Category: My Knitting Life

Just things I’m working on along with general thoughts on knitting!

My Knitting Life · Olympic Sweater Pattern

“That” Look!

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You know that look, right? That look someone gives your handknit sweater, wishing they had one too. Well, recently while back in Indiana, my mom gave my sweater that look. Ok, I get the hint. It’s high time I knit something large and meaningful for her, not just socks or a scarf. I owe it to her.  I mean, she kept three of us kids in mittens (her specialty) and hats while we were young. I’ll never forget that variegated red, white, and blue yarn, probably Red Heart, and the mittens that could work on either hand. If we lost one, she would dig into her stash of already-knit mittens. No more cold hands. (Although, for the life of me, I can’t see how Red Heart yarn would keep anything warm!)
So, Mom, this one’s for you, and it’s my pleasure!

 

It’s going to be a cardigan–I had to talk her into a cardigan. Its going to be a little longer–I had to talk her into that too. I think she knows cardigans are more trouble, and longer sweaters take more yarn. It’s ok, Mom. It’ll make up for all those mittens we lost!

 

I am not a fan of the garter-stitch button and buttonhole band. They need to be seriously blocked so they are the same length as the sweater. What pattern am I using? I’m just kind of winging it. Who knows? Maybe I’ll write it up someday, like I did my Olympic sweater. And speaking of my Olympic sweater, I still need to finish the back, as in, stitch on those 2 moose and 1 Christmas tree (see photo below).

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My Knitting Life

Held Hostage, Part 2

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  I’ll admit it. I’m a stash and project hostage.  Through the process of moving I saw my accumulation of yarn. The quantity of that yarn stash was paltry by some standards, but it was just too much. (As I teach my students who are learning English, that word “too” followed by a quantity word is never a good thing, e.g. I ate too much, Its too far away, etc.)  I questioned myself: Why do you have so much? What are you missing out on by already having a lot? 

By having that stash, I’ve missed out on yarn trends that I really wanted to try. Like knitting something, anything with Kauni Effektgarn, any new lux fiber, something in Spud & Chloe, a little Madelinetosh number, anything and everything! I’ve passed up simply because of all that yarn that used to be in my basement. I mean, how can I justify spending more? I hope you can feel how long this guilt has gone on, I mean, some of this yarn has been out for a decade! 

So I gave away and sold lots of that bondage in those cute little fiber balls. I still have 2 smallish tubs full (yes, that kind of full, the kind where you almost have to sit on the box lid!), but it’s still only 2 tubs. In the meantime, I’ll continue to finish and knit, and when I do, I’m going to participate fully in trends and fibers, classes and shops. 

Sorry to wax so philosophical here for two posts in a row. Let’s get unserious now. Here are a few UFOs that I’m motivated to finish with accompanying captions below the photo:

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Socks for my brother who, strangely, wears out the toes! Just search for my basic ribbed sock pattern.

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The knitting is done on this nine patch mitered square blanket, but I have about 5 squares worth of weaving in those darn loose ends!

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I don’t want to knit gloves…what was I thinking? Too much fussy-work on the fingers. So I’m making a change to:

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MITTENS! Once I decided to change from gloves to mittens, I was suddenly motivated to finish these. 

And last, but certainly not least:

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Yes, the famous moose hats. It takes about 1.5 hours to duplicate stitch each moose on the hat…x 4 moose = 6 hours just of duplicate stitch! My son better not wash this, or it’s curtains for him!

Now I’ve pared down my UFOs.  What about you?

 

My Knitting Life

Held Hostage…

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   Big life changes here…we sold our big house on the prairie (Jackson Prairie, to be exact) in Indiana, loaded a truck and drove to Salt Lake City, Utah (for the second time, I might add) to begin life anew here in a 7th floor 2 bedroom condo. Image

 

                                                                 Big House on the Prairie

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Little Condo in the City

So much of that old life was holding us hostage: too much stuff in the house, too much outside maintenance on a house that was now too big for us. We sold, doled out and donated to anyone who wanted what we weren’t taking.  Why?

   It all started two years ago when dear hubby and I were walking. I had just posted on Facebook how I missed seeing the mountains. He noticed that the clouds on the horizon, the very flat Indiana horizon, looked like mountains and said he missed living in the west. Now two heads are better than one, as they say, so we began to consider, think, pray, talk, and pray some more about moving. 

   Oh, I could go on about how hard leaving was. I cried 3.72 rivers on the way out of Indiana, but began to get excited as the U-Haul chewed up the miles. Let’s face it, this is kind of exciting for a simple person like me.

   That’s all I’m posting for today, but stay tuned for another post next week when I explain about my stash holding me hostage!

Knitting Patterns For Sale · My Knitting Life

Nine Patch Update

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9 patch 1
Since we’re just coming out of “Finish It In February” month, I feel motivated to get busy working on my original design, “Nine Patch Mitered Square Afghan.”
Check it out here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nine-patch-mitered-square-afghan
I am going to make this 4 squares tall and 6 squares long. It’s going to be more of a throw or a lap afghan. I really like how it’s mixed media (sort of), because it’s knitted, but it looks like a quilt!
9 patch 2
9 patch 3

Free Knitting Patterns · My Knitting Life

Salt and Pepper

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I think my outdoor gear closet has reached scarf saturation. So my solution? Knit cowls! I just finished this one, a free pattern for you! And I have another on the needles, using someone else’s pattern along with sock yarn that’s just too gorgeous to put on my feet. To knit this, you should know how to read a knitting chart, be able to work ribbing, and be able to work 2 strands of yarn at once. But if you’re new to any of this, I’m sure you can look up videos on youtube to help you

.Salt and Pepper Cowl

cowl 1
cowl 2

So, enjoy the pattern and give yourself a new neck accessory. (Sorry about the not-so-awesome photos. My photographer-daughter-blogger just moved away and I’ m stuck photographing my own stuff and I hate photos in front of a mirror. Please bear with me!)

Salt and Pepper Cowl

Salt and Pepper CowlDownload
Knitting Patterns For Sale · My Knitting Life

Dorothy and Tara Hat

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Oh to float across the ice like skaters from the past! I love ice skating. I grew up on a lake where the neighbor kids took turns shoveling in the evenings so the hockey rink would be free from snow. There’s nothing like invigorating cold to wake up the senses during the darker days of winter.  But staying comfortable is a must! Keep yourself warm at the ice skating rink with a modified tam hat with spiral cables from top to bottom.  Imagine doing figure eights and scratch spins in style!  Using just one skein (200 or so yards) of worsted weight yarn, you can whip this beret up in a few evenings.  Doesn’t every knitter have an odd skein of worsted lying around?  Pattern comes in two adult sizes (S/M, and L). You can purchase it in my Ravelry Store: Nancy Wilson designer

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And, I still ice skate occasionally, even though I’m not a kid anymore!

 

My Knitting Life

2012 in review

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Yes, I’m still here! I haven’t posted in a few months, but I mean to be more active this year. Our family is in the process of moving from Indiana to Utah! Needless to say, we are busy and excited!  I have a new hat pattern coming out soon, but in the meantime, take a look at my blog’s year in review. In addition, look around my blog for a few free knitting patterns!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 5,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 9 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Free Knitting Patterns · Home Projects Patterns · My Knitting Life

Twice Recycled Lunch Bag

nancyknit6 Comments

My knitting life hasn’t been great lately. I have been knitting a bit, but not as much as I want to. With my job being pretty all-consuming right now, I work all day and come home and sit on the couch trying to finish what I didn’t have time to do at work. UGH! I just want some needles in my hands! Feelin’ sorry for me yet? I hope so, but enough of that.

I do get hungry at work, and I wove a little lunch basket last year, but it has ended up being just too small for all the lunch I need to take to work (I’m hungry!). Enter thoughts about a market bag I wanted to knit. But why not just turn it into a lunch bag? Done! Leftover yarn from my “Look Twice” sweater, and it’s recycled yarn to boot, like being recycled twice!

Twice Recycled Bag

So here’s a free pattern for you. Please be a somewhat experienced knitter who knows terms like “kitchener” stitch, i-cord, etc. Hey, its a free pattern!

Twice Recycled Bag

Twice Recycled BagDownload
My Knitting Life

Christmas Knitting Done!

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For once I finished my Christmas knitting way ahead of schedule, or so I thought.  BUT then I remembered the socks I needed to finish for my mom and dad.  I had one and a half socks knit for each of them, having just turned the heels on the second sock for each of them.  So, crazy knitting ensued on December 18.  Actually it wasn’t too bad because that was all I knitted on for a few days, and then they were done  Yes, done by December 21!

These gray ribbed socks were for my dad, but I decided to give them to my dear husband.

My dad got a pair of tan cabled socks from me.

The socks below are for my mom:

And then I knitted these scarves for my nieces:


And I couldn’t forget my sweet little great niece (whom I rocked to sleep on Christmas Day because she was all tuckered out)! So I used this great yarn from Jojoland called Rhythm Superwash.  It’s super spongy and has a ton of memory.  I’ve used it on socks too, and it’s great. This pattern is called “Cute Little Buggy” and is free here on my blog!

Now I guess I’ll start next year’s knitting!

Baby Patterns · Free Knitting Patterns · My Knitting Life

Cute Little Buggy

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Buggy carries so many meanings here in Northern Indiana. We have a lot of Amish people, so we see lots of “buggies” here on the roads. Like anywhere, we have plenty of crazy people, so we call them “buggy.” AND since it’s getting colder, many little buggies are trying to sneak into any place warm to hibernate for the winter. Buggy.

Here’s a hat, however, which is meant for Cute Little Buggies. I’m hoping you have some of those in your life and you knit up some of these hats for little people on your Christmas lists.

My little model was not cooperating since she was very sleepy and grouchy, so I opted to put the hat on a couple of bowls in a small light box.  Hey, it’s a free pattern!

Cute Little Buggy

Cute Little BuggyDownload