To: The Best Followers Ever

I’ve been putting off this post for a couple of hours now. Since I’ve arrived home from vacation I’ve done all sorts of things; unpacked, started some laundry, opened the mail, replied to comments on Instagram/twitter/Facebook, and given my kitty some loving. Not necessarily in that order. One thing I haven’t done is write a blog post which I promised myself I would do soon after I got home. So here goes…

I’ve been blogging here for almost three years. It has been fun and I have not regretted a single moment of it. But, I’ve gone from a naïve fifteen-year-old to a slightly-less naïve eighteen-year-old. I no longer have dreams of becoming a famous knitwear designer (Now, that’s an oxymoron), I’ve found that knitting for the sake of knitting is what works for me. No pressure, no deadlines (except for December 25th, that one always sneaks up on me.), just me, my fiber and a pair of sticks.

I’ve grown up and, sadly, I’ve outgrown this blog. I love it to pieces but it isn’t me as much any more. I have no need, no desire, to be Cleo Lititz anymore (Part of the deal I made with my mother when starting my blog was that I’d have a pseudonym). I still love knitting and blogging but, I need more room to grow. I am going off to college in the fall and with that fresh start in mind I decided to make another one. I am in the process of starting a new blog. It’s a big leap of faith that is somewhat scary, I’ve worked hard here and I’m fond of all of this, but it’s time.

I would love to see some familiar faces over in the new space. It would mean a lot to me if you would stop by and say hello. I don’t have any post up just yet but there is the about page.

Thank you all for being here and reading my ramblings. Especially to those of you who reached out and liked and/or commented and let me know I wasn’t blogging into the void. I love all of you and hope you’ll continue to follow me in my journey.

For the last time, Cleo Lititz

Strawberry Mittens

I am pleased to introduce you to my newest design!

Strawberry Mittens

Click here to view the pattern.

It’s also searchable on Ravelry.

Let me know what you think! I’ll have more knitty news next time.

Warning! Pictures Ahead

Friday I finished  the new Butter Belle. The knitting went rather quickly, the smaller size with a larger gauge will do that. On Saturday I blocked it.

Getting ready to block.

Soaking.

Drying.

By Sunday night it was dry. I sewed the it all together Monday and added the snaps. I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to hide the thread ends on the snaps.

   

Make sure all the ends are next to each other. Then slip a small crochet hook under the snap and hook the threads. Pull them through with the hook (It might take a few tries). Then Cut the excess off. Voila! No loose ends!

I finished sewing on the last snap.  When I held it up to examine my heart stopped. The triumphant yell died on my lips. The sleeves were too long. Nine-inch sleeves made it look like it was for a monkey baby. I pulled the sleeves off and as the Bf tried not to laugh, frogged three inches and bound off. While we watched State of the Union (I loved seeing Katharine Hepburn knit. 😉 ) I got the sleeves all fixed up and ready to sew on. Again. (I’m trying -and failing- not to whine…)

Now as you may not know; I write these posts the night before I plan to publish them. It helps me work out the mechanical kinks and decide if I like what I”ve written. Anyway, I had originally planned to let them sit Tuesday and finish it last night. But as my Dell powered off I realized, I have to finish it tonight, It’ll bug me to much otherwise. Plus, the baby is due any day. So… I sewed those sleeves on quickly and grabbed some photos.

I wrote the part below before. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to bed.

I went a hunting the other day. I bought this yarn.

Total impulse buy. I think it’s but ugly.  (But it’s soooo soft!)I have no idea what on earth I could make out of it. Yarn bomb maybe? I also bought these buttons. They’re all I can show you of my entry for the aforementioned Ravelry contest.

Swiss Cheese; Does not Make Good Cookies

A friend of mine asked me to make a fortune cookie for him like the one I had made. Now as you may or may not know, I am one of those people who is always knitting things for others (ahem-the past two Christmases-ahem). Who am I to say no? (Oh by the way I gave Blue Scarf to Lynn. She left for Texas today. She’ll really need it down there) I started it yesterday morning and by the time I got home last night I had the shell done. I had already realized that I had used a larger hook than the first time but I though “It’ll turn out alright.” (Do you hear the siren screaming “GAUGE! GAUGE! GAUGE!” and flashing red?)

9:05 PM- I wove in the ends and saw all the holes from using a larger hook. A little voice in the back of my head said “uh-oh”.

9:19 PM- I started sewing the  shell up. I rationalized “It’ll look better when it’s done…” 

9:23 PM- I started on the fortune using 5 sts across on size U.S. 9 needles

9:39 PM- Upon close examination I realized that fortune’s edge wasn’t very smooth.

I restarted it and slipped a stich at the end of each row.

See? Much smoother.

9:10 PM- I started the embroidery on the fortune to make sure it was long enough.

This seems to be coming along fine. (Crosses fingers)

Much, Much Later: I stuffed the shell just to see what it looked like.

It has more holes than swiss cheese. I’ll have to redo it. This time with a smaller hook. Does anyone else have days like these?

Your Lucky numbers are: K2, P2, K2TOG, M1

It wasn’t until I finished the envelope cable needle holder that I realized I didn’t want to ever use it. What did I do? I got my hook out and went back at it.

It’s a fortune cookie.

I thought this was rather creative.

Persephone is not amused.

I finished my friend’s, Lynn, scarf. For yarn information check my project page.

The weather is very wet, rainy, icy, and cold but I decided to try taking pictures outside.

  

I gave up rather quickly and took the rest of the photos inside. It’s worked sideways with double crochet, only six rows wide. I tried it on last night and was surprised at how warm it is. It’s thin but warm, a good quality.

Pineapple

Last night I watched Indiana Jones Kingdom of the Crystal Scull (yes, I know I watch a lot of movies- don’t judge me!) and at first I wanted to work on Mr. Dino Rawr.

    

The one on the right is the star of his spikes along his back.

But, before the opening credits were over I knew it wasn’t going to work out. I just wasn’t comfortable crocheting without a pattern and watching a movie at the same time. I put that down and picked up Cable Dress.

I worked at it and managed to knit about seven rows. I kept losing my cable needle. Eventually I couldn’t find it at all. I spent the last fifteen minutes of the movie thinking about how annoying cable needles are. I came to the conclusion that some sort of pin cushion type thing was needed to keep my escape-driven needles in line. After the movie I dug around looking to see if I possessed such a pattern. All I could find was a pattern called Marlyn’s Handy Hooker. No lie. It’s a pattern in the same calender that Cable dress come from. Its shape reminds me of a pineapple. Marlyn seems to have had the same problem as me. Her design is a pincushion that hangs around one’s neck. Name aside I knew I did not want a pineapple around my neck. After a while I came up with an idea for a letter shaped one crocheted (because that’s SO much better than a pineapple). I figure it’ll keep me busy for today, then hopefully my problem will be solved.

*Note : Marlyn’s Handy Hooker was originally published in Cast On magazine

*Note: If you were wondering where the pictures of my new yarn were, I inserted them into that post. Go check them out!

Deciduous

I finished Deciduous this morning.

I am writing up the pattern today and I hope to have it posted, on Ravelry and here, by Monday. My mother saw Deciduous while it was still a W.I.P. and now wants her own pair in “tropical” colors.

On the fourteenth I ordered three skeins of yarn from a yarn shop  in Portland of all places. Thursday they arrived.

They’re individually wrapped in tissue paper. I enjoyed unwrapping them. It was rather like Christmas.

It’s Ambiente by Schoppel-Wolle, 100% virgin wool, sport weight, 50g per skein, 169 yards per skein. The colorway is 1863magic. I’m thinking a pair of socks. I would like to design them myself, the only problem is that I wouldn’t be able to come up with the heel on my own.

I was on the knitty blog the other day and I found a very cool commercial for natural gas.

The company covered-then unravled- a house with knitting.