Finished Projects

Amazing Threads has been having many Learn to Knit classes so we are starting to offer a Dishcloth of the Month class to help beginning knitters learn new skills. This is the February cloth.

Pattern: Free download on Ravelry-Purple Heart Knit Motif

Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Fantasy Naturale

Finally finished this sweater. I think I knit it twice as I ripped it so many times. The yarn is Malabrigio Rios. Wonderful yarn. I've used Malabrigio before and did not have a problem with the skeins not matching, so I knit one skein and when I added the second one, there was a definite change of color which I could not live with.

The pattern is by Rosemary Hill and is available in Knitscene, Fall 2012.

Needles: Sizes 5 and 8.

My sweater does not have buttons at this time. I don't like to sew in buttons! If I did it again, I would make the buttonholes larger. The pattern is a 3 stitch buttonhole and I would do 4-5. I also thought the buttonholes were messy using the directions so I substituted a one row buttonhole which Carol Anderson uses in her patterns. It is so invisible I can't find the buttonholes in this sweater.

 

I made the sleeves wrist length instead of elbow length. In Minnesota I need a warm sweater.

This doesn't look like much knitting, but I have been busy. Lots of projects in progress. I finished a test knit for Cottage Creations, but have not received permission to post pictures yet. A pair of socks should be finished this weekend. No shawls for 2013 yet.

Lace Poncho

Pattern: Lace Poncho from Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2012

Yarn: Cascade Yarn Heritage Silk

Needle US #6

 

This was not a hard knit, but it took a long time as it increased to  818 stitches for the 20 rows of lace edging.

 

The yarn was beautiful, but depending on how the light was I either hated it or loved it. In the right (bright) light it began to have a slight halo which I thought distorted the pattern. It could have been because this was such a large project and it traveled so much in and out of my tote bag the yarn showed the abrasion. It really isn't that noticeable.

 

The increasing side panels have patterning on every row, but because it is knit in the round from the top down, it is always worked on a right side row.

    

      In Progress                             Knitting Done

 Blocking. I used the flexible blocking wires. It is not a good blocking job as I was still doing it at 11:30 at night and it was "just get it done."

This doesn't show real well, but I used the flexible blocking wire around the neckline under the collar.

 It really turned out beautifully. When I brought it to Amazing Threads for display (I will be teaching this in a class) the owner was wearing it when a customer came up behind her and said "there is a hole in the back." Yes, it was one of my mistakes which I hadn't corrected very well. I will take yarn and needle to it and see what I can do some day.

My "Have to Do" List

Do you ever feel pressured by the knitting you want/have to do? This happened to me during the Olympics when I set a goal for my Knitting Olympic project. Once the Olympics started my priorities changed. (See my last post.) So, I sat down and made a list of MUST do projects-it totaled 12. That doesn't count a shawl already started and a KAL starting soon. So, here is my progress:

 

Finished. Mimi's Rosa Rugosa is a test knit for Kimberly Gintar (Kimberlolly on Ravelry). I took this on even though I knew I had too much to do. My husband tells me I do it to myself when I voice how overwhelmed I feel.

These are socks for my daughter in law's birthday. She bought the yarn when we were at Arnhild's Knitting Camp in February so I decided I'd knit them for her birthday. They are done except for the toe decreases I think. I want her to try them on before I finish. We'll see her Saturday so hopefully they'll be finished then. This is the first time I tried Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel but haven't decided how I like it.

The rest of the projects are for classes I'll be teaching at Amazing Threads.

 

Finished. Opal Sock Bunny. This was fun as the instructions were good and it is completely seamless, but it took forever with sock yarn on size 1 needles.

In progress. #5 Lace Poncho on the cover of Fall 2012 Vogue Knitting. I should have looked at this pattern before I said I would do it. It is knit in the round with patterning on all rows which actually isn't bad because all rows are knit, but it increases to about 1000 sts. I'm a little over 500 stitches here.

This is for a class I'm teaching at North Country Fiber Fair in Watertown, SD in September. The pattern is Haruni. I've asked myself many times why I'm knitting with this iridescent color yarn, but just keep going and haven't ripped and started over. (It is newly acquired stash yarn as I don't like the pattern that came with it in the club I got it from.)Probably because I don't have time to spare. Two more repeats of 16 rows before I do the beautiful border.

Katarina is knit to the armholes, but haven't started the sleeves yet.

The rest don't even have yarn for yet.Progress?

Slippers

This is a class I will be teaching at Amazing Threads. The pattern is Knitting Pure & Simple Loads of Slippers and has patterns for 4 different styles of slippers. I decided students in this class could choose either one of these as they are made basically the same. I like the looks of the top slipper, but it feels loose and I think it would fall off easily. The bottom one feels good and secure on the foot.

Yarn:Plymouth Chunky Superwash.

I've often thought to avoid SSS (second sock syndrome) I would use the same yarn but use different patterns for each sock. Kind of like my grand daughter's soccer team who wore one black and one white sock.

Knitting Students

It's fun to see a knitting student so excited about it that she knits on the bicycle! A few months ago I started a class at my Curves. The women in the group are so excited. What fun for a teacher!

Norwegian Sweater Class

Sweaters of four of my students in my Nowegian Sweater class. Next class we cut!

Shadow "Knitter" Scarf

This is one of the reasons I was in Ames, Iowa over the weekend. I taught this scarf project to teach the concept of Shadow/Illusion knitting. The technique seems to originate from a Japanese knitting book, but has become popular in this country due to Vivian Hoxbro's book, Shadow Knitting, and patterns of Maureen Mason-Jamieson. www.kinverknits.cjb.net Patterns have also been in Knitters and InKnitters magazines. By alternating stockinette stitch and garter stitch in each color, one of the colors will dominate when looking at it from an angle. Looking straight on, the pattern looks like it is just striped.

The other reason I was in Ames is to attend Arnhild Hillesland's knitting camp. She holds it every February in the Gateway Hotel in Ames. The classes are good, accomodations good, food is good, and the people are great. Check it out at www.arnhild.com And, of course, Arnhild has her yarn shop open!

Shadow "Knitter" Scarf

Finally finished the Shadow "Knitter" Scarf. Mine is the green one, the other one was made by a friend to test the pattern and has been done for many months. This is an original pattern to be used as a teaching tool to teach the concept of shadow or illusion knitting and reading graphs. Shadow knitting is really easy to do. Two rows are worked with alternating colors. The first row is alway knit and the second is knit or purled depending on which part of the design the stitches are making. To make a particular color stand out the stitches are knit on the wrong side (garter stitch) and are purled when the color recedes. Using graphs makes it much easier to follow the directions. Vivian Hoxbro's book Shadow Knitting is an excellent resource.