» Archive for the 'blankets and non clothing things' Category

Spring!

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 by ames

(ames)

Spring has sprung here in Charleston, and it is – well, it’s a little cold at times, and a little rainy at times, and pretty at times, so I suppose it’s a fairly typical spring. Have some pictures!

Mema and Grandpa's

Mema and Grandpa's

Mema and Grandpa's

Mema and Grandpa's

I took all of those pictures in my grandparents’ backyard. It was a glorious day, blue blue sky and cool breezes, and everything seemed to bloom at once. So now that it’s getting warmer, it’s obviously the perfect time to knit a wool sweater, right?

A sweater, by golly
Simple Green Sweater, knit by me with yarn from aya, and it fits my mom perfectly. Yay! I knew it would fit someone, and I’m thrilled that it’s her.

I also made a new friend for my kitty:

Buddy and his new buddy
A buddy for Buddy! You may recognize this as leftover sock yarn from the Bright socks! I finished a few weeks ago. This little guy is about three inches tall, a little bit askew, and completely adorable. Buddy isn’t totally on board yet, but a little catnip (once I get some) should get him excited.

That’s what’s happening here! As a reminder, posts in green featuring cats (like this one) are from the Amy in Charleston (formerly Chicago, call me ames if you like), and posts in black featuring bunnies are from aya in Boston. xoxo!

I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow

Sunday, January 10th, 2010 by ames

(ames)

It’s been a bit of a chilly winter here in Chicago. We’ve had days of single-digit temperatures, and snow, and frigid rain, and it’s still not as bad as it was my first and second winters here. That second one just about killed me. This year, I’m a little more hardened to the extreme chill, and ventured out for some picture taking fun.

Bunny in the snow!
There is a bunny in the snow! In someone’s front yard! Looking cute! (Smack in the middle of the picture, with a glowy eye. I had to stalk him veeeeery slowly.)

Lakefront in the snow
My standard Lakefront shot, this time with snow. It’s just strange to me, this juxtaposition of lake, beach, and snow. Snow on the beach – how strange.

Snow in the trees
Pretty snow and pretty red berries against a white white sky. The sad thing about snow is that when it’s actually snowing, you lose the blue blue sky. (Obviously.) But the nice thing is that when it’s done, it’s breathtaking.

Christkindlmarkt 2009
It was so chilly right before Christmas, that this was all you could see of people – hats and scarves, heavy coats and cold noses.

One of the girls in my local knitty group had a baby recently, and we did some sneaking around and yarn shuffling and secret knitting, and made her a pretty pretty blanket.

Blanket under final construction
Under construction! Everyone knit one or two stripes, then Jenny and I settled ourselves in her basement, listened to holiday tunes, and learned how to seam garter stitch. It was fun, but after four or five hours, we still were not done!

Almost done!
This is the closest I have to a picture of the finished work. The part of me that likes symmetry wants to add another strip vertically and horizontally, so the squares aren’t cut in half, but I think it’s pretty darn cute as-is.

I also knit mittens for Lola and the warmest hat I’ve ever made for me. I was pondering giving it away while I was making it, but it’s mine mine mine.

Mittens!
Frog Tree Alpaca, basic mitten pattern from Ann Budd’s
Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns, on loan to me from Amy M. Awesome book, I’m too lazy to find a link right now, but I love it. Lola’s hands are a bit larger than mine, so I sized them by trying them on over gloves. Perfect fit!

Yay, hat!
Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, Malabrigo Worsted, and completely yummy.  Please excuse the pink face – you can only do so much when your poor skin is pelted with ice on a regular basis.

I’ve been on a serious salt-diet for a few months now. I’m at the point now where I don’t really want it, except for some food that really needs it to bring out the taste. It’s amazing how much salt is in food! I’ve got a tub of what used to be my favorite chicken salad from the old deli, and it is so salty I can barely eat it. I miss ramen (so bad for you but so tasty), but can’t eat it for all the salt. :\ It’s probably better for me, it is better for me, but I’m having food mourning.

projects and whatnot

Monday, April 13th, 2009 by ames

(ames)

Now that the big baby blanket of doooooooooooooom is done, I’ve been casting about for something to do.  Enter one trip to Boston to visit Aya, a shopping expedition to Michaels, and voila:

Babette squares

Babette squares

Three of the first five squares for the Babette Blanket (link to the flickr search result). I’ve got two more done, little two-rounders, but I want to figure out how to join them together before I make any more. I usually don’t mind seaming, even though I’m pretty bad at it, but I have no desire to spend hours sewing 190-odd little squares together, and then doing a three-round border. I will never finish it that way! If you look closely at the one with the green center, you can see where I decided to do the color change a different way.  MUCH better, yes?  Yes.

And, because I think it’s pretty, here:

Card from Mom <3

A card made just for me by my mother. <3

um. hi!

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 by ames

(ames)

Well, this is a little embarrassing – it’s been two months since I last posted here.  Yikes.  Quick, let me throw some knitting at you!

Twisted Tulip Socks
I finished these! Twisted Tulip Socks from Interweave Knits. Done and done! And yes, I’m hiding the too-pointy toe of one of them, which spurred Aya to ask if I’d actually finished them, or was I just hiding the unfinished behind the finished. Ha. They are complete!

Big Bad Baby Blanket
I also finished this! The Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch & Bitch, or whatever the name of that book is. The yarn is Patons Bamboo Silk, doubled, and the pattern was one of the more boring things I’ve ever made. But I was happy to do it! The blanket is now in full-on use by a brand new human being whose mommies are thrilled with it.

Here, have a closeup of the middle:
Baby Blanket closeup
Pretty, huh?

Strawberries and Chocolate
I abandoned this! I’ll probably pick it up again later, but I kept screwing up the pattern and got frustrated. I do love the colors, though. It’s like the strawberry and chocolate parts of Neopolitan ice cream. (Anyone else call that VanChocStraw when you were a kid?)

failed sock
I also abandoned this! Well, not so much abandoned as realized that Trekking Pro Natura isn’t the best yarn choice for the Bayerische Sock – far too many two-stitch twisting and cables. I’ve restarted it with bright yellow Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, which I think will work out much better. Plus, I have four skeins of the stuff, which should be more than enough even for this yarn hungry pattern.

So, as you can see, knitting up a storm. I’ve still got knitting planned – there’s a baby sweater, some socks, I knit one sock and decided over the weekend that I hated it and it needs to be ripped out and reknit into a Monkey, or perhaps a Broadripple. Aya and I tackled crochet over the weekend, with an eye towards making the Babette Blanket, but I’ve decided that I want to use a bigger hook than I currently own. OF COURSE. So, it’s on hold until I can get to Michael’s or some such place to stock up. (oooh, if it’s nice this weekend, I can walk down to Hancock Fabrics. I bet they have the hook I need.) But tonight I am watching Farscape ( <3 Aeryn Sun <3 ) and watching my best friend’s dog sleep on my couch. Aw.