Granny-Along: granny bag

Granny-Along: granny bag You have to see this beautiful crocheted bag ! It is amazingly gorgeous. Pattern here.

Conferences are good....

Conferences are a good place to knit on a small brainless project. (cheesy grin). I managed to knit 6 washcloths this week!!!

It feels very satisfying to know I not only sat through five 11 hour days of lectures, studying and taking notes, but I completed some knitting, too. We had a 2 hour take-home test to do each evening, and frankly, I didn't have time to do anything else after my 1 hour commute home. Hey, that's 15 hours per day devoted to study!(Ah, shades of PA school. How did I ever do that for 24 months?!!!)

Here's a pic of 5 of the washcloths I knit this week (the yellow one is already in use, so not pictured):

Okay. You won't hear from me until I have taken the test next Saturday. Gulp!

Post # 100

Wow, I reached 100 posts today!!!! That's a lot of stuff to show & tell, heh. Got lots more where that came from....;-)

I cast on for the next washcloth in a cute blue-yellow-white print from Sugar 'n Cream:
isn't it cute?! And the next incarnation will be a yellow and white version. Happy colors. I will then be able to display these in a basket on the vanity....That will look so pretty and cozy!

There will now be a brief two-week pause, while I cram for the exam. See ya's!

Washcloth Lust

McD's HK offer is over, and here's my haul of canisters:

I just love it! I can keep different sewing and knitting supplies in these. Cute!

I had to put aside the whole scarf thing for a day or two, cuz I'm getting bored with it! So, I did what I had to do......I made another washcloth!



It joins a nice thick stack of my homemade washcloths in the linen cupboard....

Love the 4 corners washcloth! I am trying to tweak it so I don't have such large holes across the center:

My solution this time out has been to slip as if to purl, with the yarn in back of the needles, at the beginning of each even row, and that seems to make it a tad less holey. I wonder, if I just don't slip the stitch at all, if I just leave it as a knit stitch, what kind of difference would that make? Hmmmm.

Kureopatora's snake--finished!

That was an easy knit, one that keeps pulling you onward to see what the next segment will look like. I really like the finished product, more than I thought I would while I was working on it.


Yay for giant ric-rac!!!



Having a lot of fun with that Nashua Wooly Stripes Tweed in 'Citrus'. After I finished the snake on Sunday, I decided to try this yarn in my first Log Cabin square.

Was thinking of Log-Cabin-ing a scarf. I really like the colors, but I'm not sure I'm going to like the effect of a stack of blocks as a scarf. This yarn can be tricky to frog, so I'm not sure right now what my next step should be. I may just lay it aside and finish other things.

I was thinking the yarn from this project might be used to better effect in a miter, or a longitudinal ripple, or an entrelac in large squares....I'll keep stewing over it and see what I decide!

Whatevah!

That's what I think of Mondays, too!
Oh well, back to the grind....

More evidence of my bad behavior on the internet: I now have 2 more books from my list. Been wanting both these for a while....


In the lace style book, I really want to make this shawl:


And this shirt is pretty too:


But the shawl is the reason I purchased the book. Love that lily-of-the-valley pattern. Que magnifico!

Another scarf finished yesterday. I'll show you tomorrow! :p

Da pattern... for Crazy Weave

A nice hidey-hole:

I got very distracted by the Kureopatora's Snake scarf, and have been knitting on that almost exclusively. But I promised you a pattern for the Crazy Weave Scarf, so here it is....

Crazy Weave Scarf :

Gauge: 7 st per inch, 7 rows per inch (measured over rib sections, not garter)
Needle size: US 8
Yarn: worsted weight, I used ~ 400 yds to get the length I liked
Finished size: 8-1/2 " wide, by however long you want it!

Hint: (K 1 as first stitch and last stitch on EVERY ROW.)Hint: (Each section of rib will be 5 knit ribs wide(RS rows), and each section of garter stitch will be 5 "bumps" high--this will help with counting. I do not use stitch markers in this pattern.)

Cast on 41 stitches.
Row 1 (& all wrong side rows to row 9): K1, *(K1, P1)4 times, then K 7, P1*. Repeat starred section twice, then (K1, P1)3 times, K2.
Row 2 (& all right side rows to row 10): (K1, P1)4 times, K8*. Repeat starred section twice, then (K1, P1)4 times, K1.

After row 10, you will switch to the reverse of each stitch pattern. (Pay attention to rows 11 & 12, its easy to get distracted and do it wrong by looking at the previously knitted rows!)

Row 11 (& all wrong side rows to row 19): K1, *K8, (P1, K1)4 times*. Repeat starred section twice, then K8.
Row 12 (& all right side rows to row 20): K1, *K7, (P1, K1) 4 times, P1*. Repeat starred section twice, then K8.

Repeat rows 1-20 til desired length of scarf.

Enjoy!

(BTW, this forms a smooth-ribbed basketweave pattern. For a variation, K the rib stitches in the back loop --this gives a holey-rib pattern which is what is pictured above!)

If anyone makes a version of this, I'd love to see it! Or if you find a problem with the pattern...Just leave a comment in this post :)

3 AM

Sigh. It's 3 AM, and #1 son has 2 friends "sleeping over"--let's call it that loosely, as they are doing anything but sleep. They just woke me up, and you know what happens when you're in your 40's and your sleep is disrupted----

You post on your blog!!! There is an upside, heh ;0)

Okay, so this weekend is Knitter's Midwest. I had planned to go today, but an old friend called early in the week, said she'd be in town, and I decided to host a small get-together tonight with all of us who used to work together. We had worked in a government facility that was run so poorly, and by such incredible morons, that those of us who are normal formed a really tight bond. It was the only way to survive such a cartoon of a workplace. We must get together, now that we have each dispersed to the four corners of the earth!!! We ran away from that place en masse, as fast as we could ;)

So I'd planned to stay home today, get the house ready, and go to Knitter's tomorrow--except I threw my back out on Thursday night (after having done the same on Monday). Now I'm afraid to go anywhere I might be carrying large bundles, so I may not get to go to Knitter's after all. I'm living on the heating pad. Grrrr. (But I'm getting lots of knitting done!)

I may stay home instead this weekend. To mollify my annoyance, I may treat myself to this (scroll down): have been eyeballing a Hanne Falkenberg kit called Ballerina. It looks like the pattern is only available if I pop for the whole kit. Maybe I'll treat myself to this after taking my board exam....yes I should dangle the carrot that way! (Oops, too late, since I found it here for $120 less than anywhere in the US) And here is someone charting the patterns for those who own them....

Look at this cute crocheted toilet paper roll cover:
I'm not usually one to like those extremely kitschy things, but this is really cute!

And look at the snowflake doily:

That's pretty and looks easy to make.

Here is a beautiful crocheted afghan I'm thinking of making (someday!) What a beautiful scrap afghan! It was in a book that was being auctioned on Ebay. I was bidding, but I could tell one of the other bidders was kindof rabid about the book, so I started looking for it on the web to see what my top bid should be. I found it for $24.95, just after the item closed for $71 on Ebay!!!! And no, I did not bid that much for it. Now it is coming to me from Maggie's Crochet--I should get it soon! (P.S. this book continues to be auctioned on Ebay with a very low starting price if you want to try to get it below retail!)
Those are really awesome--from the same book. There is also a really cute book of patriotic designs, which I am a sucker for! Look at this cute version of a ripple:

And this book with a granny on the cover:


I also love the afghan on the cover of this book:


And look at the granny shirt:



How cool is that in crochet!
And this Christmas afghan too:

Washcloth craze

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I LOVE knitted washcloths :)

wow I thought I was really going off on the washcloths, but look at Mason Dixon's post from last year--guess I'm following right behind all those other crazed knitters who have gone before me!!!!

I feel myself gravitating toward washcloths again. I love them so much! And as my ripple afghan in Sugar 'n Cream nears its end, I can foresee tons of great washcloth cotton left over--hmmm, what to make, what to make?! I'll be very busy with all my Christmas knitting, but I want to make myself another washcloth soon! Because, frankly, some of the old one's I knit a few years ago, are starting to wear out. And I must have a plethora of washcloths to go with my cottage-y decor!

Convertible is being badly neglected. I was realizing I may not have enough of the yarn after all that work. Must find the tag for it, and yardage, b/c methinks it is not going to be sufficient. We'll see--the back burner is where you'll find this project. I still want to make something of the sort, and that wool is really tasty to the fingers!

Also on hold is the Chevron scarf. It is in the bottom of my bag, about 1/2 done, waiting patiently to be picked up again...."I'm coming honey!" Last time I posted about this project (or even thought about it) was back in May!!! Oops :D

Post-dated....

Time to come out of the water...
I initially wrote this post in early June. Before I learned to spin on the drop-spindle. I thought it would be amusing to post it now.....

"SOMEBODY HELP ME...."

Well. I am in trouble. Real fiber trouble. I had joined the hello yarn fiber club in April, got my first fiber in May, and have recieved another in June. Besides that, at the same time I signed up, I also bought my first drop-spindle and some fiber to try my hand at spinning. Of course, I have never spun before except as a demo for 15 short seconds about 20 years ago. Never mind that I don't even know what to do with it, I am recieving new shipments of wool roving every month!!! Have I gone mad?!

I guess this is the way to force myself to try it! There is a great local resource for all handicrafts, and I know they have classes in spinning and weaving, so I'll have to bite the bullet and really try. But meanwhile, I found this on-line, and methinks I will be making great use of these instructional videos!

Learning to spin has been one of my dreams for as many years as I have been a crafter. It's a long-running joke in my family that my spouse was making me a spinning wheel for a Christmas gift 20+ years ago--of course, he wasn't, but everytime he wants me to guess about a gift, my first guess is always a spinning wheel. ;)


That's kind of funny, in retrospect. Now I can spin after going to the fiber fair and being taught this summer. But a taste of spinning is all I've gotten, and I was hooked on it before I even tried it!!! So you know this is the beginning of a great love!

This site is a spinner making innovations I know nothing about yet! And this one is doing the same kind of inventing... I really want to learn more about spinning!

I have to learn to ply next....seems like it would be fairly easy, letting the twist that is already in the singles do the work for you. Unfortunately, this is really on the back burner until I can devote some time to it. Board exam, you know ;)

I have to make a version of Herrschner's Winter Forest, seen below. I love double knitting, and was making a cheezy snowflake in double knit about 15 years ago, as my first taste of it. I think this would be the most cozy afghan on the planet; a double layer of stockinette!!!!! Wow. And I like the colors they chose for the pic:

Drool. Really need to make this, I must find some kind of cheap wool that I wouldn't mind buying twice as much of, because it will take twice as much as a normal afghan. At Herrschner's website, I think I found the book this is published in....

Aim's Library is Growing

This morning's sky:
That is the moon in the upper corner, nearly obscured by the heavy humidity and misty clouds. Drops had formed on my lens it is so humid!!

I got another book off my list. I am a confirmed bibliophile. I must go through my books to sell the ones I don't need/want/use. Because my 900 sq foot house can only hold so many books, and yarn is competing with it for space!
This has been a "must have" since reading reviews on Rome at Home.

Another mention of this book, with a sample recipe is given at this site.

I came across another no-knead bread recipe at one of my favorite blogs: Posy Gets Cozy.

And another rave recipe from Wednesday Chef. All looking yummy. (You can tell I'm battening down the hatches for the crummy cold weather soon to come! In about 6 weeks temps will be dropping--bleh)

Other books going on here:
I love, love love the Brock & Bodie Thoene books. This is 5th in the series of the lives and times of people living when Jesus ministered. Imagine being one of the Lepers that he healed, or a blind beggar, whose lives were forever changed by his miracles. The authors really flesh out the details of life in those days and they have done a lot of research. I love this book series, and hope they continue for a long while--they are still writing books in this series. I have also read their Zion Chronicles, and the related series--about 15 years ago. Amazing writing.

Not that I'm making much progress on these books. But I can read a paragraph or two before I fall asleep each night!

book fest

I went to the library 2 weeks ago and checked out this giant stack o' books:

I am rolling in the bounty of other knitters' experience and creativity! It's like a gluttonous feast....my plan was to surf slowly through each book, maybe copy a pattern or two before August, when I was to start reviewing for my exam. I have only looked at about 4 of these so far (who wants to study for boards anyway!) The 'wild in the kitchen book' is vegetarian.

Look at the cute shoes I found at W*lm*rt Saturday. < $10....

Aren't they the cutest?!!!!

I had to buy new slip-ons for work anyway, as mine had outlived their freshness, if you get what I mean! (I bought these in addition to 3 pairs for work) Time to clean out the closet to make room!

I have another update on mods for Kureopatora: I found out it was better to purl 2 together, instead of SSK at the end of each odd # row. This adds another whole rib to the pattern and makes it look a bit better....Will post pics later.

Happy Tuesday :)

Scarf #3

An update on scarfiness: I just cast on for the Kureopatora Snake Scarf. This is a cool pattern, the ribbing stretches and makes a funky wavy pattern up the scarf. This is a good pattern for me, because I am new to entrelac. I tried to knit the garterlac washcloth from Criminy Jickets, but because I've never done entrelac before, and I was using a slippery braided cotton on smaller needles than I usually use, I gave up after getting all confused. I think I either need to be using some thick and lovely Sugar 'n Cream cotton on size 7s, or I need to try a worsted scarf in entrelac first. Kureopatora's Snake appears to be somewhat related, so I'm getting a taste of it.
I love it. Not sure I like the way the colors are falling into place, though, I wanted it to be stripier, but maybe if I made it on a larger # of stitches to make the scarf slightly wider, it would create thinner stripes? Or just longer ones? Hmmm. This may end up being my test swatch! (But I think it looks better in the photo)

The specs are below:
Pattern: Kureopatora Snake Scarf

Source: String or Nothing

Yarn: Nashua Tweed Stripes, in Citrus colorway, worsted weight 100% wool

Needles: US7

Work remaining: about 40 more inches!

Size: yet to be determined!

Mods: I accidentally changed the even rows on the entrelac portion, to K1 P1, instead of P1 K1. Not sure how that looks compared to how it should, but I'm continuing with that method. It works because I am doing it consistently throughout the whole section, but I may be missing a rib portion by doing this--will have to see!

Swap

I am putting together a box for my first swap, with Carola. She is a crocheter, and lives in Sweden. This is going to be a lot of fun! The next best thing to buying yarn for yourself is buying yarn for another fiber-head, who you know will enjoy it to its fullest!!! Ship out date is next Friday. That means I'll be getting a package from Sweden myself soon,Wheee!

Will show pic of what I sent her, after she gets it herself, so as not to spoil the surprise. But it did require me going to the store for yarn, which, of course, involved me buying more yarn for myself too! Got some Lion Wool, in nice masculine colors for Christmas gifts....

Maybe I can do some spinning today. It has been more than 10 days since I could do any, because my spindle is full! Now I have to learn to ply it, or get another spindle!!!! It's a rainy day, and good for baking breakfast treats, and wooly projects indoors. Also have to clean and organize my sewing area, because it has become an accumulating area instead. And I must go through and ditch clothes that do not fit, because this 30 lbs is not going anywhere anytime soon.....Goodwill drop-off, here I come.

I may tack on a recipe later in the day--I'm a morning blogger, but if I get to the recipe thing, I'll be back! Have a great Sunday, everyone :)

Some surfing....

Well, I am surfing today, not knitting yet, got a crazy weekend ahead of me, and then another couple weeks of holding down the fort at work while my boss is gone. Always a bit stressful. Then a week-long board review class, a week of cramming, and to start out the Labor Day holiday, a 6-1/2 hour long board exam. August is not going to be much fun, I think....(except Knitter's Midwest is coming in a week!!!! Woo hoo!)

Check this out: every day Annie's Attic posts a free crochet pattern from one of their published resources. Each pattern is only available for one day. I click there daily--yesterday's was a very cute granny square afghan called 'Garden Kitty'.

Here is a really nice blog called Beautiful Things I just discovered--daily feast for the eyes and much knitting inspiration! I will be checking in there frequently! ;o) I like her style.

I like Applehead too, she has fun items and ideas for the crafty, including lots of knitting and links....

And Feral Knitter got to go to Meg Swanson's Knit Camp! She blogs about it. Soooo, soooo jealous, considering it's only a 2-3 hour drive from me, but I can't go this year. However, I must do so before we move away!
Last weekend's trip to the Grandfather's was nice, although the time management sort of fell through. We got up late, left late, arrived late, slept late, etc. (Which makes for a nice relaxing vaca, except that the Grandfather had other plans and was miffed at us for running late. Sigh. Does he not remember working full time?!)
He lives on a lake in Michigan, a beautiful wonderful cottage that has been in our family for about 87 years! All pricey homes surrounding it now, but it's the same lovely place full of great childhood memories and love. I miss Nana....
This is where I sat and knitted, while watching the sailboat races, and wildlife, enjoying the warm Michigan summer sun. Ahhhhhhhhhh.