Bunny Finger Puppets

I often wonder how people can make money knitting for hire. I'm a fast knitter but when I think of how much time these finger puppets took and how little they'll be able to get for them at the HRS garage sale... well, maybe I'll just give them a check next time. The free pattern is on my links to the right.

Anyway if you're in Albuquerque and would enjoy visiting a garage sale to help out pet rabbits, it will be held Friday and Saturday March 27th and 28th from 8 am to 4 pm. The address is 13709 Conner Court NE (in the NE Heights off Tramway). From Lomas and Tramway, take Lomas East six blocks intothe foothills. There will be signs w/balloons. Conner court is on the left directly off of Lomas. It looks to be quite a large sale and the rescuers are even getting goods to sell from Animal Humane's gift shop. All proceeds go to help rescue pet rabbits from the Albuquerque and Santa Fe city animal shelters.

Jack the cat was offended that Bubbles' nose was featured since he feels his nose is better looking. Every morning both Jack and Bubbles fight over a patch of sunlight in the 2nd bedroom - they both park it as far away from each other as possible (but still in the sun) and glare at each other. I'll have to get a photo - it is hilarious.

I didn't know Blogger would shrink the size of the videos so much - I'll have to keep that in mind next time I do one. I'd like to show my weaving in ends assembly line procedure next - I estimate I can weave in 10 to 20 yarn ends per minute so I will try to put my money where my mouth is in a video.

I need to give a shout out to CreateSpace which is an excellent service for publishing knitting booklets for sale on Amazon. First of all they give your booklet a free ISBN number (last time I checked an ISBN was $150 elsewhere) and they are very easy to use. You upload a PDF and then they ask that you order one copy of your booklet before they put it up for sale. I was initially unable to use their cover template with my graphics program but fortunately I figured out that during the publishing process they offer a great service called Cover Creator to make simple book covers. Both Stranded Color Knitting and Glove Knitting are now on Amazon with free super saver shipping so if you want a print version, that is the least expensive method.

Also, I've put a few of my pattern PDFs on Patternfish - here is the listing for the Arctic Spring Mittens. I think they do a beautiful job of showing the patterns with the larger images and Julia is extremely kind in her description of the patterns.

I am currently finishing up about a million rabbit finger puppets for our local rescue group's garage sale later this month so I will show you those in a day or two.

Here's your bunny nose close-up for today courtesy of Miss Bubbles:

Spring Promenade in Paris

Spring is in the air. The light lately has been so much like the light in Paris. I miss Paris most in the spring. Paris was so much in my mind that I dedicated these colorways to Paris in the Spring.
Enjoy your Promenade...

Knitted Two Color Braid Video, Step Two

STEP TWO - KNITTED 2-COLOR BRAID


STEP TWO: For this row you do the opposite of Step One and thus untwist your yarns. Both yarns remain in FRONT of the work. Take the Color A yarn and put it OVER the Color B yarn and purl one stitch. Then take the Color B yarn and put it OVER the Color A yarn and purl one stitch. Repeat these two stitches across the row as shown in the video below.


That's it! You can also reverse Step One and Step Two if you prefer or work 2 rows of Step One then two of Step Two.
Copyright 2009, Nanette Blanchard

Knitted Two Color Braid Video, Step One

STEP ONE - KNITTED 2-COLOR BRAID
Knitted braids are beautiful and they get easier the more often you do them. They don't curl so they are an excellent alternative to ribbing for a hem. The braid here is just a basic braid but there are many fun alternatives. Check out the excellent book Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush (one of my top five favorite knitting books!) for some more advanced braids - I think she even has a 3 color braid.

There's usually a set-up row - in this case I did K1 Color A, K1 Color B, and on across the row.

STEP ONE: You take both yarns and hold them IN FRONT of your work as if to purl. Take the Color A yarn and pull it UNDER the Color B yarn and purl one stitch. Then take the Color B yarn and pull it UNDER the Color A yarn and purl one stitch. Repeat these two steps across the row as shown in the video below.

You are purposely twisting the yarns in Step One. Any time in knitting when you are purposely twisting two or more yarns you need to regularly run your fingers between the two yarns (as seen at the end of the video below) and push the twist as far away from your needles as possible. If the twist gets too close to your needles it gets tough to knit.

Yesterday we drove south past the tiny land grant town of Manzano to the Quarai ruins. These red sandstone ruins were from a Tiwa Pueblo and the large structure was a church from the 1620's built when the Spanish settlers arrived. The pueblo mets its demise in 1677 from a combination of famine and war with the Apache.




You can see the Manzano mountains in the distance. Last year they had a terrible wildfire and there were blackened spots all over the mountains.



Unfortunately I forgot to bring any mittens to photograph so here is a very thick glove I knit from one of Kristin Nicholas' books a few years ago. I keep these gloves in the truck for any emergencies requiring brightly colored worsted weight gloves.




You gotta love New Mexic0!

Thank you to you and Itchiku Kobota

Dear Friends,

First I want to thank all of you for your kind words on the blog, for your many emails, and cards you sent me. Your support has meant a lot to me, Mr. SockPixie and the children.
After taking a little time off ( I thank you so much for your patience with the shipping of your orders...I am finally caught up with shipments! I am still catching up on answering emails...), I felt great joy in exploring the wonderful work of Itchiku Kubota. His kimonos are an ode to the eternal beauty of nature, of the seasons,and of the elements.
If you want to see more of his work, I recommend you read Kimono as Art: the Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota. I know you will love it.



Here are the 6 Itchiku Kubota colorways. I hope you will enjoy them.