Motherboy XXX

Getting ready for the Balboa Country Club's annual Motherboy competition is quite an undertaking, to be sure, and like many such competitions, a good outfit is a critical foundation.

Details:

Pattern: Lilla Koftan, by Petra Orrbeck

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease

Needles: 4.5mm/US7

Start:  August 2

Finish: August 8

An excellent choice by the Bluths, to be sure.  The sweater works well on both boys and girls, and the color is almost universally flattering.   Worked in a washable cotton/poly blend, this will be a breeze to keep clean and lovely.

And now, a look at our favorite Motherboy contestants, Lucille and Byron "Buster" Bluth.

Lucille is the one clinging to the bottle of vodka; Buster is the 30 year old clinging to his mother's pouch.  They make a lovely, lovely pair, dontcha think?

The Sweet Relief of Baby Knitting

I'm moving soon, half-way across the country, and all of the planning and upheaval has me a bit upended.  To wit: I've been knitting very little.  Or, very little relatively speaking.  I'm spazzy and unfocused and philosophical and OBSESSED with Lifetime Movie Network moviews, so the knitting has slowed down.   I have finished several projects, but haven't been able to get them photographed, with the exception of this one:

The project itself says a lot about where my head's been at.  It's a baby sweater (tiny), finished in 1 1/2 days so very little attention needed.  It's one color, one skein, largely garter stitch and almost seamless.  It was also made for friends in my soon to be new home of Minneapolis.  There's a lot of metadata embedded in this one, wee project.

Details:

Pattern: Leaf Pattern Set, by Jeannine LaRoche

Yarn: Berroco Remix

Needles: 3.5 & 3.75mm

Start: April 23

Finish: April 24

I really, really enjoyed working up this pattern.  It's a top down construction, so I started with the leaf pattern at teh neck, which required some, but not intense, focus, and then cruised down, almost mindlessly, through the rest of the sweater.  Although I ordered this yarn special for this project from Webs, I can't take credit for the color selection.  Oiyi made this sweater several years ago in pretty much the same color, and I thought it looked so fresh and sweet without an ounce of presciousness.  Berroco Remix is a great yarn, made of recycled silk, cotton and wool, the combination of which results in machine washable yarn that has a tweedy texture with none of the itch of tweed; perfect for a summer baby sweater. I'll be using it again, fo sho.

Soon after I finished the sweater Target launched it's Calypso collaboration line, for which I went nuts.  In addition to the silk tunics, linen jumpsuit and dresses I bought for myself, I picked up a this adorable dress, which is going to the same little girl coming this July.

I love them together.  Now, get her a pair of Saltwater sandals and she's set!

Juicy

Literally!  Today I started a three day juice cleanse, and I'm alternating between acceptance and freak-out.  The freak-outs are a result of my fear of failure. I'm not concerned that I'll wake up one day surrounded by a half-eaten cheese pizza, but that I'll cave and have a salad. I've ever been a great one for self control, so the thought of not chewing solely because I've decided not to chew scares me.

So this is what I'll be having for the next three days:

I'm doing the Blue Print Cleanse three day Renovation Cleanse, which is great for a newbie juicer like me.  The renovation is their entry level cleanse, which I think means it had heartier juices/more calories than the other cleanses.  It's only a little past one on day one, but I'm liking the juices (conveniently labeled in 1-6, the order in which they are to be consumed) so far.  Right now I'm sipping on a pineapple, apple, mint concoction and it's delicious.

In other, less literal juicy news, I recently finished another hat.

Details:

Pattern: Rikke, by Sarah Young

Yarn: Madeline Tosh DK

Needles: 3.5mm, 4.5mm

Start: March 24

Finish: March 26

I love this pattern, so so much.  It's so simple in it's appearance, design and construction, that it's genius.  All garter stitch and a subtle change in texture brought about by a simple change in needle size.  This is actually the second Rikke hat I've made; the first was for me and I wear it all the time.  It's black and I haven't managed to take a decent picture of it, so no blogging, but this pretty green (Jade is the colorway) shows the stitch detail and texture nicely.

I selected this yarn as part of a thank you gift I received for knitting something for a friend.  The way that it's dyed, the yarn seems almost to glow from the inside, all space-agey and stuff.  It's the first Madeline Tosh (side note: is she related to Peter Tosh, by chance? Because that would be cool) that I've ever worked with and now I get what all the fuss is about. It's incredibly buoyant and springy, making it a great pairing with patters in which stitch definition is a plus.  I was at Purl last week and had to stop myself from pulling one of her glowing tans off the shelf and shoving it into my basket, such was my enthusiasm for this yarn.  But I kept myself to the one skein of Spud & Chloe Sweater that I needed to finish another work in progress.

Last Friday I went to what turned out to be a lame party with some close friends (we enjoyed each other's company, anyway, almost as much as the Nilla Wafer banana pudding dessert that was on offer), and as we were leaving, I pulled this hat out of my bag and started working on it as we walked to the train.  I asked Him if he thought he might have use for the hat, when She jumped in and said she liked it, too.  Fortunatly, they're married, so Megan & David, this hat's for you!

Finally, a third, slightly more salacious and definitely funkier kind of juicy.  I leave you with the 1983 R&B hit "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume.  Sexy lyrics, yes, but it's still Sunday morning cleaning the house music to me.

A hat for Sarah

When I drew Sarah's name in the my knitting group's gift exchange this year, I was pretty excited because she's someone whose taste I think I know pretty well.  I thought making a gift for her would be easy.  Pride cometh before a fall . . .

A couple of years ago, Sarah turrned me on to a method for extending the utility of my fingerless mitts well into winter: layering them over cheap, knit gloves.  She loved it, I loved it.  But as a member of the Cult of the iPhone, her layered approach to hand wear has been causing her problems vis a vis phone use.  After hearing her comment that she thought she needed a pair of proper mittens, I started scouring Ravelry for mitten patterns.  I eventually decided to crochet a pair, using some Sanguine Gryphon Eidos fingering weight yarn that I bought at Rhinebeck last fall.  Crocheting a fabric sufficiently dense so as to be suitable for mittens was slow work, but fun.

When I finished the first mitten, it was snug on me, but my hands are extraordinarily large, so I thought it would be a good fit for Sarah.  With almost two weeks to go until the gift exchange, I felt very comfortable that I'd finish well ahead of our deadline.  At our next get-together, Sarah announces that she's just made herself a pair of mittens, and in doing so, has realized that she really just doesn't like mittens.

Well, shit.

Because I've known Sarah for about three years, I was able to shift gears without too much angst.  She likes hats, specifically slouchy ones.  Even better, she has a tendency to lose them, so could always benefit from having a spare or two.  I settled on a pattern I'd made twice before because I thought it would suit her style and set to work.

Pattern: Wurm, by Katushika

Yarn: Noro Taiyo & Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 6-ply

Needles: US7 & 8/4.5mm & 5.0mm

Started: January 30

Finished: February 4

I love this yarn so much.  I picked up the skein and as soon as I saw it in the store and carried it around with me like a greedy little hoarder until I decided to buy it.  The colors are so lovely and  I thought the variegation would lend themselves to the welted hat.  The silk content reduced the stretch off the yarn, which resulted in welting that is less pronounced that in the other Wurms I've made.  This bothered me at first, but I think that was more a matter of result versus expectations.  After I sat with the hat for a bit, I decided I was happy with this variation. 

This pattern has you work an extra long brim and then fold it in half, picking up stitched from the cast on edge and then continuing to knit up the hat.  I decided it would be nice to work the inner part of the brim using some super soft cashmere.  Mmmm soft.

Sarah's head is about my size, so I knew that if it fit me, it would fit her.

Bingo!  It's even a tad big, but I think it's OK.  Anyway, it's cute and cozy and Sarah likes it.  When I was running on Saturday morning I ran in to her heading off to run errands and lo!  She was wearing the hat.  Color me happy.

Portlandia

My hometown's all over the news these days.  There's the IFC TV show, Portlandia (if you don't have cable, you can catch some clips on youtube; it's hilarious), a new NBC sitcom that's set there, called Perfect Couples (which has become a guilty pleasure; check it out on cable on demand) and then last week, NPR aired a story the gist of which was this: Portland's unemployment rate is usually 1% higher than the national average and salaries are 20% lower than in Seattle, but (young) people keep moving there anyway because it's so awesome.  And there are biracial guys who work at food carts and play in metal bands.  Again: it's awesome.

I was home for a week earlier this month for a sad occasion, so I was kind of off and blue much of the time, but I did find it warming to be back in Portland again.  The city has changed a lot since I moved away in 1989 (!!), but some things have remained comfortingly the same, like Oaks Park, the amusement park and roller rink where I used to skate to Van Halen, Billy Squire, AC/DC and Ratt.  The park itself was rather rinky dink, as evidenced by the photo, but the skating was always good.

One afternoon in need of a diversion I drove my rented Toyota Yaris over to Burnisde Street in search of a shop owner who is a friend of a friend, just to say hi.  While looking for the FoaF, something in a window of a store called Haunt caught my eye:

Hand knits!  Like I said, I had some time to kill, so I went in and poked my nose around a bit.  The woman working was talking to a friend/customer and since the boutique is small, I couldn't help but overhear their conversation.  The customer was asking about a book that the shop owner had written, if she was going to do another, yadda yadda, and it clicked!  The shop owner was Laura Irwin, the author of Boutique Knits.  After the customer left, I overcame my aversion to intruding on one's privacy and asked her if she was, in fact, Laura Irwin.  She was quite surprised and so friendly.  She said something  to the effect that not many people know of her book, to which I replied "EVERYONE, I know who knits knows it," then admitted that this is probably a small percentage of the general population, however.  Then we chatted about crafting and the smallness of the knitting world. 

I maxed out on dorkiness when I asked if I could take a picture of her (since I'd missed out on my chance when I saw Ysolda Teague walking across the Brooklyn Bridge a few summers ago).  She graciously agreed.  

Cute, right?  The dress Laura's wearing is in keeping with the vibe of the store: modern, feminine with a touch of industrialism.  Because I was focusing on knits, I didn't take pics of the pretty tops, earrings, capelets and shrugs they carry.  Wouldn't have done them justice, anyway, as I'm not a stylist.  But Haunt stocks really lovely items and if you're in the Portland area, I highly recommend stopping in, and if you're not, Laura and her partners also maintain an Etsy shop called Haunt Studio.  Convenient, no?

Another thing that made me happy when I was in Portland was getting the chance to see this dollface:

One of the early members of the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Knit and Crochet Group, she moved back west a little over two years ago.  She's thriving out there, which is wonderful.  Making and selling a lot of art (on Etsy at her store Little Canoe), being outdoorsey, living the good life, which in Portland, includes eating good food.  In addition to my favorite pie place, Random Order Coffeehouse & Bakery, she turned me on to this spot here:

The Potato Champion is one of Portland's many, many amazing food carts.  This one is located in a "pod" (cluster of food carts) across from the Burgerville on 12th and Hawthorne.  I had a hard time deciding between the Belgian style fries, poutine, chili cheese fries and PB&J fries, but I opted for the exotic sounding poutine.  It's a crazy delicious concoction of French Canadian origin that combines french fries, cheese curds and gravy. Yummy peasant food - right up my alley.  The poutine was hard to believe delicious, and as I sat in one of the pod's picnic tables enjoying my snack, I felt really happy and lucky, and also a little nostalgic for my childhood in hippie, progressive, green, coffee-drinking, beer brewing, laid-back Portland.

Wrap it up!

I'm not one to get super hepped up about New Year's resolutions.  They often represent what we wish we were or could do in an ideal world rather than what we should do, or what's good or right for us.  And failure to achieve them (which starts to set in right about this time every year) is depressing. But, I do love making lists and plans and setting goals and cleaning things out and wrapping things up, whether it's my closet, my wallet, the kitchen sink or, OR my UFO pile. 

I'd had a few projects hanging about the apartment for several months now and they'd been getting me down.  Looking at them was making me feel like a greedy, impulsive flake who lacked follow-through, so I decided that before I started a bunch of shiny new projects, I needed to finish a few things, set them free and give them the life they deserve.  My Random Order socks were the first and easiest to finish up, and they gave me the momentum I needed to tackle this bad boy. 

Details:

Pattern: Log Cabin Square, by Sarah Bradberry

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash

Needles: US 7/4.5mm

Started: February 22, 2010

Finish: February 11, 2011

Around Christmas of 2009, my friend Adrienne had asked if she and her boyfriend could commission a blanket from me.  They'd seen some neat ones while travelling in France earlier in the year, but really liked the idea of having something made by a friend.  Producing a commissioned work is not something I'm completely prepared to do, yet.  My skills need improvement, and I am prone to see a mistake and say "I can live with that."  Not quite the right attitude for work for hire.

At the same time, I was really excited about the idea of making something for the two of them, and so I suggested that if they bought the yarn, I would be happy to do the work. She was down with this idea, and so began our collaboration. 

We started by exchanging emails with lots of photos of knit and crocheted blankets and afghans.  I'd skulk around flickr, mostly, for ideas.  I have to admit that I was kind of hoping she'd pick a crocheted pattern, because it would be faster work, but was also quite willing to make a knit blanket, so when she picked a log cabin pattern, I wasn't disappointed.

The next step was selecting yarn.  I knew she would want wool rather than acrylic, so I decided we had to go superwash (they have a toddler and practicality is key); also Adrienne hates the chemical effects of dry cleaning.  I promoted Cascase 220 Superwash pretty heavily, because it's the superwash I've used the most, is widely available and affordable.  Adrienne and Clayton both have very specific design aesthetics, so I left the color selection up to them.  She then sent me an architect-style rendering of the blanket, which was invaluable to me in working on this.  Some people are too loosey goosey with descriptions, and I'm a word person, so that can make me crazy.  Adrienne's an architect and is quite adept at creating visual representations of ideas.

Once I knew the colors to buy, I ordered the yarn from a couple of different online stores to maximize volume discounts and  free shipping.  I think the total was something around $119 or so.  And then, last February, I started knitting.  I'd forewarned Adrienne that this may take me the better part of a year, and darned if it didn't do just that.

Despite swatching and wet blocking a square in advance, when I wet blocked the actual squares, they grew more than I'd planned. The blanked was supposed to be 4' x 6' and it's probably closer to 5' x 7'.  When I finished piecing it together in January, I realized how completely unfinshed it look.  "Shit!" I thought.  "All this work for something that looks like an oversized dishrag."  Then Sarah from my knitting group suggested I make an applied i-cord border (she is i-cord obsessed, but I can make fun of her no longer).  Perfect!  It totally saved the project.

There are 24 squares in total, but I didn't have any way to photograph them all at once.  I'll be mailing this off to Seattle later this week with a twinge of sadness.  Why?  Because it's so groovy, I kind of want it for myself.  At least I know it's going to a good and loving home.

Ups and downs

 This past month has been a hard one with a lot of downs.  The downs don't always go away, but focusing on them too much is bad for one's heart, so I try to focus on the ups, of which there are many, for example
Time spent with little cousins

Journey songs 

Karaoke night & Korean food with the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Knitters & Crocheters
 

 

A pretty hand-dyed (with beets!) skein of yarn from the yarn swap (Brava, Kim!)

A groovy present I received in our gift exchange (well done, Shameka!)



And a surprise, going away gift (a perfect fit, Emily!)

And a chocolate ice cream sundae with warm caramel sauce from Brooklyn Farmacy.  That place is awesome!  I highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in the Carroll Gardens area.

Reflecting on these lovely people and things makes me feel a bit cheerier.

Next time, I'll share some knitting news.

From Minnesota with love

For my birthday last year I received a super special gift from a friend and fellow knitter who lives in Minnesota: a skein of handspun. 

The yarn itself was really exciting, but layered on top of the gift was a coincidence that made it really exciting for me.  Almost two years earlier, I had commented on flickr about a beautiful baby blanket that I saw in a friend's photo. He told me it was made by a super cool knitter/spinner he knows in Minneapolis.  End of story? Not quite.  Turns out, Stephanie special ordered this yarn for me from the very same spinner: Nuttnbunny.  There's nothing quite like the feeling of getting a truly spot-on present.

I considered making mittens or a hat with the skein, but in the end decided to use it for something that would be treated a bit more gently: a sweater. 



I was snowbound when I shot this; perhaps that accounts for my sour countenance.



Details:

Pattern: #22 Garter Yoke Cardigan, by Melissa LeBarre

Yarn: Zealana Eco Cashmere Merino Blend (body), Nuttnbunny

Needles: 4.5mm

Start: September 5

Finish: September 20

I had been wanting to make this sweater since I saw it in Knit 1 magazine two years ago, a feeling that was underscored when I met the designer, Melissa, during our roadtrip to Webs.  Quite a few knitters have knit with the colorblock modification and my calculations told me that I would have enough of the handspun to make it work.  My initial instinct was to work the body using a grey yarn, but (a) I have almost as many grey sweaters as I do horizontally striped shirts and (b) I thought the grey might accent the purple and pinks of the handspun in a rather 6th grade way.  There's quite a bit of brown in the yarn, so I decided to go that route instead.

Very glad that I did.  The yarn was a bit of a leap of faith for me, as I ordered it online, but it matches exceedingly well.  The cheap wood buttons make me quite happy, too.  I am less happy, however, with my button sewing abilities.  I sewed the buttons too close to the buttonband's outer edge, not realizing that this would result in noticeable gapping in the region of my bosoms.  Easily enough fixed, but let's be realistic:  I finished the sweater in September and only got around to sewing on the buttons on December 27th.  This is how she's going to stay for the foreseeable future.  And that's OK by me.

Pik-a-Mix

For me, the holiday season is spent alternating between two modes: revelry and crafting lock-down. I enjoy them both, but I must admit that I'll be relieved when January rolls around and I can operate on a less frenetic pace. The revelry is fun and offers a distraction from the cares and burdens of normal life, but the crafting provides me time to think, plan, mull and relax.  I relaxed so much this year that I couldn't seem to get off one project type: hats.  It's almost become an addiction, but one that's that's healthier than wine or bourbon or easy men.

Some of these hats were were made with particular loved ones in mind, but others came about only because I wanted to experiment with specific yarns or techniques.

Pattern: My Own

Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca Chunky

Needles: 5.0mm/6.5mm

Started: December 23

Finished: December 24

What I've learned about alpaca is that it makes terrible pullovers (because it's super warm and gets itchy) and its really drapey, both qualities that I thought would make it suitable for a slouchy winter hat.  I really liked Kim Hargreaves Kat hat, but I wasn't in the mood to spend $26 on a pattern book, so I improvised this hat with the help of a stitch dictionary.  I used somewhere in the neighborhood of 120-130 yards of the Frog Tree Alpaca.  Love it!  Loved it so much that as soon as i finished, I whipped up another.

Pattern: My Own

Yarn: Rowan Rowanflek DK Tweed (held doubled)

Needles: 5.5mm/9.0mm

Started: December 24

Finished: December 25

While I'm happy with this project overall, I'm not great fan of the yarn.  It's a wool cotton blend, but it's oddly stiff and unyielding.  I had to use large needles to prevent knitting a super stiff, icky fabric that would result in more of a helmet than a hat.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but the yarn is tweedily flecked.  I wanted to make a black because so many of us have black winter coats and colorful scarves, it's sometimes helpful to have one accessory that can fade in to the background a bit.

Both the yarn and pattern for this next project were selected specifically for it's recipient.  David married one of my besties, Lauren, last summer.  He's a fun and handsome man who hails from Portsmouth, England who, more than almost anyone else I know, is always super psyched  to get a handmade gift from me, be it a cake, mix CD or knitwear. Since the UK is known for being damp and chilly, a hat was in order, and given this location, tweed seemed quite appropriate as well.  Cables don't seem like his style, so I decided to go with a simple ribbed hat. 

Pattern: Marsan Watchcap, by Staceyjoy Elkin

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran

Needles: 4.5mm

Started: December 12

Finished: December 15

I modified the pattern so that I worked in a k1tbl, p1 rib, which results in awesome stitch def.  What makes this so neat, to me, is that when you've completed the brim, slip, turn, flip inside out move that results in your knitting in the opposite direction. This means that when the brim is flipped up, the visible rib is the same, not the reverse, of the rib on the body of the hat. Genius!

This next project started as something else entirely, and was, in fact, a completed project.  The first iteration was a slouchy beret that had no slouch. It was awkward, at best, so I ripped it out and started on a pattern I've been wanting to make for a a few weeks now.



Pattern:

Last Minute Slouch by Madelinetosh

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Silky Blend (held doubled)

Needles: 5.5mm, 6.0mm

Started: December 25

Finished: December 26

Not so slouchy, but I have a big head.  None of the photos that I took capture the depth and shine of this yarn.  If you've seen it, you know what I mean.  This hat is the polar opposite of the slouchy black beret, and by that I mean it demands a neutral scarf and black coat. Bright and shiny, this one would be good to wear to a parade (easy to spot).

 Pattern: Scarab, by Jane Richmond

Yarn: Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 6-ply

Needles: I'm guessing 4.5 & 5.5

Started: December 8

Finished: December 11

I'm petering out here, so these last two will be brief.  This yarn is amazing.  I want pillows made out of it.  I want a hat out of it.  I want a bra made out of it.  This pattern utilizes a folded brim (attached to the body via  picked up stitches) for extra warmth around the ears, and extra luxe in general.  Faux cabling every 4th row meant an easy and satisfying knit.  The yarn was a bit of a splash out, but the recipient, Megan, has been a friend since 1985, so she's earned it.

This last one was the first of the holiday batch that i made.  Easy pattern that results in a well textured hat with a pattern that's noticeable yet subtle.  I really like the soft  effect of cabling without the use of purl stitches.

Pattern: Isotope Cable Hat by Tonya Wagner

Yarn: Rowan Lima

Needles:  didn't make note, but I'm guessing 5.0mm

Started: November 13

Finished: November 15

This really isn't a Christmas gift. I was a bit lax with one of my birthday presents last year, so this will be going to Lauren, wife of David of the green tweed hat as part of a belated anniversary of your birth gift. Lauren's lovely with long dark hair, and I'm thinking she'll look a little like Ali Macgraw back in the 70's.

Cute, right?  Steve McQueen knew how to pick 'em.

I'm beat now.  Need a wee drink and then to bed.  Happy New Year!

Little Queen

There are a lot of chic people in New York City, and fall and winter are the chic seasons.  Spring is flirty and summer is sexy, but fall and winter are when style takes center stage.  Sweaters and tights and corduroy and boots and coats and scarves: there are a lot of elements, including textures and colors, to consider when dressing oneself for cold weather.  It's easy to look clownish, which I sometimes do.

Lately I've been finding myself enraged when I see impossibly chic women with gigantic scarves and cowls wrapped round their necks.  I want! I want! I want!  And sometimes, the best gift to give is one that you would like to receive (assuming, of course, that the recipient would enjoy it as well).

Details:

Pattern: Snickerdoodle, by Lindsay Ingram

Yarn: Quince & Co. Puffin

Needles: US 15/10mm

Started: November 22

Finished: November 28

When I saw this pattern, I freaked out a little bit because it was EXACTLY what I'd been wanting, and I also knew it would be perfect for my friend Amy. Initially I planned to use the yarn called for by the pattern (Rowan Cocoon) but in the end I decided to use Quince and Co.'s Puffin, a bulky yarn that comes in a beautiful variety of colors. Peacock is the one I selected.

Working on this was a little tricky, as the recipient is my roommate; I couldn't exactly knit it up while we were sitting on the couch watching 30 Rock.  Fortunately, some friends asked me to house and dog sit while they were away over thanksgiving, so I decamped to their home and knit this linen-like stitch demonically for four days. I was both sneaky and productive.





I was worried about blocking it, but she Amy was called out of town for work and I seized upon the opportunity to wetblock (I always wetblock) the 56" long cowl and dry it on the floor under a fan.  The stitch opened up a bit with blocking, but it didn't grow a tremendous amount, which was a relief, as it was sizable to begin with.  The yarn did soften a bit, though, which was nice.  It's soft and flexible, yet has good body.  There's definitely going to be more Quince & Co. in my future.  Amy's going to Minnesota tomorrow for the Christmas holiday, and since it's been blizzarding out there (I'm not joking; their football stadium collapsed under the weight of the snow), this should prove quite useful.

A few of my knitting pals and I got together on Sunday to say "Bye for now" to one of our ranks who is heading to India for two months.  It was a lovely afternoon and I took advantage of the daylight to snap these photos. I was excited to see the cowl (dubbed Little Queen", another homage to Heart) on women of different heights, sizes and coloring.

Thank you to all of my sporting models. And good luck with your holiday knitting!

On presents and scarves and 70s rock legends

I'm not a crazy Christmas nut, and I deplore much of the excess of the season, but I do really enjoy selecting gifts for people. Mind you, I don't give gifts to a ton of people, as that's not fun and makes each gift less special, but I enjoy the process of thinking about a person and what would make a nice present for them.  I like it so much that I considered working as a personal shopper at one time.  But that's another story. 

The key to picking a good gift is obvious, but often overlooked: what's important is the recipient, not the giver.  It's inevitable that the gift that I give will say something about me, but first and foremost it should be something of use to, needed by or desired by the recipient.  Or maybe something which the recipient has never seen, but which is so totally them that when they unwrap it, they can hardly stop marvelling at it. You know, cashmere mittens are luxurious and wonderful, but I would never give a pair to my Uncle Roger, a dairy farmer.  He'd smile and appreciate them and then they would sit on a shelf in his closet, never used.  Buy him a Thinsulate lined wool cap that would be useful in the barn during a Minnesota winter and he'd brag on that gift for weeks. 

Since this will be my last Christmas in New York, I've been giving a lot of thought to my friends and their presents.  This year's gifts will be equal measure Merry Christmas, I love you and I'll miss you. I've been busy making stuff, but I've purchased a few items as well, because while knitting brings me endless joy, there are only so many hats with which I can surprise someone. One of the most exciting gifts I've purchased so far is a flower pin from Emerson Made.  So festive, so femme and so her.  I'd love to have one myself  to jazz up my many all black, I've-lived-in-New York-since-1995 outfits. Someday.

I also received a package this weekend from Brooklyn based natural skin product maker, Soapwalla Kitchen.  I've been eyeballing her products for about a year now, and this holiday proved the perfect excuse to place an order for a couple of friends who, like me, worry about the preservatives and petrochemicals contained in so many bath and beauty products.  The woman behind Soapwalla Kitchen has Lupus (an autoimmune disease) and started making things out of her own need for healthier skincare products.  Right on, I say.  If you can't find what you want, make it yourself!

In addition to prezzies, I've been busy shopping for holiday cards.  Some years I make my own, but last year and this, I decided to hand the reins over to talented letterpress artisans so that I can focus on under-the-tree items.  I won't give away this year's designs, but last year I ordered sweet New Year's cards from Ink and Iron, and some Christmas cards from Ruby Press.  I'm rather particular when it comes to stationery and I like to write, and receive, letters, and I like my holiday cards to express this (this is one part of my holiday season that's almost entirely about me).

One might get the impression that with all of this shopping, I've been left with little time for knitting, but that's not the case;  I've managed to work up a gift or two, including this:

Details:

Pattern: Quick, Easy-Peasy Scarf, by Nicole Okun

Yarn: Berroco Peruvia Quick

Needles: US 17/12.75mm

Started: November 20

Finished: November 21

Quick and easy is right.  I knit this giant in 2 days, and I'm not a particularly fast knitter.  The pattern as written called for a lopi style yarn and US 11/8.0mm needles, but I decided to follow Terezka's mods and use heavier yarn (held double), bigger needles and add fringe.  I wanted a warm and dramatic scarf for a tall and lovely friend who lives in Paris, and I could not be happier with the results. 



Thanks Amy for modelling!



I call it Barracuda, a wee homage to the Wilson sisters, Ann and Nancy, aka Heart. I don't "heart" heart, I love them.   Powerful, sexy, dramatic, talented rock and rollers. I mean, look at them!

I know they've rocked their fair share of loooonnnng scarves in their day, so the name seemed appropriate.

When Barracuda was finished, I decided I had to have something similar for myself, and while it was a fast knit, I couldn't stomach the idea of working that 2 row stitch pattern again so soon, so I went in search of scarves with similar vibage, and came up with this:

Details:

Pattern: Chunky Alpaca Scarf by Jane Richmond

Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky

Needles: US 9/5.5mm

Started: November 28

Finished: December 2

Your basic feather and fan stitch pattern got me what I wanted:  a cozy scarf that would fold and scrunch nicely around my neck while looking a bit more feminine than garter stitch.  This took exactly four skein of Malabrigo Chunky (colorway Glazed Carrot, although one friend labeled it Persimmon).

I wanted the scarf to be as long as possible, but I also knew that I wanted fringe, so when I finished knitting the third skein, I made fringe with the fourth skein, attached them to the cast on edge, made the same number of fringe (fringes?) for the other end then knit with the remaining yarn until I ran out.  Easy and stress free.  I call her Bebe Le Strange.