Have Needles, Will Knit----Have Hook, Will Crochet

The Kindness of Others

2009-02-27T16:07:00.006-05:00

I have been spending a lot of time looking at everyone's projects on Ravelry and being a little envious of everyone's skills. There are so many beautiful things being done and some seem so complicated and difficult. I am sometimes amazed at what seems to catch everyone's attention-I saw one American Aran Afghan that not one person had commented on and another crocheted afghan that was very pretty and nicely done but also a very easy one that over 600 people had chosen it as a favorite. I loved the crocheted afghan but I do think that anybody who can complete either the American Afghan or the American Aran Afghan has accomplished more than I ever will.. ( I do want to make that crocheted afghan--I think my daughter would really like it)

Another thing about Ravelry that I enjoy is being able to keep up with the projects of your Internet friends and knowing when they have updated their blogs. This is where the title of this entry comes in--twice when I have been looking at projects that I admire, I have accidentally clicked on add to my friends--these people probably wondered why I added them but they both kindly added me to their friends list.

In perusing everyone's projects, I have decided on trying two more knit afghans. I have been reading one group's blog on the Barbara Walker Learn to Knit Afghan. I really have enjoyed their comments and have seen many beautiful finished afghans from this pattern. I have been wanting to try more slip stitch and this seems to fit in with that goal. I am just trying to use up some stash for this project and I have picked 42 of the squares that I hope to complete. The pictures are from my phone--so forgive the quality.

The other afghan that I have been wanting to do for some 20 years, is the heirloom leaf one. I have bought through the years three different patterns. I tried the first one I bought--20 years ago--in red (simply because I have so much of it), but that pattern required 96 squares and I didn't really like it in red.. I also have Nicky Epstien's pattern and someday I would like to do that one but for now, this pattern seems to be a little bit easier. I am doing it in some superwash wool but the color is incorrect in the photo below. I really wish that it was that color--I may be looking for some different yarn. None of the blocks from above or below have been blocked yet--and that is another exciting thing for me--I have ordered a blocking board so I am waiting to try it out on all of these blocks. I am just waiting for its arrival!

March is almost upon us--hoping spring is soon here-good knitting and crocheting to all!

Catching Up

2009-02-17T05:31:00.005-05:00

Time does fly! One of my goals this year was to be a better blogger and to try to keep up. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Christmas was wonderful, January was cold and snowy and we are more than half way through February. We have a new president-loved watching the inauguration --I am hopeful that he will have success in leading our country.
Here are some of the things I have been working on.

Christmas Gifts

2008-11-13T22:55:00.004-05:00

I have been hard at work making Christmas presents--I was feeling pretty good until I realized that we are half way through November. Today, I finished this hat for my Daughter's stocking-it is made out of Red Heart Zoomy--a yarn new to me. The hat was very easy and due to the super bulkey classification went really fast.

I am really in to making purses--it seems like everyone is making this one--it is also an easy fast and easy. I am giving both sisters, daughter and niece bags--but not sure who gets this one.

Saw this afghan on ravelry and it is also a very popular pattern--also an easy fast crochet. This one is for my daughter-colors match her bedspread --I hope it is modern enough for her. I ordered the yarn called for in the pattern but then found this yarn in my stash--I liked these colors much better and wished I could return the other yarn

I am going to put potholders in stockings-just getting started on those.

I am also giving more shopping bags to my sisters and daughter--

This shawl was made from moda dea Tweedle dee yarn--it is a shaded yarn and very soft. I orderd this yarn on line and the color was not what I was expecting for the purse that I planned on making--so--this pattern was on the yarn label and it was an easy knit but not necessarily a fast knit--had to make myself do some every day.

Well, must get back to more Christmas gifts--Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

2007-03-27T06:51:00.000-04:00

Accomplishments--or Not

2007-04-13T07:17:00.000-04:00

I have accidently deleted every post when I try to edit--we will see if I can manage to actually have something written instead of just pictures.

I have been looking at blogs and see all the wonderful things that people have crocheted and knitted--then I look at what I have managed to finish--sigh--not much.

The pictures on the first post are the things made from November to March. I have several unfinished projects that I keep promising myself to finish. Two afghans, 5 prs of socks and two scarves. The afghans are both crochet and the socks and scarves are both knitted. One of my goals for 2007 was to improve my knitting so I have been trying out lots of new things. I don't know that I have improved my knitting that much but I have learned lots of new things.

About all I finished last week were some preemie hats and a blanket.

Unfinished Work

2007-04-27T21:14:00.000-04:00

I have been torturing myself. I have grouped all my unfinished projects and laid them on or around the footstool in front of the chair that I sit in when I knit or crochet. Two afghans, a scarf, five different pairs of socks and dozens of patterns that I am contemplating beginning. Needless to say, the room is a mess. I solved one of the problems--I frogged the entire project. That wasn't that quick and to undo all of them would be time consuming and then there is the lost time that I spent working on them. What is it that drives one to finish some projects and to let others sit neglected in favor of beginning yet another project. Is it boredom with the project--is the project too hard--or am I just a quitter. Who knows, but guess what I did today--started another sock!!! Shame on me--that is definitely the last new project started before I finish one of the old ones!

I have completed my package for the dishcloth swap--this is what I am sending my partner --I think it is safe to post as I have not really advertised that I have this blog. This was how I avoided my unfinished works for the past week. The potholders are crocheted and the dish clothes are knitted. I really liked the round one--my first round knitted object.

In addition to the one's I am sending to my partner, I also completed these.

Well, I should go work on my ufo's or my new project--or should I look through my books for my next project!

Forgot one

2007-04-28T15:08:00.000-04:00

One more dish cloth that I forgot to post a picture.

Spring

2007-05-08T10:24:00.000-04:00

It's a beautiful day today--the perfect spring day. The grass is green, the temperature is 72 and the sun is shining. For awhile, it didn't seem like spring would be coming. I didn't think that my tree would bloom this year with the late frost and snow, but it did look pretty for a day or two. Unfortuneately, we had a wind advisory the first day it really looked pretty and then it poured down rain the next two days--I did manage to get this picture before it was all gone.

I received my dishcloth swap package from Maria. She sent me some really nice things. I love the colors and the patterns. I am munching on the licorice twists as I write.

Well sitting all my unfinished work in front of me has worked to a certain extent. I frogged one more of them and I am working on the ripple afghan. That has to be the most boring pattern I have ever worked on--just single crochet. There is a really pretty border which is the reason that I started it in the first place, if I can just hang on until I get to that part. I have decided that I am not making it as big as what the pattern says. When I finish this skein, I will start the border.

This does not show it very well but you get the idea. Back to work on it.

Finished

2007-05-11T13:51:00.000-04:00

Ok--I have finally finished the ripple afghan. That will be the only ripple afghan I ever make--probably. It took forever and was pretty boring to do. Just found out that one of my aunts is having her 80th birthday--the afghan has found its home!

This is a picture of an afghan I made a couple of years ago--I have to post it because I was too lazy to take it off the chair and some of it shows. (Really, I think I have it arranged just the way I like it and I am afraid if I take it off, I won't get it arranged the way I like it again)

OK--here is a pic of the new afghan and a close up of the border.

And here is a picture of Jasmine, depressed because I am playing on the computer and not with her. She is resting her head on one of her favorite toys.

Knit Afghan

2007-05-17T20:53:00.000-04:00

I am trying a knit afghan this time--I think I am going to go with three of the cream panels and two of the lavendar heather panels. The lavendar heather is really a pretty color although it doesn't show in the picture. It's a work in progress--I may change my mind.

In other news--there is a frost warning! May 17th and my flowers will once again be traumatized!

2007-05-23T14:00:00.000-04:00

I got a new camera today--just learning how to use it So far it seems like it takes pretty good pictures. Quite a bit more complicated than my other ones, however.

Here is a picture where I was just playing with the camera.

I have just been working on my knit afghan and have run into a few problems. I had to frog almost 10 inches of the lavender heather panel!! I absolutely must pay better attention! Both the cream and heather panels have still increased by about 8-10 inches . I have figured out that I can't use the same cream panel in the center (it would be narrower than the end panels) and so I think I will go with the bouquet stitch. I think I will post a picture of my progress weekly to keep me going.

Progress So Far

2007-06-03T13:33:00.000-04:00

It's a little cooler today and there is a thunder storm passing through. Probably shouldn't be on the computer but I am going to hope my surge protector works!

Last night I had a little visitor. I tried to get a picture but you can't really see it very well. I heard this fluttering noise and when I looked over at my patio door, I saw this little bird--not a baby bird, maybe a teenage bird that was sitting on the step looking in at me. He just sat there, must have been resting and getting out of the rain. Even when Jasmine--the dog--went over and barked at him, he just continued to sit and look in at everything. After he had rested a bit, pretty soon he hopped down and went on his way.

I have not been doing any knitting or crocheting other than my knit afghan. I now have two panels done and even sewed together. I am afraid that it is falling in to that disappointing category. When I start a project, I always have a picture in my head of how beautiful it will be--this is not quite measuring up to what I thought it would look like. I have decided to continue on, in hopes that it will turn the

corner and begin to look like I wanted it to look.

Since two of the three panels will be the same, it would make the most sense to work on them while I have the patterns pretty well in my head. Of course, what I want to do is start on the middle panel to give me something new to work on--I will see--maybe I have enough needles to start all three.

June 11, 2007

2007-06-11T18:02:00.000-04:00

Progess on my knit afghan--I have decided to call my afghan the garden--I have leaves, a lattice panel and the middle section will be bouquets. I have another leaf section completed and have five repeats done on the lattice panel. I need 21 repeats. I have not yet started the center panel. I should be done with this project but have not been in the mood to hurry.

The following picture denotes why I should not have internet access and a credit card--it is just too darn easy to order anything you want or think that you want. You don't have to get dressed, you can shop at 3AM--(I frequently have) and there is no time to back out of a purchase. In a store, you at least have to walk to the check out counter so you have a few minutes to talk to yourself about whether this is a good purchase for you-on the internet, you just have to click that little button! This yarn was bought strictly on impulse. It was super, super cheap and I thought surely I would have some need for this yarn. Because it was so cheap--I even bought tons of it. Of course, many times things are super cheap for a reason. This yarn has been taking up yarn space for over a year and I have decided I must do something with it to move it out. This is all I can think of to do with it.

Don't Spit in the Wind and Other Things I Have Learned!

2007-06-30T22:52:00.001-04:00

These are things that I have learned that can make your life easier: Don't spit in the wind, don't date Little Joe Cartwright, (for sure don't get engaged to him) , don't volunteer for Captain Kirk's landing party unless you have a recurring role in the show, and last but not least, plan your afghans carefully!! I finally have finished my knit afghan and there are some things that I really like about it. I like all three of the different patterns that I used. I like my colors--the picture may look like cream and gray, but the yarn label says it is French Lavendar. My sister, who has seen the afghan in person, wonders why I would make a gray afghan. I repeat--it is cream and French lavendar--that's my story and I am sticking to it!!

There are also some things that I don't like about it--it is way to wide-I guess I could have made it longer to even it out, but it is pretty huge as it is--very heavy and very warm. It's hard to tell if it is too warm when we have had 90 degree weather but definitely, this is a warm blanket. If I had planned it more carefully, I would have had three leaf panels and two lattice panels. The problem was, that I put the edging on the two end panels on the outside edge and then put edging on both side of the trellis panels --resulting that the middle leaf panel would not have been the same size and would have looked funny. I liked the bouquet panel (my one sister says diamonds and my other sister says grapes) but I made it too wide--thus resulting in a very wide blanket.

Anyway, it is done--I have learned some things for next time and I can move on to another project.

Clearing a Few Things UP

2007-08-05T07:18:00.000-04:00

My goodness time has flown by--July is gone and August has been here. I have been trying to clear up a few things--sort out unfinished projects, clear out closets, and get rid of stuff I am not using. Ireally have a hard time with saving things I don't need and then having so much stuff that I don't know what I have. I did take 8 bags to the Good Will and have thrown out about 10 bags. The really sad part, that all came from my bedroom and I still have one more closet to go through.

This past month has not been the most successful one. I have ripped out more than what I have to show. Some of these things probably should have been frogged--but then I would have nothing to show.

This first picture shows something that was supposed to be a purse but turned into a questionable pillow. One of the members of K&C had made this for a purse exchange and posted the pattern link on her blog. Hers was so pretty that I, too, attempted it, however--number one, I couldn't figure out the last couple of rounds and number two, I used the wrong yarn--hence the pillow.

After I decided to make it into a pillow and put it on my bed--I bought a new bedspread and so it will not match at all. Probably the closet for this one.

I bought a new hat book by Schurch and loved all of the patterns. Here are two attempts of the hats.

Made this for a purse exchange--a little project bag and the purse.,

It is so true , if you don't like the yarn, the project will take forevere! I have made some more squares of the bargain yarn that wasn't the best bargain.

Messenger Bag

2007-08-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

Just finished this bag for the CB exchange. I had been wanting to try this pattern. (link for pattern http://www.berroco.com/knitbits/knitbits_154_H.html )
I really liked the fair isle flap, but the yarn I was using felt too flimsy even with the stranding. I thought the cables might prevent me from having to line the bag, but I think I am going to do another crocheted lining.

We have had heat warnings several days this past week--I think my newly planted (in the spring) forsythia is gone-- It wilted down every day and finally, this Saturday the water did not revive it. I don't know if I drowned it or the heat got it.

My daughter who is getting married December 15, has decided her attendents need a shrug to tie in the colors--red and black. She is having one flower girl, two junior bridesmaids, 5 female bridesmaids , one male attendant on her side and her maid of honor. She wants me to make nine shrugs--8 red and one black-- the flower girl's dress is red and the rest are black. Of course she has never knitted or crocheted and she tells me none of attendants or their mother's knit. Of course, I am not sure we can even find the color of red yarn or the type we need. Anyway, there are two afghan patterns that I want to start (still working on the crocheted one), but I may not have a lot of time to work on them. I am working on two different patterns of shrugs to see if any one of them would look right with the dress.

2007-08-26T19:43:00.000-04:00

Have been busy straightening house and trying to organize--have been trying for awhile without a lot of success, but this past week, I have made enough headway that maybe I could make some headway!

We have had alot of rain and the grass is as green as in the spring. It's growing just as fast too.First week of school and of course it was super hot a couple of those days--poor kids and teachers.

I did finish the practice shrug--my daughter likes it--I like it for just a shrug--but it is her wedding so if she ever brings me the measurements, I guess I will start on the nine shrugs. (She only wanted her picture taken from the back!) I hope that no one else wants any cranberry, claret colored yarn as I have cornered the market on a good share of it trying to find one to match the one red dress. I have found a couple that will probably work.

I made a test square of the afghan pattern I thought I wanted to do--you start out on circular needles and work from the outside to the inside. I'm not quite as sure as I was that I want to do that one.

I also finally finished my daisy squares and will send them off to Krochet Krystal. Here is a link to her blog if you would like to contribute to her charity afghans.

http://krochetkrystal.blogspot.com/

November

2007-11-02T22:30:00.000-04:00

The engagement picture--doesn't she look beautiful? They both look so happy and peaceful.

Ok--how can it be November--it was just October. This is getting to be scary--time flying by so fast that I can't keep up. Well the wedding is just 6 weeks off and I am getting nervous about whether everything will be done. She is such an individual and is so determined to do things her way, plus doing her student teaching, plus taking a class and trying to work--she is very stressed out at the moment and that stresses me!

The eighth shrug is on the needles, not very far along, but just one more to go after this one--That is unless she can't find someone to make her bolero jacket. It has been such a long time since I sewed anything--I don't think I am up to working on a tailored jacket to go with a wedding gown. We did find a shrug pattern she liked if we can't find a pattern she likes or someone to sew the jacket. Here is the link http://www.knitscene.com/photos/project22.asp. Her gown is ivory so will need to find right yarn if she decides to go in that direction.
It seems that each shrug continues to take that much longer than the last one. I am not letting myself start anything else until I am done with them and it is getting so boring. Here is one of
the junior bridesmaids trying on the dress and shrug. Doesn't she look beautiful too!

I have some new patterns that I am dying to try out. The Loppy Ewe has several of Monica's patterns and I have purchased some yarn from the Loopy Ewe with some of those patterns in mind. I finally decided it was time to drag out my swift and ball winder. I have had them for two years -purchased with the 50% off coupon at one time or another at Joann's, but have continuted to wind the yarn by hand until now. Turns out there is a learning curve--at least there was for me--I have seen everybody else's neat little cakes of yarn and assumed that I would get the same result. Here is the pic of the first result. Poor little misshapen shaped cakes of yarn!

I did get somewhat better, but I certainly have seen neater ones.
My picture taking ability is very poor--the yarn doesn't show up nearly as pretty as it is.

All for now--must get back to the shrugs--sigh.

Bad Pictures

2007-11-24T21:38:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving--23 of us were able to be there. My sister's house looked beautiful and we all enjoyed being together. Also on a happy note, I was able to gift some of my yarn that I will probably never use to my cousin. She and her daughter are learning to knit and continue to crochet. (hehe-more room in the yarn closet for new stuff!)

I have also finished the shrugs-oh happy day!! This is a bad picture of them but my daughter came unexpectedly to collect them and she hurried to take a picture of all of them. So--even though its not the best picture--I still wanted a shot of them all together. The one that looks like a different color--is a different color and was the practice shrug. The little black one belongs to the flower girl and you can barely see, but the red and black one was a prototype that didn't get used. I frogged the other two that didn't work out for the yarn.

.
My daughter has decided that she wants a stole from the material for the bolero jacket so at least I am saved making another shrug.

I did get to knit a couple of different things this week--finished the Irish Hiking scarf for her male attendant--thought he should get something since the female attendants received the shrugs.

I also almost finished a hat, but have made a mistake in my decreases so I need to redo the rows starting with the decrease rows.

And lastly have started crocheting the scarf item below.

One more good news to report--I have only a couple of more gifts to get and then I will have my Christmas shopping done. another--oh happy day!

Life after Shrugery

2007-12-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the rehersal dinner and tomorrow is the big day! Of course we have a winter storm watch for Saturaday with the possibility of six inches of snow accumulation. However, they have been predicting bad weather for the last couple of days and we have dodged the bullet, so here's hoping that our luck holds out for two more days.

Have had a little bit of time to do some little projects--the cream colored and red hat are from a pattern from Monica Jines as are the mittens. A kit for the hat and mittens can be purchased here https://www.shopatron.com/product/part_number=230/630.0.0.0.0.0.0 . The hats are knit in some practice yarn and the mittens are knit in the South West Trading Company Gianna. I really liked the feel of that yarn but found that it was more challenging to work with--made my hands tired.

The lighter blue hat was made before the shrugs were started and it is from an old pattern from a leaflet called Cozy Quartet by Bernat. The darker blue hat was just a simple rib hat.

The scarf below was from a lion brand pattern called Sweet Scallops--I made one smaller for a scarf for a gift and then made it in shawl size for another person for a Christmas gift. That pattern can be found here http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/60744A.html?noImages=0.

The Wedding

2007-12-16T15:51:00.000-05:00

The weather was horrible-lots of snow and sleet, not sure of the exact amout but at my house and driveway I think the full 6 inches fell. The out of town relatives called and weren't able to make it, but most of the folks around here braved the storm and made it to the wedding.

I thought the wedding turned out wonderfully. I admit that there were several things about the wedding I was not sure of--but in the end, as they say. everything turned out for the best. The girls all looked beautiful and the boys all looked handsome. Here are a few pictures of the happy event. I really enjoyed the wedding and I'm really glad that it is over.

New Projects

2007-12-21T22:58:00.000-05:00

I dug out an old Bernat Treasury of Afghans book, why you ask when you have bought all those new books--well I was looking for something else and ran across this and this afghan caught my eye. The pattern called for it to be knit in panels--but that would have been 15! panels to sew up so I decided to do it as one. Did 10 rows x233 stitches = 2033 stitches-did not like how it was turning out--ripped those out--started over with smaller needles--liked that. But now as I look at it -after another 3495 stitches- I am not sure I like the pattern in the color of the yarn--I like the pattern--I like the color but maybe not together. Wish I had done it in panels as the pattern

was written--then I wouldn't be ripping out 2033 or 3495 stitches.

While I make up my mind whether I am going to continue, I started another project. I have been resisting buying Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns series because I have so many stitch dictionaries. I broke down the other day and ordered a second hand copy--I love it!! Volume 2 has arrived but volume one is hopefully on its way--I wish that I had bought a new copy although there is really nothing wrong with the one I got. I am chart challenged and her second volume has the printed instructions so it is perfect for me--started this scarf-name of pattern is wheat sheaves.

I still have some presents to wrap--so hoping everyone has a wonderful holiday. See you next year.

Winter Blahs

2008-01-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

I am afraid I have given into the winter blahs--the excitement of the wedding and of the holidays is over and I am just feeling alone and old. In short, feeling very sorry for myself--must quit the pity party.

Update on projects--green afghan met an untimely frogging. I had about 11 or 12 inches completed when I looked at the beginning and discovered four very noticible errors--why oh why did it take me that long to discover the mistakes. I was able to correct three of the errors without any problems but the 4th one , despite working several hours on it--ripping back all the way to the beginning in that section--just did not look right. Of course, if I had been willing to sew the 15 panels--all I would have lost was one little section. I have restarted the afghan and switched to winter white--same pattern--and yes, I did not learn my lesson--I am still not willing to sew 15 panels and I am doing it as one panel.

Here is a picture of the green afghan about a week before it met the frog pond and below it is a picture of the new winter white one.

My daughter asked me to make her friend a green hat--used Charlene Schurch's pattern of Aran watch hat. I did it in some old yarn I had lying around --the color is prettier than pictured here--somehow have managed to get strange settings on my camera and have not figured out how to get it back to the simple basic ones. This is a really nice pattern--lots of interest but once the pattern is set, you never have to either memorize or look at the book--can just look at the hat and know what to do next.

Also finished my wheat sheaves scarf-stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's second book--I liked the looks of it and pattern was easily memorized.

And the Beat Goes On

2008-01-25T23:22:00.001-05:00

Just a quick update on the current projects.

1)My winter white, former forest green, afghan is progressing slowly. I do like it much better in winter white rather than the forest green. This afghan does seem to be taking forever but I just need to buckle down and work on it and not get distracted by looking for new patterns on the computer or my books, or looking at all the wonderful things that other people do, or looking for new books or yarn. ect

I think that my favorite swap is the potholder swap. It is one that I can always join in because it doesn't take long to make them, it's not expensive to mail them and you can always use another potholder.

I now have all that forest green yarn-Paton's shetland chunky so am trying to decide what to do with it--I like this stitch--not sure if it will be part of an afghan or just a scarf.

One of my goals for this year is to decrease my stash of yarn (so I have room for more-but we don't have to discuss the logic of that). I bought a Crochet Magazine at the grocery store and saw this really pretty granny square afghan that was done all in one color. But as I am trying to destash, I am going to do a multi color one--first picture shows the pattern and the next shows how many I have done.

The very nice and very talented Monica gave me an award for encouraging her in her knitting ventures--I have to say that I love her patterns and can't wait to see pictures of her work--I would have to give her an award right back.

Snow is on the ground--it was -5 degrees this morning--I am awaiting spring!!

Camera Problems

2008-02-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

Tried all day to get my camera to transfer pictures--uninstalled software-tried to read instructions (if all else fails-lol), help line etc. Nothing worked -- pictures would not transfer from camera to PC--then--for no apparent reason--it worked. Thus, I decided I had better show my progress while I can.. If you count the ring cables, you can tell I have made some headway but this seems to be taking for ever.

I am going to try and knit Monica's Aran sock--so I dug out one of my old unfinished socks and I know it is a little pathetic but I thought I better try on an old sock before I try the beautiful aran sock.

One day the snow all melted - in the 50's and by the next morning we had a very light covering of snow and in the 20's. Rivers are very high and there are flood watches.