Swaps: Mittens

As I mentioned earlier, I've been working hard to finish all my swaps before the Dec 8th deadline .... and I did it! All the swap packages went out yesterday and here's the mitten package that went to my KTC swap partner:

With this swap, I didn't HAVE TO knit the final product .... just get a pattern, pick some yarn and other treats, and send it off. But since I'm a bit OCD about knitting and designing, I first had to design, than knit, the prototype for the design that I created just for my partner! So I ended up knitting, but it was so much fun ... I'm going to make another pair (these will go to my green-loving daughter) for me!


I hope my partner enjoys her custom-designed pattern, yarns I chose for her and the treats I added -- I had much fun with this SWAP!

Swaps: Cool way to "meet" folks

all over the world! I love these. You just never know what you'll receive and it's so fun to try to create something for someone you only know through on-line relations. Very fun, huh?

Here are the swaps I've signed up for so far this Christmas 2007 season (this is also to help ME keep track of what I've committed to):

• Unschooling Catholics Postcard Swap -- some 27 other unschoolers throughout the world; those will go out today (if my kids ever get up!)
• Jesse Tree Swap -- make 28 of the same symbol, send to the contact person, and receive a full Jesse-Tree's worth of ornaments from 27 other folks! Organized by Lorri at 4real -- ornaments should be sent by Nov 21st.
• Journal Making -- hand-craft a journal for a swap partner; my partner lives in Texas and this is going to be fun to create something for a professional designer. Organized by One Hour Craft blogger, Mia -- journals should be sent by Nov 21st.
• Holiday Traditions -- this one should be really interesting. The idea is to organize a "holiday traditions kit" -- favorite recipe, memory, activity, handmade decoration, etc -- and send it to your partner. Sign-up deadline was Sunday, Nov 11th with a shipping of package by December 10th. Meg at Montessori-by-Hand came up with this fascinating swap.
• Christmas Stocking -- hand-craft a stocking in any medium (of course, I'm doing a knitted one!), fill with goodies based on preferences of your swap partner, and send off. Organized by Nissa (who is starting up a craft/homearts/living magazine, Simple Gifts) -- sign-up by November 18th, send stocking by December 8th.
• KTC Mittens Swap -- this is a knitting/crocheting swap where you create a "kit" for knitting/crocheting hand-warmers of any kind -- mittens, gloves, fingerless mits, whatever! You include a pattern, yarn to make, other treats etc -- this one is well-organized as there is a value set -- $25-35 -- and a sign-up by November 21st and send the kit by Dec 8th.

If I join any others, I'll post here. I love that swap partners can come from anywhere in the world! Isn't that cool?

So why don't you join in the fun .... here's a blog that tracks swaps in just about any category you could think of.

I'm back ...

... and BOY did I get some knitting done!

We were on a family road-trip to the east coast -- visits to family and friends in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and pits stops at all the states from Colorado there and back again! DH did all the driving and since the littles were pretty well occupied, I actually got tons of knitting done!

First, I was able to complete the knitted armor set -- a custom-fitted scabbard with a cord belt. Here's Bam-Bam showing it in action:

Next, I knitted a cozy warm stocking cap for String Bean; when you're driving in an airconditioned van, this doesn't seem so crazy!
Then, since I was on a hat kick, I made an ear-flapped hat for DH's walk thru the potential snow and wind of Front-Range winters. This hat really brings out his beautiful blue eyes!
After last winter, I realized we can NEVER have too many mittens. These are super warm and will work for either dh or me ... That was the knitting during the road-trip east and some of the visiting times too.

Once we headed back west again, I decided I could handle a larger project. Here's a 3-buttoned wool cloak for String Bean -- she's a tall 7yo, so this cape hits her about knee-length. The mindless knitting was getting to me somewhere in Kansas, so I decided to add an eyelet pattern at the bottom hem to get me the last few inches. I literally broke the yarn as we pulled off the interestate! Talk about perfect timing....

Thick Mittens and Socks

There is something absolutely amazing about knitting with thick wool -- everything goes together so quickly!



Here are two pairs of mittens knitted with Dale of Norway's Hubro and size 10.5 needles ... they went together in a weekend and will be ready for dh and I when next Denver has a snow-storm (which around here, could be any day between now and June!).

And here are two pairs of socks -- the "orchid" ones for String Bean and the "charcoal" ones for Lego-Maniac. Since I can never make the same socks twice, each of these are slightly different -- note the 3x3 rib all the way to the heel flap on the orchid socks and (which is harded to see) the difference in heel flap patterns. Designing socks is fun because you can experiment on a small portion and have fun with it. And it's not a big deal to visit the "frog pond" with these socks as there are only 24 total stitches cast on. These will make great hiking/camping socks for this summer as they're very thick but tightly knit on size 8s using Lion Brand's Wool-ease Chunky (a wool/acrylic blend which is machine washable).

Bam-bam, of course, now wants a pair -- with orchid heel and toe but charcoal elsewhere. I'll post a picture when I finish the second of the pair of those. Socks are so fun to knit and with this thick yarn, I'm able to make a pair in 4 hours or so!

Knitting Book Reviews ... finally!

About a week or so ago, I promised to write up some reviews of knitting books which I've been perusing (and some, drooling over) for the past couple of weeks. So, your patience has been rewarded and here are the reviews:

The Joy of Knitting: Texture, Color, Design, and the Global Knitting Circle and The Joy of Knitting Companion: A Knitter’s Handbook by Lisa R. Myers are pretty unassuming volumes by this Pennsylvania yarn-shop owner. Don’t be fooled by the covers – both of these books have lots to offer. The first volume goes through all the aspects of knitting uniqueness – texture (through stitch patternings, yarn choice or needle choice), color (whether traditional ethnic design or random intarsia) and overall design. Myers gives great, clear explanations. The only down-side is that there are no photographs, just drawings of the suggested projects – and we all know that “artist renderings” are a bit more fanciful than the camera’s eye!

The companion book, which I actually read first, is a working notebook – with lots of blank record-keeping forms, graph paper and other helpful tools (including a needle sizer and a gauge ruler “built-into” the cover). Suggestions abound for designing your own – or adapting a have-to-have design to really fit you! I only wish they had bound the book with a spiral (rather than a glued paperback) so that the book could lie flat.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Knitting Projects Illustrated by Barbara Morgenroth is one of those “knitting for dummies” books that I usually don’t like. In fact, if you read the blurb about the author, you find that she has very little knitting experience but instead is a “cookbook and craft book writer”. Now surely, they could have found a KNITTING writer to write this book. That said, I found this book to have GREAT, clear illustrations and instructions, interesting projects and a wealth of information about my favorite activity! The photographs of the finished items could be better, but this would be a wonderful starter book for beginning knitters.

The Knit Kit Book by Sandy Carr, Josie May and Eleanor VanZandt is sadly out-of-print, but well worth the hunt to find a copy. This book teaches all the basics – with great illustrations and directions – as well as a whole section (or really, a second book) on designing basics including measuring, sketching, adapting existing patterns, etc. Hunt for this one – you’ll be well-pleased you did!

Knit it Now! Turn Great Yarns into Great Sweaters by Julie Montanari has some really cool designs. Also, Montanari, who’s been knitting since she was 8 (same as me!), gives ten easy steps for ensuring a good fit of the final sweater. Many of the sweaters, ironically, look like crochet (which I can do but avoid) but are so lovely that I think I’d break down and knit them!

Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave edited by Ann Budd and Anne Merrow is a must-have if you knit (or dream about knitting) socks. Talk about eye candy! This has a collection of the prettiest, coolest, most useful socks I’ve seen in a long time. There are lacy socks, hiking socks, ethnic socks and plain socks. I love Interweave books because they often spiral-bind them inside a hard cover so the books can lay flat; they are also invariably fun to read.

I love ethnic knitting. The next four books are some of the best of this kind of book:

Knitting Ganseys by Beth Brown-Reinsel is the definitive book on knitting the heavily knit-purl patterning sweaters from the British Isles. The author does a fabulous job of explaining the history of these sweaters, describing the basics of a traditional sweater and then showing the reader how to make one. She leads the reader through either a sampler sweater (doll size) or a full-size sweater so that you not only learn how to make a gansey, you learn about all the parts of the sweater and why they are made the way they are. This is a classic!

The Complete Book of Traditional Scandinavian Knitting by Sheila McGregor is another classic, this time discussing knitting from Scandinavia. History, how-tos and a plethora of lovely examples make this book one to use again and again to make these lovely hand-knits – sweaters, hats, mittens, and socks.

Simply Socks: 45 Traditional Turkish Patterns to Knit and Magnificent Mittens: The Beauty of Warm Hands are both works of art by Anna Zilboorg. Sadly, these are both OOP, but take time to search for them – you’ll never regret it. Taking the traditional patterns of Turkish knitters (where the yarn is tensioned behind the head and flicked in a very unique manner), Zilboorg has charted these gorgeous multi-colored designs and created simple socks for the sock-knitter. These are amazingly beautiful as is the text which lovingly describes the history of knitting in Turkey. Her mitten book continues this work of amazingly beautiful multi-colored designs and blends the designs in such a way as to create unique works of art. I love the long cuffs that are meant to go over the coat/jacket sleeve to keep the wearer toasty warm. Zilboorg also describes how to do three different thumb treatments on these mittens – thumb with gusset, invisible thumb and sore thumb – which can actually be interchanged on the specific designs. But one thing I like about Zilboorg’s books – she encourages the reader to go beyond her designs and create your own work of art!