Melanie Andersen's Website

Well, I noticed a hole in my glove - what a
perfect reason to learn how to knit myself
a pair!! They turned out pretty nice. Very
warm and squishy. Now for the matching
scarf and hat!
October 2008

A scarf I made Kristine for her birthday
out of a super-soft cashmere silk.
October 20, 2008.

A sweater I made for Justice. He wanted it to be red.
And he chose the pattern (Durrow) from
a choice of about six different patterns. It was
an adult pattern so I had to figure out how to make it
kid sized. When I began, I redid the first four inches
of one sleeve about 12 times before finally deciding
how I would do this. The yarn is Mission Falls 1824 Wool.
It's very soft and very warm. He loves it. He gave me
$3 dollars from his allowance for it.
September 29, 2008.

The kids and I at Sara and Dan's wedding
on August 24, 2008. I'm wearing my
Hanami Rain Stole which I finished
on August 2, 2008.

My Hanami Rain Stole made of Handmaiden Sea Silk
which is made of silk and seaweed.
August 24, 2008.

This is a very simple, easy pattern but it looks so great!
This shrug can be worn with dresses or jeans
and is perfect to just carry in my purse
for when air conditioning is too cold.
June 27, 2008.

I bought this yarn because I absolutely love the color.
It might be hard to tell from this photo but it's a gorgeous variegated violet made with silk and mohair.
It's a bit itchy though.
June 27, 2008.

I had knit the cool circle sweater for Verity, so I thought
I should knit a sweater for Haifa too. I got this yarn
super-cheap on boxing day. It cost $24 for enough yarn for
this sweater and a baby blanket. The yarn is Cascade 220 wool. I'm not crazy about it but it's a good price and
it works. Personally, I'm spoiled by Sublime's extra fine merino wool. I love the bone buttons we got for this.
June 2008

I chose a couple of patterns and then asked her to choose which one she liked best. This pattern is available for free from knitty.com - it's called Starsky Jr. (there's an adult version as well).

For Ayyam-i-Ha, the kids gave me
lots of different coloured sock yarns
(since I've been knitting lots of socks
for Ayyam-i-Ha gifts). The problem was
that I really don't like the yarn they chose,
it has synthetic fibres in it and doesn't knit well.
I finally decided to return them
and get the yarn I've been eyeing for a couple of months.
The softest cashmere/silk blend, hand dyed
in a scarf pattern I'm actually interested in wearing.

Here it is! My Ayyam-i-Ha scarf from Verity.
I love it! It's like I have a baby bunny wrapped around my neck.
Started: March 20, 2008
Finished: March 21, 2008

He loves them and wears them when
he's travelling away from home.
Started: March 5, 2008
Finished: March 19, 2008

So... with Ayyam-i-Ha gifts finished,
I was able to start a pair of socks for myself.
Back to Basics pattern like Linda's.
Started: February 26, 2008.

I decided I didn’t like the detail on the toe
so I did large number of cast-on’s (34 sts)
and a few increases.

I tried using kfb increases instead of M1’s.
(In the picture, the sock on the left has kfb increases
and the sock on the right has M1’s).
I’ve since decided that I’m okay with
the holes that M1’s make
and the detail on the toe of these socks.
Socks finished March 5, 2008.

I knit these socks for my sister using Dream In Color
Smooshy sock yarn in Visual Purple. There are waves of a subtle gold color in them - it's very nice.
The pattern is Widdershins from knitty.com.
For my small, skinny feet it is a perfect fit,
tight around the ankles.
February 2008

Socks for my Dad. Dream In Color Smooshy sock yarn in Midnight Derby. Pattern: Fit Well Socks available as a free download on ravelry.com. They turned out perfect.

I think the garter stitch rib looks quite sophisticated
and it's easier to knit that normal ribbing!

These socks are a gift for Linda,
so they're a bit big on my feet.
February 5, 2008.

The pattern comes from knitty.com "Back to
Basics" and the yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy Sock
Yarn in "Some Summer Sky". These socks are easy
to knit and are an excellent fit. I love the pattern.
February 2008

I love the yarn. In fact, when I finished the first sock, I ran back
to the knitting store to get another skein of "Some Summer
Sky" so I can knit myself a pair of these beauties some time.
February 2008

I found this pattern for a "circle" sweater and
thought it was so cool - I had to knit it.
Haifa is modelling it but it was actually knit for Verity.
It fits both of them really nicely,
so I know it will last for years.
January 2008

The pattern is called "Polkadot" and can be found
for free at berocco.com.
January 2008

The yarn is Dream In Color Classy.
Haifa wears this sweater quite often.
She looks lovely in it.
January 2008

Here Verity is wearing her lovely sweater.
I had just sewn on the pretty clasp.
She calls it her sleeping sweater and likes to wear it to bed.
March 21, 2008

Here you can see how the sweater is just a circle
with two holes for sleeves in it.

I wanted to make a brown sweater to wear
with my brown jeans. But I love the warmth and
softness of this Sublime yarn that I wear it with anything.
I've been into cables lately. I chose this pattern because
I was facinated with the cables going around the shoulders
instead of the traditional up and down. The pattern is called
Tangled Yoke Cardigan in Interweave Magazine Fall 2007.
January 2008

A close-up of the beautiful pewter buttons I found at
Unwind Yarn House in Newmarket, the cable design,
and the extra-long garter rib cuff.
January 2008

This is a beautiful cabled blanket which I STARTED...
but have little motivation to finish. One day...

I got bold and created my own pattern for this
tank top. The straps are a bit too thin so I will
undo the top part and make the straps wider.
I used Baby Bamboo (a bamboo/wool blend)
it is so soft and so lovely to work with. Originally,
this was supposed to be a belly warmer.
But the rest of my skin became jealous of the softness.
My skin wanted a full bodysuit.
The tank top is the compromise.
One day... one day I'll make that bodysuit.
December 2007

Verity sporting a scarf I made for her.
It's made with a basketweave stitch.
December 2007.

Here is the end result for Mishkin's scarf.
The end's still curl but faithful husband
still loves it.
October 2008.

Haifa and I knitting together
one quiet evening.
Haifa wants to start a business
selling scarves.
Fall 2007.

I started knitting a scarf for Mishkin with the leftover
yarn from my sweater. I used a pattern to create the
bottom scarf, but I wasn't completely happy with it.
So I started over creating my own pattern using seed
stitch as the border and making two cables instead
of one. I like it! Fall 2007.

I helped Valerie crochet this blanket for baby Val.
I did the green half. Fall 2007.

Here's a sweater I made for myself
with Manos del Uruguay wool.
I love the colors of the hand-dyed wool.
I had to tweak a pattern and I added pockets
...it was an adventure.
Fall 2007

Weaving all the ends into
the seams of the sweater I made.
The finishing touches... almost done!
August 26, 2007.

These are 3 scarves I knitted as gifts for Ayyam-i-Ha.
They took a lot less time than the sweater - about a week.
February 2007.

I made this wool sweater for Mishkin. It took 5 years.
But the majority of it was done in 1 month
(knitting 5-8 hours a day). He loves it!
February 2006.