Flurries Cowl

Greetings!  Thanks to a heads up from my Knit Knite Bud Kristie I'm participating in the Feministy The Great Cowl KAL.

I'm stashdiving for this KAL.  Check out this Grandma J Stash ball of old school Bernat 50/50.  It's a wool acrylic blend sport weight.  It has a nice feel to it, soft but not squeaky at all.  I love that I could find a small project for this yarn. I even had a bit left over to keep in the stash.

Here's the completed cowl.  (Ravelry project page)  The kids and I raided my button stash for buttons. They are a bit too big, but I was honestly not planning on doing the suggested eight buttons.  It's a fun little cowl.  This was my first even remotely successful attempt at Brioche stitch.  

There is still time to head on over to Feministy.com to knit up a Flurries Cowl by 2/8/2012 8PM CST to receive the next pattern in the KAL for free.  The next pattern is A Very Good Cowl Indeed.  Looking forward to it.

Happy Knitting!

What have you done for color today?

I heard the tail end of an interview with Rosamond Bernier on NPR's Morning Edition while dropping H off at preschool this morning.  


What stuck in my brain and refused to leave was a suggestion by Henri Matisse to Bernier.  "What have you done for color today?"  He then suggested that she wear a yellow scarf with her orange coat.  


This got me thinking about color as I dropped off H to his classroom and headed home.  I knew I had to chew on this a bit.  


I thought about my personal use of color.  I wear predominantly solid colored clothing, lots of black and dark muted tones.  I wear very few prints, especially below the waist.  I view my wardrobe as a bit of a blank slate for more colorful accessories.  Most of my accessories are knitted.  


For example all three of my current winter coats are black.  The reasoning behind this is that I can wear any color hat/scarf and it will go with my coat.  My scarf or shawl serves as the focal point.  I'd prefer a shelf full of colorful hand knit scarves and one black coat to a closet full of colorful coats.  


I got to thinking about my use of color in knitting.  I have my favorite colors,  Pink of course, and purple, and red and blue, and yes some gray/black.  I prefer to knit with color.  Part of this is practical. The thought of knitting black socks in fingering weight yarn on 1's makes my head hurt, I would struggle to see the stitches.  Same for lace.  I've knitted a few darker toned shawls and brighter colors are so much easier to see.


But what have I done for color today?  For one I'm wearing a necklace. It started yesterday when I got dressed. I'd gone through my rather small, yet fabulous, jewelry collection over the weekend and decided I would wear a necklace, or some sort of out of my norm accessory each day this week.  Yesterday was my heart shaped 'Forever' Surly Ramic necklace. Today is a purple/silver necklace and earrings set my sister gave me for Christmas a few years back.  The kids are older and no longer yanking on my necklaces. I'm making a conscious effort to accessorize, to add a bit of color to my everyday wardrobe choices.


I've been wearing my knitted shawls out and about more.  Never underestimate the power of a good shawl pin.  I have one two piece pin and one stick pin and they give me so many more options for wearing my shawls.  I love the added warmth, the texture and the color the shawls bring. I suppose it helps that it's currently winter in Ohio.  It's cold and dark and dank.  


This all brings me back to my current WIP.  After attempting to start the Whispi Cardi, again, I cast on Percy. (Ravelry Link)  I'm using Knit Pick's Gloss Lace in Kiss on my size 4 Addi's   I'm five repeats in on Chart A.  The plan is to double the Chart A repeats to eight to make the shawl a bit bigger.  Chart C will most liklely be knitted in Knit Picks Shimmer Lip Gloss, it's variegated.  I'm saving my Alpaca Cloud in Peppermint for a little neck scarf type thing, have not decided on the pattern.  I'm thrilled to be knitting lace again. It's even in a fun hot pink.  


So yes I'm contributing a bit of color to the world today.

Happy knitting.

2011 Year in Review

Well Hello neglected Knitting Blog. I'm knitting, and reading and currently doing a ton of laundry.

Ok, I'm in between knitting projects at the very moment. I'm thinking of knitting a Whisper Cardigan in some Knit Picks laceweight but have not cast on yet.

Here is the 2011 year in review. Overall this was a good year for knitting. I was not as prolific as previous years. Here's the roundup of finished objects.

21 Dishcloths I knitted a dishcloth or two between most of my larger projects. It was a great way to take a bit of a break yet still feel productive. I gifted them every now and then over the year.

3 Sweaters I knitted Foliage Wrap, great design, wonderful sweater, my pictures of it are terrible. I have a new camera, yay! Nothing fancy, point and shoot for me, but it's green and it does not have battery issues like my old camera. Should take a new pic of the Foliage Wrap. Then I knitted Tarte, it turned out ok but not great.

Then there was Rambling Rose. Two and a half months of knitting, pretty much monogamous. It was a bit of a beast but I feel that I kicked up my intarsia skill set and I have a nice finished cardigan to show for my effort and time.

16 hats Love hats, love Stephen West hats.

1 Giant Harry Potter Illusion knit. Fabulous pattern, great yarn choice. Great FO.

2 pair of Duffers. fun little pattern.

2 Shawls

2 Cowls After the 2010 Cowl a thon I feel like I knit no cowls

2 stuffed toys, not hedgies

5 Hedgies After a nearly year long Hedgie drought I knit up five. I love this pattern.

1 Tissue cover for D's new office cube.


Sixty projects in total. Not a bad year. Would like to be a bit more focused this year. Who knows. Knitting is for fun for me not a job.

I have a list of goals for 2012 Knitting.

Lace

Try out new yarns

Learn the Mobius cast on

Hedgies = Happy, more Hedgies in 2012

Socks? Not really missing sock knitting. We shall see.

Basically I want to keep knitting, keep trying out new to me yarn and learning new techniques. That and continue to have fun knitting socially with my Knit Knite crew.

Happy Knitting!

Fabu Yarn Ball Post

Greetings of sorely neglected knitting blog o mine.

It's the end of July and I'm slowly but surely plinking away on a Rambling Rose Cardigan from Interweave Knits Winter 2006 in Knit Picks Telemark. I'm LOVING this project.

I found this fabu post about yarn balls. Lots of yarn ball ideas all neat and tidy in one great post. I had to link it here.

Goodwill Spirit and Yarn Balls

Happy Knitting!

Cape? Big ol' Rectangle

Tom and Lorenzo have a Fall 2011 Trend post on Capes and Ponchos.

Yes capes and ponchos.

I know.

But there is a camel turtleneck cape thing from Tommy Hilfiger that is calling to me.

Hard.

It's all the way at the bottom of the post. I'm loving the texture and the rectangular line. The boots are also calling, and the striped socks? How about the coordinating sweater?

It's calling.

Taking another look it's looking more like some sort of modified high low hemline and not a rectangle. Even though a rectangle could work. I must find more pictures. I am intrigued.

Found another post with a few different pictures. Maybe it is more rectangular.

http://www.theglassmagazine.com/forum/blog_post.asp?tid=2346

Found it in motion. http://www.beautyisdiverse.com/2011/02/tommy-hilfiger-fall-2011-new-york-fashion-week/#more-19098 It's not a turtleneck. It's a long rectangle that is secured in the back with one or two applied buckles. It's just another way of wearing a sizable scarf.

Couple more pictures. http://www.elle.com/Runway/Ready-to-Wear/Fall-2011-RTW/TOMMY-HILFIGER/TOMMY-HILFIGER#mode=base;slide=29;

http://www.elle.com/Runway/Ready-to-Wear/Fall-2011-RTW/TOMMY-HILFIGER/TOMMY-HILFIGER#mode=base;slide=12; Is this one lined? double knit?

2011 so far...an April Update

Well Hello 2011. Time for an FO update.

I have a new WIP system in place, at least for now. The basic idea is that I knit a cotton dishcloth between each larger project. Knit something big, then knit a dishcloth. Can't quiet decide on what to knit next? Knit a dishcloth. Still can't decide what to knit next? Knit yet another dishcloth.

Let's just say I've been having some trouble deciding what to knit next. I've knitted 12 dishcloths so far this year. I really like having a low stress, easy, fast, inexpensive go to project for in between more involved projects.

I like solid, nubby dishcloths. My top three favorite patterns are Chinese Waves, Clover Tweed, and Tweedish Cloth.

I busted out Grandma J's size 19 straights and some Lion Brand Thick and Quick for a much loved (Ravelry link) Foliage Wrap. My pictures do not do it justice. It's a fabulous, ingenious, multi functional wrap. I can wear it at least three ways, if not more with a lovely shawl pin. It does not take that much yarn. It's amazing.

Let's see I tried out the new to me Paton's and Bernat Roving yarn. Knit up a hat I intended to mail to my Aunt Debbie and failed to mail. I screwed up reading the pattern on that one. The hat is perfectly lovely, just not exactly to pattern. The roving is nice, easy to find at JoAnn's and not that expensive.

I felted two pairs of Duffers, aka 19/21 row slippers. The first out of Paton's Classic Merino and the more substantial second pair out of the Roving. I love and wear the roving pair. I hand felted the roving pair. I've officially decided that I do not like felting in my front loader. I found a few youtube videos on hand felting. That's the new felting method of choice around here.

I knit the Harry Potter Illusion Banner for my ever knitworthy sister. Steve Plummer's patterns are clear, easy to follow and overall just awesome. I used Carron One Pound's in Sunflower and Claret. Excellent yardage, machine washable, not too squeaky, no joins, great colors. I don't usually enjoy large projects but this one was different every other row. It grew big and a bit cumbersome but was fine for winter knitting. This sized project would be miserable in the summer in the heat. Overall a great project and a much loved FO.

I continue to LOVE NORO. I knit a Rainbow Pimpelliese in Noro sock. This is my second side to side shawl in Noro. The colors are fabulous and the project was simple with just enough interest in the edging to keep it from being too boring. I am now out of Noro. I'm thinking of switching to Silk Garden sock for lace after squishing several Knit Knite projects in Silk Garden. Same great colors but softer yarn.

I bought four skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Shocking Pink for my birthday. I knit up Hawthorne from Twist Collective, it used a tad over two skeins and the large sized Brambles from Knitty. Can we say awesome projects. LOVED both of them. I learned German Twisted Cast On for Hawthorne and used Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast Off. LOVE this set. I am all ready for next winter.

I am currently working on a summer sweater. Tarte by Berroco. I'm heavily modding it to be in the round and to have the cables on both the front and back. I'm knitting it in my brown Mill Ends cotton. This is the 4th sweater for this yarn. Valpuri, Tappen Zee and my Henry sweater for Henry.

I have some ideas for my upcoming projects. In the meantime I'll be working on Tarte.

Happy Knitting to my ones of readers!

2010 Knitting Year in Review

I'm still here and I'm still knitting and reading and going about my daily business. One thing I'm not doing is knit blogging. Bad blogger. I'm on Facebook and twitter way too much. Oh and Ravelry. Not on Ravelry too much.

I have tallies of my FO's for 2010.

Hats 9

Toys 8

Sweaters, I'm counting both child and adult sized here 11

Dishcloths 17

Blanket, lap but still blanket sized 1

Mitts 1 My Yarn Harlot Yarn winning Twilight Mitts for the Ravelympics.

Socks 3 This feels like a really small number

Phallic Recorder Case 1

Lace Shawls 4 I LOVE THEM ALL

Thong 1

Cowls 7

Felted Bowl 1

Coaster 1

That's a total of 65 FO's for 2010. I'm pleased but it also feels a bit anticlimactic after last year's 74+ number. It's still over one project a week.

I also frogged 5 items in 2010. Sometimes a project just does not work out. It's ok. There might actually be one or more additional trips to the frog pond that I did not put into Ravelry. When I crash and burn I crash and burn.

Knitting Goals

I jotted down the following list a few months ago. I did not date it. Who knows maybe I blogged about it. Regardless I'm going to go through it. I've accomplished a few.

Mosaic Knitting, I've done a tiny bit of this in the Linoleum Dishcloth. It's a fascinating technique.

Illusion Knitting, I knitted a little Hegwig dishcloth for Allison. It's a fun technique. The next step is to knit the big HP/Harry Potter illusion knitting banner for Allison. Need to get yarn first.

More socks. I can't believe I only knit three pairs. All three rock and I loved the yarn for all three. STR medium weight, Noro sock, and Stroll Tonal.

More Lace. Always looking for more lace. I love lace.

Shawl Pin. I have one! I'm wearing it now! I love it!

The Walker Books. Because Barbra is a visionary and a treasure. I will enhance my knitting library stash at some point with All of the Treasuries, From the Top Down and Mosaic Knitting.

Sub to Vogue Knitting, I go back and forth on this one.

Hedgies/Felting. I have not knitted a single Hedgie in over a year. Mind Blowing. I have felted in the new front loader. I'm thinking I will be hand felting from now on. Otherwise I love my washer.

I want to check out some new to me yarn.

Malabrigo, no longer new to me. How about some Twist and Rios.

Koiju PPPM, it calls a siren song.

Kidsilk Haze. Yes I want to go full out you can't tink this sh*t Kidsilk Haze.

Allie and I are going to see Lady Gaga and the Scissor Sisters this coming March. I want to knit something for this show. I have some ideas. It's a matter of making a decision, buying yarn and knitting. I'm thinking something lacy to go over something else.

I'd really just like to keep knitting, keep trying out new yarns Publish Postand learning new techniques.