Happy President's Day...How do you celebrate?

I saw Wicked at the Pantages Theater here in LA yesterday! Such a treat! My aunt Barbara, cousins Kori and Kristyn, Kristyn's hubby Justin, and their daughter Weslie came over from Arizona for the long weekend, and we saw the Sunday matinee. If you have a way to get tickets (apparently tough to get through the end of the summer) GO GO GO! I had a wonderful dinner playing catch-up with Kori and Barbara and really miss my extended family, most of whom live in Arizona. They read my blog, so I want to give them all a little shout out! I gave Kristyn a few knit items I had stashed for her youngest daughter, Brooklyn, and the Kate cat from Knitty.com was a gift for Weslie. She dragged it around the theater, to the bathroom and was still deciding on a name as we walked to the car.

I finished another pinwheel baby sweater! Seriously folks, knit this sweater. It is easy with a dash of challenging, and knits up really fast. I will start my third one within the next week.

here is the front of the sweater, when worn by a "kid"

back of the "kid" sweater

back of the "baby" sweater

front of the "baby" sweater

This one is for my friend Leslie in Chicago. She and her husband are expecting any minute now, a girl with bright red hair! I thought the greens and greys would look great with red hair.



Next up on my needles! A cable tote bag like this one. I have to write a pattern for it, but I have a general concept in mind.

My advanced students are all learning cables right now. I assigned a sampler of 4 different cable types. Once they have these 4 down, they can pick a project with at least one cable. Hat, scarf, purse, clutch, tote, sweater. Knitter's choice. I am going to show those interested how to write a pattern from an idea. From yarn selection all the way to finishing. My plan for this tote is to have a cobbler add the leather at the top (with straps) as well as a bottom piece of leather that keeps the knitting off of the floor, and gives the bottom some strength. Later in the week I'll post picks of the cable samples that they are working on, as well as progress on their cable projects.

Spend some time knitting each day. Even if it is only 5 minutes. :)

Pinwheel Baby Sweater is Complete!

Last night I finished the Pinwheel baby sweater. I LOVE THIS SWEATER! Seriously, it is the perfect sweater. It has no seams to sew up and all you have to do when you are finished is weave in your color changes. Not a big deal at all. My favorite thing about this little gem is that it will fit for 4 years. Turned one way it fits a baby 6-9 months old. Just fold up the sleeves to the right length.

here it is from the back

and from the front



Once the baby has grown out of it in this position, you just flip it over and you get a whole new sweater! Wear it in this position and it will fit a 4 year old! Just keep unrolling the sleeves for the right arm length! A concern of mine when knitting baby sweaters is that the kid grows so fast that the sweater is worn once then put away forever (or until another baby comes along). This sweater postpones that for a few years. Makes all of your hard work worth it!

here is the back


here is the front


Here is the yarn for the next one. I am seriously addicted!


Here is a link to the pinwheel baby sweater pattern. I also bought the yarn from the elann.com website, each skein was only $2!!!

All is well and I am looking forward to Valentine's Day. Mike is always thoughtful and sweet, sends me flowers at work. Brightens my classroom and makes me feel great. I am not sure what to get him this year. Probably just a card and some kisses. Hopefully we can find time to go out to dinner. Wednesday night is a tough night to schedule a date. Smack dab in the middle of the week. Can we change V-day to always be a Saturday night? Who should we write to?

Finals are OVER!!!!!!

Finals week is officially over and I am wrecked. heehee. I did get a lot of knitting done during the actual 4 hours of finals each day, so there is a silver lining, right? Here is a photo collage of some of the sweaters that the kids finished and donated to Stitches From the Heart! I am so proud of all they accomplished this semester.

I met my new batch of knitters today. I have 16 returning stitchers and 17 newbies. First task: get the new kids knitting! The advanced kids are working on pattern reading for the first few weeks then we dive into CABLES!!!!! Am I nuts? Probably! but they have been asking for cables and dpns. ok, sure! I honestly think these kids have no fear! I am hoping to use up some more of the donated yarn and have the kids knit blanket squares or scarves with cables. I have 6 boys in class this semester, which is great. The class seems to be getting more popular and there is a 20-person waiting list! Yipee!!!!!!




On a personal note, I finally finished the Kate cat from knitty.com. I changed the colors a bit and LOVE the results! This was FUN TO KNIT and really has some great shaping written in. I think my students might like to make this one! There are so many knitted toys out there. Since I am still waiting for my yarn from elann to show up, I am knitting a crab for my deep sea display in class. So far it has a main body and 3 legs. It is a start but 7 legs to go. Hopefully I'll post pics of it by next weekend.