Slowest Sock Ever
You know what takes me forever to knit? Ribbing. All of that moving the yarn back and forth. It really slows me down. I haven't quite decided if 1x1 ribbing is the worst, or if that honor belongs to k1, p2 ribbing (purling is slower than knitting). I could time it, but that is way more obsessive than I'm willing to admit to. I have, however, found a way to make either sort of ribbing even slower. Throw a bunch of tiny fiddly cables in there. The more the better. And if you can ensure that the cable pattern's repeat [...]
Louche
Look, here I am again, three days in a row! That's nearly unheard of. (Really, I feel bad about my unexpected absence and I'm trying to make up for it. Don't expect it to last too long though, at some point I have to stop writing and actually knit, or else I'll totally run out of things to say.) And today, there's a pattern. I'm pleased to introduce Louche. I started these when were were on vacation in Nova Scotia. They sat, unfinished, uncomplaining, for months and months until I needed some soothing knitting. Then I remembered just how addictive [...]
Wanna Share the Pain?
You know how when you hear a recording of yourself it doesn't sound at all like you sound in your head? And I don't know about you, but I never like it. In my head, I'm much more clever/polished/together. When committed to tape, I become alarmingly squeaky. Turns out I talk kinda fast too. Oh well. If you wanted to revel in my squeaky shame, you could head over to Knit Picks and listen to their most recent podcast. I natter on at length. Don't worry though, if you don't, I'll never know. In fact, that might be for the [...]
Home Safe
As I mentioned the other day, I've been off on another marvelous little knitting trip. This one was to work with the inimitable Cat Bordhi for a week on my next book. It was an amazing experience. I left knowing that there will be more books and feeling that I have the skills and tools necessary to make them fabulous. Alas, I'm not really ready to discuss the specifics of either the class or the upcoming books. I'm still thinking it all over myself. In the meantime, I will leave you with this picture. Do you see those socks? Those [...]
Whoops!
So sorry about that, I didn't mean to disappear! The hotel's version of internet access differed a bit from what I was expecting. But, I'm on my way home now, and should be back to my usual chatty self in a day or two.
Happy Birthday
Two years ago today I started this website. It came into being very late one night as a way to host the pattern for Popped. It was mostly a whim. I thought a handful of folks would download the pattern, and maybe one or two people would even knit the socks. That's not quite what happened. Somehow, over the last two years, this turned into a bit more than a hobby. I've released dozens of patterns. Scads of people have actually bought and made them (seeing one of my patterns made by someone else is still trippy every single time). [...]
Sometimes Yes, Sometimes No
It seemed like a good plan at the time. It really did. The lovely Lauren, she who is kind enough to model for me so often, needs a hat. We discussed hats and the colors and shapes in which hats can be made. We measured. I marveled at the size of her head (really, it's 2 inches smaller than mine, I'm so jealous). I swatched. I cast on. I knit. Then...then I realized that the thing on my needles sucked. It wasn't 'a little rough.' It wouldn't 'all come out when blocked.' It didn't need 'just a few more rows [...]
Words are Not Dirty
So the latest socks are to be called Louche. If we look up Louche we find: adjective: shady, disreputable, of questionable moral character Now this has led to some controversy. I got a few ravelry messages explaining that it was terribly inappropriate for me to use such a 'bad' word for a sock title. Now I don't actually think it's a bad word. I, in fact, think it's kind of a cool word (hence my using it). I'm not really convinced there are bad words. There are words that are a poor fit for a given situation, but that doesn't [...]
Wanna Take a Trip?
Back in the summer of 2009, The Boy and I took a little trip to Maine. That was in the early days of this website, and I was shamefully remiss in writing about it. The only real mention of it I can find is here. Despite my uncharacteristic reticence about the trip, I can assure you it was lovely. That was in large part because we were taking a course at White Head Light Station. The setting, the food, and the people were all splendid. The only problem was that the course wasn't about knitting (it was about beer, so [...]
Mailing List
Want to hear when a new pattern comes out or something fun is going on? Sign up below!
Patreon
Want to support the content I create, get nifty bonus material for some of my favorite patterns, or get every new release delivered right to your inbox? Head over to patreon and sign up!
