I'll be back.

Hello old and new friends. My blog has been inactive but I am still around. I loom-knit, weave and have picked up the sticks to needle knit, too! My patterns page links to Ravelry and I will answer questions about those. Maybe someday I will be back to write more. We will see where life takes me.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Knitty gifts unwrapped

The cat's out the Christmas bag. That gift and more are no longer secret and I get to share them with you! First up, though, is the Inara scarf, my first lace project for loom-knitting. The pattern is by Isela Phelps.

Inara scarf: after blocking!!

Here is the process from on-the-loom to look-at-me-I'm-lacey!

Diamond lace scarf WIP
I started slow but once the pattern was in my brain, the scarf grew fast.

Inara scarf: before blocking
It's off the loom and it looks a little uneven.

Inara scarf: During blocking
The transformation from scrunchy-skinny to stretchy awesome!

Inara scarf: blocking
Steam and wait.

Inara scarf: after blocking!
All done! I'm glad I took the time to block this baby. The lace really pops now!

Here are the other gifts I made for family:

Woven neckwarmer
I translated a needle-knit pattern to the loom with the help of Isela Phelps and Lisa Clarke. The perty result was a gift for my mom-in-law.

Christmas Neckwarmer
I sprinkled some vertical colorwork into a trusty double-knit scarflet pattern. This gifty was for Plat's grandma.

Cat Hat
And here's the kitty! This was another tried-and-true pattern, in which I striped some colors. The Wool-Ease yarn makes this very warm and cozy. I want to make one for me for those snow-blowing days.

I got some knitty-related gifts, too. My sister's boyfriend got me a Knit Picks gift certificate and More Knitting Wheel Fashions pattern book. And I'm getting Loom Knitting Socks book with an Amazon gift certificate. Cheers to a New Year full of crafty fun!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Mitzmas!!

From Mr. Mitzy Claws and his crafty hoomin elf!

Merry Mitzmas

Merry Mitzmas

Merry Mitzmas


Thursday, December 17, 2009

Threadknits

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Be it a celebrity hair-do or a chicken cordon bleu – we are inspired by other people's pieces of art. And art, quite literally, is probably the most inspiring.

Woolly Woolly - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever

Every week, Threadless releases t-shirts designed by new and established artists. When a design makes it big, imitation follows. Sometimes it's the bad kind. Evil people make exact copies and fail to give credit. But give fans a proper and creative way to express their love for a piece of art and something wonderful happens.


Give them a spatula and they bake a cake. Threadcakes just finished its second successful contest. Bakers of all levels created towering cakes based on t-shirt designs.

Now give them knitting needles and we have ...



The purple woolly mammoth may have started this all. When I saw the tee design by Edward Pincombe, I saw more than a furry animal. I saw a crazy knit hat. I always have been impressed by the crochet hats by "Chelly" that sometimes emulate Threadless designs. I wanted to give it a shot so I first got Edward's permission and then went to work.


And the hat version of Edward's "Woolly Woolly" tee design was born.

Charlie Festa over at Threadless HQ came across a photo of the hat on my flickr. We exchanged a few brainstormy e-mails and before I knew it, this fuzzy purple hat helped inspire a contest. The ball of yarn was passed to Chris Cardinal (the mastermind behind the Threadcakes Web site) and the entries are now rolling in.


Where is my entry, you might ask? As much as I wanted to be the first knitter on the contest block, Christmas is keeping me busy. But I've started stashing some yarn for at least a couple projects.

First will be Woolly Woolly 2.0. As any artist knows, we often see our shortcomings more than our successes. I think I can do a better Woolly and I'm going to try. This mammoth is going to have a trunk!

Baby Monkey yarn Plymouth Yarn Encore
Some of the new yarn for Woolly

My next idea is super secret for now and it's an ambitious one, too. But here's a peek at the yarn so far.

IMG_3398.JPG

Head over to Threadknits site to check out all the rules and creative entries so far. If you're a knitter or crocheter, head over to Threadless and get inspired. If you don't know how to work that yarn yet — well, learn! The deadline has been extended to March 1 so you have plenty of time.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

On the 10th day of Christmas ...

My crafty hands have made ...

10 raggedy elephants!

10 raggedy elephants

Magically loom-knit from these balls of yarn ...

Magic trick
Except for the black, which I decided not to use.

I made these critters using a mystery loom-a-long pattern by guppygirl. The loom-a-long lasted a month but once you know the pattern, each one only takes a day!

10 raggedy elephants

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Christmas spirit

I've been all tied up, with a pretty holiday bow on top. Now that many of my projects share a deadline day with Santa, I've been knitting away almost everyday. But I'm setting my loom to the side to share the spirit of the holidays this evening.

Today's snow blizzard topped off Christmas in our home ...

Snow night!

Christmas ornaments
More snow and tree photos at my flickr set.

And here are some pretty ornaments for your home ...




Several items have been discounted in my Etsy shop for the holidays and some t-pillows could fill your need for last-minute gifts. Order soon to ensure arrival by Christmas Day!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Custom-ers!

The dinosaurs rawr-ed. The fur flew. And 10 elephants are about to stampede. My loom-knitting fingers have been busy making custom orders for some wonderful customers.

Tonight I scaled the finishing touches for dino hat 2 of 2 for an Etsy customer. The dino duo is set to ship!

Dino hats!!

Earlier this week I mailed out a furry neck cuff. This customer now gets to flash fall colors throughout the winter.

Samba scarf

Those two orders were scheduled to be done by December. But my fingers knit faster than I thought they could. And now I have net a request for 10 toy elephants by mid-December. Fingers, don't fail me now!

Magic trick

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Pillow parade

Threadless tee pillows are marching down my Etsy road. I sewed them all in one crazy week for a local craft fair.

Bayport Craft Fair booth

But it turns out an "ugly" elephant was more popular than these pretty pillows. (He's resting on top of the pillow shelf to the right.) I'm making 10 more of the former for a new customer but you Etsy shoppers get a chance to buy all but one of the latter.

Strange Birds T-pillow

Frida's Garden T-pillow

Greatest Connection T-pillow

For the Birds T-pillow

Only in Dreams T-pillow

Check out the shop for pillows and knits by me ... and ornaments and knits by Lyn!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Stuffed and stitched

Pillows are stuffed. Knits are sorted. The car is packed. And the craft fair is tomorrow morning. This is very unlike me. Where's the girl who has to work til 2 in the morning to be ready in time? Where is she, who exclaims "Just one more hat, pillow or scarf!"?

Maybe it's the excitement of selling at my very first craft fair booth with a group of awesome friends. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm learning from past cram sessions. ... Nah.

Here are the goodies!

Craft fair stuff: Pillows!
All sizes of pillows made from Threadless t-shirts. All have pillow inserts inside except Magical Powers, which is stuffed with polyfill. I started with only 2 on Monday but somehow made 6 more this week. Must be that aforementioned magic.

Craft fair stuff: Knits!
Goofy hats, furry scarfs and more! I didn't get the chance to make any Christmas-y knits but they all will make good Christmas-y gifts!

My Etsy shop is closing its figurative doors today until Sunday. Who knows what will be left?! I might have a bunch more knitting and sewing to do after the fair, too!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Twisted Weekend Socks

It's not how long it takes you to make them. It's when you wear them. And that's why we call them weekend socks.

Sock!

As my first loom-knitting class discovered, it's gonna take a few lessons for that first pair of chunky socks. But as soon as you find your rhythm between the knits and purls, it becomes "surprisingly fun" as one student put it. I have my fingers crossed that they will feel the same way once we reach the heel.

Sock! detail

I wrote a pattern for a yarn shop class that is a simple rib knit with a bonus cable row. If you'd like an easy sock pattern to get your feet wet, grab your blue Knifty Knitter round loom and click the button below.

Pattern PDF download: $4


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You can check out more free and for-sale patterns in the right column now, too! They are available through Ravelry's shopping cart. You don't need a Ravelry account though — just a Paypal one.

And now that I think about it, maybe I could knit a pair of these socks in a weekend.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Dishing up knits

Between personal projects and promised products I probably have enough to keep me busy through Christmas — and let's not forget gifts! So what do I do? I ask for more, of course!

Here's a taste of what's still cooking, what's hot out of the oven and a reheated treat:

After I finished my first snake hat-scarf, my husband lamented that it didn't fit his head. Silly boy, it wasn't made for you! So lickety split, I'm working on a larger one for him. And this one is sporting some sweet seed stitch.

Snake hat WIP
Snake hat-scarf, seed-stitch version

You can find the cable pattern for the original snake hat-scarf in this season's Loom Knitters Circle. And the hat is in my Etsy shop — for now. I'm heading to my very first craft fair in early November and I don't think it will be coming back home with me.

It's a busy fall for me and I don't mind a bit. My first loom-knit class is also on my plate. I will be teaching bulky-yarn socks to a wonderful group of ladies. I'm knitting up a sample to go with my original pattern (coming soon).

Twisted Weekend sock
Twisted Weekend Sock

Between those projects, I got a request I couldn't refuse. My Threadless friend, Lori, bought a custom pair of wristwarmers from my Etsy. They are modeled after the Wacky Wristwarmers I made earlier this year. I dug into my yarn stash, found some crazy Noro yarn and whipped these up in two weeks. They're going in the mail today!

Lori warmers!!
Wacky Wristwarmers

But I have goodies for everyone else, too. I took my twisted cable hat off Etsy to add some ears and eyes. Now I have a kitty hat for a kid out there. I will relist this reinvention later today.

Kitty hat
Kitty hat

Some sweaters by Lyn are on the way, too. Brrrr, a sweater sounds like a good idea right now on this rainy fall day. At least the leaves are nice and bright!