Hello Everyone! This is strange. It's been almost 4 years since my last blog post and I haven't even been able to visit Ravelry that often. I don't know where the time went. Life got so busy with work, family illnesses and deaths, there seemed little time for anything else.
I have been steadily practicing traditional Okinawan Goju-Ryu karate under the guidance of the IOGKF (International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Federation) for the last 4 years which has helped me keep my sanity through the extremely stressful times. I just got my brown belt in December!
As my bio on the side says, I've also gone down to part time work so I could be there more for my family. I won't bore you with details now; that will come out steadily over time as I post more. This post is to update you on the three major knitting accomplishments of my last year.
Sushi Socks
My husband loves my hand-knitted socks. There was a cute kit called Sushi Socks at a local yarn store which has since closed down. Balls of yarn were died to look like sushi rolls. My husband chose the Ocean-Toes pattern from Cat Bordhi's, New Pathways for Sock Knitters Book 1. Of course, the fact that he has size 15, triple E width feet, means I have to adapt everything to fit him. I think it turned out quite well.
Samurai Kabuto
We love funky hats in our family. My son requested the Samurai Kabuto from Vicki Square's, Folk Hats.I substituted yarn, so once again, adaptations. I'm very pleased with the results.
Frontière
My little princess chose the Frontière also from Vicki Square's book referenced above. Once again, I substituted yarn and therefore some re-sizing and some ad-lib knitting so it would fit her head properly.
The other little variation I did was to not use yarn to make French knots that would look like little pearls. I sewed on faux pearl beads. As you can see, she is ecstatic.
That's all for now. I plan to blog again soon with what I hope will be more interesting knitting for all.
Well, I didn’t much knitting done over Christmas but I scored in the book department. I got Jan Messent’s Knitted Gardens (an exceptionally fine work of art) and Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters and A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting at Christmas time. I could not put these books down. Cat is a genius and her instructions are fantastic. It is pretty intense reading. I needed a nice quiet place to concentrate and absorb all the techniques I was presented. It was so exciting and enlightening; I went to sleep dreaming about all the creations I had seen. If I had the right needles with me, you just know I would hardly have slept that night because I would have been knitting. You definitely get your money’s worth out of these books.
Another designer I would consider to be in this genius category is Debbie New. I’ve had her book Unexpected Knitting for a few years now and look at it quite often. Refreshing, ingenious, fine art; enough said.
I could babble on but I’m trying to keep this short. In future blogs, I’m sure I will be mentioning other designer’s I admire and/or who have inspired me.
What I think is a shame is that Cat Bordhi, Debbie New, and other ingenious designers like them aren’t recognized as much as some other designer’s are because of marketing or maybe not “being in the right place at the right time”. At least, that’s how it appears to me. I feel there are some truly gifted designers / innovators out there who aren’t getting the accolades they deserve. It’s also a reflection of my personal taste; there are designers I’m not crazy about but other people adore.
Another book I’m looking forward to is Joanne Yordanou’s 12 Months of Knitting due out January 8, 2008. I was one of the test knitters for the book. I’m so excited!
