I have to say I was feeling a bit like Miss Terwilliger in Homer Price by Robert McCloskey when I finished winding this ball of yarn. It took several hours.
I bought these beautiful handmade buttons and hand painted yarn from Briar Rose Fibers.
I plan on making this sweater. The yarn is 60% merino 40% bamboo.
Those fabulous silver bracelets I am wearing in the first photo are made by my friend Nancy Melet. I have been building my collection for years!
Here are some photos of the finished tam. I finally found a plate of the right size. I blocked this thing three times. The first time I stretched it out too much. The little knob on top was flattened out and the crease was so far up the hat that it looked like a top hat!
I used to think that wool socks had to be bulky and uncomfortable. When I was growing up we would backpack in the Colorado Rockies every summer. We would pack in and camp, often for a week or two at a time, in lovely alpine spots by a lake or stream. These were the days of John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" and when backpacking was the new rage. The hiking stores that sold freeze-dried food packets (like the astronauts ate) and hiking boots were a new thing. They also sold thick wool socks to wear with your hiking boots. These one-size-fits-all socks were supposed to wick the moisture away from your skin and keep you from getting blisters. All the socks I had worn until then were synthetic or cotton and came from Roses discount store or Leggett department store. We put the scratchy, uncomfortable socks on under our boots and trudged around in them. The part about not getting blisters was not true.
Now, I am happy to say, I have been educated. I can say that, yes, wool socks are the best winter footwear I have. If I notice on a winter day that my feet are cold, I switch to some soft, knit-to-fit wool socks and my feet are instantly toasty warm. Even on frigid, five degrees F days like today.
Even lacy socks like this are warmer than my store bought socks.
I am still building my wool sock selection, as I would like to wear them every day in the winter.
We did make our shortbread cookies on the weekend.
I have to love a recipe with so few ingredients.
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
Blend butter and sugar until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl and add vanilla. Add flour slowly until well blended.
Divide dough and flatten into two discs. Put each in a plastic bag or plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 1/2 hours or overnight.
Roll out dough on a floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with cutters.
Bake at 325 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet for 15-16 minutes be careful not to let the cookies brown.
Transfer cookies immediately to a cool, flat surface with a spatula.
Dipping the cookies in chocolate did not work as well as I had hoped. The chocolate was too thick and then didn't harden after they were dipped. Next time we want to add chocolate we will just spread some chocolate on top of them which is what we ended up doing this time after making a large chocolate mess.
As you can see, we like them just as well without the chocolate!
Here is a quick hat update. I have done one round of decreasing.
This picture makes the hat look more pink and blue than the rich red and green colors that it is. I will have to get a true color picture on another day. This is the best I can do on this cloudy day.
I may have to stay up tonight until I finish it!!!
Ice on the Huron River taken by B on his way to work.
M found hugs and kisses in the driveway.
D took this one at midnight the other night. He went to close the chicken barn and came running back for the camera to get this moon shadow of the redbud tree.
Today, I will be traveling to Grand Rapids with the High School Symphony Orchestra for their performance in the Michigan Music Conference. I have my knitting packed for the bus ride! If I can possibly manage it on the bus, I'll work on the December Lights Tam (designed by Mary Jane Mucklestone) shown on the cover of Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007.
Don't ask me why. I have never worn a tam. I don't need a new hat. I have two and am already knitting myself another hat. It's just that my friend A got the magazine and, well, she and I drooled all over page 38. We were practically fighting over the magazine. We finally broke down and ordered the yarn. We figured that if we went in together and just ordered one extra skein we could get two hats out of the yarn. Dear A divided the yarn last weekend and now I am dying to start. I know that she has started and she knits really fast. I can't let her finish first!!!
If I can't do that project on the bus I can always work on simple socks.
I started darning B's socks twenty years ago when we were first married. I did it then because we didn't have much money. Those wool socks he liked to wear were expensive and we wanted to make them last. At first I used bits of leftover yarn. Then, when a pair got too worn for darning I unraveled it and used the leg yarn to darn the other socks.
I enjoy darning the socks because I feel a connection to my ancestors. They were thrifty folk. I also get to use this wonderful darning egg that belonged to my great grandmother. B now wears socks that I knit for him. He likes those better than the store bought as they fit his foot exactly and don't have a seam on the toe. I still darn these socks for him as it is much quicker to darn a hole in the toe or heel that to knit a new pair. He also likes plain "utility" socks which are not the most interesting to knit. I darn his socks so that I can have time to knit socks with yarn like THIS.
I am planning a couple of fair isle pairs for myself. I liked both the top hank AND the bottom with the gold in the middle so I had to buy all three!!! I will get several pair from them.
I have gotten a bit behind the last few weeks and am now trying to catch up. I was going to send out Christmas cards and then as the day got closer I decided I would do New Year's cards. Now, as we are already into January, I will take my time and just write some notes!
I had a few Holiday gifts that were not quite finished by Christmas either. B really likes hand knit socks and I had planned to give him a pair. Instead, I wrapped up the yarn and needles and gave him a "kit." I started the socks while we were up north.
So much for getting ahead over winter break.
I finished M's hat in time for Christmas.
The tassel cords are knit I-cord with mathematically based stripe patterns. The one on the left is knit so that the rounds in each color stripes are the prime numbers in order. The one in the middle is based on the Fibonacci sequence. The one on the right is "random." D pointed out that it is not truly random as I changed colors when I wanted to. Next time I'll have him use his random number generator on his calculator.
One of P's "knitting aunties" gave her this book when she was born, "Shall I Knit You a Hat? a Christmas Yarn" by Kate Klise, illustrated by M. Sarah Klise.
This year it is a favorite. P requests it every day. It is a sweet story about a rabbit and his mother who design and make hats to give their animal friends for Christmas. The little rabbit thinks about each friend and they make a hat that is just right. I enjoy reading the story because it is about thinking of others, giving, knitting, handmade.... all of the things I like wrapped up into one story. I wondered what P liked about it. Last night I asked her what her favorite part of the story was." Carrot Cake!"
The rabbit and mother eat carrot cake while they design the hats. And, at the end of the story after they have delivered the hats they stay up late on Christmas Eve and have three pieces each!
Today we shall make carrot cake.
We saw this great drift tree on a trip to Florida before P was born. I was very interested in the soft looking wrinkles and folds in the tree that show after the bark is gone.
Very soft texture.
I made this soft little sweater set for P before she was born. I wish she could have worn it longer. She has tried the hat on today. It is a little beanie on the top of her head.
The pattern for this set is in an old issue of Interweave Knits. If anyone is interested I'll look and find which one.
A few weeks ago M. announced that he would like a new hat. He has been using the same hat for about 5 years. It was made out of some of my first hand spun yarn. A bright orange that he chose. It is quite small on him now.
First he said he wanted a hat with ear flaps. I told him I could do that. He looked through a book of hat patterns and picked a shape that he liked. Then he said he just wanted it one color. We went down to the freezer, where I store my wool, and he chose Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Wonderfully soft stuff.
He chose a few colors that he liked and then said that instead of ear flaps he would like braids with tassels on the top like his cousin C. Sure. I can do that. He then added that he would like a little color work around the bottom. Yeah, I can do that too. He looked through my books and found a design on the cover of Latvian Mittens by Lizbeth Upitis.
He liked most of it but the repeat of the design didn't suit him so he charted out the design he wanted on graph paper and I have started the project.
Lucky for me he used that quarter inch graph paper!
I enjoyed the rhythm of knitting with a yarn in each hand and weaving the colors as I went. This hat design has a hem so that it will be double thick around the ears. I knit the hem and then a purl row for an even turn and then knit the color pattern. I joined hem to the front when they were the same length. I discovered that when I hemmed it you would no longer see the back of the color pattern. I like the way that you can see a pattern on the back side too.
Here is the front. It would make a nice ear muff as it is now but I will keep going with just the black and then put those braids on the top. Unless he changes his mind about that.
It has been fun to see him involved in the design of this project. Now I just hope it fits.
We are visiting my sister and her family. Today as we headed out to see a matinee (a big thrill for me as I very rarely get to see a movie in the theater), I noticed my niece wearing this shrug that I sent her last year for her birthday.
And don't you just love those acorn earrings with it?
I made this with some of Chris' yarn from a pattern in Wrap Style.
I think I got it from my grandmother - the fear that I will run out. With her it was paper towels and toilet paper. Her attic was full of it. For me it is projects to work on while away from home.
We are getting ready to visit family for Thanksgiving. I have started packing my bag. First in are some bags of perle cotton and beads for making some beaded bags.
Next in is the hat to match Ps.
Then the slippers I am knitting for myself because I used yellow for the cuff on the last pair and yellow doesn't felt like the darker colors and they don't stay on my feet.
Then the pink socks I have been knitting for months. I am still on the first sock.
Here's the bag that will be at my feet for the long ride and while visiting the relatives.
And I still think I'll add some cotton yarn in case I decide to knit a dishcloth. M. mentioned wanting a hat with ear flaps and I also have some embroidery that I am working on....We will be gone a week. Do you think I have enough?
Several years ago I had a dream about a knit basket. Really. The next day I had to try it out. The basic basket is a very simple design. I made several of them out of different yarns. That one on the left is some of my first hand spun yarn. The possibilities from even a simple pattern are endless. You can try different types of edges.How about fur around the top and a handle?
This one is knit loosely with ribbon yarn and has eyelet holes for a drawstring.
Here is one knit with wool and then felted. Felting is also a great way to disguise hand spun yarn that really didn't turn out well. This would be my very first ever hand spun yarn.
This basket is an experiment with a two color all over cable design. It is not the greatest yarn combination but they were the two yarns that were handy when I had the idea.
I like the unexpected results on the bottom.
A simple project like this is a great way to try new ideas or techniques. Take a base pattern that you are familiar with and change it a little. There are still a lot of variations yet to be made of this simple Dream Basket pattern.
Artistic challenges are fun. My local quilting group sometimes has challenges where we each make a quilt based on a given idea or technique. I enjoy seeing what different things come out of the base idea. I have found that given a challenge like this I often try new ideas. It could be a new technique, color, material combination or something else. The challenge idea gives me a different place to start and I think about the project in a different way than I usually would. It really helps me grow as a fiber artist.
Last year I found the Tie One On challenge hosted by Amy Karol. She has a lot of information on apron history and apron styles on her blog. She cleverly challenges sewers to make an apron based on one of her theme ideas such as "Valentines day," "Rick Rack," or "the pocket." Her latest challenge was "Local Pride." After reading her presentation of the theme I thought about my home town, and state. I thought about what makes it special. Several ideas came to mind, but I settled in on something that my family loves to do every July. We pick blueberries. We go to the local blueberry farm in the early morning and pick berries before it is too hot. We have our buckets strapped around our waists and pick the berries with both hands. We bring them home and eat them by the hands full. We bake blueberry pies, scones, and muffins. We eat them on cereal. We make blueberry shakes. We freeze pounds and pounds of them to eat through the winter.
This child's apron is my entry in the "Local Pride" apron challenge:
Very recently I found another challenge site, The Purse Project. Anything you ever wanted to know about bags or purses can be found here! Barb Lawrence challenges her readers to make different kinds of purses, bags, or totes. The most recent challenge here was the amulet bag. This is the bag I submitted.
I have made a number of bags in this style but thought this challenge called for something different. After reading her ideas, and history I decided that my bag needed to be "earthy." I chose earth brown beads with subtle variations as there are on earth and lovely brown perle cotton. The bag is knit with the beads slipped between the stitches as you go. The strap beads include some tubular bone beads.
This fall we have had a few extra weeks of warm weather.
We have been enjoying the warmth while we finished our garden harvest and prepared the lawn and garden for winter.
Today is twenty degrees cooler than yesterday. Now it is time to change our focus to indoor activities like home repair and renovation and fun fiber projects out of this beautiful hand painted yarn from my friend Chris of Briar Rose Fibers.
Last winter I was making myself a hat...
which will be an adult version of the hat in this set that I made last winter for P.
I also made this for my niece a couple of years ago. She has outgrown it and given it to P!
Can you tell I really like to use Chris' gorgeous yarn??????????????????
(note: She put her own shoes on. It appears they are on the wrong feet.)
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