Needles on Fire http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/ 2008-06-15T23:31:07-05:00 Save the dates http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/06/save_the_dates.html I'm teaching at the Green Mountain Spinnery again this September. I had a great time last year and I am in love with the spinnery people and their yarns. The food was awesome too (and I'm not easy to please in that category). If you'd like to come this year (or just want to imagine coming) go here for more info. You'll have to fight me for the Green Mountain Green, though. I'll bring along a lot of great stuff to look at... like stuff from my current project for example (you already know about that though, right?)

]]> kate 2008-06-15T23:31:07-05:00 and woosh goes May http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/05/visitors_1.html I've had a pretty steady stream of visitors for over a month now. My in-laws are the current visitors and they'll be here right up until I go to TNNA Anyone else going? Say hi! I might be wearing the sweater from my last post... which you couldn't see but... I guess the fact that I have visitors isn't terribly interesting... but it does offer an explanation as to why I've disappeared. Tadpole's not napping very often anymore either so the day just zooms (or sometimes crawls) by until I crash into bed.

Between visitors, I've managed to find a little bit of spinning time.

This is Spunky Eclectic Mud Season (I think). I'm a member of the fiber club now thanks to a generous friend. It's awesome and because the fiber keeps piling up, I really try to spin at least once in a while. I spun up half of it one Friday night. I should do the same with the other half. I really need some more bobbins but I don't dare spend the money on them for some reason... nor do I necessarily stick to one project until it's done which is why I have cakes of singles sitting around.

Anyway, hello to you all! I miss you. Say hi if you like.

]]> kate 2008-05-26T07:37:29-05:00 FO http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/05/fo_1.html

I'm really proud of this one. Can't wait to show it to you.

]]> kate 2008-05-07T17:36:47-05:00 visitors http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/04/visitors.html Look who's here. Elijahand Otto.

Ysolda is here too. You know how she's all cute and stuff on her site? She's not really that cute in real life. She's cuter.

]]> kate 2008-04-25T07:59:36-05:00 The Circle Jacket way back when http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/04/the_circle_jack.html For those of you who don't know, the Sunrise Circle Jacket is one of the top 5 winners of Knitter's Daily Readers' Choice. Where in the top 5? I have no idea. I don't think they've said yet. But to mark the occasion, Knitting Daily has organized a blog tour. My good friend Julia interviewed me here Pretty ridiculous to think that we were nervous about the interview when we speak or email nearly every day!

And just for kicks, I found a photo of the swatch I knitted and sent to Interweave when I submitted the idea for the jacket. Good thing Pam Allen has an imagination, no? It should have been called the "lumpy jacket". Apparently I had never heard of blocking.

Thank you for your votes!

]]> kate 2008-04-16T07:45:37-05:00 Camellia http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/03/camellia.html is here even though spring is not here for me. Here's hoping that putting a springy pattern out there will encourage the ice and snow to melt before July. My version has two options for sleeves. I thought I would like the smaller, cap sleeve better, but I actually prefer the flutter one.



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I really enjoyed using this yarn. I know many people are averse to cotton, but this stuff was really enjoyable to knit and I'm in love with the green I used, though my first instinct was to go orange or red. I'm glad I didn't go with my usual colors though and I can't wait to wear it, not that that will be happening any time soon due to the freezing temperatures. Is going on vacation primarily to get some use out of a knitted top insane?

]]> kate 2008-03-30T14:38:51-05:00 blaaaaaaaaaaaahg http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/03/blaaaaaaaaaaaah.html I'm still around. I've gotten a couple worried emails (thank you) and I wanted to come assure you that I am still alive and kicking... wish I could say "alive and knitting" but there isn't much actual knitting going on here. There's a lot of thinking about knitting and talking about knitting and looking at knitting but not much knitting. And every time I think, "I should really post" or even get to the point of starting to write a post, someone emails or calls or a child needs tending to. And then 3 minutes/hours/days later I look at what I was writing and think, "Oh shut up. Who cares?!" I figure if I can't stand to read myself, nobody else can either, which is why I am going to type this and publish it without reading it again. Plus, I always like to have at least one photo in my post but that means finding the camera and the cord and my hard-drive is full so I'd have to take some old stuff off to put new stuff on. Tonight, I managed to find an older photo for you. I'll update with some newer stuff soon (I hope). I'm going to at least try to post photos if nothing else. Maybe this will be come a knitting photo blog.

Mohair on my cards

Or maybe that's not mohair... I don't even remember. See how often I spin?
]]> kate 2008-03-25T19:58:18-05:00 TGIW http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/03/thank_goodness.html Thank goodness it's Wednesday so I can just stick some random stuff in here. I'm working my butt off lately but somehow I don't have much to show for it yet so there's not even any good knitting to put on here yet. I know it's March and nearly spring for many of you, but for those of us up here, it's still winter, which is why I'm about to knit some mittens. I lost one of my Wintergreen Mittens so I'll be making a new pair. I've also got some socks going, but they're nothing thrilling. I'm just kind of treading water. Trying to sleep. Trying to eat. Trying to mom. Trying to breathe and still get everything done.

How cute is this - Whenever I teach people to knit, I tell them to keep their first knitting and cherish it and place it on an altar and give it offerings of fruit and candy. Nobody does. A lot of people don't even bring their first knitting home with them. But someone finally listened to me. Check out what Myriam did.


It's hanging on her wall. How cute. Myriam's pretty cute too. Plus, she's a pretty great knitter now. it's hard to believe she only learned in the fall.

Can't bear to listen - Ready, Set Knit is doing a knitalong with my Bird in Hand Mittens and to kick it off, they interviewed me for the podcast the other day. The interview is still too fresh in my mind so I can't bear to listen to it yet. You can if you like, just don't tell me if I sound like an idiot. Irene (my friend of 10 years) listened and said it was fine. I'm just going to take her word for it for now because I'm always shocked to hear my own voice when it's not inside my head.

What is one supposed to talk about when one can't talk about what one is working on? I'll have to finish that out or my blog is going to go down the tubes.

]]> kate 2008-03-05T14:18:46-05:00 Four banana's worth http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/02/four_bananas_wo.html For those of you waiting for the pattern for the green top, I apologize. It is ready and waiting for you too. Even so, I can't publish it for about another month. I'm really sorry, but you will still have it before it's warm enough to wear it... or before the snow even thaws for those of you who live near me.

I did a major cleanup recently in the office. Actually, "office" isn't really the right name for what I've got. It's a sort of alcove and there's a desk, but I don't sit at it since it's got Frog's computer on it. Just about every available inch is crammed with shelves and yarn and books and fiber. most of the remaining floor space is used by my spinning wheel. I most often work sitting on the couch so I suppose that is really my office. The "office" is more a storage unit. ANYWAY! I did a major cleanup and in the process found many swatches. I stuck them all in bag and thought I'd share it with you.

These are just some of the swatches that I did in the last year or so. Many more were lost, frogged or thrown out along the way. It fills a grocery store plastic bag to the brim. That long, green swatch? It's nearly 2 balls of yarn. My daughter now wears it as a scarf. It wasn't meant to be one and is a little wonky, but she found it, exclaimed, "Tadpole's caaahrff!" and it's been that ever since. I knit for her rarely enough, how could I deny her a wonky swatch scarf... though I do find it a little embarassing if people notice I made it. The bananas are just there for scale of course.

You think swatches lie? That's pretty common for me too. You don't like doing it? I actually kind of like it most of the time because I have realized how important it is to the end product and it's the point where everything still seems possible. You whine about doing a teeny tiny swatch? Unless your pile rivals mine, I don't wanna hear about it.

]]> kate 2008-02-22T15:45:22-05:00 Introducing the Blokomatik 3000 http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/02/introducing_the.html It's a toaster oven!
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]]> kate 2008-02-13T11:33:43-05:00 Rock the vote http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/02/rock_the_vote.html The Sunrise Circle Jacket is up for The Reader's Choice Award. I'd be honored if you'd vote for me here.

]]> kate 2008-02-04T19:36:55-05:00 Accidentally all green http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/01/accidentally_al.html I knit faster than I blog. Here's the (unblocked) front of a top.

and here's the sleeve. Yup. It's a sleeve. You'll see in just a couple days because I'm almost halfway done with the back.

Classic Elite has already published this pattern in the Mostly Modern book. They've called it the Cotton Bam Boo Fluttery Sleeve Top (ravelry link). I'll be publishing it myself soon (a week or two?) and I'm thinking about giving it a somewhat more concise name. Any ideas?

Here's a little look at a sweater that you'll see eventually. In the summer maybe? In the fall? I'll have to check.

LAMCK! (look at my cute kid)

She touches the needles, then moves the yarn, then touches the needles, then moves the yarn. When I gave her her own needles and yarn later in the day, she said, "[Tadpole] make a sweater for Grandma Grandpa."
]]> kate 2008-01-29T08:25:41-05:00 FO: Pumpkin Mittens http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/01/fo_pumpkin_mitt.html "Pink and green socks" --> "Pinkin socks" --> "Pumpkin socks" --> "Pumpkin mittens"


Tadpole was really excited about her pink and green socks pumpkin mittens. She proudly showed them to her Papa when he got home. Yarn is from Mama E in "Mermaids." It's very yummy and squooshy and soft. I think I have enough left for a smallish pair for me or maybe I'll just start making big pumpkin mittens for next year.

Email update: I spent a bajillion hours answering emails the other night and got down to 30 flagged messages. It's now back up to 55.

]]> kate 2008-01-28T12:51:57-05:00 144 is the new zero http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/01/144.html That is the number of flagged email messages I constantly have to answer. There were more than that an hour ago, but I'm back to 144. Whenever I manage to get it below that, it goes back up to 144. Maybe I should consider that the new zero. Maybe I'm just wildly ineffective at answering them. Maybe I just get too darned many of them. sigh.

Anyway, I'm super overdue with my examination of 2007. I've been avoiding it because I have the feeling I didn't get much done this year. Here's a collage of what I did get done (besides a tiny bit of spinning that never got photographed)


In addition to what you see in the photo, there are 13 UFOs, 4 of which linger on from 2006.

I'm going to state my goals for 2008 simply:
Do more.
Do less.
Do something for me once in a while.

I hope I'll be seeing lots of you this year and that we'll learn all sorts of wonderful new things together. (That sounded cheesey but I don't care)

]]> kate 2008-01-20T09:18:16-05:00 2008 already? http://www.kategilbert.com/blog/archives/2008/01/2008_already_1.html I made these for my mom for Christmas:

and these as a baby/Christmas gift

The sweater and hat yarn is my handspun. The sweater is calculated from my top-down raglan calculator worksheet that I use when I give workshops. The hat can be seen better here and the pattern is here (for those of you who don't know). I actually had a ton of yarn left though I had made the sweater smaller than I wanted in fear of running out. I could have even made socks but I stopped myself. The gift was late as it was. The color is truer in the next photo. The bunny was whipped out in just an hour. I had forgotten how quick it was. The yarn is Phildar Neige and the pattern is here (although I suppose most of you know that).

And here is the lovely little recipient who is a girl so I should have just knitted the darned sweater instead of stopping regularly to fret over the color and wearability in case of it being a boy.

Poor little lady. I promise I'll make your hat long enough to cover your ears next time. I should have remembered that you half of you comes from a family of melon-heads.

I'd like to wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous and knit-filled 2008. I'm a bit behind in my yearly tradition of looking what I accomplished and thinking about what I hope for for the coming year. I'll try to get on that before February or at least before the spring thaw. Love to you all, Kate

]]> kate 2008-01-02T21:44:10-05:00