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.

Olympic Knitting

The Olympics have been over for awhile, but I haven't posted my completed mittens. Partly because the Knitting Gods punished me. Now I believe there are such things. My original goal was to knit only mittens during the Olympics, but when my friend from Germany came out with her new pattern to test knit I couldn't say "No". So I changed my goal to knit mittens only while I actually was watching the Olympics. Well... 2 1/2 days it took Kim and me to figure out how to get her shawl to match the chart or the chart to match the knitting. The shawl is a straight forward pattern, but somehow we couldn't figure out why they didn't work together. This was an all invasive problem which consumed me from early morning-2 hours before I usually got up until I went to bed at night. We finally figured it out and it is a beautiful shawl.

Our trip to Schaumberg also interrupted my mitten knitting as I had to knit a pair of socks for my daughter in law's birthday, so I only got 6 pair of mittens made for Head Start.

The challenge originated with my Culver's KnitWits group. It was to knit or crochet mittens and hats for Head Start. These are some of the results. The numbers aren't all tallied yet, but it is something like 52 pair of mittens, 37 hats, and 4 cowls.

This is the beginning of the shawl. More pictures later. This took me almost 3 days to knit! I lost count of how many times I knit it this far.

Olympic Knitting

I was going to post every pair as I completed it, but I haven't done that. Here is my progress: Five pair done. These are going to be donated to Head Start.

Knitting Olympics Number One

Several years ago Stephanie Pearl McPhee started the knitting Olympics. The idea was to choose a knitting project which was a challenge, but one that could be completed from the Olympic Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony. When Ravelry came along, the Olympics became a big thing, having the Ravelympics with teams and events. This year the American Olympic Committee told Ravelry that we were infringing on the copyrighted name and downplaying the training and work the athletes had to go through to get to and compete in the Olympics. They eventually did apologize, but Ravelry changed the name to Ravelenics. To me they will always be the Ravelmpics, but I will break down and call it the Knitting Olympics.

One of the women in my Culver's KnitWits suggested we have an Olympic team and knit mittens for charity. I had so many things on my plate already but since I am the leader of the group and I have been slack with my charity knitting I set a goal to knit as many mittens as I can during the Olympics. After watching the opening ceremony with knitting needles flying I decided this was a good project as I can just about make mittens blindfolded so I can really watch the events.

First pair completed-the ends are even sewn in.

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 is over! The greatest joy was being with all my children, grand children, great grand children, sister, nieces and great niece and nephew-not all at the same time, but maybe it was better that way. Despite the hectic preparations and 2 melt downs the holidays were joyous.

This year we started a tradition which I hope we will continue. Baking with 4 generations!

Another day was spent with grand daughter, Sarah, but I didn't take pictures. We made Yule Kage, rice pudding and chocolate, caramel chex mix.

Playing while waiting for food and presents. Rylea lined up the cars like her uncle used to do-and probably her mother.

 This is what it looked like after opening presents.

Rylea got a set of drums from her uncle Billy who is a drummer with the band Our Life Story. She was a natural!

My Christmas knitting: 

Mittens for Rylea and Dani.

A chicken hat for Sarah.

A headband for Sarah.

An "Olympic" hat for Gloria.

Bavarian Tulip Mitten

Pattern: Bavarian Tulip Mitten from Interweave Knits Fall 2010.

Yarn: Spud and Chloe Sweater

Needles: Size 3. I probably should have gone down to a size 2 as my gauge was a little off, but knitting with this weight yarn on a smaller needle would have been hard on my hands. The mitten does fit, so it wasn't far off.

I liked the pattern, but would change the side chain pattern. It has a repeat of 14 rows and directions say to start the first repeat on row 1 and the second repeat on row 5. If I were to do it over, I would start on rows 1 and row 7. The way it is, the cables are only slightly different; looks like a mistake. It would be definitely different starting the pattern farther apart. I might even just start them both at the same place.

The second mitten will be made when I teach the class, in January I think it is.

On Ravelry someone mentioned that the thumb decreases made the thumb too pointed so I followed her advice to decrease down to 7, not to 4 as the pattern says.

I like the way the Kitchner stitch forms the top pattern.

Convertible Fingerless Gloves

What wonderful Christmas gifts I received! The blue bulb in the picture was painted by one of the women in my Culver's Knitwit group. The yarn was handspun by another woman in my group who has just learned to spin. It was a hard decision as to what to make from it as I wanted something I would use and I don't often wear hats or scarves, so Glittens seemed to fit a need for me.It was a hard decision what to make from the yarn as I don't often wear hats or scarves. What I did need was a mitten or glove without fingers as whenever I got in or out of my car, I had to take off my gloves to manage the controls on my i-pod. Glittens fit the bill.


Pattern: KnitPicks Men's Convertible Fingerless Gloves.

Needles: Size 6 and 8-a size smaller than suggested as I wanted a little smaller glove.

Two new techniques I used in these are:

Two tail tubular cast on. For a video on the method, see: http://ysolda.com/wordpress/2007/11/12/long-tail-tubular-cast-on-video . I really liked this cast on for K1, P1, ribbing. It differs a little from the method Debbie Stoller uses in her new book but I like this one better.

Kitchener Stitch with a knitting needle. See: http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2007/05/easier-way-to-kitchener-stitch-also.html. How often have you needed to graft and didn't have a needle? This works!

Thrum Mittens

The first mitten was done previously and pictures and the information is in the September 6 post. The mitten has been on display at Amazing Threads and people love it-in fact the thums are nearly felted. Now I'm doing the second one along with the class I'm teaching, so here are pictures of how I inserted the roving or thrums.Prepare the fleece. I found that pulling a thin strip the entire length of the roving gets all the color variations. This technique of folding about one third of each end of the fleece toward the center and twisting it together is from Robin Hanson's book, Fox & Geese & Fences.

Knit up to the stitch to have the thrum. Insert the needle into the stitch in the row below.

Pull the center of the thrum to the front.

Knit the stitch on the left needle.

Pass the thrum over the stitch. (Like a bind off.)

Thrum Mittens

On the needles.

Inside out. Won't these be warm on a cold winter day? It's hard to imagine when the temperature is in the 90's and humidity almost 70%.

Pattern: On yarn label.

Yarn and roving: Fleece Artist in Nova Scotia. Both sold together in a skein. (Found at Amazing Threads: www.amazing-threads.com )

Needles: I'm still a double point needle fan, so was made on dps size 4.

When I get somebody to take some pictures I'll show how to put in the roving.

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.

Berroco Wristlets

I just had to have a pair of wristlets, but couldn't find the exact pattern I wanted, so made my own pattern.

The cable pattern is Cloverleaf Eyelet from "Ribbing-Plain & Fancy" by E.J. Slayton. The pattern was given to me as a gift, so I don't know if it is available at Yarn Shops. There is an e-mail address in the book, which could give you information > joy@joyknits.com <.The book has a basic sock pattern, different rib patterns, different heel options and a chart for socks of all sizes.

The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca, so they are super warm, and size 6 needle. Now that I have them, they really aren't warm enough for routine wear in MN, but they are wonderful when I am outside taking pictures.

Alpaca Felted Mittens

Hopefully I haven't posted these before! They are mittens from Plymouth Alpaca Grande made on large needles (surprise, surprise, I can't find the pattern and don't remember what size-11, I think), so were a fast knit. The pattern is a free pattern with yarn purchase at Amazing Threads. The thing I don't like about alpaca is that is has small bumps after felting. Anyone know why and can it be prevented???

Helix Hat and Mittens

Every year at MN Knitters' Days, people bring yarn to sell. This year a bag of Encore in these 3 colors plus red enticed me to buy, since Encore is my favorite yarn for charity knitting. This bag had a couple balls of white yarn which I didn't want to use alone for children, so wondered if I could make striped mittens using Joan Hamer's technique of making jogless stripes in her pattern for the Helix hat. It worked. Essentially, you knit 1/3 of the stitches in Color A, and drop the yarn, the 2nd 3rd of the stitches in color B, and the 3rd 3rd in color C. When you get to the beginning of the round you continue the first 3rd of the stitches with color C. Color A is waiting there, waiting to knit the 2nd 3rd where Color B is waiting for the last 3rd. The pattern for the Helix Hat can be found on Joan's blog. http://joanknits.blogspot.com in the November, 2005 posting. Maybe her pattern explains it clearer.

Frog Tree Felted Mittens

Finished! I didn't think it would take long to knit a pair of mittens, but these took longer than I expected. They are made from Frog Tree sport weight alpaca yarn on size 7 needles using the pattern, "Felted (Fulled) Mittens" by a local knitter and designer, Nancy Lindberg. The yarn is produced by a cooperative in Bolivia and purchases provide support to the cooperative which allows them to provide training and work to women in Bolivia to supplement their income. The yarn is nice to work with, very soft and felts nicely. I would love to make a sweater from it. Only one mitten is felted at this time because they are a store sample for a class I will be teaching.

Lobster Claw Mittens

At our hotel in Halifax I spotted these mittens and was intrigued by them. I would stop at the display case everytime I passed and study them to try to figure out how they were made and why they looked like they do. At our first chance I tracked down the shop (luckily, it was just around the corner from our hotel) and went in to inquire. They are lobster claw mittens-just made to resemble lobsters, not the utilitarian mittens I found in a Google search which have a separate finger for the ring finger. I still want to figure out how they are made-if someone knows a source for a pattern, please let me know!

Warm Hands Knit Along

A pair of mittens completed except for the thumbs. Nothing fancy, but practical for some child who needs warm hands.

Last Saturday I posted about the sock class I taught in which all the students had major problems and I was afraid they'd give up. Well, yesterday was the next class and they were all there with their sock completed to the point they were supposed to be. Unknown to me, after the disasterous class last week they all went downstairs and purchased more sock yarn!

I'll see you in 3 weeks. No, I do not take along a lap top or go into internet cafes while I am gone-absolutely no cummunication with home.

Mitten Knit Along

I didn't make much progress on the mittens this week-finished the unmatched pair and started the red one. Hopefully this next week will be better.

Warm Hands Knit Along

When I saw the Mitten Knit Along, I was overjoyed because knitting mittens for charity has been one of my favorite projects, but I had been neglecting them lately. My charity knitting has a fun history. When I was still in the working world, I never could get home in time to watch Oprah. People would talk about the programs and I was SO jealous! So, the first day I was retired, I happily gathered my knitting project and sat down to watch Oprah. That day her program was all about her Angel Network and the good things that people were doing, which really gave me something to think about. What good was I going to do with my life-especially now that I was going to have so much time? (That turned out to be a joke; I have less time now than when I had a regular job.) What I came up with was that I could knit for charity whenever I watched the Oprah Show. Mittens were a good project because they were so portable and I could knit them while I walked, which I hated to do. (No, I don't knit and walk since I hit a hole and fell flat on my face in the street.) I like to knit my charity mittens from acrylic and Encore is my favorite. This yarn is the same fiber content, weight, price, knits to the same gauge, called Marble apparently by James C. Brett. This skein is left over from a child's sweater I made and I wouldn't recommend using yarn with color changes for mitten-you can see, my mittens don't match and I don't have enough yarn to make another pair or does the shop carry this brand anymore. My favorite mitten pattern is from a Cottage Creation pattern, "Projects for Community Knitting" with sizing from small children's to large adult. The thumb gusset area is done with ribbing and the thumb has more stitches than usual and is done in ribbing to keep the thumb warmer. My grand daughter told me she liked the mittens I made because they went on either hand. I guess I cheated a little with this knit along as I got out the bag with my pattern and needles, here was one mitten already done and the other one cast on.