Hat and Neck Scrunchy

MaddieBrioche, originally uploaded by bindakay.

This project was inspired by my daughter, Maddie - She learned to knit over the holidays, and knit a hat as her first project. Not to be saddled with the mundane, she moved on to another project that caught her eye, not realizing that neither she or her mother (her knitting teacher) knew how to make it. She was determined, and so in turn, I had to be. If she was interested, I wanted to make sure she stayed interested. I didn't want to lose this moment with her.

So she and I started knitting this brioche stitch project - a separate one for each of us. There were a lot of stumbling blocks and a lot of ripping out - for both of us. The Brioche stitch is challenging - starting with the "preparation row", and keeping your concentration focused throughout. Keeping this project two colors encouraged the right stitches on the right rows.

This is my cowl on her, and hers is just about finished.

PhoebePurple

PhoebePurple, originally uploaded by bindakay.

Here is one of my newest projects, Phoebe's Sweater. It is based on a childrens book of the same name and the pattern is in the book. It is the sweetest little coat - and even Jim wished our girls were of the age to wear this. He could really imagine both Maddie and Alice wearing this! Included in the book is a pattern for Phoebe the Mouse and matching coat and dress!
Sizes are 2,4,6 and is very generous, so it would be easy to fit even some bigger sizes.

Perfect soup for a rainy day!

Pork and Green Chile Stew

1 tablespoon olive oil plus extra

1 1/4 # pork tenderloin, 1/4" cubes

1/2 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

5 small potatoes, diced

3 small tomatoes, diced

5 or 6 green chiles, roasted, peeled and chopped

4 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 large can green chile enchilada sauce (medium)

2 teaspoons salt

3 large dollops light sour cream

Heat oil in large frying pan. Add onion , garlic and pork and saute until meat is browned. Put mixture in a crockpot. Add a bit more oil to the frying pan and brown potatoes and tomatoes. Add this to the crockpot. Add 1 cup chicken broth to the frying pan and deglaze for 2 - 3 minutes and add this and remaining ingredients to the crockpot, except for sour cream. Cook on low 5- 6 hours. Add the dollops of sour cream and stir well.

Serve with toasted tortilla strips and consume until crockpot is empty!

CorbinSweater

CorbinSweater, originally uploaded by bindakay.

Froggie Sweater for a little guy named Corbin! I knit Tasia's Sweater by Cabin Fever using Katia's Mississippi Tex Cotton/Acrylic.

Botanica Medallion Vest

Medallion and Belt 009, originally uploaded by bindakay.

I absolutely love this! I finished in time for the Wine Festival. It was started last year when the Summer 09 Vogue Knitting came out - this was on the cover for good reason - I fell in love then and still am. It's one of those items that look great casual, and dressed up. It's probably one of the only things I've knit for myself that I really wear.

SmileyHangingintheTree_web

SmileyHangingintheTree_web, originally uploaded by bindakay.

Here is my Smiley Hat. He is hangin' around in the bushes. I don't know why.

A Brilliant Colonnade

A colonnade is a characteristic in the buildings of Classical architecture, and consists of a row of vertical columns joined horizontally by an entablature, or a series of bands and moldings that sat above it, resting upon the column capitals. These bands can be highly decorated with relief sculpture.

Often, a classical building consisted of several colonnades, several rows deep. In Classical architecture, the front row or rows is known as the portico, and the surrounding colonnades (around the sides and back) are known as the peristyle.

I always wonder the purpose or thought behind titles. After discovering the true meaning of "colonnade", it's obvious why the designer, Stephen West of Westknits, chose this word to title his popular fall shawl/scarf on knitty.com. The series of columns create a colonnade but there is a horizontal joining each of the columns. These horizontals helped me "see" the pattern more easily, allowing mistakes to be seen and fixed more easily.

This is an easy pattern, but tricky at the same time. The knitter must keep careful track of the yo2 for they come at different places on each row, including before and after the k2tog. I suppose this is just everyday stuff for the average lace knitter, but since I am just a regular knitter, these tricky instructions are new to me.

I decided to offer this class at Wild Purls (in March), 1) because the pattern intrigued me in the different manners it could be worn,(not a granny shawl) 2) I liked that it only used 3 skeins of my favorite yarn, Manos del Uraguay (I could buy my fave without blowing my Christmas gift cards) and 3) that it introduced lace knitting in a way that could be easily knit by an adventurous knitter. And since that's kind of how I feel about my knitting most of the time, I thought there might be others (like in Lost) like me out there, waiting to discover another world on the same knitting island. Wow, I really digressed.