More Fair Isle

I started my other fair isle kit from knitpicks a while ago. It was coming along quite nicely (despite no. 3 needles) but quickly was thrown by the wayside after my birthday. This will eventually become quite a pretty vest in greens and browns.

Here is one of the knits that graped my attention. My very first EZ seamless yoke.

I don't like the colorwork I picked out all that much. I think maybe I used too many colors or that the red and orange just don't go with the main color brown. Thinking about redoing it to just green, the two blues and white. And then doing more of a leaf pattern then the flowers. I don't know. But that will probably never happen. Or at least not till fall.

This was made with lion bran wool ease worsted weight. Every day after christmas they put it on sale for $2 and I get a bunch. This used 4 of the main color.

More White Lace

I have made another white lace shawl, this one I get to keep.

I bet you can guess the pattern. It is the ever popular Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark, 6387 projects and counting on rav. I love everything about the pattern except the size and those horrid nubs. Ok I like the way the nubs look, just not the tension it induces on my body when I try to knit them. My hands would cramp up and for some reason my arms and back and neck would all tighten up too. I picked the pattern due to it only needed one skein, so I guess I was in for the size disappointment and should have known before hand. Since I did run out with only 5 rows left and had to get a second skein anyway I really wish I would have added more repeats in the budding lace pattern.

Here is my proof that I did indeed block the thing. See I'm not always that lazy. This time I threw a sheet on the carpet and just pushed the pins right through the carpet. Worked much better than my crazy pins on a towel on the tile floor scheme I tried last time. I might actually block more things if it is this easy.

The yarn was a Christmas gift from my brother. He even went into the lys to buy it, he really is a great guy. Had to have been funny, my 6'-8" 260 lb brother walking in to a yarn store. And what he got was a delicate pretty skein of Kraemer Sterling Silk & Silver in veil white (rav link). This is a bad picture but the only way to really capture the glitteryness of the silver thread. Also a good close up of those horrid yet beautiful nubs.

Continental No Go

I tried to better my knitting and broaden my ability but that is just to hard. Even the baby bib had to be riped out. Looking back cotton was not a good choice to try, being that keeping tension in cotton was much harder on my finger that keeping tension in wool. I might one day get up the courage and try again. But for now I made my fair isle hat and mittens just fine with out it. I created a new method of holding both colors in my right hand at one time. One color on the outside and one on the inside, and would rotate my fingers between the two colors. Probably not quite as fast since I am still throwing both colors but works for me.

Aren't they crazy cute? And they were so much fun to knit I did it all in one week. I love them and wear them all the time. They are very warm and can take all the wear. Also the kit came with almost enough yarn to make two sets. Made my mom a hat and plan on making myself a matching cowl. I am afraid to wash them though, really really do not want to felt them, and the though of being with out them for a day to air dry is just too much. In the bag I am holding is my falling leaves blanket which is finally finished. It only took two years to finish.
I would say it was worth it. It took three 1lb carnon yarn. As I have said before I started with only one and thought I could somehow just go back and buy more want I ran out. Well that didn't happen so opted to used three very different sades of green to make it look like this was done on purpose. I also got border of making all those small squares so I made up a pattern that would be as big as four of them put together. I love it. The knitted border was horrid, I hate having to pick up stitches let alone doing it for two hours strait.

I also learnt to crochet a little on this project. I used a zig-zag stitch to join all the squares together, just slightly better then sewing. I do like the effect though, trying to hide my sewing would have been too hard and the zig-zag stitch is supposed to stand out as a design feature. Yes it is true I did not block the blanket. You can point and laugh and call me lazy but it is a blanket and I just didn't feel like it.

Continental method of knitting

I'm trying to teach myself continental style. In doing so I'm learning new things about how I throw. Turns out I never really kept tension in my working yarn. I would just pinch it between my index finger and thumb and allow them to slide along the working yarn. I would also use the index finger on my left hand to 'push' the right needle through the loop and my left thumb to push up the next stitch and the other six fingers would hold the needles. I'm having a really hard time with the tension part of knitting, turns out I have no idea how to do it even though I've been knitting (well if I do say so myself) for over six years now.


I decided that the baby-bib-o-love would be a perfect project to teach myself since I thought garter stitch was more forgiving for BAD gauge. And bad gauge is what I have right now, my loops are either crazy big or really tight. I think that I'm just going to have to come to terms with having very lose gauge when knitting continental since the really tight stitches are when I try to fix it. I'm pretty sure I will always have to drop a few needle sizes, but we will see. I'm only 8 garter ridges into the first bib and I plan on making several for practice.


Now come the whole reason I'm making myself even do this (my left index finger is in pain already). I just discovered how reasonable the kits at knitpicks are, and bought 2 fair isle ones. I've aways thought about trying this out but always thought that it was too expensive for my college student budget, but I found a crazy cute hat and mitten kit for only $18 and a really nice vest one for $19. The mitten one is on back order and so I don't know how long it will take to get here but I have to start learning this now. I'm really scared that my gauge with each hand will be too different and my stranding will look like crap.


Here is the shawl I made back in June, I already gave it away but here are the pictures (taken the day it was gifted)



I knit it in dreamy angora wool blend and used Lucinda Shells Shawl from Beyond Wool by Candace Strick. Knit this strait from the pattern, just used a size larger needle and only the angora instead of angora and linen together. This is also the first project I have ever blocked and wow, I am now on board blocking things. The yarn really came alive after being washed, like ten times softer than before. But the best part about this shawl, guess how much it cost...

a grand total of $5!!!. I finally used the method of recycling yarn. I went to goodwill with a type of yarn in mind. The most important key to recycling yarn is to get a sweater that is not in your size. I also bought two other sweaters that day to recycle, both of which moved from my knitting stash right to my wardrobe without being re-knitted. Also an important key to picking out the recycling sweater I found from laughing purple goldfish. Scroll down to the seams to look out for. I have really taken a liking to wool and now know what all the fuss is about. I'm going to try and not buy anymore acrylic yarn but recycle wool. The other best part about this shawl is that I only used 1/2 of the original sweater so I can make one for myself too. I found it was more time effective to not wind it into a ball but to knit as you unravel the old sweater. This also allows for less tangles and would be an interesting sock blank if I find a white sweater in a stronger yarn, no way would I use this angora for socks.

My first lace

I finally started a lace project. Two of my good friends from high school are getting married this summer so I wanted to knit them something nice. A lace shale seamed perfect for one of them. The pattern I'm using is from Beyond Wool and calls for argora and linen to be held together.

I found a beautiful sweater at goodwill that was make with a argora blend and this was perfect. Since I wanted it to be more lacy I didn't hold it together with anything and used size 2 US needles instead of 1 Us. I finished the shawl last night (finally this thing took forever) and I'm attempting to block it this weekend. Since I recycled a sweater I'm not sure how much yarn I used. I used both sleeves and half of the front. I'm quite pleased with the recycling of yarns. This project cost me a whole $5, and I have enough left for a nice scarf or something. I'm defiantly going to recycle a lot more.

One Month Ago

I'm not really a purse kind of person, I don't normally carry one if possible. However I have fallen in love with this brea bag. I wanted to make a purse for a good friend of mine for her birthday. I started out just making a pattern as I go along but it was going to be fairly boring. I only had 4 days to finish so I had picked out some cotton in my stash and held it double and used size 9 needles. I started with just a rectangle bottom and picked up stitches all the way around and got up a good 3" (using a purl row for the corners) My thought was that I could find a sideways cable to finish off the top and add a strap. So I went to raverly and try my luck. Turns out I was not able to find any sideways cable but I did find the brea.

One look at the bag and I wanted to make it. It is gorgeous. My thought was I could maybe make it for next year or Christmas but I got to reading the pattern. Each side only has 29 rows and you only start with 128 stitches. That seamed more than reasonable in my time frame. Then I read what materials you need, yarn held double and size 9 needles. The exact things I had with me. And my yarn even made gauge (or at least close) I measured 14 stitches to 4" in stockinette not seed stitch but still pretty close. I made my mind up right then and there to rip out my lousy excuse of a purse and cast on this puppy.

The first bag took me only 2 days to finish (true one of the days was over the entire span of a baseball game on top of my train ride). I made only two modifications to the first bag (not pictured here, it was pink if you where following along) I did not make three parts to have to sew together. The whole time knitting the first side I was thinking about how to not have to sew the thing (when I wasn't thinking how much I loved this bad) My brilliant idea was to instead of knitting the bottom long part width wise like in the pattern but length wise. I would then instead of casting off this bottom section continue on to the second side and only have one seam to sew. I almost went with this theory when I dawned on me, I didn't have to cast on at all, just needed to pick up stitches along the bottom edge of the first side. This eliminated all need of sewing. That is when I married the bag, it was far beyond love at this point.

The other modification was simple, I used a braid cord as a strap. Of course I needed to make the bag again. My mother-in-laws birthday was coming up and this sounded perfect. This time I only had 6 oz of cotton in the blue and I used about 8-9 oz of cotton on the first bag. I knew I was going to run out and I wanted to use up stash. Also, I though the bag was a bit big (probably not for a normal person but when I do use a purse it is the smallest one I can get away with) so to make this smaller I skipped the first 6 rows and cast on for row 7. I just had enough yarn for both the bag and strap. I used an old found button, key rings for the hardware. I made a lining for this one too. It finishes off the bag quite nicely.

I have now have to make a bag for me. To bad I used up all my cotton that was 6 oz of the same color. Since the pattern isn't written for cotton I might try some other type of fiber but I really like how sturdy the cotton turns out. Maybe I will just go and buy one 3 oz skein.

2 Months Ago

For my birthday I bought myself a ball winder.

I wound these 4 yarn pats in 30 min flat! These have since been knit up into a skirt from Fitted Knits. The matching suit coat will be coming soon but I have to unravel the cardigan the yarn is in the form of now first. Once both are finished I'll post a picture. The skirt is very nice and I added a zipper and elastic hem and everything. The zipper turned out not to be needed, as the elastic allows the skirt to be taken on and off without undoing the zipper. This also means that without the elastic the skirt would not have been kept on so good thing I added it. This occurred because I did not read the errata until I had already started. The pattern used starts on p.123. Yes that's right, I finally check gauge and get it smack on and turns out the gauge listed on the pattern is WRONG. Oh well, I really didn't want the skirt to lay at my waist but at my hips so with the elastic it is perfect. I was actually thinking about starting over to make it for my waist when I checked the errata so it turned out ok.

Next project I was working on is a baby blanket. My husbands best friend is having a baby (very soon now) so of course I had to make her something knitted (the baby) I didn't completely draw from stash for this one. I used up the rest of the sweet pea peach fuzz left over from the last baby blanket, and I bought some soft white baby yarn to use as the carrier yarn. This blanket is much softer than the last one. However the baby yarn is a sport/fingerling weight where the yarn in the last blanket was worsted/aran. I liked the textured of the first blanket better, more substance. This one stretches to much, even if it is crazy soft.
I also used a 'real' pattern for this one, bunny hop blanket. The pattern repeat was getting to me so I cheated and only did 1 and 1/2 repeat along the edges. This made 2 and 1/2 diamonds around the sides and a stockinette middle. This blanket was finished just yesterday when I finally washed it, the shower is next weekend so I really didn't have a choice.

3 Months Ago

Here are a few things I've been working on.

This was actually a Christmas present, a mistake rib scarf made from Lion Brand Wool. A matching hat was made but never quite finished, I ran out of yarn. I tried to make an inside-out hat, my first ever pattern that I wrote myself but have since found out it is in no way an original (start with 8 stitches increase to total hat and then eventually decrease and fold in half for double thickness) but really only had enough yarn for one hat, not two on top of each other.

And here is the new winter set I made my self. I am constantly loosing my hats and I saw someone downtown (Chicago) one day with a beautiful cabled scarf with an attached hood, and I new I was going to make one. I thought I would have to make up my own pattern but did a quick search on ravelry and actually found the exact pattern for a hoodie scarf that I had in my head (this actually does happen, who would have thunk it) Only made a few adjustments. I changed the cable to a 9-stitch braid and likewise changed all the ribbing to 3x3 to match the cable. Also, I added in some decreases on the hood part to curve off the top. But the best part is I added buttons and button holes to the end of the scarf.

It being very windy in Chicago my scarfs always fly over my shoulder and the only way I can get the end back is to take the whole thing off. The buttons let me wrap it around my face and keep it there. It is also crazy warm, perfect for those negative 30 days. The only bad thing about this scarf is that it is in no way reversible. Next time I would find a reversible cable, open braid maybe.

I made some fingerless mitts to match. Used a basic 2x2 rib pattern and altered it the same way as the hood (added the cable and made 3x3 rib) These are not so perfect for negative 30 days, and I wear my dollar store gloves under them. I'm thinking about making actual mittens to match next winter but will have to rip out these guys to finish, only have enough yarn left to make one mitten I think.

More to come with the other things I've been working on. Also, writing the pattern is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The actual directions and how I did it are all there but still working on the presentation. Now that school is over I might get it done soon (hopefully)

God Save the King

I found my pattern that I wrote!!! Within the week I will be posting a free pattern for a bar stool cover. I had been looking for the pattern for two weeks now. At least I got a clean house out of the whole thing. First I tore apart the place looking for it, and then I put absolutely everything away and got rid of a lot of crap and still didn't find it. When I gave up and thought I must have thrown it away on accident, I pulled out my blanket knitting bag to put in my new project, there it was in the bag along with all the left over yarn from this project. Sitting quietly right were I left the darn thing.

A magic day in knitting

I finally started to use the lion brand magic stripes my grandma gave me. She had picked up three skeins of it because she found it for 85% off!!!!!! She had never knit a sock before, being a crocheter, but who in their right mind can refuse yarn that is that discounted? Well back when I made my first socks I was working on them over at her house so she brought out these very precious skeins that had been fermenting in her stash for 3 years now and gifted them upon me.

I had been upset at knitting socks because of my last pair. The cotton ones that I hand dyed did fit, however they did not fit inside my shoes with my feet in them. Now finishing my first sock with actual sock yarn I think I know were I went wrong with my hand dyed yarn. Sock yarn is a much lighter weight yarn than I though it was so using a size 1 needle on the cotton made it way to thick. Next time I'm using a three because my cotton it probably closer to worsted.

I was annoyed at knitting socks because of the double pointed needles, I just plain don't like them. So this time I gave 2 circulars a go. I ran over to the craft store and the only size 2's that they had had a 29" cord, I wasn't to happy about it being so long but bought it anyway since it was the only one. I started the first sock toe up and finished increasing for the toe and the long cir was driving me almost as crazy and the double pointed needles where and wanted to cry. But that is when it hit me. I had heard about the magic loop before only needing one large circular needle, exactly what I had. So now not only are these magic stripe yarn but also done on the magic loop. I love it.

Magic loop is actually very easy and I don't understand why anyone would make socks any other way. But then maybe I am a bit obsessive about things not being clumsy and in the way. I found a very complete list of sites on the magic loop and learned after about 5 min.

Soft enough for a baby

I have another baby shower to go to at the end of the month so here comes a baby blanket. This one is a stash buster. I had picked up a sad amount of peach fuzz a while back when it was on clearance at hobby lobby. This stuff is crazy soft (obviously implied by its name but so much so you simply can't understand until you touch it for yourself). Well the one problem with being induced by the clearance yarn fumes is you really don't look at what you buy. When I got this stuff home (5 of sweetpea and 2 of playtime) I started thinking of all the cute soft baby stuff I could make. Finally, I actually looked at the ball band for the suggested needle size to see this:

There where several problems, 1) no knitting gauge, 2) this is a super fine yarn, 3) hand wash hot only (what is that?). Upon closer inspection it did say to used a US 3 knitting needle, but there also was a key ingredient that I was missing. On the other side of the ball band there was this:

This yarn is best used as a carrier thread with another larger yarn.

Well that says it all right there. Something that I might have seen if the yarn wasn't on clearance.

This turned out to be OK. I just got a nice worsted weight yarn and held the peach fuzz double with it. I'm using size 9 needles and really like the resulting fabric, nice and warm. It's not quite as soft as what I was imagining but still nice. Also, I will end up only using 2 1/2 of the skeins that I have so I see 2 more of these blankets coming. All was going along quite nicely and I was very happy about using stash.

I picked out a free pattern from lion brand (if it can be considered a pattern) just your basic wash cloth with the eyelet edging. I was slightly nervous about knitting a blanket diagonally for fear that I would run out of my worsted weight yarn (that I only had a lb of and didn't want to have to buy more) but I told myself I would just knit half way a start decreasing and there would be no problem. Well if you don't own a nice scale just knitting till half of it is gone is easier said then done. Lets just say I didn't make it (no duh my brain is screaming at me)

I'm going to go and pick up another Caron 1 lb, if they sell have that colorway (not likely knowing my luck) or what ever acrylic at the store is closest. I have some other acrylic stash that is close and will have to do if I can't find anything better. If there wasn't a dead line I would probably throw this in the closet and tell myself that at some point I will rip back all of the decreasing and several rows of the increasing and re-knit to be able to finish with what I have. Another plan that is running though my head it to rip back 4 rows, knit a eyelet row, then one regular and then bind off. Making a blanket something like this:

Any opinions?

Christmas all taken care of

I finished all of my Christmas knitting just in time. Christmas eve morning I threw all of my potholders in the wash Aren't they so pretty? I love how the patterns changed slowly though out the year making them. Washing them was a great idea, they became so much better once the hot water shrunk the stitches together making them much more pot holder like.

That is how much lint came out of the wash with them (not to mention what was in the lint trap.







And that is what was happening out side while washing them.







While they were drying I finished weaving in all the ends on my tailgate rug from Mason-Dixon knitting. My first project ever from their books.

I love knitting this thing but let me tell you, the weaving in part is no fun. There are a million ends (can you tell I don't typically do much color work?) I will however defiantly be making more of these, my mom and me both want one. This one went to my grandma.

While washing the rug I wrapped all the pot holders. They look so small all wrapped up. The rug came out of the dryer at 2:00 and we had to be out the door at 2:30 to get there on time. I guess I did cut it pretty close. But in my credit I a) got it done and b) started last January, it wasn't my fault I had 3 baby showers to go to and totally got distracted by discovering yarn on e-bay, knitting blogs and ravelry in the meantime.

Everyone loved their presents, or at least they did to my face. (that's all that matters) I'm very happy with this years knitting.

I have it all planed out for next year. I'm going to make Christmas ornaments. I'm using the "Cabled Globe Ornament" by Eunny Jang from A Little Something Special on knitting daily. I'm going to adjust the pattern greatly to

a) make it smaller, the pattern is for balls that are 9" across, I want them to be more like 3"

b)use the Christmas sale yarn I got already, here it the whole kit-n-kabotal (when I got the add from Joann's that said that all the wool-ease was on sale for $1.99 I couldn't wait until Friday but when I got there are realised that wool ease is regularly $3, I was slightly upset and almost didn't buy any, but as you can see, I did anyways. 33% off is still on sale)

Texture?

Ok, I finished the textured tunic a while ago and still can't decide if I like the color. I was very proud of my self with the sleeves. I finished one of them completely and cast off and that is when I stoped deluding myself that I liked how it looked.

I didn't read the instructions until after I had knit the whole textured section only to realise that I should have been decreasing. Well I just decreased after like in the body and thought for some reason it would be ok. Also for the 'bell' part at the end I followed the patter and just don't like it at all. It took all my strength to rip it all back and admit that I had waisted the past 4 hours of knitting.

I have officially worn the sweater twice, once to a 5K that my husband ran in and once to work. I love the eye-hole in theory and when my bra strap isn't showing. I'm thinking about sewing it shut since my bra straps rarely stay where they should, I have slopey shoulders.

I really like the buttons and button tabs the way I made them. No key-hole down there and if I where to make one small change it would be to knit one round even and separate and not start increasing on that first round (ie separate the round before I did).

This being the first wool sweater I have finished I am very scared to wash it. Also, blocking question, what is the point of blocking? Wouldn't you have to do it again every time you wash the thing?

I will make this dress one day or my name isn't...

Ok it's not a very good picture of it, I saw it in a catalog before and they have a shorter version that is a sweater but I love the dress. (from Victoria secret by the way and it is very creatively called cable dress) I would consider just buying it for the low low price of $69 which is probably how much I would spend on it if I used wool but I'm not a yarn snob so acrylic yarn here I come.

Lets Add a Little Texture

The first pair of socks are done. I tried wearing them last Friday (finished last Thursday) but they hurt like mad when I put my feet in my shoes. I got as far as the train station and had to take them off. I washed them thinking that this would help. Well, they took over 2 hours to dry in the dryer!!! I hand washed them since I was afraid the dye would still come off (it did but don't know if there was enough to dye my clothes pink) and threw them in the dryer by them selves for about 1/2 hour while washing machine finished. Then add the load in with then, another hour and 1/4. The load of laundry dried completely, took it out and left the socks in there with the jeans and turned the heat up. They still did not dry in the last 1/2 so I had them air dry in the car. I really wanted to show them off. Well they felt much better but I really should take off a few stitches to wear with shoes. (yes, yes, I know that lama told me to reduce at least another 4 stitches but I just didn't listen) But after that drying escapade I just don't know if I will knit any more socks out of my cotton yarn.

On to my next project. I am just as unsure about the success of this one. I started on the Textured Tunic from Fitted Knits (the sweater pictured on the cover). I used the clearance yarn I got from JoAnns and now know why it was on clearance. The different colors look so nice in the skein but not so nice all knit up. When I first tried the sweater on with the front all finished, my hubby exclaimed that he would never be seen in public with me wearing it. That might be a bit rash on the colors, they aren't that bad. But they aren't perfect. Here it is with the front and back all finished.

Colors aside there were a many things not to like about this pattern. Do a quick search on Raverly, I'm not the only one with these complaints, but there are some things I love about the pattern that many people complained about.

1) the key hole at the neck line. I love it. This detail is why I wanted to knit the thing in the first place. True it does present a problem with the bra strap but I always have that problem (I have sloped shoulders so shirt and bra strap are always sliding off anyway)

2) cast on neck line rolls. I love it. Look at the pic in the book, I'm pretty sure it is mean to roll. I think the look is very cute and goes right along with the key hole.

3) not a fitted pattern. I made adjustments. This is the most disappointing thing about this pattern. Looking at the pics it looks VERY fitted but looking at the schematic it shows there is none. I reduced 16 stitches right after the textured section (k2tog sm ssk) at each end every other row 4 times. Then I increased 12 stitches back in the side slit set up rows using kfb and disguised it as a k1 p1 in the moss paneling.

4) the button tabs. I love/hate it. As written the button tabs would have created a key hole and I did not like that, so thanks to Raverly I was able to make a few adjustments with out froging that much. What I did was to knit 5 rounds after the side slit set up with out separating. Then when I did separate on round/row 6 I increased 1 stitch each end for the next 8 rows instead of the cast on 5 stitches each side in row 12. Then followed the rest of the pattern as is. I really liked how the buttons rested on the front hip bone and did not want them on the side of the hip so liked the idea of the tabs to wrap around. Just not the idea of having a big hole right on my love handles.

I'm still not to sure about the color, think it would work better with lots of cabling. I'm going to go ahead and finish the sleeves and wear it to work and then decide if the whole thing will be froged or not. (Let me know if you have an opinion on the color)

When The Moon Hits Your Eye...

My family is a big Italian family (ok so not at all, we are big on being part Italian but small in numbers, my great grandfather was all Italian but this is all I have in me) We used to have a yearly ravioli party. We would make enough to cover a queen sized bed, they eat ourselves silly. We haven't done this family tradition in quite a while (family drama) but this year it has come back. We didn't quite cover a queen sized bed, only 3 cookie sheets, but it was scrumptious.

Also, this year I was old enough to help make the ravioli, not just crimp the edges with a fork. It is actually pretty easy to make the ravioli dough (but then I think making bread is pretty easy now so...) The recipe is also simple enough to memorise it from just one go around:

4 cups shifted flour

2 tsp salt

2 tbl oil

1 egg

1 cup warm water

put flour and salt in bowl and stir. create a dip in the middle (shove it all to the sides) and add egg, oil and water and slowly incorporate in flour. Once incorporated, kneed for 10 min, adding flour as necessary. Cover and let rest for 30 min. Role out, cut, stuff, fold over, crimp with fork.

Let rest for 10 to 20 min in fridge or for the time it takes to boil the water, boil in water until done. A good indication of when they are almost done is once they start floating to the top.

Voila!! That's-a-good-a-meat-a-ball.

The view from my grandma's backyard is also great!!

My Kind of Town Chicago Is

Yes, I am in downtown Chicago every day of the week for work and school but don't normally go in on the weekends. This weekend me and the hubby took a trip down to see the Art Institute and the architecture. When we got there is wasn't open yet so we stood outside long enough for me to find this:

Can't quite see why this no parking sign is interesting? Lets take a closer look:

Talk about knitting upholstery, some one made a sock for this sign post. True I'm pretty sure it is crochet and not knit but still, quite impressive. Whoever made this must have made it right on the pole, maybe everyday while waiting for the light (quite along light since it is Michigan Ave) they chained on a new row? (or whatever the correct crocheting term for another row is)

Found this inside the Art Institute, it used to be a panel under a stair railing,

This would make a very nice stitch pattern. I'm now going to try to invent such a thing. Cables and yarn overs all in one, this will make a very nice pot holder.

Also, can you say Native American quilt?
The repetition of basically the same design reminded me of exactly a quilt. This is painted on a animal skin but still looks of the thing. The sign on the wall says that it was actually a partition to separate off a holy room for the chief or something like that. I didn't read that far in because me and hubby started arguing about whether it was outside-inside wall or inside-inside wall. The sign clearly said inside-inside (without using those exact words but the point was pretty clear) but sometimes men just don't listen.

After the Art Institute we stepped right into the 1950's. This is Patty Burger just a half block down Adams. It has a very small street front but the colors were just to much to pass up. I didn't actually now the decade we were traveling to but my mom-in-law confirmed the date. Very good food.

I Met A Celebrity

Yesterday I went to YarnCon with the local snb group. I hadn't planed on going until I discovered that Ann and Kay of Mason-Dixon Knitting were going to be there (I would use exclamation points here but to convey my excitement would use to many, lets just say it would be similar to the excitement of winning on a game show ) I met Ann and she signed my book, and I have proof. (Kay wasn't actually there so I couldn't show her my applied i-cord potholder)

Now I will take a minuet to explain why I am quite so crazy about the Mason-Dixon Knitting Gals. Their book was the first to show me the vast on-line knitting group and I will always be extremely grateful. I am now officially obsessed with knitting and now know that I am not alone. I had been knitting for a little over 5 years before I read their book but it was never obsession (my friends will tell you otherwise but I never really went over the deep end until I read there book) Their writing style was just so different from the other pattern books, IE it had a writing style. They talked about knitting the way I had always thought about it, but never had anyone to talk about it with that didn't look at me like I was mad. Now, I have never actually knitted anything from their book... but just love the way they talk about knitting. I fully intend to eventually knit the after dark nightie and tailgate rad rug (I actually have yarn for this one) and a log cabin blanket and many more from their new book (once I finish reading it).

There was a knitting group that had a great idea, they destashed their yarn and sold it in surprise bags for $5. I really wanted to get one just cuz it was a great idea. They also had the crazy cool row counter that was a bracelet.

I found another new plant fiber to knit with. This time it is banana (ok to the dried trunk of a banana tree) and silk. I got five hanks of the plum/brown (bottom right) from BodhiYarn. I now have to come up with what to knit with this find. I have about 750 yards and am thinking a 3/4 length sleeve shirt (if possible) sleeves to shorten if needed (here I go again)

I'm Dyeing to Knit

I had a very slow day at work a few weeks ago and this is what I found. How to dye.

A while back I had bought a 5.5 lb cone of cotton yarn that I intended for my Ikea Tube Chair Slip-Cover. Well the 5.5 lb cone of yarn turned out to be a sport weight, not exactly something to knit a slip-cover with. I'm eventualy going to buy Peaches & Creme double worsted weight but need 7 lb to finish (didn't take into consideration that cotton is heaver then wool when buying only 5.5 lb) Since I'm chaning to cotton it will be less exspensive than wool but the very idea of buying 7 lbs to knit right now is crazy. I need to destash and bit and finish school before I start on this indever.

So the question arouse, what to do with the 5.5 lb cone of cotton that I have? I got it in a cream color, originaly with the idea that I could dye it to whatever color I wanted the chair cover to be. So I thought why not go ahead and still dye it. I had always wanted to try the kool-aid dyeing. I did a little research and found that kool-aid will not dye cotton (a very sad day). But did find that tye-dye will work. My little cousin originaly gave me the idea at once of our family parties but I didn't remember the conversation untill I had done my research.

Now that I was for sure going to use tye-dye the question was what for? Since I had just made my first sock (even if it was on size 6 needles) I wanted to make another. Plus then I could use the self striping tutorial I found. Plus this yarn was the perfect weight for my first real socks. (I got the 5.5 lb cone on ebay from Frank's, and he has alot more bulk cotton in off white colors if you would like to give it a try). From the book I got at the library I determined that most socks used 400 yds so I wound off 6 400 yd hanks. The first hank was around two chairs 20' apart, the next 10' apart then three 5' apart that the last one with the chairs right next to each other (about 3' apart). From my calculations the 20' would make about 6 row strips with 3 diffrent colors.

I did not think to take picks of the whole dying procces but I basicaly followed the tutorials I found online. What I did discover is

1) Do not use the gloves they give you in the tye-dying kit. I got a hole in mine and half my hand was completly blue. Thankfuly durrng my reasrech I found a comment to use baking soda to get dye off your hands, and it worked but I still had to wash them about 5 times.

2) definatly do it on wet yarn, the only way to get a even color is to 'kneed' the dye in, or else you will by using way to much dye. I had the kind with a squirt bottle instead of puting it in bowles, that might work out diffrent. But then all that kneeding is probably what put the hole in my glove.

3) one kit with 3 dyes is enough for 3 1/2 400 yd hanks. The 20' and 10' hanks i did as the self striping and a 5' hank I did all crazy like, to use up most of the dye and only had blue left (by far the strongest dye in the kit I got)

4) if you let the dye set for 3 days all wraped up it will STINK when you take it out. After rinsing out the exsess dye, wash it with soap. Twice if need be.

I have now finished my first real sock (with a proper guesset) however I thougth this was fingerling yarn, and it most definatly is not. I used 60 stiches for this sock, and I really need to use at least 12 less stiches. So I have now declared it sport weight yarn and have cast on 48 stiches for the next sock. Also, now that I'm doing all this winding of hanks into balls and do not yet have a ball winder I found this really great tutorial on how to hand wind center pull balls.