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Category: Knit (page 4 of 25)

Way North Winter…

February 10, 2010 / / 1 Comment

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?

Keepin’ Kozy

February 7, 2010 / / 1 Comment

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

Holiday Hats & Hands

January 31, 2010 / / 2 Comments

(…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.

A Hat for Uncle Don

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.

Miss Butterfly Miss Doodlebug

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.

Family Hands

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.

Amy Rebecca Dad Mom

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.

Comforting Cathy

February 20, 2009 / / 8 Comments

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – one of the things I have enjoyed most about “knit-blog-landia” is the connections that occur between people. Whether it be meeting up with blog buddies in real life or rallying around a need, this is quite a community!

Early in my blog reading days (even before I started blogging) I came across Cathy’s blog – Tightly Wound ~ Loosely Knit. In fact, it was her post about her Panda collection that was my first visit. As a fellow panda fan, we became blog buddies.

A couple of years ago Cathy sent out the call requesting afghan squares for a friend that was going through some extremely difficult times. I quickly knit a square & sent it on it’s way. Over a year ago, Cathy’s blog became pretty quiet. When she did pop in to blog it was evident that she was facing many things and needed the prayers and good wishes of her blog friends.

Early last year, Amanda Cathleen sent out a call to “friends of Cathy” to do a knit project. Instead of an afghan, we decided to make a shawl. Each person would knit 16 rows & pass the shawl along. There were so many friends that wanted to participate that the shawl was passed along as 2 halves with Amanda grafting them together at the end.

In mid-June I received one half of the shawl. I was #11 for the half. When the box arrived I marveled at the yarns that had been selected. Some yarns were handspun by the friends. The parameters for the yarn were blues & merino. I looked at several different possibilities for my rows and in the end went with a solid blue. The depth of the color reminded me of cool and calming waters – very appropriate for this project.

In one evening, I knit through my rows – saying a prayer for Cathy & her family that they would continue to find comfort as they go through this stage of their lives.

Once I finished my rows, I wrote a message on a ribbon & added it as a “fringe” on my section of the shawl. After a quick photo shoot on the deck, I repacked the box with the shawl, the supplies, the growing collection of yarn extras for a fringe once it’s finished, and the collection of notes that everyone included.

Kudos to Amanda Cathleen for organizing this great blog friend project – it was such a sweet idea & she had it very well organized (Yahoo group for communicating, instructions in the box, supplies in the box, etc.). Progress was shared in the Yahoo group & we decided that we would all blog about the project on the same day, once the shawl had reached Cathy.

If you have a moment, stop by Cathy’s & leave her a note of encouragement.

Cathy, your blog is filled with so many entries of comfort, encouragement & love that you have provided to your family & friends – as you wrap yourself in your new shawl may you continue to feel the comforting thoughts & prayers of your friends!

Lovin’ Crafts

February 12, 2009 / / 7 Comments

One of the ‘pitfalls’ of having a lot of ideas to craft for the holidays is that you think of things so far in advance, think it is too early to start on them and then before you know it, the holiday has passed and your crafty ideas are still just ideas. In the past couple of years, I’ve managed to be fairly realistic about the Christmas projects – although there are a few ideas that have yet to be made.

Valentines for Rebecca  Valentines for Mom  Valentines for Friends

This Valentine’s Day, the crafting ideas & the timing came together and I was able to create a few simple ways to send some love to family & friends – through knits & cards. In early January, I came across a pattern for a heart shaped dishcloth – a variation on my “go-to” Grandma’s favorite dishcloth. In no time, I had one on & off the needles.

A Valentine for Dad

Ah ha, a Sweet Spa valentine was in order. Throughout January I continued to knit up some hearts – there is no shortage of dishcloth (er, facecloth) cotton in the artisan stash. I then turned to Etsy & found some cute handmade soaps to complete the gift. For Grandma, since I was already making some more comfort cloths I knit a super soft heart to include for her.

Comforting Grandma

Next up, cards. Between blank cards, stamps and lots of fun papers I have plenty of supplies for making cards. On a Sunday afternoon I pulled out the supplies and had my Valentine cards drying on the mantel in no time. I had 3 flavors to the cards – for most, I used the hearts stamp set that I had picked up several years ago; for a few friends, I used some origami paper that has been “marinating” in my craft stash for a while; and for Miss Butterfly & Miss Doodlebug, I had fun with some itty bitty stamps – using the flower to create their initial.

Valentine Cards

Looking ahead to other holidays this year, I’m hoping that this “on top of it” approach will hold. In fact, I’m already thinking of some “Christmas in July” activities. What about you?

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