I have always dreamt of a place where enormous rabbits run around willy-nilly. Apparently that place is the UK.

Two Police Officers Given the Run-Around by Giant White Rabbit

Isn't he adorable? I showed the article to Bubbles and asked her if we could adopt him but she is understandably worried that he will eat all the dark leafy greens in a 50 mile radius.




Despite already having 456,782 pairs of hand-knit mittens, I've always wanted a pair of fuzzy light colored mittens. I knit up the same mitten pattern DH was shown wearing recently in Elann's worsted weight alpaca (exact same needle sizes) and I like the result (still wet from blocking).

I also found an error in the pattern which made me realize I'm rushing my upcoming mitten booklet so I am purposely slowing down. I want to knit all the patterns twice to check for errors and show each of the five mitten designs in two color combos. At this point I don't think it will be done until May but it will hopefully be error-free with the best photographs I can muster.

This weekend I'm going to see if I can get DH to make a video of me doing this simple braid on the cuff to show you here.




I just sent $250 to the Colorado House Rabbit Society from my booklet and pattern sales. I'm aiming for a total donation of $1000 this year. In 2008 I made about as much as I did in 2007 despite adding many new patterns so I will try to just keep the same donation number from the previous two years. I'd love to send more because their annual vet bills alone are $40,000 a year and more pet rabbits are being relinquished to shelters than ever so we'll see.

In the past year I've been contacted by several knitters who were trying to find the Japanese booklet I used to make the Nordic gloves below. At the time I couldn't find a source but I just learned that NeedleArts Bookshop in Canada is selling many of the Japanese knitting books along with info on translation HERE.

The specific booklet this pattern came from is called Nordic Small Knitting and had by far the best, most-detailed glove charts I've ever encountered. You can see a photo of the gloves from the book on the bottom left at that link.




The big news in the knitting world is that Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting is going to be reprinted by Dover this August. Previously you had to take out a second mortgage to afford the out-of-print price. HERE is a photo of the new cover and this is the old cover.



I personally feel the Starmore book is the best color knitting book available and I don't even really like Fair Isle design that much. Alice Starmore has the best color skills I've ever seen. The book includes a photographic history of Fair Isle knitting, a few patterns, lots of great technique info (she is a proponent of the two-handed color knitting method) including photos and info on different types of steeks, and many charts so you can design your own projects. Where this book
really shines is in the rather long section where she talks about color. She takes photographs and replicates the colors in knitted Fair Isle swatches. She has two knitted swatches that are inspired by photos of cars! Who does that!!!???

Everyone who knits with two colors per row should have this book. I'm wondering if the Dover reprint will include the section of photographs and her knitted interpretations. My other two Dover reprints - the Sheila McGregor books on Fair Isle and Scandinavian Knitting - only have 4 color pages in the center of the books and some color photos on the cover. Looking at the book's page HERE it says color photos and shows everything in color. Plus the book is higher-priced than the McGregor books so I really hope they reprint the book completely in color. Anyway the reprint is great news for the world of knitting.

Mittens in Color Booklet

Saturday I tried to take mitten photos on some interesting rocks inspired by Anna Zilboorg's Magnificent Mittens book. We live on what they call the green side of the mountain but the other side of the mountain reminds me a bit of the Sonoran desert so we headed there.

We went to a wonderful hiking/biking area called Embudito Canyon. My online Spanish dictionary says that embudito means little funnel.




It was quite sunny and we really searched for a tiny bit of shade. Even with shade the mittens are a bit washed out but you can see the cool rocks.



The bright sun and beautiful temperatures in the 60's made us a bit loopy so DH staged this photo to tell a story. He said the cactus was going to attack him but the mittens were keeping him safe. And they say I'm the wacky one in this relationship!




These rocks really are beautiful so maybe we'll try to get back on a cloudy day. It is amazing that you can find so many different types of moss and lichen in a dry sunny area.




I have 3 more mitten designs that I need to knit and write up for the booklet. One is almost done and one is a children's mitten so I hope it will be done soon.

Dear Friends

I have some difficult news to share. I had a miscarriage this week. I had waited to tell you all that I was expecting a new little Pixie, but life decided otherwise. I will be recovering this weekend. I will not be putting new colorways on the website this weekend but I know what next week's colorways will be. If you want to look at my inspiration, you can check the internet for the gloriously painted kimonos of Itchiku Kubota.

Easy Colorwork Cap

I just learned Cascade 220 has color names along with numbers for each shade. I've always used just the numbers in patterns but Yarn Country gives both numbers and names for Cascade 220 HERE.

This Easy Colorwork Cap (from the Stranded Color Knitting booklet) was knit in various colors of Cascade 220. I'm trying to use up all the pink I have in my stash but I guess I didn't do such a great job of that. The main color in this hat is called Blue Velvet.




I like it worn sideways as a jester hat. Seen here it is actually floppier than usual because it was still wet from blocking during the photo shoot.

SockPixie Retrospective

This week was a week of reflection for me, and I decided to bring some of my favorite colorways back for a special encore.
Choosing was difficult of course. This color called to me and then that one but I eventually settled on a few. I hope you will enjoy this SockPixie retrospective.
Here is Raspberry Cheesecake, one of my first colorways...

Color Knitting Quiz #2

COLOR KNITTING QUIZ #2

Because I'm still bogged down in the mitten booklet it is time for another quiz on working with multiple colors! Play along and see how well you do - I think this quiz is a little easier than my last quiz (HERE).

1.In this photo of the reverse of the Dale of Norway Salt Lake City sweater, the bottoms of the yellow lines are pointing out:

A) Bad Stitch Tension

B) Places where Floats were Woven

C) Locations Where the Knitter Changed Which Yarn was in Which Hand

D) Moth Holes

2. When knitting with two colors it is important to:

A) Have Fun!

B) Make Sure Your Floats (unused yarns on the back of the work) Are Not Too Tight

C) Find the Best Way for Your Hands to Hold Both Yarns

D) All of the Above

3. What is the most accurate term for all types of knitting where two or more colors are carried along the row?

A) Fair Isle Knitting

B) Intarsia

C) Old Lady Knitting

D) Stranded Color Knitting

4. The technique used for the pattern on the back of the hand on the Placitas gloves knit in the round (shown in the glove on the right) is:

A) Intarsia

B) Duplicate Stitch

C) Fair Isle

D) Crochet

5. Ribbing that uses more than one yarn color is:

A) Corrugated Ribbing

B) Less Elastic than Single Color Ribbing

C) More Likely to Curl

D) All of the Above

6. Why does the glove on the right look smoother than the glove on the left?

A) It is a trick of photography.

B) Blocking!

C) The knitter was more relaxed while knitting the glove on the right

D) I can't tell the difference between the two gloves

7. Extra Credit Question - Where exactly is Fair Isle located?

Scroll down for the answers.

x

x

ANSWERS:
1. B Look for the places where the floats look diagonal.

2. D

3. D Fair Isle is a specific type of stranded color knitting.

4. B although technically you could use intarsia in the round.

5. D

6. B Almost every single item of stranded color knitting benefits greatly from good blocking.

7. EXTRA CREDIT: It is the southernmost Shetland Island in Great Britain.

Scores - 0 to 3 - Keep Trying - it really isn't as hard as it seems!

4 to 6 - Very Good - soon you will be knee deep in colorwork charts and yarn.

7 - Excellent - you're a color master!

Homme Fatal

There is a little story behind the inspiration for this week's Homme Fatal Collection. It all started because Mr.SockPixie was gone on a business trip for 5 whole days... I was so bored at night, that I decided to entertain myself with some of my favorite classics.
I watched Pillow Talk, Gone with the Wind, North by Northwest, Out of Africa...
As I was sitting there, enjoying every minute of the movies, I realized that I rarely created manly colorways, and why not try to bottle up in a skein of yarn what made each of my favorite actors so irresistible? And there you are, the Homme Fatal Collection!

Here is Cary Grant, perfect in grey.



Enjoy!

BLUE BUNNY

There is an ice cream company here called Blue Bunny. Apparently Bubbles is planning on getting a job as their new spokesmodel.




I was curling my hair and I heard this weird noise. (When you have a house bunny you ALWAYS have to investigate weird noises to see what they've gotten into.) I had this water-impervious item called a Neat Sheet under her litter box to catch spills and she was digging underneath it and for some reason it turned her blue. It came right off with water and obviously it didn't affect her appetite.



Awww - There is nothing as cute as a pair of bunnies cuddling. Next Saturday, February 14 (Valentine's Day) we're having an special Adoptathon at the Albuquerque Petco on 10700 Lomas NE between 10 am and 2 pm. There will be pre-bonded couples and you can bring your bunny in and see if he/she will bond with one of the single adoptable bunnies. Pumpkin (on the top right) was just bonded to former rescue bunny Buttermilk and we're keeping our fingers crossed it will be a love match.

Valentine's Day Colorways

As Valentine's Day is approaching, I tought I would dedicate this week's colorways to famous real and mythical couples.

Here is Lucy and Ricky:



Happy Valentine to you all.