Frog Is A Four Letter Word

Haha, we just finished recording ourselves reading Dr. Seuss books for my nephew. Holiday hilarity tip: Get some adults tipsy and get them to read children's books. Rewind, replay.

So I thought I'd share with you the other books I received as gifts.

Jacqueline Fee's Sweater Workshop
Please note: my SIL got me the original 1983 version, yet every single garment in there is stylish and timeless. I can probably say that because all the photos are black and white, but hey. Tricks of the trade--we do that with furniture catalogs, too. I really love this book, I hope to get tons of use out of it.

Joan Fisher's Guide to Needlecraft
And they do mean needlecraft. Every type. Including....WAIT FOR IT....macrame. My copy has "Merry Christmas Elizabeth 1972" written inside. This book is groovy, man. And many of the pics are color, damn my eyes. I love it, though. Straight out of Threadbared.

Jennie Rayment's Creative Tucks and Textures
My mom picked this one out of her own accord. It's geared toward quilters and I'm sure she'd love to borrow it. But it has techniques and inspiration for any fiber/textile lover. And the photography is gorgeous.

Okay then. So I also have several books out from the library. Would you like mini reviews on them? 'Kay.

Jil Eaton's SimpleChic
I should not have checked this book out. Incredibly basic and simple, but hey, not the book's fault. Hello, Laura! It's right there in the title. Anyway, nothing of interest to me but would be a nice "My Second Knitting Book".

Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop
I like Teva, she's like your slightly unbalanced cousin who doesn't speak much English and comes to visit for the summer. The Cashmere Lace Blouse speaks to me, and the CastAway and the Cabled Riding jacket I would wear. This is more the type of book I would buy if I were a Teva groupie, though. Or into books about designers in general. Which I may be soon enough.

Beverly Galeskas' Felted Knits
We've all bought Fiber Trends patterns in the little page protectors and we've all made at least one of Bev's things. Here are some of the best in one place. I was on the lookout for a felted project because my mom bought me two skeins of Plymouth Handpainted wool. I'll either make the mittens with knitted cuffs or the ballet slippers. Maybe both, one adult size and one child size so I have enough yarn. Bev gives DE-TAILED felting instructions, so if you are into felting or really need it to fit, you should buy this book. If you are like me and just want to make two or three felted items a year, a loan will suffice.

Melanie Falick's handknit Holidays
Oh yeah, I totally saved the best for last. I love everything in this book and I must buy it. Very unique ideas and every skill level is represented, though more challenging patterns than simple ones. I have more pages flagged in this book than the other seven combined. The first thing I must make out of there is the Fur-Trimmed Hood (from the cover) since my mom requested something like that for going out to the barn. Ok, hers won't be fur-trimmed, obviously. Love this book!

Sometime later this week...Top Five Vests and a finished dog sweater!

Crochet was my Santa this year, bringing me another incredibly easy stitch pattern to finish this scarf in two hours. The book calls this "String Network" pattern. I used FFF Shine and some boucle held together.



So how was your weekend? I got lots of cleaning/organizing/knitting done on Saturday and Monday. Sunday -all- we did was eat and drive. Now it's back to drudgery. I picked up Dobby's Big Bird sweater and am very close to finishing it! It's so hilarious, I can't wait til it's done so she can model it.

I received some awesome books, too. Here is one that was on my wish list forever.
Knitwear in Fashion
Did you get any books?

First, Happy Everyday to everyone!

Second, big wintery thanks to my OrnaMental buddy, Laurie. I got her package today and it satiated my need to open something a day early. These stars are knit using an EZ pattern. Now I finally have a handknit ornament on my tree!



And this totally rockin' sheep was made from handspun wool, including Jacob wool. I told Laurie how excited I was about that since I used to tend some Jacob sheep in a previous life. I love them in spite of (because of?) their wacky looks.



And third, I have to share this last handmade gift I finished today. I knew when I bought that handspun silk in California that I wanted to make a tubey lacey scarf for my SIL. When I tried i-cord, it was thinner than I wanted. When I tried a circ, the sizes I had were too long for regular circular knitting and too short for magic loop. When I tried dpns, then just kept falling out because of the huge lacey stitches.

So what's a girl to do when it's two days before Christmas and she has 150 yards of silk to whip into a garment? That's right...crochet. Don't diss the crochet, man! Because you know as well as I do when you want a scarf in no time flat you are going to crochet it. Don't lie. I grabbed my Encyclopedia of Crochet and picked an open, airy, ridiculously easy trellis pattern. I popped in a couple movies and had the scarf done before the end of the second one. Then to show off the pattern, I made a super simple tube with silk fabric and lined the inside of the crocheted tube with that. You can't tell in the pictures, but it's about 5" wide and 55" long.





Total time to complete: 3 hours 15 minutes. (3 hours to crochet, 15 minutes to make the lining.)

And yes, I was put in the position to make two more last minute gifts. I am gifting aforementioned SIL's mom with a shibori dyed scarf (pics to follow). And this afternoon my bf calls up to ask if I got anything for his oldest son's girlfriend.
Me: "I was planning on making legwarmers (she's a dancer) for her."
Bf: "Okay, are they done?"
Me: "No, I thought she wouldn't even be back in town til next week. When are we seeing her?"
Bf: "Er."
Me: "She's there right now, isn't she?"
Bf: "No, but they're coming over tonight."
Me: *Click*
So I (again!) crocheted a scarf for her using a strand of some novelty and a strand of some boucle together. As I'm finishing up the fringe on the scarf--2 1/2 hours later!--BF calls back, "They're not coming over tonight, is that okay? They want to come over Monday." I swear, he's lucky he just bought me a kick ass coat for Christmas or I'd slap him. Haha, I don't really care. I mean, I had planned to sit home all day and knit anyway. It's not like he asked me to torture puppies or something.

Have a great holiday weekend, gang!

So the third hoodling is done! This one will be the prototype for my pattern.





It's basically a sock heel. Dude, how fun was it to cable while doing short rows? Uhm, not? But totally cute and way better-fitting than the first two. I used Sirdar Country Style doubled up on a #8 circ. The ribbons are just tied on so my SIL could swap them out for something that matches N#6's winter coat.

N#6 is Latina and even though she's only two years old, she has ample everything including hair. Girl has curls! So when I took off the hoodling after trying it on my hair when everywhere with static. Then I giggled to imagine what it would look like on a round little toddler with twice as much hair as me. Can't wait!

I was glad to hear that my ornament exchange buddy, Marti, received her ornaments yesterday. I knit her a couple snowflakes using some Reynolds Saucy Sport. The patterns came from the Knitted Snowflakes book by Jeannette Crews that I bought from Toni a while ago.





Errm, that first one, the 7 pointed snowflake? Yeah. That may not be exactly as Ms. Crews wrote the pattern. hee hee. I was YO'ing and S2KPSSO'ing along, thinking "geez, I have a lot of stitches here", and when I was ready to put all the points on their own dpn, I had an extra point! But that's ok, I was celebrating the random fractal beauty of snowflakes. That's it!

Also in that first pic you can see behind the snowflake to the right is my Teeni ornament, the little black lab with wings. *Sniff* I hadn't put up my tree or many decorations last year, so most of the stuff I pulled out of the attic I hadn't seen for two years. Well, when I pulled out the stocking that still had Teeni's name on it I started crying. I haven't decided what to do with her stocking, so I didn't hang up any of them. But on a happier note, I just saw this morning that Lynette has a new bundle of fuzzy milk-breath joy named Quincy!! Congrats and happy birthday, Lynette, I hope you have 14 or more years of joy and quality snugglin's with him!

Haha, sorry. That title does not mean I'm about to impart some fascinating mathematically-derived needlework technique that will help any of us finish our holiday knitting in the next week. But I did read this quote earlier in the week.

"The principle mark of genius is not perfection, but originality."
--Arthur Koestler (yeah, I had to google him, too)

And after reading it I decided to apply it to every goddamn thing I do. Hee hee. There are lots of perfectionists out there doing their thing and there are lots of "starters" as I call the group to which I believe I belong. The world needs both. We need the crazy people to think up the new ideas and we need the smart people to carry them out. We need the Debbie Bliss' to make adorable little designs and then we need the unsung technical editor heroes to refine the crap she calls a pattern.

So in making these Hoodlings for my Niblings, I have not attempted to make them works of technical needelwork genius, but works of love and art. I would eventually like to rewrite the pattern for these so others could use it. But that will happen by making several more of them with different variations and taking good notes.

Hoodling #2 is done and I'm kind of hoping it's too big for my niece. Hee!



The Furz is so soft, fuzzy and warm and not the least bit novelty-obnoxious. The shaping I did on this one was just increases and decreases at front and back center. It is not the best way to shape these, but I would not have learned that without doing it. You can see the cord and cord lock I threw in to add more functionality. And I did some intarsia on the back.



I found this site for actual-size knitting graph paper and charted out the heart in the gauge of my yarn so I knew exactly how big it would be. I have already cast on for the third Hoodling. It will have cables and short-row shaping, she said naively.

Are you a knitting scientist or knitting artist?

So many knitters in blogland have posted about holiday knitting. 99% of them started out with "I'm not knitting gifts this year" and then got sucked into it. I am one of those. I was only going to make the three Hoodlings for Niblings but now the list also includes several hat/scarf sets, legwarmers, another knit bag (heavens no! perhaps I'll crochet it) and two scarves. Not to mention the silk scarves that I've been dyeing and the raw silk wall piece I worked on today.

The second Hoodling is just sooo cute! I'm using hot pink Furz and light pink something else from Marks & "Kittens", sorry I always call it Kittens. It should be done soon. And thanks to some cord and cord locks, I've added a third way to wear the Hoodling--as a hat! Pics this weekend. I am also adding shaping (and intarsia! AT THE SAME TIME!) to the Hoodlings so I am writing a pattern as I go. I see lots of test knitting and warm niblings in my future. Wouldn't it be fun to produce a little pattern of my own?

Have you imposed a knitted gift moratorium?

BF: Your hands are cold.
ME: I only have one pair of mittens and I left them at home.
BF: Well let me buy you some gloves or mittens for Christmas.
ME: Oh thanks, but I was thinking of knitting myself some.
BF: Yeah, but, won't you need something this winter?
ME: Smartass.

He's so right, though. I've been wanting to make some mittens for two years now. Meanwhile, I should go buy a $5 pair to keep my hands warm. You know, warm and limber for knitting!

There is much winterizing going on here today, albeit a bit behind schedule. If you've ever lived in an old house you know what I mean. Wrapping pipes with foam, sealing up crawlspace hatches. Screens coming out, storm windows going in. Do they even make storm windows anymore? Then I put up the oh-so-classy and attractive window film. Hey whatever, I'll be warm(er).

It really feels like winter now and, with the gift buying I did yesterday for someone's company party, I'm definitely in the holiday mood now. Tonight I may even put up my tree! Speaking of trees, I have been working on my ornaments to give to my buddy in the OrnaMental ornament exchange. I'll wait to post pics until my buddy receives her decoration.

Do you do a tree? Is it up yet?

The Winterfest Love Nest on Tuesday...



I love winter and snow, even more now that I have central heat! The pups and I have been playing outside this afternoon and now we're curling up in our warm living room to tell you all about it.

On a playing-outdoors-in-winter note, I finished the first Hoodling for Nephew #2. It's a bit big and could use some short row shaping. If I have time (har!) I may rip the bottom half and correct those two "features". Live and learn, I say! Here it is worn as a neckwarmer.



And then pulled up as a hood.



This is Limbo yarn using a #4 needle and my own pattern. "Pattern" is a generous word, this is a tube with ribbing at both ends. If I add short row shaping and some intarsia as I plan to on the next one, I will write up a real pattern. I have started the next one for Niece #2 out of some fuschia Berroco Furz.

Oh and remember that distinguished little baby sweater I made a few months ago? I didn't. I was going through the stash last night and found the sweater. I never sent it! I have no idea what I was waiting for, but this will be paired with some cute pants and a toy and off it goes to Michigan!

Since it's the 5th, here's a list of top five flower patterns. I do not claim to be a knit or crochet flower expert. In fact, these are the first five patterns I could round up before my boyfriend showed up with dinner. But they're still cool and workable. And hey, maybe one of them is new to you.

1. Stitch Diva's crochet flower collection. Available for sale at that link. This should really count as a top six since there are so many choices. I've made a few of them--including a few not pictured--so far.

2. Flowers from Floral Trellis Scarf. Available in Scarf Style. Done up in the cotton chenille (or any chenille really) they look velvety, like a real rose.

3. Perky Poppies by Nora Rezzatano. Available free at that link on Magknits. Quite different from most flower patterns and I love the layered look.

4. Petals by Stephanie Shiman. Available free at that link on Knitty. I'm totally cheating here since I just used these for M's bag. Again, you're getting multiple looks here.

5. Flowers from Flower Power by Candi Jensen. Available in Candy Tots. Sorry no link, could not find anyone who has made these flowers. Anyway, they're fluffy pink mohair flowers with outer petals. I'll make some and post a pic, k?

Also, I found a link on Toni's blog for Puppy Yarn. They have some cute free patterns and I really liked this newsboy-ish crocheted hat. Well after translating the page I decided I really must make it. "It knits with the key needle. Being light, being soft, it does not do prickly. The brim of the small awakening being lovely, it is easy to wear, it is." Now we all know where Yoda is hiding--in a yarn shop in Tokyo writing patterns.

M's doubleknit bag is finally done and ready to wrap up for her birthday. The only problem is that her birthday was over two months ago. :O



But how fucking cool is that bag?? Hope M likes it, too. I love the way it looks, not sure how it will perform. Personally, crochet makes better bags. But this doubleknit is very full-bodied and smooth (haha! I have beer on my mind, can you tell?). I originally put in a magnet clasp for a closure, but the magnet was sooooo stroooong that it was too much on the knitting to pull it open. So I just sewed in a zipper which is better anyway so M's tiny revolver and bullets don't spill all over the metro platform when she has to use the bag to hit some tourist over the head for standing on the left.

The bag pattern is from FCEK Fall 2004. Christ, that's the third thing I've made from that issue, nothing like getting your $6 worth. The flower pattern is Petals by Stephanie Shiman on Knitty. The yarn is Classic Elite Tapestry (wool/mohair) that I bought from Monica and Lynette. I still have a lot left, and since these flowers felted up so well I know what I'll do with the extra.

Shannon has put up another awesome episode of Unraveled so go check it out!

What was your favorite handmade bag?