Presenting... Spinnerino!

Emma was yearning for a wheel that suits her personality, so last night after ballet we went to Michael's and got some wheel jazzing-up supplies (and can I just say, that Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastic is really awesome?) And now, her ordinary wheel has been transformed into "Spinnerino."

Emma's New Wheel!

Here she is trying out her new Babe Pinkie.

Toe Up Wonderfulness

I've been helping Chrissy Gardiner with the tech editing on her upcoming all toe-up, circular-and-dpns-alike sock book over the past few months. Today I had the delight of taking a final peek at the laid out pages, and I have to say I was blown away. Even for a rabid sock-knitter like myself, Chrissy has tons of tidbits to share so there's something new for everyone to learn (and more than enough information and photos for the newbie to get started, including detailed descriptions of various toe-up heels, toes, etc). The patterns are gorgeous-- about half are sized for little wee people up to big strapping men, the rest are fancy socks for the ladies (several of which give Cookie a run for her money, seriously!) Best of all, there are cool little worksheets that you can copy and use to tweak your sock knitting to fit just right, using a variety of different toes and heels. Anyway, as a public service, I thought I should spread around that it's up for presale on Amazon, so have at! Toe Up!

So proud of my girl!!

Emma has become quite the spinner already! Here she is holding the yarn she spun over the weekend. She took it to school to show her class yesterday, and she said she explained to them about drafting and plying and the whole bit.

Since she's already threatening to hog my beloved Victoria (she tried the Lendrum but prefers double treadle- my Lendrum is an ST) I'm getting her a little double treadle Babe Pinkie of her own (hey the price is right and she doesn't need anything fancy yet. Plus we can paint it red, which she absolutely wants to do).

As for me, I'm back to a fairly heavy load. I'm reknitting a sweater I designed for the fall issue of Vogue Knitting (the yarn company wants a copy for their booth at TNNA), plus doing a sweater for another yarn company, one for Knit n' Style, and copious amounts of tech editing to do before TNNA in a few weeks.

Emma's First Yarn!!

Emma asked to learn to spin today... so I gave her a quick lesson on the wheel. This is the result-- better than my first try, that's for sure! She's totally into it now- I'm so excited!!

Knitting in the Sun

Kristi Porter's new book Knitting in the Sun just came out, and it features a project I designed. Behold!

Kristi wanted each pattern to be named for a favorite sunny place, and for me that has to be Ludington-- the perfect combination of beachy goodness, ice cream, and quaint atmosphere. The top is done in a smocking pattern at the top and stockinette below, with a hemmed bottom and a casing at the upper edge with elastic to avoid any unfortunate wardrobe accidents. The pattern is sized from 30-54" bust. I knit the sample in Nashua Handknits Cilantro, which I love for being a pretty stretchy cotton blend-- perfect for something like this where you want some stretch up top.

Big Relief

Been too busy to even breathe lately, but everything is finally settling down. Doing massive amounts of tech edits plus 1-2 sweaters per week was really a lot! I spent the weekend messing around with my spinning wheel though, and am looking forward to more reasonable days ahead!


So here's the spinny goodness (since the knitting can't be shown yet!)

Some 2 ply Masham I spun on my Lendrum. One of my first tries with a longwool and I liked it!



Some Merino/Seacell blend, plied with rayon sewing thread to make it wavy. Looks like mermaid hair to me.