Island Life

Hi Knitters,
Today is the first day my house has been empty. Everyone is back to school and work so I am glad to get back to visiting with you. My family and I spent the last week in Key West, Florida. It's a spot we have always wanted to visit but never have before. We took advantage of spring break lining up at the same time this year for all of the schools. All of the kids were able to come on the trip which felt so good.

I was talking to my editor yesterday and he asked what my favorite part of the trip was and I had to say it was my pink cruiser bike with the handy basket. I loved and rode that bike so much all week. Once we got on the island I don't think we drove more than a couple of times the entire week. We walked and biked everywhere. I want one of these bikes at home to keep....

The weather was gorgeous, hot and sunny every single day. We took advantage of a state park just a few blocks down from the place we stayed. It was so beautiful and convenient.

We biked out on this gigantic and colorful pier a couple of times.

It was just stunning in the bright sunshine. One of my sons fished off this pier but didn't have much luck.

TC got a pink bike, too, and Peachy picked a white one. The boys all had black bikes.

We stayed in the Truman Annex which is a spectacularly well-kept area. The Little White House sat directly in front of our condominium, just steps away. It was old-fashioned and sweet looking. Harry Truman spent many vacations here along with other presidents like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and John Kennedy. There were many other visitors with famous names you'd recognize on the sign outside this historic house. There were many historic buildings and houses everywhere you looked. We went by Ernest Hemingway's house but never went in. It was really pretty.

This is the entrance to our condominium. It was quiet and clean and plenty big for our large family. The building backs up to a fantastic boardwalk which we spent lots of time walking on. There was a local coffee shop and an ice cream shop that we frequented along with other cute little beachy shops along the way.

I just loved all of the colors and brightly painted houses. There was tons of artwork nestled into the community. Mosaics and paintings kept catching my eye in unexpected places. There were also roosters all over the place and cock-a-doodle-doo-ing all of the time. That was amusing to us.

We stayed right on Front Street which, in my opinion, is the prettiest street on the island. It was clean and colorful, lined with beautiful houses (some big, some small) and inns and bed and breakfasts. My favorite thing was the huge front porches and white picket fences on all of the houses. I've always wanted a big front porch like that.

My husband loved these extra-gigantic palm trees. They were impressive.

Cruise ships rolled in and out during the week. This was a foreign cruise ship but we never found out exactly where it came from.

This was the view from our pool, lovely and bluer than blue.

My fisherman son got lots of good fishing time in. He caught quite a few fish and always quickly throws them back in. He loves the water and the ocean.

Peachy loved the trip. She is the fairest of us all so I tried to keep her from getting a sunburn and succeeded this time. That's a full-time job in itself. Three of us have my olive dark skin and the other three have lighter skin that needs closer attention in the sun.

This son is already back at college and I was so glad to have him with us on the trip. The others are back to their real lives as well. The food, sun, water and activity is always fun but the best part of any trip is that we get all of that time together as a family. When I said my bike was my favorite part of the trip earlier? I'd like to change that to having uninterrupted time with my family as my favorite part of the trip. That's a given.

As my kids get older I value these fleeting weeks together more than ever as I know that busy schedules and lives will get in the way more and more as the years go by.

I hope you all had the chance to enjoy your families and dear friends last week, too.

I'll be back very soon with some island knitting.
best, susie

My Boys

Hi Knitters,
Sometimes I look at those three men and I can't believe my eyes.

TC and I visited a tropical yarn store today! It was interesting. I picked up a couple of fun things. I'll share more on that soon....

Bye for now my loves.
best, susie

A Little of This, A Lot of That

Hi Knitters,
I am off this week to a faraway island where I'm doing a little of this...

very little....

and a lot of sitting back with my family by my side to enjoy the spectacular ocean view!

Yarn:  Cakewalk Yarns in the Cherry Blossom colorway! (I love it sooooo much. Check out her entire shop.)
Pattern: How I make my socks!

Thanks for the Lost Banner Hat love. The pattern has been flying out of my Ravelry pattern shop.

Take care and I hope you are enjoying your view this week.
best, susie

New Pattern, New Winner, New Award!

Hi Knitters,

First off, I am so honored to have won the Readers' Choice Award for 2012 for Favorite Knitting Blog/Website! Thank you so much for the nomination and for voting for the award. It is quite a thrill. I was lucky enough to be asked for an interview after winning the award, too. 

I especially want to thank my loyal and fun Ravelry Group, Itty-Bitty Knits, for voting for me. I know they helped greatly. I will proudly display the award logo on my blog sidebar. Thank you, again, to everyone for voting and for the support!

Click here to see more about the Readers' Choice Award Winners!  There are winners for the knitting categories of favorite yarn company, favorite needles, favorite book, and favorite designer along with my category for favorite knitting blogger/website.

Click here to read my interview with About.com!

I love everything about this blog and have enjoyed the work I have lovingly poured into it for the past six years. It feels good to know that others are enjoying it, too. 

On to other news, I randomly selected and contacted a winner for a copy of Kata Golda's Hand-Stitched Felt book. The winner is deliamae (rav id)! Congratulations! Thanks to everyone who entered and I will have another giveaway and review soon.

Now for the new pattern! In case you don't know about the original hat photographed in my blog banner, it was knit in my own handspun worsted weight yarn from Fiber Optic Yarn gradient roving. It was a gorgeous hat, one of my favorites for sure. One day last fall my daughter bustled off to school wearing this hat. I hesitated a little but decided not to say anything and to let her wear it. That was the last time I saw the hat. It has been lost ever since.

I posted the photo on my blog banner and I have received many, many requests for the pattern which I didn't write down at the time I made the original hat. I have now re-knit the hat in Malabrigo Worsted and I have written out the pattern.

Here are a few more shots of the handspun version of the hat:

Above is the beautiful Miss Molly modeling the Malabrigo Worsted version of the Lost Banner Hat. The Malabrigo Worsted is the perfect yarn for this hat. Really, any worsted weight yarn in wool, any wool blends, superwash wool or cotton will work great for this project. You only need one skein or about 200 yards of worsted weight yarn to make the hat!

Here is some information you might like to know about the pattern:

Size: child (adult)

Finished measurement: 17.5 inches (19 inches)

Note: The finished hat is very stretchy and is to be worn with up to 3-4 inches of negative ease. The adult size easily fits my head circumference, which is 22 inches.

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted (100% merino wool; 100 grams/210 yards), 1 hank

Samples are made in Malabrigo Worsted in the Kaleidos colorway, and my own worsted weight handspun from Fiber Optic Yarn and Dyeabolical Yarns.

Needles: US size 7 (4.5mm), 16-inch circular and a set of 4 double-pointed needles or the size needed to obtain gauge

Gauge: 5 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch

Materials:

Ruler or tape measure

Scissors

Stitch marker

Yarn needle

The photo above is the top of the Malabrigo Worsted version of the hat. Doesn't almost everyone have a skein of Malabrigo sitting on their shelf? Here is the perfect project for that languishing skein!

The hat above is made in my worsted weight handspun. The roving was from Dyeabolical Yarns and Fiber. The yarn turned out great and I love the finished hat. If you are a spinner with a skein of worsted handspun with around 200 yards, this pattern could be for you.

The pattern for the Lost Banner Hat is available in my Ravelry pattern shop. You don't have to belong to Ravelry to purchase patterns on Ravelry, it is open to everyone.

I hope you enjoy the new hat pattern. It is a simple unisex hat that is for children, women, men, teens, everyone! It is the perfect quick gift knit and can be worn many ways.

Click here for the Ravelry project page for the Lost Banner Hat! 

Click on the button below to purchase the hat pattern for the Lost Banner Hat!


Wow! What a week it has been. I found out that Itty-Bitty Hats, my first book, is going into its 7th printing, which is amazing news. I won this fantastic award. And best of all, I get to come on this blog every few days and share time with all of you! Thanks for the support and fun. I love being here with you.

best, susie

Kata's Hand-Stitchery ~ a giveaway & review for you!

Important News! The publisher, STC, just contacted me and has offered a copy of Hand-Stitched Felt to a winner! This is now a giveaway post. Please leave one comment with an email address or rav id on this post to win a copy of Kata's beautiful little book of felted whimsy!

Hi Knitters,
I took a brief break from yarn and knitting a couple of weekends ago. I had been knitting up a storm for some deadlines and needed a quick reprieve. I looked at my bookshelves and pulled out Kata Golda's Hand-Stitched Felt. I am completely taken with these sweet, innocent, childlike, hand-stitched designs. I have never met a more charming book than this one. I am a complete fool for hand-stitching and wool felt.

I have been wanting to make one of Kata's creations for a long time and I happen to have quite a nice collection of wool felt from Purl sitting in my stash. I seized the day!

These adorable little animals caught my eye right away. Each animal is about 11 inches tall so they are a good-sized stuffed toy. It was hard to choose which one to make first because they are all so cute. The clothes are just as sweet and hard to choose from.

Here is what I decided upon...

..... Kata's mouse!

I started out with this sweet pink mouse wearing the shirt and pants. I just love the way it turned out. The pattern templates are all included in the back of the book so it is all right at your fingertips. I used computer paper to trace the pattern. For the wool felt, I soaked it in Soak Wash and put it in the dryer to soften it up before cutting and stitching. Then it smells good, too.

The toy is stuffed firmly and with the layers of wool felt and tiny hand-stitching, it feels like heaven in your hands. I really wish you could hold this mouse. You would instantly want to make one of your own. A handmade toy is like nothing else.

Kata's instructions were very clear and easy to follow. This is my first felt hand-stitched toy and I didn't have any troubles at all along the way. I love how the outer seams are done in a simple blanket stitch, one of my favorite stitches. I also love the little imperfections hand-stitching brings to a project.

I added my own embroidered details. I loved making the clothes and picking out the colors so much. I was so inspired by Kata's designs that I immediately had to try designing my own little felt animals.

See that little bunny in the green dress? That's from my own sketch that I then cut out from the paper I drew it on and used as a pattern. I appliqued a tiny carrot on the dress. It turned out very sweet.

I then wanted to try my hand at making a bear. I sketched out a bear and although not finished yet, it is turning out really cute! I'll remember to share him when I finish. I see many more felt toys in my future.

Next up for another felt project for me are these tiny Everyday Journals. I am obsessed with tiny journals and handmade books so this should be perfect. What a great gift idea, too! I'll keep you posted.

In fact, speaking of gifts, these projects work up incredibly fast and are perfect for personalized and thoughtful gift giving. The hand-stitching and imperfections make them so freeing and fun to make. You can do no wrong. Hand-Stitched Felt is packed full of little handmade gift confections. Other projects included are a glasses case, a little purse, a stationary pouch, a door sign, a pincushion, a potholder, and finger puppets to name a few. 

I am so charmed by Kata's designs and sketches. I think you will love this book, too.

Click here for Kata Golda's Hand-Stitched Felt book!

Click here for Kata Golda's website!

Let me know if you have tried something from this book or if you are inspired to try something!

And now, don't forget to leave a comment to win a copy of this adorable book!

Happy Wednesday.

best, susie

Shawl Beginnings

Hi Knitters,

I shared this gigantic hank of my handspun a couple of weeks ago. The yarn is spun from two 4 oz. braids of Dyeabolical fiber. I was able to get over 1,000 yards of a fingering weight yarn. It is just kind of a fun and crazy hank of yarn.

The other morning I wound the enormous hank into a yarn cake on my not-so-trusty and very old ball winder. It went surprisingly well.

Here is what I got! It's so cool.

The handspun cake is so huge compared to a wound ball of Quince & Co. Lark which is 134 yards.

And off I go knitting on Laura Linneman's Thin Ice shawl. Last Sunday morning was beautiful weather-wise, and I sat outside with my family enjoying the fresh air and sunshine and I worked away on my Thin Ice. It was a lovely morning. 

The shawl is divided up into different sections of stitch patterns, including a section of stockinette stitch, which keeps things interesting. It is incredibly fun and fast to work on and the handspun makes it even better if that's possible. I highly recommend this pattern. I can't wait to finish and block it out. This will be my first handspun shawl.

Well, I just have this quick knitterly share with you today! I hope all is well with you, dear Knitters.

See you back here soon.

best, susie

Toy of Your Choice Class

Hi Knitters,
Well, I see that lots and lots of people love to knit hats and would love to have a copy of Weekend Hats. Thanks for the enthusiastic entries to win a copy of the book. I have randomly selected a winner and have notified her. Congratulations to Gabby of NYC! Gabby, you need to email me your mailing address. Thank you to everyone for entering. I'll have another giveaway very soon.

On the teaching front, I haven't taught much since the fall season of last year so I am excited to get back into it at the Knit Circus Spring Retreat along with some other fine instructors!

My class is now up on the site and open for registration as are the other classes being offered. The retreat is Saturday, April 14th, in Madison, Wisconsin (yay!!) and the other teachers are Stephannie Tallent, Amy Detjen and Jaala Spiro. The retreat is located at the Hampton Inn West. Click here for location information.

Click here for the Knit Circus Spring Retreat classes!

I am only teaching one morning class so spots are limited. The class is from 9-12am.

I am teaching a Knit a Toy of Your Choice class.  I am providing the patterns for the Owl Babies that you see here in the photos AND for my Tiny Lamb ornament that is currently an unpublished pattern, it is completely adorable and fun! You get to choose which pattern you want to work on during the class. I am going to do in class toy-making demonstrations and will have some tips and tricks to share along the way.

Click here to see the information for the Owl Babies!

The Owl Babies are knit in one piece (except for the feet) and the pattern has a bunch of fun techniques involved. It is a tiny knitting adventure.

Of course I will have some fun giveaways, too. Both the Tiny Lamb and the Owl Babies are about 3 inches tall.  They are small toys knit in worsted weight so they both work up quickly! You will get quite a lot done during the class and I bet some will even finish!

Again, click here to register or just check out the options for the retreat! 

If you have already knit the two toys I have planned for the class but you'd like to join us, please come and work on any other toy design of mine.  I would love to have you join us to do some toy knitting. I am really looking forward to getting back in the classroom as teaching is my first love.

Hope to see you there!

Now if I can ever get to it, I have two new versions of my lost banner (the photo at the top of my blog) hat re-knit in one hank of Malabrigo Worsted and another in my handspun yarn. I have gotten more requests for this hat pattern than I can count so I finally knit it up again and wrote it out. Making the pattern for the aptly titled, Lost Banner Hat, is next up on my list for the blog. I can't wait to get this pattern out!

Happy Sunday! I hope to see you in class on April 14th, in my lovely city of Madison.
best, susie

Weekend Hats Giveaway!

Updated on March 25th, 2012:  The giveaway for Weekend Hats is now closed. No more entries are being taken. There will be another giveaway soon!

Hi Knitters,
I have been given the go-ahead by Interweave to offer you a copy of the delicious book, Weekend Hats, a collaborative hat pattern book curated and authored by Melissa LaBarre and Cecily Glowik-MacDonald.

I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute a hat for this fantastic, diverse hat pattern collection. The designers in the book include Melissa and Cecily, of course, and Jared Flood, Tanis Gray, Mary Jane Mucklestone, Gudrun Johnston, Kirsten Kapur, Cirilia Rose, Carrie Bostick Hoge, Melissa Wehrle, Kristen TenDyke, Courtney Kelley, Connie Chang Chinchio, Natalie Larson, Jennifer Lang, Elisabeth Parker, Anne Kuo Lukito, Laura Irwin, Kate Gagnon Osbourne, and Jocelyn Tunney. I hope I didn't leave anyone out. It is an excellent group of designers and the hats offered are amazing and fun.

Click here to see all of the 25 hat patterns on Ravelry!

As someone who loves to wear and design and knit hats, I simply adore this book and I think you will, too. The personality of each of the designers is really reflected in their individual designs. I love that on many of the hats you can tell who designed which hat just by looking at the photo.

Here are a few of my favorite designs in the book, I really love them all though.

Mary Jane Mucklestone is the colorwork master! Here is her beautiful hat that is signature Mary Jane. It is perfection and I especially love the colorful brim.

Jocelyn Tunney designed this clever cable hat. It's adorable and simple with the interesting cable feature that makes you take a second (or third) glance. Well done!

What is better than a simple striped beret worked in luxurious yarn? Nothing! Courtney Kelley combined beautiful colors to create this winner of a hat.

That Gudrun Johnston is one of my favorite designers. I have the yarn and patterns all set to make both her Kerrara cardigan and the Levenwick cardigan in the near future (I just need to find some time!). I love a fun and fast changing colorwork hat like this. Gorgeous Rowan Tweed is used to create this one.

Here is my design. This is possibly my favorite adult hat design of mine ever. It is not ruched as it is called for some reason, the Ruche Beret, but it is really a pleated hat at the brim. Pleats are more like overlapping folds and ruching is more like a ruffling technique. The hat is knit from the top-down, increased on one side and then pleated on that increased side right before the brim starts.

Click here for the Ravelry project page for the Ruche Beret!

Click here to see the book on Amazon!

My oldest son took this photo of me in the hat right before I sent it off to Interweave. I use it as my identifying photo on Ravelry and Twitter and Facebook now and I get asked about the pattern all of the time which is fun!

Okay, if you are interested in winning a copy of Weekend Hats please leave only one comment on this blog post. Please leave your Ravelry ID or an email address (whatever you are comfortable with) where I can easily reach you if you win. I will need to gather your mailing address to send off to Interweave so they can send you your book!

Good luck and let the comments begin!
best, susie
p.s. I am teaching only one morning class, from 9-12am, at the Knit Circus Retreat in Madison on this coming April 14th! Click here to see the classes and register! My class isn't listed yet so check back if you are interested, it should be up later today. I am teaching a "knit a toy of your choice" class where I will provide the patterns for the Owl Babies and my unpublished Tiny Lamb pattern (trust me, it's adorable)! It's going to be loads of fun. More later but I just wanted to let you know about it.

Kids Included

Hi Knitters,
I hope you all had a great weekend. It was an unseasonably warm and weather record breaking one for us. We enjoyed the great outdoors all weekend long which is always fun.

I have two book reviews for you this morning, both are aimed at children. If you are anything like me, you enjoy the illustrated picture books just as much if not more than the kids. I am a children's book collector of sorts.

The first book is called, Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett (I might have said Mark in the video), and it is illustrated by Jon Klassen. The story and illustrations are fun and interesting and really different. I love this book and so do many other knitting bloggers, podcasts, and sites. I have seen Extra Yarn reviewed just about everywhere you could think of ....click here to read another review and see more illustrations from the book.

The other book I reviewed in the video is Crafty Chloe by, Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by, Heather Ross. I forget to mention her name, Heather Ross, while I am talking about her accomplishments as an illustrator and sewing and fabric designer. Click here for Heather's other book, and click here for her blog. Crafty Chloe is such a sweet and clever story about how being yourself works out for the best in the end. I love this one, too.

I have a few more knitting book reviews set for this week and a giveaway and a new pattern release. I've been knitting away on some new work projects and neglecting my personal projects a bit. I'll get back to some of those this week, hopefully.

I hope you are all well and I'll be back soon with more!
best, susie