Betty McKnit

6 Day Blanket Errata

2010-05-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to CrochetedAway on Ravelry for noticing a mistake in Row 2 of the 6 Day Kid Blanket pattern.

Row 2 should read:
Row 2: ch 3, sk first 3 sc, [3dc in next sc, sk next 2 sc] twice, [3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc] into next sc, *sk next 2 sc, 3dc into next sc, sk next 2 sc, dc3tog, sk next 4 sc, dc3tog, sk next 2 sc, 3 dc in next sc, sk next 2 sc [ 3 dc, ch3, 3 dc] into next sc; rep from * to last 9 sc, sk next 2 sc [3 dc into next sc, sk next 2 sc] twice, 1 dc into last sc, turn.

2010-03-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

A Little Poetry by Betty
(dedicated to the group with four swappers left)

I will knit it in a chair
I will knit it in the air
I will knit it in the bed
Or maybe just crochet instead
I will knit it lots in cars
I have been known to knit in bars
I will knit it here at home
or anywhere that I might roam
I will knit it here, or there,
I will knit it anywhere!

Lafayette's Afghan featured on True Blood fan pages!

2009-08-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

Wow!

One of the members of Knit One, Dead Too on Ravelry has already completed the Afghan A La Lafayette, aka Lafayette's Afghan from True Blood.

If you are not a Ravelry member you can download the pattern for Lafayette's Afghan here.

It's just a granny square afghan!! But the really special part about it is that it is just like the granny square afghan that Lafayette wraps himself up in after he comes home from the Fangtasia dungeon.

Some of the ladies on Knit One, Dead Too asked for some help with the granny square thing, so I put together the pattern. Thanks to MissInga for actually test-crocheting it for me, because I only have about 10 squares done on mine. (I think I'll work on it today, lol I say that every day) MissInga was then kind enough to post pictures of her completed Lafayette's Afghan and links to my pattern on fan sites and blogs. I'm tickled!

Here's the blog entry about the afghan: Loving True Blood in Dallas

And a link to the Fan Art page of SookieStackhouse.com

Thank you MissInga!

Thomas Wallaby/Wallabies

2009-08-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

I made my nephew a beautiful Wallaby like the one I made my son years ago - the first one disappeared - so I made another one for my favorite little nephew (I only have one other nephew, and he's big... ) Now GG has a Thomas Wallaby of his very own.

His aunt, my cousin-in-law, I guess I would have to call her, asked for a set of them for her twins! I have a rule not to knit for people who don't love me, but we are all like family after we lost little Sophia Rose last year. Anyone who loved her is family, as far as I'm concerned. Plus, she offered to pay me. So I agreed.

That was Easter. I'm still working on them!!! AAAAAGGGGG It's been so long, I don't think I will be able to take any money for them. She wanted them for Easter!

They are so cute - one is for a girl, and I put the engine Rosie on it instead of Thomas. It is adorable.

I'm forcing myself to finish them before starting my Lafayette's Afghan. I will not Lafayette's afghan before I finish the twin Wallabies... pardon me while I say that 100 times and knit a wallaby.

Pictures? Someday...

The Creepy Clapotis

2009-05-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

originally posted 2/7/2009

Once upon a time, (September) I started on the oh-so-popular Clapotis. I'm not sure what attracted me to it, except that maybe everyone was knitting it. You couldn't go two steps on the kniternet without hearing about the clapotis. So I decided to start one.

I waited and waited for the right yarn to find me, and I ended up with some clearance yarn from Knit Picks called Gossamer in a color called Trail. The trail is apparently orange, green, and yellow. These are my colors, and the yarn feels great. It's 100% merino and very soft, and laceweight.

However, it is not the right yarn for this pattern. The colors pool in an ugly way and I'm not proud of the project. It looks icky. It was my car knitting... I was working on it at red lights while taking Teague to school. One day I started taking 395 and wasn't sitting at red lights anymore. Not only that, but I decided that with my fatigue problem, that knitting while driving was probably not a very good idea, and I started focusing on the road and leaving the clapotis behind.

So it sits.

Also, the colors pooled in such a way that the clapotis looks like it has a face. I keep working on it though because I'm hoping that when I unravel all the dropped stitches that the pattern calls for that the face will stop looking at me and laughing.

You can see the face in the picture above. Creepy.

Updated 5-4-2009
I RIPPED IT OUT.
And I feel soooooooooo much better now!!

Swapping on Ravelry

2009-05-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

The first month, our theme color was ... I forget already!! darnit... I mostly took my ideas from my spoilee's preferences, and she said she liked strong colors, and would like to receive a felted iphone cover. This gave me the chance to develop a pattern for a felted iPhone cover, which I plan to post on this blog and Ravelry... someday. You know how that goes!!

The first month (March) My spoiler was Veggie (Becky). She sent me the cutest stuff. She seems like such a fun person. I would love to meet her face to face. She seems like she would be very light-hearted.

She sent fingerless gloves in my favorite color combination, and yarn to make another pair (love the green yarn especially), stitch markers, cable needles, a crochet hook and the pattern for the fingerless gloves.

I don't know if these are Veggie's original design, or if the pattern came from somewhere else. I got the feeling she just whipped them up out of her brain. They are great, they fit nice and they feel really good.

My package was also loaded with chocolate and other edible goodies... mmmmmmmm I swallowed one of those fish as soon as I saw them. I have a special hiding place for my chocolate at home where all the chocolate in this package was promptly stashed. So the rest of the family will not eat it. They do not know how to savor like I do.

The funnest thing in my package was Kermie.

I realize that I am not being very original in his name, but I just went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History a day or two before I got this package, and I saw the original Kermit the Frog, and that brought back memories.

He is crochetted out of some soft, fuzzy yarn and he is BIG, with a big, wide grin. How cute is this guy with his button eyes?? Thank you, Becky/Veggie! He really brought a smile to my face, and I put him where I will run into him lots throughout the day so I will remember to SMILE.

Now if this last picture does not make you smile, well, there's just no hope for you.

;)

Here, FINALLY are the pictures of my package from Julie/Starkdude!!!
Julie was so thoughtful and creative, and clever in the way she incorporated my favorite color (green) into the theme color (pink).
First, there was a very cute little purse with a neat closure, I'm not sure how to explain it... it's like the handle wraps through this ring to close the bag. It is perfect for a small project or two, like socks. I just love it, and Lyse saw it and she was very jealous!

Chocolates, of course, are always welcome and useful.

She included some small goodies, my favorite of which is the tape measure (bottom middle). It will go in the bag for use with the small projects.

I thought this journal and the cover she knitted were especially thoughtful. I was very touched!!

I don't know if it is Julie's original pattern or not, but what a great idea. Lyse loved it too, and I think she tried to leave my house with it when I wasn't looking.

Finally, I had to make sure I got a picture of our new puppy with the goods, since Mudkip the Chihuahua/Toy Fox Terrier was featured in my photo of my first round of goodies. The puppy's name is Mochi, and he's a Japanese Chin.

I just love this yarn, it's called Four Seasons by Classic Elite and it's a cotton/wool blend. I love love love love it! It was a very smart choice. I will make the neckwarmer ASAP for summertime/anytime. Th

Thank you Julie! I love my package.

GG Jester Hat

2009-01-27T19:26:00.000-08:00

I started working out the pattern for this hat, which I'm calling the GGester Hat.

I made one of these hats for Teague years ago, and honestly, he didn't wear it too much. It must have gone into the hand-me-down box, because a couple of months ago I found my nephew GG wearing it.

The happiest day of my life

2009-01-26T19:26:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting for this day for a long time.
Dreaming of it.
I thought it would have happened long ago...
When my beautiful daughter Maiya was about 5 years old, she was watching me knit, and asked if she could try it. I of course said, sure, you can try. I showed her how to do it, and she took the needles out of my hands, and knitted. That was so easy! She picked it right up! This is going to be so great!

After about 15 minutes she got bored and didn't want to do it anymore.

A few years later, she wanted to knit a mermaid out of a book of toys I had bought called "Knit a Square, Make a Toy." She got this far...

And come to think of it, I think I have written about that on this blog already, lol.

About a year ago, I went and taught crochet at her school, and she picked that right up, and we bought yarn, and she started making a wrist warmer, and things were going really well with that, and then she lost interest.

But the other day she suddenly got interested in the Kyuuto book again, and we sat down to crochet bears together. Her first try at the bears head didn't come out quite right, so we turned it into a hat for the dog.

Also, she thought the bear was going to turn out to be bigger than she wanted it to be, so I promised her a trip to Michael's to buy her own yarn and the same hook that they used in the Kyuuto book.

After we got home, we sat downstairs and watched movies, ate, and crocheted for hours and hours. Her yarn and needle are really small and her work is very tight. She got the hang of it right away and she's very fast. Concepts require very little explaining, I just show her once or twice how to do something and she has it. She had a couple stumbles on the decreases, and her first attempt at a head with the new yarn and hook came out looking a little more like the body than a head, but she started over and the head came out great.

While she was doing that, I unravelled the first head she had made and did this:

Oh, my now I'm hooked on amigurumi. I want to go shopping for eyes for it, but we're snowed in. I might end up buying some off Etsy, the fancy, handpainted kind. Sheesh. I have problems.

When Maiya finished the second head, I said, ok, now it's time to start the body...
She said, "I can't crochet anymore! Can you finish it for me??"
Oh, those fatal words...

Doggie Calorimetry

2009-01-20T19:25:00.000-08:00

This is what happens to swatches...

If you want to try to make one of your own, here's my 'pattern.'

Calorimetry

2008-12-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

Changes I made to pattern: I cast on 100 stitches, and I offset the short rows on the way back by 2 sts.

I also sewed the ends together, and the button is only decorative.

I made a short scarf by casting on 30 sts and working in 2x2 ribbing until there was no yarn left. Completed scarf was 34" long.

My sister liked it so much, I had to make another one for another sister. I have one more sister, so I'll probably be making at least one more of these.

What a fun, quick pattern!

Now I'm moving... what next??

2008-06-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so what have I been doing.

I am moving, and the packers are coming next week. For the majority of the last month I have been, ahem, organizing my stuff. Organizing really just means moving stuff around. Somehow my mind thinks that putting it in plastic boxes with labels and stacking it all in neat little piles somehow makes my stuff NOT junk.

I started on the Babette Blanket for my niece who asked for a pink afghan. It seems like I have fallen into a pattern of knitting or crocheting a baby blanket for the new baby, then a bigger blanket when the kids get a little older. Don't ask my why. That's really all I knit or crochet now, it seems, is afghans and blankets.

But the Babette is fun, I'm doing it in all different shades and tones of pink solids and variegated yarn. There are even a couple eyelashes thrown in there. This blanket is being packed in a flat-rate box and shipped to my mom's house because I just can't pack everything I need in my suitcase(s). (Side note: we think that military on PCS get two suitcases each for free, but I'll believe it when I see it.)

I have decided that I might not want my blanket as large as the one in the magazine, so I started with the center section, and I'm working my way out. I'm making all the squares for a particular section, then sewing them together and attaching them. That way I can stop when I run out of yarn, or get totally sick of it. I don't see myself making a million two-row granny squares at one time, I think I would go nuts.

My progress so far...

As school winds down, boredom ramps up, therefore, I knit... or crochet.

2008-04-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

I call this blanket the 'Six Day, When Did I Buy This Yarn Kid Blanket'

Six-day, because it took me six days to make it.

When Did I Buy This Yarn... kinda speaks for itself, yeah?

Kid because I never knitted my grand nephew a baby blanket when he was born like I do for all the other babies, and now he's almost 1 so not really a baby anymore, now he's a kid.

The pattern is from "Vivid Chevrons" from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns by Jil Eaton. It was full of errors, which I will correct. For my version, click here.

By the way, how cute is my dog, Mudkip?

My oh my, long time no updates

2007-12-19T16:36:00.000-08:00

First one is blanket for my son Teague who loves Pokemon. He is going to be 14 soon and no one at his new high school knows that he is a closet pokemon fanatic. I assured him that there are certainly other kids who are into it too, but too afraid to let anyone know that they are poke-nerds like him. I think it's great. He named his puppy Mudkip, after his favorite pokemon, and his goofy new blanket that his mommy is making him is one of those crochet deals that changes colors according to a chart and makes a picture of the thing you charted.

I uploaded the picture to KnitPro (awesome, awesome, awesome thing) and came up with this chart (MudGraph). Cast on and go... I love making stuff like this, dunno why. I used crummy yarn so that the doggie can enjoy the blanket too.

I'm about 1/2 way through the chart (my crochet is not REALLY square!!! bummer, but it looks ok.)

Find the whole pattern (when I finish it up) here.

Next on the list is the Gothic Lolita sleeves for my daughter. They begin above the elbow, and flare out to the knuckles. Why would someone just want to wear sleeves, you ask? If they are a Gothic Lolita they would. That is the extent of my explanation, because folks, I will be honest with you, I don't really get it. But I'm a cool mom and I'm making these things for her, which all her friend will probably think are way cool, if cool is even something they say these days (I believe it was changed to kewl at some point, and even that became unkewl).

Those are coming out out of Paton's Classic wool, and they feel nice. They are an experiment, and design-as-I-go. Will post pattern of course when they are done.

Stash Cleanup

2007-06-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

Guess what I did today? I cleaned out and organized my stash. I don't have much of a stash to be honest, mostly leftover yarn from other projects. I always find ways to use them up though. It feels good to be organized and remember what I have - lots of new ideas come bubbling up to the surface.

I dug out a couple of UFO's, one of them, a green sweater that I'm knitting from the top down, I tried on again and decided it has to be frogged again all the way back to where the armhole increases begin. I already have the sleeves picked up on it and it's knitted down to the armpit. It just does not look right. It is too wide (hey, maybe I lost weight??) and the angle of the increases for the armholes is icky. Yes, that's right, you heard me, I said icky.

Been knitting dishcloths, and using the little bit of leftovers to crochet coasters. Talk about your instant gratification! Plus they're so cute and practical. And I don't know when I bought all this cotton but there is an inordinately large amount of it I should really do something with.

Another Completed Heroghan

2007-05-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

Heroghan #152 for the family of

Sgt. 1st Class Michael Fuga.

I looked Sgt. Fuga up on Legacy.com and found out that we share a birthday, May 25th.

I did not make a square for this 'ghan but I assembled it.

Completed Heroghan

2007-01-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

I am involved in an online charity that makes patriotic afghans for the families of fallen heroes. 15 women each contribute a crocheted square, and another crocheter assembles them and sends the afghan to the family. Here is a picture of one that I recently assembled.

More Heroghan Squares

2006-08-01T02:01:00.000-07:00

When I started making these squares, I came across this book 200 crochet blocks by Jan Eaton. I was able to check it out of the library because the Borders down the street didn't have it. I kept checking back, and after the book got to be something like a week overdue, and after checking at Borders like 10 times, one day it just showed p there, and I was so happy.

200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton is my new favorite book. I feel so happy when I'm looking through that book. It is strange to me that that particular book makes me so happy.

This one is on the cover of the book.

This one is # 69 and it's called Fudge. Well, in the book it's shown in five neutral shades from off-white to dark brown. just alternated red, white, blue. There are a lot of ends to weave in at the end but I think it's worth it. Once again, I had to add rows to the edges to get to 12".

I came across this square online, by my new favorite designer, Bonny Pierce. She is the same one who designed the WTC memorial square. I love this square, and when I sent it in for the 'ghan, the lady who was assembling it went nuts over it, and had to have the pattern. Now she's made two of them, and I've only made this one.

The process is so cool though because you knit the petals of the pinwheel and they're really big and kind of stick out, then you fold them over on themselves and crochet around the edge with them folded to hold them in place. Fun, fun, fun!

<"http://members.aol.com/gandal195/pinwheelstar.html">The Pinwheel Square

Dishcloths, Baby!

2006-08-01T02:00:00.000-07:00

I went to the mainland for a couple of weeks, and I stayed with my friend Sarah, who's like my 4th sister or something. She always treated us just like family when we lived in Maryland, and her husband and kids too. We would show up on Thanksgiving or Christmas day, and it didn't matter when you showed up, Sarah would feed you something good - like stuffed ham.

So, when I was there this summer, she had this old knitted dishcloth that someone had made for her, and I was wiping up the counter with it, and, knowing that I knit, she said to me "do you do the dishcloths?" Well, I couldn't get to the craft store fast enough to pick up some cotton and get started.

And in my excitement to get some dishcloths to Sarah, I mailed them without taking pictures of them.

Then I figured my mom needed a couple, so I made and sent her these:

The square one was on the back of the label on a ball of Bernat Handicrafter. I thought I was getting a big bargain on it because it was only $1.50 a ball, but I could only get one dishcloth and the edging out of one ball. I prefer Peaches and Cream because you can get more than one cloth out of it. (you can get almost 4 soap holders out of one ball of Peaches and Cream - see my soap holder pattern)

This round pattern worked up quickly and came from
Hugg'em's collectibles

So I sent them to my mom, kind of as an early birthday present, and just to say thanks for being my mom. I sent them in a box with some other stuff and I put the dishcloths in an envelope marked 'DISHCLOTHS FOR MOM' on the outside, so no one would claim them. She said that my nieces claimed them for the dollhouse. Those buggers!

Well, the round one is really nice. I kept a couple of dishcloths for myself (see below) and when my daughter Maiya saw me wiping the counter with one of them, she said "that's too good for that." And that particular dishcloth I had only kept for myself because I ran out of yarn on the edging and 1/3 of the edging doesn't match the rest of the dishcloth. I deemed it unworthy to be given away, because it wasn't perfect, and my family thought it was too good to be wiping up crud from the kitchen counter. My kids are so flattering to me :).

I love green - especially lime green, about 5 or 10 years ago I decided it was a good color for me and started wearing it all the time. Now all my friends at school (I'm the dance mom at the University of Hawaii - dance mom is a nice way of saying I'm the oldest student there) comment when I'm _not_ wearing green. Hmmmm.... I didn't realize green was taking over, but I digress...

This one is called Chain 8 . It is fun and has a satisfying process.

Now, I think this one went to my mom too... and, I'm not sure, but I think I made this pattern up. I will write it up and post it on Beth's Knitting Patterns.

American Angels Heroghans

2006-07-22T01:59:00.000-07:00

I own and have been monitoring a knit/crochet list for friends and family of people in the military for - I don't know - maybe 5 years now? Some of the members of my list have been knitting and crocheting for charities that support our deployed troops in some way. This summer, when I was on a break from school, I decided that I wanted to join them, and I joined a bunch of yahoo groups looking for the charity that I felt comfortable supporting.

I have knitted/crocheted for the Warm Up America Project but I really wanted to do something for the families of military men and women who were killed in the line of duty. When Jay was a JO his community lost 2 planes in a year - and 10 people along with them - an experience I will never forget. My friend Olga lost her husband with a 4 month old baby at home. A few years later, she lost her life to cancer, leaving her youngest son an orphan. I have never forgotten her pain, and I was looking for something to help comfort people like her. I found American Angels Heroghans and have crocheted a few squares for heroghans this summer.

I should mention that I never can seem to knit or crochet to gauge, so I just make the square as written (usually going up 2 or even 3 needle or hook sizes) then add rows of double, single, or half double crochet to get my square to the 12" specified by American Angels. Sometimes I will try to continue the established pattern of the square (see the WTC memorial square below) until I reach 12".

In looking for squares to crochet, I found some favorite sites:
Chris Simon's Crochet Patterns

Crochet Pattern Centrao

Digital Granny's Virtual Afghan

The first square I made was Chris Simon's Star Overlay square:

Jay really liked the star squares.

After that I moved on to

Chris Simon's Birthday Flower

Then I tried the
World Trade Center Memorial Square. Sometimes designers will make a square and dedicate it to something. This square is by one of my favorite designers, Bonnie Pierce.

Currently I'm trying to organize a knitted Heroghan. Any knitters interested in knitting a 12" square can contact me at n2dancebeth@mac.com.

Green Sweater Update

2006-06-13T01:58:00.000-07:00

I ripped back three times, but I finally got the shoulder shaping the way I want it. So I joined the sides, now I'm going to put in the sleeves.

I did the sleeves in short rows, picking up 2 stitches to every 3 around the armhole, starting with the top center 1/3 of the total stitches, then adding one stitch on each row. Once I got them both to the point of having all the picked up stitches knitted into the sleeve and the sleeve seam joined on the underside of the sleeve, I stopped and put all the stitches on hold to try it on. I learned how to do this from Barbara Walker's "Knitting from the Top." Seems like a logical way to knit a sweater, but it's my first time

So, it fits. Next I think I'm going to add a collar, then complete the sleeves. I could be lazy and make it a short sleeved sweater, but I'm going to make regular sleeves.

Seriously, it was really awkward to work on when I was doing the sleeves. I took it to the WWKIP on Saturday, and it looked like a nightmare with all the circular needles sticking out everwhere, and all the stitches on hold. I'm looking forward to when the sleeves are complete, then I can just keep on knitting until I run out of yarn.

The WWKIP was my first time meeting up with the knitters here in Hawaii. They are a nice bunch, a couple of them are getting started spinning, which made me really wish I had brought my wheel and all my spinning stuff with me to the island. I left it behind knowing I would be in school and have little time for extra stuff. This sweater is pretty much the only thing I have knit since I came here. Also, someone on the Knitlist had warned me about the humidity here, and I was worried that my fleeces would mildew sitting in the closet doing nothing. So I left all that behind, and it's probably for the best, but it would have been fun to have it on Saturday.

I have started added some charities to my sidebar. I started to feel guilty not knowing what to knit and having little on the needles, so I'm hoping one of these charities will give me a sense of purpose this summer. Of course, when school starts back up, hobbies will be toast again.

Felt Clogs

2006-05-22T01:56:00.000-07:00

Well anyone who has known me for five minutes knows I love this green color.

The pattern is a popular one from Fiber trends. I originally misread the pattern and only ordered two skeins of Lamb's Pride worsted, then I had to go back and order a third, which I did not use all of.

Here they are after one washing...

Three washings (I almost stopped there)...

Finally, fourth wash... Perfect!!

They go great with my new pj's. They go great with almost everything I own. Love that color!!

New project on the needles

2005-12-03T00:53:00.001-08:00

Since moving to Hawaii in July, and starting graduate school in August, I have knitted very little. Grad school is a lot of work, especially at my age! Like I said, I did little knitting last semester but I did get straight A's. I love what I'm doing but I miss knitting.

So I have this old sweater my mom gave me a few years ago for Christmas, I love it and I've worn it to death. It's looking pretty ratty, my daughter has 'borrowed' it a couple of times and helped get it to the ratty condition it is in. I've decided to knit myself a replacement. The original sweater is black (said daughter in sweater):

It's a 1x1 rib in acrylic. I chose Classic Elite "Devon" silk & wool yarn in my favorite color of green. I bought this yarn in Los Angeles maybe 3 or 4 years ago and it's been aging in my stash ever since. :) If I remember correctly I went through a big box of clearance yarns and bought every skein of the stuff they had, there were 13, at 123 yards each. I don't know if that's enough to make a sweater as long as the original, so I'm using Barbara Walkers 'Knitting from the Top' and designing as I go.

I'll try and be good and update my progress/process as I go. Hopefully I will get the sleeves done by the time school starts and I can just do the mindless knitting of length in between assignments.

Here is my swatch, the gauge on the label is 5 st/in on #6 needles, I'm using 9's to get a more open drapey feel like the original sweater. My gauge is 5.7 sts and 5.3 rows per inch.

I started out with invisible cast on at the shoulders and started working the shoulder shaping at the back. As soon as I finished the shaping for the back, I started on the fronts so that I wouldn't forget what I did. I am documenting what I'm doing in a word document on my laptop as I go along, but I'm notorious for not being able to duplicate what I did the first time around.

The seam is not quite invisible, since you picu pn from the cast on and knit down, and the row is then 1/2 a stitch off. You can see it if you know it's there on the shoulder seams. It doesn't bother me. I don't usually knit in such a loose open pattern, I'm usually a tight cable-knit kinda gal, so this is a nice change for me. Who needs a cable-knit in Hawaii?? This will be the perfect weight for our cool nights with the windows open.

Above-mentioned daughter Maiya learned to knit when she was four. She decided she was going to knit a mermaid from 'Knit a Square, Make a Toy'. Here's how far she got before she lost interest. She's a pretty good knitter, just no attention span.

Ankle Warmers

2005-12-03T00:53:00.000-08:00

Wow, I cast something on for the first time in... I don't even know how long!!

I've been having some tendon pain in dance class (I'm back to school at age 38 as a grad student in dance at UH) and decided to knit some ankle warmers to keep my achilles warm, and to hold in the tiger balm, icy hot, and white flower oil, lol!!

No pictures today, but I just wanted to announce the big accomplishment of casting on something new. Midterms are over and I have most of my major projects complete for the semester, so maybe I will get some knitting time in. School be hard!

I hope to make it to one of the knit gatherings on Oahu sometime soon.

B

Mosaic Coffee Table

2005-09-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this table for several years now. Teague helped me get all the pieces glued on before we left Maryland. I grouted it the other day.

The entire top of the table is covered with broken plates. It was fun to look for old chipped plates in antique stores and put them together on the table.

Here's some detail of the center of the table. It's taken from one bowl.

We chose some plates with the names of some places we have been and lived.

And some whimsical ones too.
This is everyone's favorite.

I'm going to try to get around to putting a polyurethane sealant on the top of it this weekend. I grouted it a couple of weeks ago, and I still have a little cleanup to do on the grout. Now that I've started grad school my time is mostly devoted to studying (and doing homework with my kids who are in school for the first time after 7 years of homeschooling), so I'll do my best to make good progress.

Once the sealant is complete, I think I may paint the bottom of the table white then sand the paint down. I like the way the white grout sets off the plates.

A trio of washcloths

2005-09-03T01:50:00.000-07:00

A series of three lovely washcloths

All the patterns came from
http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbout/kpatterns/knitnonj.html

The first one is Kitchen Cotton, the pattern is Round Dishcloth

Same pattern, leftover Pinguoin Corrida from Baby Genie's pinwheel blanket.

This one is Double Diamond in another mystery cotton I had in the stash. The Pingouin is nice and soft, but the mystery cotton is a little more coarse. The kitchen cotton is in between. They're all nice though!

This one is 'Diamond Edge'. It's in progress on #4's and Euroflax Linen.

Baby Gene's Pinwheel Blanket

2005-08-23T01:47:00.000-07:00

I got this pattern from the Knitlist gifts:
Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket

I used a mystery cotton/silk I think blend for the dark blue, I say mystery because they had labels once but I don't know where they got off to. The light blue is Pingouin Corrida 4 which is 60% cotton, 40% acrylic. It's hot in Pennsylvania this time of year, which is where Baby Gene is, but it's still too hot for this blanket even though it's cotton.

But hey, you always need something to throw down on the floor, or the carseat, or the couch, or whatever before laying the baby down.

The obvious problem with the blanket is that the first ball of yarn must have been a slightly different color. I didn't notice it until I took this picture and looked at it. It is not obvious in person but since I posted it on the web now everyone will know.

Honestly, you really can't tell unless you know.

The edge is garter stitch knit sideways. I started with 3 stitches, increased once at every outside edge until I got to 7 stitches, then decreased once at every outside edge until I got back down to 3. All this while changing colors at every outside row. Well, you have to do it at the outside or the garter stripes are on the wrong side.

I like the shape of the blanket. It was good mindless knitting. I am proud of the edge.

I hate the circle in the center, but it's too late to rip.

One last thing, if I ever find a label for that dark blue yarn, I'll post corrections here, because that stuff shed and pilled like mad when I washed/blocked it. I had pill 'bunnies', you know, like dust bunnies, but made of pills from this yarn, all over my carpet. What a mess!