Happy New Year

Thanks to everyone for visiting my blog, and Happy New Year! Felix took this picture of me the other day when we went for a walk in the park. My mom gave me the pink scarf for Christmas. She didn't think I would wear it. Is she crazy? I love it! Though, I do think I might be wearing a few too many handknits at once.

Here's Felix from the same day:



We'll see you all next year!

a few gift knits

I managed to eek out a couple of hand knit gifts this year. For our little artist friend Eliza Bee I made this Unicorn from Dream Toys by Claire Garland. I started knitting this toy months ago but put it away until two days before Christmas. I was feeling kind of stressed out about finishing it in time but the stars were aligned and I happened upon the movie The Science of Sleep and was totally inspired by the characters to finish my dream toy. A whimsical grey felt pony features prominently in the film. This is my new favorite movie!


With most toys I find the finishing touches the most enjoyable. The eyes are antique jet buttons that sparkle slightly. The mane and tale are two shades of white kid silk mohair. I imagined that Eliza Bee would braid the mane and sure enough she did shortly after opening the package. I guess that's what I would do. The blanket came from my swatch pile. It's kid silk mohair with a strand of gold thread with an eyelet pattern that I was playing around with for the Pretty Pink Dress pattern in Greetings from Knit Cafe. I always feel good when I can reuse my swatches.


These golden autumnal socks were made for my mom. I was supposed to give them to her for her birthday in November but instead she got a card with a pair of socks drawn in pencil with a giant skein of sock yarn taped to them with the note "coming soon" attached. I feel I owe her another pair since these are birthday socks, so I'm busy making those right now while I have some free time. She picked out the yarn for these and loves pooling so I had a lot of fun watching the colors change instead of worrying about how they were changing. I was going to make them a simple k4 p2 rib but I got bored after a couple of rows and threw in some cables. She loves them so we're all happy.


I asked Felix to model Johnny's new hat. I used my basic Johnny Cap pattern with some stranded colorwork and (what you can't see) a ribbed top that spirals nicely. Whipped it out in one night of fun tv watching. Saw a movie with Robert Duvall infatuated with tango. Tango is good entertainment.

Book Signing

Felix in the Painter's Smock, one of the patterns in Boho Baby Knits. I took this photo last year before I sent the sweater to be photographed for the book. Felix looks so young to me here. TIme really does fly. He still likes his shoes untied.

I love the yarn I used for the Painter's Smock, it's Crystal Palace Merino Frappe. This is one of those kid sweaters that I wouldn't mind making for myself.

I'll be signing books tomorrow December 18 at the Redondo Beach Main Library from 7 pm to 8 pm. 2nd Floor Meeting Room, 303 N. Pacific Coast Highway. (310) 318-0675,

Please come by! The event is called Knit and Chat. I'll have my current sock project with me and more importantly all the cute samples from the book.

Wave Skirt

This one is from Interweave Knits Spring 2005. It was my first pattern with IK so I remember it well. Felix was just a few months old when I knit it. He would nap in the car after I drove around for a while so I did a lot of knitting parked in the car listening to the radio. The pattern is now available for purchase at the Knitting Daily store. The Knitting Daily blog is pretty great, I love when they have everyone in the office try on the same sweater to show how one size fits most; it helps to see what size you might want to make for yourself.


Here is the original swatch that I sent in with my design proposal. I was thinking of surfer t-shirts from the sixties and seventies.

happenings

Meet Bobbi and Mimi my beatnik dolls from Boho Baby Knits. We had a great time last weekend at the Knit Cafe book signing. It was cool to see all the knits from the book out of storage and in the world. And it’s always fun to meet knitters and hang out in a yarn shop, especially one as beautiful as the Knit Café.
In other happening news:
The new Knitty is up and I'm so happy that they reviewed my book!