NanKnits

Photos

2008-08-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to taking some photos and uploading them. Also, I finished the purple shawl except for weaving in all the ends. The shawl is lovely, fairly heavy, too, as it is mostly cotton and just about worsted weight. It will be nice for fall.

This is half of the pair of socks I am knitting for my son. Using Knitpicks sock yarn. Did not think he was ready for self-striping or self-patterned yarn! I like to knit socks toe-up using the mitered toe and heel. I tried grafting toes and that was not in my skill set; I also disliked the heel gusset or whatever. When I finally learned how to do the mitered method, I fell in love with sock knitting.

Here is another pair of socks I knitted for myself out of Tofutsie yarn. I did a "fake cable" pattern that is very easy and very effective that I got out of my stitch dictionary.

And, finally, the beginning of another purple shawl. This one is wool (remember the free yarn?) and am adding beads to the edge..it will be triangular. I'm not sure about liking a triangular shawl, since I am 5' tall, but am getting bored with rectangulars, and the pattern included in the yarn package was triangular.

Free Yarn

2008-08-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

I am a complete sucker for free yarn. I am a member of Charlotte Knitting Guild and at the last meeting, a member had done a stash clean-out and brough a box of yarn to give away. I decided to take a peak, and right on top was a kit with three skeins of purple merino laceweight wool with a simple shawl pattern. You know I love purple, and this was not quite the same shade as the purple cotton shawl I am working on, so I grabbed it.

Since I also love to start a new project immediately, no matter how many UFO's I have in my knitting bag, I started the shawl that same night. It is a standard triangle shawl done in garter stitch, but this one is knit from corner to corner. After a few dozen rows I got bored and decided I had to do SOMETHING. Hmmmmm....so I found some pretty purplish gray size 8 beads, by teeny tiny crochet hook used for attaching beads to the yarn, and am adding a bead to the final stitch of the increase row, giving me a subtle beaded border for the bottom of the shawl. (Every other row is an increase row to get the shape for the shawl). And no, I did not frog the whole thing so the first 12 inches would have the border...figure I'll thread yarn with the beads when I am done and sew or crochet beads to that section.

I still have the purple cotton shawl on the needles, one wool sock to go for my son, and am working on a khaki cotton shrug for fall (it is in the 90's right now and hard to conceive of wearing that thing). But this way, I have lots of things to knit to keep from getting bored!!!

On the Needles

2008-08-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

First, thanks to everybody who checks my blog frequently. And apologies that I am one of those bloggers who rarely updates. Whenever I get the Sitemeter report I am surprised that so many of you continue to check on me.

The purple shawl is coming along. It is knitted from purple Callista from Elann.com and I love the way it feels in my hands. It knits up a bit heavy, as compared to my "famous" pink shawl, but that means it will be nice in the Fall. I think it is going to come out in a slight curve, which is nice. As I said in the previous post, a month ago, I started with three stitches and increased every row until it was the width I wanted, then just knit back and forth in the pattern I chose. I was supposed to decrease and one end and increase at the other every other row to make it straight: Slant Shawl Pattern.. Since I had a pattern stitch I liked and was not sure how to keep adjusting it for the increase/decrease, I chose to just knit back and forth and have been surprised at the shaping; perhaps when it is done and blocked it will be straight. Stay tuned.

Another Shawl Begins

2008-07-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

Finally am knitting a little again. Not that I stopped; just that I am enjoying it more and thinking design again. I do have socks on my needle with my favorite Tofutsies yarn. I also am knitting baby hats for Charlotte Knitting Guild charities. Those are fun.

I have started and stopped several projects; a sweater I know I will not wear, a shawl that I knew I would run out of yarn halfway through, etc. The sweater I had started was out of a lovely purple elann.com Callista yarn. I kept looking at that yarn and looking at it; it needed to be a shawl, not a sweater. I think a shawl in that yarn would come close to making me as happy as my 'famous' pink shawl does. So....

I am designing this purple shawl, since I like to do things like that. This shawl is going to begin and end with a point. The advantage of this is that I can take notice of how much yarn I have used when the shawl is wide enough, and save that amount to finish it with, and just knit in between.

I thought about doing it just in garter stitch, but knew I would be crazy with boredom within two days. I like the smoothness of stockinette, but a little lace does give a wow factor. There is a pattern in one of my books called Overlapping Waves. I have been going to use that pattern several times and it just never happened. Well NOW is the time.

I could have taken the easy way out and just knitted the pointy part in stockinette or some simple yo's here and there but I have never been known for making things easy on myself...no challenge there. So, I started this overlapping waves pattern down at the point. The pattern naturally widens as the shawl widens. Multiples of six, so it is pretty easy to do that. The pattern is also very easy for my brain to comprehend. And I must say it is gorgeous so far. I am doing a six stitch garter border on each side of the shawl to give me a nice selvedge to hold onto.

A photo will show up in a bit.

Summer Sewing

2008-05-24T12:36:00.001-07:00

As usual in the spring, my attention turns to sewing clothing. In this case, pants. Summer weight fabrics are easy to find, work with, and wear. The colors are fun. I have difficulty finding pants since I like pull-on styles that come to my waist. I am a combination of sizes.

Earlier this spring, I took apart my favorite, worn-out pants and made a pattern. I can whip up a pair now in about two hours. Have ordered quite a bit of fabric at www.fabric.com and for the first time in years actually have a choice of pants in my closet to wear. Linen, cotton, silk noile, microfiber.......

My interest in knitting has waned as my interest in sewing has grown. I tend to have a one track mind and concentrate on one thing at a time. My knitting mood right now is to knit mindless things; no lace!!!

I do still love knitting socks and have a pair on the needles; great for knitting in the car! My daughter-in-law told me to knit my son a pair of socks, so will do that when I spend a week with them at the beach this summer. I need the foot with me when I knit socks, since I knit from the toe up and do a mitered heel, if the foot part is too long, it is too long. My daughter's second pair of socks is too long. Sigh.

Spring Knitting

2008-05-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have drifted away from knitting recently. I fell in love with knitting socks and now that it is too warm to wear them, I am at a bit of a loss what I want to knit. Have several things started, nothing enticing.

I was at Biltmore Village in Asheville, NC a few weeks ago and a knit shop was right across from the restaurant I had eaten lunch with on a tour of Asheville. We had free time so I made a beeline for it. The proprietors were very nice and upstairs was a table full of yarn bags, discontinued lines and colors. Since I am a bargain hunter at heart, I could not leave without a bag! I chose a bag of Debbie Bliss' Cotton Cashmere in a khaki color. And since I have trouble buying yarn without casting on something immediately, am working on a shrug.

I also decided I needed a new small drawstring purse and had some cotton yarn in a beige and a khaki color; I strung some wooden beads on one of the yarns and began the purse, will knit the beads into it in some sort of pattern.

I got out the pink shawl I completed last year and have been enjoying it this spring; it is still the one item I have knitted that I adore and continue to get compliments. In fact, I was just tossing it over my shoulders at the end of our shopping break on my Asheville tour and one of the woman gasped and asked me if I had just bought it in one of the shops! The yarn was a German mercerized cotton yarn that I bought from elann.com and it turned out to be on closeout and the entire line discontinued. This is the nicest feeling cotton yarn (it is a very upscale version of the crochet cotton on the cardboard tube we find at discount stores)and I wish I had known it was discontinued; I would have bought more in every color!

Sock Toes and Heels

2008-04-04T07:33:00.001-07:00

I figured out (maybe) why my two sides of the mitered toes and heels were uneven...when I turned after the final purl row on short rows, I was not doing my yo's before I started the knit row back to start closing the gaps.

Since I last blogged I have explored other methods of short-row toes and heels. What looked to be the simplest, Japanese short rows, I decided against finally because of the fumbling about with markers. I tried safety pins, paper clips, and yarn scraps and it was very awkward, also I could not "read" the stitches and gaps very well. I hated the markers, and with the cheater method of sssp a knitlister taught me, "purl, move stitch back to left needle, pass next two stitches over and drop them, move stitch back to right needle", am happier with the YO method. The knit gap closing rows are still neater than the purl gap closing rows, but nobody but me is looking.

I love my socks and alternate between the three pair I have knitted. The second pair of Tofutsies is underway. I really gauged it and measured my foot better and this pair is going to fit closely to my feet. I have tiny, narrow feet. Bad for buying shoes, but good for getting two pairs of socks out of a ball of sock yarn!

Love Affair with Socks

2008-03-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

I continue to adore knitting socks. I have knitted three pair, one in the Lion Brand, one in Tofutsies, and one in Plymouth Yarn's Sockotta I got from Yarn Girls. My daughter visited this weekend and loved the socks so much, I have started her a pair in another color of Sockotta. This is a big thing....she has never been a fan of anything handknitted. These short row toe up socks just fit so good!

The only problem I was running into was how to do the sssp. The instructions to do this require one to be a contortionist. So I threw the question out to the wonderful knitlisters and got good replies. For anybody out there that blanches at the sight of sssp in the instructions....when you come to the stitches to be 'sssp'ed' you purl the first stitch, put it back on left neeedle, pick up the next two stitches, one at a time, and DROP them over the purl stitch and completely off the needle. Then put the purl stitch back on the right needle, turn. Perfect.

I still do seem to have a problem with the right and left sides coming out the same when I increase on both toe and heel, always having the knit side finished and still have more wrapped pairs to purl (guess I need to do this part of the socks NOT watching tv)....so I just finagle it by knitting plain rows and finishing up the purl wraps. Does not seem to matter so much as the stitches are tiny and pretty much hidden in your shoes all the time! Knitting perfectionists or purists will shudder at this, but I am NOT frogging a toe or a heel, I would drop so many stitches I would end up with big holes in the toe or heel and would rather have it slightly lopsided instead.

Socks, Finally

2008-03-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned that socks elude me. I have pretty much done everything else knitty except a successful sock. I even did Fair Isle back in the 1970's with Lopi yarn that I bought in big bags at the Icelandic factory.

Well, I have knitted two single socks and frogged a couple. Traditional cuff down socks pose two dilemmas for me. One, I hate to finish and having the dreaded toe graft to do at the very end is more than I can bear. Two, I hate to pick up stitches and you have to do that on the heel. Also, I have "princess feet" and don't like a seam or ridge anywhere near my feet. Grafted toes and picked up stitches both produce lumps as far as I am concerned. Also, I feel like it is just too much guesswork trying to figure out where to pick up those heel stitches and to get the right number of stitches picked up, then there is the 'ridge' created. I know yarn is soft, but still.

But I have resented all the socks I see people knitting and posting on their blogs. Not that I think I even want to wear hand knitted socks, I just want to know how to knit them. After all, they are nice and portable. And cheap in the overall scheme of knitting.

I absolutely can't stand dpns. I knit loosely and those needles simply slide out of the stitches. Every time. I knitted a single sock using two circulars that was semi successful. I did not like the cotton yarn; not soft enough for princess feet. I decided that I might have actually had a pair of socks IF I had knitted 'two socks on two circulars', so I got my instructions and tried. I really did. And just about went insane. I spent more time untwisting and untangling the yarn than I did knitting. Those are frogged and rewound.

Well, dpns are out and I did not really like the dangling needles you have with two circulars. That leaves one long circular to learn. I practiced on some worsted yarn and fat needles (created a long circular out of my Denise's). I love the technique.

With all the aggravation I have described you are probably wondering why on earth I am still muddling over knitting socks. Pure stubbornness. And I love a challenge.

So I know I don't want to knit a cuff down sock again. I keep hearing about toe up socks, but I can't seem to find instructions that I can understand. But I want to try the toe up sock. mostly because I am stubborn as I said. I happened upon The Perfect Sock Pattern and loved the result. Amazingly, using the exact stitch count from the pattern actually made a sock that fit, since my gauge was different (I promise I did some math and thought it would fit, and you can try on as you go with toe up socks, anyway). I have completed one sock and am almost to the heel of the second. No second sock syndrome!!! No lumps, no seams. I am using Lion Brand's Magic Stripe washable wool and really like the feel of it on my foot, although the yarn is making my hands sticky. What's with that, anyway? And I love the striping yarn that hides mistakes.

The only downside of the pattern is having to do a sssp. THAT is awkward, even though I did find a video of the technique online but can't find the site just now to link. There HAS to be an easier way to get the same result, some sort of a "cheat". After all, I do cheat on the ssk. Ha.

The person who designed the sock pattern cited above indicated that the sock is based on Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. They just added a Turkish Cast On that I found surprisingly easy as compared to all the other toe up cast-ons I had tried to understand.

Interestingly, I will finally have a pair of wool socks to wear now that spring has sprung in the Carolinas!!! But wool breathes, right?

Bernat Cotton Tots

2008-02-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

If anybody is reading this and has any opinion, please post a comment....what did Bernat DO to Cotton Tots???? I knitted a blanket three years ago in the blue and loved knitting it and it is my second grandson's "blankie". So the third one is on the way and Mommie wanted the same yarn but a different color, so she chose the mint green. Ick and ick and ick. It is rougher and seems heavier, but it SHEDS. To the point that I had to stop knitting in the car on a trip, the fibers were about to choke us and were covering the dashboard. I am determined to finish the thing (baby due soon) and I have to lint-roll myself after a session. I guess they changed manufacturers? Anyway, a warning to all of you who used to like Cotton Tots....you might not like it so much now. I am going to have to do a lot of prewashing and drying on this one.

I actually just ordered some yarn to knit another blanket. It is from DiscontinuedBrandNameYarn and is pictured here. It is a closeout, so grab it while you can! Am going to do this blanket in rows of stockinette alternating with garter. The corner to corner dishrag pattern is starting to bore me, even though it IS easy.

Ravelry

2008-02-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

I joined Ravelry a couple of months ago and did my profile but was overwhelmed by the size of the site and choices and did nothing else. I suddenly got in the mood to explore and now see why everyone loves it, especially us disorganized people. It does force one to think linearly. (is that spelled right?....I mean to keep my brain from bouncing in ten directions in once as I think about knitting). I have put up WIPs and finished items. I decided to only do photos of the finished object, since taking photos is the downfall of this blog, I did not want to have photos holding up my adding WIPs to Ravelry.

If you want to take a look at the meager amount of entries and photos, my username is, of course, MsNanknits.

Spring Peeks Out

2008-02-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

The weather in the Carolinas has NOT been wintery. At all. Today is in the 70's with brilliant blue sky. I walk every day and have only worn a heavy jacket once or twice all season. I do wear my wool beret and scarf knitted from Malabrigo yarn, though...it is so soft and breathes so well, that I do not get hot, but any chill stays off my neck and ears. I picked these daffodils from my yard yesterday.

Lace Shawl

2008-02-18T13:37:00.000-08:00

Here is the finished merino wool lace shawl. The yarn is from Cherry Tree Hill. I mentioned that I wore in unblocked on Valentine's Day. This is the first laceweight wool I have knitted and I did not know how amazing it would look when blocked.

Just a Tweak

2008-02-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

Just a tweak is all it takes sometimes to turn something blah into something that has some pizazz. I knitted a cardigan about a year ago from a magazine pattern. It fit nicely, the yarn felt okay, it looked okay, I just did not like it. Then I saw a photo of a cardigan that used a shawl pick to close it at the neckline. I got out my sweater and my wooden shawl pick and pulled the front across a little bit and stabbed it with the pick and, Voila, the whole sweater looked different. The shawl pick becomes the focus and the sweater is just the background. NOW I will enjoy a sweater that I spent hours and hours knitting!! (I am also now knitting the cardigan that sparked this idea)

Catching Up

2008-02-16T10:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have been knitting. No, I have not been blogging. I have finished the feather and fan shawl done in the Cherry Tree Hill laceweight. I have not blocked it, but am wearing it anyway. I used small enough needles that this works. I bought a lovely silver heart shaped shawl pin on Etsy and wore it and the shawl on Valentine's Day. I will get a picture posted as soon as I take one!

I think I have finally found the pattern/needle size for the spring scarf I want to knit from an Elizabeth Lavold silk/wool yarn I bought about two years ago. It is "my" green and is a nice feel for spring. I wear scarves all the time, even inside; I have a very sensitive neck to drafts, evidently. I finally decided on a size 5 needle (I knit VERY loose) and am doing another feather and fan. This pattern is completely mindless for me and I am discovering I just despise trying to read charts. I knit watching tv or listening to podcasts or recorded books and you simply cannot count stitches when doing that!

Designing Scarves

2008-01-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in the entrelac post that I tend to skip important words in knitting instructions. I find I am better off designing my own, using the template from a published pattern and choosing stitches from a stitch dictionary.

By choosing my own stitches, I can make the project simpler to knit, keeping it in my comfort zone. After struggling to no avail with that MS3 shawl, I decided that any lace or texture project I knitted had to have extremely simple repetitions. I want a "big bang for my buck" stitch recipe.

What really triggered this scarf designing path I find myself on, was "Leafy Scarf" in Special Little Knits from Just One Skein. I keep losing stitches, even though it looks simple. This book does not use charts and I need charts for lace knitting, to see where my stitches should be.

Anyway, I have collected several yarns that I want to use "right now", so have a collection of ziploc bags, each containing a different project, three scarves, one shawl, and one pair of Cascade 220 Superwash tube socks, in a basket by my chair. I knit on one for an hour or so, then switch. I believe this is called "Knitting ADD"???

First of all, this is a scarf knitted from Malabrigo Alpine Pearl. I am using a "crossed braid" pattern for a nice thick texture. It is a two pattern repeat; my kind of pattern. I also knitted a beret and fingerless gloves with this amazingly soft and cuddly yarn.

Next is a scarf from an Elizabeth Lavold wool/silk blend. I have had this yarn awhile and finally had to cast something on with it. I like my scarves no more than 5" wide and quite long. The lace and textured patterns in my stitch dictionary were not working out. I suddenly remembered my sock knitting book and found a plethora of textures and lace patterns that were wonderful for a narrow scarf. This one is lacy triangles with very simple repeats. I might not have gotten the sock knitting 'bug' but I am enjoying the book, anyway! There will be many more lace projects from this book.

And, finally, this is a scarf that I am not pleased with, so I cast it off from boredom as soon as I could tie it around my neck for a little extra warmth. The problems with this one is primarily that I don't like laceweight yarn knitted on big needles. The pattern called for an even bigger needle. On the upside, this wool/silk blend is amazingly soft and I have enough for a shawl. Someday.

My main tip in this blog entry is to look at sock patterns in a new way....those patterns for the legs make wonderful scarves. And if you do knit socks you can have scarves to match them!

Entrelac....Finally!!!

2008-01-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

On a recent Saturday, I took a two hour technique class on the subject of Entrelac knitting. I have tried on several occasions to master this technique, using online tutorials. I could get the first band done, but could not figure out how to do the next band. So when this chance came up, I grabbed it. Here is what I have accomplished; I am using SWTC's Karaoke. Obviously it is a scarf.

I think I understand why I could not master entrelac before this class: I tend to skip critical words in instructions and I think I must have missed the part where, when you begin a new rectangle, you put the last stitch on the right needle back onto the left. Very critical, indeed. I also found that the right and wrong sides are very important in seeing where you are in the technique and I was trying to make the "garterlac washcloth" I found a tutorial for. What does the work "garter" mean...corrrect...wrong and right sides are identical!

This technique is very fascinating and absolutely beautiful. A real 'magic trick'.

New Shawl Beginnings with Old Yarn

2008-01-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

Remember in an earlier post (this past summer) when I talked about making the Figure Eight Shawl with Cherry Tree Hill laceweight? Even showed a photo of one of the middle figure 8 motifs?

Well, I made three motifs and one long side and they do not fit together. No way, no how, never. Obviously I sewed and blocked the motifs improperly. and with than fine yarn, they will remain forever motifs in my yarn drawer!

Never fear, however, I still have enough yarn to knit a nice rectangular shoulder shaw. And if I run short I CAN unravel the side piece I knitted. I am knitting this new project on size 7 needles using the basic feather and fan motif.

I started this shawl just before I left for a week's Christmas trip. My choices for knitting on this trip were this shawl and the baby blanket for my expected third grandchild. The blanket is halfway done and so is heavy in my lap, plus the CottonTots yarn is shedding badly. So....the shawl it was. Below is a photo of how much I got knitted in the car and then three days of lovely screened-porch sitting at our beach house. Since it was VERY quiet down there, I got LOTS of knitting done!

Knitting with wool in the summer warning: Look carefully at the middle of the shawl section pictured at the top. Do you see it? It is called "inadvertent hand felting". Moist hands and warm temperatures and obsessive clutching of the knitted object WILL felt it! When I noticed it, I thought about frogging back to the spot, but decided it just added interest and texture!

I Hate Math

2007-11-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

I knitted the beret in a nice Wool of the Andes by Knitpicks. I did not do a gauge swatch, but did drop down a needle size, since I knit loosely. The beret was large on me. Came down somewhere around my nose. So I sewed about a 2" seam up the back and it now fits.

Decided I wanted a beret knitted from mohair blend yarn, since I figured it would be really warm this winter for my neighborhood walks. I found some sensational green yarn locally. I cast on about 10 stitches and did enough ribbing to see what the measurement would be. Then I started trying to figure out how many stitches to cast on so the ribbing would stretch to 22". I not only hate to measure gauge swatches, I hate to do the math to convert MY swatch to the pattern. Now, if I would knit a proper sized gauge square it might be better, but I knit just enough to get a pseudo measurement.

I fiddled and fiddled with my calculator and jotted down results. Several times. Then promptly forgot which of the jottings was the final result. Sheesh.

Anyway, I knitted the hat and it fits. Intend to get a photo up, soon. Of both berets, so you can see the colors. The first one is classic and boring and goes with everything. The green really has the wow factor and hopefully people will look at the hat and not at me!!!

Berets in Style

2007-11-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

I see that all warm hats in style this year, including berets. I have a very small head and very short hair and look rather ridiculous in a hat, at least according to my children. I also HAVE to wear something to keep my ears warm when it is cool and windy. Everybody else is running about with the wind blowing their hair and I am bundled in a scarf and a hat!

Over the past winters, I have worn polar fleece headbands to keep my ears warm, but this year I dug through my scarf drawer and came up with the beret I knitted it 1990 while living in Germany! I also found the pattern I used to knit it with. The yarn was man-made as I recall, and had these cool little colored loops attached to it. It was worn all over Europe, was warm enough even in the snow, and I managed not to lose it, although I did have to go back and retrieve it several times. And continue to: had it with me this weekend on Saturday night and Sunday morning hubby informed me that he picked it up off the driveway beside the car when he went out to get the paper. Ah me. I'd better knit a bunch more as backups!

Bought some yarn from KnitPicks and started a new beret yesterday. This one is from their Wool of the Andes. I have always studiously avoided wool because it makes me itch. But last year I knitted some wool fingerless gloves and love them. I also am wearing a (store bought for a song) Pashmina that is amazingly soft and no itch. Being wool, although very thin, it keeps my shoulders warm but I don't get overheated.

So thought I would try making the beret from wool and see if I could wear it. I bought three skeins of the wool, so hopefully will have enough to knit fingerless gloves to match.

Lighten Your Load

2007-11-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Challenge:
1. Put the purse you carry around every day and put it on a scale and weigh it.* Scary, huh?

2. Take out the stuff you need to carry when you are shopping (cell phone, keys, ID, credit card) and weigh it. See where I am going with this?

3. Buy a SMALL wallet: one that will hold money and credit cards and ID's. Even Target sells them and they are adequate for your needs.

4. Knit a tube about 16" in diameter by about 8" high. Seam the bottom and run a drawstring of some sort throught the top. Make a little lining.

5. Put your cell phone, keys, LITTLE wallet in it. I'll even allow a tube of lip balm.

6. Weigh it and compare it with that first number*

7. Carry THIS purse in the store instead and note that your shoulders will probably stop hurting.

8. What? You can't live without all the stuff in your big bag? Fine. Put the big bag in the trunk of your car or under your desk at work. Carry the little bag with you. Your "security blanket bag" is within reach but not hanging on your shoulder.

9. Enjoy the freedom.

Making the Purse

2007-11-13T07:12:00.000-08:00

The way to avoid much finishing on your purse...

Knit or crochet a rectangle for the bottom of the purse, pickup stitches around and knit in the round (no seaming). This is the way to use up yarn, especially the leftover bits of fancy ones that are lying around your stash.

Near the top do a K2tog yo row for the drawstring. (Not doing this is ok, yarn stretches and you can shove the drawstring into knit stitches with no problem) For the drawstring, you can knit icord, crochet a cord, or buy braided or twisted cord at the fabric store.

Finish off the ends of the cord with beads.

If you want a lining, and can sew at all:

Flatten your purse on the table. Measure the length and width up to where you want the lining to come at the top. Cut a piece of fabric twice the length (plus turn-under for the top edge) and the width (plus 1/4" or so each side for a seam). Sew the side seams by hand with backstitch or machine. Turn under some at the top raw edge for a smooth finish. To make the box shape for your lining, measure the width of your bottom and divide by half*. Fold "dog ears" on the sides of your purse lining, side seam in the center of the point. measure down * and draw a horizontal line, sew on that line. this gives you a "box". Put the lining into your purse, with the right side of fabric showing. The seams and dog ears are against the knitting. Goggle "lining a purse" and you can find numerous places where they have photos or drawings of this process.

I do a simple backstitch to secure the lining at the top. Slipstitch also works. You could use fabric glue. Some people sew buttons to the lining and secure the buttons into the knitting. I simply hate to sew on buttons. Even use tiny safety pins. Whatever holds it.

Now go to your "leftovers basket" and start designing. Just remember, the size of the rectangle you knit for the base determines the size of your purse.

Another option is to simply knit a large tube the size you want and then seam one end and go from there. I make the purses both ways.

These purses are soft, lightweight, and can be made to match any outfit and any season.

Final Finish

2007-11-12T13:53:00.001-08:00

On the way to doing other things. I had a list of stuff to do today and nothing appealed to me. I started cleaning off a shelf, hoping if my craft room was cleared a bit inspiration might strike. Lo and behold, a purse I never bothered to line was in the pile!

This purse was originally supposed to have a zipper closure. However, the top was so big around that I knew a zipper would not work. And it was almost spring 2007 and I knew I would not carry the purse anytime soon. So.......

Today, November 2007, I am ready for this purse. I still did not want to put a zipper into the top. I happened to have some black twisted cording that was long enough for a single drawstring. The purse did not have a yarnover row for a drawstring. No matter, I just shoved the cord in and out of the top at arbitrary distances around the purse.

I tied the drawstring together in a square knot but needed some pizzaz. Found some black wooden beads, unraveled the cord into the three parts and, using a dental flosser thing, pulled the cord through the beads. Voila!

I tried to talk myself out of a lining, but knew it needed one. A simple rectangle with "dog ears" and a little running stitch at the top.

A simple purse with smashing yarn effect!

Merino Shawl Still on Needles

2007-11-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

Back this summer I joined a Knit-a-Long at a local LYS to knit a huge merino lace shawl from Cherry Tree Hill Merino. Somewhere in a previous post is a photo of the first medallion. I finished all three medallions and started one long side of the shawl. It got very hot and the yarn got very uncomfortable to knit with, so I abandoned it.

Guess what? It got cold. Finally. Well, cold is a bit of an overstatement here in North Carolina, but I decided a wool shawl WOULD be nice after all. Each row of the shawl is hundreds of stitches in laceweight. I don't even want to know how many minutes each row takes.

Resisting the urge to start another shawl (I FINISHED the blue cotton half circle shawl just in time to need one out of wool, instead...will photo it when I block it, if ever), I got the wool one back out and worked on it and finished one side. Now just the second side to go. I alternate it with a garter stitch baby blanket for my third grandson who arrives in March. The blanket is tediously boring, the shawl is tediously difficult because of the very fine yarn, so I alternate tedium!

For those of you reading carefully, you noticed I said I joined a Knit-a-Long for this shawl. Never went back!!! But when I do finish the shawl you can be sure I will take it to the LYS to show it off!

Thanks, Readers

2007-10-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

I put a Sitemeter on my blog to see if anybody was reading, versus me talking to myself, like I do a lot! Thank you for continuing to check by frequently, even if there are no new entries.

I tend to choose something, do it very intensely and then move on to something else, constantly switching and circling. I sewed clothing for a long while, then shifted to quilting for several years. I discovered knitting a few years ago and obsessively knitted tiny purses, moved into scarves, then shrugs, sweaters, now it is shawls. I dug out my tiny purses from the storage closet and am carrying them again, eyeing my stash of "frou-frou" yarns that I use for them. Do we see a circling pattern here?

I also recently began to not be so obsessive about my knitting and actually wanted to sew again. So I have been digging all my sewing necessities out of storage boxes, opened up my sewing table, lifted the serger off the top shelf, and am stitching again. I actually have my mind set on making some pretty aprons. Am reading a "henlit" book and the two ladies in the book are starting a business called "Ruby's Aprons" and I do wish they had a photo of that apron!

My part-time job also kicked back into gear so I am gone from home a good bit, making some yarn money!

But I wanted to take a minute and say thanks for continuing to check my blog to see if I had anything to say. I only write in it when I am in the mood, and, as you can tell, my mood tends to be very mercurial. I also hate to take photos, put them into Picasa, then TRY and find the things on the computer to put into the blog. I would love to be able to plug camera directly into computer, push a button and have the photo appear in the blog!!!

Pleasant Surprise

2007-10-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

I have been knitting away on the periwinkle blue cotton half circle shawl and assumed I had MILES to go. It gets wider and wider and one row takes quite a long time and I tend to actually fall asleep halfway through. I had worked on it off and on, mostly off, since it is approaching winter and this is a spring/summer shawl. But I want the needles that are in it for my merino wool shawl that is needed for winter! I thought about ordering another set of the Bryspun needles, but decided to be disciplined and finish the shawl instead!

I had not been counting rows on the shawl, since the pattern is extremely simple and there is no need to count rows. I thought I had to finish this set of repeats (to make the "V") and then do another set. Forever. Last night I decided to COUNT my stitches in one of the wedges and, lo and behold, I am on the LAST wedge repeat and in about 20 more rows will be able to start knitting the fishtail points.

There is a photo of the beginnings of the shawl further down in the blog.

Red Scarf Project

2007-09-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

I briefly suspended all my UFO projects to rapidly knit a scarf for OFA's Red Scarf Project. I had some nice soft acrylic in a dark red color and so started knitting a bias scarf. Halfway through, I realized I would not have enough yarn. I went to the store and, although the brand of yarn I was using had no dye lot, another customer and I decided that making the second half black and red striped would be really cool. So here it is.

To make this scarf, I cast-on three stitches and increased one stitch every row until I had the width I desired, then every other row I increased at the beginning and decreased at the end, making a slanted pattern. When the scarf was 60" long, I decreased at the edge every row until I was back to three stitches. I liked the effect. The red and black stripes are completely random and knitted at my whim. I did make the second half predominantly black, though.

Sewing, Too

2007-09-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

I realize I have not blogged much in September; but I have been busy. I have been knitting, of course, and also SEWING. I learned to sew about the time I learned to knit, back when I was about 12 years old. I don't exactly enjoy sewing, but when I want a specific garment and can't find one that fits, I do go online to Fabric.com and buy some fabric and get busy sewing. This time it is skirts. I prefer the A-line silhouette to the gored styles that are in the stores, plus my waist to hips ratio are way out of sync with ready-to-wear! I made a khaki twill skirt and still have a stone colored one to make, as well as a black double knit. I have skirts in my closet I like that I copy the measurements onto a purchased pattern. I put a zipper in the back and use elastic as interfacing in the waistband.

It Doesn't Itch!

2007-09-22T09:52:00.002-07:00

I was at my Loch Norman Knitting Guild meeting on Tuesday and tried on a shoulder shawl knitted from Moonlight Mohair using the Frilly Wrap pattern from Creative Knitting Sept. 2005. It was cozy and DID NOT ITCH (not much, anyway). Since Moonlight Mohair seems to be closing out, I hit a WalMart and a Tuesday Morning store for 1/2 price purchases. Here is the first one I knitted...takes two balls and about 6 hours or so. I am going to experiment with buying "arty" buttons at the yarn shop and sewing to one side and let the wearer use the big holes in the shawl as buttonholes, rather than the brooch the pattern calls for. I plan to give these as Christmas gifts (keeping one or two for myself).

Yes, I am Knitting

2007-09-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who check my blog regularly...I see on site meter that I have lots of hits. Sorry the entries have been sparse, but I AM knitting.

The periwinkle blue half circle shawl is moving right along. This yarn is so wonderfully soft. The pattern is also very easy, but I still tend to make mistakes...am learning how to correct them w/o tinking!

I am also knitting a scarf for fall. This is a textured rayon yarn that I bought in a hank at Stitches Midwest. I got two 160 yard hanks for $8. Can't beat that. It feels a lot like chenille. Am knitting it on the bias, obviously. To do this, I cast on 3 stitches and increased every row until it was as wide as I wanted the scarf to be. Then I started, on every other row, increasing one at the beginning and decreasing one at the end. Be sure and mark the side that you do the inc/dec on. I think it makes an interesting stitch, not as predictably boring as the back and forth garter stitch, although it IS a back and forth garter stitch!

Simpler Lace

2007-09-03T13:53:00.001-07:00

I admit (temporary) defeat. The MS3 Shawl is going into a drawer for awhile. In any case it would not be wearable before cold weather and it is a very stressful knit since I have to mark and read each row carefully as I knit it . I have (finally) figured out to knit each row based on the row before and am pleased with my skills. But.....

I bought this yarn at Stitches Midwest and the color is a real siren song for me. It is a very soft, unmercerized cotton that I bought at the WEBS booth. It is available online at yarn.com . I was trolling through my favorite yarn website, elann.com and found this half circle lace shawl pattern. It is exceedingly simple lace and I started knitting it with the periwinkle blue yarn and am very happy with the "feel" of the yarn fabric I am creating. It also moves along fast. Admittedly I had about 14 straight hours of knitting in the car this weekend, so it should have moved along fast.

This pattern is very simple lace and is pretty mindless to knit. Not a lot of "holes" in it, so it will be cozy this winter. I am interested to see if I like the half circle shape; triangular shaped shawls are not good for short people...if you have enough shawl to keep your arms warm, the point has to be pretty much at your knees!

Best Thing About Stitches

2007-08-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

The best thing, to me, about Stitches Midwest (even better than the yarn), was seeing all the knitters walking the Market floor wearing handknit garments. The garment of choice seemed to be shawls. I just don't see any handknits on the streets of Charlotte. It was also amazing for the ego to have people continually stop me to touch and marvel and rave over my pink cotton shawl. Mistakes and all! I even bought a couple of shawl pins for it and that makes it wear even better.

I also chose to be in the Student Fashion Show wearing the fuschia top and shawl I knitted last winter and basked in the compliments. I am in two knitting groups and of course we rave over each other's knitted creations, but in my day to day life nobody even "gets" why I knit, especially since purchased "handknits" are generally cheaper ....I understand knitted scarves showed up in The Dollar Store last year.... So the atmosphere of being surrounded by hundreds of knitters was amazing.

Design Change

2007-08-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

I decided that the ribbing pattern I was using on the dark green cotton was a lot of trouble for very little wow factor; you just can't see a pattern in dark yarn. So I frogged the 4" or so I had knit. I decided to go for original design. I cast on 104 stitches, joined for the 'in the round' knitting and knitted 2" of k1, p1 rib, then switched to a crossed rib pattern. I do three rows of k2, p2, then I k2tog, leaving the stitch on the left needle, and knit in the first stitch again. No decrease. Then I do the P2. It looks like a minicable. Am very pleased and the pattern is completely mindless. I'll divide at the armholes and continue to follow the shape of the pattern I had chosen.

More Digging for Yarn

2007-08-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

This is the other 75% off bag I got...it is Tahki Classic Cotton Dot, a worsted weight cotton and I've cast-on for a fitted pullover style vest.

Digging for Yarn

2007-08-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

I lied; I DID buy yarn the first afternoon at Market. I was tagging along behind my friend, Helen, and she knows how to spot those bargains! One of the booths had a bin of what I assumed to be discontinued yarn packaged in bags of ten skeins with a price of 75% off and the knitters were diving in. Helen pulled out a package of Trendsetter Yarns Iguana and said it would make a great shawl. Nice and soft and a good Fall colorway. It is a polyamide/acrylic and says to handwash with no detergent, dry cleaning recommended. So it will definitely be a shawl.

Stitches Midwest

2007-08-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Stitches Midwest was a blast! Getting there was a pain, though. Delay, delay, delay....

First, our plane had to be switched out because of a biohazard on board (leaking toilet). When boarding was completed and the plane secured, the airport closed for a security breach. We were finally cleared for take-off and ended up being almost 2 hours late. So no gate at O'Hare. Forty-five minutes later we disembarked, only to discover that USAir's baggage carousel was out of order and the airline had to negotiate with Jet Blue to use theirs. Then the hotel shuttle did not come until we finally called the hotel and asked for a shuttle. Then our rooms were not ready until late afternoon. And on and on and on.

I was so stressed and worn out that initially I felt like I was moving through a dream at the yarn market. Completely overwhelmed. Plus, as a non-woolly person, everything seemed to be wool.

On Saturday, after a lovely continental breakfast in the hotel, I finally got my blood sugar leveled out and commenced to buy yarn!!! I'm going to share a purchase with you everyday for awhile.

Stitches Midwest

2007-08-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

Early this Friday morning I will be boarding a

(hopefully a more up-to-date, one!)

with three girlfriends

And fly to Chicago to BUY YARN!!!

Knitting Guild

2007-08-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

Our Knitting Guild met last night and after a wonderful 'show and tell', our latest charitable project was announced. This one benefits knitters and children alike. As a Guild, we are going to learn a new knitting stitch/technique each month and practice the technique by making 6" blocks. Sometime next year we will pool all our blocks and sew them into blankets for children in need. Last night we learned to make "mitered squares" and I loved the technique. I can see very successful dishrags knitting using this pattern! Nice, firm, straight edges and an interesting design diagonally across the square.

In a questionnaire given to members a few months ago, many said that they wanted to learn new techniques at the meetings. Kudos to the officers for coming up with an idea that addressed that and also allows us to help others.

Also at the meeting, there are two other members knitting MS3 and they are beautiful..one dark green, one dark blue. Much more shawl-like in size, too. My MS3 is actually going to be a wide scarf or narrow shawl. Take your pick! For that reason, I am going to hold off on finishing it until I see just what "asymetrical" means. Mine might need to remain rectangular and it might end up as a dresser scarf on a table.

Making Yarn More Inspiring

2007-08-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

A long while ago I bought a huge ball of variagated green/cream cotton. I find it very uninspiring.

Today I was cleaning out and trying to reorganize my yarn in anticipating of purchases from Stitches Midwest next weekend. This yarn is the perfect color for dishrags for my kitchen but I only knitted one so far. Since I just bought a new ballwinder (again in preparation for the fiber trip) I decided to wind this ugly huge ball into nice yarn cakes. Now isn't this nicer?

Fashion Forecast

2007-08-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Get out your chunky yarns! According to the Back to School Fashion Forecast in the Style Section of our local newspaper, The Charlotte Observer, "Kitwear takes center stage this season....from knit dresses to thick cabled coats expect knits to be everywhere. The article says "the trend is toward 'outrageously thick and chunky knits, primarily handmade". These quotes are credited to Gloria Baume, fashion director of Teen Vogue.

The knitted fashion example shown in the article was a cropped cabled cardigan by BB Dakota (available at Nordstrom) with elbow length sleeves and one large knitted button.

Messenger bags are also going to be big, according to the article. Sounds like a knitting bag to me!

Weaving in Ends

2007-08-02T10:45:00.001-07:00

Anybody who likes to weave in ends, raise your hand......hmmm.....don't see anybody out there! I, too, hate those ends. I despise threading my yarn needle and working the yarn in the back....I am not an orderly person and do it very randomly, unlike the nice photos in the technique sections of many books and magazines. Sometimes I hold the old yarn and the new yarn (or the tail of the cast-on row) together and knit. Of course that makes a thick part. (For socks I found a tip that recommends knitting the first round with the yarn and the cast-on tail from longtail cast-on. It is supposed to make the top of the sock stronger and stretchier. Don't know about that, but is sure beats weaving in the end later!)

Knitlist has a thread about weaving in ends and I was reading it. The two handed fair isle method was mentioned along with a link. The link was not working today, so I googled "weaving in ends" and this is what I came up with. I tried it, and it is slow but it works. Run, do not walk to this website and bookmark it!!! You will be so glad you did.

MS3 Stitch Marker Tip

2007-07-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-31T09:41:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-31T09:27:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-23T13:24:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-23T13:19:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-16T10:46:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-06T13:28:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

2007-07-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

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!

I Love this Sock Pattern

2007-06-30T12:09:00.000-07:00

I am knitting my first REAL sock and I am in LOVE! This is a cotton/acrylic sock yarn called Katia, I believe. The leg pattern is a simple k2, p2 rib with every fourth row containing yo's and ssk's. I am so fascinated by this process. I hope I am enamored of this sock as I reach the hard parts!

New Socks for my Chairs

2007-06-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

From THIS

My wooden chairs scratch my hardwood floor. Over the years I tried every "chair tip" product out there. About two years ago I found a free online pattern for crochet chair leg socks and made them from some acrylic I had lying around. Worked fine but they are wearing out, as the top photo shows.

To THIS

As I explored sock knitting I had the idea to knit socks for the chair legs using one of the elastic yarns. I got some Cascade Fixation from the LYS in pale yellow. The first eight I knitted, I did so flat in a K1P1 ribbing and seamed the piece into a tube then gathered one end tight. To say it is boring to knit one of these is the understatement of the year. I am knitting on sz 3 needles and it takes two hours to knit one of these. And I need 16!

Today I switched to knitting the sock in the round on two circulars. Probably a bit slower but I did hate doing the seam and since the sock had to stretch a lot over the fat part of the leg, it looked pretty bad.

If anybody wants to copy the idea, I knitted these using 20 stitches. To help them wear longer, I covered the tip of the chair leg with quilt batting. The constant scraping of wood against wood eventually wears through the yarn and I don't want to knit 16 of these pesty things again.

I Love a Bargain

2007-06-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

What is almost as good as a 80% off sale on yarn? A 80% off sale on purses! I had a sudden urge to go by DSW Shoe Warehouse for their Summer Sale today. Found a pair of black sneakers 80% off and a pair of Liz Claiborne low heeled pumps 50% off. Then I checked out a big table at the entrance full of purses. My big weakness. And score! I found a Deborah Gallo (Italian) soft leather satchel type purse...DSW price $100, 80% off. (It is not quite that orange color in real life, more caramel color)Tell me I could not let that purse not go home with me!

I also found two other $20 purses at 50% off. When I got home I realized that one of the purses exactly matches my summer shoes.

What a deal!

Beed Size Woes

2007-06-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

I am in the MS3 KAL along with every other knitter in the world! Anyway, according to the posts on the group website, Michael's had a good selection of beads. Ha. Double Ha. Yes, they had gorgeous seed beads. Yes, they had the exact color I wanted for my shawl. But, what is this? NO size indicator ANYWHERE on the label (Blue Moon Beads). So I went to the register and together we opened the tube and I tested my size 16 steel crochet hook....they were size 11 beads. And all the other MARKED seed beads were also size 11.

I went to a bead boutique next and all they have is size 11 beads. Teeny, teeny, teeny. Anyway, I ended up ordering beads from The Beadwrangler. Since I could not hold these beads up against my swatch, I ordered both lt. gray pearl and silver lined crystal. Since postage was flat rate, I also ordered some lt. beige pearl for the pearly tencel I also have to knit a lace shawl or scarf with, someday.

What is with size 11 beads? I don't make jewelry, so I don't know how they are used, but that seems to be the popular size. Thank goodness for the internet!

Finally Socks Begin

2007-06-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

I finally cast-on for a pair of socks. I have knit my "class sock" and just seem to keep putting off a "real" sock. Since I bought some Tofutsie yarn in Texas for socks, and have some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, I needed to make a move. This is the beginning of the first sock using some sock yarn I bought about a year ago when I first began thinking socks......

Swatch

2007-06-26T13:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my swatch for the MS3. It is Zephyr wool/silk in pewter. The first repeat is size 4 needle; the second repeat is size 5. I will go with the size 4. Need to order my beads now.

I'm Back

2007-06-26T09:38:00.001-07:00

I'm back from Texas, but seem to have brought a virus with me...sore muscles and headache and lethargy. Guess I'll just be quietly knitting for a few days. I did not take my Fantasy Shawl yarn with me and missed it. I ended up knitting several dishcloths and two hand drying towels. I started a feather and fan shawl with my beige linen and ripped it out over and over; I was reading the pattern wrong and decreasing too many stitches. When I (finally) knitted a swatch, I realized my problem. That is some tough yarn, though. I will have to buy more yarn at some point, but the dye lot should not be much of a problem for this natural color, plus I can blend it in with alternate rows if need be.

I am swatching my yarn for MS3. The first yarn to arrive was a cone of Tencel and it feel wonderfully silky to knit, but would need size 1 or 2 needles or else need to be doubled. The pewter wool/silk Zephyr also arrived and is gorgeous. Will probably do the MS3 in that one, since I already have the cotton one done and the Tencel is similar in the way it knits up. Save that for later.

The pink cotton shawl was wonderful on the trip...great on the plane and also at my son's house. He keeps HIS house at a normal temperature, unlike his Dad who would turn the air completely off if he could get away with it; he hates utility bills!

Will post photos of the linen hand drying towel later.

Going to Texas

2007-06-15T12:24:00.001-07:00

I am going to Texas for a week with my grandkids. Two boys, 5 and 2. It will be a busy week! Am taking simple knitting since there will be many distractions and little hands. I plan to knit two dishtowels from the linen yarn I have been messing with. I know I said I was going to knit a shawl with that yarn. However, I have finished a shawl, have one on the needles, and have joined the Mystery Shawl 3 group, so enough already. Also, I only have two skeins of the linen and that is not enough for a shawl. Originally I bought the skeins to make the towels and so now I WILL do that!

My DIL has an interest in knitting. She enjoys the process. Yah! She has knitted three scarves, but living in Texas, she does not need any more of those. She mentioned that she would like to practice some more with me, so am taking some bright red cotton and teach her how to make dishcloths. Her kitchen is red and cream. Should be pretty!

So watch this space. I'll be back.

Purse Compliments

2007-06-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

I have been very surprised at all the positive comments I have been receiving on my sampler purse. Hopefully lots of you out there have knitted one and are also getting positive comments. People are literally stopping me in stores and touching it!

I confess to being very surprised because I frankly thought it was ugly and way over the top as I was finishing it up. The colors, although all my favorites, were way out of my comfort zone in the way they were put together. I confess to usually knitting either solid color purses or horizontal stripes.

(The other side is lavander and purple.)

Of course it is possibly that I have a leather handle on the purse, or that it is a fashionable shape (12" long and 6" deep and I usually make my purses narrower and deeper. Whatever the reason, these people stopping me to see my purse are generally NOT knitters (although the knitting shops I have been in, people also comment favorably). Maybe it catches people's eye because I have not seen anything remotely like this purse in shops or in "free" purse knitting patterns online. The last person to comment on it said it was very unique.

So all of you KAL members out there, finish your purses and send me a photo! I'll make a Flickr gallery if you do!!!

New Link

2007-06-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

I just added a link to my list of Blogs. It is called TechKnitting and is a blog every knitter should have at the top of their bookmarks. Somebody on Monthly Dishcloth KAL mentioned it. Click on it and take a look!

Pink Shawl Pics

2007-06-14T11:45:00.001-07:00

Here is a closeup of the border. I love this pattern; shoulda done the whole shawl in this. And it was easy.

This is the border shown with the flower lace motif that gave me such fits. Looks deceptively simple, doesn't it? Ha.

This is the shawl draped over an antique rocker. This wicker rocker crossed the U.S. to Indiana in a covered wagon. I inherited it from my mother.

I tried the shawl on and it feels and looks wonderful. Worth every blasted stitch. Securing those dropped stitches with sewing thread was fiddly but seems to have worked. Nobody is going to be allowed to examine this shawl closely, except the border of course!

Shawl Saga Continues

2007-06-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

OK, I finished the pink shawl. I put it into the washer on delicate handwash with fabric softner, then into the dryer on low. Nice and damp and soft, I spread it out to block it.

Ouch....a bunch of dropped stitches have appeared. This shawl is absolutely cursed. What to do?

Here is my solution. For anybody who ever has this happen and refused to unravel the project, read on.

1) with a small metal crochet hook, I picked up each dropped stitch and worked it up to try and close the hole, never mind the pattern.... Then I put one of those plastic "coiless safety pins" from the knit shop on each one (they look kind of like mini padlocks...I am indeed padlocking these stitches down).

2) I am going to thread a needle with pale pink sewing thread and fasten those loose stitches to the shawl using a sturdy square knot, then work thread ends into the surrounding stitches. I thought about going to the yarn shop and getting some pale pink mohair to use for the mending and let it "felt", but I have the pink thread on hand and it seams that it might even be better.

My advice to anybody out there who is even contemplating knitting a shawl out of crochet cotton, DON'T. The stuff is slippery and hard to manipulate. I knew I was making lots of mistakes in the pattern, but had absolutely no idea I had actually dropped stitches.

My advice to myself for future lace shawls (and I have one on the needles and have joined the Mystery Stole 3 group ..see sidebar..) is to make liberal use of stitch markers so that I can count after every row, AND not to watch tv while doing lace knitting. It just takes one glance at the screen for these pesky stitches to drop, I guess.

Casting-On Methods

2007-06-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

My favorite casting-on method is the "backwards loop" method. It is the quickest on, but the hardest to knit into for that first row. I have also been told that it is not a "sturdy" cast-on method. It also is the most unattractive and uneven. That said, I read today in notes on the Fantasy Shawl that backwards loop method is best for this shawl because of it being loose and stretchy. So there. I'm redeemed!

Beginning Row

2007-06-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

Went to the Fantasy Shawl Knitalong this morning; only one other knitter there today. This morning I had picked up the project, abandoned last week in favor of finishing the pink cotton shawl, and immediately messed it up. So I frogged it (only three rows done) and cast-on again, forgetting that the first time I cast-on with bigger needles. So it was sweat, blood, and tears to get that first row knitted off. Denise needles are not the sharpest in the world.

Question: Why don't we ALWAYS knit the first row after a cast-on and THEN start the pattern? It is absurd to try and K2tog when working off the cast-on row (which is what this pattern calls for, along with Kfb in a some of the stitches). The other knitter with me at the Knitalong said she thought that knitting the first row should be required!!! It is SO much easier and it certainly does not make a difference in a project: let's all say it, "cast-on, knit one row, begin pattern". Maybe embroider it onto a sampler and hang it on the wall!!!!!

Aaack!

2007-06-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

Coasting along on the final border on the pink shawl and ...aack....no way I have enough for six repeats of the pattern, like I did on the other end. So am stopping at 3 repeats (perfectly adequate and actually better), then doing a few garter ridges.

Of course, this means frogging half of the repeats on the finished end. Oh well. I hope I enjoy this pink cotton shawl. It has been a pain in the neck to knit!!!

Norwegian Purl

2007-06-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

I was skimming down Knitlist and spotted a message titled "loose continental knitting" and took a look. The writer was having the same problem I did when learning to do continental purl. Loose. Loose. Loose. I compromised for awhile by knitting continental (picking) and purling american (throwing). Whenever gauge did not matter I practiced purling. My gauge is now fine with both methods.

However, the person giving the answer for loose continental purling suggested Norwegian purling. Aha!

In the 1970's I lived in Iceland (DH in the Navy for four years way back then) and my friend and I started knitting "Icelandic sweaters", which are Fair Isle, but done in the natural shades that Lopi yarn comes in. We went to the Lopi factory and bought big bags of what I think now must have been roving. Absolutely no give (twist) in the yarn.

My first sweater was knit very tightly and a young Icelandic lady who worked in the office below my friend's apartment offered to teach us to do "Icelandic Knitting", which she said "built some stretch into the knitted fabric because you can't knit as tightly". She taught. I learned. It worked. But I did not knit again after leaving Iceland (hey, it was not popular for a very long time, remember?!)

Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I discovered everybody was knitting and that you were allowed to knit something besides sweaters. I also found out quickly that the reason I had avoided knitting for years was that it made my shoulders and arms ache. However, I had fallen in love with the hobby and thought there must be a way to knit that did not involve so much shoulder and arm movement. In the dim recesses of my mind I remembered learning "Icelandic Knitting" and decided that it MUST be what everybody was calling Continental.

Using the internet I figured out the knit stitch quickly and discovered that "picking" was easier on my shoulders and arms. But could not remember the purl stitch. I vaguely remembered the routine of the needles, but the stitch always proved to be a backward knit on the return row.

Always up for a challenge I decided to learn the Continental Purl. I knew it was not the Icelandic purl, but whatever. I am pretty proficient at it now.

Back to the subject at hand....NORWEGIAN PURL? Isn't NORWAY near ICELAND???? Hmmmm......I googled Norwegian Purl and got my yarn and it all came back. Also figured out what I had been doing wrong. I had remembered the needle movement, I just had missed one crucial yarn movement that caused the purl to be backward.

I am pretty slow on this new way to purl, of course. And my continental purl has got a lot of speed. So don't know if I will persevere, but it is so nice to finally remember that doggone stitch method!!

Vacation Knitting

2007-06-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

For the week I am in Texas, I plan to finally commit to the two Louet Sales linen yarn skeins I bought early spring at a store closing sale. I really don't like knitting with that yarn; I have pulled out several "starter" projects. But I have spotted, at two different LYS, the yarn done in a feather and fan shawl. I have two different shades of brown, so I will alternate these colors. I doubt I have enough yardage, but by alternating colors I can buy some more and not fret over dye lots.

I originally bought the yarn to knit kitchen towels, but just can't get excited about that. I want something fairly mindless for the trip. I also figure if I have no other project to entice me, I might actually knit the shawl, or at least get enough done that I won't pull it out in a temper fit.

Pink Lace Shawl Progress

2007-06-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

I am closing in on the finish on this shawl. Final border. Sixty rows. Happy Days! I am really, really tired of knitting on this, but I want to take it with me on my on my trip to Texas; going to spend a week with the grandkids.

I had "designed" a double border for the shawl out of my stitch dictionary and when one side was almost done, decided I did not like it. So I paged through the dictionary and found a pattern called Horseshoes that looked VERY simple. It mostly is. And I like it...it is different from the main body of the shawl but not so much as to be jarring.

I also want to get this thing off the needles so I can concentrate on the new laceweight wool shawl.

Stunning Photos

2007-06-11T08:28:00.001-07:00

My daughter's boyfriend recently spent a week in Costa Rica, surfing. The vacation package included a professional photographer. Here are some stunning photos. Enjoy.

Weekend

2007-06-11T08:09:00.001-07:00

I had a nice weekend. My daughter drove down from Raleigh, which is always a treat. This weekend was our 38th wedding anniversary. She came in bearing wine and chocolates. Good daughter! The wine has a story....when she was about 7 years old, we lived in Germany. Across the street from our townhouse was a small grocery store and everybody knew us. She wanted to buy us a gift for our anniversary and I stood outside while she shopped. After awhile, one of the clerks peered out the window at me and waved...Jenni emerged a few minutes later, beaming, with a bag. That night she presented us with a bottle of pink champagne. (It was NOT drinkable!!!) We all still laugh remembering that she got to buy wine in 2nd grade....which is why she brought wine this weekend...to carry on the memory and the joke!

I had previously committed to ushering for a matinee production of the Broadway show, 'Sweet Charity' at our PAC, so she had Saturday to herself to shop. She also offered to scrub out my refrigerator, which I took her up on! The last time it was this clean was when it was new. She is an energetic daughter. She and her Dad also went wine shopping, a hobby they share.

For dinner we went to a new restaurant and had a selection of tapas, then watched Food TV. We are all major fans of this channel, especially the one in HD. You can learn a lot watching those shows. My daughter likes to cook and is a good cook. She always makes us breakfast when she visits, and DH will tell you it is the ONLY time he gets a cooked breakfast!

Figure-Eight Fantasy Shawl

2007-06-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have been eyeing laceweight shawls for some time now. The other day I was reading a LYS newsletter and they are having a knitalong this summer for a shawl knit with Merino Lace from Cherry Tree Hill. I went to the morning session and they had one colorway left that I liked, so I shut my eyes and handed over the credit card for the book. Special Little Knits from Just One Skein, and the hank of yarn.

The KAL meets once a week, Wednesday 10-12 or 6-8. I have cast-on and knitted two or three rows. Yes, I know that is pathetic, but I decided I needed the pink cotton shawl for my Texas trip week after next and so am on a push to finish it.

The store also has a wonderful marketing ploy. Near the end of the 2 hour session, a basket was passed with folded pieces of paper...on each piece was a discount for a skein of specified yarn. Mine was 25% off of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, so that pushed me over the edge...have also been eyeing luxury sock yarn. Note that I have not yet knit a sock! (I figure it could always become a shawl on big needles....)

Knit Guild Meeting

2007-06-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight was The Charlotte Knitting Guild's monthly meeting and it was fun, as usual, to see what everybody was working on and to talk knitting. The program featured a review of "knitting" fiction and we talked about what books we had read.

Before the meeting starts, we chat and knit. During this time, two or three knitters dashed up to me and grabbed "the purse" and said, "here's the purse in person!!!" Everyone liked it, especially the colors. I was quite surprised and pleased to find that members of the guild were reading my blog. I am a new member and really don't know anyone by name yet. But knitters are never strangers to each other, we have a common language.

For show and tell there were socks, as usual. Also several washrags. One member had finished her gorgeous Clapotis shawl. Another was wearing a Feather and Fan stole with some glitz in it. Cristi, aka Turtlegirl, brought some of the lovely yarn she bought at the Fiber Fair (see her blog for details, link at left), plus the two skeins of yarn that she has spun on her gorgeous spinning wheel. There were also two beautiful capsleeved tops. Cristi wore the red sweater featured on her blog entry, go check it out!

I showed the progress on the pink cotton stole I am making. Also demonstrated the "nubbin" dishcloth and two knitters had me give them a demo at the end of the meeting. One was knitting baby bibs out of cotton and thought that would be a darling edging. Both agreed that washcloths needed to be teeny (4-5") so I felt vindicated! I thought I was the only person who liked little cloths. Plus they knit up quicker!

Charity Knitting

2007-06-05T07:58:00.001-07:00

I often think about charity knitting but nothing has ever struck me enough to actually knit seriously for a project. When I was in a quilt guild I used to donate 4 quilts a year for our charity. I knitted a preemie hat for one of my local knitting groups to give to a local hospital. With another local group I contributed a teddy bear sweater for the local police, who take stuffed animals on their domestic violence calls to give to the displaced kids. All good causes. And I do plan to knit another bear sweater for our next donation!

This weekend I was an usher at the Performing Art Center uptown (the YMCA dance recital...an absolute hoot!) and talking knitting with another usher. I asked her what she knitted and she said she was now knitting children's sweaters for KnitforKids,sponsored by Guideposts. She commented that you could just knit so much for yourself or for gifts!

Last night I googled this charitable project and liked the looks of it. The pattern is very simple and it is a way to use up the bright colored acrylics in my stash that I bought to knit purses before I discovered the joy of using cotton instead.

They have three patterns, each a little bit more difficult. As well as written instructions, they also give you the finished dimensions of each size (2-10). Of course I did NOT do a gauge square and just jumped right into making a size 2 based on the written number of stitches to cast on. I am knitting a purple and lavendar stripe, since I don't have any one color with enough yardage for an entire sweater.

I kept looking at this sweater body as I knit and thought, "my goodness, I did not know 2 year olds were so big!". So I measured the width of the front and compared it to the pattern diagram, and I am knitting a size 10. Guess my yarn is bulkier than the model. The instructions say to adjust needle size as needed, but I don't want to go smaller than a size 7 needle, so will just have to adjust the stitch numbers. Simple math. Calculators help!

So if any of you out there are interested in doing some charity knitting without group deadline pressure and have some bright acrylics languishing in your stash, take a look at the web site.

I'll publish a photo of the sweater when I finish. I'm thinking of a goal of knitting one sweater a month and mailing a package when I get six. I am stating this on my blog so hopefully there won't be one half-finished striped sweater sitting on the floor of the closet at the end of the summer!!!

Creativity

2007-06-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

Evidently my "creativity button" has come unstuck. Suddenly I see possibilities in yarn and patterns everywhere. As readers of my blog know, I have been plodding along with my first lace, making a pink cotton lace shawl. The cotton is a very nice quality of crochet cotton that comes on cardboard spools. I was using a discontinued FiberTrends pattern that came with the yarn from Elann.com, no longer on web page.

I struggled with the center panel and finally finished it, learning finally to read a chart vs my stitches.

Started the first border and I could get it mostly right, but could not do nupps with this kind of yarn and without the nupps, the pattern was boring. Rippit, rippit.

Then I had a "creativity moment". WHY did I need to slavishly follow this designer? Yes, it is gorgeous, but so what?

I got out my stitch dictionary and started dreaming through the lace patterns. This took quite awhile but I not only came up with choices for the two borders, I am going to be actually telling a story with the shawl. Mystery moment...........stay tuned for what I came up with.

Finished Purse

2007-06-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is the finished purse. I had it with me in a yarn shop yesterday and received a compliment on it. It is truly an original. I hope everybody knitting along creates a unique purse that they enjoy carrying during the hot summer months. If anybody sends a photo, I will put it on the blog!

Lining Your Purse

2007-06-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a knitted purse pattern that ended with. “Line the Purse.” And that is the final sentence? Now I know why designers do that. It is very difficult to tell somebody how to line a purse. I googled the subject and the two web pages I found had directions that confused me and I have lined many purses!

Essentially when you make a purse lining, you are mimicking the shape of the purse with fabric. I used cotton print fabric for the lining and cotton batting for the interfacing layer.

Measuring:

The width of your entire purse, smooshed flat.

The depth of your purse.

The width of your purse bottom.

The length of the purse bottom.

Cutting:

Cut a rectangle the measurement of the bottom of your purse, plus 1/4" seam allowance on all four sides. Cut two rectangles from cotton print and one from interfacing (batting).

Cut a large rectangle double the width of your purse plus 1 1/2" long, and the depth of your purse wide. Cut two from cotton fabric and one from interfacing.

You are going to make three lining shapes. Do these steps three times!

Sew the big rectangle together at the short edges, 1/4" seams. If you do not have a sewing machine, use a running backstitch.

This makes a TUBE shape. Sew one open edge of this tube to the rectangle you cut for the purse bottom. Make it fit. You might have to make some pleats at the corners.

Now you have three shapes that look like your purse. Layer them inside your purse:

1. first cotton layer, right sides toward wrong side of purse.
2. batting layer
3. second cotton layer, wrong side toward batting layer.
4. Fold the raw edges at the top together in such a way that you have a smooth edge with no raw edges showing.

Now you put your lining “basket” into the purse and slipstitch it to the purse, about 1/2" from the top. I actually like, at this point, to turn my knitted purse fabric wrong side out and put the lining on it that way, it seems to be easier to get it onto the purse evenly.

I overcast stitch the lining to my purse using thread that is a compromise between the lining fabric color and the yarn color. If you are careful doing your slipstitch, the thread melds into the yarn stitches and does not show. If you machine stitch at this step, it is going to show. voice of experience.

My favorite closure is a zipper. I put it in by hand, using a strong backstitch. I match the yarn color and not the zipper color, because I put these stitches strongly into the yarn and they are going to show. You CAN use the machine on this, but it is trickier. For this purse I bought a 14" zipper from the fabric store. I also bought a decorative clip-on zipper pull to make it easier to grab.

Zipper installation:

With the zipper closed and your purse facing you, tuck it into the top of the purse and pin the zipper tape to each side of the purse the way you want it to look. This is an important step if you want your purse to be the proper shape when closed. Then open the zipper and sew each side of the zipper tape down tightly to the purse, using a backstitch.

(Note: if you want to wait on stitching in your lining until now, the lining can be handstitched to the edge of the zipper tape now. This eliminates the gap between the zipper and the lining and might appeal to you.

If you choose to make a fancy crochet edge at the top of your purse, or an attached icord, or some such, you would stitch your zipper below that. And icord cast-off looks amazing, but your zipper pull can "eat" it. Voice of experience.

To tame the ends of your purse, pinch up the purse into an accordion fold and thread the folds with yarn and tie a bow.

Handle:
For this purse I recycled a leather handle that I am able to tie on the purse with yarn. You can knit or crochet a handle and sew it onto your purse. You can get "d" rings or acrylic squares (buckles) and use them to fasten on a handle. Since you have installed a zipper, you can attach a single handle at each end of the purse and it won't gape open, but will fall into a graceful curve.

This purse turned out to be the new "baguette" shape because the shape of the dishcloths made it long and shallow. I thought I would not like that, but it is very user-friendly. The handle lets it sink into a nice "hobo" shape, but when it is opened, everything inside is easy to find.

Purse Ends and Bottom

2007-05-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

Now you have the two sides for your purse. To give the purse dimension, we need to add ends and a bottom. Measure one of your purse side pieces around three of its sides. Knit a 3" strip this length.

Sew one side of the completed strip to one of your purse sides, right sides together, easing the strip around the corner so it fits nicely. Work with the two pieces to make them match, stretching one of the pieces if necessary. Use any seaming method you prefer.

Now attach the other side.

You now have a purse shape.

Cast-On Methods

2007-05-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

I learned to cast-on using the backward loop method, which is the least sturdy and smooth cast-on method, but is the quickest for me. Cable cast-on takes forever. The second quickest for me is the Long-Tail Cast-On, but of course the problem is guessing how much yarn to pull out for the long tail. I never guess right. The other evening I tried about six times and finally did the backward loop method! Then I read this tip on 1870 Pearl blog. Click on this long-tail cast-on instruction and learn how to estimate the right amount of yarn for your long tail! And while you are on her blog, enjoy everything on this blog. It is one for your bookmarks!

Zipper Source

2007-05-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Diane D. (see comments on last blog entry) I can give you a source to order zippers for your purse. It is an Ebay store called Zipperstop.
You can order individual 14" black ones for 95 cents apiece, or there are color assortments. Under "zippers" in the store there is a category for "handbag zippers" and you can look over the selection.

Note: if you just plan to make one or two purses with zippers, the YKK dressmaker zippers available at Walmart and various fabric shops are adequate to the task; just get a clip on zipper pull or tie some yarn on the pull to make it easier to grab. I carry my purses everyday and the zipper gets a lot of action and has so far been up to the task.

Zippers & other Lining Issues

2007-05-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

I was thinking ahead to the lining on this purse KAL and did some zipper research for you. I have always just popped into the fabric store and bought an ordinary dressmaker zipper in the color suitable for my purse. However, many of the handmade purses you see in boutiques have heavier zippers. So I started googling and found a site where you can order these nice zippers. However, it is a 3 week delivery time and you have to order 12 of one color. Other sites I visited were also bulk orders.

So for those of us who just make a purse now and then for our own use, we will have to make do with dressmaker weight zippers. I did find a snap-on decorative pull on the "button wall" at Hancock's Fabrics, and it does make it much easier to grasp the teeny zipper pull provided on the zipper. I generally have just been tying some yarn onto the zipper pull. I made a beaded pull once, but it eventually fell off!

So, for those of you thinking ahead to your purse lining, you need at least a 14" zipper and 1/2 yard of fabric. I like to choose a cotton print that coordinates with my yarn. For the interfacing, I like to use quilt batting. I prefer to buy the batting that looks like a blanket. Two nice ones are Warm & Natural batting and Heirloom Cotton Blend. You can also buy some sturdy non-woven interfacing. Fabric stores and Walmart sell this by the yard. I have used both, and prefer the end result when using batting. If you are also a quilter, you will have batting lying around. If not, you might find it easier to buy some interfacing by the yard.

Starting to Seam

2007-05-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Once you have four knitted squares, decide on what blocks to sew together for each side. Use your favorite method of making a seam; this is a simple running stitch.

I decided to embellish my seamline to introduce another color. I took some green yarn and crocheted a chain.

I fastened the chain over the seamline using a running stitch with the same yarn.

This is the other side of my purse.

Our next step will be to knit a strip that will become the sides and bottom. Stay tuned.

Second Square

2007-05-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

For anybody still searching for knit stitch patterns, here is the second square I knitted. My book calls it "Little Checkers" but it is kind of a giant moss stitch.

Multiple of four stitches.
Row 1: *K2, P2* repeat **
Row 2&4: work each pattern stitch at appears on this side of the work (k the knit and p the purl)
Row 3: *P2, K2* repeat **

This is mindless knitting, pretty much. You are stacking (on the right side) two purl stitches and two knit stitches, then reversing the order on the next two rows. I consider it a double moss stitch.
Here is a REAL closeup. If you look carefully you can see where the knit and purls are.

Chatting

2007-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Knitters always like to chat about their projects and share ideas. If anybody wants to email (my email is in my profile) me with your design decisions, etc, I can send group emails to everyone in the group. Low tech version of a yahoo group, I guess!

And I am going to want pictures of these finished bags!

And please remember, leaving a comment on the blog is great, but if you are asking to be on the list, I can't put you on my email list unless I have your email. I am not ignoring you, I just don't know how to reach you.

NanKnits Cooks, Too

2007-05-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

I also like to cook. I have a blog called NanCooks but lost my password for now so will occasionally talk about food here instead. When I cook something especially good and easy will tell you about it. Will also give out some tips. I've started listening to some food podcasts and am learning interesting things.

Last night I cooked ground turkey breast (with only .5 grams of fat per serving, I am trying to learn to like this stuff) with a chopped onion and a handful of shredded carrots (I buy the stuff in the bag in the refrigerated case at the store). Added a jar of Ragu Organic Spaghetti Sauce, Traditional Flavor. This is the best flavor of any sauce in a jar that I have tried. Not too tart, not too sweet, an organic as a bonus.

I served this sauce over gemelli. It is a very nice pasta that holds some sauce and is easy to eat with a fork. I don't like rotini, spaghetti and fettucini is hard to eat, bow ties say 'pasta salad' to me, so I started looking for other shapes. Radiatori is also very good. This pasta web site shows you all the shapes. Finding them in the grocery store is another matter.

I also take sliced gourmet style bread and toast it, then drizzle with olive oil to serve. My store carries LaBrea Bread

You watermelon lovers out there: cube it and put it in your green salad with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum.

Getting on the List

2007-05-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

I am NOT tech savvy. Not at all. I don't even know how to "Steal a Button". Gotta buy Blogging for Dummies I guess. Anyway, if you want to be included on my official list, I need your email address. Am putting everyone into a group in my address book. If you simply post a comment and your email is not in your profile, I am stuck getting in touch with you. Now, if you have a Blog, I can go onto it and reach you that way.

I checked, and my profile does include my email link. (It also listed my age as over 200 years old...I typed in the wrong year of birth evidently, so I took that off altogether)

Design Decisions

2007-05-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

I have heard from quite a few knitters who are eager to join me in designing a purse. And if they are anything like me, they want to start NOW.

You have a couple of design decisions to make before you grab that yarn.

1) The most important decision is how big you want your purse to be. The size of your squares determines the finished size of your purse. Make your squares half the width of the finished purse and the height you want your purse to be. You should add an extra row at the top and bottom and and an extra stitch at each side for seams. We are adding sides and a bottom to this purse, so you don't have to allow for that, if your square is 7x7, your purse will be 7x14 more or less.

2) Next in importance is color. I am using purple, turquoise, hot pink, lavendar. The sides and bottom are unknown; I have to go yarn shopping. All one color would be fine; the texture is going to be awesome on your purse. I would not advise using variegated on the squares for one reason only: you lose all the impact of your tediously counted pattern with variegated. I have read this fact several places. I personally LOVE variegated yarn and this was a hard lesson for me to learn! If you are going to use variegated in any of the squares, use a very simple stitch pattern, such as plain garter stitch.

2) The stitch patterns you choose should not use holes as a design element unless you are very careful of the color of your purse lining; it will show through. Knit/purl combinations to make textural designs are best. I discuss this in a previous entry. I know you dishcloth knitters like to make recognizable designs using knit and purl and this is a good showcase for those. Maybe your initials on one side?

3) The smaller your needle, the denser your knitted fabric, obviously. Either a #6, #7, or #8 works for me. When I did my first square, my #6 and #7 Denise were busy, so I grabbed my #8. With a lined purse, it really does not matter if the stitches are bigger. Plus, you finish faster with bigger needles.

4) Make it easy on yourself and as you flip through your stitch library, look for patterns with similar stitch requirements; I have found quite a few that call for a multiple of 4 +3 (4x6=24+3=27) and my squares are 27. If all your squares are the same size, it will be simpler, although these squares can be stretched a bit or scrunched when you sew them to the base.

5) Dishcloth designs tend to have borders to make them more userfriendly. You won't need borders on this square, but you can make them; they would certainly add interest to your purse. And probably make sewing the seams easier. Hmmmmm........

With all this to mull over, I'll see you on Monday. You can start making those four squares any time! Here is my first square:

The pattern is from The Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns and it is called "Furrows".

If you like this pattern and want it for one of your squares:
Multiple of 6 stitches plus 3
Cast on 27 (on #8 needles I got 6 1/2" wide square)
Rows 1 and 3: P3, *k1, slip 1, k1, p3*, repeat * *
All even rows: work each stitch as it appears on this side of the work (k the k sts and p the p sts)
Rows 5 and 7: K4, * slip 1, k5* repeat **, ending last repeat with k4.
Rows 1-8 make a pattern repeat.

Knit a Long

2007-05-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

Wow! I posted my idea on Knitlist and Monthly Dishcloth KAL and already have some interested people. This is going to be such fun. A learning experience for me, for sure. Everyone asked if they needed to sign up and I said no. Then I realized I needed to be somewhat organized about this (not a normal thing for me) so as I get inquiries from you, I will put your email into a "group" in my address book and send out notices when I post a step. The first four steps will simply be the patterns I choose for my squares.

Musings about Fancy Stitch Patterns

2007-05-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the knit-a-long I am designing, I spent yesterday with a ball of cotton yarn, a Denise needle #8, and my stitch dictionary. That is some strong Sugar 'n Cream yarn! I have used the same yardage about ten times. Rippit, Rippit. I am a notorious multi-tasker and it is hard to count stitches when your attention is divided; I am usually either watching tv or listening to a recorded book while I knit. Probably why there are so many mistakes in my pink lace shawl!

I started with really dazzling stitch pattern choices. I discovered after about six separate attempts at fancy patterns that you can't multitask and get the stitch count right! Also, cotton yarn and plastic needles don't comfortably do more than knit, purl, and yarn-overs. Dipping down to do a "long stitch" or hauling that slipped stitch over the next couple of stitches is not easy with sturdy yarn. I also noticed, even when I got the pattern right, that those fancy techniques tend to leave openings in the knitted fabric that I don't want for my purse fabric.

So for this purse project, I will stick to knit and purl combinations and am trying for easy repeats. I DO want one of the squares to be have bobbles, though, so will give a simple pattern a try on that. You'll find out later if it was successful.

Purse Knit-A-Long Supplies

2007-05-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

Let's make a purse! First choose your colors and your yarn. This is designed for leftovers; those of you who knit dishcloths, I know you have lots of partial balls of cotton. Ideally, you will have five or six coordinating colors. Each side will be two squares, each end will be a rectangle, and the bottom will be a rectangle. All the pieces can be different colors or any combination. Your purse could also be all one color or shades of one color; up to you. I want contrast on mine, so my four squares will be pink, purple, turquoise, and lavendar.

You also want to chase down a stitch dictionary or go to your files and get some patterns you are saving. If you are a member of a dishcloth knit-a-long, you probably have a whole stash of cool patterns. Pick four. You want to avoid lace patterns and lots of yarn overs or any kind of holes in the pattern choice.

Use whatever needle, size 6, 7, or 8, that you like for washcloths. I'm using an 8. If you don't plan to line your purse, choose a smaller needle so the fabric will be tighter.

I'll post to the list each time I put up a step.

Purse Knit-A-Long Introduction

2007-05-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

I want to design a new summer purse. I have a Stitch Dictionary. I have some partial balls of Sugar 'n Cream leftover from washcloths. Put these all together and I came up with an idea for the purse. Other knitters always ask me how I make my knitted purses, so I thought I would share the creation of this purse with as many knitters as possible via my Blog. So here is a knit-a-long. You can watch the purse emerge and make one later, or you can knit one along with me.

This is a chance for you to design your own purse. Although I will be telling you the colors and the stitch patterns I choose, you will be choosing your own colors and stitch patterns. I am simply giving you a blueprint or technique for making a purse.

And for those of you who crochet, you can make this purse, too. Just use your crochet stitch dictionary.

Charleston

2007-05-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am going to be in Charleston week after next and Googled yarn shops there and there is one walking distance from my hotel. It has a very succinct name: Knit. Their May newsletter was all about socks so I can expand my knowledge, maybe. I had already planned to take my knitting to the park down by the water. Now I can also sit and knit surrounded by yarn for awhile. DH has a conference there on Monday and Tuesday, so am on my own except for an afternoon cooking school (my other interest). The shop is closed on Sunday and Monday and I am with hubby on Saturday, but I will certainly be knocking on their door Tuesday morning!

I don't have a good track record of finding yarn shops on trips; I will relate that tale at another time. But this one looks like it is REALLY there. And walking distance, to boot.