Friday, January 29, 2010

Ballband Tea Towel


freebie for a freezing day!

Woman holding a knitted hot water bottle cover
i thought this freebie pattern for a hot water bottle cover was so cute and apropos - it feels like a meat locker out there!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Big Bad Baby Blanket


Liane is working away on a new Big Bad Baby Blanket for the store. We're using the Estelle Cadenza, which is in the kits. I love the yarn's spongy texture once knit up, and this is still my favourite baby blanket of all time!

Friday, January 22, 2010

freebie radiant sweater

Image of Radiant Sweater

freebie pattern for radiant sweater. good for people with narrow shoulders, small boobies. i must be feeling more like myself, i seem to be slipping back into pattern seeking mode.  :-)

ninotchka hat

i finished me ninotchka hat last night! i feel cool wearing it, but i guess, looking at the photo, that it looks a little weird. que sera, it's not like i won't be more hats in my future. ;-)

Thursday, January 21, 2010

when bad things happen to good knits


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

new freebies!

knitted garter-stitch jacket

allaboutyou has updated their free patterns for the new year and it includes this simply styled jacket




before ninotchka there were flappers ...

before ninotchka there were flappers ....



before i started working on the strange looking 1940s style hat i set my sights on a crochet cloche. it did not work out the way i wnated, but it is not the fault of the pattern. i chose the completely wrong yarn for this project.  wrong colour, wrong texture. i thought a smooth surfaced merino was the way to go but it needs the opposite, a heathered neutral with a slight halo. i will give it another go in ultra alpaca, but i had to put it down for a rest. i also kind of screwed up the ridges on the front, which i think i prefer pronounced.

anyway, i'm not crazy about it, so i'm donationg it to the Shop For The Cause Haiti Fundraiser, this Saturday.

Friday, January 15, 2010

good news! i got my cast off!

good news!  i got my cast off! bad news ... it hurts to knit. better news, i can crochet a bit!  modestly poopy news, the things i've been working on haven't been working out, so there isn't much to show/off.



my primary project is the slanting stitches hat. i wanted something that is a little 'ninotchka'. i've been using berroco ultra alpaca in a medium heathered grey and a 4mm hook. so far the body of the hat is a really nice stitch that isn't too kitschy because of the yarn's slight halo and the heathered colouring. but the top section is made with a double crochet, which is way too kitsch, so i'm continuing the base stitch all the way up.  i'll have to improvise something for the brim too. i really don't know how this project is going to work or what it will look like, but it's really an exercise in exploring new things.


here's the hat in progress.

http://img.timeinc.net/time/2005/100movies/images/ninotchka.jpg

for reference, here's a shot of the kooky hat worn by Greta Garbo in the 1939 movie. the movie wasn't really all that fantastic, (3 stars), but it gets marks for hattitude. the premise (for the hat) is that garbo is a stern soviet state employee sent to paris on official business. Melvyn Douglas falls for her and helps loosen her up. in the process, she passes a store window and falls for the rediculously impractical hat (and the guy too).

good news! i got my cast off!

good news!  i got my cast off! bad news ... it hurts to knit. better news, i can crochet a bit!  modestly poopy news, the things i've been working on haven't been working out, so there isn't much to show/off.



my primary project is the slanting stitches hat. i wanted something that is a little 'ninotchka'. i've been using berroco ultra alpaca in a medium heathered grey and a 4mm hook. so far the body of the hat is a really nice stitch that isn't too kitschy because of the yarn's slight halo and the heathered colouring. but the top section is made with a double crochet, which is way too kitsch, so i'm continuing the base stitch all the way up.  i'll have to improvise something for the brim too. i really don't know how this project is going to work or what it will look like, but it's really an exercise in exploring new things.


here's the hat in progress.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

babette blanket 2