Name that Book

The book has been named. Closely Knit: Handmade Gifts for Those You Love

I am very happy with it.  My first idea was Close Knit, but apparently it was already taken.  I can live with Closely Knit.  When Jessica told me the tag line which includes the word handmade vs. handknit, it reminded me that I need to be thinking of the "quick fix"  projects that will be featured in each chapter.  Yikes!!! Did I mention, 11 weeks from today?!  Okay, breath.

The Spa Knit and Spin blew into town this past weekend.  My grandmother and Lynn came and stayed right in the middle of it.  It was great to get Grammy's perspective on the whole thing.  To quote her, "It's just like going to the movie's."  Yup, that's right, there are some interesting people that come out of the woodwork for these kinds of events.  All in all, we had a nice weekend.

Theresa came along for the fashion show on Saturday night.  It was about 150 degrees in this room.

My friend Christy (I think she's still my friend!) modeled the alpaca top and earflap hat in the fashion show.  She sat in that spot next to the podium for probably 45 minutes before she actually got to strut.  Kind of a crazy show, but I think the items were well received, so that was good.

Of course, there was some shopping involved with this weekend.  Grammy and Lynn hit up Knitwit.

Lynn brought the Family Tree Throw she's been working on for me.  She has just finished climbing the trunk.  Next will come some bright greens and a pretty orange: leaves!

Here's the sisters throw I've been working on.  I like it SO much.

These days it feels good when I actually finish something, even if it's a relatively small project.  Abe is showing off the Men's Hat I finished last night.  I love the cute little ear flaps...

...and the top.

Blast from the Past

Someone just made an inquiry about a project I worked on a few years ago. While we're on the subject, I thought I would dig it up for those of you who haven't seen it before. Okay, follow this: my cousin's fiancee's brother...are you with me? He contacted me with a dream. He had always wanted to have a particular sweater worn by the boy in the movie About a Boy. If you have seen the movie, you probably know which sweater I am talking about. When he asked, it so happened I had very recently seen the movie and thought it sounded like good fun to try and duplicate it. And so I did, and it was good fun. It will be forever referred to as the About a Boy sweater.

I've had a few requests for a pattern, but I have decided it shall remain a one of a kind piece.  It's funny to look at this now, it makes me realize how much I have learned in just the past few years, when I just look at the shape of the sweater itself.  What's up with those sleeves, Hannah?

All Moved In

Well, we officially reside in Portland, Maine again. I still can't believe it. Part of me still feels like at the end of the day I will have to get in the car and drive the 45 minutes to Gardiner. Our living arrangement could be compared to camping right now. We have running water, lights and heat. Yet, there is still this, shall we say, rustic feel to our home right now. Everything, and I mean everything, has a layer of dust on it as we continue to do construction. Running power tools in the middle of our living room equals dirty city. Also, the second we moved in the temperature outside dropped to about 0. So we are trapped inside our little shelter. It's amazing to think in a few weeks time we went from this:

to this:

The second we moved in my body said, okay, we're done here, and I got a wicked bad cold. After that I had a hard time getting motivated to work on the house, despite the disaster that surrounds me. Good thing I have friends like Dayna. She came over and we got all these cabinets and doors finished so I actually had somewhere to put stuff.

Yesterday I spent the entire day and night trying to get back in the swing with designing. Judy recommended Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti. I have to say, it has come at an excellent time. While I am in general a very independent person, it can be strange working by yourself on a project sometimes for large stretches of time. At a certain point, I start questioning a lot of my decisions. I need to consult. Maggie Righetti writes in such a way that I feel like she is sitting here explaining things to me. She makes something like calculating the cap on a set in sleeve sound so interesting, and in a way, simple...which we all know it's not. But anyway, thanks Judy. I am so into Maggie right now. She's my new buddy. Ah, okay, maybe I should leave the house a little more.

I sent a box of projects to be knit up down to Lynn. I finished designing the sisters skirt, and although I really wanted to knit it myself, I had to give into practicality and send it to an expectant guild knitter. It is a fun project. Also I sent the men's Felted Tweed vest, and a hat to match the sisters scarf. I am interested in seeing how this turns out. It is knit in the round in part, then 3 inches are bound off. The hat is worked back and forth for a few inches, then those 3 inches are cast on again, and you go back to working in the round, leaving a square gap in the hat. THEN, you go back and pickup sts along each vertical side and knit 10 rows toward each other, then graft together in the middle. So its like a knit in patch. And it's cool the patch will have stripes vertically against the horizontal stripes of the rest of the hat. Oh, there were a few more things in that box.

Later, alligators!