May 4, 2007

Vikings Socks

Well, they are interesting to say the least. The colors didn't translate well as they are yellow and purple not blue and yellow. Isn't it funny how the eye sees one thing and the camera another?

Anyway, they are done, and they are warm and as soon as they are dry they will go on my sock wall of fame!

And, I found another hat I had in my "gift drawer" that I'm going to put in the bag with the other hats for Michelle.

It was knit flat and seamed up the back.

Today is my day with F. We have a bunch of paperwork to do...more on that later and I have to figure out what knitting I'm taking with me. I'm leaning towards using up the MicroSpun I have to make a dishcloth.... We had also talked about going to the movies today. Doesn't matter. I'm not home and not babysitting!

April 29, 2007

Makes you think about sheep in a totally different way....

If this attempt at putting a YouTube on my blog doesn't work, click--> here is the URL. You HAVE to see this! It is unbelievable! (No X rated...some suggested violence.)

I finished up my experimental hat for Michelle.

I made the "cuff" by using a provisional cast on, knitting in garter stitch and then Kitchenering them together. Then picked up sts around edge of cuff and knit the rest of the hat. It makes a nice hat, stretchy cuff and is just a bit more unique than the standard run of the mill hat.

I spent most of the day with F yesterday and managed to knit a few rows on the sweater. I have about four more inches to go to finish the first part of the back. This sweater may take awhile.... It's about time for me to try and match up the color pattern in the next skein of yarn. I hope I don't have to roll it into a ball in order to get the colors to repeat in the same order.....

F planted some seeds awhile back, creating a vegetable garden as well as some sunflower seeds. It was so nice to see all the little seedlings standing straight and tall. If all the plants come up there will be enough melons of varying kinds to feed a small third world country! Good thing we all love melons.

My son and DIL called the other night. They bought a house. This is really good news for them, but it kind of extinguished the hope they'd move back here from Tennessee any time soon. After being terribly spoiled by all my other kids and grand kids living here, I have difficulty coming to grips with them living on the other side of the country!

My DIL got the socks in the soda bottle. She asked if the packaging was an attempt on my part to "keep a blonde busy for several hours!" I said, "Did it work?" She laughed and said no, she figured it out right away, but it took my son a while!

My knitting goal for the weekend is get the other sock done. Then the sweater and of course, CO a new hat for Michelle!

April 20, 2007

Hat?

Okay, I thought this hat <--click would be a cute hat to make for Michelle's project. It didn't turn out nearly as neat as the one shown on the pattern. And much smaller. So... I added ribbing and it's okay, but certainly nothing to write home to mom about.

Now... reading the pattern, it says to practice a provisional cast on, except the two edges sewn together are the sides not the CO and BO edges..... Or I can't read the pattern. Anyway, it's not totally ugly.

I did like the rolled effect. Three rows of st st and three rows of reverse st st. K, P, K, K, P, K repeat these six rows when knitting flat. In the round it would K, K, K, P, P, P repeating.

While reading blogs this morning I found this really cool idea <--click for those that live with an I-pod stuck in their ears:

It's made of sock yarn and fits around one's arm to hold the I-pod. Eventually, when I get my own MP3 player to listen to my books on, I'll make one of these so I can carry it around the house conveniently.

Sock report: I have about an inch of foot to do before starting the toe decreases. Didn't get much sock knitting time as I was forced into chauffeuring my daughter and grand daughter yesterday. What time I did have, I spent upstairs and thus worked on the hat project.

Joansie shared this idea <--click with me from Fireknitter's blog. Isn't it a cute dress... and it would be very easy to make. Researching further into her blog, I found this interesting technique. She calls it Entra Fake. <--click for PDF file.

April 16, 2007

I have a sock!

I finished it up! And it fits very nicely....so it should fit DIL! It felt so good to finish that one. Will CO on second sock today.

Got quite a bit done one the hat, too. Brought it downstairs to check it against pattern instructions. ( I wish I had a printer!)

It was an especially long weekend as they all will be for awhile. My daughter's work schedule has her leaving the house at 7:30 am and returning about 11:15 pm both days. Makes for a long time of being #1 responsible person for the two grands.

Got to listen to the first half of HP and the Chamber of Secrets. The movies were on TV over the weekend, too. It's been quite awhile since I've listened to these and I was surprised how much I'd forgotten.

I carded some of the llama. It's not really dirty, as I suspected, just dusty and compacted as it'd been crammed into that cloth bag.

Then I decided to spin up an ounce.

That's when I decided I needed to send it out to be processed. There are just too many short cuts and guide hairs in it. Commercial cleaning and carding will help cut down on that a lot. I did wash it after I'd spun it to block it and it is pretty soft, but not as nice as I'd hoped. This must be an older llama with a rougher coat. Would make a nice exterior garment but will wait for final judgment until it gets back from the processors. <--click It seems Jehovah Jireh Farm is the least expensive at this point.

As a general rule, I like to buy fiber that's already been processed. I've tried doing the washing myself, etc. and if I had a drum carder I might be more inclined to do more of it myself. But for the small amount I do, the $350-$400 for a carder is just not worth it. And now I'll get the alpaca, the llama and the last of the unprocessed wool I have.

It felt good to spin and I really should "make" myself do some spinning every day... but, I really hate shoulding on myself....

April 15, 2007

Sock Progress!!!!!

I'm so excited! I only have an inch till I start the toe decreases! I compromised on the frogging. Decided to leave the leg as it was and frogged back to the heel flap and started from there. Consequently I made much positive progress and am finally happy with the way it's looking. Whew! What a trial and tribulation that one sock was!

I looked through a lot of the links everyone else is using for their Michelle hats and thought this one <--click from JoanKnits was way cool. So I started that one and went back and forth between the sock and the hat all afternoon while I listened to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on CD. I'm hoping to listen to all the books again before click--> book (July 21)and movie <--click (July 13) come out this summer.

Remember way back when I told you about the click--> alpaca I got at the Ren Faire? Well, I'd contacted the seller and she brought down the other bag of fiber which is llama.

It's much dirtier. I'll try to card it myself, but if it's too bad, I'll have to send it out to be processed. I'll try and do some today so you can see what it'll look like when it's ready to spin. I paid $10 for this and it's a bag that's about 26 inches long and 27 inches around absolutely stuffed full. Have no idea the weight yet.

April 10, 2007

Ankh and Free Hat Pattern

I got the Michelle<--click hat finished up last night. (Pattern below.) It's really a firm fabric. A little hard to see but there is a basket weave type pattern in the body of the hat. CO on the next one last night, but.... It occurred to me with all the whining I've done about not being able to knit fancy socks, that I could practice some of the sock patterns while making these hats. Larger needles, larger yarn, somewhat easier to manipulate...although this doesn't help with counting which really seems to be my main issue, but we'll gloss over that and see if I can do it. Now, don't have too high expectations on this, as these hats are supposed to be my night time knitting, aka, brainless knitting. So I still might not be able to do the lace work on them!

Here's the sample of the washcloth I'm making for B. I adjusted the lighting as best I could so the design would show up. It does, but not too well. I bought a skein of Sugar 'n Cream in a soft yellow/beige and a skein of Lion Brand Micro Spun in the same color. I'd heard somewhere that wash cloths made of Micro Spun were great. It's acrylic so I don't know how it can be that good, but it's sure soft! Would make great baby stuff!

Only got a few rows done on my sock...had to finish the Ankh and we had some shopping to do yesterday. I've finished the heel decreases and am working on the foot now. Won't take long once I get a chance to sit down and work on it.

Talked to my DIL yesterday. It's really been cold (below freezing) in TN. And here we sit with our warmer than average temps of 80s in the days and 40s at nights. It's gonna be a HOT summer for us I'm bettin....

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Hat with Pique Check Stitch

Two strands WW yarn, Size 7 16 inch circular needes, Size 7 DPNs

Pattern requires multiple of 6 sts Fits young child, 2, 3, or 4 years

CO 66, join

Knit 8 rows of st st.

R 1: *K3, P3* repeat from * to * around

R 2: Knit even

R 3: Repeat R 1

R 4: Knit even

R 5: Repeat R 1

R 6 - 11: Knit even

R 12: *P3, K3* repeat from * to * around

R 13: Knit even

R 14: Repeat R 12

R 15: Knit even

R 16: Repeat R 12

R 17-22: Knit even

R 23: *K 9, K2tog* repeat from * to * around

R 24: Knit even

R 25: *K8, K2tog* repeat from * to * around

R 26: Knit even

R 27: *K7, K2tog* repeat from * to * around

R 28: Knit even

R 29: *K6, K2tog* repeat from * to * around

R 30: Knit even

R 31: *K5, K2tog* repeat from * to * around

R 32: Knit even

R 33: *K4, K2tog* repeat from * to * around

R 34: Knit even

R 35: *K3, K2 tog* repeat from * to * around

R 36: Knit even

R 37: *K2, K2 tog* repeat from * to * around

R 38: *K1, K2 tog* repeat from * to * around

R 39: K2tog around Cut working yarn leaving about 6 to 8 inches.

Thread yarn onto yarn needle and insert yarn needle through remaining sts. Pull tight to gather up and close hole. Weave in ends inside hat.

Arpil 5, 2007

Met my challenge!

Here's the hat after I over dyed it with orange KA. I don't know how much snow is in the area this hat will go to, but bright or dark colored hats are always preferred to help keep an eye on kids in snow! So, it's bright!

I met my challenge from yesterday: Got my socks and a new Michelle <--click hat CO. In fact I had a bit of knitting time upstairs, and I got a good 3 inches done on the hat. Pics when it's finished!

Using Lamb's Pride WW Super wash (which is more like a fingering yarn IMHO) I cast on a nice purple sock. Got the cuff and a round or two done. I've been looking seriously at the Horcrux Socks (based on a magical item in the last Harry Potter book). I tried a stitch pattern similar to his on my own and failed miserably yet again. I really don't think knitting fancy socks will ever be my forte. (On a side note, to those sock knitters that do the lace patterns, do they run smaller in sizes? I've seen a lot of people online discussing different patterns and finding they need to CO more sts than they generally do with the same yarn and same needles. Anyone else find this true?) Anyway, the stitch pattern on these is a multiple of five. I've CO 48 sts, so adding two or decreasing three is no big thing.... Mine of course, wouldn't have all the additional ribbing, which I don't particularly like anyway.

BTW, I've been meaning to share this link for the click--> Basic Sock Chart with all you sock knitters. Silver of the infamous Silver's Sock Class <--click shared it on the
click--> Knittinghelp.com forum It's got just about all the information on needs to make socks from any weight yarn and for any size.

OH OH OH! Guess what? There is no standing water in my back yard this morning!!!!!!!!!! I told you the water was left running all night Tuesday night...well it was still running at 1:30 pm on Wednesday. So over to the Office we trotted. She sent the maintenance man over to turn off the water and take the handle off the spigot! The kids had been filling up a chest freezer in their back yard and using it for a swimming pool.... :::heavy sigh::: Anyway, now they don't have water in their back yard.....and neither do I. Today is the first day of spring vacation for the local school district, which means they will be home for five days. Perhaps my grands will be able to go out back tomorrow to a relatively dry yard. OTOH, that's five days of unsupervised "fun" the kids next door will have.

April 3, 2007

'Nother pair of socks

These are some quicky socks I did to feed the addiction. CO and finished in 24 hours. WW Redheart acrylic...house socks for one of the grands. Knitting socks is a true addiction.....

Okay...these sheep <--more pics wouldn't provide very good wool, but they get my vote for the most ingenious recycling technique.

Nothing particularly exciting to report today. Spent the morning running errands and getting groceries.

It got warm enough yesterday I had to turn on the evaporative cooler or better known as the swamp cooler. As it always does in the beginning of the season, it worked fine. However we have such hard water that within a couple weeks, all the pad fibers are coated with minerals, and thus don't hold any water. Effectiveness of the cooler drops with each use. F told me to add some liquid fabric softener to the water tray and it'll keep the fibers from getting coated so quickly. Guess it's time to get hold of some and try it out.

The back yard is almost dried out! The kids next door either were told to quit playing with the water and listened, or more likely, got distracted by trying to damage the ornamental fig tree out front that sits between their house and ours. It's a small tree and there were good sized ten and twelve year olds trying to climb it and pulling on the branches. They stripped every branch they could reach of leaves. Is there no end to their destructive mischief?

I have no idea what I'm going to CO today. Socks probably! Didn't like the withdrawal from that at all!

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Okay, Michelle <--click needs some help! Can you knit or crochet a hat (or two or three) for charity? Check out Michelle's blog for more info. We have a great community here, so let's see how many we can put together for her!