Tag: knitting

The (Somewhat Woeful) Tale of The Mini Hats

My first post of 2013! And almost a year of blogging for me. This is the story of a Christmas project I undertook in July during our road trip from Southern Ontario to Alberta and back again. Because sometimes I am awesome I had the presence of mind to take yarn and needles  in the midst of getting our family on the road and planned to get most of my xmas gifts done whist whiling away the miles with my favourite pastime.

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I must say I was inspired by the gifts of my dear friend Christa, who’s been making wee knitted ornaments for years now for her friends. Each piece, a mitten, heart, snowflake, stocking, etc, carries the memories of the christmas it arrived  with us and is woven full of the creativity and friendship of the maker.

Flying along an Ontario highway, I fiddled with my pattern for a full-sized hat til I was happy with the scale of the hat. I had the whole trip ahead of me, about 10 days of six-eight hour drives in total.

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By the time we hit Michigan I was humming along, the second hat shaping up. After that each one took about two hours. That’s way more than time I’d usually be able to afford, but it was perfect for the road, allowing me to ignore squabbling in the back seat til it was at intervention-pitch and also freeing my mind to sail about as it does while knitting (I’m sure the knitters among you know what I mean!). I finished five-and-a-half hats on the way to Alberta and figured I had about eight more hats in me on the way home. Tiny hats for everyone!

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Somewhere between Southern Alberta and the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan I got back on the knitting-train and finished hat six. Hats seven and eight grew as we flew across the Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota. I was (and I am not exaggerating) six stitches from being done the eighth hat. We were all cranky and we all had to pee. We stopped at a Wisconsin truck stop. We peed. We bought charming state magnets for the states we’d driven through. We got snacks. We watched a biker couple arrive on separate bikes and have a loving exchange that belied their tough-as-nails exteriors. We stretched. We got back in the car.

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After a few miles I reached for my knitting. Not at my feet. Not. At. My. Feet. Got a zing of panic through my chest. Tore up my bags, swore a lot (always classy in front of the children, ahem-hem). But that lovely ball of delicate computer-dyed wool, my tiny bamboo needles, and my NEARLY-DONE hat, gone. I must have kicked them out of the car when I got out or in, but I never felt it didn’t see my little knitting lying lonely on the pavement. There was a moment when I could see Adam calculating whether he’d be a happier husband if he turned around … he suggested it was a bit funny and I told him I needed about 35 minutes before it was even remotely funny. There was a lot of deep breathing and muttering from me. Eventually I could laugh, if that was the worst thing that happened on the road, I could take it I decided. I like to think some biker dude with a secret knitting hobby scooped it up and finished it. That’s the story I’m sticking to.

There were less hats than I’d planned for xmas gifting. And I didn’t have the heart  or time to make more once we were home. But the ones I did make are probably that much better for the adventure attached to them. So if you received a little hat from me, now you know: it’s part of a pretty exclusive run of seven pieces. Number eight is on a biker’s tree in Wisconsin, I’m sure of it.

Rearview Fridays: Knitted Organs

Today I think it’s time to share another knitting project for Rearview Fridays, 3 dimensional internal organs! I made them as costume pieces for a dance I choreographed last year called Organ Stories. The story of the dance itself will be  one for another Rearview Friday, I have to upload some video and want to give the dance it’s due here. And these organs deserve their stand-alone own entry.

This first shot is of The Uterus, with me and dancer Krista Posyniak getting organised for a rehearsal in June 2011. I was super-duper pregnant with Gene!

Inspiration: The Heart

In 2009 I knitted an anatomical heart for my husband for Valentine’s day, which he thought was weird, but I also like to think he secretly loves that I do such things! I sought out a pattern online since I didn’t really know where to start and was amazed at all the anatomical patterns people had come up with. Here’s the heart pattern I used, it’s by Kristin Ledgett of The Knit Cafe in Toronto.

I also knitted a heart that year for a wee boy named Ford, my friend’s son who was in hospital with complications from Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Sometimes when I’m at a loss when those I cherish are in a hard spot, making something is the only way I can think of to show my deep love. I pour my thoughts and goodness and hope into my hours of work, and I hope, I believe, that the object carries the weight of that love. Ford is no longer alive, but I’m glad my knitted heart sat beside him and his mom, who is so dear to me, for a while. So this piece is especially tender for me.

The Lungs

I chose 4 organs that I’d make short solos about. The dancer spoke about facts and emotional associations of each organ and then danced a little organ-specific solo — like a lecture-demo on physiology through dance!

Here are the lungs, they tie around the neck and have super-strong earth magnets on the back that stick to a blouse with magnets sewn into it. I developed my own pattern from a few different ones I looked at online, but I didn’t write it down since I modified as I went, argh! Ah well, there’s next time.

The Uterus

This one made me giggle as I made it. And it was great when people would ask me what I was making, particularly because I was obviously pregnant while I was knitting! It was a highly appropriate organ to be knitting in my condition. I worked directly from a lovely, easy to follow pattern on Knitty by MK Carroll. I’ve also made this as a gift for my midwives, the lovely ladies that saw my boys into the world. Best midwife or obstetrician gift ever!

The Brain

The Brain I concocted myself. I used a great little Blue Whoville Hat Pattern as a base, though I modified a lot of things, made it bigger, alternated knit and purl for the earflaps so that they’d be more smooth than the original and did away with the ribbed band in the original.

Then I made miles and miles and miles of i-cord that I sewed onto the hat like a brain. It was fun to tell people that I was knitting my brain, have them look at the looooooooog cord, scratch their heads and walk away wondering about my sanity … but my plan worked! Here it is:

And lastly, I leave you with a shot from the performance of Organ Stories in July 2011. Here’s the slightly frazzled Professor Posyniak with her spectacles on and her Judy covered in organs. You can see the magnets sewn onto her blouse that the organs stick to for each solo. She was just finished lecturing about the brain and was about to dance it, which as mentioned before I’ll share in video form on another day:

This photo by Andréa de Keijzer, the dancer is Krista Posyniak.

Happy Friday everyone, hope that you’ll never look at your organs the same now that you’ve made it through this post …

Rearview Fridays: Knitted Easter Eggs

After a long week full of cold days and soul searching, I emerge today to acknowledge my blog for the week. I try to write here 3 times per week and more often accomplish 2 entries, but life got the better of me and my time! And every time I tried to formulate an entry, I had nothing and everything to write about. So I waited.

The weather got really cold again, driving us back under big comforters and I felt the impulse to hibernate — truly. Every moment possible I slept, deeply. Whenever a kid slept, there I was! It was awesome really. Disorienting, plan changing, but so good. I still only get a max of 3 hours at a time with a nursing baby at my side, so I do have big, sexy fantasies of 8 hours of uninterrupted, blissful, needtopee-free sleep, alone in a huge bed of course … sigh … and then I shake myself and wonder if I could even do it if it was possible, honestly I’d probably make a craft instead if I had that kind of time!

My Knitted Easter Eggs in a backyard tree, enjoying the burning-off of spring frost in the morning sun. And a door to ... somewhere?! (We're doing some construction)

As for the soul search part, I formally resigned from my work as a managing editor. I won’t return there after my maternity leave. It was time. There was a lot of consideration and I feel truly solid in my decision. But I’m leaving a secure place to land and a known quantity that’s been a part of my life in various forms for the past 10 years. And I’m walking towards an Autumn of mothering with my (paid)work committed to the development of my independent sewing business. I’m giving this working-from-home thing a shot at last.  And I’m very excited!

And for your Reaview Fridays pleasure I present Knitted Easter Eggs! I made them through the late winter of 2009 as my Rudi approached his first birthday. And, bless my ambitious heart, I made one for everyone who attended his first birthday party! I was left with 9 that I use every year now to make an Easter Tree, a weird but beautiful decoration that I feel attached to from childhood. I used this lovely, easy pattern from Lonie May. I think I added a row or 2 to the middles as I like a nice long-bodied egg, made hanging loops and added colours to create patterns. Here they are with some of their real brothers from an Ontario farm:

Cheers to change and bravery and possibility. And to Fridays! Happy weekend.

Rearview Fridays: A Tale of Two Quilts

Today’s Rearview Friday title today comes to you courtesy of my amazing cleverness at 3am while contemplating my inability to actually sleep while the baby is sleeping and thinking of blog titles to pass the time/lull me back to sleep. Ah-thank-you. As a tangent, I feel I should add that A Tale of Two Cities is my favourite Dickens tale and one of my all time favourite books. It captured my 16-year-old heart when it was assigned for a grade 11 Social Studies assignment. But this post is not about Dickens, or cities for that matter. It’s about 2 quilts and my first “grown up” knitting adventure.

As a Waldorf student, I learned to knit in Grade 1. I made a multi-coloured Gnome with a long body (we’re talking upwards of 18 inches) and a pointed hat, a triumph for any 6 year old. Not sure where that gnome got to after all these years, probably tending a fir tree in Alberta and smoking something fragrant on a mossy log … anyhoo, from there I knitted this and that as a kid and knew the basics — knit, purl, basic increase and decrease, I could knit a scarf or a mitt or a leg-warmer if pressed.

But by the time I was 30 and expecting my first son Rudi, it had been years since I’d knit. I had a long daily commute on the subway and thought that I’d really like to knit my baby a blanket. I discovered Knitty and Ravelry and the amazing online knitting world. There were multitudes of tutorials on YouTube to learn any stitches I didn’t know, so I waded in! I bought beautiful yellow washable wool at Romni Wools in Toronto [aside: a totally amazing wool store in Toronto, if you visit here and love wool you must go!]

I found a lovely pattern and even taught myself to cable! It came out beautifully. Then I took the washable part too literally and washed it in a machine. When I took it out, the centre bit of the machine had literally chewed my hard work up. It was so bad I laughed, learned a valuable lesson, and thought I’d keep it as a car-blankie and a reminder to be gentle on hand knits in the future.

Insanity or stubbornness prevailed and I decided to start again and whup the butt of that blanket project. I bought more wool, I did it again. I prevailed! Here’s the one that’s been bundled around both my wee boys. The blocking has been pulled beyond recognition so that it’s almost square from all the wrapping and stretching around tiny bodies. it’s been washed a number of times without incident — even in the washer on the most delicate of delicate cycles.

The pattern was free and easy to follow, even for a relatively green knitter. Find it at For the Love of Yarn. I followed the pattern exactly as given (with the noted corrections on Feb. 5, 2007).

 

Rearview Fridays: The Grey Slippers

On Fridays I’m going to dig up an old project, craft or dance or costume, and feature it here. I hereby start this inaugural Rearview Friday post with: The Grey Slippers (aka booties)!

When my 3-and-a-half-year-old Rudi was born I rediscovered my love of knitting and found so many wonderful patterns and tutorials on the internet. I don’t remember exactly where this pattern came from, too bad because I want to make more … will keep looking in places patterns might have been tucked …

Feb. 27, 2012: Glory Be! I had a flash of memory and found the pattern – only change I made was to add elastic rather than a tie and they stay on like a charm!

2008: Rudi models his new slippers. You can easily fold up the top bit towards his knees for extra warmth, which I love. And oh how I adore the delicious kankles!

Anyways, I made these as I was having a hard time finding something that stayed on tiny feet and also kept ankles warm. After experimenting with patters, these did the trick. You can see in the first shot I was initially using a twisted-yarn tie on Rudi’s little legs, but I quickly changed it out to elastic and that made them almost unkickable-offable! And they fit him for about year, love the stretch. In the following shot you can see my second son Gene’s 4-month-old feet are now big enough to walk (er, kick) in his brothers slippers!

2012: Gene steps into the grey slippers. Shown here with the fashion forward fold over with denim pants, all the babies are doin' it, dontcha know?!! By the time he got 'em, I replaced the tie with elastic and they never fall off! Plus very fast to put on kicking feet.

So that’s me finished for week one of the blog, I planned for three posts and I did them all (pause to pat back). Follow me on Twitter if you’re into that sort of thing and I’ll be here next week. Happy weekend!