one skein, one day
well it didn't even take a whole day, or a whole skein, but such a treat nonetheless. (and just because i haven't posted in "forever" doesn't mean i haven't been knittin')
these are MasonDixon Knitting washcloths (they knit up in a matter of hours!). The blueish one is sugar 'n creme cotton (cheap, but practical) and the pinkish one is cotton chenille. they are a joy to knit and fun too. I plan to give them to my Mother and Aunt's for Mother's Day tied up with a bar of soap (as illustrated in the book, a ribbon fits beautifully through the eyelet row and the wash cloth becomes a little sachet). two done, two more to go!
These are the Petal Bibs, from One Skein. Knit in sugar 'n creme cotton yarn (again, extremely practical for a wash 'n wear bib.) I made them for Violet, at the tender age of ONE year old (i find it very fitting, One skein project for a one year old.) for a birthday present. These were easy t.v. knitting for an evening-- i even figured out a little trick for them: Knit the petals on a 16 inch circ. needle starting with a large petal, make another large petal, make a small petal, and then two large petals. Doing it this way means all your petals are in the right order and easy to join in one knit row. I also worked in all little ends as i worked the first knit-join row and saved on some of the finishing. I'm normally not one to block finished goods, but these bibs look much better once they are blocked.
This is the baby lace hat using Lush, also from One Skein. The lace pattern was not charted so i made one. In doing that i found a small decrease error in the pattern, and was able to make the appropiate changes. The skein of Lush that i had wasn't full when i started the hat, and i didn't even use the whole bit that i had. I made the 12-18 mos. size, also for Violet's birthday.

In other (picture less ) news: I have been working on a Mason Dixon burb cloth (such a joy-- so simple, so refreshing, so caring and if i can talk myself out of keeping them for my own hope-chest, they will be for a auction at work) and the stockinette section of Hush-hush (it just keeps going and going an going. but i am making progress!)

The Look, The Feel
of cotton. i've been thinking about wool lately and what my relationship is to it. and then i started thinking about cotton. i think it is because i have been reading about other people and their love of a perticular fiber (and i wondered why they were so passionate about it? am i that passionate about wool?). but this thinking of mine does not reflect in my knitting (and no, i'm not allergic to wool-- or any fiber). i have a lot of cotton on the needles right now, and have plans to do a lot more (part of this dilemma started when i realized i had spent most of the cool, wet, wintery months cranking out projects made out of cotton. i thought i'd better cast on a wooly project before the sunshine is too hot and my hands become sticky and sweaty with wooly fibers.). and i don't think it is the spring warm (well, make that hot: unseasonally hot temperatures are in bloom these past weeks with little rain. the mountains are starting to show more of their purple majesty.) i am very comfortable with cotton yarn and cotton blends. but a lot of people i meet do not like to use cotton. they remark about it's lack of "elasticisity", the mild imperfections that do not block out, and lack of warm and/or softness. but not me.

my cotton stash rivals my wool stash. i am drawn to cotton (and it's family of blends) again and again. i almost always knit baby items with cotton. i make scarves, and wash clothes and all sorts of odds and ends with cotton. but why am i drawn to cotton over and over? Is it the look? The feel?

It dawned on me this morning! I learned to knit with cotton yarn. my very first project (and then my second and third) were simple garter stitch dish cloths. made from cotton. it was trusty, hearty, cool cotton that ran through my fingers as i learned to hold the needles, wrap the yarn, and complete one slow row after another. and of course (!) is showed the imperfections, but what the hell, it was a dish cloth to clean dirty dishes! sure, i moved on to lovely bulky wool soon enough and made my first pair of mittens. but when the third new item to knit was selected: baby hats, i choose a cotton yarn. much nicer than the dish cloth version, but cotton nonetheless. and so my hands returned to the crisp earthly fiber.

i think it was the early lessons that set the foundation. same as knitting english style will always feel more comfortable to me. cotton, in it's many forms will always be that trusty reliable for me. it's not too expensive, it's easy to care for, and knits up beautiful-- to me.

love them sheep as i do, my relationship with cotton is a long and kindred one. Maybe my blog needs a different name?

No. I'll keep it. Because i love the sheep/knitting symbolism.

sshhhh!

it's not that it is a very bad day at work-- it's just rather noisey. someone won't stop crying and the whole room is feeling it.. and hearing it! And i am so over hearing it. (these are not the babies i am responseable for between 8:30 and 5:30-- they are just random found images.)

On a knitting note: I have entered Stockinette Island.
This is Libby Baker's Hush-Hush. I love her designs, and she loves stockinette (I should say here that i have been reading her blog for quiet awhile and find her immensely talented, witty and an lovely poet. She also lives in the same town i grew up in {we've had a little discussion about the public education system in that town...} and so i feel a certain kindredness to her. One day i'll meet her in person and we'll compare knit-notes.)I enjoy knitting to no end, but i hope i make it through all the stockinette. The finished goody is a bridal gift for my cousin this summer-- which means i have to stay on Stockinette Island (Knitting Survivor: out smart, out knit-wit, out play-- the finished project will be worth a million bucks! And to make matters more tempting, the new Mason Dixon Knitting book is filled with beautiful, quick, and highly inspiring projects. Too bad i'm not play on the Garter Stitch Team making log cabin quilts and baby bibs with burb cloths) See that beautiful stitching! That is some stellar 3/2 Perle Cotton on US 2 needles. Truely tho, the finished result will be beauty!!

If only I could sit and knit all day and not soothe someone else's child(which only gets to me on the really bad days! trust me, i love my job almost everyday.)

You knit where?!

The Five Places I have knit:

1. my (at the time) boyfriends house-- he didn't have any lights in the living room, so i had to wear a head lamp at night to see my knitting (he's now my husband).
2. the top of a 14, ooo ft mountain (14er)
3. a living history museum
4. by the camp fire (under the stars) in Castle Valley, Utah
5. my friend's cabin (also filled with knitters)

want to do your own, check out Kat Knits for the contest.

I'm in the West, but I too, can enjoy a little Mason Dixon Knitting

I got me'self a good ol' copy of the spanky new book! I am very excited (read: ready to abandon all current knitting projects at this very moment!) I however, will have to show some decent amount of self control (more to come on that soon.) Nonetheless, there are several projects/photograph/clever catchie paragraphs that have my creative juices flowing and my knittin' fingers itchin' (i.e. the message that runs through this book. Yep, i get it!)

here lies the moses basket that one day will be mine. i love this idea and WILL NOT forget it. Ever!
These bibs/burp cloths are pure genius. Yes, a rectangle with a button is genius! I want to make several for the babes i take care of (feed) daily in the nursery room at work. They are much more tactile and aesthitically pleasing than the crunchy plastic and velcro ones we currently use (and i currently can not stand! ick!) Not to mention easy to wash and bleach if made from regular cotton twine or Peaches 'n Creme cotton yarn.

This project makes me want to find colored pencils fast and get to sketchin'. And then get to finding some wonderful yarn. The only thing keeping me from casting on this very moment: i do not posses a rainbow of colors in my yarn stash to create such a beauty.

i do however, have all the cotton twine for this here rug... and a healthy fabric stash to make rag balls with. The rug is something i do plan on doing in the future-- a rag ball here, a rag ball there, here a rag ball, there a rag ball, every where i rag ball ( i have a lot of rag balls to make!)

See? here's some great fabric... and that tub is full of more... and there is more in the garage!

Hoppy Spring

here's wishing you a Springy Spring from Peter, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-tail.

yarn: 100% alpaca (purchased at the Estes Park Wool Market, 2005)
stuffed with some dark wool roving; the tail is a tuft of corridale, and the nose is a strand of Cotton Fleece. Pattern available at here.

Well, i regret to inform you that "Dress Weather" is over. and thus, (as some people, tho not me, refer to it, "her Litte House on the Prairie" look) retires to the closet for several hot and sweaty months. Have you seen the weather forecast lately? That's just too hot for all my layers of cotton-- and this saddens me. Sure, i have charming, even cute, summer clothes: dresses, skirts and shorts. But i don't have my yards and yards of fabric. Sure i've gotten lots of stares, odd looks and plenty of questions (and knicknames), but i love the feel of swooshy fabric all around me, and the "cloud" of fabric that i sit in! It just feels like home.


In other news, the past wednesday was my grand-ious SnB gathering! I love me some talented knitters! Starting with the gal at the yellow wall: Anne, Meike, Tom, Allison, Kate, (the back of) Celeste (head), Erica and Penny. Next Photo, Erica (kindly helping me with this here blog and it's pesty side bar...), Yours Truely ( fashioning the "summer look" a la T-shirt), Celeste and Maggie. They ladies behind are not knitter's (to my knowledge. They were not with our group...yet...)



and yes, we need more than one table. And yes, we take over the night we are there!
(and we like it that way! hehe)

(i typed this quick email last night, but my excitement still has the best of me)

okay, so it is almost midnight-- one final check at Knitty (cause i have been willing it to be new; checking every hour at the hour) and finally, finally, finally it is UP!!!!!!!! and there it is: our very own Jenifer's sweater on our very own Erica!! I tried to explain my excitement to Tom, but he just said, "hum". i want to run in the streets and tell the world, "the new knitty is up and my friend Jenifer and my friend erica are there, for everyone to see!! I love the knitty!!!"


CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU DEAR KNITTER: TO JENIFER AND ERICA AND ALL THE REST!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS!!!okay, i'm going to bed now!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! (just one more!!)

Hosting a yarn crawl can be exhausting! Now, don't me wrong, i had a fabulous time-- splendid really (and i know part of the wonderfulness of the whole day was because i haven't really had a day out shopping with friends in a while-- and i didn't do it much as a kid/teenager... but that is another day). However, when i finally arrived at my last destination: home, i was whipped (and the grocery store still loomed ahead).

Perhaps i should start at the begining. Once Upon a Time a knitter and her yarn buddies had one LYS in town. But in a land (not so) far, far away a new yarn store was due to open it's doors at any moment. While the Grand Ball was not for weeks, the yarn was available, the doors where open wide and the store was a beautiful site to see! "I shall travel to this new yarn store," exclaimed one of the knitters, "and I shall travel to more and make a grand day of it!" Her fellow knitters relpied with glee, "Yes, I too join this party!" Now at one time, this knitter had called the (not so) far, far away town "Home" and knew the roads to this land very well. "I shall drive the carriage and you may join me if you wish."

And so with this plan, the three young knitters set out to find the new yarn stores they had not yet made due call.

Upon arriving at their first destination: the Lamb Shoppe-- they were over come with the scope of color reaching to the ceiling. The walls were lined with skeins and hanks of all the softest yarns one can dream of using... if not dream of also buying (i think i can safely speak for us all when i say we have Champagne taste on a beer budget... and no, the "champagne of beers" does not solve this problem). I would love to share a breath taking picture with you (one that would have a caption something like: The aesthetics of this display, and the natural light that flows into the space, make for a truely enjoyable shopping experience for you and your eyes.) but i forgot my camera at work, of all places. The store owner was very excited and little nervous. But the good nervous that is happy, enthusiastic and little unfamiliar with her new computer/inventory/sales program-- but all was well and good. And we are now on the mailing list. Alex bought several skeins of very pink yarn right at the end of our visit and Erica bought a skein of Trekking XXL.

Our second destination: A Knitted Peace. This was at one time my LYS and will always have a special place in my heart (with out going into the long story i can tell you that the store literally changed my life for the better.) and so, i felt i needed to share it with some more people. I bought a pair of needles-- nothing fancy.

We took an intermission from shopping (and driving) for falafel and gyro sandwiches at a tasty Greek deli on Littleton's Historic Main Street.

Our third destination was a quick 75 mph drive to String: A knitting boutique. Lucky planning for us, they were having a Bag Sale: what ever you can fit into one (rather large) bag was 20% off (except needles). Let's just say that we all made some purchases, lapped the store several times and touched lots of yarn. I got some yarn that i have been wanting for a long time (good little granola girl that i am) and a tape measure to add to my collection (my justification for yet another tape measure: the bee is a symbol of industry and the name emily means industrious [which i believe i am very much so!]. i think it is quite fitting, not to mention my love of the antique bumblebee and hive imagery.)

We took a rather scenic way back to town and landed right back at our home yarn store for quick purchase running into more fellow knitters (who obviously were not at the local SnB meeting at the time-- tho we all did end up there!)

and then, like is said, i got home and had to go to the grocery store. Exhausted.
but i'd do it again next weekend--well maybe the one after that! But we are headed north next time.

this blog is driving me crazy!

i just became a joiner! i'm gonna have to work on this little blog project of mine (which means getting some photographs and stuff done!).

i am now a participant of the One Skein Secret Pal Exchange. it's my first secret pal anything. and since i was in a joining mood, i did this too: One Skein Knit-Along

join me if you want!