Posts Tagged 'bright'

Temporary Hat

Here’s I am wearing a quickie hat I knit up for my recent visit to cold Washington DC.

pink hat

This bright, bulky, super-girly yarn was a gift from my mom and sisters! I loved working with it. Here’s a picture in progress at my local beach playground, before I left the warm weather.

Pink Yarn

My niece loved the hat, and begged for it unrepentantly every day. So, when I departed, I left it on a chair with a note to say “I love you!” It looked better on her, anyway. Here is the Boogedy and his cousin Miss M on the Metro.

pink hat on metro

For knitters, the technical specs: Araucania Calafquen, color 1501, needle size 15.

M’s Mittens

Zach and the Boogedy and I came to Washington DC to visit family for the week. This cold weather makes me want to knit, and I was really glad I brought some scraps of Koigu pppm on the plane to play around with. My 6-year-old niece flipped over the idea that I might make something just for her. I really only had enough to make some tiny, ribbed fingerless mitts.

Fingerless mittens

She hounded me every day to make sure I finished them! Every little kid should have an aunt who knits something special when she comes to town!

folded hands fingerless mittens

These mittens were even more exciting than the nutella-filled crepes we made the kids for breakfast (which I forgot to wash off before photographing these mitts).

Fingerless mittens

Here are some photos of the cousins piling stuff on top of my brother-in-law while he tried to work last night:

imageimage

Watercolor Beads and a Twisted Stringer

Here are the beads I made last week with Debby. First she taught me to make “watercolor” beads, where I start by melting a white core, and then “paint” on top with various transparent colored rods.

Next she taught me to pull a stringer (the twisty coral/turquoise strip in the foreground). Then I made a transparent, pale aqua bead and melted that stringer onto (and into) it.

Actually, Debby made two of the beads pictured, but I’m rather proud of myself that it isn’t immediately obvious which ones 😀

 

Hot Pink-Purple-Orange Baby Cap

My friend’s adorable daughter, Baby O, is modeling the most recent baby hat I made. There are at least 3 babies on the way among my family and friends right now, so I gotta get cracking on hats! Fortuitously, I made this one ages ago, before any pregnancies were announced.

I was between projects and I had some of this colorific yarn leftover from the amazing mittens I made in Spring of 2010. This is probably my favorite yarn ever, and now it is used up. I might have to buy another ball. The photo above (side view of the hat) is probably the truest for color).

Why am I putting it on my blog before I send it to the new mom? Because I can’t decide who to give it to! So I am going to let them choose. If one of them loves it, they will get it. Otherwise, they can wait and hope for something more….traditional….from me.

That third photo (top view of hat) is included not to show color or construction, but simply for those baby toes!

For knitters, I used the pattern serenaded here by the Yarn Harlot.  The yarn is Zauberball Fuchsienbeet.

Flamingo Mittens

I flipped for this pattern and just HAD to make these flamingo mittens! But for whom?

My mom, of course, because even though she lives so far away, her hands are about the same size as mine, so I could just make them to fit me and know that they would probably fit her!

Every stitch of these was fun, thanks to this mottled, hand-painted pink yarn that I bought on Etsy. The black is super-soft Capretta from KnitPicks and the pattern is from SpillyJane.

I have been working on these for weeks, but they arrived just in time to cheer her up after a fall that broke her shoulder a few days ago. I hope she feels good enough to be out for walks again before the weather gets too warm to wear these.

I love my mom!

Paint Your Own Mugs

A few weekends ago I went to Honest Works for Paint Your Own Pottery Day. I squirted out a bit of every teal, turquoise, aqua, and green that they had and made a stripey mug and a dotty mug.

The Boogedy painted his tile very quickly, and I had to really rush to get my two mugs finished before he broke anything in the studio while horsing around with his friends. I love the insides of these mugs!

I attempted a maker’s mark on the bottom with my initials and a snail.

Afterward, I took a deep breath and took the Boogedy and his friend S. to the dog beach to relax and swim. These boys crack me up!

 

 

Xmas Stocking Redux

For Xmas 2010 I knit two stockings, a green/orange one for the Boogedy and a blue/yellow one for Zachary. For Xmas 2011 I made a fuchsia/violet one for myself, but without digging around in the closet for last years’ models. As you can see, I have no grasp of size over time.

When I pulled out all three stockings on Xmas eve several weeks ago, the Boogedy immediately picked the new stocking as his own, citing “it has purple and I like purple” as the reason. Somehow I doubted this excuse for bailing on the awesome orange and green one. I mean, the purple one doesn’t even have a tassel!

Stripey Monster Redux (and a Pretty Sweet Trade)

Kelly and Adam made me this gorgeous two-piece nut bowl set. I requested it as a special piece after I saw this pistachio dish and wanted something handmade.

Kelly offered up a trade, so I knit this Stripey Monster Mama and Baby set for her boys.

The true colors are closer to red-violet and a peacock teal. The pattern is by Rebecca Danger, and you can see the set I made nearly 2 years ago for the Boogedy Here.

Here are the Boogedy and his friends S. and S. at the pottery studio!

Xmas Knitting and Pottery

I started this rainbow scarf when I was in Salt Lake City this summer. My sister Jeaka flipped over it, and asked for it outright. This was supposed to be a lightweight scarf for my occasional Key West chilly days (like today…53 degrees!).

But how could I keep it for myself when she begged for it shamelessly?

All any knitter wants is a properly grateful and gushing person to wear and show off their time-consuming handiwork!

For my mom, I knitted something ghastly. I used a beautiful minty green, super bulky, nubbly, spun-cocoon-looking yarn. It made the most lopsided, lumpy, misshapen “purse” one could ever knit. I struggled with it for weeks before finally chucking it as a failure and buying her this lovely bowl instead.

It was made by my friends Adam and Kelly at Honest Works Pottery here in town. They are famous for their boisterous use of color and their rooster mugs are hugely popular. Roosters always make me think of my mom, who made the mistake of mentioning that she loves them and that they remind her of her own mother. I am not the only person always tempted to give her rooster gifts.

Roosters are Key West’s pests and icons; well photographed by tourists and hated by anyone with a bedroom window. I frequently photograph the prettiest ones when I’m out and about.

I’ve started making Key West christmas gingerbread roosters (becoming an annual tradition).

For knitters: the scarf used three balls of Koigu PPPM (no, I don’t have any clue as to the color numbers) and this Churchmouse linen stitch pattern. This was an excellent exercise in forcing myself to knit continental, because the constant switching between k, p, and yf, yb would have taken even longer if I had “thrown” my yarn the whole time.

People Kites

Today we went parasailing for the first time ever! It. Was. AWESOME.

Look, I duct taped my magnetic sunglass attachment to my glasses. Dork-0.

This kid never even thought to be afraid of parasailing!

Launch

Feet. High, high above the water.

The view. OH, the water was so gorgeous!

Squish Squash.

The Boogedy, 2 minutes after coming ashore….”Now what can we do?”


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