What's on my needles? Speed!!

A slight digression from knitting today...

For the last few years, the Rocket Boys have been participating in a pinewood derby race. Each year, they have done various amounts of work on their own cars, and much of the painting, but all of the details have been left to "the art department". That would be me, of course. I have made Domo-kun and penguins out of fimo clay, also sci-fi -esque engines and weapons, etc. Every year I think that they are having all the fun and I really should enter my own car, but then get sidetracked. This was to be the last year they do it together, and my husband was also entering a vintage car of his own, so I decided it was time. I figured it had to represent me, so a knitting theme was the obvious choice, and I pondered all the possibilities until just a day before the race when the face-palm "Doh!" moment finally happened. The block had already been shaped, sanded and painted into the closest representation I could make of a knitting needle. How to work some yarn into the design was the detail eluding me until I finally realized that I could make it look as if there were actually knitting on the needle and make the WIP look like a fin on the "car". Or maybe like this it looks more like a rocket? It works, either way, in my opinion. There certainly was no other car in the race that looked anything like her. There she is on the starting line of the first heat...not the fastest car in the race, but it was a lot of fun.

Secret Project the Sequel

Secret Project #1 has been delivered to its destination, so now my focus is on Secret Project the Sequel. Sometimes it feels like I am the only person in the knittingverse who has NOT worked with any of the yarns from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, specifically the "Socks That Rock" line. When I was asked to use one of the Blue Moon yarns for an upcoming project, I chose the Socks That Rock Heavyweight, and have REALLY enjoyed working with it. The project in question as both lace and cables, and I felt it needed a fairly dense yarn, one without too much fluff. STR Heavyweight has been perfect - the stitches pop nicely, and the semisolid colorway has just enough variegation to be intriguing but not enough to distract from the stitch patterns. I'm really looking forward to showing off the completed project in a few months...

Ah, Seattle...

After 14 years of living in Seattle, My New England born-and-bred self still is mystified by what passes for winter here. Around the middle of January, the several inches of snow that fell over the course of a few days was reported in such dire tones by the national media that I had relatives calling and e-mailing every day to check on us. In fairness, a lot of people in the region did lose power because of trees falling on power lines, so I did feel pretty lucky that the biggest consequence for us was that the Rocket Boys got an extra week of school vacation, and I couldn't get up the big hill to my studio assistant work for Hazel Knits all week. But then as the snow started to melt I discovered daffodils had started coming up in my yard while Snowmageddon was at full strength. To me, that sums up winter in Seattle. Too bad spring doesn't actually start here until June...

This is what development looks like.

Something about the sight of this pile of mittens amused me... I've seen photos on Ravelry of a knitter's entire year's production of socks, but usually those feature socks knit from many different patterns. So this stack of mittens all knit from the same pattern, in different sizes and cuff options, struck me as funny. These are all prototypes for an upcoming pattern, which should go into test knitting in the next couple of weeks. This pattern was originally developed for a class at Serial Knitters in Kirkland, WA, with the goal of teaching a variety of skills in one small project. Called "Rose Hill Mitts", they feature mock cables, and an option to knit a decorative buttoned cuff or a plainer version with no cuff, and are written in 3 sizes to suit a wide range of knitters and their friends. Stay tuned...

New Year, Secret Project

Well, the project itself is secret for now, but I do need to rave about the yarn a little... String Theory Caper Aran is one of my favorite yarns to work with, and will be featured in two RocketBoy designs in 2012. In addition to the truly lovely String Theory colorways, the yarn itself is just luscious - 80% Merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon with wonderful drape and fantastic stitch definition. You can find it here: www.stringtheoryyarn.com Most of my designs over the last couple of years have used fingering or sport/DK yarn, so it's been fun to work with something a little heavier...

More on this and other projects soon...

Happy 2012!

Sylvan Neckwarmer & Cowl

You know how sometimes NASA spends weeks preparing for a shuttle mission, days just in rolling the shuttle from the hangar out to the launch pad, and then minutes before liftoff they call the whole thing off? The start of this blog has been a bit like that for me. It seemed like a good plan when I made that first post, but then "climatic conditions" intervened... But this time, for real - start the countdown and buckle up!

To clear the decks, I'll post the photos and information for some patterns I've published recently, then move on to writing about designs in progress.

If you spent time around Hilltop Yarn or went on the Puget Sound LYS Tour a couple of years ago, you may recognize the green neckwarmer shown here. Now known as the Sylvan Neckwarmer, it is available on my Ravelry store in a revised and expanded form. In addition to better finishing instructions, it now includes the Sylvan Cowl (shown here in purple) Both patterns are designed to use just one skein of Curious Creek's gorgeous Serengeti superwash DK yarn.

To see more colors in Serengeti, as well as the other yarns in the Curious Creek line please check out their site http://curiouscreek.com/

Rocket Boy countdown

As a Space Shuttle launch is a process of many days leading up to the dramatic countdown and liftoff, so it goes with the launch of Rocket Boy Knits. Right now, the mobile launch platform is just being fired up, moving slowly toward its goal. We at Rocket Boy Mission Control hope you will check back soon on our progress.

In the meantime (!) Rocket Boy Knits, along with friend Danger Dog Knits, will be at the Queen Anne Artists' Trunk Show on November 10th, at the Queen Anne Community Center. A link will be provided soon! We'll be featuring knit and crocheted toys and accessories, particularly fingerless gloves. Hope to see you there...