October 21st – 31st Yarn Photo a Day Contest Pictures!

It’s November 1st and I am already missing this photo contest! It was so much fun to watch what everyone was posting and have an excuse to over share on Instagram every day 😉

So let’s finish up the month in style – here we go!

 

Day 21 was FO. This was my first pair of handmade socks – which I am so in love with that I have casted on another pair!

Day 22 was SPOON. This was the first textured knitting I ever did (I can’t find the pattern on Ravelry, so if you do lemme know). It was pretty eye-opening to see that knits and purls could actually make things like a dishcloth interesting.

Day 23 was INK. This is my little table next to my knitting chair, and there is always an abundance of different colored ink to work through a project. Also, my iPod holder has a finger protector on it, which is kinda awesome.

Day 24 was SHADOW. This is a book that I picked up at my local used bookstore that has been languishing on my shelf, just waiting for me to be patient enough to learn it.

 

Day 25 was PROJECT BAG. This is my favorite, favorite, FAVORITE knitting bag! Who doesn’t want to think about snow when they are lugging around their knitting?

Day 26 was FAVORITE MUG -or- CUP. This mug is from Starbucks, I think it came it out two Christmas’ ago. I love it, so much so that when the vases came out at Target last year I bought them too.

Day 27 was CHAIR. I know, I know. This is not a chair, but it my favorite place to knit when we go to our cabin in the woods – if it isn’t flooded that is. 🙂

Day 28 was MAIL. This is my mini sock collection of Yarny Cakes yarn that started my Bee Keeper’s Quilt. It is super addictive and amazing to work with, I’m kind of in love.

Day 29 was RIBBING. This is pretty self-explanatory. Also, I deplore the hunt and peek method of typing.

Day 30 was SWEETS -or- CANDY. This is a knitted, felted donut stuffed full of catnip for Max. He loves this stupid thing, I even found him with it hiding in my laundry basket.

Day 31 was aptly HALLOWEEN. These are my new pair of in progress socks which are flying! I think if a candy corn and a Tootsie roll had a yarn baby, it would look like this.

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So there it is friends and neighbors, a full month of knitting themed pictures done! Now, what is going on in November? Any ideas about what will fill out this month? If you’ve heard anything through the blog-line let me know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stitch Pattern Week 11 & The Goofy Hat That Lead to Entrelac Knitting

It’s that time again friends and neighbors! GG has left me with yet another cryptic knitting pattern to decipher for your viewing pleasure. So with no further adieu, Stitch Pattern Week 11 – The Diagonal Rib Stitch!

Diagonal Rib-Darkened.

The past few weeks I have knitted with white yarn, which has been hard to translate on film – hard for me at least – so this week I went back to my Sea Glass colors and rocked out a very pretty dishcloth. Unfortunately, this is also hard to see as well, but it gave me the opportunity to play with some filters to see if I could improve it. Now you get to be the judge.

Full On Pattern- Natural

Diagonal Rib Stitch

Diagonal Rib-Darkened.

Full On Shot-Lighteneded

Diagonal Rib-Close Up

Full On Shot – Sharpened

So GG – What pain is in store for me this week? Be gentle, it’s already been pretty rough!

* * The Diagonal Rib Stitch * *

. . . . – The Diagonal Rib Stitch (Once again no pattern name, but I found it on Stitchopedia on my  iPad of all places).

-k2p2 – Row 1: *K2, P2; rep from * till end (Okay, not to shabby so far, feeling a bit cocky!).

-again – Row 2: Rep. row 1 (Still feeling pretty good about myself).

k1p2k2 then p2k1 – Row 3: K1, *P2, K2; rep. from * till last 3 stitches, end P2, K1 (Come on now, I frogged this twice before I figured out my stitches should be leaning. Give a great-granddaughter a break here!).

-p1k2p2 then k2p1 – Row 4: P1, *K2, P2; rep. from * till last 3 stitches, end K2, P1 (At least with row 3 figured out this didn’t hurt that much).

-p2k2 – Row 5: *P2, K2; rep. from * till end (Smooth sailing, maybe I deserve a cookie!).

-again – Row 6: Rep. Row 5 (Alright damn it, I am going to go get that cookie!).

-43over (I shouldn’t have gotten my cookie so soon….so sad. This is where the stitch dictionary came in handy. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Thank Heavens for the Internet!)

Row 7: Rep. row 4.

Row 8: Rep. row 3.

A simple repeat of these 8 rows really did created a fun, visually interesting dishcloth. The sea glass colors really helped it pop and I recommend this pattern to anyone of any skill level just for something new to try.

 ♥ * * * * * * * * * * * *  ♥

  – The Hat That Turned To A New Skill –

So last week I went on a bit of a hat spree, first with the OSU Buckeye Hats and then with another, less successful attempt. The pattern came from Holiday Knits, a book I have rather enjoyed up to this point, which made the disappointment all the more acute. I will take full responsibility for NOT swatching this project, the yarn I was using was the same weight, but a very different (much cheaper) fiber. So the soft, fluffy goodness that this hat was supposed to encompass turned into an ultra long, ultra heavy, super goofy looking disappointment.

SUCH a Promising Start

Right Side

Full Frontal Heavy Goodness.

For Gloria

The Back

So Heavy I Had to Hold It.

Covering the Face in Shame.

As you can plainly see, this thing is HEAVY! I took pictures of both my husband and I wearing it, but I am just a little shy of showing off that embarrassment. Either way, I know come winter I will wear this hat – I cannot stand to think of it going to waste – but I’ve learned to embrace my goofiness.

Anywho, this lead to another problem – what to do with the leftover yarn? There wasn’t enough to make a scarf but too much for just one normal size hat (e.g. a hat not made for giants) so I had to find something else productive to use it for. This is when I logged on to my Craftsy account and realized that I still hadn’t taken the Entrelac Knitting Class. Common sense would say that if there was yarn to spare that had already turned out poorly, why not try to make something constructive out of this experience.

I am almost done with the class and it has been awesome! The teacher is fun and easy to follow, the directions are clear and simple, and there is the added benefit of getting to see how to knit without turning your work. This really appeals to me because you don’t just use your right hand, you used your left as well. If I could learn how to do this it would take a phenomenal amount of strain of my bad hand (in theory) and if not I get to gloat that I learned how to do something new. Gloat may be the wrong word, but you get the point. I’m not done yet but I will leave you with a picture collage (oh how I love collages) just so you can see where I am so far.

Entrelac Process So Far

I think that’s it for me tonight, but as always I would like to end with a question. So, friends and neighbors, is there a new skill you wish to acquire or are currently learning? I didn’t even know you could knit with both needles till yesterday so I am intrigued!

Stitch Pattern Week 5 – Better Late Than Never

Boy howdy I am late on getting this posted, I hope that my tardiness can be excused. I, like the rest of the country, was attached at the hip to any news media I could get my hands on, watching in baffled dismay at the horrific events of this past week. But with my mind set at ease, or as much at ease as it can be knowing that monsters are real, it is time to get back to it.

So I present this weeks stitch pattern!

Open Pillar Work Stitch Pattern – Week 5.

Side Bar: Gotta love photo editing by the way. With Photoshop’s magic it refined the details of the stitches themselves, fixed the color saturation, eliminated unwanted shadows and made a fancy schmancy border.!

As per-usual I had to consult a few stitch dictionaries to find out what this patterns true name was – Pillar Open Work was my winner – because my dear great grandmother called it lazy cables. This pattern was just a continuation of two repeating rows but making it was stupid simple and the result was very pretty. Had I to do it again (and I probably will) I think I will go down a needles size though. So, with no further adieu, here is my great grandmothers scrawl vs. the “correct” way to read this pattern.

-51sts across n – Cast on 51 sts. 

-5 kp across – Knit 5 rows K1,P1 across for seed st. pattern (and yes, I thought kp was some funky knitting term that surpassed my years of knowledge, all 10 of them vs. her 70).

-pt. r1 right; k then yarn towards heart down, sl, 2k, left over right by 2, rep till 1, k – Row 1: (RS) K1 *yo, sl.1, K2, peso the two knit sts. over: rep From * to last st., K1  (Come ON GG, really? How did you follow this pattern! Well….she seemed to have no trouble. I rescind my judgement).

-r2 p – Row 2: (WS) P. (Thank the Lord above! A notation that required absolutely no cursing!)

-fin as b – Knit 4 Rows in K1,P1 Seed St. Bind off in Same Fashion (Again, no cursing! Finally a break that resulted in absolutely NO FROGGING!)

Full Cloth – Kinda

Up Close and Personal

Detail of Inner Work

I am going to go ahead and call it a day with this post. I ranted and raved my last two and the lack of readers gave me the distinct notion that maybe I should stick to what I am good at. Not that I care, the people who did read gave amazing feedback and I don’t write to get people to read my blog, that is just a fantastic bonus. I write because you think harder when you write, or at least more specifically and the act is therapeutic. Hopefully given time the caliber of my writing will improve to include a wider audience. If not…well, I still love what I am  doing so f$*k it. 🙂

Sleep well, I will be here knitting all the while.

Week 2 Stitch Pattern

Ok, I will admit that I am smidgen late with the new stitch pattern but here it is!

My GG wrote this pattern but didn’t name where she found it or what it is originally called. I know that the pattern was used over the years for Barbie clothes, afghans and dishcloths for years and years. It is slightly raised and incredibly simple to do. Doing this pattern myself was such a hoot, it was like being close to her again.

Who said simple can’t be amazing! I would also like to add the the cloths that she made still are used in kitchens in this family all over the county. It is durable and simple, with a twist.

Enjoy week 2, I had a blast!