Bye!

I totally hate when blogs just fade out without any formal notice, which is something I’ve already started to do. Because I now post most of my crafty stuff on Ravelry (LGordon555) and Instagram (@ErinGordonSF), I haven’t been posting on this blog much in the last year. I may post occasionally (like if I release a new knitting pattern) so I’m not officially shutting the blog down but I won’t be posting regularly. Happy crafting!

 

A Decent Mother Bear

I’ve made many Mother Bears for the Mother Bear Project and most of my bears (in fact, most of the toys I’ve knit), end up looking really wonky. I’m terrible at faces. But this latest one came out ok. I watched the videos by my friends Barb and Tracie and that helped a lot.

In other knitting news, I knit a pair of socks using an afterthought heel for the first time. They came out terrible — they’re too small and they have a huge error in them. Wahhhh! I won’t be using that technique anymore… Onto a new pair of socks. And I’m contemplating a new hat design. Stay tuned…

 

FO (Finally!): Sunday Drive

I have no idea why but this sweater took me FOREVER to knit. I love the way it turned out, though. I’m working on some socks now…

 

A Little Sewing

I’ve grown a tiny bit obsessed with project bags after my friend Barb insisted that I should no longer be using Ziploc bags for my knitting. I was in the mood to sew, too, so I made a few bags, with the help of my sister, who is a much more intuitive and patient sewer than I am. Here’s what we’ve made recently:

And here’s a peek at the insides:

As usual, don’t look tooooooo closely or you’ll see how wonky I sew. But they’re fun little projects nonetheless. As far as knitting, I’m working on a sweater — wish me luck because, as has been chronicled many times on this blog, my sweaters have less than a 50-50 success rate.

 

March Update

I finished a toy: Moggy from the Dovestone Smallholding book. It was one of the most tedious things I’ve ever made, so much so that after about 20 rows of the cabled body, I frogged and reknit the body using plain stockinette stripes instead. Life is just too freakin’ short.

I also attended Stitches West last month, a last-minute decision because I was supposed to be out of town that weekend. I had a great time. I saw some of my favorite podcasters (including the 2KnitLitChicks, the Knitmore Girls and the Elkins from Webs). I didn’t buy a lot but I was definitely inspired, so inspired that I only remembered to pull out my camera once! 🙂

That is the Mother Bear booth. Speaking of bears, I finally figured out the overly complicated seamless crochet bear pattern. Here is my crocheted bear alongside a recent knitted one.

Don’t judge my terrible embroidered faces — I know I need to improve. But seeing that booth of gorgeous bears inspired me. I just finished some blender socks from sock yarn leftovers and now plan to do some more charity knitting in the coming weeks. Something about the sorry state of the world has me wanting to use my knitting powers for good.

 

 

 

FOs: Pussy Hats, Fingerless Mitts & A Sweater

Months ago, I knit a Pussy Hat and sent it off to Washington. The morning of the Women’s March, I received this text from the beautiful stranger who wore the hat:

Seriously, this MADE MY DAY. I ended up knitting a couple of more Pussy Hats for myself and my daughter. Speaking of my daughter, knitting her some fingerless mitts was a great way to use up leftover sock yarn.

Annnnnd I finished a sweater. The sleeves are a bit tight — and it’s largely cotton so they won’t stretch as much as I’d like — but overall, I’m happy with this sweater.

What are you knitting these days?

 

FOs: Socks (and a Cowl and a…)

I’ve been knitting away. I finished a pair of socks:

And a BUNCH of preemie hats:

And a cowl for my daughter’s HS transition advisor:

And, of course, a Pussyhat that I mailed off to Washington!

I’m now working on a sweater. I also want to knit this one, after seeing Tracie’s in person. What are your 2017 knitting plans?

 

FO: Quilt + Craft Fair

I finished the flannel quilt I’ve been working on.

As usual, it’s still pretty funky since I’m a self-taught quilter. But it’s definitely one of my better ones and it’s sooooooo warm and cozy. And last weekend I sold knit hats at my kids’ school craft fair — my 10th and final year.

Unlike other years, the hats didn’t sell well. I’m not sure why. But that means I’ve got lots of inventory on Etsy!

 

FO: Crackerjack Cowl

Among several other things that I continue to be too lazy to document, I finished this Crackerjack Cowl, a conceptual knitting project that chronicles the SF Giants’ season. I did it because I loved KnittyBarb (of the 2 Knit Lit Chicks)’s version and I thought it might make me more interested in baseball. (As my husband said recently, “It’s October — time to follow baseball!” Given the Giants’ history in even years, that wasn’t a bad strategy to employ but no such luck this particular even year…) Anyway, this project didn’t really fulfill its purpose because instead of getting me more excited about baseball, it got me aggravated that I had a project lying around that was not going to get finished for 6+ months. Overall, it’s cute, but the kitchener stitch join looks TERRIBLE partly due to user error (uh, having the wrong side facing forward – duh) and partly because I ran out of the necessary color one row before finishing. So the join MUST stay behind my neck. Another thing that annoys me is that I misestimated length — it ended up being is too short to wrap around my next twice yet it looks too long wrapped around only once.Sigh. (For the record, here are my pattern details: I used Blue Sky Sport Weight; I cast on 68 stitches and knit two rounds for every game. Home win = orange; home loss = off white; road win = grey; road loss = black.) But don’t let my lackluster experience dissuade you from knitting this clever pattern. Everyone I know is rooting for the Cubs now so…Go Cubs, I guess! Here’s the flip side of the Crackerjack Cowl:

Meanwhile, I continue to knit preemie hats and hats for the upcoming craft fair.

 

FOs & WIPs

I’ve been working on lots of projects! I’ve knit several hats for the annual craft fair (my 10th and final one!) and two cowls (one for me and one for a gift), all of which I’ve been too lazy to photograph and document. You’ll have to take my word for it. I’ve also been working on several charity projects, including these little preemie hats, which I donated to SF General Hospital’s NICU.

And I started a new quilt. It’s my first time working with flannel. Hopefully I’ll finish it before winter is over!