Friday, April 03, 2009

Recognition

Since I've been knitting for several years now, I have quite a few knit accessories and garments that either I or my family wears out in public. Occassionally people will notice that the item is hand-knit and we will have a short conversation about it. These conversations generally fall into three categories:
1) Did you knit that? The person recognizes that the item is hand knit, and assumes I made it - and then usually follows up with (what they think is) a complement. For example, last summer I wore my Sahara sweater at our family reunion. My aunt asks if I had knit it, and then exclaimed "That sweater would have been so expensive had you bought it at a store!" assuming, of course, that I had saved oodles of money knitting myself a designer sweater. When I told her how much the wool/silk blend yarn actually cost, she gave me a confused look - why would you knit if not to save money? ;)
2) Did your (mother/grandmother/aunt) knit that for you? The asker in this situation assumes that there's some older woman that has provided the garment for you. This happens most often with Guy's crocheted baby blanket (in the previous post). These people also look confused when I say that I actually knit and crochet.


and the best type of question is...
3) Is that _____ pattern? This is the eluvise "knitter" meeting. This has only happened to me once, and was the most wonderful experience! Scott and I were visiting one of his college buddies, and I had dressed Guy in his baby surprise jacket. His wife (who is a wonderful knitter, I just always forget!) looked at him and said - "is that the baby surprise jacket?" Elated, I answered her that it was, and we then proceeded to have a conversation about what yarn I used and how difficult the pattern was. It was delightful.

Here's Guy in his BSJ. I will be knitting him another one in a larger size, hoping that it will elicit even more type 3 conversations.


Monday, March 30, 2009

Still Knitting (and crocheting, and weaving...)

I am indeed still alive - and knitting!  I've actually been pretty busy with the ole' hook and needles (though not so much with the loom...), so I have a few "catch up" posts to show off my recent work.  Unfortunately I have no photos to show of the items I made for gifts - a hat for my friend's baby girl, and a hat and blankie set for my coworker.  You'll just have to take my word that they were adorable!

Little Guy was kind enough to model this crocheted hat from Stitch 'n' Bitch's The Happy Hooker (how's that for a title?)  It's called the Seija Hat and I crocheted it out of Dark Horse Yarn's Fantasy - a 100% acrylic yarn.  It's very soft and very durable!

I love the way this hat looks on Guy - I think the braid makes him look like a little Viking.  I finished it about two weeks before he was born, so he's had plenty of chance to wear it.








I also made the matching blanket, which went very fast since it's double crochet (although weaving in the ends was no fun - if I did this again I would just carry the yarn up the side).  This has gone though the washer and dryer many times and the only wear it shows is from an unpleasant run-in with some velcro.







Next up - I'll show you some of the outfits I made for Guy!

Friday, January 02, 2009

New Year's Resolutions

I don't normally make new year's resolutions, but I thought since 2009 is shaping up to be quite the busy year,  it would be nice to write some knitting/weaving resolutions so I can make sure to make some time for myself this year.  So without further ado...

My resolutions:
1.  Make Christmas stockings for the family.  Scott's been asking for these for years, and since our family is now complete (I think!), it's probably time to get started.  If I work on this the entire year it shouldn't be overwhelming.

2.  Don't forget to weave!  My baby blankets have been sitting on the loom for quite a while now, and I have lots of techniques I'd like to learn...so I need to make sure I weave a little bit, even if it's just once a week.

3.  Use up some of my stash.  I admit my stash has grown somewhat large, so I'd like to knit and weave up a bit of what I have rather than continue buying new.

Okay, with the exception of #1 they're not very specific - but that's all I can commit to right now with the new baby and the not-so-new toddler.

Happy 2009!!