caffaknitted

Crossing the finish line

This weekend marks the completion of Book number three, titled Wearable Knitwits. This book was more challenging to write, but so much fun. I learned some new skills and techniques! My favorite new skill is the ability to knit stranded colorwork continental style. By the end, I was flying through the pieces. Now I feel confident that if I so desired, I could knit a sweater in a week, less if it's for a child or baby. Maybe this summer I'll actully knit something for myself?  We'll see...
I've said that before. 

The final project I made was this Baby Birds Dress. It was the perfect project to finish with now that the yard is in full bloom. The tree Grace is posing with is the very tree that inspired the color palette. I'll post the remainder of the projects over the next few weeks. The book will also be available for preorder. It hits shelves in September. 

Now what to do with myself? I have a lot of news regarding the chickens. The incubator is full of eggs! They're due to hatch this week, so maybe I'll just write a full chicken post next weekend with pictures. It's also time to start working in the garden...past time really. I'm not much for all the boring pre-season prep work. But this is mostly because during the early part of spring, I always have my nose stuck in the computer, in full book-writing mode. What a funny way I've arranged my year. I spend half of it writing, and the other half living. 

My next big fiber arts event is a solo show in September. I'm going to switch gears for a bit, and give my elbows and wrists a rest. I'll probably turn my focus to needlework. I'm excited to get started. I'm excited for summer!  I'm just plain old excited!!! 

Spring!

The weather here is just crazy warm this month. We are getting an early spring! You won't hear any complaints from me! Except for one thing...one super annoying tiny little thing (or rather lots of them)...mosquitos! Mosquitos in March. Whaa? I've never seen bugs this early in the year here. Also, last night when I walked out to lock up the chicken coop after dark, I heard a chorus of crickets. I am mystified.

All this warm weather means knitting outside, and the colors popping up in the yard have me longing to knit things that are bright and vibrant. So obviously, bugs and spring colors inspired my new legwarmers. They're so fun to knit, and a great way to use up spare balls of yarn. With this project I'm now entering the very last stretch of knitting for book III. It's been an adventure. It should be available for preorder pretty much any day now. 

So. Excited.

Mr. Micro

And so, the work continues on my upcoming book..

Mr. Micro is the most charming robot you’ll ever meet, literally. He’s an extremely quick knit, and easy to assemble when you have your beads and tools in front of you. The fun thing about knitted charms is the versatility. You can easily change the size of the charm by changing the yarn and needle size. You can play around with bead colors and shapes. You can put the charm on a chain for a necklace, or attach a ring and use it as a keychain. I like to hook them onto the zipper pulls on my knitting bag. One pack of beads and a skein of yarn will create a lot of Mr. Micros. In fact, you could knit him a wife, a few kids, a boss, a mistress, or an army of minions. Who wouldn’t want such a cute army of minions?

 

Save the Yetis!

With the threat of global warming looming, we’ve been hearing a lot about the plight of some of our most beloved artic animals. Polar bears, for instance, have been getting a lot of attention. But there’s one snow-loving creature that no one seems concerned for. Where will the yetis go when the snow is gone? Will they be driven towards manmade cold environments in search of comfort? Will we find yetis seeking refuge in our ice skating rinks and meat lockers? I certainly hope not. In a heartfelt attempt to bring attention to this potential problem, I give you the Save the Yetis scarf. This scarf is knit lengthwise. I love knitting scarves this way. They seem to knit up to much faster for some reason. The yetis themselves are formed by a simple series of cables. So why not warp your neck in a string of warm yetis and enjoy the snow, while you still can. The Save the Yetis scarf will be featured in the book coming out this fall, just in time for the return of cold weather.

 

Shark Week

Truly, last week did feel like shark week, considering the panic generated by various and assorted sources, be it book deadlines, taxes, winter illness, and of course, the 'ole day job that I would love to exit in favor of full time knitting. Oh, and the ultimate highlight was when my computer hard drive imploded. Fun times! Winter is always like this at our house, or at least it has been for the last 3 years, since I spend December-March writing and designing a book on top of all our other family happenings and obligations. But I am eternally grateful that my knitting has come this far. I'm even more grateful to have considerate and loving boyfriend who plays with the kids and helps clean the house, including the laundry. Because the only thing worse than going full steam 7 days a week, is going full steam 7 days a week in dirty underwear.

In celebration of the wonderful chaos, I bring you the Shark Bait sweater. I love fair isle circular yoke sweaters. They're fun to design, and have a comfortable modern fit. My lovely model is Sylvie Kaminsky, daughter of friends, and quite a personality. I had to bribe her with chocolate cake to get her to stand still, but it was totally worth it. Plus, we got a visit from wonderful old friends, a well deserved distraction.

I'm starting to get the hang of photographing toddlers in knitted apparel. The trick is: Never, ever, tell them how to stand, where to look, or what to do. Also, always have sweets on hand for bribery. Then you basically take about 300 photographs and hope that there will be at least one where the child is in focus and smiling.

I have fond memories of shooting the pictures for last year's monster book. The monsters are great. You put them in a photo tent and say, "don't move and make a scary face!"  Monsters are good listeners....little known fact. Little human monsters are considerably cuter, but far more unpredictable.

Run Robbin Red

I admit, I have a blog addiction. Though granted, there are only half a dozen I regularly read. A good blog is like really great nonfiction that never ends. One of my best girlfriends has recently started a blog about running. Now, I'm not a runner, but she makes me want to be one, and I figure that can't be a bad thing. There are two things you need to know about Robbin:

1) She's awesome.

2) She's hilarious.

(she's also single, fellas...but good luck catching her..she's fast!)

Also, if you notice her banner, I took that panoramic photo of her at Coney Island. Is she fun or what?

Don't badger me. I'm knitting.

We're finally getting some real snow around here. I'm glad. It's given me some cozy down time in the house to really get some knitting done on Book III.  There's nothing I love more than curling up in my room with a mug of hot coffee, and my needles. I knit, listen to NPR, and gaze out over the snow-covered river. It is heaven.

This week I finished my badger scarf. You may recognize it's similarity to the Stone Cold Fox scarf, which I used as a jumping off point, with some changes. The head is flatter, and the stripes were fun. I don't know why knitting vertical stripes is so fun?  These's something magical about how seamless it looks. Best of all is the yarn I chose. Cascade's Eco Duo is a lovely alpaca self-shading yarn. I used that quality along with a gradual fade between different colors. I think the effect is lovely.  But then again, what could be more lovely than a dead badger?

Good things to come

What a wonderful holiday break! The kids and I had such a great time with family. There was plenty of time to relax, sleep in, play, eat, and of course...knit!  I made some headway on book #3. So here's a preview of things to come. I knitted these Ninja Mitts using Cascade 220 Superwash. They are so soft. There are a few fun fair isle projects in this book. Knitting a book of wearable projects is giving me the chance to explore all the techniques I love.

As for New Year Resolutions, I only have one this year. Last year was an emotional roller coaster, lots of high highs and low lows. This year I want to slow it down and try to keep my mind on the big picture. We're so lucky. We have such a wonderful life. I don't want to waste another minute of my life that I could be enjoying with my family, worrying about things I can't change. This isn't a resolution I can accomplish overnight, but it gives me something to work on.

As a good omen, my chickens finally started laying eggs on New Years Day! Here's to a fruitful and productive year, full of wonderful little moments and small things to be thankful for.

What's up-dog?

I suppose I'm a bit overdue for an update. It's been knitting and holiday madness around here. A couple of weeks ago we had the Handmade Market, which was a great success. I made lots of full size toys, as well as lots of tiny things, like this tiny felted bomb. We spent the next week in New York, visiting friends.  So much fun, so much mischief.

I've also been busy with projects for the new book and the Hungry Monsters Project. Today we all drove up to Apple Hill Farm in Matney. My friend Lee owns this wonderful alpaca farm. They make the most beautiful yarn. They also have llamas, goat, horses, chickens...you name it. It is extraordinarily beautiful. Sophia went for a pony ride. We took some pictures of projects for the new book, all wearables.  I'm embarrassed to admit the llamas are far more photogenic than myself. The Apple Hill folks are also putting together Hungry Monster kits, using alpaca yarn.  The money will go the the Hunger Coalition. We're all pretty excited about this new addition to the charity project. 

All in all, fun happy times, although the holidays are sure to be over in a blink. 

 

Giving back

Working with the kids on the Hungry Monster Project has been really inspiring, and I've been doing some thinking.

After my divorce, things were sometimes very difficult financially for the kids and I. There were times when I had to figure out how to get by on almost nothing, buy a week's worth of groceries with $20, and a winter we we couldn't afford oil for our heater. It was sometimes scary, and certainly depressing. But the difference between myself and so many others, is that I had a safety net, family I could turn to when things got really bad. As embarrassing and hard as it was to ask for help, I always knew we wouldn't go hungry.

There are so many who are not so lucky. Thousands of families and small children don't know where their next meal is coming from. The project with the kids is going well, but I want to raise as much money as we can. So I've decided that for the entire month of December, ALL my pattern sales will go the the Hunger and Health Coalition. You can find my patterns in my Etsy store, and on Ravelry under caffaknitted.

Thanks and Happy Holidays to all of you who have donated so far.