But first! Something that my great-grandmother used that is now mine.
My great-grandmother (or Gramma Great, as we called her) was the coolest lady I have ever had the priviledge of knowing. She made everything, and I mean everything. Even the most obscure materials you could think of, like pinecones or 1/2" wooden spheres or crepe paper, she could use in the most intricate project. She was my inspiration.
Now onto the stuff I've made since... was it November? Jeez. Here we go.
Before Christmas I was stressing out about these gloves for my older sister that were supposed to look like trees. What I found out was that, with limited time and the weightiness of worsted yarn, it's really hard to make functional fingers look like leaves. I'm still slightly disappointed with the finished product--but what matters is that they were finished, and I can't say I lost the battle without effort.
I think they look at least a little bit like trees.
Isn't my sister cute?
I also knit a scarf for my best friend, although I don't think you realize how hard it is to get a decent picture of a whole scarf. I really need to get her to model it for me, but she's been sick. :(
Here's the style:
Bet you didn't know I could do entrelac, did you? Because the truth is...I can't. No, really--I tried to learn, but I lose miserably at the "following directions" game. All this gibberish about making triangles and picking up stitches; I couldn't take it. So I just made it up. I have the distinct impression that all the casting on and binding off my version incorporated took a bit more time than normal entrelac, but I am still convinced that MY technique is superior. I will post a picture of the whole scarf when I take one. The middle part fades into black.
Have you ever seen the movie What the Bleep Do We Know?
There is a section in the film about water and how the molecules of it can be affected by messages placed next to the water. For example, the microscopic view of a water molecule exposed to the phrase "Thank you" looks beautiful, while the water exposed to "You make me sick, I will kill you" looks disgusting and vile. It's a real study, you can see more about it here.
Anyway, my mom is totally into that kind of thing. She sells water purifiers, and she's been taping words onto ours. I decided to make her a little mat to go under the water pitcher so that it won't scratch the counter. And it says...
Om.
Let's see, I guess I'm onto the hats now. (I told you that this was the FO post of a lifetime!)
I saw this post on Craftster asking for hats and scarves for the homeless. Here are the 3 hats I sent:
They took me a day each. No patterns, of course, I was just playing around.
I also made two hats for my cousin(ish) Andy. His mom paid me for them--frickin' sweet. The first was plain green and ribbed--not worth getting a picture of because you've all seen one just like it. The second hat was much more fun:
I need to make more earflap hats like this one because I greatly adored making it. The double-sided flaps; the fairisle pattern I've memorized by now; the attached i-cord. It's all so clever and exciting. Maybe only I feel that way, but what could be more genius than this hat?
So now that you've seen everything I was selfishly hiding for so long, here's my current on-the-(new and interchangeable)needles project: 
Have I ever described a certain yarn as heavenly before? No, I don't think that I have. But that is exactly what I feel I must call this yarn. The warmth and softness of it in my hands, the simplicity of the single ply livened by the unexpected surges into color. I know what you all are saying: "This girl is nuts--this yarn is just a cheap imitation of Noro; what she is just finding out is something that every Noro knitter discovered a long, long time ago." But the truth is, I am just discovering it. And I'm in love with the bold saturation. 
(Oh, what a grand mitten this is growing to be!)
I am also in love with the fact that there is no order to the progression at all. Look at the mitten. Now look at the remainder of the yarn. I've dissected the entire thing, and I am seriously beginning to think that not one color is repeated throughout the entire length of the skein. Is this a blessing, or is it a punishment for only purchasing one ball? Really, if I'd expected to ever see green, orange, teal, or blue again for the rest of this pair of mittens I should have gotten a more predictable yarn. Really, it's psychotic! I'm glad, though. Surprises are my favorite.
posted by Sally Sue @ 4:12 PM
7 comments
