Scarves Fundraiser

I would like to try to raise some $$'s for a family member battling cancer, by making and selling scarves.  Here's my post on my other blog about it.

The first scarf for sale is this one, for $20.00 (shipping extra):

Which Stich Holder?

I've come to the point in my knitting, that I became a bit to comfortable in just the basic knitting or purling; garter stitch or stockinette stitch (or stocking stitch ~ both terms are used often to describe the knit the odd rows, purl the even rows).  I needed to change things up.

Out came my "400 Knitting Stitches" book to look up something different to try.  Skipped the more difficult ones and stuck to the cables again.  I've completed a cable scarf in the past, but it's been awhile.  Started one almost a year ago and that skein of yarn became my "practice something knew and if I like it, it will become something for someone" skein of yarn.  It got ripped out, yarn balled up and set to waiting for another project.

This go around, I have been working on what is called "Plait 2".  It is an eight row, 15 stitch pattern that took me a few days to remember the pattern and to be able to look at the cable to figure out whether I am on row 3 or 7.  I've ripped it out a few times because to many sets of rows 1 through 4 had been done and the cable just does not happen then.

Anyhoot, the main point of what I wanted to share now was my preferance in stitch holders.  There are a few gadgets that can be bought to do this.  Most of the time, when searching the web, I've found the two styles I have, a Knitting Stitch Holder and a Knitting Cable Holder (make sure you use the term Knitting with the second term unless you are looking for electronic cable holders).

Here are pictures of the two on my current cable scarf:

 This is just a partial view of stitch holder, I prefer this while

working on cables.  They come in varying sizes, by numerous companies,

look like safety pins, hang vertically, and the stitches do not fall of the holder.

Added bonus is that the holder can be closed if you need to 

set the project aside mid-row.  It will not loose a stitch.

This is a Knitting Cable Holder (the red/orange colored, metal object).

It looks a lot like a metal knitting needle, with a bump in the middle.

I used this while working on my first cable a few years back.

Although it works okay, I found that if I wasn't careful, 

the needle could slide out rather easily.  For me, it seemed to get

in the way while I was working on the other stitches.

Which stitch holder will I use more often?  The Stitch Holder more often than not.  In a pinch, I would probably use almost anything I can get an individual stitch onto and off of easily.  It's just a preference and not a firm rule.

Happy knitting!

Cable Stitches and Remembering the Row!

The last week or so, I have been working on a cable and it's been rather difficult for some reason.  At first, I didn't leave a boarder, which I realized quickly, makes the overall cable look a little nicer (in my opinion anyway).  Then, I'd forget where I was in the pattern and repeat the wrong part of the cable.  Anyway, ripped a few rows out, thankfully not the whole thing, and got back on track.  What I finally made for myself was the following:

Yes, just an index card, folded in half, 8 numbers and a paper clip.  If I have to set down my knitting, for a bit, I'll put the paper clip on the next row I'll need to work on.  This makes it a whole lot easier to know what I am doing next.  The two rows that are starred are the cable rows that I am either bringing stitches forward or backward, at various times in that row.  The other rows are knits and purls.  Easy enough when you remember where you are in the pattern!

So there you have it.  A homemade, row counter so you don't loose track and keep doing the same cable stitches over and over again.

In the near future, I'll write about which stitch holder I prefer!

I  haven't been as active with this blog as I'd like, but will possibly soon.  Actually thinking of things to write about, have a new camera (and a son taking photography), and hope to expand my knitting skills for just the sake of doing so.

In the coming days, hope to write about cables and my preference for holding the cable stitches, new stitches I am learning, selling items, and getting this blog out into "the knitting blog universe".

For now, let me know what you might be interested in reading about!

Take care and happy knitting!

Thick and Warm

Completed another 4 strand baby blanket within the last few days.  Have to admit, I think this has become a favorite design for me.  It comes together so quickly and I don't have to decide on just one color of yarn.  I usually pick 3 or 4 different colors that go well together.  This time I choose:  Pearls, Delft, Pesto, and Rococo (see photo to the right)!  Something I noticed with this batch, Joanne's Craft has their own Home Spun Sleeve now, so no exchanging a color from one store at another store.  Drats!!!!!!!!!!

Something I did differently this time, toward then end, was to actually measure how differently each skein of yarn was.  I have knit thee blankets prior, with four strands, and each had at least one color way shorter than the others.  Assuming that the first skein to run out was exactly 185 yards, like the sleeve said, here are the lengths of the remaining 3 colors:

1. dark brown - 130 inches
2. blue - 199 inches
3. light brown - 958 inches

That is quite a discrepancy as each is suppose to be 185 yards.  I keep meaning to send Lion Brand a question asking why such a difference.  A difference of just over 26 yards between shortest and longest.

Anyway, back to the blanket, I used the same basket pattern as previous ones I made for a set of twins.  Six rows were knit.  I began a pattern of knitting three, purling 30, knitting three more.  The next row I knit all the way across.  I kept this pattern until I was close to 33 inches and knit 6 more rows and bound off.  Again, I had to use the extra yarn form one color and attach to another.  I ended up running out of the green and dark brown by the end.  Believe I tied the blue to the green and light brown to the dark brown to be able to finish and not buy more yarn.

So, with out further fan fair, here are some photo's of the blanket I made!

These always turn out thick and warm!  Know little "J" will like this ~ at least I hope he does!

Four Strand Blanket

Earlier this summer I knit blankets for a set of twin girls.  My original plan was taking WAY.TO.LONG.  Switched gears to size 50 needles and 4 strands of Homespun by Lion Brand.  This style of blanket comes together real quick ~ each blanket took about 6 to 8 hours and I was able to get both done in 7 days (woo hoo instead of months).

For the blanket, I knit 36 stitches across and continued knitting each row until I had 3 inches.  Then, I a knit 3 stitches, purled 30, and knit the last 3.  On the next row, I knit straight across.  Repeated the knit/purl row followed by a knit row until whole piece measured 33 inches.  Knit until 36 inches and bound off.

As usual, it seems like some skeins of Homespun are WAY under the 185 yards and some way over.  I've had to join the end of another skein to one that just ran out.  I've always had enough, among the four skeins to finish the project.  Just be aware this happens.  Think it has been in the "Parfait" color, think bank to the various baby blankets I've made like this.

 Here, you can see the boarder ~ kind of!

 Picture of the whole blanket ~ almost!!

Braid off the final corner.  Made one blanket more pink

and the other more brown.  This just in case Mom and Dad

want to be able to tell the difference between the blankets.

Hope you enjoyed reading about this blanket.  Really easy, once you get past the HUGE needles.  I love how quick it comes together.  I'll still make blankets with smaller needles, just when I have more time to get them done.  When I need to get a project done quickly, it has got to be big needles.

I have a new camera on order and hope to begin taking better photo's soon!  Maybe the next project will look better on here!

Happy knitting until then.

Snow Day and Knitting

Hi all -

We've been getting snow, in March, since sometime after midnight today.  It's a wet, soggy, kind of snow.  Melts as soon as it hits your car or the street or the sidewalk.  Enough of a pain to close the public schools and government.  Home schools and Kevin's work are still open and work being done.

As we wrapped up school awhile ago, shoveled, consumed some hot chocolate, thought I should showcase another project completed.

Today's posting is a revamped wristlet, again.  Here is the post to the original pair I made.  I have remade mine one time to take out the thumb gusset portion, which made them a bit more snug.  They turned out well, but still a bit big.

 Around Christmas, a friend asked me to make a pair for her.  Her hands are a little smaller than mine, so I took out 4 stitches, from the revamped set, as the ribbing is a four stitch pattern (knit 2, purl 2).  Hope they work well for her.  Also, I plan to use the left over skein to make a scarf to go along with these.

I may do mine once again!  :)  Only after two other projects and possibly a third as I just received a bunch of Homespun!  GOT to make something with that!

Anyway, here is what these look like:

 I started with the one on the right, the then one on the left.

This is one thing I like about Homespun is how the colors change.  Always

makes for a beautiful knit project.  By far my favorite yarn to work.

Now if someone wanted to give me a large selection of other yarn,

I would gladly make things to see if I could be won over by something else.

Not sure who is will to donate some yarn though!  :(

Long over due

I finished another baby blanket and passed it along, I think on January 6th.  And let me just say this will be the worst "how to" type post ever written.

     Why you ask?  Here's a few reasons:

1. Late in posting ~ check
2. Forgot to measure overall project before giving gift ~ check
3. Can not find the sleeves from the skeins, so no color or brand of yarn (a new one to me!) ~ check
4. Forgot what size needle I used (but can figure it out, I think) ~ check

If you'll let that slide, here is what I can go over:

1. I knit with both ends so it's twice as thick..  Not really to difficult to manage the skein of yarn.  Just as easy as if you were using just one end.
2. I cast on 110 stitches of "Blueberry" ~ the darker blue.
3. From there, I knit one side and purled the other to create a stocking stitch
4. Once the skein got close to the end, I unraveled what was left, found the "center" of what was left, and cut the ends to be very uneven.  Did this because I wanted  mixture of first color and second color before moving totally to the second color.  Not sure if I first joined the inside tail of the skein or outside tail.  In the long run, doesn't matter to much because you'll end up using both.
5. Kept knitting a row and purling a row with the second color (the tan shade) until just about finished and repeated the above steps of straightening out and joining the third color (the light blue).
6. Knit and purled the rows until I had just enough to cast off.  At some point, I figure out how much yard I need to complete a row and figured out how many more rows I could do.  Think I finished the blanket with 6 inches of yarn left!

Here are various pictures for you:

Alone the center, you can see where the Blueberry and tan are joined together.

It was a very pretty effect.  If I were to repeat something like this, I'd go for more of the two colors.

For the first go around, this turned out well though.

Love the overall look!  So pretty!

Kind of close up!

I'll see what I can do to figure out the size needles, brand of yarn and colors for the tan and light blue soon.  Now I'll move onto other projects!

Wristles ~ Again

Just ripped out the ones I made last winter/early spring for me.  The thumb increase area is just TO BIG for me.  Here's a link with photo attached.  Plan on modifying the directions again and hope it works better for me.  Haven't seen any other design that I like.

Hope I can get these done quickly.  More baby blankets in the works!  This next one will be another panel blanket with stitches I want to learn how to do.  More to come on that.

Happy repeat knitting!

What else?

Another baby blanket.  Nothing fancy, all knit, back and forth, 85 stitches across till it looked done!   How is that for a "how to"?

Here's the finished project:

Yes, there is some subtle changes in coloring where I switched the skein.  Once again the dye lot got me.  Worse yet, the color was on clearance and was GONE!!!!!

So, moral of this story.  Buy at least two skeins as you can make a nice sized "receiving" type blanket with just two!

Should have paid more attention when I bought because the color difference, although same named color, was quite noticeable.  Hope I've learned my lesson.

Neglect!

I'll be the first to admit ~ I'm in a dry spell for knitting.  It just isn't as enjoyable as it use to be.  It's become a chore.  The natural result is that a knitting blog gets ignored!

Since middle of July ~ approximately ~ I've been working on a real basic baby blanket.  It took me three tries to get the width correct.  First shot, it would have been about 4 to 5 feet wide, then closer to just 4 feet.  On both, I was wondering how many skein's I would need to finish this!  Finally found a number that was close to what I wanted!  FWIW, I did practice the 4 inch by 4 inch square and did the math to figure out the bigger peace.  For whatever reason, I had a hard time visualizing it in my head!  Weird, as this is just a knit stitch, row after row after row.  REALLY basic blanket!  That's probably why I'm getting bored.

Well, another lesson learned with this one on buying enough yarn.  I never would have dreamed that a dye lot could be SO different on Lion Brand's Home Spun.  The same colors are in each skein, however in the first one I used, the accent colors were in longer strands so the stripping is more pronounced.  In the second, the main color (white for both) seemed to be thicker and the accent colors much thinner and shorter length.  Not a whole lot I can do as this color was on clearance when I bought it and could not be found!  Argh!  It's not to bad of a change, but not what I would have wanted.

Maybe this time I'll learn my lesson!  :)

Accessories anyone?

Who doesn't like accessories?  Okay, I don't like accessories for everything, but for knitting ~ I thoroughly enjoy it.  Probably because I like to knit so much!

Anyhoot, I made this from a small tin, about the same size as an "Altoids" tin.

Below is the inside of the tin.  On the top, I glued a thin magnet to hold needles.  The body of the tin is just big enough to hold a tape and a small canister of stitch markers.  I am hoping to fin a small set of scissors to include in this.

Happy Knitting Readers

Mother's Day Gift?

Here's a link to a knit kitchen scrubbie.  These are small, should be quick to make, and great for presents!

Will revisit this pattern once classes are figured out for next year.

Hometown Baby Blanket

"The Big Reveal"

Just needed to use the terms from all those HGTV design shows!  ;)

Close up!  Decided to keep all knit stitches on the same side!

Bigger picture

The blanket measures just about 36" square.  Due to the stockinette stitch, it does curl along the edges.  I personally like the curl.

I chose not to whip stitch the edges in the tan.  I tried a few stitches and didn't care for the overall appearance of it, so it's plan on the edges.

Here's the post where I described the blocks, amount of stitches cast on and rows, color choices, etc.

Happy Knitting readers!

Sneak Peak!?!?

Do you want a sneak peak?

              I bet you do!

But of what?  What else would it be on this blog, but something knit (especially since I don't crochet!).

Okay, here is a peak:

Were you hoping for something bigger?

Something showing more detail?

Maybe something like this one instead?

Bigger "Sneak Peak"!

Okay, okay, I know a better picture of all that has been completed so far ~ which is almost all of it.  I really shouldn't have any problems finishing it by Thursday!  Below is the best picture of the blanket.  The last blue panel needs to be finished and the column knit together, then stitch those three blocks to the rest of the blanket.  So here it is:

What do you think?  It's for a baby boy I've been calling Todd.  Mom and Dad have the right to over rule my choice in names though.  ;)

Lesson Learned

In all the knitting I have been doing over the last few years, there have been a few that require multiple skeins of yarn.  Prior to this project, I had never had an issue with being able to find the particular brand, style, and color yarn I needed to continue working.  Never had an issue with dye lot either.

Approximately a month ago I began designing and knitting a baby blanket for a friend out of Lion Brand, Hometown USA in three different colors.  I originally picked up one of each color I wanted to use, not knowing how much I would ultimately need to finish the project.  Well, I finished up those three and did the math and calculated wrong.  Thought I could get by with one skein of the blue and one of the green.  Went back to Wal-Mart to get the 3rd of each color.  They only had the green and the feel was off but I bought it anyway.  In the following trips to Wally World for other things, I'd check to see if yarn had been restocked.  No luck.  Yesterday, I finished up the green and really need the blue.  The local Micheal's and a different Wal-mart did not have the blue.  I called Joann's this morning, they carry that yarn, but do not have the blue.  I called a Gaithersburg Joann's (Kevin works a bit from there), they don't have it in.  YIKES folks, I was REALLY hoping to be finished before this coming Thursday.  May call a different Micheal's in a bit to see if they carry Hometown USA.

LESSON LEARNED:  Listen to those who have done something longer than you and give you suggestions on how to do something, they just might be right.

Time to get off the computer and start making some phone calls!

Past Knitting Projects

I have another blog, on daily life.  Been at that one for awhile.  Here are some links to a few things I've knit and posted there:

9 panel baby blanket

stripped Hometown blanket

cable scarf (first portion of blog post is the scarf, the remainder is musing about life)

I've knit many other things and could possibly find more pictures too!  Will see what I can do on another day.

Baby Blanket

Have begun my first baby blanket since beginning this blog.  No formal pattern, but I intend it to be a 9 panel blanket that I whip stitch the various pieces together.  Each piece will be made out of "Hometown USA" yarn by Lion Brand and is 27 stitches wide by 36 rows.  The center block I used Los Angeles Tan in a basket weave.  The remaining blocks are San Diego Navy and Oklahoma City Green, four of each color, done in Stockinette Stitch.

When I have all the blocks finished, I'll decide if I want all the border pieces to have knit side out or alternate knit and purl so that the blanket has more texture.  As of this posting, I have the center block tan, basket weave and a blue stockinette stitch block finished.  I am about half way through the first green box.  I'm guessing I may need three skeins of the blue and green, each.  The tan only needed one and I should have enough left over for the whip stitching the pieces together.

FWIW:  there is a similar pattern on Lion Brand and possibly elsewhere.  I made a basic 9 block blanket, a number of years ago, that was made with Home Spun, all knit stitch and only two colors (from Lion Brand).  There, I made 4 of each color, then decided which color I wanted to have 5 blocks and which I wanted to have four.  It was from this pattern that I experimented and came up with the design I am working on know.  May play around on other designs to create an argyle pattern that crosses over several boxes.

Wristles are finished!

The first set anyway!  Following is my modified "Dolce Fingerless Gloves" from Lion Brand.

MATERIALS:
One skein of Homespun yarn
Set of Double Pointed Needles - Size 7
Set of Double Pointed Needles - Size 9
Ring Stitch Markers
Large Eye blunt Needle

DIRECTIONS:
Gloves:
With smaller needles cast on 32 stitches.  Divide evenly among three needles and join making sure not to twist sts.
Work in K2, P2 rib until item measures 2 inches.
Switch to larger needles as you knit the round (St. st.); continue this stitch for 5 inches.

Thumb Gusset:
Rnd 1 (Inc Rnd): k1, place marker (pm), M1, k6, M1, pm, k to end of rnd - 34 sts.
Rnd 2 - 4: knit
Repeat Rnd 1 - 4 three more times - 40 sts at the end
Repeat Rnd 1 & 2 one more time - 42 sts.
Next Rnd: k1, remove makrer, k1, bind of 12, k1, remove marker, k to end of rnd
Next Rnd: k1, cast on 4 sts over bound off sts over bound off sts of previous rnd, k to end of rnd - 32 sts
Hand:
Knit 4 rounds
Change to smaller needles and work in k2, p2 rib until piece measures 10 inches.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 ETA: finally got the photo up!

First Redesign

Found a pattern for wristlets on Lion Brand just before Thanksgiving that I really liked.  Went shopping for the yarn and needles ~ what an ordeal that was.  Found the yarn just fine, but it was a style of wool blend that would make me itch like CrAzY.  So I thought, "No big deal; check the weight of the yarn and find something I like better!"  Much to my relief, Home Spun is a very similar weight.  One problem solved.  Yee ha!

Next problem was finding double pointed needles in size 4.5 mm (No.7) and 5.5mm (No.9)  Thankfully, a knitting friend loaned me her No. 7's and I could get started.  Found No. 7's & 9's at Joanne's finally (not shopping elsewhere for needles anymore, nope, not going to do it.  I'll go to Joanne's first).

Well, after making the wristlets, pretty close to the pattern the first time round, they just didn't work.  My modifications were to big!  I had other craft projects to accomplish for Christmas and mittens to make for my two boys in January.  Come the end of January I ripped the knitting apart and began again, tweaking as I went along, and hoping I didn't change it so much that I would need to add yarn to my balls.  BIG sigh, finished one the other day, with yarn left over.  Have the stitches cast on for the second one and hope to be finished in the next few days.

When finished, I'll photo graph them and type out my instructions.