ARTwin knits

Knitting Zen

So, my last Christmas gift (except for the reknit that I still haven't started) was Kristin's yoga mat tote.    I loved knitting it for her. It was fun to watch the stripes, and I loved the colors that I chose for the bag. The pattern was written by Stephanie Roy and is published in Knit Wit, by Amy Singer.  The pattern called for Mission Falls Cotton, but I used Lily Sugan 'n Cream cotton instead. It was a fast and somewhat mindless knit (I'm liking these mindless knits lately) as it was made with stockinette stitch in the round.  This was my first project on the addi turbos and as I've said before I really loved working with them, despite the fact that little pieces of them kept shaving off the sides. Kristin practices bikram yoga and I hope that she enjoys the tote as much as I enjoyed knitting it for her. I've already espoused about how much I liked the stitching of the handle.

Not much knitting this week. I think I needed a break.

One box of presents away...

Before I forget, I have to tell you that my sister started a knitting blog. Go check her out!

Well, I've had a busy week.  I've made some good progress on the Christmas gifts, but had some trouble with some too. It will all work out, I'm sure.

Today, I sent of my first package of Christmas gifts to my dad's family. They will be meeting for our annual Christmas Eve party, but this is my year at the in-laws so I'll miss it. There were several knitted gifts in there.

My first booga bag for my Susan.
Hat and scarf set for Marc.
Sophie Blue for Jen. I added a cool pendant that I picked up yesterday at A.C. Moore. I'm really becoming addicted to that store.

And I also whipped up this cute little bunny for my niece Savannah. (She's the one  for whom I was making the raglan sweater, which is still in pieces on my desk.   I think I'll frog it and make something for her birthday, instead.) This pattern was so fun and easy. This is the baby size, with some extra long legs. I left off the face, but I think she looks cute with just the ribbon around her neck. I wrapped up the bunny with a copy of the Velveteen Rabbit. And the hat that I was making for my cousin Jonathan. It's from the basic cable hat from SnB Nation. I followed the pattern, but it turned out to be too small, so it will fit her 2 1/2 year old head better.  I added a cute little flower to it to make it look girly. Next time, I'll have to make it with a few more cable repeats to make it fit an adult head.

But all this knitting has caused an injury.  I have a small little blood blister on my left thumb.  Well, I must persevere, 'cause I have more gifts to finish.  I'm gonna seam up Snowball today and try to finish up another sophie for my SIL.  Then I'll just have one more to go before the weekend. Kristin's gift is going with me to Massachusetts. I hope to have it finished up by New Year's.

Christmas update

With only 27 days until Christmas, I thought I've give a little update. The car ride to DC was productive. I finished the hooded homespun sweater, so now I just have to set in the sleeves and sew up the side seams.  I'm almost finished with my booga bag. 

But I didn't get as much knitting done as I wanted this weekend. I think I just needed a break.  The next few weeks are gonna be busy, so we'll see how the knitting goes.  Keep your fingers crossed that I finish the presents in time for the big day!!

Stash Enhancments pics

Well, most of these are assigned for specific projects, so they aren't really stash enhancements, but here is the yarn that I got in the mail last week:

Patons Grace in Ginger - set aside for a baby sweater (pattern in FCEK from last year some time) for my friend Ginger.  (sorry it's a little blurry)

Tons of Patons Classic Merino Wool for my christmas knits. I'm loving the way that the Patons Classic knits. I think I'm gonna use it for the ballet-wrap sweater in the winter FCEK. I love the petal pink, so I might make that. It reminds me of the pink ballet wrap I had as a kid.

Black and Aran

Petal Pink and Leaf Green

Dark Grey Mix and Rich Red.

And here's the back and the beginning of the front for my nephew's homespun hooded sweater.  I'm really excited about the way it is coming out. But I'm worried about how the color changes are gonna wind up.  I actually cut off the beginning of the second skein of yarn so that I seemed to be starting at the same place that I did with the back. What do you think - will it matter all that much if they don't line up exactly?

Sophie Blue

Here she is - Sophie Blue:

Before felting:

After Felting:

I didn't have time to take pictures of my other yarn. I'm supposed to be writing today, so I couldn't justify traipsing all over the house looking for good light to take the photos. More tomorrow.

To Do List

Have I told you all how much I love to cook. I really love to make things, though I don't experiment too often, unless that experiment is clearly written out in a recipe. I don't have the patience to be creative.  But, I do love to cook, even though I don't always make the time. Tonight, I made a scrumptious frittata with potato, onion, swiss chard and broccoli. It is very yummy, and perfect for a cold fall night.

Tonight's goal is to start on my first Sophie bag. Maybe I'll even join the sophie along. But that will have to wait until tomorrow at least. I'm feeling knitting withdrawal. :)

Yarn Winding for Dummies...

Wow - I can't believe that it has been almost an entire week since I posted. I spent Friday and Saturday back at Winterthur at a conference, which was fun. I have to say, the NJ Turnpike was actually beautiful with the leaves in all sorts of colors. And Winterthur was nice too, though it was cold and damp. It made it not so bad to be inside. Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. My sister was in town to celebrate our birthday and we hung out in Princeton all day. The weather was warm, and we had a great time. Oh yeah - and here's the lovely birthday present from my sis:

On the knitting front, I'm almost finished with my niece's christmas present. i've renamed it snowball, since it looks like the hostess cakes with the pink snowball icing. I had to go buy yet another ball of yarn to finish it. This sweater has used up more yarn. UGH!

I also cast on and knit a hat for my MIL to match the scarf that I posted last week. One Christmas gift off the list. WAHOO!!

Today, I swatched some Cascade 220 for the bags I'm making. I'm getting ready to throw it in the wash to see how it felts.

UPDATE: I'm not sure if I like the way the quattro felted. I can't decide if I like the specks of color that come through. Here it is after one wash (on top) and 2 washes (on the bottom) The color really isn't that different, either. The second one had awful lighting. I'll try to fix it later. I guess this bag will have to wait. Maybe I'll go ahead and cast on with some of the solid Cascade that I bought and make the first one with that.

And lastly, to the title.... I decided today that I would try to to wind the Cascade using the ingenious idea of using my stand mixer to create a center pulling ball. Well, have to say that the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer DOES NOT work with this technique. It turns to fast and it kept getting all wound up, but not the way I wanted. So I wound it by hand and tried to create a center pulling ball by winding around a tp roll and then pulling the roll out. First, I made myself dizzy walking around the chairs that my hank were on (maybe I should add a swift to my wish list). But the crazy thing is all tangled already. I guess I'll have to invest in a ball winder, too.

Signing off for now - but not before a quick reminder -

GO VOTE

Another scarf update!

Scarf #1 is finished!! Wahoo! Thank goodness it was a quick knit. I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures. Larry is in California with the camera. I hope to post some later this week.

In other knitting news, I went on a yarn binge today since joann.com was having a fabulous sale. Not only was the yarn on sale, but if you buy more than 5 skeins, you get an additional 10% off. I bought about 10 skeins of Patons Classic Wool, mostly for my Christmas projects, including a few booga bags and some scarfs. And some Patons Grace to have on hand for a baby sweater for my friend Ginger, who is due in March. I'm gonna make a sweater from an old FCEK that I had lying around.

I found out today that my sis isn't getting me the denise needles, so I put in a bid on ebay. Hopefully it will come through, but if it doesn't - no biggie. I'll just order them online. I'm anxious to get them to start my booga bags.

I thought I'd make a list of Christmas projects, listed by name so that if anyone wanders by it won't give anything away. Check out the very long list on the left.

New techniques and more length

I'm knitting like a mad woman on the boucle scarf for my mother in law. I'm over 45" and finished the first skein. I tried the russian join when adding the new skein. It worked pretty well, though the boucle sort of pulled a part a bit when trying to run the yarn through the other. Overall, though, I think it is a great way to join. I'm so glad that this is moving along quickly. So much more to do!!

4 Active Projects! Am I crazy or what?!?!

I cast on for ANOTHER project this week. I know, I'm crazy. But I'm feeling the Christmas crunch and wanted to get started on another project. Luckily this one is going quickly. I'm making a scarf and hat set for my mother in law with some Lion Brand colorwaves. The boucle was a bit hard to work with at first, but now I'm enjoying it and it is speeding along. One thing I really love is my cute little needles that I'm using. I transferred from my birch needles to a pair of Red Heart needles. I know they are for kids, but they are perfect for scarfs, since they are tiny. I also have the smallest hands imaginable, so the kids needles are a perfect fit for me. I started using them since I was headed into NYC on Wednesday and they would fit in my bag better than my longer birch needles.

My trip to the city was fun. I spent most of the day at the NYPL doing some research for the dissertation. I got a lot accomplished, including a long walk in the middle of the day. Sometimes you just need to get out! And then I met a dear friend for dinner. We haven't seen each other for 2 years since she moved from NJ to Wisconsin. It was so great to catch up.