An Eeyore kind of knitting week

What a weird knitting week. I seemed to have been struck with a weird knitting malaise. After knitting over twenty Christmas gifts I was unable to knit anything of quality for the last week. I finished the leg warmers. On Sunday afternoon I realized that I didn’t have anything to knit and for the first time in a long time I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to knit. So I half heartedly started the Apple pear pattern to knit an apple cozy for a gift. The cotton yarn I had was either too thin or too fat and the thing turned out awful. I then decided to take the thinner yarn a bright pink mercerized cotton finger weight yarn and turn it into a neckerchief which turned out horrible I made a mistake in the yarn overs and I lost heart in it when I realized I didn’t have enough yarn. I had this passing idea of using two colors and I decided that I wouldn’t like that idea so it was abandoned. I really need to clean out my knitting bag, get rid of the leftover balls and put away my needles and recharge myself with a fresh new clean bag of knitting!


This fall has gotten to me. I feel like all I do is work and do chores. I am so tired of driving around, doing housework and finishing up things. I haven’t been knitting much and can only eek out a half hour or so a couple times a week for sewing. This afternoon I spent 8 hours doing stuff around the house I sat down to sew and for some reason my machine ate my needle. I got so frustrated that I just abandoned it. Things look like they may be picking up though. I feel in love with the ribit pattern and want to make some frogs for a co-worker’s children for Christmas. I also scored some sweet Irish yarn this week. Mom went to Ireland with her sisters and brought me back yarn! I got 20 balls of a mohair blend for two shawls and 400 grams of very raw, sheepy smelling wonderful Aran yarn. I have been smelling it all day and dreaming about what to make. More on that later….

The problem with legwarmers is that they really need to be modeled. I have decided to spare you Nate’s hairy man legs in the legwarmers you will thank me for it. They turned out well and I am sure she will love them. I promise to be in a better mood next week and have some knitting to talk about.

On the reading front I finished The Golden Bowl this week. I started The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. This is a nice change from the recent subject matter. No love affairs in this one! I am almost finished The Good Solider, I have about 20 pages left and hope to crank it out after dinner. The boss man is working late.

Ribbit (Rav Link) (Spud Says Blog)

Boy I think I should do bullet points for this post. I don’t know where the time went this month!

First Knitting:

For the holiday knitting I finished the reversible cabled scarf last week. I know I mentioned that it felt smooshed because of the reversible nature of the cables. I don’t know if I would use the pattern again. It does look nice but it has very little knitting fun in it.

I also finished a present for my older brother. Since I started knitting I have been making him hats. He really appreciates the hats and has a weird sense of humor so I can make crazy hats like the watermelon and the candy corn hats. This year I made him a Voyageur or Liberty Hat. It is the hat that the French Canadian fur trappers wore in the 1700 and 1800’s, I made it in a bright red with gray accents. I know he will love it. He is a history buff and fan of weird hats. The man wears a captain hat when he takes the kids out so this is right up his alley. Made splendid in RHSS!

I started a pair of legwarmers for my co-worker. I guess if I was 25 stick thin and fashion forward I would want some legwarmers too. I remember the 80’s so I think for myself I would pass. It is sad when the fashion of your teen years is now retro!

Speaking of RHSS we have resuscitated Team Redheart for the Ravelympics 2010. I am going to co-captain the team this year. So if you are a fan of Red Heart yarns, on Ravelry and want to join us keep an eye out for more info as the Olympics draw near.

College Shopping:
We are continuing to look for colleges for Nate. We have been to Elizabethtown, Haverford and Franklin and Marshall. He likes Haverford College the best so far. I am secretly thrilled but remain objective. We have seven more to go until the tours end along with two college fairs. If the boy can’t find a college by then I don’t know what to do!

Not Knitting:
I have been sewing. I created a little sewing area in the bedroom where I set up my machine and my supplies. I have been working on Velcro snack packs and knitting pouches. I got a huge stack of cast offs from my sister. Her new diet has been a boon to my Morsbag sewing. I plan to do about ten more before Christmas. I have this crazy idea of making bags for everyone instead of using wrapping paper but we shall see!

Quickly: I am reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, (love it) listening to The Golden Bowl by Henry James (what is with this guy and affairs?) and slowly working through The Good Solider by Ford Madox Ford at lunch times only (obviously influenced by James and his affair storylines!)

This is Nate wearing my brother's hat.  Tell me doesn't he look like a man?  I remember when he wore spider man pj's to bed.  Oh wait he still does.  I bought him new pajama pants and he wanted Super Mario and the Justice League!

Cabled scarf pattern (rav link, Lionbrand link)

Voyaguer hat pattern (rav link)

Legwarmers (rav link)

Repot depot snack bags

Ravelympics 2010 - Coming soon!

These are not my beautiful hats

Guess what?  This week's project isn't a hat.  In fact it isn't even knitted.  I made three super cute crochet cacti.  My boss at work loves the southwest and is fascinated by cacti.  Unfortunately she can't seem to keep them alive in pots in her office.  She does have a huge patch in her back garden but can't keep them in her office.  So as a small joke present I made her a cute cactus to sit on her desk.  All are made from RHSS.  I have such a phobia of making one thing and it turning out weird that I always make two or three of anything.  Nate loves the two cake baking habit.  .If one cake turns out ugly we keep it home and send the nicer one out to parties so he always has a cake to eat when he gets home.

Look at Jazzy's hands from playing with the chalk.  She loves it when the chalk is a little wet she says the colors are better.  I agree it does give the chalk a texture like oil painting.

I am also working on a reversible cable scarf for a christmas gift.  I thought I would really like not having a wrong side to a cabled scarf but the cables looks schrunched up and weird.  I am hoping they relax during washing.  No big projects on the horizon except for Jackie's b day sweater which I hope to start next week.

Oh wait I am totally in love.  I bought a copy of Alice Starmore's book of Fair Isle Knitting and decided I must have a cardigan.  That will be my christmas gift to myself and my January project.  I have been dreaming of complex Fair Isle sweaters and gorgeous color combos.  I can't wait to get started but I have to finish my christmas knits first.

On the reading side of things I finished The Wings of the Dove by Henry James and Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler which was a well written thought provoking book especially in the political climate today.  I am now working on Sister Carrie (which is much more exciting) by Theodore Drieser and hoping to start The Good Solider by Ford Madox Ford I am jumping around a bit but I got a free copy so I am going to give it a whirl.

Crochet Cacti (rav link)
The Art of Fair Isle by Alice Starmore
Heberian Yarns Hubba hubba I am in love with these kits.

Suprise another hat!

 This is the Opus Spicatum beret by Kelbourne Woolens.  I love that the designer is local and the hat is super cute. I did their Give A Hoot Mittens a few months ago.  I only wish I could afford the recommended yarn.  I made this hat for Jackie who rides her bike to work in the winter and needs a warm yet bright hat so that the dilberts driving and half paying attention see her on the road.  I love the way the pattern works up.  It is very fast, easy to memorize and makes for a dense yet pliable fabric.  I am working on a second one is light blue and white.  I highly recommend this pattern.   I of course used RHSS for two reasons.  One I am classy like that and two machine wash and dry!

Onward!  I am still working my way through the modern library list.  Wendy you are so right some of the books are boring.  Life is too short to read boring books.  I am enjoying Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler and am getting more interested in The Wings of the Dove.   I am pattern shopping for a waistcoat pattern.  Mom is heading to Ireland in the fall and is going to bring me back some wool.  Oh boy I can't wait.  I want something very classic or traditional so I am drooling over all my aran pattern books I collected when I first started to knit.  I think I am ready to dive into those again. 

Oh and Kitty who was called Marley but is now called Kitty loves to assist in blocking of hats, especially the all wool ones.  Next time I promise no hats.  I am starting a crochet project for a friend at work!

Opus Spicatum (rav link)
Kelbourne Woolens (check out the other patterns, I love the vest)

Now an even classier Classy People House

So today is my birthday. Nate being a great son and a computer whiz has made me a new banner for my blog. This one features the offical Classy People model J.R. and is my favorite color green. If you are a cph fan and read it in a reader bust out and check out the banner. Of course adding a banner has led to an overall desire to spruce the joint up so I did some tweaking on the colors and side bar background. Thanks Nate. I hope you don't think your act of being a good son will spare you the humilation of modeling hats ands scarves for me. I am just glad I raised you to be comfortable with yourself because I have a whole slew of ladies hats that need modeling!

Speaking of hats....
Here are a few more hats done in the never ending wool ease gray left over from mom's Tree of Life Aran. I swear that I only had four skeins left over but it seems to go on forever. I did two pairs of mittens and at this time four hats from it and still have one skein left!

The first hat is the Sneaky Snakes slouchy beret I did for Becky. I made the cabled beret for her mom. I think it is fun to make matching hats but a mom and teen age daughter don't always (ok never) like the same thing. The Sneaky Snakes is nice and floppy and looks good perched on the top of the head. The cabled beret is more classic and grown up. I think my aunt will appreciate the tradtional irish cables and the neutral color. A perfect set for a rock on girl and her exasperated mom!

I also did the Valentine's cable hat for my cousin's step daughters. Both have long straight hair which looks good in a beanie style hat. I love the cabling on this one it, is girly without being in your face.

In other news I am still reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and listening to The Wings of the Dove by Henry James. Oh boy what a snooze fest! I have friend who studied victorian literature in college and even he things James is boring! I nodded off on the bus with my knitting in hand listening to this drone.

That crazy guy at the beginning of the post is an acorn squirrel with a moustache that Jazzy I made during her sleepover. It is supposed to be Nate if he was a squirrel. I can totally see it.

Cabled Beret (rav link) free from Caron

Valentine Cabled Hat (rav link) from the new Knitscene

Sneaky Snakes (rav link)

August is for hats!

Let's see what I have been up to lately.

Knitting hats, lots of hats.  So far this month I have knit five hats and am half way done a sixth.  Hats are super fast and easy to knit.  Oh I conquered my fear of the tubular cast on thanks to some good directions over at Knitty.  I like it but not as much as the long tail cast on.

Planning a birthday sweater.  Some one is turning 30 this year and despite what she is hoping for is not getting a moo-moo for her birthday.  I have been virtual yarn and pattern shopping and loving it.  I really like that itch you get when you set your mind to starting a big project.  We have decided on the Fairly Easy Fair Isle from the Stitch and Bitch Nation book by Debbie Stoller.  I fell in love with that book when I was a new knitter and still have a soft spot for it.

College shopping.  Nate is getting ready to start his senior year of high school.  I know don't get me started on that.  So we are looking at schools and  I am making spreadsheets and asking everyone I know what schools they like.  We went from 80 to 30 to 15 to 10 which we hope to visit in September and October before he decides what he wants. 

Watching Project Runway!  Love it but it made me realize how awful the Fashion Show was.  At the time I was deluded into thinking it was ok but compared to PR it sucks.  Sorry Isaac nothing personal.  I don't even mind that it is on Lifetime all though all those lady specific commericals and ads for Army Wives gets to be a bit much.

Reading and listening to audio books.  Since last time I finished reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner and The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler.  I am reading Catch-22 (which is kick ass funny) and listening to Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (which is a nice collection of interconnected short stories)  I also scored a copy of Darkness at Noon.  So after two months I have a very respectable 8 out of 10 on the list so far. 

Here is the best hat of the bunch.  I made this chullo for my 4 year old nephew Luke.  He loves bright colors and hoarding things.  This should fit the bill.  I made hidden pockets in the earflaps for him to hid his candy and cars and stuff that boys like.  I made it out of RHSS so it can be washed and dried all winter long. 

PSA ladies Lion Brand has made all of the patterns on their website free so go crazy!

Luke's hat: Cozy Canuck Chullo (rav link)

Fairly Easy Fair Isle (rav link) Possible yarn choice Bernat Alpaca

Knitty directions for the Tubular Cast On and other great cast ons

Project Runway and Project Rungay now called Tom & Lorenzo still snarky!

Lion Brand Yarn website get those free patterns

A brief update

I have been knitting hats this month.  I already finished 2 droplet hats from Knitting Nature, a Toque for Nate and a Marsan Watchcap for Andrew.  Things are clipping along on a Chullo for Mr. Luke.  I am decreasing for the top and should be finished by the end of the week.  I am planning on two slouchy berets to round out the end of the month. 

I have also been reading and listening like crazy.  I finished Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man this week and started The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler.  I am also still working on The Sound and the Fury which is really good but I got bummed out by the chapters narrated by the brother Quentin.  So I have completed the first five titles in the Modern Library list.  Onward to the rest of the 95.

On a happy family time note we had family movie day today.  The ladies (myself, sister and Jazzy) went to see Ponyo and the boys went to see District 9.  I remember when family movie day meant we went to the same movie but that is what happens when you have teenagers.  The movie was very good and well done but what do you expect from a Hayao Miyazaki's film?  We then went to the buffet and had some sushi and watermelon!  Boy is it crazy hot in the city right now.  Poor J.R. is drooling and panting like crazy.  I gave him a haircut last week with the boss man's clipper and he looks great.

Here are some snaps of Nate wearing his Toque.  He really likes the hat.  I made it from bulky black wool blend that  I had in the stash.  I think it was left over from when I did the cabled purses a few years ago.
I made the two droplet hats from the handspun I won during the Mitten Month thing on Ravelry.  I got two hats one full size and one slightly smaller from the two skeins I had.  One will go to Amelia and the other to her mother for christmas.

Ponyo Trailer
Laire Toque (rav link)
Droplet Hat from Knitting Nature (rav link)