One Tough Yarn

This is the first sweater I have knitted in years. It has a story. .

At my knitting group meeting, one of the members was giving away a bag of lovely yarn he had knitted and then frogged and rewound into several balls. He tossed the bag onto the table and everybody paused and I shrugged and grabbed it! My favorite word is FREE. It was variegated cotton blend, very nice yarn and enough for a cardigan for me.

I began to knit a pattern in a magazine and for some reason that I don't remember, thought it was hideous and took it apart. So now the yarn had been knit into a second project and frogged.

Then I found a pattern for a cropped cardigan that I adored. I started knitting it, did one front, held it up to myself and knew that I would NEVER wear it. So another frogging. I still loved the sweater pattern, however, and had an AHA moment just before I reached the lovely bottom band: just make the thing longer. So I started again. It turned out very pretty. It is one tough yarn, that is for sure!!!

M1 Two Ways

I am knitting the Flower Power placemats. Thank you for the idea, Becka, of Whimsical Knitting Designs. The pattern calls for M1 (Make one). Somewhere I had read to M1 you take the horizontal bar between stitches and put it onto the left needle, twisting it to avoid a hole. I found that twisting it was hard, so just started knitting in the back loop and that twisted the stitch. Just now looking online I discovered instructions that say to knit in the back loop.

But there is another way that I think is easier. In the Knitting Answer Book it also tells you to make a cast-on a stitch onto your right needle using the half hitch. When you reach that made stitch on the return row, if the back "leg" is the most forward, just knit into the back. I find this a big quicker than fiddling with lifting that horizontal bar. This second method was credited to Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Lace is challenging

I am always looking for a new challenge in knitting. Garter stitch is quick and easy but ultimately boring. I've been wanting to try lace stitching and recently spotted a shawl on elann.com that caught my fancy and so I ordered the pattern and the yarn.

The first part of the shawl is the simple repeat floral pattern. So at least I am getting my feet wet before I have to tackle the more difficult ends. However, there are LOTS of mistakes in that simple pattern...I get "off" and then fudge and get back on track. When I get to the really difficult design I plan to use "life lines".

One thing I have learned from this shawl; it is easier to use the chart than the "words". I have never understood charts and always wrote out the stitches for each row on index cards. I knitted a sleeveless top in a simple lace pattern and used the words. I am also knitting a heavy cotton shawl with a lace pattern and using words. For some reason it just was not working on this pattern. So am learning to use the chart. With mixed results. I think I have it going along great and suddenly my flowers are "out of line".

Shawl

This is shawl I knit to wear to my niece's wedding. I first knit a lacy pattern sleeveless top and had lots of yarn leftover. The yarn is a silk/cotton blend and it is wonderful to work with. I used the basic shoulder shawl pattern: Cast on 10, Increase in every stitch in the first row, increase in every stitch in the second row, then increase at the beginning and end of each row until it is the size you want. I added some yarn-overs for interest. I also decided to do a fancy cast-off edge. That edge took me longer than the entire shawl. But it is what everyone notices first.

My latest purse

This is the latest knit purse. The design continues to evolve and this one has turned out to be the most 'professional' one yet.

I chose three "fancy" yarns in my favorite shade of green. Then I let the yarn talk to me. My basic design is to knit or crochet a base. This one was about 12x3. Then I pick up stitches all around and knit in the round, changing colors and stitch patterns whenever the muse strikes. I ended this one with a linen stitch and that caused the looser stitches to pull in together and make a very nice shape to the purse.

I cast off using the iCord cast-off, which let me hide my zipper nicely. I interlined with cotton/poly batting, lined with some shiny green fabric, installed a zipper, all by hand this time. Much easier to control the stitches than with the sewing machine, although it takes longer. The handle was from a straw handbag purchased at a thrift shop.

To help shape the purse, I took some of the green ribbon yarn and tied off pleats at each side. I also used the ribbon yarn to actually tie the handle to the purse.

I really like my purses to have a zipper. I also like the purse to have some body. I find many of the knitted purse patterns online to be pretty in the pictures, stuffed with tissue paper, but unattractive when they are put into use. So I have continually worked out what I want in a purse and how to achieve it. I work backwards: I know what I want the result to be and I figure out a way to get it.

I'm Back

I guess it must have been a LOOOONG winter, huh? I kept knitting but just lost interest in the blogging thing. I knitted a washable wool blend baby sweater and hat for a friend's new grandson. I made a lacy pattern sleeveless top and matching shawl to wear to my niece's wedding. I made some washrags. I started a lacy pattern shawl out of cotton blend yarn that is NOT my colorway, so it will become a gift. I have begun a cotton lace shawl made from crochet weight cotton. I am finishing up a silver ribbon shawl for my daughter. I finished the green CottonEase sweater I started last fall and have worn it a couple of times. So you see, my needles have been busy, I have just not recorded anything.

Anyway, inspiration is starting to strike again, and as soon as my camera battery recharges, will be posting some photos of finished items and works in progress on these pages.