Photo post about to commence...

Weekend break to the Great North.

Learned how to cut silky fabric: starch it!  Boil water, add cornstarch, mix until clear, soak fabric, wring out, dry, cut pattern.

Lots and lots of weekends at the dog park.

New view.

Spring break.  I voted for some place with sun, water and sand, but settled for sun and sand.  

My very own space.  Finally got a craft room!  No more sharing or having to clear off the dining table after every project or tripping over cords or being bothered when I want uninterrupted time.

Flowers for almost every season.  This here is summer flowers.

Tomatoes are still alive after a cold spring.  Planted too early, but you made it!

Completed a fiber project!!!

Contemplating life as a pet photographer... not really.  He is a good subject though.

This is his serious side.

was looking forward...

to a rainy day indoors in front of the tv with on demand at my finger tips. woke up this morning and it was dark and raining which was perfect i thought for a day to stay in and knit. took my time to get out of bed, went to the bakery for my latte and sticky bun, read yesterday's paper, and took my time walking home in the rain. browsed around the knit ring, and now the sun has peeked through the clouds and i'm a little disappointed.

all you jane austen fans out there, have you notice all the movie adaptations of pride and prejudice in the recent past, by recent past i mean, like, the last ten years? First, there is the all time classic bbc version with colin (sigh) firth, need i say more. next came bridget jones, very loosely based on the story. again, any movie with colin playing darcy is great. then came the bollywood-ish bride and prejudice, a not so great interpretation. after that came the little seen p&p set in Utah and has a mormon spin(?) because the subtitle is called "a latter day comedy", which i plan to see in its when it is on again on cable, and i'm predicting it is not going to be good. Most recently is this adaptation by the people who brought us love, actually. keira knightly is not someone who comes to mind when i think of lizzy bennet. i saw the trailer and it doesn't look very good. jenna malone is lydia. matthew mcfadyen of mi-5 is darcy, he doesn't look good with mutton chops. so, what's with all these adaptations? that is a lot of remake for one story, don't you think? just bring back colin and jennifer ehle. i can watch that bbc version any time.

Good God, I made something...

been making great progress on Brier from Rowan 36. from photos in the magazine you would think that it is just a sweater with a label collar. well, my friends, this thing is made up of 9 pieces, including the collar. the back is knit in two pieces with the center back seam sewn inside out. The sleeves are two pieces each with a seam sewn inside out. this gives it more of a jacket style than a sweater style. again, bad photography from the magazine; you don't even see the most interesting parts of the sweater, which are all on the back side. and if i didn't examine the photos as closely as i did i wouldn't have seen it has an overlapping cuffs, and the instructions does not mention anything about buttonholes on the cuffs so I assume the buttons are sewn on top to close the cuffs. the devil is in the detail, people.

So little time

i have a short attention span. i always feel like i have to be creating or making something.  and there are times when it all comes to a halt: i feel no joy in pursuing any of my hobbies.  just this last month i felt this way, though i continued to knit i wasn't really excited and didn't really care when the project was going get done.  and this after i bought all that yarn at the summer sale!  i had lots pent up energy/stress.  so after about a year of being VERY laxed with my exercise routine i started running again.  though no the first time that i restarted my running (and several times it was really difficult, physically difficult, to restart) this times it has gone really well.  i've been able to increase the great amount distance in a short amount of time.  it has given me my energy back and released some stress. i feel invigorated and feel the need to create again.  but now it leaves me with lots to do and little time to do it.  i started a new project yesterday, something simple but it is turning out so nice that i want to knit all day long.  my other project is getting close to completion.  and i started a book about the history of shetland handknitters.  knit, read, run, eat, play, work... something needs to go.  too bad the last one isn't a possibility.

Discount Designs

This article answered a lot of questions I have every time I peruse the furniture aisles at Target. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/garden/20box.html?pagewanted=1&8hpib

They are back

Wow, some decent designs in the Winter IK. They have redeemed themselves with this issue because that Fall issue was awful. I was trying really hard to find something to like but couldn't.

Up Next

avf04kt12
Originally uploaded by pknitty.
On the needles now is this asymmetrical cardigan from the Fall 2004 Adrienne Vittadini book. I did a search of knitters who have knit AV patterns and let me tell you there are not too many. Why I wondered? The designs are so clean and classic. Maybe it is the sizing. Sure they have P, S, M, L sizes, but the actual dimensions for each pattern varies; one P size could be 32" across the chest, while another could be 34" or 36". I find it quite bizzare. Also, the length is not for a petite person. This pattern here is 26" long from hem to shoulder. I've resized the pattern (keeping fingers crossed that it will work out) to my small frame. Twenty six inches would be grazing the middle of my thighs.

So Ugly

Admit it, you've knit up some self patterning socks that are just hideous. You thought the color looked good at the store, but once you started knitting the color combination was just horrendous. So, go ahead and show us all your ugly socks.



I swear the colors were really appealing at the store. The peach, the brown, the green I don't mind it, it is the bright blue that sticks out that make these socks SUGLY (that's short for so ugly)!!

Another Attempt

Yes, another try at an Adrienne Vittadini pattern. This one was modified to my frame. It still looks a bit big. Only one way to find out for sure is to seam it up. As simple as this pattern was it was a real bore. Stockinette stitches made it monotonous and my mind started to wander on to new projects I could get started on.

Not much new here these days. I am debating about what to do with the Adrienne Vittadini sweater since it didn't come out as I had hoped, again. Not too surprising, of course. It's the curse of the AV patterns. The curling edges won't go away, the neckline is not proportionate and the color is not working for me (okay, that one has nothing to do with the pattern design). I should frog it and find a pattern that suits the coppery-orangey color. Can't decide!!



Meanwhile, I was commissioned to make some holiday gifts. My goodness, the holidays are approaching quickly!! I don't know when I will have time to make my own holiday gifts.

Last Days

Her days are numbered. I don't think she will make it to completion. Time to face reality. She did not work out as planned, and now it is time for her to go.



Truth be told, I have already found a replacement. It is Moonlight from Rowan 34.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!!

It's been many years since we've had a christmas tree. Don't know why. But the time has come and we got one this year. Since we don't have much space we opted for a little one. It is petite and adorable.



I finally get to hang ornaments I have collected over the years, and also, we trimmed the tree with non traditional items.


Yoda, Tiki mask, Snoopy and Obiwan Kenobi

Sitting on top of the tree are Ramona and Randy Reindeer. They are from Hallmark going back to the '80s when you could got them for a couple of bucks with a purchase of some cards.


I made an ornament to commemorate Christmas 2005.


For some reason felt and Christmas go so well together. I went crazy and bought tons of felt squares, and have only made the ornament and two stockings. Candy stripe stockings from felt squares. Real quick and simple: cut 1.5 inch strips, lay them on stocking shaped interfacing, iron interfacing to strips of felt, trim strips along the stocking shaped interfacing and sew both pieces wrong side together. Finally, sew on loop. To reinforce the loop, sew a stitch line along the edges of the loop.


Yes, yes, a pat on the back for me. I have finished 80% of the Christmas shopping. It is on the the cards. Why don't I ever keep a list of addresses for this? Every year we scrounge around for the addresses and inevitably someone is forgotten.

When bad things happen to good knitters

twist top
Originally uploaded by pknitty.
Look at it! It is so ugly! Terrible. I love the contruction but wish it was a better fit. Like I said in the last post I am so over this thing completion of version 2 looks doubtful.