, that's for sure.

Instead of using 3 double pointed knitting needles (DPN's) to make these socks, I decided to use a teenie tiny circular by Clover.  Size 1, 9" circular to be exact.

Initially it was bothering my hands to use it because the needle itself is so short.  I almost gave up on making these with that needle set and cut over to DPN's.

It all seemed to just 'click' at some point, and it was really fast to knit them up.  The almost knit themselves really.

If this continues my family may become really REALLY sick of hand knit socks.  I take them around with me to swimming lessons, piano practice, soccer...before you know it, a pair or two show up. 

Magic!  

Yarn by Twisted Limone, one of my favorite shops.  Socks hold up VERY well to serious punishment.

Knit Turtle Love

The knit turtle was feeling lonely.

I created him a best friend to hang out with.

They have already started causing trouble together.

It's rather cute.

It seems like they enjoy playing tag in their spare time.

Turtle Soup Recipe

Eating cute little turtles is hardly something I intend to start doing. 

In fact I was shocked that there are lots of recipes out there for them.  I was thinking that they are too adorable to eat.  Apparently not!

Anna Hrachovec, the mastermind knitter behind MochiMochiLand just came out with a pattern for a tiny turtle. 

I knit this to match my 4yr old's most recent socks.  He is actually willing to wear the socks now that he has a matching turtle!  Wow, a small miracle. 

Mind the Gap self striping yarn in tons of colors, made it easy to find a good color combo that pops.

I'm slipping a couple more photos in here for you, I just cannot resist.

After several hours of hard work, the tiny turtle progressed from the starting link on the ankle to half way up the shin.

He really is small as you can see.  Knit on size 0000 needles!  Yowza.  Teenie tiny.

Mind the Gap: self striping sock yarn

I am hand quilting away like a mad person, but top secret project so no news of it here.

These little crazy colored socks did get finished recently while on vacation, so I'm sharing a quick snapshot of them with you.  Even the presence of my mom's loving coaxing could hardly get the reluctant model to keep them on for more than a couple of moments.

They are done though, and they look adorable.  Maybe he will warm up to them.  They are slightly big, so he as some time to change his mind and get some use out of them.

The yarn is by British dyer Trailing Clouds.

Hand Knit Socks: Getting to know Cookie A (again)

The last time I knit a pair of socks by Cookie A it was her most famous pattern called Monkey.  Almost 17,000 pairs of them have been logged in on Ravelry.  Not bad for a little sock pattern. 

I decided to branch out and try  her pattern called Wanida, a significantly less popular pattern with only around 1,000 projects noted on Ravelry. 

Not sure why one pattern becomes more popular than the next.  Maybe it's the photos.  Maybe it's just viral.  Either way, I am enjoying knitting Wanida and hope to cast on the 2nd sock soon.

"Second Sock Syndrome," AKA "SSS" or basically a lack of interest in knitting the 2nd sock (no more mystery, once the first sock is complete) is my current state of being. 

What does one do when overcome by this disorder? 

My "helpful" DH has recommended one could have one's second foot surgically removed.  An interesting (sick?) notion.  I was sure I could come up with a better alternative to that.  How about....

Sewing instead!!

I may have a photo for you of my newest hand sewn creation soon.  Stay tuned.  So far, I'm navigating uncharted waters and having a serious blast.

Little Oak Cardigan: Road Test & Preschooler Extortion Practices

Towards the end of the school year our local public elementary school hosts an amazing art show.

It is combined with an open house event where you can enter your child's classroom and visit with the teacher.

This year the event did not disappoint. 

The children sometimes adopt the theme of a famous artist's work for their own original painting.

This year was not only a feast for the eyes, but included a small dosage of preschooler extortion as well.

I finished knitting the Little Oak sweater, and of course my 4 yr old still refuses to willingly put it on. 

He is very interested in increasing has saving account though, so for 2 dimes and 1 nickel, the sweater was donned and some photos were finally taken.  

Giving in to your pre-schooler's extortion tactics: questionable parenting technique
Getting photos of him wearing your knitwear:  priceless

Pearls on the Red Sea: Birthday Shawl

My mom's birthday hovers either on or around Thanksgiving. 

This year I wanted to fancy it up a bit for her, so I knit a beaded shawl from this book called Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders.





The pattern didn't call for beads, but I couldn't resist trying my hand at working with them, so I put a few (million) on there.  I named the project Pearls on the Red Sea since the beads look like tiny pearls.


It turns out that my mom loved the gift and was really surprised that I actually finished it.  Not as surprised as I am!  I was wondering for the last 9 months if I would ever finish this project. 

Truth be told, I've been doing a lot of hand quilting instead lately.

Anyhow, it was a pretty simple lace project, so I would recommend it.  Add some beads to the mix if you would like to drive yourself crazy, stab your finger with the world's smallest crochet hook, and risk never finishing it in your lifetime.

Link to more info in Ravelry.

The lovely and beautiful model shown here is my dear sweet little sister.

I know, she looks like an actual model.  She always kinda has.

 (Thanks for the free modeling services, Sis!...HBD Mom!)

On a Finishing Jag: Clara Dress

When the weather starts to feel a little bit colder, and fall starts to roll in, I sometimes get the urge to go nuts and finish up a bunch of projects.

It seems that old familiar feeling is back because I'm knocking them off one by one.

The first thing to be completed was the Clara Dress above.  I knit it out of a ball of sock yarn, and it didn't even take the entire ball.  It was a really fun knit, very easy and fast.

The color of the yarn is a gray/lavender/pinky color.  Same color as my security blanket when I was a kid!  More details on Ravelry.

I also finished a secret project for a secret person, so more about that later.  It was wondering if I would ever finish it, but I did and it turned out even nicer than I was expecting.

Next up is the 9 patch quilt for my niece.  I only had borders to quilt and binding and label to make and put on.  The quilt itself is quite small, and taking me around 2-3 hours per side to quilt the border.  

2 of the sides are done already, so I'm on a roll.  With any luck, the momentum will keep on flowing.

And in the mail, arrived the cutest pair of scissors on earth from my favorite Kathie.  I'll be playing around with them on my applique projects that I have in flight in order to put through their paces.  Stay tuned for a full report on Karen Kay Buckley's "perfect scissors".

Olympic knitting, and the continued saga of what not to say to a woman / your mommy

I decided to try and get through a very small new knit project during the summer Olympics this year. 

The games had so many amazing moments.  I think my favorite was when gymnast Aly Raisman got the bronze medal after Bela Karolyi encouraged her coach to protest her erroneously calculated balance beam score.  That was just incredible.  Good thing Bela was watching out for our team!

The cowl I made (if you don't knit, a cowl is bacically a neck warmer!) is from Joelle Hoverson's book "More Last Minute Knitted Gifts" and is called Soft As A Cloud Cowls.  If you knit it out of pure cashmere, as I did, then why yes - it is that soft!

Hoverson's other books are also really super, including one on quilting.

It didn't take too long to make because it is a very small project, but I was glad when it was done.  Working with skinny lace weight yarn makes for slow progress.

My least favorite moment of the Olympics came last night during a conversation with my three year old son who I adore as much as any mother has ever adored her son.

While watching track and field, women getting into the starting blocks for a sprint, he points at one of the runners:

him:  Mommy, I like that one.

me:  Oh yes, I can see why you like her best, she is very pretty.  I wonder if she will win a gold medal.

him:  She's much prettier than you are.

me:  Well, she's certainly at least 10 years younger than I am, and she basically works out all day long, so I can understand why you would think that.  Still, it isn't polite to compare how women look.

Sigh, the acquisition of manners can be a life long process for some. 

To those of you out there who consider yourselves every so slightly less fit than Allyson Felix, you're in good company.

Thank goodness for early bed time! 

Premie Hat

My sister's friend had a new baby recently, and I made this little hat for her.

I wonder if she will ever actually fit it on her head.  I am no expert at making hats, or tiny newborn hats for that matter.

If it never sees her sweet little head, at least I know it will fit on her teddy bear!

To those of you who actually know how to knit out there, how small is too small?  Ok, back to my quilting.

Seriously!!

French Monk's Finest

When I was teaching quilting a couple of weekends ago at A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland, a couple of yarn balls found their way home with me.

See a 2 color shawl made out of this color and some purple yarn here (not made by me).

They dye various base yarns in this colorway called French Monk's Finest which is a very interesting shade of yellow/gold with greenish undertones.

I wanted to do something quick and easy with it so I started an extremely simple shawl called Mizzle by Patricia Martin.  As I have been knitting here and there on it (often times during story time at night, when my husband reads to the kids or they read to us), I had a thought.

This is an AWESOME super easy pattern.  It is super simple, could even be a beginner project, and still looks very smart. 

It doesn't take much yarn at all, and goes super fast on size 6 needles. 

If you know of somebody who wants to learn to knit, or if you just like knitting while being social at the same time, this project might just be for you.

I have the perfect coat to go with this.  From the likes of this weather, I'm not going to be wearing it anytime soon.