A Pair for me

A few weeks back, I posted this video about how Espardilles were made the traditional way in France.  Of course, I needed to get a pair for myself.

They are really cute, and seem like they will conform to the wearers feet well.  Both are the same, so I will mark the inside to make sure that I always put them on the right foot.

The fact that they are all natural, and will decompose after one is finished wearing them, is yet another reason to love them.

Get your own pair by ordering here!

Just ask Martha

I want to take a couple of posts to talk about some of the Christmas presents that I gave. Hard to write about them on the off-chance that the recipient might actually read my blog (definitely not a problem with items made for my husband).

Just ask MarthaThis sweater and hat and mitten set was made for my niece Rebecca, for her American Girl Doll Rebecca. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you might remember the amazing thank you drawings that I got in the past for Barbie clothes that I knit for her. She is such a cutie, and an appreciative recipient. This was a pattern that I bought many years ago to make for my daughter’s doll. While my daughter did receive some sweaters for her dolls, I was not confident enough in my stranded knitting at the time to tackle this pattern. The pattern was very well written, much better than most that I find today.

The knitting was very straight forward, I used some Baby Blatt yarn that was in my stash. As I was applying the last finishing touches, I needed to make a pompom for the top of the hat. In the past, my pompoms have often been less than fluffy, and the double doughnut method never seems to work real well. So, off to google to search an alternative, and I found this post by Martha Stewart.

Essentially you take a strip of cardboard the radius of your finished pompom size. Cut slits at each end and insert a longer piece of yarn

Then wrap the yarn around the cardboard about 150 times.

Gently slide out the cardboard, keeping the longer yarn separate. Tie a tight knot.

Cut all of the threads and trim!

Voila! A perfect pompom.

The Accidental Knitted Christmas

Knitted gifts were not on the radar for Christmas this year. I was not interested in the stress of completing them, nor trying to decide what to make. Then, I decided to make a pair of socks for Dan this year from one of my sock clubs (thinking of how to stuff his stocking is always a challenge). Then we were going to visit my Mom and Cass, they are so hard to think of things to get and always appreciate knitted items. On the way back we were stopping at my brother’s house, and I had that beautiful Dale of Norway outfit was started when my niece was born (she is 2 1/2 now, luckily I made the larger size). The booties for a soon to be niece/nephew, and lastly—the cute sweater for another niece and her American Girl Doll. Well, none were completed on time and in 3 instances I had to wrap up an unfinished gift and ask for it back to finish. Here they are, to be discussed in length on a future post.

Drumroll please….

I think I will plan ahead next year. And start in June.

Barbie

My niece might just be the best person that I have ever knit things for.  First, there are the great drawings that I have received, and have taped on my refrigerator.  But then there is this:

The pink and purple outfits are from last Fall, and the wedding dress and yellow turtle neck I sent with my husband when he went to visit them last weekend.

These are all from some vintage booklets that were given in a large stash of patterns, notions and yarn to our knitting group.   I had to adjust the pattern a bit to fit the “new” Barbie figures.  They reduced her ample chest, and made her thinner, a bit anorexic looking if you ask me.  I think that people put too much emphasis on how her figure influences girl’s self-esteem.  I never thought I wanted to look like Barbie, would have trouble standing with those long legs and tiny feet.

More of Barbie wearing them here:

Now, I will have to decide what to make next.  How could I ever resist that smile?

More Barbie

My knitting group recently got a large donation of yarn, books and patterns.  I kept these Barbie Doll pattern pamphlets for myself.  I am probably one of the few people who would get excited about these.  It brings back the memories of my “knitting business” that I has when I was a teenager.

I already have started on a couple of things for my niece.  She loves what I have knitted for her, and sends the BEST thank you notes.  They are proudly displayed on my refrigerator.

This thank you was for the dress shown in the adjacent photo.  I think that she does a great job of drawing these (and she is only 5!)

Barbie Continued

I have knit another Barbie outfit for my 5-year-old niece.  This time I reworked the pattern a bit to make it fit better.  I got the skirt perfectly, but the top is a bit wide.  Barbie is sure a lot less chesty than she was in my day.

Thank You for the dress

I got this Thank You note from my 5 year old niece for the Barbie dress that I knit for her.

I have the note hanging on my refrigerator.  How could I not love this note which says: “I love it.  I love you.  Rebecca”

She did a fabulous job of drawing the dress that I knit for her with a halter top, and rows of bobbles.

They changed Barbie!

I made this dress for my niece based on a pattern that I had when I was a teenager.  I could not locate Sofia’s old dolls in the attic (found all of the accessories), so broke down and bought a new one.  Much to my surprise, when I put the dress on that would have fit the old Barbie like something Marilyn Monroe would have worn, it is now baggy.  I think that I prefer the old doll proportions.  This one looks just as disproportionate, just in different ways, she seems very anorexic to me.  I guess that I will have to modify the pattern next time.

At least it will be easy to put on and take off…

Blog week, Post #7

What a Yarn

There’s one love that we all share: yarn. Blog about a particular yarn you have used in the past or own in your stash, or perhaps one that you covet from afar. If it is a yarn you have used you could show the project that you used it for, perhaps writing a mini ‘review’. Perhaps, instead, you pine for the feel of the almost mythical qiviut? You could explore and research the raw material and manufacturing process if you were feeling investigative.

There are so many amazing yarns out there.  I tend to favor wool, and fingering or lace weight yarns, as I prefer working on small needles.  When I was thinking of this prompt, the question that popped into my head was “What yarn would be the one type that I could take with me on a deserted island?”, a twist on the book question.  I have to go back to my favorite yarn to buy, knit with and keep in my stash—Baby Ull by Dale of Norway.  Dale of Norway has been in business for 130 years.  I could not find any information on when they started producing Baby Ull.  I used Red Heart Baby yarn growing up for my Barbie Doll clothing business, and baby sweaters for friends.  I know that my first experience with Baby Ull was to make a beautiful blue-green sweater with Intarsia rabbits on it for my daughter when I was pregnant (1986).  I was smitten with the softness, brilliant colors, washability, and the wonderful way it knit up.  I have used this yarn for shawls, socks, mittens, baby items, hats, and sweaters for babies and myself.  It is extremely versatile, and makes wonderful Fair Isle patterning.  The colors are beautifully saturated, and vary from year to year.  So consequently, when I find a color I particularly like, I stock up.  Current favorite is a Tangerine color.  This is the only yarn that I refer to so often that I have purchased the color chart so that I am not dependent on the internet color renditions.  I only wish that more retailers would carry this.  I have tried other baby yarns, but the colors are not  as good, and the gauge of the yarn is usually thicker.  I also tend to use this yarn for baby Fair Isle projects, and consequently love to have lots of varied colors on hand, and do not care if there are some single skeins.

Here is a quick tour of past and present projects using this wonderful yarn.

All this posting is reminding me to order more of that Tangerine Baby Ull…

Happy Knitting!

TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo7

Blog week Post #1

Barbara from ReKnitting posted about this, and I decided to join in.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Every day, a new prompt to talk about.  Here is today’s:

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?

I began knitting and crocheting as a small girl.  My memory has always said 7.  Not sure if that is exact, but it is close.  My mother did some crocheting and knitting, but not much.  She had little time with 10 kids utimately in the family, and working full time a lot of those years.  I am the only one who took to knitting and crocheting and sewing along with her.  She was an excellent seamstress, used to make matching outfits for all 6 of the older girls with elaborate designs embroidered in with her sewing machine.  I remember knitting slippers for family members, from 2 books that were a remnant of her one room schoolhouse teaching days (I have those books, but they are packed away with all the kids books in the attic).  I would pour through those books, they had stories, craft projects, history, everything one would need, it was my inspiration.  My mother was of German heritage, and knit Continental.  That is how she taught me, except that she is left-handed and I am right -handed.  So, I knit in a very unique way.  It is very fast, I purl as fast as I knit, and can do ribbing almost as fast as plain knitting.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to teach anyone to knit the way that I do.  (She also taught me to tie my shoes, and that was not as successful).

I then started knitting afghans for everyone, crocheting ponchos, and the occasional baby sweater for a neighbor or relative.  I have this book that my mother bought.  I had to look up the Roman Numeral conversion, which was a publication date of 1973.  While my mother has her name at the front, I am sure that she bought this for me to make projects.  I have knitted almost everything in this book many times over.

These were, and still are, my favorite baby sweaters, as I love the raglan sleeves.  I still knit these for gifts today.

In my pre-teen years, I started making Barbie Doll clothes.  This is where I really honed my skills.  I was having lots of orthopedic surgery and unable to go to school.  The wonderful woman, Joan, who watched the twins, also kept me company.  She was an excellent knitter, and I had lots of time to observe her.  I would race her (in my head without her knowing), by waiting until she started a new row and trying to finish mine before her–my mother told her this a few years back, and she said that she always wondered why I was staring at her.  My school work took all of an hour, so I spent lots of time knitting with Joan while the twins napped in the afternoon.  My mother found a Lady’s Circle magazine carrying Barbie patterns, and bought each of the 3 in the series for me, and again when they repeated it later.  She then set me up in a craft cooperative, Ledge Craft Lane, of which I am still a part owner, one of the original I think.   I knitted and sold these patterns, and made money that I then used to purchase a horse in High School, a beautiful 1/2 Arabian, 1/2 Quarter Horse, named Babe’s Rotaz, but called Jimmy.  I loved those patterns.  Unlike the ones that are made today, they were fitted for the doll with elaborate decreases and increases to fit her distorted figure and small waist.  Today, the patterns rely simply on the stretch of the knitted fabric, and are simply a series of tubes.  Notice, I marked the price on some of my more popular items.  I would go with my mother to Meiers and KMart, and buy the Red Heart baby yarn.  Even then, it was always exciting to come home with some new yarn and ideas.

I never quit knitting, not even through college.  It was my first month at college that I found a wonderful knitting store, and discovered natural fabrics.  I still remember the trips to that store, and have 2 sweaters that I knit with yarn from there.  It was in Ann Arbor, in the wonderful Nickels Arcade.

TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo1