Tag Archives: Sarah Schira

First and Second FO – 2024

Posted on by
Reply
Saturday, January 6, 2024

We have an ice-covered lake now and this morning it was talking when I went out to take my daily photograph. It was cold this morning and we have a Nor’easter coming our way. I’m wearing my snowflake earrings in hopes that we have LOTS of snow!

I’ve finished my first and second project of 2024.

I participated in the Snow Matter What gnome KAL by Sarah Schira. She does a wonderful job and it’s not too much knitting on any particular day. Balanced with a fun story about the gnomes and a recipe or two, the gnome KAL is always a favorite end of the year. (It’s meant as a December palate cleanser, and this was to have been finished by Christmas Eve. Obviously, I’m a bit later than that … and it’s all good. I cleansed my palate after Christmas.)

This year there were two characters to create. The appetizer was the Sgnome-man which is a fun surprise departure from the normal characters. Beginning with several mystery pieces and then the body of the main character (or so I thought).

And once the sgnome-man was finished it was on to the main course. I applaud Sarah Schira for her creativity once again. I knew the white bit in the first picture was going to be a nose … and I was pretty sure I made a mistake when it was left on my desk after the sgnome-man was finished. Ha! Ha!

The embroidery on the two pieces helps them to know that they go together! I weighted one with rice and one with lavender and they’ll join their gnome friends. I’m collecting quite a fun little collection of gnomes – they make me smile.

I also finished my Sophie Scarf which I made from deeply stashed Lana Gatto Cashmere Light yarn. I quite literally have no idea where I got this yarn. I had three balls of gray (one light and two dark) and had them with my sport/dk weight yarns in my stash … it looks like they’re actually worsted weight. I used the majority of one of the darker balls to make the larger version of the scarf. It feels SO luxurious! It’s currently being soaked for blocking and I hope I like wearing it. It’ll be so nice against the skin and the color is very neutral – a really warm neck hugger.

I’m carrying ten more WIPs into 2024 with me. I am really going to make an attempt to finish them up before I start anything else. Next on my list of things to finish is my Nancy’s vest and the blue striped socks. I will also put back into rotation the pink embroidered mittens. I’d love to have them to wear (and if I like the Sophie’s Scarf, I may have to make another in pink to match the mittens. This time with fingering weight yarn, I think.)

We’ve been out for a late breakfast today and my dear hubby and the dog took the garbage to the dump and got a new bag of dog food so we are content to be home the rest of the day. I think I need to go find a cardigan to put on … it’s chilly in my studio now that the sun has gone behind the clouds.

Gone knitting.

Hurricane Lee Day

Posted on by
Reply
September 16, 2023

Today’s the day we’ve all been waiting for. Hurricane Lee has been heading toward New England and thankfully, it’s been downgraded to a tropical storm but is still hitting the northern coasts of New England with some pretty powerful wind! We are getting wind here but so far, minimal rain and our power is hanging in. (We are very fortunate to have a generator so that’s not really a concern.)

We arrived home on Tuesday afternoon from a week-long vacation in Rhode Island with my three (adult) children and their significant others and their dogs and our granddaughter. What a wonderful week we had together. I am so grateful that they all want to spend a week with us and that they carve time out of their busy lives to be together. We enjoyed wake-ups with Sylvie in the morning since we’re the earliest risers and we had beach time, photo shoots, a wonderful lobster feast al fresco and a wonderful visit to the Mystic Aquarium. It was a family-full week and we left with full hearts.

I didn’t get a whole lot of knitting time because being together was the priority but I managed to get some time in the car on the way down to finish up a little Plymouth Encore sweater. The yarn was gifted to me by one of my students who doesn’t have any “tiny” ones to knit for. I knitted up a yoked sweater, a Plymouth pattern, 2649 Baby & Toddler Top Down Cardigan. I just need to attach the buttons and give it a good wash. With the leftovers I made a hat designed by Susan B. Anderson from her Itty BItty Hats book. It’s the Inca Hat. It’s a quick knit and I love having ear flaps for little ones.

While we were there, I did get some nap time knitting in on my Norwegian Genser. I added a lifeline so that if it didn’t actually fit me that I could frog back to a place where I could make some adjustments. I use dental floss for lifelines because it’s slippery and it’s fine/thin enough to not make my stitches change their size. I’ve tried other yarns, etc. but dental floss does the trick for me. I don’t buy the mint flavored for obvious reasons but I have to admit to heading to my knitting bag when I get something stuck in my teeth. Haha. You can barely see the lifeline at the place where I split for the sleeves. I tried it on shortly after this and I think the size is going to be just right and even better if I lose my vacation pounds. Again, haha.

I love the purple! I think the design is stunning and I am excited to be able to wear it. The yarn is ASK yarn from Norway and it’s a rustic sport weight wool so the sweater won’t be too warm. I hope. Now I just have inches and inches of stockinette stitch. I will be trying it on again soon – maybe today – just to check the fit once more. Fingers crossed.

I’ve cast on a pumpkin hat and will make two of these to send to my daughter’s friend who has two boys. I never sent anything when the second son was born so I’ve been thinking about it for nearly a year. The pattern is Patrick’s Pumpkin and I’m knitting them in Encore worsted by Plymouth. I’ve made several in Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece but I thought that Encore would be an easy care choice for these hats. Life with two young boys isn’t “easy”. I also made a bit of a change in the pattern. Where the band calls for knitting with two strands held double, I’ve chosen, this time, to knit with one strand and when I got to the increase round, I increased with a M1. It seems to be ok and the band isn’t as “inflexible” as I remember it being. I’ll plan to finish the first hat, a large size, today and start a medium size when I finish the first – hope they’ll both fit for fall’s cooler weather.

I pulled out some fingering weight scraps of yarn to bring to the beach but I never touched it. The plan was to knit up a few gnomes. I bought Sarah Schira’s Grimblewoods Collection several months ago and want to make a little gnome family for our house at Christmas time – and maybe it’ll be out all year, too. Anyway, I never touched it. I didn’t get much knitting in while on vacation but I will get one cast on today or tomorrow. I fell in love with the collection because of Gnedward (my hubby’s name is Edward.)

Some unhappy news is that we lost our grand-dog Bessie. She had had a seizure when they were out in California and despite having put her on anti-seizure meds, she’s continued to have seizures. While they were on the Cape visiting the other grandparents after our beach trip, Bessie had five seizures and they couldn’t get them controlled. Bessie was a “foster fail” about eight years ago. I was there the day she was adopted and then returned. My daughter was so protective of Bessie and I knew she was home forever at that time. Somewhere I have a photo of Bessie and Mabel on the couch in their NYC apartment. Mabel looks like she’s praying to be rid of the big dog that Bessie was (they nicknamed her “Bus”). Our family has a 60 pound hole in our hearts and the kids are really suffering her loss. Rest well, sweet Bus. We will all miss you.

Gone knitting.

Gnoming

Posted on by
2
A Gnumber of Gnomes

I’m up to five gnomes in my gnitted gnome collection. I have several more to gnit and I will get them done. They’re so much fun! And they’re really cute.

All of my gnomes are patterns written by Imagined Landscapes’ Sarah Schira. Her patterns are often offered in MKAL format which offers you the opportunity to knit a gnome over a short period of time (and print the pattern on lots of paper.) I have also purchased some of Sarah’s “gnormal” gnome patterns (not MKALs) that I want to knit. I enjoy the KALs and I think I’ll also enjoy the simple pleasure of knitting a gnome at my own pace.

Left to right (above) are my current gnomes:

Most recent FO is Gnot just another Gnome, Gnathan. I knitted my gnome in worsted weight yarn rather than the proscribed fingering weight. I love my giant gnome. I used DPNs smaller than the yarn wrapper indicated and checked the fabric to make sure that it was tight enough that the stuffing wouldn’t show through once the gnome was finished. I used US 5 DPNs throughout. My Gnathan has gnarly arms (they look a bit too thin) so in the future I’d add a stitch or two to the i-cord numbers to make them more proportional. But he’s acceptable just the way he is … he will have to do more pull-ups to build his arm muscles! LOL! Gnathat has some wonderful cables on his hat and on the side of his body. The cables on the sides run from the base to the tip of the hat. It must be my Irish heritage, I love cables.

“Gnathan”, Gnot Just Another Gnome

Second from the left is Gnome is Where You Hang Your Hat. This one was really fun because it was a stranded knitting design from the start and this gnome (gnamed Gnemo) got a hand-knit sweater! This little guy is knit in fingering weight yarn and US 1 1/2 needles. I’d love to make this guy again in a sport-weight yarn so he’s a little bit bigger. I didn’t weight this gnome … probably because I was lazy and didn’t have anything in my studio at my fingertips. That’s a bummer because he does tip over. I’d also like to make one of these with the hat pointing up. It’s a lovely piece of knitting!

Gnome is Where You Hang Your Hat, “Gnemo”

Gnutmeg is the next one in the lineup, pattern name is the ADVENTure Gnome. This one was knitted in early December 2020 thus it’s name. I used all leftover yarn bits and bobs. I actually love this guy, too. This was a MKAL knitting project. I love love love his boots! This would be fun to make in a heavier weight needle, too. This one is in sort-of-holiday colors … I was in a sort-of-holiday mood, apparently. I’d rather the gnomes not be too holiday-ish because they stay out all year. Until now, they’ve lived on a bookshelf in my atelier. They may move downstairs in the wintertime. This pattern came with a pattern for a Christmas ball, knitted of course, and two recipes.

ADVENTURE Gnome, “Gnutmeg”

The first gnome project I embarked on, and the last two in the lineup, was Oh, Gnome, You Didn’t! I may have un-gnowmingly knitted the first Gnellie with the wrong size needle and so I decided to knit a second Gnellie (appropriately named Gnellie 2.) Again, I used leftover scraps of fingering weight yarns from my bins (and bins and bins) of little bits of sock yarns. I braided Gnellie’s hat but left Gnellie 2’s hat alone with its three points. I love the Gnellies’ pockets!

Oh, Gnome, You Didn’t!

These guys would be fun to make more of. It’s probably good that Sarah keeps adding MKALs because the likelihood of me having time to make duplicates at any time soon is unlikely. I have already bought four more of Sarah’s patterns and I absolutely will knit them all … as I type this I am printing out the pattern for Gnome de Plume (Gnatalie to be) … I may have to knit two; one with braids and one without!

Gone knitting.