Blue Sky Alpaca Baby Bobbi Bear

Started this project for our little man while I was pregnant… Um, that was 4 years ago! Our little guy will be 3 years old next week! I can’t believe how fast time goes by!

And here it finally is!  :)

Pattern: Baby Bobbi Bear (and on Ravelry here)
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted
Needles: US size 9 DPNS

  

 

 

Susan B. Anderson's How I Make My Socks...

Pattern: Susan B. Anderson's How I Make My Socks (and at Ravelry here)
Yarn: Schoppel Wolle Zauberball (Color # 1535)
Needles: US Size 1 dpns

See notes at Ravelry (id: Knit-my-grits)

Free Pattern Friday! - Christmas Edition! - Purl Bee Worsted Twist Lovely Ribbed Cowl

Ok guys!!! 

 

Just four days until Christmas!!!!

 

Eeeeek!

So here's one last quick Christmas gift idea!

 

Here's the Purl Bee Lovely Ribbed Cowl in their Worsted Twist yarn.

With US size 8 needles and big chunky yarn, this one should work quickly!

 

Happy Friday and Merry Christmas!

 

What are your plans for the holidays?

 

:)

Free Pattern Friday! - Christmas Edition! - Jimmy Beans Wool Frosty Hat Pattern

12 days left 'til Christmas!!! 

 

Eeeeek!

 

So here's another quick Christmas gift pattern!

 

 

How cute is this Debbie Bliss Snowman set?!?!

 

2 balls of Debbie Bliss yarn, size 8 needles and 8 buttons!

 

This snowman alone would be a cute gift!

 

This Frosty Slouchy Hat pattern looks super simple and would work fast.

 

It's hard to think of wearing warm winter hats around here when it's supposed to be 79 degrees here in Southern California today!

 

But it is cute! 

How is the weather today where you are?

 

Happy Friday! 

Free Pattern Friday! - Christmas Gift Edition! -Laura's Loop: Color Tipped Scarf

Ok, people!  20 days until Christmas!!!

 

Eeek!  I can't believe it!

 

So I thought these next few Free Pattern Fridays would be Quick Gift-Focused!

 

:)

This here's the Laura's Loop Color Tipped Scarf from PurlBee (you know I love my PurlBee!).

With chunky yarn and size 8 needles, working garter stitch, this one should work quickly and easily!

 



I like the color blocking...

What colors would you choose?

 

Happy Friday!

 

:)

Small Business Saturday! - Yarn del Sol (Mission Viejo, CA)

Ran on up to Yarn del Sol to support Small Business Saturday and to just SEE what they have...

 

Well... you know how THAT goes!

 

They have this cute selection of Lorna's Laces sock weight yarns specific to Orange County right now and the color ways are based on these pretty paintings!

 



Pretty Yellows, Purple/Violets and Greens in Saddleback Mountain

Beautiful water blues and poppy reds for Doheny Beach (close to where we live!)

And a pretty Orange County landscape!

 

I've never worked with Lorna's Laces yarns so I bought myself one skein of the Doheny Beach so I can finally make MYSELF some socks!

:)

 

Will work them up and report back!

The Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes

And this is done!  :)

I finished this book a couple of nights ago and I was sad to see it end.  I had been excited to read this one and hear all about Clara Parkes' adventures in knitting.

I didn't really know much about her or actually even who she was until I started seeing this book pop up on many knitters instagrams and blogposts.

I did enjoy this book but I do agree with many Amazon reviewers who feel that some of the metaphors were a little far stretched.  Sometimes they just felt forced.

This could have been two books... one book about Clara Parkes' life in general (I'd love to hear/read more about this wonderful life in Maine!) , and one book about her knitting life (her life in the knitting industry).  I would be more interested in the latter.

I will say... I do always get something out of reading and I did learn a few things.

I didn't know who Cat Bordhi was or her mobius cast-on.  I'd never heard of the 3-2-1 pie dough ratio (and was glad for that one pre-Thanksgiving, as I am in charge of pie this year).

I would read another book by Clara Parkes and maybe the next one will focus more on knitting.

Next on my reading list is A Life in Stitches by Rachael Herron and I am excited to see how the two compare!

Interesting that both went to Mills College in Oakland!  I love parallels in life!  :)

The Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes

 Started this last night and am loving it so far!

Would love to just sit and read on this cozy cold day. 

:)



Free Pattern Friday!!! - Double Rainbow Pullover by Rena Varsakis

It's that time again!  Free Pattern Friday!

The weather has finally cooled off and I am so ready for sweater season!

This here's the Double Rainbow Pullover by Rena Varsakis. 

I love love love the use of all these colors!

What a happy sweater!

:)

Happy Friday!

What are you doing this weekend?

Free Pattern Friday! - Truckee Shawlette by Kristen Ashbaugh-Helmreich

Happy Friday!!!

 

Ready for the weekend?

 

We are leaving tomorrow for the Bay Area so I have been ready since like two weeks ago when I found out we were going!  :)

 

I'm taking a break from my Christmas Sock-a-thon to start this Truckee Shawlette as a potential Christmas present for someone in the family (in case she is reading this right now!). 

:)

 

I found this one on the Jimmy Beans Wool site and fell in love with it immediately!

 

After reading the pattern, I really like that it's customizable!

The pattern is written more like a long scarf, but with a quick change of less increases,

it can become more of a shawl and less of a scarf!

 

 

And you know I love my stripes!

 

 

 

 

Depending on how quickly this one goes, I may make a few for the gals in the family

(and then one for me, of course!)

 

I love these Teal and Earth Tone colors... like rocks and pebbles in a river.

 

What colors would you use?

 

Happy Labor Day weekend!

:)

 

Free Pattern Friday! - Marche by Berroco

It's Free Pattern Friday again!

 

This here's the Marche sweater cardigan by Berroco.

 

 

I'm sorry this picture is not bigger. 

It's the biggest clearest one I could find!

Anyway, it's still a billion degrees here in Southern California so something like this with short cap sleeves is perfect for a nice evening down by the beach!

 

The thing I liked the most about this was seeing all the different ways

people made it their own on Ravelry!

 

Some made it with long sleeves... some with no sleeves!

 

Would you change anything about it?

 

Happy Friday!

:)

Alamitos Bay Yarn Company Knit Cruise!

Here are a few snapshots from today's Knit Cruise around Long Beach
(through Alamitos Bay Yarn Co)!

My MIL and I did this last year and we enjoyed it so much, we were excited to do it again this year!

We did hear today that they possibly allegedly supposedly MAYBE are going to extend the knit cruise through September!

We hope so because we want to squeeze in one more sit & knit around the harbor before the summer truly ends! 

:)

Making ourselves right at home!

Here's a nice article on ABYC from earlier this month!

:)

Free Pattern Friday! - Groove by Stephen West

Yay!  It's that time again!  Free Pattern Friday!

I know... I know... "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?!"

I dunno where I've been.  Actually, I've been tired and lazy lately.  And I haven't felt like blogging much.  Just about the only thing I really feel like doing is knitting!  It seems to be the only thing that gets me through.  :)

Ok!  Stephen West!

So, I bought my Stephen West Daybreak shawl pattern (along with 2 skeins of gorgeous yarn), um let's see... TWO years ago at the LA Yarn Crawl (at Wildfiber in Santa Monica!) and have yet to finish it.

But every time I see Daybreak in photos or on someone's blog, I remember that I definitely need to revisit and FINISH it!  It's fabulous.  And you know I love my stripes!

So, in the meantime, here's a fun FREE pattern from Stephen West.  This pattern can be found on his site and on Knitty as well!

And you know I love my buttons, too!

:)

Groove by Stephen West

What colors would you use?

I'd do a gorgeous Orange and a soft tan.

:)

Merging Ripple Shawl - Kyoko Nakayoshi (Knitscene, Winter 2012)

And this is done!

 

Forgive my rambly blogging but I'm a bit of a zombie this afternoon...

:)

Pattern: Merging Ripple Shawl by Kyoko Nakayoshi

Errata: none

Yarn: Manos de Uruguay Serena in Zinnia # 2110 and Harbor # 2444

Needles: Size 3 circulars - 40"

Mods: None

Can I just tell you how much I LOVE the color Orange...

 

Like LOVE love.

 

A good old Rothko sunset-y blue Orange.

So I was very happy to find this lovely Orange yarn from Manos.

 

Alone, it has a bit of pinky-ness to it. 

But next to the blue, it really becomes warm and sunset-y.

 

:)

 

The Manos yarn is quite nice in the hands and there were no snafus or breaks in the yarn.

It's light and I can see this yarn working well for shawls or even lightweight socks!

 

And the nicest thing about the Manos yarn is:

 

"With each purchased skein of Manos del Uruguay yarn you will be helping a woman to support her family. Each skein is signed, so you will know who made your yarn, and from which village it came."

YAY!


 

I really enjoyed this pattern and it's very easy to make.

If you've made yourself a Color Affection, then you can for sure make this one. 

 

In Color Affection, you start small and work from the top down.

And in this pattern, you start at the bottom (casting on A TRILLION stitches) and then work up, making it smaller and smaller with decreases until there are just a few stitches on the needles.

The method of creating the visual pattern is the same as with Color Affections...with Wraps and Turns.

 

I love the trompe-l'oeil that it gives...

 

:)

 

 

It's nice to finally have a real model to show my work on!

 

Here's my niece on 4th of July!

 



Oh, to be young and thin again...

 

;-)

 



It's just as visually interesting on the inside as it is on the outside!

I have to say...

I thought this would come out a bit bigger!

I went down a needle size since I'm the crazy loose knitter...

 

And my gauge ended up being exact, which is nice.

But I almost wish I had worked this on the needle size it called for

because I'd like for it to be just a teeny bit bigger.

 

 



But overall, I'm very happy with it.

 

Now, too bad it's been like A BILLION degrees lately and I'm living in tank tops.

The last think I wanna do is cover myself up MORE!

 

And here's your Art History for the day...

 

Mark Rothko's Orange and Yellow 1956