Are Your Stitches Happy?

It's Sunday and I spent day no. 2 at the restored Slater Mill and brought
my camera and got a few mill photos....

Today's class with Annie was all about how to knit lace....so today's
hat must therefore be a lace hat...naturally

I made this hat for one of my very special pediatric patients...
and of course each of them are all special....and many of them
are getting custom made hats from me.

Let's back up, I am a pediatric nurse...I take care of mostly preemies
in their homes...children that require RN care. Most have more than just
oxygen, and some are even on ventilators...enough said...this hat was made
specially for an adorable little girl patient of mine who needed something
warm but not too heavy (for indoor use) that framed her face in an
exact way....
This pattern is called the:
"Garter Lace Diamond" Baby Bonnet by Knittin Kiti



I used size 6 needles and only a fraction of some oh so very soft pink yarn
which I bought just for this pattern....pattern calls for worsted weight yarn,
but I instead used Softee Baby Solid Yarn Baby Pink Marl. It comes in skeins of
455 yards each and is actually a dk weight acrylic yarn. I only used about
2 oz. for this pattern.





The stitch pattern looks complicated for some but works up very quickly.
The pattern is free and can be located at the following link:
http://people.delphiforums.com/knit_chat/knitchat/patterns/babybonnet.htm

Now back to the Heretic...aka Annie Modesitt



If you are lucky enough to take a class in the future, be prepared to have
your knitting world shook up, actually turned upside down.
After yesterday's class, I was wondering how she could top herself with
today's class...I am not new to lace, but very open to any new ways of
doing things...I could write a five page blog on just these two Annie
classes alone...Let's just leave it with:

1. One of Annie's major mottos. ~Your stitches must always be happy.
2. That Red Carpet emmy gown she knit her friend is incredible. see blog.
3. I am so going to knit one of Annie's patterns right away.
4. There are 16 different ways to make a knit stitch.
5. If your stitch is on the needle backwards (leaning wrong direction),
knit into back of it if neccessary, don't force the stitch...see #1
6. Offering prayers and best wishes for Annie's family as they struggle
through the difficult times of husband's diagnosis of M.M., see blog.
7. Annie especially likes Oreos.
8. Annie is a huge movie buff and does excellent
Katherine Hepburn impressions.
9. When doing a right or left decrease, the direction the knitting needle
points,is the decrease you need to do
10. If you have the opportunity ever to meet her, she is a do not miss.

Of course Annie's Website is at: http://www.anniemodesitt.com/patterns/rcc.html
and her blog can be found here: http://www.modeknit.com/

The Green Shrub or Perhaps It's a Hat

Well now that you've viewed today's hat...you may well ask....is it a
shrub, or simply say to yourself just what is that green bushy thing?
also of note...this is an early photo of a knitting project...back
when I had no imagination whatsoever and actually posed this knitted piece
on top of a lampshade...hmmm now that was interesting!

This is actually my very first chemo hat...so long ago...unsure of pattern
but was a very common one at time...It was a knitting guild request...I belong
to several guilds and there is always a charity request from each guild or
perhaps a few throughout the year. The yarn was of all things fun fur...
I can say now it's interesting...If you knit, you could not tell, if you purled
you could not tell, if you make a mistake you could not tell....you get the
picture...but if you dropped a stitch, yes you were completely doomed...

I do remember this went to one of the hospitals in Boston and was slated for
a child, as they preferred the wild colors and fun fur most mimicked actual
hair. or at least that's the way I remembered it being explained at the time.

While we are on Guild Charity requests....and impossible to knit items...
I will share a non hat item...this item actually got shipped to my Crochet
Guild this week....they provided the yarn....and I knit the Baby Yeti jacket
http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/baby_yeti/baby_yeti.html
with it...it was knit all in separate pieces...and of course needed to be
seamed together...
Using a high definition microscope and a bottle of Advil later....
actually not...but was almost as much a blast to sew up as was the green bush
hat....my next charity piece will most likely be out of Cascade 220 yarn for sure...a harmless little skein and oh so easy to knit with.



I live in New England, the north east most corner of the United States...
the states here are relatively small and tucked close together,
so I can easily get to say Boston, MA or Providence, RI in an hour
or less (traffic depending) from my home....fortunate for me,
many of these bigger cities often host famous knitting personalities...
so there seems to be a steady flow of them to meet (Franklin Habit),
hear speak (Yarn Harlot) and take classes from (Kristen Nicholas).
I am unbelievably fortunate to live in such a part of the country
that enriches our current fiber know how and entertains us in a such a
lovely yarnalicious way!

So today's blog I picked out is... my next teacher of a class that I am signed
up for tomorrow morning. I am taking a combination knitting class with
none other than Annie Modesitt. Her blog is the Knitting Heretic at
http://www.modeknit.com/

I will be sure and bring my camera and share annedotal yarny stories
and if Saturday were not enough...I am also taking a lace class with
her on Sunday.
By the way, these classes are sponsored by Slater Mill, one of my guilds....
Will elaborate more about guilds in next week's blogs as I am attending two
other of my guild meetings next week and plan to elaborate on the goings on
of what happens at a guild.


Okay go ahead and add #11 to list of why I knit and post about hats...
they can be entertaining and are known to crack me or others up...