Some Finished Items

I have four and a bit finished projects to show. The bit is a shawl that is not blocked.

First off the needles was my Pi shawl. A photo of it in progress was shown here and its unblocked state was shown here. The blocking was surprisingly easy. The shawl is big and I thought it would take forever to block although the instructions said to just block the centre part as the mesh was more than a circle. After soaking the shawl and laying it out I did not have to do anything else as the pattern had opened up. The yarn is Findley by Juniper Moon; I was given the pink and the red was in my stash and I used both completely.



I love the finished item; this is the only photo I have so far. The pattern is Shipwreck Shawl available free from Knitty. It is not a hard pattern, in fact the mesh pattern is rather boring. Adding beads broke up the monotony but I complained about that so much. I threaded the beads onto the yarn and that was really such a pain to thread them on the yarn and move them along. I wound my yarn on my swift and did it that way. I thought I would be able to thread the beads and have them on the yarn at regular intervals but that didn't work so I had to move the beads along periodically. It was annoying and made the project not very portable. I looked at project notes to see what others had done and a few had broken the yarn periodically to thread more beads. Some people had changed the way of placing beads. Instead of threading them on the yarn they had placed the beads as they knit. I like the finished effect on my shawl but it is not something I want to repeat for a long time.

Next item was the hat I started on my flight to vacation. I only had a few rows till it was finished. The pattern is Better Late Than Never Beanies available free on Ravelry. In the pattern the brim is worked in the contrast colour but I changed it on mine as Operation Gratitude do no like too much light colour on the hats. The yarn is Vanna's Choice (in stash) and this is my first crocheted project this year. For someone who said they were taking a break from knitting for charity I have made three hats this year.



I finally finished a cardigan that I started in April 2015, frogged and restarted in April 2016, and finished on 31 March this year. A two year project. It has been blocked and worn. The information on the yarn is in this post.



Next item finished was the shawl I started in France in 2015. That was the vacation where every project was a disaster. This is it fresh off the needles. I hope to block it this weekend.



Finally I finished a small hat that was my handbag project. The pattern is Swirl Hat, a free pattern on Ravelry. The yarn is Baby Alpaca Cherish by Plymouth Yarns in the boysenberry colourway. A friend had been to a knitting event and this was one of the giveaways that she had received and was passing on to her knitting group. The pattern is very easy as it is the same every row. This will be a Christmas present.



I have to add that I am very excited that at just past the first quarter I have knitted (crocheted) more yarn than yarn that has come into the stash.

Knitting Patterns

Today’s post is prompted by my recent purchase of two patterns. One I mentioned in my last post and at the moment I will not name the second one as it is by a well-loved designer and from much reading on Ravelry, hell-fire on anyone who critiques one of those designers; although anyone else is fair game. Typical on-line world in other words.

In addition to materials required, yarn, needles etc., from a knitting pattern I expect a good photo showing the item to be knitted in its entirety, a glossary of knitting abbreviations used, and a clearly written pattern. A pattern does not have to be long to provide all this. I also expect it to be error free especially if I have paid for the pattern.

Buying a pattern is very much a matter of trust. The knitter, the consumer, has to trust that they will be sent instructions that will enable them to make the item pictured on Ravelry or the designer’s website. (I am talking about knitting but this applies to crochet patterns. Also sewing and quilting patterns can be purchased electronically.) I was trying to think of another concept to compare it to and came up with going to a new restaurant. You know what is in the meal you’ve ordered but you have to trust that what is put in front of you is an edible combination of those items. A knitting pattern you buy electronically, you know what you want to end up with and hope that you have been given the correct information to get there.

So let’s look at the two patterns I purchased. Firstly the shawl pattern I mentioned last time. The Quadratische Decke shawl.. A pattern that I would say is for an advanced knitter. The designer states that it is an adaptation of a Herbert Niebling pattern, a German designer of fancy, complicated lace pieces. And looking at pictures of the original pattern, it is a major adaptation. I was about to write, I took a leap of faith and purchased the pattern. But I would have to write that every time I purchased a pattern so sounds rather redundant. Plus I have already written above about having to buy on trust. Although if you have already knitted a pattern from that designer you have an idea of their pattern writing style. When I paid for my pattern I received a PDF of 31 pages. The designer included information on all the test knitters with photos of all the test knits; a sample graph to work a test swatch, charts of all 8 patterns, some of which are enlarged at the end of the pattern. It is a very comprehensive pattern and any questions that have arisen are a matter of the novice knitter. I felt I got really good value for money. I am about half way through and have no issues with the pattern.

The other pattern is for a hat and the pattern includes two different styles. The beginning of each hat is different but the body is the same and the pattern is written to reflect this. The pattern starts with version A the instructions ending with continue with the body of the hat; and then version B ending with continue with the body of the hat; and then you get the instructions for the body of the hat. The hat has a pattern and the designer states from where she got the pattern so it is not something she designed herself but she did have to work out how to fit it into the body of the hat.

I have not got very far with this pattern. It is for a Christmas present but I started it as there is a KAL in a group on Ravelry so that was incentive to cast on. Although I have not got very far, I have found one mistake and one area that could have been written differently. The mistake concerns the needles stated in the requirements and the needles stated in the instructions. In the pattern instructions you are told to change needles but to a size that is not included in the requirements. Although the pattern was published three years ago, this discrepancy was pointed out only 5 months ago. The designer said she would update the pattern but she still has not done this. The designer is selling something she knows has a mistake but there’s no complaints because as I said at the beginning you can’t say anything considered negative about this designer.

The area that could have been written clearer concerns the cast on and following pattern. The pattern is a four row repeat with a definite right side and wrong side. The instructions state to cast on with the contrast colour and then you change to the main colour and the four row repeat. Except you are not told which type of cast on to use – I don’t have a problem with that – except some cast ons have a wrong and right side so if you start the repeat on row 1 you know have the wrong side of your cast on facing. Which is fine if that’s what you want. So with these two issues so early on it makes me wonder what else will come up in the pattern that I will have to amend because there is a mistake or less than clear instructions.

I am pointing out what you get with each pattern because I had to pay for both of them and I the difference in quality was obvious but the difference in price was only $1.00. At least the shawl pattern was the more expensive one but considering what you got the price differential does not seem enough. Is the hat pattern too expensive or the shawl pattern too low? My opinion is both. The hat pattern should have been a slightly lower cost and the shawl pattern should have been higher.

Please note these are my opinions based on the quality of the two patterns I received. Neither of which I got a chance to look at before purchase.

Vacation Knitting and Pi Shawls

A lot to cover; will I get it all in in the time I have available or will the title be a lie?

We were away for 10 days at the beginning of the month which means vacation projects that fit in a suitcase as we were flying (in an aeroplane). Firstly I found yarn for a hat and then found a free crochet pattern. I would have finished it if I hadn't fallen asleep on the plane ride home. Oh well, I am taking a break from these anyway, aren't I?

I took the sock project mentioned at the end of this post and a different pattern but I also wanted something really easy but I didn't have anything like that on the needles. OK let's be honest I had started a hat in the middle of February as my easy project but I decided that as it is a baby hat the chances were that I'd finish it quickly and then I'd need another easy project so it would be better to take just one project. I already had yarn and pattern in mind for the next easy project so that was packed. The pattern is Arlequin Shawl, a free pattern on Ravelry and the yarn is Strawberry Shortcake by Candy Skein.



I cast it on the same day we arrived as hubby was working. And I'm glad I did as there was a problem with the needle. There was a slight rough spot on one of the needles and the yarn would sometimes catch on it. With the wonders of the internet I was able to locate a store nearby and visited it the next day. It was a small store with needle work in the front half and yarn in the back. I bought some locally dyed yarn for a friend and a needle for me. They only had two brands of needles and one was bamboo which was a definite no so I bought the other brand, new to me, Lykke. It worked really well and is very smooth to knit with. This was the only project I worked on. I had wound the yarn into a centre pull ball and weighed it when I got home and was surprised that I had used three-quarters of it. It will be a while before I finish it as it is now my easy handbag project.

At the end of February I posted a picture of my Pi shawl and said it was ready to cast off. That was true on that date but about half-way through the cast off I was coming to the conclusion that I was not going to have enough yarn to finish. (The stitches are doubled on the row before bind off so there are over 1000 stitches.) So the bind off and the preceding row were pulled out. Such fun when beads are involved. I started the bind off before we went away and by then I was sick of the project. Having a break from it was good as I finished the bind off on the 14th. It needs to be blocked but I can say that the shawl was started and finished on Pi day.



Then I had it in my head that I had to cast on a Pi shawl on the 14th to finish on 22 July. So I sort of did (such good written English). I have a small amount of lace and light-fingering weight yarn and chose to use one to start a shawl but not Pi shaped. It is QD - Quadratische Decke Shawl a paid-for pattern on Ravelry but so totally worth it. It is going to require concentration but that is fine. The yarn I am using is the yarn shown on the right in this post.

Three Hats

Way back in October, I wrote that I would be taking a break from knitting hats for charity. I had good reasons for my decision but what I didn't take into account is that I always like to have what I call my handbag project. This is a project with no deadline for finishing and can be picked up and put down with ease. This is what my charity knitting used to be until I decided I needed to make an item each month. So a charity project was started in December for my "handbag project". And when I finished that another one was cast on. I have also finished that one as I made myself knit something when I was sick.

So although I declared that I was taking a break, it looks like charity knitting is still part of my work.

This is the hat I started in December and finished in January.



The pattern is Scarlet and is the second time I have knit it. I feel that this one came out bigger but I have no way to check as the first one was sent to Operation Gratitude last year. The blue is the same yarn as the first one but the brown is different so maybe just the brim is bigger.

And this is the hat I started in the middle of January and finished in the middle of February.



I was trying to use up bulky yarn but didn't succeed so I can probably work another exactly the same. The pattern is The Vermonter available free on Ravelry.

Looking at these two hats I wonder why I bother looking for patterns I could just knit a basic hat and add colour/pattern as my mood struck.

The third hat I have finished will be for a gift. Although it will be a Christmas gift I wanted to get it on the needles so that the yarn didn't languish in my stash.



I found the pattern by searching on Ravelry for other projects made with the yarn. It used the whole ball of yarn so I had a number of ends to sew in as I had cut the yarn when working another project plus there had been a knot early on in the yarn which I had undone. I really like the finished item. It is very stretchy and you can turn up a brim so will fit a lot of people. The pattern is by Plymouth Yarn Company, the distributors of the yarn and it can be found here.

My current handbag project is a simple child's hat that will be a gift.

I did buy yarn for the hat I wish to knit for my niece. I chose this yarn as I have quite a bit of cream colour in my stash and the pattern I am planning on making is two colour. I had intended to purchase turquoise but opted for the teal.



The timing was right as it was on sale at Michael's. I seriously debated buying more to use for charity hats but I have decided to wait until I have used up every last inch in my stash.

Some Works in Progress

I meant to throw in some photos of current projects into the last post but forgot.



This is the pi shawl I cast on on 22 July with the aim to finish on 14 March. This should have been easy to achieve but I didn't work on it at all in November so there was a lot of catch up needed. I am now on target and ready to bind off.



This is the hat I mentioned in the last post. I really want to finish this this weekend so that I have a finished item and skein of yarn out of the stash in February.



And this is a sock I am going to frog. I cast these on at the beginning of January but haven't really worked on them. The yarn is by Candy Skein and I wrote about it here. It is hard to choose a pattern that will go well with this yarn but now there are more projects on Ravelry in this colorway and I have decided that a pattern that is predominantly stocking stitch will work well. I have chosen another pattern but not started yet as it will be my March cast on.

Too Sick to Knit or Read

And I've wanted to write this post bemoaning this fact for quite a few days but I've been too sick to write.

I've been sick for two weeks. The first week was filled with me saying I'm getting better and I'd surround myself with books and knitting and laptop but all I'd end up doing was watching tutorials from The Missouri Star Quilt Company. A pretty brainless occupation. The second week was pretty much the same although I did push myself to work on my Pi shawl each day as the finishing date is very close.

The knitting on the Encore striped hat is finished but I cannot muster the energy to kitchener the seam. There are 70 stitches, so not a task to be undertaken lightly at the best of times. But once I have done that I just need to sew in ends (and there are a few as I had to use every inch of yarn) and the hat is finished. Maybe that needs to be my Sunday morning project as it would be nice to have it completely finished in February. My cardigan is also waiting for a bit of energy. I worked until it was the same length as the cardigan shown in this post and then put the stitches on waste yarn. I want to block it to see how the length/width changes before I bind off or work more rows but that requires too much thought right now.

I did manage to finish a hat for charity because I really put my mind to it. And now I find I need more yarn. I have plenty of scraps and a pattern designed for scraps but it will not work as a handbag project. I was going to make a hat for my niece with the navy yarn I originally purchased for this project. But I will use it for charity hats and buy a different yarn for the gift. Either way I have to purchase yarn.

Going back to being too sick to knit or read. It strikes that if one is lazing around the house doing nothing, one should still be able to do the things one loves. At least I could still drink coffee.

A Little Stash Enhancement

I started off writing that I had gone nearly a month without buying yarn and then I thought but I frequently do that. And just a quick look at my stash shows that I bought yarn at the beginning of October and then didn't buy again until the end of December. And that yarn was all for gifts. So it must be the beginning of the year that made me aware that no yarn buying had occurred.

Before I tell you what yarn I bought, let me tell you what yarn I didn't buy. My knitting friend that I meet once a week for knitting (at Starbucks - love it) told me that one of the local yarn stores had got in a shipment of Hedgehog Fibers and I should go quickly if I was interested. I seriously thought about it but decided not to, mainly because the Yarnover Truck was coming to town.

A couple of weekends ago it made an appearance at the brewery where my Tuesday night knitting group meets. I like to support the "truck" because I would like them to remain in business. They carry different yarns, none on the low end, and have many of the yarns knitted up into patterns.

This time rather than looking at patterns beforehand and then hoping to find yarn that would work with at least one, I decided to buy yarn that caught my eye and buy enough to knit something but I was to try to avoid fingering weight as I have quite a bit of that especially tonals and variegateds.

And this is what I got:



I have heard of Western Sky Knits but never seen it in person and the yarn was beautiful. I was very tempted by a deep blue that was available in different weights but decided that could be a purchase next time I visit the Truck.

The colours will be worked together into a shawl but I am not showing a photo of them together as the one I took gave a blue tinge to the grey yarn.

What's On The Needles

After the recent finishing flurry, although, it could be argued that the finishing flurry was caused by a cast on flurry, I had a chance to look at what was already on my needles and choose what to work on next.

Apart from the new cast on of an easy hat pattern that is. I was worried that if the striped Encore went into the stash it would never get used so I found a simple but new to me pattern and got it started. Also I had finished the charity hat, which I call my handbag project, and started a new one.

I took the socks out of their project bag but I haven't quite made up my mind to frog them although I do have another project in mind for the yarn. So I picked up the cardigan and knitted some on that.

I have to say I was very happy when I picked it up as I knew I was at the sleeves but I had to wind the yarn and pick up stitches from waste yarn. So I was very pleasantly surprised when I opened the bag and not only was the yarn wound but one set of sleeve stitches were on the needle. I wish I could say that there are yarn fairies but this must have been something I did way before Christmas when grandchildren were asleep or with their parents. Anyway I was very happy to just be able to pick up the yarn and needles and start knitting.

Some Thought Did Go Into The Process

Although I seriously doubt it.

I decided to knit a hat for my niece's boyfriend. I chose a pattern before I bought yarn which is the black tweed yarn shown in the bottom right corner in this post. It is Monte Donegal from Plymouth Yarns; a mix of alpaca, merino, acrylic and rayon. It is a lovely soft yarn. The pattern I chose was the Antler Touque by Tin Can Knits.

So far so good until I looked at gauge. The pattern has a gauge of 18 stitches and the yarn is 20 stitches. I know the recipient has a big head and as I was already planning to knit the largest size, what did I decide to do? Go up a needle size. I knew this was crazy. I know that I tend to knit to the gauge stated on the ball bands of large yarn companies, I know that going up a needle size would make a looser fabric. BUT I STILL DID IT. And guess what, after casting on 106 stitches, joining without twisting, (I feel like that should be in all caps too), and ribbing a few rows I knew it was wrong and I should work with the recommended needle size. So did I re-cast on with smaller needles? No. I decided I needed a completely different pattern with a gauge that matched the yarn.

I came up with this pattern. I thought it was a cable pattern but two stitches go over two stitches whereas with a cable the stitches cross in front of or behind other stitches. After pulling the needles out of the original cast on and before ripping it out completely I stretched the rib to see how wide the hat was and it was plenty wide but I was so set on the other pattern it never occurred to me to just cast on the same pattern with smaller needles. I think I was worried about how much the cables would pull in the main part of the hat.

The pattern was a quick knit and easily memorized. I added more rib rows to the bottom and added an extra eight rows of pattern before the decreases. I used one whole ball of yarn. I'll include a photo to show how much yarn was left, against my laptop as reference. Which means I have one complete ball left over but that can become fingerless gloves at Christmas. The hat is amazingly stretchy so I am confident it will fit and the "cables" show up nicely even though the yarn is dark.

Baby Clothes Are In The Mail

I've already posted a photo of the blanket I made and last time I posted a photo of the yarn I purchased. Now we have a photo of all the items I made.



Starting at top right, going clock-wise, there is a Wee Bean. I have knit this pattern before - see here. This is a simple top-down baby jacket pattern. The yarn is Red Heart Soft and I had quite a bit of the Off-White left over from the Eloise sweater I crocheted a couple of years ago. Despite various other projects and this jacket, I still have one complete ball. The orange is also left over from that project. My original intent was to work all the garter ridges in the orange but after the first one I changed my mind but also didn't want that to be the only orange in the piece so I worked one row before the bind off and the bind off in orange and all the garter stitch edging on the sleeves in orange.

The hat is also a pattern I have knit before. Obviously I like it. It is small but stretchy.

Next project along is the cardigan I started after I decided not to work the two colours of Encore in the same pattern. It is another Taiga Hilliard design - Little Avery. Again it is an easy top-down cardigan. I had 20 grams of yarn left over so rather than putting it with the left overs and never using it, I searched for a hat pattern and made the Embossed Leaves Hat. This is also very stretchy. I really like this pattern and can see myself knitting it again in an adult size.

Next item is another top down cardigan knit with the Magic Garden yarn. This is another pattern that I have made before but this time I have marked my project page to not make it again as I do not like the pattern, which I remembered when I was knitting but not before. I continued anyway. I did not use all the yarn I purchased but chose not to make anything else as I think this is garment-yarn not next-to-the-skin-yarn.

And the final item is the blanket which I showed in a post earlier this month.

All these were mailed on Tuesday. I hope that they don't take too long to arrive - the last parcel I sent to the UK (different address) took a month - and I hope that the parents like the items.

Buy Yarn, Cast On, Frog, Repeat

At the end of last year I bought some yarn specifically for gifts. Common Threads in Encinitas was having a post-Christmas sale and I went with the specific purpose of buying yarn for gifts.

I got yarn for all of the projects I planned. Two baby cardigans and an adult hat.




The baby items are for the baby due this month so I started one straight away and when I finished it I cast on the next one. Except I didn’t like it. I was using two strands of worsted weight yarn together and the fabric was too stiff. So I ripped it out. I could have re cast on with larger needles but then the size would have been bigger than I wanted. I looked for another pattern where I could stripe the two yarns. The pattern I found was written for sport weight yarn so I had to do a lot of adjusting and about half-way through I decided I really didn’t like it. So it was pulled out. I wish I had made that decision before cutting the coloured yarn when I worked the sleeves. Oh well. Finally I decided to just cast on the white yarn and that is successful.

While the frogging of the knitting projects was going on, I was trying to crochet a baby hat. From the library I had checked out Crochet One-Skein Wonders For Babies and I thought I would crochet a small hat using yarn left over from the red hat. I have made this hat twice with the same yarn so did not want to make a third but thought that a different hat in the same yarn would like nice. Ha. So wrong. The first pattern I tried the gauge was too big, so I started again with a smaller hook but the pattern didn’t really show so my second attempt was pulled out. I tried another pattern in the same book and that started to come out too too big so I gave up.

And then there’s the socks I started at the beginning of January which I haven’t worked on for a while because of all the baby things I have been knitting and because I’m not sure if I want to continue with the pattern.

But all is not doom and gloom, next time there will be photos of finished items.

Final Projects of the Year

I finished two baby projects at the end of last year and here is one of them. (The other one is a hat that goes with a jacket that is awaiting buttons so I will post those together.) My younger nephew is expecting a baby in January. So, of course, I had to make a blanket as every grandbaby has got one. I had yarn left over from this blanket, so it seemed to make sense to find a pattern where I could use this yarn. I really liked this one but decided that there was not enough contrast with the colours I had but definitely a pattern to be considered for future babies. This is the one I decided on although the pattern is written for sport weight yarn which is slightly thicker than the 4-ply of my yarn but I used size 4 mm needles as that was the size I had used on the first blanket. Plus it is a blanket so getting the same gauge and size is not crucial.

With this pattern, the coloured wedges are achieved with short rows and almost immediately I was reminded that I hate the look of short rows in garter stitch but I carried on in the hope that the recipients would not be bothered by it in the same way that I am. I still have yarn left over but there will not be a third blanket.



As this was finished last year I included the yarn used in last year's total. Alas no yarn out yet for this year.

2016

It’s that time of year again. A summary of my knitting and did the stash go up or down?

In 2016 I had 32 projects on the go. None of this number is a frogged project although one project was frogged and restarted. 8 are WIPS.
Of the six projects that were on the needles at the start of 2016, three are finished, one is the previously mentioned frogged and restarted and two are never ending.

Only two of these projects were crocheted; I made 9 hats for charity and 9 gifts. I completed 13 hats, five pairs of socks, three shawls, a cardigan, a toy and a baby blanket.

I am starting 2017 with eight projects in progress – one cast on at end of year, one waits buttons, one handbag project, one I should frog, pi shawl (aiming to finish on 14 March), the cardigan that was restarted and two never ending shawls.

I did not do well with yarn in and out. The amount of yarn in measured by metres was not quite double the amount used and balls of yarn added to the stash was three times the number out. But as a ball has to be completely used before it is recorded as out, this number does truly reflect that I am working through stash, so this year I will add another number – new balls of yarn started. I hope this will reflect better how much yarn I am using.

At the start of each year, I look at my stash (not physically, the list I have on a spreadsheet) and decide what plans I have for my yarn and what order I would like to knit it. This is not set in stone but can change when I get new yarn, there is a KAL or I just feel like knitting a certain type of item, project or yarn. In past years this has helped me decide to sell yarn. This year I changed the list quite a bit as I will be starting the New Year by knitting baby items as well as participating in a KAL.

Thanks to Ravelry and how I tag my projects, I can see how many projects I have each year and this is my lowest year since 2008. So I am looking forward to a productive 2017.

Christmas Socks

My Father-in-Law had a Christmas tradition where on Christmas Eve he wore green socks and on Christmas Day he wore red socks. When he died DH inherited the socks and the tradition.

I gave the socks shown at the end of this post to DH. as I had made them too long for my feet. He said they would be his Christmas Eve socks. Periodically I ask him if I can knit him socks and he always says no until he finally broke down and said I could knit him Christmas Day socks. When I went to Fiber Space earlier this year, I found the perfect red in a new-to-me sock yarn - Entice by Hazel Knits. Next to choose a pattern. I didn't want to knit a plain (vanilla) sock, so I looked at simple knit/purl patterns; there really is too much choice. I finally decided on this pattern. Enough going on to keep the knitting interesting but simple enough for a male to like. The pattern is by Meaghan who used to be in my knitting group but then she moved to Oregon this year. I have knit two of her other patterns - the hat shown at the end of this post and the shawl I made a few months ago.

The only change I made to the pattern was the type of heel. The pattern has a wrap and turn short row heel; I worked a short row heel with gusset; using reinforced German short row double stitches.

The pattern is toe-up and I worked three full pattern repeats on the leg before the end rows and rib. Before cutting the yarn after working the final bind off stitch I checked that I had enough yarn for the second sock; one of the advantages of owning a balance scale. I had not used half the yarn, which was a relief, but I did use more than 100 grams in total. Something to be aware of if I ever knit more socks for DH. Birthday, Thanksgiving, New Year, Super Bowl. There are plenty of possibilities for special socks.

I finished the socks on Christmas Eve and I gave them to him on Christmas Day but he still hasn't worn them! They should fit as I got him to try the first one on when I was working on the foot. This means I don't have any good photos. These are the ones on my sock blockers which are too small but it gives you some idea.

Knitting With Some Bad Photos

So after the last post, I need to show some knitting.

These were gifts that have now been mailed across the pond so it is unlikely that I will get better photos.

I have noticed that although I am not a repeat knitter, I certainly am when it comes to hats. Having made these patterns in the past for my granddaughter I decided they were worth making again for my great nieces I even used the same yarn as I had plenty left over.




And I nearly forgot this one; a Christmas present for my niece. The yarn is from Candy Skein, the worsted weight I bought at the Vista Fiber Fiesta. The pattern is my own design after searching pattern books for something that I thought would work with variegated yarn.

Sewing With Some Bad Photos

I know myself and blogging. If I've got a photo I should just write and post as the likelihood of getting a better photo in a short time frame is slim. So here we are, a couple of sewn items and photos of when they were tried on.

Quite a while ago, in Jo-Ann, I picked up the pattern sheet for this rain jacket. It was in my head to make at some point but I never bought the fabric required. Fast forward to last month and the grandkids' mother gave me all her sewing stuff and sewing machine. There was a lot of Babyville PUL so now I had (mostly) what I needed to make a rain jacket for each of the grandchildren, plus although I wasn't using the PUL as originally intended it was being made into something for the original intended recipients. I just had to buy wicking fabric and I made sure I had a good coupon.

This is an easy pattern and the crafting time stated is pretty accurate. The pattern does not add anything for seam allowances, so the jacket will be shorter than knee length and won't go down to the wrists if you do not add an extra inch to width and length measurements. I also thought top stitching one-inch from the edge was too wide so I stitched about 1/2-inch. The wicking fabric was a pain to deal with as it stretches. If I use it again, I will stabilize it first.

But the important thing is that my granddaughter loves hers, grandson couldn't care less which is why it was hard to take a photo and their dad thinks they are wonderful too.

Boy Quilt

I have finished another quilt. I have said that I don’t keep a record of when I start quilts. As I have that option for yarn projects on Ravelry I need to find a way to remember to record start dates of quilts. Although maybe it would be better to record the dates of various stages of a quilt. For example, yesterday I looked at the fabric for my next quilt and decided which colours to go next to each other. Is that the start date? I had a charm pack of 5-inch squares although they weren’t square so yesterday and today I squared them up – is that the start date?

Regardless of the actual start date, I do know that with this quilt I changed my mind on the final design between purchasing the fabric and finishing the quilt. The central design didn’t change but the borders did.

This is the pattern with a jelly roll that I purchased earlier this year from Jo-Anns – I know I said I wouldn’t buy anymore from there – don’t worry I only bought two! This one was cut straight.

My original plan was to finish the quilt using the self-binding baby quilt. Of course I changed my mind after buying fabric! I still used what I had purchased for the backing but purchased a different fabric for the borders. Which left the corner squares; as I really like to have those in a different fabric from the borders I used squares left over from this quilt.

It is a brightly coloured quilt; ideal for a little boy.

First photo attempt - somebody wanted in on the action.

A Birthday Quilt

Looking through my posts I realised I had not posted pictures of a quilt I finished earlier this year. Surprising, considering I think this is my favourite quilt. But I finished it in April and it was a gift for a birthday in July. I didn't notice until I saw this post and wondered where was the post showing the finished quilt. Well here it is.



The quilt was a gift for my son and I spent a while trying to decide on suitable fabric design and colours. I finally hit on the idea of bandanas as he had liked them when he was younger. I gradually purchased them with Jo-Ann's coupons. And once I had enough I changed my mind on the design so had to buy more! I chose You've Got Mail from Missouri Star Quilt Company.

I thought using bandanas would save having to cut fabric, but the bandanas were by no means square.

Having completed the top, I had to decide on fabric for the backing. Why not more bandanas?



The binding is a small black and white print. I thought quilting might be a problem, so I tied quilted it at each "point" with embroidery floss, alternating green and red.

This favourite will soon be superseded by the current quilt that is at binding stage.

When KALs Stymie Inspiration

This might seem a strange title considering I have participated in many knit alongs. But recently trying to work out what to knit in an informal knit along has put me into a flurry of matching yarn and patterns without actually starting anything.

I got into this mess after posting in the Yarniacs group on Ravelry a photo of the yarn I recently purchased. I listen to the Yarniacs podcast. One of the podcasters suggested we have a fun knit along with a skein of Candy Skein. Now did I think, I'll use that skein I just purchased; or did I think I can use one of my other Candy Skeins? No! I purchased another skein to match Gayle's.



And it was downhill from there. When I wound the new skein I decided it really needed to be socks. So what's the theme in Sock Knitters Anonymous? Lace. There's a pattern that I want to knit that will look lovely in this yarn. But wait says the voice in my head. Aren't you supposed to be knitting socks for hubby, for Christmas, with yarn you bought in Virginia? But I haven't started socks for him because since September I have been trying to find a pattern that fits the KAL theme .

And I haven't cast on with any of my Candy Skeins because I can't make a decision on any of those either.

Last Charity Knit For a While

When I lived in Calgary I knitted sections of blankets that were delivered to the NICU at one of the local hospitals. Posts showing the blankets are here, here and here. I enjoyed working on these blankets as there was a comradery within the group.

When I moved I wanted to get involved in something similar and a search on Ravelry produced a group which did the same thing. I joined and worked on four blankets in 2013 and 2014. This group was rather more officious, I think because members were spread out more and didn't know each other in person, so I didn't continue although I still like the idea of working on a section of blanket.

After that I found a group on Ravelry that knitted hats for Operation Gratitude which provides care packages to active and retired military. I have made 22 hats and 3 scarves. I have tried to make one item a month. This is my own target but lately I have found the knitting to be an obligation and not an enjoyment. Therefore, I decided it would be a good idea to take a break. I will knit items for charity again when it is something I want to do and not when I feel I have to do it.

This is the hat I started in August. It was suggested in the group and as I have always loved the pattern (I used it in one of the charity blankets) I knew I had to cast on. The pattern is by CorinnesKnits and is available on Ravelry.

Stash Enhancement

In my last post I mentioned the Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta. Hubby came with me so that we could go out to lunch afterwards. He wondered around the gem show while I looked at yarn.

I knew I wanted to get the colour of the month from Candy Skein, otherwise I had no particular plan. My first visit was to the Yarnover Truck. I always try to support them although their yarns are on the more expensive end. For October their featured dyer is Apple Tree Knits and they had a selection of their gradient yarns. I have wanted to knit another shawl with gradient yarn after finishing this beauty. The truck had a number of different colours in different bases but I wanted enough for a shawl so I chose the SilkLin Light Fingering which is 756 yards of 65% silk/35% linen. On this base the colours are muted and I chose the chocolate topaz colourway.

I headed off to Candy Skein's booth; looking at other vendors on the way. The booth was quiet so I was able to have a fan girl moment and introduce myself to Tami as I follow her on Instagram. I bought Poison Apple in both the Yummy Fingering and Juicy Worsted; the plan being to make a hat for Christmas. With the worsted I chose a skein with not much white; the fingering has more white. (I have already started the hat and it is looking really nice knitted up. No good photos yet.)

And that was it for purchases. I did look at other booths especially new dyers but I just wasn't in the mood to buy (any more) yarn just for the sake of it.

A Series of Photos Culminating in a Shawl

I could say I had no plans to make this pattern but that would be stupid because it was only released at the very end of July this year. Really what happened is that it was discussed at knitting group as it is a design by a friend - who has now moved. And as I had an upcoming vacation and I hadn't planned my knitting this seemed perfect plus I knew which two yarns in my stash I would use.

Looking at my blog posts from last year, I have not mentioned these yarns - how remiss - they were purchased at the Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta. (As of the time of writing I hope to be able to attend this year's Fiesta.)

Anyway, these are the two yarns I chose.



The dyer is Squirrel Stash, who, sadly, is no longer dying. I bought four skeins of yarn (and a stitch marker) at the Fiesta and this was the only booth where I bought two skeins. Unfortunately it meant another vendor missed out as I was limiting myself to four skeins.



When I chose these skeins I chose them individually, in fact I had a hard time just choosing two, but as I was paying for them someone mentioned how well they went together. This must have stuck in the back of my mind as at no time since purchase have I considered them for socks.

I think you will agree they work well together in this pattern. Unfortunately, for my "out" numbers I cannot record balls out as the pattern does not use full skeins of yarn. I used 85 grams of the blue and 65 grams of the cream. I contemplated making the last section longer to use more of the blue and maybe if I had been at home I would have done. This was a perfect vacation knit as I started and finished it while I was away and just had to block it when I got home. As you will see from the photos that was not so easy.