Periodic Orbits

I have to tell you that our super cold weather over the weekend did not make me want to sit at my sewing machine which happens to be in the chilliest corner of the house. Instead I wanted to snuggle under a blanket and knit. After finishing several colorwork projects in fingering weight yarn I wanted to knit something quick. So, here you have Karin wristwarmers, knit from a free pattern on ravelry.

The yarn is Q.E.D. from Sanguine Gryphon in the color Periodic Orbits. I had been eyeing the Sanguine Gryphon site for a while. I loved the look of bugga! yarns and that they are named for bugs. Go look at the bugga! page on their website. If you click to see a particular color you will also see a photograph of the bug that inspired the colorway - very fun.

Periodic orbit 2

After seeing many beautiful projects knit with Sanguine Gryphon's hand painted yarns on Ravelry I caved and placed an order for some "mutant" yarns back in the fall. It was a grab bag of four different yarn bases that have some sort of flaw. (the flaw in this skein must have been the knot because I found nothing else wrong with it.) The Q.E.D. is super squishy and soft!

My grab bag of yarn also had skeins of bugga!, skinny bugga!, and edios which are all now jumping up and down wanting to be knit. I'll knit up a little more of my "aged" yarn before using another of this new yarn. Remember, if I stick to my stashpact it will be 2012 before I get any NEW yarn. That is unless I knit ALL that I have.

I don't think that will happen.

I also made myself a pair of slippers that are ready to felt. Man, knitting with size 13 needles goes really fast. I sort of had the feeling I was knitting with handles of a couple of garden rakes.

The slipper yarn is Cascade 220 Quatro.

Next up is the second mitten of this mustard and cream pair. Then I'll have made THREE pair of mittens for National Knit Mittens Month!

After that will be another pair of slippers for B. I plan to use up leftover bits of worsted wool on those as part of the stash busting plan. I hope it works out without too many yarn ends to work in.

I hope you are all staying warm (or cool if it's hot where you are) and busy doing things that make you happy.  

The Edith Hat

Yay! I am thrilled that I finished the hat for M's girlfriend.

With single digit temperatures predicted for this week I wanted her to be able to wear it.

Knitting the lining out of Misti Alpaca Lace took a little longer than I expected. It is like knitting with a cloud and is so super soft. The extra layer should make for a warmer hat.

M laughed last night when I mentioned that I was knitting with my turbo needles. He has no idea of the technology available to knitters and quilters.

I love the star pattern at the top of the hat! The picot hem edge is pretty nice too.

Yep. I pretty much love this pattern, the Edith Hat. My notes can be found here on Ravelry.

I had mentioned earlier that M was going to design the hat but we tried a few things and the original yarn was too thick for a colorwork pattern that had very much detail. The two of them spent a few hours looking at patterns and projects on Ravelry and decided on this one. The yarns, Knit Picks stroll (lavender), Zitron Trekking (cream), and Misti Alpaca lace (lining) were in my stash.  

A Breath of Fresh Air and Sunshine

We had a welcome bit of sunshine yesterday afternoon and tore ourselves away from our sedentary, indoor activities to go out for a bit of fresh air.

I love that these oak trees have gotten to be so big.  We planted them as little sapling twigs when we moved here more than twenty years ago. They are finally starting to look like a little oak grove, much different than the corn field that used to be here.

We had a roaring good time on our little walk.

Needlemania

As much as I enjoy the holiday decorations and glitz there is a certain satisfaction of regaining order to the house when it is all packed away. Yesterday afternoon we packed up the decorations, tossed the tree out the door, and shoveled up the mountains of dropped needles. Even after vacuuming twice there are STILL needles stuck between the floorboards. Maybe 700 lights was a bit much for that tree. We did notice that the needles were still holding on where there were no lights. Hmmm.

Today I have been tidying in the sewing room in an effort to get back to my sewing machine which I am sure has felt neglected for the last month.Oh, and of course I am still knitting. I started a hat!

When I finish the hat I'll go back and knit the right mittens to match the completed lefts.

Stranded colorwork seems to be the theme of the month.

National Knit Mittens Month

For those of you who are not aware - January is National Knit Mittens Month. I have gotten off to a good start. I love the little people on the cuff and thumb of this one.

I knit furiously this weekend and finished the left mitten Sunday afternoon. The pattern book only had a chart for the left mitten, and not wanting to suffer the confusion of knitting the pattern backwards I quickly started another project that has been on my knit list, the squirrel sampler mittens.

Again I am using yarn from my stash. The black yarn is Garnstudio's Baby-Ull and the tan is a vintage baby wool by Bear Brand.

B was able to make a reverse copy of the "paper doll" mitten chart so now I'll be able to more easily make the right mitten of the first pair. I'll have to wait until I finish the squirrels though because they use the the same needles.

It is fun to get some of the smaller projects on my knit list made. Sometimes I wish I had more arms so that I could work on more projects. 

New Books to Start the New Year

I have to say I am pretty thrilled with the new books I got for Christmas. B got me this fabulous Norwegian knitting book. Luckily it came with an English translation booklet. This morning I started the cover mittens with some baby ull that I had on hand. I love it so far! They will be adult size but I think P is secretly hoping that they will shrink in the blocking. She shouldn't worry too much because I plan on knitting her THIS sweater (in her size) in the near future.

Pre-Blog Knitting

I have a couple of pre-blog knitting projects to share with you. Here I am in 2004 modeling my just finished sweater.  The shape of the sweater is from The Complete Book of Raglan Sweaters. I used Elsebeth Lavold's silky wool and needed to adjust the pattern to add more rows between the increase rows at the arms.

The rose design is from Hawaii in Dalegarn booklet 122.

I like the matching design on the sleeve. If I were to knit this now, I would use larger needles. The yarn bloomed a bit with washing and doesn't have the same drape as before washing. Yeah, I know, I should have knit and washed a swatch.

The next sweater is Capri from the Dalegarn booklet 122. It is a simple sleevelss design with a band of colorwork at the bottom.

This sweater is knit with Svale.

Wearing Winter Woolens

The new winter woolens are being worn! P is modeling her new helmet hat. This is the third one I have knit for her. This one is knit with Artyarns Supermerino. I just love this pattern. One of these days I will write out the pattern. Actually, I have my notes in several places somewhere in the house. When I find them I'll get it written up in an adult and child version.

I wear my hat like this all the time. I can't stand for my ears to be cold.

D and B are also enjoying their new socks. Both are knit with Knit Picks stroll sport.

D's, on the left, are knit toe up. B's, on the right, are knit top down.

B is also happy to have a new pair of felted slippers. My next project is to try to make new soles and stitch them to the bottom of an old worn pair of slippers. The tops are always still in good shape when the bottom wears through.

M will be designing a new hat that I will knit for him. He did such a great job designing his last hat that I am eager to see the new plan. He is also designing a colorwork hat for his girlfriend. The design as I currently understand it will stretch my colorwork skills. I'll keep you posted.

A Blur of Family Fun

The weekend was a blur of family fun.

P has been making new paper snowflakes every day.

Our windows are almost covered.

P planned Santa drawing time for us yesterday. She was up before the boys and made a "sample" Santa picture so that we would all know what to do. Still, everyone's picture was different- we had Santa on a flying bicycle, a Santa matryoshka, an up close portrait, Santa feeding his deer, and Santa with a tree surrounded by presents.

Last night we had a long game of 20 questions where all of the objects had to be tree ornaments and then stayed up too late working a jigsaw puzzle.

Sigh.

I love winter break.

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Hugs and Kisses

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I found this little baby sweater set yesterday while searching in the freezer. (I have it stored in the freezer to keep the moths away.)

This was a sweater I made preblog when I was pregnant with P.

I took the pictures to update my ravelry project page and I thought I'd share it with you too.

The pattern is Heirloom Aran Baby Set by Lisa Lloyd in the spring 2004 issue of Interweave Knits.  I don't remember the details on the yarn but it is a super soft merino wool.I even have proof that P wore it! Here she is in November 2005.

What a cute little peanut she was on her vintage pink thrifted blanket.

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Basking in the Glow

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I am enjoying having everyone at home for winter break. This weekend we enjoyed some fun and games - Pictionary and Twister!  D had an exam this morning and has another tomorrow evening but it is nice that he can be home and go back to school just to take his exams.

Today we will do some baking and playing in the snow. I'll start a fire in the wood stove so that we can warm up and dry off when we come in.

We are hoping for clear skies so that we can see the lunar eclipse tonight.

It will be wonderful for all to be home the evening of the solstice tomorrow. We'll light candles and bask in the glow.  

Instagram Photos

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This summer we watched my two oldest grand kids one day a week. Towards the end of the summer they started making projects on their own in the sewing room. They made lots of little projects from my scrap basket including pillow cases and tiny quilts