Getting Beady-Eyed

I had been itching to knit with some beads.  I had some sock yarn from Lorna's Laces in some lovely pinks and violets  and some violet beads.  (It's still February, hence the need for the purple palette.)  I decided to knit the River Rocks scarf, from the book No Sheep For You,  that has been popular on Ravelry.  I settled in one evening,  frigid temps outside, Dr. Who on the telly and proceeded to knit a ...... Penthouse centerfold!  I was shocked by the outcome.  My knitting needles needed cleansing with holy water.  I shall spare my gentle readers and not post a photo - not that one was taken.  After some eyebrow raising by myself and a quick consult with Charlie, the first 5 inches or so were deemed pornographic.  I proceeded to rip.

Still feeling the need to experience the River Rocks,  I took up with some Art Fibers silk yarn from the stash and some multicolored beads.  Keeping with the theme,  river and rock colors were used.  If you care to imagine this in shades of pinks, you may conjure up a pornographic image of your own.

It was a lot of fun to knit, although my beads may have been a bit too big or maybe not uniform enough so I used one less bead on Row 4 of each rock.  

So Lorna's sock yarn ($1 at a yard sale, aren't I clever?) is back in the stash.   The violet beads were put into service with some leftover handpaint from Sandy's Palette.   Yeah! - it's late February 2009 and I'm finally knitting with wool!

Pictures of the "masterpiece"  will have to wait until the next post.....

Foray into Crochet

Way back in February, I needed to see some color.  It is the season for my perennial "Fit of Bad Taste."   This scarf is on the cover of Vogue Knitting's little book of scarves, in pastels.  I had a boatload of crochet cotton in country club golf colors - probably from the '80's - so off we went.  All the little circles and rectangles are crocheted separately with tails attached.  Then they are sewn together.  It was tedious, especially to make a scarf so appropriate for clown wear, but I needed to do it.   So now, here it sits.  On a fine spring day soon,  I shall wear it with a crisp white cotton shirt and a pair of jeans.  Perhaps some heavy silver to complete the look?

Unfortunately, this did not do the trick as I was feeling the need to get more color and more cotton into my daily life.  I went back to the stash and pulled out all the cotton yarn and crochet thread that I could find and crocheted this monstrosity:

It's my latest shopping bag! It's hanging on the cellar door knob on top of last summer's creation which is a bit more jazzy thanks to the iron-on flower-power appliques.  The grocery store baggers always comment in that ambiguous way -  "Did you make this yourself?  No kidding?" - "Wow, that's really something?"  I choose to be complimented.

I've been dragging some such-bags to grocery store for years and am usually met with eye rolling and a sigh or two from the cashier.   But now, with the latest "economic downturn", suddenly everyone in the check out line is all chatty about it.  I usually preen and comment on how environmentally and economically friendly they are.  Not only am I not using new bags, the yarn/thread is from second hand market.   Not much to pick up from my house on trash collection day.

How fickle we can be.  We picked up some re-usable grocery bags when we were at the Huntington Beach Trader Joe's last month.   They get to ride around in the car now.  (Ssshhh, I think Charlie prefers them.)  I'm still partial to my babies though. I promise to grab them when I'm leaving the house; when I remember.   My wandering eye noticed the new re-usable bag at Target in today's Sunday flyer.  It may be vying for my affection.  Re-usable shopping bag monogamy - who knew it could be so challenging?

  

Me and da Boys

Here's more of January's knitting.

This newborn sweater is for baby Hudson.  It's a simple knit/purl, sort of a broken rib pattern, made with Cascade's sock yarn.   The buttons are antiques from the button box.  I really like this little guy.  It's quite manly yet soft.  I used Size 2 needles - my favorite.

Next are two more sweaters knit with Bernat Jacquards - Country Kid colorway.   I love working with self-striping yarns.  The first is a pullover with two more antique buttons from the button box.  It's a Size 1 for Nathan.

The second is a cardigan, Size 9 months, for Hudson.  I'm thinking spotted owls - aren't you?

I did a little planning with these.  I started the cardigan  with the stripe that seemed to be the widest.  I then did the sleeves using just the brown stripes  and did the button bands with the green and oranges.  When I started Nathan's, I started with the sleeves in the browns and hoped that I would have enough.   It worked out nicely using the remainder of the ball; the yoke is in the green/orange and there was enough of the brown left for the neckband.

The next two cardigans are quick little ditties in a cotton blend yarn from Bernat.  One ball makes a sweater and it comes with three duck buttons.  Both are in Size 1,  The green one is for Nathan,

and the blue one is for Hudson.

These were really fun to knit.  The pattern is included with the yarn. There's the cardigan pattern here and also a pullover pattern.  I chose the cardigan because it used all three buttons. Putting just one button into the button box bothers me.  I used the pullover pattern to knit Nathan's spotted owl pullover.   Of course, I knit the bodies in a circular fashion to avoid side seams. 

I also made a Size 6 month old hoodie for Hudson.  It has cables and is in another manly blue yarn - Fantasy Dark Horse yarn - Nylon/Acrylic blend.   In my rush to the post office, I forgot to photograph it.

Next post - What's been going on in February?

Blog, Already!

Ok, Ok.  I've procrastinated long enough.  Here's the start of my blog.  I'm going to keep a record of everything I knit during 2009.  As it moves along, maybe I'll add some tips and patterns.

Here goes!

January was "knitting for babies" month.  I knit a few things for Hudson, Ally and Nathan.

I finished this cardigan for Ally during the Rose Bowl.  I used an acrylic, self-striping yarn, Berant Jr. Jacquards Pink-o-Rama.  I knit it in one piece from sleeve to sleeve so that the stripes would be relatively the same width.  Once I got to the middle, I knit from the other end of the ball.  I knit all the edges in hot pink to give it more continuity.   The buttons are antique shell buttons from the button box.  Adorable, non?

More for Ally:

Here's a little hippie vest.  It's knit from homespun in garter stitch, also from side to side.  I used Nicky Epstein's trick of adding three extra sts at the bottom edge and then unraveling them when it is done. 

Voila!  Looped fringe!

A sleeveless shell with a lace heart on the front.  It's knit Mandarin Petit, a cotton yarn on 2.00mm needles.  I finished the edges with reverse stockinette.  It also has an antique shell button at the back opening.

This pattern is from More Paintbox Knits and is knit in a sport weight cotton.  There's a purchased applique at the neck.

I got the idea for this little vest from a visit to the shopping mall.  It's knit with Rowan all seasons cotton.  I knit it one piece to the armholes and then divided for the bodice.  I picked a vine lace pattern from one of Barbara Walker's treasuries, added a row of eyelet beading and then used an allover eyelet on the top.  It's finished with  reverse stockinette rolled edges.

Next we'll look at Hudson's and Nathan's sweaters.