Kath-a-pie Knits

H Sweater finished!

2007-10-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the H sweater, finished and on the boy. His birthday was yesterday (10/14). I thought the sweater was going to be way too big, but it's just a bit too big. He'll be able to wear it this winter and probably next winter. So cute. I love him so much!

Sock Club

2007-09-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

A family friend, Pat Harris, owns a knit shop in Tennessee, just north of Nashville. It's called The Neighborhood Knit Shop. The shop is sponsoring a sock club and I'm doing the blog (see the link in the sidebar).

The first sock is a walking rib pattern, which is easy but it looks complicated, which is a double bonus as far as I'm concerned.

Bonus for you: I rarely start a project without doing a gauge swatch, but this time I did and my socks are too small. So, one of you lucky readers will be getting these for Christmas.

Yarn is Schaffer Lana, knit on #4 circulars, Magic Loop method.

Doggie Sweater

2007-08-28T15:39:00.001-07:00

I thought Henry would like this sweater. I'm trying to adapt it to be a pug, so we'll see. This is a dorky picture, but the sweater's cute.

H is for Henry

2007-08-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Jocie's been asking me for an H sweater for Henry, and I'm finally working on it! I'm using cotton yarn on 6s, and I have the front, back, and one sleeve left to knit. Cotton isn't my favorite to knit with because is has no give, but it's turning into a great finished product, really sturdy, which is great for kids.

This was my first experience with intarsia (some people call it "picture knitting") and it was really fun. There are a ton of ends to sew in, though!

The only problem is that the pattern is pretty big. I think this one will fit Henry for quite a while.

Quinn's Booties

2007-08-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

I know!!!! Are these the cutest? Quinn is my friend Grace's new baby. He was born a few weeks early, so he's a little guy who needs little boots. I knit these from a Debbie Bliss pattern, with 1s and sock yarn.

Cockers: Before and After

2007-08-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here are my babies, Addie (buff) and Poppy (parti). The before is Poppy, who's three, and the after is Addie, who's 13.

I've had Addie since she was six weeks old, and she's the dog of all dogs. She's super cranky and mean and playful and loving, all at the same time. She sleeps with me every night. She's totally deaf now, but still fairly spry. I love her, crotchetyness and all.

I got Poppy a year ago from Addie's groomer, Cherie. Poppy was a show dog, but she has an overbite or something, so she wasn't winning. I can't tell what's wrong her her bite, but the show dogs have to be PERFECT, and I guess she isn't. I don't care, though. She sweet and cute and loves to be a lap dog. The standard personality for a cocker spaniel is "merry," which is exactly what Poppy is.

Cabled Vest: Finished!

2007-08-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

It's done, and I love it! The cable was really complicated for me, it's the most intricate I've done. After awhile, though, I got the rhythm down and I wasn't so tied to the pattern. This is Rowan Calmer, and it's a dream to knit with.

Summer Tweed Vest

2007-08-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

I love a vest, and this one is swingy and cute, if I do say so myself. It's a Sublime pattern--they have several booklets out with cute, pretty classic patterns. I got the yarn at the Tricoter sale, it's Rowan Summer Tweed, I think. It's cotton, I know that. Anyway, here it is.

Stripey Sweater

2007-08-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

This sweater is made out of Brilla, a cotton blend.

The Story

I got a bunch of balls of Brilla on sale, all different colors, and started knitting a broad striped scarf/stole thing. It turned into a long rectangle, so I folded it and seamed it into a poncho. The poncho weighed about 15 pounds, and it stretched every time I wore it, and the colors were too bright. Not good.

So, I pulled it out and ended up with about 20 balls of Brilla, back to where I started. I still loved the colors, so I decided to so a sweater. I combed through my knitting books and finally found a sweater pattern that would work. My friend Molly helped me with the color scheme, and I ended up with this sweater. It's still bright, but I like it and I get lots of compliments on it.

I still have about seven balls of a variety of colors of Brilla. . .

Trio Sweater

2007-08-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

This was one of the first sweaters I knitted. It's out of Tahki Trio, which is a yarn that changes textures and colors as it self-stripes. It's the same yarn I used for the white sweater (see a few posts below). The picture doesn't show the color all that well, it's much brighter in person.

I wear this sweater a lot, and it holds good memories for me; it's the first custom pattern I got from Tricoter, and it fit perfectly when it was done! It's a little big now, but I still love it.

Sand Dollar Sweater

2007-06-22T12:06:00.001-07:00

My stitch and bitch friends and I all fell in love with Knitting Nature, by Norah Gaughan. It's a beautiful book of patterns inspired by patterns that occur naturally in nature. Get it? N-A-T-U-R-E.

The patterns are all pretty advanced in either deign or construction, so they're fun to knit. I've just knitted one project from the book, the Sand Dollar Pullover.

Photo from the book, in pink, my finished sweater, in green.

You might notice that I'm not wearing this, and it's because it looks TERRIBLE ON ME. I mean it. It's too short and the neck droops in very odd places. So, this one belongs to my sister now.

I think I'm going to make this one next:

White sweater on the body

2007-06-11T13:29:00.001-07:00

Here's my mom in the white sweater. It fits her perfectly.

Happy upcoming 65th birthday, Mom! I love you.

What Tarot Card are You?

2007-06-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

I am The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Cabled Vest

2007-06-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

After the Patti jacket fiasco, I needed to start a new project. I've been wanting a vest so I decided on this one:

I'm knitting it in Rowan Calmer, a super soft cotton blend yarn, on size 7 needles. The color is called Tinkerbell. Here's a color swatch:

It's sort of a cable rat's nest, but it's a fun and interesting pattern. And no sleeves, so it'll be fast. The pattern calls for both the front and back to be cabled, but no thanks, I'll just do the front. Or maybe one cable up the back or two up the sides of the back. Front and back center cable panels seems too bulky to me.

Plus I'm lazy like that.

Henry's beary cute!

2007-06-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

I knitted this bear romper for Henry before or shortly after he was born. I knitted the smallest size for him, out of the yarn and needle size that was recommended. It turned out huge! He's 19 months old, and it's still a little big on him. It's a fall/winter "outfit," so hopefully it'll fit him at the right time.

He's so cute!

This sweater is killing me

2007-06-05T14:58:00.001-07:00

So I got this great Rowan book called "Studio." It's just a few cool patterns, no photo on the cover. An interesting approach for a knitting book. I guess the Rowan brand is strong enough to carry it, though, because I shelled out $16 bucks for it and so did my friend Lisa. Seriously, there are six patterns in the whole book.

I decided to do the Patti pattern, a really cute pleated, swingy jacket. I saw the knitted sample at Hilltop Yarn and I HAD TO HAVE IT. I bought some cheapish yarn at the Tricoter sale, and off I went. The first step is to cast on 229 stitches for the back. Oy. That's a lot when you're casting on to size 3 needles. So I cast on, counted, counted again, and began. Six rows of garter stitch, switch to size 5s, begin this ingenious slip stitch pattern that forms the pleats, and so on. About half-way through the back (and about four months of stopping and starting on this project) I thought it was looking kind of wide. Oh well, I thought, I'll cast off a bunch when the pleats are done and I'll be fine.

Not so.

I took the thing in to Tricoter and it turned out I had sixty extra stitches. That's about 7.5 inches too wide, which is a lot. The pleats were supposed to start under my shoulder blades but they started almost under my arms.

Alas.

I ripped out the whole back and started a front. I want to do the sweater, so I'll keep plugging along. I'm thinking you'll see it finished in winter 2008.

White Sweater

2007-06-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

I knitted this sweater in about three weeks, it was a fun knit with little cables all over the place. The yarn is Takhi Trio, a yarn that changes textures and fibers. It goes from a cotton to a matte nylon to a shiny nylon. I used US 9 needles. The pattern is from a Tricoter book. I have another sweater knit from this yarn, in greens, that's not a cardigan. I shouldn't have knit a cardigan out of the yarn because it's really, really slippery and the buttons didn't stay buttoned. I sewed the front together so it became a pullover.

This one lives with my mom, too, because it looked so perfect on her.

Brown Sweater

2007-06-05T14:17:00.001-07:00

I knitted this sweater out of Rowan Wool Cotton, a favorite of mine, on size US 6 needles. The pattern is "Lift and Separate" from Big Girl Knits. This is a great book with larger sized patterns that are trendy and cute. The photo from the book shows the sweater detail better than my photo.

I gave the sweater to my mom for awhile. It'll fit me this winter so I'm going to take it back.

This isn't the greatest photo, but my mom's bedspread sure is cool!

Rita's Patchwork Comforter

2006-03-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

6/2007

I found this photo of the finished blanket. I crocheted all of the squares together. It's a really neat thing, and Rita loved it. I'd like to make a sampler block blanket. I think Barbara Walker, the stitch pattern guru, has a book about doing a sampler blanket. Fun.

3/2006

I'm in a craft group, "Women Who Run with Glue Guns," and one of our members, Rita, recently suffered a tragedy. She and her husband went to Botswana because her husband, a doctor, wanted to train African doctors on treating AIDS patients. Rita and Dick were on a canoe tour on the Lompopo River and an alligator leapt out of the river and pulled Dick out of the boat and into the water. That was the last they saw of him until his life jacket popped up. Rita was in the boat behind and witnessed the whole thing. This story's been in the papers and on the news, so many of you might have heard about it.

Our group is making a patchwork quilt to help comfort Rita. We're all knitting squares and then a few of us will put them together to form the blanket. The photo shows the squares I've knitted so far. I'll keep posting and showing the progress of the blanket.

Lavender Sweater

2006-03-28T14:40:00.000-08:00

I started knitting this sweater about six months ago, and I had to rip out several sections as I went along because I kept messing it up. At the eleventh hour, I decided to change the neckline from a polo-type opening to a crew neck opening, but when it was sewn up, the neck opening was small and looked odd. So, I decided to add a sort of cowl neck in a seed stitch pattern, as you can see in progress in the photo. If this doesn't work, I'll take the thing apart and do the polo opening on the front, or some sort of opening.

The sleeve joins are funky, too. Sort of gappy. I hope this'll smooth out when I do the blocking. I did have fun doing some short rows at the bust to make it hang better in the front. We'll see how this turns out. It's a nifty technique that adds darts where you need them.

Lastly, the sweater is currently too small, but it'll fit soon enough! I hope I don't miss the spring season, though, or next year it'll be too big. Maybe I can wear it at the beach or something. It's knit from cotton.

Stripey Vest

2006-03-28T10:22:00.000-08:00

I knitted this for Henry, but it's bigger than I thought it would be so I'm going to give it to Gavin, who's 17 months now, and I'll knit another one for Henry.

The front and back are supposed to be stripped, but I bagged it on the back because each time you start a new color, you have the end of the old color and the beginning of the new color, and that's two tails to weave in. There are about 25 tails on just the front! So, the back is green.

On the next one, I'm going to try a new method of knitting in tails as I go. I hope it works!

Henry

2006-03-27T12:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a cute picture of the little big guy. He looks so much like my brother! I love it.

I'm going to update my blog!

2006-03-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

I've taken a bunch of photos of my knitted stuff, and I'm finally going to update the blog! I might write about other stuff, too, if I feel like it.

I might write about how many dandelions are growing in my garden right now. I might write about how much I worry about Addie passing on and how I'll ever recover from that. I might write about my childhood friend Betsy, who's having twins at 39. I might write about my nephew Henry and how cute he is and how much I love him. I might write about how much I love Battlestar Galactica and how I don't think I can wait until October for the new season. I might write about losing weight and my Tijuana surgery--45 pounds gone so far. I might write about joining a gym and how I'm 50% excited for it and 50% dreading it. I might write about my sister's new job at a building salvage place and how I'm obsessing on stained glass windows. I might write about my friend who's husband was eaten by an alligator in Africa. I might write about how much I miss my friend Linda. I might write about how much I love Sylvie Hasson. I might write about how my mom's moving back to Spokane and how that means I'll be getting some wonderful hot summer days there.

Those are just a few things I might write about.

2005-09-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

Knitted Bear

2005-09-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

I knitted this bear for my sister-in-law's baby shower. It is the softest, cutest thing I've knitted, and I'm very proud of it. It was the hit of the shower, and I had two people there ask me if I would make one for them for $$.

I've had some success selling baby stuff, and I wonder if I should try harder. Maybe on eBay or something. I think I could sell a bunch of these bears, although they are a tad challenging to make. After a couple, though, it would be easy.

At any rate, check him out.

Henry's blankie

2005-07-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

There are people who love knitting lacy stuff and I'm not one of them. This blanket, when finished, is going to be a true labor of love. I've had to rip it out about six times because I keep messing up the eyelet rows.

This afternoon it came to me that I should put markers where the eyelet stiches go. Duh! So I'll do that soon. Yep.

Bee and duck shoes

2005-07-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

In my knitting-for-babies-only mode, I knitted these cute booties. The duck shoes are now proudly worn by my little buddy Gavin, and the bee shoes belong to our good family friend's new baby, Levi.

So cute I can hardly stand it, and neither can you.

2005-07-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Go Cougs

2005-07-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a sweater and hat set that's for my nephew, Henry, who's still cooking and due in October. I went to WSU, as did my brother, and my dad coached football there in the 70s, so we've got a bit of school pride.

My mom wanted me to knit this for Henry's "going home" outfit, but the gauge didn't work out--in fact, I think the hat is borderline adult size. But I'm so loving the Rowan wool-cotton! I wanted to use it to make a sweater for myself, but it's too pricy.

Anyway, Go Cougs!!

I Heart Tivo

2005-04-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

I traded a friend a Coach purse for her Tivo, and it's been the best trade ever. I don't think I could live without the Tivo now. I've tried it, actually, and it was ugly. I moved the TV and so I had to unhook everything and when I hooked it back up I put one, just one, of the 28 cords in the wrong place, and the whole thing shut down. I kept getting this sad message: Tivo can't display live TV. What?!? No live TV? Well, that's okay, actually. What I'm worried about is the backlog of CSI, Law & Order, Alias, 24, Survivor, and Battlestar Gallactica that's awaiting me. WHAT IF ALL OF MY PROGRAMS ARE LOST? WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN THAT?

That's what I was asking myself. After about two hours, I was still seeing the sad (and now mildly irritating) "can't display live TV" message. It was 11 p.m. so I went to bed. Actually, I stomped into my room and set the VCR to record Survivor the next night in case I wasn't able to fix Tivo.

So the next evening I unhooked everything again and started over. Still no live TV, and the "Tivo can't display live TV" message was now mocking me. I knew on some level this was my fault and not Tivo's, but I was totally pissed off at Tivo.

I finally figured out the single cord problem, and bingo--Live TV! I apologized to Tivo, got my knitting together, and tucked in to an evening of saved programs. Tivo didn't let me down, it was there for me, as always.

2005-04-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

2005-04-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Baby Sweater and Hat

2005-04-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

I finally finished this sweater and hat. They're for my impending neice or nephew. The patterns are from the Filatura de Crosa baby book that I love, knitted with FdC Zarina (merino fingering weight). The yarn is great to knit with, and I really like knitting with the small needles. These were knitted on size 3s.

I love the seed stitch borders and little pocket. What would a 6-month-old put in such a little pocket?

I've just completed the toy rabbit out of the same book. I need to stuff it and put it together, then I'll post it. I think it'll be cute. Smaller than I thought it would be, but it's for little hands so that's okay.

2005-04-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Baby Stuff

2005-04-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

I have several friends who are expecting, plus my brother and his wife, so I've been feverishly knitting baby stuff and loving it. I find I can improve my skills on small-scale projects.

These booties are knitted from a free online pattern, "Bev's Stay-On Botties." The really do stay on. The hat is from the newest Filatura de Crosa baby pattern book. It's the cutest book! I've knitted four or five things from this book, and I'm sure I"ll knit more.

This set was knit from Lion Brand Magic Stripes. Turned out cute, I think.

2005-04-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Welcome to My Obsession

2005-04-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

I'd rather be knitting than doing whatever I'm doing (unless I am, in fact, knitting). I started knitting in the summer of 2004. My mom's childhood friend, Patty, was visiting her from Nashville. Patty started a knit shop and was willing to teach my sister Liz and I how to knit. We spent the afternoon learing how to knit and purl, and, though I didn't realize it then, I was hooked.

For the next month or so. I practiced knitting on the same skein of Rowan All-Seasons Cotton, ripping out and starting over ad nauseum. From there I knitted a scarf with Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, and then socks, a sweater, and so on. I knit every day, and by the end of the work day my fingers are itching for the needles.

A knitter friend of mine said " The knitting needle is more addictive than the heroin needle" and it's true!

On this blog I'll share photos of my knitting projects, and tidbits about knitting and maybe some other topics, just maybe.