Here’s a great article about knitting students who recreated all the presidents in yarn, including one of the candidates for 2012! Great project!
Awesome Knitting Project
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A Yarnie Movie
For those of you that love to watch films with lots of yarnie goodness, check out “A Shine of Rainbows” on Netflix. 
It’s a charming adoption story set in Ireland with lovely scenery. Adoption is a subject near and dear to my heart, especially adoption of older children. And of course, I love a good Irish brogue and the green, green hills of of the Emerald Isle. Best of all, though are the loads of hand knit, crocheted, and woven scarves, shawls, sweaters, and afghans that appear in nearly every scene. “A Shine of Rainbows” perhaps isn’t a top-notch production, but if you enjoy a good story, it’ll warm the cockles of your heart.
So Much for Resolutions!
I started the year determined to knit just for me in 2012. Although it sounds selfish, I really wanted this to be my year. More often than not, the things on my needles are gifts. It’s not that I don’t like to knit things for me; it’s just that there are so many things I want to knit for family and friends. This leaves me with very few hand knit garments to wear. I enjoy showing off my craft and would really like to have more hand crafted items to choose from. So I began with a bang and knitted the Annis shawl. Then there was the bamboo tee. Of course, I had to do some socks in purple, as one can never have too many purple socks. And I’m almost finished the back of a lovely sweater in mauve. But then I got distracted from my “Just for Me” goal and ended up knitting for others again; hats for the grandkids, a sweater handspun and knit for a granddaughter, and now there are two other grands that want handspun, hand knit sweaters. I had to finish my son & daughter-in-law’s afghan that I had promised in January.
They’re expecting a baby girl soon (grandchild number fifteen!) and so I had to knit an afghan for her. 
I made a bear for a birthday and several more amigurumi for the grands to play with on their visits here. 
And since the new baby will be in cloth diapers, I am on a soaker kick and have finished two of the wool diaper covers and have plans for more. So yeah, not much knitting for me has been happening. But you know what? It’s ok. Knitting for others brings me such joy I don’t want to stop. I love my family more than life itself and making things for them is an expression of that love. As I’m creating gifts I think of the recipient and knit love into every stitch. Even though they don’t really comprehend the time and effort each gift takes, I know they feel the love that’s flowed through my needles and into the yarn. So if I really need something new to wear I’ll have to go buy it. I’m just too busy to knit for me.
Ingenious use of Yarn!
Best Yarn Bomb Ever!
According to The Telegraph, a mystery knitter left a London Olympics 2012 themed yarnbomb attached to the pier at Saltburn-by-the-Sea near Teesside, England. Brits are flocking to the town to see the hand-knit characters performing various sports feats on a knit background that covers the railing along the pier.
AWESOME!!!
The Dance
I don’t dance. It’s not that I don’t want to – it’s that I can’t. I really enjoy music and I love to get swept away by the emotion of the piece, but somewhere there’s a disconnect between my brain and my body. Call it two left feet, awkward, or just plain clumsy, but when I try to dance, it’s not pretty. I take pleasure in watching others dance. Be it ballet, jazz, or ballroom, the beauty and passion of a well-executed dance is a joy to behold. And in my dreams I have that grace and poise. But in reality, I don’t dance.
I also don’t knit lace. It’s not that I can’t do it, but I have a hard time remembering the next step or how many stitches I’ve done. My brain is too full of other things to focus on the pattern. Oh, sometimes I pick up a piece of lace knitting for the challenge of it, but on the whole I like mindless, easy stockinette; rows and rows of it that can be done in front of an old movie, during conversation, or solving the problems of the world. The easy rhythm and relaxed mindlessness of it is what I love about knitting. But once in a while a piece just needs lace, be it a border, a collar, or a few rows to finish a garment perfectly. That’s what I’m doing now – a lace border on a simple baby blanket to set off the rows of stockinette. And I can do it; it’s just that it’s slow going – a jerky stop and go sequence of knit two, slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over, check directions, knit three, check directions, yarn over, knit two together, check directions . . . you get the picture. Clumsy and awkward.
But once in a great while, whether it’s the peacefulness of a quiet house when all but myself are in bed, or the sharpness of my mind after a good sleep or the caffeine in a cup of black tea, I’m a lace knitter. My mind is focused and sharp and I’m in the zone of knit two, slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over, knit three, yarn over, knit two together, yarn over. Somehow the magic happens. I’m in sync with the fiber and the pattern, my needles and hands and mind are one . . . and I’m dancing.
Hopeless
I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. Every time I’m determined NOT to cast on another project without finishing something that’s been hibernating for months something else catches my eye.
I did finish my lovely Bamboo Tee. It’s only been on the needles since January, so not too bad. It went from this:
to this:
in just one month. I did do several other “quickie” projects in between. I mean does a hat:
or two:
or three:
really count?
But I was determined to finish my Einstein Coat from 2009 before I cast on the next big project. It’s lovely in soft fuzzy Kochoran and only has one sleeve to go before I sew up the shoulder seams and I can wear it. But I couldn’t find the book. So I ordered another from Amazon. While I was waiting for that to arrive, I ordered Colette from White Lies Designs. I LOVE her stuff! So I cast that on two nights ago. Yes, the Einstein Coat book (Sally Melville’s The Knit Stitch – highly recommended for beginners) came in the meantime and I could have finished the coat instead, but this yummy rose Riverstone yarn was calling to me. Besides, the weather’s warming up and I don’t really need a coat now. . . so I’m well into the back of Colette.
Then today I found the Mochimochi animation and started thinking about doing a couple of Easter gifts for the grands. Something springy and cheerful to tuck into their Easter baskets. That led to a Ravelry search for knit amigurumi and ZOWIE, there they were: Fuzzy Knits by Barbara Prime. SO adorable!! I quickly stifled that little niggling voice that inquired whether I should really invest in more patterns when I have a veritable library of knitting books and magazines. But since I have nothing like these sweet little stuffies, I hurriedly hit the “Buy Now” button. Done. In a matter of seconds there on my Ravelry library shelf sat the second edition of Fuzzy Knits. Twelve adorable patterns including my Easter Bunny. There’s a tiger, a monkey, a siamese kitty, a pug dog, a lamb, a panda, a chipmunk, a mouse, a puppy, a polar bear, and a duck – all with sweet little clothes to knit for them.
So there it is. So much for resolution. I’m hopeless.
Too Cute for Words!
Check out this amigurumi party!
More Lessons
I am now teaching knitting at the Kennewick, WA Hobby Lobby store on Wednesdays from 10:00 to 12:00. This is in addition to my Monday morning lessons at my home in Richland. To start out with I’m teaching beginning knitting, a mug cozy that I designed with cables and a buttonhole, and socks. Here are the samples I knit up for the classes:
That’s my son Donald‘s lovely girlfriend Rachelle. Isn’t she a keeper? The yarn is Yarn Bee Rainbow Wool. It has a respectable amount of wool and mohair content with acrylic. I love the color gradations, but the mohair isn’t the best quality and it’s scratchier than I like for a scarf.
The mug cozy class will be great for intermediate beginners. I knit this with I Love This Wool Naturals. It’s 100% wool and really quite nice. Though it’s not merino, it’s not too scratchy and would be OK for next-to-the-skin garments.
These are made with Paton’s Kroy sock yarn. For a lower-priced yarn ($6/skein) it was lovely to work with. The skeins are rather small, so I used two, but that left enough for a pair of baby socks. : )
I’m looking forward to introducing more people to the world of knitting!
Newbies
Five new knitters have joined the ranks of the fiber community! I’ve been teaching lessons in my home on Monday mornings and have three excited students. Debbie has been knitting and purling for five weeks. She’s completed her first project, a lovely oatmeal ribbed scarf and is well on her way to finishing her second – a fuzzy camel colored lace shawl. Here she is showing off her scarf:
Nancy has been knitting for four weeks. She’s partially completed a scarf for her sister and finished her first object last week – a lavender lace dishcloth:
Angela has been with us for a week and I’ll post a picture of her first FO when she’s done.
The knitting bug has also caught a couple of my grandchildren.
Jesse and Olivia have been knitting for a week now, although Olivia was introduced to knitting two years ago. Olivia finished her first project yesterday – a blanket for her Hello Kitty doll.
I’ll post Jesse’s project when he’s finished also.
Give a grand welcome to our new knitters!
