Summer is fun and busy! Lots going on, and much of it has nothing at all to do with knitting.
I wish I could take credit for that glorious piece of knitting, but it is NOT my knitting. It’s my Mom’s! She’s working on a little log cabin (Joseph’s Blankie of Many Colors) using Cotton Classic and it is so much better in person I can’t even tell you. I took some photos for her when we visited her at the beach this past week. It was hot and fun, and the perfect way to celebrate Jerry being done with school for the year.
Thanks for a great week, Mom!
Today we had a great day celebrating Father’s Day. We took a little hike down in the woods where my husband grew up. I’m so glad I grabbed my camera because the dapple of light through the trees made for some great shots.
That’s my camera shy husband! Gotcha!
To top off the great day, Elinor announced the winners of her Socks Revived Design Contest and I won! I tied for 4th/5th place! And what great company I’m in. If you are a sock knitter, you must check out all 52 entries. There is a staggering variety of patterns, both free and for-sale. I’d list my favorites, but I pretty much like them all.
Hopefully I’ll be back soon to share some of my own knitting. I hope you’re all enjoying summer as much as we are!
I guess when you turn 30 you’re bound to do something crazy. Back in October, having hit my third decade square in the face, I decided that I should write a knitting book. The crazy part is that I proceeded to tell people around me about my crazy plan, and therefore had to follow through on my crazy plan.
Months of planning and knitting and more planning and more knitting, and I’m excited to finally tell you about it!
The book contains 12 patterns for hats and mittens. When it is published in the Fall, you will be able to purchase individual patterns, all 12 patterns as an eBook, or you may buy the print edition.
Right now, the patterns are really really close to being finished and I am looking for test knitters to help me get the patterns into tip-top shape! If you are interested in test knitting please see the Test Knitters page.
You will notice that some of the patterns already have enough test knitters…as usual, folks on my mailing list were the first to find out about the announcement. If you’d like to get on my mailing list, enter your email in the sidebar where it says Zigzagstitch Newsletter.
Additionally, because my newsletters are automatically sent to twitter, lots of my tweeps saw the announcement too. You can easily find me on twitter as zigzagstitch.
There’s lots more I want to tell you about the book, and I’ll be sharing all that here over the next few months. The plan is to open up pre-orders soon, and the book and patterns will be available for purchase in the fall.
Remember, if you want to test knit, please see this page. Thank you!
UPDATE: as of Sunday morning, June 6th, I have enough test knitters. I will let you know if there is need for more. Thanks!
I’m always on the lookout for good blanket and afghan patterns for my Mom, who is a dedicated blanket and afghan knitter. I’ve long admired the geometric and mathematical patterns from Woolly Thoughts, and when I showed my Mom the Revolution pattern, she loved it. We bought two copies of the pattern and decided to work on it together.
I had the idea in the back of my head that Cascade 220 Superwash would be a good yarn for this pattern. My lys has a great selection of this yarn, and I had one nearly unused ball (long story, and a whole other blog post). During the annual sale at the shop, I bought seven coordinating colors to match the bright purple that I already had.
This blanket is knit in rings, working one little wedge of each color on each ring. In the picture above, I had completed two rings. Boy, that first one was tricky. But once you get the first ring done the rest is very easy and straightforward. It doesn’t require much attention, but it’s not so mindless as to become a bore.
I just finished the fourth ring this morning. I’m at the point, maybe half-way through, where each section takes a little longer and I can’t quite see the light at the end of the tunnel. So I took a break and decided to weave in some of the ends, seen below in the yellow/green/blue area.
Phew! There are a bunch of ends to weave in! But the process of weaving them in helps to close up some of the holes. It is very satisfying to see the blanket really come together.
Beautiful, isn’t it? Such a clever design. When I see my Mom in a few weeks I’m going to help her get that first ring started. I can’t wait to see what yarn she’s gonna choose!
Totally unrelated kid picture, just because I love love love my new 50mm lens sooo much.
