knot another hat

Gone, baby, gone.

I'll be here for the next week:

I'm taking my new Noro sock yarn to keep me company. (As if two families with 3 kids and 2 babies weren't enough...)

Next up for NH Cotton DK

As I mentioned in my last post, I really enjoyed working with the Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton DK. It is new for us here at the store, and it is quickly becoming a staff and customer favorite.  (Check out the store model Julia knit for us in the Cotton DK - too cute!)

So when the Summer Vogue came out and I saw this , I could hear the DK calling my name............

I resisted for a couple weeks, but eventually came home with this:

I know it's not too exciting that I didn't vary much from the example colors, but no other combination was as pleasing to me. I cast on yesterday, and it wasn't until that moment that I actually realized the colorwork is NOT intarsia, but duplicate stitch. I'm gonna give it a try - cross your fingers for me that it will work out...

¡pantalones terminados!

The pants are done, and they are loved!

• Pattern: Emma's Unmentionables by Lee Juvan, available from Knitty.com
• Yarn: Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton DK (100 egyptian mercerized cotton), 4 skeins Hot Pink #0770 and 1 skein Spring Green #0580
• Needles: 4,0mm (US6)

Overall this was a fun pattern to knit. I believe there is a little error in the pattern in the join of the two legs into the body, but it was easy to recognize and correct so the legs joined correctly with the placement of the working yarn.

I did modify the waistband of this pattern. As written you do a few rib rows, an eyelet row, and finish with a couple more rib rows. Then you can thread 1/4" elastic through the eyelets and cover it with ribbon to secure the waist. I wanted a more finished look to the waistband so after the eyelet row I decided to change it up a bit and instead did a waist casing for elastic. That way I could put 3/4" elastic in and cover it nicely with the casing. Because I had already done the eyelet row when I decided to do this, I still threaded some hot pink organza ribbon through the eyelets and the ribbon ties in a nice bow in the front.

Best of all? Campbell really seems to like them! I told her it's like her legs are each wearing a frilly skirt, and she bought it hook, line, and sinker.

I loved, loved, LOVED this cotton (my first time working with it), and in my next post you'll see what I decided to cast on with it next.

pantalones....

My daughter (Campbell) will not wear pants.

No way, no how, will that girl put on a pair of pants, and that includes anything that looks like pants - shorts, overalls, even overall dresses because they kinda look like they might be jeans in disguise. It doesn't matter if they're comfy pants, dressy pants, nada. For her it is skirts or dresses all the time. Even to play outside and ride a bike.

So when Nichole sent me the link for these, I thought - not in a million years. But then Campbell saw the picture, and she was definitely interested. In fact, she swore up and down that if I did indeed knit them for her, she would for sure wear them.

So - I casted on. You may all shake your fingers at me in two months' time when they are finished and she is refusing to put them on.

I'm knitting them out the great new cotton we got recently - Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Cotton DK. The green is for the bottom lace edging (CK wanted hot pink on light pink and I vetoed that for green). Oh - the pattern is Emma's Unmentionables, available on Knitty (see above link).

Afghanin', we're afghanin'...

Boring afghan update:

Sarah has completed two more squares. Jill Martin square:

And Adams square:

La-dee-dah.

recent knitting

I've been enticed by many projects lately, and have casted on accordingly. But I have little progress to report, so I'm afraid my next few posts might be quite boring.

But before I get to all that stuff, let me show you the Blanket! The gals at KAH got together to knit our friend Destiny this baby blanket. We each bought a Roo pattern for the animal motifs - Jill sewed it together, Shannon crocheted the borders, and voila! We are giving all the patterns we bought to Destiny.

My square was the fish in the upper left corner, or below:

We knit it out of Cascade Cotton Rich. It was a lot of fun collaborating on a project like that, and I think Mr. Landon is enjoying it immensely.

On to my knitting - my first "new" project: Friday Harbor Socks.

I have to say -the cuff chart on these bad boys does NOT work correctly. I adjusted it to make it look like the picture in the book Knitting on the Road (Nancy Bush). The interesting thing is - my Sockapalooza pal made me these socks and she clearly had the same problem -except she didn't correct her work to reflect the picture. Her cuffs came out totally different, and that is precisely what I liked so much about this pattern! So it's too late now for me, I'm not ripping it out, but they will be just fine. I'm knitting these out of Tess Designer Yarns Sock & Baby, brought to me by Julia and Nichole after their knitting/yoga retreat in Maine last Fall.

More boring stuff, and then I'm outta here. Remember this? Well, it's been sitting in my closet for one year now, so I thought I'd knit a bit more. Guess what? Hours of stockinette in the round later, and it's still a brown blob!

(It's the Phyllo-Yoked Pullover from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan, knit in Rowan Calmer) Check back next April for the next status update.

That's all for now, folks. 

My mom can't have a boyfriend.

For obvious reasons, I feel like the last post needs to be followed by something a bit more light-hearted. Thank you, everyone, for your kind words. It's getting better. I feel so badly for my friend's family, because I know their hurt is so great. We all know the adage about Time, and as much as it's thrown around, it's the truth. All any of us can do is pass the days and hope it gets easier.

Campbell drew a nice picture at pre-school a couple of weeks ago. It has a lovely stick figure, and next to her is another stick figure, with a big circle and X over it. There is some grass, I think some clouds in the sky - overall a perfectly beautiful portrait with a slight question as to why one of the people has the X over them.

The caption underneath, which Campbell is very proud to have sounded out and written by herself, says, "Minmomcanthvbofrn".

We asked her, What does that say? She replies, "My mom can't have a boyfriend." Apparently I am the stick figure, and next to me is the Xed out boyfriend I am NOT allowed to have. We asked her why, and she logically replied, "Because you're married to Daddy".

But Jason was a bit mystified, and I'm sure the teachers and aides at school were more than a bit mystified, over why my daughter would be expounding on this subject in the first place. And NO - Mommy does NOT have a boyfriend!

please don't wait

My friend was going through some very hard times. I thought a pair of handknit socks would lift her up a bit, give her some comfort. I ordered yarn in her favorite colors almost a year ago, and promised her the socks - even got her foot size. But I always put off casting them on in favor of other projects, for any number of reasons that don't matter now.

I lost my friend this weekend, and she never got her socks. The yarn is just sitting in the stash, and now I don't know how I'll ever even look at it again. I'm not so naive to think that a pair of handknit socks from me would have saved her from herself, but maybe they would have been one little reminder of the people who loved her and cared for her.

Please, please, don't wait to knit for your loved ones. Don't wait to tell them that you care about them and love them. Don't make the mistake that I made.

Suzanne, I'm sorry I didn't get your socks made, and I love you, and I'll miss you. We all will.

koiguliscious

I finished up a nice pair of Spring-y Koigu socks last week. These were replacements for the pair that wore out a month or so ago, and I love them! I did something a little different this time and double-stitched over the entire bottom of the heel. (I know - this would have been more easily accomplished if I had just doubled my yarn at that point - didn't think of it.)

As you can see, taking a picture of socks-on-the-feet is no easy feat (hah!) with a Malsy in tow.

For this pair I also did an 8 row garter cuff (out of sheer laziness) instead of the traditional ribbed cuff. I actually like it a lot. It stays up no problem and is very comfortable!

more cashmere!

Way back, after Christmas, I decided to knit another pair of these  - this time for me. It was the whole new-red-coat-need-new-accessories thing.  Well, I got started, did about half of one, and set them down. For many months.

Desperately needing my size 6 needles and feeling bewildered by where-on-earth they could have disappeared to, I unearthed the forgotten cashmere wrist warmers. Instead of putting them on hold to get at the needles, I made myself finish them! My entire "letter from sarah" in the recent newsletter (see sidebar) was about finishing up those long-forgotten UFOs, so I figured I better heed my own advice. They went so quickly it was absurd that they had sat for so long.

I was just sure that I had finished them just in time for the sun to shine and Spring to have sprung, but lo and behold we woke up to snow on the surrounding hills this morning - go figure. They are modified-to-have-thumbs wrist warmers from LMKG, knit with one skein of Artyarns Cashmere 5 in black.

In other exciting news, my good friend and employee Destiny had her baby boy last week! Since I can't show you the other things I knit her yet (shower won't be for about a month), I will show you the teeniest, tiniest little socks I gave her. I had a miniscule ball of STR leftover from these, and thought I'd give it a go at making true newborn sized socks. I cast on 20 sts on size 1 needles and made these little fellas.

I should have taken that picture with something in there for scale - - they're really small. They were delivered to her at the hospital the day she went home, and she reports that they fit right now, but probably not for more than a week! :)