baby finds a kazoo

Monday, October 08, 2007

Check out the cute!

I wish I could take credit for knitting the striking and beautiful cape above.

I can't.

You can see why I had to feature baby Skyler in her deliriously cute cape. Not once but twice. It took all my restraint not to create a mosaic of 25 pictures of only baby Skyler wearing her cape. I was so focused on the little girly that I totally neglected to take a picture of her mama. A tremendous oversight, since Kelena is my consistent and delightful Wool Festival companion. Don't you agree that Kelena deserves serious kudos for that fantastic cape?

Above, you can also see a shot of me with my lovely and hilarious knitting girlfriends Mari, Mona & Carmela. It was so nice to see them there. All of us were giddy and exuding a glow that comes only from being without our children and shopping for yarn.

Yes, I went to the festival without my kiddos. Which made me alternately weepy and exhilarated. I bought many skeins of yarn from Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool (I LOVE that stuff) and Brooks Farm Yarn. I also bought a beautiful drop spindle and some little balls of roving. This fills me with delight. We'll see where it leads me. For now, I'm just enjoying looking at it and wondering how the hell it works. It's so beautiful and simple, I can hardly believe it makes yarn.

During the trip, I began the big boy's racing stripe sweater exactly 6 times. I had gauge difficulties. And pattern difficulties. And giant gaping hole difficulties. It's not really fun anymore, but I'm praying that effort number seven will lead to success and it will become fun soon. I've settled on the Knitting Pure & Simple Children's Tunic pattern. I will add a kangaroo pocket, racy vertical stripes down the sleeves and one big lightening bolt front and center. The little boy gets a big red star on his.

They are sure to be fabulous. I'll be posting progress shots soon.

Sadly, for my knitting, I have an increasingly demanding running schedule in the early mornings that's forcing me to bed earlier than I would like. My prime knitting time has always been the late hours of night. I love to knit after everyone is asleep and the house is finally quiet.

But, what began as an excuse to get a little exercise has gotten completely out of hand. Now, without my understanding how it happened, two of my girlfriends and I have decided to run the half marathon (!?!) It's totally crazy, but it's true.

After the 21st, you can picture me propped up and knitting wearily with ice packs surrounding my ass and swollen limbs.

Pray for me.

Labels: Taos Wool Festival, two racing stripe sweaters

¶ 2:16 PM 9 comments

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Speaking of Mittens...

My recent preoccupation with mittens began simply.
Now, it's become something much more.

Thanks entirely to a collaboration with the mitten giftee, the humble mittens have evolved into a strange (but charming) pair of new friends.

May I introduce Rufus & Bargy. (Rufus is taller).

These boys began as a pair of mittens adapted from the children's mitten pattern in the Elizabeth Zimmermann book, The Opinionated Knitter. I fiddled with the pattern a bit to make them the proper size for a small child and I gave them extra inches at the wrist for more warmth. The yarn is a hand-dyed, worsted-weight that I got at the Wool Festival in Taos. It reminds me of fall and crayons. Sadly, I was too dazed by beautiful yarn to note the vendor's name.

They fit perfectly and there's a little space to grow.

The best part of knitting them? Creating the adorable curled-tip. This feature is uniquely Zimmermann's and it lends a quirky elfin personality to the mitts. For a more technical explanation of my pattern modifications please visit my post on Zimmermania, post title: Rufus & Bargy - of course.

I recognized their charm right away. What I did not see was the obvious need for eyes. My four-year-old pointed out that their eyes were missing. "How can they talk with me if they can't see me?"

Good question.