Last spring, a close friend of mine wanted to learn how to knit. Her sister was expecting a baby girl, so she decided to knit a sweater for her future niece. She caught on very quickly, but eventually became frustrated with the project. She was going through a lot of big life changes, so it wasn’t the best time to take up a new hobby.

Before moving to another state for graduate school, she gave me the unfinished project to do with as I pleased. Of course, I decided to knit up the sweater as originally intended. If we’re lucky, it may still fit my friend’s niece.

After knitting intermittently for a few months, I topped the sweater off with what are possibly the most adorable buttons ever.

Pattern: Lillie’s Little Sweater by Carolyn Anderson and Joan DeBolt of Cottage Creations
Yarn: 1 3/4 balls of Plymouth Encore Worsted 7115
Needles: US 7 bamboo circulars and dpns
Made for: my friend’s niece
Timeline: August 14-December 26 2009
Modifications: none
Worst Part: the acrylic content of this yarn-I think I’ve become a complete yarn snob!
Best Part: the buttons

We’ve got a bit of snow here in the Northland. So much snow, as a matter of fact, that Sweetie didn’t have to go in to work today–the store was closed. That put a kink in my top-secret knitting plans, but it also meant that I got my gift early!

That guy of mine sure knows what I like! He bought me The Knitter’s Book of Wool, which I’ve been wanting to take home since it came out and a skein of Dye For Me baby alpaca lace because he heard me say how I’ve been itching to do some lace knitting. Now I’ll have to decide which lace project I want to knit with this yarn and if I want to dye the yarn or leave it in its lovely natural state.

I’ve also gotten some other knitterly gifts. My coworker at the shop has started selling beautiful stitch markers and hopes to have an etsy shop in the near future. For now, you can find her at Katie Chameleon. I bought the simple markers as a little treat for myself and she gave me the fancy markers for a gift.

Every holiday seems to start out the same for me. I think that I don’t have a whole lot of gift crafting to do, so I don’t get all too worried about it. Over time, we realize that we need gifts for more and more people, as between the two of us we have a pretty wide group of friends. I volunteer to whip something up and, before you know it, I’m drowning in half-knit gifts. Note to self–remember this next year!

The cycle has returned once again, and I’m currently ‘whipping up’ a hat for a friend of ours who’s stuck here for the holidays. She’s pretty bummed about not being able to see her family, so she’s spending some time with us and I’m working on a slouchy copy cat hat for her. I’m seriously starting to like these slouchy hats. Maybe I’ll find a way to wear them yet.

Wish me luck–I’ve still got some presents to finish and wrap for a gathering of my family-away-from-family tomorrow. Once Sweetie finishes tweaking some embroidery designs for me I’ll be ready to hit those projects full-force.

This hat has been finished for weeks, but Sweetie and I have been in the midst of the end-of-semester madness and haven’t seen each other during the limited Northern daylight. No matter, though. We’re not celebrating the holidays with family until after New Year’s, so I have plenty of time to wrap this gift up for my SIL.

I think I’ve determined that the slouchy hat look isn’t really for me. That means that I’ll just have to spoil my SIL with all of the cute slouchy hats that I see in knitting magazines and books and want to make!

Pattern: Laurel in “Made in Brooklyn” by Jared Flood
Yarn: 1 1/2 balls Sublime Extra-Fine Merino DK #0063
Needles: US 2 & 6 circulars
Made for: my sister-in-law
Timeline: November 29-December 6 2009
Modifications: none
Worst Part: finding time to take photos
Best Part: the texture of this piece-a perfect combination of yarn and pattern!

Now that the semester has wrapped up, I’m spending most of my time attempting to re-claim the apartment, get through the mountain of dirty laundry, and finish with my gift crafting. Luckily, I need very few of these projects to be ready for Christmas day, so I’ve still got time.

Best wishes to those of you who are finishing up the last of your holiday crafting!

There’s a point in every big writing project, normally towards the end of the process, where the writer thinks herself to be a complete idiot with absolutely nothing to say. I’m saying “the writer” and not “I” because this seems to be a pretty common experience. When I was a younger writer I would throw in the towel, call my current topic a dud, and frantically try to research for and write a paper on an entirely new topic before the deadline (usually only a few days away).

Now, I take a different approach. I say to myself, “I’m not stupid.”

And these thirtysome pages prove it.

If you need me tonight, I’ll be curled up at home with either some knitting or a non-required book celebrating the completion of these papers.

In past discussions, I’ve heard people disapprove of the use of the word “gifting,” stating that the word “giving” already exists and serves the same purpose. In response to this problem, I would like to propose a new word: “giftting.” I define this word as both (1) the knitting of gifts and (2) the giving of knitted items. I’ve created the word by using the morphological tactic of blending “gift” with “knitting.”

Perhaps I’m not the first to coin the phrase: I haven’t run any searches or anything. If someone else has already come up with this word then let this blog post serve to recommend it for your use.

I’ve been doing some giftting (definition 1) of my own recently.

My completed giftt (knitted gift-how do you feel about that one?) was knit on a whim, as this pattern wouldn’t get out of my head and I thought a friend could use an end-of-semester pick-me-up.

I started knitting these on Thanksgiving because I had the yarn and needles and they were easily knitted while watching the Mythbusters marathon.

There’s just something about that simple little lace and garter stitch pattern that I found irresistible. The name of the pattern helps an English student like me as well.

Pattern: Susie’s Reading Mitts by Janelle Masters
Yarn: around 3/4 skein Cascade 220 Heathers #9407
Needles: bamboo US 5 dpns
Made for: a friend and fellow student
Timeline: November 26-December 1 2009
Modifications: none
Worst Part: choosing the right stash yarn
Best Part: the instant gratification: I needed that!

I’ve also got plenty of gifts underway. Just about all of my supplies are purchased and sitting on my craft table. I’m doing very little giftting this holiday season, substituting embroidery in several cases, and most of what I’m doing is conveniently portable.

The current project is Brooklyn Tweed’s Laurel out of Sublime extra-fine merino dk for my sister-in-law.

You may remember that Laurel was in my fall knitting queue. I decided to give the pattern a test run. I’m not certain that I can pull off slouchy hats, but I know that my SIL can. I’ll try this one on before I give it to her to see if I want to make one in a different color for myself.

I’m also working on a little something yummy for me.

This is the Blue Sky Alpacas Cabled Cowl. I was having a rough weekend a while back, and nothing cheers this girl up like some alpaca! The cable pattern is at a difficulty level that I can handle at this point in the semester, but is so beautiful that I admire my work every few rows.

Apologies if I’m not around here much in the next two weeks or so. Between papers to grade and papers to write I’m not sure how much knitting time I’ll have.

I’ve heard that a major problem with certain types of dieting is that when you stray from the diet you often stray very thoroughly, indulging in quite a bit that you shouldn’t.

My crafting diet has been circumstantial, not intentional, but I’m afraid that I’ve indulged in a knitting binge.

Last weekend’s knitting binge was about rewarding myself. I had some major deadlines in addition to student conferences over the course of the week, so I felt like I needed to relax with some knitting.

This week’s binge has been because knitting is all that I’ve been able to do. I’ve been on the verge of getting very sick all week. One of my office mates has succumbed to something suspiciously similar, and I’m trying to take care of myself so that I don’t get to that point.  I’m feeling well enough that I can’t justify missing out on any of my classes, etc. but sick enough that I haven’t accomplished anything beyond the essentials. This means that, despite the stack of papers awaiting grades, I’ve been spending a lot of time watching television and knitting. If it weren’t for the guilt it would be wonderful!

I’ve been knitting on quite a few different projects, so I’ll just show you what I’ve finished.

My iPhone case has been nearly complete for a while now, but I stalled when it came to sewing up the seams. When I finally did do the sewing, I decided to live dangerously and not pin before sewing. This gave me the angular result that you can see in the photos, which I like and decided to leave alone.

I also added in the sweet pewter button for embellishment. As you can see, I already have a protective case for my phone. However, I wanted something to protect it from scratches and to keep my headphones nearby.

Pattern: the best iPhone cozy EVER
Yarn: 1/2 skein Queensland Collection Bamboo Cotton #01
Needles: US 1 dpns
Made for: my iPhone
Timeline: October 12-November 14 2009
Modifications: angled pocket, added button
Worst Part: beginning. This probably would have been easier on two circs.
Best Part: keeping my new toy safe and stylish!

I’ve also just finished the Socktoberfest Mystery Sock in fall colors. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but Sweetie picked out the yarn for these socks. I was excited to cast on but couldn’t make it to the yarn shop. I told him to stop in on his way to work and pick up some sock yarn that looked like fall.

I had so much fun knitting these socks. Mystery socks are always a blast, and this was a particularly enjoyable pattern.

Pattern: Mystery Sock ‘09 by Kirsten of Through the Loops!
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug #149 Windfall
Needles: US 1 Susan Bates dpns
Made for: Me
Timeline: October 8-November 18 2009
Modifications: None
Worst Part: I can’t say there was one.
Best Part: The toes. I love the way the leaf angles in to form the toe of the sock.

Since I still haven’t recovered, I’m sure there will be much more knitting to come. I’m almost finished with some secret contract knitting that I’ve been working on, and I’ve also picked up both Sweetie’s Dale of Norway and my Whisper cardigan again. Don’t tell Sweetie, but I’m hoping to work on his Dale secretly while he’s at work and surprise him with the finished product.

I think I’ll turn back to my knitting and film du jour. Send some good health vibes my way!

It’s been such an odd week that I haven’t had a chance to tell you about my trip to the Twin Cities last weekend. It was definitely part yarn crawl, but we crawled to lots of other exciting places too!

Our first stop was Continental Clay, where Sweetie got  some new ceramics tools and we loaded up 100 pounds of clay to bring back to the University for his professor.

Then we were able to stop by the thrifty corner of an outfitters store, where I picked up my new winter coat for over $100 off the original price! It’s brown and orange, which is definitely not what I was expecting to end up with. Any color suggestions for accessory knitting would be much appreciated, as these colors have thrown off all of my prior plans! I don’t mind having to re-think my knitting plans, as Sweetie promises me that this coat will be very warm.

Our iPhones saved the day as we tried to navigate around Minneapolis to find some new-to-me yarn shops.

The first shop was Depth of Field, a beautiful shop with great selection. If I ever owned a shop, I would want it to have wooden floors and shelves like this one does.

Next was Crafty Planet, where I wished that I had some sewing projects queued up to buy fabric for–they had some really great prints. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to visit again with my mom and sister (both seamstresses).

Of course, I couldn’t leave these shops empty-handed! I bought a skein of Fibranatura Yummy sock yarn at Depth of Field and some Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns (Sexy Librarians, Roaring Twenties, Michael Sieben, and Julie West) from Crafty Planet. I was so excited to pick up the Sublime Stitching stuff. I’ve been going back and forth about ordering from the website for months, but I was much happier to buy these in person.

By the time we had finished our shopping Sweetie’s sister and her boyfriend were ready to meet us for lunch. We had some great white pizza at the newly-renamed Red Savoy, visited the Walker Museum, hung out at their chic apartment, and met up with their friends to go bowling for the boyfriend’s birthday party.

Knowing full well that my parents, unlike me, have a well-functioning oven, I brought along ingredients to make the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I had been waiting for for over a week. I saw them on a blog, and they looked delicious. Turns out they were delicious!

Before leaving, my mom gave me the adorable skirt that she’s been making for me for the past few weeks.
She had picked up this pattern a while back thinking that the construction was interesting and asked if I liked it. When your fantastic seamstress of a mother offers to make you a garment just for fun, you don’t say “no”! We dug through the wool stash and came up with a tiny plaid in green, navy, and off-white. I wore the skirt to work on Monday and felt wonderful in it–I have to admit to admiring it in every reflective surface that I passed!

I should have some finished knits to show around here soon. As I said, it’s been an odd week. I’ve had research checkpoints in both of the classes that I’m taking and have been holding conferences with students in the class that I’m teaching. Thankfully, my schedule will be a bit more normal next week. I’m planning to take some well-deserved knitting time this weekend before I collect the next round of papers on Monday.

The rest of the knit-blogosphere may be writing about their woolie adventures at Rhinebeck, but I’m here to tell you about the amazing time that I had at the Colloquium on Modern Rhetoric!

Really.

It was fun.

You don’t believe me, do you?

Look at it like this: Rhinebeck, NY is the UMTC campus, the fiber-celebrities are prominent rhetoric scholars from top universities, and the sheep and wool are profound thoughts on rhetoric and modernity. See? It really is fun!

If that’s not enough to convince you, keep in mind that I got to experience the culture of Dinkytown, check out a new (to me) coffee shop, see the UMTC campus up close and personal, and make a pilgrimmage to Chipotle (seriously-a mile in the rain wearing new heels that gave me huge blisters, but so worth it).

And I did some knitting.

I worked through Clue 3 of the Socktober Mystery Sock in the car. I’ve since found out that I managed to miss the release of Clue 4, so I’m a little behind the game.

Once I decided to knit during the Colloquium panels, I really cruised on my ‘Hers’ sock. This has been sitting in my backpack since the beginning of the semester for those moments when I need some emergency knitting. Apparently I either haven’t required emergency knitting or haven’t had the time for it. Knitting during the panels had the added bonus of being a conversation-starter with some of the professors at the Colloquium. One of them said that he wished he had something to do with his hands so that his mind wouldn’t wander–exactly!!

This weekend will likely amount to very little knitting. I have a round of papers to grade and some significant strides to make in my research, as I’ll be out of town and away from my work next weekend.

Happy knitting!

The Hemlock Ring blanket for my chilly new office has been done for a couple weeks now. D’you wanna see?

Isn’t she lovely? I chose the color by matching it with the two colors of chairs that we have in our office of eight–gray and electric blue. This way if I change to a different desk next year, the blanket will still match.

This was the perfect beginning-of-graduate-school-knit. I knit the center flower in one or two sittings and then it was on to the feather and fan pattern. Feather and fan is just right: enough of a pattern to be interesting, but easy enough that it’s never frustrating.

I went with a relatively relaxed approach to blocking. I didn’t pin out the hundreds of little loops; I’m happy if it lays flat and looks even.

It should be just the right size to wrap around my shoulders or drape over my lap. Since I spend so much of my time sitting still at my desk, it’s easy to get chilled. Being cold makes it hard for me to be productive.

Pattern: The Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed
Yarn: 3 skeins Cascade 220 Heathers #2423
Needles: a variety of US 9 circulars
Made for: Me
Timeline: September 6-October 2 2009
Modifications: Note-knit to round 55 of chart
Worst Part: That bind-off went on forever!
Best Part: Inspiring other knitters–this knit got a lot of attention in the shop.