Knitting, fiber arts, life. More or less in that order. Sometimes in German. Click to embiggen!
Knitting, fiber arts, life. More or less in that order. Sometimes in German. Click to embiggen!
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Links "Norwegian Knitting Patterns Lesson" by Theresa Tips und Tricks via "Das Kleine Sockhaus"
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Garnstudio "Muskat" top -- aka Drops Design #74-27 -- instructions (in English, pdf file) |
28 August 2009 Four Months Later.... What can I say? Life's been busy. My chili peppers, lettuce and tomatoes have been doing very nicely. And oddly.
I've been to the States, this time for four weeks. My kids now speak English with me, even Eric. Yay!!! I've been getting some sewing in.
And some knitting.
23 April 2009 Besotted Ahhhhh. It's so beautiful here right now. Nearly all the trees are leafed out, and lots of things are blooming. The tulips I planted last fall are doing well.
The lilacs are having a great year. (Funny. It seems like every year, something does particularly well -- one year it's rhododendrons, one year the roses seem especially spectacular. This year it's lilacs. Mine, anyway.)
This is my Felsenbirne (aka juneberry). We transplanted it, along with a maple behind and to the right, and it's a relief to see they've survived. Last winter was pretty harsh for awhile. Two of my camellias didn't make it :(
It's time to watch out for frogs. I've never seen one crossing the street. Did see one on the street, squished and dry, and I've seen some by the creek a couple of blocks away. It occurs to me that this might be a good Ravelry avatar.
21 April 2009 Insert Clever Title Here ETA -- text! I finished the stuffed star. Was going to put a little bell in it, but I changed my mind. Better safe than sorry, yes?
I like how this baby blanket is looking, but it's slooooow. Well, it's out of sock yarn, so what should I have expected?
Red hot chili peppers! I hope. The seedlings (jalapeno, anchos, serranos, and Dorset Nagas) are doing great, and they need to be transplanted, but I'm worried it won't be warm and sunny enough for them outdoors. Maybe I can have some indoors in pots for awhile longer, and some outside.
12 April 2009 Happy Easter!
And another couple of Easter pictures. The flowers are blooming out front today.
I decided to wear my Laminaria to church today.
And I've made a lot of progress on the star toy -- just need to sew and stuff.
3 April 2009 Busy Girl I've been busy! Here's the completed Oriental Lanterns hanging.
And here's a vest I crocheted some time ago from some fantastic, but alas discontinued, silk that Imbrium sent me. I decided it needed a little something, so with the help of the nice owner at my LYS, I picked out some contrasting Rowan silk and crocheted on sleeve caps, front edging, and ties. Much prettier!
Today I got a nice surprise in the mailbox. A RAK!
Two LOVELY skeins of Dornröschen sock yarn in the colorways "Paul" and "Paula". These colors are amazing. They just shout "good mood." Thank you Christine!!! And thank you uknitty for sending it along! Mother Nature has been a busy girl, too. The first tulips are blooming!
Today I continued getting the bed next to the terrace in shape, which included hauling more compost and lifting out some sunken edging stones. Tomorrow I'll replace the stones. Depending on how my back holds out, I may tackle some edging stones on the other beds. 27 March 2009 Oriental Lanterns I'm doing a wall hanging, a smaller version of the Chinese Lantern pattern (however, not paper-pieced; instead, quickly pieced using the method described here). Here are the "lantern" fabrics:
Now I'm trying to decide whether to put a purple strip in the middle. (There will be purple strips going all the way around when it's all finished.)
ETA: I'm also knitting a toy for Jenny's baby. It's a knitted stuffed star (free instructions here.) Fun pattern, and the star arms should be easy to grab. I think I might put a bell in the stuffing.
3 March 2009 Laminaria Laminaria, from Knitty, in Posh Beatrice laceweight (50% silk, 50% cashmere), 3.5mm, 80cm round needle, started on 14. Feb. '09:
5 December 2008 Gallery
25 October 2008 Yes, Well.... I have to admit, this is a bit of an anticlimax. Behold, my self-designed vest:
It's OK, but it's not knock-'em-dead-WOW. The pattern definition just isn't there (but I've known that for a long time). Fortunately, blocking helped immensely, and the bottom hem lays reasonably flat. My biggest problem is with the fit around the armholes:
Too big, too lumpy, too.... just not flattering. I followed Ann Feitelson's directions for shaping pretty closely, as laid out in her "Fridarey Sleeveless Cardigan" (The Art of Fair Isle Knitting). It is possible -- nay, probable -- that her model has broader shoulders than I have. Heck, ostriches have broader shoulders than I have. That would make a difference. So for next time, I'm going to give more thought to the upper part, and maybe change the shaping or ultimate width. Altogether, though, the bottom shaping worked out well and is pretty interesting. I love the look of the i-cord edging. Onward to the Next Project, whatever that may be (totally undecided at the moment.) Have a great weekend! 16 October 2008 The Cockles of My Heart Are Definitively Warmed We interrupt our regularly scheduled knitting to show you some loot! I've been participating in a swap on Ravelry with the Ravelry Rubberneckers group. Fun people, fun group, awesome swap. My swap partner, Laura/cabingirl, really picked great things for me. This was the promise of many good things to come:
And I wasn't disappointed after ripping open the wrapping!
Starting from bottom left, we have 4 skeins of KnitPicks yarn. They are all various types of alpaca in beautiful shades. There's enough yarn to make the patterns on the page just above the yarn -- a scarf, cabled fingerless gloves, a fancy lace keyhole collar, and a cabled headband. Then there's a box of Fig Newtons and a bag of candy corn; you probably can't get more American. This was fitting, since Laura chose the theme "Aren't all knitters (on Rav) American?" That totally cracked me up. Couldn't have been more fitting to the overall swap theme. Underneath the candy corn there's set of KnitPicks Harmony dpn's (squee!), a tape measure with hearts and some polymer-clay heart-shaped buttons. I'd mentioned that I like things with heart shapes. Here's a closeup of the buttons. Aren't they amazing?? She included a note saying she found them here on etsy. I am going to be sure and find the absolute PERFECT thing to either sew or knit, to show these off properly.
Last but not least, here's another look at the yarn. Alpaca is so unbelievably soft, can't wait to knit with this! Also, I've been very curious about KnitPicks. They don't deliver to Europe, except for needles, which I believe you have to buy through LYS's. No yarn, no books. So this was very special indeed.
12 October 2008 It's a Long, Long Trail Let's do good news before bad news, shall we? First, I am the surprised and happy recipient of this award --
Thank you so much, Swapna!! You're an awesome crocheter, and a fantastic blogging friend. Second, there has been more progress on the vest. I've been doing the i-cord edging. There seem to be several kilometers left to go. It's kind of fun to do, but at the same time, it would be nice to be finished, ya know? Anyway, I'm very pleased with how the edging looks. I'm using 4 stitches for the i-cord, which is just the right size. (Sorry for blurriness. The days aren't as bright anymore, and flash distorts the colors too much.)
I also used i-cord for a buttonhole and button knot, an idea from Nicky Epstein's Knitted Embellishments. The knot is a continuation of the edging, as is the buttonhole, and it's twisted several times. In order to do that, I transferred the stitches to a lifeline. When the knot was finished, I put the stitches back onto the dpn and kept going. Oh, and I also wanted to describe how I'm attaching the i-cord. After I have knit my 4 stitches, I pick up another stitch through both halves of the "V" which = my first steek stitch. There are now 5 sts on the needle. I slide them to the other end in the usual fashion, k3, then k2tog; the cord is attached to the vest. Where there are live stitches -- at the neckline, and at the bottom of the armholes -- I slip a live stitch onto the end, then slide the 5 sts to the other end and proceed accordingly. Last but not least, I am working from right to left, i.e. counterclockwise. Doing it the other way just didn't look right.
So.....everything's AOK, yes? Well, there's just one slight little problem remaining to be solved.
This baby is going to be severely blocked. 2 October 2008 Goal in Sight
Aside from spending a lot of time on Ravelry and working, I've been plugging away at my vest. Here it is! Not quite finished, but nearly! Everything is knit, the shoulder seams have been grafted, and the steeks are cut. All that remains to be done is attaching the edging and blocking. I'm planning an attached i-cord edging in the Regia Mosaik/Istanbul colorway. Originally I thought I'd use grey -- either the same light grey, or darker for contrast. Looking at it, though, I think the colorful yarn would be prettier, and not too garish. More importantly, that's what my daughter thinks. She has an excellent color sense. Here are more pictures of the process. First, the front steek.
And a closeup:
Getting ready to sew the steek. This was sort of a combination Norwegian/Scottish steeking construction. Scottish, because I made 12 steek stitches; they will serve as neck, front and armhole facings; I'm planning on sewing them down afterwards with darning yarn. Norwegian, because I sewed the steeks with the sewing machine before cutting. This is superwash sock yarn, not sticky Shetland, so everything would ravel otherwise.
Here you can see the lines of sewing from the inside. I cut the steek in the middle between the lines of sewing.
And a couple of pictures of the cut armhole steek, once from the inside and once from the outside.
Last but not least, the front steek cut. You can see where the shoulders were to be grafted together. I used kitchener stitch, but a 3-needle bindoff would have worked, too. The remaining back neck stitches are on a holder; they'll be incorporated when the i-cord is attached. Wish me luck with that. The edges are rolling like crazy. Attached i-cord is supposed to help with that. If not, then this thing will be strictly a house vest. 3 September 2008 Counting Counts
Awhile ago I ran across some great directions for making a wrist counter. The idea wouldn't let me go, and recently I finally got around to making a couple. The idea is simple. The beads in the bottom row are used for counting individual rows. The ring (an O-ring from the hardware store) is slipped over a bead each time a row is completed. The charm on the right side designates the end you're working toward. After you've completed 10 rows, the O-ring goes back to the start, and a ring is slipped over the bead on the top row -- they're for multiples of 10. I used a different colored bead to mark #5 on the bottom row; some people alternate colors for multiples of two. On my version, due to the placement of the fifth bead, the orienting charm has to be at the end; you'd have to take this into consideration when deciding exactly how you want to make yours. Anyway, it was fun and easy. In contrast to the internet directions, I used kumihimo twine instead of leather (for Japanese band weaving, available at craft stores). I also used an electrical crimp to press the fold-over clasps over the band. This thing is a lifesaver for Pomatomus. There's a 22-round pattern repeat, and I don't knit on it every day. While it's not too difficult to figure out where you are from the stitches, it's still nice to have a record of it. Plus, the things are just pretty. |
just
a button :)
