A friend from across the street came over to hang out during the black-outs (yeah… that’s another story), saw my son’s slipper socks and exclaimed, “I’d love some of my own! Will you make me a pair too?”  I made hers and she said, “I love them!  You should sell these!” No sooner had the words left her mouth (I imagine) than I got an email ordering a pair from an out-of-town friend.

Another in-town friend requested the pattern, and I decided I’d offer it here, but for pay this time.  If you’d like this pattern, just send me a private message and I’ll let you know how to send payment via PayPal ($5).

Here’s a preview:

I finished a beautiful project recently, based off of pictures like these of cowls I’ve seen in stores and fashion magazines as well as some knitting magazines, but I’m using this yarn in color 04 – Wine.  It is divine, and I sent it to my friend (actually the wife of the friend who’s getting the Mario & Luigi scarf!).

The biggest challenge I have had with using this yarn is that it is slubbed.

A slub is (according to the Free Online Dictionary):

I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who’ve requested the pattern, queued it up in Ravelry, commented on it on Flickr communities or just ogled it from afar.  This scarf truly was a labor of love, and it makes me SO happy to hear your positive feedback.

Thanks for the love, y’all.

I learned, through trial and error (mostly because I refused to look anything up online ahead of time about color-work) that twisting the yarn at the point of color change is the best way to prevent gaps and decrease dangling pieces that would just need to be worked in later.

This scarf is going to be mailed to my very best friend’s husband, who was the catalyst for this project in the first place.  Thank you, Dan, for pushing me to challenge my knitting skills and make something SO cool for you!

If you’d like the pattern, click here to open the 2010 Mario Luigi scarf!

Update 1/5/11: If you are having difficulty downloading the charts, here they are in PDF versions, all by themselves.  You can use these charts for more than just the scarf – pillows, mittens, hats, throw blankets – use your imagination!  And send me a picture when you finish your project  I used the KnitPro image-to-chart converter created over at MicroRevolt to make these – you can do it with any image!

Mario Chart & Luigi Chart

On day 1, we met and shared why we were taking the class.  One of the boys said, “I want to learn to knit because it’s not just for girls.” Yeah!  You go!  I told him that knitting is very manly, especially in the sense that he can be self-sufficient when he needs things like scarves, sweaters, gifts for friends and loved ones.

On day 2, we learned the knit & purl stitch (or re-learned – some of the kids had learned before and forgotten, so this is a refresher for them).

Today we’ll learn the basics of crochet: chaining, single and double, and maybe even half double crochet for the “advanced” kids (hee hee!).

Tomorrow’s plan: practice whichever technique you’d like, or pick a pattern and get started on it!

My goal with this introductory class is to get the kids to fall in love with knitting (or crochet) as much as I have.  I want them to look forward to the time of day when they put aside everything else, their homework, their squabbles with siblings, their hurt feelings from a fight with a friend and just KNIT IT OUT.  I want them to feel the healing that knitting and crochet can bring.

And that’s how I “stumbled” onto this realization that knitting (or needlework in general) is love.  First off, I feel love for the fibers and their makers.  I feel a kinship with the person who lovingly twisted this fiber into yarn and then sent it off into the world.  Even when my yarn comes from some giant corporation, I think about the place the fibers started from: a simple, single cotton plant or one sheep in a herd.  Without those plants and animals, my son wouldn’t have the cute sweater his Grandma made him!

That leads to another kind of love that comes from or with needlework – the love we feel when we receive something homemade. We feel the love in every stitch.  The piece of work can literally surround us in their love, especially if it is an oft-used item; a blanket, a sweater, a hat, a bag.

And then there’s the love of the knitter/hooker (yes, that’s what a crochet-crafter is lovingly called) for him or herself.  I know that when I complete a particularly difficult project well and hold it up for examination, when I hear praise from family and friends for the hours and hours of work that went into it… My own love of my abilities increases.  And it’s not a pride thing, it’s an increased awareness of how little I know about my own abilities!  It’s an eye-opening experience, because it shows me how far I can grow and develop, as a knitter and as a human being.

Except for Madame DeFarge (the only example I know of an “evil knitter”), knitting is peace and love.  Knitting is a pathway to higher consciousness and an awareness that we are all connected by fibers that reach across old hatreds and physical borders, time and space.

Up and over the mountain we went, to the Archaeology Museum (or something like our local home-town approximation of one), which supposedly had a “kid’s section.”  Tucked in the front of the museum, within easy darting distance of the front (electric, sliding) door, was the kid’s section.  It contained a small adobe hut with some accoutrement inside that gave some indication of what life was like back in the “old days” before white men came to this place.  Young’un enjoyed banging on the floor, wall and other displays with the wooden spoon that was found in the hut.

But the most magical part of the kid’s section was the upright loom.  The strings held such a fascination for Young’un.  He kept coming back, again and again, taking out the piece of wood and pushing it back in between the strings, touching the already-woven strands, staring at the pattern of the blanket that would never be finished, only begun.  As I watched him explore it, I learned anew the wonder of the world around me, something I am constantly hit with while spending time with this little guy.  Everything old is new again.

I happened across this gem of a meme on Very Purple Person:

The Tag game goes as follows:
Go to the 8th folder in which you store your photos
Select the 8th photo.
Post it to your blog and tell the story behind it.
After following the above instructions, you are ‘supposed’ to tag 8 other bloggers.

Tag!

1. Ask Moxie
2. Tried & True
3. Hilljoy Photos
4. One Tired Ema
5. Redefining Rebbetzin
6. The Baking Sisters
7. gravity circus
8. La Greenga

Participate or not – your call!  I just wanted to pass on the love and let all those who read my blog know that I read these blogs (above).  Enjoy!

Comment below!  Let me know that you read what I’m writing and tell me what you’d like to read/see more of.  I’ll pick one winner at random from all comments and that person will receive a hand-made item of my choice (depends on the person who wins – might be for your kid, might be for you!).

Ready… GO!

After a *second* dinner, he happily went to bed for the night.  Phew!

With this bib, I tried a couple new tricks:

• I made the tie-straps wider by adding a row of single crochet.  The pattern calls for a chain row of forty stitches.  That seemed sort of feeble with the piglet bib, so I modified it and liked the outcome.  Plus, the straps are adorably curly now!  My future plan is to make them shorter and wider, and sew some Velcro to each side, as my Young’un’s hair is long and tends to get caught in the tying kind of strap.
• Another unforeseen consequence of the open-weave pattern of the crochet stitches – yogurt leaks right through.  And so do all liquids.  Oops.  So I found an old t-shirt I’ll never wear, cut it to size and sewed it to the back for absorbency.  Brilliant!  Except… I cut it too small, leaving very little fabric to fold over for the seam.  It looks really amateur and I’m a bit embarrassed to post pictures… but I will anyway in the name of improving my craft honestly.  Next time, I will cut the fabric wider so I have more to tuck under for the seam AND I will use thread the same color as the front of the bib.  I used black (because that’s what is on my sewing machine right now) and it shows on the front of the bib.  Not horrible, just kind of silly looking.  See for yourself!

It performed admirably under deluge of almond milk (oops, missed his mouth) and banana (oops, missed his mouth again).  There was a brief crying jag as Momma dared to offer him some peanut butter & jelly sandwich.  How dare I.

Here’s a couple pics of the bib, in action and not:

Next up: Froggy bib!  I’m already half-way done.  Seriously, this project takes just a couple of hours, maximum.  I’m wondering if I’m only making these bibs because they’re SO easy.  Like, I’m not challenging myself with harder, more complicated patterns and projects because I’m scared – of wasting yarn, wasting my time, making something that doesn’t look “perfect.”  Thoughts?

Here’s what I’m dreaming of knitting or crocheting next:

1. There are a series of crochet bibs whose patterns are ADORABLE here at Lion Brand’s website.  I may not love their yarns (they feel too bourgeois to me… what can I say, I’m a yarn snob) but I love their patterns.  They’re easy to follow, easy to understand, incredibly easy to get reviews by other users and to see pictures of other users’ work.  As much as I adore some of the more boutique yarns and designer patterns, they have nothing on Lion Brand’s ease-of-use.
2. A knitted or crocheted soaker for use while Young’un is toilet-training.  I haven’t picked a final pattern yet and am wide open for suggestions.
3. A blanket.  I think I am up to the challenge, and with my new-found love of crochet, I think it’s about darn time I pick a pattern and do it!
4. Entrelac – any pattern, any yarn.  I love a challenge!  Someday I’ll actually do this… it kind of scares me…