I'm late, I'm late

for a very important date. No time to say hello. Goodbye. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late.


I'll be out of this rabbit hole, soon, very soon.

Would you like some cheese...

with that whine? Yes, Paula, I would love some cheese with my whine, but I don't think it will make me feel any better.

So what am I whining about? A picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it?

Way back when I got it in my head that I was going to make Dad a vest for Christmas that actually fit, I convinced Tracy to make one for her Dad too. Same pattern, same colors, same everything, except size. Tracy is making one size smaller for her Dad. Yes, I emphasized one size smaller in a vain attempt to make myself feel better about how far Tracy is and how pathetically far I still have to go. There isn't enough cheese or smaller sizes in the world to make me feel better about how far I have to go.

As you can see, Tracy is just about to the shoulders. Her neck and armhole steeks are all in place and it looks just beautiful. I must say, though, Tracy whined just a little bit too, thinking she wouldn't get it done for Christmas because she still has to put the bands around the neck and armholes. If she won't get hers done, I don't have a chance in hell. She'll get it done, of that I am positive.

In my defense (like you have a defense, Sister), I am now 8 rounds closer to the armhole than when this picture was taken, with a mere 8 rounds to go.

I couldn't possibly end this blog with all this whining. Instead, I'll give out a little education.

Take a really close look at the picture below. Remember, we're both using the exact same yarn and colors.

Do you see that Tracy's vest (on the right) is ever so slightly darker than mine? We're both knitting two-handed, one color in the right hand and the second color in the left hand. Tracy, however, is holding the lighter color in her right hand, the darker in her left hand. I am doing the opposite - darker color in my right, lighter color in my left hand.

When you're knitting two-handed like this, the yarn in the right hand goes over the strand in the left hand and the strand in the left hand goes under. The yarn that goes under the other shows up more prominently than the strand that goes over.

Why? The strand that comes from underneath travels farther to the needle than the strand that goes over; the over strand is closer to the needle. More yarn is used by the farther strand so there is more of it in the finished knitting.

Since Tracy's darker color is farthest from the needle, she's using more dark yarn and her vest is consequently darker than mine.

Consistency here is the key. If you start out with the darker yarn in your right hand (or vice versa), you must continue that throughout the knitting or it will be very uneven and very noticeable.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some serious knitting to do.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been making Thanksgiving dinner for a very, very long time and I must say, I'm rather tired of it. My darling daughter told me last year when I wanted her to have it at her house,

"Oh, Mom. You're going to cook Thanksgiving dinner until you're either too infirm or you're dead. Love your stuffing."

My eldest grandson (who eats nothing but peanut butter and hamburger) told me last night that he was looking forward to turkey and mashed potatoes this year. But, I know the underlying message was, "Don't skimp on the rolls, just in case."

So for all of you out there preparing to cook Thanksgiving, I feel your pain. I, for one, plan to knit all day Friday as a reward. I do have a certain vest that needs knitting. I'm also having a big SALE now through Saturday so be sure to join me. A little shopping, a little knitting will make that big sink full of dishes worth it, don't you think?

P.S. As you know, Mister Ben has been behaving very badly lately. Here was his reaction when I told him yesterday that there was no room at my Thanksgiving table for a bad monkey.

My Wish List

Here's my Christmas Wish List. All I need is more time and more fingers...

I love this simple little cardigan. It's from The Tahki Book Smart Tweed Collection and is knit from Donegal Tweed.

It's called My Antonia and is double seed stitch with a beautiful cable across the middle.

I just got in the most lovely brown Donegal Tweed...





I'm, pretty crazy about this cardigan too! Lots of pretty cables. It's from Tahki's new Terra Collection and is knit from a beautiful new heavy worsted yarn called Lana.

I've chosen the natural colorway of this 100% organic merino wool. It's really soft!







Isn't this little sweater adorable? As many of you know, I have two darling granddaughters ages 5 and 7. I haven't knit for them very much because they insist on using their sleeves as napkins. Think I could convince them not to for this?

It's called the Hearts and Flowers Cardigan and is in the brand new, hot off the presses, Interweave Knits, Winter 2009.

The yarn is Cascade's Heritage sock yarn which is a Superwash merino with a bit of nylon and comes in a whopping 437 yard hank. Solid color sock yarn is hard to come by, but this one does, in lots of classic Cascade colors.




Here are the colors this little sweater calls for.





Next on my list is this triangular leaf shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Ann Budd. It's really hard to decide which shawl to make from this beautiful book, but I've set my sights on this one. Wow, eh?

I can't decide what yarn to use yet, however. I'm not sure if I want to use Dream in Color's Starry (sparkly crack), Alpaca Lace or Ella Rae's Merino Lace. Hmm, this would be beautiful in Cascade's Heritage too!

Since my last two lace projects were made with yarn with mohair, I think I'll skip the mohair this time. Ripping laceweight mohair can get a little frustrating!

I just love this Honeycomb Cardigan by Pam Allen for Classic Elite. It's in the Alpaca Stories book.

Made with Moorland, a very soft merino, alpaca, mohair blend, it looks like a really soft, wearable sweater. One of those "go-to" sweaters we all love on a damp day.

Moorland is a beautiful heather and I have a purple colorway that is screaming my name!



I've been wanting to make this sweater for a long, long time. It's the Monterey by Dolce Handknits and I love it.

You can't really tell from the picture, but it has an allover texture using a pretty stitch call the tiny bowknot.

I love the I-Cord ties and the turned hem on the bottom and sleeves. I've found the perfect yarn to make it in too. I'm going to use CEY Princess. Princess is a blend of merino, cashmere, angora and nylon. Lovely stuff.

I'm making this in the cobalt blue colorway.

Hmmm, another cardigan. Think I have thing for cardigans?

This one is the Lace Bodice Cardigan from CEY's Sunday Brunch.

It's knit in Classic Elite's Fresco which has the most beautiful halo from the angora in it. In the ball, you'd never know it has the halo, but knit up it is so soft, it's incredible.

I've picked out the loveliest shade of purple!


This, much to my chagrin, is only my SHORT list. I've got to find more time and many, many more fingers to get it all done.

That big baby, Mr. Ben, was crying the blues about how bored he was now that he was back from Paris and my darling Lilla did everything in her power to console him.

He felt infinitely better, but then she went home...He's truly impossible to live with these days.

Legacies

As parents and grandparents, we try to provide our children with legacies, don't we? We try to impart the best of ourselves, share our experiences and wisdom, and hopefully leave our children with fond memories. My dear Nana taught me to knit and so I taught Miss Cory. My wonderful parents tried to bestow on us their sense of optimism, honesty, hard work, and impeccable manners. We have wonderful memories of summer vacations, the New York World's Fair, neighborhood Christmas caroling and homemade floats for the annual 4th of July parade.

My Prince too believes in legacies and recently decided to share one of his "firsts" with our two grandsons. Here's a picture:


That's right, he took our two grandsons to a Kiss concert. Apparently, his first concert at the ripe old age of 16 was a Kiss concert. Fascinatingly enough, this concert was at West Point of all places. Back in the day, West Point was host to all kinds of outdoor rock concerts. Can you imagine any such thing happening today, post 9-11?

Of course, he asked me if I would like to go with he and the boys to this momentous event, to which I responded,

"Oh honey, I'd rather you pull my fingernails out one by one with pliers."

My first concert was Van Morrison so as you can see, we had radically different adolescent taste in music.

Here's my eldest, enjoying the show:

Papa is building fond memories for our darling kids; this one is a memory full of elderly men in makeup spewing blood and running around the stage in platform shoes, but a fond memory just the same.

For all of you Mr. Ben fans out there: he recently snuck away without my knowledge and apparently went to Paris. He's been lounging around ever since, obviously basking in his own fond memories.

Who Ticked off Mr. Ben?

When I came into the Shop last week, here's how I found Mr. Ben.


Who ticked off Mr Ben, I wondered. The first person to come to mind was that little minx Adriana. When I asked her about it, she said, "Oh, I wish it was me, but it wasn't."

My next suspect was Cherylanne. She's been a little unglued by Mr. Ben ever since he made his debut, you know, scary flying monkeys, scarred childhood memories. She vehemently denied it, but she thinks I ought to make Mr. Ben a girlfriend...

or at a minimum, some clothes. I think she secretly admires Mr. Ben, don't you?

Who ticked off Mr. Ben?

We're having our Second Annual Christmas Ornament Party on November 15 at 1:00 p.m. For all the details, click here.

We had a full house last year and it was a great time. Here's a few examples of the darling ornaments we made:
As a bonus, if I can remember how I made it, I'll give you the pattern for Santa's beard. Modeled here by the very handsome Prince.

Be sure to make your reservations soon! Call the Shop at 708.229.0061.

Vest, How do I Stall Thee?

Let me count the ways.

Here's one way...

I just couldn't resist these darling slippers. They'll be the topic of a class starting on Wednesday, November 4 at 6:30 p.m. Click here for all the details.

Here's another way...

This is our 4th Square for the Great North American Afghan. It was designed by the great Pam Allen.

Another way...

This is the start of the Bex sock by Cookie A. from her book, Sock Innovation. They will look like this when they grow up. P.S. They are being done on Signature double points which make cables soooo much easier when you're using tiny needles.

And finally the last way I've been stalling on The Vest...

Meet Animal Crackers, the most darling baby sweater. Both the slippers and this little gem are from Knitted Gifts, the greatest compilation of patterns in a book that I've seen in a long time. The back is done and as you can see, the front is just about done too.

Here's what it will look like finished:

I will scheduling a class for this sweater soon.

I've been putting away lots of new yarn and books that you really should stop by and see...


For baby:
More books and yarn...
In my defense, I also knit one more repeat of The Vest and only have one half of a repeat to go before I start the armholes. Also in my defense (I am a woman of many excuses, aren't I), I lost Dad's measurements. He's coming in for the weekend so I'll measure him again and this time, I'll put the note where I can't possibly lose it.

I'm always amazed how much knitting I can get done when I'm avoiding the one thing I'm supposed to be knitting.