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I’m not tired.
Can’t I just stay up all night looking at pretty pictures? Who needs sleep?! It’s not like I have to make lunches and be at a bus stop first thing tomorrow morning.
Oh. Wait.
Last day
Today was the last day for a while that I’ll be able to sleep past 7:15. It’s the last day that I’ll be able to sit on the couch with a knitting project, listening to a couple of podcasts, making something for myself without unanswered business email hanging over my head.
Tomorrow Neil goes back to work, the kids go back to school, and I re-open the shops. While there are certainly enjoyable aspects to both of my little businesses, I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t want to spend another two weeks indulging every creative bone in my body.
I think I’ve exhausted all I want to do knitting-wise, until my new fine-gauge hat loom gets here and I can tackle that Rose Hill Hat once and for all. That will take a few weeks to arrive (they make them to order) and in the meantime, I could very easily pass the time sewing a patchwork mat for the kitchen table in my “everyday napkin” fabrics. Or making a pile of buttons in a new style I was experimenting with before Christmas. In reality, I suspect creative time will be on a backburner while I ship out books and such for a few weeks.
It’s ok. The break will probably do me good, even if it means I’ll have to fill these blog pages with “interesting” non-artsy fodder such as, “I shipped a pile of orders today,” “check it out, my sink is finally clean,” and my personal favorite, “look what crazy thing my 5-year-old did today.”
It’s going to be a great month to read my blog, folks 
P.S. These images are of my new Toast wrist warmers. All done. Me like. And the last image is the ring Neil got me for Christmas. It’s handmade by Creative Mode. Me like that too.
Where have I been?
Two posts from me on New Year’s Eve and then nothing. It’s three days into the new year, and where have I been? Well, see, the beautiful thing about having a husband who works in education is that he generally gets a Christmas break just like the kids do. This translates into long, cozy days in our pj’s, hanging out together in the family room by the light of the Christmas tree.
We’ve periodically left the nest for family gatherings, or the occasional trip to O Bagel and the local yarn shop. But mostly? We’ve been holed up together in one room. Playing Wii and knitting. Well, they haven’t been knitting. I have. And I haven’t been playing as much Wii as they have, but I’ve gotten in my fair share: an hour of Fit and Sports every day, and the occasional jukebox play-along with a totally insane bunny band.
As far as the knitting goes, I feel so lucky to have developed this skill over the past few months. It’s really the only craft I do that’s portable; that allows me to be where everyone else is, watching them play, and participating in the family pj party. For the most part, it’s a mindless craft. At least, the things I’m making are that way. I’m sure it would be different if I were doing something fancy like a sweater. But striped sock puppets? They only require concentration in a few places. And wrist warmers? if you leave out the thumb hole, they don’t require anything of you except to stop when you’ve made them long enough.
Today Eamonn has a birthday party to attend for a classmate, and he asked me to make a puppet for his friend. He chose the colors and the buttons himself. It’s somewhat brighter than the other puppets I’ve made, but I like it. I’m thinking of making a few more to keep around for future birthday parties.
While Eamonn is at the party, I will probably get back to work on the project I abandoned last night when I was pressed into puppet-making service: Toast. These wrist-warmers were posted by Leslie of A Friend to Knit With, and were one of the things that inspired me to try my own a while back. The ones I made evolved into something chunkier and shorter than hers, which I like just fine, but I’ve since been re-inspired to try and make the “real thing.”
Last month, I got this great little adjustable knitting loom from Decor Accents, but I hadn’t had a chance to use it for anything yet. It’s an extra small gauge, which means the size of the stitches it produces is similar to that of the needles Leslie used for her pattern. I’ve been craving a finer-gauge project, so I got to work on these yesterday. I have to admit, I find the loom a little hard to work with, mainly because of my preference for the round shape. I have a hard time getting comfortable holding rectangle looms for some reason. Still, it was a relatively easy process to knit up 11 inches of stockinette in the round with this lovely worsted weight Malabrigo wool in “mariposa,” and my hope is that I’ll be able to finish wrist warmer #2 today.
I was originally going to make the Toasty version of the pattern (with the thumb holes) but even after seeing an example online of how to translate the thumb-making process from needle to loom, I was still confused enough that I didn’t want to risk screwing up the 7.5 inches I’d already knit. So I skipped it. Another challenge for another day!
I hope you all have had a lovely start to the new year, like I have, with plenty of time to indulge your creative whims! I’m thinking I’ll need to get back to the clay table soon, if for no other reason than to make more “noses” for future puppets, LOL!
Loom knitting resources
I am getting the distinct impression from the comments on the last few knitting-related posts, that I may have influenced a few people to give it a try, which I think is very cool! But there are questions, and I read somewhere that for every person who asks, there are 10 others who want to know the same thing but have kept quiet. Or something like that. Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the resources I’ve been using. As you probably know, I’m new at all of this, too, so there’s been a lot of reading and looking-up of things online…
This is by no means an exhaustive list - these are just the resources I’ve found helpful so far.
Loom Manufacturers
Provo Craft - They make the Knifty Knitter series of looms. I think I have all but the teeny tiniest of looms that they make. They are relatively inexpensive, made of plastic, and perfectly sufficient for anything you might want to do with worsted-weight or chunky yarns.
Decor Accents - These guys make their looms on demand, using wood for the base, and nylon for the pegs. I have a small adjustable loom from them, which is beautifully-made, although I haven’t really used it for anything yet. The benefit to these looms, in my mind, is that you can get them in smaller gauges, which allows you to use thinner yarns or to get a tighter knit.
Books
Loom Knitting Primer by Isela Phelps - This is the first book I bought, and the only book that is full-size (the others are all 32-page project books). I have found it very useful in learning to understand the technical aspects of knitting, including knitting paterns, gauge, standard yarn sizes, and which looms correspond most closely to which needle sizes. I haven’t made any of the projects exactly as written (I rarely do…), but the hat I made my brother for Christmas was essentially the “Winter Hat” project, with a fat stripe replacing the snowflake pattern.
I will admit that I found the explanations of the various stitches hard to understand. I don’t know if they really were, or if that is just a personal problem of mine… In any case where I was confused, though, I was able to visit the author’s website (see below) and see her demonstrate the stitch on a video. The videos always cleared up any questions I had.
Learn to Knit on Circle Looms by Denise Layman - This project book was a Christmas present from Neil. The instructions are clear, and there are a few appealing projects. I really like the afghan on the cover, and will probably turn to that project if I ever feel ambitious enough to tackle a project of that size.
The blue and pink socks on the cover are the project which was the basis for my sock puppets (pictured above).
Learn New Stitches on Circle Looms by Anne Bipces - My parents got me this project book for Christmas, and I haven’t done anything from it yet. There are some intriguing stitches covered, including a bobble stitch and a chevron stitch. I think the versatility of knitting looms is underestimated, but this book does a lot to prove that there is more to loom-knitting than stockinette stitch.
Learn to Knit Cables on Looms by Isela Phelps - This is another book that proves what knitting loom are capable of. Can you imagine making yourself a cable-knit sweater on a knitting loom?? I didn’t realize that was possible until I saw this book. I haven’t tried any of these techniques yet, but I’m pretty sure I will. Pretty much anything I’ve made so far could be made with a cable pattern enhancement, I’d say.
Websites
Purling Sprite - Isela Phelps’ site, which is full of very helpful video and pdf tutorials.
Decor Accents - There is a library of video tutorials available here, most seem to be by Isela, but are not necessarily the same as the ones on her personal website.
YouTube - Anything I haven’t been able to figure out from books or from Isela’s tutorials, I was generally able to find demonstrated on YouTube.
Happy New Year!
I hope this has been helpful. To those who have been asking about my fingerless mitt pattern, I have edited that project. I’ve made several mitts since publishing that post, and I had some observations/changes that I thought needed to be made.
Now, I’m off to do a little Wii Fit workout, and then make a big pile of fun finger foods for our New Year’s Eve celebration.
Happy New Year, my bloggy friends! Hope to see you all back here in 2009 
Sock it to me
So, I got the bright idea of knitting myself a pair of socks. Neil got me a booklet called Learn to Knit on Circle Looms, and it included a sock project. I have to admit, I thought the socks in the project were kind of ugly - didn’t care for the color scheme, or the ribbing pattern - but I figured that all I really needed were the heel and toe instructions and the rest I could make up myself.
So I did. And now I have this one very funky, very heavy, very too small for me sock.
I love looking at it, but I can’t possibly wear it. It fits Aidan, actually, and if I thought he would wear a pair of wool socks that would make his feet sweat bullets all day long, I might just make him another sock to go with this one. But no… I think I may have another idea.
Sock Puppets, anyone? Yeah, that’s the ticket :-) I just can’t make more and sell them unless I want to invest $1500 to have them tested for lead and other toxins. (If that sounds as crazy to you as it does to me, you may want to read this.) I’m going to make one more striped sock in different colors, and make a puppet for Eamonn, too.
Obsessed with a hat
Completely and totally obsessed. Which, when I think about it, is really crazy, given the fact that I rarely wear them. But Erin posted this tutorial, see, and I loved the way hers looked. And every other one I saw, for that matter. And I got to thinking, me being needle-challenged and all, maybe I could make that same pattern on a loom! I knew that it would be a chunkier knit, just by virtue of the fact that the pegs on the loom were larger than the #7 needles Erin used, but I was ok with that.
That thought consumed me for the better part of a month, I’ll admit, and I’d periodically cast on to one Knifty Knitter or another, trying one yarn or another, but always unraveling it part of the way through for one reason or another. I had to keep setting the project aside to work on Christmas gifts, but I kept coming back to it.
Finally, last week, I thought I had it figured out. I’d bought the 48-peg Purple Knifty Knitter because it had a smaller gauge than the other looms I had, and I switched from using worsted weight Malabrigo to the chunky weight (color: Mariposa). I learned how to make bobbles, and I figured out how to shape the crown (although I clearly could use some more practice with that technique). And with that, I finished my first Chunky Rose Hill Hat and took it off the loom.
In general, I was very happy, and after at least a dozen failed attempts I’d probably call this particular hat a success if not for one thing:
My head is not the size of a five-year-old’s. Ack.
The way I see it, my experience with this pattern has taught me a few different things. First, I think it needs to be worked in a solid color. And second, I either need to splurge on the 96-peg hat loom from Decor Accents (thereby giving me pretty much the same gauge as the original pattern), or I need to just suck it up and learn to knit the big girl way, LOL!
It’s funny, though. I’ve invested so much energy into the loom-knitting thing these past few months, I feel like I’m cheating, or giving up, if I learn to needle-knit. Instead I want to spend $36 on a new custom-made loom and prove that I don’t have to know how to use needles to make the cool knit patterns work, darnit! Is that weird?! I think I have an illness…
A trio of lap quilts
More Christmas crafting, anyone? Given how much the four of us like the quilts I made us this fall, I thought maybe some other people on our list would like lap quilts, too. I made three of them, all roughly 40×40, and all using fabrics I had left from other projects. This one was given to my parents, and used prints from one of my favorite collections (just love these colors!), Bleeker Street by Michele D’Amore.
I came up with the different designs for all of these quilts based on the fabrics I already had in my stash, and the shapes of the remnants. This one uses prints from 3 Sister’s Roman Holiday collection. The yellow and red patterns go very nicely with my in-laws’ living room & dining room, so I’ve used it a lot in gifts for them. This is the last of it from my stash - I’ll have to come up with a new idea for them next year, LOL!
I didn’t bind these quilts and I also didn’t machine-quilt them. Instead I tied them at 6-inch intervals. (The ties are on the back, so you can’t see them in the photos.) The tying was the most time-consuming part of the whole process. Generally, I was able to finish all of the other steps in less than 2 hours (for each quilt). This one is for my grandmother, and features prints from Heather Bailey’s Freshcut collection, also from my stash. The brown/gold in this collection makes me think of my grandmother’s living room, so it seemed a perfect choice.
Now I think I’m done with the quilt thing for some time!
Napkin Land
Now that all the gifts have been given, let me you about some of the things I made! This gift was for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. It’s a set of 12 napkins in shades of gray & yellow. I couldn’t for the life of me remember the colors in their kitchen, and I’m pretty sure they’ve painted the dining room since I was last there, but these colors seemed neutral-ish enough.
I found this great basket at AC Moore, which seemed to be just the right size for a pile of napkins. Plus, I really loved the deep, dark color of it. It seemed slightly more classy than the natural wicker basket I’m using in my kitchen.
I had these in the works since mid-November, when my SIL mentioned she liked the set I’d made for my MIL last year. I chose and ordered the fabric right away, washed it, cut it, and then left it sitting there until 2 days before Christmas, LOL! See? Even when I’m on the ball, I’m cutting it close!
I also made a table mat, impulsively at the last minute (read: Christmas Eve), when I realized the scraps were large enough to piece something together, and there was a nice chunk of fabric left from my skirt that could be used for a backing piece.
The nitty gritty
Pattern: The first few napkins I ever made were done using the instructions from Simple Sewing, but I ‘ve made about 100 napkins since then and haven’t consulted the book in a loooong time.
Modifications: I start with fabric that’s 18″ x 13″, which is not a standard size - it just happens to correspond to the size of the fabric that I had on hand when I made my first napkin. And now I make them all to match.
Fabric: Selections from Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern and Lotus collections.
Skirting the issues
Hi, everyone! Hoping you have been having a lovely holiday! We have, and it’s not over yet. We’ve got the traditional day-after-Christmas get-together with my family later tonight. I’ve got a delicious Pumpkin Trifle to make for that, and some gifts I haven’t wrapped yet, but other than that, I’m good to go.
I thought I’d take a few minutes, crack open a Dr. Pepper, and tell you about my Christmas skirt.
You may remember I asked for advice in regards to fabric choice. Popular opinion was with the Optic Blossom print, and I had to agree. So, Optic Blossom it was, with Martini accents. I’m very pleased with how it turned out!
The nitty gritty
Pattern: Breezy Beach Wrap from Sew What! Skirts (I’ve made this before, but I needed to draft a new pattern, since my waist >ahem< isn’t what it was when I made my pattern a year and a half ago. *sigh*)
Modifications: I used 3 4-inch strips to construct the waistband, as opposed to 2 3-inch strips, so that the ties would be wider and longer,(to show off more of the Martini). After making the skirt, I ended up cutting them down by 6 inches on each end.
Fabric: Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern Optic Blossom in Gray and Martini in Mustard
Merry merry!
Oh, it is such a good feeling to be done making gifts and done shopping. It was down to the wire, considering I was still weaving in yarn ends on a pile of fingerless mitts at 10:00 last night, but done is done, no matter how close you cut it, I say! Today’s agenda includes wrapping everything, putting decorations on the tree that Neil and the boys put up yesterday, making my party skirt, and blogging in my pj’s.
One down, three to go.
I just wanted to tell you how much I am looking forward to next week, in terms of this space. I have been accumulating much blog fodder, between the secret Christmas crafting I couldn’t show you before, and the other last-minute making that I could have shown you, had there been time. I expect time to be in abundance once we’ve exchanged the last gift, served the last drop of Granny’s punch, and extinguished the luminarias in the driveway.
I’m thinking Saturday-ish
Whenever it may be, I hope you’ll join me back here and let me prattle on about it all. Maybe over a cup of mint hot chocolate?
Wishing you the merriest of holidays!
