Eastside Knitters Guild Meets Feb 27th, 2012

Good morning, everyone.

The Eastside Knitters Guild meets on the last Monday of every month at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue, WA in the Community Room across from the Hallmark's.

One thing I really like about this group is that they have speakers.  This is not a group that just gets together to knit, though knitting certainly happens at the meetings, just try to get us to put down our pointy sticks!  At the meeting last night, Joe Papineau came and gave a wonderful presentation on how to improve your "Project Photography" with a point and click camera.  The gist of his presentation was: use natural lighting, composition!, and cropping.  Good photos are made more with creativity and composition than with a great camera, and there is no substitute for natural light.  One nice trick was that if you are having trouble photographing white or black knitting, use a contrasting background like gray to help set it off.

But of course, the best thing about the Eastside Knitters Guild (next to the people, of course)  is the knitting.  Here is a quick look at the WIP's at the meeting, with apologies to people who came in later.  I know a few more people came in after I had stopped taking photos.

In alphabetical order:

Char  M. started a purple hat for Shaken Babies.

ChelanKnitter was working on the sleeves of a hoody cardigan in wonderful variegated greens.

Chevy2Lover made good progress on a scarf.

Although it looked at first as though Chiqeeey was just untangling yarn,

Chiqeeey was actually starting a stocking for Operation Holiday Stocking.  She has a goal of one stocking every day for this charity that sends holiday stockings to people serving in the armed forces.

Chockelet was there, working on her knitted chess set.  She had 2 bishops (with mouths!) and a knight on a horse.

Donna (ok, I will say Donna 1 since there are many Donna's in EKG) was making good progress on an Ava Beret.

Donna #2 was knitting a dropstitch scarf in the most interesting yarn.  She was using Berocco Seduce which has rayon and linen in it.  The photo does not capture the flecked color, and I am sorry for that.  It was really beautiful.

Janet was finishing the sewing and weaving in ends on a slew of hats for Operation School Bell.

Juan G. was casting on a new block for an afghan.

Kerseymere, (which means a "fine woolen cloth with a twill weave" - isn't that a great Ravelry name!) brought this beautiful scarf she had just finished.  The pattern is from the book One Skein Wonders by Judith Durant.

Lester was being a rogue crocheter.  She had brought a block for a block-a-month afghan she is making with the Eastside Crochet Guild.

The last piece I photographed is the beginning of a gorgeous Sebasco Vest in dark teal (yes I would call this color teal) knitted by Suzehil.  I hope you can see the texture of the stitch pattern in this photo because it is really pretty.






Other interesting news talked about at the guild meeting:

The Seattle to Portland Yarn Train sponsored by the Snohomish Knitters Guild, which was cancelled because of snow, has been rescheduled to May 19.

The Puget Sound LYS Yarn Shop Tour 2012 is May 16 - 19.

The EKG will celebrate World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 16 at Crossroads Mall from noon - 2.

The next Eastside Knitters Guild meeting will be Monday, March 26 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Crossroads.  I hope to see you all there.

Have a great day.

f1bercat
shaping the planet one guild meeting at a time

Eastside Stitchers Meet February 22, 2012

Good morning, Stitchers!

We had a growing group at Crossroads last night.  Who was there, and what were they stitching?

In Alphabetical Order we had

Allifer, working on the square of a new afghan:

Amigirl (Welcome!  so nice to meet you in the wild), knitting a pair of Cheshire socks.  Amigirl knows the designer, Susan Moskwa.  How cool is that? I have to admit that, while looking for the link to the socks, I lurked a bit on Amigirl's Ravelry page, and noticed that she has knit the same Baby Berry Hat that I made.  What excellent taste she has!

BrainLady had started a cabled baby sweater.  I took the photo just as she sat down.  By the time we left she had a ton finished!  Made me think I need to do before and after photos or just arrived and ready to go...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Chockelet was working on her knitted chess set.  She put the bishop together right before our eyes:

(do not mention that the bishop has no mouth)

 

Cleothyla was working on some Flip Your Lid Gloves.  She is a scary fast knitter.  She finished this glove, and the last bit on the Brambles hat she had brought last week, AND cast on the rib for another hat.  I'm sorry I didn't get photos of those, although the hat sat right next to me on the table.  Beautiful cable work, too.

This delicate piece of soft lace is a baby blanket that Colleen is knitting.  I don't think my little point and click camera really caught the pretty pink color very well.  It is delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jenknotsed8 has made some fun progress on her fishhat!  you can see the lips and some definite body striping.  I have got to make one of these.  

MsWiz brought the finished Sweet T she was working on last week as a show and tell.

 And the new lace scarf she was working on:

Fabulous projects, fabulous chat, fabulous fun.

There is room at the table for more.  Join us next week.  We start showing up 5 pm ish and leave when we need to, though most of us were kicked out by the mall management at about 8:45 last night.

Yours,
f1bercat
stitching together a better world one knitting group at a time

WIP Update

Good afternoon, everyone!

This is a bit of a catch up blog, just bringing you up to date on my WIP's before I head out for some fun stitching and chat with the Eastside Stitchers at Crossroads Mall.

WIP

Needles

I only have knitting in progress right now as I am waiting for next month's Block of the Month CAL to be released.

Hearts Abound Socks for my sister, Kathy

Hearts Abound Socks by Kerin Dimeler-Laurence 

I have finished the feet and heels of these self striping pink socks.  I am sure the yarn is too busy for the heart lace pattern, or the lace pattern is too busy for the self striping yarn.  However, when the socks are on, the pattern is more visible.  I did not like the heels in the pattern, so I substituted the heels I used in the Hungry Bees socks I made earlier this year.  These still don't look fabulous, I had some trouble controlling the stitch size on the ssk side of the decreases, but they are still neater than the ones used in the original pattern. 

Here are the finished feet:

Insteps

Soles

Here are the messy heels:

Not too bad

Ugh!  looks so sloppy

I just need to do 1 or 2 repeats of the lace pattern for the legs and the cool ruffled cuff, and they are finished!  I hope to have them off the needles by Feb 28th.  If I make that deadline, I will still be on target for at least 1 pair of socks every month since September.

Liz Marino's Gift Knit Club Gloves

Yippee!  The next project from the Liz Marino's Gift Knits Club from the Knitting With Karma blog has arrived.  It will be some slippers.

The first project is a pair of women's gloves.  Now remember, I have never come close to knitting gloves before, but I have finished the first one and am about 1/3 of the way through the second glove.

Isn't it beautiful???  Look, 4 fingers!  And it was actually pretty easy.

Lewk's Red Sweater

I'm about 1/2 way through the front of the never ending sweater project.  I like to bring this with me when I go places, because I soooooo have the patterns memorized, that I barely have to think about it now.  I brought it with me when I met up with my neighbor BFF's PR and BW for coffee yesterday.  I knit through our whole conversation about what amazing kids we have.

At some point, I will finish the body parts and have to start on the sleeves.  Someday... I plan on bringing this sweater tonight because the conversation can get lively, and I don't want to have to think too much.

Wrapped Like a Princess

I have started a new lace project with the Beginning Lace Knitters Group in Ravelry.  It is a rectangular wrap designed by Betsy Perry called the Princess Lace Wrap.  It calls for worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles.  I am using some gorgeous Cashmerino Aran by Debbie Bliss in a wine color and size 10 needles.  The finished dimensions on the pattern give only 12" in width.  I want a wider wrap, so I am hoping that the size 10 needles will take care of that.  I cast on today, and have finished 1 repeat of the pattern.  Super super simple chart, and it seemed to go quickly.  I am not secure enough though, to bring it to Eastside Stitchers tonight.  Maybe next week.  Anyway, here is what it looks like so far, and unblocked:

That's all for now, I need to pack up my knitting back and camera.  I hope to take photos of everyone's WIPs again tonight and post tomorrow who showed up for the fun.

See you tomorrow.

f1bercat

shaping the planet one lace wrap at a time

First Glove!

Hello there!

I'm writing a quick little post here, because I KNITTED A GLOVE.   Can you tell that I am so proud of myself?  And, here is the best part:  IT WAS EASY.

I know that I blogged that I have joined my first knitting club, the Liz Marino Gift Knits Club.  She is the designer behind, Knitting with Karma, which is also one of my favorite knitting blogs.  The first pattern in the club is for a pair of gloves.  I joined this club because I like Liz's designs and because she makes a lot of stuff I NEVER make.  I knew that it would push me to expand my knitting skills, but well, when the yarn and pattern came for the women's gloves, I was super nervous!  I have never even made mittens, before.

But the yarn is ooooooooo so soft, the directions seemed clear enough, and the photo of the completed glove was lovely.  So, I cast on.  It's not hard at all!  Ok, I had a bit of trouble with holes between the fingers, but when I wove in my yarn ends, I simply stitched through those areas, much like in a sock gusset, and they disappeared.  The glove is soft and beautiful.  I have already finished the cuff of glove #2.  When I finish both, I am starting another pair.  I can't wait to see what the next Gift Knit box brings.

See you all later,

f1bercat
saving the planet one glove at a time

Eastside Stitchers Meet February 15, 2012

A small, but fun, group met Wednesday, February 15th at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue.  We are meeting at about 5 pm ish (that's when I showed up) and we stayed almost until 9 pm because we were having so much fun. 

Cleothyla brought a new project, and a finished one to share:

Brambles Beret

Question Bag

MsWiz brought the top she was working on last week:

Sweet Tee

You can see that she has cast on the next piece of it.  She is knitting this in a beautiful Pima Cotton yarn that is so soft.

Colleen had finished the baby blanket she was working on last week and already dropped it off.  She made it for a group that donates baby items to newborns who are born addicted to drugs.  Colleen was working on a fun fur scarf:

Allifer, my daughter, came late, after work, and brought some granny squares she was crocheting, but I had already put my camera away and forgot to photograph MY OWN DAUGHTER!  what a bad Mom.

I had brought my Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket (all finished except for the buttons).  I sewed on the buttons this morning and am ready to mail the Eggplant set out to Appalachian Outreach.  You may remember that I knit this set for the Sharing Our Gifts  Group on Ravelry.

Here is the whole set:

One of the things I love about that group, is checking out all the things the other members make!  I found another darling baby hat, a Baby Pilot Hat from the Chocolate Fishies Blog.  I might make that for the next month's charity,  Rhode Island's Amos House. This is for the homeless, and as they need Everything, baby clothes are again appropriate.  I might make another EZ  BSJ.  Definitely some hats and socks, though.

It's once again cold in my corner of the Pacific Northwest, but fat squirrels and robins are busy in our backyard, much to my cats' enjoyment.  I plan to work on the heart socks for my sister, Kathy, and the Red Sweater for Lewk.  Stay warm, and have a creative day.

f1bercat
saving the planet one eggplant baby set at a time

Tutorial for Morning Glory 12 inch Square

Hello there! 

I would first like to give a shout out to my 2 new followers (I'm so excited to welcome you to my blog) Kara and Lady Penguin.

Tutorial for Morning Glory 12 inch square by Teresa Kohlhoff

The 2012 Crochet Block-a-Month CAL Group on Ravelry chose the Morning Glory Square by Teresa Kohlhoff for the main square for February.

The page for this pattern on Ravelry is Morning Glory Square

Teresa J. Kohlhoff's Patterns on Ravelry are here

Her design is from the same page as the Center Heart Square by Ginger Badger we also made this month,   Heartmade Blessings

This is a very beautiful square.  It is 3-D with some raised parts, using fpdc and bpdc (front post dc, and back post dc) that cause stitches to poke up or back in the square.  This gives a very beautiful effect.

Please check out the Heartmade Blessings site.

Thanks to Teresa Kohlhoff for her beautiful design, and making it free to all of us hookers.

 The directions are pretty clear (except for a problem I ran into on Round 5), so I am mostly just posting photos of each completed round, with a very few explanation photos.

Round 1: 

Round 2:

Sl st around any post as to bpdc   

(with the hook at the back, insert hook forward, around a dc post, and back behind.) 

Ch 4

fpdc (yo hook, then from the front, insert hook to the back around a dc post, and to the front

make a dc

bpdc (yo hook, then from the back insert hook to front, around a dc post and back) 

make dc

Round 2 finished

Round 3: finished

Round 4: 

 Ch1 sc in same st as joining, 2 dc in next fpdc

Round 4 finished

Round 5:  

 note:  ERROR!  the directions say:  sl st into a 1st sc of the 2 scs on a fpdc   

The stitches from round 4 on the fpdc are DC!  so, since there are 2 DC in each fpdc, you sl into the 1st dc of the 2 dcs on any fpdc you choose.

for this photo, I used the 2nd square I made because the photo was more focused

Remember:  V stitch:  in a single dc =  *dc ch1 dc *

Round 5 finished

Round 6 finished

Round 7 finished

For Rounds 8, 9, 10 and 11 take the time to double check with the designer's Note and count your V's and any single dc's in each side of the square.  It is so easy to make a V when you should just have a dc, or a dc where you are supposed to make a V.

Round 8:   

Remember:  V stitch = dc ch1 dc

Designer's Note:  1dc, 5 V sts, 1 dc between each corner group.

Round 8 finished

Round 9:   

Designer's Note (I'm adding this):  7 Vsts between each corner group

Round 9 finished

Round 10:  

Designer's Note: 1dc, 7 Vsts, 1 dc Between each corner group

My note: The single dc that is not part of a V 

is in the last of the corner dc's then again 

in the first of the corner dc's.

Round 10 finished

Round 11: 

Designer's Note:  9 V sts between corners.  

Round 12:  

Note:  Seems a bit under 12", so I am doing this row in dc instead of sc with 5 dc in each corner.

 

I am making 2 afghans.  One for my youngest son, Luke, and the other for my 2nd youngest, James.  I love how the fpdc and bpdc make a star effect in the centers of these squares.

Thank you again, Teresa Kohlhoff for such a fun design.

Hope you enjoy making it.  If anyone has corrections or comments please let me know here, or send me a message in Ravelry.

Good night for now!

f1bercat

saving the planet one afghan block at a time