kimley knits

The last few years I’ve been focusing most of my crafty energy on my knitting and crocheting but recently I’ve seen some really amazing embroidery and it got me inspired to pick up my linen and floss again.

I just discovered Karen Ruane’s blog which has some beautiful embroidery. I especially love the notebooks she embroidered.

And Evelin Kasikov’s mix of craft and graphic design really hits home for me. Check out the slideshow of her MA project. This just blew me away.

Now I’m itching to make an embroidered book of my own. In the meantime I picked up this mandala design by Martina Rosenberg that I had started quite a while ago. Above is my WIP but you can see the full design on her website.

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at some intarsia for a while now but having muddled at my short-lived attempt at stranded color work (too fiddly) I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy it. But I’ve had several Stephen West designs in my Ravelry queue for a while now and I just conveniently happened to have 226 yards of leftover Noro Sock yarn in my stash which is only 4 yards short of the 230 yards required for the Spectra Scarf pattern so I think it was meant to be.

I took my Noro to my LYS and found a good matching skein of the Madeline Tosh Merino Light (currently my favorite yarn!) and can happily say that so far my first attempt at intarsia is quite enjoyable. Although this is probably about as easy as intarsia can get since you only have to wrap your two colors of yarn on one end due to short rows on the other. Even though this is a simple-looking pattern, it’s very cleverly written. No doubt I’ll be knitting up a few other Stephen West designs in the not-too-distant future.

OK, so I knit this big wooly cowl several months ago and absolutely love it. I mean what’s not to love – nice soft Malabrigo worsted knitted in the round in a big eternal circle with lots of yummy textures that snuggles up nice and scrunchy or hangs more like a scarf.

Well, it’s 78 degrees here in Southern California in February! Sheesh. Now, don’t get me wrong, I actually love the warm weather but it is an ironic predicament that it means I get very little use out of my lovely woolies. What’s a wool-lover to do…

ETERNITY SCARF STATS
PATTERN: Eternity Scarf by Michele Wang (Ravelry link)
YARN: Malabrigo Worsted in Stone Blue 99
NEEDLES: US 9/5.5mm

I had a few months there where anyone who was due a gift was getting subjected to my newfound crochet skills. I’ve finally calmed down a bit – though I reserve the right to subject a few more of these babies on unwitting friends and family. If you are in line for a gift and I haven’t already made these for you then be forewarned. The holidays are coming up…

I’ve just switched my blog over to WordPress and have a lot of catching up to do…

Though I haven’t blogged in a while, I’ve actually been knitting and crocheting quite a bit. So here’s a finished piece from last May – the Eiki Shawlette. This was a fun project that had the perfect ratio of relaxing garter stitch and an interesting lace pattern – my favorite kind of knitting.

The pattern is by Janel Laidman and I knit it using the super squishy and wonderful Kelpie Fibers Taliesin MCN Sock yarn in the Zanzibar colorway.

Now I just need to figure out how all those french chicks wear these things and look so cool.

Who knew!?! Never in a million years did I think I would become so entranced with crochet potholders but entranced is exactly what has happened. This was such a fun swap and I already can’t wait for next year’s swap! I sent my five potholders out into the world and got five totally fab potholders in return.

my potholders – side 1

my potholders – side 2

groovy potholders that I got in return

Finished Object – Noro Striped Scarf

Not much longer after finishing my Noro striped scarf, I became obsessed with crochet. So why not combine my two obsessions??? One can never have too many Noro striped scarves!

NORO STRIPED SCARF STATS
PATTERN: I followed Brooklyn Tweed’s specs
YARN: Noro Silk Garden, colors #275 & 267
NEEDLES:  US 7/4.5mm

WIP – Noro Crochet Ripple Scarf

I’m just using a traditional ripple pattern for this Noro crochet scarf which I’m doing the long way to showcase the Noro stripes. It started slowly with the first row taking forever with all those chain stitches to crochet into but once that was done, it’s all been going very quickly since. It really helped that I put in removable stitch markers for every ripple repeat while doing the initial chain. Otherwise there is no way that I would have managed it. I know I would have missed a chain somewhere.

African Flower Hexagon Potholders

It looks like I might be catching the crochet bug. I recently became entranced by all the groovy potholders on the Ravelry Potholder Swap group and decided I wanted to join in all the fun. Naturally I waited until late in the game to get started on mine so I’m not quite sure I’ll be done in time in which case people will either be getting potholder gifts in the near future or I’ll save them for next year’s swap.

I’m using my leftover Rowan cotton from the coasters I crocheted recently and using a free pattern I found on Ravelry that seems to be quite popular – the African Flower Hexagon. This seemed like a good second project – a bit more involved than the coasters but not so much so that I’d get overly frustrated. I did make several mistakes on my first potholder (the brown and purple one) so I’m calling that one my “first pancake” and will probably keep it for myself. I do love the color combo but I messed up the stitch count here and there. Nothing major but not quite swap-worthy.

My LYS is having a free crochet class this weekend so I think I’ll take advantage of that to refine my negligible skills. Oh, and maybe buy some more yarn…

“Otaku” is a Japanese word that generally refers to anyone who is geekily obsessed with something. Initially the word referred to young men obsessed with manga and anime but the word has now come to be used for just about any kind of obsession and I’d say us crazy knitters can easily fall under this umbrella. And seeing as Noro yarn is from Japan then I say all the more reason to be a Noro Otaku!

Noro Striped Scarves – wide version on the left and newer, improved narrower version on the right

Way behind on my blogging… So here’s some catch-up from a xmas gift I made for my friend Janel who moved into a new home last year and needs all the cozy stuff that makes a home a home. I’ve hardly done any crochet before and this is the first actual finished project I’ve completed with crochet. It’s all been little swatches here and there but this was a super simple project and definitely gave me the bug to do some more.

Crochet Coasters

I didn’t follow any specific pattern though I used this video on YouTube to get started and roughly followed this Summertime Coaster pattern that I initially found on Ravelry.

I had a lot of fun picking out the colors at my LYS. It’s all Rowan Handknit Cotton which I think worked out perfect for this kind of project and comes in a bajillion colors.

These were fast and fun and make a perfect gift if I do say so myself!