Thanks, Readers

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting Organized

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

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



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

Double Knitting

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

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



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

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

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