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Books for Playtime Knitting

February 20, 2009 By 1 Comment

Yesterday I received a package from Knit Picks. While it contained no yarn (this time!), I confess that I caved on the last day of their big book sale. I think I went a little nuts. Over the next few entries I will talk a bit about the books I got and what I like about them.

First up is Knitted Finger Puppets: 34 Easy-to-Make Toys, by Meg Leach. I’ve been on this kick lately where I’ve been wanting to make teeny, quick, little knitted things, and these projects just about fit the bill. I can’t wait to make some of these. There are enough animal designs to create an entire finger puppet zoo, a Christmas-themed set starring Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Some characters that will enable one to act out the stories from several fairy tales, and a whole circus set. I can’t wait to make some of these! They really do look so fun!


Next up is Knitted Toys: 25 Fresh and Fabulous Designs, by Zoe Mellor. I love this lady’s books! The items in here are all so cute. I wish I had had this book years ago when my daughter was younger, because I think she would have liked to play with a lot of the things in this book. I especially love the Dress Up Dolly and the Knitted Snake. But the Kitty Pyjama Bag is also adorable, and maybe if I can get up the gumption this year I’ll make that one for one of my young nieces.

In knitting news this week, I frogged my giant mitered square that has been in my knitting purse for the last three months. It was huge, for one thing, and it was on needles that were too small. Noro Kureyon on 4′s? I am a loose knitter, so when I knit a hat this is what I would usually use since I prefer very warm, tightly knit hats. But the square was coming out feeling a bit like a horse blanket. And that wasn’t what I was going for! So I started over, with half as many stitches and size 8 needles instead. I think I’m going to like it much better. I’ll try to post pics tomorrow.

Happy Friday! Ciao for now.

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And You Thought Valentine’s Day Was Over!

February 16, 2009 By 4 Comments

Valentine candies in baggies with knitted hearts tied around them.Tonight I finally finished my Valentine’s Day treats for my co-workers. Phew! I only go in the office two days each week (I work from home a lot!) and the last time I was in was last Tuesday. There was no way I was going to be done by then.

Earlier in the week my daughter was touched by a friend at school who has recently suffered a senseless family tragedy. So, tonight as I was knitting on the last heart of the bunch, she asked me to teach her how to knit them. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Diana can do basic garter and stockinette stitch, and can weave in her ends like a champ. But these hearts, as small as they are, contain slipped stitches, double decreases, and short row shaping. Typically she gets very frustrated when trying new things, but I didn’t want to discourage her from trying. So I bit my lip about saying that really I just wanted to get mine done and go to bed, and we pressed on.

“They’re small, Mom. I can do it, she said.”

And she did. The blue one in the front of the picture is all hers. Her heart came off the needles a little wonky and she wasn’t happy with the shape. But, I suggested that she take out the darning needle, and as she was weaving in, tug here, and pull there, to get the heart into shape. She did just that, and her heart actually came out shaped better than any of mine. (I opted not to weave in any ends, and use them instead as ties around the baggies. Am I lazy, or what?)

I am so proud of her! Perhaps somewhere there’s a real knitter in her yet.

To refresh your memory, the heart pattern is on page 155 of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Workshop


Playing with the Blog Again!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll find that things look REALLY different around here! I’m like my mother, I guess, who re-arranges the living room furniture or the kitchen drawers when she gets restless. (You can’t ever go there in the dark and sit down if you haven’t been there in a while; the chair that you thought was where it’s always been might be somewhere else altogether!)

But for me, it was about more than just being restless. I loved my previous theme. A LOT. But different people come to this blog for different reasons, and I wanted to have a way to highlight knitting content versus family/personal content. This way, hopefully it will be easier to manage just one blog, instead of trying to juggle three. I was constantly updating this one anyway, and throwing in family content, and my others have been sadly neglected. I’m hoping this solution will be the best of all worlds for me, and I would love to hear your feedback!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

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Filed Under: blog, Finished Objects, Knitting

Bowie Borders Knitting Meetup

February 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Date: March 7, 2009

Time: 2:00 p.m.

Location:
Borders (in the same strip as Target)
4420 Mitchellville Road
Bowie, MD 20716

Phone: 301.352.5560

See you there!

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Not a Bloggable Kind of Week

February 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

It’s been a bit of a weird week.

I haven’t gotten a lot of knitting done at all. Just a couple more little hearts for my Valentine’s goody bags for my co-workers. I’m glad it’s a three-day weekend and I’ll have time to get more done.

My cable access was very intermittent until Wednesday evening of this week, when I think they finally tightened it up enough to hold for a while. (I think there was a loose connection outside. It usually went out with bad weather, wind, cold, you name it.) Yesterday we managed to maintain our cable and internet service through a pretty serious windstorm. I guess I’m supposed to feel lucky.

My great-aunt Evelyn died on Wednesday evening, probably just as I was rejoicing over the return of the interwebs. Uncle Bob, her former husband, had passed away on December 30, and I just saw her at his memorial service. She looked great. Was getting around with a walker, but to be expected at her age… but walking well and being her usual self. Age had not clouded her mind at the least and she talked about how she still drives and goes and visits with her girlfriends every week.

Two weeks later, it was discovered that she had advanced bone cancer. I’m not sure how this happened so suddenly. I guess she probably fell… I don’t even know. And then two nights ago she just slipped away. At least, I guess, she wasn’t sick for long and could not have suffered much. I am, I suppose, grateful for that. But at the same time I am sad. It feels like I am losing lots of my older relatives now. My Christmas card list gets shorter every year. I love my extended family. We’re a big bunch. Chaotic, and sometimes dramatic, but usually fun. But nowadays it is starting to feel like the circle is smaller, and people are missing. Sigh.

Wednesday was also a good day. My little man’s first grade class had a performance for the school’s weekly chapel. The theme honored Black History Month, and the students each played an important character from history. My son played Henry “Box” Brown, a slave who climbed into a box and shipped himself to freedom.

In the days and weeks leading up to the performance, Little Man was very anxious about the whole thing, and would not even practice his lines with us. He eventually confided that he was nervous and worried that people would laugh at him. And yet, we could not ever get him to practice. So I wasn’t sure how it would go that morning, but he did know all of his lines, and he said them perfectly. I was so proud! I would post pictures but I don’t want to inadvertently share photos here of other people’s children, or give clues as to the location from the surrounding imagery. I know I post pics of my kids a lot, but there are certain things I won’t post. So sorry! But suffice it to say that he did great and I was SO proud of him, and that yes, there will be a video for private family viewing only.

But, I can’t leave you with nothing to look at for this post, so here’s Tegan. As you can see, she’s really thrilled to be video’d:

Ok, she’s probably just wishing that I hadn’t disturbed her nap.

Thanks for reading this update. I’ll have knitting content sometime this weekend.

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Be Warned: Loooong Knitting Post Ahead

February 9, 2009 By 7 Comments

And Thank You for that, oh Cable Internet Provider Craptacular! I’ve been offline more than on since last Wednesday so this is the first chance I’m getting to update since our Bowie Knitting meetup on Saturday. So, bear with me, as this is sort of a catch-up post.

First, I have an FO Report!!

Lady Hawk Hat

Lady Hawk Hat

Project Name: Lady Hawk Hat
Source: Me!
Yarn Used: Cascade 220, less than one skein each of Navy and White
Needle Size: 5 (I’m a loose knitter)
Date Started: October 17, 2008
Date Completed: February 7, 2009

Tammy did the duplicate stitching on the hat

Tammy did the duplicate stitching on the hat

Notes: I did this hat using a simple top-down formula and changed colors back and forth basically when I felt like it. Except that I knew that the letters I’d be using were 10 stitches high so I had to do one of the white bands at least wide enough to accommodate the lettering. I am not sure why this hat took so long to finish, except that it did. Perhaps it was that I was dragging my feet about doing the duplicate stitch lettering, and it turned out that was for good reason, because I sucked eggs at stitching. I’m going to have to practice with some swatches before next time.

So, enter in Tammy, who graciously (and patiently!) tried to show me how to do duplicate stitch at our last group meeting. She felt sorry for me and my pending sense of disaster, I think, because she took pity on me and offered to do the stitching and bring the hat back to me. This was so generous of her! It looks great, doesn’t it? And I do think that my generally hard-to-please, almost-teen was genuinely thrilled with it, even if it was in her usual understated way. Thanks to Tammy for helping to make this project a success!

February Bowie Borders Meetup Report

Our little monthly group met on February 7 at the usual time in our favorite little coffee shop. There was much yarn and much fun enjoyed by all! Here are some photos of the afternoon’s doin’s!

I brought my little Flip Ultra video camera with me to group for the first time and I got a few shots of the fun.

It was a great day! I am always so excited to go to group every time. I love the bunch of people that I am getting to know!

And Finally, A Ravelry Connection!

You know, I am amazed at the number of ways Ravelry has impacted my life over the last year and a half. Over the weekend I got my glasses done, at long last, after being frustrated with my poor quality of vision correction for at least 4 years. Wouldn’t you know it? Someone I met on Ravelry is a Master Optician at a local optical chain, and she helped me make some good decisions about my eyes. I have progressive lenses, and have had them for the last several years, but my mid-range vision for the computer has been consistently awful. Anne Marie (“Roxy”) fixed me right up! Given the amount of time I spend at the computer, she recommended two pairs of glasses, one for distance and reading, and one for computer use and reading. Wow. I never would have thought to do it this way, but it works and I love them! Of course I had to make sure to document the occasion for the blog:

Trish with Anne Marie... I can see again! THANKS!!!

Trish with Anne Marie... I can see again! THANKS!!!

So as you can see, Saturday was a great day filled with many rewards. I do love the knitters!

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Filed Under: blog, Events, Finished Objects, Knitting Tagged With: , , ,
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