Tudor Roses

I recently bought a copy of Alice Starmore's Tudor Roses,  a revised and expanded edition of the original published in 1998.  What a beautiful book to browse through, and although I imagine most of these copies will take their place as coffee table books, there are some very interesting (and challenging) knitted designs in here.  My favorite is Anne of Cleves.  This retails for 40 dollars but you can get it for alot less on Amazon.


                   
                                                                             

                                                                 

 

Here is my work in progress, the Little Wave; I have about 12 inches done and since it is knit in one piece, it is slow going for me.  Thank goodness for Audible books.  I'm listening to Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen  Oyeyemi which is an interesting story that incorporates elements of a fair tale (the stepdaughter is named Snow) into modern day events.



                                                                             

    
Have a great week and stay warm and dry!

                                                                    

A Simple Newborn Hat

One more finished baby hat for the new baby girl that is expected any day now.  This is Ginny Sheller's Simple Newborn Hat and I saw a version of this on the always interesting  chrisknits blog:


                                                                                                     

Here is Ginny's version:

                                                                                  

Fringe Association is a blog by Karen in Berkeley and I have been following it lately because it is so well done; the content is always interesting and she does a great job with her photos.  She recently posted from Vogue Live in Seattle and this picture of  Jared Flood's Channel Cardigan has me joining her in adding it to my must do list.

     

                                                                                 

Wow! Is that gorgeous or what!  All those details - will I really hang in there and do all that?  I would like to try.

Have a great weekend and check out what others are knitting on Tamis blog.

My Little Wave

Spring is here, well at least in California.  Here are a few photos of the flowers starting to bloom out

our back door.   First are lilacs which I love and you rarely see them in Northern California:

                                                                                               

A lovely flowering bush of Camellias, I think:

Hoping for this kind of nice weather to come soon to the rest of the country.  We have relatives around the country and we sympathize with what you are all going through.  Here is a picture my son sent from DC where he lives.  I think this was taken last week when they had 9 inches of snow.  Enough already!

                   

                                                                               

I have been spending some time working on my latest project, the Little Wave, by Gudrun Johnston.

                                                                                 

                                         

 This is knit in one piece so it is slow going, but I am enjoying it:

                                                                         

There are two pockets that will be added in on the front later.  I guess I don't need those stitch markers to mark the side garter panels anymore,  but I wanted to show them off because I made them!

     

I hope everyone is having a good week and check out what others are knitting over at Tami's blog.                                                                               

Something for the Beach

Contrary to what is going on across the country, the weather here in California is getting warmer and we are expecting temperatures in the 80's this weekend.  Sorry!  Don't hate us!  I finished a sweater for my daughter which we are calling her beach sweater since it is a Drops pattern with no name, except for the design number, 127-33.  Cute and comfy.


                                                                                 

 

   The yarn is Drops' Verdi in a pale pink and smokey grey/brown  color. 

                                                                             

                                                                                                                                         

A big fluffy ball consisting of wool, mohair and acrylic  that has served as a toddler's toy, a pillow and something we all like to pet from time to time.  Goodbye little furry friend!

My latest project is Gundrun Johnston's Little Wave.  I am fascinated with the construction of this sweater.  Here is the back from the Ravelry project page:


                                                                       

I'm going to use Quince and Co.'s  Owl in Berent's Sea:

                 
                                                                           

Have a great weekend and Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

                                                                          

Alpine Topper Hat

And it's still snowing across the country.  They are expecting a foot of snow in parts of New England and the morning news showed Chicago being hit with another fierce storm.  We even have some snow in the Lake Tahoe area - here's me out for a walk up at Glacier Point overlooking the mountains:


                                                                           

There's still time to knit hats, scarves and gloves!  Here is my Alpine Topper that I made in one day; I  bought this pattern and the yarn at Halcyon Yarns in Maine when I was there last year.


                                                                                 

                                                                         

This was made with Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride Bulky as the main color and the very soft Schulana Cortina  for the contrasting color which also makes a nice soft lining inside:


                                                                         

That's it for now - head over to Tami's blog to see what other folks are up to.

Babies on Board

There are several babies who are due to arrive in the next few months (indeed one has arrived)  and their mothers are special to me and so the baby knitting has commenced!   Here is what I have been up to:

                                                               

Buying baby/children's patterns at Stitches West a few weeks ago.  This is Saffron Baby from

Elena Nodel and is sized from Newborn to 12 months.  I'm shooting for the 6 month size for one little girl in particular.   I also bought Hannah Fettig's mini Water's Edge which is sized from 6 months to 14 years:

                                                                         

I have also been knitting baby hats and this one has been sent off to the little girl born in Philadelphia where they are setting all kinds of records for cold weather.

                                                                           

For those wondering why  I knit a blue hat for a baby girl, this is actually a pale lilac my camera stubbornly refused to duplicate.  This is a free pattern from Knitting on the Net called Mock Cable Baby Hat and  is so easy to do.  The slipped stitches make the cables and eliminate the need for a cable needle.

This is also a fast knit called Tegan, designed by Julie Taylor and is a free pattern on Ravelry.  Just knit in the round, decrease as you reach the top and add about 12 rows of stockinette to make a top knot.  

                                                                          

This last hat is called Everyone's Hat by Monica Sirna because it's sized for infants to adults.

    

                                                                           

Have a great weekend everybody and check out what other's are knitting over at Tami's blog

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