Daughterly News

Last month I travelled to visit with my daughter and son-in-law in North Carolina which was a lot of fun, wish I could have stayed longer.

It was only for a few days so I brought only two projects to work on. A baby blanket and the second Bayerische sock.

On the way there on the plane I put a ball of yarn in the seat back in front of me and naturally walked off the plane without it so I couldn't work any more on that project. When I picked up the Bayerische sock I remember too late that one of the needles had broken, since I forgot about that I hadn't brought any extra needles in that size.

Now I was project-less.

Not to worry - daughter took me to three local yarn shops. At one I bought a skein of Malabrigo sock yarn which the shop owner wound for me and I was back in business. By the time I got home I had almost finished the first Pomotamus sock. I really like the Malabrigo sock yarn - very nice to work with and the colorway is pretty too.

My daughter learned to crochet within the past year and likes to do amigurumi.

She designed and worked this dragon up herself - isn't it adorable?

For Mother's Day she made this sheep for me - it is just too cute.....

A few weeks ago I started a pink baby sweater with this pattern from Garnstudio......just as I was closing in on finishing the sweater my daughter and son-in-law called to let us know that we'd become grandparents next January - yay! Double yay for someone to wear the sweater (ok, I know it could be a boy, I'll just have to make a blue sweater too).

Rona Shawl Redux

My fuschia beaded Rona shawl at 56" diameter was just too small, no way around it except to frog back and add more rows before the edging. I still had almost a full skein of yarn left. 

It took several weeks and lots of playing in Excel to figure out how to enlarge this shawl.

Finally it dawned on me that what I needed to do was increase until there was a multiple of 16 (the repeat for the edging) and then do the edging. The original pattern has 48 sets of 16 sts at the start of the edging. The edging on the first version was really tight so it seemed to me that there needed to be a lot more stitches allowing for increasing the diameter. I decided to work a simple stitch pattern with increases until there were 96 sets of 16 stitches and then work the edging. This would add about 20 additional rounds.

That went fine for a while and then it became apparent that with twice as many stitches I would soon run out of yarn. So I reworked my spreadsheet eliminating several rounds in the edging pattern but keeping the 'integrity' with the quintuple yarnovers in the edging design.

That decision made it also became apparent that I would soon run out of beads. Back to LadyBug Beads for a third tube of fuschia beads. Surely that would be enough, wouldn't it?

At the start of the final edging row it seemed there were still quite a lot of beads and I decided I might as well use them up, they give the shawl better drape due to the weight and why save them. It was very difficult though to add the beads at the same time as the crochet bind off, so I worked a round slipping two, adding a bead, slipping two, adding a bead, etc.

As I neared the end it seemed there were barely enough beads to finish. Now I had to go fishing down the side of the sofa for whatever beads I could find there (plus three dpn's and assorted crumbs and dust), then my son moved the sofa so I could hunt down more beads that were hiding in the carpet.

Just when I was thisclose to adding the final beads things got a bit hairy. First I accidentally knocked over the container of beads and they went hither and yon across the floor and I had to gather them all up again! Then as I neared the very end I could see I'd be short about a half dozen beads. There had to be more of those little buggers in the carpet. With Ott Lite in hand I went behind the sofa to hunt down more escapees. It's close quarters between the sofa and the bay window and when I stood up I stepped down on the plastic vent cover which shattered on impact. While picking up pieces of the vent cover I noticed red stains on the carpet and thought one of my dogs must have bled on it until it dawned on me it wasn't the dogs - duh - my toe was dripping blood - I had sliced it on the vent cover!

Could anything else go wrong? I so wanted to get this shawl done and over with.

Finally I began the crochet bind off which was taking about 5 minutes for each repeat even when I didn't accidentally drop a stitch or two and have to take time to recover the stitches, that meant it would take about 8 hours just to bind off! Not only that - the yarn supply was getting suspiciously low.

In the end there were two beads left and several yards of yarn - whew! I decided I had better carefully check if there were any dropped stitches at the bind off before blocking the shawl. Good thing I tugged on it all the way around not once but twice and found a couple dropped stitches the first time around and a few more the second time around. Quickly repaired those with a length of yarn at each occurrence and then spent a couple hours blocking.

I am pleased to say that this Rona Shawl is finished for the second and last time...........it now measures 60" across, only a few more inches than before but the extra stitches made all the difference.

 

Parade of Finished Objects

Looks like I've got some catching up to do since I'm a Blogger Slack-off.

Haruni Shawl

I've been forever trying to decide what to do with two skeins of Malabrigo variegated laceweight, when I saw this pattern (Haruni by Emily Ross) go up on Ravelry it was destined to become a Haruni. Maybe not the best choice for showing off the pattern stitches but it turned out okay (remind me not buy this type of variegated color, not really my style, always looks better in the unwound skein than it does knitted up). The revised version of this pattern is easy to follow and fun to do, didn't take too long either.

Bayerische Socks
This pattern is by Eunny Jang, currently the editor of Interweave; the pattern is here.


I think this sock pattern is gorgeous and tried several times to begin these socks. The problem was that there are four charts and it was tedious and confusing to work from one chart to the next without losing your mind. Finally I took the time to chart it myself in excel and once I printed it out it was smooth sailing........one sock done and one to go. The yarn is Cascade Heritage which I really like for this type of pattern as it shows the stitches nicely.

Starry Night Baby Blanket

Two neighbors' daughters are having babies soon, this will go to one of them for a shower gift. It is really cute but a bit puckery, not sure how great it will look if it just gets tossed into the dryer, I'll put a note with it that it should be dried flat for best results. It was fun crochet project, took a little longer than I thought it would and got a little tedious/boring once I got past the cloud section but I'm happy with the way it turned out. Pattern here.

Carol's Clever Little Shawl

I thought this was a nice idea but it's written for worsted or DK weight and I wanted to use Dream In Color Baby that I recently purchased. I only had one skein and wasn't sure there would be enough yarn (I worry about that for every project!) but there was actually plenty. Had to make some adjustments to the pattern to accomodate the lighter weight yarn and also to mirror the edging in a left and right direction, notes on my Ravelry project page. The flower is from my Flower Scarf pattern and it still needs to be steamed.

Shetland Shawl Redux

I love my fingering weight brown Shetland Shawl but as I wrote in a previous post it was not large enough, I want to be able to wrap/snuggle into it. So I'm glad that I took the time to add some length to the edging, it's much better now. I'm working a better version of this pattern as I'm still trying to work out a nicer transition of the interlocking diamonds around the corners.

CableKnot Scollar

I have a new pattern up on Knit Picks through their Independent Designer Program.


I'm excited that they are offering this program for several reasons...

• the Designer retains all rights to the pattern;
• Knitpicks has a phenomenal customer base through their website and catalogs which will provide a lot of exposure;
• the Yarn is provided;
• the project is returned to the Designer;
• photographic assistance is available.
• all monies for sold patterns go to the Designer.

I didn't think my photos were so great but they did use them.


I designed this piece a few years ago when the Greater St. Louis Knitters' Guild participated in the Fall Folk and Fine Arts Festival at Faust Park by holding their first Knit-Out. There was a scarf contest as part of the Knit-Out; the scarves were later donated to a Women's group.


The design was inspired by an idea in Knitting Over the Edge by Nicky Epstein in the section titled 'Cords' and the pattern named 'Love Knots'.


I used the Love Knots idea for a scarflet/neckwarmer that begins with intertwined cords , the cords become cable, the cables end as intertwined cords at the opposite end of the scarf and the cords serve as buttonholes for the ball buttons (idea for ball buttons also taken from one of Nicky Epstein's books - I love her creative ideas).


CableKnot Scollar was posted last week the Knit Picks website.


It is also available in my Ravelry Store.

A few more things..

Twisted Stitch Socks
I love the look of twisted stitches (knit through the back loop); that really makes the pattern stand out.


Ordered this book from Knitpicks:

The stitches look best if all rows are twisted so an object knit flat would have to have stitches that were 'purl through the back loop' and that can be awkward, so it would be easier to work twisted stitches in a project done in the round i.e. hats, socks, mitts, etc.
I am looking forward to playing with some of the stitch patterns in this book for a pair socks soon.

In the meantime I knit this sock design using two similar type of stitch patterns from other books in my library. Loved the feel of the yarn, not crazy about the pooling but I do like the colors. It is really difficult to take a decent photo of your own feet!!

Yarn: 

Twinkle Toes by Chameleon Colorworks Dyeworks & Fiber Studio; Merino/Tencel, 1 skein, 100g equal 360 yards, Color: Peacock

Pattern:

My own design

Son In Law Socks

Finished the second sock, although these look like argyle they are actually fair isle.

Remind me not to knit with three colors on the same row again.

Here's David showing off his new socks:

Life is better with good lighting.......

Last week I bought the cutest little "Mini Ott Light" at Tuesday Morning.

It is so much easier to knit in the evening with the bright light that this provides, should be easier to knit dark colors - I'd like to make a black shawl one of these days.

Gnocchi Scarf

The other day at Kirkwood Knittery, Susie was working on the cutest scarf made from Gnocchi by Lana Grossa.  

It reminds of cattails and looks like cotton balls when knit up.

This is the simplest and quickest project, it is nothing but garter stitch.

You knit the chain between the puffs.

You would think it would have been easy but I can make things so hard 

I cast on too many times to count:

Didn't see any option but to use a backwards-e cast on.

Very bulky stuff, first needle I tried (size 9) too small to keep control.

Also I am a continental knitter but found that it was easier to work this 'yarn' by throwing with from my right hand. Frog.

Change to Size 11 Denise needles, cast on and knit a few rows. Too tight.  Frog.

 Settle on Size 10.5 Denise needles, cast on and knit a few rows.

Still seems loose, maybe I should twist the stitches. Frog.

 Cast on, knit a few rows with twisted stitches, still not right. Frog.

 Cast on and knit a few rows regular.

Looks weird along the side edges, puffs sitting vertically v. horizontally across the row.

Don't remember Suzie's looking this. Frog.

 Look up this yarn on Ravelry. See 8 similar projects. One is by my friend Anita who noted that she slipped the first stitch of every row.  Cast on and knit slipping the first stitch - should I slip knitwise or purlwise? Try a few rows both ways. Decide on purlwise. Frog.

Cast on and knit about 8". Hold it up to check my progress. Slipped stitches are tighter than the other stitches causing the scarf to bow/arc at the bottom edge. Frog.

Decide that life would be easier if I'd ever learn to put KISS into practice (keep it simple, stupid). Keep it simple: Cast on 8 stitches with backwards 'e' method. Knit 8 sts. Turn. Knit 8 sts. Turn.  Finally - success! Well, success until I reach the bind off....

Regular bind off, too tight, frog the bind off

 What would work? Needs to be loose like Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.

Couldn't remember exactly how that went and I was too lazy to look it up.

Decided that my bind off needs backwards 'e' 's to be similar to the cast on.

Here is what I came up with:

  *Knit one.
  Create a backwards 'e' stitch with the chain between the next two puffs.
  Pass the knit over the 'e'.
  Knit the next stitch.
  Pass the 'e' over.**
  Repeat from * to ** to the last stitch.
  Bind off previous stitch and draw the tail through the last stitch.

Final step: Sew (with matching thread and needle) in all the ends.

Voila - Finished!!

Poor Neglected Blog

....it was a busy summer; that's my excuse for neglecting this blog for so long.

It was also the best summer ever in St. Louis for gorgeous weather.

Most of our summers are excessively hot, humid and miserable.

This year there was only one week in June that was miserable.

Other than that week the rest of the summer we have had the most gorgeous tolerable summer weather anyone can remember.

So to pick up where I left off.......our daughter was married on July 11, 2009:

 

They are so cute together! I think they both look so very young.

It's hard to fathom that we have a married daughter.

Her husband is a U.S. Marine and returned to duty in Iraq shortly after the wedding,

so our daughter continues to live with us until he returns to the States (could be October).

She has started her own blog and is working on making jewelry (including stitch markers!) and fimo clay characters (trying to convince her to do buttons!)

My friend Fran is not only a knitter but a spinner and weaver.

She wove this lovely dishtowel and dishcloth for me: 

My friend Barb is an amazing knitter, quilter, embroider.
For my birthday last week she made this darling tote bag for me,
it even has my name embroidered on it:

It's a very cool turnabout to have hand-crafted objects made for me!

Finally finished the second entrelac sock.  But there was not enough yarn to finish the toe so I substituted a plain off white sock yarn which is why the toes look different color-wise than the rest of the foot.

This sweater is really comfortable, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

It hangs better on me than my mannequin since she is way smaller than I am.

The yarn is Southwest Optimum DK purchased from Flying Fingers.  It is so soft
and drapey that it feels more like cashmere than 100% wool.

I began at the bottom and by the time I had knitted to the waistline I had tired of
knitting the German Herringbone stitch pattern (First Treasury of Knitting Patterns
by Barbara Walker) even though it is one of my favorites.

So I chose a coordinating stitch pattern and worked the bodice in two pieces:

left wrist to center back/front and right wrist to center back/front, joining at the center back.

This meant that unblocked there were little poofs of stitches at center back, but they blocked out flat (yay!)

The bodice stitch pattern is Reverse Fern Stitch (Charted Knitting Designs; a Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns, also by Barbara Walker

I started a lace sweater design using stitch patterns from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush, and cashmere laceweight yarn from Colourmart, but so far only one sleeve is complete:

I saw these these darling slippers here on Ravelry. 

The pattern is written in several languages (including English) and was actually quite easy.

The heel is worked first, then stitches are cast on for the foot and the rest is worked in round ending at the toe.

The pattern begins by casting on at the top of the heel section, working decreases to the center of the heel, then increases to the bottom of the heel, and finally seaming the heel along the sides before casting on additional stitches for the foot.

I worked it a bit differently casting on at the base of the heel and working increases
in the round.

I was a little disappointed that the gray yarn in the kit is several shades lighter than what is pictured above, therefore the fair isle detail does not show as well since there is not enough contrast between the two yarn colors.

There are often projects that are unsuccessful which I have not included in this blog.

Last spring I did a tank top that was just awful and now I can't find it so I'm not sure if I ripped it out and hid the yarn or simply trashed it.

Now here's another work in progress tank top and I'm not sure if I want to finish it or not.  I would need to rework the bottom of the skirt for a few inches.  The yarn is bamboo that I bought from the mark down bin at Kirkwood Knittery.  There were several skeins of  turqoise and two skeins of multi blue/white color.  The crossover portion is inspired by a design that was in Knitter's magazine.  The top is knit in a slip stitch rib and the skirt is the 'wrong' side of Half-fisherman's Rib.

This sock is for my favorite son-in-law, David.
Hopefully he will like them.
Hopefully they will fit.
Hopefully I am motivated to knit the second sock.

The yarn is by Universal Yarns purchased at Kirkwood Knittery.

My friend Gerta shared this book with me, which is written in German.  I'm in love with several stitch patterns from this book, especially a version of the candle flame pattern done in twisted stitches.

In my stash I had 16 skeins of Alexa (a tape yarn by Adrienne Vittadini).  This Twisted Candle Flame sweater is my current work in progress.  I've completed the fronts and the back and have begun the sleeves.

And that concludes the synopsis of MakeOne's 2009 summer knitting......