kick it!

Two other knitters have drilled and starting making boots! Katie has finished one fabulous green boot. I love it! And Whit crocheted hers! You gotta see it.

In the meantime, Jae reports that she managed to convice her husband to drill holes in perfectly good shoes and Rebecca is practicing her dpn skills on some socks.

I've still got one boot left to finish. Maybe listening to Whit's interview with Tina Marrin can inspire me to get started again. Or I could watch the Knitty Gritty show again for about the thousandth time. "Are you ready boots? Start knitting!"

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

sockapaltwoza

Lots of finished make-up socks to report:

Alison sent off socks to Sara!
Bliss got the sock savior socks I knitted!
Alison C. has finished socks too
Ariel finished Whitby's for her make-up pal.
And Stinkerbell loves her make-up socks!

Three Alisons and an Ariel saving the sockapalooza - awesome! Thanks so much, ladies. Isn't it great when we all knit and make up?

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

another weasley

And the finished weasleys just keep on coming....

Whit made a beautiful "F" weasley for her daughter. (I think if I had mine to do over again, I'd do an F too! I've got a little thing for Fred now.)
Becky made an "N" weasley for her son. (I love these pictures of the kids in their sweaters.)
Patty did a great job on her Gryffindor scarf.
And Ann knit a fun Hogwarts hat for her Knitting Olympics project.

There are new knitalongers too:

Anne's Gryffindor socks are way cool and Jenny is working a Hogwarts unity blanket. What a neat project!

Long live the weasley-along!

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

yarn aboard

The radio box I sent in Amanda's sock yarn swap has visited two others so far: Emily, who received the gifts I packed in the box, and Rachel, who received gifts from Emily.

This is so much fun to watch! Go radio box, go.

After a little break, I've finally managed to cast on for boot number two. Wanna watch?

Insert crochet hook.

Catch yarn.

Pull loop through and place on needle.

Amazing what a little boot-knitting experience will do for you. This time was much easier. Until I got to the last hole.

Then this happened.

Which begs the question, why do I have a wooden crochet hook?! (Okay, I know the answer to that one actually. Two years ago, I was desperate one day for a hook - no idea now why - and it was the only one in the proper size that the store had. Still, a bamboo crochet hook? Why?) Anyway, I dug up my metal hook set and, luckily, an F hook also fit in the holes.

Alright, boot two on! (Hey, how are my knitalongers doing out there? Anyone else casting on??)

Onwards and upwards!

The knitting became much easier once I got past the shoe. It was still a little like knitting in slow motion with big movements (although I can totally see how knitting continental here would minimize this), but it went relatively quickly once the decreases were well underway. For those of you following along in the pattern, I did make one tiny change: I didn't cut the yarn when the little instep gusset was being knit, because I didn't feel like dealing with another end to weave in later. I just knit around to that spot and turned to start the gusset. Otherwise, I did everything as instructed. A few rounds of ribbing and voila, a knit boot!

It came out just like the ones on the show - what a relief! By the way, for those of you knitting along, judging from my leftovers, I think one ball of Blizzard (66 yds.) might be enough to knit both boots. The BurlySpun yarn the pattern calls for may have a lot of yardage, but I can't imagine you'd need it all to make the boots, so keep that in mind if you're substituting yarn.

But now, what they didn't (wouldn't?) show you on television, the try-on! Drumroll, please....

Hey, it's okay! Really, it isn't bad at all. Of course, the shoe isn't the most comfortable, but I imagine that with wear (yes, I do plan to wear these sometime), the leather will soften up. As for the knitted part, it's comfy: not too snug, not too hot. The Blizzard split a bit here and there and doesn't look like it'll hold up to too much wear and tear, but as long as the shoe holds out, I can always rip out the Blizzard and reknit the boot from the same holes. As for the style, I really like the look of the ankle boot, but when wearing it, I think I might prefer either a short knitted shoe like in the pictures from yesterday or a higher boot. Sock height would probably feel the most natural. I may try it out by making the leg longer on the second shoe.

Still I consider this shoe to be a huge success. Such a success, in fact, that I've already bought another pair of shoes to make! I've got plans to put a pattern on them - maybe a cool cable, possibly even that Hermione cable I love so much. For now, on to shoe number two!

Now that I've kicked my nasty little cold, it's finally time to start those kickin' boots!

I pulled the yarn through the holes with the size E crochet hook, as instructed, and managed to get the stitches arranged on 10 double-pointed needles. I'm knitting size 10 shoes here. Using 10 dpns was kind of pushing it - I definitely could have used 11 or 12 needles - but I only have two sets of US9 dpns, so I was determined to make it work. (This also means that I'm only doing one shoe at a time, rather than both at once as the pattern recommends. Sorry, it just wasn't worth it to me to buy two more sets of dpns!)

look at the little cast on row inside!

After some difficulty (think small holes, small hook, big unspun yarn), I cast on and knit the first two rows. If you want to remember what it feels like to learn to knit all over again, then this is the project for you! With those dpns locked so tight against the shoe, every movement you need to make is a bit tricky and it feels like the piece is sort of working against you. It's hard to get the spare needle angled into the stitches correctly and you kinda have to make these giant arm movements to wrap the yarn. It's slow, slow, slow but I loved every second. And after just one night, the knitting is already far enough to cover the shoe!

Love it! Seriously, how can you not?!

And we're off!

First, tape is put around the bottom edge of the shoe to mark a safe line above the sole to drill. Now, I couldn't find any Post-It tape as called for in the pattern, so I used Scotch tape. It was easy to tear into short pieces and it came off reasonably easily.

Since there was no way that marker marks would be visible on my black shoes, I used a thumb tack and poked tiny holes to mark where to drill.

I put on the goggles and hubby drilled using the smaller bit. (Yeah, he's got drill skills, so I let him do it. Good thing too, because occassionally the leather would twist up around the drill bit and I wouldn't have been able to wiggle the bit loose as well as he could.)

With the pilot holes done, we switched to the larger bit and drilled into the same holes again. These went so much faster than the first set.

And without too much difficulty, I've got holes exactly the size of the crochet hook and am ready to cast on and knit! THIS. IS. SO. COOL.

(Don't laugh, but I am already shopping around for another pair of shoes to drill!)

And the holiday gift knitalong gifties go to:

Calmer to Stephanie
Atacama to Liesel
Woolarina handpainted to Karen
stitch markers to Emily
KidSilk Haze to Ruth

(Winners were chosen using an online random number generator. Winners, please contact me by email with your address, so I can send you your prezzie!)

Thanks to everyone for making the knitalong such an enjoyable experience! It was a real pleasure to check in each day and see so many wonderful gifts being knit.

- - - - - - - - - -

Sockapaloooza sock sisters needed!

In order to keep up with the updates this time, I'm asking for four or five VERY RELIABLE gals to "watch" a certain number of blogs, take update emails, and send me a weekly round-up for my tuesday post.

Meanwhile, my sock savior socks are finally underway:

And the tech guys are brainstorming about sign-ups. More info next week!

- - - - - - - - - -

And I am so ready to kick it! I got my yarn for my boots picked out and am excited to start drilling! Look, Johanna even loaned me some goggles.

Let the fun begin!

Are you all done with your holiday knit gifts?

jump for joy!

It's time for the holiday knitalong contest! There are five gifties to give away to the generous knitters who participated in the knitalong and made so many incredible gifts for their friends and families.

1) 1 ball Calmer in white (great for the Aura cap or Shedir from last fall's Knitty surprise issue)
2) 1 skein Atacama alpaca in variegated pinks - this would make such a fabulous hat!
3) 1 skein handpainted worsted from Woolarina - 160 yards of beautiful blues
4) set of beautiful stitch markers made and donated by Raellyn
5) Rowan's Froth gift pack, including two skeins Kid Silk Haze and scarf pattern, donated by Stephanie

So get your final number in to me today, get your gold star, and I'll pull names over the weekend!

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

And on the thirteenth day of Christmas, my UPS man gave to me... (sing along now)

Two capezio shoes. And I'm ready to make the knit boots!

Well, I'm still sitting around in my pajamas.

I was catching up on email and hoping, hoping, hoping that my shoes for the Knitty Gritty knit boot project would arrive. But no mail delivery yet. Once I have the shoes, I've got a trip to the yarn store planned to buy some yarn and another pack of dpn's. And then, oh boy, oh boy, there's the marking, and then the drilling, heh, heh, and all that funky knitting, woo hoo! I am WAY too excited about these boots.

But apparently I will have to wait a little longer. Guess I'll have to get myself and the kids dressed today after all.

look at me, I'm giving out stars!

Teacher says, every time a bell rings, a gift knitter gets her star. I've been passing out stars at the holiday knitalong all weekend. There are now over 50 knitters who have completed their holiday gift knitting! I too am inching closer, having finished mom's Koigu socks, just in time for her to take them home with her after her visit.

happy feet

The boys love their new slippers too. Can you tell? They're sitting in their new favorite chair, the Ikea Lomsk chair. They were so excited about the chair they even wanted to help daddy put it together. Good tip on drill use from my son S. (especially for all of us planning on making those Knitty Gritty knit boots):

the drill as a knitting tool - I love it!

"We have to be careful and stand back because if it touches us, it will hurt us and we will screw ourselves."

So, I'm in the Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago. I enjoy going there with the boys because they can look at books the way they like to. (Let's face it, they're boys, they don't do the sit calmly on a bench and look at a book thing. They tend to pick out the loudest of the interactive press-the-button-make-some-noise books, two of them of course, lay them out on the floor, and scoot and squirm around with them beeping just out of synch with each other. Not exactly library behavior.) And in a brilliant move, my B&N decided to locate the craft book section directly next to the kids section, so I usually grab a knitting book and read it on the floor next to the boys.

The last time we were there, I noticed a new book, Vickie Howell's New Knits on the Block. You know Vickie Howell - she's the fabulous host of DiY's Knitty Gritty and designer of cool knits like Tinsel and Banshee from Knitty.com. Yeah, that Vickie Howell! (And yes, she does really knit!) So here's this neat book all about knitting things your kids would actually like to have, like fun knitted objects for playtime and costumes for dress up. And as the creator of Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes, you know I was diggin' this book. (These Swamp Thing hats in fact, totally reminded me of the thing hats I made for the boys for Halloween. I have got to get some googley eyes!) Then when I got home, I had an email from the publisher that Vickie was going to be doing a blog book tour for the book and would I like to participate. Yeah! I've got some questions for crafty grrrrl, Vickie Howell.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Q: Just how crafty a grrrl are you? What other crafts do you do besides knitting? Knitting is the best, right? (wink, wink)

A: (nudge, nudge ;-) ) If it involves yarn, fabric, thread, paper or glue, I probably do it! I sew, crochet, embroider, decoupage, cross stitch, card make, etc. Seriously, I dig anything that involves crafty goodness. Knitting holds an extra special place in my heart though--it's the one craft/art form that seems to always hold my attention. It's been years since I've gone more than a day without picking up my needles.

Q: Were you always this cool or is there hope for the rest of us? Can we knit ourselves cool?

A: LOL. Well, thank you. Ummm, I'm embarrassed now and don't know how to answer your question so instead, do you mind if I just curtsey? *curtseying* Thank you.

Q: The patterns in your New Knits on the Block book are awesome! As a mom who dressed her boys up in handknitted Halloween costumes this year, I discovered that it is amazing what they'll let us make for and put on them as long as it's fun. Knitting for kids really isn't so hard, is it?

A: Nah, it doesn't have to be! Even a simple, garter stitch belt (like the one from the Knight's Chain Mail project) can be fun for kids, because it gives them a place to hold their sword. :-)

Q: I don't have any girls to knit for, so, do you think I'd look bad in that Hawaiian dress? How about the mermaid tail? Okay don't answer that. I noticed that a lot of your own patterns in the book are knitted objects (totally LOVE the bowling pins, by the way!). Do you enjoy this sort of knitting more than garment knitting?

A: I feel your pain, I don't have girls to knit for either! Don't think I haven't tried to squeeze my 32-year-old behind into that mermaid costume, though. ;-) Thankfully the designer, Tina Marrin, will be on a future episode of Knitty Gritty showing how to make an adult skirt using the same stitch that she used for the mermaid.

I really dig the sculptural aspect of knitting objects but I don't necessarily enjoy knitting them more than garments. I think that for this book though, I wanted to design a few projects that a child could see developing before his or her eyes while the objects were being knitted. The bowling ball and pins especially, take shape really quickly and are worked in chunky yarn that makes them knit up fast. For me at least, those two features are important when trying to fit knitting into a busy life.

Q: Are you knitting lots of holiday gifts for people this year? If not, can you help me with mine?

A: Oh man, I had grand plans of knitting tons of gifts but there just hasn't been time. I have one lacey scarf done that I made for a friend months ago, but that's it. I feel so lame for being this professional knitter who can't even get her own gifts made. Ummm, so no, I can't help you - but thanks for asking! ;-)

Q: I saw recently on your blog that your 6-yr old son asked you to show him how to knit. Do you think he could help me knit my holiday gifts? Heh, heh, sorry, what I really meant to ask is, are your boys crafty too? I can't get my boys to spend more than a minute in front of a craft project. Do yours enjoy your crafting?

A: That depends. Does the job pay well? Just kidding. Yeah, that post was written during the course of the one row that my son knit before he promptly sent the needles back to their more valiant post as weaponry in his mythical army. My youngest son seems to be more interested in crafting than my oldest, but neither of them is quite ready to slow down long enough to get serious about anything more than throwing yarn balls.

Q: Speaking of boys, what's up with feminism these days? I mean we're having kids, we're knitting, we're knitting for our kids - this is a good thing, right?

A: Absolutely. To me, the 3rd wave of feminism means being able to choose your own path - making the decisions that are right for you as a woman, no matter what they are. A true feminist embraces that which makes her feel whole - we can bake, we can borrow, we can boardroom. It's our world now!

Thanks so much to Vickie for virtually stopping by. I hope you've been following the tour. If you haven't, go back and check out Knit and Tonic's hard-hitting interview from yesterday and catch Vickie at Lolly's tomorrow.

- - - - - - - - - -

By the way, once I got the book home, the boys seemed to get that it was really something for them. They took a peek at it, so I told them they could flip through the pages and pick out one thing and I would make it for them. They immediately found the swamp thing hats. But in the end B asked for the bowling pins and ball (hooray! I soooo wanted to make those!) and S picked the memory game. (He really liked the crown, but since B picked a toy, he changed his mind and went that way too. Phew!) So those'll be the new knits on this block after Christmas.

And speaking of things I HAVE to knit, did you see the most recent Knitty Gritty with Tina Marrin making the high heeled boots with the drilling and everything?! Too cool. I don't even wear heels, but I feel that I have to make these things. I mean, there's a drill involved and like 10 double-pointed needles. How can I resist? It's like those dang sweatpants I made last year. I could not get the silly things out of my head until I made them. So who's up for making the funky boots with me? Come on now, friends don't let friends knit silly stuff alone.