Just Playing Around!

I love my nephew. He is the best baby ever. Babies need toys.

My mom came across a pattern to knit covers for super balls, and then felt them. The balls still bounce really well, but not as erratically, and are easier for little fingers to grasp.

I had some Noro Kureyon in the stash that was perfect. What I didn't have was a super ball. It turns out that in this modern digital age, super balls are not only incredibly difficult to find...they are also insanely expensive. Still, nothing but the best for Nephew. I finally tracked on down and got to knitting.

The knitting itself was very fast and easy. It only took a couple hours. What was not fast and easy was the felting. I had to run the ball through the wash/dry cycle 10 times before it was properly tight/fuzzy/felty. I sure liked it though.

And I think that Nephew did as well!

He Likes It! from Megan May on Vimeo.

Garfunkel in Green

I just finished a beta-tested Garfunkel scarf.

This time I used Knit One, Crochet Too's Ty-Dy Socks yarn in Panama, which I purchased while visiting Sister. I lengthened the design significantly, and changed the number and width of the ridges.

Actually, I probably made enough changes to warrant it being a new design.

I really like it. I like how the yarn knitted up. I like the ease/portability/brainlessness of the design. I like the color. I like the way it looks with my new haircut...

With the adjustments I made, Garfunkel Green can be worn like an elongated cowl...

Or it can easily be wrapped around the neck for added warmth...

Now I just need to decide if I want to write it up as a free pattern. It isn't really innovative/difficult enough to justify trying to publish it with anyone...but if I'm going to free pattern it, I really need to write up both versions, and that will take time.

If anyone REALLY wants to know the pattern before I get around to typing or formatting, just let me know. I can abbreviate/off-the-cuff it to you in an email.

Handknits in other Hemispheres

The Client recently returned from his trip to the Falkland Islands/South America/Antarctica.

He wore the Australis scarf that I made him. He said he really appreciated it in the 20 degree weather! (The picture above was taken in the Gerlache Strait, close to Paradise Bay Antarctica!)

He also was kind enough to bring me back some SWAG!!! He got me a skein of Aran weight wool from the Falkland Islands. The farm that produced it is big into the whole organic/green/undyed thing. I was VERY excited to get the yarn, since I had been looking to buy some that was this exact weight/color. I purchased a cream aran-style beanie for myself almost 10 years ago when I went to Scotland...but over the course of many years, moves, and winters I misplaced it/it was permanently borrowed...I miss it...and now I can replace it with cool Falkland Island Yarn! YAY!!!

Warm Hearts Warm Heads

My friend Belle's mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She has already had the required surgery, but now must also undergo chemo.

Belle called me last week to schedule a time for me to come over and help her with some quilting she wants to do. (Yes, I quilt. I actually am probably a more skilled, though less frequent, quilter than knitter. Quilting isn't as portable as knitting...) While she had me on the phone she asked, in a plaintive manner, if I would consider possibly knitting her mother a chemo cap.

Here is the thing. I am very busy right now with school and work and life. Belle knows this. I am also trying to finish up my gift project queue. Belle knows this as well. She was very reluctant to request anything, but really wanted the chemo cap.

Here is the other thing. My mother had breast cancer. My grandmother had breast cancer. I knit mostly because I see it as a way that I can serve others. There were no grad school assignments, library duties, or social obligations that were going to keep me from making that cap.

I went to Knit This, Purl That on Sunday and purchased the softest yarn I could find. It is a cashmere, silk, merino blend. I found several patterns online, and had Belle pick out the one she liked the best. Then I put all other projects on hold till I got the cap finished. (I had a deadline set...tonight when I was going over to Belle's house for the quilting counseling.)

I got it done.

Here is Belle modeling it. (Please note...this photo was taken LATE at night after approximately 6 hours of quilting...)



Best wishes to Belle's mother! I hope that as this cap keeps her head warm, she is reminded of all the warm hearts who love her and are praying for her speedy and full recovery.

Bangle Bracelet Bags...Another Commission

Psych's mom saw the purse that I made Angel for her birthday and absolutely fell in love with it. She has two other granddaughters, and wanted them to have matching purses.

She offered to pay me for them, so I agreed. I had to do some improvising though since I didn't have enough of Angel's purse yarn to make two more, and I didn't have the same bracelets. Luckily, I did have some felt-able pinks. I knit with 2 colors of Cascade 220 yarn held together. I think the colors were 9478 and 7803. I used sterling silver bracelets in a dark steel color for the handles. Angel's purse used pink sparkly bangle bracelets.

So, while listening to the first round of grad school lectures this quarter, I knit up 2 bangle bracelet bags.

Finished the knitting on Thursday.
Did the seaming up and first round of felting on Friday.
Second round of felting on Saturday.
Will deliver them tonight.

Best part...since they were a commission, they are helping finance the sweater that I want to make! Woo-Hoo!

(Also, I am glad that they aren't exactly the same as Angel's, since I made Angel's as a special gift for her birthday. This way, her cousins have purses too, but Angel's is still one-of-a-kind!)

In the Knick of Time

I finished Blondie's Satchel in time to send it to Florida with her parents!

I forgot that they were leaving a week later than she was!

Frabjous Day! Calloo Callay!

I was really not wanting to ship it!

Keepin' On Keepin' On

Blondie leaves on Sunday night.

She is going to Florida for college, and won't be back in NorCal until Christmas. (She is spending Thanksgiving with her brothers on the East Coast.)

Her going away present is a satchel. A hand knit felted satchel adapted from the pattern in Hip to Knit by ???.

I made myself one a couple of years ago, that I came across when unpacking for the apartment. I love it, so quickly started using it again. Blondie saw it, loved it, and asked if I could make her one in emerald and forest green. (Mine is teal and turquoise.)

I of course agreed...I am a push over, and she was VERY sick at the time. I just can't seem to tell the kid "no"!

Now I have 3 days left to finish it. (including felting)

And I am not done.

The problem with felting is that you have to knit the pre-felted item a lot BIGGER than it will end up being. A satchel is not a small thing. The pre-felted pieces seem to be going on and on and on and on and on and on and on...you get the idea.

Its not even hard knitting. There is just a lot of it.

I am starting to hate emerald green!

Testing the Appliances

I have, in the past week, knit 4 coffee cup cozies.

I know.

I'm crazy.

Or at least, I have way too much free time on my hands.

Personally, I blame the knee injury. I have no choice but to sit on my couch and knit while Fred and Ginger dance across my television screen.

Still, I figured that this was a good opportunity to test out the felting abilities of my new apartment's washer and dryer.

And the gift stash rejoices!

Weirdest Request Ever

I meant to post this eons ago...but I never got the pictures. I am tired of waiting, and at camp, and too tired to write a new post, so here you go:

The Friday before Christmas, at an ornament exchange for church, my friend Psych came up to me and made a request. I had given her an IOU for a handknit on her birthday, and she had finally decided what she wanted. It was the strangest, and most fun-to-execute, request that I have ever received.

It seems that her husband, Preacher, has an insanely disgusting big toe on one foot from years of playing soccer. I have never seen the toe in all its glory, but apparently it can make small children cry. While sitting on the couch together, Preacher jokingly told Psych that he should have me knit him a cozy for his toe. (This makes sense in light of that fact that whenever I am at their house...which is often (Monday night bible studies, Tuesday night American Idol, random game nights, movie nights, holiday parties, etc)...I am knitting something. They both thought this was funny. Psych decided to act on it.

She wondered if I could knit a cozy for his toe in time for her to stick it in his Christmas Stocking. I said sure...how long could it take? I actually got it done in time to slip it to her at church on Sunday. It was actually REALLY easy. I basically just made a teeny tiny elongated hat. I even got fancy and put rugby stripes on it for that manly edge.

Apparently it was a hit! Preacher said I should try marketing them to soccer players, because most of the ones he knows also have nasty toes. (Maybe ballerinas, too.) I could start a whole line of toe cozies that would enable people everywhere to continue to wear flip-flops without the nerdiness or overly-warm nature of a full sock/sandal combo!

It's Been Too Long

I haven't seen BFF since September of 2005. We keep in touch, and are pretty good about calling and writing, but it just isn't the same!

I had a vacation scheduled to go visit Sister in KY, but that ended up falling through. So, with Southwest offering insanely low prices, I decided it was time to go to Denver. (We all know how much I LOVE plane trips...so much knitting time!)

I got in Thursday afternoon, and it was amazing. It was as if I had seen BFF just yesterday, nothing has changed between us.

What HAD changed was Blessing, BFF's daughter. There is a large difference between a nearly 4 month old and a nearly 4 year old.

Blessing was shy at first...it is weird to have your mommy's invisible friend turn out to be a real person...so I did what I normally do:

I woo-ed her with handknits!

I had knit a felt-able purse for her (same pattern as Angel's). I used a chunky yarn that was uncolored. Then we made quite a mess dying it with kool-aid Friday morning while BFF went to a doctor's appointment. We followed the method I got from Knitty. When Blessing had it colored the way she wanted, I sewed on the bangle bracelet handles, and we felted it!

Am I that obvious?

I received some lovely Christmas gifts from a friend.

They included sock yarn. Orange sock yarn. Self striping orange sock yarn.

Said friend and I had met via email through a mutual friend.

Apparently I talk about knitting often enough, and my love of all things orange, that he knew just what to get me. (Not just everyone would appreciate a gift that requires effort on their part. No-siree-bob!)

Here is the first finished sock:

Just my regular old plain jane sock pattern. 2x2 rib with a flap heel. Nothing super exciting since I didn't want to detract at all from the yarn's coloration.

I already cast on the second in an effort to stave off Second Sock Syndrome, and will take it on my trip this weekend...it will make a good purse project.

B1's Birthday Beret

B1's birthday beret is finally finished! And only 3 months after her actual birthday! Actually, it isn't as bad as it sounds. We didn't get a chance to buy the yarn for it until the convention a couple weeks ago. So, it has actually only taken me 2 weeks to make. That's amazing considering the end of quarter projects and everything that I've had going on.

She wanted it done before her trip to FL. It is done before her trip to FL. That's all that matters.

As to the particulars: I made "Le Slouch." It's a great pattern that I got off Wendy Bernard's blog. It is one of her freebies, and is actually amazing to make. It is well written, very stylish, fairly easy, and fun. I appreciated that a lot of it was "brain-free" knitting...knit seed stitch in the round for 4 inches or so, for example. This made it great for American Idol night or school lectures.

The yarn was purchased, as I mentioned earlier, when we went to the Stitches West Convention. It is Full Thread Ahead's 100% Merino Jewels DK in Garnet. It had a great color and feel, but not the right weight, so I actually knit with two strands held together at once. The only tricky bit was after I had used all of the first 2 balls, since the whole thing only took three. I had to divide the last one in half, kind of a pain...but worth it.

B1 had asked for a beret a la Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown. I think that I was able to deliver that. The beret is slouchier than I had originally intended (even though I quit knitting after 5 inches instead of the 6 in the pattern), but she was happy, so I am happy.

Another One Bites The Dust

Well...I am able to cross another request off the list of requests I made in January. Friday was BigOne's birthday, and while I was unable to attend his sixteenth birthday bash that night, I was able to complete his birthday beanie. (Yes, I know, I should have probably finished B1's beret first, but her beret takes concentration...his beanie did not.)

I used lion brand wool worsted weight yarn in black from the stash, and a plain old vanilla 2x2 rib knit on size 8 circulars. I decreased as I deemed fit while trying it on repeatedly during construction. (He seemed to have an average head size, so I figured mine would work pretty well for a dummy model.) The things with hats for guys is that you can't make them too long because they don't want to flip the end up and make a brim. At the same time, you can't make them too short or they look like overgrown yarmulkes! I think I managed to make his the perfect length. It hit right above his eyebrows and covered his ears.

I gave it to him at services this morning, along with a card that was HILARIOUS. It was all about how being raised by wolves wouldn't be so bad if they could make you sandwiches. The hat was a hit, as evidenced by the fact that he wore it all day. (No small gesture considering it was around 70 here today.)

I am not sure who the next person on the list is. I should probably double check that. I know the next THING on the list is to finish the beret for B1. Off to knit!

The Scarf that Knit Itself

Per the requests mentioned in a previous post, I was needing to make a scarf for the Matador's birthday last Sunday.(I had just finished Broseph's scarf, and frankly was not in the mood to knit any scarf, for any guy, any time soon...still what has to be done, has to be done.)

The Matador had requested a black scarf. He is a big guy (read as tall, not wide), and so would need a relatively long scarf. Also, being about to turn 19, and very guy-ish, he was only going to be satisfied with a plain boring vanilla scarf. Nothing fancy, no color work, no detailing. What was stretching before me was essentially miles and miles of colorless and mind-numbingly boring knitting.

Berkeley went with me to Knit This, Purl That...although how I am able to convince non-knitters to go with me to LYS's is beyond me. I had decided that I wanted to whip this thing out as quickly as possible, and that meant one thing: CHUNKY YARN. (However, I had to bear in mind that if it was too chunky it might border on the girly, and therefore be unacceptable.) After looking at literally every skein of yarn in the shop, I decided on Brown Sheep's Burly Spun in Dark Charcoal. It was chunky, but it was single ply, which seemed to up the masculine factor. It also had a wickedly cool name...I mean, what guy doesn't want to be "burly"? Finally, by doing a dark charcoal instead of a black, the scarf would be slightly more interesting.

I knit it up on size 13 needles in a 1X1 rib. (That way it wouldn't roll, but would be a little slicker than a straight garter stitch scarf.) It took me, I kid you not, 2 movies and a tv show to finish. I worked on it during the Wednesday teen movie at the library, and while watching another movie with Blondie at home, and one episode of Biggest Loser. This scarf literally knit itself. (A huge relief to have a project that actually didn't fight me!)

I gave it to Matador at his birthday party at Round Table Pizza after evening services. He immediately put it on, and had a picture taken in it. He also wore it the rest of the night. (The next morning, he had made the scarf picture his new profile photo on facebook...after carefully editing me out of it!) He even sent word to me later in the week that he had worn the scarf every day since he received it.

I love it when projects actually turn out. I love burly spun wool, it was an absolute joy to work with. And most of all, I love it when people enjoy the hand knits I give them.

Because Her Foot Was Cold

I have a rule: I only make socks for myself. Everyone else's feet are too big.

The only time I broke this rule was when I gave a pair of socks to Ontie for reaching her Weight Watcher's goal. (Also, we have the same size feet, so it wasn't any added work.)

However, I recently broke the rule again for Blondie, whose feet are at least 3 sizes larger than mine. Why? Simple. Her foot was cold.

I was knitting on the sectional in our family room (surprise surprise), while Blondie played Guitar Hero barefoot. I was finishing up the Iris socks. (Plain vanilla sock pattern: 2X rib with a short row heel.) I had completed one of the socks, and had it sitting on the back of the couch for comparison with the mostly done sock. (I always size the first sock off of my actual foot, and then size the second one off of the first.) Blondie asked what I was working on. I told her a sock, and held up the in progress needles. She looked at it quizzically. (Which wasn't surprising since a sock in progress on two circulars IS pretty confusing to non-knitters.) I then tossed the finished sock to her so that she could see the end result. She was impressed, and then promptly pulled it on her foot.

I was shocked. It fit! It seems that though Blondie's feet are WAY longer than mine, they are also incredibly narrow. I have really short feet, but they are incredibly wide. So, the total area of our feet is identical, just the dimensions are different. She asked if she could leave it on, because her foot was cold. I said sure. (She looked adorable with one sock on and one sock off, and even at one point switched it to the other foot.)

When I finished the second sock, I looked at the pair. Blondie's feet, being longer than mine, had changed the shape of the original sock. I thought about it, remembered how much she had liked the sock, reminded myself that I hadn't exactly been "feeling" the yarn in the first place and had nothing that matched it....and caved.

Iris socks now live upstairs with Blondie. She was grateful...and since I have spent many an evening in bed with her watching tv, I was glad to finally have a barrier between myself and her FREEZING feet.

The Scarf that didn't WANT to be Knit

I went to Target a WHILE ago with Broseph and Matador. (And by a while ago I mean a couple weeks before Halloween!) I needed to get some key components for my NCIS Abby costume, namely goth boots. Before we left, the three of us wandered over to the men's accessories section...where all of the hats were. While trying them on joking around, Broseph picked up a very suave brown fedora with a tan and orange band. It looked amazing on him. Matador and I, with some help from a Target employee who wandered by, convinced him that he had to buy it. He could wear it when he does concerts. My wheedling took the form of a promise to knit him a scarf to match the hat.

When I got home I promptly designed the "Fretwork" scarf, which had a slipstitch detail loosely based on a guitar neck. I even found two balls of Debbie Bliss yarn in chocolate brown in the stash. I cast on immediately.

I knit that scarf in my down time for several weeks, even getting so far as to join the second ball to the first. When I was 3/4 done I realized that I had cast on WAY too wide and that I was going to be stuck with a weenie little short scarf. (As she puts it in her candleflame scarf pattern...I was going to have a highwater scarf.) This was unacceptable.

The problems were:

• I should have realized the scarf was too wide when I went to join the second ball...duh, that was the halfway point!
• I had used stash yarn and lost the ball bands so there was no way to get additional yarn.
• I was using smallish needles for a scarf, so it was not a fast project to knit.
• The yarn was a solid color, so there were no little color surprises to keep me intrigued.
• The pattern, while pretty, could not be brainlessly knit during movies or tv shows when the lack of color variation wouldn't have mattered, because I had to actually look at every row I knit.

But, since I love Broseph, I unravelled the ENTIRE scarf and recast it on. Now I just had to go through the whole painful process again. So, I reacted in the same way I always react. I procrastinated. I knit A LOT of other things before picking this one up again. In fact, it was only guilt that finally drove me to force myself to knit it again.

To add insult to injury, the last 1/3 of the yarn was knotted into a riotous bundle of nastiness. I spent almost 2 hours untangling it and rolling what was left into a neat little ball...which then, of course, rolled all over the floor as I finished the scarf. (I seriously need to learn how to hand wind center pull balls.)

The end result, I must admit, did make the whole painful process worthwhile. I finished the scarf right before class started at Preacher and Psych's house last night. I wove the ends in and tossed it across the living room to Broseph. The wonderful guy wore the scarf for the duration of class and the rest of the evening. I think he really did appreciate it. He wanted to change before I took a picture... but I just wanted the thing photographed, blogged about, and DONE WITH!!!

Now...I just have to convince him to buy a camel corduroy blazer to wear in concert with Fretwork and the Fedora!

Rock Your Socks Off Storytime

I did a pajama time family story hour last night at one of the other library branches. I got to pick any theme I wanted, so I chose...SOCKS!!!

It was a LOT of fun. The program included:

New Socks by Bob Shea

Smitten by David Gordon

Where's My Sock by Joyce Dunbar

"Black Socks" (One of my favorite Girl Scout songs.)

An insanely long time dancing around like crazy people to "At the Hop"

And a flannel board that I did for a poem about socks that I found online.

I wore my crazy Sesame Street Socks and let all of the kids take their shoes off.

We even played a game where they had to put things in order from sheep to sock:

A stuffed sheep

Wool Roving

A Skein of Yarn

A partially knitted sock still on the needles

A finished sock

Some moms nearly had apoplectic fits as their children messed with the needles of the sock-in-progress. I quickly reassured them that it had been knit for demo only, and was not an actual project I was working on. (How crazy are they to think that I would actually let 3 year olds unravel an actual sock sock? Silly non-knitters!)

Happy New Year!

I rang in the New Year with all my friends from church. We threw a big party at the house. (And by "we," I really mean "they." With "they" being my foster family.)

I spent the evening doing all the things I love the most:
-Laughing and playing games with my friends. (We played Risk.)
-Getting hugs from the small folk.
-Snacking
-Knitting.

Yes, that is correct. It is quite possible to play Risk while working on a 2 row striped Noro scarf.

Was I mocked? Yes. Did I care? No.

Two last things:

1. It is astonishing to note how quickly people can become acclimated to your knitting in their presence. The guys: Broseph, Matador, and JoNo didn't even blink when I pulled out my needles.

2. Ark crawled into my lap part way through the evening and asked me if I was knitting a sock. Now, I realize that a 16 inch length of striped Noro scarf looks NOTHING like a sock...but every time I babysit Ark and his little brother Fish I bring a sock to work on. (They love watching me try it on, and giggle when my toes peep out the ends.) So, in Ark's little 4 year old mind needles and yarn=socks in progress...no matter what the project looks like!

Parade of Berets

I have been on a beret binge.

First, I made one for Blondie. She has been so great ever since I moved here, truly like a sister. I told her I would make something for her, and so we went to the yarn shop. We originally planned on a scarf, but she was drawn to some alpaca wool that told her it wanted to be a beret. (She had some scarves already, but no beret.) Sadly, she has been camera shy so far...her's is deep purple and similar to Kirsten Dunst's in Elizabethtown.

Next up was my friend Berkeley, who is finishing her master's degree in engineering. I felt that she needed a congratulatory present...especially since she is 1/3 or my new rock band...but what to get her? While we were at Disneyland a few weeks ago with Blondie and Mama Liszt, she noticed the prevalence of berets. She mentioned that she would love to have one, and I pointed out that I could make that possible as her grad present. When we got back to our neck of the woods, I drove her over to Knit This, Purl That. She was noticeably overwhelmed by the variety and sheer volume of choices. She selected a lovely dk wool in variegated rainbow colors. Very South American/ethnic/Berkeley vibe yarn. So, using a pattern that I had previously used from Knit Cafe, I whipped up a beret for Berkeley.

Finally, Jester. Her birthday party was actually the night Berkeley, Blondie, and I returned from Disneyland. I had TOTALLY not had time to go shopping, the poster I planned on getting her had to be ordered online, and I was flummoxed. Then, I remembered what I was doing for Berkeley, and wrote a note on Jester's birthday card. It promised her a trip to the yarn store, a hat/scarf/or wrist warmers, and coffee. She chose a chunky merino wool blend in shades of magenta and red. She also wanted a beret. I ended up adjusting the Knit Cafe pattern to suit a much larger gauge. (In fact, I had to frog most of it when I was nearly done, and re-knit the whole thing, otherwise Jester would have been channeling Strawberry Shortcake! it was HUGE!!!)

The ironic thing is that I finished Jester's beret before I had had a chance to give Berkeley her's, so they were delivered the same Sunday morning. I ended up wearing my alpaca/silk beret to church that night, so that we could be the Beret Triplets! (Blondie was out of town, or we would have been quadruplets!)

So...Who is next? Anybody else feel the need to beret it up? Or, perhaps a more appropriate way of putting it: Voulez-vous un beret?

Blimey! I Forgot About The Blarney!

So, after posting about the Bremerton Bamboo Stitch Socks, I realized that I never posted about the completed and beautiful Blarney Socks! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN THESE GORGEOUS DARLINGS?!?!?

I worked on them during the spring grad school residency...and let me tell you, it is NOT easy to juggle circulars, yarn, and a cable needle on the bus.

I also worked on them while I had laryngitis last spring...thanks to Dad.

I am more proud of this particular pair of socks than any other pair I have ever made. In fact, I think I am more proud of them than I am of anything I have ever knit period!

Part of my pride comes from the fact that I developed the design myself. I took the pattern for the braids from my stitch-a-day calendar. I then infused it into the basic sock pattern that I got out of one of Mom's sock books. (I would give credit to the author, but I honestly don't remember...either Schurch or Bordhi...) So, while it is not an entirely original-from-scratch design, it is an original hybrid! (Kind of like rose breeders who don't try to reinvent the wheel...I cross pollinated!)

Anyway, I finished these before I moved...I think in May. Wish I had posted then. I took the pictures then.