Designing Woman

Thanks to all who shared their favorite listens. I needed some new ideas. Also a note on the knitting: I am knitting Free Your Fade, which is much smaller than Find Your Fade. Find is more of a blanket than a shawl!

While I can follow knitting patterns just fine, I find sewing patterns confusing. I wanted a small tote bag, so I looked at some patterns and then made up my own mash-up pattern. Amazingly, it worked:

Sewing doesn't usually go this smoothly for me. And isn't the fabric fabulous? The lining is my own ice-dyed faux-indigo fabric.

I'm also trying to perfect a Fair Isle hat pattern. The colors aren't quite right here. The light color is yellow, not white, so it looks more Earthy than the photo shows.

And I'm working on a new abstract embroidery pattern. Sometimes it's fun to just play with color and shape.

A few of you have asked about my health. So sweet of you! My recovery from the surgery is just about complete, and it went smoothly. The pathology report wasn't so good, though, so there is more treatment in my future. Hopefully just minor stuff.

Two Finishes

I think this took me about a year, but I finally finished my Spindrift Shawl by Helen Stewart. I have no idea why it took me so long. It's a simple and elegant pattern.

Here it is, unblocked. I'm sure that lace will really open up after a good soak. 

The yarn is a speckled fingering weight from KnitCircus. I seem to have lost track of the ballband. And I had barely enough yarn to finish the picot bind-off!

I also finished this Fair Isle hat of my own design. It came out huge, definitely a man's hat! I'm going to make some changes, downsize it and write it up as a pattern, I think.

It feels good to have accomplished a few things in the past week and a half since my surgery. I'm going to have to work quite a bit in the next weeks. Most of it will be on my own schedule, which makes it feel less onerous.

I hope most of you are having summer. It is so cold and rainy here that I am wearing jeans and a wool sweater!

More Hats

 I had enough yarn left over from my last Fair Isle hat to make a second one. I designed the pattern for this one:

I'm not sure I like it better than the original. You can compare them below. I'd love to hear your thoughts -- yes, constructive criticism is welcome. Mine has more detail, but I think these colors worked better in a simpler design.

And I finished After the Fall. It's a good beach-type read about a group of people on a private plane that crashes.]I think it's out in paperback, and it would be a good vacation novel.

I hope your week is going smoothly. Snow is falling here as I type, with 5 to 7 inches expected. The snow will probably end by 1 a.m., so it's unlikely I'll get a snow day tomorrow. That's probably for the best. I have a lot of work to do before the end of the school year.

Happy Mother's Day

Whether you are a traditional mother and/or a woman who has nurtured others, I hope you are having a wonderful day.

I started mine by working on The Fair Isle Tassel Hat. A baby project just seemed appropriate. Although I'm simplifying much of the color work, I did have to figure out how to use three colors in one row, a new skill for me.

It is a beautiful day here, so I'm off for a little walk and then on to my parents' place for brunch.

She Said Sheepishly

I should be using all my knitting time to work on gifts, but I just can't resist a little selfish (and sheepish!) knitting:

This is the first of my Meta Mittens, a free pattern by  Elizabeth Wolden. Isn't that sheep just adorable? It's a pretty easy Fair Isle pattern, and so far I haven't had any problems. I'm using Regal yarn by Briggs & Little. It's a rustic yarn, not terribly soft, but I used it on my Spruce Tree Mittens and I really like the feel of it on my hands.

I don't have a picture of it, but I'm reading American Innovations, a short story collection by Rivka Galchen. I loved the first story. It's is compulsively readable, draws you into the head of a woman who isn't completely stable, and has a twist at the end. I hope the rest of the stories are as good.

I'm joining up with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Introducing the Kitty Hat

 I always swore I had no interest in designing my own knitting patterns, but the urge seems to be creeping up on me. Meet the Kitty Hat:

What do you think? Can you tell that the pink faces are supposed to be cat faces? I think they look more like mouse faces, but that fits the cat theme, too, I think.

The hat is knit from Berroco Vintage, which was left over from The Favourite Things Cowl and the patterns are from a variety of sources, but mostly Mary Jane Muckelstone's books. The cat is from her 150 Scandinavian Motifs book.

The hardest part was figuring out the right number of stitches to cast on and what size needles to use. The hat is wearable but the slouchy top is not exactly right, so I'm working on a second hat, but this one features sheep. I am hoping to come up with at least one hat design that I can release as a free pattern this summer.

I made up this hat as I went along, which was even more fun that watching self-patterning sock yarn play out. This is the thing about knitting; it has endless, fascinating variations!

WIP: Any Minute Now

This is what I'm doing tonight:

I've eyed this pattern booklet for months, and it went on sale the other day. I figure that was fate talking to me.  I love patterns that combine random-seeming yarns. And I love mittens.

I am hoping to improve my fair-isle knitting skills. Even though I have done a pair of salt-n-pepper mittens, I'm still very slow and awkward.

We'll have to see how that goes.