Thrifting

I went home for the holiday weekend and my mom and I spent a few hours garage-saling (a word I made up just now, verb; shopping at garage and yard sales). I had some great finds! The best? Check this out:

I got a pair of these – and the best part is that they rock back and forth. I would guess they’re from the 30s

or 40s at least and they’re super solid, in great, sturdy shape. My parent’s were pretty jealous and threatened t

o steal them. Why am I so excited? What do

I plan to do with them? Well, I think I’m going to knit new covers for them. Annie Modesitt has a pattern that is sort of like what I want to do – you can see to the left. I’m not a fan of the pattern itself. The instant I saw these chairs, I instantly thought of an Interweave Knits pattern that features lots of cabling designs and a gorgeous natural look. I’m not sure when I’ll ever have a pair of finished chairs… but I think there’s some good potential in these chairs. Check out the IK version (different chair):

I got a few other good finds: Some neat retro pyrex, and… a ton of sweaters! There’s a university back home that does a huge garage sale of all the stuff the students leave behind. I got a bunch of sweaters to felt for different projects, and a few to take apart for the yarn. The best was a hand-knit Irish Aran sweater. It was on the top of the pile after I’d walked away – I saw it and almost killed 3 people trying to grab it.

There’s a ton of wool in it – I already took it apart and balled it. If I had a scale, I’d weigh it to get an idea of how much there is… but I know it’s a lot!

And finally, I got some old knitting and crocheting booklets. Follow the jump for more photos and some smarmy comments.

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Le Fin.

I promised you another FO post… and here it is. And by “it” I mean the big blanket of foreverness. Finished.

It took me so, so, so long.

Seriously. I started this blanket almost a two years ago. This blanket and I have been through a lot together. We knit through my last summer as an undergrad, my senior year at IU and the 72 page thesis I wrote (not at the same time, obviously). I knit on this blanket when I broke up with my ex-boyfriend (that was when I introduced the color green, actually), when we got back together, and then, when we broke up again, this time for real. This blanket was near when freaked out about graduate school, the start of two other blankets (but no finish), and the many times this past year when I was frustrated beyond belief. Oh, and let’s not forget the summer of mold-hell. As I knitted the i-cord BO (yes, i-cord BO, about 24 feet of i-cord), I actually almost cried I was so sad to be done with it. If the i-cord didn’t look so gosh dang-nice, I might have taken another year just to finish that one.

I don’t really have a lot of specifics on this one. All the yarn (except the orange) is KP Wool of the Andes. The orange is Arucania Nature Wool. I knit the blanket on size 7 needles (6 for the border). I have no idea how much yarn it took, but I guess about 45 balls (I’ll weigh the thing one of these days). I also don’t remember the exact colors – but it was most, if not all of the blues available that summer and some white.

Here’s another photo:

Whew.

And now, I’m itching to start another blanket.  The only question is – which one?

A finish and a Journey

I finished the Sunrise Circle Jacket. Or at least as finished as it’s going to be in awhile. Right now, It’s only got two buttons/button loops, but in a few months, I’ll change that. I’m in the process of losing weight and I don’t want to add the other buttons until I’m closer to my goal weight/the fit I want. And this isn’t a silly little diet/fad or what not. I’ve actually lost 7 or 8 pounds (imprecise scale) so far… anyway… Yay for this sweater!

Oh, yea, there was supposed to be a great story with this post. Ummm ok. Here goes:

There once was this knitter (me) who knit an awesome sweater in like 8 days (seen above). She seamed this sweater, promptly tried it on and thought it was too small. Specifically, she was concerned about the stretching in the arms. Frustrated, she decided to continue the sweater and then give said sweater to her younger sister for her upcoming birthday. Generous yes, but what can you do?

A few days later, this knitter brought her sweater to her fantastic knitting group. She explained her concerns and the gifting decision, something she was obviously sad to admit to have to do. Finally, she tried on the sweater and became overwhelmed with the overwhelming chorus of – “oh, you should keep it!” “I think it fits just fine” and “I’m sure blocking will help.” Our knitter left this knitting group torn between the trust of this group, and the love of her sister.

A week later, her sister came for a birthday visit. The knitter kindly and nonchalantly (noncommittally might be a better word) asked her sister to try on the partly-hemmed sweater. And to her disgust, the purply color clashed with her sister’s skin tone like no other color known to man.

Rejoice! The sweater remains with the knitter (and blocked to a much better fit).

(You can see the details on the Ravelry page.)  OH.  And I have another FO – but I’m not going to blog it until I get some photos next weekend.

Introducing: BASKE

Hello Friends!

I wanted to introduce to you my latest design. I call it Baske. I was inspired by a gorgeous gold and white coverlet that I saw in a catalog. I kept staring at the pattern, knowing that there was a great knitting garment in it… when finally it came to me! A fleur de lis pattern!

And so… I present Baske… an awesome new mitten pattern that I hope you love as much as I do. Here’s a photo of the back and the tab thumb:

Elizabeth Zimmerman says that May is the perfect month for knitting winter mittens. When you finish them this time of year, they’re all set for you once the weather turns! Clearly she’s a genius because lately, I am all about the mittens!

The details:

Needles: US 3
Pattern: BASKE (By me!)
Yarn: Cascade 220 or similar weight yarn (I hand-dyed my gold)
Sizes: Available in Small, Medium and Large (7.75, 8.75, 10 inches)
Cost: $6.00
Available via:

Ravelry: or without: buy now

Anyway… Thank you all for being patient with the teasing posts. I hope it was worth it! I’ve worked really hard on this pattern and I’m really, really thrilled with the results. Each size has it’s own chart (you do not change size via gauge) and each size has been test knit.