Things That Bring Me Joy – Yards of Happiness

FO: A Teeny Tiny Tecumseh

I’ve been super busy and finished up my Mom’s birthday knit and a really awesome test knit I’ll get to share this week. So I’m back on my Tecumseh knitting mojo. And so this weekend I decided since I had so little left to go I needed to finish Jellybean’s Teeny Tiny Tecumseh sweater.
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Beanie was NOT interested in letting me take real pictures this weekend so these are as good as they will get. LOL Since knitting a sweater for a 6lb chihuahua doesn’t leave me a ton of surface area you may notice I had to alter the leaf pattern a bit from the standard Tecumseh chart. You still get the general idea of what it looks like.
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I was also proud of myself because I used short rows this time to shape the shorter front and make the back a bit longer and curve around her body!

I think that’s probably what I’m most proud of with this one. I used the same colors of the rainbow that are in my sweater and decided to make her body in the lavender color I was originally going to use for my purple but swapped out for a darker shade. And since I can only fit four colors on a dog sweater, Cher’s version will start with blue and go into red and the main body will be light blue.
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For the most part my knitting bores her. Clearly. But it was so chilly this weekend that I felt extra motivated to get her in this. We even went for a little car ride and she was nice and cozy in her sweater (Cher is fine with just a t-shirt layer on right now, but once it gets in the 30s we put sweaters on her too).
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And even though my husband calls her a tiny grandma in her hand knits I think she’s cozy and cute as pie. Totally worth the time and effort. And I’m knocking out the sleeves on my version so I can finish up my trio of Tecumsehs!

FO: Rainbow Askews Me Shawl

I love knitting rainbows. It’s fun to do the color changes and to see how the rainbow will really evolve in the pattern you’ve chosen. They make me smile and I swear I get asked more about what I’m knitting when it’s something super colorful. So after enjoying knitting the last Askews Me Shawl I decided to knit one for myself and with a rainbow yarn.

I saw this fun Lion Brand Mandala yarn in a great rainbow and picked up two skeins. One skein alone has 590 yards so it’s perfect for this shawl, I used almost the entire skein so I got a full rainbow (and a rainbow on the floor as I was photographing it!). I decided to balance my rainbow with a neutral so I finally frogged my Flax cardigan of it’s Cascade 220 Superwash in Doeskin Heather and I think it’s a perfect balance.

This is a great fall scarf and travel wrap. It’s big and cuddly and warm and can really be wrapped around you (or you dog). Below is the right side, although with brioche knitting it’s reversible but by definition this is the right side. The light camel color is the main color but the rainbow still really pops out behind it.

But of course I love the side where the color is more dominant. I always love the wrong side of brioche. I don’t know why.

Fall starts this week and I’m ready for chilly mornings so I can wear scarves and hats. I’ve even got a lovely yellow hat I’m excited to pair with this scarf, it’ll be such a happy combination. When everyone is on the train wearing black and grey coats I’m always standing out with bright and happy color.

And I think Jellybean thinks this is probably the perfect wrap to go with her banana button down shirt. I just won’t tell her it’s for me.

September 17, 2018September 16, 2018 by IamDWJ Categories: Brioche, Cascade, Color, Cowls & Scarves, FO: Finished Object, Jellybean, Knitting, Lion Brand, multi, My Dogs, rainbows, YarnTags: #yardsofhappiness, Askews Me Shawl, brioche knitting, Knitting, rainbow knitting, rainbow yarn, Westknits, Yarn 15 Comments

NY Times & Knitting

I realized I had this post saved as a draft since July and never shared it! Oops. I thought this was a pretty cool article in the NY Times this summer, How to Start Knitting and Learn to Love it, and thought I should pass it along. I also want to pass along these two images.
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Jellybean in a banana shirt, you’re welcome. This dog loves bananas so much and as quietly as my husband tries to peel them she always hears him and comes running to get a piece. She also managed to get a banana out of his lunchbox one evening, wiggle it out of the bag, take it out of the skin an eat the ENTIRE BANANA. This one is my sneaky little eater.
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And Cher. My sweet senior has taken over a blanket that was a gift for me. Clearly it has my name on it but whenever I turn around she’s wrapped herself up in a sea of blue softness. This weekend we’ve got more light rain coming our way in Maryland (we aren’t in the path of the hurricane but it’s been grey here all week) and I’m hoping to work on my Rainbow Tecumseh. And yesterday I finished off my Rainbow Askews Me Shawl! It’s blocking and hopefully I can get some pics and share it next week. Have a great weekend!

September 14, 2018September 14, 2018 by IamDWJ Categories: Cher, Jellybean, Knitting, My Dogs, rainbows, Things That Bring Me JoyTags: #CherandJelly, #yardsofhappiness, bananas, Knitting, rainbow knitting, rainbows, Yarn 7 Comments