alisonknits

New Pattern: Chalice Cable Handwarmers

The latest pattern I'm offering for sale is the Chalice Cable Handwarmers that Cate was kind enough to test knit for me last month (thanks Cate!).

These fingerless mittens make a lovely, as well as inexpensive and quick-knit, gift. The graceful cable includes one row that utilizes two cable needles – a fun little maneuver that you don’t see every day!

Size: To fit adult woman - hand circumference approx. 7.5”.

Yarn: Approx 170 yds DK weight yarn.

Gauge: 22 sts and 32 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch.

Sample used 1 skein Rowan Felted Tweed (50% merino, 25% alpaca, 25% viscose; 191 yds. per 50g ball) in color #141. 

Alternative yarn suggestions: Classic Elite Inca Alpaca or Inca Marl; Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK.

Needles & Notions
- Size 5 (3.75 mm) double-pointed needles, or size needed to obtain gauge.
- Two cable needles
- Stitch marker
- Small amount of waste yarn
- Tapestry needle 

PDF download available via PayPal for $4.95

A Return to Form

Something that people who've met me in the last few years don't realize is that I'm actually a short-hair person.  However, a few years ago I got lazier and lazier about cutting it, until finally I just gave in and decided to grow it out.  So for a few years now (including all the time I've been living in MA as an adult), my hair has looked like this:

But, for about a year now, I've been meaning to cut it.  (Yeah, that's how I ended up with long hair in the first place.)  In honor of my new start this year, and my renewed commitment to a creative life, I finally made the appointment.  And tada! I am back to my old self again, only with gray streaks in the front:

Look how much happier I look!  I love my haircut.  And, I really liked the hairstylist (at Apple Salon in Newburyport, his name is Justin), which is great since now I actually have to get haircuts regularly again.

I'm donating my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which makes free wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments.   People keep telling me how nice that is... I guess I would feel more virtuous if I had grown out my hair specifically for that purpose.  But hey, at least since I'm not using it anymore, someone else can!

New Year, New Directions

On Saturday, I spent the entire day - from noon to midnight - putting together a submission to Knitty.  I learned some nifty, new-to-me tricks with Photoshop, taught myself how to size patterns using Excel (so cool! reminds me that I actually like math & formulae), and progressed further in my skills using Quark (a page layout program), which I used to create my schematic.

As exhausting as the day was, it was a lot of fun.  I actually really like desktop publishing, as I'm discovering doing the layout for my self-published patterns, and I want to do more of it.  The Husband is a graphics guy professionally, and this morning I suddenly thought how cool it could be for us to start our own business.

The more I work in offices, the more I realize that it doesn't really matter how great an office I work in, I just don't want to work in an office.  I want to work at home.  I want to do something creative with my time.  I want to be my own boss.

Scott gave me a really cool book for Christmas, called Crafting A Business.  It profiles about 20 women who started their own businesses as artisans, and I'm finding it quite inspirational.  It's so encouraging to see real examples of craftswomen who are making a living doing what they love.  In the second half of the book it has a lot of practical information for starting your own business, and I'm looking forward to getting more into that nitty-gritty section.

There's something especially exciting about starting a new year with all these ideas and possibilities.  Now if I could just win the lottery or get an inheritance from a long-lost relative, I could quit temping and really get down to it!  (Or, I could turn off the TV in the evenings - there's nothing on anymore anyway! - and accept that doing what I love is going to take a lot of hard work.)

More Christmas Knitting

In addition to the mittens I posted about yesterday, I also knit a pair of socks recently, as a Christmas gift for my dad.  I was so good about knitting gifts from stash this year, I'm quite proud of myself.  (It wasn't that hard, since I only knit two gifts.)  These were knit out of some yarn that I knit into an ill-fitting pair of socks several years ago.  How silly am I that I knit the first sock, tried it on with difficultly, because it was done in a cable pattern with these weird wrapped stitches that caused it to only go over my heel if I tugged and tugged, and then went ahead and knit the second sock anyway??  But I did.  They actually fit fine once they were on my feet, but I decided I was not interested in battling with my socks to get them onto my feet, and so I threw them in the sock yarn bin to recycle someday.  And then I actually did!  Eventually.  Isn't it amazing when "someday" actually comes around?

I started to believe the yarn was cursed, because I started these many times before finally getting them right.  First I was going to knit Ann Budd's Mock Wave Cable socks from Favorite Socks, but knitting the large size, they were coming out ginormous, even though I was using much smaller needles than the pattern calls for.  And the small size was going to be too small.  I tried various ways of adjusting the size, but wasn't satisfied with any of them.  Then I mucked about with some improvised patterns, but none of them panned out either.

Finally I settled on Thuja, which I think is a perfect Dad sock pattern.  Interesting enough, but still quite understated for conservative Dad taste, and super easy to work.  Since I was using fingering weight yarn rather than the DK called for in the pattern, I knit the sock on 64 stitches and adjusted the heel & toe accordingly.

Dad reports that he likes them very much.  I actually had never knitted him socks before.  But before you start pitying my dad, keep in mind that he owns two whole sweaters that I knit for him, and one of them is Henry VIII.  And a cashmere hat.  (Do I sound defensive?  I feel defensive.  I guess I'd better knit more socks for Dad.)

Happy New Year!

One of the many downsides of posting on a blog infrequently is that when I come back, it's hard to know where to start.  Often in the intervening time between posts, I've composed posts in my head, only to never write them, because by the time I get around to it, the time has past.  (For this reason, you will not be getting my post entitled "Present Tense" about my anxiety around giving and receiving gifts.  Maybe next year.)

We could talk about the knitting... I finished these wonderful mittens, oh, two or three weeks ago.  (click for bigger.)  They were well-received by my sister, who happens to own a hat I knit for her in a similar purple.  How fabulous is Kate's pattern?  I have to admit I'm a little envious.  (Jealousy is probably my greatest sin.  And I'm a UU... I don't use the word sin lightly.)

I love these so much, I've already started a second pair, this time with royal blue as the background color.  I'm knitting them ultimately for myself, but they'll likely spend some time modeling at my LYS, A Loom with a View, where I'm hoping to teach a class on how to make them.

Want a close-up of the birdies?  Sure you do.  The embroidery was a little tricky for me, as that's not my native language, but I think it came out well enough.  For the second one, I did the embroidery before closing the top of the thumb, and it made a huge difference.

Stats: yarn - Cascade 220 in #8885 (plum) and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in natural; needles - size 2.75mm bamboo double-points; mods - none.
 

One of my goals for 2008: either be more attentive to the blog, or just quit.  I'm sick of doing things halfway!  So, I'm going to stop this post here, and save the rest for tomorrow.