Making progress...

It's hard to keep up with a knitting blog when there's not much knitting going on, but it's equally hard when I'm knitting a lot! All my free time is filled with needles and string these days. I've been making (and designing!) my own baby and kid hats to sell through Sangha Root, a part of the Original Root Zen Center, to which my family belongs. I've been knitting the sleeves for my Owls sweater. And I've been getting back into beadwork, making some lovely pendants.

I don't work this weekend -- and we don't have much going on, so I'll make time for some photos.

The Franken-hat!

So I knit a hat. I’m really proud of it. First entrelac, first use of Noro Kureyon.

I knit it big, and planned to felt it to make it super toasty.

It went in the machine, and it felted, but the cast-on felted too much! It was late, and I decided to cut off the bottom to see if that would help. Out came the scissors, and off came one inch.

Then, the hat fit around, but was too short. So, in the morning, I decided to try some surgery. I cut the too-tight cast-on edge off the earlier removed part of the hat, then started to sew the cut-off part back to the main hat. It’s going pretty well… I’m then going to hand felt the seam to try and tighten that up, and probably put a velvet ribbon around it or something to hide it. I’ll also do a bit of a whipstitch edge around the now raw-cut edge and hand felt that to keep the edge from getting all icky looking.

My husband says I should just buy another ball of the Noro and start over.

I’m going to persevere, though.

If all else fails, I'll just buy some more yarn.

Leap of faith

I knit a hat over the weekend. It was my first project in Noro Kureyon, and my first entrelac project. The whole wooly thing is now in the washer.

This is always a leap of faith. I've got to trust that I knit the thing right, and that the washing machine felting process won't go awry. I've successfully felted a few things before, but I was always meticulously following a pattern. I went a little off-road on this once, taking an entrelac hat pattern meant for bulky yarn and knitting it on double-stranded kureyon, in a loose gauge and larger size, with the hope of felting it down to fit my head.

It took a while for the shrinking to begin, but it looks like the thing is on its way. I'm really glad I took out the cast-on edge tonight, though, and did a really loose bind-off instead. That particular part still looks like it might be a bit tight. I'm hoping that the entrelac texture will cause the rest of the thing to felt up vertically and not horizontally.

Here's hoping.

Things I love: Science and knitting

I admit it. I'm a geek. And not just a yarn geek. I love science, and science fiction. So when I saw this gallery of the combination of yarn and science, I had to share.

The Bizarre and Brilliant World of Knitted Science

There are frog dissection kits, a periodic table sweater, hyperbolic space. The list goes on and on.

Come on, raise your geek flag.

New Year, new resolutions

I don't really care for resolutions, in that I tend to pick something I struggle with, then feel bad when I fail. This year, instead of making resolutions that would change a bad habit, I'm making resolutions that will bring creative energy out to the world. Here they are:

Write more: I will set aside time each week to write. This won't be writing for the newspaper, but writing for me. It may be about knitting, cooking, crafting, life... who knows. I will give myself permission, and make the time to do it.

Knit a sweater: This is a repeat. Four years ago (really? how did that happen?) I bought fabulous red yarn while on a trip to Ireland. It was our last day there, and I hadn't been able to find knitting wool anywhere. The only yarn shop we saw was closed the day we went through town. Finally, in a little store near Doolin, I came across some yarn. Two colors -- red or black -- sold by the kilo. I'm not sure where I found room for 2.2 pounds of red yarn in our luggage, but it came back across the Atlantic with me. I searched for a pattern, and finally found it -- Owls, by Kate Davies. I'm going to start swatching as soon as I get through a few quick projects. I think it will be a quick knit, and can't wait to do it.


Make a maud: Inspired again by Kate Davies, I'd love to make a maud. It's a delightful warm wrap, that looks incredibly cozy and stylish.

Make Henry's quilt: I saved parts of Henry's baby clothes to make a crazy quilt. I think it's time to start the sewing. I'll make the maud the warm-up to the quilting, I think. But first, I've got to take the machine in for a tune-up. It's been too long, my friend.

Wish me luck. I wish you joy.

The harf...

I finished my sister's hooded scarf on Saturday, just in time to give it to her on Sunday. She left me the sweetest voice mail the other day, saying she didn't like coming inside because it meant she had to take it off!

But, dummy that I am, I forgot to take any pictures of the knitting or my sister wearing it. I've asked her to send some along. Hopefully it happens soon.

Ah, knitting.

I thought I was going to have some things to show off here by now. Like a finished apple hat. Maybe a finished hooded scarf.
But nope.
It's all in-progress still.
I finished the hat, only to realize it's woefully huge, and that my gauge went all wonky when I switched to double-points. So, I saved the failure, and cast on again. I want to finish it, but really need to buckle down with my sister's scarf, because it's got to be ready for Christmas, in just a few weeks. How did that happen?
And, because the new hat is all on double-points, I'm afraid to bring it anywhere because I don't have a decent project bag.
Wait! I think that's what I'm going to ask for from my sister! A new project bag for small projects. Oh, Etsy, here I come!