Just Knitting Around

Scaruffle

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

Here is my complete Scaruffle. (Ravelry Link) from the Knitters Book of Yarn. I need to weave in the ends and block it a bit. I really like it, and my mom just loves it, so I think I will give it to her. Since we live together I can borrow it back anytime. I think it will look beautiful with a black top in the winter. It is knit with 1 skein of lucious Artyarns Silk Mohair. Lovely yarn, I bought it when Fiber Naturelle closed. Original price was $19, i either got it for 50% or 70% off I think.

Elaine Beaded Coin Purse

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

I have started a beaded coin purse, its really easy, you just have to use really tiny needles, 0000! The seed beads came on a hank that you transfer a bunch at a time to the yarn by tying the bead strand to the yarn and sliding them. The kit I bought (Elaine from Purse Paradise) didn’t include lining or instructions for lining it, so I will have to figure that out. I think lining it will be necessary for a nice coin purse.

I only had one almost disaster so far. As I was pulling one end out of the hank of yarn, another end came loose and I lost some beads off of it. I caught it before too many came off. So be really careful after you have pulled a acouple of strands out, the knot that holds them together get loose after you pull some out.

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Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

Finished about 1:30 am last night and blocked this afternoon. I had less than 7 yards of yarn left. I was worried I would run out, and bound off a little too tightly to make the “peaks” come out as shown in the pattern. I should have taken out the bind off and redone it when I saw the amount of yarn I had left. But c’est la vie. It is beautiful nonetheless and I am pleased with the result. I think the reason I was so close to running out of yarn was that I knit so loose, it came out really big. I measure 39 inches down the center instead of 23, and about 70 incs across the top instead of 49. I think I will knit it again sometime. It was enjoyable, and I would like to knit a version that comes out more like the size it should be, with the points properly “peaked”.

More shots…

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It’s about 12:30 am, and I think the nupps ate up the yarn quicker than the Shawl Progress Calculator could account for. I have two rows and the bind off left at this point, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 grams of yarn. Some decisions need to be made.

1. Buy more yarn.
2. Beg for leftovers on Ravelry
3. Make adjustments on the fly and go ahead and finish the thing.

I decided on 3. and will knit the final increase row, and then bind off, skipping the knit row on the wrong side. I will do the BO in the pattern since I know it needs to be loose to block the points properly. If I run out, I will tink back and take out the last two rows of Peaked Points chart. Then finish as directed since I know the last increase round can’t be left out.. Stay tuned.

I had begun to worry if I would have enough yarn left to finish Swallowtail. I used the shawl progress calculator at Rose Kim Knits. According to that, I am 75% finished with the shawl and according to my scale and calculations, I have used about 67% of the yarn. I think I will have enough. I have finished the Lily of the Valley Chart 1 and am about to start on #2. Since it is such a rainy 4th of July, I think I can get alot done this weekend.

Happy Birthday America!

Swallowtail and Habu Silk

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

I started this Swallowtail (free .pdf) while on vacation a couple of weeks ago with my souvenir Habu silk bought at Knitch in Atlanta. The pic is from shortly after I got home. I am now on the first Lily of the Valley chart and am lovin’ the nupps. I am doing them as written with no mods to make them easier, using an addi lace needle and just making sure to keep them loose when I make them. I had no problem with the p5tog and they are looking very nuppy. I’ll take a pic in a day or two when I have a few more rows done.

Summer Shawlette Blocking 2

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

Here is what I made with the remaining yarn from my Faux Russian. It’s the Summer Shawlette from Knitting Daily by Sandi Wiseheart. I upsized it a little since it was lace weight instead of fingering. I kept doing increases until it looked like it was big enough, then I had to figure out how to make the lace border around the botton match up when I got to the back. In the end it worked, but I can’t tell you how many stitches I had.

I gave it to my Aunt Sandi who is alway cold in restaurants. She lives in Savannah, and hopefully will be just right for her.

Here is another pic

Black Russian 2

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

Finished! It’s Blocking! Next stop–New York City!!

Faux Russian in the dyepot1

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

Faux Russian in the dyepot. The water has almost cooled, and the dye is not fully exhausted. Maybe I used a little too much dye? I cooked it for about an hour, and it has been cooling over 3 hours.

Black Dye Job Yarn

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

Here is the remainder of the yarn from the Faux Russian. I test dyed it black this morning and I think it came out pretty good. The shawl is in the dyepot now.

Faux Russian 100%

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

At 12:30 AM EST I finiished the knitting of the Faux Russian. I am going to leave the grafting for tomorrow since I am so tired I annot see straight. Tomorrow I dye and block, Wednesday I pack and Thursday I leave for the Big Apple.

Faux Russian 75%

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

No time to blog. Must. Keep. Knitting. The Faux Russian is now 75% complete. I started the second hank of yarn. Its a good thing I ordered it. My goal is to dye on Monday. Will I make it?

Can you name that tune?

Snow 3

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

I got a bit of knitting done on the shawl and reached the halfway point last night. This picture is why I got caught up last weekend after falling behind. Without the big snow, I never would have gotten this far since I was supposed to be busy all weekend. I should be able to finish though. I did this in12 days, and even ripped an reknit quite a few rows at one point. The change in needles has made a huge difference in decreasing the amount of mistakes I make. I switched from a Addi Turbo US 2 to a Knitpicks Harmony US 4. My guage did not change and I am dropping less YOs. I only tinked two rows yesterday and that was the first in about four days. Then I saw a misplaced YO three rows back at one point. It was in a good spot and I got brave and dropped back five stiches and reknit the 3 rows. So at the pace I am going now I might easily finish in the 10 days I have left on my schedule, which will give me 3 days to dye and block it before New York.

Take a look!

Half a Russian

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

A few weeks ago I was in Yans and Fabrications and saw a little bag on display. It was the Clutch You’ll Never Give Up from One Skein. It was so cute, so one skein of Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky and a couple of hours later, I had this:
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(Pen included for scale.)

Twenty minutes after popping it in the wash, I had this:

A couple of days later after I picked up a bag of buttons at Meijer, I had this:

Now all I have to do is add some snaps for a closure. Cute as a button, eh?

Beaded Rib Bearfoot

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

I am working on a pair of socks in Mountain Colors Bearfoot, my favoirte sock yarn, in a beaded rib. I am doing these separate rather than two at at time like I usually do, up since I am showing a friend how to knit a toe up sock. I knit the first on a 2mm knit picks harmony circ. and started the second on a 2mm addy turbo. I am going to frog the second, since it’s coming out bigger and I’ll have to wait to do it on the Harmony. The wood has just a little more grab than the turbo, and that is making a difference in the gauge.

We have 8 inches of snow today with more to come on top, perhaps 12 to 15 by the end. So I will get lots of knitting done on the shawl.

Faux Russian

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

I do love a good white Russian. This one is a pretender. It is the Faux Russian Stole from a Gathering of Lace. My plan is to wear it when I go to New York at the end of the month. I wanted something classy for the symphony and the Phantom. This will be my first trip to the Big Apple. In order to finish, I set myself a goal of 24 rows a day. That gives me a couple of day leeway if I fall behind a little, but not much.

But…I already fell behind. This picutre was taken Wednesday, I did 24 Row that afternoon and evening. Yesterday I had to tink and reknit two rows of the previous days’ 24, and I only got 6 rows done due to circumstances beyond my control that curtailed knitting time. So I am 18 rows behind.

STR hole

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

I blew out the heels in my Socks That Rock.

I finished them in April of 2006. I still had some of the original yarn (look how it has faded though) and bought some brown wooly nylon to reinforce it, and I am going to snip a stitch, unravel the heel, pick up the stitches and reknit it as an afterthought heel. I guess since the STR contains no nylon and this was one of the first pairs of socks I knit (I knit it at a slightly looser tension than I would now) it was more prone to a blowout.

Wish me luck.

I got some great tea today, I was looking for a replacement for Trader Joe’ chocolate tea which was discontinued. I found Adagio Chocolate Tea. Yum. I can send people a $5.00 email gift certificate through Adagio’s website. I guess its a way of getting new customers. If you want one, leave a comment with and email address and I’ll send you one.
My other socks are holding up well

Bucket Hat

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

I really liked this pattern, which is the Chick Knits Bucket Hat. I think a slightly snugger fit might be better, but I was afraid to felt it more since I didn’t want it to shrink any more in height. All in all, a good pattern and a great use for one skein of Cascade 220.

This is the first pic of me on the blog. I have an aversion to having my picture taken, but a hat doesn’t look right unless it’s on a head. Please ignore the dirty mirror.

I am knitting a sock from the new Cat Bhordi book New Pathways for Sock Knitters. Its interesting, although I have the same complaints about it that I have heard from others. You have to jump around the book from place to place in a seemingly disorganized fashion. It’s almost too much trouble, so I am starting to wing it. I am not used to reading a pattern and figuring out measurments and numbers since I usually just knit toe up and adjust to make it fit as I go. The most I usually have is a chart if I am doing some kind of patterning on my socks, but usually I pick some kind of 2X2 ribbing variation so I normally don’t even need that. We’ll see if I actually finish it, or abandon it to just use my tried and true method.

Ice Queen Unblocked

Originally uploaded by Dtkpmom.

Here is Ice Queen pre-blocking. I think it turned out very well and it looked even better after blocking. I hope MIL wears it. She seemed to like it. She mentioned once that she didn;t wear hats since they smashed her hari down, so when I saw this in Knitty,, I thought it would be perfect.