Child’s Eared Hoodie
February 7, 2012 § 1 Comment
When you start work in the yarn & fiber business, one of the rudest awakenings (and, later, most irritating assumptions) is that one does not, in fact, spend one’s day knitting, spinning, and hazily swanning around the pastoral scene. Like everybody else, I mainly write emails, answer the phone, help customers, and solve all the problems I’m able to.
How nice, then, to be asked– no, assigned– to spend the day knitting!
We’ve had a few customers who had had trouble making the Child’s Eared Hoodie. So, my job last Thursday was to knit the pattern and, in so doing, come up with the Errata (they’re here). I made the smallest size, and it took about half of the day.
In yet another happy coincidence, one of my friends had recently asked me to knit a baby something– a cousin, I think– and so I’ll be sending this off to him.
I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. I didn’t add the ears– children suffer enough indignities without having a pair of animal ears slapped on their heads– and, of course, I fixed the mistakes and unclear portions of the pattern, but, otherwise, it’s exactly as written. I especially love the smart little i-cord ties at the front!
- Pattern: Child’s Eared Hoodie, by Tanis Gray, from Juniper Moon Farm Chadwick Booklet
- Yarn: JMF Chadwick, 2 balls, in Clear Skies
- Needles: US 7, which is a size smaller than recommended, but I’m a loose knitter (who doesn’t own US 8 needles AT ALL!)
- Dates: February 2nd, 2012
This is, incidentally, the first thing I’ve actually finished in 2012. So there’s got to be some good magic in there somewhere.
Bearing (a few small) Gifts
January 19, 2012 § 1 Comment
It’s pretty well known that I take every chance possible to knit for people I know and love. So, when we went out to the Bay last week, I brought a few presents along with me.
This sweater, for Baby Lemon (whose parents work with my friend Elinor), took a little longer than expected, but I think was well-received.
I also brought a new lanyard (per request) to my friend Maggie. When we were roommates, she’d taken the i-cord drawstring from a saddle cover I’d made and started using it to keep her keys on when she went out– it’s the easiest way to keep track of them while you bike (things slip out of pockets).
The old one finally wore out, and so, another. I told her she can have 1 a year in perpetuity. We’ll see.
A Baby Named Lemon
November 3, 2011 § 1 Comment
Last night, I cast on one of my favorite projects– the Baby Sweater on Two Needles (more commonly known as the February Baby Sweater) from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s incomparable classic Knitter’s Almanac.
I don’t know how many of the February Baby Projects I’ll end up doing– definitely a pair of leggings for the baby– but little Lemon’s definitely going to be a warm baby this winter.
Secret Knitting
April 14, 2011 § Leave a Comment
It’s been quite a while since I’ve written about any of the knitting I’m doing– and now I’m test-knitting some really lovely lace in Findley. It’s been a dream to work with (that’s the 50% silk content!), and the colors– I’m working with Crocodile and Graphite– are so wonderfully original & luminous.
And, of course, I can’t show you any of it.
So I’ll just have to share with you the last thing I knit before I started working on the lace:
Baby’s Bootikin by Nancy Bush from Knitting Vintage Socks, worked on 0′s (I was supposed to use smaller, but, honestly, I don’t have anything smaller, and didn’t want to pay to go down .25mm in my needle size), in Knit Picks Palette in Marble Heather and Blue Note Heather (which are, incidentally, some of my two favorite colors out of the hundred).
Again, I don’t know anyone with a baby– although I know someone who’s suddenly got about 15 lambs on her hands!– but, life being what it is, I’m sure I will some day soon.
