Do it yourself Cone Spinnerrette - a tutorial

I love cones of yarn. Not hanks, skeins, center pull balls...nope. If at all possible, I will buy the cone. Did I mention cones I like? Why do I like knitting from the cone? It gives the illusion that you have a never ending supply of yarn (you don't, and there have been times where I have run out). The yarn's all contained on the cone, you don't have to worry about losing that one ball of 16 you needed for a project. And they look so neat and tidy too. However, there's a downside to cones. You can unintentionally put a bias in the yarn. Putting a twist is okay when you're knitting with several strands held together, but when you're only knitting with one, well...

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and I had so far just winged it using a paper towel holder to hold my cones. Letting the cone spin on it's own is okay, but the McGuyver in me said there must be a better way. Remember that I met a knitter at the lacy knitter's guild a couple of months ago, and he showed me his cone holder? Remember? He told me that I could make one using a bearing and some wood. He also said I could get my husband or boyfriend to do the woodwork, but we won't go there--I love z&a's dad so much, but if I had asked him to build this for me...well, let's just say that as an engineer, he would have over engineered and spent several years mulling it over and then tried to make it better than I needed and then well, he's an engineer...I figured I could build this thing. The only difficult thing to get was the bearing. btw-they don't carry it at big orange store. Nor did I see it at Orchard. I found it at my local Ace Hardware. But I had to ask. And this will also be the most expensive part (at least for me) of the project. It was $7.99

I was thinking that I would have to buy a wooden disc, and a large dowel and a small dowel, then get a large drill bit and drill a hole on top, then pound a dowel the size of the inner hole of the bearing on to hold...ack! what a project. But I figured out a much easier way.

So, without further ado, here's my tutorial:

Unfortunately, I made it before I took any pictures, so this is a re-enactment.

Title: Yarn Cone spindle developed from simple vertical paper towel holder

Materials and Methods: General tools were used for this construction. A rubber wood paper towel holder (Local thrift store, CA) was dismantled and the screw from the center pole removed using standard procedures. . The screw from the guide pole was also removed with a wrench.The bearing was procured from Ace Hardware (figure 1).

Figure 1

The hole in the guide pole was enlarged using a drill and a drill bit of the same size as that removed from the main pole. The larger screw was screwed in (figure 2).

Figure 2

The top of the guide pole was whittled with an exacto knife to fit the circumference of the bearing(figure 3).

Figure 3

The original guide pole, now with the larger revised screw was replaced on the platform in the center. The spinnerette was assembled and tested. (figure 4, 5).

Figure 4 Figure 5

Swap-a-rama goodies

I finally discovered this thing called swapping. What a great idea. You've got some stuff that you got whenever, and now you see some stuff that you want that someone is trying to get rid of, and you exchange your stuff. How cool is that? Anyway, I went through a sock craze a bit back (peaked when pregnant w/ a) where I was acquiring sock yarn, sock knitting implements, etc. But now, even with all the lovely socks out there, I'm sort of not that interested. I might be interested in some of the cool lace socks, maybe...

So, anyways, I find folks that want my sock stuff and want to exchange other stuff (like lace yarn and funky patterns) for my sock stuff. Cool!


here's my cool swapped stuff. I think z&a's dad might think I bought this stuff, but I didn't. I got other stuff awhile ago and have shipped those away to get more different stuff. Although, I think that at this point, I may (gulp) have enough laceweight yarn (of all types) to last me for awhile. The only picture I don't have is the gossamer (Knitpicks) that I received. I've wanted to try Knitpick's laceweight, and when it was offered up, well, I had something to trade for it.

This yarn is Brown sheep cotton/wool laceweight. And the patterns are some vintage patterns. But I don't know if you can see the very very cool stitch markers that came with the patterns. They are gorgeous! That wasn't originally part of the trade, but she added them in since there was a discrepancy with swapped items. I love the stitch markers. I will definitely use them.

Bianca Fini

Milestones on this one.
1) a Finished Object
2) a sweater!
3) One that fits.
4) I like it
5)most importantly, one that I'll wear (in fact, it's already been worn, and I've not even blocked it)

Specifications:
Pattern: IK Fall 2006
yarn: Crystal Palace Flamme (100% merc cotton)
amount: less than 7 balls
Completion time: March 30, 2007-April 9, 2007
modifications: no major change*. 5 buttons instead of 6.


*I think the charts were incorrect. As written, there's an extra ridge in the lace pattern. I worked on the sleeves at the same time on the same needles and finished the first lace pattern, went on with the 2nd, realized it didn't look like the picture, and decided that was going to be my little modification. The first lace pattern has a ridge in the sleeves (not the yoke). It looked fine, so I just kept going, ignoring that one line and purled on the wrong side.

thoughts:
My gauge was off (smaller), so I made a large instead of medium. It's a tad big, could have made it in a medium. Would like to make the bottom as one piece instead of 3. Very annoying--that seaming the panels. Magically, the sweater actually fits, albeit a tad large, even with the row gauge definitely being off.

I did have another modification with the buttons. I found (in my button stash, no less), these cork resin buttons. See how perfect they are for this sweater? I even had six buttons, but I decided on five. Anyway, I had finished off the button loops for six and decided that the buttons were always going to be slipping out, so I only did 2 chains w/ crochet hook and I really like it.


Oh, yes. This sweater took me NINE days to finish! I'm straining trying to pat my own back...

Happy Easter Bunny!

Hope everyone had a really nice Easter. I could show you the aftermath of our celebration, but there would be lots of empty plastic eggs and colored foil...

Bianca

I've wanted to knit this sweater since I got the Winter 2006 IK. And I've procured several different types of yarns for this project. In fact, I've got several sweater's worth in different yarns...silk, cotton, wool, etc...

I just saw a pretty one in Cotton-ease when I googled it. Then I thought I'd make one in the new Cotton-ease...argh! Must make at least ONE first, before thinking about procuring more yarn.

Instead, I went into my stash and picked out CP merc. cotton (that's been discontinued). The color is similar to the one pictured here.

Anyhow, the gauge was off, so I am making a larger size. Altho', as I'm knitting it, I'm finding that maybe I got gauge, after all...hmmm...The way the sweater's constructed, I think a little wider isn't going to make a difference (I'm hoping).

The beginning of this sweater is ho-hum, just endless St stitches with a bit of shaping here and there. Will post pictures as it becomes more interesting. btw-- started this sweater March 30, 2007

My buttons picture

The Dorset buttons. You know you want to make some. They were fun to make and quite therapeutic. I'm trying to decide whether I need to make double the buttons...As you can see in this self-taken picture (or maybe you can't), I've got a set of buttons in every other hole. I'm kinda in a quandry. On one hand, these were fun to make and it would be fun to make a bunch more. On the flip side, these buttons eat yarn, I mean devour it. And on the third side of that coin(?), maybe I should make more buttons now in case I lose a set. But but what if I lose the extra ones I made, that would be a waste. And on the 4th side of the square(?), I still have enough silk yarn to make a head band or something so if I use it all up...ahhh, dilemma.

Belated pic of winnings

Sorry it's taken so long in posting, here's the picture of my winnings from Gilmore Girls KAL.

Thanks to Mandie!

Curved shawl edging done!

You may remember my dilemma about the Curved shawl from VLT -- you know, the fact that the edging looked all floppy and sloppy and such? Well, I spent some time poring through my VLT and Heirloom Lace and other lace books, only to decide that I liked the original edging for this shawl. What to do?

I decided that I'll just go down a couple of sizes in needles and see how that looks. Hey, if it looks dumb, I can always rip it out. (The wonderful part of the edging is that it's not actually connected to the body, so...if you feel the need to rip, no harm, no fowl.)

So, I went down to a US6 needle and sort of followed their pickup strategy. Since I'm now using a smaller needle, once in awhile I would join a third stitch to the body of the scarf (instead of the 2 into 1 suggested by the book). I forgot to do some simple math toward the end and didn't finish off a whole edging pattern, but it was close enough that I was totally okay with it.

Here's the finished shawl, and I think it looks purty. Did I ever give the specs for this shawl?
Specifications:
US9 for main lace, US6 for edging
Yarn: 70% angora 30% nylon in raspberry (amount? gee, 2 balls of yarn)
pattern: VLT curved shawl
time to finish: beginning of March to March 25 (blocked March 28)

Buttons buttons

Thanks Sarah for the suggestion about soldering the wire so that the buttons won't snag the yarn if wire is used to put the buttons together. The funny thing is that I actually own two soldering irons. And I've been thinking about soldering the joints on my markers so that the rings don't open up and catch. So of course I could just do the same with the buttons. My only concern was that short of using glass or metal beads, the buttons may melt (I'm not very proficient at soldering).

I went to the local craft/sewing stores to look at buttons, and honestly wasn't very inspired. Then I remembered reading Craftzine and seeing this . At the time, I was thinking, 'Yeah right. Make your own buttons by wrapping thread around a plastic ring. Someone has wayyy too much time.' The other thing I was thinking reading that article was 'Hey, that's what you do with those plastic rings'. Anywhoo, yep, guessed it. I made the Dorset Buttons for my Convertible. It didn't actually take that long, it just took a bunch of my leftover silk yarn. For directions on how to make these, follow my link.

And the best part? The buttons totally match without looking dorky and they aren't too heavy. I didn't want heavy buttons that would slowly stretch out the Convertible to become kimono sleeves!

I'll get z&a's dad to take a picture of me wearing it when I get a chance. Oh, the funniest thing was that when I was done, and modeling it for him, he told me he didn't get it, and why did I only make sleeves (as in, where's the rest of the sweater?!). There was also a comment about being a spider lady, but I let that one slide.

Knitty Convertible almost ready to go

Instead of working on the edging for the curved shawl, I finished convertible instead. I have been stressing about the length of the the thing...what a cliff hanger...will it or won't it be too long? will it be too wide? should I block before I'm finished to figure out the length? oh, what to do what to do?

Yeah, right. I'm going to preblock. That would just drive me batty if it still didn't turn out properly. I decided that if it didn't block out properly (either the sleeves are too wide or long), I'll just wear it as a summer shawl. And hey, I won't have to do the fiddly buttons. How many buttons do you need?

Without further ado, here's my finished convertible.

stats:
yarn: almost a cone of dk weight navy 100% smooth silk from colourmart
pattern: Convertible from Knitty (go look it up)
needles: US6
time: 3/6/2007 - 3/20/2007
finished size: 23in X 76in (a bit larger than expected, but oh, well, that's what happens when you don't block a swatch)
modifications: cast on 77 stitches and did 5 pattern repeats.

My thoughts: this yarn is steam set by colourmart and it cost $2 more than if you just ask them to wind the strands on a cone. Is it worth it? for me, it was this time. I've got some doubled silk yarn that I'd like to try and see how that goes. The only time I split the yarn was when I wasn't paying ANY attention -- and it serves me right.

So now I've got to think buttons. I was going to connect them via Knitty's suggestion using wire, but apparently, that's difficult to do and the wire sticks out and such. Instead, I'm almost thinking some sort of frog bead closure thing. a loop that a bead can toggle through. hmmm...when I have that done, I'll of course show it off. Until then, I've got a pretty darn nice summer wrap (at least it's sunny today).

Bubby for a Bubby

This gift is already gifted. This was for a lovely boy who just turned one at the beginning of the month. He's a doll. So I knit him a bubby.
This knit was fiddly. But cute. And it hurt my fingers knitting tightly. I am not a natural born tight knitter. (sigh) Remember, I'm the loosey goosey kind of gal.

The directions were followed, except that I used doubled Woolease with US5 needles. I did add a tail and a bellybutton. For the tail, I crocheted a chain of 4 and tied a knot and sewed it on. For the belly button, I used the yarn used for putting the tail on and came out through the front, and back into the back. Put a bit of tension there so that you got a little 'insie' and that was that.

I will have to make one of these for my little girl child too. I wonder if I can knit it and felt it to get that tightness?hmmm...I've got some lovely worsted weight 100% wool in a pink that I really shouldn't use for anything but toys. I may even try to make a dinosaur, for my boy z (but maybe not in pink).

Gift

I was reading the Gilmore Girls KAL and was inspired by Mandie's cabled purse to make this.
I followed the directions from this site after I got frustrated looking for spytastic.blogspot (this blog no longer exists?).

Anyway, here's the specs:
yarn: 100% wool doubled (LB's Fisherman's wool)
needles: US10 tight.
cable repeats: 7
time for completion: knit in one evening? Another day for lining.
dimensions: 11in width X 6in height (without the bamboo handles - small D style)
Hand sewn lining ( I am not a sewer and do not own a sewing machine*)
The handles were attached with whip stitch (I think that's what it's called)
1 yard of ribbon to finish it off.

*we have a little itty bitty one that I can't use properly.

Other than that, followed the directions. Cast on 38 stitches, etc. This was a fast knit. Reminder to self: must alternate lace knitting with instant gratification knitting.

So, I was looking for a gift for a 10 year old and couldn't find anything appropriate. I also wasn't going to knit her a sweater, don't go there. Anyway, I hope she likes it.

I still need to knit myself another purse. My Lucy is looking a bit frayed. Time for it to go back in the washer.

While looking for this cabled purse pattern, I came across some lovelies. However, I have some specific ideas. I really like to form from the doctor's bag from Knit2gether, but I want it felted. I am in the process of deciding what type of yarn to use. I may just use my old Paton wool yarn because I really like the green they have (not to mention I've felted so much with this yarn that I am finally getting an idea of the properties of the yarn. But who knows. Kinda like the one from IK, but maybe not the felted intarsia flowers. Pretty, tho'.

I can button!

Okay, I finally figured out the button thing. I likely tried to reinvent the wheel, but oh well. I now have listed destash and vlt.

Knitting Progress

I have too totally been knitting. See!
I really liked the funky Curved Shawl, and had wanted to knit it as soon as I got VLT. Of course, it took me a while to figure out the charting, especially the instructions in red (that would be the ones about the number of repeats per row...I still don't get that, and I've got a PhD! Okay, I didn't look at it too hard). The casting on using e loops -painful. but once I got going on this sucker, it was easy peasy (especially since it's a garter stitch lace). I could totally work on it while I was tired since you totally can tell when you've messed up.

Initially, I read in VLT how this pattern can be knit using much larger needles for a much looser and yet still very lovely lace. Well, judge for yourself. I used US9 instead of US6 for this fingering yarn (70%angora).

This is not blocked, in fact, it's not finished and here's why...I stopped knitting before the end of the pattern because I did not want a huge ginormous wrap, but a nice medium sized one. I then cast on for the edging, to find that using my needle size, the edging is over 3 inches wide and very loopy and not at all attractive. Which means that I need to actually (y'all gasp now) figure out my own edging! Oh, criminy!

That is why I started and am almost finished with this beauty. This is knit with Colourmart's dk weight smooth silk (they had their lace weight steam plied by somebody). The resulting yarn is absolutely divine and scrumptious and yes, that's the other reason I started on this instead. The yarn is super. And it's much darker than the over exposed picture shows. In real life, the color is much much darker, as in blackish, as in I can wear it as black. As for working with it, it's only a slight pain because it's plied by twisting their lace weight yarn and I've accidentally pulled on a strand or two. I think that's my only worry, that upon wear, it's going to get snagged.

specs (before I forget)
yarn: Colourmart
needle: US 6
pattern: Convertible from Knitty
modifications: yes. I cast on (5X13) for pattern plus the 6X2 edging is 77 stitches (hey, I did that without calculators or paper and pencil)

Folks on the intarweb said that if Convertible is too wide, then the shrug look is way too big. So I swatched (yes, me. I swatched) and figured out the width it should be. Of course, as I'm almost finished, I'm totally stressing about it being too narrow, resulting in my arms looking like sausages encased in intestine lining (wait, there's got to be a better metaphor), resulting my arms looking like a Christmas ham (you know, with the netting?), or like play dough being pushed out of an extruder? Okay, I'll stop now.

Actually, it will be fine (unless my arms get monstrously huge like from this show The Man With Exploding Arms I watched last night. ew. again. eww.). Without blocking, there's enough room, so with blocking, it'll be awesome. And if not? well, I'm not a shrug person anyway so I'll wear it as a scarf.

My take on the new Knitty

Boy! Am I lazy?! How many posts now don't show knitting?

Well, here's another one. I just perused the new Knitty.com and what to say? er...it's okay. If you love socks, then this one's for you. Lovely sock patterns. I really like bmp (but not enough to knit it). And if you like girl stuff, this one's for you. Yes, I probably should be more thrilled about the girly items and such, but I'm just not a big believer in knitting something very small that gets outgrown in 2 minutes. But I did like that there's a pattern made with Caron Simply Soft (or Woolease). Good for you, Knitty! But boo hiss on the $30+ toddler sweaters. (That is unless you're my 'auntie' and you've knit these lovelies for my children, then I say, wow, how beautiful! and Thank You! And they'll wear it at least once, even if I have to pin them down to put them in them -- for pictures).

As for the adult sweaters, they're okay. Cute sweater, ribena, but did they have to use discontinued yarn? There was no way to use something that could actually be purchased? I guess I'm just noticing the yarns Knitty patterns are actually knitted with. Once, just one time, I would like to a) use the suggested yarn b) not break the bank when picking out said yarn. I like More Stripes, at least the concept of the steeked vest. But I can tell you that this vest is not flattering for certain body types...okay, mine (shudder). My favorite sweater is the lace one, Isabella. How beautiful! How dainty! How insane to ask me to knit a mostly stockinette stitch sweater with US3 needles and fingering yarn. But darn, it's purty.

What I will knit is palette (without the hand spun yarn). I like the lace and I need to make a scarf for my sister. Bauble would be fun too.

In lieu of knitting, I give you this.

I normally don't post this stuff, but this one, er, I sorta had to, doncha think?

You Are Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

You take the title "mad scientist" to the extreme -with very scary things coming out of your lab. And you've invented some pretty cool things, from a banana sharpener to a robot politician. But while you're busy turning gold into cottage cheese, you need to watch out for poor little Beaker! "Oh, that's very naughty, Beaker! Now you eat these paper clips this minute."

The Muppet Personality Test

Dirt

You may know that I watch everything, including that new show w/ Friends and Dancing in the Dark Courtney Cox. I didn't watch the whole thing 'cause I was doing other things, like trying to figure out a VLT pattern (the red curved one with the circles in it). Anyway, my favorite line from last night?

'Dude, you killed Kenny!'

Stitches wow!

Well, I'm back from my one day at the Stitches market. No, didn't do classes, didn't meet up with internet folks, just went to look with MIL.

I didn't have that many sightings , but man, were the one's sighted cool. I saw Cookie of the sock fame from SF. But major coup was meeting and getting a bookplate signed by Jane Sowerby of VLT. Cool or what. She seemed like a really lovely woman. I wish I had told her how much I enjoyed her book and that I'm actually participating in the KAL (but I didn't). Cookie had tons of folks all around and I'm just too shy to go up to her and introduce myself...'hi, I'm a blogger stalker and uhmmm'...right. I'm pretty sure I had additional sightings, but I was there for the fibers.

There was lots of lace -- maybe 'cause that's all I was looking at. I saw that Malabrigo has laceweight yarn (nope, control. remember?!). After walking around and fondling many a yarns, I showed much restraint and only bought yarn at 2 places. I left with 2 cones, one 100% crunchy silk, and the other, alpaca/silk from WEBS--both laceweight.

What did I miss? Lace Addi Turbos. The very nice man from the Lacy Knitters Guild told me they were here, but I just didn't see it. But he did show me his cool gadget for knitting off cones. I got to get me a bearing doodad. He mentioned that your whole piece could end up biased if you don't have a way of making your cone turn while you knitted because you'd be putting extra twist into your yarn.

I'll post pics soon, I promise.

Off to Stitches tomorrow!

Is 'sqee' a word? I'm darned excited. I will have control. I will.

It will be lots of fun since z&a's dad is going to be watching little a while mom(me) and his mom (my mil) will be off to the yarn convention.

happy dance...see you later.

KALs

I can't believe I forgot to blog about this, that's lame. I won some yarn from the Gilmore Girls KAL. How'd I win? Well, go and read about it here . How lovely was that? Mandies was looking for how to make a scarf LG was wearing, and I thought it looked like something I'd seen before. And she liked it. Anyway, I was gifted some lovely yarn.
(unfortunately, I've not had the opportunity to download pics from my camera, so it'll have to wait)

Thanks Mandies!

As for the KAL itself...well, I'm one of those delayed viewers. I tape (not Tivo) the show and then watch it the following day or two. I usually can't KAL since there's wrangling of small child usually occuring...does that mean I can or cannot join? or would that be should not?...

Oh, there's also Grey's Anatomy KAL I've discovered. hmmm...too bad grey's not my color. This show I watch live because I'm taping CSI. And I do knit when I watch this show. Maybe I should look for grey at Stitches West this week.

Finally, I did join another KAL, VLT. But ofcourse, I'm doing this new fangled blogger and I've not figured out how to put that little tag on my sidebar. I will figure it out this week...end.


an aside -- TV watching: I watch too much. I watch anything and everything, so please don't judge me too harshly...

Lace leaf

I finally finished, washed, rinsed, blocked etc. for this shawl. This is an Evelyn Clark pattern and has been knitted by many. It's an easy lace pattern, but that's sort of what I needed to take to my SnB. It went very slowly simply because I didn't have the opportunity to knit. Then I got bored, but really wanted to finish it.

And yes, this is what my back yard looks like. That would be California burclover (Medicago polymorpha) aka a real pain to get rid of.

Specifics:
start: Feb 3, 2007
finished: Feb 16, 2007
yarn: 2/28NM cashmere/cotton in Natural (maybe 1/3 of a cone)
needle size: US4
pattern: Lace Leaf shawl
adjustments: I stopped pattern 2 (body) after 287 stitches because I got bored and wanted to move on.


Here it is in a little ball post washing with Dawn detergent and rinsing well with water to remove residual machine oil.




Another shot of the shawl. Now I just have to figure out when I'd actually wear a shawl, much less a triangular one...

Non-knitting post Today was z's birthday

Can't believe that it's already been 4 years. Four years ago, I stopped in at my lovely OB's office and was told to get going to Alta Bates, they would have a room for me and that the induction was going to commence that day. Four years ago, I called z's dad to tell him that I'd like to have Korean food for lunch (since I knew that they were going to not let me eat once I got to the hospital). Four years ago, we were trying to figure out what to name him. And four years ago, our most amazing fun intelligent son was born.

This was his first real kids party. He invited 7 of his friends (mostly girls, go figure) and we invited some of our friends and we had a really nice bowling party at the local AMF. I highly recommend this if you happen to have a birthday during rainy season (of course, the one day it didn't rain? yep, on his birthday). Oh well. It was stress-free and everyone seemed to have fun.

I'm going to be better...or aka 'well, duh...'

The reason I don't respond to comments is that (insert duh) I never had the notification setting set to let me know when I've got a comment. And it's not like I'm CAP or anyone like that who gets hundreds of comments, I only get one or two tops...

Anyway, it was too difficult (insert I was too busy or lazy) to respond to comments. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them (when I noticed I received one, anyway), so please keep sending them to me.


In summation, I'm going to be better.

Yarn over and unders?!

So, I'm surfin away, minding my own business, when I encountered a yarn over question on the knittyboard. Apparently, I've been yarning under? Oh shoot, now I'm totally confused. I just watched knittinghelp.com and argh! This is not a good thing, especially since I'm in the midst of Fiber Trends Lace Leaf shawl. BTW-- easy peasy, except for the fact that now, I'm going to be trying to figure out whether I've been doing it incorrectly. Of course they're showing English style and not Continental style, but I'm not sure what I do...hmm...

Mantra to self...forget...forget all that you just watched (not too terribly difficult thing to do since I only had maybe 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night, thanks to the a girl)...forget, yarn over...just do as you've been doing...continue...

But then again, the person having the problem wasn't able to get a hole in their lace, and I definitely can. So, even if I'm yarning under, I must somewhere, somehow be compensating for it.

Did I mention I'm using 50% cashmere/cotton laceweight yarn for this shawl. Tis quite lovely yarn. Go to their site (colourmart.com) and buy some yarn! If you need convincing, just google cashmere yarns and see what you get. The way I figure it, why not use cashmere when it's so reasonably priced? It seems like alot, but for 2300yds of laceweight, you just gotta do it.

As for this yarn (the 50% cash/cotton), it's sweet. It's nice to knit and literally from the never-ending cone.

ooh...

Go check out the surprises for knitty.com


I'm digging the dragonfly sweater (but w/ 1 yarn).

H2O Bottle cozy II

I made another cozy. This time, I sorta kept track of the pattern.
1)Start with 8 stitches. Every other round increase in this series [k1, inc1, repeat to end of round...k round...k2, inc 1etc....k round...etc.] until bottom circle measures 7 inches. Stop increasing and knit in round (60 stitches) until 13 inches. knit bumper and bind off. I added a pocket for this cozy (eh hem, for my gym card) and the strap is 40 inches of not i-cord (5 stitches stockinette).

I had to 'experiment' (ripped it about 6 times, but who's counting?!) as I knitted because the first several times, there was massive pooling of colours, and that just won't do. I had to rip and reknit, trying to get that striped effect. I ended up just keeping track of the colours and making sure of the colour changes.

It ends up that for my loosey knitting style and US10 needles, I was able to knit the yarn such that it appears striped.

When I felted this, I started to worry because it was too large!. I had to do additional hand felting in the kitchen sink until it was the correct size. The edge I'm still not too happy about, I suppose I can try to spot felt this area, but then that may just be too much of a hassle.

Specifics:
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool in Harvest (less than 1 skein)
needles: 10dpn and US10 circs for magic loop
time: a couple of days?

Things to do differently:
1)Probably not put a lip on the cozy.
2)Figure out a way to change the pocket. Maybe do it in one of the solids.
3)Just make it a tad smaller so I don't have to over-full it.
4)Try to find a knitted swatch of the yarn before I make a whole cozy (altho' this is growing on me, I'm not that keen on the orangy bits).

Scharffen Berger good...

I'm done with the scarf for my favorite brother (okay, he's my only brother). I lived with him for a year between college and grad school, and he still talks to me (well, that would be sometimes talks, but he's great at answering emails). Anyway, it's his birthday in late February. As I mentioned, I opted for a mock cable pattern.

Here's the specifics:
started:Jan 10, 2007
finished: Jan 28, 2007 (I worked on a bunch of other stuff too)
yarn: Stag. 100% cashmere made by Todd & Duncan. These yarns are from 3 plies of their standard laceweight (2/28Nm) yarns. ColourmartUK yarn.
needle: US4 Clovers
Cast on: 44 stitches

I may have overblocked it. It looks more lacy than I originally wanted, but we'll see how it looks once it sprongs back. Even if it's a bit lacy, I'd say this is very 'manly' lace.

I love adore crave this yarn. When I received it from UK, I was so not impressed. But upon washing and drying, oh, my friggin gosh. Yep, it's better than chocolate...

kid's hats

I went to the San Leandro LYS last week to find yarn for a boy kid's hat, since I just had a lovely lunch at Luke's Grill with a good friend. Wait, that didn't come out right...I had a lovely lunch at LG, then, since I was in the neighborhood, I stopped by the LYS...yeah, that was it...I was in the neighborhood anyways... They are the mecca of Encore, btw. If you need any in any colour, they have it. I was originally looking for some exotic type yarn, or maybe some sort of brownish wool for a 1 year old's hat (his birthday),but I fell in love with this Encore colorway which results in subtle stripes.

I followed the directions from Weekend Knitting (or was that Last Minute Gifts?) and made this.

Specs:
yarn: Encore (less than half a skein)
needles: US6 because that's what I had handy
cast on:64 stitches (originally calculated that I needed to cast on 82 stitches, knit 2 inches of the yarn, realized that this had would fit my head)
followed the pattern for toddler exactly.

With what I had left, I made myself Calorimeter from Knitty. Again, I followed directions. Altho' at the end, I had a bit of yarn left, so I thought I'd knit another row or two (ended up being another inch). Figured, heh, not a big deal. bound off, put on button, THEN tried it on. Looked dumb...Ripped it back to where I should have bound off and bound off properly. Yes, should follow directions.

I had started off making Panta, but the striping looked funny, liked blocks of colour instead of stripes. So I ripped that one. I liked the look of Panta, so I shall make one (perhaps out of decadent cashmere). I'll post a pic another time.

I also made the cupcake hat for my lil cupcake. Instead of casting on 80 stitches, I casted on 64. When I switched to pink, I added an additional 8 stitches so that it would be pouffier. All I can say is that those little frosting things, a pain to do. I opted not to put the red cherry on top because I can see lots of chewing swallowing issues with a mommy-made pompom...I don't want to find red yarn poop in her diapers...

Faux Cable with Real Cashmere

I'm knitting with the fingering cashmere. Oh, my...so lovely...It's a scarf for my brother who's birthday is at the end of February. Did I mention it's lovely? Since he lives in SoCal, he's not in dire need for anything heavy and bulky, so I didn't really want to make him something thick and overly warm. I'm a tad hesitant on giving him a gift that doesn't go away (he loves getting consumables since then he's not left with 'stuff'), but I figure he'll like it. It's made from the yarn I just hanked out and washed, then rewound.

I chose a faux cable pattern I saw on some, then proceeded to tweek it. Here's my version. Cast on 44 stitches
knit 3, purl 2, start pattern: (YO, knit3,ssk, knit5, purl 2)X3, knit 3
knit 3, knit 2, pattern: (purl4, purl 2 tog, purl 3, YO, purl 1, knit 2)X3, knit 3
knit 3, purl 2, pattern (knit 3, YO, knit3, ssk, knit2, purl 2)X3, knit 3
knit 3, knit 2, pattern: (purl2, purl 2 tog, purl 3, YO, purl 3, knit 2)X3, knit 3
knit 3, purl 2, pattern (knit 1, YO, knit3, ssk, knit4, purl 2)X3, knit 3
knit 3, knit 2, pattern: (purl 2 tog, purl 3, YO, purl 5, knit 2)X3, knit 3

that's the pattern.

I'll do a beauty shot when it's done.

Niddy Noddy

I'm going to see how much of a hassle it is to prewash the cashmere from colourmart before handknitting.

But I'm without a niddy noddy and the thought of winding around a chair doesn't hold much appeal--what's a girl to do? I bought PVC pipe, 2X T connectors and end caps(and a PVC pipecutter, because I needed one) and made the niddy noddy in less than 5 minutes with directions found here

I did have to read instructions and watch a video(several times) as to how to use a niddy noddy--the first couple of times I wrapped the wrong way and had to de-niddy noddy
or is that noddy niddy or yddin yddon?!

And yes, that is a paper towel holder I'm using to steady the cone.

The rhyme goes like this:
Niddy noddy, niddy noddy.
Two heads, one body.
'Tis one, 'tain't two,
'Twill be two by and by.
'Tis two, 'tain't three,
'Twill be three by and by, etc.

I was going to try this ditty, but then couldn't figure out what constitutes a complete line vs. wrapping...so I just kept saying niddy noddy, niddy noddy...(z thought that this is a funny word and kept repeating it too.

I want to be an after...

Wait, was I going to make any more scarves? Why, yes I am. I've actually purchased a bunch of (insert expensive) yarn for the sole purpose of knitting scarves...

As an aside, I cannot do this. I can try, but I'd be setting myself up to fail. That's like going on a super strict diet, starving for 3 days, then blowing it by eating a box of chocolates...then beating myself up... Oh, wait, that's what happened, I wasn't starving myself, but I've managed to consume almost a whole container of lovely chocolates. Anyway, I'll try to do it the slow and true way, try my best with yarn I have, and if I have to have something? well, I won't buy the sweater's worth, I'll buy enough for a scarf, or socks or something small...moderation. See, I'll count points. I want to be an 'after'...

I did see a blog where for every 15lbs the blogger lost, she gives herself $30 for yarn (I forget where, I'll look it up tomorrow if anyone's really interested), and if she doesn't lose, no yarn. See, that doesn't work for me either, since I (now) have enough yarn to keep me busy for a really long time. That just isn't incentive for me...but hey, whatever gets you motivated.

Anyway, I found this pattern for the scarf on this site and it called for the gauge/amount yarn I had available. So I had to knit this sucker up. She's got a free pattern for a chemo cap with the same pattern and a smoke ring too, but I figured which would I (or whoever I gave this to) wear more frequently...yep, scarf.

Conclusions: This is a lovely yarn to work with. If you've got the $$, spend it at my new favorite yarn vendor (Colourmart.com). Yes, he's got an intarweb store and it's got some lovelies. And it's cheaper than the ebay site. As for the scarf pattern: I was able to complete the repeats, and I think I did half more than the pattern. The only modification to this pattern is that I didn't do the 6 rows of garter, I only did 3. Given how the bottom is a tad wonky, mayhaps I should have done the extra rows. I really like this pattern, I think I'll do another one, but as a wrap.

Here's the scarf. The specifications:
Pattern: Wavy Feathers Qiviut Scarf from site above
Started: 01/05/07
Blocked: 01/08/07
Yarn: 100% fingering weight cashmere
yds: 250yds --that little bit is what's left
needle: US7 Susan Bates plastic circulars
Final length: ~60 inches

What was I thinking?!

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the lady behind the wheel was knitting!
Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yells, "PULLOVER!"
"NO," she yelled back over the sound of the siren, "It's a SCARF!"

Har Har Har!

Here's the scarves in all their glory...

Individually, they look like this:

Purply kerchief ala old pattern (knitlist?). It's knit only w/ rib at the place the hole is for the other side. I had to make this up as I went since it was too bulky.


This scarf is a red farrows rib. Knit by (3k1p)Xn last stitch knit. I casted on 33 stitches.
Red flora w/o stamins. From Knitty. Didn't like the stamins for this. Also, the red flower itself was huge and floppy.



Red zigzag scarf. Cast on 18. K 1 row, next row Increase at start and decrease at end. All done in knit stitch.



Blue kerchief. Like the purply one.


Maroon 3X2 rib: Cast on gee I don't remember.



Green diagnal. Cast on 32 stitches. Knit 2 then pattern knit 2.


Another flora, this time w/ small crochet flower.


Blue feather/fan. Cast on 28 stitches and 2 knit stitches on sides. This is a 4Ktog,8YO,4Ktog pattern.


Red swirly scarf. Done lengthwise, feather/fan style with knit front/back instead of YO.


If you really want any of the patterns, I can make it up for you (maybe). Leave a comment if intersted. (I know, bad blogger knitter for not keeping better track of the scarves, but hey, I was under strict time constraints.

Back from SoCal vacation

Just got back from socal visit. Didn't stop at the funky yarn shop in HB (California Yarn Sales). I've gotten some feltable wool from Miki as well as some brown mohair yarn that I planned on using to make a shawl. Maybe next trip I 'll swing by there... no, I haven't made a felted something, nor have I made a shawl, but that's on 'the list'. That shop's so cool. They've got stuff piled high and in nooks and crannies. I love that type of shop. (Not to say that I don't like well-organized LYS either, it's just that I feel that I'll be able to find some sort of gem in a store like that). And I like dealing with folks that have been in business for a long while.

So, it was a good trip. Got to see all my sibs (4 of them) and their progeny. That would be 6 nephews. Yes, we have THE girl. One thing is that the boys are super well behaved. Dinner out was very amusing. The boys range from age 10 down to 1 and they were able to sit through dinner out at a pretty nice restaurant and keeping the adults entertained. Well, actually, mine ate alittle, and seriously fell asleep in his chair until we were done.(sigh)

The only really sucky thing was that the car died on the way back. Thank goodness z&a's dad figured it out when we lost electricity on 580...in Pleasanton(oh, and not in the middle of nowhere I5). btw, if your cruise control goes out mysteriously, followed by various warning indicator lights coming on, followed by your headlights going dim, you may want to pull over. So, New Year's Eve was spent our wonderful friends home. The car? It got towed to a dealer's service station. We're awaiting (with bated breath) how much it's going to cost...

But other than that, it was a good trip. An update. The car's problem was the alternator.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! And if you celebrate something else around this time, well, Happy Holidays!

I'm still recovering from my knitting frenzy. I did manage to knit the 1hour baby shoes from SnB Nation. I couldn't find my LP bulky, so I used some cheapy thicknquick Woolease. Uhmmm...they came out HUGE. But cute. And seriously, less than an hour.

Boy, are my arms tired...

Yep, you got it. Count them, 10 scarves done and wrapped and ready to go. Actually, there are 2 extras that I'm planning on giving to my friends after the holidays (I won't get a chance to see them until then). I've taken pics of them, and will post (with specs if I remember what the specs were) when I get a chance. Now, I've just got to do the actual shopping/wrapping of everyone else's presents. Happy Holidays!

Scarves

What I great idea I had...scarves for z and a's teachers...that's not too bad, 3 teachers each. I can whip up 6 scarves in 7 days (actually, only 5 since I had that one chenille one done already). la la la...go shopping for yarn...la la la, maybe some wool, some blends, some pretty ribbony yarn, and some acrylic but soft yarn...la la la...yeah, no problem...wrong.

uhmm...turns out since a's in the baby room, there are actually 6 teachers!!!!

How in the heck am I gonna knit that many scarves?! That is 9 scarves...plus 1 for the director. If I'd known that, I think I'd have just gotten them gift cards...

ack! I've knitted all weekend, and surprisingly I've got 5 done. (AND they're not all bulky yarn, so I didn't cheat too much.) Albeit there is one neckwarmer. I think I'm making a couple more of those.

Pictures to be posted when I'm done. Oh, did I mention that since daycare is closed on Friday, they've got to be all done and wrapped by Thursday?! ack!

Lacevember winnings

Here's what I won:
a bag for knitting project
3 balls of Kidsilk Haze
stitchmarkers (which I've already put to use)
Kiri pattern
lovely note from the Lacevember hostesses.

Cool or what!?

You know, I think I'm not a good picture taker, that or my camera has blue issues, and my monitor, yes, it's off too. I've ordered yarn from ebay and found that it doesn't look too much like what I see on the monitor. Everything is bluer in real life...so, does that mean that I need to overcompensate on my monitor? But when I get my pictures printed, they are also bluer than real life...I guess there's not much I can do there except edit every picture ...there must be something I can tweak with the camera. Heh, whatever, the yarn is a beautiful purple. (I have no idea what it looks like on your monitor).

Early Xmas!

I got home yesterday from shopping and found this.

How lucky am I?!
This is Zephyr from Sarah's Yarn (in Basil). I split this cone with a friend of mine 'cause I just can't see using five THOUSAND yards of yarn. But with the split, it's perfect. I can make 1 large project and 1 small one, or make 2 medium sized shawls. It's beautiful. Can't wait to start using it. But only after I finish gift knitting.

Oh, and she sent colour cards of ALL the yarn she carries.

I actually received something else too -- my lacevember prize! I haven't taken a picture of that yet, but go see it on the lacevember site. I'll post about that tomorrow (with pic).