A new convert

well, I am so excited. My niece wanted me to teach her how to knit!!! I have just showed her the basic knit stitch and am having her work on a scarf. 

So excited!

I must say I feel so good to have that blasted knot out of my yarn. Right now I am just doing stockinette stitch for 7 1/2 inches for the bottom(?) of the foot. At least I am making daily progress and haven't given up.  Maybe I will get to the cat bed for Christmas. We will see.
 

Phew! I did it.

Well, after many, many attempts I finally got the knotted wad in the yarn. :-)

I can continue now

I made a beginner mistake.  Of course, I am a beginner so I don't feel too bad. I just started using yarn straight out of the skein.  I didn't make a ball first.  The yarn got a HUGE knot in it about 3/4 of the way through.  It was bad because I had so much on the needles I didn't want to frog it.  So I had to undo the partial ball that I had already started.  It took at least 3 weekends of frustration to finally get it undone.

I must admit, I am very excited now to keep on working on the sock.  Of course, I have learned my lesson the hard way but i do feel proud of getting it fixed. There were many times I wanted to just grab some scissors, cut out the yarn, and restart.

Onward and upward.:-)

 

Yikes!

I need to get back to it.  I cleaned up my yarn area so I am getting inspired again.  Unfortunately, with school starting again and the knotted yarn, I lost my momentum.  Since I have Monday off I think I am going to get set up again.
There is a project called Make Something 365 which I think would help because I have lots of fabric and fiber that I would like to use up and get some new.  I am not sure what to do though.  With knitting I can just do something like "Knit at least 2 rows a day, or knit while I listen to a podcast"  The fabric is going to be a little bit hard though.  I will have to think of something good.
It is amazing that if you went to someone 100 year ago and said that you had time to make one thing every day they would think you are crazy.
Well, gotta go do some laundry. :-)
 

Flap and Turn

After finishing up the leg, I worked on the heel flap. I must admit I worked on it during a meeting at school. I don't see how my knitting is any different from everyone texting back and forth.
The sock has the standard Slip 1 knit 1 pattern for the flap.  This was on Friday morning. The pattern was for 20 rows. This gave me 10 large stitches on the side that I can pick up for the gussets.

Today, I began the heel turn. It was pretty simple but you have to pay careful attention.   Row One we knitted 12 stitches in (out of a total of 20) and then started the short rows.



After this, I then piced up through the back loops to create my gussets. I hope it works. I have 52 stitches just like the book says. So that is at least a good thing.  I don't know if I will finish by the closing ceremonies though.  I am going on trip and will be in the car for 2 hours so hopefully this will help.

This is my favorite view!!

First Socks

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Go Team!!

I am continuing to work on my socks for the 2012 Ravellenic Games. Currently I am getting ready for the heel flap.  I have finished the leg part.  I counted 25 rows from the cuff to where I have stopped.  I am not sure if this is the length I want.
Pros:

• It is the same length as the socks that I wear now
• I can get finished quicker
• I am getting a little bored with the stockinette stitch

Cons:

• They seem quite a bit shorter than those in the book
• I don't want to regret making them too short.
• I can use more stash if I make them longer

can you tell which is handmade?

I am excited about starting the second part of the sock.  I am trying to make notes on everything because I don't want to have the second sock look different.

I deliberately tried to make it look like the picture.

We interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast....

For Ravelympics 2012!!1
This is my first year participating and I am excited to actually begin something on-time.  The team I am on is Team Tribute after The Hunger Games. WooHoo!!!
The project I am trying is my first pair of socks.

I have had to reknit the cuff several times. First, I measured the widest part of my foot like the book advises. Then I multiplied it my 5 stitches per inch.  Multipling 8.5 *5 gave me 48 stitches. The opening ceremonies were starting and I wanted to get started so I cast-on these and worked for about 5 rows.

After the Internet was available again, I looked up the gauge of the yarn I was knitting.  It turns out the yarn I was knitting is 4.5 stitches to the inch.  This gave me 39 stitches which was easily divisible by the 3 needles used to knit the socks.  I had 13 stitches per needle. Following the directions, the ribbing was worked in knit 3 purl 1 for about 2 inches.

It didn't match up.  It was always ending up with a knit 2 section before starting again. After feeling disgruntled, I read the instructions.  It said that these socks would be knit using a double ribbing, knit 2 purl 2, for the cuffs. 
Yikes, I had to restart again.  This time, cast on the 40 stitches to make the pattern work out. It turn out that 40 stitches was what the pattern suggested I cast on in the first place!! 
Sometimes you have to do things wrong 4 times to get it right once.

Back to the Beginning

Well, I have frogged the sweater.  I was trying something new: cables.  The cables did not seem to work out. That tends to happen when you don't know what you are doing.:-)
I am going to start again.  I don't think that I am going to cast on as many stitches as before.  When I was frogging, the sweater just seemed to be WAY to large ( and for me that is saying something).  On to the knovel.

In these next two chapters we find out that Martha is Helen's cousin from Wyoming.  Helen stayed with Martha for a while when she was younger.Helen had gotten preganant in high school.  She then went to Wyoming to have the child and give it up for adoption. They two became very close during that time.

Martha was also suffered from some domestic abuse and that is why she came to Fort Conner. Helen helped her and got her a lawyer, Mr. Chambers to help settle things. Her husband died in January and they are looking to see if Martha is going to inherit anything. 

On the lighter side, Steve helps Kelly with her dog.  He brings over some old golf balls to keep Carl occupied.  Some of the golfers try to say that Carl is a danger and needs to leave the golf balls alone.  However, Steve offers to give some free golf lessons an that appeases them.  Steve must be a great player because they are all excited.

Training for the Ravelompics

Well, I have decided to try and participate in the Ravelompics 2012. 

The pattern I am going to do is the Basic Socks in the book Getting Started Knitting Socks.

Team Tribute is the group I am going to be knitting for.  Since I love the Hunger Games, I thought it would be great.

Because I am doing these socks as a present and using some old yarn, this projects can be counted under:

• Synchronized Stash Busting
• Holiday Hurdles
• Sock Put

According to the rules, I can't cast on for the project until the Opening Ceremonies of the Games.  However, I can knit a gauge to make sure the yarn and needles are the right size.

I am using the Bernat Cot'n Corn in Avocado and the current gauge is

4 knit and 41/2 purl stitches to the inch on size 7 needles.  There are approximately 6 knit and 7 purl rows to the inch as well.

Sign of summer

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Chapters 5 & 6- She learns to knit!

In these two chapters Kelly starts to learn to knit.  They, predictably, have her knit a scarf for her first project.  While she is learning, Steve comes by to talk to Mimi about some cabinets. Of course he flirts with her and convinces her to play on the softball team with Lisa.

Kelly talks to her boss who allows here to work for a couple of months in Colorado.  She needs to find someone to sublet her apartment but she thinks she knows someone at work who will.

She also begins to share her doubts Helen’s death with Burt, the retired detective who spins. Burt however, keeps referring her back to lead detective, which he should. However; when she mentions the $20000 he does get more interested.

Helen also had a cousin named Martha (great name) that we find out about.  She appears to be very devotedly religious. They plan on her being at church on Sunday so Mimi can point her out to Kelly.

Because the pattern is a simple stockinette stitch, I am going to try and "spice" it up a bit.  I have started to try and do a cable on the front.  So far, it isn't looking too good. There are holes when I switched stitches for the pattern.  ALso, because the yarn is so "shiny" that I am afraid the cables will get lost in the yarn.

Focusing- Chapter 3

Do the right thing(ish)

It seems that when you do things they way they are designed, life goes so much better. Tonight, while sitting on the porch, I turned on the podcast that I listen to and actually knitted while listening.  The Cast-On podcast is designed to be listened to while you knit. It lasts approximately 1 hour. When I actually did this, I couldn't believe the progress I made. 

By having a set time to knit, instead of just knitting "when I can" I got much more done. I doubled the size of my knitting.  I had 2 inches of ribbing and added 2 inches of stockinette stitch.

WooHoo!  If I keep this up the sweater will hopefully be finished in no time.

 

As for the book, however..

Chapter3 begins with all the friends going to Aunt  house to help clean it up and straighten out things for Kelly. Jennifer takes the loan papers while the others vacuum and clean windows. They notice that Helen's family quilt is missing and can't find it anywhere.

After meeting with the detectivie in charge of the case, Kelly also finds out that a knitting needle is broken and purple yarn is missing.  Why would a vagrant take a quilt and knitting? The two off-duty dectectives found him on the golf course that borders Helen's property but, as it is pointed out, the golf course goes all the way to Old Town and the river.

Kelly also learns the bad news that they loan has some pretty strict rules and penalties. The house can't be sold or refinancesd for 2 years from the acceptance of the loan.  If she decides to sell the house, with all the penalities involved, Kelly will wind up having to pay about $30,000 instead of the original $20,000. Yikes!

We also meet, Steve, who comes over to get some balls that Carl took off the golf course. He knows Mimi and helps with repairs to the shop. I think this is going to be the "love interest" for Kelly.

Chapter Two-Ribbing

Well, as soon as I started the sweater, I decided to change the pattern and do a 2 inch ribbing at the bottom.  I just like the look of the ribbing. While I was working on the ribbing, I was listening to my favorite podcast Cast-On.  It was one of the first episodes and she was discussing how she forgot to change to lower size needles to do the ribbing on a sweater on time. 

Yikes! I realized I was doing the same thing. I immediately frogged all that hard work and switched to lower size needles.  The needles I was working on were size 15. The needles that I had available were size 11.  I am not sure how it will work but we will see.

Right size ribbing

Chapter Two- Knit One, Kill Two

This is the chapter where Kelly goes to the yarn shop that used to be her aunt's house.  It has been named "House of Lambspun" and she loves it. Being an accountant, she isn't used to all the bright colors and wonderful textures.

The other characters at the shop are introduced at a potluck they are having at the yarn shop.
          Jennifer- the waitress from the coffee shop who is also a real estate agent.
          Lisa- physical therapist.
          Megan- consultant
          Mimi- the older owner of the shop known as Mother Mimi
          Burt- retired police investigator who spins for the store

We also learn that the man arrested didn't have any money on him but Aunt Helen's purse was in the bushes. The ladies also volunteer to come over to Aunt Helen's house in the morning to help with straightening the house and papers.

Finally

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see

First time

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Gauge Reading

Well, I have knitted the gauge for the Lambspun Project. 

The first guage

It wound up being 10 by 7 inches.  It appears to be 3 stiches to the inch and 4 rows to the inch. I am not sure how to adjust the pattern for this but I will give it my best try.

Chapter 1

I have almost finished the gauge on my socks. I have decided to work on the Knit One, Kill Two project.  The main project is the Lambspun’s Whodunnit Shell.  There is also a simple scarf pattern but I thought I would skip it. It is simply casting on 10 stitches and then knitting a garter stitch until you reach the size you want.


To complete the shell pattern, you need size 15 needles

I like bamboo better than metal

a bulky yarn

Lion's Brand in Homespun

and the pattern to start.

Hopefully it is very easy like it says

 The gauge should be 2 stitches per inch. I hate doing a gauge but since I am not sure of this yarn, I will.  Now, on to the book J

Chapter  1

We meet the main character Kelly Flynn.  She has come back to Colorado because her Aunt Helen has died and Kelly is in charge of the estate.  The first person that she and her dog Carl meet is Mimi Shafer. Mimi appears to be a nice lady and owns the knitting and needlepoint store in town. Mimi takes Kelly to the bistro that is attached to the yarn store. She learns of the wonderful cinnamon rolls made there.

After the coffee and roll, Kelly heads off to the lawyers office. At the lawyer’s office, Kelly learns that her aunt died because of a robbery. She couldn’t understand why someone would rob her aunt. The lawyer tells her that Helen had taken out a $20,000 loan just days before.  They believe the money was taken from her purse. They saw a homeless person in the area and arrested him. 

My two loves!!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Ravelry

WooHoo!!! Well I finally have my Ravelry account organized. I can't believe how amazing it is. I love how everything in in a place on my account. The books, needles, and yarn are easily found and I even have some offers on yarn.  It was almost too much too soon. We will see how it goes though.

Punt

In American football there is a phrase called "Drop back and punt".  What that means is that you have to see that your progress is not going well and just stop and punt to the other team and try again.


This is what I have done with my knitting.  My UFO's are now frogged and ready to try again to knit something.

It looks like a big pile of Ramen Noodles:-)

Much better

This has also helped me to add some pictures to my Ravelry page!  I have been meaning to do this for a long time.

Worked on for SOOOOO long

meh

The yarn below is the socks that I showed in the previous post.  I have lost the orginal pattern and am not experienced enough to convert one pattern to another.

Welcome to the Jungle

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Cause I want to:-)

The podcast that I have been listening to and really enjoying is called Cast-On by Brenda Dayne. I am listening to the begining ones so I don't know if the format has changed.  It has amazing music and her voice is wonderful and soothing.
Oh yeah! She talks about knitting as well :-)
So far my favorite song is I wonder by Natalie Brown
I even paid for a CD!

Back to Basics

Well, I have decided to take my blog title more literally.  I am now reading a Knitting (K)novel. I have decided to try the "classic" by Maggie Sefton. This is a murder mystery involving someone who owns a yarn shop.  It also includes a pattern which I want to knit and post as well.

I hope to start on it pretty soon. The reason I am posting this is to kind of kick my butt into gear to get some projects done.

UFO's and EZ

History lesson: According to EZ the reason that right-handed knitting is called American or English, is that the needles were so long that the right one’s end had to be tucked into a belt.  The pointed ends of both were held in the left hand. This left the right hand free to move the wool.

She also talks about having governesses who helped to teach her the “Continental” way of knitting.
I didn’t even know there was such a thing as “looking-glass” or “backward” knitting.

Favorite quote: ” Things are not perfect, and we wouldn’t appreciate it if they were.”  (Zimmerman, 1995)
I have decided to try and finish this pair of socks by the end of June.  These are one of the UFO's I need to finish.

I was trying to show the heel

Second sock syndrome

I am not sure what I will be focusing on for this blog. Socks or book?  Probably a little bit of both.

Needle Know How

In the book Knitting Without Tears, Elizabeth Zimmerman talks about all the different types of knitting needles. She even has some that are made out of walrus tusks. Wow! The needles that are my fanciest are my carved wooden ones I got at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. 
She mentioned that if the coating has come off aluminum needles and you use oily wool (boot wool) the needles may turn blackish. It come off the the wash, but I thought it was interesting to know.

While reading her book, you can tell that she has knitted for a lifetime.  The way that she casually adds deep infomation shows how relaxed and comfortable she is about knitting. For example, when discussing the stockinette stitch, she explains why it curls at the bottom.  Each stich is just a minute bit bigger on the front than back.  They are bigger horizontally than vertically and she suggested NOT using stockinette for borders.

I alway forget which is garter and which is stockinette. I try to picture a stocking (sock) in my head and remember that it has a right side and a wrong side.  Therefore, stockinette is knit one row, purl the next, knit then purl etc. This stitch is great for circular needles.

My favorite the garter is knit every row, not to hard to think about. However, it is harder on circular needles because you would have to knit one, then purl next row.  This stitch is great of afghans and baby blankets because the edges don't curl. :-)

Ribbing is great for socks because of its elasticity. She then adds that if you knit into the back of knit stitches and purl in the back of purls, the ribbing will be even more elastic.

Next "chapter" talks about the techniques used in knitting.

I love her attitude about knitting and I assume life.  If you don't want to do it, then don't.  Life is too short. You should enjoy knitting and not stress over it.

Moving on...

Well, this is what the finished product looked like.

Glad my cat doesn't look like this.

It is doubtful that anyone would want to wear this. However, much was learned. I know that I can knit 3 together and was able to look up some new knitting terms.

Hopefully, the title is accurate

The next project should go much better.  Finally reading the beloved Elizabeth Zimmerman.  This was the only book they had at the library by her. Everyone seems to love her. After the last book, no tears while knitting sounds great.:-)

Seems unusual that there are no "projects" listed.  Let's hope things go well. 

Almost there

I have finished the main part of the hat. I am not sure if this is what it is suppose to look like.

Kinda looks like a bib

I still have to sew that together and put the ears on.  Here is one of the ears. I think if I made it bigger

One down, one to go

I could have turned it into a bikini top :-) Not a good idea though. In the instructions, it said to use a seed stitch but with this chenille yarn, it is hard to tell what it is. I would use just a plain stockinette stitch.
This book is not really for the beginning knitter.  It has patterns but not much help.  So if you know what you are doing you might like it. Right now, I don't.

Almost finished :-)

After the stockinette stitch for 2 inches, I had to decrease by knitting 3 together. With the yarn being so thick I wasn't sure if I could. I knitted 2 together and then put that back on the left needle.  I knitted 2 together again. I hope this works.
After about 6 rows it became easier to knit the 3 together.

Just wiggly row so far

Regrouping

Well, I couldn't bring myself to cut my knitting yarn until I figured out what to do.
So now, I have decided to knit this hat.

Cat on a Hat

Right now I only have black chenille yarn but hopefully when I am finished I can find some scraps to make the face.
Here is a better picture of what it will look like

Hard to see the eyes but there like w's with v's underneath

On many of these blogs people get hats done in less than a day.  I don't think that will happen but I will try.  Right now I am longtail casting on 55 sts and working in Stockinette stitch.  Hope  it won't take too long.

This is not a video of me, but it seemed to show how to long tail cast on well.

I stand corrected..

I looked in the Index of the book and found Jacquard Stockinette Stitch on p.32 on the book. This is what it said- "Follow the chart, twisting yarns together at each color change. After the last row, beg again with the 1st row."

Fortunately, since I am using all black, it isn't a problem.

Now onto the regular pattern.  After finishing the sole, I cast on 31 stitches and worked in stockinette stitch for 6 row.  Then is says "Cut the yarn. Put the 13 stitches at either end on the spare needles, and continue working only on the 5 stitches in the center to make the upper part of the bootie sock.  Yikes!!
Cut the yarn!! How to I work the stitches in the center if I have cut the yarn.  I will have to ask one of the people at the Yarning group in Jonesborough.

I've got soul

Bootie call

Ok. I went to make the booties to go with the Cat Hat. Unfortunately it tells me to work in a Jacquard Stockinette St.  There was no place where is explained what that is. I looked on the interweb and found a couple of sites where people had questions about this book, but no one had any answers.  There was no errata available. ( I learned that means information that was wrong in the book and they corrected it on the website ;-) )
This is taken from the website Blue Garter "Garter stitch jacquard (and I’m using the term as Montse Stanley does to describe stranded color patterning) is not difficult to do; you can work any charted design you’d use for regular stranded colorwork, except that you have to work each row of the motif twice: right to left and then left to right, so that your design reads on the garter ridges. On the wrong side there’s a pleasurable dance of the working and resting wools fore and aft to keep the strands on the inside of the sweater"
This was also a great help.  Knitting Patterns
Fortunately, I am doing the patter in just plain black so I don't have to worry about the color changes.
Once I figured out what to do, the bottom part knitted up easily.  It took only 10 minutes to do the sole.

Which side is up?

New Inspiration

Well, it is almost summer so I am going to try, try, again.  This time I hope I have some new inspiration.  One of my best friends is going to be an aunt.  I thought I would try to make something for the baby due in September(?)

LOVE the kitty hat!!

I came across this book at the library  Chick Knits for Stylish Babies. I am so excited because they have a pattern for a Kitten Cap that uses chenille yarn.  I actually have some of that on hand so it won't be horrible if I mess it up :-)
I wil TRY to keep this one posted.