FOPalooza

Greetings Knitlings! Long time, no blog.
Pictured here is Weston, the stuffed sheep knitwear model (shhh he doesn't know he's a stuffed animal), showing off the Tweed Beret from Interweave Knits Winter 2006.



This was produced from Caron Simply Soft and was knit I think three times before it passed the test. I messed it up once and in my rage managed to rip it all out to the cast on row and beyond. It was during the early days of knitting on double points. We've come so far since then, Weston and I. The other attempt was huge and I made a mistake in the ending ribbing that I decided I couldn't live with. The third time proved to be the charm. It not only looks very fetching on Weston but is flattering to the somewhat oversized human head as well. I have worn it in public to rave reviews. The scarf on our model is my own design based on a stitch pattern I found in Knitting Dictionary, 800 Stitches and Patterns by Margaret Hamilton-Hunt. It is one of several chevron patterns in that volume. I wore this much of the winter with a gray wool coat. I know, I'm a bit behind in my blogging. It was the winter of scarves and hats in a never-ending quest to find warm newspaper delivery wear. Let's all give Weston a round of applause for his fine modeling.

Next up is the Boston Baby Wear. This layette was produced for Samuel Caesar Wood Perriello, recently of Somerville, Mass. He joined the crowd in Boston on June 26 - right on time. It's a shame I wasn't. I decided the week he was born to add the hat and booties. I also knit him a baby blanket - the Easy Eyelet Blanket from Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas - sadly not pictured before it went in the mail. Samuel was recently photographed wearing the sweater while vacationing on Cape Cod. He looked very New English and ready for fall. Hopefully he doesn't grow out of it before the leaves turn.



Now it's back to the Olympic crocheting. I've got a Happy Blanket on the hook for a baby that's been here awhile. It will be done before the swimming I'm hoping. Go Phelps! And it is appropriately USA-themed. Carry on.

Blog break broken AGAIN!!

It has been a lot longer than I thought it would be since I have blogged, but oh well. Time flies when you're having fun, knitting, or crocheting. The WIPs are flying off the needles. I need to post photos but I don't have any. Except this hat and scarf. This is not quite the parade of hats and scarves I promised in my last post but it will have to do. I bought this Noro on one of my three recent trips to Boston. It was purchased I think at Woolcott & Co., but I can't remember. I visited a lot of yarn shops. It's worked in garter stitch - inspired by Brooklyn Tweed's lovely garter stitch scarves and I'm quite happy with it. I had to buy another skein of yarn to make it as long as I wanted so at the end of the day this is a very pricey scarf. However, when the bracing South Dakota wind is whipping around me I'm quite happy to have the Noro - at any price - wrapped around my neck to keep off the breeze. The hat is made of a less high-brow product, Vanna's Choice. This is the project I made with the new Lion Brand yarn and I was quite happy with it as well. It was fairly soft to the touch for a relatively inexpensive acrylic and I liked how it worked up. Originally I made the scarf to match a tan Cotton Ease hat. However, I often wore the combo on my newspaper route and the yarnovers in the Lion Brand hat were letting in too much of the bracing wind. So the purple hat is made from the same pattern but with no yarnovers. I would make it a little shorter if I were to redo it, but since it takes the air on the paper route I'm not too worried about it.

Blog Break Broken!!

Amazing, but here I am updating the blog. I have noticed that the blogiverse expects more than the twice-yearly blog post. I will try to comply.

This winter's goal was to finish one of the four (yes four, don't judge) afghans I had started. Mission accomplished and then some!! Since the great state of SD received 8 inches of snow this week I am still counting this as winter and I have completed two of the four afghans. Yes!! Two! If I died tomorrow it would be with less WIP shame. Both of these afghans were started to use up yarn stash. I realized my folly when I repeatedly found myself in the Wal-Mart yarn aisle to get yet another skein of Lion Brand's Jiffy Thick & Quick's Adirondacks. I thought I had the perfect project to use up yarn I tried to crochet a sweater vest with only to rip it out twice. Unfortunately, I did not read the ball band carefully enough. It was four skeins of Wool-Ease Chunky and 45 (probably not quite that many) skeins of the Jiffy before Snug was completed. Snug was a pattern I found on someone's blog that I then printed from the Internets. Here it is in its baby form.



The other finished afghan started as a retirement gift for a co-worker two years ago. It sat around my apartment for awhile because I ran out of the yarn for the border of the strips but once I decided to scrap the original border yarn and resorted to a little Red Heart Light Sage I was in the clear. Then it was a marathon crochet session to finish all the strips. I worked out a lot of crabby. :) I'll admit I fell by the wayside once I had to contemplate the mammoth sewing together of 15 strips but I rallied. Here it is.

It is somewhat unbelievable to me that I have finished both of these. I emptied two knitting bags of these mammoth projects. I feel almost lonely without the pressure of these two projects looming around the house, calling pathetically from their respective areas. Of course I now have some leftover yarn to dispose of, but no matter. I have plans for it!! There. So Proud. A blog post. Who knew? Next up, a parade of hats and scarves. Try to control your excitement.