Wednesday, March 30, 2011

AllFreeCrochet giveaway!

AllFreeCrochet is doing a nice giveaway! They are giving away one set of three skeins of SERENITY Chunky Weight yarn to one lucky winner.


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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New top for me!

Finished K's socks, will drop them off tomorrow when we go to town. Can't wait to see them dyed up! I was thinking, I have some natural wool and some Ukrainian egg dye. Wonder if they would work? They are good quality dyes.

Decided to start on a summer top for me. I'm using Bramwell 'Savannah' cotton. It's a sea green, nice color. I went through some of the books I bought from Marge years ago that have edges and trims in it and picked out one that is a picot edge with cables. I tried the 2x2 cables but even with some needles out of work it still pulled on the needles too much. The bad part about cotton. I cast on some yarn and started playing around and decided to do a xxxxoxxxxo design but I'm only going to do a 1x1 cable in the in work needles. I think it looks nice. The out of work needles will be latched up on every other ladder to create the picot edge.
Then I started getting all kinds of ideas in my head about making the rest of the top. I wondered if I could do the rest in circular so I tested it out on a swatch and it worked. It will be tricky hanging stitches back on the ribber, but hey I'm in no hurry! Then I wondered if I could do a folded hem doing the slip stitch on every other needle technique. Tried that on the swatch too! It worked! It may be a little tricky but doable. I'll just have to take my time. I'll have to drop the ribber one notch and use the hook for catching the thread when threading the ribber up. Don't know what they call that little tool but I like it! It looks like the latch tool but the end is 'L' shaped and no latch. Sometimes I use it to pick up a dropped stitch when I'm ribbing too. Grabs that little loop and I don't have to worry about catching the latch on anything.
Can't start on it till Thursday. Got a lot of running around to do tomorrow and I get to go to thrift stores! Yeah! Hope I find something good! LOL
Had some really nice weather today too so maybe spring is really here!

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Portuguese Knitting

When I was at K's this weekend she told me that the way I had been hand knitting I was twisting my knitted stitches so I got out my DVD on Portuguese knitting and practiced on that technique. The item I took to her house was a pair of pants that I had put hand ribbing on. On one leg I had used straight needles, on the other I used a circular needle. I was wondering why the circular ribbing had a lean to it then it dawned on me it was probably because I was twisting my knit stitch. I practiced all day Sunday and part of today and I think I'm pretty comfortable with this technique. The problem I was having before was on the tension of the yarn but I think I've got it. I still have a little trouble when I switch from one row of knit to the next row of purl but I guess that will just take practice.
If you're not familiar with the Portuguese technique they use a pin with an open hook that is attached to your clothing up on the left shoulder and the stitches are worked with the yarn to the front. The knit stitch has the yarn over the needle and the purl stitch has the yarn under the needle. So it goes from the left hand, over the hook, then to the right hand, on to the yarn ball. The yarn is put over the second finger on the right hand for tension control. I was knitting it way too tight to begin with but finally got to where I'm a little looser. I like the bind off they do too. You don't have to pick up a stitch and try to slip it over another stitch. You basically knit one stitch, put it back on the left needle, then knit 2 together, or something like that, going from memory here! I practiced the yarn overs too and they came out ok. I think I will try to stick with this technique for now. I've done the throwing method, continental, half of the eastern Europe method where they work into the back of the stitch, and now this technique. I like the eastern European method for knitting but the purl stitch is kinda funky to do. 
Well I was almost finished with this post and the power went out, again! Just long enough to muck up all the clocks. I swear I don't know what's going on with our power lately. This is the 3rd time in 10 days we've lost power. The first two were brown outs and now this one. Thank goodness I didn't lose my post!


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Saturday, March 26, 2011

Whole Day Knitting!!

K and I had set up a time to get together for some knitting. I had some 3 ply that needed to be put in a skein so she let me use her swift to wind it up. Then I can wash it and get the crinkles out from the frogging. Then we snacked on some cheese, meat, crackers, and some great dip she made! After that we talked about knitting, hand and machine. Next I showed her how to make socks on her Bond, made her a pattern with the Magic Formula and gave her some tips on using it. She was surprised how fast we got it done. ( I knew she would be surprised as she is a hand knitter!). We only made an anklet but even with going over the directions and teaching her short rowing it still went pretty fast! Then we ate some more, drank some tea, and knit some more! It was so much fun being able to share knitting with someone else! Then we started playing with yarn just making cables, eyelet transfers, and tried some bobbles. We made another date for next month and she's going to come over and teach me hand knitting. I'm doing my knit stitches twisted because of the way I'm knitting. She has picked out an easy scarf pattern that we are going to do. I crammed her head with stuff this time and she gets to do it to me next time! LOL Oh yeah, she has some natural sock yarn she bought for dyeing and I brought home a skein to make socks for her on my standard gauge. A really nice knitting day!
 
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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Black Sleeveless UFO Not!

When I was cleaning up my knitting room I came across a top that I had made with Knitware that didn't fit right. I made it sleeveless and the armholes were too big so I  stitched the shoulder seams together to pull up the armholes. I had never finished it. I tried it on and it fit rather nicely so I decided to put some trim on it. I crocheted a filet type border on the neck, and made up a design for the armholes, and found an edge I liked in one of my crochet edgings book for the bottom. Here are pics.

This is the bottom.
 This is the full top.

 This is the neckline.
 This is the armhole trim that I made up.



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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

March snowstorm





This is what we woke up to on the 21st of March! When I finally got up and got outside it had already started melting but I still measured 5 1/2". It's almost all melted off of the ground now but the mountains closest to us to the south are still all white. Supposed to have another storm thru to the weekend. Looks like another late year on the garden!

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Monday, March 21, 2011

Snow?!

It's March 21st at 12:17 am PST. It's been raining most of the day. When it got dark it started snowing! Just went and checked and we have a good 7" and it's still coming down. That's a big storm for us here in the high desert! Southern CA has large power outages due to snow, ice, wind. I really feel sorry for all these people around here that have to go to work in the morning. It will probably melt tomorrow so there's a good chance some places might have flooding, especially in Reno. This is some crazy weather!
Spent the whole day working in my knitting room. Going thru things I made a long time ago that didn't work out and didn't want to throw them way. I ripped out those items and rewound the yarn to be used again. Put little labels on the balls and weighed them. Also went thru all my bits and pieces and rewound them up and labeled them. Just a few more items to rip out and rewind and I'll be done. Found a couple of shrugs I made that are basically finished, one needs some ends woven in and I need to put buttons on another one. One of them was too tight so it will get recycled. I was hoping I could find enough of one color to make a hoodie pattern I saw online but no luck there. I have a couple ideas on how to make it with different colors but will have to play around with that idea. It has cables up the front near the bands and around the hood. One idea is to make the hood in a fair isle but not sure how that will look. All in all a good productive day!

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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Bramwell Yarns not trading anymore?!

 First this;

Within the next few months, Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing will effectively shut down its operations in Old Fort.
Jack Lonon Jr., president of the family-owned company, told The McDowell News on Thursday that the company’s assets will be sold to Spinrite Yarns of Canada. The sale will become final on Feb. 25. After that, the future of the business will be uncertain."

Was going through my email and saw one from a few weeks ago that I forgot to read and this is what it was!They are in the UK, so don't know if it applied to the US or not.  
and now this.

We have just been advised that Bramwell Yarns are not trading anymore.  I have updated our stocks in our Ebay Shop, once this stock has gone we will not be able to replace it.  May we suggest you stock up while you can.  We have now introduced the Yeoman 4ply Yarn to replace the Bramwells 4ply.
  Should we receive any updates on Bramwells we will let you know.
Thank you for your continued suppport
Best Regards Caroline BSK Ltd




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Kelley's Mitten Class - Introduction



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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Knit It Now pleated pocket video

 I got this in my email today and decided to try it out. It's for a pleated pocket on a knitting machine. Not too tricky, I got it right the first time and I've never done a pocket before. Here's pics of my samples.

I put a little decorative edge on it as I'm going to sew it to a sweat shirt so I have a pocket. The color doesn't show it so well because it's variegated  but it matches my shirt.


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Large Cotton Doily

I made a large doily on my standard gauge machine out of #10 cotton thread. It came out okay but I did find some mistakes in it. I was going to give it as a gift but since it has mistakes in it I'm going to keep it for myself. I have a small table that we use out on our patio so I'm going to put it out there for the summer. I know the birds will get it dirty but it's cotton so will wash up nicely.
Here's some pics of it.



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Sunday, March 13, 2011

50" doily

After making the small doily on the LK  150 in yarn I decided to make a large one out of a big ball of size 10 crochet cotton  that I've had for ages. This one is on the standard gauge. Took a while to get the thread  rewound but hubby helped me with that! He's such a sweetie! I've got 5 sections made, which is halfway. I've figured it takes about an hour and 10 mins to make one section. I could probably go faster since half the rows are just putting 3 ndls in/out of hold but when I did that on the yarn one I missed a row and had to rip it back so I'm taking my time. Had one little mistake today on an eyelet row but somehow got it fixed. I wasn't sure I'd be able to relatch from 2 rows down but it looks ok! I probably won't get a lot done on it tomorrow since it's house cleaning day but I shouldn't beat myself up about it since I got quite a lot done today. Sometimes I get myself worked up thinking I have to hurry and get it done and I either don't finish or make mistakes. I don't work so there's no hurry! I am feeling bad about neglecting my crochenit vest though. It keeps staring at me every time I walk by it! I only have to finish the back and the ribbing just haven't felt like sitting on the couch and working on it. I keep telling myself 'I will finish it!' I've also got an afghan I started last year that I haven't worked on at all this winter. It's not for anyone but a pretty pattern. It is crocheted and every round is a different color and different stitch. Maybe next winter I'll work on it. Can't work on it in the summer, just too hot.

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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Punch pile pic

Here's a pic of the punch pile towel I made. It may be hard to see the pile because it's dark blue but the inside of the ovals has the pile in it, and the area between the coils. A lady made a video on Youtube about this and she didn't know what you would do with this. My first thought was a towel and you can do this without a punchcard and I think it would be good for a kids toy animal, or maybe a light rug or light blanket. Can't really see it as a garment.



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Doily on the machine

I've had a book for a while that has patterns for doilies on a knitting machine. I decided to try one today. Here's how it came out!





I'm planning on making another one and use them as placemats!

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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Pile knitting on the standard gauge

 I've been playing around with my punch cards lately. I've been wanting to do pile knitting for a while and I finally decided to make a hand towel in a pile pattern. I'm going to use 16/2 cotton and 10/2 cotton. I've sprayed it twice with silicon spray so it should knit smoothly. It's stinky stuff but it sure works! When I did the swatch I could tell the yarn was dry so hopefully it will knit better now.
Met up with K and we talked about getting together later this month to get her started on machine knitting. She has two, a bond, and white. I'm not familiar with the white but it looks like a bulky type machine. I think we'll do socks or maybe ribbing as she said she was having trouble with that. Either way it will be fun! Now to go make a hand towel!


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Friday, March 4, 2011

Fair Isle anyone?

Came across this tonight while reading my mail. Lovely pattern! They work with some tiny yarn in the UK don't they?! Here's the link below, you 'may' have to sign up for a free account if you want the pattern. It's free!!
Let's Knit





My Snapfish Album

Thursday, March 3, 2011

March 3,2011

Had some quiet time to myself today so took advantage of it by listening to the latest Lion Brand podcast and the latest Knitpicks podcast. I love that Kelley Petkun! Her show today was how to fix mistakes in HK. I'm not really a HK but still enjoy listening to her. Then I dug out a DVD on Portuguese Knitting that I haven't watched in a long time. I've been trying to learn HK but not sure I'm going to like it. I can make the stitches and yo's and all that it's the tension that I'm having a problem with and keeping the loops on at the end of a row. One row will be tight and the next will be looser. I like doing the purl stitch better than the knit stitch but I make it too tight sometimes. I've tried 4 different ways of HK and none really click with me. I watched a Youtube video on Eastern European knitting today and they knit and purl in the back of the stitch but I kept knitting it way too tight! On the Portuguese style I'm too loose but I like the yarn in the front, seems more natural to me. My hubby says I need to find a technique that is 'backwards'! I was supposed to be left handed but parents wouldn't allow it so I tend to do everything 'backwards'. LOL Life is weird isn't it? Anyway I've got needles and stitch markers and most size needles except the tiny ones so I'll keep trying it every now and then to see if I can get it. I think after MK the HK is sooo much slower too maybe that is part of the problem.
Got a letter from my niece today, she's getting married on April 1! LOL

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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

March 2, 2011

I played around with my punch cards today. I had read somewhere on the net that some people put several punch cards together and I was thinking of trying to make a sweater I saw that was HK. I've decided not to make it. It is all fair isle and I don't have the right cards nor could I find any designs on the net that were similar. Anyway I was looking thru my ribber manual and there was a punch tuck rib for one of the cards I already had in the machine so decided to try it out. I made another leg warmer LOL. The design is really nice too. It's a full needle rib with a tuck pattern on the knitter bed. Really stretchy too! I like these small projects to test things out. I get something to wear and get to test out a new technique! I was trying to imagine how this ribbing would be used, it seems too stretchy for the bottom of a cardi or sweater but I think it would make a nice blanket or over all design.
I also went thru some books I bought long ago and almost all of them use 4 ply, which I don't have any of. All that yarn I got at the thrift store was 2/20. Guess I could ply it but even at 2 ply it won't meet the gauge. I thinking trying to make a 4 ply out of it would be too much trouble with all those ends! Not sure what I'm going to make next. Maybe some more cotton things. I just realized I have on MK socks, leg warmers, hat, and scarf that I've made! (can't seem to get warm these last couple days) Anyway at least I'm wearing them!

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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

testing

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Pics of Got It Covered hat





Here's a pic of a hat I made. I got the pattern from a group I belong to. It's called Got It Covered. Not the greatest color but it is what I had and it fits!