New handwarmers for fall

I still have a few projects that I am working on that are not all that creative and art focussed so I am getting my fill of creating in the evenings with some more knitting.

I started this pair of handwarmers last winter, I had one knit and about an inch and a half of the second before spring arrived. The recent cooler weather motivated me to pick them up again and finish.

I love knitting handwarmers because I have made so many that I don't need to follow a pattern I just design them as I go, once I have figured out the gauge.

These handwarmers are knit from natural undyed possum wool that I bought last year in New Zealand. Here's another pair I made last fall from green possum wool.

You can see the fur that is spun in with the wool fuzzes up making them so soft and warm. After washing, the fur blooms and gets even softer and fuzzier. The wool is a blend of 50% merino, 40% possum and 10% silk.

photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The New Zealand Common Bushtail Possum, originally from Australia, is not like the American possum, it was brought to New Zealand to establish a fur trade because of its beautiful pelt. Unfortunately, New Zealand has no native mammals in its habitat so the possum with no natural predator has decimated native species.

If you are interested in buying some possum wool yarn like this, I found some in the US here. Or if you want to get it direct from New Zealand you can get it here. The wool's a little pricey but 5% of the sale goes to the preservation of New Zealand's native environment.

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This is what I really want to do right now

When those first few signs of fall are evident, I always want to break out the knitting and start a new project. I really love to knit because it engages a totally different part of my brain than painting and quilting and frankly I have a hard time just relaxing without something in my hands.

For some time now I have wanted to try knitting a mobius scarf, click on the link to get a full description of the mathematics of a mobius circle. A mobius scarf is a knitted circle with a twist in it, that only has one edge. If you run your finger along the top edge starting where the knitting was tied off, it will go along the whole top and bottom of the circle in one long continuous line bringing you right back to the beginning.

This is a small sample to help understand how it would knit up.

When you knit a mobius, the top and bottom edges of the scarf are all on one long circular needle. It has an unusual caste on, I followed Cat Bordhi's great tutorial here. I found that it helped not to try and figure out what was really happening as you cast on and knit those first few rows, but just have faith that it's going to work.

That tail sticking up next to my thumb is the beginning of my first row, it ends up in the middle because when you knit the first row you knit the top and bottom edge in one continuous line. The first row is knit all the way around but half the stitches will be knit and the other half will create a row of purl.

For my scarf I cast on 150 stitches of heavy weight worsted yarn on size 10 US needles, this should create a 50" circular scarf that can be looped around twice for a big cowl. I have two skeins of yarn and am just going to knit until it's a width I want (maybe 10"?) or until I run out, whichever comes first, using a pattern of knit four rows and purl four rows and repeat.

I am getting the itch to start painting and sewing, it seems like it has been so long since I have worked on something for myself. I really need to unpack my suitcase from my trip to Cleveland

and then clean off my table so I have a place to work

but first I have to write an article for Quilting Arts magazine based on one of the segments I taped a couple weeks ago for QATV.

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Happy thanksgiving!

As I sit here with a cup of hot tea, I give thanks to making it through another rough year in this economy and still having a roof over our heads, for all the fantastic opportunities I have had traveling to new places and old while teaching and making new friends in the process. I am blessed to have so many wonderful and supportive friends all over the country and a few places beyond, I love ya!

Today I am also grateful that I finished knitting my handwarmers because they are keeping me toasty on this cold overcast morning. The problem with living in 100 year old brick buildings with big windows and high ceilings on overcast days is it can be pretty chilly inside.

These are knit from possum wool that I bought in New Zealand in April. They are fuzzy, soft and warm, the pattern is free on Ravelry.

A little travel knitting

I am leaving Wednesday for Long Beach to teach at International Quilt Festival. I always like to have a small scale knitting project along for those times when I am passing the hours at the airport and flying.

I came across this free pattern for arm warmers on Ravelry.com, it looked like just the right balance of complexity to keep it interesting, but a pattern easy enough to memorize for stress free knitting. I am knitting this with some of the possum/merino/silk yarn I bought in New Zealand on size 2 needles, it feels so soft and a little fuzzy.

After festival I will going to Los Angeles for a couple days to visit family and a few friends, then I'll fly to Northern California for a visit with more family and friends, before returning to Chicago at the beginning of August. Blogging may be a little sporadic, but I will try to post whenever I can.

Toasty soft handwarmers

With the instant arrival of fall and obvious signs of winter I have been finishing up projects started last year and thinking about new ones. I like to have a lot of hand warmers around because when the weather starts getting really cold and I need full coverage outside I will wear these inside. I don't know about you, but my hands get so cold when I am at the computer in the winter and with these I can still type.

Luckily hand warmers are pretty fast to knit, which is always nice because you can feel like you have actually accomplished something in a fairly short time. I have made so many of these fingerless gloves over the years, I can now just knit the body with out a pattern and then customize them with interesting cable patterns that I come across, like this one from a sock pattern. These are made with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, which is so soft, I am very sensitive to prickly wool and these feels wonderful on.

Must Have Cardigan Finished!

With the arrival of fall and cold weather, I decided to pick up the sweater that I started last year and finished it just in time for the chilly mornings we are getting here in Chicago.

The best part about this sweater besides the soft cotton yarn from Knitpicks is the fact that it actually fits!

Knitting Lace

As the summer warms up, I have set aside my cable sweater project and pulled out some lace weight yarn to knit. I have 3 skeins of Knitpicks Shadow in Jewels that has been sitting in one of my yarn baskets. Things have been pretty stressful and I decided I needed something that would be very relaxing and simple to knit. So I consulted one of my favorite reference books; A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

I came across Ostrich Plumes, a variation on feather and fan, which is a very easy lace pattern, and thought that would be just the right amount of interesting design and easy to memorize pattern.
Being a visual person, I prefer working from charts than reading patterns, so I made a chart from the written directions on this chart generator. Seeing the pattern graphically helps me remember the pattern so much better.Before starting my shawl, I knit and blocked three samples to see what size needles I wanted to use for my lace pattern. These three samples in reality are different sizes, the blue one being the smallest ( 6" x 7"), it was knit on size 5 needles and makes a nice solid pattern. The second sample was knit from the same yarn (but in a different color) with two strands of yarn on size 8 needles. It finished just a little taller and about an inch wider than the first swatch, it was heavier weight and had lost the nice drape that my first sample had. The last sample was knit single strand on size 8 needles, after blocking it was 7" x 9", it has nice drape but the design felt a little too open, loosing some of the pattern definition.
I settled on size 7 needles with 2 and a half repeats of the pattern from the book. I figure I will just keep knitting until I run out of yarn or until it reaches 60 or 70 inches.

Must Have Cardigan

The Must Have Cardigan #2 progresses, I have now completed the body, knitting the fronts and back in one piece.
I love cables! I am so glad I am finally at the level of knitting that I do not have to consult the chart for every line and can blissfully knit away knowing what I should do next. Things have also become faster since I learned to cable without the extra cable needle. Now I am knitting the sleeves, both on one long circular needle. Although I do not like dealing with the two yarns wrapping around each other, I prefer having sleeves that are the same size. I have made identifying the individual sleeves easier by color coding with the markers.
The yellow marker on the far right is where I begin each new row with all the rest being green on that sleeve and only purple on the other sleeve. The orange clip indicates my increase row, so I can keep track of when I need to increase next.

Embracing my inner silver and knitting berets

I hate dying my hair! I know it is probably the easiest way to hold on to that illusion of youth, but the earth mama that resides within me has always hated the maintenance and the idea that toxic chemicals are being absorbed by my scalp.

I have been dyeing my hair for at least ten years. I began dyeing it because my complexion looked really washed out when those stray gray hairs started growing in. For several years I dyed it myself but then the store bought dyes just did not cover the gray and I had to put my hair in the hands of a professional. As our budget became increasingly tighter this year I felt bad seeing such a big chunk going to my hair.

Before I made the final decision, I Googled "going gray" and came across this website and this blog. I was amazed to see that most of the women really looked better after they had gone gray. I think what is key, is having enough white so it doesn't look steely. It looks like I am pretty white in some places and streaky gray in other places, so I think I might be ok.

Of course my biggest fear about going silver is that I will suddenly look 20 years older. My son told me he thought if I went gray Silver people would no longer mistake me for 10 years younger, they would just think I looked good for my age. That boy is pretty smart for his 15 years. I am trying to envision that all that silver is going to show my "wisdom" instead of my age, lol, so I am crossing my fingers and knitting berets to ease myself through this transition.

In my internet search for cute beret patterns I came across a couple that I really like. The first one I knit was the Gwen Slouchy Beret this is an easy 4 row lace repeat that looks great knit in a variety of yarns.
The first one I knit with Knitpicks Comfy in Seafoam, knitting the pattern with 6 inches of repeats. I love the beret but it feels pretty slouchy, so I tried a few more with less repeats.

The red/orange beret and the purple one are knitted with my friend Emily's gorgeous Sophie's Toes sock yarn. I wore the red one a lot in Houston hiding not my horns as Kristin alluded to, lol, but my silver roots. I love the way Emily's yarn knit up a lightweight beret that could be worn year round. For these two berets I knit the lace repeat for 5 inches before the crown decreases. It has the perfect fullness for my taste.
This white one is knit with Cashmerino, it is so snuggly soft and warm, perfect for this cold Chicago weather. It sort of reminds me of a bleached sea urchin.
I found another pattern that I liked too. It is the Grace Lace Beret, I knit this olive green one with Knitpicks Shine Sport Leapfrog. I am not sure I knit the decreases quite right since it is a bit rippley but it knit up really fast and I really like the star design that happens on the crown.

New Debbie Bliss Knitting

This is a beautiful new knitting magazine to hit the store shelves. I found several patterns in here I would love to knit. Interweave knits has been one of my favorites for years, but the majority of the knit wear in the last several issues have not appealed to me at all. Frankly many of the patterns have looked dated to me, in a 1970's kind of way.

The premier issue of Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine, published by Vogue knitting, is beautifully designed with gorgeous full page photos of the projects that are in a variety of skill levels. There are sweaters for women and men, projects for the home and a collection of sweet baby blankets. From what I understand this magazine will only publish twice a year. I look forward to the spring and summer issue, but for now I will have plenty to keep me busy with this one.

I just love these two sweaters.

Talented knitting friends

Tony Limuaco and I met as students at what was then called the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles, back in the early 80's. (Sometime between then and now the two schools ended their affiliation) After graduation Tony went to NYC to make his way in the world. Thanks to the internet I was able to find Tony and reconnect by Googling his name.

Tony was in New York on 9/11 and to deal with the trauma and stress resulting from that event, he took up knitting. He got a knitting group going in a local bar, and has since become an amazing knitwear designer.


I love those lace panels in that shirt. Tony has a great post with more photos and details about this shirt he designed based on the traditional tropical mens shirt his father always wore.

Tony has had a few patterns published in Vogue knitting, I am so impressed! This beautiful lace shrug was in a recent issue with a focus on lace. He designed this shrug for a friend to wear with her wedding dress.

Tony has also designed a messenger cap, it is sooo cute and now you can buy his pattern for the Mercury Cycling Cap on Ravelry or with Paypal here.

I Must Have Another...

Must Have Cardigan. I made this sweater two years ago with Knitpicks Shine worsted cotton cream yarn. I made a size large thinking that would be the right size for me. Well, it came out lovely and BIG. It is such a classic sweater style. It was fun to knit, and the yarn is so soft. I want another sweater just like it, with a better fit. So I am going to knit another one in a smaller size in Shine worsted black.

I always like to have some knitting project going. Knitting is my form of relaxation.

In the mean time I am using the leftover cotton yarn from my first sweater to knit a couple washcloths until my new yarn arrives later in the week.

The Surplice Lace Top

Pattern: Surplice Lace Top by Gayle Bunn
Size: medium
Needle: US 6, 2 & 4

Yarn: Elann Den-M-Nit Pure Dark Indigo Cotton

The pattern called for knitting a front, back and three pieces for the top. I knit this in the round in one piece only seaming the shoulders and setting in the sleeves. I hate sewing seams in sweaters, I don't do a very good job of it, so I try to figure ways around it when I can.

I used size 6 needles for the lace section and knit an extra row of pattern to make it a little longer. I knit 3/4 of the top in size 6, then tried it on and found it was way too big. Sorry Deb, you aren't getting this one! I guess when I knit with cotton I tend to knit looser and so my gauge gets out of whack. I needed the top to be about 4 inches smaller around so I ripped down to the top of the lace section. I reknit the band on size 2 needles and I knit the top on size 4 needles. I knit the sleeves on 4’s but they were too small. So I knit two more sleeves on size 5 needles. The overall fit is good. I could have used another inch in length to the top portion but it looks ok. It may have shrunk a little in the washing, it said to estimate 10-15% in length.

The blue dye from this yarn rubs off a lot on your hands when knitting because it is heavily dyed on the outside with a white core, the way denim is dyed.. After the sweater was finished I washed it on delicate with two rinses using synthrapol to help get as much loose dye out as possible. The color of the yarn did not change that much but it did start to get a little of the speckling and irregularity of color that one sees in denim. I look forward to seeing it age, like a good pair of dark jeans.

Knitted Hand Warmers

For when it is not completely freezing outside or when your kind of cold inside.
Nina always has cold hands inside, especially when she is sitting at the computer too long. I made her these hand warmers out of Knitpicks Shine Worsted. They are soft pima cotton, she always feels itchy with wool, even merino. She also did not want any thumb so it would be more comfortable to hold a pen or pencil when drawing.
I made my hand warmers from Knitpicks Swish DK.

I don't use a pattern for the hand warmers any more I just figure out my gauge for the yarn and start knitting. This of course leads to lots of trial and error single hand warmers until I get it right, but they knit up fairly quickly so it's not such a big deal.

The Silver Belle

I finally finished! All I need is some fabulous buttons. This was really interesting to knit, it went together in three pieces. The bottom panel and the two sleeves came up to make the front and back. The seaming is practically invisible. I think I started this in September, it took me a long time but I have been very busy. At least I will have some time to wear it before it gets warm. At the rate we are going we may not see summer until August.

This pattern is free on the Vogue Knitting website. When I knit my swatch, I found I had to go down two needle sizes from an 8 to a 6 to get gauge. So I decided I would cast on the bottom for size small but knit it with size 8 needles and then switch to the size 6 needles and knit the top half in size medium. This saved me casting on about 50 stitches. I knit the sleeves 3/4 of the way with size 6 needles and then switched to size 7 for the shoulder and bodice. I knit this in Knitpicks Andean silk (alpaca, silk and merino) in the color slate. I used 18 skeins.

I think I might have made my Grammie proud with this one.

Silver Belle Progress

Amongst many other projects in the works the Silver Belle progresses. The peplum is done and I have begun a sleeve. My son has a long appointment today at the orthodontist so I should make some good progress on that sleeve.

The Silver Belle

This summer I picked up Vogue knitting (Fall 2007) and fell in love with this pattern. It is free on the Vogue Knitting website. I was able to read about other people making this pattern on Ravelry and by googling the pattern name to see what issues people had when making it. I love the internet. I found several people said it ran a little large, and a couple extended the length and added 3 buttons to the top instead of two. I think I will make these adaptations to the pattern.

When I knit my swatch, I found I had to go down two needle sizes from an 8 to a 6 to get gauge. So I decided I would cast on the bottom for size small but knit it with size 8 needles and then switch to the size 6 needles and knit the top half in size medium. This saved me casting on about 50 stitches. I am knitting this in Knitpicks Andean silk in the color slate.

Nantucket Jacket is finished!

Buttons on and it was just cool enough to wear it the first half of today. I love it, and this time my sister won't get it. ^_^

Ravelry

Wow I finally got onto Ravelry. I think I signed up on the waiting list several months ago. They are inviting 400 people a day and it took that long to get to me. This is the the coolest site. It is a place for knitters and crocheters to keep track of their projects; finished, in progress and wish list. It also has areas to keep track of your yarn stash, needles, books, favorite patterns, etc. Then there are categories that you can look through of projects that people have made. For example sweaters has 198 pages of photos people have posted. It is so fun to see patterns that you may have thought about knitting knitted up by someone else and read their comments about making it. There are also forums, chats and links to blogs. One could spend some serious time here.