Wendy Bernard's Blog, page 9

Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys - A Giveaway!

When I
was a girl, I had a "Mia" doll with long brown hair that, when you
pressed a button on her stomach, would magically pull back into her head so
that she had a bob instead of a flowing brown mane. When you pulled her hair
back out of her head again, it did make a ratcheting noise but, I, being a kid
and all, didn't mind it a bit.

In those
days I had what they call magical thinking, and I think in many ways I still
do, but my magical thinking links more to situations like the following:

 If, when I cook, I dice onions and there's a really large
one that I allow to go into the pot with the rest, it will always end up on my
plate. Always.

  Ditto for burnt things.

  Or a wonky looking cookie.

And
although what I'm going to say doesn't really belong in the realm of magical
thinking, I did sleep with a towel or a blanket across my neck for about 20
years. You can blame a guy named Andy Warhol whose movie, Blood for Dracula was on at the drive-in
behind us. Instead of watching The Sting with everyone else in the car, I watched his movie out of
our Rambler's back window-with no sound--and was so terrified of vampires that
I never slept without something laying across my neck (as if a blanket would
stop a hungry vampire. Oy. The things we do.)

Which
brings me to this: As I look at Susan B. Anderson's career in knit design and
such, I am blown away at her magical approach to designing knit toy patterns.

My
"Mia" doll may have had hair that I could push in and pull out of her
head, but who other than Susan
would have thought of Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys? I mean, sure, when I was little, I think we may have had a Barbie head and torso with a
crocheted dress we could put over a roll of toilet paper, but inside-out dolls?
When we turned our Barbie-the-Toilet-Paper-Cover-Doll over, all we got was,
well, the inside of a crocheted skirt, but in her book, Susan's knit toys flip
over or inside out and you get an entirely different view, and I'm not talking about panties
or anything like that.

I'm talking about eggs. The eggs she designed to turn inside out and become an alligator. Or a
penguin. Girlfriend is especially smitten with the Dog House that flips inside
out and becomes a dog.

What's
especially great, is with every new technique, Susan presents a tutorial and
each project that follows builds on the techniques and there are a number of
tutorials throughout. There are lots of how-to pictures with close-ups, so even
if you are a relative beginner, you will find this a joy.

Oh, all
of our old toys. My "Mia" doll is probably my most memorable. That,
and my Happy Homemaker (or something to that effect) Candy Maker. That thing
gave me such a terrible burn I still carry the scars, but that is a different
story.

That
said, I'm able to give away a copy of Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys. All I
ask is that you leave a comment telling me your favorite toy memory. I'll wait
about a week, and announce a random winner.

Can't wait to hear about your beloved toys!

 

Knitting and the Beach

I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but have you ever seen a lone, skinny hair on your arm or wherever and marvel at how long it is and that you never noticed it? Well, the past few days I've had a fan on me while I work (it's hot) and I could swear that there is a lone skinny hair tickling my chin area. It is driving me bonkers. I have checked and checked in every super-duper magnifier mirror to no avail. No hair. Not even a long, skinny one. 

I can't even see anything on the ultra magnifying light-up mirror my MIL so heartily gave me for Christmas a few years back. On that thing I can see the dang mitochondria of my skin cells, yet I cannot, for the life of me, find whatever is teasing my chin.

Whatever is there, was there this past weekend. We went to the beach along with just about every other person within a 60-mile radius of here. The good news is, we have a big, big coastline. Even when there are crowds, there is plenty of room for everyone. We have nice, sandy beaches, so we spent the whole day.

I knit. And I wore a knit when the light started to fade and the wind picked up (and that hair, or whatever, started to tease me).

Then, when we came home, we were invited to an impromptu Labor Day party up the street. So, I made cake.

What did you do?

Do you like back-to-school?

Do you freak out at the idea of knits on the beach (other than the bikini kind)?

(Because, if the knit is the bikini kind, I can say, from first-hand experience, that it is not a good idea whether that knit bikini is cotton, wool, wool blend, cotton blend, bamboo--esp. bamboo!--milk fiber, soy, hemp--ouch--linen--oy--alpaca, viscose or . . . drum roll . . . eyelash [sad trombone].)

BTW: That sweater I'm wearing is Madagascar. I just realeased the pattern. As you can see there are *gasp*, seams. But they're just on the Body. The Sleeves are knit in the round from the top down.

To Fix or Not to Fix?

The other day I was remembering a day at the LYS when a woman came in and showed off one of her first projects, a little cardigan for a baby. She hadn't been knitting for very long.

Thing is, when I peered at her project I saw a bunch of dropped stitches, snags and all that sort of stuff. I felt sort of bad but also happy that she felt so good about her accomplishment. I mean, what do you say? "Hey lady, you've dropped a ton of stitches"? Or do you say, "I see that you've dropped a stitch here and you may have turned mid-row over there. You want some help?" 

Frankly, it could have been her yarn choice (snags), but in all honesty, I think she just really loved to knit and didn't notice the flaws. 

I feel weird telling you this story.

We have all been there. And, I'll be the first to admit that I'm one of those knitters who, when faced with some sort of a problem or when everything isn't perfect, that I assess the situation and most of the time move on and live with the flaw without a care.

Others, however, will work and work until whatever it is they're working on is absolutely perfect (to them).

Which one are you?

I think that this new cap I just made up might really bug the later group. I intentionally, and randomly, dropped stitches. Although I wrote this thing down round by round, it is absolutely random. There is no rhyme or reason for the holes. They're just holes in their own right, which is just fine with me.

Girlfriend put it on and I snapped a picture. We'll have a proper photo taken when we can. 

BTW: To those living in Southern California or visiting the San Diego area during the last week of  September, I just got word that there will be a yarn crawl from September 26th (my birthday, so you should be able to remember this remarkable date) to the 29th. It's called the San Diego Yarn Crawl. Check out the website here for info on events and prizes.

Handmade Memories

Yesterday, Girlfriend and I went to her tutor's home for the last time this summer. To show our appreciation, together we made her something. By hand. 

Knitting or making gifts for others can be a crapshoot. Like I've said before, the people in my life don't usually appreciate hand-made items. There are people that knitters would consider "knit-worthy" and I can count maybe three people in my circle who would really appreciate a pair of knit socks, a cap, or something that I've sewn.

So, I don't normally knit for anyone anymore. One of the last times I knit for someone, I got totally burned. My step-father, now gone--so I feel comfortable saying so--once opened a gift of socks that I knit for him. Once he realized what they were, he literally said "eww" and handed them right back to me. You can draw your own conclusions, but knitting and making items for others can sometimes backfire. 

My grandmother knit for all of us. She knit each of us afghans when we moved out and were on our own. I still have mine well over 30 years later. She knit us slippers--the funky ones I recreated in the book, My Grandmother's Knitting--but she'd only knit a pair every so often so we'd have to wait in line. My other grandma knit us mittens. I remember them drying on the radiator as a child when we lived in Minnesota.

The past few months have been difficult. We lost a loved one to cancer. Last weekend, we gathered for a funeral and afterwards, I was allowed to go through all the old family photos and scored two precious ones of my grandmother, now living in a home unaware at age 97 that she has just lost another daughter (she has Alzheimer's). She is sitting and knitting in the pics. I can't believe I found one, let alone two!

So this is what Girlfriend and I did for her lovely tutor: She drew a picture of her tutor's dog, Chloe. I transferred it to linen. She chose the colors and stitches and I embroidered it. Then, together we sewed a little pouch.

Her tutor loved it.

I am, we are--Girlfriend and I--so happy.

And I miss my grandma and aunt.

And it just occurred to me that it is my mother's birthday today. She would have been 73.

BTW: I love this tutorial on how to make little pouches. It's fast and easy. The only change I made is I sort of patchworked the outer linen to give it a little "interest."

Post-Vacation Blues

I wrote this fantastic post two days ago but my iPad didn't cooperate and I wasn't able to save it. Now that I'm home, I'll have to re-write it. It won't be half as good; I promise.

All in all, the past five or six days were pretty much the best days that I can remember in a long time. I don't have the best memory lately, so take my statement for what it's worth. Still, if you can save your money like we did over a course of maybe three or four years, to go to Sedona, Arizona, then do it.

My only complaint about the joint we stayed at is that they play way too much water flute and whale mating-call music.

My other complaint is on behalf of my husband (HWWV) who decided to take a nature walk with Bob-Walks-With-A-Stick. He, my husband, just had to bail. Bob-Walks-With-A-Stick talked a little too much (in a very quiet voice) about each plant on the way to the caves that HWWV really wanted to see. And then when they got within 20 feet of the caves that the Navajos used to live in he tried to take a picture. Bob-Walks-With-A-Stick said no pics, and then HWWV asked if the group could walk up there to see inside. Bob-Walks-With-A-Stick said it would take him an hour to get there so "no, you may not go up there." (BTW: Bob-Walks-With-A-Stick didn't appear to need the stick so from here on end we will refer to him as "Bob-Walks-With-A-Schtick.")

All that aside, we had a great time. I was a wise woman and stayed by the pool while Bob-Walks-With-A-Schtick whispered about plants and all that. Listen, folks, I don't go to a resort like this to exercise or philosophise. Rather than detoxing, I prefer to re-tox.

Oh, and Bob-Walks-With-A-Schtick claimed that the canyons heal. My eczema did clear up while I was there. It's true. It did. But I doubt the canyons had anything to do with it. My best guess is that the lovely people who brought me fresh orange juice in the a.m. and fresh ice in the p.m. had more to do with it.

Speaking of resort stuff. Oy. While I was in one of the pools I noticed that people were reading old-skool books. You know, the ones with those hard covers. All stealth-like I crept/swam up to a spot where I could read the covers and wow. On Wednesday there wasn't even one Maeve Binchy title. Not-a-one. Among the must-reads for this place were:

Emotional Intelligence (wasn't this a hit 20 years ago?)
Stumbling on Happiness
Clinical Anesthesia (zzzzzz....)
and a newsletter called "Journal Watch."

On Thursday, I swam around and took another gander at the book titles around the pool. This day was better. We had two Nora Roberts titles and another one that I couldn't quite make out. It had something to do with the Power of Now. The guy who was reading it gets a pass, though. He was wearing a Speedo.

I did about 56 rounds of knitting. I sat on one of my double-points so I didn't do much beyond that little bit. That's fine, however. Sometimes a girl just needs to lay there. 

Madagascar

I've always wanted to knit a sweater that can truly be functional in almost any season. During the summer months, you can throw this on after the sun dips below the horizon and during cooler times, you can layer it with a T or wear it on a night out with a camisole underneath.

Madagascar is knit from the top down and in pieces and later seamed, leaving the armholes open. Sleeves are picked up from the armholes and worked from the top down and in the round. 

SIZES

X-Small (Small, Medium, Large, 1X-Large, 2X-Large, 3X-Large) Size Medium is shown with 2" positive ease.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

33 (34.5, 37.5, 41,
44, 48.5, 50)" circumference, after blocking

YARN

Elsebeth Lavold
Silky Wool (45% Wool / 35% Silk / 20% Nylon; 192 yards / 50 grams): 6 (6, 6, 7,
7, 8, 8) hanks #51 Eggshell

NEEDLES

One pair knitting
needles size US 6 (4 mm)

One set double
point needles (dpn) size US 6 (4 mm)

One set double
point needles size US 3 (3.25 mm)

Change needle size if necessary to obtain
correct gauge. Be sure to wash and block your swatch before measuring.

NOTIONS

Stitch marker; yarn needle

GAUGE

25 sts = 4.5"
and 24 rows = 3.75" in Twisted Openwork and Garter Stitch Combination,
using larger needles, before blocking

21 sts and 28 rows
= 4" in Twisted Openwork and Garter Stitch Combination, using larger
needles, after blocking

The project would suit an advanced beginner who has worked simple lace.

Click on the button below to buy a pdf copy. It will be sent to you in a zipped PDF file via email when payment is made or eCheck clears. Thanks!

$6.00

Summer

What I really want to tell you about today is my time at our community pool. I really want to rant. I really want to tell you about the hoards of people coming in with six kids each (all screaming) and how I wanted to walk up to their clueless parents and tell them that it is not okay to let their boys pee in the bushes. I really want to tell you about that one kid with a blow up toy larger than the jaquzzi who doesn't know how not to screech on top of her lungs for hours on end. I want to say that the teenagers who hop the fence and then prop open the gates for their millions of friends to just come on in and wreak havoc are annoying as heck, but I won't. I won't tell you all this stuff because it isn't becoming of me to go on about the little things. I mean there are people who would dream of having a pool in their community. There are people who would dream of getting splashed by obnoxious teenagers. There are people who would dream of even sucking on a wet, rolled up newspaper when they're thirsty.

By the way: I was at the doctor yesterday and I told her that I was exceptionally cranky all the time and was it from hormones?

"No, it's not hormones," she said. "It's just that, at your age, you pretty much have had enough."

So this is what has been going on this summer, so far:

I helped teach Girlfriend's close friend how to knit.

Loretta, when I wasn't in my knitting chair watching my neighbors come and go, filled in for me.

I took up embroidery (like I need another hobby).

By the way, I finished my sweater. I don't have a model so I asked Girlfriend to put it on. The pic is out of focus and blurry. Good news is, the pattern's fully edited and graded for seven sizes. Once I get pictures, I'll release it! (I do need a name, though.)

Winter Accessories - An Artisan Design Challenge and Vendor Opportunity

One strange thing about telling people what I do for a living is that probably 90 percent of the folks who don't knit respond by asking where they can buy one of my sweaters. Worse responses, and luckily there are only a handful now and then, are ones like:

Great! Knit me a sweater!

Great! Knit me a hat!

Great! I saw this cool (insert type of crocheted item here); would you knit one for me?

Next, I have to tell them that it's crochet, not knit. 

And then we go silent and they go: "Ohhhh; so what about those Lakers?"

Most of you know exactly what I mean. As knitters, we are viewed a lot of different ways by those who don't share our passion. And inside our community, there are a few camps. Some people knit by pattern only. Some knit by pattern and make up a few items on their own. Some people even make up their own patterns and sell them or give them away.

But if you're someone who--and I have a feeling that many of you are--has created a unique and original knit, sewn, crocheted or woven accessory that others would enjoy, something that has an artisanal feel, you might be interested in the Winter Accessory Design Challenge sponsored by UncommonGoods. (Remember that Birdy Yarn Bowl that I got from them? This is the company that I'm talking about.)

UncommonGoods is looking for submissions of original winter accessories, accessories that you have already made or can finish by July 31st--and it's okay if you've shown your item online. Out of all of the submissions they will choose a winner and UncommonGoods will award $500 and a vendor contract. This means that you won't be knitting, crocheting, sewing or weaving until your fingers bleed. They will help by sourcing people to actually reproduce your creation and then they will sell it for you on their website.

Here is a link to the submission form. 

I am closing comments because if you have questions, it's best to direct them to UncommonGoods.

Good Luck! The due date is July 31st!

Let's keep The Arts alive and well.

BTW: One thing I will mention up front is that they are looking for items made from animal friendly items, but wool is absolutely okay. I know because I asked.

Questions, Questions.

Now, it might be the weather, but for the life of me, why is it that I intentionally knit long sleeves and place it on my dress form that all of a sudden shorter sleeves look nicer?

Is it that I'm being lazy and really want to finish it?

Or do the shorter sleeves seem "right"?

And if I did do the shorter sleeves and release the pattern, will I get requests for a long-sleeve version?

And if I did provide such a variation, does it mean that I have to knit another sweater?

Or should I just finish the other sleeve, take photos of it, then rip back the sleeves and photograph a short-sleeve version?

I'm so confused.

I wanted something that I could throw on over my, ahem, bathing suit at the beach and to wear in the cooler months over a tank and whipped this up. Usually, I knit nearly everything top down and in the round, but this time, because I wanted a semi-drop sleeve pullover with a boat neck, I decided to knit two flat pieces, seam them together, and leave an armhole, then pick up and knit stitches there in the round and work down toward the cuff. so, this is semi-seamless but still knit top down.

On other news, Girlfriend is sewing again. I sat next to her for a few minutes at first and then she was off and running. I told her that should she injure herself, to scream really loud this time so I can hear her.

BTW: Sweater is Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, one of my all-time favorites. So far, I have used about five skeins for a 36". It isn't yet blocked, so it will gain some length.

 

Yarn Bowl Love . . . and a Back Story.

So last night, Girlfriend asked me if she could sew a pillow and a quilt for her American Girl Doll. And I said "yes . . ."

Back in the day (look at the pretty yarn bowl pictures), my grandma--the one who taught me to knit--would just take an old cardboard oatmeal container, poke a hole in its top, and use it as a yarn "tamer," if you will. I think some of her versions had contact paper covering them. She'd just place them between her feet on the floor.

Then, Girlfriend brought up some Liberty London (30 bucks a yard) and some imported Japanese double gauze (cha-ching!) and asked if she could use it. And I said, "uhm, no . . ."

Nowadays, they have all sorts of yarn bowls that function the same as the re-purposed oatmeal containers, but many of them are made by artisans. (See how cute the bird is on mine?)

Girlfriend settled on some leftover squares, set up her Janome Hello Kitty machine and got rolling. I started making dinner in the adjacent room. She's been in kids' sewing club for about a year and, as I sauteed onions in the pan, I remembered how she used to sit on my lap to sew with her machine. Now, I mused, she's on her own! Look at how she's laying out those squares and the batting! So grown up! (Keep looking at the pretty pictures.) Listen to that machine go! Vroom vroom!

When I was approached by the company, Uncommon Goods, about accepting a Birdie Yarn Bowl for review, I thought it would be fun. After all, I seem to be the last knitter to try such a thing (I guess I thought that is what leftover oatmeal containers were used for), so I may as well see what they're all about and how they work.

It took me a few tries before I got it to work for me. My first instinct was to place my yarn cake in the bowl and put it on the floor at my feet much like my grandmother did, but it didn't seem right. Then I placed it next to me on the couch. Still, it didn't seem quite right. The third try, I put it on the ottoman across from me with one of the slots turned away and wow, it sure tamed that yarn. Usually, I place the cake next to me on the chair and I can't tell you how many times that thing will pop up off the chair and fly across the room.

While I stirred and watched basketball I heard a noise. A mewing of sorts. A definite mewing. Hmmm. I wonder what that is, that mewing. And then I thought I heard a tiny sob.

Uncommon Goods doesn't just have yarn bowls like these. It's a website that has an interesting mix of
useful, artisan items like this, but also an array of funky gifts. By the way, this yarn bowl came with a note explaining the artist's story about how she makes these yarn bowls and why she features birds on her unique bowls (keep examining the pretty pictures; you'll thank me later).

Back in the kitchen. The mewing. The tiny sob. I realized it was Girlfriend! I ran to her. There she was, eyes wide open. Mouth wide open. Barely breathing. And then I stepped closer.

She sewed her finger, friends.

All the way through.

Right through the fingernail, all the way to the other side.

We had to remove the needle from the machine and extricate her finger from under the foot. 

I cut the thread (which had been drawn through her finger along with the needle).

I covered her eyes.

Then, we counted to three.

It was not pretty.

Keep looking at the pretty yarn bowl pictures above.

BTW: The picture here is only a re-enactment. All of us in the household are still shuddering.

Yes, she saw a doctor.

Yes, she got a tetanus shot.

Yes, she will sew again and very soon, but . . .

. . . not until she cleans her fingernails.