How to Get That Mojo Back

After two major knitting failures (gaiter and itty-bitty grand-daughter sweater), I thought I might take a break from knitting and focus on spinning or gardening or reading quietly in the corner.





That's when I was called in for a knitting emergency! Maggie had decided to make each of her 4th grade students a little something to remember her by. In this case, a knitted eyeball. Specifically, Deborah Boyd's Juggling Eyeballs. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/juggling-eyeballs





She needed 22 made and found herself in a bit of a pickle to finish them all before the last day of school. A quick call home and I completed this:



Ten eyeballs, stuffed with lentils, and ready to be overnighted to Los Angeles.

The task of knitting the same pattern over and over was strangely comforting and I found myself thinking about what else I should start knitting next as each little eyeball was completed.

I wouldn't call it mindless knitting, as I did have to keep checking the pattern for increases and decreases. But it was comfortable knitting. No challenge, no thinking, just having fun making something completely funny.

Thanks, Maggie, for pulling me into this. Now I'm on to my next project. I"ve just downloaded the Traveling Woman Shawl pattern.

love,
marmie

for your viewing pleasure...

pics from knitting in the round lesson w marm!

sorry meg, no pic of your circle. (note: i was incorrect! the first little ring is in fact lil maggacitas)

three little rings just thrown together.

and we found a use for my pink one!!

so long colden...poppa is driving us home!

So while Maggie is working away on creating her knitting menagerie, I have run into a major slump. Not a slump of inactivity - a slump of bad results.

First, I participated in the gaiter exchange at our local spinning guild. Basically, you get 4 oz of fiber from another member and have to spin and knit into a gaiter/neckwarmer. Then you return the gaiter to the original owner of the fiber. All very secretive and fun!

Well...fun if it works out. I had a beautiful tensil/merino blend to work with in incredible airy colors of spring. I spun it into a lovely, soft yarn. Then I knit it into something that can only be described as chainmail.

See? And, although I had 5 months to complete this project, I was finishing it up the morning of the exchange! This left me with no time to rip out and whip up something more in sync with the yarn.

The recipient was very gracious, but I wanted to snatch it out of her hands and exclaim "I can do better!"

So from there I moved on to a task of joy - knitting a teeny little sweater for my soon-to-be-here grand-daughter. A first after three grandsons, I had been eagerly awaiting knitting something sweet and girlie. Mom-to-be requested pink, pink, pink!

So I picked up Debbie Bliss' "Simply Baby" book and settled on her Fair Isle Cardigan. I chose to knit it up with a combination of Bliss' Baby Cashmerino in pink with edging and fair isle done in handspun merino dyed with soft koolade colors. cute, right?

It was working up quickly (I really need to knit more size 6 months garments - instant gratification). the back was done, the two fronts, both sleeves...all I had to do was join up at the yoke, knit 18 rows of fair isle and finish it off!

But something was wrong - the little fair isle yoke didn't resemble the one in the picture. Rip back and re-start. Still didn't look right. rip back and re-start. What is going on?? I decided to check the finished projects on Ravelry to see if anyone else had problems with this little cardi. Lesson learned - always check on Ravelry to see if there are any issues with a pattern. Apparently, the color chart doesn't match with the picture of the finished sweater. Thanks Debbie Bliss book editor.

Resolution - make up my own damn fair isle pattern and knit it up. So far it looks lovely. But I could have knit an adult cardi by now.

Sorry no pictures of this precious little garment- the camera has died.

Next project - find something that will make me feel like an accomplished knitter again!

Marmie

Octo-Mom!

Last weekend I went back East for a wedding and to spend time with the family. It was a much needed break from the craziness going on in LA. I also had a knitting motive. I found a pattern for the toy I wanted to make Mickey Mouse and I needed to add a few new techniques to my knitting repertoire. So JJ and I talked beforehand and decided we would make learning how to knit in the round our group lesson.

Marmie sat down with much patience on a hot, humid east coast day. We sat on the front porch, sipping pink lemonade, and trying to handle 4 dpn (double-pointed needles, for those newbies out there.) ;-) Mom did a great job and we each knit a little round nothing, which ended up looking a lot like colorful sushi when we mushed them all together.

I brought my newly found talent back to LA and this weekend I took on the task of remembering the technique and combining it with increasing and decreasing. In addition, I had an opportunity to refresh my crocheting skills when I made the curly legs of the octopus.

Here are the steps in the process, knitting in the round, stuffing the head/body, and adding those curly-q tentacles. Voila! I am now an Octo-Mom, living in LA....but not THAT Octo-Mom.



The only problem with making all these adorable toys for my loved ones is that I get so attached to them and want to keep them, hehe!

Happy knitting!

Spinster as Predicted?

For reasons not so wonderful I have had a bit more time on my hands these past few days. I'll avoid that topic, as this is a blog about knitting, and not my personal life. The new time has allowed me to finish the baby owl, or "Owlie" as he is referred to in his pattern. He is a teeny-tiny guy with big eyes.

I decided to go for button eyes this time, to create that big owl eye thing. I am pretty happy with how he turned out. The ears could have used a bit more tweaking but it is by far the easiest toy to knit so far. It took me a little time to figure out how so little knitting could produce an adorable owl but it all seemed to work out in the end.

Here he is, welcoming the world, nestled in some California poppies, and studying to be the big wise owl he is supposed to be. No Nikolas this time, birds and felines don't get along.





Now my only question is, with my nerdy/quirky photo sessions and my newly created friends...have I finally turned into the spinster I have been so desperately trying to avoid becoming? If I learn to crochet doilies, somebody stop me!

Koalas and Kahlua!

As Miss JJ noted we are all anxiously awaiting the next Howe woman. The Howe women are a force to be reckoned with and it is about time that another was added to the bunch. I am pretty sure I will knit something for Mickey Mouse (that is what her little brother Nate is calling her until they get an official name) but for now my focus is on my toys!

As I mentioned before, my friend requested a koala and an owl. Today I finished the koala. It is amazing how much more difficult this toy making is when the toy is really tiny! Here he is deflated, before stuffing and attaching parts.



My koala is only about 4 inches tall and it took me a couple of tries to attach his appendages properly. Here he is, Nikolas's new BFF until it gets shipped away.


All this talk of koalas and JJ's mention of martinis are drawing me to the kitchen...maybe I can whip up a Koala Kahlua Martini!

knit this...

so i've taken a break from knitting. after knitting not even half the amount of slippers that marm was working on, i was burnt out. my little fingers felt like they were going to die. so i took a break - am still taking? bygones.
the worst part about my little knitting vaca was that for my bday marm sent me a knitting kit! and i was super excited and considered getting off the bench- until i tried to wind the yarn into a ball myself. holy hell did that not work. like last time when i watched horton hears a who and wound balls, i grabbed a glass of wine, popped in good hair, threw my sabres pillows into a big pile on my bed, and set about winding balls. again, holy hell did that not work. i think i managed to unwind like 4 feet and then was left with a jumbled mess. and like a good little knitter, i gave up. thank god marmie is coming to the rescue! the skanes are sitting in a little box on my bed waiting to be shipped back to colden to be balled up by someone else. *sigh*

now on to my next project.....

aside from making a new pillow cover for my big pillow, im working on something else. big brother steve-o is finally expecting a little girl...my first niece!

needless to say, im super stoked. not that i dont adore the three devils they already own, but come on. unless they can sit and drink a martini with me, the thing better be wearing a tutu or im just not that entertained. which segues into my next project: baby tutu #1. now this may seem odd, as lil milla and i used to entertain ourselves by climbing trees and making mud pies, but there was that one time were given a pink barbie briefcase and boy oh boy did we use that. so we had out girlie moments. and someone enrolled us in dance class even though only one of us had any rhythm. again, bygones.

so let me introduce.... the baby tutu!!



now my baby tutu will probably not actually look like that- but i think its a good representation of what it could look like... if i actually liked babies.
So my plan is to buy a couple onsies- an adult size for moi as well- and then some tulle. my only problem is im not sure what color to make them. i was thinking pink, but that's so cliche, even for a baby. so then i was thinking light green with pink ribbon? but then i bought baby blue, orange and brown ribbons. so there goes that idea. so ladies- what are your thoughts on colors??