MS3 Stitch Marker Tip

For those of you struggling along with the MS3, I found a way to mark that center stitch (you know the one that alternates between a beaded stitch, a yarn over, a regular knit stitch, and a double decrease?) I bought a package of stitch markers that look like little plastic safety pins. After you finish your row, you can put it right INTO the center stitch, whatever that might be on this particular round. It surely has helped me.

Getting Organized

I am always elusively searching for a way to be organized. When I discovered "online knitting" and all the free patterns, I had piles of printouts all over the desk. Since I have a file drawer on my computer desk, I made folders for the project categories and would just shove everything in the folder. This works nicely.

Recently I wanted something a little easier to search through and dream over. So I have put the patterns (including ones torn from my magazines) into plastic sleeve protectors and put them into a big notebook. It looks neat and hopefully will help me remember those projects "I could not wait to make" at one time or another.....



Now, if I could just make one of those project notebooks, where you put the photo of the Finished Object, the ball band, a yarn sample, and the pattern into a protective sleeve, complete with notes. I'm afraid that is WAY beyond my capabilities at the moment.

Double Knitting

Anyone ever tried Double Knitting? I have a purse pattern that calls for that...it sounded fabulous. It would make a reversible purse that did not have to be lined.

I started it and decided that, although fascinating for about four rows, it was the most tedious thing I had ever done....worse than MS3.... tedious AND boring. At least you can't call MS3 boring. This photo gives you an idea of what it looks like. Note that this piece of knitting will NEVER get any bigger.



Just think about doing a twelve inch square in K1 P1 ribbing, using two strands of thread alternately. You have to bring BOTH yarns to the front for the purl and use only ONE of the yarns; then you have to take BOTH yarns to the back for the knit and, again, use only ONE of the yarns.

The double knitting concept is similar to the technique where you knit 1, slip 1 across and on the way back you knit the slipped stitches and slip the knit stitches; you end up with a hollow piece that turns nicely into a purse...you knit the front and back at once. But you knit every row. Flipping yarn back and forth for K1 P1 ribbing is bad enough with ONE yarn!!!!

But it does make a cool knitted fabric........

Top Down Raglan Formula

I am starting to think about knitting a sweater again. I have never liked any sweater I have knitted; perhaps I did not buy the proper yarn? I also have only knitted cardigans recently and they tend to droop front and hike up back. And, making it even less desirable to spend hours knitting a sweater I won't like, I love to shop our local Goodwill store and I find some amazing sweaters that I like, fit nicely, and are pleasantly 'broken in'. But I still drool over all the sweaters in the Knitting mags and books.

Today I got an email from a friend with a link that I want to share with anybody thinking about knitting a sweater but overwhelmed with pattern choices and not sure about adjusting a pattern to fit, finding the suggested yarn, etc, etc. This is a free 'pattern' and is called The Incredible, Custom-fit Raglan Sweater. I printed it off and filed it away and plan to challenge myself with it. Anybody care to join me?

Socks, continued

I walked around in the sock pictured in the last post and was not so happy with it. I felt every purl bump on the sole of my foot. Decided maybe it was the yarn that needed to be softer, so got out the Tofutsie yarn I bought in Texas.

While carefully reading over all the sock patterns in Charlene Schurch's book, I spotted the one she calls her "princess foot" sole. She purls all the sole stitches instead of knitting; that way you are walking on the smooth side. Hmmmm.....I certainly have "princess feet"....it might take buying five pairs of shoes before finding a pair I will wear all day!

Admittedly the purl on the outside of the sock is not that pretty, but socks are to wear, after all. We'll see if it helps.

One Sock Finished

Yes, I finished a sock! And it fits! I used 100% cotton called Katia. Bought it awhile back when I first determined that I would eventually knit a sock. I have bought other yarn since, but decided to go ahead and knit this up first. I cannot grasp the concept of grafting. However, somebody in my knit group mentioned that she simply did a two-needle cast-off on her socks so I did that.

The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks, four stitch pattern, openwork rib. I knitted on two circulars.

Fantasy Shawl

This is one of the center motifs on my Fantasy Shawl, knitted from Cherry Tree Hill merino. This yarn absolutely floats and nary a tingle, so hopefully it will not itch when I wear it. Three of these form the center of the shawl. Two rectangles will be knitted and sewn to these. This is ALMOST mindless knitting; no charts and simple yo's and k2tog's. I thought it was hard until I began MS3.



Speaking of MS3, I am only on Clue 3, but it is progressing. I really, really like the feel of the Tencel yarn I am knitting. Tencel is a cellulose based fiber, making it a natural fiber in my book, anyway. And it was so CHEAP. The whole cone cost about $6. My knitting friends told me I was knitting with thread. Well, yeah. But it is soft, pretty thread!!!

Knitting Book Bliss

Know how to make knitting books even better? Go to your nearest copy shop and ask them to turn your favs into a spiral bound. I did this with my Sensational Knitted Socks book and am so pleased. It cost about $2. I did have to leave the book with them and go back and pick it up. I plan to do this to all my knitting books.



No more trying to figure out how to hold a book open to the pattern you are knitting. Pure bliss.

Dishtowel Discussion

Any of you still have dishtowels with the crocheted towel-topper? They've been being gifted for years: buy a pretty dishtowel, cut it in half widthwise, poke holes along the top with a sharp crochet hook and crochet a top that buttons over a drawer handle.
Well, there are now patterns on the internet that lets you knit the entire towel, including the topper. Here is one.

I knitted one of these in cotton and love it. Only problem? Take a look.





Figure it out? I have KNOBS on all my drawers and cabinets. This is what I have done for the past months. THEN I had a bright idea and it resulted in this towel (knitted from Louet Sales sportweight linen, thank you very much)



Instead of making a top that would fold-over and button, I simply made a button hole large enough for the knob. And, yes, I made the buttonhole too big. But it works anyway.




I still love my cotton hand towel, so buttoned it onto the oven handle. But the oven is across the kitchen from the sink. Drip...drip....drip...

Makeshift Needles

Ever wanted to start a new project NOW and the proper size needles are all busy in other projects? This is a quick remedy: if you have any of the proper sized DPNs hanging about, stick point protectors on the end of two of them and start knitting. This is especially nice if you are knitting a teeny purse strap.

Nice to be Home

Am just enjoying the solitude of my own house. I do miss listening to the ocean, though. Not quite as eager to bounce out of bed back here in the city!

The wonderful knitters on Knitlist yahoo group helped me with my sock knitting problem. Charlene Schurch, author of Sensational Knitted Socks tried to make the heel turn instructions so easy that I could not read them. She described the short rows in two different ways and I misinterpreted the second explanation. But I got the heel turned and am on the foot part.

Finished the second motif on Fantasy Shawl and it is ready to sew and block. The first motif is blocked. I went down a size on my needle and the motif is smaller, but I am only 5' tall, so that is probably okay.

I continue to plug away on MS3. Now that I have placed markers I can control my mistakes better. I also abandoned the teeny crochet hook for beads and strung some onto the spongy part of the Super Floss and am using that to put the beads onto the stitch. Beats fiddling with the bead jar every time I need a bead.

Last night was my Loch Norman Knitting Group meeting. Midsummer so only five of us showed up, but we had a nice chat. Next month four of us are going to Stitches Midwest and we talked a lot about that. Wanda Sue is knitting one of the Flower Power Placemats in white. Pretty.

It is hot here and I did not get out for my daily walk this morning; I was lazy and made the mistake of getting onto the internet before I walked. BIG MISTAKE! So I am going to drive over to the YMCA and walk on the indoor track. Maybe with my iPod it won't be as boring as it always was before. I seem to do better when I can't jump off the track after five minutes...when you walk the neighborhood, you have to get back to your house!

I'm Back

I got back in town last night. Had a wonderful, relaxing vacation. We share a beachfront townhouse with my husband's family. The house is in Panama City, Florida, along the Gulf Coast. We have a deck and screened porch right on the ocean, so I never have to even touch the sand (I am NOT a beach person!). Sun shone everyday and early in the week it was even cooler than normal for July. The men do all the cooking and meal planning, so it was a real vacation. Lots of shrimp, crab, fish and steaks. Yum.

I spent most of the week sitting on the screened porch knitting and listening to recorded books. This is the view.


You can see the porch and deck on this view....we are the end unit. This was built back in the early 1980's. A hurricane cleaned the coast pretty good several years ago, so there are a lot of gorgeous new condos and homes all up and down the coast. A n international airport is slated to be built in the area, so in ten years the area will be unrecognizable. For those of you unfamiliar with the Florida Gulf Coast, about 1/2 hour drive from our place is Seaside, where Jim Carrey's "The Truman Show" was filmed. There are many of those seaside villages being built in the area, one more beautiful than the last.


I did take some breaks from knitting to go for walks and to the movies and I read Short Straw by Stuart Woods one day. I worked about 20 rows or so of the MS3. Some rows were easy, some tough. Now that we are not increasing anymore, I can use markers and count stitches so it is a bit less stressful.

I also finished the second motif on my Fantasy Shawl. One to go. This lace shawl is pretty mindless, since it is not knit from a graph. Lots of straight knitting. So with both stoles on needles, I have a variety.

I also finished knitting all the chair booties. That is the most boring project imaginable, so am glad I finally made myself finish it up.

MS3 Progress

I know it is not much, but it is a beginning. And I am enjoying it. The tencel yarn is nice in my hands and I can see the stitches and tink if necessary. I printed off Clue 2 and am hoping over the next week to get caught up. The beads are "pearls".

And, yes, those are lifelines. And I think I actually know how to use them, now. I always thought you were supposed to unravel the project back to the lifeline and pick up the stitches off the thread. Doesn't work very well, actually not at all. I finally figured you were supposed out to use a contrast, thicker thread and push the needle into the stitches using the thread as a guide, THEN unravel. I am not the brightest crayon in the box sometimes. I tend to read only PART of instructions and assume too much.

Using Hi-Liters on Graphs

I just posted this onto the Mystery Stole Digest but wanted to put it here to remind myself of the tip for the future and for any new lace knitters who are pulling their hair out and are too bleary eyed to read those loooooong MS3 digests.

Remember we were told at the beginning of the mystery that each new row was related the the previous row and that we should watch how the yarn overs and decreases related to the row below to help keep on track and make lace knitting fun?

Did you have trouble following the row all the way across, finding yourself knitting part on the wrong row (yes, I did this), so you got a yellow hi-liter and hi-lighted the row, but then that did not work because the rows below were also now the same color. Then you got sticky notes to block out the row underneath, but now you could not see the pattern emerging on the graph and were in essence knitting the first row of a brand new project every time? THAT was not fun, either. The stress built.

I knew there had to be a way to make this easier and I am too stubborn to quit trying. Then I remembered someone on the MS3 list briefly mentioning that she used DIFFERENT COLOR hi-liters, but did not elaborate. I remembered my daughter being so excited about finding RETRACTABLE hi-liters. I bought a package of four colors and I use a different color for each row as I go up the chart. Not only can I now see the row I am on properly, but I can double check the current row with the last pattern row to see if I am on track. Oh joy.

Since I switched to a cool tencel yarn and discovered this little trick I am actually ENJOYING this project! The yarn is knitting up soft and silky.

New "Job" for Zephyr yarn

As I kept battling with the Zephyr yarn in MS3, I also kept looking longingly at the relatively simple horseshoe pattern I had done part of my pink stole with. Now that I am pleased with the look of the tencel (on #3, very airy) for MS3, the Zephyr is going to become a stole knitted in the horseshoe pattern. One of the knitters at Guild (thank you Jane) last night suggested where to put beads on the pattern.

So this winter the Zephyr will go onto the needles as a horseshoe pattern and I think it and myself will be happy. They say yarn "tells" you what it wants to be and I think this yarn has been screaming in my ear for a couple of days.

Also:

There was a nice knitter who emailed me about yarn choices on MS3 and nicely warned me about the wool yarn. She said she had two very incomplete shawls in a drawer because she could not fix errors in the wool laceweight. I so should have listened. So if you are reading this blog (I did not keep the email), sweet knitter, you were so right! Between your voice and the yarn's opinion, I think I will be happy with the yarn switch.

Better

The yarn switch seems to be working. Am still making plenty of errors that require tinking, but I can tink this Tencel yarn. My current problem seems to be in leaving out yo's. This has always been my problem with lace patterns. I have knitted lots of simple items in stockinette or garter and now find I really want a challenge, so have moved into creative stitches and lace stitches for my knitting. It is proving to be a challenge, but at least it is not boring!

I discovered a new trick, for me. Right now I am counting the stitches after each pattern row. Every once in awhile I am short a stitch and it is a yo. I carefully check over the row and where the yo was supposed to be I insert a plastic clip stitch marker. Then when I purl to that spot, I can lift the yarn over the needle for my yarnover.

The mistakes are frustrating, but the joy when I count a row and the stitch count is correct is wonderful. Interestingly enough, the next row is usually off. Overconfidence, I guess. Also, just when I allow myself to think I really "have it right", I make a colossal booboo. Ah well.

Yarn Switch

I decided to switch yarns on the Mystery Stole. I had the Zephyr silk/wool but I also had ordered some Tencel. It appeared that my moist hands were practically felting the yarn and tinking was very difficult. And I was tinking a lot.
The Tencel yarn feels much better in my hands this summer. I'll probably enjoy knitting with the Zephyr mid-winter, although will probably choose to knit a stole with a lace repeat that is not as challenging. I have a stitch dictionary full of lace patterns I yearn to master.

My main problem with the Mystery Stole is the lack of repetition. My pink lace shawl had a repetitive rhythm to it. Right now I am on row 30 or so and have inserted a lifeline. I do like the feel of the tencel and it is knitting up beautifully. Since wool tends to make me itchy at least I KNOW I will enjoy wearing this one.

I leave for a week at the beach this weekend and will not take the shawl with me...too many distractions for that. Hopefully when I return I will hit my pace. I love a good challenge, but this project is beginning to make me question just how much of a challenge. This is not a soothing project. Reading the chart poses no problems, it is translating it perfectly to the knitting. My concentration is far from perfect, it seems.

On the trip I plan to knit socks, linen cloths, and possibly a baby blanket. The corner-to corner style that is mindless. I have some turquoise CottonEase and a new baby in the family.

Mystery Stole Progress

The beginning of the stole is TOUGH. My beads came late afternoon on Saturday and of course I HAD to jump right in. And startover. And startover. And startover. Finally I got past the first five rows. My #16 crochet hook was way too small and split the Zephyr yarn badly. I went to the store for Super Floss and that took awhile to figure out how to use, too. I have ordered a #13 hook from an eBay seller, but the Super Floss will probably work as well. Either way, it is fiddly.

I discovered that I was adding a stitch when I attached a bead. Don't ask. The main problem after that was solved is that I was so stressed that my hands were sweating and the yarn would not slide on the needles. I kept having to unknit a row, and the fuzzy yarn was not cooperative. I started lifelines, but the dental floss was too thin and slippery when I had to actually USE a lifeline. So I switched to some perle cotton.

I am using markers, post-it notes and a document reader. This is NOT relaxing knitting as of yet!

As I am S-L-O-W-L-Y knitting a row, counting the finished stitches, figuring out where the missing or extra stitch is, I am longingly thinking of a simple 5 stitch, 5 row repeat or something like that! But this shawl is so intriguing and I like a good challenge. Hope I am up to it!