Knit MORe ANd . . .

Cow Costume

2010-06-10T16:47:00.003-07:00

Dancing Cow costume
My daughter participated in “The Glass Slipper”, a ballet based on the story of Cinderella. During one part of the play she and a fellow dancer performed a “magical” dance, which turned straw into gold.

Together my daughter and I helped out by creating the costume. We started by making a paper Mache covered balloon. This we attached to a bicycle helmet. I carved a nose from Styrofoam. We attached the fabric and eyes using hot glue.

The cow was a great success. The dance instructor even invited my daughter to perform at an outside dance and sing fest.

Finished my husbands Hat!

2010-01-28T04:38:00.005-08:00

Here are some nice photos of the finished hat. My niece Nili is the model. As you can see the hat is a bit large for her.

Nili has been visiting for a few days. Its been fun coming home from work and chatting. We would pour a glass of wine, break out the chips and dip and catch up.

I'm teaching her how to "blog" so she can pass along the skill to her family.

A few years ago I taught my sister to blog and now she blogs way more than I do. She also uses blogs for her classes. In case you want to see my sister's web log about boat building and restoration.http://www.greenboats.blogspot.com/

A Hat Big Enough

2010-01-25T04:29:00.006-08:00

My husband is someone whose head size is larger than the average. He has a hard time finding hats to fit. He recently, came down stairs so proudly saying, “I just found a web-site where I can order an extra large hat.” After hearing that, I was humbled into finally beginning a knit hat that would fit his head.

Just before Christmas I downloaded Brooklyntweed’s “Turn A Square” free hat pattern. Thank you, Jared! I thought this would be a fun hat to knit and would be manly enough for my hubbie to wear. I spoke with my friend Ellen who makes recycled cashmere yarn. She had just dropped some nice gray colored yarn for sale at one of our local yarn stores. I dashed over to “Ewe’ll Love It!” and made my purchase. I proceeded to visit several other stores in search of accompanying contrasting stripe colors.

For such a simple looking hat there were some technical challenges to completing a good looking result. This hat is knit in the round on circular needles where stripes appear with steps at the color changes. To avoid these stepped stripes, I used the jogless stripe knit technique found here on the techknitting blogspot: techknitting blogspot. I wish I understood there was such a simple solution sooner. I could have used this technique earlier in my two-stranded knitting.

I didn’t finish this in time for a Christmas gift but started right afterwards. This way I got a chance to use part of my new gift of Knitpick's Interchangeable Harmony Wood Circular Needles. Instead of using double pointed needles at the close of the hat top, I used two circular needles (see photo). To make the stitches slide easily from the left side needle to the right I used one needle size smaller on the left needle connection.

I did run into some problems with this knit design. I didn’t see other commenting on this on Ravelry, so, it could just be the way I knit. I found I was creating a rather large gap where the “corner” raglan style decrease was occurring in my knitting (see photo). As I noticed the effect starting a few rows up I tried to minimize the gap. I found it helped to knit tightly in the area one row prior to the decrease area. It helped but, I still came back and ran a few tightening stitches through the loops on the backside of the knitted fabric at the raglan decrease line (see photo).

Band Costume Design

2010-01-13T08:31:00.003-08:00

I helped my daughter’s middle school theater with their costumes for the performance of “Barnum”. We collected circus costumes and 1870’s clothes, and we found that we needed fourteen 1890’s band costumes. Well, I took on the project. I found a good web site with lots of old time band pictures. (http://www.ibew.org.uk/vbbp-us1.htm)(Mostly men, I guess women weren’t allowed out in public back then. At least not as a band member.)

At first I was hoping that the students would not wear hats since our budget was limited. But, after looking into all the old band pictures; almost every band has caps on their heads. The style I that thought would be appropriate (conductor style) are hard to find. Because of that my daughter and I thought to create them from an inexpensive top hat. It’s really Nomi’s design. She worked on them slowly but surely finished.

For the actual, band jacket I altered a short styled women’s stand-up collar jacket. I added the extra Triangle shape flap for band “flare”. This is where we added the trim straight across the chest with buttons on the ends. Michael's craft supply store sells a mix of gold buttons so we mixed and matched the buttons to the front.

Our costume committee members helped to cut out the jacket pieces. We distributed the cut pieces out to two different mothers who also helped to sew them up.
So here you see the final results on the students. Hurrah! Come follow the band!

Latvian Mitten Knit-Along

2009-11-09T12:08:00.004-08:00

It has been quite awhile since I last posted. I have been knitting and will slowly feature my finished projects here over the next few weeks.
This Picture is the start of my latest project, “Latvian Mittens”. Our knitter’s guild, NVKG, is having a knit-along. Our president and treasurer took a Latvian Mitten knitting class last summer. They liked it so much they wanted to share.
They came up with a modified pattern and started to explain the cuff detail in our November meeting. About thirty of our member all started along. We learned how to do a modified long tail cast on which uses two different colors. The braid detail is purl stitches where the back of the stitch is actually carried in front of the work instead of the back. By twisting this yarn as you go along you get the raised looking braid. It will be fun to see the results of all our members.
The basic pattern calls for light, medium, and dark wool. Of course I couldn’t settle on just three colors so I am using all of them mixed in. I like the basic green tones when they are highlighted by the bright blues. I got a chance to knit in the car while we drove to the Cape for the weekend. That’s how I got so far.

2009-05-12T12:17:00.002-07:00

I am sad to say that my dearly loved mother has passed away this april. We will all miss her dearly.

Combination Knitting & Noro Scarf

2008-03-24T16:46:00.009-07:00

It seems a while ago but our last knit guild meeting was an interesting one with a presentation made by knit author Annie Modesitt.

She was a comical and interesting speaker. She was self-taught and developed a knit style where the purl stitch is created using an under-pull style called “Combination knitting”. Ms. Modesitt had our whole guild group creating knit fabric using this unique stitch. Many of our members found it a bit difficult to switch to this unique purl style, but I think I will try a knit project using this purl stitch before I give it up.

You can see my knit sample results at the left. We were asked to knit the bottom in our usual style then try the “Combination knit style” above it. I did find that my knit fabric is a bit tighter. We also learned a method for creating cables without a cable needle. The saying goes, “make a might X, then pinch, slip, poke.” I could have used the method when I knit a cabled hat earlier this year.

I am also working on a Noro single rib scarf. I was thrilled by the beautiful stripe Noro scarf , which Jared knit on his Brooklyntweed blog.

You can also see a bunch other beautiful scarves by searching for Noro scarf on Flicker.

I have been admiring the Noro Silk Garden yarn for sometime. My daughter was with me during one of my visits to my local yarn shop. She suggested we get it for my up and coming birthday. Well, how could I resist! We brought it home and she hid it until my birthday. Shortly after it was unwrapped I had it cast on. It is a great project for non-technical knitting like car rides and sitting and chatting. This picture shows it half way. After my trip to visit my parents over Easter I’ve got a quarter left to go now.

Blue Koolhaas

2008-02-17T06:35:00.007-08:00

It's 5 AM in my house. My daughter is sick with Steppe throat. I can’t sleep, since I’m wondering if the twinges of pain below my ears are caused by her spreading infection. So, I decided to take my mind off of it and catch up on some blogs.

The second hat I knit for our Guild’s hat contest was the Koolhaas by Brooklyntweed . The original directions for this wonderful creation appeared in the 2007 Holiday issue from Interweave Knits. I loved almost every pattern from this past Holiday issue. I made the December Lights Tam from the from the front cover and Jared’s Koolhass hat. I’m seriously considering the cable gloves and my daughter would like me to knit the messenger bag so she can do the needle felting on the front flap. I could go on-and-on, but, in any case. . . .
Nice issue and nice hat! . . .
I had a few question from guild members about the pattern I used for the hat so here are some details.

One of the rules for our contest was that the yarn should be machine wash and dryable (acrylic). After the contest, all the hat entries were to be donated to the Seven Hills at Groton nursing home. Being acrylics makes it easier for the foundation to care for the hats after being used.
My daughter and I really liked the Koolhaas hat pattern. So, I decided to give it a try. The original pattern calls for the Yak yarn made by Shokay, which doesn’t quite fit into the acrylic category. So, JoAnn Fabric came into play again with Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Yarn.

This yarn weight is a bit thicker than called for so I had to make some adjustment to the stitch count. The pattern diamond pattern is based on a 8-stitch repeat so I adjusted down from 104 stitches to 96 in the round using a size 7 US needle.

I was on a road trip in with my brother when I started testing this pattern. The printed pattern in the magazine relies on symbols to chart the actual stich-work used in the 8-by-8-stitch repeat. I’m pretty good with patterns but it took me awhile to figure this one out. (It could be that I was chatting with my brother the whole way.) I would definitely recommend a practice swatch before beginning, though. Once I understood when to hold the single crossover cable stitch in front or when to hold it in back I was able to knit without checking the pattern.

I did find the decrease instructions for the top of the hat confusing. It might have been that the pattern doesn’t translate well since I decreased the stitch count of the round. Now that I’m not tight for time I hope to repeat the hat for my daughter.

Morning Glories!

2008-02-07T19:43:00.001-08:00

Our knitting guild the Nashoba Valley Knitting Guild had its’ hat contest last night and my Morning Glories hat won one of the prizes, the one for most beautiful. Yahoo!!! Here is my daughter modeling it. Excuse me if I say that I’m rather proud since I’ve never won anything before, not even a free scratch ticket. Our Guild even offered the winners prizes. How Cool ! I got a cute measuring tape, a fun knitting bag, a craft necklace, and a gift certificate to, The World of Stitches, a local crafts shop.

I was rather worried since after washing and drying it was not very shapely. I hadn’t knit with multi-stranded colors in awhile. I was rather rusty in the beginning. I was forcing the stranding at the back to be looser than I should have so the bottom was more floppy than I would have like. I was actually going to rip it out and my daughter convinced me to keep it. So I pressed it and wet it and dyed it with a cord and towel. Then it was much better. . .

I bought the yarn on sale in September at Jo-Ann Fabrics. When I bought the yarn I was thinking I might use it for making a hat for the contest. I had been on the prowl for something to use and at $1.97 who could resist. I got one of each color. I bought the yarn thinking of stripes or something colorful. When I took the library hat book home I was immediately inspired by the Morning Glories pattern. Now the saga begins . . .

I had the most of the colors that I needed for the pattern except green. So, coming from a crafty family, I chose to dye the white yarn green. (My mother is a rug hooker extraordinaire and dyes a lot.) Alas, I had only one white that I ball that I needed for the background! Back to Jo-Ann’s for more, what no more! . . . I had to go up to Tewksbury for more. I got it and dyed it!

So in my usual distracted fashion. I finished the hat and got around to the flowers but didn’t sew them together. Yup, Thanksgiving came and went, then Christmas. In between I cleaned up the house for company. The end of January is coming up and “Uh, Oh” I better finish the hat for the contest. After much searching I found the hat part with a bag of unfinished projects but no flowers. I spent one Saturday searching through several boxes of yarn. I finally turned the boxes over and found the flowers hiding in the bottom. Well the pieces are together and I’m happy with the results. All the members who knitted hats did a great job. Take a look at the tableful of hat contest entries. I sure hope all the lucky people at Seven Hills will enjoy them!

Project Details: Morning Glories hat found in the book
Knit Hats! by Gwen Steege

It’s one of the books our Guild has in its collection of lending books.

Yarn: Bellezza Collection Stellina
white, blue, orange, pink, lavender, green (home-dyed)

Needles: 6 US double pointed

Thoughts/Modifications: It was fun. I giggled as I made the flowers. I didn’t totally follow the flower directions though. Since the directions were well written I’m sure the directions would have made fine flowers except it called for knitting them flat. I already knit the hat in the round so why bother with stitching up a seam when I can just knit them in the round.

Finished my Alligator scarf

2008-01-26T07:43:00.000-08:00

Hurray! I’ve finished the Alligator scarf. I have so many projects going it is nice to accomplish one.

I enjoyed knitting this scarf because it was fun to create forms such as the bumps just by increase and decrease stitches.
The yarn is Merino but it not as soft as other Merino brands that I have knit with. I found a few bits of grass within the twists of yarn. The kit definitely has enough yarn. I have about ½ skein remaining. If knitted for an adult I would recommend adding a few extra rows of middle bumps to add enough length to be able to tie.

As you can see it is a scarf fit for a child. I’m sure a young boy would really like it. On me it drapes around my neck but is hard to knot. My friends all have said how great the color is. The sage green color really makes it look like an alligator. When choosing the pattern on the
Morehouse web site there are 14 colors. I’m thinking in the future I might enjoy a scarf of one on the other colors such as gold or purple.

All in All I would knit this Alligator again and have even looked into some of the other fun scarf patterns that Morehouse offers. There is a funny one, which looks like a bunch of foxes linked together. Well, it’s a thought that I’ll consider during the summer. I’ve got too many other projects to finish.

I did finish one more hat which will I’ll show off after our Guild’s hat contest in two weeks.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

I resolve to be a more consistant blogger. I resolve to knit more. I resolve to pull out my knitting machine and “blaze” away . . . maybe loose weight . . . clean out the closets . . . organize my stash . . . All right; nice dreams! . . . I’ll start here.

We did have a nice holiday season that came and went.

I finished my December Lights Tam in time to wear it for the holiday. It’s cheery red-green combination helped brighten the season. Almost every time I wear it I get compliments. I’ll post my summary soon.

I started and tried to finish a Nordic design pair of mittens for my daughter. They turned out to be way too big so I had to rip them out. I’ve told a few people but was trying to keep it a secret from my daughter for a present. Well she found out by snooping through my knitting bag. So I guess I can talk about it out in the open.

I found a design of mitten with a reindeer motif that I liked. Since my daughter is madly in love with her dog, I thought it would be cute to replace the reindeer with a black lab silohette. I could not find the right silohette that I wanted so I used my Photoshop skills to recreate a new image. I took the legs from one image, the tail from another and the head from a third. I liked how the designed graphed using 35 stiches across but now that I am using less stiches total for my mitten the image is rendered using 25 stiches. With fewer stiches the dog image looses detail. The legs used to be two stiches wide and now they are only one. I’m sort of stuck at this point. I might just continue to knit the less charming dog or try to re-design it.

Any way, I’m putting it aside to work on a hat for the NVKG knit hat contest. Sorry, I won’t post any of those pictures until after the contest since the knit hat owners need to be secret until after the contest.

Hello NVKG

2007-11-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-01T05:16:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-25T21:20:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

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 . . . .

2007-09-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-04T18:25:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-30T19:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-03-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-03-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-27T19:04:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-26T19:24:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

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.

Late Eye Candy

2007-02-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

In the middle of winter it's nice to see some spring flowers. These are from two years ago this February. We were visiting family in Israel and got a chance to see the almond trees in bloom.

Noni Flower

2007-02-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

I adore the Noni Flower Bags. I found that my local knit shop had the patterns. The flowers are a separate pattern then the bag itself. I purchased only the Camilla flower pattern. My local knit shop doesn’t carry the Cascade 220 yarn and recommends the Brown Sheep Bulky as an alternative. However, I fell in love with this Paint Box yarn. It has a nice blend that changes from a Pink at one end into a Purple at the end.

I read some blogs about creating these flowers, which mentioned that the large flowers need more than one ball of yarn. I chose to create the medium size flower to save on yarn. It suggested that the leaves should be created using 6 stitches in the width, then working up to 11 rows/stitches in the length. My first thought was that the petal leaves were too narrow and long, but my past experience with felting a bag I felt that the petals would shrink-up. I used a longhaired acrylic yarn as an accent for the center bobble.

The pattern suggests that the petals should be twisted around and sewn together. I did this loosely because I thought the shrinking would tighten up the total flower. It didn’t. If I do this again I would sew the petals together more tightly.

I do like the size of the medium flower except I would the make the petals wider with 7 or 8 stitches and less long with 9 or 10 rows tall.

I felted my flower in the washing machine with a warm wash and warm rinse setting. After the first wash cycle the stitches were still visible so I washed them for a second cycle. To try and form this flower I pressed the flower into a ball shape and placed a crumpled sheet of newspaper between the first and second round of petals. It did dry in a good shape but the petals were very floppy. For me to use this flower I believe I would need some stiffener to keep the petals in shape. I’ll post the final pictures once I find and use some liquid starch.

Meet Jessie

2007-01-31T07:48:00.000-08:00

I have a good reason to have not posted any new knitting news because as you can see we have a new house member, Jessie. She is a 5 month old black lab, who thank goodness is crate trained to sleep through the night. Which is nice because we keep each other busy learning about each other during the day.

Eye Candy Friday

2007-01-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

This is a shot of parrots taken a year ago in the Jerusalem Zoo. It is nice to have a warm and bright photo to share during the winter chill.

Shadow knit vest

2007-01-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s COLD today. We are really starting to feel cold up here in New England.

I am very excited about my next project because I love to learn a new technique. This “shadow-knitting” project started from weird coincidences. During my first meeting with the Nashoba Valley Knitters Guild I sat next to a member whose swap gift was the book by Vivian Høxbro. Then after my Christmas holiday I received a knitting store’s flyer about how they are specializing in Vivian Høxbro patterns for the month of January. I saw this as a calling and decided that I must try it out. I looked through her website and decided to order the Ocean Vest.

So here is my gauge swatch. I am running at 25 stitches x 48 rows to what the pattern suggests as 26 stitches x 50 rows. I stopped in a new knitting store to ask about the needle size of US 1.5, thinking that I might try to remake a gauge swatch closer to the patterns’ suggested gauge. The store owner thinks that I’m close enough and that I shouldn’t go down a needle size. I’m relieved in a way because I really wanted to get started.The other thing that this gauge swatch is teaching me is how to manage the two color yarn stripe at the edge. The instructions include some nice graphics and directions how to twist the yarns together before slipping the first stitch in the row.

I love how the gray/black stripes are obvious when looking at the knitted fabric straight on but when you look from the side the zig-zag pattern from the purl ridge becomes dominant. I’ll continue to post the Vest’s progress.

Eye Candy Friday

2007-01-19T06:51:00.000-08:00

New England is finally getting some Winter weather. This is the result of the Martin Luther Day ice storm.

My adventures in felting

2007-01-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

Here is my completed bag. I sewed on a Celtic designed 7/8 “ metal button with a 51 “ twisted rayon cord for a handle.

I attended my first “KnitAbout” Wednesday night knitting group in Leominster last night. I got a chance to discuss some felting topics that I was wondering about. One of the members is quite experienced with felting. I mentioned how I had washed my bag for 25 minutes in my washing machine with hot water and a cold rinse. I told her how I was concerned that my bag seemed to shrink excessively. She suggested in the future that I should watch the wash cycle more closely and check the shrinkage after the first 10 minutes, then every 3 minutes after that. The wool that I used was an “Icelandic” style yarn, which she thought, shrinks more quickly and strongly than a “twisted” yarn.

Project Details:
Pattern: Teeny-Tiny Felted Totes

Yarn: Vero
gray #13, Lot 06486

Needles: 10 double pointed

Before felting dimensions:
Bag sides: 8” tall x 10.5” wide opening, Bottom: 6.75” wide x 3.5” deep

After felting dimensions:
Bag sides: 4” tall x 7.5” opening, Bottom: 5” wide x 3” deep

Thoughts/Modifications: This being my first attempt with felting I was please. The yarn seemed to shrink a great deal in the height. The pattern was well written and I enjoyed working with the yarn.

Teeny Tiny Felted bag and the Pats!

2007-01-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

I am watching football while writing this and the New England Patriots just beat San Diego Chargers, Go Pats!

That’s it for all the excitement now, back to my knitting. I wanted to experiment with felting a bag. The books that I’ve read suggested to first knit and felt a gauge swatch. I found this pattern, which creates a bag from one ball of yarn. So my thoughts were to knit and swatch and also create something from the process.
Well . . . here it is!

This Vero yarn really shrank a lot in the height after washing. It is tiny but cute.

I enjoyed working with the Vero self-striping yarn from Naturally. When knit loose as suggested this yarn is very soft. The bag’s bottom knit up very soft and thick when using the garter stick bottom. (Our Hamster, Shadow, is checking out just how soft.) The black stripes ended up hitting the bag in just the right spots, in the middle of the bag and then at the top edge.

Once the bag was finished my daughter came along and asked if it was a hat. I actually thought it would make a nice hat too, but alas, after washing and felting the “hat” no longer fit. See . . .

Eye Candy Friday

2007-01-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

I potted these amaryllis bulbs before the Christmas holiday with the hopes to see some blooms during the holiday. They only just opened up with this display last week. They were so pretty that I thought to photograph them as "eye candy".

Please note some of my other craft work, the hooked rug, below the pot. I think all these colors went go nicely together.

Joined Project Spectrum 2.0

2007-01-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

I’m trying to learn more about the world of blogs . . . I actually was thinking to buy a book about it. I wanted to find a recently published book and found that this is one of the most current: Blogging For Dummies. I am reluctant to get this one though because I am not a fan of the Dummy book format.

I would like to know more about how to adjust and manage the side panels with buttons, progress bars, project list, etc.

I’ve been strolling around the blogs out there trying to get some good ideas. I get so hooked into the stories that I miss my purpose. Like right now, I’m looking for interesting ways buttons are published. I haven’t figured it out yet so I’m embedding my latest button as a picture . . . (that’s why the book) . . .

Oh, by the way, I just joined the Project Spectrum 2.0.

I’m thinking of several things for these “spectrum” months. I’m thinking about a knitted-felted project. I used my 30% off coupon and bought a book about it: Knit One, Felt Too by Kathleen Taylor. Actually when I was in the store reviewing the books I had a hard time to decide which to buy. My daughter helped out by pleading that I should knit her the toy bear from the cover shot. It is cute but we both decided that I should use more a realistic color scheme of browns with pink ears and feet. It turns out the other book I was interested in was in our local library: Felted Knits by Beverly Galeskas.

So, I’m happily planning a few projects

Happy Knitting New Year

2007-01-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

Well it’s been awhile . . .

I gave the “Sockoberfest” socks to my stepdaughter as an X-mas gift.

I finished my spiral beret. I really enjoyed working with the Alpaca yarn that it is made from. My only concern is that it feels a bit itchy on my head after a few minutes.My daughter doesn’t feel the scratching, as you can see she loves to try it out.

A lot of good things have happened in my knitting life though since I last blogged. I started to blog as a way to reach out and find fellow knitters when all I really needed to do was look next-door. (Isn’t this a theme from the Wizard of OZ)? I found out that my neighbor of eight years is a knitter. And she organized our neighborhood to start a knitting group. What – fun!

She also invited me to join a regional knitting group:
The Nashoba Valley Knitters' Guild
http://www.nashobavalleyknitters.org/

It’s been fun to get back into knitting again. It’s like falling off a bike and getting back up again.

For the groups’ January meeting there was a mitten contest. Alas, I only finished one in time so I missed out on the contest. I modified the pattern, Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt that I found in the Interweave Knits Winter 2005 magazine. Here is what I came up with. After many starts and pullouts I got the thumb working how I wanted. I think for the left mitten I will try again to straighten the single leaf on the palm.

The fun part of this project was that I found out my neighbor Ellen also creates fun “tweed” yarn skeins from recycled cashmere. These mittens are from some recycled Donna Karan sweater. It is wonderful to work with cashmere. I found a treasure in my neighbor. Thanks!

Happy Knitting New Year Bloggers!

Finished my “Sockoberfest” socks

2006-11-10T10:26:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've posted since I finished my “Sockoberfest” socks on the trip back from New York City (NYC) on the weekend before Halloween. It felt good to finish the socks. I had started a pair over the Christmas Holiday last year. I finished the first sock within a week. It was also on a car traveling trip. However the second sock of the pair took until summer to be completed knitting. Only on the trip down to NYC did I finish sewing in the end threads. It so happens, during the trip my daughter needed a pair of socks to keep her ankles warm. “Voila”!

Now, I’ve started a new “hat” project. I searched for Alpaca wool thin enough to match the guage in the pattern and after 3 shops I gave up. I decided to use a “sport” weight and compute a new guage once I started. Boy, did I have to do some real figuring. It felt good to do it though. It’s been awhile. My daughter kept asking what I was up to, because it took all Saturday morning.

Here is a picture of the new pattern graph compared to the original.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

-Pam

First Mini Sock!

2006-10-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have finished a mini sock. See! It is fun to try new sock ideas with unique heel and toe instructions on a small sock version. Making a mini sock is a great way to check out techniques before going onto a big sock version. I mentioned in an earlier blog that these mini socks are suggested in the book; Cool Socks Warm Feet, by Lucy Neatby. I found this book in a local yarn shop and I now realize that Amazon does not currently carry this book.

However you can find it on the author’s own web site:
http://www.tradewindknits.com/books.html

Pull Yarn from the Center?

2006-10-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

I have a weird concern. I was first taught to knit by my mother. However, it was only when I spent time in Switzerland as an exchange student that my knitting skills were greatly improved. It was there that I learned to pull the yarn from the center of a ball of yarn. I believe the reason was the yarn in the center of the ball would stay clean just before being knitted as compared to the yarn from the outside of the ball of yarn.

Why I’m writing about this is because I’ve developed a pet peave about the sock yarn “Meilenweit Meeting” that I have been using. It is nearly impossible to pull the yarn from the center. It is always catching and doesn’t pull out smoothly. As you can see from my picture I end up with large clumps of yarn from the center. I guess this yarn wasn’t designed to be pulled from the center.

I’ll mention a funny problem which occurred when my mother used this printed yarn to make her socks. She used one big ball of yarn and pulled her yarn for her first sock from the center. For the second sock she pulled it from the outside. As you can imagine she had a hard time to match the sock pattern. The second sock's pattern appeared up side down.

Mini Socks!

2006-10-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

As a part of the “Sockoberfest” I’m experimenting with new sock patterns. As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been working with a great new sock pattern book called: Cool Socks Warm Feet, by Lucy Neatby.

I am having fun with the new book because it contains a section on how to make miniature socks from the 6 different full size versions well explained in the book. The “mini-directions” help you to experiment on small sock versions and try out the various toe, heel and edging details without using up lots of time and yarn. I’m having fun working on my first “Mini”. My 10-year-old daughter keeps commenting, “It’s so C U T E!” She is now inspired to try out sock knitting.

My first little sock starts by working from the toe end and has a “Turkish Heel” design. The square garter stitch toe works by knitting with a waste yarn wrap. You knit past the heel area by leaving a waste yarn knit spacer. After the “tube” sock is completed you come back and rip out the holding waste yarn and pick up the stitches to fill in the heel. Both heel and toe are new for me so I’ll let you know how it goes.

Signed up for Sockoberfest (Press for Link)

2006-10-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

I changed my first blog from my personal web site, which didn’t support comments to this “Blogger” site. It seems more blog specific. My next project will be to figure out how to add buttons on the side.
I am now on the official “Sockoberfest” list. So I can officially “Sock-On”.

As a part of October’s sock project I searched out a local yarn shop, Fiber Arts of Concord, http://www.needle-arts.com/.

The staff was very friendly. They had a fun basket full of yarn just for socks. I found a neat book just for socks called, Cool Socks Warm Feet, by Lucy Neatby. So far, I‘ve been using a sock pattern from one of my mom’s pattern books. What I like about this book is they explain different toe and heel finishing options. I’ll let you know how well I do with the new directions.

2006-10-02T05:47:00.000-07:00

WOW, I was inspired by all the knitting blogs out there. I recently pulled out my needles (those that I could find) and began knitting socks, so I wanted to join in by blogging, too. I hope to join the “Sockoberfest”.
I found this fun yarn that knits up to be a fair isle pattern with out all the hassle of crossing over the mulitple colored yarns. The yarn is made in Italy and is called Meilenweit Meeting.