Still Knitting

It's been awhile and I've been debating quitting the blog as it seems I don't have the time. Still debating. The knitting I've been doing has mostly been for the shop samples for classes, and am now down to the last two and then I can knit what I want to. Here's what I've been doing although there are no pictures of the last two yet.

 

In addition to knitting for the shop I've been doing some test knitting of the next Cottage Creations pattern and tech editoring for Kimberlolly from Ravelry-4 patterns.

 

These are the mittens. What is unusual about them is the gusset which is placed on the hand rather than the traditional thumb portion of the mitten. They have a great fit. The purple ones are made from Ella Rae Classic which is wool and acrylic using US #6 needles. Size, Large Child/Small Woman,

These are from the same pattern but are made for my good friend. The tip of the mitten was changed for the adult size mitten rather than the pointed one-the pattern is still in testing. The yarn is Malabrigo Rios which I sort of like. I've had trouble with the difference in color between skeins of this yarn, but figures making mittens out of one skein should not be any problem. Wrong. I got about 3/4 done making both at the same time one from each end of the skein and decided I couldn't live with the difference in color between the two so frogged and made one at a time, alternating the yarn from both ends. What a hassle and it resulted in a noticeable line where the yarn was changed.

 

I did not make these but were made by my good friend. They are microwave bowl hot pads to be used to microwave bowls which usually are too hot to handle when the food is hot. Love them!

 They are so pretty I just stack them, put a candle in the middle and use as a centerpiece.

This is Purslane Beret from KnitScene Fall 2012 made from Frog Tree Pedaboo which is really nice to work with. After it was finished, washed and blocked when I put it on it hung down over my eyes so I took out the last inch or so and redid it on a smaller needle. It is pretty, even if I never wear it. It is a class sample.

The shop has had so many Learn To Knit Classes that we are looking for easy classes for beginners. This is the first dishcloth for a dishcloth of the month class. Pattern is a free download on Ravelry called Purple Heart Knit Motif using Plymouth Yarn Fantasy Naturale and size 8 needles.

Another class sample. These are from Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel book. I decided to make fraternal twin socks-same yarn, different pattern. The sock on the left is Simply Splendid Socks and on the right is Hidden Pocket. I used the e-book and made both from top down and found there was a lot of going back and forth between pages. I had a problem with the beginning of the Simple Splendid Sock as I think there is a mistake in the pattern, but never got a response from Cat Bordhi about it. Will I make this heel again? Probably not. One side looks good-the one on the picture, but the other side has holes at the turn. I did them over trying to follow suggestions on the Ravelry Forum, and the hole size decreased, but I still am not happy with them. The yarn is CoBaSi which has a little elastic in it.

This is my fun project I did start for myself. The yarn is custum dyed by my friend, Dawn, of Propaganda Yarn. It will be a round shawl based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi Shawl and is a "map" of the northern hemisphere sky. If you look closely, you can see the north star in the very center and the Big Dipper from it.

Lillie's Little Sweater

Such a cute baby sweater and fun and easy to knit. The hood is knit first, stitches picked up and the body and sleeves made in one piece from the neck down. The only finishing is a little hole under the arms, tails to be sewn in and button sewn on. The hood can be made in garter stitch-like mine-or stockinette stitch.

Pattern: Cottage Creations Lillie's Little Sweater

Size: I made 12 month size, but pattern is from American Girl, Preemie, 0-3 months, 6, 12, 24, 36 months.
Yarn: Rowan Cotton.

Needles: Size 7.

I love the hood. For just a hat, the hood could be made, bound off, and ties applied.

Happy New Year

This is our present for the year! Our Great Grand Daughter, Rylea, with her mother, Kristin. I hope everyone had a happy holiday and is looking forward to a new year. Did the Christmas knitting get finished? My knitting did-but not the finishing.

This is my grandson, Blake in his Wonderful Wallaby. He had asked for a rainbow sweater some time ago, so finally received it. (Wonder if he even remembered asking?)
Pattern: Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations
Yarn: Mochi Plus by Crystal Palace
Needles: Sizes 6 and 8
And the book-appropriate???


This is my daughter, Gloria, in her Babies and Bears for Adults. Several years ago, she bought the yarn in a kit at Arnhild's Knitting Camp, but never got to making it. (She is a new knitter and underestimates her knitting skills.) The kit was for a pattern similar to the one I used, but was made in pieces, so I substituted, of course.
Pattern: Babies and Bears for Adults by Cottage Creations. I used different yarn and gauge so used a formula given to me by Carol Anderson who had heard it from the late Sidna Farley.

Divide your gauge by the pattern gauge (my gauge was 5 sts/in, pattern gauge was 4 st/in. 5 divided by 4 = 1.25) Multiply the numbers in the pattern (Cast on, increases, rows, etc) by that number to give the number to use. (For example: Pattern said to cast on 42 sts. 42 X 1.25 = 52.5, so I cast on 52 sts.) This formula seemed to work.

Yarn: Rauma Strikkegarn
Needles: Size 5 and 3

This is my son, Tim, in his knit, but not finished, sweater. Yes, it really is a sweater, but he had some fun with it! I used the Estonian Cast On which I have really liked lately. I will not be doing all the duplicate stitching on the center designs!

Pattern: Winter Play by Rauma

Yarn: Rauma Strikkegarn

Needles: size 2 and 3

Babies and Bears Sweater for Adults

This is the sweater I started when I was in Door County. My daughter, Gloria, bought a kit for a similar sweater at Arnhild's Knitting Camp in Ames, Iowa, but decided she would never make it. So, Mom got it. (That's OK-she'll have to clean out my stash when I die!) The Babies and Bears Sweater for Adults is very similar to the pattern in the kit, and one I would rather knit, so I told her that this would be her Christmas present. The problem was, the yarn in the kit has a different gauge. Carol Anderson, the designer, was in Door County, so she gave me a formula for changing gauges which she had gotten from the late Sidna Farley, which I'm using for the sweater. And it seems to be working-I'll post the formula when I get done. Here is Gloria modeling the left half. This is such a fun knit-knit from the sleeve to center, put on holders, knit the right side, graft the backs together and put an edging on.

Treasures from Storage

Today's page on Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Never Not Knitting daily calendar is kind of fitting for this post. "When you depart this Earth for the big yarn shop in the sky, you will leave behind all of the things you knit. Think about that. Generations of your family and friends will hold, use, and show these items, and every single time they do, a small part of who you were and what you did while you were here will rush up and be made real again. You aren't just knitting. You're creating a legacy. It just looks like a hat."

Before the shower for my grand daughter, my son and daughter in law went into their storage and pulled out several of the things I had made for their children. They wrapped them up and gave them to Kristin for her shower. Many of the things I do not remember patterns or yarns, so will mention those I do know and if I think of others or find patterns, I will edit this post to add the information. Sorry, Blogger again rotated several of the pictures. If someone knows how to straighten them out, let me know!

Pattern: Cottage Creation's Toddler's Norski Sweater & Cap.
Yarn: Dale Baby Uhl

Pattern: Cottage Creation's Babies and Bears.





Yarn: Lorna's Lace

Mailman Was Good Today

Oh, the mailman's delivery was good today! First of all, no bills, then 3 packages! The first book is written by my cousin's wife describing her life on Isle Royale. My cousin has been doing the wolf study on the island for many years and the book talks about the work and life from her point of view. Not only is it enjoyable because of the relationship to me, but the writing is good and the topic very interesting. (It is available from Amazon.com )The second book is by Carol A. Anderson of Cottage Creation fame and is her memoirs written in her fun, witty way. The book is available from her-Cottage Creations, At the Farm on Deer Creek, Carpenter, Iowa 50426.
The 3rd package was the December Shawl Club yarn/pattern from Joslyn's Fiber Farm. The pattern is by Sunflower Designs, Cherry Country Shawl and the yarn is red/black from Joslyn's Fiber Farm.

Infants Hooded Cardigan

Pattern: Infants Hooded Cardigan from More Projects for the Community & Family by Cottage Creations
Yarn:Berroco Comfort
Needles: Size10 1/2

Errata for Kyler's Kardigan

Carol just e-mailed me with a correction in the new pattern.

Page 9 is incorrect and should be replaced with the following:

Reverse Shaping Process:
Row 1: Knit 28 (30, 32, 33, 35), Slip 1, Knit 1, Pass Slip Stitch Over (PSSO), Knit 10, Knit 2 together, Knit 25 (27, 29, 31, 32), yarn forward, slip last 3 stitches.

Row 2 and all even rows until Row 12: Knit across to last 3 stitches, yarn forward, slip last 3 stitches.

Row 3: Knit 28 (30, 32, 33, 35), Slip 1, Knit 1, PSSO, Knit 8, Knit 2 together, Knit 25 (27, 29, 31, 32), yarn forward, slip last 3 stitches.

Row 5: Knit 28 (30, 32, 33, 35), Slip 1, Knit 1, PSSO, Knit 6, Knit 2 together, Knit 25 (27, 29, 31, 32), yarn forward, slip last 3 stitches.

Row 7: Knit 28 (30, 32, 33, 35), Slip 1, Knit 1, PSSO, Knit 4, Knit 2 together, Knit 25 (27, 29, 31, 32), yarn forward, slip last 3 stitches.

Row 9: Knit 28 (30, 32, 33, 35), Slip 1, Knit 1, PSSO, Knit 2, Knit 2 together, Knit 25 (27, 29, 31, 32), yarn forward, slip last 3 stitches.

Row 11: Knit 28 (30, 32, 33, 35), Slip 1, Knit 1, PSSO, Knit 2 together, Knit 25 (27, 29, 31, 32), yarn forward, slip last 3 stitches.

Row 12: Knit across to last 3 stitches, yarn forward, Purl 3.

Finishing:
Fold hood in half and join with Kitchener stitch (p. 10) or three-needle bind off. Weave in yarn ends, then very neatly seam the ten-stitch Wallaby pouch “beginning ten stitch tab” to sweater front. I found using sewing thread worked for me while Ann suggested using three strands of DMC floss, especially because she could accurately match colors. (I suspect she has a large stash of DMC floss from her many cross stitch projects!)

Collar Variation:
Follow hood instructions through “Hood Shaping” increases, incorporating “built-in I cord.” Then change to Garter Stitch and knit for 2” (2”, 2.5”, 2.5”, 3”) more. Bind off loosely from wrong side and don’t forget the “avoiding the dog ear” trick on page seven.

At the Farm on Deer Creek

For those of you familiar with Cottage Creations you might have noticed the mailing address is "At the Farm on Deer Creek". Yes, there is a farm.And yes, there is a Deer Creek on the property.

H is for Help, Wallaby Cardigan

Help! The pockets hit just on my boobs and I don't need that part of my anatomy emphasized! (This is one reason Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations has people test knit her patterns.) So, I snipped one thread and picked out one row of knitting just above the pocket. Resulting in two pieces of the sweater.

I used the live stitches on the top of the sweater-it was knit from top to bottom-and added 4 inches-from the pin.

Then I kitchner stitched the two pieces together. This is the first time I have grafted garter stitch which has looked like it should, thanks to the tutorial on www.woollywormhead.com. She has pictures which show exactly how the stitches should be aligned.

Much better! You can see where the pin sits on my body; that's where the pocket originally was.

Wonderful Wallaby Cardigan

This is a sneak preview of Cottage Creations pattern due out in the Fall-The Wonderful Wallaby Cardigan. It differs from the original Wallaby not only because this is a cardigan, but it is done in garter stitch from the top down.

Two new ideas from this pattern:

1)Attaching thread (dental floss works beautifully as it is thin and smooth) to your markers does 2 things: the marker doesn't fly out of your knitting if it comes off the needles and the tail marks the marker placement for the length of the thread in this pattern for pocket placement.

2) Using attached I-cord to the edge of the hood.

This is a poor picture of the nearly finished sweater. The zipper has to be placed and I'm going to lengthen the sleeves and the hood. I find it hard to measure garter stitch accurately, so found once I tried it on I wanted it longer.

Yarn: Malabrigo color Red Mahogany

Needles: Sizes 5 and 7