January's Dishcloths

Now that we are in February, I thought it is about time I posted photos of January's dishcloths before I start on February's.

This is the dishcloth from the beginning of January and seems very appropriate for this house.



The yarn I used was Bernat Cot 'n Corn which is 67% cotton and 33% corn. It is a nice yarn but the dishcloth doesn't keep it's shape unlike the ones made from Bernat Handicrafter Cotton such as the next one.

Not in the Stash Mittens

So, I finished requested bed socks but still had some yarn left over. (Each sock used just over 1/2 ball of Alpaca.) And this is the problem with my stash it is mostly left overs. To avoid adding to my stash, I immediately cast on for a pair of mittens and because I'm nice and it was really his yarn, I made mittens for the spousal unit.

Working from the top down, I made a thumb and then the main part of the mitten. I ran out of yarn just as I was finishing the thumb shaping, so a bit of black yarn (from the stash of course) doubled and hey presto! I had a cuff that looks like it was meant to be.

This time the gods were smiling on me. When I knitted the second mitten, there was much more yarn left over than when I had finished the mitten. Lucky me that I didn't use that ball first, otherwise I would have changed the thumb shaping and then been buggered when it came to the other mitten and didn't have enough yarn.

Matrimonial Harmony Socks

The spousal unit asked me to knit him some socks that he could wear in bed when his feet are cold. He wanted them, thicker, looser and shorter than normal socks. I searched for patterns but didn't see anything I liked until the light bulb went off and I realised that I could just use a generic sock pattern.

I took him to Michael's when they had their yarn sale, picked up some different yarns and told him to pick and told him not to choose the cheapest but the one that felt the nicest. He chose Bernat Alpaca, which is 30% alpaca, 70% nylon, in a dark grey.

I used a generic toe-up sock pattern, adding a 3 x 1 rib on the instep for a bit of stretch. I started with needles 2 sizes smaller than recommended but this produced a stiff material, so I went down just one size to produce a firm but still soft material. After the short row heel I changed to 3 x 1 rib all around for the cuff. When the cuff was the correct length I worked one round of all purl stitches, changed to a size larger needle, and 1 x 3 rib for the turn back of the cuff. This produced a nice turn over for the cuff.

Excuse the poor quality of the photos but my camera has stopped working so I am having to use something more basic.



You can see from the next photo what a difference the bigger needle makes to the size of the cuff.

Holiday Knitting

I've called this holiday knitting because it covers two holidays - Summer and Christmas.

At the Stampede in July I bought 3 skeins of Alpaca as it was a good price for three rather than buying individual skeins. I decided a pair of gloves was the right project for these and if I made them while away in the summer they would be ready for the winter.

Good idea so far. except, instead of making a standard glove I decided that it would be fun to work from the top down. That means I work each finger and thumb individually and then work them into the glove at the right point.

Now I know why there aren't any commercial patterns for this method. It was very fiddly plus I didn't find any advantage in being able to adjust the length of each finger. In fact it was harder as there wasn't the hand of the glove in the right position. I finished one and promptly didn't like it. A combination of the gauge and the size. Although I had tested gauge before I left, this was too loose plus I didn't like the fit of the glove. I don't have very big hands and the glove seemed too big.

So it languished in its bag until the weather got really cold and I thought another pair of gloves would be useful. So over Christmas break I made a pair of gloves the conventional way. Yes, a pair, as I made both of them this time. I went down two needle sizes from the original and they fit much better.

But at -13 degrees alpaca doesn't cut it and I still need two pairs of gloves.

New Widget

Have you noticed a new feature at the side of my blog?

It is provided by Shelfari.

This will show you the books I have read in 2009 and if you click on a book you will be able to read reviews of it.

My first book for 2009 was The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier. I have read a number of her books and this had the usual element of suspense as to what will happen next and how will the story end. Which was not as I expected.

Resolutions? Me?

So we've slipped into another year and once again I will not be making any resolutions. Basically my life is so perfect there is nothing I need to change!

The stash is still there and I would like to use more of it this year as it would be nice to see it put to good use but as I've said before, as most of the stash is left overs I am limited as to what I can make and scarves get boring after a while.

We shall see.

2008

This year has been the year of if I don't like it, don't finish it.

One ball of yarn (from the stash) was started 3 times until I settled on the baby hats for charity.

A baby blanket I started last year was thrown away as I hated the yarn so much. It had been given to me and sat in my stash for ages. The yarn was nice but the colour - mustard yellow - I should have passed it on ages ago.

Sock yarn that wasn't working in one pattern was unpicked and another pattern chosen.

A glove never did have a mate.

And this sweater.

I used the stash a little. All but one pair of socks were knitted from stash yarn. I added to stash yarn to make this baby blanket and used the left over yarn immediately.

I knitted one scarf for charity from stash yarn and frogged another one that I didn't like.

I've posted photos of the dishcloths I have knitted this year, still need to post photos of the other baby blanket I made, otherwise this year I have knitted a lot of holes.

But it doesn't matter how full of holes my life is: Happy Anniversary Husband.

I Must Stop Joining Groups

Somehow (the convoluted way we all find things on the web) I came across a Yahoo group for knitting dishcloths. Twice a month a new pattern is published a few rows at a time. So of course I joined.

The first pattern in the middle of November was this.



So from not having done any illusion knitting I know work two pieces in quick succession.

The pattern for the middle of December was this.



It is too big for washing dishes but seems too nice for cleaning.

A Complaint

Can you believe it someone has complained about my writing? This nameless person (my younger sister) objects to the term "fall colors as used in this post.

She feels that as I now live north of the border I should be using correct English. So in the interests of family unity, sisterly love, etc. here is the correct English.

"fall colours"

What? More Knitting

I haven't blogged about this item because I never even took a photo of it.

My aim is not to add to stash and, hopefully to use what I have. So when I finished the baby blanket, I immediately cast on with the left over yarn to make a small tablecloth.

The pattern is the Feather and Fan Shawl by Eugen Beugler from A Gathering of Lace.

I knitted until I ran out of yarn and it was just big enough to fit a small table I have.

When I was on a picture taking frenzy this week because my camera was cooperating I realised that I had never taken a photo. So here it is.

Photos of My Dishcloths

So I told you how my secret swap sent me yarn and patterns to make 2 dishcloths; well, I was finally able to take photos. The dishcloths have a Halloween theme.

First Candy Corn.



and


Pretty cool but really hard to photograph.


And here is the witch.


This actually looks better in the photograph than in the flesh as the photograph shows the witch clearly but you really have to look at the cloth to distinguish it.

It's a Mystery

Way back in 2006 I joined a Yahoo group based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi shawl. Her concept was simple, every time you double your stitches, you double the number of rows you knit before you double your stitches again.

For example: you cast on 4 stitches, knit one round, double stitches to 8, knit 2 rounds, double stitches to 16, knit 4 rounds and so on. (Or etcetera, etcetera, etcetera to quote Yul Brynner.)

The group has an awesome designer, who designs the mysteries. She thinks of a theme and each time the stitches are doubled she produces a set of patterns to fit the theme from which you choose one. I made a small round tablecloth the first time and then the shawl for my mother-in-law.

The mystery this time is different as she has created an oval. There is a centre rectangle with a semi-circle at each end. The stitches in the semi-circle are increased like a Pi but the rectangle part stays constant. So it feels like the knitting is proceeding faster. The one thing I hate about circular knitting is that it is so quick to start and then gets slower and slower so that when you have in excess of 600 stitches it can take all night to knit one round in lace.

A Surprise

I joined a Trick or Treat Secret Swap through one of the Yahoo Groups I belong to. This was what we were told to send to our partner. I thought it sounded fun.

1. A book with a Halloween theme (this doesn't have to be specifically
about Halloween - any scary theme will do. Witches, ghosts, monsters,
vampires, villains - you get the picture!
2. A skein of yarn, enough for a one skein project, in fall colors.
3. A pattern for something to make with the yarn. (this could be
tricky!)
4. A trick and a treat!

Today I received the parcel from my secret pal, who lives in Kansas; so I guess I can't make fun of Kansas any more.

First here is a photo of the stamps.



I have never seen this many stamps on a parcel.

I was eager to see what goodies my pal had sent but first the parcel had to be inspected by the parcel police.



And then I got to my goodies.



You can't see everything in the photo but there were 2 scary books, some Halloween decorations, a bag of candy canes, 4 balls of Peaches and Cream cotton yarn and 2 patterns.

The patterns were for dishcloths and I have made both of them but the camera is playing up so I can't take photos.

And, finally, don't you just love the gift that keeps on giving?

First Snow

No photos, just to record that it started snowing last night. Wet snow that stayed on the grass but not on the roads. Winter is on its way.

A Little Bit of Knitting

With Coffee on the Side

Last night I went out to knit. Through the wonders of modern science - ie the internet - a knitting group has been formed at my end of town. Off I trotted braving storms and pestilence (rain) and met up with 3 like minded people. Although one of them was crocheting which is very close to like minded and I am working on a crochet baby blanket at the moment although I didn't take it with me.

I wanted to take something fairly easy so that I didn't have to worry about the knitting so took the wrap I have been working on for ever and don't know when I last picked up. Not surprisingly I ended up unpicking the first 2 and half rows I knitted.

The night was not without drama. We met at a Starbucks which is close to a school and offices so doesn't get very busy in the evenings. A young couple came in and sat near us and her body language screamed unhappy. I didn't notice the guy leave but I did notice the girl on the phone quietly crying - which meant only one thing. After a while someone came and picked her up; so not only did her guy dump her but he left her to get home by herself - did I mention it was raining hard.

But I have been reliably informed by the boy child that you do not go to coffee shops as a couple as they are notorious dumping grounds (no pun intended). No wonder Starbucks is in difficulties.

Tale of Two Socks

Technically it should be the tale of four socks

I had two balls of sock yarn - different colours and manufacturers - let's call them a and b. And two different sock knitting patterns - 1 and 2.

I had decided to knit pattern 2 with yarn b which left pattern 1 to knit with yarn a. Which I did, way back in in February. Except I didn't like the way it looked. Yarn a was Trekking XXL and although self-striping it was a variegated type so blended into the stripes and just didn't look right for a pattern developed especially for self-striping yarns. So I frogged what I had done and decided to work pattern 2 with the yarn instead so then I worked pattern 1 with yarn b.

So two pairs of socks later, I decide I don't like pattern 1 mainly due to the yarn I had chosen.

It is rather dull and would have looked better in the original pattern.

Here they are, artistically posed no top of a scarf I had knitted - details to follow.

What Colour Green Are You?

So I followed a link from another blog and took the test.

You Are Olive Green

You are the most real of all the green shades. You're always true to yourself. For you, authenticity and honesty are very important... both in others and yourself. You are grounded and secure. It takes a lot to shake you. People see you as dependable, probably the most dependable person they know.

What Color Green Are You?

Sounds too good to be true but maybe a bit boring. I'll have to show you the results from what kind of weather are you to show my otherside.

Another Baby Blanket

A girl at work is pregnant so a chance to make another baby blanket. I had some yarn in my stash mostly purchased when a shop went out of business. The yarn was ideal to make another blanket from the same pattern as last time but I didn't want to make the same thing so soon. I had seen a pattern in one of the Vogue Knitting On The Go books that I really liked. The yarn I had was thinner than called for in the pattern but I thought that wouldn't matter as I would just knit more rows and cast on more stitches but what I was making was floppy and didn't look very good so I doubled the yarn and it looked fine. The pattern is a series of squares where you start off with one and then increase every so often and when you have half a blanket you start decreasing. I was aiming to stop increasing after using half the yarn but that wasn't so easy as I had an odd number of balls so I had to guess and I didn't quite use them all but the blanket is the right size for a baby.

Here it is.



Yarn: Sandnes Garn Mandarin Petit (Used double)
Needles 5.5 mm

Saturday Sky

Haven't posted a photo for a while, so thought you might like today's view.

This is 7.30 this morning.


And this is the same view at 11.30 this morning



Not much of a difference except there is a bit more sun in the second photo.

It started snowing around 9.00 yesterday morning and hasn't stopped.

All Change

Remember this?

Well it became



and then



Although that might be a bit misleading because I couldn't turn that yarn into a cat.

I realised that I was never going to wear the jacket and it seemed such a waste of yarn - which wasn't cheap. So back to balls and onto the needles pretty quickly so that I could wear it this winter. If I left it, I was in danger of finishing it in the summer and then forgetting I had it. I have learned a few things from the original project. One is to take better notes. I am very fond of writing "used size needles to get gauge". Hmm not much help when the pattern is from a library book and I have no idea what the gauge was.

The pattern I made up from measuring a (shop-bought) sweater that I really like and I stuck to the measurements apart from adding almost an inch to the length. The ribbing was worked on smaller needles but with the same number of stitches as the main part. The body and sleeves were worked in the round as far as the armhole shaping and then they were joined and worked in the round with raglan shaping until the neck shaping.

I am really pleased with how the sweater came out and as I finished it in time for a cold weekend it has been worn.

The other thing I learned from the original project - if I don't like something when I finish it, I am unlikely to change my mind later.