Category: Blog

O Bamboo Needles, how do I love thee?
I’m all about the bamboos right now. I bought a pair of Size 13 Takumi Bamboo knitting needles with a Michael’s gift card I got for my birthday from a friend. I wanted to be able to carry my comfort afghan back and forth to the hospital back in March, and bamboos are quieter than metal ones, which makes it more convenient for hospital knitting. I’ve used bamboo double-points before, but hadn’t tried them in straights, and well, let’s just say that I’m going to be using my 40% off coupons for awhile buying a set of bamboos one size at a time. They are just so smooth and less pointy and the stitches slide so easily along, and I like how the wood warms up in my hands, which will be great during the winter, however short it may be. I picked up some Size 10 needles last week for my current project….and it’s just, ah, bliss!

Can you tell this knitter is easily entertained?

Sometimes it’s just too hot here in Arizona. Luckily a few friends and I were able to escape to Cottonwood (near Sedona) to go hiking at the end of June before it got too terribly humid and hot, like it has been all of July so far. And since I wasn’t driving, I was able to get in a little bit of crocheting during the two and a half hour car ride up (not on the way back, though, since it was dark by that time). I didn’t start working on my project till we got out of the city, at which point my friend in the front seat turned around, and said “I was wondering when you were going to start doing that. It’s ’bout time!”

Ah, I think my friends know me too well.

PS>Pics to come soon of finished projects to prove that it’s not too unbearably hot to make blankets in the summertime. Either that, or to prove that I’m crazy.

I’ve been really obsessed with knitting lately, and only knitting (sorry crochet). I can’t seem to sit still if I don’t have my knitting in my hands. I’m also obsessed lately with the Cable Comfort Throw; it has become my new favorite pattern. I’ve made two so far, and I have plans for two more.

I had originally started the first blanket back in March of 2008 for a class I was teaching at Michael’s. Unfortunately, however, all classes got canceled company-wide, so I put the project aside for awhile. When my sister was in the hospital from March to April of this year, I decided to pick it back up again because it is the perfect hospital project (in my opinion, and believe me, I’ve done lots of hospital knitting/crocheting to know).

The things that make this project portable are 1) it’s worked in five strips that are sewn together later, so it’s more like working on five separate scarves rather than one large blanket, 2) it’s worked on size 13 needles, so your hands won’t get cramped with small needles, and if you get bamboo straights like what I did, it’s a fairly quiet project, and 3) it uses chunky yarn, which makes the project go fast, and I don’t know about you, but I like a project to go fast if I’m working on it for hours and hours non-stop.
I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in the color “Lemongrass,” just like the pattern. I used 10 skeins for the blanket, and 1 skein for 3 rounds of single crochet for the edging (this blanket definitely needs a small edging to prevent rolling and to make it look more finished–I’m a big supporter of edging every blanket). I love this green color, and I knew one of my close friends Christy would love the color too. Luckily I finished it just in time for her birthday, and she was rather surprised when I gave it to her.

Yesterday I just finished making a second Comfort Throw in two colors: Raspberry and Blossom. I’ll post pics and details soon, since I made some modifications the second time around. I think I’ll cast on for the third one this afternoon, and this time I’ll be using three different colors.

Right now giving my hand-knit gifts to people makes me feel so great again, so I’m trying to do it as much as I can. I guess this blanket has the perfect name, because it’s comforting for me to knit it, and it’s comforting for me to give it away.

These two Lil Miss Priss Hats went to a sweet young girl who was diagnosed with Leukemia this year. She is only three years old and having to fight an adult fight. I remembered how much Heather loved her Miss Priss hats I made her while she didn’t have any hair, so I decided to make some for this young girl. Of course, I couldn’t just stop there, so I crocheted a pink and purple ripple blanket for her and knit up a blanket for her younger brother.
When the family came over to my house, and I gave them their gifts, their mom asked if I made the hats in adult size. Luckily, I had a matching purple hat already made up to give to her. It makes me happy to see my work help someone else going through a hard time.

Don’t worry, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. It’s just hard to post about yarn stuff when I’m not doing much of it. However, I have finally felt like working on some projects this week. I have felt so listless and unmotivated the last three weeks, and this feeling is only starting to fade a little bit.
The only thing I feel like working on is blankets. There’s something therapeutic about making a blanket for someone else–nothing gives me greater joy than to make an afghan for someone, especially when it’s totally unexpected. I made some blankets (shown in pics above) for a friend of mine’s kids two months ago, and she was so shocked and touched by the gifts. Her joy brought me joy, and I want that feeling back again.

The view from my window today.
Unexpected beauty in the mundane.
That’s just how some days are.

Yes, it’s my birthday today, good ole Friday the 13th. Nope, I’m not superstitious, so I think it’s wonderful anytime my birthday falls on a Friday. Being my birthday week and all, I’ve been working steadily on my Stained Glass Shawl and I’ve made some visible progress. I’m hoping to finish it today so it can block tomorrow so I can wear it to church on Sunday, but we’ll see. I’m almost done, so that’s an attainable goal.
The only downfall to lace, in my opinion, is that you can’t really tell what the pattern will look like as you work. It looks blobby and messy and wonky, and it definitely makes me doubt whether or not this thing is going to turn out to resemble anything like it’s supposed to. But this is where trust comes in–trust that even though you can’t see how it will turn out right now, as long as you follow the pattern, it will be okay. Hmm…this seems like a metaphor for my life right now…

I think maybe the person that said “faith is believing in what you can’t see” may have possibly been knitting lace at the time.

I love my Mango Snapple Shawl. Every time I wear it, I always get so many compliments from people. Wearing it just makes me feel happy–happy to know that my most beautiful and intricate pieces of knitting is wrapped around my shoulders, made by my own cleverness using string and sticks. So clever. I wore this shawl last Sunday to church, fastened with a cute green pin that I also made, and the whole time I felt so vintage–shawls always make me feel “vintage.” So for the last week I have been itching to start a new lace project.

I love lace, and I love triangle shawls, and I love that these two combine a lot. I mean A LOT. I thought that maybe I would branch out and try to make a new shawl in either square or rectangular, just for some variety, since I already have yarn for two other triangular shawls waiting in my stash. After scouring my patterns for such shapes, I cast on a square shawl first. Unfortunately the pattern started on double-pointed needles, and that doesn’t work so well with fine gauge laceweight. After about three hours of frustration, I put it away to maybe work on later. When the project bag got transported to another location, all the needles fell out of my work, so I knew it was a sign. I frogged my hours of lace-labor and found a pattern for a rectangular shawl that I liked. This time it used a regular circular needle, so I knew I wouldn’t have to mess with fiddly dpns. I cast-on 291 stitches and began knitting. After about three hours of knitting and hardly any progress, I started to notice a problem. Because I am using a variegated yarn, the colors were pooling instead of variegating and striping and such. Another sign. Again, frogged.
Now I was up to two failed attempts. I decided to stick with a triangular shawl using the yarn double-stranded so the colors would be sure not to pool. I found yet another pattern (Wool Peddler’s Shawl from Folk Shawls) this morning and cast-on. Much happiness and elation soon followed. The colors are doing exactly what I want them to do. The shape is just exactly the shape I like (triangle!). And the pattern is easy, yet interesting. The pattern starts with simple garter stitch (knit every row) for half the shawl then switches to a pretty, yet simple lace pattern. It’s kinda monotonous knitting right now. And I am getting insane idiotic enjoyment out of it. Absolutely delirious.

So much for variety.

Bad News: It’s been almost two weeks since I last posted.
Good News: I’ve been doing a lot of journaling and writing on a writing project. Words are good!

Bad News: I was in a car accident–t-boned on the driver side by a drunk-driver in an F-150 who ran a red light. It was my first car accident, totally not my fault, and it really scared me.
Good News: I was paying attention enough to honk at the driver right before she hit me, so she started braking, which made the impact less severe. I can’t open my driver-side door right now, so it’s funny to watch me crawl in through the passenger side (although not funny to do). My car will be fixed starting next Monday, all covered under her insurance, not mine. I walked away from the accident, which is good too.

Bad News: I hurt my back pretty bad in the accident.
Good News: Nothing seriously wrong with my back, just a lot of soft tissue/muscle damage, so I’m seeing a chiropractor and doing physical therapy. It’ll take awhile to heal, so I’m having to do a lot of sitting around on ice packs.

Bad News: I’m doing a lot of sitting around on ice packs.
Good News: I’m getting a lot of knitting and crocheting time. I finished two projects so far and working on a third. I’m in an afghan mood again, so it must mean summer is approaching (it was 83 degrees here today and it’s only the end of February). Also time for lots of naps. I like naps.

Bad News: Summer is approaching.
Good News: Bleh.

Bad News: I’m having trouble becoming a substitute. Apparently with the economy being dire, everyone had my same idea. Dang-it.
Good News: Again bleh. Not sure what the good news on this one is, but I guess it’s giving me plenty of time to heal and the flexibility to go to physical therapy everyday since I only work in the mornings at Michaels. Plus no stress of a new job.

Bad News: It’s been 151 days on my yarn ban.
Good News: It’s been 151 days! (more money in my bank account!)

…which projects you are working on, that is.

The last month or so it seems like I’ve been working on so many things, yet my stash isn’t dwindling. This is due to the fact that I have been making lots of things for other people. Not that this is a bad thing at all, I’m happy in fact that other people want my hand-work, but sometimes I just want to work on a project for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining (the extra cash has been nice too). I’m just selfish and I like hand-knit/hand-crocheted things too.

I’ve been making lots of hats and scarves for my friends and customers. Then I made a bunch of baby stuff for my niece set to make her debut here any time (wow, it’s still weird to say “my niece;” I’m going to be an auntie soon). I have a designer friend who asked me to test knit a secret project for a secret project she’s working on that is so secret that that’s about all I can say, and I already had to (shamefully) ask for a deadline extension. Then I have about six more Miss Priss Hats I have to make for customers within the next week or so (I could do that pattern in my sleep) and another scarf to make. And I have two blanket projects to finish for a friend of mine whose mother started them about thirty years ago but never finished. That is going to be a fun project because you can imagine what the color scheme for the blankets are (think “seventies”) and one of them is a chevron pattern that I’ve been wanting to use anyway.

Let’s just say that by the time I finish my to-do list, it’ll be too hot to wear any of the sweaters I wanted to make this winter. (Another reason why I hate Arizona sometimes. The average temps for the month of January, which is supposed to be a rather chilly month, was 74-82 degrees. We haven’t really had a real winter.)

PS> I got my Substitute Teaching Certificate two weeks ago and I’ve applied to my local school district. Now I’m just waiting on a call to see if I got hired. I’m really excited and a bit nervous. I may be considering pursuing a full-time Teaching Certificate, so it’ll be interesting to see how I do as a sub.