Go Forth and Eat Candy

Jack-o-lanterns, candy corn, fall leaves
Goblins and witches, trick or treat
Bright eyes and shining smiles
Have a spooky Halloween!

Okay, enough with the torturous attempt at poetry. But Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It brings back so many great childhood memories for me (The only bad memory was when my oldest brother decided to dress up as the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz). Here's a sweater that I knitted a few years ago in honor of the holiday. It's the FEBRUARY LADY SWEATER but my little boy renamed it "bats". The gull lace pattern does look like little bats in this color, don't you think? Well, we're almost ready to go forth and eat candy, just as soon as my little boy decides on a costume (race car driver, Jedi Knight, Top Chef, or Cookie Monster?)

The Hat

My hubby wears a size 13 shoe and he wants me to knit him a pair of wool socks. This is only the second request that he has ever made for a hand knitted item from me. Here's the problem: I have only ever finished two pairs of socks in my life and they were for my size 7 feet. I thought about reminding him of The Hat Incident in order to get out of knitting these socks. A few years ago, he asked me to knit him a winter hat. No problem! I made a nice simple rib hat out of Brown Sheep bulky yarn in sable. Quick and easy. He wore it quietly for a month or so. One day as I was taking the laundry out of the dryer, I reached in and pulled out what looked like roadkill. It was The Hat. He had put it in the wash to "shrink" it a bit. From that day on he wore that crazy looking hat on his head, proudly telling anyone who would listen that his wife had knitted it for him. Let's just say that The Hat has been buried. Hopefully, The Socks will have a happier ending. Any suggestions for a quick and easy men's sock pattern?

Grandma's Gotta Have Some Bling!

I saw a lovely version of this gathered scarf knitted up at my LYS and knew that it would make a great Christmas gift for Grandma L. The owner had added a few rows of bead work to jazz things up a bit. But just 2 sections of beading? Nope, Grandma needs a lot more bling than that! A whole scarf's worth! You can view the pattern on ravelry HERE. Check THIS out for a good demo on adding beads to your knitting using a crochet hook. As luck would have it, my LYS is offering a class on knitted beaded jewelry in November. Looks like Grandma's gonna have some more bling!

WIP: Turmeric

There's some sweater knitting going on at last. These sweet little cakes of madelinetosh tosh sock will hopefully soon be a nice layering piece for autumn and early winter. The color is ink and the pattern is by the extremely talented VEERA VALIMAKI. I love the thrill of starting a new sweater! View the pattern on ravelry HERE.

FO: Linen Stitch Scarf

And the scarf knitting continues! This is the Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. I knitted it with Claudia Hand Painted Yarns fingering. The linen stitch pattern really shows off the yarn beautifully. This was really fun to knit and makes for a colorful lightweight accessory. It goes well with the gathered cardi that I knitted last winter. View the pattern on ravelry HERE.

Scarf Extravaganza

Before now, I have only ever finished one scarf in all my years of knitting. Then I saw this pattern (color ripples scarf) and yarn (Ty-Dy cotton) at my LYS. Let's just say it has sparked a mini-obsession. The lace pattern is fun and easy and shows off the wonderful colors of the yarn. I ended up knitting one for each of my nieces and myself. Yes, after all these years I finally have a wearable FINISHED scarf! And the scarf knitting has not stopped........more to come!

Treasured Object

 

I fell in love with log cabin blankets after reading the first Mason-Dixon knitting book. It inspired me to knit this blanket for my then three year old son (he's five now). The best part was choosing the colors and planning their sequence. It took almost six months to knit but now I have something to hand down to my son that I hope he will treasure.
See more pictures on ravelry HERE.

FO: Goodale

Meet Goodale. She's my new fave object. Why? Just look at those pockets! And the yarn! It's Pashmina by madelinetosh. I dare you to resist the incredible softness of this yarn. The colors are all so gorgeous. It was hard to decide but I went with composition book grey. It's a neutral color that goes with everything. Which is good because I want to wear this everywhere. The flower shell buttons are from jimmy beans wool. View the pattern on ravelry HERE.

Reasons Why the World Needs Another Knitting Blog

....er, it doesn't....but I'm going to start one anyways! After years of enjoyably drooling over the talents of many wonderful bloggers I have finally decided to start journaling my own crafty adventures. I learned how to knit when I was around eight by watching my mother knit a sweater for my sister. It was made out of pink acrylic with long sharp metal double-pointed needles. The sweater was never finished but I inherited the needles. I lost interest in knitting after a failed attempt at learning how to purl. My next encounter with knitting was in senior year of high school. I sat in front of a girl in English class who worked on her sweater while we waited for class to begin. She had just came back from a year abroad in Sweden where her host mother taught her how to knit. I loved watching her needles clicking away as the fabric grew. The yarn was a lovely gray tweed with flecks of red and orange. Fast forward through college and graduation and the first years of career and marriage. After years of cramming for tests and writing papers, I finally had some spare time to devote to myself. I remembered that girl in English class, how content she looked as she created something before my eyes. I wanted that feeling for myself. It's been ten plus years now and knitting still makes me happy!