Archive for November, 2004
For some reason, I swatched for Audrey. I don’t know why, really. I have been avoiding Audrey like the plauge and was planning on starting her more toward springtime. I’ve been really intimidated by Audrey lately, and have been kind of afraid to start working on her. But I got this little bug whispering in my ear. I decided to “just look at the pattern” to see if I could visualize it in my head. I looked through the rowan book to see if there were any other patterns that I could use for my calmer. Then I pulled out the Calmer and remembered how wonderfully soft this yarn is. Then I imagined wearing this yarn in sweater form, and realized how comfortable a sweater knit with this yarn would be. And I knew that this yarn HAD to be used for Audrey. I love this pattern. It’s so girly and pretty. So I decided that I would just knit up a swatch, just to see what would come of it.
I my first swatch ended up being about half an inch too long, even with denise needles!! 
. So I went down to size 6 needles (two sizes smaller then the pattern calls for). The swatch ended up being acceptable. In some places it is slightly too long, but not by much. So I said “F**k it”, I’ll just do it anyway. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. I have a feeling “f**k it” is going to be my Audrey mantra.
I’ve already knitted up a bit of the front/back. I’ve started on the decreases. So far it’s okay. Not horrible. The yarn is HELLA weird to knit with, though. I’m having a hard time getting used to it. Do I pull it really taught when I knit with it? Do I try to be a little bit more loose? I just don’t know. It’s a very weird yarn. But so soft and comfy.
I am currently working on the fancy Eros Glitz stole for my MIL. It’s really pretty 
. This yarn is also really weird to work with. I’ll be glad when I’m done with it.
November 29th, 2004
How did your Thanksgiving go? Mine was really, really nice. Raffa and I stayed home and had a quiet day by ourselves. Actually Raffa went out for a hella long hike and I stayed home and had a really nice day listening to music and making our dinner. I made my first apple pie! And it was good! Yay! I’m so proud of myself. We bought Harry Potter: the Prisoner of Azkaban and watched it after dinner. When my mom called and told me that Survivor was on I nearly panicked! We missed the first 45 mins. Oh well.
I also had time to finish that scarf that I knitted for my brother’s wife, Ana. I made her a silk garden hat and scarf with colorway 206:
Check out this picture I accidentally took:
Heehee..I kind of like it . I like it when accidental things like that happen.
I had this dream last night where I was searching, frantically, through thrift stores for the perfect sweater to recycle. It took place in my hometown of Spokane, Wa….It was very strange.
November 26th, 2004
I wanted to share something with you all….My mom gave me this poncho last summer and I decided to wear it to work today:
It’s a poncho that my beloved Granny Mary knitted for my mom back in the sixties. My mom was going to give me two others but I couldn’t fit them in my suitcase. Both my grandma, and my great-grandma were avid knitters. My granny mary knitted lots of cabled items. I think she knitted all of her grandchildren gorgeous cabled afghans (regrettably, I lost mine 
). I became interested in knitting well after she passed away, but I really wish that I learned while she was still alive. I could have learned so much from her! I remember getting hand knit mittens from her in the winters. She did this ingenious thing with them…She connected them together with a very long piece of i-cord, it was long enough to pass through the inside of each coat sleeve and inside teh the back. Each little mitten would stick out the sleeve. She did this so we wouldn’t lose our mittens in the winter. I don’t know if she came up with this idea or if it was something that people did in the sixties, but it saved me from getting in trouble for losing a mitten in the winter! Here is a picture of my granny Mary when she was around 24 years old:
Don’t you love the 1920’s -style flapper bob? This was taken around the time she and my grandpa Ed met.
I think part of why I love knitting so much is because I feel like it brings me a bit closer to my grandma in spirit..
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Note: Click here to see more old photos of my family
November 24th, 2004
Thank you soooo much for all of your nice comments on Klaralund and my little beanie and wrist-warmers . I feel all warm and fuzzy now .
I finished yet another set of Silk Garden beanie/wrist-warmers. Here’s a pic (I’ll spare you the modeling shot - this time):
I used exactly the same patterns as the the set in the previous post. The colorway is #211 (leftover from Klaralund). I’m kind of bummed because the two wristwarmers don’t *exactly* match. One seems much more colorful than the other. And I’m worried that the person that I give it to will be critical of that (I know, I have self-confidence issues). I’m am kind of tempted to re-knit one of them so that the colors match a little bit better, but at this point I don’t want to fuss with it. I’ve got other presents to get to. If I have time later, then I might. If not, then the recipient can unravel, learn to knit, and do what she wants with an unravelled skien of Silk Garden (dammit!).
I am currently (at this moment) making (yet another) Silk Garden beanie. I am NOT going to make a set of wrist warmers to go with this one, though. I have three skeins in colorway 206 (which is turning out to be absolutely GORGEOUS). So one will be a hat, and the other two will be a scarf. I am going to use the keyhole scarf pattern from Stitch-n-Bitch 1. I believe it’s called the “windy city scarf.” I haven’t tried that pattern yet and It looks easy and brainless, and slightly different (the keyhole).
I went to one of my LYSs yesterday to buy a couple skeins of Cashmerino and walked out with a little bit more yarn than I intended:
The two balls of Cashmerino will be beanies for my husband’s brothers. I found out that one of his brothers is a yarn snob 
. Apparently, he really likes merino wool. So I will make him a hat with Cashmerino. It’s nice because it’s washable, and contains merino wool AND a touch of cashmere. This, to me, is funny because this guy used to be a hard-core, punk-rocker, skateboarder when I met him twelve years ago. My, things sure change.
I also bought that fancy Eros Glitz with some feathery black yarn to make a stole for my Mother-in-law. There is a little story behind this….
I got back into knitting in February of this year, when my Mother-in-law and I went to a craft expo. There were vendors offering crafts from scrapbooking to Russian Punchneedle Embrodery, to sewing, to quilting, and of course, knitting. At the time, I was going through this manic I-need-a-creative-outlet phase. I had recently graduated from library school and and finally had the free time to pursue something right-brained. I bought lots of crafty things that day: a punch-needle embroidery kit, some stencils and scrapbook paper, and a ball of Eros yarn with instructions for an eros scarf. Both of us saw this little scarf and fell in love with it. So I knitted up the scarf and haven’t looked back since. In fact, it was when I went to Beverly’s fabrics to buy embroidery thread that I happened upon the book, Stitch-n-Bitch. I bought it instead of the thread. And you know the rest of the story . Knitting was just the creative outlet I needed, I just needed to be re-introduced to it.
So the other night, when we were at dinner at the in-laws, Mrs. P told me that for Christmas she wanted me to teach her how to knit that scarf from the craft expo. I was delighted that she wanted to learn how to knit! I told her I would give her a ball of the yarn , some needles, and I would show her how to knit the scarf.
When I went to go buy the yarn, I realized that Eros yarn is NOT the kind of yarn one should learn how to knit with (duh!). But I did see this lovely little stole on display at the yarn store knitted with two balls of Eros and trimmed with a fuzzy, fake fur type yarn. Not something I would wear, but definately her (she likes glitzy).
I am really excited to knit the Eros stole. It will be fun to knit something totally glitzy like that. Sometimes it’s fun to make things that are not at all your style, but secretly kind of like 
.
November 21st, 2004
I finished one of the many hats that I plan to make for Christmas. I made it with a ball of Noro Silk Garden in colorway 86. I am going to give the hat away with the wrist warmers I made a few weeks back. Here are some pictures:
Pattern: Hat: Silk Garden Beanie by Stephanie C. Roy. Wristwarmers: VooDoo wrist warmers by Bonne Marie Burns for Knitty.com.
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden in colorway 86. 2 balls total for both items.
Gauge: 16 sts./22 rows = 4″ in stockinette st.
Needles: size 8 - bamboo dpns.
Completed: 11/18/2004
I hope the person getting this likes it. I know that I think it’s cute, but I’m a knitter. I am kind of leery about the way other people will like my knitting gifts. Hopefully they will at least appreciate the thought.
I am looking forward to burning through these gifts so I can start on one of my sweaters waiting in the wings .
November 18th, 2004
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