Kung Fu Fighting Canine

Despite the still sensitive looking wound on his front paw, squirrel lust overcame Pedro and he broke one of our neighbors fence boards in half.

No one witnessed this so it is hard to say which part of his iron dog self went careening through the wood.

It was an older, somewhat rotten plank with a knot in the center, inherently weak , so says the man of the house. Karate chop! What will that dog do next? It amazes me how such a gentle, loving creature can be so powerfully destructive. 80 Lbs. of pure love!


On another front, the Shetland Shawlet is progressing nicely. I saw some folks on Ravelry had made cute mini versions using 1 skein of Malabrigo lace and 14 pattern repeats.
Since most women I know seem adverse to actually donning a 'shawl' I'm thinking I can sneak these into their wardrobes as 'scarves'.



I wanted to make my friend a hat for her birthday. I picked out the perfect yarn at Twisted, a lovely colorway of Silk Garden Lite that I knew would complement her long, auburn hair.
I looked at hat patterns and debated and knit on the shawlet and read this months book club selection and generally procrastinated. Then I remembered Calorimetry and cast on.
It turned out well and the fit was perfect, she loved it!



It was such an easy and fun knit and I had half a ball of yarn left so I knit a second one for myself.
I rode my bike to work this week and it was the perfect thing to wear under my helmet to keep the cold wind (and hail) out of my ears. I might need to knit some kind of neck gaiter too.

Such a fast and easy pattern and a great way to use up those 1/2-1/3 skein leftovers and stray buttons.

Injured Paw Boy

Injured Paw Boy, originally uploaded by Courtney Knits.

He didn't even realize he hurt his paw until we tackled him to clean and bandage it.

Noro Kureyon Socks

Noro Kureyon Socks, originally uploaded by Courtney Knits.

Finished some socks and blocked them on my new sock blockers from Fearless Fibers.

Copper Cupolas

Copper Cuppolas, originally uploaded by Courtney Knits.

I have been making a lot of jewelry lately.

I have been making earrings for myself and gifts for many years and decided to post some on my Etsy shop and see what happens.
So far, my neighbor Sarah is my best customer.

It is inexpensive to post on Etsy and it is satisfying somehow to have your craft broadcast to a larger audience even if all they do is look.
I just wish the price of silver wasn't through the roof!

Sometimes Only Lace Will Do

Maybe it was a very delayed response to Malabrigo March Madness or a subconscious joining of Project Spectrum-Fire after the fact.

I found myself at Twisted which has probably the best selection of Malabrigo in Portland. I felt compelled to rid myself of the negative knitting juju of this (an utter waste of time and beautiful yarn).

Once again I returned to what is comfortable and cast on another Shetland Triangle in Malabrigo Lace because clearly two STs are not enough.

The colorway is Sealing Wax and in my defense I will say that:

1. I have been actually wearing ST #1 quite a bit lately.

2. I am embarking on slightly new ground by actually knitting lace in lace weight yarn.

I have already had frustrations with the latter, it tied itself in a tight little knot this morn which, pre-caffeine, I was forced to knit up into the shawl after hopeless attempts at unknotting. It amazes me with laceweight how quickly the stitches add up as the triangle is still so dainty.

I worked a few rows today at work during meetings but it is still so wee.

Watermelon Socks in Progress

Watermelon Socks in Progress, originally uploaded by Courtney Knits.

Picked these up after I finished the socks for my mom. The Kureyon yarn is beautiful but kinda stiff to knit with, not sure I would buy it again.

Waving Lace Socks for Mom

Waving Lace Socks for Mom, originally uploaded by Courtney Knits.

So, terrible picture (see the nursing school scrub top as background) but here they are. I mailed them off to mom yesterday. They knit up really fast and I had plenty of yarn left over.

I included a couple Cedar balls as the socks I made her for Christmas 2 years ago were riddled with moth holes (it gave me nightmares just thinking about it).

I will have better photos with the lace stretched out once she tries them on (I didn't want to stretch them out on my giant size 11 feet).

Great pattern! I have come to expect no less from Evelyn Clark!

Ocean Waves

A surprising bit of Americana showed up on my doorstep Friday.

I have never seen this quilt before.
It was won in a raffle in Mt. Sterling Wisconsin in 1902 by my great grandfather.
It was made by the local 'Ladies Aid' and has every members name embroidered on the front.

There is a note in my grandmothers hand to this effect which states that it is to be passed on to the first granddaughter to marry.

This is me as I am the only girl in that generation of our family and today is my 4th wedding anniversary.
Apparently it was misplaced in my aunts attic for some time and she remembered it when she saw me in January.

I finished my Hourglass Sweater and even though I tried it on and everything seemed OK, when all was said and done it was hugely baggy in the back. It fits pretty well elsewhere but the back was literally gaping.

It was pretty upsetting and I can't bear to go into details (there are more on Ravelry) but I did not want to frog and fuzz this so I tacked some darts in the back. It is exceedingly crude but maybe I will be able to wear it once the sadness abates. I may try again now that I have a pretty good idea what modifications need done but for now I am placating myself with something decadent and (knock on wood) foolproof.

I am knitting the Waving Lace socks from Favorite Socks in Sea Wool.
I stopped in Knit Purl on Friday for hemming advice on the sweater and saw this yarn and knew mom needed some socks.
She is a Piscean and oceanophile and these are 30% Seacell and the colorway was Ocean.
Perfect!



We had game night with the neighbors last night (horrid, endless game of Monopoly, Thank Goddess for knitting!) . I made good progress on the first sock!

Happy Sunday!

Sort of Anticlimactic

I knit a hand towel, loosely based on the towel patterns in Mason Dixon Knitting. I wanted a totally mindless project to stash in the break room at work for 'emergencies', days when I may have forgotten or did not have the presence of mind at 5am to bring knitting with me.
It came in handy for this purpose on several occasions.
I finally decided to finish the thing and move on. I made it extra simple stockinette with a garter stitch border so it was pretty tedious for such a small project and I was ready to cast off and wash it already to see if it lived up to the hype.
I have only hand washed it once so it will probably soften up more. At this point it is still pretty rustic. It does have lovely drape. It was OK to knit with but had little lumps of frayed yarn that bugged me and show up in the finished piece.
I love a little luxury but for the price of a skein of this yarn you could buy a pretty amazing hand towel so I'm not sure I'm convinced to make more of these.

Lagoon Monkeys and Slough Puppies

I finally finished a new pair of socks for Morgan and the weather was cooperative so we shot some pictures this morning.

Then we took the kids, often referred to as 'the monkeys' to the park by the Columbia Slough. There was much swimming and wrestling and rolling in the grass.

I love Teasel!

Tempest had a good day at the park!

Back in Action

I'm back to the needles. I am only working on current, unfinished projects.
I visited the Naked Sheep today and purchased nothing. The stash is disturbingly large and I expect it to come to life any day now and swallow me whole.
Anyway, I have a few projects, finished in January that I finally got around to photographing yesterday.


Warm, double stranded hats for myself and the hubby for cold bus commuting mornings. Both yarns were cashmere wool blends that were leftovers in the stash. More details on Ravelry.

Rainbow Skull coffee cozy. I have been using this guy quite a bit so it is fuzzy. I buy coffee at work pretty often and often forget my cup and have to use paper. I thought at least if I carried this in my purse I could reduce my waste by not needing the cardboard cozies that protect your hand from the hot cup. It works well and I get lots of comments on it!
Once again, leftover Cascade 220 and Noro scraps, felted.


Finally my Glazed Carrot armwarmers. I made these before I went to Wisconsin and they definitely came in handy. If I were to do them over I might add a real tipless thumb but overall I am very happy with this improvised pattern. The yarn is Malabrigo worsted which is dreamy to knit and I picked the cable pattern out of one of the harmony stitch guides.
P.S. There really are two of these but no one was home to model them for me.

Life, etc.

I have been taking a little....break *gasp* from knitting. I'm spending some time being more physically active in the lovely early spring weather we have had in the Pacific Northwest.

A little gardening, swimming, lots of walking with and without dogs and....

I also started to Belly Dance again!

I convinced a couple friends to join me and we are taking a class at one of Portland's community centers. Our instructor is an amazing dancer and an even more amazing teacher.

I did pick up the needles today on an unfinished linen hand towel that was laying about.

It felt good to knit a few rows. I had a dream that I forgot how to knit. This actually happened to me when I took an almost ten year break from knitting.

It is like riding a bike or driving stick though, it will always come back!

Oh and the stash was near to enveloping my home and beginning to intimidate me. It had to be tamed and corralled a bit.

I Asked For It

...and I sure got it.

I have been joking about getting the full winter Wisconsin experience on this trip and the first part of it was mostly quaint; snow, relatives, beer football, etc.

Scooters in the snow, cute, right? adorable, what's not to love?

All that cute came abruptly to a halt yesterday as I spent the entire day in the Madison airport, lugging my luggage to and fro, in and out of security gates, re-booking three times to end up in Madison for the night eating sushi in a strip mall by the airport. (This last part isn't as bad as it sounds, though eating decent sushi in Wisconsin pretty much convinced me that I was hallucinating from exhaustion and frustration).
I will not bore you with all the sordid details but the worst parts were;

1) Sitting on the tarmac in a full plane of people for three hours going nowhere to then have the flight ultimately canceled.

2) Waiting many more hours for a much later flight (that was already 4 hours late) to be canceled again, this time because they had no crew to fly the plane.

Once again, these are the highlights of yesterday's hellishness. I am a patient waiter. I have knitting after all and I bought magazines and am working on my second book. What upsets me is being yanked about with all these false promises. If you know I'm not getting out of Madison by noon why lead me on?

I'm off to battle the airport again...did I mention the WiFi at the Madison airport is NOT free. I always thought Madison was such a Socialist place...what gives?

In The Land of Beer and Cheese

Snow, snow and more snow. I'm in Madison, Wisconsin and boy is it great knitting weather!

My cousins took me to Lakeside Fibers in downtown Madison and last night I taught Jen to knit and got her started on her first pair of socks!

Method or Madness?

Ah the single sock collection; one has been languishing for a long time, one needs to be frogged and the other two are simply patiently awaiting their mates.


Ms. Tempest really enjoys my knitting (and the couch)!
We must keep the Canine in the blog...must stop neglecting the cashmere too...construction is mostly up to M and he is very preoccupied with nursing school.


Some call it Startitis, I call it casting a wide net from which to multi-task. Different projects (read sock patterns) require varying levels of concentration. This is a very basic ribbed sock in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted because there are people in my life who clearly believe that hand knit socks grow on trees. A quick and easy knit for those times before coffee and after too many hours of knitting lace while watching television.


Ah the passion of a beautiful pattern, a gorgeous yarn and the time to sit down with it.

Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern- adapted from Weldon's by Nancy Bush in Knitting Vintage Socks
Blue Moon Fiber Arts- Socks that Rock Lightweight in Rose Quartz
2.5 mm dpns from Knit Picks

Love, pure sock knitting ecstasy!!!



Then there is the sock pattern that just wont leave me alone. You may recall a pair of Post Christmas Monkeys as well as some earlier Monkeys in STR Fluorite. I made this sock in three weekdays I think which is remarkably fast for me. The pattern repeat is so easy and fun it is hard to put the needles down.


I do occasionally finish things too, sorry not a great picture they just came out of a warm bath. These are some simple socks for a friend who doesn't take particularly good care of garments, so they are simple and rugged, hand knit sock training wheels if you will. Specs are on my Ravelry page.
For now, I would rather not discuss the two unfinished sweaters, one unfinished shell, the never ending afghan from hell (which I did work on this month) or any other hibernating projects. I am in a sock knitting mood and that is what I shall knit.
Did I mention I went online this morning and bought yarn to make a Cobblestone Pullover for M? Well so much for rationalization, I have rampant Startitis.