Inspiration

With a new-ish job (it's been a year already!) and a new baby I'm finding it difficult to be inspired. I feel like I don't have time to knit. I don't have time to sit down and think of designs and honestly, I haven't found another design that has motivated me to pick up my needles. I'm embarrassed to say how long it's been since I have knit a stitch. I miss the feeling it gave me. The sense of satisfaction as I watch beautiful yarn become beautiful fabric right from my own hands.

Every few weeks I get a urge to knit and I pull out a few skeins of yarn from my stash and lay them out. I ponder what they could become or what color would be best  for a project I have in mind. I stare at them for a few spare moments and then I'm swept up in my day again only to shove the yarn away a few hours later as I'm laying my son down for bed.

It saddens me that I don't have anything 'on the needles'. I miss my knitting like I miss a dear friend. So many large moments in my life are punctuated by whatever FO I was working on at the moment. And yet this past year, which has been so eventful for me, has seen so few knits (there was one for my son - I hope to share it with you soon)

Perhaps it's a good sign that I am logging into my blog again. Perhaps this means the knitting is not far behind

Inspiring

Just had to share this video when I came across it today




Kirby Chambliss - Two time champion of Red Bull Air Race

Cupcakes to go

I LOVE to bake and decorate cupcakes and nothing makes me more happy than to make them for the people in my life… the biggest problem here is that most of the people in my life live far away and…. well… cupcakes don't ship so well. Until NOW!

I saw this idea on Pintrist (oh how I love thee) and tried it out the very next day. It's one of those things that is so simple it's brilliant.

Bake the cupcakes in a mason jar! Then there's room to decorate and put the lid on top. Perfect for shipping!

This opens a whole new world of cupcakes

Watch out friends and family! There may be cupcakes in your future!

FO: Pink Find A Penny

I decided to make another Find A Penny for a friend. 

This time pink and with the picot edging.

I love it so much I may have to make another for my self!

Project Details:

Pattern: Find A Penny 
Yarn: Tosh Vintage in Rose
Needles: US 8
Mods: Chose to use the provided picot bind off instead of the alternate rolled edge

Pesto

I think one of my all time favorite dishes ever in the history of the world is spaghetti wish pesto. And by pesto I mean basil, garlic, parmesan, olive oil and pine nuts - none of this water crest walnut stuff for me!

I'll go to Trader Joe's and buy two packages of the basil and a container for freshly grated parmesan cheese. Then head home to make my pesto

Get out the food processor and blend together the two packages of basil leaves (takeing the stems off and removing and bad looking leaves.) with about a 3/4 of a cup of parmesan, 1/4 cup of pine nuts and two cloves of garlic. I blitz that until it's well chopped then start to slowly add olive oil until it looks like a good consistency to me.

What I love about my recipe is that it's a little different every time. Sometimes there's more cheese sometimes there's more garlic but always it's super yummy. There's really no "right" way to do this except for trying it a few times to see just exactly what combo of the yummy ingredients work best for you.

However you might be thinking "that's great knitting duck but seriously I cant eat all of that yummy yummy pesto at once!"

You could cut the recipe in half OR you could do what I do.

Set out 5 or 6 plastic freezer bags with the tops folded back and spoon in two spoonfuls of pesto into each bag, un-curl the top, squeeze out the air and seal them shut. They are then ready for the freezer.

Then when ever you have the craving for pesto or something home-made with out all the work you just pull one out of the freezer and rest it in a bowl of warm water. And by the time your pasta is ready so is your pesto.

Yes, I am eating pesto right now. Why do you ask?

12 in 12

Yeah you are probably seeing a lot of variations of 12 in 12 around the knitting/crocheting/crafting interwebs but the one I committed to is an intimidating one at least by my standards

I plan to design and/or publish twelve knitting patterns in 2012.

That's right! 12 designs in 2012. 12. TWELVE!

what was I thinking you ask? That's something I've been asking my self the past couple days but this is how it went down

See I saw all my friends over in the Amiras group talking about stash-busting for the year 2012. This is something I am VERY familiar with. Some years I'm great at it (2010) some years I suck at it (2011) but this year I figure it's time to get back on the wagon and knit down some stash!

Joining in the fun I started a new thread in the group just to talk about stash reducing. We all started with where we are at and how we are going to stash down. My good friend Jocelyn talked about all the groups she has joined such as 12 shawls in 12 and there were socks and projects and more knitting that I could ever commit to! But it got me to thinking - What would I want to knit 12 of. Well I would like to knit 12 of my own patterns!

So I quietly whispered (which is hard to do in text) that I was thinking about designing 12 in 12. Well the outpouring of encouragement from my friends was amazing. They were telling me I could do it and volunteering to test patterns! Patterns that don't even exist yet!

I couldn't very well back down then could I? Nope! So here I am. Gearing up to design 12 patterns in 2012

Here are my self imposed ground rules:

• Any patterns in progress but not published yet are fair game - come on! It's 12 patterns in 12 months for the year 2012. I'm going to take a win where I can get one!
• The patterns can be of any type (hats, gloves, blankets, sweaters, etc), size, or difficulty. Whateves as long as I knit it and write a pattern for it
• All patterns will become available on Ravelry - some will be free some will not. That's just the way I roll.
• The patterns will be available to the Amiras for testing - so if you want in on that go join the group (it doesn't matter if haven't ever, don't now or don't plan to live in UAE we like everyone!)
• All patterns must be knit from stash. This is the whole point to the stash-down portion of the challenge
• Did I miss anything?

Now let's get this party started!

FO: Portland Rain

I love to knit for those I love. I makes me feel good to know that something I made with my hands will brighten their day.

This year I gave my step-mom the gift of hand knits for her birthday and sent her a card telling her I would be happy to knit something of her choice.

 Imagine my surprise when she picked one of my very own designs!

I sent her some photos of yarn I had in my stash and she happened to pick the one I had been dying to knit with the most!

The scarf came out better than I had imagined and I hope that every time my step-mom wraps it around her shoulders she'll remember of just how much she means to me.

Pattern Details

Pattern: Desert Rain 
Yarn: Grinning Gargoyle Dedo in Garnet
Needles: US Size 4
Mods: I used smaller needles than the pattern calls for to get a fabric I liked. I also made the body of the scarf larger and did a few extra rows on the lace boarder as well.

FO: Courtenay

My dear friend Preeti designed this beautiful tam hat and I couldn't wait to get it on and then off the needles.

It's a beautiful hat that just flies off the needles. 

 And it's perfect for keeping your head warm during all your travels. 

Especially Paris!

If you want a quick, beautiful hat with an easy to read pattern the look no further

Pattern Notes:


Pattern: Courtenay by Preeti Verghese
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Sunset
Needles: US 6 & 8
Mods: None made 

Paris!

We went to paris!

It was beautiful

There just wasn't enough time to see everything

If I lived in Paris, I would get a pass so I could go to the Louvre everyday

We went to the top of the Arch De Triumph

The view was worth the hike

Champs Elysees

We even visited Euro Disney! 

At the store the juices had little knit hats. I call that a WIN

One week was not enough time to see everything! I loved it there and can't wait to go back! (someday)

Find A Penny

I designed this shawl, Find A Penny, because we knitters all have that one skein of yarn in our stash that we couldn't resist buying but now don't know what to make with it. These beautiful skeins call for a pattern that will enhance and showcase their beauty not hide it. 

This skein of Seda DK by Grinning Gargoyle was just that skein for me. The color was so bright and rich and the fiber so shinny that it begged to be knit in something I could wrap around my neck on a crisp fall day in Chicago.

That the colorway of the yarn is called Shinny Penny makes it even more perfect. I felt like a little girl who happens upon a penny while walking down the street when I saw this yarn across the room. 

I hope you enjoy knitting Find A Penny with your special skein of yarn as much as I did

Ravelry page - Find A Penny

Yarn - Grinning Gargoyle Seda DK in Shiny Penny (225 yds) - 1 skein
Needles - US size 7 (4.5 mm) circulars
Gauge - 41 stitches and 39 rows = 4 inches in stockinette Stitch
Finished Size - 50 inch span and is 7.5 inches deep
Designer Notes  
This shawlett is constructed like most triangle shawls however I did it without the middle bit (standard cast on point) and started a few rows down to maximize the yardage while also giving it a more natural shape for around the neck. 


I have also provided two cast-off methods for Find A Penny the first being the standard rolled edge pictured above and the second being a picot edging which you can see pictured over here at Rambling Roses' blog.


The size of Find A Penny is easy to adjust for more or less yardage and I'm always happy to answer any questions!




Photos by Colid FitzGerald
www.ColinFitzGeraldPhotography.com
www.AtlasCaptures.com

FROGGED

Remember these knitted half-socks?

Where I talked about being stuck on the heel here?

Well it didn't end well

Nope. Not. At. All.

They weren't fitting right, there were too many mistakes and I was just plain mad at them.

So now they look like this again. 

Maybe next time they will remember who the boss is around here.

FO: Ducky Feets!

In the middle of my travels I had loads of knits to work on…


One being the cutest pair of little socks for the cutest little baby girl. My good friend and her husband are both fellow Ducks and graduated with me at the University of Oregon. She was expecting her first little baby - a girl! and I was hoping she would deliver before I made my scheduled trip to Portland so that I could meet her little duckling - I know, I'm so clever!

I knew I wanted to make something special for her baby as she is a very good friend to me and one of my  oldest friends to boot (not in age but in length of friendship)! So as I was browsing patterns looking for something to jump out at me when I saw it.


Duck by Jenny Stainman


Serisouly can you get any more perfect than that? I immediately started daydreaming of their little girl going to her first Duck game wearing her little duck sockies


So I got out some yummy malabrigo in the perfect duckie feet color and got to knitting - in fact you might notice them in progress here


I was really impressed with how clever the construction of this pattern is and I learned a new technique! The turkish cast on. I LOVE IT. simple easy peasy cast on that looks fabulous once the knitting starts.

Pattern: Duck by Jeny Staiman

Needles: US size 2

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Ochre - less than half a skein

San Francisco

A few weeks ago the hubs and I met up LA and decided to drive up the coast to San Francisco to take in the California coast and meet up with my brother in San Francisco.


The sky was blue, the waves were crashing and the palm trees were swaying. I love Southern California!

We had dinner in Santa Barbara on the pier. I even walked in the sand! 

We had a blast in San Francisco and saw as much of the city as we could...

…like the Golden Gate Bridge - that is one impressive bridge but boy was it crowded!

And I'm here to tell you it's true! those streets are very hilly. Wouldn't need to use a stair-master if you lived around there, that's for sure

The city was so much fun to see and wander around and the food! oooh the food!! It's as yummy and diverse as here in Chicago. Yum.

I just love how beautiful the west coast is

I'm Back!

I have been embarrassingly bad at posting lately…. I don't have much excuse except that I have been traveling loads and have had lots of exciting and fun weekends. I'm hoping to fill you in on all of my adventures over the next week or so now that it looks like I'll finally have some down time.


But for now I will show you something about my knitting that I found interesting. It's not normal for me to work on multiple projects at a time. I usually like to dedicate my self to one project at a time and either make progress or put it down/finish it. But lately for one reason or another I have found my self with LOADS of WIPs - But I'll get to all those stories


But the other day my main WIPs were sitting on the couch together and I noticed a theme. I'll admit that I get into ruts or themes or just seem to favor one style or color but it has never been so apparent as it was in this photo.

Do you see what I see?

That's right; it's all shades of yellow to orange. I'm really diggin' the warmer colors right now and the dark penny copper color is something special for me that will really brighten up the dear winter days! I almost can't wait for winter! wait! no. I did not just say that. Winter is far far away. It will not snow for a long long time. No winter. No snow. Nope. 

Anyhoo, two of these are finished now and the third is well on it's way to completion. Can't wait to show them too you!

Sock Saga

Or should I say heel saga.

I signed up with a bunch of my friends to try to knit six pairs of socks during the year 2011. So far I have completed one pair. Considering we are on almost half way through that year that means I should be nearing the end of my third pair!

Here is the state of my other two pairs. Sigh.

The tan ones (Nutkins) are cuff down (oh and should have been finished back in APRIL!!!)  The purple ones are toe up (Leyburns). Together they make a full pair of socks!

Absent the heels of course

I'm stuck on these dang heels. See, what happened is friends started saying they were having problems with the heels one the Nutkins. There were holes, it was too tight, etc. and I froze. Just sorta put the socks to the side and quietly worked on other things figuring (I guess, but really who knows!) that the heels would sort them selves out.

It wasn't long before it was time to cast on the third pair of socks, the Leyburns. I thought "oooh goody fresh start!" And got to knitting. It wasn't long before once again I heard back that the heels are too loose! So again there they sit, in a heap, right next to my Nutkins.

Obviously them sitting around isn't actually fixing the problem of how to knit the heels. I tried this theory thoroughly and let me tell you SO NOT WORKING!

And seeing these perfectly beautiful socks sitting half done has finally gotten to me. I must finish them! I must persevere through the heels!

Wish me luck!