30 December 2011 · 4 Comments
I had all sorts of clever plans to avoid the dreaded blog silence over the holidays. And I mostly made it…there totally were posts. Just not as many (and not as knitting-rich) as I would like. It’s mostly because I’ve been doing stuff other than knitting over the last few days. It’s surprisingly hard to have knitting to show you if I don’t actually knit. Not impossible…just hard.
I’ll offer two little consolation prizes. First, there’s a wee little interview with me on Robin’s site. Second, if you come back on January first, I’ll let you know how you can start knitting on one of the patterns from The Knitter’s Curiosity Cabinet right away. You know, just in case any of you might want to do such a thing.
28 December 2011 · No Comments
I’m more or less in love with this hat. It’s ridiculously simple, unreasonably tall, and quite possibly the warmest hat in the history of yarn. I can’t decide how I like it best…as shown there (with the top flopped over), with the brim folded up once and only a bit of pouf on the top, or with the brim folded up twice so it sits more firmly against the top of my head. Then there’s the always amusing option of wearing it inside out. I may also have made a giant tassel to slip in to the top as the mood strikes.
I think the reason it is so satisfying is that it has just the right amount of ridiculousness. It is not in any way serious. It is not delicate or subtle or refined. It is not sophisticated. It is not glamorous. It is not anything other than what it is…a slightly goofy, very warm hat. Which is good, since the weather seems to have finally gotten the message about that whole ‘winter’ thing and gotten cold. Some time this weekend I’ll try and get pictures of the various incarnations of the hat on a person (rather than an Alphonse) and see if I can convey the full majesty of this creation.
25 December 2011 · 2 Comments
Back in March, I went to the Black Swamp Spinner’s Guild Market Day. I bought pencil roving. I brought it home and, within a day or two, I cast on for a hat. It was a hat of epic failure. It was too big. Massively too big. Even for my giant head. There was no saving it.
I eventually ripped and set the yarn in the active project basket in the family room. This basket is on the top shelf of the bookcase and had always been safe from kitten depredations. This time, not so much. There is something about the pencil roving that drives Barry to a state of unbridled passion the likes of which I have never seen outside of a trashy book cover. He somehow got the yarn down and had a long and private moment with it one evening. This involved chewing on rather a lot of it. I salvaged what I could but found myself a bit frustrated with the whole thing and so tossed it (safely bagged to prevent further incidents) into the recesses of the stash closet.
The other day I decided that I really wanted woolly hat. I needed it. There was no other alternative. So I dug out the pencil roving, did better math, and cast on again. The results so far can be seen below. And while I fully acknowledge that it looks a little funny right now, I have absolute confidence that this will be exactly what I want after another hour or two of knitting. No really. It will. I’m sure of it.
23 December 2011 · 9 Comments
Last one…next post I promise actual wool. But today is my birthday and I’m going to be exactly as lazy as I want to be (hint: very). That means a short blog post, a breakfast featuring chocolate chip waffles made by someone else, some ridiculously simple yet oddly entrancing knitting, an awful lot of board games, and absolutely no chance of getting out of my pajamas.
Oh, it also means that there’s a wee tiny sale. Today and tomorrow (through 11:59pm eastern time December 24th), buy one pattern get one free (everything except the books). To take advantage:
1) Visit my ravelry store, find 2 patterns you like, and put them in your ravelry cart (you have to use the ‘add to cart’ option, not the ‘buy it now’ option).
2) Once both patterns are in your cart, go to the checkout.
3) Hit the ‘use a coupon code’ button, type ‘Birthday!’ in the little box, and hit ‘apply.’ The total will immediately update…if it doesn’t something has gone wrong…try again.
4) Hit ‘checkout now,’ go through the payment process, and enjoy your new patterns.
And yes, you can use the coupon more than once. Just start over at step 1 and pick 2 more patterns. Rinse and repeat until you’re set!
22 December 2011 · No Comments
I’m still being a totally lazy blogger and taking advantage of the cleverness of someone in the past to prevent the dreaded holiday silence. I am getting a bit of knitting done, but I can’t show you. I’m swatching for something I want to submit somewhere (how’s that for specific), and it must remain hush hush for now. But the spiky sock is also making progress and should be up for testing soon.
21 December 2011 · 1 Comment
You’ll pardon me if I use the next few days to share some charming vintage images I stumbled across. And also use them to nap. And pet kittens. And perhaps nap a bit more. And cook and eat tasty things. And otherwise laze about shamelessly. As usual, click to embiggen.
20 December 2011 · 3 Comments
So that inexplicable urge I mentioned the other day? It’s run its course and I can now tell you about it. There was a point in my misspent youth and childhood where I had a bit of a paper fetish. I was totally the kid folding her exam paper into some sort of unexpected sculpture while I waited for class to be over.
So the other day I became absolutely convinced that the world would be a better place if it contained a Christmas tree covered in origami figures of fiber animals. And really, it would. Think of it. Sheep. Rabbits. Goats. Even the odd llama (they say it’s a horse…they are wrong) or camel.
This plan fell down on several fronts–1) I don’t do a Christmas tree. 2) I don’t actually like to fold the same thing more than a few times, which makes it hard to fill a tree. 3) I have no time to do this and no longer have a stack of appropriate paper tucked away in the closet. But someone out there reading this likely does. And someone out there reading this likely should make a bunch of these and adorn their tree. I tried to link to fairly easy instructions. All you need is thin paper…even wrapping paper would work. Can you imagine this in a yarn store? Or just on your tree at home? You could even fold some socks or mittens. You know you want to…give in. And then take pictures so I can live through you.
And the socks and mittens are totally getting added to my list of things I can fold without the diagrams so I can make them when the urge strikes. Because they’re so flipping cute I could die. And because I’m easily entertained.
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