Of Course!

It finally occurred to me that "there must be an app for that". So here I sit in a local restaurant having lunch and blogging! (Sometimes I think I'm a bit slow...)

Anyway, I started a new project this morning inspired by a skein of bamboo and rayon yarn I was gifted over the holidays. Starry Starry Night is now on the needle. Yes, just one 40 inch circular worked back and forth in a pseudo magic loop. Fun to knit, but a challenge to count the cast on stitches. Away I go!

New Beginnings

I've been planning to get back to this blog for ages.  The plan was that once I had internet at home I'd be able to blog regularly. Well, I've been in the new place for two years now and still don't have internet. Somehow the time just flew by. 

Anyway, I've been getting the crochet bug lately thanks to a new fiber gathering.  It is amazing how wearing crocheted and knitted shawls at work brings the fiber enthusiasts out of the closet!  It was change over day between semesters when four of us ended up in the copy room at once.  I was wearing the knitted Thao that I had just finished.  Admirations, project discussions, wishes for time to craft turned into a plan.

We decided to start meeting once a week after school. We even selected Wednesdays and settled on the art room as our gathering place. Then...nothing. The promised e-mail announcing the first meeting never arrived.  However, science teacher to the rescue!  She and I decided to just send out the e-mail ourselves to the copy room group. By the next morning there was a second e-mail inviting the entire faculty to join us!  It worked.

So, last Wednesday was our first get together. We taught a newbie the knit stitch and I've promised to teach another to make granny squares.  It is she and the gobs of acrylic the art teacher wants us to use up that has inspired me to start some grannies of my own... What a nice and relaxing way to end a work day. I feel very lucky.

10 Shawls Progress

I'm behind in my original plan to do one shawl a month until I hit the ten shawl goal, but a little catch up it always good, right?

Seraphina - The shawl that is so much fun to make, stays on the shoulders so well, and handles multicolored yarn so beautifully. I forgot how much I like this pattern. Thanks Mary for selecting it for your hand spun!

Flying Diamonds Shawl - Such a lovely and intuitive pattern. There are fewer repeats to the pattern than you might think. One friend commented at first glance that this looked knitted! From her that is a compliment. =-) Both still need to be blocked. I hope to get it done this week in and around my second graduate class of the summer. Now that I have a new couch and the living room is arranged for a while, it leaves a space open for the blocking. (BTW I am loving the new couch. It is so nice to lay on cushions instead of rug covered cement...)

The knitting continues, although it is bothering my left elbow. I think it is the little finger movements of moving the stitches up for knitting. I'm taking it easy, but will keep going to build up those muscles...

The Baktus is coming along nicely. I had to frog the first attempt as the edge stitches were much too loose which impacted the gauge of the entire piece. A little experimentation with slipping that first stitch (thanks Donna!) and things are progressing nicely. It looks like I will have a knitted shawl in my 10 Shawls for 2010. Who would have thought? Not I!

Lastly, I picked up a dish cloth book yesterday at AC Moore because I liked the stitch patterns and thought they'd make nice baby hats. Started one. Frogged because it was not a good match to the yarn. Started a second, basket weave, which is coming along well. As for crochet, I'm back to working on a friend's afghan. Pics of these last pieces soon!

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Double Delight

I finished the Foolproof Baby Hat and then went right on to an invented pattern of simple garter stitch alternated in stripes with stockinette. I am delighted with both hats! The first is so softly stretchy it will fit a variety of heads and as a friend pointed out be wearable for quite a while as the baby grows. The second has nice stretch, although not as much as the first. I feel so accomplished! I knit not one, but two hats.

I'm finding that knit is so different in movement and rhythm from crochet that they will be nice counterpoints to each other. Need a break from that crochet project, knit...and vice versa. So much fun.

In fact I am going to make a shawl/scarf that I loved from the moment I saw it. I attempted a crochet version, but with my new found/renewed skill it is now a MUST! (Um, I may have started it as soon as I finished the second hat. Of course I had to look up how to do a yarn over and knit through the back loop first...)

Proximal Zone

I've been thinking of knitting baby hats in order to use up the yarn left over from various projects. I've been thinking about it for a while now. What had me thinking?

• I haven't really knit for at least 25 years. My Nana taught me when I was little, but I was never very good at the whole tension thing. So, I gave it up. After crocheting for so long I figured that I should try again. I now know that I can bury a world of errors in textured fabric, and anyway the baby won't care.
• Knit often uses less yarn so the smaller left overs would go further.
• Knit has more stretch than the crochet baby hats I've made. I think it is better suited for those delicate little heads.

I've been ruminating on it for a while. I figured I could manage to work a flat piece with ribbing followed by stockinette and then just sew it up. Seemed it would be simple enough to be doable.

Well, I've stopped thinking and started stitching. Why now? My professor indirectly challenging me to work within the Proximal Zone. i.e. the state of learning where you are just a bit uncomfortable, but with support/guidance your goal is attainable. I found the challenge an attractive one. The more I thought about it I realized that this pretty much describes the link between myself and knitting. So, I got going. What have I learned?

• Wooden knitting needles make a world of difference! They grab the acrylic just enough that I don't have to worry about them sliding out of the work.
• Surprise! I can actually tell the difference between knit and purl stitches. I guess hanging around with so many knitters has rubbed off. =-)
• Ditto when it comes to tinking. I have no idea if I put the stitches back on correctly or twisted them, but it looks decent. Woot!
• I now really appreciate just how much faster crochet is than knitting. I've always known this for fact, but now have the experience to back it up. For this reason I'll likely stick to These small hats and maybe an occassional dish cloth. Oh, and the stuffed bears my Nana used to make. I want to learn to make those.
• Width is hard to determine when your fabric is on the needle.
• Knitting has a nice rhythm to it.
• I can count to two over and over and over and over...
• Getting to the end of a row with the right stitch count is a rush.

"Foolproof Baby Hat" from The Knitter's Book of Yarn

A Little Bit of This and That

YCrochetY

Two beautiful hanks of hand spun yarn by my friend Mary are quickly transforming into a Seraphina Shawl. I love how well this pattern is showing off the various shades of blues and greens. I wish I'd been able to show just how brilliant the colors are. It is such an adventure to do a large project from hand spun. Before this the largest was a hat! I hope Mary likes it!

YSpinning - Tour de FleeceY

First mission accomplished...the four ounces of Shetland wool have been spun and are patiently awaiting plying. What they will become ultimately depends on how much yardage/weight I end up with. I'm thinking of making this into a three ply...

Then I went searching in my project bags for another UFO and came up with this. I haven't spun on this style spindle in some time and found it a pleasant change of pace from the Turkish I was using. Lesson learned. Have more than one spinning project going and have them on different style spindles. Fun! Oh...the fiber is Colonial wool and the spindle is from Zebisis.

YShopping - Chain Link ConferenceY

The CGOA Conference was held in Manchester, NH this past weekend. I wasn't tempted by any of the classes this year, but decided it was worth the trip to poke around in the marketplace. This was especially true when I heard that MissBabs was going to be there! Yes, those two lovely braids of fiber on the right are from her booth (left = BFL in Lake Michigan right = 50 Merino/30 Bamboo/20 Tussah Silk in Falling Leaves). Goal achieved!

I spent a few hours taking in the fibery fumes and enjoying all the lovely temptations. I managed to escape with just one more purchase. The beautiful purple and blue skein of sock yarn, much more vivid and deeper in color in real life, that jumped into my basket in the Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm booth along with a cloissonne stitch marker which is on the Seraphina at the moment. I left well satisfied that the trip had been worth the effort. Storing away ideas for the future!

YBaking - Celebrating Independence DayY

I hope everyone in the USA enjoyed their Independence Day celebrations! Mine was spent in the traditional manner of a BBQ surrounded by friends. My contribution was the dessert above. Several people had recommended these cookies made from a lemon cake mix. It was the first time I've ever rolled cookies in powdered sugar before baking. I love how they look all crackled and powdery. Were they good? Yes, but a bit sweet for me. I think next time I might try a tart lemon glaze made from the powdered sugar. My mouth waters just thinking about it!

Happy stitching, spinning, shopping, and celebrating one and all!

Spinning...Not just for cyclists

Yes, you've guessed it. I am a first time participant in the Tour de Fleece! What's it all about? Set a goal and try to reach it by spinning fiber into yarn on every day that the cyclists of the Tour de France are spinning their wheels across the countryside.

So, what is my goal?

Am I going to spin X ounces of fiber? Nope

Am I going to make X yards of yarn? Nope

Am I going to spin enough for X project? Nope

These all seem just too daunting. So, I'm making it simple. I want to spin more often, but seem to get side tracked by other things. Therefore, my simple goal is to spin for a minimum of 15 minutes daily on any WIP in my pile. Um, don't ask me how many there are...I'm not going to count. I really don't want to know. ;-)

Today, I reached my 15 minute goal. A few more days like this and the entire 4 ounces of undyed Shetland wool will be finished!

Good luck to all participants. May you reach your goals!

Encore

Do you find there are some patterns you've worked with that just require an encore performance? Perhaps it is akin the "potato chip knitting" where you cannot make just one. It is a rare thing for me to want to make something more than once, but there it is. Three shawl patterns that just would not let go! Of course the first is the Mock Faroese by Lily Chin. The evidence:

Then there is My Blue Jean's Shawl using Elisa's variation which not only caught my fancy, but also that of my friends and family. Of course, I loved the pattern so much that I was happy to make some for them:

#1 I thought was for me, but turned out to be for Gina

#2 This was meant for me, and I actually got to keep it!

#3 Went to my friend Gail

#4 Was a surprise for my Mom after she hinted rather heavily...

#5 A lighter blue for the spring and summer...for me

#6 Is a repeat of #2 for a swap partner. It went off to the midwest.

#7 Went to my sister after she wondered aloud when she would get one of these shawls. I later learned she had been hinting at the same time our Mom was, but I had missed it! LOL

The last one was the result of a search for a summer shawl for my mother (first picutre). It is the Crocheted Cobweb Capelets and Shawls (AC-31) by Evelyn A. Clark which comes in four shapes. All of these were made with fingering weight Frog Tree Alpaca. It is a simple pattern which turns out airy, drapey, and warm. When a friend asked for shawls fitting this description for some relatives, how could I say no?

The red triangular one has inspired me to make one of these for myself some day. I love rounded ones, but they just don't look well on me. If figure I deserve one...

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So, what patterns have you stitched that deserved an encore?

Hello Again

I am more than a little shocked to discover so much time has gone by since I last posted! January? Really? Ah, well at least there's always the opportunity to start again.

When last we spoke I was a renter. Now, I am a home owner! Thanks to the real estate market and the first time home buyer funds from the government I now own a lovely little condo. WOOT!

So, let's see, crochet... what do I have to report... Um, how about this?

It was started way back in November around Thanksgiving and just recently finished. Why? My sister took off for the winter and was not around to decide on the size or border. I still love this Mock Faroese pattern by Lily Chin. It is simply perfect for those yarns with long color repeats. I'm pleased to say she loves it and so does her husband. High praise indeed!

This make the third time I've crocheted this pattern and I am certain it will not be the last. Speaking of patterns stitched more than once, I'll have another to share next time.

Here's hoping everyone has been enjoying their stitching while I've been absent. I look forward to catching up with all of you! TTFN - Gigi

An Auspicious Beginning

My first shawl for the 10 Shawls in 2010 is done! When I saw how quickly it was working up, I found it hard to put down. Then it occurred to me...wouldn't it be cool to be the first person to finish a shawl and do it on the first day of the new year? Mission Accomplished!

Happy New Year!

Anyone who knows me or has been reading for a while knows I am addicted to shawls. So, when a little birdy whispered in my ear that there was a group starting on Ravelry called 10 Shawls in 2010, what was I to do? Join and start planning of course!

Well, it is almost midnight in Olso, Norway. When it is 1 second past, we can begin. I feel lucky that I'm six hours behind. I get to start stitching at 6pm! What will the first shawl be? Well, since I am working on a large one for a friend, I picked a smaller one: All Shawl by Doris Chan. I have a skein of Sapphire Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn that has needed a project for a while. Soon it will be a shawlette!

Happy New Year to all (whatever time it begins where you are)!!!!!

Refreshed

I've been making so many large projects, that I forgot the joy of quick little ones. Thanks to the dishcloth swap, I've been refreshed. Perhaps I should intersperse some hats in with the larger projects for that little rush of success. After all, one can only use just so many dishcloths! ;-)


Create Your Own

Patterns: Fish Washcloth/Dishcloth, Super Simple Tawashi Flower, Amikomo 3-28, N-592 Ohina Tawashi, Fire Blossom Dishcloth, and Simple Scrubby

Homeward Bound

In less than a week, I will be a homeowner for the first time. I wanted a house, but could afford a condo. So, I searched until I found the comforts I wanted. Now I'm looking forward to (in no particular order):

1) Having a dish washer again. It's been about 20 years.
2) Having a garage! I am so tired of scraping icy windows and shoving snow off my car.
3) A washer and drier in my home. No more common laundry. No running up and down the stairs. No more waiting for a machine or for people to move their clothes.
4) If it's broken or doing something strange, I can just take care of it rather than waiting and waiting for maintenance.
5) An extra bedroom for guests. =-)
6) Using something bigger than a tack nail to hang things on the wall.
7) NO MORE BUILDER BEIGE rugs!!!
8) Walls that are colored instead of white, white, white everywhere I look.
9) Furniture purchased to suit the space.

Oh, I could go on and on. I'm so excited and grateful that the current market conditions have helped bring this about, at last!

The circular lace afghan was meant for the guest bedroom whenever I found a place. Perhaps, that is why I have not frogged or swatched the new version. Perhaps, I'm waiting to be home.

Flashy Fiber

The other day I was in the LYS looking for a semisolid fingering weight yarn to make a lace scarf. Um, this one. Anyway, I walked by a display with a big fluorescent sign stating, "Do not work with this yarn pulling from the center. It will tangle. It is designed to be worked from the outside." I looked, at the yarn in the baskets, but didn't see anything unusual. Just the typical skeins. I wondered, but moved on.

I kept shopping and walking by that sign. I could not stand it any longer and decided to dig through the baskets. That's when I discovered this: The sign was referring to these Zauberballs. It didn't take long for one to jump up and demand to be taken home. (I'm a sucker for purples). No pics yet, but it is transforming into the aforementioned lace scarf, beautifully.

Oh, and speaking of lace, yes, Halia is no more. I have not, however, gotten around to the circular afghan. I guess it needs some more time in time out.

Then there is the scarf I made from Wisdom Poems using half double crochet. The colors were so beautiful I realized a simple textured stitch was the way to go.

I'm really happy with the result. It is headed for the local women's shelter as requested by the author of the Halia pattern. I hope it keeps someone nice and warm this winter.

Not Quite

These two projects have been in time out for a while. I've been trying to work up the courage to frog them...

This is the All Around Throw.It started out really well. Beautiful lacy center which lay beautifully flat. I imagined it laid out on a bed in my spare-bedroom-to-be. But...

In the end, there was extra material. There is no way to lay this out flat. Now I understand why it was photographed over the end of a bed. I thought the drape was simply because of the way it was laid out. Live and learn! So, here is the plan. I'm going to rip out the last ball of yarn and restart. I'll use two less sections. With luck the center will lay flat and I can just follow the rest of the pattern as written. If it does not lay flat I'll have to decide if I should rip it out or put the last ball back on and call it a day.

Then there is Halia. A beautiful pattern I just fell in love with immediately. A quick search of a LYS yielded this lovely natural BFL. It is just the color I need to round out my shawls/wraps.

Everything was going beautifully. The lace is lovely and has a nice rhythm to the work. But...
Upon starting the second half I got these! The staring edge is arched, but the pattern does not allow for filling in this arch when beginning the second half. Pulling them together results in this extra fabric. I could try blocking it out, but I'm pretty certain it will just reappear. NOT attractive. This one is destined for the frog pond never to return.

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Now, what shall I do with the lovely wool...?

Feeling Flowery

This... Plus this...

Equals...

This!

A little bit of flower like sunshine to cheer up the kitchen. This one isn't actually for me. It will be part of a round robin dish cloth swap.

I haven't done a swap like this before, but I'm looking forward to it. After sign ups, the moderator starts us off with 6 dishcloths. She sends them to the first person on the list. That person can take 1 or all of the dishcloths as long as she/he replaces each with a new one before sending them on. They can be knit or crochet. I will be far enough down on the list that by the time the package reaches me there is likely to be a nice variety of work by the various talented hands participating.

It has been a while since I did a swap. Thanks to Ravelry...here we go again!

A Thought for the Day

Have you ever been in a joke shop? I have to admit even though I recently entered my fifth decade, I'd never done so. What's the point? It will be stupid. It will be gross. I don't need to go in there! Or so I thought.

There were stupid gags, and gross ones. But, surprisingly there were also some real delights: costumes, silly signs, games, gifts for milestone birthdays, sand art, rain sticks... We had a great time reading to each other and holding up our "finds". Laughing.

Then I saw it. It wasn't very big. Just a wee bumper sticker. It stopped us in our tracks. The message?

Life is Sexually Transmitted

Hmmm, how true!

Seclusion Success

I spent the weekend secluded in my home so as not to spread my germs. Sometimes, sharing is not a good thing-LOL!
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Anyway, since I was stuck in the house with the prospect of boredom, my thoughts turned to UFOs. I was hoping there was something in the pile that could give me that victory rush one gets when finishing a project. Lo, there was one. The Cotton Country Shawl which I started last November was patiently waiting for two measly rows and a border.
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Ha! Easy peasy and DONE!
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I'm so happy with the result. I wanted to be enveloped. Adding 3.4 extra repeats resulted in a shawl that when lain on my shoulders reaches just past my wrists. Of course the fact that it is made from silky wool rather than cotton adds to that yummy wrapped in comfort feeling. Just what I needed. =-)

Causing a Stir

Questions fired in rapid succession from two nearby tables in a restaurant when I pulled out my Jenkins Turkish Delight:

Whatcha doin'?
Is that a toy?
Is that cotton or wool?
Can you repeat that?

The verdict? That's so cool! LOL

Spreading the fiber love. =-)

Progress...

Progress Blocked: I thought I'd be working on getting my classroom ready for next week. But... someone has decided to sleep on my supplies! I don't call him "box cat" for nothing.=-)So, here I am posting to the blog. There is a lot of spinning to catch up on. Serious progress.

Progress Success! First, this little beauty came to live with me for a few weeks. The lovely Gina lent me her Ashford Traditional. It is a sweet wheel.
I took to it quickly and spun some soy silk. See the two skeins below? The one on the left was spun on a spindle and the one on the right on the wheel. They are amazingly similar!Then, because I had to try something else I grabbed 4oz of Falkland Combed Top dyed by the amazing Heather of Sereknity in her Black Forrest Fudge colorway. Yummy!I'm really happy with both of these yarns. I wondered if I would be able to spin on a wheel, and now I know. Woot! A lot of the things I've read about spinning make more sense now that I've sat sat a wheel. Thanks Gina!

Progress? No. Learning? Yes. Then I had to try out my new Greensleeves Ethan Jakob spindle. I decided it might be just right for the one and only fiber batt I own. I had no idea that there were so many different ways to spin from a batt. I think I tried them all! Here is some on the Ethan Jakob and on a toy wheel spindle twice its weight.

Close up...In the end I gave up and threw all of the spun stuff away. I think there is just too much going on in this batt: 50% BFL, 40% Bamboo, and 10% fire star. The different fibers tended to separate as I spun so there would be stretches of almost pure BFL or Bamboo. Not my thing. That and they seemed to want to tangle.

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I'm sure much of this is my inexperience! I thought the BFL would balance the slippery bamboo. Nope. Not in my hands it didn't. I'm going to have to just let this one go and stick to top for a while.

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So, the rest of the batt is up for grabs. There is more than 3oz left... Interested?