Touching Base

All is well here, or at least on the mend.  I did not fall off the blogwagon again.

First off, I’ve spent a good portion of the last week preparing for, conducting and pondering a job interview that might allow me to work in one of the best LYS’ in my area.  The whole exercise was very positive, and I’ll have more to share in a few weeks.

And in the midst of all of that everyone in my house has been stricken with a lingering sick.  For Mr. Slippers and I, it’s come in the form of terrible sore throat that allows you to function allllllmmooooooossst at full capacity, but drains just enough of your energy to make you miserable.  The bunnies have had a tummy bug.  I don’t suspect changing barfy  sheets and helping with warm showers at 3am helps one rest a sore throat much.      At least, as stated, we all seem to be on the mend.

Much of the fun knitting has been put on the back burner this week, but I do have some gifty/costume SEWING and felting to share soon.

Exciting Fiber Related Possibilities are Looming

I will keep you posted, must get my needles clicking.

So,

you might be asking, if this knitter doesn’t like knitting socks, what the heck does she like to knit? The answer, SWEATERS. And, as if not liking sock knitting wasn’t weird enough, I’m here to tell you, I LOVE finishing.

Yes, yes, I know it’s nuts. But it’s true. I LOVE finishing a sweater. I’ve read the whole process vs. product stuff and honestly I don;t really fit into either category. I LOVE the act of knitting and I also LOVE having a beautiful finished product. I will frog (multiple times if necessary) to get things right. I will hem, seam, kitchener, mattress, picot bind off, crochet edging, apply i-cord, steek… whatever it takes, it’s all part of the fun as far as I am concerned.

Knowing me well, Mr. Slippers did not bat an eyelash in proclaiming his desire for a Dale of Norway Olympic design (we chose the design for the 2000 Olympics since we were married that year). Keep in mind the man is 6’4″ and a size XL. I happily ordered enough Knitpicks Telemark to make it and dove in. I can’t say it’s the fastest project, but I’m having fun.

Gifty

A couple of weeks ago I finished the Coachella sweater I’ve been knitting for my sister.  It’s made from Paton’s Fresco that I recycled from the sweater I knit to wear with my bridesmaid dress at her wedding.  It’s the perfect yarn and perfect color for my LA dwelling sister.  I’m pretty confident this pattern is going to look stunning on her… if I’m right, and she’s willing, I’ll share pictures to prove it.  For now, here’s a flatty (taken in the dark in the dining room, but it’s still quite lovely, no?).

Next up, what I’m knitting now.

Pay It Forward

I was lucky enough to comment and get “in” on this at Jodie’s blog.

I know it’s made the rounds but here is how it works:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days. That is my promise. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Now, I’m really not joking when I say no one read my blog, so if I fail to get 3 comments in the next 6 months (June 11th to be precise) I will donate 3 handmade gifts to a knitterly charity, just to keep my conscience clear.

Big Christmas Wrap Up

Well I don’t know how big it will be exactly, but how about some pix of Christmas related knitting (now that I’ve figured out how to turn off the flash on the new cam) so we can move on with 2008 knit bits?

First up… the Christmas Stockings. Oh boy talk about a labor of love. Remember, Big Bunny is 3 and I attempted to start this project while she was just a bun in the oven. Also note, I HATE knitting socks, so right off the bat this was a project I really wasn’t that into. I had an idea of what I wanted to knit (a replica of the stockings my mom knit for my siblings and I back in the 70’s) but there were SO, SO, SO Many options. My first attempt in acrylic sucked SO, SO, SO bad. Last year we spent Christmas at my sister and brother in law’s house, and their halls were DECKED, it was gorgeous. They had velvet stockings hung by the fire with care and no need for handknits, whew, whew, whew. This year I HAD to suck it up and knit the darned things or give it up and buy some… I did my knitterly duty.

Ahem, not the greatest pix (old cam) and not the greatest knitting, but I must admit I am quite pleased. A) They are DONE! B) They look a LOT like the ones from the 70’s C) Santa had something to fill for the bunnies and D) Did I mention they are DONE?

On that happy note, wanna see the knit stuff Santa brought ME?

That’s Rowan Magazine#40 and the beginnings of JUNO. What you don’t see is the other 11 balls of luscious Queensland Kathmandu Aran Tweed. OOH LA LA is this stuff nice to knit with! Below that is the wonderful Knitters Book of Yarn, which I have just begun to dive into, fun, fun, fun.

I had SUCH a good holiday that I am already thinking about next year. I know this is going to sound bizarre but I’ve already started a holiday knit for 2008 that kinda sorta involves lots of socks. Lots and lots of socks in fact. I know, I know just a couple of paragraphs ago I was whining about how much I hate knitting socks, but I saw this and knew I just had to knit enough tiny socks to make one for the bunnies. I figured if I can bust out two pairs of tiny socks each month between now and June, I’ll have time to fill them before December 1st (don’t laugh this kind of stuff takes time) AND if I don’t get over my hatred of sock knitting I will certainly be able to justify never knitting a holiday sock again. Plus it’s a roundabout knitting resolution… an open my mind to sock knitting through practice, kind of thing. So this weekend I busted out a pair. I have to admit really wasn’t that bad.

Sock #1 is made of leftover wool from my Drops Cardigan. Sock #2 is made on the same needles with the same pattern out of some of the crappy acrylic that I used when I first attempted stockings a few years back. It looks much better this way.

Little Christmas Wrap Up

The holiday season is officially over in my house and I am left quite satisfied. As I mentioned earlier Santa was very, very good to me. We hosted Christmas festivities this year, and it was a DELIGHT to have my family here, in my house. On New Years Eve, we had fondue with the little bunnies. Two years ago we started this meal tradition with the hope that it would give the little ones something “fancy” to look forward to on a night that’s mostly about grown ups. It’s evolved slowly into a great family party. And I must say it’s a meal well suited for the holiday, as you dip little bits of food, you have lots of opportunity to reflect and look to the future.

In that vein, I definitely experienced the holiday season differently this year now that my oldest bunny is three. I think that Mr. Slippers and I both started taking Christmas (and all holidays really) waaayyyy more seriously after we became parents. We were just so excited to have a baby bunny, you know? But for the first few years it was really just sort of us jumping up and down and baby bunny staring wide eyed. This year though, she GOT IT in a way that was just heart-meltingly wonderful. Along with this came a new the desire to make the magic of Christmas last as long as possible, and Mr. Slippers started talking about Little Christmas.

We’ve got a pretty good track record for creating family traditions so we decided to make Little Christmas about giving just each other handmade gifts and spending the day together. It went well for the first effort (but heh heh, my wheels are already turning for next year). The bunnies made necklaces for each other and collaborated on this beautiful gem for me.

I helped them turn some of their artwork into a T-Shirt for Mr. Slippers. And I knit something little for each of them.

I knit hats for each for the bunnies, I am not going to share them here because well, they are very much loved by the bunnies, but they don’t represent the best of my knitting ability. Being three and one, the recipients are a bit less discriminating than me, so they are quite pleased, and really that’s all that matters. For Mr. Slippers I made, slippers! These are “Aunt Dana’s Russian Boots” from the 2007 Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar, made from Lion Wool leftover from my Grandpa’s socks and Paton’s Classic Merino (which is quite possibly my favorite new yarn).   Mr. Slippers requested a pair the second he saw the pattern and hey he only had to wait a few months.

OH! And I could not resist a little after Christmas sale shopping for myself. I bought a cheap, but effective 8.0 MP Digital Camera. The picture above was taken with my three-year-old 2.0 cam which I paid more for than this one… here’s the same shot in 8.0… pretty impressive, especially when you factor in that I literally just unwrapped the box a few minutes ago and have yet to open the instruction manual.

Now if you will excuse me I have a camera to play with. Next up I’ll be back with photos of my knit-related Christmas goodies and PAY IT FORWARD.

Whew

Just finished the last gift. Now I can relax and get on with some fun knitting this afternoon and evening.

Pix tomorrow, I’ve got to go wrap the gifts now.

Holiday Knitting

Ahhh Santa was very good to me and soon I will share the details. Now though, I am probably to only knitter in the country still up against a holiday knitting deadline. We are preparing to exchange handmade gifts on Little Christmas and I have only finished one out of three. The goal is attainable, but I’ve got to keep my fingers on the needles and not this keyboard.

More soon, in the meantime, enjoy every new drop of 2008.