Sadistic mommy

I just had to. When I saw this pattern in the Pet Heaven book at Knitty City, I had to make it for my pug.

It's her 8th birthday today, so I thought it would make a cute little gift. Perfect for the winter time.



This balaclava is meant to have some puff mufflers sewn on. Well... as you can see, Brigitte is not as amused with it as I am. I can't stop laughing, and she's already taken it off by herself a number of times. When I come at her with the balaclava, she now hides. So, I didn't bother sewing the mufflers on. She's never going to let me put it on her again.

What I did do for her (and not me) on this special birthday, is make her a batch of chicken cupcakes. Now those, she loves!!

Made in Queens

Allow me some NYC 5boro pride, knitters!

Made in Queens, not Brooklyn! Here are my version of the Grove Mittens from Jared Flood's pattern booklet, Made in Brooklyn. Love love love these damn things!



In all seriousness, I had a great time knitting these mittens. Easy enough pattern, but not a drag to knit. And such a beautiful stitch. I love these mittens so much, I refused to take them off at work the other day. It was almost cold enough to wear them (yes, I got a few weird looks on the subway), so I pulled them on with pride and wore them all day long. It was damn hard to type, but fashion hurts right?

And I can't get over how lovely this Knit Picks City Tweed DK yarn is. I've got a bit of it left from each ball and I'm trying to figure out what I can do with it? A teeny scarf for the pug? One coaster? An eye patch? Fake moustache? I don't know. I don't want it to go to waste!

Cuckoo for Cowls

I've got another pattern up on ravelry.com! It's the Zig Zag Cowl.

I'm even more excited about this one than the last. It takes less yarn, and is quite easy to knit, but not boring.




And look! Wear it over your coat collar. Keeps you even warmer :)



I truly enjoyed working with the Berroco Peruvia yarn. I was surprised. It feels rough on the skein, but softens up as you knit it. And it was different for me to not knit with something with a lot of spring to it. It's really quite lovely.

Hope you'll give the pattern a try. Purchase it from ravelry.com, or from my sidebar here.

Surprise surprise

Well well well. Color me a yarn snob. I fully admit to having turned up my nose at acrylic. Having started my knitting life at Purl Soho, and now working at Knitty City, you can't blame me, can you? I honestly didn't know that I was dealing with top-of-the-line goods. I just thought it was normal.

So when I was dragged kicking and screaming into a Michael's, and then a Jo-Ann store I was horrified at the pounds of yarn. I couldn't possibly be seen leaving with that in my possession. Oh no no no.

But, I was tempted when the Lion Brand Yarn Studio opened in Manhattan. I've always associated them with those pounds of acrylic. Color me stupid now. I was in search of some baby friendly yarn. Superwash to be exact, and I stumbled across their LBY Collection Superwash Merino. At $8.00 a skein, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

It is absolutely gorgeous. I had such a good time knitting with this yarn!



I used it for the Autumn Leaves Cardigan pattern. I modified it a bit, but since it's a free pattern on Ravelry, I couldn't ask for anything more. I think it's adorable!



I had such a good time, in fact, that I even bought a skein of their Wool-Ease. Who can turn their nose up at anything these days?

The hole gets deeper

I'm sure I'm not the only one who started knitting making statements like, "Omigod, I would never knit those. I'm just going to make some scarves and hats." Or, "Wow, that's a lot of effort - forget that." Well, here I am three and a half years later, knitting things I wouldn't knit and doing things to them I chuckled at only a few months ago.

Yes, I purchased sock blockers from Knit Picks. And here I am blocking socks. They need to be blocked too, right? I just couldn't resist.

These are a gift for a fabulous co-worker. He wanted me to make some socks for his wife and mother after seeing pictures of my original Lindsay Socks. How often do you willingly knit two pairs of socks for someone which are not even for them? That's how fabulous he is. Since they were a gift to be a gift, I wanted them looking spiffy. They were so puckered that I bit the bullet and got the blockers.



Every time I look down this knitting hole, it just gets deeper and deeper.

As fair as fair can be

Maybe there are just some things that don't come easily. Like this Fair Isle Knitting. Unfortunately, mine should be called something more like Ugly Isle Knitting. It's all about the tension isn't it. I'm such a tight knitter that when I'm told to knit more loosely, I just stare at my hands.

Here is another attempt of mine at "fair" isle knitting:



OK, you can't really see squat in that picture.



I know I didn't pick the best colors for fair isle, but I didn't really want to do something so contrasting you could really see my mistakes. So I'll go to that white and black when I'm feeling more confident. Sorry Brooklyn Tweed!! I've done absolutely no justice to your beautiful fair isle Beaumont Tam!

This'll be my third attempt, too. Third. I thought three was the charm?

That darn tension! It just looks so sloppy. And it's being blocked over a dinner plate, so it's kind of looking as good as it's gonna get. I know I know... practice makes perfect, but I'm not sure I can keep wasting yarn like this! I've tried every trick I've found online, read about or heard about. Wooden needles so the yarn doesn't slip back when you're trying to stretch it out. Put your finger under the strand to give it some slack. Pull on it once you've knit it to make sure it's loose. OK, that last one I can't do. It would take me a year to finish something like this little tam.

The Eternity Scarf

I'm so excited about this scarf! It's my first pattern that's for sale on ravelry. I wanted to design something fashionable, easy to wear, but most importantly - easy to knit!

Anyway, my inspiration was all of those cowls, snoods and circle scarves for sale.





Having knit for so long, the cowl has always been so popular. Perfect for a one skein project. Perfect to splurge on that bit of cashmere you've had your eye on. But I always wanted something with a little more... drama, shall we say? This eternity scarf drapes low giving the appearance of something low-cut. I used different stitch patterns so you can twist it about and it can look different every which way.

Yes, I have a bit of an obsession with scarves. Generally, they've been much cheaper to buy, but this particular design seems to be cheaper to knit yourself! Especially in that fine fiber you've had your eye on! Here are a few more pics of my design:



Twist it around twice when it gets really cold out:



If you're interested, buy now! You'll be brought to PayPal and you must be a member of Ravelry. The cost for the pattern is $4.00.