Wednesday Night with Eastside Stitchers

no wind at all on Sunday morning

Hello!

It's great to be back on the  blog.  I missed the last week Wednesday meet up of the Eastside Stitchers because I felt like... well ... not well.  I didn't even blog that I wasn't going because I felt so crappy.  However, I felt much better the next morning, and didn't even miss work.  Then the weekend came, and it was crazy busy.  I went to the theater with a friend to see Crimes From the Heart.  We went out to dinner first at Fins Bistro. Then, Saturday, I knit knit knit, mostly on my Bigger on the Inside Shawl.

Sunday, was Yarn Church at Panera's in Redmond, and Monday, I had off from work, so Moogie and I did a "Treat Yo' self!" day with mani-pedi's and lunch at Dough Zone. 

A pretty great weekend over all.  But, there was one big problem.  My internet started acting really weird over the weekend.  For some reason, I could get onto only a few sites.  For instance, I could get onto Netflix, but not Ravelry.  I could watch things on YouTube, but not see my email on hotmail or log onto my blog.  It was infuriating, and I was having serious Ravelry withdrawals by yesterday.  Finally, last night, the internet went out completely!  EEEEK!  It was a nightmare. 

Doc had to call Comcast, and they came out and reset everything, and by the time I got home this afternoon, there was INTERNET again!  So, I can report on our regular Wednesday Eastside Stitchers meet up.

Pamela2708 is knitting a colorwork cowl, Ambiguous, by Michelle Hunter published in Knit Purl Hunter.

Puzan is knitting the Lluna Shawlette by VanesaPolo.

JitteryKnitter was also knitting the Lluna Shawlette (not shown), but had another project as well, because it had a "deadline."

DomesticShorthair was starting a new project, a Cabled Pillbox hat.  She also brought her vintage Bed Jacket.

BlueberryMary brought her heart scarf.

She is using fingering weight yarn instead of the worsted weight that the pattern calls for, and so, is knitting the pattern twice to make the scarf wide enough to be called a scarf.

Wajio is starting something new.  You will notice a few new projects tonight.

ReadnitDream was starting a pair of mittens.

GwenS was NOT starting something new, but has made huge progress on her Beyond the Pines shawl.

Speaking of huge progress, SpinningLizzy bound off her Tropfen scarf.

And, last, but not least, CrunchyNumbers has also made HUGE progress on her Nurmilintu shawlette.

We spent a lot of time talking about how much we love meeting at Crossroads.  No kidding.  It's such a great place to knit, even though they turn off the Market Place sign at 7:40 pm every night, and that dims the knitting light a bit. 

The month is ending this weekend, and so I am frantically trying to finish up as many projects as possible for the HPKCHC.  I will try to get some photos of these projects on the blog if possible, but honestly, I'm knitting and spinning like crazy when I am not at work.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with wool.

Quiet Night for Eastside Stitchers

Hello:
It was a quiet night for the Eastside Stitchers.  Anuwizard brought a lanyard to twist.
ReadnitDread was creating her own Stephen West inspired shawl.

 GwenS brought a finished Aviatrix (above), and a new shawl, Beyond the Pines (below).

Pamela2708 has started a new vest for her Master Knitter project.

Hrvdmnky is knitting another hitchhikeresque shawlette with these cool loops on the border.

DomesticShorthair has made good progress on her vintage Bed Jacket.

I worked on the hexagon afghan that was a lapghan for Moogie until she told me she actually wants it to be big enough for a single bed... so it's an afghan, now.

Sorry this is so short, but we had a small group, and I am super tired for some reason.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a tight group of fiber friends.

Knitting By Lantern

Not the best light, but better than nothing.

ugh! Our Power is Out

Hello: this is a quick post from my phone because the power is out in our neighborhood.  It is annoying to look out the windows across the lake and see all the houses lit up. Like they're taunting us. We have 2 fires going, one upstairs and one down, but it is sure to get cold if it doesn't come back on soon.

Peace, f1bercat

Shaping the planet in the dark

St. Distaff's Day

Hello:
Today was the annual St. Distaff's Day Spin in in Lake Stevens with the Northwest Regional Spinners Association.

We arrived at 10 am sharp to set up our spinning circle.

The market opened at 10:30 and I broke my yarn/fiber diet to buy three braids of fiber from Huckleberry Knits.  I absolutely love her colorways, and have knit many pairs of socks with her yarn.  Two of these braids are Polworth/Silk blends, and the other is Merino/Silk.  I have never knit with a silk blend before, so I am excited to try it.

By noon the place was full and, well, spinning.

BlueBerryMary joined us for her first time at St. Distaff's Day.  She was wearing her newly finished Barley.

I also won one of the door prizes, a skein of naturally brown alpaca yarn.  It is super squishy!
I managed to get quite a bit of spinning done, in spite of all the visiting with friends.  Some of the people I saw were Wajio and BlueWolfWalking (we carpooled), ReadnitDream and Anuwizard, JessicaRose, WireKnitter, and Jenniluigi.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with new braids of gorgeous fiber!

The Market packing up at the end of the day

First Eastside Stitchers Meet up of 2016

Hello:
We had a great first Wednesday night of 2016 at Crossroads with the Eastside Stitchers.  The group was a bit smaller than usual as some people were moving in their in-laws and were too busy to come. Obviously, not the beautiful Addie, above, who was showing off both her pigtails and her smile.

Wajio was showing off her beautiful Lluna Shawlette, by VanesaPolo.  She was also part of the test knitters for this fun, easy and really pretty project.

Dreamweaver is knitting wrist warmers.

Blueberrymary is well on her way down the sleeves (knit 2-at-a-time) of this beautiful sweater.

DomesticShorthair is knitting a shawlette?  I'm not sure, the effect you see is made by different size needles both knitting 1x1 Ribbing.

Pamela2708 is knitting this vest as part of her Master Knitter Course I.  She gave us a great tip tonight on changing yarn colors in ribbing.

ReadnitDream is almost finished with her faux colorwork socks.

WireKnitter was working on a hush hush test knit, but also brought this lace piece she is knitting in her own handspun.

GwenS is knitting a doubleknit hat in Seahawks (is there any other?) colors.  I taught her everything she knows about doubleknitting. 

CrunchyNumbers brought a lace shawl with an unpronouncable name.

Here is a better look at the lace.

Ok, crazy week for me.  I hope to post again before the weekend, but if I don't, have a good rest of your week.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with wool.

Alpaca Finger Puppets

Hello:
Aren't these the cutest!  I have 3 girls in my Fiber Club who wanted to learn how to knit so they could make alpaca finger puppets.  I kid you not.  That was their whole reason for joining.  I thought I had better come up with some type of finger puppet pattern that they could use.

Alpaca Finger Puppets

Yarn: worsted or aran weight

Abbreviations:

k - knit

k2tog - knit two stitches together

kw - knitwise

rs - right side

sl1 - slip one stitch

ssk - slip, slip, knit

ws - wrong side

Cast on 21 Leave a long tail, about 12 in. for sewing later.

knit 9 rows flat

row 10 k1, ssk, knit to 3 stitches before end, k2tog, k1 (19 st)

row 11:  bind off 3 stitches, knit (16 st)

row 12: bind off 3 stitches, knit (13 st)

Join to knit in the round.

row 13: knit

row 14: k1, ssk, k7, k2tog, k1 (11 st)

row 15: knit

row 16: k1, ssk, k5, k2tog, k1 (9 st)

rows 17 - 26 knit

Head:

set up: k3,

divide stitches so the 6 stitches at the back of the neck are on one cable (or 2 double point needles), and the 3 stitches at the front of the neck are on the other cable (or on waste yarn).

Knitting back and forth on the 6 stitches that are at the back of the head:

row 1 (ws) knit 5 turn

row 2 (rs)  sl1 kw k3 turn

row 3 (ws)  sl1 kw k2 turn

row 4 (rs) sl1 kw k1 turn

row 5 (ws) sl1 kw K2, turn

row 6 (rs) sl1 kw, K3, turn

row 7 (ws) sl1 kw,  K4, turn

row 8 (rs) sl1 kw, k5

Face:  (Knit in the round)

row 1: pick up one stitch between 2 needles knit 3 front stitches, pick up one more stitch, then knit 6 back stitches (If desired, purl the 6 back stitches) (11 st)

row 2: k2tog, k1, ssk, knit

row 3: knit

row 4: k3, ssk, k2, k2tog (7 stitches)

row 5: knit (7 stitches)

row 6: k3, ssk, k2tog (5 stitches)

cut yarn, with tapestry needle, thread through remaining 5 stitches, pull tight and hide through the end of the nose. 

Finishing

Using tail from cast on, stitch together body to the beginning of neck.

Ears:

with crochet hook, attach yarn on one side of the head with a single crochet, sc once more into head (I use the garter ridge bumps), ch 1, turn sc in first sc, cut thread pull through.

Repeat on other side of head for second ear.

Hair:

The tails from the ears can be used to make the fluffy hair, if desired. Or, tie on short pieces of yarn all over the top of the head, especially between the ears, and open up the plies to fluff.

Eyes and nose:

Using waste yarn, stitch eyes and nose if desired.

Let me know if make one.  I don't want to bother getting test knitters, but if the pattern is ok, I'll post it on Ravelry, too.

Peace,

f1bercat

shaping the planet with alpaca.

Lluna Shawlette test knit/post 1000, o and...

Happy New Year!

I am starting the year off with a new shawlette, Lluna by VanesaPolo.

 I knit this fun fast and beautiful shawlette as a test knit for my good friend VanesaPolo.  It was more of a knit than a test knit as the pattern is clear and well written, and very easy to follow.

It takes one skein of fingering weight yarn, about 420 yards. I used this skein of yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts that I dyed 2 summers ago at one of their Dye Days.  I used their red dye, then added just a bit of maroon to the center of the skein, and washed out the outer edges of the skein with water to try for a tonal effect.

It striped just a bit, but I really like the final effects of the colors.  The bit of striping on the border looks especially cool.

I started this while I was working on my Cables and Lace Advent Scarf 2015, but obviously, that had first priority.  Once I finished that project, I was free to knit only on this shawlette, and finished it in about 4 days.

The pattern calls for size 6 needles, but as I often knit loosely, I used size 5.  I was also a bit nervous that I would run out of yarn.  I actually can't remember which base I dyed, and if it was the BFL Fingering, that yarn has about 400 yds/ 100 g.  My skein had only 85 g for some reason.  I had 12 g left of my skein, so it was no problem, and I really love both the drape and the look of the knitting.

This shawlette was really easy to block.  I just put a pin at the end of each of the "teeth." I let the natural moon shape do the rest.  Both Beena and Muffin (who is more camera-shy) had to help.

As usual, blocking made a huge difference in the finished project.

I think Vanesa will release the pattern soon on Ravelry.

Post 1000
Really, it is amazing that I could consistently write this much of a blog.  I remember when I was writing for children.  My life was so crazy that I was always starting stories and abandoning them.  In order to actually finish anything, I started writing shorter and shorter pieces.  At one point, I wrote just haikus.

Hey! you there!  Crows! I
didn't ask you for a 5
a.m. wake up caw.

Anyway, Happy New Year!  Happy 1000th Post.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet in hand dyed yarn.