In any case, I did not have the energy or inclination to knit, if you can imagine. I didn’t have the energy or inclination to blog either. However, I’m back to it now! After my husband was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s the first time, it was knitting a special baby gift that brought me back to knitting. The same thing has happened this time too. I have four friends who have all had baby boys! There is nothing like concentrating on the joy of newborn babies to revive your spirits!

Something else brought me back to knitting too,….a visit from my mother-in-law. She was knitting, and I missed it. It was as simple as that. I took her to my knitting groups and we had a lot of fun. I also took her to the Briggs and Little Woolen Mill, which is located a short drive away.

My mother-in-law walked into the yarn shop before I did, and all of a sudden I heard squeals and exclamations coming from inside! The wool fumes got her! It was hilarious! She had been looking for substitute yarn to make the A Walk In The Parka cardigan, from the latest Creative Knitting magazine. The pattern calls for Cottage Craft Woolens yarn, which happens to be made by….Briggs and Little! What a surprise! She bought the yarn that the pattern called for. The people at Briggs and Little weren’t aware of this particular pattern, made with their yarn. The lady, who was helping us, took the pattern to show the rest of the staff, and I heard more squeals coming from the back room! There are also patterns in the Twist Collective, by the way, made from Briggs and Little yarn, which are creating some excitement. They are Roo, by Kate Gilbert, and Sylvi, by Mari Muinonen.

Anywho, my husband and children decided to discretely back away from the mayhem. They took a walk by the lake, and enjoyed the scenery outside.

My mother-in-law bought three sweaters worth of yarn, plus more for good measure! I bought some of Briggs and Little’s new Softspun yarn, in Dusty Rose.

As chance would have it, my knitting friends have been encouraging me to enter some of my knitting in our local exhibition/fair. There is apparently a lady who contributes an entry for every category, every year. She walks in with a huge Tupperware container full of knitting. In any case, most of the entries are very traditional, and my friends would like to see more contributions that show new techniques. So I picked up my knitting again. I had so many unfinished items, and this was the push I needed to complete them. Briggs and Little happens to sponsor a Briggs and Little category, and I had a work-in-progress made from Briggs and Little yarn! I can’t tell you how long I’ve been working on this project. It seems like forever, and now it’s finally finished!

Meet Fanny:

• Pattern: Carousel Horse, designed by Ellen Sibelius (This was a free web pattern through Interweave…not currently available.)
• Materials: Briggs and Little, Tuffy
• Needles: 5mm
• Modifications: I did not felt this item. So, I did not knit double stranded and I used smaller needles than were called for in the pattern.

My daughter can not quite believe that Fanny is finished either, but she is delighted! I haven’t been so rewarded by a project since Curly The Cow. However, the fiddly bits on Fanny almost put her in permanent hibernation. Let’s not dwell on that. She’s finished! Wahoo! Not only that, but she won first prize in the Briggs and Little competition! My daughter was so excited that Fanny had a ribbon on her! She was also proud of her mommy. It was great!

I’m rather proud too; I have to admit. It was a challenge just to get Fanny finished, and I got hugs from my daughter, plus a ribbon and a Briggs and Little gift certificate to show for it!

Valentine Socks

• Pattern: The chart for the heart pattern is from True Love Socks, by Thayer Preece, however the rest is ad lib. I did them toe-up, with “Sailor’s Ribbing” (page 88 of More Sensational Knitted Socks, by Charlene Schurch), and eye of the partridge heel.
• Materials: Cables and Lace sock club yarn.
• Colourway: Valentine’s Day Massacre
• Needles: Two circulars, 2.5mm.

This yarn is the first installment of the Cables and Lace sock club. I really like how it knitted up! This is also the first sock club that I’ve ever joined. So far, so great!

Let me show you the other sock, because I have the picture and I might as well use it.

I’ve already been wearing these as bed socks, because they go with my pj’s. See?

To continue with the sock blogging, I finished these ones quite some time ago. I’ve worn them a lot, because they’re so comfy and warm.

Nanner Socks

• Pattern: Nanner Socks, by Wendy Johnson, special release pattern for Plurkers.
• Materials: Apple Laine, Apple Pie yarn.
• Colourway: Heart of Gold
• Needles: Two circulars, 2.5mm

This pattern was released for people on Plurk only. Yes, I have been using Plurk…but not very well. I’m not on it very regularly. My “karma” plummets frequently. The banana, “nanner”, pattern relates to the dancing bananas on Plurk. I chose the yarn, specifically, because it looked like the colour of bananas. However, it turns out that I love this yarn! It has a bit of mohair in it, but it’s not scratchy at all. Maybe it’s the bit of silk in it that makes it softer. I don’t know, but I love it.

Finally, I have these happy socks.

Happy Stripy Socks

• Toe-up with short row heel. Slip stitch rib.
• Materials: Regia Design Line – by Kaffe Fassett.
• Colourway: Landscape Storm 4251.
• Needles: Two circulars, 2.5mm

I loved knitting these, just because of the happy colours. Wearing them is almost as much fun!

I hope you all had a happy Valentine’s Day!

So, how have you all been? I hope you’re all looking forward to the holidays. I’m looking forward to having my family all together this Christmas. My sister will be traveling from Ottawa, and I can’t wait ’til she gets here. Both of my kids had school Christmas concerts, which were so enjoyable. I was amazed that my 4 year old son didn’t get stage fright. He actually sang, until he saw the movie projection behind him. That was evidently far more interesting than singing. So, he spent the rest of the concert facing backwards. My husband and I had a good laugh, and we have a nice videotape of the back of my son’s head.

So, I’ll show you a couple of the things I knit. Due to my cold, I felt the need for some warm woollies. I have been wanting to knit this scarf for a long time, and I finally got around to it. It was a fun, quick knit.

My So Called Scarf

• Pattern: My So Called Scarf
• Materials: Manos del Uruguay 100% Wool, colour 109, 2 skeins.
• Needles: 8mm
• Size: 6″ wide, 60″ long.

Blocking did wonders for softness and shape.

Yes, that’s me, sick as all get out, standing in the snow without a hat on! Well, I knit a hat too.

• Materials: Belfast Mini-Mills Ltd. Chunky Merino Wool, 1 skein.
• Needles: 4mm for the ribbing, & 4.5mm.

Sometime I’ll knit a fancy schmancy hat, to go with the scarf. However, right now, my aim was warmth, so I chose the thickest yarn I had in the stash, and it happened to be winter white. This hat is a cross between the Turn A Square hat, by Jared Flood, and the Brangelina hat, by Crazy Aunt Purl. I had a problem with stretchy cast-ons. I started with Eunny’s tubular cast on, which wasn’t nearly stretchy enough. I ripped that out and started again with Ysolda’s version of the tubular cast on, which was much more stretchy but very bulky looking. I carried on and knit the hat anyway. When I was finished the whole hat, I ripped out the cast on, picked up the stitches, and did a sewn loose cast off instead. The hat was knit with 96 stitches. I used the smaller needles for the 3×1 ribbing. After the ribbed portion, I purled the last stitch on the round, then I wrapped a stitch (bring yarn to the back of the work, slip one stitch from the left needle to the right one, bring yarn to the front of the work, slip the stitch back to the left needle). Then I pushed the knitting through the middle of the needles, and began knitting on the other side of the work. What was once the inside of the hat, became the outside. This makes the right side of the brim show, when it is folded back. I switched to the larger needles, continued in knitting, and did the decreases according to the Turn A Square pattern.

For another fancy schmancy hat to go with the scarf,  I have some dark green Malabrigo, or rust Malabrigo. Which should it be?

So, in an attempt to avoid tripping over my words, or whatever else could go wrong, I’m going to keep this short and sweet….another blog post in pictures. Here is Robin Hood Jacket #2:

Robin Hood Jacket #2

• Pattern: Robin Hood Jacket, by Zoë Mellor
  Source: Adorable Knits For Tots
• Materials: Rowan Cork (Discontinued), Colour 031 Vapor, 6.5 skeins
• Needles: Knit Picks Interchangeable Circs, 6.5mm and 8mm
• Modification: I did the 1-2 year size, extended the length of body, sleeves, and hood, and it fits my 4 year old son.

Here are our two kiddos together, with their matchy sweaters.

]]> http://loopyknitter.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/robin-hood-jacket-2/feed/ 16 Loopy Knitter Robin Hood Jacket #2 Robin Hood Jacket #2 Robin Hood Jacket #2 Robin Hood Jacket #2 Robin Hood Jacket #2 Robin Hood Jacket #2 Robin Hood Jacket #2 Robin Hood Jacket #2 http://loopyknitter.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/coming-up-short/ http://loopyknitter.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/coming-up-short/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:09:28 +0000 Jennifer http://loopyknitter.wordpress.com/?p=307 ]]> Fall brings beautiful, colourful leaves, cooler temperatures, school….and flu. Ugh! I had a nasty stomach flu, but I think I’ve fully recovered now. Thankfully, I did not spread the dreaded bug on to the rest of the family. The difficult part was to cook meals for everyone else, when I couldn’t stomach food myself. Anyway, enough about that….all better now.

I just finished a second Robin Hood Jacket. However, I still have to take photos etc. I’ll get around to that. Meanwhile, here is one of my summer projects that has remained unblogged. It’s the PomatomusSocks, from Knitty. Unlike the pattern though, I did mine toe-up. It’s a good thing I did them that way too, because I didn’t have enough yarn, and ended up with ankle socks. They’re fine though. They are cotton, and I’ll wear them in summer. The next time I use Panda cotton, I’ll purchase three balls, rather than two.

• Pattern: PomatomusSocks, from Knitty.
• Materials: Panda Cotton, in the Faded Jeans 2305 colourway.
• Needles: Two 2.5mm Knit Picks circulars
• Modification: I did these socks toe-up

When I began these socks, I didn’t want large, lacy holes, created by the yarn-overs. I vaguely remembered a trick to make the holes smaller. I’m not sure who thought of this method (Edited to add: It was sock designer extraordinaire, Deb Barnhill!!). The trick is too knit the row, ignoring where it says to do a yarn over. Just knit everything as stated, except for the yarn-overs. Then, on the next row, where there should’ve been a yarn over pick up the yarn between two stitches, similar to a make one (M1) increase, and work that stitch according to the pattern. This makes the yarn over much smaller. I’ve probably made that as clear as mud. Anyway, this is the way the yarn-overs looked:

Well, that was great. I learned a new technique, and I like the resulting small, lacy holes. However, I need to struggle a bit, to get the sock over my heel! Perhaps larger holes were needed after all. So, I decided to do the leg of the second sock, doing the yarn-overs the normal way. This is the second sock:

See how the holes are larger? Yup, the sock fits perfectly. So much for experimentation! I’d definitely do this pattern again…next time in wool. The twisted stitches, done in cotton, caused a lot of hand/arm strain. Live and learn.

On another topic, someone I know, locally, is making great baby slings and selling them. The online store is Lulujo. The slings are 100% cotton, adjustable, and come in all sorts of colours and prints. I think the padded one looks comfy. I thought I’d give the shop a little plug, as it is a great product, and would be a nice gift idea. We love the hand-made creations, don’t we?

Here’s another picture of fall colours, for the road. Most of the leaves are actually on the ground now, so let’s have one last look, while we still can. Has anyone started Christmas knitting yet? Not me. Time’s a’wastin’!!

We had a wonderful time, again this year, at my sister’s cottage. This year there were even more of us attending the festivities, and we had a great party! We also had Way Too Much Food! I took the following picture, out the car window, on our way there. I wondered if Kelly might be somewhere on the opposite ridge.

Last year, at this time, my husband was not at all well. This year is a marked contrast. It is an understatement to say that we are all very Thankful, for his recovery from two, yes two, diseases. His strength and courage has been remarkable. I’m grateful for him every day!!

Lookin’ good!!!

So, here we have it, my most recent finished project. It was seamed on Sunday.

Robin Hood Jacket

• Pattern: Robin Hood Jacket, by Zoë Mellor
• Source: Adorable Knits For Tots
• Materials: Rowan Cork (Discontinued), Colour 038 Bug, 9 skeins
• Needles: Knit Picks Interchangeable Circs, 6.5mm and 8mm
• Modification: I did the 3-4 year size, extended the length of body and sleeves, and it fits my 6 year old daughter with room to spare. Go figure.

This project has been in my queue, since long before there was a Ravelry. I knew that I wanted to use the yarn called for in the pattern, Rowan Cork. Unfortunately, it was discontinued. Despite being a bulky yarn, it is lofty and relatively light. I thought it would be perfect for a child’s sweater. It also has subtle colour variation that is appealing to me. So, I waited, and I waited, until I finally found some on EBay, in my daughter’s favourite colour, green. She is also very fond of the colour name, BUG.

I love the cables, but I think the hood is my favourite part. I knit it (the hood) the same length as specified in the pattern. I took some pictures of the hood, while my daughter played in her little playhouse. You can pick; click to embiggen.

Does anyone know how hard it is to take photos of an active six year old? “Please, sweety, hold still?” Anyway, we had fun…..walking in the woods….

…up a tree….

… at the playground…

…and on a nature hunt.

We had fun!! She’s such a good sport, our sweet, lovely girl.

It’s the La Digitessa Kit, from Yarnissima, complete with the exclusive Wollmeise colourway…all the way from the Netherlands! Woo hoo! I was expecting the yarn and the pattern, but there were so many additional little treats and trinkets. You can see the Toblerone bar in the above photo, then there were these:

That was a Belgian “Coc’O'box”‘ chocolate, which I knew I had to photograph right away, because it was gone as soon as I opened the cellophane. There was a little lady bug sticker, and a photographed gift card….so many details.

There was this lovely stitch marker attached to the hand written “Thank you”. I have been wanting to knit this pattern, ever since I saw it in the development stages on Flickr. Of course, toe-up patterns, especially, appeal to me. You may have heard that there was a lottery to join a Wollmeise sock club recently?? Well, I considered joining, but I’ve never even seen a skein of Wollmeise sock yarn in person before. Although the yarn was probably worth every penny, I couldn’t justify spending my whole yearly yarn budget on sock yarn, and one kind of sock yarn at that. So , I decided to stalk Yarnissima’s online shop instead. It felt like the right time to splurge on a kit. Finally, the La Digitessa kit became available, and I pounced on it. Just look at the yarn!

I can’t wait to get started! Happy Socktoberfest to me!!

In other news, Kate and Tammy mentioned a couple of my projects on their Knit Together Podcast, Episode 16. I was just listening, as usual, when I heard “Loopy Knitter”, and almost swallowed a peanut M&M! They were so complimentary, and well, it was very nice of them.

Did you all read Yarn Harlot’s blog, where someone convinced Greg Kinnear to hold a sock-in-progress? The look on his face was priceless! So funny.

The FOs are piling up here, and remain unblogged. More to come.

You may wonder what I was self-conscious about. Well, for one thing, WordPress.com changed my whole dashboard around (again), since I last logged on. I couldn’t find anything anymore, and it didn’t feel like home. I think I’ve figured out everything now though. The other problem was posting pictures of myself. Can it be possible that I’m the only one who can tell that one of my eyes is starting to close, that my nose looks crooked, from where a baseball hit me as a teenager (I can’t catch), and I look more wrinkled than I do in person (hopefully)…in the last picture? Possibly so! ….and thank you for not mentioning that the pictures were very “Little House on the Prairie” -ish, because that was on my mind too. I may, or may not, have been wearing crinoline under that dress. I’m just going to chalk-up all of that nervousness, to being away from the blog for so long. I really do thank you for all of the compliments. I am very happy with the stole. I think it’s one of the prettiest things I’ve made…and most of all…I finished it!! Woohoo!!

So, with that blog entry finished, maybe it will get easier from here on. Let’s test that theory shall we? I should post another summer project, because it was finished quite some time ago:

• Pattern: Wisp
• Materials: Rowan Kidsilk Haze, Colour: 582 Trance, 1 skein plus a bit of another.
• Needles: 5mm

I have been wanting to knit the Wisp, since I saw this one by Kate, and then this one by Terra. My version does not have buttons yet. I just haven’t found the right ones. Someday, maybe I’ll find some that are light enough.

I took these photos at the beach, on the Labour Day holiday. It was breezy, but warm. The kids had one last hurrah on the beach, before the beginning of school.

If you look closely, you can see my son in that picture. He’s the little orange dot. The next picture was taken at a party. Please excuse the glass. It was just water unfortunately.

The Wisp is a Knitty pattern, and one thing that has bothered me about Knitty patterns is that they do not print out properly. You end up loosing vital pieces of information, and sometimes half of the chart. However, have you noticed that Knitty has a new printer friendly feature? I was very happy to find out about that. However, I don’t think the new feature works for the older patterns, like the Wisp, or the Lizard Ridge blanket. Instead, I learned a trick from Turtlegirl. There is an add-on in Firefox, called “Loop”, which enables you to make PDF documents from any webpage. Make a PDF of the pattern page, and print out that document. It works out much better.

Being away from blogs, I’m not sure how much people have been talking about the Twist Collective. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. It’s a great new idea for an online knitting magazine. You can read the articles for free, and if you want to purchase a pattern, they are sold individually, as a download. The designers are given a larger portion of the profits, than the print magazines offer. Also, have you seen the Addi Click? Kinda nice huh?

I have been wanting to knit the Print O’The Wave Stole, for a long time. The fact that my sister got married this summer (congrats sis!), provided me with a perfect opportunity to wear a stole too! So, when I was in Ontario, I purchased some Fino yarn, at The Needle Emporium. A sweater, which I had already started to knit was set aside, and I don’t know when I’ll ever return to it. Instead, the stole took over as the main project because I was on a deadline.

I used one skein of yarn, and this is how much yarn I had left over:

It was soooooo close!! I started to knit tighter and tighter, faster and faster. Somehow I managed to squeak by with the yarn I had.

I finished the stole in time to wear it to the wedding reception, which was actually dubbed “The Meeting of the Clans Part II”. There were two awesome parties, one in June and one in August, because we Maritimers know how to do it right! I’m kidding, because the groom is actually from Ontario, and “Part II” was hosted there. What a party it was too! Anywho…my sister is a great photographer, so at one point, I hauled her (the bride) over to a nearby Ontario field, to take photos for me. Thank goodness she understands me!

• Pattern: Print O’The Wave Stole, by Eunny Jang.
• Source: This free pattern can be found by clicking it, in the sidebar of Eunny’s blog.
• Materials: Fino, by Alpaca With A Twist.
• Colour: Twilight 1002
• Needles: 3.25mm Addi Turbo Circular needles
• Finished Size: 61” by 20”
• Errata: Edited to add: Errata for Chart B can be found here.
• Modification: I knit the stole all in one piece, so there was no grafting in the middle. I did 34 pattern repeats.

As a warning, to those of you who may try this pattern, the edging instructions are not well written. I can’t remember exactly what the problem was (I’ve blocked it from my mind), but it was tricky to get going. In any case, I muddled through, and the edging turned out fine in the end.

It was a perfect day…definitely one for the memory books! I hope we don’t have to wait for their 25th wedding anniversary for “Meeting of the Clans Part III!