Jake’s Mittens

When I was up in Washington DC earlier this month, I told my brother-in-law Jake that I’d make him some mittens like the ones I made for his daughter, if he bought the yarn. That’s a standing offer I make to family and friends…you buy the yarn, I knit the thing. The caveat is that you have to pick yarn that I also like and can stand to knit with.

He picked charcoal grey. If you know anything about me, it’s that I’ll never knit with grey if I can help it. So he conceded that I could put in an acid green stripe, “if you want”. I started these mitts on the airplane ride home and finished up a few days later. I have to admit that I’m pretty proud of the clever shaping where the palm meets the thumb gusset.

Jake’s wife Stacy took the photos of him wearing the mitts. That’s another rule of knitted gift-wear. I have to get a photo of the recipient wearing the item. I have a blog to maintain, after all.

Here’s a picture of a mitt on me before I sent it. I think it shows a more accurate idea of the colors used. I will also grudgingly admit that I enjoyed making something grey.

For once, knitters, I made a project without Koigu. I’ll admit, though, that I thought is WAS Koigu when I picked it up and have no idea what it actually is. WAIT…The chartreuse IS a scrap of Koigu that has been in my stash for years, so no…I lied. Stacy bought the grey at a charming and friendly yarn shop in Bethesda, MD.

I’m currently working on a pair for Stacy, too, though she bought something colorful and RED and gorgeous. I can’t wait to show you once they’re finished!

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.

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!

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).

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

Higgs Seascape Stole

Looky what I made for Kristin! I insured this package with the post office and they rolled.their.eyes when I told them what I thought it was worth. Or maybe they were incredulous that I would actually spend 120 hours knitting.

Here is the Higgs Seascape Stole modeled in front of the beautiful Atlantic Ocean.

Here it is modeled on me. I was standing at the end of the Higgs pier on a VERY windy day, and praying I wouldn’t drop the scarf in the water.

Me again with my artfully wind-tousled locks.

Here it is modeled in the empty chocolate box I sent it in. (I hope Kristin wasn’t disappointed that there were no chocolates in that lavender box!)

This pattern is Seascape from Knitty, and I used a LOVELY, softy-soft teal alpaca lace yarn from Cascade. I wish my photos had captured the subtle heathered hues in this yarn.

Happy Birthday Kristin!! I love you!

Adventures with My Sisters

I had fun with my sisters, Jeaka and Marian. They are so good to me! Here are a few of our adventures.

Heading to Blazing Needles, an amazing SLC yarn shop.

Going to Nothing Bundt Cakes with our sweet mama. We bought four flavors, then shared the quarters.

Visiting Orson Gygi, the COOLEST kitchen supply store Ever.

Super Auntie Jeaka and Super Auntie Marian took the Boogedy to a splash pool! Super Auntie Jeaka made visiting splash pools a priority during the Boogedy’s visit.

And near the end of the visit, Jeaka took him to Cookie Cutters to get his first ever haircut that I didn’t do myself. We chose to buzz it for the summer, which I think is adorable, but which he doesn’t like because he’s never had anything but long, “grupply” hair.

Here’s a picture of the big boy with his new “do”. We visited the playground near our old house, where we took him to play the first 3 years of his life. It hit home how big he is getting!

His and Hers Christmas

Here is the xmas box I sent to my mom and dad.

Dad received a ribbed scarf made from a super-cool handspun that Kristin gave me more than 2 years ago. Every single stitch was fun to do!

Closeup:

I made a beaded, teal, silk beauty for mama:

I enclosed this box of candy because it was the prettiest box of licorice I’d ever seen!  Plus, it matched.

Long Weekend

A few days ago we bought a 1999 Cougar, for the increased gas mileage and air conditioning!

Secretly, though, I think Zach just wanted it for it’s bedazzled mirror.

We gassed up the van to get us home one last time, and discovered we were a quart low on oil, but the BP gas station didn’t have any. A very old fellow (Ziggy) offered us some oil if we’d just pull into his car lot around the corner. Here is his piggy, Socrates:

I stopped by a yarn shop on my way home! I’ll make myself a purse. This yarn is called Chocolate and Cherries:

For Kristin, Here’s a spider we saw along a trail near a creek:

Much swimming with a new vest:

Getting “so sirsty” after swimming:

Napping after reading one of our favorite books from Auntie Kristin:

Stash Purge Part 1

My friend K is starting an arts and crafts group for low-income women in Park City. She put out a call for donated craft and cooking supplies and fabrics, etc. I have plenty of those things, AND ETCETERA!

K came over on Wednesday and took everything she wanted. Her trunk and back seat were full. It felt good to get rid of some things I haven’t been using!

Art Swap

A student at my school made a really cool scratchboard in art class.

It’s approximately 8 by 10 inches. Here’s a close-up of the peacock’s face:

I loved it immediately and offered a barter! I knit her this scarf in order to trade. Here is Madison modeling. Her hair is orange now, but I swear it has been every color in that scarf this school year!

The chunky yarn is Ironstone Fun, and the skinny stuff is Shibui Silk Cloud that I got at a new local shop Blazing Needles.

Look at the little snowflake!!

Hooray for barter! I’m thrilled to hang this fancy peacock on my wall!

Hyperbolic sunset pants!

What an embarassing dust cloud lurking beneath my sofa. Don’t look.

How cool are these pants?! My sister-in-law Natalie gave me the pattern last year for the Boogedy’s first b-day. She originally saw the pants in Craft: Magazine, but my boy was already too big for the published pattern, so she bought me the book. She gave me money to buy yarn, which I purchased in cream and dyed using kool-aid (see previous post).

The pattern was really easy. I had one tiny question and emailed the author, who assured me that I was doing it right. Before I seamed them, I handed them to all sorts of people to puzzle over, including these two teachers at my school, who wondered on what planet this “thing” would be a pair of pants (and possibly why I thought “sunset” was an appropriate “boy” color scheme).

The Boogedy was impatient with photography while I was snapping these photos, and got grouchy, but you need to see the difference between the front and back of these pants. Plus, you get to see Nat, the gifter of said pants.

Malabrigo Cat Hat

Ooh, this yarn is luscious. I think it’s from Malabrigo‘s Aquarella line, but honestly, I was so giddy as I put this baby on the ball-winder, that I cast away the ball band in haste without even looking! I went into Soul Spun looking for the perfect kidsilk haze or something like it to go with something else, and was helpless in the face of this beauty.

I took a huge series of photos trying to capture the hat’s texture and style just right, and trying not to capture any sheetrock, or pink insulation fluff, or water spots on the mirror. In looking at all these photos just now, I began to wonder when I started looking so…Mature…even in a cat hat.