Saturday, May 24, 2008

"Yarn Jacket" for Jackson

I will be teaching a weekly knitting class at a senior center in downtown Los Angeles starting on June 18. One of the projects that the coordinator mentioned that some of the women wanted to do was a boys sweater. They have a "Helping Hands" group that knits sweaters, scarves and hats for charity, but they haven't found a sweater pattern that the little boys have enjoyed receiving.

I found this pattern in a book from the library. I think it's called "Junior Knits." The pattern is the "Max Jacket" a base-ball jacket style cardigan. I haven't made anything for Jackson in ages, so I decided to make one for him in red and brown. He's very excited. Every time he sees me working on it he says "Is that MY yarn jacket? Is it finished yet? Can I wear it? Where is the star? I want a star!" Then Mikey chimes in and asks for his "GREEN yarn jacket." So, I guess I'm making Jackson's to show to the class, and a green one for Mikey to demo in class.

I started the brown/red combo for Jackson on 5/18 using Pattons Classic Wool Merino in Chocolate and Red. Unfortunately the Glendale Michaels and the Burbank Michaels were out of their more brick red color, so the red I got is VERY bright. Jackson loves it though and actually wanted the whole sweater made out of the red color. We'll see how it goes. I have the back and 1 1/2 of the fronts done. Maybe, if I focus, I can get the pieces complete during this long weekend.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Spiral Circle Bag

Sunday night, 5/10 I had trouble sleeping. And all throughout the night weather in dream land or in semi-concious wakefulness, I thought about this bag. It was a challenge to see what would happen.

I woke up the next morning, grabbed whatever spare feltable yarn I had laying around and cast on, not entirely sure what to expect.

I finished the knitting the next afternoon, and now it's waiting for another felted project to be finished so that I can have a felting session.

I'm really curious about how the gusset is going to turn out while felted, and what the stripes will look like too.

Why couldn't I wait to start the project? What was the big rush? I have this crazy compulsion too start the second I think of something. Why wasn't I working on the 2 entrelac blankets, or the swatches for my instructor training course, or my final project for the course? Sunny the Serial Knitter strikes again.

Ravelry Addiction

Wow! I am hooked! I signed up for Ravelry a couple of days ago, and sat down to fill out my profile today. The next thing I knew, I was obsessed with digging up photos of my recent projects to document. I even took photos of some of my work in process.

Within about 20 min. I got my first comment on a bag. It was awesome. What a great community. I hate to think how much time I'm going to kill once I dig into the patterns and other groups and forums!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Confessions of a Serial Knitter

My name is Sunny and I am a Serial Knitter. I have been knitting off and on for the last 30 years, and I'll be 34 this summer - so do the math. I will be documenting my knitting mania on this blog, while I try to find a way to juggle my obsession with my crazy life of being a mom of 3 and a freelance designer.

Why am I a serial knitter?
1. I have over 5 projects in work at any given time.
2. If I run out of yarn for a project, I not only buy what I need, but enough yarn for at least another project.
3. I can't wait to finish something before beginning something new. That yarn just calls out to me!
4. I knit in the car - AND NOT JUST WHEN I'M A PASSENGER! It's kind of a challenge to see if you can finish a row before the light turns green.
5. I knit during movies - mostly kid flicks though.
6. If I buy at least $50 each time on KnitPicks, I get free shipping - so why shouldn't I buy that much each time I need a skein of yarn?
7. My 5 year old calls me "Captain Knitty-Head."
8. I keep saying that I will organize all of my patterns, but tend to just knit instead.
9. There are projects, books about knitting, patterns, or yarn in almost every room in my house. Yesterday I even had my current cabled bookmark that I was working on in the bathroom. Get your head out of the gutter! I was waiting for my bath to fill up!
10. I belong to 2 KAL groups, lead a weekly knitting circle, and am actually working towards becoming a certified knitting instructor.