Upstairs

My dd is planning on attending a Homecoming dance. She has had her dress for a few months and we thought a nice warm wrap would look pretty and functional for a cool October evening. She decided on the Upstairs Shawl (it is rectangular) after looking through the millions of choices on Ravelry.

We then had to find the perfect yarn. Of course I had procrastinated on picking out the yarn so time started to become an issue. We ordered some pink lace weight online. It looked the perfect color on the monitor but was too purple of a pink in real life. Then we tried Cascade Sock yarn. It is so very soft but after knitting up a swatch it was just too brown of a pink. Our last attempt was successful. It is Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in the Peppermint colorway. It is very, very soft and a pleasure to knit!

The pattern is knitting up fairly fast. Although I am working hard to get it done by Sept 21st to make the Seasons of Lace deadline. Plus the dance is early October so I want it done soon anyway. I am almost halfway done and I started it Sept 3rd.

The original pattern is in German. There is a Free Ravelry download of the pattern in English.

I decided to start the pattern with a Provisional Crocheted Cast-on so that each end would look the same for the bind off. I may also decide to add a small knit on border on the short edges. Then I wouldn't have to think about the bind off not being stretchy enough when it comes time to block it.

I can't wait to see it blocked! I wasn't enjoying this pattern when I did the swatch. It just didn't look right. We even decided to start looking for a different pattern. Then I blocked the swatch! Wow! That changed our minds completely!

Black Olives

Finished and blocked!

Size: 20" x 69"

The yarn is one cone of Rayon Petalspun (Art. 2025) from Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co. in black. This yarn is very soft. I just weighed what is left of my one pound cone. It is about 8oz. So I used about 1/2 of the cone.

It was knit on size 5 bamboo needles. I used circulars because that is what I had available at the time I started this project.

The pattern is one I was writing up to be a cloth pattern but upon knitting the cloth it cried out to be a stole. I thought it would look nice with a knit on border that complemented the diagonal main body. I plan to write up the pattern and make it available on Ravelry.

I chose this yarn because I wanted this stole to be able to be used with my swimsuit at the pool on those cool days. I didn't want to worry it would lose its blocking if it got wet. The pool closed before I finished but I did get to throw it over my shoulders once while I knit on the first border. I also wanted the yarn to have a bit of a sheen to it so it would go nicely with some of my outfits. (Not this particular outfit! I wore this so the lace would show up nicely in the photos.)

Summer goes way too fast!

NOTE: You can see photos of the projects in progress down the right hand side of my blog. And if you click on the picture it will take you to Flickr to see a bigger picture. And Ravelry members can click on the name of the project in the side bar to go to the project pages for the details...like yarn, needles and notes. There is no cost to be a Ravelry member and the wait to get in is about a day or so. (I waited months!) Ravelry is still in it's Beta stage which is why they are still using the invitation method.

Update on the Pi Cloth...since that was pretty much my last blog entry. The pattern is almost completed. I will be teaching a class in October for this cloth at my LYS. First class. I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

Black Olives...That is the summer stole I've been concentrating on the last couple weeks since summer is escaping so fast. I'm very close to finishing it. Just one short edge and about 4 pattern repeats left of the edge I'm working on. And then blocking.

Nephew's socks...That was another project I worked hard at this summer (although my knitting attention has been spread among a host of projects). I got one sock up past the heel with multiple fittings taken before my nephew leaves again for college. I've even got the second sock started and am past the toe. I'm knitting them toe to cuff.

Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery shawl is taking a back seat at the moment while I concentrate on these more time sensitive projects. But I can't wait to pick that up again. I've seen so many finished ones and they are all beautiful and different. (rav link)

Summer Siesta is taking a siesta. I'm not happy with the bottom. But I like the lacy part. Hate to frog the lacy part to get to the bottom but that is what needs to be done. The lacy part would make a great light weight produce bag.

Here's a finished item.....


I cast on, knit, did a crochet bind off and blocked all in one day! This is Snowflake Star by Judy Gibson. My Rav project page entry.

So you are thinking (and so am I) that some of these projects should be further along or finished by now. We've had some non knitting projects going this summer as well. Besides plenty of swimming, a multitude of sleepovers (more rightly dubbed awakeovers) and being "helpers" at Vacation Bible School we also painted the girls new bedroom. We had some water leakage and this is what resulted...


The room was previously all car-siding like you see in the left side of the picture. Now it is drywall and BRIGHT! Even the car-siding you see in that picture is now painted blue and the closet door painted green (you can see the door laying in front of the bedding in the next picture.)

Here's a picture of the bedding we found at Target AFTER the room was painted. It matches so well it almost looks like we had the bedding first and chose the room colors from that.



And for those of you not familiar with the power of Kahlua. Let me show you what it can do:



That is the back right burner. A crack also runs through the front right burner and the front left burner. The back left burner escaped the powers of Kahlua and remains the sole non-cracked burner.

Why did the Kahlua bottle want to jump off the refrigerator to fight the stove? Well, he was dragged into the fight by the strap of the water bottle bag. Or more correctly....I apparently placed the Kahlua bottle on the strap of the water bag the night before when I "drizzled" Kahlua over my ice cream and smashed up Oreos. What an expensive sundae (or Sunday...since it happened at 7:15am Sunday morning on our way out to early church.)

The stove is/was over 10 years old so we can't just replace the top. Looks like we'll be getting a coil stove again. Good thing I still have all my cast iron pans...right mom!?!

On the bright side...the Kahlua bottle didn't break and I have since "drizzled" more Kahlua over smashed up oreos and ice cream. It has been relocated to the counter top until a more permanent place of residence can be found or I run out of oreos and ice cream. (Like that might happen!)

How to Read a Knitting Chart

This is a great tutorial for learning how knit from a chart. It really isn't so scary!

Pi Cloth Experimentation

It was time for a circular cloth knit in the round.

This is a great way to practice the Lighter Circular Beginning (second half of that video) Or if you don't like youtube here it is in still pictures: last entry here

This is also a great way to get your mind wrapped around a knit on border. It is easier to knit a knit on border than it is to figure out how to knit a knit on border. In other words once you have the start of it figured out the rest is a snap to knit.


For the doubling rounds I used the knit in the front and back of each stitch so I wouldn’t have the YO holes. The pattern on the main part of the cloth was not from a stitch dictionary. I drew it in Excel. The knit on border is from a stitch dictionary.









Unblocked (smoothed flat) it is about 10” in diameter.










Blocked it measures 10.5 inches.

The yarn is Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc America's Best Article 960, Perle Cotton (Size 5, mercerized). Color: Lime #56.

I used size 2 double pointed bamboo needles (8" long) for the whole thing.

The pattern is still in handwritten notes but I do have plans on writing it up with links and details for the tricky parts.

Ravelry link to project.

On Other Blogs

On Drilling in ANWR......Do you know what ANWR is? Very interesting!

On the stupidity of the Clean Energy Act of 2007
Made in the USA....NOT! Watch this short video. Inconceivable!

On Follow up Visits. It hurts worse when you only have major medical insurance.

On the rising grocery bill....or is it lowering product content. Nothing new under the sun.



Sorry. Moving on to more pleasant things.

On the love of a pet....even a wild one! Another video but this one made me cry in a happy way not like the other video above. I want a lion hug!

On current events and topics discussed from a Lutheran perspective.....
Issues, Etc.: Christ-centered Cross-focused talk radio back on the air! Listen on your computer or download podcasts to your MP3 player.

Center Squares Dishcloth

I’ve been wanting to do a square dishcloth knit in the round for sometime. I liked the looks of this pattern.

I cast on while we waited for the fireworks to start. I used the Lighter circular cast on (second half of this video) with 8 sts on size 6 dpns. I didn’t want to come back and finish the center. Then I increased in each of the eight stitches to get to the 16 required in the pattern. I used Kfb (knit in the front and back of st.) for all the increases in this pattern. If I make it again I may try Cat Bordhi type increases (LRinc and LLinc). I actually use the Crazy Toe and Heels increase but it is similar.

I also did all 8 increases (the ones in all the other increase rounds) in one round instead of doing the first increase after the last increase in the round. I was lazy.

I also accidentally did round 1 as my last round. Oh well.

The knitted on border was fun and easy to do while I watched a movie.

The directions for the edging were very well written and explained. My grafting wasn’t the best but I have to really look to find which corner was the last.

This pattern would look really nice as a square shawl (yep, got shawls on my brain) or a blanket/throw.


Oh...the yarn. This is Peaches and Cream worsted weight cotton. The color is Passion. It was on special at the Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co website. Four 2 oz skeins (98 yds each) for $4.08. Plus shipping which was kind of pricey but I ordered a few other things as well. Shipping was extremely fast! There was a mishap in the packing end of the shipment but the company was very, very generous in making up for that error.

Latin Proverbs

Sorry....here's another Latin proverb I'd like to remember...... and I know my blog can handle that job better than my brain!

Vigilo et spero.

This saying should be fairly easy to figure out even without any Latin classes. For the first word...think Mad Eye Moody's favorite phrase. My personal favorite! I always liked to shout that out when I was reading The Goblet of Fire aloud to the kids. They loved that...yeah, right. But I also explained to them the continued importance "in real life" of what Moody demands. Am I being cryptic enough!?! Okay...if you want to cheat and NOT read the book click here. Personally, I'd read the book! All seven!

The last word I connected with Spanish classes in the late 70's. If I'm remembering correctly (and it is VERY possible that I'm not!), this last word was part of my sister's name in her Spanish class.

Why I am a Lutheran

"When Did I become a Lutheran?" This is most certainly true!

Twisted Trails

Happy Independence Day!

I finished the cloth I've been knitting. I am offering this pattern for free again. It is a charted pattern I've called Twisted Trails.

The cotton I used is J&P Coats Royale Fashion Crochet Cotton (Size 3). This is the navy blue although the pictures shows it to be a lighter blue.

I knit this on size 3 needles.

I'll be putting this pattern up on Ravelry as a free download and adding it to the sidebar here. But first I have to refresh my member as to how to do that.

Seasons of Lace

The other "big" start on the 21st was for the Seasons of Lace (Rav link) and the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl. This is a Pi Shawl. You can still sign up for this KAL (knit along) until the 30th of June!

Goddess Knits site to sign up for this free pattern
Yahoo Group link ...where the pattern is uploaded so you can download.
Group on Ravelry

Clue 1 was fast. Completed it June 21st. This is Chart A. You had to pick one of the four charts.



Clue 2 was released on the 21st. I finished on the 23rd. This is the shawl so far. I didn't stretch it out completely.



For Clue 2 I used Chart B....again four different charts to chose from. As of this moment there is the possibility of 16 different shawls. If Clue 3 has four chart choices again then we're up to a possible 64 different shawls. Then Clue 4...256 different possibilities. Then there will be one more choice at the end to make it bigger if desired....if I'm remembering correctly.

The yarn is from Handpaintedyarn.com
I chose this yarn for the color and the price. The color is Mares Profundos. It is a very deep dark blue - semisolid. As I hand wound one of the two hanks I noticed that it isn’t consistent in its width. Some areas are a little thicker and some a little thinner. There were some kinks too. I’m not a spinner but those little kinks look like some spots may be over spun???? No clue if that is the case though. Some spots don’t look spun at all. So I have no idea. Anyway…I love the color. I hope it blocks ok...and keeps the block! Most of the items I've blocked tend to shrink up again...sometimes on the first wearing.

I'm using size 5 needles. I moved it to 24" circular needles as soon as possible. The bamboo dpns tips were a bit too rounded for long term lace knitting. They did work to get it started though.

Charcoal Socks for Christmas

I cast on June 21st for the Summer of Socks (see previous post for links) with this Christmas present for my nephew. I'm zipping along. We will be seeing him on Sunday and I hope to have the sock to the point where the heel starts. Once I know it fits fine I'll cast on for the second one on another set of needles.

This is another Crazy Toes & Heels (see sidebar for link) sock to fit size 14 extra wide feet. (What did I get myself into!?) Gauge 10spi. Size 0 circular needles. Toe up. Aloha Cast on (9). Inc to 48 sts. Start gusset increases at Row 45.

The yarn is Pace. The color is Charcoal. I bought a TON of this charcoal when I did the socks for my dad and brother-in-law. Luckily that is the color that my nephew wanted as well. Wonder what color Nephew #2 will want??? I'll start his socks much closer to Christmas as his feet are still growing fast.

I bought the yarn from Loose Ends Yarn Shop before she moved down the street. This link will take you to the store owners blog for some new shop window pictures. Her new store is very nice! Even has a back porch if Knit Night wants to spill out into the out-of-doors on lovely evenings.

Tick, Tock

I'm biding my time.

I love knitting socks so I signed up for "Summer of Socks". (Link to group at Ravelry) Sign ups are now closed because the start date is fast upon us...Saturday June 21st! But that also means that I've been waiting and waiting to cast on for a sock. I really miss having a sock project along in my purse to take up those wasted minutes that present themselves unexpectedly.

I haven't cast on another lace project either because I also signed up for Seasons of Lace. (Link to group at Ravelry) Lace socks also count! Anything lace! It also begins June 21st. Sign up for that group is still open a few more days I think.

And I thought, "Hey, if I'm going to be knitting lace why not sign up for the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl Along group?" Whew, what a mouthful. Cut and paste comes in handy. Here's the Ravelry link for that group. The first "clue" was posted on the 14th of June. I'm still swatching and waiting for the starting gun for Seasons of Lace before I officially cast on for this circular shawl. Sign up is still open for that as well (as of today anyway).

I also started messing around with a new cloth pattern but it turned into a stole with a knitted on border on both ends. I've swatched for that too...but not with the yarn I want to use exactly. I've swatched and blocked with 100% mercerized cotton (fingering weight). I'm currently swatching with Euroflax linen (sport weight). But I've got some yarn (cotton/linen blend, lace weight?) on order to experiment with. I didn't want to spend a lot of money since this is all an experiment. And I wanted a yarn that I could wear over my swimming suit at the pool. Some not-so-hot days I'd rather throw on a cover up than an old beach towel. I'm cautiously optimistic about this project at this point.


Since there aren't any pictures...
This is Caesar. We inherited him from my mother-in-law after her fall last October. He is a friendly bird and loves to greet daddy when he gets home from work. He also loves his veggie/noodles, showers and chattering! He doesn't like to be pet but he does like to sit on your finger, or head, or toes, or whatever. This picture shows him getting comfortable on my daughter's arm with his foot up. Look at all those new little head feathers!

Buddy

Here are a couple pictures of our house bunny named Buddy. He turned 5 this past May. He loves his hayloft.

Added June 18th:
This original post was made it a hurry to show the pictures to someone in particular. So here's a bit more about Buddy.

Buddy loves to come out of his cage. He can open the door himself (if it's not locked). He used to run and jump more but since our carpet has been removed most of the running and jumping occurs on the couch and throw rugs. He loves to lay on the throw rug by my chair (especially when I have the foot thingee up...it's like a little fort). He only sits on your lap when the mood suits him. He will lay down when you start to pet him and get back up again when you stop.

Birds and bunnies...they have to be two of the messiest pets...but we do love them to pieces.

Bit by the lace bug!

Yes, more lace!

This is the Adamas Shawl designed by Miriam Felton. For those of you who know your Greek (or Latin ) the name will most likely be familiar to you. If you need a little help, check out the link for the translation. Or here's a hint....adamant. "I was adamant in my desire to knit this shawl even though my husband thought I was nuts!"

The designer loves to name her patterns with classically derived names. I love that! This yarn has been in my stash for years and was going to be Icarus but I was afraid I was going to be a little short on the yardage. But I have many reasons why I still need to knit Icarus. One reason being my love of the band Kansas. That may seem a weird connection but you Kansas fans know what I'm talking about. (I'm sure I'm only talking to myself but oh well)




Anyway...this yarn is one skein (850 yds) of Alpaca with a Twist "Fino". It is 70% Baby Alpaca, 30% Silk. The color is a light lilac or periwinkle. I used size 4 Knitpicks Options needles (love those pointy tips!). After blocking the size is 72" across the back and 36" from upper edge to the point.

More Calorimetries

These three are done with TOFUtsies sock yarn. All the sock yarn ones are done on size 2 needles. The pattern was linked in the previous post but here it is again if you missed it.

Red/pink one:
136 sts. 10 markers each side.

Pink/blue/green:
128 sts. 10 markers each side.

Green/brown:
144 sts. 11 markers each side.


















This one is Crystal Palace's Panda Cotton sock yarn. It was some elastic in it. This yarn was fairly splity and completely unplied itself when I was doing the sewn bind off. But I did like the softness and how the stitches looked on the finished piece. 128 sts. 10 markers each side.



This is the only worsted weight one of the bunch. This is Tess Designer yarns superwash worsted weight I had leftover from a project a few years back. This yarn is super soft! Size 5 needles. 88 sts. 9 markers each side.

Calorimetry

I'm still working on the Adamas Shawl but I've also been experimenting with the Calorimetry. My first attempt was ripped down before pictures were taken. It was too big. 120 stitches on size 7 needles with worsted weight yarn. It was very stretchy. This picture shows my second attempt. It was done with sock yarn, size 2 needles and 88 stitches. It was a wee bit tight but works ok for a headband for a small 9 yo.












This next picture is same yarn, same needles but 120 stitches. Worked row 5 until I had 10 markers on each side (not counting the first 2 sts on each side). The fit was good. I say "was" because the day after it was finished it was lost. I'm thinking it will turn up sooner or later. But until then a new yarn was picked to make a second one.

I've made two others...no pictures?!? Plus I've got the replacement one made. I'm going to do some modeling shoots today.

Diamond Fantasy off the Blocking Board

Approximate finished measurements:
Top to tip: 27"
Tip to top corners: over 36"
Top edge: 52"

The Miracle of Lace

Here is my Diamond Fantasy shawl (really more a scarf size again) right off the needles. Looks cozy and warm and all but not anything like it is suppose to look. Even the color of the yarn is not portrayed accurately in this photo.





Here it is after a bath and a good stretching. It is still pinned to the blocking board. This is one of those folding cardboard boards that I used to use for cutting fabric. To protect the cardboard from the wet shawl I covered the board in a medium weight clear plastic. That's the stuff you can get at Wal-mart or a Ben Franklin type store located in the fabric section by the large rolls of vinyl tablecloth. This board worked WAY better than the gingham checked fabric I used previously. Hope it's dry by bed time! (Oops...I cut the sheets out of the picture. It's blocked on the bed!)


Now about the pattern....


The Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding can be made scarf size or shawl size. The one I made is scarf size and only uses 350 yds of fingering weight yarn. I used one skein of Mountain Colors-Bearfoot . I love it for socks and thought it would be pretty for this scarf-sized shawl. The color name is Pheasant and it is made up of 60 % Superwash Wool, 25 % Mohair, 15 % Nylon. The dye did bleed out a bit when I soaked the shawl before blocking. I used size 5 circular needles (3.75mm).

I followed the pattern exactly and had about 20 yards of yarn leftover. I was worried that I was going to run short so I placed a lifeline at one half pattern repeat on the last repeat. If I ran out of yarn I would have then ripped back to that lifeline.

Doing the lifeline was easy. I just threaded a piece of thread (still attached to the spool) through the keyhole of my KnitPicks Option needle. Tied a knot so the thread would pull along while I knit the next row. When the row was finished I just had to be sure to leave the thread long enough, cut the thread from the spool, and cut it free from my needle. This also meant that my stitch markers were trapped on that row. But as I used a thinly sliced soda straw (which makes about 50,000 markers...okay maybe not quite that many) I just pulled out some more markers to place on the next row. I also used my row counter that I made with jump rings. The thread was thin enough to just slide through the crack of the jump ring. So I didn't need to let that dangle.

Undulating Rib Socks

I've been a bad blogger. These socks were finished April 29th and I'm first blogging about them now. Oh, well...better late than never.

This sock was my March entry for the SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous Raverly group). The challenge for March was either an Ann Budd pattern or entrelac. They needed to be finished by April 30th to qualify. I just squeaked under the deadline. (Yeah, I knew to steer clear from the entrelac based on my raveled entrelac dishcloth experience. Here's a link if you want to see entrelac and how it's done.)

This picture doesn't show the pattern very nicely at all. It doesn't look too bad if you click on the picture to make it bigger. I was hoping to get a better picture on my feet. All I managed was a close up shot.

The pattern is from Favorite Socks. It is written to be knit from the cuff to the toe. I knit it the other way...from toe to cuff. So I didn't follow the pattern 100% as written in the book. I used size 0 circular needles...that's 2.0mm for you metric people out there.

This was my first time knitting with SWTC TOFUtsies. I liked the yarn. It was a little splity but not so much that it bugged me. This yarn is 50% superwash wool, 25% soy silk, 22.5% cotton, 2.5% chitin. What's chitin? Something made from shrimp and crab shells. Never thought I'd be wearing that on my feet.

I loved the color (#847) of this yarn. It would make a nice wrap on those cool weather days...or a summery sweater. But I'm all out.

I bought this yarn at Loose Ends Yarn Shop in Mayville. (NB: This shop will be moving at the end of May but luckily the new store front is just south a block or two...on the river side of the street.)

Oh and for a little teaser of what's coming next.
Well, I guess it's not much of a teaser if you look at my "in progress" projects on the side bar. The knitting part is done. I've got to block it yet...get it wet and stretch the dickens out of it. This picture shows the color fairly well.