sophy's knits, notes, etc.

one of my very own designs is included in this collection of children's hat patterns, A Hat in Time. i won't tell you which one - but i have to say, it's not nearly as fun, creative, or adorable as each of the ones you see in this collage!

A Hat in Time, by Steffi Bach, is available for purchase as an ebook on LuLu. you can preview the table of contents, so be sure to check it out; this really is a lovely collection! you can also preorder a printed copy which will be available in early November - i just placed my order! here's the summary description for the book:

A Hat in Time is brimming with 37 hat patterns to knit and crochet, ranging from the simple to the complex, the traditional to the hip, the cozy to the cute. It was inspired by the generosity of campaigners who knitted hats for the now closed Knit One Save One Campaign. The book celebrates 90 years of Save the Children’s work for children and is sold in aid of the independent international children’s charity. All patterns were donated for this publication by their designers and all profits made from this book will go towards Save the Children’s vital work.

for more information about getting your own copy and other news related to the book, check out Steffi Bach's blog for A Hat in Time. and if you have time, you should check out her personal blog!

thank you, Steffi! i'm really happy to be a part of this, and i do hope the book raises plenty of money to support the work of Save the Children.

happy knitting!

today was an absolutely beautiful day in Bernal Heights. Adam, Hilary and i wandered along the neighborhood-wide yard sales for hours and found ourselves some spectacular treasures: lots of kitcheny things, knick-knacky things... and yes, crafty things -- in fact, i got these 7 skeins of yarn for just $10!

4 skeins of noro cash iroha and 3 skeins of a worsted weight mohair.

other than that, this seems to be a weekend for pattern releases. if you haven't yet, you should check out Hilary's latest patterns: tiffany neckwarmer and cerus scarf. they are both available for free download! and, i think the neckwarmer will make lovely holiday gifts for my family.

also, have you seen Twist Collective Autumn 2009? i am particularly enthralled with cottage garden, urbanite, and twigs & leaves cardigan. i love the colorwork and double picot hems used in cottage garden. as for urbanite, i just like the look of it: the use of cables and twisted stitches for the body of the sweater and than plain ol' ribbing for the rest of it -- if only my husband wore pullovers. and, twigs & leaves looks very comfortable and rustic; i love the cables and bobbles! of these three, i will most likely knit this cardigan.

for my part, i spent odd moments of this week alternating between tweaking my blog layout (yet again) and correcting my patterns (about time). layout-wise, i think my blog looks less cramped now. i also added a static page for my patterns.

pattern-wise, if you're on ravelry, you might have already noticed that i uploaded new versions of lace leaf hat, tasseled hat, and cat-eared baby hat. since they are free downloads, i don't really have a way to send notification to anyone who has downloaded them. if you don't have a ravelry account and you're interested in any of them, leave me a comment or send me email; i will happily send you a copy directly.

well, Adam has been waiting patiently for me to finish blogging so we can start watching the Rome TV series which Hilary has lent us. so, instead of getting right to it, i will post my re-released patterns tomorrow.

happy knitting!

yesterday, one of my two local yarn stores, Noe Knit closed their doors for good.

i rushed over there to meet Hilary on Monday evening, intending only to buy some circular needles and check out their shelving units; i thought it would be cool to furnish my new craft room with shelves and yarn baskets from an actual yarn store.

i valiantly resisted buying any yarn — until i found myself at the counter. really, that was just not the time to say no to the very last two skeins of Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock in "Parry Hotter" colourway, exclusively dyed just for Noe Knit. i bought them. they will become armwarmers to wear to the next movie.

Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock in Gryffindor House colors and size 7 circular needles.

the shop will definitely be missed. it was such a wonderful luxury to have a local yarn store that was open after 6PM; i could always depend on them to have what i wanted when i absolutely could not wait another day (or until the weekend), whether it was a skein of yarn to complete a project or a pair of needles to replace one that had just snapped in half.

...soon, i will be moving to Bernal Heights; there is not a single yarn shop in the neighborhood — hint. hint.

this morning, during my many meanderings across the internets as i waited for email to update and sipped my coffee, i came across Kate Gilbert's blog. guess what? — you can now purchase and download the sunrise circle jacket!

this is probably old news to many; but in the past couple of months i've been pretty out of touch with the knitting blog world... so busy with various things...

and the sunrise circle jacket is one project i've wanted to make since i first noticed it in Interweave Knits's Spring 2006 issue... but i just kept waffling on purchasing the pattern... until now.

omg! 2 posts in 1 day! but how can i contain my excitement?

Twist Collective also has their Winter 2008 edition up and everything is beautiful! my top 3 favorites are the sylvi jacket, the stormsvale cardigan, and the rebecca pullover.

can you sense the pattern for my preferences here? long jackets or cardigans and high collars... ^_^

now, i am itching to start sylvi immediately. i will definitely have to see if fifteen skeins of donegal tweed chunky is enough... i'm a little torn right now since the yarn has been in my stash forever just waiting to become flicca...

what to do... what to do?

Interweave Knits' Winter 2008 preview is now available! guess what? i love the Manchester jacket, the Victorian Yoke pullover, and the Ropes and Picot cardigan. i want to make each of them immediately. i guess you've heard that before...

p.s. i apologize for not posting as i promised! there's been so much to write about, too. just not the time for it. i hope i haven't lost too many readers!

p.p.s. Smule's Ocarina for the iPhone has a score for Picard's Inner Light. if you check out the world map, you might catch me practicing it; my Ocarina's anemoi. what's yours?

oops. I didn't mean to keep away from this blog for so long. but, i hope i can continue with steady updates for the month of September, now that i have picked up those sticks again.

i really want to finish my tangled yoke cardigan--and move on from there to other sweater projects. i think last i talked about it, i had just started the sleeves and was knitting both at once. it seemed like a great idea at the time; but, i quickly realized that it does not travel well. (and it tangles up quite a bit.) hence, i left it at home a lot. well, i also threw it in a basket in a corner... then, i pretty much stopped knitting during my morning commute.

well, i have two more increases on one sleeve to finish before i tackle the other. really, it's moving much faster now that i'm knitting one at a time and on dpns. i'm a little surprised; there was a time when knitting on dpns was the last resort. but, i guess after knitting all those baby socks, i've become a little more comfortable and adept at manipulating the toothpicks. cause for celebration? well, i think so.

speaking of celebration, i mentioned in a previous post that Adam and I planned a vow renewal in Las Vegas for our 4th wedding anniversary. it was a blast. we were really touched by the number of friends who joined us there (in costume). And now that the Star Trek Experience is closing, i feel like i have no more reason to go to Vegas ever again... the best photo from the day:

Engage.

Still uploading photos, but you can find more here , here and here. how do we top this? Dune reenactments in the desert? katamari damacy at a zoo? hehe

alright. enough silliness. back soon with more knitting-related things to share. ^_^

I've really tried to avoid buying new yarns until I've finished at least a couple of projects I've had in my queue for quite some time now or have just added to my queue on ravelry.

But today, I really had a close one.

I just happened to notice an ad for Knitpicks that was almost irresistible. Just almost because in a moment of curiosity and weakness, I clicked on it and came to this landing page. And, really, I LOVE lace and I have been itching to knit a lace shawl or scarf or something... And, here were 4 color samplers each with 6 hanks of yarn enough for a small stole or scarf... I quickly added the Sea View Sampler to my shopping cart.

Then, just as quickly I closed the window.

It's not really a yarn diet, but more of a spring cleaning. I have so many yarns that I've bought in the past couple of years that I just ADORE and they deserve some attention. As it is, I still have at least 4 hanks of Shimmer waiting on the shelf for a lace shawl project. And, I really need to spend more time knitting the tangled yoke cardigan.

Therefore, I'll be good.