- September 04, 2026
- 7 Comments
Last week I crossed the finish line of two long term projects. The scarf was scrappy and the shawl below was made from a kit. Both were of course easy as pie, fun to make and will fit nicely into my wardrobe. The scarf will be saved for winter, but the shawl will come in handy tonight. Californios love to dine outdoors throughout summer and fall, but where we live it gets chilly when the sun goes down and I almost always need a wrap. Tonight I'm wearing jeans and a white top and this will be a perfect pop of color.
- July 20, 2023
- 6 Comments
My June knitting so far has been colorful and easy. Something about the approach of summer I guess, but I want to keep everything simple with no deadlines, no making to fit, no looking at graphs, just easy peasy pleasy.
I've finished the bunting flags--all 100 of them--I think, although I haven't counted them. I do know that I'll miss knitting them! With the same colorful stash I'm knitting the Painting Bricks lap blanket and almost 3/4 done with that. I found myself reaching only for the brights, so I've started a second, pastel only version. The new one is on my patio and waiting for me for when I want to sit outside and knit and listen to the birds chirp. I've also started a new Candy Cane Scarf, a free pattern from yours truly. And then when I feel like knitting with skinny yarn and tiny needles I work on my 14 Color Scarf. Lastly, I haven't forgotten the little advent stockings. They are on hold but I will get back to them in earnest once I finish at least one afghan. Project links are in the caption of each picture below and ALL are knit from stash. Yee gads, my monster stash sure translates into a lot of projects!
The real reason for today's post is because I have two book recommendations that I love to bits. First is The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. It's scrumptious. It's the early 1950s in the midwest and two brothers have an adventure and meet interesting characters along the way. Our heros and their companions have a bit of Frank Capra in them, a bit of Mark Twain, and a splash of Damon Runyon too. Heartwarming.
The second is The Boys, a Hollywood memoir by Ron Howard (child actor and now director) and brother Clint Howard. It's a sweet story about a somewhat ordinary family who happens to be in the glaring Hollywood limelight and manage to be nothing like the Hollywood brat pack we heard so much about. The audiobook is read by the authors. Entertaining.
LMK if you've read either as I'd love to know what you think. Also, any book recommendations?
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| Painting Bricks. This brights version is 3/4 finished. |
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| Painting Bricks Pastel version |
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| Candy Cane Scarf--free pattern by me! I recently updated some of my patterns and you may get an update notice, but no need to reprint. The update updates some non essential info like my website name. |
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| When I want to work with tiny needles I get out my 14 Color Wrap. OK, this was not from stash, but a kit I just had to have! |
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| These little sweeties are just too darling and fun. I've put them aside for now, but will get back to them in a few weeks. |
This post has affiliate links. If you purchase something from an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting the blog. If you'd like to make a comment, please click here or scroll down. I reply to each comment and that response will appear directly below your comment. If you would like a personal reply, please know that I use the Blogger platform and they do not give me your contact information when you comment. If you would like a personal reply you can contact me using the contact form on the right side at the very end of my website. If you would like to receive Knitionary posts by email, please subscribe here.
- June 08, 2022
- 13 Comments
This pattern is almost a decade old and I've had my eye on it since the beginning. For some reason I always thought Loft, this fingering weight yarn from Brooklyn Tweed, and one of his earlier yarns, was itchy. Someone told me it was itchy and so I believed her. But earlier this year I participated in a test knit for a guest designer for Brooklyn Tweed and was offered this yarn at a great discount. The test was for a pullover and is a lovely one and I hope the designer does publish it but we testers have not heard from her for several months. All testers are finished but have not been able to give our final thoughts on the pattern because the designer is MIA. Very odd. But, there is a silver lining--besides the sweater being lovely, I found out that I loved Loft and with the discount the designer offered, I ordered yarn to make this beautiful shawl. Loft is gorgeous to knit and is soft enough for me to wear next to the skin. I knit exactly per pattern, size and colors, and loved the new-to-me edge stitch that I show above. I used a size 6 needle and loved the fabric it made, which was 22 sts. to 4 in. So, when I use this again, I will use it as a DK weight yarn or maybe a sport, but not as a fingering weight, which is what it is! This project was meditative and enjoyable with all the stockinette, the feel of the wool, and the soft, warm colors.
Books: I finished a few books since my last post and have one lovely book to recommend: The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi. The novel takes place in Japur in the mid 1950s and richly creates everyday Indian life during that period. The characters, especially the henna artist herself, are beautifully portrayed. Themes for the book include the devastation of gossip and rumors, the social castes that follow you like a shadow, abortion, and creating family, blood related or not.
If you'd like to make a comment, please click here or scroll down. I reply to each comment and that response will appear directly below your comment. If you would like a personal reply, please know that I use the Blogger platform and they do not give me your contact information when you comment. If you would like a personal reply you can contact me using the contact form on the right side at the very end of my website. If you would like to receive Knitionary posts by email, please subscribe here.
- September 05, 2021
- 9 Comments
I know I've told you that I read a lot, but I don't often share what I'm reading because there are already so many good book reviews available. Still, I have to tell you about Shuggie Bain as it really touched me. It takes place in 1980s Glasgow about a little boy living with his alcoholic mother. You find out early on that Shuggie is different from the other boys, "no right", and everyone, and you too, know what he's about except Shuggie himself. Everyone tries to change him except his mother, which is really the only good thing she does as a mother. When he is finally old enough to begin gathering some self awareness or insight about himself, he has neither the time nor the tools to do so because he has spent all his young life taking care of his mother. She and Shuggie have been abandoned by everyone; husbands, boyfriends and the older siblings. It's a heartbreaking story but one I could not stop reading. When I was away from the book I would be thinking, how is little Shuggie getting along? and I would run back to it. It's the same reason why I can't stop watching Shameless (it's on its last season and Frank was finally diagnosed with alcohol induced dementia, about time I'd say) and why I couldn't stop watching Breaking Bad. Shuggie Bain is a great read with excellent character development, and if you've read it, I'd love to know what you think. BTW, I get all my books from my local library using the free Libby app for both audiobooks and print books. I read reviews online or in the paper, then go on my app and place a hold. Sometimes it takes months but I don't mind. I just finished We Run The Tides and really did love it because I loved immersing myself in the 1980s Seacliff neighborhood of San Francisco. I've got The Royal Governess to read next after I finish up Infinite Country, which I don't think I love as much as everyone else seems to. If I run out of recent releases to read, I go back and reread a Jane Austin, an Ivan Doig, or a Willa Cather.
I'm sharing pictures of MORE marmalade. Because of my success with the kumquat marmalade, last week I made a lime marmalade from the limes from our little lime tree. They are yellow and might look like lemons, but they are limes. If you allow limes to ripen on the tree the skin will turn yellow and they will get juicier and sweeter but the pulp will remain green. The next batch I made was from Meyer Lemons from my neighbor's yard. Both are so good and taste nothing at all like the store bought marmalade, which we don't like at all. Carter loves it and requests marmalade soldiers for snack time--toast with crusts removed, buttered and marmaladed, then cut into fingers. Very British! The recipe I used was the very easy Three Ingredient Marmalade from the It's Not Complicated blog. It uses fruit, sugar and water. You use a candy thermometer to make sure it sets up properly so does not need added pectin. I handed some out to neighbors saying, "Even marmalade haters will love this marmalade". I should make one more batch as I seem to be giving a lot away!
Also, you can see I'm messing around with my Waterlogue app. It's a time waster but is totally fun.
The last picture is me wearing a newly finished sweater designed by Libby Jonson. It's a plain 'ole vanilla V neck which is just the kind of thing I wear often and love to bits. This is a great pattern to have in your pattern library. I also think a V neck is flattering on everyone--man, woman and child. The pattern is Oatmeal and I used Rowan Island Blend DK and it's fabulous yarn, very soft with an interesting texture, BUT, it is crazy expensive and I would not have tried it except that Little Knits had (and still does at this writing) it on deep discount.
Mods and details of my Oatmeal on my Ravelry page
Oatmeal pattern by Libby Jonson
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Thank you for popping in. If you would like to make a comment,
please scroll down or click here.
xo Kristen
- March 13, 2021
- 1 Comments
Hello Friends,
First, I hope this post finds you healthy and safe while we are navigating this exceptional time together. Learning new ways to do things and changing old habits while living in our own real-life version of The Twilight Zone has been challenging, hasn't it? Scary too. I know most of you are sheltering in place; we are entering our fourth week. If you aren't sheltering in place, it most likely means you are on the front lines, either in health care, leadership, food distribution or other essential services, and I THANK YOU, and if you are living on a reduced paycheck, my heart aches for you. Bless you all.
We are well here and are watching our 2 1/2 year old grandson during the day while his parents work from home. I know so many of you are working from home AND taking care of small children AND home schooling and I feel for you. Our kids are so grateful that they have their workdays distraction-free and we are so happy to be able to help out. And little Carter is having a dandy time. It's a win win win all around. We have worked out a daily schedule that suits us all really well. Our day is peppered with plenty of one-on-one play time, little snippets of learning time, crafts or cooking with grammy, house repairs or chores with papa, and a good, long walk to one of the local schools to run on the grass and climb the little hills. We are quite certain we have found where the Big Bad Wolf lives and every day we try to flush him out. After lunch we are all so pooped we are ready for story time and a nap.
Here are a few things that have helped me these last three weeks:
BOOKS
I haven't been able to get very interested in TV these days and instead have been listening to audiobooks from the library. I have the free Libby app on my phone. Download it now! You can borrow books to listen to or read, and they are free! Libby is the easiest library app I have found. Here are some books I've enjoyed the last few months:
I haven't been able to get very interested in TV these days and instead have been listening to audiobooks from the library. I have the free Libby app on my phone. Download it now! You can borrow books to listen to or read, and they are free! Libby is the easiest library app I have found. Here are some books I've enjoyed the last few months:
To Kill a Mockingbird, read by Sissy Spacek--a real treat to hear her gorgeous southern drawl.
The Dutch House read by Tom Hanks
The Silent Patient
The Great Alone
The Wife Between Us
The Flight Attendant
Something in the Water
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
The Other Mrs.
The Coddling of the American Mind
The Book of Essie
The Book of Essie
The Secrets We Kept
Small Great Things is what I'm listening to right now.
Small Great Things is what I'm listening to right now.
CHURCH
You and I can't go to church at this time so I invite you to attend my church in the comfort of your home--curled up on your sofa in your pjs with a cup of coffee, like me! I think you will adore my inspirational pastor, Pastor Hurmon Hamilton. There are three live-streamed services on Sunday mornings--8:30, 10:15 and noon PST. Please join me this Sunday to be inspired and lifted up up up. Here's the link: New Beginnings Community Church. Please let me know if you "attend".
KNITTING
Designers have been offering free or deeply discounted patterns. If you follow my Facebook page, you're aware that every day I post free patterns. If my posts don't appear in your daily feed (because of some kind of algorithm that I don't understand), try to pop onto the actual page every day. I'll be posting free patterns as fast as I can find them and they almost always have a deadline and a code, so please read the text and act quickly. If you don't often go on Facebook, I encourage you to click on my link right now and scroll down the page. Some of the free patterns are incredible and are often free indefinitely.
Aren't we so lucky that we love to knit?
COOKING
I think my biggest aha moment came last week when I decided to cook my big meal at noon time. Now for our lunch we have roasted chicken with vegetables, pork chops with homemade applesauce, Thai fish cakes; whatever my son, the designated once-a-week shopper, can find at the picked-over grocery store. I make plenty, then after Carter leaves I can relax and knit and when dinner time rolls around I just heat up our lunch leftovers.
Carter loves to cook and bake, but we don't just make muffins or cookies. We made Ottolenghi's olive oil crackers last week. Carter loved them and my husband said they had a lot of personality which is a nice compliment for a humble cracker. Older kids or littles with supervision can definitely make crackers!
The other day Carter chopped all the carrots for our chicken soup with this inexpensive kitchen gadget that I cannot live without. I'm on my second one because I wore out the first one.
Carter and I also made a cheese souffle together. True, he's only two, but he was very enthusiastic of the science behind watching the egg whites fluff up and turn snowy white and finding out why. If you've never made a souffle, make one with your kids! If they are like my grandson and love eggs and cheese, they will gobble it up. I always use Julia Child's classic recipe and trust me, it's much easier than it looks.
OUTDOORS
Every day we go on a bear hunt. If you don't have one yet in your neighborhood, start one up and ask everyone to keep their bears out until the isolation is over. Bear hunts have gone global!
You and I can't go to church at this time so I invite you to attend my church in the comfort of your home--curled up on your sofa in your pjs with a cup of coffee, like me! I think you will adore my inspirational pastor, Pastor Hurmon Hamilton. There are three live-streamed services on Sunday mornings--8:30, 10:15 and noon PST. Please join me this Sunday to be inspired and lifted up up up. Here's the link: New Beginnings Community Church. Please let me know if you "attend".
KNITTING
The knitting community has been awesome. Many online shops are offering discounts and free shipping. Call your local yarn shop as they may be doing the same AND offering curbside pickup. One thing is certain, your lys needs your support right now.
Designers have been offering free or deeply discounted patterns. If you follow my Facebook page, you're aware that every day I post free patterns. If my posts don't appear in your daily feed (because of some kind of algorithm that I don't understand), try to pop onto the actual page every day. I'll be posting free patterns as fast as I can find them and they almost always have a deadline and a code, so please read the text and act quickly. If you don't often go on Facebook, I encourage you to click on my link right now and scroll down the page. Some of the free patterns are incredible and are often free indefinitely.
Aren't we so lucky that we love to knit?
COOKING
I think my biggest aha moment came last week when I decided to cook my big meal at noon time. Now for our lunch we have roasted chicken with vegetables, pork chops with homemade applesauce, Thai fish cakes; whatever my son, the designated once-a-week shopper, can find at the picked-over grocery store. I make plenty, then after Carter leaves I can relax and knit and when dinner time rolls around I just heat up our lunch leftovers.
Carter loves to cook and bake, but we don't just make muffins or cookies. We made Ottolenghi's olive oil crackers last week. Carter loved them and my husband said they had a lot of personality which is a nice compliment for a humble cracker. Older kids or littles with supervision can definitely make crackers!
The other day Carter chopped all the carrots for our chicken soup with this inexpensive kitchen gadget that I cannot live without. I'm on my second one because I wore out the first one.
Carter and I also made a cheese souffle together. True, he's only two, but he was very enthusiastic of the science behind watching the egg whites fluff up and turn snowy white and finding out why. If you've never made a souffle, make one with your kids! If they are like my grandson and love eggs and cheese, they will gobble it up. I always use Julia Child's classic recipe and trust me, it's much easier than it looks.
OUTDOORS
Every day we go on a bear hunt. If you don't have one yet in your neighborhood, start one up and ask everyone to keep their bears out until the isolation is over. Bear hunts have gone global!
SAFETY
Make a no-sew face mask tutorial HERE.
Well, that's it for now. I wanted to check in to wish you all the very best and to let you know I care and hope that you are all safe and calm. I'll leave you with this poem by Kitty O'Mear.
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
- Kitty O'Mear
I'd love to hear from you.
You can make a comment by clicking here or scrolling down.
I know it can be wonky to enter a comment;
sometimes it won't be accepted, sometimes it will. Ugh.
Make a no-sew face mask tutorial HERE.
Well, that's it for now. I wanted to check in to wish you all the very best and to let you know I care and hope that you are all safe and calm. I'll leave you with this poem by Kitty O'Mear.
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
- Kitty O'Mear
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| The Kaffe Striped Afghan knit in Rowan Felted Tweed DK is pure knitting comfort. |
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| New acquisition for the Passagiata Wrap. |
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| Stash yarn gathered for Corners, Edges and Stripes. |
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| LOVE this! A test of the adult version of The Alaskan Pullover. It's totally fab. |
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| When I feel like I really want to concentrate I work on Poet. |
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| A test for Libby Jonson for a summer sweater. |
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| The guys doing chores together. My swift was squeaky, the air vents needed cleaning and so did the kitchen floor! |
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| We used this awesome recipe for homemade puffy paint. We halved it because I am worried about my flour supply! |
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| We use this safety step stool several times a day. It safely brings him up to counter height. |
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| He was enthralled with the chopper. |
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| Big or small, friendly or fierce, we are finding bears everywhere! |
I'd love to hear from you.
You can make a comment by clicking here or scrolling down.
I know it can be wonky to enter a comment;
sometimes it won't be accepted, sometimes it will. Ugh.
- April 04, 2020
- 14 Comments
We just came back from a relaxing ten days cruising around Mexico. Lots of beautiful weather, friendly people, good food and plenty of knitting time. I brought three projects (and took more care packing them than I did my clothes); finished one and got halfway through the other two. Pure bliss. I met so many knitters on the ship who were doing just the same thing. I love that knitting is so popular!
I came home yesterday to find this new book in my mailbox. I Knit New York is a corroboration of five NYC knitwear designers, has eleven lovely patterns, and reads like a novel/knitting travel guide. I took it to bed with me last night and read it from cover to cover. Next time I go to New York I'm taking it with me. I love this book!
The designers are Brittney Bailey, Kathleen Dames, Kirsten Kapur, Xandy Peters, and Lars Rains. Besides the 11 patterns, there's a charming essay from Kay Gardiner about knitting in NYC long long ago--even before the internet! Lisa Chamoff will take you on an enviable multiborough yarn crawl. And my favorite was going on a NYC button hunt with Kathleen Dames. I've done that before and spent a blissful day getting lost in the buttons section of the garment district. All this and more make this book a handy guide if you are planning a NYC trip or just dreaming of one. This book is a ten.
I've paired a few of my favorite designs with some stash yarn. Below is Go Lightly with that iconic Audrey Hepburn neckline. I've made a similar sweater but it's the first time I've seen this neckline done in fingering weight yarn. I paired it with some of the new yarn I recently won from Pacific Yarn Co. I'm thinking of adding flared sleeves. I would love to wear this all summer.
I have enough vintage fingering weight RYC Cashcotton 4 ply in baby blue to make Rockefeller. I would make long sleeves and lengthen the front to mimic the back.
Mosaic knitting!
You can purchase the pattern book as a download on Ravelry, but I found the printed book on Amazon for less with free shipping. While I love and usually prefer individual PDFs, I think this is better purchased as a book because there is loads of other information outside of the patterns.
but I recommend you purchase the book on Amazon.
- January 23, 2018
- 6 Comments
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