Trish Knits.com

Author: Trish

  • Must. Restrain. Self. NOW!

    Knitpicks harmony needles

    Have you SEEN these? These are the new Knit Picks Options Harmony Needles. I just can’t believe how beautiful they are. You might have heard by now that I love rainbow-y, colorful-y things? Help me! (Oh, and see how pointy-licious they are? Wow…)

    I have already asked for these for Christmas. Until then I must maintain my resolve and NOT be tempted to buy!

    I already love my KnitPicks Metal Needles, so much so that they are probably my favorite needles of all. But wow. Colorful? AND wooden? You know, there are times when slick, metal needles are just too slippery. So, I NEED these, right? Oh, yessssssssssssssssssss…

    I shall wait. Until Christmas. Christmas is good.

    Meanwhile I will continue slogging away on my rainbow stripey baby blanket. I’m so close to being done on my main knitting that I can taste it. I’m in the middle of my second-to-last stripe, and then I have to weave in the ends! Then there’s the question of the border. should it have one, or should I leave it? I don’t know that I have decided for sure either way yet.

    Happy knitting weekend!

  • I Have This Little Hat…

    Blue crocheted hat with brim

    I bought this hat quite a number of years ago at a local craft fair. The lady who sold it to me said it is made of plain old Red Heart yarn and it is crocheted. I loved it so much I immediately set out to emulate it, hence my start of the love of making hats! I never quite achieved the same thickness with the hats I tried, but I never used Red Heart, either. Perhaps if I had used a stiffer yarn and even smaller hook. It is made with two strands together.

    Well, I don’t crochet anymore and I have yet to find a knitting pattern that produces this stiff of a fabric without felting. But I am going to try to do it. I am sure it can be done.

    I like this hat because it spent about the last 5 years crumpled up at the bottom of our family hat and glove crate in the hall closet. A few punches and it pretty much went right back in shape. My felted hats, on the other hand, need another trip in the hot sink to be wearable again. (This year they got balled up in the hat crate… sigh…)

    The first question is of course how to attain the flat top shape, which requires a bit more thought with knitting than with crochet. I posted yesterday to two of my knitting communities, KnitTalk and KnitHatsNow. I’ve received quite a few tips so far.

    blue crocheted hat with brim

    • Linda suggests that I knit an I-cord tube of 8 stitches until the stitches don’t have a ladder anymore, then switch to working yarn and begin increasing in multiples of 8 stitches. Depending on how and where I do the increases, the top of the hat could look like a spiral, or it could look like a wheel with spokes. I’ll have to see which I like.
    • Carol pointed me to a pattern online for a hat with a brim. This one doesn’t quite have the shaping I want, but it is a cute hat!
    • Rita pointed me to Emily Ocker’s Cast On, illustrated by Theresa Stenersen, whose Techniques with Theresa articles are a staple at Knitty.com. This cast on looks really helpful for the type of hat I am planning to try and I think I will use this technique. Theresa’s articles and tips are always so clear and I love them.

      • .

    • Bonnie then mentioned this round pinwheel blanket pattern by Genia. Wow, the knitting world is small — Genia is the kind lady who taught my daughter Diana to knit. This pattern shows another way to do the increases to achieve a flat circle.

    Wow, so many options! Of course. Knitting is like that. That way, there are many ways of achieving a desired result, so I will play around and see what works best for me. Thanks, everyone! (Sorry for the blurry photos; it was my first attempt at doing a self portrait, a la Wendy Johnson, by staring in the bathroom mirror. My mirror glass is very wavy!)

  • New Pathways for Sock Knitters (and Why You MUST Buy This Book!)

    New Pathways for Sock Knitters Book Cover

    I recently added this book to my collection: New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One by Cat Bordhi. To say that I LOVE this book is putting it mildly. I don’t own the “Socks Soar” book because many of the reviews at the time said that it sort of assumes you know a thing or two about making socks, which I don’t. So I was a bit scared of making that investment.

    I’ve never knit a sock in my life. But I’m about to. As soon as the stripey baby blanket is done. And this book couldn’t be any clearer. It shows step by step, very clearly, how socks are constructed. Not only that, it shows, with clear diagrams, how to set up the stitches on DPNs or circs, so that you can dive right in with your favorite knitting method. This is just the book I’ve been waiting for. It is not prejudiced about what method of knitting you choose and even embraces the Magic Loop. This means, for me, socks are finally do-able. Yay!

    The book starts out with some very simple baby socks, so you can get the idea of making them without having to put lots of time or effort into them. And it builds from there. There are a series of sock “architectures” that show you how to build a sock in different ways, and each one contains lots of variations, aiming at showing you that the possibilities are endless. Wow. If you have never knit socks before, this book is like taking a very detailed sock class. If you have knit socks before, this book still has lots to offer. Check it out!

    I’ve been doing lots of knitting at the pool this weekend. Our swim club closes for the season after today. I’ll be sad to say goodbye to summer, but I am stocked up with lots of yarn and many new projects to lessen the blow. I just started a 10-row orange stripe, which I think will be my second to last stripe. I’ll end with a pink stripe, just like I started, and then, all those ends! I’ll be busy with a pair of scissors and a darning needle for a while. Then I’ll have to decide whether the blankie needs a border. I am leaning toward a crocheted edge, despite the fact that I avoid crochet as much as possible (aggravates my carpal tunnel), but we shall see. Attached I-cord might also work but I can’t decide! Whatever I choose it will have to be fairly inconspicuous as a border so it doesn’t compete with the bright stripes. Wish me luck with deciding. Got any suggestions? Drop me a note in the comments. Thanks!

  • Earning My Badge!

    trish knits in tomorrowland

    See? Here I am, knitting in TomorrowLand of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. I had this one ball of yarn with me everywhere I went, and believe me, people giggled when they saw me knitting in the nearly 100-degree heat! I was practicing the Flame Chevron stitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and yes, on many occasions I found myself talking to people about how, yes, you really can knit anywhere! And I did! My knitting helped me to maintain my sanity while waiting in long lines, or while waiting for people who were waiting in long lines. Isn’t that what Disney is about… lots of waiting? Haha. I didn’t mind one bit!

    (This pic was actually taken on August 20, 2007.) I hope to have more real time knitting content to share before the weekend is up!)

  • Post Florida Blankie Update

    rainbow striped blankie in progress

    Here’s the latest blankie update photo. I haven’t measured but I think I got about six inches or so done while I was on vacation. At this moment I am planning to work my way up to the next pink stripe before calling it done, since the first stripe was pink. Then I need to decide whether the blankie needs to have a border of some sort. At this point I’m thinking maybe an attached i-cord.

    So, while doing all of this knitting in the car on my trip, I listened to and got all caught up on the podcast Lime and Violet (or should I say, Violet, sans Lime? Where is she anyway? I miss her.) This podcast isn’t as much about knitting as it is about yarn and fiber and lots of wacky conversation… though of course there is some knitting, especially socks. I definitely would not listen to this podcast around my kids, but it is hysterically funny. I even caught my DH laughing several times. Now he knows why I’ve been known to guffaw out loud at night in bed (I use my iPod as a sound abatement sleep aid!)

    I also listened to many episodes of Sticks and String, by David Reidy from somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Australia. I also love this show, as he is always talking to someone new about the world of knitting. As I was listening last week I found myself wondering whether, since he’s in Oz, if he happened to catch any of the Countdown Spectacular 2 concerts that are happening there. BSG were playing and of course since they play pretty much only on that side of the world I’ve never had a chance to see them. Have I ever mentioned that I am their WebLady? BSG of course are the principal founding members of Australia’s super-group, Little River Band. But, I digress…

    I’m almost caught up now on David’s podcasts too and will look forward to the new ones each week.


    Look, Ma! I’m Petting a Dolphin!

    Trish petting female dolphin at Sea World

    Here’s a shot of me petting a dolphin at Sea World in Orlando. I don’t get the chance to get up close to animals very often, except for my own cats of course, but this dolphin trainer called the dolphin up out of the water so I could pet her. She also showed my son how to ask the dolphin to make that clicking sound they make, and the trainer also showed us how to ask the dolphin to wave her fin at us as in waving bye-bye. It was so cool that she responded to us, and this was a highlight of our vacation. Thanks for letting me share!

  • See? My Trip to Disney DOES Have Knitting Content!

    Mr. and Mrs. Incredible admire my knitting

    I just got back from a fabulous vacation to Walt Disney World. I had been in line, like a doting mother, taking a photo of Diana with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, when the Mr. motioned for me to come over for a photo. Their “handler” chick had been admiring my yarn while we were waiting in line, and as I went up for the photo, she mentioned to Mr. Incredible that I was knitting a scarf! So there he was, guy with big plastic head, trying to look really impressed through his immovable face. Kinda reminded me of the reactions I get when I show my knitting to most of the real people I know! Muggles! All of them. Sigh.

    While on vacation I did get a lot done on my rainbow stripey baby blanket. I will try to take a pic later this week. I’m still too beat! I did all of that knitting in the car plus a little back at the hotel. The little thing I am knitting is my “emergency waiting in line ball of yarn” that I brought with me to get me through the endless amounts of waiting that would inevitably take place over the week of the vacation. It is of course the Lisa Souza yarn in the Emerald City colorway. This was my first time attempting lace at all and I was doing the Flame Chevron lace pattern from Barbara Walker, Volume 2. Of course I had to rip it all out multiple times and at the moment have nothing to show for it. I guess I will be needing lifelines until I get the hang of how not to drop yarn overs and not discover having dropped them until several rows later. Yipe!

    More later about the trip and my knitting adventures, and how, somehow, I managed to knit my way through Disney. Right now, I hear a pillow… softly calling my name… zzzzzzzzzzzz…..