Successful Knitting Lessons

About a year ago I taught my daughter-in-law to knit. She decided to knit a scarf and we bought yarn and needles and I cast on about 25 stitches for her (don't ask me why that many...I have no idea) Anyway, she knitted all the skein of yarn and when I went back for another visit, she had a square!!! So we pulled it apart and re-rolled the yarn and she cast on 10 stitches and I left.

My most recent visit saw this result! She is an amazing new knitter, her gauge is so smooth. On this visit, we bought more yarn, a size 11 bamboo needle and she started a new scarf. Three days later I got a phone call asking how to cast off! She is a whiz. I just might have another knitter in the family to share my obsession...to help keep the interest stoked, I sent her two of my circular needles with the short cable designed for scarfs so she won't have to keep fighting that standard length stiff cable that knitters despair over.
Of course am going to have to send her The Knit Stitch book to inspire her!

Gift Idea

I like to knit dishcloths and I like the Ballband Dishcloth because of the color combination possibilities. This year for gifts I am doing pairs of cloths and switching the color positions. I think it makes a nice set.

A Sparkly Ending

This scarf is knitted with a chenille yarn wound with a variageted yarn. To keep the edges smooth, always slip the first stitch. I forgot here and there and you can see where I did!



I am not too fond of fringe on the end of a scarf, except in the case of the automatic fringe on the vertical scarf, but I find that people really respond to something fun on the ends of an otherwise plain scarf. I know this yarn is colorful, but it IS repetitious.

So I found some glitzy furry yarn that looked good with the scarf color and crocheted about four rows on the end.

Yes, I know these ends could be knitted, but I tried that and the gauge was odd on the fancy yarn and it distorted the rest of the scarf.....I just used a largish crochet hook and made my stitches loose and got a nice effect, I thought.

Taking a scarf in a different direction

Have lots of leftover fancy yarns from previous projects? I do. I sorted them all by color families. At this time of year I think in terms of scarves and all those scraps of yarns were just begging to be made into a scarf, but I wanted to go in a different direction with scarves, literally.

I chose a basic knitting worsted that was neutral to the color family and cast on 250 stitches on a medium sized needle, I think a 9. For this scarf I knit four rows in garter stitch, then switched yarns. I put the basic yarn between each four rows of fancy yarns.

Yes, you will need a loooooong circular needle. I have Denise Needles and just strung a couple of the cords together.

For the fringe: when you add yarns, you have tails. Don't work them into the scarf body when you are through, they make great fringe. First tie adjacent strands together with square knots, then add more fringe the usual way. Then trim.

Make a scarf this way and I guarantee you will not see another one like it anywhere.

Cook a Dishcloth

What? Microwave a dishcloth? Believe me, this is a great thing to do. I read to do this on the Monthly Dishcloth Knitalong thingie. Everyone was writing to the Group how they kept their dishcloths clean. Most methods were way too elaborate for me. But one bright knitter said to toss the cloth into the microwave for one minute. With my NEW microwave, I finally have one of those buttons to push for an automatic minute.

Why, you ask, do you want to cook a washrag (a sponge, too, for you unlucky people who don't have handknit washrags)? Well, it keeps it from smelling funky. I found my dishcloth would sometimes start smelling funky after just a few hours. That is because those itty bitty bits of oil, food, etc, get caught in the fibers and a chemical reaction starts and results in a mildewy smell. The microwave boots those smelly fellas right out.

For those of you who use your dishrags for facial spa cloths, you can do the same thing. (If you want to walk downstairs to the microwave and then trot back upstairs). Wonder why that face cloth gets to smelling funky when you have only washed your FACE for crying out loud? Well, I did, too. Then I figured it out.....the oil from the makeup, mascara, and skin turns icky too. So, if you only have one or two spa cloths, you can use them more than one day before putting them into the laundry basket! (of course, you have to go into the kitchen to use the microwave, unless you have one in your bedroom)

Pottery and Knitting

Do any of you have a pretty potter bowl you like to display on your kitchen counter? How about using it as a 'garbage bowl' a la Rachael Ray? Well, I do.

If you have one of these bowls, turn it over and look at the bottom. See that clay colored surface? That surface will scratch your counter top. I have two scratches to prove it. If you use your bowl for a garbage bowl, you will find yourself tugging it around the counter.

My advice? Knit a mini round dishcloth (doily) that is just big enough to keep the bottom of the bowl from sitting on the cabinet. I already had one and it works great. I started out with a normal sized square washcloth and it looked tacky. This one looks like it is supposed to be there!

Picking or Throwing

Picking or throwing seems to be a big issue with knitters. I learned 'throwing' as a child and knitted a few sweaters but preferred crochet at the time. In 1971 I moved with my husband to Iceland (with U.S. Navy) and found out there was an Icelandic Lopi Yarn factory in the next town. They sold the yarn in bags, practically giving it away. We took it home, rolled it into balls, and knitted those wonderful intarsia patterns (we called them Icelandic Sweaters) in shades of brown and gray.

My first sweater was knitted very tightly and had no comforting 'stretch'. My friend met an Icelandic girl who told us we needed to learn 'Icelandic knitting', that the yarn was not plied, so had no natural 'give' and we had to knit the 'give' into the garment using the method she would teach us. This method was the 'picking' method of knitting.

Since I know how to do both types of knitting, I have taken to switching back and forth at random. Right now, picking is faster, but throwing I can do without looking. Throwing makes my shoulder and arm ache a bit, but picking can make my hand stiff. So I switch back and forth, sometimes in the middle of the row! I find I absolutely cannot begin a row with the picking method. And I cannot do any 'patterns' with that method either. Also, my picking is not as smooth as throwing, so if the stitches show, as in cotton yarn, it has to be all throwing.

I am working with some Caron Simply Soft acrylic yarn making a shrug, and those stitches don't show at all, so am working on being able to pick without looking....just by feel. I am always looking for a new challenge.

The purpose of this essay is to encourage all knitters to learn both ways to knit. Also, learn combined knitting (which I understand, I think, from Knitting in Plain English, is really Continental knitting....European is the complicated purl stitch that makes a knit stitch with the front 'leg' forward, Continental purl is easier but that back 'leg' is forward. I like the Continental purl better but hate digging into that back leg on the knit stitch.

Which are you, a Thrower or a Picker? And which kind of Picker, Continental or English?

Required Reading

This book is an absolute must-read for any knitter who wants to expand beyond garter stitch scarves. I have been knitting off and on for over 40 years and I learned so much. For the first time I understand how to find the spaces along the edge when seaming with a mattress stitch. I learned an amazing way to keep up with increases and decreases without having to jot it down on a piece of paper or keep two row counters going (one for the row I am on, the other for the number of increases or decreases I have done). I checked this book out from my public library, but I need to buy a copy that I can cover with highlighter and bookmarks! Get a copy of this, read it cover to cover, and you will be so glad you did.

The image was copied from Amazon.com.

Autumn is Coming

Even though it is 80 degrees out there, I KNOW autumn is coming and I am ready to wear fall colors. My "cool summer bag" looks so out of place right now, so I cast on another version for fall. I love this version. Again, it is leftover yarns, although the dark green is some Elann.com yarn that was supposed to be placemats.

I really like zippered closures on my purses, so decided to take the plunge with this one. I put the zipper into the lining and then stitched the lining to the purse, stitching through the zipper at the same time. I made a beaded zipper pull, since the tiny metal one was very hard to grab. I decided to make the purse hobo style, so I made one handle and attached it at each end.

General instructions:
Knit a garter stitch rectangle the size you want the bottom of your purse to be. Do not cast off, when you knit your final row, pick up stitches all around the bottom and join to make a tube. This is going to be very awkward and you need a circular needle. It will get easier as the purse grows. Knit every row, changing yarns whenever the mood strikes and knit until it is the size you want.

Make a lining and put a zipper into the top of the lining. Then put the lining into the purse and attach the lining to the purse near the top. You really have to be able to sew to make this zippered lining and have a good sewing machine.

For the handle, I used a crochet hook and picked up some stitches on the purse where I wanted the handle to start and did a few rows of crochet, then did fat icord. I held two strands of yarn together and used size 11 dpns. Changed back to crochet and the other end.

The purse was ALMOST done. I wanted a flower! I crocheted a layered flower , making each layer of petals a yarn I had used in the purse. I do not have the web site on this one, but you can Google crochet flowers and find one you like. I strung beads onto some yarn, using one of those dental floss thingies that come in a little plastic box in the drugstore, and sewed it to the center of the flower and then sewed the flower to the handle.

Road Trip

Fall is the time of year we spend most weekends in the car. My husband, Larry, has two main interests, golf and Auburn football. I don't have to participate in the golf, but I do have to participate in the football. We drive about 6 hours each way for pretty much all of the Auburn home games. If any of you are Auburn fans, yes, we were there at the Auburn/LSU game. Everyone was hypervenilating those last few seconds. If you are an LSU fan, sorry.

Anyway, the point of this in my blog is that I get knitting done in the car. When I am not asleep, that is. I knitted the pink/purple small washcloth on the way down and the lavendar/cream bath mitt on the way home. I actually finished the mitt at home, because I slept a good deal of the trip on Sunday.

I was knitting the lavendar/cream washcloth and had cast on a lot of stitches, so it was going to be a big cloth. I decided to make it just long enough to cover my hand and fold it in half and crochet the sides and one end together to make a mitt. The pattern I used is here.

Doily Washcloth

I've been wanting to knit this doily style dishcloth, but don't like DPNs. I have also wanted to learn to knit in the round on two circular needles, but could not figure it out on socks, with that itty bitty yarn and those itty bitty needles.

When I made the Flower Power dishcloth (see in another blog entry) I was forced to learn this technique to finish the cloth. So, fueled by my success, I grabbed a ball of dishcloth cotton and knitted the doily.

Baskets

Baskets and knitting just seem to go hand in hand. I love to drop knitting projects into baskets and scatter them around the house.

These are baskets inherited from my mother; they date from the early 1900's.


This basket was purchased from a roadside stand outside of Budapest.


This basket was purchased at one of those Women's Shows at the local merchandise mart


Last night I went to the opening of a new exhibit at our local Craft and Design Museum; The Clark Field Collection. Clark Field was a businessman who collected basketry from the American Indians. The items date from the 1920s and 1930s and are mostly coiled, but some were woven. If you would like to take a look at some of these baskets, please click here.

I was completely enthralled with the baskets at the exhibition. My husband seemed happy enough, also. Later, over a late dinner, he told me he had really enjoyed reading the information about the photos on the walls (photos taken of the Indian artisans who made the baskets)....he said 'once you have seen one of those baskets, you have seen them all".........aaargh!!

Yarn Sale

A LYS is liquidating their stock and going to internet only. I have been waiting for the magic 50% off mark, and it hit today. And some was even 55%. I picked up 9 skeins of a cotton/silk blend in a dark fuschia to make a short sleeved top in a Rich Fronds pattern from Creative Knitting May 2005 (always save the knitting mags!). I picked up some black cotton/linen/viscose blend to knit a black and white ballband button top towel for a gift for my SIL's new kitchen. I don't want the black to fade, so went with the good stuff.

I was very overwhelmed with choices and could not think of what I wanted to knit! I had decided earlier to make small drawstring bags out of ribbon yarns for little gifts, so picked up 6 balls of nice yarn. Bought a skein of pale pink King Tut cotton for washcloths, also some pale blue cotton/acrylic for cloths. I like the idea of having some cloths that don't fade. Of course all this yarn may end up being something else.

I love yarn sales!

Big Needles....aargh

I am just about finished with the EZ Moebius. And NOW I remember that I hate #17 needles AND ribbon yarn. This project has not been relaxing. The bonus is, I am a short person and I knit loose, so I can make the Moebius wrap shorter and narrower and thus have a whole extra hank of fancy ribbon yarn and most of the shiny narrow ribbon yarn. I know I said I hate ribbon yarn, and I do, but I wanted to knit little drawstring jewelry/make-up bags for Christmas gifts and this should be enough yarn to do just that. I always love leftovers. A picture of the finished EZ Moebius on the wearer will eventually appear on this blog.

Kitchen Towel

This is something I am really enjoying. It is knit from a cone of Peaches and Cream and is one of those towels you can button onto a drawer pull in your kitchen. The pattern is Reverse Diamond Towel. In my case my drawer pulls are all knobs, so I used to hang my towels on the oven handle, across the kitchen from my sink. Drip, drip, drip...........

After I made this towel, I had the inspiration to hang the loop over the knob on the upper cabinet beside my sink. Of course it is not a perfect idea, the buttonhole was too small for my knob and the looped part of the towel is really too wide, but it works good enough. I just button the towel and hang it on the cabinet knob with the button facing to the side. Can't see the pretty button, though. (This one is vintage).

Next time I will only make the tab part about half as long and will make a bigger buttonhole so it will button onto the knob and hang properly to show off all it's knitterly glory!

Two Designs for the Price of One

This is the same washcloth. I cannot remember the pattern at the moment but when I find it I will post the link. The point I am making is that the back is just as pretty as the front and entirely a different look to it. This is not the case with lots of our dishcloth patterns. I also gave this to my daughter (her kitchen is painted a dark rust color) so I don't have it to examine closely and try to recall the pattern.
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Flower Power

This is a fun dishcloth I gave to my daughter. The pattern is here. It was a bit tricky to knit, but I think it is cute. My daughter suggested changing colors for the center. It is a big larger than I like my dishcloths and am thinking of trying to decrease the stitches mathematically.

This pattern does need dpns toward the end. Not having any, I successfully managed to do the two circular method. For the first time, I might add.

EZ Moebius

One of the local yarn shops has a 50% off sale this week....I stopped in and spotted a couple of skeins of a nice wide variegated ribbon yarn in green and purple. A model of a Moebius shawl was hanging on the wall and I decided I wanted one. They stay on your shoulders much better than a shawl. To make the shawl more substantial, I also bought some coordinating shiny narrow green ribbon.

Back at home, I immediately jumped in and began casting on. Oh my. Now I know why my knitty friend, Linda, makes her moebius shawls in one long piece and twists it 18o degrees and sews a seam to join. As I saw my needle twist upon itself, and realized that I would have to knit the whole thing like a pretzel, I bailed.

If any of you want to make one of these easy versions of the moebius, note that you are knitting lengthwise, not widthwise, unlike most rectangular shawl patterns. For a size 17 needle it called for 75 stitches, but I have narrow shoulders, so I have backed down to 65. I will knit for 14", cast off, twist, and sew the ends together. If you were to knit side to side, the garter rows would be perpendicular and the shawl would not drape as well.

If anybody has knit the moebius the conventional way, good for you! I might try again sometime if I ever buy really long circular needles in #17. But for now, nobody is going to know that seam is there but me!

August mid-month KAL

This is my version of the pattern for August. I used some nice green Peaches and Cream yarn and combined it with some leftover variagated pastel yarn that I had used to make one of my little purses. The colors are not showing up properly in the photo....the colors are much more pastel. If you go to my food blog, it is also pictured there, underneath a dessert parfait glass.

One, Two, Three............

The cardigan front bottom is not going to defeat me! After all, I had no problem knitting the entire back bottom design. I was almost to the last row when I realized I had added a stitch somewhere. Since this is a fretwork type design, I did not want the openings to be out of line, so I frogged it. Again.

So now I am counting after every row. I never count and this is really annoying. But I figure it is quicker to do a quick count after each row than frog it again.

Cardigan Front

I started the cardigan fronts. And I started the cardigan left front, and I started the cardigan left front, and I started...............

Get the idea? First off I wanted to knit both fronts at the same time, but there is a small item in the pattern that threw me off and by the fourth row I was in trouble. So I tried again, but this time decided that if the counting was that much trouble, I had better stick to one side, since it was easier to frog it. Well, I tried again, and again, and again. The item that was so difficult for me is that, along the front edge, there is an extra stitch done in stockinette for a selvage edge to later pick up and knit the front band to. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! I have to remember not to count that stitch as part of the pattern. And I have to remember to keep it stockinette and not garter. I finally hit on the trick to put a little safety pin on the front edge, so at least I would know where this extra stitch was. This is just for the fancy border, and I only have about three rows left, then I am home free on stockinette. But that extra stitch just got me, especially since I was watching tv and tended to just start knitting a row without considering that extra stitch!

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

I do. Lots of buttons. I inherited a gallon mason jar filled with my grandmother's buttons. Then I inherited boxes of my mother's buttons, many still on the card. And I accumulated buttons during the years that I made clothing. A couple of years ago I bought some grab bags of buttons on the internet.

All these buttons have always stared very accusingly at me, saying, "create something with me". Today I was straightening my craft closet and putting things on the SHELVES I now have in there, and decided to Google 'crafting with buttons'....anything to get out of cleaning and organizing, you know.

Well, I found this inspiring site and started trying to duplicate the necklace with a bag of wooden buttons. Could not manage her directions, but came up with something I could do. This is crochet, using a very tiny crochet hook, inherited from my mother. I am very pleased with the outcome.

Now for Something Modern

This is a modern take on the doilies I showed you in previous posts. This is mercerized cotton that I bought on a whim for dishcloths. I knitted this 'diamond edge' design from a free pattern website that I love.

I discovered I could not bear to get this beautiful thing wet! I found this small Mexican pottery vase in another room, took the silk flowers out of another small vase, and voila! This vignette normally sits in the center of my kitchen table, so I get to enjoy it all the time.

I gave my neighbor one just like it, knitted in some caramel cotton yarn a knitty friend gave me (thank you, Sandra D). She has it on her kitchen table, too, with a vase of flowers.

Mixing Past and Present

I was also lucky to have a mother who did handwork. She knew how to knit and I have a afghan of hers, but she preferred crochet. And, amazingly, she preferred to crochet with crochet cotton and make amazing concoctions like this. I have always displayed this doily, but recently hit on this display to showcase a lovely piece of North Carolina pottery that I purchased at a pottery fair last year. The display is on a marble topped coffee table that I also inherited. I love the contrasting textures.

Honoring the Past

This is the display on the mahogany dining table I inherited from my mother. It is a drop leaf, pedestal table and is accompanied by two corner cabinets. My dining room does not display the cabinets properly and I really dislike mahogany. But all my growing years, my Mom was so proud of this dining room set, that I honor her by keeping it. (Her mahogany bedroom set went to a close friend of mine who loved antiques...I wanted it to be loved)

The candlesticks and the crystal bowl both belonged to my mom as well. According to legend, the bowl sat on her childhood dinner table holding a honeycomb to dip their bread in every night for dessert. I have potpopurri in it.

Now, the reason I have put this photo in my blog.....the doily was crocheted by my aunt for my wedding gift. There were many female cousins in the family and I was the only one who received one of these. My aunt told my mother that I was the only cousin who did handwork and therefore was the only cousin who would appreciate all the hours that went into it! And I continue to love and appreciate it. (see, ladies, crafty people have always had the issue of whether or not to give our lovingly produced items to non-appreciative recipients!)

Sidetracked

I have taken several pictures to post but have been obsessed with trying to add some cute buttons to my sidebar, instead of concentrating on doing some nice, interesting blog entries. I visited a lot of knitter's blogs and everybody has all these wonderful graphic buttons that lead to such wonderful knitty places and I wanted to know how to have some on my blog! Another very nice blogger has been helping me, she even let me, finally, copy the HTML off of her own blog so I could have some buttons. Thank you, Patty! NOW I can get busy actually blogging........

The Sweater is Growing

I have finished the back of the cardigan sweater. Next up is the fronts; I will be knitting them at the same time. I also am thinking of knitting the sleeves in the round and setting them into the sweater after the shoulder and side seams are done. This will be a little tedious, but I like a challenge and anything to keep from making sleeve seams!

Bag Tree

For about two years all I knitted was little bags, adapting the pattern from Frugalhaus. I bought amazing balls of "frou-frou" yarn from yarn shops and turned them into little 'jewels'. I kept them, gave them away, sold them. And finally got so sick of them I could have screamed. I did not go near a purse for months, until I knitted the "cool summer purse" pictured in an earlier post. But I miss my little bags and the thrill of just buying one ball of an amazing yarn and watch it turn into a work of art in about five hours.

Growing........

The green cardigan is growing. I just bound off for the armholes. This is the back. Of course the fronts and the sleeves have not been started. I am making a shorter version of the cardigan, based on my favorite summer sweater. I am 5' tall and the new "cropped" sweaters are actually the perfect length for me.

Keep on knitting...........

New Beginnings

Building on the success of the first sweater I have knitted in about 16 years, I decided to try again. Fell in love with the Garter Ridge Cardi in Creative Knitting Mag, May 2006, designed by Scarlet Taylor for Coats & Clark. Even liked the color on the model. So I ordered Kiwi TLC Cotton Plus online. It arrived yesterday and the back border is done. I never liked the sweaters I used to knit and vowed I would never knit another one, then was gifted a bag of beautiful blue yarn earlier this year that wanted to become a short sleeved cardigan. It did. Now I am going to try another one, long sleeved this time, with buttons........

A Family Thing

When my daughter found out about my blog, she wanted in on the action. She is an avid reader and so is going to be talking about and recommending books. She is also a writer, so if she says the book is good, you can pretty much count on it. She also reads really fast, so there should be a lot of action on her blog. Check out The Girl Who Reads Too Much

Listening to Books

I love reading and knitting and the two are not mutually exclusive. Recorded books give you the best of both worlds. My library has hundreds of them available and I am also a member of Booksfree.com, which provides me with books the library does not have. Some of you other knitters might be listening to your books, too, so whenever I listen to a really good one, I will tell you about it.

Right now I am listening to The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again. It is a sequel to The Hot Flash Club. Written by Nancy Thayer and read by Carrington MacDuffie. The reader does the various "voices" very well. Each chapter follows a particular character's plotline and occasionally a chapter brings all the characters together for a chat. A little mystery is sprinkled in. The reader gets very drawn into the lives of the women. The four women of the first book are also very much in evidence in this sequel. You do have to concentrate at the beginning of each chapter to note which character is talking. A very cozy listen for you knitters. This book is on 8 cassette tapes and I checked it out of my library.

Cool Summer Purse

 

Cool Summer Purse

 
 
  

Cool Summer Purse

It is HOT in Charlotte. I find I can't knit with my warm winter yarns, so am having fun with cottons. Went on a Yarn Shop Hop with knitty friends last month and we spotted a cool summer purse. This is my take on it, using various cotton yarns. Four of the colors are two strands of DK weight German yarn held together. Found some on sale and wound two once ounce balls from the two ounce skein. The colors were so gorgeous. Note the interesting drawstring opening.....three single crochets and then three chains and skip a couple of stitches. Makes a pretty finish.

For the drawstrings, I like to make two and thread them opposite ways so I can pull each end and get a neat closure. Twice the work, but I like the results. You can make an I-cord drawstring, but I like crochet ones just as well and they take about half the time. I simply crochet a chain the desired length and then do a slip stitch back. Thread the finished cord and tie it in a nice overhand knot.

For those of you who know me, you will be surprised that this is a NORMAL sized purse. I knitted little "pouch" bags for a couple of years, making untold numbers with fancy yarns. I could knit one with a single ball of expensive yarn in about five hours and have a little 'gem' when I was done. I gave them away, kept them, and sold them. This purse is the same idea, only it will hold more than a small wallet, cell phone, and keys!

Again, the photos will appear above in a separate post as I seem to have to upload from Picasa instead of within the blog. So I will describe the three views of the purse. I like the security of a drawstring top, so one view is of the purse closed. My friend Judy thinks the top treatment is lovely, so took a photo of the purse half opened. Then, for those of you who will want to try this treatment on your own purses, I took a closeup of the crochet drawstring top.

  

My name is Nan. I love to knit, love to share ideas, and am enjoying reading the blogs of other knitters, so decided to finally join them! This is my first post. I just joined the Dishclothfun KAL and posted to their blog, along with the photo of the dishcloth I knitted. So will post it here, too. It is the Ballband Dishcloth that is on the Peaches and Cream yarn and also in the Mason Dixon Knitting Book.