Being Eight

At eight years old, I was quite a tomboy. Or as my two older brothers would put it, quite a nuisance, since I was more keen on playing with their G.I.Joe action figures than with my Barbie dolls. So it must have been a bit of a surprise to my mom when I showed an interest in learning how to make stitches after watching her knitting a sweater for my little sister. After determining that I was serious, she sat me down with an extra ball of bright pink yarn and taught me the knit stitch. All that summer, when I wasn't tagging along after my brothers, I was knitting garter rows after garter rows. When I got to the end of the pink ball of yarn, I would rip out the stitches and start over again. I didn't know it then, but that was the beginning of my love of knitting.

Knitting the rows and rows of garter stitch in this Color Affection shawl has brought back memories of that long ago summer...

of being eight again...

sitting next to my mother...

making stitches...

Not planning on ripping these stitches out though ;)



(check out all the wonderful blogs participating in FO Friday)

FO: Nanook Cardigan

I figured that since we were already into the month of June that it was high time to finish one of my sweaters in progress. So here's Nanook:

Really happy with how this turned out, despite the fact that I had a slight panic attack when the sweater seemed to have grown twice its size after blocking. Thankfully, I knitted the xs size and the fit was a little tight preblocking. The yarn is Lark by Quince and Co. I would certainly knit with it again, keeping in mind that it grows quite a bit, especially lengthwise.

My favorite part of the sweater is the collar which can be worn closed or opened. I favor the latter and will probably not add a button to it. I usually have no desire to repeat a sweater pattern, but this one has me tempted to knit it again in a more neutral color. I love the relaxed, almost blazer like, style of this sweater and would love to have one that would go with more tops in my closet.

Also, as with all of the Heidi Kirrmaier patterns that I have made, this one was filled with fun details that kept the knitting interesting. So yes, most definitely a repeat knit!



(join in the fun by going to FO Friday with Tami's Amis)

Summer Knitting Inspiration

It has been a crazy busy few weeks here. In between work, winding down the school year and getting ready for summer, I somehow managed to scrounge up a bit of knitting time to finish my Nanook cardigan and make a little more progress on the Color Affection shawl.

2 inches of border to go

 Right now, I am so looking forward to:

* sleeping in
* going to our local beach and falling asleep on the beach blanket
* finding a nice quiet napping spot in our backyard

Noticing a common theme here? I am also daydreaming of some new summer knitting projects, especially after reading the latest issue of Debbie Bliss knitting magazine.

Even though I have never actually made anything from her patterns, I still find them wonderfully inspiring. Her brilliant use of colors can be easily translated to other patterns.

Wouldn't these stripey colors be cool for a short sleeved version of Folded?

This boat neck sweater could be modified into a top down knit.

I need this tank top in my summer wardrobe. Again, loving the stripes!

Although the shape of this top is a bit too trendy for me, I think that the zig-zag stripes would be cute for a scarf, stole or blanket.

Wouldn't this shawl be fabulous knitted up in a bright color scheme? Ahhh, summer time knitting. Bring it on!



(check out WIP Wednesday for lots more summer knitting/crochet inspiration)