A few weeks ago, Lynn asked why "blue is for knitting"? Well, I do like blue, but there's a longer story.

I've had a website since 1997. When I first set up a navigation bar on my site, I wanted to save some space for my site to expand. Most of my individual pages had a specific color background to aid navigation, so I decided to make a blue page as a space holder for later content. I called it the blue room, named after a rather empty guest room we had in our house when I was little. Take a peek at the blue room v.1! When I started board gaming (yes, board gaming), I put some gaming content in the blue room and blue was for board games. I liked the alliteration in that title - it made it sound very Sue Grafton, don't you think? Here's a look at the blue room v.2 getting underway. The board games moved to a different spot on my site once I started knitting and decided it would be fun to keep pictures of my projects online. The blue room v.3 still lives at my old web address as an entry page to this site. Check out the side bar there (or this post from last year) to read why the blue room is the perfect place for my craft content.

me in the blue room

Well, my online blue room grew larger and larger and when I finally started a knitting blog, "the blue blog" seemed like the perfect name. Since "blue" can have several meanings (ahem, cough, cough....I still enjoy picturing the disappointment on the faces of the people searching for "hotties"), I decided to add a tag line to explain that, here, blue is for knitting.

And a look at my wips page will usually show that I live up to my tag line. In fact, I've got three blue projects on the needles right now.

We here at the blue blog baby sweater factory have officially been shamed back to the production lines by the super-productivity of others. First of all, it's closing in on the end of summer and everyone I know who is pregnant is just about to pop! Then I saw fellow Knitsmith, Gina, who has just finished four baby sweaters in the last couple of months for friends who are expecting (unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me when I saw her - but trust me, FOUR!). Okay, okay, I gotta pick up that phildar coat and finish it up.

a little duplicate stitch

and blanket stitch too

Now I just have to sew the giraffe patch on the back. So riddle me this, if a cow says moo, and a duck says quack, what does a giraffe say? "Finish me!"

wanna see a close up?

Here's my daria bag, finally starting to look baggy. I'm into the second of three skeins and hoping it'll be enough for a legitimate sized purse with strap. Hey, bonus points to anyone who can tell me what knitted bag pattern I'm trying to recreate here in crochet!

I finished my little cashmere something something prezzie and finally started the Anne pooling scarf pattern. Did anyone get it to work?

I think my colors are too subtle to see much striping, although at least it's not too obvious when the colors get off a bit. Perhaps after a few inches the color differences will become more apparent. I do like it though. Onward, swim!

Can anyone else in the pool recommend a good online source for the Schaefer Anne yarn? Some of the knitalongers are having a hard time finding it. Thanks!

I've seen the previews of the new Rowan magazine and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. Until then, I've got my R2 tank to keep me happy. I've just begun the back (don't know why, but I did the front first).

I've got another ball of the yarn on its way to me from The Knitting Garden and Jenn gave me some leftovers from her paper hoodie, so barring any unforeseen difficulties, I could have this tank done for the weekend! Especially if B keeps helping me.

Knitting on the go. We've had so many lovely summer days and spent so much time on the playground recently, that all my projects are packed in little ziploc baggies ready for transport. I'm like some crazy knitting junkie with a two bag a day habit!

In the bag today, the r2 tank. Keeping on track for my goal to be wearing it instead of carrying it to the playground next week!

I jinxed myself. I told the universe that "barring any unforeseen difficulties," I'd have my r2 tank done this weekend. Hello unforeseen difficulties.

r3?

It all began so calmly, I was knitting along on the back with the yarn I had left over from the front. Then, when that ran out, I knit for a bit with the leftovers that Jenn gave me. Then, my new ball arrived from The Knitting Garden, and I knit away with that. After about 4 inches in the new yarn, I noticed it - a stripe where I had used Jenn's yarn. I hadn't noticed any color difference the whole time I used it. And I didn't notice any difference when I started with the new ball. I think it was the change from daylight to indoor lighting that really made it show up. Well, I couldn't stand it. There was no way I was going to leave it like that. So I decided to remove the section knit with Jenn's yarn and graft the top and bottom sections together.

I undid the join and slowly picked out the loops, separating the sections. Can you see the faint stripe caused by the different dye lot? After a few hours, I had all the different yarns separated. Then began the long, tedious process of grafting it back together. Since the R2 is like a ribbon yarn and folds over on itself as you're knitting it, it doesn't lie perfectly flat and produces a fabric with some texture. I thought this would make it a good candidate for grafting, since the grafted row didn't have to match up perfectly with the other rows. Any unevenness would fit right in with the rest of the knitting. But still, it was a pain grafting with the ribbon yarn. Since the yarn wasn't being held with the same tension as when being knit, it wasn't folding in the same way. Long story short, I'm having to go back anyway, adjusting every other stitch to match the look of the original. And I'm still working on it.

make me whole again

I am drowning in awesome knitting projects and have seriously neglected my sewing. More specifically, I've seriously neglected my sew-along. Although I never got around to putting mine together, it was great fun watching my sewing pals make their tops! Since everyone else is either finished or has changed their mind about the project, I'm retiring the sew-along. I'll update you if and when I finish mine.

a sew-along

the merry, merry month of may
and june too!

sewing r2 back together again

sewing on the giraffe patch

The r2 saga is finally over! I fixed her and finished her, and she's everything I'd hoped for. I love the fit - the extra added ease is a nice change from my usual snug summer knits. There was some concern that knitting the r2 paper yarn down on US7's (the patterns call for like US11's) might make the top too hot, but the ribbon feels cool against my skin and that added ease leaves the top nice and breezy. I mostly followed the Phildar tiny tank pattern (from their Summer 2003 catalog) with modifications for my different gauge, but added the ribbing at the bottom, 'cause I've seen this paper yarn roll like a, well, you know. There's still some rolling in the back, but I think it looks sexy - I can handle being a little more naked on the back (no stretch marks back there!). When it came time to add the ties, I decided to simply use the ribbon yarn itself to make straps. The front ribbing wanted to poof out a little (a problem that I also have with my chickami), so I decided to run the ribbons from the shoulders through the ribbing and tie them together in the center. Not only did the solution work, it gives the whole tank a sweeter, more feminine look. Yay!

Conclusion: I can r2. Who knew?

I am flying on the front of my habu tank. Of course, I haven't really decided yet how I want the tank to look, but I'm not letting that hold me back from knitting away furiously.

I've decided not to copy the necklines from the asian tanks in Rebecca #26 (I just finished a keyhole neckline on Maggie, and I don't want such a closed neck as in the other tank). What to do? I thought about doing something like the front of Grace, but converting the cap sleeves to tank armholes would have been difficult to work out. Now I'm all about trying to work in a square neck with ribbed collar, one of the options in the totally cool 1000 Sweaters book.

And to make matters worse, I'm still not sure what sort of finishing I want to do on the armholes or bottom edge. The Rebecca tanks called for garter stitch in a contrast color (like black). I liked that idea at first, but now I think I just want to keep the habu yarn. Unfortunately, the yarn curls a lot, so some sort of edging is definitely necessary. What to do?

Hmmm.... think, knit, think, knit, knit, knit, stop thinking about it, knit more....

Hey, it's the paris loop poncho! We had a little cool spell last week and as my hands were getting tired of cotton on tiny needles anyway, I started looking around in the unfinished projects basket for something woolly in a slightly larger gauge. And there was paris loop, almost done, just waiting for the cool weather for its grand finale.

This project was so quick to make. It really only took four days to knit (two in June and two in August). The yarn is way weird, but neat (those loops happen all on their own) and very easy to work with. The pattern could not be simpler, or cleverer. And although the thing looks like some sort of furry monster muppet while on the needles, once you slip it on, it's so cool. And look, if it weren't so loopy and open (read, naked!), it'd even make a funky skirt!

Me likey.

I love this collar! In fact, I love it so much that now I think I'll have to rip back the armholes of my habu tank to make matching knit-in ribbed armhole edgings. Gonna have to wait another week to finish this tank. But it's gonna be great!

What could be better than a call from the yarn store saying "your yarn is in"?!

cotton angora, yummm...

Here's the Debbie Bliss yarn that I need to make mom's Jess sweater. All lovely in army green. I would never have picked out this color when just looking at the balls on display, but when knitted up, like the sweater Purl had on display or the models in the book, it looks really good. Much more like a neutral than like army fatigues!

Okay, I'll tell you what's better than your yarn order arriving, the store having just enough of another yarn that you were looking for.

Silk Garden, double yummm...

While in NYC, my mom and I spied the awesome Klaralund pattern in Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's new book. And what do you know, but Wendy and Froggy start up a Klaralund-along for September AND my LYS had exactly the right number of skeins in stock for me. Count me in!

September's shaping up to be a great month for knitting. But first I gotta make it through my August knits. The Olympics to the rescue! Karen suggested an Olympic knitalong, which she was calling "a Herculean Effort". I wanted to join, but couldn't imagine starting another project now. Then I thought, if I really want to make a Herculean effort, I could try to finish up all the projects that are right on the verge of being finished. That's the giraffe jacket, the habu tank, the daria bag, and ava. I got two weeks. Let the games begin!

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

Just a little booboo, but you can't keep those doctors from using their fun x-ray machines, or apparently, my son B, aka BooBoo Boy, from giving them reason to use them. As of yesterday he's managed his fifth set of x-rays in three years. Bravo? All x-rays were negative this time (as opposed to this time last year). He just had a little infection around the fingernail that the doctors wanted to look at more closely. So a pretty routine trip to the ER. And a souvenir picture of that tiny hand.

Sunday again, and here's an update of my current non-knitting crafty pursuit, crochet.

ta da, it's the cro-phie!

The crocheted daria sophie bag all done! Shannon helped me pick out the zipper this afternoon. Crochet Claire from the Knitsmiths helped me sew in the strap during knitting group. And voila, she's finished with a little help from my friends.

I do love this Noro Daria yarn. The colors are so incredible. And you know what just occurred to me while I was crocheting the last few rounds?.... Pool-knitalongers, are you listening?.... I think you could pool this yarn to make stripes! If I could only think of something I could do with a six inch wide strap of stripey cord yarn.

Update: Now that I'm dressed, I can show you a picture of me modeling the bag!

the tea party

I haven't touched my tea set, but my sure boys have! I've still got the creamer to make, but that doesn't keep them from playing with it now. Of course, their version of playing with the set involves throwing each piece up into the air as far as they can. When asked to put them all back, this is how they left everything.

all cleaned up, mama

In knitalong news, Helene has finished our tea party mascot, Miss Muffin. What a perfect hostess she is, complete with goodies and everything! Jackie has completed her first best friend doll for her tea party. Laura has finished these dolls and another one. I absolutely love these dolls and Laura, you are truly the master!

And now the fiestaware. Julia is working on an exquisite set of vintage looking teacups. Marti's finished her first tea cup. Peggy has a whole stack of teacups done. Christina's made one place setting, another place setting and a creamer (the same piece that I still have to finish!). Lisa has also completed a creamer and cup and saucer. And Gaile's getting started by blocking her first teacup.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

linen drape-along

am I a table mat or am I a tank?

I finally got my linen drape gift pack for resubscribing to the Rowan International club. So many people have gotten theirs and been less than excited at the idea of making a table runner. I was feeling the same way and had planed to use the LD to make a tank of some sort. But then they sent these colors which are perfect for my dining room. Although they would also look good striped in a tank. Now, I'm conflicted.

So how are my linen drapers doing out there? Well, let's see. Eklectica is almost done! Her beautiful purple tank is blocking as we speak. Go check it out! And Monica finished her Flame tank. You have to see the pictures - she looks gorgeous in it! Laetitia has finished the back of her linen drape project. It's got a beautiful lace border. Kyra has posted a pic of her stripey linen drape halter underway. So cool! And Lynn (who was my linen drape trading partner and who just started blogging - you've got to see her great projects!), has finished the back of her gorgeous Salsa cardigan.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

the pool

not quite in the deep end yet

As you can see, I stepped out of the pool for a bit. I ripped, I retried. Now think of me recouperating in a louge chair at poolside. Like Jenn, I wasn't so sure about how the lace pattern was coming out. But, look, she's restarted hers and has convinced me that I should give mine another try as well. She was inspired to restart by the great success of Brynne and Rae, who have beautiful pooling scarves in progress. Poor Peggy is going mad with frustration trying to get her colors to line up. I think all of us in the pool have been there, right?! Hey, Peggy, pull up a chair and join me for a cool refreshing drink. We can dive in again later.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Man, I love knitalongs! Any other knitalong updates to share with me?

...to the Phildar giraffe coat. Finally finished and sent off to the happy new parents.

Once I heard it was going to be a girl, I went ahead and did the blanket stitch trim in a more feminine lilac color. And I actually really like the navy for a little girl.

Of course, I absolutely love the giraffe! I'm such a sucker for these Phildar giraffes. In typical Phildar baby knits fashion, it's all about the finishing touches. They're a lot of work, but they do make all the difference.

Hey, I wish I had a coat like this!

(As always, specific project info like pattern and yarn details are at the top of the archive page for this project. Just click on the time stamp and page up from there.)

I'm just starting the Habu redo. I've ripped back to the start of the armholes and am reknitting the top front and back with ribbing at either armhole opening to match the collar. I think I'll also end up picking up stitches along the cast on row and adding a bit of ribbing there too to make the whole thing all matchy-matchy. Still hoping to have it done by the end of the Olympics!

My Olympic record so far: 2 of 4 projects finished. Woo hoo!

While swatching my new Debbie Bliss cotton angora yarn (for my mom's Jess sweater, which looks to be about eight or nine thousand miles of stockinette stitch), I decided I should try to retrain my hand to hold the yarn differently. I've become accustomed to holding the tension on the yarn by wrapping it around my pinky finger. Not a problem, but each time I knit a stitch I seem to lift my pinky in some weird teacup ettiquette reflex moment.

a knitting no-no

It's bad form, is inefficient and surely strains my wrist, but it's not a huge problem unless I am doing a lot of knitting. This strange pinky flip was definitely the source of some hand troubles I had last year after knitting my tiny-gauged funky vest and giant melvilla poncho. Now, preparing for some full-time knitting on mom's sweater, I want to nip that little problem in the bud! So I'm practicing holding the tension on my ring finger now.

better?

As long as I keep my pinky straight in line with the ring finger and move them together, it stays rather relaxed and I don't feel any cramping. I'm sure that by the time I'm done with mom's sweater, it'll feel like I've been knitting like this for years.

And who else has been playing with yarn?

two boys with two balls of yarn running in two directions - priceless

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Okay, wanna hear another story of twinsanity? So, remember B's booboo from last week? Well, he's been getting fun finger soaks and yummy pink medicine several times a day, and someone - one guess who - has been very jealous! First, S was so upset that he didn't get to go to the doctor with B last week, that he actually did more screaming than his brother. Then there's the fact that they love medicine so much that we've had to give S a dropperful of water, which we call "pretend medicine", each night so he doesn't feel left out. To top it off, daddy makes soak time so entertaining by reading Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go book with them, that B acutally reminds us when it's time and S keeps asking for his own bowl of water. So here's what happens next. Not to be outdone by his twin brother, S manages to wake up yesterday morning with the same nail infection, on his toe, not his finger, but, let's say it together, I-dentical. One trip to the doctor later and he's got his own bottle of the same pink medicine and a schedule of fun toe soaks. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he'd willed his toe infection into existence in order to get the same stuff as B! Oh well, same treatment, same schedule, heck, it actually makes our life a lot easier.

you're soaking in it!

In honor of it being my mom's birthday, I pulled out the DB cotton angora and cast on for her Jess sweater.

Man, this pattern is complicated! You cast on all stitches for fronts and back, then starting just with the middle stitches for the back, you slowly short row all the rest into the whole to make curved front edges. I'm really liking the curved edges so far. I had to restart a couple of times to get them right. But now that I've got the hang of it, I'm enjoying it. It's mostly stockinette (me likey) plus a good bit of counting and keeping track of rows (okay, no watching Olympic swim finals while doing this one). And because I've worked so many rows on the middle stitches, the whole sweater is really starting to take shape quickly.

Hope you like it ma!

And happy birthday to Jackie too!

Ready for sewing!

I finished reknitting the armholes during the week and spent an entire evening of Olympics adding the ribbed edging. What a nightmare! Picking up from the tight cast on edge gave me such a callous on my finger. Owie, owie. I'll be taking a couple days break from this tank for a little forgive and forget therapy.

Keeping on track for my Herculean Effort at finishing four projects during the Olympics, I hereby annouce the triumphant return of ava!

Remember how wrong she went a while back? Well, I ripped and reknit the first sleeve, finished the second sleeve, sewed them both in, slipped them on and they're just right now. I've got button bands and buttons left to do and she's all done. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Loving Jess. Loving the cotton angora.

Now this is what yarn is supposed to feel like! Although I do get the angora fluff up the nose constantly and the weight of the whole thing is beginning to strain my wrist a bit. It's all worth it though. I've finished short-rowing in all the cast on stitches. The front curves are almost complete. Then comes the second set of short rows which set the shape of the front panels. Can you see in the pattern pic how they're actually angled? The fronts are done like a diagonal scarf with increases on one side and decreases on the other. It's so cool!

I made up with the habu tank after recovering from my pick-up stitches-finger callous and sewed on the collar and pockets (hadn't mentioned them before, had !?). Redoing this tank was so worth it. Although the asian tank from Rebecca #26 provided the shape I wanted, I knew I had to go back and add the detailing from 1000 Sweaters. I love everything about it now - the style, the fit, the feel. This unique cotton yarn from Habu with colored thread wrapped around it is so light and comfortable. And it has incredible drape. It's just a pleasure to wear.

Okay, this pattern is really one where you gotta pay attention. It's proven a bit too much for little, old can't-remember-if-I-did-that-row, can't-use-a-row-counter-cause-I-always-forget-to-click-it me.

I started the second set of short rows, was sailing along and about a ball of yarn into them realized that I would have to rip it all out. After the initial short rowing, the front panels slant with increases on one side and decreases on the other (like a diagonal scarf). The way I was doing the short rows for the that section of the front panel, I totally forgot to do all the increases and was taking stitches from the back. I knew what I was supposed to be doing, but I got into some rhythm and totally forgot about the increases. Whoops. It's got to go. And since I'm a proponent of ripping immediately - destroying all evidence, as it were - I'm right back to where I was in my last jess post.

Oh well, knitting across such long rows and having to support all these stitches on one needle is bothering my wrist anyway. Jess may just be going into the break room for a while.

Some people (I won't name names - but a certain knitalong co-hostess comes to mind) have done a little more than swatching on their Klaralunds. I've been wanting to start mine so bad, but have been focused on my Olympic finishing marathon and jess obsession. Now that they've opened the door for, let's call it, "extended swatching", and I'm taking a break from jess to rest my hand a bit, I thought I might start up Klaralund afterall, as I think she'd be a good candidate for some right-hand relaxing, continental knitting.

Smile - you're knitting with silk garden!

I've swatched and have gotten some of the gauge issues and sizing decisions out of the way (for other Klara-alongers, I'll be using US9's and making the small size) and have moved on to dealing with my own personal issues with variegated yarns. We all remember that variegated yarns and I don't get along too well, mostly because I can't precisely control the finished look of the garment. Self-striping Noro yarns are better for me than truly variegated yarns, but since there's no guarantee that the skeins start at the same point, have the same stripe width, or are even wound in the same direction, I've still got some control issues with them. I put in some time into my Kureyon sweater, unwinding skeins searching for the right color and cutting out longer sections of a specific color, to get the pieces to sort of match up. The Klaralund pattern pic shows that they haven't done that. The sleeves don't match and I'd even suspect that the front was done with two skeins that were wound in different directions. But I like it! So I'm going to try to let things be this time.

Just let me sort these a little first.

Okay, maybe I need just a little control. I'll try to let things be, um, once I group together skeins that seem to be wound similarly and start in roughly the same spot. I can use them together to keep the stripe sequence in tact through a single piece (like the back or a sleeve), but I'm not going to force front and back or the two sleeves to match. (oooh, I'm really letting go aren't I?)

I decided to treat my sore wrist to an evening free of knitting. Gotta take care of those hands! Still, it was pretty hard to keep them away from the yarn! So I ended up winding up the hanks of Koigu for my Vintage Knits wavy line sweater.

I love the colors even more wound up in balls!

I'm hoping to take this project with me on our September trip to Germany. Yup, the yearly trip to visit the inlaws in the Hinterlands (see my post from last year's visit). Don't you find it hard to plan your vacation knitting? I'm thinking this project may be good. It certainly fits the bill in terms of packing - not too much yarn, not too heavy to bring with me. But it might be a little fiddly, with a multiple-row pattern and color changes, for me to knit while chatting with the in-laws. I may have to bring Klaralund as a backup. (yippee!)

After sewing on 13 tiny buttons and weaving in about a bazillion ends, I finished ava, just in time for the Olympic closing ceremonies tonight. My summer olympic finishing marathon is complete. And she gets the gold!

On to ava details. I love the fact that it's a light cardigan with really good waist shaping. Boxy cardigan + me = no way. And I so enjoyed using the Rowan Calmer. It's soft to work with and feels heavenly on. The gauge was a little different from the wool cotton that the pattern called for, but I was able to use the numbers from a different size to adjust. Still the pattern is a little weird. The sleeves as written were incredibly long (Nora mentioned that she had the same problem when working on her ava). I ripped them back and reknit them, leaving out a few increases near the top. That seemed to do the trick.

I really like this cardigan. I think I'll get a lot of wear out of it. I'm always chilly and with some basic, goes-with-everything cardis like this one, I'll be able to bring one with me all the time. I must admit to having cardigan issues - I don't really understand when to wear them and am always feeling like they're just light jackets and I should take them off when I get inside somewhere. But I'm hoping that a lighter, more feminine cardi like ava will change that. I can bring it with me as a light jacket, simply wear it like a sweater, or layer it on even cooler days. With ava, the cardi raye, and my paris loop poncho, I'll be looking forward to sweater weather!

Now that I have my medal, I wanna give you one.

The original idea for the Herculean Effort knitalong was to give medals to the knitalongers with the best projects finished during the Olympics. Karen didn't end up doing her knitalong, but I loved that idea. Well, credit her great olympic spirit and my finishing high (six finished projects in August!) for the blue blog's first contest! I'd like to offer up a few Olympic medals (yarns, of course) to you other Olympic knitters out there. Just share with me what you knit during the Olympics and I'll put your name in the hat to win one of these...

Gold: 3 skeins Phildar Sunset yarn (color Dore, of course), which is very similar to Rowan Lurex Shimmer. You could make a fabulous scarf or purse with this stuff. It's most often used as a carry-along yarn to add a bit of sparkle to a project.

Silver: 1 skein Tosca yarn, a really soft, bulky wool/acrylic blend. It's a brand new yarn from Lang and this skein is color #5 with beautiful greys that will stripe like Noro yarns. This would make a wonderful winter hat.

Bronze: 1 skein Noro Silk Garden in a lovely bronze/beige/green colorway (#34). Silk Garden is the self-striping silk/mohair/wool blend that EVERYONE is using for Klaralund. This skein would make a pretty hat or could also be a start for a longer scarf or maybe even your own Klaralund!

- - - - - - - - - -

RULES: Leave a comment to this post by the end of the day tomorrow (8/31) and tell me what you were knitting during the Olympics. I'm really curious to hear what everyone's been working on and how much knitting you got done. Be sure to include a link to a picture if you can. We love looking at pictures! If you don't have a picture or a website, just leave a description so we can imagine what you've been knitting. I'll toss all the names in a hat (or do something equally random) and pull out winners at the end of the week. I'll post the winners names and contact them by email for snail mail addresses. And you too can have an olympic medal! What fun!