the mighty momogus

Gansey Madness!

2010-03-17T11:43:00.001-04:00

It occurred to me the other day that not everyone knows what a gansey is. I've been throwing the word around for months to non-knitters who politely nod when I tell them how many ganseys I've been working on. I assumed they knew what I was talking about, but they probably didn't and maybe didn't want to know! Anyway, a gansey or guernsey, is a fisherman's knitted woollen sweater, similar to a jersey, which originated in the Channel Island of the same name. (thank you, wikipedia) Ganseys usually have a textured pattern on the yoke and upper sleeves alone.

And now (drumroll please) here is what I have been working on for the past six months. PHEW. Welcome Chesnut Hill Ganseys!

In ascending size, American Girl Doll Chestnut Hill Gansey:

Baby Chestnut Hill Gansey:

Child's Chestnut Hill Gansey:

Adult Chestnut Hill Gansey:

Baby Chestnut Hill Gansey Hat:

Adult Chestnut Hill Gansey Hat (worsted weight):

Adult Chestnut Hill Gansey Hat (chunky weight):

There's also a child's hat, which I couldn't find (aren't you sorry??) and another baby hat. Yes, I have that cobblestones-and-trolley-tracks pattern burned into my brain forever. We took the pattern pictures for these samples this past weekend and now the patterns are being put into final graphic form. Boy howdy, will I be glad when they're ready to go! It's like giving birth!

Stay tuned, they'll be ready for purchase next week. And if you're not already a member of my Facebook Group, go join! I'm thinking I'll have something special going on for the debut of these patterns. Just sayin'....

And because I'm nuts, I'm also work on this because I realized there should be CH Gansey Cardigans too:

That's the back of the Baby Chestnut Hill Gansey Cardigan. Madness!!

Momogus Knits Trunk Show

2010-03-12T07:06:00.002-05:00

Shameless plug: I'm hosting a Momogus Knits Patterns Trunk Show and Party at The Tangled Web on March 26 from 6-8 pm. That will be the official unveiling of the Chestnut Hill Gansey patterns, plus I'll have lots of samples of all of my other patterns, plus wine! Yeah! Stop by if you're in the neighborhood! We always have a lot of fun!

I went bowling yesterday with Gus. It was my first time, and it was FUN! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be (I bowled an 80, with 4 intentional gutter balls at the end to keep it close), and it was so fun to hang out with my boy. Bowling rules! Now I get it.

Blanton shut out the Tigers (I think) yesterday - 35 pitches for four innings - yikes! I love Joe Blanton. 25 days till Opening Day!

Birthday of the Decade!!

2010-03-02T07:08:00.000-05:00

Look who's turning 10 years old today! This guy:

Accomplished musician:

Thoughtful artist:

Occasional superhero:

More than occasional sourpuss!!

Salty athlete:

Accomplished swimmer! (oh boy do I remember this day!):

Graffiti artist! (just kidding!):

Boy of many talents:

He enjoys every aspect of life to the fullest:

My dear 10-year-old boy:

Happy Birthday, dearest Gus. We love you.

Knitting stuff

2010-02-21T07:57:00.002-05:00

I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor tomorrow to look at my arm. But of course as soon as I made the appointment my arm started feeling better! So I decided to take on some knitting.

Yes, I jumped on the Knitting Olympics bandwagon, even though my arm isn't quite cooperating. This is Peasy by Heidi Kirrmaier. I'm using some violently chartreuse Rowan Felted Tweed that has been marinating in the stash for several years now. It's a fun pattern - top-down and the lace pattern on the front yoke makes the knitting interesting.

I also started these:

These are Ribbon Mittens by Spillyjane. I've wanted to try this pattern and technique for a long time and finally took the plunge (Cascade 220 on a #3 - oy vey). The ribbon technique - technically known as Roositud Inlay Technique - is easy. But look at the chaos inside:

Ack!! After I got this far and saw all these floats and ends I wondered if I could just knit the mitten and embroider the design on. It's not knit in, so I don't think it would look any different. And it would be easier and cleaner. I'm going to try to pull out the design I have so far and then embroider it on as I go. Doesn't help that I chose black for the background, but so be it.

Belated Snow Day Post (and new pattern preview!!)

2010-02-18T15:41:00.003-05:00

(Blog-slacker alert. I originally started this a week ago and just found it languishing in the "Edit Posts" folder...So sue me.)

Like everyone else in a million-mile range, everyone here had a snow day today. Gus and I went out and explored the snow first thing in the morning and found that it was the perfect snow to build a snowman. This is what our snowmen have looked like in the past:

This morning in about 10 minutes Gus had made this:

Snow Kitty! Waaaah! So cute!! Notice the appropriately vertical quality of this. The snow was delightfully packable.

I made brownies, went back out and shoveled a little, had several snowball fights with the boy and actually knit! These are samples for Totally Twisty Toe-Up Tube Socks, the next Momogus Knits pattern coming down the pike. I'm working on the sleeve of one of the Chestnut Hill Ganseys, but they are still not quite ready. My arm is still not 100%, so I couldn't knit a lot, but I finally felt like I was making some progress. And that felt good.Here it is being modeled by a grumpy almost-10-yr-old:

Close-up of the Totally Twisty rib pattern (worsted weight):

Here it is in sportweight variegated yarn:

The pattern is written for fingering, sport and worsted weight yarns and sizes from baby up to large adult. I LOVE a tube sock because there is no heel. Yippee! And the ribbed pattern makes them fit in a nice way. I will keep you all posted, but I expect to have this pattern out in the next week or so.

Happy Birthday, Hubby!

2010-02-16T07:14:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday to my funny great husband!!

Brrrr!

2010-02-07T10:02:00.002-05:00

In the backyard yesterday:

My favorite bird, gallant Mrs. Cardinal, venturing out for some lunch in the middle of the blizzard.

I stayed in and baked bread. My bread-baking is ahem, a work in progress. I can't get the loaves to rise very much, though I sit them on the radiator. I wonder if even that is not warm enough. Yesterday's efforts were very flat and dense. Does anyone out there have any bread-baking hints they can offer?

No knitting to show - my arm is better but not back to 100%. I knit a little bit in the morning and my arm began to throb from the elbow to the tip of my middle finger. Not good! And so frustrating! I am so close to finishing up a half-dozen new Momogus Knits patterns, but can't finish because I can't finish the samples. Urgh. And argh!

Off to Amagansett!

2010-01-23T07:13:00.002-05:00

We're off to our annual trip out to the end of Long Island today. I am still battling tendinitis so I'm not sure how much knitting I'll get done. That is irksome, of course, but I will just have to soothe myself with two or three walks a day here:

And eat some delicious dinners here:

And practice my field goal kicking:

Have a happy week everybody and please think non-inflammatory thoughts about my ding-dang arm!

As Homer Would Say: "D'Ough!"

2010-01-14T07:02:00.000-05:00

Here's a few things happening around chez Momogus these days. First, in a totally nature-y badness thing, I spied a Sharp-Shinned Hawk in my backyard, eating a woodpecker. I don't like when the hawks use my bird feeders as a sort of delectable lunch buffet. When they get somebody it's usually a dove. Now I love a dove as much as the next person, and I hate the whole circle-of-life thing as much as the next person and wish they wouldn't get eaten at all, but there are A LOT of them in my yard. The woodpeckers, on the other hand, are rare and gorgeous and appear infrequently. So it seemed especially harsh when I saw this.

Hawk-y badness...

Now in a palate-cleansing moment of nature-y goodness, here is a ridiculous and totally typical picture of Nuts and Silly. Though he is not related to Silly in any way, Nuts firmly believes and has believed from the first moment he saw her that Silly is his mother. He outweighs her by a good 10 pounds, if not more, and he will wander around the house meowing until he sees her and then will flop down next to her so that she can lick his ears. Then he gets so happy and contented that he will inch closer and closer until she swats him and leaves. This happens continually, but she is patient and he is incorrigible so it never stops.

Goofball.

Now on to my main topic, which is bread and the making thereof. I'm experiencing my annual post-holiday-knitting-tendinitis so I can't knit right now and I am going crazy. I've been looking for stuff to do with my hands that wasn't knitting. As you may recall, baking a loaf of bread was one of my New Year's resolutions or 2010 goals. Imagine my surprise when I picked up my Marion Cunningham Fannie Farmer Baking Book and saw this:

If you can't read it, it says "8/30/92 Perfect! I am Frontier Woman!" Huh. Aside from the hubris in that note ("Frontier Woman" indeed, who lived in downtown Philadelphia, worked in a bank and threw darts in the corner bar 3 nights a week), I am struck by the fact that I accomplished this goal 18 years ago, but had no recollection of it at all. I'm going to declare that there is a sort of statute of limitations on baking goals, because I baked a loaf of bread from scratch yesterday and fully documented the process and was very full of myself (one might even call oneself "Frontier Woman"), so here goes:

Dough in its initial form.

Dough in its not-really-very-risen form, but this was 2 hours later and it was sitting in a bowl in a pan on the radiator, so I'm sure it was very close to 75 degrees and I didn't want to wait any longer.

Dough in its risen-punched-down-and-risen-again-and-split-in-two form ready to go into the oven.

I wasn't sure what to expect because the dough did not seem to have doubled in size when it rose, but what came out of the oven sure was beautiful and it tasted DELIGHTFUL! We had it with homemade chicken stew last night, and ate like a whole big Frontier Family.

TA-DA!!

I have a bread machine that can knock out a decent-tasting loaf of bread in an hour and I don't have to do anything after I push Start. Yesterday's process was definitely hands-on and time-consuming. Mixing the dough initially took maybe 15 minutes, then there was a 2-hour stretch for the first rise, then punching down and another 45 minutes for the 2nd rise and then finally a 30-minute baking time. So I started around 11:00 am and the bread was done baking at 4:30 (it would have been done earlier, admittedly, but I had to pick up Gus at school and I didn't want the oven on while I wasn't there.) The bread was really really good, though, and it did make 2 loaves, so I guess it was worth it. I don't know how anyone could do this every day though. But it's done. Now I have to start with my chicken goals.

The Dark TIme is Drawing To A Close...

2010-01-12T07:20:00.003-05:00

In the midst of all the unfortunate kerfluffle that ended the Eagles season, I suddenly thought, hey, I forgot about this guy!

Remember when the Phillies got the best pitcher in baseball? I will surely miss that magnificent Cliff Lee, but am thrilled with Halladay. I think there are about 35 days until pitchers and catchers report, and the Dark Time will be over. The Eagles cannot tide us over, and though I would dearly love to love the Sixers, that's not going to happen. So I will dream about the Phillies... Let us recite their names....Howard, Utley, Rollins, POLANCO!, Ruiz, Werth, Victorino, Ibanez, Halladay, Happ, Lidge, Madson, Blanton....ah.

Hot Stove Topic: does anyone have a theory about why the Phillies kicked Brett Myers to the curb? I thought it might be some sort of personality thing, but then Ed Wade picked him up for the Astros and he would know better than anyone if there was a problem. Myers would seem to have been a good fit into the back end of the rotation, but the Phillies made it clear he was persona non grata.

Begone, Dark Time!!

Happy Birthday, Dearest Dad!

2010-01-05T06:49:00.001-05:00

I could write pages and pages of glowing words about my dear dad, but it still wouldn't be enough. Suffice it to say that I am one of the three luckiest girls in the world, to be the daughter of this gentle, kind, loving man.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

xxxxxxxxoooooooo,

Diana

Happy New Year, Folks!

2010-01-02T08:32:00.004-05:00

Obligatory best wishes for a wonderful 2010 to you all! I know a lot of folks who had a tough 2009, and a few who ended 2009 in a particularly sad way. For those, I especially hope that 2010 is a happier year. For me 2009 was a nice year. Why? Because nothing happened!! That, to me, is the secret to happiness and contentment - just have nothing happen! The normal sweet day-to-day routine was uneventful. If 2009 were a rollercoaster ride it would look like this -> ---------------------------------------- YEE HAW!

Anyway, enough of that. I have high hopes for 2010. Here are some of my New Year's Resolutions:

1. Learn how to cut up a whole chicken
2. Learn how to sharpen a knife to cut up said chicken
3. Learn how to roast a whole chicken (a different one from the one I just cut up)
4. Make a loaf of bread from scratch, with the whole yeast-rising, punching-down business

My dear frend Sabina bought me an awesomely awesome cookbook for Christmas, Mad Hungry, and I have been thrilled by it and inspired to cook well for my men. I never really learned how to cook, so this is a big thing for me.

For knitting I have some resolutions.

1. Finish (well, start and finish) the 2nd glove for this:

Annemor #10 Glove from the transcendent Selbuvotter, the yummiest book ever! I powered through this glove in March of 2008. 2008, folks. That was almost 2 years ago. Though I have no problem tossing unfinished projects that no longer interest me, this one does. I shall make that 2nd glove!!

2. Get on the stick and publish the Chestnut Hill Ganseys patterns for Momogus Knits. I have this done:

American Girl Doll version

And this:

Baby version

And this:

Child's version - done!

And I'm actually farther along in this, the Adult version, than the picture shows:

So what's the hold up, you may ask? I don't know!! I just could not get myself to finish these up. But that was so 2009, you know. Now it's 2010, and they're going to get done.

3. Add more Adult sweaters to the pattern line. The blahness of the sample knitting for these sweaters has held me off for years, but again now it's 2010, and they're going to get done!

That's a lot of resolutions. They're actually more of a to-do list, which is probably more likely to get done. I love me a to-do list!! Does anyone have resolutions or to-do's that they'd like to share? Share the love! Share the resolutions! Writing them down makes them more likely to happen, I find.

Hope your 2010 is exciting (if you want it to be) or wonderfully non-exciting!!

Post-Christmas Wrap-Up (get it? wrap up? HA HA)

2009-12-28T16:14:00.005-05:00

Ah, another Christmas come and gone. Gus and I have been spending a lot of quality (and quantity) time in our pajamas, vegging out. He has been busy with Legos and Wii and I have been indulging in a sort of frenzied orgy of non-present knitting. It's all for me! It doesn't have a deadline! I can knit anything I want! I'll post those items in the next day or so as they come off the needles in a crazy Lucille-Ball-conveyor-belt manner.

But first, what I knit for gifts. I knit 2 berets for my sister Laura, one pink and one cream, as requested, but never got to take a picture, so that was stupid. One was the 3-Gauge Beret by Nancy Lindberg and one was the Star-Crossed Beret by Natalie Larson.

For my other sister, Sarah, I knit a Snowman Family representing her, her husband Jon, son Charlie, daughter Grace, and cat Clyde.

By the time I got to Clyde my hands were killing me, but I had to finish and he is so funny that I laughed out loud every time I looked at him.

I also went cuckoo-nutso for this pattern and knit 4 of these little red cabled sweaters, 3 as Christmas ornaments for some dear friends and one for our tree.

The other big undertaking was a vest for my husband Matthew. I've knit hats and scarves and slippers for him, but never a sweater. He puts holes in the elbows of his sweaters, so a vest seemed like a good idea. I found some beautiful forest green heather Berroco Vintage Wool in Boston, pulled out my handy Knitter's Book of Patterns, turned to the Basic Vest pattern, and then the fun began. I did a gauge swatch like a good girl, picked out the appropriate size and stitch count and knit away. When I got up to the armholes, I realized that I had been on crazy crack and my stitch count was off by like 18 sts! Say what?! I readjusted everything and soldiered on, but I wasn't sure that it would be okay until Christmas morning, when this vision appeared:
My good husband in his PERFECTLY PERFECT-FITTING vest!!! I actually got weepy!! But that was the crazy crack again. I see dozens and dozens of lovingly (and more mindfully) handknit vests in this poor man's future!!

So that's that. One last note about holiday knitting: I knit tons and tons of impulse projects this past year because I wanted to kill some time or try a new technique or get rid of some yarn or wanted to knit what everyone else was knitting. The result was a huge amount of hats, mittens, scarves and miscellany, more than I could ever use in a lifetime, that made great last-minute gifts for co-workers and friends and relatives. I highly recommend this.

Hope you all had lovely holidays and are enjoying some relaxing time off. Soon Gus and I will get out of our pajamas....

What I'm Eating and Drinking...

2009-12-20T19:20:00.002-05:00

Here's an update on my favorite holiday treats.

Gigantic Eggnog Latte #3. This was from the new Giant supermarket in Willow Grove. It got cold while I was shopping (poor planning on my part), so I brought it home and nuked in my festive snowflake mug:

Gigantic Eggnog Latte #4 - from the Starbucks in the Ardsley Genuardi's, posing with Augustus:

Nummy Peanut Butter Blossoms (the best cookie ever invented - don't you agree??)

Cinnamon Pinwheely Goodness

2009-12-15T17:51:00.001-05:00

So much Phillies stuff to talk about! But I will save my pontificating until the Halladay deal is complete. I've gone into cookie overdrive here chez Momogus. I tried a new recipe this year and liked it so much I thought I'd share it with you.

Look how adorable! (Don't be fooled by weird photo perspective - they're about 1 1/2" across)

Like little cinnamon buns, but not sticky. They look a little complicated but they're not. Here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Pinwheels of Goodness

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.

With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated (the dough will be stiff). Shape into a disk and refrigerate, wrapped, for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Divide the dough in half. On a floured surface, roll each piece into an 8"x12" rectangle (this was hard for me - my rectangles ended up 7 1/2" x 9" or 10 1/2 x 11" - a general rectangle shape is fine). Sprinkle with a mixture of 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I used half of this on each of the 2 rectangles). Starting from a long side, roll each rectangle into a log. Refrigerate until firm (this doesn't take long). Slice 1/4" thick.

Bake on a parchment-covered baking sheet until just brown, about 13-15 minutes. Transferring the slices onto the sheet is messy - the pinwheels do not stay structurally sound and the cinnamon-sugar stuff starts flying. But persist and don't fret. It all comes together in the oven.

Enjoy and go Phillies!

It's My Birthday!

2009-12-14T11:06:00.002-05:00

Well, it was on Saturday. I love my birthday! Here are two of the nicest things that happened on my birthday this year.

A delicious cake (that I baked). It's vanilla cake with chocolate icing, my favorite combination:

It was decorated by two of my favorite people in the world. These two:

My boy and his aunt, my beloved sister Laura who came up for the day. Yippee!!

I love my birthday.

Mmmmm.....

2009-12-10T07:25:00.002-05:00

Gigante Eggnog Latte #2 of the season:

Yummeeeeee........ (bonus points if you can name the neighborhood I was in...)

Catching Up

2009-12-07T06:14:00.004-05:00

First, some apologies for being lazy and posting duplicate posts that I wrote up for the Momogus Knits company blog. That blog is all knitting and useful knitting stuff. This blog is supposed to be all pictures of eggnog lattes and musings on Pat Burrell's smoky calendar pictures. [Pat Burrell......smoky goodness....sigh......]

But it is also for the recording of all the flotsam and jetsam of non-Momogus knitting. It would be nice to present these as I knit them, in a sensible and non-crazy form. But it would be nice to do a lot of things, and most of them aren't happening! So anyway, here is a cavalcade of recent finished knitting projects. (Sports fans, there's some Phillies/Sixers chat after all the knitting)

Bella's Mittens (oh so romantically draped on the printer at work):

Inspired by the movie "Twilight" (have you heard of it?), these are a sample for a class at the Tangled Web. This was a really well-written pattern, and I lurved how these turned out. Knit in Berroco Peruvia, one of my all-time favorite yarns.

French Press Slippers:

(I think I might have sewn the buttons on the wrong end of the flaps, but I'm not sure...)

One of the things I like about Ravelry is that it allows me to indulge my inner bandwagon-jumper. Though I like to think I am resistant to jumping on bandwagons generally, sometimes I like to see what's the most popular project on Ravelry and join the crowd. Everybody's making these! They turned out great. They were quick, but because I chose black they were not the most enjoyable project to knit or seam.

(SCARY!!)

I used Cascade 220, which usually doesn't felt well for me, but these felted perfectly - who knew? I also used some hand-felted buttons we have for sale at the Tangled Web.

I feel these will add a touch of elegance to the distinctive Phillies t-shirt and Old Navy pajama bottom combo I usually don for sleepwear or loungewear.

Baby Surprise Jacket:

Talk about jumping on the bandwagon! This may be the most popular knitting pattern of all time. I love reading Elizabeth Zimmerman's books, but I've never knit one of her patterns before. It wasn't the most enjoyable knit I've ever knit, but I am truly in awe of her genius in thinking it up. It's knit in one piece and seamed on top of the sleeves. I meant to take a picture of it before I seamed it up because it's just one goofy-looking piece, but I was so anxious to finish that I forgot. This is for a class at The Tangled Web. Jojoland Rhythm yarn with a single crochet edging around the front.

Star-Crossed Beret:

(sorry I did not have a head to model this on - well, I do have a head of course - I mean a foam head. Oh never mind...) Another very popular Ravelry pattern that we're teaching as a class at the store. I used one of the 10,000 balls of Malabrigo I've accumulated. Gentle cabling, good shaping (this is one of the best-fitting hats I've ever made), quick knit. I highly recommend.

I also have a bunch of holiday knitting going on that I cannot share with you, but will eventually.

Now let's talk Phillies. I am so happy to see THIS MAN back in a Phillies uniform:

Yay! Placido Polanco!! I really liked Pedro Feliz and his beautiful style of play, but Polanco's almost as good defensively (though he hasn't played 3rd since he left the Phils) and brings a bigger bat to the hot corner. Great move, Ruben Amaro, Jr!

And speaking of players returning to Philadelphia, what about THIS GUY?

(Remember? 2001 playoffs when he stepped over Tyrone Lue? Awesome!!)

I have to say that, despite his off-court shenanigans, I've always liked Iverson. I hope he does well and that his second tenure here ends more happily than the first.

A List of Charitable Organizations

2009-12-04T07:31:00.002-05:00

I love giving and receiving presents as much (okay, maybe more) as the next person, but this time of year, it's good to take a break from your gift list and think about how you can make your world better. Here's a link to Interweave Press's list of charitable organizations and their guidelines for giving. Boy, just reading the list gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling!

Though every one of these programs is doing fabulous wonderful necessary work, one of my personal favorites is Heifer International. They donate animals, trees and other stock to needy families around the world in order to increase sustainable self-sufficiency. They have a "Knitting Basket" donation that provides two llamas and two sheep to a family for income-producing wool.

Each year Gus and I go through the catalog and pick out an animal to give. Two years ago we had Merry Chicksmas and last year was Merry Cowmas. He donates all of his December allowance and then asks relatives to each donate a few dollars too. And that adds up to a lot of chicks! Or one cow!

Most of these organizations will accept donations on behalf of someone else, so think of it as a nice alternative to a gift card to the local mall. A donation to a charitable organization is especially nice for a teacher's gift.

And, as I tell myself 10 times a day this time of year, stay calm! Take some time to stop and smell the pine and cinnamon scents around us, hear the beautiful holiday music, watch the twinkly lights, sip some hot chocolate, and appreciate all the little good things we have in our lives.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

2009-11-30T18:55:00.004-05:00

My first Eggnog Latte of the holiday season! Yippeeeee!

Attention, Starbucks baristas! You haven't seen me in 11 months, but I plan to drink approximately 200 egg nog lattes from you in the next month!!

Black Friday Deals - 24 hours only!

2009-11-26T21:45:00.003-05:00

I thought I'd jump into the Black Friday madness and offer three patterns at 50% off for 24 hours only! That's a mere $2.50 a pattern! If my website had doors, you could bust them down like a Walmart at 3 in the morning!

These patterns will be 50% off until about 10pm on Friday (when I go to bed). I chose these three patterns because they each are great for gifts. They look cool, work up quickly and are great for almost everyone on your gift list.

First up is the Double-Knitted Felted Clutch:

This pattern uses one of my favorite techniques - double-knitting! Double-knitting is an easy way to make a tube on straight needles. Sound crazy? It's not! It's fun and easy. These little clutches make great teacher gifts, girlfriend gifts or daughter or granddaughter gifts. You can needle-felt or embroider decoration or just sew on a fabulous button and be done with it.

Here's one I made as a sample:

Here is Barb, who took a class with me and her beautiful bag:

Next up is the Easy Mosaic Knitting Pillow:

Another one of my favorite EASY techniques, mosaic (or slip-stitch) knitting is an EASY way to do complicated-looking colorwork with no bobbins or two-handed stranding. This pillow is knit in bulky-weight yarn - the back is garter stitch stripes, so this is another quick gift. Great as a hostess gift, for yourself or as a house-warming gift.

Here is a sample that Maureen, one of my sample-knitters, made for her daughter:

Here is Marina (of Marina's Soap Sock fame!) and her pillow made at a class I taught:

Finally, there's Fingerless Gloves Two Ways.
This is one of my favorite last-minute (or not-so-last-minute) gifts. Gus has had a lot of teachers who got these as presents. They're also great for surly, hard-to-buy-for, teenagers because they look cool and leave fingers free for endless texting.

The pattern is written for a true, thumbed glove worked in the round:

And also, in thumbless mock cable version worked flat and seamed up:

(these really go fast!)

Here is charming Sue and her gloves from a class she took with me:

So there you are. Go crazy! Bust the doors down! Try a new technique! Enjoy!!

Teensy Weensy Sweater Ornaments!

2009-11-23T08:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, first a shout-out of appreciation to the newest additions to the Momogus Knits Patterns family - Circle of Friends Yarn Shop in Elkin, North Carolina, The Open Door to Stitchery in Great Neck, New York, Down Cellar in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, Knit A Bit in Westfield, New Jersey, Knit Your Dreams in Quincy, Illinois, and The Knitting Gallery in Colts Neck, New Jersey. If you're in any of their neighborhoods (or the neighborhood of any local yarn store!), pop in and give them your business. Without you, local yarn shops will start to close and you'll be stuck wandering the aisles of A.C. Moore, trying to get someone to show you how to do Kitchener stitch. Scary!!!

Now, on to more holiday knitting stuff. In Berroco's weekly email newsletter this week there was this!

I don't know about you, but I am the original sucker for tiny knitted objects! These are little sweaters that can be holiday ornaments for your tree, or adorn your wonderful holiday present wrappings or just make you squee from their adorable teeniness. The free pattern is here. It takes dk weight yarn and size 4 and 6 needles. The little capelet in the middle kills me! I wish I were 8" tall so I could wear it! If you are certifiably insane, there are two other sets from 2007 and 2008 that you can make as well.

As I said, if you have the inclination (yes!) and the time (well, maybe....), even just one of these ornaments would make a sweet present for a teacher or hostess or your own tree.

Felted Bowls Anyone?

2009-11-19T06:38:00.000-05:00

Last year the only knitted gifts I made especially for the holidays were little felted bowls. Unfortunately, because I gave them away I don't have pictures. But they were awesome - trust me!!

Here are some things I like about felted bowls:

1. They're quick - you can knock out a bowl during an episode of "Top Chef" or "Mad Men" (ask me how I know!)

2. They use very little yarn. Over the years of many felting projects I have accumulated a bazillion little balls of leftover Lambs Pride Bulky, my favorite felting yarn. I can't make myself throw them out, and I can't give them away to any of my designated leftover yarn recipients. So they sit in a drawer in my yarn cabinet (yes I have a yarn cabinet - wanna make something of it?!) until it's time to make felted bowls!! Little balls of leftover felting yarn are perfect for felted bowls! If you run out, you just use another little ball of leftover yarn and make a striped bowl.

3. Felted bowls are awesome for containing little giftees. Last year I made felted bowls for a bunch of my school-mom friends and put little felted hearts in them. (Brace yourself if you follow the link - they're mighty cute!!)

I'm linking to a great free pattern from alice*thelma for felted bowls of several sizes. Her pattern calls for worsted weight yarn, but you can also use bulky weight and follow the instructions for the smaller sizes and use #13 or #15 double-points.

Instead of buying another gift bag, why not knock out a little felted bowl? They're great for holding jewelry or potpourri or knitting notions (like stitch markers, etc) or action figures (ask me how I know!) or little felted hearts.

Boston Images

2009-11-17T07:10:00.000-05:00

These are a little bit late (and I actually have some more that are stuck on the laptop), but here are some images from our latest trip to Beantown:

Gus and big old Boston lobster:

Luna Moth from the Museum of Science:

This time we stayed at The Langham, which is in Boston's Financial District. This is a few blocks south and east of the more downtown-y part where we stayed before (at The Copley and Park Plaza). I loved this part of the city. It's by all the wharves, and the configuration of the streets shows how old it is. They all curved all over the place and dead-ended and had a great juxtaposition of old and new architecture:

Because it was Halloween, we stopped at the Granary Burying Ground. It is the final resting place of many Revolutionary luminaries, but I found the gravestones of the lesser-known people fascinating. Here is one for John Hancock's servant, Frank, complete with spooky skull and angel wings:

Here's the gravestone for Miss Ann Maud. She has a relatively more benign, though still stern, angel on her stone:

Here's Gussie in front of the dismasted masts from the U.S.S. Constitution (one of my favorite pictures of him of all time. Please note Phillies shirt - Martinez, because he was pitching that night - sailor hat and navy pin, which he picked out at the gift shop. Sometimes kids are so great that it makes your head explode):

On our way home, we stopped as we always do, in Palmer, Massachusetts to have lunch at the Steaming Tender. We got there early this year and found to our delight that brunch was served in this Pullman car. Yippee!!

My two trainwatchers caught some freight action:

And then we went home.

J.A. You're My Rookie of the Year

2009-11-16T07:11:00.004-05:00

National League Rookie of the Year will be announced later today. This guy has my vote:

Mostly because of his pitching prowess, but also because of the arbitrary way he pronounces his name. What if he gets traded to the Toronto Blue J.A.Y.s?