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Lots of knittin'

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

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

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!

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.

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!

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?!