9.13.13

Okay, so I have been knitting AND reading. I ran across a small stash of cotton yarns in varying neutral tones. I have been knitting the same 12 inches of a shawl with the same ball of yarn every day and unknitting it the next day. It is a wonder the yarn has not disintegrated. Each time there is some issue that requires a COMPLETE start over. Every new incarnation of the shawl requires several attempts with different sized needles to see if the drape is right with the stitch combination. 

The silly part is I have no reason to be doing this. Cotton is ridiculous to launder. Knitted cotton, anyway. I expect it will be washed once for blocking but probably not again after that. That is the reason I chose a shawl. I have about 500 yards of worsted weight which I could expand by dipping further into my cotton stash.  I have been through all the shapes: rectangle working the length, rectangle working the breadth, half-square triangle, half-circular. I am considering trying the half-circle again today. I will let you know what is next...

9.6.13

Yarn humor. Sometimes, knitting another scarf is a good thing. I find the clicking of the needles comforting, and the quick progress is heartening. If I spend half an hour on a scarf, I have a greater percentage behind me toward a goal than if I have spent the same amount of time on a sweater. A scarf. Hmmm. Yes. Might work on one of those today.

8.9.13

HILARIOUS! If you are looking to waste time on the computer, GO HERE to find something else by this artist.

Still knitting and contemplating making this. I already printed out the pattern and the notes from Ravelry by many who made it. It looks like a project that would take me right through the winter.

I like darker colors but cables look so good in lighter colors. A lot to think on.
It is the Cable Luxe Tunic by Lion Brand. Above is a variation. I like her braid better than this one, don't you?

Yeah, I THOUGHT it looked like several winter's worth of knitting...

8.8.13

Okay, so not ALL my time is knitting this week. I have pretty much fallen under the spell of PINTEREST. And then, I go to Ravelry and see what others had to say about patterns I am considering, yarn I am using and to just generally fool around.

8.7.13

Copyright © 2010 - 2013 Seth Mullendore. All rights reserved.

Pretty much, yeah. I am stalled on the leaf shawl--of course I only need one more skein of a yarn they have not made for two years. I haven't picked up the white jacket. I knit a few lines here and there on AwaySon's sweater. I have most of a back of a vest done using this Cascade I bought a couple years ago for a vest. Surprising because usually after yarn sits awhile in my stash, the original project doesn't appeal. This time it did and I am hoping to begin one of the front panels today.

8.2.13

I am knitting with THIS. It is Berrocco's Jasper in the Brown Marron colorway, which is discontinued. What a shame, it was my favorite of all they had to offer.

And I am hoping it will be come THIS.

It is the Garden View Shawlette by Tracey Withanee. Don't be surprised if I have no post for Saturday; I am enjoying knitting this so much I may have to make one for myself.

7.28.13

I have this. I have two skeins of it. I am in love with it.

It is called Malabrigo Mecha, the colorway is ARAPEY, and it is a Bulky weight. It is 100% superwash merino, and there are 130 yards in each skein. Want some? THIS will link you to WEBS.

7.17.13

KNITTING. It makes everything better

I have been doing a lot of knitting lately. It is amazing to me that I cannot seem to do a little knitting, a little quilting, a little basketry, a little reading, a little doll work, a little jewelry each day.

 I seem to get immersed in one or another.

7.13.13

I have been doing two things a LOT lately. No, make it three things.

I have done a lot of reading--mostly detective mysteries. I am enjoying them and always on the look out for a new series although I prefer to start with book ONE and move on through. It IRKS me to have to read them out of order, but I will do it rather than read a book I only half-like.
Also, I have been wishing to see the new Star Trek movie. I am sure I will get to see it one day, but I LONG to see it.
Lastly, I have been knitting. A lot. I have three projects that are front and center right now, and I am doing my best to finish them before beginning something new.

12.16.12

Knee Warmers! As it gets chillier and chillier--outside AND inside the house, I think about making myself some knee warmers. I found plenty of knee warmer offerings. there are a lot of them for sale that look like tall knee socks with no feet. The ones I favor come from the 20th century and include short rows. Take a look at some from some of my vintage knitting books.

One of my vintage books has patterns for military rib warmer but I think I have that area covered pretty well. Knitting seems to be a great nighttime activity and I am enjoying finishing up a gift I started for someone a couple of years ago. I am using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the yarn but it pills HORRIBLY as do most of the Debbie Bliss yarns. 

Not a good choice for knee warmers which would rub underneath the jeans all the time. Look at this knee cover. It looks like standard ribbing with garter stitch short rows--kind of like a short sock with two cuffs. I found a free pattern while I was rummaging around. It is by Sarah Peasley. If she gives me permission, I will show you below a picture of some warmers made using her Uncle Phil pattern.

10.10.12

Have you met my glass-headed model? I call him THAT'S HEADLEY after Harvey Korman's character in Blazing Saddles. 






 

Here he is modeling a cowl I knit for my Oregon Sister-in-Law following the Ambitus Cowl pattern. The fabric is a wool and bamboo blend. It has a lovely sheen to it and pretty color variations.

Cascade Lana Bambu is a blend of 79% wool and 21% viscose from bamboo fiber. It is not that much fun to work with but it has been made with a nice blend of color. I like all the colorways it comes in but when I was in the shop, they only had two or three choices and I liked Ruby best. I bought it on a whim with no clear idea what I would do with 196 yards but it turns out that at 4.5 stitches to the inch, it makes a nice cozy neck piece to wear under a pullover.

8.16.12

Ach! Sie möchten lieber auf Englisch zu lesen?

My Grundrezept Kniestrumpf (translated means: Basic Recipe For Stocking) is actually about 3 inches or so at this point. In fact, I have TWO of them at about the same progress point.  

What you see in the back ground is an email to Angela Mühlpfordt of http:bestrickendes.de, the designer. Highlighted in blue are her directions in German and below that, highlighted in lavender is my interpretation. I use Google translate and chunk out little parts at a time. I am amazed at how much I can understand before translation. I took no German in school but English is an amalgam of several languages, German among them so some things just make sense.

I am at the point where I will begin thinking about decreasing for the under-the-calf curve.  I did not ask Angela for permission to post the picture from her design so you will just have to click HERE to see for yourself. Remember to look at the lovely heel.

This is a free pattern and I can tell you how to knit as far as I have knit if you are interested.  She used Knit Picks'  STROLL yarn for hers and used about 130 grams. There is a website in Germany that carries Knit Picks so it is just as easy for her to get the yarn she likes as it is for us to order from our own domestic Knit Picks site.

6.29.12

It does not look like much, does it? It is three skeins of Noro Silk Garden. I cast on about 40 sitiches and knit totally in garter stitch. When I got to the end, I knit 4 stitches and left them on the needle, bound off until the last four stitches and then knit those. I yanked the needles out and ravelled down. Each row of each side had a long loop which I tied in an overhand knot close to the knitted fabric.

Fold it in half lengthwise and add a button at the bottom and I have a colorful, silk scarf collar. It took me about two days since I could knit it in the dark while watching Netflix.

6.8.12

I have been casting around for projects to work on when the sun goes down. I spend a lot of time during the day with quilting either designing and planning or cutting, sewing, and hand-quilting. When the sun gets to s certain point, I switch to something that doesn't need as much natural light. I can pretty much knit while watching television so I have rediscovered some languishing knitting projects. 

This is a tweed Cascade 220 shawl I started probably four years ago. I was so surprised when I picked it up that I could still remember pretty much what to do and when. As a matter of fact, it is a fairly tricky bias style but once you set it up it is easy to do consisting of knit 3, knit 2 together, yarn over on the "right"side and knit 4, purl 1 on the "wrong" side. The trick is that the pattern "travels" to make the slant so each row is not an exact duplicate but shifted to the right one stitch on the front or to the left one stitch on the back.

5.9.12

 

EQUALS

I have POUNDS of sock yarn. POUNDS. Here is some that might or might not be Tofutsie as pictured above. I think it was in my stash, then went to Mom's, then came back to me. I had the toe-end of a sock done four or five times, then it languished for a couple of years. 

Last week, I unraveled the toe and got out my Embellish Knitter and cranked out a 27 yard tube. Later that day, I cast on and knit that tube into a scarf. It surely will not keep anyone warm but it does make a unique statement. Mom got me started thinking about sock yarn as scarves. I have another two on the needles right now. I must be back into the knitting thing...

1.13.11

It is cold out. It is snowy. I am missing my basket class today. The roads are not plowed where we are. I am probably knitting on my BONEYARD shawl, designed by Stephen West. I had one cranberry hank, two fieldstone hanks and this is as far as I was Wednesday morning:

It is a lovely knit because of the wonderful construction. It fulfills one of my 2011 Resolutions:
USING MY STASH I have homemade bean soup and a wonderful man by my side. Life is good.

1.7.11

The headband worked out great. That means I will probably never be able to duplicate it, but I will try.

I found some nice Cascade Lana D'Oro to try on the Lava Flow cowl Knit Along I joined on Ravelry. I just found a picture of some in a weird heathery teal and color adjusted the image to reflect the emerald tone I am actually planning to use. I could not find a picture of color 1076 which the tag says is Rainforest but looks like emerald to me.

The next knitting I will be doing is finishing the Manly Arm Warmers with the modifications I worked out.

I plan to go to the Knitting store today to meet up with some Ravelry knitters but it has started snowing and I am not sure what the next  hours will bring.

1.6.11

100% Silk Chenille. Fiesta Yarns Chinchilla in the Wild Oak colorway. It has been languishing in my stash and since one of my goals this year is use stash yarn, here is a cowl-to be.

Speaking of goals, here are mine:
1. knit a little each month for the 2011 holidays
2. use stash yarn
3. try every month to finish a project that has been taking up needle space--or at least knit a few more inches onto it.

1.3.11

I ran across something interesting on Ravelry and man-handled it into something I like very much. I will post my version of it in a day or so. I have mine almost finished. I am taking a short break in between rows of the Chinchilla cowl.

I think my unofficial New Year Resolution is making gifts ahead of time, using my stash yarns, and finishing old projects. So far, so good! While waiting for the internet today, I halfway turned a heel on a pair of socks that have been waiting on the needles for some time now. Maybe pictures tomorrow with all that Chinchilla and Windschief 2.

1.2.11

I finished another Windschief yesterday and will add pictures when I get some. In the mean time, I am working on next year's knitted gifts. Not bad for the first two days of 2011. The first on the needles is some Fiesta Chinchilla in the Wild Oak colorway #135. Each skein is 225 yards of  hand-dyed 100% silk chenille. What a luxurious knit this is! Plus, it is from my stash and I paid only half price for it when I purchased it. I have two skeins in the same colorway but different dye lots. If this were any other yarn I would consider switching yarns on every fourth row but I just do not want to deal with two balls of this yarn simultaneously. So the dye lots will just have to be noticeable if I end up using both skeins.