The Better To See You With...

I am working on a new project -- something for me this time. After the Chicago winter last year; the 40 below temperatures we had; and predictions that this winter will be even worse, I am making myself a hooded scarf. There were a handful of patterns for them in Ravelry and I decided on Little Red Riding Hood--a free pattern by Lion Brand Yarn.

This pattern has an interesting stitch called Granite Relief Stitch. I swear that I have seen it before under another name, but could not find it. (If you know what it is please comment below and stop my wondering!) The pattern is highly textured but not one that you could knit brainlessly while watching television. While I have not yet made any errors which required serious 'tinking', I have had to count my stitches on a regular basis.

The texture of the pattern and the complexity of it both come from the fact that one row of the four row repeat decreases by nearly half of all the stitches with a k2tog -- then on the next row increases back up with kfb. The k2tog has already started my index finger aching as I tend to grab the yarn with the fingernail while I slip the needle under both stitches.

The yarn that I am using is Knit Picks Full Circle in Cardinal colorway. It is a worsted weight 100% yarn which is from recycled fibers. It is a nice red which leans towards purple as opposed to orange. The yarn is pretty "sticky". I have had to tink back a few stitches and it isn't a clean trip back. This would make a great felting yarn. I just hope I don't have real problems keeping straight on the pattern or this scarf will be a mess.

Happy Knitting!

Tale of a Giant Hat

DH's San Francisco Giants hat was a really fun and easy knit. I could have gotten it done much faster but for time. Time busy doing other things (when I would rather be knitting) and time spent unknitting almost 1/2 of the design grid. Somehow, I accidentally created an increase and had an extra stitch that I did not notice for quite sometime. This is a good enough reason to count your stitches every couple of rows as counting takes less time than unknitting!

As an aside, my husband was upset with my last post. He said ,"Giants are an NL club so there is no DH in San Francisco." I guess in his mind DH can only mean Designated Hitter...oh darling husband of mine.

I will try to post the grid to my patterns page in a day or two if you have your own SF Giants DH!

Happy knitting!

DH Left His Heart In San Francisco

Ever since the DH was a little boy, his favorite baseball team has always been the Giants and that was his father's favorite team. We have a subscription to MLB TV and get to watch every one of their games, so I figure it is time that the DH wears his devotion -- not on his sleeve -- but on his head. I am going to use the same pattern that I used for a hat for my son. This pattern is really easy to modify the fair isle band which I have done with an eleven stitch pattern of the SF logo. The pattern is 110 stitches wide so there will be 10 instances of the pattern.

According to the actual pattern, there is supposed to be a silk blend yarn as a liner around the ears in part to hide the mess that occurs as a result of the two color work. But I am just going to start out with the burnt orange color. The yarn that I am using, Cascade Yarns Cash Vero DK is a Merino, Microfiber, Cashmere blend which will be plenty soft against the DH's ears.

The lime green that you see in the picture, isn't one of the official colors of the San Francisco Giants. But don't worry, Dear Husband, it is only the yarn used for the provisional cast on and will be removed soon. I have used a crocheted chain for my cast on. If you are unfamiliar with this technique, there are several tutorials out on the internet -- I like this one from The Purl Bee!

Happy Knitting! (Boy, it has been awhile - it feels good to say that again!)

Too cute not to cross post!!

Too cute not to cross post!!

See Story Here!

Knitting a zombie: No guts, no glory | OregonLive.com

Another interesting knitted object turned up in my in box today! This blogger knitted her own zombie after reviewing a copy of Knit Your Own Zombie  a book by Fiona Goble. While I am not really interested in actually knitting a zombie of my own. I think that I wouldn't mind having the book -- just for the novelty of it.

ENJOY the article and Happy Reading!

Knitting a zombie: No guts, no glory | OregonLive.com:

'via Blog this'

Very Slow Progress in the Knitting Department

Although I have a handful of projects on the needles, I just haven't gotten very much done in the last few weeks -- for several reasons: Project 2016 took a lot of my time and energy; visiting my family last weekend; extra work taken home for train riding fun (ugh!); a large dose of guilt that I shouldn't be knitting since I don't want to finish the 4 almost done baby quilts and just plain laziness.*

I still have about 4 inches of knitting to get my skirt long enough;



I have only gotten to the point where I begin the heel turn in my socks;





my scarf has gotten the most attention in the last week as I finally got around to plying more of the yarn that I dyed, but my shawl is languishing after a horrible train accident -- the train had a rough stop and I lost several lace stitches with out a lifeline (double ugh)!

*I have to tell you, that after writing this I was so wracked with guilt that I spent the next 2 1/2 hours trimming and squaring up two quilts and attaching the binding to one quilt. I will show you more on the quilts later.

Happy binding!

Knit Yourself a Boyfriend or Husband!

Sometimes I get sent the weirdest things because they are related to knitting. Here is a woman who knitted a life sized man as part of her university design class. He is a cushion with a story!

Read more and see the cute video here.

New Pair of Socks on the Needles

It has been a long time since I knitted a pair of socks. The last pair was knitted more than 18 months ago. So, I thought it is just about time to get to work on another pair. This time I am using a pattern out of Cat Bordhi's e-book, Cat's Sweet Tomato Heel Socks. The pattern is a lace sock in fingering weight yarn called Minnesota Moonlight. I love the Sweet Tomato Heel and have used it in prior socks and basically bought the book just so that I could get the instructions on how to do the heel! But I have never done any of Cat's actual sock patterns. So of course I start with a lace pair!

The yarn that I have chosen is Crystal Palace Yarns - Mini Mochi (80% merino wool and 20% nylon) in color way "Beach". Shell pink, sky blue, sand beige, and green water is nice and summery for a pair of light summer socks. However, I fell in love with the color, before I thought about the yarn's construction. There is quite a bit of fuzz and a lack of twist in the yarn and this makes the yarn rather "splitty" and hard to knit itty-bitty stitches on US size 1 needles.

I am hoping these socks end up thin enough for me to wear in dressier shoes. All of the other socks that I have knit worsted weight socks, so these will be the first sock weight socks.

Happy knitting!

From TechHive: Pi Day Knitting

Every once in awhile I have to re-blog geeky, weird or fun knitting ideas that I find on the internet. This one is definitely in the geek category!

Please enjoy this post. . . and happy knitting!

Knitting a pi blanket is a great way celebrate Pi Day | TechHive:

'via Blog this'

Knitting Merlot

I love the herringbone pattern on my Chelsea! Not only is it a lovely pattern, it is fun to knit even though it looks so "stiff upper lip" as the British say. I have knit about 7 inches and am ready to step down to the next needle size. The length of the skirt is to be 21" sans lace trim.

The yarn, Wool of the Andes Tweed, is really great. It holds up well to tinking and re-knitting, has great color and the texture is great! Can't wait to see what how it turns out. I think this is going to be one gorgeous skirt!

Happy knitting!

Skirt Weather Will Be Here Soon Enough

Although there is still snow on the ground in Chicago, I know that eventually spring weather will be here. With that in mind, I cast on one of the skirts that I bought yarn for waaaaaaay back in October. The Chelsea by Cecily Glowik MacDonald is a just what I need to start out skirt weather this year. The flirty hand-knit lace at the hemline is a wonderful juxtaposition to the all business herringbone tweed of the skirt itself.

My yarn for the skirt is Wool of the Andes Tweed in Claret. I have already knit through one skein. I have a couple of different choices of lace weight yarns for the trim. A pale pink Silky Alpaca Lace which I was using for a lace project since frogged or a pale lilac Shadow Tonal that I bought on sale from Knit Picks. But I think that I will wait until the last second to decide on the lace. Perhaps I will knit a few inches of both of them and decide which I like best.

The pattern, once I figured out what the author meant by RLI (Right Lifted Increase), was easy to learn. My confusion was easy to understand as there are two ways to describe the RLI: 1) Insert right needle tip from back to front into stitch below the next stitch on left needle; place this st on left needle and knit; and, 2)  Knit into the back of the stitch (in the “purl bump”) in the row directly below the stitch on the needle, then knit the stitch on the needle, and slip the original stitch off the needle. In the 1st instance, the lifted increase ends with one stitch on the right needle, in the 2nd the lifted increase ends with two stitches on the right needle. So for the herringbone pattern directions of:


ROWS 1 and 3: (WS) Purl.
ROW 2: *K2tog, k2, RLI (see Glossary), k2; rep from * to last st, k1.
ROW 4: K1, *k2, RLI, k2, k2tog; rep from * to end.
Rep Rows 1–4 for pattern

If you use the 1st "definition" of RLI on ROW 2 you get

K2tog = 1 stitch on needle
k2 = 2 stitches on needle
RLI = 1 stitch on needle
k2 = 2 stitches on needle

a total of 6 stitches.

But, if you use the 2nd "definition" of RLI on Row 2 you get

K2tog = 1 stitch on needle
k2 = 2 stitches on needle
RLI = 2 stitches on needle
k2 = 2 stitches on needle

a total of 7 stitches. Since the author gave the pattern repeat as 7 stitches and I was using the 1st definition, it took looking at the notes by other knitters in Ravelry and asking questions in Knitting Paradise's forum before I figured it out. Good thing the knitting world is large and gracious in sharing knowledge.

Gotta go, I have a lot of knitting to do! Happy Knitting!

Nuts to You -- A Squirrelly Lesson in Design

I started playing with this design about a month ago and have blogged about the process here. There are things that I don't like about the hat, but I really learned a lot in the process and this hat will make me a better designer in the long run.

Things that turned out well:

I am really happy with the colors. The graduation in the three light colors from pale yellow to a golden tan works nicely in the corrugated ribbed band.

I love the way the circle of acorns turned out at the top of the hat.

The triangular motif that I pulled out of Alice Starmore's book sets off both the ribbing and circle of acorns. I am so glad that I did them as mirror images to each other.

Things that I could have done better:

Although I do like the squirrels -- the design is way too big for the hat. I am not sure I could make this any smaller for this style. Believe me I cut a lot out of the design. This is something that should go on a sweater.

The ribbing would have been better if it was narrower and done with a smaller needle. In fact the entire hat could have been done with a smaller needle.

Back to the drawing board.

Happy designing.

Spring Colors Are A'coming

The days are getting a little longer; today's temperature was significantly above freezing; and baseball spring training has started. That means that the trees should begin budding and my tulips will start to show themselves any minute now.

My little lace project that I started a couple of weeks ago using my hand-dyed, hand spun and plied yarn is going well, I have had to stop and ply additional yarn once and may need to do that again before the end of the week. The yarn is knobby and varies in thickness to give the lace a rustic look, but the BFL wool is soft and the yarn will feel nice on my neck when wearing it. I'm looking forward to finishing this one.

Happy knitting!

It Wasn't Made to be a Yarn Bowl. . . BUT it is One Now!

My knitting sister went on a mission trip to Nicaragua and I watched her dog while she was out of the country. As a thank you gift she bought me a hand carved bowl by a local Nicaraguan artisan. The second I saw it, I realized what I would use it for! For those of you who are not knitters (or crocheters, etc.) A yarn bowl is used to hold your yarn ball so that when you pull on the yarn it doesn't fly off of your table and skitter across the floor. The artist may have put the slots in the bowl for artistic flare, but they are just what a knitter wants in a yarn bowl.

Dyed, Spun, Plied and now Knitting.

It has been awhile since I posted on my hand-dyed, home spun yarn. I had shared some of my dyed roving with my friend who introduced me to spinning and she showed me what she had spun and plied and I was inspired! I immediately came home and started plying up what I had spun.

I should have taken pictures of the plying process, but I was so excited to begin, that I completely forgot! My knitting sister got here in time to remind me to take a picture before I pulled the blocked and weighted yarn off of the clothes line where it had spent the night drying.

I ended up with about 80 yards of plied yarn which was two small wound balls of "artisan" yarn which varies in weight from fingering to worsted.

I knew that I wanted to make a narrower, lace scarf that I could wear at work with a blouse. I toyed with the idea of a lace hat, but it would never be warm enough for me to wear in the winter and I wouldn't wear it in the spring. Besides, if you go to all the trouble of dying, spinning, plying and knitting up your own wool, then you should be wearing it all day! So, a scarf was the perfect wearable item.

I selected a free pattern from KnitPicks called Victorian Spring Scarf which seemed to be just the ticket. The pattern calls for a slightly thinner yarn with a larger needle, so I will need more than 80 yards, but I have plenty more wool roving to spin. I have gotten about two repeats of the lace done and am pleased with how it looks. Yum!

Happy knitting!

Blocking a Hat, Again.

And you thought I forgot about knitting. . .NOT!

I finished my Don't Sit Up, Slouch Hat and got it blocked. I used the same method that I did on the Matching Ginkgo Hat -- stuffing it with grocery bags and setting it on an old wine bottle. For the little tail, I got dark wood beads to use as a decoration. I think it will be really cute. As it is a gift for a friend, as soon as I can get pictures of her wearing it, I will post them.

FUN FUN hat to knit. The pattern was challenging enough that I didn't get bored, but it was easy enough, I could do it while watching TV or listening to a pod cast. I think I may knit one of these for me, too!

I do have some of my own designs in the pipeline. I have ordered some fingering weight yarn in order to knit some test samples. Can't wait to get started.

Should be fun!

Happy knitting!

Slouching into the New Year.

I started a new pattern on Saturday night. It really was just something to fill the time while watching a Middle School Boy's basketball game. If you have ever watched Middle School Basketball, you won't blame me for needing something interesting to do. But sometimes a last minute, lark turns out to be a great decision. Slouchy('s no Slouch) is a free hat pattern that I found on Ravelry by Lea Kobayashi. (Free is good -- Remember?!) I have been looking at the pattern for the last few weeks and I even saved a PDF of the pattern on my computer. So, of course it was a natural when I needed to make a quick choice.

I have been working the pattern over the last couple of days worth of commuting and have made good progress. At this point I am almost through the 1st of two skeins of the Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes that I had left over from my Avocado Carnaby. As I said then, the stitch definition of this wool is excellent.

The hardest part about the hat so far was knitting the cables -- not actually knitting the cables, it was getting under the seat on the train to pick up the cable needle when I lost control of it going over a bump. The cables were a ton-o-fun to do. I have not done any in a long time -- and these were small and easy. Forming ribbing, they are both lovely and useful. I also like the detailing formed by the SSK and the yarn over. The combo creates an interesting spiral to the ridge of the hat. The hat is topped off with a quick i-cord and a decorative bead.

I am nearly to the point of decreasing for the crown of the hat. The knitting has been so easy that I have yet to grow tired of it. This may end up being a "go-to" favorite for gift making.

Happy Knitting!!

What Should I do with Left Over Yarn?

I completed the knitting on Jacklyn's Ginkgo yesterday evening. Before blocking it and to get an estimate of the yardage used for the shawlette, I weighed the remaining ball of yarn.and there is 47 of 100 grams left. Nearly an entire ball of yarn for some varieties that are only 50 gram balls. So, what to do with the left overs? I thought about knitting a set of matching lace wrist warmers, but I didn't know if that wide of a lace pattern -- 15 stitches across would look good on such a small object. Also figuring out how to center the lace panel so that it looks good on the back of the hand. . . A HAT! A slouchy-lace-beret-type hat. That was just the ticket.

So, I began researching the construction of slouchy hats by looking at patterns on one of my favorite resources: Ravelry. There, I found a few hundred free patterns using the term "Slouch Hat" and 34 in a fingering weight yarn. So I started reading patterns.

I am such a skeptic and sometimes it is hard to trust what I am reading. The shawlette pattern is a repeat of 15, so I decided to cast on 120 stitches; however, when I got to 120, I looked at it and said to myself, "you'll never get a head in there!" and cast on 30 more. Wrong, wrong, wrong! After 2 inches of a 1 X 1 rib, it was obviously too big for any head and I ripped out and started over with my original 120 stitches. (Lesson Learned.) But this time since 120 was a multiple of 4 I went with a 2 X 2 rib. After 2 inches of ribbing, I can tell you all those people who have written patterns for fingering weight yarn knew what they were doing when they cast on ~120 to 130 stitches.

I have finished the ribbing, knit one row and then increased the stitches to 150 by k4, m1. I will knit about 4 to 6 rows of stocking stitch and then start the lace pattern. Hopefully, this time will be the charm!

I have some knitting to get through.

Happy Knitting.

I Think That There is an Alternate Personality Buried Inside Me. . .

and she designs knitting patterns.

I dream about knitting. I eat, sleep and breath knitting patterns. In a meeting at work -- I should be taking notes on some financial directive, and I am sketching out some stranded color-work pattern or figuring out how to accomplish some knitting project. I have more things bouncing around in my head than I have written down. But not for long. The problem is . . . finding the time to knit it all and having the money to buy all the yarn to make the samples.

She used to design quilting patterns and before that quilts, and before that crocheted afghans and before that -- water color and acrylic paintings.

Progress on Ginkgo

I put this project to the side while I finished a couple of other things (chullo, chullo, cap and scarf, sea anemone) but now I am back to it. I have made pretty good progress and am through the first two sets of leaves. I really like how the leaves are formed.

The lace on this shawlette is created on both sides of the knitting -- no resting on the purl rows. I have already had to "tink" back several times to fix where I have put in the incorrect decrease. This pattern uses four different single decreases: k2tog, skp, p2tog and ssp. (Click on link for videos of each decrease.) There are two knit decreases that slant in different directions and 2 purl decreases that also slant in different directions. If you get them switched up, the lace just doesn't look right.

For as many times as I have had to knit and re-knit some of the rows, the Sakkie yarn that my daughter selected is quite resilient. It is taking the beating well. I might just have to try some for a pair of socks.

So far so good. Only two more sets of leaves to go.

Happy Knitting.