Pearl is ready for her close-up, but I have a feeling the news media might have other things to cover today. Nonetheless, my new book, Knits for Bears to Wear is officially released today. (A friend of my mom’s in upstate New York even confirmed a sighting in the wilid). Pearl did insist that I clean up the mess in my studio just in case a rogue reporter mistakenly stumbled on over to Cordova. I am excited about the book launch–we’ll be having a party to celebrate at my local yarn shop, The Net Loft on November 19th.

The book has over 20 outfits for soft toys–that’s right, they don’t have to be for bears. The patterns can fit bears, American Girl Dolls, and any soft toy. Each pattern can be easily customized to exactly fit your toy with a simple little “customizing sidebar” we built into each pattern. You do a couple of easy calculations, and you’re ready to knit!

I also, can finally tell you that I’ve been asked to do a sequel to Knits for Bears. A yet-to-be-titled Crochet for Bears book will be out in spring of 2010. I’m working on it now, and without the wonderful group of sample knitters I had helping me with Knits for Bears, it is a little more challenging, but I’m delighted to be designing on a small scale again–it’s a process that allows for creativity in ways that human garments do not.

OK, back to my regularly scheduled obsessive watching of the election results!

Wow–I just realized this is the FOURTH Halloween that I’ve been blogging, so I have a bit of goolish content on the blog that it might be nice to revisit.

In 2005, my first year with the blog, I made a crocheted Halloween Treat Bag for a class. You can get the bag on my Ravelry store, but this week only, I’ll e-mail it for free to anyone who leaves me a comment on this post requesting the pattern.

In 2006 we carved a “knit-witch” pumpkin:

Speaking of which–I’m hosting a pumpkin-carving party later this week, and we’re contemplating making our own apple cider I’ll take pictures and report here if we do.

Ghoulish Snacks: Make this easy Halloween snack that jay brought home from preschool last year:

Bake and decorate Halloween Gingerbread Cookies with my recipe from last fall:

And of course, there’s Selma’s Hermione Tie which I made just this weekend:

What are you making this year?

Selma decided to be Hermione Granger for Halloween, and we’ve been collecting supplies: my mom sent my brother’s graduation gown which I will alter for her robe, she’s selected a chopstick for a wand, and asked me to knit her a tie. She chose the yarn: Lamb’s Pride worsted for warmth because she thought the tie would make a nice scarf after Halloween.

The knitting was simple enough. Truthfully, as James is underway, we had the most trouble tying it: “Selma, hold still!” I grumbled, while trying to read online instructions and tie at the same time. I think with a little more practice, I can get a neater knot.

Here’s how I made the tie, in case you’re trying to dress a little wizard this season as well. (The pattern is a quick write-up of my notes and tested only by me, so let me know if you see anything strange.)

Materials
Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Color A (CA): Raspberry #M-83 and Color B (CB): Sunburst Gold #M-14 (less than one skein of each)
US Size 8 needles
4.5 mm crochet hook
1 stitch marker

Wide Point
With CA, CO 3 stitches
Row 1: K1, yo, pm,  k1,  yo, k1
Row 2: knit
Row 3: knit to marker, yo, sm, k1, yo, knit to end
Repeat rows 2 & 3 until you have 13 stitches

Begin Color Changes
Pick up CB
Row 1: knit to 2 bef marker, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, knit to end
Row 2: knit
Rows 3-6: Change to CA, work rows 1-2 two times.

Work color change rows 1-6 until tie measures 13 1/2 inches

Tie Decreases
Continuing to work lace pattern and color changes, over the next 6 rows, dec 1 st at each edge on RS rows  until only 7 sts rem.

Work even until tie measures 53 inches. End with CA.

Ending Point
Continuing to work center eyelet pattern, dec 1 st at each edge on RS rows until only 3 sts rem. Final row: k3tog. Do not fasten off.

Edging and Finishing
Pick up final stitch with 4.5mm crochet hook, and with RS facing, sc evenly around all edges of the tie, join edging round with a sl st. Fasten off. Weave in ends. Block gently so tie lays flat.

I think that our house is kicking us out. Our phone has been intermittently going on the fritz, every time it rains, as a matter of fact. And last week our furnace broke. Someone came to fix it, but a few days later, it broke again. Oh, and all the rain we’ve been having flooded the basement (i.e. my studio), so rugs are piled on top of boxes and things that I had to move to allow the carpet to dry. Argh. We do have to be here at least another 6 weeks until the movers come, so the house and I are going to have to reach some sort of détante. Maybe a little feng shui is in order.

Meanwhile, I have a new hat design in the works… here’s a quick snapshot. I hope to be doing a photoshoot of this and a few other new projects this week that we’ll be debuting at TNNA in June. The yarn is a sock yarn from Pagewood Farm. It’s a hand-dye on a lovely sock base that is great to work with–this is part of a trio of knitting patterns I’m doing with Pagewood Farm that will include a scarf and a purse.

This weekend we had a break from many, many days of torrential rain on Saturday, and we took advantage of it by going to see the US Women’s soccer team beat Canada at RFK stadium in DC. We had front-row seats, and the kids really got to see the action. A few of the players were moms and their kids got to run out to the field and bring them flowers for mother’s day. Afterwards, some of the players came and signed autographs.

One of them, Kate Sobrero, who was carrying her son, Keegan, tossed Jay one of her signed Jerseys!

Of course, he had to put it on, right away.

If you’re a Heroes fan, you’ll appreciate this adorable Mohinder amigurumi doll created by Violet Anchovy. I love the sideburns.

She based it on Kim Werker’s Amigurumi Dude pattern at CrochetMe. Oh, and she’s made a Sylar one too!

Last Tuesday, at SSK (Silver Spring Knitters, our local group), I coerced Heidi into modeling my newly completed hat.

The cap is a summer version of a hat I wore all winter long. (I’m obsessing a little bit about hats right now, lots of deadlines for sweaters, vests, socks and minutely crocheted shawls, and all I want to do is make hats.)

After we had settled back in…

We had some unexpected (to me, at least!) visitors:

You may recognize James, I’m holding Jay, and in the bottom right corner is the back of Selma’s head. (Note they all have dressed for the event–James in a nice jacket, Selma in a skirt and crocheted shawl, and Jay in his Spiderman Jammies–everyone picked out their own outfits, I hear.) They had come to surprise me and James had worked quietly with the Martha, our group’s fearless leader to arrange their visit. James said something like this, when he arrived:

“In the military, when someone has a big achievement, we like to make a fuss, have a ceremony and give them a plaque to commemorate the event. Amy’s first book was just released in March, and to celebrate Jay and Selma and I had this put together.”

Then, they unveiled the coolest surprise ever:

James wrote to my publisher to ask them for a cover of the book, and they sent him one! Then he took it to our local frame shop and worked with the framer to come up with the perfect frame. I love it. And I was so touched that James took all that time and effort to say publicly that he was proud of me. What a sweetie.

My new Favorite Song: Lace for Boyz written by HizKnits and WonderMike

Pam, over at the Knotty Generation has a great free tutorial posted about making your own shawl pin. All it takes is a ring, a few yards of yarn and a crochet hook. The tutorial has great step-by-step photos, and is finished with the crochet hook itself. How clever!

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Amy was writing about a design she’s working on, and linked to a picture of her sketch which she made from one of the Croquis Family, fashion drawings of standard body sizes (including a women’s petite and plus size drawing).

These images are from Threads Magazine–they’ll be great for sketching–I was just wishing that they were on a grid (I may try printing them onto grid paper) so I could imagine measurements at the same time I’m sketching. I usually draw my own bodies on graph paper, but they’re not as nice looking as this.

stranded crochet
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

When Hannah proposed a Knit Along called

I thought it would be a great excuse to practice my stranding techniques. But when she said there were no rules, I got it in my head that I should crochet a fair-isle pattern instead.

Normally, when crocheting with two colors, you crochet over the color not being used making a very dense and stiff fabric–its great for bags and tams, and its called Tapestry Crochet. Carol Ventura has written several books about this technique which is popular in Central America. (One advantage of tapestry crochet is, it’s reversible). I thought, if I stranded the yarn, instead of crocheting over it, I’d get a more supple result. It worked. The fabric is a little thicker, but not at all stiff. I’m using Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport (that I got at the new yarn store, A Tangled Skein, in Hyattsville, MD).

As you can see, the inside of the fabric looks a lot like stranded knitting. Now, when I knit fair-isle, I do it two-handed. That just doesn’t work for crochet (you can’t easily throw the yarn), so I ended up holding the main color over my index finger of my left hand, and the green yarn over my thumb. It’s working well, but my tension isn’t perfect.

The hat is a simple toque crocheted from the top down in single crochet. I started with 6 sc, and added 6 per row until it fit my head–ending with a multiple of 12 because that’s what my chart calls for. I actually like the pattern so much, I think I’ll knit it again after I’ve finished the hat, maybe some cuffs.

I’ve finished my tea and toast, and I really should be starting work (have I mentioned I have piles of other peoples’ knits and crochets in my studio waiting to be edited? It’s a little scary–I have them perched on high surfaces to protect them all from things like pets, kids, the odd natural disaster.) But anyway, instead of working, I really needed to tell you about the British knitting magazine Simply Knitting. I’ve been buying it occasionally for a while, but the most recent issue I bought convinced me to subscribe. It’s not just the patterns (the patterns are ok, but the magazine isn’t as beautiful as Vogue Knitting or Interweave Knits), it’s just full of great information… New Yarns I learned about a new French yarn company that folks in the UK are all very excited about–Bergere de France, lots of reader interaction (they give a free gift for every reader letter they receive.) They have crochet patterns as well as knitting ones–the January issue had a cute Crocheted Cardigan and a very chanel-ish purse, and they even have a knitting crossword puzzle! If you’re in Britain, the mag is even more useful because they list local events and things happening at shops and festivals. My favorite parts are the technique articles–a great one in Jan. about substituting yarns, and their stitch library-each month they “profile” two stitches. Oh, and finally–two other tidbits–it’s monthly unlike most other fiber magazines, and you get a little present with each issue. This month it was a needle sizer–can never have too many of those–this one was small enough to fit in my knitting bag’s toolkit.

In other magazine news, the latest issue of Knit It (sorry, they don’t have a web site, but they’re produced by Better Homes and Gardens), has an article by design guru Deborah Newton (author of the still in print after over 20 years, Designing Knitwear), about creating a custom fit. It has instructions for making a graph-paper scale model of your body. I find these things indispensable–I use one every time I make a garment–with my little model and some tracing paper, I can see how a garment is going to fall on the body, how much ease I need, how big an armhole, etc. And since one square of graph paper is like 1 inch, I can even work out my schematic and design. But even if you’re not designing your own sweater it’s very useful for seeing if a garment is going to fit you, and figuring out how to change what you don’t like.

In other “literary” news, I had a long train ride, and read The Friday Night Knitting Club from cover to cover. It was a treat for me just to have the time to sit and read, and I was definitely drawn in by the book–I enjoyed the characters, it was funny and moving–I loved the young girl, Dakota who is so much like the pre-teens I teach knitting to. I did have a hard time imagining it as a movie–I think it might loose a lot of the humor, but we’ll have to see. (Julia Roberts bought the movie rights before the book was even released–but the script has not been written yet, so the film isn’t expected ’till late ‘08).

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