Life has made it difficult to knit lately — I've been going in fits and starts. Two projects are the focus:
First, Tree Knitter Designs Caterpillar Cuddle Blanket. I am not a lace knitter, even on the large size 9 needles used here. I find that knitting with small children around is not conducive to keeping up with a 12 row repeat over hundreds of stitches. Nonetheless, I succumbed to this pattern's allure — it's small, just 25×25" when finished, and you get to line it with fabric. This will give me the chance to dye some heavyweight silk yardage, probably charmeuse, for a lining. I'm knitting with a chunky weight organic cotton that feels fantastically soft and is a pleasure to knit with. Caterpillar Cuddle will take me forever, but it's an enjoyable knit and the pattern is exceptionally easy to read.
Second, I've picked up the Sweet Pea Sweater again. The back is finished, and now I'm working on the fronts. I misread the pattern and had a terrible pocket debacle (they're set in), which caused me to set it aside for a while. I've picked it back up, and with the help of some very patient pattern readers in my LYS, I've frogged, knit back, and am ready to put in the pockets, hopefully correctly this time.
I neglected to show you pictures of the dyeing I did as holiday presents for friends and family. Mea Culpa — we had a busy holiday.
But, I'll make up for that a bit today. I have some pictures of both yarn and playsilks.
First the yarn. I did the Pink Loves Brown colorway on a bulky British Merino for some of my girlfriends.
Sedona, on a wonderful lace weight blend of Silk, Alpaca, and Merino was my choice for several cousins.
I did Crayon on a bulky merino for some of my older friends who knit — they all seemed to love the bright colors. I like this colorway so much that I did a bit for myself on a machine washable worsted weight Merino.
And finally, I did Tuar Ceatha on a bulky Merino for myself.
I'm thinking a nice, warm wrap would be perfect from this yarn!
Ellie and I did playsilks for some neighbors children and cousins.
They were a hit — I continue to think they are still one of the best toys out there for kids.
I'm sorry I didn't get more pictures now. At the time, I was worried about dyeing and drying and wrapping in time, but somehow, it all got done despite my late start.
First pointe shoes. Can anything be more exciting?
Definitely different from the Ugg Boots that are the order of the day for eleven year old girls.
After trying on different brands and types of shoes for a couple of hours, she settled on a pair from Bloch. The vamp was just right, the fit good, and she claims they are comfortable (I know what's ahead and so I know better). They're beautiful and she is beautiful. There is just something about that first pair of pointe shoes.
This post is for Angela, who asked to see the scrapbook I did for Ellie's Nutcracker Ballet performances these past two years. I have to say upfront that I'm not much of a scrapbooker — I lack the meticulous attention to detail and neatness — but I had a lot of fun putting this together for her. I wanted something that would help her remember for her full life the fun of being the star, but also the joy of friends and accomplishing something as a group.
The Balanchine version of the ballet that she danced in has a "Marie" not a "Clara" but is similar in other regards.
The Judge and I got home from a weekend away, ready for a day of soccer and settling back in. Instead, we got this.
Yes, that was a brief glimpse of a chipmunk that Harry, the always perky Maine Coon Cat, brought inside to express his displeasure over our absence. Unfortunately, the chippy didn't have the good sense to scurry out the open door. Instead, it hid behind some shelving and ran around in the room.
and then ACK!!! (well, you saw the end of that one)
The chipmunk spent a good bit of time hiding in various places, including the incredible discovery of a chipmunk-sized space beneath a stack of cds.
Bob failed to seize the moment, but fortunately (and yet another reason I love my iphone), I stopped helping him chase the chippy and started shooting video, much to his disgust.
Finally, we cleverly convinced the chipmunk to climb into our cornucopia, which had been hastily liberated from its dining room table display. We all ran out front with it (hence the Blair Witch Project like quality of this video), and got the chippy to jump out. Immediately, one of Harry's co-conspirators, Dragon, seized the poor little thing in her jaws and tried to run off with it.
Success! We were able to liberate the chippy and our last glimpse was of it scampering up a tree. I feel sure it will have better sense than to come anywhere near our house, ever again!
It's been done for a week now, and I've had the best intentions of getting good pictures for you. Instead I got this, at 3:45 in the morning with no one around to help.
It's a new art form–bad flash mirror pictures or something.
The Clapotis is wonderful, though. The yarn is a silk/linen blend and it ripples like water in this colorway. Here.
Some people in our house think this pattern is actually a catpotis, but I feel quite sure it is going to be worn, a lot, by me.
I've finished the first of the unfinished shrugs. This is Ellie's Miho Shrug. I finished it while I was waiting for her ballet class to end and surprised her with it on the way out.
It's knit from wonderful soft Manos Silk/Merino yarn. We're both delighted with it.
The pattern has fabulous little details like an exposed seam at the top,
and this clever little roll at the back.
Despite my anxiety, it was ridiculously quick and easy to finish. Although the yarn came in the mail today for my newest object of knit-lust (Kate Gilbert's Sweet Pea Jacket)I'm going to do the finishing on my shrug — same yarn, but a different pattern, before I dive in.
