Knitting 2011

So I am not a very good blogger. Terrible, really. But I wanted to show that although I haven't been blogging I have been knitting! At least a little.

Meet Edgar Rhombus

Meet Edgar Rhombus

Rhombus: A parallelogram with four equal sides; an oblique-angled equilateral parallelogram. A diamond.

…and this is how Edgar Rhombus was born, as a diamond. This rhombus shaped scarf was a fun quick project. A variegated yarn with multi-color is a must. You need to be able to see each color form as you go. I use a left over piece of Lion’s Brand Amazing yarn. I did not have a complete skein, so I knitted until I could not knit anymore. The end result a short scarf-ette or long neck warmer with pretty colors.

And now for something completely different……………………………….

I Heart Seaweed

SEAWEED……the mere mention of the word brings images of bright green alien like floating tentacles happily greeting passersby at dim sum. Mmmm, it makes me hungry just thinking about it.

I instantly became fond of The Seaweed Scarf pattern by the simple nature of its organic name…seaweed and the patterns lovely flowing ruffles. I had this pattern on my list of things I would like to knit for over a year, just waiting for the right moment. I needed inspiration and to pony up the whopping $7.00 for the pattern. Then like a chocolate bon bon with an unexpected wonderful creamy coconut center, VOILA! I received THE yarn.


A beauty of skein of Malabrigo yarn in colorway hummingbird. The color is a blend of different shades of both green and purple. Knitted up, it looks like a crazy mix of seaweed, I just love it. This lovely yarn found me by way of my Ravelry friend Anniepurl who sent it to me as part of a Halloween swap in 2010.

The Seaweed scarf/shawlette pattern turned out to be a very enjoyable project. I couldn’t put it down. It knitted up much faster than I expected, which added to my satisfaction. The pattern itself is fairly simple little triangular shawl, but the beautiful little ruffle detail is awesome. The best part was that I learned a new bind off method. The bind off was something new and exciting that I had never done before and once finished it gave the Seaweed scarf/shawlette the beautiful finished detail.

Things I would modify
I would love to make the scarf/shawlette bigger, into an actual full size shawl. For this project I just didn’t have enough yarn to play with, otherwise I would have made it much bigger. I even thought about making the ruffle longer but did not want to risk running out of yarn due to miscalculations or ruining the ruffled pattern finish.

All in all Seaweed is fun to eat and create!

My Quest for Fingerless Mittens

Fingerless mittens……ah, something I always wanted to make but felt so intimated by the use of DPN’s, thus why I have yet to make socks. This winter I finally pushed myself and made a set of fingerless mittens and guess what? It wasn’t so bad after all.

The pattern: Alice’s Mitts by Emily Nimz (Free download on Ravelry)
The needles: US 8 DPN’s
The Yarn: About 100 to 120 yards of worsted weight yarn. In my case I used a leftover yarn from a previous project, Patons Classic Wool in Leaf Green.

This was an easy pattern, which I picked on purpose. I was not going to allow my first attempt at fingerless mitten to kill my ego by adding beautiful and sometimes complicated cables and lace patterns. No, instead this turned out to be wonderful mindless knitting in front of the teletube, this I did like.

The original pattern had a slit for the thumb opening. I wasn’t too keen on the slit, so I did a little homework and made some changes.

What I did Change:
So, instead of a thumb slit. I added an actual thumb hole.
I placed 4 sts on st holder and CO 4 additional sts using backward loop method continued knitting the pattern as indicated.
• Returned to the 4 sts.
• Picked up an additional 8 sts around the hole.
• Knitted for about 1 inch (I kept trying it on).
• The BO.

This modification was very easy and the result, was a lovely thumb hole.

Now completed, I love it. One thing I did notice is that one size does not fit all. I apparently have very skinny little hands.

What I would Change
For the ribbing I would use a smaller size needle to obtain a tighter fit around my wrist and fingers.

Creepy Creatures

Since I can remember, the day after Labor has always been the first sign that summer is officially over. Although in Southern California heat waves can continue well into the first week of October, deep down you know summer is gone. Nevertheless, its always been a marker for the beginning of a new season. Yesterday morning was the perfect beginning to autumn. The grey cloudy sky was a silent friend greeting me at my door as I left home to go to work today. This is the best kind of weather for me. A little gloomy weather without the madness of rain and listening to NPR. It was a great day.



Halloween is creeping upon us. The weather is a changing. The weather is a little crispier, the trees and other foliage are changing color, and the wind is picking up every so slightly bringing with it a ting of mystery. I love it. This is my most favorite time of year. It lends itself to knit/crochet, sew, craft and of course baking. Ah, baking that which bring in wonderful smells of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to ones home. This being my muse, I was inspired to make a few little additions to our household.



Amigurumi is the Japanese art of crocheting cute little creations made of a little yarn, felt, plastic doll eyes, stuffing and a whole lot of love. Amigurumis are usually super cute little bunnies, cuddly bears and adorable kittens. I, however, am particularly inclined to make out of the ordinary little creatures. It is for this reason that I love the book by designer Christen Haden, “Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombies, Ninjas, Robots and more”. This book is full of fun and unique amigurumis. Who said the Grim Reaper wasn’t cute. The thing I love about these little creature creations is that you can use up a lot of odds and ends making them.



Since purchasing the book last year I have made a few of these creepy adorable amigurumis. Permanent residents in my home are the Grim Reaper, The Devil (AKA Mr. D), and The Day of the Dead girl. I enjoyed making them, for the sheer instant self gratification. They only take about a day or two to create.

This past weekend we added two additional members to the creepy amigurumis. I made the notorious vampire, Nosferatu and the scary mythological creature, Medusa. Norferatu has a ginormous head but with a big fangy smile. Medusa, is not the color I would have preferred, but then again I was using bits of yarn I had laying around. In addition, for Medusa I use for the first time, plastic eyes. First let me say plastic eyes are inexpensive and give a nice look to the amigurumi. Totally worth the 99cent I spent on a package of six.



I think they turned out fantastic, but most importantly the kids love them and in the end that is what counts.