Sunday, August 26, 2007

A Rainy Sunday
















I finished up the triplets hats yesterday. I was inspired by the fact that their grandfather was visiting my MIL (her brother). SO I finished them up and here they are! The little sweet peas are names Colin, Quinn and Rhys. I loved the Touche yarn and am already knitting up a little stripy elephant with the leftovers, since I'm so creative and all. (Not really, I got the pattern on Ravelry.)

Sunday is always a day on reflection and contemplation for me. Today is not different, especially with it being all rainy & dreary. I've just been trying to enjoy all the little moments that make up my life. Some days are good, some days not so good. All are a gift. As knitters we are forced to 'live in the moment'. What a blessing!

Namaste,

Elizabeth
P.S. In the picture, Sydney is 'reading' to Zuki, our bunny.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Will this Heat never end???



Alright, I’ll admit it. I’ve been slacking on my blog. Wanna know why? The answer lies here: http://www.ravelry.com/ . Yes, it’s an evil, evil place. And a whole lot of fun. You should join in the fun! (I’m such an enabler.) If you’re already there, drop me a line! My user name is CountingSheep.

SO here’s what I’m working on. The second sleeve of Arietta is nearing completion, should have it done today. I messed up a bit on my decreases for the sleeve cap last night, was a bit distracted by the scantily clad men in 300 parading their 8-packs around. (On another note, someone at work the other day mentioned they were wearing boots in the movie, and I was like ‘oh boots? I hadn’t noticed.’ Guess my eyes never made it down that far =;) SO last night I looked, and I think they wear their sandals the whole time.)

I’ve also been working on a little sweater called Jane: http://www.colorsongyarn.com/jackets_sweaters/jane_crossover.htm . I think $55 for a sweater kit is not bad, especially when it has yummy Fleece Artist yarn. I think they should have called this colorway “Berries and Chocolate”, because that is what it looks like to me. I love the little ‘snow’ flecks in the yarn and the fact that it feels so much like handspun. Think this will be a ‘live-in’ sweater this winter.

The Kathy shawl from Alison Hyde’s book “Wrapped in Comfort” is near completion. I just need to get my butt over to my LYS and grab one last ball of the Silky Tweed. I’m so bummed I missed out on Webs having the Silky Wool closeout; I want some of that stuff!!

Just when you thought I was behaving myself, I bought another pattern for this cute little guy named “Farmer Fox”: http://www.ariadneknits.com/index.html . I see some toy knitting in the near future. Here’s an interesting toy designer on Etsy called hansigurumi: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5162135 – I love her octopi!
Hope you all have a great weekend! I’m looking forward to an end to this 95 degree weather in NC, that’s for sure. Oh and a pic of the Lucky Grasshopper found on my house. I know, crickets are supposed to be the lucky ones, but I thought he was cute. Hey, maybe I can knit one.....
TTFN.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

And then there were 3......

Here are the 3 cuties I am knitting for. They are my hubbo’s cousins’ babies, if you can follow that! I’m making up my own hat pattern for them, using Berroco Touche yarn, a lovely cotton/modal blend that is machine washable. I’ve learned how to knit jogless stripes in the round, after a botched first attempt. Thank-you Meg Swansen! Then I am using the ‘Hugs & Kisses’ cable (just two cable repeat) for the border. I really wanted to do the raglan decreases at the top of the hat, but I have three cables, so I did a triple decrease instead. Lastly, a duplicate stitch "C" for little Colin. I have 5 different colors, so they will all be different. I’m hoping I’ll have enough left over to make some matching booties. I really love this pattern I saw over at Brooklyn Tweed called ‘Saartje’s Booties’ (http://members.home.nl/tdpj/Patronen/Bootees/Saartjes%20bootees.pdf) We’ll see how much I have left over.

I really like the new IK for fall. Of course I love the Norah Gaughan pattern on the front cover; I’m getting to the point now where I just know it’s her pattern when I first see it. She loves those geometrical shapes! Also the Norah pattern in the new Vogue is just gorgeous! I’m sure it’s not quite as complicated as is appears. Can’t decide which one of those two I prefer (of the two swingy coat patterns).

Overall, I was kind of disappointed with the new Vogue. I only like one of the patterns in the ‘Top 10’, the one that was a sort of short cardi with circles in the back of it. I really like IK better, it has a homier feel to it. However, there was one pattern I felt like I wanted to knit in Vogue, the lace hoodie in the chevron pattern. I liked that a lot.

Anyway, we’re trying to stay cool over in the mountains of Western North Carolina today. It’s pretty darn hot. Sydney is sick so we’re trying to keep her happy. Hubby is kind enough to be grilling steaks so I don’t have to heat up the kitchen. I’m trying to sew handbags, but want to be doing other things. Like blogging!

Oh, I looked up my Ravelry spot; don’t you love how the link to that page is called ‘antsy’ and the end of the link? Too funny. Well, antsy me looked and is said I am #9,266, there are 1,539 people in front of me and 13,495 behind me. Only 33% of the list has been invited! Wow, that is going to be one big happy party in there!

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Confronting Fair Isle









I will not be afraid, I will not be afraid.....actually I feel much more confident about tackling stranded knitting, aka fair isle, I'm not a stickler for the exact term. Arietta has helped me realized I can do anything! I am going to conquer knitting with two colors at a time. The pattern is found here: http://www.halcyonyarn.com/newstemp/knitscene_fairisle.html - I think this is the best picture of it online. The name of it is "Road to Golden", by Lisa Shroyer, who is the editor of Knitscene magazine, where the pattern is found. I love it! I like the way it looks like a cap sleeve T-shirt with a longer shirt underneath. So cute!

I'm using Valley Yarns Northhampton, which is a newer part of their own line, of course the link to them is http://www.yarn.com/ . I've decided I wanted to throw caution to the wind and pick my own colors. I've included my swatch here, what do you think? Please be gentle, it's my first stranded swatch. It's definitely going to take some getting used to. At least I don't have to purl over this sweater, since it's knitted in the round. I'm using a chocolate brown for the main color, mainly to help camoflauge the arm area.

On another note, this reminds me that I owe a post about the color help recommendations I've found/received from my friends at Knit Talk. Here they are, there's not a whole lot, but it may help some of those who are wanting to step into color knitting:

-Here is a great blogger who plays with color a whole lot: http://knittingincolor.blogspot.com/ - this blog is a treasure trove of good articles and resources.

http://impulsivearts.typepad.com/knitting/2007/03/playing_with_co_1.html - this post tells you about a great photo editing software (free!) and then proceeds to teach you how to do cool things to your pictures to get interesting effects.

-The link below brings you to a cool website where you can play with colors, there are many lovely color palettes to get the creative juices flowing!

http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/search?sortType=rank

-What would we be without Knitty? Of course there are some great articles there:

http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter06/FEATcolortheory.html
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/FEATcolor.html
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/FEATtechnicolor.html

Some advice from Knit Talk friends:

-“What I do is take all the colors I am thinking about using and find a way to put them in more or less the proportions I would use them in...more on that in a minute...and put them at least across the room. Further than that if I have a long unobstructed view of them together. You can see things at a distance you don't always see right up close.”

-”Okay, the best way I have found is to take a long narrow strip of cardboard and wrap the yarn around it to make "stripes" of the colors in more or less the proportion and order in which they will "appear" in the item I am making.”

-”Putting one ball of each color in a pile only works if you are using the exact same amount of each color. If something is only an accent then you need very little of it in your sample.”

-”Or if it is something that I will investing either a lot of time or a lot of money on then I will make something small from the choices. Mittens, a hat, a headband, something large enough to see what I am doing but small enough to get done.”
Meanwhile, in other knitterly news, I am still plugging away at my lace shawl from Alison Hyde's book, the "Kathy Shawl". I haven't forgotten about Arietta, I'm working on the second sleeve and I need to order the rest of my yarn. I've included a couple pics that I wanted to try to show the texture of this pattern, it is so cool. I love Lana Grossa Cool Wool!! Awesome yarn, such a treat. Wish I could get the great shots Jared over at Brooklyn Tweed gets. Guess I need a better camera. Alright, need to run and take care of that kiddo. Have a great weekend.