Love Of Seeds

To say I enjoy knitting is no surprise. To say that I enjoy all kinds of knitting should also come as no shock. However, it may impress one to know that I indeed have a favorite stitch. I did not know this myself until I made this incredible garment. This is my Green Seed top, the pattern being the Carnation Tee by Cathy Carron found in the winter 2008/spring 2009 edition of Knit Scene. When I first viewed this pattern, I deemed it rather bizarre and not to my liking. Upon repeated examination as well as reading the article in the magazine about the designer, I began to notice how clean and lovely the design actually was. What had put me off, I realized was the strange color combination of brown paired with deep rose. I realized that I had the perfect yarn for this garment and it was in a lovely color combination that would not appear so off kilter. As one can see, the result is spectacular. What made me fall in love with this piece was the abundance of seed stitch, also known as moss stitch. I said before that this is my favorite stitch pattern. I am a fan of stockingnette, lace patterns, and cables do make me drool, but seed stitch has all the components I desire in a good knit. It requires a consistent change in hand movement to create the different stitches, but it is just as rhythmic as garter. Also, unless one knows its secrets, it is very difficult to see how the pattern is put together. Most patterns are somewhat discernible to a practiced eye, but it is difficult to pick this pattern apart. The combination really does blend together to look like hundreds of thousands of perfect little seeds. Simple magic that manages to fill me with delight akin the wonder one felt as a child upon seeing a butterfly sitting on a flower so still and clean.

For Jess Dugger

Dear Coblogger,

   Please excuse this temporary deviation from our usual chatter, but a friend asked me to look into some yarn for a pair of knitted undies so I do hope you will forgive me in indulging her in some pictures.

Dear Jess Dugger,

   Here are some lovely yarns for your viewing pleasure. 

1. I would say the picture at the top is your best bet. You don't get as broad a color selection, but it is unbelievably soft and I think it is a reasonable price.

2. This is handdyed and really  pretty and also quite soft, a little expensive but it could be worse.

3. The last one definitely has the most color selection and it is quite soft. The only issue is that it has a little fuzziness that some might consider itchy especially in such a sensitive area. It is up to your discretion in the end.

Tell me what you like the best 

KP

Summers are for Fiber

As you wish my worthy coblogger! This summer is so full of knitting that I doubt much of it will actually be complete by the end of it, but still I will pursue the following with wild abandon and no thought of completion nonsense:

* My soft serve sweater. The pattern is Jaden from knitty.com. There will definitely be a post about this one soon because the yarn and color choice simply insist on a written documentation.

* My green seed sweater? (it has short sleeves but I can't really call it a t-shirt because of its heaviness) This little beauty hails from KnitScene Winter 2008/Spring 2009 issue. The pattern itself is called Carnation Tee and this will also have a post dedicated to it because of its excessive use of the seed stitch.

*My Ocean Spray top. Pattern is Sea Tangles from knitty.com and is being knit in the most beautiful laceweight I have ever owned i.e. thepaintedsheep's Jasmine in the colorway By the Sea. Both the yarn and the pattern look absolutely ravishing and I am hoping it works out the way I would like.

*My Grateful Dyed Socks. The pattern is Vilai by Cookie A. found in her book Sock Innovation. I love the yarn, but the pattern requires concentration so I am kind of avoiding it right now (hangs her head in a guilty fashion.)

* Leafy Top. The pattern is the Leaf Kimono Top in Interweave Summer 2008. I think this project will never get finished, but I will continue to work on it until the lack of space in my coffin prevents me.

*Meg's Cardigan. A lovely little pattern created by a raveler named Glenna C. and the pattern is called Basic Black. I promised my sister this sweater, but I will fully admit I am avoiding it like the plague because she wants the entire thing in taupe. Bleh! Leave it to my sister to want a whole freakin' cardigan in taupe.

*Midsummer Night's Dream ensemble. Includes Cybele vest found in French Girl Knits and a tube top of my own design. I have the materials for both, but I am not starting until I have finished my Carnation Tee and at least the back of the Soft Serve sweater.

*Finally, some Queen of Hearts mitts. These are awesome fingerless gloves that require some fun colorwork in red and black. The pattern is Alice's Queen of Hearts Gloves and can be found on purlescence.com

Busy summer no? 

Also...

Today I went back to work at the children's library. I'm technically not allowed to work until July (silly fiscal budgets), so instead of dealing with patrons, I was given the fun jobs. 

I experimented with and troubleshooted (troubleshot?) some of our summer crafts, which involved making a giraffe, a crocodile, and a lion out of wine corks...apparently, the library staff has a collective drinking problem, because we have enough corks to make a replica of the Bronx Zoo.

I also made parrots and cockatoos out of construction paper, googly eyes, and feathers. It was to promote the summer's first activity, which is basically a guy showing the children his bird. Kids eat that stuff up, I'll tell you.

...I was going to rewrite that last sentence due to its ambiguity, but it's rather hilarious, so it stays.

My crowning achievement for today involved the BULLETIN BOARD. the national library summer reading theme this year is BE CREATIVE. This is exciting because it's way easier than CATCH THE READING BUG (last year's theme, which was devoted entirely to insects...it got old fast...) and we can make up our own story times. Somehow, the logo is a tree, so I made a tree, stapled bunched green cloth napkins as leaves, and then scattered it with tons of foam stars. 

I also added a fish in one of the branches. I directly associate creativity with a flair for the unnatural. The fish is purple, with orange fins and three blue squiggly stripes.

*Bzzt*...CLEAR!

Hello, my name is Heather. You may remember me as one of the bloggers for this blog, which has not existed in quite some time. Let's see if we can get back into the swing of things, shall we?

I am all aflutter with ideas. I'm going to knit:

-Hannah Fettig's WHISPER CARDIGAN (Interweave Spring 2009)

-The rest of Mom's QUILTED DIAMOND VEST (Webs online pattern DL)

-Some bookmarks (because I can)

-BIRD IN HAND mitts

-Scrap yarn hats (I WILL have time to donate hats this year)

-Something for Nate's birthday

...And many more things, I'm sure. The only problem (and by only, I mean many) is (are):

-I need to order some new needles, and am waiting to see if I can go halvsies on a Knitpicks order with SuperKnitter. I am also too lazy to get out my credit card every time I sit down and have time to order.

-The vest bores me to death. I'm sorry, I just dread it. But I have to finish by Mom's birthday (June 16th).

-There's no problem here. In fact, these are what I knit to fill time in which I don't know what else to knit.

-I don't feel like balling the yarn right now, and even if I did, it's not winter, and the thought of knitting thick mittens as the summer heat closes in is just plain depressing.

-See the last part of the above statement.

-I have no idea what Nate would like, except a sweater, which is bad luck, and besides, he's always too afraid to wear my knitting because he thinks it will diminish its value. Pfft.

Ok, KP, your turn.