Category: Things That Bring Me Joy

Stitching Status: Knitting With Dogs

In between everything I do on a daily basis, the moment I sit down I’m typically faced with this.
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A dog (or two) in my face. Cher likes to demand rubs. Jellybean just wants to curl up in my lap and will wiggle her way under any blanket and into my lap anyway she can.
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This weekend I found myself boxed in quite often. These two can settle in so quickly that I haven’t even positioned myself on the couch or grabbed my projects! And my husband is often kind enough to hand me a ball of yarn or a drink or water when I just can’t move as easily as I’d like to because of Cher and Jellybean taking over my personal space. Lucky for them, I don’t mind all the snuggles.
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And this weekend while I worked on the Carbeth sweater for my cousin Cher decided she needed to investigate the pieces in my Field Bag. She also decided the yarn needed to be licked, perhaps for quality assurance?
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But I do get to slip away from the girls and run errands and I popped into Fibre Space on Saturday to pick up a dark contrasting color yarn for another project for my cousin (I realized her birthday is a month away, so I want to also knit her these brioche socks in dk weight). And while I was there I just couldn’t resit this dog in a sweater enamel pin. You can find the artist on Etsy and her entire collection of animals in sweaters pins. So even when I’m not with my dogs, I’m always thinking of them. Now if I could just get them made into pins wearing their cute sweaters I’d be even happier.

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by Categories: Cher, Jellybean, Knitting, My Dogs, Stitching Status, Things That Bring Me JoyTags: , , , , 6 Comments

FO: Grey’s Hoodie

I think 2018 might be my year of small projects. They’re just so satisfying and quick! My latest is a seed stitch hoodie for my friend’s son.
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This is the Manda Ruth cardigan, a simple top down hooded sweater for a baby. A lot of people in comments said the sizing was small but I’ve made this pattern twice (the first one was for Jacob who I made a stuffed dog for last year) and it has fit both recipients so I don’t necessarily agree with the comments. I think the color possibilities for this are endless and I love a little hoodie for kids for spring. When it’s getting a little chilly and you might not have a hat at least you’ve got a hood!
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I don’t love doing seed stitch but it’s better to do it in small sizes rather than larger ones. And since today is Valentine’s Day I thought I’d share the cutest Valentines that were sent to the dogs.
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Jacob and his sister Leah who I made the stuffed dogs for named their dogs Max and Sally and Jacob thought Max and Sally should send Cher and Jellybean Valentines! Kids are just the best. Happy Valentine’s Day!

by Categories: Acts of Kindness, Baby Knits, Caron, Cher, Color, FO: Finished Object, Jellybean, Knitting, My Dogs, neutral (black/grey/white), orange, Things That Bring Me Joy, YarnTags: , , , , , 4 Comments

Meeting Stephen West – Westknits

Right before I left for my trip for work I signed up for a Stephen West book signing at my local yarn shop, Fibre Space for his new book Westknits Bestknits 2. It was partially why I knit his Brio-Garter Hat, just because I knew I’d meet him. Also one of my early projects that had cables and short rows and I was super proud of in the beginning was his Helm hat pattern (one for my husband and one for myself). It’s still one of my favorites.
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And I must say, he’s just delightful in person. Also I did not wear my Royally Striped cardigan to meet him but he did compliment me on my color choices for my Comfort Fade Cardigan.
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He is as animated and colorful as his designs, which is one of the reasons I really like his patterns. He doesn’t stick to a lot of the knitting norms and encourages you to make it your own and use his patterns as just a foundation to a creative piece. His explanations of his design process were really interesting, I love hearing how designers work. And he said a lot of the reason why he’s doing fading and marbling in his knitting is because he knows a lot of knitters buy 1 or 2 random skeins of yarn and this is an easy way to blend them all together instead of having to have a sweater quantity of a single color.
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And he said one thing I really loved, ‘don’t knit it if you don’t love it, do what you want to do.’ That was really my mantra last year, I only made stuff I really wanted to make when I wanted to make it. And that’s how you end up knitting 27 sweaters in a year.
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I absolutely love this floaty top and can see myself making one as a layering piece to wear all year. But the piece I HAVE to kint…
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His Kanagarullover (you may have seen it on Instagram)!! He brought this sample with him and it is so good and it has a huge kangaroo pocket on the front that I can totally see Jellybean trying to snuggle inside of when I wear it. I told him the kinds of yarn in my stash I was thinking of using and he suggested I add in some non-superwash yarns so it wasn’t as heavy so I used my gift card to pick up some creamy white Woolfolk Tov DK. I surprised myself with a purchase of all white yarn but I figured I’ve got a ton of color and want to mix it up and tone it down a bit. I cannot wait to get started on this one! I have a feeling it will be on my needles sooner rather than later.

by Categories: Knitting, rainbows, Things That Bring Me JoyTags: , , , , , 18 Comments