Category Archives: Gifts

Knitting for Others

Posted on by Elka Bolhafner
Disco Socka

Disco Socka

I really enjoy knitting for my beloved.  He is very appreciative of anything I make for him.  I have only knit him socks and mitts but he never complains about color or fiber choices.

I do worry, however, when knitting for others.  My children are persnickity, my sister doesn’t wear my hand knits and my mom tends tuck away the goods as too nice to wear.  Did I mention I saw her in Chicago when I went to see the big Greek Exhibit over holiday break?  She, my mom, was wearing Laminaria over her winter coat.  I knit that when the pattern came out–over the winter ’07/spring ’08 and gave it to her for Christmas ’08 so it was nice to see it in action.

So update.  Strokkur is idling.  It seems that in my hurry to have something super warm and toasty to wear over the winter I tightened up my gauge as I progressed with the knitting.  Yes I knit the sleeves first.  Yes I measured my washed and unwashed swatches.  I ripped and restarted the sweater with  larger needles and once again my knitting tightened up.  I am a bit frustrated by this turn of events.  Only once before have I had this happen to me–when knitting a throw for Berroco yarns in their Chinchilla yarn.  I think I tried to  knit that a dozen times before I called and said it just wasn’t going to work.

My proposed fix at the moment is to wait until it is sweltering outside and I will not be in any hurry whatsoever to wear it and then cast on again.

Meanwhile I was showing my fabulous elegant gauntlets to a co-worker and her eyes just lit up.  She exclaimed about how soft they were and pretty and warm.  I offered to knit her a pair of her very own for a flat rate that would kinda cover the cost of yarn.  I did this while another co-worker was in the office and she too would like a pair of ‘arm socks’  Very gratifying to this knitter’s heart that others are wanting gauntlets of their very own.

Once I faced the fact that this winter was to pass without my wearing Strokkur I was a bit down in the doldrums and it took a while to find my knitting mojo & suitable yarns in my stash.  For the first co-worker I am having a hard time finding a yarn with the similar feel, color etc as my prism mia but the second said she liked pink and most importantly I believe, easy care.  I went through my stash and found several balls of the now discontinued Schoeller + Stahl Fortissimo Colori Disco Socka.  Wow what a mouthful.  I have actually knit several socks and hats and mitts out of this yarn and find it to be a true workhorse of a yarn.  It doesn’t pill, barely fades and I have yet to encounter a hole in any item knit out of it.  I have a pair of socks that are 8 yrs old at this point that still look brand new.  Anyway I decided that this yarn would be perfect for Kristen’s arm socks.  The finished babies are in the washing machine right now having the stitches evened out so a picture of the gauntlets in progress will have to suffice.  Above you have a close up of the yarn chosen that I sent to Kristen to make sure it wasn’t too pink or glitzy for her and below you see proof that despite being knit smaller than mine they still fit a human arm.  The wrist looks impossibly tiny on and off the needles… a heads up for anybody who looks at the gauntlets and thinks these will never fit.  They do. 🙂

Trying on impossibly tiny mitts to make sure they fit.

Trying on impossibly tiny mitts to make sure they fit.

yarny days and knitterly evenings~Elka

 

Salvaging Knits

Posted on by Elka Bolhafner
Everyday Luxury Eek

Everyday Luxury Eek

 

According to my Ravelry notes I knit this project, Everyday Luxury designed by ‘Rag Lana’, in 2009 out of two shades of Rowan Kidsilk Haze.  I actually love this and it is blue black although I doubt you can tell from the photo.  All you can really tell from the photo is I made a mess on it.  Last post I showed you several projects as a backdrop to the lovely Midnight Tam by Sandy Blue.  You may have gathered that I am pulling out all my woollies and washing prior to frigid weather and way down there, in a bin at foot of closet, were my lacy shawls and too small for my children sweaters and extra special kid mohair type of scarves.  The not woolly woollies if you will.  And they are all covered with: nail polish and shattered glass.  An accident from earlier in the year where I knocked over a nail polish bottle off a shelf and I *thought* I had gathered all the items and cleaned them properly.  Most apparently not.  I hesitate to take my nail polish remover to the items since that bleached the not so precious cloth bags that were in bin over the knitted goods…. ( I use wire mesh bins ).  This particular piece, being mohair, is easier to fix than others since mohair fluff can be cut or pulled away a bit but my Highland Triangle Shawl knit out of long gone Sajama Alpaca in the loveliest blue and a regular winter comfort, and Inky-Dinky Spider Stole also look to need de-polishing.

I am feeling slightly gutted over here mainly because I so rarely keep my hand knits for myself.  Other than the tams, recently pictured, and the requisite number of socks to get me by between washings I honestly can say these are the bulk of what I have to show for almost 40 yrs of knitting.  I believe there is a pair of mittens and beaded cuffs in there as well.

On the knitting front I am working on my beloved’s annual Christmas socks although it is decidedly harder to sneak in the hours to do so this year. Work plus him being around me while I am not at work have combined to make finishing the pair difficult.  I hope to finish them this weekend. Next up a pair of arm warmers are in my mental queue and then another shawl…. maybe.  I am in need of a sweater more than a shawl unless the two mentioned above are hopelessly ruined.

yarny days and knitterly evenings

~elka

 

Love Bites

Posted on by Elka Bolhafner
Winter Hats & swap

Winter Hats & swap

 

I couldn’t help noticing that my gift for my Love Bites Swap partner would perfectly compliment my tam collection.  I have them set out in a pile waiting a wash and block before winter sets in and would put my knitting down on them before turning down the lights at night.  Okay the Neep Heid is still awaiting ends weaving but it is in the winter hat pile nonetheless.  Thinking about all those ends has me wondering if I cut my yarn at end of every change when knitting the Midnight Sun Tam designed by Sandy Blue.  Midnight Sun Tam remains one of my favorite finished objects ever.  Ahem.  I digress.

So Hunter Hammersen blogs over at Violently Domestic and I first noticed her work when she was offering free sock patterns on Ravelry. Slant I believe was the first that I noticed.  One of her recent projects consists of 3 books inspired by Curiosity Cabinets and the drawings of various plants and animals one would find in illustrated books of such things.  I was drawn to the pattern for fingerless mitts called Serpula Contortuplicata.  Wow does auto correct throw a fit over that one!  It is very organic with the cables going first this way then that. I also liked the open spaces created by the cable crosses–I find it rather gothic somehow.

Things I learned knitting this:

I like having pdfs of my knitting patterns!  I believe this is the first time I ever knit something without having a hard copy of the pattern {unless I was designing myself of course}

Knitting laceweight mohair with stainless steel double points is a recipe for stitches slithering off the ends.

I should trust my judgement.

Assuming somebody might read this and be unawares I spent a good part of 10 yrs as a sample garment knitter for yarn companies.  It kept me occupied and gave me some extra spending money when the kids were babies.  Part of sample garment knitting is, in my opinion, proofing the instructions.

Hunter’s chart for the hand portion begins with a slipped stitch and I decided to follow it despite my feelings that she intended us to slip the first stitch of each row instead of each repeat.  I contacted Hunter after I finished my project and mentioned the chart vs row question and she is updating the pattern.  BTW I don’t know if it is just because knitters are such a great group but Hunter is another person I have corresponded with a few times in the past and she is always a delight.

Two posts about two different indie knit folks who are very nice to deal with ^5 to knitters.

But Look:

Serpula Contortuplicata

Serpula Contortuplicata

 

Look Again:

 

Organic

Organic

So seriously pretty.  Luckily I have a second hank of the yarn and will reknit this for me.  It definitely belongs in my wardrobe since it goes so well with all my hats.  I look forward to making myself a pair.

Belongs in my closet

Belongs in my closet

 

And of course I hope my swap partner loves them.  How could she not?  Soft, silky, organic with spooky holes for Halloween fun.

 

 

yarny days and knitterly evenings

Royal

Posted on by Elka Bolhafner

  Brandywine is done~ such a lovely and fun pattern. I used a yarn from stash purchased on Ebay oh my goodness at least 5 years ago. Mainly because I haven’t Ebayed yarn since the ex and I split up. No particulars on weight or yardage but I had a disappointingly large amount of yarn leftover. Disappointing because I am a large woman and like big shawls but followed the instructions to a T and now suspect I could have done more repeats. Anyway it is what I like to call purple. A marled yarn, 100% geelong marketed as fingering weight, composed of one strand of navy and one strand of purple. Aubergine of the blue black variety~~ YAY. More lovely shots:

 

Rosemary Hill is so very very clever.  BTW this style of working the edging on with body ~ starting with a few stitches and working up towards a triangle~ was first seen, by me, in a Spin Off article written by Robert Powell.  The issue is from the Winter of 1996 so probably impossible to get however if you can do library loan the pages are 30-37 inclusive for a tutorial and sample shawl.  If you have any interest in shawl design there are a couple of pages covering motif placement within the body of shawl.  I have been interested in the concept since I first read the article but never quite got around to applying it since the proliferation of lovely shawl designs can be a bit overwhelming.  It is really nice to see it in use.   FWIW Powell’s designs are not widely available.  I believe he had a few in A Gathering of Lace but otherwise, with the exception of this article, I believe they are only available via Catherine Knits in kit form.  Although…. I think his earliest kits are now available as patterns also from Catherine Knits.  I have purchased kits, which I usually avoid like the plague, from Catherine and been very pleased with the service from her shop.

More pictures~ one of the point and another of the frame:

 

 

Earlier I said what I like to call purple and that is for a reason.  A lot of times when people say purple I see red violet.  Or just plain blue red which I consider red.  Or lavender.  Being a lover of the cooler end of the spectrum and all a lot of blue in a red is not purple but the shade of red I would wear.  If that makes any sense.  Now other people hear purple and think a totally different color.  For example my middle daughter is quite fond of purple and I recently knit a lacy baktus for her.  Mainly because she was trying to swap mine!  I had taken her down to The Loopy Ewe one day while she was off of school and she picked out some Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in Pixie Pour for herself.  Okay in reality it was for me although I sincerely doubt I would have picked that shade for myself.  Despite her claiming it was purple.  Either way I was in the mood to shop and she *does* knit.  Kinda.

And another daughter requested that I knit some Toast so that she can give them to one of her oldest friends on the Sweet 16 soiree coming up this Friday.  Favorite color of BFF since Kindergarden?  Purple of course.  Thankfully Toast doesn’t take long to make since I only have a few days left:

As soon as I finish this purple pair of Toasts I need to knit another in some Dreams in Color Starry so that another daughter may gift them out.  We are all fully outfitted in our Toasts and apparently they are still a big hit with the youngsters since my daughters’ friends make sure I hear how lucky my kids are to have me knit them.  Hurray for knitting!

yarny days and knitterly evenings