Purple Mountain Majesty

Hey Williams knitters! I know you're out there because every now and then one of you emails me and says that you read my blog. Here's your chance to actually leave a comment on my blog.

Have you seen these?

The pattern is from Sweaterscapes. I really want these socks. But it's a combination of two knitting things that I don't like: socks and intarsia (I think. It could be stranded, but that doesn't improve things that much.)

I want them so much that I'm tempted to say that I'll buy the pattern and the yarn if someone else would knit them for me. Tempted. Very tempted.

Doily!

Pattern: Doily by a doily designer
Yarn: A doily-appropriate yarn. Seems to be 100% cotton. Dark Green
Needles: Doily-size needles. Something small. Maybe US 0 or 1.
Comments: Okay, you caught me. I didn’t knit this doily. Monkee did. When she finished it, she threw it at me. She said I could have it if I wove the ends, blocked it, and blogged about it. So here it is: ends woven and trimmed, blocked, and blogged.

Does the fact that I have a pink phone surprise anyone?

[Note: the following is a change in topic without any type of transition]

LOOKIE!!!

(Can I tell you how tempted I am to do the neck edging, add edging around the armholes, and call it a vest?)

Boing! Thump!

Did you hear that? That was me jumping on the bandwagon. What prompted this fit of unoriginality in me? Well my friend M and his wife H surprised me by having a baby. Now I say “surprised” in the most tongue-in-cheek way. M and H have produced kids like clockwork: every two years in June or July a new addition to their family. The first four kids are a girl, a boy, a girl, and a boy. Last fall, I was talking to M on the phone (they live in Austin) and I jokingly asked if H was pregnant. He said yes. Then I teased that baby #5 would most certainly be a girl. (M and H never find out the gender of their children in utero.)

Well, M and H had baby #5, a girl, in mid-July. From their track record, I knew that this would happen even before H got pregnant—it wasn’t a surprise at all. But for some reason, I chose to ignore the impending arrival. When I heard the news about the new baby, I realized that I needed to knit something. Fast.

So for M and H’s newest bundle of joy, a February Baby Sweater and a Vine Lace Baby Hat.

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles (actually, I used only one circular) by Elizabeth Zimmermann and Vine Lace Baby Hat by Sandi Wiseheart
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK, color 520, 3 balls
Needles: 3.75 mm (US 5) for the sweater and 3.5 mm (US 4) DPNs for the hat

Comments:
In complete lemming form, I paired the hat with this sweater after seeing it on Guro’s blog. It just reinforces the fact that I could not think for myself on this project.

The sweater pattern is not difficult. It should have been knit in a few hours with no problems. However, this is me. I made an easy sweater hard:

* After knitting four or five rows, I decided that the front edges would looks so much better if I used a slip-stitch selvedge. So I ripped and started over.

* After knitting a few rows past the first increase row, I decided that the increases looked better on the wrong side of the work. So I ripped back to two rows before the increase row and increased on a wrong-side row instead of a right-side row.

* Apparently, my mind decided to take a vacation when I started the second sleeve. The sleeves start by casting on 7 stitches on each side of each sleeve. I managed to do this properly on the first sleeve. But I cast on stitches only on one side on the second sleeve. That’s right: I followed the directions correctly THREE TIMES and then screwed up on the fourth time. Rip, rip, rip.

But all in all, I’m happy with the project. Despite all my foibles, I still managed to finish the two items in three days. Cute, fast, and PINK! Thanks for having a girl, M and H!

I’m such a dabbler

Some time ago I teased you with a photo of a craft that I had recently tried. For some reason (laziness), I never got around to blogging about it. The photo I showed back then was an example of origami tessellation. Last month I took classes at a local store during their origami festival. I took two tessellation classes from Joel Cooper. (Please click on his name to see his amazing work. Look at his Masks and Tessellations sets. I cannot describe how incredible his work is.)

I learned a lot from Joel by my work is not quite up to his level. If you want to see more of what I’ve made you can go here. Sadly there isn’t a book from which I can learn more about tessellations—it appears to be a try-it-and-see type of craft.

And speaking of other crafts that I do (good segue, huh?), I decided to answer the craft meme seen on Grumperina’s blog. I segregated the crafts listed under #3 because, apparently, I’m quite a dabbler.

1. I have no interest; complete lack of creativity in this area.
card making, cartooning, collage, decorating, doll house making, etching, gift wrapping, lucet, shibori, spinning, stamping, straw marquetry, string art,

2. Would love to try it.
flower arranging, glass bead making, glass blowing, graphic design, millinery, tatting, quilting

3. I do or have dabbled in it.
As an adult (college or later):
crochet, designing/pattern writing, dyeing, entertaining, felting, gardening, lace making, origami, sewing, scrap booking

Special geeky cases as an adult:
* balloon animal making (I got a balloon animal kit to make tetrahedral models for a science textbook photo shoot. Then, I played with the left over balloons.)
* paper making (as part of a science project in college)
* soap making (as part of a chemistry class)

As a dabbler young ‘un:
appliqué, basket weaving, beading, book binding, calligraphy, candle making, doll or toy making, embroidery and cross-stitch, jewelry making, macramé, mosaics, needlepoint, painting or drawing, papier-mâché, poetry, pottery, rug hooking, story telling-acting-stage work, weaving, video/film making, wood carving

As an obsessed young ‘un:
music (piano, clarinet, harp, trumpet, recorder)

4. Love it! This is my thing.
baking, cooking, knitting, pattern editing, photography, writing

And I have plans to start this up again: music (cello)

WHEW!

I was a very crafty kid, wasn’t I? When I was younger, I was very interested in arts and crafts. Between my artistic dad, my crafty mom, The Best Elementary School Art Teacher in the World, and my many years as a Brownie and a Girl Scout, almost every art or craft whim that tickled my fancy was indulged. My parents’ house is still filled with some of my more successful (but still childish) works of art.

A parting photo
Guro asked to see Morrigan again. So here she is. I’m mere inches away from finishing the body. I’ve shaped the front neck and divided for the front and the back. In a fit of insanity, I decided that I would knit the two fronts and the back at the same time. So I have three balls of yarn attached to the project.

I had hoped to finish the body by now, but my fingers are currently busy working on another super-secret project for Kristen. I was refraining from blogging about Morrigan because there were some interesting pattern developments that I didn’t feel like writing about. I will do so as soon as I finish the body.