Category: knitting

Knit, rip, repeat

Silly me, I finished both of those hats for my grandmother but didn’t take any photos of them! I think she liked them, though – and she admitted that she lost the last hat I made her (probably 5+ years ago).

I got new business cards! It’s been ages since I ordered some. I think they would be nice if they were shiny, but I decided on recycled paper instead. Pretty minimal.

New sweater release soon, featuring this pretty button from the Vexed Muddler.

The sweater I’ve been knitting has had a few bumps though. It was all going along swimmingly, then I realized partway into the yoke that my math was totally wrong. Sigh!

I had to rip pretty far back! Partway through the yoke for the second time I had to rip again, but not as far. Don’t become a designer if you aren’t willing to rip stuff out repeatedly.

But I actually finished the sweater last night and wove in the ends this morning! I’m really excited to wear this one. Pattern is my own, and will be released next month (I hope). I also took a bunch of photos while I was grafting the underarms, so I’ll have a tutorial soon on how to close up those pesky underarm gaps in a raglan!

Reading:
The Shell Collector by Hugh Howey. Interesting premise, fun quick read, but a little unsatisfying in the end.
I also just finished Sapphique by Catherine Fisher, which is the sequel to Incarceron. Again, an enjoyable read but not super amazing.

February 26, 2015
Hat, and hat, and hat

There’s a lot to love about knitting hats – they’re (usually) quick and take only a bit of yarn, you can learn a lot while making them, and they’re useful! If you’re new to knitting hats, Karen from Fringe Association has a great all-about-hats thing going on right now!

I shared this photo on Instagram, of a hat I’m knitting for my grandmother:

Looks pretty good – it’s a beret, with ribbed brim. But I was starting the decreases and realized that it was too big – if it’s too big for my enormous hair, it’ll be too big for my grandma! So I ripped and started again. Then it was too small! Argh!

Here’s hoping the third time’s a charm. This one is a better representation of the colour – it’s Handmaiden Casbah in Tourmaline, held double, on 4.5mm needles.

Just in case, I also started a second hat in a different style in case it’s more appealing to her – this one is Amy Swenson’s Better Bucket. Also in Casbah, double stranded!

Time to watch some Downton Abbey and get these done!

February 18, 2015
Snow Day(s)

Enough snow for ya? ;) Thanks so much for the nice comments on Winter Brunch – I can’t wait to see some other ones knitted up.

On Sunday we went to a friend’s house for a Superb Owl party. It was, indeed, owl-themed. There was “a” super bowl playing (from 1976), loads of food and fun. Thanks for the awesome party Yvonne, Jeremy and Booker! Check out this AMAZING snack stadium they built! Truly awe-inspiring.

Sunday night the snowstorm blew in and I haven’t left the house since. I’m just fine with that, I’m such a homebody! As long as I have coffee, the internet, and knitting, I could probably stay home forever. Plus, we just got a new bigger bed with nice new sheets and big fluffy pillows, which makes getting out of bed pretty difficult!

But I have been trying to take advantage of the time to buckle down on some bigger projects that have been lingering. I finished one piece, out of Zen Yarn Garden worsted – cabley goodness.

Yesterday I knit a whole sleeve while finishing up my read of 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami), which was super long but very enjoyable.

Eating: I made a pretty awesome sausage pasta sauce last night! Quickie recipe: brown 1lb sausage, casings removed (ours was honey garlic pork), take out of the pan. Saute 1 onion, 2 carrots, 225g package cremini mushrooms, chopped, plus a couple cloves of garlic, minced. Deglaze the pan with some red wine (scrape up the browned bits from the sausage), season with salt, pepper, oregano. Add back the sausage and 1 bottle passata (or crushed tomatoes), cover and simmer the whole thing for maybe 20-30 minutes, while you boil the pasta and clean up. Serve over pasta with mozzarella! Yum.

February 4, 2015