Frustrated

I had a frustrating couple of hours today. I finally brought a table upstairs so I could set up my knitting machine. You may recall that what was my sewing/knitting room is now a fitness room.

Initially I tried my ironing board but the clamps wouldn’t hold properly and my poor Bond went crashing to the floor along with a short length of knitting that I’d managed to complete before the Fall. A little piece of plastic broke off the end of the Bond but thankfully it doesn’t affect the operation of it.

So, I start again on a sweater that I’d planned to make with the Sienna brown Brava Worsted. It took me ages to decide on what to make but I found a cardigan pattern on Ravelry issued by Cascade Yarns called the Summer Lace Cardigan, a pretty little number, long in the back, sleeves, with two drapey lacy wrap fronts. Aha, I thought, I’ll use the machine to knit the back and sleeves and hand knit the lace fronts (I am limited to 100 needles on the machine).

Well, it was a good plan and I did all the math and thought optimistically I might even get all three pieces completed in one day. Hmm, guess not. The back progressed well at first, past the waist shaping. Not sure what happened with my gauge as I reached the 78 rows that I thought would give me 12 inches of length but it was only 11… and this while stretched out with the weighted hem. I added 12 extra rows. Time for the raglan shaping – and here’s where I came unstuck. Twice (TWICE) one of the sides started to unravel, right where I had been decreasing. I almost gave up the first time but my trusty crochet hook and a lot of patience got me through. The second time it happened I just couldn’t seem to fix it AND I spotted a knot in the yarn further down that I hadn’t noticed while pushing the carriage across. Gah! I ended up taking the #%*€¥ thing off the needles, putting in a lifeline below the knot and the unravelled bit, ripped out down to the lifeline and then painstakingly put each stitch back on a needle.

I have fewer stitches than I should. I am tempted to forget the whole thing.

When I ordered all the Brava, I bought enough of the sienna and the currant to make sweaters, but now I am feeling very underwhelmed by the thought of making another dark sweater, preferring to go for something lighter and brighter. It’s time to say, okay, I can put away the brown for another day, it will get used eventually, but for now I shall work with other colours.

I gave away a massive bag of odds and ends last week to a friend who only seems to knit and crochet with thrift store yarn. I’m sure she will appreciate it. It feels good to clear that out as I am not a natural stasher of yarns. It’s nice to have a little extra lying around for mystery KALs or spontaneous projects, but not a tonne of it.

So yes, time for a bit of frogging methinks, put that brown yarn away for another day. I have just enough time to do that before starting on dinner.

Have you frogged anything lately?

 

another One night Stand wrap

If you look at my free knitting patterns in the sidebar, you’ll see a One night stand Wrap. Why’s it called that? Well, I made it on my Bond knitting machine and it only takes a couple of hours from start to finish. Maybe an hour of knitting and another hour of finishing. Here’s a photo of the second version that I made today, before I tossed it into the washer with a towel to upset those stitches a bit. Right now it’s in the dryer on low heat and will (hopefully) emerge all warm, fluffy and relaxed! This is for a friend who has been going through a tough time emotionally and physically during 2012. It’s her birthday next week and what more excuse did I need to knit her something. I didn’t have time to handknit a prayer shawl so this made for a perfect alternative. The yarn is Lion Brand Homespun – yes, not a yarn that’s very popular with some people, and not one that I use much, but it is lovely and soft and my other wrap has stood up well to the tests of time.

I went in to Michaels today looking for Homespun, expecting to use a coupon to get 40% off one ball and pay full price ($7.99) for the other two. Instead I found myself rummaging through the clearance bins, looking for matching dye lots on skeins of certain colours that were marked down to $3.99.

I ended up buying 6 of this plum colour and 6 of one called Spice. They had tonnes of the Spice – I could have come home with 50 skeins if I hadn’t had an inbuilt moderation mechanism!

They also had packs of 5 notecards marked down from $1.50 to 25 cents, so I bought a few of those too.

We were out to dinner at our favourite restaurant tonight, so I didn’t have to cook.

And tomorrow we’re having friends over, so I will have to cook lots, and I still haven’t figured out what we’re going to be eating. Oh well, it’ll all come together in the end.

 

two new FOs

Two very quick projects for almost instant gratification….

a machine-knitted scarf for ds1.

And two crocheted mug cosies for my friend Jeanette.

One morning last week, ds1 said he needed a scarf. My eyes may well have lit up at the opportunity for more knitting. He goes out for walks around the neighbourhood but doesn’t like wearing a coat unless it’s minus 30. He has a very thick hoodie but obviously he needed something for his neck and face. I was happy to oblige. A cowl was out of the question – he just wanted a plain old-fashioned scarf that he could wrap around, and when I said I had enough of the Currant-coloured Brava Worsted to make him a scarf he said that would be ok. It’s dark enough to be manly.

So the Bond was clamped back onto the sewing table and I used three balls of yarn to churn out a nice long strip, which I seamed into a tube for a double-thick scarf. Didn’t think he’d want a fringe, so buttonhole stitched the ends shut. He seemed pleased. And what service! The request was made in the morning and the finished product was in his hands in the evening.

The mugs are from Wal-mart. I was going to get the plain old white ones and jazz them up with colourful crochet, but when I saw these classy striped ones I couldn’t resist. And the paprika Brava Worsted co-ordinated very nicely. The square orange buttons are from my extensive stash of dollar store buttons. I made up the design, using a combination of single crochet and puff stitch. The reverse of the puff stitch was more textured so I have that side showing on the mug. These mugs and cosies are going in a box with the snow couple, some Christmassy tea, and maybe some chocolate.

Apart from that, I’ve done absolutely nothing about Yule decorations or gifts for my family. Oops!

 

slapdash cat blanket

I can hardly type, my fingers are so cold. Add to that our sticky keyboard and it’s a bit of a PITA!

I’ve been thinking about ways to help others this Yule season and I’ve come up with three ideas. Bird feeders for the garden….those birds need every calorie they can get in the winter! A donation for the SPCA, including this blanket that I ran up on my machine last night. (It’s a long rectangle, made from oddments, folded in half and sewn around the edges.) And a gift box for a family who we know who don’t have an income at the moment.

slapdash cat blanket side 1

slapdash cat blanket side 2

What you are doing that involves giving rather than getting this month?

 

 

 

graffiti

I love the idea of yarnbombing, or knitted graffiti. Leaving colourful pieces of knitting or crochet attached to railings, trees or whatever is, I think, something that can brighten people’s day without being destructive or hard to remove.

I do have a lot of spare yarn which I could use right now, but knitting the pieces takes me away from other (more useful) projects. I did find the time to machine-knit the short red scarf in the photo and hand-knit the blue one. What better use is there for fun fur and eyelash after all?!

I have a particular sculpture in mind to tie these to. Hopefully tomorrow. I will definitely post a photo if I can.

 

small projects

Last Tuesday at knit night, I bought some 100% hemp yarn with the intention of making a belt. I didn’t particularly enjoy knitting a thin strip with that yarn and it wasn’t looking as good as I’d hoped, so I ended up trying it on my Bond knitting machine. The machine didn’t like it – it kept dropping stitches.

So I used a scrap of a different yarn to knit a strip which I estimated to be long enough. At a coffee night with some homeschooling mums on Monday, I sewed it up and added a buckle and it was done. It’s pretty stretchy, but that’s probably a good thing! And it didn’t need holes as the spike of the buckle just slides between the stitches.

As it didn’t cost me anything, I don’t mind if it’s not particularly hardwearing – I know that I can myself a new one anytime. (The non-leather one I bought a couple of months ago cost $8, I think, and it’s toast.)

Since we have our new furniture and are trying to keep it nice, I used a little left over James C Brett Marble to knit a couple of coasters for the coffee table yesterday. They’re just mitred squares. The beauty of these squares is that they start out with 51 stitches and end up with three, so it feels like they go really fast. Two isn’t really enough so I’m sure I’ll make a couple more of these today.

 

 

proudly presenting…

…the finished scarf. This size scarf would take weeks to knit by hand, and this one was done in three days. There is a lot to be said for having a machine to take care of yards of stockinette!

It wraps around my neck twice and still nearly reaches the floor at each end. (I just noticed my rather wild hair this morning looks almost like Tom Baker’s did as Doctor Who!) Here’s another image showing more of THE SCARF! If you look carefully, the original was actually garter stitch, so somebody did hand-knit it. I prefer his colours too, less bright than mine. Ah well, you work with what you have (c:

Lego Nut spent a while sitting on top of a heating vent this morning with the scarf covering him. It gets his approval for keeping him warm!

 

scarf stats

Last night the scarf was sewn up – it took a while! I had to go out in the evening, but a session before and afterwards got the job done. It was tossed into the washer with a load of clothes and this morning it’s in the dryer. (Wet acrylic feels pretty bad!)

I thought it better to add the fringe after washing so it didn’t get shredded.

Here are the stats if you’re curious…

• total weight of yarn: 1lb 10.5oz or 760 grams
• total length before washing: 12 feet 9.5 inches or 3.8989 metres
• width: 9 inches or 22.86 cm

Photo will follow.

 

dedicated to tom baker

I’ve always wanted my own Doctor Who-type scarf and when I received that big basket of yarn recently I just knew I had to make one. I started this yesterday, and finished the knitting part today. As you’ve probably guessed, I made it with my Bond knitting machine.

It’s 70 stitches wide so I can fold it and sew it into a tube. This solves the curling problem and neatly hides the yarn tails. There are two shades of blue, three of green, two of brown, two reds, an orange, and off-white.

Once I’ve sewn it up, I’m going to run it through the washer and dryer to soften it up, then add the fringe, which will be white. I think it’s about 12 feet long, though I’ll know better when it’s done.

 

 

 

hat-bag-cowl

This is a multi-purpose item which I dreamed up while drifting off one night. It’s a machine-knitted tube, so it was really quick to make, and the eyelets near both ends are for threading I-cord through. The I-cord was made with my knitting mill, so the only handwork I did on this was the bind off with a darning needle.

You see, it can be worn as a hat with the top I-cord cinched…

or a neckwarmer or open-topped hat (for a ponytail) with both ends open…

or used as a bag with both ends closed.

Well, I thought it was neat!