The spiral blankie is finished, yay!

I finished the blanket for Emily’s shop! Check out how blocking improves things! Oh, it’s like a magic trick! When I was a new knitter, I thought that blocking was a useless step, but now that I’m more experienced, I know better. I look forward to blocking from the very first cast-on stitch.

Before –

After –
…no… blocking didn’t change the color of the yarn. The conditions and lighting were different on the different days in which I took the photos. The color stayed the same. This “after” photo seems to have a more realistic color, but all pix of this spiral blankie are a bit off, color-wise.

OK, so I took a better look at these photos, and aside from the color, you can't tell a bit of difference, can you? LOL. OK, here are the differences - the blocked one lies much flatter, the stitches look more even, and the edge lies flat and isn't threatening to fold over. It is also MUCH larger - it grew more than 5 inches in diameter. The drape is much improved, too.

All in all - blocking works wonders and your work will look SO much better blocked. So, if you are a new knitter, trust me - block it! Also, if you are a new knitter, know this - you should block your swatches. Keep in mind that this small blanket grew 5+ inches in diameter - imagine how your project will look if you are taking your gauge measurements from an unwashed/unblocked swatch? Oh, it makes me shudder to contemplate such horrors!

Edging –

Chart for edging – (Yes, I’m still all charged up about this chart maker! It’s wonderful!)

This is a very simple garter stitch lace edging. So simple, yet so effective.

I finished this blankie with about 3 feet of yarn left over. This is how I performed such miracles – first of all, I didn’t ball up the yarn, but I left it in a skein. I don’t know why I did this, as I generally ball yarn, but these skeins are rather small, and why not. I have a floor lamp next to my Knitting Throne, and I just looped the yarn over one of the lamps and knitted away.

When I felt that it was time to put on the edging, I stopped and counted the number of loops left in the skein. I took this number, and divided it by 8 to calculate the number of loops per segment. Then, I divided the number of stitches per segment by this number to calculate the number of stitches per loop. Get it?

After all of my figuring, and allowing myself some room, I allowed myself 6 stitches per loop. So, I unlooped 2 loops, and practiced different bind-off edgings over 12 stitches, and experimented until I came up with an edging which took up this much yarn.. My calculations proved pretty accurate, but I was kinda worried, there towards the end. Gulp. But, it all worked out and I’m very happy.

It’s pretty easy to make up these edgings as you go along, and you can make the edging as wide or as narrow as you like. This blankie would look very nice with a plain garter stitch edging, but I decided to throw in a yarn over for fun.

Ahhhh – I just love this pattern! So simple and so… ahhhh…..

This is the perfect beginner project. It’s really easy, and just look at how wonderful it comes out! My teenaged son proclaims it, “Mesmerizing…” LOL.

In March, I’ll teach a class on how to knit this blanket. Sign up now! Contact me at thomases2000@yahoo.com for more information. In this class, we’ll discuss the math of the start-from-the-center-and-knit-outwards-flat-item, and we’ll learn different increases and decreases. We’ll also learn how to make a lace cast off, and we’ll take a look at different ways of casting on for the center. This is a very easy project, but there are so many different things to learn!

There’s still room in my Baby Surprise Class! Contact me for details.

Better Chart

It's amazing what reading the directions will do! Voila - a better chart. Enjoy!

This chart program is really fun! You'll find the link in the post below.

Simple minds....

Spiral (only) Shawl

Yes, what you see is the beginnings of a shawl, taped to the floor. Hey! It works!

I'm busily knitting away on this spiral shawl, aka Red Tent Blanket, for the class that I'm going to teach in March at Emily's shop. I decided that I really didn't like those star-shaped points in the original Red Tent Blanket, and I'm going to teach this class as a Spiral (only) Shawl. Right now, I'm scouring the 'net for a lace edging pattern. I'm just like Goldilocks, "That one is too big! This one is too small! This one is too narrow! That one is too wide!" I have to find one really fast, because I want to knit the edge tomorrow, and wash/block it in time to turn in to Emily on Saturday. Any suggestions?

Ooooohhhh, this yarn is soooo soft! Artful Yarn's Serenade- a cotton, angora blend. Ooooohhhh.... Aaaaaahhhhhh......

Oh My Goodness! Check this out! Go to this web page, Chart Creator, and you can make nice, professional charts of your knitting! Quick! Catch me! I'm going to swoon! I can hardly contain myself.

Here is an example of how knitting books always chart this particular swirl pattern,

... and here is the *right* way to chart it.
I mean, really... does the first chart look anything like the knitted item? No! But, take a look at the second chart, and compare it to the shawl. Now, what do YOU think?

My only complaint with this chart is that the row numbers are on either side. This would make sense, if I were knitting back and forth, but it’s a bit confusing for knitting ‘round and ‘round. Pretend that the numerals are all on the right side of the chart, OK? This might actually be a setting on the chart maker, but since it is 2am, and I’m considering falling face first into the keyboard for a long nap, maybe I’m just overlooking it. I’ll check again, tomorrow. lol.

This shawl is really easy, and a perfect beginner project. The circle cast on might be a stumbling block, but just get yourself a good knitting book, practice it a few times, and you’ll be just fine. You can always leave a long tail, and then use the tail to repair any problems later.

Preparation - Cast on 8 in a ring,
Round 1 - knit around. You might want to place a marker between each stitch.
2nd round, yo, k, pass marker (pm) all around.
3rd round, knit 2, pm, all around.
4th round, yo, k, yo, k, pm all around,
5th row, knit 4, pm all around
You are knitting 8 segments, and each segment is identical, and each segment is ended with the marker.

Now, you get to the repetitive - every row is just about the same - part.
There is a marker after each k2tog, to separate the 8 segments.
6th row, yo, k, yo, k, yo, k2tog, pm, repeat all around.
7th row, knit 4, k2tog…
8th row, (yo, k)3x, k2tog…
9th row, knit 5 k2tog…
10th row, (yo, k)3x, k1 k2tog…
11th row, knit 6, k2tog…
12th row, (yo, k)3x, k2 k2tog…
13th row, knit 7, k2tog…
14th row, (yo, k)3x, k3, k2tog…
15th row, knit 8, k2tog…
and etc and etc and etc, until the shawl is as large as you want.


As you knit around, you notice a pattern - once you pass the marker, notice what comes ahead. If it is a yo, then this is a knit round. If it is a knit stitch, then it's time to do the (yo, k) 3x business. There is a k2tog at the end of each segment, no matter what. As you are knitting, you can see this line of k2tog’s coming along, and you can remember to k2tog at the end of every segment. I think that you could even do without the markers, after you are used to what’s going on.

Next post - correcting common knitting errors with this pattern, without having to rip out!

Emma Dyes Snow and another Baby Surprise

My Emma isn’t the crafter that her sister, Grace, is, but… she can dye snow! This started out as a project so as to prolong her snow fort – but why douse it with just plain water when we have cake icing dye, just waiting to be flung onto a snow fort! (Simply mix a tiny bit of icing dye with a giant jug of water, shake and fling.) For some reason, the camera didn’t pick up all of the colors – it was really quite colorful! But, it’s just about gone now, in preparation for the next snowstorm, which I heard is due on Thursday? Oh my gosh! Again! More sitting and knitting! *Gasp!* Gotta run to the library for more books on tape!

Here is the completed picture of the Baby Surprise for Emily’s shop. Come! Take my class! This little darling thing is knitted out of Collinette's Cadenza “Dusk” and it was such a dream to knit with, that I sent my dh to Emily’s shop to buy more so that I can knit some socks for myself! Emily said that he did real well, too. lol.

This Cadenza is soooooo soft, and sooooo pretty and soooooo colorful. It was really nice to work with. I can’t wait to get started on my socks. But – other shop knitting, first. Right now, I’m knitting a Red Tent Blanket out of yet another yummy yarn, Artful Yarn's Serenade, a cotton angora blend, aaaaahhhhh sooooooo soft. This shawl will go on display in Emily’s shop to advertise the class I’m going to teach in March. Pix in a few days!

Happy Holidays!

I hope that all of you had a wonderful and peaceful Holiday Season! I sure did! I spent most of it knitting, and what could be more wonderful and peaceful than KNITTING?

Maybe you’ve heard that Colorado has had two blizzards, recently? Blizzards are *most* conducive to knitting, and they are most wonderful and peaceful, too, if you are a blizzard kinda gal, and I am. After our First Christmas Blizzard, we traveled to visit my friend, Annette, and Grace’s boyfriend, Howard. Take a look at Howard’s reaction, upon seeing Grace. I’m telling y’all, this boy has it bad.

Here we all are, after our Second Christmas Blizzard. Yes, night-time temperatures are down to the single digits (F) and yes, we are standing there, in our snow boots, and yes, it is, indeed, warm enough for my darling Grace to be out-of-doors in her shirt sleeves. I so adore this wonderful Colorado Weather!!! By the way, I’m not a little, short, delicate person, I just happen to live in a house full of giants. I’ll soon be the shortest member of the family, and I’m 5’8” (172.7cm) tall!

Emma, and the neighbor kids, were busy, too. The first blizzard left only a trace amount of snow, but the second one left enough snow to actually *build* something! (The cardboard is the roof of the fort, which they kindly moved aside for the photo.)

But – as I said, blizzards are quite conducive to knitting. Here is an action photo of Grace and Domino. Grace had to put her knitting aside in order to pin Domino to her lap – he takes one look at the camera and flees! He hates the flash? I don’t know, but the two of them were happily knitting away until I came along and ruined the whole thing. Notice the fine wires leading to Grace’s ears? She is listening to The Thirteenth Tale, a wonderful book! The Recorded Books Presentation was very well performed – a thoroughly enjoyable presentation, all around. She and I knitted and listened, in our jammies, with cats on laps, and cups of tea nearby, for three whole days. Ahhh….. bliss…..

Grace is knitting a Mitered Square Blanket out of yarn which my friend, Katie, left on the front porch, after a major cleaning-out fit. Take a look at what she left for us! We’ll be knitting for a long time! Thanks, Katie!!!

Christmas Knitting finished – two pairs of slippers, photos below. 6 pairs of mitts, given away without remembering to take their pictures, but trust me, they all came out really nice! lol. Two scarves – photos below. Not bad, considering that I promised myself that there would be NO Christmas knitting. Yeah, right. Maybe I should start now on the Christmas Knitting that I’m not going to do for next year, eh? It would be much easier on my hands than knitting it all in two weeks… Oh, I also knitted – while listening to The Thirteenth Tale – another Baby Surprise for Emily’s shop. Photos soon. Oh my gosh, it came out so cute! Stay tuned!

Christmas Clogs!

I couldn't be more pleased with these clogs! How do you like them? (They are still wet, and stuffed with washcloths, to hold their shape while they dry.) These are made with the Fibertrend’s Felted Clogs pattern, in Cascade 220.

I started out making a simple pair of blue and purple clogs. After one of them was completed, I thought.... hhhmmmm... and went to my most fave Yarn Store and asked Emily to help me pick out another color, and voila! Perfection! So - I bought more of the purple, and made two pairs of two color clogs – one is a woman’s small, and one is a woman’s large.

The little octopus thingies are really easy - cast on 20 stitches in a cable cast on, then immediately cast off. Move the last stitch to the left hand needle, and cast on 18, then cast off, then 16, and so on, until you get to 6, then cast on 5, then 4. Switch colors along the way, if you like. Of course, you can do any number combination that you like, but this is how I did it. The “fingers” will be in a row, from longest to shortest, sort of like a fringe. Then, curl the base so that the whole thing looks like you want it to, and run the tails of the yarn through the base in such a way that it holds a more-or-less flower shape. Then, felt with the clogs.

When knitted, they curled so nicely, due to the cast-on and cast-off being a bit different in tension, but when felted, they came out completely straight. Bummer. So, when they were still wet, I twisted the fingers really hard, and let them dry. When I sew it all together, I'm going to put some stitches, here and there, to sort of hold the curl in place. I hope that they stay looking like silly, curly thingies.

I hope that the recipients are happy, too. This was such a fun project.

You want to know what I'd do differently in the future? I'd knit the tops of the clogs in one color, the outer sole in another color, and the inner sole in a third color, and this would be simple – just buy three different balls in three colors. Or, make them two-color clogs, like you see here, but with RED inner soles. How about big felted flowers, instead of the curlie whirlie thingies? These clogs also knit up nicely in stripes. If only I could sit around and knit all day long!

These are knitted with Cascade yarn - my new fave - it is so soft, for times when you don't want to felt, but gosh, it felts really nicely, too. It comes in SO MANY colors. Click Click Click - that's my brain coming up with more ideas - click click click.

Guess what? I'm going to be teaching knitting classes at Emily's store. I'm so excited! My first class will be a workshop about Continental knitting *and* magic loop, and a whole lot more, because, you know, I have a lot to say on the subject, lol. As I sat knitting these clogs, my mind whirled with ideas. Later in January, I'll be teaching a two-part class on making Baby Surprise jackets, and then, in March, I'll teach a class on how to knit my Red Tent Blanket. So, for all of you who want to knit this blanket-shawl - Come On Down! In this class, we'll discuss how to knit this shawl, how adapt doily patterns to make them shawl patterns, and how to chart flat circular items. We'll also learn how to knit on a border, my favorite way to finish a shawl. I can hardly wait. If you are interested in knowing about other classes, email me, and I can send you a copy of the newsletter. There will be classes in crochetting, knitting, wet felting, needle felting, spinning, and more!

Mama's Scarf

I took the proceeds from my article, and ran screaming to Emily’s Shop to purchase all of the Barbara G. Walker Stitch Treasuries, so that whenever I wanted to design a project, no matter what time of day or night, I’d have all the stitch patterns in the universe *right* at my fingertips. Then… I proceeded to knit my mother a scarf from a pattern which I found online after I bought the books. Sigh.

This is just the way it works, isn’t it? *smile*

Anyway, here is a photo of a portion of the scarf in its “relaxed” state…
 
…and here it is just a bit stretched, to show the stitches…
 
…and here it is, really stretched (and blurry, sorry!) so that you can see the pattern.  This couldn’t be simpler. The yarn is Pengouin “Agadir” – a 70/30 cotton/acrylic blend, in brown and tan.

I found the pattern online, under the title, Barbola Scarf. Gosh, I wish that I could give credit where credit is due, but now, I can’t find the entry! I’m so sorry. If anyone knows where this is online, then please drop me a line, so I can amend this situation.

It is the easiest stitch pattern! Cast on an odd number of stitches. Knit one row.

Pattern row – K2tog, yarn over, repeat until you end with K1.

Repeat this pattern row until your item is the desired length. Bind off, loosely. I used Elizabeth Zimmermann’s sewn bind off which matched very nicely to the long-tail cast on that I began with. I bound off every stitch, rather than binding off in pattern, so that the bind off matched the initial knitted row. Making it this way made the ends flare out in a very appealing way.

I liked this scarf so much, that I decided to knit another one. On the second scarf, I tried to begin the pattern row right from the cast on, but I didn’t like how it looked in this particular yarn, as it kind of drew in. It might work better to do it this way with some other yarn, and if you do it this way, then you’ll probably want to bind off in pattern, so that both ends match.

This is such a fast knit! The result is really bouncy and stretchy and floppy and loosey-goosey and just right for a scarf.

Back to my Christmas Knitting! What are YOU knitting for presents this year?

Goodbye Old Friends

 

*sniff* It's time we say goodbye.

These were among my first projects. Lovely dishrag-cotton slipper socks with soles made out of a felted sweater. Sniff. These old friends have warmed my feet for how long? 3 years? Something like this. But - take a look! One heel, completely worn through. This is the third or maybe fourth set of soles, but this time, the hole goes through and through - sole, sock and all - and I think that it's beyond redemption. Sigh. The toe on the other foot - worn through and patched last winter, and look at that cuff. If you could hold these in your hands, you'd feel that the whole slipper sock is wasting away to nothingness... completely threadbare. These are almost grey now, and they started out a bright, vibrant variegated yarn. Too many trips through the washing machine. Sigh.

I think that they can live in the back of my sock drawer since I can't bear to throw them in the *gasp!* trash can, where they will be loaded into the back of a *gasp!* trash truck and carted off to the *gasp! gasp! gasp!* Town Dump. NO!

Goodbye old friends.

The good news is that it's time to knit another pair! Yippee! This time - ALL WOOL

J, you asked about spindles?

My email pal, J, asked about making spindle shafts with tapered ends, and brass hooks. Well, J, head on over to my tutorial blog, Rosemary Knits Tutorials, and see for yourself! It's easy, and takes very little time. Thanks for asking.

Grace's MiniSweater

Grace finished her sweater - it took her no time at all! She made this to wear to ballet, but it came out too cute to wear only in the Ballet Barre. Here is a link to the pattern Minisweater.

Grace made a couple of changes - she eliminated the poofy sleeves, and she made her sleeves long with a bell at the end. Completely darling! Also, she knitted long ties onto the bottom band, and the ties are long enough to wrap all the way around so that she can tie it in the back, or in the front.

Actually, this band is not knitted as per the Minisweater directions, but like this - knit to the bottom of the sweater, before the bottom band starts, and set the sweater aside - still on the needles, or on a stitch holder. With another ball of yarn, and another pair of needles, cast on 5, and knit in garter stitch until you are completely goggly eyed, or until the band is about 40 inches long, whichever comes first. Then, knit onto the bottom of the sweater, as if you are knitting on a border. When you go all the way around the sweater, you are back to knitting a 40 inch long band onto the other side. Cast off and you are done. Grace knitted a buttonhole under one arm, to keep the band in place.

Here, you see the back of Grace, and the side of Emily, my new yarn mistress. You also see a pair of the most uncooperative models in the history of blogging, and they ought to be ashamed of themselves!!! You also see one of Emily's completely darling needle-felted animals - her dog. Ooooohhh... it is too cute! In the very top picture, you can see Emily's sheep on the other side of the pedestal - it's white and black and is holding a flower in its mouth. That Emily makes the best needle felted sculptures! I'll post more in the future. She teaches classes, too.

Also - Grace's sweater isn't see through - it's that flash-thing. This is the reason why you should always wear a black bra with a black top - you never know when someone will be ready to snap your picture, lol.

Stats on the sweater -

Pattern - Glampyre Minisweater, knitted to gauge, with modifications as listed above.

Yarn - Plymouth Encore, Navy Blue

Needles - home-made circs approx size 9.

Knit Night!!!

Emily is such a dear - she has a knit night at her store, Colorado Fiber Arts! Oh my, we do have fun! Its great to see what everyone is up to.

Here you see some of the regulars - you know Grace, in the front, and do you remember Annette, in the back, in a white sweater? This is the lady who learned how to spin merino on a drop spindle, while on a hike and she learned to spin in 2 minutes flat. Now, she's picked up sock knitting. Yes, she just picked it up and is cranking out socks right and left. I studied and swatched for weeks to learn how to knit a sock, but not Annette - she's a quick study for sure! This "learn some complicated new process in two minutes flat" thing seems to be a habit of hers.



This blog entry marks the first time that all three of my children are in a blog post - oh, wait, no, that happened back on the mountain.... Anyway, you see Sam in the baseball hat, and Emma in the pink pullover and you all know Grace. Annette's children are in the black tee shirt and the green pullover. A handsomer bunch of kids would be hard to find, don't you think? They are studious, courteous and hardworking. Annette and I think so, at least.

Emily's store is right across the street from the public library, and the kids just wandered over after a teen function. Not only does Emily have all the yarn one could ask for, and not only does she offer all sorts of neat classes, and not only does she host a Knit Night, but gosh, she put her store right across from the public library! How cool is that!

To top it all off - she serves chocolate at knit night.

Stretchy Cast on, still photos

I've posted the still photos of the Stretchy Cast On to my tutorial blog, for anyone who might be interested.

Rosemary Knits Tutorials

Cheers!

Stretchy Cast On

I just posted a youtube video on my tutorial site, Rosemary Knits Tutorials, or I think I did, so head on over there, and take a look. Let me know what you think. (Let me know if it's even there as I can't make it load up on this computer. Grrr...)

I'll post still pictures too, for those of you who are still on dialup (like me!) and can't access youtube videos. You can save the still pictures, then play them as a slide show, and it will be nearly as good, lol. I can't do it right now, however, as my Library Internet timeslot is all used up! Maybe sometime next week?

Cast on!

New Yarn Store!

I'm so excited that I can hardly contain myself. My little town now has a proper yarn store!!! I've lived for so long, buying yarn at Hobby Lobby, and now, I can buy REAL yarn, lol. Visit Emily here, Colorado Fiber Arts . She has it all, and it's such a cute store. I wish her all the best!!!

If I can do two things - (1) remember to take my camera to knit-in, and (2) actually remember to snap some photos, then I'll post pix of our wonderful Tuesday night sit and knit sessions at Colorado Fiber Arts store. Stay tuned!

Baby Surprise Jacket

Now, isn't this just TOO CUTE? I just love to knit this baby jacket. Elizabeth Zimmermann was a pure genius.

I knitted this out of Artyarn's "Candy" in the colors "jujube" and "lolipop." This yarn felt a bit stringy in the ball, and felt a bit stringy after being knitted up, but after a trip through the washer and dryer, it's soooooo soft. The ball band says to hand wash, but I felt adventurous, and threw it in the machines and it came out fine. It's a cotton/acrylic blend.

Look how cute it is from the back.


We had the most gorgeous sky last night. Take a look. Ahhhh.... The sunlight, reflected from the clouds made the sidewalk pink! I love it when this happens.

From Sweater to Clogs (almost)

What a productive 24 hours! I went from here to there in this short amount of time...

Quite a long time ago, my local thrift store ran a special sale on sweaters - 12 for a dollar, if you can believe it. Of course, I stocked up! Last night, I decided to rip one of these sweaters, and make a pair of felted clogs-slippers for my dear, darling husband.
This is a really thick, really bulky sweater. I hope that it felts OK. It's odd - even though it is a wonderfully thick sweater, it is made from really fine yarn. I mean really REALLY fine. The trick is that there are 5 of them held together. Each strand of yarn is two ply - one ply is brown and the other ply is cream, so the result is this wonderful heathery brown (not grey as it looks in the photo). Doesn't that sound like a ridiculous amount of spinning for one strand of knitting yarn? Each ply is just a little bit thicker than sewing thread. Gosh, I hope it felts!
Well, last night, I began knitting on my old, home-made circs, which are made of wood. Oooch! Even though the needles are perfectly smooth, from miles and miles of knitting, the yarn really dragged on these wooden needles. I was seeing a headache in my future. While running errands this morning, I came across this set of plastic needles, on the *clearance rack!* Yippee, life is good. I came home, and I didn't even put the perishables in the fridge - I raced out to my garage, and whipped up a pair of circs. Here is a photo at the half way mark. Nifty, eh? They made up really easily - much more easily than I had imagined. These needles are so very smooth, and very lightweight. Yes, this is a good day

I'm almost done with the first part of the first slipper - as I sit to write this, I'm much farther along on the slipper than the photo indicates. I'm now to the point where I have to knit another sole. I'm really going to run out of yarn!!! Oh well... hubby and I discussed it and we came to the conclusion that slippers *really* don't need to match each other, do they? I'll just make the mate out of another sweater, and hope for a match weight-wise. I think that it would be unpleasant to wear slippers of different weights, don't you?

If you haven't tried the felted clogs pattern from Fiber Trends - well, what are you waiting for? It's relatively easy, once you understand the rhythm of the pattern. What came as a Eureka! moment is when I realized that I don't need to count every row. Simply read ahead, and see what the author tells you what to do *after* the counting - maybe it's to m1k2 2 times, at which point you'll be at the middle stitch. Well, I put a piece of contrasting yarn across the knitting (on top of the knitting, between the stitches, but under the needle - it'll stay there for a little while) at 4 stitches from the middle stitch, which I also have marked, and when I get to the yarn, then I do as I'm told. No counting. Mind you - the knitter doesn't have to count to say... 10. The knitter is asked to count to 79, or 68 or whatever. It's much easier to place the temporary marker.

I’ve knitted this pattern over and over again. It’s great fun. http://www.fibertrends.com/viewer/patterns/AC33x.html

Felted, Fibery, Fun.

Look what I found while cleaning out my junk-basket! My cell phone case! I made this in about July of 2005, during a fun afternoon of felting with my children, a close friend, and her children. Have you ever wet-felted? Your hands have never been this clean before! It’s great fun, and I just wanted to share these photos. The pink one is my first try. Who knew that felted wool shrinks so very much!

Both projects were made with merino roving, and dyed with Koolaid. I used the method outlined in this book, Feltmaking: Fabulous Wearables, Jewelry & Home Accents , which is a great book, by the way, with very easy to follow directions.

No, I don't ever use it, as my little cell phone is quite sturdy and doesn't need any protection, so this case turned out to be not-as-handy-as-I-had-hoped, and it's relegated to my junk basket. Still, it was a great project!

By the way - I am the proud owner of the World's Most Spoiled Dog, and yes, I have proof. See below. Spoiled dog.





The little brat has his Nylabone in there - what a brat.


It was blowing rain and snow most of the day, and this spoiled dog spent the whole time on the sofa, under a down comforter. See? What did I tell you? The World's Most Spoiled Dog.

Three more blocks

Three down, 9 million more to go. Not really, but it sure seems this way.

Take a look at the one in the upper left - what was I thinking? I'll use it, but... umm... yuck.

The one on the upper right is a garter stitch entrelac. What's the point of this? Entrelac is supremely annoying to do, whether you knit backwards or not, but the payoff is that you get that wonderful woven appearance, right? In this garter stich variation, there is no woven appearance possible as it is completely flat, so this means that you get all of the annoyance of knitting entrelac with none of the payoff. Plus, as you can see, I lost count of my rows quite often - yes, counting to "6" really throws me at times - and my tension is not regular at all, so basically, the whole block stinks.

I like the one on the bottom, though. I left my chopstick circulars in place so that you can see how handy is is to have then ready to pick up that side and resume knitting. I'll continue in this pattern for another round, and see how it turns out. Then, I'll thread it onto a length of yarn for washing and blocking while I continue to try to figure out some clever way of hitching these blocks together.

Stay Tuned!

The Red Roving is spun! All of it!

You know, when you get it all lined out like this, spinning is really an extraordinarily work intensive hobby! I started out with the dyed roving. There are many steps between the shearing of the sheep and the dyeing of the roving, too. It kind of makes me dizzy to think of it all.

I’m completely finished spinning the red roving that my friend Peggy D. gave to me – take a look -

Two spindles full.


Andean Plying Paperbacks. Y’all, this method is the best! You really need to give it a try. For the record, these paperbacks are the same size, 11.25 inches around, and this is the perfect size for an Andean Plying Bracelet. I couldn't find any popsicle sticks, but pencils work perfectly well. A Double point knitting needle would be even better, and it wouldn't make marks in your book, either. Can't make this claim with the pencils. Oops.


I thought that I’d try a heavier plying spindle, so I dug out two old baby stroller wheels to use as whorls. I cut the rubberband and the toothpick off in order to use this contraption – I leave then in place to give you some ideas on how to wedge whorls onto spindles.


As you can see, it worked, but it was no fun. This arrangement was just too heavy. It hurt my wrist to wind up the plied yarn. I’m a CD spindle kind of gal, I suppose. This is the first time that I tried the 2-whorl idea, and let me tell you, the second whorl really makes the spindle spin very well. I’m certainly going to continue to experiment with this idea.


The CD Spindle, in all of its symmetrical, balanced, not-too-heavy glory. The second whorl makes a world of difference! It spins so very smoothly with no wobbling at all. It’s cumbersome to wind the yarn onto the shaft, however. It’s hard to get my hand around the bottom whorl, but I'm going to work on this. Maybe I can use those odd, small, CDs for the bottom whorl? Hmmmm…. Gotta ask hubby if he has any lying around his office.


I pulled off the top whorl, in order to wind the yarn off of the spindle, and the beauty of it made me catch my breath! Check it out! You can see where the grommet was – I don’t know why this amuses me so, but it does. I also unscrewed the hook, and then the yarn spooled off and onto my niddy noddy quite easily.


Next step – Niddy Noddy.


Then, wash, hang to dry…


…and then, admire!


Thank you so much, Peggy! Look! I have 4 lovely skeins of wonderful, faintly variegated, red yarn. What am I going to make? I am amused by the fact that they are all so close in yardage. Two skeins measure 129 yards, and one measures 119, and the last one 114 yards. (The last little tiny skein is the one that I made with my Brio Mec Turkish Spindle.)

What to knit? What to knit? Decisions... decisions...