These Boots Were Made for Walking

My friends are having babies... I can't believe it. Marriage? Babies? Is it that time of life already??? I wasn't even aware that my body was capable of producing such a miracle. Fortunately, being a knitter (or in this case, amateur crocheter) is a good thing when babies start appearing. What could be more fun than cranking out some mukluks- baby size?!?!?!




The pattern? Here.

I won't lie. I'm far from the world's greatest crocheter, but I must admit to having had a bit of a problem reading this pattern. I'm new to this crochet business... ok? I think I might have made a few parts up. I know for a fact that I made the leg much longer than called for, but that's just me not wanting to stop.


The yarn? One ball, you heard me ONE BALL!!!! of Drops Fabel. Shade # 911.
That's a pair of baby boots for only $5.50!
You can afford to give people you don't even know baby boots for that price!

The hook? 3 mm
But, don't let that scare you. These puppies whip up in no time.

And of course- flowers.


They match the boots! I couldn't resist.

Just in the Nick of Time

Had I waited another day or two, this project would have been chucked in the basement to stay cool until the hot months are behind us once again. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to heat... and this project isn't for a wussy like me. Sheesh.

BUT- I got my buns in gear and finished it up just in time. I'm so pleased. SO pleased. You have no idea. In fact, all those close to me are sick of hearing me ramble on and on and ooooonnnnnn about how much I love it. It actually inspired me to sew some curtains and cushions to match (they're still works in progress- but they're happening!)


The yarn? A Fleece Artist Kit called 'Northern Lights Blanket'.
The needle? 8 mm .
The cozy-factor? Off the charts.

I think I've decided love making blankets. No need to worry about fit, or shaping. They make perfect evening/trashy TV knitting! Admittedly, LOTS of trashy TV was consumed in the final days of this blanket.

And of course, every throw needs giant tassels! I tossed a bit of Louisa Harding's Sari Ribbon to make it a little bit more glam.

Tassels and sparkles... sounds like my idea of a perfect outfit- I mean, blanket.


And finally, a rose for you on this hot June day.


Should you happen to live in Toronto, take a drive/bike/stroll around Bloor West. The roses that have overtaken some of the bricks on buildings are worth causing a traffic accident over.

Off to drink more iced tea.

Sweet Little Baby Sweater

Even with no babies in my life in the foreseeable near future, I have a love of knitting wee things- clothing in particular. Such a good way to get a garment out of your system, without commiting to days and months of the same colour and stitch. You know?


I had a hankering to cast on February Lady, but was able to overcome that by knitting the original, baby version.


'What's the original?' You wonder. The Elizabeth Zimmerman 'Best Baby Sweater' that was originally published in Vogue Knitting in the 90's.

It can also be found in Zimmerman's 'Knitter's Almanac'.

Knit back and forth, top down, on two needles with only TWO balls of yarn.

YEOW! Two.
I used Naturally's Classic Prints- a DK weight 100% beautifully soft superwash wool.
(Shade #888)

SO- now that's out of my system, I can get back to my crocheted baby boots.

Crocheted boots would look dumb on me anyway.

Why Helloooo Spring. So Nice of you to Join Us!

Spring is here and now I can reach deep into the back of my closet and pull out some of the things I finished just in time for the snow to fall last year. They got tossed around in the closet, and some almost near- forgotten, but it's nice to see them again.
Especially because it means that the warm weather is here.

I can feel it.

What is it? Roundabout Leaf Tank by Norah Gaughan from her book Knitting Nature.
What yarn? Kelly by Filtes King- sadly, it is no longer. It's a cotton/acrylic blend.
What needles? 5 mm
Get it? Hmmm??? The name? See the leafs? And the round-about ways of this tank? Man. It was so fun I want to relive this whole project.

Another day, another yarn.

The tank is knit in a big strip, starting at the bottom and going up around and around. I felt very much like I was being forced to think out of the knitted-tank-top-box and this is a good thing. We need a good knitting kick-in-the-pants every now and again.

Norah Gaughan gives good kicks.

And one more thing.


I don't think I have been this happy to see Spring in my entire life.

I hope you all had lovely long weekend with your knitting and/or amongst the flowers.

Mod Babies Only Need Apply

Once again, inspired by a customer I cast on this blanket on a whim, and was blocking within the week. I couldn't stop. It was addictive. I canceled social plans so I could carry on with this blanket. You people have got to stop with this 'inspiration' stuff. I need to learn to live more vicariously through other people's projects.
Sigh...

Too bad I had so much darned fun!


The yarn? King Cole Splash (3 balls)
The pattern? Argosy Baby Blanket (click HERE for the free pattern)
The needles? 4.5 mm
The mods? The original pattern is written for a worsted weight, and I used a DK weight. SO- I made the blanket two extra increases to get the size I was going for (start knitting and you'll know what I mean when I say that).


Look at the blanket getting all cheeky with the flowers...

The best part? Someone pointed out that this colourway is 'Hannah Montana Purple'.
Fabulous.


ALSO- I would like to point out that the idea given to me to make a nail polish cozy in the previous post is nothing short of brilliant.
I'm on it.

It Just 'Felt' Right

I got a phone call last Tuesday from my dear friend Meghan's soon-to-be-Mother-in-law.
Meghan is getting married in six weeks, and made it quite clear to all of her loved ones that a shower was not expected, or even really wanted. Having to do SOMETHING to celebrate this exciting event, a 'bottle party' was thrown in her honor instead.
Each person brought her a bottle of wine.
I brought her a felted wine cozy.


No home should be without.

I am not the most knowledgeable wine person, but I do know a thing or two about anything knitted/felted.
My immediate reaction to an invitation of this sort was to cast on.

So, I did.
And this was the result.

Meghan is a knitter so I knew it wouldn't go unappreciated.

What fun!

The pattern? I sort of made it up by combining several patterns I had come across to get exactly what I wanted. The flower however is from the pattern by Noni for the Felted Farmer's Market Bags.
The yarn? Cascade 220 of course! What dreamy stuff to felt with.
The fun factor? Let's just say that if I didn't have 300 other things on the needles right now, I would be making everybody I have ever met one of these babies.

You can be sure you will see more of these.

Oh. And one more thing.
Of course I included a bottle of nail polish with her bottle of wine.
It was a bottle party after all.

A Very 'Mary' Post

Ms. Mary has been rather busy lately. Knitting wedding gifts, taking care of her ever-growing barnyard family... It's all been captured on camera and I'm here to share with you.

First- the important stuff.
The knitting.

A beautiful afghan.
This is a wedding gift for some friends of the family. Done on 8mm needles, it flew faster than a fighter jet. And the pattern was just complicated enough to keep it interesting, but not so much that she pulled patches of hair out while working on it.
It was 'delightful' to knit, she reports.

The pattern? Cabin Fever's 'The Eden Afghan'.
Yarn? A discontinued Lang yarn called 'Naimo' that's 50% merino, 50% alpaca.
We've decided that Alfa would be a fabulous substitute.
Needles- 8 mm.


And for those of you keeping track of her adventures in egg farming, I present to you her latest batch of hens. These babies are far better behaved than the other crew. So far anyway...

Did anyone happen to spot the write-up in the latest Vogue Knitting for 'knitted hen sweaters'?
I'm thinking this posse needs to be outfitted.

OH! But there's more! Allow my sister Emma to introduce to you the baby ducks.
I went up to visit them last weekend and the last time I held a little duck in my arms was in grade four when my class hatched duck eggs in the back of the room.

Man they're messy, but oh-so-sweet!

Chickens peck. Ducks don't.

AND-Ducks eat algae, and chickens don't. If they eat the algae, then all the fish in the pond can continue to live.

I swear there are reasons to this madness.

Hello Tulips, and Goodbye Yarn

When I arrived at the shop yesterday morning, this is what I saw.

Isn't Spring just the most exciting season of them all??? I can barely contain myself.

Then, when I arrived home at my place yesterday evening, THIS is the first thing I saw.


Cats are bad.

And I have too much yarn.

Most Boring Knitter of the Year

Why? Because I wasn't even knitting for a while. I had a project that bombed so bad that it made me want to run off and be a deep sea diver. Fortunately though, that feeling only lasted about 10 minutes. (FYI-10 minutes of no knitting, can feel like an eternity). You know that feeling though? When you've spent hours on a project, only to have it come out like something from... er, the inside of a cat? Yeah. That's pretty much what happened. BUT- as always, granny squares saved the day and I got over my funk.


Too bad it makes for painfully boring blogging.

Fortunately for me though, I have wonderful people around me that make things that actually turn out. Check it! Cute baby shrug. I suppose it's hard to see that it's a shrug without a baby actually IN the shrug, but that's what this is. UGH! I want one. (A shrug, not a baby- right now anyway).


The yarn? Cascade Luna.
The knitter? Christine.
The pattern? Knitting Pure and Simple Baby Shrug #288.

In just a few short weeks, some little hip baby will be strolling through the tulip garden in one wicked outfit. I have faith.


Oh, and yeah. I have been cranking out several things that aren't square, and aren't crocheted. I promise. You just wait and see! I'll show you!

Wrapped up in Some Cloudy Cotton

Inspired by a customer, this wrap came to be. They've been selling them in shops all over this country, for lotsa cash and we put our heads together and thought, "We could make that! Right?"

Of course we can.

Voila!
Here it is.

A wrap made of superbly soft cotton, perfect for almost every season. I suppose it just depends on what you want to wear under it...

And the fun part?
The buttons.
I know that most knitters hate it when you FINALLY finish a project and the first thing that everyone comments on is the buttons, but in this case I feel it's alright.
The buttons are what makes it!
They are what set this stocking stitch rectangle apart from any other stocking stitch rectangle.
Agree?
The buttons give you options, and I like options.

The yarn? Estelle's Cloud Cotton.
The needle? 5.5 mm.
The no-brainer factor? Oh! Entirely no brainer. You could do this while sleep walking.


Apologies that the model isn't a little more glam. She did the best that she could.

I had a Dream

And in it, all of my granny squares were molting.

Yup, they were leaving little granny square 'clusters' all over my house and I had to clean up after them.

I think it's time I put the hook on hold for a while.

Something is just not right...

Knitting content to follow.

And Then There Were Three

I took last week off. It was supposed to be a little wee mini-at-home-vacation, with not much other than a TONNE of knitting planned, and a possible trip to Ottawa.

What ended up happening? Well, I got sick (as has everyone else I know) and I spent the week on my couch feeling sorry for myself, unable to do anything other than tackle the growing pile of granny squares in the basket next to my couch. It had to be done. I kept crocheting those little monsters at every chance I got, but it was getting to be a bit much.

I sat on that couch for two full days, crocheting a few more of them, and then assembling them all together. Remember how I started with that one panel? Well, now I have three. I couldn't manage to get a picture of them all in a row (I'd need a giant living room for that), but trust me, they're there. It's amazing how much crocheting you can get done in the time it takes to watch an entire TLC marathon of Little People, Big World.

I even bought some gerbera daisies to match my work. Hey, when you're sick it doesn't take much to lighten your spirits. For me, it only takes matching flowers for my yarn projects.


So, while my plans to knit seven sweaters, twelve pairs of socks and seventeen hats last week didn't exactly pan out as expected, I did make some progress on something that needed attention. I'm pleased.

And yes, I did make it to Ottawa. And I happened to buy the very last 'Obama cookie' in the city. Even from the girl that sold them to the man himself (the one on the left). I'm not sure why my picture wasn't in the paper for buying the last one, but whatever. I'll get over it. They'll get me next time.

Who needs a Head when you've got a nice Scarf?

Look! It's an outfit! For my headless beauty! And it wasn't even planned... She just looked a little cold the other day so I thought I'd warm her up with the scarf I had just cast off.

Too many customers had been inspiring me to give this scarf a go, and I see why it has become such a popular one to make! So much fun! So easy! I love it! (Alright, I'll cool it with the exclamations marks now).


And the sweater? It was one of Christine's creations. Made out of Alfa, from a Sandnesgarn book.
I hope to one day wear this sweater. I hope she's alright with that.

The scarf is of course the famous Brooklyn Tweed Scarf and although it's hard to tell, I did in fact use two different shades of Noro, one was just really rather subtle. That's right, I used the words "Noro" and "subtle" in the same sentence. I just wanted to see how this combination would work up, and there is really only one way to find out, isn't there? I think it looks a bit more like a barcode than the 'traditional' version, but that's ok. I like stripes of all sorts- even barcode stripes.


Details?

The Scarf
Pattern- Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Striped Scarf
Yarn- 4 balls of Noro Silk Garden (2 balls each of 2 shades)
Needles- 5.5mm

The Sweater
Pattern- Sandnesgarn Mix Dame book
Yarn- Alfa
Needles- Uhhhmm... that's a good question, I didn't make it. Alfa is usually knit on a 6mm but this pattern could be a wee different...

And VOILA! A knitted outfit.

I had better go and cast on some knitted hot-pants or something to complete the look.

Light as a Feather, and Warm as a Fur Coat

This was one of those projects that I just happened to cast on on a whim. Within a few days, it was done. I mean... it's not a complicated project- basically just a tube, but the yarn just made each stitch feel like a little piece of heaven. Isn't that what we all need in this country at this time of year?


And the finished product? Well, I'm a happy camper in regards to that. And what perfect timing! The snow is coming down, my current hat consistently gives me a fierce case of hat-head and we all know that from about mid-September to mid-May, I must have my neck covered at all times.
This covers all the bases.
And then some.


This baby is weightless. No joke. It takes about 10 minutes to float down to the ground if you decide to chuck it up in the air. What's not to love?

Pattern? FREE on Garnstudio's website. Pattern # 108-53.
Yarn? 3 balls of Drops Kid-Silk (two strands held together) in colour number 03.
Needles? 5.5mm for the ribbing, and 6mm for the main part.

Now I'm off to likely cast on my seventh new project for the week.
Oh dear.
It's only Wednesday... isn't it?

A Labour of Love

While this wasn't actually knit by me, or for me, I was fortunate enough to get to 'try it on'. How lucky am I?

Christine (who works at the shop on Saturdays usually) knit this up in record time, I'm honestly not kidding when I say that. The fortunate recipient was her daughter. It was a Christmas gift and I swear it was already the beginning of December when she cast this baby on but low and behold it was ready for the 25th. She waited until the recipient had tried it on, before she blocked it. And the buttons were just chosen on Saturday, but this photo is about as done as it needs to get before saying 'finished object'. I love it.

Enough outta me.
Let's just look at it.
Shall we?
Yarn- 14 balls of Silk Garden (pattern calls for 13 but she suggests one more).
Pattern- It's on the cover of the latest Noro book... which I can't seem to track down online to tell you the number of. It's at the shop so I'll check it out for you...

On days like today, isn't this what you want to have wrapped around your chilly self?


I should have run when I had the chance.

The Theme this Christmas? Bobbles

While searching through Ravelry in about oh... say, mid-December, I came across a great idea for this yarn. Yes, the yarn is Noro (Cashmere Island to be exact) and yes those are short rows and bobbles (hands down, my two favorite knitting techniques- I've just decided).

I whipped a few of these babies off just (and I emphasize JUST) in time for the the gift-giving season. One for my mother, and one for a friend.

Aren't they just a perfect little accent to any outfit? Perhaps I should have modeled it wearing something other than a t-shirt but if you know me, you know I wear scarves with tank tops.

Fashion before function my friends.



And just before the wrapping marathon began, my dear little sister and I did some modeling.



Wow. How charming are we?


Our t-shirts matched just too darned well to resist.

The yarn? Noro Cashmere Island. I JUST dipped into a third skein. For the blue one, I just used some of the leftover red yarn to finish the bobbles.
Needles? I used 5.5mm for the blue one, and 5mm for the red one.
Pattern? Huckleberry Ascot by Kat Coyle from the 2007 Holiday Interweave Knits.
Modifications? Yuppers. Nothing mega-major though. I found them to be a bit short so I added some length to both by about 20 stitiches.

And what did my dear modelling partner get for Christmas you ask?


The ol' standby.
She wears knitted socks everyday.
And for people like that in my life- I knit.

Worth it or What?

I knew that knitting for this girl wouldn't be wasted! Look at the fabulous photos that were sent my way just hours ago! What knitter doesn't love a recipient who takes photos and sends them along. She even did her nails! And posed! In her flower shop in Halifax!
Sigh... I'm in heaven.

This Christmas is gonna be a good one.
I just know it.

Look at her goin' for those poinsettias!

Merry Christmas everyone!