So here I was ...
... thinking the power outage was done and over with and a couple of hours later the power went out AGAIN and this time it didn't come on for two whole days!! It was due to the ice storm that Kentucky and Indiana and maybe even other parts had to deal with. I couldn't really tell you, since we were only able to listen to the radion in those two days to keep up with what was going on locally. It was crazy. People stood in the local Walmart foyer charging their cell phones, batteries, kerosin, candles foods that don't require cooling and heating were wiped off the shelves and even chain saws were a hot item, to cut the trees and branches that broke off from the extra weight of the frozen rain. Even the proudest looking tree ended up looking like a weeping willow.
It took another whole day for the cable and internet to come back. It sure makes you realize how much we depend on electricity these days. Thank god for a hobby that doesn't require batteries.
I kept myself busy with this.
I took this picture outside to show off the colors better, but they are not THAT bright in rality. The pattern in the
Nordic Mittens from IK Winter 2004. I used Knit Picks Essential Sockyarn in black and Regia Canadian Color. With the size 1 (2.25mm) KP Harmony needles they got a little tight, since the original pattern calls for sport weight yarn, but I'm sure they'll stretch out enough. After I show them to our local knitting group tomorrow night, they will go off to my younger son's teacher as a late birthday present.
The felted mittens, the dark blue ones, are currently on their way to Germany to my dad, together with the cardigan I made for him. The felting itself turned out great. The mittens are thick an probably pretty water resistent, but unfortunately the cables disappeared almost completely. It was almost a waste of time to even put them in there, but we'll just write that off as a learning experience. I forgot to take a picture of the finished mittens, before I put them in the box.
Yesterday I cast on for some
felted slippers. My husband actually "ordered" those and how can I say no to that. I still have some Lopi Lite left over from my first fair isle sweater (yes, it's still hibernating and the "beard" is still not woven in). That should make for some nice multi colored slippers for me. I might try the
ballet version from the book for myself.
Labels: FO, Gloves
I finished something
So I finished a couple of things over the weekend. I guess that's a good start for the new knitting year. Let's hope I can keep it up. The best thing about it, those are all for ME! Well, somewhat for me anyway.
First up is a quick crochet beret I made up for a friend of mine after the hat her mom made a while back. I modified it a bit, just to get the type and number of stitches and the size to where I wanted it. Make up a quick pompom and here we go. A fast hat made of Red Heart Acrylic yarn from my leftover stash. It's not my fist choice in yarn, but it did the job for this prototype.
Next up is cardigan for my dad. The pattern is Veronik Avery's "
His Llama Cardigan" from the book Knitting Classic Style. I even almost matched the color, but not the yarn. My sister, who is doing my dad's laundry, insisted on a washable yarn, so I substituted with Wool-Ease Worsted in Blue Heather. I started this one on Christmas Day and finished it 17 days later. Not bad, I'd say. All I have left to do on this one is find some good buttons and working around the button holes. I finished seaming the jacket on a road trip. Lucky for me, because I ended up having soda spilled on my own jacket, so at least I had something to wear. :)
The road trip lead us through Russelville, KY and we stopped by to say "Hi" to Ashley and her mom at
Enchanted Yarn & Fiber. I received such a nice and warm welcome as I walked into the store and I was so surprised that Marmee recognized me. How cool is that. Well, I have to say that I had to call the store for directions, but I'm sure I'm not the first one to do that, because our GPS lead us completely out of the way onto a gravel road in front of a trailer home. So make sure when you go see them, that you follow the directions on the website and don't always trust the electronic voice that tells you where to turn. If I wasn't living about 1 1/2 hour drive away I'd be hanging out there all the time. They not only make you feel so welcome there, but they also make sure the husbands are comfortable and taken care off and can sink onto the couch in front of the fire place with a cup of coffee and a bowl of snacks, so we, the knitters, can shop and browse in peace without getting the evil eye and the silent question "Are you done yet?" (Not that any of them would ever admit to doing that)
Finally I finished what was supposed to be a travel project on our move from Georgia to Kentucky. Never would I have dreamed that this little scarf will drag out to take 6 months to finish. I'm talking about the
Traveling Roses Scarf. After 15 repeats of a pattern that. up to this day, I still can't memorize without the leaflet, I finally had enough. Don't get me wrong, the pattern is very nice, but it's not one that I'll make another scarf of. The scarf was as long as I am tall, unblocked, and I figured that was a good size for me. It's made from recycled cashmere and after all that time it's going to make it worth knitting, just for the feeling of this soft yarn.
I don't want to stress you attention span too much so I'm leaving you with a snap shot of my latest project:
Labels: FO, Scarf
Remember me?
Ok, so I have been out of the blogging loop for a while. Don't really know what happened, I guess I just didn't have any interesting things to blog about, but I was surely following all of my friends blogs, even if I didn't comment all the time. Just needed a time out maybe?
Anyway, my fish tank is recovering, just in case you are wondering. I had a couple of ups and downs with it, but it's getting there. That's another thing about moving, but I won't go there now.
Also, I got my teeth and crown taken care of. Now that the dentist has her claws in me again, there is no escape and I think me and her will get to know each other very well. The good side about it is that she is very nice and a knitter. How cool is that. She wants to learn how to knit socks.
But this is a knitting blog, so here is some knitting content. Beginning of December I had a rather larger project from Knitpicks. I knitted 6 pairs of socks in about 4 to 5 weeks worth of time. I guess it's no big deal if I lift that secret about it, because the really secret part of it is, that I got to knit them in the new colors of Felici sockyarn. And that's what I can't show you, so there won't be any pictures of them. Sorry.
But what I can show you is the
stranded vest I was working on a while back. It always takes a while from knitting it until it shows on the Internet or in the catalog. I did this one back in October and some of you might remember it, because of that horrible scissor shot I put on the blog. Well, here it is in all it's beauty and I think it's even featured in the catalog.
Since we moved I haven't gotten a new catalog yet. I guess I have to fix that so I have a portfolio of my work. It's the
Ladies Jacquard Sweater Vest and in the Palette yarn it's really inexpensive to knit too. The pattern keeps you interested and trust me, you need it. But other than that, it was a nice knit.
To make up for all that thin yarn I've been knitting with lately, I finally cast on for my
Dad's cardigan. According to my sister he is in real need of a new one, so here I am. I'm using Lion Brands Wool Ease in Blue Heather and this worsted weight knits up pretty fast. I started with this on Christmas Day and I'm about to finish the pieces today. I still have to wash and blog them and then pieces them together. We'll see how well Wool Ease blogs, since it's 80 acrylic and 20 wool, but my sister insisted on something washable. So that's what she is going to get.
I also finished a
Christmas stocking that didn't make it to it's recipient anymore in time. I'll send it out anyway along with the pattern. I didn't find a nice bright red wool yarn, so I used some acrylic and now I'm sad to say that I don't know if it's going to blog out, if at all. I guess it can at least be used for next year. :) Nice try, right?
Next up I'll finally finish my
traveling roses scarf. I know, this has been dragging on forever. It was supposed to be a travel project I started in July/August on my way up here to Kentucky and it's finally drawing to an end. I am ending it after the 15th repeat, which will make it about as long as I am tall and I'm 5'9". No telling how much longer it's going to be after blogging. It took a while and I'll probably not going to use that pattern again, since after all those repeats I still haven't memorised it, but the feel of cashmere will make up for it for sure. (A FO pic will follow soon)
Now let's see if the UPS driver stops by today, because I have a new KP project on the way. Just in time for the cardigan being done. Also, I have plans for the new year to put my knitting machine to work, make friends with it first, and then start up my etsy shop again. I tried it two years ago with not much luck. Maybe it wasn't the right time for it, so I'll try it again, but first I have to work up some stuff to put in there. Wish me luck. I can use it.
Labels: FO, FO stranded, KP, Lace
Entrelac Mania?
So here I come to tell you that the Entrelac Hat I started two days ago was finished the same day. See....
I have to admit it was kind of addicting and fast to knit. Since I only followed somebody else's picture, I wasn't exactly sure how many rounds of squares I needed. Well, now I know. One less than what I did. I was mainly concerned about the top and the way it would close up and I think I did pretty good on it. So now, here was my problem. I washed and blocked it (which was kind of not necessary, since it wasn't even tight on that plate and this is a pizza plate, if I might add) and it was still very slouchy. My next step was to felt it. So I went to our local book/yarn store to get some advice. Well, needless to say, I didn't need the advice, since a lady in the store fell in love with the hat as is and wouldn't let it go. So it went home with her. It looks great on her too and she definitely had the right amount of hair to support the larger size.
So now, to make up for the "loss" I had to cast on the next one. See where I'm going with this? This pattern has something that makes it addicting. I started last night, while my boys went out to a sleepover and I stayed up half of the night with my dog, knitting. One reason for doing that was of course to make sure that I'd be up, in case one of my kids would come home. At least that's the one I'm using. The other reason was, that I couldn't put down the pattern. I even started to write it down, as I was going, but ended up getting ahead of myself with the knitting and didn't write it up anymore. So anyway, expect to see the second finished hat sometime soon. It will have one less row of squares and we'll see how this one fits. Who knows, I might be onto something with this? Plus it helps out with the stash issue I have. :)
Later .... gotta knit....can't help it. ......
Labels: FO, FO Hat
I'm on the roll
Today I might have to show you a couple more pictures than usual. But what fun are blog entries without pictures, right? Ok, here we go.
Remember that "smallish", but very colorful project from Knit Picks just before I moved? The one with those little alpacas? It can be found on the
website now. It's a new kit they offer.
It has interchangeable charts so it's really up to the knitter on what ear flaps you want, what colors to choose or which bands you want to put where. I, as a test knitter didn't have that choice, but that's ok. I think it turned out really nice.
Next is my finished scrappy scarf, modeled by my trusty pup. She was the only available model at the time :)
I showed to our local bookstore/yarnstore owner and she wanted to keep it for now to hang it in her window. How cool is that. And I still have plenty of scrap yarn left over to make a couple more.
This little stocking is something I whipped up last night in a couple of hours. It's a little dark, but the colors are very bright. I found this pattern in the book "Knit Christmas Stockings" by Gwen Steege. I also used stash scrap yarn and 3.5 mm needles. Now I'm working on the matching little ski sweater ornament from the same book.
And here is another little peek at what is going to be my next test knit. I have the yarn, I had the chance to swatch it over the weekend, but I'm still waiting for the pattern. It feels just like looking at the candy in the store, walking out with a bag full of it, but not being allowed to have some. Now what's up with that!
This is Knit Picks fingering weight Palette in Cornmeal and Clematis Heather, just in case you were wondering.
Now back to the little sweater. And I had a brainstorm last night. Another little thing to use up some more of my sock yarn left overs. You'll see, once that egg hatches. Hi, hi, I know, I'm so mean sometimes. Happy knitting.
Labels: FO, KP
I found them!!!
Yes, I did find the rest of my needles. It was in one of the many book boxes. Now I can sleep better.
We had a bad storm here in Northern Kentucky on Sunday. From what I heard on the radio we were cought in between two weather front that made this area here seem like Ike's little cousin. We had 50 mph winds that snapped trees, which broke powerlines. Half the day on Sunday we were out of power and I rearranged boxes inside the garage, bringing all my beloved yarn boxes into the house, so I could put my husbands car inside. I have about 2 inches between front bumper and a wall of boxes and 4 inches between back bumper and garage door. How is that for exact measurement!!
I also did the good deed for the day and donated 4 boxes to our local thrift shop. It was long overdue and it sure don't miss them and I love those two empty drawers in my dresser. And that was only clothes. I still need to go through toys and those many boxes labeled "Closet item". Hmmm, that is a very grey area. You should know how many closets I had in my other place.
Did I mention I hate moving? It's not so much the moving part, since we have people to do that for us, but the part where you have to find a new home for every single little thing and if you don't then to determent wether you really need that perticular thing or if you could part with it.
And on the knitting front, which has been very much neglected, I finally finished the little pink baby hoody.
And while we are doing the picture thing here, this is another one of my KP testknits I found on the website yesterday. This was the one with all the cables and stuff. Looks pretty good on the guy and fit me perfectly too. It's called "Traditional Gansey" and can be found at
Knit Picks in the book "Cables, Diamonds, Herringbone". I knit that one with Comfy in the color Cashew. Some of you might remember this project, just because it's a pretty bland color to knit with, especially for such a big project, but I think in the end it fits the sweater pretty good.
These are some close up pix I took before I sent it off.
Labels: FO, KP
Knitter interrupted
I wanted to make sure you know I'm still knitting. It's not my greatest or most complicated accomplishment, but it's what's been keeping me busy for 2 weeks. Here are some pictures of the baby blanket I made, since my stuff got packed.
I posted it on Ravelry, but didn't do so on my blog for all of those, that don't have Ravelry or don't check on their friends activities there. Anyway, I think it turned out rather nicely. It's made from Rhonda White's dishcloth patterns and I just put them all together in a blanket. Without having all my "tools" or my stash yarn available, I had to make do with what I could find at my local Walmart. I used one skein of each of Caron's Simply Soft in Light Yellow, Light Blue, Pink, Light Green and Orchid. I also had to buy a pair of Boye size 8 (5mm) 14 " needles to get me started. They were too long for my taste, but they worked out ok. I can't tell you exactly the finished size of this blanket, but it covers half of a queen size bed. I think this qualifies it more for a throw than for a small baby blanket. Any infant would get lost in it for sure.
I also got commissioned to knit a baby cardigan. You can find the free pattern
here. I'm knitting it with Bernat Softee Baby Yarn (I know, more acrylic) and had to invest in another pair of Boye needles, this time a size 6 29" cable. I'm not completely happy with them, but they will do for now. Of course I could have ordered some more Harmony needles from Knit Picks, but you know how it is, if you don't want to have to wait, even though nowadays it's cheaper to pay for shipping charges than to drive to the next yarn store and pay for gas.
Speaking of local yarn stores. I visited the
Knit Nook in Louisville, KY. I love this little yarn store and my husband appreciated the coffee shop next door and the comfy couches to sit on while he had to wait for me to be done with my exploration. It's not right around the corner from me and without my GPS I might not find my way back there, but it's definitely worth stopping by there whenever my husband has to visit his favorite motorcycle store, just a few blocks away.
Well, that's it for me so far for now. Keep your needles crossed that I will get a permanent address by next week. My husband has to go off to school and it'll be up to me to open most of the boxes to set up the house, so I might not be blogging for a while again. As long as I get it before he leaves, I'll be fine. It's going to be like early christmas, opening all those boxes. Yes, I know, I say that now, until I get fed up with it and don't want to see another box again. Right now, all I want is my stuff. I'm sure you can understand that. I've been without my stash for over a month now. Whhaaaa :(
Labels: FO
Recent accomplishments and more yarn
OK, here are some nicer shots of the tumbling blocks baby blanket I finished the other day. I was all excited about this project at first, lost interest in it for a while, found any excuse to knit/ crochet anything else instead, but finally have it done. I hope the kid has not enrolled in school yet. :) I had a teddy bear model for me on this one.
It's made with three different shades of Bernat Softee Baby, you know, the big balls of acrylic yarn you can find at Walmart. I used a size G (4mm) hook for it. The three rows of border made a nice finish to it and seem to pull it all together.
Next is a quicky test knit for Knit Picks in between. I started on it so quickly and had it done in only a couple of days, so I didn't even get to take a yarn shot. Here is a little peek. It will be in the November catalog.
This is what my favorite UPS guy brought me yesterday. Isn't it yummy? 9 different colors of Knit Picks Palette.
This is going to be another "smallish" project for them and will be in the September Catalog. I've been asking for little things to knit, because I didn't want to commit to anything major, since we will be moving soon (how many times have I mentioned that now?) and I didn't want to have to stop unpacking boxes to meet the deadline for a knitting project.
It's shocking, but I actually swatched for this one. Well, I have to do this for my test knits all the time and since I know myself as a loose knitter, I have to go down one needle size on this one two. The designer recommends a size 4 to get 8 stitches per inch. I, as you might be able to see, only get between 6 and 7. Now I switched to a 3mm needle instead (don't have a 3.25 in my stash) and we'll see how this works out.
On other news the Veste Everest was soaking this morning and is rolled up in a towel as we speak/type. Once I'm done with this post I'll torture the poor thing and stretch it to size to block it. Then I only have to add the edging for the neck and sleeves and it'll be done. I absolutely love the yarn I've used. It's RY Cashsoft DK and it's a dream to knit. If it ever goes on sale again (I got this one at Webs), I'll have to stock up on it. I'll post pics of Everst when I'm done with it.
Now back to swatching and blocking.
Labels: Crochet, FO, KP
I'm making progress
Do you see this? You know what that means? I finally had enough of this pattern and decided to finish it. I'm working on the outside border right now. I'm going around with all three colors once, that should do it.
This is a
FO from this weekend. I had to give this double knitting a try and found it pretty interesting. At first it was a little confusing until I got the hang of it and I figured out the right way for me to hold the yarn. Then it went pretty smooth and I had this hot pad finished in a day. It can be found on
Knitting Help. I knitted this one with 4 mm needles and cotton yarn that
Keri sent me, when she was weeding through her stash not too long ago. Thanks. This was a perfect combination of pattern and stash yarn.
Here is the backside of it. Or is it the front? I can't
decide which one I like better. Unfortunately I don't think I have enough yarn to make another one just like that one. They are nice and thick and work good as a hot pad or a pot holder.
The reason for this sudden burst of
FOs is another
FO. I finally got the last test knit off the needles and had to wait for it to dry after a nice soak. To me it turned out perfect, the pattern was easy to follow and I didn't have to check back with Kim at
Knit Picks at all. Nice. Just keep your eyes open in the October catalog for something brown. Yeah, like you'll remember that. So you have to excuse me, but I'm off to the UPS store to send out their package and then finish the border on the blanket. See ya.
Labels: FO, KP
Two down, one to go
Two? Yes, I finished my test knit for KP (9) and it's on the way back to them. I already got their next offer in my inbox. That was quick.
The other thing I finished, right after I came back from the UPS store, was inspired by Keri and her blog entry about being mindful (sorry, still can't link for some reason, grrr). So I went and snooped around on Ravelry (gotta love them) and came up with a pattern for a cotton shower puff. But that wasn't enough. Once I got dragged over to the dark side and I got hooked, so to speak, I had to finish the whole set. Here you see the back scrubber (it's the loopy thing on the top right), a wash cloth, the bath puff, a face scrubber and a soap saver. I love that little pouch. So what do you think? More environmentally friendly? I hope so. Now I need to see what other kind of cotton yarn I have laying around in my stash. :D
Then I figured it was time to think about socks again. I had the Baby Cables queued in Ravelry for a while. I really don't need a pattern for it, so I started. Grabbed the first ball of yarn I saw and figured, I wanted shorties, ankle socks. Hmmm. 44 grams of this, should be enough. How can I be sure? Well, how about a toe up version? Ok, no problem, but I might need some advise, once I get to the bind off. I did it once before and my sister was complaining about them being too tight. I don't want that to happen again, but I don't want them to fall off either, since they are going to be short. Oh, and yes, I'm using magic loop. Why? Because I didn't like having a braid right in the middle of changing needles. There you go. I'll just have to figure out how to do do the second sock and no, I'm not doing them at the same time. I'm not that adventurous.
So that's it for now. Any suggestions?
Labels: Crochet, FO, Socks
KP 7 = What?
Here is another KP test knit revealed. I found it on their website this morning. Looks familiar? The colors? They call it the Twinkle Sweater, but it was make without the beads that go on the yoke. I really liked that one and the only thing I would have changed, to make it perfect, would be to add a hood, but the pattern didn't come with it. Here is a model shot of my own. This sweater fit my 7-year-old perfect, don't you think? But
he was embarrassed about the colors, which is why he is "headless" on those pictures. But he sure strikes a nice girly pose here ;). (Don't tell him I said that, or he'll be mad at me for a while)
Next up would be Elliott. For all of you that strained their eyes, necks or just imaginations to see the dragon in that pile of yarn, here is his on his photo shoot. It's a little hard to do this on your own, because you can only angle your wrist to much, to make him look at you. I had a little problem with the mouth, it just didn't want to shape the way I wanted to, so maybe I'll add some cardboard in it, like what we did to the sock puppet my son had for his Spanish class.
Labels: FO, KP
I Do still knit, you know
I finally have the Tam done, that was hibernating in my house for a while. The constant purling and the frequent increases made this a slow project. But it's done. I can only show you the blocking picture right now, since I don't have a victim to model it for me. The pattern is from the Holiday 2007
IK and I used some mystery mohair yarn from my stash for this. Now I just have to find a worthy
recipient for this one.
Then I've been working on Elliott the Dragon, also from the 2007
IK Holiday issue. I'm knitting it with some
handspun yarn I received a while back from Rachel (Have you any Wool). This was the perfect project for this yarn. The color changes make this an
interesting dragon. He still needs to be sewn together, before we can show him. He seems to be a little shy. :)
Then I got new Knit Picks yarn in the mail today. It's for the next project and it's their
Risata yarn.
Hmm, what could that turn into?.....
Happy knitting.
Labels: FO, KP, Lace
No more tidepool
It's done. I can honestly say, that this test knit was the longest one ever. Did you ever knit a whole cardigan in lace weight yarn? Well, I did. That's why it's been kind of boring on this blog, because that's all I did. I had no other projects going on the side, except when I was stuck and got to crochet a couple of diamonds for the baby blanket. I was in a time crunch already, so yesterday I missed the UPS driver for the pick up and today I spent 4 1/2 hours in the ER with my oldest with swollen tonsils, fever and all the other good stuff that goes with it. That was excellent knitting time and by the time I got the prescription for him, I was done with the cast off. I ran home, stuffed it (lovingly) in a box, wished it fair well and brought it to the UPS store to send it off. Unfortunately there was no time to take a picture, so this is what I took two days ago.
Here is also an updated picture of the baby blanket. I would say I'm half way done?
I also got a lovely package in the mail from Keri. As a thank you for the mermaid gloves I knitted for her she dyed some yarn for me. Not only did she send back the yarn I sent to her, but also some extra sock yarn. And to make the package complete, she added two sets of Knitpicks Harmony sock needles in two different sizes. Now what do you say about that? That is so cool. She is such a great friend and always knows how to surprise me. Thanks Keri. I love all the stuff.
Labels: FO, KP, Lace
I took this picture outside to show off the colors better, but they are not THAT bright in rality. The pattern in the Nordic Mittens from IK Winter 2004. I used Knit Picks Essential Sockyarn in black and Regia Canadian Color. With the size 1 (2.25mm) KP Harmony needles they got a little tight, since the original pattern calls for sport weight yarn, but I'm sure they'll stretch out enough. After I show them to our local knitting group tomorrow night, they will go off to my younger son's teacher as a late birthday present. 
