Close Knit Friends

Holiday Knitting So Slow and So Fast

2012-02-15T08:09:00.000-05:00

I started these socks before Christmas. They were not going to be a gift. They were to be mine. That isn't what slowed me down. This Panda Silk yarn is wonderfully soft, silky, and lightweight. I do my socks on DPs and even using wooden needles this project was a challenge. I picked up so many dropped stitches I thought I would never finish. I used my favorite sock pattern, but doubled the yarn for the heel turn. I love wearing hand knit socks, but hate darning them. Under my heel seems to be where the first hole usually appears. Now that they are done, I think I should have doubled the yarn in the gusset area too. I love these socks so I'll wearing them to test that idea for next time.

I was looking for the perfect Christmas present for my friend Helen. I had heard her talk about Ripple yarn and how intriguing she thought it was. It is one of those ladder yarns that knits up into a ruffled scarf. When I went to the store I saw a skein of yarn in colors that just had to be meant for Helen. The pattern was printed on the label, but the instructions were short and did not explain the basics of knitting with this funny looking stuff. I watched several You Tube videos to study up and then gave Helen the yarn at knitting group so I could help her get started. Once started, the scarf became more intriguing with each row. Helen was sure it would take her awhile to finish, but before 24 hours were up, I got a call saying her scarf was finished. What could make a better gift for a knitting friend? She had the fun of making it, and now she has the fun of telling others about it when she wears it.

Another Noro Hat

2012-01-15T15:17:00.002-05:00

I can't tell you how much I enjoy working with Noro yarn. The brilliant colors make knitting fun. After what seems like forever I finally made a sale on etsy. I had almost given up, but it doesn't take that much positive feedback to make me hang in there. Since this is my third hat, I decided to list this one on etsy. Although I'm not knitting a much as I did, I'm sure some new thing will capture my imagination. My current project is another pair of socks.

If at First You Don't Succeed...

2011-11-23T14:48:00.001-05:00

I love working with Noro yarn. The soft feel and changing colors make knitting exciting. Perhaps I was too excited since I started with needles dp's a size too big. I finished the first glove quickly. When I made my second glove, I became horribly confused about the thumb placement. I ended up with two, large gloves both too big to fit my the right hand. On close inspection I found flaws in the pattern on both gloves so I ripped both of them out. It was back to the drawing board.

This time, with the correct size needles I knitted each glove through two patterns on dp's then I switched the gloves to two circulars. This helped me make sure that both gloves would be the same and when I got to the thumbs, I placed them in the center to insure that I would indeed have a glove to fit each hand. I wouldn't say things went perfectly, but the colors match pretty well and I am delighted with the results.

Because I had more yarn I decided to make a hat to match these great gloves. I simple made 8 pattern repeats and knitted a hat . It was while I was doing this that I remembered Elizabeth Zimmerman's advice. .When trying a new pattern she suggests making a hat. Just measure the head you wish to fit and adjust for the pattern stitch. You have nothing but easy rounds to do. It really helps you to get familiar with the pattern and when finished instead of a gauge square you have a hat. I really wish I had done the hat first. It would have made the gloves infinitely easier to knit.

In the end I got to enjoy using this yarn ~~twice~~ three times over. I love the results. I enjoyed both the process and the product making this a nearly perfect knitting project!

New Inspiration

2011-10-30T15:26:00.001-04:00

Just when I think that I might cut back on my knitting, a new super soft colorful yarn and interesting untried patterns come my way. This time it was because my daughter finally made it to the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival. She has no time to spend knitting, but brought me a pattern for Noro yarn. She knows I have a little Noro in my stash and I find working with it irresistible. I'm just getting ready to start the second glove. I know that matching the gloves is compulsive, but I will like them better if they match just a bit better than the pair in the picture. We'll see how I do.

I'm still just admiring the Crystal Palace yarn. It feels divine and I love the bright rainbow colors.

Right now Purl is working full time. She has no time to knit or to blog. We considered giving up Close Knit Friends, but decided to keep it alive . Perhaps someday she will be back. I hope so I miss her!

And Now for Something Different

2011-08-10T16:23:00.000-04:00

Not too long age I tried wet felting again. The object was to make a small round wet felted piece suitable for the front of a greeting card. My piece was not very small, not round and just a bit wild and woolly. I think my wet felting career is definitely over! I added some beads and needle felted it to one of my knitted and felted hats. Needle felting is not one of my favorite activities, but it worked really well for attaching the piece to the hat. This hat is for sale on etsy which has been a non starter for me. So far it seems to be telling me loud and clear "DON' T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB. " Good thing I'm retired and just doing it for the fun of the experience.

A New Ballerina Catnip Mouse

2011-04-19T07:24:00.005-04:00

It was a long time ago when I made a ballerina mouse for the Christmas craft show I usually do. This was my last year for that, but I've decided to try something new. Now I have decided to dip my toe in the etsy pool. So far I have found it to be a fun place to browse. I'll have to work hard to keep my purse strings tightly closed. Some of the handmade items are very tempting indeed.

One of A Kind Socks

2011-03-31T13:07:00.005-04:00

I was visiting Amy and stopped by White Barn Farm. It's an exciting yarn shop definitely worth a visit. I was sure I could browse and not buy, but a beautiful partially completed, display sock made me, forced me , enticed me... as if I needed any help, to buy a ball of sock yarn. The sample was in orange and turquoise in a fascinating stripe pattern. I was almost saved since that particular yarn was sold out, but I did find a ball in my favorite colors so I was toast. This colorway did not stripe like I expected. If I had been in full control of my yarn fetish, I would have noticed the picture on the tag which looked exactly like the socks you see here. Nevertheless I love my socks, and I actually finished them before I got the bill for the yarn. What could be better than that?.

Wrist and Hand Warmers

2011-01-09T13:01:00.000-05:00

I had to wait to show these because they were a surprise Christmas present for my daughter . The pattern is Lion Brand Spring Wristers. The yarn was a hand-dyed sport weight from my stash, purchased at the weaving show in Albany last December. I love them myself , and she said the were "perfect". Gift giving doesn't get any better than that!

Where Have We Been?

2010-12-06T11:02:00.001-05:00

Finally I have a new knitting project to photograph. A different pair of spiral socks that wasn't an impossible project. The pattern is from Patons. I used a German yarn that comes with a lovely spool of reinforcing yarn for the heel. Of course I didn't notice that fact, and made tube socks. My bad! I will save it for darning.

Purl now has a full time job. We never see each other, and seldom get a chance to talk. She is still knitting when she has time. I have been very busy with the garden, and my other blog, Plants and Stones. I want to keep this blog alive, and I will post any knitting I get a chance to finish. It's not the same though.This was so much fun because we did it together. I still hold out hope that Purl will be back!

Hats and Flowers

2010-04-03T17:38:00.003-04:00

Very often some knitting project grabs me and I'm totally hooked. Nicky Epstein's book "Knitted Flowers" has sent me into one of those places. I'm having so much fun with this book. You can start with her flowers and go wild. I sew some flowers directly onto hats. I've also put pins on the back of some of the flowers. Perhaps all on one hat they are a bit much, and the hat is very heavy, but I certainly am having fun!

Tube Socks, What Could Be Simpler?

2010-01-23T13:34:00.003-05:00

I've been working on these socks since early last fall. I bought a tantalizing sock book by Anna Tillman called Knitted Socks. I have a great sock pattern , which I love. Why I can't remain faithful?Why do I have to stray to other patterns? I just don't know. I was lured with the idea of socks with no heel, that fit beautifully and looked so different. "Do The Twist" the pattern called to me. It has to be said these socks will be magnificent when they are finished. The socks are thick and plush and do fit beautifully.

But every 6 stitches of every row has a cable twist. That's a lot of twisting. I had trouble with dropped stitches, and found I was unable to pick them back up again. I don't even know how many times I restarted that first sock.Finally I bought a small circular needle and I managed to keep the project going. I can't work on the socks for long, my wrists and hands just can't take it. I was thrilled when I finished the first sock. The second sock spirals in the opposite direction, and is knitted differently. Of the two twists, the second is much easier. My two socks look different. The color is my fault, I bought hand dyed yarn and the shade is slightly different. But the texture is different too. If I were to make another pair of these socks ,not bloody likely , I would make both socks spiral in the same direction and use the second method. My daughter gets these socks. I hope she loves them. She'll have to wear them a lot to equal the time I have spent knitting them.

Cloche Knit Friends

2009-10-21T16:32:00.005-04:00

The Jericho Fiber Arts Guild met at Purl's this month, and we worked on our felted cloche hats. I had one ready to felt, so Purl ran it through two cycles on her washer. The felted rose is from "Knit It Felt It" and was knitted and felted separately from the hat. Felting hats is fun, wearing them is even better!

Mon Chapeau de Fleur

2009-09-26T16:13:00.002-04:00

After a long break another felting project came along. The pattern is turiknits' "Cloche a la mode." This is the hat after knitting and before felting. After felting in the washer for 24 minutes , the hat did shrink down to fit my head. The pattern calls for two skeins of yarn and I used less than one. One has to wonder there.

I added the flower that Purl gave to me sometime ago. It's perfect! I think I might turn a few heads when I wear this.

Finished Socks

2009-08-29T12:18:00.003-04:00

Knitting socks with hand dyed yarn is as compelling as reading a great mystery novel. You just don't know exactly how they will turn out in the end. I'm thrilled with my new socks and will be looking for clothes to go with them. Sock knitters will understand planning your wardrobe with socks as the focal point. It is interesting to note that the teal and purple socks came out somewhat smaller than the other pair. The yarn and pattern is the same , but the time in the dye bath was slightly different. The purple and teal yarn was in the dye bath for a slightly longer period of time and I guess had slightly more shrinkage. It should all work out in the wash.

The funny threads are marking every 5 rows so my socks turn out the same without using a tally or a row counter.

Yarn To Dye For

2009-08-14T16:37:00.005-04:00

It's been a busy summer. Not a whole lot has been going on knitting wise. Catnip drying and mouse knitting of course, but nothing exciting enough to post .That is until I got a chance to go to Shadeyside Farms and acid dye some sock yarn. It was messy and fun. We laid the skeins out on a plastic covered table and used livestock syringes to space dye the yarn. After that we wrapped the skeins in plastic to preserve the color separation and heated it to set the color. When the skeins cooled , they were brought home, rinsed, washed and dried. I'm working on the purple and turquoise socks now. It's hard to put them down.It's just like reading a good mystery. I can't wait to see how they turn out. There will be no matched pair this time. These skeins were randomly dyed. I can't wait to see how they will turn out. It won't be long!

Back and Blogging

2009-06-03T16:26:00.011-04:00

A close knit friend is someone who teaches you how to knit socks on DPNs. Now I’m totally hooked on socks and want to blog about it. On the left is a pic of my very first sock. It is knit using Plymouth Sockotta and I get comments whenever I wear them.
Socks are wonderful for instant gratification. Unlike sweaters, you can actually complete a pair in a couple of weeks (less if you keep at it). For my first pair, I used a very user friendly sock instruction pattern I found in a group on Ravelry. With Becky’s help and these instructions, my first pair was relatively painless. Of course, I felt like Alice in Wonderland trying to play croquet with a flamingo and a hedge-hog as I wrangled the DPNs but by the end of the pair, I had worked out a system.

For my first socks I started with Knit Picks 6” size 2 nickel plated. They worked fine for the Sockotta but when I cast on a merino/nylon blend, I had trouble keeping the needles from falling out of the stitches. I switched to 4” harmony woods and just love them.
My second pair turned into a single sock which I used as a sampler. I was trying to find a stitch pattern to use and just kept knitting at the sock until I found one I liked. I also wanted to try toe-ups because I really don’t like the way I bind off in Kitchener. The top picture is my sampler sock.

I have just cast on my second pair of socks, but more of that at another time.
It’s good to be back.

Finally Felted

2009-05-31T15:27:00.004-04:00

I know I took a long time to felt these slippers. In fact the lighter colored pair has already been given as a gift. Since the other pair is mine it was still available for a picture. I've been wearing them and they are cozy. Another pair is in the works, but catnip mice orders have started already, and I'm just starting to get the catnip dried. The Stone Wall Garden does keep me busy, but I still knit almost every night as soon as I sit down. Those two knitting projects should keep me occupied until some great looking sock yarn grabs me and forces me to make another pair of socks.

Coming Full Circle

2009-03-15T11:47:00.003-04:00

My felting all started with slippers. Now I find myself with cold feet and worn out slippers so I'm at it again. The pattern is from Knitty, Fuzzyfeet. Actually it's really a big sock and quite a good pattern for a beginning sock knitter. Picking up stitches along the heel with the correct number of slipped stitches makes the trickest part of socks easy. The heel turn is easy if you just follow the directions. Felting at the end covers up any boo boos . I have one more to slipper to finish and I will felt them all together. You'll see!

The Latest Socks

2009-02-16T10:14:00.003-05:00

I guess I'm a sock person. I can't remember how many pairs I have made. Worse than that I have been known to stand in my closet with new socks on my feet and use them to decide what to wear. Sometimes I take them shopping. I will miss my wool socks when the weather warms. Socks and sandals have never been my thing, but the socks will show off so well. Right now they hide in my boots so why worry if they match anyway.

These socks are knit from Knit Picks Dancing. The yarn was a gift from Purl. All of my friends and family know that sock yarn is a great gift for me. It makes me happy!

Finally I Picked Up Purl

2009-02-01T13:59:00.003-05:00

We went to our monthly knitting meeting together.Things have been cold between us lately. My snow filled and icy driveway is the culprit. It's been so long since we've seen each other that she just gave me my Christmas present, some nice sock yarn that is now on the needles and will be posted soon. Purl has been spinning . Think yarn not bicycle!

I have been working on chemo caps using a pattern I got on the Lion brand free pattern site. It's made with fun fur and sport weight yarn knitted together on size 13 needles. They are such fun to make, so cute and for such a great cause. I'll be making them at least until my fun fur is gone.

No More Jitterbug!

2009-01-31T11:48:00.004-05:00

These is probably my last pair of socks made with Jitterbug yarn. This time around , I got one of those skeins that had breaks in the yarn. When wound from the skein, I had at least six balls of yarn ranging from medium to tiny to work with. If it had been a recent purchase, I would have returned it. Since the yarn was purchased over a year ago, that train has left the station.

I do have to say I get more compliments on socks made with this yarn than I do any others,but if you buy this yarn, look for extra ends in the skein. If you see any, no matter how beautiful the colors, put it back and move on. Washing by hand and drying flat is definitely worth the trouble with this yarn. I know it says you can machine wash. It's a mistake.

My Christmas Socks

2009-01-18T07:46:00.002-05:00

I finished my the socks from my Christmas yarn. It's a good thing too. Wool socks are a real comfort when the weather takes an Arctic turn like it has. They are warm, but it's the hand dyed color that I love. Pink and purple are my favorites.

A Knitter's December

2008-12-30T15:37:00.003-05:00

The holidays are nearly over. I gave away some of my stash yarn as gifts. I actually finished some socks for presents. I received some terrific sock yarn from my son in my favorite colors. It's the sock that you see started. I just seem to have to be working on a pair of socks. Right now I LOVE sock yarn! The hemp/wool yarn was a gift from my daughter.I adore the colors and am thinking about what to make with it. In the meantime I love the yarn just the way it is. The beaded stitch markers are a gift from knitting friends. Those around me know how to make me smile. Maybe you'll get to see this pair of socks finished because they are going to be MINE!

Remember Rumplestilskin?

2008-12-12T13:56:00.004-05:00

I been spending much of my time on my gardening blog,"Plants and Stones". The knitting continues, but it consists mostly of mice .Finally I finished this pair of socks using Maizy, a yarn made of corn fibers. They have a very soft feel and should be nice to wear. The yarn comes from Straw Into Gold, Inc. When it comes to sock yarn, the spinning straw into gold process seems to have been a success. I certainly part with some major cash for an exciting sock yarn! Wouldn't Rumplestilskin be pleased? The plain fact is knitting and then wearing interesting socks is so much fun!

During the holidays my double points will be idle for awhile, but the next pair of socks is not far off!

Felting Bug Strikes Again

2008-10-26T11:17:00.004-04:00

Just when I thought I was bored and finished with felting, I saw a cute little pair of boots made with Fiber Trends' Alpine Boots pattern. I have to say I'm tickled pink with the results. The pattern is well done. The sole is a bit tricky, but the directions are right on! I thought I would embellish them is some way but they are so darn cute , I think they are done.

Woolly Bear Pile Up

2008-10-18T17:42:00.005-04:00

I'm piling up woolly bears to get ready for the Shaker Heritage Society Christmas show in Albany, NY. The show runs from Nov.1 through Dec.20, 10 AM to 4 PM, closed Sundays. Phone 518-456-7890 for more information.

I've been having fun and since I have been told that others wish to share in the fun, the pattern for these critters follows:

Woolly bear Caterpillar

Needles :10 or 10 ½ ,16" circular needle or DP
Yarn : Fun Fur 1 skein black, 1 skein rust
Magnetic catch

Using black cast on 30 stitches. K 1 row, P1 row. Next K row: inc in every other stitch. ( For larger caterpillar, P 1 row and repeat increase row) Join now to work in a circle knitting every row. Mark end of round. Work with black for desired length. Change to rust and work for desired length. Change back to black and work for desired length.

Begin now to work back and forth starting with a purl row.
Next row: K1, K2tog across. Purl back. (For larger caterpillar repeat last two rows) K1 row. P1 row. Bind off. Sew up seam and gather end. Stuff and sew up second end. Add magnetic catch if desired . (Not recommended for younger children!)

Sorry I did not keep track of the black to rust measurements. I have read that woolly bears vary according to their age. I suggest you find a photo to go by.

If you choose to make this pattern, please email me at closeknitfriends.gmail.com with photos or if you have problems. Consider yourself a test knitter!

I'm Baaack!

2008-09-05T08:29:00.004-04:00

My, my, my! What, oh what has happened to Close Knit Friends? Well, we're still close, still knitting and still friends. But Knit has become Becky (who had actually been Becky all along). I'm still Purl Too. I sort of melted into the summer sun but I have been working my little fingers till they tingle. However, it's after Labor Day, for me always the start of the year and I can no longer shirk my responsibilities.

Allow me to introduce David Bowie. My Dear SIL gave me a book called Knitted Icons and sort of hinted that he'd love to have David. Since his birthday is in August, I made it one of my projects. Actually, I can't take credit for the entire thing because Becky made the costume for Dave. She used to sew Barbie outfits for her daughter and can actually make those teeny tiny clothes. The book is fun to look at but I don't think they used any test knitters. I had to take most of the stuffing out of Dave and push the body I had knitted, up into the head, making his neck somewhere near his nose. Fortunately, I had not sewn the face on. We used pipe cleaners, not recommended in the book but really useful if you want Dave to stand. After the pipe cleaners were stuffed into the costume, there was no room at all for the knitted arms and legs so I made the feet and hands out of pipe cleaners too and attached them. The instructions for the hair were very complex. Fortunately I had some of the proper color roving about (note the clever way I slipped roving into the conversation, could it be that Purl now spins?). I needle felted the roving to his head, put on the face and used a fiber marking pen for the signature lightning bolt. I sent him off to London where SIL was very happy. David is now sitting in a corner office with a window that looks out on Big Ben. He is a very happy camper.

I have spent my other time learning to love lace, and trying to learn to knit backwards so I can do intarsia in the round. But the thing that takes most of my time and love right now is Spinning. Yes, dear ones, I now have my very own wheel and am getting better by the yard. But more about that another time.

Darned Socks!

2008-08-06T16:20:00.007-04:00

There you have it, the dreaded hole! I posted the completion of this pair of socks in May. The yarn is Jitterbug, a beautiful but very pricey sock yarn. Three months is a short time for a pair of socks, even if you wear them a lot! Thank goodness I found the leftover sock yarn. (Never give away leftover sock yarn!) I remember that I used size 1 needles. This hole is a 3 stitch hole. One knit row needs to be picked up with a crochet hook since the ladder is intact. Two loose ends on each side means it is a 2 row hole.

As soon as I calm down, serenity being necessary for me to complete this kind of repair, I will attempt my repair. First I will fix the knit row with the remaining ladder. Then I will thread a yarn needle with the leftover yarn and use duplicate stitch under the hole starting two stitches before the hole and go two stitches past. Two duplicate stitches on the next row will be followed by three knit stitches, then two duplicate stitches. Two duplicate stitches on the next row will be followed by three Kitchener stitches and then two duplicate stitches. This should close the hole. One row of duplicate stitch across the top and the ends can be buried with a crochet hook.

For now the hole is safely isolated . When I calm down I will be able to decide if I should start on the right or the left side. Since I have used this yarn for three pairs of socks, I think I will be getting TOO MUCH practice doing this kind of repair. DARN!

The Start of the Rat Race

2008-07-03T14:58:00.004-04:00

The catnip drying has begun and I'm starting in on the catnip mice for Christmas. I'm only kidding about the rat race part. I like doing them or I wouldn't bother. Mice are my default knitting project. I always have one going. So many kitties would be disappointed without their Christmas mouse. I admit they are kind of rat sized, but they have to last for a whole year. They are filled entirely with wild catnip leaves and flowers. It's only July, the race is off to a good start.

Finally Finished Felt Bag

2008-06-30T15:35:00.004-04:00

I finally finished my wet felted bag. I did pretty well adding the beads and stitching down the loose silk. I like the bag, the color , the texture, but as far as the closure is concerned I was stumped. I bought the button and the silk cord, but then it went nowhere.

Fortunately my daughter made a visit this weekend. I trust her judgement and her taste, so I asked her for some ideas. She came through as always. Voila, it's done!

This is the back of the bag. "What is it supposed to be?" I was asked. " I don't know, what does it look like to you?" I replied. It's like a crystal ball , you could see anything in there. I love the bag. It was fun to make, but I'm pretty sure this really is a one-of a-kind project for me.

World Wide Knit in Public Day 2008 # 2

2008-06-16T06:31:00.013-04:00

Knit One knitting at Scallions

Knit One knitting in Borders

I so wanted to be with Purl on this momentous occasion , but I had plans to go to Saratoga Springs . I went , but I took my knitting. I did my first knitting in public in the lobby at the motel where we stayed.

My second stop was at Scallions ,a favorite restaurant where I had coffee and worked on my sock. The waitress was kind enough to take my picture.

There was a knitting in public event in High Rock Park at lunch time. I soon discovered that there was also a Flag Day Parade that bisected Saratoga, and I was on the wrong side of the street. So I never actually saw other knitters, but I carried on.

My next knitting in public stop was at Borders. I went up to the bench in the knitting book section. This time I had to snag a customer to get my photo.

My final stop was in the waiting room at the Roosevelt Spa,I worked on my sock, drank spring water, listened to restful music and waited for my bath and massage.

After the bath and massage, I was far to relaxed to knit my sock. My daughter and I went back to Scallions for a fabulous dinner and then back to the motel to chill out for the rest of the evening. It was bliss!

World Wide Knit in Public Day 2008

2008-06-15T08:24:00.006-04:00

This year the Jericho Fiber Arts Guild took part in the WWKIP 2008 day. All over the world knitters were in public doing their thing. We were no different. The weather was lovely and since it was Flag Day there was also a parade and many town groups were out and about. We shared the Library lawn with the Sidney Gardening Club and found a wonderful shade tree to cool us from the hot June sun.

Next year will be bigger and better but there's nothing like the first.

The Lily Pond

2008-06-07T16:54:00.003-04:00

The lily pond bag is finished. It isn't exactly what I had planned. It doesn't look much like the chart. (See Knitting Doldrums) I spent a lot of time looking at that beige spot before I decided to needle felt it into a tree. The different textures and the color shading that the felting produces is what makes these bags fun to do. Maybe Monet would approve of the water, but the tree not so much.

Me Knit Lace? I Do and I Love It!

2008-05-27T11:59:00.007-04:00

I really haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. I’ve just discovered lace knitting. It is at the same time the most frustrating and the most rewarding kind of knitting I have found. It definitely is not something I can do while watching TV. It requires things called “life-lines” and much counting and all kinds of non-stitches. If you look at a lace chart, you see lots of empty spaces and you say to yourself, “What goes there?” I tried knitting from a chart but I have to admit, I need to see the pattern written out.
My friends on Ravelry have all sorts of tricks to keep track of repeats using 3x5 cards, colored pens, plastic rings, row counters and more. I found a pattern I really liked but promised myself I would not knit it in the “real” yarn until I could do two repeats of the pattern without a mistake. Frogging and tinking are the way I spend much of my lace knitting time but it’s so wonderful when it all comes together.
I got some 100% merino yarn from a wonderful place called Colourmart in England. I don’t know how they do it but I can get merino and cashmere and silk for less than I can from a dealer over here and the shipping is included in the price. This yarn comes on cones and still has the “oil” used to keep the yarn safe while it’s machine knitted. First you knit a swatch the way it is. Then you wash it in shampoo and conditioner and squeeze it in a towel and block it to dry. Then you measure the gauge because this is what the completed piece will be like. The difference is like night and day as you can see from the photos. The pattern I used is called Tiger Eye. You can also see from the photos why I’m hooked on this new experience. I’m about to start on a shawl pattern. Can’t wait to see how it goes. Meanwhile, I spend lots of time practicing lace patterns from Barbara Walkers Stitch books. She says you can’t just look at the pattern; you have to do it to see what it will be like. It’s incredible how much the size of the needle and the weight of the yarn will change a pattern stitch. But that’s for another post. I’m off to check out the pattern for my new shawl.

Finished Simple Socks

2008-05-25T15:41:00.004-04:00

The "Simple Socks" are finished! I'm not sure that both socks are exactly the same size and of course the patterning is different, but they went out of here on my daughter's feet and looked OH SO COOl peeking out of the holes in her shoes. She was wearing the purple top seen in the background of this picture. She's happy and I'm delighted!

As you can see, I've already started my next sock. I'm going back to my regular pattern and will just make them an inch shorter. Really when you get down to it, the difference in sock patterns is in the details. What kind of decreases do you like to do? How many stitches do you want to weave together for the toe? Do you want the extra thickness of the slip stitch rows for the heel flap?

I'm looking forward to a stress free knitting experience this time. I'm in familiar territory. No confusion between psso and ssk, no ratio problems, just knitting.

Knitting Doldrums

2008-05-21T14:46:00.007-04:00

I sold my first Monet bag and decided it was time to try another one. Waterlilies with the bridge at Giverny was the image in my head.

I made my chart on a graph with 30 stitches and 41 rows. That's different from the normal knitting graph paper because I intend to felt this design. I'm sure the math is not perfect, but this graph has been working for me. I wound my colors into balls of three strands so that the colors will blend, and I began to knit.

It soon became obvious that the bag was just too small for the proposed bridge. Now the finished bag in my head, and the work on my needles are at odds. Work stopped.

First it's my "simple" socks, and now this bag. The wind has been knocked out of my knitting sails so to speak. Maybe I needed a breath of fresh air. I put this project aside too , and fondled the new yarn that just came in the mail. I was so tempted to start something new!

This time I didn't . I decided to finish the bag sans bridge, and felt it as it is. It will be "The Lily Pond". I'm up to the band and handle so it should be finished soon. It's not exactly what I had planned, but that happens. We'll see what the washing machine can do with this project.

I picked up the socks again too. The second sock is on its toe decreases.

So my next post will either be "The Lily Pond" or" Finished Simple Socks"

Meanwhile on another blog...

2008-05-19T14:30:00.000-04:00

I was visiting Ravelry again( See"Mirror of Erised" post.) Ganiggle Knits was celebrating the beginning of her blog with a write- a- funny- knitting- story contest. Usually I don't enter contests , but this time I did. I like this blog , so I put it on my Google Reader. Besides , there was a chance , however slim, that I might win.

I was thrilled when I got an email telling me that I had won the contest, but that paled by comparison to going to another blog, and seeing my writing published there. Not only that, there was a prize of yarn!

You can share in the excitement. The yarn is ALL mine, but you can go to Ganiggle Knits and read my prize winning story. Please comment on it. That would be great, because Ganiggle would love know you have been there. Meanwhile I'm watching the mailbox, waiting for my yarn to arrive from Canada. It's here! It's here. My beautiful yarn is finally here! The spring garden colors will make a gorgeous felted bag. Boy those custom agents are good with duct tape. I'm sure it has been a sniffed and fondled, but it made the trip just fine!

Simple Socks

2008-05-17T17:18:00.001-04:00

Just look at this yarn. Doesn't it remind you of a brilliant sunset? I received a skein of this yarn as a gift. At 291 m it was a little short for my usual sock pattern, but as luck would have it there was a Simple Sock Pattern on the band. Perfect I thought, since one skein of the yarn was the material required for the pattern. It looked easy too, just count the rows, no measuring.

This yarn called Jitterbug is made in Wales. Right away we have a little metric situation, but
I didn't see this as a problem. The pattern called for 2.5mm needles. I consulted a chart (on the back of a pair of Chinese double points) which told me that the required needles were between a 2 and a 1. I tried the 2 and found that the 30 stitches to 4'' required a smaller needle. So I did a quick rip out and used the size1.

As you can see I was knitting along fine on my beautiful sunset sock. The 30 stitches measured exactly 4 ". However when I finished the 40 rows called for, which according to the gauge would measure 4 ", it was only 3.25". Now I 'm confused, but there's an email address on the band so I sent the message below.

To:
feedback@colinette.com

I'm trying to use the pattern on the yarn band. I'm using size 1
needles. The number of stitches to measure 4 " is perfect, however
the 40 rows called for in the pattern measures 3.25". I don't
understand how it can be perfect in one direction and off in the
other. Also if I adjust the length will I have enough yarn to finish
the project? The pattern calls for 1 skein.
I love the colors of the yarn and I want this to work.

Hi
Can I ask what size needles you are using to make you socks?
One hank of Jitterbug will make a pair of socks up to a size UK 6, anything above this would probably need another hank.

The Colinette Team.

Huh!!! There's a slight disconnect here. I decided to call the lys where the yarn was purchased. ( This should have been my first move.) She suggested that I use the gauge to determine the measurement for each step in the pattern. So now it's a simple ratio math problem with decimals. Oh joy!!!

I'm almost finished with my first sock. When I finish it , I will weigh it to see if it is over 55grams. If it is, I'll need that second hank of yarn UK6 or not. I have a few other issues with this pattern as well. So just let me ask, over there across the pond, does the word simple mean easy?

The Prize Arrived !

2008-05-11T07:57:00.006-04:00

Thanks to the USPS our prize has arrived at its destination. If you would like to see how it made the trip, just drop by the raineysisters.com . The picture for this post is there. Susan (our winner) and Sally are amazing knitters. I subscribe to their blog, and I'll be watching future posts for something felted. ( or fulled) . That fulled is for the wet felters . I suggest you join me! Thanks to all our contest participants! Now on to another wonderful year!

And the Winner Is...

2008-05-05T18:38:00.006-04:00

I'm sure everyone is waiting for the results of our comment contest. I'm pleased to announce that the winner is #5, lv2knit. The winning comment is "Congratulations on your first year! It is fun to blog, but a bit of work, n'est-ce pas?? Keep it up (and I hope I win) "

The box is ready to go. All I need now is a mailing address. Please send your mailing address to closeknitfriends@gmail.com , and I will send it right out.

For all of the rest of you who were kind enough to comment on our Blog-aversary , we have a special consolation prize. You win an entire year's subscription to our blog. That means for an entire year you can read our blog anytime you want to for free. No, wait , you can do that already. OOPS!! Well, tough luck then, but this contest was fun , maybe you'll be luckier next time!

Why not!

2008-05-02T15:10:00.003-04:00

All I said was “why don’t we?”, and she said, “why not?’ and here we are, one year later. I have to say, it’s been nothing like I thought it would be and something extraordinary and exhilarating. We started to show what two different people would do with one idea. Then beads came along and we got caught up in them, Knit with bitsy beads and Purl with huge beads. Suddenly we were felting. Purl going smallish with pockets and things that matched and Knit going Matisse and Mondrian and the WaterLillies. We have no idea how all this happened. Towards the end we found ravelry and suddenly Purl was making socks and talking to book authors and Knit was making socks with shrimp shells in them.
What can I say? I have tried so much and learned things I never knew about. We explored our craft and it explored us. Can we do it again? Well, I just got into lace and Knit is being inspired by the colors of her garden to felt wonderful things.
Thanks for being part of it with us.

What a Great Year!!!

2008-04-29T08:52:00.008-04:00

On Friday May 2 , Purl and I will have been blogging for a year. It has been so much fun! In celebration, we present this yarn bouquet as a prize. The contents include 3 skeins of Plymouth Galway, 2 skeins of Lion Brand Fun Fur, 2 strings of crow beads and 1 Plymouth circular needle size 13 in a coiled basket made by me, Knit One. It's everything you would need to make a felted bag as seen right here on this blog, pattern and all. Shipping is on us!
In the almost unbelievable case that the winner has no use for yarn, a completed felted bag of our choice may be substituted.

To win this lovely prize , just leave a comment on this post. We considered choosing the winning comment according to the one we like best, but discarded that idea for a straight pull- it- out- of- a- felted-hat drawing. Comments will be numbered in the order they come in and will be drawn from numbers 1 through whatever.

The deadline for this drawing is Sunday May 4, 2008. The winning comment will be announced on the blog on Tuesday May 6.

Wet Felted WIP

2008-04-17T12:08:00.009-04:00

This week I took a class in wet- felting- by- hand, taught by Lisa Merian of Spinner's Hill. I've always been curious about wet felting, but never took the plunge , so to speak. Purl decided to pass on this project, after all you can't do everything, can you?

I must say I had a wonderful time. Lisa supplied a gorgeous mound of colored rovings and carded wool for us to use. It was a feast for the eyes with many bright exciting colors to choose.

As you can see we were making felt bags. I chose some some exotic silk threads and fabric to decorate my bag. The bag is worked from the outside in. That means you make your design, and then cover it up with carefully laid layers of wool, running in alternating directions, first on one side and then the other. After that you add water and soap and rub, and rub , and rub...

When the bag is felted enough you cut an opening and turn the bag right side out. Next the handle is felted and inserted between the layers, and then you add water and soap and rub, and rub and rub...

When I got home I felt like the "I just flew in from Cleveland, and boy are my arms tired. " joke.
It was really fun , but when I go home , I patted my washer and said "It's you and me kid!"
I'm going back to the knit , and then felt thing.

So here is my bag! It's a WIP. It needs a closure of some kind. the silk threads are not felted down very well. Perhaps some beads, or needle felting will do it. I guess I'll live with it for awhile and decide.

In any case it was great fun trying this new, rather mysterious process. If you could use the exercise, it's a great way to get it!

Subtle Socks

2008-04-10T15:01:00.005-04:00

I gave up early on the matching thing with this yarn. The color changes are just too subtle. The yarn is Berroco Comfort Sock. It's nylon and acrylic and machine wash and dry. Hope they launder well. Fingering yarn has been fun, but I think when I finish the second gray sock , I'll go back to my 3 strands of worsted weight and size 13 needles. I feel a felted bag coming on!

Hyberbolic Art

2008-04-01T15:11:00.003-04:00

Remember in elementary school, every once in a blue moon the “art lady” would come in wheeling her little cart of goodies and we cleared our desks and had art? I always loved it but somehow I never got it right. “Today we’re going to paint a cow”. She’d pass out paper and paints and brushes and she’d tell us all about cows and that kind of thing. Her talking was sort of the way adult language is represented in “Peanuts”. Once I had my paper and those lovely paints and those big fat brushes I was off and running. I started to draw a cow but somehow it turned into a cat. I was from the city and although I never owned a cat, I had much more experience of cats than of cows. I could never do a cow’s nose because I had no idea what a cow’s nose looked like. I could do a cat’s nose. It was pink. And there were whiskers and ears and a lovely long tail. Art lady would move up and down the aisles and bend over and say things to the kids but when she got to me there was that sigh. There was always a sigh. “Weren’t we painting cows?” she’d ask.
“Well, this is a cat cow.”
“A cat cow?”
“Yeah, well you see cats live alone in the country without people and so they need to get milk by themselves so they have cat cows that they get their milk from and this is one of those.”
I wasn’t sellin’ it. I was only in the second grade.
Well, the Fiber Arts Guild had their monthly meeting and the subject was hyperbolic crochet. You have seen Knit’s example. She even has beads on hers!
I never was good at crochet and after a while mine wasn’t curving. We started by increasing every 5th stitch and then after a row or two, every 4th stitch and then every 3rd stitch and so on. I was getting a very flat yellow thingie. It occurred to me that if I went right to increasing every stitch, I would get wavy stuff happening and so I did and I did.
After a while I had a wavy yellow rim around a yellow flat thing. I was bored. So I started a purple thingie and I started increasing every stitch right from the start. It was cute and it waved all over the place and after a while it sort of fit right into the center of the yellow thingie. So I put it there and stitched it there. Well the art lady came around and said “Weren’t we doing hyperbolic crochet like the lovely coral in the warm waters of the ocean?”
“Well, you see, the coral reefs are just giant apartments sort of for the little critters that the bigger critters eat and they live in these apartments that look sort of like Miami Beach because they’re all pastel colors and the apartments all have ocean views with lots of sunlight coming in so some of the critters put flowers in their ocean view windows and this is one of those.”

Am I sellin' it?

Crochet 2008

2008-03-28T22:20:00.005-04:00

I only crochet in leap years and this is my project for 2008. For some reason, knitting relaxes me and crocheting makes me tense. Anyway, in March the Jericho Fiber Arts Guild meeting was on hyperbolic crochet. I started this there. The yarn is worsted weight acrylic. The beads are #6 seed beads. It has an increase in every stitch.

I was working on this in the doctor’s office and was asked, “What are you making.” “It’s hyperbolic crochet,”I answered. “Yes, but what is it?” the nurse answered. She had me there. I had no answer, but I love the thing. It’s cute and fits nicely in the palm of your hand.

What would you do with it? I would love to know. You could comment on the blog or email me at closeknitfriends@gmail.com

Sock Day

2008-03-26T11:34:00.004-04:00

Today is sock day. I know these photos don’t look like socks but that’s the point. I have been working on my intarsia skills by making little baby sweaters. They don’t take too long and they look so cute when you’re finished. I made up the pattern, as much as one makes up a pattern. What I mean is I didn’t follow a written pattern. I used measurements for sweaters for certain sizes, I used the gauge for the yarn and needles I was using, and I used a start at the bottom, go up and over the top down to the bottom of the other side technique for a boat-neck T shirt. I didn’t invent it but I don’t know who did. The duck chart and the star chart are from chart pattern sites, I can’t draw to save myself but Knit says one day I will be doing that too. Who knows? She said I’d knit a sweater without a pattern and I am. She said I could do intarsia and I am. She said I could knit socks and I am. Or I’m not. That’s the point. I’ve been so busy with these intarsia practices that I have let my socks just sit sadly in their little bag. So . . . today is sock day. No duckies, no stars, no itsy bitsy sleeves, just socks. I’m loving it!

The Mirror of Erised

2008-03-17T09:28:00.006-04:00

So Purl and I have been visiting Ravelry. For her it is Oz , for me it is the Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter.

It started innocently enough. The topic was gifts for gardeners, and I thought of these felted potholders. Gardeners cook. They would be perfect. But then I saw myself in the mirror, knitting purple eggplant, orange pumpkin and red tomato shaped pot holders complete with leaves. Then I thought of intarsia. I could do a sunflower or Monet's water lilies. Whoa! Wait a minute! These are potholders we are talking about. I need to do what Dumbledore did for Harry. I'm taking Ravelry off my bookmark list. It's way too easy to go there. I won't drop out though. I might want to get a glimpse in the mirror again.

If you knitting and crocheting can use a little desire and inspiration, you can get to Ravelry from here. Just go to Purl's "We're Not in Kansas Anymore" post and click on the link to Ravelry. You'll get there fast, but like Dorothy you'll have to wait at the gate.

Completed work

2008-03-14T11:53:00.003-04:00

Here's a sweater which got completed before it even got listed as a WIP. I love the spring colors and baby sweaters look so good in spring colors. I used some of my Caron Simply Soft from my stash. The pattern was from Lion Brand called Naturally Nice Baby Sweater. I made a few changes. I didn't run a tie through the little holes around the neck. It seemed too dangerous. Instead I crocheted a small tie on the top of each side of the cardi border. I also didn't decrease the sleeves until the end. I like baby sleeves to be wide all the way down. It's easier to fight their little arms into them if the sleeve doesn't narrow. Just my choice. Also, the pattern called for cotton but my stash doesn't own any. So, here it is, my first baby sweater of spring.

We're Not in Kansas anymore

2008-03-11T17:34:00.003-04:00

What do close knit friends do when they are not knitting? Well, Knit has a passion for her garden. Check out her wonderful blog in her profile. She also has been known to indulge in weaving. Above is a picture of one of us at our Fiber Arts Guild show and demonstration working on a wonderful triangular loom. (Guess which one of us it is.) Another thing we both do is Revel in Ravelry. What is Ravelry? It is a magic kingdom where the streets are paved with yarn and everyone speaks our language. It is definately not Kansas. There are thousands of members but it doesn’t seem crowded. To get into Ravelry you go to:
http://www.ravelry.com/
They are very friendly and you can take a tour. The bus leaves whenever you get there. If you like what you see you sign up for an invite. They accept between 500 and 800 people each day. It took me 7 days to get in. It was worth the wait! Once a member, you get your own page with a place to store patterns and make a spreadsheet of all the needles you have so you don’t keep buying them, there’s a library of books on all kinds of fiber arts. The site is still in Beta although it’s been operating for a year. Each day something new seems to be added. There are forums where groups are listed and you can go to a thread which interests you and say your piece. There are so many groups, I haven’t seen them all yet. I belong to 8 now and they form my forum page along with some others that just seem to be there. You can invite yourself to be some one’s friend. Then you can see all their groups and see how much you have in common. It takes up entirely too much of my time but it’s fascinating and I’m learning all sorts of new things. I’m in a cable scarf kal and I found a wonderful sweater pattern which I downloaded for free. Ravelry is associated with Flickr so you can post pictures of your work and people can see pictures of yours. Do I sound excited? I love Ravelry. Stop in and take the tour. You will be excited too and very likely will sign up for that invite. Then the fun really begins.

Socks the Old Fashioned Way

2008-03-09T13:48:00.004-04:00

Purl Too is up on the latest with her two socks on one needle. I'm still using my old double points and keeping track of my rows and increases with a pencil and paper. I know they have new electronic counters now, but sometimes I think if I bring just one more thing in this house that needs a battery I will scream! So I'm starting my second sock and will follow my notes checking at each measurement point in case I missed writing down a row or two.

This pair has no challenge of pattern matching. The challenge here is keeping the yarn on the needles. It just wants to slide off. I'm getting lots of practice picking up dropped stitches . This TOFUtsies yarn is making an interesting weight sock. It's really light even though the yarn is 50% wool. I look forward to wearing them and washing and drying them in the machine.

WIPs

2008-03-07T17:19:00.002-05:00

How many WIPs can you have before you just get totally embarrassed about never finishing anything? Apparently, one can have many, too many. I was looking for one of my favorite needles the other day and after going through bags and tubs of stuff I found it in a project which was never completed. I started to try to sort the WIPs out and decide what to complete and what to frog. I’ve decided to embarrass myself and treat you to a look at some of my Works In Progress. Some of them you’ve seen, like this giraffe. I started it to learn intarsia and as soon as I completed the intarsia part, I went on to something else. Sometimes I think I have the attention span of a strawberry. Well, I picked it up and I fixed the problem with the bind off and the fact that the front was longer than the back. Now I am on the sleeves. With you watching, maybe I’ll get some of these finished.

A Matched Pair

2008-03-03T15:50:00.006-05:00

Life must be easier for the free spirits who feel no need to match. Why you could dress in the dark! Not so for the uptight symmetrical types like me. I'm not that way about everything ,but when I am, there's no help for it

So I searched out another skein of yarn. The original store was out. I guess it was about the third try online that I found a skein. They had just one. I waited for the package to arrive . When it did, I tore it open and set to work. I found the place in the skein to match the top of my first sock. I wish I could tell you it was at the beginning of the skein, but no, it was about half way in. So I did some serious fiddling to match the pattern. I have several ends to bury in that second sock, ( Notice the lump on the side of my left foot.) but finally, I did it.

So my socks match, right down to the slightly defective toe decreases.

I Have Achieved Socks!

2008-02-26T12:38:00.005-05:00

They are complete, they are cute, they have several little mistakes but they are socks.
And they are mirror images of each other. No worry about the number of rows being different or the length not being quite the same. They are lovely. I now am a member of the sock knitting community. If you had told me three months ago, or even three weeks ago, that I would be knitting socks and loving it I would have said you were slightly mad. Now I am scouring the yarn sites for sock yarn and already have the next pair on the needle. Notice, I said needle, not needles. Yes, I keep mentioning Melissa Morgan-Oakes and her wonderful 2-at-a-time Socks book but I never would have become a sock knitter without it. Many years ago I tried knitting with double points. Trying to coordinate 4 needles and patterns and yarn was disaster for me. I kept dropping needles and stitches and finally gave up. I looked into socks on two circular needles but knew I would never complete the second sock. Now I just have one needle and I wind up with a completed pair. Unless you have tried it, and I strongly encourage you to do so, you can never know the feeling.
The mistakes: I didn’t want to have ladders at the joins so I pulled the first stitch tight but then continued to pull the stitches tightly. At one point, I thought I was going to wind up with baby support hose.
: I don’t pick up stitches well and the instructions require picking up one more stitch than is present at the gusset to avoid holes. I managed half of them but each sock had a small hole on one side. However, it was easy to fix.
: I purchased the needles by price since I didn’t know if I was going to take to this and I wanted to have several different sizes to try. The result was that I was not happy with the join between the cord and the needle. It was not smooth and getting that last stitch, which had been the first stitch which I pulled so tightly, over the hump of the needle join was a pain. Next time I won’t pull as tightly and soon I will purchase better needles. All in all, the experience was great. I only had to frog once, the Kitchener stitch was no problem, Melissa walks you through the process and the pictures are terrific to see if you are where you are supposed to be. At one point I skipped a step and had to make up for it in a following round but I don’t think it made a difference. I now am part of that group which can talk about heel-turning and gussets and toe boxes. I love my little socks!

She’s Got Legs

2008-02-23T18:43:00.003-05:00

How old do you have to be to remember ZZ Top singing that song and the commercial for the pantyhose that came in those little egg shaped things? Do they still sell them? I remember they were really good for elementary school crafts. Anyway, there I was, I had flattened my knitting with several heavy books in hopes it would start to look like the picture. I stared balefully at the heap for several days. I didn’t knit the socks, I didn’t knit anything. The socks seemed to be heading for my WIPs when I received an email from Melissa Morgan-Oakes herself! She was very encouraging (see comment on Sock it Two Me) and I was so excited that she had written to me that I took the work out from under the book-pile (where it had flattened), picked up her book and started to work. You can see the results. When you get into the rhythm of it, it’s very easy. The socks aren’t magnetic and they don’t glom onto each other. It’s really hard, at this stage, to knit them together because when you get to each sock, there’s its yarn just hanging there ready to be used. I am very proud of the sock legs and looking at them has given me the adrenalin rush I need to start the heel flap. Again, stay tuned.

One Sock Wonder

2008-02-23T15:11:00.006-05:00

Purl Too's socks were too much for me !I found my sock pattern (Search the blog for More Bliss.) and my magical sock yarn (Search the blog for Christmas Present.) This pattern uses DPs so I started my sock. The yarn came out in a fair isle like pattern that was amazing. Things were going beautifully, but I began to wonder about the repeat. I had planned to stop at the heel and knit the other sock to the same place in order to avoid one sock syndrome. Of course the second skein was started in a totally different place in the dying pattern , making that slick move impossible. Undaunted I continued on with my first sock. I finally got to the end of the repeat (Marked on photo.) and then to the end of the skein. (Also marked on photo.) I used the second skein to finish the sock.

So here I am with my one sock. I need more yarn, since one skein will not finish the pair even if I take the "No my socks don't match. Isn't it wonderful." approach. So my daughter will come to the rescue with more yarn. My plan is to try to match this sock. So "One Sock Syndrome" it is , at least for now.

Lost and Found

2008-02-18T12:09:00.002-05:00

Since the snow has melted again, were taking a walk around the garden. " My hat" I exclaimed! There it was under the porch. How the heck...? Then I remembered. It was a week or so ago when I was coming home, and I dropped my car keys just outside the kitchen door. It was a million to one shot , and they slipped through the crack and down under the porch. I thought of the old close- pin- in- the- bottle game , we played as kids. I was never good at it then, why now? I slithered under the porch, and found the keys right next to the foundation. I was muddy, and wet and grumpy when I crawled back out! Apparently I was also hatless. That alpaca hat is so light , who could tell?

My happiness went quickly to dismay when the hat was retrieved. It was wet of course, but there were mysterious dark spots in places, and holes. Now if I were a little creature , and I found a pink hat made of baby alpaca in the dead of winter, I would move right in too. However this left me with a choice. I could wash the hat, try to mend it and wear it again , or I could make a new one with the yarn that I conveniently have in my stash. What would you do? For me it's no contest. My knitting project list is like a Netflix queue. A new hat just got moved to the top.

Sock it TWO me

2008-02-14T09:20:00.001-05:00

I have always thought that as a knitter I should be able to knit socks. Just the vocabulary is enough to put one off; heel flap, heel turning, toe up, top down, gussets. Also, I know my span of concentration is that of a strawberry and even if I knit one sock I would never knit the other. Low and behold, Melissa Morgan-Oakes has written a book for people like me called 2-at-a-time Socks. She shows you how to knit two socks at one time on a 40 inch circular needle; an answer to my knitting prayers. I ordered the book, ordered the needles, ordered the yarn and yesterday I was good to go. Unfortunately, I had a migraine but I thought I’d try anyway. After knitting three rows on one side of one of the socks I started to babble and my husband unhooked my hands from the needles and put me to bed.
Today I started again. I think I may be getting it but, as you can see from the photos, the inset on the left is what Melissa thinks it should look like and the one on the right is what mine looks like.
I have to admit, Melissa suggested doing each sock in a different color to eliminate confusion but that would leave me with the single sock problem all over again. Besides, I assume I’ll make many mistakes on the first one which I will correct on the second time around so I’ll have two pairs of socks, one of each which is riddled with disasters and the other member of each pair will be sort of normal. So I figured I’d use a marker to delineate the socks one from the other.
Secondly, I’m having a problem with the counter-clockwise turn at the center of each row. I carefully watched the clock and turned things the other way but what Melissa said was in my left hand was in my right and vice versa.
I’m not giving up. When I finish this post I’m going to untangle the mess I have and pound it into some semblance of her photo and then I will continue. I hope I don’t have to frog it again because the yarn is looking frazzled already but I have confidence. The woman understands my problem; the least I can do is try to understand her solution. Stay tuned.

The Who dun it Bag

2008-02-12T13:55:00.001-05:00

Perhaps you are wondering, "Why the Lineup" Has some horrible bag crime been committed? I will explain. I got a call the other day from a friend who lives some distance from me. She was quite pleased and said " I bought one of your bags at the consignment shop. I could tell because it still had your tag." It's obvious that when you make all these bags you have to do something with them. Purl Too and I do have some items out for sale in a couple of local shops, but not in this one.

As it happens Christmas came and went, and one bag had disappeared . Right away the Nancy Drew, Sherlock Hemlock, Matlock, whoever in me, kicked in. "Really" I said. "Can you describe the bag in question?" My steel trap mind was thinking that the missing bag culprit was just within my grasp. My friend was surprised by my tone. I must have been using that, I'm looking for a felt bag felon, quality in my voice. "Why do you ask?" she said. I explained about the purloined purse (sounds like a book title doesn't it) .

"It's furry blue with shades of green and purple" she told me. Now our bags are all different and very easy to pick out of a lineup. I instantly knew that I had been wrong. That was a legally regifted bag. I had given it to someone as a Christmas present. Apparently it wasn't her style. My friend was relieved that she had not received stolen property. Regifting is legal, I'm guessing in all 50 states , and it should be. I do it myself. CASE CLOSED !!!

The Sweaters Have Landed

2008-02-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

They reached England and my grandsons are modeling the sweaters. Grandson number one is wearing the stegosaurus (the sweater formally known as “dragon”) and grandson number two is in the Superman hoodie. Now that I can see them being worn it makes a big difference. A picture of a sweater is good but it’s always cooler to see a real person in them. They’re really adorable, and the sweaters are cute too (sorry, just a little Gran humor). Perhaps I will rethink my vow never to do intarsia again. It’s one of those things that just takes practice and since my goal is to become a “fine” knitter, intarsia must be mastered! I just saw a chart for a row of penguins that would look fantastic around the border of a sweater . . . ummm

Blast from the Past

2008-02-04T15:25:00.000-05:00

Just down the road from Knit One and still farther down the road from Purl Too, is the small town of Gilbertsville N.Y. The whole town is on the register of historic places. The post office is delightful, the library is a gorgeous stone structure, the Major's Inn is an old stone hotel where events like weddings and quilting shows are held, the Value Way Country Store is, well, a country store, but the real place to go is the Gilbert Block Quilt Shop located in a century old building in the center of town.

Stepping inside Nona's store is like stepping back in time. The fixtures are original and they provide a wonderful bone structure for the delights that you find in every corner. Quilting fabric, and notions, of course, and finished quilts and wall hangings, baby quilts, all kinds of hand crafted gifts, felted bags, catnip mice, baby sweaters, books, and beads dazzle the eye. It is a delightful place to shop.

Nona is a quilting expert. She can help you choose fabric for a new quilting project, hand quilt a family heirloom, or hem your new jeans. She also canes antique chairs. I've heard she has 40 years experience, but she must have started as a very small child! You really should meet her. Her shop is open Tues. - Fri. (10 to 6), Sat. (9-6) and Sun. (1-4). She has a toll free phone 866-783-2872. If you are anywhere nearby, you should make the trip. You won't be sorry!

A funny thing happened on the way to the blog . . .

2008-02-03T17:40:00.000-05:00

When we began the blog, we were really into beading. At the time I couldn’t envision knitting anything that didn’t have a bead in it. All was going well when Knit discovered an article in Angel Hair Yarn. It was about felting. We were thinking about felting and we tried those booties but here was something we could do without worrying about size and fit.
The article was called the “No Rules” bag. The idea was that she would knit her version of it and I would knit my version of it and we could start something which showed how different knitters using the same pattern could have very different outcomes.
We bought yarn in wild colors. Knit took it first and used the Angel Hair Yarn directions to make a rectangle bottom bag. She turned down the hem and sewed on the handles. She thought the bag was really ugly at this point, but on she went. After felting, it came out of the washer wider at the top. The double thickness of the hem did not shrink as much as the rest of the bag. The top edge was all wavy. “Disaster!” she thought. Then she smoothed out the hem and let the bag dry. As is sometimes the case with felting, you get something different than what you expect. “I love my bag!” she exclaimed and packed up the yarn for me. Knit kept her bag a secret until I finished mine so we could compare.
Of course, I took so long to make mine that by the time I was finished Knit had completed a neat half dozen bags of all shapes and with all kinds of carry-along yarn.
I began my bag smaller. Casting on 130 stitches was off-putting to me right from the start. I also didn’t do the rectangular bottom. I tried to use the Fibonacci method for my striping but I lost count somewhere along the way and what you see is what I got.
The experiment worked, though. We each got very different bags and it’s been the same ever since. Whatever pattern we use, Knit and Purl come up with very different results. Mine is on the left and Knit’s is on the right. It was a fun experiment and when we taught the method to our group not a single bag they produced was alike. They’re sort of like snow-flakes.
The moral of the story is: creative people are creative. A pattern is just a starting place.

Playing around

2008-01-30T11:53:00.000-05:00

I'm a knitter, but I would be the first to admit that I play around on the side. Right now my dalliance is coiled baskets. Having been asked to demonstrate how to make these baskets at the Jericho Fiber Arts Guild's show, I thought I better study up a bit. I really had to dig in the closet that holds my stash to find the materials. I think I found them in the 2003 to 2004 layer. Without carbon dating , who can be sure? I'll be back to knitting soon!

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane . . .

2008-01-25T17:47:00.000-05:00

I finally completed Grandson Two’s sweater with hood as requested by his mom. It seems he won’t wear a hat but will wear a baseball cap if there is a hood to put over it and hold it on. This was another sweater with a gauge problem. The boys are both between infant and toddler sizes and I have to figure everything out. I really like the way this sweater came out. The colors are my favorite, primary. If I were a few (ahem) years younger I would wear only primary colors. The chart for the Superman S came from a lovely site run by Vicki Meldrum. She has many charts for sale but has many for free. Superman was a freebie. I had to fudge it a bit because the sweater was too small for the original but when you have a good chart to start with, fudging is easy. I was able to add a pocket to the front of the sweater and I put the intarsia piece on that. This way, when he puts his hands in his pocket there are no tempting strands and strings to pull at. Because this intarsia piece was only two colors it was easier to do. Of course, I never could have done it without Knit One’s advice but she told me to use as many bobbles of colors as I needed so nothing had to be stranded too far. It worked. The back of the S looks much better than the back of the dinosaur. And if I ever complete the giraffe, I will give up intarsia forever. No, not really. But Fair Isle, which always scared me to death, is looking much friendlier now since it only uses two colors per row. I might try that next. Right now it’s flying faster than a speeding bullet to England and if I get a photo with a child wearing it, I will surely include it in a future post.

Undersea Bag #5

2008-01-22T06:02:00.000-05:00

Percula Clown with Anemone: I had a request from my daughter for this bag. It makes it a little harder to be brave and throw a bag into the washer for felting ,when you are making it for someone. If you are just playing, the results have more leeway to be different from that picture you have in your head. She was pleased and so am I. I really hope she enjoys it. Now for my next bag, perhaps a royal gramma, a firefish, a serpent star or a blue star, another clown with a carpet anemone, or one of those great salt water angels would be good. I guess I'll knit a few catnip mice and contemplate my next design.

To Rip or not to Rip

2008-01-22T05:27:00.000-05:00

"To rip or not to rip:Whether 'tis nobler... "Ah nuts!!!! Here it is. I finished the scarf. I slipped it onto two double points and turned it. The stockinette side was lusciously soft and smooth. I bound off with glee, and then I saw them, two bad stitches. Both of them were on the last stitch in the row and just a single stitch. "No one will see them." I thought. " but I see them. If you run your hand down the scarf you can feel them." If you zoom in on the lower right of the picture you can see them. It's almost perfect, but this is not horseshoes. I got my crochet hook, ripped out the bind off, took a deep breath and dropped that stitch all the way down to the second bad stitch, wondering all the while if I would be sorry. I carefully used the crochet hook to knit the stitch back to the top. Hooray, it worked beautifully. So I'll change the bind off , and sew up the end so it looks more like the beginning end and be happy. This alpaca is so soft and warm. Now I have the boots, the gloves, the hat , and scarf and January is only half over. February, I'm ready!

Even the USPS knits

2008-01-19T13:38:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this around Christmas but I also meant to send Christmas cards and I didn't. So when I was putting the cards away for next year, I found these stamps. They were one of the choices for special holiday stamps this year. Someone actually knit all of these lovely designs. I suppose if one went to the Post Office website one might get some info about it. But I think it's lovely that knitting is being represented in such a public way. I'm saving these four because I like them, especially the snowman, and because I'm so glad they were printed. I wish I could get the patterns.

Undersea Bag #4

2008-01-18T14:41:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm back underwater again. This time it's Seahorses with Red Tree Sponges. I loved seahorses when I had the shop. They were wonderful to watch, especially the males having the babies. I included the little fins on the side of their heads that they actually use to swim , and did one without a curled tail. They really only curl their tails tightly to hang onto something, and when they are dead. Sadly that's the all too soon fate of most seahorses in captivity. I would expect these seahorses to last for sometime.

Ta-da! It’s a Sweater!

2008-01-17T08:59:00.000-05:00

Yes, there were problems. The seams are a bit lumpy but next time I’ll try selvages. Except for the one that’s already on the needles for my younger grandson, I will not be making sweaters where I have to change gauge and alter every number by multiplying by a ratio. It was just too much to worry about in addition to it being my first sweater in pieces and my first shot at intarsia. But I did it. It’s a Stegosaurus. I always referred to it as the “dragon” because I felt I was battling it constantly. Now that I’ve tamed him, I think he’s kind of cute.

Some assembly required

2008-01-16T16:40:00.000-05:00

Now I know how all those dads on the sit-coms feel on Christmas eve when they discover they don't have the correct screwdriver. I finished all the parts. I’ve been reading all kinds of knitting books and discovered “selvage”. Apparently, I’m supposed to have added a stitch or two at each side of each piece so the seams are not lumpy. Right now I’m looking at this mound of yarn and hoping it will all go together into something which resembles a sweater. The books say it’s easy. But they also give three or four choices of ways to attach the pieces. They all offer opinions on the best way but all the opinions are different. I’ll just be happy if I can get the various pieces to match up. Remember, I changed everything when I changed the yarn which changed the gauge. I have my pins and I cleared off my table. Let you know how it goes.

What are the Odds?

2008-01-09T08:03:00.000-05:00

I'm working on the scarf. I've been bidding on 16 inch bamboo needles on Ebay, but so far I have been too tight, no cheap, make that thrifty, to win them. Not letting that hold me back , I started my scarf using the knit one, slip one, two needle method. The scarf is done on straight needles. Yes, I'm using a circular, but you don't need to. If all goes well and I don't make any mistakes, I will turn the scarf at the end to reveal a lovely scarf with stockinette on both sides. I'll finish it off with a 3 needle bind off and Voila! Of course just one mistake in the knitting and slipping process and I will not be able to turn the scarf. It will be stuck together. In that case I will bind it off anyway, and have an equally lovely reverse stockinette scarf. Feel free to make side bets among yourselves. So far it's looking good.

Color Me Happy

2007-12-29T08:21:00.000-05:00

My hat and fingerless gloves are done and I couldn't be happier. I must say this alpaca yarn is a delight to wear. The hat is warm and soft, and so light you almost forget you have it on. The gloves are the same. Two skeins almost did it all, but I had to use a small bit of a third. That means the hat and gloves weighs just over 100 grams. No wonder these Alpaca critters are so popular. I did get a lot of practice picking up stitches on the hat using double points. I still have my old metal needles and this soft yarn and a lot of stitches led to the obvious result of stitches sliding off the ends. I've had enough practice ! Time to look for more of those nice bamboo circular needles.

Now the question is , would a scarf be too much? Can I stand that much luxury? I wore the hat and gloves yesterday and they are toasty. Of course here in upstate New York, January and February can be FRIGID. I think I'll risk it.

Christmas Present

2007-12-29T07:53:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite presents at Christmas is the yarn that I get from my beautiful, very busy daughter. She visits her local yarn shop and picks out some luscious yarn that she wishes she had time to work with. It's great for me because it adds something gorgeous to my stash with absolutely no guilt . This year she gave it to me wrapped in the shop bag. I love the name of the store, "Knit and Be Happy". Those are words to live by. The yarn is Lifestyle, one of those magical sock yarns. Now let me see, where did I put that sock pattern? For now, these interesting balls of yarn will look great sitting around in a nice basket. I'm sure Martha Stewart would approve.

Boots are just the beginning

2007-12-16T13:55:00.000-05:00

Who thought that a pair of wild raspberry boots could lead to so much? First let me say I LOVE these boots! They give winter in upstate New York a new feel like no black or brown boots ever could. I'm proud to say that I didn't go out and get a new coat to go with these Land's End Overstock boots, BUT I did order luscious Plymouth Baby Alpaca Brush yarn for gloves , hat and scarf. Of course since I was ordering anyway, some more Galway in colors I needed for Undersea bags was a given. We won't discuss how much these bargain boots have cost me so far. I still LOVE them!!!

Now to start with the gloves. Let me say I knitted a pair of fingerless gloves in alpaca before and they are the best! Since I never started my knitters notebook,( You know the one we should keep with yarn , pattern , needle size etc. so we can repeat something if we want to.) [2008 Knitter's Resolution # 1] I had to find a new pattern. I'm using a pattern that I found online at Interweave Knits. It's called Progressive Gloves.

The directions are given to adjust size according to your gauge. So far I'm impressed. As it happens my hand is exactly the size of the sample. The knitting you see is the beginning of a glove." Why should I do a round with 28 stitches" I thought. "After all Elizabeth Zimmerman says to check your gauge with a hat." I have to try a needle size smaller on this piece to see if the gauge is correct. If not, I will follow the directions!

I think this pattern is a good place to try your wings at making something based on your gauge. You will hear more about this later.

The Grass is Greener !

2007-12-10T16:22:00.000-05:00

I had some time to sit and wait so I grabbed the green Galway and some Foxy that I had around. I know, I know another bag, but I knit according to my moods. The bag turned out so much like grass(the lawn kind!) that I did an six stitch I cord woolly bear to hang out on it. I used Fun Fur and had to give him a haircut because he was way too woolly! I sewed him onto a pin back. After all he may want to move around the grass a bit.

It's right about now that I usually think I will stop knitting until after the holidays. Don't bet the farm on it! If I'm sittin, I'm knittin.

Dragon Fire

2007-12-09T15:55:00.000-05:00

I did the back! I often wondered why most patterns start with the back. Now I know. It’s so you can work out the kinks before you get to the front. There the dinosaur is, in all his glory. I know he’s a dinosaur, a stegosaurus, to be exact, but I refer to him as the “dragon” since we both seem to breathe fire at each other. The pattern calls for some handwork, embroidery, on the beast to fill in the feet, mouth, eye, and some design work on the body. But that comes later. It’s actually called “finishing work”.
I reached the neck shaping and realized that I didn’t have the right number of stitches. Remember, I had started out to use the other pattern with this design, due to the gauge problem. Then I switched to the original pattern during the stripes. Of course, the number of stitches to be bound off and decreased didn’t add up to what I had so I did what I think is a ratio. I put the number I had (which was smaller) over the number the pattern should have had (which was larger) and I divided. I then used this number (which was a decimal) to multiply the number of stitches the pattern wanted me to use and after much rounding off I made it come out to within one stitch! (I just added that on) It looks like the picture but now I have to remember to do all of this on the front and then on the sleeve shaping. Flames! Huge flames are coming out of his mouth!
I did learn something about intarsia though. One has to look a row ahead to see where the color dropped is going to be picked up. If it’s further along the row, it has to be carried along to there. If it is back some, it has to be carried as you are moving back. I have many too many strands in the back of the beast. One day I’ll show you a picture of that, but not now. It’s just too discouraging.
He’s sort of neat though, isn’t he?Now I have to do it all over again for the front! Only with a different number of rows and a different bind off so there will be more ratios to do (if they are ratios).

Intarsia Gauge

2007-12-05T12:18:00.000-05:00

I owed my grandson a birthday sweater. I actually knitted one but he has moved from baby patterns to older kid patterns. Sweater patterns have directions for the smallest size and then, in parenthesis, follow the numbers for the next 3 or 4 larger sizes. I am so used to counting over three spaces because he was wearing the biggest size on the baby pattern. So, clever person I am, I automatically counted over three spaces and made him a sweater that will fit him when he graduates from high school,
Undaunted, I ordered more yarn. I chose Red-Heart super saver, a great stand-by for a kid’s sweater and when I got the yarn, I proceeded to make swatches. The yarn felt sort of like brillo. I’m sure, if I had made a sweater from it, it would have stood up by itself. So I looked around and found the company now has a yarn called Red-Heart soft and it is pretty much the same price but it comes in very few colors. I ordered it. It felt good. Swatches were great. But, they didn’t work with the pattern. Why isn’t all worsted weight yarn the same gauge?
A word about pattern books; they are usually sponsored by a yarn company and all the patterns are knitted using that company’s yarn. This one was sponsored by Rowan, a lovely yarn. One skein of the required yarn, only 100 yards per skein, cost over $8.00. One skein of 240 yards of the Red-Heart was $2.89. I love my grandsons but kids tend to finger paint in whatever they are wearing. When they eat, most of what falls off the fork, lands on the sweater. The sleeves are used as napkins. $8.00 per skein (and the pattern called for 5 colors) was really not an option.
What to do? Figure out what the stitch and row count for the yarn I had would be by using a calculator. Simple. Of course, one has to know whether to multiply or divide and what numbers to use for either of these. I found several formulas in several books. I didn’t understand any of them. Above is a picture of the notebook pages I used trying to figure out my gauge.
I had just gotten a great book by Ann Budd called the knitter's handy book of sweater patterns and, since I’ve been using only top down in the round sweaters, I picked a pattern which is called drop shouldered and everything is rectangular or triangular so even I could sew the sleeves on.
I began knitting away and discovered that, though I had worked on stitch count, I hadn’t paid much attention to the row count. The pattern had a bunch of stripes on the bottom and then an intarsia chart above. The pattern I was using started with the back of the sweater and the front had to have 14 fewer rows. I measured and saw that the way I was going, the sweater was going to reach his knees. Eventually I realized I was making just too many changes at one time. So I decided to go with the pattern from the original book using just the math for the gauge changes. That means set in sleeves. O.K. I’m up for this.
I had already knitted all the stripes and realized I had to take out three sets of them, 18 rows. Actually did it and now I’m up to the dinosaur chart. Someday I want to be a “fine” knitter. I have realized it will require much “frogging”. That’s al right with me, whatever it takes.
When I actually complete this sweater, I have to do the whole process again for his younger brother’s sweater. I think I can use the pattern from the Budd book because all I have to do is put the Superman symbol on it. Oh, and his mom would like it to have a hood. But think of all I will have learned! If you hear a scream tonight, off in the distance, it’s me, trying to knit a dragon and come out with only 92 rows including an extra 14 rows before the neck shaping.

. . . Neck shaping?

Intarsia Part 1

2007-11-29T17:27:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I thought intarsia was something on a menu in an Italian bistro: intarsia in red sauce. Then Knit One started making all of those felted bags with pictures and I realized that life as I knew it would never be the same. Although intarsia does come from an Italian root word, it has nothing to do with food. It’s a form of torture that makes lovely pictures on one side of a sweater while leaving all sorts of twisted and confused threads on the back side of the work.
Of course, it is impossible to do if you are knitting a sweater in the round with no seams. If you try, the color you need when you come around to the start of the image is at the other end of the row and you have to add a new strand for each row. Not a pretty picture.
So, not only was I going to have to figure out how to change colors in the middle of a row without leaving a gaping hole, I was also going to have to knit sweaters in pieces and sew them together. I have been trying to avoid this for years! Only those of you who think Barbara Walker is a true genius and who are addicted to patterns by “Knitting Pure and Simple” can understand my anxiety.
It looks so simple when Knit does it but I just get a tangled mess in the back that has to be untangled every row. I even tried bobbins, those cute little plastic thingies you wind a small amount of yarn on but they just got entangled with each other and made it almost impossible for me to tame the yarn. Kafe Fassett says to just leave a small amount of yarn, unwound, just hanging there. Of course, I think one of the people in his studio probably gets to do the untangling so I’m not so sure I’ll go with that. Knit says to use small amounts of yarn and to wind them into “butterflies” and then rewind them after they’ve been used. I tried that but with counting stitches, checking the chart, winding at a color change so the fabric will be hole free my mind forgets to remind me to make the butterflies.
The photo above is for a baby sweater and it’s a giraffe. Even from the front you can see all those evil strands of yarn. I haven’t gotten to the head yet, and, yes, I know he has no legs but they get knit separately and get sewn on later so they can swing around. It’s a grand idea for an infant but older boys would give a leg one pull and off it would come. I needed a big boy picture.
Enter charts and graphs. But that’s part two of the story and will have to wait till part two.

Learn from My Mistakes

2007-11-27T06:54:00.000-05:00

3. White wool does not felt well. I didn't want to believe it. I read it somewhere that the bleaching process used to make wool white impedes the felting process. However, I wanted to do this Mondrian, so I asked the yarn company before I ordered the white, and they told me some people had no problem with the white felting properly. Thinking that I would be one of those people, I ordered the yarn. For my first attempt, I felted a plain white bag to use for needle felting. The white became muddied and the stitches were still visible. I blamed the jeans that I was using in the wash with the bag and thought more time was needed. (I was in denial!)

Something told me I was pushing the envelope so I charted my Mondrian and started a potholder instead of a bag. The potholder is from Knit It Felt It . I made a set of these before, and I love using them. Moisture doesn't seep through and you can throw them in the wash, just not the dryer.

The picture says it all. My potholder is crooked. The white is not felted and it is discolored. Mondrian would not be pleased , and neither am I. Well, I was warned and now you have been too!

Another one hooked on felting

2007-11-25T10:48:00.000-05:00

Remember Helen? She didn't think she wanted to try felting. Knit talked her into knitting a bag and she liked it just the way it was. As more and more felted bags started appearing, Helen decided to try the process. Shazzam! An instant felter (just add hot water) (sorry, couldn't resist). Above is the collection she appeared with at our last gathering. This stuff is dangerous.

Knit took a whole week to felt her own bag. So I guess the intervention didn't take. She broke down and she's off and running again but I'm happy to report she's doing "swimmingly".

Thanksgiving - what to do with those leftovers?

2007-11-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

Jeanne made a larger bag with a more complicated bead design. This meant she had to get extra yarn and beads. Once the bag was done, Jeanne found herself with leftovers. At this time of the year we're all thinking of leftovers but I don't think we can be as creative with turkey as Jeanne was with her extra yarn and beads. She made a hat! She designed it and the top is very interesting. I think it's lovely and I wish I had thought of it.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and next time you are looking at those extra bits and pieces in your stash, think of Jeanne.

Under the Sea Bag #3

2007-11-24T13:08:00.000-05:00

That's a Green Moray! Yes, I tried to quit at least for awhile. A week is a good length for a vacation isn't it? This bag really is still wet. You can see the towel in the background . I had to adjust his eye a little for the picture. I sewed it on with nylon thread so that I could put the seed bead inside the crow bead. It dropped down like a bead on a jiggly bag (I should have known this would happen.) I will redo it when the bag is dry. In case you are wondering where the salt water fish thing is coming from, I used to have a shop with lots of fish. These are better, no tank to clean, no food to buy and they don't get ick and die.

Under the Sea Bag # 2

2007-11-18T09:17:00.000-05:00

Yellow Tang with Red Ball Sponge: This bag is flat except for the fin on the tang , and a little duplicate stitch on the sponge to give it a more round appearance. There is one more undersea bag ready to felt, but I am taking a bag vacation. If you are curious about the next bag, I'll give you a hint. That's a moray!

Sharing the fun 2!

2007-11-07T18:12:00.001-05:00

This bag is Helen's. She went for a fuzzy look and a new shape in elegant black.

Sharing the fun!

2007-11-07T17:50:00.000-05:00

Here are some more bags from our "fence painting party."Below is Rebecca's Bag with beautiful color blending and an original bead design. On the right is Nancy's bag with knit in bobbles for a great textural effect.

Under the Sea Bag # 1

2007-11-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

I finally got up my nerve and felted the Sebae clown fish with Anemone. I took the photo , and I have to admit the bag is still a little wet, but after all it is a fish. This is now, without a doubt until the next one, my very favorite bag. There is a beaded bag on the needles, but the next undersea bag is definitely sloshing around in my head.

Easier? Intarsia Bag

2007-10-31T06:46:00.000-04:00

For me this bag was like reading Harry Potter. I just couldn't put it down. The photo is the bag before felting. I will screw up my courage and felt it soon, but I'm spending some time with it as it is first.

I decided to do an Intarsia bag differently. First chart a design you wish to follow. Graph paper with nice big squares works nicely . You will need 62 squares in width. Scotch tape might be needed to accomplish this . Find your crayons and get creative.

Materials and needles are the same as Knit One's Bag of Tricks.

Start with knit on cast on for 60 (62) stitches. Mark the center line , which will be the side seam of your bag. Now knit following your chart. In my case the back of the bag is just blue. When you have finished your chart, leave the stitches on your needle. Now is a good time to neatly finish all of your ends. Get out your tapestry needle and sew the bottom seam , then sew up the open side seam. Mark the beginning of the round . Now begin to knit in the round doing knit 1 row, purl one row for 8 rows. For the bind off row , Knit 2 , bind of until 2 stitches remain. End knit 2. Now work I cord for your strap to desired length. Finish the end with Purl Too's tab for sewing the strap onto the bag if you like.

2007-10-25T08:42:00.000-04:00

Where's Knit One?

2007-10-25T07:44:00.000-04:00

I've been tagging, and counting and madly finishing all the UFOs I could for the Christmas Craft Fair that I participate in every year. I do this with a friend who crochets Christmas ornaments, incredible sheep, Canada geese , Sand Hill Cranes and swans. Forgive the shameless plug, but the show is held at the Shaker Heritage Society site in Albany, NY 10 AM to 4PM, from Oct. 27 to Dec. 20 (Closed Sundays) Phone 518-456-7890 for more information from one of those friendly machines we all love so much or email me at closeknitfriends@gmail.com. It really is a lovely show, a great place to Christmas shop, and if you are in the Albany area it would give you a chance to see my bags " in the felt" Check out the size of the wooley bear in the photo!

Give her a felted bag and she'll be thrilled, but teach her how and look out

2007-10-23T18:04:00.000-04:00

We have been receiving such extraordinary comments on our felted bags that we were asked to give a class in felting. What a time we had. It wound up being two classes since many people were anxious to begin and so we had a small “pre” class. For this reason there were several completed bags at the teach-in.
The one pictured is by Barbara. The yarn is several shades of a Galway purple and she jazzed it up with an old costume jewelry pin she happened to have.
Speaking of yarn, we have been added to the blog at Yarnware and are returning the favor. The company has lovely yarn, much of our Galway came from there and the best part is that they are having a fantastic sale right now, as we speak. Even the Addis are on sale! Knit and I were commenting that one of the best fringe benefits of yarn is that it has no calories. A totally guiltless vice, except for the price but Yarnware is taking care of that this month.More photos of the group and the bags will follow. I know all you serious bloggers know how to put several photos on one post but we don’t. If you’d like to let us in on your secrets we’d be most appreciative.

Pink Hat

2007-10-21T11:47:00.000-04:00

A while ago I received word that a dear friend had been tapped for a club which has too many members, none of whom want to belong. She was my daughter’s best friend in high school and is now a mother of two. So without thinking, out came my favorite addi 9 circs and a very soft yarn and before I knew it, I had a chemo cap. There was a time when I was very involved in knitting for need. One year I decided to make a cap a day, or at least 7 per week. I topped 400. Strangely, at that time, I actually knew no one who was in need of this headgear and they all got dropped off at oncology centers, hospitals, American Cancer (there, I’ve said the word) collection centers.
Now the hat has a head under it, so to speak. I have learned, over the years that they are not chemo caps; they are hats for people who have delicate scalps which are cool even in a warm home. Although I automatically slipped into my “classic cap” mode, any hat will do. They should be soft and fun and whimsical and dramatic and all those things hats were meant to be. I am working on a very Scarlet O’Hara tea on the verandah one now.
This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I am more aware this year than I want to be.
Please, do something. If you don’t care to knit, give time, help, or money. I am a survivor of this insidious club which likes to make members of those who are much too young. One of my fondest hopes is to someday hear someone say, “Chemo cap? What’s a Chemo cap?”

Grab and go 2

2007-10-06T16:06:00.000-04:00

As promised, another in the grab and go series. This one works great with denim. I especially like it because it also uses one of those wonderful mosaic designs. It’s roomier than my other bags because when I’m in denim I usually need more stuff. Like a screwdriver, a Swiss Army Knife and other feminine essentials. All sorts of things seem to come up when I'm in casual mode and I do like to feel prepared. My daughter once told me I should always carry a Swiss Army Knife. Don’t know why but being a dutiful Mom, I do and this is just the bag for it. But I digress. Of course, denim or not, it does have a matching little bag and key chain. This set is absolutely on my way fave list especially since we're now getting into jean jacket weather.

Hats Off

2007-09-29T10:18:00.000-04:00

Isn't she a sweetie? I wanted to make a felted hat but all I had to dry it on was a series of bowls, none of which matched my head shape. So, Knit told me I could refelt it if I got a hat form. One of my friends is a craftaholic and when I mentioned to her that I needed a head form and asked if she happened to have one she said, "Sure, in the garage." And she went right to it. (How many of you could find something that quickly in your garage?). So I refelted and shaped it on Betty Boop here and it turned out just the way I planned it to. It was great fun and you'll probably start to see many felted hats in the future. They are light and very warm and keep the snow from soaking through.

Grab and Go 1

2007-09-29T09:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I like to have my socks match my undies. I like to feel coordinated from the inside to the outside. So when I started to make felt bags I realized I needed a smaller bag to hold my credit cards and license and also a key ring that matched. I always empty my purses. I know most of us just keep shoving stuff into them until nothing is findable but I like to have a different small bag for different things like make-up, money, medicine, a key to my gym locker at the Y, and all of these get unpacked and put into another bag which matches (there’s that coordination thing again) my next outfit. Here are some of the results. This one is a brown beaded bucket shaped bag. Along with it are a smaller bag and a key ring. They fit comfortably into the bag with room for a book and a bottle of water. This is just the thing to “grab and go” when you have to make a trip to the supermarket or the lys.

Tom Sawyer's Fence

2007-09-28T13:41:00.000-04:00

Well, Purl Too and I finally got together the kits for our class. (See photo above) We included the mesh bag , the directions, the circular needle, the Galway yarn. Except for a temporary needle shortage , that all went smoothly. We gave everyone a choice of carry along novelty yarn , or beads and one intrepid knitter chose to do bobbles. We had a lot of fun and although the meeting was chaotic, everyone went home with bags in progress. We meet again on Oct.15th. I'm looking forward to the results. Maybe I'll have some photos to post. My big question is, who will be able to stop at just one bag? Time will tell!

Needle felted felted bag

2007-09-19T06:30:00.000-04:00

Needle felting is a very artistic pursuit. I have seen wonderful pieces as thrilling as any painting or sculpture. I myself am at the crayon stage. I knew one of these bags would make a great base for the technique and it does. This bag was knitted with just two strands of yarn. It is not as firm as the 3 strand bag and you can see that the garter stitch is wider than the body of the bag. This was an accident as I was knitting away and not paying attention. So now I know what happens with two strands for an entire bag.

For those who are not familiar with needle felting, there are sharp needles involved. You need to put a small piece of foam inside the bag under where you are working. NEVER work in your lap. The process itself is rather satisfying, like sticking a voodoo doll.

My defense for this bag is that I was having trouble sleeping so I got up in the middle of the night to work on it and you can see the results. I think it looks a little better in real life than in the photo. Hope it doesn't end up on You knit What 2 .

Bobble Bag Variation

2007-09-16T06:51:00.000-04:00

You can see a picture of this bag by looking at Pandora's Bag.

Bobble:
Row 1:(RS) K1,P1,K1,P1,K1, into the same stitch, turn
Row 2 (WS)P5 turn.
Row 3 (RS) k5 turn.
Row 4 (WS) P 5 ,turn.
Row 5 (RS) Sl 2, K 3 tog, pass two slip stitches over (1 st)
Bobble complete.

Beginning at (3) add your third strand of yarn.

Knit 4 rows.

Bobble Row: K2, *make bobble, K4 **, repeat from *to ** until 2 stitches remain, K2.
K 1 row. These two rows can be done in a different color.

Repeat the last 6 rows until desired length. End with knit 4 rows. Continue pattern at (4)

September has been flying by like the birds flying south. The coming frost has us all on the move. The garden calls, but Purl Too and I are working on getting the materials together to teach our knitting group how to make a felt bag. The pile of Galway at my house right now is staggering. The crow bead count is way up too. We just have to get the kits together. I feel like Tom Sawyer painting the fence, but what good is fun, if you can't share it with your friends!

How to leave a comment.

2007-09-01T08:34:00.000-04:00

I was so sure that the caterpillar would get a comment or two. Nope, it didn't happen. Here's how to leave a comment on a post. Click where it says comment under the post in question. You will be asked to sign up for a Google email account. This is to prevent anonymous comments. Google email has some definite good stuff. There is unlimited storage, search capability and sending photos is a snap. (pun intended ) There are ads, but not much in this world is really free, and this is the USA where people sell advertising on their forehead. We do reserve the right to edit comments. Really how could we not?

Fuzzy Caterpillar

2007-08-30T05:52:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love a knitting project that allows you knit along and get into that repetitive motion relaxed state? I was working on a bag using Lion Brand Fun Fur in copper. It is at those times that knitting ideas pop into my head. Sometimes they are overly ambitious , sometimes silly. This time that wonderful, hairy yarn made me think of a woolly bear caterpillar. "What would you do with that?" I asked myself. The answer came "you can put it on the blog." With some black Fun Fur swapped with friend I was in business. I stuffed and felted him and attached magnetic jewelry clasps to each end. If you play with him too much, he curls up just like a real one.

Papa Bear and Mama Bear

2007-08-28T17:47:00.000-04:00

Well, now that we have established that I like small . . . I’d like to introduce you to Mama Bear and Papa Bear. Papa Bear is worked with a slip stitch mosaic pattern. I love it. It’s large enough for a weekender or a carry-on. Mamma Bear was bits and pieces of yarn I couldn’t bear to waste. The bottoms are flat so if you use them for project bags, they sit nicely on the floor and hold your work. Easy to get an afghan in the works into these babies. Don’t know what came over me. I’m back to small again. I am working on several baby bears all different heights.