jumping on the noro bandwagon

noro kureyon, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Like many a knitter on the internet, I have been bitten by the noro bug and if you are a regular reader of the yarn harlot, you know what I'm talking about. My particular project uses noro kureyon #214 and #149 and it's great mindless meditative knitting for the holidaze.

happy thanksgiving

bella, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

I'm back in El Cerrito for Thanksgiving just like I was last year and Bella is one year older but no less energetic. I love taking her up the hill behind my sister's house where you can see the Golden Gate Bridge on a clear day. Even though it rained yesterday, today is clear and sunny and our jaunt up the hill this morning was brisk.

The fact is that Bella, who is a border collie, has become a muse for me, providing artistic inpiration with her shiny coat and big brown eyes. She's best captured in a reclining pose, with a tripod or in extreme close-up.

And always awaiting a run up the hill.

I haven't stopped knitting, not completely anyway. More knitting goodness is coming soon. Don't despair! Happy Holidaze everyone!

new t-shirt designs

blaise knits, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

So I bought my dear friend Blaise some pizza and pop at Rocco’s pizza, slapped some knitting in his hands and had him model the new knitting t-shirt designs. Aren’t they swell?

Blaise told me he was getting married and I was stunned. I didn’t even know he had a girlfriend. Nevertheless, I wish him lots of luck and many happy returns. Sincerely.

fall foliage

red foliage times four, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Lately I haven’t had much time for knitting or blogging. I’ve been too busy running around Portland, shooting night shots and tending to my new blog. The weather’s been great and I really must take advantage of these dry days before the rain settles in for the next six months.

I finished the foliage hat about a month ago. Really quick, really fun little knit. I know, I know I say that and people get annoyed with me. But try it anyway. You’ll see how fun it is. The pattern is free on knitty.

My friend Patsy was a good sport modeling the hat for me and I snapped the red leaves before they were all blown off during a windy storm last week. I don't usually block hats so yes, it is a little lumpy. Nevertheless I'm very happy with it.

I’m still knitting gifts so I can’t show too many FOs at this point. Oh and I’m off to California next week so my next post will be from the sunny Bay Area.

[PS: Just noticed that this is my 100th post which caught me by surprise. I've always strived to update this blog at least once per week but it seems that I was doing a little better than that.]

back to our regularly scheduled programming

epic yarn, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Some of you may have thought that I’d given up knitting altogether and honestly I have been quite busy lately starting my new blog and running around town capturing Portland at night. No, I haven’t stopped knitting. In fact I’ve been knitting a LOT but mostly in stealth mode. Yes, dear reader, it’s that time of year when I’m busy knitting holiday gifts and some of the recipients are regular readers of this blog. Shhhhhhhhh.

Outside of the super secret knitting, I’ve been making a lot of hats. It seems that my interest in socks is finally waning and I’m on a hat knitting high. A few weeks ago I lost my favorite hat – my dearly beloved hat. I must have had a black out or something because one moment the hat was on my head and the next, it was gone forever.

Which brings me to the epic hat:

The Noro Hat is very similar to the beloved hat I lost but in lieu of the called for yarn, Noro Kureyon, I used a super soft, super warm acrylic/alpaca blend that someone gave me and I’ve re-christened it the Epic Hat. Epic because it took two and half, almost three balls, of the yarn. Seriously, I didn’t think this hat was ever going to end. But end it did, and it’s wonderful.

On Alice, it reminds me of wood sprite or gnome. It definitely speaks to the German ancestry in me. tee hee.

I originally saw the hat on flickr and it was this photo that inspired me to cast on.

I also finished an Asymmetrical Cable Hat and I’ll blog about that one when I get some good photos. Foliage too. The days are soggy and gray and wet but it makes for great knitting and blogging weather.

announcing a new blog

Funny how inspiration strikes at the oddest moments. hah! I decided to start a new blog today that is dedicated soley to the Portland night. I thought it was more appropriate to give the photography its own blog rather than muddle the kntting theme of alice thelma. Rest assured that I am passionate about both topics.

Please visit and let me know what you think. I love to hear your feedback and I will attempt to have both blogs updated at least once a week.

happy blog-iversary to me

Yep. It was one year ago today that I started this blog and I have to admit that it’s been a source of quiet enjoyment for me. I send the blogs out into cyperspace not knowing exactly where they will land, hoping for some hits and counting on some from my nearest and dearest. It’s all good.

So what to blog about on this occasion?

Between crawling into the Portland night photographing bridges and other sites, constantly knitting, worrying about the election and obsessively checking my flickr stats, I rarely make time to read anymore. I love reading, don’t get me wrong, just don’t seem to have make time for it lately. Based on recommendation from Katrina at my knitting group I checked out Confessions of a Knitting Heretic by Annie Modesitt and


as a result of reading this book I have made a HUGE discovery about my knitting and myself. It turns out that I’m a COMBINATION knitter when all this time, since 1980, since I began knitting, I thought I was a continental knitter (or “picker” as some call it).

Who knew? I had no idea. It’s truly a REVELATION. I mean I’m as shocked as you are.

I guess a clue came last year when someone told me that I was purling “wrong” when really I was doing the Norwgian or “lazy” purl as modesitt illustrates in her book.

It's a lot faster anyway and I'm all about the speed. 

Maybe you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but she can certainly discover something new about herself.

Thanks for reading!