craft n' complain: the online version: December 2006

Ryder wears his new hat

It didn't stay on long but the hat looks darn cute on him. It's a touch big but he will grow into it.

Hats for Ryder & Johnnie

For Christmas this year, I decided to knit a series of hats in blue, orange and green.

I have two done and will start a third for Renee and Jen's Mom, Linda. The two completed hats are going to two super cuties, Ryer (9 months) & Johnnie (4 years). I will post pics of the super cuties wearing their hats soon!

designs i want to learn...

a few days ago i saw an infant wearing leg warmers that extended over his feet, with cutouts on his heels. they were pretty sweet... i'm hoping i can learn how to make some for the lil' twins who show up in early 07. i'd also like to make some fingerless gloves. they may be more like arm warmers at first with a thumb hole, and then i can work up to the fingers. we'll see.

today i visited a precious store in the mission. it appeared that most everything was handmade, and all of it was beautiful. i can't wait to share it with amy!

Cowl for Kintea

Last year I knit a cowl from one of my fav books, Last Minute Gifts. It's a really easy pattern knit on circular needles. I used a Rowan blend yarn that has a feel similar to cashmere. A certain member of c-n-c commented on how much she liked it and wanted to knit one for herself. Of course, I bookmarked that comment in the back of my brain and then pulled it out around Kintea's birthday. I knew I wanted a vibrant blue for Kintea but wasn't sure on the yarn. I was thinking a wool blend but what I wound up with really surprised me. The yarn used was bamboo and cotton and it came out just beautiful. Drapes really nicely and the color is vibrant without being too bright. I will take a pic of KB in her cowl and update this post!

Original cowl

Kintea's cowl

UMA!

Well...better late than never. One of my fav knitting stores, So Much Yarn, offered a shrug class in September. UMA v.1 came out ok but I knew with a little professional assistance, UMA v.2 could be awesome.

The first big decision was what yarn to use?? I love Noro yarns and for UMA, only the best. Well, almost the best. The original Noro yarn I wanted to use was about $21 per skein and my UMA needed 5 skeins. For UMA v. 2, that was a bit too spendy. But I did find another beautiful Noro yarn that was more affordable. Noro is a Japanese yarn company that specializes in v

ibrant hand dyed yarns that stripe beautifully.

The class was great...I learned some new techniques like M1 and how to pick up stitches along edges. M1 is a way to do a increase, add a stitch, without a bar or marking showing up in your garment. The pic to the left is an example of picking up stitches along the edge.

On the Noro front, So Much Yarn is having a mega sale early January where yarn is discounted so UMA v.3 with a wool/alpaca Noro blend yarn will be purchased. UMA v.3 will arrive Janauary 07!