Baby Shower Stitch and Chat style

On Friday we gave Danielle the gifts we've been secretly knitting (and therefore not posting the progress). We barely gave her a chance to sit down before we "showered" her with our gifts. Waiting has never been a strong suit of mine.

First off was the adorable sweater that Elizabeth made with Tahki Torino Bulky. It took her all of two days to make it, it's knit in one piece.

The pattern is from Knitting Central, the Suss baby sweater.

Next was a baby blanket knit in Blue Sky Dyed Cotton (a favorite of Danielle's). Michelle, Mary, Robin, and Claudia each knit a strip. I designed each strip with the knitter's recent projects in mind, so the blanket tells a story of sorts. Delightfully, Danielle was able to guess who knit which strip. That was pretty impressive.
It was a lot of fun knitting this behind the scenes. Claudia and Michelle finished their strips on the same day so I as able to give Mary their leftover yarns to incorporate in a mitered square. There had to be a mitered square for sure. Not surprisingly, this gave away Mary's strip.

The last gift was a really neat thing to knit. Michelle and I knit fishy's for Jason and his future sibling. The pattern is from Blue Sky Alpacas and is called "one fish two fish" again, knit in the dyed cotton.

These came out so cute that when I finished mine, my kids both declared that they wanted one. I was lucky to get it out of the house!

Mary and Claudia, we wished you could've been there. You certainly were there in knitted spirit. Read the next post for the story behind the fishy's and the blanket.

We did actually get to knitting afterwards. Elizabeth came bearing new pattern books to share. Two were Ella Rae pattern books and one was a recent Berroco Book, #270. The Berroco book featured a new yarn called Linen Jeans, a worsted weight yarn that's 70% rayon, 30% linen. She found a different sweater to knit to work with the moving mud button. Michelle and I especially liked a wrap cardigan. (Michelle, it was pattern #9).

Elizabeth was holding out on us, she finished David's socks, they look great and they fit. What more could you ask for in a sock. The test will be if she chooses to make another pair. She's not totally convinced of the sock's allure yet.

Robin is making this yellow sweater with Cashmerino Bulky for her niece. She's working from one of Ann Norling's patterns with Tahki Cotton Classic Colors. They are so cute and small. Next up is a matching newborn cap to go with them. I still can't get over how small a newborn's feet are!

Danielle learned the crochet slip stitch and worked on putting together the toy ball she's making. It's going to be really cute and bright.

Bettina was intently and quietly working on her second blanket. Having not knit since the last stitch and chat, she was serious about making significant progress. The first blanket was a huge success and I imagine her other kids are excitedly awaiting theirs.

The inside story of the fishy's and the blanket

We decided we wanted to knit a joint gift for Danielle and her family.

Elizabeth knit a sweater from a pattern from Knitting Central, the Suss baby sweater. She used Tahki Torino Bulky

I came up with the idea of a blanket knit in strips and each person could knit a strip and then I would crochet them together and crochet a border. When I wrote the pattern I included stitches in each person's strip that reflected stitches/projects they'd worked on over the past few months. The strips were knit by Claudia, Mary, Michelle, and Robin. Who's strip is who's you might ask? I'm not telling. All in all it gave the blanket a lot of character and of course told a story.

The blanket takes on a bit of a "bipolar" quality in the differences in each person's knitting style. I smile as I write this, here's a picture of the four strips prior to sewing.
It's such a reflection of who we are, the strips match as much as we match. As Mary said (and you can see), "the seed stitch just blows my mind". I tend to share Mary's challenges with seed stitch. One minutes distraction and you've got rows of ribbing to undo.

All in all, it came out great and gave us all great joy to make. Each time a strip was knit, it would be handed over to me in stealth, so Danielle wouldn't see.

Given that I just have this perverse need to leave things to the last minute, I "power crocheted the strips together and border" the night before giving it to Danielle. Then I blocked it the following morning! Life would be so different if I knew how to plan my time a little more effectively. I don't see how it would hurt if there was a little room to breath around deadline. Maybe it would mess up the time-space continuum. (See what happens when I don't get enough sleep?).

Here's the finished blanket.
Michelle and I knit the fishy's, a definite do over in my opinion. When my kid's saw mine, they put in their own orders. I'd love to get bright colors and make a tropical fish.Here's how the fish looked prior to being stuffed.

Shape of things to come

Claudia came back from Peru with alpaca so soft if felt like cashmere. We get a lot of beautiful yarns here from South America.

She's been making squares in different stitches that will make up a blanket for her cousin. I meant to ask you Claudia, where are you getting your stitch patterns?

Michelle was intently working on her silk top. The directions have left a lot to interpret. I think she's on her 3rd or 4th try on getting the back V to work right.

Danielle finished another strip of her Manos afghan since we last saw her. It is so great looking. I love the rich colors and the different stitches.
She's also making a toy ball with different color yarn.


Robin was sewing the cotton booties, they are so cute. She was still in the midst of sewing them, so I don't have a picture (hint, Robin bring the booties).

Mary started the border on her meter-miter vest. It is absolutely fantastic. When she's done with the garter borders, she's going to line it. Really outstanding job! It's a tapestry of color and texture.

Mary is working on coming up with a charity for kids to participate in. She's considering Warm up America

With this charity, "You can make a difference to someone in need by:

crocheting or knitting one or more 7" by 9" sections for Warm Up America!

joining sections into completed afghans,

donating yarns and needles/hooks to groups in your community,

contributing money to expand WUA! to groups nationwide."

Claudia is going to help her out by translating the instructions into Spanish. I love when our group networks and helps each other and the community. I didn't even do anything and I feel good by proxy. (Seriously though, if anyone wants to help out with Mary's group just contact us by posting to this comment or emailing me).

Cozy Cosi

Elizabeth and I enjoyed our favorite soup at Cosi (Tomato Basil) and caught up.

She finished her first pair of socks and a job well done; there were no holes in the gussets and the socks look great. Next up, David's socks. She's on the edge of being a sock convert... who shall we convert next?

Her next sweater is going to be from Rowan Classic Book #17, Coast. She's working on the sweater called Lynton and this is the sweater knit around a beautiful hand blown glass button she got at Knitting Central by Moving Mud .

The Snuggles Project

I just read about a charity called "The Snuggles Project" (it was in the page a day calendar from the author of the Stitch and Bitch books).

Here's what the page said "Developed in 1996, this project encourages fiber artist to make "snuggles," or blankets for animals in shelters. The cold environment of a shelter is frightening for an animal that has been abandoned or abused. "Snuggles" allow them to curl up next to something warm while they wait to be adopted. The Snuggles Project now recruits members for a nominal fee that entitles them to discounts on yarn and free Snuggles patterns.

Here's the link if you're interested: The Snuggles Project .

Flower Power

Springtime is forcing it's way in (have you heard the birds, seen the buds?).

I'm teaching a class at Knitting Central in crocheted flowers. I'm having a blast trying out different flowers and color combinations. The flowers can be joined to make a scarf, adorn a crocheted or knit scarf or garment, wherever your imagination takes you.

For more information, call Knitting Central at (203)454-4300.

Knitter's Block

Mary, Michelle and I ventured out on this rainy day to sit and knit. The cafe was quiet with the strange exception of a woman listening to a lecture at such a volume that we could hear it through her headphones. We were somewhat baffled by the whole thing. It didn't get in our way unless you blame Michelle's Knitter's Block on it as a distracting influence, yeah, that's it. Michelle you were totally blocked by the distraction of the loud lecture thing. That works, we'll go with that.

Michelle started a lively summer cover up from Louisa Harding's Hummingbird Pattern book from last year. She's had the yarn for a year maybe? It's looks great and because of the color changes and the fringe, she has no ends to weave. A double bonus is my book.
She was blocked on her silk tunic. There was some confusion with the directions last week (the rows went in reverse). She contacted the designer who emailed her a revised pattern. This was a good feeling, it wasn't just us. The pattern still didn't spell things out clearly, but at least the rows were all consecutive in the right direction. Between splitting for the armhole (garment is worked in the round until the armholes). setting up the v in the back and placing the decorative stitch, well, there was a lot of undoing and rereading and finally it got parked for a quieter time. It's going to be beautiful (it already is).
Robin stopped by briefly for a quick question and was just in time to model a black sleeveless summer tunic from S. Charles Collezione Spring/Summer 2008 Collection that Michelle made. As Robin wants to make it next, it was good to know the size was right.
Robin managed to listen to Mary on the Maryann show last week. I couldn't get the station in my car. :( She told us that she could hear Mary's infectious laughter in the background and confirmed that Mary was in fact knitting during the broadcast. She almost called in. It sounds like a great show and I'm going to look into finding out if there are taped broadcasts of the show when Mary is there!.

Mary was working on her purple loopy scarf while at the show and managed to flip the loops at the ends, so they're on one side going up and the other side going down. That just cracked us both up! We both agreed that with some artful wrapping, no one will be the wiser. With the exception of course of anyone reading this. Is anyone reading this?

By next week Mary should have all the mitered squares completed on her meter-mitermaid vest. She's going to line it before we sew the armholes or do the garter stitch finishing for the bands. We looked at some of the color choices for the band. I don't know who's more excited about this, me or Mary. After this (if you still have the desire, you could definitely make the Modern Quilt wrap - with the exception that you'd have to do it in something other than mohair. I'm thinking silk or maybe flax.

Mary brought in the WEBS catalog which totally got Michelle's attention. She kept trying to look at the pages and Mary kept slapping her hand away. We were looking at what cottons would be nice to work with for Mary. Michelle liked a particular sweater from Tahki which I pointed out was in the summer books I showed her during one of her last visits to Knitting Central.

Dwarf Bread: Food or a Weapon

As I've mentioned before, everyone who joins ravelry finds their own groups to join (there are a phenomenal amount of interest groups).

Anyway, my sister found a group of people who share her (our) pleasure in the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett. They are sci-fi fantasy books with a laugh out loud dialogue and characters.

Sadly, the author (who is in his 60's) has recently been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. Members of this Ravelry group that love his books are making an afghan for him, and each participant is making an afghan square of a character in one of his books.

My sister, who came late to the group signed on as an alternate an got accepted to make a square.

I'm really exicted for her and proud of her. It's got to be really special to take part in something like that. There are people from all over the world making squares.

Here's her square:
After this picture was taken she embroidered some words on it. That was almost her undoing!

Dr. Randy Pausch - from Oprah

This is a truly inspiring video that really gives you perspective on what's important. Worth watching every minute.

Just us Chicks

It was just Mary and Elizabeth today. We talked a lot about how to find the right fit when picking a pattern or designing (whether it's sewing or knitting ~ Mary sews). Mary and I talked about getting the ease of a garment just right. I'm taking a design class with Shirley Paden and the amount of math and math, and did I mention math, that goes into designing a pattern before you even start on the needles is daunting to say the least. It's a remarkable process, that for me is totally worth it to understand and be able to apply. It's a whole other world. Knitting Daily has had a series of posts about proper fit and knitting. I thoroughly recommend signing up for the 3x weekly newsletter. They're really informative. You can either click the link above or look for the knitting daily banner on the right side of the blog.

Anyway, before I go on at length about something distasteful, like gauge, here's Mary's seed stitch scarf with the loopy (furry) bottom. Elizabeth remarked how cool the color is, it's not really grey or purple, but somewhere in between. This is Mary's soothing project. (Michelle's must shaking her head reading this saying, "you're crazy".)


Here are a series of pictures of Mary's miter-meter maid vest. The front is on the left.












It's great how it's coming out. We talked about what types of yarn to use for the garter border and button bands. It's so exciting. I want to make another one. I have yarn collected in a cranberry colorway for just this purpose!

Elizabeth started her sock and I really like the way the colors are playing out. Not surprisingly she picked up the concept of knitting on the two circular needles quickly.

I'm not sure yet if we'll bring her over to the "sock side". She's as yet not totally impressed.
The test will be when she first tries it on.

My sister mentioned knitting the socks on one 12" circular and recently I saw 9" circulars advertised. Needless to say, I've got to try this!

The Gauge Girls

I was working on a gauge for my niece's birthday present and after about an inch I measured it (I find gauges boring too and wanted a hint); the gauge girls (Michelle and Robin) verbally leaped at me that it wasn't' enough :)

I defended myself though, that I wasn't done; I was merely checking on my progress. As it was, I got gauge and began to knit it and it was too tight. I had to rip back to the ribbing and go up a needle! I know, I usually go down at least one if not two needle sizes to get gauge and here I am at the prescribed needle size. Go figure. Once again the importance of gauge has asserted itself (no snickering from the peanut gallery). I know the daylight savings time change is affecting me, I'm imagining a caped superhero in the form of gauge. Yikes! More coffee immediately.

Well, on to Friday's group...

Danielle made another set of booties (adorable) and brought them in to inspire/motivate Robin to finish hers.
Robin did work on the second bootie and made it through the shaping to the cuff. She blamed Mary for her lack of progress on the second bootie. To which Mary (from the other end of the table) called out "BOOTIES, your still on the booties". :)

Danielle also made great progress on her KAL blanket. She has one strip done.

Michelle and I have decided to make the spiral one (I have a feeling ultimately I'll make the one Danielle is making too - I just have to decide if I'm going to do a "story" of blues or go with all colors)

Michelle continued on her beautiful silk top. The black tank just needs to be seamed. She's loving her on the go shawl. Mary (and Danielle?) might make it. However, the seed stitch is daunting in that Mary always goes off course (I do too, and end up with little sections of ribbing). My seed stitch protege, Robin, confidently explained seed stitch vs. rib.

Mary is chugging along on her meter-miter maid vest. I kind of wrapped it around myself to give her an idea of how it's going to look as a garment. Otherwise, it looks shapeless and its hard to see it otherwise.

She shared with Michelle her loopy scarf project to which Michelle said "you're crazy", Mary replied "it was peaceful". Gotta love it. They told me that this loopy stitch was on a garment featured on "Project Runway". I haven't seen the show. Mary you're on the cutting edge of fashion.

Bettina happily finished "lovey" blanket #1 and began blanket #2. I'm knitting my niece's sweater in Berroco lullaby, and in the same color as blanket #1. I like how it knits up. I don't love knitting with it. It's the type of yarn that really points out how dry your skin on your hands is. :(
Elizabeth made this awesome purse! She knit it with a corded yarn from Judi & Co. She lined it beautifully and doubled the button to give it weigh. It's fantastic!
We revisited socks with a thicker yarn. Elizabeth is just not getting into this whole sock craze (yet?!).
Here's the front from the Karabella v-neck sweater she's working on. This is the second time I've seen this sweater worked up and I really like it. I'd probably do it in Torino. Elizabeth's is knit in Karabella Aurora 8.
I love how Elizabeth, Bettina, and I strategically hid our faces from being in the picture with the projects!

Elizabeth told us about this great website for creating and customizing bags (of all sizes). Click here for the website Viv Pickle

She showed us a great bag she had made up and suggested that if you do choose to make a bag that you make one while being on the phone with the company as there are options you can't readily see on the Internet. Cool. Another bag for us bag obsessed people. Sometimes I think the right bag will just fix anything!

Off to fill my coffee cup and knit a bit.

Knitting Central Event - Charlene Schurch

Charlene Schurch is the author of Sensational Knitted Socks and More Sensational Knitted Socks; Knits for Girls & Dolls; Knitting Marvelous Mittens: Ethnic Designs from Russia; Hats On!.

She will be coming to Knitting Central:

Heel Workshop
Friday, May 16th

Sock Options

Saturday, May 17

the space is limited -
call to sign up today (203)454-4300)

For more information click here to read the class description (scroll down).

Full House

One by one as people came we caught up on life and the latest projects.

Michelle is working on a gorgeous silk v neck top in Tilli Tomas Pure & Simple yarn, the pattern is called "Flower Top". The color is a great blending of shades of beige.

She also brought me a "present". She inadvertently sewed her box pleat sweater on the wrong side (easy to do in the boucle). Anyway, she tried to take it out and learned that she sews (and weaves) a mean seam! The knitting fairies smiled on us and I managed to take out the seams. Now the ball is in your court. Michelle.

Claudia was doing the last few rows of her adorable shrug from the book Fitted Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter. I'm looking forward to hearing what your Mom says when she sees you in it!

Mary brought in the miter-metered square vest and it is really a work of art. Hey, what's happening with the spiral blanket. Michelle and I are thinking of knitting that blanket in Tahki Torino, it'd be really soft and the colors are beautiful.

Unfortunately we missed Mary on the Maryann radio show last week. She even gave us a shout out! I've never had a shout out before. Next Thursday she's going to be on the radio again @ 5pm, click here for the schedule. Can we have another shout out? Please?

Shelly was back from Florida and we picked up where we left. She had to re-swatch for a kid's sweater because neither one of us could remember what needle she was using. Next up will be a lovely shrug knit in a pretty ribbon yarn.

Robin brought out the booties that have been in the "parking lot" and worked on her yellow kids cardigan.

Hopefully her knitting will get her through mid-terms! Good Luck!

Karin joined us today. Karin and I met last year. She just finished her first sweater and it's a beauty. The yarn is Karabella Boise and the pattern in from Karabella as well, Boise striped boat neck. The yarn is a soft cashmere blend. Her knitting looked great. She came to learn how to finish it.

As I introduced Karin to the group we talked about different projects and yarn. Robin and Claudia commiserated in their mutual dislike of Rowan Kid Silk Haze. They did not enjoy knitting with it. They did agree that addi turbo needles made all the difference though. Personally I enjoy the Rowan Kid Silk Haze (I made the Modern Quilt Wrap from the Folk Style book with the Kid Silk Haze.

I think Karin was slightly surprised at how many projects we have going at once. We admired her resolve to work on one at a time. I think Mary summed it up best by saying that she never knew what mood she was going to be in when she took out her knitting. She's a knitting Sybil. She's also the most organized Sybil! Her circular needles are neatly encased in a circular needle case that she got at Knitting Central and she's got them marked with their size. I keep trying to get organized and get distracted by "sparkly things" (as my sister would say) and the sparkly things are always more fun than keeping up with my attempts at organizing.

Oh! Robin showed us a great little organizer for notions that she found at Michaels. We just love little bags, boxes and containers. Here she's doing her best "Carol Marral" interpretation to show off the container. (I'm sure I'm spelling the name wrong, and Carol Marral was from the price is right and showed off all the prizes)

Wow

This little guy has to lead the post. Danielle came in with lots to show. Her elephant came out so adorable. Did it get a name?

She finished the body of her purse. The choice of yarn colors worked out really well.
Danielle also started the Afghan KAL. So far she and Mary are the only ones making it! I still haven't decided between the afghan Danielle is making and the one Mary is making.
There were more awesome finished projects and terrific new works in progress!

Michelle finished her "on the go" shawl. It looks great and the color is fantastic. Once again Michelle has motivated me to get to work on my shawl. I'm closing in on the final quarter and then have the collar and pockets to do. Now that I've seen hers I really want to finish mine.
Her first Spring/Summer project will probably be done this week. The pattern is from one of the new summer Tahki books. It's going to be cool and drapey.

Elizabeth dazzled us all with this sweater knit in Berroco Jasper yarn. If we thought the dog afghan was one for the record books, so was this. In the first picture that Elizabeth saw (the one that drew her to the project), the bottom of the cardigan looked like it had a straight bottom. Upon knitting it, she realized that it was a more ruffled bottom and the ruffles were not where you really want ruffles. In the second picture that Elizabeth and I both saw, you could see the ruffle. What a difference a pose makes!Well, Elizabeth combined her knitting and sewing capabilities and STEEKED the side seams. Yes, really. And for those of you who haven't heard of this term (are you sitting down?) you are cutting the knitting in the finishing. Yes, cutting the knitting. She sewed seams around where she was going to cut and finished the sewing with her sewing machine. Kudos! Really impressive. Great problem solving.
Here's her next sweater, a lovely v-neck sweater knit in Karabella Aurora 8. The pattern is from Karabella too, KK530. Aurora 8 is a merino like Torino.
She is also in the midst of making a evening bag out of a rayon cord yarn from Judi & Co.
Bettina just about finished the first of 3 "lovey" blankets for her kits. She learned how to do a double crochet fillet stitch to make a place to weave in a ribbon. These blankets are much anticipated in her household and she won't be spared a break until all three are done.
Claudia is nearly finished with her two-color shrug, knit in Aslan del Cerro yarn. The stitch definition is really great in this yarn.