Long Overdue

So we all have projects that are unfinished. And some have been sitting around longer than others. I recently came across a project that was so close to being completed that I vowed to finish it. And I did.

Five years ago I was making a hooked rug from a drawing that my daughters (then ages 8 and 8) had done. They wanted a welcome sign for our mudroom and thought that if they made a drawing of our family, I could transfer the drawing onto linen, and hook it. Helen immediately set out to draw the figures, and Sophie wrote the word "Welcome" in cursive (her newest skill at the time), drew the sun, and contributed landscape ideas. More about the process here. And I started hooking. Here's a shot of it when I started. There's something adorable about a drawing - made by young kids - brought to life!

I worked hard on the rug, and finished about 90% of it. I had a really hard time hooking the faces, so I set it aside for over a year. Then, two years ago, I realized that I needed to make some progress, so I enlisted the help of Michele, our resident rug hooking expert. She took it home with her and completed the faces and the hair for me, doing an excellent job. 

And so I packed up the rug and brought it here to Finland, thinking that during our time here, I'd definitely finish it. Now we've been here almost 2 years, and of course, I haven't touched it! But we're moving back to Vermont in just a couple of months, and I've been doing some packing. I came across the rug and when I opened it up and realized just how little was left to finish, I gave myself a good scolding. I immediately put down all knitting projects and made a deal with myself that I couldn't knit until I finished this rug. After all, wouldn't a Welcome sign look great in our new entryway in Vermont? I think so.

It only took me a couple of hours to finish the parts of the sky that were remaining. 

And then I had to finish the edges - that took another couple of hours. Luckily, I had grabbed a skein of Manos Rittenhouse (now discontinued) in the perfect color to edge the rug.

The girls are thrilled that it's finished. Of course, Sophie said, "Well, it's perfect except for one thing. The cats aren't in it." 

Don't worry Sophie, they may not be in it. But they're ON it.

BAD Lucy! Put those claws away!

What claws!?

And they've proven that they like my rug hooking projects JUST as much as they like my knitting projects.

And Maisy likes it too.

Luckily they won't be able to do this when it's hanging on my wall! Now, back to the knitting!

Dyelot Yarns Stimulus Package Project

I just finished a really fun and easy project - the Fortune's Wheel Vest with one Dyelot Yarns Stimulus Yarn Package.

Picture courtesy of Dyelot Yarns (on pattern)

Truth be told, I started out knitting the Vertically Striped Vest shown below.

But after completing the entire back and one of the fronts, I frogged it. My row gauge was off, and the decreases with the neck in the front were not working properly. I could have edited the directions for the front, to MAKE it work, but since this is a shop sample, I decided against it. When we have something in the shop, and someone tries it on and wants to make it exactly as it appears, they DON'T want to hear that they have to change even one thing in the pattern. 

So I decided to make the Fortune's Wheel Vest.  I used the same color that is shown on the pattern (above) but I did not knit through one entire fiber at a time, as they did. I changed the fibers more often, and I do appreciate the more blended effect that I achieved.

This is a versatile piece - it can be worn as shown above as a longer vest, or flipped upside down and worn more like a shorter shrug with a larger shawl collar. Be creative

And as with almost everything I make, it's Lucy approved. I think it's even her color!

Noro Silk Garden Afghan

contributed by Shawn

I am not one of those knitters who works on only one project at a time, so over the summer one of my projects was to pick out my favorite colors of Noro Silk Garden and create individual afghan squares. 

This was my go-to project whenever it was too warm to have a large project sitting in my lap. Kay Gardiner very handily provided a lovely way to make these quilt-like squares that I admired in her Mitered Crosses Blanket--for Japan. I used this mitered square technique and made a couple of these over the course of several months.  

Theses squares are addictive... well, so is the Noro Silk Garden! I ended up modifying the original pattern to include more squares because I had so much fun making them.  Here are a couple of my favorite ones:

Once the weather started to cool off it was time to think about putting the squares together. I put it off for a while because I couldn't decide in what order I wanted to assemble them. Finally, I just began putting the pieces together. I really enjoyed this since you pick-up stitches along the edges of the squares and join them with the 3-needle bind off technique.  No seaming! The edges are finished with applied I-cord. 

The blanket went back into hiding for a while because I had some other things to finish on deadlines.  Warning - there are a million ends to weave into this project/blanket because of the color changes. But I decided I love the colors and yarn so much that I didn't care. This blanket is all for me and I absolutely love it so I'm still working on the weaving-in.  I definitely don't mind it now that I can use the blanket to cozy up in the chilly weather that has arrived. 

Of course as soon as I got this out there were two other takers:

Indigo

and Raku

"Oh, thanks mom a new blankie!"

They enjoy the blanket, but also the gas stove. I've been working on it in front of the gas stove on chilly nights and this is also Indigo and Raku's favorite place to 'toast' too!

Knitters Love Cats

contributed by Shawn

We're thinking that a lot of our customers must love cats because everyone seems to want a copy of the new Knit Your Own Cat book! It's got 16 different cats to knit.

Emily has a British Blue Short Hair at home named Phineas, and when we received the Knit Your Own Cat book, Emily dove right in and picked out some yarns that would look just like Phineas.  Here's the real Phineas:

"You know you love me, mom."

"Beef jerky. Pleeeaaase!"

And here's our shop Phineas:

Naptime.

"Treats? Treats? Did I hear someone say 'treats'?"

To make our shop Phineas kitties, Emily used BrownSheep Nature Spun Sport yarn and Rowan Kidsilk Haze yarn held double stranded and some of her favorite double pointed needles.  I love the curled up sleeping pose!  Knitted cats are the best - you don't ever have to chase them out of your knitting or crocheting because they are perfectly behaved.

Don't worry, if you are a knitter who prefers dogs over cats you can see we have another book just for you! Knit Your Own Dog is also available featuring 25 different breeds that you can knit.

Boxes full of fruit

Every year we get a citrus burst at the shop in December thanks to Barb and her daughter. After the post leaf-peeping dreary rain and cold temperatures it is a welcome day when the fruit arrives. Although you may not be able to smell it (mmmmm, fresh grapefruit!) I thought that Indigo's reaction to the whole thing might amuse you. Typical, he only wants to play in the box!

Enjoy your handknits

Many of us are experiencing typical wintery weather, and that's great for enjoying handknits! It's so nice to put on a pair of toasty mittens, a stylish sweater or a cozy scarf that is hand knit or crocheted.

Maisy and Lucy enjoy it too - not that I knit FOR them. No matter what project I'm working on (or have left sitting around unprotected) they are sure to find it and snuggle up with it. Here Maisy has scaled mountains of pillows just to snuggle up in my Koigu afghan. And Lucy, needing a hand knit of her own, dragged this baby blanket (made from 2 discontinued Berroco yarns) out of the Sophie's room and took it all the way down to her bed in front of the fire. May you all enjoy your handknits as much as these guys!

In over my head

It's the time of year to be finishing up my projects, and not starting too many new ones until things are under control. But I think I'm failing! I've got quite a lot going on right now. My couch is covered with vinyl zippered project bags full of different projects, and my coffee table with needles, notions, needle kits, tape measures, etc. I keep trying to tidy it up, and I tell myself that I can't start anything new until I finish some of these things up, but it's just not working.

I recently started a sweater for spring - with Rowan Purelife Revive - a new recycled yarn we will be selling beginning next month. It actually came out last year and was so well received that I decided to bring it in to our product offering for this spring. I had a bag sent to me ahead of the full shipment so I could start a sample. We got the Purelife Recycled Collection, which includes 15 great designs made specifically for this yarn, and I started the Shallot sweater last week. It's quite beautiful, and I just love the color and texture of the yarn. It's a really simple pattern, but as there's a YO, p4tog (that's right... FOUR stitches being purled together, OUCH!) I decided to use the Addi Turbo Lace needles. And it was a good thing. Those extra pointy tips make those rows go more smoothly, although they are still not as quick as the other rows. But suffer I will, because it's really a gorgeous sweater! Not sure how long it will take though, because I am quick to put it down when anything else comes up.

My kids have been complaining that they don't have gloves or mittens for school. They do have ski gloves, but I don't let them take those to school. You know how things ALWAYS get lost at school... those gloves are necessary for happy Saturday ski days, and if a glove is at school, and school is locked, well, let's just say Mommy gets very tense. So those gloves stay at home and we usually buy them cheap-o gloves or mitts somewhere. Because, again... they get lost. But I haven't bought any cheap-o's this year.

Instead, I thought I would make them each a pair of mittens. Who knows? Maybe a hand-knit pair will be considered more "precious" to them, and they will take extra care not to lose them? I used the Yankee Knitter Hats & Mittens pattern - which I love because it's knit flat and it's super quick to make. I used Malabrigo Rios (super soft merino wool, and YAY machine washable - because how often do those mittens fall on the nasty, dirty bus floor?) and I have enough yarn left to make another pair in each color. NOT that I'm planning on it. But if a mitten just happens to get "misplaced" I can whip up a replacement in no time. Smart, I'm thinking!
After Barb brought in her Snobuddy family last week, I just had to jump on that train too. I made one to take as a gift to a Christmas party last weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't make the party - I was recovering from being sick last week - but the girls delivered it. And Lucy got to check it out before it left for its new home.In addition to these projects, I have a skein of Twinkle Soft Chunky waiting to be wound and knit into a super bulky hat (it narrowly escaped a cat attack last week though - I had left it within view of the felines), another ball of Malabrigo Rios to be made into another hat, and some Plymouth Select Merino Superwash that's going to be a little kid's sweater. I hope you are all not as buried in projects as I am!