Not Socks

This Christmas as most of you know I made my mother Norwegian mittens and blogged about her reaction. When I was as the yarn store picking out the colors for the mittens, I looked down and saw this beautiful yarn still in the box and not on the shelves yet. The yarn was Lorna's Laces worsted in a beautiful colorway. Meera told me she can't keep that colorway in the shop it is so popular, so I picked up 2 skeins thinking I would make my Mom socks for her birthday...

My mother saw the yarn in my knitting basket and commented on how pretty the yarn was,I was stoked because I knew she would love her birthday socks. My mom then said, how I made her socks in those colors. Crud.... what was I going to do now?

I went back to my LYS and found that there was only 1 skein left (Meera wasn't kidding about the color flying out of the shop) and so I picked it up thinking that I would make a vest, or find something to make with the beautiful colored yarn.

Picture copyright Ysolda Teague.

After searching on Ravelry and deciding that I didn't want to design something - I found a popular pattern called Liesl by Ysolda Teague and she was donating a percentage of the sales to help Haiti... so it was a no brainer that I purchase the pattern and make myself a Liesl. The picture above is the designer in her Liesl. The great thing about Ravelry is that you get to look at every one's completed patterns and see how the finished product looks on real people. I knew I was going to make a larger size so that it didn't look so tight on me.... and I began to look over the pattern. My designer brain chimed in and said. "why don't you make this a pullover and not a cardigan.... you have a million cardigans". So, that's what I did... I changed the pattern a bit and made it a pullover.

I love it...

This yarn may or may not have jumped into by knitting bag last week to become another Leisl...

Weekend in Review

We had a busy weekend..... Friday night I went to a pampered chef party, and I may or may not have brought my own flask of scotch. I bought some lovely things and you know what? The pampered chef lady (what do you call those women?) was famous! She was Miss Molly from Romper Room! As soon as I figured out who she was (well, I was told who she was - remember I may or may not have brought scotch) I turned into a 5 year old star stuck girl.... and she even had the magic mirror! Dudes, she said the whole magic mirror shpeel and said my name! Whoo Hoo it was a grand night.

Saturday, Jenni (my future sister-in-law) and I picked out the bridesmaid dresses for their upcoming wedding. They are very pretty and guess what? The color is GREEN, lovely green - my favorite.... GREEN!!!! We hosted our good friends to come for dinner, which turned into a big sleepover and that was super fun.

On Sunday, Mr. Fantastic and a bunch of helpers made this super sized snowman from the snow we still have.... It was Jenni's birthday, she and my brother came over for cupcakes after Sunday dinner.

Olympic knitting took a back seat this weekend when Mr. Fantastic and I found out a friend of ours is in need of a prayer shawl. I made it over the weekend and it is on it's way to New York today.... The pattern was so easy and the results are so pretty - two of my favorite things in a pattern - Oh, and it was free. Link here. I made it in a great washable yarn called Lava Hand Painted by Punta Yarns..... it is 30% wool and 70% acrylic. I hope she wears this shawl for a long, long time.

New Crop of Knitters

Today is the beginning of an after school program that I am involved in. It was 30 years ago (ooof that was weird to write) that I was a participant in the same program and learned how to knit. I feel great excitement about this program because it gives me the opportunity to teach fresh new people how to knit - and it is up to them what they do with it. I find that very satisfying and exciting, I wonder if in this new group of 8 young people if there is a great new designer just waiting to emerge....

Olympic knitting continues on the green sweater, I love the colors in the yarn. Yesterday I was coming home from teaching a lesson at the yarn shop when a huge truck in front of me got stuck. The roadway was such that you couldn't turn around and so I was stuck.... I sat there for 30 minutes, good thing I had my knitting to keep me occupied!

Have a great weekend! The flowers in this post are from my brother, he brings me boxes of them.... aren't they beautiful?

Ski Weekend

This past weekend we were lucky enough to go skiing in Vermont. We stayed with friends and had a wonderful time. I am amazed how well my children ski/snowboard and with the Olympics starting, it was great to be in a ski town and watching the winter games.

I finished a restitch of a project and sent it off to the magazine... and now I am working on another project.... this time a knit wrap that is really pretty. I have been staying up to watch the Olympics so I needed a project that I could work on while watching TV and who better to help me with mindless knitting in the round, but the Goddess Elizabeth Zimmermann...

Photo by Jared Flood.

I am going to be making the famous (in the knitting world, that is) Green Sweater, knit by Elizabeth Zimmermann (goddess of knitting) and dissected and written by Sunday Holm. I bought this kit for myself for Christmas and I was lucky enough to get the exact wool that Elizabeth used. Thrilling for me! The story of the sweater is here.

Lacy Capelet on TV

So, last post I told you that I found some exciting news during my last self-google. Well, here it is! Lacy Capelet that I designed (and is a free pattern) is being featured on Knitting Daily TV!!

Wooo Hoo!!! And it gets better.... for me that is, I don't think this will blow your dresses up, but.... the very fabulous Kristin Ohmdal is touching my design. The capelet on the show is the exact one I made.

To view the preview of the show go here.

From what I can get from the preview, the show is about finishing techniques. The crochet part is about the foundation beginning technique that I use in a lot of my designs and how that can effect the "finish line of your project".

Now you know that I am super stoked about this.... but I will voice (well, my written word - not really my voice here on the blog) that I am a bit nervous that my hero Kristin may diss my finishing technique on television..... that would really stink, since I already bought the entire season of knitting daily to see the episode my capelet is in!

Northfield Two-Way Jacket

I was searching around the web last night - OK, I self googled again - and I found 2 really exciting things.... here is the first, the second I will share on Monday.

The Northfield Two-Way Jacket I designed well over 2 years ago. It is made from Naturally Caron.com's Country and as the name suggests, it can be worn 2 different ways. I love the way Country crochets up, it feels so wonderful right against your skin, so this piece would be a great addition to your wardrobe as you can wear it for 3 seasons.

And get this..... the pattern is available on the Michael's website for FREE!!!! I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it may even be one of those tear-off patterns that you get at the store by the yarn, and you know what? Being a tear-off sheet would be really really sexy!!!

See? Even Otis is excited!

January in Review

So sorry to be gone for so long, but quite frankly.... I didn't have anything to say. Here is our Month in Review:

We went skiing in Vermont. It was a great, great time.

Otis had another bath, this time he smelled like chamomile....

And less than 48 hours later, he smelled like a man again! (that's fresh mud dripping off of him)

We celebrated Mr. Fantastic's birthday. Here he is with my father, and my brother whose birthdays are days apart from Mr. Fantastics. This year we went to my brother's house and my sister-in-law served up a delicious meal.

I made a sweater for ME:

I made the clapochet. I switched it up a little bit and will be posting my version on Ravelry.

I restitched the lacy wristers that I designed for Coats & Clark for someone to wear to a trade show (OOH, I have to send them a bill!)

I designed a knit shawl (ooh, I have to send them a bill!)

Currently I am working on someone else's pattern (changing it up a bit). I am working with Lorna's laces and I love how soft and beautiful this yarn is!

I beat Mr. Fantastic in Scabble!!! To be fair, he did let 2 things slide - 1. I cheated and looked up the spelling of a word when he left the table for a minute, I'm not proud of it.... 2. he helped me spell a word. Those of you that really know me, know that I can't spell to save my life and I was one of the first people to have a spelling ace (it was electronic spelling aide) and wore it out in college.

And finally.... I am in the process of sending back the 15 lbs of fat I received for Christmas....it is taking a lot of my time (I am jogging or lifting weights in my basement and sounding like the ever so eloquent "Jersey girl") so please excuse the silence for another 10lbs.