Category: Knitting

I started out the beginning of the year wanting to make this one of knitting mittens. It’s now more than halfway through April, and I’m just starting the first pair. However, I have plans to knit mittens through the summer, since they are small projects and won’t be hot to actually knit. Plus they will be ready to wear when it does get cold outside. I won’t be able to show much of the actual mittens I’m making, since most of these will be Christmas gifts for various family and friends this year. But here’s a sneak peek of the ones currently on the needles:

As I mentioned previously in this post, I’ve come to realize Fair Isle actually isn’t my favorite to knit, but I love the finished product so much that I can’t resist. Sometimes doing something hard or that you don’t like to do can be really rewarding. I think I enjoy Fair Isle mittens because they are small and knit up pretty quickly, even if I dread having to do that fiddly colorwork on the thumbs (which usually I cheat and just do one color, but I’m determined to stick to pattern and do colorwork thumbs for these next batches of mittens).

No, sadly, these stockings do not hang in my house, but they are hanging in someone else’s house–a family who is very fond of their new handknit Christmas stockings. And even though I didn’t get to keep these, it didn’t make me any less satisfied with the finished product. In fact, this is probably one of the hardest projects I’ve done, partially because I had to do the same pattern 4 times, and a very hard pattern at that, and I think that made finishing them all the more rewarding.

I’ve come to realize something about myself: I absolutely love fair isle and colorwork designs, but when I’m in the midst of knitting them, I tend to not be so fond of it. This is definitely one instance when I am merely a product knitter and not a process knitter. However, I love the finished product too much to give up on colorwork, but it’s helpful to know that I may just always hate the process.

I think the design element that makes these stockings even more charming than all that wonderful argyle and snowflakes are the crocheted initial patches. The recipient’s names were too long to embroider on, so I came up with this alternative. Luckily I was thumbing through a crochet dictionary I rarely look at; as soon as I saw the pattern for these letters, I knew that I had to do that for these stockings. I’m just thrilled with the results.

4 months of knitting is definitely worth it to create a lifetime of family tradition. I would definitely make this pattern again. In a few years (wink wink).

Visit my shop to see what I currently have for sale to stuff your stockings this holiday season.

For more details about the making of these stockings, visit my Ravelry project page here.

Do you remember this blanket the Yarn Harlot made awhile back as a group project? It’s always been one of those projects I kept stored away in the “inspiration” part of my brain (aka, the blanket was made in the days before Pinterest; otherwise, it would have been tidily pinned to my virtual board). When a good friend of mine found out she was having a sweet little girl, I knew that it was time to try to recreate this blanket.

After digging through my stash and coming up with an assortment of pink yarns, I knew I had just enough of the right shades to make this blanket work. I studied the picture, looked at several different patterns that were similar, and then with a “what the heck” cast-on and started knitting.

I can’t tell you how deliriously happy I am that the blanket I made came out as a nice little copy cat of that original blanket. I ended up using bits and pieces from a couple of patterns and then just my own knitting know-how to fill in the rest.

Just looking at these pictures again makes me want to knit more. I enjoyed this project immensely, especially knowing it would wrap up a precious little girl. I think it’s time to start making another one, because there never seems to be a shortage of new babies being born around me, and that’s always a good excuse to knit more blankets.

Finally making some visible progress on the stocking. I completed the argyle section and it was a success. I just love the mix of stripes and argyle on this, and can’t wait to see what the snowflake section will look like knitted up.

I think the colorwork knitting will be a bit easier for the next stocking, but I’m pleased with how it’s coming out so far. I foresee a lot of argyle in my future, first with this series of stockings and then eventually at some point with regular socks. My guy is fond of argyle socks, so that makes my knitter heart happy (and, well, he makes my whole heart happy!).

I know it’s August now, but I want to talk a little bit about July projects.

 

At the end of July I started the first Christmas stocking in a series of four that I’m making for a cute little family of four just in time for this Christmas. I’ve picked four colors: red, green, blue, creme, and the stockings will all be a bit varied as far as color placement.

I’m just now starting the argyle section of the first stocking. It’ll be my first time doing an argyle pattern, but I plan to modify it a bit so it’ll be easier to make, mainly, use two colors instead of three. I can’t wait to see how this traditional, yet quirky pattern works up, and I’m delighted that my efforts will hopefully become a cherished family tradition and heirloom.

Since my spinning wheel isn’t easily portable, I’ve been working on finishing up my purple Josephine shawl when I’m away from home. I’m past the center section now, and I’ve started the first end charts. The endings are a bit more intricate than the main body of the shawl, so it’s been exciting to see a different pattern emerging. I was also finally able to get a pretty accurate picture of the purple color.

I can’t wait to finish this shawl in the next few weeks, but there’s still a lot of knitting on it to do. I have to complete the end charts at both ends, and then do a knitted-on edging around the whole thing. It’ll be worth it in the end, but 4 months is a long time to work on the same lace project. I’m ready for a new lace project.

Cables are a very bewitching thing to me, as well as to others who see me make them. How could just switching the order in which you knit stitches in a row create such intricate and lovely “braids”? I try to explain over and over again to non-knitting friends just how exactly I make one and “how easy” it is, yet still they cannot understand the process. And as a knitter, I can’t understand that they can’t understand.

This is one of my favorite chunky knits (I’ve made 3 of these blankets in the past), and it’s a pattern that will always bewitch me.

If I’ve seemed kinda quiet lately, it’s because I’m working on a special, secret project that I can’t talk about for awhile. I’m loving it, and it is a lovely project, but alas, secret.

In the meantime, here is my cute stitch marker that I’ve been using for the project. I never really understood the hype of handmade, cute stitch markers–oftentimes I would just use a piece of yarn tied into a loop. But that was before I actually acquired and used handmade ones, and let me say that there is a difference. Sure, it doesn’t affect the outcome of the project, but those sweet little handmade jewels that swing around on my project as I’m knitting bring such delight. And after all, knitting should have some level of delight, for that’s part of why I keep knitting, right? I like to call my small collection of handmade stitch markers “knitting bling.”

This particular knitting bling was one that I got as part of my Phat Fiber April Tea Party box (I’ll write a blog post about that next). This is a themed, secret, limited quantity box that I was able to snag last month filled with yarn and fiber samples, plus extra goodies like tea, coupons, and of course, stitch markers. There’s a different theme each month, and as soon as I saw that April’s theme was “Tea Party,” I knew I had to get one, since that describes everything I love–Alice in Wonderland, knitting, tea, British, lace, Victorian Era, flowers, soft colors, etc etc.

I get a little tickle of whimsy every time I move this tea bag knitting bling around my circular needle. If you haven’t had a chance to try a handmade, cute stitch marker, then get thee over to Etsy!

 

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together! I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who fear Him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:1-10)

 

When I was knitting this Honey Cowl, I was reading and praying through Psalm 34 (the first half posted above). I can’t help but think of it now every time I see or wear this project. Usually a specific memory, prayer, season of life is attached to each of my projects–for example, with baby blankets, it tends to be prayers for the new baby. For this project, it happens to be a psalm. There’s just something about working on a project with my hands that helps me remember things, the same way that writing helps me to remember too. More than just yarn goes into my handmade projects.