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Category: Knit (page 8 of 25)

A Weekend for Joy(ce)

May 18, 2008 / / 10 Comments

I have several things I want to blog about, including getting up to date with my ABCs (err, H & I) but for now I’m jumping straight to J.

 

J is for JOYCE (aka Artisan Mom)

I remember when I was learning to read I made the connection that within my Mom’s name was Joy. Even at a young age I knew how appropriate that was – Mom has always brought joy to everything that she does.

This weekend she had a ‘big’ birthday. It was made even better because the whole Artisan Family was together here in Chicago to celebrate Mom. It has been several years since the four of us were all together here in Chicago – most of our family celebrations have been home in the ‘Ville. This weekend we were greatful for some wonderful respite care for Grandma that allowed for a Chicago birthday celebration for Mom.

Given the state of air travel these days, unfortunately it wasn’t that much of a surprise that their flight was about 3 hours late arriving on Thursday evening – it was almost midnight when we got to my house, so our planned Thai takeout dinner would end up being Friday lunch. The Chicago weather was perfect spring – sunny, blue skies, and lots of green grass & trees accented with lilacs and other spring blooms. We didn’t have many plans for the weekend – we just gave Mom some “dress code guidelines” for Friday & Saturday reservations. We did a little bit of shopping, a little bit of driving, a little bit of relaxing with books & a favorite musical on DVD, and a lot of just enjoying being together. On Friday evening we had reservations for dinner at A Mano – it was fun to order several things off the menu & share amongst us all; of course we saved room to enjoy their delicious gelato for dessert.

Our “big” surprise was Saturday afternoon – all Mom knew was that we had 4:30 PM reservations & we were dressing up a bit more. As we headed downtown, Mom was just glad that we were all together & didn’t seem to have a clue where we were going. It wasn’t until we turned the corner and pulled up in front of The Peninsula Chicago that Mom realized we were going to enjoy afternoon tea at my favorite tea spot. As we enjoyed all of the delicious treats on the menu we recalled the lovely afternoon tea we enjoyed in Bermuda 9 years ago this month. This “quick pic” at the end of the afternoon definitely captures the fun of the weekend.

And to celebrate a milestone birthday for a Mom who has done so much for so many I had a secret knit on the needles in the last month: “A Hug for Mom” – a simple shawl using yarn that I picked up last summer.

The Details – Pattern: Simple Yet Effective Shawl; Yarn: Brooks Farm Yarn Limited Edition III a wool and silk blend in a medium/steel blue, 2 skeins; Needles; Size 10; Modifications: Since Mom’s birthday is the 17th I had the garter stitch section at 17 ridges; the edge of the shawl had 2 stitches & then the yarn over to increase.   When I bought this yarn last summer I had a specific pattern in mind; however, as I started with the yarn and pattern it was obvious that they weren’t a match – same with the 2nd pattern. Truly, the third time was a charm by going with a simple pattern that I had knit before – the simple stitches allowed the yarn to really come to life.

The weekend trip may have been quick; however, it was wonderful to celebrate the JOY that is Mom!

April Showers…

April 27, 2008 / / 4 Comments

…bring May flowers; however, they didn’t bring the Yarn Harlot to Chicago.

This past week was a lovely week of almost summerlike weather. On Friday, spring storms rolled in & wreaked havoc on plane travel in the area. Stephanie was scheduled to speak down on the south side of Chicago on Friday evening – so, on Friday H was for (Yarn) Harlot. After work, I trekked down to Oak Lawn from my client site & Jen took the train out from the city. We got to the hotel ballroom about 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the event & quickly settled into seats and started knitting. We ended up sitting behind a friend from My Sister’s Knits. Around 6:45 it was announced that the event would be delayed until 8:00 because of flight issues. When it was announced, some left to go grab dinner and most people just kept on knitting. About 20 minutes later it was announced that Stephanie would not be coming and the event would be rescheduled. Since the room was booked for the evening we were invited to stick around as long as we wanted. The area was under a tornado watch & you could see the storm rolling in, so Jen & I decided to just circle around our chairs with Jan & the knitters in front of us. We each worked on our projects & chatted as the storm passed overhead. After a while, the storm was done and we all headed home. While the evening wasn’t quite what we had thought it would be, it still was a fun evening. We look forward to when Stephanie is rescheduled back to Chicago.

Spring Green

April 15, 2008 / / 5 Comments

Springtime in Chicago is unique every year. Sometimes it comes early – sometimes it comes late – sometimes it seems like we go straight from winter to summer. With the winter that we’ve had this year, I’m not sure what it will be – although the sun and warmth that is creeping in this week gives me hope that spring may come this year. As I was starting to think about this entry, my page-a-day calendar had the following quotation that seems very appropriate:

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. – Guinean proverb

G is for Green

It appears that I have been choosing Green as my spring accessory color. A new scarf and a fun purse. I picked up this yarn last spring and loved the colors. I started hearing concerns about the ability to get a pair of socks from a skein & so I decided that it would be best to use the yarn for a non-sock pattern. While browsing through Ravelry I stumbled across this pattern and decided it would be a good choice for the yarn. The one row pattern made it simple de-stressing knitting early this winter. This scarf was the perfect weight for the spring weather in DC last weekend.

The Details: Pattern: Vine Stitch Scarf in Collinette Jitterbug (Toscana); size 5 needles; I cast on 28 stitches

The colorway is Toscana; however, as I look at it I am more reminded of a different destination: Taliesin in Spring Green, WI. The splashes of color against the green yarn remind me of the vibrant spots of color that the flowers in the garden provided to the lush green landscape of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home.

Green in my Garden – My flowerbed has been neglected the last couple of years; however, a few perenniels that managed to survive some hungry dogs in years past are making another appearance. This week I see that the sedum & bachelor buttons are starting to push through the dirt. The hostas have purple tips just starting to come through the dirt. While it’s definitely too early to start buying & planting in the garden, it’s not too early to start planning for it. Gardening catalogs have been arriving in the mail & it has been so fun to “ooh” & “aah” through them. I look forward to the coming weeks and months where I can “play in the dirt” in the evenings when I get home from work.

Green has always been a favorite color and I have always enjoyed using my green thumb to tend to plants and flowers. When Rich Mullins released his song The Color Green it became a favorite song. Since then, whenever I see a field of green I often find myself humming the chorus:

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise

– from The Color Green by Rich Mullins

Doing Dishes

March 3, 2008 / / 14 Comments

Based on my knitting history, my choice for the letter D should come as no surprise.

D is for Dishcloths

Dishcloths

As a child, I always remember a handknit cotton dishcloth hanging over the sink or faucet in the kitchen. These dishcloths were the only thing that mom would use to wash dishes, clean counters, deal with the spills and messes that children can make. I remember always being amazed that it seemed like no matter how big the mess, that dishcloth could handle it. Mom remembers getting some of these dishcloths from an aunt as a wedding gift & initially not knowing what they were. Obviously she quickly caught on to the power of the handknit dishcloth. Grandma learned the pattern from Aunt Irene & so we never were at a loss for dishcloths.

When I had an apartment in college & in my pre-knitting days Grandma kept me in dishcloths as well – no visit with her was complete without getting a few more dishcloths for the stash. One drawer of her bookcase by the front door was always filled with dishcloths to share.

As I’ve mentioned before, learning to knit the cotton dishcloth for myself was my catalyst for learning to knit in 1997. Since then, I have always had a stash of dishcloth cotton – years ago it was maybe only 2 or 3 balls. These days…um…one whole cube in my craft storage is filled with dishcloth cotton. Whenever I’m in a craft store and see a selection of Sugar’n Cream yarn there is a good chance that I will pick out a color or two. Sugar’n Cream was Grandma’s favorite yarn for the dishcloths – it only made sense that it became mine as well. I remember a couple of times when Grandma knit with another kitchen cotton and she would always comment that it wasn’t the same as SnC.

In recent years I’ve dabbled with assorted dishcloth patterns – through the Monthly Dishcloth KAL, from websites & Ravelry, from MDK, from pattern booklets. I find that I always return to the Grandma’s Favorite pattern – especially when using the variegated or twist colorways.

Dishcloths are my go-to project. I haven’t yet hit a point of having too many dishcloths. Now that Grandma doesn’t knit anymore, I keep Artisan Mom & Rebecca stocked with dishcloths. Of course my kitchen is stocked. And I always have a stash of dishcloths on hand to use for hostess gifts – in fact, I have a box filled with dishcloths & coordinating tea towels so that I don’t have to show up empty handed.

I keep dishcloth supplies in the car. They come in handy when the line for a carwash in the winter stretches around the block. A basic dishcloth is perfect movie theater knitting. When I feel like knitting but don’t want to have to think about what I’m doing I’ll reach for the dishcloth cotton.

In this vintage apartment I don’t have a dishwasher. So all of my dishwashing is done with a handknit cotton dishcloth. As I stand in my kitchen & do dishes I remember seeing Grandma at her kitchen sink washing up the dishes. When she was done, the pale yellow tile kitchen counters would be wiped off, the dishcloth rung out & then it would be hung over the faucet – to dry and be ready to handle any mess that came into the kitchen.

Blooms & Blossoms

January 27, 2008 / / 14 Comments

I have always liked flowers – both in nature and in art. Whenever I visit a museum I’m apt to pick up a postcard or print of any flower art that I’ve seen. On one bedroom wall is a collage of assorted prints from Redon, Renoir, Redoute and Cezanne. In the dining room, the floral bouquets of Jan van Huysum decorate the walls. When I see these prints I’m reminded of fun trips to the National Gallery of Art, the Getty Museum, and more. When given the chance, I enjoy planting flowers outside & watching them bloom. Summer visits to the farmers market mean coming home with armloads of assorted flowers & making flower arrangements to enjoy inside.  Trips to the botanic gardens in Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas have been filled with fun times and photo ops with family and friends. Sunflowers always make me smile.

This time of year, I enjoy watching amaryllis (actually hippeastrum), paperwhites and hyacinths bloom indoors.  This week it has been fun to see the 3 blooms emerge from this year’s bulb. The cheery red blooms brighten the room.

B is for BLOOMS & BLOSSOMS

 Cheery Blooms

As the blooms have been growing in my living room, blooms and blossoms have also been growing from the knitting needles.

 Bloomin' Baby Hat

Bloomin’ Baby Hat

A friend is having a baby girl in a few weeks. I wasn’t able to make it to her baby shower; however, this little hat was there. Since Baby T will be joining a big brother I knew I wanted to give a decidedly girly gift & I wanted to branch out from the standard baby patterns that I’ve done before. Enter Ravelry – a search on baby items yielded the hat pattern. With the pattern in hand I dove into my stash & found a fun yarn combination. Within an evening the hat was on & off the needles. Once it was finished I knew it needed a little “something” extra – the original plan was to crochet a few flowers to add to it. Instead I knit a morning star flower from the pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts and then attached it to the hat with a button I had pulled from Grandma’s button box.

Details: Lilly Hat by Larissa Brown; Jaeger Matchmaker Merino & Koigu Kersti held together on size 9 DPNs.

Cherry Blossom Neckwarmer

Cherry Blossoms Neckwarmer

When I was in My Sister’s Knits earlier this month I saw this yarn & immediately thought of cherry blossoms. Many people think of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC each spring – my first thought for Cherry Blossoms is Macon, GA – in high school and college the Artisan family always enjoyed the great festival that celebrated the early blooms of spring. My original plan was to knit the skein into the Ribs & Ruffles scarf from the vendor website. Once I got the yarn home and was looking through my Ravelry queue I decided that a neckwarmer would be a great use for the yarn.

The details: Cherry Garcia from Hello Yarn; Misti Alpaca Chunky handpainted on size 10.5 DPNs.

Before too long, it will be time to pick up tulips from the store & bring cheer to the house…and then it will be time to think about what gardening will occur on the deck and in the flowerbed this year.

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