knittinggenes.blogspot.com

Here I am breaking a cardinal rule.....posting a picture on the blog when I was sort of, kind of, jokingly?, told not to. Here is Cara's boyfriend, (there I didnt say he was my son) knitting the Christmas gift scarf. By now, the scarf is easily 14 inches long or so. The yarns he choose would never have been my guess for such a pretty outcome. He's using a kettle dyed brown with a handpaint sock yarn in JETTY. JETTY was a prize yarn from this year in fingering weight, by Spindlecatstudio.etsy.com. I'd describe it as a blend of light grey/blues and yellows. The mix is magical. In the other shots I took, you can clearly see the clicker for the TV at the ready for channel changing. I suspect tonight the knitting will be set aside as Cara's boyfriend is playing in the high school Battle of the Bands. Well, I can't say he's got his priorities straight yet, but afterall he's young.

I've lost a pair of fingerless gloves! Imagine Charlie Brown with a buuble that says "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" in frustration. We've already back tracked and checked the diner where I took them off to eat. Have you lost a wonderful hand knit????? The sister vest wouldn't even co-operate with the final photo session. The color is most true in this shot. It is going in the mail to my sister by the weekend. Good riddens! For all the complaining I've done, I'll bet you were expecting some intricate cableknit. .....The finisher, Julie, at 3 Bags Full did a fine job putting in the zipper. When said sister was in for Thanksgiving and saw another pair of my fingerless gloves she fussed over them. So much so, that I told her to take them. I'd rather her have them, knowing she liked the yarn and thumb, rather than adding another to my TO DO list. I'll knit myself another when my list is not so long right now.......and it won't be involve any pressure

My son has decided to knit a scarf for his girlfriend, for Christmas. He carefully swatched the yarns blended, then swatched in seperate stripes. Today he decided on a twisted rib pattern. He is kind of natural at knitting. Really, AL thinks so, too He isn't sure why he made a mistake, but he recognizes it right away. I must find out who on their father's side of the family was knitter.....nah. My Hungarian side is taking credit. Their great great grandfather kept knitting into his 90s. Genes are powerful things. I have made a decision about the blog for the wintertime. I had entertained the thought of a photographer's cube to take blog shots more, well, comfortable, during the coldest part of the year. Jiminey Crickets had just blogged about purchasing one. I decided to gut it out this winter. I'll be telling you the temps as I took the digital pictures in the days to come. I just love natural light and available light. (Someday I'll know how to take

Available today only: two new bulky yarns that knit up at 3 stitches per inch. Please specify with your order which colorway you'd prefer. Peeled Apple or Idaho Prep. This Thanksgiving post brought to you by Kathy B with the help of Jill the lurker and Al. And remember: More than a enough is a feast! and Its nobody's last meal!

the Christmas Cactus blooming this year.... Christmas Lorna's laces socks to knit.. Marcie and her etsy shop.....check out the link, hopefully it works! Mason-Dixon's Kay's sending me INDIGO KNITS book. those who read irisheyes

Al has the body of this darling sweater completed for a December cousin's birthday. Pattern from Debbie Bliss Book Number 4. She is using: Encore. ( Washable for this soon to be 2 year old. ) Have you seen the reindeer holiday stamp? Yarnmiracle Emily posted the news of knit stamps appearing for the holidays a few weeks ago. Go ahead, join in any reindeer games...

I needed to think about yarn subsitutions today. Irisheyes Lynn has okay'd my plan, so I am feeling good. I want to make a circle vest that I saw someone wearing at Stitches Midwest. The pattern is from knittyknottynj.com . Yarn used: Noro. Kochoran. I know .....there is no substitue for Noro.....BUT the budget is important. I looked around a bit and decided since I am in love with kettledyed Malaabrigo big yarn, maybe that would be a good, economical choice. I need about 550-600 yards . I wonder if many of you substitute yarns? Have you substituted when NORO was the recommendation? The yellow tree is outside my kitchen window. For any of you that don't get a color change with your autumn. I would never subtitute a deciduous with a evergreen.....Im not that crazy.

I knit. They all arranged themselves in this fashion the other night. My sweet husband noticed them. I was oblivious to everything but the sister vest at the time. Rosalyn is on top, Radar in the middle, Huck on the ground. (Fiona hiding ...of course) I am so at ease working on my holiday socks. I think I will rib them all the way to the heel because the colors don't seem to jog as much in rib. Criminey Jickets noticed that using a drop stitch elimates pooling in his socks. Where do you find a finisher you ask? My LYS offers finishing. It isn't cheap, however. I find it a geat indulgence when a zipper is involved. Another quick thing. A new reader asked about my Hungarian Grandmother's Apron pattern. I gave permission for it to be published by Crochet a Page a Day so I believe I cannot give her the directions, right? I think, dear reader, if you google Page a Day crochet for 2006 you'll be able to ask them for the pattern. Good luck.

Aren't you glad I can quit complaining about it? I felt like I should have been filmed running it through the door of my LYS in slow motion to Chariots of Fire music. Enough of all those folks who run marathons, already. Have they ever knit a sole garment, in yarn that made their fingers cringe, wihtout interrupting it with any other KNITTING? I wouldn't let myself begin anything else, until NOW. Bring on the gatorade, the flower leis, take my number off and post it in a newpaper, let me eat pasta and have a good massage. I did a KNITTING marathon and I survived it. Have you ever done the knit marathon? IM here to congratulate you, medals and all!

Well, continuing with my mistake theme, I have to show you a cool misttake I made. When I took a class to learn to felt, I made this little purse. Yes, it was supposed to be this little. That's not the mistake. Don't worry this isn't a HIghlight magazine, I won't make you search for it. I didn't watch the laundry powder I put in the toploader and oops, I used a powder with bleach. I carelessly sprinkled the powder in, not bothering to mix it in the water first and then add the wool purselet. Voila! I got this very neat tiedyed effet. I made the purselet a few years ago before I ever heard the word blog. I haven't know what I would do with it and now I have the perfect place to put my DYNEX card reader in. If you like the look g'ahead. Try my mistake felting technique. Have you had a good mistake lately?

First thing, the Holiday sock yarn is getting impatient. Sister Vest knitting remains uninterrupted. And you know what, I keep hearing people encourage me to knit through the mistakes. I Knit at Al's Satrbucks the other day. I snapped a quick photo of her working, to show you, and the manager immediately let me know I'd violated a serious Starbucks Corp rule: NO PHOTOS. I felt the need to show her as I deleted it from the digital. Oops. Well, I guess there will be no Starbucks guest bloggers....ever. Guess they don't know what an honor it is to get a guest blog spot here on irisheyes. sigh. I respect it, kind of. After all they aren't Mother THeresa. (she didnt want photos) Anyhow I got a little stuck and Asked Al for a teensy weensy bit of help during her shift. I know, I am completely oblivious to my surroundings when I knit. I hadn't noticed the cars lined up, and the Sunday morning line inside the store too. She stopped me halfway to the counte

or at least, I cannot count and knit at the same time. When dividing for the sleeves of the sister vest for the second time (I never told you she has 4 arms) I decided it may be best for me to count out the stitches and mark where the changes will be, before actually knitting them. So I read the pattern, knit 11, purl 56, etc, and put a marker after the 11th and 56th stitches. Then I double checked my counting and knit away. This technique worked wonders for my end of the row anxiety. I normally hold my breath as I close in on the final stitches, praying won't run out of stitches early OR have too many left. So, this basic little trick helped me. What did I do with my extra hour? Corrected my mistakes, of course. Although this felt futile, I reminded myself, it was an hour I would not have had otherwise........what did you do with your extra hour?

I was in another great swap of Lynne's from Iwasknittogetherinmymotherswomb blog. My partner was Vicki from Knitorious. The theme was movies and here is what I sent her. Black and Whites. THere was a hint a few posts ago, if anyone caught it. Al thought of the theme for me! (thanks Al) I had to look hard for Black and White cookies, for all of you Seinfeld fans. A good Jewish Bakery/Deli, Max and Benny's, came through for me. Vicki has a crush on Greogory Peck so I made her some kitchen magnets. The alpaca black and white yarn was sooooo soft. I hope to see what she knits up with the yarn. This makes Day 6 of Sister Vest ONLY knitting. I wish I liked the yarn, wouldn't that make a big difference? I have so many things I want to knit right now. I'm not casting on one other thing until this vest is knitted. I have 13 inches knitted up. Foot excuse to knit has been a big help here. Foot's fine by the way. I wonder if I can really only knit this one W