Thursday, September 30, 2010
New in the Shop for Fall
Lightweight, colorful, and flirty crocheted scarves from my hands, hooks, and spinning wheel:
Friday, September 17, 2010
Mondo Lace Cowl--Asterisque
My love affair with Asterisque began with a browse through the Etsy store Phydeaux. Brenda, the proprietress, has a wonderful aesthetic that resonates with me because of her application of color and texture in her designs. As luck would have it, I won a giveaway on Brenda's blog and got to chose a pattern from her store. I took no time to make my choice.
As soon as the pattern arrived, out came the knitting needles that look like broomsticks. Darned big old things that feel unwieldy in my hands.
I never have liked working with size 19 straight needles or anything larger, and this time was no different. A quick change to an Addi size 19 circular needle made a huge difference and everything start to click!
This super fast project has ginormous flare and can be worn multitudinous ways.
It feels so soft and cosy that cold weather is seriously gonna be fun this year.
As an added treat, I also won this marvelous wash for fine fibers on the giveaway:
It smells so great that I may add it to my bathwater!
Knitting patterns for Brenda's beautifully contemporary designs can be found at Phydeaux Designs or on Ravelry.
As soon as the pattern arrived, out came the knitting needles that look like broomsticks. Darned big old things that feel unwieldy in my hands.
I never have liked working with size 19 straight needles or anything larger, and this time was no different. A quick change to an Addi size 19 circular needle made a huge difference and everything start to click!
This super fast project has ginormous flare and can be worn multitudinous ways.
It feels so soft and cosy that cold weather is seriously gonna be fun this year.
As an added treat, I also won this marvelous wash for fine fibers on the giveaway:
It smells so great that I may add it to my bathwater!
Knitting patterns for Brenda's beautifully contemporary designs can be found at Phydeaux Designs or on Ravelry.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Moebius Cowl
In August, Sivia Harding was the guest speaker at the Tigard Knitting Guild in Tigard, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. Sivia is a gifted designer who has recently moved to Portland and now works at one of my favorite local yarn stores, Twisted. She is a big fan of using beads in her designs, which rates her high with me.
Sivia's pattern collection is inspired. Her graceful personality comes through in her many lace shawl designs. I hope some day to have the time to sit down and knit one.
I was smitten in a flash with Sivia's marvelous textural piece called Harmonia's Rings Cowl. It starts out as a moebius cowl and then grows into a little capelet.
The cowl has a picot beaded cast-off on the collar edge that is so sweet. The pattern is cleverly reversible and easy to memorize. I whipped it out in a week because of being possessed by it.
This was my first experience with knitting a moebius project. Cat Bordhi's You-Tube video on the moebius cast-on was extremely helpful if you have never done one.
As with the project in the last post, I knit this cowl with needles one size larger than the pattern suggested in order to have a little larger and drapey end result.
This pattern is fun to make and delicious to wear. Visit Sivia's website to see her full pattern collection.
Sivia's pattern collection is inspired. Her graceful personality comes through in her many lace shawl designs. I hope some day to have the time to sit down and knit one.
I was smitten in a flash with Sivia's marvelous textural piece called Harmonia's Rings Cowl. It starts out as a moebius cowl and then grows into a little capelet.
The cowl has a picot beaded cast-off on the collar edge that is so sweet. The pattern is cleverly reversible and easy to memorize. I whipped it out in a week because of being possessed by it.
This was my first experience with knitting a moebius project. Cat Bordhi's You-Tube video on the moebius cast-on was extremely helpful if you have never done one.
As with the project in the last post, I knit this cowl with needles one size larger than the pattern suggested in order to have a little larger and drapey end result.
This pattern is fun to make and delicious to wear. Visit Sivia's website to see her full pattern collection.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Knitting Escape
It isn't a vacation from knitting, but it is a little escape from my own designs.
Sometimes it's easy to get bogged down in the details of your own work. A refreshing thing to do is to work a wonderful pattern created by someone else. You can relax and know that someone else has worked out all the details, done the test knitting, and tech-edited the pattern.
I don't get a chance to do this much because of spending most time on developing my own designs, but this year I managed to schedule three knitting escapes. This was the project for my knitting vacation last January and February
This lovely shawlette called Citron was designed by Hillary Smith Callis and can be found on the Winter 2009 issue at Knitty.com by clicking here. The knitting of it it had a relaxing, almost meditative, quality.
I worked it intentionally looser to create a slightly larger shawlette. Our office building can get mightily cold in the winter and I wanted it to fully cover my shoulders.
In August I was close to burn out and took two more escapes to knit other people's patterns. The next two posts this week will feature them.
Sometimes it's easy to get bogged down in the details of your own work. A refreshing thing to do is to work a wonderful pattern created by someone else. You can relax and know that someone else has worked out all the details, done the test knitting, and tech-edited the pattern.
I don't get a chance to do this much because of spending most time on developing my own designs, but this year I managed to schedule three knitting escapes. This was the project for my knitting vacation last January and February
This lovely shawlette called Citron was designed by Hillary Smith Callis and can be found on the Winter 2009 issue at Knitty.com by clicking here. The knitting of it it had a relaxing, almost meditative, quality.
I worked it intentionally looser to create a slightly larger shawlette. Our office building can get mightily cold in the winter and I wanted it to fully cover my shoulders.
In August I was close to burn out and took two more escapes to knit other people's patterns. The next two posts this week will feature them.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Autumnal Gold
There was a time when I couldn't stomach fall colors. It was a reaction to having seen too much avocado green shag carpet and too many harvest gold kitchen appliances in the 1970s. I blasted into the eighties with a reactionary craving for jewel tones like everyone else.
So it came as a surprise when I found myself in the last few years loving green, brown, gold, rust, orange and wine. In defense, the current go-round of harvest hues are more saturated and clear, whereas the 1970's versions were from a dull and muted palette.
This post has some selections in beautiful gold for your viewing pleasure.
So it came as a surprise when I found myself in the last few years loving green, brown, gold, rust, orange and wine. In defense, the current go-round of harvest hues are more saturated and clear, whereas the 1970's versions were from a dull and muted palette.
This post has some selections in beautiful gold for your viewing pleasure.
by Amaia
by laslopezlas
by ao3designs
by PaleFireDesigns
by fibercottage
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Cinnamon, Brown Sugar, & Caramel
All those good Autumn flavors are waiting to be sampled. I'm ready for a rainy afternoon spent knitting in a local yarn store by a gas fireplace or sipping hot chai latte at a coffee shop while reading a good thriller.
Who am I kidding? A knitwear accessory store owner doesn't get much time to lounge around reading novels all afternoon. Not at this time of year.
Here are some lovely handmade choices to spice up an Autumn wardrobe.
Who am I kidding? A knitwear accessory store owner doesn't get much time to lounge around reading novels all afternoon. Not at this time of year.
Here are some lovely handmade choices to spice up an Autumn wardrobe.
by flutter
byPaleFireDesigns
by eweniquelyewe
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Orange You Glad
Summer's almost over.
I always get excited in the Fall. It's a holdover from school days. The excitement about a box of freshly sharpened pencils, the smell of new crayola crayons, or crisply pressed school uniforms was hard to contain. It was second only to the anticipation of what novel things we might learn in the coming term.
September, more than January, has always seemed more like the beginning of the year.
Fresh from a holiday at the ocean, I spent some time this evening combing Etsy stores to see what wonderful fall accessories were being offered in some of my favorite Autumn colors.
Here are some beauties in burnt orange:
I always get excited in the Fall. It's a holdover from school days. The excitement about a box of freshly sharpened pencils, the smell of new crayola crayons, or crisply pressed school uniforms was hard to contain. It was second only to the anticipation of what novel things we might learn in the coming term.
September, more than January, has always seemed more like the beginning of the year.
Fresh from a holiday at the ocean, I spent some time this evening combing Etsy stores to see what wonderful fall accessories were being offered in some of my favorite Autumn colors.
Here are some beauties in burnt orange:
by amysfunkyfibers
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
I Could Not Have Said It Any Better
Mary Mooney, in the Oregonian knitting blog wrote a wonderful post on Sunday called "True confessions, knitting edition" It's a fun read, so check it out. Here's my favorite part because I'm so not yet on the Facebook bandwagon. Here's what Mary said:
Not having a personal page on Facebook is something about not wanting that many friends. It's something about shyness. It's also about not wanting to be part of the great time suck and a little about not wanting to read about what all those potential friends might be doing every day. I love my blog, Twitter, & Ravelry friends. It would just be too much to add one more social network and still keep my sanity.
I do have a page for the business but have been too busy to do anything with it yet. I need a Facebook fairy to show up and fix it for me.
... as an adult I appear to be one of 14 people on the planet not on Facebook. (I have nothing against Facebook, honestly. It's just that I'm a truly boring person, and I don't see the point of reminding everyone of that with regular updates that I spend my time working, running and knitting. Really, the most interesting thing about is me is that I knit, and I can blab about that here. And as an extra bonus, I can blab about that here without simultaneously learning that someone who sat beside me in the fourth grade is currently watching "Mad Men"in his underwear and eating Oreos. Tell me that's not a win-win situation.)
Not having a personal page on Facebook is something about not wanting that many friends. It's something about shyness. It's also about not wanting to be part of the great time suck and a little about not wanting to read about what all those potential friends might be doing every day. I love my blog, Twitter, & Ravelry friends. It would just be too much to add one more social network and still keep my sanity.
I do have a page for the business but have been too busy to do anything with it yet. I need a Facebook fairy to show up and fix it for me.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Flower Mystery is Solved
Mr. Cha Cha and I had dinner last week with some dear friends. The wife of the couple is a plant expert and she identified the mystery flowers that were growing in our wildflower patch.
The pretty pink flowers that arrived in such profusion are called Godetia. They evidently like full sun and slightly hungry dry soil--our type of flower exactly!
The white or blue flowers with the big pods are Nigella damascena, more commonly known as Love in the Mist. Their wild-looking pods are filled with seeds that when roasted are used to spice Middle Eastern and Indian food. The pods can easily be dried.
Follow the links for pages full of lovely photos on Flickr. We still don't know what variety the monster orchids are, but if you want to drool over photographic loveliness, check out the orchids link.
Godetia Nigella Orchids.
My life has been so hectic, and I've been feeling so stressed. Looking at these flowers is exactly what I needed tonight. Hope you enjoy them, too.
The pretty pink flowers that arrived in such profusion are called Godetia. They evidently like full sun and slightly hungry dry soil--our type of flower exactly!
The white or blue flowers with the big pods are Nigella damascena, more commonly known as Love in the Mist. Their wild-looking pods are filled with seeds that when roasted are used to spice Middle Eastern and Indian food. The pods can easily be dried.
Follow the links for pages full of lovely photos on Flickr. We still don't know what variety the monster orchids are, but if you want to drool over photographic loveliness, check out the orchids link.
Godetia Nigella Orchids.
My life has been so hectic, and I've been feeling so stressed. Looking at these flowers is exactly what I needed tonight. Hope you enjoy them, too.
Friday, August 13, 2010
The More Things Change, the More Things Change
Found this YouTube video on an old post over on Peter Shallard's Website and had to post it here on the off chance that you haven't seen it because it is so amazing. If you are a business owner, stop by Peter's website. He's a shrink for entreprenuers and has some valuable but free information over there.
It's so exciting to be a cyberspace entrepreneur and be a part of all this.
It's so exciting to be a cyberspace entrepreneur and be a part of all this.
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