can we still be friends?

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by.

Sadly I don't seem to be keeping up with this neglected little knitting blog anymore, but I'm so glad you're here, knitter friend, and you're very welcome to poke around in the archives.

Free Knitting Patterns

Free Pattern FAQ (help page)

I'm afraid I can be a bit slow to respond to comments and questions, but I do get them and I do try to reply within a not-shameful period of time.

Also let's be knitting friends on Ravelry!

Happy knitting!

what will I be?

Because I haven't wanted to admit it to myself, I haven't really said anything about this before: Arthritis is hurting my hands and I can't knit much anymore.

If you don't knit (or crochet, or carve wooden decoys, or hand-quilt or something), this probably doesn't sound like such earth-shattering news.

I'm 38 years old. I was diagnosed with arthritis around the time I turned 30, but I think I've had it since adolescence. It's in all my joints, but it seems to concentrate on certain joints at certain times.

Since having Baby #2 just about a year ago, the arthritis has been concentrating on my hands. Some days the finger joints ache terribly and keep me awake at night. Some days they just feel tired, like your legs will after a long day of walking.

There's lots of good and bad advice out there about arthritis remedies. I've lived with this for a while now, so I've tried lots of things (other than the prescription drugs, in which I have no interest). Some work. Fish oil helps me a lot. Eating less dairy and sugar help a lot. Other things haven't helped me much.

Last winter I made myself a beautiful Lopi sweater that felt very much like a swan song. I knit it from beautiful, undyed, handspun yarn that I'd brought home from Vermont years ago and saved for a very special project. Though my hands ached and I could only knit one row some nights, I kept pushing through it, because I hardly ever make anything for myself, because I really really wanted to make this sweater, and because in the back of my mind I suspected this might be my final knitting project.

Since then I haven't quit entirely. I've made a couple of little baby gifts. Small things that don't take too long, even when you can only knit one or two rows at a time.

I hope that this is temporary. I hope that this is a period of the arthritis focusing on my hands, and that with enough fish oil and diet modification and targeted yoga the pain will mostly disappear from my hands, perhaps go torment some other joints and humble me in some new way I had not imagined.

In the mean time, I read. I devour books. I inhabit other worlds, where my hands fall away along with all my other disappointments and I am only consciousness - perhaps someone else's - and new stories constantly unfold. Thank God for books.

My Great Aunt Ruth was a voracious reader. My mother told me that Ruth was also an accomplished seamstress, and that she had the most beautiful handwriting, but by the time I knew her, Ruth's hands were curled into tight claws and her poor finger joints were swollen knobs that gave her no peace. She always sent birthday cards, and you never had to read the signature to know who had written such gnarled-looking letters.

I don't remember ever hearing her complain about what she could not do, though clearly she had had to give up many of the things that had once made her who she believed herself to be. I knew her as kind, insightful, gentle, meticulous and always elegant. She always wore a stylish blouse and a jaunty scarf or necklace, even for the most mundane weekday cups of tea with my grandmother.

I think about Aunt Ruth's hands a lot and wonder whether mine will someday be like hers, whether I will have to give up knitting and sewing, writing, drawing and planting tiny lettuce seeds in perfect rows in my garden. Or will I just leave my hands behind, the way I do when I'm engrossed in a really good novel, leave my whole body behind and be first and foremost a consciousness, a sentient being whose physical shortcomings (and physical abilities, for that matter) are no more relevant than the whine of a mosquito in one's ear?

For a long time I didn't say anything about this out loud, or even to myself much, because it was just too sad. Who am I, without the being able to make things?

But you know, we go through many metamorphoses in our lives. I have gone from child to adult, from unattached to lawfully wed, and from individual to Mother, whose own heart walks around outside her body in the shape of two growing little girls. I have gone from daughter-who-takes-her-incredible-father-for-granted, to woman-without-a-father. One day all these will change again. Some of these future lives I am terrified to contemplate. Some will bring more joy than I can imagine now. I'd always thought knitting would be at hand throughout. Perhaps not.

I will be here, I myself. You too, will be yourself still. That's all I really know for sure.

voodoo yarn

Sometimes I think that knitting projects have ju-ju associated with them that cannot be broken, no matter how many times you unravel, re-knit or re-think them.

Is it me, or is it the project? That's what I always wonder when a project continues to perpetuate the funk that first envelops it when things start to go wrong... even when you've tried to right the wrong, every which way.



Exhibit A: the unfinished Muande vest, which I'm afraid is now permanently unfinished. The particular ju-ju of this project is Will Not Be Completed. It's an old story that you've surely heard before.

You've heard it before right here in fact, because I was just griping about this vest a few weeks ago. After two - yes two - unhappy endings that were ripped back to the armholes, this vest seemed to gain a new lease on life when I took a workshop on steeking at SAFF. Steeking! The solution to my design problem - to maintain the stripe pattern, I needed to keep working the vest in the round. But how to get armholes? Steek them, of course!

So I did that. Choppy-Choppy!

Then I finished off the shoulders, and all I had to do was work the neckband and the cuffs - cuffs? What do you call the finishing around the armholes of a vest? They're not cuffs. Anyway, you know what I'm talking about. That's all I had to knit. A tiny bit. And that's when I ran out of yarn. Just millimeters from the finish line...

Unfinished.

The sad part is that this was a wonderful one-of-a-kind gift yarn sent by a friend from France. So it's not like I can just go run out the LYS and grit my teeth while I pay for a full ball of yarn needing only 18 inches of it to finish a project. That would suit me fine right about now! I'd be happy to pay for 100 yards of yarn and use 0.5 yards, thank you very much.

And it's not like I can just rip it back and rework it a bit to economize on the gray yarn because I CUT IT UP WITH SCISSORS. CHOPPY CHOPPY.

Unfinished.

Bad ju-ju. It hangs around a knitting project like preteen girls at the stage door of a Justin Bieber show. Go away, project funk! Go funk up a political campaign or something and leave me to my quiet little hobby.

camping with babies

Well, I can't say that our camping trip was entirely successful.

It was not entirely unsuccessful either; in fact it was hardly unsuccessful at all.

The main unsuccessful part was the sleeping part. Or should I say, the not-sleeping part. The Little Pea wanted no parts of sleeping in a sleeping bag, but it was so cold. Thirty degrees overnight! There was ice in everyone's water bottles in the morning. She had to be in the sleeping bag. Was it the feeling of constraint, the slippery nylon fabric, the cold air hitting her face...? Who knows what exactly the problem was, but it was problem enough to have her wake up and howl with all her 16-month-old might, about every hour or so, all night long.

In the end, HWWLLB had to wrap her in a fleece blanket and then build a human/sleeping bag cave around her (not touching her in any way!) to keep her warm and get her to sleep more than 30 minutes at a stretch. I think she actually went for over an hour at one point.

You'd think that all this baby howling would scare away wildlife, but in fact, around 3 a.m. an owl answered her calls. Seriously. At the height of our misery came the most awesome moment of the whole camping trip.

Other than the all-night-howling, the trip was great. Beautiful crisp sunny fall weather, peak fall foliage, and good company with family and friends. The Pea had a great time getting to know lots of uncles and aunties and cousins. This was HWWLLB's annual family camping trip - four generations go camping together every October. Every family should do this! (But few dare...)

So anyhow, my advice to any would-be-family-campers, is this: test out the sleeping bag and the tent first. I cannot overstate the importance of the dry run. Oh, how I wish we had known.

On the bright side, the long car trip to and from camping was enough time to knit a pair of warm toddler socks. And soon, the pattern for the Little Pea's new doll will be making an appearance here. So stay tuned. Now to go make sure my supply of beer and salty snacks is in order for tomorrow night's Phillies game.

::shrug::

There is now a post-it note stuck to my knitting bag with these words which shall serve as a reminder into all eternity: DO NOT KNIT FLAT.

I can't knit flat. I have no feel for it. I can follow a pattern okay, sort of, a bit, but I cannot just whip something up unless it's knitted in the round.

Case in point: a couple of weekends back, Bugheart and Grub were visiting. It was divine. Bugheart and I were sitting under a shady tree in the backyard, knitting happily. Well, she was knitting happily. I was fussing over my project because I was bored with the yarn, and longing to start a new project with some amazing rainbow-colored Misti Alpaca Handpaint sock yarn that's been flirting and winking every time I open the yarn cabinet. But I didn't want to make socks. What to do with just one big skein of silky alpaca sock yarn? Bugheart wisely suggested a shrug, because in the summer it's very hot and you don't want to carry around a sweater, but when you go into a building wearing a tank top, it's air-conditioned to Arctic temperatures and you could get frostbite on your shoulders. A shrug! Perfect.

I didn't see any patterns I liked. I became fixated on a specific stitch pattern that I wanted to use, and because all the patterns we perused were knit flat, somehow I became convinced that it had to be that way (silly, silly girl). So, despite the fact that I could not visualize the construction (bad, bad sign), I went ahead and cast on and started knitting the sleeves. Flat. Two of them. They are beautiful.

Then I connected them. Since I can only knit in the round (have I mentioned that before?), I connected them as if they had been knit in the round, and foolishly went about my business. Knitting, knitting, knitting, row after row of lovely, soothing, silken rainbow stockinette stitch. When it seemed about right, I sewed up the sleeves and tried it on.

That's when the beautiful silky rainbows came crashing down around me. Suddenly, my hours of denial became crystal-clear. It was too small, too short, too crooked, too crazy... just wrong, all wrong, and what's more the construction (had it only been knit in the round) was completely clear to me. And it had been all along - I'd just been knitting it flat with a circular construction on the brain. Oh, woe.

So I ripped it all apart and shoved it into a project bag and down to the bottom of my knitting basket, not to be heard from again until my jangled nerves have been soothed.



I'm soothing myself with a six-pack of New Belgium Mothership Wit and some adorable Anything Animals! I am in love. They are quick and easy, and though the pattern says to knit them flat I am knitting them in the round and they are wonderful. Adorable. Perfect. I may make a dozen of them before I even think about that shrug again.

what's done is done

As you can see, the Baby Surprise Jacket is done. Yay! This is going to be a great little item for spring.

I did venture to the yarn store, and though I was sorely tempted by all the new spring colors (new colors!!), I stayed focused and bought only one skein of yarn to complete the project at hand.

It's always the sock yarn that tempts me. I think I justify it to myself by saying, "but this is an entire knitting project for just $20! What a bargain! I'd be crazy not to buy it!" Lately whenever I do that, I come home and put the sock yarn away in the sock yarn department only to discover that I actually had a different skein of $20 sock yarn in almost precisely the same colorway. After doing that twice in a row, I finally realized that I really could not reasonably buy even one more skein of sock yarn, which has helped tremendously with my focus in the yarn shop.

So what was I talking about? Oh yeah, focus. So I stayed focused and I just bought the one $6 skein, although it was kind of a gambit, because it wasn't the same yarn that the rest of the project was made from. It's not even the same fiber content! They didn't have any Cascade Sierra or Sierra Quatro with any of the colors I was using, so in my desperation I bought some Cascade Pima Silk, which they happened to have in precisely the right colorway. Despite the fact that the Sierra is at least two years older and a totally different fiber, I have to say that the Pima Silk was a pretty good match. At least, color-wise and gauge-wise. But it has a totally different handle (of course) and hangs in a totally different way (of course), and I am hoping against all odds that blocking works out the weirdness, and also taking comfort from the fact that most of the time when my child is wearing something, at least a third of it is in her mouth, so nobody will notice the drape. Right?

Pragmatic as this move was, I do fear that I have committed a cardinal sin of knitting: Nonchalantly mixing fibers and acting like they're all basically the same yarn.

I tried to do the right thing, I really did. I trawled Ravelry for over a week, peering into people's stashes and sending polite "Are you done with that? Can I have it?" messages, but to no avail. And I surely was not going to spend $6 on shipping and $8 on yarn to finish a scrap yarn project. But I fear that this time, I have gone too far. I pray to the goddesses of blocking for their intercession.

where did the time go?

Oh dear, it's March already!

It's been such a cold, gray, wet winter that I must have been fooling myself that it was still January or something. Today it's bright and sunny, and I ventured out into the garden for the first time this year (I can't even believe I'm saying this). There is so much to do! We haven't even set up the greenhouse yet! What will we eat this spring?

Of course, cold wet weather is perfect for both knitting and reading, which I've been doing plenty of. I'm working my way through a stack of Elizabeth Zimmerman's books, and they have me itching to knit big wooly things for me and HWWLLB.

I'm also knitting a Baby Surprise Jacket for the Little Pea (who else?). It's a totally addictive little knit, and I find myself unable to put it down. Unfortunately, I may be unable to finish it...



With at least 2/3 of the knitting done, I'm running out of yarn. This was supposed to be one of those fabulous projects where I use up a bunch of stash yarn - in this case some Cascade Siera left over from a long-ago project. I keep having to get up and rifle through the stash to find just one more little scrappy ball hiding in a corner... but I fear I am out of scrappy balls, and this sweater is not done. Now I must do the unthinkable, and buy a skein of yarn to finish the last few inches of a scrap yarn project.

HWWLLB does not understand what an utter defeat this is, and keeps saying, "Just go over to the yarn store!" Go to the yarn store??? Now I'll wind up spending $50 and coming home with a big bag of yarn I don't really need, to finish this one little scrap yarn project. Ah, well - there are worse problems to have. Like no lettuce this spring. The garden to-do list is calls!

veggie painting: fail

Over the weekend, the Little Pea tried her hand at arts and crafts. I had this great idea that she could try veggie painting and make valentines for her papa and her grandparents. To me, Valentine's Day is just another excuse for an art project.

At work we do veggie painting with bigger kids (by "bigger" I mean probably 3 and up). You lay a piece of unbleached muslin over top of some colorful veggies (carrots, kale, chard and beets are great choices), and then you use a blunt (safe) tool to smash and smash, and "paint" on the fabric. It's a lesson about veggie color - the more colorful the veggie, the better it is for you to eat. The paintings are very abstract, but kids always like them.

Anyhow, since we have plenty of ice-cube-sized lumps of pureed vegetables in the freezer, I thought we could try a variation on the smashing, and let the Little Pea try out finger-painting instead.


carrots and spinach

I can't say that this project was a success. The veggies didn't stain paper the way that they do with fabric. And even though I added some corn starch to try to make the "paints" goopier, they were much too liquidey, and the paper got mushy and tore.

Of course, torn paper was the best part of this project for the Little Pea, who didn't really understand why she was strapped into her high chair with food but nobody feeding her anything. At least she could tear paper and shove it into her mouth! Now that's fun.

She did get to try another art project the next day, when she was sitting on my lap while I colored a Valentine for HWWLLB. She grabbed the colored pencils and bashed them artistically on some paper. I added a heart, and presto! Baby's first valentine.

unfinished everything

Do you ever get into a funk where you can't seem to finish any projects?

This is really bothering me. I don't like unfinished projects. They really aggravate me. But everywhere I look, they seem to surround me.

The sloth softie that was supposed to be done for HWWLLB's birthday on March 27... still armless and lying around in pieces. The big pile of soakers I thought I would have finished by now... still a measly pile of 2.5 completed soakers. Those aren't going to last long. And all my secret plans for cute little booties, caps and blankies - ha! Barely more than a twinkle in my eye.

I don't even want to talk about all the unfinished non-knitting projects. I can't even seem to finish an email lately! What is going on? It really is very unlike me.

Does anyone have any hot tips for breaking out of the Unfinished Projects Funk?

free pattern FAQ

I decided it was time to make a help page for knitters who have questions about my free patterns. Of course, you can still email me with your specific questions - and I'll be as timely as I can in responding. But chances are, you'll find what you need to know on this page. I hope that some of you find this help page useful! If there's anything else you'd like to see here, please let me know in the comments.

Table of contents

• What does this abbreviation mean??
• How do you do a [insert name of technique here]?
• Sizing: How do I know which size will fit?
• Quickie Cowl FAQ
• Organic Guernsey FAQ
• Common questions on top-down knitting (includes Mossy Jacket, Organic Guernsey and Super-Natural Stripes)
• How-to's and tutorials

What does this abbreviation mean??
I use standard abbreviations in all my patterns, but this may be one you haven't run across before. Check the Yarn Standards abbreviations guide, or the Knitty abbreviations guide (scroll down).


How do you do a [insert name of technique here]?
My favorite resource for learning a new technique is KnittingHelp.com. The video illustrations are wonderful - the next best thing to having a friend show you how to do it.

Also, if you've been knitting a little while and you know you're going to stick with it, I'd recommend investing in a big, handy book full of knitting techniques. These are easy to find used on the web and in bookstores. There are plenty to choose from, but two I have at my house are the Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss, and the Knitter's Handbook, by Montse Stanley. They really come in handy when you're adapting a pattern to your own liking, or when a designer is skimpy on the directions.


Sizing: How do I know which size will fit?

All my designs use standard sizing from the American Craft Yarn Council (sounds very official, doesn't it?). Unless they state otherwise, most designers in the U.S. follow these guidelines, so you should find some consistency among different patterns. To see what the standards are based on, check out this sizing guide.

Which size should I knit for my child who is __ months/years old?

The age-related sizes that I provide are a little bit misleading, since every kid is different and grows at a different rate. Your two year-old might be wearing a 4, while someone else's 4 year-old might swim in a size 3. The sizes are based on standard sizing from the American Craft Yarn Council. The best way to know what size to knit for a baby or child is to measure his or her chest circumference. Add two inches for ease, and that chest size tells you which size sweater to knit. I usually provide the chest measurement in the pattern, but if I've overlooked it (sorry!), check the Craft Yarn Council's sizing guide for babies & children. When in doubt, go up a size! In the mean time, I'm going to go make sure there are chest measurements on all my patterns...

Check out this tutorial I wrote on adapting top-down patterns to fit other sizes.

What size should I knit for me? I am between the sizes you provided.

No body conforms to a standard size. If you happen to be a perfect size medium, count yourself lucky. No matter what the garment, you will most likely need to adapt a knitting pattern to fit you well. The American Craft Yarn Council's sizing guide shows you how to measure yourself to determine your sizing. There are lots of instructions out there about how to adapt patterns to fit you - making the chest larger or smaller, adding darts, shortening or lengthening the sleeves or the sweater length. Check out the instructions in Stitch & Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller, or Jenna Wilson's wonderful column in Knitty, Thinking Beyond the Pattern. As your knitting progresses, it's important to learn how to adapt patterns to fit well. Nothing's worse than spending months knitting a project that turns out looking like a muu-muu when you put it on.

A related question: Will this style of sweater look good on me?

This is a critically important question that is not so much about knitting, as it is about understanding your body shape and what will flatter it (and what will look awful). I always get depressed when I see someone's project on Ravelry, and they write about all the fun they had knitting a garment, only to find that the style didn't exactly flatter their figure. You can avoid this tragic and all-too-common problem by spending a little time with some fashionistas. The best in the business (I.M.H.O.) are Stacy and Clinton at What Not to Wear. There are some helpful tips on their website, but I adore their book, Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style that's Right for Your Body. Never knit another clunker!


Quickie Cowl FAQ
The directions for the Modified Lace Rib show only Row 1, Row 2 and Row 4. What the heck do I do on Row 3? How do I "repeat these 4 rows" when there are only three given??Check it out: Row 1 is more than it seems. Row 1 and all WS rows: *K2, P3. Repeat from * to end. K2. "Row 1 and all WS rows" means that on every wrong-side row (in this case, all odd rows), you do the same thing. Row 3 is one of those WS rows.

Which set of directions do I follow? Do I dig right into the Lace directions or follow the second set, ie., First row: K3…. Or do I start with the directions after the CO and then follow the lace pattern? What am I overlooking?

I can't figure out the pattern either. Could you please write it out as Row 1, Row 2, etc. without the separate directions for "modified lace rib" and "knit the Cowl"?

I'm so sorry to torture you. This cowl is so simple, and I had to go and complicate the directions. Here's the quickie answer: You do both at the same time.

This is a standard convention in knitting directions when you're doing a fancy stitch pattern, particularly lace: the fancy stitch pattern is spelled out at the start of the directions. Part of the thinking there is to let you knit a swatch of it and see how it goes, maybe even check your gauge in the stitch pattern, before you try knitting the garment itself. Then, you get to the part of the directions where it says "Cast on..." and you actually start the body of the garment. The directions tell you to "Knit in patt" when it's time to use that fancy stitch pattern. No matter which row of the garment you happen to be knitting when that stitch pattern starts, you start with Row 1 of the stitch pattern and go from there. In this case, you just so happen to start row 1 on row 1.

I know this seems unnecessarily complicated, but it builds character. Also, it's good preparation for making a sweater or some other item with a fancy stitch pattern, when you'll have to use directions like this again. I promise it gets easier.


Organic Guernsey FAQ
These directions are confusing! It says to knit stockinette stitch in the sleeve sections, and seed stitch in the front & back sections. What does this refer to?
The front and back sections of the sweater are knit in seed stitch, and the sleeves are knit in stockinette. When you knit from the top down, your knitting is divided (by markers) into sections that correspond to:
front left panel, left sleeve, back, right sleeve, front right panel
So for this sweater, the stitch pattern through these sections corresponds:
seed stitch, stockinette, seed stitch, stockinette, seed stitch
Just make sure that on the individual stitches before and after each stitch marker (ie, the stitches you are increasing on), always knit them (don’t ever purl them) - even when you're working that section in seed stitch. That will keep everything looking tidy.

Common questions for top-down knitting
(Including the Mossy Jacket, Organic Guernsey and Super-Natural Stripes)
At first, the directions say that on an increase row, 10 st will be increased (9 st if you're knitting the Mossy Jacket). Later it says only 8 st increased. What's up with that?
At first, you are knitting into the front and back of the first stitch, then into the front and back of the stitches before AND after each stitch marker, and knit into the front and back of the last stitch. You do this on every right-side row. This makes the neckline grow to the correct proportions.
Once the sweater is big enough, with the given number of stitches in the back section, you will not increase into the first and last stitch anymore. you’ll just knit them as usual, but continue increasing before and after every stitch marker. At this point your neckline has met in the middle, so you don't need to be increasing there anymore.
Top-down knitting is the greatest! Why isn't every sweater pattern written this way?

I know, right? Sadly, most patterns are written for flat knitting that needs to be sewn up afterwards. Yawn. If you want to try your hand at transforming such patterns to top-down, or if you want to make up your own top-down designs, check out the final word on the matter, Barbara Walker's wonderful book, Knitting from the Top. I just love it! Also, there are some other designers out there who like to work top-down. Check out patterns for grown-ups and kids by Wendy Bernard, and women's garments from the lovely ladies at Zephyr Style.


How-to's and tutorials
Tutorial for top-down knitters: fancy stitch patterns
How to maintain a fancy stitch pattern across the raglan seams while knitting a sweater from the top down.

How to cast on a bazillion stitches
Keeping track when you have a whole lotta stitches to cast on.

Sewing a button very, very securely
The title pretty much says it all. Required reading if you're knitting a baby sweater with buttons.

Tutorial: Never weave in ends again!!
Yes, this is for real. Never. Again.

Sizing up: You can do it!
In which I address how you can go beyond the directions and adapt any top-down pattern to fit.

Looking for more pattern help? Let me know in the comments below.

frustrated stitches

Good morning, friends! [yawn, stretch]

I apologize for the infrequent postings lately. I am trying to sneak one in during the early hours today. I guess I hadn't felt like I had all that much to share lately, because I've been having so many frustrations with the knitting of late... but you know, maybe sharing the frogs is just as interesting or useful as the glorious FO's?

Anyhow, this post might could be my second installment of knitting tips & tricks. Here it is: Don't use Superwash yarn for felting. And a related tip: When you keep yarn leftovers, keep the ball band, too!



This was supposed to be my new felted cell phone cozy. After several trips through the laundry, it's still looking remarkably un-felted. I finally clued in after the third trip through the hot cycle that this was Superwash yarn. Oops. Back to the yarn stash... anyone need an elongated and not-felted pouch?

My main knitting project right now is the colorful little vest that had me so captivated a couple of weeks ago (this is the design I dreamed, and had to cast aside all other projects to start).



When I design something, I sketch it out and make a basic plan of attack, but things always change as I start knitting and the fiber starts to take form, and I'm led down different (and usually better) paths than the one I first imagined. So it's normal to have some stops and starts. I've definitely had those normal stops and starts with this little vest. No biggie.

But I'm also having arithmetic problems. Arithmetic (even when calculator-assisted) tends to give me troubles. This project has also been plagued by me thinking or calculating one thing, and then writing down and knitting something completely different. How does that happen, I'd like to know? Maybe there's something interrupting my more advanced thought processes - maybe a rogue idea that disrupts the process. I don't think I can blame it on drinking while knitting (though I have really been enjoying Big Boss's releases of Bad Penny and Helles Belles this spring -- y'all in the Triangle know what I'm talking about, right? If not... get to the Quickie Mart, pronto!). But I digress.

Hm... maybe that's how it happened. Rogue beer thoughts. Speaking of Rogue, did anyone anticipate the winners over at Beersipper's Pale Ale tourney?? Terrapin! I really would never have called it.

What were we talking about?

Oh right, the vest thing. Long story short, I've knitted and ripped this thing back half a dozen times, and in the closing stretch I got antsy and started measuring and realized that somehow, some way, instead of knitting a girls' size 6, I'm knitting a 2 year-old size. But you know, I'm okay with that. I know some 2 year-olds. One of them is going to be getting a really cute vest (and maybe a 6-pack of Bad Penny).

I do actually have an FO to show you:



This is the super-bright version of Super-Natural Stripes. It's been done for a while, but I didn't get a chance to take its picture until it was headed out the door as a new-baby gift last week. It was really fun, and I used Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, which is just the dyed version of the Organic Cotton natural colors that I love so so so much. Why, oh why won't Blue Sky Alpacas hire me as their in-house designer and send me gobs of free yarn every week?? (Just thought I'd ask). I'm going to be adding a larger size to the current version of the Super-Natural Stripes pattern later this week, so if you've enjoyed that pattern, stay tuned for an update.

Now it's off to the showers. A big busy Wednesday awaits, and the downtown Farmers Market reopens today - hooray!

so what do i do with this stuff?

Yesterday on a rare visit to the LYS in my former hometown of Carrboro, I picked up the final ingredient for the Neuse River Waterdog.


lovely roving from three waters farm

Um... so what do I do with it?

The idea is this: the waterdog has these crazy external gills that flap out from its neck like little butterfly wings. I have already knitted and felted the body, but to get these weird free-form gills, I think I need to needle-felt them.

I picked up a great needle-felting tool at a craft swap this summer, but have yet to use the thing. At the other LYS, I was told I should use roving, which as you now know I finally got yesterday. The only solid advice I've received so far is not to hold the roving in my hand while jabbing it with needles. I think I can remember that. But now... I am stuck.

Do I wet it first and mush it into shape? Do I just lay it down and start poking at it with the needles? How do I make it go into the pretty lobed shape that I want for the gills?

I like these pretty lumps of brilliantly-dyed wool though. It's going to be hard to start bashing them into external gills - hopefully I'll have some left over to stare at and fondle afterwards.

oops

What made me think that I could get a mid-term exam and a new pattern written in the same week? I'm sorry y'all, the new pattern will be out next Friday.

In the mean time, there's always the new issue of Knitty to peruse -- complete with a pattern by Olga (and photos by the multi-talented Paloma!).

But I won't drag the suspense out any longer... you are all right, 8 legs is a sure sign of an octopus! It's a felted octopus for your toy-knitting pleasure. And I can't tell you how delighted I am that octopus knits came by to say hello. Coincidence? Hardly. Octopi are powerful creatures, you know. But I love Stacie's idea of knitted calamari - maybe that will be the next project in line. So - check back next Friday for the pattern. Again, my apologies.

Here's a photo of my desk at work. Just so you don't think I'm spending my knitting time someplace fabulous. I got a new desk this week (thank you larger, richer environmental group for the hand-me-down) and re-arranged the office a little. I think the black-eyed susans are the best feature.


wish you were here

fresh out of the oven

So... notice anything different?

Yes, I got a haircut. And also, how do you like this new banner thingy across the top of the page? I am so into it.

Actually, I designed it about 6 months ago but couldn't figure out how to get it up there. But Amisha kindly pointed me to these simple-yet-genius directions from Brenda, and suddenly months of hitting my head against the wall seemed so... stupid. Because there is always somebody out there who knows how to do what you want to do, it's just a matter of finding them.

Someone told me this on Saturday about the region we live in here in NC, called the Triangle. We have everything here, he said, you just have to find someone who knows where it is. So the Triangle is a lot like html that way, I guess.

Thank you Amisha!

wrapper wrongs

So... we have a new look going on here. I had some wrapper issues over the weekend. I miss the old wrapper, but it seems to have died some sort of scrambled electronic death. I'm now on the hunt for the New Look, but in the mean time you'll be enjoying this Other Look, courtesy of the contributers over in the Templates division of Blogger. (And BTW, if you are a web designer, I need your talents!)

go blue

A knit-a-long for Democrats! Inspired left-leaning liberal knit-ranting? Political fodder for your Stitch & Bitch group?

Well, at the moment it's mostly blue stash-flashing... but Knit Blue is up and running and who knows what sort of revolution it might launch, thanks to the inspiration of Emma over at Stitch & Sue. Go check it out! Or better yet, join in!

I have joined, though I have yet to post my rant or flash any blue stash. While I typically vote straight on down the 'D' column, it feels funny to identify myself so strongly as belonging to one party. For my whole life I was registered 'unaffiliated,' and I have occasionally voted for dark-horse third-party candidates (and occasionally even a Republican - gasp! - when they were the best candidate, which really is hardly ever). But of course I am overjoyed at the recent pummeling the D's dished out to the bedraggled congressional Republicans, and can't say there's another party I'd vote for even one-one-hundredth as often as I vote for Dems.

So... I guess it's okay to self-identify this way, even if it's not my whole identity, right? It all feels so conformist... and yet, so good to be on the winning team - for a change.

Post-Script
Something weird is happening over at Blogger, as you may have noticed. My font has been changed - with no notice! How I hate serifs. Ick. Hopefully I'll get this straightened out soon... in the meantime, enjoy the new look, I guess!

happy birthday to me!

Okay, not to me, to my blog! Today is f.pea's one year blogiversary. Wheeeee!

To celebrate, I'm inviting you all to a crafty get-together. Just pop on over to flickr and join the Craft of the Year group. Then post your best crafty creation of 2006.

A lot of the time I use this web space to rant or to vent, but I think what means most to me about it is the chance to connect with other crafty folks - knitters, sewers, photographers, screen-printerns, all of y'all - to share our handiwork and to be inspired. So to celebrate, I thought I'd invite a little extra inspiration.

Don't be shy, now... I want to see your best stuff! You can even post more than one creation if you like, because creativity comes in both trickles and torrents. I'll be posting highlights from the group over the next few weeks, and maybe even giving out some prizes. There will be some special mentions and bonus points awarded in the following totally non-objective areas:

• crafts that are recycled, rescued from the trash or otherwise environmentally superior
• high fashion innovation
• crafts that make you pump your fist and start yelling feminist slogans (in a good way)
  

Thanks for all your ideas, warmth and witticisms over the last year... it has been so much fun for me. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

P.S. If you don't use flickr, just email your photo (size limit: 400 px) to f [dot] pea [at] airpost [dot] net and I'll post it for you.

hold the numbers

I have a little F - E - A - R of numbers. It's irrational, I know, like my friend's son's fear of M - O - N - K - E - Y - S (she has to spell it). Numbers can't hurt you. They're just digits! But still, they really bother me.

I am about to become a student again (again). This time it's very part-time, but it's a little scary because I'm not exactly taking classes that I expect to particularly excel in. I am trying to get the worst over with first, which means... numbers. Statistics, actually. Biostatistics. A word like that may not bother you too much, and if you are a math person you are probably snorting in derision at the applied nature of the statistics class I'm about to take, but it strikes cold, cold fear into my heart.

NUMBERS.

They're going to be everywhere! Like balancing my checkbook ten times over, every week! AAAHHHHH! But there's nowhere to hide, I have already sent in the rather painful tuition check for this semester.

I was thinking about this yesterday, because I started knitting this little sweater for my friend's new baby (how many times have I typed those very words lately? what is in the freaking water here??) and I was using a pattern I bought with the yarn. It's a little bolero jacket with raglan sleeves, and as with many patterns it's knit in a zillion little pieces and then sewn together. As you may know, I'm not so big on the sewing together. In fact, I bitched and moaned about it rather a lot, especially as I knitted further along and realized that this bolero would be a cinch to transform into a no-sew, top-down knitting pattern.

But of course, I couldn't do it just by looking at the pattern, because the pattern is just a bunch of dang numbers. I could have read it 50 times and would never have been able to re-write it for top-down. But as soon as I got the main body sections knitted and I could actually see the emerging garment, I wrote up the transformation in a flash. Too bad I've already knitted 2/3 of the darn thing - no point ripping it all out now just to avoid a little sewing.

But that's what I mean about the numbers. For whatever reason, they are an impediment to understanding for me, rather than a convenient way to convey information. I think I'd do better if there were a picture of five pink dots instead of a numeral 5 on the page - you know, like on dominoes. I know it would take up more space, but my brain would appreciate it.

Now watch out for those M - O - N - K - E - Y - S.

freezerdom isn't freeze

That's the sad situation in my refridgerator, where things on the bottom half stay nicely chilled, but the ice cream is soup and the ice cubes melt as soon as they hit the sweet tea. Nothing like a heat wave to make you appreciate the little things your household appliances (ought to) do for you.

So things in the freezer are kind of lackluster, but out in the internets, whoo boy! All kinds of things are happening. First, I'm just overjoyed that someone, namely Macoco, knitted up one of my Free Pattern Friday patterns, and she even posted a picture and said nice things! Hello, baby wrapper! Nice work Macoco - it came out beautifully! I am honored to have been knitted by the Craft Pirate. All this warm fuzzy makes me so glad to be doing this (occasional) free patterns thing. In fact, it makes me itchy to post the next pattern! I appreciate the inspiration.

I'm struggling a little bit though with posting garments. So far I've posted lots of little things, but no clothes. I knit my own tops & sweater designs all the time, but I can't imagine doing all the sizing. Is there a secret formula that in-the-know designers use to magically create a whole mess of sizes out of a medium? And how do you know they will work without actually knitting all the different sizes, which there is no way in hades I'm going to do? If I do manage get this figured out, maybe I'll be able to post the patterns for a couple of the tops I've been working on lately.

I'm also learning some things about the internets tonight from my sister, who showed me how you can use MySpace to spy on people. Well, I can't, because I don't have an account, but she logged in and gave me a tour of all the people who graduated high school with us. The big news is: they all had babies and got fat. Or got fat and had babies, I don't know which came first - for the guys, the beer bellies were already setting in by senior year. There is far less kiddie porn, and far more baby pictures, than I had ever imagined there would be on this weapon of mass child exploitation that I keep hearing about on the news.

I will say this, there is a lot of cleavage on MySpace. A lot of cleavage. More than I needed to see in this lifetime. It's nice how people use their best features to attract someone's attention on the internets, thereby securing a lifetime of bliss with a mate who truly appreciates their real self. Headline: "It's all about me." Name: "Princess." Photo of cleavage, vapid expression. This is apparently the formula for eternal happiness, and we saw it OVER and OVER and OVER as we trawled the profiles for people we knew.

My sister's narrative as we scanned the profiles:

"Ho bag... Baby... Ho bag... Ho bag... Ho bag... Baby... Who is that ho bag - wasn't she in your class? Baby... Baby... Ho bag."

Perhaps we are not the kindest of critics. At any rate, it was all rather disturbing and I had to spend twenty minutes afterwards reading craft blogs to purge the torrid images from my eyes. I almost feel clean again. If only I could soothe myself with some ice cream. Alas, we have only cool chocolate mush.

...did that sound kind of naughty to you?

100 posts, 3 prizes

Today marks post #100 here on the f.pea blog. Hooray! (Where I am sitting, confetti is falling. You may want to shred some paper and toss it into the air to festivalize the atmosphere where you are).

Rather than reflecting on why this blog exists or the relative meaninglessness of the previous 99 posts, I'm going with a gimmick! To celebrate my unchecked verbosity, I am presenting you, dear long-suffering readers, with a prize. Well, three of you anyway.

The first three of you to leave a comment on this post asking for a prize will receive a felted cell-phone (or i-pod nano) cozy, made by yours truly. All three have great vintage buttons and are 100% wool. Two of them have windows so that you can see your caller ID (or whatever it is that those fancy little i-pod doodads have on the outside). Here they are:

#1 - black with yellow button and caller ID window. the window is on the back side, close to the bottom. taken!



button close-up:


#2 - pink with white floral button; window on the front side taken!



check out the caller ID action:


#3 - black with crystal button; no window taken!



i think this one has the best button:



Make sure to say in your comments which cozy you want, and leave me your email address so that I can get up with you about where to send it. These prizes are first-come, first-served. Good luck! All three cozies have been claimed. Thanks for playing along - pattern coming soon!

For those who don't win a cozy, take heart! I will be posting the pattern on a Free Pattern Friday coming up soon. Thanks for reading!