It will get a pocket! As an afterthought (though I planned it ahead of time).

The yarn is Chickadee from the new yarn company Quince & Co. It is so soft, the colors are to die for, and I loved working with it. The yarn is, as far as I can tell, a worsted spun yarn, meaning the fibers are all aligned nicely and it has a very boing-y quality to it. It is very stretchy and delicious and plump.

The trouble with a worsted spun yarn is that it doesn’t have a tendency to stick to itself like a woolen spun (Shetland style) yarn does.  I used steeks, all the while knowing that the yarn isn’t as felty as I like it to be when using steeks.  I reinforced my steek using the crochet method and I’m not too worried about it, but the yarn is not ideal for steeking.

Still, I love this little vest to pieces. I think I’ll make one for Jerry* and write up the pattern.

*Jerry assured me that, while he doesn’t necessarily want a vest, he will “wear it for pictures”. Good boy.

But when my Aunt asked me to knit a sweater for a bear, I just could not say no. People rarely ask me to knit things for them* so I was pretty excited about it. My Aunt made the bear herself (a long time ago it seems, since I had to make some repairs to it) and she wanted to give it to her first great grandbaby, with a personalized sweater.

*Except for the random acquaintance who wants a hat but has absolutely no idea what goes into knitting a hat. You don’t know how many people from my hometown have asked me to knit them a Buffalo Bills hat!  I usually either quote them the fair price of $300 or show them this picture.

Anyway. I knit a vest for a bear!

The name on his belly is “paxtyn”. How cute is that name? I briefly considered doing a proper sweater, but the shape of the bear’s arms seemed better suited to a vest.

I spent a lot of time trying to come up with the design. At first I thought I’d do something stripety in worsted weight yarn, but I thought the vest would be better out of a thinner yarn. I ended up using Ultra Alpaca Light.

There were, ahem, gauge issues. After knitting the “paxtyn” section I took the knitting off the needle and realized it was about 5 inches too wide. Although I thought I’d avoid the use of a steek for such a small sweater, I reinforced the knitting and cut out the extra fabric. That made for some extra finishing work, but I’m really, really pleased with how it came out.

Knitting a vest for a bear for my first cousin twice removed was pretty fun, I’ll have to say. The knitting was quick and the design of it stretched my brain just a little. That’s always good, right? Figuring out all the little parts to make it look just so. I also thought about the new baby and his mom a lot, and that, I realize, is the fun of knitting for others.

I sure hope they love having the old bear and its new vest. I sure loved making it.

Cindy asked me to be a guest instructor at one of her classes to teach her students about…steeking! Of course I said yes, and I knit up my own pulse warmer pattern – Amazonium – which was conceived especially for teaching knitters the art of the crocheted steek.

Both pulse warmers are knit at the same time, in the round, with two steeks that are cut open after the knitting and reinforcing. Then you finish the edges and put on buttons.

After using my sample to demonstrate the crochet reinforcement during class, I knew I had to finish the pair, so I sat down today to snap some pictures and knit the remaining edgings.

I think the most interesting thing about steeking is that it takes careful prep work and careful finishing. There are lots of ends created during the process, and you need to spend some quality time with your knitting to make it look its best. The easiest part, in my opinion, is the cutting part.

Of course, the students could not believe they were taking a pair of scissors to their projects. It was funny. I love that. Showing them something new. Holding their hands a bit. Making them suck it up. Love that.

Maybe they’re all going to be crazypants steekers now. You never know.

After the class was over, I was browsing the buttons and found these cute little orange ones for $1.35 and bought them. Of course, I only bought the three, totally brain-farting because I actually need SIX. Can I blame the wool fumes?

My Ravelry project page for these little guys currently shows I am 95% done. Three little buttons to sew on (Cindy is a doll and will hand deliver them to me!) and a quick bath and they’ll be ready for…winter. Heh.

These pulse warmers are a really quick little project. If you’ve never steeked before, what are you waiting for? The pattern is available for $6 as an instant download. You could be steeking in a few hours!

Amazonium: steeked pulse warmers
more info here, on Ravelry, or click the button below

(That’s Denise, the birthday girl.)

She loved it, as we all knew she would. We had a wonderful dinner last night at the Green Valley Grill in Greensboro. Very fancy and delicious!  We were finally able to give Denise the pompom hat, and I’m sure she was surprised and delighted.

We went to the bathroom together (how silly!) for pictures.

I added the pattern to Ravelry and listed my project here.

When Denise started planning her birthday celebration, she decided that she wanted a pink flamingo, and she decided that she wanted us to make it for her. I think that’s how it went anyway. She didn’t know we had already planned the pompom hat, but we agreed to make the flamingo for her. Actually, Lisa did all of the knitting of the flamingo. When I got it, everything was knitted and I just had to sew it up, felt it, stuff it, and pose it for pictures.

The pattern that Lisa used is the Flamingo Beach Party from Fiber Trends. We used Cascade 220 and some eyelash yarn.

I don’t think the flamingo has a name yet — suggestions are welcome.  Maybe something like “Phil the Flamingo.” Has a nice ring.

Celebrating with friends at a fancy dinner was wonderful, but I’m really looking forward to the Girls Only yarn crawl!  More hi jinks to come from the Fifty is Nifty Birthday Tour 2010!

I put on everything I had that qualified, and looked pretty silly as a result. I don’t mind that kind of silly, as a general rule. I was wearing seven items. Only one other person competed in this category with me.

Denise came in, looking as silly as me, wearing exactly seven handknits. We both won first prize. She also beat me in the Best in Show category, because she is a really, really fabulous knitter.

Since that meetup over two years ago, Denise and I have become great friends. One thing we share is a love of silly hats. Did you ever see that pompom hat (officially the Champagne Fizz Hat) from Interweave Knits Weekend 2009? It came out about the same time as Diane von Furstenberg had a pompom hat in her collection.

Gorgeous, right? (ahem) I love it and Denise loves it, but judging from the comments from the page on Knitting Daily (and the rest of our knitting group, frankly) we’re in the minority. Sure, it’s sort of hideous, but also totally awesome.

When the pattern came out, Denise and I decided we’d make our own champagne fizz hats, in a two-person knitalong. But we never got around to doing it, other projects keeping us both busy.

Well, as luck would have it, Denise is celebrating her 50th birthday this week. While some women might be happy to let this milestone pass without acknowledgment, not Denise. She has been talking about it for months, ready to greet her 50th year with a big bang.

A few months ago it hit me – I would finally knit the Champagne Fizz hat, and brazenly attach fifty pompoms to it in celebration of my dear friend. Although the other members of our knitting group don’t particularly see the brilliance of this hat, they were still willing to play along. They each delivered their share of the pompoms in nondescript brown paper bags at our weekly knitting night. Right under Denise’s nose, too!

My job was to knit the hat and attach the pompoms. I used the Thorpe pattern from Through the Loops and doubled Ultra Alpaca.

For now, Maggie and I will have to show you the hat. We’re giving it to Denise tonight at her birthday dinner. I think she will be surprised, and I hope she’ll love it. No, I take that back – I know she’ll love it. Happy Birthday Denise!

Stay tuned for more of Denise’s Birthday Celebration, which will include both flamingos and yarn crawls. Some girls just know how to party.

Still very little knitting to speak of around here. We went on vacation to the Outer Banks, planning to camp for five nights at the beach. Given the temperature (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit) and high wind as we tried to set up camp, we were unsuccessful.  I am lucky to have a very easygoing travel companion in my husband, and we quickly decided that a motel would make our vacation much more enjoyable.

We played at the beach, went sightseeing, saw lighthouses, swam in pools, enjoyed air-conditioned motel rooms, rode two ferries, fished off a pier, waded in the sound, visited souvenir shops, watched the sunset, took pictures of birds, stayed covered in sand, and enjoyed every minute.

Although I did little knitting, I did find some crocheted items at the Ocracoke Preservation Society.

Here are some of my favorite shots (I only took a billion, I will share just a few).

But the trip was really about the beach.

We can’t wait to go back!

I wish I could take credit for that glorious piece of knitting, but it is NOT my knitting. It’s my Mom’s! She’s working on a little log cabin (Joseph’s Blankie of Many Colors) using Cotton Classic and it is so much better in person I can’t even tell you. I took some photos for her when we visited her at the beach this past week. It was hot and fun, and the perfect way to celebrate Jerry being done with school for the year.

Thanks for a great week, Mom!

Today we had a great day celebrating Father’s Day. We took a little hike down in the woods where my husband grew up. I’m so glad I grabbed my camera because the dapple of light through the trees made for some great shots.

That’s my camera shy husband! Gotcha!

To top off the great day, Elinor announced the winners of her Socks Revived Design Contest and I won! I tied for 4th/5th place! And what great company I’m in. If you are a sock knitter, you must check out all 52 entries. There is a staggering variety of patterns, both free and for-sale. I’d list my favorites, but I pretty much like them all.

Hopefully I’ll be back soon to share some of my own knitting. I hope you’re all enjoying summer as much as we are!

Months of planning and knitting and more planning and more knitting, and I’m excited to finally tell you about it!

The book contains 12 patterns for hats and mittens. When it is published in the Fall, you will be able to purchase individual patterns, all 12 patterns as an eBook, or you may buy the print edition.

Right now, the patterns are really really close to being finished and I am looking for test knitters to help me get the patterns into tip-top shape! If you are interested in test knitting please see the Test Knitters page.

You will notice that some of the patterns already have enough test knitters…as usual, folks on my mailing list were the first to find out about the announcement. If you’d like to get on my mailing list, enter your email in the sidebar where it says Zigzagstitch Newsletter.

Additionally, because my newsletters are automatically sent to twitter, lots of my tweeps saw the announcement too. You can easily find me on twitter as zigzagstitch.

There’s lots more I want to tell you about the book, and I’ll be sharing all that here over the next few months. The plan is to open up pre-orders soon, and the book and patterns will be available for purchase in the fall.

Remember, if you want to test knit, please see this page. Thank you!

UPDATE: as of Sunday morning, June 6th, I have enough test knitters. I will let you know if there is need for more. Thanks!

I had the idea in the back of my head that Cascade 220 Superwash would be a good yarn for this pattern. My lys has a great selection of this yarn, and I had one nearly unused ball (long story, and a whole other blog post). During the annual sale at the shop, I bought seven coordinating colors to match the bright purple that I already had.

This blanket is knit in rings, working one little wedge of each color on each ring. In the picture above, I had completed two rings. Boy, that first one was tricky. But once you get the first ring done the rest is very easy and straightforward. It doesn’t require much attention, but it’s not so mindless as to become a bore.

I just finished the fourth ring this morning. I’m at the point, maybe half-way through, where each section takes a little longer and I can’t quite see the light at the end of the tunnel. So I took a break and decided to weave in some of the ends, seen below in the yellow/green/blue area.

Phew! There are a bunch of ends to weave in! But the process of weaving them in helps to close up some of the holes. It is very satisfying to see the blanket really come together.

Beautiful, isn’t it? Such a clever design. When I see my Mom in a few weeks I’m going to help her get that first ring started. I can’t wait to see what yarn she’s gonna choose!

Totally unrelated kid picture, just because I love love love my new 50mm lens sooo much.

I started this giant granny afghan on January 1st, 2010, in the car on the way to go visiting. I was crocheting-along with the Giant Granny CAL over on Ravelry and had fun watching everyone’s progress. When the rounds got long, I got bored and then the giant granny sat in the corner of my bedroom collecting dust. For a long time.

And then I started a ripple afghan, but the giant granny in the corner was hissing at me to finish. I usually don’t let my hibernating projects hiss at me; I am really, really good at ignoring them.  But this time, I decided to pull it out from the corner, assess where I was (not much assessing needed on a giant granny square) and finish it up.

Although I gave myself some shoulder, neck and arm pain in the process, I was able to finish what I’ve called The Big Ass Granny. Done! Yay!

I used two yarns for this project that have been sitting in the stash for a long time, and it feels really good that they are now a useful blanket. The yarns were both “bulky” but shouldn’t have been used together. The Perendale Wool is a lofty, plied yarn, while the other yarn, a handspun, tweedy wool from Switzerland (I found it at a thrift store) called Lewolaine, is a dense, stiff singles.

In the following picture, you can see the difference. The thicker yarn (navy and dusty blue)  is the tweedy handspun and the solid color yarn (navy and sky blue) is the Perendale.

I ignored the gauge issue (apparently I’m good at ignoring lots of things) and luckily it didn’t make a huge difference in the finished afghan. I used an I hook (5.5 mm, I think). The Big Ass Granny came out awfully big, don’t you think?

Can you see my attempt at making this afghan a rectangle? On the right side is a sky blue stripe that is wide. I started working back and forth instead of going ’round and ’round. It was a quick, on-the-fly decision and I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing. After a while of that I decided to go back to working in the round. It was a silly thing to do, but the mantra here was “Git ‘er done.” It’s asymmetrical and I don’t mind.

When I used up most of the yarn, I stopped granny-ing to add an edging.

I think it was the perfect way to finish.

After a soak in the washing machine, I hung it out to dry last night on the clothesline, then promptly forgot about it when I left to go knitting. It got rained on a little, but Gerald rescued it for me. It finished drying overnight on the shower curtain rod in the bathroom. Now my big ass granny is draped on the back of my knitting chair where it will get lots of use!

Now, to get back to that ripply afghan…