Slipperish Socks, a new free pattern through January 1, 2014.

Hello, all!

Just a quick note to announce that I have posted a new free pattern, available as a downloadable pdf on Ravelry. It will remain free until January 1, 2014.  That way, everyone who would like a quick, sockish Christmas pattern can take advantage of it at no cost!

The pattern is called "Slipperish Socks" and was created for the workshop I taught a couple of months ago. It is a toe-up sock pattern that works up quickly in worsted weight yarn. For extra usefulness, I have created the pattern to include sizes from older baby/toddler to large man--this naturally includes a wide variety of foot circumferences, from 4" to 11".

You can find the pattern here in my Ravelry "store." (I say that in quotes since all 4 of the existing patterns are free so far!)

Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope to be back writing more soon!!

Toe-Up Socks Knitting Workshop....by me.

This is only one of the marvelous photos from the Homesteading
Fair website. Check it out to see a complete slideshow!

Hello, all!

I hope this finds all of you well and healthy, and full of knitterly joy and creativity! It has been a very nice summer here in the Pacific Northwest--excepting the peculiar humid and stormy days as of late, which are very foreign to our region.

Even as the calendar suggests it is time to start winding down into cooler days, it is not. It looks as though we are going to have some continued sunny and warm days around here. This might not be as much fun as some early, crisp fall mornings for those of us who long to wear woolen shawls and sweaters and socks, but it is nice weather for late summer activities like concerts and fairs.

Speaking of fairs, I have been fortunate enough to have been asked by the good people over in Lyle, Washington to teach a sock knitting workshop at their second annual Homesteading Fair this year. My class will be on how to knit socks from the toe, up and will include Judy's Magic Cast-On and a short row heel. It will be my first time teaching others besides my friends to do this, but I am very excited to try and have been working hard to prepare! And I am only one part of a very fun event.

The fair takes place on September 21st and will be from 9a.m. to 6p.m. and will include lots of workshops and events like sausage making, soap making, a pioneer living museum, and goats, chicks and alpacas. There will be a gal there spinning alpaca and selling her own handmade, hand-dyed yarn, too. There is so much fun that I cannot list it all! Please check the fair out on their website/blog or on Facebook! There is even entertainment too!

As one who loves the idea of pioneer-style living, I am very excited and honored to be a part of this. Anyone else out there like me? You read the entire Little House on the Prairie series, were sad that it ended, picked it back up and started all over? After my second or third time through, I sought out some of Rose Wilder's books, just to keep that good feeling going, as if I could somehow find a way to climb into the stories.

My husband thinks I should have been born on a farm, but since I cannot live on a farm right now, I can do my own bread baking (though for me it must be gluten free now), canning and jelly making, sewing, gardening and sock knitting.

If you are going to be in the good ol' Pacific Northwest where we love our pioneer heritage and feel like one those folks yourself, or if you just want to knit your own toe-up socks, plese join me for a fun filled day in Lyle, Washington out the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, one of my personal favorite places on the earth.

Admission is free and so are many of the workshops. My workshop is free, but each participant must bring their own materials, see the Homesteading Fair website for details and R.S.V.P.! There will be about 15 spots in my class.

Hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Janelle, The Knitting Muse

Lookie what finally came in the mail!!

Rememeber, all those months ago when I made a big deal about winning a first prize spot in the Martha Stewart knitting contest for Lion Brand? That might seem like ages ago, but the prize just came UPS. That beautiful brown-paper- bag-colored truck showed up yesterday and voila! Here is is!

I received a Martha Stewart Crafts by Lion Brand Knit & Weave Loom Kit, complete with an instructional book on how to use it for some basic knitting and weaving.

I have not been much of a loom user since I was a kid making potholders out of those nylon loops that, if actually used to remove a casserole from a 375 degree oven, would have probably melted onto the casserole dish and into one's fingers.  It was a fun activity (the weaving, not the melting), but I have not thought about it too much since then. (You can still buy those here, but with better materials)

The kit came with a nifty little letter of congratulations.

My 13-year-old daughter uses a 3-piece round loom kit I bought a while back out of curiosity to make hats for herself and others, and I myself have made a single hat on it. It was fun and I will admit that this new addition to my knitting arsenal makes me curious.

The parts inside look a little daunting!

In addition to the basics, the little book that came with the loom provides some basic instructions for a knitted hat and scarf and two other cute patterns: one for "rosettes," and one for a woven squares baby blanket.

I once checked out a book from the library with instructions for this type of knitting and weaving. My understanding is that socks also might be made from a loom. Anyone tried that? How did it work? Any other cool things to be made on a knitting loom?

I know there is more to this than potholders!

Crochet: A New Love? (Subtitle: J'ai Deux Amours, c'est d'accord?)

 I got a free sample of a newish magazine called Love of Crochet. I had a little coupon/post card for it, and I thought, what the heck? I'll try this! I sent away for it.

(They also soon have a magazine coming out called Love of Knitting. Guess I need that one, too.)

It turns out the magazine is super cute with some tantalizing pattern recipes, especailly for a pattern recipe junkie (like myself). They also provide a little section in the back of the magazine called "Learn to Crochet." I was, uh...hooked. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun)

If the patterns cracked a mental door for me, then the learning section flung it wide open. My resistance was futile.

Here, in this blog post, is my attempt at a dishcloth. I worked out the stitches pretty well (emphasis on the "pretty") and, with the help of "Basic Crochet Stitches" by Interweave Press, have now got a partially finished, misshapen dishcloth. It was really fun to do and I plan on finishing it soon.

It's also good to try a new skill and be reminded of how much we should revere those are really good at it. People who can crochet super fast with precision and an incredible finished product are not to be underestimated! It is not easy

and I am reminded of this every time I split the cotton yarn with my hook, or can't find the two stitches I am supposed to be inserting the hook into.

Learning to "see" your work, especially "new work" is pretty hard, but it is fun and I think I just might want to do more.

Let me at those charts! Even if they all look like Greek to me!

Vive la de beaux-arts de l'aiguille!

 (I made that up...hope it translates...long live needle arts!)

fin

Happy Father's Day

My dad, Grandpa Clyde, with his buddy
Amy Rose. 

A fun time was had by all today.

There was a great picnic in my parents' back yard with good weather and good food (provided by me, so "good," if I say so myself...), good conversation and, oh, yeah, my dad's socks fit perfectly.

He put them on. Outside. At the dinner table on a 75 degree day. And all was right with the world.

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband, my own dad (the original Clyde the Glide--we called him that before ol' Clyde Drexler even came along) and to all the important men out there who shaped the lives of others.  You are appreciated.