Uninspiring
Sorry folks, I'm being shamefully uninspiring at the moment. You see, the first laid out draft of the book is here. That means I'm up to my neck in editing...the sort where you match your pens to your highlighters and your postit notes and call upon all the focusing capabilities of a cup of your strongest tea and just power through. It makes for a shamefully boring blog really. I will do my very best to actually put some yarn on some sticks and do something clever with it as soon as possible. But for now, could someone please hand [...]
Warm
As discussed the last time this hat gripped me in its obsession, these hats are mindbogglingly simple. The vast majority of the time, you're just knitting. Just plain old knitting...nothing fancy at all. Every now and then, you do a little magic trick for one quick row, then slip back to the lovely soothing plain knitting. The resulting fabric is both charming and impressively warm. Take a look at this. That's after a nice stretch of stockinette and just before the next row with the magic trick. See the difference between the bottom part and the top part? See how [...]
Book Yarn, Part IX
And finally, Vice. I got to know Lizzy, the brain behind Vice, on Ravelry. She's been helping me test my patterns for approximately forever. She even knit both of the sample shawls for the first volume of Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet (which is a lot of knitting). When I heard she had started her own yarn line (and isn't that every knitter's dream), I was thrilled. I'm so excited to have two of her lovely yarns in the next book On the right is Chubbie in the color Lauren. This is my kind of sock yarn. It's got 8 tiny plies, [...]
It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time
Well bummer. Remember when I said the hat obsession had returned? And I showed you the two yarns I wanted to use? Yes. Well. I seem to have fallen under the sway of Malabrigo's lovely but occasionally sporadic colors. Somehow the yarn that looked all blue and green and gray with hints of yellow turned out to be yellow with bits of evil thrown in. Well no, I take it back. The yarn itself is lovely, it just wasn't playing well with that gray and that stitch pattern. Not really at all. So I did what any reasonable knitter would [...]
Priorities
What was that? Something about having promised you socks? Yes, yes I do recall something like that. Alas, our weekend didn't quite allow for daylight sock photography. We had an epic, two-day game of Carcassonne instead, and I'm not at all sorry. But never fear, there was knitting. I had to do something while I waited for it to be my turn. See, sock. And while we're here, let's just take a moment to see what a difference blocking makes. That's the same yarn (String Theory Merino DK), same needles, same stitch, same knitter...totally different look before and after blocking. [...]
Yes, Again
Do you remember earlier this year when I fell prey to a Wee Hat obsession. Those hats went off to their intended victims long ago. I managed to arrange a photo shoot before they did, but there was an unfortunate pink lemonade incident that meant the photos weren't all they could be (the camera, after a thorough cleaning, does seem to have recovered). So that pattern sort of languished. It was in my head, but not out in the world. I thought at the time that I'd be ok with that, but it was actually sort of bugging me, so [...]
Not Quite
You'll recall that this whole star thing started as a way to make it snow. It still hasn't worked, but apparently my furnace heard about my concerns and wanted in on the act. So last night, when it was just the tiniest bit nippy outside (even if it wasn't snowing) he stopped working. Well not quite, he kept blowing air, he just stopped heating that air before blowing it on me. Very refreshing. I responded with stoicism and wool. And another star. My office windows are now full, so it's likely time to stop. I'm sure the snow will arrive [...]
Easily Amused
Huh, ok, you guys like the stars. Honestly, I'm a little surprised. I find it ever so slightly shameful that I like them (they're paper...folded paper...there should be fairly low amusement value here). I'm downright shocked that you guys do. I was expecting some folded arms and foot tapping and a little gentle prod back in the direction of the yarn. But who am I to argue? The first round of stars didn't do it (no snow yet), so now I've added a yellow one to the mix. It might be my favorite so far. I've got one more window [...]
My Misspent Youth
Earlier this week, I opened the windows in my house. Yesterday, I went to the grocery store wearing sandals. Something has to be done. It's December, it's Ohio, it should not be in the 60s. I need to make it snow. This is traditionally done by hanging either straw stars or paper stars in the windows. Now, let me back up. I'm not sure either of these things is a very traditional holiday craft in the States. But I grew up in Germany, and making both of these was always part of the season. The straw stars make a huge [...]
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