An Update on Fisherwoman Socks

Several years ago I made a pair of socks for my friend, Jean, who is a fisherwoman and a talented potter. The picture at the bottom is the original pair. At the time I just added the Fish Scale Lace pattern to my standard sock. I kept thinking that it needed a little something else but didn’t come across anything that suited my fancy. I’ve looked at stitch pattens many times over the years since with the sock in mind but never found just the right thing until this past week.  Now I present to you the complete Fisherwoman Sock pictured on top in Whimsical Colors silky merino light in Silver Fox.  It is knit from the top down on two circular needles and combines Little Scales Stitch with Fish Scale Lace to make a hearty but feminine sock for girls who like to fish, girls who like fish, and girls who like cool hand knit socks. The pattern will be available soon in my Ravelry store. It's on Libby's to do list. She proofreads all of my patterns and I have to say she is so good at it and makes such great suggestions that she is worth waiting for. 

A Birthday Prezzie!

While visiting my mother-in-law, Jean, recently, she gifted me with some sleeping beauty turquoise jewelry. The color of the stone was captivating to me. I also love the name of it which is based on the name of the mine in Globe, Arizona, where the rare color of turquoise is mined, Sleeping Beauty Mine.

Julie at Island Wools dyed this merino silk blend for me and I think the color is perfect. Her line of hand painted yarns, Whimsical Colors, is dyed at the shop in Friday Harbor, WA. I find her colors delicious and hard to resist.

I named my new pattern, Sleeping Beauty Cowl, after the beautiful turquoise. It is available in my Ravelry store as of today. It's my 60th birthday this month and I'm feeling festive! My pattern is available to download for free until my birthday on the 22nd and then I will give myself a prezzie by putting the price of $5.00 in effect. So have a Bday prezzie on me and go download yourself a copy for free before it's too late.

I'm Designing for Cartoon Characters :)

Meet George Jetson, his boy Elroy, daughter Judy, Jane, his wife. That’s right I couldn’t get the Jetsons theme song out of my head. It was one of my favorite cartoon shows when I was a kid and out of nowhere the song popped into my brain and it WOULD NOT leave. So I decided to use it. I was in the middle of knitting some fingerless mitts for a local Christmas fundraiser and one thing led to another. The blue mitts are the ones I designed for Judy Jetson. I think they're kind of hip and futuristic looking. I thought Jane would like something a bit more chic but I still wanted a clean modern look. The red and purple mitts in the lower pic are just what Jane would like... don't you think? Believe it or not I've got a Wilma design going too. I know you know the Wilma I'm talking about.

Jean's Matching Mitts

Mittens in Tahki Donegal Tweed

Mitts in Plymouth Yarns Boku

I'm excited to say that my new pattern, Jean's Matching Mitts, is now available on Ravelry. Thanks to the smart ladies who helped me by test knitting the pattern. It is a fun quick knit. There are enough knitty tricks to keep it interesting and they are small enough to be gratifying. In 5 to 7 hours in can have a pair ready to wear.

Coming Soon...

Leftover Mitts

The pattern for Leftover Mitts is coming soon. Libby is test knitting the mitts for me and I have a few finishing touches on the pattern. I want to get the sizing right for a small/medium and I will add some tops for those who want to knit mittens instead of mitts. Almost done... 

Four Blue Ribbons!

I had a great time at the San Juan County Fair again this year :) I had five entries at the Wool Shed and ended up with 4 blue ribbons and 1 red ribbon. The red ribbon was for some woolen handspun that I almost didn't enter because it was my first attempt at woolen spun and I wasn't completely happy with my result. I did better than I thought I would so I ended up being happy I entered it. In the foreground of this picture are the mitts I designed to go with Jean's Irish Hat. The pattern is being test knit by my friend Libby and will be available on Raverly soon.

Libby got a best in class at the county fair  for her lovely blue crocheted sweater.

I am happy for Libby but I have to admit that I want a best in class ribbon too... there is always next year ;)  

Sidetracked

First I got sidetracked with spinning. I had been working with this fiber on my spindles 

and finally finished all the singles. Then I plied it on my spinning wheel and was pleasantly 

surprised by how much I like the end product. I combined it with some tobacco colored cotton 

you see in the bottom left corner of this picture and then I got sidetracked with weaving :)

I'm calling this The Saturn Scarf. It's for my husband, Paul, who is an amateur astronomer. 

The layers of color are reminiscent of the banding on Saturn. I'm so happy with the way 

it came out and it was a fun project from start to finish. Fortunately, Paul really likes it too :)

And of course I've been sidetracked by my garden too...

Now I really need to get back to my knitting. I have one hat to finish for Julie 

down at Island Wools and then I am going to get a few more patterns 

written up to add to my Ravelry Store and website. 

I love how this picture shows off the skinny brim version...

This was my prototype when I was figuring out the pattern.

Beautiful Nieces

Here is a picture of me with our some of our nieces on Easter. They graciously agreed to pose for me  

so I would have beautiful models for my hat pattern. The pattern will be available to purchase and download on Ravelry in the next few days. I'm excited!

Is it a Jacket or a Cape?

Marita really appreciates my work and skill with fiber and because she is so appreciative she is a regular recipient of the goods :) I made this cute little piece for her birthday a few years ago and she loves it. Lucky girl. 

Hunter Gatherer Camo Sox

My friend, Ricky, is a hunter gatherer type. He is really handy too. He has made birdhouses for me, given me his homemade jam, homemade applesauce, smoked salmon (which of course he caught himself) and sausage made from elk that he hunted. He has helped me plant crocosmia at the back of the barn and hunted down and helped me kill tent caterpillars that were on the willow down at the end of the meadow. So I think you'll agree that Ricky is a good friend to have :)

I made these camo sox for him to say thanks for all the nice things he does for me. I hope he likes them and wears them while he hunts and gathers and all of the other things he does to keep himself out of trouble.

Jean's Irish Hat

I was visiting my mother-in-law, Jean, a few months ago and she handed me a hat she had bought in Ireland about 20 years ago. She told me she would like me to change a few things and make it for her. I was intrigued and accepted the challenge :) I came up with two versions, a wide brim and a skinny brim. The olive green tweed is the wide brim version and the one that Jean likes. I like the celadon green skinny brim version. The only difference between the two versions is the width of the brim and it surprised me how much it changed the style of the hat by varying the width of the brim!

I have been working on perfecting the pattern with the help of 13 fabulous knitters who are test knitting the pattern for me. I had no idea that Ravelry had a free test knitters group until I was tipped off by Julie at my LYS, Island Wools. The pattern is very close to ready and will be available for sale on Ravelry and my website soon. It will also be available at Island Wools in Friday Harbor and Main Street Yarn in Mill Creek. I am hoping for a few more local yarn stores as well.

Oh... and if you would like to know more about my infamous MIL, Jean, go to her blog for an earful and an eyeful! I know you'll be happy you did.

Main Street Yarn

I spent the afternoon at Main Street Yarn in Mill Creek yesterday and I was impressed with everything I saw. A picture is worth a thousand words and so here are 12,000 words for you to feast on! As you can see I am so lucky to have such a gorgeous store filled with a fantastic selection of delicious yarn, patterns, mags, books, needles, bags, everything a knitter needs and really nice helpful people. My knitting buddy, Claudia, and her partner, Elaine, just bought this fabulous store and I for one am so happy for them AND for me. I love their store :)

Plenty of books, mags and patterns to choose from...

Comfortable places to sit and knit and visit...

Lots and lots of beautiful colors...

My shopping bag (I even stayed within my self-imposed budget!)...

Here are Claudia & Elaine, the new owners...

Even more beautiful colors....

A gorgeous store inside and out...

If you live in the Seattle area take a trip up to Mill Creek. You will be so happy you did.

Variation on a Theme

If you look closely you will see that this beautiful silk scarf is knit in the same pattern as the cream colored scarf that Jenny is wearing in the 12/30/2009 Christmas Presents Post. The pattern is featured on the cover of the 2008/2009 Vogue Knitting. I love the pattern so much that I wanted to knit it a few different ways just for fun. This version was a birthday present for my BFF, Nancy, in January. The yarn is one 270 yard skein of Silk Twist by The Great Adirondack Yarn Company in the Kenya colorway. A beautiful scarf for a beautiful lady.

Monica's Accidental Sweater

Well… my gauge was way off on this one (note to self: ALWAYS knit a swatch!). I meant to knit a size large for my friend, Marita, and I ended up with a size small that fit my friend, Monica, perfectly. All’s well that ends well ;) I loved the construction of this jacket and the lack of seaming. I did have trouble figuring out the instructions for the increases of the raglan sleeve. I want to thank Ravelry friend, woolnutzi, Susan, in Boston, Ma for her help. She went above and beyond with her diagrams and emails in answering my questions and staying with me until I “got it”.

The pattern is Mona's Jacket from the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Knits. Here at Ravelry. I knit it with Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande in color number 798, green heather. It's a gorgeous green color with a hint of lavendar running through it. I knit this during the Winter Olympics and finished a day or two after they ended.

Even though my gauge was way off I am completely happy with the finished product and Monica is thrilled with it. She is a knitter and spinner too so she got a chuckle about the error of my ways as well as a beautiful heavenly soft baby alpaca jacket :) I hope to have a picture of Monica wearing it soon to add to the story.

In a Perfect World...

In a perfect world you find cute little clogs on sale that are a perfect match for the socks you've just finished knitting. Here is the delightful Nelly modeling her Christmas present from Auntie Val. Sometimes everything turns out perfect :)

Red for Kerry

This is my beautiful niece, Kerry, wearing the shawl I made her for Christmas 2009. The swatch shows nice detail of the stitch pattern. I enjoyed this pattern but I did keep putting it down to work on other projects. Red is Kerry's favorite color and I wanted to knit something beautiful for her Christmas present. The pattern is Rococo Shawl by Elena Rosenberg. It is available on her Etsy site at http://AtelierTPK.Etsy.com My niece, Jenny, bought me this pattern last year and I'm thinking there will be a soft grey version sometime in her future. I knit Kerry's with Cascade 220 Quatro in color #5013, a chili pepper red.

Christmas Presents

After a 6 month break from knitting due to a repetitive strain injury I am finally back on the sticks :) I finished 3 projects in time for Christmas prezzies and of course JennyK was the lucky recipient of one of them. Here she is modeling her beautiful lace leaf scarf and my generic mitts in Baby Alpaca Grande. The scarf is knit up in a much grander version on the cover of the Winter 2008/2009 issue of Vogue Knitting. I am in love with the pattern and I am knitting another finer version right now in 100% silk for Nancita. I'll post a picture when it's done and blocked.

A Masterpiece

If you saw the picture of my delightful 8 year old niece, Emiley, below then you know this dress and hat I knitted for her are from several years ago.  I think she is 2 maybe 3 in this picture. My knitting teacher, Birgitta, helped me a lot with this early project.  I was amazed and delighted with myself when I finished it!  I am still so grateful to my sister, Donna, for getting this picture taken of Em in the dress & hat.  Treasures all:  Emiley, Donna, the dress & the hat.

Both the dress and hat are Fiber Trends patterns. It's been so long since I knit it that the only thing I can remember about the lavender yarn is that it was a wool/cotton blend. 

Marita's Coat

Marita's coat is all about the sleeves...  when she saw the sleeves she just had to have it!  So she bought the yarn, Lion Brand super-chunky "Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in the wheat color,  and I knitted it for her as a birthday gift even though I hate knitting with acrylic.  I will admit that the price for the yarn was great but I did NOT enjoy knitting with it. 

The pattern is called Long Coat designed by Pierrot and it is a Vogue pattern.  I tried to find which issue it came from but I never did figure it out. She copied it from a friend's old magazine and gave it to me with the yarn.  I like the pattern and it was easy to knit.  I may make it again for myself in a larger size in alpaca and add some big patch pockets.  The alpaca would be heaven to knit with and I think that along with the larger size would give the garment better drape.  

Marita loves her coat and that makes me very happy :)