Viva La Zimmermann!

I have been inspired to get to know the work of the great Elizabeth Zimmermann.

I started my adventure by making the original "Baby Sweater on Two Needles" (which is just a small fraction of the knits La Zimmermann had on her slate for that short month...)

I do not know who will get this. Perhaps the new daughter of my friends Kelly & Marco...
I made this little sweater in dishcloth cotton. It IS worsted... Plus, I wanted to see if it would work. I already had my sights on the adult sized project & I knew I could not afford a decent quality wool or other worsted for that.

So... Two cones of varigated Onward to the February LADY sweater!
I really appreciate this adaptation of a Zimmermann Classic.

I really enjoyed watching how the space-dyed color repeats & patterns played out through the sweater. I was forced to use two different dye lots on this project, but it worked out that I was able to do the body of the sweater with one ~800 yd. cone (It took EXACTLY one) & the sleeves with the other. It was luck which made it work, I know. But, I'm quite grateful for it just the same.

The Gull Lace pattern is just simple enough for meditative knitting, but just complicated enough to keep you motivated to finish each step of the 4 row repeat. It is super fast to complete when knitting in the round for the sleeves on the adult sweater.
Any errors are quickly spotted & fairly easy to repair if you catch it in the return row. This is NOT usually the case for lace patterns, simple or otherwise.

It is the subtle elegance of such things that is the root of my deep regard for Elizabeth Zimmermann. She was clearly not into wasted motion, yarn, or even thought. At first sight, her work might look dated, or even clunky... If that's what you think, then I invite you to look more closely. Yep. Knit your way through her "non-patterns" & you'll be astonished by the unassuming brilliance.

Even if the Baby Surprise Jacket is not to your taste (& there's no accounting for taste, nowadays) the elegance of the concept is enough to make an architect applaud.

Check out this designer's blog to see her Zimmermann research & subsequent inspirations & designs! Very snazzy stuff, no?

The February Lady Sweater pattern by Pamela Wynne (from Flint Knits) is available as a free ravelry download. It is a justifiably celebrated rite of passage for anyone who wants to really know what the "big deal" is about knitting your way through the Almanac.

Originally, I thought I was going to knit this for myself. I really did!
Well... as I got underway, I knew it was not for me, really.
This ended up a perfect Christmas present for my own sweet Mother!
She has spent years making sweater upon sweater for everyone else. It is more than her turn!
I think I'm going to start a tradition where each Christmas I make a new sweater just for her...
Last year was the Nantucket Jacket by Norah Gaughan from the fabulous Interweave Knits Winter 2006 (If you are observant, you can see it folded on the back of the chair)... I wonder what next year will be?

Who Ya Gonna Call? Stash Busters!

Here's the best little stash buster I've seen in the longest!

I'm so happy to share it...

Here is the original cozie pattern:

http://myknittingbasket.blogspot.com/2009/11/owl-coffee-cup-cozie.html

I had a bunch of 30-40 yd. remainders from all my Koolhaas Hats, etc.… & Christmas was COMING!!! I needed to make some seriously QUICK gifts... which could be taken seriously.

I love the classic Cable Owl Motif & I really enjoy this knitter's take on it.

There's even a wonderful free pattern which adapts it for a hat :

http://penguinpurls.blogspot.com/2008/12/who.html

There's even more to find using this simple, yet fabulous, cable on Ravelry...

Does anyone know where it began? I remember seeing it in my Mother's old pattern books, but I just can't remember which one... It was a pattern for a little girl's sweater. Hmm...

I worked up another version which tweaks the ribbing sequence to match up perfectly with the Owl Motifs. The subsequent decreases also allow for a k2tog on the right “ear” & a SSK on the left to finish it off well before the ribbing resumes.

Awwww… GEEK OUT! I suppose I can't help it. Hope my compulsive tics help y'all:

To make the Owl Cable Motifs & the ribbing sync up, I changed the count to 50 on the cast-on with a (P2, K2, P2, K4) repeat.

Using smaller DPNs (size 5), I increased thus: (P2, M1, K2, M1, P2, K4) =60 sts

I switched to the larger DPNs (size 7) & did the Owl Cables as written.

Using smaller DPNs, I decreased thus: (K2tog, K4, SSK, K4) = 50sts

I finished with 5 rows of (P2, K2, P2, K4) & BO in patt.

I still don’t know where I’ll find those funky googly eyes the designer used...

I really wanted to use buttons for the eyes.

In the end, I decided to embroider eyes. It’s a little fussy & labor intensive… But, I prefer the look to what eye-options were available to me.

Look out Stash!

These make great gifts & the wool really DOES work better than the little disposable sleeves you get & then toss away.

Sorry, I've been stitching... just not posting!

Between Sam & teaching, I've just not had any time to post anything about what little stitching I've been able to accomplish!

So here's a little update:

Amigurumi MADNESS!!!!

Yep... It is still no secret I'm not fond of the crochet process.
However, the product is so irresistibly cute, I cannot help it!

I've been making & adapting pattern basics from this imaginative but basic book:

Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Amigugmi by Tomoko Takamori

Non-crochet & visual learners will love the icons which are used instead of initial abbreviations in her design instructions.

The first was the Duck:
I did not care for the legs in the pattern, so I designed some "flipper feet" (an easy pattern will follow, but I've mislaid the post-it I used for notes).

I showed it to my Art Class at school to gauge interest for an after school crochet workshop (Short answer: YES!). One of my sweetest students requested a Puppy. I would have made one myself just for her. The real heart-warming thing was that she said she'd never ask for one for herself... She wanted it to give to her mother for her birthday & she knew she couldn't learn how to do it in time! SQUISH!


I've moved on to the most complex design of the book to make butterflies for my Niece 's Christmas present.
(I also used a little stash cotton to cover one of Sam's favorite, but somewhat chewed-upon rubber balls.)

Again, I made a few little stylistic changes to the pattern (ex. Butterflies are insects, ergo six legs & I wanted a girl-y butterfly… hence the bikini top.)

Yes. I know, there are no mammary glands on insects...

There is a Pink & Blue version in the works, too!

Over the past months, I've also made the February Baby Sweater (shown here in progress) & am almost done with the adult version!
Not being a wealthy knitter, I've substituted dishcloth cotton for the worsted wool for which the pattern calls. I'm pretty happy with it so far... but cotton can stretch in unattractive ways. So, only time will tell.

I've also made some little quick dishcloth cotton finger puppets:
if anyone wants me to post a pattern, it's very simple & fast if you are proficient with DPNs....

I also have figured a seamless version of a cute sleeveless shell pattern (W by Kristi Porter) from knitty.com Spring 2005.
I LOVED working with my stash of Katia Jamaica cotton!

It even looks good when I wear it. Too cold to model it now... Sigh.

As is this lovely camisole made from a yummy sock yarn (Razor Cami by Katie Marcus... it's a free pattern on her blog!) made as part of the Knit Girls KAL August 2009:
Detail of the stitch pattern:
So... I've been working... Just not documenting.

When Christmas Break comes, perhaps I can post a pattern & pictures of my Dangly Tiger made for Sam's birthday. That was some adorable fun.

One of these days... Sigh.