Drumroll please ...

It's decided, I have accepted a position in Indianapolis! Fabulous Boyfriend and I will be packing up over the next couple months and heading off to our future life as Hoosiers. As it relates to knitting, the Indiana State Museum has an exhibit going on called Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting. It runs April 25-August 24. I am looking forward to discovering my new local yarn stores (and having a job = yarn $)!

Wow!!

So, overnight my counter jumped from 95 to 227!! And to think I had been preparing a special post for breaking 100.

All this activity is thanks to Knitting Pattern Central which posted my free On The Fly Ear Warmer pattern. Welcome KPC readers!

I'm busily working on my new project, the Swallowtail Shawl, available free for a limited time as part of Knitting Daily's Interweave Knits Reader's Choice Awards. Download your copy here through May 14th.

Have a great weekend everyone!

On The Fly Ear Wamer - Free Pattern!

(Me, before coffee ... this is real bravery folks...)

It seems my ears are always getting cold here in Buffalo. The spring breeze can carry quite a chill and it makes my ears ache even when the rest of me is plenty warm. Somehow over the winter I lost my polar fleece ear warmer so I thought this was the perfect occasion to knit myself a new one and make it my first free pattern post!

This is a super simple, super fast knit: I designed and completed it in its entirety on a flight from Indianapolis to Buffalo (via Newark), hence the "On The Fly" title.

Yarn: Cascade 220 Quatro

Yardage: I'm guessing a bit but less than or equal to 50 yds (great for using up the last little bit of something!)

Needle size: US 8

Gauge: Again, I'm guessing (what kind of slacker pattern is this anyway...) but the finished object measures 3 1/2" wide by 22 1/2" in circumference (this used to say diameter ... it has been a while since 10th grade geometry) after blocking.

Begin by casting on 15 stitches.
Knit 8 rows in garter stitch (knit right and wrong side rows). I like to do this because it adds a little extra elasticity to the band.

Begin in pattern as follows:
Row 1- sl1, k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, yo, ssk, k1, sl1
Row 2- purl all stitches
Row 3 - sl1, k2, k2tog, yo, k5, yo, ssk, k2, sl1
Row 4- purl all stitches


Repeat rows 1-4 twenty two times
Repeat rows 1 and 2 once

Knit 8 rows in garter stitch.
Bind off.
Stitch ends together using mattress stitch.


I suppose it would be more elegant to use a provisional cast on and then join the two ends using kitchener stitch but, honestly, I was on a plane and it just goes under your hair so I didn't worry too much about it. :)

This pattern should be easy to adjust to different sizes, just measure your head and knit until the band is within 1 to 1/2 inch of that length. Remember the piece will grow a little in blocking.

I've included a chart and as soon as I figure out how to link to a download-able pdf I'll post that too.

Happy knitting! If anyone actually makes this be sure to leave a comment!

Thank you dear reader for pointing out my error in row three: the decrease should be ssk and the chart was correct. Text is now corrected to match.

Blocking Day

It's like Boxing Day, only completely different!

Today I blocked the manly leg warmers and an ear warmer I made on the way back from Indianapolis. Maybe I will actually get around to putting up a pattern soon. I have this horrible habit of making things, writing all the stuff down for a pattern, and then waiting forever to block and photo the item by which time I've lost all my notes and say "screw it, I'll put up a pattern of the next thing ..." In any case, I have high hopes that I will put up a pattern or two in the next couple weeks.

I also moved my dear little lettuce seedlings to their grown-up pots today! We have this wonderful neighborhood gardening collective in Buffalo called Urban Roots where I picked up some potting soil, yet another kind of lettuce seeds, and a few little herb plants. In addition to transplanting the lettuce and putting it outside I put together a nice-sized pot of rosemary and thyme (both of which I bought as plants today) and added in the basil plants I started from seed to live on the windowsill in the kitchen. That way they'll be handy when we want to cook with them. Also, I got a cute little lavender plant to live on the bathroom windowsill. I have this wonderful vision snipping off a few fresh lavender leaves to toss in a hot, relaxing bath at the end of a long day ...

There are lots of gift giving occasions (birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, all that jazz) in my near future so some of my knitting will probably be a secret for a while. I have lots of time (and yarn) but not lots of money so, everyone, expect hand-made gifts! Which is what I usually do anyway I suppose.

Job-wise it looks like news is on the horizon so stay tuned. I promise the next post will at least have a few photos, evidently I am feeling like a slacker today. Just thought it was about time I checked in.

New FO and progress reports

(That's Finished Object for you non-knitting types...)

I really love how this piece came out. As seen in an earlier post this is my take on Interweave Knits Montego Bay scarf. It is knit is Southwest Trading Company Bamboo.


The drape is really wonderful and the pattern looks so much more complicated than it is (it's just a K1,Yo repeat on the front and purl on the back). I thought the tiny braid fringe was going to make me CRAZY but I am glad I did it, it looks good.

I decided I really didn't like the way the manly leg warmers were going so I started over. Why did I think I would be satisfied with something knit in acrylic anyway? The microfiber was in my stash (leftover from another time I thought I wanted to use it but decided not to ... I see a pattern developing...) so no harm, no foul, but I just didn't like the way the project turned out.

Luckily I remembered I also had some Regia sock yarn in my stash from the time I thought I wanted to make socks. I realized later I have no desire WHATSOEVER to make socks (I thumb my nose at the knitters who are scoffing at me for this statement!!) but that is a story for another day.


Manly leg warmers: take 2. This is unblocked but already so much more cozy and user-friendly to knit. It's got a swirled rib body section with K2,p2 ribbing top and bottom. And because it's superwash wool we've preserved the ease of care I was originally going for.

The visit to Milwaukee went well and I met some fellow knitters/crocheters in the prop shop there. I have a trip to Indianapolis for another interview this week so send some good travel mojo my way!

A time for growth ...

As you all know, I am currently unemployed. This can be discouraging at times but I am trying to look at it as a time of enrichment. In addition to the time I spend each day looking for jobs I have a number of projects that keep my time a little structured and my life a little more interesting. Right now I am working on my knitting and my blog, repairing a vintage bicycle that I bought from the theatre's prop stock when it went belly up, and starting this years vegetable garden with some seeds I saved from last years plants. And after a mere 3 days, here is the progress on project number 3!


Now I took that picture yesterday morning and let me tell you they've grown even more since then. If you want nearly instant gardening satisfaction start some lettuce seeds 'cause they just take off like a shot. These seedlings are arugula on the bottom and red leaf lettuce on top. I clearly have WAY too many of them (I planted like a zillion because I didn't know how good the seeds would be and thought most of them might be duds) so some thinning will be in order. Unfortunately my red pepper and basil seeds are a little slower on the uptake but we'll check back in a week or so to see how they're doing.

I leave this afternoon for an interview in Milwaukee, WI. Wish me luck everyone!

Bosom Buddies

So, here are the aforementioned sock yarn and mohair that I plan to use together on some sort of lacy little thing. So sweet, my Toronto yarn and my Texas yarn, coming together to make something wonderful! Awwww... I'm thinking small a lacy cowl/hood. There's about 225 yards of the mohair and 290 of the wool so that should be just about right.

My other Texas yarn, the linen, has been frustrating me to no end!! I started a project, not once but twice, only to tear it all out. The first time because I realized I would run out of yarn if I made the bag that big, the second time because I somehow managed to twist when I joined the round and realized about 20 rows in that I was making a mobius. Not really my intention. I rewound the linen back into a ball and have set it aside for the moment.

My current project: Manly Legwarmers!

I was talking to my dad a week or two ago (he's a blog reader! yea!) and he mentioned his workspace is quite freezing year round. He manages to dress for the climate in most ways but his legs are always cold. Thus the idea for the manly legwarmer was born. Made from soft, easy care Microspun by Lionbrand, it's a quick knit in the round on #5 double pointed needles. The other one should be done in the next few days and then I'll put up a pattern. It looks like one skein will do it but keep your fingers crossed for me, will ya?