Check it out on Ravelry.

I used about 5 1/2 skeins of Mochi Plus, which translated to a 33″ by 23″ blanket before blocking. But after blocking…

…it turned into a 36″ square piece of fabric. Not too shabby.

I cast on 77 stitches, and knit your standard entrelac with 11 blocks of 7 stitches each. I only had four skeins of yarn at first, but I had to order two more from YarnCountry.com after realizing that amount wouldn’t suffice.

There’s not a lot to say about this blanket, other than it’s going in the mail first thing tomorrow! I hope my recipient likes it! (Also, I hope she doesn’t read my blog, otherwise it’ll be a bit less of a surprise.)

I’ll close with a couple more glamor shots.

I’d like you all to meet my most recent creation, Refine School:

The title is a nod to the pattern Old School, the much-larger argyle bag from my book, Picture Perfect Knits.

I bought the yarn for this (the old standby Lamb’s Pride Bulky) thinking I was going to knit an argyle cardigan. But when I knit up a swatch, I realized how bulky the fabric was and realized I had bought the wrong yarn. Then I felted the swatch and I realized it would be perfect for a cute little tote.

So I drew up the pattern two weekends ago and got started.

I had this brilliant idea to measure out butterflies for each diamond, thinking it would save me time later. But soon, I realized my measurements were off, and I just had to start cutting new lengths of yarn halfway through. Oh well. No big deal. I was still able to finish one of the two panels in one day.

I always top-stitch my third color over the argyle, mostly because I prefer to work as few colors as possible while knitting intarsia. Why, you ask? Well, the wrong side can get a little hectic…

Once you’ve picked your fainted self off the floor and recovered sufficiently, take a couple deep breaths, and then look at the “after” shot of the wrong side:

Not so bad, right? Cleaning up those ends took less than 15 minutes. And once I added the top-stitching:

The following weekend, I finished the second panel and seamed it all together.

I absolutely love the way it felted down. Despite what I thought were careful calculations, the stitches shrunk a lot more vertically than expected. Luckily, this worked in my favor, to create an adorable little tote. Here it is before I found the handles, but you can get an idea of the size thanks to my awesome friend Jen modeling it:

And here’s a side view so you can get a sense of the shape:

I have to say, I’m really pleased with how this bag turned out. I’m planning on getting this pattern written up and for sale within the week, so keep your eyes peeled!

Life won this battle. This is the first new post in almost two months. Blerg.

The good news is I have two finished objects to show you. Bonus: they’re both original designs! The first is my “Perpendicular” baby sweater [Ravelry]:

I have the pattern all written up, all I have to do now is format it and do a little sizing. Once that’s done, I’ll send it to some test knitters and hopefully have the pattern for sale online soon!

The other project was my 2010 Ravelympics project, in the event “Designer Original Dance.” I present to you my “Ombre Hat:”

I really need to come up with a better name for that one. This is another pattern I’ll be writing up. More discussions of these patterns to come in future posts, but for now I gotta get some sleep! Goodnight everyone!

I decided to make Ysolda Teague’s “Ishbel” shawlette when realized I had the perfect yarn in my stash: red Koigu.

I made the smaller size on size 6 needles, and it only took a week of knitting! What a perfect gift! The pattern was very easy to follow and knit, and this thing just flew off the needles. I can’t wait to knit another one!

It also gave me an opportunity to perform my favorite magic trick: blocking lace! Here’s the lumpy mess before blocking:

And during:

I’m always floored by the difference a little blocking makes on lace, especially when using wool.

The finished shawl ended up being even a little bigger than expected. It’s a nice surprise, because it can be nicely draped around the shoulders in addition to being wrapped around a neck.

And the good news is that my stepmom seemed to love it! She said she had never seen a shawl like it before, so I was pleased. Also, I think it’s the perfect weight for the climate she lives in (Central California), where it gets chilly, but not freezing.

My stepmom, however, was too shy to pose in the shawl for my blog, so I coerced my stepbrother’s girlfriend to model it for me. Thanks!

I don’t know about you, but I’m altogether sick of all the retrospectives floating around right now. Sure, it’s a natural inclination to look back on the past year (or decade) and reflect on all that has transpired. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve done my own personal musing about how much difference a year and a decade can make.

But I’m not going to post it to my blog. Because it’s mostly saccharine and self-serving, and I just can’t stomach it anymore.

What I will post is knitting!

Look at Starsky (pattern | Ravelry), all finished! I finished the belt just before Christmas, and I was excited to be able to wear it in its finished state on my Lake Tahoe new year’s vacation.

I cast on for this jacket in March 2008, let it sit hibernating for about 18 months, and then picked it back up and furiously finished knitting it. It’s big and bulky and warm and cozy—exactly what I was aiming for.

(Special thanks to my boyfriend for taking pictures of the sweater.)

Rather than post a retrospective about the year or decade in review, I’ll give you 10 things that have happened since I cast on Starsky, in no particular order:

1. My book was published.
2. I drove across the country with my friend Amanda.
3. I attended six weddings and two funerals.
4. My play, Beneath Her Feet, was produced in Los Angeles.
5. I met my boyfriend.
6. I visited Maui, Santa Cruz Island, Mexico, Lake Tahoe, Fort Collins, Park City, and Portland.
7. I saw many great bands live, including Radiohead, The Pixies, Lykke Li, Death Cab for Cutie, and even “The Nightman Cometh” from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
8. I attended my 10-year high-school reunion.
9. I redesigned (and moved) my blog.
10. I didn’t blog nearly enough.

So, even though I’m sick of all the new year hubbub, I will take #10 and make a new resolution. I’m going to try and blog more frequently. No, really. I’m serious. Just watch me.

Also, I need to point out that my “official” new year’s resolution is to wear more jewelry. Not expensive baubles or anything, but I do need to make more of an effort to accessorize. Two years ago, my resolution was to wear more dresses—it was a wildly successful resolution. I now have a closet full of dresses that I wear frequently. I’m hoping the jewelry resolution will be just as effective. The only real problem is that I have basically no jewelry. In April, theives broke in to my apartment, stole my jewelry box and guitar and let my cat out the window… jerks.

Molly was recovered safe and sound, thankfully, but I can’t say as much about my guitar or jewelry box. Luckily, I have renter’s insurance, so I was able to buy a new guitar and now it’s time to start repopulating my jewelry supply.

Happy new year, everyone! Here’s to 2010!

No, not that kind of red dwarf. This kind:

The star reference is a bit more obvious during blocking:

I made this little blanket for a friend’s newborn a few months back (Ravelry). I used some Nashua Creative Focus Worsted (Ravelry) I had lying around, and while the color was gorgeous, I felt the yarn was a little hard to knit with and the resulting fabric was a bit itchy. I almost didn’t give it away as a gift, but enough people told me it wasn’t itchy enough to frog, so I left it alone.

The only changes I made to the pattern were adding the ruffled edging—a soon-regretted choice because of its tediousness—and making the blanket smaller than written by stopping on row 70 of the pattern. The ruffled edging was very simple, but took forever:
row 1: knit
row 2: k1fb each stitch
row 3: knit
row 4: k1fb each stitch
row 5: knit
row 6: knit
row 7: bind off

Those increases on row 2 and 4 make for a LOT of live stitches on the needles. Luckily, I didn’t totally lose my mind by the end, and it did look pretty cute. The blanket ended up being about 34″ in diameter after blocking, which works just fine for a newborn.

This pattern is actually a whole lot of fun to knit, and super easy to follow. I think I’d make another one in a heartbeat, just this time with softer yarn!

I love it when my friends have babies, not only because it means another little being is coming into the world, but because it gives me an excuse to make adorable knits!(Ravelry link)

I was inspired by Brookyln Handmade’s Baby Chucks pattern, and even bought the pattern from her for five dollars. When I started looking over the pattern, though, I decided just to give it a go on my own. I had different yarn requirements (Koigu PPM) and needle sizes (2.75 mm, I think?), so rather than adapt her pattern to my needs, I figured I’d just take a stab at the design. I’ve knit so many booties in my day that I’ve memorized the method (based on the Stay-On Baby Booties pattern by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas) and don’t really need a pattern to look at anymore. This was especially helpful since I knit both these booties on a plane trip. Fancy that.

Here’s another shot for size reference:

These were such a hit that I’m already knitting another pair! Here’s hoping I can remember how I made them in the first place!

You have to keep them a secret. This means you definitely can’t blog about them, especially if the intended recipient is a regular reader of your blog. This was the case with my Girasole by Jared Flood [Ravelry]. I was knitting it as a wedding present for a good friend, and I didn’t want to ruin the surprise!

On March 8, 2009, my Girasole was only two skeins of Fountain Hill Brushed Mohair full of potential.

Over three months later, I ended up with this final product:

Well worth the effort! Look how pretty and sparkly the yarn is.

Now is the time to bow down in deep reverence for Mr. Jared Flood. That man knows how to write a damn good pattern. Girasole was a labor of love, for sure, but its dirty little secret is how easy the pattern is to knit! Jared’s pattern breaks each section up into small, easy-to-follow charts. They’re repetitive enough to keep track of, but small enough that you never get bored.

I do have to say that I was pretty anxious to get this sucker off the needles after a while.

Lace is so lumpy and unattractive before blocking, but I kept the faith that it would turn out beautiful in the end. A few hundred pins later…

…and you got yourself a pretty lace shawl! Shazam!

Here’s some technical stuff for the other knitters out there. I used size 8 (5mm) needles, and all of two skeins of the Fountain Hill Brushed Mohair, which comes out to 1120 yards. I skipped one repeat of chart E because I was afraid I’d run out of yarn.

Turns out I ran out of yarn just at the end of the knit-on edging. I was really pissed off. So pissed off, in fact, that I swore I wouldn’t go buy anther 600-yard skein just to use 10 yards of it. I was actually finishing the edging during the Lakers’ championship game against the Magic, and my boyfriend’s delight at his team winning the big prize inspired me to keep on trucking. I HAD to finish that damn shawl.

So, in an effort to save yarn and get the damn thing done, I proceeded to fudge the edging quite a bit. Basically, I was knitting 3 stitches together instead of 2, and I kinda smushed the ends together. Guess what? It’s nearly impossible to see the difference… plus, what’s that whole thing about needing imperfections in your work so you don’t offend the gods? Yeah, that, too.

I gifted the shawl to my friend and now I have to say I’m kind of itching to knit another Girasole! This time, I want to make the blanket size. What do you think? Should I go for it?

(I’ll buy extra yarn this time if I do.)

I live in Los Angeles (currently 66°F), where it’s easy to forget that most of the country is experiencing this thing called “winter.” I also don’t realize the special challenges that bundling up under countless layers of clothing presents.

For example: my friend Danielle, a PhD student at the University of Chicago, told me she was getting frustrated with wearing gloves all the time. It’s too cold in Chicago to go bare-handed, especially while walking her dog. But when she gets a call on her iPhone, the gloves get in the way of her answering the phone. The solution?

The iPhone Mittens! (Ravelry) They have a flap to cover your fingers that can be quickly pulled back to answer your phone:

The pattern is my own, yarn is Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran (Ravelry). I used the majority of two skeins, and cut it REALLY close with the black. If I were to re-create this pattern, I’d use the grey on the finger-flap to make sure I wouldn’t run out of yarn.

I’ll write this pattern up if there’s interest — let me know if you’d like to see this pattern online!

But then I started to read The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life by Ben Sherwood. (On my Kindle — the original version, not the new spiffy Kindle 2, but oh well.)

The VERY first story of suvival was about Ellin Klor, titled “A Knitting Needle Through the Heart” (click link for excerpt). I had to do a double-take. A knitting needle where exactly? The heart you say? Egads!

The very next day, I was knitting and watching TV, and I stumbled upon Mystery Diagnosis on the Discovery Health channel. After a story about a boy who had breathing problems, they played a piece about a woman who stepped on a crochet hook and impaled her own foot! Yikes! And the scary thing is this injury triggered a slew of other health problems (hence the mystery diagnosis) and kept her essentially bedridden for weeks.

If the universe is trying to warn me against knitting, I’m not listening. Though I’m now being a bit more careful about where I keep my needles when I’m not knitting, lest I sit down on them and pierce my behind.

Whether it’s the cosmos trying to put a damper on my knitting or just the result bad planning, I knit the ugliest bathmat in existence recently:

It was supposed to be Absorba (Ravelry), from Mason-Dixon Knitting, but since I don’t actually own that book, I decided to ad-lib the pattern. This was not a good idea. Once I realized the color scheme was all messed up, I gave up and just made the edge striped. The good news is that it’s comfy to stand on and it absorbs a lot of water, so it’s not a complete loss. Since I accidentally bought twice as much yarn as needed, I’m making a new bathmat in a different stitch pattern to atone for the ugliness of my existing one.

Final question for my readers: have you ever injured yourself while crafting? I’m curious to find out if it’s as dangerous as reported!