Carson Ellis

The Decemberists played the Big Day Out festival there this year and Hank and I, along with the other moms and kids, went along.  We saw Auckland, Surfers Paradise, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth in three weeks.  Highlights were:  watching the sun set over Auckland from the ferry, hearing Joanna Newsom debut songs at Sydney Opera House, giant bats in the Botanic Garden, fancy dinner in Sydney overlooking the harbor, the emu that got all up in my face at Taronga Zoo, Colin’s show in Melbourne, driving around the Dandenong, riding a steam train through fern gullies with my legs hanging out the side, the bathtub in our Sydney hotel, Hank’s first ferris wheel ride, and Hank’s first sauna. On the downside, we made our kids get on 11 planes in 21 days.  But, you know, who’s counting?

Illustration nerds:  this guy scanned his huge personal collection of Hobbit editions from around the world - book jackets and interior art.  You could spend a whole Sunday looking at them.  That’s my plan so far - I’m still in bed.  Thanks to A Journey Round My Skull for the tip.

Presenting work by young artists who participated in Drawing Portfolio Workshop at the Portland Art Museum.

Please join us for an opening at:

Half and Half
923 SW Oak Street
Portland, OR

Thursday, January 7th, 2010
from 5-6pm

Adrienne Hurst
Andrea Vandermolen
Courtney Carter
Emily Cronin
Emmalena Schulte
Kyla Blomquist
Oskar Radon Kimball
Taylor Bancroft

http://pamdrawingworkshop.blogspot.com/

Image by Taylor Bancroft

My mission was to use up all the little balls of leftover yarn in the bottom of my knitting basket.  The snake and salamander are Biggy and Wiggy.  Hank named the bunny Fastball, then changed his name to Fasketball, then changed it again to Festival.  To knit the bunny, I copied another one I knit years ago, when Hank was a newborn, and I owe Jess Hutchison some credit for it.  I thought I knit the original bunny from a pattern on her website but couldn’t find it and may have just modified this cute cat pattern of hers on Knitty.

To kick off the start of another knitting season, here’s a pattern I originally shared on my knitting blog last year.  I wrote it out in a serious way, thinking I might submit it to Knitty, but never did.  Writing a knitting pattern turned out to be a bitch.  It took forever.  Hopefully it makes sense.

SIZE
all

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Length: 40 inches

MATERIALS
Rowan Kid Classic [70% lambswool, 26% kid mohair, 4% nylon; 140m per 50g skein]; 1 skein of each color
[A] #817 Bear
[B] #828 Feather
[C] #851 Straw
[D] #856 Tattoo
[E] #847 Cherry Red (only a small amount of this color is needed so feel free too use some leftover yarn instead)

1 set US #6/4.0mm double-point needles
Tapestry needle

GAUGE
18 sts/23 rows = 4″ in stockinette stitch

PATTERN NOTES
I made this scarf using leftover yarn from another project and, sadly, my favorite of the four colors I used – Ice Jade – has been discontinued. But I substituted it with Tattoo for the sake of this pattern which also looks nice.

PATTERN
Using A, CO 12 sts. Divide on 3 needles, placing 3 sts on the first and second needles and 6 sts on the third. Join yarn and knit one round.

Increase round:
Needle 1: k1, kfb, work to the end of the needle.
Needle 2: work to the last 2 sts, kfb, k1.
Needle 3: k1, kfb, work to the last 2 sts, kfb, k1 (16 sts).
Repeat increase round two more times (24 sts).

*Knit 1 round
Increase 1 round*
Repeat 6 more times (48 sts).

Next round: begin working the Eye Chart, only on Needle 3.

After completing the pattern, knit 5 rounds in A.

TONGUE:
Place work on a piece of scrap yarn to hold for later and CO 8 sts, using double pointed needles and E (make sure to leave a long enough yarn tail to attach the tongue to the rest of the scarf).
Join work and knit 15 rounds.
Split sts onto two needles (4 sts on each).
Knit an I cord on the first needle for 4 rounds.
Break yarn, draw through remaining sts, and weave in yarn end.
Repeat on the other needle.
Draw tongue through the hole in the end of the scarf and attach.

EYES:
Embroider eyes onto the white areas of the Eye pattern using a tapestry needle and D.

Now pick work back up, dividing evenly on three needles (16 sts on each). Begin working the Scale Chart, switching colors whenever the chart calls for a new one. I chose the order of my colors randomly, by reaching into my knitting bag with my eyes closed. Feel free to come up with your own order.

Continue working scale pattern until work measures 27 inches from the beginning of the scarf (not counting the tongue) and ending with round 2 of the scale chart.

KEYHOLE:
On round 3 of the scale chart: k6, BO 12, k12, BO 12, k6
On round 4 of the scale chart: k6, CO 12, k12, CO 12, k6

Continue working scale pattern 9 more times or until work measures 33 inches, ending pattern with A, on the last row of the chart.

Rearrange sts on needles so that there are 24 sts on the first needle and 12 sts each on the second and third needles and begin decreasing, continuing to use A.

Decrease round:
Needle 1: k1, ssk, work to the last 3 sts, k2tog, k1.
Needle 2: k1, ssk, work to the end of the needle
Needle 3: work to the last 3 sts, k2tog, k1

Repeat decrease round on every third row until 8 sts remain.
Knit 2 rounds
Separate sts onto two needles (4 sts on each)
*K1, k2tog, k1* repeat once
Break yarn and draw end though remaining 6 sts

FINISHING
Weave in ends and stitch together the two sides of the keyhole seams with a tapestry needle.