Haya's Sweater

I knitted a sweater for my dear friend Hanna when she was pregnant with her lovely (and generally quite smiley, although not in these photos) daughter Haya. Sometimes when I knit, crochet, or sew congratulatory presents for expectant parents I make them pretty big-- the idea being that the item will be in the life of the child a bit longer than if I made it to fit a newborn. Since Haya lives in Madison, WI, I figure it's great that this sweater fits her well now, in the middle of winter.

Ginny's Got a Blog

My sister-in-law Ginny (who's been mentioned and/or featured a whopping 9 times on this blog; the most recent time was here) has just started a baking/knitting/crafting in general blog. She's got a great post today about a scarf she knitted. Check it out!

Crafty Donna and Crafty Di

I spent parts of this weekend learning and teaching various crafts. On Friday, crafty Rochesterian (is that right?) Donna taught me and my sister Sarah how to needle felt. I wish I'd had my camera with me, because Donna's needle felted creatures are really something to behold! I made a cute chick that sort of looked like a Peep but it was destroyed by Mochi, who was overcome with joy when she got her paws on that wool. John came in to my office and said, "I'm afraid I found a crafting casualty." He was carrying the poor chick's shredded body in one hand and wings in another. I also helped Donna learn how to knit on Friday, but she's a natural, so I really can't take any credit.

Then on Sunday, Diane and I spent a couple of hours working on various projects, including a lovely hat that Di knitted for a friend in Germany. I also taught her how to crochet a granny square. I look forward to see her first granny square blanket sometime soon!

Too Busy Crocheting To Post

The past few days I've been crocheting and knitting like crazy. I made a bag (future birthday present for someone, to be featured at a later date), started a baby sweater and bought supplies for an awesome monkey blanket (pattern via Happy Hooker). Here's hoping it will look as good as the one above, made by Big Girl Feet.

Globalized Yarn

Behold, a hat and scarf made from yarn that's traveled the world! This lovely wool/acrylic blend originated in Italy, was purchased as a gift for me in New Zealand by my colleague and cat sitter extraordinaire Carolyn, brought to New York, where I've fashioned this hat and scarf to send as a pick-me-up to my friend Susan in Colorado. I could make a complex political argument about global consumerism here, but instead I'll direct your attention to Pietra Rivoli's book, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade.


Me, modeling hat and scarf in my husband's lair, uh, I mean, office. And in case you're wondering, yes, that is an official lightsaber replica on the shelf above my head, along with a luchador, a Darth Maul figure, and a Homer doll.

Still Not Over the Holidays? Design Your Own Sweater!

I just found a funny website where you can "knit" your very own over-the-top holiday sweater! Check it out here.

My Crafty Family

My brother-by-another-brother Matt (see here for an explanation) gave me some awfully crafty Christmas presents. I'm so impressed with his ability to get me gifts that I genuinely like and want. I'm especially enamored with the book shown above, Knitting for Peace. Now I've just got to figure out which of the projects to knit first, and when. I guess I can use my new knitting calendar (see below) to work out a schedule.

Sisterly Love

My sister Sarah knitted me this amazing felted bag as a Christmas present. I'd known she was making it (we knit together so it would've been hard for her to hide it from me) but I thought it was a present for my mom. Sarah used a lot of her excess yarn to make this bag, including some bits and pieces she got at a yarn swap at Karma Knitting. That makes me love it all the more. And the fact that it perfectly fits my stuffed Totoro is another endearing feature, of course.

Happy Knitmas...

Every year my knitting group holds an annual get-together at knitter extraordinaire Stacey's house in Alden, NY. She decorates her old Victorian beautifully for Christmas, and it's the perfect place to have a glass of wine (or a peppermint martini) and hold a knitting-related gift swap. We do a "dirty Santa" exchange, where everyone draws a number and each person can choose between a gift that's already been opened by someone else or a fresh, unopened gift from under the tree. I was the happy recipient of a really cool yarn winder from Rhinebeck, and then the sad loser of that same product when someone else mercilessly swiped it from me. But it all turned out okay in the end, when I opened the lovely and useful book Super Stitches Knitting by Karen Hemingway.

Cuteness Overload

Meet Vonn James! My wonderful friend Andrea recently had a little baby boy. I blogged a while ago about the sweater and blanket I made to welcome little Vonn into the world. Here he is, modeling the goods. In the photo above he's wearing a yellow angora sweater. Below he's sleeping on the green fleece blanket I made, and in the final photo he's sporting a red and yellow angora hat (which he'll hopefully grow into further as the winter progresses!) and the yellow angora sweater. The final photo also features his Grandpa James, after whom Vonn James is named. FYI, Vonn means "bright" in German and knowing Andrea as I do, I'm sure he will be bright in all senses of the word.

Diane's Christmas Hat

My friend Diane and I often craft together. It helps that we live within a mile of each other in the 14213 (gotta show some neighborhood pride)... Today was a terribly snowy day and Di was brave enough to venture out of her house and over to mine for some impromptu holiday-present knitting. Her 4 wheel drive vehicle helped in that endeavor. Anyway, I'm featuring a hat that Di crocheted for her mom for Christmas. She's afraid that it looks more like a crown than a hat, but I think it's cute and I'm sure her mom will love it.


Also, see below for a little make-up bag I whipped up today as a holiday gift. Again, I can't say more without ruining the surprise... but I hope the intended recipient likes it.

Shh! It's a Surprise!

The trouble with making lots of gifts at the holidays and having a blog that features my ongoing craft adventures is that I can't post about what I'm making without fear of being found out by my loved ones. So here is a little tidbit-- I can't reveal what I'm knitting, or for whom I'm knitting it, but viola! Something for someone. Let's just say that it involved lots and lots of yarn and size 19 needles, so the going was quick. I'll post the item in all its glory after December 26th.

Beginning a Holiday Project: Pet Bed

I belong to a knitting group that has been very indulgent of my absences of late. I guess being in Mongolia is a pretty good excuse for not attending, but now that I'm back, I'm ready to join the madness again. Anyway, one of the excellent knitters in our group, Deb, suggested that we all work on projects to be donated this holiday season, and even connected us to a particular project- knitted pet beds for the local SPCA (so that the animals have some warmth in their cages during the long Buffalo winter).

I'm not sure exactly what the finished product will look like, but I hope it might knit up like the above photo. Of course, I'll post pictures of my finished product. I just hope Mochi doesn't web with my yarn for this project!

Oh, What a Tangled Web...

The webspinner inspecting her work

One of my cats, Mochi, loves to eat wool and other natural fibers (particularly cashmere). In addition to this not-so-charming behavior, she has another yarn-related habit that is pretty cute. If she finds a ball of yarn, she will carry it in her mouth, dragging the tail of the yarn until she weaves an intricate web throughout our house. Generally these webs begin near a table. She weaves the yarn around the legs of that piece of furniture and then carries the ball to another room, where she proceeds to web some more. This is often a nocturnal activity for Mochi, so we have to be careful not to get trapped in her tangled web when we wake up in the mornings.

A close-up of the web at its origins

The web continues into the dining room; notice that it divides into two paths at this point

Path one: Masterful weaving around a dining room chair

Path two: From the dining room into the pantry and kitchen (she ran out of yarn at this point)

Little Julia, the Adorable Disco Duck

A while back I made a little sweater for my friend and classmate Heather, who was pregnant with her daughter Julia. Julia's now growing fast, and is now the size to wear the yellow and white creation. You can't really tell from the photos but the white yarn has silver threads running through it, leading to a sparkly, disco-y effect. Isn't Julia's smile the cutest thing? I think she looks really wise in these photos, like she's in on a joke or something.

Babies in Hats

Ophelia doesn't look happy about being hatted! My friend Becky sent me a picture of her beautiful twin girls in the little baby caps I knitted for them. As you can probably infer, Ophelia is on the right and her sister Isobel is on the left. Below are a couple of individual pictures of the girls. Since they're Chicago babies, I think warm winter hats are very much in order!

La Leche League

Dawn, a friend/fellow camp counselor from back in the day, heads the Buffalo chapter of La Leche League, an international, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization dedicated to providing education, information, support, and encouragement to women who want to breastfeed. They're having an annual conference in Grand Island, NY from October 5-7.

I decided to donate some items for the silent auction they're holding to raise funds, because I admire the volunteer spirit and support their mission as an organization. Check out the conference if you're a pregnant or breastfeeding mom and want to get together with other people in like situations!

Although I haven't made anything from the Vickie Howell book pictured above, I really like it-- if you're looking for unique projects to knit for kids (such as a firefighter hat, an alien tooth fairy pillow, a mermaid costume or a monster hat), check it out.

A Crafter's Dilemma

As I mentioned a few days ago, we're soon traveling to Mongolia (where my husband and I initially met as Peace Corps Volunteers) so that I can do my PhD field work. I have a crafting dilemma, and any advice would be appreciated! I plan to take knitting needles and crochet hooks with me, but I'm planning on traveling light and would like to only take a couple of sizes of each. I can get yarn there (camel wool, which is super exciting!) so I'm not worried about that, but if you were me, what size needles/hooks would you take? I guess this is why people invest in Denise needles, eh?

On a related note, this blog may morph from a craft blog into a Mongolian travel adventure blog from the end of September through part of November. I will probably not be quite as regular about posting because I will have to head to an internet cafe in Ulaanbaatar to do so. But I'll do my best to showcase cool Mongolian crafts, so stay tuned...

Knitted Skeletons

Pictured above is our cat Mochi (Momo for short- she's named after both a rice ball and a dumpling), who has pica. This has caused some problems in the past- "big hole" and "cashmere sweater" really aren't phrases that you want to combine with any regularity. So as much as I love the knitted skeletons we received as a wedding gift from my sisters-in-law, I can't display them prominently in our home for fear of complete destruction. I am showcasing them here, however, so that they get a chance to shine:

Instructable for Dishcloth/Potholder

Here's a link to a very cool website I haven't yet mentioned on this blog... Instructables.com. I like the tutorials here because they're so visual.

I found instructions for one project that reminds me of my ReadyMade MacGyver challenge entry- how to make a dishcloth from a recycled t-shirt. With the right material, you could also use these for potholders. Check it out!