When I am finished knitting a project, it’s not really finished finished until I’ve blocked it. And as I blocked this hat today it got me thinking. With many of you perhaps knitting or crocheting things to give as gifts for Christmas (or whatever holidays you celebrate), I wanted to remind you of my Blocking Tutorial. It should be a PSA. Don’t Give Unblocked Knitting as Gifts!  If you’re one of the hopefully few people who haven’t tried blocking yet, or you think it’s too hard, or takes too long, then please check out that tutorial.

For the rest of you, I’m sure you know at least one last hold out, a knitter friend who thinks they don’t need to block their FOs. Here’s a little gift, then, from me to you. Print out this shiny new one page PDF blocking tutorial (reprinted from The Red Collection) and give it to your friend with a little bottle of your favorite wool wash. She or he will love you for it, I promise. (Yes, the file says “personal use only” and you may not print out one hundred and sell them or give them away at a yarn shop. Just be reasonable, people.)

Today I blocked Jerry’s new Girdwood hat (pattern soon!), with that unruly curled edge that was driving me nuts.

Ahhh. Curly edge tamed. I am the boss of my own knitting! Now we wait for it to dry.

**Don’t forget, the Asheboro Hat is still just $3, but tomorrow is the last day to get that deal! A HUGE thank you to everyone who has already purchased the pattern! There’s already a few other projects, YAY!**

There is knitting! I always try to have at least one pair of socks in progress, so that if I’m running out the door I have something to grab. I started these socks forever ago, but finally yesterday finished the first sock of the pair! It’s a very pretty sock. I fully intend to knit its mate quickly and be finished in a few days. Maybe I’ll surprise even myself and do just that!

The yarn is Zauberball Crazy color 2092 I think, and it’s very reminiscent of the good old Trekking XXL colors that I don’t think they produce anymore. Like these socks that now belong to my mother-in-law.

The pattern I’m using is my favorite sock pattern ever, Judy Gibson’s You’re Putting Me On!  I just counted on Ravelry and I have 17 projects listed using this pattern. You would think that I wouldn’t need to carry around the pattern anymore, and you’d be wrong. I keep the pattern in my little sock bag with whatever pair of socks I’m knitting. Mostly I refer to the pattern for the heel turn.

What’s more, if you were to go into my filing cabinet and locate the knitting pattern folders, and then find the one labeled “socks” you would find at least 4 other copies of the same exact pattern. Sometimes during a knitting emergency, you can’t waste time locating the ONE copy of the  pattern for which you need to cast on. You need to print out the pattern immediately so you can CAST ON THIS SECOND. You know?

Anyway. These socks are knit over 72 stitches – a perfect fit for me or my Mom or my mother-in-law. It’s good to keep them all guessing. No one ever knows who I’m knitting socks for (even me!). After the toe I started working in garter rib. That means that one round is KNIT and the next round is K2,P2, and you repeat those two rounds. Near the cuff, I began working a plain 2×2 rib.

There is one other knitting project I worked on earlier in the summer. It had so much promise! But I messed up and then gave up. I should find the bag I stuffed it in and blog about it. Yes. That’s what I’ll do.

• Visited Grandma at the beach (Murrell’s Inlet, SC).
• Visited the whole family in Buffalo.
• Went with Daddy to the beach (OBX) and then the mountains (Linville Falls, NC).
• Rested after all those vacations.
• Stayed cool in the house, played outside only when it wasn’t too hot.
• Got a cat.
• Knit a little (but just a little).
• Decided that I would go back to school to get an Associate Degree in Photography (official title of my chosen concentration: Photographic Technology: Portrait Studio Management).
• And most recently, got ready for the new school year! Can you believe that Jerry is in 4th grade and Maggie just yesterday started kindergarten!?!?!?!

To ease myself back into the old blog, I’ll post some (okay, A LOT) of my favorite pictures from the summer. Maybe that’ll get me back into the groove. Let’s begin!

Niagara Falls. From left, my Mom, my brother Eddie, sister Holly, Dad, me (with Michael Jackson purse). And the kids in the front row.

The market in June:

My Dad with his bug and Maggie:

Sister Holly on the Maid of the Mist. She looks like Little Edie, doesn’t she?

Then there was the Outer Banks with Daddy. (I’ll be closely watching Irene and hoping that everyone in the Outer Banks and along the East Coast stays safe this weekend.) Jockey’s Ridge State Park with $2 sunglasses:

Roanoke Island:

Ocracoke Island, walking to the lighthouse:

Jerry being a goof at the pizza store on Ocracoke:

Then we visited my Mom. Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina:

And then went camping in the North Carolina Mountains. Collecting earth worms for inspection:

Having the obligatory cold soda on the porch of Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, NC:

What next? Oh! We got a kitten and we named him Socks. He is adorable and we all love him a lot.

Finally, yesterday was the first day of school.

Phew!

So, what’s up with you?

I had the pleasure of playing a small part in Cindy’s latest design, the Subtle Twist Jacket. I did two things; the photographs of the sample, and the pattern layout. I had a great time with my favorite knitwear model and I think the pictures came out great!

Cindy does a good job with patterns that are both fun to knit and easy to wear. The yarn in this sample is Great Adirondack Merino Bulky and oh, dear is it ever soft and cushy.

I have to say it, Mallory’s shoes were badass. They were her prom shoes and I swear she became a different person when she put them on. Heels can do that to a person. But it’s not about the shoes, it’s about the sweater. Or is it? Just kidding, it’s totally about the sweater. Or maybe the sunglasses?

Gosh, I love the garter stitch sleeves. The subtle twist stitch pattern requires no cable needle, you just knit the stitches out of order. Of course this is all explained in detail in the pattern! Which brings me to the second way I helped with this pattern.

I worked my magic, as Cindy would say. Or in other words, I took Cindy’s file of the pattern, rearranged and organized things, and made it easy on the eyes. I smudged the words on the sample at left. If you want to see it full size, you’ll have to buy it! Or if you have a pattern that needs a kick in the pants, format-wise, get in touch! I’d love to help you with it.

I have a knack for formatting, and I really enjoy this part of the process of pattern writing. Although a pretty pattern can’t excuse a poorly written pattern, I think a little attention to the layout shows a certain level of professionalism.

To learn more about this pattern, or to queue, fave and purchase it, visit the Subtle Twist Jacket page on Ravelry. You can find all of Cindy’s patterns there, too!

You might wonder how I know that Grellow is Gray and Yellow, and not Green and Yellow. I really can’t say. These are things you just know. To wit, try a flickr search or a Ravelry project search. While there is the occasional rogue photo of something green and yellow, that is wrong. Grellow stands for the pleasing and sublime combination of Gray and Yellow. (And just so you know, Preen is Purple and Green, Blorange is Blue and Orange, bleen is NOT blue and green and yak is NOT yellow and black. Get with the program.)

So why do I bring it up? Because I am now the proud owner of Grellow mittens!

The lovely and talented Elinor Brown made them for me, as part of the Stranded Mitten Swap! Aren’t they gorgeous? And they fit, which she was worried about, considering she has smaller than average hands and I have big man hands.  The mittens are perfect, and I love them.

The yarn is Ultra Alpaca in a very graphic allover diamond pattern. There are braids.

And she even sent some scrap yarn, just in case they need mending.

Elinor sent two other surprises in the package. Yarn and cookies. Man did she nail it. The yarn is Briggs and Little Regal, and can best be described as a woolly wool and that is pretty much all you need to know. I love it. And the cookies. Well.

At first I thought they had a peanut butter cup in the center, but they’re better than that. According to Elinor, they are Vegan Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies. But not vegan because she used butter. This recipe is going to get printed out and added to my go-to cookie recipe file because they were so good! Notice how I said were. Yeah. Let’s just say we all liked them very much.

Grazie mille, Elinor! You are a knitting and baking rock star!

I finished my potholders for the swap! They are currently flinging themselves up to Massachusetts, and I will patiently (not) wait  for my five unique potholders that will come in return. These were fun to make, but my hands needed frequent brakes because crocheting so tightly with cotton gives me clawhand.

I considered challenging myself with a more interesting pattern, but I feared that would have resulted in unfinished potholders. So I stuck with my own free pattern, Maggie’s Kitchen, and tried to make them very colorful and fun. The yarn is Cotton Classic, and a bunch of the colors came from my Mom’s remnants from this blanket.

I finished my hallway! What a transformation. All the painting, caulking, and assembling of the Ikea items gave me clawhand for about a month straight. But it’s the best room in the house now. I like to go in there every once in a while just to look around.

We call this space The Hallway. A better description might be Broom Closet, Linen Closet, Pantry, Medicine Cabinet, Homebrewing Headquarters, or Board Game Storage. Anywho. We all love it. There is still a lot of unused storage space, so I think there will be gradual reorganization to get everything in the right spot.

And last but not least, I finished my Swap Mittens! (And my swap partner received them, which is why I can show them to you.) These were certainly clawhand-inducing mittens.  I designed a mitten and started knitting it. But the pattern wasn’t exactly how I wanted it. So I tried different yarn. And it still wasn’t right. Then I redesigned the pattern, but the mitten was too big. So I ripped back to the beginning and adjusted the chart. And FINALLY they were right.

I love them, not only because I think they’re pretty, but because I worked hard to get this idea out of my head. And I stuck with the idea even though it wasn’t translating well on the pins. The pattern…is forthcoming. I’ll let you know.

My friend Denise asked me to get some pictures of her recently finished projects. I was happy to oblige, mostly because it meant Maggie and I could get out of the house for the day and do something different. And ogling Denise’s wonderful knitting is pretty fun, too. Pictured above is her Storm Cloud Shawlette by Hanna Breetz.

I also love the shot of her Ulla’s Scarf by Nancy Bush. It’s very soft and delicate. The scarf, not the picture.

It was really, really nice to take pictures of knitting, considering how infrequently I’ve done that of late! We are still working on the hallway and I hope to be closer to Finished tomorrow after a trip back to Ikea. Here’s what it looked like as of this morning (with obligatory “before” picture):

I will be so happy to get the shelves up and get things organized in there. SO HAPPY. Because right now? All the things that usually live in the hallway are mostly piled all over my bedroom and it is making me crazy! So crazy that I can barely knit. But! After many false starts, I finally nailed down the design for my swap mitten.

And I’m working on my potholders!

Alas, not much to show for either of those projects, but getting started is half the battle, right?   Here’s some more pictures of Denise’s knitting. Because focusing on someone else’s FOs sounds like a good plan to me.

The success of the sewing area reorganization inspired us to move on to another problem area in our house. We have a hallway that leads to our one bathroom, and it was a hot mess. We should have dealt with it before we even moved into the house. But we didn’t. Anyway, we ripped out the ugly built in storage shelves, took down the faux wood paneling, painted the walls, pulled up the carpet and old linoleum, and put down a tile floor.

My Dad and I laid the tile, and it was the first time either of us did tiles. I must say, we did a very good job. The room still needs more work; painting, electrical stuff, baseboards, and all those little things to make it look finished. Then I’ll head back to IKEA for more Expedit shelves, because I love them so much. When it’s “finished finished” I’ll show you fancy pictures. If you’re interested, here are some progress pictures.

All this very satisfying home improvement work has left me little time for knitting. I’m working on a pair of stranded mittens (big surprise, right?) for a swap, thinking about potholders for a swap, and doing more of the “behind the scenes” work on my blog that I’ve mentioned before.

By the way, if you are reading on the blog, I hope you like the new look! If you’re reading via feed reader, click through and check it out.  I’ll talk more about the new look next time, and hopefully there will also be more knitting content, instead of just a random picture of my favorite forsythia in the whole neighborhood (which also happens to be in my very own back yard). Spring, it is nigh.

After I had everything removed from this corner and put in bins or bags for temporary containment, I cut the table in half. The goal was to make it fit directly under the shelves.  But then I had a eureka moment and realized I could move the shelves to the wall next to the window in order to give me more room for the new shelf.

By Monday night, the table and the shelves were in their new location, ready for me to come home from Ikea on Tuesday with a 4×4 Expedit. It was insanely fun to put together, took well under an hour (40 minutes maybe?), and was finished just in time for Gerald to come home from work and help me move it into place.

On Wednesday morning I began filling up the new shelf. My main goal was to get things contained. Like, literally, in a container. I used a bunch of containers that I got at Ikea, some that I picked up at Walmart, and a whole lot of bins that I already had. As I was putting things on the new shelf, I was realized that even with all the new space, I wasn’t going to have room for everything. Then I had Eureka moment #2. I had about 3 bins full of dyeing supplies and equipment. I can’t even remember when I used them last, so they got moved out to the shed. Now everything inside has a home, without looking stuffed or cluttered.

I’m very proud of how the new shelf works in my room!

I sewed a matchy-matchy sewing machine cover and table skirt. Although it’s a lot of green, I think I like how it all looks! Everything has a home, and everything is contained! Makes me want to sew something! I actually found a few projects while cleaning up that I could work on…a few quilts, pajama patterns for the kids.

I’ve always enjoyed my Longaberber baskets, and now they are actually being useful and pretty!

Below is the whole shelf, and organized and looking tidy! The large white and green boxes have yarn. The bottom row of bins holds a mix of yarn and sewing notions. I’m so happy to know that if I ever need hook and eye closures in a future sewing project I DO NOT NEED TO BUY ANYMORE.

I put sticky, removable hooks on the side of the shelf to hold bags. Since they’re isn’t much space between the shelf and the table (about 14″), this was a perfect place to put them.

When I’m ready to sew, I can set up the ironing board right in front of my new shelf, now that I have all this space! The picture below also shows the stool I got at Ikea, that I almost didn’t buy because I had bought so much already. But everyone loves it (esp. Maggie) and I’m so glad I decided to buy it.

Below is how this corner looks in the context of my bedroom, with my little helper flopping around trying to hide from the camera.

Yay for reorganization!

More than anything, I really, really love all the pictures Maggie and I just took outside. She was up for a photo shoot today, probably because we’ve been spending too much time inside this week as we get over our icky colds. And I’m loving the new lens I have on my camera, which takes very nice photos when I set it on auto.

I told her to wear jeans for the pictures, but the red shoes were totally her idea. I love this girl so much!

The reason I re-made this pattern was two-fold. First, the original mittens are muddy and felted and too small. The hat is fine, but has seen better days. Second, Petite Purls requested samples to take on the road for some trunk shows they’re doing this year. They’ve been so supportive of me and I just love every issue they put out that I couldn’t say no!  I’ll be sending this hat and mitten set off to them next week!

The pattern, which includes both the hat and mittens, is Talkeetna. You can download a pdf here for free, or visit Petite Purls!

In other news, you might have noticed things look somewhat different around here! I’ve updated my blog and will probably spend the next few weeks or so tweaking things. Behind the scenes things like this are most decidedly Not Fun, nor is it my forte, so it might be a while until I get it exactly how I want it. If you have any trouble navigating the site, please let me know, but links should work and you should still be able to get around.