pepperknit

Today’s my dear friend Liz’s baby’s first birthday. I was about to cop out and buy him a book or something, but what kind of friend would I be if I resorted to store-bought? Amigurumi birdies swooped in to the rescue!

Each bird took about 2 hours, but given that I started them late Friday night and was busy all day Saturday, I only sewed parts on the 2nd bird on the subway on my way to the party. As a result, as per usual, the gift was not wrapped. Someday, I will plan a gift in advance, procure the appropriate packing materials, and present the recipients with a lovely wrapped gift complete with ribbon. Today was not that day, as I whipped the birds out of my purse and waggled them at the birthday boy.

He shrieked, grabbed them, waved them about, and promptly flung them away. Seemed like a good reception to me!

Birds of a Feather (Rav)
From: Crochet Today, Jan/Feb 2008
Yarn: A mixture of yarns, including some random 8-ply wool I got in Singapore (the red and the khaki) and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (the beaks)
Hooks: H/8 (for the red) and G/7 (for the other parts)
Notes: None of note. The pattern also includes a comb for the bird’s head but I went without. For one bird’s eyes i made French knots, wrapping the yarn around the needle 3 times (any less and the knot was too small). I attached the wings on one bird with the longest feather at the top and the other bird with the smallest at the top. It was a deliberate choice but I have no idea why. They were fun to make!

“I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay Puft!”

It’s a classic (even the channel AMC (American Movie Classics) tells us so). It’s always on TV (just tune to AMC). It’s part of cultural consciousness like only a few other movies in our lifetimes. It’s Ghostbusters!

And it’s also Jason’s favorite movie. But I noticed, despite all the cool T-shirts Jason has and has even made himself, he was lacking in the Ghostbusters department. I had to fix that, didn’t I? Ectoplasmic goo isn’t so easily rendered, but the Stay Puft marshmallow man sure is.

I found an image online that I traced and tweaked to create space between his joints. The whole thing got traced onto freezer paper. Freezer-paper stencils are incredibly easy once you’ve got a plan—in fact, I once wrote out a short tutorial, the first time I gave it a shot. My only frustration was the paint itself. Opaque white is thick and gunky, and stenciling it on wasn’t the smoothest of operations. But I made it work (perhaps the homemade look helps—don’t want anyone to think he got this in a store, after all!). A second layer, in orange, was applied after the white was fully dry, and this guy was ready to ravage all of New York City!

Let me acknowledge the long silence round these parts and apologize. I said I was on a knitting break but that isn’t entirely true—I’ve actually knit a few things so far this year, and I’m overdue to share them with you. It’s a rededication to the blog, as I’m currently bursting over with crafty happiness!

A lot of us on the East Coast and Midwest in the US woke up this morning to snow, with the threat of a lot more overnight tonight—but it was just unseasonably warm a few days ago! Such is the way with winter, huh? You think it’s on its way out, and it comes tearing right back in. I suppose it was to be expected—March does come in like a lion, right?

Get your hands ready for the last burst of winter—and keep your fingers warm on those spring (or fall) days when it’s not quite warm enough to be without knitted goods—with the Merion Mitts, my latest pattern!

Knit in the round in a worsted weight yarn on size 5 needles, the resulting mittens are squishy and warm. The seed stitch palm is a little treat to yourself, and the Maypole pattern up the back will have you thinking about May Day. It’s just around the corner, I swear. But you’re going to need something to keep your fingers warm in the meantime.

via Ravelry for just $6!

Available in two sizes—women’s large (modeled by Ashley) and small (modeled by Pam)!
Instructions include the Maypole pattern both written out and in chart form!
Clever decreases preserve directionality for a professional, finished look!
Look amazing in Malabrigo and other worsted-weight yarns!

Time to knit this skirt: 2 weeks.

Time to weave in the (many) ends: 2.5 hours.

Time between finishing the knitting and finishing the finishing: 4 months.

When I left for Singapore for Christmas, I brought my skeins of Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino, my size 8 needles, and a photocopy of the pattern. My goal was to finish it while on vacation. As it turne dout, I finished up the knitting while on my flights back, and I even went so far as to block it in a jet-lagged hazed at 3:45 the morning I returned home.

I chalked it up to a success, because I had finished the hard part! But then it sat. In truth, it sat in a crumpled heap at the bottom of my closet. But finally, this past weekend, I got my act together and wove in all the ends. Unfortunately, I was about 4 days too late to have Lolly photograph the FO, which really would have been awesome—if only because exactly one year ago I finished my Shocking Skirt and she photographed it for me. We were on a photo-taking rampage last week anyway! Oh well, I made do by myself in the subway.

Snapping Turtle Skirt
Knitting Nature, by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns Superwash Merino
Skeins: 1.25
Size: 34″
Modifications: Rather than the zipper, which I think would have been ultimately nonfunctional, I attached each successive row of hexagons continuously so there would be no seam, and then instead of the little rolled waistband, I knit for 9 rows and made a casing for some 1/2-inch elastic.

More skirts are in my future—hopefully more than once a year!

I definitely love the skirt, though it hugs every curve. Luckily, I like my curves.

I actually finished this hat while watching the Superbowl, and have been wearing it daily, but I never got around to taking real FO shots. But look how happy I am with it!

Roman Earflap Hat (pdf)
My pattern, but the original was knit for a friend. Now I have one for me!
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns, Superwash Merino, a whole lot less than 1 skein.
Needles: US 8 . . . I think
Started: I know I re-started it after Rachel was here, because it was initially too small (that’s what happens when you guess at your head’s circumference instead of measuring, even when you have a tape measure in your hand), and she came over on Jan 31, so I’m going to guess Feb 1.
Finished: Feb 3. (Woah, that was fast. Oh, right, I got horribly ill after seeing Rachel.)
Modifications: This yarn was worsted weight, but the yarn I used in the pattern was a little thinner, so I just adjusted the brim by a multiple of 4 and then after the brim I decreased to a multiple of 7. I believe that 7 is crucial for a nice rounded decrease, so that’s the most important factor when modifying the pattern, as far as I’m concerned.

You may notice that something is conspicuously missing from the top of the hat. Yes, I opted to not pom-pom my hat. I made a pom-pom for the end of one tie, but it came out sloppy, and then I lost all interest. This is a constant problem for me—semi-complete a project for myself, start wearing it, and then never put the final touch on. This is why Pam (the cardigan, not the blogger) still doesn’t have—and will never have—buttons. The hat at least doesn’t scream to all who see it that something’s missing the way the buttonholes do!

I also modified the earflaps slightly so that they weren’t too big. I probably could have made them wider, to have a warmer hat, but this one is plenty warm. I love it more than any other hat I’ve ever made for myself!

And for those who heard me complain about the yarn bleeding all the heck over me, I washed it a few times in wool wash and all the color rinsed out—it does not turn my head black/brown when I wear it!

Erm, wait, it IS February. But it seems that the February Sweater bug is making the rounds–do people feel more inspired to knit it during the second month of the year, or is this a fluke? Because Annie just finished hers (we can’t believe she finished before me. Not that I think all knitting is a race, but well, I wanted to win), and Stacey is teasing us with her completed one. These are just two of the blogs that I read; I didn’t dare check Ravelry.

Baby Sweater on Two Needles, or as it’s more commonly called, the February Sweater
Knitter’s Almanac, by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Liza Souza Super Sport, colorway Can’t Elope
Needles: US 5
Size: Longer than the pattern specifies, by about an inch or an inch and a half–eh, I had more yarn and I figured, why stop now? However, I will venture to say that this additional length reduces the cute factor ever so slightly.
Started: February 4, 2008
Completed: Last end sewn in February 20, 2008
Modifications: Knit the sleeves in the round. Down with seaming!
Notes: The reason this took so “long” compared with other tiny things that I knit is that I debated the closure. EZ calls for buttons, and there are some great examples out there with different button placement. But I wanted something that would up the cute quotient.

Pom-poms were clearly the answer. And some 3-stitch I-cord pulled it all together perfectly. When I did the yoke increases, the typical twisted M1s were making the rows look a little wonky, so I went with lifting the strand between and making a hole—the slight laciness in the yoke is cute, and that last row of increases was perfect for weaving an I-cord into. I think my I-cord is something like 20″ long.

This is another baby knit that is awaiting its recipient—and let’s all keep our fingers crossed for another girl, ok?

After finishing the dodecahedron on Saturday I planned on starting another, but then I got to thinking about polyhedrons and how easy it would be to make pretty much any shape. So I poked around Wikipedia and decided the icosahedron, a 20-sided shape, would be the way to go. I cast on Sunday morning, and cast off tonight.

It was fun! I used three colors–though I know it looks like just orange and yellow, the cast on and first row of each pyramid is in red. I will take better photos of the pair of toys in daylight soon.

Icosahedron
Yarn: Knit Picks Crayon, in red, orange, and yellow
Needles: US size 4 (3.5 mm)
Started: Sunday, Jan 20
Finished: Tuesday, Jan 22
Notes: Each of these pyramids is built on a triangle–mine were all 7 stitches to a side. I knit 4 rounds between decrease rounds, except for the last, where I knit 3 rounds. Each pyramid took about 20 minutes to make, and were mindless but fun. The last pyramid, however, was rather unpleasant.

Took 45 minutes, and made me want to quit! But I’m very happy I persevered. This toy is so much fun!

Well, there go the New Year’s resolutions. I made a little list for myself, and one of them–”Blog more”–has been woefully ignored. I’m happy to report that I’m keeping up my “10 minutes of straightening up every night” resolution, for the first time ever. So you win some, you lose some.

My biggest resolution for 2008 is to blog WIPs. We’ve all talked about and noticed the push to blog just FOs, and there is something so satisfying about the big reveal, but there will be no blog if I don’t blog WIPs. But first, let’s linger a bit longer on the FOs! 2007 had only 2 more FOs than 2006 (and one of those was freezer paper stenciling), and I’m not sure if I think that’s impressive or pathetic. It’s definitely one or the other. I’ll decide how I feel about it as 08 progresses, I think, as I either come to accept that I can only accomplish about this much in one year, or as I try to outstrip previous years’ results.

As always, I have a lot of little projects. Gosh, remember that time I had 4 FOs in 4 days? That was ridiculous. Many of my biggest accomplishments, knitting-wise, appear in this collection–my Shocking! Skirt, my Twist-Front Top. I’m super thrilled with the Roman Earflap Hat (pdf). And I’m more than a little bit proud to be bringing “sexy back” to knitting, as some of you have put it.

I participated in two swaps this year–my first time venturing into the swapping world. I enjoyed the Sound Swap a lot, but the Single Sock Swap was just genius. Those chalets still wow me. But I’ve learned that I’m a terrible, awful, no-good package mailer. I say that it’s practically pathological, my inability to mail a package in a timely manner. So I will be very selective about participating in swaps in the future. Perhaps this needs to be added to my resolutions . . .

The sleeper hit of the year was my Bainbridge Scarf (pdf), which so many of you made as Christmas presents! That was a true honor.

Biggest observation I can make about 2007? My hair grew really long. I’ll let you in on the secret to this: get only one haircut during the year.

Heading into 2008, I’ve got an incredible project just off the needles (but which needs some additional work to be presentable, so I’ll drag it out with a WIP post), and then this just happened tonight . . .

I didn’t do more than dust it off, thread it up, and fill a bobbin. (A friend mended some clothes.) But it’s going to lead to something, it really is.

It feels as though it’s been forever since I revealed an FO ’round these parts. I’m happy to say that though I didn’t take a photo of the set, these babies are off the needles and on the hands of their recipient.

A while back, Laura quit her blog for various reasons, of most concern to me her hand’s repetitive stress injury. So sad! And then when she posted this picture to Flickr, lamenting her lack of a pair of Endpapers to soother her hand pain, well, I just had to step up and give my friend a hand.

She mailed me her chosen yarn–red (Koigu) and pink (Idon’tknowwhat)–plus two skeins of blue sock yarn for just me to have (thanks!). It couldn’t have arrived at a better time, because I was about to leave for Portland and needed some plane knitting. I had two legs–La Guardia to Chicago, Chicago to Portland. I cast on (using size 3 needles) in La Guardia and had actually come to nearly finished by the time we landed in Chicago, but I wasn’t happy with how it was turning out.

The pattern calls for a purl “seam” stitch on either side, which you can see in the photo above. I guess this is because the design doesn’t actually fit the width of the mitts; it didn’t feel cohesive to me. Plus when you pull the mitts on, it’s hard to get the seam to sit exactly along the sides, and why have this challenge to getting the mitts on attractively? When I got on the plane to Portland I asked the advice of my seatmates, two sweet women who actually weighed in (rather than smiling politely and turning on their iPods), and so I frogged the whole thing and started over. I had finished the first one–well, up to where I needed scissors*–by the time I got to Portland, and that evening I finished the first one entirely and cast on for the second.

I went into a panic that I had knit the first one so fast, so I made a little side trip to Knit/Purl to buy new yarn in case I needed it. (Of course, I only knit a little more during the rest of the weekend so this trip ended up being more for souvenirs.) Knit/Purl is a delightful store, with a large selection of yarn and books and other supplies, plus their own Shi Bui yarn line. I bought two skeins of baby blue Shi Bui.

That glorious wall on the left is the Koigu. I swooned. I took only a quick walk over there and back to my friend’s place, as it was blustery and cold out. I tried to stop by another yarn shop in the area but it was closed.

Anyway, back to the mitts–I decided to nix the purl seam stitch, just let the pattern jog at one side, and I was decently pleased with the result. I knit the second one on the way home–from Portland to Chicago–and then finally wove in the ends and got it in the mail in the second week after Thanksgiving. Laura received them, and they fit great. See her wearing them here.

*Many thanks to Big Alice for pointing out that fingernail clippers are allowed on flights! I brought them with me on this trip to Singapore and they’ve been a lifesaver, as the pattern I’m working on now involves lots of starting and stopping.

From the idea to knit a single sock and swap it with someone else to the pattern and the knitting by Kristy, this pair of socks is bursting with brilliance.

Pattern: Chalet Socks from Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks
Yarn: Tess Designer Yarns sock yarn
Skeins: 2
Needles: US 1.5
Received Sock #1: Monday, November 4
Started Sock #2: Tuesday, November 5
Finished Sock #2: Saturday, November 10

Kristy picked a pattern that I probably would have never chosen myself, despite everyone else making it, but that I ultimately have fallen completely in love with. It was a perfectly fine pattern, but never caught my eye. But the traveling twisted knits on the bed of purls? Brilliant. (I’m definitely going to play with designing my own socks based on this technique.) It took me a while to get the hang of the pattern–those charts are unlike anything I’d ever seen before, and I wasn’t “getting it” for the first few rows. When it clicked, though, I was suddenly going like gangbusters. I didn’t swap stitches the way the pattern specified; I considered them like normal cables and worked them using the method for cabling without a cable needle that I first saw on Grumperina’s blog.

Let’s talk a bit about this yarn. I’ve always been someone who lusts after Tess yarns, and spends an inordinate amount of time in that booth at all the fiber festivals I attend. I’ve bought yarn there, but never the sock yarn. I’m a total convert! It’s firm and dense and gives excellent stitch definition (great with this pattern) and is also soft and comfy. And the color Kristy chose!! Pale icy blue ranks very high on my list of favorite colors, and I found picking this sock up every day a true delight.

I don’t know how to thank you enough, Kristy! Actually, stay tuned, folks, because Kristy sent me a copy of Folk Socks (in addition to the tea, chocolates, and small bag featuring yoga-themed fabric), but I already own it. So we’re going to devise some kind of contest in which you win the extra copy.

I’m so sad that I finished so quickly. It was less than a week ago that I was marveling at Kristy’s skilled knitting. In such a short time I magically have a finished pair–and that’s the brilliance of the Single Sock Swap. (Happily, the two socks are nearly identical. Only difference? She did a better job picking up the stitches around the gusset.)