kitty: working on cria

I ended up taking a break tonight and knitting a few rounds on Cria at Stauf's. Really loving the shoulder construction, it is a lot of fun and most of all something new. So glad that it is not another raglan sweater. Though my only gripe is that I had to print out the pattern, cannot remember the last time I was forced to waste paper to do so. Due to the tables though I really didn't see another way. (I normally just copy over the pdf's to ibooks and read them from my iphone or ipad. It really works well for a paperless solution even with lace patterns.) Hope everyone has a great week.

kitty: quest for washcloths for Mia

Pattern: Mia's Star Fish Washcloth Fiber: Katia Lino 100% Needle: US 2 - 2.75mm

Well you know there are times when you shouldn't block. This was once a washcloth, but after blocking it really began to look more like a doily. Oh well, thank goodness with water it will return to its once soft stage. It may not make the best washcloth so I have started another one for her out of an organic cotton. I picked up the yarn during this years summer sale at Knitters Mercantil. Given how hot it has been I thought some more summer sweaters and tops are in order. So I picked up enough of this linen in white to make a tank top or a short sleeve sweater. It is a bit splity, but there swatch that was knit up in the store was extremely soft. So I am excited to see how the top turns out.

kitty: last project for 2007

title: knitted market bag pattern: My own design content: 3 balls Maggie Ireland Linen & 3/4 yard of Linen time: 1 wk (though it took me forever to finish due to being chicken to cut the lining)
My last project for 2007. I finished it on the 23rd and I had hoped to have two other projects ready to post about for 2007. But alas like clock work I got really sick when I actually didn't have a lot of stress or major deadlines to deal with, just knitting and catching up on projects. I am a prime example of what they were talking about on CNN today that more people get sick during the holidays than at any other time since during the normal work year you have so much adrenaline going that you don't really notice when you body is really sick because you just don't have time. It took me forever to get around to cutting the fabric to finish the bag. The knitting was finished back in August. I had bought a yard of organic linen and I was frankly afraid that my sewing or idea wouldn't work out and I would ruin my piece of fabric. Yes, I would be the first to admit it I am chicken when it comes to these things. Though I am really happy that I got some fever induced nerve and finished the bag for 2007. Hope you all had a great holiday and will have a great year to come. Happy Year of the RAT!!!!

kitty: habu inspired market bag on the blocking board

The Habu inspired market bag is on the blocking board finally. I just have to block out the straps at some point today. Since it extended way beyond the actual boards size. The final size of the bag looks like it will be right at 14* 11inches which is a little smaller than I had hoped but the width that I was going for.

MG came up on Sunday so she was sweet enough to take the photos while I blocked. It was definitely a finish up FO and learning afternoon. She wound off the yarn I just finished spinning Saturday night while I was desperately trying to stay awake. (Nothing like spinning probably 150 yards and plying over 500 yards in a night) It was really amazing seeing her wind it off as a human kniddy knoddy. I was really amazed at the technique. We had also been talking a lot about short rows and decreases/increases on aim through the months, but it just never seems like we have enough time to knit it while she is here. Since M was fast asleep on the couch while we were watching the World Cup of Women's Football she went through the techniques that she had been talking about. I was really amazed to finally see them in person. I really hope she will take some photos and share soon. I feel like my knitting skills really grew yesterday. Thanks MG.

Just had to take a photos of my other knitbuddies last night while I was working on my Habu sweater.

kitty: Knitted Market Bag - sneak peak

A little sneak peak of what I have been working on. There have been so many great Market Bags popping up online recently I decided that wanted to make my own. Lets face it is a pretty simple concept; flat bottom, slanted sides to create sides, straight construction of 4 panels, and a handle. Not a lot of math involved and something that can replace all of the plastic waste bags that I collect with daily life. This is what I have so far. I like the general shape and design, but after blocking my bag measure oh.......... 12*23*4. It is a little long since I know there will be stretching due to contents. I also want to sew linen handles and top band and bottom band for stability. The concept behind the lace patterns was to knit patterns that I knew by heart as practice. Since patterns were passed down and then practiced over and over until they were committed to memory. So this is what my memory lead to after all the reading I have been doing. Nothing was written down or charted. Just knit, knit, knit It is made out of three balls of Maggie Ireland's old linen.

(Yes.. the increase in the lace there could have been done better.)

On a side note: Today is one of those days that comes around every year full of happiness, memories, laughter, tears, joy and of course sadness for me. A day where I crave Southern Fried Chicken, Sausage Gravy and home made butter biscuits, Vienna Sausages, pound cake, and a piece of butter scotch handed to the little girl on the stool facing the wall. This year though it has hit me pretty hard, guess I have been thinking of my Grandmother a lot as of late. Don't really know why, but today would have been her Birthday. So Happy Birthday Grandma!!!! I really miss you And on a much happier note, Happy Belated Bday to My sweetie M!!!!! Yesterday was his Bday!

kitty: a happy crafty weekend

With work, there hasn't been a lot of crafting going on, but I did have an absolutley amazing crafty weekend. I took some real time off for myself, something I seldom have the luxury of doing it seems these days. First off, a little weaving update, not a lot to report.

The Specs: Pattern: Striped Table Runner Yarn: Vintage Dry Spun Linen. Hand Spun Japanese Hemp, and Tsumugi Silk Loom: Macomber - 4-harness The weaving is coming along painfully slow. Part of the problem is I only get to weave once a week, I have been absent as well as the teacher, and the other problem is that the headles on the loom unfortunately are cutting the dry spun linen so that my back is beginning to look like a torcher device of broken strings. So any small advances of the loom require resetting up all the spindles and the spools to regain tension. Even with very careful set up, the tension is also beginning to get off. So the back of the loom now has a group of knitting needles holding threads on top.

Doesn't that look like a scary photo? I stopped this past week because two more threads were loosening up and I didn't feel like finding something to take up the slack.

So now on to the fun stuff. One of the girls in the weaving class was sweet enough to come up with a fiber day for any one who wanted to come this past weekend. L brought her amazing fleeces from this past springs cutting. They were the absolute nicest fleeces I think I have ever seen. They were clean, not greasy, and some of the prettiest colours. Here were two of her boy’s fleeces. All it did was make me really wish I could go pet a sheep and thank them for their beautiful fiber. L is truly a good mother to her sheep. I ended up buying one of the fleeces from her that was an amazing brown and fawn colour. Her name was Cathy, after "Chatty Cathy," since she is the loud one in the flock. I will post more photos when I try my hand at breaking apart the folds and washing it this spring. I just need to find some netting and safety pins. I cannot wait. It is destined for a lace shawl.

While there I spent the afternoon spinning and talking with friends. I finished up a ball of roving that I had started over the holidays and when I got home I was brave enough to try my hand at spinning hopefully sock weight for Mia. She sent me this roving at Christmas, so hopefully I can manage to spin her some sock yarn as a gift. It always amazes me to see how multi-colour roving spins up. You can never tell, or at least I cannot tell yet. The above is from one of Spunky Eclectic blends. I also started a mitten on Sunday night, but that will have to wait until there is a match for its debut before felting. L was sweet enough to bring me yarn, needles, and a pattern since she knew I always wanted to learn to knit mittens. Now my end product does look pretty funny. Have a great crafty week!

kitty: well, there is always a scarf

Thursday night... M: " So, you couldn't find a project to knit I see.... You are knitting a new scarf right?" kitty: "Yes, you are right I am just to distraught to decide on a new pattern. Nothing seems to be striking the right cord or right gauge. So how did you know I was knitting a scarf?" M: " Well, you always said if worse comes to worse you can knit a scarf, so I just figured." kitty: "Yep, I am designing my own lace scarf from one of the lace books that I just got that teaches the principles of Shetland design. (M, starts to ignore me at this point and just begins to make those husband "O" sounds like he is listening.) I think I have hit that after a great project depression. I needed a new project, but cannot find anything to knit. So lace scarf it is. I recently picked up: Heirloom Knitting Sharon Miller "A Shetland lace knitter's pattern and workbook. An instructive guide including an overview of Shetland lace, explanations of technique, design and helpful tips about developing your own patterns. Above all though this book is a wide-ranging collection of charted patterns. 296 pages. A4 format, paperback." The book is jammed packed with design instructions, references, and the history of shetland lace. Definitely a good resource for the library of lace knitters. Not the best printing by any means. I have a couple of pages that have ink transfer, but an amazing reference book. So I have about 17.5 inches on US size 2 knit pick needles, after 2 days. It is currently making me happy so that is a good start.

Kitty: 98 degrees and a shawl not a good combo, unless....

So you want to take a picture of your current FO, but it is 98 degrees outside and the thought of anything on your body sounds like a bad idea. So what do you do? You head to the very cool basement and dig out a dress form.

The photos are a little dark, but at least I got to post my finished Maggie Jackson Class shawl/scarf. I am really proud of it to be honest. I think it is one of the coolest things I have made in a long time. Feel free to click on the images to see a bigger version. I really love the way it turned out.

I ended up seaming the two pieces together with a lace seam stitch that The Prince of Knitting outlines in several of his books. It essentially allows you to free form a knitted seam over open lace work. I carefully layed out the two sides allowing them to naturally stretch and did a crochet lock stitch every 4 inches along the long edges. Then I stretched the two pieces out over a small book so that they were flat to seam them up. It took about 4 hours to seam the shawl together.