It's Not Just Black and White

Stripey Socks

When I first started knitting socks, someone mentioned Blue Moon Fiber Arts. My first trip to the website and I knew I would have a hard time not buying. I purchased the Sherbet colorway.

Knitting it in my normal sock pattern, I didn’t like the way it was striping up alone. I headed back to Blue Moon Fiber Arts and picked up the Stormy Weather colorway. At first I started knitting a Chevron scarf. After awhile I came to the realization that I was never going to finish a scarf on size four needles that didn’t involve lace. This yarn was destined to be striped socks.

I cast on 64 stitches and did a 2×2 rib for the cuff. At the end of every row I twisted the yarns and picked up the next color. The heel is a short row heel, since I did one of the socks toe up… and the other top down. These socks were knit over a year’s time as I picked them up and put them down. I wasn’t a fan of working with the two colors to make it stripe, but I knew ultimately I needed to finish the socks.

I finished the socks last weekend in the midst of my sock kick. They were knit on size 2 needles and fit a woman’s 9-10 foot. I’m glad the socks are done and honestly I probably won’t go back and knit another pair of socks the way I knit these. It was an experiment to see if I would like it and ultimately I didn’t. I do love the socks though and they’re fun to wear around.

Swiss Hat

About 10 months ago, my friend Jessica decided to go to Switzerland as an Au Pair. She put in her knitting request of a hat for winter with the Swiss logo on it, semi-matching the Swiss flag.

I decided it was the perfect chance to break out the double knitting. That lasted for about 5 rounds and decided it was better to straight knit the hat with the cross in white. The hat was knit with Cascade 220 Superwash so it could be thrown in the washing machine and still fit correctly. It was knit on size 7 needles with 116 stitches in the round.

The hat was originally supposed to make it to Switzerland before it got cold. Another project got in the way and I had to push it back a little bit. At that point I decided I wanted to get it to Switzerland before the Olympics!

The hat arrived in Switzerland about two weeks ago and is now working to keep her warm. Overall the hat was a fairly quick knit once I got passed the cross portion of it. It was a matter of sitting down and finding time to get it done. She now can support both the US and Switzerland as they compete for gold in the 2010 Olympics.

It’s that time again, the torch is lit, Vancouver is ready, and the events have started. The 2010 Winter Olympics bring about the 21st Winter Olympic Games. On a normal winter weekend I won’t be seen watching skiing, snowboarding, or even speed skating, but for the next 16 days the events will be on both my computer and TV as much as possible. Opening Ceremonies is what I consider my Super Bowl. I love watching the athletes march in, the singing, and finally the lighting of the torch.

Why is that?

As Georgia lost a teammate during training yesterday the games were off to a somber start. Last night, amidst the magic of the Opening Ceremonies we were reminded of the reality. Usually the most memorable moment of Ceremonies for me is the lighting of the torch. Last night, it wasn’t the torch (probably to the delight of the Olympic Committee), it was when the team from Georgia walked in. Not a smile on any of their faces, but probably the biggest supporting cheer of the night. Watching everyone in the stadium stand up and applaud in support, knowing the tragedy from earlier in the day. Being able to watch athletes from countries who didn’t know him wear black bands around their arms, the stadium share the moment of silence, and watch the lowering of the flags all in Nodar Kumaritashvili’s honor really showed the world coming together. To me, that’s what the Olympics are all about.

It’s not just for the sports either. Every four years the Yarn Harlot organizes The Knitting Olympics, so knitters can test their skills like the athletes do. For 16 days your push yourself on a project and in the end either achieve that gold medal or not. For the 17 days (starting with the Opening Ceremonies, ending with the Closing Ceremonies) you knit with the motto Citius, Alitius Fortius.

For 17 days every two years (Summer and Winter Olympics) we can put the fighting, the politics, and all of the junk going on in the world behind us and come together as one. As we sit in our living rooms or in front of our computers we watch as miracles happen and life long dreams are achieved. For the next 16 days, it doesn’t matter what your country’s government is doing, it doesn’t matter what religion you are or what color your skin is. For the next 16 days there will be plenty of excitement as we come together as one world.

Let the games begin!

In the midst of all of the devastation in Haiti, it was nice this week to hear of an amazing story that has come out of the earthquake to a friend of mine, K. I had to share the story and encourage everyone to donate, even a little bit to help rebuild!

K’s daughter has been in the adoption process for two years for a little boy, R, from Haiti. They’ve been working with the Three Angels orphanage in Haiti and all of the paperwork was done, they’ve just been waiting for a number of months for it to be processed through the state. K’s daughter has made many trips down to visit R and they’ve grown close and they were ready to bring him home.

Last week the world watched as Haiti crumbled after an earthquake shattered their world. Among those affected were over 300,000 orphans throughout Haiti. R was one of them. K began to send email updates to us letting us know that he was okay. With all the talk of the adoption papers being lost for so many of the orphans, the 26 kids at Three Angels were incredibly lucky… they had backup copies.

Over the last week we’ve been getting email updates from K about the status of R. Monday morning we got an email telling us that K’s daughter had an email to pack her bags, he would be in the USA soon, she would need to meet him in Florida. Last night at 5:00 another email came in saying K’s daughter was on her way to Florida as she typed the email, R was going to meet her there. The flights were donated by privately owned planes to bring the kids home.

Walking into Bible study this morning it was exciting to hear the news that R was united with his mom by midnight last night, and all 26 of the orphans from Three Angels were united with their families!

Red Cross is taking donations to help Haiti rebuild, and so is the Three Angels orphanage. They will be rebuilding to help a whole new group of kids find homes. Not trying to jump and force anyone to donate, but if you have a little bit of extra cash laying around… it is providing some wonderful opportunities and joy in the midst of all of the disaster.

The Blues and Purples Blanket

Looking back on 2009, I don’t feel like I accomplished a whole lot when it comes to knitting…. I took on two really big projects, my best friends wedding blanket and the Dr. Who Scarf. Between these projects I fell behind on a lot of other knitting I wanted to accomplish.

In the midst of all of the knitting I started a few different projects and very few of them were finished. 2010 is going to be a year of finishing…. I hope! My goal for 2010 is for every two projects I finish, I can start a new one. Why am I writing this in the blog? It will never get done if I don’t put it in writing. I really would like to get a good chunk of these done this year, but I know that I will not complete all of them without starting at least 10 or 15 new projects along the way!

I would love to say that in 2010 I’m only knitting for myself. I said as soon as I was done with Christmas presents that would be the case, and it lasted an entire day! For that, I just have a goal of finishing some of my current projects. So what is on this long list of things, you ask? Here is the current WIP* list.

Will all of these actually get finished in 2010? Probably not. I’d like to make a dent, especially in the blankets. All four of them will be amazing when they are done and I can’t wait to use them! On that note, I better go pick up a pair of needles.

Happy New Year!

* WIP  = Work in Progress

About a month ago a friend from work’s wife (Check out her blog: Mommy Trial and Error) asked me to knit a few hats for her sister. It was the perfect time to pick up the book “itty-bitty hats” by Susan B. Anderson, recommended to me by a friend from knitting. In short, I’m addicted to this book now. I knit up two hats for her out of a mix of Plymouth Dreambaby and Berroco Comfort. After the two hats were finished I just had to knit a third.

The first hat was the bunny tail hat. I knit it up in the brown to make it work for both boys and girls as it could be a bear or a bunny. The hat was knit fully out of the Dreambaby on size 6 needles. The size was for 0-6 months and came out adorable!

The second hat was the Stripey Stocking Cap. This was knit out of a mix of Dreambaby and Comfort on size 6 needles. I wasn’t sure how they would work since they are technically two different weights but they worked really well together. This was a 6-24 Month size hat.

The final hat that I’ve knit was for an cutie pie named Allie. The snowman was the name of the hat and once again, was knit out of a mix of Comfort and Dreambaby. She is six months old so the hat is the 6-18 month old size, hopefully should fit her through the winter. If nothing else, it fit her for Christmas!

Every family has at least one holiday tradition. I hope at least. While my family has a variety of traditions that range from when I was a kid to new ones formed in recent years. Every year there is a set of stockings that hangs above our fireplace with all of our names on them. My grandmother knit them all for us at some point or another. They don’t match in color, but they match in design. Each of our families has a set of them and each of the grand-kids got a stocking.

Since my grandmother passed away in 2001, the stockings had been put on hold. There hadn’t been any new kids to the family so it wasn’t a huge deal. A few years ago I asked my aunt and uncle if they knew what had happened to the stocking pattern. I was just getting into knitting and wanted to make sure we still had it somewhere. They were able to find it and mailed it off to me at college. While there wasn’t anyone to add, I had them for when we would need them.

In the last two years we have added two great-grand-kids to the family. My cousins welcomed a little girl and a little boy into the family. For Christmas this year I knit up their two stockings using Red Heart. They don’t match necessarily in color to some of the older ones, but they aren’t supposed to, each generation has a slightly different shade of colors and as the years go on they will fade to.

What are your holiday traditions?

Adrienne and Josiah’s Stockings: