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.

New Year's Eve Eve at Crossroads

Hello:
We had an absolutely beautiful day of sunshine and very cold (for us... meaning about 34 F or 1.1 C) temperatures.  I spent the day mostly just knitting.  The HPKCHC group on Ravelry has sorted for the Winter Term, but the first month of classes doesn't start until January 1, so I have 2 more days until the madness officially begins.  I am finishing the last of the sweaters for my nieces and nephew (it's the nephew sweater) who live in Tucson.  I'm on the sleeves, and am knitting them 2-at-a-time of course.  I have started decreasing them, so they are going faster and faster.  I will try to have everything finished except for the weaving in so I can turn in this sweater for Detention points on January 1 and earn the WIP the First Badge in Gryffindor.  If this makes no sense to you, just know that I am finishing the last of my Christmas Sweater gifts and hope to have it all done on January 1.

Moogie left for Nicaragua last night.  She is meeting up with 3 of her friends from NYU for a few weeks of vacation.  If she sends some good photos, I will try to do a bit of a post for her about her trip.  Himes and Pookie are still home, though Pookie will leave to go back for school on Saturday.  I love having my family around for the holidays.  But, when Wednesday comes around, I am soooo ready to get away from my family for a few hours of knitting with my friends at Crossroads.

There was a good crowd tonight of people who were also ready to have a break from their families.

Hrvdmnky brought her peacock hats.  I thought she was going to need me to help with the feathers, not because she doesn't know how to crochet, but  because she wasn't that excited about hooking 12 feathers, but she brought all of the finished feathers tonight.  They aren't sewn onto the hats yet, but you can get the idea of what they will look like.

Photo by Hrvdmnky

She was working on her Guernsey Wrap by Jarod Flood.

Pamela2708 is hard at work on the Level 2 Master Knitter Program of the Knitters Guild of America (KGOA).  She has to knit a vest for this level, and is making a child's vest with a cable detail.

WireKnitter brought a beautiful shawl.

BlueBerryMary was sewing the nose on a Racoon Hat.

Wajio is knitting the teeth border on her test knit for VanesaPolo's newest design, the Lluna Shawlette.

I just finished mine Lluna Shawlette today, and will show you the photos tomorrow.

Crunchynumbers has almost finished the first of her Cadence Socks by verybusymonkey.  She ran into a problem of an ipad with no charge, and the dependence on Knit Companion for this complicated and beautiful cable pattern.

DomesticShorthair has started a new "bed jacket."

Here is Anuwizard modelling an owl hat knit by ReadnitDream.  Anuwizard brought a brioche scarf she was knitting out of her own handspun.  She spun this yarn on a drop spindle, and dyed it herself.

ReadnitDream brought a new pair of socks that she is knitting.

VanesaPolo is finishing another Hitchhiker.

This encouraged Hrvdmnky to bring out 2 hitchhikers that she has been working on.  The first is finished, and is her Advent Hitchhiker which she knit from 24 different mini-skeins that she got for Advent.

The second is WIP and is made of one skein of yarn with 2 long stripes that repeat.

The last project for tonight is GwenS's little dress for her expected baby, Ceecee.  The pattern is Belle Isle by Heidi Atwood-Reeves.

I will be at Yarn Church on Sunday morning at the Panera's in Redmond as I will be ready for another break from my wonderful family.  Not sure I will post about it, but I will be there knitting.

I also wanted to say that this is my 999th blog post.  Whoever thought I would continue to blog for this long?  Not me, for sure.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with yarnie friends on the eve of New Year's Eve.

Half Way There and Back

Hello:
Muffin has taken over my Noni's afghan.

I have reached the half-way point of my double-knit There and Back Again Story Scarf by Frivolite Handicrafts.

I don't have a photo for some reason of the entire scarf so far, but I can show you the last two charts.

Chart 4 represents the house of Beorn, a man who could turn into a bear.

I must say that I really like this drawing.  It is really simple, but gets the idea of the bear across well.

The next part of the story that is shown in the scarf is Mirkwood, and the spiders.  If I remember correctly, the dwarves are captured by giant spiders, and are wrapped up in webs and suspended in trees.

The spider is a bit tough to see, but you can clearly see the dwarves hanging in the tree.  At the top of the next photo,

you can see the dead spider.  At least I think it is dead as it is upside down.

Just 10 more rows, which I should finish tomorrow, and I am onto the 7th of 11 charts.  For my NEWT (for HPKCHC)  I have to finish chart 6 by the end of February, so I am doing really  well.  I know if I can stick to my schedule of 10 rows every night, I will finish the scarf with 1 week to spare.  Since I am about 1 week ahead right now,  I have a bit of breathing room.  However, I am always afraid that I will fall behind, then something will happen that makes it hard for me to find time to knit on this.  This project is definitely NOT social knitting.  I can listen to podcasts, or even have a movie on, (one that I don't need to look at), but because the yarn is so fine (laceweight), I have to wear my magnifying glasses.  Also, I need to have my chart enlarged as big as possible.  When I work on it too late at night, I get confused about which way I am reading the chart (left to right for the back side - or wrong side, and right to left for the front  - or right side).  Sometimes I even forget which color is the MC (main color) and which is the CC (contrast color).  I had better be laying down lots of new neurons with each row of this scarf!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet free from spiders in the Mirkwood

Next Generation

Hello!

So I have been watching a lot of Star Trek: Next Generation.  This show has great memories for me.  First, I remember watching it with my husband when we were first married and lived in St. Louis, Missouri while he was in Med. School.  Also, my brother is a huge Star Trek fan, and when I am down visiting him, we always watch some episode of one of the many off shoots.

Anyway, why am I talking about this show in my knit/crochet blog?  other than I have been watching it while knitting and crocheting....

Because there was an episode with... KNITWEAR!

So here is the show's set up:

The Enterprise comes upon a distress beacon that is using a code that hasn't been used in centuries.  They figure out it is from a ship called the Mariposa, by looking at its cargo manifest.  It's the only record they can find of the ship.  As the Captain (Piccard) reads down the manifest curiously, he notes that they had spinning wheels on board.  Data (the android and my favorite character) gets a funny look on his face (his "I'm checking what this is in my computer memory" look) then starts reciting what a "spinning wheel" is. 

"a device used for spinning yarn or thread... Perhaps they were planning for the worst, Sir."  They were a ship of Utopians, trying to live close to nature.  They have no power source on the planet, and seem to have been cut off for 300 years.  They have to get them off the planet and bring them on the ship to save them.

They beam the first group on board and they bring farm animals including chickens, pigs, and a sheep!

 
The women are wearing some interesting shawls,

My favorite piece of knitwear was the cabled crop top worn by the main female Irish character:

She also wears a beautiful top of what looks a bit like Irish Clones lace covered by a triangular shawl.

I could never quite get a screen shot of that shawl. 

There is also a couple of spinning wheels in the show. In the screen shot above, you can just see one of them.  I think the set dressers had no idea what to do with the wheels, because look at how they have the fiber draped on one of them in this screen shot:

And what the heck is Piccard doing?

It's always fun to spot interesting knitwear in a show I love.  It was especially fun for this show since they mostly wear polyester!

Live long and prosper!
f1bercat
shaping the universe with wool

Glad to be back with the Group

Hello:

Our modem is on the fritz, and so I am using a back up internet connection that is super slow.  This will be a quick post.

I made it to Crossroads tonight to meet up with the Eastside Stitchers after way too many days and nights away.  It was a small group, but so much fun to catch up with everyone.

BlueBerryMary is back from her trip to Haiti.  She has some photos and writes about her trip on her BLOG.  It was really fun to hear about the school that her church members is helping to build, and the other things she did and saw.  She brought a lace and bead scarf to knit tonight.  This is her first project with lace and beads, and she is doing a wonderful job.

Wajio is still trying to use up all of her baby yarn by knitting another pair of baby socks.

We talked about the upcoming sheep shearing event at our local Kelsey Creek Farm.  Last year I helped demonstrate spinning with the spinning guild (ok, I mostly hung out with the real spinners) during the Wild-And-Wooly event.  This will be happening Saturday, April 26, 2014 from 11:00 am - 4:00 pm.  I won't be able to attend this year as I will be in Arizona watching Himes dance.  But, if you are local, take the time to go to the park.  It is a really fun day, and the shearers are awesome.

Wireknitter is working on another shawl by Susan Ashcroft using some lovely gradient KnitWhits Freia Handpaints Freia Ombre Lace in Gray.  The shawl pattern is called YOLO.

And Tara1682 brought her lovely Juno Regina shawl by Miriam Felton.  She has reached the part on the pattern where she can begin the mirrored end lace pattern again, but, she doesn't think the shawl is long enough, so she is going to keep on knitting for a bit.

I brought the Round 2 socks for Sock Madness.  At first, since I am using black yarn, I thought I would have to bring something easier to knit on, but I have finished the linen stitch cuffs and am onto the stockinette legs sections.  Although black yarn is still tough to knit unless the lighting is bright, I was able to see well enough to knit straight stockinette with the group.

That's it for tonight.  My computer is having trouble uploading the last few photos, so I am crossing my fingers that they actually show up.

If not, I will try to edit the post and get them in.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with great knitting friends.

The Northwest LYS Tour Day 1

It's May, and that means YARN!

Today was the first day of the 4 day Northwest LYS Tour 2013.  My stitch buddies, Eastside Stitchers, and I will be hitting all 24, count them 24 shops on the tour in 4 days.

Today, alas, I did the first day of the tour all alone, and lonely (not really, I'll explain), because, the main group is doing the Thursday and Friday days after work, so our working members can participate, and I had a prior engagement tonight.

The Fiber Gallery
8212 Greenwood Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103
206-706-4197

I headed out to The Fiber Gallery first.  They were the farthest from my house, and I figured that I would start way out, and work my way back home.

This shop has parking behind it, just off N 83rd St. All of the shops today had very friendly and helpful people.  This was very evident at The Fiber Gallery.  They are known for carrying natural fibers, and eco-friendly yarns.

They also have the biggest supply of Hazel Knits in the area.  I was impressed by their wall of Malabrigo.  I loved all of the "sock" yarns they had in stock, though, most are what I would call fingering weight not sock, as they did not have nylon in them.

I can't post photos of any of the special patterns that are free to people on the crawl, but I loved every one of them today.  I really liked both the knit and crochet pattern at Fiber Gallery, and hope to make both.

I was not totally lonely, though I was here alone, because I had to text Skeinherder for some info on a pattern on Ravelry.  One of the yarns that was for sale here was a Cascade Eco.  I bought a skein to use in the SavvyGirls CAL (crochet a long), and I needed the yardage.  Thank goodness, Skeinherder was home and could look it up for me.  I don't have a smart phone, just a dumb one, so I needed help.  It's nice to have knit buddies.

Have you only seen Habu at fiber conventions and events?  They carry it at The Fiber Gallery.

The Tea Cozy Yarn Shop
5816 24th Ave NW Seattle, Wa 98107
206-783-3322

The Tea Cozy Yarn Shop is in  Seattle's Ballard neighborhood.

There is only street parking, and a warning for tomorrow evening, Friday, May 17, 4 - 8pm, there will be no parking on the street right in front of the shop.  May 17 is Norwegian Independence Day, so of course there will be a parade in Ballard.  It should be a really fun event, but, parking will be limited during the festivities on Friday.

The motto for this shop is "basics and beyond." 

They have some very nice "beyond." 
Lately, they are very into Euroflax and have a wonderful selection.

They also have embroidery threads.

They have begun to carry yarns from Abstract Fiber of Portland, OR.  And have a large selection.

Loved their yarn crawl featured patterns, and had to forcibly stop myself from buying yarn for it.  I'm sure I have suitable yarn at home.

Bad Woman Yarn
815 N 45th St, Suite 215, Seattle, WA 98103
206-547-5384

This shop is in the Wallingford Center, which has over 17 local and regional based retail boutiques.  There is plenty of parking for the center.

Bad Woman Yarn is down the hall to the left after you enter.  There was a table set up in the hall for people to sit and knit.

I

I arrived close to noon, and the Crawl was in full swing.  The shop was crowded.

This shop is packed.  Packed with very wonderful yarn, not just people!  They had the biggest selection of Madelinetosh I have seen yet.

They also had tons of Berroco.

Again, the "sock" section was interesting.  I wish yarn companies would not call fingering weight yarn "sock" yarn if it does not have at least 10% nylon content.  Call it "fingering" weight, for goodness sake.  That being said, Bad Woman Yarn had some beautiful fingering weight yarns.  And they were open about the types of fingering they featured.

I recommend timing your visit to Bad Woman yarn when you are hungry, as 2 of the restaurants in the Wallingford Center are offering discounts to people on the Crawl, and Trophy Cupcakes and Party

 is offering 10% off to anyone with an LYS passport.

Go on, you deserve a bit of cake by this time.

As I came out of Bad Woman, I found two of my knit buddies going in.  Chockelet and MsWiz were getting an early start (for our Eastside Stitchers) on the tour.  I knew they were out and about.  Still, we could have passed each other on the road.  We could have taken circular paths.  We could have never seen each other.  But we did.  It was so fun, and well, heart-warming, to see familiar faces.  We stopped to chat, exclaim about the yarn selections available at the participating shops, and admit our purchases.  I hope you run into familiar faces on your crawl.

Acorn Street Yarn
2818 NE 55th St, Seattle, WA 98105
206-525-1726

Acorn Street Yarn is tucked away in the U district.  I loved the "neighborhood-ness" of the street.  There is only street parking, and since it was a bit crowded with yarn shoppers, I parked down a block on a side street.

This is not a bit shop, but every inch is packed with yarn.  They pride themselves on having a really really good selection.  They have been in business for 30 years, and they know their yarn.

There are shelves and shelves full of yummy yarns.  I saw a lot of brands that I didn't know.  The owner was so friendly and helpful.  She kept running back and forth, as more and more entered the shop for the crawl, to answer my questions about her shop.

They had a really nice fingering selection, and a real sock yarn selection.  They had a huge selection of Cascade Heritage Sock.  This yarn is very often my go to yarn for knitting socks.

I will be back.

Serial Knitters
8427 122nd Ave NE, Kirkland, WA 98033
(425) 242-0086

This shop is my most local of the yarn shops.  They have a great general selection, and some special yarns.  While they try to carry a wide selection,

they focus on handpainted yarns.

They have a wide variety of price points.  They want to meet the needs of high spending and low spending knitters.  There are quite a few yarns that I have never seen,

The staff is very knowledgeable.  They have one special staff member, Annelie Wallborn, who designs and teaches at the store.

That's all for today.  I will be with the group tomorrow night hitting the shops.  I don't know if I will have energy to blog when I get home, but I'l try.

Good night for now.
Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with new yarn (but just one skein.)