Being a Grandma is so much fun!!!

I can say with absolute joy that I love being a grandma (Mimi). My grandson Joziah is now 18 months old and is pure happiness when he walks into a room. I look forward to coming home when I know he's going to be there. He makes me smile every time I see him.

He's also the perfect model for my knitting. I love making him crochet toys to play with and things to wear. So far he's gotten two hats (currently working on a third), a pair of socks, two crochet binky clips, and crochet tiger rattle.

Frog binky clip

Tiger binky clip

Joziah's 1st knit beanie (2017)

Tiger rattle

Colorwork Hat (2018)

Current cabled hat (2019)

As you can see my grandson is very photogenic and I love capturing him at play and when he's sleeping - don't they look like little angels when they are sleeping? His current hat is blue and green with beautiful cables, it will also have ear flaps and two mini pom poms on top. I can't wait to see him sporting his new hat - even though he doesn't like wearing them.

When I'm not making something for Joziah, I'm making something for the latest addition to family, my nephew Connor. He was just born last month and I was scrambling to get his baby blanket done before he was born.

Dreambaby DK Baby Squares Afghan by JoAnn Turcotte

Duplicate stitched Connor's initials

Baby Connor wrapped in his blanket

I'm also currently working on a crochet blanket for one of my twin nephews that were born a month before my grandson. Unfortunately, I didn't get to make them their blankets before they were born so I'm trying to get them made this year before they turn two. I did have fun making them these pumpkin overalls for Halloween two years ago and these super soft cloud pillows last year for Christmas.

Twins Cameron & Carter in Halloween jumpers

one of the twins enjoying his pillow

And in-between gift knitting I've had a few orders, including these two dog sweaters that I just completed for Molly the pug and Lulu the chihuahua - same sweater in two sizes.

Molly in petal pink sweater

Lulu in also petal pink sweater

I'll be gearing up for shows again this year. I won't be doing any summer shows but I will be doing holiday shows in November and December. When I have the dates, I will be sure to post them. Happy belated New Year and Happy Knitting!!

Time for another drawing

October's drawing winner could win one of the new crochet hats that I've completed over this weekend. The pattern designs come from Diane McGettigan, who if you remember my post from January 14, 2011 - Crochet Cloche Progress, I talked about a cloche I crocheted from one of Diane's patterns, that was a big hit for my friend's mother and one of my friends asked for one as well.  I really do love Diane's designs, so much that I bought two more of her patterns last week and now I'm offering one of them to one lucky winner of the this month's drawing.  All of Diane's designs are lovely and I will probably buy more because they are so quick and easy to make.

So here are the choices for this month's drawing:

Uptown Fedora

Gold Winged-Brim Beanie Cap

Tangerine Winged-Brim Beanie Cap

These are just samples of the designs, they can be made in different colors and the winner will have their choice of the following colors, Pumpkin/Tangerine (above), Butterscotch/Gold (above), Cranberry, Green, Grey, or Black.

To be entered in the drawing you have to go to my Knitter Mama Facebook page and post the final score of the Seahawks v. Green Bay game that aired on Monday night football (September 24). For everyone who posts to my page, your name will be entered into the drawing! Good luck!!!

Delving Into My WIP's Goodie Bag...Again!

So summer is finally creeping up on us and well what will you be working on during the warm weather?  Me, I'm going to dive back into that seemingly bottomless WIP's bag. You may have remembered a post back in January, where I talked about delving into my WIP's goodie bag.  Well here I am again, back to that bag, trying to get some of those unfinished objects (UFO's) - finished!

I returned to working on a granny square afghan I started almost 5 years ago. It was originally started for my son, because I thought it would be something he could cherish and pass on to his children.  But after I had a friend make him a quilt out of some of his old t-shirts; the need to finish this afghan took a back seat.

But recently, I received some surprising news from my family back east, news that saddened me somewhat, but at the same time gave me a reason to finish the afghan, now more than ever.  One of my sister's children (her youngest who is 4 years old) has been diagnosed with Leukemia.  While even though I'm saddened by this news, I know that he is strong and healthy and will pull through and won't be the worse for wear afterwards - because children are so resilient.

Popcorn granny square afghan so far

So, when I heard he had to undergo an operation to prepare him for chemotherapy, I thought that the afghan would be a nice keepsake that he could have with him while he's in the hospital, something that could remind him of home and not feel like he's in a hospital.  I know it must be frightening and confusing for him and I wanted him to have something from his Auntie that would comfort him during this scary time - to let him know my son, Aiden and I are thinking of him and want him to get better.

So I'm diligently trying to get it done before I leave for vacation next month, so I can give it to him when we go home for our visit. It is made up of 36 - 5"x5" crochet granny squares (popcorn design) that I sewed together and now triming it in double-crochets in a navy blue color (perfect for a little boy).  Since he's a little guy, it will be the size of a couch throw which is probably plenty big enough to keep him wrapped in warmth while he is going through his chemotherapy.

I also, decided the pineapple shawl that was originally for my sister who lives in NY will now go to my sister in Maryland.  Ever since I received the news I knew I wanted to keep her in good spirits while she's comforting her son as he undergoes the chemotherapy treatment. Once its finished I'm having a friend take it to her prayer group and give it a healing blessing so that it will surround her with our love and blessings from 3,000 miles away.

I would like to ask all of you who reads this to keep my little nephew, his mom, and their whole family in your prayers.  Thank you.

A spinning we will go, a spinning we will go, hi-ho, the derry-o, a spinning we will go!

I'm excited to announce that I am taking up a new adventure in my love of yarn.  I now will be trying to spin my own! It's all so fascinating.  I watched a few individuals from my knitting group spinning on their beautiful wheels and I got the notion that this is something I want to do too!  So I went to Weaving Works in Seattle on Friday (March 11) and I tried out a wheel and guess what? I bought it! Yep, right then and there! The spinning bug has bitten and I'm loving it.


My new Lendrum Spinning Wheel

Side View

Front View

As soon as I got my wheel home, I put it together and began spinning. I really like the compact design and the fact that it folds down so I can put it under my bed out of the way. It was really simple to put together, attach the wheel to the base with a screw then you just pop the mother-of-all that had the flyer already attached on to the top of the wheel (depending on how tall you are and the height of your chair, you can adjust the height of the mother of all - how cool is that?), and finally put the drive band and tension band on and it was ready to go!

At first I intended to get a single treadle (one-peddle) design, but after trying out the double-treadle, I knew I had to have it.  Apparently, I'm not that coordinated to pedal with one foot while trying to draft the fiber. At first all I was doing was watching my feet - how funny is that?  And of course by not paying attention to the lead or my drafting, I was pinching and holding the lead to tightly which then caused my yarn to be overspun and it knotted up on the bobbin.

The best part is this wheel spins so smoothly and once I can figure out the right bobbin tension my yarn will come out a little better. Because as you can see my first attempts at spinning are not pretty but I really enjoyed the process of spinning it myself.  I plied one cake of three-ply and a small cake of two-ply:

Two-ply on the left, three-ply on the right

On the left: two-ply, three ply on the right

I was so excited about spinning that I was on my wheel from about four o'clock Friday afternoon until midnight.  I would have kept at it, but I ran out of fiber and had to go out and get more on Saturday.  By Saturday, I was getting better at drafting and not holding the lead too tightly causing the overspinning.


Wheel came with a 3-bobbin Lazy Kate
(Purple-dyed corriedale - 2nd attempt at spinning)
Weaving Works threw in a bottle of spinning wheel oil
free fiber, & a WPI tool with the purchase of my wheel

By late in the evening on Saturday, I had almost two bobbins full with purple dyed corriedale and will probably make a two-ply cake, but I also realized that my thighs were getting quite a workout and decided to give it a rest around ten o'clock that night. Because I hadn't worked those muscles in quite some time, I was pretty sore the next morning!
 

Second bobbin with spun yarn

So on Sunday, instead of spinning I decided to finish the project that I have been working on for my grandniece who is due in May.  I finished her Garden Trellis Dress, paired it with a pair of  Baby Janes and finished the outfit with a Feather and Fan Bonnet - which coordinated with the dress perfectly (the bottom of the dress has the feather & fan design). I embellished each with the cutest purple crochet butterflies by Crocheted Sass.

To all the spinners out there, got any tips or tricks for a newbie?  I'm looking forward to getting proficient at my new adventure and hearing from all of you expert spinners out there!

Crochet Cloche Progress

As promised here's how its going with the crochet cloche I am making for my friend's mom. Below is a picture of the design from Handmade Cottage

Green Flapper Cloche, Designed by Diane McGettigan.  My friend Adriann received her copy of the design in the mail on Tuesday and she handed me her yarn, button, and copy of the pattern on Wednesday. I decided to bring it along with me to my knit-nite and give it a try.  Well of course it was trial and error, my crochet skills were a little rusty and it was taking me some time to get used to using a hook again.  After knitting for the last 4 years the feel of it in my hands was a bit awkward.  I kept fumbling and dropping it as well as not really remembering the stitches.  The pattern called for the following: Single Crochet (sc) which I easily remembered, Half Double Crochet (hdc - couldn't remember it so I knew I would have to look it up), Front Post Half Double Crochet (fphdc - which was new to me, I had to go online to get a diagram of how to do the stitch), and decrease hdc - again had to look this up as well.  In all my years of crocheting I never did any decreasing, but I also only made afghans so there really wasn't any call for decreasing.

So it was slow going initially, I had to keep pulling it apart and starting over but this was where I left it the first night:

Using Berocco Comfort Chunky in black and size K hook

The crochet project went back in the bag within 45 minutes after starting leaving off on row 4 because row 5 called for hdc's in each sc and I didn't bring my crochet handbook with me and I didn't have access to the internet so I couldn't look up how to do a hdc.  For the rest of knit-nite I went back to working on a knitting project I already had in progress.  It was after 9:00 p.m. by the time I left my knitting group and was way too tired to go online to look up how to do a half double crochet (hdc), so as you can see from the picture above I hadn't gotten very far, but I wasn't discouraged, quite the opposite, I was learning something new on a skill that I hadn't used in a long time and I was pretty impressed with my progress, considering I hadn't crochet anything in over 10 years!

Day 2: I brought it to work with me to hook-away at it during my lunch break.  I looked up the stitches I didn't understand or couldn't remember and then was eager to get back to it.

Day 2: crown is taking shape

Once I got started again the part of my brain that stores the mechanics of what to do seemed to kick in and my hands remembered what they were supposed to do and it didn't feel as awkward as it did the night before and I actually was on a roll.  The crown of the hat was beginning to take shape and I was really impressed with the way it was looking, although I felt it was a bit on the small side.

close-up of crown (flattened out)

But my lunch is only an hour and I had to put it away to work on it later at home, but I was looking forward to it and couldn't wait for my work day to end. 

Day 2, that evening: So I settled in for the night and while enjoying a glass of birthday champagne (It was my 40th birthday on the 13th and my boss gifted me with a bottle of champagne - she says everyone should have a bottle of bubbly on their 40th!) and watching the Van Helsing movie with the ever gorgeous Hugh Jackman; I continued working on the cloche.

Yummy - Hugh Jackman!

Sorry, I digress, got distracted by the gorgeousness of Hugh Jackman (look at him - can you blame me?).  As I was saying, I continued working on the cloche and was finished with it in no time at all.

Side view

Frontal view

Around midnight it was complete, because of course once I started I couldn't stop.  Then I began working on the embellishment, (the cute little flower shown in the first picture above on the Green Flapper Cloche).



Begins similar to the hat

The flower embellishment basically begins the same way as the hat so I got going on it and am already on row 10. It continues with rows of sc's and as I keep going the edges will curl in on their own and I will pinch the ring so that it will create the flower, sew a couple stitches in it so it will keep it's shape and then sew it onto the hat with a button.

Day 3: Added the embellishment to the side of the hat. The yarn became stiff as I continued to single crochet each row and therefore difficult to pull it into the shape of the flower, but I persevered and pulled the yarn tight to get the shape as close to the diagram as possible and this is the result:

Antique style gold & black button
adds to the beauty of the hat

Another Cloche in Burgundy with
another beautiful matching button

The Ever Fashionable and Sophisticated Cloche

A friend recently asked if I could knit a hat for her mother as a birthday gift.  She sent me a picture of the hat and I thought it was so adorable (see picture below).  After taking a closer look though, I noticed it wasn't a knitted style, it was actually crochet, which for me is no problem, I haven't done much crocheting in the last few years but its like riding a bicycle, if you get on and start pedaling it starts to come back to you. 

The design is ever reminiscent of the 1920's style Cloche with a modern look to it. And since I've been looking forward to playing with this particular style of hat I agreed to crochet it for her.

Design by Diane McGettigan
found on Etsy at Handmade Cottage

When I first came across this hat style, it was in a book on felting. The pattern seemed really interesting and I really liked the knitted design. I had to have it for my pattern collection, so I made a copy to try out at a later time.  Since then I've noticed many people wearing it and I've also noticed some really great designs and colors and everyone who I've seen wearing one always looks fabulous. It is a classic yet very chic style that will compliment any outfit, as you can see from the pictures below:
 

Sarah Jessica Parker during her
photo session with Annie
Leibowitz in Manhattan

Angelina Jolie in Changeling

Leighton Meester on the set of Gossip Girl

Hillary Swank in P.S. I love You

A little history from Wikipedia:  The cloche hat is a fitted, bell-shaped hat that was popular during the 1920s, but was first founded in 1908 and continued to be popular until 1933.[1]  Cloche is the French word for "bell". Caroline Reboux is the creator of the cloche hat.

Cloche hats were usually made of felt so that they conformed to the head.[1] The hat was typically designed to be worn low on the forehead, with the wearer's eyes only slightly below the brim.[1]  By 1928/29, it became fashionable to turn the brims on cloche hats upwards. This style remained prevalent throughout the early 1930s until the cloche hat became obsolete around 1933/34.

Often, different styles of ribbons affixed to the hats indicated different messages about the wearer. Several popular messages included: An arrow-like ribbon which indicated a girl was single but had already given her heart to someone, a firm knot which signaled marriage or a flamboyant bow which indicated the wearer was single and interested in mingling.[2]  Cloches were made of beads or lace for evening wear, for cocktails, dancing or even for bridal wear.

Cloche hats' popularity and influence were overwhelming. Couture houses like Lanvin and Molyneux opened ateliers to join milliners in manufacturing the hats.[1] The hats even shaped hairstyles: the Eton crop (the short, slicked-down cut worn by Josephine Baker) became popular because it was ideal to showcase the hats' shape.[1]

In the late 1980s, inventive models of the cloche, such as Patrick Kelly's version with a buttoned brim, made a minor resurgence.[1]  Cloche hats were also featured in many designers’ Fall 2007 collections; Elle magazine called the cloche hat the "haute accessory of the moment" in its September 2007 issue.[1]  The cloche hat has been worn by actress Angelina Jolie in the 2008 film Changeling.

Following the Cloche's resurgence in 2007, modern versions of the hat have emerged, often reflecting the region of the milliner. In 2009, Violina Couture Millinery of California introduced the demi-cloche, a variant of the cloche which allows more of the wearer's hair to be exposed.

[1] ^ a b c d e f g Vargas, Whitney (September 2007). "Head Start". Elle: 190.
[2] ^ Thomas, Pauline (March 2004). "Hats and Hair Fashion". Hats and Hair Fashion.

I have always admired the classic styles from the 1920's, I believe it was one of the best fashion eras, from  hairstyles and hats, to shoes and accessories.  There has been many updates to the cloche's design as you can see here:

Giving them a more modern look, with different colors and accessories.

 

Symply Smashing & FannyMae
Found on Etsy at Boring Sidney



While the original designs from the 1920's were made with felt to mold to the wearer's head, now-a-days this style is being recreated in many different ways, including knit and crochet. 

Knit design previously found
on Etsy at Counting Stitches

Crochet design found on Etsy
at Handmade Cottage

By using different colors, weights, and blends of yarn you can get varying affects, the above design from Handmade Cottage was crochet using a chunky wool blend in a beautiful charcoal color. 

I can't wait to get started on the crochet pattern, which I just received today along with a skein of Berroco Comfort Chunky yarn in black and a vintage style button designed by Susan Clarke Originals.  So stay tuned, I will keep you posted on my progress.

Did you know?

Your local library is a great inexpensive resource for finding new knitting and crocheting designs, patterns, and helpful technique books. Also, if you are member of a local knitting group book swapping could be another way to save on the cost of buying books. If you aren’t a member of a knitting group, there are many ways to find one – Ravelry is a great place to start. Don’t know what Ravelry is?

Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, weavers and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, project and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration. The content here is all user- driven; we as a community make the site what it is. Ravelry is a great place for you to keep notes about your projects, see what other people are making, find the perfect pattern and connect with people who love to play with yarn from all over the world in our forums.

I love to search for new and different patterns to try and one of my favorite resources (aside from the internet) I like to utilize is my local library. And this weekend I killed two birds with one stone by walking the 1.7 miles to my local library to seek out new patterns and knitting technique books, I also got a bit of exercise thrown in to boot.

I went straight to the the arts and crafts section of the library, there I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from browsing through the different knitting and crocheting books. I like to flip through book after book scanning the pictures and when a particular item catches my eye, I set it aside to do a more thorough read-through. I checked-out 4 books and the great part of checking them out at the library is I get to keep them for 4 weeks and in that time I can learn to make some of the designs I like most from that particular book, and if I really like the pattern I'll copy it and add it to my collection, but the best part about using the library is I'm not adding to my very cluttered bookshelves and I'm saving money that I can be using to buy more yarn (oops...that's right I'm not supposed to be buying yarn - I'm supposed to be using my considerable yarns stash!).

Since I walked to the library, I was in no big rush to go back out into the cold. And ever since the Kent Regional Library reopened its doors last year after a complete renovation, it is much more reader-friendly. There are comfortable chairs in small clusters around low tables, a large carpeted children’s area so the children can sit and look at the pictures in their favorite books, and study tables scattered througout. This was the first time I actually sat down and enjoyed the hushed atmosphere of my local library, I usually rush in pick-up my books that I’ve placed on-hold, or drop off any that are due and rush back out. But that day I pulled up a chair at one of the many study tables and perused the books I picked out, checking out each of the patterns and designs, reading the techniques that were used to create them and enjoying the designer’s description of how the design came about and/or why it was created.

Kent Regional Library
2nd Avenue N

Now I know it’s nice to have some of those books in your knitting library, but if you are trying to stay within a budget and use your spending money on your yarn stash, then your local library would be your best resource and they usually have a copier machine on the premises if you just want to copy a pattern or two (it’s usually very inexpensive too – my library’s copier only costs 10¢ per copy). And the other great thing about using your local library is you can go online and place books on-hold and pick them up when they come in, which for many of us who have active, busy lives is very convenient.

The books that caught my eye this trip included:

Yes, one of them is a crochet book.  I learned to crochet about 20 years ago and there are a lot more designers out there now and I really like to stay in practice with my crochet techniques.  The 101 Designer One- Skein Wonders was a treat because I have the 101 Yarn-Shop Favorites One-Skein Wonders in my knitting library because I loved the variety of quick and easy patterns.  So, I figured this one would have a nice variety of patterns as well.  Also, The Knitting Man(ual) book was a great find because I don't know about any of you other knitters out there, but I find it extremely difficult to find good patterns for men in styles they would actually wear. This book not only gives you some really great designs in colors and patterns that will flatter any man, the designer talked with some men who knit and a few of them are featured wearing her designs.  In the introduction the author wrote: ...by the mid-sixteenth century knitting had become a full-fledged industry and the early knitting professionals were men.  Women and children eventually took up the trade, but in the beginning knitting was a strictly male endeavor and remained so until the Industrial Revolution mechanized production.  While both men and women followed knitting into the factories, hand-knitting at home began its transformation into a feminine art.  During WWII, many men knitted in support of the war effort, making mitten, hats, and socks for the Army and Navy forces. So the history lesson was an added bonus as well as hearing about men who enjoy knitting too. I also, picked up another sock book - Toe Up! Patterns and Worksheets to Whip your Sock Knitting into Shape by Chrissy Gardiner.  Now that I don't cringe when I think of knitting socks, I can't help picking up new books that show you different ways to make them.  This one stood out because of the blank worksheets in the back that allow you to create custom-made socks using different styles for the toe and heel (i.e.: shaped round toe, anatomical round toe, short-row toe, hybrid heel, short-row heel, etc.). I found it to be very interesting and it will be fun to experiment with the different types of toes and heels!

So if you haven't checked out your local library, give it a chance, you just might find something you like.