They're grooowing! I haven't devoted as much attention to these lately, what with my quilt distracting me, but I've reached my favorite part of any sock--turning the heel. No matter how many times I do it, it still feels like "magic." And somehow, the foot goes sooo much faster for me than the leg portion.
West coast transplant living in the Deep South, constantly making. Fiber arts, sewing, stitching of all kinds.
sock progress
They're grooowing! I haven't devoted as much attention to these lately, what with my quilt distracting me, but I've reached my favorite part of any sock--turning the heel. No matter how many times I do it, it still feels like "magic." And somehow, the foot goes sooo much faster for me than the leg portion.
yarn crawl across mississippi: jackson
Earlier this week we were able to make a quick excursion to Jackson, Mississippi--which meant I could visit one of my favorite yarn shops in the entire state, the Knit Studio (location, hours). A couple of factors make it one of my favorites ... the owner, Judy, is one of the friendliest, most gracious people I've ever met. She's an owner that truly makes you feel welcome, not snubbed. And on top of that, she has an amazing selection of gorgeous yarns. Noro, Berroco, Manos del Uruguay, Blue Sky Alpacas, .... I could go on and on .... (full list of product lines here). And her shop is open and airy, full of natural light. You just feel happy the minute you step inside of it. It's probably a good thing I live 2.5 hours away!
Of course, I couldn't leave without a few goodies, could I?
If you make the trek to the Knit Studio, I highly recommend refueling at Majestic Burgers, an awesome gourmet burger place in the same shopping center. Sweet potato fries, asian coleslaw, hearty burgers in great flavor combos ... my mouth is watering just thinking about it!
quilt in progress
Remember my crosses? This week we're on spring break, and this project has become my obsession. After starting construction of the quilt blocks, I realized that my jelly roll was woefully lacking in the number of "solids" I needed to create enough contrast to make the crosses really "pop." So I ended up adding the bright solid-ish orange and hot pink prints. Then what really got my mojo going on this project was finding the polka dot print that you see in between each block here. Orange, pink, and lime green polka dots on a white background--perfect!
12 Socks in 2012: New Pair #2
I loved the socks I started earlier, but my brain needed something simpler right now, so I just cast on for a pair of cross-hatch lace socks by Charlene Schurch (Ravelry link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crosshatch-lace). The yarn? So old I've lost the ball band, but I do know it is Cherry Tree Hill yarn sock yarn. This pattern knits up so fast and is quick to memorize, I love it!
baby boy sweater #1: petite facile pullover
The Petite Facile pullover is done! I finally finished seaming and sewing on the button last night ... it could have been finished days ago, but I always seem to procrastinate when it comes to finishing. And the sad part is there was hardly anything to finish! Just side seams and arm seams. This was a really fun, fast pattern. I'd make another one in a heartbeat! Course, I am a sucker for a good garter-stitch yoke ...
This is somewhat embarrassing to admit, but this is the first pattern I've ever knit out of Interweave Knits. And that's after subscribing to the magazine for, oh ... five years. Oops. What can I say? I've queued a TON of patterns, but never seem to actually knit any of them ... until now!
Check out the other finished objects at TamisAmis!
new book: 60 quick baby knits
I just got 60 Quick Baby Knits, and man ... there are a ton of must-knit-now patterns in this book! I'm very glad I made this purchase! I want to size up some of the girl patterns to fit my toddler, and there are loads of great boy patterns as well. Not to mention great blanket and hat patterns ... lots of good variety! Here are some of my favorites ...
welcoming home baby: party on your head hat
I just whipped up a stinkin' cute baby hat using the kit I bought waaay back in August last year when I visited Knit1 in Oxford on my yarn crawl across Mississippi. Unfortunately, the kit didn't identify the actual yarns included, but I suspect the purple wool is Malabrigo, I know the pink ruffle yarn is Cha-Cha, and I have no clue what the purpley-blue ribbon yarn could be ... any ideas? Regardless, I love the color combo! The kit included a pre-made pom pom, which even further sped up construction. It's a little bigger than I probably would have made it, but I like it. It seems to balance out the flouncy-ness of the Cha-Cha ruffles quite well ...
The pattern? It's the "Party on Your Head Hat" (don't you just love that name?) that is the depicted on the cover of Welcoming Home Baby by Tricia Drake (see my Ravelry project details).
The book is full of fun, quick knit hats, baby blankets and those "cocoons" that have become trendy for baby announcement glamour photo shoots. Personally, the cocoons kind of freak me out (I can't stop myself from thinking about suffocation) and I don't see the point of knitting something that will be used once as a prop in a photo shoot ... but that's just me. For me, the hats and the blankets make this book a worthwhile purchase alone. One word of warning, though ... this author likes the good stuff when it comes to yarn. These projects all use pretty high-end luxury yarns that frankly, are not practical at all (unless you are willing to handwash like crazy!). I'm not sure how easily you could make substitions, either, since most of the designs hinge upon the unique qualities of these yarns. So these projects aren't necessarily intended for heavy everyday use and the dirt, stains, spit-up, etc. that would come with that. But if you love using nice yarns and want to make something spectacular as an extra special gift for that new one, this book is perfect. 
the first of the tiny sweaters
I'm plugging away on the "Petite Facile Pullover" from the Winter 2011 issue of Interweave Knits. It's got an unusual construction method, which I'm enjoying. You're looking at the back of the sweater, plus the back of both arms. Next I'll go over each shoulder to knit the front. Basically, I'll end up seaming the sides and the bottom of each arm. The yarn is one of my favorites, Miss Babs Yummy Handpainted Superwash in the "Forest Afternoon" colorway. It's hard to capture the depth of this yarn in photos ... think mostly green, with intermittent pops of blue and camo taupe.I would have never considered knitting this pattern if it hadn't been a recent post about it by Grumperina ... it seemed completely un-noteworthy when I received that issue of Interweave Knits. Maybe because the white yarn doesn't highlight the yummy garter yoke well (see below)?
It's knitting up super fast, so hopefully I'll have this in "finished object" territory soon! cozy cables
The Shadow Cable Baby Blanket is done! I ended up using seven skeins, as I predicted. The final dimensions? 36 inches wide by 39 inches long. Each skein added about 5.5 inches of length. I underestimated how hard this yarn was on my hands ... now that I've switched back to knitting with wool, I can tell a major difference. But frankly, I'm normally too impatient to knit something as big as a blanket. So for me, the tradeoff of tired wrists in exchange for super-fast speed was worth it (super bulky yarn + size 11 needles = awesome). My only other quibble with this yarn was the number of knots ... each skein had at least one knot, and my first skein had a whopping four knots! But given how uber-soft this yarn is, I'd use it again. I'm really loving the cables ... I don't think I'd like this yarn that much in straight stockinette. The seed stitch border looks great, too. But I don't think I could handle knitting an entire blanket in seed stitch! For more details, see my Ravelry project page.
skirting the issue
I just finished the bed skirt for bambino #2's crib ... one more nursery prep item done! I am totally into a good zig-zag stripe right now, can you tell? I used the Vogue 7245 pattern (lots of great nursery items on that one!), and approximately 3 yards of fabric (more than called for since I wanted to match up the zig zag). My only quibble with this pattern is that if you followed the given dimensions, your crib skirt will end up too big. Instead, I lay out my "base" fabric on the actual mattress to ensure my dimensions are correct. Other than that, super easy and fast project!
five-year blogiversary
It's interesting to see how my crafting techniques and interests have progressed over the years. In the early years, my knitting obsession was felted bags and baby blankets. Not surprising, given that was my comfort zone at the time. My very first knitted project was the classic newbie project--a garter stitch scarf. My first "real" project after that was baby blankets for my friends and co-workers. Felting was my first venture into more complicated knitting techniques, like decreasing and increasing and knitting in the round. I definitely had plenty of hits and misses!
the pink dottie tote, one of my successesThis blog's early years are also dominated by another one of my favorite crafts, beading and jewelry making. I still make jewelry, but with a curious toddler around, beading is much more difficult (I can already envision someone dumping millions of tiny sead beeds on the floor) and my jewelry making has diminished a bit in the past two years.
I've knitted my first cardigan, cables, colorwork, socks, mittens, and lace ... and had plenty of flops as I struggled to learn about ease and fit in my first few knitted garments.
Sewed my first quilt, and then went on to make another and another and another and another...
my first (and so far only!) king-sized quilt
Documented our cross-country move from the Washington state to Mississippi ...
the Tapered Tote patternMade jewelry out of pop cans ...
Earned a reader's choice Blue Ribbon Blogger award from Country Living magazine ...
And took lots of pretty flower pictures ... apparently my favorites are dahlias, daffodils, lilies, and tulips ...
It's been a wild, fun ride ... I'm so excited to see what the next five years will bring!
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