What I did over my blog break

I knit up a storm last year. I just had blognesia and completely forgot to blog about what I was working on (some friends would say that they reminded me a few times).

Here are just a few highlights:
The Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann (made for a friend's newborn baby boy). I really took advantage of the Knit Picks 40% off book sale and got copies of The Opinionated Knitter, Knitting Without Tears and Knitters Almanac. I love EZ's wit and good common knitting sense. I see many more EZ projects in my future.

I started the Twilight socks the morning of my little sister's college graduation in May. I finished sometime in the fall. These are my second pair of socks and a week doesn't go by when I don't wear them to bed or with jeans. I did try the two-at-a-time technique with these socks, but I got really tangled. I got to the heel, put one sock on stitch markers and just proceeded one at at time.

I tried my first seamless, raglan sweater, Francis Revisited. I bought the yarn over a year ago when my boss gave me a gift certificate for Knit Picky Yarns. I thought it was going to be the Tree Jacket, but I am glad that I chose this sweater pattern instead - I love how it drapes. I have a really hard time not wearing it every day.

I knit not one, but two thongs this year. They were both bachelorette party gifts for close friends. From my Ravelry notes: When I bought two skeins of Risata last summer, I was pretty sure that they would be knit up into a pair of socks. However, I used both to knit thongs for bachelorette party gifts. I started this one as the train departed Greensboro for DC. Luckily, no one asked me what I was knitting while I was on the train. I bound off the stitches as the train pulled into Union Station. I wove in the ends when I got to my friend’s, the hostess, apartment in Chinatown. I did this discreetly as her father sat a few feet away. After the hostess’s parents and husband left I started the i-cord waist tie. I knit on this mysteriously through the night as we talked, laughed and sipped wine. All the other guests knew was that I making 40 inches of … something. Near the end of the night, I snuck away to thread the i-cord through the eyelet row and, voila … a thong was born.

So, that plus a few more projects is how I spent my year. Hopefully it won't be another 13 months until my next post.

Chuva

Umm . . . yeah . . . it's been a while since I've posted anything. Technically it has almost been 13 months. Yikes! I have been knitting up a storm, I just never got the "knit something, take a picture, put the picture on flickr, blog about picture" thing down. I'll try to be better . . . we'll see.

I am turning up now for a good reason. If you remember all the way back to my last blog post, I was congratulating Emily on winning my contest supporting Big Brothers and Big Sisters. The 2009 Bowl for Kids Sake for Big Brothers and Big Sisters has come and gone, but I am still raising money. If you donate to my local Big Brothers and Big Sisters, I will send you a copy of my first pattern, Chuva. This fingerless mitt is based on the beautiful Droplet Hat designed by Norah Gaughan (who graciously let me use this motif in my design).

You can donate through the above link through March 31st. Please send me a quick email at renee dot antoinette at gmail dot com to let me know that you made a donation and I will send you a pdf of the pattern.

Thanks to my test knitters Nik and Stacey!

Coming soon . . . what I have been working on for the last year so.