Trish Knits.com

Category: blog

  • OBU

    Multicolored brown ripple afghan in progress

    (Obligatory Blanket Update)

    Well, here it is, the latest photo of my ripple afghan in progress, for Miss Z. One or two more people added their work to the blanket this week, and I feel like I’ve knitted a LOT, but visually, from the picture, it doesn’t really look very different. I guess I’m entering that disappointing stage where hours and hours of knitting yield very minimal results. All knitters hit that wall with long-term projects. At some point. Right? Please tell me I’m not alone.

    So this week my kid decided that she needs to do five rows a day on the baby blanket she’s working on for her teacher. So far, she has stuck to it, except that tonight she is feeling a little punky so I doubt she’ll knit today. I hope this isn’t the beginning of a winter virus making its way through our house.

    I caved and bought yarn this week. Lots of yarn. 25 balls of Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather, and 20 balls in Onyx Heather. Not sure yet what I am going to do with it, but I was originally thinking maybe a blanket of some sort, or at least a couple of hats and mittens and scarves etc. We’ll see. Obviously I won’t be taking on any new projects for a while yet.

    Also in the box is a set of needles in size 7 for IJ at work. She wants to learn to knit! I can’t wait to teach her. I’m hoping she will love knitting as much as I do.

    Not much else going on around here. Brenda has a new episode of Cast On up today so I’m gonna go listen and knit. Ahhhh. Knitting and Cast On. Two things that make winter more bearable. Thanks, Brenda.

  • Knit Night at Trish’s

    Diana, knitting a garter stitch striped baby blanket

    Just another quiet Saturday night at my house… I had a lovely afternoon of knitting with my buddy Rhoda, and then Diana and I sat and watched a movie this evening and knitted some more. Here she is, working on a garter stitch striped baby blanket for one of her teachers. She figures that if she does 5 rows a night, she’ll have 150 rows done in about a month, and then she’ll be able to tell how much bigger to make the blanket. I think she’s doing a great job! Her stitches are nice and even, and very much improved from her first project.

    Me? I’m still knitting away on the brown ripple afghan. It’s looking good, and I think I can actually bump up my progress bar another notch tonight. More pics later this week.

    Ciao for now… gotta get back to my knitting!

  • Again!

    Snow coming down, view from my porch

    It’s snowing again! The snow from the other day only hung around for a couple of hours, but this one is hanging around a bit longer. You think I’d be knitting, but no, I’m working today. (Taking my lunch break, of course…) My kids are scheduled to only have a half day of school tomorrow, so if our county decides to do a delayed opening tomorrow, it means our school will be closed. If that happens, THEN maybe I can have my snowy knitting day. I’ve got my fingers crossed, and I’ll be wearing my jammies inside out tonight! (No, you’re never too old to dream.)

  • Blankie Report

    Ripple blanket in progress

    I decided to shoot a quick photo of the blankie this morning… it is coming along nicely, eh? I really love how it looks, and especially how it feels. It is SO soft! I hope Miss Z. will like it.

    Speaking of Miss Z, yesterday we had our annual holiday breakfast at work. We always do ours after the holidays since folks usually have leave and there are lots of other parties before the holidays to go to. Anyway, Miss Z. came to our party and brought her little baby and her young daughter along. The baby is just precious, as I knew she would be. But I have to say, for all she’s been through, Z. looks great! I took lots of pictures, but I don’t want to post one here because that would require getting permission from Miss Z., and I don’t want to tip her off about the blankie.

    Except that she is a teeny bit tipped off. As I was leaving yesterday I popped in to see the boss and Miss Z. was still in there, chatting away. I had my coat on and my bag with me, and the blankie was peeking out of the top of the bag. Miss Z. peeked and said, “What is THIS? A scarf or a shawl? It’s so pretty!” She didn’t take it out of the bag so couldn’t really see what it was, but the color and various textures were visible. I said “Oh, it’s a blanke….” and left it at that. She said nothing else but I don’t think she caught on. At least I hope not… I guess we’ll see!


    A Circle of Mittens…

    hand knit mittens in various colors and sizes, arranged in a circle

    So for some reason, my mom thinks I was ragging on the mittens she’s been knitting for everyone. Not so! Here’s a pic of some of them… Guess whose mittens are the purple ones??? On Sunday mom came over and we casted on for her felt hat. I hope she does ok with it… she didn’t quite get the concept of Magic Loop, but I think she will be ok eventually. She had a couple of rounds done before leaving on Sunday. Sigh… I sometimes wish I had a hat on the needles….


    Pretty…

    a quick little snow shower outside my door…

    It’s stopped already, but this is what was happening outside of my door a little while earlier today. Yes, winter is finally here.

  • Kneedles!

    circular knitting needles

    The other day when my mom was over she asked me if I still have the yarn I was planning to use to make her a felted hat. The snot green yarn. for the snot hat? Why yes, I still have it. My mom has taken up knitting this year, and nearly every grandkid has been gifted with fuzzy mittens this winter. But now she wants to tackle her hat. Herself. How cool is that??

    So on Sunday, she’s having a hat knitting lesson. She of course needed the right tools for the job, so I ordered for her, her very own Size 11 Harmony needle tips and cables, which will be perfect for the job. The yarn is all balled up and ready to go. And I actually own more than one copy of the pattern (link chosen at random… lots of folks carry this pattern). I’m going to teach Magic Loop simultaneously with the concept of knitting in the round, so that my mom will never have to switch to double pointed needles while making her hat. I think it will be fun. Then we’ll wrap up our knitting lesson with a yummy steak dinner. I can’t wait! How fun it is going to be.

    Of course, I couldn’t buy needles for my mom without putting in an order for a little something for myself! I got all of the Harmony Circulars in sizes 0 to 3, just to round out my set. I also will get a set of the Harmony Cable Needles sometime soon, but only because they’re so pretty. I don’t really use cable needles that often… it depends on the give in the yarn. Still, I am finding these Harmonies to be too beautiful to pass up!


    Miss Z.’s blanket     is coming along great. Yesterday we had lots of volunteer knitters at work, so the list is growing! Our director of HR gave permission for me to send an email to our whole organization. So, people were coming in and out of my office all day. More pics this weekend…

  • Updates and Stuff

    Z’s blanket progress

    Well, here it is, the latest “baby pic” of Miss Z.’s Blankie. I am enjoying making it but I wish it could go faster. Miss Z. starts her chemo very soon and I want it to be done. Now that the holidays have wound down and most folks are back at work, I am getting even more takers on the “many hands” aspect of the project.

    I have now used all of the yarn colors that I have for the project, so am starting over, in a slightly different color order. I hope I can keep the variations going. In a recent stripe I added Knit Picks Shine Sport in the colorway, Willow, but I’m not sure I love it being there yet, since it is so much lighter than the other shades. But I was having an interesting dilemma of not having enough yarns for the parts in between the primary shades. I had some Shine on hand, so decided to try it. So, I guess we’ll see how it works out.


    Trish’s Got a Brand New Bag

    Namaste Executive Bag, rust color

    Ok, as much as I absolutely LOVE my Jordana Paige Knitter’s Satchel, I have finally had to admit, it’s really not the most practical solution for me. I’ve managed to bend the metal bar that holds the clicky clasp on both of my bags, and so neither one closes well. Which is causing me problems, because except for the little stuff in the zipper pouch, most of the stuff is rolling around in there and all jumbled up with everything else.

    So I bit the bullet and bought a Namaste Executive Bag. I’ve been hearing about these as they seem to be the buzz of all the knitters in the know. But, it’s hard to get. I hear it’s been discontinued, and that a newer, better bag may be coming out soon. But, I gotta admit, this one’s pretty cool! I like that it has separate compartments fort the “purse stuff” and the knitting gear. I also like that it seems to have stronger closures, so I shouldn’t have to worry about the bag tipping over and all of my purse stuff falling out.

    It does seem that the material it’s made of is kinda thin. That’s one complaint I’ve been hearing is that the bag isn’t as durable as some folks would like. So I guess we’ll see how I make out with it, given that I do seem to be pretty hard on stuff. Wish me luck…


    On a Roll

    Toilet Roll Covers book cover

    And now for something completely different…

    I heard Kelley Petkun talk about this on her podcast a few weeks ago, and I thought, “Who in their right mind would buy a book about THAT??” But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Then, this week, my copy of Toilet Roll Covers finally found it’s way to my door. I cannot believe I started feeling all nostalgic, as my mom and grandmother used to make cozies for just about everything. But my mom has never seen toilet paper cozies like this! They are fun, funky and adorable. Of course I will have to make a hat for my toilet paper, and maybe even an Aran sweater. The piano keys are also very cute, and someday, I’ll have to make the “Drum Roll” for my brother the drummer.

    Sigh. Looks like my Redskins are losing to the Seahawks. It’s been a tough year for them. I was really hoping…

    Ciao for now!