Sneak Peek

My current project is blocking (the cookie cooling rack is doing double duty)...but here's a sneak peek. I'm pretty happy with it although I must admit, some things about fair isle knitting are still mysterious for me...most it's about the tension of the 'floats' in the back of the work. I used to make them too tight, but now it seems a lot of them are a bit too loose...and some are just right; the consistency is off. I would love watch a knitter who is really good at fair isle to see what they do. But blocking really helps...makes everything lay down nice and flat and hopefully it will 'mold and hold' those stitches in place.

I do love working with Cascade 220 yarn. It's really good for this kind of knitting.

Don't the penguins look like they are wearing little dutch clogs?

Commission

This is my next project; a hat commissioned from a woman who is heading to Antarctica on a cruise next austral summer. She loved a design she saw on my blog and told me the colors she likes and above that, is letting me design whatever I want. I was inspired to put some little Adelie penguins on the hat so I had to figure out a chart that worked within the vertical space of a hat.  This one is 10 wide (with one white stitch in between each penguin) and 20 tall.

I have to get this done since I'm leaving for the States on June 1st and she lives in the general area I am visiting in California, so I had planned on giving it to her then.

I'm not entirely sure about all the patterning in the hat as shown in my sketch, so I may simplify it somewhat. What usually happens is the hat kind of tells me what it wants to be as I go along, but it helps to have an idea to look at.

Neat Cast On
I want to share with you a little trick for how I do a cast on when I want to make sure the edge is really tidy. I use the smallest size DPN I have and lay it alongside the needle I am casting onto. Then I snug the cast on stitches down quite tight around both needles. Then when I'm done casting on, I just remove the smaller needle. Works like a charm!

Ta da! Nice and neat cast on edge and plenty of room to work into the first row.

Just One More...

The day before my friend's baby shower, I experienced an overwhelming desire to make another pair of booties to match the pink hat, even though I'd already knitted a pair of booties to go with it. I found this free pattern, 'Saartje's Booties,' and thought they were cuter than cute, so I downloaded the pattern and made a pair in pink.

They look like they would stay on pretty well, which is always a concern when making booties...as babies are pretty much always moving their feet.

The lichens on the wall in this picture is also proof positive that I live in a city that has ultra clean air. Yeah for Christchurch, New Zealand!

Nature's Delights

Just appreciating nature today. I whacked the end off a rather giant celery and was taken by the loveliness of the design that resulted.

Also walking in Lyttelton this morning, found a fuschia bush quite unlike any I've ever seen. The flowers are so delicate; I call it the 'fairy fuschia.'

It's been a lovely birthday so far. Lots of wishes from friends and family in far off places and a fun morning going to the market and shopping in Lyttelton with a friend. Unexpected present and lunch. A celebratory Kiwi trifle (with candle) and presents from my husband. A fragrant little package in the mail from a friend in Wellington. I think I need a nap!

Oh Yummy!

Nothing more delicious than new yarn. This pile of lusciousness just came in the mail today. It's all Cascade 220, which I just scored off the Webs website (www.yarn.com) for $5 a skein (normally $7). Not sure how long it's on sale, but I checked tonight and it's still at that price. Cascade 220 is just a nice, basic, all-purpose, affordable wool yarn that comes in a kazillion colors and felts REALLY well...and it's quite soft too.

The colors may seem somewhat random, but I actually have two projects in mind for all these skeins. When I will find the time to actually sit down and make those projects is another matter entirely.

This is in addition to the 40 balls of yarn I purchased on sale last weekend...enough to make two sweaters. I already have the patterns picked out and downloaded...and so the yarn and patterns sit, waiting patiently until the day I find make the time.

So all in all, I'm about 7 projects deep at this very moment. But hey, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cascade also comes in 'paints.' Here is a color called 'Thunder.' It's gorgeous. My photo doesn't do it justice, so here's the one off the website...

I think I will make another pair of those French Press Felted Slippers with this yarn. It will pretty much match 50% of my wardrobe. The green ones I made match another 40% of my wardrobe and if I get ambitious, I will make a red pair that will match the remaining 10%. But let's be rational.

Currently...

I am testing my baby parka pattern, by knitting another of the 3 sizes offered in the pattern. I bought the cheapest yarn I could get at the local yarn store, which is still a nice 100% New Zealand wool yarn in a vibrant 'Superman' blue. I am just making sure the pattern makes sense in all the sizes represented.

Double the Cuteness

The first set of baby boy cuteness is done! Followed closely by a large dose of baby girl cuteness.

I finished this hat in about two days. I think my knitting is getting a lot faster. It's basically the same as the blue hat except it has this cool braided thing on the top and bottom of the snowflake pattern and I embroidered little french knots and additional snowflakes to tie it all together. It has a tiny little purple 'sprig' at the top but hard to see in this photo.

Then of course the booties needed a little bit of something to tie them to the hat.  It's a lot more pink than I anticipated but how can you go wrong with pink and baby girls?

I thought the boy's hat needed a little something more, so I added a braided tassel. Very easy to do this.

Just cut some lengths of yarn about 14" long and with a yarn needle, pull each color through the top so that the yarn is folded in half. Usually there are about 6 or 7 stitches at the very top of a hat where the last stitches were pulled together. I secure each color of the tassel yarns through 2-3 of these top stitches.

Here I cut 3 lengths of 3 colors. Neatly braid the three colors about 1.5 inches longer than where you want the knot to be.

Make an overhand knot at the end of the braided section so that the knot itself is made up of the braided yarns. Snug that knot down to where you want it.

Trim the ends to desired length.

In other news, I had fun with the ladies at the Knit World knitting group yesterday. There was a new woman from Egypt, just learning to knit and a hearing impaired woman whom I stuck up a short notepad conversation with. A lovely older lady named Pauline has knitted for years but never on DPN's so I'm going to show her how next week. I showed everyone my booties and hat and it was nice to get some feedback. Lots of oooohs and ahhhhs and howcutes.

I think in general -- from my observations -- most New Zealand knitters seem to knit from patterns and on straight needles. I think I'm the only one I've seen so far using DPN's. And of course I like to make things up. There is something to say for following a pattern though...you don't have to think too much about what you're doing and it all comes out wonderfully. It's just interesting to note that I've gotten to the point where I can make modifications. It wasn't too many years ago that I didn't know much past knit and purl. 

Now the inevitable lull that comes after finishing a project and wondering what will I do next? Seems I can't let too much time go by without the needles in hand.

Isaac's Hat

Making progress on a little hat for Isaac. It coordinates with the little booties I just made.

Issac doesn't have hair yet, but if he's anything like his older brother, he'll be a red on top. He has blue eyes so I think these colors will look fantastic on him.

The other night when I was visiting, Isaac did the funniest thing. When I picked him up, he opened his toothless mouth and laughed as if I was the funniest thing he ever saw. This is pretty interesting behavior coming from a fella who's just a couple months old. It made quite an impression on me.

I figured this pattern out myself, using basic snowflake pattern from Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting. I'll probably find some soft fabric to line it with as the yarn is not as soft as I would like for a baby.

Show Me Your Bootie

Been shakin' booties for the last few days, so to speak. They are great fun and fast to knit. I'm playing catch-up with a friend who's had her new boy for a couple months now and there's another friend with a girl due any day. I found this pattern for Gansey booties free from Knitting Pattern Central on the web. But of course I had to change a couple of things...

On the purple booties, which are for the little girl, I added a girlie finish to the cuff. You can do this stitch as a cast-off for any number of even stitches. I adapted it from a book of knitted edgings that I had, but modified it slightly.

On the teal bootie, I changed the pattern on the top slightly. For both booties, I used KnitPicks Swish worsted in Indigo Heather and (I think) Marine Heather. Great colors and very soft. It's much softer than Lamb's Pride Superwash Worsted. And the other good thing about Swish, is it is essentially the same yarn as the KnitPicks 'Bare' Superwash Merino yarn that you can use to dye your own. Last winter, I dyed up a bunch of the Bare yarn, then ordered the Swish to use with it. Looks great together. And machine washable.

Instructions for dainty bobbled edge:

At start of cast off row:
*k1, but don't slip stitch off the L needle. Instead, place loop back on to L needle. One new stitch created.
Put your R needle in between the two stitches on L needle. Draw loop through as if you are knitting and place this loop also on the L needle. Now you have created 2 new stitches next to the first stitch (group of 3 stitches).*

k2 and pass the first st over the second st on the R needle (you have cast off one st).
k1 and pass the first st over the second st on the R needle (you have now cast off two). You will have one st remaining on the R needle.
k the next st and pass the first st over the second st on the R needle. One st remains on R needle.

Repeat from * to *.
k1, cast off 1 on R needle as before. Repeat 3 more times.
Repeat the last two lines above until all stitches have been cast off. Cut yarn and weave in.

Now I'm on to knitting a couple of coordinating hats to match the booties.

I also finished the scarf I was working on. Sometimes, despite your best efforts, some projects just don't go as well as you'd like. I love the cabled pattern I chose for the scarf, but I ended up running out of one of the yarns a little early, so the scarf ended up a little shorter than I would have liked. It is still really pretty and will look awesome wrapped around and tucked into a jacket or coat. The colors are lovely.