| Free Patterns |
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Sale Patterns |
- Phlox Socks - the Robyn's Nest June Sock Club
Pattern will be for sale as of October 1 2008
(You can email me or leave a comment and I will notify you when the pattern is available.)
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| I Want to Knit |
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| Monday, September 15, 2008 |
| strangeness |
I tried posting a few times on Saturday and for some reason I could read other Blogger blogs, but not connect to my own. Weird!
I just realized I never showed you the finished BSJ, nor my recent progress on the Pinwheel Blankie (which might actually end up finished this week!). I need to clear some room on my camera's memory card, but check this space for those photos very soon!Labels: Baby Surprise Jacket, FO, Pinwheel Blanket, WIP |
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:22 pm   |
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| Wednesday, September 03, 2008 |
| hey look- some of that stuff I've been knitting (and a special day too) |
I finally got around to taking some progress photos last night. It was really late so forgive the flash...but feel free to admire my new couches as the background! :)
This is the progress on the BullsEye Pinwheel Baby Blanket I've been carrying around as my "work anywhere" knitting. It doesn't look like much right now, but will hopefully look good once the bind off frees it from the confines of the circ I'm working on.
 I'm at row 38 and have calculated that I want to be at row 47 and either bind off, or work an edging, so the end is in sight!
Also, this weekend Maaike and I started knitting(along) Baby Surprise Jackets. Here's the progress on mine as I went to bed last night.
 I am at row 76 of the 114 row pattern.
 Here is how it will look when properly folded and seamed. I've decided that I will make the buttonholes on both sides as per the pattern, and will wait until our baby is born to choose buttons. The blue and green is pretty unisex in my opinion, but if we have a girl I think I'd like to put little flowers or something to push it over the girly edge.
I couldn't end today's post without mentioning 2 special things. 2 years ago, today, Yannick and I got married. Happy 2nd anniversary, my love!
 And perhaps even more special than that, today also happens to be Yannick's birthday.
 (Yes, chosen so he wouldn't forget the date).
Happy birthday sweetheart!
Labels: Baby Surprise Jacket, Pinwheel Blanket, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:49 am |
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| Thursday, August 28, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 5 |
We're almost there!
The next step was to use more Patons Brilliant, this time in a shiny gold color, to duplicate-stitch the dreidel game letters in the four corners of the pillow.
 Another closeup for you!
 I know I said this before, but it continued to amaze me how much the finished product looked like my original sketch and computer design. I know it *should* look like what I wanted, but to see such an accurate representation tickled me every time I'd lay them side-by-side.
Almost done now...
Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:30 pm |
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| Wednesday, August 27, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 4 |
We're getting there, folks. Won't be long now!
Once the white "ridges" were complete, I did the letters on the dreidel itself.
 Another closeup. While the white ridges were done using the same yarn as for the background (Patons Shetland Chunky), the lettering was done using Patons Brilliant, a thinner, stiffer, metallic yarn.
 Because this was a contest submission we had to use yarns from the contest sponsors, including Patons, Bernat, Diamond and Kertzer.
I know I'm teasing this out instead of just showing a finished object and being done with it. Sorry to do that, but I can't show you what I'm actually working on as I am busy swatching for a few submissions I'd like to put out.
Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:52 am |
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| Saturday, August 23, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 2 |
The next step for the Hanukah Dreidel Pillow was to do the shading on the dreidel itself. I used a dark orange shade and duplicate-stitched over the gold.
 In case you were wondering, I deliberately stuck with a white, blue and gold color theme. The Israeli flag's colors are blue and white, and I felt like the gold was a nice holiday addition. I didn't want to mix in too many other colors.
 Here's the closeup at this stage. There were one or two spots where I had to go back over a stitch a second time to get good coverage, but you really can't tell.
More coming soon!
Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:00 am |
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| Wednesday, August 20, 2008 |
| Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 1 |
A few days ago I received my Hanukah Dreidel Pillow back in the mail. That was the entry I had submitted to the Mary Maxim design contest. Since I didn't win or place, the rights to the pattern stay with me, which means I can share it with you.
I decided to share a bit of my thoughs and my process on this pattern. I had a really hard time with the design. It wasn't coming up with an idea- I knew I was entering the "Knit or Crochet - Holiday Craft" section of the contest. I had a TON of ideas that I really, really liked. The problem? I really, really liked them.
See, I didn't realize until after I'd sent in my entry fee that were I to win or place, Mary Maxim would get the rights to the pattern. That means that if they were honorable, my name would appear somewhere on it as the actual designer...but other than the contest prize, I wouldn't get anything for the pattern, regardless of how popular it might prove to be.
This made designing tough- I wanted to submit something I was proud of, but at the same time I wanted to keep any "really good" ideas to myself, so if I were ever to knit them, I would get to keep the rights to them.
I knew I wanted to design something Hanukah-related. The majority of the holiday crafts in Mary Maxim are Christmas-themed (which may in part explain why I didn't place, lol) and I wanted to do something to help celebrate another religion. In the end I had the idea to work up a pillow cover with a dreidel on it.
My first step was to swatch. The navy yarn is Patons Shetland Chunky. (If you remember this post, you'll remember when I bought all the yarns I had considered using).
 Once I had my gauge calculated, I started testing some duplicate stitch and embroidery. I had originally planned on having some lettering on the pillow, and I wasn't sure which method would have provided better results. The yellow yarn used for the embroidery was more Shetland Chunky, and the red one is Patons Brilliant.
The pillow cover was worked in 3 sections (the front, and the 2 back halfs) that were seamed at the end. Here is a photo of the front in progress. The design for the front had a white background with a navy block in each corner.
 Once I had my gauge worked out I was able to properly plan the design. I printed off some knitters graph paper to my specific gauge (I like the template here) and started sketching.
I had an outline done by hand then switched to the computer to chart it out in Excel. I didn't care if my Excel chart was to scale, because I already knew that my drawing was to scale. (In other words, if my knitter's graph paper drawing to scale had the corner boxes be 30 sts by 40 rows, then I would color in 30 boxes by 40 boxes in my Excel spreadsheet, etc.) I didn't want to complicate my life by having too many dangling ends, so I broke the pattern down into sections. The background (white and navy) and the main dreidel color (gold) were knit using intarsia to have one flat background. Everything else in the image would be done in duplicate stitch. I forgot to take a photo of the original, plain background, but here you can see it after the first round of duplicate stitch. Just like in cross stitch, where you work a section of one color before switching to another, I did my pattern in layers. Also, knowing how duplicate stitch actually builds up the layers of fabric, I worked in order from the most recessed to the most forwards. So my plan was to start with the background shading, then do the dreidel shading, and last do the letters.
In this image you can see my printed Excel chart and the pillow front with the black shading done around the right and lower edges of the dreidel. (In the chart, the completed shadow sections are highighted in pink, but you can barely see it).  Here's a closeup. The duplicate stitch came out pretty even and had good coverage- that was what I was afraid of most, that the gold would show through. (Luckily, in planing ahead, I knew that other than the letters, I was working darker colors over light).
 I learned that I like my duplicate stitch better when I work from top to bottom, either in rows or columns. I'm not as crazy about the result when I tested it from bottom to top. I found that working top-down causes the stitches below the ones completed to close up any gaps, whereas when you work bottom-up you need to pierce the center of the stitch you just did then move away, possibly separating the stitch and allowing the base color to show through.
Coming soon - more on the Hanukah Dreidel Pillow...Labels: FO, Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, my patterns, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:46 pm |
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| Thursday, July 24, 2008 |
| blame Tara |
It's all Tara's fault.
I've been a little knitting restless lately, because I'm knitting for hire but occassionally I get stretches of time where I'm waiting for an instruction so I need something else to work on while I wait. I'm not going to randomly cast on for a sock or something and have ANOTHER unfinished object lying around. I have a few projects I'd like to start, but Maaike and I agreed we'd do mini "KAL"s for them, and so I need to wait for her to be ready, plus since I have Veronik's knitting as a priority, I really need something I can pick up or put down without any guilt that someone is waiting for me to catch up.
Then Tara goes and mentions the Pinwheel Blanket she's been working on. Which reminded me how long I've wanted to knit one. And how I have a perfect excuse. Plus how it is mindless and pretty-much patternless, which means I can pick it up and put it down whenever I want without making notes in a chart, or taking a note of my row count.
So I blame Tara for the fact that I am about to go stash diving for suitable yarn while I await an instruction clarification. I had no intent of casting on anything new, I swear.
It's Tara's fault.Labels: Pinwheel Blanket, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 10:37 pm |
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| Monday, June 23, 2008 |
| the good, the bad and the ugly (long) |
Sorry for the radio silence, but I went to Toronto for the weekend and don't like to advertise on the blog that I'm going away. (Although I think I did mention that I was going away...I just didn't want to confirm "I'm leaving NOW").
Do you think it was overly optimistic to have packed this much yarn for one weekend?
 Asked me if I used even one-eighth of it. Go on, ask me.
My mom, our cousin Mona, Jakob and I left on Friday morning. I sat in the back with Jakob and finished Eden's Shrug. The photos I'd taken in the car came out awful, so here are some nicer ones that I took the next afternoon at my aunt's place (where we stayed).
 The shrug came out really cute! It was such a fast knit, and I love the fabric obtained by using the Cotton Look on slighty larger needles than normal. I was worried it looked HUGE for the 12 month size, but I tried it on Jakob and it was only a little loose, which is perfect. (No photos of my son in a pink bolero, sorry!)
 Here's the back view. You can almost tell how light and sheer this is if you look at where the back is lying on the fronts- you can just see through it. It is EXACTLY what I wanted to achieve and I'm really, really happy with how it turned out. Having finished the shrug and still having about an hour to go in the drive (I didn't knit the whole time- Jakob refused to sleep and I had to keep him distracted) I pulled out the yarn and pattern to knit the Velvet Oblivion ( Ravelry link) from Knitty. This was the first project I had ever bought yarn for that became stash, and it has been sitting in my stash since the summer of 2004 when the pattern came out. I'm putting together a gift package for my cousin's fiancé's bridal shower in 2 weeks, and I wanted to include a luxurious face mask. It is a PAIN to knit because I didn't realize my yarn was slightly thicker than the yarn called for in the patter, and the needle size is deliberately smaller to obtain a blackout fabric. Still, I was cruising along when IT happened:  See that missing spot on the upper right? I'd had to force the needle into one of the stitches and didn't realize that I'd actually torn the core thread that holds the chenille yarn together. I didn't realize it until 3 rows later when the ends worked their way free and I suddenly had a hole in the knitting. Had this been almost any other yarn I could have fixed it later, but trying to fix an aran-bulky weight yarn knit with 3.5mm needles in garter stitch with NO stitch definition was not my idea of something to do. I had no choice- I cut the yarn and started over.
At that point we arrived in Toronto. We had just enough time to wait for Mona to get picked up (she was visiting her daughter who recently moved to TO), change and leave for the out-of-towner's dinner. We were supposed to be there for 6:30. We only arrived in Toronto at 7:00. Whoops! Luckily almost everyone was still there when we strolled in around 7:45, and there was still food for us.
Go figure Jakob didn't nap all day, not a single time during the (took us) 7 hour drive. His usual bedtime is 7:15pm. Once we'd got him changed and back into the car to go to the dinner, it was 7:30. We hadn't made it 3 blocks before he fell asleep. The 10 minutes it took us to get to the dinner was enough to recharge his batteries, though, as he fell asleep when I tried to transfer him to the stroller I'd brought, and he kissed, flirted and charmed his way through the rest of the night.
By the time we got back to my aunt's house and were changing into pjs my dad and Yannick arrived. They'd come down together later in the evening so they could get a mostly-full day of work in. I put Jakob to bed then crashed myself.
Saturday we had to rush to get everyone up, dressed and fed so we could be at my cousin's Bar Mitzvah (the reason we'd driven down). We left the house at Jakob's usual morning-nap time, and he fell asleep en route. This time I had more luck and was able to transfer him to the stroller without waking him. He slept through the first hour of the services, and once he woke up Yannick took him into the lobby area to play for the next 2 hours. At that point we were all starving, and they opened up a lunch buffet.
By 1:30 we were on our way back to my aunt's house and it was right in time for Jakob's usual afternoon nap, so the plan was to put him down and I'd knit while my parents went to walk around Yonge street, and Yannick went for a drive to continue listening to the last Harry Potter book on CD. (Don't say anything- I haven't finished it yet!). The plan worked...for everyone but me. Jakob REFUSED to nap. I had decided a few months ago that even if he didn't nap, if we were home or at work and were able to stick to his usual schedule, then 2-4pm he'd be in his crib. It didn't matter if he cried or played, but he was staying in his crib until 4. He cried for about 20 minutes then started playing with his dolls and blanket, and I managed to get some knitting done on the Velvet Oblivion. I was worried that it looked too big, but it was hard to get it stretched out properly on the needles, so I decided to deal with it later. I was right about to join in the fun-fur yarn, when Jakob woke up.
 This is the look I got for trying to get his attention away from the remote he was after. I'd rearranged my aunt's couches and ottoman to make a safe play area, and we knit/played until it was time to get ready for the Bar Mitzvah party that evening. (The morning part was the services in synagogue, the night-time part was the big party with a 4-course meal, dj, casino setup, sweet table, etc).
While Yannick got himself ready I got Jakob dressed, then myself. Last-minute I decided that Jakob wasn't fully dressed without a funky hairdo.
You like? ;] We had been joking with the Bar Mitzvah boy's mom (my cousin) about how the invitations said "casually elegant", as a code for "no jeans". We decided that Jakob's faux-hawk would be just the right touch to throw the "casual" into his look. The night was a big success. Jakob fell asleep on the way to the party but woke up immediately when the car stopped and spent the rest of the night staring after the laser light displays. He was clearly exhausted but didn't make a single fuss, and charmed the waitresses by blowing them kisses all night. He was an absolute angel and we left as soon as we could to bring him home and put him to bed. On Sunday one of my other cousins was throwing a brunch for our close family, so while everyone else was getting ready, I set up the couch area for Jakob again and finished the Velvet Oblivion face mask. I'm not considering it a "finished object" yet, though.  Once it was off the needles, it had some serious flaws. Forgetting the fact that it is larger than normal, following the directions for the fun-fur part led to the entire outer edge being pulled in too tight (too few stitches to go around).  The result is this- a face mask that looks a lot more like a funky bra. I was going to completely start over, but I think I'll first start by undoing the Boa yarn and redoing it with enough stitches to avoid the cupping. If it looks good, albeit large, I'll keep it as is. If it still ends up crappy then I'll remake it and fudge the numbers to end up with a smaller result.
We went to the brunch where Jakob had a blast with his little cousins, then the three of us went to meet Eden. She was absolutely adorable and it was great to see her parents again. I really don't see them enough since they live so far away. When we left them it was time to hop on the 401 East and head home. The drive took about 7 hours again, but just as on the drive down, we stopped twice (it's usually about a 5 hour drive). Jakob did sleep for about an hour, but was up and crying the entire last 2 hour stretch of the drive. (Which was actually a good thing, because he was so exhausted that a diaper change and bottle was enough to knock him out once we got home). In the car I started and finished more of my cousin's bridal shower gift: a ballband dishcloth. (Ravelry link). Yes, the pattern has been published in the Mason/Dixon book, but I used the actual pattern from the Peaches 'n Cream website.  The yarn is Bernat Handicrafter Cotton.
 I plan on making a bunch of these in different colors as another part of the gift basket I'm putting together.
 Here's the back, for those of you who like that sort of thing.
Today Jakob had his first dentist appointment (all good!) then playgroup, then while he took his afternoon nap I did some much-needed cleaning around the house. Two of my siblings came over to play with him for a bit, then once he was down for the night I parked myself on the couch with Yannick and worked on the next dishcloth.
 This is where I stopped for the night. The Sage Green cotton was left over from the dishcloths I'd crocheted for Esther last year(?) and I just finished the ball. I have another ball in my stash with a different dye lot, but I'm really not concerned about a dishcloth being all matchy-matchy.
So that's it. A fun weekend away, although nothing beats coming home and being back in your house, with your schedule and routines. Some knitting was done, some turned out very well and some...let's not speak of it again until we see if it is fixable. And a son who was so perfectly behaved during the entire trip that we are really worried we're in for hell during his teenage years. No kid can be THIS perfect his whole life!
Labels: Ballband Dishcloth, Eden's Shrug, FO, Velvet Oblivion, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:28 pm |
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| Wednesday, June 18, 2008 |
| a week of pink knitting |
I finished the Mary Maxim contest thingie on Sunday afternoon, right in between brunch with Yannick's family and dinner with my family. They should have recieved it already (must go check that online!) and the judging takes place next week, so once I hear back from them I'll post some photos of that project.
Once we'd got home and put Jakob to bed I swatched for Eden's shrug. I swatched the Cottonlook first because I really wanted to use it, and luckily I got gauge easily with the required needles. It's such a completely different fabric than I would have obtained with the Decor- the CL can actually be used on smaller needles so working on a 5mm results in a slightly open fabric that has a lot of drape, but the yarn (which is probably an acrylic/cotton blend) behaves as if it were a cotton/linen blend. In fact, it feels/looks remarkably similar to the Sirroco yarn I'd used for my Shapely Tank a few years ago. In any case, it will be a nice, light garment that will be perfect to wear over a short sleeved or tank topped dress.
 So the swatch was done on Sunday, and then I ripped it out and began the shrug itself. The above photo shows my progress when I went to bed Sunday night.
 I tried to get a closeup of the knitting but it doesn't do the drape of the fabric justice.
 This is where I was as of Monday night. It's a fast knit!
There is no Tuesday night progress photo because I had no Tuesday night. I don't know what came over me, but I was yawning during my whole drive home from work, and once Yannick came home and was able to take over playing with Jakob, I just crashed. I was actually asleep BEFORE 8pm for the first time in...I can't even remember how long.
 Here's last night's progress. All that remains to do is to pick up around the neck/back and do a few rows of ribbing, then the same thing on each cuff. I'm hoping to finish it tonight so it will be ready and wrapped before we meet Eden for the first time.
Labels: Eden's Shrug, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:26 pm |
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| Wednesday, April 30, 2008 |
| what i did monday and yesterday |
I unpacked the nuts and fruit and chocolates.
 Oy. Let's ignore the fact that my cuboards are full and I have no where to store the nuts and fruit and chocolates, ok?
 I seamed the Marble cardi. I also ignored the pattern, which wanted me to knit the hood, then pick up and knit the button bands on the two fronts, THEN seam the cardi and sew on the hood. I did a few more mods as well, which I'll detail when the project is finished.
 I also managed to knit the two front bands. By the time I went to bed last night I'd picked up and started working the collar (I'm ignoring the hood).
I would have gotten more done, but Jakob has been sick and I only knit when he's sleeping, if I'm not already eating, cleaning, doing laundry or staring at the TV in a dazed stupor. The poor kid started a fever on Friday night, and has been going back and forth from 99.5 to 103.3 ever since. Yesterday's high was 102, today he went from 99.5 when he woke up from his nap to 101.5 2 hours later. I know it's not as high, but his fevers have been higher at night, so we're going back to the doctor to make sure his cold didn't become an ear infection. He's also got a wicked cough and a runny nose, so when he is awake, he's kinda miserable. (His waking up around the clock has led to my dazed stupor). I'm sure the doctor will tell me it's just a cold and to keep him on the tempra, but I'd rather be safe than sorry...especially with a fever that has lasted almost 6 days. Hopefully by the time I post next I'll have a completed Marble Cabled Cardigan. You know what I didn't do yesterday or Monday? Photograph my booty. (Uh- yarn or otherwise). I know you wanna see the new stash...but I can't show it to you before I show it to Yannick, and he had bowling last night. Don't worry...you'll get photos soon. I still have to finish the rest of the WEBS trip. I haven't even told you about the diner of freaky thoughts yet!
Labels: Cabled Hoodie, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 1:36 pm |
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| Sunday, April 13, 2008 |
| red and blue |
Things have been getting done around here, I promise. For some reason, though, every night around 8 or 9 pm I've been getting a headache and all I want to do is go to bed. I haven't gotten as much accomplished as I would have liked, but here is some of what I've been doing:
 I was commissioned to do the finishing work on this baby sweater that my mom's manicurist knit. This is the sweater that (did I already blog this?) I had to go help her fix when she realized after finishing the two sleeves that she'd knit the cuffs with the larger needle, instead of the smaller one. So I showed her how to slip the stitches of one row onto a smaller needle and cut and unpick 1 row, then unravel the now-released cuff and reknit the cuff in the opposite direction. Anyways, she didn't feel up to doing the finishing work, so she asked me to do it for her, and handed me the pattern and a bag with the fronts, back and sleeves. I sewed it up for her, and this is the result. It's a really cute sweater, and it just needs a button to be all finished.
 I've also been working on Jakob's Cabled Cardigan lately, and to prove it, here are some progress photos. I keep meaning to block the pieces pre-seaming but I was going to do it after the first front and decided to wait until both were done, then I was going to do it after the first sleeve but am now waiting until both are done. Or I might not block it at all, until after the seaming is done. We'll see. This photo shows the back, two fronts and 1 sleeve.Labels: Cabled Hoodie, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:22 pm |
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| Sunday, March 30, 2008 |
| this weekend |
This was a good weekend.
On Saturday there was some of this:
Can you guess what those are? That's a penny in there for scale.
Later that night there was some of this:
 We went for dinner with one of the other moms in Jakob's playgroup, and her husband and baby. She is actually married to someone I grew up with so it almost feels like we've been hanging out forever.
Today we had some of this:
 My family came over to help Yannick grout the tiles in our den, but of course there were "Jakob breaks" every 10 minutes or so. Luckily the smurf took some naps, or they wouldn't have gotten any work done!
There was also some of this:
 My dad brought Jakob a Rubix Cube. He's determined to give Jakob "thinker's" toys to keep his brain working. My dad is also a huge fan of Art Bell, and his latest obsession is the Coral Castle...so I'm just lucky that he didn't show up with a huge box of magnets (not that that won't be cool once Jakob is old enough to not swallow them!).
Finally, there was some of this:
 Can you tell what this is? I think I left too many details showing- I don't think it is actually that hard to guess.
Answers tomorrow!
Labels: FO, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 11:47 pm |
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| Tuesday, March 25, 2008 |
| 777 |
To celebrate my blog reaching seven hundred and seventy seven posts, I'm holding a contest. You've heard of the Seven Deadly Sins, right? (Or you've at least seen the movie Se7en, with Brad Pitt?) No? Well, the Seven Deadly Sins are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth. Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.
Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation. Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires. Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body. Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath. Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness. Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.
I started thinking about how these sins could relate to my knitting. I know that they don't fit exactly, especially with the definitions as stated above. But, I knew that my knitting hobby wasn't all love and roses either. So here's my list:
Pride- Knitting Bag with Perfect Pocket. Oh I was so proud of myself! I *knew* I'd designed the PERFECT knitting bag, with exactly the right pockets to hold exactly the right accessories. I'd even created the Perfect Pocket with its specific features and purposes. It was going to be huge! Um...yeah. It's been in storage so long that I have no clue where it is. It used to be Sam's favorite sleeping spot, so what was a black felted bag is now really white and hairy. It's huge- but in a "really big" sense, not a "everyone wants one" sense. And it's unfinished. I consider my pride a wee bit checked, thanks to this project.
Envy- A swift and a niddy noddy. I'm so jealous of all of you who have one. Do I need them? No. But oh do I want them! Gluttony- Homespun jacket and hat. Oh the gluttony here! I was in Ottawa and given the opportunity for a rare trip to Michael's, the craft store. Did I buy something special? No. I bought about 35(!!!) skeins of LionBrand Homespun. I bought enough to make the jacket and hat for myself, plus enough red and black to make Yannick and I each oversized hooded sweatshirts. Well, after knitting with the homespun long enough to make my jacket, I discovered how the yarn releases little tufts of fiber as you knit. I was fed up of knitting with it long before even finishing the jacket, not to mention the way the yarn bunches along itself and has to be eased back down. Oh- and did I mention that I NEVER wear the jacket? It has lived on my mannequin ever since the original photos were taken - in 2006!! This was definitely a case of "eyes bigger than stomach"...in knitting terms, that is.
Lust- The Noro Kureyon striped scarf, as seen at Brooklyn Tweed. Maaike had pointed me over there and when I took one look at the scarf, I was hooked. I had to have one. NOW. I think I ordered the yarn for it in under a week, and not long after that, as soon as we'd finished our "current" projects, we cast on for a knitalong. Ever lust for something and then when you get it, it's not as good as you thought? This was SO not like that. It was better than I'd thought. The knitting was mindless, the yarn was softer than I'd thought, and the color combination still thrills me. Score one for lust!
Anger- my dad's thrummed mittens (no completed photo, only some old wip shots there, sorry). I've made peace with the mittens, but I'm still a little bitter about them. Of course, I'm mostly angry at myself. I was so looking forwards to knitting with a new technique (the thrums) that I didn't stop to consider the recipient. Sure, my mom said my dad's hands were always cold. Sure, nothing would be warmer than thrummed mittens. Sure. Unfortunately I didn't think about who the gift was for- my dad, the smoker. Mittens have no fingers. You can't smoke with mittens on. The mittens don't get worn. Sigh. Moving on...
Greed- Patterns. Oh my- I can't have enough. And it's not just the free ones online or magazines, it's pay ones too! Rogue, the pocket pals books, the wonderful Wallaby...so many patterns have found their way into my grubby little hands. And am I knitting them? Of course not. They are being stored so they can be savored...while I sit here trying to design my own stuff. There's probably some irony here if I could be bothered to look.
Sloth- the Kosher Sweater. Come on- 3 years sitting in a bag with only 20 stitches waiting to be bound off?? That's just plain lazy, folks. So there you have it- my Seven Deadly Knitting Sins. I want to know what yours are. You can send your list by email, you can post it in a comment to this post, or you can post it to your blog and leave me a comment here to go take a look. You can use all words or you can include photos. My only condition is that you list something for each of the seven sins.
The contests starts today, and will end at midnight Wednesday, April 2 2008. That gives you 7 days to play. Wanna know what you're playing for? The winner will get a $30 gift certificate to the online yarn store of their choice. Good luck!
Before I go, here are a few photos:
Mommy with Jakob at 45 weeks. He's getting so big! This photo isn't so great 'cus he looks much chubbier than he is, but you can always go back a few posts and see him in his pjs on the rocking chair to know that he doesn't have all that pudge. I'm not sure if you can click on the photo to see it bigger, but if you can- look at those teeth! You can also get a look at some family and wedding photos in the screen behind us. :) 
I actually took this photo a few days ago but never got around to posting it. Since we had our time change so early in the year, there is so much light in the house when I get home from work! I took this photo at 6:30 at night, with no flash, in a room with one big window. I couldn't get enough of the natural light and so I took this wip photo. Finally I managed to get one photo that shows the colors accurately AND shows the cable. This is the same cardigan front I showed you a few weeks ago. Tonight there was a West Island Knitters meetup at a local brasserie (tavern) and I finished the front piece. I also helped my cousin Amy finish her swatch bunny. This was her first time seaming, and came right on the heels of her first time purling and her first time following a "pattern". It is so cute! Go over to her site to check it out, I'm sure she'll have FO photos to share. As if I didn't have enough on my plate- now I want one! sd Labels: Cabled Hoodie, contests, WIP |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 7:28 pm |
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| Monday, March 10, 2008 |
| presenting... |
...the swatches! I am so happy with how the yarn turned out! I think I've been over using the word "love" lately (I love the yarn, in love with certain patterns, love the way things come out) so I don't want to sit here and say there's yet another thing I love. I might have overstated my affection for some other projects. There might be projects that I merely like, projects I wouldn't mind seeing again, and projects I think I might have a future with. But this yarn? This yarn I really do love!
I did the swatches with a 2.5mm needle (my usual for socks) and on 64 sts, which, depending on the pattern, is roughly my size.
 Here's the Black Cherry. This photo shows a pretty good variation of color, but is lacking the deep tones of wine that permeate every strand, even the deep blacks. This will be stunning with either an open lace or a cable pattern. Yannick would like to claim it for himself but it is mine! This is one side of my Oxford swatch. I took a photo of each side to show you how the yarn will behave on a larger swatch (or a sock). You see how the black-striped section starts at the lower left and moves up on a diagonal to the top right? And how the colored section with no black seems to do the same?
 Here's the other side of the same swatch. # 1 had one dark section in the middle. # 2 has 2 dark sections, one on top and one below, with a lighter middle. What I'm trying to show here is that the two areas of color will spiral around each other, and around the sock.
 Look at this! It worked! I can't believe it worked! I made a self-striping yarn! There is so much I enjoy about this one, especially the palest row of green right above the darkest one. Something about the way one looks near the other really tickles me. If I was to do this again I would only change the concentration of dye to water to try and get another shade in there, as I feel 2 of the rows look the same. It might be related to where I cast on from and how the yarn is wrapping around itself, though.
I have been knitting Bunnies for the last week. The pattern is great, but I'm knitting in Fun Fur which is such a pain! I knit the first one only in the Fun Fur stuff, but seaming it was NOT fun, so I knit the second with the FF held along with a strand of white dk weight acrylic. It made the FF somewhat more bearable.
I'm knitting the Bunnies as a gift for a friend's 2.5 year old daughter, who brought a gift for Jakob when we introduced them, and I unfortunately showed up empty handed. I found out her favorite colours are pink, purple and blue (is there any 2.5 year old girl who doesn't have those as her favorite colours?) so I'm knitting a pink mommy bunny, a blue daddy bunny, and a purple baby bunny. As of tonight only the pink is left to knit. Photos tomorrow after the Guild meeting.Labels: Bunny, swatches, WIP, yarn dyeing |
| posted by Jennifer Lori @ 9:39 pm |
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