Ello's adventure

Ello is finished, and he has quite an adventure during his short life. You can see more adventures of Ello's siblings on the "adventures of Elijah" group on flickr.com. The pattern is from Ysolda.

(Sorry, I have no energy left for making links. Maybe later.)

Once upon a time, there was a little elephant made of yarn, and his name was Ello. He was born in a cubby in yarn shop, but he did not have a family.



Upon emerging from the cubby, he went for an exciting ride in a yarn swift . . .



. . . and he landed on the couch, where he received an excellent knitting lesson from a knitting fairy. He asked, but this fairy would not be his family. She already had a fairy family of her own!



He was quite sad and lonely, so he snuggled into a knitting bag and took a nap.



When he awoke, he was no longer in the knitting shop, but in a cozy cabin! He must have been carried home with a knitter! Maybe he would find his family here?



Checking out his new surroundings, he fell out of the knitting bag . . .



. . . and was eaten by a terrible monster!



The monster carried him all around the cabin, and Ello was very scared.



Then, the monster dropped him into the arms of a cute, friendly baby girl! Now he would certainly be safe from danger. Was she his family?



But wait, she is going to eat him too! Oh, the burdens of being so irresistible. He must get away!



Ello jumped to the floor, still in one piece. He met an entire pride of elephants, roaming the savannah of the nursery together. He had found his family at last! The end.

it's still not cold enough for a coat!

The November Ruffle is finished! I wove in the ends this morning and gave it a bit of steam before wearing it all day. Every girl should have a wrap like this; warm, soft, and comfortable while being pretty and elegant at the same time.



Sorry about the self-portrait. I cropped out the basket of clean laundry in the background.

Yesterday, I made a lining for my seed stitch purse.



When choosing the fabric, I had a couple of more subdued options picked, but then I thought, "If I get THIS, I will smile every time I open my purse!" It not only had sheep, cows, and pigs, but they are all wearing patchwork quilts! Too cute!

Still to do: sew the lining into the purse, find and attach a button, and finish sewing on the leather handle.

old knits for new people

I made this sweater before I was even pregnant with Audrey, in anticipation of the family I might have someday.



It is the child's placket pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I knit it with Noro Silver Thaw- a self-striping blend of wool, angora, and nylon. This is a great pattern, especially because the sizing goes from newborn up to 8-10 years. It is so cuddly and cute on my little one, I may need to keep making them as she grows!



Audrey says, "Mom, aren't you so proud of how I can sit up all by myself now? I'm such a big girl! Still a but wobbly, but I'm getting it!"

knitting report

I had a good knitting day today, even though I frogged a bit. I actually got to work on some things, and I have progress to show. This is the November Ruffle wrap. I decided that the ruffle was not going to be full enough, so I ripped it back a few rows to increase for more ruffley-ness. I got this pic while it was off of the needles:



I got it back on the needles, then increased the ribbing 150%. Now I just need to knit about 4 more inches. It should be lovely!

Not wanting to work on the wrap at knit night, I decided to start this.



My little one needs some handknit toys for Christmas, and Elijah will be something soft and squishy to chew on. I think I'll add a rattle too. Fun!

awesome Aussie

We got two new yarns from Oasis Yarns at the shop! This is Aussie Wool:



It is a chunky super-soft Australian wool. I have already knit a swatch with it for my Fall 2008 Knitscene submissions. I love working with it. It is also great for chunky ribbed scarves, like the ones I have made held with two strands of mohair. So soft and cuddly!

This is Aussie Sock:



I haven't knit with this yet, but I am really looking forward to it. There are solid and handpainted variegated colors, and one hank should make a pair of socks. Audrey especially likes the purple/pink combination. The pictures really don't do the colors justice. You'll just have to come check them out for yourself!

chocolate and peanut butter

We had a wonderful day here at our cabin in the woods. Our little family bunkered down after church and had a nice cozy day with the fire blazing in the woodstove. All of Audrey's grandparents and her Uncle Alec came to visit. I got some knitting done on the ruffle wrap:



I am almost finished with the main rectangle and ready to start the ruffle edge. It's quick to knit for such a large project. I haven't drowned yet in the sea of stockinette!

I also baked some tasty peanut butter cookies. You can tell they were VERY tasty, since this little guy is the only one left! I doubt he will last 'til morning.



Okay, I ate it already.

Audrey's first sweater from Mom

Yarn: Cleckheaton Cocoon, bright pink, three balls
Pattern: Cleckheaton baby book for Cocoon,
ribbed side-to-side cardigan, size 9 months
Needles: size 2 metal straights

I finally finished Audrey's Cocoon sweater! It has been seamed for awhile now, and I washed and blocked it a few days ago. This yarn is so soft! I sewed the button on this morning, and she wore it for the first time today. There is definitely some room to grow, which is better than the opposite. Do I have the best model, or what?

November Ruffle

This is the project I started a couple of days ago. It is a rectangular wrap with a ruffle on three sides. I am holding two yarns together. The brown is Cascade 220 wool, and the grey-brown marled is Peruvian Tweed alpaca. The combination, on size 10 needles, is making a soft, warm fabric, and it feels great to knit. I hope it feels this great to wear!



For those of you paying attention to my "blog every day in November" attempt, you will notice that I missed yesterday. I did have a good reason though! My computer wouldn't upload pictures, so I had to wait for Blogger folks to fix the tech stuff. Now it works! Yippee!

pokemons, monkeys, monsters, and stinkers

This is Drew. He is showing off his project from the last knitting olympics.



He's the guy who showed me his handknit peas and pokemons yesterday, and inspired me to make my own peas in the pod! I love any pea-in-the-pod things because my maiden name is Podnar, so it was always kind of our thing.

These are Amy's monkey socks. (Yes, Amy who used to own the shop.) She made them with Southwest Trading Co.'s Tofutsies, from yours truly. Lovely, no?



You may have noticed that I did not take these last two pictures. That's because I have no camera today! But I still blogged, and that's what really matters.

Oh, and this:



Little monster and little stinker, my two sweeties. (Sitting on big sweetie's lap)

the October Pillow

The pillow is finished!



You can see it in person at the shop, along with several other versions by customers and Shelly. This project has been a hit! It's a great intro to stranded knitting, and works up quickly without shaping.

We had our first snow today, and the roads actually got a bit slushy by afternoon. I pulled out some of my toasty winter accessories to keep my extremities warm, but I can't help thinking about knitting some new ones!

I've also been inspired to knit these. Thanks Supers!





See more about this designer, Jean Greenhowe, including some free patterns, here. I hope to get her pattern booklets in the shop soon. Happy knitting!

warm the hearth

We got a new woodstove last weekend! I documented the process, just like the good little blogger I am.

Pete is setting up stove and chimney placement here. Plumb line courtesy of Cascade 220, thank you very much.



What would he have done without the yarn stash? Unsurprisingly, my help pretty much ended here. I spent the next few hours biting my nails as they cut a hole in the roof.

My husband is very clever in finding many uses for his tractor. When tackling a project like this, it can serve multiple purposes. It can replace a pickup truck and the arms of four strong men:



It can also be used as a very stable ladder. (or a jungle gym)



By the end of the day, we had a cozy corner of the living room where the TV used to be. Now where did I put my knitting?

the first of many?

Well, I've been inspired by the lovely Ysolda to post every day in November, so here is hopefully the first of many posts for the month. I am already getting a late start, this begin the FOURTH already, but better late than never. If you know anything about my lifestyle, you will understand the reason for the question mark.

As far as knitting goes, I am working tonight on swatches and illustrations for the Fall 2008 issue of Knitscene. I hope they like what I have to offer!



I finished knitting this little number from the front cover of the Cleckheaton book last week.



It is made with Cocoon, a blend of 70% merino and 30% nylon. The fingering weight yarn is super-soft and squishy. I love it!
The seaming is done, but we still need to sew on the button and block it before I can get you a picture on the model.

More tomorrow! (?)

The post I SHOULD have done three weeks ago!

Yes, I'm alive. AND I got a new computer, so I can get back to blogging again. Yippee! Did you miss me?

First things first- I'm on Ravelry! My name there is Kate Jackson Knits. If you go check it out, don't be too dissapointed in the total lack of projects. I'll have a photo shoot soon and get more things up there.

I got new furniture at the shop: two new couches and a coffee table, and I brought a hutch from my in-laws too. You can see them in these pictures from the alpaca yarn tasting.





We had a blast sampling different alpaca yarns - I can't wait to do another one! I've already done bamboo and alpaca - any suggestions for the next "featured fiber"?



This is a progress photo of my Acidic Seed Stitch purse. I designed this pattern for the Fall Knitscene, where I used a yellow Blue Sky Alpaca yarn. This one is Cascade Tuscany, a super-chunky wool. I am going to add a leather handle (new at the shop!) and line it with something pretty.




This is my Fair Isle Pillow, which I did a class on this past month. It is knit with only two yarns: Lamb's Pride worsted in light grey, and Noro Kureyon, a self-striper that makes it look like I did more work than I did!

I'm kind of on a Kureyon kick with this and the Lizard Ridge. Sooo . . . .




The man in brown brought us a present!




Ten new colors of Kureyon! Yippeeeee!

Now I just need to find more knitting time! I can blog with Audrey on my lap, but knitting doesn't really work that way.

Speaking of Audrey . . .



She wanted to model this darling knitting basket for you. She wants you to know that the lining is very soft and yarn-friendly. Hey, you didn't expect this long of a post WITHOUT her, did you?

New yarns!

Yes, it really is like Christmas every time the UPS man comes to visit. What can be in that big box?

Fun colors, even through the plastic bags.

Ooh . . . . Adrifil KnitCol

washable merino self-patterning dk

Aah . . . . Plymouth Suri Merino

alpaca/merino worsted blend

solids, heathers, and handpaints

yippee!!!

And now for some knitting: This is the swatch in-the-round for a fair isle pillow. The pillow will be the subject for a class coming up in October. I swatched the fair isle in the round, since that is the way I will be knitting the project. A regular stockinette swatch would not do the trick, since stranded colorwork pulls the stitch gauge in significantly, and I am also not purling at all. I will use my "swatch" as a very schnazzy travel-mug sleeve.

The swatch, I knit in 40 minutes. Then it took me 5 days to knit this? Two inches? This is just an example of how LITTLE knitting time I have. I'm going crazy! The pillow is looking lovely, regardless of how long it's taking. I am using Lamb's Pride worsted and Noro Kureyon for a much more complicated effect than I'd get with two solid colors. What do you think?

My birthday is this Friday. I'll be 25, and my sister Eileen will be 22. Are we feeling old yet? Come celebrate at the shop with me! All my favorite yarns will be 25% off. And let me tell you- I really like a lot of yarns!

Wrap it up!

Sorry I've been gone so long from the blogosphere! Life happens, you know? One good thing about not blogging for awhile is that I now have an incredibly long entry to make!

I started AND finished a project last week. We had a dedication at our church for Audrey last Sunday, so I went shopping for my outfit Tuesday night. I found great clothes, but I needed a wrap to go with my new outfit! What's a girl to do? Make something of course! I had a black and white skirt with a black top, so black was the obvious choice.

I grabbed some soysilk:

And my ever-ready Denise set:

Did some quick figuring:

(yes, it's the ravings of a mad woman)

And we're off!

Don't we look lovely?

Quick wrap, my own design

1.5 balls Phoenix soysilk from Southwest Trading Company

Size 10 Denise needles

started August 29, 2007

finished August 30, 2007

I know it's not the best picture of the finished object, but how important is that really? I have it at the shop if you'd like to see it in person. I will also have the pattern available sometime next week. The yarn knit up very quick and soft. I added dropped stitches to save myself some knitting and add more drape.

By the way, isn't she the cutest?