No Fear Knitting

Remember this mess from almost one year ago? See also The Yarn Room Makeover post.

Well, we (it took the help of my entire family) finally have it finished.

Click on the photos to go to my Flickr page. I’ve added notes about various parts of the room. Here’s a 360 of the room moving to the right.

Notice how all of the accessories are navy blue. That’s because I found most of them at Target. This is the perfect time of year to get organized because most of this stuff came from the college dorm room section. However, the color choices this year were limited to navy blue and “hospital scrubs” green or hot pink. I am generally not a hot pink person, but I love the combination of pink and green. But, the options available in pink were not as great as the ones in navy blue. Hence the blue choice.

Now the question is–Can I keep it looking this good?!

Here’s a closeup of the needle/shoe organizer.

And here’s a closeup of the knitting Christmas ornaments.

School was out Monday. I cast on for a baby sweater for the second child of one of my best friends from childhood. More on that later. I was looking over my last posts from this spring. I realized I didn’t write about the bulk of the knitting I did during May. I’m a member of CIK (Central Iowa Knitters) and I did a program for that group for the June meeting. It was on washcloths. I boycotted knitting washcloths for a long time. I thought they were too dull and lacked challenge. But as time went on and I became a more experienced knitter, I realized that there were some pretty creative knitters out there designing and knitting neat washcloths. (Note that I refuse to call them dish rags, as they were termed in my youth. That title conjures up disgusting dishes, faded rags, and the smell of dish soap.)

So I did a little research and knit six different washcloths. I used various materials. Here’s what I learned.

First, washcloths are usually knit from cotton, linen, bamboo, hemp, or other non-protein fibers. These fibers are absorbent and won’t shrink or felt. Acrylics don’t make good washcloths.

Second, most washcloths are knit in a textured stitch like garter stitch, seed stitch, or lace. This gives your washcloth a good scrubbing surface. These stitches are often stretchy so your washcloth can expand and contract, hold soap and water, and dry quickly.

Third, the sources for creative washcloth ideas are everywhere, especially online. Check out these sites for some inspiration: www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/bath.php and www.jimsyldesign.com/~disbout/kpatterns/knitting.html

Top right: Ballband Washcloth knit in Sugar ‘n’ Cream. Pattern from Mason Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne.

Bottom left: Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloth knit in Classic Elite Bam Boo. Pattern from www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbout/kpatterns/knitting2.html or www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/cotton_chenille_wcloth.html This last link has changed since I did my initial research. They no longer have a pattern for this washcloth, but they have three new patterns for cotton chenille.

Reverse-Bloom Flower Washcloth knit in Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille. Pattern from Interweave Knits Winter 2003 or Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick.

Top right: Bathtime Blossoms knit in Patons Grace. Pattern from Fibertrends 224x.

Bottom left: Garterlac Dishcloth knit in Plymouth Fantasy Naturale. Pattern from Criminy Jickets www.criminyjickets.blogspot.com/2006/07/garterlac-dishcloth.html

Horseshoe Lace Washcloth knit in Euroflax Linen. Pattern from Knitter’s Stash by Melanie Falick and Barbara Albright.

I’m glad I took the photos because after the program, I had a drawing and gave all of these away, hoping to inspire others to knit some fun washcloths.

Tonight was the preview night for the Fabrics and Threads Department at the Iowa State Fair. Here are my entries for this year.

Blue Ribbons first:

Red Ribbons next:

Honorable Mentions third:

And one without a ribbon:

About a week and a half ago, we bought a hanging geranium plant to satisfy the green thumb of Son Number One.  We hung the plant on our front porch.  A day or two later when I took it down to water, we found a nest with five eggs in it.  As the days have gone by, we carefully water the geranium and check on the eggs.  Now we’re up to seven.  Note the bits of yarn lining the nest.  Those are faded scraps from some of my various projects.  This, too, is thanks to Son Number One.  He collected my scraps and put them outside on the bushes so that the birds could use them for their nests.  I allowed him to do this, again, to humor him.  Now we have proof that the birds, do, indeed, use bits of yarn and string in their nests.  The mother bird is getting rather tame.  She will sit on her eggs while we are outside playing just a few feet beneath her.  It probably helps that Son Number One has also put out some bird seed along our front walk.

No visual reference this time. Just look at how big the carpet fibers look. This photo is actual size.  (Click on it for a better view.)  I’m thinking that this would make a really pretty face cloth in a fingering weight cotton–like Dale’s Stork or Patons’s Grace–and US size 3 needles.

It’s amazing what one can accomplish when one has no homework AND the weather is dreary. It also helps that I haven’t done much in the way of fiber arts for the past three months, or at least as much as I am accustomed to doing. I’m probably just in catch up mode. And I feel like I want to do as much as I can before summer session starts. So I’m over half finished with my modular scarf. That one goes fast because you do one triangle at a time, and you don’t want to stop in the middle of a triangle. I’ve decided to put that aside until I can go to the May Knit Alongs. I will want to participate. I’ve also got nearly 20 of the 94 pattern repeats finished in my linen wrap.

Yesterday, I walked by my spinning wheel to get something from the yarn room, and I was drawn to sit and spin.

This is what I grabbed. Our local knitting club joins with the local spinning guild in August at the Iowa State Fair. They spin, and we knit.  Our finished products go to charity. See last year. This is wool that Cindy, the spinning host, let me take home to spin and knit up for this year. I decided I’d better get busy.

This is how it looks spun. I’m trying to make it a little thick/thin on purpose. We’ll see how it knits up. I’m almost finished with this batch. I’ll try to finish today. Then I have two more batches to spin.

I was also going through some other stuff, and I found some lace patterns I’ve wanted to try. I almost started this one last October, but ended up putting it aside. I’m using US size 0000 needles and Number 10 crochet cotton. Here’s a link to the pattern. And this is what I’ve done so far. I think it’s going rather fast.

The quarter is for perspective. I started with 8 stitches. In four more rounds, I’ll be ready to start forming the points of the star. I’m going to keep going. It will be time to pick up Son Number One before I know it.

To paraphrase the Scottish poet Robert Burns, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” This is what happened to my good intentions of posting occasionally this past winter. It was obviously a busy winter, in many ways.

First, of course, I had just daily life. I volunteer once a week at son number one’s school. Son number two has his own commitments, like OT and Heartland AEA visits. Then there was my school, which, as I predicted after the first day would be challenging and a lot of work. I wasn’t wrong. I also loved it, and I loved learning about the Deaf community and American Sign Language. I could start a blog on that topic and write about what I’ve learned and the amazing experiences I’ve had in that arena. I’ll be continuing my ASL education this summer with ASL II, beginning May 30.

On top of that, I had a couple of bothersome health issues this winter as well. Just before Christmas, I developed (how, I don’t know) a herniated disc on the right side of my neck. It is more painful than it sounds. I visited the chiropractor two or three times a week for over three months. I also had to have two MRIs, during which I discovered that I am claustrophobic; and I visited a neurosurgeon, who informed me that this horrible pain was really only a “minor” episode. I’d never wish this “minor” pain on anyone, let alone a “major” pain!

While I was in the midst of recovering from that junk, I developed incidental vertigo. This really freaked me out because I’ve never had an issue with dizziness. I didn’t realize what was going on, and the first episode was so scary, I was ready to call 911! I was only slightly irritated (insert sarcasm here) to discover that very little could be done for this condition. Basically, there’s no cause and no way to predict or prevent it. It just “comes upon me” whenever it chooses. When I do have an episode, I can take a fistful of Dramamine and an antihistamine. That seems to be the more effective remedy. The good news is that I’ve only had a few incidents. And just before one comes upon me, I have this gurgling feeling in my right ear. When that happens, I take my medicine, and it seems to avert the misery.

Ugh. I’ve never been adversely affected by any “landmark” birthdays. But this year, I turned 35, and I’ve become decrepit. This does not bode well for the rest of my life!

Anyway, I did manage to get a little knitting done in the past three months, so I’ll try to document what I did.

This is the mate to a glove that I thought was lost in the move two years ago. I managed to clean out my closet this winter, and I found this. Unfortunately, it was injured. This is the repair sequence. It’s not perfect, but this is a skill that is difficult to perfect unless one has a lot of damaged knits.

First, I got the needles into undamaged stitches. Then I cut out the remaining damaged yarn.

Then I knit up the missing rows. I had to use the tapestry needle to “weave” them into the already established knitting on either side of the hole.

Then I grafted the remaining live stitches together.

The finished fix.

Next, I worked on a sweater for my husband. This is a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern, and the yarn is Classic Elite’s Bazic. I like the yarn and the pattern, but I got tired of hauling a large project with me, so this one is probably on hold for a while. I also used a tubular bind off around the neck line, so that means I have to do it for the bottom ribbing as well. I like the tubular bind off; it looks very professional and is very elastic. However, it must also be done with a tapestry needle and another knitting needle, AND an end of yarn cut from the ball. This means that for the bottom ribbing, I’ll need a VERY LONG strand of yarn. I don’t want to run out. It will be a rather tedious process at first. I’ll be sure to post about it when I actually tackle the task. Once that’s finished, the rest of the project should go fairly fast. That’s the beauty of top-down sweaters.

In February, I whipped up a pair of my favorite baby booties for friend and former blogger Liz and her new baby Thomas. I’ve made several pairs of these, and there is another version in the pattern for pink bunny booties, as well. I’ve also made the bunnies. The pattern is in Zoe Mellor’s 50 Baby Booties to Knit. There are some other really cute patterns in this book that I’ve knit for other new mom friends. I like the Mary Janes as well.

In February, I also started a “Stained Glass Scarf” from Melanie Falick’s Handknit Holidays. This is double knitting, and it is much easier than one thinks.

This is the opposite side. I will note, though, that the instructions in the book for two-stranded double knitting are very unclear, if not flat out wrong. I later learned how to do the two-stranded method, and it is very easy. Probably the easiest. I’m using the “slip and slide” method, which is also very easy, just not as fast. I attempted switching over to the two-stranded method, but my gauge visibly changed. So, I’ll be working on this project for a while. The yarn is Artyarns.

I did not knit these gorgeous mitts. These were knit for me by a Knitting University student. Thanks, Michelle!!! My ASL classroom is very cold, and these mitts keep my hands toasty. The pattern is from Knitty.com. And the yarn is alpaca from Classic Elite.

Recently, I’ve started something for myself. It’s a linen wrap. I’ve made this pattern before, but it was a gift. This one will be for me.

The pattern and yarn are from Louet. It’s Euroflax yarn and the pattern is Quick & Easy Lacy Stole. It’s a simple feather and fan pattern.

Now that my classes will no longer be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I can get back to the monthly Knit Alongs at Knitted Together. May’s knit along is going to be an Artyarns modular scarf pattern. So when I was at the shop yesterday, I picked up a pattern and some yarn. I cast on last night.

I’m using Plymouth Galway Paint. It’s pretty fast and easy once the pattern is established.
Phew! That was exhausting. I’ll try to remember this feeling, and post more often now.

This is Oliver. He’s the January Knit Along Project at Knitted Together. He’s from the book The Knitted Teddy Bear by Sandra Polley.  He’s really supposed to be knit with a DK weight yarn on US size 2 needles, but I wanted some instant satisfaction, so I used Plymouth’s Alpaca Boucle and US size 5 needles.  I’m usually not too into the cute objects that can gather dust, but I LOVE OLIVER!

I know it’s been forever again since my last post.  The holidays this year were rather stressful.  My mom and Son Number Two got the flu, the bad kind of flu, between Christmas and New Year’s.  Thank God, no one else here got it.  Son Number Two spent a day at the ER getting hydrated.  The day Son Number One’s vacation started, I developed a pinched nerve in the right side of my neck.  I was flat on my back for most of the holiday–no knitting, no typing.  Just reading, watching TV, and talking on the phone.  We had great family holidays, despite the illness, and everyone is on the mend.  I can drive my manual car, type for a while, and even knit in short bursts.  It’s a good thing I made Oliver early in December.  Now I’m working on the February Knit Along Project–a sweater for my husband.

I started my DMACC class last night.  I’m taking American Sign Language.  It’s a 5 semester hour class, so that means I’m in class two nights a week for three hours a night.  That also means lots of homework.  I’m nervous and excited.  It’s going to be a challenging class.  I won’t be going to the Knit  Alongs for the semester, but I’ll still be doing the samples.  And I’ll still be teaching my Knitting University class.  I think it feels good to be busy again.  I plan to still post, but there will probably be sizeable gaps between posts.

I’m off to hit the books!

Here are my other two pair of felted slippers. The ballet slippers are for me, and the moccasins are for Son Number Two. It’s a toss up whether or not he’ll wear them. He generally likes to pull most footwear off. I’ve taken a photo of them together to give a little perspective. The little moccasins are only 5 inches long.

I am always amazed when I see these slippers finished how much they look like “real” shoes, so this is just one more gratuitous photo for me to look back on at a later date.

I’ve discovered a clever way to block these slippers–at least for my feet. A large tube of lotion makes the perfect ballet slipper blocker.

Finally, a gratuitous close-up of the “baby” moccasins.

I finally got both pairs of finished slippers felted on Tuesday. It took four days for the soles of the orange ballet slippers to dry–even after a three hour stint in my Neptune “closet” dryer!

Here is how I attached the leather soles to the bottoms of my ballet slippers. The stitch markers made great “pins” to keep the sole in place ast I stitched. These leather soles came from Knitted Together. The soles for the moccasins came from Pattern works. The moccasins are practically “platform” slippers for Son Number One. Not only do they have two layers of knitted soles, the leather soles are padded. Needless to say, they are very cushy.

Here we are modeling our new footwear.