thrifting & knitting...

I was out thrifting with family recently and scored this cute little bag. No one can ever have too many bags. Cute fabric and a cute little shape makes a nice little knitting bag for car trips.

And here is a free pattern for the Helix scarf from Knitting Daily. I am a bit tired of knitting socks and baby hats and think I may make this scarf. Check out the pattern here.

And I even know the yarn I am going to knit it out of. I have the softest alpaca birthday yarn from 3 years ago. And the yarn comes from Dougherty Creek Alpacas in of all places Argyle, WI. I love nothing better than to find a pattern and already have the perfect yarn just waiting to go.

So all you knitters, what is on your needles?

(Thank again for the yarn Jane!)

another cute baby hat...

Now a days parents are opting not to learn the sex of the baby before it is born. So my baby knitting is more guesswork. There is a new baby coming and I think it will be a girl so I am knitting girl hats. I recently knit a purple one... This is the same Garnstudio pattern but looks so much different without the novelty yarn. These quick and easy little hats are a great way to use up yarn from my stash. Oddly my stash never really seems to get smaller...

Don't forget to vote!

cute knit baby hat...

Here is a little baby hat that I knit from yarn in my stash. I really like the cute little ear flaps. Next I am going to knit the same hat again but in wide red, orange and magenta stripes. This was a Garnstudio pattern.

knitted goodness 3... women's work

Lindsay Obermeyer is an author, educator, and artist with a passion for textiles. A natural born colorist with an eye for detail, Lindsay has been exhibiting her work in galleries and museums around the world for over 20 years, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Her designs have been included in 6 instructional books published by Lark Books, while her writing has been published in Fiberarts, Knit.1 and Reinventing Textiles: Gender and Identity. Lindsay also has some amazing beaded flowers on her site as well as an etsy shop. Lots to look at on her site.

knitted goodness, 2... if you don't have a Ferrari, knit one

This incredibly impressive knitted Ferrari was a project sculptor Lauren Porter made in school, using up twelve miles of yarn. Porter also created a series of quilted faux hunting trophies and knitted covers for several “homecomforts” items: a toilet, an armchair, and a sink.

Do watch the video on Lauren's site showing them set up the Ferrari for an exhibit.

And I can't even commit to a sweater.

knitted goodness...

Title: Hase (translated into your language Rabbit, Coniglio, Lapin, Conejo and so on) Artist: gelatin

Year: 2005-2025 (the Rabbit will stay at its place for the next 20 years)

Location: on a Mountain Hill (Colletto Fava, 1600m) close to Bar La Baita above the Village of Artesina, Piemonte, Italy

The toilet-paper-pink creature lies on its back: a rabbit-mountain like Gulliver in Lilliput. Happy you feel as you climb up along its ears, almost falling into its cavernous mouth, to the belly-summit and look out over the pink woolen landscape of the rabbitÃŒs body, a country dropped from the sky; ears and limbs sneaking into the distance.

You can read more about it here....

I love art and knitting. Here is the first post of several instances of that combo.

mac & me knitting patterns...

I have knit this pattern over and over and over again. It is a great pattern.

And now I am excited to have found this pattern. I compared it to free online yoga sock patterns but I can tell that the heel is handled better in this one. I am taking yoga and now that it is getting cool the floor feels cold so I think this will be a prefect solution. I can't wait to get the pattern and get started!

If you want either patten check out Jimmy Beans Wool. I hope to knit more of the Mac & Me patterns. These patterns are $7. If you buy a pattern plz encourage others to do the same rather than copying it for them. Patterns that are sold by a designer are the intellectual property of that designer. If you don't buy them they may quit making them. And that would be a bad thing.

i wish i had known elizabeth zimmermann

I dreamt of a sweater I want to knit. And I don't knit sweaters. So I have been pondering it and how to find a pattern and then I thought I should go back to this book. In rereading The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann I realized how much I really like her books. And I've always thought of these as my mother's knitting books. But Elizabeth's patterns are well thought out and she explains them in a way that makes perfect sense. Plus she is fond of the garter stitch as I am.

I really like this book for many reasons. She talks about her schoolhouse home in Pittsville, WI and the surrounding area. We always drove through Pittsville on our way to and from college. Her book reads like a blog... she chats about canoe trips and traveling, her husband and family. There is even a picture of the car bought with knitting proceeds.

I've decided to knit the Tomten sweater jacket for the unborn Punky the grandbaby. And I think I am going to check out all of Elizabeth's books to read my way through this Winter. You might want to too.