Category Archives: WIP


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saturday’s beth brown-reinsel workshop

Better late than never, right?  Sorry it has taken me so long to get the workshop summary up, but it’s been a crazy week!  Monday I took Jakob out for some last minute shopping then that night I went out for dinner with the moms from the playgroup Jakob used to attend.  Almost everyone went back to work so we had to disband the playgroup, but it is still nice to see the moms and we try to arrange a dinner once a month. 

Tuesday I took Jakob to his first trial morning at daycare.  That’s right- he will be starting daycare next Monday!  It is so strange to think that he won’t be coming to work with me every day.  I had left him in his class last week when I brought him in to register, and he was fine.  This time he cried when I left and it was heartbreaking to see him pressing his little hand against the window like he was trying to will me to stay.  I only left him there for an hour, and he was fine by the time I got back, playing with the other kids and the toys.  That night I stayed home while Yannick went bowling but I spent the night knitting like crazy on Jakob’s costume and didn’t even get a chance to upload my photos from the weekend. 

Wednesday I brought Jakob back to daycare for a 2 hour visit.  He cried when I left but by the time I made it to the door I could hear that he’d stopped.  Yannick met me there when it was time to pick him up so he could see the school and meet Jakob’s teachers, and we were able to peek in on the class without being seen.  It was sweet to watch Jakob running around and interacting with the other kids.  I know next week will be different, since we have yet to leave him there for a meal or a nap, but I have hope that it will be an easy transition for him.  That night Yannick took me out for dinner for my birthday which was…uh…in September.  Yeah, we do things late around here.  After dinner we rented Forgetting Sarah Marshall which was a cute movie, although I have now seen parts of Jason Segal I never thought I’d see! 

Last night I was supposed to go to prenatal aquafitness but I wasn’t feeling well so I skipped it.  I’ve never heard of “third trimester nausea” but it seems that’s what I’ve got.  I had a few weeks, maybe even two months of feeling fine and now all of a sudden I’m nauseous daily and have started throwing up again too, instead of maybe once a week it has now been, on average, one to three times a day.

Today is Hallowe’en, and it was also Jakob’s last day at work.  He wore his costume all day and before leaving we went around to the other stores in the mall and said good bye to the friends he’s made there.  It will be really weird to not have him with me.  As frustrating as it can get, it made my day to be able to glance over and see him, or to have him come running up to give me a kiss and a cuddle.  Now I will only get evenings with him, and it makes me sad.  Not sad enough to keep him home with me, since I need him transitioned to daycare before the new baby comes, but sad nonetheless.

But I digress.  Trick-or-treating has been done, Yannick and I did our annual drive-around to look at decorations, and I now have a few minutes to post before I try to get an early night’s sleep.  On to the workshop!  I still haven’t photographed my knitting from the Sunday workshop, but I will try to do that tomorrow.  In the meantime, here is what happened on Saturday:

This is the progress I’d made by the time the class was over.  The yarn Maaike and I used is Sport by Briggs and Little, purchased from Robyn’s Nest.  If I remember correctly the workshop called for any sport weight yarn and a 3.75mm needle.

 Starting at the bottom, we learned a two-color cast on, we did a two-color half braid and then a solid-colored half braid, some scalloped lace, a few knit rows and purl ridges throw in to give each section some definition, knitted-in fringe, a braid I think was called the “Norwegian” braid, and then some colorwork.

This goes to show you the difference between two knitters.  Maaike and I used the exact same yarn and needles, and not only did our choices in color placement result in completely different-looking mittens, but you can see the difference in our gauges too.  Her mitten cuff is slightly wider than mine, and the section from the cast-on to the two-colored braid (above the fringe) has the same number of rows, yet hers is longer than mine.

I deliberately pushed myself to learn new techniques in the workshop, so when given the opportunity to work 3 colors in a row (instead of Fair Isle’s usual 2 colors), I took it.  You can see that in the photos above.  However, as I am still not completely comfortable with stranding my yarn (I MUCH prefer intarsia to Fair Isle, so far) my mitten had no slack and was crazy tight.  The cuff had fit me perfectly, but the progress I’d made on the mitten needed to be ripped out if I was to have anything servicable.

After the workshop most of us went out for dinner with Beth, and instead of working on Jakob’s costume when I got home, I stuck in some needles and ripped back to the last 2-color section above the Norwegian braid.  I played around with Beth’s chart in Excel until I found a color pattern I found pleasing, then reknit everything I’d ripped.  I was very pleased to find that my tension with 2-color knitting didn’t seem to have the same issues as with 3, and the mitten stretched nicely and fit me quite well.  It was getting late and I was exhausted so I didn’t keep going with the plan of having a completed mitten.  1) the yarn is a little too scratchy for me to want to wear as a mitten, and 2) I wanted to finish whatever I was working on that night and not have another “ufo” lying around.

So I continued until I felt like stopping, and wound up with a fingerless mitten.  I followed Beth’s directions for knitting in a spare yarn to do an afterthought thumb, and after working enough of the color pattern to make me happy, I did a few plain stockinette rounds.  I then threw in a purl ridge followed by another Norwegian braid, and finally bound off loosely holding two colors together.  I know a typical fingerless mitten should come up to at least the base of my fingers, if not the first knuckle, but it was late, I was tired and I didn’t care.

At the very end I took out the waste yarn and picked up those stitches, plus a few extra around the sides of the thumb hole.  I did a few rows in stockinette stitch before binding off in purl (I like the edge it gives).  I’d like to hope I’ll make the matching mitten someday so I can have a pair, but in the meantime at least I have a finished something and I don’t feel guilty.


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what i saw today

Today I saw a few things that made me smile.  I saw some old friends of Yannick’s who had moved away and have now returned, and they live only 10 minutes away.

I saw some new yarn: 

Berocco Comfort and Lana Gatto Cucciolo- both yarns for Jakob’s Hallowe’en costume (should I get around to designing and knitting it by October 31st).

And I saw this face.  A lot of this face.  All day.  Seriously, how could this NOT make you smile?


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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!


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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…


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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.


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Hanukah Dreidel Pillow, part 3

The next step in the pillow’s progress was to duplicate-stitch the white ridges on the dreidel’s sides.
Here’s another close-up.
One thing that kept amazing me is how much the actual pillow cover was resembling the original design. At this point I didn’t care if anyone else would like it or even want to knit it…I was just happy with how something was coming out of my head and into reality.


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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!


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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…


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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.


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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!