{pinterest challenge: woolly letters}

Starting to think I'm going Pinsane? Maybe. But with 3682 pins, I couldn't stop at recreating just one. I'm hoping I can stop at five -- that seems like it should Pinough for now, right?

I fell in love with these wool-wrapped words, originally posted here. As you might remember, I've gone on about how I love capturing handwriting in stitches and stencils, and now in pipe cleaners. It's true -- the way you shape letters, even with an awkward piece of fuzzy-covered metal, takes on your personality, somehow. That, I love.

The word love, on the other hand, wasn't quite doing it for me. Not that we don't like love, or need to remind ourselves of it -- it just wasn't screaming "make me!" 

We're in the process of giving Tilly's room a bit of a makeover, and, strange as it might sound for a little girl, we're going to use a lot of grey. Grey, white, and, of course, some lovely bright red! With those colours in mind, I had a go at bending Tilly's name out of pipe cleaners, and wrapping it up nice and warm for the rare chilly weather we're enjoying.

Something else Pinished -- four pins down, 3678 to go...

{inspiration: woolly wreath}

Perhaps this will make up for last month's disappointment of a wreath -- which, let's face it, was a bit of a pom-pom-tastrophe. This month, I joined the Jesus Said Love ministry with their generous project, and we made twenty wreaths for local ladies, using the tutorial for this beautiful yellow yarn wreath.

Next step: make one for our door! Our Mossy March wreath, which is still up, is looking rather bedraggled. I have my suspicions that local birds have been helping themselves to the moss!

The Second Annual Bird-Brained Blanket Project

What better way to spend a hot and humid Texas summer than knitting a heavy woolly blanket?

Last year at this time, I was just beginning Tilly's basket-weave baby blanket -- a labour of love in dusky pink, on the tiniest needles known to man. Ten months, it took. I actually started to hate knitting for a bit.

But this blanket is different. Bigger needles, brighter colours. In fact, I'm using up all the sorry little left-overs of other projects, knitting them up into long panels which I'll join together. It feels doubly wonderful to be making something out of stuff that's getting in the way anyway. It's like a patchwork quilt... but with no seam pressing.

The finished blanket will hopefully be something like the lovely ReadyMade one above, but perhaps just slightly pinker, as so many of the wools started out as Tilly hats and cardigans.

So, it promises to be a warm summer, no matter what the weather has in store!

Big Box of Yarn

Yes, it really is my lucky week! The postman also brought me this big box of yarn from Justin's Grandma!

She had heard I was into knitting, and so gathered up this collection of unusual treasures! There are yarns that look like feathers, yarns that look like confetti got spun into them, yarns that are fluffy, yarns that are fuzzy, and everything in between!

Unfortunately, there are no yarns that are for chewing on.

So, I'm looking for unusual projects worthy of these special yarns! Any ideas?

I've also been baking today, and used a favourite banana bread recipe (not mine, so I'm not sure I can give it out, sorry!) to make little muffins to take to a friend's house tonight. Texan women can bake like no other, so I'm hoping my offering will be well accepted!

Hope you're having a lovely week of autumn beauty!

xo

On the Needles

I'm really working hard on Christmas gifts at the moment, and have decided that warm and cosy fingerless mittens are the way to go this year!

Right now, I'm finishing up a pair for my brother, (who never reads this, so I'm safe!) in the colours of his favourite English football team: Newcastle United.

As he's quite a tall guy, I changed my normal pattern a bit. I found that ribbing the mittens all the way from wrist to fingers looked a bit strange when stretched over big hands, so I simply did the cuff in rib stitch, and then stocking stitched the rest.

A very easy pattern for these 'Man Mitts':

I used two colours (A: black, B: grey), and size 9 needles

Cast on 36 stitches

Rows 1-4: Use colour A, rib stitch (knit 2, purl 2, repeat)

Rows 5-6: Use B, rib stitch

Rows 7-8: Use A, rib stitch

Rows 9-12: Use B, rib stitch

Rows 13-14: Use A, rib stitch

Rows 15-16: Use B, rib stitch (B can be cut as it won't be used again)

Rows 17-18: Use A, rib stitch

Rows 19-40: Use A, stocking stitch (knit one row, purl the next row, repeat)

Cast off!

How easy? So really, you just make a big patterned rectangle, and then take the two sides together and sew it up with mattress stitch (leaving room just above the last stripe of B for the thumb).

Enjoy!

xo

Off the Needles

Funky chunky fingerless mittens! Knit very simply as a long, straight rectangle, and then sewn up to make them round, leaving a hole for the thumb. These are so much fun to make, especially with stripes and bright colours!

(Monkey proves that he can pat his head and rub his tummy while wearing mittens that really don't fit him all that well!)

Things I Heart Monday

Happy Labor Day to you! Wasn't it lovely to sleep late on a Monday?

I'm really hearting waking up slowly with a nice cuppa hot choccie... with about half a pint of cream mixed in. (Shhhhh!)

I'm also hearting this awesome little yarn shop I found just across town in College Station, The Hook and Needle. They have the most beautiful colours of yarn, and I came away with these four lovelies:

They are supposed to be for making Christmas gifts, but they look so pretty piled up up my desk, it'll be hard to unravel them!

And when I got home, I found that the Hook and Needles ladies had stuffed my bag with extra goodies! Colouring pens? Yes, please! I'm thinking about taking a sweater-making class with them in a few weeks which sounds hard, but very interesting.

And lastly, I'm hearting trading. I'd never traded with another shop before, but the lovely Punkscrapper contacted me and asked if I'd be open to it. Yes, yes, completely yes! I've put together a little package of prints for her, plus my first ever listing, Mr. Embroidered Cardinal...

...and a little painting of a barn that I made after falling in love with Georgia O'Keefe's watercolours. Both are things I was sure would sell, but they never really even got looked at, so I'm very happy they've found a home at last!

In return, I'm getting lots of awesome felty fun, like this sweet like branch-like coffee cozy! Yay for trading!

I hope you've all got lots of be happy about, too!

xo

Off the Needles

My vertical stripy scarf is now off the needles... and onto the dog!

What a little fox.

She wouldn't go outside this morning because it was raining, so I might just have to make her a little raincoat and some rain boots as well!

It's just the perfect length for me, or for a fencepost.

And much softer than bark...

Can you tell that I like living somewhere where there's trees and grass and doggies and backyards? :)

On the Needles

If you recall, I bought some beautiful yarn three weeks ago, in three lovely colours. The colours weren't officially named, but I call them "Peanut Shell", "Santa Fe Adobe" and, um, "Dark Blue".

I've been knitting it up into a scarf... a slightly unusual vertically striped scarf, so I'm using circular needles for the first time.

Just the dark blue stripe to do, then it's done!

It's all garter stitch, which is lovely and easy, and twelve rows of each colour. But... I cast on 250 stitches, and had a bit of a tail left still, so I kept casting on a little longer, and I'm not sure exactly how many stitches I ended up with.

More than 250.

Less than 500.

I know that much!

Anyhow, I'm liking the colours together, and am very excited to see how it'll look off the needles, and how long it'll end up being! But, in my mind, a scarf can never be too long, (you just keep wrapping it round your neck, right?!) so I'm hopeful it'll be a success!

Beaver in a Bow Tie

What happens when you leave a beaver alone with the moving boxes for an hour?

She's been feeling a bit cheeky ever since I made her that little red bow tie. It was meant to go on her head (so that everyone stops thinking she's a boy beaver) but she kept slipping it off, so it ended up going round her neck. Very dashing!

I've been out, scouting the local knitting shop. Thus far, I've only been buying my yarn from Michael's (and the first few from the infamous 'Peter Jones' in London! Ooh la la!) and it was such a treat to walk into Kiwi'sKnitting company in Tucson, Arizona, today and see colour! All colours! I walked around for a while with a gorgeous spotty muted pink (which reminded me of raspberry ice cream), then I switched it for a lovely eco-friendly banana yellow, then I switched that for a so-soft alpaca grey on sale, then I put that back and got these:

(Please excuse the moving boxes... it's the only backdrop I have right now!)

It's Peruvian Kettle-Dyed Cotton, made by Manos del Uruguay, and I think it's the new love of my life. So soft, lovely earthy colours, and it's got this wonderful natural wave to it. The lady in the shop asked me what I planned to make with it, and I told her,

"To be honest, I really just want to wear it as it is!"

After which she kind of gave up on helping me and disappeared into the backroom!

I do want to make something... and that something is almost defintely going to be a scarf. A striped scarf. I'm just wondering whether to do a normal horizontal repeating stripe, or try a vertical stripe. I think big blocks look best with special colours... hmmm. You know, with three of these skeins, I've probably got enough to try it both ways! When in doubt, avoid choosing! :)

Yes, so that is what I'll be doing on our 18 hour road trip to Texas... (Justin says I'm not allowed to drive the U-Haul... which is probably a good idea) or for as many as hours as my fingers can take it! Endurance knitting... can I go the distance?