Kreative Blogger Nominee!

I was nominated awhile back for Kreative Bloger award by Lupie and am finally getting around to responding in the way I'd like! Thanks to Lupie for letting me know she enjoys reading my blog - there is such a great community of knitters out there sharing tips and projects that adds a very fun element to knitting. I don't knit at a LYS or do any type of craft night (and not really sure that's my thing anyway), but I do enjoy keeping up with 'my knitting blogs'.



Lupie is the founder of Lesser Known Skeins and was good enough to include me with this group from nearly the beginning: Knitting with my Mother's Hands.

I'd like to nominate the following blogs - this is just a sampling of some of my favorites. There are so many blogs out there with great content and I also included a couple new-to-me blogs - listed in no particular order.

Heathen Housewife
Dances with Wool
Librarian-in-Training
Little.Yellow.Different.Better
Scottish Lamb
Hobbygasa
spillyjane knits
Exercise Before Knitting

Here are the rules for the nominees:
1. Copy the award to your site.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate 8 other bloggers.
4. Link to those on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated.

This feels odd to give people I don't know a blogging assignment....so, have fun if you have time!

On a personal knitting front, I have lots to catch y'all up on - I finished some woodsman's sock and Ingenue (in 8 days!! - and I got to wear it once before the Minnesota weather shifted from winter to spring-ish. You can't actually say winter is over yet, we could still have 20 inches of snow that will melt in 2 days and flood the entire town.). I finished a Simple Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. I really wish I didn't knit so loosely - I absolutely HAVE to use 0's to get a sock with even just 60 cast on stitches to fit properly. I am also starting to pay closer attention to the heel choice for socks - I really like the horseshoe heel. I might start experimenting with different toes too. It snugs the heel nicely. I usually knit socks with two Addis, but I bent one to the point of annoying, so I have been making this pair of socks with the magic loop method and it is quite easy. I really only knew of the concept, so I making it up as I go.

The sea mineral mittens are on hold because I need another skein of Nature Spun Sport in Bamboo. I've also hibernated the Knit Down Jumper from the Knit Stitch - I just don't care for the Cestari Yarn. It is very hard to knit with. I tried Addis and Clover Bamboos and that yarn just makes my hands tired.

This has been a beautiful day - 50 degrees in March in Minnesota! I raked leaves, am baking a ham, bought new walking shoes, picked up MI-5 season 1 from the library, will work on my second sock, and probably knit and watch a little tellie tonight.

Reinspired

I got a nice little package in the mail a week or so ago from Knitpicks. I took advantage of the 40% off book sale and picked up Custom Knits, Selbuvotter, and Best of Vogue Knitting. As much as I like Knit and Tonic, I thought I might not like the book that much. I don't know why...I think it is discouragement from projects like the Tilted Duster that take a long time to knit, have skin tight sleeves, and are almost perfect. Bummer. That's a reason I like Elizabeth Zimmerman so much. I bought Custom Knits almost entirely because I liked narrative and photos on Wendy's blog. But Wendy's patterns are beautiful and kinda hip and sassy and from reading the patterns, the designs look like they will be fun to knit, I'll learn a few things, and have projects that turn out well. Wendy's clearly got her own style, but her pattern designs are rooted in concepts from Elizabeth Zimmerman - a personal fave.

My first Custom Knits pattern? Ingenue - I started this 3 days ago:



And check out the close up of the neck, sleeve, and waist stitch pattern:



Couldn't be easier.

Size: small
Gauge: 4 (giving me a slightly larger than small sweater)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Spiceberry (I love that you can find the names of yarn on the web instead of those boring numbers)
Needles: size 8 circs - Clover bamboo

Ingenue is very similar in construction to Frances, which just shows how versatile a well designed pattern can be. Better picture of Frances:



Yarn: Cascade 220
Gauge: 4 stitches/inch
size: completely winged it by trying on regularly
Needles: size 8 circs - Clover bamboo
Hair: I got it cut - thankfully - it was a little much. Granted it was 7 am and the hairspray hadn't calmed down yet.

And huge news! I learned from Knitting in Color that Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting is going to be reprinted and available in August. I pre-ordered mine from Amazon. I can stop requesting this from interlibrary loan at the library.