Florrie Marie

Our New Home!

2009-08-14T01:19:00.002-04:00

We have moved! please visit us at FlorrieMarie!

Lots of knittin'

2009-04-24T20:48:00.009-04:00

Wow. So my inconsistancy at blogging has reached new, unheard of heights.

Spring has sprung in NYC, and I have tons of projects in the works. I made a neck warmer for Monique, and the orders have flooded in. I knit a clutch for Priscilla (which sadly I need to pull apart a few inches and re-knit) I got a bunch of cotton on special and am madly knitting away at some "green" dish cloths. whew. Hardly leaving time to blog!

I am also participating in the Flickr 365 day project so I think to make myself more accountable I will post a weekly recap here, as a help to make me finish and just for fun. That should happen sundays, I believe.

My new passion is bread making. I LOVE it. everything about it. They yeasty smell, the dough which goes from super sticky to satiny smooth as you knead it. The silky flour, the hot oven, the crust. Who knew.. bread making is SEXY!

Diagonal Rib Hat Part Deux

2009-01-14T17:28:00.006-05:00

My green diagonal rib hat from Purl Bee got so much attention that I was comissioned by some coworkers to make more! Lili wanted it in a pretty deep red, Meg wants one in pink, and Frank is still deciding. Mike, who I had in mind for the pretty pale olive hat, wants one in black. Just like a man. :-) I polled everyone that I could get to listen, and the majority ruled that the green was unisex, but the diagonal rib was a little too fay for a straight man. It was kind of hilarious then, that mike loved the pattern, but thought the green was too femmy. So funny. Please pardon the mug shot like picture. I had just woken up! So I wan't injured one bit that Mike took a pass on it. I had been wearing it for about a week and I didn't want to give it up. It is now offically MINE ALL MINE! I was wearing at work the other day when my friend Lili saw it, and she wanted one done in red. Lucky for me it knits up remarkably fast. she saw it Monday and I bought the yarn tuesday, and I dropped it off for her at work today. Just like that. Shazam. The red turned out really, really nice, too. I love how it really fits your head. Its the perfect skull cap. It sits low on your forehead and covers your ears so it keeps you toasty warm. I knit both of them in Blue Sky Alpaca Hand Dyed Worsted on US #9 needles. I fudged the pattern a little cause it was written for a gorgeous cashmere that was a little different gauge, and way out of my budget. :-) That and once I knit a few rounds I didn't really need instructions, its easy to see where the changes are, and the decreases are very logical. But it came out just as beautiful. So, thank you Purl Bee for a great pattern. I hope Lili loves her hat as much as I do.

Cozy

2009-01-12T09:44:00.005-05:00

Since were supposed to have an arctic blast this week I thought I would finally knit a hot water bottle cozy. I'm using an inexpensive washable wool in a star stitch pattern. I like how the verigated wool accidentally makes stripes along the body. As soon as its done I will post the directions in case anyone wants to make one too! It's almost done, I have about another inch of teh star stitch, then I need to do my "shoulder" decreases and make the collar. Its just like a little sweater. :-)

SCORE!

2009-01-11T11:47:00.006-05:00

Considering how much I am drawn to vintage styles and I love the idea of my grandmothers knitting, I was looking for some vintage knitting inspiration, and made this great score on Etsy. Its a 1945 Vogue knitting book and it looks amazing. I am foaming at the mouth a little to get it. When I do I'll take more pictures and post them. I'm especially liking the look of that red & white stripey sweater. Cute! I started knitting a little sweater from some ocher tweedy wool that Devon gave me. I am completely making it up as I go along. I'm sort of semi using Elizabeth Zimmermann's yoke style seamless sweater procedure... but I don't own the book, I perused it once at Knit NY and I am flying by the seat of my pants a little. I know, I know... but that makes it exciting.

I have the sleeves done (3/4 slightly belled) and have started on the K2,P2 ribbing of the bottom. I'll post some pictures as I have them, and let you know how it goes. Exciting! I just came back to work from taking off 6 days and during that time I taught my friend Priscilla how to knit. I told her that it was very important for a new knitter to embrace the zen attitude that things don't have to look exact and perfect when you are first starting out and learning. Every mistake brings you more skill and knowledge and the more you rip it apart and start over, the better you will be not to mention the happier with the final product you will be. I have to remember my own advice as I make my sweater. Speaking of Etsy... other great find I made are these 1960's or 70's booklets on sewing techniques. I know the basics on how to sew, but it never hurts to have more info! Besides I'm curious about the booklet entitled Knits. Is it knitting? Or how to sew knits? We shall see! And I think I need to start wearing more Jumpsuits anyway.

oooooooo. Bad Girl.

2009-01-11T11:22:00.003-05:00

Oh my. I hadn't realized that it had been so long since I last posted on here. I'm a baaaaad girl. I have been doing loads of knitting lately, even though I have little or no record of it. I have been working on writing my very first patterns, which is a long slow slog, apparently. I made a great diagonal rib hat from a pattern from Purl Bee. Super cute, I made Simone the Ysolda Gretel Beret and I made up a pattern for matching mittens, Reina got a cute pair of pink and black stripey fingerless gloves, I made a few small christmas gifts, and have been just basically trying out differnt patterns from my 365 pattern calendar. Busy busy girl!

Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame was at my store for a book signing (the only one in NYC) for her new Back to Basics cookbook, and I got to be her girl friday, turning pages and sliding books over so she could sign away. It was a lot of fun, and she is sooo nice and super kind even to the craziest people in line. :-) I will be posting more entries (probably today) featuring more knits. Happy New year!

Finished!

2008-05-28T20:13:00.005-04:00

I finished the Gretel Beret today. I think it came out really nice. The yarn weight I used is a bit thinner than the pattern recommended, but it staill came out just fine. Probably not quite as slouchy as it should have been, but its very pretty. I used bigger needles and knitted with very loose tension. Ain't it purdy?!

Gretel Beret

2008-05-26T14:10:00.003-04:00

I started knitting this super cute beret yesterday. I really should be cleaning, but you know how it is! I think the weigt of the yarn is a little thin... so I hope it doesn't come out too small, but I'm knitting with loose tension, and i hope its stretchy. If not, no worries, I can always frog it and use bigger needles. Its cute so far though1

Teeny Cream Slippers

2008-05-18T00:59:00.004-04:00

Oh wait... I nearly forgot about my Teeny Cream Slippers. Maybe I didn't knock out dozens, but I did start off with one pair for the Etsy shop. I guess I'll see how they do and take it from there. My teeny paper boxes seem to be the best sellers so far, so I really need to get more of them made.

BAD MOMMY!

2008-05-18T00:47:00.003-04:00

hmm. I have been a baaad blog mommy. Please don't call social services on me. In fact I haven't even been knitting very much. But I have some cute teeny knit ideas percolating in my teeny brain and as soon as I have more things started I will post pictures. *enthusiastic head nodding*

Teeny Baby Slippers

2008-04-19T19:53:00.005-04:00

I knit up the cutest little teeny pair of baby slippers for my friend Kate who is going to have a baby next month. I used the Erica Knight pattern from her baby knits book in Kouigu Kersti yarn with a thread of fluffy Mohair mixed in. When I was done I fluffed up the Mohair with a soft brush and stitched a pretty magenta felt flower onto each slipper.

They are the best project ever, because you only have to know how to increase & decrease. You look like a Knitting superstar with very little effort. I am totally going to knock out a few pair of these for my Etsy Shop.

Teeny Purse No. 3 Part II

2008-03-18T02:13:00.003-04:00

So its done. It was the first lining I did, so it isn't perfect. I was playing around with the shape and made it an extreme flare. I think its cute and I love the fabric for the lining. What do you think?

Teeny Purse No. 3

2008-03-13T11:34:00.003-04:00

This is the progress so far for Teeny Purse No. 3. I'm knitting it flat instead of in the round (a little to my dismay because I hate sewing up seams) so that the honeycomb pattern in the center is easier. So far so good though!

Star Stitch Pattern

2008-03-10T10:30:00.003-04:00

The Star Stitch is really super duper easy, even though the end result makes you look very clever...

Cast on in multiples of 4, then add one stitch at the end.

Row 1: (right side) KNIT

Row 2: P1, *MS, P1, rep from * to end.

Row 3. KNIT

Row 4: P3, MS, *P1, MS, rep from * to last 3 sts, P3.

And thats it!

To MS(make star) You just Purl 3 tog, leaving the stitches on the left hand needle, wrap the yarn around the needle, then purl through the same three stitches again.
That sounds a little complicated, but once you've done it you'll see how truely simple it is.

I knitted the teeny green purse in the round, and in this pattern the design is knit on the purl side, so I just knitted it inside out. The knit rows would be purled.

Teeny Purse No. 2

2008-03-07T00:20:00.004-05:00

So I finished Teeny Purse No. 2 tonight while watching my Netflix "Colonial House" dvd. Enthralling. The second teeny purse turned out much better than the first.

I like the shape much better, and the increases I added made for a much fuller and prettier shape. OK! On to teeny purse No. 3!

Teeny Purse No. 1

2008-03-06T10:16:00.005-05:00

Teeny purse No. 1 is done, but I can't say that I am thrilled with it. I think I need to increase a bit after the initial few rows. they have to be a specific size to fit the metal clasp. It seems too narrow. In my mind's eye I wanted it to flare out a bit more. I also tried to decrease the bottom in a spiral pattern which made it roundish and also narrow. And since I was knitting from the purl side for the pattern, the spiral shows as purl on the outside. You can see the knit side in the second picture. The bottom is badly done on the outside. I really like the star stitch which is FAR easier that I imagined it would be. The last picture is a detail of the stitch. Pretty- right?? So now I'm re-knitting it in a pretty teal with the increases and I think I'll just cast off the bottom edges together for a flat seam. Ill post pictures as it goes. Wish me luck!

Florrie Marie

2008-03-06T00:47:00.000-05:00

Wow. My first blog. Please stop by the Etsy shop to see my wares. We are currently working on a line of teeny purses and a Lux line of housewares. I'll be back!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5532803