The KG Square Swap #2

 
I am happy to say I received my second swap square from Erin of Ellettsville, Indiana.  It is a very pretty knit/purl square block.  She was kind enough to send the rest of the Knit Picks Simply Cotton in worsted, Bermuda Heather.  I will be able to make up my own squares now to match.  I am excited.

It has been fun finding squares to make for someone I don't know.  Finding out what they prefer in pattern, color and the goodies to include.  I have my next victim...what should I do to them this time?



Join a Square Swap and make friends!

The Reunion Catkin (w/ correction)

 

I am happy to say I have finished my Catkin by Carina Spencer.   I made it out of Madelinetosh Merino Light in the Oxblood and Rosewood colors.  I was trying to come up with a cute name for my Catkin using the color names, but with ox & blood nothing sounded right: Oxrose, Bloodrose, Oxwood, Bloodwood.  It is too pretty to have an unpleasant name.  It is my Reunion Catkin since I made it to wear to the football game back home during my 30 year reunion.  Go Tigers!  Our school colors are/were maroon & gold, as you can see.  This yarn is a single ply and a dream to knit with.  Since it is very round, the stitches pop.  I did find that where I had to rework an area, the yarn wanted to untwist itself a little, but I don't think it hurt the finished project.  I won't call myself a yarn snob yet, but I am beginning to really appreciate all the wonderful choices out there.



Madelinetosh Merino Light



I am still trying to figure out what I did to cause the short row effect right at the beginning/neck area.  Maybe I increased every other row and should have been every row for awhile.  I thought it would block out, but it didn't.



Once I get some blocking wires, I will try it again.  The length was 42" and should be 50", so it can block out some more with the wires helping me.  I found some cute hexigon shaped metal buttons at Hancock Fabrics, used a coupon and was pleased it cost only $3.50 for 2 cards or 8 buttons.  I didn't get a close-up of them for you, I forgot.  You can still see the yarn ends from where the buttons were sewn on.  lol
 

Finally on knit rows!



This has been a challenge for me.  I read from a chart, actually it has Chart 1 for the tan area, then Chart 2A, Chart 2B and Chart 2C for the color work section.  There was some ripping back, dropping and correcting stitches.  I am pleased to say that I took the time to get it right.  Now if I can only find out what I did wrong that made that funny bump...

UPDATE: I found out what I must have done wrong on my Reunion Catkin.  After reblocking, (thanks MrsAbi) I had way too much in the center back.  I folded it back on itself, pinned it and tried it on; and yes, the increases were wrong.  I increased every other row on both sides instead of every row.  The best way I could figure to make the corrections was to create a provisional cast-on where the tan color began.  Working the maroon back to the beginning would allow the cute slip stitch on each edge.  It isn't as neat since it works better with the increase as designed, rather than the decreases.  So far so good.  I know my tan was the correct # of stitches and I am working backwards decreasing both ends on every row.  I'm not sure if I will be able to do the final 4 stitches to look like the 4K edging, but that is at the basee of the neck & no one will really see it.  I have learned alot about fixing errors on this project.  I will call that a good thing

Reworking the Catkin, lol



Find a challenge and knit it.

Tangled No More

I found a great project to help preserve your earphone cords from tangleing up & breaking.  I can't tell you how many earphones I have bought because they don't last with me.  Untangled  is wonderful I-cord pattern that does exactly what we need.  How-to video on I-cord.

1. Very simply cast on 3 stitches. on double pointed needles.
2. Knit across.
3. Place earphone facing down behind stitches
4. Bring working yarn down, around and behind earphone.
5. Slide stitches to the right end of needles.
6. Repeat Row 2-5.

Look at the pattern for detailed directions.

Jacquard & Stripe Socks by Patons

and size 2 double pointed needles

Have a little fun with I-Cord

Reunion Catkin

I am so excited, my Madelinetosh Merino Light came in today!  This is a great looking pattern, Catkin by Carina Spencer.   I purchased it from The Loopy Ewe in Oxblood (maroon) & Rosewood (tan/gold), my high school colors.  With my 30 year reunion coming up in September, I couldn't think of any other colors and besides that, I love the combination.  I spend an afternoon on the computer copying colors, matching combinations and looking at what others have done on Ravelry.  I always came back to the original you see here.  I love it!

 This will be an ambitious project for me since it has colorwork and charts for the texture.  We knitters know that a challenge helps us learn and become better at our craft.  Power to in the needles! 

 What are your favorite color combinations?  Are they associated to anything in particular?  Looking in my closet, I see that there are certain colors I gravitate to.  Hopefully they are colors that compliment my coloring.  There is black that is slimming, jewel tones & pinks/purples.  Color should make you happy and feel good about yourself.  Funny, I just thought about when I was in high school and would be feeling down or just needing a pick-me-up.  I would wear a dress, heels and all.  Since I rarely did wear anything besides my jeans & sports shorts, I would get lots (a few) compliments about how nice/pretty I looked.  That felt good, especially being a bit of an introvert & socially awkward.  Dress for success, they say.  I don't always follow the rules, but believe you need to feel comfortable when presenting yourself to the world out there.  Unfortunately, lots of people do judge you by appearance.  Their loss, right? 

We shall see how long it takes for me to get my (rose-blood) Catkin finished.

I'm Knitting for the 5K Still

This has been interesting.  I thought I knit a lot.  When I am under pressure it doesn't seem to add up to much.  I have finished my Patons Stretch Socks using the Plum colorway, but I made them too long before placing the Afterthought Heel.  They got washed and still not right, so I am actually in the process of ripping them back to get it right.  Since I did have them completed so it counts for the 5K Stash Dash with TheKnitGirllls.   I used 2 skeins, but not more than 1/2 for each sock. (240 yds estimated)

I have to figure out about my cuff being loose, I will go down a needle size for the rib and hope for the best.

My KnitGirlls Square Swap - BlueBonnet  out of Cascade 200 superwsh, demin colorway (52 yds)  I had fun putting this together.  I made the bag out of a placemat from Dollartree.

I made another Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes using Patons Lace in the Mitas colorway. (490 yds) This one is much longer, since I continued in the pattern for more rows.  That was a bit adventurous of me, I just kept knitting and placing markers whenever I had a new set of repeats.  This time I  placed glass beads on the last 2 rows of YO pattern.  I didn't know to put them on during the YO row and had to go down a stitch each time to correct my error.  That took a lot of extra time.  I was grateful for the demonstration on using Superfloss from Oral-B, from TheKnitGirllls, it helped. I bound off a little tightly and hope it blocks out ok.  I had only 8 yds left from the 1 skein I bought, sigh.

So I have knitted 538.7 yds

                       240.0 yds
                         52.0yds

                       490.0 yds

                     1320.7 yds!

Now, that doesn't sound so bad.  I think I will give the Hemlock Ring another try. 

Stitch Markers are our Friends!

5K - I may not be ready

The KnitGirllls Stach Dash has been going on and I really haven't knitted much. So far I have finished a Holden shawlette out of some pretty

York Boutique Mohair-Kid mohair. I used 2 balls that were 100m each, so that gives me 218.7 yards. I finished it with less than a foot of yarn, talk about close.

Then I finished a pair of Wolkistchens socks out of Regia 4-fach haltbar that has 210 m or 459.3 yards. I have yarn left over, so I need to weight it and figure out the yardage acutally used. (something like 320yds) I don't think I will come anywhere close to the 5K for it to really matter.:(

This was my first After Thought Heel. It was easy to do too. Give it a try. It is a must for self-striping yarn.

My yardage so far: 538.7 yards, so 4,461.3 yards to go! And I have until, what, Aug 6th? Maybe I should spin/knit something that counts as double.

Make yourself happy, knit!

Recycle

I enjoy a good deal. I use to hoard up the Walmart $1 a yard material, then the stopped carrying it. That was OK, I found the Goodwill had clothes for sale on Sun/Mon for 50 cents. A much better deal, right? How about getting 1,000 plus yards of wool yarn for $1. I found a pullover vest that was very pretty, but not a style/size I could wear. All it took was a little unraveling on my part. I must warn you though, the nitty noddy is not as easy as you would think.

In this pic, it appears I am winding properly; but when it was time to take it all off I had a problem. Maybe I started out right and got twisted up somewhere. I spent 2 hours last night with the yarn wrapped around 2 chairs as I reapplied it to the nitty noddy. I am happy to say, it is soaking in the sink dekinking. :^) Here is a link for Tim Horcher, general manager of New Voyager Trading, talks about the niddy noddy and demonstrates how it is used to make a skein of yarn.

The yarn has 5 strands: 2 green, 2 purple & 1 navy. I haven't burn tested it yet, but I believe it is a wool blend. Super soft. I think it wants to be a shawlette next.

I Got Squared

Happy day! My first swap square found its way to me and I am so excited. Thank you so much, Crafty Pancakes, I love it.
1st swap, April/May from The Knitgirllls Afgan Square Swap

* Checkered Blocks Square, 3 seed packets, 2 lavender sachets from her old gardenin cute yarn material, Fireside Smashing S'omores candy, Laguna Beach, CA post card with a nice note, Organic Milk Chocolate Truffle Bar, Note book, pad & note cards with cable stitches on the cover & last, but not least, a Ravelry Button!

I'm a California girl too. It's fun finding out where people are from and realizing you actually know of the place. I have to say, Ravelry has been so much fun for me. I tend to lurk, checking out this and that. It helps me feel as though I belong and on Ravelry, I do. It is made for me and I bet you too. You run across people/personalities really that are fun, interesting or just full of life & information and you want to know them a little more. You spend time with them during the week and they are familliar.

We are friends that share a passion (obsession)for all things fiber.

Toasty Dad Reversable Mittens

It is so hard to find something to knit for the guys in our lives. You offer one project after another and all you hear from them is 'no'. Well, I am happy to say that I knit the Urban Necessity Gloves by Colleen Michele Meagher for my Dad's birthday. My husband didn't even give me grief when I asked him to try them on. :^)

Knit in Bamboo Ewe by Stitch Nation-Debbie Stroller. 2 grey, 1 Twilight and 1 Perewinkle. This will felt a bit, so hand wash/fry flat.


Even with all the fingers knit seperately, this was a fun and easy pattern to understand. I am going to make a pair for my Mom switching the colors around for her, she loves blue. Oh, and you know who said that he may even wear them!

I would change to smaller needles when making the flap ribbing. It was a bit loose and would be better if it had more elasticity. I have also seen where a button is added on the top of the hand by the ribbing to secure the flap when kept open. I may do that for my next pair.

Square Swap Fun

I am having lots of fun getting envolved with TheKnitGirllls Ravelry group. I finished up my square for April/May. I used Honeycomb Cable Square by Fiona Robertson-Clark with a few changes to get a 12" square block. Cast on 78 stitches for a 9 pattern repeat and used size 6 needles for cast on and borders & size 8 for cables. Yes, I did frog this (rip it) about 4 times to get the sizing right. What a great learning experience for me, I picture myself as a designer somewhere in the future. We all should have goals!

It was made for Debbilynn42 Since she is from Grand Rapids, Michigan, I had to include some Louisiana fun stuff.

The stitch markers were made from neat stuff picked up at Michaels with a 50% off sale on the beads. I will cover them on another blog. I also include a package of Red Beans & Rice mix, the flavor of Louisiana had to be included, right? A postcard with instructions for Crawfish Boil, some plastic crawfish & a aligator, Mini bottle of Tobasco and tiny Tony Chachere seasoning packet.

Pick out a block/dishcloth to try in a hard looking pattern. It is small and once you get going, you realize everything is K & P!

Fun Tams for Everyone

I had a lot of fun last year making Fair Isle Tam by Patons.  When choosing the colors, it is best to keep in 2 contrasting accent colors and dk, med, lt of another color.     Ravelry is a great place to see what others have done.  Have fun with your choices.

#2 Spinning

I was so excited about the spinning I did, it didn't take long for me to order more fiber.  I looked around on Etsy and purchased 4oz of superwash BFL in Sedona  colorway from Spincerely.  I started spinning it and had very good control, consistantly spinning thin.  I think the BFL is good for beginner.  I split it in half, then each half again for quarters.  Predrafting a little to open it up. 

I got throught half and thought I should ply it before continuing on to the rest.  Oh the things we learn as we go.  I thought I would be able to wind it off using a ball winder.  That didn't work.  I think the spin was wrong for the direction I was cranking the ball winder.  The yarn was falling apart as I went and made a mess.  At least I caught it pretty early.  Okay, I told myself, just wind it by hand onto a cardboard toilet paper roll and you will be able to ply from both ends and make a nice 2-ply that may be fingering wt.  Yuck!! I have a disaster on my hands now.  I was able to roll it onto the tube, but when I pulled it out to be able to use the inside end, the energy was extreme and it came out in a curly mess, yarn throwup.  I now have to spend the time cleaning up this mess since I didn't stop right away, but plied a few yards before I realized how long it would take for me to untangle each time I needed more available yarn to ply. 

After going online, I found that I am going to use Tammy Rizzo's Navaho Ply-on-the-Fly method.  I will do better spinning a little, ply, then spin some more...  It may take me a while to remember which way to twist between spinning & plying, but it will be done when the end is reached.

Just Couldn't Wait

 The tkgspringsal2011 SAL/KAL with TheKnitGirllls was set up to spin all April and knit all May, but many of us new to spinning couldn't wait that long.  We got excited and started spinning the fiber we had as soon as we heard of the SAL/KAL.  That's what so great about being enabled, you jump in and learn while doing. 

I was able to finish the Starving Artist hat by LaLa of TheKnitGirllls.  Since I was short on yardage, I took liberties with the pattern: the decreasing rows were only followed by 1 row in pattern instead of 2.  With a tail of 6" at the end, I am glad I thought ahead so there was no ripping. That makes me happy.  It is blocking now, I know it always looks better after blocking, but sometime you just got to take a pic!

The colors are wonderful so I don't think I could have messed up the spinning.  It has been a great first project from fiber to hat. 

Challenge yourself and learn something new.

New Beginnings

We all have projects we put off, thinking we don't have the time to give them justice or we simply have not mastered the skill level to have them turn out properly.  I am learning that  skills come when you are willing to put yourself out there and try.  Failure is not defeat.  All life is a process and it is best lived with attempts rather than regrets.

 I have recently tried my hand at drop spindle spinning.  I held onto the 4oz Mountain Colors 100% Targhee wool for over a year before I got the courage/guts to try.  I am happy to say, it did turn into yarn and some of that fancy thick/thin designer stuff that can cost a lot!  Okay, all beginners probable make this same 'fancy' yarn, it is a gift we have while learning to teach our brains/hands what to do. 

They say to spin 15 minutes a day and you will see progress.  I couldn't stop once I got started, and spun all 4oz within a few days.  There was improvement towards the end, so once I plied it  there was a little better consistency in the thickness.  A definite Chunky weight.  I am pleased with it and love the colors.  That is one of the reasons I waited so long, wondering what the fiber would do while spinning.  I was very encouraged once I started watching TheKnitGirlls and their talking about spinning and showing their work.  I looked around Ravelry and realized that homespun regardless of the colors, looks great.  I honestly haven't seen one that makes me sick yet.

I have started the Starving Artist Hat by LaLa of the KnitGirllls, a free pattern found on Ravelry.  It calls for only 104 yards and I think I was able to get 97.5 yds.  Hopeful to finish it all in the handspun and if not, a stripe will be added.  So if you have been putting off your spinning, I hope this has encouraged you to jump in and spin.

 Add a little twist to your life...it's fun!