People are actually pretty great.

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It’s been almost two weeks since the break-in at Casa del On the Needles, and things are going back to normal.  We’ve upped security, filed a police report, and begun to replace the things that were taken.  I’ll probably never get my class ring back, but I bought a new computer to replace my old one (which was on its last legs anyway).  I didn’t even loose that much data-a couple half-finished patterns, and a few hours work on an intarsia chart, but nothing I can’t replace with a half-day of work.

And, I got a surprise package in the mail from my friends over at Knit Picks on Saturday.

Remember how I said the thieves took my set of interchangeable needles?  Well, the lovely folks at Knitpicks (Hi Stacey!) took it on themselves to send me not one, but two replacements:

A set of gorgeous blue-green Caspian needles:91078102[1]And, a set of luminous Sunstruck needles:90613101[1]My old set were Caspians, and I’d used them for more than a year when they were stolen.  I am a snob when it comes to needles, so I was a late adopter of the whole interchangeable needle thing.  It seemed like they would be more trouble than they were worth- wouldn’t the cable fall out?  Wouldn’t the yarn snag on the joins?  They couldn’t work as well as advertised.

But, I have to say, I absolutely love them.  I use them for almost every project I make.  Circulars are better on my wrists, and the dyed wood needles are fun (I’m a sucker for bright colors).  And, there’s nothing better than deciding you need a US10.5 or a US5, or whatever your spur-of-the-moment project requires, and just going to your needle case and pulling out exactly what you want.

So, thanks, KnitPicks!  I know these needles will get lots of use!  (And, everyone else, I totally recommend getting a set of interchangeable needles.)

Pulled out of shape

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I have a sweater that I totally love.  It’s flattering and a really pretty color.  It goes with just about everything. I love wearing it.

But.

It gets pulls in it if you look at it wrong.

I don’t know if it’s the yarn or the stitch pattern, but something about this sweater makes it super easy to pull.  Velcro on my backpack  will totally mess it up, and I’ve accidentally zipped it in my rain coat more times than I would like to admit.

Luckily, pulls aren’t too hard to fix, if you’ve got two minutes and a tiny bit of patience.

First of all: Don’t cut them off!!  (I’ve had folks offer to cut off my pulls, and that makes me freak out.  There’s nothing scarier than a non-knitter coming at my favorite sweater with a pair of shears.  Holes in my beautiful sweater?  No!  *Shudder*)

OK, so here’s my pull.  It was kind of fluffy, because it got velcro-ed, so I tugged on it a little bit to straighten out the fibers in the pulled ply so I could see what I was doing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis pull is only one ply of yarn, so I have to get the rest of the plys out of the knitting to match this problem one.  Look at the knitting at the bottom of the pull to find the rest of the strand of yarn.  See it there?   (If your pull is a whole strand of yarn, skip this step.)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI used a tiny sock needle to really yank on the yarn to get the whole strand to match the single ply.  This will seem wrong, disturbing and uncomfortable.  It will look worse before it gets better, but I promise, it will get better.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERANow, here comes the fun part.  Look to either side of your super-duty pull.  See where the stitches are all tight from all your yanking?  Use your needle to start moving yarn from the pull to either side and loosening up the stitches.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAKeep moving along, tugging the tight stitches and evening out the yarn to make them match the rest of your knitting.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOnce you’ve gotten most (if not all) of the pull redistributed, give your knitting a good tug in a couple of direction to set the stitches.

And, voila!  Your sweater is good as new!

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Inspiration: Mrs. Drewe

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I love me some Downton Abbey, but I always am disappointed about the lack of knitwear on the show.  I guess knitting just isn’t classy enough for Lady Mary and Co.

But, my new favorite character has no problem with rocking a super-cute cardigan.  Mrs DreweIt’s Mrs. Drewe, Marigold’s adoptive mother (and most ridiculously portrayed character in the show.  We’re supposed to think of her as a jerk for not wanting Edith to hang around Marigold.  I don’t know about you, but if a weird, entitled lady who happens to also be my landlord kept sniffing around my kid, I would go all mama bear, too.  Just my two cents.)

Mrs Drewe2Anyway, look at her adorable cardigan!  I think it’s crocheted (though it’s kind of hard to tell).  I love the understated, all-over texture, and that shade of pale, gray-brown would go with just about everything (especially her robin’s-egg blue blouse).  I might have added a row or two more to the cuffs, but that’s just me.

Want to make your own?

This cardigan has a similar shape, but I’d make the sleeves longer, remove the bobbles, and add more buttons:

Summer Breeze Cardi by Elena Malo

CTMJ09YOKECARDI 01This one uses an interesting crochet stitch to make a very cool all-over texture pattern, though it is a bit different than Mrs. Drewe’s.

Sparkling Crochet Cardi by Heather Lodinsky

WR2134_project_medium2[1]Or, maybe you’re not a crocheter.  This knit sweater features a texture across the front and back that echoes Mrs. Drewe’s sweater.  (Also, super cute!  I might have to make one for myself with my fancy buttons.)

Tinder by Jared Flood

Tinder3_medium2[1]Who’s your favorite Downton character?

Husband Sweater: Slow and Steady

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I’ve been working away on the sweater for my husband, and I’m starting to make progress.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’m already to the armpits!  Woo!  Now I just have to do the rest of the sweater…

The yarn I’m using is a really lovely cotton yarn, and I’m totally in love with the finished fabric.  It’s crazy soft and luxurious-feeling (especially the swatch that I put through the washing machine)!  I know my husband is going to love it.

But you know what I don’t love?  Actually knitting with the stuff.  There’s something about cotton that is kind of hard on my hands.  I don’t know if it’s the fact that it has almost no spring, or if it is stickier on my needles than wool, but it’s a little bit of a pain to knit.  Instead of sitting down in the evening and working through several X-files episodes, like I usually do, I’ve been slogging my way through a couple rows per night, which is making this sweater rather slow going.

But, I think I’m really going to like the finished product (or at least I hope I will!)

Are there any fibers you don’t like working with?  Or am I just being crazy?

Pattern Spotlight: Baktus

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I might have been late to the Hitchhiker party, but I’ve been a member of the Baktus fan club for years.

This super simple long, skinny, triangular shawl/scarf is one of my favorite patters for several reasons:

1.  Garter stitch.  Love.

2.  It’s crazy versatile.  I’ve made Baktuses (Bakti?) from everything from bulky yarn down to fingering weight yarn.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA3.  It looks great worked in those pretty hand-spun skeins you have in your stash that you can’t figure out what to do with (You know, the ones you couldn’t leave at the yarn store, but you have no idea what to use them for.)4357513044_2288fc815f_z[1]4.  The Baktus uses only as much yarn as you happen to have.  If you have three skeins of bulky, it’ll use that much.  If you have one skein of lace-weight, that’ll work, too.  (No weird little leftovers to fuss with!)  Actually, the pattern has you weigh your yarn at the beginning.  You begin the pattern by increasing, then when you have exactly half your yarn left, you decrease, for perfect results every time!

3592484405_e3fa9a5775_z[1]5.  The Baktus scarf is really and truly unisex, and super cool.  P1100072rav_medium2[1]6.  People have used the idea of the Baktus and came up with their own (gorgeous) versions.  Want lace?  Add cool geometric edging?  Or leaf edging?  Maybe you prefer crochet?

5717416916_2d555e0368_z[1]Baktus might be the perfect project.

Have you ever made a Baktus scarf?

Chung Chung

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That’s the Law and Order sound. Why? Because last night Casa de la On the Needles was the site of real-life crime. I came home from work and our house had been broken into. Luckily, no one was home and we’re all safe, but needless to say, it sucks big balls (of yarn).

My computer (and my set of interchangable needles!) were among the casualties, unfortunately, so I’m posting this from my phone, which is less than ideal. So, I’ll keep it short today.

Want to help? Post a picture of something awesome in the comments to make me feel better! And hopefully, I’ll be back to my regular schedule soon.

Inspiration: Bulky, Bulky Pins

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As I mentioned on Friday, I’ve started Pinning (Pinteresting? Someone tell me what the proper word is!).  And, well, I can see it becoming something of a problem.  I’ve been spending way more time than I probably should poking around Pinterest and looking at all the beautiful things that I will never have time to make.

(Also, sometimes I like to look at the Everything tab.  It’s about 15% hair tutorials and makeup tips, 30% extra-calorie cheesecake recipes, 25% diet salads that “Actually taste good!,” 15% workout routines, 5% inspirational quotes, and 10% stuff I’m actually interested in.  Point in case, I just spent 20 minutes looking at “Super Simple Manicure Ideas.”  Why?  Because they were there.)

Anyway, I looked over my pin boards (is that what they’re called?)  and I found a trend in some of the knitting I’ve been pinning:  Super bulky stuff.

This scarf/shawl/shoulder blanket is part of the new Ferragamo Men’s collection, and was shown in Milan (so you know it’s chic).  I’d wear one, even though I’m not a dude.  It looks like a great long swath of stockinette, maybe knit in the round, so that there isn’t a “bad side.”

628x471And I just love this fantastically chunky Brioche Cowl from Diane L. Augustin.  Aren’t those colors to die for?  I would like to just wrap myself up in a cocoon made from this.IMG_4128_50_medium2[1]If we’re talking about chunky knitting, you can’t get much chunkier than this amazing arm-knit blanket.  It’s of super-thick yarn, but you could use slightly felted wool roving, if you wanted.  Using arm-knitting for this project is really smart; that way, you don’t have to worry abut finding knitting needles two inches in diameter.Untitled-3-copy-1024x854Well, now I’m off to dream of Pinterest and spend more time looking at a particularly interesting list of “the 52 easiest DIYs.”

On Pins and Needles

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Do you Pin?  (Is that even what you’re supposed to say?)  I just started.  I’m a pinning machine.

Actually I have no idea what I’m doing.

thCAYBVE3RAs part of my New Year’s resolution to get better at social media, I resurrected the Pinterest account that I signed up for back when I began this blog.  I think I originally pinned about three things, and then forgot about it.

It’s very cool, to see everyone’s interesting, beautiful, and inspiring projects.  I love finding new stitch patterns, too.  (I gotta say, though, Pinterest is making me feel a little bit inferior about my photography skills.  I’ve got to improve on that.)

Anyway, follow me on Pinterest, and I’ll follow you back.  We can share projects and ideas and gape in awe at some of the crazy, cool things that people make.

Barbara Bretton and Novel Knitting

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I love books.  I love to read them, I love to listen to them, I love to collect them, and I love to download them to my Kindle (it’s basically magic!).

I usually tend toward more “guy” types of books.  Lots of swashbuckling, dragons and evil robots.

But, sometimes I end up swinging the other direction.  The girly, romance-y, knitting-filled direction.

When I researched my post on Knit Lit, back in November, I found a book with a synopsis that I thought was pretty amazing:

Sugar Maple looks like any Vermont town, but it’s inhabited with warlocks, sprites, vampires, witches, and an ancient secret. And Chloe Hobbs, owner of Sticks & String, a popular knitting shop, has a big secret too. She’s a sorcerer’s daughter in search of Mr. Right, and she’s found him in Luke MacKenzie, a cop investigating Sugar Maple’s very first murder. Bad news is he’s 100% human, which could spell disaster for a normal future with a paranormal woman like her.

Too ridiculous not to read it, right?  (and it’s only six bucks on Amazon)

I bought Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton, and read it in about two days over Christmas break.

3109566[1]And, you know what?  It was delightful.  Maybe not high literature, but really fun.  It was a little chick-flick-y, a little bit of a cop story, and a little bit paranormal.  And, the whole book is full of goofy little knitting jokes.   The main character is introduced as she’s trying to block a particularly difficult lace shawl.  She threatens people with her US15s.  And, she has a magical bottomless basket of roving.

I even went on to read the second in the series, Laced with Magic, which was just as good.

6195236[1]If you’re looking for a new author, something a little goofy, and fun, you could do worse than the Sugar Maple Chronicles from Barbara Bretton.

Have you read anything good recently?

Pattern Spotlight: Hitchhiker

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I’ve finally jumped on the bandwagon.  And, I kind of love it.

I’m probably the last knitter to make a Hitchhiker shawl.  (There are 17,685 projects up on Ravelry, and I’m pretty sure it’s been in the top 50 or so patterns for the last couple years.)

CIMG7885The Hitchhiker is a triangular (ish) shawl/scarf knit in garter stitch, which is my absolute favorite.  Garter is great for scarves, since it lays nice and flat.  Plus, it’s super warm and squishy.  (And it’s great for knitting while you read or watch TV, since you don’t have to worry about following complicated stitch patterns.)

The shawl is a long, skinny triangle, with a sawtooth border along one side, which is worked as you knit.  You begin at one point of the triangle, and just keep going until you run out of yarn, or get bored.  And the simple 8-row repeat is super easy to memorize, so it’s almost mindless (but still just interesting enough to be fun).20150112_122126_medium2[1]This project is super versatile.  You can use whatever yarn you have on hand, and whichever needles you like best.  The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but this would make an epic deep-winter scarf in worsted or bulky, and if you were to use teeny tiny needles and lace-weight yarn, you could make something lovely and delicate.

IMG_1979_medium2[1]I made mine with a skein of Knit Picks’ Stroll Tonal Sock Yarn in Thunderhead.  (I bought it to get the $50 free shipping, because free. Don’t judge me.  You know you’ve done it, too.)  It turned out lovely.  The sock yarn is wonderful and soft, and the hand-painted, monochromatic colors of the yarn looks great in a garter stitch.  (Sorry for the terrible picture.  The shawl was adopted out before I had time to find my real camera for a decent photo.)

WP_20150102_014I love how this shawl looks with semi-solids and self-striping yarn.  It’s so easy, and the results are spectacular.

DSC06485_medium2[2]Have you made a Hitchhiker?