Pretty in pink...

Here is our darling neighbor baby modeling some of my knitting. The sweater is the Heartbreaking Cute Baby Kimono pattern. The hat is the Ann Norling Kid's Fruit Cap. I never knit the fruit pattern stitches so I think it always looks more like a flower. I look for a stretchy acrylic or part acrylic yarn. While that seems strange for a baby item it means the hat stays on. These are always the hats that the Mom's report back on as the one and only hat that they put on the baby.

Both are quick to knit and make an interesting gift.

I don't think so.

John thinks we should tell everyone this is what we have been doing for the last 9 months. He thinks this should be our Christmas card. I don't think John has any idea how old we are.

This is a sweet, new neighborhood baby. I knit her the kimono sweater in pink with brown and white polka dot grosgrain ribbons.

Franklin Habit @ Yellow Dog Knitting

1,000 Knitters is a long-term photography project undertaken by Chicago photographer (and knitter) Franklin Habit, who blogs at The Panopticon. The goal is to celebrate through portraiture a creative community whose members have historically been either overlooked or sentimentalized, and whose work is often undervalued.

Last Saturday Franklin Habit visited my local yarn store Yellow Dog Knitting. On Saturday about 65 of us came, we all knit on the same scarf, and chatted with Franklin as he took our photo. 1,000 Knitters will at some point be a book. At this point he has photographed almost 500 knitters.

It is always fun to meet a knitting celebrity. Franklin looks a lot taller on his blog. For some reason I thought he'd be 6'4", but was every bit as cute as I expected.

And for any of you knitters who live within a 50 mile radius of Eau Claire you MUST go to Yellow Dog Knitting if you have not already done so. They have great yarn, a darling store and wonderful people. I have learned SO much from knitting there. They always have great ideas and wonderful solutions. Friday mornings is Knitting Support where you can drop in and knit and have them answer all your questions. Oh they also have a very nice newsletter, blog and always have a lot of new classes for all knitters at all levels. I am right now taking an Argyle Sock class.

I actually caught myself telling someone that I 'belong to' Yellow Dog Knitting as if it was a religious affitiation. And maybe it is.

Birthday Yarn

I consider it still my birthday as long as I keep receiving presents. (Technically my birthday was in late December.)

When I opened this little box of yarn I was speechless.

For some reason my friend Jane can buy me yarn. This is odd because I am SO fussy about pretty much everything in my life. (Although very happy to receive gifts of any kind.) And I don't think I could buy yarn for anyone. But Jane can.

And there is a little back story about this yarn. Jane works with a woman who in part owns the very alpacas that this yarn is from. The picture does not do this yarn justice. The heathery gray color is called Spatz, The rich dark brown is called Dark Princess and the beautiful camel color is Merle. And these names of the yarn are also the names of the alpacas. This yarn is not dyed this is the color of the animals.

The farm where the alpacas are raised is in Argyle, WI. How appropriate is that?

I told Jane I was going to blog about this. She mentioned that they don't make a lot of yarn at this point and it is being sold by word of mouth. I said I didn't think it mattered because I don't think any reads my blog anyway.

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono

How cute is this little newborn sized, one piece, hand knit kimono? This is SO easy, definitely a beginner pattern. It is almost all garter stitch, which is all knitting. But a lot of style for such an easy project. Because the entire kimono is knit in one piece when finished you only sew up the underarm and sleeve.

It knits up fast as it is on a size 6 needle. This may have been 4 nights of TV watching and knitting to do the entire kimono.

It is knit out of cotton dishcloth yarn. I used Peaches & Creme worsted weight by Elmore-Pisgah. it is very washable. I could knit this out of a nicer cotton yarn but this is the yarn I started knitting on as a kid. And I like knitting with cotton, I like the feel.

The pattern came from the Mason Dixon Knitting book and the pattern is the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono. If you like knitting with this yarn I also recommend the Ballband Dishcloth also in this book.

Birthday Knitting

It was my darling husband's birthday a couple weeks ago and I made him some half mitts. The pattern is a Knitty Pattern called Dashing. It has several cables. I made these out of 2 skeins of Gedifra English Tweed yarn. It is charcoal gray with little flecks of camel. Quick knit out of nice yarn. If you start now you could probably knit a couple pair for your favorite people for Christmas. There is a women's pattern called Fetching. If I was going to knit a pair for myself I would still knit Dashing. It is much longer and I like the cable pattern more. To make it fit a bit better I'd cast on a few less stitches. It has a K4, P2, K4, P1 repeat. I would just use a K4, P1, K4, P1 repeat which would make it fit a little tighter.

Enjoy.

Christmas knitting...

These make great gifts and you can still knit some up for Christmas as they are quick and easy and one size so far fits all. Not to mention every one seems to love them or are being very kind, one or the other.

This is a Mac & Me pattern called #070 Firm Fitting Fingerless Gloves. I knit mine out of one strand of Berroco Suede using 2 different colors. I use black as one of the colors because I always wear some black and think most people do too.

My only criticism of the pattern is small and has nothing to do with knitting. But the entire pattern is set in all caps. Sigh. As a typographer I have a real thing about using all caps for anything that uses a lot of copy. Actually anything more than one line. It is hard to read, always. I have no idea why people do this. Other than that it is an enjoyable, well written, easy to follow pattern.

Happy Knitting.

Little sweaters for your feet.

If you knit you really need to learn to knit sox. I know you can buy sox but it is not the same. Up North it is cold this time of the year. There are drafts, the floor is cold, life is cold. And in the morning when you slip out of bed and put a pair on it is little sweaters for your feet.