claudia, the pile of leaves

sorry to be posting as "knithappy" again but i don't use blogger for anything but this blog and have a slippery hold on my identity herein.

i am amber, and here is my daughter claudia, previewing her halloween costume. she is a pile of leaves. notice the rake. it is the most important part of the costume, if you are claudia, anyway.

all the leaves are knit from manos del uruguay. quite a few of them are knit from color 121, "cornucopia", of which one might say i am particularly fond. there is a machine-sewn shell under the body, headpiece, and both feeties of the costume. the leaves were then handsewn onto the shell. she is wearing a brown turtleneck onesie and brown cableknit stockings from baby gap underneath.

she can't fit into her stroller in it, but give her the rake and she is happy to sit in one spot and just be a pile for a good long time.

Thank you Courtney!

Aside from the fact that there hasn't been a post on here in a while, I wanted to give a shout out to Courtney. I don't know how to crochet. In the past, Courtney has taught me how to do a single crochet for a shell edging, and I just about got by. Well, today I went in for some crochet help for a hat/mitten pattern. Of course, I forgot the pattern and the book had sold out at Rosie's. Still, Courtney knew what I needed to do and helped explain some of the terms.

Tonight, I went home and read the directions again. I did a test swatch and then felt confident enough to start the crocheted picot edging on the hat. Check out my first attempt at more than just a crochet chain:

Here's the final product:

It's Susan Anderson's Cupcake Set (minus the scarf) from Itty Bitty Nursery. I knit it in Rowan Cashsoft DK (Pixie, Snowman, and Poppy). I knit the 6-12 months size.

Thanks so much Courtney!

Baby James Dean Hat (Rosie Knits pattern)

Just wanted to share the Baby James Dean hat I finished and gifted to a co-worker and his wife's new baby.

Thanks to Courtney's Max for the idea. I used Koigu mill ends and a size one circular needle. I didn't even mind the kitchenering over 50 stitches at the end since it was for a baby (maybe I should make socks for babies instead of myself - nah)

i am not "knithappy", i am amber dorko stopper. and i can't remember my login. but i want to show off my daughter in her new cotton tunic.

while i knit all summer long, i am not that interested in "summer knitting"-- but wanted to make something for my daughter to wear before autumn.

this tunic is from the "knitting pure and simple little girl's sundress or jumper" pattern and is knit in nashua's creative focus ecologie cotton in "chestnut".

the pattern is very easy to resize -- it barely requires any math, and can just be done with eyeballing. it's a toddler-sized pattern and claudia is only three months old.

this may very well be the one garment she is wearing next summer too, as a top. i made the armholes extra deep so that it might be possible.

i also added a folded picot edge, as that extra weight gives the bottom of the garment some swing, which is cute as heck.

as you can see, claudia's very amenable to having her photograph taken.

Don't forget- Wine and Wind is tonight!

Just a friendly reminder tonight is our Wine and Wind party at Rosie's! Bring all your stash from Maryland Sheep and Wool to show off and wind while enjoying some fabulous cheese and wine.

Festivities start at 6pm!

Toys Without Tonsils

Hi Knitters!

I'm a new blogger and Courtney was kind enough to allow me into the circle!  I've been reading your blogs online for awhile now, and am amazed at all the wonderful work you have all created!  I am a fairly new knitter- self taught and am just picking up shaping techniques and trying my best to learn about all the different yarns out there.  

A little about myself: I'm 28, been knitting for about 3 years and work as a resident at Hahnemann Hospital.  

I recently had to have an emergent tonsilectomy, which put me out of work and into bed for the last week and half!  Needless to say, I've done NOTHING but knit.  I just finished a toy dog for my brother's soon to be baby!  I'll try to attach a pic.  I went to Rosie's last week and picked up some Rowan Cashsoft Aran yarn for a garter stitch square grid baby blanket.  I just hope this kid isn't allergic to yarn!!!

I'm looking forward to blogging with you and learning from you all!

Sincerely,

LJ Van Scoy

Politics of Knitting Article(featuring Rosie's regulars)

Hey guys, look an article featuring Politics, knitting, and our own Carol Sulcoski and Sherry Weller!

Karen's Anthracite Shawl

I am working on a yummy shawl to use at my weekend retreat. It's worked log cabin style, and once you pick up the stitches on each edge, you just knit, knit, knit, until you have a certain number of rows (which are very easy to count using the garter ridges :). Perfect for knitting circle. I love knitting circle, but it is especially precious when you are dealing with life's curves and have some friends to listen (and Clyde to play with).

Robin's Vladivostock

Courtney and others encouraged me to post pictures of the Vladivostock I made in sea silk. This is a RosieKnits pattern and the second one I have made (the first being in koigu). I used 2 skeins of Handmaiden's Sea Silk in the Ivory colorway. I cast on only 96 stitches to make sure that I still got the length while only using 2 skeins. The measurements are approximately 20 x 70.

Inspired by Knitting Circle

I decided these two colors go perfect together at last week's knitting circle, when scraps of the two intertwined each other in my knitting bag. I signed up for a toe up sock class, intent on knitting Ode to Eames Mosaic Socks by Zeitgeist Yarns.

Now back to my homework to knit up to the heel before next Sunday's class.

Knitting Circle Baby Shower

They are throwing me a "surprise" baby shower this Wednesday, Nov. 7th during knitting circle from 6-8pm. I know Kate emailed some people, but I figured this was a perfect opportunity to use the Knitting Circle Blog, since it's things like this that I created it for in the first place. No gifts necessary just come and eat cake! I assume they are getting me cake?...

Winners!

Hey everyone, the Socksational Sock Race is coming to a close. And Sherry has kicked all of our butts. I failed miserably and have reconciled myself to the fact that while I love buying sock yarn I do not love knitting socks apparently. Tomorrow at knitting circle (live) we shall shower Sherry in her winning socky gifts. Pictures will be posted. Also, Krista C. wherever you are we have a prize for you for daring to wear your handknit socks in 85 degree weather. I hope you all enjoyed the socky fun, and all the free patterns and stuff. Soon, hopefully, any day now we will have revamped the RYC Sock Boutique to have some of our new sock yarns on it since so much new stuff is coming in. In the meantime, get your sock fix this weekend at Rosie's Sidewalk Sale! We'll have lotsa stuff on sale, really good prices! Saturday 9-5, be there or be spending more money on yarn somewhere else.

Done!

My sock race socks are done, just in time.

Did someone say Black Bunny?

Hello all and welcome to the final installment of Socksational July. We are going out in style this time, our yarn of the week and free pattern are courtesy of Carol from Black Bunny Fibers! Whoo-hoo! Check here to order the yarn (there is only one skein of each color so get it while it lasts!) and click on the image below to download pattern.

On to the cuffs

I have the two cuffs to finish in a week!
(mopping the floor may be further delayed).

Socksational Sock of...next week.

Seriously, I am so behind! Don't kill me! I promise that I will have a new pattern and everything up ASAP, but probably not until Monday. ACK!

I thought I'd post a sock race update. I changed my mind on the Tofusies and switched to some orange Koigu. I'm pretty sure I saw some of this color still at Rosie's last week if you like it. It's slightly more 'Caution Cone' in person, and I have to keep myself from buying more of it.

Some sunshine right there on my feet to chase away those future Winter Blahs.

I normally work on US1 needles for socks, but I really don't like working with this yarn that tight. This means I'm off gauge and will have to think a minute about the rib when I get to the cuff.

Socksational Sock of the Week

We have another lovely FREE sock pattern for your enjoyment. I have finally finished the pattern for these suckers, and it's proof that I do in fact knit two socks, sometimes. Especially when the gauge is 5.25 sts/1".

Click on the picture for a pdf of the pattern. In the future you can go to www.smithislandpatternfactory.com to purchase the pattern for $6. Let me know via my blog or in the comments here what you think! And if you need yarn, and who doesn't?, go here to purchase the yarn!

Sock Race Start Over

I frogged a couple inches on my sock. The rib pattern just wasn't showing up enough to make it worth the effort. After a brief conference with My knittin' buds, I decided this Tofusies colorway is just going to be a plain sock.

I have some subtle variegated tangerine Koigu I'm going to replace it with. Now it will be a challenge since I have to start over-I'm the slowest sock knitter known to man. However, maybe with the Koigu I can use a US2 needle...

New Free Pattern of the Week!!!

This week we bring you the second installment of the Socksational July sock pattern of the week. "Ode to Eames Mosaic Socks", the first of (hopefully) many patterns from Zeitgeist Yarns Knitting Patterns.



Click on the photo below for a link to the .pdf. Enjoy!!!