Do you have a present shelf? The spot in the closet dedicated to last minute hostess gifts, birthday presents and things you just can’t justify giving yourself so you buy it to give to others? At my house, the present shelf materialized while living in Italy. During visits to America, I would stock up on English language books and goodies for the girls to give at birthday parties. We’ve grown out of that tradition, but the present shelf continues. Contents range from EVOO available at Giardini di Sole, textiles gathered during travels and of course, hand knitted items.
Hand knitted items on the present shelf headed out to support Jules’ Struck Girl Scout Gold Star Project in October, so the shelf is quite bare. Knit scarves are an ideal present shelf item. With so many knitters obsessed with scarves and shawls and with me hanging out and nurturing knitters eight hours a week, it’s difficult not to catch scarfitis. Mindless scarves, technique building scarves, spring scarves, winter scarves, scarves to layer… you get the picture.
So how will I restock the present shelf?
Icicle by Nancy Marchant
Icicle by Nancy Marchant gives me a chance to begin playing with her two color brioche knitting book and creating a hopefully gender neutral scarf. I picked up some great yarn at Circle of Stitches after visiting the PEM Native Fashion Now exhibit. I chose a deep plum to combine with gold, but have yet to cast on.
Knitting Fresh Brioche: Creating Two Color Twists and Turnsuses different vocabulary and could definitely fill my winter with opportunities to swatch. Having received this book for Christmas, I’ll begin with one color swatches, enjoying the process and eventually end up with
BTW, the thought provoking, tactile tempting exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum features great curation and interesting textiles. Highlighting how heritage and global mish mash struggle in a world with boundaries, borders and limitations left me contemplating perspectives of native designers. Hmm… are there any audio books on native american cultural expression in the 21st Century so I could listen as I knit?
Sallah by Bristol Ivy
A survey of my stash yields plenty of options for sock weight yarn scarves. Sallah by Bristol Ivy could be the right choice for many of these skeins. One of the Sit and Knit knitters has this on the needles, so I’ve been living it vicariously through her for the past couple of months. No casting on yet… I’ve still got a zick zack scarf on my needles, so in the mindless category, I’m probably set for a while.
Blocks of quilting, knitting, mending, drawing and dreaming frame the early days of 2016.
One Sunday afternoon to do list.
Soon I’ll finish the second quilt in the Cowabunga Cat series. This one kind of got away from me. Originally, the second surfing cat quilt would also be a baby blanket. After the first, I felt like the fabric needed more room to breathe. So I unsewed the top and placed the large isosceles triangles in a larger setting…. try queen size. The top is still pretty busy…. but I can definitely see waves of surfing cats moving through the tube.
Although I said I’d never use a Statler Stitcher on my quilts after Karina Kowabunga, Laurena’s Longarm Quilting now has several of the Anita Shackleford Modern packages available for the computer guided quilting machine. “Modern Paisley” seemed the perfect choice for this surfing cat quilt.
Anita Shackleford Modern Paisley Digital Quilting Design
Trimming out portions of the pattern, changing height and other diddly choices means I’ll spend more than 8 hours quilting the 81″ x 90″ top. Over the autumn, I wrote several little haikus about surfing cats, two of which I’m quilting into the top. I’ve got some leftover fabric and a few more haikus… a third quilt in the offing? While these projects weren’t even on my horizon in January 2015, it’s been a fun little hike.
Already the pull of the 2016 quilt diversion dots my day dreams: Quilt du Jour by Marni Buck and Jill Guffy.
Quilts du Jour by Marny Buck & Jill Guffy
Plucked from the library just before Christmas (along with Margaret Radcliffe’s completely approachable and useful Knowledgeable Knitter), the simple blocks have lots of opportunities to play. We could use a few more large quilts at home. I’ve signed up for studio blocks as a subscriber at Laurena’s through the summer. With only two large WIPS destined for machine quilting, I do need to look at stash and play with possibilities.
Ah, how pleasant it is to just jump into whichever craft calls me today! Random craft choice won’t last much more: we’re leading a Knit a Long for the Aidez cardigan at Sit and Knit. Who knows what 2016 will bring?
“Is there anything fragile, liquid, perishable, or potentially hazardous,” the postal clerk asked before she smoothed the postage sticker onto my Large Priority Mail box.
A few knitting references surround my box of the Master Knitter Level 3 portfolio, ready to post!
“Um, no.”
The corrections to my Master Knitter Level 3 portfolio are headed to my committee chair, ready for weeks of scrutiny. This accomplishment yielded not nearly the relief I expected. Two things I’ve learned in this process:
I am capable of making copious careless mistakes.
There are some pretty wonderful knitting resources out there.
Finally it’s time to do things other than peruse knitting books (did you catch Margaret Radcliffe’s The Knowledgeable Knitter)? What a lovely addition to the genre! It’s time to return phone calls, bake, garden, make anything I feel like and read!
Oh, there will now be time to blog, too. So once I wade through the stuff that I’ve ignored for most of the last two months, I’m sure the anticipation, elation and jubilation will rise. Shouldn’t there be a pusheen emoji for this?
That package didn’t have anything fragile, liquid, perishable or potentially hazardous, but it did contain the fruits of many hours of work and timorous hopes of few corrections when the reviewers send the box back to me in a couple of months.
While I can easily resist adorable babies, resisting cute baby knitting patterns is much more challenging. Alas, my babies are much too old for quick knit sweaters and accessories. However, there are knit worthy parents on whom I would love to shower sweet baby knits.
This week, I stumbled across two patterns that were quickly added to my Ravelrybaby and toddler bundle: an Icelandic cardi by Hélène Magnússon called Gilipeysa and Baby Duck Booties by Meagan Anderson.
Hélène Magnússon’s Gilipeysa
Meagan Anderson’s adorable duck booties
Are you on Ravelry? If so, are we friends? I’m Ciaobella and you can see the rest of the favorites in my Babies & Toddlers bundle.
A photo posted by Alanna Nelson (@tactiletravels) on
I return to Master Knitter corrections.
Miki hat top view
Next up: the revised fair isle hat. My first pattern had errors, for sure. The reviewers did not feel that my pattern reflected traditional fair isle motifs and was too snug of a fit.
Miki fair isle watch cap
This time, I’m citing peeries from Michael Pearson’s Traditional Knitting and making the hat in 2 sizes (for those of us who prefer a snug fit while shoveling).
All was well with the Mikidue pattern until I ran out of orange yarn with merely 6 stitches left in the peerie. Ack.
Of course, this particular shade of Cascade 200 Superwash is discontinued. Where would we be without the internet? The up side is that I can work one last tiny peerie of orange for the crown.
The orange yarn will hopefully arrive this week. Perhaps these corrections may be posted before Thanksgiving? I’d better get knitting!
Ok, maybe not millions but certainly dozens of knit mittens. Hyperbole may be my middle name…..
My upcoming mittenggeddon began bubbling in the spring. Lost gloves, worn out mittens and well worn hand warmers meant knitting for hands should be on the horizon. While air conditioners buzzed in August, thanks to Ravelry’s library search, I discovered patterns I already owned and didn’t even remember! Do you keep track of your patterns in Ravelry? This nice video gives you the low down on how useful it is.
But back to warm hands during New England winters… Using the search option in my Ravelry library, more than three dozen patterns for hands were available. Personally, my wussy hands need some type of cold weather protection any time the weather gets below 60 F (15C). As such, I need at least 4 different kinds of hand coverings to get to spring again.
Cedar Shake mitts by Juju Vail and Susan Cropper
Last fall, I brought home the Cedar Shakes pattern after visiting London’s lovely Loop . With one hand warmer finished, I figured this was the first project to finish. However, this knitting project loved Shanti Retreat so much, it rummaged up the karma to stay behind (or was I silly enough to leave it under the bed?). So do I cast on another pair from stash or do I make another pair of Eric’s Glovelets?
One of many pairs of Eric’s Glovelets I’ve made
I first saw Jodi Colella whipping up a pair of Eric’s Glovelets in perhaps 2008. Normally, I make mine without the palm finishing, which makes them reversible and quicker to knit. I love its little mock cable.
The Peppermint Lounge Mittens have an interesting construction and are knit on straight needles. While white mittens have no space in my life, I think these would be a great early or late winter mitten to whip out of worsted weight remnants.
Adrian Bizilia Peppermint Lounge Mittens
A nice pair of gloves looks polished when the occasion requires. I enjoyed knitting Ysolda Teague’s Vintage Buttons Gloves. However, I needed to make the fingers much more fitted than her pattern outlined. This time, let me try Ruth Garcia-Alcantud’s Deux Violettes gloves.
Deux Violettes Gloves by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud
Once winter gets fierce, warmer mittens are required. I’ve completely worn through my pair of Kerri Shanks’ Cozy Lined Mittens. Last time, I lined the mittens with alpaca, which was simply divine. I shouldn’t complain if mittens wear out after years of use. Just knit another one, right?
For shoveling or winter walks, my hub asked for a thick pair of mittens, so I think I’ll buy Aria Reynold’s Roving Lined Mittens. There’s a yummy alpaca yak yarn that just showed up at In Stitches, and this will give me the perfect opportunity to go beyond my stash for mittens.
But thrumming will appear in my winter, I’m sure, so I’m off to download Lynette Meek’s East Coast Mittens, which has a nice thrumming explanation. The mitten pattern also includes a gusset, which is important for a long wearing fit, imho.
Of course, what I really want to knit: a muff. As a tiny tot, my sister and I shared am muff (or did we argue about who would wear it?). Most likely made of bunny hair, it was soft and beautiful. I’d like a soft and beautiful muff, maybe of alpaca yarn. But first, get those hands ready for cold weather!
And the mittengeddon begins! Anyone want to join me in the gathering of mittens?
