Finally finished sewing in ends, adding handles, and blocking the first three pieces of the tea set. What a difference those handles made! They're so cute, I almost can't stand to make anymore. But don't worry, I will.

Tea totals so far: Angela has one perfect pink cup. Melanie's just finished a beautiful blue pitcher. Jessica's made a cup and a creamer which perfectly match her real tea set. Ali has enough for tea for one. And fellow Knitsmith, Lisa, is crocheting her set in record time! Helene has finished knitting all the pieces of our mascot, Miss Muffin. And word even has it that Laura has finished a best friend doll with a lovely dress. No pictures on her site yet - let's go beg for pictures!

The phildar baby sweater is quickly taking shape. I was worried about all the seaming in such a dark yarn - it's wicked hard to see those seams! - but surprisingly, I haven't had any problems at all. I'm seaming blind, but since the stitches are so even (after some necessary and extreme steam blocking), I can't help but dig out the right loops. It's like I'm just zipping up the sides.

 
mister bear models the unfinished sweater

I will be slowing down from my original 20 second knitalong pace, though. Mostly to avoid getting to all that embroidery and backstitch seaming on the giraffe patch, I think. Mike's Hard Lemonade just recommended itself as the perfect source of liquid courage for the final finishing. Look what was written on the inside of the cap from my bottle earlier this week.

okay, Mike, it's a date!

Now, let's check out Kerrie's progress, shall we? --> this way

Birthday
(wav file)

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too--yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, America.

Doesn't ava's first sleeve look a little long to you??

uh oh.

Oh yeah, all the way down to the first knuckle on my fingers. So, out it goes. I'll be ripping back to the last increase to shorten it (and narrow it - as long as I'm ripping...). Luckily, I have yet to start the second sleeve, so I can just knit it once to match this one. Once again, sew-as-you-go saves the day! Still, I hate taking out seams and reknitting. Aaaargh!

To cheer myself up, I started another piece of the fiesta tea set. Here's the sugar bowl blocking.

any UVa fans out there?

I'm cruising along on maggie, my linen drape top. The front is well underway and I've even sewn a couple of seams for a preliminary fitting.

Looks like maggie may just fit. It's going to be snug, for sure. The real question is whether it'll be too indecent for the playground set. One more shoulder and we should know....

More linen drape/shoulder news: Julia just finished short rowing the shoulders of her linen drape sweater. It looks like it's gonna fit her perfectly! Sarah is teasing us with a picture of one strap of her almost finished linen drape tank. I can't wait to see that one all done! Heidi's Stripes Go Round in linen drape top now has sleeves. Check out the beautiful colors she's using. And Cynthia reports that she's all done with her linen drape project. Think we can strong-arm her into sharing a picture with us??

Birthday approaching!

a birthday chart

The countdown is on. Each day we take away another sticker and the boys can count how many days are left until their birthday. On the morning of their birthday, they can take down the two birthday stickers and wear them. They are really obsessed with birthdays nowadays. They've even been known to make pretend birthday cakes out of pots and pans and yell 'happy birthday' to anyone who enters the room. Wanna see the video?

So how are we preparing for the big day?

lots of presents

Potty presents, that is. Oh yes folks, it's that time! Living-room-Nick-Jr.-watching potty time. Whatever it takes. But I must say that all this running around the house with the potties at the ready has really cut into my knitting time!

Have you seen the new Knitty?! I am so impressed with this issue. I'll admit that I was a little nervous about the 'sex and the knitty' idea at first, but in my opinion they really pulled it off. The issue is another amazing mix of beautiful, clever, and witty knits. I especially liked the sort of old era, vintage underthings interpretation of the theme that several designers took. Those designs in particular are just exquisite! I immediately fell in love with this one and ordered the yarn right away. And Halcyon, as usual, sent the yarn in record time. I love them!

all lined up and ready to go

As soon as I finish any of my current projects, I'll allow myself to start this one. Oh, and this one too...

toucha-toucha-toucha-touch me

While I was at my local yarn store, buying a few goodies for some friends, a little siren voice led me right over to this lovely. It's Daria multi, a nylon cord yarn by Noro. Aren't the colors amazing?! And it feels so fabulous. I'd been visiting and fondling the one skein at my LYS for a few weeks, telling myself that I couldn't do anything with just one skein. Well, I found two more skeins this time! My excuse no longer being valid, I had to get them. Just as I started thinking how silly I was to have splurged for the Daria and how my idea of making a crocheted bag out of it could be really stupid, I found this online. Oh yes, crochet happens!

Reading the comments from yesterday ("why crochet?" and "all that stockinette?!") made me realize that I have some knitting issues to come clean on.

First issue: I don't really like variegated yarns. Oh, blasphemy, I know! But as much as I love them in the skeins and can love every individual color in them, I'm always less thrilled about the knitted result. I don't like the pooling that occurs, I don't like not having any control over which colors come together, and I really don't like that each section of the garment with a different width will look very different. I feel like I got lucky with the few variegated projects I've done so far (finally phildar, and funky vest). I even have issues with my beloved crazy continental where the stripes thin out and it looks more like variegated than striping yarn, but I love the colors so much that I still enjoy wearing it. This is the reason I've decided to crochet the Daria multi yarn. Surprisingly, I do like how variegated yarns look when crocheted. Somehow, I think the shape of the stitches lets you see more of each color or blends them better. I don't know, but if it allows me to try more variegated yarns, I'm there!

Second issue: I can knit too fast. I can knit relatively quickly and I generally have a few hours every evening to knit in. The result is an outrageous number of knitted garments. There are some I love, love, love and wear over and over (like Banff and my white smooch tee), and others that I've practically never worn (I keep forgetting that I've got the wannabe sweater and Rosebud). And if I ever knit through all the kits in my stash, I'd have more knitted garments than I could ever wear. This is the reason that I've started picking slower projects (like the miles of teeny tiny stockinette that are hush) and non-clothing projects (like the tea set). I'm puttin' on the brakes. What's a nimble knitter to do?!

Um, I do have more knit-issues. Check back tomorrow for more fascinating revelations (ha, ha). Wanna share yours? I'm all ears.

Continuing our look at my knit-issues, here's two more!

Next issue: I'm not knitting for the boys. I've always found it difficult to wear my favorite and lovliest things for fear that they'll get messed up. It's no different with my knitted things. And when it comes to the boys, there's no doubt that things will get messed up. All I have to do is look at the strings hanging off of their much-loved blankies to see what a toddler can do to knitwear. So the bug sweaters and the giraffe jackets haven't gotten as much wear as they should. And since the bulky fantasia vests that they didn't even like, I haven't really knit them anything. I've got to get over this! It's so much fun knitting for the kids. And they look so sweet in handknit things. I'm thinking of taking the plunge again for fall. Some ideas for more kid-friendly, less mess-stressy knits are a pair of vests (no sleeves to get all peanut-buttery) and maybe denim jackets (denim = washable!).

Last issue (for now): I'm not sewing! I'm such a knitter. I just can't bring myself to go upstairs (where there's no cable tv), set up the sewing machine and the ironing board and start pinning and pressing, seaming and cutting, when I can simply flop on the sofa with a ball of yarn and a circular needle and knit the night away. Here it is Sunday again, time for a sewing update, and I've done nothing but knit. No progress on my sew-along top. Everyone else has pretty much finished (did you see Melly's awesome top?) and I haven't touched mine since May. Don't give up on me yet, fellow seamstresses!

Three more pieces to the fiesta tea set.

coffee mug, sugar bowl, and cup & saucer

And let's see how the others are doing.... Melanie is almost done. Laura has finished her first best friend doll and started a second one! Peggy's blocking her first cup. And you have to see Georgia's positively psychedelic set!

Maggie fits!

snug as a bug in a linen drape rug

Now to finish the sleeves.

How are my other linen drapers doing out there??

As I approach the finish line on maggie, my fingers are itching for a new project. Time to make the swatches! (Nevermind that the frankensweater and ava remain untouched and the tea set still needs a creamer), I'm moving on.

Habu cotton

Pearl Cotton for Hush

As you can see, I'm just starting to fiddle around with the yarns. I haven't had time to make "life-size" swatches yet or swatch my new Phil' Onde (which I'm really excited to try out!). Instead of knitting, I've been spending my time buying and wrapping birthday presents. Birthday pics tomorrow!

hopy boifday!

battery powered trains rule

happy happy

more presents

cake!

birthday hug

Still recouperating from the boys' big day, so no knitting to report here. But thinking about birthdays reminds me of some lovely birthday booty that I got two weeks ago when it was my birthday. Dear ol' mom can always be counted on to come through with some knit-gifties. This year she sent me 1000 Sweaters, which is such a cool book, I can't even stand it, and Weekend Knitting, which I decided I had to have after I saw the pie shawl knit up at KnitNY. And speaking of KnitNY, mom got me a gift certificate. Hooray!

More patterns, more yarn, if only I had the energy to knit again.

I thought I'd gotten out all my issues, but apparently not.

Issue Five: I can't knit lace. Well, I probably could, but I wouldn't ever wear it. I keep thinking that I'd like to try something lacy (like this top from Vintage Knits) and then when it comes time to knit it, I wimp out. It's the idea of having to coordinate and wear something underneath that seems so weird. If I'm already wearing something else, what's the point of this other thing?? I'm just not a naked girl - I'd like my garments to make me feel dressed.

I came to this realization when swatching up some cool R2 paper yarn that Kerrie sent me. I love the feel of the yarn, but it knits up with large, loose stitches and these designs are pretty gosh darn naked. Any ideas what a non-naked girl can do with R2?

Issue Six: Here's a good one for a change. I'll admit it - I like to seam sweaters. No, I love to seam sweaters! I just can't get enough of those neat, even seams coming together. I've even done finishing work for other Knitsmiths (remember?). And I really do enjoy weaving in ends, as long as I can weave them into the seams. With maggie, ava and the phildar baby sweater all at the "finish" line, I realize that I'm really excited about it. Seaming - yay!

Now you really think I'm crazy.

I'm knitting scarves.

Seems ridiculous to knit a wool scarf in the middle of the summer, doesn't it? Well, here's why. I'm teaching my beginner's knitting class again and some of the students had expressed interest in knittng scarves to match the hats we're working on. I wanted to be able to give them patterns that they could easily follow and that were written for just their gauge. So I'm knitting and writing up a few simple, fun scarf patterns.

I've already finished one of those neat keyhole scarves.

It matches my blue hat, so I guess I'm all set for winter. Five months early. (Light summer knits may be more seasonable, but a little worsted weight wool on US8's is a nice break from those fine gauged cottons!)

I'll be adding these beginner's patterns to my free patterns page eventually. But not today. This weekend is Boys' Birthday - Phase Two: Grandma's Visit. "Mo pwesents!"

It's maggie! All seamed, blocked, and finished off with a ribbon tie. I love her! She's so light and lovely. As much as I love my all seasons cotton tanks that I made last year, I've found that the aran weight cotton can be a bit heavy for real summer wear. This linen drape top should be much better for warm weather.

Yes, it's a new era in summer knits for me. Bring on the fine gauged cottons! Planned for this summer are my Habu cotton, some Phildar Licorne, Phil' Onde, and, yes, more linen drape. All US5 and undah! I feel five pounds lighter already.

Helene recently asked if I could share a glimpse into my bookshelf. Happy to oblige!

I don't really have a lot of books. Mostly I refer to magazines for the patterns I use (Rowan, Phildar, Rebecca, and Interweave Knits are my faves). But there are some books I really love. Books like Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, which has clear patterns in a range of gauges for basic accessories, Nancy Wiseman's The Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques, which explains and illustrates every technique you'd ever want to use, and everyone's favorite, Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting without Tears. For learning to knit, Sally Melville's The Knitting Experience series really can't be beat - instructions, pictures, and patterns, it's got it all! For baby patterns, I adore Rowan Pipsqueaks, Rowan Junior, and Baby Knits from Dale of Norway. And for adult patterns, my faves are Rowan's A Seasons Tale, Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'n Bitch, and my latest acquisition, 1000 Sweaters.

And that's almost all of my books! Can you believe it? What are your faves? Any other english-language must-have knit-book recommendations for Helene?

Hey, that's not a creamer!

Whoops, thought maybe I could sneak that in. I guess after making six pieces of the tea set, I've sort of lost my momentum. But look how the boys help out mommy:

"...and one boifday hat for you and one for you..."

Well, now that all evidence of my lack of progress has been hidden by birthday hats, let's move on to the other tea parties out there. Melanie's tea set is complete and has gotten the official seal of approval. Check out the pics - too sweet! Jessica's also finished her set - I love the black tea kettle. Sarah made a bowl for the tea party and is even sharing the pattern with us all! Lisa has finished her first piece, and Teresa has bought her yarn - pretty colors.

You might recall that I have naked issues and am trying to come up with a way to use my R2 paper yarn without it being so naked. I decided to see if I could make another tiny tank. I figured that with the yarn doubled, I could get a relatively opaque fabric. So I brought it to Knitsmiths and recklessly cast on. Good news: no big holes and the stitch definition is great. Bad news: after knitting about eight inches of the back, I had to admit that the piece was not only too stiff and warm with the yarn doubled but too small (the thick stitches caused the piece to cinch in a bit). Well, that's what no planning will get you! Back to one strand and the drawing board for me.

PS - No pictures. In a fit of frustration, I immeditaly ripped and rewound, erasing all evidence of my embarrasing failure.

Yes, I'm coming to town again! Just a few hours and I'm off to visit my mom and a few of the greatest knitting shops the big city has to offer. I'm planning on stopping by Purl and Downtown Yarns on Saturday. Anyone else in town up for an afternoon shopping spree? Or how's about a little knitting and pastries at KnitNY on Sunday?

Okay, most important question - what am I bringing with me to knit? Habu, baby! Don't you just love saying "habu"? It sounds so hip, like some cool word that beatniks might use. Anyhoo, after the disasterous beginning of the R2 tank, I cast on for my habu tank.

The back's turning out a wee bit small, but it should be workable. I don't have tons of the habu yarn, so it's probably good for the top to be a bit small. I'll add a few more stitches to the front, where it really matters, and all should be well. I like how the yarn is knitting up. It's easy to work with - no problems with that thin red thread snagging or splitting. It feels nice to work with and it makes fabulously even little stitches - another surprise given that the red thread is so randomly wrapped around the white core. It would seem that these Habu folks really know their yarns! I may have to stop by their shop again.

What a great trip! I had a wonderful visit with my mother and was also able to meet up with fellow knit-bloggers Jenn, of nipperknits, Elisabeth, of Curls and Purls NYC, and Jackie, of Jackie Blue. Check out their blogs for pics of all of us together - and look for a cameo by my mom! I just can't say enough good things about these three NYC knitters. Jenn is the cutest little thing you ever saw. It was real pleasure hanging out with her, talking yarn and politics and stuff (we didn't even get to discuss our shared crush on Ron Weasley!). Mom and I even followed her after our yarn shopping adventure over to the Swatch store where she works to buy a few watches! Elisabeth was the best guide one could ever find to the fabulous world of yummy yarns and snacks that is downtown Manhattan. And such a friendly and fabulous woman herself. I'm never shopping in NYC again without her! And Jackie, whose blog was one of the first I ever read and whose projects I've long admired, was just as fun and hip as her blog would lead you to imagine. She looked so stylish in her new Phil' Ruban tank and Phil' Eponge sweater and her current Rowan project is another to-die-for knit. She's a real New York gal too. So cool sitting in KnitNY, knitting with New Yorkers. I felt so at home! Thanks, girls!

So, wanna see where we went?

the obligatory purl shot

First was Purl Soho. I loved it! Such incredible yarns, a whole table full of beautiful swatches to entice you, and a very friendly staff to boot. You can't beat that! While my mom and I shopped, the gals sat and knitted (shouldn't it be "sat and knat"?) at the table in the middle of the store. It was a really comfortable atmosphere. I love it when a yarn store welcomes people to knit and browse, even if not everyone is shopping. The other gals have much better pics of us sitting at the table in Purl, but I've got a close-up of the cute little doggie that slept on the table while we were knitting. I left the Vintage Knits book in there for scale. That dog was so tiny and so adorable in its little Polo shirt! If it weren't for hunger pangs, I could have stayed there all day with the dog, the girls, the yarn....

purl makes me happy

After a fabulous lunch at Once upon a Tart, the gang moseyed on over to Downtown Yarns.

is that Calmer on sale?! - oh, this IS a good store

Another incredible wall of yarn, a giant table for sitting and knitting, and the nicest staff EVER. We loved it so much we even went back the next day for more. They recognized us of course, because we were in there forever on Saturday! There wasn't a cute little doggie, but just look at the adorable teddy bear they had on display, knitted out of some really cool rug yarn.

raise high the roofbeam knitters

One piece of advice for when you go to this store: Don't forget to look up! The room might not be that big, but there's yarn and amazing display items all the way to the gloriously high ceilings. I still don't think we managed to see everything in there! We would have kept looking, but hunger got the best of us again and we finished off the last day by having another yummy lunch. This time at nearby Benny's Burritos. I couldn't resist the name. That's how mothers are, you know.

So what did I buy? Tune in tomorrow for the shopping bags....

yes sir, yes sir

Well, if I didn't do much shopping on my last trip to NYC, I sure made up for it this time. Ably aided by my mother and the best group of enablers one could ever want, I did good.

Habu rocks

First, even before I met up with the girls, I had to go to Habu! I picked up another ounce of my fabu habu red cotton, just in case I don't have enough to finish the tank I'm working on. They wound the ounce on a little teeny cone, which is so cute that I'm hoping I don't need to use it and can keep it with my other "decorative yarns" on my knitting table. Next to the red coned cotton is some incredible handspun cashmere that my mom couldn't resist (note: mom is not a knitter, so I get to knit her purchases as well - woo hoo!). So, someone's getting a cashmere scarf this Christmas. Then there's two little yellow mini-skeins of Habu's silk-mohair. It reminds me of KidSilk Haze and is so soft. Maybe I can use it someday to make something with crazy hazy ruffles like Elisabeth's Elfin. Finally, the coolest thing ever, preknitted, retro-colored strips of yarn that I have no idea what to do with but had to take home. Take a closer look and tell me you could pass that up!

cuckoo for Koigu

Once I met up with the girls at Purl Soho and Jenn showed us her incredible Vintage Knits wavy-line sweater, my mom and I decided I had to immediately buy enough Koigu to make one for myself. And does Purl ever have the Koigu, let me tell you! They've got lots of the solid colors too, which are really my favorites (remember, I've got variegated issues). Mom also found this sweater knit up as a store model and we decided that we both had to have one. I just happen to have some DB cashmerino aran from the Must Have Cardigan that I chickened out of. And mom wants the DB cotton angora that the pattern calls for. A mother-daughter knit-along is born!

painting the downtown red

At the comfiest yarn store ever, Downtown Yarns, we could only see red. My mom kept coming back to the red and white Manos Cotton Stria (soon to be a candy-cane scarf for her) and I just had to have the one ball of red Calmer (ON SALE!). Jenn had us hunting around for good handpainted yarns after mentioning the Pooling Colors Scarf pattern in the Fall Interweave Knits. When we saw the Schaefer Anne yarn, we started laying out skeins and checking out how the colors would stripe. I ended up with a skein with subtle red colors. I can't wait to see how this pattern and yarn work out!

blue is for knitting

Finally, at my fave, KnitNY, we went blue. I picked out a skein of GGH Via Mala in my favorite color for the fingerless gloves from Weekend Knitting. Mom picked out some Koigu (yes, more Koigu!) for me to make some socks (yes, socks!) for my great aunts. And I picked up a lovely coupon for 10% off my next purchase. Makes me want to rub my hands together like Montgomery Burns on the Simpsons and say, "exxxxcellent."

Trip knitting!

I took the Acela down to NYC and knit the whole way down on my R2 tank. I stayed with the idea of making another tiny tank and solved the naked issue by knitting the R2 paper yarn down on US7's. I didn't want this tank to look exactly like my other tiny tank, so I added some ribbing at the bottom and about an inch in ease for a looser fit.

I like it. I really do! I'm excited about this tank now. I'm gonna need another ball of the yarn, but I think the final result will be pretty cool and well worth the trouble of hunting down more yarn.

More trip knitting!

I took the Peter Pan bus back from NYC ($15 one way, you can't beat that!) and knit all the way on my fabu habu tank. On the train ride down, I'd ripped the three or four inches I'd already knit. I had to admit that it was going to be too small and took advantage of the fact that I was in the quiet car where I could rip it out in the most relaxed and calm surroundings possible. I cast on for the second time and started knitting again during our little KnitNY Sunday brunch knitting session. It was great having the time on this trip to sit and relax, rather than running from store to store to store the whole time. Most of the yarn stores are closed on Sunday anyway, so if you're a yarn junkie that means it's time to knit what you bought on Saturday!

waist shaping is good

By the time I got home Sunday night, I'd made it up to the armholes on the back. As our bus approached the city, the eve before the Democratic Convention started, we travellers caught a long glimpse of the opening night fireworks downtown. What a nice way to return home. And speaking of politics, here's a pic from the weekend of some political commentary Soho style.

right on!

After all the straight stockinette stitch knitting I did on my trip, I wanted to treat my hands to something special for the next few days. I saw some gorgeous Daria Multi yarn at Purl Soho this weekend, and was reminded that I had a few skeins of it at home. One trip to the swift and one crochet hook later and I'm in heaven.

It's so beautiful - every stitch is a new color and looks so amazing with all the stitches around it. I think the single crochet really shows this yarn off well. Despite the yarn being a sleek cord yarn, it's not too stiff or awkward to handle. In fact it's a real pleasure to work with. And it's perfect for a little bag.

How perfect? Take a look back at the Knit Happens coin purse. Or Monica's purse. And check out CurlyQ's free Daria bag pattern. K2P2 offers a free knitted bag pattern on their site. And Purl also had a little bag made out of the Daria on display, which looked like this bag (kit available through Royal Yarns). But I'm now obssessed with an idea of Elisabeth's to make Annie Modesitt's Aline bag pattern with it. Cool or what? Um, Elisabeth, I may need more of that yarn....

But that was not enough. My hands wanted more. To be specific, they wanted cashmere. I've never worked with cashmere before, but after my Mom picked up some cashmere in New York and I had it in my hands long enough to put it in the bag, they had to have more. Rather than starting with mom's cashmere scarf, I bought a skein at my LYS for a little something oh so lovely. I can't say any more here now (people are listening!), but I can tell you that the cashmere is incredible. In fact, I must stop typing now. Gotta save the fingers for the caaaash!

All set for a kamikaze knitalong born during my recent trip to NYC.

I'm such an IK girl!

While we were shopping last weekend, Jenn suggested we pick up some handpainted yarn and try out Interweave Knits pooling colors scarf. We all know that I don't like variegated yarns, but I do love stripes. So if you got a way to turn beautiful handpainted yarn into stripes, I'm there! I picked a skein of Schaefer Anne that has subtle red shades, just in case I can't get the pooling colors to work, it'll still be something I could handle. Jenn has her yarn and Jackie has some Schaefer Anne on the way and will be joining us shortly. Anyone else in??

And just because I missed them so much while I was gone, I ambushed the boys with the camera when I got back.

  
don't these cuties deserve another handknitted sweater?