Knitterly Sketch Journal Pages

February 28, 20156 Comments

I’m gonna try to catch you up on my yarny travels of late by way of my sketch journal devoted solely to the items I’ve finished knitting or crocheting.

FINISHED is the key word here. A fiber project I’m working on does not get to be drawn into the journal until it is ALL DONE! Seams made, ends woven in, blocked if needed.

This final step is like the icing on the cupcake for me. I love to draw. I love to knit and crochet. So to draw what I’ve knitted or crocheted is an extra boon!

Here’s a pic of the sweet little booties I crocheted for a friend who is expecting her first child.

And this is the page for Patsy’s Perfect Tunic, which I hope you are ALL knitting one of these for yourself (FREE Pattern!) before the cold weather leaves!!!

Of course, the Everlasting Gobstopper Blanket…it continues to heal and warm and make cosy all who wrap up in it.

And the Wild Hare Tunic I knitted last week when the first snow “storm” hit our area. I now have another project begun from this week’s snow storm (actually gave us 7″ of snow instead of 1″). I’ll share it with you another day! 🙂

I’ve since finished Rhubarb Blanket and a pair of socks, but they haven’t yet been journaled. Can’t wait to do that!

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Feel free to click on the images to see them larger on your screen.

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AND…if you haven’t yet signed up for my Knitterly Arts Newsletter, PLEASE DO SO!! The next issue is due out in a few days!!! Yay!

Crochet2Heal :: Ripple Blanket

January 5, 201512 Comments

**You will need a cup of tea and a comfy chair to fully enjoy this post. Sometimes I think I need to podcast rather than blog, when I have so much to share! Just sit back and relax while you enjoy the color, stories and links here. 🙂

Several years ago, in a knitting class I was teaching, one of the ladies was crocheting a blanket and told me that she believed hand made blankets had healing properties. Her name was Nita, a lovely, vibrant and interesting woman whom I enjoyed from the moment I met her.

Every blanket I have crocheted since then, I have thought of her. Every time I’ve put one of my crocheted blankets, over one of my children home from school sick, I have thought of her. And recently, as I crocheted a new Ripple Blanket for my recuperation from surgery, I think of her.

It has been well documented that the act of creativity is a healing endeavor. I absolutely love this short video put out by the Foundation for Art & Healing. Do take a few minutes to enjoy this!

But I do think Nita is on to something…that the healing properties continue on long after the blanket has been made, to wrap individuals in comforting goodness, to warm them, calm them, and in so doing, to allow healing to occur.

I began this blanket just before my surgery in early December. I had numerous colors already in my stash and I just added a few others. I chose a simple Ripple pattern, the perfect one being Lucy’s, of the wonderful Attic 24 blog. I wanted something I could easily keep in my head, making the process simple, not requiring a lot of brain power, but allowing maximum “flow”. Perfect for after-surgery days.

And perfect it has been. I really can’t believe it is finished. I almost wish it could keep on going as I am not quite at full speed yet. But now I get to enjoy it on my lap as I watch movies, knitting socks and my Hitchhiker Shawl, drawing in my sketchbook and hanging out with family in the living room.

I didn’t realize how large I was making this thing. Just today I draped it over our queen size bed and it reached to the edges and all the way up, just what I wanted so it would cover a person generously!

As I crocheted, I decided to place the rich chocolate brown after every eight colors, but to let those other colors be quite random. These are all acrylic yarns in various brands, chosen purely for their color. I used a size I hook as many of the yarns were more like aran weight, slightly heftier than worsted weight.

I know that I and my family will enjoy this blanket for years to come. I have so many memories wrapped up in this blanket: crocheting by the Christmas Tree, watching Hallmark movies, laughing with my kids, Christmas Day and New Years…so many good memories in each stitch.

Even the colors somehow say “Holiday” to me. One of the many movies we watched over the holidays was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have now named this blanket “The Everlasting Gobstopper”, after the bright multi-colored candy by this name in the movie. I love naming my knit and crochet projects. Why is that? Perhaps it’s like naming paintings. Indeed, each yarn project is like a painting itself…colors woven to create an overall image…just one that you wear or use to keep warm. I like that, don’t you?

Gray Winter Days…

January 3, 20156 Comments

We’ve been having a lot of these. So gray and cold that even trying to get a decent photo of artwork is quite difficult. This was the best I could do today. I’ll reshoot it another day soon!

But as I was walking yesterday, I kept thinking this:

Gray winter days are best enjoyed with COLOR in your hands.

‘Tis true, n’est-ce pas?

I’ve had some “delight”ful color running through my hands lately and it has made me so happy, nearly forgetting the gray skies outside my window.

Socks!

My colorful, Crochet2Heal, blanket which I have renamed and will have a proper reveal very soon as I am only three colors away from being finished!

And my Hitchhiker Shawl. Which I took out on the back deck to knit on one of the very few sunny days we had recently! It was glorious to knit in the sunshine and see the gorgeous colors of AndreSueKnits hand-dyed yarn.

I hope you also have some delicious color in your hands these days!

Picking Up Where I Left Off

December 2, 2014Leave a comment

I’m not sure why we put some things down and leave them behind for a while. But when I return to them, it’s like a reunion of sorts. There’s “Oh I’m so glad to see you!” And things seem fresh and new and you find delight in them all over again. So it is with my poor neglected Knitterly Arts blog. And so it was with a blanket I pulled out of the place where yarny WIPS go. Oh joy! What fun! And the hooking began again in earnest, propelled this time by a desire to give it to my oldest daughter for her to take back with her after Thanksgiving weekend.

You see, I started this chevron blanket several years ago when she was in high school. I planned on giving it to her in time for her to go away to college. Meh. That didn’t happen and somewhere along the way it was tucked away. And I just pulled it out a few days before she came home for Thanksgiving this year. She is now a junior in college. Meh. Oh well. I think it still counts!!

While she was here, I kept having her hold the blanket up to her, asking her how long she wanted it to be. “Just a bit longer” mom, she said a couple of times. Yes, I’ll gladly do that to enjoy this blanket just a bit more. I was so close to the end when I packed it away…what was I thinking??

But now she has it with her at school, keeping her warm at night or while she studies in her room. I like that thought. A little bit of me is there with her in her college world. Watching over her. Staying close. Is that a bit much to ask of a crocheted blanket? Perhaps. But I like the thought anyway.:)

And…I’ve now begun another crochet blanket! I’ll show you soon! Almost at the very moment I began to work on finishing this one, I had dreams of the colors and stitch pattern I wanted for the next one. Really and truly DREAMING of it!! Is that crazy? I do hope you do this too. For I don’t want to be the only one who is kept awake at night by thoughts of colors and yarns and stitch patterns and… Well. Meh.

I do wish I could reference for you the pattern I used for Catherine’s Chevron blanket. I know I got it out of a magazine and if I find it in future, I’ll let you know. It is a quite simple pattern, easy to follow and get into one’s head so that the pattern is long left behind and you can get into the hooking zone quite quickly. Here’s a close-up of the chevrons…aren’t they lovely?

It truly is the season for blankets here in my southern part of the United States. I’m hoping I will finish this newly begun blanket THIS WINTER, for I fear I may put it away come spring and it will languish like this one did for who knows how long! So this is my goal! Finish the new one soon and keep up here on Knitterly Arts! I have so so many things to share with you I’ve made of late! Do stay tuned!