Too Cute for Words

Like many of us, I have been busy making my house look too cute for words for Christmas.  Here's a picture of our fireplace with some of the stockings I have knit over the years:

                                                                         



And here are the mini Christmas stockings I have been knitting:

         

They are knit flat and those two bumps on either side are the heels:

                                                                   

This is from the pattern that Julie Williams so generously offers for free on her website Little Cotton Rabbits.   I think I've done enough red ones; now on to a few other colors.

Speaking of things that are too dang cute, what about this knitted chicken doorstop.  I have just got to make this:

                                                                             


 This is from Lucinda Guy's new book,  Northern Knits Gifts  and there are some other really nice projects in there, all relating to Scandinavian folk designs.  Lucinda was kind enough to let me post this and here is a picture of her book:

This is available as an eBook as well as paperback.

One more cute thing:  bought this necklace at a craft fair several years ago, and I always get lots of compliments:

                                         

                                                                 


Now to head out for more Christmas shopping!


                                                                                                                                                

Little Christmas Stockings

I'm not much for doing knitted presents for Christmas, but these darling little Christmas stockings are so much fun to make and can be done so quickly that I always have time for them and I think would make unique hostess gifts if you are going to a party.  We are  traveling to Denver to spend Christmas with my daughter's family and I am making a couple of them for her tree.  I got this pattern from a wonderful blog called Little Cotton Rabbit and this is her free pattern for mini Christmas stockings.

Here is  a picture from her blog:

                                                                         


I'm planning on doing some in other colors as well like blue and white, green, purple (my grandaughter's favorite color!) and a few for my own tree in leftover sock yarns, which should be fun.

Little Cotton Rabbits is a really nice web site to visit; there are always some charming and cute projects there and they are all displayed beautifully.  Right now she has an array of adorable knitted bunnies and other animals dressed in the cutest little clothes!  Her patterns are for sale on her site for anyone interested.   I'll post pictures later this week of those that I finish.





                                                                               

A Few FO's

The weather around here is cold and damp (okay, cold for California - 60 degrees!) and my Chalice Pullover was finished in time for me to wear in braving the elements here:

                                                                                 

                                                              Very warm and cozy!

This is the Alexandra swing coat by designer Jenny Watson.  This was done with Araucania's Azapa which is Alpaca, merino and silk.  So soft and warm and finished in time for winter weather!  Somehow in taking these pictures, the color got intensified; the coat is actually a  paler color.

                                                                              

                                                                               

Happy Fiber Arts Friday everybody!

The Lizard Ridge Afghan and more Quince and Co.

It's Christmas time, when children are sleeping with "visions of Sugarplums dancing through their heads";  me, I'm  dreaming of  new knitting projects.   There's the Meris cardigan by Elizabeth Doherty and the yarn has just arrived from Quince and Co:

                                                                           

Here's a better picture than the one I posted last time:

                                                                     

This yarn is incredible!  So very soft and the color is beautiful.  I always worry about buying yarn that I have not had a chance to see first hand, but I had heard many good things about Quince and, from what I can see, it' all true!  Also, the yarn is manufactured in New England and that's always a good thing to be able to support American companies. This is their fingering weight yarn called Finch and the composition is 100% wool.

I have also had dreams of knitting the fabulous Lizard Ridge afghan by Laura Aylor  and my Noro Kureyon that I bought for this project  has been languishing in a stash bin waiting to be set free.  I figure this is as good a time as any to get started and use up some of my growing stash, because you know in January I will be swearing to do this anyway!

             

                                                                     

Met up with some friends for coffee and knitting and Mary, known as KnitAdmin on Ravelry, showed us these beautiful Lithuanian Wristers:

                                                                       

                                                      

Have a good day and stay dry!

       

                                                                               


T

                                                                                 

                                                                             

My Meris Cardigan

Up in the Lake Tahoe area the weather has turned cold and snowy; ski season is just around the corner and everyone is gearing up for another great winter.  Met up with Elizabeth Doherty for lunch at Coffee Bar in Truckee and she was kind enough to bring along samples of her designs including her Meris cardigan that I am planning to start soon.  It really is a beautiful, well designed cardigan meant for warmer weather, and with luck, I will have it done by Spring!  Here are a few pictures I took that day, but check out her Ravelry site to get a better look:

A closer look at the front panel:

The yarn she used was Quince and Co.'s Finch in the color Snap Pea - the top picture will give you a better idea of the color. I have heard alot of good things about Quince and Co's yarn and I'm looking forward to working with it.




Her Tenaya cardigan was featured in the Twist Collective 2012 Fall edition.  Here is a closeup of the cable pattern on the front:

                                                                   

Here's a picture of the back from her pattern site on Ravelry:

                                                                             


As for me, I'm in the process of sewing my Chalice pullover together:

                                                                         


Happy Fiber Arts Friday everyone!  Check out what others are doing on Andrea's blog and have a great weekend!


                                                                                      

The Day Before Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is at my house this year and I've been busy grocery shopping and getting the house ready.  Here's my adorable/totally impractical turkey gravy boat that I use as my table centerpiece:

                                                                                   

  With all this going on, I have managed to do a fair amount of knitting.  Almost done with my Chalice Pullover.  This is a great project; easy knitting and you pick up the stitches for the sleeves at the yoke and knit down, eliminating the process of sewing them in place:

                                                                           

Note my laptop in the background: I have signed up for Audible.com and I'm currently listening to the very popular Gone Girl while I knit.  I am totally hooked on this story and rarely venture far from my laptop so, of course, I am a knitting fool, finishing up this sweater and working on socks for my husband so he won't complain about how much time I spend listening to this spellbinding tale.   For those who have read Gone Girl, you know what I mean; friends warned me about this book!

Here are the socks for my husband made with Austerman Step.  I love this yarn and the interesting color choices:

                                                                           

                                 
There are all kinds of projects made with this yarn; here are a few I saw on Ravelry:

                                                                         


This is alitacasey's socks made with Austerman Step, color number 28.   This is a nice pattern that creates a striking effect and can be finished quickly.

Step Into Heaven is a shawl made by pannak1 using Austerman Step color number 27:

                                                                               

                                            Have a nice Thanksgiving everybody!

                                                                             

                                             



                                                                           


's














                                                                           

                                                                            

My Modular Afghan

Happy Fiber Arts Friday everybody!  I have been spending alot of time on my Modular Afghan and had hoped to have it done by today and to give to my daughter this weekend while I am here in L.A.   but there are still a few more pieces to do:

                                                                                     

I have really enjoyed working on this; it's hard to believe this has all been done with one colorway, Noro's Taiyo number 20.  I think this could be a great stash project or perhaps a chance to use those single skeins we seem to accumulate when we are traveling or yarn crawling.


 Here's a closeup:

                                                                                                                                                     


There are some nice projects on the Ravelry page;  here are a couple of examples.  This is silverfox's Summer Garden Throw

                                                                                     


This is macsgran's Hexagon done in Plymouth Encore:

                                                                         

I'm still planning to give it to my daughter this weekend and will post some pictures when it's done.  Check out  Andrea's blog to see what other people have been up to.  Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween!

My friend sent some funny Halloween pictures and I just had to share:

                                                                         


For those of you out partying tonight, try not to overdo it!

 

Those of us living on the West Coast were spared from all the damage of Hurricane Sandy, but I spent the last day watching the news updates coming from New York, New Jersey and other parts of the East Coast.    The images were incredible, including this one of a subway station in NYC:

It was a good chance to get some knitting done, including this mock cable hat for a new baby :

This is a free pattern from Bonnie Brann and it's called the Mock Cable Baby Hat.  I made it with some stash yarn, Cascade 220 super wash.

                                    

                                                           Have a good day everyone!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Lilly the Pug

Meet my new friend Lilly.  She has come to stay with us here in Denver for a week while her owners are away and I am beginning to see why there are so many fans of this breed.

                                                                             

What a cutie!  It only took a day for us to bond and she follows me everywhere, including cuddling up on my bed at night.  She patiently sits next to me while I work on my Modular Afghan and seems to know not to mess with my knitting, even guarding it from inquisitive grandchildren when I step away for a minute:

                                                                                       
             
And what a great companion she is for my grandson Forest:

                                                                       

Here's what I have been up to.  Finished a Misti Alpaca Ribs and Ruffles scarf.  Don't have a finished picture, but here it is in progress:

                                                                                 

I have knit several of these, all in bulky yarn on size 13 needles.  They make great gifts and the Misti Alpaca is so soft!

Here is my progress on my Modular Aghan.  So far 35 of the 61 pieces have been completed.  My plan is to really start cranking on  this and get it done in 2 weeks to bring to my daughter in LA.

                                                                                       



Here's to another week with beautiful Fall weather and some time to get some knitting done!


                                                                                   

                                                         

It's Fiber Arts Friday

It's Fiber Arts Friday and this week my focus has turned from my colorful Noro Modular Afghan to a couple of vanilla themed projects.  Finished the back of my Chalice Pullover:

             

    This is working up very quickly on size 9 needles and I can't wait to get a chance to wear it.  As for my other vanilla project, here it is:

What?  This is not a vanilla project you say?  Well, this is melsmom54's Vanilla Socks that she knit with a yarn called Strong Heart from Fishknits. The colorway is called Cadillac.   Last weekend I went to the Dixon Lamb Festival and Fishknits had a booth there.  They hand dye their own yarns and they all looked like they would be fun to knit.   Check out their web site to get an idea of what they do, including some great Halloween colors.   Here is the skein I bought.  It's fingering weight with superwash merino wool and 20% nylon:

                                                                           

The colorway is called Baby's Got a Dark Side  - don't you just love it?  They have a great talent for names and I think my daughter will get a real kick out of wearing these, that is, if I don't keep them for myself.

Have a great weekend and check out Andrea's blog to see what other knitters have been up to.







                                                                                                                                    

Knitting a Vanilla Sweater

We are a week into October and the weather is finally starting to get cooler, which I love.  I  mean, after all, 100 degree weather in October was just too much!  Time for a walk in the woods to see what passes for Fall Color in the Lake Tahoe area:

                                                                           

                                                                           

                                                                           

                                                                         
     
Ok, so it's not New England but the yellowing leaves of the Aspens are a pretty sight to see and it's just a great time of year to get outside and enjoy nature:

With the arrival of cooler weather I'm feeling the need to knit something warm for the winter and I came across this pattern called the Chalice Pullover  and yarn in my stash:

                                                                               

                                                                                     

  I bought this  a few years ago when I was at The New York Sheep and Wool Show in Rhinebeck which is held in October.   Most of this show is held outdoors or in unheated barns and it happened to be a very damp and cold weekend when I was there.  Carodan Farms had a stall in one of the barns filled with their own natural, lanolin scented yarns and it was most appealing.  It's my version of vanilla sock knitting and I hope to have this done quickly. It's an easy project and the lanolin feels great on my hands.

I'm just about halfway done with my Modular Afghan; it's hard to believe that this is knit in just one colorway of Noro's Taiyo:

Have a great week everybody!                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                     

That Rockefeller Shawl

The Rockefeller Shawl was a Stephen West Mystery KAL and when I saw the first few stages of this project, I wasn't too excited.  Since then the KAL has finished and  I'm really impressed with the shawls I've seen.  This is Stephen West's version:

                                                                             


Here is one done by Mary, a member of a knitting group in the East Bay called the Alamo Yarnies:

 
Mary did this in cashmere and it is really lovely; she is almost done and now that we are heading towards Fall I look forward to seeing her wear it.  For anyone based in the East Bay and looking for a group to join, I highly recommend Alamo Yarnies; they are a fun bunch of ladies who are always knitting something trendy and interesting and are always up for a road trip to see The Yarn Harlot, Stephen West, Clara Parkes, Ysolda Teague  and anyone else who comes through A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland.   (How does Verb always seem to snag the hottest knitwear designers?)

Here is one done by Vasilis and I love her color choices:

                                                                           


Here's one done by purpleducks:

                                                                                 

   
    Here's what I have been up to.   Finished this denim tweed sweater for my grandson so he will have a warm sweater to wear when he walks to school:

                                                                             


  Still working away on my Modular Afghan - more pictures next week!  Happy Fiber Arts Friday.