boogaj

It's all done! I

It's all done! I finished the alfie bag yesterday and today I put in a lining as you can see from the second pic. I never lined a knit purse before, so I did have a little trouble. I think next time I will ditch the sewing machine and hand sew it in place. But I consider it a success for my first "bag" project. Now I have a place to keep my cashmerino glove project and the lining will keep those pesky dp needles from poking through. Next -- the linen washcloths from Knitter's Stash: Favorite Patterns from Americas Yarn Shops. I've been wanting to make these for a while, and if they are nice and fun -- more for Christmas gifts!

Okay -- so this

Okay -- so this isn't a completed project or even a WIP, but it is my newest kitty and as you can see she is also possessed by yarn. I have three kitties -- Mud (named for the band Mudhoney), Spike (we were thinking of getting a dog -- yeah right!) and Fancy (named by my little, almost two year old, girl -- this is HER kitty). So, answer this -- do all knitters have cats???

One of my favorite online

One of my favorite online yarn stores is The Wool Shack. Why? you ask. . . because they have Jo Sharp wool at good prices and they have a great pattern library which allows you to view many of the patterns that are in the books before you by them. Check it out!

Okay -- here are

Okay -- here are the mittens! I really love these mittens. Basically I took some yarn that I had laying around, found a basic mitten pattern that would work for the yarn that I had and decided what design I wanted to use. I added a long ribbed cuff using the Furz and there you go.


I am trying to make improvements to the website -- got the link page started last week and andded commenting today. Any other suggestions??

Feeling like a slug today

Feeling like a slug today -- maybe I will upload a pic of my mittens tomorrow, I knit them in my own pattern with Jo Sharp Wool and Berroco Furz. . .

Here you go Ellen!

Here you go Ellen! This is the Alfie Bag that I got FREE with my subscription to Rowan. The pattern that they sent with the yarn was a little disappointing because it was just a black & white xerox and the picture was barely worth looking at. However, the yarn was nice and it is knitting up quickly. As you can see, the side has a kind of striped effect. I thought that it was supposed to be plain ss from the terrible pic, but following the directions, it turned out to be a modified seed stich kind of thing.


So -- now for my report on Stitches Midwest. . .

I didn't find out about Stitches until quite late, so I missed out on signing up for any classes, but the market was quite wonderful and the vendors were all exceptionally friendly! Here are some of my favorite things from the show:

• Black Water Abbey Yarns - So friendly and they gave me a free swatch card with all their yarns! The yarns is gorgeous stuff from Ireland and I am planning on buying some to make up the purse pattern that I got from. . .


• Two Old Bags -- Great Bag Patterns of all kinds and a lot of felted projects. I bought the "City Shoulder Bag" pattern from them.
  
  They don't have a website, but you can email them at: Knagorney@aol.com. I also got a pattern for Christmas stockings at their booth and I am planning to buy the wool for these from. . .


• Arnhild's Knitting Studio - Arnhild was a delight to speak with! She specializes in Norwegian Knitting supplies and patterns. Check out her website for traditional Norwegian patterns and all the trimmings to complete the perfect sweater -- pewter buttons, clasps and ribbon trim.


• I also stopped by the Louet Sales booth to pick up the elusive Euroflax linen yarn that I have been wanting ever since I got Knitter's Stash: Favorite Patterns from America's Yarn Shops and saw the patterns for the washcloths. I haven't been able to find it around here, so I went to the source.

Of course there were many other great booths and great ideas, these are just some of the highlights! Gotta go start knitting!

Off to Stiches Midwest! Full

Off to Stiches Midwest! Full report tomorrow. . .

I'm still working on

I'm still working on the Rowan Alfie Bag. -- I've got one side and the front done. It went fairly quickly and I just love the All Seasons Cotton that they sent with it. So here is a colorful sock that I knitted with some yarn I got from eBay. The sock isn't very interesting, I know, but what I really wanted to tell you about is the pattern that I used. It is called Classic Socks for the family and is from Yankee Knitter Designs. It is a EXCELLENT resource for all you knitters who want to use up some yarn that is lying around but don't have a pattern that will work. This pattern has 5 sizes of socks! and three weights of yarn and it's only three pages long. There are also three different styles. I know this is hard to believe, but it was so easy to follow. If you need a good, general, all-purpose sock pattern, head out to your local yarn shop and get this pattern!

Working on my little "free

Working on my little "free project" bag from Rowan today. Hope to have a pic tomorrow. Today I will add a link page -- check it out and email me if you know about any cool knitting pages.

Another WIP -- this

Another WIP -- this one is for my daughter. She's not even two yet and I am making the size for 3-5 yr olds -- you can see my confidence in completing projects in a timely manner! I am feeling good about finishing the back already. I never did any colorwork before and it went much better than I thought it would. I guess a fair isle sweater may be in my future. This sweater was supposed to be knit with Catania from Schenmayr but I had no luck finding that yearn in the colors that I needed so I used Plymouth Yarn's Wildflower D.K. and let me tell you that I will never knit anything with it again. The plys kept coming apart and unwinding -- it has been driving me crazy. Well, I guess the best way to learn is by making mistakes.

A work in progress.

A work in progress. Hopefully I will get a WIP link going soon -- I have LOTS of these. These are ribbed gloves that I am making with some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I have to tell you that I have fallen in love with this yarn -- it is truly wonderful. There is a great sweater in the Debbie Bliss Knitting Workbook (which is a great book btw) that I want to knit using this yarn. It is a great big aran type thing though and I think I will have to break the bank to buy that much Cashmerino! Although I found a great website called Halcyon Yarns that gives you a discount if you purchase in bulk.

But back to the gloves. . . these are knit on Brittany size 3dp needles and I am loosely following a pattern from Vogue Knitting Mittens and Gloves. It's one of those cute little collectible "Knitting on the Go" books that seem to be reproducing on my bookshelf. I'm knitting the "Three-Quarter Length Rib Gloves" but since I only bought 2 balls of the Cashmerino I didn''t think that I would have enough to make them so long -- instead they are going to be quite short. Wish me luck! I am just about ready to start the fingers, and while I have made several pairs of mittens this is my first "Glove Experience."

Okay -- day two

Okay -- day two and I'm sitting here wondering where to go from here. I have a ton of projects that I have done, so I am just going through and post them a day at a time. Today's project -- a knitted purse! I will give you the pattern for this too! Basically I just took some DK yarn in Superwash Merino and started to knit. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but I did this in a basket weave pattern. So all you do is figure out how big you want the purse and knit a swatch -- (k4 p4) X desired number -- to figure out how many stitches you will need across. Or you can do what I did and just cast on about 40 stitches -- make sure it's divisible by 4! The I repeated the (k4 p4) pattern for four rows and switched. Basically it's like this:

XXXX----XXXX----XXXX----

XXXX----XXXX----XXXX----

XXXX----XXXX----XXXX----

XXXX----XXXX----XXXX----

----XXXX----XXXX----XXXX

----XXXX----XXXX----XXXX

----XXXX----XXXX----XXXX

----XXXX----XXXX----XXXX

I'm sure you get the idea here. So, I continued in this manner until the piece was twice the height of the finished purse, plus a few inches extra for the top flap. I then knit an i-cord for the strap. This was quick and fun! Try it -- forget about patterns and just knit!

Here is my first

Here is my first post and I don't know where to start. You can see the knit beaded bracelet that I hade last night. I guess I will tell you how it's done! First you get a whole bunch of beads and string them onto some sock / lace weight yarn. I used Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn. Then you just start knitting! Well, it's a little more complicated then that. I spent a long time making mistakes before I got it to look like I wanted it to look. Basically I cast on two -- yes two -- little stitches. I then pushed over three of the beads and knit a stitch. Pull over three more and knit another stitch. On the next row do the same, but the two stitches are going to start spreading apart now! Don't fear, just knit the second stitch without moving over any beads when this happens -- every third row or so. Once it is long enough, snip your yarn and tie the two ends together. I found that you could notice where I did this, so I took one of the larger beads at one end and just shoved it through a knit stitch on the other end. It was fun -- try it out for yourself!