Yes there is a knitting fairy

I got bitten by the felting bug.

I was moving right along with the Lucy bag when suddenly it occurred to me this is not exactly what I was looking for. I want a tote bag for knitting stuff to carry around. The Lucy bag has a fold-over strap that makes it cumbersume to reach in and out. It would make a perfect purse, but that is not what I want.

I frogged the whole thing.

I still wanted a felted bag. I went into Ravelry and started browsing around. Then I came across this:


Yes!

More importantly, I have this pattern! Somewhere in the house. I remember saving this when I was weeding out old magazines and organizing my patterns. Yes there it was. There is the knitting fairy and she is with me today. Now, what yarn? I am determined to knit from stash and have been very good at that. As a matter of fact, except for three skeins of sock yarn (which doesn't count as stash) I have not bought new yarn this year! I know I have a bunch of odd-ball Manos. Surely I must be able to put together something.

Yes, there is a knitting fairy.


Just out of curiosity I went into Ravelry to see what people have done with this pattern. I was browsing through "felted bags" catagory when all of a sudden this picture popped up:


Felted fish by Linda Taylor.


I MUST HAVE ONE. Or two. Or a whole school of them.

Pattern. Pattern. Where can I get a copy of Knitter's Stash? Right, now.


A quick trip to the Fairfax County public library web site found one on the shelf at my library.


Yes there is a knitting fairy.

Another dive through the stash came up with a couple of balls of Diakeito Diamusee. I have no idea why I have this yarn! But it is perfect for my first fish.

Whoopee!!

I can't wait to felt him. He needs the eyes first.
I have a few odd balls of Noro Kureyon as well. I 'll just have to make sure I knit the body a little shorter. The Diamusee has 100 yards and I went over a ball. I want to keep it within one skein of Kureyon.

Let's go fishing!

In progress

Actually, not much. The two socks are triggering along. In the meantime I got a felting bug after Runty's bed. So I started the Lucy bag.

At first I was using Noro Kureyon alone. But as I was reaching the 120-stich point and starting to come up the side of the bag I realized it was going to be way too small. I was knitting it on size 10 needle and I got the size I want unfelted. Frogged. Started over with Kureyon held with Cascade 220 on #13 needles. It gives me a tweedy effect while maintaing the self-striping pattern Kureyon is famous for. It will be interesting to see how it turns out felted.

The garden is also moving along. The tomatoes are turning.

The squirrel got the first ripe tomato, unfortunately. Those pesky critters are also tearing up part of my newly-sodded lawn. I might have to resort to some serious squirrel repelling measures soon.

The house is also getting a facelift.

I am getting new siding! Yeah!! It will look really nice once it is done. It is on hold for a couple of days right now because they delivered the wrong style of siding. They just started putting it on when it struck me. I had it taken down and now will have to wait for the right siding to be delivered. Story of my life. Another WIP!

Toe-ups, cuff-downs

I love them both!

Left is Boyfriend socks; right is Baudelaire.

Yeah!!

Monday morning

I was quite busy this weekend so didn't get much knitting done.

I managed, however, the finish Runty's bed and felted it.

He approves!

Friday Update

Runty's kitty bed is moving right along. I threw in stripes in Manos Del Uruguay. I have just one skein of this rust color yarn laying around so decided to add it to the blue bag. I will have to get some eyelash yarn for the trim as well. In all I should finish the knitting this weekend and try felting it first in my front-loading machine. Will see how it felts.

The boyfriend socks are also progressing nicely. I am on the heel flaps now. However, this might turn out to be the girlfriend socks -- namely mine. They look awfully small. I am doing a medium.

The combination ribbing and cabling makes them very narrow. They are quite strechy, though. We'll see if they end up in whose drawer.

Pair number five of the Summer of Socks 2009 also got underway.

Just started, but these will be Baudelaire. My third pair of toe-ups. The yean is very pretty Ella Rae Merino Lace. It's called merino lace but it is fingering weight. Very pretty colorway called Seven Seas.

They are working on my new roof today. I am also getting new sidings next week. The house is going to be so beautiful!

Have a nice weekend.

Stash knitting

I have been really good.

Except for three skeins of sock yarn (which doesn't count as stash), I have not bought any yarn this year! Instead I have been digging into my stash and found out that I have a lot of really very very nice yarn. Redoing the basement helped a lot. All the yarn is now in one room waiting to be sorted while the big room is being painted. I actually found it fun going through what I have and trying to match the yarn with the pattern.

So what am I knitting from stash?

This it the start of Kitty Pi for Runty. I cannot believe I had not come across this pattern and knitted it for Runty before! The yarn is Debbie Bliss Soho. I got the yarn a while back. It will be an experiment in felting too. I have a top-loading high effiency washing machine, which I heard doesn't do well felting. We shall see. I might have to go to a friend and borrow her washing machine.

This glob is my February Lady sweater.

This is Rowan Summer Tweed. Obviously I need a longer cable! I just finished the garter stich part and now am starting the lace part. This Summer Tweed has gone through a couple of frogging in previous projects yet it is holding up very well. I need to get a longer circular and pick it up again.

In the meantime pair #4 for Summer of Socks is on the way. This is Boyfriend socks.

Cascade heritage handpaint. A very generous yardage at 437 yards. Hopefully I can get longer legs out of this yarn. The pattern is written for toe-ups, but I am doing them cuff-down. I know, I know. I think I still prefer the heel-and gusset construction and look of the cuff-downs. I will knit socks toe-up though. In fact I have Baudelaire in mind as the next pair.

I need more knitting time!

Toe-ups take two

My second attempt at knitting socks toe-up was a big success!


Diagonal lace socks by Wendy Johnson. Toe-up two-at-a-time on Magic Loop with Mini Mochi. I used the Turkish cast-on. This second pair turned out much, much better especially on the heel construction. I like the gusset increase and slipped stich heels. They look just like the cuff-down construction. And they fit better too.

Even though I still prefer the cuff-down method, I am glad I tried the toe-ups. Now I am no longer antimidated by toe-up patterns and will not need to turn the patterns upside-down anymore.

Toe-up or cuff-down, sock-knitting still rocks!

I'M back!!!

YEAH!!!

Back from the brink!!

Not that I have not been knitting. Just that I have not been blogging. But summer is here and I promise myself I will be better at blogging.

Just a start I signed up for Summer of Socks on Ravelry.

So far, so good. This is the first year I participate and the theme is no stress, no pressure. My kind of knitting. My first pair was done while on a trip to North Carolina. A lot of car knitting. This is Twinkleberry with Socks that Rock. Don't remember the colorway.

One of the goals of the SOS participation for me was to try to knit the socks toe-up, which I did in the second pair.

I used Judy's Magic Cast-on method and short-row heel. I finished them but am not too thrilled. The toes aren't neat and I definitely do not like the short-row heels. They are also too big for me. I wasn't figuring out quite right yet the measurement of toe-up socks. Anyway, here they are. Roccoco with Claudia Handpaint.

I am not giving up on toe-ups, though.

My second attempt is Wendy Johnson's Diagonal Lace socks.

I used the Turkish cast-on this time and like it a whole lot more. The yarn is Mini Mochi. While the color saturation is great and it is very soft knitted up, the yarn is extremely splitty and is a pain in the neck to knit. I won't knit with it again.

Other summer-related stuff is also going great.

The house looks beautiful with all the flowers in bloom.

I love the purple coneflowers.

And the garden. Oh boy, the garden!

It is starting to produce now. Check this out!
And this
And this

Aren't they beautiful?

It is going to be a great summer! I am happy. So is Runty. All the while he is peering out from inside the house.

Tis the season for gift knitting

And I actually finished one item.

The first Noro Striped Scarf.
I said the first because just like everybody else I caught the Noro Striped Scarf bug. I am heading to my LYS after work today to get some more silk garden. This is a quick knit and makes a perfect gift.

I started another gift with no recipient in mind yet. But when I saw this at Uniquites I could not stop myself.

This is a kit with cashmere yarn to knit a manly scarf for your man. Granted, my man has yet to be found, but the cashmere and the deep brown color beckoned, and I gave in. The kit comes with seven patterns, but I had another in mind. Here is a better picture.

The Irish Hiking Scarf
Sigh. Now if my muse will only fine me my man.

Startitis

It's a cold weather affliction.

There's something about the cool weather that make your fingers itch to start a new project every other day.

Something simple but absolutely gorgeous for some easy knitting like on the metro or in the car or while waiting in line.

I am not a scarf person, but yes, I got caught up in the Noro stripe scarf frenzy so here it is. This will make a nice gift.

Then of course I need another vest with cables.

A lovely Kathy Zimmermann design in the Nashua North American collection. I am doing yest another vest. This one in Dream in Color Classy. I love this yarn! Nice and spongy. The cables show up really well, much better than in the picture.

Knit, knit, knit!

Welcome back. Muse!

With the falling leaves and the chill in the air, my muse decided to come back.

It is a warm welcome indeed!

I have a couple of finished projects that I will post pictures tonight, but here are a couple more of WIPs. I have been very productive.

Vests and cables. Two of my favorite things to knit.

This is the beginning of Victoria from Kim Hargraves's book Thrown Together. Here is the finished product:

I am knitting mine in Noro Cash Iroha in ivory. Believe it or not, this will be my first knitted item in off-white!

The other WIP is also cable and also a vest. Tis the season for vests and cables.

Veste Everest inMountain Mohair. This is my second one. This one will be a gift.

More vests and more cables to come!

Come back, sweater muse

You have been on a long vacation.

My sweater muse has taken off on a long vacation this year. It has been a totally unproductive season in the sweater department. I just frogged two more pieces the other nights and have been staring at the yarn. I am waiting for the new Nashua Magazine to arrive at my LYS. There are several pretty patterns. There's bound to be one for me.

The weather in Virginia has been very pleasant. Maybe that will inspire me. Fall seem to be not so far away. Sweater season, right? Knitting season. Kids are going back to school. It's time to come back, my sweater muse.

My sock muse, on the other hand, never left.

Watermelon Jaywalkers on left and Ellie's birthday socks on right. At the rate I am going, family and friends are getting three pairs of socks each this Christmas!

Socks rocks.

Mindy's socks

Warm feet, warm heart

My friend Mindy has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

But that is where the bad news stopped. Even though the breast biopsy showed the lumps to be malignant and Mindy will have a lumpectomy to remove another lump in her breast in a couple of weeks, the PET scan did not find any more cancer in her body and it has not spread to the lymp nodes. Even though Mindy will need both chemotherapy and radiation after the surgery, her doctor expects full recovery.

Mindy will be a survivor.

And she will have warm feet throughout the ordeal.

Breast cancer socks for Mindy. Colinette Jitterbug. Go Mindy go! We are with you all the way!

A midsummer update

It's about time!

I have been slacking so badly.

You can call it a totally unproductive summer so far, so a productive one, depending on how you look at it. I have not been able to get a single sweater going this year. I started several, but all have either been put aside or frogged. The latest attempt was Hey, Teach! I got this far:

Rowan All Seasons Cotton. All that was done in sone sitting. But that was just about it. And that yarn has gone through several projects. I just might finish this one. I just might.

I was also fascinated by Norah Gauhgan's Manon:

I knitted up one peplum triangle out of curiosity. This is Karabella Aurora 8 from stash. The gauge is a tad big but I think it will fit just fine. If I finish it. The pattern is intriguing enought it might keep me going. We shall see.

Socks, however, are another story.

I can't stop knitting them.

Socks are a success story. Pair after pair after pair. Socks never let you down. Socks are great knitted up in pairs:

Or even singly:

Socks are your true friends. Socks are forever!

Socks are your true friends

Socks are forever.


I love knitting socks.


Especially two socks together. But a sock at a time is okay too. As long as you cast on the second sock right away. Always have a sock-in-progress with you and you will never be bored. I even like kitchnering.


I am leaving for Thailand Saturday. It's a 24-hour flight. I never sleep on a plane. Do you think I can finish a sock? Maybe a pair if I knit two at a time? We shall see.

Sweater, on the other hand, can either be your friend or enemy.

This is the latest craze on Ravelry.

February lady sweater. Based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's baby sweater by the same name in the Knitter's Almanac. Free pattern is here.

Seems like everybody is knitting it, so I joined the crowd and cast on with some modifications.

I knitted the bodice in stockinette instead of garter. I also did yarnover increase instead of M1 as the pattern says. The yarn is Dream in Color Classy in Nightwatch. From stash. (Yeah!!) Lovely hand.

Unfortunately it needs to be frogged back a few inches. I did the eyelet increase too soon. The eyelet row should be just a couple of row above the beginning of the lace pattern. Off to the frog pond I go.

I told you. Socks are good.

Shrug experiment

Cables and lace

I want a little summer shrug.

I have been searching high and low for a shrug pattern. I wanted some lace, but not too lacy. I wanted some cables, but not too bulky. Picky, picky. I didn't know exactly what I wanted. I would know when I saw it.


Then I saw this picture.




Debbie Bliss shrug in Pure Silk book. The picture is so unattractive! But something caught my eyes and I began to search through Ravelry. Much better pictures there. Love it! Yes. Cables and lace. Just the right kind of cable and the right lace. This is want I want. But not in silk. Not me. Cotton. 24 st to four inches in stockinette. Hmn. Cotton. I can never get gauge in cotton.

I couldn't get gauge. I tried it in Sublime organic cotton. DB cathay. Rowan wool cotton. Couldn't get gauge. Went down to needles size four and still the work looked sloppy. Tried it in pattern. Nope. Didn't like what I see. It just didn't feel right. Hmn. Didn't look good. I wanted this.

Then Caroline at Uniquities, my second-favorite LYS, said to try Rowan's Calmer, a cotton DK yarn with a little elastic. She said I would like it.

I love it.

Just right. And the yarn was on sale. So much for stash diving. This is a DB lace-and-cable pattern but I am not using her shrug pattern. I don't like that it is done in parts and seamed together. The shoulders don't look right. Back to Ravelry and the search. I am following this 1936 shoulderette pattern:

Much better.

Now I am knitting in earnest. I also finished my second pair of socks (knitted two at the same time). Now I will just need to clean up a couple of single second socks and I shall be crusing away with two at a time onwards! It is so rewarding.

A sock ahead

Great leap forward!


YEAH!!!

Best thing that ever happened to sock knitting since the magic loop!

No more second sock syndrome!