Apologies For My Absence

Hello to anyone out there who’s still checking in on this blog! 🙂 I apologize for my absence of late. I’ve been a terrible knitting blogger. In fact, I’ve been a terrible knitter in general.

Why?

I got a job. A full-time teaching job. After 14 years of staying home with kids and/or substitute teaching. This has been a BIG change and I’m just now (mostly) getting a handle on things.

I have, however, been teaching my students to knit. We started out with one finger, then moved to 4.

The next step is using needles. 4 years ago I bought 50 pairs from a seller on etsy. I can find 26 of them, and need to find 24 more. And then some. (I have 56 students in all.)

In the meantime, I work on a project when I can. I have a project I’ve been working on for over a year… it’s slow going, but I’m nearing the end. It was a project for a friend’s book that I haven’t heard any news about lately. I suppose I should reach out to her and see if she’s still in need of it.

And I’ve got a few gifts I should knit.

I will also try to spotlight the rest of my book patterns from “Once Upon A Knit” – I realize I only got about halfway through them. I will do my best to finish.

Thanks for checking in. I hope to be posting again very soon!

~Genevieve

 

 

Field Testing the Communicator Purse

This week, my family and I went to the Star Trek Las Vegas convention. Because of some bad timing, we were only there for one day, but it was loads of fun. I really wanted to bring the purse I designed for Geek Knits, so I brought it along. I measured the strap when I was designing it, and wanted it to be long enough to be worn cross-body. On the hanger it was perfect.

On the hanger

The problem with judging it on the hanger is that a)it was empty and b) the dress hangs different on my body. I noticed after I put my wallet and brush and a few other things in it that the straps stretched with the weight, and hung much lower on my body, messing with the hem on my dress.

Here’s the purse after I tied a little knot up at the top.

The first thing I did was take out the wallet – which was the heaviest item. (Truth be told, it’s so big it weighs down my regular purses as well.) The second thing I did was tie the top of the purse strap in a little knot. That did the trick and the rest of the day the purse worked great.

I double knit the strap originally, thinking that would make it strong. I still believe the strap is strong enough, if it is shorter. If you’re making the purse, you might want to make it shorter. The pattern says to knit it to 52″ or to your comfort. If I were making it today, I would suggest between 45″ and 50″. I also might make the strap slightly wider, casting on 12 stitches instead of 8. Tricorders on the original series had thin straps, but I don’t think those few extra stitches will look that different.

Spock wearing a tricorder

One last thing. If you are using it as a purse and want to truly carry heavier items, you might want to use plastic needlepoint canvas instead of fabric. That will help it keep it’s shape and be just a bit more sturdy than regular canvas.

I hope that was helpful. Happy Knitting!

~Genevieve

Finding Your Knitting Book in the Library

Today the family and I went to Downtown L.A. and among the many stops we made was the library. It was a really cool place.

The inside walls of the elevators are made up of old card catalog cards.

Once you get upstairs, there are fantastic sculptures hanging from the ceiling.

And they look great from all different angles.

Another point of view.

I thought, “I wonder if they have my books here!” So I asked where the knitting section was.

Voila!

My little models.

I found some friends’ books, too!

Joan of Dark’s “Knockdown “Knits” and “Knits for Nerds.”

Tanis Gray’s “Knit Local.”

They had “Once Upon A Knit” in hardcover, which I thought was nuts, since they were only published in paperback.

I have to say, it’s awfully darn cool to find your own work in a library. Hopefully people will check them out!

Geek Knits

This week Joan of Dark’s new knitting book dropped. GEEK KNITS!

You may remember her last book – Knits for Nerds.

This new book is similar. It’s filled with patterns inspired by Dr. Who, Comics, Gaming, Trek, and other fandoms. I attempted two patterns that didn’t really work. Then I got inspired, and came up with this.

Two years ago, my family got heavy into Star Trek. I wore this costume on Halloween 2013 and used a red cross-body bag for a purse, but it didn’t really look great. And then it hit me.

Make my own purse that goes with the dress! It’s called “Communicator Purse” which is not my name for it, but it’s fine. I’m assuming the publishers changed it because publishers are like that… they don’t always have the best ideas. Like when they told me my Rampion Scarf was “too esoteric.” But that’s okay.

If I weren’t such a geek it wouldn’t bother me. But it does. It’s a tricorder, not a communicator. My kids noticed it right away. A communicator is like a phone. A tricorder is a medical tool among other things.

But I digress.

It doesn’t matter what it’s called. It matters that it looks like something right out of Old School Trek. It looks like something Bones would wear when he calls out, “He’s dead, Jim!”

I lined it with cute Trek fabric.

I sewed on fake buttons and a fake screen.

It’s got a magnetic snap closure.

And little Kirk likes to play inside. 🙂

There are lots of great patterns in Geek Knits, as well as cameos of real celebrities modeling some of the items.

Run to your local book or knitting store and pick up a copy. Feel free to come back here and tell me what you think!

Knitting Nostalgia – My First (and only) V-Neck

When I became a mother, I suddenly wanted to knit ALL THE THINGS. It started with blankets, and then moved to cute little fruit hats.

A little pumpkin hat I made.

After awhile, I wanted to do more complicated things, so I tried a v-neck pullover for my almost-2-year-old son. I did the body, the sleeves, everything looked fantastic… but I couldn’t get the v-neck quite right. We were going on vacation up to Washington State, so I took it with me and hoped to finish it on the trip.

I must have ripped that sucker out 10 times before I decided to look in the actual PHONE BOOK (this was 12 years ago – there were phone books back then) and find a local yarn shop and park myself on their couch and ask for help if I needed it (which I would).

My son, wearing the v-neck, up in Seattle.

I was (am) so proud of this because it was such a challenge at the time. It wasn’t perfect, but it was finished. 

This is what it looks like next to him now:

  

Maybe it’s time to knit him a new one.

I keep it, because it was made by me for my little boy. Someday maybe he’ll have a son who’ll wear it. Or maybe be it will just remind me to keep trying, even if it’s frustrating and I have to try several times to get it right.

Happy New Year – Happy Anniversary!

Happy New Year, everyone! I know it’s a little late for me to be wishing you a happy new year – on February 4th, but it’s been since December since I’ve posted. For that, I apologize.

I hope the holidays were wonderful and everyone is doing well in the new year. It’s hard to believe it’s already 2015. I think the older I get, the faster the years go by. When I was a kid, the school year lasted FOREVER. Now? On the last day of school I feel like school had just started. 😛

Happy Anniversary! It’s been one year since “Once Upon A Knit” was on shelves!

What’s new?

I have a design in Joan of Dark’s upcoming book! I’m really excited about it – it’s a design I really love and can’t wait to get back so I can use it myself! 🙂 If you know me at all – or read my other blog  – you won’t be surprised at this design!

What’s on the needles?

2 projects for another book-in-the-works from Joan. Here’s one.

 

What’s coming up?

I’m not sure. I was recently inspired by my new favorite tv shows and am sketching out a new book. We’ll see what happens. I am a little trepidatious about it, as it’s a big task (as usual) and  I’m working part-time these days, which makes it more challenging. HOWEVER, I hope to be teaching full-time soon, so if I am lucky enough to get a teaching job next year, my knitting time will be limited, so I think it’s now or never (or at least now or the summertime and whenever I have little bits of time).

So, we’ll see. I still have at least 4 more book ideas sketched out, too. Maybe some day I’ll get them all done. I may be 90, but I’ll get them done. 😉

Here’s a tease of some of my ideas.

For now, I’ll finish my current projects and go from there.

Be on the lookout for a new Fairy Tale Character of the Week! I’m going to be much better about that – I promise!!

~Genevieve

Holiday Knitting

My name is Genevieve, and I’m not a holiday knitter.

I have been in the past, and I might be in the future, but it’s been awhile since I made the conscious decision to knit people gifts for Christmas.

When I was in junior high (yes, back in my day it was called junior high instead of middle school), I knit a bunch of potholders for grandmothers for the holidays. One, because they were grandmothers and would like whatever I made and two, because they weren’t very time consuming.

30 year old potholders I made for my grandma

The next time I knit Christmas gifts for anyone was when our family decided to do homemade gifts for everyone. I knit hats for my brothers and their girlfriends/wives.

 

2 brothers, 1 wife (well, before they were married), 1 son, 1 husband all in hats

I will say that those hats were very early in my hat knitting days, so they weren’t the fanciest hats.

And then one year I did scarves.

The other brother in his blue scarf

I’m pretty sure that’s the last time I knit gifts for everyone. I knit a scarf for my mom in 2008, and this year I knit her the Rumplestiltskin Infinity Scarf for her birthday (in red) so she could wear it on her trip to France. Now that I think about it… my dad is the only one who doesn’t have something knit from me. Hm… I may have to rectify that soon!

Since 2008, however, I’ve almost always been working on projects for books – mine or other people’s, and that knitting took precedence over knitting something heartfelt for friends or family. And sadly, it never even dawned on me to knit a teacher a gift! What a terrible crafting parent I am! I wonder if my kids’ teachers ever thought, “Hey! The knitter’s kid is in my class! I wonder if she’ll knit me something for Christmas!” Yikes. If you are/were one of my children’s teachers and thought this, I sincerely apologize for letting you down!

I suppose I should revisit the whole idea of holiday knitting. One of my issues is that by the time I realize I need to buy/make gifts, my time is very limited. So small, quick gifts would work best… at least until I start becoming a planner and knitting gifts during the summer (who am I kidding?).

Do you knit gifts for the holidays? What’s your favorite gift to knit? Is it small items like gloves and hats and scarves? Is it bigger projects like sweaters, shawls, and blankets?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

~Genevieve

ps – there are some great quick-to-knit projects in Once Upon A Knit…

Rumplestiltskin Infinity Scarf

Woodland Friends Hats

An Apple A Day Potholder

 

 

 

 

Knit Your Halloween Costume!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying this early October day. It’s currently 64 degrees and cloudy, which is lovely. It’s been SO HOT here lately (and will warm up to the 80s today), that I just love that it’s nice and cool. I’m about to take a walk and I’m going to need my ear warmers. 🙂

Since it’s October, that means Halloween is around the corner! In our house, we like to make our own costumes. Either we sew them (mostly my husband) or knit them (me) or piece them together from things we buy or make or have around the house. This is a tradition that goes way back to my childhood. My mom put together this fine costume for me ON Halloween. I never got more compliments as a kid trick-or-treating.

You may also note the homemade Steve Austin costume, and the handsewn clown costume – all made by my mom.

So, I have a few ideas for Halloween that you can knit! 🙂

Add a leotard and pair of wings to the Fairy Tutu for a cute little woodland sprite.

Who doesn’t love Little Red Riding Hood? Don’t forget the basket by Marilee Norris!

You could whip up 3 little pig hats and one wolf for a cute group costume!

This hat by Trisha Paetsch is a perfect accessory to any princess!

All of the above can be found in Once Upon A Knit.

Feeling a little darker? Here’s one from Vampire Knits.

You can put a few gashes on your face and wear the Tourniquet Scarf to make it look like you’re bleeding at the neck.

Finally, here are some ideas taken from two fandoms you might be a part of, both found in Knits for Nerds by Joan of Dark.

Feeling geeky? Knit up the Space Princess Hat. There are 3 versions.

And if your geekdom is more Trek than Wars, there’s the Trek Dress by Joan of Dark.

Whatever you decide, I hope everyone has as much fun planning for Halloween as we do at my house! And if you decide to make any of these projects, please feel free to post them in the comments!!

Happy Knitting!

~Genevieve

Woodland Friends Hats

I thought it might be fun to get a better look at some of the projects from “Once Upon A Knit.” I made a video showing them off. My eleven-year-old daughter laughed her butt off. She suggested I enlist the help of my 8-year-old.

Here it is.

 

~Genevieve

Spotlight on Cinderella Playset

Happy Monday!! I must apologize for being absent much of this summer. It’s easy to just let things go and be loose with schedules when we have no school and no day job to rush off to!

Today’s spotlight is on the Cinderella Playset by Marilee Norris.

Cinderella & her mice friends

As you probably know, Cinderella was a girl who was treated badly by her stepmother and stepsisters. She was made to clean their house and bullied and her only friends were little mice.

She is denied the chance to go to the royal ball and meet the prince, until her Fairy Godmother shows up and gives her a beautiful dress, glass slippers, and turns her mice into horses and a pumpkin into her coach. She sent her on her way to the ball until midnight, when the spell would be broken.

One of the wonderful details of this set is the pumpkin bag. Not only is it just adorable, but it carries all the toys inside, so children can bring Cinderella and her mice wherever they go, just like her coach brought her to the ball.

 

Things to know about this pattern: You will be using the 3-needle bind-off, i-cord, Magic Loop, and some sewing (the lining) and embroidering (pumpkin).

This set would be the perfect gift for any fan of Cinderella, or anyone who loves Fairy Tales and is young at heart!

Happy Knitting!

~Genevieve