Twirly Knit Skirt

A few months ago, I knit this twirly skirt for Charlotte from a great cotton blend yarn. She loves her skirt and makes sure to twirl often.

The pattern (Twirly Skirt on Ravelry) was written to be knitted flat but I knit it in the round by doubling the stitch count and knitting on circular needles. The yarn (Wildflower D.K. from Plymouth) is 51% cotton and 49% acrylic which makes it cool for summer and very durable and washable. I knit the size 6 in stitch counts but used the size 10 for length since Charlotte's pretty tall and I wanted her to be able to wear it for more then one summer. I finished the bottom by knitting about 10 rows of garter stitch instead of hemming it.

It's a super easy but long knit. It's a lot of rows of stockinette stitch which can be boring for some but I found it very relaxing. It was the perfect mindless, movie-watching knitting.

Some WIPs in the heat of almost summer

Asalamu Alaikum,

I have only been able to knit/crochet at night, when we turn on the AC in our room, or just for an hour while sitting on the roof in the breeze before maghrib time(sunset prayer). I hadn't done any knitting at all for weeks then decided to start three projects all at once.

This one was inspired by a blanket my grammy made for my brother. It came with us to Abu Dhabi, and I liked it so much that I wanted to make one for Saad.

I took all the yarn for the blanket and divided it up into little lengths, enough for one row each. It was trial and error to figure out how much, there was much ripping involved.


You can see it is pretty basic, a group of double crochet stitches, followed by a chain. When it is all finished you hook each chain up over the chain above it to the top. This was actually taken sometime last week so it is a bit further along than this.


Next up is the Seascape Shawl from Knitty. I have loved this for the longest time. I have four skeins, that equal to about 500 yards, and I am making it a bit wider than the original. I am wondering if I have enough yarn, I might have to try to get back and find more, we'll see.


Lastly is a special request, one of Tariq's cousins had seen my Tasha bag, and asked if I could make a small bag for her. so I showed her one that I had been looking at for some time, the Albem purse, she liked it so I started that and it is moving pretty quickly. When the knitting part is finished I am planning to add a lining and a couple pockets.

A Pair of Pairs

Here are two pairs of socks that I knit for myself recently. The wonderful thing about self-patterning sock yarn is that I don't have to switch yarns to create a pattern. I knit with the same yarn the whole time and pattern almost magically happens. The yarn is dyed in such a way that it creates stripes and all sorts of other designs. These socks are knit with yarn that has a bit of bamboo fiber in them. The yarn is Universal Yarn, Bamboo Sock yarn Color 275 50% superwash merino, 25% Bamboo, 25% Nylon. The yarn is soft and very smooth. I knit this pair a bit smaller then I usually do at 60 stitches around. I like the snug fit. They were knit toe up.

Socks as art? Well, apparently, yes! This yarn is dyed to represent artwork. This pattern is called "The Road To Socialism" A variation of the work of Hundertwassers" ( Work 833 , 75% Superwash Wool, 25% polyamid).

Here is Hundertwasser's "The Road to Socialism". I can see the same colors and similar patterns in the socks. Does this mean that I'm making a political statement when I wear them? I knit the socks toe up using 64 stitches around.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2011

On May 6th, my mom and I set off for my sister's house in Maryland. We couldn't wait to visit and go to the Sheep and Wool festival on Saturday. The first thing we did when we got to Katie's house was to visit her animals. Katie's ewe's each had twins this year. We caught one of the natural colored, Southdown cross ewes. Mom fell in love with this tiny ewe lamb. Katie hasn't named her yet. She was much smaller then her sister. I love her fluffy face.

Even though the lamb was calling for her mom, Darla, I think she enjoyed being snuggled. If the lamb could have been house trained, I'm pretty sure my mom would have found a way to sneak her home.

I got to take a turn snuggling her. She was so cute. She smelled like sheep in the best possible way. Her momma must do a great job keeping her clean.

Here is Katie and her wonderful lamb. Katie has amazing animals and takes such wonderful care of them.

Okay, I know... another picture of the lamb... but just look at that fluffy face and those deep brown eyes!

Okay, moving on to the goat kids. I think this is Brutus. Or is it Ida? Well, either way, it's one of the goat kids. They were so cute and bouncy.

We were so excited that my brother, Chris and his lovely girlfriend, Nikki, had the evening off to come hang out with us.

Don't they make a sweet couple?

We all went to an Amish quilt store, where I bought mom some quilt fabric for her birthday. Then we went to Byler's (my favorite bulk food store) where I picked up 50lb. bags of whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, and rolled oats as well as a few other things I needed. That should give me enough flour and oats until Fall.

Later that evening we celebrated Mom's birthday with strawberry shortcake and spent time telling Nikki funny stories from Chris's childhood. Chris opened his birthday presents a bit early (today is his actual birthday! Happy Birthday, Chris!).

The next morning we said goodbye to Nikki and Chris and headed to the Howard County Fairgrounds for the Sheep and Wool festival.

The weather was perfect! Breezy and just a little warm. I've heard that some years are super hot so I'm glad we got lucky this year.

We walked through all of the sheep barns. They had an amazing variety of sheep breeds. Katie was definitely in her element.

This sheep had an amazing fleece. The wool was long with curls on the ends.

Look at this guy's horns!

My mom made a friend of this ram. He stood there and seemed to smile as she scratched his head and under his chin.

Here is a blurry picture of the inside of one of the vendor barns. The sides were lined with vendor stalls and the middle was jam packed with people. It was a little claustrophobic and you had to slowly make your way out of the mob if you wanted to get a closer look at what the vendor had to offer.

Aunt Linda, thanks for telling us to stop by this booth! Tilli Thomas definitely had some amazing yarn. The delicate beads mixed in with the fiber was beautiful.

Aunt Linda, Katie tried to kiss an Alpaca for you but they wouldn't come close enough to the fence.

My mom enjoyed watching the sheep shows that went on throughout the day. Look at these huge sheep! They're a cross breed and looked more like little ponies then sheep.

We had a wonderful, exhausting day. There were an incredible amount of vendors and they were from all over the country. We saw every type of fiber imaginable including yak and dog yarn! I was a little disappointed that there weren't more budget friendly yarns but it was certainly the place to go to find top of the line fiber!

On the way home we picked up Chinese take out and crashed on Katie's couch for the evening. I think we were all asleep by 9:00 that night!

The next morning, Katie and I made a Mother's Day brunch to celebrate our mom and our own motherhood.

Mom and I were sad to leave our Katie and her wonderful family and animals. We had such a great weekend.

What did I buy at the festival, you ask? Well, amidst all of that luxury yarn, there were a few deals to be had. (I'll edit this post later with vendor names... the daycare baby is sleeping in the same room with my bag of loot)

I bought lots of roving to use when I knit thrummed mittens for this upcoming winter. I can't wait to make super warm mittens with bright colored, fluffy lining. I think this roving was only $1.65/oz but I'll edit later if the price is wrong.

Okay, this isn't yarn/knitting related but I found a vendor that sold lots of antique and quirky items. I saw this little shadow box (that really used to be a drawer) and knew I had to have it. My Aunt Linda has a shadow box shelf similar to it that I've always loved. Hers is filled with tiny little treasures. I need to start collecting my own treasures to fit in my new shadow box. It was a pretty good deal at $9.

I bought the shoe form for only $3.50. I thought it was charming. I'm not sure where I'll put it or what I'll do with it yet. Hmmm... maybe I'll knit a sock for it!

Katie and I found a vendor from Michigan who was selling hand dyed yarn at a very reasonable price. These skeins were $7.50 each for fingering/sport weight yarn. I think we figured out that there was about 500 yards per skein. It's not super soft but not terribly scratchy either. I love the bold, saturated colors.

I can't wait to go back next year!! Are you in, Katie and Momma? Aunt Linda?

Stretchy Cotton Baby Set

A coworker and friend of Jon's just had his first child.... an adorable little boy. My second thought after getting the birth announcement and saying, "Awww... how cute!" was "Yay! I get to knit tiny baby things!". I used the same stretchy cotton yarn that I used to knit Charlotte's cotton socks but in a handsome denim blue. (Cascade Fixation color # 9030 (Denim)

I liked that the yarn was almost all cotton so the baby wouldn't be too warm with hot weather approaching. I also loved that the yarn is so stretchy incase the baby had grown a lot in the weeks since his birth.
The little hat was knit following the Very Basic Baby Beanie pattern.

I didn't follow a pattern for the tiny socks. I knit a pair of toe-up socks using 24 stitches total (starting with 12 to make the toe). They were so tiny and so cute.

Welcome to the world, little David!

Colardino Shawl

I love this shawl. The shape is nothing unique or difficult. It's a super easy pattern that makes easy TV knitting. The special thing about this shawl is the yarn. I love this yarn. The wool base (75%) of this yarn is various earth tone shades of brown, tan, and purple. The yarn is 25% polyacrylic which I assume is the jewel-tone fiber running alongside the earth tone wool. I love the effect of the rich base color mixed with the bright pops of color.

As you can tell from the above picture that I accidental used 2 different dye lots. I didn't realize this until I looked at this picture. It's not very obvious when you look at the picture but it really shows with the camera. Oh well, I'll just pretend it's a design element instead of a mistake.

I used the One Skein Shawl pattern. I've used this pattern many times and I'm sure I will in the future too because it's a great basic shape. The funny thing is that I used much more then one-skein. I used 6 skeins of Schulana "Colardino" Mulch (I assume this is the color). I knit it on size 10 needles. I wanted the shawl to be as big as possible so knit it until I ran out of yarn. I did a garter stitch bottom border.

Alpaca Blend Shrug

This was my first time knitting with alpaca yarn... well, 50% alpaca. It is so soft. I had been saving this yarn for something special. I had plenty of yarn so I knew it could be something big. I finally settled on the speckled shrug. It knit up fast on size 9 needles. It's knit as a big rectangle and then folded in half and partially seamed to create the shrug. I washed and blocked the rectangle before seaming to make blocking a lot easier. I added a garter stitch border along the sides so the "sleeves" wouldn't roll.

I used two full skeins (each ~500 yards) of Corino from "The Purled Llama Co.". It's a blend of 50% superfine alpaca and 50% wool. This yarn really "grows". The shrug stretches like crazy and I probably should have gone down a needle size if I wanted it to stay waist/hip length.

I used this shrug a good bit during the second half of winter this year. I like that it stays on my shoulders better then a shawl but it's more like a wearable blanket then a cardigan.

Charlotte's Stretchy Cotton Socks

This yarn is really neat. It is 98.3 % cotton and 1.7% elastic. That little bit of elastic makes it super stretchy. Cotton yarn is usually pretty tricky to knit with because it has no stretch and can be hard on the hands since it has no give. This yarn is a little tricky to knit with for the opposite reason. It's so stretchy that I wasn't sure how to tension it. Should I pull it snug as I usually do or would that make it too stiff? Should I hold the yarn loosely to make a very stretchy sock? In the end I decided to hold the yarn pretty loose on the foot of the sock and then to pull the yarn more snugly for the cuff.

The yarn is Cascade Fixation color 9840. I was able to get both socks from one skein. I used size 2 needles and knit the socks toe up using short rows with no wraps. I cast on 20 stitches (eventually having a total of 40 stitches around). I knit the foot 7" long total. They should fit her for a while since they stretch so much. She loves them because the yarn has all her favorite colors in it. She had a hard time waiting for them to finish drying so she could wear them.

Two Tone 70's Socks

Harvest Gold and Avacado Green.... Weren't the 70's great? Okay, so I was only alive for the last 2 years of the 70's but who can forget all of the major appliances in these colors? I knit these mis-matched but coordinating socks with 2 colors of yarn because I didn't have enough of one color to knit two socks. I knit them toe-up with size 2 needles. I did no-wrap short row heels and toes. I used 64 stitches and started my heel 7" from the tip of the toe.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock. The green is called "7ns Cedar" and the gold is called "8ns Harvest". This is really great sock yarn. The socks are machine washable since they're a blend of 80% superwash wool and 20% nylon. This is a very good thing because Jon put the sock laundry bag into the dryer without noticing. Luckily they survived a machine wash and dry without any damage. They got very soft with their wash and look less fuzzy then when I've washed other brands of sock yarn. In fact, the socks are so soft that I'd like to keep them on all the time. I think I'm going to have to keep my eyes out for more Lorna's Laces sock yarn. My feet may never been the same again!

Spiral Noro Hat

For those of you who don't know, Noro is a brand of yarn made in Japan and is known for it's amazing colors. While I find some of their wool yarn very rough and scratchy, the color combinations never fail to catch my eye. I found a small skein of Kureyon "Kurey" (color 229) at a yarn shop and the colors were too much for me to resist. I was surprised to find so many other colors in this skein of yarn as I knit with it. I"m not sure if I'm crazy about the weird red/pink color but that's one of the fun things about Noro... it's like a box of chocolates.. you never know what you're gonna get.

My favorite part of this hat is the top of it. I love the color and the pattern on top. I used the Noro Spiral One-Skein Hat pattern using size 8 needles. The pattern was pretty easy to follow once I got the hang of it. I wish the hat had been top down though because that would have allowed me to use every bit of yarn. I ended up with a few rounds worth of yarn leftover at the end. The cap is too short for my head so it may become one of Charlotte's winter caps for next year.

FYI - If you need something to act as a hat form while you take pictures... feel free to borrow your kids toys. This toy has the perfect sized top for this little hat.

Toe-Up Socks - The Best Thing Since Blue Toe Nail Polish

I have ventured into the world of toe-up socks. This has changed my life. Okay, so maybe it only changed the knitting part of my life but still... this way of knitting socks is so easy and fast!

For those of you who are non-knitters, traditional socks are knit from the cuff down to the toe. I've knit two pairs of socks this way(socks #1, socks #2) . I enjoyed knitting socks this way but there are many, many steps to turning a heel the traditional way. Though each step is pretty easy, it takes thought and concentration. The toe also took concentration and don't even get me starting on grafting the toe. There's a way to close up the toe opening that makes it look like the opening was never there. The blasted thing is called the Kitchener Stitch. I have tried this so many times and each time it never quite works out. Another disadvantage to the traditional sock is that you can't use up every bit of yarn. You have to guess at how long to make the cuff so that you'll end up with enough yarn to finish the toe. Socks without a toe... kinda pointless.

So, enter toe-up socks. At the suggestion of my Aunt Linda, I read Wendy Knits book with a pattern for toe-up socks. (Warning: Knitting terminology ahead) I decided after the first sock knit Wendy's way that I didn't like the wraps at each short-row turn because it was tricky and also created holes along the edge.Thanks to the internet, I found a much easier way to do the short-row heel and toe. I find it much easier to turn without wrapping, then while increasing, knit/purl two together and then make a stitch. I found this youtube video that helped me figure it out. Thank goodness for youtube. Oh, I also cast on differently then Wendy. I followed this youtube video to do the crochet cast on straight onto the knitting needle.

There are definite advantages to starting at the toe and working your way up. First, there are no toe openings to graft together. The cool way of doing a short-row heel means that they're seamless. Second, there are FAR fewer steps to creating the toe and heel. I can do a toe or heel in 15 minutes or so where a traditional heel can take me hours. Third, with a toe-up sock, you can knit until your yarn runs out (as long as you have the same amount of yarn set aside for the second sock) or until the cuff is as high as you like it since you already have the body of the sock knit. And the final reason why I think toe-up socks are the best thing since blue toe nail polish is that they're EASY! I don't have to look at a pattern. I jot down a few notes about how long the recipient's foot is and how many stitches I'm casting on. That's it. After one pair, I know how to knit these socks without looking at a pattern. This means that sock knitting is now almost mindless...a good thing if you like to knit while watching TV or a movie.

Okay, so enough talk... let's see the socks!

The first pair of toe-up socks was for Jon. He likes tall socks so I had to use more yarn then usual.

The yarn is Lion Brand "Magic Stripes", blue/brown pattern color 205. It's a self striping yarn so all I do is knit and it makes the pattern and stripes all by itself! I cast on 64 stitches and used size 2 needles.

Jon loves them and showed them off to the other teachers at school. Gotta love a man who appreciates hand knit socks.

After I finished Jon's socks, Evan asked, "Momma, you knit me some socks?" Sure thing, Buddy! I had plenty of yarn leftover from Jon's socks so Evan has a pair that matches Dada's.

He put them on as soon as he woke up since they had to dry overnight after being washed the first time.

He loves them. He wore them to school and showed them to his teacher. Hmm... like father, like son! Again, lucky to have guys that appreciate knit socks.

The socks are a little big but luckily he's growing like a weed.

Toe-up socks... so great. Who knew?