chanson en crochet

Voila! C'est fini. This was a super speedy way to get back in the groove. The pattern is Chanson en Crochet from IK (excerpted from "Wrap Style") and the yarn was Cascade Eco+ (leftover from this) on a J hook.

I started on August 6th, finished crochet by the 9th, and had it washed and blocked and buttoned by the 11th. Can't beat that with a stick.

The finished project is really cute and barely elbow length on an adult, well me anyway. I think it will work nicely for a little girl. Maybe even as a "skirt" over some leggings...

back in the saddle again

ahhh. my absolute disinterest in all things yarn has finally abated. since the warm weather struck in may, i've had no desire to knit, crochet, sew, whatever. suddenly, however, i'm mad for it. ordered a bit of yarn from knitpicks. should be in this week.

in the meantime, here's chanson en crochet, from interweave. so far it's a zippy little crochet. I'm already on the 9th row of 22, using cascade eco and a size j hook.

think this will be a giftee for cealinn...

roar

I whipped this little guy up on the plane to visit the family. It's grrr from summer 2007 knitty. The yarn is crayon in orange from knitpicks.com.

A quick fun knit that makes bath time a whole lot more fun.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Yes, I've been completely obsessed with my new camera. It's been all lusty infatuation and 2 gig SD cards. Oh, and that zippy little 50mm f/1.8 lens. Toes curl just thinking about it.

What was I saying?

Right. So, I've been sidetracked, but still knitting. Just a bit. I'm slooooooowly working my way through the VK Aran Stocking. It's a little fussy using 2 Addi circs (US3), because the alpaca is a bit splitty. I finally got the hang of cabling without a cable needle, though it took about 20 rounds.

Onward and upward.

VK Holiday 2006 Aran Stocking Corrections

I just started knitting the Aran Christmas Stocking from VK Holiday 2006 and noticed a mixup with the charts. Here are the corrections they sent (quite promptly, I might add).

Vogue Knitting Holiday '06 #1 Stocking, photo on page 65, instrux begin on page 104

Chart 1, rnd 10 - sts 9 and 10 should be purl sts.

Chart 1 and Chart 2 were transposed in rnd 5 of instrux. For those of you knitting this stocking for the holidays, we apologisefor the delay. The following is a two-part correction. Please follow #1 if you have not yet begun to knit. Please follow #2 if you have knit up to rnd 79 with the incorrect chartplacement and are ready to work the heel flap. The correction willreposition the cables to match the photo.

#1.STOCKING

LegRnd 5 *Work rnd 1 of Chart 2, sl marker, work rnd 1 of Left TwistCable, sl marker, work 5 sts seed st, sl marker, work rnd 1 of RightTwist Cable, sl marker, work rnd 1 of Chart 1, sl marker, work rnd 1 ofLeft Twist Cable, work 5 sts in seed st, sl marker, work rnd 1 of RightTwist Cable, sl marker; rep from * once. Continue in pattern as written from this point.

#2.STOCKING

LegRdn 79 (set up for heel) Work in pats as established across first 102sts.

Heel flap: Slipping markers as you come to them, work in pats as established on rem22 sts, plus first 40 sts - 62 sts, rearranging sts on 2 needles. Turn and work across 62 sts in pats as established, turn. Continue in pattern as written from this point.

Fortunately, I noticed it only 60sts into round 5 and didn't need to tink much. Hope this helps anyone else out there knitting it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Laurie!

Pattern: Pedicure Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash in Dublin and Aloe

No peeking, Kelly

I posted about the Handknit Holidays Aran Stocking at Handknit Holidays-along. Everyone who is not my family or, more specifically, my sister may preview Colm's Christmas stocking.

What does hubby wear under his kilt?

Schottische Kilt Hose, of course.

These babies took forever to knit. The pattern is from Nancy Bush's "Folk Socks" and the yarn is Knit Picks Bare, 100% merino fingering weight yarn. Due to hubby's size 13 feet and tree-like legs I added an extra pattern repeat (both in the cuff and calf) and a few extra inches in leg and foot length. I knit them 2 socks on 2 circs using Addi US2 needles, which are actually 3.0mm (equivalent to US2.5s) so the gauge was a tiny bit looser than called for too.

The merino really softened up nicely after a good bath. I was very pleasantly surprised and hubby claims they are very comfortable.

The hose used just about 2 full hanks of yarn, plus a bit of a third for heel and toe reinforcement (I just doubled up the yarn for both the heels and toes).

Check out the calf decrease pattern on the back. I love that! Also, the picot edge at the cuff is a great detail.

If you dig sock knitting, buy Ms. Bush's book. It rocks!

Welcome, Sullivan Anna!

This is a little giftee to welcome Sullivan Anna to the world. The hat and booties are knit with Knit Picks Main Line. I used two balls of Ivory and trace amounts of Antique Rose and Dusty Lavender.

The booties were inspired by the Beaded Fair Isle Shoes in Debbie Bliss' "The Baby Knits Book". Basically, I translated the pattern for use with worsted weight yarn and added purl contrast rows , omitting the Fair Isle details. Also, modified the ankle strap construction to minimize finishing. They bear only a passing resemblance to Debbie's shoes. Like Dicky Dunn, "I was just trying to capture the spirit of the thing."

The beanie pattern is from "Nature Babies" (with an added I cord topper). Straight forward, quick knit.

My verdict: knitting for babies is fun!

LMKG Child's Cotton Hat

This is the Child's Cotton Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It's knit with stash KP Main Line yarn in ivory with an antique rose tie. The hat wasn't blocked before this photo, hence the pointy crown. It's a quick, cute knit. Most importantly, Cealinn made the I-cord using her Wonder Knitter. Get 'em while they're young, right?

Anemoi Mittens

Happy birthday, Ninny!

I looooved knitting Eunny Jang's Anemoi Mittens, just such a fun pattern. I followed Amelia's tubular cast on instructions, which were ab fab, and used Knit Picks Gloss yarn in pumpkin and sarengetti. The gloss yarn was dreamy and I used less than one ball of each color for the large mittens.

For some reason (user error) the cuffs seemed crazy tight when knit on US0 needles, so I did the whole thing on US2s and flip-flopped the MC and CC on the cuff.



The purl side "seams" are very cool. Heck, the whole mitten is pretty cool. Wonderful pattern, lovely yarn, and passed the kitten taste test. Two thumbs up!

PS. Anemoi are the wind gods in Greek mythology. Check out Wikipedia.

Happy Halloween!

My sister finally (FINALLY) emailed me a picture of Cealinn in her Cinderella costume.

Looks thrilled, doesn't she? Like maybe the glass slipper fits one of her stepsisters. Or maybe Prince Charming is grating on her last nerve. Ah well. She's still gorgeous.

Apparently our pumpkin was having a bit more fun in his "coat". Colm is wearing Cealinn's costume from 2003. How adorable is he? The pattern was Butterick 9318. It's actually reversible. The inside is a ladybug, pretty fun. My review of it is on patternreview.com.

Thanks for the photos Kelly!

Flappin' Mittens

I know 10 year old boys don't really get excited about hand knit mittens as a Christmas gift. But bless the kid for pretending. I absolutely choose to believe Aydan really meant it when he said "Aunt Jen gives the best gifts." Talk about the best godson ever!

Dollhouse for a doll

Hubby built this for Cealinn. How cute is she? He built it from the Buttercup Dollhouse kit. It really looks adorable. There still a bit of trim work to be done, but our girl didn't seem to mind playing with the work in progress.





Cealinn built a table, painted the furnishings, and added flower arrangements. Love the acorn top bowls!

Ugh. I miss her already...

Tada!

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to present a completed Aran Tree Skirt. Now, now, do contain yourselves. Really. The standing ovation is just too much. Well. Ok. Keep clapping if you must.


Seriously, I finished it in the wee hours of Christmas morning. Please do disregard the totally unmatched dye lots. I didn't notice it as I was knitting. Though it's quite evident in the photos. Here it is in its rightful place under the tree (the unmatched color is in the back, whew).


It's very pretty and I do recommend it if you've got the patience and arm strength. It got pretty weighty at the end and seriously strained my wrists and forearms, thereby limiting how much time I could spend on it in one sitting. All told it used 12 skeins of LB Wool-Ease Thick & Quick on US 11 needles.

If I make another (hubby has repeatedly mentioned how much he'd like one for us), I think I'll use Knit Picks Sierra (two strands together on US13s gets the required gauge). It's a bit more expensive than the Wool-Ease, but really lovely to work with. And for the amount of time spent on this project, using yarn you enjoy is well worth the extra expense.

FO in action...

How cute is this? Everyone, this is Grant modelling the DB Argyle Cardi. Obviously when Debbie wrote 6-9 months she really meant 3 months, as this fits him now. Best of all, I get to meet this little guy on Christmas! Thanks for the photo Betty.

Country Quilt Stocking

Remember. It's a "primative" style country quilt stocking. The snowman and candy cane are from "301 Country Christmas Quilt Blocks" by Mary Jo Hiney. The book is fabulous and has a ridiculous number of fantastic Christmas patterns (santas, angels, stars, Christmas trees, cats with halos, you name it). The stocking pattern is Butterick 5783. There's a review at patternreview.com.

So, emphasis on primative, I machine pieced a main motif surrounded by scraps of solid fabric and hand quilted (obviously) around the central image and used small bells to tie quilt at the scrap joins. The fabric is cotton as is the batting. The finished stocking is cuter than I expected.
It's for my niece. I hope she likes it!

Flap Top Mittens

These are some knitted gifts from last Christmas. All done in LB Wool-Ease.

This year it's flap-top mittens to match. The pattern is from Handknit Holidays and the yarn is left-over LB Wool-Ease. The mittens were a quick and easy knit and used far less than a skein of yarn per pair.

BLTN... or A Day in the Life of a Lazy Knitter

Though this Argyle Cardi should have been completed in a week, two at the longest, here I am wrapping it up a mere four (that is one, two, three, FOUR) weeks later. Ah, well. Luckily its the 6-9 month size, so the little guy probably hasn't outgrown it yet.

It's a slightly modified Debbie Bliss pattern in LB Microspun with the cutest painted wooden buttons from Hancock Fabrics. Hope they like it.

It feels good to be loved.

However, it makes the knitting more complicated. I've finally picked up the Handknit Holidays Aran Tree Skirt again. Though its life began in January (JANUARY!), it hasn't seen the light of day since March. Now the mad rush to finish is in full swing. Instead of 1 wedge per month, I must finish 1 per week. All you fabulously conscientious knitters may scoff at such lowly goals, but I'm lazy. Note the snuggly kittens and reclining pose as proof. Right, I'm almost throught the seventh of 11.

It really is a terrific pattern. Perhaps I'll start one for myself this January...