FluffyStuff

I have been working on knit jewelry for my first New York show. Mr. has also been busy making Viking knit chains. The next step is to get everything together and do a test display. I am procrastinating, I know big shock, because I am worried I don't have enough to fill an eight foot table. Saturday will be the test. I have to work a long day tomorrow. Don't you just hate when a paying job gets in the way of your fun?!!! Man!

Anyway here is the link to the info for FluffyStuff. If you are in the area please stop in and come by and say "Hi".

Welcome 2010

I am sorry to those of you that stop by to see what I have been doing. I found that there is so little time in my life to knit that I have not taken the time to take pictures and blog. You are a dear to keep checking back. The other reason for my absence is that I don't like the picture format I have to use on this blog site. My Mr. and I talked about finding someway to work around it and have both been too swamped to do that. Finally, I also find it hard to actually take pictures.

All excuses I know, but there it is.

My needles have been very busy anyway. I knit through the fall and right into the holidays and suddenly I find I am in a new decade. WOW! How does that happen? I have put aside most of my yarn knitting for a bit and have now been working on my knitted wire jewelry. I committed to participate in a show the end of March and need to have product to show. I promise pictures soon!!!!

Any way, Thank you for sticking with me and I found some pictures to share.

Family Heirlooms

I was recently asked by a friend if I would look at a sweater her Grandmother started 20 plus years ago. If possible could I finish it for her. Her grandmother was making the sweater for her cousin, who was a baby at the time, but sadly she got very sick and put it away. She continued knitting on afghans but never went back to the sweater. The cousin is now well into her twenties and has children of her own. The sweater is about a size 2 and will fit one of these descendants. It is a beautiful aran pattern that was perfectly stitched. The pattern was gone but only 12 rows of the fronts needed to be done and assembled and then the collar. I have put aside other projects to do this (I know, Amy, obsess about a knitting project, g-waan). The wool was rough but knit wonderfully. After washing and blocking the sweater is much softer. It is exactly what I think of for an heirloom aran sweater.

It is such an honor to have been asked to finish what Grandma started so she can be remembered. I know she lovingly knit every stitch thinking of the baby that would wear it, and as she hoped, it would be passed on to the next generation to be wrapped in her love.

Happy Fall

It is a magnificent fall on Long Island. Pumpkins are being harvested, mums and Montauk daisies are ready to bloom and traffic has moved from the Hampton's to the North Fork. The Ts and my Mr. and I have been able to get out and enjoy these beautiful days that remind me of God's blessings around us. I know I am blessed in so many ways but have had some of those reminders this last week that make me say an extra prayer of Thanks. We walked for miles in the sunshine and perfect temperatures for two days. Saturday we met friends in Central Park and walked all over and climbed the rocks and then walked down to Hells Kitchen for a great dinner and then to Time Square to their hotel (a cab ride back to our van though!). Sunday we spent out on the other end of Long Island at Maritime Festival in Greenport and walked for hours there. The boats were dreamy. Oh my feet and legs!!!!

I also saw a friend of mine this weekend who asked me the greatest thing. She is going to work on spinning and dying yarn and would like me to help write patterns and knit samples. Would I be interested?

Wait let me think..................... YES!!!!! This is so exciting, if I weren't so tired I don't know if I could sleep tonight. Wow what an opportunity. More on that to come.

On the knitting front, I am back to the Urban Aran and should finish soon, body and one sleeve done.

Fall and Wool are in the air and I am happy. Fall is my favorite season!

Baby Morgan

I am mailing off a baby outfit I made for my cousin, Kelly. After her baby shower I heard she did not have a "coming home" from the hospital outfit. Gasp!! That required immediate knitting!!!! She is having a girl, Morgan Kay, in October. I did not want to be late so I knit like crazy to be sure I got the outfit delivered before Kelly delivered. T he search for baby sweater, hat and bottoms turned up many options. My pick for sweater is the Dragon Skin Wrap from Interweave Knits, Holiday 2007. This is a lovely pattern but written with 3-12 months as the smallest size. Let's face it that is not "coming home" from the hospital outfit. I sized it down to fit an 18" chest but the wrap will allow for all that fast baby growth. I also did a "growing room" inside closure. The yarn is Cascade's Cherub Collection DK that is soft and washable and pink. I have three boys, pink is new for me!! The hat is a pattern I found on Ravelry that had the right number of stitch pattern stitches. I continued the dragon skin stitches and used the decreases from the Petal hat. Oh and of course knit in the round, this me knitting!

Hat pictured here on my lovely hydrangea.

The bottoms turned out to be harder to find a pattern for. I wanted a footed legging that was knit in the round. Apparently no one else has written a pattern that covers both of these requirements. I will just have to do this. They knit up very quickly and simply. I have some testers lined up. I have a name picked. I also have an idea that all the proceeds from the sale of this soon to be pattern should go to a children's charity. I have some ideas but I am looking for suggestions.

So, Morgan Kay, you now have something to wear home. Come when you are ready there are many people far and near to love you and keep you warm. Every stitch is a kiss and hug from Amy in New York.

Top Down T

This was going to be a quick in between project. I like to say that and then my ideas usually end up taking longer and "quick" is no longer an appropriate adjective. The idea was to use up some of the great yarn my Mom gave me from my stash so it was also cheap. I am happy to say all things worked very well and I love the end product too!!

I started at the top because I only had 7 skeins of yarn and didn't know exactly what was going to happen. I cast on and just started knitting ...

There are no directions yet because this top knit up so fast I didn't have time to stop and write down what I was doing!!! Seriously, how often in hand work does that happen. Total time spent was about 20 days. I will take time to write more about this another time. I finished and now get to work on a very special project for a new baby coming soon to our family. Kelly and Arron are in need of an outfit to bring Morgan Kay home in early October. I picked the Dragon-Skin wrap from Holiday '07 Interweave Knits. I need to find a hat pattern that will work with it.

I am off to start Back to School shopping and hope to get more knitting in too.

My New Cardi!

On Sunday I finished the off white cardigan I have been working on. The one I had did not like my washer (but found a great home with Kris). The body of the sweater was based on the Landon pattern by Jordana Paige. The trim however is based on A Cardigan for Arwen pattern by Kate Gilbert. All together I think it came out all me. I tried to take pictures and got some interesting results, oops!

I started the body from the neck down like the Landon and when I got to the point where I was suppose to increase for the cable band on the fronts I made the front band seperately. I did a cable cast on and knit from the center back out each direction. The front band and collar are three times wider than the band on the Arwen sweater. When the band was the length I needed I sewed it to the body and continued with all live stitches. The bottom band and the sleeve cuff are the one area I am not sure of but will not be redoing. I had to increase the number of stiches to account for the "gathering" caused by the cables and could have added more to allow for a more A-line silhouette. I decided to keep the bottom as it is because I didn't want to sleeves to be any fuller. I could have gotten away with no increases in the sleeves themselves as they were big enough from the under arm. (It was only 8 stitches.)

The yarn is Sierra by Cascade Yarns and I am once again very happy with thier yarn. I will say again, Cascade is a great value for knitting. It is a 80% Pima Cotton / 20% Merino Wool blend and was perfect for summer knitting. I used about 8 1/2 skeins. The big test will be to see how it wears. My concerns are the weight of the cable bands making it stretch and any pilling. The wool made the yarn lighter then many cottons and I hope better memory. Only time will tell.