I will take this yarn and turn it into this sweater.

Malabrigo sock in Solis

Just watch me.

This wonderful cap is Struan by Ysolda Teague (again – really, all of her patterns are so good.)  I made a few changes to the pattern which can be seen here, including adding short rows.

The body of the hat was knit with two strands of Pickles Cash-Tweed laceweight and one strand of Abuelita Baby Merino held together to give a rich color.  The lining was just two strands of abuelita, which gave a little lighter weight.  The hat does look a little strangely proportioned knitting up, because it is supposed to be tight, but when on, it stretches out perfectly.

This is a quilt I made a few months ago for a friend expecting a baby. I didn’t know its gender and wanted to make it something neutral in that way, though not at all neutral in terms of color. I thought a bunch of greens together might make this look like a mini indoor park or the fields of the midwest rotating crops.

Sadly, Berta3’s 5-minute life was only enough to sew about 20 inches of seams… and somehow I had no receipt, nor patience for another Berta, being that all three had been fickle machines. At less than $50 each, that was to be expected I suppose.

So, this was a tv-watching/hand-sewing adventure. Some fabrics were old (from the first dress I made), scraps (trip to Berlin), linens (IKEA is so cheap!), new-ish (shirt remnants). Lots of variety. I threw all the squares into a bag and randomly pulled them out and pieced them. Every once in a while a little extra randomness was added because of course some textures were repeated more.  All the layers are tied together at the corners with embroidery floss.

The baby was born last month – I hope he loves it!

Here’s a project I just whipped up this weekend.  Okay, it wasn’t really that fast.  But it was satisfying to imagine and execute the whole thing so quickly.  Most of the materials I had on hand, and it allowed me to use my precious Liberty fabric that I had been saving for something special, with plenty left over.

Here are some tutorials, but it’s so basic and easy that you could dream one up yourself!

This project was officially a knitting black hole, as defined by the Yarn Harlot.  A lot of time and yarn went into it, but very little length appeared.  Of course, that may be due to knitting 7 stitches to the inch, rather than the recommended 4.  And to re-doing the edge.  And that it is a slipped stitch pattern.

It is the Armando Hat by Gina House knit in Rowan Pure Wool DK, and definitely turned out to be a manly knit as promised.  Not especially photogenic, but exactly what was required.

By the way, it was blocked on the bottom of a fondue set, which gave it the perfect shape.

I love polka-dots! Preferably red or cyan or white, but any will do.

Last night I looked up and noticed them reflecting off my sunglasses in the elevator. Somehow I had never realized before, although it is customary to look at the floor or the ceiling when one is riding up or down…

Some dotty things:

Stealth lining because sometimes it’s nice to hint, by Colette Patterns

Buttons (which are like attachable dots – how meta!) and a dress by Gertie

Dresses for Feria de Abril (in Spain polka-dots are called lunares, which adds a bit of romance.)

Sea urchins from Star of the East

Braile flocked fabric by Auntie Cookie

Heart-shaped dots by Sarah & Bendrix

Doesn’t Eero look so at home?  This is where he belongs.

Oh, Wednesday!

This project, the R2D2 hat by Carissa Browning, is a bit of a mish-mash.  The bottom stripes are in two-strand colorwork, the top has some duplicate stitch, and there is aplique for some of the circles as well…  Luckily fulling evened it all out into a pretty uniform hat (it also shrank it down to a more reasonable size but took away some of the stretchiness of the ribbing – a very un-scientific process.)

It’s made mostly from my stash of Abuelita held double to get a dk/worsted yarn, and a few last scraps from my trip to Berlin.

This is Eero.

He was supposed to be a special surprise gift, but I just couldn’t wait.  He is named after Finnish/American architect Eero Saarinen and is a companion to my mini Eames.

Made from the Elijah pattern by Ysolda Teague in Abuelita Baby Merino.

Eero

I’m busy knitting this week, working through the middle of a long project, while ending a secret giftie, and beginning something new… so I don’t have much to show. With my limited number of needles I have to be very careful that there are no conflicts between projects.  Plus, I like denser fabric so usually my projects require much more knitting on smaller needles than the pattern calls for.

		Some things I’ve been listening to recently: Knit Picks Podcast Jordan Jesse Go! Fresh Air with Terry Gross Crazy Heart Soundtrack