Trish Knits.com

Author: Trish

  • Folk Style

    Folk Style Book Cover

    A quick trip to Barnes and Noble today to get a birthday gift for a sister-in-law found me in short order in the knitting aisle. (Of course!) I snatched a copy of Folk Style without even cracking it open to peek first. Have I EVER knit anything from a knitting book that I own? (Hanging head…) No. Why then, do I have more than 60 knitting books in my library, and why do I have a horrid desire to own more?

    I’m just crazy, I guess. But there are some pretty, pretty things in here and maybe I will knit something someday. I especially love the Modern Quilt Wrap by Mags Kandis, which of course can be found for free online. (Follow my link… easy! ) But also the colorful Algonquin Socks spoke to me. Have I ever even knit a sock? Nope, not yet! But I want to… really. Also the Tribal Baby Carrier and the Bogolanfini Pullover and the Indian Silk Pillow. All look so pretty! And yet, here I am, still dying to cast on for some hats. I am still working on the rainbow stripey baby blanket. Stitching a little each day, painfully little. It’s just four stinkin’ rows left. I was hoping to have it done today but now I am setting a new goal to be done with the main knitting before the end of this weekend.

    Wish me luck!

    Oh and hey, I found the new episode of Cast On was available today. Makes for good knitting, it does. Thanks, Brenda!

  • Why, Oh WHY Is the Last Stripe SOOO Hard?

    rainbow stripey blanket in progress

    Ugh. For some reason, I’m dragging this blanket out into foreverdom. I don’t know why! It’s not like I DON’T want to be done with it; trust me, I do. I have lots of hats I want to knit! I think it must be all of the ends that need to be woven in, and the border I want to crochet on. Egad, how I hate finishing! (insert whine here)

    So, slowly but surely I am plugging away. Five rows to go. Then the bind off. And all. Those. Ends. I think it’ll take another month.

    (Harummmph.)

    Cool Stuff I Found on the ‘Net

    • The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book–this book is finally available as a PDF download. It has SO many cute hat designs, if you love hats you won’t be able to pass it up.
    • Magic Loop Video–by the Knit Witch. This has to be the most clear example of how to do the Magic Loop technique that I have ever seen. Check it out!

  • Shine Overboard

    shine yarn colors arranged in a color wheel

    Well, today my Shine Yarn from KnitPicks finally arrived. Wowwww, what a lot of yarn! I saw the Flower Power Baby Hat in Knitty this week and I am in love! The color possibilities are endless! I think I am going to try a couple of those. Then I have this book called 1000 Great Knitting Motifs and it is generating lots of ideas.

    I want to make a couple of hats for my mom and this yarn seems soft enough that it won’t hurt her sensitive head. The chemo is over now, but it has been rough on her and I think it will be a couple of months before she’s back to her old self.

    Would I be bragging too much if I said how much I am loving Ravelry? I’m tellin’ you, it’s like a drug. I can’t stop poking around and looking at people’s projects. I am also enjoying the huge sense of community there and I am loving all of the resources I can find with just a few clicks. My favorite thing? Say I like a project, like the aforementioned Flower Power hat. All I have to do is enter that project into my queue and it finds all of the other people who are making it or who have made it already. COOL. It’s a great way to get new ideas.


    Pretty Needles

    knitpicks harmony needle tips size 4

    Lookie what I got with my yarn! I’ve been waiting to get these <a mce_thref=” />Harmony needles and give them a spin. More on these later, I suppose. Yes, I know I said I’d have to wait for Christmas, but you know, I just had to have wooden needles for that slick cotton yarn! Right? A necessity! A lot of the commonly used sizes are on backorder already. This is what I could get for now, but I think it will do the trick.

  • Ok, I Caved…

    Shine Yarn

    Ok, on Monday, I caved and bought yarn. Not just a little yarn. A LOT of yarn. What was I thinking??

    I bought TWO balls of every available color of KnitPicks Shine yarn. When I make hats, I like to have lots of colors at my fingertips so I can have the option to do fun and funky designs. I want to make a stack of baby hats for a co-worker, and also a cotton cap for my mom, who is going through chemo and needs a hat, but everything is itchy to her. I think this yarn will be just the thing.

    Of course to go with the yarn I had to get a couple pairs of KnitPicks Harmony needles to go with it. I got two pairs of size 4, so I can have the option to do more than one project at once. I noticed while ordering that many of the needle tip sizes are already on backorder. I can’t wait to receive mine. I got an email yesterday saying my box had been shipped so it will be fun.

    I’m working hard to finish my rainbow baby blanket so I can move on with a clean conscience. I still am working on the very last stripe, then I have to weave in all those ends! I am planning also to add a blue border, to help make the blankie a little more boyish for the recipient. Boy, will I be glad to be done… I can’t WAIT to get started on my hats!

    Happy Birthday, Dad. I miss you.

  • I’m In with the In Crowd!

    Wow! At about this time yesterday, after more than two months of waiting, I finally received my Ravelry invitation! I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of all that this wonderful tool can do. It has a way to help you catalog and track your projects, track your stash, catalog your books, needles and other tools, and share in projects with others who might be working on the same thing.

    A quick search showed me that there are about 5 other people so far who are from my town that are Ravelry members. I don’t know any of them, except one girl who I know I went to college with, but I don’t think she remembers me. Maybe I will contact them and suggest a knit-in at our local Borders. There is actually a Borders group that meets on Wednesday nights but I can’t go, so I’m looking for some Saturday people.

    Adorable Hats!

    ittybitty.jpg
    I just got the book Itty Bitty Hats this week. This book is adorable! I definitely will be making a few things from the book. Did I mention that ANOTHER co-worker is expecting? There’s no way I can do another baby blanket. But, I do hope that a few cute baby hats will do the trick. Wish me luck! I might even get to reuse some of my yarn from the baby blanket, but instead, I think I sense some balls of KnitPicks Shine coming my way. (Yes, they are calling me!)

    I had an absolutely great time knitting with Rhoda this weekend. Guess what she brought for show and tell? The new KnitPicks Harmony Needles! Ooooooh my! They certainly are pretty! I hope I can restrain myself all the way until Christmas! Kelley, what have you done to me now?? We enjoyed a pizza for lunch and then knitted while listening to some of my favorite podcasts. Then the power went out. For no reason at all, I might add. Go figure.

  • Down to the Last Stripe

    Me working on the baby blanket

    Yay! I’m starting the last stripe of my baby blanket. Finally! My daughter decided that she needed to snap this photo of me the other day, and is insisting that I put it on my blog. So here it is, with full photo credit to Diana. But, boy… I sure am tired at seeing that fat person in those photos! Who is she, anyway? Someone who wants to be done knitting a baby blanket, that’s who!

    What was I thinking, anyway, doing such a large project? I think this confirms for me that I am a small project kind of gal. I’m fine with that.

    I am still trying to decide whether the blanket needs an edging. I probably will, to increase the amount of blue in the pattern, since the baby is a boy. Now another co-worker is pregnant so I think next time I will do a pile of baby hats and socks. The baby is due at Christmas and is a girl. Yay, one of each to knit for this year. How fun!


    Cable-y Goodness

    Cables Volume 1: The Basics book cover

    Yesterday I received the book, Cables Volume 1: The Basics by Janet Szabo. I love this book! Ok, I think I’m a book ho. But seriously. Still. This is a good one. If you love cables like I do, or a shameless fan of Janet’s work, as I am, Go. Now.

    The book is chock full of photos and very clear instructions. The photos are black and white, which I think is a good thing, because sometimes color can be distracting in cables. So it’s really easy to see the work. She also discusses cabling without a cable needle right up front, which is how I do it, and I think that’s a very useful thing. Makes cables go a lot faster! Each chapter talks about different types of cables with photos and instructions in charts and words, and also gives you challenges to try other cabling experiments. There’s even a chapter on designing your own cables. How cool!

    So look what I found when I opened the book:

    Janet Szabo signed my book

    Wow. I wasn’t expecting a SIGNED copy! It says, “Patricia, may all your cables cross the right way!” But hey, even if they don’t, there’s a section in the book on fixing cables.

    If Volume 1 is this good, I already can’t wait for Volume 2!