Marnie, speak! Good girl.

Well, I feel like I've gotten a lot done this weekend. I'm all but finished writing up the instructions for the Soy Silk piece I finished knitting a couple weeks ago.

I just need to finish up the schematics and proof read it.

I also went to the yarn shop and spent a bit more than I'd like to admit.
To compliment my lovely yarn from Andrea I bought some Berroco Suede

Which I swatched in the car when we went to the beach yesterday (more on that later).

I also got two different types of yarn for the PIP Along

I'll do some crocheting with this thread...

...and some knitting with this wool.

I also bought some yarn for my secret pal, but I can't show that here.

Alas, all that is going to have to take a back seat to my InKnitters project which I've only done a little bit of knitting on.

But that's the last I can show you of it, which is what I said a couple days ago, but this time I REALLY mean it.

Beyond the knitting progress, I mentioned going to the beach. Here are a couple pictures of my sweeties having fun.

Here is Leo climbing up bits of the cliffs. It appears that the clay in that area has iron, sulfur and bits of ashy carbon in it, as well as some sodium crystals from the ocean. But that's just our best guess seeing as neither of us are geologists. Regardless, it's beautiful. I wish the pictures did the area justice.


And here's Panda doing her favorite thing of all; going for a roll in the ocean rocks (aka: having a little "shake n' bake".

We did a bit of tide pooling and rock/shell collecting. It was great fun as always.

And for those of you needing some complete distraction, here's a little bit of entertainment courtesy of my brother. To paraphrase Matt: No matter how bad your life is, you can feel good knowing you aren't this kid.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high- a nd/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

Yes and no. I definitely prefer nicer yarns and I’m less likely to work with novelty yarns, but it doesn’t all have to be cashmere and silk for me. I do tend to prefer natural fibers in traditional small gauge yarn.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

I would love to spin, but don’t yet. It’s probably just as well. I have so little time as it is. I definitely crochet though as can be seen in my various patterns.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

I don’t like the smell of smoke but I have no real allergies

4. How long have you been knitting?

I taught myself to knit when I was about 6 or 7. This was after my mom gave up trying to teach me a year or so before.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I do but it’s desperately out of date.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

For candles, I like the smell of cinnamon. For bath, I like lavender. I don’t like the smell of vanilla or other very sweet scents, but I do like the smell of white flowers of various sorts.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

For chocolate, yes. The darker the chocolate the happier I am.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

I love almost all arts and crafts but my time is in such short supply that I’m rather focused on knitting and crocheting. For variety, I do like including some simple beading into my designs.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

As crazy as this sounds, I’m really not a music person. I do love books on CD, which I listen to on my way to work when the news is too depressing.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?

I love the shades of the middle east. Saphron orange, deep golden mustard yellow, soft sage green, deep eggplant purple, dusty blue and vivid rust red are all appealing to me. But, to be honest, I can appreciate most colors and I find myself drawn to all different shades. Earth tones are lovely, as are jewel tones and pastels definitely have their place too. The one color I rarely work with is white.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I live with my boyfriend and dog.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

To earn enough at work to live a full life in my free time and travel the world

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

I like most of the boring yarns but in nice colors. I’m a little sensitive to wool but the nicer varieties don’t bother me and ones that aren’t fuzzy or scratchy are best. Koigu is dreamy, and I’ve always wanted to get myself working with some lace weight yarns.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Generally, I’m very particular about novelty yarns. I tend to like styles that are figure flattering and you get a lot of extra bulk in novelty yarn. I hate to set any hard and fast rules, though, because sometimes a challenge brings out the most creativity. I do avoid mohair like yarns, though because they really irritate me.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

I couldn’t say. I consider the whole craft an obsession.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I go from enjoying larger items like sweaters to liking smaller items I can finish quickly. It’s all good, it’s knitting.

17. What are you knitting right now?

I have a project I’m working on for InKnitters and some hats for charity and a top I’m working in crochet and knit with some cool ribbon yarn. I’m also leading a Peace is Patriotic along where I’ll make something.

18. What do you think about ponchos?

If you like ‘em, wear ‘em. It’s all good.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

Circulars and if I have my choice I choose Addis

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I have them all. I love my Denise interchangeable (plastic) I have plenty of Crystal Palace, though I don’t like their circulars, and I have tons of metal needles of various quality.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

I knit with sock yarn but I rarely make socks

22. How did you learn to knit?

My mom tried to teach me originally, but I wasn’t a very good student or I was really too young to get it. Eventually I re-taught myself from a book which I still have.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

If it’s older than a month or so it generally gets ripped.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

I love my puppy, Panda. You can see her all over my site. I’m a big fan of most cartoons, but love things like Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Spongebob, and other cartoons that speak to the inner child and outer adult at the same time.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

My birthday…February 18th. What do you mean it’s not a holiday?

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Not so much, though I love things that look like my dog.

Well, people are joining the PIP along in droves which is wonderful, but I'll keep talk of that to that blog and stick to normal knitting topics here for those of you trying to avoid politics.

But before I talk about knitting, check out this artichoke!

It's HUGE. You see that Mom? I love California.

On All Things Considered on NPR there was a segment about a string of artichoke thefts in Castroville, CA (the world artichoke capital, of course). I just want to say, for the record, that I have been nowhere near that area during any of this. Thank you very much.

Speaking of beautiful things that some describe as "delicious," take a gander at these:

They are beautiful, no? You can get the yarn specs here. It's for a project for InKnitters so that's all you'll see of it until the project is published, but I had to give you a sneak preview of the yarn. It's not quite as shiny as the picture would have you believe, but it does have a nice sheen. The swatch is being knit on my Addis because a gorgeous yarn deserves the best needles. Actually, that's sheer luck. I only have Addis in one size, US #5, and I look for any opportunity to use them.

Well, there is certainly some interest in the "Peace is Patriotic" along, so I've gone ahead and put a blog together for it. If you are interested, said as much, and never got an invite, please let me know. I can be flaky sometimes. I'll make all interested knitters or crocheters into members and you can post your thoughts, ideas, and project progress.



Click the button to go to the blog.

Additionally, I threw the logo onto some items in my cafepress store.


I can't wait to see what everyone does.

I have an idea for an "along" and I'm wondering if anyone is interested.
I'd like to do the theme: "Peace is Patriotic" to both support the troops and express a desire for the war to end as soon as possible.
I came up with a little logo but don't feel hemmed in by that.


There would be no set project, just a theme.
Some ideas might be

• Sweaters with a little intarsia ribbon on the chest


• Bags with ribbons or "Peace is Patriotic" on them


• Hats for troops


• Yellow scarves


• Items knit with yellow ribbon yarn

It could really be anything and I'm open to suggestions.

Go ahead and leave a comment if you think you might be interested, and if people are, I'll start a little blog page for it.

All done!

Click images for larger view
Begin with a provisional cast-on (shown here in dark purple) and a needle size one size smaller than will be used for the rest of the piece. In my case, the hem facing is worked in US #4 needles and the rest of the hat will be worked in US#5.



Knit to length of hem. I like at least an inch hem or more. In my experience, a hem that is too short will flip around unattractively.

When you've reached your hem length, work in such a manner as to have a purl row on the public side. Working flat, you will work a row of knit on the wrong side. Working circularly, you will work a row of purl stitches on the public side. This is your fold point

Another option, shown above, is to work a picot edging. This is achieved by working:
*YO, K2tog* across a flat row (wrong side) or *YO P2tog* across a round (public side) for circular knitting.

Switch to your larger needles and begin working the outside of the piece in whatever manner prescribed. Work to the same length as the hem facing



Now is an excellent time to weave in any ends you have.

Pull out your provisional cast on and move those stitches to a set of needles of a much smaller diameter (image above).



Fold along the fold edge (purl row) and align both sets of stitches.

Put your working needle through a stitch on each of the needles and knit the two stitches together (image above).



Work across the entire row or around the entire round until you've closed the hem (image above).



Pretty on the wrong side



Pretty on the public side.

Things to consider:

If you wish to work your hem in a different color from the outside of the piece, work the first row of the hem in the color used on the outside of the hat so that when you knit the rows together, the hem color doesn't peak through.

Make sure you've properly aligned the facing and outside stitches. If they aren't perfectly aligned your hem will be skewed and feel wonky to the wearer.

If you want a casing for a drawstring, work the piece in the round but work a portion of the hem facing back and forth to create an opening.

Consider working this method at the hem of a sleeve. A complimentary color peaking through would be really striking.

If you are working a hat in wool, consider making your hem facing in a yarn that doesn't itch to protect the wearer's forehead. Make the hem extra long for better coverage

I appear to be surrounded by pink right now. Not a darn thing wrong with that, of course.
The first is this


I feel almost ashamed posting this pick because it does the yarn so little justice. Andrea Corey dyed and plied it and sent me a generous amount, and I feel about as lucky as any girl could to get my hands on it. I know her site isn't totally together yet, but keep your eyes open for what she has coming. Her work is lovely.

And this is what I knit yesterday in what I can only call an S&D (Stitch and Delight).

It's made with Cascade 220 and is going to be among the items I'll either sell for charity or give away to homeless shelters. I'm trying to actually keep those items in production as much as possible.

I knit most of this while having a delightful afternoon S&Bing and I realized how much I miss spending time with a genuine knitter. Most of my friends have passing flings with knitting. They might spend a couple days, weeks or months pawing at a lovely yarn, but it's dropped for other passions when interest fades. Those of us in long term relationships with our knitting, are happy to wait out the dry spells, frustration and occasional fits of tears because the end result is so satisfying. It reminds me that I really do need to find my way to the weekly LA S&B events.

Along with the hat, I've been encouraged to post another tutorial for all of you, so in the next couple of days, expect a tutorial on a "no sew knitted hem".

In protest to the inauguration, there will be no regular knitting content. KnitFit's Jessica inspired this protest which you will see throughout the blog world. Her brother is in the Marines and I wish for his safe return along with all the other men and women in our military. I'd also like to express the wish for peace in the near future. I feel the deepest sympathy for the countless people from all over the world who have perished in this war.


Image curtsey of American Leftist

Please take some time to remember those who have fallen.

My mom makes sure that if no one else grasps the concept, at least she does, the concept being that my birthday is recognized for weeks before and after the actual date.
Leo called me at work to tell me I had a package and he attempted to explain what it was. It went something like "Well, there's a pamphlet, and some of that, what do you call it, ribbon stuff, and some other stuff and a yellow flyer."
"Who's it from?" I ask.
"Uuuuum ...[long pause]... it says 'Big Momma'"
That'd be my mom, of course. At 5'2" and a petite build, what else would she call herself?
The gift was actually, this:


It's a booklet on a technique called Free Lace in which you map out ribbon and yarn on a sheet of dissolving fusible interfacing, place another sheet on top of the design, fuse, then machine sew a supportive grid throughout the whole thing. When you dissolve the interfacing you are left with just the pretty stuff.

But being the cool mom she is, she didn't just tempt me with technique, she also included the interfacing and some yummy yarn:

Click this image to see a close-up of the yarn and the detail on the back of the booklet.

She got me everything from The Fiber Studio in NH.

Today is the weekly work S&B. I plan to start working on hats for our charity cause. I think I'll make a bunch of kid and adult sized Happy Hats because I want to give the less experienced folks a chance to do some finishing if they don't feel confident enough to make a whole hat, yet.

One more note

I'll be participating in Jessica's internet protest tomorrow. All other blog content will be temporarily unavailable and I'll be posting about my support for the troops and my distaste for the overblown inauguration. If politics is not your thing, perhaps you could return to my site on Friday.

Real Ultimate Power
With information like this, you can't go wrong:


This is a picture of my best friend Mark showing off. He's a lot older than me and almost done with puberty, which is bragable.

Don't miss the section on Seppuku.

The weather in LA is back to being as beautiful as anyone could wish for. The sun has been bright, warm and briefly unadorned by smog. The temperature has been in the 70s and clouds have been few and far between. The best byproduct of all this is that Panda has had more fun than any dog could hope. She got to go to the beach late last week and twice over the weekend.
I'll definitely have more pictures up soon, but for now, I'll just give you a little taste.

The first three pictures are from Leo and Panda's trip on Wednesday

Here's Panda posing at the Cove. She's fearless and prone to scaring the beejebus out of us with her bravery. The sound of crashing waves appears to only heighten this phenomenon.

The tide was quite low so Leo and Panda explored the various tide pools. There were tons of sea urchins, as you can see.

Lucky for me, Panda and Leo brought me home some souvenirs. How cool!

This picture is from Ventura Beach, this Friday.

I love this shot because it shows Panda in action. Click the image for a zoomed in version of the picture.
She's playing half fetch. What's "half fetch"? That's where we chuck an item, she runs after it, carries it half way back to us and makes us come and get it and throw it for her again. I suppose I could train her to actually play fetch correctly but, I could use the exercise so I don't.

Now for the Stitch portion of the Stitch and Beach post.

I've been playing around with the tape and am progressing in a rather organic manner. I've been crocheting and knitting and frogging along in no particular manner to see how the piece will come together. Who knows, I might work this a little longer and rip the whole thing out but that's part of the fun. I actually assembled the three full motifs in the shape you see here, but planned to orient them 180 degrees from where they are. That looked nice but wasn't quite the right width to fit comfortably around my chest. I turned them sideways, basted on more motifs and finally turned them upside down which is where I am now. Stay tuned to find out what happens with the final piece.

Via Boing Boing it's

Darth Fricken Tater!
Can you stand it?

And my birthday a mere month and 4 days away.

I finished swatching my ruffle.

I admit that in its current state it looks like something that would adorn a toilet paper cozy, but I think, when scaled down, it will be far less "square dance" and far more "lettuce edging." The nice thing about the pattern is that it's entirely reversible.
Here's the other side.

There are a few modifications one could make. In the swatch, I'm working increases every other row. This results in a really extreme ruffle. Working the increase every 3rd or 4th row would yield a more gradual transition that could be lovely on the hem of a skirt or as a shawl collar on an otherwise simple sweater.

Another option is to start working the ruffle from halfway down so that the ruffles don't come to a point. This would look a little more natural, and less severe and would also result in a less mountainous ruffle. The technique will be available to you at some date in the not-too-distant future.

Finally, I want to give a little free press to my sweetie.

WARNING: Politics ahead.

If you don't want to read political content or you emphatically disagree with my liberal leanings, please feel free to cease reading this post. I thank you in advance for your courtesy.

Leo has started iShopBlue.com where he's trying to bring together all the different resources that help people spend their money in a manner that supports their political leanings. He's also started a community blog and is looking for more contributors. If you are interested in being a part of it, he wants people from all over the world and all walks of life to be a part of his site. Just send an email to him. There are instructions in the upper left corner of his blog.

I'm not sure what it is about me but I feel a sick need to make music/knitting puns.
I actually have so many things I need to get done I can't decide what to do, so I'm taking a little mental break to work on something small.

I bought myself this Nicky Epstein's book

a few weeks ago, and have been looking for a reason to use some of the ruffle designs.

In particular, I have liked this design:

It's essentially all STst and YOs with a few columns of purl stitch to keep it from completely rolling back on itself. That's fine and dandy, but I wanted something that was reversible. I've knit and ripped out several different iterations and finally think I'm on the right track with this version:


The yarn is pretty chunky and it's not complete so you can only get an idea of where I'm going. When comparing the two versions, certain things stand out. With the book version, you start out with K4, P2 ribbing and work a STst flute in the middle of the K4 bits. This means that the whole ruffle bows out and then comes back at the P2 point. In the version I'm working on, you begin with a K4, P4 ribbing and work your flutes in the opposite stitch from the ribbing around it. So if you are in the middle of a K4 bit, your ruffle will be purled. This should give an nice two way ripple and reversible fabric. If it comes out nicely, I'll post the lace pattern for anyone else who might want to use it.

When I finally work it in a real piece, I plan to do so at a smaller gauge and I may work YOs every 3 or 4 rows instead of every other row to give a more gradual flair from base to hem.

Gratuitous display of dog ahead. You've been warned.


Panda has had two friends since before I met her. I need only ask Panda if she wants to see Draegin (the bigger of the two) and Mina to get my little pup into a tizzy. Actually, it goes a little something like this:
"Panda?"
She cocks her head.
"Do you wanna see Draegin and Mina?"
She opens her eyes wide and starts whimpering, then rips around the house in excitement.


Draegin and mina just love this game. One gets a tennis ball, the other covets, they deep throat for half an hour till someone lets his or her guard down or gets bored.


Recently, Lestat has joined the family. He's that tiny white poof between the Dobermans. So how did Panda become friends with two Dobermans before I met her? Who keeps a Pomeranian in a house with two Dobermans? Why, my dear friend and animal trainer, Chrissy. She and I met in the third grade, back in NH and have been close friends since we were seated next to each other in Science class in the seventh grade. When she and her boyfriend moved to LA, the area won my heart over and it's because of her that I finally moved out. When I did so, she introduced me to Panda who was up for adoption at her ranch. It was love at first sight.

It's a long trip but this does come back to knitting. Chrissy and her boyfriend of nearly 9 years got engaged over Christmas. Obviously, she's rushing into it a little but he's a good man so I won't try to talk her out of it. They are eloping in May, somewhere in Hawaii and will have their celebratory party back in LA in June or July. Chrissy and Jeff have a pretty content life. They make enough to buy the things they really want and do the things they enjoy and still save some money for savings. Because of this, it's been terribly hard to come up with a good wedding present. They are both easy to shop for as individuals but what, pray tell, would I get them as a couple? Can anyone think of a nice crafty project? I’m not sure I could finish a blanket by summer with all the other things I have to do, and they aren’t really "doily people". I don't think Chrissy really reads my blog so feel free to leave me ideas in my comments.

I love tapping you guys for ideas.

The weather in LA is just out of control. It's been wave after wave of craptastic weather in So Cal broken up by only the shortest bouts of typical sun and warmth. Yah yah yah, you have snow and ice and blah blah blah. I don't care, dammit, I want to be warm.

Ok, pity party/temper tantrum aside it hasn't held me up from having some fun. Today we took the four legged one to the beach


This was the scene at the beach. It's a dark and stormy looking sky but the rain only came in short bursts so we got plenty of running on the beach done.

And this is Panda awaiting her chance to let loose. We didn't get any action shots of her playing because we weren't sure if we'd stay dry enough to have the camera along, but take it from me, much fun was had.


Additionally, I got some car knitting done. This is something I can work on without looking at it, which is key for those of us who get motion sick when we focus on something other than the road, while riding in a car. As you can see, I decided to work braids and fringe at each end. That part isn’t really reversible but it doesn’t look too bad on the other side.

Ok, I've crocheted a half dozen of those motifs with my beautiful purple tape yarn and I thought I was doing just fine. So what the heck happened yesterday?



On the left we see our happy square hero motif. She's got four sides AND four corners. It's a thing of symmetrical beauty, limited only by my blocking skills.

On the right, though, we see a pentagon of fury. Don't get me wrong, like some of the villains in a James Bond movie, she, too, is quite lovely, but where will her 5 sided anomalous design work into my 4 sided collection of motifs?

This, my friends, is what happens when you aren't paying attention. I don't know, though, I might keep her around for a little longer in case inspiration strikes. If it doesn't, a-ripping I will go.

On the topic of charities, thanks for all your suggestions. I actually wasn't too concerned about finding patterns for items to knit and give away to charity. I don't think any copyright laws prohibit giving away items for charity and there are many lovely designs that are easy to find. What I was hoping for were patterns that could be used to raise money for charity. These would be items we'd auction or sell to raise cash and give the money to various charities to use as they see fit. I'm going to offer up any of my patterns for my S&B group and I'll help them design items if they want something different, but I was wondering if anyone knew of people who offer patterns for this kind of purpose.

Thanks again for all your great suggestions.

Let's say that someone were coming to LA for a wedding and had a couple days to spare to spend with another knit blogger. Now let's say the two had to pick one local yarn store somewhere between the San Fernando Valley and the South Bay to go to on a Saturday or Sunday. For those of you who have or do live in LA, which one store would you think this hypothetical duo should go to, seeing as there are so many?

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

In other news, I have knit the very last stitch on my soy silk piece and I am down to the finish(ing) line. I'm so pleased with it that I can't wait to show you all pictures. The best I can offer you is some of the finishing I'm working on right now.


It's a bit of grosgrain ribbon and some beads.

I've also been crocheting away on my beautiful purple tape


Am I the only one noticing a color theme here?

Today is the first S&B of the new year at work. One woman suggested that we do crafts for charity. I thought that was great so I made two suggestions to the group:

1. Make items for people in need, including preemies, troops abroad, the homeless and others.
   


2. Make items to sell to raise money for the United Way drive the company sponsors each year.

I've pointed out that we cannot sell any items made from other people's patterns without their expressed consent, but if any of you have suggestions or resources for patterns that can be sold for charity, please feel free to leave a comment. The group is pretty multi-talented, though the regulars have been knitters and crocheters.

This is quick tutorial for those of you who crochet out there. Many crochet motifs require that you begin with a series of chain stitches and join with a slip stitch to form a ring. The next round usually requires many times the number of stitches to be worked into that ring. I'm not sure about your experience, but mine is rarely enjoyable and sometimes sloppy. The technique I'm outlining allows you to omit the original chain round and work the subsequent round in a much larger space without losing the effect required for the motif.

You can click any of the images for a larger view

Begin by making a loop about 1.5" in diameter. The tail should hang down on the left as you will be working stitches over it as you go. If you crochet left handed, please reverse these directions. Make sure the tail hangs down at least a couple inches.


This is the trickiest part. Using your crochet hook, make a loop with the working end of the yarn (the part attached to the ball). You should now begin to follow the directions for the first round of stitches. In my case, I am going to work 6 single crochets. If you are working a granny square, you'll probably begin with a chain 3 then three double crochets.


Work the entire round until you reach the point where the pattern indicates that you should join it with a slip stitch.


Grab the tail with your left hand, holding the stitches and needle securely with your right.


Tug the tail until the stitches have been pulled together. You can now join the round with a slip stitch and proceed with the rest of the pattern.

New Years Eve was fun for all. Panda got a romp through the very muddy dog park in Redondo Beach.

I think she wears mud well. This was, of course, followed by a bath which Panda tolerates well but, oddly, finds it far more distasteful than running through the icy Pacific or through the stinky, slimy puddles mentioned above. Go figure.

Leo and I had a bit of fun as well. We ended up in an Irish pub in Venice where we enjoyed some pints of Guinness and the obligatory glass of champagne (well, it's likely sparkling wine, but it was free, so we didn't care) for the countdown and kiss at midnight.



That bar felt like those we loved back in Boston, which gave the evening a really warm, homey feeling.

We ended the evening with a trip to the 24-hour deli near home where we got far more food than we actually had room for. After completely filling up on our appetizer, we requested the rest of our food to go. Our over-worked waitress accidentally spilled Leo's soda and my water so we got two giant cookies free. Yay!


I am finally at the armscye of the Soy Silk piece. The body was endless stockinette in the round with some of hardest yarn I've knit, but it's been worth it. Seen flat, you can't really appreciate the texture of the final fabric. The look is so light and airy. I really think it'll be striking worn over a simple black dress.