road trip

After a 27 hour drive leaving with a 1/4 inch of ice on the car after an ice storm that swept over north Texas last Tuesday, we left Wednesday morning and ended up in Las Angeles, CA Thursday morning. We passed 4 wrecked 18 wheelers within the first 2 hours that we left. Ever wonder why you've never met anyone who said that they came from east California. That's because there isn't any life out in east California. 40w is a road in the middle of an ocean of rock, there is like a 3 hour expanse of nothing. You see a turn or a hill in the road in front of you that you can’t see the road after that and you reach the point where you’ve peeked the hill or turned the corner and you’ve been thinking surely there is something over this hill but there isn’t, it’s a little scary. You need to fill up the tank when you can because you don’t know how long it is till the next station. I guess eastern California stuck out in the trip because there was day light when we were driving through it. I may have had similar thoughts of Arizona and New Mexico but the sun set as we drove over the Texas/New Mexico border. The night sky is amazing in New Mexico; you can see all the stars compared to northern Texas where there are 4 stars. It was really amazing. We drove through Albuquerque, NM during the night. I've never seen so many lights over such a large expanse before. But at 6000 ft. altitude I got a headache. There were some funny things, like signs we came across during the night like "come in and hug a waitress", “yellowhorse”, "smoke ahead", "wind may exist" and some others that you couldn't see all of the sign so it said "keep pets on" & "on walls climb".

save handmade

Sylvi by Mari Muinonen

I bought my first PDF knitted pattern today. I think it is beautiful. It is called Sylvi by Mari Muinonen located on the website twist collective. It is $7 but I thought it was worth it, since I like it so much. I was thinking of making it in purple, yellow, or blue.

drinking lots of tea

On my fifth cup of tea the boiling water reminded me that I wanted to try and shrink my acorn hat. So I filled a sauce pot with water till it began to boil I placed the hat in the pot poking it under the boiling water with tongs. I let it soak for 4min. I poured out the water in the sink and with the tongs I placed the hat on a folded in half towel waiting on the floor. It was still steaming, so carefully I laid the scalloped edging out flat. The hat didn't seam to have shrunk much. I think it got larger... So I'm filling up my spaghetti pot this time, the sauce pot seamed to be a little small. Ok so I let the hat boil in the pot for 20 minutes. It didn't shrink at all. I guess Lion Brand fishermen's wool doesn't shrink. Well now I know. This time when I poured out the hot water in the sink. I have a double sink, so I poured out the water in one and had dilled up the other side with cold water. And placed the hat into the cold water after pouring the water out. I squeezed the water out being sure not to rink it out & then hung it up to dry. When searching for info on shrinking knits I found this wool crafting.

I added the acorn rib pattern around the edge. I decreased the rim from 106 to 81 stitches. And now it is a dread hat.

inspired to knit

Yay, so on Saturday I ordered "Inspired to Knit" from target.com and it came yesterday. I'm excited I want to start knitting the winter wonderland coat but I have to pick what yarn to use first. I don't know, I think I want it to be a vibrant red. We will see. I have to earn some money to buy yarn first. Anyways I'm excited that I have the book now. Here is a picture of the coat that shutter honey’s finished & posted on Ravelry.

More wash rags

the rainbow one is diagonal eyelet brocade, blue & green is the fan stitch, the large orange yellow & white one is chevron lace, the top orange yellow is the moss stitch and the left orange yellow is sugar cubes.
The chevron lace pattern I found in the book boutique knits and the rest in the book Vogue Knitting Stitchionary

always something to learn

While going through my new Stitchionary book today making washcloths and face cloths (smaller wash cloths) learning the fan stitch I came across "P2tog tbl" not knowing what that meant I googled it and found the info below.

P2tog tbl (purl 2 together through back loop)

I'm not yet to the point where I know all the knitting lingo out there, so, for the time being I am a knitting sponge soaking up all there is to learn.

Last night I joined the girls in the smitten-for-knittin Ravelry group. It was fun. There were two blankets being made by two crocheters and the projects below were being knitted my myself and the other knitter there.

Sunflowers in the morning

The morning light reminded me of the opening scene in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Some beautiful sunflowers my mom found at Kroger in January for me :)
an excerpt from the poem "Eloisa to Abelard" by Alexander Pope

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.
Grace shines around her with serenest beams,
And whisp'ring angels prompt her golden dreams.
For her th' unfading rose of Eden blooms,
And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes,
For her the Spouse prepares the bridal ring,
For her white virgins hymeneals sing,
To sounds of heav'nly harps she dies away,
And melts in visions of eternal day.

almost finished...

I knitted a lot on it today. I went with a new friend of mine I met at the beginning of this month and my husband to the park today. It was beautiful blue sky with a few streaks of white fluff, green grass, green trees and a nice gentle breeze, and sunny. We only moved our picnic quilt once to be in the sun again. Texas weather is quite odd. We brought art supplies along and drew in charcoal and soft pastels while we were there. Had a fruit cup snack break. My husband finished reading "The Light Princess" by George MacDonald with illustrations by Maurice Sendak, who wrote and illustrated "Where the Wild Things Are". She is working on this cute purple and rainbow on white yarn bed spread. It was her first ever project. I made some progress on my Ruffled Neck Kerchief; I'm at 106 out of 171 rows. I made some more progress after church at a game night get together where I participated partially and then proceeded to knit and made and drink Asian orange citrus tea that looks like jam till it was time to return home for the evening.

TMNT Masks

(finished knitting)

(after crochet eyes)

(before crochet eyes)

I know some boys who love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and after being on a knitting frenzy lately. I came up with this.

Knit in stockinet with the eye section knit open like a rectangle to go back crochet around the eye opening to make it two holes & with the ends of the mask decreased to make an angle to mimic the rolling up of a bandana like the TMNT use for their eye masks.

Knit with Lion Brand Wool Yarn in colors Pumpkin & Purple
Needle Size US6(purple) and US8(orange)

Here is the free pattern:
row 1-7 (bottom half), 8-12 (left side of eyes), 13-17 (right side of eyes), 18-24 (top half)

1. CO 162
2. P
3. K1, K2tog, knit to last 3 stitches, ssk, K1
4. p
5. K1, K2tog, knit to last 3 stitches, ssk, K1
6. P
7. K1, K2tog, K 63, BO 27, K 63, ssk, K1
8. (left side of eyes (BO stitches) on mask) P till BO
9. K to last 3 stitches, ssk, K1
10. P till BO
11. K to last 3 stitches, ssk, K1
12. P till BO, CO 27, cut yarn leaving a 6 inch tail
13. (right side of eyes (BO stitches) on mask) P
14. K1, K2tog, K till BO
15. P till end
16. K1, K2tog, K till BO
17. P till end
18. K1, K2tog, K to last 3 stitches, ssk, K1
19. P
20. K1, K2tog, K to last 3 stitches, ssk, K1
21. P
22. K1, K2tog, K to last 3 stitches, ssk, K1
23. P
24. (Bind Off Row)K1, K2tog, psso, continue to BO till last 3 stitches, ssk, psso, K1, psso, cut yarn, tie off

Weave in ends. Go back and crochet around eye hole & in the middle crochet two stitches on the bottom to two stitches on the top to make the eye opening two eye holes. Also crochet across CO edging because that seems to have come out more loose than the BO edging and will lay more flat on the face if you reinforce it with crocheting. The Lion Brand wool yarn says it is good for felting on the tag. I haven't felted one yet, so I'll post about how felting one turns out when I do so because the pattern wants to roll. I'm also making one with a seed stitch to stop the rolling.

posted on craftster.org

if you make a mask please post a picture of it :)

knit-out and crochet 2009

Heard about this in my lion brand yarn newsletter in my email this morning. The third anual knit-out and crochet will be held at mall of America this year Feb. 14-15, 2009. It sounds really cool and I would love to go if i didn't live 945 miles away.

The tart sweet crunchy with a liquid center sandwich.

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 pieces of bacon
2 pieces of cinnamon raison bread
Mustard
Salt
Black pepper
1 wedge of “the laughing cow” original creamy Swiss flavor (soft cheese sold in a circle box of pizza like wedges)
cooking spray(lk.pam)

Cooking supplies:

Pan Grease guard or a flat cookie sheet pan used upside down
Spatula
Tongs
Knife
Toaster
Plate
Paper towels

1. put bread in toaster at low setting (don’t toast yet)
2. spray cooking spray in pan and heat stove top with pan
3. crack egg and pour into pan trying not to break the yoke let sizzle
4. with spatula carefully flip egg over (helps if you hold pan at angle and use side of pan to help flip egg over) and let sizzle some more
5. holding pan at angle slide egg onto plate
6. place two pieces of bacon in pan
7. place grease guard on top of pan
8. flip bacon 3 times during cooking
9. remove cooked bacon from pan with tongs and place on folded paper towels
10. toast bread
11. when bread is toasted spread “laughing cow” cheese on one piece
12. squirt mustard on top of cheese
13. sprinkle black pepper on top of mustard
14. slide egg off of plate on top of the black pepper
15. break bacon pieces in twos and place on top of egg
16. place other toast piece on top to finish off sandwich
    
    This sandwich can be messy to eat, so eat it over a plate. But, oh so good.

new book added to my collection

Last night I went to Barnes and Nobles with my mother who was visiting. First thing I did was raid the shelves of the knitting section and sat down with around 10 knitting books and one of their comfy chairs flipping through the pages intently looking at all of the stitch patterns and knitted designs. After putting them back on the shelves choosing three to look through again, to in the end choose one. I decided on “Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume One: Knit & Purl” by Trisha Malcolm. I figured I could use this book a lot considering my desire to make my own patterns. I felt honored afterwards because during the outing someone struck up a discussion with me by starting off with asking what the difference between sewing and knitting was and some more unusual conversation and I was able to by God’s grace entirely share with this person The Gospel which in my husbands and my life group (home church) this past week learned means Good News.

the acorn hat

Ok, the brown experiment is now officially a hat, yay. I guess I didn’t really notice till I put it on but the edges are scalloped from the body pattern, sweet. And when I saw it on me in the mirror my first instinct was it looks like an acorn so I lovingly named it that on ravelry. The yarn I used and the needle size made it pretty large on my head. I think I’m still going to add an edge to it as another variation of the hat. I have no idea how to make pdf files, so I’ll have to look into that so I can post the pattern on ravelry. I also want to try to shrink it as much as I can and see how small I can get it. I’m really honored with the four hearts it’s gotten so far on ravelry compared to my other three in total over all my other projects.

Since I finished the first faze of this project for the moment, in researching for my next design project I opened up my newest Anthropologie catalog issue January 2009. And found one of the few knitted items on pg. 43 the withering frost vest. After finding the project that now interests me I set out to find what the stitch pattern is for the vest, searching google, ravelry, and library knitting books with not much luck. My husband and I ending up going to Hastings (a book and AV store) after our home church group where we are going to be going through the book of Mark this semester, anyways at Hastings I found two similar stitches one was in the “forest park dresser scarf” from the book “101 Designer One-Skein Wonders: A world of possibilities inspired by just one skein” by Judith Durant and the other from the pattern “wedding ensemble skirt” from the book “Inspired to Knit: Creating Exquisite Hand Knits” by Michele Rose Orne. I'll post swatches of those two designs later. I think this is going to be an ongoing project.

What's on my needles...

Here is what's on my needles. The cream one is the "Ruffled Neck Kerchief" pattern from the book "Boutique Knits" by Laura Irwin. It is worked in a chevron lace stitch. I really like how it is turning out. I'm using US size 4 needles with lion brand fishermen's wool.

The brown one is my first attempt at making my own pattern. My first knitted creation of my very own, I’m so proud. It's going to be a woodland/forest/tree stitch themed Rastafarian style hat. Too bad I don't have dreads to stuff inside of it. I bet that would look cool when it is finished. Maybe I'll have to take a picture of it on someone with dreads when I'm finished with it. It is going pretty fast. I started it yesterday to take a break from the neck kerchief. The body is stitched in a curving lattice lace pattern that becomes reverse stocking stitch with embossed leaves around the crown as the hat is decreased and I'm going to add a rim with an acorn rib.

How to cable knit stitch

Ok, to make the most basic “simple cable” stitch. You will need an extra knitting needle (what I use is an extra knitting needle in the same size of knitting needles that I’m knitting with (small double pointed needles work well for this) or there are cable stitch holders (that when you slip the stitches you put aside in cable stitching onto these and then put back onto your left hand needle (I believe only when right handed) to stitch).

here are some examples of cable stitch holders:

“simple cable” stitch is worked over 6 stitches (which means wherever you want to place the “simple cable” stitch it is going to takes 6 stitches in a row to make) & explained here knitted flat on straight knitting needles (meaning you knit a row moving stitches from the left hand needle to the right hand needle (where the tip of the right hand needle is pointed to the left) and when you are finished knitting the row and all of your stitches are now on the right hand needle you turn the right hand needle like a weathervane now to point to the right and becomes the needle that is now in your left hand ready to be purled)

Row 1: knit 6 stitches
Row 2: purl 6 stitches
Row 3: knit 6 stitches
Row 4: purl 6 stitches
Row 5: slip first 3 stitches on to an extra needle and pull this needle in front of your work so that the 3 stitches on the extra needle are resting in front of your knitting. Then knit next 3 stitches. Now slip the 3 stitches you slipped off onto the extra needle back onto your left hand needle and knit them.
Row 6: Purl 6 stitches

To continue in cable stitch repeat rows 1-6 over and over.

Here are a couple of links if you still need some help with visualizing this process:

dummies.com

videojug.com

for Mia

Mr. Squid

I found the pattern for this in a craftster forum post . I thought it was really cute but I had no need for an I-pod cozy since I don't really use mine until my best friends boyfriend said he wanted me to make one for him when I was teaching her how to knit. I was really excited how quickly she picked it up. I decided on the squid pod cozy because he is a sculptor specializing in imaginary creatures in sculptie clay and the squid seemed to fit him. Anyways, the pattern is really easy, a one day project or a couple day project is you don't want to work on it all day. I changed a couple things in the pattern. The head shaping I decided to just repeat RND1 over and over instead of the RND1 RND2, RND1... I also added eyelets for button holes on the back flap. I added them in the 10th row down on the flap by (yo k2tog) for one side and (ssk yo) for later in that row for the other. And Like a real squid he has 8 little tentacles and 2 big ones with the fins. I used Fishermen's wool from Lion Brand yarn in natural brown that I got at Hobby Lobby and size US4 double pointed needles and for the gauge of making the 5" body it was 7 rows to an inch. In all I’m really happy with this project and I got to give it to him last night because it was his birthday. It was such a hit that another friend of mine wants one who is in love with monkeys. You know what I think I’m going to make him a sock monkey I-pod cozy that I noticed on Ravelry. Literally just thought of that, thanks God for the idea :)

Glass Bottle Cozy

My Last trip to the Library I found a knitting book I'd never noticed on it's shelves before over the past month that i've been raiding the Libraries shelves of kniting pattern book. The book being "Knitting With Balls: A Hands-On Guide to Knitting for the Modern Man" by Michael Del Vecchio. I've chosen first to make the 3 cross cable "beer cozy". The pattern seems to be missing an increase row. So I added another row of yarn overs for row 12 instead of stopping at row 10 because I ended up with 31 stitches after row 10 instead of the 36 needed. I also ended up knitting 4 cable rows and finishing off with two rows of the pattern after the last cable row to match the two rows of pattern before the first cable row. And at the very top of the cozy to finish off I knitted one inch of knit and then flipped it over to make a collar of sorts. My gauge was 7 rows per inch.

Plain Talk Ruffled Mittens

Ok, second up on the count down of knitted projects from my new book "Boutique Knits: 20+ Must-Have Accessories" by Laura Irwin are the "Plain Talk Ruffles Mittens". I have never knit mittens before so, this pattern was intriguing for that reason also, I thought the ruffles along the cuff made them real cute and bonus I learned how to make button holes (smile). I decided to put some yellow buttons on them and sew them on in the arrow style (for a better idea of what I’m talking about) I like to call it the plant style or grass style. Where you have a button with four holes you sew diagonally across then from the bottom of the holes that you sewed diagonally across sew from that hole to each of the other two holes. I think it adds a bit extra to the button.

Side Slip Cloche

Ok, so on our way back home from visiting the first set of parents for the holidays we stopped at a Borders because my parents had given my husband a gift certificate to buy books because that is pretty much all that he wants buy, ever. He could live in a book store especially a resale one if they'd allow him to set up camp and could convince me to live a life of yellowing pages and dust. And with this gift card was uber kind and told me he wanted me to pick out a book I wanted too. I looked at all the knitting books they had that I'd never heard of before. You don't get many new knitting books at our library. And out of all of these knitting books I decided not to get the book I was excited to check out because of a side bar add on craftster which was "Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines: Patterns, Stories, Pictures, True Confessions, Tricky Bits, Whole New Worlds, and Familiar Ones, Too" by Kay Gardiner and Ann Meador Shayne and published in September 08 and instead get "Boutique Knits: 20+ Must-Have Accessories" by Laura Irwin which was published in Nov. of 08. And I am thrilled about it, wanting to knit everything in the book. My husband was like yeah get this one because he thought a lot of the stuff was sexy and he wanted me to knit it for myself or I guess for him to see on me like the first thing I knitted from the book, the "Side Slip Cloche" hat. A picture of the hat is used as the cover of the book. I am really please with this hat. It didn't take that long at all to knit and it looks fabulous and my girl friends all want me to make them one too which makes me smile. I can't knit enough or fast enough to knit all of the presents I have planned, stuff to sell and stuff to keep. Oh, well such is life; I guess I'll just keep on knitting at my pace, which I don't mind.

new year = new projects :)

Hello all,

Happy new year, to you and you and you... Well online, scratch that because I've been online but I just haven't posted on my blog, my husband and I been taking advantage of Jesus' B-Day and the New Year to visit our families and I didn't bring my camera with me to take pictures like I like of the stuff that I've been knitting over the past week, so I've been MIA. But not worry, because me and my busy hands are back in action to show you what we've been up to. (Weeeee-booom) is me lighting a roman candle of excitement and joy that I finally received my invite to Ravelry. If you love to knit or crochet this site is awesome! And I really do mean the exclamation point there. I've been having a hoot. I only own a couple of knitting books, so I frequent the local Library for knitting books of patterns taking advantage of my tax dollars. On Ravelry they set it up so that you can see everyone’s finished product of any knitting pattern out there, ok so I'm sure not every pattern ever is on there, but if you make it, you can post where the pattern is from and be the first person to post about that pattern. I think that is pretty sweet and to my knowledge never been attempted before. So, I've been posting about my recent projects on there and learning about the website and surfing through the constantly uploaded new pictures of projects. Staying up many a late night eager to find just one more thing I want to heart, just one more...