It's a WRAP

My dear friend Sister Helene asked if I would make a shawl.  A shawl, preferably triangle in shape.  I was only too happy to comply, for a couple of reasons.  Number one, it is what I do.  And secondly, because I simply adore her.  My friend happens to be a nun and the head of the religious education department at my parish.  In fact, when she approached me, a little over seven years ago, and asked if I would teach a CCD class, I had no choice.  For a couple of reasons.  One, because I adore her, and well secondly, it was an opportunity to be involved with my parish in a meaningful way.  In any case, now that there is a prayer shawl ministry, it is kind of a no brainer that I would, because I could contribute in this way.  In my stash, there were 5 skeins of the Berroco's Comfort Chunky that I used to crochet this shawl, which is a house pattern of
Stitch Therapy called the Spider Shawl.  How apropos that that the yarn I used has the word “comfort” in its description. It is my hope that it will offer hours of cozy comfort to the recipient.

Two-timer Twice

Hooray!  Just finished these gloves for my nephew Chris.  The tingly sensation continues, as I successfully completed another project using the Magic Loop technique, and made a beautiful pair of gloves.  Fortunately I like my nephew enough to hand over these hand crafted beauties, which he will probably lose in a matter of seconds.  This confirms that I can not only Magic Loop, but that the process no longer freaks me out.  The story of these gloves is simply a labor of love.  It would have to be.  Gloves are laborious.  The finishing tedious.  But the nice thing about making gloves, or these gloves rather, is get a skein of yarn with good yardage, and you are good to go.  I got this pattern off a website for Vintage Knit pattern site.  Am feeling good about my new skill set of not only Magic Looping, two at a time, but being able to translate the pattern (usually written for dpn use, one at a time.)  The pattern itself was confusing, and for the most part, I don't consider myself particularly skilled at reversing patterns,  however, this was yet another opportunity to hone a useful skill set.  Making the pair at the same time proved useful in reversing this pattern, because I had access to both gloves, and the visual was invaluable. Made the gloves using alpaca, which feels great, and should prove to be nice and warm. 

NoNsENse Knits

originally uploaded by ThatGirlKnits.

This is my latest project using Magic Loop. Clearly I am on a Magic Loop kick at the moment. These gloves are for my nephew. I am hoping he will like them. While I know that for the most part, he prefers black, and no play with texture, these gloves seemed "masculine" enough, that I thought I would give it a whirl. This pattern comes from an online site of vintage patterns, and truth be told, I found the pattern to be somewhat confusing. But that could be because I've had to translate it so I could do it two at a time, magic loop style. In any case, my new found skill has me thinking about making a pair of legwarmers. I've also been entertaining the idea of knitting socks, now that I can do it two at a time. The thing is, who would I make socks for? No one in my house, including me are good with socks. They always get lost, and I end up wearing more mismatched socks then I care to admit. But one thing I could do is make a pair of navy socks that my daughter can wear to school. My knitting has to be functional. It has to make sense. I have in my travels come across a number of books, leaflets, and online patterns of things that I wouldn't make because it seems pretty useless. One thing I've seen a number of patterns on that I find silly are wrist warmers. What the hell is a wrist warmer, and do wrists get cold, and need special warming? I never found myself thinking "My wrists are freezing. Boy could I use a pair of wrist-warmers. Why not then just make gloves, or fingerless gloves. At least gloves, even fingerless gloves are practical. You have access to your fingers to grab that set of keys buried into the abyss that is your purse. And by your purse I mean my purse. Even fingerless gloves are handy. Your hands are warm, and you can have your fingers free to play with the apps on your stupid Iphone. And what's with the knitted thing you put on a cup when it is too hot. I don't even remember what that's call. I think it's called a "cozy".  I guess it so you don't burn yourself. But then you can usually get the cardboard sleeve to put the cup in, drink your coffee, tea or whatever hot beverage, and throw it out together. Why would I knit that? I confess, I think that is pretty useless too. I see that getting lost, and thrown out by accident. There are also a number of cute patterns for knitted toys. Thats nice. If you have a glass case to keep it in so you can look at it. Could a knitted toy really withstand a crazy toddler, that spends their free time getting filthy? Or a teething baby who will just chew the shit out of said knitted toy? Could you really throw a knitted toy into the washing machine? I stick to knitted hats, and sweaters and such for babies, little kids. There are all kinds of knitted knick knacks. I have no use for knick knacks, so I am certainly not going to make them. And what's up with this pattern of booze bottles? What the hell is that, and if you can't get even a buzz, what is the point? This pattern describes them as "pillows". But it isn't big enough to use as a pillow. If anything, dogs and cats will love these things as chew toys, and who is going to want to touch that when it's been in a Rottweiler chops? Well that's just me. Some of this stuff is nonsense.