Hill Country Hat

Image via Pom Pom

Image via Pom Pom

The article I wrote for Pom Pom Issue 4: Verdant Stitches chronicles a trip to Texas Hill Country, where Joey and I stayed in a big ranch house with some of our good friends while the guys were recording an album.  The issue is available HERE and also contains a bonus pattern for my Hill Country Hat, which I knitted during the trip.

Image via Pom Pom

Image via Pom Pom

Be sure to check out the preview of the other lovely patterns in this issue of Pom Pom.  They are so gorgeous, you will surely want to knit them all.

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Insta-January

Insta january

January was a bit of a whirlwind for me. Knit-wise, I started off by photographing and releasing my hat pattern, Borlänge, and I made some nice progress on a few upcoming designs. Travel-wise, there was a super quick weekend trip to Texas Hill Country to visit with some dear friends and Joey took a weeklong music trip to NYC during the coldest week ever. In our downtime, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner party with good friends that ended with lots of laughs and even a bit of singing and dancing. There was also a nice long Saturday afternoon spent at Redwood studio: me knitting, Joey working on guitar parts for a friend’s record, and Henry lounging around on the cozy shag rug. Unfortunately, January ended on a sad note with the loss of our sweet, sweet Daisy and my parents’ gentle dog Fly. We’ve all been a bit broken hearted this week as we had to unexpectedly say goodbye to these wonderful dogs that brought so much love and happiness to our lives. But as Elizabeth Zimmerman says, “properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit, either.”

and I’ve got some knitting to do….

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Gettin Zippy With It

I’ve been working on a design for a little zig zag bag since before Christmas and I’ve been putting off the finishing- sewing in a zipper and a fabric lining.  I have to admit I have always been a little intimidated by finishing things.  You spend so much time knitting something and if you do a shoddy job at finishing, it can ruin the whole thing.  (See here for the story of the Five Year Sweater that literally sat around unfinished for years because I was too afraid to sew in the sleeves.)

Well today, I armed myself with needle and thread and just dived right in.

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I unzipped the zipper and pinned one side of the tape to the inside edge of the bag and just stitched away.  Then I pinned the other side and stitched that down too.  And lo and behold, I sewed in that entire zipper in with no major catastrophes.

zigzagbagzipped

 

Now on to the lining!  And finishing up the pattern I’m writing for this 🙂

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Psst….

Just wanted to share the sneak peek teaser that Pom Pom Quarterly have released for their upcoming Spring Issue:

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image source: Pom Pom Quarterly

I have a travelogue article featured in this issue and maybe even a teensy little pattern to go along with it!  I’m very excited to be a part of this issue, as Pom Pom is such an exciting new publication for the knitting community.

PRE ORDER  Issue 4 or SUBSCRIBE to the next four issues.

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Baby Knits

A little over a year ago on the eve of 2012, Joey and I were sitting around a fire with some of our closest friends and discussing the dawning of a new year. One by one we went around the circle, each of us sharing in turn some of our most closely held ambitions. One of my goals was to design and publish a knitting pattern (which I did here and here). One of Joey’s goals was to build and open a recording studio (which he did here). When it came to our friend Israel’s turn, he looked at his wife Laura and shared that they really wanted to become parents in the coming year. I’m excited to share that he and Laura will be welcoming little Miss Willow Blanche towards the end of February!

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Of course I had to pour my love and excitement for them into a couple of snuggly knits for this little one and now that they have been gifted I can share them with you.

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The cardigan is the Baby Sophisticate pattern which is a really quick and adorable knit.  The hat is the Super Soft Super Simple Baby Hat by the Purl Bee and I am in love with the silly pom pom on top.  I used Berroco Vintage chunky yarn for both.

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New Pattern: Borlänge

Borlänge is a fitted beanie knitted with three sea-inspired shades of Rowan Felted Tweed DK and embellished with a pom pom and an anchor motif.


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Borlänge was inspired by Joey’s travels through Sweden and Norway. During his time there, he was struck by the prevalence of anchors in Scandinavian culture.  The anchor is a strong symbol of hope, stability, and steadfastness, and it was in Borlänge, Sweden where he played the Peace & Love Music Festival that he got a tattoo of an anchor to memorialize his travels and to celebrate the stable and anchored feeling that our love gives him when we are apart.  I knitted my love into this hat, with an anchor of my own to keep us connected when he is away.

Borlange 3

Materials

Three shades of DK or sport weight yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed DK suggested; 191 yards of Clay, 50 yards of Camel, and 2 yards of Seasalter)

1 set of US 4 (3.5 mm) 40″ circular needles for magic loop method

1 set of US 5 (3.75 mm) double pointed needles or

1 set of US 5 (3.75 mm) 40″ circular needles for magic loop method

tapestry needle

6 stitch markers

Finished Size

One Size; to comfortably fit an adult head of 19-23 inch circumference.  Finished hat has a circumference of 19 inches and a depth of 8.75 inches

BUY NOW or view the pattern page on Ravelry

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FO: Chevron Rug

I fell pretty hard for the recent chevron trend and decided I needed a little zig-zag décor for my house. Using a rug from West Elm as my inspiration, I decided to crochet a rug.

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This was my “back-burner” project over the summer as I would pick it up in between some of the other projects I had on the needles. It took a long time for me to finish something so simple, but it came out really cute.  I used cotton/acrylic yarn, so it will be easy to just toss in the wash when it gets dirty…. cause somebody around here loves to dirty up my rugs!

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Pattern: Slightly modified version of Sahara from the book 200 ripple stitch patterns by Jan Eaton. I crocheted 6 pattern rows before changing colors.

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease, in colors grey and white

Hook: size G 4.25 MM

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How To: Plant Cactus Cuttings

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I’ve been wanting a few cactus plants for my home as they are super low maintenance, which is my kind of houseplant.  It’s pretty easy to replant cactus cuttings, so I thought I’d share my process.

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I gathered some cuttings while I was out visiting my parents’ ranch over the holidays.  My mom and dad helped me pick out the different types that you see above.  You will also want some pretty heavy duty gloves to protect from their barbs.

I read online that a cutting needs to develop a “callus” at the cutting site before you replant it, otherwise it is likely to rot.  I left these cuttings out for a week for that purpose.  Then I filled my terra cotta pots halfway with slightly damp soil, and gently placed each cactus cutting into the soil and held it upright as I poured additional soil around the base of the cactus.  I lightly watered the rest of the soil after filling the pot to the rim and there you have it:  rugged greenery for your home.

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Insta-December

Insta december

December was a great way to finish off the year.  There were piano serenades, scooter rides with my love, fancy cocktails, dog snuggles, walks in the woods, more music, “fireside” cuddles with Henry, warm chunky-knit sweaters, family time at the ranch, SNOW, a trip to a cabin in the woods with some good friends, a little bit of knitting, and a toast to good things to come.

Happy New Year- 2013 is going to be a good one!

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How To: Make a Pom Pom

Oh the pom pom.  I’m seeing them everywhere these days.  They are such a fun way to embellish knits, crafts and even use in home decor. Here’s a simple way to make your own pom poms.

Materials:

Yarn: I find it best to use yarns with plies that don’t unravel- that way your pom won’t have frayed edges.  Wool is my favorite go-to yarn for making poms.  The yarn pictured is Cascade 220.

Cardboard: for making a reusable pom pom template.

Scissors: a sturdy pair that will cut easily though cardboard.

Glass, or a circular object for tracing circles onto cardboard.  Your circle diameter will be the approximate size of your finished pom.  The finished pom shown is around 3 inches in diameter.

Quarter, or other small circular object for tracing smaller circles onto cardboard.

Pen: for tracing

Step One:

Gather all materials listed above.

step1

Step Two:

Trace two large circles onto cardboard using the glass as a guide.

tracing circles 1

Step Three:

Trace a smaller circle in the center of each larger circle using the quarter as a guide.

tracing circles 2

Step Four:

Cut out the cardboard circles, cutting a 1/2 inch wide wedge opening on one side of each circle.

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Step Five:

Holding both cardboard circles together, start wrapping the yarn around the circles.  Make sure to cover all of the cardboard and wrap many layers of yarn; the more yarn you use, the fluffier your pom poms will be.

wrapping 1

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Step Six:

Once finished wrapping, cut the yarn end.  Cut a length of yarn about 10 inches long and set aside for later.

length of yarn

Step Seven:

Place your thumb in the center of the circle to secure yarn and start cutting the edges of the yarn by guiding the scissors between the two pieces of cardboard.

cutting1

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Step Eight:

After cutting about half of the yarn, slide the length of yarn you set aside between the two pieces of cardboard to start securing the cut pieces of yarn.  Make sure not to let any cut pieces get loose.  Continue cutting all of the yarn that is wrapped, and tighten the length of yarn around the center, gathering all cut ends tightly.  Tie in a few knots to secure.

secured

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Step Nine:

Remove the cardboard circles and fluff your pom pom into a circular shape.  Trim any long ends.

trimming

Step Ten:

POM IT UP!

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What will you pom?

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