Hello NVKG

Knitting Blogs
presentation for Nashoba Valley Knitters' Guild

Personal blog: http://knitmoreand.blogspot.com/

Favorite Blogs:
Socktoberfest KAL creator http://lollygirl.com/blog/
Brooklyntweed http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/index.html
Grumperina http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/
Free Patterns http://www.knitty.com/
Wyoming Knitter http://www.unwindknitting.net/
Master Yarn Dyer Blog http://purlywhites.typepad.com/purly_whites/
Brookline Group Blog http://www.knitsmiths.us/
Circumnavigated Cardigan Project http://www.ample-knitters.com/cnc.html

Start your own Blog
Free site: Blogger by Google https://www.blogger.com/start
Check Comparisons: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/images/blog_software_comparison.cfm

Knit Alongs (KAL) Examples
Soctoberfest http://lollygirl.com/blog/2006/09/18/socktoberfest-questions
Zimmermania http://zimmermaniacs.blogspot.com/

Web Rings
New England Knitters http://newenglandknits.wordpress.com/
Knitting Blogs http://knittingring.blogspot.com/

Pictures
Upload Low Res Pictures
Another Picture Venue
Flicker is used for online photo albumshttp://www.flickr.com/groups/socktoberfest/

Podcasts:
Place to search for Podcast News http://www.podcastingnews.com/
CraftSanity Podcast http://www.craftsanity.com/podcast/
Craftcast with Alison Lee http://www.craftcast.com/

Halloween '07

My other domestic skills came into play this week for Halloween. Every year I make a costume for my daughter. This year it was a geisha kimono. It came out very nicely if I do say so myself. Even thought the costume will probably be worn once or twice I always mind the fine details. It takes longer but I prepare a quality-sewing job. I always back stitch at end of seams. I knot the end threads and sew them into a hidden seam. My daughter doesn’t appreciate these things and I wonder sometimes why I bother especially for an outfit that will be worn only a few times. Oh well, at least I enjoy the process.
We had a nice night here in New England for trick-or-treating. My daughter had some of her friends come over. They claimed to be the “Asian” sisters with the Queen Marie Antoinette. It was fun and the girls were very tired once they got home. I must say even I, who am not a great sleeper, slept well last night.

Alligator Scarf

I am thrilled with this cute scarf, although I don’t think my daughter (11) is. She asked why I would want an alligator wrapped around my neck. The directions are easy to follow. The main pattern workhorse stitch is an increase stitch. They have a very detailed explanation for this stitch and other details.
I was reading the back pages of Interweave Knits and came across the ad. I followed the
Morehouse Farm Merino Link
and found this scarf in many colors of 100% Merino. I chose the Sage color because I think it is closer in color to the real thing. I made some swatches and found that the suggested 5 US came close to gauge. Even though, the gauge swatch made in 6 US felt softer I went with the number 5 US needles. I’m sorry I did since, I was struggling to slip my needle into the increase and deceases stitches.

The final knit head is fun though (see left). The yarn has a nice smooth feel. I do find the knitting on size 5US feels too hard for my taste, especially if the scarf will be wrapped around my neck. So I decided to go up a needle size. I’m not afraid to rip out. I would rather have a knit product that I will wear than to worry about the time already spent.

I had heard some discussion in my Knitting Guild about a “lace needle.”
Since I already decide to go up a size I thought I would try it out. I bought an Addi Turbo 'Lace' Circular. It’s amazing how this one small adustment can make the knitting process simpler. This pattern has a great deal of increase stitches. The extra sharpness of the point allows it to slide through the tight loop without as much struggle as I was having with a normal needle. I took a picture so you can see the difference between needles.

The pattern is basically garter stitch with increases and decrease stitches of knit 2 stitches togethers. It’s just plain fun knitting and then suddenly you have some eyes and a snout. The yarn thickness to the scarf is good enough to retain the animal shape.

Guild Project - Circumnavigated Cardigan

Our knitting Guild has chosen to work as a group on Meredith Glover’s Circumnavigated Cardigan (CnC). Our Guild purchased the pattern for every one this year using a part of the dues. You can check out Meredith Glover’s patterns Here . During our most recent Guild meeting one of the members was explaining the construction methods and has us working on specific techniques by generating a mini one-arm sweater. I’m excited to work on it together since everyone will generate a unique one with his or her own yarn and styling.

It seems like a fun sweater with side pockets. They have an interesting creation method of knitting a longer bottom edge, which includes the pocket fronts on the sides. The pockets are then folded over and the sweater is then knit with normal sizing for the middle section. During our meeting we were also instructed about the “i-cord” edging. It adds a nice finish to the edge, but I found from my sample swatch that I need to knit the pocket edge very loosely or it bunches up.


Now, to my current concern . . . .
I can’t decide on a yarn to use yet.
I’ve been playing around with a variety of yarns thinking of different textures and yarn qualities that I might want in a sweater. On top of that I have a desire to use my stash.

Well, as you can see from my examples I have a variety of options to choose from. I really like the red tweed. I definitely want to make a sweater out of this but, after seeing the pattern and it’s alternative leaf edge lace option, I’m thinking, I would like to use this red tweed yarn with a bit of extra detail along the button edge. Since the lace edge pattern suggest that you have made one before altering the basic pattern, I think I might use some thick yarn to knit one fast. If I do this I can work out the construction details then use the red tweed with a flourish.

It just so happens I went to JoAnn Fabrics looking with my daughter for Halloween costume suggestions. While we were there I couldn’t just walk past the yarn section with out seeing the pretty colors, now could I? I just so happened to find some really chunky yarn for .97 cents a skein. See, it actually knits up “Fun”. So I think this will be my yarn for the CnC.

I'm Back . . . .

I know, I know, I’ve been away for a while. Well, I’m back. I’ll try to be more blog faithful. I don’t know what it was; maybe getting used to my new job, summer, garden, dog or all of the above. While I was away I hardly knit and I only picked up my shadow-knitting project 2 weeks ago.

Since then I’ve been busy knitting though. I’ve knit 5 inches of the second front to my shadow vest (see picture).

Our knitting guild is knitting the circumnavigated sweater together, so I was working on swatches for that as well. While we were traveling up to Maine I was busy swatching. I show the swatch samples on another day. Until them . . . I can say . . . I’m . . .B A C K . . . .

Eye Candy Friday 5.11.07

Jessie found that she likes asparagus. In this picture she is laying down and licking the stumps where I cut some stalks. The bed is messy with old stalks laying around. I was late mulching the bed. I'll have to weed soon.

Jessie has been trained to lay down by following a treat past her nose down to the floor. Until last week this was the only way to get her to lay down. Just last weekend, my daughter taught Jessie to lay down by just pointing to the floor. She used an asparagus as a treat.

Eye Candy Friday 5.4.07

We have daffodils! I love these spring flowers mostly because they keep coming back year after year. I love gardening but the Spring always seems so busy. Last weekend I weeded and mulched our strawberries. I tend to keep the perennial beds for later in the year.




I have been working on my Mermaid socks from the book the
Cool Socks Warm Feet book. I needed a simple project that I can knit without thinking too hard. My Shadow Knit vest requires too much consentration that I can’t listen to people talking, knit and count easily. The basic socks knit pattern is K2, O, K2tog, K2. The O and K2tog (yarn over and knit 2 together) make the socks have a sharp right slant ridge. The self striping yarn looks interesting with the knit pattern. Because of the slanted ridges the striped look broken up into slanted squares. I like it.



I was knitting this sock during our
NVK Guild’s May meeting. (See picture.) At the end of the meeting four different people came up and wanted to know about the pattern. It does intrigue you. It’s pattern is deceptively simple. I think from afar it looks like it is a knitted basket weave.

Something Else

We have built a kennel for our dear dog Jessie. She needs a place to stay while I'm at work. My husband is now traveling more and is away for several days at a time. This project went together fairly simply. The kennel itself was a kit from Home Depot. The hardest part was gathering the materials. The stones alone required two trips from the hardware store. Its a good thing that my husband finished the trailer kit last summer. We have used it alot for hauling things such as building supplies and even stage scenery for my daughters plays. For our kennel, you can see my husband and daughter did most of the base assembly. They were working on the stones and pavers while I carted over them all over from the driveway. My shoulders hurt the next day. Jessie is quite comfortable in the pen. My first two days at work I was worried since we didn't get a chance to try it out before Jessie needed to stay inside. She did fine! This week it rained a bit while I was at work and with her umbrella and the dog house Jessie stayed quite dry and comfy. Its two weeks now and I'm not as worried as I was at first.
By the Way:
I have been knitting. I am working on my shadow knit vest. I'm almost done with the front left panel.

Eye Candy Friday 4.13.07

Isn’t she cute? Well, sometimes! I was trying to photograph the Lace Top directions picture for this Blog and Jessie couldn’t resist being the center of attention.

I must say, being black, she is very hard to photograph. I rarely get a photo with good detail. She usually ends up being a black blob. This one was made using a flash, which sometimes washes out the rest of the picture detail.

It’s Friday the thirteenth. Should I be worried because my black dog crossed my path? (Or sat on my work?)

I wanted to show an idea for a future project . . . . I like it, but might not look very good in it because of arm flab. My daughter really likes this sweater also. I first saw the finished sweater as a completed sample when our knitting guild had the “Yarn Tasting” in the Fiber Loft. (I wrote about that in the last blog entry.) The pattern is in the Nashua Handknits North American Designer Collection No. 4. Pattern book.

It is planned to knit using Nashua Natural Focus Cotton yarn but I might consider using some of the Bamboo yarn that I sampled. We’ll see when I get there. . .

Spring Sampler

Wow, it’s been awhile since I added into my Blog. I hope they won’t kick me out from the knitting rings. I started a new job and I’m trying to get my schedule squared away. Alas, my knitting is low on the totem pole. This past weekend we drove to my parents on the Cape. I usually like those drives because I can get two solid hours of knitting in. I’ve been slowly adding rows onto my Shadow knitted vest. The size two needles make the going slower than most projects.

I did sneek-in a bit of a different project. You can see the pictured sample swatch that I made.

Our April guild met in the Fiber Loft instead of our usual library room. Jessica Oas from Westminster Fibers provided a 'Yarn Tasting' of yarns. She brought samples of many yarns, including Gedifra, Yaeger, Nashua Yarns and Rowan. She set them out on a table with the name, fiber content and stitch sizing. There must have been about 30 samples of Spring yarns. We could select any of the samples to knit-up. Jessica supplied white tags so we could record the yarn information and attach it to that specific stipe of yarn. I used only two needle sizes of 9 and 11 since I was mostly knitting to check out the “feel” of the yarn. I must say I enjoyed this project. It was fun to try many of the new “springy” pastel shades of yarns.

There was an interesting selection to choose from. I deliberately chose some yarns that I might not normally knit with. I knit two samples with bamboo fibers. They felt soft and I really liked the last extra soft “RYC” yarn I tried.

My daughter asked me to knit her a sweater using this RYC bamboo soft yarn. (One of the other Guild members brought up a point about this yarn, one that I didn’t suffer too strongly from. Since the yarn is twisted from eight small thread it does tend to split easily if stabbed with the needle.)



For a fun textured sweater I might try this Rowan Cotton Braid.



I personally liked the Jaeger Roma yarn sample that I knit. It knit up as a smooth, soft sample. I’m not sure how I feel about the 63% Viscose content since I tend to be a “natural” fiber knitter. So all in all I like the sample to use for trying to select yarns for future projects.

Lunch Bag Shrunk!

The Lunch Bag is shrunk! It didn’t shrink down to lunch bag size though. It shrank to the right height but the width is much bigger than I calculated. I guess that is the unpredictability of felting. I like it and will make a hand bag out of it. I still have to make a clasp on the fold over edge. I’m still recovering from my daughters sleepover party so I’ll give the summary after I process the pictures.

Birthday News

My dear daughter was a bit disappointed with this year’s birthday. It seems the fact that her presents were not a surprise and being on a Monday her friends forgot it was her birthday. We had purchased all her presents together. That’s me, Mom being too practical and not thinking as a kid might. I wanted to make sure we got what she wanted and that the clothes fit. I think she was still hoping I would find her something special. Well, to be honest I had hoped too, but I just couldn’t find the time. I hope I can make it up to her. This weekend she is having a birthday party with her friends and maybe I’ll be able to find something special to slip in the stack of presents that her friends bring.

There were some other details, which detracted from my daughter’s birthday. Our sweet dog Jessie was scheduled to be spayed. Jessie came home from the surgery totally drugged out. When she finally came too Jessie was whimpering. Even I was upset so, I can understand why my daughter was crying. Thankfully, Jessie is reviving abit. She doesn’t whine any more but the medicine really knocks her out. She can’t seem to wake up in time to pee outside. The last two days I’ve been making sure that she has a towel under her butt in case she leaks. I hope Jessie is better in time for my daughter’s sleepover this Friday.

Even though my daughter knew I was running behind on the lunch bag I think she was disappointed that I hadn’t finished it on her birthday. She helped me to pick out the wool and knew I was shooting targeting her birthday as a finishing point. Shopping, shoveling snow and taking care of Jessie were taking longer than we thought. I finished all the tying in of yarn ends and the edges this morning. Take a look at the before felting view. It’s huge! As soon as my daughter comes home from school I’ll shrink it in the washing machine

Eye Candy Friday 3.16.07

Our backyard bird feeder in snow. We are in the middle of another snow storm. We've had the wierdest winter. It was warm through December. NewEngland got their first snowfall after Christmas. So now it is snowing still into Spring.








I thought I should check in with some knitting news. See Below to see how far I have gotten on the lunch bag. I'm a little more than half way.

Eye Candy Friday 3.9.07

A "Sheeply" Delicious Cake!
My daughter and I made this chocolate cake. She couldn't wait for the cake to cool and stole a piece before it was ready for frosting. Because of it's misshape and that the frosting became lumpy we turned it into a sheep shape. "Ace of Cakes" Beware!

Jessie is a sneak

I get up from the sofa and look who is sneaking my knitting. I sometimes think she is a playful cat instead of a dog. She just loves balls of yarn. The other thing she likes is the chase game when you RUN to catch Jessie and the knitting project before it completely comes off the needles. There is one nice thing about her though. She doesn’t chew to destroy things. She has never torn any yarn or toy, she just mouths them.

If you can see she has the beginnings of the Lunch Bag. I am still working on the bag’s bottom. I thought I had the gauge down, but after casting on and knitting about 12 rows I realized that I was 2 inches too big. I find figuring gauges for really big needles such as US # 15’s tough. If you are off by a stitch or two it can add up to several inches, as was the case here.

Approved for Membership

I've been approved for membership in the Knitting Bloggers netring. So now when you click on my Knit Blogging Logo you get in. Yippee. Now I need to add some knitting stuff. But I don't have any current pictures so I'll show you a quilted pocket instead.

My husband brought home a free backpack from a convention. It is a very nice bag but I always felt self conscience going around advertising some technology show that I know nothing about. So I covered it up with this nice quilt pocket.

Eye Candy Friday 3.2.07

As much as I like snow its getting a little old. We are experiencing another ice storm today.


This is a shot that my daughter took. Creative, huh!

YAH!! I figured it out!

I am very proud of myself! I figured out how to ADD and LINK the side buttons. The last two days I've spent figuring out how to rearrange my blog site. The reason for the change was I needed to add the sidebar site link for the "Knitting Blogs" web ring logo. (I'm not officially joined in yet, I'm in the Queue waiting to be added.) I've also added side bar favorite links (The list is short, I do plan to add more once I get going)!!!!

I'm not sure if I needed too, but I added the buttons using html code in blogger. I couldn't seem to add the pictures using the new add picture functionality.

To do this I had to get out my notes from my html coding class. I'm sure there must to be an easier way but, I got it to work this way instead.

Now, I can get back to knitting!

Felted Lunch Bag

Since it was school vacation last week we were downtown Boston and took a detour on the way home. We visited the Fabric Place in Woburn. It is a store I used to shop years ago when I lived in Beverly, MA. It has always had a great selection of yarns. I wanted to start work on a felted bag for my daughter. She is interested in making a bag to use as a lunch bag. The lunch bag in the book “Knit One, Felt Too” inspired her. She chose the yarn colors herself. Shh…. I’m hoping to finish the project as a birthday present. We chose 100% wool from South America. Most of the books I read about Felting suggested using Lamb’s Pride or Cascade 220. My local yarn shops don’t carry these brands. We chose Arucania “Nature Wool” because of the bright colors. Since, this brand wasn’t mentioned in any of the books I have I needed to make gauge swatches.

I’m still new to felting so I bought an extra skein to fool around with. I decided to make two sets of gauge swatches. Since some of the patterns that I have read require knitting double stranded I chose to knit a double strand gauge swatch on US size 15 needles and a second gauge swatch on US size 11 needles using a single strand of yarn. The other small test I made while knitting the swatches was to change the knit pattern. I chose to knit the bottom part of each swatch using a garter stitch and the top part using the stockinette stick pattern.

The needles I used to make the gauge swatches were much larger than the yarn’s recommended US size of 4-7 needles for the yarn gauge of 18 stitches for a 4-inch swatch. Most felting patterns recommend generating very loose, soft fabric before the felting begins. I believe the swatches I made fit this requirement.
This shows the swatch before washing. The single strand knit is on the right. Notice how much bigger it is than the double strand knitting swatch on the left.
This is how the swatches look after one wash cycle. Notice how much the single strand swatch (right) shrank already compared to the double strand knit (left). I wanted less stitch definition so I put it for a second pass though the wash.

Final swatching! It felted nicely.


Observations
The single strand swatch feeling is thinner and more floppy than the double strand knit swatch. I would use this weight if I were to make a felted vest. It feels more like a thick fabric. There is a slightly thicker feeling to the garter stitch area but it is less of a transition than I would have thought. The double strand knit swatch is a much thicker. It feels like a good potholder or trivet type thickness. The felted fabric is more sturdy; it would work well for a bottom of a bag. My daughter’s first instinct was to choose the thicker swatch to make her bag with but I’m still undecided. I might want to line the bag because we will be putting food in and out of it. If that is the case I’m thinking the lighter weight (single strand knit) might be better.

Gauge Swatch Information for a 4” x 4” square

Spa, Knit and Spin

My friend Ellen and I attended the Fifth Annual Spa, Knit and Spin, which took, place Saturday, February 17, 2007, in Portland, ME. This is a gathering of New England KNITTERS, Spinners, Spindlers, Weavers, Dyers, Lacemakers, Felters, keepers of Bunnies, Goats, Alpacas, Llamas and SHEEP, Yarn Shop Owners, people who CROCHET and Tat and Hook. I was totally amazed at all the spinners. They were in every available chair and sofa in the hotels lobby and special conference rooms. We got there late and only found space in the pool area. Ellen and I wanted to see the vendors set up in a conference room. There were sales of yarn, knitting supplies, spinners fleece, and spinning wheels. I was a good girl and only picked up a magazine and needles. I was tempted since, there was some hand dyed yarn skeins.

Eye Candy Friday

My daughter and I went for a walk this morning with our dog. It was a fluffy, sticky snow that fell during the night. This is the kind of snow that is fun to go and play in. My daughter is planning to go out and play with the neighbors just as I'm writing this.

Here is a shot of Jessie from this morning searching for something in the snow.

Ripped out 12 rows

I'm so mad today; I found out after 12 rows that I was knitting on the wrong needles. I was on 3s when I should have been on 2s. You are seeing the ripped out version here. Oh well, back to the beginning. I know that I'll get the pattern down because of lots of practice.