The Knitting on Top of the World Knit-a-thon

All Dressed Up With Someplace to Go!

I had a busy week of work, helping Nate while his dad is out of town (he is doing GREAT in high school; he really seems to be enjoying it more!), and watching while things get steadily busier on the real estate front.  I ended up having to work about 6 hours this weekend, which really cut into my knitting time! :D  Oh well, I'll take being busy over worrying about staying employed, any day! 

Besides, I actually felt like I had a sort of social life this week!  Last year, I had invited some favorite clients out to dinner and to the orchestra, and we enjoyed it so much I scheduled another evening for January. Our firm used to put on an annual event for clients, with a catered dinner and a talk by one of the musicians, but now we just sponsor the Minnesota Orchestra and receiving a certain amount of tickets in exchange.  As this kind of event is much more my speed than a Twins game, I try to take advantage of the tickets when I can, inviting two clients and their spouses.  Since one of those clients is Eva, one of my best friends and knitting buddies, we always have such a lovely evening.  Last year, my sister was in town, so I had a date, but this time, I went stag.  Then Eva's husband had to cancel because of a work event, so we invited Renay(!)  (Sort of like knitting night, minus the knitting part!)   We went to a nice French restaurant called Vincent just across the street from Orchestra Hall, and then enjoyed a concert (Brahms; Peter Sirkin playing the Piano Concerto No. 2, and then his Symphony No. 1; Brahms is my favorite composer, although perhaps after 2 glasses of wine one should not go to see a concert by the composer who wrote the word's most famous lullaby...)

Speaking of wine:  I received this interesting bottle of wine for Christmas from my friend Wardo; we met right at the beginning of law school and became close friends, and still keep in touch.  He is a partner in a San Francisco firm, and married a wonderful woman named Melissa.  We were pregnant together with our babies, and then I moved to Minnesota; they ended up having a total of 3, and now are raising their family while both working as attorneys, which has got to be a challenge!  

Anyway, this bottle of wine had such an interesting shape, and I don't usually feel comfortable drinking at home much; Nathan took DARE very seriously and looks at me like I'm a grave disappointment to him whenever he seems me with a glass of wine in my hand.  So I brought it along to the restaurant to share with Eva, Renay, and my other guests, Richard and Melissa.  The waitress told us that the sommelier saw the bottle from a distance was just THRILLED, and couldn't wait to tell us all about it!  Apparently, this type of Italian wine, called Gattinara, was the favorite of the Pope; the bottle is curved to fit right into the palm of his hand.  The sommelier also shared with us that, according to the legend, after having a glass of Gattinara, you are absolved for any sins you might commit for the rest of the day!  (Sort of too bad we all spent the rest of the evening feeling snoozy and listening to Brahms; hardly sin-worthy behavior...)

I decided to dress up properly for the evening, and wore a velvet dress and my new Florentine Shrug Shawl:

It was a big hit at work; all my pals who are following the KOTOTW Project were so happy to see it finished, having seen me working on it for the past 3 or 4 months.  And I must say, I felt very elegant, and cozy.  The yarn is an incredibly soft blend of merino and cashmere.  (Note to self:  Find more excuses to dress up more often!)

I've finished the side inserts or "godets" for the Senorita's Floral pullover, about half the flowers, and the decorative edgings that are stitched to the side of the godets.  Although the pattern uses only two of these, I decided to make four total, so that I can decorate both sides of each wedge-shaped insert. The pattern was really fun, requiring you to knit one stitch, slip it back onto the left-hand needle, and then slip the 8 next stitches over it, which creates those little arches.  I'm now worrying that I won't have enough of the main color of yarn (black) to lengthen the sweater as much as I'd like (darn you, extra 2 1/2" waist length). So, I'm knitting a few balls and calculating stitches per row and rows per ball to deduce whether I'll make it, or whether I have to hunt up some extra balls or start again with another black yarn.  It is too bad this Rowan Calmer isn't being made anymore.  It is a stretchy cotton blend, and it feels like it would be very comfortable to wear against the skin, but lighter than a pure cotton yarn. 

My Catkin is coming along; I have finished the first section, and am now ready to start the second, middle band, which is all textured stitches in the lighter color.  My sister, Susan, is much farther along with hers:

I'll have to check in with Renay to see if she can send a photo of how she is coming along.  I am guessing that if this is a race, however, Susan is going to beat us both!  She has already finished the middle section and is on to the very bottom, which is striped like the top, but has these intricate balloon shapes made with slipped stitches - very intriguing.  The gauge swatch (wisely) contains one of these, which got me over my fear of trying to make the pattern nicely.  Once you tackle that, you realize you can totally make the whole thing.  The instructions are beautifully, carefully written, and have really nice multicolor graphs.  I'm going to look up other patterns by this designer, Carina Spencer, as I've enjoyed making this one so much.

It was an icy, rainy morning, but I braved the sleet to have breakfast at Little Oscar's with my friend, Regina.  I had to stop a few times to scrape the ice off the windshield, as the wiper fluid was just freezing up, and the weather was too cold for the heat on the inside of the glass to keep it from turning into a solid film! 

Regina and I meet for breakfast a few times a year, and we always have the best talks.  She is also someone I met through work, and has become part of my "professional women's knitting group," (PWKG is a hard acronym to pronounce!)  Regina took to knitting really easily and quickly.  She jumped right in and figured out how to make gauntlets, and is working on some scarves.  She sent me a photo of this cozy cowl (which is perfect for weather like we had today, actually!)

Well, I'm off to knit a bit more before I go to bed.  Tomorrow morning promises to be an icy, snowy mix; part of me hopes for a blizzard, so Nathan and I could have a snow day!

XOXOXO, Mar.

Two more Finished KOTOTW Projects!

WOO HOO! Hard to believe that the first month of the new year is already past - it has been a bit of a whirlwind, getting back into the swing of things at work after a lovely break, and getting Nathan geared up for all the papers and tests coming due at the end of his second quarter of freshman year.

First up: I want to show you some long-awaited FOs!

 

 

I finished my friend Kassia’s belated Xmas present, a tiny Audrey Hepburn doll out of a book called Knitted Icons by Carol Meldrun. I made a little pearl necklace and tiara out of some beads, and her dress is made out of felt, belted with a satin ribbon at the waist.  Kassia was just thrilled with her gift! To say she is an Audrey Hepburn fan would be an understatement. Her entire desk is sort of a shrine to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, decorated in a pink and black color scheme. I accidentally erased the photo of little Audrey in her new home, but I’ll go upstairs to visit Kassia this week to take another one.

 

January 13 was the deadline for scarves for the 2012 Special Olympics Minnesota winter games. My various knitting pals and I made at least 15 scarves; I took a picture of some of them just before I had them delivered across town:

 

I get such a big kick out of seeing the different patterns everyone comes up with. It would be amazing to actually see the entire stadium of participants, all wearing different handmade scarves, all individual and different like snowflakes.

 

January Knitting Night

 

We had our first knitting night of the new year, with some new guests. I somehow managed to forget my camera (naturally) but my lovely friend Renay took some photos of us all settled down and knitting away in our favorite Starbuck’s. My friend Ann’s beautiful daughter came and started a cowl, which she finished less than a week later; her mom said she was texting with her friends that evening who wanted her to come join them, but she texted back that she was having too much fun with her mom’s knitting group (!).  Ann is working on a cupcake baby hat; the top uses speckled pink yarn, which looks just like frosting with spreckles on top!

 

 

 

Another new knitter named Ann joined us, although unfortunately we didn’t capture a photo of her; she diligently learned how to cast on and is working on her very first knitted scarf. Ann has some kids in after school sports, and is looking forward to having something to keep her occupied during those long hours in the bleachers.

 

And Kitty also joined us -- she and Eva have known each other for over 20 years, and it was really fun to see them laughing with each other, and sharing stories with us. After a long knitting hiatus, Kitty is working on a soft scarf for her husband, and might have a UFO or two stuck away somewhere with which she needs assistance.

 

Here is Eva modeling a wonderful soft cowl out of Sublime yarn; she had already made one of these in a soft gray, and her niece promptly swooped it up during the holidays, so now she’s made another one to keep! I love Eva’s smile. This woman literally cannot take a bad photograph:

 

 

 Unlike yours truly, unfortunately.  Here is the finished KOTOTW project 29, the Florentine Shrug Shawl. It is so wonderful to have this finished – that was a LOT of embroidery! I really did enjoy it, though; it brought back memories of when I used to do needlepoint and counted cross-stitch. I sort of lost interest in both because the finished products are decorative but not useful. Something about the fact that knitting produces clothing, bags, blankets, and other useful things is part of its great appeal for me. Here are front and back views; I’m hoping to wear this with more appropriate clothes to a concert this week, and will try to get a better photo for you.

 

Project No. 31 – Damascus Dream Dress

 

I finished this dress last night:

 

 

I lengthened it a bit; I think it looks better on me than on the mannequin, so I’ll try to get a “live” shot of this one as well.

 

The collar on this one was so interesting. To make it, you first knit 4 pieces with 3 tabs on each end, and then you weave the tabs together at each corner:

 

 

The bottom hem has a picot edge. To keep it from curling up, I picked up the live stitches, purled a row to create a turning ridge, and then knitted a hem which I stitched down inside using sewing thread and stitching very gently, so as not to create a ridge. Then, I picked up stitches along the turning ridge and followed the instruction for creating the picots. I think this will hang flatter without that rolling problem I always have with my stockinette stitch edges.

 

So now I’ve started on Project No. 32, Senorita’s Floral Pullover. The side edges have inset godets. I’m adding about an inch and a half to the length of the pullover to compensate for my long waist, so I lengthened the godets a bit. The flowers are the same pattern used in Nicky’s Vogue Knitting anniversary scarf; they are made out of garter stitch with a row of eyelets created after the third stitch of every other row; the points are made by increasing a stitch at one end every other row six times, and then decreasing six stitches and repeating. Then, when you have made 5 points, you cast off and run the castoff thread through the eyelets and pull it all together. The little 3-stitch part becomes the central flower, and the points make petals on the outside, kind of like a daffodil. The centers of these flowers will have beads stitched into them, and then they are stitched along the front and sleeves of the finished sweater.  I have to take a 2-day seminar in a week or so; the timing is perfect for this project, as the body of the sweater is mostly plain stockinette!

 

Hmmm – 17 projects to go. I am hoping to finish by Christmastime, but that is a tall order for one year! You never know, though.  It depends on so many factors – how busy I am at work (blessedly, the real estate market is picking up around here), and how much time I will have left in the evening after struggling through math homework with Nathan (sure wish he had inherited my brother’s math-whiz skills…)

 

The weather is getting colder, too! I was sitting in a coffee shop yesterday reviewing some cases and knitting away. I realized that I was wearing hand-knit socks, a hand-knit sweater, a hand-knit scarf, and that I’d brought my hand-knit roses bag, and a hand-knit hat – I’d literally surrounded myself in my own handknits! No wonder I felt so happy and serene! The coffee shop was in Nordeast, a part of the city with lots of artists’ lofts and galleries. I was just sitting there sipping tea, and suddenly a man, an older gent, tapped on my shoulder saying I’d caught his eye walking down the long alley behind the Thorpe building in my bright purple coat and scarf, and that the contrast of the purple with the blue of my jeans and the flowers on my bag made such an impression on him. He closed his eyes, and the purples became oranges and ochres. Anyway, he saw me there when he came in for a cup of coffee, and while I was sitting, reading and knitting away, my polka-dotted reading glasses on my nose, he had sketched a little picture or two of me on the back of a business card:

 

Such a funny little thing to happen, but it made me happy.

 

XOXOXO, Mar

 

Belated Happy New Year!

A belated happy holiday to you all! Thank you for the kind comments on my last post. Steven Berg is indeed a wonder -- and his newest store is featured in the new Vogue Knitting! I'm so proud of him and all he has accomplished. I went to wish him a happy holiday and learned that he is on his first vacation (indeed, his first week off!) in over 3 years, someplace warm and tropical. I'm so glad; he deserves a nice break!

 I hope you enjoyed the last days of 2011. We’ve had some restful, quiet holidays at my house, but this one is one of the most serene I can remember. Even my job cooperated! Work was quiet enough to allow me to stay home Thursday and Friday; I was able to cope with the few issues that cropped up quite easily, while still getting some knitting done :D (Time off from work = best Christmas present ever!)

We had a Thai food feast for Christmas, thanks to the culinary talents of my sister-in-law, Mary, and my brother Geoff, who brought over a make-your-own spring roll bar, chicken skewers and peanut sauce, some wonderful beef-lemongrass stew, coconut rice, and pad Thai, all home-made and delicious. I made a frozen key lime pie for dessert which was quite the treat (the recipe is from Nora Ephron, and is on the Martha Stewart website – highly recommended!) It was nice to have a lighter feast than usual (Okay, I admit; 5 courses is hardly light, but at it wasn’t the usual stodgy rich foods you might associate with more standard holiday fare…)

 

My niece Amanda brought her dog, Kenzie, who is a regular at our house on holidays; she is a very dignified and lovely puppy and a welcome guest.


Rowdy was there, our old housemate doggie; I didn’t manage to get a current picture of him, but Aaron was showing us snapshots of Rowdy's puppyhood on his iPhone, so I’ll share one of those (just adorable - love those ears!):


And of course, the dachshunds, Maddie and Libby, were also there, overexcited at all the company and staying right by my feet where they felt safe (we live a pretty solitary life, Nathan and I).

 

 

 

 

I knitted my brother Geoff a simple cowl as a gift this year; just made it up, 2x2 ribbing and a woven tweed stitch. He is allergic to wool, so I made it out of this lovely Cotton Bamboo Worsted hand-dyed yarn from Three Irish Girls in a color called “corkboard”.



I think he looks quite handsome in it!

 

We had another family gathering on New Year’s Day at Geoff’s house. Mary and I made soups and breads this time, and I baked a lemon cheesecake for dessert (yum!) Mary, Geoff and I have decided to really go to town this winter with our massive cookbook collections; we’re hoping to find some really good soup recipes. Soup works out really well for work lunches – you can freeze soup in containers and bring it to work frozen so it doesn’t spill in your workbag, and then let it thaw during the morning, and then microwave it the rest of the way at lunchtime. Plus, there is just something comforting about having food I’ve cooked at home while at the office; it is part of my usual annual pledge to take better care of myself, body and soul.

I really enjoyed making homemade bread on New Year's Days – I love to bake yeast breads, mixing and kneading the dough, watching it rise. After putting it in the oven, I always try to leave the house for a walk just so I can come back and really appreciate the wonderful scent of fresh baking bread in the air – yummm!!!

 

But I hate to admit, I always feel a bit wistful on New Year’s Eve; maybe everybody does, as it signals so clearly that time is passing by.  I was home alone this year, as Nathan was at his dad’s, so I watched  some favorite old movies - It's a Wonderful Life, Enchantment, and The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.  

Sigh.  I hate to sound like Ms. Lonelyhearts, but it would be lovely to have someone with whom I could spend the holidays, someone special for whom I could knit or to whom I could give a special gift. My sister in Germany mentioned that for Christmas, her boyfriend Burkhardt gave her a trip to the Caribbean… sigh again... 

 

So, I’ve been feeling a bit ashamed of myself, at having to try so hard to keep the green-eyed monster at bay. I'm doing my best to focus on all the good and hopeful things in my life. After all, every new year brings with it new possibilities, a new chance to get it right, whatever “it” might be; work, parenting, friendships, relationships, how to make really good spaghetti sauce, exercising more, catching up on my New Yorkers... I will turn 50 this year, but there is still time in life for so much more, so I shouldn't waste the time I have left feeling blue.

 

The gift of a bit of extra days between Christmas and New Years didn’t go to waste, on the knitting side of my life, at least. In addition to plugging away on the Florentine Shrug Shawl embroidery (I tried to take a picture of it with Libby in the foreground, below, but she sneezed!) (Madeline is that lump underneath the blanket to the left):

 

 

...I finally lined the knitted bag I had made for my niece Amanda a year (or more) ago! The pattern is from the Noni Medallion Travel Bag; I turned the graph sideways and just used the middle motif.

 

I think the thing that took me so long with this project was getting over my intimidation with this fancy Elna sewing machine I bought about 6 years ago, and still haven’t figured out. It is a really fancy quilting machine with 99 different stitches; it can evidently embroider, and even can stitch the alphabet. But it also has a different threading system than I’m used to, and I have somehow been afraid to delve into the instruction book.

 

It turns out that it isn’t so difficult to figure out, once you actually look at the instructions and threading diagrams (ahem…). Anyway, now that I have it figured out, I need to get the rose bag and some other projects lined! Anyway, to finish this one, I put plastic canvas in the bottom to square up the shape, and lined it with striped fabric, with pockets in a coordinating floral print. Now I’m just waiting for the handles to come in the mail and we’ll be good to go!

 

 

I finished a Gudrun Hat and Neckwarmer set; I went hunting on Ravelry to find a pattern for a big winter hat that wouldn’t smush my hair too much, now that it is curly. My hair is still damp when I leave in the morning, which isn’t a problem in the summertime, but in winter, as I live in Minnesota, waiting at the bus stop with wet hair could result in fatal exposure to the elements (!) The hat came out too big even for my large head, and I over-steamed the neckwarmer, inadvertently turning it into a sort of muffler. But it still works just fine to tuck into the neck of my purple coat. I think this will get a lot of wear this year.

 

 

I finished a long scarf/shawl knit lengthwise, about 400 stitches on a size 10 needle, alternating 6 rows of stockinette stitch in Kauni, a Shetland wool with long-interval color changes, with 6 rows in Schulana Kid Seta, a yarn similar to Rowan Kidsilk Haze. This is just like the scarf Renay made recently, but I made it a bit shorter (hers had 475 stitches and about 11 stripes, I think) because I wanted mine to come out wider (mine has 15 rows). I am supposed to felt it now, but I think I may just wear it this way this winter, and maybe felt it when it gets washed along with my other handknits in the spring.

 

 

I like that the alternating stripes are sheer and opaque:

 

I’m also making a tiny Audrey Hepburn for a friend from work (kinda late on that Christmas present, I know… but it will be adorable!)

 

I started a couple of commuting projects as well. A “scribble scarf” from the “recipe” in the first Mason Dixon knitting book, in some sparkly silver gray Kidsilk Haze and some beautiful Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon in grays and blues:

 

 

And finally, I also started a feathery lace shawl (from an Irish Shreier pattern in Exquisite Little Knits) out of Schulana Kid Seta in a beautiful blue:

 

I know, I know – too many distractions from the KOTOTW project. Maybe the winter nesting instincts came along with a bit of startitis this year :D

 

 

I'm looking forward to a happy and productive new year -- after all, 2012 is the year when I intend to cross the KOTOTW finish line, so it is time to get cracking!

 

May your New Year bring you many happy surprises, and lots of time to knit!

 

 

 

XOXOXO, Mar

 

 

 

There’s Fabulous, but THEN There’s…

--- my friend Steven Berg, who owns The Yarn Garage and Steven Be Studio, yarn store/communities in Rosemount and Minneapolis.  Steven celebrated his _____-eenth birthday last night with friends and fans in true Steven style with a pre-show party at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis, followed by a presentation by Ballet of the Dolls of “Nutcracker – The Lost Act.”

Steven was dressed in true Steven style:

I especially liked the boots:

And here we are hamming it up as usual; he was very impressed that I got dressed up (well, dressy for me, anyway) in my old black leather mini-skirt:

And I was very impressed that it still fit!  Yay!  (I am very conscious of my fiftieth birthday approaching (sigh).  At least I can still rock a miniskirt with style!  (OK, maybe I can’t, but no one at the party reacted with visible horror or an outburst of laughter, so I took that as a good sign…)

In addition to this last party, it has been a busy December so far – so many social events for work and various trade associations, etc., that I have to admit, I’m feeling like I’m going to have to be a hermit for about 8 weeks just to recover.  I am literally small-talked out at this point.  I’ve been to two separate annual economic forecast meetings, hosted by Stewart Title and SIOR, and by Urban Land Institute; I’ve been to two fundraisers for Gilda’s Club Twin Cities, Inc.; I’ve had drinks with WoWE (Women of Wind Energy) and a firm Christmas party; and numerous client lunches and dinners.  PHEW!  Now it is time to take a deep breath, and catch up on holiday preparations.

Today I FINALLY decorated the tree (OK, it is a fake tree, I know; I just hate killing trees, and am not crazy about the smell of pine. There, I said it.)  Among her many lovely gifts, my friend Renay gave me this lovely ornament – filled with blue yarn, of course:

And Eva had these beautiful decorations made for each of us by a local artisan:

Here is Nathan’s special ornament this year; a felted penguin from the Textile Center:

So cute!

And finally, here is a present from Nicky from a year or two ago -– these felted slippers came out much larger than any human feet I know of (except maybe my nephew’s, but they are not exactly his style), but I think they look perfect over the fireplace – you know, “the stockings were hung by the chimney with care…”!

OH, and I just remembered – I’ve been meaning to show you this great yarn artwork that was at my hair stylist’s salon, Haus Salon on Nicollet.   The artist’s name is Hot Tea:

And his current art showcases various uses of yarn!  Either wrapped:

Wrapped and painted (these panels are in front of a photograph of a subway train, like graffiti:

Strung from pins (remember string art from the 1970’s?)

Or, my favorite, a hanging rainbow of strands of progressive lengths:

This was hanging directly above where the customers get their hair washed, so as you relax and enjoy someone washing your hair, you get to look upwards as this glorious view (of yarny heaven)!

I mentioned this to Steven, and he said that Hot Tea is going to be doing some murals for him – I can’ t wait to see them, and will be sure to show you as well!

Knit, Swirl:

Steven has the trunk show for the new book Knit, Swirl by Sandra McIver at his stores now:

My sister and I want to do a knitalong of one of these.  I even got to try them on!  Including the actual cover sweater!

Pls. excuse the goofy expression.  I think these sweaters show great promise, and especially like the fact that they cover the butt.  Not that I'm ashamed of my behind, or anything, but I like long jackets in the cold weather here. 

Speaking of knitalongs, my sister and I are going to knit a shawl on Ravelry together in January called "Catkin" by Carina Spencer.  I figure I am far enough along that I can fit in another project (especially considering we're entering into seeerious winter here, so knitting season is upon us!) 

And finally – ½ of a Ta-Daaah!

As of this afternoon, I finished embroidering exactly half of the Florentine Shrug:

Isn’t it lovely?  I love the colors, and the soft yarn, and am enjoying the process.  However, my joy at having finished the sleeve is somewhat undercut by the realization that I now have to do it all again on the second sleeve.  Completely. From scratch.  (But, you know how the second time you do things, they tend to go more quickly?  That is what I’m hoping, anyway...)

I hope your holidays are coming along, and that your gifts are bought and wrapped, and that your cookies are baked… oh, who am I kidding!   We are ALL likely still in the midst of it all!   Don’t forget to set down with a cup of tea and watch an old Xmas movie and knit – you deserve some holiday relaxation, too!

Lots of love to you all,

Mar.

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag!

Another finished KOTOTW Project  - No. 32, The Spanish Rose Trellis Scarf!

I have to say, I REALLY liked the experience of making this piece, from the knitting to the felting to the sewing together.  Fun to make, and also incredibly fun to wear, as it is such a show-stopper!

I kind of lost track of time while felting the scarf; I think I should have taken it out of the washer more quickly, as it got a bit too short.  Ah well, that is just a good excuse to make another someday.  Maybe with a different color of roses!  That trellis stitch is addictive!  And the rose pattern just works out so well, I can tell I will be making those a lot more in future.  You sew them into a spiral shape before felting; I also used a sewing pin to hold the spiral in place a bit when they were drying to "set" the rose into the shape I wanted, and they held their shape perfectly once dry.

As I had mentioned, this pattern reminded me of one of Nicky's all-time "greatest hits," the rose trellis bag!  I have yearned for this bag ever since I first saw the pattern, and have been wanting a large knitting bag that is actually knit (!)  (Really large - considering how much stuff I usually bring to Knitting Night!)

So while it was fresh in my mind how to do the trellis stitch, I decided to tackle the trellis bag project as well.  For yarn, I used Ella Rae Mega for the black and green main colors, Plymouth Yarn De Aire, doubled, for the contrasting leaves, and Reynolds Bulky Lopi for the roses.

 

 

I thought this project would be quick, but it took a surprising amount of time. Before blocking, it was HUGE -- I joked with my friends that it was big enough to fix 8 dachshunds!  After the first complete 2-rinse wash cycle, it was still at about the 4-dachshund level, so I sent it through again, and now it is just right, about 2-dachshund size. (Although I don't really intend to carry my dachshunds in it, that gives you an idea of the capacity.

I still have a few more roses to sew on, in fact!  It is a bit difficult.  I had to hunt around for a really long sewing needle to make it through all the layers of felted fabric.  And I poked my fingers to the point where they bled (YOUCH!) 

I just sort of pinioned them down using long tacking stitches, anchoring right through the rose's edges down through the bag edge and back. 

I also wanted the bottom to be solid and firm, so I sewed in a piece of plastic cross-stitch canvas that I trimmed into an oval shape:

Here it is all sewn in, on the turned-inside-out bag.  This works really well for giving a knitted bag some structure, so it will stand up (when filled with stuff), and the bottom won't sag when it is filled up with yarn.

I also intend to line it; I picked out some quilting fabric that I thought would work well.  I'm going to make some pockets, too, for needles and various knitting tools and toys.

I am parTICularly proud of the side seams; I took care to make the pattern edges consistent so that they would be mirror images of each other (this seems to have been the biggest challenge, reading through the notes of people on Ravelry that have made it already, so I was forewarned - ahhh, the wonders and wisdom revealed by the new universe of Ravelry!)

I can't wait to bring this bag to my next knitting night!

Speaking of knitting night...

December 2011 Knitting Night:

Sigh - the last knitting night of the year.  We decided to do something different, and met at the Textile Center where Renay works.  We did a little shopping; they have AMAZING textile crafts for sale.  And then we had dinner at this great coffee shop across the street called Overflow, where there were comfy couches and chairs in front of a big fireplace.  I think we are going to have to meet there more often.

Kristin is working on a wonderful scarf out of a bulky alpaca, soft and cozy.  She also brought a photo of the adorable bootees she had finished for a friend's baby shower, and they came out really well!  It is so much fun to see how quickly she has learned to knit, and to watch her take on increasingly challenging projects.

Karen couldn't stay long, but had a chance to admire the tiny pieces of a green cardigan that Eva was working on.

I showed off my scarf - here I am apparently looking incredulous about something... I was very happy to remember that I have a purple winter coat to match my new scarf's roses.

And here I am being goofy showing off my new vest, which actually looks much nicer than this picture might indicate...

Renay made this wonderful striped, looooonng scarf out of a yarn called Kauni, with really long color changes, interspersed with stripes of something that I'm guessing is Rowan Kidsilk Haze, so those stripes are sheer and soft.

You can kinda see the sheer stripes in this photo (that is, while you are also admiring her great new glasses and fabulous new haircut, to boot!)

I love my knitting girlfriends; I always drive away from those evenings feeling renewed and happy, already looking forward to our next time together.  I knitted all by myself for years and years; decades, actually.  If it weren't for this blog, even people I know well wouldn't have realized that I knit, or that we shared this hobby.  And now a bunch of people at work are wanting to learn how as well; it is such a great way to make friends, establish a bond.  I know I'm sort of a crazed knitting evangelist, but it has given me such joy to help teach people how to knit, and then to watch them catch on and see their wonder at what they can create, and to hear their stories about the other gifts that knitting has brought them - a sense of calm, order, color, rhythm, comfort, to otherwise hectic disorderly modern life.

The Evening Gala Aran FINALLY Gets its Debut!

My firm's annual holiday party was last Friday night, and I decided to wear my beautiful pearl-bedecked Evening Gala Aran (since this annual dinner is about the "Gala-est" evening I have most years).  I decided not to go with the boa, thinking that might be a bit over the top for this particular event.  (But maybe if I go to an opera, hmmm...)  I also went out for a badly-needed haircut, to cut some lengths into it and get those curls curly again.

It was surprisingly heavy to wear, with all those pearls; I joked with my friends at dinner that I felt like I was wearing chain mail!  (Well, it wasn't THAT heavy).  But I felt just like Maria in the song, "Pretty, oh so pretty..."  What fun, to finally wear that wonderful garment out in the world.

Here's wishing you lots of fun wearing your own wonderful knitted creations, now that the season is right for woolies!

XOXOXO,

Mar

A Felty, Thankful Break

Thankfulness

Ahhhhh... the sheer bliss of 4 1/2 days out of the office, of not having to ponder a single legal question.  My mind has turned to marshmallow fluff, my shoulder muscles are so relaxed that my neck feels 4 inches longer, and my forehead is as uncreased as a baby's...

How I cherish holiday breaks!

Anyway, DESPITE the fact that I didn't host the Thanksgiving dinner this year (which means that the dust bunnies were safe for yet another weekend), it has been a quite productive few days.

First, I stole Nathan away from school a few hours early on Wednesday so that we could help with the Thanksgiving Meals on Wheels program at Cretin Derham High in St. Paul.  This program started over 30 years ago when a kind couple decided to invite 12 people to Thanksgiving dinner that they thought could use a good meal, and has grown over the years, to the point where this year a total of 18,400 meals were provided to those in need (!)  Thanks to the generosity of an army of people who give their time, as well as some truly generous and wonderful local food providers, including Hormel, which supplied the turkey this year. 

Nathan and I showed up around 2:00 and helped tape and stack almost 3,000 boxes (he comes in really handy for stacking the top layer!).

Then I went off to help peel hundreds of potatoes, and Nathan helped set up 48 tables out front, where the meals are transferred to an army of drivers the next morning, who distribute them throughout the city.    There were so many people that the evening's work was completed in just a few hours.  I didn't join in for the morning session this year, but according to my uncle Jack, everything went smoothly.  It also really helped that the weather was so mild - 50 degrees on Thanksgiving Day is a rarity in these parts.

I had a lazy Thursday, watching movies and knitting on my felted trellis bag, as our family celebrates on Friday instead.  So on Friday, I got up and made Nathan's obligatory pumpkin pie (the one part of the Thanksgiving meal he likes), sweet potato casserole (my own favorite -- I would gladly skip the turkey, but this is essential), and mashed potatotes, and green beans. 

And then in the early afternoon, we headed to Geoff and Mary's, where Mary had been cooking all day to produce this beautiful cranberry/blueberry pie:

And this magnificent turkey - she put it overnight in a salt crust with lemon peel and herbs, and then rinsed and baked it.  It was just perfect.

Here is my friend Laurie enjoying some pie, with Geoff (as always) hogging the dish-doing portion of the evening; he is wonderful that way.  I didn't catch photos of them, but Mary's nephew Brian and Nathan were there as well.

And here is my beloved Uncle Jack, the kindest person I know.  He devotes so many hours to helping other people, from the meals on wheels to lecturing at Hazelden (he's 34 years sober and has supported a lot of people in overcoming their addictions) to helping a dear friend get over the loss of his marriage and a cancer diagnosis.  But the best part about him is that he never loses his sense of humor, his great laugh, his faith in the world.  Whenever I am blue, I call him and he kicks me in the butt and reminds me of my blessings and helps me snap out of it.  I wish everyone were lucky enough to have a Jack in their life.

Did Somebody Say, Felting?

I know, I know -- I was supposed to use the break to finish embroidering the Florentine Shrug, but somehow finishing the Rose Trellis Bag seemed important; I knew I had to felt the Rose Trellis Scarf, and a Pignoli bag for my sister (check out the free pattern at Berroco.com), so it somehow made sense to get it all knitted up and have a felting party!  So, after Nathan and I came home Saturday night from a day at the Brickmania lego train club, I started felting away.

Here are the pieces of the Rose Trellis Bag pre-felting; I should have held it up to one of the dachshunds so that you could see how IMMENSE this sucker is, pre-felting:

And here are the pieces of both Trellis projects, all laid out to dry.  I used sewing pins to sort of hold the flowers in shape while they are drying. 

I am not quite sure what to do about the top of the Rose Trellis Bag.  It seems whenever I felt a bag, the top rim comes out all ruffly.  I even tried to hand-felt it tighter in the sink with soap and hot and then cold water, and it shrunk together a bit, but not enough.  I'm thinking I might try to run a thread around it and synch it up, and then try to felt it some more.  I know Nicky is visiting relatives in West Virginia for the holiday, but I'll check in with her, too, to see if she has any advice.

And here is my sister's Pignoli bag:

See - the top is a bit ruffly!  I'm hoping it won't matter for this pattern, as you synch it up along the top edge with cording.  The other unusual thing is that it is knitted in alternating bands of stockinette and reverse stockinette, but somehow these are almost completely invisible after the felting, although you can see them still on the one on the Berroco website (sigh - I hope my sister isn't disappointed...).  Now I'll just have to wait for it all to dry, and then I can do some assembling.

On Other Projects...

It occurs to me that I had better get cracking on the 2012 Special Olympic Scarves - the deadline is coming after the start of the new year.  But in the meantime, I've been working on the Damascus Dream Dress.  Here is the skirt portion. 

In order to figure out if I have enough cotton yarn to lengthen this portion, I had to get started on the woven neckline/bodice portion:

 

If I can get each side of the neck done with just about a ball or so, I should have enough to add an inch to the skirt. 

Well, in what remains of this last day of break (sniff, sniff), I need to do 5 loads of laundry, pay bills, and do a little cleaning.  Oh, and get going on embroidering that Florentine Shrug... (guess which of these will actually get done today!  Hint-- it will be the one involving yarn!)

XOXOXO, Mary

 

 

Slow and (Un)Steady...

Well, I wish I could tell you I've been whizzing along on Project No. 31, the Florentine Shrug:

But, as you can see, not much progress is being made.  This is DEFINITELY not a project I can take along riding the bus; and there have been some late hours in the office lately, and working on weekends, and all manner of non-knitting going on (sigh).

As well as unexpected events, starting with a car accident.  Last Monday afternoon, I left work at 2:30 to take Libby to the vet.  She was in a lot of pain all weekend and her neck and back seemed to be bothering her.  Just as I was about to hit the freeway, a car ran a red light and slammed into me.  Don't get me wrong, car accidents are never exactly pleasant, but considering that no one was hurt, and our cars are insured and fixable, and it was just about a perfect accident. 

I was having a sort of premonition for the last month that I was about to have a car accident, strangely enough.  Even while it was occurring, a few weird thoughts passed through my head:

    a)  Hmmm, maybe if I hit the gas, I can avoid that white car which doesn't appear to have stopped at the red light and is whizzing toward me...

    b)  Aw darnit. This is Nathan's first day of driver's ed!  How am I going to buy TWO cars??!?

    c)  Hmmm, maybe if I hit the gas, I can avoid that white car which doesn't appear to have stopped at the red light and is whizzing toward me...

    d)  Oh, look!  There is a church at the corner!  That must mean everything will turn out all right.

    e)  Thank goodness it is just 2:30 and not rush hour - the street is almost empty, I won't hit anyone else if she runs into me...

    e)  WOW, she hit me hard!!!  But wait, our cars are still moving, the steering is working, let's just pull over...

It is so funny when time slows down like that, and you sort of watch what is happening in slow motion, realize the myriad thoughts you can think in the flash of an eye...

The other driver, a young film student, was a bit shaken up, but we were both just fine, physically.  She was worried that her parents would be mad, but I explained to her that her parents would just be so happy she wasn't hurt, and that she should take it easy that night because of the shock of it.  We sat on the church steps, called our insurance companies, and chatted while we waited for our tow trucks. 

A few days later when we were on the phone, just wrapping up some insurance details, she said, "I told everyone that I was so lucky that the person I hit was so nice.  Just think; driving downtown and all, I could have hit a nasty LAWYER or something!!!"  I explained that I was, in fact, a lawyer, and there were a few of us who were less nasty than one might expect...

Then I took Libby to the vet; she has maybe a slipped disk or a badly pulled muscle, causing her not to be able to look upwards or to the right, and causing muscle spasms in her neck and chest.  The vet agreed with me that she was in way too much pain, and put her on an IV of Valium, and then gave me painkillers, a muscle relaxant, and upped her dose of cortisone.  After all that, the poor little thing wasn't in pain anymore, but also not quite sure how to operate all 4 feet simultaneously.  She seems to be doing a bit better now, but I have to get her to the point where she can be comfortable without being on so many drugs.  The vet mentioned surgery as an option, but I don't think I could do that to my poor rescue dog; her life has been hard enough.  I've also had a few people mention there are pet chiropractors out there, so I will try that next. 

So, back to the knitting (just like my head, this is going to be a discombobulated post, for sure...).  Since I can't knit the Florentine Shrug on the bus, I picked up some of the pretty yarn I bought 2 years ago at the Shepherd's Harvest festival in Lake Elmo, MN, from a yarn dyer called Happy Hands, in a beautiful mix of purples, teals and greens, and a pattern from Classic Elite designed by Helene Rush, called the Charlie Vest.  It is knit in one piece from the front buttonhole edge, across the back, and to the other front, decreasing and increasing as necessary for the neck and armholes, and is just rows and rows of soothing garter stitch.  I started it at the legal conference (yes, I knitted at the legal conference - there, I said it.   So sue me!  tee hee hee!) and just finished it last weekend.  I guess I would have liked to make it a bit longer but I didn't buy enough yarn.  I wore it unbelted on Friday, but think it looks better belted, actually. 

And what ELSE am I working on while commuting, since I can't embroider on the road, you ask?  Well, I decided to move ahead on the KOTOTW projects.  First I started in on Project No. 32, the Rose Trellis Scarf.  As you can see, I've knitted all of the roses, leaves, and scarf parts:

I'm going to take advantage of the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend to try the felting part (YIKES!)  I also have a bag that my sister asked me to felt for her, since she doesn't have a top-loading washing machine (or any washing machine at the moment; she and Paul are living in a small apartment waiting for their new home to be renovated, which may take quite a few months).  So at some point this weekend, in between eating too much turkey and pumpkin pie, I will have a little felting party.

I am always worried that I will blow the felting process, and it won't come out evenly; I've been known to overdo it and accidentally over-shrink something.  Oh well, I enjoyed knitting this trellis stitch so much, I actually wouldn't mind having to make another one!

Speaking of knitting more trellis stitch; I was working on this and suddenly realized that it must be the very same stitch used in a VERY famous Nicky Epstein pattern, Nicky's felted rose trellis bag!  (...WHICH I have always yearned to make, and which I suddenly knew JUST how to knit!)  So I splurged (well, I found different types of feltable extra-bulky wool at Webs so it wasn't so much, really) and started knitting the bag, too!  

You can see that it is on a TOTALLY different scale from the scarf:

In fact, the size 15 needles feel more like broom handles than knitting needles... which unfortunately ALSO puts this project firmly into the ranks of non-commuter knitting.  (However, I am letting myself do a few rows in between embroidering because it is so addictive!)

So, you ask; what ARE you knitting while commuting these days?  Well, on the one hand, because December is so event-full (it seems I have to drive during work to a meeting almost every day), I find I only have a couple days a week when I get to take the bus (sigh...  I am NOT much of a social butterfly.  I am hoping that in January I can just settle into a routine where I don't have to do quite so much schmoozing).  But during those days, I can't just sit there with idle hands, so...

I started Project No. 32, the Damascus Dream Dress:

I had measured myself and made some adjustments in the number of stitches and rows, but like a dope wrote them down on my work photocopy of the pattern instead of into the book itself, so tonight's task (after giving two dachshunds a bath and finishing the week's laundry) is going to be to try to recreate that backward so that I can figure out what I had decided to do about lengthening it and widening it.  The options were 40" and 44" and I wanted something closer to 41 - 42"; and I know I planned to lengthen it, but don't remember how much, or how I figured out where to make the stripes at the waist hit my body, hmmmm.  In any case, I need to figure it out before tomorrow, so that I will have something to knit on the bus!

With Thanksgiving approaching, I have so much for which I am truly thankful, this year.  )Besides such wonders as walking away unscathed from car crashes, even!)  I had a great talk with Nicky yesterday who is back from a number of trips and looking forward to the holiday season with her family.  I told her I was pretty sure that by next year this time, I will have completed all of the projects!  So we're working on planning a proper celebration of that event.  And I'm also thinking more seriously about auctioning off some (or all? yikes!) of the finished KOTOTW pieces for a charity close to my heart; I just don't want to do it unless it will make some serious money, and I don't actually know if there would be a market for these finished pieces, or if there is one, how to find it.  But approaching the end of this project is something that makes me smile, because it feels like a big accomplishment.  Oh, and because when I was little my brother teased me about never finishing anything I started, so this is proving to myself that I can, in fact, finish something truly Herculean.

My son is happy and thriving, and conquering high school; my family is well, and doing well.  I have had a really good year at work, despite the down market.  I've done a lot more public speaking and taking on committee work and tried to become more active in the legal community, and for the first time I've been attracting clients of my own, all of which makes me feel more confident about my future, and my strengths as a lawyer. 

And best of all, I have a circle of friends; actually, it feels more like I have a series of concentric circles of friends, with whom to share my love of knitting and making things.  So many kind and generous people, and I'm honored to be part of a growing community of others who share my passion and pleasure in this craft. 

May your hearts be as filled with gratitude and hope for the future, as mine is today.

XOXOXOXO, Mar

 

Catching Up!

Hi, guys!

I have had a busy week or two, culminating in my (much-dreaded)( presentation on Friday at the annual Minnesota Real Estate Law Institute, where I gave an hour-long continuing legal education class on condominiums and townhomes.  I ended up having meetings at Nathan's school, as well as some unexpected stuff come up at work, which meant that I didn't get to practice my speech nearly as much as I meant to.  Luckily, I didn't have to speak until 2:45, so I  got up at 4 AM to finish my speaking notes (in size 18 font, as I'm blind as a bat), and then I spent part of the AM shivering in my car and talking to myself as I ran through the powerpoint slides a few times. 

And then, I realized at 2:20 that the IT department hadn't actually loaded the powerpoint onto my loaner laptop (!), and there was no Wi-Fi at the center (!!)>  Luckily, there were some wonderful young tech-savvy people running the program who had me all set up in no time at all.  And rushing around those last few minutes proved to be a wonderful distraction from being nervous, because I just got up there and started talking and joking around, and it all came out just fine.  I actually enjoyed it!  (Why do I torture myself so much in advance of these events?  I just have to get more used to it, and to realize that I actually like to speak...)

The feedback from the audience was quite positive, and the chairman for the event asked me to come back and speak next year (!), so I was really pleased.  But mostly, I was relieved (phew!) and sleepy!  Thank goodness for that extra hour this weekend!

Silverlotus?  Where are you?

I haven't heard from one of last month's book winners, Silverlotus - I need your address so I can mail your book!  Just drop me an email at maryp55124 "at" yahoo "dot" com and I'll get that going in the mail!

Halloween....

My son, Nathan (who is gearing up finally to guest-blog one of these days) asked me to help him make a Pikmin costume for Halloween.  What is a Pikmin, you ask?

That little guy in the red, above!  Pikmin is the name of a classic Nintendo game from maybe a decade ago.  That little fella (Nathan calls him Steve) is a Pikmin.  They come in various colors, and have unique abilities based on their hue.    The fellow behind him, Olimar, crash-lands on a planet where Pikmin grow, and he enlists their aid in recovering the missing pieces of his broken spaceship and fighting the unusual bug-like monsters that are guarding them.   I miss those days of Nathan's playing adorable games like this, with creatures who make sweet and funny sounds.  I like that much more fun than the car-crashing or war games.  

So, to make the Pikmin costume, first I ordered a large red hoodie and sweatpants on the Internet, and then I went to buy some fleece, interfacing and felt, and got to work:

Here are the ingredients:  ping-pong balls cut in half for eyes; some plastic wands I pulled off bubble-making wands to make the stem stiff (I melted them a bit in boiling water, and stuck a ballpoint pen in the join to make it strong), and leaf shapes  cut out of fleece, with puffy interfacing cut a bit smaller.

Then I sort of quilted the edges of the leaf, and some leaf veins in the middle, and a little sleeve for the top of the wand-stem to fit into, and stitched a red felt stem.

Then I stitched a felt sleeve for the stem along the back of the hoodie's hood...

Sewed on a red felt nose, and the ping-pong ball eyes...

Et voila!  A 6' 3" Pikmin!  Nathan (whom I shall henceforth think of as "Nathan the Fearless" not only wore this walking around the Mall of America, where we had dinner before attending a Lego Halloween party; he also wore it to school on Halloween Monday.  As a freshman in high school.  All day.  You have to give him points for originality.   Unfortunately, Pikmin is an older game, so only a minority of the kids knew what he was.

Something Cool...

I just took a picture of this table at a local Caribou Coffee, because I thought it was so clever...

Something (someone!) Adorable...

This is my friend Katie's baby, enjoying a romp on her beautiful quilt made by my talented friend, Renay (you might remember seeing this a few knitting nights ago...)  As Katie's email said, here's that quilt "in action!")

Something Kinda Sweet...

This is my niece Amanda's dog, Kenzie, snuggled up under an afghan I made her years and years ago, from a pattern that was on the cover of Women's Day magazine (remember those days, when womens magazines had knitting patterns?  I miss that.)  I love that Kenzie likes it, even though it is covered in kitties!

And Progress on the Latest KOTOTW Project!

I finished knitting the Florentine Shrug, and am now working on embroidering the elaborate pattern of leaves, vines and grapes onto the sleeves.  I thought that this would be a bit tedious, but find I am actually really, really enjoying doing this!  It is kind of like doing cross-stitch or needlepoint.  I've stayed up late a few nights just wanting to see the pattern develop.  I had to add an inch or so to the sleeves, so I moved the bottom set of leaves down a bit. Here's what it looks like so far:

Preeetttty!  (The safety pins mark every tenth column of stitches and help me make sure I'm aligning the pattern just like on the graph in the book.)  This one is going to take some time to complete, and it is definitely NOT commuting knitting! 

So, I started the next project, the...

Spanish Rose Trellis Scarf

I got this started last weekend (here it is keeping Libby cozy):

... and here is how far I am this weekend (this time, Maddie is enjoying its cozy warmth):

The trellis pattern is really fun to knit, incorporating double-wrapped long stitches that you drop and pick up periodically, as well as wrapped stitches, kind of like on the Roman Holiday Shrug.  I've got about half the roses done as well. 

BUT, this is also not very good commuting knitting, because I get dizzy when I have to look too closely at what I knit.  So I also started the Damascus Dream Dress, but that isn't far enough along to show you, yet. 

Hopefully, by my next post, I will have finished at least the scarf; those of you familiar with Nicky's designs might recognize this scarf as similar to Nicky's famous Felted Rose Bag.  I took a look at that pattern just to see if it was the same trellis stitch pattern and thought, well, since I'm doing the scarf, I might as well make the bag, too!  It uses really bulky yarn, so it should knit up pretty quickly.  I have a bag that my sister Susan sent me out to felt, so I should be all set to have a regular felting party one of these upcoming weekends...

It is cold, and the puppies are barking that they want to go outside, so I think I'll leave it at that, and wish you all a wonderful week.

XOXOXO, Mar.

 

 

More Photos, More Book Winners!

KOTOTW BOOK GIVEAWAY!!!

Hi, guys!

First of all, our two October winners of a copy of Knitting on Top of the World ARE:

 - Silverlotus; and

 - Jasmine MacDonald!

Congratulations, you two!  Just send me your snail mail address to maryp55124 "at" yahoo "dot" com, and I'll get your copies of the book whizzing on their way to you!

If you didn't win, don't despair - I still have 2 more copies to give away, and I think I'll do drawings in November and December.  (Also kind of hoping I can wangle some giveaways of Nicky's other books - we will see!)

All We Want for Christmas...(or other end-of-year holiday..)

Most of us were modest in our knitted requests; we would like someone to knit us socks, or colourwork socks (Silverlotus, you must be British!), or a cowl or scarf.  Although Linda and Danielle admitted they wouldn't mind someone knitting them a whole sweater (good for you guys!  I have a wonderful sister, TheresaT on Ravelry, who knits and who has, in fact, knitted me a sweater before, as well as other wonderful things like slipper sox with doubled yarn to make them kooshy on the bottom, and several lovely scarves...).  As for non-knitted gifts, several of us would like a set of interchangeable needles (although I was particularly in alignment with one knitter's wish for signature double-points - heck, I'd take signature anythings!  We also would like an artisan yarn or bead bowl, a Namaste needle case or bag, nice yarn or a yarn gift certificate.

Last year my sis got me a gift subscription to www.twistcollective.com, which I thought was a wonderful idea, although everytime I look through their archives I'm overwhelmed because there is hardly a thing there I do not wish to knit, and then to own.

Speaking of which, Norma asks what will happen to all of the KOTOTW knits when I'm done with the knitathon project - will I keep them all, give some away?  I haven't yet decided for sure, actually.  My sister encouraged me to see this project as a way to break out of knitting always for other people, and to make everything just for me.  And in fact, I have made many of these things specifically for my body type, which includes an extra-long waist length and arm length.  However, someone also recently suggested that maybe I could auction items off for a good cause.  That intrigues me; although honestly, there are a few things I could not bear to part with.

There are other things that I've already promised to friends, once the project, and any possible showings are over.  Before I even started, my friend Sheri put in dibs on the Copenhagen Royal Shawl, which looks lovely on her.  I'm thinking I would like to remake that one in a larger gauge for myself anyway, as it came out kind of small for my large frame. 

I'd like to give away my Northern Lights Cardigan, as the yarn I chose had a high angora content, and I find I just can't wear it - it gets in my eyes and nose and makes me sneeze!  I've already purchased yarn to make a non-angora version, though, as I love everything else about it.

And, I think some of the projects are a bit young for someone pushing 50; for instance, the Tyrolean Leg Warmers pictured below.  Adorable, but I think someone younger might get more wear out of them and feel less self-conscious.  My knitter-bud Kristin put in a bid for them at the last knitting night, so they will probably end up gracing her far younger legs.  And my niece, Amanda, who was over last night for a family supper (meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and homemade apple pie made by my master-baker sister in law, Mary - MMMM!!!), has put in a bid for the Black Forest Mitts, which looked just great on her (those 20-somethings really like those fingerless gloves, maybe because they are useful if you live with an iPhone in your hand...).

But I couldn't bear to give up the Londonderry Rose Coat...

or the Celtic Hooded Coat...

 or the Simply Smashing Cardigan...

(which I knew before I even knitted them!)  And then there are some things I didn't think would suit me, but it turns out I just adore them, like the Cowl Collar Jumper. 

And the Princess Bride Mittens...

So, I guess I haven't really figured out what I'm going to do yet - probably a mix of things.   Mostly, I want to make sure the pieces are used and enjoyed, by somebody if not by me!

 

Finished Austrian Alps Jacket...

I have some more finished KOTOTW projects to show you this week!  I received the 24" separating zipper in the mail from MJ Trim (a wonderful New York City notions mecca - check out their website - www.mjtrim.com) a week ago, and spent a few hours that Saturday AM carefully stitching it in.  For a jacket, you need the special kind of zipper that separates, or comes apart at the bottom.  Although the model in the book has a zipper that goes all the way up to the top edge of the collar, I couldn't find one nearly long enough, considering how much I lengthened the sweater.  But I'm happy with not zipping it up quite that high.

To stitch it in, I carefully pinned the two fronts of the sweater to the closed zipper, making the knitting come right up to the edge of the teeth, and being careful to match the cables and rows of the patterns across the zipper so that they would be even when the zipper is zipped up.  I also tried to "gather" the length of the sweater along the zipper a bit.  The edges of knitting are always a bit looser (which is why you usually put a ribbing or other edging that cinches them up a bit), so I tried to "shrink" the length of each side a bit as I pinned.

Then I stitched two (tiny) rows of back-stitches on each side of the opening, catching an upward-facing loop in each stitch on two columns of stitches and stitching through the zipper's tape. 

Finally, I whip-stitched the edges of the zipper tape down on the inside. 

Et voila!  Not great photos, but you get the general idea.  I'm really happy with how it came out!

Tyrolean Leg Warmers:

And...  drum roll, please... here is Project No. 28!

Cuuuute!  And quite sexy, I must say.  Although I can't walk for more than 10 minutes in this particular pair of boots without losing all feeling in my toes.  I kind of miss dressing up, though.  Haven't been in a date for over a year, sigh.  I've only myself to blame, as I basically work and come straight home, help my son with homework, knit and hang out with the dogs.  I guess I could always try online dating again, but somehow it just doesn't seem very important these days.  I persist in the hope (fantasy? delusion?) that when you are ready, love will find you.  Of course, one hopes that halcyon day arrives when one still has hair and teeth...

Since the Tyrolean Leg Warmers were multi-colored and kinda hard to knit on the bus, I got another little project finished, this great little scarf from Morehouse Farms called the "Sandwich Scarf:"

Isn't that neat and fun!  It was quick and a blast to make.  Morehouse Farms is best known for their "critter kits," like the wonderful dachshund scarf I made last winter as a gift, but they have a number of lovely and fun scarves and shawl kits.  I highly recommend their clear, beautiful instructions and lovely soft merino yarn. 

Well... back to my knitting - working on the last of the "Old World" projects, the Florentine Shrug, which is basically a large stockinette canvas onto which an elaborate design of grape leaves, grapes and vines are later duplicate-stitched... it will be lovely, but will take a while, I'm sure.

Have a great week, everybody. 
XOXOXO Mar

 

Project 23, 24, 25, 26, 27...

Woo Hoo!  It feels like I'm making some progress on my trip around the knitting globe!

Finally had a knitting night with my girlies last Thursday night, and we ended up at our usual Starbucks, where Renay kindly took some photos of me modelling some recently finished KOTOTW knits!  (I'm looking a bit tired - still working on getting over this stupid endless bug):

Here's Project 23, the Parisian Entrelac Wrap:

Project 24 - Black Forest Mitts:

(I know - I'm such a hambone...)

Project 25 - La Belle Cardigan:

(I think the arm ribbons are a bit over the top for me, actually).

Kristin is working on a pair of baby booties - she has some extreeeeme number of girlfriends all expecting simultaneously, and is hoping to churn quite a few pairs of adorable booties out for them all.:

Well, the yarn was white so they kind of got blindingly obscured by the bright Starbucks lights, but trust me - adorable.  I'm very proud of her figuring out the shaping, as she is a new knitter and has been busy raising her little one, who turned one recently (our beloved guest babyblogger Adeline... maybe she needs to do another blog for us soon!)

I also took advantage of a few days at home to get the knitting done on Project 26, the Austrian Alps Zip Jacket.  It isn't quite completed yet - I needed to order a  24" separating zipper because I lengthened it.  My dress mannequin isn't as long as I am, so the ribbon doesn't actually hit under my butt (which would be weird) but at least you get the idea of how the textures work:

I can tell this will be a real keeper - extremely useful sweater for Minnesota, pretty enough for the office and functional for weekend wear or a pair of jeans as well.  I really like the ribbon I found for it - part of my "field trip to "MJ Trim" during my trip to New York City to visit Nicky back when the blog started.   It is very jewelly:

Finally, today I finished Project 27, the Octoberfest Glove Cuffs (very timely, considering the month!):

I used some Shibui kettle-dyed sock yarn - it was wonderful to work with, very springy and light.  I love the slightly variegated tones and how the add to the texture and visual interest of the pattern. 

The little mitered squares were really fun and really quick to knit, although to do an entire sweater of this intricacy might drive one to madness.  Although I can really see using this technique for cuffs or a collar, perhaps on a kimono-style jacket...

Next up:  Project 28, the Tyrolean Leg Warmers; as these are not very big, I expect that I will have them done by Halloween!  (Maybe I need to find a party where I can dress like a Tyrolean bar wench, a la St. Pauli Girl... hmmmm...)

The book contest continues - not a lot of entries so far.  Remember, even if you have your own copy of KOTOTW, Christmas is coming, think of your knitty friends!

XOXOXO,

Don't forget to go for a walk in the crisp air and hear the leaves crunch (I just love that... did you know newly fallen snow squeaks?  That will be happening soon enough around here.)

Mar.