Frog It!!

After a couple of days of solid work. I'm not much further along on the bag. Just today I had to rip back 4 rows because I forgot a pattern repeat. Ugh! This is seriously making me re-think doing lace work.

Market bag

I'm trying to make this...



Out of this...


The gauge is not right. So, it will be a much larger bag. I'm just glad that I found something to do with this yarn. It's mostly double crochet in a diagonal diamond pattern. I think I have some white DMC cotton in the appropriate gauge. I may make it one more time in that to see if I can make the same exact thing. Although, I'm not sure I care. I did come up with an idea for another while doing this one. That I will definitely do.

Here's the progress so far...

This is the first run of the diamond pattern. I've had to rip back to this point so many times now that I've lost count. Just when I think I've got the pattern down I see a booboo six rows back. It's making me mad now to the point I'm determined to get this done. Soon.

A Great Teaching Video

I was given a "how-to" knitting video by a friend for Xmas. It has just been wonderful. It breaks stitches and techniques down to simple clear instructions. It is "Knitting Fundamentals: A Reference Guide." I know this will be very helpful as I move to new projects and learn new things. Her company is Knitting at Noon Designs

Speaking of new projects...

I just finished a scarf where I was learning to do a simple stitch pattern worked on the pearl side,
It just needs to be blocked and I have some cute fuzz and pale green yarn to make a border. This is Bernat Cashmere blend. It is wonderfully soft.

But what do I do next? I have some Patons Grace in a lovely pink/taupe color that I want to use. I had originally to make a ballet wrap sweater for Em out of it but the color doesn't suit her very well. I saw in a book at Michael's, a long time ago, a pattern for towels and wash cloth. I'm also intrigued by lace knitting. This may be good stuff to start a scarf. hmmmm.......

I need to go look for some inspiration. As for now I'm doing some gauge swatches to see how I want it to knit up.

The Scarf that Would Not Block

I have cold blocked it and I have steam blocked it twice. And yet it curls. It's my first scarf. It's cheap yarn. There are quite a few dropped stitches in the first 12 inches. I suppose it's ok that it's just not right. I think it's time to offer it strand by strand to the birds that live in my tree.

It's a new year

Since my last post sometime in July life had gone to hell in a handbasket. What with being robbed and then my mother decided to send me my childhood, and then some I've been on a fiber hiatus. Which has had me a little stressed. Apparently, I'm addicted to fiber. One thing that has gotten me through the dry spell has been a wonderful podcast from Kelly Petkun at Knit Picks. It's a great special order yarn et al. website. She has a lot of wonderful interviews with authors and often has great tips and walk-throughs that are great for the novice (that would be me.) They also have a great community site. I'm on it but don't post much as I don't have any projects with their yarn. I have to do quite a bit of stash busting before I can start purchasing. But it all looks fabulous and seems to be at a decent price.

About 3 weeks ago I couldn't stand it anymore. I needed to do something. Anything. As it's been might chilly here in T-town I decided I needed some sort of tv watching blanket. Inspired by both my dad who has made one of these I went to my stash and saw that I had a bunch of Lion Brand Chenille yarn. I then remembered something I'd seen a book at the library. The name escapes me but it's by a lys owner somewhere in Hollywood who smartly combined fiber and coffee. I'll have to look it up. Anyway, she put in this kid's bathrobe made of chenille yarn.
And what she did was use smaller needles than recommended to get a really tight fiber so that it's like terry cloth.

So, here's what I started


Ok, it's a little washed out. I'm still trying to figure out how to use it. This was about a week ago. I decided to crochet instead of knit. I've been crocheting since I was a kid. This project is all about comfort and crochet is comfort to me. Now as of today...

I still need to finish the border and weave in some ends. It is nearly done and might warm.

More later

Looking For Inspiration

I'm up ridiculously early in the morning and I decided to look for some knitting inspiration. I'm in a mood where I wish I was better at it than I really am. I know it'll take some time but there are a lot of cool things I want to make and I know I can't right now. It's a little disheartening.

I go to Youtube and put in the term knitting to see what would come up. The first thing that caught my eye is the 2009 TNNA Fashion Show.

In this link there is some cool looking stuff and some (imho) really hideous stuff. Oh, and there is apparently a professional fashion model who thinks it's ok to show off bra straps with her black spaghetti strap. And then she puts on a rainbow spaghetti tank. *shudder*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0H_F4HTTmk

Simple Projects

I'm in search of a simple project to work on while my dear daughter is running around and playing with my ball of yarn. I'm getting to a point of the sweater where I really have to pay attention. It's hard to do when she's yelling at me to "mommy.... see me..." I can't not pay attention as she's usually pretending to be a puppy or about to jump off the couch attacking my ball of yarn.

I picked up the book "The Knitting Directory" by Alison Jenkins. It's all about basic technique and gives basic patters for all kinds of stuff. I'm going to see if there is any interesting pattern I can do repeatedly.