This Moment: 9/12/2011

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
via SouleMama

Advertisement

Knitalong – spreading the word

Larissa of Stitch Marker is holding a new knitalong!

I’ve been following her blog ever since I saw Jodi‘s “Meathead” hat with envy (the product of another knitalong). So I saw the invitational post and thought I’d like to play along too. And if I’m going to do that , I might as well spread the word, eh?

Come on: it’s just a potholder. Any ol’ potholder pattern will do, and it gets to become community art. I’m betting potholders knit up quicker than hats!

Check it out here: http://stitchmarker.net/2011/11/would-you-want-to-make-a-potholder.html

This Moment

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
via SouleMama

Triumphant Return

My friends, there has been KNITTING.

Most of the summer and fall (and spring too? I don’t even remember) has been spent on tiny bites of knitting here and there — a few rows in the car, or during before-bed-tv, or any time the baby-turning-toddler (!) and toddler-no-wait-preschooler (!!) would allow. And, because knitting is magical like that, even these tiny bits add up and eventually there is this complete object. Kind of like life.

Nikolai shawl, knit in IndigoDragonfly Merino/Cashmere “Neither Bloody Nor Bowed”

I really love having a smallish scarf-shawl with me, something to wear under my coat but also around an over-cooled office. This scarf-shawl fits the bill perfectly, and the cashmere content makes it warmer than you’d expect (and luxurious too!).

And what goes better with a fall shawl than some quick fingerless mitts?

These Short and Sweet Fingerless Mitts were exactly what they claimed to be — short and sweet. I knit these up in just a few days, and the pattern was perfect for making a lovely little pair that “goes with” but does not “match” the scarf-shawl, sharing a leaf motif. I should have remembered I always knit loose and gone down a needle size, and maybe I should block them someday, but whatever, I have a pretty and toasty-warm (thank you cashmere) pair of mitts to wear until it’s full on mitten weather.

Which will be really soon, I’m guessing… Glenna’s just reworked her Podster Mitts pattern, maybe I’ll try to make some of those for the next phase in the fall-to-winter transition. Until then, these actually finished objects are serving me quite well!

What about you? Anyone else experiencing a triumphant return into the world of knitting?

New Knitty & some brilliance

New Knitty.com issue is up! Go check it out is you aren’t already one of the ravening knit-hoards that crash their servers each launch day (which was, um, yesterday…)

I have less time to knit these days than I even have for sleeping (and with my 7month “sleep regression” baby, that’s saying something), but if I did then I’d be totally re-looking at all the projects I’ve tossed aside over the years because I’m too lazy to work intarsia, because this pattern Verdant is a stroke of brilliance. “Blended intarsia” — aka “don’t bother dropping the main colour as you go along”. Too clever! of course, you’ll still have ends to weave, but there will be much, much less of them! Love it.

So, which pattern in the new Knitty would you cast on first? For me, it would probably be the Stitches in Time “summer neckerchief”, which contains another version of a cheater’s intarsia…. maybe there’s a theme here?

Full Wolf Moon

Over at FLOCK we have a thing where many members craft a dreamboard on the full moon, using it to set intentions for the upcoming lunar cycle/month. Each moon has a title, a concept and tradition setting it in the seasons and cycles of the year. So far, I have not participated in this, though I love the idea of “soulcraft”.

I’m a crafter, for sure, big time, but never have been overly comfortable with traditional visual/”fine” art. I don’t keep collage supplies on hand (I tend to disagree with magazines both environmentally and thematically: too much paper for too many adverts/too few real words). I don’t even have a computer printer! And I don’t have the software/skills for digital collage either (though I think this might be a direction to explore).

Yet this is a Full Wolf Moon howling to be acknowledged. Observed. Acted upon and with. I don’t have a collage, but I can throw words into the aether.

* * * *
Under this moon, I feel too full — of obligations, of responsiblities, of “shoulds” and “musts”. This is the wrong kind of fullness. So, even as the full moon hangs at the apex, preparing to wane again, so do I hope that this moon brings a draining-away of these too-full feelings and waxes again with renewed positive full-filled/fulfilled-ness.

Under this moon, I feel a part of myself keening a lonesome call out to the void. I may be an introvert, but I don’t want to be a lone wolf. So, just as wolves howl to keep connected with their pack, so do I hope this moon brings a reconnection with my own circle (my pack, my soultribe), a singing under the stars, carrying across the dark spaces. Aaaaoooooo.

* * * *
Hello, Full Wolf Moon. All today I’ve felt your lunatic pull, the werewolf bite on my nerves. Let’s try to go more gently together through the next 27 days, shall we?

Hats

I almost didn’t do any “Christmas knitting” this year. Things have been moving at astounding rates, lightning-fast life changes and growing babies and more. Knitting time, especially on a deadline, seemed like a pretty low priority combined with a pretty high stress-factor.

And yet, I was going to be knitting anyway (I have to. I’m addicted to having something to do with my hands, and I get twitchy without some crafting.). And money’s tight, but my stash is robust. Thus, I turned to hats.

Hats for everyone!

Hats are quick. Smally yardage needed (often under 50g), larger needles, relatively easy to size for the giftee on the sly. Both men and women wear hats (and here in Canada, everyone needs to!). On account of these factors, I churned out 8.5* hats in less than a month. (I also finished an ongoing pair of travel-knitting socks).

Almost every close family member got a hat. My sister got 2. I kept one for myself (it got mighty snowy in these parts!). Poor Dru, of course, did not (see note below).

Did I photograph these hats? Of course not. That would have been clever. But I can tell you that I knit:

• 2 hats of my own devising, with an Owl Cable [like this one here](a small-run spun alpaca, & Silkroad Aran Tweed)
• 2.5* Turn A Square hats (alpaca + Noro Silk Garden / Eco Wool + Noro)
• 1 “Fake Isle” Tam (#3) (Eco Wool + Noro)
• 1 Urchin beret (some bulky handspun/handdyed alpaca from the East Coast)
• 1 generic garter rib hat of my own devising (Noro)
• 1 basic baby hat of my own devisng (Malabrigo)

All this hat knitting did not make me sick of hats, either. I’ve just cast on for something new for myself, and feel like the members of my immediate family deserve handknit hats of their own. Oh, and I need to make a teacozy. Which is basically a hat for an inanimate object. So it’s back to the small circular for me!

* True to the nature of “stashbusting” patterns, I got most of the way through the 3rd Turn A Square hat and ran out of the main yarn, so it’s on hold until I can, of course, go buy another ball.

*Poke Poke*

I’d write something witty about the lack-of-blogging here, but Rabbitch has already done it much better. Try going here instead:
http://rabbitch.blogspot.com/2010/07/poke-it-with-stick.html

I need a makeover

And not in the “desperate for a haircut and wardrobe” kind of way. (Although I am that, too.)

I mean in the “blog overhaul” kind of way.

I recently posted about the various ways I’m feeling scattered these days, on the various thoughts I’ve got mixed in my mind and subjects I’d like to try to write on, but don’t feel are entirely “right” within this blog. I think what I’d really like to do would be to expand the blog so that things could be RSS’ed (is tat even a term?) all together, or just under a one of a few headings, like “Crafts” or “Parenting” or “Yoga” and so on. (As with fancier sites like Pioneer Woman, only nothing so “pro” as all that.)

Does anyone know how this is done, and would be willing to coach me? Does good ol’ free WordPress.com have a template I don’t know about, or will I have to upgrade to a paid hosting provider?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Toy Crafting Bug

Even though my daughter is not even 1 1/2 years old yet, even though she goes to a rather corporate daycare for 9+hours/workday, even though I’m working full time until mat. leave #2 (after that, who knows?!?), I’ve been finding more an more homeschooling blogs being added to my Google Reader lately. And with these for inspiration, I’ve been completely bitten by the toy-crafting bug!

Of course, Ive got nothing much to show for this than a pile of bookmarked links and a few squares of not-yet-used craft felt*, but I hope there will be some finished toys soon enough! Maybe they’ll even get played with…

I really, really want to make one of these Waldorf-style silk “Cuddle dolls”. So much that I even bought a silk scarf — and forgot to check the dimensions (it’s a long rectangle, but oh well, I’ll just turn it into a play silk instead). This “doll” may be incredibly simple, but I love the idea of really open-ended playthings to encourage growing imaginations, and appreciate the all-natural-materials aspect. I think I need to read more about Waldorf-style learning, it seems really interesting to me.

I also have been wanting to make a “quiet book”. There’s a lot of resources online, this one and this one seem like great starting points. I like the idea that you can make ones with different themes (like “the seasons”, or “letters and numbers”), or with various levels of difficulty to interest different ages. I might start small, and make something with only a few pages that has everything attached somehow, with a tether for a stroller-toy…

I would love to make her some soft toys, too, but there’s not a lot of point. She just doesn’t really care for them! Blocks, books, and noisy musical toys are her favorites these days. Too bad I don’t have a basement or garage, I bet I could have fun making her wooden toys!

* the “felt” squares I’ve found don’t feel like they’re actually made of wool to me (I’ll have to try a burn test). Do I have to order online to get real-wool crafting felt?