Category Archives: FO


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cadmium

Without further ado, allow me to present Cadmium:

As you can see I was faithful to the desired sketch.

Cadmium is a dress/layering piece, sleeveless with 4 integrated belts actually woven through the runs created by dropping stitches.  It’s knit from side to side and the only seams are to close the tops of both shoulders.

Here’s a closeup of the belts.  Because they’re woven through the garment, you can leave the dress loose or cinch it up to gather at the waist or hips.

Because it’s knit sideways, it’s easy to modify the length by simply casting on fewer stitches and always remembering that difference vs the stated stitch counts.  So it could easily be made hip or thigh length.

The pattern is part of the premiere issue of Clotheshorse magazine, and I really urge you to check it out.  Besides my design there are a ton of other really gorgeous patterns (a few I’ve already planned to make).  You can find the whole issue here at the Clotheshorse site or find the pattern directly at Ravelry here.

(All photos above copyright to Clotheshorse)


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cadmium preview

I’m so excited that I can finally blog about this!

Last year sometime, while browsing in a designers’ group on Ravelry, I came across a call for submissions for a new online knitting magazine that would be debuting in Spring 2012.  Their goal was to be very fashion-forwards and right on-trend with the latest runway styles.

I submitted an idea I had for a drop-stitch cardigan.  What would make it cool is that it would be knitted sideways, so that the dropped stitches would run horizontally, and then I’d deliberately place some of them to be near the waist so that I could weave a belt through.  I thought it would be really cool, and submitted these sketches:

showing my idea in 2 different colorways, with the intent of showing the clothing underneath peeking through the dropped stitches.  I also sent along a photo of a swatch I’d made testing out my belt theory.

A few weeks of waiting with everything crossed that can be followed, and then I heard the news- my pattern was accepted!  Yay!  All that they asked was if I’d be willing to change the silhouette to be a bit more in line with their ideas for the magazine, so instead of a sleeveless cardigan, could I make it into a wrap dress?  They sent me this sketch as an example:

That was a design change I was willing to live with, and so as soon as the yarn arrived I got to work.

First of all- the yarn is LOVELY to work with!  It’s Araucania Ruca Solid, 100% sugar cane, and my first time working with sugar cane yarn.  It’s got a sheen like silk and an excellent drape.

The pattern and sample was sent out last September and now it’s just been a waiting game for the pattern to go live…which it has!

Pics and link tomorrow- I’m such a tease!  🙂

ps I’m 2 rows short of being officially 2 days ahead of schedule on my secret project.  And Henri’s still coughing but has no more fever.  And my hernia(s) haven’t popped out again.  Woo hoos all around!


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back to the doctor with henri we go

I kept Henri home from school again today…his fever isn’t as high but the poor kid can’t stop coughing his lungs out, and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t more than just a virus.  Turns out it’s now developed into bronchitis and an ear infection.  😦

Because we were home for the day I got quite a bit of knitting done and am still running ahead of where I should be (11 rows ahead of schedule), though I look forwards to getting more done when we’re home tomorrow (since I need to keep him home until he’s on antibiotics at least 24 hours).

Here’s a pic of me that my cousin Amy took last night at guild.  We show off our recent finished objects then Amy takes pics for our guild photo album.

Photo credit to Photography by Amy Grauer


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vegas kal #2 also done!

Remember I said I’d figured out how to fix/finish the too-small, too-“not me” Vegas scarf?  It was simple- I’ve got an engagement party this weekend for an old friend- my grad date, actually- who’s getting remarried.  He’s got a daughter from his first marriage who’s 2 months older than Jakob, and we’ve been having playdates with them for years.   Back “in the day” both he and I used to play Vampire: the Masquerade (though not together, except for one truly epic HUGE game at UofM) and he went through a bit of a goth phase, and his daughter definitely has some of that in her too.  Her winter coat is black, and I decided to put the hastily-ripped-from-the-needles scarf back on, and finish it to give to her as a gift.  Her dad (and his fiance) will be getting a gift from their registry, but the daughter is a part of this new family being created and I wanted her to have a gift to open too.

Last night after finishing MY scarf I slowly ripped back the last row of live sts- a fun fur row…making this not much fun at all.  Still, eventually I had all 264 sts back on my needle.

OH!  Guess what?!?  Part of the reason the scarf wasn’t doing it for me, is that I could sense it was kinda small.  Well, no wonder- turns out I wasn’t using a 5mm after all- I’d been using a 3.5mm!!  BIG difference!  I’d had both loose with their Addi bags in a project bag, saw the 5mm bag and nearby a needle and grabbed it, never stopping to see that it wasn’t the needle from that bag.

Anyways, I got it back on the 3.5mm, and did about 4 more rows just so it would feel “finished” to me.  I confess I didn’t roll or flip, I just used the yarns I wanted to use, and made the scarf look slightly asymmetrical, yet balanced.  I got through about 1.5 of those rows yesterday, but it got late and I put it off ’til today.

This is both halves of the same scarf, showing the two different sides.  You can see the split down the middle, though it’s hard to see through the fuzz.

This morning I went solo to the non-zoned French school’s open house.  It turns out it’s not an option for us.  The problem is that you have to apply every year for permission to transfer to your non-zoned school…even once your child is registered there.  So even if Jakob gets in for kindergarten, we’d have to reapply for grade 1, 2, etc before each new school year.  To begin with, they refuse over 85% of transfer requests because they need to keep a minimum of kids in their zoned schools, and what really is the clincher for me, is that even if he gets in for kindergarten, if any random year later our zoned school doesn’t have enough kids, they can refuse us and we’d have to transfer to the zoned school.  There’s no way I can have Jakob in a school and making friends and have to worry every single year if he’ll have to transfer away.  And then in a few years go through the same thing with Henri.  Uh uh.

Once I got home I had some lunch, then sat down to start catching up on the last 2 weeks of Once Upon a Time and Desperate Housewives.  While watching I did the last few rows (everything from the white section to the end from the pic above), and then I bound off with the same yarn combo I’d cast-on with, and twisted the fringe with Maaike’s handy-dandy fringe twister.  Man that thing is awesome!  Gonna have to get Yannick to build me one of those.

Now both scarves are done and I get to head over to my original surgeon’s office to see if he can find my hernia(s) yet, and to let him know that I’ve seen another surgeon, and have got the diagnostic laprascopy scheduled.  Not sure which is going to be more uncomfortable…the examination or the confession.


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organized chaos kal vegas scarf

It’s done!  And it’s awesome!!!

I love this scarf.  Have I mentioned that yet?

I don’t know what’s going on with my eyes or cheeks here, but Yannick’s not home and it’s the best self-portrait I managed to take.

These colors suck ‘cus it’s late and there’s no natural light, and the flash completely washed them out.  But still, I just finished twisting the fringe-

(See- fringe!  It’s colorful!)

-and I couldn’t wait to take pics.  Look- it’s a sequin!  I love how the thinner mohair yarn around the thicker yarn makes that “scribble” effect.  I need a whole shawl like that.

Sorry for the flash, but this was the best I could get, color-accuracy-wise.

So in the end this scarf was 63 rows (61 if you count first and last as co/bo), all designated by rolling a die/flipping a coin, as per my Vegas Scarf AKA The Knitting Game pattern.  I cast-on Jan 21st and finished Jan 25th, but really didn’t knit at all on Sunday or Tuesday, and not very much on Monday, so if you’ve got a bit of time here and there, you’ve got a scarf.  You could also use this same technique for a larger shawl, or tuck the fringe in and make a pillow cover, or a blanket…there’s a lot you can do, and every one will be different.  You can find more pics of mine, and those others have made, oven in Ravelry.

Completely unrelated, but I’ve got Much Music on in the background as I type this and there’s a song that has the guy from Marianas Trench doing a guest vocal.  I love his voice-oh and that scream at the end…amazing!  I’ve been too busy with podcasts to buy any music in the last few years, but I keep meaning to get a MT album, I love their sound and the wit behind their lyrics/videos.  Them, and Pink.  I think she’s my favorite female singer but I’m at least 2 albums behind.


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slippers and capes and friends from the past

Tonight an old friend from high school came over.  I hadn’t seen her in at least 5 years, and it was great to catch up.  Because of her visit, I didn’t get to knit.  I did, however, get to witness the exploits of two very hyper, newly-minted superheroes.

(Capes by Maaike, as a birthday gift for Henri and one for Jakob so he wouldn’t be jealous.  Secret Identities of “Jakob” and “Henri” by me).

Aren’t those capes awesome?!?  She made them herself, and they are absolutely everything a young superhero could ask for.  They originally had a lukewarm reception, as I’d expected since my boys are not good with change.  But a few days later suddenly the capes were all they could think about.  Seriously, you have no idea how hard it was to get this photo- every other pic I took was very much an “action shot”.

I found another project that I haven’t shared yet- Ribby Slipper Socks.  Back in October my aunt had surgery and I made her a pair of slippers to keep her feet warm and cozy while she’d be resting.

Let me say, this project has an obvious flaw- it looks UGLY off the foot.  Long and skinny and seemingly non-atomically correct.

But on the foot they’re transformed!

Cozy and form-fitting, warm and snuggly.  I think I want to make a pair for myself.

I used some no-name chunky yarn in the teal color, the stuff I’d recycled from the failed crochet deep v vest.  I still think it’s Bernat Softee Chunky.  The black is Bernat Pounder worsted yarn, and I carried along some teal LionBrand Fun Fur for the last 4 rows, then bound off in the black only.  I’d only had a small amount of the fur yarn, so I divided it in 2 and just did as many rows as I could in each sock.  I used 5mm for the foot, and 4mm for the cuff.  It’s a free pattern, I forget the source right now, but if you search for them on Ravelry you’ll find them.  (Something is making me think they’re a free Interweave pattern, but I won’t swear by that).

Before my next surgery (which will be in May, as it turns out), I plan on making myself a pair.  That way I can be cozy and squooshy too.  🙂


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aren’t they called “waiting rooms” for a reason?

Today I had a doctor’s appointment.  It’s not the kind of appointment that most women look forwards to- think cold hands and torture devices.  In fact, the only plus side to these appointments is that my doctor can, and usually is, called out to deliver babies.  If she’s not bringing new life into the world, she’s hopelessly overbooked with at least an hour’s wait past your scheduled time.

So it was actually with eagerness that I set out this morning for my visit.  Sure I had to miss sleeping in on my “late morning” and drive into town, find parking and schlep through the snow.  But I got to bring my Vegas Scarf with me, and was SURE to get in at least a dozen of those long, long rows.

Not.

I got there, 5 minutes late for my 9:45am appointment, and checked in with the secretary.  “How’s she running?” I asked.  “Oh,” she said, not realizing she was about to totally disappoint me, “you’re her first patient today.  Come right into the room.”

Crap.  No knitting for me.

I didn’t get any knitting done in the afternoon, ‘cus I spent it doing something totally frivolous and fun- shopping!  Note- I don’t usually call shopping “fun”.  But today it was.  My neighbor C and her adorable daughter (the one I babysat on Sat) went to Fairview to spend some gift cards I’d received for the holidays.  C is MUCH more fashionable than I am, works in the industry, etc, and a few weeks ago we’d played a game of “What Not To Wear” in my closet and pulled out EVERYTHING that did. not. work.  Too big, too small, too 90’s…if it wasn’t making me happy, it went in the bag.  There’s a woman’s shelter C knows of that has a lending “closet” where women can borrow clothes for interviews, work, etc, and we’ll be bringing the huge garbage bag of clothes there.  Which meant I had empty hangers to fill!  We had a great routine set up where I watched the stroller while C went around and picked the clothes, then I tried them on while she went to change sizes, etc.  In the end I managed to take advantage of some crazy sales and get boots, shoes, a belt, a pair of skinny jeans, a dress, a sweater dress, a cardi, a long-sleeve T and a sweater (oh- and 2 bottles of nail polish)- all for $180!  It was INSANE- and thanks to her amazing sales-radar, I still have more money to spend next time!

I had a headache by the time I got home, and it turned into a migraine by the time the kids went to bed, so I ended up crashing early.  That means no knitting for the day.  So I’ll share 2 projects I finished over the last 2 months.

After my cousin told us he was having another baby, I knew automatically what I’d make.  He’s a huge HABS fan, but he moved out of our province and couldn’t root on his favorite team as much.  Whether the baby would be a boy or girl, I KNEW he’d like one of my HABSie dolls.

I used worsted weight acrylic yarn from my stash, held doubled, and appropriate needles.  Beyond that I followed my pattern as written.  I used the doubled worsted yarn because I wanted a larger toy than the original.

Ok I did make one teensy change…or rather, an addition.  I duplicate-stitched the year of the baby’s birth on the back.  🙂

As it turned out, my cousin had a baby boy so the HABS doll was perfect!

A baby boy in a Jewish family means a bris, and my aunt had asked me for tips on making a baby-sized kippah.  She wasn’t sure about the yarn…or the pattern…or the hook size…and finally just asked me if I would be able to make it for him.

So I did.  I used crochet thread and a very small (1.25mm?) crochet hook.  The white was one thickness but the blue was thinner so I held it along with a white/silver strand, not that you can really tell from these photos.  I made up the pattern, both the increase rate and the colorwork, as I went along, and stopped when it “seemed about the right size”.  I think it was roughly 3″ across.

This is the inside, for those of you who like that sort of thing.


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covered in icing

My day  ended covered in icing.  Always, when I make the birthday cakes, since the parties are usually on Sundays, I bake on Thurs, dirty-ice on Fri and decorate on Sat.  So today was decoration day.  I knew better than to risk starting to make my buttercream while the boys were up, but I wasn’t worried about getting a late start because of how much I got done being home yesterday.

In the afternoon my neighbor brought her 7-month-old daughter over for us to babysit, and my boys had a BLAST playing with her.  She was seated in her Bumbo like a princess on a throne, and the boys didn’t stop parading in front of her trying to make her laugh.  First Jakob would do somersaults across the room, then Henri broke in with a guitar solo, and Jakob wouldn’t be outdone, so he grabbed some maracas and got in on the performance.  It was a riot.

Luckily she practically put herself to sleep just before the boys went down, and I was able to get to work on the cake.  But I forgot to take pics with my cell, and my camera isn’t with me at the moment, so instead of cake pics, here’s an update on the holiday gifts for the boys’ daycare teachers.

This is what each teacher (5 in total) got.  A red platter, topped with a back scrubber, a crocheted chain-8 dishcloth, a crocheted soap-saver bag with a scented bar of soap inside, and a crocheted bath puff, all wrapped up in cellophane and tied with a ribbon of red yarn.

The chain-8 and bath puff are the standard patterns I’ve been using for years, and are linked from the projects on my Rav pages.  The soap saver I just made up on the spot, and is basically just a sc1-ch1 pattern around, with a drawstring near the top.  All was done with 2 shades of holiday Bernat Handicrafter cotton, plain white Handicrafter, and a 4mm crochet hook.

I’ve made these as teacher gifts before, but both my boys are with new teachers now so none of these 5 have received this gift before, so I didn’t mind recycling the idea.  The daycare owner, however, has already received this gift, so I needed to come up with something new.  She also happens to be pregnant, and due with a little boy any day now.  So she got this:

It’s 2 shades of Bernat Baby Coordinates from my stash, worked in a simple granny square, using a 4mm crochet hook.  I would have liked to have gone bigger, but it was late, she was leaving on mat leave the next day, and my hand was starting to cramp into a claw.


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i think i just blew my own mind

Before knitting, I was a crocheter.  Ok, that’s kinda untrue…I DID learn to knit as a kid, but stopped probably as suddenly as I started.  I’ve always been crafty, though, and can draw, paint, etch, sculpt, sew(-ish),etc…  When I was in high school I used to charge $5 to redraw a photograph onto 9×11 paper, in pencil.  Call me Kinkos.  I only took up the needles again once Yannick and I started dating.

Well the sweater I tried knitting for Yannick for our first dating anniversary didn’t get past 4″, probably because I’d found old needles at home, random acrylic from Wal-Mart, and a pattern from a book at the library, and none of the 3 had anything even remotely to do with each other.  I instead taught myself to crochet, and his gift sweater led to toys, shawls, home accessories and more.  I found my way back to knitting thanks to the fun fur trend of 2004, when I made a hostess gift for a friend and had to knit it because trying to crochet in fluffy black boa (feather) yarn was rediculous when you couldn’t see a single stitch.

But before getting my heart spiked on a knitting needle and fueling the last 8 years of my life, and after the months-long crochet obsession ending in 2 giant sampler blankets, there was cross stitch.  I won’t get into my eBay spending, my binders of print-outs, or the time I filled the cash register tape at 120 items and had to start a new transaction when buying one of every color of Anchor floss.  Here are some of my proudest xstitch items:

This was an ornament I made for an ornament exchange.  The original pattern had an American flag inside, but my swap partner lived in Australia so I charted my own flag for her.

This is a little (4″ square) pillow I made of our cat Sam, using X-Stitch photo software to convert the pic to a pattern.  The back was just lined with a piece of flannel cut off an old shirt.

This is a little piece I made for Robyn when she moved into her first place.  (Not my design, it was from a cross stitch magazine I used to subscribe to).

My mom’s name is Betti, and everyone always buys her Betty Boop stuff.  This is a vest I’d made her back when she was still teaching.  There’s a product called “waste canvas” that is disolvable in water, so you baste it onto your fabric/shirt/etc, do your cross stitch, then wet it and remove the strands of waste canvas, and your cross stitch remains on the fabric below.  Here I’d bought the zippered vest and used the photo software to convert a picture I’d found online.

I used a fun, football-jersey-style font to create the “letterman’s jacket” writing on the back, with more waste canvas.

That same year we were getting together with Yannick’s family for Easter, and I made the hourglass picture for his grandmother as a “thank-you” for hosting all of us.  The original pattern (from the same cross stitch magazine I’d subscribed to) said something in English, like “time with the family is time that counts”, so I translated it to French since Yannick’s family is French-Canadian.  I really enjoyed doing the beading in this piece.

Finally, my most “epic” cross stitch HAS to be this one.  My dad isn’t sentimental, but he loves his family, and I always liked this pic of him, my sister and me.  (My mom and two brothers were in another photo).  I used the photo software to create a pattern using only black, white and shades of gray, and enlarged it to 9×11.  I stitched it on black Aida and framed it with a plaque reading “Daddy’s Girls” and a copy of the original photo on the back.  I love that from far away it looks like a real photograph and you can’t even tell it’s stitched, but I don’t see myself recreating a project like this any time soon, ‘cus it took 192 hours of stitching!  (Luckily I was home on sick-leave at the time, but still…)

Why am I bringing this up now?  Well a few days ago I was watching weaving videos on YouTube and saving them in a playlist (yes, I AM that kind of nerd), and a lightbulb struck when I saw a woman making floats for decorative Christmas trees, and checking her “pattern” she’d drawn with Xs on graph paper.

That was when I realized that weaving, unlike most knitting, is square.  (Assuming you’re using the same weight yarn in warp and weft, and your tension is even).  Maybe I should rephrase to say “plain weave” is pretty darn square.  And I suddenly realized that all those cross stitch patterns snoring away in my office could be put to use if I wanted to practice using a pickup stick and weave with floats on top to “draw” designs.

But today it wasn’t a lightbulb that went off, it was a whole fireworks display.

I don’t need to weave the pictures- I can weave my fabric, a scarf, a shawl, placemats, etc…and then CROSS STITCH on it!  Using my patterns and my floss stash…after all Aida and linen that you buy for cross stitching is nothing more than woven fabric at a certain number of threads to the inch.

Whoa.  Mind-numbing expansion of cross-crafting possibilities here.