Trish Knits.com

Author: Trish

Candy Hearts

small knit hearts in various colors

I’m totally obsessed with Valentine Hearts. I started last week with the full-sized version, and once I finally figured out how they worked, I was able to downsize to these cute teeny hearts. I started by casting on 31 stitches instead of the 61 called for in the original pattern. At half size, I can do a heart in about 45 minutes.

The cool thing is that I don’t think I’m even going to weave in any ends, because I’m going to use them to tie onto little baggies of candies for my co-workers, kids, and a few other friends. I don’t know how many I’ll get done between now and Valentine’s Day, but we’ll see!

Bloggy Stuff

I moved my Feedburner blog feed to Google today. They say the transition will be seamless. We’ll see about that. I’m a little nervous. I’m just starting to gain a few readers here and there, and so I hope I don’t lose anybody!

All this technical stuff makes my head explode. I’d really rather just be knitting.

Good night for now!

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February 2, 2009
Bowie Borders Knitting Meetup

Date: February 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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January 31, 2009
Knit Valentine and a Birthday

Yay! I figured it out!

red knit heart on card

Actually, I feel pretty stupid. Elizabeth Zimmermann is always right, and I should just trust her, that even though her patterns aren’t always the most specific, hand-holding things in the world, I should just trust that they’re right.

It’s all about the short rows. Most of the time, a pattern will specifically say when you are short rowing and turning before the end of the row, and then they specifically say when you will begin picking the unknit stitches back up and knitting them again. This pattern didn’t specifically include those little notes, so it was hard for me to figure out where in the directions to begin picking the unknit stitches back up again. Ok, the pattern didn’t specifically point it out, but if I had just had faith and followed along just as written without second-guessing, then I would be doing it anyway. It all worked beautifully of course. It was Elizabeth Zimmermann, after all.

To see the pattern, it’s on page 155 of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Workshop. I’m definitely going to make a bunch of smaller hearts starting tomorrow.

Birthday Boy

Today is Steven’s 7th birthday! I am so proud of my little boy, who is growing up so fast. His big party is still a week or so away, but my mom and Tony came for dinner tonight and brought an ice cream cake. Here are a few photos from the evening:

Getting ready to blow out candles

Blowing out candles

Steven and Nonna cut the cake

Steven, with sister being goofy

Diana

Nonno

Daddy

Happy Birthday, Steven! I am so proud of you.

Love,
Mommy.

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January 28, 2009
Knitting Weather

Today we had to leave work early because our kids’ school closed early. Why? Because of this:

snow in the bushes

snow in the yard

It started snowing a little late this morning for schools to be closed for the day, but by the time we were ready to leave for school and work the driveway had to be shoveled first. So we kinda figured we wouldn’t be there the whole day. In fact, we had only been there for a few minutes when we heard the news that we would be leaving early. So the kids got a little outdoor playtime this afternoon and I got to spend some time knitting.

After yesterday’s heart turning out wonky, I did a Ravelry search and found a cute knitted heart by Elizabeth Zimmermann. It’s part of the Heart Hat pattern, but the heart itself can be knit as a standalone object.

Problem is I don’t understand the pattern. Obviously there is some short-rowing going on, but I can tell already that I’m missing something and my counts are weird. Has anybody out there made this? Are there short rows on both ends, or one end only? Help?

Thanks in advance….

Trish, the Heart-Obsessed Totally Confused Knitter

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January 27, 2009
If You Squint a Little…

It kinda looks like a heart, sorta, maybe??

knitted heart on a greeting card

I got the idea from looking at a short video on Vickie Howell’s blog, but mine doesn’t look as “heart-y” as hers. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts, right? I have a good friend who has been trying to reconnect by writing letters, and while I’m thrilled to receive them, I don’t really write letters anymore. Not since the advent of e-mail! So you know it’s a special friend. I hope she likes it!

We’re hoping for snow tomorrow. We haven’t had a good snow around here for a couple of years now. I like snow when it’s enough to cancel school around here, because then I get to stay home with the kids and knit and sip hot chocolate all day. Oh, that sounds divine! The kids went to bed with their jammies on inside out, for luck. Let’s hope it works!

Ciao for now.

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January 26, 2009
I Just Had to Knit Something New

ruffled edge of Pfeiffer Falls scarf

I’ve been needing to start a new project for carrying along, since I finished the knitting portion of my most recent hat. A couple of posts back I mused about the Pfeiffer Falls Hooded Scarf in the current issue of Interweave Knits. So yesterday I started it, after spending nearly a week reading and re-reading the pattern. I admit that I still don’t understand the construction of the thing entirely, so I am having to trust that the pattern is completely correct and just follow it. I’m hoping that the light bulb goes off soon. Thankfully the designer, Anne Kuo Lukito is on Ravelry and a knitalong will begin soon. I suppose that I knit so slowly that this head start I’ve got going won’t matter much. I’m looking forward to working on this project together with a group.

Hey, look at the new pet that the postman brought me today!

Wollmeise

It’s my very own skein of Wollmeise! Now, I think most folks know I am NOT much of a sock knitter, but I do love me some nice yarn. And I hear people get so worked up about this one that I just wanted to see what it was about. A fellow Raveler had some in a colorway she thought I might like so we struck up a deal. And now it lives with me.

The skein is very generous, which I noticed right away. The yarn itself is very soft too. Perhaps I’ll make myself a scarf with it someday. But really, sometimes I just buy yarn for yarn’s sake. This one is so lovely to pet I’m half inclined to adopt it as my new teddy bear. There’s plenty of time to decide what it will be.

Ciao for now… off to knit a bit then pet my yarn. Then bed. All this new president stuff has my head spinning. In a good way, but honestly I’ve been too excited to sleep. Good things are coming… I can feel it.

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January 23, 2009