put a lid on it: hats, part I

while i have been primarily devoting myself to complex gift projects that are running on deadlines, i have managed to squeeze in some other projects. almost all of these have been hats because they are very fast to make, and some of these have been skill builders to boot.

hats! hats! hats!


Foliage
design by Emilee Mooney
published at knitty.com

knit in 1 skein of Malabrigo Chunky (#98 "tuareg", 100% kettle dyed merino wool) purchased at Now and Then on size US 10 DPNs.

started: october 31, 2008.
finished: october 31, 2008.

i originally bought this yarn to knit an ear flap hat with a pom pom top and ties. as i started the hat, i discovered it looked awful in this yarn because it is too springy (texture, not season). i bought all of this color at the shop, so i couldn't get more to make something bigger than a hat, so i was on a search. i don't knit a lot of lace, so i decided to try this hat and see how lace in a chunky yarn looks. i like it. this is going to be a holiday gift to match the blue mittens i posted about a few weeks ago.

the construction was really cool for Foliage. you knit the hat from the top down increasing in the leaf lace repeat. fun.

FIN beanie
designed by Mari Muinonen
published in Made by Myself

knit in 1 ball of Jo Sharp Silkroad DK tweed (#409 "night" 85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere) purchased at K+S=B on size US 5 DPNs.

started: october 21, 2008
finished: october 22, 2008.

i love this yarn, and i am a big fan of this hat because it has an awesome star decrease pattern on top. pretty straightforward hat that really shows off the tweed yarn.

yum!


Sweet Girl
design by kittything
available free with yarn purchase at K+S=B

knit in 1 skein of Schoeller + Stahl "Sweet Girls" (100% acrylic with silly ruffles!) on size US 10.5 needles.

started: october 4, 2008.
finished: october 21, 2008.

this is a store model to show this funny yarn we are carrying this fall. i am not into novelty yarns, so this is not my thing, but the hat design itself is cute. the top has an eyelet row and ribbon drawstring to close it up so a little girl can wear her ponytail through the top of the hat.

i know, adorable. speaking of adorable...


The Littlest Brown
designed by kittything
unpublished improvisation

crocheted in scraps of Frog Tree Merino (100% merino wool) with a size I hook.

started: november 6, 2008.
finished: november 6, 2008.

this is a hat for Collin to match the browns hat i gave his father last year for christmas. i made it from the scraps of the bigger hat. you can see father and son sporting their tasteful sports themed hats together on Collin's blog. this kid is amazing. he is cute, quiet, and already a prolific blogger!

goodbye fall, hello 300!

guess what folks? this blog has officially reached 300 posts! thanks for hanging in there with me through work, play, knitting floods, and work related droughts. onward, 300 ho!

this week it has officially become cold in the greater DC metro area. it has been hanging out in the 30s more than the 50s (surprisingly low for this month) it was fitting to take down the fall bittersweet wreath and haul out the christmas tree.

i'm glad i knit.

speaking of knitting, i have been doing more of that then blogging. the most notable accomplishment on the knitting front is the completion of Collin's christening shawl. it rocks. it is done. the knit-on edging made me near suicidal.

(not really. sort of knitterly suicidal. not the real kind.)

i still owe a post on all the hats i have been turning out, and i plan to do one of all the glamour shots of the shawl. i hope to get together a photo album of the trip rW and i took to ohio for thanksgiving.

promises, promises!

yeeeesssss

this photo represents my current state of mind.

i am full steam ahead on a single minded mission to knit the edginging on to Collin's christening shawl. i am now 75% finished with said edging (i week ago i was 20% finished), and i feel this haze setting into my line of vision. everything that is not cream lace edging receds in importance.

who knew knitting come be so important and consuming. i have high hopes for this project. time will tell.

and shortly, i hope!

in other news, rW brought me orange roses. this is one of my favourite colors for roses. beautiful.



did anyone else notice how my blog's coolness just went down 17% as soon as i introduced lace and roses into it tonight? yeah.

eww.

hi! i am a totally humiliated Interweave Knits model!

the preview for the winter issue of Interweave Knits is out, and i am unimpressed.

1. most of these sweaters make the skinny mini models look fat. not fat, i guess.... the sweaters are not adding fat rolls but it does make them look thick and/or chunky. that is an adjective i want to apply to peanut butter or soup, not sweaters.

2. if the sweaters are not fat-looking, the photos are! ew. ew. ew. who publishes in a magazine a picture cropped in the least flattering way possible? that makes me want to knit Fatty McGee sweaters. yeah.

3. colorwork accessories. ugly ones at that! gross. okay. the poinsetta mittens are cute, but they re a little cheesy.

4. and to be fair, the one man sweater in the issue is very nice. too bad i am not a man.

the first

for the first time ever, i have run out of yarn on a project. moreover, i have run out of yarn on a project on which i should have had enough because...

1. i have the amount the pattern calls for.
2. i am getting gauge.
3. um. this never happens to me.

this almost happened with the sweater i made my father. according to the book, i needed 7 skeins, i bought 9. i used all but 4 yards of the last skein. nice.

but at least i had what i needed that time, and more importantly i could get more because i bought the yarn where i work. is that the case this time? no way. this is bright red vintage angora i bought in ohio at the yarn shop my mum and i only go to because well... it is there. and there may be something interesting.

like angora.
the kind i only need 4 more yards of to finish a project. gah.

good news: my mum found it, and when i go visit for turkey day, i will be able to finish my project.

lest you feel abandoned.

i have abandoned no one!
i have just been busy with a new show, meetings for winter projects, and the store. , yes... and the election! it was, dare i say, fun. i was reading a lot of commentary and listening to bipartisan speculation about the forthcoming administration. it has been pretty interesting, not to mention historic.

i have also been knitting some gifts and finishing up projects that were languishing at 50%. i have a current favorite... mittens!

here are four projects for your enjoyment.


Yellow Harvest Mittens
designed by Mari Muinonen
published in Vogue Knitting, Fall 2008

knit in 1 skein Manos del Urguay 100% Wool (color X "topaz") purchased at K+S=B, on size US 6 and 7 DPNS.

started: september 11, 2008.
finished: november 3, 2008.

these were a lot of fun, and they look great. i blocked them after this picture was taken, and they are awesome.

charts were good. bobbles are fun to knit (who knew!) and i have only one complaint. the pattern tells you to work the decrease area in stockinette but if you want continuity on the mitten, you need to be using reverse stockinette. i followed the directions exactly and realized when i was done and had blocked them that i should have been a rebel and changed the pattern.

live and learn, but i still love them. this is a project for me obviously.


Super Mittens
designed by Margrit Lohrer
published in Weekend Kitting

knit in 1 skein Malabrigo Chunky (color 98 "Tuareg", 100% merino wool) purchased at Now and Then, on size US 10 DPNS.

started: october 29, 2008.
finished: october 30, 2008.

these are a gift. i want to keep them. not really. i don't wear much blue, but they are super squishy and soft and this yarn was a delight to knit. this project continues to reinforce my love for the book Weekend Knitting

i was given the book last year for christmas, and i have made 6 projects from it so far. two of those were sweaters. not bad considering how ADD i get about patterns.

i made a hat to go with the mittens. i will share it later in the week.


Baby Mittens
designed by Kaitlyn Wong
published at Sassy Stitches

knit in half a skein of Artful Yarns Serenade (color 6211 "Against All Odds" 70% pima cotton, 30% angora) purchased at K+S=B on size US 5 DPNs.

started: october 24, 2008.
finished october 26, 2008.

i knit these for Collin. i started them when my cousin told me she was headed to the hospital because i needed something else to focus on... a movie was not cutting it. i finished them the day after he was born and they went off in a little birthday gift package with a hat. more on that later.

i modified the pattern to use heavier yarn. the designer calls for fingering weight doubled. i used a "worsted" that i consider especially light.


"Beaded" Cable Mittens
designed by Shirl the Purl
published by Cabin Fever

knit in 2 skeins of Berroco Pure Merino ("kale" 100% superwash merino wool) purchased at K+S=B on size US 4 & 5 DPNS.

started: october 2, 2008.
finished: october 28, 2008.

these are a store model that is part of out holiday 2008 gifts display at the shop. they were fun to knit, and i love the color, but i think the mittens would have looked nicer in a wool that was a bit sticky and didn't have as much smoosh or softness.

i know, sacrilege to exchange looks for softness, but that is how i feel about it.

obviously the pattern is written to be beaded, but i decided to forgo beads because that is a technique many knitters have an artificial fear of trying.... and as a store model, it needs to appeal to the masses.

i also think these could be good for a man in a masculine color, and then the beads are going to be a no-go for most occasions.

looks out for more knitting updates later in the week.

tonight i have pledged to fix my mistakes in the shawl and get back to work on that thing. i really want to take it back to ohio on turkey day... even if i have longer, i feel anxious about it!

yes, maxine, democracy can be boring.

today i stood in line to vote in front of man who brought his daughter with him to see democracy in action. he was very sweet and she was a cute second grader who asked a lot of great questions. when we had been in line for just over an hour she declared voting boring. i told her that democracy can be boring, but we have to vote anyway.

her dad thought that was funny.



two major thoughts about the experience... touch screen voting is strange and it is cool seeing a lot of people you know at the polls. especially because they are excited to participate in our occasionally "boring" democracy.

knitting update: i took a lizard ridge afghan square with me to the polls and i was so excited and weird while in line that i kept having to rip what i knit. i think i did 4 rows in line.

heeeehheeeehhheehe!

Skelley says Happy Halloween!!!!!

my grandmother can have peace

i made good use of those apples yesterday. this is my first apple pie.

i am not a very good maker of crusts, and this one is my first personal success. rW had some hand in it. he encouraged and helped cut shortening when my arm got tired.

it turned put pretty well.

the filling is made from the Rome apples we picked saturday and one Honeycrisp apple to throw in some textural variety and sweetness. i spiced it with both cinnamon and allspice.

now my grandmother can be a happy woman. it took 90 years to reach this point, but now she has the icing on the metaphorical cake... her wayward granddaughter has made a real pie. crust and all.

knitting content soon, i promise. i have been busy on secret knitting.

wet but fun saturday

saturday was a very busy day. we will start with the top story.

my super-awesome cousin gave birth to her first child saturday morning. His name is Collin Thomas, and you can see the photos on his very own website (with commentary by his father, a man of eccentric humour.) which i am sure will have frequent updates of cuteness.

the family expansion was happening in cleveland, so here in the mid-atlantic, we had a pretty typical weekend on our hands.

rW and i took a trip out to Mt. Airy, Maryland to pick apples and a pumpkin. it was fun, and we took a bunch of pictures. i even did some knitting on a mitten in the car.

the only hitch in the day was some inclement weather. we got pretty wet, but it was worth it. the pumpkin we found is as perfect as any pumpkin i have ever had. it has one slightly flat side, but someone clearly picked it up off its side and set it upright before it finished ripening and turning orange because it doesn't have too much of a deformed side.

i sort of also wanted to take home one of the fancy bright orange pumpkins that were already picked, but i am happy with our guy. rW will have to name him because i am bad at that sort of thing.

here is an album of our countryside activities....

Pumpkin' and Apple Pickin'

later saturday evening i went to a cocktail party at my friend Jen's apartment. i met her new man (well, new so to speak, they have been friends for a long time, but they started dating this year.) and caught up with a few old friends.

all in all, fun and busy.

17

last night i made 17 bean + barley soup. these are the beans before i soaked them. pretty!

it was delicious.
i served it up with pumpernickle bread and halves of delicata squash stuffed with veggie sausage (or "fauxusage", if you will). it was delightful. i had never had "sausage" stuffed squash before, but as i said of faux meat technology... there have been advancements.

i am pretty sure that fake sausage just tastes like smoke and spices, but it works for me.

i am on a store model knitting spree. i have a cowl on my needles right now that is made of cotton and angora blend--fluffy! this is the 2nd one this week that i have designed myself. photos soon.

help!

remember the head shots i had taken on sunday for the company website? the proofs are up, and now i have to decide which 5 i want to have edited. here are 52 to pick from.

please help me. photos are here. i am fairly certain they won't be up much longer than a week.

leave your favourites in the comments by photo number.

or maybe i should use my self-portrait?

another thing

i have been sent public and private comments about how i handled my ear infection. specifically how i handled in incorrectly.

yes, i realize there are ear, nose, and throat doctors in the world. i also realize they handle these things much better than a GP, an urgent care center, or Minute Clinic ever could. i even went to one the last time i had a throat in infection that kept me in bed for 5 days.

but specialists cost a lot of money.

health care in general costs a lot of money. the kind of health insurance i qualify for as a "young" single female in the state of maryland can be described as either "under insurance" or "$800 out of pocket per month".

to put that figure in perspective, i currently spend as much combined on my car insurance, student loan repayment, and rent every month.

well, some insurance is better than no insurance right? not really. when i had health insurance, i could never find someone who was qualified to call themself a doctor who would actually see me. i didn't have expensive enough insurance to be seen by someone fancy and reputable.

when i went to the ENT, 100% was out of pocket, even though i had insurance.

now, without it, i am the pariah in the corner at urgent care.

i try not to get political or turn my blog into a PSA, but this gets my goat. the faceless uninsured are not just the homeless black children living in the inner city you can readily conjure up in your head when you watch the evening news.

it is also me.
a white woman living in a small hippie town next to the big city. someone with a car, a roof over her head, her own business, a job at another small business, and a terminal graduate degree.

put that in your pipe and smoke it.

sweet life

i have been doing secret holiday knitting that the blog readership cannot know about (hi family peoples. what up.) so i will share a so-not-me project here today.

this is a store model for the shop. i designed the pattern to be given out with the yarn, which as you can see is sort of silly. i plan to see if i can knit a second one in a plain yarn for more long term use in the shop.

the details....

Ruffled Drawstring Hat
designed by kittything
free with yarn purchase at K+S=B

knit in one skein of Scholler+Stahl Sweet Girls (100% acrylic) on size US 10.5 needles. fits a toddler or young child (16"-18" head).

started: october 4, 2008.
finished: october 20, 2008.

i started knitting this and then realized i didn't have a real plan. so i set it aside, designed it out in my head and finished it in one sitting yesterday while watching the movie Airplane!.

because it is store model (needs to be easy to knit) and it the yarn is a little tricky, i knit the hat flat and seamed it rather than knitting in the round.

the ruffles are goofy. you make them by grabbing only part of the ruffled section of the yarn and knitting or purling only the edge. on the knit side, you purl the ruffles, on the purl side, you knit the ruffles. it is opposite in order to keep the ruffles on the right side of the work. strange.

the cute thing about the pattern (never mind the yarn) is the drawstring top. a little girl can pull her ponytail through the top of her hat. cute!

in other news...
i had my head shots taken on sunday (and had to miss a BBQ at my aunt's house for it! grr!) and they went better than the horror show in my head. hair and make-up was easy. she didn't lecture me about home hair dye or going to a dermatologist, so that was good.

photo shoot was also good. we will see how the pictures turn out. i think i was done up a little on the vintage pin up side, and my glasses were problematic with glare so i had to take a lot without them. but i am sure there is something i can use.

last night i made a favourite dish from my childhood--macaroni and cheese omelet! it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. macaroni, egg, extra sharp cheddar cheese, fake bacon, salt, pepper, milk, frying pan. cook it. delicious.

prior to last night, i only have eaten it once since i went veggie. it is sort of bland without the bacon. now fake bacon technology has caught up and i was able to make it with the fakcon (as rW and i like to call it) and enjoy a slice of childhood once again. i also substituted in whole wheat macaroni.

i bet the whole thing could be made vegan, but i am opposed to soy cheese for personal reasons.

a month ago

that was the last time i wrote an update. egads. much has happened.

and unrelated to all of those things which i will detail, is this photo rW took of me. i like it because i am relaxing on the floor betwen the couch and the coffee table--a favourite spot. AND (!!!) because i am wearing the Gathered Pullover i knit for myself.

i opened 3 shows. Busytown (children's musical), Temptation (political satire with costume party!), and The Serpent Woman (fantasy/commedia).

i was sick from september 26th through.... well, probably this past wednesday, but i am still not at 100%. it started with a bad cold that spread into a double ear infection that eventually also became tonsillitis in one (and only one) tonsil.

then i went on antibiotics that made me 500% more sick and didn't cure the ear infection. so i could neither eat nor hear and was still in tech.

now all the shows are open, and my ears are still about 40% clogged, but i am told it can take up to a month for ears to fully clear and webMD says i shouldn't really get too worried unless i still have hearing loss after 3 months.

ridiculous.

i read Breakfast at Tiffany's while i was at the urgent care and on the metro because i was sick enough to not feel like knitting (!!!). i have since recovered enough to report that i have knit....

75% of a christmas gift. 2 mittens, each from a different pair. 20% of a hat. and one whole side of the edging on the christening shawl. i made a mistake on that on day 2 of tech #1 and it has been sitting ever since until i have the time and brain power to tear back and resume.

jess has assured me the bambino will not be baptised until december, but i want to get it done before his arrival as a point of pride.

other items of note for the month:

locked myself out of the apartment. twice.

rW and i have passed the 6 month mark.

i have started to sew for myself again.

my car had to go to the doctor.

i registered to vote in maryland.

i started my christmas shopping.

and i discovered a new bakery.

tomorrow i am having a head shot taken for use on the company website and programs. i am unsure how i feel about this. it means i need to go wash my freshly dyed hair so it will be manageable tomorrow for the hair and make-up gal.

i hope i get to wear my glasses.

the hour before i go to bed

i have been working a lot lately. more than my usual "a lot" usual, that is. when i work a lot i get home late and have to decompress for an hour or so.. some what of what i do with the time i should be sleeping....



rW and i finished our 750 piece puzzle.
it was fun. i used to do puzzles with my mom when i was a kid, and we always had a good time. she is a very "make your own fun" sort of person, a quality rW also possesses.

now, i don't think i am going to devote myself full time to puzzling by any means. i still find knitting more relaxing.



after the big old 750, we put together two 100 piece puzzles. they came as part of a ten puzzle set (two 100, four 300, four 500). roll of tape shown for scale. they are very small, and both of them took us less than an hour.

sure are cute and americana.



and finally a farewell.
last weekend, i bought a pumpkin at safeway, and tonight i was going to draw a face on him when a sad discovery was made.... he has the cancer.

one small spot of rot on his bottom where his skin was pierced, probably in transit. it does not seem like much, but he will spoil quickly. Owloysius tried to comfort the little guy but he looked decidedly nervous when i placed him on the ground level windowsill outside rW's building.

R.I.P.
Lil' Punkin


i am in tech this weekend, so busy times and little time to report back. i hope to ave pictures of this show to share. it rocks.

the fun part of the full week. sorta.

rW and i have made some good progress on our puzzle despite only working on it intermittently. we did most of it last saturday and another hour of puzzling on one week night. we mostly have water and rocks left... some trees.

i did all of the sky at once.
go me.

i may have already bought a new puzzle. maybe. ahem.

i can tell you i bought new sneakers yesterday. all of my shoes are dying, and i needed something to replace the 4 pairs of canvas/rubber combos i pitched over the last few months. i also threw out a pair of real sneakers yesterday, but i may have to ask santa for some of those.

last night we went out to the beer store and discovered they had 7oz shorty high life!

high life is my favourite cheap beer. i got the 8-pack of shorties for $3.49. these may be the most perfect thing ever because i don't always want a whole beer.

meet Owloysius. he is a fan of the champagne of beers too.

i have done a lot of knitting on the shawl this week because my car had to go to the doctor and i had a lot of time on the metro. also, i sat (knit) through a first rehearsal of one show and the design run for another. i finished up the body of the shawl, knit the eyelet border, increased to a multiple of 8, and started the knit-on edging.

the edging experience has been a doozy. many false starts and corrections, but i think i have it now. 3 repeats down 51 to go!

holey wow.

this is piece of unblocked lace. um. that's why it looks so goofy and relatively bad compared to other projects i have shown here. don't worry, it will be pretty before the end of next month!

this is the christening shawl for my future nephew. mama knows i am making it for the bambino, but i hope my FBL doesn't tell her i posted a progress photo. ahem. this project is really giving me a run for my money.

i am a new lace knitter, and this has been a learning experience.

i have decided that non-repeating patterns are difficult for me. i can't memorize the knot motif so i am glued to the chart row by row. i would be in agony of i were knitting this to a full stole size with repeats of the knot chart.

but i am not!
and it will be beautiful and worth all the careful chart reading when i have knit the last stitch, blocked it so it looks like something and a new wee person is wrapped up in it.

in other news...
i finished rW's tie. it is beautiful. i don't have modeled photos yet because we have both been very busy this week. i had 2 first rehearsals, 2 production meetings, 1 nineteen hour work day, 3 shifts at the shop, costume fittings, and a partridge in a pear tree. i'm glad it was only a 4 day week!

after the crazy week, rW went out for dinner last night. it was fantastic. we went to Franklin's in Hyattsville (why do they not have a website? or why is it so hard to find?) and i was pleased this go around. i used to go there all the time in grad school, and it was great, but over the last year, it was really sucking. i was pleased to see that this time we had good food, fast service, and a wonderful server.

this last point is especially important to me. i have had the lamest servers there every time i have been in the last year and a half.

we had a relatively simple dinner. beer (yay brew pub!), fresh made rolls, and salads. my salad was mix greens topped with grilled peaches, rd onion, blue cheese, pecans, and a sherry vinaigrette. rW had a salad of mixed heirloom tomatoes, red onion, and slices of feta cheese finished with a lemon dressing.

i cannot even describe how delicious the lemon dressing was on his salad. it is even difficult to describe the dressing itself, it was so unusual.

we went to the attached general store after dinner, and it inspired us to buy a puzzle. a jigsaw puzzle. yes, we are preparing for our geriatric years now.

750 pieces of pretty coastline. i think it is an italian sea town. i will keep you posted as the puzzle develops and my grey hair comes to visit.

la mer

last week during previews for my latest show i was forced (really, my arm was twisted) to start a new project i could knit in the total darkness of a theatre. voila! new tie for rW in the works. it is knit in 100% italian silk making it a treat for both of us.

i think this color will be very nice with his eyes.

before i retreat

me and jess at her baby shower. you can see the very top of the belly bump.

i forgot to share something that happened at the shower.

i am sort of the official shower assistant. i write down who gave what and make sure we save all the pieces. i did it for her wedding shower, so i was elected for this too. well, our grandmother sat next to me so she could see the gifts better (she's 90, distance = not so good).

at the end of the gift portion of the afternoon, jess made a short a lovely thank you speech and then we all went for refills. that's when she made her move. my grandmother grabbed my arm and i thought she just wanted a hug so i gave her the hug and we had the usual "good to see you/love you/etc".... then!

THEN!

grandma: hopefully we will be doing this for you in a year or two.
yvette: (!!!!)
grandma: i just want you to be happy.
yvette: (!?!?)
[long pause]
yvette: um, okay.

i escaped.
i had to. i even had to avoid he for the rest of the day because she tried to go back to the topic with me, and she went to my mother as well. i feel bad because she is 90, and i live far away, so it is not as if i see her every week. bu i think it took me at least 12 hours to fully recover.

yet it does beg one question... what exactly did my grandmother mean by "doing this for you"? because we were at a baby shower. not a bridal shower. maybe i am not giving her enough credit, but i just don't see my grandmother being that progressive.

okay.
thrift stores will be awake. off to shop my show. almost finished! see you when this beast is more complete.

three ohio things

this is my new friend. i met him outside my favourite yarn shop where my mum shops. isn't he cute? when i walked to the fence, he came right up to me and said hello while the other alpacas and llamas continued to frolick. i think he believed i was bringing him food, but i will just go on pretending we are pals.



these guys were also outside the yarn shop. they were chasing around a white rooster until i came up to them. i am sure they thought i had corn or some other yumminess.



Marblehead Lighthouse is about 15-20 minutes form my parents house and about 5 minutes from my fav yarn shop. i cruised by but i didn't take the tour because i was on a schedule. i have never been up inside the tower--someday.

argh!

i HATE our ftp server.

i am trying to write a bunch of blog posts for the store blog and schedule them to roll out over the next week or so.... i want to get this done before i go into tech so that it can 1. get paid. and 2. not have to worry about the blog while am up to my eyeballs in my "real" job.

boo.

boo on images and ftp servers!

shower craft

saturday i attended my cousin's baby shower. for the forthcoming bambino, i made a few crafty gifts. not all of them were yarn craft, but there was some of that as well (as always!). first, something we have seen before.

bambino is a little boy, and he will have the cashmere bootees i knit a few months ago. i added a blue ribbon to each to make it a little more "boy" and to help prevent him from kicking them of his little feets.

at the shower we had to pass the bootees around because everyone wanted to touch the cashmere.

in addition to warming his piggies, i made something to adorn the bambino's nursery walls. jess liked the winnie the pooh gang a lot when we were little, so i decided to make some pooh themed wall hangings. these four little guys are about 2 inches tall in their frames.

very cute and super fun to make.
each one took about 2-3 hours to stitch and frame. i have not done a lot of cross stitch since 2000, so this was a big change of pace for me. i enjoyed it a lot once i got the hang of the technique again.

finally, i created a "least common denominator" craft--iron-on transfer. i was at jo-ann's a few weeks back and saw these iron-on transfers and could not resist. super cute on blue onesies. they were a pretty big hit

there may be more shower and/or ohio pictures to come.... BUT! i am entering tech this weekend, so updates will become sparse soon.

out of town

i am i ohio right now visiting with my family and attending my cousin's baby shower. right before i left, i finished my dad's sweater. about freaking time.

i know it didn't take me long to knit it, but it felt like a dog's age because there were so many unexpected mistakes in the numbers. i was following the pattern carefully, and then it stopped following itself. and there is no errata for this pattern!

boo.

the project...

i ::heart:: my dad
a.k.a. Unisex Knock-Around Cashmere Pullover
by Teva Durham
published in Weekend Knitting

size 44". knit in Cascade 128 Tweed (7 skeins #7622 olive green, 90% Peruvian Wool, 10% Donegal.) on size US 10 needles.

started: july 24, 2008.
finished: august 11, 2008.

let me start by saying that this sweater is beautiful. let me also say that i really enjoyed making it up until the last 20% or so. and let me conclude this initial assessment by posting my ravelry notes into the blog.

it had such a positive start...

i have started my christmas knitting. i work on this project around my boyfriend because i get distracted easily by our conversations, and this pattern is very simple.

i am considering modifying the sleeves.

07/27/08: finished both center panel sections. i have sewn them together at the side seams and picked up the stitches for the bottom of the sweater to knit in the round rather than picking up separately and seaming later.

me = lazy

i should not have been lazy. or i should have done a bit more thinking. i picked up the total number of stitches for both sides and knit them. well, if i had been thinking, i would have taken away stitches for the seams. two stitches on each side get used in the seaming, and i had no seams.... so my bottom section of the sweater flared out.

in the end, i decided to seam in darts on each side to reduce those stitches--flare taken care of.

07/30/08: finished bottom portion of the sweater body, picked up stitches for front body and sleeve increases.

08/04/08: finished the top front/front sleeves. i was knitting away and thinking “wow, this is taking a long time” until i looked at the reality of what i was knitting–the top of the sweater body and both sleeves at the same time. silly knitter, trix are for kids.

i am a little nervous about the collar looking good!

nd my nerves started at the right time. my knitter's spidey sinse was tingling because it got tough from here on out.

08/06/08: i knit the collar last night, and it looked good, but despite carefully reading the directions, my collar is about 5 stitches too far to one side. in this bulky yarn, that is more than an inch! gah. i need to go back to being a sock knitter.

08/07/08: i fixed the collar yesterday and it is now in the correct spot. for the life of me, i could not make the pattern numbers work, so i just employed my old pal logic.

08/09/08: i knit the back following the instructions, and it is all sorts of jacked up. i cannot even describe the absurdity.

08/10/08: okay. i managed to fix the back by completely ignoring the directions and decreasing the sleeve stitches MUCH sooner than the pattern recommends. i did the 3 needle bind off written in the pattern, but it looks assy, so i am riping it out and redoing.

i have had such a hard time with the last haul on this pattern, but there is no errata on the pattern.

i am dubious.

08/11/08: sweater is done. drying from the blocking. pics to follow soon!

i ended up pulling out a second three needle bind-off and simply binding off the back section and sewing it to the back center panel. it looks much better.

as if the pattern problems were not enough, i was thisclose to running out of yarn!

my final problem with this pattern is the serious amount of extra yarn i needed. i am glad i bought two extra skeins because th pattern called for 660 yards for the size i made and my skeins totaled 896 yards. that is more than 100 yards over the amount called for with the next size up.

i used all but the tiniest scraps. i have one 4 yard piece and 4 pieces of yarn longer than 8 inches. the rest is the clippings from the ends.

08/12/08: blocked and photographed. thank you to rW for standing in as a sweater model.

in the end, i can say... i like the sweater. it is very pretty, and i hope my dad likes it and actually wears it. i can also carve another notch on my knitting belt. i have now officially knit a man sized sweater! yeah!

more when i return from ohio. maybe even some non-knitting craftiness.

blargh!

there is something seriously screwed about the pattern from which i am knitting my father's sweater. it was smooth sailing until i hit the final 25% of the knitting. then the pattern numbers stopped matching up in the book, and all sorts of chaos ensued.

the collar was in the wrong place, and then the backs of my sleeves and the back of the body suddenly became too long well before they should have been "done". i think i need a break from oddly constructed sweaters that are made all in one piece.

when you have to rip back, you have to rip back a lot.

let's look at a few things that were not headache.

froggy
designed by Lion Brand

crocheted in Berroco Touche (3/4 of a skein of green tea and scraps of bleach, 50% cotton, 50% rayon) with a tahki cotton classic embellishments with a size H hook.

started and finished: august 4, 2008.

this guy is super goofy. he takes very little skill to create, and he is a very fast way to get the crochet fix. he has other friends from the same set on the lion website, and i plan to give him some company. i may gift the frog and his future friends as a whole menagerie or parse them out to people over time. we shall see, but i am pretty sure he will not be mine forever.


piggy
designed by Lion Brand

crocheted in Mission Falls 1824 cotton (3/4 of a skein of #408 Foxglove 100% cotton)and mystery pink stash cotton and tahki cotton classic embellishments with a size H hook.

started and finished: august 5, 2008.

the pig was designed as a buddy to the frog, but i did a lot of modifications to the pattern to make him cuter (in my opinion). he has a real snout and a tail in my version. he also looks more like pig and less like a ball.... his body instructions are actually identical to the frog.

now you can see how much i modified him.

whew.
i feel better now. i think i may have it in me to put the stitches back on the needle and then... suck it up and deal.

beet dis... RAK!

i joined the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) group on ravelry. in the group forum you post a wish list and other people post a wish list and if you can fulfill a wish, you do. they can be knitting related and non.

my non knitting related wish was for people to send me beet recipes, which they have!

i told rW about this and he sent me a RAK as well. sort of.

arrrrrrtissssst

ps- marat/sade

oh, yes.
opening went well!

the post threw me a bone, and some other critics liked it quiet a bit. i'm not in the mood to find reviews and link.

you can check out some pictures here, here, and here. that lasts set has one of me showing my typically well concealed goofiness and anime eyes.

show cntinues to run through next weekend, so get your tickets here.

i'm nice to my boyfriend

first the catch up.

long time no blog. i have been busy busy with starting the first 5 shows of the new theatre season, opening Marat/Sade (my final show of last season), helping on season selection for one theatre company, working at the store, teaching crochet class, seeing a friend whom i have not visited with since 2001, and completing the wedding gown i designed for another friend.

she is getting married today.

congrats to R. and her man D. i hope she feels (and looks) like a million bucks today, and even more than that, i hope they have a long and happy life together.

i may post a picture of the drawing of her dress after the big day is over. i will put a photo up once they get the professional shots back. that will probably be in a few weeks.

now the yarn projects.
while i have worked on many things, all my finished projects have been for rW, as this post title suggests.

rW's Rockabilly Bathmat (and Atomic Radios Shower Curtain)
designed by kittything

knit in many skein bits of random cotton from my stash (doubled) on size U.S. 10.5 needles.

started: july 3, 2008.
finished: july 9, 2008.

rW. moved into a new apartment on july 1, and he was blessed with a bathroom that had a manly 1960s pink tile renovation. me being that polly-anna, lemons into lemonade sort, i made him some accessories that made the place a little more his style.

it started with the atomic era radios shower curtain. i bought some yardage at the fabric store and sewed it to the correct dimensions and added grommets. voila! $20 bucks and an hour at the machine is much better than $40 and an hour at Linens and Things.

to go with the pink tile and crazy colored curtain, i took all the scraps of pink cotton in my stash and paired them with the black cotton bits and made a random stripe bathmat. very straight forward and a fast knit.

now that i have given it a chance, i think i would like to try crocheting a bathmat or other rug for myself in the future.

the other nicey nice thing...

The Great Green Sock Tie
aka Koigu Tie
designed by Maie Landra

knit in Hand Jive Knits Nature's Palette Fingering (1 skein NP122 "spring grass" 100% wool.) on size US # needles.

started: june 17, 2008.
finished: july 24, 2008.

this was a fun and easy knit. if i had been more focused, it would have taken me much less time, but this was tv watching, commuting, long meeting type knitting. whenever i had the right combination of silence and good lighting, this project got ignored in favor of the cables or lace haunting me currently.

one last picture to show some stitch detail....

finally.... remarkable things!

1. rW asked me to knit him this "sock tie". (!!!!)
2. he picked out the yarn himself with minimal guidance from me.
3. he wore it within 48 hours of completion, and he is already talking about "the next tie you make me...."

someone knows ow to get a knitter to make them gifts.

the next big thing....

and this time it is a revolution.

cast: Steve Beall, Joe Brack, Jonathan Church, Katy Carkuff, Parker Dixon, Alice Anne English, Danny Gavigan, Michael Grew, Ashley Ivey, Emre Izat, Lisa Lias, Meg Maxwell, Eric Messner, Christine Millette, Richard Ernest Owens, Helen Pafumi, Barbara Papendorp, Colin Smith, Jesse Terrill, and Andrew Vergara.

the rest of us: Andrew Griffin (lights), Yvette Ryan (costumes), and Matt Soule (set), Matt Ripa (assistant director), Jenn Carlson (stage manager), Christine Millette (ASM), Hannah Hessel (dramaturg), Cliff Williams (fights), and Joel Reuben Ganz (movement).

tickets here.

many days of busy

stuff i have done since my last post.

1. start and brought to 90% completion a new knitting project.

2. helped rW move across state lines.

3. attend 2 fun 4th of july parties.

4. cut my finger badly (hampering my knitting badly) at work. try to slice a bit off my thumb cooking dinner. scratch the heck out of my arm carrying (wait for it....) empty moving boxes to storage. bruise my shins at both work and the move. and acquired a mystery bruise on my elbow that is roughly a 2" oval and presents a different variety of colors daily.

5. 10 successful costume fittings in under 2 hours.

6. experimented with claritin and benadryl to relieve my intense allergies.

7. slept more than usual for a pre-tech week because said allergies make me tired. i love oxygen.

8. attended a season selection meeting for one theatre company.

9. began designing a season opener for a university theatre.

10. finished the paper designing of a season opener for one of my favourite companies.

11. sewn two mock-ups of a wedding gown.

12. made a straight jacket. custom sized. hell, yeah.

13. stitched a shower curtain out of late 1950s atomic style radio print cotton.

14. organized my yarn stash: 1 medium sized tub of planned projects. 1 under-the-bed tub of scraps, odd balls, and leftovers. 1 freezer (small!) door of sock yarn.

15. made plans.....

i now long to clean out my books, sort my grad school leftovers, and sew myself a dress out of 1950s toaster print material i have been schlepping since 2002.