unexpected guests

"why, thank you edward for being such a dear and modeling my mrs darcy cardi WIP. what? what's that?"


ryan wants to help too.

a good place to be

i've never been so happy for the weekend in my life. my week was filled with turmoil of all sorts, both work and personal, and i was ready for it to be over on monday night. but i've survived and can only hope that next week will be a bit easier and relatively drama-free. step one on that road is an ankle x-ray tomorrow - blah.

i've been recuperating with a lot of knitting, reading, and bunny petting. it's difficult to be stressed out during a gorgeous weekend in venice!


yep, that's the cuff of a sleeve! i've finished the body of my mrs darcy cardi, knit all in one piece up to the arm scythes because i. hate. seaming. (no, the minimalist cardi is still NOT sewn up.) i can do it, but i don't like it. due to my fragile already-stressed state right now, as seamless as possible is the way to go - the sleeves will be knit in the round up to the caps too.

i also went to ikea this weekend and bought mr b his very own pillow; he's been borrowing one from the couch (he likes to sit on it at the foot of the couch and watch tv with us; it also helps him gain foothold and jump up to sit with us). i covered it with a nice soft piece of (washable) fleece velcroed together on the bottom and he's enjoying trying to pull that off!


just because it's been a week, i'm going to post gratuitous pet photos. we all need a little cute sometimes, right?






(don't worry, cole's still with us - he just won't pose for me this morning!)

finally, before i sign off, i wanted to thank the lovely folk at craftster and lime & violet for featuring bella's mittens this week!

happy sunday 'yall!

facing the music

well, it finally happened: the third of my three longest needle cords finally gave out. one, i was okay. two, i could manage. three? can't handle. good thing denise interchangeable knitting needle kits have lifetime warranties!

new year, new knitting

so one of my resolutions this year is to find projects for yarn destined to my stash through no fault of its own. i'm not talking pure stash yarn, bought with no purpose in mind. i'm talking about yarn purchased for a specific project that turned out to be completely and utterly unsuited for that knit - or yarn purchased for a project with which i too quickly became bored. i've already made some headway this week.


this is nashua handknits creative worsted, a single-ply with a very, very light twist that began as some lacy cape thing from an old issue of vogue knitting, purchased maybe three years ago. because it's single-ply and loosely spun, it's no good for ribbing or high-relief texture stitches; it kind of just droops. so i'm swatching up some lace-based ideas. (also check out the little b pendant - aww!)


i've also cast on the mrs darcy cardigan using knit picks shine worsted originally intended for snow white. i bought this yarn a couple of years ago and realized - again - that the slick cotton just would not be appropriate for all of the ribbing that basically is snow white. the mrs darci cardi is stockinette-based and my version will be nice and drapey and soft!

also, for the holidays i received a skein of lovely lismore sheep farm wool from a dear friend. it's gorgeous, don't you agree?


it's also very, very "sheepy": slick with the sheep's natural oils and such. i have some ideas for this gorgeous yarn and our couch is a light cream color, so i decided to wash it up a bit.


that second photo? wash #4. oh yeah. i didn't wash out all of the natural oils - just enough to keep my hands and couch clean!

off to sunday brunch - happy knitting!

unwrapped

or all wrapped up? a knitting year in review!


three pairs of mittens


four neck/wrap-type things


five hats


and six sweaters!
which is more than double the amount i knit in 2007! very few duds - that modern lace henley never really got off the ground, and the carrie cropped cardi is too tight in the arms (yes, i bought more yarn to reknit but there are too many new projects to work on!). and then there was the disaster with the olive branch hoodie zipper - did i ever tell 'yall about that? probably not. it's hiding in shame.

here's to a better 2009! happy knitting!

bella's mittens - updated pattern!

with help from my mom, i finally had the opportunity to take some decent photos of bella's mittens. i've also fixed a couple of typos in the original pattern. you can download the new version here.

everyday

b's family gave me my own tree to decorate with much-loved ornaments my mom sent from home. b and his sister added their favorite homemade baubles and we're calling this the kids' tree. like the kids' table at thanksgiving, but better.

happy holidays if you celebrate; peace on earth and goodwill to you and yours even if you don't!

last-minute decisions

i definitely had my most harried get-out-of-the-house-and-into-a-cab pre-flight experience yesterday morning, but i still managed to throw a skein of cascade 220 and #7 circs into my carry-on at the last possible moment.


you know that whole "i'm not knitting anything for anyone this holiday season" mantra it seems everyone's been espousing? i was on that bandwagon. happily seated, enjoying the ride. and then i remembered that my dad's been wearing the same roll-brim hat i knit for him since the first winter i re-discovered my love for knitting - like, five years ago. (everyone got a stockinette hat that year - if you were lucky, i got around to you closer to the holiday and yours had a ribbed band rather than rolled!)

it's time for an upgrade.

this year, i'm in ohio with b for the holidays and i won't see my parents until the day after xmas, so i've plenty of time, and i'm almost done anyway. a nice delay in the airport (they couldn't find the flight crew?!!!) saw to that.

happy travels!

it's upon us...

spent the morning at the promenade (think big, outdoor mall *shudder*) finishing up my holiday shopping. came home, wrapped everything up, and played with wool.


quick and easy felted bowls; no pattern necessary. just use the needles you normally would for the wool weight (or maybe go up a size - slightly loose stitches seem to felt better than tight ones), cast on however many stitches you want for your circumference in a multiple of four, and knit in the round until your bowl is as tall as you want it to be, remembering that the whole thing is going to shrink when you felt it, and it will shrink more lengthwise than widthwise (yeah, i've made a few rather shallow felted purses in my past, oops!). then divide your stitches into four groups with markers and k2tog and ssk on either side of your markers every other row until you only have eight stitches left. cut yourself a nice long tail and using a tapestry needle, thread up your live stitches. cinch and bind off.

i like to be hands-on with the actual felting process, so i fill up the sink with hot water and squeeze in a good amount of dishwashing soap. knead your bowl until you can't see the individual stitches anymore (you may need to change the water as it cools down or gets too fuzzy/full of dye). rinse. find a cup or bowl the shape you want your felted bowl to be and stick it in there overnight. take it out the next day to dry fully. enjoy!

(yes, we do have quite an army of two-buck chuck there in the background. we finally gave in this week and bought a case - company coming and all!)

vista

met some friends this afternoon for a beautiful hike in malibu - just a few miles each way, with the ocean in sight the entire climb and a great look-out point at the end. we will definitely be returning.

tomorrow, one of my favorite people comes to visit for the week, so please excuse me while i go clean the house!

maggie's armwarmers

the cabled armwarmers have been named and the pattern is up!


the maggie armwarmers feature a classic cable pattern up the back and palm, twisting around the thumb gusset. guaranteed to keep your mitts toasty while leaving your fingers free to read, write, draw, or knit!

it's my party

yep, i'm working on another mitten! but i've been a bit distracted these week.


as b says, it was birthday week. amongst many other wonderful things, he brought home these beautiful tulips, and they fully opened today. so pretty!


mr b celebrated by chewing on my yoga mat. i think he was silently protesting the arrival of another bunny in the household:


a knit chocolate bunny from beigeberry! so adorable!

i celebrated with lots of indian food - first, on my actual birthday with b, and tonight with a friend. we went to little india in artesia - an adventure for us both ($100,000 watches, anyone?) - and she decided to take me to a restaurant that specializes in dosa. as this was my first experience with dosa, i asked her to order for me, and she chose the paper masala dosa.


a requirement for being my friend? a good sense of humor. ;)

(many thanks to cleolinda and the twilight lexicon for the link-backs this week!)

getting in touch

hey everyone,

i've received a few questions/requests in the comments section that i can't respond to, because email addresses aren't linked or blogger profiles are private. if you'd like to get in touch with me - and you'd like me to email you back - please send me a note at webmaster[at]subliminalrabbit[dot]com from your personal email address.

take care,
marri

wow.

umm, hi everyone. nice to meet you. glad you like the mittens!

i wanted to take this opportunity to mention some other fantastic free twilight-inspired patterns out there for fans who knit or crochet - patterns that inspired me to give those mittens a shot.


1. Eclipse Socks, 2. Rosalie Scarf, 3. La Push Hat, 4. Twilight Socks

links above are to the photos. here are links to the patterns:

Julie Miller's Eclipse Socks

A.M. Down's Rosalie Hale Scarf

JennyHat's Bella Swan La Push Hat

Chicken Betty's Twilight Cover Socks

enjoy!

bella's mittens

**UPDATE: Click here for the latest Bella's Mittens pattern and photos**

*********************************************************************************

(Original Post)

new (free) design available on the sidebar - or here (pdf download). it's a first draft - need to take some decent photos in sunlight after the mitts are fully dry.

these were inspired by mittens kristen stewart wears as bella in the movie twilight. yeah, admit it - you're obsessed too!

this seems to be a theme

yep, another saturday night spent designing! this afternoon i received a package from webs: cascade 109 in the color platinum. the color and gauge seem perfect for an attempt at replicating bella's beautiful horseshoe cable mittens from twilight. my swatches are blocking now!

in the meantime, i've knit up a surprise holiday gift and finished my owl mittens (which are also blocking). here's a photo of the unblocked first mitt:


now to find the perfect button eyes! happy thanksgiving weekend, all.

it's raining! los angeles gets so little rain, it's like a party every time it happens. our new house has two skylights and it's so fun when it rains.


this was our monday night: the decemberists at the wiltern. oh, it was a wonderful show! one of those concerts where everyone in the crowd is either singing or hushed, listening, and dancing. no background babble; everyone totally into it. they are SO GOOD. this video captures one of my favorite moments - you can't see it, but everyone in the audience is swaying and singing and it was just amazing. if you ever get the chance to see them live, do.

my kind of saturday night

yes, mom - i'm working on it!

sparkly monsters

the longest line in the west.


team jacob hits the concrete.


an hour and a half later, there are still smiles?


screeching tweens + sparkly monsters = good times.

much ado about knitting

so. i've finished knitting the minimalist cardi, but it's sitting in my knitting bag partially seamed. i had an altercation with mattress stitch - it just won't look even on both sides of the sleeve cap. did some research and asked the nice folk on ravelry and it all amounts to the inevitable riiippp... looks like i need to seam this sucker up using backstitch. which is a yarn-eater, and i'm currently using the extra skein of cascade 220 for these:


i came aross the pattern via some blogs and gazed longingly at it for a good five minutes. then b told me to cast on for crying out loud. so i listened to his advice. i NEED these mittens. it's going to be cold in ohio over the holidays, right?

because these are only going to work indoors:


they're perfect for my freezing office; i wore them yesterday and my hands were nice and toasty - and i could still type! i've written up the pattern and already emailed it off to a fellow raveler for test knitting (she wanted to knit cabled armwarmers for a niece for christmas), but they need a name. any suggestions?


i'll take some decent photos this weekend (hopefully).

finally, i leave you with the breaking dawn emergency reading kit i gave one of the girls on my team last night. she is the last of us to leave any bit of the twilight series unread, and is powering through the final book this week with the promise to finish before tomorrow night so we can all discuss in line while waiting to see the movie.


tea, hard candy (red of course), a granola bar, and bells on an elastic to wrap around her wrist and wake her, should she fall asleep and drop the book. ;)

seriously

okay. so.


we had to buy this for one of the girls on our team - and had it shipped to work. her face, opening the box? priceless.

civic duty

there were about one hundred folk in line when i showed up at the polls at 7AM and the line just kept growing! if you haven't already - go vote!

houston, we have a sleeve

sleeve #1 is reknit! boy did i learn my lesson on this one: read the pattern instructions. twice.

next to the sleeve you might notice a copy of moby dick. b and i signed up for a class at LACMA offered through a partnership with the public school and machine project called "blubber, bowlines and boat hulls". we read moby dick, meet in the middle of a serra sculpture at the museum, and learn how to tie nautical knots. there are also conversations about the book itself but as the class is being moderated by a couple of conceptual artists and neither one's a melville expert - or even an expert in the field of 19th century lit - well. that portion of the class so far has been a bit of an experiment in modern jackass-ness. but tomorrow they're bringing in someone to teach us the knots which is all i really want out of this!

happy belated halloween!