figknits

LetterMo Update: My Dusty Mailbox

2012-02-15T12:41:00.000-08:00

So far I've sent 15 pieces of mail as a part of the LetterMo project.

Received? One.

Time to get some new penpals! Mailing out postcards next.

To be continued...

Happy Heart Day!

2012-02-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

A knitted heart pattern from Zibeline Knits

with a dollop of crochet on top!

Warm Woolen Mittens

2012-02-13T07:04:00.000-08:00

Get your favorite things here!

(Sorry for that title--I know it was a really mean tease to you knitters. No yarn today.)

Sister Wendy's books

My husband's grad school poetry...typed out, printed and laminated (by me, of course)

Goat cheese with honey and dried cranberries on crackers...with white wine.

Answers

2012-02-11T09:09:00.000-08:00

I wanted to take a little space and answer a couple of those questions from my last post and to clarify that all the salt-making was a little more than an avoidance technique. I don't know about you, but I find myself so much more productive when avoiding some odious task like trying to figure out knitting-pattern math (I actually should have been finishing up a pattern draft when instead I was in the kitchen fiddling around with lemons and limes...sigh.)

Bonnie, the fizzy drink is made by pouring into a 16-ounce glass about 1/4 cup of "just cranberry" (nothing but cranberry juice, which is very tart and strong), a packet of stevia (or even better--a squeeze of agave nectar), which I stir well before adding anything else so the stevia (or agave) will melt and not make the fizz go extra foamy and roll out of the glass! Then I add the juice of one lime and fill the glass with fizzy water. I use some lemon-lime flavored carbonated water with no sweetener that we get from Fred Meyer. I really want one of these fizz makers, though! Ah, someday.

Vanessa, I plan to try the salts in some dishes both on my queue yet to make and in some old favorites. The orange or lemon salt would be good sprinkled over this, or this, or this. I want to try the lime salt on some of this, and this, and this. Of course, anything that has those citrus juices already as an ingredient can be intensified by adding like salt. I would just decrease the amount of salt added when cooking the dish, knowing I was going to add a dash of the citrus salt just before eating. If anyone else has any good ideas for using the citrus salts, we're all ears! Heidi, of 101 Cookbooks, had another good idea--sprinkled on homemade caramels. Now, I have seen quite a lot of this salted caramel thing going on, but since I'm not really a caramel-loving girl like my oldest daughter Emily is, I have yet to try any. This might be the thing to get me to finally try a taste. Dark chocolate caramel with lime salt? I could go for that!

Now I'm off for a somewhat drizzly walk with Fred, then my workout, and then more of this.

Have a good Saturday yourself!

Friday Food Fun: Citrus!

2012-02-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I love 101 Cookbooks--see my "Blogs I Read" in the sidebar. It's right on top. I first found it on the Yahoo reading page and have been following Heidi there ever since. I have so many of her recipes saved and have only braved a few.

Since we have so many limes, lemons and oranges right now, I decided it was time for me to try Heidi's Citrus Salts. It's pretty easy. You just zest some citrus fruits--one tablespoon each, which translates to one regular orange, lemon, or a couple of limes. Wash the fruit first and it's best to use organic, if possible.

Lemon, orange, lime zest ready for mixing.

Mix your tablesoon of zest with 1/2 cup salt. I used Kosher Salt. I didn't have any sea salt, as recommended, so this worked fine.

Set the oven to 225 degrees and place the salt piles on parchment paper. Bake for 70 minutes, which will dry the zest.

While I was waiting I got to work on something else to use my first batch of orange zest. I had tried to zest an orange that I had already juiced, so of course I wound up with too-juicy zest. I was afraid to put that with the salt, so it will be used in another way, which I'll tell you about next Friday.

After the salts had baked and cooled, I spun them in a little coffee grinder I keep for spices. This turns the zest into powder. Since this is what the chefs call "finishing salt," it needs to be used in a shaker. I plan to hunt up some of those little shakers and share this with others. You need to use it within a couple of months, and that's a lot of salt for just Fred and me! I am curious to see how this works adding it to dishes at the table. I'll let you know how it works out.

Because I have learned that zested fruit gets dry very fast, I decided I'd better juice these beauties and add them to one of my favorite beverages--cranberry-lime fizz. Today, it's cranberry-citrus fizz with a little raw stevia to balance all that tartness. Wow, was that a vitamin-C-packed drink! Delicious, too...

...with lots of pulp!

And because this is a yarny blog, we have our yarn pairing with today's kitchen adventure--this lovely green mystery yarn.

Yes, it's another secret. Thanks for your patience.

LetterMo Update: Smash Books and Fudge

2012-02-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

How are you doing with your LetterMo challenge? We're seven days in (Sunday didn't count) and I have sent a postcard to a friend, a thank you note to my mom, a journal to my youngest daughter (we have been doing a Circle Journey journal the past few years), a note card to a friend, a birth congrats card to a friend, a letter to my sister, and today a letter to my middle daughter. This is right up my alley since I have been trying to jump-start a regular program of writing to folks for some time now. It's like they read my mind. I finally printed out the pretty stickers that Vicki Stephens made for us (missed the first few days) and this morning I had a bunch of fun making smash books for two of my grandsons. I hope I can tempt them both to start passing those back and forth with me--those are the mail for the next two days. I have also received one pretty card from a friend--see it in the lower left corner? Thank you, Kelli!

I hope I make it through the whole month. Join us! It's okay if you start late. As with most good things, some is better than none, right?

As for yarny pursuits, I'm working exclusively on this buttery mound of alpaca/wool softness. Yep, you can see some cables and a sleeve on hold. That's all I'm telling! Secret.

But I can tell you more about these Fudge Babies I finally tried out from Chocolate Covered Katie. No sugar. Seriously! I will advise you to take her up on the tip to roll them using a piece of plastic wrap--they get kinda sticky after about the first five and it gets harder to make them roundish. If you have some of those lunch lady plastic gloves, that would work great too (while you listen to this!)

Hope your day is as fun as mine is turning out to be.

Bright Copper Kettles

2012-02-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Favorite things? Yes, I have them ready for you.

Our antique mantle clock...it has the sweetest chime.

...and I love these sour cherry drops...one at a time!

And apparently this color family is one of my most favorite. I have noticed its growing presence in my stash!

Do you ever have that happen?

I'm a Time Traveler

2012-02-05T07:04:00.000-08:00

It must be so. All Consuming says so!

Journals & Diaries

2012-02-03T10:49:00.000-08:00

This post is something I've been wanting to do for a while. It is a bit long, but I had fun doing it. Thanks for reading!

What you see here is a stack of diaries representing 27 years of my life. Only one year is missing--1995.

Back in 1985 I ordered my first Our Old Fashioned Country Diary, now Our Country Diary (in case you want to start keeping these for yourself!) The first decade of my collection was printed by Tree Communications, then Our Old Fashioned Country Diary Ltd., and then the Country Diary Company, finally to be taken up by Michel Publishing, as it has been done on up through this year. They do a wonderful job with this. Toward the end of each year I receive a mailer and whether I remember to answer or not, my diary is mailed to me in December with a bill for $19.95. I can't tell you why I did not order the 1995 diary. All I can guess is that I was deep into teaching and life in general and let it slip away from me. I never made that mistake again!

These diaries have changed a lot over the past three decades, but they've always been delightful. Each includes special pages at the first of the year for predictions and at the end for reflections, the same for every major holiday, and each week at a glance with beautiful images and quotes and details about special dates (famous birthdays, historical milestones, etc.) They make keeping track of your life very easy and fun. We use these now in our New Year's Eve ritual of taking stock at the end of the year. It's always amazing to read and remember all the big and little things that we would have forgotten, or at least would not have been able to pinpoint the exact day of their happenings, without these diaries. Do any of you use this same series? I'd love to know!

I had fun grouping them and realizing how much the styling of just the covers transformed with each passing decade. This first set is very much in keeping with the whole country theme that many of us were obsessed with in the 80's. We all had lots of calico and pine furniture and dried flowers all over our houses. It was a very cluttery style. Fun, though...bunches of fun!

Then in the 90's things got very flowery and Victorian (I especially love the paisley one).

Comes the 21st century and while very floral, there are some birds and fruit to be seen. The look is vintage botany prints and collage.

It's looking to be the same in this second decade of this millenium, and I like it. They can certainly keep it up. (I know they were just waiting for my approval before moving on, you see. Ha!)

Over the years some weeks look like this...

...and some like this (blurry artistic effect added to obscure embarrassing diary confessions).

I have learned that the best way to keep this a regular habit is to jot down at bedtime what happened each day. I have been having much more success with it since I changed this from a morning ritual to a bedtime one.

As you can see from the representational pages above, there really isn't a lot of room in the diaries each day for writing in depth--they're just for hitting the highlights. When things need to get wordy I turn to my journals, which I've been keeping in these composition books since 1979, the year I graduated college. I was already married by then and feeling the need to write out quite a lot of angst into my journal, which has become my non-judgmental best friend. More often than not, these journals are where I vent when I'm sad or mad--you know, when you're trying to work off steam and/or tears and figure out life's tough parts without dragging somebody else down with you. Journal doesn't care. Journal just listens. Journal gives me no drama. Journal does give me a lot of laughs when I go back sometimes and read what I wrote, but that's another story.

There's also a whole period recorded somewhere around the middle of these journals when I was doing the three morning pages a day for The Artist's Way. That was really nurturing. If you are a creative person and feel stuck at all I recommend this book (series of books, actually) by Julia Cameron.

Sometimes the journal-keeping can get out of hand. I have realized lately that I have some sort of fixation with this.

Evidence

(from top left):

1. Leather-bound journal my daughter gave me for Mother's Day which I use for my reader's journal

(one page for each book--title, author, when read, critique)

2. Literary response journal started with my English students when I was teaching at Collins Hill High School in Lawrenceville, GA

3. Sketch diary filled with Celtic knot drawing practice and some design sketches that creep in

(they always creep in!)

4. Gardening journal

5. Wine journal

6. Knitting journal

(of course!)

7. Artist's Way journal that came in a fun box with other creative prompts

8. This blog!

Clearly I am a habituated life-logger and figknits is just more way to keep track of life--mostly the yarny parts, but life leaks in here, naturally. The biggest difference is that this one is to share with you. I like that.

Do you keep journals? Diaries? Calendars? Logs? If not, I hope I've inspired you to start. It's a good habit.

Snail Mail

2012-02-02T07:25:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I never expected to be back so soon, but I heard about something from Clara in her Knitter's Review newsletter this morning and I just have to tell!

February has been designated as LetterMo! That's write, I mean right (hahaha)--a pledge to send some snail mail to one person a day the whole month. Since I was already planning to use all the beautiful cards and stationary Fred gave me for Christmas, now's a good time to do it!

Will you join us?

Since it's the second day of the month, let's send two today.

P.S. Clara, look out--you may be like the judge in Miracle on 34th Street when all the mailworkers come tromping in with bags and bags of mail to Santa. Whoops!

ETA: You can send snail mail to me at Jen Hagan, P.O. Box 6982, Tacoma, WA 98417.

Best Laid Schemes

2012-02-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

I was going to call it "best laid plans," but when I looked it up I was reminded that Robert Burns said "best laid schemes o' mice and men, Gang aft agley" in his "To a Mouse" poem instead of plans. We like to mix things up a lot, right?

Thanks for being patient with my leaving you with only my Monday favorites posts for the past couple of weeks while I've been working on TICSY things (Things I Can't Show You, that is!) While I'm not showing you things I can at least let you in on what to expect this year. I've been making plans...carefully. Not like I did at the end of last year when I had a relapse of Wonder Woman Syndrome and tried to do too much...and failed. No. I've had a whole month now to think, really think and imagine what will honestly be possible to get done instead of what I wish and hope would get done.

I've been using these pretty notebooks and journals and diaries to help me plan. I am an avid diary keeper, but more on that later. This particular stack is (from bottom) my design notebook (in which I try to take notes as I work on a design so as not to completely forget all those sniggy details), my journal (in which I write out my angers and sorrows instead of blurting them out to everyone...and occasionally make planning notes and sketches in the margins), my diary (see note to previous item), my sketchbook, and on top is my business weekly log. The last couple of months last year I wrote out a plan that took in several weeks at a time (like I did in grad school, which my mom referred to in her comment on a post I so bravely wrote about said faulty plan), but this year I am only writing large goals on one list and filling in one week at a time in accordance with those goals. Whew. Wish me luck. It's working better so far!

Note to Mom: If you are reading, you may want to skip the next section. (It makes her weak in the knees when I frog my knits.)

One day last week I had a ripping session after getting honest with myself and needing to purge old hopes and dreams (in the form of half-knit designs that had no right to live). One of them was in this box, and had been for years--I have no idea how long. It was a cardigan featuring an unfortunate cable with seed stitch and the thing needed to vanish. I closed my eyes, focused on lovely thoughts, and let her rip! Another one tidily eradicated was a pullover that came out horribly misshapen and boxy, despite its stitch pattern being lovely. That stitch pattern will return in a different form, I assure you.

This is a knitting box that my dad made for me about 30 years ago. He dabbled in woodworking (between jobs) and if he'd been a happier man, he might have been able to continue. This is the only piece I still have from him, apart from a couple of turned wooden bowls of his making. He passed away a few years ago, mostly from unhappiness, so I like to imagine he's better now and glad I'm finally using the box again. I have to decide which project goes in it next.

Right now it only houses this little shell. Shell, you're gonna have to scram once the yarn comes along. You might snag it.

Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah. What to expect of me this year...

I am finishing up a charity design and then a commissioned design (the TICSY) and then I am jumping right into a baby dress design for Figheadh. That one will be another of my "pairing sock yarns" projects. Can't wait to show you!

Then, by golly, Figheadh is going to have a real shawlette design...I mean one with lace all over it. Yeah.

I also mean to make March crochet month around here, just as it has been declared National Crochet Month by CGOA. You will see some hooks flying in about a month from now. Maybe I'll design a crochet shawlette, too!

For the fall I plan to roll out at least one women's cabled sweater design for Figheadh (maybe two!), because as much as I enjoyed all those Fundamental cardigans and the Wanda Nell, I am hankering for some cables. Sound good?

Figheadh will also gain a couple of cabled earflap hats next fall. Yes, those are the ones I said would come out in January, but I decided to let them slide so I could jump on some warm weather designs (like the shawlettes and baby dress). They'll be worth the wait.

I hope to get a cabled blanket design released for Figheadh as well. Yes, it will be raining cables again!

I also plan to be able to release a few freelance designs as PDF downloads once the rights revert back to me. Stay tuned for those.

And you may be wondering about Junebug Days. Yes, of course, there will be Junebug Days. It will be completely different from last year's event, though, so also stay tuned for that.

Okay, that's just some of the fun in store. Between and around all of that, I will be doing the Monday posts, the WIP posts, the UFO posts, and all the other general nonsense.

Thank you so much for joining me!

Whiskers on Kittens

2012-01-30T07:04:00.000-08:00

If it's Monday, it must be time for favorite things!

The little wooden box Fred gave me to house our first wedding rings after we got our bigger ones.

Doodling

Hand knitted blankets

What are a few of your favorite things?

Raindrops on Roses

2012-01-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

My Monday installment of favorite things...

...sand dollars collected by my husband and me at Ocean Shores, OR...

...an antique sliver forget-me-not friendship bracelet given to me by a friend long ago...

...and my freshly-sharpened color pencils.

Time for some doodling!

When I'm Feeling Sad

2012-01-16T07:04:00.000-08:00

It's Monday again, so you know what's coming...

...Lindt dark chocolate truffles...

...orange-lemongrass goat milk soap...

...sweet cards from my husband...

Just some of my favorite things. What are yours?

Friday FO #7: Chocolate Wanda!

2012-01-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

Exactly two weeks ago I left you with my goal of finishing my most recent Wanda Nell Cardigan in time to wear it for New Year's Day. I didn't make it, but I did finish it this past Tuesday. I had the knitting done by last Friday when it looked like this.

Then I blocked it Saturday and on Monday I made some little crocheted flowers with the Schaefer Nichole in Julia Child to grace the bodice and to balance out my decision to work the button bands, buttonhole bands, and collar in the darker Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Chocolatier, these being the two sock yarns I alternated every two rounds to make her. As predicted, these two yarns made best friends!

Here she is, all blocked out and finished and ready for wearing...

...first by Hilda and then by me. I wore Wanda all day yesterday and seriously wanted to wear her to bed. I wish I could wear her every day, but I don't want her to wear out too soon. I want her to stick around a long, long time.

Can you tell I love this sweater? If sock yarn is made exactly to make your feet comfortable, what do you think it does for your body? So comfortable and it fits me even better than it fits Hilda--it's a little roomy on her. She has scant hips, as you can see.

Here are my modifications on this Wanda:

1/1 rib on all edges instead of 2/2 as directed in the pattern

(I wanted to work the 1/1 rib invisible BO.)

Long sleeves instead of elbow-length as directed in the pattern

(I simply measured my wrist circumference and added one inch and then multiplied that number by the stitch gauge, then subtracted the result of that from the number on the needles at the beginning of the sleeve and then divided that number by 2. Then I multiplied 18 by the row gauge so that my sleeve would measure 18" from underarm to cuff. Then I subtracted seven inches from that, because I wanted to make the cuff deeply ribbed and did not want to work decreases after the rib started. This gave me the number of rounds I had to work the decreases. I multiplied that number by my number of necessary paired decreases and that gave me my decrease frequency.)

I made the hem rib deeper also--approximately two inches total.

That's it!

I worked buttonholes only on the left band and then whip-stitched some satin ribbon to the back of the button band to give it some support for attaching all 14 buttons. Because I made this one a little longer, it ended up needing a couple more buttons. I also like putting lots of buttons on this sweater so the bands won't gap open.

I look forward to wearing this all year--right now with warm dress pants under my winter coat, come spring over a cami and with a pair of jeans or khakis, in summer over a little airy dress, and in fall with a cami and skirt, tights and boots. Of course, I'll alternate with the other Wanda Nell I have on the needles in brighter colors. I'll show you the progress on that one soon!

Enjoy your weekend. Knit something!

When the Bee Stings

2012-01-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

Last year I started a little series and let it slip by the wayside. Let's get back to it.

This week's favorite things...

... black sesame seeds...

... my spearmint plant that came back from last year...

...and some lace trim that my mom and I found a few years ago foraging in antique shops...

Dig out some of your favorite things and put them where you can see them--it makes Monday easier.

Sweater and a movie

2012-01-07T07:04:00.000-08:00

One day last year I parked it on the couch to try to finish up the third sweater in as many weeks, two balls of hand dyed yarn dueling it up on the last of the second sleeve. Boy, was I glad to find The Legend of Lucy Keyes on the Lifetime Movie Network. It's not because it's particularly engaging, but because it's one of my fave sweater movies. Nothing better than knitting while watching a movie with great sweaters and other assorted knits worn by Julie Delpy. This one's full of it, my favorite being this creamy lacy angora number.

Another good one is a cashmere wrap with ruffled edges. I'm sure that one is a machine knit, but it's still luscious. I also love the deep pink fine-knit mohair ballet wrap she wears when her husband rolls her around in the hay in the barn (one of the few scenes with them being nice to each other). Can't find a pic of that one, though.

Speaking of knits and crochets in movies, there used to be a great list somewhere online and I seem to have lost it. There are a couple of blogs that focus on this subject, but I fear I've lost them as well. Anybody able to help me?

Until then, here's a list I've been accumulating:

Everlasting Moments (2008)
Nanny McPhee
Nanny MacPhee Returns
The Golden Compass
The Holiday
The Cider House Rules
Zelary
Howard's End
The Secret Garden
Secret of Roan Inish
Meet the Parents
Dancing at Lugnasa
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Legend of Lucy Keyes
Like Water for Chocolate
Sweeney Todd
Benjamin Button
The Changeling
The Time Traveler's Wife
Sweet November
Lars and the Real Girl
Anne of Green Gables
I Capture the Castle
Volver
Coraline
Big Fish
The Ballet Shoes
Hillary and Jackie
The Good Witch
Bright Star
Music Within
Savages
all the Harry Potter movies
{ETA}
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Cranford
Return to Cranford

Pardon the lack of links--just put any of these into IMDB and you're on your way!

Now that we've dropped our cable TV, I am perusing Netflix streaming for more. I'd love some suggestions of what to add to this list.

Happy Knitting, Crocheting, and movie watching!

Crochet a Cowl

2012-01-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

Last year my good friend Kelli gave me a wonderful skein of yarn that she hand spun for me, a unique creation of four different shades of purple, each in long sections. I looked and looked at this skein of yarn for months trying to decide on a worthy project. I wish I had gotten a picture of the little cake with its bulls-eye appearance before I greedily worked it up, but one day last month it just came over me the exact thing that this skein wanted to be and I had it on my hook before you can say "snap a picture!"

In a couple of hours I had not only a beautiful version of my Learn To Crochet Cowl, but a little headband and a flower for embellishment. You can see in the picture the three spare yarn bits left from using the entire skein. I love it when that happens.

The flower motif is from Edie Eckman's Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs (page 39), and the headband was made by working just the first 10 rows of the cowl pattern. I wish you could feel how soft this is. The yarn is a single-ply merino and has sort of a thick-and-thin thing going on. It was smooth and fun to crochet with it. Now that I've gotten decent pictures and have shared them with you I can't wait to wear it. Thanks so much, Kelli!

The next part of the story is that after doing those hat and headband liners in the earflap hats (seen here), I wanted to try the same thing on this little headband. I will tell you my foibles so that it may save you from the same fate.

I went to the local craft store and got me some Dylon purple dye because it's a little less expensive than Rit dye and it's been a long time since I tried to dye fabric (think tie-dye in the 60's and its resurgence in the 80's). Also, I knew I only wanted to dye these two little pieces of what were white polyester fleece (left) and natural color wool felt (right). The package tells you that the dye works best on cotton, linen, and viscose, and that it will yield lighter shades on polyester, wool, silk, etc. Home test complete--the package does not lie! The polyester was only slightly changed, while the wool felt soaked it up in a somewhat mottled manner. I think I will line the little headband with the fleece. The wool felt still seems to be letting go of some of its purpleness and I do not want a purple forehead, thank you very much.

As an aside, I have just recently discovered (while balancing up the 2011 books and generating all those telling sales reports) that the Learn to Crochet Cowl is getting about 70 downloads a month. I love that! If you haven't downloaded your free copy of my cowl pattern, well go and grab it. Whether you already know how to crochet or have been wanting to learn, this is a fun project.

Oh, yeah, and Happy 2012 already!!

So Long, 2011!

2011-12-31T15:53:00.000-08:00

I finished one of these two things today, and the fact that you see the needles still in the sleeve of this Wanda Nell is a dead giveaway. I know you had your doubts (as well as I should have) that I would get this cardigan done in time to wear tomorrow. One reason is that I used some of my time this week finishing Little Dorrit! I am so jazzed! I have been trying to read this novel for about the whole of 2011 because I insisted on trying to do so before falling to sleep every night. Well, that's the only time most days when I'm not knitting (I have only knit in bed once in my entire life!), so I thought it would work. Well, it turns out that reading this novel when you're on the edge of dozing and not able to soak it all in is just nearly pointless.

I decided about the middle of last week that if I was going to get this novel finished by today (my goal) I would have to read it on the other end of my night's sleep--in the mornings with my mandatory two mugs of coffee. I cut short my morning routine of looking at photos on Instagram to allow reading five chapters of Little Dorrit each day this past week to try and finish. Boy, did that work out better. I wish I could go back and read the whole thing over again, especially the parts I skimmed in my doziness over the past ten or so months. This all started with watching the 2008 BBC film adaptation in early February and deciding that, heck, I was finally going to read it. I love Dickens and was already heartily familiar with David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations. I taught the last two in high school English classes for years. I don't know why Little Dorrit is not more widely read and appreciated. Probably because of its length! Fortunately, I had a copy of it in my Great Books (volume 47), which fools you into thinking it's not so long, with its onion-skin pages and semi-fine print.

Now I just have to decide what's next. A Suitable Boy? Pride and Prejudice? I'm perplexed!

Along with deciding what's next is figuring out my goals for next year. First, I'll make a list of some things that got done this year:

Five new patterns rolled out for Figheadh--all sweater patterns, no less, and four of them 13-page Fundamentals.

Four new patterns went live with Ravenwood and a new fifth one was released recently (Brackenhill).

I got a sweater design and article done for a magazine, which will be out next May.

My sock pattern is in Clara's new book!

Finally updated my portfolio in Flickr (it had only been a year since the last update--groan).

We started raised bed gardening here at home.

We nixed cable TV and I haven't seen a TV commercial in months.

Fred and I celebrated 10 years of marriage.

I kicked artificial sweeteners!

I let Jillian Michaels into my living room and I feel a lot better for it.

That's just a partial list, of course. I don't want to lose you--this is going long! And as for the list I so bravely set for myself in this post? Well, I am sad to say I only completed a couple more of the 16 items I had set out to finish by the end of the year. At the time of that post I had already completed seven, so this means I am far behind, having only checked off nine of the bunch. I think my downfall was trying to hit too many different things each day. If I've learned anything this year, it is that things get done faster if you focus on one task at a time. You get long novels and whole sweaters finished that way--seemingly much faster than if you try to do too much.

Looking forward, I hope to accomplish a few things in 2012:

Finally add new patterns to the Mirth line--it's been almost two years!

Design two fabulous sweaters for two great freelance jobs already in the works.

Get those glove designs released (sigh).

Finish my mom's knitted blanket.

Jog...regularly.

Renew my passport.

Do some instructional videos.

Pay down debt...way down.

Build a second raised bed so we can plant more veggies.

See family down South!

This list is also partial, of course. Still fleshing it out. I hope you've gotten your own lists sorted out, at least in your head. I wish you much success with those and I wish you the most fun ringing in 2012. I hope to see you here in the coming year and I hope you'll leave your two cents' worth when you stop by. Thank you so much for reading and for joining me in my wacky adventures--yarny and otherwise!

Happy, Happy New Year!

Holiday Bounty

2011-12-29T13:24:00.000-08:00

Was Santa good to you? I hope so. He was certainly generous to me. Let me share...

My Santa always does a bang-up job on the stocking stuffing--too many fun toys and goodies to name. My favorites, though, are the bamboo yo-yo and the Scottish shortbread! Do you think enough yo-yoing could work off the calories in the cookies? I'm giving that a try.

Another favorite is the hand made gifts I received from Natalie and from Jessica and her brood. Sachet, personalized necklace, candle in a tea cup, and little grandson handprinted kitchen accessories. Sweet little hands (I'm sure their mother doesn't exactly agree on that every single minute of every day, though. )

Here's a very much wished for appliance--our new juicer from Natalie and Jesse! Just got back home from Costco with huge bags of carrots and apples to go with some ginger and lemon to make R Thomas' Frosted Champ! Boy do I miss those. If you're in Atlanta, go and have one for me, along with all their great food. Honestly one of my favorite places on earth. Hopefully, I can replicate the Champ and dream of being there, watching R with his birds.

Back to the gifts! Fred got me this wonderful little chest of stationery and every kind of card you can imagine. It pays to leave hints around the house around Christmastime. When the Victorian Trading Company catalog came a couple of months ago, I went through it and circled some wishes and starred some others. I got my wish! Now I can write real letters and send nice cards all year. He even found a wonderful hand made cartridge ink pen like the ones we used in school to learn cursive. I must brush up my best cursive writing to use all this! What's that nondescript brown leather thing in the front, you might ask? My new Kindle Fire! I didn't even wish nor hint for this and Fred used up a bunch of Amazon points and got us both one. This morning I watched a little of Age of Innocence on it for free, thanks to my complimentary month of Prime. Nice!

Mom and Fred both consulted my Amazon wish list and got completely too generous. And they didn't even duplicate--a miracle in itself. Well, not yet, anyway. They both say I have another gift from Amazon coming late, around February. Hmmm...I just read that the Principals of Knitting that I have been fervently wishing for is being delayed until February. Coincidence?

These are all excellent books! I want to knit several things in the new EZ book, and this completes my set of all of her books, as does the Vogue Stitchionary 6--I have the first five and love using them. I have Custom Knits the first and am so happy to expand my study of Wendy's fabulous sweater knowledge with this Custom Knits the second. I have been happily reading The Yarn Harlot's latest book in bed every night. I know I am driving Fred crazy giggling while he tries to read his gifty books, but who can help that? I had been trying to read Little Dorrit every night, but switched to reading it in the morning as I get my dose of caffeine. Much better! I think I will finish it by Saturday. That's my plan, anyway.

Also in the plan for this, the last week of 2011 (what??), is to finish this Chocolate Wanda Nell (made with Hazel Knits Artisan Sock and Schaefer Nichole). This spot on the couch is where I have been spending hours every day and evening this week--just ask Fred. I am on the first sleeve, which I am changing to wrist-length for this sample, and am going now to try and finish that one and start the second sleeve today. I hope to be wearing this on New Year's Day! Luck wishes, please! Strong hands wishes as well!

Onward!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday FO #6: Secrets

2011-12-23T12:48:00.000-08:00

This close to Christmas weekend, pretty much all I have are secrets. Some are gifty secrets, of course, but some are design secrets.

It's no secret how yummy these cookies and munchies are that Natalie and I finished up last Saturday. She made Puppy Chow (middle front two containers), and we made Snickerdoodles (center), chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, Chex mix, and some little bites that you make with pretzels, Rolos, and pecans (a Pinterest find). Again this year, I was the most pleased with the Snickerdoodles. They and the Chow were the only keepers from last year's holiday baking, and with good reason! Unfortunately, they taste the best just after baking, still warm, with a nice cup of coffee. You want to eat the whole batch!

I have been very, very busy lately with this little stack of assorted hats and headbands in some rustic farm yarns (bottom to top: Columbia/Icelandic from SunFiber Yarns in Kalispell, MT; some wool from Lopez Island; good ol' Eco Wool; and some Kerry Woolen Mills wool from Ireland). You can see some of their linings peeking out, too. Most of the lining material is made with angora that Shelly of Butternut Woolens felted for me. It is bar none the softest fabric I have ever come across and works heavenly for lining hats. We have some very happy folks over here who get to wear these this winter. The pattern will be ready next month, in time to make some heads warm where you are.

I've also been working on and finishing something for the Knotty Knitters calendar 2013. All I can tell you is that it's 74" x 16" of Baby Alpaca Chunky (#580) softness. This design is a fun knit. However, it will be a really long time until I can say more about that. I just had to give you a little peek!

And super duper secret are these two little bundles made with (left) Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Sassafras, and (right) Mountain Colors Bearfoot. I'm not sure of the color name of this one--lost the tag! It's a black with shots of red, blue, smokey green, and dusty tans. These are going in someone's stocking very soon. Maybe I can get a shot of the Someone wearing them and show you later. Cross fingers.

So there you have it--the reason I've been away. If anyone has written me e-mails and not gotten answers, I've been trying to stay off the computer and get this stuff done--please excuse. Are you still trying to finish up someone's gift? Well, get outta here and go finish!

I'll be back next week to look back at that to do list I set for myself and see how much I really got accomplished. Chuckle.

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah! Enjoy!

Firefly Socks & KBOS

2011-12-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

It's a threesome!

One week ago I received my complimentary copy of Clara Parkes' new book, The Knitter's Book of Socks, which follows her bestsellers The Knitter's Book of Yarn, and The Knitter's Book of Wool, and I couldn't have jumped up and down more! Really--I wore myself out. The book hit the shelves in October, but through a series of unfortunate-ish events, I just got mine. Stingy as I am, I did not buy one through the whole long month-or-more of waiting. At one point I did go to the local big box book store to peek at one, but did not buy. Now I have one of my very own and have read almost the whole thing. You might ask why I scored a free copy--why, that's because I have a sock design in this book! I feel especially lucky to be in a book with a bunch of sock designer experts who consistently come up with entirely new ways to knit socks. Me? I just like to stick some cables in 'em.

Here's my second pair of Firefly Socks. I took their FO picture with one blocked and one squinchy, because you know I can never resist a plug to block...your...knits. It helps them to be what they were meant to be! Nuff said.

And here they are on my feet. I love these socks. I knit this pair with O-Wool Classic 2-ply in Slate on size 2 needles.

Allow me to explain. When Clara contacted me way back in the spring of 2010 about designing some cable socks for her next book, of course I said yes. I had done designs for her first book, and even though my design for her second book got cut, she used it for a free promo, so it got some attention anyway. Clara is very, very nice to work with. She is not only an all-purpose good writer, but designs and writes patterns herself, so she is very nice to us designers.

After I gave Clara a resounding affirmative, I set about working up three sock designs, because I like to give folks choices. Clara picked the simplest, most classic one. Boy, was I glad, because actually when I did this project I was also going through a pretty stressful time trying to get ready for my first (and most probably last ever, ever) STITCHES event. I won't go into detail about that here, but I'll just say I did not have my whole entire brain function on, so it was nice to do a traditional, top-down sock design with a simple cable involved. I added a little variation on the cable at the cuff edge to make it begin with 2/2 rib for a gentle flare effect there. I do not have dainty, small ankles nor calves, so I am always attentive to giving folks room at the top of their sock cuffs. I hates bindy sock cuffs!

I originally had it in mind for the Firefly to be boot socks. I swatched it with this O-Wool, which is a sturdy, somewhat heavier fingering. Clara wanted to do the socks in a finer gauge, so she sent me a lovely denim-hued BFL. I knit them up and sent them on with the pattern. Later on, the yarn had to be changed for the book, because that yarn supplier stopped producing, so Lorna's Laces was apparently called upon to provide some of their lovely Shepherd Sock in Bold Red. I was so glad to see that, because I love Lorna's Laces. I have made a couple of pair of socks with that very same yarn and they wear very well.

You will see in KBOS that the eventual sock provides a snug, delicate fit, but I love my pair in O-Wool. I can't wait to see how they wear and (hopefully not) tear. Oh, and I can't move on without thanking the editor(s) who brushed up my pattern draft and made it correct and more sensical since I was not at my best when writing it. After working the second sock of my pair to the pattern in the book, I don't believe there are any errors. I won't swear to that, because I do miss things from time to time, but as far as I can see, it might be perfect!

As for Clara's writing, it is perfect, and no "might" about it. She just gets better and better at this. Let me say that Clara is a scientist and her books are like textbooks for us yarny fiddlers. Each one could supply study for a college course in fiber. If you have yet to acquire any of these "Knitter's Book of" treasures, start at the top and get all three. You will be so much more informed about how to choose the best yarn for your knitting or crochet project (because crocheters use yarn, too, huh?) Yes, all three books have only knitting patterns included, but a great deal of each book discusses the structure and use of yarn--the first features yarn in all its fiber varieties, the second focuses on just wool in its myriad forms, and the third studies sock yarns of all types. Clara talks about fiber content, how it's spun, what to do with it for best results and how to take care of it once you turn it into something functional.

You might be thinking that the sock knitting thing had just about worn itself out. I mean, there's a whole convention for it now, right? But before you even form the thought in your head that surely there are already enough sock knitting books out there and surely it's all been said by now, grab a copy of Clara's new book and you will see that you would be wrong in forming that particular thought. All kinds of wrong.

Now, I'm off to look at this beautiful book some more and try my best not to be tempted to cast on for another pair of one of these fabulous sock patterns. I gots too much knitting to do already!

See you soon! Have a great weekend!

December's Here!

2011-12-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's been here for five whole days, but I am just now blogging it. I wish I could mind-meld with my computer because I do posts in my head almost every day! Most days, though, I have to make myself stay off the laptop so I can actually accomplish something--darned timesucker techno-thingy! And lately there have been gifty knits on top of the regular knits, so time gets gobbled up even more. Sound familiar?

I have also been allowing myself days here and there, usually with my daughter Natalie, to dabble with other crafts--it broadens the senses. Any time is a good time for craftiness, but the holidays just beg for it. Last week's craft day I made paper snowflakes while Natalie sewed little snack bags. I'll try to get a picture of those next time she makes some. They're so cute!

I can show you my snowflakes, though.You should try this if you have these coffee filters lying around but no longer use them (like us--after the death of the fourth coffee maker, we now use a French press). Just flatten some out with a warm iron, fold each one in half and then again and again as many times as you can and start cutting out parts. Have fun with it. I stuck these to the windows with a glue stick. I tried starch, but they fell down. Natalie assures me I will be able to widget them off easily when I'm tired of them being there. I love them!

Today I am wrapping presents. I have not actually bought wrapping supplies for years now, but prefer to use materials that can either be recycled, are reused, or that would normally be thrown in the trash. That's no problem with plenty of newspaper, paper bags, cardboard, string (and yarn!), some rubber stamps, hole punchers, and maybe some fancy scissors around.

I made these gift tags from a beer six-pack holder.

I think it all looks even prettier under the tree than that shiny, expensive stuff.

And to give the house a holiday aroma, I made some granola. Here's my favorite recipe. I use dried cranberries instead of raisins and I usually half the recipe and store it in a Mason jar once it's cooled. My favorite way to eat it is with a little fat-free milk in a bowl. It's also yummy with fat-free plain yogurt and a little maple syrup. Healthier than oatmeal cookies, but just as delicious!

Next time I'll be back to show you a very special pair of socks and have a book talk. In the meantime, make some granola for yourself. You deserve it!

Need a Really Nice Gift?

2011-11-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

If you're like me, this time of year finds you searching for just the right gift for the people you love. For instance, I think I just about have it figured out for Fred and just about everyone else, but I am still perplexed about my mom! If you have someone that needs a special gift, I have a unique idea for you.

You all know that I work with Ravenwood Cashmere by designing with their yarns. The good news is that Delia and Reed recently started offering samples of those designs for sale from their Web site. Their son Ryan took some gorgeous pictures of them recently, modeled by his wife on the Ravenwood Farm and I thought I would show them off to you.

Here is Melanie wearing the Cable & Lace Beret, the Lace Scarf, and the Bavarian Mitts, all in cream. They make a great accessory ensemble, don't they?

Here she is modeling the beret and mitts in taupe. I love this color.

This is a beautiful fall photo of Melanie wearing the beret with the Brackenhill Shawlette.

But I think this photo is my favorite of all of Melanie wearing the crocheted Kathy's Cowl.

These lovely accessories were hand knit and crocheted by Kelli, Betsy, Shirley and me. Prices for the finished items are all listed here. We plan to offer more of these as we expand the line--we hope to have some sweaters in the future. That leads me to my next topic.

We need expert knitters. We're trying to build a cottage hand knitting group here in the South Puget Sound area. If any of you think you would be interested, please e-mail me at jen@jenhagan.com and let's start a conversation. Delia and Reed Rasmussen of Ravenwood Cashmere are committed to paying sample knitters at the top of industry standard for this work, not to mention that you would be working with the most luxurious yarn available. Well, I just had to mention it--it's my personal favorite!

I should also mention that we changed the kit details (all the links above lead to kit pages--hey the kits make a great gift too!) so that these patterns are only available when you purchase the kit. The Ravenwood patterns are presently not sold separately.

Help me by passing the word along. Does someone you know need a special gift too? Is someone you know interested in knitting with yummy 100% US cashmere and getting paid well to do so? I'd love to hear from you!

Men's Top-Down Cardigan

2011-11-22T15:17:00.000-08:00

I had to be mean a couple of weeks ago and ask two people who were recovering from a stomach virus and one who was (almost) recovering from (almost) a bad cold to go out in the chilly, wet weather for some pictures of this cardigan on a real person. And that person will NOT allow his head to be shown. My husband hates, hates, hates most (okay, almost all) pictures of himself. I think he's quite cute myself, but I won't argue. I respect his views.

Here is Headless Fred wearing the new Figheadh Fundamental Top-Down Men's Cardigan.

And here is Headless again showing it buttoned up. He says this is his favorite sweater. It fits him perfectly, because I was able to make the sleeves and body just as long as he wanted. He picked out the Cascade 220 Paints in color #9928 and he picked out the buttons.

It was a fun knit and the yarn blocked up beautifully. Fred says it's a very warm, comfortable sweater. I think it may have just gotten him over his little bout with whatever that was--that and the pint of Guinness we enjoyed at the Irish pub just after this quickie photo session in the park, that is. A pint of Guinness is always good on a crisp, fall day.

Thanks to Natalie and Jesse and Fred for coming out in the cold to help get these pictures!

I hope you and yours enjoy some beautiful fall weather this weekend and for those of you celebrating Thanksgiving, enjoy the heck out of that turkey!

Friday FO #5: Balls!

2011-11-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

"Hey, I thought you said balls, not pods." Wait a second...

See? I do not disappoint. I have had this knitted ball pattern on my queue for years, people. Ever since I first got Melanie Fallick and Kristin Nicholas' book Knitting for Baby, I have wanted to try these little jewels. They are so much fun!

They're made with short rows and you only join yarn once to make each ball in two colors. Each ball works up in one piece, you seam the cast on edge to the bind off edge and close up one hole and felt it. Then you stuff it (I used leftover yarn bits--I keep them all!) and close the other hole and there you have it--a ball! Lucy and Malcolm are going to love these! Heck, I want some for myself. Now, if you're looking closely you can see that they could have been felted a bit more--I like to felt knitted or crocheted wool fabric until you can no longer see the individual stitches. I owe the light felting effect to my new washing machine. It's not even one of those fancy front loaders or anything, but I think it's a bit too gentle. I need to get me some tennis balls to add to the mix to jostle things up more. You can bet I'll be making more of these. I made these with some Lion Wool that I had leftover from a crochet design submission a few years back. It felts great.

And I just have to tell you about mine and Natalie's latest adventure in all things crafty. We went to a meeting of the Tacoma Calligraphy Guild last night (as a part of Art @ Work, a month-long event here in town) and learned Clothesline Caps, a fun hand-lettered font. My attempts here are rudimentary at best, but I learned a lot. I learned that I need to practice with the watercolor pencils more, for one thing. The folks were all so nice and you can tell they love what they do. I should have taken pictures of all the beautiful examples of their calligraphy. If I get to go back, I'll get some pics for you next time.

Now I must head on away from the computer. I have a date with my cutting mat, rotary cutter, some fleece, and some pom-poms.

But not before I have my Brussels Sprouts Salad lunch! Yawm!

Bring Out Your Woollies!

2011-11-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

With temps dropping into the 20's here at night and not getting much out of the 40's during the day, I had to scramble to organize all the warm things. It seems just yesterday I was slipping on the flip-flops. Winter already? They're talking snow as soon as...tomorrow!

Yike! And another yike--I'm about to let you into my closets. Yes, I showed you my yarn stash, my offices, my garden, and now to show you my favorite ways to keep track of the knitted and crocheted yarny items.

This is my non-hanging clothes closet. I have another for all the things that will go on hangers, but I never hang my sweaters. I love these hanging bin thingys instead. They keep the sweaters and vests peeking out where I can see what I have. I am making it a goal to actually wear all of these this year. The one on the right is entirely hand knit and hand crochet sweaters and vests. The one on the left is about half so. I'm aiming for all hand made. Wouldn't that be divine?

This is a couple of shoe hanger bin things I got for keeping all the hats, scarves, cowls, and gloves, mitts, mittens where I can most easily see them in the coat closet by the front door. They have little pockets on the sides and that's where I have several pair of fingerless mitts and gloves. This way, as with the sweaters, I might really wear them all at some point. I am a hopeless "out of sight out of mind" person. If I can't see it, it is forgotten completely!

I even tackled Fred's closet. The man has enough t-shirts that he could probably wear one each day for a year and practically never repeat. This is because he never throws any away (or turns them into rags--my favorite). Some are so thin I wonder how they do not disintegrate in my hands, but I dare not throw them out. That would bring trouble, for sure. Sentimental, he is. Anyway, the sweaters were getting all jumbled up in the t-shirts, so I sorted. I know, I know--it will never stay this way and that is why I had to take a picture. I have to remember that it once looked so neat. Soon it will all be a jumbled, wrinkly mess again. Sigh....

Six of these you see are hand knit by me. I know (again)--I have many, many more than he does. Let's just say I am not one of those who does not knit and crochet for herself. That's just crazy!

How do you organize your woollies and keep them where you can see them and wear them? Make sure you wear them. Stay warm!

Tomorrow I'll be back to show you what's felting in the washer right now. So cute! It's for Malcolm and Lucy.

Happy Onesday!

2011-11-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

Because it's 11-11-11 and of course I couldn't resist mentioning this rare occurrence. Be sure to make a big wish at 11:11 today. This used to be a ritual with my girls and me. We had lots of wish opps (crossing a bridge, going under an overpass, finding a folded potato chip in the bag, etc.) and whenever the clock turned 11:11, we would notice and make appropriate wishes. I still do this one. Today, it ought to count twice as much...or eleven times as much, right?

I'm wrapping up a good week here, and I hope you are over where you are, too.

This week Natalie taught me how to make paper. It was awesome! What you see here are 16 dried sheets waiting to be pressed flat. These were all made from some of what was in my office shredder. Next we'll make a book out of them. Fun!

I also worked on a new hat pattern for babies and toddlers. It has cables and ear flaps! This is the combination of objects I had to assemble in order to block the toddler one. This is one reason I don't throw many things away. You never know when you might have occasion to use these things! (two plastic bowls, beer growler bottle, Chinese soup bowl, tape, face mask)

Here's my FO for the week. I finished the knitting of Fred's cardigan, which will be the sample for the pattern, which should be ready for release next week (yippee!). Today I need to sew the ribbon backing onto the button band and then attach the buttons. I think this may be my favorite button attaching method of all the ones we've discussed.

By the way, this is Cascade 220 Paints in color #9928 and as with all Cascade 220, it blocked out nice and smooth. Fred can't wait to wear it, especially since there's a nasty cold trying to get him down. Get well, honey! I'm sure this comfy sweater will help.

Have a great day and a great weekend and don't forget to make your wish!

Fundamental Top-Down Cardigan for Women

2011-11-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

I am always, always glad to tell you when a new pattern comes out, but this one has me very excited. If you've been stopping by in the past six months or so, you know I've been working on this for a while. We talked about raglan line options, how to attach buttons, and even fancy edge finishing.

Well, now it's all come together for a cardigan for us ladies!

The Fundamental Top-Down Women's Cardigan from Figheadh.

Last weekend Natalie and her boyfriend Jesse and I went to the park to get some shots. It was a perfect fall day for it.

On this purple one you see I opted for a crew neck and ribbon backing on the button band. Luckily I already had the perfect green and purple Argyle grosgrain ribbon, these Celtic knot buttons, and the Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL in my stash. This cardigan fits perfectly, because I decided how long I wanted the sleeves and the body. That was easy with the seamless, top-down construction.

Natalie did the same with hers in Patons Classic Wool in red and grey, except that she chose a V-neck, instructions for which are also included in the pattern. It was easy for her to do striping to make use of two bunches of yarn that each on its own would not have been enough. These cardigans are great for striping.

This is a very soft, warm cardigan for a chilly day in the park fiddling with spiky chestnut husks, from which the squirrels had eaten all the insides--they are hungry little dudes.

A couple of months ago when it was still only slightly chilly, Natalie got some pictures of the cardigan I made in Schaefer Sandra from this same pattern. I thought I'd try the V-neck version myself on this one. I still like the crew neck best.

But because so many of you said you prefer V-neck, it's well treated in this pattern, which has separate instructions for all 12 sizes (from size 32" bust up to size 54" bust) in each of its four yarn weights. You can use whatever yarn will bring 6, 5, 4, or 3 stitches to the inch or all of the above! I hope you'll give this pattern a try. It's one you will use forever and not just for yourself. You can make all your friends cardigans and never have to leave your stash. But I know you want to start with at least one for yourself, don't you?

Note: Two of these yarns have been discontinued (like I said--I raided my stash!) but you can use virtually any yarn for this pattern. I'll bet you've got sweater amounts hiding in your own personal yarn mountain--go find 'em!

Brackenhill Shawlette

2011-10-27T05:44:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to be back to show you a very special FO--my first Faroese-style shawlette design. Ever since I made Ysolda's Orchid Thief Shawlette from Brave New Knits exactly a year ago, I have wanted to try my hand at designing one of these beauties. Delia at Ravenwood Cashmere requested a shawl design of me back in 2010, and because she knows how to set things in motion with style, had already sent me four beautiful skeins of her lace weight domestic cashmere yarn to do the sample. This past summer I finally got busy.

Delia is of Scottish and Irish heritage, so I wanted to infuse her shawlette design with lots of Celtic flair. When I found this Argyle lace pattern that makes up so much of the territory of Brackenhill, it was fairly easy to also find some compatible panels to center and to border it. The center panel and the border remind me of the Celtic knots I love so well and I liked the way they neighbored the diamond-and-Scotch-pine lace pattern. It took a little tweaking to make the math all work, but I learned so much while putting this design together.

I love how you can wear it fanned completely out and it drapes all the way past your waist. I also love how you can wrap it cozily up around your neck. The cashmere is so soft and warm, yet light and not so fussy.

As I tried to figure out the perfect name for the shawl, I asked Delia for some place names of her Scottish ancestors. She told me the most fascinating tale of the Will Graham clan of father and eight sons who lived in the border area of England and Scotland and shifted their residences according to how best to escape the law. They were a raucous bunch who took care of themselves, as they were such notorious scallawags that the larger Graham clan had "put them to the horn"--ousted them from the family. One of the manors they inhabited in England, and the only one of their 13 Scottish design towers that still stands, is called Brackenhill and was home to Richie Graham, Will's grandson. In fact, Brackenhill is the only Scottish design tower left on the English side of the border. The property was sold in the 1990's and renovated into a grand luxury destination, especially for newlyweds who tie the knot at nearby Gretna Green in a popular tradition of holding their hands clasped together over the anvil of the ancient blacksmith shop there.

I can imagine a young bride wearing this shawlette on her special day at Gretna Green, cant you?

The Brackenhill Shawlette is a Faroese-style shawl made with approximately 565 yards (3 skeins) of Ravenwood Cashmere lace weight yarn on size 4 needles. It is available from Ravenwood as a pattern booklet and soon as a kit. You can purchase the yarn to make it here until the kits are ready. The pattern includes both charted and written instruction for every part of the shawlette and plenty of pictures to help you along the way. It's a fun knit that begins with just a few stitches at the neck and finishes with the true lace border of RS and WS yo increases and accompanying decreases--a bit of a challenge that definitely rewards you for your efforts. Ravenwood Cashmere is a remarkably strong yarn for so delicate a 2-ply and I can attest that I have never encountered a knot nor a break in this well-spun yarn. It's pure joy to knit. Just ask Clara Parkes, who said it so well in her review of this yarn.

Huge thanks go to my daughter Natalie Goza for these gorgeous pictures. I also have to thank Commencement Bay here in Tacoma for providing us with a perfect cloudy day to snap these shots. It helped me to imagine being in Scotland by the sea.

I hope you'll give Brackenhill a try and let me know how you like knitting her. I hope to have time to do another one myself soon!

WIP Wednesday #7: Cardigans, Socks, Toddlers, & Arugula

2011-10-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Ha! You thought I'd fooled you, didn't you? No foolin'. I'm really back.

A couple of weeks ago when I'd finished Secret Project #1 and my time had gotten freed up enough to jump on all the other projects waiting, I sat down and made a hard list of everything I wanted to accomplish work-wise from now until the end of the year. Here goes: Finish and release the shawlette pattern for Ravenwood, finish and release the women's top-down cardigan for Figheadh, finish and release the men's top-down cardigan for Figheadh, design a Fair Isle cap for Ravenwood, design something yummy for Marsha, design a fabulous cable sweater for Liz, finally figure out an earflap hat for Figheadh (with cables of course), balance the books for third quarter, finish and release the five glove and fingerless mitt patterns I have been trying to get to for over a year now, finish the Tsunami socks (see below), finish the Lace Scarf sample (see below as well), back up all the files on my laptop because it's acting funny, finish a cable sweater design with Schaefer Miss Priss that's been on the needles for over a year now, finish a cable blanket design for Figheadh, and finish a combo knit/crochet coat design for Mirth I started last winter. Oh, yeah, and the two Wanda Nells I have on the needles. Think I can get this all done by the week after Christmas? Well, I've already completed seven of these. It pays to make a tight plan. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

First up in the WIP roll call is this men's cardigan I'm making for Fred. He picked out this Cascade 220 Paints himself. I see now that it goes with the vintage robe he's been patiently waiting for me to repair the whole entire ten years we've been married. The lining has come loose in a couple of spots, so I've put it here in the living room to remind me to finally, finally fix it. I can see him when he's 88 wearing this cardigan over this robe, thinking he's looking all GQ. Cuz he's funny like that.

And here's the progress on the Tsunami socks. One down and mostly one to go! Been too tied up to pay enough attention to them (see above list). But isn't the Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Sassafras gorgeous? If you'll remember, this skein of yarn was one of the only two I bought at Sock Summit (because it never disappoints) and my intent was for these to be mine. Nope. Turning out too big. They will be Fred's as well, but no worries--there are lots of knitted things ahead for me.

This scarf for Ravenwood is about five pattern reps away from the finish line. Whenever I have the time to visit with her, though, it's time well spent. Cazhhhhhmeeeeerrrrre. Yum!

And I can't let you go without a garden update. We harvested the rest of the tomatoes and the one pumpkin that our little raised bed produced and replaced them with some cauliflower, spinach and these little arugula seedlings we sprouted ourselves. I hope they grow to be big enough to eat. It's already getting quite chilly here, so we might need a row cover, my mom, the Master G says. She's over in NC growing blue potatoes. Imagine that!

What I really, really can't let you go without seeing is the Grandtwins and their 18-month-old selves. Yes! Eighteen months old today! Look what a big boy Malcolm is getting to be!

And Miss Lucy--so grown up and fancy. I envy them their naturally curly hair.

Okay, enough visiting for now--I have some math edits for the women's cardigan pattern to do and the calculator is calling my name. I'll be back soon with how the list is going. I hope you are having good day! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Back!

2011-10-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Why did I take a month off? No, I wasn't lost nor kilt as you might have suspected. Been working! I had so much to do that I knew if I didn't stay away from the computer, it would never all get done. I wanted to pop in and say hi so many times, I even wrote several posts in my head (what? you didn't get those?), but knew if I opened my laptop, sheer hours of time would slip away and I just couldn't risk it. I am highly distractable, you know.

During the past four weeks I have completed a major secret two-part project (that I hope you will see publicly around next May), finished the women's cardigan pattern and two samples (pattern currently with the editor), finished a shawlette pattern for Ravenwood (releasing any day now), finished the men's cardigan pattern and am making the sample now, and dealt with a couple of other huge personal projects, not to mention the regular life requirements (like reorganizing the garage and the kitchen).

My hope is that you've been too busy to notice anyway. Okay, that's it for now, but I'll be back soon with some pictures to show--the other part of this show and tell. Have a lovely fall Friday!

Me...Rambling...

2011-09-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

Lara Neel of the Math4Knitters podcast recently and sweetly interviewed me and here is the result. If anything is wrong with the link it is Show 90. Thanks for listening!

Disclaimer: Brace yourself. It is very long. I am very chatty. No, I did not hear her say there was an earthquake on the East coast while we were talking. Oh brother...

A Goodbye

2011-09-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

As a follow-up to my last post, I need to tell you that Judy Sumner passed on today at 10 A.M. Eastern time. Her daughter said she was peacefully listening to her music at the end and she was at home.

We will miss you, Judy!

Those of you who had some connection to Judy Sumner may want to donate in her memory to Friends of the Smokies in lieu of flowers. This information comes from Judy's daughter Diane on Facebook.

Thinking of Judy

2011-09-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

The fiber artist community is a pretty close one, especially considering how many of our connections are virtual. I've seen a lot of love and support among knitters and crocheters over the years. That's why I am asking you all to rally your thoughts around the family of a fellow designer, Judy Sumner, who is fighting the last fight against that monster disease Cancer that has probably touched all of us in some horrible way.

Judy is a designer whose work has mostly been sock patterns, but she has also designed other accessories, one of which, #32 Fingerless Gloves, appears in Vogue Knitting Fall 2011 (scroll to last set of accessories and see the lovely red mitts). She has also written a beautiful book that I only recently bought and am so glad I did.

Judy's book, Knitted Socks East and West is a result of her study of Japanese stitch patterns and quite an interesting read in addition to its 30 sock designs of incredible variety, gorgeously photographed by Yoko Inoue.

One of my favorites is Tsunami. Its gentle cable snuck between a subtle knit/purl pattern intrigues me. It would be a good exercise to knit these socks and be reminded that Japan has far to go to rebuild after their devastating tsunami. As we all know, needlework can be a very good way to meditate, and I believe that focused, quiet thought--whether you call it meditation, prayer, or just contemplation--can fill the world with good energy. We need so much more of that.

Another favorite of mine is Sayonara, also so appropriate. I'm going to cast these on today and think of Judy and what she has brought to our craft. I admire her work and her life story.

If you have knit any of Judy's sock patterns, or if you just want to express your thoughts to Judy and her family, you can go to her Facebook page and let them know. You can also visit her Ravelry designer page to view her 129 designs and to her site, Knoxsocks to view her individual patterns available by PDF download and free tutorials and patterns.

Let's keep Judy and her family in mind right now.

Friday FO #4: Cashmere

2011-09-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I was all busy with the lace shawlette in Ravenwood Cashmere and this week I've been busy knocking out some little samples. We're getting ready for holiday shoppers!

This certainly isn't the version you want to see. Let's spread her out on a plate...

Ahhh...that's better. Now you can see this Cable & Lace Beret and all her bits.

The view from underneath. Just finished her today and just in time.

This just arrived in the mail to be made into Bavarian Mitts.

And I already had this Lace Scarf on the needles. Plenty to do!

(Yarny goodness brought to you by the friendly goats of Ravenwood farm.)

Now you know what I'll be doing for a lot of the long weekend coming up. What do you have planned?

Whatever it is, be sure to have fun!

WIP Wednesday #6: Progress!

2011-08-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

Hello! It's been almost two weeks since my last post (what?!), but I'm finally back to tell you just a little of what's been going on around here. This post is all about progress, so first let me show you how the little raised bed garden is doing.

Remember this? This is how the little garden looked when we first put the wee tomato, chard, carrot, pumpkin, watermelon, and marigold seedlings in.

And this is just a couple of weeks ago. It's even more filled in now and we have since harvested the chard twice to make this...

I had never eaten chard before, let alone grown any, so I had to look around for a good recipe. Pinterest came to the rescue and led me to Smitten Kitchen's Chard and White Bean Stew recipe. We left off the poached egg and cheese, but in the first batch we did place a slice of toasted rustic bread in the bottom of the bowl, as suggested, and it was mighty good. This time we wanted to keep it lean, so no bread and I added some kale, which made this batch extra green. It was perfect. Made this way, it is a completely veg meal. I also cooked the white beans from dried in the crock pot all day. That means I have some beans left for Cilantro Lime White Bean Hummus. Yum.

And of course I've been knitting.

This is my Fundamental Women's Top-Down Cardi now in test and yet to be edited by Tracey, and you see I have started the first sleeve. This is working up pretty fast in this Schaefer Sandra in Florence Nightingale, but the cotton fiber makes my hands a little sore, so there are no marathon knitting sessions going on with this, folks.

I am also working slowly on a learning piece from Kristina McGowan's Modern Top-Down Knitting. It incorporates short-row shaping on the shoulders and the sleeve caps, so I am learning how to do this by making this sweet little dress (which I intend to make into just a hip-length top). The sample you see here is done with Louet Gems Sport in Navy. I am going to need to rip both the sleeve and the neckline edging. I picked up too many stitches on both...stubborn I am.

This brings me to the real reason for all the blog silence: this bunch of lace taking a bath. A little over a week ago I decided to buckle down, put away all my other projects, and work solely on a shawlette I designed for Ravenwood Cashmere. Delia has been sweetly and politely asking me to design a shawlette for her yarn for about a year now and even sent me 800 yards of her lace weight to do it...kind of a while ago. It was high time to get busy on this. Because I know that Delia has done quite a lot of genealogy research into her Graham family line, I asked her about some family history so I could make the shawlette a meaningful one for her. Boy, did she come forth with an interesting story! I can't wait to tell you all about it when we release this shawlette pattern in about a month.

I am happy to say that the pattern is all written, my shawlette sample is finished and blocked, and Sue the magnificent is now testing the pattern with her own batch of Ravenwood lace weight yarn. Life is good.

And speaking of that, I am in the process of writing up a series of posts about some healthy changes we've been making over the past year. I'll bet some of you have made some changes, too. I hope you will chime in along with me and tell us about it.

Until then, happy Wednesday!

Follow-up: Pairing Hand-Dyed Yarns

2011-08-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

I'm back to show some of the results of the yarn pairings from last week. I had trouble with a couple of them, but another couple are going to be Wanda Nells!

Just a note: I won't be linking all these yarns again. Please refer to the previous two posts if you want more information on them. Thanks. Now I can get this post done in less than two hours. Whew.

First up is a little sock I started with the Shibui Sock and the Yarntini. I really thought this would go better, but these two had trouble getting along. You see, when trying to do a little Fair Isle section at the top of the cuff, the colors were so close that you couldn't even see the design. Too little effect for so much work. Just above the mottley, supposedly Fair Isle is some striping, which also was not very satisfying. Sure, it's mildly interesting, but we're going for KAPOW here. (Rip, rip, rip.)

And then thanks to Crochetblogger (on Rav), who recently did a little assessment of Figknits and in the process (indirectly) reminded me to add some crochet to this project...

...I tried these same two in a crochet flower motif. Better, but the jury's still out. Also, I was made aware by doing this that the texture of each of these yarns is not so similar after all. We all know that a yarn can look different in the skein than it does worked up. Kinda like that "it looked good on the rack" phenomenon we've all encountered in dressing rooms...under harsh lights...in front of rude mirrors...

...but I've wandered. Back to the yarn!

This is the result of knitting Hazel Knits Artisan Sock Pacific with Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Fingering Walk in the Woods in a two-round stripe pattern. I like it! I like it, even though I now know that this Claudia is skinnier than the Hazel. It works anyway. Look how even the fabric is. It's just a mystery. After all the knitting I have ever done I still do not understand all I know about yarn. I am humbled daily. Oh and I emphasized "this" because we all also know that the same yarn in a different color can be lighter or heavier, whatever the case. I have often encountered this with Cascade 220 Wool. Some colors are lighter weight, although its all supposed to be the same. If anyone knows why, please enlighten me. Thanks.

Onward!

Oh happy day, we have come to my two standout favorites. I wish you were here with me now so you could see this in person. This is the happiest fabric on the planet. These roses, oranges, melons, wines, marigolds, caramels, piglet's ears! Every stitch is a party as I watch what two colors will be paired next. This is the Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Sailor's Delight and Wool in the Woods Cherub in (possibly) Sugar Maple. Needless to say, this works. This is destined to be a Wanda Nell in its original incarnation with sleeves to the elbow. I can't wait to show you when it's done.

And now, my personal choice as winner of the Great Sock Yarn Pairing Project is...

The Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Chocolatier and Schaefer Nichole in Julia Child. Oh, how I wish I could have gotten a better picture. This one just does not cut it. This fabric is perfect--soft as can be, smooth as if it were one yarn, and colors that meld together like chocolate and peanut butter. This "Julia and the Chocolatier" Wanda Nell is going to have long sleeves and it is destined to be my favorite cardigan of all time. Maybe when it's done I can get Natalie to photograph it well enough to convey its beauty.

Wish I could work on it more right now. The only thing that can pull me away from it is a cashmere lace shawlette design I'm working on. Too much delight!

I hope your current project is making you happy, too. Let me know which of these results you like best, given that you can't see them in person and must rely on my rudimentary photog skills, of course.

See ya soon!

Choosing Yarns for Wanda Nell, Part Two

2011-08-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Alternate title: Why I have no business buying any more sock yarn, part two.

I'm back with more pretties. I hope your eyes are ready.

This is a continuation of yesterday's post about how to go about choosing two different yarns to use together in two-color knitting. It's especially fun to work two hand dyed yarns together for a whole new effect. Some of the yarns here and from yesterday's post are solids, some have subtle shadings and some are self-patterning, which just makes for even more interesting effects when working them together in the same project, like the Wanda Nell.

First up is this yummy couple: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Chocolatier with Schaefer Nichole in Julia Child. Yes, it's all about food here. I'm hungry--how about you? I think these two yarns would make a delicious match. The Artisan Sock is 90/10 Merino/Nylon and the Nichole is 80/20 Merino/Nylon and they both have a sweet twist. One has four plies and the other three, but the 4-ply is spun a little tighter, resulting in a very similar gauge. I think Wendee and Cheryl, the dyers, must have had a mind meld, because these colors are perfect together.

For bit of a departure, let's look at two yarns more closely. This is Spirit Trail Fiberworks Alexandra in Honeyed Plums and Fleece Artist Nova Socks in Ivory. Both are 100% washable Merino and both have two plies. The ivory above is spun a little looser, but when they are knit together they result in beauty. I am working on a fingerless mitt with a bit of Fair Isle using these two, so I'll show you how they look together soon.

These two have a great color combo going for them, but you can tell that this Cascade Heritage in #5615 and this Sundara Sock in South Seas do not even have the same gauge. Sometimes you don't have to spend time doing a swatch to tell--it's that obvious.

And sadly this Lollipop Cabin Merino in #1336 only looks good propped atop this Crazy4Dying Go Crazy in Michelle. The second one's 100% BFL content is a far smaller gauge than the Lollipop Cabin's 100% Superwash Merino show you that not all sock yarns are created equal, for sure.

I think this is the happiest couple yet. look at those lively hues, those happy plies! On the left we have Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Sailor's Delight and on our right is Wool in the Woods Cherub in what I think is Sugar Maple (the label had no color name). The sailor's shorter color changes of pinks and oranges will work against the cherub's longer ones for a very happy marriage. It's a merino marriage of a three-ply and slightly fatter two-ply that works, in my opinion.

Here you see a more muted companionship between some Yarntini Merino Sock in Chocolate Cream and some Shibui Sock in #3001. It works well because they have exactly the same fiber content and the same ply count. Yarntini must have been the girl next door to Shibui growing up.

Lastly I hooked up a skein of Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Pacific with two different other yarns to see who was the best partner for this lovely skein of sock yarn. In this picture I was amazed at how well the Hazel went with this Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Baltic Sea, but was not so satisfied with the gauge match. The skinnier four plies in the Lorna's would be overtaken by Hazel's fat three plies in a fight to the finish--and finish well it would not.

However, I think I would like to see Hazel go a round with this Claudia Hand Painted Fingering in Walk in the Woods. Even though the twist of the Claudia is looser and sproingier, I think it would work. The fiber content is almost the same, so I think we will see Hazel and Claudia walking hand-in-hand through the park.

Well, darn, this has all made me want to knit up all the successful pairings! I think at the very least I could satisfy us all for the time being by working up a few swatches of some of these successful matches. I would really like to try some mosaic stitches with these lovelies. I'll be back after the weekend with some to show you.

Have a knitterly and relaxing weekend, if you can!

Choosing Yarns for Wanda Nell, Part One

2011-08-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

One reason I came up with the Wanda Nell Cardigan was to use some sock yarns I had in my stash. It occurred to me that there may be others like myself who have collected skeins and skeins of sock yarn and wanted to knit other things with them besides just socks. Yes, we could always make fine gauge hats and shawls and scarves and gloves, etc., but how about a sweater? I was already becoming obsessed with top-down sweaters and had begun to study Barbara G. Walker's fantastic book, Knitting From the Top Down. Looking at these big single skeins I had originally bought for socks, I realized that I could pair some of them up and have enough for a little sweater.

The first one I tried was with two different colors of Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Fingering in Shells on the Beach and Maple Leaf. I love how the two colors compliment one another in this 2-row striping technique. I chose to use the more subtle color for all the edges. Imagine if I had worked it the other way. That would have brought about a completely different look! So many options....

With my second sample of Wanda Nell, I was able to make it easy on myself and use all one kind of yarn. I had three skeins of Pagewood Farm Yukon in Sea Breeze. Even though they were the same color and from the same dye lot, I knew to alternate skeins. Earlier in my knitting life I made the mistake of ignoring those warnings to "always alternate skeins of hand dyed yarn--even from the same dye lot" with very disappointing results. Don't make that mistake yourself.

I thought it would be fun to discuss how best to choose sock yarns to use together, whether they are the same kind of yarn or not.

Note: You are about to see a glimpse of why I held myself to buying only two skeins of yarn at Sock Summit.

I generally use four points of criteria when choosing two yarns to use together, whether to stripe or for Fair Isle or mosaic stitching:

1. Fiber content

2. Twist/Ply

3. Gauge

4. Color

That last one is all about personal taste, of course, but the first three should be given careful consideration. Let's look at some examples.

These are two different colors of Cascade Heritage (75/25 Superwash Merino/Nylon), and even though they are the very same fiber content and the very same gauge and twist and ply, I probably would not use them together because one is a heathered colorway (#5631) and the other is a hand painted colorway (#9872) and more of a mix of clear colors. It would be fun, however, to use a flat grey (like #5660) with the hand painted one.

Here's a fun pairing, and I wish the colors had come through a little better--they are richer in person. On the left is Liberty's Yarn Bluetopia in Cider paired with Knit Witch Bridge to the Summit in Oregon Merlot. (Yes, two beverages.) One is a four-ply and the other a three-ply, but they appear to have similar gauges and they are both 100% Superwash BFL. Pretty close in my book.

But here is the Cider paired with some Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light. No match. One is a three-ply and the other is a single; one is 100% BFL and the other 100% Merino. I wouldn't even want to see the mating of these two, even though I love the colors together. I think I'll just let them snuggle for a while in my yarn closet and see what happens.

Love these two together, but again, just because of the color play. On the left is Lollipop Cabin Superwash Merino in #1334 and on the right is Pagewood Farm St. Elias in Bird of Paradise. You can tell by looking at them that they are different fibers, and even though they are plied similarly, these two would not create a smooth, harmonious fabric together because the Pagewood is a BFL/nylon blend and the Lollipop Cabin is all Merino. Sorry, guys. Back to your separate corners.

Now I'm totally in love with this combo--have always loved pink and gray together. However, these two won't be going on any dates because the Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Sassafras underneath is 90/10 Merino /Nylon while the Quince & Co Tern in Columbine is 75/25 Wool/Silk. They are plied the same (3 plies each) but as with the just previous pairing above, the fabric would not have a good, continuous surface to it, I fear. Break it up, you two!

Alrighty, I fear that may be enough yarn beauty for anyone's eyes for one session. Go rinse with Visine and join me tomorrow for more pairings. This is fun!

Thanks to Natalie for taking the pictures of me in the Wanda Nells.

Sock Summit Lite

2011-08-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Just as promised, I am back to give you my tiny take on Sock Summit 2011 in Portland, OR, this past weekend. I can only give you a very condensed report, because Kelli and I popped down on Friday and were only on the marketplace floor for about 3.5 hours. We took no classes, we saw no "celebrities," and we did not do Flash Mob. We just walked the mighty Marketplace. Here is my show book and button to prove I was there.

I went with a plan and some cash and promised myself only to buy two skeins of yarn. Mission accomplished. If you're going to narrow down all that yarny splendor to only two skeins, you'd better do it right.

Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Sassafras, because I need some dark socks.

Sanguine Gryphon Mithril in Blue-Green Music. I had to. This is lace weight merino with 8 plies. I know! I couldn't believe it either, but it's true. I cannot wait to knit this yarn into a shawlette.

The rest of my plan was to see eight of my people: Liz of MacKintosh Yarns (and her sweet mama), Joan of White Lies Designs (and her sweet hubby), Sarah of Sanguine Gryphon, Kathy at WEBS, the folks in the Gardiner Yarn Works booth (including Yvonne of Lavender Sheep), Toni of The Fold (good talk!), Jen at Hanks in the Hood (who we met first at OFFF last year), and Wendee of Hazel Knits. Little did I know I would see Stormy in the Hazel Knits booth, too! She was there from Texas, selling her beautiful eggs in Wendee's booth and probably taking classes at the Summit.

Another surprise was from Liz. I can't tell you about that yet, but it includes some beautiful green yarn!

Kelli and I even had time to take a lunch break and yawmp on the delicious lunch she made for us. I drove and she made us lunch. I love that arrangement. Thanks Kelli!!

Some other vendor booths that impressed me were Indigodragonfly, Rain City Fiber Arts, Huckleberry Knits, Tactile Fiber Arts Studio, Hay by Rachel, Sincere Sheep, and all the folks (and yarns) at The Plucky Knitter booth. These are all some very nice people, too!

Oh! And I almost forgot to show you my "tattoo" from the girls in the Knitters Brewing Company booth. Rocking, huh?

Try to get your self out to Portland in a couple of years when they (hopefully) have another one of these. Lots of fun, even if you only have time for a short visit.

I Blame Pinterest

2011-07-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

Are you on Pinterest yet? Well, be careful, because it's highly addictive. Since I have been "pinning" I have learned so many tricks and crafty bits I can't keep up with it all, except that Pinterest helps me to do just that. It has inspired me to be more domestic, and I already have strong tendencies in that direction.

For instance, Natalie (daughter 3) and I got together a couple of weeks ago and made flower pins out of old T-shirts. They are awesome!

When we returned from our trip Saturday, there were raspberries on the table. Nat and Jesse kept a check on things around here while we were gone and left us goodies. So I turned around and made us all raspberry tarts. Just some sweet pastry crust, vanilla pudding and raspberries with honey-raspberry-strawberry glaze. Too yummy.

At Tacoma Boys Tuesday I found a beautiful bunch of kale, so last night I just had to make Massaged Kale Salad, one of my very favorite things, to go with another of my favorite things, Vietnamese Salad Rolls. I cannot show you the salad rolls. I am lousy at rolling them. Must find a tutorial. They look bad, but taste so good!

And then today I am doing a little baking. What does this look like it's going to turn into? Something for a little road trip with Kelli tomorrow...to Portland! Can you guess why? Well, it has something to do with knitting for your feet. Hint, hint.

So there's a little taste of Pinterest for you. Put in your request for an invitation if you're not already on. You'll love it!

And I have been working, believe me. This is one reason I needed Pinterest and cooking and crafting and baking so much. After being gone last week I had to jump on the work Monday and Tuesday and whipped up and sent out four different design submissions along with my regular work. One of the regular work things has been this Fundamental Top-Down Women's Cardigan. In the picture you see what must be about the fourth draft of this pattern. Natalie and I are working on it before I send it to Tracey who will beat the bugs right out of it. I am so glad Nat helped me catch some of the most embarrassing of them. I don't mind being stupid in front of my kids--they've seen it before. I like to keep other people a little sheltered from that information, thanks.

In the picture are two new samples I started from the pattern, because the first three did not work. I was winging it before I officially did ALL the math and wrote up the pattern (very dangerous, indeed) and they were ALL destined to turn out about four sizes too big for me. Yes, these two are both for me, me, me. The hand dyed yarn is Schaefer Sandra in Florence Nightingale and the solid is Cascade Ultra Pima. These are two gorgeous yarns so I'm havng fun. On we go!

Now I'm off to wax the car and then bake! Have a terrific weekend--I'll be back Monday with a report on that Portland trip.

Norway

2011-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

I took this picture for you to show my take of goodies from our trip last week. We were waiting for the ferry to take us back to Anacortes from Lopez Island on Saturday morning.

Then I found out about the Norway tragedy.

I had turned on my phone to do a quick check, saw one of my peeps on Instagram post a picture with the caption "thinking about Norway" and then did a search and found out about the horrible thing that happened just the previous day. On Friday while this was all happening Fred and I were lolligagging about in shops at Lopez Village on the island just enjoying a fine day and a sweet life. I found this great yarn spun from the fiber of sheep raised on the island at the Lopez Co-op of Fine Craft Artisans, we grabbed up a loaf of rye bread from Holly B's Bakery, and I found these two cool old books about Norwegian at Maud's Used Books. While waiting for a restaurant to open so we could get some dinner, I perused the books and enjoyed learning a bit of the language and culture of Norway. The cabin we stayed in for four sweet days at Blue Fjord was called the Norway Cabin, complete with wind sock flag of Norway flying out front and a "Velkommen" sign beside the front door. I had no idea how much I needed to be thinking about Norway like all of this had me doing...until Saturday.

Those who lost loved ones in the bomb and the shootings on Friday, July 22, are heavy on my heart. What a senseless waste. It makes me appreciate my life ever more.

Ten Years

2011-07-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

This picture of me and Fred was taken just a couple of days after we were married ten years ago. We were at Mt. Rainier and I was in love--with Fred, with the mountains, with my new life. I still am.

We will be gone for a few days celebrating by pretending we live on one of the San Juan Islands in a little cabin in the woods.

I'll be back next week with more knitting hijinks!

Crew Neck or V-neck?

2011-07-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

Howdy all! Sorry to be so vacant* lately, but I've been trying to crank out the next cardigan pattern and it's taking a whole lotta thought...and math!

Meanwhile, it's been super birthday time around here, as evidenced by the tell-tale mantel chocked with cards. Well, in years past there've been more, but with the advent of this thing called the internets and "social networking," we all have let slip the snail mail greetings of bygone days. I mean to help keep it alive! After not sending my own mom a birthday card this year (in deference to her own preference for e-cards...huh...I said deference to preference...) I made sure to send one to both my sister this past week and to my mother-in-law this week. I also have on my to-do list, get this--writing letters. Yes, the kind with real paper and pen and a postage stamp. I know...how quaint!

Also on my list is learning all these things: How to play the recorder (both the plastic one and this cool bamboo one Fred bought me at Second Saturday Vendors at Freighthouse Square this past weekend--it has a llama etched on it), how to speak some German, how to eat more raw foods, how to become a better gardener, and how to make peach pit rings. That last one was found in my Dangerous Book for Girls. First I need to get my mitts on some peaches.

Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, I was asking you a very important question.

To my esteemed blog readers, when you choose a cardigan for yourself as one you will most likely wear and love, does this cardigan have a crew neck or a V neck?

I need to hear from you all, so please leave a comment indicating your personal choice. I am in the throes of cardigan configuration and need your valued opinions!

Thank you.

*Disclaimer: Author takes no responsibility for anything said or done during the airing of this blog post. She was awake from midnight until 3:00 A.M. the previous night and is running on at least 57% less brain power.

Fundamental Junior Cardigan

2011-07-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a week since we released the new Fundamental Top-Down Junior Cardigan pattern and I haven't even blogged about it yet! That's what kind of week it's been. It all got eaten up with holiday and birthday celebrations (which are still going on). One week ago we had a fun photo shoot with Keith, Nate and June Rose and they wore the cardigans while they played around at our house.

Here's Nate flipping some Syzygy tiles while wearing a cardigan made with Schaefer Elaine in the Dian Fossey colorway. This yarn is delightfully lumpy-bumpy and fun to knit. The Fundamental Cardigan can accommodate such a lively art yarn because of its blank-slate style.

And here we have little June Rose investigating our bird bath gargoyle and enjoying some cranberry juice while wearing another Fun Card made with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Supreme Purple.

Here's all three kids wearing cardigans--Nate even donned the crazy orange one that was too small for him. What a trouper! That one was made with Cascade Cotton Rich. Thank goodness we were having one of our PNW coolish summer days so these lovelies wouldn't mind playing in mostly wool sweaters for us. They were good models! Thank you Brooke and Jonathan for loaning us your sweeties for a little while. Thanks to Natalie for scampering around after them and getting some great shots!

The benefit of the Fundamental patterns is not their unique design. In fact, they are all very basic, timeless garments. Their appeal lies in the fact that each pattern has directions for at least four yarn gauges and plenty of sizes. You can use virtually any yarn in your stash with these patterns. The Top-Down Fundamental Cardigan patterns are like getting four patterns in one and each comes with a worksheet for plugging in numbers for each individual project so you don't have to highlight and navigate all the numbers at once. Each of these patterns is also written for either crew neck or V-neck.

Another perk is that working top-down makes it easy to customize lengths. This is especially great for growing kids and babies. I love , love, love top-down sweaters! They are also seamless, so when you're done with the body all you need do is add the button/buttonhole bands and collar. With the V-neck style, this is all done in one step.

I have really enjoyed working up the 9-10 baby and junior cardigans (see numerous previous posts) to get this pattern ready and with these I focused on options for button placements. Next up I am working on the Fundamental Top-Down Women's Cardigan and will be highlighting some other options here on the blog. Stay tuned for this. I know you are just like me--you can never have enough cardigans! By fall I will have this next one finished for you so you can make some for yourself to keep warm this fall and winter.

Thanks always to Tracey and Meredith for helping me get the edits done, to Stormy for the testing, and to Natalie for taking such great pictures of everything. I couldn't do it without you all!

Mosey Kit Winner!

2011-07-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! This is so exciting!

Just as I did with the very first Junebug Giveaway, I'll let the Random Name Generator tell you who wins the Mosey Cable Lace Wrap kit...

...and it's Katherine, known as GardeningKate on Ravelry! Get this. On my mom's birthday way back on June 5, Katherine bought the Iain, Jr. PDF download and little did she know it would win her this bunch of lovelies. I have messaged Katherine on Ravelry, so let's see if she can come and have a look and pick her yarn color. I'll keep you posted about that.

Thank you so much everyone for such a fun month! I am so glad that it brought us some new friends. I hope you all will check in regularly because I want to do more fun stuff. In between more games and fun I will always keep you abreast of new patterns being released (in fact, later today we have another new one!) and designs in the works. Of course there'll always be the personal antics, ruminations, and general craftiness that is figknits.

I'll be back later today with the new pattern release!

Mosey Grand Prize!

2011-06-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's the last day of Junebug Days? Where does the time go?

It's also the last day to qualify for our Junebug Days Grand Prize...

...a Mosey Cable Lace Wrap Kit, which includes a pretty Mirth bag (handmade by my sister Linda), a 32" ChiaoGoo size 4 circular needle, a Brittany Cable Needle Set, the pattern, and three skeins of Schaefer Nichole. The winner even gets to pick from four gorgeous colors (starting bottom right and go clockwise) Thistle, Clara Barton, Indigo, and Julia Child.

I will take all the names of you who purchased either a Figheadh or Mirth PDF download during the month of June and draw the winner.

This is my thanks to you for buying my patterns. If it weren't for you, there would be no Figheadh or Mirth at all!

I'll be back to announce the winner tomorrow. See you soon!

Wanda Nell

2011-06-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Look who's snuck in just in time to be a Junebug! It's our latest pattern, the Wanda Nell! I designed this simple little cardi specifically for knitting with sock yarn...some of my favorite sock yarn!

This was the first Wanda Nell I made using Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Fingering. I have a few skeins of this lovely yarn because it's one of my favorites. The twist is so sweet and Claudia's dying is to...dye for! Hahahaha. Couldn't resist. I used Shells on the Beach and Maple Leaf. They just seemed to be made for one another. As you can see, I chose the lighter colorway for the ribbed edges and then alternated the two colors on the body for some fun stripes. You can also see that I went deep with the lower body edging on this one. Also, the waist shaping on this first sample was a little shallow, so I fixed that problem on the second one.

This little cardigan was one of the most fun knitting projects I've ever done. It's knit in fingering weight yarn, but on size 4 needles. This makes a light, smooth fabric perfect for a smart short-sleeved cardigan. Since it's knit from the top down, though, you could make the sleeves (and body) as long (or short) as you want.

Here's the second version I knit in Pagewood Farm Yukon in the Sea Breeze colorway. This one is going to my Aunt Wanda, because that's who I named this one after. My Aunt Wanda has been very good to me all my life. She needed a pretty sweater made just for her.

This is how much yarn I had out of three skeins of the bamboo/wool Yukon yarn. I've got enough to actually make some knee socks.

The Wanda Nell is written for ten sizes from size two to size 20. The first six sizes take only two healthy skeins (450 yds) of sock yarn (fingering weight) and the last four sizes dip into a third skein.

That means I'm holding a sweater in my hands!

(Pagewood Farm Chugiak in Purple)

I hope you'll give the Wanda Nell Cardigan a try. And if you do, be sure to send me a picture--I want to see your unique creation!

I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up our Junebug Days celebration (is it almost over already?) with the Grand Prize Award! See you then!

Winner #6!!

2011-06-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, oh boy! We have a winner for the sixth Junebug Days Giveaway!

Small & Moody!

Congrats, Small! I have written you an e-mail about where to send the goodies. As for Vanessa and pinkundine, please let me know if you don't receive your prizes by about a week from today. I have been sending them in bunches, so some of you may still be waiting. Bonnie, Lorraine, and Peppermint, you should have gotten yours by now.

Thanks to everyone who played along on these little contests. It was oh so fun reading all your comments. You played along so well that I had no time to answer and I am so sorry about that, because I would have loved it. You guys helped me crack 50 followers here on Figknits and we are only 10 away from 100 on Figheadh FB. Hurrah! Keep 'em coming!

I hope to be back later today or first thing tomorrow to tell you about another new pattern. Until then, don't think we're done here. Remember that June is the time to buy a Figheadh or Mirth pattern, because when you do, your name is entered to win a Mosey kit, which I never told you more about. Stay tuned...I'll tell you about that later today too.

Okay, I'd best get crackin'. I have lots to do!

Giveaway Day #6: Happy Birthday to ME!

2011-06-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

The day I've been waiting for! My Junebug Day. Of course I have a giveaway today to celebrate my own birthday and it's a good one!

The yarn for today's prize is Zen String Lotus Toes in Calliope. This is 485 yards of superfine Merino Superwash, and it looks to me like it would be good for socks or gloves worked on a size 0 needle or for a lace shawlette worked on larger needles. Apparently, I've chosen another yarn from my stash that is extinct--I couldn't find any online.

The winner also receives a Mirth T-shirt and a size D ChiaoGoo bamboo-handled crochet hook. Don't be misled--it's not only crocheters who need crochet hooks. They come in handy for knitters, too. They make great tools for picking up dropped stitches, as well as picking up stitches for any kind of edging, and of course, for crocheting edges on your knitting. Really, though, you could also use this hook to learn some crochet, like to make a Clockwise Cap, which is really quite easy. If you really don't know a single crochet stitch (which is a real, actual stitch...single crochet) then check out our free Mirth Learn to Crochet Cowl!

(Well, of course I'm going to plug some of my own patterns. It's my birthday, so I figure I have license. I try to keep that sort of thing to a minimum, but let's be honest. I want you to buy my patterns! I think they're some of the best. Yes, I'm partial. Please indulge me--at least today. Chuckle.)

Remember the guidelines for this contest. We're still trying to reach 50 followers and more here on figknits and 100 fans on the Figheadh and Mirth Facebook pages, so see if you can help us out. Thanks!

Instead of listing other people who share my birthday today or talking about when I was born and all, I wanted to share with you one of the best presents I received this year. It was actually a joint present. My husband's birthday and mine are only ten days apart, so we sometimes treat one another somewhere between. This year, however, my daughter Natalie and her boyfriend Jesse did that for us.

Last weekend Fred and I took a wonderful overnight trip down to Astoria, OR, and when we returned, look what was waiting on our patio!

Here's the back story. I had been talking with Nat and Jesse about surprising Fred for his Father's Day/birthday by building him a raised bed. Fred and I have been talking about doing some raised bed gardening for years, but just have never gotten around to it. Well, instead of waiting around for me to find time to help them, these two industrious folks went to Gray's Lumber and bought the materials and with the helpful advice of the good folks there, brought it all back here to our house while we were gone and built the thing on our patio. They also gave us some soil and amendment, and some carrot seedlings they had grown, along with a watermelon seedling and a pumpkin seedling. What a fantastic combo both birthdays/Father's Day gift!

This past week we cleared a section of the back yard, yielding two bins of sod/moss stuff.

We set down the raised bed and readied the ground next to it for some new mulch.

Then we went to the Tagro-getting place for some middle dirt fill and then put a few bags of all-purpose potting soil down before adding the special mix Nat and Jesse got for us.

Then finally it was time to plant the carrots, watermelon, pumpkin, some chard starts that Nat and Jesse were given by one of their community garden neighbors (yes, they have their own raised bed in a community garden), and just yesterday we added some marigolds and a couple of tomato plants.

We're gardeners! And big thanks to Natalie and Jesse!

I am kicking back today and enjoying my favorite--some cherry pie that Fred made for me (I'd much rather have a birthday pie than a birthday cake) and doing some purely indulgent reading and knitting. For dinner I will be treated to Fred's famous lasagna. Life is good.

I hope you are enjoying today as much as I am, I truly do.

New Pattern!

2011-06-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hello at last! I've been itching to post all week but we've been so busy trying to edit patterns and do photo shoots I had no time! One of the things I promised back at the first of Junebug Days was some new pattern releases. Well, we finally just now these very last few minutes got one loaded up, and guess what--I'm doing something I've never done before. I am launching this one from here on my blog and for one day only, you can't even get to it on our site. You can only access it from our Ravelry store.

Before I give you the link, let me introduce you to the charming, industrious little Ryann. You guys know I have had a terrible time lately securing little models for these sweaters. Well, Ryann and her mommy Katie (huge thanks to Kelli) came to the rescue just this morning. My daughter Natalie snapped some gorgeous shots of Ryann doing her work. She moved lawn ornaments and rocks around...

Sat on her porch bench for us...

Did some artwork on the walkway...

And she pointed out doggies walking their people by the house, and even did some gardening with a real trowel. This little lady was so busy she wore us all out. Not once did she get fussy or annoyed at the three of us snapping cameras at her. She was a trouper!

If you have babies to knit for, you might want to check out the Figheadh Fundamental Top-Down Baby Cardigan. It's written for four gauges and includes sizes 3, 6, 12, and 24 months.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped with this photo shoot!

I'll be back very soon with more Junebug Days. The month is almost over, but the fun isn't. Stay tuned!

Winner #5!!

2011-06-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Junebuggers!

The winner for last Friday's Giveaway is...

pinkundine!

Pink, you'd better send me a note at jen@jenhagan.com and let me know where to send your package.

See you soon, everyone! Have a great day!

Giveaway Day #5: The Missing Week

2011-06-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hi! Gosh, I missed you folks this week. I got too busy editing patterns and knitting up samples for photo shoots and such. I hope next week finds me blogging a lot more.

How about another giftie?

This week we have some of the lovely Shalimar Zoe Sock 100% Superwash Merino in Pillow Mint. I gotta tell ya, I must love you guys, because this is a lovely yarn in a lovely colorway that apparently they no longer make (sigh). If you'd like this package with yarn, ChiaoGoo bamboo-handled size D crochet hook and a Mirth T-shirt, just go over the rules and leave a pertinent comment for me. I will leave this one up all weekend like last time. That was fun!

And seeing as how it is FO Friday, I'll show you the two cardigans I finished up this week. The one in back is a size 8 V-neck in Cascade Rustic and the one in front a size 6 V in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky. They are ready for little models!

And speaking of little models, look at just one of the shots from the Grandtwins' recent photo shoot down in GA.

If that doesn't make your heart well up, then you'd better check your pulse.

I don't know any Junebugs personally with birthdays this week, so please tell us if you do so we can celebrate them!

Have a fun weekend!

Winner #4!!

2011-06-13T03:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!

We have a winner for the #4 Junebug Days Giveaway and here she is...

Vanessa!

Congrats, Vanessa, and look for my e-mail to grab your mailing info.

Thanks to everyone for playing along and for all the great comments. You're making this a fun month!

Have a great day and I'll be back soon!

Giveaway Day #4: Are you a Junebug?

2011-06-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

The prizes (and a couple more packages) were just delivered to the post office, so all you winners from last week should see your goodies on the doorstep in about a week. You know what that means, don't you?

Well, it's high time for another giveaway!

The yarn for today to accompany your Mirth T-shirt and size D bamboo-handled ChiaoGoo crochet hook is Pagewood Farm Kiana, 225 yards of 100% Merino Superwash worsted-weight yarn in Plum. And for once, the color came through in the picture just about right! Kiana is a gorgeous hand painted yarn and super soft. This skein would make a nice scarf or a couple of hats.

You know the rules. Hit it!

I don't know any Junebugs personally with June 10 for a birthday, but if any of you have today as your birthday, let us know! And if so, your birthday is shared by a mix of folks: Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are illustrator; Judy Garland, traveller to Oz; Princess Madeleine of Sweden; and Hattie McDaniel of Gone With the Wind fame, just to name a few.

Now to change the subject a bit (okay a lot!), I just had to share some pics that I took yesterday when I went on a city photo journey with my daughter Natalie. I love this town--we have no shortage of the old architecture. May it never be erased!

Go find some old buildings in your town this weekend, maybe while you're knitting in public, because this is WWKIP week! Maybe I'll see you out there clicking your needles.

I'll keep the prize for today up for the weekend, y'all. Comment away!

WWIP #5

2011-06-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday to you! I had to take a break from the Junebug posts to whip up a couple of cardigans. Yes, I know! There's been lots of those lately around here. When I am working on a project, I go deep, I'll tell ya. It's a good thing, too. When this pattern's finally released, I think I'll have almost all the kinks worked out.

Here's one of the latest, a manly little size 8 in Cascade Rustic (wool/linen blend). I am about to plunge in and finish up the button band (buttonhole placements all marked out, ya see) and decided to take a break and come say hi!

I also need to wish Junebug Sophie a fond, but late Happy Birthday (yesterday was her big day)! Sophie has been one of our very favorite models the past couple of years. She's just a natural, don't you think? In the picture above, she is modeling the Learn to Crochet Cowl at the Pagoda in Point Defiance Park.

This is an important picture in more ways than one. The Pagoda, built in 1914, was recently vandalized and is undergoing a rebuild. Some juvenile delinquent thought it would be fun to strike a match to it. I don't have anything good to say about that, except that the parks department needs $400,000 more to rebuild this historical structure, after the government budget and insurance have each kicked in their share. You will see a page to donate on the page I linked above. Those of you in the Tacoma area might be interested.

We are very lucky in Tacoma to have the beautiful Point Defiance Park for our enjoyment. The Pagoda has been the site of many weddings and other happy celebrations. Fred and I were married in the nearby Rose Garden Gazebo of this same park and hike there pretty regularly in its old-growth forests and gardens and along the beach and walkways of Commencement Bay. I truly love it there.

Thanks for your patience with this stream-of-conscience post. The mere mention of Point Defiance Park got me going. It means a lot to me.

Be back soon with more Junebug fun and maybe even more goodies to give away! I hope your day is going well, whatever your mind is wandering and wondering about.

Special Little Junebugs

2011-06-07T05:32:00.000-07:00

I'm back to share some of the best news. I just found out about two little Junebugs and just had to tell you. Joanne Seiff, author of Fiber Gathering and Knit Green (two wonderful books you really should own), and my friend, had twins on June 1. These little guys just squeezed into being Junebugs.

Have a look.

Winner #3!!

2011-06-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who played along to try for a win on my Mom's birthday post! The name chosen by the RNG this morning is...

Peppermint Mocha Mama!

I'll be in touch, PMM.

Giveaway Day: LaRue & Bamboo

2011-06-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday to you! It's strange to be posting today, because I usually take a break from the computer on Sundays. Today, though, I have a very good reason for being here. It's my Junebug Mom's birthday!

In honor of my mom, who not only loves plants and is an excellent gardener (in fact, she's a Master Gardener!), I am including a plant fiber yarn in our giveaway.

Today's yarn/hook/T-shirt package features The Yarn Place Vivace, which is a 100% bamboo Dk-weight yarn. This skein is from the #30 colorway and has 250 yards--enough to make a flirty, soft summer neckerchief.

Here are the rules to try to win this package. Good luck to you all!

And happy, happy birthday to my mom, Margie LaRue (in a picture with me on my wedding day)! She's actually going to wince when she reads this because she has dropped the Margie and just goes by LaRue now. She even loves LaRue so much better that she gave it to me as my middle name. It's good to have an unusual name. The fact is, though, Mom, those of us who still think of you as Margie LaRue just can't help it. Please bear with us.

Here's another fabulous picture of my mom with one of her very favorite cousins, Wanda Nell, who is the mom of my cousin Vicki, who I wrote about on June 2. They have always been best friends as well as cousins, just like me and Vicki. Don't they look stunning?

My mom grew up in a lively household with one older brother and a passel of cousins. My grandparents took in all of my mom's first cousins (Granny's sister's brood) when their mom died, and they all became a bunch of sister/cousins and brother/cousins. My mom always complained of having to wear too many hand-me-downs and always being the little sister, but she loved them all.

Mom loved to play softball and loved to swim--even synchronized swimming--when she was young. After she had me and my sister, however, she went on to become an executive in the telecommunications field during a time when it was especially hard for a woman to climb that ladder. She is a tough lady, though, and made quite a success of it.

These days you can find her in the hills of NW North Carolina in her 100-year-old farmhouse tending her garden and researching family history, among other things. My mom is and always has been an inspiration to me to be strong, be yourself, and never give up.

I hope your day is going super well, Mom! Happy Birthday! I love you!

(Oh, and I am working on that blanket. I should have it knitted up just in time for your next birthday!)

Winner #2!!

2011-06-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

Hurray! The winner of the Camo Girl Superwash package from yesterday's post is...

Lorraine!!

I'll be writing to you, Lorraine, to find out where to send your goodies. See you all tomorrow for another Junebug post. Sleep tight!

What's in a skein?

2011-06-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

Hello! Thanks for stopping by. I am going to give you guys the rest of today to jump on board to win that last yarn package--I'll draw the winner tonight and will post the results before I hit the sack.

In the meantime, I wanted to show you the results of a very recent FO...and it comes with a question for you.

See these two hats?

Would you ever think they came from the same skein of yarn?

Well, they certainly did, and that skein is Noro Kochoran in the #57 colorway. The large-sized hat on the left is mine and it was knit first (sometime last year). The newer hat on the right came from somewhere around halfway through the skein. You can tell by what's left that I have about enough to make a baby hat, which looks poised to come out more like the first hat made from the skein. Ah, the wonders of long color repeats.

I churned out the medium-sized hat on the right in about two hours yesterday, thanks to the bulkiness of this yarn and the ease of using my Fundamental Watch Cap pattern, which has numbers for four yarn weights and sizes from baby to very large-headed adult. I needed a soft, warm, pretty hat and this yarn gave me just that. My hat made with this yarn is one of my very favorites and has been worn on many chilly morning walks--the angora (30%) component makes it soft and warm. The yarn made it a fun knit, too--watching the colors go by as you wend your way 'round and 'round is the best fun.

What in the world does this have to do with Junebugs? Well, this pattern and dozens and dozens more would not be so error-free and easy to use if it weren't for Junebug Tracey, my fabulous tech editor. I've been very fortunate to be able to work with Tracey for six years now. I don't know where I would be without her. Well, I have some idea--I'd be in tears from reading all the angry e-mails from frustrated knitters trying to work through my bad math, for one thing. Thanks to Tracey, we get the math done for you. She can also knit in her head. I can't do that, can you? Few people can, and that's just one thing that makes Tracey a rock star.

Happy Birthday Tracey! Have a wonderful day!

I'll be back tomorrow with a Junebug without whom I wouldn't exist! Yeah, more than mildly important. See ya soon!

Giveaway Day: Emily and Larry

2011-06-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Bonnie for winning our first giveaway yesterday. Let's have another one!

The yarn for this very special day's giveaway is the vivaciously colorful Skye Sock Yarn dyed by Liz of McKintosh Yarns in her Camo Girl colorway. It is 368 yards of 100% Superwash Merino. Of course it comes with a Mirth T-shirt and a ChiaoGoo bamboo-handled size D crochet hook. Actually, this crochet hook would work well with today's yarn to make something lovely in crochet stitches.

Make sure you've read the rules. Go!

Now to introduce today's Junebugs. This one was a toughie. The Junebug for today that I know best is none other than my firstborn, Emily Alison

Here she is in one of my favorite photos of her. It depicts her as the quintessential 80's chick that she is. She was born smack dab in the middle of 1980 and is quite proud of that fact. She watched the decade unfold and still loves all the insane disco music of the time and can actually sing (and dance to) most of it.

Emily has always been our little drama queen, beginning with her birth when she made us all wait almost 24 hours for her arrival. By the time she came, there was an entire waiting room full of folks applauding. And she craved applause from then on. Emily got into theater at a young age and I hope sincerely that when she has a break from being the mommy of the illustrious twins Malcolm and Lucy (seen very often on this blog), she will return to it. She can sing and dance like nobody's business and can charm the shell off a turtle.

Here is a more recent picture of her sipping an Italian soda during a lunch that she and I shared a little over a year ago. Isn't she just the cutest thing? I'm extra proud of her. She's the best mommy, too. Husband Randall and twins Malcolm and Lucy are very fortunate to have her around every day.

The hard part of this post was finding a famous Junebug to compare to Emily. She's so unique that my job was almost impossible. The closest I could find was, believe it or not, Larry McMurtry of Lonesome Dove fame.

Here are some things Emily and Larry have in common. They both grew up on a ranch. They are both the oldest of the family. They are both book collectors. They have both been book store managers. That's it. Maybe if I could have bunched together a few others I could have found more similarities. I tried Curtis Mayfield (Superfly) but about all they had in common was a high singing voice. I tried Boots Randolph, who also has one son and one daughter like Emily, but he plays everything but a flute and that's Emily's instrument. At least I don't think Emily's ever tried playing the sax. Yakity Yak much, Em?

Happy Birthday, my Sweet Emily. I hope your day is magical. I love you!!!

Winner #1!!!

2011-06-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd let my Random Name Generator thingy that Fred made for me tell ya!

Yea Bonnie! I'll be writing to you for where to send your Smooshy!

See you guys tomorrow!

Giveaway Day: Vicki & Martha

2011-06-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you about Vicki and Martha, our Junebugs of the day, after I show you what you can win today. Smooshy! Yes, I have a little group here of a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in the Wisterious colorway, a size D ChiaoGoo bamboo-handled crochet hook, and a Mirth T-shirt. In fact, every prize package that I give away this month will have the crochet hook and the T-shirt and a different yarn. Everyone needs a crochet hook handy, whether you're knitting or crocheting, and this size is great for picking up dropped stitches, for one thing. Another thing everyone needs is a crisp, white, new Mirth shirt. It's cute!

You know the rules. Go for it!

Now for an introduction. This picture is of my best cousin Vicki Lynn holding me in the pool. She was always either holding me up or by my side, being not just a good cousin, but also a good, good friend. Oh the many fun times we have had and I hope there's more to come. It's just at present she lives in GA and I am in WA. Too far apart! Vicki's birthday is today and I want to wish her the best day, a gorgeous day, a fun day.

I love you, Vicki!

Vicki and I went to the hospital together when I was six and suffered through tonsillectomies together. After we each got home, our moms had a little contest and kept up with how soon we were both "eating solid foods again." I think she won. I was a bit of a whiner.

We also both had little sisters. Here we are, the four of us, in a typical Poloroid shot with obligatory lingering fingerprint in the corner. Do the big sisters look like we are trying to exert some authority or what? "Don't forget who holds up the trees around here, little sissy!" And aren't we all attired so nattily? This must have been at one of the hundreds of family reunions we frequented. Dinner on the ground! Casserole heaven!

On the occasion of this my cousin Vicki's birthday, I thought I would link her with another Junebug born on this day, though many years prior. Martha Washington, our first First Lady. Here are some things these two have in common:

They are/were both oldest daughters of their familes.
They are/were both dark-haired.
They are/were both relatively height-challenged in comparison to the general population and married taller men. Much taller men. Neck-wrenching-to-kiss taller men.
They are/were both VERY happily married to those tall husbands and hate(d) to be apart from them.
They both love(d) reading and the theater.

Happy Birthday to Junebugs Vicki and Martha!

Things are going to fire fast and fun around here for a few days, because I'll be back tomorrow with another giveaway and two more Junebugs to honor. I hope I can give today's prize away before I can post the next one! See you tomorrow!

Junebug Days!

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hello! Welcome to our month-long Junebug party here on figknits. I'm not talking about real bugs, but those of us born during the month of June. Being a Junebug myself, Im kinda partial. I picked June to have this little fiesta because my birthday's this month and I wanna party all month long!

The reason for the partying is that in addition to releasing some new Figheadh patterns, we are going to be having some fun at some other Junebugs' expense and we'll be giving away some prizes. If you'd like to jump into the fun, here are the rules:

For this month only, whenever you see a post with "Giveaway Day" at the beginning of the post title, you know there's a prize involved that day. I will post a picture of the prize to be awarded. To be in the running, here's what you do. We'll use our random name generator to pick the winners.

1. Comment appropriately and pertinently. This is the only one required to get your name in for the day. Tell me why you'd like that day's prize, for instance. Then choose from any or all of the following tasks to up your chances. With each of these tasks, make sure to let me know what you did and make sure that I can contact you. If I can't follow your name as a link and find an e-mail addy or find your blog or site, please add that information to your comment. I want to be able to contact you to let you know if you win. Okay, here's the rest.

Caution: Please perform each of the following actions once--doing so more than once skews my numbers and does not increase your chances to win. Thank you.

2. "Like" Figheadh Yarnworks on Facebook. Help us get to 100 "likers" and beyond!

3. "Like" Mirth on Facebook. Help us get to 100 "likers" and beyond!

4. "Follow" my blog.

5. Post the Junebug Days badge (above) on your blog--please copy and paste it and make it link back to me.

6. Post about Junebug Days (tell your friends!) on your blog or on Facebook.

7. Join my Figheadh Yarnworks and/or Mirth group(s) on Ravelry and introduce yourself, telling us that you did so because you read about it here.

8. Sign up for my newsletter on the jenhagan.com home page.

9. Join in one of the discussions on either the Figheadh Facebook page or the Mirth Facebook page.

10. Send me a message on Ravelry (jenhagan) telling me what your favorite Figheadh or Mirth pattern is (and please add a heart to it.)

Thanks to Sandra Singh for all the wonderful ideas I was inspired to add here. She is the queen of blog contests!

There will be several giveaway days this month, but I'm not telling ahead of time. You need to stop by pretty regularly to happen upon them. All prizes must be awarded by June 30 and anyone anywhere can win.

On the days between Giveaway Days, we will be celebrating famous and not-so-famous Junebugs. For instance...

Did you know that today is Andy Griffith's and Marilyn Monroe's birthday? Here are some things these two folks have in common. They were born the same day in the same year (June 1, 1926). They were both actors and singers. I'm sure you knew that last one, but did you know that they both were born with different names than the ones that eventually made them famous? I'll bet you already know that Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Baker, but did you know that Andy was born Carl Lee Griffith? They were also both married three times (not to one another of course) and if you'll notice both their acting careers included "playing dumb" a lot. Think about it.

Just two famous Junebugs I hope I've enlightened you about. So many more to come!

Tune in tomorrow when one of my Junebugs will be someone I grew up with compared to a First Lady--both Junebugs! Oh, and if you are a Junebug, I'd really like to know.

One more thing. We are also going to give away a grand Junebug Days prize to one Figheadh or Mirth pattern purchaser this month. Every purchase of a Figheadh or Mirth PDF download enters you into a drawing for a Mosey Wrap kit to be given away on June 30. This is a very good month to buy some Figheadh and Mirth! I'll tell you more about the kit tomorrow. I've kept you long enough.

Enjoy your day and I'll see you soon!

Cashmere

2011-05-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

So funny how things work out sometimes. Just a couple of days after my post last Tuesday about the latest FO with Ravenwood Cashmere, Clara Parkes writes this article about it. Please read this article. As usual, Clara did a fantastic job with it. I have a few pictures to share with you from our trip this time last year to the Rasmussen's farm, where goats are happily living and growing this fiber on their wiggly little bodies.

Here are just a couple of the squirmy little goats. This year, the last count I got from Delia was 53 of these new goats who will hopefully be lending cashmere next spring. Some won't make it, though, and will be sold for other purposes.

Here are Delia and Reed Rasmussen, the owners of this lovely farm and all those happy goats.

They are primo folks.

As is Max, one of the Maremma who guards the goats from predators. He looks sweet, but don't get in the way of his job. He'll eat you.

And so will Sophie.

A lot of hard work and care go into producing this lovely, lovely yarn. If you want to keep up with just what all that entails, visit Delia's blog. You'll also find more cute pictures of goats. And that's sure to bring a smile.

Gratitude

2011-05-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

This will be a rare pictureless post because I just have to tell you about a recent bit of sunshine in my life. As a business, I have donated goodies to a few fiber retreats and events in the past. I usually mark it up to advertising and promotion and file it away. Most of the time, way most of the time, I never hear anything else about it. Once I donated to a sock knitting retreat here in Washington state and actually got two thank you notes from attendees of the retreat. I was flabbergasted. I posted about it here.

Recently, however, I had this experience wildly improved upon by the ladies of the River Cities Fiber Clan. This is my third year to donate to this retreat. This year, I sent them a few goodies for their April retreat, including a sock knitting kit for a door prize. Folks, I had already received about a dozen thank you's by e-mail over this past month from individuals who attended the RCFC's Fiber Frolic this year, and then yesterday I received a thank you note by regular mail with 26 ladies' signatures! Here is the list of donors for this retreat. That's a lot of thanking! And notice how well they make up this list for us all, including links to us (you'll find me under "Figheadh"). I'm here to tell you that this is rare.

I'm simply blown away. This is how to do things with style. I salute the members of the River Cities Fiber Clan. You are top notch! And you have vividly reminded me to be thankful in my own doings and to sometimes send a good old-fashioned thank you note. It makes a big difference.

Lace is Crunchy

2011-05-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

But it doesn't stay crunchy...if you block it.

Start with some beautiful domestic cashmere lace weight yarn...

...whip up a sample of the Lace Scarf (so crunchy) in partnership with your friend Kelli...

...dream all the while that it will turn out like this...

...as light and soft as air.

But only after you do this to it. Pattern: Lace Scarf by Jen Hagan

Yarn: Ravenwood Cashmere 2-ply Lace Weight

Kit: Buy Here

And now on Ravelry!

When the Dog Bites

2011-05-23T10:51:00.001-07:00

Mondays are usually pretty sloggy days for me mentally, so I thought I would take them to remember the good things, the beautiful things, my favorite things...

Tazo Chai tea
antique mother-of-pearl buttons in a jar

yarn with the name of the animal who gave the fiber

(Addison is Gotland and Chocolate Chip and Socks are Pygora and Gotland)

from Shaggy Bear Farms

I hope you're getting in touch with some of your favorite things today.

Buttons, Part Two

2011-05-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks for returning for part two of the button info! I hope I've passed on something to liven up your knitting and crocheting (because these ideas could work for either one). Let me know if you have more to share on this topic. We all need new techniques in our repertoire!

First up--you probably remember these two little guys from previous posts. The one in back is made with Schaefer Lola and the one in front, with Mission Falls 136. Both yarns are discontinued, but if you do a search I know you can find some. Both these cardigans have the buttons attached the somewhat traditional way. The crew neck one follows the pattern (soon to be released Figheadh Fundamental Baby Cardigan) and has the button band being worked and buttons attached before working the buttonhole band. This way, the holes are worked to match the already-affixed buttons. The V-neck cardi had buttonholes on both bands with one set of holes closed as the buttons were attached.

On these two bulky yarn samples, however, I tried a couple of different methods. If you've been following along, you will see that I traded out the original green buttons most of us agreed on with some that are a little more bright and a little bigger. The other ones were getting lost in all that Brown Sheep Lanaloft Bulky goodness.
The crew neck version has the buttons attached to a ribbon strip, as I showed you in yesterday's post, but this time I whip-stitched the ribbon to the band. On the V-neck version, I took some advice from Susanna Pfeffer again from reading her article in a VK Fall/Winter 1986 article. This was an experiment, so please excuse the messiness--you can see the stretchy cord ends poking out everywhere. Why? Because I made little "cuff links" with two sets of buttons, joining them with some stretchy bands and some stretchy jelly cord like you would use for making jewelry. A better way to join the two buttons would be to use wax dental floss (suggested also by Pfeffer) or even some elastic cord. Good luck with the elastic cord, however. I could only find it in the exciting colors of white...or black.
Here's a closeup. of course I will be dismantling these in this case and sewing the buttons on this sweater. Babies would only take them right off and eat them. Then the parents would be pacing the floor and hoping and praying for it (or them...or all!) to pass gently. And that's just no fun for anyone, now, is it?

I will try this on the next adult cardigan I knit up. I think it's a neat idea.

Share your button ideas with us. This was a fun exercise, and I'm sure there's a world of other ways to attach buttons to our yarny makings. What's your favorite way?

Buttons, Part One

2011-05-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm finally here with the first of two button posts I've been promising. We've been having some gorgeous weather up here in the upper left corner of the US and it had me out most of the day yesterday working in the yard. What fun! The day before that I spent a bunch of time working on something for my oldest daughter Emily. Her birthday is in 16 days and I'm making some surprises! Shhhh. She won't see this. She's vacationing in the mountains with the twins. Sneaky, sneaky.

On with the show!

Not only did I finish the two little cotton cardigans, but they're all blocked and buttoned up! The orange children's size 8, if you will remember, is made with Cascade Cotton Rich and the newborn one is with Mission Falls 1824 Cotton. The Mission Falls is one and a half skeins of the leftover yarn from this crocheted project. These are some comfy, soft cardigans!

Okay, let's go over how we did this. Having already been advised by Elizabeth Zimmerman to make buttonholes on both bands and sew the button to whichever side you want by closing the holes on that side, I made both of these little sweaters with twice as many holes as needed. They were each ready for either attaching the buttons directly to the fabric or...maybe there's another way.

Bingo! I found an article in my Fall/Winter 1986 issue of Vogue Knitting about attaching buttons using the "ribbon method." I already had in mind stitching a length of ribbon to the bands of a cardigan to pretty it up, but the "On the Button" article in VK by Susanna Pfeffer gave me an even better way to do it.

As suggested by Ms. Pfeffer, I cut some lengths of ribbon to fit the button bands and then lay a bead of Fray Check at each cut end. The article suggests zigzagging the ends, but I love my trusty Fray Check--so easy. I lay the strips on a piece of wax paper to apply the goo and then let them dry completely before attaching the buttons.

Then I marked the button placement on each strip of ribbon with my spy-gadget disappearing ink marker.

At this point, it was easy to sew the buttons to the ribbon instead of directly onto the knitted fabric (always a bit tricky). First I attached each button with a couple of passes through the button. Then I worked a thread shank between the button and the ribbon to make the button stand up a little for ease of sliding through the buttonhole--that's why each ribbon strip looks a little puckery once the buttons are on. Then I ran passes a few more times through the button before working one more shank treatment just for be-sures. You can also work up a couple of different looks for variety this way. The two above are for the little natural ivory colored newborn cardi. I thought it would be nice to have one look in pearly buttons on satin ribbon and one in wooden buttons on grosgrain.

Judge for yourself. Wood on grosgrain...or the pearly look in the top picture? Good thing is, you can change it out very easily. First I attached the strip through the back of the buttonholes on one side and then I buttoned up the remaining side just as you normally would. The test remains for this to work with a real, live, squirmy person inside.

Been trying to remedy that. I need models, folks. If any of you know someone with babies and kids in the Tacoma area who would like to have their wee ones model some Figheadh cardigans, let me know by sending me an e-mail please at jen@jenhagan.com.

I need to see if these really work on humans. Thanks for your help!

I'll be back soon with part two of the button fun. In the meantime, let me know if you have any other button advice for knitted and crocheted garments. I need your collective wisdom!

Whoopsuh!

2011-05-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

That's what my Granny Kate used to say when we'd fall down or run into a wall or something. I hit a wall today before I got the prep done to show you the button info I promised Wednesday. Sooo...

...instead I'll show you some highlights from this past week or so. All these are less-than-stellar phone cam pics, so please excuse the quality.

A little over a week ago Natalie and I walked a couple of miles from her apartment down to the Tacoma Farmer's Market. There are several in our area, with the closest one to home happening on Saturdays and the next closest on Tuesday evenings. This one is downtown and closest to Natalie. I got some bagels (pumpernickel--my fave!--and some onion-garlic for Fred) and some huge green onions for the fish tacos I was making that night. There was a lady selling crocheted items. That was good to see!

Here is the view from the top of the hill that Fred and I trudge up several times a week. It's kinda mighty. Those are our shadows. Look at that lovely panorama. Mt Rainier is just to the right down there (or over there, I should say).

On Wednesday I finagled Fred into taking me for some Pho! I have been trying to get around to that since I moved here nine years ago. You see, we are rich with Pho and teriyaki around here. This chicken pho was outstanding! The best chicken noodle soup I've ever tasted!

And I have an update on the caucasian baby doll pile. Yep, moved again. I went to the craft store today for some elastic cord and thought I'd check up on them. Now I get it. They are for making tiny bride and groom outfits (note Itty Bitty Knitties book on shelf above). Doesn't that seem twisted to you or is it just me?

Okay, I'll be back soon with that button info. Have a delicious (and hopefully infant-wedding-free) weekend!

WWIP #4: Swatches, Etc!

2011-05-11T12:49:00.001-07:00

Welcome and happy Wednesday! First I want to apologize for being a no-show last Friday for FO day. I spent literally the whole day trying to finish the orange cardigan shown later in this post. And yesterday I spent an unbelievable amount of time swatching for two designs.

This morning I got all the swatches washed and blocked--one big one and seven little guys. Whew. Why so big? Because it's for an Aran design and you have to get all the stitch patterns represented. Why so many little ones? I wanted to try an element of the design with different weights of yarn. I tried worsted, DK, and sport weight. I also wanted to see how it would look in different fibers, so there's a couple of different wools, a superwash wool, an alpaca, a wool/cashmere blend, and a wool/silk blend in the bunch.
What's this? Another swatch?

Fooled ya! It's a candle. Isn't that pretty? This was one of my Mother's Day presents from youngest daughter. I'm not usually one to leave candles unburnt, but I don't see messing with this one. She found it at Anthropologie (of course--the source for multitudinous pretty things!)

Here's the previously mentioned size 8 orange cardigan in Cascade Cotton Rich*. I finished her button/buttonhole bands and collar and wove in all her ends this morning. Now she just needs a blocking and some buttons. I plan to post about buttons Friday along with some FO pics. I learned some really neat tricks for adding buttons and I can't wait to show you. You see I've also gotten a good start on the size 6 cardigan with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in M-100 Supreme Purple. I know better than to promise this as a Friday FO this week. Maybe next?

*I can't find anywhere you can buy this color online, so no linky-doo. :-(

I'll also show you a peek at something that's been taking way too much of my attention lately. I can't help it! These things wake me up at night begging me to knit them. What am I gonna do?

You think I'm NOT going to make something out of these two gorgeous yarns? You're asking too much of me. This Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Corsage and Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 in Orchid wanted to play together and I couldn't say no. Could you?

See you soon, and why don't you give in to those knits. You know you want to. (Enabler I am.)

Collections

2011-05-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

Every spring I like to be on the lookout for fallen bird eggs. I guess this is my grown-up Easter egg hunt. The one above, nestled in a wad of yarn (of course) is my first find of the year and I spied it in my own yard last Wednesday as I mowed the lawn. There it was, perched precariously on the curb, waiting for me. You know what that means, though, don't you? Especially since we have no trees in our yard, it means that it was most likely dropped there by a robber crow who had just made a meal of its contents. Not a lovely thought, but nature is what it is--at times beautiful and horrible all at once.
Here's a few shells from years past that I found on our walks through the surrounding neighborhoods, usually along the hill on N. 29th where there are trees aplenty. I love the colors. I like to imagine that little birds pecked their way out of these and flew strongly on to complete an entire life cycle with no robber crows interrupting.

From the sublime to the ridiculously knitty, here's a funny image from one of the vintage knitting booklets I leafed through this morning as I did some research for a piece I'm writing. He may be full of the devil, but he's dressed well for it, don't you think?

From another knitting leaflet just for teenagers here's a jaunty quiz involving knitted accessories. You can't beat this. Not with a wooden knitting needle.

I particularly loved looking through this December 25, 1948, issue of Women's Weekly. A friend who knows I collect these gave this to me, thankfully. It's a treasure. There are a couple of knitting patterns and some romantic stories and lots of curious ads. The funniest one was for halibut oil emulsion for babies. Yum. "Goes unnoticed in the milk." Well, that's just cuz baby can't talk yet to tell you he "notices" it.

Oh, and of course I collect yarn. Here are some of the lovely skeins of Hazel Knits I have. I'll knit them up someday, but until then I just love looking at them.

What do you find yourself collecting? I'd love to know.

WWIP #3: A Mother-Daughter Project

2011-05-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

My youngest daughter and I have been working on a sample of the Lo Shu Wrap together for the past year or so. I started it and then Nat picked up the (yarn) ball for a while. She recently passed it back to me and I'm going to try and finish her up.

We put scrap yarn markers to remember where Natalie's section was. Look--you can tell no difference in gauge. Like mother, like daughter.
I had forgotten what a fun project this is. The pattern is one that I adapted from a panel pattern of lace and a moving column of knit stitches. I made it into an allover lace and cable pattern for this wrap. It's just enough pattern to keep you interested, but not such a challenge that you can't memorize it after a few repeats. The Lo Shu in the background is the first one I made in Pagewood Farm Tundra, which is a 70/30 blend of silk and camel--a very rare combo and one that makes it easy to wear for most of the year. I've even thrown it over a summer dress on a chilly evening. This is the Lilac colorway and is the one I'm wearing in the pattern pictures. This second version is in Cascade Indulgence's blend of 70/30 alpaca and angora--another rare blend that is making a very cozy, fuzzy wrap. This blue colorway (#508) is fun to work with, but Nat says the bunny fibers were getting to her a bit. Does that happen to you?

I"m keeping it bright around here this week in honor of spring by working on some more colorful cardigans. This is a size 8 crew neck cardi in Cascade Cotton Rich in color #1457. Just got started on the first sleeve. Think I can finish this by Friday? Stick around and see! I'm hoping to also have a good start on a bright purple one by then. I'll be back Friday to show you.

Pssst...if you haven't mailed off your Mother's Day card yet, you'd better get hopping!

My Monday Project

2011-05-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

After roller-coastery week of both extremely good and bad news, I was feeling pretty numb-headed yesterday. From the one-year birthday celebration of the grandtwins (good), to the horrible destruction of hundreds of tornadoes across the South (at least our family is okay!), to the excitement of the royal wedding (sweet!), to enjoying a sewing day with Natalie (also sweet), and then finally to the news of bin Laden's demise (bad AND good), I felt pretty jerked around. The perfect cure? Finish a project.

I had help from Creative Yarns in Macon, GA. The ivory yarn above came from there with the fabulous help of Christy Ott, owner of CY. First I ordered five skeins of the now-defunct-and-never-to-be-more Mission Falls 1824 cotton from Christy's site after a LYS search and then online search. Turned out she was actually out of stock, so she cancelled my order and refunded my card. Then do you know what she did? She contacted the folks at MF and bought about three bags of this yarn and then sent me my five skeins! This allowed me to finish this project I started almost a year ago with some leftover MF 1824 cotton I had in my stash. I wanted a little crochet piece to freshen up and springify the house. This is just the ticket.

Early yesterday morning (thus the dark pic) I laid out the blocks. I used the Coffee and Cream block from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. I had made some in monochrome and some mixy-matchy. Then I decided to line each block with a round of single crochet to make them easier to join.

Once I got all the blocks edged, I tried some different configurations to get it just how I wanted.

Then I put the strips together by single crochet into the back loops, RS together...

...and then joined the strips into the nine-patch one-piece using the same technique.

I then added a round of single crochet around the whole thing, then a round of double crochet, then another round of single crochet before finishing with two rounds of single crochet in the green. My original plan was to make it bigger, which is why I ordered five skeins of the ivory. I think I'm satisfied, which leaves three of the skeins for something else. I think I want to knit something with it, like a newborn cardi.

This little guy still needs a blocking, but I'm pretty happy with it. It does what I wanted--brightens up the place.

Along with Mr. Sun, who has made an appearance today. Ahhhh...That's better!

Friday FO! (#3)

2011-04-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Malcolm and Lucy (obviously) enjoyed their first birthday cakes this past Saturday (way down South)! They're wearing them in this picture. We finally got on Skype last week and got a web cam so we've all been talking to them and seeing them a lot lately. I've watched them eat blueberries and Cheerios, drive their little cars (sideways and upside-down), dance when you sing to them, swing on their mommy's hair, and clap for themselves often, loving it when you join in. And well they should--they are amazing, applaud-worthy babies!
Daughter #3 came over yesterday and we made a skirt! We went to Hancock and found the easiest pattern for a skirt ever and had the thing done in less than three hours. It was Natalie's first time on the sewing machine and she did great! I helped her with the tricky parts, but she worked on each step of the process. Don't you love this pretty fabric she picked out?

Here is our skirt FO. Hurray for us! And hurray for my 30-year-old (plus!) Kenmore. Still going strong!

I just have to show you some cleaning and organizing I got done this morning (trying to forget about a very important e-mail that is not coming...and not coming...and not coming). Those of you who were here with me for this will be amazed.

You can also now see the surface of my planning table, unlike in this post (again).

Oh, and you came expecting a knitting FO?

Well, here's one. I finished the last of the baby cardigans. This was the Mission Falls 136 one I told you about in this post. I still have to find and affix buttons, but it's close enough to FO for me!

The sun is shining here and I am going to go out in it for a bit. I hope you can see some sunshine today!

Signs of Spring

2011-04-22T07:46:00.001-07:00

Dadgummit. I told you guys I would do some posts this week besides just the WWIP and the Friday FO. I didn't even get those posted! There are some WIP's and FO's around here, but it was a weird week. I think it's spring allergies (or internal chemical conflagration) making my brain akin to pudding. Rice pudding. With raisins.

But, alas, it is Spring! Here's what has been going on around here, appropos to spring.

(Please excuse the fuzzy cell phone cam pics.)

Knitting on the patio* (in flip flops!)

Babies eating cuppy-cakes (having raised three daughters on Sesame Street ingrains the SS Speak)
Happy Birthday to Malcolm and Lucy this past Wednesday! They made it through the first year...with style!

And a pile of Caucasian baby dolls seen at a local craft store. This just stymies me. Every time I go in this store, these jobbers have moved. What is their purpose? Future Carrot Jockies, perhaps? That I could completely understand.

That's all I got. Sad, huh? I'm gonna go back to trying to finish a little sweater and figure out a swatch for a baby dress. Have a good Easter weekend! May you find ALL the eggs.

*I'll tell you more about this WIP next week. No, really, I will!

FO Friday #2: Cardigans & Cookies

2011-04-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

I'll show you some knitting FO's in a bit. First I have to show you what just came from the man in the brown truck. HARRY! Fred and I saw Deathly Hallows Part 1 in the theater last November, but I always love when movies come out on DVD so I can use the captions and not miss a thing!

Yea! A perfect recipe for a fun Friday. Finishing up the last of the baby cardigans, some fresh-baked oatmeal/raisin/Craisin cookies (which I've been sharing with folks dropping by today), coffee to go with, and HARRY! And here's a picture of my three little FO's from the past couple of weeks. The top sample is knit with Schaefer Lola in Dorothy Reade and the lower two are knit with Lamb's Pride Lanaloft Bulky. These are all for the next Figheadh pattern soon to be released--the Fundamental Top-Down Baby Cardigan in crew or V-neck. The pattern has been tested by Stormy and edited by Tracey. The next step is Meredith's edit and then I have to find models. I need big luck with that. I wish Malcolm and Lucy (grandtwins) didn't live 3000 miles away. They'd be perfect models! See? (They're turning one on Wednesday!)

Please excuse my depending on the already established WIP Wednesday and FO Friday for the past couple of weeks. Been deep into pattern writing and working on designs for freelance submissions. I'll try to do some homegrown posts next week!

Thanks for stopping by! Got a sleeve (and some cookies) calling my name!