• Super-secret knitting projects I can’t share
• Being really busy in my personal and work life
• Leprechauns

I’m preparing a super-special post to tell you about the feature article I wrote in this issue of Knitscene, but first, I wanted to share this video with you:

Angela Kinsey and Ellie Kemper from The Office came to visit me at work last week! They were filming a video to help out Do Something 101, and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

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’m making a baby blanket out of Crystal Palace Mochi Plus in the “Intense Rainbow” colorway, and I couldn’t think of a better stitch pattern for this yarn. My stepsister is having a boy sometime around June 12, so I needed to get cracking on a gift! The Mochi Plus seemed like a good choice, as it’s machine washable, really colorful, and gender-neutral. I had four skeins to begin with, but had to order two more after I realized the initial batch would make a pretty small blanket. Right now, I’m almost done with the fourth ball:

I know it will look a lot better after blocking!

I wrote a little article about how to start your own knitblog. How very apropos of me, huh?

Though the issue is targeted to beginning knitters, the patterns are totally adorable and are a far cry from that first garter-knit scarf we all made. I totally love this Rapunzel Scarf:

And I might just have to make this Acidic Seed-Stitch Bag:

I’ve had that exact yarn (same colorway and everything) sitting in my stash for ages. I’ve knit and frogged at least 3 items with it, never able to find the right use for it. Now I have inspiration again!

What’s your favorite pattern from this issue? I’d love to hear!

Good news! You can now buy the pattern for my Refine School argyle tote on Ravelry for $3.99. Buy your copy today!

Some information about the pattern:

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky
Yarn requirements: 350-625 yards, depending on personal knitting style
Gauge: 13 sts and 14.5 rows = 4″ before felting
Needle size: US 10.5 (6.5mm)
The pattern includes a schematic, color chart, and options for 3 different types of handles.

Final measurements:

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!

She asked for knitters to come together and donate money to Doctors Without Borders under the umbrella of Knitters Without Borders.

I wanted to donate some money to the Haiti relief effort, anyway, and I thought this was a good idea, so I gave what I could. I live in Los Angeles, where a massive earthquake is an everyday possibility. If a quake this devastating hit L.A., I’d be relying on relief groups like Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross to help me. So I knew I had to give what I could.

Now it’s your turn. Check out the original post for all details.

Also, this seems like a good time to give you an update on Knitters for Kiva.

I’m pleased to report that the lending group has grown to include six generous lenders! We’ve already lended $150 as a group! And it’s never too late to join up!

My good friend Hoang is moving from Los Angeles to Denver this week, so he had a going-away party on Saturday night. He’s been asking me to make him a beanie for what seems like years now, and I’ve been a total slacker about it. But when he told me he was moving to Denver, I knew I had to get him that beanie ASAP!

I used the extra Berkshire Bulky (ravelry) I had leftover from Starksy, and cast on three stitches and knit it from the crown down. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, so this thing was completely ad-libbed. I started knitting the 1×1 rib as I increased on the crown, and immediately wondered if I was making a big, boring mistake. I actually knit the hat with earflaps first, and even cast off, and then I realized it was both too small and looked kinda silly.

So, I ripped out the bottom and frogged back to just after I finished the increases. I then worked it in a 1×1 rib even for about an inch, then made a sort of chevron pattern by doing a twisted stitch to the right for six rows, then twisted back to the left for six. I then finished the rim by knitting straight in 1×1 rib for a few rows.

I then realized I had the dreaded nipple at the crown of the hat. So, taking a nod from Tech Knitting, I picked out the cast-on stitches and fixed the protrusion.

And it turned out pefectly. He loved it so much he wore the hat all night! (Even in 70 degree Los Angeles weather, so that’s saying a lot!)

I’ll miss Hoang, but I know I’ll see him (and the beanie) a lot in the future, so it’s not a sad goodbye.

In the meantime, I’ve said hello to this:

It doesn’t look like much right now, but it’s going to be a baby sweater. I’m using that beautiful Filatura Zara (ravelry) I picked up last week. I’m also planning on writing out the pattern and publishing it on this site and Ravelry, so keep an eye out!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of hitting up La Knitterie Parisienne in Studio City for the first time. I went with a single purpose: to buy yarn for a baby sweater pattern I’m drafting.

Of course, the moment I walked into the place I felt the urge to splurge. Though it’s a little annoying that they don’t put prices on any of their yarn, their massive selection makes up for that small inconvenience. They claim they can’t put prices on all their yarn because they have such a huge inventory. Of course, I find this a bit dubious, since places like The Yarn Garden in Portland seem to do just fine with a similar stock of yarn, but whatever. The guy behind the counter was nice enough to look up prices for all the yarn I was interested in, and the prices were comparable to other local yarn stores in the area.

I haven’t been yarn shopping for months. I’ve been trying to work through my stash. But on Monday night I realized I didn’t have any machine-washable yarn that would work for the baby sweater project, so it was time to hit up a LYS.

For the baby sweater, I picked up 5 skeins of Filatura Zara (ravelry):

I doubt I’ll use all of it, but I always buy more than I need (if possible) because there’s nothing I hate more than running out of yarn.

I also was drawn to some pretty, rainbow-colored Katia Mexico (ravelry):

There’s a bit of a baby boom going on amongst my friends, so I figured this fun colorway would get used evenutally.

And, finally, I bought some Noro Silk Garden Chunky (ravelry):

I think this will become another Noro Striped Scarf (à la Jared Flood), but I’m still not sure. I just jumped at the opportunity to buy some of this yarn—when I found out Noro discontinued it a couple months ago, I was really upset! It’s such a great blend, and I love it in the bulky weight.

In other news, I’ve finished one sleeve of the baby sweater already (while watching “The Hurt Locker” on DVD), and I’m hoping to have the pattern done by the end of the month. Stay tuned!