Kristi's Mittens

I wish all of you a Happy New Year full of time to knit. I also wish that the knitting book publishers and magazines will start to provide some challenging patterns. Here are my 2003 FOs:

4 Sweaters & Vests - Dale of Norway Sirdal cardigan, Starmore St. Enda, gray vest, Dale of Norway baby cardigan #12406

9 Pairs of Mittens - Child's mittens, Meida's mittens, Lavold Harald mittens, 2 pairs child's bunny mittens, Vinternatt mittens, Turkey Mittens, Paradoxical Mittens, Kristi's Mittens

6 Pairs of Socks & Slippers - Fuzzy Feet, Spin-Off Entrelac socks, 2 pairs adult bunny slippers, Blackberry Ridge Halloween socks, Aran Sandal Socks

6 Scarves - Red Spontaneous Scarf, Brown Spontaneous Scarf, Blue/green Spontaneous Scarf, Koigu Cross Stitch Scarf, Multi-Directional Scarf, Red & Blue Spontaneous Scarf

11 Hats & Headbands - Bea Ellis Telemark headband, 2 children's Bunnies & Carrots hats, 4 adult Bunnies & Carrots hats, Zilboorg Cone hat, Turkish Infant Cap, Shadow Hat, Wellington Hat

1 Pair of Gloves - Sanquhar gloves

3 Miscellaneous - 1 lizard, 1 mini-bunny

HAUNTED MITTENS




Here is the first Kristi's mitten photo. The pattern is from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia and is done in size 0 dpns and Elann's baby cashmere. The yarn is a bit hairy (due to the alpaca) and inelastic but it held up remarkably well to all the problems that needed fixing. I initially made some weird mistake at the beginning of the cuff which I couldn't ladder down to fix for some reason so I ripped the whole thing out. Then I managed to forget the entire center row in one of the early pattern repeats so I ripped out the mitten a second time. Then I must have ripped out the two different yarns unevenly because when I picked up the yarns each color was on a different row. It took me a while to figure that one out. duh

So I finished the second mitten. What is wrong with this picture???




Yes, that's right - I made two left mittens. sigh So I ripped that out and here's a photo of the mittens done the right way. You'd think I was finally done with this jinxed project, right? But noooooo.


In this scan of the inside of the mitten you can see that because of the long floats of this particular pattern the yarns are already starting to snag. So I had to tack down the floats on the inside of each mitten.



This particular project represented 2003 for me - many problems and much confusion but the only answer is to keep trying. You can still end up with something good.

THE BEST OF 2003



I guess my favorite project this year would be the Spin-Off entrelac socks done in handspun Easter egg dyed Merino. Runners up would be the Aran Sandal Socks (pictured yesterday) and Meida's mittens from Folk Knitting in Estonia in softer-than-soft Richesse et Soie.



My best knitting accomplishments this year include finishing St. Enda and the Sirdal cardigan. My most gratifying knitting was all the rabbit stuff I knit for the Colorado chapter of the House Rabbit Society.



My best purchases this year would certainly be Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting and the Cascade 220 I got on sale at Webs to make Malin for around $40. Also, I bought the Threads Knitting Around the World compilation at a used bookstore for a few dollars - I think this one is relatively hard to find and priced high on Ebay.



The best knitting publication isn't a knitting magazine at all - Spin-Off rules with the most creative inspiration for knitters. My best knitting gifts this year were my Ott-Lite and my music stand, both from DH.



THE WORST OF 2003



The award for worst knitting magazine goes to all of them. I can't vote on worst knitting book because I haven't seen all of them. My least favorite yarn this year was Emu Superwash DK - it just doesn't feel that great and I'm still unsure whether I'll finish Trondheim in it. I'm pretty picky about yarn though so your mileage may vary.



My worst knitting disaster was the beautiful Dale of Norway baby sweater in slippery superwash Norwegian Sport wool that started to disintegrate in the washing machine. sigh My worst knitting project was by far Kristi's mittens that I just finished - everything that could go wrong did. More on that tale of woe tomorrow.



By far the worst of 2003 was losing our beloved pet rabbits Flip (so named because he liked to flip on his side as shown) & Snickerdoodle (in one of his baby photos).













We still miss them terribly however I have it on good authority that an extra large female bunny with attitude may be moving here sometime soon to take up the slack.

There are some tremendously beautiful knitted sweaters out there you have to go see right now.



Sarah's wonderfall Snowfall keeps beckoning to me. It is from an old issue of Cast On and Sarah and the designer are the only ones who have the chart for it apparently.



Kris' Armaugh is just gorgeous. The sweater is from Celtic Collection by Alice Starmore and Kris looks great it in it.



Also, check out Karen's Lochinver from Fisherman's Sweaters also by AS. I think the yarn she used for it looks so beautiful don't you?



Here are the Aran Sandal Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks. I loved the pattern and loved the yarn (Cormo from a vendor at Taos Wool Festival - Elsa Sheep & Wool) so much I purposely slowed down the knitting. I used cardboard inserts to show the patterns and even managed to get a scan of my foot so you could see the heel.

Santa Fe

UNEXPECTED KNITTING by Debbie New

My best knitting Christmas present was one I gave myself - I ordered Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting a while back but kept it until Christmas to open. It is an amazing book and one I can't recommend highly enough. With the current emphasis on non-challenging knitting this book goes a million miles in the opposite direction and challenges knitters to think about knitting and knitted fabrics in a much different way. In fact there is one chapter, Virtual Knitting, that isn't actually knitting but replicates knitted fabric. I often don't think of my knitting as terribly creative but this is the best book I've seen on creativity and the design process in knitting. Some of her knitted works of art are truly things the knitting world has never seen before.

I plan to start something using the freeform knitting technique this weekend. Thank God for Debbie New's remarkable intelligence and for Schoolhouse Press for publishing this book - there's no way other knitting book publishers would even consider attempting such a book. I read through this book today and had some incredible thoughts and ideas - there is not a single technique in here that doesn't excite me and start me imagining whole new ways of looking at knitting. Wow - this is easily the most exciting knitting book I've seen in a decade or two.

Back to our Santa Fe Tour. Santa Fe is easily one of the most important art marketplaces in the country. Canyon Road, billed America's Arts and Crafts Road, is littered with galleries. I thought I'd take some photos of some of the outdoor art on display. First we have DH with a large metal rabbit.



And perhaps an errant reindeer.



The cougar on the roof of the Canyon Road florist is sporting a Santa hat.



And my favorite piece of Canyon Road art - a massive rabbit done in some sort of concrete mixture.

Trash Bag Christmas Stocking

TRASH BAG CHRISTMAS STOCKING





This stocking was knit on size 4 dpns using two different colors of trash bags. (I roughly cut strips about 1 inch wide.) I used the snowflake chart from the Lilliputian Christmas stockings in Socks, Socks, Socks, and duct tape to write out Noel at the top of the stocking. See Marilyn's blog to view Carol's much more deserving entry which won the Christmas knitted Crapalong contest.

Merry Christmas to all! I hope you all have good company, good food, and that Santa brings you everything you desire. I'll be back Friday with more Santa Fe photos.

Dale of Norway Kashmir Sweater

The Santa Fe photo tour is postponed until Friday. In the meantime, I wanted to show you Wanda Rollins' beautiful Dale of Norway Kashmir knit in Tiur yarn and held up by her son.





Wanda decided not to do the optional embroidery. Isn't it gorgeous? This is an alternate colorway from what the pattern shows and I believe Wanda told me one of the colors she used in Tiur is no longer available. Thanks for sending me these terrific photos Wanda!

Tomorrow I'll show you my entry for Marilyn's Christmas Crapalong contest.

We'll start our second tour of Santa Fe with a photo of the Roundhouse or the state Capitol building. It is a relatively new building and is territorial style. The Roundhouse is actually in the shape of the Zia Indian sun symbol which is the state symbol and is on the state flag. Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the US.







Here is the center of Santa Fe - the plaza. The building in the background is the Palace of the Governors, built in 1610, yes 1610, which used to be the Capitol building. It is now a museum.







And another photo of Santa Fe's plaza facing St. Francis cathedral.







Not much knitting going on. I'm almost done with the multi-directional scarf but I need to spin up more mohair. I have yet to decide if I'll try to finish one more project by the end of the year.