Holy Crap! I finished a project

Socks for the Blue Dragon (aka Bennett)

I'm not thrilled with the way that the pattern does the turning of the heal, but otherwise I think these turned out to be pretty cute.

Atti's Sweater

Skip, Zoe and I just got back from Austin where I was able to see my cousin Jen's new baby Atticus (not pictured in case you were wondering) for the first time and give him this sweater that I've been working on for the past 6 months. This sweater took 4 times longer than I had anticipated, but I love the results!

I took the pattern from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation (called Baby's First Tattoo). I choose the star motif because the sweater needed to be gender neutral, and I thought it looked really cool.

This is my first attempt at intarsia. It took me a few nights just to get the first row of intarsia without a huge whole in between the colors. I finally figured out that the directions I was using we meant for "normal" knitters, you know that ones that knit the right-handed English fashion. My grandmother taught me to knit continental when I was a kid and I've never been able to switch over.

The yarn is sock yarn to be extra snuggly next to soft skin, the brown is 100% cotton and I used red wool to give the garment some shape since I've had difficultly with that when working with cotton. It's meant to be a summer sweater, one that's worn indoors when it's hot outside and the A/C is blasting.

Did I happen to mention that....

My knitted sculpture Rain Cloud was chosen for the Outside the Lines 8 show! Yippie!

This exhibition was juried by 3 local art professors and one gallery owner. The Outside the Lines focuses on artwork that is outside the mainstream.

The opening reception is this Saturday night for all you local folks. Love to see you there.

Rain Cloud

I finished my first knitting sculpture.





More to come...

Cutie Booty Baby Booties

I love these baby booties. I got the pattern from the SockPixie. Many thanks!



I used some leftover sock yarn for these. They're for my friend Catherine.

The 3 Year Baby Blanket

I started knitting this blanket in October 2004. While we were in Florence, Skip told me that he was ready to have a baby. We had been talking about it for some time before then and the idea completely freaked him out. I don’t know what changed his mind, but there was a huge shift in his thinking. I was very happy to say the least. I worked on the blanket in between projects until I got pregnant in November 2005 and was so exhausted that I stopped knitting all together.

When I first starting knitting this blanket I was concerned about how the colors repeated and blended together. I would look at each row getting frustrating when one color would pool together to make a blob. When I picked this up again I had to make myself stop looking at the colors so that I could actually finish a row.

I made this blanket in the “window pane” pattern. It’s difficult to see in the picture because of the color variation of the yarn. The pattern was written by someone at the Woolie Ewe, the best yarn shop in Texas. I took my first knitting class there back in 97. The mother and daughter owners of the store, Sue and Jill, are patient and wise, and all around great people.

I’m started on the next project – a pair of baby booties for my friend Catherine. I found this really cute pattern on the SockPixie blog. I’m using some left over sock yarn for 5 years ago ((patting myself on the back for using up some of my stash on a gift)).

Yippie

I'm feeling inspired to knit! I'm going to finish Zoe's baby blanket in the next couple of weeks. I'm also going to knit some cute baby stuff for my friend Catherine whose expecting in May and my cousin Jen whose expecting in August. They both have decided to not know the sex of the baby until they're born so I've got some really cool ideas for unisex stuff.

Two of My New Favorite Books

This week I finished reading two great books.

The Brothers Karamazov did not disappoint my expectations of philosophical questioning and Russian novel drama. Although the main action surround the murder of the father, Fyodor Karamazov, (in case you were planning on reading this, I'm not giving anything away here. I think it might even mention the murder on the back cover), Dostoevsky goes into amazing depth into the characters thoughts and internal workings.

Even though the subject matter is dark, the book isn't a downer, and there was only one chapter that disturbed me - the one were Ivan and Alyosha sit down at a bar to get to know each other better. When talking about faith, Ivan poetically and graphically sites examples of suffering of children and asks why God would allow these types of things to happen. It's a great read. I want to go back and reread it now, because I'm sure I've missed many things.

The Knitter's Book of Yarn
OMG! I LOVE this book! After reading it I want to knit all day long and open a knitting/yarn store. Before if someone had asked me to explain exactly what yarn is I wouldn't have had a clue. It's wonderful to understand how the material and structure of the yarn affect the finished project. I now understand that I shouldn't have picked 100% cotton for my lace shawl (I will be unraveling that this weekend), and why the sweater I made for Skip 2 winters ago hangs unflattering (shouldn't have used such a heavy yarn with an intricate pattern).

I'm going through my whole stash and rethinking what to knit next. Knitty has some great patterns on their site in their Winter collection. I'm might also try to translate a Vasarely painting into knit. There is a Vasarely painting that has hung in the entryway of my Dad's house since I was very young. I can't find an image of it on Google. Strange, right? I might try that one... or maybe this one.

Plumage

I must say that I have the best husband on the planet. For my Chrismahanuka gift this year he booked an appointment at Toni and Guy to have my hair streaked. I have been wanted to do this for at least three years. I wanted a wild color. It was a difficult decision but I finally decided on Pillarbox Red. Thank you Manic Panic :) What would the punk world be without your wonderful products? The dye has faded quite a bit since it was done a week and a half ago. The stylist told me that red is the fastest fading color. But I love the way it looks. I feel like an exotic bird. Strangely enough strangers have been more apt to strike up conversations with me since I added this color to my life. It doesn't take much to stand out around here. Wanna see more pictures?

Since I had my hair bleached before the dye went in I can re-do my hair myself. Next time I think I'm going with After Midnight Blue.

More exciting news - I finished knitting a sweater for Zoe. If I had finished a month later it would be too small.

It's been so long since I knitted a sweater that I couldn't remember how to put it together, had to go back through my old knitting books and look it up. I feel inspired and want to knit everything. I've been fantasizing that I will move to Sweden, get a few hundred angora rabbits, make my own yarn and live off selling it at fiber festivals. Have you seen these cuddly little bunnies? They look like something out of a fairy tail.

UFOs

On the Needles
Well, three and half months post-partum my knitting mojo is returning. Looking around the apartment I realize that it's full of knitting UFOs - un-finished objects. Two years ago I started a lace pattern shrug. The back and left side are complete. I only have the right side and sleeves to finish. Sounds easy, right? But there is one catch; the directions for the right side read "work as opposite of left side." Working in lace! Are you fucking kidding me? I basically need to rewrite the pattern. So much for finishing the shrug anytime soon.

Then there is the scarf I started knitting last fall for my wonderful husband Skip. I love this color - yummy saffron. It's a simple pattern, just double yarn in a garter stitch. I stopped knitting during my first trimester when I was sick all the time. Then when I started feeling better, I picked up the needles holding the baby blanket, which is also a UFO.

Off the Needles
There are so many off the needle projects, I'm embrased to admit to them all. Here are a few: a cashmere hat (with ears) for Zoë, Dr. Seuss' stuffed One Fish Two Fish, a purse, a matching hat, scarf and gloves set with some yarn I got in Iceland, and some many more. I love knitting :)