More Great Knitting

And you know I mean Great Niece and Nephews, right? They inspire some cute Christmas knitting for sure.

What I knit

We saw the kids when they all visited this spring. Between talks then and pictures posted on Facebook, I knew the theme for what to knit for the boys.

The elder got a Spiderman hat:

I used the basic pattern from the Penguin Hat I have knit many times for kids. It seems to be a good style for toddlers. I found a Spiderman logo on Pinterest and it looks like it fits and is a hit!

The younger Great Nephew has shown an interest in construction workers (it’s been a theme for a birthday party and Hallowe’en costume), so a Bob the Builder hat fit the bill. I used the same pattern and found a Bob knitting chart. How did our predecessors knit without the Internet? This also seemed to be the right hat for him:

The dilemma was what to knit for the little girl. No superheroes yet. My Dad gave me the idea: a princess. So I found the most adorable regal pattern, and a princess was crowned!

They are lovely children and so much fun to knit for.

What I read

I could tell you about all the ridiculous TV Christmas movies we watched, but I won’t. I will tell you that I read “The Rosie Project” and “The Rosie Effect” by Graeme Simsion. Loved them both. My friend, Deb, and I were discussing them on Twitter, and the author himself “favorited” our tweets (I guess he gets pinged whenever his books get mentioned). That was cool.

May need to take a knitting break since it’s time to start prepping for our winter trip. But there are a few WIPs to be finished!

Pre-Christmas Presents

I don’t love Christmas. It’s so full of emotions. I want to love Christmas, so I try to find some fun things to do, and that usually means knitting.

What I knit

I do other things besides knit and read and watch movies, you know. I travel, ride my bicycle, ride on our motorcycle, kayak, go out for lunch and lattes AND exercise at the Sport and Wellness Centre. I have met some lovely women at the 9:15 fitness class, and one special one is Nancy. We’ve connected over shared past experiences (she knew about the Shevchenko Male Chorus my Dad used to sing in, she knows people my parents knew) AND she’s a knitter. I brag about my knitting in the change room, and Nancy and I have talked about my projects. I even got her to make some Chemo Caps. We’ve had fun sweating and talking. She and her husband have just moved back to Toronto, and I miss her. Before she left, I made her one of my “famous” cowls. This is her daughter modelling it:

We are going to stay in touch, for sure. I’ll need her recipe for the delicious Finnish cookies she baked for me!

And speaking of food, this year was the start of a new Christmas fun tradition: a pierogi-making party with my friend, Alana, and two 10-year-old girls!

And what’s a Pierogi Party without presents.

Alana is one of my Tweestas, and I like to make them seasonal presents. Alana got hers at our PP: a little purse (or “nest” for her iPhone?). The other Tweestas will have to wait for theirs! But this one is a Cute Easy Bag and features a button from my mother-in-law’s button box:

Those ten-year-olds? Well they got my first sets of Boot Cuffs (also inspired by Facebook postings). They wore them throughout the entire afternoon, so I think they liked them!

This knitting for these friends help chase away my pre-Christmas blues. I’ll remember that for next year!

Oh, Baby!

My friend, Heather, has a wonderful grandson, and I have knit him a couple of hats and some slippers. But that was WAY before I started writing about my projects. Now, Heather also has a beautiful granddaughter, born in November. When I asked Mom, Sarah, what colours would suit, she said definitely NOT pink (she knew she was expecting a girl). Her nursery was going to be green, so away I went.

What I knit

I wanted to make a baby blanket that could be used for a long time, and I happened upon the beautiful Patchwork Blankie pattern at Ravelry. I chose green and brown and began many hours, days and weeks making this for the baby. And it was tough. It’s all one piece, so each square requires remembering to change pattern and colour. I ripped many a row. And apparently did a lot of whining. Not sure I’ll make that one again. But you never know, especially since Mom, Dad and baby seem to love it, and I’ve been told it’s their “go to” blanket”. It doesn’t take much to make me melt and start thinking of the next thing I’ll make!

What I watched

I couldn’t really concentrate on TV or reading while I was making this, but I did see a lovely MUSE movie from TIFF, “The Railway Man” with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. It was a powerful story of British soldiers in a Japanese POW camp. It was subtly and powerfully acted. The new film, “Unbroken” tells a similar story about an American POW, but I can’t imagine it will be as subtle. See “The Railway Man” and read the autobiography by Eric Lomax.

Facebook Finds

I spend time browsing through patterns at ravelry.com, but lately I have followed craftsy.com on Facebook. AND I have been enticed by some of the links to knitting projects posted by my Facebook Friends. These social media inspirations led to three projects.

What I knit

A lot of people admired the Little Red Riding Slippers, and I was able to find the pattern at a new source of inspiration: DROPS Design at garnstudio.com. Not only do they have amazing patterns, but they also provide THE best videos related to each project. What’s interesting is that there is no sound to the videos, just slow and repetitive demonstrations of stitches and tips. Amazing, especially for these slippers because they are like socks (have never made any), they have cables (still pretty new at that), and they have an “interesting” way of assembling. But the pattern and videos worked, and I made three pairs: red ones for Pat, purple for Heather and these awesome multi-coloured ones for Ann:

At the same time these were making Facebook, really cute knit pants for toddlers appeared, and I said boldly in reply to someone, “I can make those!”. Well, Maggie saw that and I had to prove myself. So, I found the pattern for Grumpybum Monster Longies and used up some leftover yarn to make these for one of Maggie’s “greats” (who is modelling here):

Adorable, but a challenge for sure with first time short row knitting for the grimace and some fancy counting to make the crotch. Now that I’m looking at the picture again, I realize how much I love them. And I love the follow up story. Maggie wanted to pay me, but I couldn’t take money, so suggested she make a donation to the Kawartha Lakes Animal Wellness Society (we’re both cat lovers) and she did. And they liked the story behind the story and featured it here.

Finally, there were a LOT of Facebook posts about what you can knit for your pets. My friend, Susan, even introduced me to the WTFKnits Facebook page (hilarious) for pet and other weird knitting projects. I decided to keep it more simple and decorous, and John and Michael’s dog, Merlin, got this adorable Bandana (and he looks very handsome in it):

So, fellow knitters, beware Facebook postings!

What I read

I got an early Christmas present, an iPad Mini, and I have started my life of reading eBooks. Amazing. My first downloads were some Maeve Binchy short stories that I had somehow missed and Diane Mott Davidson’s “The Whole Enchilada” (I have always liked her “culinary mysteries” and haven’t read her for a while).

Needful Knitting

You know I love to knit by now. I had originally thought I would knit in the winter and do other things the rest of the year. Well, not so much. I seem to be knitting year-round now. And it makes me happy.

What I Knit

I try to spend some of my time knitting for charity or other “causes”. So far, I have knit 22 Chemo Caps. I knit them with others at the Pridie Collection Boutique Yarn Shop in Peterborough, and together we contributed 170 Chemo Caps to the Canadian Cancer Society this year. This is the bag that was presented in November (I think I see a few of mine in there):

My friend, Jocelyn, even asked me if she could have one of mine for a neighbour who was recently diagnosed. She chose the beige and rust striped (one of my favourites) from these four (I used patterns I have already knit). Her neighbour liked it. That brought even closer to home how important it is to make something that might comfort someone:

My second “round” of needful knitting started with a retweet from my friend Susan. This is what she sent me: “Dear twitter-knitters. Looking for new knitted baby blankets to donate to hospital for infant loss.”. I didn’t know exactly what was needed or if I could do this. It seemed so sad to make baby blankets for the parents who lost their babies in childbirth or shortly after. My Instructions were to make whatever I thought was right. I read that “the sizes that work fairly well are a 12x12 (yes, that small) and then a 16x16 and 26x26 (inches)”. This reference to “small” made it even more difficult. But I needed to put aside MY discomfort for someone else’s comfort, and I finally made three little blankets:

The top blanket is a Basket Weave Blanket, the middle an adaptation of a Knitted Start Cloth, and the bottom, a variation on a Knit and Purl Hearts Cloth. That was tough to do. But when I delivered my blankets to Shelley Hermer, the Social Worker at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre who sent the original tweet, and she hugged me and told me how important this was, all my own sorrows melted away, and I knew I had found the place for more needful knitting. Shelley even gave me my first #ff on Twitter (for “Follow Friday”, kind of a shout out to someone who does something “good”). This turned out to be one of the best things I have done, and I have more yarn ready for more blankets.

What I read

These projects were done in the spring and summer, so I wasn’t reading at the same time. But we were away on spring and summer RV Trips, and I did read on the road: “The Typewriter Girl” by Alison Atlee, “The Light Between Oceans (amazing) by M.L. Stedman, “A Dark and Lonely Place” by Edna Buchanan, “It Happened at the Fair” by Deeanne Gist, and “The House of Tyneford” by Natasha Solomons. This vast array included Downtown Abbey-era stories since I also watched the first four seasons over this time!

Collection of Chemo Caps

When we got home from Texas, I was happy to make some Chemo Caps from a beautiful teal-coloured wool I had received before we went. That done, I got a collection of yarns from the “donations” bag and made a few more. THEN I got a lot of grey yarn and bits and pieces of bright colours, also from the donations bag, and made another batch. That makes 18 Chemo Caps (so far)!
I still feel a little sad when I knit these caps, but I also feel that it’s important to do this work. I also love to find amazing patterns that are stylish and just might make someone feel better.
So, here’s the latest collection!

What I knit

First, I got back in to the swing of knitting after five weeks on the road. These are what I made:



At the back on the left is a Pacific Garter Rib with a Twist and a Bulky Waffle Hat is on the right. The front two are Ribbing and Lace Chemo Caps.

It was nice to have a variety of coloured yarns for the next three:



The pale pink is in the Graham pattern; the darker pink is a Diamond Head Beret; and the blue is an Opium Slouchy.

Next was the mix and match “collection”:



Clockwise from the top right, here are the patterns I used: Ryan, Newfie Hat, Bellezza, Hello New York Hat, and (my favourite, I think), a Beluga and Firefly Hat.

What I read

Since I got home, I finished three good books. In keeping with my Civil War obsession, I read Lynn Austin’s “All Things New” about Southern women trying to recover post-war. Then I switched to modern-day Orthodox Jews in “The Marrying of Chani Kaufman” by Eve Harris. Finally, a lovely story about 1930’s “Gold Star Mothers” who were sent by the U.S. government to visit the graves of their sons after WWI: “A Star for Mrs. Blake” by April Smith. This eclectic mix of books is why I love Goodreads and Bookpage.

What I watched

Oh, I love Netflix these days (and friend Heather who recommends the best things). I have been watching “Orange is the New Black” but then binged on the Swedish series called “The Bridge”. Oh, my. No knitting to this series, not only because it’s subtitled but also because it is SO compelling!

GREAT Knitting

Well, the knitting may not be “great”, but the kids that I knit for sure are!

What an exciting visit we had in May. My niece, her husband, and their three children came to Ontario. My Dad got to meet his latest, his GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER!

Here are four generations of my family:

I, of course, had to mark the occasion with a couple of knitting projects.

What I knit

I really do love Social Media. So does my niece who posts some great photos. Because of that, I was able to discern that the boys were interested in trains and dinosaurs! Of course, that meant new hats!

I made the Choo-Choo Toque first then used the same pattern and this Dinosaur chart. Tried for pictures of them in their hats, but too much excitement!

I am not to sure yet what interests my Great Niece, so I thought I would finish a project I started before Christmas. Actually, I had begun this for a newborn (she was born January 1), and must have made a big mistake somewhere, because it was looking way too large (I found a different pattern and made a newborn sweater and hat you can see again here).

So she now has two sets in this beautiful raspberry wool (Sirdar’s Snuggly DK I got at the great Aberdeens Wool Company in Lindsay. It turned out well and she will look sweet in this Basket Weave Sweater and Hat. I was able to find and use five matching buttons from David’s Mom’s button box. That was special for me, too.

What I read

Big knitting meant little time to read, but I did snag Janet Evanovich’s “Takedown Twenty” (guilty pleasure) and “Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker” by Jennifer Chiaverini. Both were interesting and easy reads.

What I watched

I had avoided “Downton Abbey” for its entire run so far on TV. BUT Netflix got Season 1 and 2 and I was hooked. Then Season 3 came just in time. As did Season 4 on DVD via my friend, Pat. Saturation! Loved it.