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?

This and That

Yes, I have been and I am knitting. 

This creature is Mathilda Monster, knit for my Culver's Knit Wits group and was donated to Beyond the Yellow Ribbon. She is a good 10 inches tall and is made with Bernat Jacquard Floral. The pattern is free on the Bernat web site. 

This is called Roberta's Wrap and is a free pattern on Ravelry. It is knit with Shibui Knits Linen. The pattern has no gauge so if I were going to make it again I would go with a bigger needle or cast on more stitches and increase the size of the back. I only had a few yards of yarn left, so if I modified it at all I would have needed 3 skeins of the yarn. Knitting with this yarn was like knitting with steel wool and I thought it would soften up after washing, but it didn't get as soft as I would have liked. It still is fun to wear.

I love mystery shawls and this is the new one from Through The Loops. This is the end of Clue 2. Wendy Knits has one starting June 20 which I would like to do, but I have a couple of other obligations which will take more time. This yarn is a luscious teal color 50% baby camel and 50% silk from a now local indy dyer All For the Love of Yarn. Check her out on Etsy.

This year I have already test knit 2 shawls for Kimberly Gintar from Germany. She has just designed this shawl, as yet not named. On her Ravelry page she calls it Awareness is Good. Obviously I'm test knitting this one for her. Seeing what she called hers, I decided mine needed to be orange for leukemia as my husband has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. This one will be a little bit of a challenge as there are twisted stitches on the wrong side. In fact, looking at the picture I think I see two stitches crossed in the wrong direction. Can you find it? It will stay.

Earlier this year and once last year I test knit patterns for Ainn's Designs from Finland. She has asked me to knit another one, which I have only 2 rows left to do, but she does't want pictures posted yet. This is the yarn I'm using. She's asked me to do another one, too, but I haven't received the pattern yet. Yes, I love to test knit!

Spectra is drying right now. She was fun to do and I loved the mini skeins from Space Cadet Creations. The black is from another local indy dyer and friend, Propaganda Yarn. She dyed it specially for me for this project. She was designed by Stephen West.

One of my students has been bringing projects in these wonderful bags, but when I first saw them was unable to find them. Last week she told me they are at the Dollar Tree Stores. The first one I went to didn't have this size, but today I found them. Now I can keep everything for one project in a bag and be able to see what is in the bag. (Not that I needed more project bags.)



Spud

A fun book with children's Read A Long. What I like about Susan B Anderson's toy patterns as they are pretty much knit in the round. Spud was made with Spud and Chloe Sweater Yarn. The wool was real putzy, but turned out nicely. Susan has a good video demonstrating the technique on her blog and is worth watching.

www.spud&Chloe.com/blog/2011/05/twisted-loop-stitch-tutorial

Rylea's Shower

The shower for my expected great grand daughter, Rylea, was held last week. What fun!!! My daughter made this "cake" from diapers, washcloths, leggings, and anything else you can imagine.

And, of course, I had been knitting!

This is Arabesque from the pattern book, Baby 'V', by Cabin Fever. The sweater was a fun knit with short row shaping for the neck and a mock cable, easy to remember pattern, if you can count rows!
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn, Dream Baby
Needles: Sizes US 3 and 5

One of my grand daughter's favorite books as a child was Is There An Elephant in the Kitchen? so I had to make Elephante by Susan B. Anderson; besides it was so cute. (Available on her blog, http://SusanBAnderson.blogspot.com.) I dug around in the basement and found the actual book we read to Kristin over and over again. It used to be pink, but it was in the back seat of my car for some time and faded to this funny orange color. She loved it!
Yarn: Ella Rae Baby Cotton. I used only 4 colors rather than the 6 in the pattern.
Needles: Size 4 US

For some reason I felt like knitting bibs and washcloths. The one above is Puddles by Elaine Fitzgerald found on her blog, Down Cloverlaine. http://DownCloverlaine.blogspot.com. The one below is another duck pattern I found somewhere free on the net-sorry, I lost the pattern.The yarn for that one is KnitPicks Cotlin.

The bib below is from Comfort Gifts for family & community by Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations. The yarn is Sugar and Cream.

I've misplaced the pattern for the sheep washcloth, also, but again it was a free pattern from the web.(Sorry, I don't know how to turn the pictures when Blogger rotates them.)

This is Stork from Leisure Arts book, Baby Washcloths to Knit.

This is Baby Feet Cloth by Rhonda K. White available at www.knittinknonsense.com/babyfeet.

The other washcloths and bibs will be posted when the patterns have been published. I've been test knitting patterns for Elaine Fitzpatrick, Down Cloverlaine.