Knitting along with the TV

With tv. Thought I knew what I was doing...long and short hands.  Looks like I was in a hurry to finish.  Love this design from Latvia.

(From September 2020)

Finished mittens

blog 2

From 2020 Aug 

Blanks: It keeps me up at night thinking about blanks… Here is a palette which is knitted up double. It's intended for socks, for sure, because once you paint it you have 2 balls of 50 grams each, one for each sock to be identical.

I have to chuckle, because when I started to knit my two socks, I THOUGHT I would knit two-at-a-time on one circular needle. Knit them without rolling the yarn into a ball! But my real intention was to figure out if my pattern on the blank would convert to the same pattern on a sock. So, a better use of my time would be to do 1 sock, and see if that's what I wanted.

I knew it wasn't going to be simple, and a bit disappointed that it wasn't MADE simple by KnitPicks. First of all, what you see on the blank is knitted double with a gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch. On the label it says the yarn is to be knitted with needles #1-3 for a gauge of 7-8 stitches per inch. And second, and maybe even MORE confounding is the fact that the blank is knitted in stockinette back and forth (flat) and socks, well, are circular.

big foot sock – notice purple is pooling as I had hoped

After much deliberation (instead of a good night's sleep), I figured that a symmetrical pattern located at the vertical mid-point could line up with using each row of blank as one row of circular knitting. I knew I wanted 64 stitches around in fingering weight with small-ish needles, but if that didn't "eat up" a full row of blank, the pattern wouldn't line up. And… it didn't. Not until I loosely tensioned the yarn with US 4/3.5 mm needles. Even then, it wasn't totally reliable, and the fabric was very loose, and you could see right through it. That, my friends, makes for very poor socks…socks that will wear out fast, and your "big-foot" recipient will hate it. Even as a hanging Christmas stocking, there would be no surprise as to what's inside!

I found knitting at the 7-8 sts=1 inch gauge makes a great sock, and the colors swirl around, and I'm very happy. (See email for photos.)

OK…I'm done with wordpress for now. I'm going to continue my ramblings directly to you on email. Let me know if you want to be removed from my mailing list. (WordPress isn't "talking" to my photos, and I can't be bothered to figure out the problem.)

Finished Socks

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Pain

(Blogs from the past that didn’t get published.)

MAY 2020…I feel your pain, PMM.

I recently was commiserating with my fellow knitter as she was finishing up a (gorgeous/ingenious) blanket project that used up hundreds of bits of fingering yarn. The original stash buster! But, as the end neared, the dreaded "weave in the ends" process made it painful. So painful that she confided that she had COUNTED the remaining ends just to give herself some solace that she was gaining ground. I suppose counting 60 plus ends was a respite.

Now it's my turn...two mittens...
Any guesses how many ends? No contest; I'm not counting!

The finished mittens sure are…”original”.  Used countless patterns to create them.

broad-street-mittens finished

Prize winners 2020

To the uninitiated eye, these look like ordinary masked women... but in reality, they are knitters/crocheters extraordinaire(s)!  We decided to NOT wait for the San Juan County Fair 2021 and host our own event.

Enjoying the 90º F backyard, awaiting the tallying of votes, patiently, we resisted the urge to just award EVERY entry a first prize.

A Table full of lovely items...and a line of more lovely items.  Lots of hands on here! Click to enlarge.

Not room on the line for all!

Everyone had something that was either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, and we all took home various white elephant gifts.  And feasted on Apple Pancakes and other treats, AND we took home produce from Jenny's and Callie's gardens. WIN-WIN-WIN!!

Muttering overheard (above):  "This is impossible to judge."

And the WINNERS are:  TWO BEST OF SHOW...  It was a tie!

Kay with Baby Sweater and granddaughter Jenn with a stunning silk shawl!

For closer looks at my articles, you'll have to go to Ravelry Here.

COVID busy

What a time, to sit back and knit/weave.

Totally unexpected, I found this pattern for a poncho (I love ponchos...) and had the yarn leftover from 6 years ago.

Comfy for napping, but not needed in 40° C July.
Knitted in the round, because I can...pattern calls for front and back with seams.

My Ravelry

#dropsdesign

More to follow, plus Ivories!

Knitting to stay sane

Starting something, when I had many others on needles, is the thing to do, just to make oneself happy...  Most of all, I need to have socks on needles in case I have to go out.  But who's going out these days?  Not me.  So I started socks with this beautiful yarn only to discover that it was SOOOO beautiful that I couldn't stand the thought of wearing it on my feet!

Using my book of  Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders I found this pattern called Celeste Shawl.  The photos in the book really didn't do it justice, and I was fully prepared to get to a point where it would be disappointing and I would rip it out.

But it didn't disappoint, and with blocking to bring out a pointed edge, I LOVE IT!  And the color!!!

 Yarn: Rockshelter Sock by Meadowcroft Dyeworks.  100% merino. YUM!
And speaking of YUM...

I'm learning about sourdough bread making.  This is definitely my best attempt at making the "big hole" type of "rustic" sourdough.  A friend shared her starter, and recipe, and with the help of the Internet I've been making bread 2-3 times a week.  

Plus, the need for face masks... I've made 4 so far, for ourselves.  I've been tempted to make them in great numbers like my friends have, to give to the many who are requesting them, yet, when I get done with 2 (at a time) I'm not as eager to continue.

Stay safe!

Unfinished Symphony

Good news! After starting and restarting my Las Cruses cardigan (Laura Nelkin design), and ripping out parts 3 times because of bad calculations on MY part, I came to the point where I ran out of yarn. That's the good news? No, good news to come:

Yes... the rookie mistake. And not just ANY yarn! A dye lot created for the Taos Wool Festival 2019 in beautiful bamboo. Limited supply... and where did they go? Well, a close friend bought some for a project, yet NO ONE BUT ME, entered it into Ravelry!

So, tracking down enough yarn to knit the collar, which is a thin band down the fronts and around the neck.

The tracking begins (even before I ran out, because I could see it coming):
1) I give a shout out to my friend but she hasn't finished her project and is hesitant to commit. Friendship only goes so far!

2) An email to the dyer, and to the shop where I bought it. Dyer replies I should try the shop.

3) Shop owner of Mooncat Fibers, in Taos, replies (the GOOD NEWS) that she thinks she has almost a full skein left at home!

4) This morning, she's sending it my way. Last night I dreamed I used that leftover to "begin" the finishing. A bit of a restless night...I never got past the first three stitches of the collar, redoing it over and over...

5) I got plenty of time!

6) A drawback to Nelkin's designs... They are difficult (or maybe I should say impossible) to try on for fit, and upon finishing, I discovered the sleeves were WAY, I mean 8" WAY too long.  And had I known that, I wouldn't have had to buy more yarn.  Bamboo, drapey, and nice but difficult to judge how long it will be...I ended up shortening the sleeves, and now, it's finished.