Inspiration

FINALLY, I'm back.  I must admit that knitting has been one of the last things on my mind for the past few months.   I have been uninspired and too tired at the end of the night to even knit a stitch.   I did get on a crochet kick in my attempt to design the perfect "fashionable" baby drool bib.  Conclusion:  I suck at crochet.

But here I am again, my hands twitching in the evening ready to knit.    As for the inspiration, I looked to the most tangible of sources - beautiful yarn.   I bought this yarn ages ago, before I could rhyme off luxury yarn makers and before I meticulously saved every yarn label I've used in my scrapbook.   All I know is that it's silk, it cost me $36 for the skein and, most importantly, that it's beeeeeautiful.

I have been "inspired" by this yarn for years and years now, although at this point I could almost refer to it as being haunted by it.   I bought it with the intentions to knit the Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding and I swear I started and frogged that thing 12 times before I gave up.   Last summer I designed a rectangular wrap with a shield lace pattern but it didn't really get my juices flowing.  After nine or ten repeats, I abolished it to the "meh" drawer.   This time around I wanted something somewhat mindless with a little bit of fun.  Something I would bind off and be so excited about that I would run out and cast on my next project pronto.    Enter the Oaklet Shawl.   I resurrected this luscious yarn once again and went at it.   The stockinette at the beginning with the promise of some simple lace at the end kept me going.    I love it AND I have cast on my next project (Owl baby vest).    Only one little problem.   I knit the pattern exactly as written (rare for me) and I've got a substantial little ball of this yarn left.   Kill me now, but I'm really, really going to rip this baby back to the end of the stockinette section and use up the rest of the yarn.   Ripping back slippery silk....I can see the dropped stitches now.  (Do I really have the patience/good sense for a lifeline?)  Good luck to me. It may be another 6 months before the next post.....

(extended and blocked version to be posted soon!  ...there, I said it out loud, now I HAVE to do it...)

Dolce

My favourite thing to do is design a pattern with someone in mind.   This particular somebody is a stylish woman on the go.  I wanted a design that was practical - that could go from thrown on casually with a jean jacket to more formal with a great wool coat.  

"Dolce" hits all those marks with great pleats all along one side creating an asymmetrical funkiness that I love and a slipped stitch pattern that makes a channel on the wrong side that an i-cord can be fished through.

As with Emma, I have taken to naming my patterns after my recipients and it's fitting that this pattern name technically means "sweet".   So here it is, a sweet pattern for the sweetest of persons, who happens to be named Dolce.  

(modelled begrudgingly by yours truly)

href="http://www.ravelry.com/purchase/nataly-alves-designs/56434"><img src="http://www.ravelry.com/images/shopping/buy-now.gif" border="0"/>

Short on time, Big on Heart

What do you do if you have limited time and limited yarn to knit something?   Easy.  Knit less of it.   Thank the knit gods for cowls.  Being a pre-Christmas baby myself, I suppose I should be acutely sympathetic to the post-Christmas birthday "overlook" and plan ahead a bit better.  At any rate, January 2nd snuck up on me again and it struck me the day before mom's birthday that I should knit her a little something special.   Luckily, I had one ball of this great sparkly yarn in my mom's favourite fuscia colour (she's a sparkly kind of mom) and I knew I could knit something up real quick for her. 

  I hate that "real quick" usually equates to a lot of stockinette stitch or a lot of mindless "yo, k2tog" repeats.   I'm not above them, don't get me wrong, but my hands were looking for a bit more of a challenge.   Julie's Stockholm Scarf pattern suddenly hit me, and I literally ran to the computer and was off to the races.  The scarf in its entirety is fabulous, but the mini cowl is a pretty fabulous second.   One and a half movies later I was long a little birthday gift and got a model shot out of it too.  (She's a good sport)

2 years

It's risky business choosing a pattern for a gloriously (at times) head strong little toddler, I mean BIG GIRL . Risky in that once the said knit is complete, it will actually be worn by the toddler for more than, say, 1.5 seconds. So you pour through the free patterns on Ravelry. Lord knows you don't pay for that pattern which has the potential to be permanently stored in the hat basket in the front closet. You pick one you think will hit the mark. Ear flaps for winter warmth, check.  Acrylic, check.  Squeak, I know, but I'm hoping to toss this baby in the washing machine after countless frolics in the snow. Purple, check. She likes purple, her snowsuit is purple. How can this go wrong?

Pattern:  Earflap Hats

By: Knitscene

Yarn:  Random Walmart Acrylic

 Huge, gigantically adorable pom-pom?  Eeks, maybe not. (Even though Mommy likes it, little girl's eyes turn red instantly). Uhhh. Maybe smaller cuter pom-pom? Ee gad. This is a toughy.   I couldn't even bribe her with smarties.    My fear comes to life and I park this old noggin topper indefinitely in the hat basket.  No amounting of coaxing or bribery will convince the decisive little one to even touch it, let alone wear it on her head.


What it actually takes to free this accessory out of purgatory is some time to age in the closet.  Fermenting for some TWO YEARS, until she finally plucks it out of the hamper on her own free will and declares the hat "SO CUTE!".  "Mama, this pom-pom is like a pony tail and these things on the sides are two lovely braids".  (She really does talk like that and she really doesn't let me style her hair. EVER. Figure that one out.)

Wow, 2 years to warm up to a hat.  Talk about playing hard to get.  Guess you'll be seeing this year's creation in 2012.

Pattern:  Squares Squared Hat

By: Cosette Cornelius

Yarn:  Franken Fibre Handspun By Linda Janssen (Blue)
Acrylic in Pink and Teal

It's not for lack of knitting...

So I've been suspiciously quiet in the blogosphere, but it's not for lack of knitting.   I have found myself making a plethora of tiny objects for the last little while.

I can't help it, I'm compelled.  But the problem with knitting little newborn items is that often you can't find a proper sized model to show them off. 

So I made one of those too =).....

(I'm working on his model pose still....)



Collage items:
1. Carnival Hat-  by me; 2. Circles Stroller Jacket by Susan Anderson, minus the circles; 3. Eco Baby Booties by Jen Gontier; 4. Baby Bear Hat and Booties Set; 5. Baby Uggs by Jen Gontier with bear mods; 6. Scraps Hat - by me; 7. Circles Stroller Jacket; 8. Carnival Hat; 9. Nap Sack by me, free pattern coming soon; 10. Baby Bear Hat by me; 11. Scraps Hat; 12. Eco Baby Booties

Road Trippin'

If you live in Toronto in the summer odds are you attempt to get the heck out of town on any given sunny weekend. To do a little road trippin' that looks something like this:

And if you do that a lot, you need a lot of this at the ready:

Everyone has their personal favourite for the road trip knit. I've tried following a chart and it made me want to puke. I've tried knitting a blanket and it made me want to sleep. For me, I like a simple, easily memorized lace pattern that keeps my hands moving quickly, keeps my eyes on the scenery, and challenges me enough that I don't doze off (even while listening to The Wolf 101.5).

So here's my latest road trip creation, the White Night Scarf, made from reclaimed yarn from a heavy cabled hat I bought from Banana Republic years ago that looked great but gave me a kink in the neck it was so darn heavy.

A heavy, cosy, funky scarf made just in time for the road trippin' to slow down for another season.  Sigh.
 

Pattern:  White Night Scarf

By:  Team Knit

Yarn:  Unknown

Needles:  US 13

She gets it....

I often find my husband giving me sideways glances when he sees me knitting up itty bitty pieces of undecipherable shapes, slowly starting a pile on my knitting desk. I can tell he wants to ask me what the heck I am doing but stops short to save himself from my rolling eyes and sometimes less than... uh-hum...polite response. I know the curiosity boils up inside him, not because he cares what I am making, but more because he just has to know what 4 squares, 2 triangles and 2 circles with long tails hanging around will actually be MacGyver-ed into.

So somewhere between square three and circle one I know the question comes...he blurts out in his most pleasant, inquisitive tone "So, what is that you are working on?". He cares not what the answer is, I could say I'm knitting a rocket ship that I plan to launch in the backyard once I figure out how to make this yarn fire retardant, he just needs an answer so that square + square no longer equals unknown.


So I smile inside and answer simply "It's a rabbit". And I show him the picture in the pattern so he can visualize it. I can read his mind (I haven't shared this fact with him after all these years, but I can) and he's thinking "Wow, what a colossal waste of time". But instead he responds with feigned interest, "hmmph", picks up his newspaper and carries on with his life. He doesn't get it.

He doesn't understand that when you care enough to spend so much time and effort into making something that a piece of your love gets implanted in that object, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant that object is. So what may be 4 squares, 2 triangles and 2 circles to him can actually give comfort and love to someone else.

 

 

He doesn't get it, but it doesn't matter. Because SHE does.

Pattern:  Little Hare Boy

By: Ala Ela: