Enraptured by Wrapture

I love the knitting world. I love how small it is yet it's worldwide. I love the online friends I have made that live far away through Ravelry and Facebook, and I love the friends I have that I can sit and knit with in person, watch bad TV and take our kids to the playground together, always with knitting in our bags, just in case. Knitting brings people together from all walks of life. There's such talent and camaraderie and history in our craft. I got to know Kristin Omdahl while working at Vogue Knitting. I had always been a fan and holy cats can that lady CROCHET. Sure, she's a fantastic knitwear designer, but she's in a league of her own when it comes to her crochet design. Her Crochet So Fine book made me wish my crocheting was better than sub par. Her A Knitting Wrapsody book flew off the shelves of my LYS and I thought it was pretty great that she had wonderful books in both knitting and crochet. Not many people can say they've achieved that.

The thing I like best about Kristin is she's as awesome as her designs are. I had the chance to hang out with her a few times at TNNA and enjoyed her company. I was tickled when she asked me to try out her new Wrapture wash by Eucalin. I'm a fan of both Eucalin and Kristin, so I was excited when it showed up in my mailbox and had saved a sweater that needed to be blocked specifically for it.

The Eucalin site says, "Eucalan’s latest addition is Wrapture by designer Kristin Omdahl, infused with the beneficial essential oil of Night Bloom Jasmine. Like all Eucalan products, Wrapture is best for lingerie, hosiery, loungewear, athleticwear, swimwer and is especially useful in helping to preserve the original tension on elastic fabrics. Using Wrapture preserves the life of specialty materials such as Lycra and nylon, silk, satin, cotton, organza, lace, cashmere, wool, jersey knits and embellished items. Jasmine oil is a natural antiseptic making it perfectly suited for your most delicate fibres. Like all Eucalan scents, Wrapture contains a touch of lanolin to naturally condition fibres and keep static to a minimum. Wrap your delicates in the romantic and intoxicating scent of Jasmine."

Why yes, I will. Thanks! I really liked this wash. The scent was feminine and sweet but not overpowering. I like that it doesn't need to be rinsed after soaking and I thought the label was cute. If you're looking for a gift for a knitting friend, a bottle of this would be great with a fancy -schmancy hank of yarn to go with it!

Thanks to Kristin for letting me try out her new Wrapture wash!

He Said She Said

I loved paper dolls as a kid. I liked the process of painstakingly cutting out the clothes, fiddling with the tiny accessories, the organizing of outfits and the occasional freak-outs when a hand or leg had been accidentally chopped off by my too-hasty scissoring skills.

My mom and her sister had been into paper dolls as well. Growing up with an artist mom with constant encouragement to “make it yourself” rather than go with the cookie cutter molds of store-bought art project kits, I started making my own dolls, designing my own outfits and getting down with the glitter and glue.

Then came the fun part, the actual playing.

On the rare occasion my dad would play paper dolls (or Barbie’s, or My Little Ponies) with me (he usually took us on outdoor adventures rather than playing inside), he was always relegated to the “boy toy.” Whether it was the lone Ken doll I had, the “male” Pony or one of my brother’s random Transformers or Matchbox cars that had gotten mixed up in my stuff, there was never a question of who my dad would get to “be.”

My dad brought this up when I had a son of my own last year and commented on just how weird and overly dramatic some of my storylines were. I notice this myself while hanging out at the playground every day or listening to kids amusing themselves in the doctor waiting rooms. Kids are weird. Very creative, hilarious and charismatic, but definitely weird.

We all started here. We all had crazy storylines running through our brains and had no qualms about playing them out without abandon. We joined into our friend’s fantasies and became a superhero, a rock star, a princess or a dinosaur without batting an eye. I wonder around what age we start to lose that? When do we become so self-conscious, pack up the paper dolls and Barbie’s and start worrying about what other people think? When does the glitter glue get replaced by glitter eye shadow, the crayons with lip gloss, the matchbox cars with mobile phones?

An ode to my fondness for paper dolls, making my dad always be the sole “boy toy” and my favorite color combination of cranberry and turquoise, I offer up another free pattern, the “He Said She Said” hat.

I adored this yarn, Lana D’Oro from Cascade Yarns. A fiber combination of 50% alpaca and 50% wool gives this yarn a lovely little halo and a softness to die for. I love alpaca and this yarn is strong, buttery, cozy and ideal for the encroaching chilly months. It makes me think of fires in huge stone fireplaces, sheep’s wool slippers, hot cocoa and candles in the windows (a wintertime New England thing, another memory from childhood I loved). Generous yardage assured I could get a couple of hats out of this fantastic worsted and I found myself petting it while it sat on my desk. Yes, it’s that yummy.

And you sometimes pet yarn too, admit it.

Knitting up nicely on US 7’s, this hat has a few of my favorite techniques – multiple icords, Fair Isle and corrugated ribbing. If you haven’t dipped your toes into any of those skills, this would be an ideal hat to give it a go. The yarn really showed off the stitches and gave the hat a perfect drape.

With almost 65 colors to choose from, you can come up with the perfect color combination. Make one for your childhood friend (I had one of mine model this hat, thanks Malley!) or for your sister or mom who sat there all those winter evenings, helping you cut out your paper dolls. Change the girls on the Fair Isle pattern to all guys and make one for your dad or brother. Remind him how much you appreciated his willingness to be stuck with the “boy toy” and playing along with the crazy storylines.

I can’t wait until my son is old enough and hands me the “girl toy,” allowing me to join him in his imagination. It’ll be a wild ride.

Free pattern available here.

The Knit Girllls

I was very excited to have my indie book, Capitol Knits, reviewed on The Knit Girllls video podcast earlier this week! They gave me a 10-minute, highly complimentary review. Thanks, ladies!

Listen and watch the review here. it starts around 31:50.

School Days, School Days...

School days, school days

Dear old Golden Rule days

'Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic

Taught to the tune of the hick'ry stick…

Smell that, dear readers? Autumn is in the air! I love the change of seasons, bouquets of newly sharpened pencils, chalk, kids hauling backpacks larger than they are down the street, moms and dads waiting with open arms outside the school at the end of the day, school bus yellow, brown paper lunch bags… You get the idea.

When my brother and I were kids, my mom would always make sure we were dressed up fancy for the first day (that changed when I went to an all girls, private Catholic high school and uniforms were the name of the game) and pose us in front of the front door for photos. I love looking back at these pictures. We got taller, the door was painted a new color, braces and bangs came and went, glasses changed to contacts but the smiles were always the same.

I loved the first day of school. With a mix of anticipation and a little bit of fear (those elementary boys could be brutally mean) the first day held such promise. A clean slate, a new teacher, new subjects, new books, new classrooms and when I started Junior High I suddenly had a locker and got to take cool things like Wood Shop and Home Ec (I ROCKED them both, by the way.)

 

I remember my first summer out of school. I was 21 and had just graduated RISD. When September rolled around it was strange to not be getting ready for a first day. From age 4 to 20 I had had myriad first days then suddenly, poof! No more posing in front of the door or picking out a new Trapper Keeper. I still get that twinge every September. I roam the back-to-school aisles at Target, walking slowly by the wall of backpacks and lunch boxes and look forward to taking my 16-month-old son down these same aisles in a few short years when we tackle Pre-K.

In honor of back-to-school, I offer up another free pattern, the Chevron iPad Sleeve. Can we talk about the yarn, because I love this yarn! Cascade’s Greenland is 100% merino superwash, which is great if you’re like me and things get dirty no matter how hard you try to keep them clean. The inside of my bag is a hodgepodge of cracker crumbs, hand sanitizer, toddler toys, sippy cups, knitting projects and for good measure, a pen usually explodes every 6 months or so to keep things interesting. If your Chevron iPad Sleeve gets dirty, simply throw it in the wash on warm and tumble dry low. This is an especially lovely superwash and would knit up beautifully as a sweater with its nice stitch definition, no splitting, springiness and softness.

 

The sleeve is easily customizable by using 2 or however many colors you want (I used 5 beautiful shades). You can adjust the size to fit an eReader or laptop by making it wider or narrower. Do a gauge swatch that’s 6x6” then measure the gadget you want to make a sleeve for and adjust accordingly. I recommend using Velcro rather than a button so your screen doesn’t get scratched. It knit up quickly on US 9 needles and I think the hardest part was choosing from the 60+ colors Cascade offers.

 

Grab your backpack and hop a yellow school bus. School is back in session!

Download the free patter here.