Amy Artisan

Back in 2006, I was just dipping my toes into blogging when the Yarn Harlot announced the first Knitting Olympics event. Since the Artisan family has frequently crafted during the Olympics, I was game for it. I attempted my first lace project with mixed results…yes it was completed in time but it now serves as a table cover instead of a shawl. In 2008, I went for a do-over & selected the same lace pattern in a different yarn. This time, the results were wearable!

Late last year, I started to think about what my winter Olympic knit challenge would be – since I’m currently on the road for work with plenty of evening knit time in the hotel room, I thought grander than before…what about knitting a cardigan? The pattern was selected, the yarn was ordered, the perfect buttons were found…I swatched and was ready to go. As the opening ceremonies began, I cast on for the sweater & quickly got going. Before long I was at my first roadblock…umm, I started with the larger needle & it should have been the smaller…so I started over again. By the end of the opening weekend, I was about 3/4 of the way through the yoke of the sweater & feeling pretty confident.

I figured that I would make great progress on the body of the cardigan that first week in the evenings. Work had different ideas & I think I knit maybe 10 rows by the time I came home. At this point I seriously questioned my choice of knit for the Olympics & was already preparing for defeat…seriously, why would I think I could tackle this? However, once I was back home my focus for that weekend was knitting on the sweater and by the time the weekend was done I had finished the body of the cardigan and starting on the first sleeve.

Once again I headed north with grand plans for evening progress. On Monday night I was making great progress…until I realized that I had completely misread the decrease instructions for the sleeves & had to rip back about 30 rows. Because I had picked up more stitches for the arm I then had to do a bit of scribbling on the hotel notepad to rework my decrease approach would be. On Tuesday evening I had recovered from the rip back and on Wednesday evening I thought I was ready for the final edging – but I held off till Thursday to confirm that I liked the length of the sleeve. On Thursday evening I finished off the first sleeve.

On Friday, I was up early to drive home & then had a bit of work that I needed to do. Just before 4PM I started on sleeve #2 and was finishing it up at 11PM. On Saturday morning I quickly got started on the button bands. Then the cardigan took a bath (Soak Celebration seemed appropriate) & overnight it dried with a fan on it on the dining room floor. On Sunday morning I sewed on the beautiful buttons & had a lovely sweater. (An overcast day & a temperamental camera remote make for few modeled shots.)

The details: Green Tea for the Gold!

Tea Leaves Cardigan in GoGo Grassy Dream in Color Classy with Buttons from Jennie the Potter

(Journal of the event in Ravelry)

Artistic Points: I went with 3 buttons instead of 2; I knit the body about an extra inch; I centered the buttonholes in the middle of each gathered section of the yoke; For the sleeves I ended up with 78 stitches on the needle – so I did the decrease row every 5 rows for a total of 10 times; I went with about 3/4 length sleeves

Technical Deductions: I’m very dissatisfied with the yarn – I have knit with Dream in Color in the past & have made some great smaller items. The color contrasts among the skeins of this “non lot numbered” yarn were vast & not always evident until the skein was wound up. Most of the body of the cardigan is striped because I had to alternate 2 skeins of yarn every 2 rows. I think this is a single skein project yarn only from here on out.

Overall Score: Wow – I can’t believe I knit this in 2 weeks!

Now that the Olympic torch has been extinguished, I’m still a bit in awe that I knit an entire sweater (with sleeves) in 2 weeks…and after so much knitting time in such a short window it is time to rest the needles for a bit & switch gears – evenings in the hotel are for reading this week…but the needles are calling & I plan to cast on a “reward” project this weekend with my Olympic Medals yarn…

It has been a year since the early morning call came that Grandma had passed away in her sleep. As we have all come to our “new normal,” links to Grandma are everywhere around us. In the time since, we have found many ways to honor her memory.

Last fall, I stumbled across a “Donors Choose” request from a Chicago school teacher who was wanting to purchase knitting supplies for her students. I donated in memory of Grandma & over the last couple of months have received updates about the project.

This past week, a large envelope arrived in the mail & contained thank you notes from the new knitters.

As I saw the pictures of the kids knitting their first scarves and read through the handwritten notes, I thought that sharing this experience with you would be a nice way to remember Grandma on my blog.

As a lump welled up in my throat at some of the student sentiments, I was also reminded how wonderful it is to have been taught this art of knitting by Grandma. Just like the stitches connect yarn into something beautiful and usable, the weekend spent at Grandma’s in1997 learning to knit a dishcloth has provided me with so many wonderful connections over the years…knitting gifts for dear family & friends…starting this blog in 2006 & meeting some wonderful new friends…teaching friends to knit…teaching Mom to knit…continuing to challenge myself with new and more difficult projects…

…and my latest knitting challenge/connection will be revealed soon…once again I have joined the community of knitters in the Knitting Olympics & am nearing the finish line in an event I never would have imagined – a sweater in 2 weeks!

As I mentioned earlier, work has me on the road once again. And once again it means winter in northern Wisconsin (on the border with the UP). And with a “way north” winter comes new winter gear.

Before the project I bought a new winter coat – it was touted as designed to withstand watching the game at Lambaeu Field. Since this project has me north of Green Bay I figured that was a good choice. The spice brown color made quite a canvas for winter knit accessories.

The December Blizzard: Right after clearing off my rental (aka big honkin’ SUV) we heard we had to work from the hotel because of a power outage at the plant.

After an early taste of winter up here in December with a blizzard & then bitter cold and wind I had in mind a warm, squishy scarf. This Cocoa Nouvaeu from Huckleberry Knits was a perfect choice – it is a bulky worsted weight that I knew would be quite cozy. After a few attempts at more involved patterns, I went to a trusted basic – the Scrunchable Scarf – cast on for 23 stitches on a 10 1/2 needle. In no time at all, 2 skeins had been turned into 6 feet of winter warmth.

Next up, a coordinating hat. For this, I dipped into my miles of Peruvian alpaca that Rebecca brought home for me. I went with the Simple Pleasures Hat pattern – although I cast on more stitches than the pattern called for. Turns out, the hat came out a bit bigger than planned. So, a hot water bath helped to tighten it up. It’s a bit of a slouchy watch cap now – very warm and cozy.

Given my project location and the winter weather, it makes more sense for me to be driving (trekking) north each week instead of messing with flights to Green Bay & then a drive after that. So, every week I am picking up a rental car. In my own car, I have a winter survival bag in the trunk in case I get stranded on the road. Just because I’m in a rental, I still need to be prepared. So, in addition to my luggage each week I’m loading my “car bag” into the back seat with the hope that I never have to use it. What’s in the bag? Just a few things to help in case of unexpected weather, delays, etc. while driving. If you live in a cold climate or will be driving through one, I highly recommend having your own winter bag. Here’s a peak inside my bag (a freebie from a sunscreen purchase – the irony seemed apropos):

A coffee can with a few large tealights and matches; A flashlight with batteries; A couple of the handwarmer packets; A spare pair of socks, a pair of the mini-knit gloves & a pair of hardy gloves; A bag of snacks: granola bars, nuts & dried fruit, gum, throat drops; A pack of kleenex & some extra napkins; A bottle of water; A fleece blanket; And what truly makes this an Amy Artisan kit: emergency knitting – this project bag holds needles & dishcloth cotton. Of course, my goal is to never have to dip into this bag while doing my winter commuting.

As I’m way north this week, we are on the fringe edge of the latest snow storm & so only have a few inches. When I was “posted” to this assignment I figured that I would be in for a snow-filled winter – in actuality, the snow is rather minimal so far this year. In fact, this is the view from my office window this afternoon.

What about you? How are you staying warm this winter? What is in your winter emergency kit?

A new year, a new water bottle for my desk, a renewed commitment to drinking lots of water throughout the day…and so a new kozy was in order. In using my other metal water bottles, I have found that having a simple cotton wrapper on them helps keep the water cool longer and minimizes the condensation.

Grabbing a ball of dishcloth cotton, in no time at all I had the Kanteen wrapped in a new kozy. Mom, here’s the pattern for you to make knit up a few for your new water bottles.

Kanteen Kozy Pattern

- Size 8 needles (DPNs or 2 circs)
- Worsted cotton (here: Sugar ‘n Cream Blue Bronze)
- Cast on 27 stitches & join in the round
- Knit in pattern (K2, p1) until desired length
- Bind off loosely

(…before January turns to February, it’s high time to blog about the holiday knits…)

As fall turning to winter and the holidays of 2009, my knitting needles picked up some speed so that I could have plenty of hand-knits under the Christmas tree.

For my uncle in California, I decided that a watch cap was in order. A quick search for a pattern yielded the Modern Rib Hat pattern. The simplicity of the knit 2, purl 1 pattern and the subtle change of the color stripe (Caron Simply Soft Shadows in Merino) quickly knit into a cozy hat for his neighborhood night watch work.

For my favorite little girls in Texas, simple hats with fun buttons. These hats were based on the Republic Hat (Toddler edition). I cast on more stitches for each one. I found the buttons on Etsy – a fun grab bag of “repurposed” buttons with lots of fun paintings on them – in fact, it was hard to pick which one to put on each hat.

For the Artisan family…wrist warmers. In March, when I was in California for Grandma’s funeral we found time to visit a local yarn shop along the Pacific Coast Highway. As is my “norm” when visiting a yarn shop, I asked what was a local or unique yarn that the shop carried. The answer was Capistrano Fiber Arts – beautiful hand dyed yarns from the area. I picked up four skeins of yarn and an accompanying pattern for simple wrist warmers. These were fast knits and are very cozy for all of us.

My blogiversary came & went on New Years 2010 – this is the start of the 5th year that I’ve hung out my shingle at AmyArtisan. As I seem to be saying more & more, I hope to be blogging more actively in the coming weeks and months. Going forward, I plan to make this more of a priority than it has been in recent months. Work has me on the road again so I’m figuring out my “new normal” of work and life. So far, the time on the road has yielded quite a bit of knitting in 2010 – stay tuned for those knit tales.