Nice Knotty Knitter

Progress as we know it!

2007-03-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

I've made much progress on the knitting front. I have completed a pair of socks - the pattern is 'the jaywalker socks' by Grumperina. I love the pattern and the yarn is fabulous too. I'm wearing them right now. Here's a picture of them. The second picture is close up of the pattern. Not sure it shows well.

I've started to rip a sweater that was given as a hand-me-down - The color combinations aren't really in my style and the sweater was very large - so I decided to deconstruct it and use the yarn as a colorful scarf or something like that. Here's a picture of the sweater - minus one sleeve. That was when I got the brillant idea to take a before picture of it.

This other picture is the yarn from the one sleeve that i took apart. Nice little stash, don't you think?

This next picture is yarn that was given to me by Lynn. I love the colors. Originally I was going to knit a scarf like the one in the picture - but have decided since it's fingering weight wool -

to knit it with two other colors combined -
so three all together for this scarf pattern.

I can't wait to knit it further so the colors will show up better. These pictures don't do it justice really. I'll show more when I have it knitted up more.

Here's a scarf I'm making that I'll probably end up giving away. We'll see. I like how it's knitting up. I got this in the bargain section of WEBS.

Okay all! That's it for now! On to more knitting and more gaming. WoW is calling me.

Where I have Been - Still Knitting, sort of

2007-02-20T10:03:00.000-05:00

Where the heck have I been you MUST be wondering. Of course you have since sooooo many people read my blog - or should I say, have read my blog. Actually, I'm not sure if anyone reads it.

Well, I've been busy with the Wizard of Oz. I played Glinda the good witch and Auntie Em - it was a lot of fun and when I get the pictures back, I'll post what I looked like. The costumes were fabulous.

The other thing that has been taking up so much time is I've found a new addiction that doesn't have to do with the fiber arts - it's an online game called World of Warcraft (WoW). I love this game. It's a fantasy game that lets you be different characters and run around and kill things. I know it sounds funny but I've always been a gamer and now I've found a game that I actually want to play all the time. AND the things that you kill are bad things that plague the lands so it's a 'good' thing. For a while there, I only knitted for an hour a day because I was too busy playing WoW on my off time. But now I'm back to knitting more - OH, I'm STILL playing the game, let me tell you, but this last weekend got me interested in doing more than just a few rows a day.

Here's what I did last weekend. Christopher's sister Sue and her/now our friend Lynn came up for the weekend so we could visit and go to SPA Knit and Spin in Portland at the Double Tree hotel. Talk about fun!! I made some great purchases, made some new friends and knit up a storm. Here's some pictures of the yarn I bought.

These three skeins are from Spunky Eclectic! What a great gal and what FABULOUS yarn. I've been reading her blog so it was fun to meet her in person - I felt like a groupie!!

This next yarn is Lorna's Lace - though I'm telling you, the pictures don't do it justice. The first picture is the whole skein and then I took a close up of the yarn it's of the left side of the first picture.

And then I bought some beautiful sock yarn. Here it is:

I love this shade of green. Then I went to our local yarn shop and bought this wool for a multi-directional scarf - I'm looking forward to starting that project. I ended up giving away the last one that I made - hopefully I can hold on to this one!! We'll see.

Okay, that's all I'm going to write today. I may write again tomorrow or later in the week because I have lots of pictures of my WIP's and want to share them. If the mood strikes you, write me a comment so I know this blog actually has readers.

Have a great day!!

Can't Stop!!

2006-12-21T12:41:00.000-05:00

I've been working away at all my projects. I've made great progress on many of them and will post pictures of the finished objects. Here's one now. This is a pair of socks I promised a cousin:

I think they came out cute and I love the colorway. I'm also working on some socks, using leftover sock yarn. I got a lot of mileage out of this yarn and as soon as I'm done, I'll post a picture. I'm not minding the different color change.

I've started some socks for my sister-in-law Sue. The pattern is Jaywalker from MagKnits.com - it's fun to knit, though different than I imagined. Here's a picture of my progress.

I've also started another pair of socks with this pretty variegated yarn from Webs. The colors are vibrant and I love the colorway:

As you can see, not much progress, but I only started it yesterday.

I was making some fingerless mittens from Knitty.com, but they are way too small for me. Next time I'll pay attention to my sized hands - but they're a good gift to my niece. Here's a picture:

But never fear, I made another pair for myself out of the same yarn and it was inspired by someone elses patter - though I made up the dimensions, etc.... Here is the finished product - one hand shown:

I think it came out nice, if I must say so myself.

I can't believe that Christmas is around the corner. So much to do and so little time, so I'll sign off for now.

Knitting Progress!

2006-11-21T16:34:00.000-05:00

Today is all about progress. I've made some great progress on a lot of my UFO's. I'm sure there are other people out there that do what I do. I have at least 10 projects open and it's just not enough. I'm always on the lookout for more, MORE, MORE! Here's 2 questions for my visitors. How many UFO's do you have? Do you look daily for more patterns?

Okay, on to my progress. Remember my orange scarf? Here's a picture of it so far. I try to do 8 rows a day (full pattern rows):

The next scarf, I started a long time ago and I just recently picked up again. I try to do 8 rows of this a day (1/2 the pattern rows of 16). Some will recognize it from scarf style. I'm using a nice cotton - although it's a real thin yarn and will take me a while to finish it.

The next is another scarf that will take me forever to complete but it's a good meditation. And the changing of the yarn is fun. I'm planning on switching direction of the stripes as soon as the bottom right corner makes it to the top left.

This next is being made with Manos de Uruguay - I frogged a scarf that I'd made with a pillar stitch - I didn't really like the way it came out - so, I found this scarf that really shows off the colorway - and I'm very happy with it.

An another view of it. Rather artsy, isn't it?

Knitting News!

2006-11-17T11:48:00.000-05:00

Boy! Twice in one week? How is it I have time to blog twice in one week? Anyway, I've got some pictures to show. Two weekends ago, my hub and I went to Northampton, MA to visit his sister and we went to WEBS. I LOVE that store. I got some great yarn.

The first yarn is my prized possesion. I got it (partly) with a gift certificate given to me for my birthday in September. I've been eyeing the Alchemy yarn at Webs but haven't felt like plunking down the money to buy it. So, when you get a gift certificate, it doesn't feel like it's expensive. Here it is.

I must say that the colors are actually more vibrant, (if you can believe it), in real life. I love the look and sheen of this yarn. I'm going to make a scarf/headband thingy with it. It's something I found on the internet. Some yarns are so yummy and this is one of them. I have visions of me laying the skeins out on the floor and rolling all over them.

I also bought some Noro Kureyon:

I'm going to make The Lady Eleanor Entrelac stole from Scarf Style. I don't have nearly enough, so I have to order some more. It's more vibrant than the yarn usually used for the stole - but I'm a vibrant kind of gal! :)

I dug out a scarf I started probably a year ago and have continued along with it. This is a picture of it before I started working on it and I'll post an update next week.

I did a silly, silly, silly thing when I started to work the above orange scarf. I picked it up and did the pattern for a few rows and THEN I noticed that I was using one wrong sized needle. Have you ever done that? Here are the two needles I was using.

One is a 10 and the other a 6. How funny is that? Like I couldn't feel the difference? Where was my mind? It's not that difficult a pattern, but you do have to pay attention. Obviously I was paying attention to the wrong things. Anyway, I finally realized my mistake and was able to fix it before I got too far.

Ok, that's it for today.

Back to the Knitting!

2006-11-13T08:51:00.000-05:00

Boy, oh boy, I've been a bad blogger. I can only blame it on the relaxation I needed after the show - that and getting back into my school work. But hopefully I will blog more now that I'm BACK!!

I've completed a total of two pairs of socks. I previously posted about one of the pairs - and in this picture , I'm wearing one on each foot.

The second pair (right foot) came out better than the first pair. I'm proud that I figured these out all on my own. I love making socks - in fact, I'm working on another pair. Here it is:

I love the yarn and it's patterning out rather nicely, if I do say so myself.

I've also been working on some scarves. Here's a picture of one of them:

I originally was doing a scarf with these two colors that I posted about (What I'm Knitting now) but didn't like how much yarn it was taking since I was holding both strands together. So I ripped it out and now it's looking kind of cool.

I also went to the LYS and picked up some half price yarn - Louise Harding DK 55% merino wool/35% microfiber/10% casmere. It is a dream to work with and I'm making a nice scarf - here's my progress so far - not much.

That's all the time I have today to update this lonely blog. Hopefully I'll get to it again tomorrow.
Have a grand day!!

More COC Knitting

2006-10-20T11:43:00.000-05:00

I've made great progress of the color on color scarf. Here's some pictures:

Like I said, it's great fun to knit this. I just hit a snag though. On the end of section 16 and attaching the garter band (blue strip on the bottom) to the rest of the piece. I don't like the added stitches. Looks awkward - so i'll be pulling that out today. Not looking forward to it since it took me forever to attach it and knit the added part. But that's life, isn't it? I'm keeping my happy face on while I frog it. Hey, it's only 68 - 3 needle bind off stitches. I can figure that out, right? The picture below sort of shows the area. It's under the multi-colored section and peeking out is orange. I plan to take out the extra stitches and just 3 needle bind off the blue garter stitch band to the multi part.

Below is the strands in the middle for the icords. I'm looking forward to knitting them.

I've been a bad blogger lately. I promise to write more. Have a great weekend.

Color on Color Scarf Knitting

2006-10-04T14:02:00.000-05:00

As I've said before, I've started my color on color scarf and I've got to tell you that I can NOT stop knitting it. I'm neglecting all my other knitting for this fun project. It is rather challenging at times but for the most part, A BLAST!!

Here is my progress thus far:

And here's a close up of the other side of the Fair Isle section. I've done 11 sections so far.

It's giving me ideas about other scarves to knit with this yarn. I'm using the Paternayan yarn that it calls for and I love the graduation of colors. I bought it from a LYS in the 8 yard skein hanks and boy am I glad since it is going to be a pain to weave all the ends in but even worse if it was in the 30" hanks. The colors are lovely and fun, although sometimes odd combining, I must say.

I would recommend this project for others to try.

Finally Some Knitting News

2006-09-26T08:48:00.000-05:00

Since the show has opened and I've had some time to relax, I feel I can finally do some knitting AND some blogging about it. I finished the pair of socks I showed in an earlier post. Here is a picture of them. Yes, I know. I have REALLY wide feet.

Also, not quite disasterous news, but distressing to me, none the less - I was weaving the ends in the cardi and clipped one that I thought was supposed to be clipped and NO!! it wasn't - so now I have a hole in the sleeve. What to do, what to do? I am thinking of ways to fix it but it may take me a few sittings to get it right. I find it hard to do it for very long since it isn't very satisfying. And to make matters worse, the cardi is too small. So, I've decided to give it to a smaller boned, smaller breasted friend. She doesn't know it yet, so I'm keeping it a secret. But I will take a picture of her with it on when I give it to her.

Here is a picture of the mistake.

On another note, I'm making a new scarf from the book Modular Knits. I've not been able to figure out how to make it once piece yet, so I've done small squares and will/am sewing them together. I don't think it looks bad, though I wish I didn't have to sew it together. Anybody out there do this scarf and know how to add on?? I'd love some ideas.

Okay, that is all for now. Oh yeah, almost forgot. I started the Color on Color scarf from Scarf Style. It is fun. I'll take a picture of my progress thus far and post it next week.

Have a great weekend!!

Not Much Knitting!

2006-09-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to quickly post a picture of one of my costumes in the King & I - Here is a picture of - Well, the King & I - hee hee! This dress is made a beautiful blue silk - they used ten yards alone in my skirt!! Isn't it gorgeous??? More to come...

Oh, and on a knitting note - I've finished the cardi - so I'll take some pictures of it and show it off. Big sigh of relief that it's done!!

Neglectful Knitting

2006-09-11T07:52:00.000-05:00

I have been SO neglecting all my other projects so I can knit the cardigan. I've gotten to a fun part and can't seem to put it down. I keep thinking - "Okay, one more row and then on to the scarf." But do I do it? Noooooooooo! I knit one more row and then another and then another and so on and so forth.

Here's a picture (not a very good one - it's hard to see the sleeves so I pulled them out to the sides). I'm rather proud of it and can't wait for it to be done.

Last week, I couldn't post at all because of all the rehearsing I've had to do and this is tech week for the play so not much knitting will be done - I do snag an hour here and there. I will take some pictures of myself in my costumes - they are rather spectacular!

Well, that's all for today.

Happy Knitting!

Knitting Some, Playing Lots!!

2006-08-29T08:29:00.000-05:00

This weekend was busy, busy, busy!! I had the dinner party - which was fabulous and went without a hitch!! I made homemade gravy (what some people, including my family calls pasta sauce), with sausages and meatballs, homemade manicotti (shells and all), homemade eggplant parmesean, a salad, bread and bought dessert (there is a limit to what I can do in a day.) The production team was appreciative and a good time had by all. Bear in mind, that we all worked at the theater that day too.

I'll show the knitting portion of my post first so those of you who don't want to read about the theater portion, can surf on out!!

Here is another 'bowl' I felted. The only thing that disappointed me was that the stitches showed through. I knit it with Lambs Pride Bulky and put it in the washing machine for at least 25 minutes and still.....you can see the stitches. Hmmm.

Ok, here's a picture of some of what I also accomplished this weekend. We are gearing up for the opening of "The King & I" and here are pictures of the progress so far. Although the pictures don't do it all justice, you can still get an idea of what it will look like. Also, do you remember I talked about sewing a traveler curtain for the show? And do you remember me saying I'd share a picture once it was hung? Well, here it is. I wish the picture was better, because it is very stunning to look at. You can't really tell by the photo, but it is hung at least 10 feet from the front of the stage. It is basically used to mask scene changes while giving you a decent playing area. If you were to use just the proscenium curtain, you'd only have 2 1/2 feet of playing space - not enough, believe me.

Here is a picture of the shoji screens before they are painted or mounted on the platform. And a pix of the platform before the stairs and facing.

This next picture is the painted shoji's with the uncovered louvers and the facing on the platform before the painting. Notice too the temporary stairs. The guy in the picture is Jon - he designed the set.

Now, these are the real stairs. They will be painted black and marbled for effect!!

Here is a picture of the shoji screens (there are 10 of them), not much to look at like this but they are backed with a white fabric and slide along in tracks for different configurations. They will then be lit from behind with different colors during different scenes. The guy in the picture is my hubby, Christopher.

This is a picture of one of the louvers covered with really interesting fabric. The general colors to the set are (as you can tell) red, black and gold. It's very ornate looking and with the lighting design . . . Magnificent!! Notice the painted portions of the facing. That is the first coat.

Doreen and Jim are shown here reupolstering the chaise I mentioned in the post "Not Much Knitting". It really came out nice. I do wish I'd taken a picture of it before we stripped it.

Here's a close up on it practically finished.

Whew!! I'm exhausted just looking at the pictures, never mind working on all the projects.

Hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures as much as I enjoyed sharing.

Sock Gone Wrong?

2006-08-25T15:51:00.000-05:00

I have made progress on my first pair of socks and I think there might be something that I did wrong. Here is a picture of my progress and the problem. The second picture is the heel. Doesn't it look funny. It sticks out (orange part) and I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to. Hmmmmm. Any ideas?

I've also made some progress on my bamboo multi-directional scarf - remember the picture of the yarn I bought at the LYS? Well, here's my progress. I'm really liking working with this yarn.

Also, here's my cardi sleeve that I've been cursing. Not bad, just a few more inches to move on to the next step.

Here's my green bowl finished. I ended up giving it to my sister. She thought it was cute. I think so too.

That's all I have today. Sorry it's not much but I'm tired from rehearsing every night and tomorrow night, we're having a dinner party for all the production staff and I've been cooking and cleaning like a fiend.

Until next week.

Yarn and progress!!

2006-08-15T11:19:00.000-05:00

I went to the LYS this morning, looking for Blue Heron Yarn and BLAST, they didn't have it, though I did get some 1/2 priced goodies. Here's my haul: I'm going to make scarves with them all. The blue varigated is bamboo yarn and I'll do a multi-directional one out of it and the red and orange are 100% Egyptian and I'll do some combo scarf with those.

Progress on the Cardi from (H - E - double hockey sticks). Notice, no twisting. I did a lot on it last night. I had the night off from rehearsal and it was glorious just sitting and knitting. Of course, it's almost always glorious when I sit and knit, but doing it at a time I usually can't do it, ahhhhhhhhhhhh, now that's the life!!

Ok, now remember the blue/green bowl I was going to felt? Well, (drum roll please), it is DONE. Here's a picture of it.

I brought it to rehearsal to show it off and one of my dear friends said he'd love to have it, so I gave it to him.

I LOVE to felt. The process is a hoot and I can see more felting in the future. In fact, I've felted a little clutch - I got the pattern out of "One Skein". Isn't it cute? And it's QUICK!! I'll be doing another one with different colors and I can't wait. Here's a picture of before and after:

And lastly, here's a picture of some dansko sandals I love to wear, but they're in bad shape, so I thought to myself, "Self, why don't you spruce them up with a new look." Here they are:

And here's a picture of the finished project. I still have to bring them to a cobbler to replace the inside pad because it's all torn, but I'm happy with the results. Please ignore my funny looking feet.

EGADS! Not again. Troubles with Knitted Cardigan

2006-08-08T09:53:00.000-05:00

Oh boy! This is the 3rd time I'm going to have to rip out this freaking sleeve. I HATE when that happens. Here's the picture of the blasted thing. Notice where my fingers are that it is TWISTED. UGH!! Why I didn't notice it before is a mystery.

I went to the LYS today to pick up some needles to start my socks and blast, they were out of my size.

Who else out there dislikes gauge swatching? I do and sometimes I cheat - I'm sure it will nip me in the butt sometime - hopefully not with this blasted cardigan - I cheated the gauge on it and I think I'm in the clear. I was thinking of cheating the gauge for the socks. I knitted about 1 inch and measured the width and it's correct. Has anyone else done that? Can I get away with it and make a pair of socks? Anyone? Any advice will be helpful.

On an up note - I started another bowl with this gorgeous green wool. Here's a picture of it. I still haven't felted the other bowl. Maybe today. I'm supposed to be learning my lines for K & I but I'm a huge procrastinator. And I have to blog, right? Right? I can't go tooooooo long without blogging, now can I?

Not Much Knitting!!

2006-08-07T08:18:00.000-05:00

This week and weekend were busy ones. We rehearsed all week, then Friday night we finished sewing/grommetting a humongous traveler curtain for the show. It's in two pieces. Each is 30' wide. Once they are hung in the theater, I'll post a picture of it. I'm pretty darn proud of the things. It took 4 of us to do it - Christopher (hub), his sister Sue - big help, Me, and Jennifer - who was a tremendous help.

We then returned to the theater on Saturday to strip an old stuffed chaise. Doreen, Jim, me and Christopher worked on it and boy, was it a mess. I kept kicking myself that I hadn't brought my camera so we could have a before, middle and after picture. It's a great piece. One thing we (really Jim) discovered when we got it down to the bare wood - AND pulled out every nail and staple - (there were hundreds, no lie) after a little fixing, the piece could raise and lower on both the head and foot, just like a beach chaise. Dear ole hub went dumpster diving on Friday to get cushions so we could replace what was there and reupolster it. It's half done and we worked at least 4 hours on it. The things I do for my art. ;)

We then had a dinner party on Saturday - had a rip roaring time though I tipped my hand just a little too much so Sunday was a slow day for me.

Now here's the knitting - what you really came to read about!

Here's a scarf that I made with some novelty yarn. I got it on sale for $2 a piece. I made this for a dear friend and I'm surprising her with it tonight.

This next picture is the stash I recieved with the loom. Remember, this isn't my whole stash - just the loom stash. It was STINKY - it's been in storage for a few years. So what I finally did was lay it all out in the craft room and febreeze the crap out of it. I LOVE THAT STUFF! It took all the stink away and now I have lots of yarn to play with! WEHAW!!

Here is the 'finished' bowl - pre-felting. I can't wait to have enough time to felt it. It's going to be adorable when it's done. I will post a picture when I finish.

I did a little work on my multi-directional scarf, but not much more. I guess that's all I have to talk about today.

Knitting Progress!

2006-08-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

Yup, I actually got some progress done on my knitting. Though I have to say that I was quite frustrated with my cardigan sleeve and I have to rip it out. That's okay, it's great practice. Right? Yeah, that's it. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

I was able to get away this weekend. We had to 'babysit' Christopher's sick elderly cousin - she's in end stage cancer. So off we went to Waltham, MA. We had a nice time even though she slept a lot - but she's still a lot of fun. We also traveled to Leominster, MA to visit C's aunt whom we haven't seen in 3 years. That was fun and relaxing because there was a POOL. But DARN it! I got a little tan even though I wasn't trying to and took as much precaution as I could - but having the Italian skin doesn't help matters. So now, I have to think of what I'm going to do when the musical goes up and I have to wear the strapless ball gown.

Here's the progress on the multidirectional scarf. See how long it is from the last picture. OOOOOO! I love knitting this pattern. I almost feel as though that's all I want to knit but I'm being good to some of my other projects by working on them too. But darn that Cardi sleeve. Oops, I said that already.

Here is the bowl I'm working on. I'm hoping that the multi thickness of the yarn won't mean a hill of beans difference in the end product. This is home spun yarn from Urugray and I love it. It's cute, isn't it?

Hands! And Progress!!

2006-07-27T12:12:00.000-05:00

Aha! Got your attention, didn't I? Why write about hands? Frankly, because I'm rather fascinated with them, but in a good way, I promise. I used to be a massage therapist when I lived in CA - and in my learnings, I heard that there were two types of hands. One type that 95% of the population sport at the end of their arms and the other type that 5% are graced with. Which one do I have? Why the rare kind, naturally - otherwise why the fascination :). Here's a picture of my hand. And PLEASE don't comment - even in your heads - on the shape of my nails, or the state of my cuticles......I hardly ever do anything with my hands other than live with them. And knit, of course.You can't imagine how difficult it was to take those pictures. Thank heavens I have a digital camera, or I would have wasted a lot of money on developing funny looking pictures. Ok, now to get into why my type of hands are in the 5% range. 95% of the pop. have longer ring fingers than pointer fingers. 5% (me) have longer pointers than ring fingers. SEE? I took both a front and back picture - not only for your viewing pleasure, but because you can see it better from the back of my hand - probably because there aren't any nails to cloud the issue up. I also have very long and skinny fingers, if only my body matched them, sigh.

So which one are you? Take a moment please and leave me a comment.

I'm obsessed at looking at everyone's hands to see which they have. I even do it at movies - staring at the hands of the actors - Liv Tyler has my kind of hands and I think Nicole Kidman too. Thank goodness I can multi-task or I'd never be able to follow the plots of the movies. I know, I know! This is a weird 'hobby'.

Here's some knitting projects.

The green one I knitted with Misti Alpaca. I love this yarn, and the shade is beautiful. The picture doesn't do it justice.

The Blueish one is a pillar stitch with some hand painted yarn from Uraguay. I have more of this yarn that I might felt into a bowl. Thanks to Katy for the pattern. ;)

New Finds and More Knitting Projects!!

2006-07-25T10:06:00.000-05:00

Hello All! I just had a lovely visit from my sister-in-law Sue and we went to Portland's greatest Weaving and Fiber Gallery where Melodi helped me figure out my warping board and where I purchased some nice chenille yarn for a scarf that I want to weave.When we parked the car, I noticed a NEW, at least to me, yarn shop called Knitwit Yarn Shop and Coffee Bar. I DIDN'T have a piece of gloriously decadent chocolate cake while I shopped. Okay, okay! I did! But at least Sue and I shared it. Anyway, back to the shop and the yarn. I loved all that I saw there and I found some Noro Kureyon yarn that I immediately bought to make a multi-directional scarf. Here's a picture of the yarn and my progress.

It's a fast knit, and FUN!! I'm sure there are more people out there that like to do this as well, but I love to start projects - I usually finish them but I'm always looking out for a new yarn and a new pattern. I just got two books from the library - one on scarves and the other on bags. I can't wait to open them up and really get into the books.

Also I get the irresistable urge to giggle foolishly when I purchase new yarn that I love and it takes all of my control not to scream out "Mine, MINE, MINE!" after the clerk hands me my purchase. Anybody else feel like that??

A Decision Is Made!!

2006-07-19T08:49:00.000-05:00

I haven't had the time to post in a while. I've been very busy with the new play and vacation and what not but.......

I've done it! I've decided to sell my floor loom. It actually was a hard decision because I bought it from a good friend and he was happy for me to buy it since it was his mothers. She passed away and he inherited it and I partly feel like a crumb for wanting to sell it. But it is too big for me. The table loom is more my style and if I get another floor loom. I will get a smaller one. This one is 60" wide! Here's a picture of it.

Enough about that - on to knitting talk.

I've gotten farther with my beaded cardigan. I've done one sleeve (not the full thing but to where the directions told me to stop and start the other one.) Here is a picture of it. Isn't it the cutest thing? It looks a little like a squid.

I've also gotten further with the stole. It will be about 40 rows of this and will be attached to the already finished portion - this is it before the dropped stitches. Here's a close up view as well. If you scroll down to a previous post, you can see the difference. Pretty neat!!

Here's another scarf I'm working on. I love this yarn. I bought it originally for the loom but had the idea to make a scarf out of it. I'm using a pattern from Scarf Style. I love it.

I made this stole from knitty.com. I have yet to block it but I like the pattern and the yarn.

What I'm Knitting Now!

2006-06-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

I'm knitting many projects. A beaded Cardigan from Knitty.com - 4 scarves and a stole. Shall I show you? Do you wanna see them? Huh? Do you? Okay. Here's a few of them.

First the cardigan. I've done a lot on the body and the small circle is the beginning of the sleeve. I also added a close up of the bead work for your viewing pleasure. Yarn is Tahki cotton - a beautiful red.

Here's the stole. I got this pattern from knitty.com too. I've used Manderin Petit made by Sandnes. I love this cotton and have used it on a scarf too. I'm almost done with this and just need to do the other beaded end.

Here's one of my scarves - 100 % wool (part of my loom stash) - very stinky stuff. Since it was in storage for a few years, it's musty and I'm working on what to do to unstink it. This stitch is

CO 3 +1
Row 1 and all odd numbered - purl
Row 2 - k1, *yo, sl1, k2, psso* to end
Row 4 - k2, *yo, sl1, k2 psso* k2
Row 6 - k3, *yo, sl1, k2 psso* k3

This next scarf is made with the mandarin petit - cotton, blue and yellow, both held together.

Even number CO
Row 1 - k1, *k2, p2*, k1
Row 2 - k1, *p2, k2*, k1
Rep rows.
Well, that's all for now!!

Projects, Projects Everywhere!! The knitting fiend!

2006-06-27T09:56:00.000-05:00

I've been juggling 4 - 5 projects at once and am always itching to do more. It's pathetic actually. I feel as though the projects are alive. I try to do a little of each every day and if I don't get to one of them, I feel like I have to stroke it and console it, "Don't worry honey, I haven't forgotten you. I'll spend some time with you tomorrow!!" How twisted is that?

Here's a few of my finished scarves. I love to wear scarves as soon as the weather is cool. I can't believe that I hadn't thought about wearing scarves not only for the decorate value, but because they ACTUALLY keep me warm!! I tend to run on the cold side and since I've been wearing them, VOILA instant warmth.

The Green one is from the stash I received with the loom - it's 100% Virgin Wool and chunky. I think I used this pattern: 18 Cast on, k1, *yo, k2tog, k1* to end. Repeat row.

The red one is made with baby alpaca brush - and when I bought the yarn, I got a free pattern. I LOVE free patterns.

I went to the library yesterday and got some knitting pattern books. I can't wait to make some of the projects. More! More! MORE!! Some of my 'loom' stash is interesting and I wish I could type the yarn in google and get a pattern I could make with it. This one yarn, Boucle Sage Chine - see picture - I have around 10 skeins of it and don't know what to do with it since it's a little fuzzy, so if someone out there has an idea, I'd love to hear it!!

What To Do???

2006-06-26T08:59:00.000-05:00

Every since I can remember, I've always been crafty. Although, I have to admit, instead of drawing with crayons when I was four, I liked to eat them. I wouldn't take huge bites out of them, just shave them with my bottom teeth. Hey, maybe that's why I love chocolate shavings now. And the funny thing is, at the time I couldn't figure out how my mother knew I had been eating them. It could have been the residuals dotting my teeth and lips? I bought a loom from a friend. His mother was heavily into weaving and after she passed on he inherited the loom and all the accoutrements. It's a LeClerc 60' Mira. I bought the whole kit and kaboodle for a low price and I can't believe how much I have. The loom is huge. It's now sitting in our dining room area. It's a counter - balance loom with up to eight harnesses. It also came with 5 shuttles, a warping board, a spinning wheel, a ball winder, a bobbin winder, a Dorothy table loom, a knitty noddy, and lots of things I don't know what they are. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I got her whole stash - lots and lots of cones and lots and lots of knitting yarn. Talk about FUN!!!

My hubby and I took a 6 week beginning weaving class at a local fiber store and I made a table runner. I totally picked out the wrong colors and will probably cut and hem it into a bunch of dish towels. The colors are too close to each other to make it pretty, but hey, it was my first attempt. I'm sure my next time, it will be oodles better. I'll use contrasting colors like my husband did. The one thing I didn't anticipate is that as the fabric wraps, you can't see what you've done already and if you're just winging it, like I was, it's easy to forget your 'pattern'. Hubby's came out much nicer.

I want to insert a picture here, but don't know how to do it? If anyone could give me pointers? When I try to insert it, it goes to the top of the page. Any help is appreciated.

So, why the title "What To Do?" I just don't know if this loom is to big. At the shop that I took the weaving lessons, the owner has a few smaller floor looms for sale and I was thinking, should I sell this huge loom for a small loom? I look at this one and get overwhelmed a little, but the cute 'smaller' ones, makes me want to weave. My hubby thinks I should use this one first, so we'll see. I suppose I should but I have to get someone in here to 'set it up' first.

I've really been enjoying knitting - and have many projects I'm working on. More about that later though.

Never Enough Time

2006-06-20T09:20:00.000-05:00

I just set up this blog to share my knitting projects, what's going on in my life and any random thought.