We interrupt this blog to bring you this special post

My sweetie has been asking me if I’ve shown everyone his work, so today I present his completed works for all to see.

This is his first large cross stitch project:


We sent in a picture of his first dog to a company who created the chart for him to use. I had his piece framed with the picture and the framer wrote his dog’s name in calligraphy.

The next piece we have framed is entitled “The Wave” which everyone thinks is a painting.



His most recent finish is entitled “Artic Antics”

(click all photos for a larger view)

His work makes me jealous; there a few pieces that I’ve started that I’ve never finished. I wish I had his determination.
~C

Where is (s)he? Getting dizzy.

I never meant to be away from the blog this long, but there has been some crazy stuff going on here. As I try to catch up I offer you this:




A Woodin from Knitty.com stuffed with catnip for this effect:





I think she likes him because every so often I find him in another room, or in our bed. It was a really quick little project and I finished in a few hours and hand felted. However I feel the best way to felt this little guy is demonstrated by Nemo in those pictures. I used some Patons Merino yarn and left over Cascade 220 from Rogue.

Ravelry is making me realize that there are a few FO that I’ve never blogged about. This is one of the few crochet projects that I’ve done:


This is the Galaxy Afghan made from Caron Simply Soft. As you can see these little guys have claimed it for their own.





I’ve wanted to start another blanket for some time now and have had my eye on the Sampler Afghan from Cables Untangled. However I am starting to worry that the panels may not line up right and I will be unhappy with the look of the blanket. So my attention has turned towards Saffron Cables from the fall 2006 Interweave Knits. I’ve been sitting on my 10% off coupon from Blue Moon all year with the idea of using it for a blanket. However I am now having second thoughts about using STR heavy weight in Midsummers Night. I don’t think that I’ll be able to get gauge and the blanket will be too small. Blue Moon has a yarn called Peru that seems like it will provide the right gauge but I’m not sure how it will stand up. I also wanted a yarn that I can throw into the washing machine(on delicate) because I refuse to have blankets dry cleaned.

So here are some questions for everyone:
1.How do you clean your hand knitted blankets?
2.What pattern do you think I should knit?
3.What do you think the best yarn to use would be?

Thank you all in advance for your input.
~C

Hats*

Now that the calendar says September I’m looking forward to the cooler weather and warm hand knits. So to celebrate the coming fall I knitted this up before we went to DC:





(It is very hard taking pictures of yourself.)

Pattern: Red Light Special by Jared of Brooklyntweed
Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark in Chesnut, Skyline, Colonial Blue and Icicle.
For the lining, Knit Picks Shine Sport in Sky.
Needles: Addi Turbo Lace in US1 and Knit Picks US 3 circular.

This was a very quick knit for me and I enjoyed every moment of it. I love the feel of the Shine Sport on my ears and forehead which are usually really sensitive to wool. Originally the background color was going to be Navy but it knitted up too similar to Skyline, you couldn’t distinguish the pattern. So I ordered Chestnut and Icicle to replace Navy and Alpine Frost. I’m really happy with the colors.

I’ve also dug this out of hibernation and have been plugging away in hopes to finish it before the weather turns:



This is the back of Urban Aran Cardigan, another item I saw at Brooklyntweed and fell in love with! I just casted on for the front last night; I’m knitting both pieces at once to keep them even. The yarn, Elann Peruvian Highland Chunky Wool is nice to work with. I find it very soft and squishy; it also knits up pretty fast. I’ve added an extra stitch on both sides for the seam, and in the front I split it where the p2 divides the cable panels while adding a knit and slipped stitch to hide the zipper. I think I might add a double sided zipper, other people seem to have had success with it so if I can find one I’ll add it.

Since my mind is on sweaters lately there are two that I have been itching to buy the wool for, Cobblestone(yes another Jared’s pattern) and Tangled Yoke Cardigan by Eunny Jang. Maybe when payday rolls around I’ll purchase the yarn for Cobblestone; Scott has been asking for a sweater and he really likes the MacAllistar Orange that is on sale at Webbs.

*Okay I’m stretching the Rent lyric here, they do sing hats in “Christmas Bells” but you wouldn’t know that’s where I took this from unless I told you.