oops! ugh!

I just entered my very first blog contest, at The Pen Addict, and I messed it up! It's a random drawing from comments left on the entry. Contestants are limited to one comment and I left two due to a weird hitch in the authentication process -- that part where you type in the same (distorted) letters & numbers you see on the screen. Oh well.

? hm.

Does anyone besides me find it so poignant that people bring their knitting to the Yarn Harlot (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) for her to see, and maybe bless? I find it touching that they love her so much, and that she loves knitting so much, and that she may even love people so much.

at long last

I have knitted something! It's Blu and here it is, front and back:



I followed the pattern, except where it said to sew the live stitches down with the blue sewing thread. I used the main color yarn to sew the stiches. This gave the waistband more sproinginess. I tried the sewing thread first, and there wasn't enough give. I also decided to gather the waistband a bit when I measured the elastic - my baby is pretty low on the weight portion of the growth chart.

To mimic the stitching, I used the embroidery floss. If I knit this again, I will definitely use orange yarn! The embroidery floss had a habit of disappearing into the knitting. To compensate, I used double thicknesses to embroider and I didn't pull the stitches any tighter than necessary. This was a fiddley thing to finish, but well worth it!

so many broken promises...

Dear me,

I have a big list of projects to complete. It will happen. One day, one day.

Love, me

I WANT TO DO THIS IMMEDIATELY

Her name is Greetje van Tiem and she is making yarn out of newspaper. Check out this website for a few more details.

I've emailed her to see if she will divulge any secret techniques. Do you think it could really be as simple as shredding and spinning? I will give it a try. I am willing to become an inky mess in the pursuit of this end product!

lazy luscious land

Pieter Brueghel the Elder: Luilekkerland
This is where I've been lately. Oh, I've also been in carpal tunnel land. I like lazy luscious land much better.

Ok, I know, the bubbly curtain may never make it off the in progress list, but I'm going to try to take on two new projects: three pairs of Fiber Trend felted clogs. The old version, because that's the pattern I have. Three pairs? One for brother, mother, and father. My old ones have holes in the heels, but that's OK. My carpal tunnel hand may not even be able to handle one slipper, so I'll have to see how it goes.


I'm nearly finished with all the patterns I promised a long time ago...

Up next post: photos of what my gift exchange secret pal gave me for the holidays. I've NEVER felt so spoiled in my whole life!* Really, not only was everything hand-made, but it was all amazing and exquisite. Everyone should feel so lucky at least once in their lives, even if it is a little bit embarrassing.

*OK, I did feel this spoiled once before. I was five years old and my parents showered me with gifts for Christmas, which had never happened previously. I should add that although they're not scrooges, such unexpected bounty never came my way again. Maybe five year olds are just easy to please?

Warning. You must be over 18 to enter this entry.

I did knit We Call Them Pirates. It was fun. I made the skulls and crossbones HOT pink! I made the rest of the hat a grassy green! Oh jeez, I'll have to give yarn details out after the new year because I don't remember what wooly yarn I made it from.

I didn't modify the pattern at all. I knit this months ago for my secret gift exchange pal!

gift in hand
woa now! hey, it's art, and it's hanging in a restaurant...it's not my fault!
knitting pals enjoying some delicious, quasi-local chocolates

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I threw in a pair of thrummed mittens for my exchange pal too. I knit them from the Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern in Knitting Without Tears, adding thrums wherever it seemed reasonable. The main yarn was Rowan Kid Classic and the thrums were random woolly bits.

Happy Holidays!