Knit Lit has started up a Best of 2007 meme for knitters.
Here’s mine:
1. your best FO of the year
My best FO is my Rusted Root Sweater. It’s technically done, but I’m still planning on frogging the collar and doing it a different way so it doesn’t fold over funny. Still it’s my first sweater. Yay!
2. best FO of the year made by a blog you link to
Well I read a lot more in bloglines than are actually linked to here. I should add those. So I’m going off that instead. Anyway I adored Brooklyn Tweed’s Hemlock Ring Blanket. In fact I’m 95% done with mine. I’ll finish it as soon as my new christmas present ball winder arrives.
3. best yarn you tried
Malabrigo Chunky – it’s pretty, squishy, soft and knits up quick. I love it!
4. best new book/mag/pattern of 2007
5. best new knitting technique or gadget you tried in 2007
Ravelry is a gadget, right?
6. top 5 inspirations–what five things inspired you the most over the past year?
- Ravelry friends
- Ravelry people
- Ravelry patterns
- My Knitting/Crochet Blogs delivered via RSS
- Interweave Knits
7. designer who most amazed & inspired you throughout the year
Zephyr Style - These ladies manage to create designs that are very hip and quick to knit. There’s nothing worse than a pattern that takes so long to knit that by the time you’re done it’s out of style. Plus I’d wear any of their designs.
8. knitting resolutions for 2008–what’s next for you and your blog?
- to knit myself a sweater
- to not buy anymore yarn
- to start spinning again
- to change the decor in this joint
- to teach Caitlin how to knit armwarmers
- to finish that sweater for Vanessa
This is the bulk of stuff I knit and crocheted in 2007. There’s a few things missing. While I know I knit a lot of hats, it’s rather eye opening to realize just how many I’ve made in a year.
Way earlier this year my sister asked me to knit her a beret out of bamboo yarn. I bought some at Yarn Garden when I was in PDX in May. Then it sat in my stash. Christmas rolls around and I decided I’m going to make this for her. So I searched for a pattern and came up with the Urban Necessity Tam on MagKnits designed by Subway Knitter. They don’t show the back of the beret on the Magknits site, so it’s at the left. Also, the charts are missing from magknits, but you can find them on subwayknitter.com.
Back to my project…Now I know that bamboo is a drapey fiber with no elasticity so I’m wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Swatching revealed to me that ribbing was not going work that well. So I picked up some black sewing elastic but that was a major pain to work with.
I finally decided to knit it all on size 4 needles which is a few sizes smaller than the recommended for the Classic Elite Bam Boo yarn I was using. I knit a size large, which might have been a bit bigger than needed. It’s a very slouchy beret and I had intended on weaving the elastic through the ribbing, but my sister says she likes it loose.
I love the snowflake pattern on the top. I added a little icord “nipple” on the top to make it more fronch. I’m going to have to borrow that snowflake pattern for shaping the crown on some of the beanies I knit.
Overall I like the yarn, it’s lustrous and soft. However I did use 3 skeins for this so it’s heavy (think cotton) and rather splitty.
Someone asked my for some help with how to assemble a Twisty Turns Wrap. I made one last spring, and it can be a little trick to figure out since they don’t show the back.
It’s somewhat hard to explain so I drew up some (horrible) diagrams. I’m posting this up in case anyone else needs some guidance.
Basically the whole thing gets sewn together as shown in the first diagram. The only trick is that you need to fold the outsides in and thread the loose half through the opening in the sewn half to make the wrap into a circle. Then you bring that free end back to exactly where it started.
I’m not sure if this will help any, but feel free to ask questions. I’ll try to help.
There’s a great article in the NY Times about crafting, buying handmade and etsy..well mainly etsy. But it’s 7 pages long since it’s from the Times Magazine.
NY Times: Handmade 2.0
If anyone is looking for a great idea for a gift to make for a woman check out these earrings. The directions come from fusionbeads.com. I actually ended up buying my beads at artbeads.com because I wanted to get a lot of different colors and Artbeads sells by the piece. I believe the cost was less than $3/pair and that with using all Swarovski crystals and sterling silver or gold filled components. The only thing you need to know how to do is make a wrapped loop, and the website has easy instructions on that.
I got enough to make a pair for all of my female relatives and some extras. Hmm…I have a lot jewerly to make in the next week and a half!
PS If you’re my mom/aunt/sister/cousin/grandma…you didn’t see this.
Ooops. I went and ordered myself a birthday present a month early. It gets delivered tomorrow and I’ll use it to make some Christmas gifts. I’m not telling what it is…yet.
I’ve decided to do a handmade Christmas. Well, mostly. There are a few things I want to get that aren’t handmade, but everyone will be getting at least something that I made. I better get on that.
I can’t exactly describe everything since some of my recipients read this, but it will be a combination of jewelry, sewn stuff, and knitted/crocheted goods. Speaking of sewing – I went to Joann’s saturday for fabric for a gift project and was vastly disappointed by their selection. I was basically looking for some novelty/calico print cottons. I didn’t see anything I really wanted and I’m not paying $5/yd for stuff I don’t really like. I’d rather drop the $9/10 yd on Amy Butler stuff. I guess I will hit up the land of evil to see if they have anything better. I also can’t find a lint comb anywhere!
Saturday I made this cute hat. Excuse the crappy cell phone pic, the real color is much nicer. It’s crocheted with Lion Brand Thick & Quick Woolease. I’m not a fan of acrylic blends but I loved the color. Mustard yellow is my new obsession. This probably took about an hour to do. I am planning on making another one for a gift and if I actually do it I will write up the pattern. In the meantime I need to get knitting.
Anyone have tips for knitting with elastic for yarns that don’t have much inherent elasticity? I’m trying to do a beret with bamboo and it’s not working out. I’m sure the drapey part will look great though. I bought some sewing elastic and I’m going to give knitting with that a try.
I made Jackyll & Hyde for a friend. I decided to stash bust instead of buying new stuff. So I used up some knit picks merino bare fingering weight and double stranded it with 10 1/2 needles. I also skipped making the bottom stockinette part since I figured that would be annoying to tuck in.
I almost forgot to add that I felted it a bit. It was slightly big and a little holey – so felting slightly fixed all that. I also did some modifications around the eyeholes.
Here it is modeled by Ryan. He loves it and says its far more comfortable to wear than a commercial one he bought.
Scary, isn’t it? Especially with the glowing red eyes.
A Canadian friend of mine told me he was surprised that we are allowed to bring knitting needles on flights as they are very anal in Canada. I was pretty sure knitting needles were allowed in Canada too, so I went and checked. I was right. I also discovered something more interesting – you’re not allowed to bring meat thermometers in your carry on luggage. Go figure.
So to recap…
Canadian Air Transport Security says:
knitting needles – YES!
meat thermometers – NO!