block 'n tackle knitting

I like sturdy rubber boots for west coast rainy winters. I buy mine in the boys' section, usually. But I also like to wear them with skirts and tights -- so I need pretty boot cuffs! These knit up in an afternoon. Enjoy! I used acrylic yarn for these, and they didn't even take 1 ball. Use up scraps, change colours, bust your stash and fill yer boots! Wet Coast Boot Cuff pattern: Worsted weight yarn (wool, wool-blend or acrylic) 4.5 mm (US 7) dpns (can use a small circular needle for most of this, but after you reduce it can be a bit tight, so I prefer dpns) One size fits all (women). CO 54 stitches on dpns or circular needle and join to work in rounds, being careful not to twist stitches. Place marker if desired, so you remember where your rounds start. Knit about 5 cm (2 in) in 1x1 k/p rib pattern (k1, p1). Next, knit one round straight (no purling). Start eyelet lace rounds: Row 1: On next round, *k2tog, yo* and repeat until the end of the round. Row...

Here it is all blocked! This was such a satisfying knit, with just enough colour and pattern change to keep me curious.

It's autumn, and summer is gone -- gone in a scarlet swirl of leaves on the chilly wind. Dramatic, no? Well, really I'm only pretending to be sad, because I live in the Pacific Northwest, where chilly is about as bad as it gets in the fall. Yay, fall! And guess who needs new mittens? A while ago I worked out a knit-flat mitten  that was essentially a simple variation on that old slipper pattern (but with a thumb). This week, with the weather getting nippy, I decided to revisit mittens while curling up with a good movie. My kiddo recently picked up a VHS copy of Gone With the Wind (how's that for different levels of nostalgia?) so naturally my thoughts turned to fans and lace. Lace is easy knitted flat -- which took me back to my two-needle mittens, which led to this free pattern. Enjoy! *Note: I did not post gauge (I'm naughty that way) but as long as you don't knit super-loose, this should turn out fine. Also, a gauge swatch is about the size of a mit...

I decided to go for short sleeves on this simple raglan pullover, with a bit of fair isle yoke detail but otherwise just a lot of red.

Nothing to see here. Just a super bulky squooshy garter wip.

Of course, when I found out my friend was expecting, I had to make this for her. She loved it. I just free-handed a tiny cap, but there are plenty of  free patterns  online. :)

So we're getting the tail-end of Typhoon Songda sometime today. My solution is this shawl. The yarn is DK, lovely and soft. I feel warmer already. **Update: you can see the finished shawl here!

It's Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and this is what I do when I'm waiting for turkey to cook: And here's the recipe: I tied together about 25 tiny balls of leftover stash yarn I'd been saving up, starting from the largest to the smallest and wound them into a ball as I went (so the smallest was on top). I didn't worry about leaving the tiny knotted ends sticking up, because I'm proud I used up my scraps in this shawl. I got a large-sized circular needle (about US size 12, and 32" cord) because this was mostly worsted yarn, and I wanted the knit to be loose and soft. I cast on 8 stitches and placed a marker smack dab in the middle (between stitch number 4 and 5). Then I knit back and forth in knit stitch, 3 rows. *On the fourth row, I slipped the first stitch purlwise with yarn in back, knit one, made one (with a yarnover, so I had a nice big lacy gap) knit to one before the marker, made one (again, with a yarnover), knit one, slipped the marke...