Monsters, Cookies and a Fairy

Hi Knitters,
Last night I finished the second monster hat by Insubordiknit.
It turned out great and this time around I had just the right amount of yarn with a tiny bit left. I made the smallest size on the pattern that came with the kit using US size 11 needles. I used my own decrease sequence for the top. The handspun yarn was pure fun to knit. What a great little kit. Snatch one up if you find one available.

My sweet friend once again left a gift bag of iced apple sugar cookies on my doorstep yesterday morning. I took this picture before the kids got home from school. They were gone in a flash. It is so touching, beyond words. She quietly sets the gift on the front step with no note, no fanfare, so humble, so thoughtful. She's a rarity and I am flooded with gratitude.

In that first shot of the cookies I left out the fairy next to the plate and then I reconsidered. Isn't that cute? She is named Clarice. Drawing fairies and eating apple cookies is a good way to end any day.

Have a glorious weekend.

best, susie

Knit, Knit

Hi Knitters,
I have been knitting a ton lately. Some I can share and some I can't. I'd like to share everything I knit because I feel such accomplishment when I finish a project. There is nothing better. I lined up just a few of the projects I have going and believe me this is the tip of the iceberg! I know Stacey recently posted about the guilt she felt for having three projects going. I had to laugh at the number I have going all at once. It is a huge number that I don't really want to know. I don't mind because I always finish everything I start just not in an orderly fashion.
Starting at the left is a baby sweater I am working on. It is made in pistachio Nashua Cilantro. This is a springy, springy yarn. Next I have my second watermelon Sereknity sock. I've just got to get the second sock done for the fall. I am trudging away to complete pairs for several single socks I made over the summer. You know how that goes.

Next in line is the beautiful O-Wool Balance that I have been hearing so much about. I had to order some to try for myself. I ordered from here. Boy, oh boy, is everyone right about this yarn. It is wonderful to knit with and is an organic wool and cotton blend. It has a great texture but is light to work with. I see a sweater in my future with this beautiful yarn. It is a worsted weight with the gauge listed from 19-21 stitches per four inches, knit on a US size 5-7 needle. I am knitting a really fun toy out of that beautiful pale blue right now. I recommend this yarn. It is lovely.

Last but not least is my trusty Manos Del Uruguay which I also purchased here. This colorway is spruce which is the perfect name for this project. What could be better than the rustic stitches of this fantastic wool. I simply love this yarn and always will.

I have a couple quick updates I need to tell you about. First of all, the paypal progress to sell my patterns from this blog is not progressing well at all. We are waiting for an email that was supposed to arrive this week and I guess there is still one day to go so maybe tomorrow. After we get that go ahead things should start moving along.

Secondly, I posted my tour dates that are coming up so fast. I hope you check those out and come out to see me if you are close by. I had so much fun last year on tour and this year looks even better. I love getting out there to see all of those great knitters. Plus I get to talk about baby stuff and that's always a happy topic.

Lastly, I want to share a quick assignment my daughter, who is eight, had for homework after the first day of school. The teacher asked her to write down words that describe her and her favorite things. I loved her list so much I asked her if she would write a copy for me and here is her list:

artist, Lisa Loeb, bananas, red and purple, reading, story writing, panda and polar bears, watermelon, brownies, fairies, sparkles, colored rocks, soccer, gymnastics, piano, cray-pas, knitter, drawing dresses, starbucks frappacinos, chocolate cake, fresh from the farm carrots, sweet peas, dancing, strawberries, shrinky dinks, laughing, weeping mulberry trees, and family.

That list makes me wish I was eight. If only....

best, susie

Felted Flower from Itty-Bitty Hats

Hi Knitters,
Today I have a clip about the felted flower from Itty-Bitty Hats. It is a flower made out of Manos Del Uruguay wool that is made in layers, sewn together and then felted. Each layer is made in three rows and rows 1 and 3 are both knit all stitches. The second row is the challenging row.

I have had a few questions about row 2 for this flower and that's why I decided to do a quick demonstration. There's nothing better than seeing someone do a technique "in person" to add clarity to the task.

Hopefully this will help.

best, susie

Simple Pleasures

Hi Knitters,
The end of summer is always a bittersweet time of year for me. I have always lived on the school calendar instead of the monthly calendar. September is the start of the year in my mind. My dad was a professor and then I became a teacher and then I had children who are in school. There was never a break in that cycle. So as the summer ends and the new year begins I am taking delight in life's simple pleasures. Here are a few:
1. Two completed book projects. These are the best toys I have ever designed. I am thrilled with the way they turned out and I can't wait to share their entire story with you.

2. A stack of fabric delivered from purl.

This is the Chocolate Lollipop collection sampler from Anna Maria Horner. She is a wonderful talent and I love her blog.

3. My own version of fruit style. I made mine with a finger loop for easy carrying.

When I show this to anyone all they ask is, why? Every single time it happens and I love it. I made mine out of Rowan Handknit Cotton and it is so easy. I am thinking about cranking out a few more for my kids to give to teachers on the first day of school. You should give it a try.

4. My daughter's summer sketch book decorated with left-over ribbon.

She is filling it with fairies on each page. She has a lot of fairy ideas this summer. It is so cute and fun. It is good to be eight.

5. Rediscovered artwork from childhood. I have found a lot of surprises from my childhood that were packed away and this piece made me smile. I don't know how old I was when I made this but doesn't it resemble the shape of Elefante? I couldn't believe it.

6. Bubbles that smell like chocolate. I blow the bubbles while my daughter tries to eat them.

7. A big stack of books waiting to be read.

8. A chill in the air.

9. Pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks. J'adore.

10. My invitation to Ravelry arrived yesterday! To my delight there are a lot of knitters working on and posting photos of itty-bitty things. Yay! I am under susanbanderson if you want to look me up but I haven't even started working on that yet. It looks a bit daunting to me. I need to spend some time figuring the whole thing out. I looked up my friends peaknit and knitterella right away. As always they have great knitterly stuff to share.

I hope you are all enjoying some end of summer pleasures on this holiday weekend.

best, susie

p.s. Do you have any topics for quick tutorials you want me to put on video? I have list but I will happily add more. Let me know.

Kitchener Stitch Demo with Yarntini Love

Hi Knitters,
I am so excited to be done with these beautiful Yarntini socks. I love them and my feet love them, too. This yarn is one of my all-time favorites so if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some snatch it up quick.

I finished the second sock on video so you could enjoy the moment with me and see the kitchener stitch if you haven't done it before!
best, susie

Sprout Hat Topper Tutorial

Hi Knitters,
I have another clip for you on the sprout hat topper from Itty-Bitty Hats. I've had a few questions about this one along the way and thought it would be a good and quick video tutorial.
Enjoy!
best, susie

Chain Stitch and Wrap Stitch

Hi Knitters,
Remember this blanket I made for a baby gift awhile back? I received quite a few emails wondering how I embroidered Charlotte onto the blanket. All of a sudden I noticed yesterday that there is a new button to upload videos onto your blog. I am all about easy buttons and we are trying it out.

My son filmed me today for a tutorial on the chain stitch with wrap stitch technique. There is one brief moment that is slightly out of focus, but other than that it turned out okay. This is one of my favorite embroidery techniques to use on knitted fabric. There is so much flexibility with this technique. Take some time to practice and you will quickly see how easy it is. I hope this helps. Let me know what you think.
best, susie

Can't Wait

Hi Knitters,
There are so many great knitting books coming out this fall and winter. I simply can't wait to get my hands on some of these. Here is a list of the books I am especially anxious to get (but not in any specific order):

1. Knitting New Scarves
2. Knitting Little Luxuries
3. Kaffe Knits Again
4. Bag Style
5. Kristin Knits
6. Essential Baby
7. Yarnplay at Home
8. Felt Forward
9. Warm Fuzzies

This is just the start. I am amazed at the number of really fantastic books out there. It is such fun. For you new knitters you wouldn't believe the lack of books available when I started knitting over 20 years ago. You could maybe find 3 or 4 books at a bookstore on knitting if any at all. It is wonderful to have all of the choices now not only in the books we buy but in the yarn we have access to. I think it is one of the greatest developments in knitting over the last years. The knitting world is our oyster.

The other interesting thing I have noticed is the increase in books on knitting for men that are coming out shortly. Among other titles there is Son of a Stitch and Bitch and The Knitting Man(ual) both of which have great titles. There is always this complaint that there aren't enough patterns available for boys and men. I always find this interesting since I rarely see knitters knitting for men. That may be the whole chicken and the egg debate for knitting for men. If there are more patterns will everyone start knitting for men? We'll have to see.

This week is coming to a rapid close. I have just finished registering my four kids for school. That means there has been a lot of standing in lines, filling out forms and writing lots and lots of checks. It is not all that fun but I am done and sadly enough that gives me quite a feeling of accomplishment. If you set the bar low enough it can make life pretty easy (those are not good words to live by).
best, susie
p.s. The rainbow came yesterday during a brief reprieve from constant pouring rain this week. Rainbows are always so good!

New Attraction Coming Soon

Hi Knitters,
My son has convinced me to add a new feature to my blog. He is getting really into this stuff. I am going to start making some of my patterns available for purchase directly from my blog through paypal. I am still going to have the occasional free pattern available and I have a lot of tutorials in the works for knitting techniques that are used in Itty-Bitty Nursery. The bear sweater from page 81 in Itty-Bitty Hats is going to be the first pattern I make available. It will be sent to you in pdf form for you to print out.

I have received so many requests for this pattern that I felt I should write it up and get it out there.

I can't promise exactly when the pattern will be ready for several reasons. The first being that the pattern is currently written all over frog post-its. The other reasons are that my son and I are setting up paypal (that's not going smoothly at all) and we are figuring out how to get the pattern in the right format to send to you. As soon we get everything in place you'll find it here. If you have any tips about any of this be sure to let me know.

I have a couple more patterns in the works like a cute handbag (it is a mix of knitting and crochet) and some more knitted toys. Well, I have 8 kids running around in my house right now and there is a wild thunderstorm going on outside so it might be a wise choice for me to go.

best,

susie

There's No Place Like Home

Hi Knitters,
We're back safe and sound. Isn't is good to come home? We went to Disney World for the week. My husband thought our kids were at the perfect ages to take a fun-filled journey to the land of dreams. He was right. I am not a ride person but I got to see things like one of the original Dorothy dresses from the Wizard of Oz at Planet Hollywood. That's enough to hold me over for a long time.

When I was 8 years old I went to Disney for the first time. When I saw this castle I simply couldn't believe my eyes. It didn't seem true. I felt like magic was all around. I loved seeing my kids feel that same excitement I felt so long ago. Anyway we had fun in the hot, hot sun. It was in the upper 90's everyday and humid beyond belief. In Madison it didn't even reach 60 yesterday and it is pouring rain. Talk about contrast.

I knitted a lot for the first couple days of the trip. I made eight mini-cupcakes for my publicist, Jaime, to hand out to various people she is contacting. It was adorable to see them all stacked up together when they were done. I had three flight attendants stop to talk about the cupcakes on the flight down. They all thought they were cute. Then as I was getting off of the plane the attendants were gathered at the door and they were talking about the cupcakes as I walked by. It is a good sign that they were still thinking about them later. The pattern is in the new book. Hopefully the cupcakes will do the trick for Jaime. We had to find a Fedex/Kinkos last Monday and mail them off to New York. Good thing my kids are patient with this stuff.

After I finished the cupcakes I dove into a new project, embroidery on felt. I fell in love with this project. It is a Jennifer Pudney kit I bought quite awhile ago. I bought several of her kits online just to have on hand. They are stuffed with beautiful materials, high quality goods to say the least. There are brief instructions that were good enough for me but if you want more detail on embroidery I recommend this and this.

Isn't it fun? I kept calling it my stitching and the kids laughed about that. I kept telling them how I loved my stitching. They like to laugh at me but they are very interested too. They kept admiring it and both of my girls want to stitch now that we are home. I will have to get some simple projects going for them.

Now Jennifer Pudney's company is extra great because they offer finishing services for you. You can either get your finished piece framed or for the felt embroidery only you can get it made into a bound journal cover. I am getting this piece made into a 120-page bound journal. I am giving it to my dear friend who is going through chemo right now. What I loved most about this project is that every time I took a stitch I thought about her and the journey she is going through. Most of all I thought about how much I care for her and want her to get well. That is positive energy well spent.

Here is my other Jennifer Pudney creation. This is the Princess and the Pea, only they call it the Pea Story. I had this one framed and they do all of the blocking for you. I sent off my wrinkly, masking taped needlepoint canvas and this gorgeous artwork is what I got in return. What a great deal!

There was a prince next to the mattresses but I took him out. I liked the bed, the pea and princess alone. Who needs that old prince in there?

Here are the kits. They are tiny. The needlepoint kits are called postcards. Anyway, thought I would share with you what captured my mind on the trip. I was completely engrossed and thoroughly impressed with this kit.

When I was waiting for my family to exit the rides I pulled the second pureknits yarntini sock out and knitted away. I made some progress. I got a lot of second looks by passersby while I was knitting. I always wonder what they see. I only had one woman ask me if it was a sock but mainly kids are completely fascinated by the knitting. They are mesmerized, almost walking backwards as they are being pulled along. What do they think? I make a wish sometimes that one day someone will teach them to knit. I little wish never hurt.

One more quick thing, my friend Stacey, made a post about a pea pod topped hat she knitted. She learned this in an embellishing class I taught many years ago. I have this sweet pea hat pattern available in my online shop if anyone is interested. This pattern is the bestseller on my site by far. We keep getting it reprinted and reprinted. Stacey had so many comments about the pea hat that I thought maybe people would like to have the pattern. I haven't talked about my shop much in the blog but take a look if you like.

It's good to be home! Hope you all had a good week.

best, susie

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Don't know when I'll be back again.
Hi Knitters,
Just kidding. I am heading off on a short holiday with my family tomorrow. We are heading out for some end of summer fun.
Have a good knitting week and I'll be back before you know it.
best,
susie
p.s. Does anyone even remember that song?

Fruit Style

Hi Knitters,
Check out this featured item from the Style section of the New York Times. Don't you love it? I have to have one or two of these just to look at. They make me smile.
best, susie

Flip Flop Fun

Hi Knitters,
Here is a quick and easy project to spruce up those summer flip flops for your girls.

You just need a pair of plain flip flops. I have used lots of different types of flip flops from the $1.99 types to the more expensive $20.00 type. So use whatever you have handy. I think I recently picked up 2 pair for a buck.

Next you will need loops. Let me tell you I do have a strong recommendation here. Klutz puts out the best loops ever! Take it from someone who has taught countless numbers of kids how to make potholders, these are the best. They are stretchy and colorful. One of my kids first got these loops in a potholder kit from Klutz. This little book that comes with the kit is fantastic. It teaches all about the weaving of potholders and then it gives patterns for designs and projects to make with completed potholders.

My kids whipped these out today including my 15 year old son making the tic tac toe potholder. I love that. He even crocheted the edges. Klutz also makes fantastic craft kits for all kinds of crafts and they are all good. These make great birthday gifts and they are fun, fun, fun.

I order up bags of loops straight off of the Klutz site.

The loops come like this. My girls were so excited when this package arrived. They raced off to start making their potholders.

Here's what you do to make these frilly flip flops. I have made these for both of my girls for many years. I start at one end of the flip flop and pull a loop through the underside.

Then I simply tie a half knot and I pull it really tight. They don't come off at all with the half knot but be sure to pull extra tight.

Next take another color and tie it the same way.

The important part is to push them down as tight as they will go. I cram as many loops on as possible. This makes the flip flop full and extra loopy. Just keep repeating this all the way around the top being sure to push the loops together as you work.

My daughter couldn't be more excited about these. They are so cute! I have seen other flip flop embellishing in this same style with balloons, fabric scraps and hair ties. It only takes a matter of minutes and little girls love them.

Guess what? I received my first copy of Itty-Bitty Nursery today. Artisan sent it out to me yesterday. It is pretty fun to see it in true book form. It looks wonderful. Everything is falling into place for the fall release. It is an exciting time. My tour is getting set up and it is looking great. I get to return to places I went last fall and then I get to visit a bunch of new cities on top of that! I can't wait to see all of those knitters again, old friends and new. I'll fill you in on all of that stuff once it is all set.

If you make some flip flops let me know!

best, susie