crafty bits...

Really, I do knit

Right now I'm working on the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann. It's very fun and I think I'm going to make about 4 of them right off the bat, because there is an unsettling amount of pregnancy in my social strata lately! Good thing I knit or I'd be winding up in the baby shower poorhouse (as opposed to the yarn addict/photo supply poorhouse that is my preference).

Here's the baby surprise jacket so far (click pics to see close-up):












and here's a lovely scarf thingy I'm making for my mom,
it is soooooo close to being done...

MN is a hotbed of knittin' activity---who knew?!

I didn't know. I should've known, since there are about 500 yarn stores here in the Twin Cities metro, let alone in the outlying suburbs and up North, but I didn't know. I got a little lonely for an opportunity to venture out and knit with some other people, and did a google search for "MN KNITTERS" and, lo! Here is what I found that took place the very next weekend:

THE MN KNITTERS GUILD'S 21st ANNUAL "YARNOVER"

First, we got neato backpacks of goodies














Then, there was some of this:
































and boatloads of this:














Annie Modesitt was the keynote speaker---wonderful and funny














And best of all, after a little conniving (begging) because I was too late to register, I managed to get into the knitting class that I'd hoped for: Bavarian Twisted Stitch with Meg Swansen, who is a wonderful human being and a fabulous teacher! I've loved reading her mom's (THE Elizabeth Zimmermann) books over the years and it was a pleasure to meet Meg.


















What can I say? I'm a dork about knitting and I've found my fellow trekkies! Here's a link to a blog by a nice woman who was in my class (hi Debra!): Cashmere Dreams

You people are BASTARD people!

Gnitter is back, friends. And look what the hell's been going on around here in my absence! I finally got kicked out of the "Knitting Blogs" web-ring. Why do those knitches hate my baby so much?!

Oh, well. maybe it would help if I started posting about knitting again. ;-)

Why I'm not knitting right now...

Oh, well. The doctor says it will go away a few weeks after the boy is born.

make like a crafty gnitter

My immortal beloved subscribes to MAKE Magazine and I have to say, it's pretty dang cool---chock full of fun oddball projects to try (how to make your own PEZ MP3 player, for example). He mentioned that there is actually quite a bit of knitting stuff on their website, so I checked it out and thought I'd share the link here with you all.
Note: this crafty list is not exclusively knit projects---there's other fun stuff too!

link to MAKE crafts

Back to the reason why this is a so-called "Knitting Blog"

This is what I've started for the boy, in a lovely dark blue so that it will look like a little pea coat! I have to admit, I always choke a bit over the price of these Debbie Bliss yarns, but I'll be danged if they aren't truly a pleasure to handle. This is from the Debbie Bliss Baby Knits Book. Here's another view:

I'm not going to make the pants---I just picture them all saggy, with a big old dirty diaper in them!

Bear with me...

Sadly, pregnancy is really taking a toll on the blog. Oh well, the five friends who actually read this thing are likely to tough it out with the Gnitter. Look at it this way, would you prefer long gaps between posts or long posts about what it's like to go maternity clothes shopping for the first time? Uh-huh, I thought so...

Russian Mitten Patterns

I got this cool book earlier this summer. Here in Minnesooooota it's just starting to get coooooold. So I think it's time to make some of these mitties. More soon!

My new favorite knitting blog

You Knit What???

So many times I've looked at a strange, ugly, uncomfortable looking knitting pattern and thought, "What were they thinking?!" Thanks to Joanna for sharing this one with me. These two gurls SET FIRE to anyone who DARES to air an ugly pattern!

Keee-yute!

I had to update this with better photos---the others were crap!

Well, to be honest I've been having some (relatively minor) health troubles lately, and surprisingly enough it's dampened my will to knit (only because it's dampened my will to do just about anything)! Still, I've managed to finish one project, and here it is! It's from a Reynold's pattern (except that I adapted it and knit it in the round), and it's made out of Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton---the softest yarn ever!
For a lucky (and tiny) boy OR girl!
And I do believe that as far as kid stuff goes, these are the cutest buttons I've ever seen. Ever. Anywhere.

Some nice Fall patterns fer ya

Get Pattern here


Get Pattern here

Please note: these are older patterns, so some of the sizing is a bit different then nowadays, and some of the sizes are British, from 40 years ago. Check gauge and see if sizing works for you, otherwise alter it. Have fun!

Gnitter Gnausea

Sorry no posts in the last few days, I'm sick! Feeling a little like this:

More soon!

What I'm gnitting on presently...

I used to feel guilty if I had several knitting projects going at once, like I was betraying one with the other. Somewhere along the line I decided that variety truly is the spice of life, and they do all eventually get done.
1) Ultra soft baby hoodie (no hood yet, though) made out of Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton yarn (pattern by Reynolds)
2) Seed stitch scarf made from leftover Noro Silk Garden
3) The blue boyfriend cardigan knit in the round, made from New England Harrisville Shetland wool
and
4) "Branching Out" mohair scarf, a free pattern from knitty.com

These mutton-heads felt a need to come out and get in on the action while I was taking pics of the knitting:

mmmmm...NORO...

I broke down and bought these books tonight, I needed a treat...


Perhaps I'll make this cute little number...

...after I order some Noro yarn at a reasonable price from Jannette

Here's a link to a page with more pics of the patterns from these books. I like Jane Ellison's patterns. A few years ago it seemed like all you could find for Noro patterns was kinda frumpy stuff, and it's such gorgeous yarn!

Steek Mystique

Here's a good illustration:

and here's a pic that I took of my test run (click to see it bigger):


Here are a couple of links to info about the steek technique (some vary from those above), because steeky can be spooky to gnitters...

Knitty Steeks

tradewinds

Schoolhouse Press

One Step Beyond: The blue cardigan knit in the round

I owe my old man a sweater, cuz I kinda blew it on one I was making for him a while ago that didn't work out well. He picked out a pattern:

These are the pretty yarns we chose to make it with (Harrisville New England Shetland Wool):

With my ongoing desire to knit in the round, I did a little research on how to do that with a cardigan. I'm gonna try to use a technique called "steeking". The first step is to knit 5 extra stitches beyond what the pattern calls for, and these fall where the front split will be. These 5 stitches have to be knit through the back loop.

Someday, when I get to the end of the body of the sweater, I will either sew or crochet along the outer steeked stitches to secure them, and then CUT right up the middle! Stay tuned, more to come, albeit slowly...

Saints be praised! Lush is done!

Well, I accomplished one thing this week (I've been sick, and whiney, and basically useless since last weekend). I finished my pet knitting project! I was really sweating this, as I converted the pattern pretty drastically, and Rowan denim yarn is a little tricky to work with because you knit it 20% longer than you want it to be and then wash and shrink it. I knit it in the round, the body and the sleeves onto the body (see previous Lush posts by using the google search on this page), and I was nervous that the sleeves wouldn't shrink right with the body. No worries! It worked!
Before washing pic:
After the shrink:

Luscious Lush Update

I'm still plugging away at this Rowan Denim pattern for the Lush tunic-y thing (to see previous pics just use that google window up there to the left and search for "Lush"). I am so excited, as only a knitter would be about something like this, that it seems to be working to knit this thang completely seamlessly. I have finished the front and back, used a 3 needle bind off for the shoulders, and learned this VERY COOL trick from the nice person who posts PURLWISE knitting blog: Ladies and Gentleman, you CAN knit a sleeve right onto the body of a sweater from the top down. Here is a link to Purlwise's great instructions: top down cap sleeves using wrapped short rows It sounds scary, but I promise that it is not and these instructions are great. If you loathe sewing seams after all the knitting is done, this is a must!

Here's some evidence:
mmm...and lovely blue toenails to match...



There is one very scary prospect that I am facing, but I'm hoping that I've made the proper allowances for it. Rowan Denim shrinks lengthwise by about 20% after you've knit it up. The sleeve stitches in my case here were picked up very loosely in order to compensate for the shrinkage. I hope.

More knitting patterns for the few, the proud, the knitters who look at this site

PLEASE NOTE: These patterns are around 60 or 70 years old, so I'm betting you may have a tough time finding the yarn they're referencing! The sizing may be a bit different than today, too, considering the corsets they were wearing and all (or were they calling them "girdles" by then?)! I'm thinking the best thing to do is just do the math: find a yarn/needle combo that works to give you the suggested guage and make sure that the suggested gauge with the number of stitches cast on will give you the size you desire (stitches per inch X inches around you). Adjust from there. Not for the fainthearted, but really not that hard, either.

Click here for link to this pattern---I'd make it just for that collar!

Click here for link to this pattern---and how about that hat?!

Click here for link to this pattern, if you're feeling very ambitious!