stitch marker

eden larissa rhubarb and a pink pink sweater

Photo by Sarah Gilbert.

Yes, you have seen this sweater before. But I love this photo and wanted to show you. At our farmers market there's a place called Cafe Velo that custom drips Stumptown single origin coffees in ceramic cones. I had ordered some sort of coffee that had "eden" in the name, but I was knitting the sweater for the daughter of my good friend Eden and so asked Sarah to photograph the cup and sweater together.

I haven't seen enough of either friend, Eden or Sarah. I'm sad about that, or, more wistful. There should be more friends together time. I miss people, I miss my dog, I miss my family from traveling, even for a single night.

But Berkeley was lots of fun! I had a wonderful interview with Mike from YKnit (you must click here because we are toooo cute,) and visited Mrs. Dalloway's Books where they were so kind to me. Aurora works there and is someone who knitted pieces for our book.

When I returned I found out my previous trip to Denver continues to pay off. Our book is on the Denver Post bestseller list this week! This is really amazing to me. I didn't imagine a knitting book could do that. I'm thrilled.

Have a cup of coffee with me?

if you are eden, don't click this picture

Unless you want to see your baby's finished sweater before I mail it!

Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Sweater from Knitter's Almanac.
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy, in Petal Showers colorway.
Vintage buttons from Button Emporium in Portland, OR.

the days are longer, but not long enough

This little sweater is almost finished. Almost.

But I had to take a break because I got the most amazing opportunity to take an all-day class with Annie Modesitt yesterday. I took her Twisted Float shrug class (more on that after I download the pictures). Today I'm making up for lost work time over the past two weeks.

While I sit, head bowed over grant proposals, the hops are starting to climb. Birds are chirping in high gear. Our locust tree is getting its leaves, to join the leaves already out on our vine maple and hawthorn.

Sebastian is practicing saying "I'm three." So very big. He puts a piece of paper on his head and says "This is my house, Mommy." A piece of straw, "This is a propeller, Mommy." When it's time for bed, "Snuggle me, Mommy." Every second I look at him he breaks my heart.

So so many things I  want to think about, read, cook, knit. I wish I had another entire day for every actual day.

just some knitting

April has been wild already. The rest of it is full. May is lousy with birthdays, book signings, and more. But today. Today is a still point. The epitome of Sunday. I think I'm going to head out to the Abundant Yarn Sunday brunch potluck and see where I go from there.

My friend Eden visited from Boston with her 3-month-old lovely little girl, and she picked out this tender Dream in Color Classy yarn in the Petal Shower colorway. So pink, and yet with a slight edge, it's knitting up like a Neapolitan dream. This is the start of Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater from Knitter's Almanac, a pattern I've wanted to knit for ages. Ages. I have desired to knit this pattern and never fit it into what was happening. Today it could even get finished, all at once. It's such a tiny gem.

And this is, after all, a whole Sunday.

an updated feather & fan

The re-written pattern for this bonnet is here:

Download juniperbonnet.pdf

.

did it! all!

Photo by my sister, Lynette Golden.

Besides finishing the vest, the night before the wedding, we celebrated, saw off my little brother (who yes, looks like House) with his lovely bride (eee!), met my sister's boyfriend with whom she's extremely seriously going to get married, wore my fabulous dress and shoes, saw Betsy Ross House (my choice of one Philadelphia landmark; she was a seamstress after all), ate a lot of good food including lots of waffles at various hotels, and made it home through all our airplane rides, including two planes alone with just me and Sebastian. The little man loved his new uncle (the very seriously going to get married one), and had a great time getting re-acquainted with his aunt.

Ahhhh, it's so good to be home. He's asleep, probably for about two days.

knitted, steam ironed, ready for edging

Thanks to Barbara, for teaching me how to cable without a needle (while she was driving and I was in the seat directly behind her, so she did it all by explaining verbally, how cool is she?), and to Kay for her exuberance about ironing. Ironing made it so beautiful!

There is one mistaken stitch--a purl where a knit should be--really far down in one cabled part, and so that is staying in. It's the stitch that proves it's handmade. ;-)

And now they have me seam just one shoulder, then pick up the neck and rib flat. Because I'm inclined to do things in harder ways than they need to be done, I knit the body in Cotton Cashmere on size 4 needles. That's thick yarn on relatively small needles, for those who haven't used it. And yet, for the ribbing I go down even more, to a size 3. Wrists, beware.

I may not get to do that until late tonight. I'm working a lot - like paid work - today. But I think this could might will happen.

deadline knitting

The reason you may not have heard from me? My little brother (Ryan, or as Sebastian calls him Unkie Ryo) is getting married in 6 days, and my son is wearing this harvey vest. It's a Rowan pattern that I'm making in Cotton Cashmere with a bajillion little cables. I started it a while ago but have not been focused, and so by yesterday I was not nearly close enough. I had two days off, and so have not lifted my head out of my knitting fog for those two days, except to eat a LOT of cookies, take one bath, and run 2 miles, y'know, for health.

Yesterday I knit on the MAX train, while waiting at PGE Park for the lovely Barbara and Melissa to pick me up, all the way to Canby for the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, all day at the festival, and on the way back. I'm almost finished with both the back and front. Then I'm on to the armbands and neckband. And the wedding!

all aboard

I'm finishing things. I just want to get through a certain number of unfinished projects (I'm not sure of what number that is) so I can move on to another wave. I have some knitting to do by late September for my little brother's wedding, so I'm feeling the crunch.

So following up the simple cabled blueberry socks, I have The Bootees. They are Cute. In the pantheon of cute they sit in a high place. They made the desired impression on my neighbor when I gave them to her and congratulated her on her new granddaughter.

Pattern: Saartje's Bootees
Yarn: Shibui Sock in Sand colorway
Needles: US 2 straight (If I do these again I may try Adrian's circular method. There was a lot of fussy sewing for such a small project. Though the results are worth it.)
Buttons: From a garage sale haul.

These are great booties. So damn cute.

Almost as cute as what's happening right now:  Martin blowing a horn in Sebastian's bedroom and telling him it's "the sleep barge" coming to put him to sleep. "Everybody on the sleep barge gets their own blankie, and their own doggie, and their own water bottle." Look out; here it comes.

sweet

The sweet baby cap from Gros Blog, via Hello Yarn.
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock mediumweight in Moss Agate.
Size 1 needles
2 days

And a ton of yarn left, or a few ounces anyway, for the new mom to make something to go along with it! And no, Sarah, even though you jumped the gun and started having contractions yesterday this is not for you and Baby Monroe. You're not ready yet. And I am not ready for your baby either.

let the blue (or pink) knitting...er...commence!

Photo by Sarah Gilbert.

We're just not sure.

I mean, we're pretty much sure. Sarah described it as 98% sure when she called her husband who'd gone off to Kansas for the Army. We both swear we saw boy parts. But Sarah had a most uninformative ultrasound with a very unforthcoming tech who could would not confirm.

Doesn't he understand the implications of his nonchalance?  That now we will have to knit in green and gold and purple?

Good thing we like those colors anyway.

too many spoons in the pot

My little Drive Thru sweater is almost complete, and will fit Sebastian for about 2 weeks. But a cute 2 weeks!

I often have too many things going on, creatively, physically, every which way. I've been like this so long, it's almost a joke. My husband makes signs with slogans like "No New Ideas!" and posts them around the house.

But with the first draft of our book due in a couple days, and with just so many many things I love being interested in and tapped into, I've hit a soft and unmoving wall.  The tempurpedic version of the wall.  When I sit to create something -- written or knitted -- half the time my mind responds with a dull no.  I love all the work I'm doing so much, my baby, my book, my house.  It's all exactly what I want out of life.  It's less rebellion, more drowning in marshmallows.

Mom said it well the other night. She meant to say something about too many cooks and something about too many irons in a fire, but it came out "too many spoons in the pot."  For me that's totally, totally it. 

I'm keeping keeping on until April. I used to think March was going to be the great time when a lot was done and I'd have fewer spoons in this pot. But now it's April.  Come on, April.  We can make it.

cave woman progress

I think it was Ursula LeGuin, but I'm really not sure and can't find a source, who wrote that it was easy for cavemen to tell exciting stories about the hunt, but that it wasn't so easy for the cave women who did repetitive work to tell stories about wrestling berry, after berry, after berry from the bush.

That's how I feel about any knitting I might show you tonight. It's good, I did it, and it's likely dull as hell to look at. If you're really curious, it's 5" of All Seasons Cotton in stockinette stitch on the little man's Drive Thru sweater.

Some more exciting things came to pass, though. M learned to knit! He's been threatening to do so for many, many months. I guess he thought with the book due in a few weeks this was as good a time as any. He went to Abundant Yarn's drop-in class tonight and Pat got him to make this. "It was going to be a washcloth...It's a bookmark."



And in the mail today, we got 4 more squares! I have to admit that I was a bit surprised at the fewness of them. That brings us to 27 total in hand, and we have about 400 people signed up who are ostensibly making them, with just 2 days left to get them here. I'm thinking either we're going to have a very high non-completion rate, or the UPS store is going to be reeling tomorrow.

However, even though they were few they were mighty. Very very pretty squares and all four went together and matched my coffee cup. Thank you Dana, Jenn, Michelle, and Beth.

p.s. Despite the truly wretched nighttime photos in this post, I do think I have a couple sources of photo tips and one or two of my own amateur insights to share about taking knitting photos for blogging. I'll write a post about that to answer a question or two I've gotten about photos. But please note, a lot of the good photos I use are credited to Sarah, who takes gorgeous photos and shares them all with me because she's a generous and kind person. She wrote here about her film camera, and about not taking digital shots. She takes no digital photos. None.

an ideal situation

Sarah took this photo of me back when we were on our way to the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. It's got my car, which I have a sweet little love affair with, and it's got me ordering Burgerville. Oh dear delicious slightly-greasy Burgerville!  This is what I consider to be an ideal situation.

So is starting a new sweater for a little boy. Another diversion, after working on the book for a couple days. Wendy of Knit and Tonic designed it, and she says it is so quick to knit up she calls it the Drive-Thru I'm making it in Rowan All Seasons Cotton and I got almost a quarter of the way through the body last night.

2006, the knitting

Adrian has a quite inspirational list of her 2006 knitting posted today. I liked the way she gathered it all - I'm a great lover of lists. So I thought I'd do the same. These are my finishes for 2006. There were many more starts, believe me.

January 2006

juniper bonnet
kepler

February 2006

gg's shawl

March 2006

zimmermann bonnet
another juniper bonnet

April 2006

seal rock ankle socks

May 2006

sebastian's birthday hoodie

June 2006

tiny wrap sweater

July 2006

emergency baby hat

August 2006

wrap sweater for davis

September 2006

charlie's angels wrap sweater for me

October 2006

candy cape

November 2006

a meathead hat
and two secret book projects

December 2006

socks 101
and another meathead for the book

Not counting all the false starts, the work on projects now placed in cryogenic stasis, and single socks, I'd say I knit about 4 baby bonnets, 2 adult hats, 2 baby wrap sweaters, 2 adult sweaters, 1 toddler sweater, 2 shawls, 2 pairs of socks, and a few miscellaneous secret things. Plus I did a whole lot of sewing that I'm not sure I can quantify this cleanly.

Stitch marker celebrated its 2000th comment, and I added riveting hopefully-at-least-somewhat-fun categories such as favorites, thrift & vintage, phone blog, and the homemaking hall of fame. You helped me through the dark Boob Nazi times, cheered me on while I ran, and celebrated with me as Binx grew and as we celebrated knitting together. Thank you for being my friends and co-knitters.

Oh, and whatever I may have lacked in wit and quality? Sorry 'bout that. But I made it up in volume! According to the kind and no doubt accurate people at typepad, this is my 500th post.

sweater for davis

Last night Sarah and I met to do some last-minute finishing of items that are going to the state fair. Forms were due earlier in the month, but actual items are due tomorrow.

Sarah wasn't home yet when I got there, but her husband Jonathan greeted me with pink wine. Then he strapped Truman on his back and went into the kitchen to cook. First he came out with chips and artichoke dip, then sliced avocados sprinkled with rice wine vinegar, salt & pepper. Finally, a ragut with sausage meat and angel hair pasta. He also kept filling my wine glass. What service!

Somewhere in there, Sarah came home from her emergency trip to Jo-ann and we started earnestly crafting. The husbands took one boy each leaving us with just Truman (who likes to eat scissors, it turns out). I fixed up my trellis sweater with some re-seaming, checked over my leaf shawl for a few fixes since it's been worn and washed repeatedly, and then finished the little sweater you see above even though it's not going to the fair. When I left around 11 pm Sarah was working on a gorgeous miniature quilt involving strips of her wedding gown fabric and bits of all the other sewing projects she's done this year. I'd given up on finishing a knitted baby bonnet that is only halfway done.

The little sweater is a wrap sweater mostly done with the pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting, though I made straight sleeves instead of the several decreases and increases in their pattern. There was something wonky about the way mine were folding up when I did it the way they say to. Oh, the yarn is of course Blue Moon Fiber Arts superwash worsted. It's the Marbles colorway, same as Sebastian's hoodie, but this skein is dyed softer, more muted.

emergency baby hat

Today I made this hat really quick for a friend's baby, who was born five weeks early. (What a nasty trick to pull on a knitter, little boy.) He's doing fine and his name is Davis. He lives about 2 houses down and he's going to be Binx's little buddy! He'll get more handmade items, but I just had to make something to bring over with the lasagna I made for them tonight.

Theirs is the greatest birth story I've heard in a while. The mom thought she might be experiencing some water leaks, so she drove herself to the hospital - alone, in the middle of the night, leaving her husband and 5-year-old son sleeping. On the way, she went into full-blown labor and by the time she arrived at the hospital they whisked her away for a c-section (which she was intending to have). Meanwhile, they are calling and calling her husband and he doesn't wake up. So Davis is born and his dad and big brother are snug in their beds at home. The police had to go knock on their door to wake them up and tell them they had a new baby. Can you just imagine that scene?

Amazing.

(click the photo for hat details)

tiny wrappy sweater & yarn ball away

This week I'm having a little Mason Dixon Knitting spasm. It's corresponding nicely with a white-is-the-best-color spasm (besides - or together with - my ususal chocolate brown).

I made this teensy darling wrap sweater for my mom to give to someone at work (from the Mason Dixon book), and I'm already well underway with a log cabin bathmat (also from The Good Book). It's so fun, I may finish before Cara's log cabin knitalong even starts.

Another finish today: my magic yarn ball. It's huge. I ended up using  a very large ball of Blue Moon Fiber Arts periwinkle in the Lagoon colorway, and then added a lot of little trinkets and toys. It weighs 1 pound, 2 ounces in the box.

Teensy sweater and magic yarn ball are both heading off with the friendly postman (Will someone explain to my dog that we like the mailman? She doesn't believe me.)  Now I just have two more packages to put together, for sooz and wee Maeve. Whee!

birthday hoodie!

Yarn:  Blue Moon Fiber Arts superwash worsted in Marbles colorway, 1 skein
Needles:  US 6
Pattern:  Knitting Pure & Simple baby tunic #211 in the 2-year-old size
Started:  4.27.06
Finished:  5.15.06 (but it was close enough to wear on his birthday, just needed the i-cord).

Verdict: Loved every minute of it! Do not miss this yarn or this pattern if you are knitting for children.

More pictures, and very close up details of the color and construction, are all here.

oh knitting, i do love you

Dear knitting,

I know. Sewing and I have had some good times lately. A few nights on the town, in our leather pants, drinking avocado dacquiris. Sewing is just so flashy, so quick, so much more like collaging. It's gotten me into some of the best bars in town (yes, I'll be selling my sewn wares at Doug Fir on May 14). 

But knititng, that doesn't mean I've stopped caring for you. You are my abiding love, the one that will be there for me until my left hands turns into an unrelenting, permanent claw death do us part.

To show you how I feel, and to remind myself of our deep and long-lasting happiness, yesterday I started this. A tremendously finishable project with my favorite yarn, in gorgeous colors that hardly anyone but me will like. I am enraptured.

It's a wee hoodie for Binx, and I finished all of this in one day. It's a Knitting Pure & Simple pattern (baby tunic #211), and I'm using the Blue Moon Fiber Arts worsted in the Marbles colorway.

Thanks, knitting. I needed that.

a little shop, luv

I've had this on my mind for a while. I've been designing (many) and actually making (a few) little bonnets that are not for anyone in particular. Just because I love them. I'm working on some fabric ones, too, and a knitting pattern for a cool one.

Today I opened a wee etsy shop to put them out there for sale whenever I have one that has no home.

This is the first. A deep chocolate and apple green, Juniper style feather and fan bonnet. All cotton (Jo Sharp, fyi).

I'm calling my little bonnet shop Olive & Bea. It's named after my grandmother Olive who taught me to knit, and Beatrix, the little girl I was going to have before I found out Binx was a boy. I don't know if I'll ever sell a single bonnet, but I'm so enamored with them I just had to try.

So, speaking of luv...the other day at Abundant Yarn (where I spend so much time I really ought to be on the payroll), I was eating my favorite snack in their cafe - apples and peanut butter. I eat this at home, and I love that they have it on the menu there. A glistening white plate with sliced green apples and a tiny bowl of peanut butter. Yum. Much to my embarrassment, I looked down and suddently realized it was green and brown.

As Sarah said, boy when you get into something you really get into it.

twin obsessions

With my leftover Blue Moon Fiber Arts superwash worsted merino in the Spinel colorway, I made this bonnet from the Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern on page 108 of The Opinionated Knitter. I used size 6 needles to get a tight stitch, and it's a bit big but comfortable on his 10-month-old head.

I made a couple adjustments. Instead of a (chokeable) button, I picked up three stitches at each mitred corner and did a (less chokeable) i-cord. And instead of sewing up the back, I picked up all the ridges and then did a 3-needle bind-off with the bonnet held inside-out. If you follow the pattern from the book, these mods should make sense. This is what the back looks like, and this shows the color a bit better in the sun.

I think it's adorable! Iwant to make more. I don't know what I love most - the chubby blue i-cord bow, the sweet angles on the sides, or the way it frames his little face so sweetly even when he's miserable.

Thanks to my two new obsessions, I've started two flickr groups. Please join blue moon fiber arts and baby bonnets (handmade or not) and add photos, so I don't waste away alone in my lonely little flickr groups. Because a flickr loser - that's really bad.

closing the loop

The baby surprise sweater is almost finished.  And it's beautiful. 'And the pattern is so inspiring and a joy to knit.  I'm just so ho hum right now, because I'm pretty much exhausted from babies and jobs and colds.

I hate this feeling of several projects so close to done, but I can't seem to bring myself to make the last motions, the buttons, the seams. I really need to over the next 3 days, if I'm going to start something new for the knitting olympics.  And believe me, I have lots of new ideas and yarn to make them.

I just bought everything to make this. It's pretty much my plan, but I could easily change my mind by the 10th.

now part of my ideology

I love this  little bonnet.  There isn't a single thing I don't love about it. It was one of those classic little patterns that are fun and fast, the roughish cotton denim yarn was a neat new experience and if I do say so myself a stunning contrast with the Victorian looking feather and fan, and there should be no question that little Juniper is a girly girly girl in this getup.

Also love-worthy:  the ribbon is reversible grossgrain from Paper Zone.  Let's just savor that for a moment: Reversible. Grossgrain.

The specs are here in this post, because everyone should knit one of these.  They are now part of my ideology.

I hope some of you decide to make these.  They're little gems.

for juniper

Leaving Portland, bound for this little head.  I hope it fits.  (If not, I'll have to make something else. Girl stuff is toooo fun).  And hey Wood & Dutch, are you two now drinking coffee, or was that a momentary flirtation?

More specs and a clear picture of the bonnet will come; I just thought this shot was cool, and like a typical artist I didn't care that it was unintelligible.

a little hat

Welcome, visitors to the Little Hat Post of 2005. I get probably half my blog hits to this page, from knittingpatterncentral, so I want to say hi to those who haven't been here before. I invite you to make yourself at home, visit the rest of my blog if you have some time. Or just make a little hat.

M asked me to make a hat for his friend's new baby, and he wanted it to look kind of 1920s.  After a few false starts, I came up with this little number for Baby Lilly. 

Lilly's Hat
Yarn: scraps of Lamb's Pride worsted
Needles:  US size 10.5 circulars and dpns.  Switch to dpns whenever it becomes necessary.
Cast on 224, and join.
Round 1: K2tog
Round 2: k2tog
Total 56 stitches remain
Knit until hat measures about 3.25" including ruffle.
Decrease for the crown as follows:
Decrease round 1:  (k2tog, k5) repeat to end.
Round 2: Knit
Round 3: (k2tog, k4) repeat to end.
Round 4: Knit
Round 5: (k2 tog, k3) repeat to end.
Round 6: Knit
Round 7: (k2tog, k2) repeat to end.
Round 8: Knit
Round 9: (k2tog, k1) repeat to end.
Round 10: Knit
Round 11: K2 tog
Thread yarn through remaining stitches and pull to close.

Make 2 flowers using this free pattern from Sarah's Yarn Box.  Make 1 starting with a 6-stitch cast on and 1 starting with a 4-stitch cast on.  Sew them onto hat.  Weave in all ends.

knitting?

I get chances here and there.  And I'm getting organized in my garage, and will be having a craft/garage sale on October 1st, as motivation to clean the hell up.

I have no special insights or challenges to share, but some beautiful simple things going on.  This one's a minivest for the little individual, made of scraps of cotton classic in stockinette stitch. I'm testing the pattern for Heidi.

It's lovely, easy, and so fun to stripe.  So fast to work up.  I'm making it in the 1 year size, so he'll be able to wear it in spring.

God, the baby gets so big so fast.  He's 15 pounds, and today he sat up, assisted by the boppy.  I can barely lift him out of his crib, and have taken to feeding him with a bottle while he's still basically sleeping, or letting him "autofeed" with a system Martin rigged up out of a Dr. Brown's, a boppy, and a whoozit (links provided for those who don't speak New Parent).*  I looked at one of his tiniest diapers that I saved from his first few weeks, and I can't believe he ever fit in it, let alone that it was big on him.

* Hint:  The baby goes in the boppy. The bottle goes in the whoozit's mouth.  The whoozit goes on the baby's chest.  Mama monitors, yet her hands are freed up to read bad bad David Brin novels in the half-light of the bathroom at 2:20 am.

undercover brother

Solid.

Pattern here.

exercise in wonder & faith

When you're knitting a baby hat for a baby that has to come out of your own self, size becomes a fascinating issue. You keep checking sources; is this right? It seems impossibly big, and yet so small that no person's brain could exist in there. The size of it fills you with wonder at what's going to happen, what is happening.  The enormity of it makes you wonder how, and why, it is done this way.  The weeniness of it makes you cry with a desire to protect that little head, even though you still haven't met it. 

On the other hand, my sweaters-in-progress give me another sort of brain tease.  They're tiny.  The evidence is all around me that women come back from the size of pregnancy, that someday it will seem like it never even happened. But it's hard to believe I was ever a "38/39" like this ribby cardi. 

Completely impossible to believe I'll ever be that size again. I apparently have some kind of faith, because I keep knitting.

(baby hat stats)