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Minnesota Knitters
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knitting is a hereditary disease
Haute couture
Years ago I knitted an oversized sweater using skeins and skeins of expensive Noro. The fit was “generous” to start with, and knitted loosely, using large needles. A throw-it-on-over-anything sweater. But it elongated and elongated and elongated with each wearing, until the body was so long I couldn’t reach to the bottom of the pockets with my arms held straight down, and I had to roll the sleeves up in huge cuffs.
I thought, “Well, what do I have to lose? I’ll just wash it and see what happens.” To make a long story short, I succeeded in seriously felting it.
Now, you just can’t throw away that many dollars-worth of Noro. (I can’t anyway.) I packed it away and forgot all about it for years. Then during a serious de-junking frenzy last Fall, I ran across it. I still couldn’t just throw it away. It was, after all, nice felt … surely it could be used to make a purse or hat or something.
Then serendipity happened. I was at Marshall’s, just trolling for bargains. I saw a charcoal sweater. Actually, it wasn’t the sweater that caught my eye, it was the detachable collar.
I wish I had a photo of the sweater before the felting so you could see how really huge it was. But here it is after felting.
I put the collar next to it, and color-wise and size-wise, it was a match. But when I put it on the sweater (now a felted jacket in my eyes), it was still sort of … strange. So I got out the scissors and did a little trimming …
I cut the pockets loose from the side seams and turned the whole jacket inside-out so the cut edge would be inside, just like an ordinary side seam.
One sleeve was longer than the other, so I trimmed about ¾ inch off the longer arm.
And tried this… and that …
And after some rounding and softening of cut edges of what used to be the pockets, ended up with a sort of a double-breasted buckled look.
Thank you, Miss Lucy. You look quite smashing, and it’s definitely one-of-a-kind!
Birthday gift
I can hardly believe it’s been over two months since I’ve posted anything! I have been knitting, and have gotten some things done. Here’s a fun little project. It’s called a scarf-lace and the pattern is free from Needlework Unlimited. It uses a single skein of Noro Daria Multi. I thought “anthropologie” when I saw it. Okay, I also thought, “hmm, that’s sort of … odd.”
Here Miss Lucy models it with a brown lacey empire-waisted blouse and simple drape-y vest. Add khaki capris and a pair of cute turquoise sandals.
Score!
Finished a project!
I tied a pink bow around her neck and made a baby shower gift of her. (Does that sound like the first line of a really cheesy book?)
This is an adaptation of Harry Bear by Berroco Design. I rewrote it to knit in the round, though the original pattern was made in two pieces, then sewn together. Yes, I really do dislike sewing pieces together that much. It worked surprisingly well, and without seams (except as needed to close things up), it was even softer than the white one I made for Eva using the same yarn (Sensations Beautiful).
And most important, the expectant mom seemed to like it.
Nearing the finish line
Whew, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on several projects: a new take on a teddy bear I've knitted before, the Apre Surf hoodie I've been working on for, oh, about a year, and a pair of men's socks! Photos coming soon.
Waiting anxiously for Spring
I seem to have my own little version of Devil’s Tower, thanks to a humungus ice dam (now all melted, thankfully). For anyone who doesn’t know what an ice dam is … see wikipedia.
What to do about it? (sigh) Handyman or road trip?
Art Nouveau Fabric Design
I realize this isn't knitting related, but perhaps there are some sewing enthusiasts in the house? Recently I've become addicted to Spoonflower, the website where you can upload your own fabric designs and have them printed on demand. Or buy other designers' fabric.
They're having a contest right now to design fabric with an Art Nouveau theme. So I thought, what the heck, I'm game. There's a pre-set color palette but beyond that, we were free to interpret Art Nouveau however we wanted.
This is a swatch of the pattern I came up with, with a look at the palette I was working from:
The competition is stiff. There are 84 designs and many of them are incredible. Voting goes from now through March 24th. I don't expect to win the contest, but it was fun to participate.
I'm working on some ideas for their Daffodils contest now, in addition to other non-contest-related fabric ideas I have brewing. This could get addictive!
You can thank Andrea for this little tip ...
I showed Andrea a pair of socks I’ve been working on and she said, “There, you should blog about that,” pointing to the rubberband I use to hold my double-pointed needles together and keep the stitches from falling off when my project is getting tossed around in a project bag.
So, folks, here you go. Just take any ol’ rubber band, line up your dps (working needle and the ones with stitches on them), hook the rubberband over the tips on one end of your dps, give it a half-turn as you bring it over the stitches, and then stretch it over the tips of the other end.
It works, and the price is right!
Stow Away Shopping Bag
Recently a friend was “de-stashing” (we all know about that, right?). Among other things, she tossed a ball of her first attempt at Navajo plied handspun yarn on the table and blathered to the knitting group, “This is so seriously overspun, it’s awful, if someone doesn’t take it, it’s going to be tossed out … blah, blah, blah.” (I just love the word “blathered” and couldn’t resist using it … no offense intended, D.)
It was pretty seriously overspun, no doubt about it. But her control of color was good and there are lots of uses for tightly-twisted fibers, right?
My brain went immediately to the Stow Away Shopping Bag pattern by Oat Couture, which I bought at Double-Ewe Yarn. The plan from the get-go was to surreptitiously knit it up and then give it back to her.
I didn’t have quite enough of her handspun so I Navajo-plied a bobbin of emerald green I had already spun and used that. Still not enough, so I took a little leftover reddish-orangeish-pinkish-purplish-with-sparkly-bits handspun I used to finish of a little cap, called That Hat, pattern also from Double Ewe Yarns. And here’s the finished product.
I have to say, this bag is such a great little project. I made one for my daughter before her trip to The Czech Republic. It folds up into a pack about the size of your two fists…
… and tucks into its own built-in pocket. Toss it in the back seat or glove box, or in a suitcase, and hit the road … easy-peasy.
(If you're interested, here's a good short video on how to do Navajo plying.)
What I did on my vacation from knitting
Believe it or not, I have actually finished a knitting project! Not that I have any proof, mind you. I was so excited (and overdue!) about giving it to its recipient, that I gave it away before I had a chance to photograph it. Bad blogger!
You will be seeing it soon, though; my Mom and I are both test-knitting it because I'm writing it up as a free pattern. It's just a little winter accessory that's quick to knit up. I did a lot of thinking about how I wanted to design it, but the actual knitting only took a couple of sittings.
So what the heck have I been up to if I haven't been doing any knitting?
Well, lately my crafty ambitions have been tending much more towards baking than knitting. Knitting is a creative activity that appeals to my brain, but baking has always been my comfort activity. When I'm under stress or feeling overwhelmed, that's usually when I usually start baking a lot. I don't know what it is - something about it feels so natural and basic and comforting to me.
I've been working my way through Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day and have made six or seven loaves in the last few weeks. I just can't get enough of it. This book really makes it easy to make time in your life for homemade bread. I whip up a batch of bread dough on the weekend and let it rise for a couple of hours, then throw it in the refrigerator. Then a couple of times a week, I grab a chunk of dough from the fridge and bake a loaf. My favorite recipe so far as been a loaf made from whole wheat flour, steel cut oats, and dates, with some raw sugar sprinkled on the crust.
I also have the itch to sew something. I finally checked out the store Crafty Planet in Northeast Minneapolis and feel like I've been missing out on a treasure. I knew it existed but somehow the way I imagined this store does not do justice to the actual place. I think because it has both yarn and fabric, I imagined that neither selection would be great. Instead what I found was a carefully edited selection of fantastic yarns and fabrics. I left there dying to sew something. Unfortunately, I have a bad track record with sewing. Everything takes forever and I feel like I'm constantly asking for help. Knitting is much more my speed, yet I lust after all the beautiful fabrics out there; so I think I need to spend some time increasing my sewing confidence. Does anyone have recommendations for easy sewing projects to start me out?
Happy Birthday, Eva!
A year old already. The time has just flown by, and yet I can’t imagine a time without her.
For her birthday I made her the “You Kiss a Hundred Frogs Purse” designed by Laura Rintala (on Ravelry) and published in Interweave Knits, Holiday Gifts 2009. What a fun project!
The pattern calls for Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted but I used Cascade 220 and it worked just fine. I decided to use Cascade 220 because I had leftover colors from Eva's Christmas stocking, and thought it would be safest to use all the same yarn since it was going to be felted.
While I was knitting it I thought, “huh, I don’t get it … how’s that going to work, shouldn’t that be attached to something … oh, angsty, angsty!” But I followed the pattern in spite of my doubts, and tossed in the washing machine with my fingers crossed. It felted in no time, and like magic it turned into a … a frog!
With a kiss, will it turn into a handsome prince? Now that would be magic!
| barb on flickr.com |
| andrea on flickr.com |
