Holli Yeoh Knits

I’m way overdue for a cleaning / sorting / assessing of all my ongoing knitting and design projects.  I spent a few hours going through the baskets and bags that surround me where I sit to do most of my knitting and this is what I’ve come up with for UFOs.  No, let me rephrase that, they are WIPs.  That’s a much more positive outlook and I really do plan on giving them some much needed attention soon.  (I just turned a blind eye to the UFOs and pushed them further in the back!)  Here they are in no particular order.

Annie’s Mittens: this is a pattern I’m currently writing and I still need to choose the best colour combination for the photographs in the pattern and knit the mittens.  I’m also waffling between whether or not to include a variation that is really very simple, but not as simple to explain.  If you want to voice an opinion, look at the mitts in this post and tell me if you like the blue (basic) or red (variation) ones better. (Pattern finished and published in early December. You can buy it here.)

Avery: all there is left to do is sew together the seams and knit the neckband and neck opening.

Candace: the arms are already sewn in.  Just the arm and side seams left to go and then knitting the front bands and neck edging.  Almost done!

Computer sock:  one sock down and the second one has just barely been started.  This project was stalled for quite some time because I just needed to sit down and do the heel.  Since the whole point of the “computer sock” is that it’s a mindless project that just goes round and round the needles while I’m catching up on emails and blogs - the heels and toes always slow me down. This time I’m using the garter stitch heel and toe from Lucy Neatby’s Cool Socks, Warm Feet. (Finished late October)

Eagle’s Flight: if memory serves, I just have to graft the toe together and block these babies!

Eloise: time to dust her off and finish off the final cardigan front and sleeve.  Just need to measure for the buttonholes and get going.  I’m also keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough yarn.  (Finished November 15th while out of town for a knitting retreat.)

Gloves: a soon to be Bee’s Knees Knits pattern.  Making the final decisions on yarn combinations for the photos in the pattern and a whole lot of ends to sew in as you can see.  (Pattern finished and published Oct 11th.  You can buy it here.)

Lace cardi: hmm, I might just shelve this one for the winter.  I should make some notes though so I know what my problems were and what I thought would be a good solution before I pack it up. (Packed away in December while tidying up before pulling out the Christmas decorations.)

Opal DK swatch: I have some ideas for adultwear using a heavier weight self-patterning yarn.  Right now I’m playing around with swatches, gauge and different companies’ yarns. 

Ribby Cardi: this one is fairly close to being finished.  I just need to complete that second sleeve (which as you can see if you click on the photo, I set down mid-row!), do some blocking and then the finishing details.

Ruby: I would like to finish this one up asap to send along with my suitcase of kits and patterns to Lucy Neatby’s Adventure Knitting retreat. (Finished Sep. 27th)

Tobie’s mittens: originally I had planned to offer this in sizes for the whole family.  Upon knitting up a man’s sized mitten in fingering weight yarn I’m rethinking the practicality of this .  Will other knitters want to do that much knitting for man-sized hands?  Will the fine weight of the fabric be heavy enough to keep hands warm when the wearer chooses to wear mittens?  They work so well in our mild winters in Vancouver, but sure wouldn’t do the trick in a prairie winter.  I need to think about this a little more.  Would you want to knit adult mittens in fingering weight wool?

Twinset: I’ve had this one on the go for a while now. I just need to finish sewing it together and sewing up all the facings (of which there are a lot!).  I think the sleeveless top will need some tweaking under the arms for modesty.  That’s the main reason this one’s not done yet. (Finished in time for Guild meeting, Oct. 2)

Yardage swatch: last but not least, this little yardage swatch needs to be ripped and then measured for yardage so I can calculate how much yarn is required for the gloves. (Done Oct. 4th)

The teachers at Devan’s school had a professional development day today so he had the day off. Naturally that meant there was no time to design or write patterns.  So instead, we spent a fun day together.  We baked some cookies

and made a crafty sheep.

The idea for the sheep came from this great weekly e-newsletter we get called Kids Craft Weekly.  It has great ideas and it’s kid tested.  Devan has enjoyed all the projects we’ve made from the newsletter.

Tomorrow it will be back to business as usual.  I will be packing up a suitcase full of kits and patterns to send out to Lucy Neatby’s Adventure Knitting Retreat on Salt Spring Island.  The retreat starts this Sunday and I do so wish I could be there too!  I will have to be satisfied with seeing Lucy this Friday evening.  We (the West Coast Knitters’ Guild) is sponsoring a presentation where Lucy will talk about her career as a knitwear designer and her passion for knitting.  If you’re in the Vancouver area you should come out to the event.  Click here for more information.

Some wonderful knitters have sent me images of their Bee’s Knees Knits creations recently and I would like to share them with you.

Uli recently completed the Ruby hoody for her daughter.  The pattern goes up to a size four, and although it took longer to finish than anticipated it still fits her Little Miss who will be turning six this month.  You can read more about it here.

I met Valerie at the Victoria Knit-Out last June and she bought two kits from me.  She has since joined our knitting guild and at the last meeting showed me both sweaters.  She knit Devan first and finished it in August.  Then she used her knitting machine to make Lucy and completed it in only three days!  You can read about her adventures knitting Lucy on the machine here and here. 

Beth just emailed me with a new photo of her little guy in Avery.  I just love the colour choice and I’m thinking maybe my little guy needs one in muted and charcoal greys too.  The pattern only goes up to a size 4 so if I want to make one for Devan, I’m going to have to size it up one more size!

In the words of a child.  As we were rushing out the door one morning a few weeks ago Devan said, “Hey, I like what you’re wearing … that knitable thing.”   Don’t you just love it?!  How well trained is my boy to notice such things.

I finally found a picture to show you of the “knitable” as Devan continues to call it.  It’s the tiny little pink shrug you can see on my shoulders and it’s called One Skein Wonder, designed by Stephanie Japel .  You may know her as Glampyre Knits.  I used a kettle dyed solid Malabrigo in worsted weight that was in my stash.  It’s so phenominally soft.  I love Malabrigo and would definitely work with it again. Stephanie’s pattern was easy to follow and a good example of a strong yet simple design for which she’s so well known.  I knit it about a year and a half ago before our trip to Hawaii.  I didn’t have enough time for a shawl, but felt the need for something hand knit before I left.

We had a great time on the Sunshine Coast.  We stayed with friends, Beth and Lucy.  Lucy is one of my models (you can see her here and here and other places on my website) and I even named a pattern after her.  The kids built sand castles and I had an opportunity to knit, chat with Beth and take pictures.

I began the first Eloise sleeve at the start of the trip and I completed it on the ferry on the way home.  It will be touch and go if I have enough yarn to complete this sweater, but I’m optimistic.  This shot was taken at the Roberts Creek beach on Sunday afternoon.  I figured if I could complete the sleeve cap without starting a new ball I might just make it with what I have left to knit.  I rather belatedly discovered upon reading other blogs that the pattern calls for a rather conservative amount of yarn and many people ran out.  We’ll see!

This week Devan started Grade One full of eagerness and excitement.   He’s in a class with many of his friends from Kindergarten most especially Jaelyn, his betrothed and he’s thrilled.  Jaelyn’s the sweetest little girl that any mother would want for their son to marry.  They have it all worked out - they’ll both become doctors and work at the same hospital together.  And of course, they’ll have children - all girls if Devan gets his way.

It’s a little odd having Devan out of the house for the full school day.  I have six hours at a stretch to myself and I keep on thinking that I’ve forgotten to go pick him up.  I’ve been trying to catch up on some of my summer backlog due to the strike.  I hope to work out a routine soon where I can schedule regular time for new pattern development, experimenting, designing, pattern writing, swatching and of course, knitting.  I think I should slip in some time to listen to knitting podcasts too.

We are off to the Sunshine Coast this weekend to visit good friends and hopefully have a chance to get a lot of knitting done.  I plan on taking Eloise who has been at a stand still since our return from Oregon.  All of my designs I’m working on are at fiddly stages, so they aren’t good visiting knitting.  I’m also waiting for a shipment of yarn so I can knit some samples to photograph for some new patterns.

In other words, no time to design this summer!

The City of Vancouver has been on strike now for 6+ weeks.  This includes garbage and recycling pickup, public libraries, community centres, spray parks, wading pools, public golf courses and public swimming pools.  Devan was registered in day camps run by the community centres every week.  My plan had been to work on designing and publishing some new patterns this summer while Devan was out having fun with other kids.  A win/win situation, right?  That’s not what happened.

We still had fun, but we had to work harder to find it.  We couldn’t rely on the usual spray park, community centre activities, library visits, swimming and … knitwear design.  We tried bungy trampoline and mini golf among other things this summer.

We also stocked up on books from the library before the strike - this is a current favourite.  It’s about a sheep who is not happy about his fleece being taken to knit a sweater for Uncle Henry.  It’s a great book for reading out loud and the award winning illustrations are fun too.

Amos’s Sweater
by Janet Lunn (author) and Kim LaFave (illustrator)
ISBN 0-88899-208-4
originally published 1988, republished this year and available soon