Tag: knitting

Knitpicks Wool of the Andes superwash and the next blanket

by T, posted in knitting, Uncategorized

In case you haven’t figured it out, I spend quite a bit of time knitting blankets. Big blankets, small blankets, they are familiar and useful here in South Florida. I want to knit my kids things and they’d fry in wool sweaters.

I knit the last few blankets in inexpensive acrylic yarn and I’m not happy with the quality or the outcome. My cables in the pink blanket look terrible.

I purchased 11 skeins of Knitpicks wool of the Andes superwash – which will be not even close to enough yarn 😭. Nobody tell the husband what that actually costs. I usually use a seed stitch or blocks but I really like this pattern on Ravelry for the Maxi Cosi Blanket. It’s a simple pattern which I find easier with big blankets.

So far it’s easy and looks great.

https://www.knitpicks.com

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/maxi-cosi-blanket

3 Kids, a CPA and a working Mom

by T, posted in knitting

It’s been two years since I’ve posted. The last time I posted, I had finished my Masters in Accounting, passed all four parts of the CPA, gotten my license and was working on getting my foster license. I had made so many baby hats, sweaters, blankets and toys that my head spun but was completely unprepared for the two year journey of fostering and adopting three young children.

I have yet to knit a sweater for any of them, but have a few blankets and now three scarves and a hat.

Blankets & Catching Up

by T, posted in knitting, Uncategorized

Living in Florida has not helped my knitting will power. I’ve found that I’ve lost all motivation to knit more than socks and blankets. More so blankets. It doesn’t help that I seem to be consummately busy which makes focusing on complicated patterns more difficult. I have not posted in several years and I’ve been averaging a blanket a year. So here we go again.

I did make a Baby Dress two years ago. This is my go-to pattern for new baby girls. This is the second (maybe third?) dress I’ve made. The bottom is a pain but it looks gorgeous.

I’ve been knitting basic basket weave blankets.

One was a baby blanket for the kid pictured above. I guess I didn’t take a picture of it.

The second was a queen size blanket made of Bernat Cotton – which is more comfortable in Florida.

I knit the majority of this during a time of personal emotional turmoil. For about two weeks, I would knit row and row in a fury trying not to think. We survived and it’s not easy focusing on a 350 stitch row one after another.

I started blanket number two a few months ago with the intention of giving it to baby above – which I decided against because all of a sudden we don’t have enough blankets in our home. It’s the same pattern but flecked with pink and purpose instead of green and orangish. This one fits a twin size bed easily and I finished it 1 year from the date I finished the queen size blanket (thanks TimeHop App!).

img_4618

Super Bowl Sunday

by T, posted in Thoughts

So here we are on Super Bowl Sunday. In between cleaning the house, studying for my test, reading up on Micro Economics and cleaning the mess of gasoline that spilled on the garage, I am getting ready for the Super Bowl. My husband worked last night and this morning, so we’re not too eager to go out today. Despite the fact that I am not a football fan myself, I do look forward to this game. While I can let you know my affiliation, I think it is best if I remain neutral in the matter.

Isn’t it funny how family affects us? I grew up in a certain area with two teams for each sport. My mother and uncle were the ones who determined my teams. I remember when I told my mother I was dating (my now ex) a new boyfriend, she was more concerned that he was a (deep breath) Mets fan, then anything else.

My uncle passed away in May. He was the biggest sports fan in the family. He lived in the basement of my grandmother’s house and many times I passed the staircase to hear him yelling. I’d jump or react only to realize he was yelling at the tv, whether it was at the offending team or toward his own. He was the one I remember going to live games with. He had a passion for his teams like no one else I’ve ever met. I wish he was here today to see his team one more time.

Enjoy the game, be safe and if you can manage, knit something pretty as well.

Naples Knitting and Spinning Retreat Idea

by T, posted in knitting, Spinning


Last week, my friend and I were hanging out spinning away and talking about ideas. We were talking about knitting and spinning events and retreats. Neither one of us have much money and now we’re both more concerned with Christmas presents but we would love to go and learn at one of these events that take place all over the country. Well, why not have one here? We joked about it and moved on to other topics of conversation.
And I keep thinking. . . why not?

Why not?

Of course there are some things to consider.
1- I’ve never been to a knitting/spinning/ fiber retreat.
2- I love to knit and spin but am certainly no expert.
3- Southwest Florida doesn’t have a lot of knitting shops in the area and no spinning fiber whatsoever.
4- I do not know how to plan events.

But on the plus side.
1- Naples is a great destination with natural beauty and wonderful weather during the winter.
2- It might be a lot of fun.

Would anyone be interested in this? Does anyone out there have any experience planning these things? Let me know. This is just a thought at this point.

Christmas Knitting

by T, posted in knitting

It was about this time last year when I began posting daily Christmas patterns. As much as I’d like to do that again this year, it would be difficult to do without repeating or referring to ravelry. As I mull it over, I am happy to announce that I actually worked one of the patterns that I posted last year. Mom, if you are reading this, close the window NOW!

A year later, there were a few patterns that really stuck in my head. As for the umpteenth Christmas in a row I am broke, many people are getting knitted gifts. As I don’t want to be “that gifter,” I have to change up the routine. Grandma (who is not internet savvy) is getting three pairs of socks and hopefully a pair of mittens/gloves (time is getting shorter). Mom and Lee are getting matching Candy Cane Twist Stocking Caps from Polar Knits. The pattern is awesome and so easy to make. I used a generic JoAnn’s bulky yarn but if you can afford it, buy the Polar Knit Yarn. It looks amazing just on the website. I purchased the bells from the Dollar Tree. Please forgive the picture below. I know it looks awful, but I was too chicken to ask someone to take the picture of me. The only problem I have is that I hold the yarn too tightly in colorwork so there is some puckering. I brought one hat into work with me and no one noticed.

Cap.pdf”>http://www.polarknitpatterns.com/Candy-Cane-Twist-Stocking-Cap.pdf

2 Years

by T, posted in knitting, Thoughts

I’m happy to announce that I have renewed my domain for the third year. That means I’ve already been posted for a whole two years! It is a wonderful feeling to know that I’ve been sharing my adventure in knitting and spinning. While I still feel like a beginner, I’ve learned a lot and hopefully taught others something as well. While I do have patterns up, creating new patterns is as much a learning experience as a teaching one. These are not advanced patterns that you would find for sale in a knitting shop but more of “a look what I can do and you can too” shared knowledge. I hope that I have sparked some interest to try something knew.

I was about 16 years old when I first started knitting. My high teacher thought it would be good teach a group of us who were hyperactive and overstressed. I remember sitting in the TAG room at our school with the old metal knitting needles. We three girls didn’t really listen so much as kept yacking away. I didn’t pay attention and as usual, chose to do it myself my way. A few scarves later those needles went under my bed into the mess of assorted objects.

At 18, I wound upstate in college with a roommate who knit scarves. Before I knew it, I was at Wal-Mart buying yarn and a new set of metal knitting needles. Drama ensued and after a tumultuous year at college and transferring to a closer one to my home, I was still knitting away. My grandmother told me she used to knit and also mentioned that she hated scarves. (Months after I gave her one for Christmas.) The knitting needles went back under the childhood bed.

I was 23 when a trip to Wal-Mart brought me back to knitting. I can’t remember exactly why I picked it up again but do remember that it was a difficult time for me. I made scarves for everyone I knew. In fact, I used to sit at work when it was slow and knit away (I miss THAT!) I met my now husband and remember sitting in his kitchen, talking all night long, while I knit away. We recently found the old scarf I had made for him so many years ago.

We moved to South Carolina not long after. I had stopped knitting but wound up out of work far from anyone I knew. I was tired of scarves. With the internet at my fingertips, I found a pattern for socks. I found straight knitting needles at Wal-Mart (again.) I still have those red heart, red and green, acrylic socks. They weren’t my best socks but they are my best-loved. I have been knitting ever since, learning step by step. I’ve had my spinning wheel for almost a year now and am enjoying a new adventure.

Spin, Dye, Knit

by T, posted in knitting, Spinning

My Ashland Bay Blue Face Leicester Top BFL Undyed Spinning Fiber arrived from Paradise Fibers and I had one goal for this weekend. As I mentioned last week, I’ve been keenly interested in Navajo plying. I sat down Friday night, finished a bobbin of one ply yarn for the above wool. It was so easy to work with. I’m actually having to overtwist it so it doesn’t unravel on me. Then I took it off and started navajo plying. I have a few issues with this technique. 1- Starting it is difficult. I kept loosing it when trying to get it to take on the bobbin. Finally I made a knot onto the starter yarn. 2- I’m getting a lumpy yarn. I think when I’m plying, I’m loosening the fibers and creating bumps. 3-Breaking. As I was plying, it kept breaking. The finished yarn came out unbalanced and different widths but I decided to dye it anyway.

 

This is my first time dyeing. I used the instructions on the knitty page. http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/FEATdyeyourown.html

I read this over and over and over. First I soaked the yarn overnight in 1/3 cup of vinegar. Then, I woke up early and put the yarn in the crock pot with 1/2 cup of vinegar and just enough water to cover the yarn. I wish I had put less water in. After a little over an hour, I mixed my dyes with hot water and began covering the yarn. I was really going for a blue and orange yarn with spots of green, but the colors muddled a bit. This is really a clean process though. I had no spills or stains. I added more dye, not liking that the colors were so light. I believe this is why I got the muddled colors. By the end, there was too much water in the crock pot.

I used tongs to pull the yarn out and hung it first on my kitchen faucet over the sink. Once it cooled off, I rinsed it, and hung it outside to dry. I was a little impatient. I didn’t even wait for it to dry 100% before winding it on the homemade nostepinne. Okay, it was a size 15 straight needle. I think I did a great job for the first time using a nostepinne (Knitting needle!)

So below is half of the final product. The colors weren’t what I was trying for, but all in all, I think it worked out very well.

Podcasts

by T, posted in knitting, Thoughts

I’ve recently been introduced to knitting podcasts. I never knew there were people out there that took an hour of their time and talked about knitting. I have an i-pod and decided to download some of these. The first few I chose were mostly disappointing. The Knitpicks episode I listened to was informative but slow. I had to stop listening if only for the fact that they were talking about weaving and I cannot afford another hobby. Yes, I was feeling that itch of I want a loom!!! The angel on my shoulder said, “No Tracy, you have enough crafty hobbies. You don’t have time or money for another.” Then the devil on my other shoulder said, “Hehe, I want one. Credit cards are proof God loves you.” Then my boss came in, the i-pod went off and a stack of work was pushed my way.

A second podcast was quite disappointing. The girls were advanced knitters who were complaining about all the people who post patterns on Ravelry using different terms. Then they continued complaining more, interjecting apologies every once in a while in case they offend anyone. I may be biased, but isn’t it a good thing that people can learn and share on this vast resource known as the internet?

A third podcast was filled with talk of expensive yarns that even the devil on that shoulder just shook her head and said no. Sigh.

Finally, I found two thanks to good advice from new knitting/spinning buddy. Stitch It is from the same person with the website The Art of Megan. I learned to spin on my first spindle from her. Of course, she doesn’t know this. I liked listening to her talk about her garden and her house. The second was the The Knit Wits. They were hilarious! They are a married couple who moved to Oregon. I love how they communicate and the fact that the husband interjects his opinion with the crafty, knitting, spinning wife. I relate to both of these two more than the others I’ve listened to so far. I look forward to downloading lots more episodes.

Fall Issue

by T, posted in Uncategorized

What usually is joyous is now just plain sad. That’s right. The Fall issue of Interweave Knits came to me, on an August day, in Southwest Florida. In 92 degree weather, I got to look at Autumn sweater patterns, along with mittens, thick socks and a particular cute wool skirt. To add to my blues, the theme seemed to be double knitting. Why have one layer of knitting when you can have two. This is all well and good if you live up north, lets say Vermont, or Oregon, or Orlando. Down here is the subtropics, I sweat looking at the double knitting. I’ll have to stick to lacy shawls, purses and blankets. Sigh.

Knitting and Yoga

by T, posted in knitting, Thoughts
Bella in cat pose

Knitting and Yoga go naturally together. Both have meditative qualities. There are a couple of things that I reach out to when I am ultra stressed. Knitting is the normal every day stress reliever. Then of course, there is tea. I have tea to wake me up and tea to calm me down. There is the glass of wine or a really good beer. But there are times, almost phases, when I reach out to yoga. I am not a guru or even the least bit good at it. I am a dabbler. I like yoga when the mood fits. I like certain poses but am still not fit enough to keep up with the dvds. This is something I want to work on and then life gets in the way.

I stumbled upon a pose the other night when I couldn’t sleep due to neurotic worrying over school, money, work, life and the nature of good and evil. http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2767

This is a modification of  Matsyasana (Fish Pose). If you work in an office, use a computer often enough, spend hours studying or are hunched over knitting needles you may have pain in your neck and shoulders. I do all of these.  In From the Neck Down, by Roger Cole, it states “But when pain and tingling spread beyond the hands and wrists to the arms, shoulders, or neck, the cause may be another, less commonly known condition—thoracic outlet syndrome. TOS is caused by compressing or overstretching nerves or blood vessels far from the hands, near the top of the rib cage. It can develop from repetitive stress and unhealthy movement patterns, like playing a musical instrument for long hours or typing with your head pushed forward and out of alignment with the rest of your spine, or from an injury such as whiplash.”

Think of your knitting. Does this sound familiar? I did it with just the one block and I felt the release (spasms) immediately. In the days afterward, the result was not so obvious but I believe that over time, this will benefit me. I also am trying to straighten my posture. I try.

Entrelac

by T, posted in knitting

I usually wouldn’t advise anyone to take on more than one project at a time. In my experience, neither project winds up being finished and both are frogged or left in the pile of things to rip out years later. However, I’ve decided to keep a traveling project – a pair of to-be-felted slippers and a home project – the entrelac baby blanket. One is easy and the other will take this side of forever to complete. I accept this with open arms.

I decided to learn entrelac around 12 am of last Sunday night/Monday morning after finding myself wide awake. It had nothing to do with the double cappuccino drink I had at six that evening, I swear. It was just a fluke. First I searched Intralac and nothing came up. I did another search and stumbled upon a page that had the technique spelled just as wrong as I did. I kept looking around and finally snuck into my bedroom to pull out some yarn and needles without waking up the husband. Eventually I gave up in hopes of sleeping, which was fitful at best.

The next day I woke up, studied a bit, ignored the messy house that is calling for me to clean it and focused on what was really important – learning entrelac! With the assistance of the entire internet, I believe I have it down. If you’ve seen Eunny Jang on youtube then you’ve tried this to. I love her, but she really needs to slow down. I was looking for Entrelac for dummies tutorial. The about.com version was good for starting but didn’t help me in learning the side triangles. The most comprehensive website that I found was wolf and turtle.net. Please see link below. I’ve been doing some of the increases and decreases a little differently but this website gives the greatest understanding of what is involved in Entrelac. Basically you are knitting squares in two different directions and it gives this great texture but is also annoying because you only knit one block at a time going back and forth and back and forth until you want to scream. It’s a likeable torture!

http://wolfandturtle.net/Dye/index.php/Yarnpath/comments/all_aboard_the_entrelac_express/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcLxMt9GehM

http://knitting.about.com/od/knittingskills/ss/entrelac-base.htm

Another Day, Another Project

by T, posted in knitting

Along with working full time, going to school and juggling the ever present drama of my life, I am working on my newest project. I’m currently over half way through with the Isobel Skirt found in the Winter 2010 edition of Interweave Knits. I know, isn’t it odd that I’m working on a winter skirt during Florida’s spring, otherwise known as the Summer part I. Instead of using the Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend as recommended in the pattern, I decided to try it out with Berrocco Comfort, which is a Nylon/Acrylic blend. I had this around for another project that was never started. The problem with making clothing is that different materials lay differently. There is a proper term for this, but I cannot remember it for the life of me. I think this pattern would work better with natural fibers than with man-made nylon/acrylic yarns.  The other recommendation would be to avoid increasing next to the knit rows. It only throws off the lines in the pattern slightly, but my eyes are drawn to those small deviations.

I love this skirt and I have to have it, even with my imperfections. As of right now, it remains a mini-skirt but I’m working along fast enough. The seven hours I spent on the airplane helped.  This is a great simple pattern that will be fun to wear and show off, even in Florida’s summer weather, I hope.

What if?

by T, posted in Uncategorized

Do you ever play the what if I won the lottery game at home? My husband and I like to play this (probably a little too often.) There are the obvious choices of buying a nice house, getting new (and working???) cars, going on vacation, etc. I had always thought that I’d want to go get my Master’s in creative writing. I always thought I’d wind up writing and am still surprised that I wound up in the accounting field. Lately, I think I’d like to study folk arts. Knitting, spinning and other crafts interest me. Unfortunately, money is still a factor so I will have to be satisfied with just having hobbies but I’d truly love to study the crafts of cultures around the world. These were and still are more than the hobbies that keep them busy but instead kept them clothed and warm.
Oh and if we won the lottery, I want a huge RV and to travel the country while knitting, spinning, and doing what ever makes me happy!

Flying

by T, posted in Uncategorized

I’m running around getting ready to fly to NY on short notice thanks to a death in the family. I’m in the middle of knitting a skirt, which unfortunately thanks my not so tiny waist is a big project. I find some lacy yarn and decide that my backup project will be a lacy shawl/scarf. I need something that I can hide in my purse.

Now it’s time to get my bag ready. No scissors, the TSA doesn’t like those. How many knitting needles are too many to take on a carry on? I am to bring my knitpicks stash but what if they say I can’t bring it on the plane. Better to lose one or two needles than my whole set. I have to go through the stitch holders and make sure nothing looks dangerous.

Now I’m also worrying that the pattern I picked out for the scarf/shawl is too complicated. I don’t think I’ll be able to pull off knitting during the wake, but I want to be able to bring it out at other times. What if my flight is delayed twelve hours like the last time I flew home from NY? I know, I am overreacting. Is this knitting a hobby or an addiction? I am getting anxious trying to decide what I’m bringing.

I’ll figure it out somehow and will write more later.