Hey all! Long time no see, right? Well, I bring you a free pattern to make up for my absence.
It is called the iBand. It is basically an i-cord around a headband. Simple. Stylish. Quick!
Enjoy!
October 1, 2011
A Cool Encouragement
October the first and here I sit trying to juggle more knitting projects than I should…not to mention getting started on this years Christmas gifts.
Thanks to my dearest friend I was able to pick up my Hemlock Ring Blanket and continue on its loveliness. I didn’t have needles that were sufficient enough to house all those little stitches. Now they rest on a nice long cable and I can resume to watch it grow to completion (in which I am hoping this month).
Hurray Fall! Come to me! Make me knit things to keep warm!
March 30, 2011
Centering
I have begun.
Renewing, cleansing, shaping…
Flying Yarn Maiden is getting organized.
I am working on making the patterns clean and easily readable (which I think Ravelry sends out notifications on updated versions to download). Uniformity is key. Like unique signitures and such.
I am sitting down and reviewing my goals for this year. Yeah, it is almost April, and yeah, I should have been doing all this yarny revival stuff back when we all kicked off our New Years with those silly Resolutions. But, I didn’t and this is where it all stands. My cells really don’t feel new until the Spring anyways.
Speaking of Spring…who sent all this sleet mumbo jumbo this morning?
March 27, 2011
Spindling at the Close of March
Spinning.
Equals good moments of woolness deep within a relaxed mindset.
Yum.
1
Being some beautiful merino wool purchased from Sheep Street two years ago.
The color reminds me of the layered rock landscapes from out west.
2
This is “Beloved” by Fat Cat Knits.
I seperated the red bits from the green bits and only spun up the red so far.
Again merino! This will become some hat for the husband.
3
In progress spinning “Curry” from Fat Cat Knits, falkland top.
Super squishy! Yes, that is a Kundert spindle!
March 22, 2011
Marching..
…to a tune that is suffering from AADD.
So the challenge has shown how *rebellious I am. Yes! I am a rebellious knitter. I don’t like withstraints. So I didn’t knit much because I felt guilty if I wasn’t knitting a hat.
For the record, I did finish the Castiel hat. Rake’s Moss is still only rows from completion. I began working on Limpetoile but ripped after four inches into it.
On the other hand I blended wool and alpaca on a drum carder yielding enough to spin up for a splendid vest for the husband. I purchased three new roving colorways from Fat Cat Knits. And have fallen in love with spindle spinning again.
The hat release will be a solo act. I have had some misfortunes in design and ripped and reknitted too many times to count. It will be lovely though. When released the pattern will be availble for $3.50.
Another hint you ask? Its name is Salx.
**rebellious could also stand for lazy, mindless, defiant, procrastinating
March 1, 2011
March Mad Hatter Month
The month of March I claim forever on to be March Mad Hatter Month! In which one tries to knit as many hats that month as possible!
Ah, Monday evenings. What better to do after a long day of work than knit?! Last night I began knitting Woolly Wormhead’s Castiel. Today is Tuesday, March first. Let the madness begin!
I am using a yarn I haven’t worked with before. It is Yarn Bee Snowflake Wool Blend. It is sproingy and slick. Quite nice. It is probably because it is made with Polyester (56%wool/44%poly). It is a DK weight and might work well as thicker socks?
With this pattern I learned how to tubular cast on. Which makes a beautiful edge for working rib patterns.
The pattern is a lovely slouchy hat with interesting lace column rib. The lace pattern is easily remembered. Now I should really go knit like mad so I can make my next hat.
Next: Finishing Rake’s Moss and beginning Limpetiole.
February 6, 2011
Unfoiling the Foilage
This week I am on a mission to overcome my disgust with top-down hat designs. In all my knitting career (in all of my hat excursions) I have only knitted one, one, ONE!! top-down beret. My turnoffs? The starting of the hat. I totally bah! off the juggling of four needles within the first few rounds and slide out the needles from the dozen stitches, neatly unravel and rewind the yarn, pat it on the head and place it to the side with an unguilty closure. That is just how it is.
It has been four years since the pattern Foilage has been published. That is four years of drooling, coveting, lusting….(*cough*)
“Enough!
To all this madness and just knit the bloody thing!” I so said to myself. Which in turn produced progress and eventually completion.
Ahha! Huzzuh! Top of the crown defeated…
the rest was a slice o’ pie!
The End.
Well, this attempt didn’t really change my mind about top-down hats. I still loath them but at least I gave it chance. I like this hat but I will be frogging it to make something else. I didn’t change to a smaller needle for the ribbed brim (which was a major mistake) and if I did this hat would be more of a success. My biggest icK about the hat (design) is the crown. I don’t know if I enjoy walking around with a huge ‘X’ on the top of my head. Another fail to this project is the type of yarn I chose. Self-triping handspun yarn is not good choice with this pattern. If I would have used a smooth solid wool I think it would have been nice. I think that I would have accepted the poor hat. O how discriminating I am to my knits. Poor poor knits.
Just to clear things up on my feelings of the actual Foilage hat and pattern. The pattern is brilliant and the hat is beautiful and I still love it. But our relationship together was not meant to be.
Nope. So frog it must and hopefully become a cabled slouchy beanie.
February 1, 2011
Fiori Pesto
Fiori Pesto w/ celery and chickpeas (vegan!)
1.5 cups of Fiori pasta; cooked
5 tbsp Pesto (or amount desired)
3 celery stalks; chopped
1 cup of chickpeas; cooked or from can
Mix all ingredients together and enjoy! Flavors become more unified after setting for an hour or so.
January 23, 2011
truth serum
I have a surprise.
This post I would like to talk about my knitting, like the kind that is actually on the needles, my WIPs. Some of them I don’t really want to be doing, some of them I have found urgencies with and some because I am rebellious and just casted on within the past few days to say poo poo to the prior mentioned “somes”.
The first one falls into the catagory of Don’t Wants and is rather a small, quick project that in reality, obviously not mine, it should not bother me to whip it up. My friend just recently adopted a dog. It is a Shi Tzu Poodle mix and quite tiny but was such a mess of long hair that my friend instantly made an appointment with the groomer. She came to me and requested for a sweater so the poor dog would not get cold. She brought me a bag of yarn (acrylic novelty yarn) and promised dinner and beer when the sweater was done. I stand only inches away from completion and that beer is not motivating me one bit. Besides I can buy my own beer (holds up glass).
Moving on, brings us to what I am now calling Shirley at the Disco. A hat. A hat that I began before Thanksgiving and am on my third reworking due to not owning a pair of US11 16″ circs and thinking my size 10s would get me by..ha! Not so. This project (as of last night) has gone into the Urgency catagory because I now need those recently purchased US11 16″s to cast on for a new hat design. So today I made it a obligation to complete the hat. Only inches away from completion I get impatient when coming to a close (pun intended), especially when the recipient is someone other than myself or husband. Meer moments from a nice and tidy gradual decrease and suddenly I become chaotic and tragic and begin to knit two together like a madwoman until the hole is closed. The work looks a little messy but can pass inspection by non-knitters. This how the end of Shirley at the Disco came to be. I added some flare by way of an i-cord top knot. I have developed a respectable obsession with top knots to my hats. It is almost like a juvenile charm – a bit of a whimsical decor to keep the bearer young at heart. I consider it a clever coverup for the impatient (imperfect) decreasing rather than making a pompom. I still have yet to consider my feelings toward pompoms. Maybe I have a prejudice because I haven’t constructed a “successful” pompom? For now I will keep my top knots!
Oren Lavie is playing in the background right now and my beer is empty.
My rebellious knits? O yes! They consist of a lucious cabled hood made in dusty blue and secretly continuing on sweater I began back in October…not much to say of those. They are still in the works.
January 7, 2011
socks
In the beginning there are full intentions. Every stitch and row after is like sailing across the ocean and loosing all faith to ever see land again. Or so that is how I feel when I knit you. I want you. I love you. But our relationship is somewhat fictional.
