New Book

A new book I found in my LYS, Cast on, Bet's Off by Jack Olesker is the first of a new series. Because I haven't read it yet, I will tell you how the book is described. "This is a story of love, greed, hatred, friendship and twisted desires." It is a mystery about a man found murdered by a pair of size nineteen Addi Turbo knitting needles.

Read it while I'm gone for 3 weeks in the Ukraine, Russia, Estonia and Finland.

Saturday Sky April 28, 2007

A beautiful warmer than normal spring day. Predicted high is 78 degrees.

Dishcloth Angel

Pattern: Tina's Knit Dishcloth Angel. Available at www.geocities.com/Love2Knit_dishcloths/TinaKnitAngelDishcloth

Yarn: Sugar and Cream
Needles: Size 8

Minnesota Knitters Guild Yarnover

Saturday at Yarnover I took a class from Layl McDill on polymar clay buttons. This is my handiwork from the class, some of which isn't what it should be as I missed a few steps trying to keep up while stopping the bleeding from the finger injury. I had to learn by experience that one edge of the tool we were using for cutting the clay was sharp (like a razor blade) and the other side was not and which edge I should use for cutting the clay. When I get back from Russia I'll cut the pieces and bake them. Check out Layl's website, www.claysquared.com

A Knitter's Journal

A Knitter's Journal is a new publication by Schoolhouse Press and Elizabeth Zimmermann's daughter, Meg Swanson.

It is essentially a journal to be written in, but included are drawings and quotes of Elizabeth Zimmermann, knitting graph paper, a few abbreviations and symbols, needle conversion chart, schematics for EZ percentage system round yoke and drop shoulder sweaters, and a pattern for Wearable Art Stockings.

Red Hatters Go to Decoy's

After seeing the Pirates of Penzance at the Lakeshore Players in White Bear Lake, we went to Decoy's for dinner. The play was very good and it's fun to see local nonprofessional people performing.

Saturday Sky April 21, 2007

The sky outside Arlington High School, the site of the MN Knitter's Guild annual Yarnover. A wonderful experience today! The keynote speaker was Annie Modesett, followed by AM and PM classes. In the morning I took a polymar clay button class which was a new and fun experience. Following lunch and some shopping I took a class from Meg Swanson. She always has something to learn. The only things I bought were a bowl from Jennie the Potter who has darling mugs and bowls sheep and yarn oriented and the new knitting journal published by School House Press. You can see her work at www.JennieThePotter.com

Weather today was beautiful, I thought, but my husband just told me it was cloudy this morning with some lightening and thunder. Then U got out of Yarnover the sun was shining and the temperature was in the 80's.

Sublime Rambler Hat

Isn't this adorable? It is the Rambler Hat made out of Sublime Yarn. Sublime is the most lucious yarn, cashmere, merino, and silk. I also have my eye on a matching sweater, but so far I've resisted.

Pattern: The Sublime Aran hand knit book, number 604.

Yarn: 2 balls Sublime cashmere merino silk aran

Needles: Size US 6 and 8

The directions are to make the hat by knitting back and forth, but I used circular needles and knit it in the round.

Yes, the sweater is the off white cowl neck sweater on display at Amazing Threads.

Autism Awareness

April is Autism Awareness Week.

• Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the US.
• More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes and cancer combined.
• 1 in 152 children is diagnosed with autism.
• 67 children are diagnosed per day.
• A new case is diagnosed almost every 20 minutes.
• 1 in 104 boys is on the autism spectrum.
• Autism costs the nation over $90 billion per year, a figure expected to double in the next decade.
• Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
• There is no medical detection or cure for autism.

www.AutismSpeaks.org

www.Autism-association.com

www.autismawareness.com

Saturday Sky April 14, 2007

Most of the day the sky was clear and blue, but when I came home from teaching, it was cloudy. The clouds actually didn't last very long. Temperature got up to 60 degrees today!

Regia Silk Sock Yarn

This was the softest sock yarn I've ever felt! It is available in several solid colors-this one really is a denim color-and self striping. I didn't think the self stripping felt as soft as the sold colors.

Circumnavigate Sweater

The Circumnavigate Sweater is finished! Previous posts on March 1 and March 12 show the progress and the difficulty with yarn. Can you spot the two skeins of Spirit yarn in this sweater with 7 skeins of Crystal Palace Taos?

The construction of this sweater makes it interesting to knit. It is cast on with a provisional cast on just above the ribbing. The pockets and sweater are knit in one piece to the desired depth of the pocket where they are fused with the body of the sweater. The edge of the pockets have a nice 3-stitch I-cord edging. At the underarm, sleeve stitches are cast on with a provisional cast on and the yoke is worked, making the raglan decreases, to the point of the saddle shoulder. The saddle is worked back and forth, working decreases with the front and back body stitches and then a small saddle is worked across the back neck. The provisional cast on is taken out at the body and the ribbing is worked and stitches picked up for the button bands. The sleeve stitches are picked up from the provisional cast on, then bound off to give the decorative ridge around the sleeve, then stitches picked up from the back of the bind off and the sleeve knit down. Fun!

The buttons are interesting ones given to me by my son on a visit to the Cayman Islands. They are made by a local high school student who collects coconuts from the beach. He cracks them open, polishes them and individually crafts them into Coco Buttons.

Easter Basket

The basket is made from A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting by Cat Bordhi. The patterns in this and her first book, A Treasury of Magical Knitting offer fun patterns all based on the fascinating concept of the moebius. The yarn I used for this basket was Noro which I wouldn't use again for this project as it doesn't felt up sturdy enough to hold up the sides of the basket-that's what I had to use the jelly beans for.

Saturday Sky April 7, 2007

Looks can be deceiving. This beautiful sky looks down on a cold, cold, windy day. I don't think it even reached 30 degrees today. Most unusual weather for April, but Minnesota can pull stunts like this.

Mittens

Two more pair of mittens are finished using Encore yarn with size 4 and 6 needles. Note on the picture that there is not a gusset, but the ribbing continues up the gusset area which gives it some stretch, and the thumbs are also ribbed for extra warmth. My grand daughter told me she liked them because she could wear them on either hand. They are made from my favorite mitten pattern, Cottage Creations, Projects For Community Knitting by Carol Anderson. If the pattern is not available from your LYS you can send a Large Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope to Cottage Creations for a brochure of available patterns. Cottage Creations, At the farm on Deer Creek, Carpenter, Iowa 50426-0070.

Books

The cover of Threadbared by Kimberly Wrenn and Mary Watkins states, "Decades of Don'ts from the Sewing and Crafting world". The pictures are priceless-mostly pictures from vintage knitting books. The commentary-well, I think it is sarcastic and does not take into consideration the culture of the time frame of the pattern. (My opinion-I lived through that time period.)

Casts Off by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee looks to be an interesting and humorous approach to knitters and knitting. She says in the introduction, "If you are a knitter, you're on a journey to an amazing land" and the whole format is about traveling to the land of knitting. Her chapter on "Population" describes me perfectly. She says, "The land of knitting is populated largely by people who didn't know they were coming here to live full time." In a fun quiz she identifies the citizens of knitting, either a Process Knitter or Product Knitter. "A Process Knitter knits for the sheer enjoyment of the activity, while a Product Knitter knits for the joy of the knitted stuff." I am such a Process Knitter! Why else would I have three drawers full of knitted lace shawls and a high percentage of my stash is lace yarn? Stephanie describes a Process Knitter as "While you enjoy excellence in your work, you are flexible about it and it is the act of knitting that you really enjoy. If someone asked you what you love most about knitting, you would probably show her your favorite stitch or let her touch your softest yarn. You are the sort of knitter who would knit a square lace tablecloth for the same reason that mountain climbers ascend Everest: because it's there."