sunday

 

Hello:

This is both my favorite and my worst type of post.  Favorite because I get to show you who came to one of my stitching groups (Yarn Church this time, as we like to call our Sunday morning group).  Worst because I waited 3 days to post because I am feeling behind on all my projects, and JitteryKnitter is walking so much that I have to waste precious knitting/blogging time trying to keep up with her in our fitbit challenges, and so now this post will be rushed and I will barely remember who was working on what!

This first project is easy to place.  Isn't it spectacular?  VanesaPolo is working her Planned Pooling magic and creating Argyl.  She is using one skein of Malabrigo Yarn Silky Merino.  The colorway is 480 Bee.  Because she got the math right and is so consistent with her tension, she is able to get the colors to pool in this pattern.

JitteryKnitter is finished with the back of the vest she is knitting for Acorn Street Yarns.  Her vest, my Daybreak, a cowl knit by VanesaPolo and something... a shrug? knit by GwenS are store samples that will be featured in a fashion show the shop is putting on.

Do you recognize this cute baby hat?  The pattern is by our own MeshaMarie.  The knitting is by KelleyR.  Can you believe this is her first stranded colorwork project?  Kelley is also working on her first socks.  She is knitting them as tubes to take advantage of the dye pattern in the yarn, then will be putting in afterthought heels.

One more note about KelleyR.  She brought a baby sweater kit to share with us.  She bought the kit on a trip to Paris, but didn't realize that the instructions would be in FRENCH!  I totally understand as the kit was packaged in such a cute way, and the pattern is really darling.

Last but not least, Puzan was working on "just a hat" as she described it.

I was working on the sharf that I am designing.  This is a blend of a scarf and shawl.  It is knit in sections and I was finishing up section 2 during Yarn Church.  I love love love how it is coming out.  But the scarf is part of the reason I am so behind on all of my projects.  I realized Sunday evening when I had about 5 rows left in the section, that I had numbered my pattern rows incorrectly.  I had counted 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56...  Repeating those 4 row numbers made all of my calculations off for the short rows, and I had to rip the ENTIRE SECTION OUT.  Yes.  I. Ripped.  The. Entire. Section. Out.  This was 3 days of knitting.  I spent Sunday night carefully numbering the rows again, then redoing the math, then starting the section.  I am trying to work on this project on weekends only, reserving that time just for the scarf so I can focus.  Obviously, I need to focus a bit more.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet from Yarn Church

I can't believe how many people came to Wed Knitting

Hello:  I'm so tired, and my internet is acting up but I will try to get this post up tonight.  Can you find Venus in the above photo?  I was out walking before school, and just had to take a photo.

We had a huge group at the regular Wednesday night meet up at Crossroads in Bellevue, WA. When I got home, I started to write up this post, but for some reason, it was taking forever for the photos to download to the blog, and I had to give up and go to sleep.  Let's hope tat I remember who was knitting what!

Pamela2708 brought a lace shawl in a variegated yarn.

JitteryKnitter is almost finished with the back of the vest she is knitting as a shop sample for Acorn St. Yarn shop.

Puzan is close to finishing her hitchhiker.  I'm not sure that I really captured how pretty this is.  The yarn is pooling in a water color effect.

GwenS has put the sleeves on waste yarn for the first sweater for herself that she has ever knit.

Hvrdmnky brought an old (2 years, I think) WIP.  She is starting the second sock of this pair.

The beautiful Addie ate dinner with us, and had a cheerful, "Good-bye, Tutu!" when it was time to go.

BlueBerryMary is putting the flip-top on her left mit.

Dreamweaver19 has started a new cow.  She has some very interesting yarns.  The dark and white parts are all of the same skein.

Chockelet was working on a shawl pattern that she got during the North Sound LYS Tour last Spring.

Tara1682 is knitting a lace shawl.  The pattern is asymmetrical with dropped stitches.

 Laura (what's your rav name!!) brought a beautiful hat knit with lace weight yarn.  This is her first project that uses 4 double point needles.

 WireKnitter is test knitting this beautiful gray and pink shawl.

Wajio has started, just barely, a new shawl.

nightorchid brought her endless ribbed scarf.  So fun to have her little girl join us, too.

DomesticShorthair brought a lace project.  I'm pretty sure it's the Catskills Cardi by Sheila Toy Stromberg.

I brought the costumes I am making for my Math Department to wear for Halloween.  I don't have a photo for this post, but I promise to get one up either tomorrow or Saturday.  They are coming out really fun!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with lots and lots and lots of knitting buddies.

Crazypants Counterpane

Hello:

From Urbandictionary.com "Crazypants" means:

       Crazypants is a descriptive word that means weird or insane, not insane in the sense that it
       means cool as in crazy cool or thats totally insane! Crazypants means insane as in a mental
       illness.

and a "Counterpane," according to dictionary.com is:

       a quilt or coverlet for a bed; a bedspread.

So I have decided that the afghan I made for Doc for our wedding needs to be replaced.  It is wearing a bit thin after 33 years of marriage.  I have been looking at different patterns for a while now, and even thought of knitting instead of hooking.  But then I got this idea to hook together hexagons.  And not just any hexagons, like the hexagon afghan I am already working on

No, for this bedspread or counterpane, I am going to make hexagonal doilies using size 10 Crochet thread.  I have this old book of 99 little doilies by Leisure Arts Press, the author is Patricia Kristoffersen.  The only problem is that there are only 5 hexagons.

Now I am looking at the circles, and adapting them.

I am honestly not sure if I will complete this project.  Each hexagon is about 6" across (12 - 13 cm), so I will have to make a ton of them to cover a Queen Size bed.  maybe I will get bored/tired when I have finished only 10.

I hope I don't get bored.  If I do, though, since I am hooking them together as I go, I will at least have SOMETHING, even if that something is just a placemat.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet in the land of crazy.

If it's Wednesday, I must be Knitting

Hello:

At the regular Wednesday meet-up of the Eastside Stitchers, Chockelet brought her fabric that she is knitting to felt.

Wajio finished her Yellowstone River Scarf, and was adding fringe.  She also brought another baby hat.

GwenS brought the sweater that she is knitting for her OWL.

She is almost finished with the Raglan increases.

Pamela2708 brought her almost finished Wingspan.

BlueBerryMary is working on the fliptop for her cabled mitts.

Tara1682 is knitting a beautiful shawl that uses dropped stitches.

Hvrdmnky has made it to the sleeve part of her twin dresses.

Dreamweaver19 is on the very last color of her baby blanket.

DomesticShorthair was there, too, but somehow I forgot to get a photo of her project.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with yarn (too tired to come up with something else.)

Sunday Knitting

Hello:

Our Sunday knitting group continues to grow.  Of course, there are those weeks when only 2 or 3 of us can make it, but last Sunday we had quite a group (not pictured is VanesaPolo who was the photographer).  We took the photo because I had to show my sisters that I was having just as much fun on my Sunday morning as they were.  My sister in Wisconsin sent a photo of her and the  2 seater airplane that she flew in that morning.  My sister in Texas sent a photo from the farmers' market where she was buying ingredients for gazpacho.  My sister in California sent a photo from the cute coffee shop in the Orange Circle, Cafe Lucca, where she and her husband were drinking a cup.  I had to share my Sunday knitting group.  Ok, the sister in Wisconsin might be the winner, but as I get to knit with my buddies every Sunday, and she does NOT go flying every week, I am usually the winner.  Not that it's a competition.

More importantly, what were we all knitting?

JitteryKnitter is knitting a vest for a LYS store sample.

VanesaPolo is knitting a cowl for herself. 

GwenS brought the test knit shawl she had finished for show and tell. The pattern is Fall Classic by Cassie Munksgard, and her yarn is Plucky Knitter Primo Sport.

I did not get a photo of the project she was working on. It was a purple shawl.

KelleyR has just about finished the first of a pair of socks.

Well, she has almost finished the tube part.  She still needs to cut the yarn (yes! cut) for the after-thought-heel.

Puzan is knitting a hat.  It might be the Rutherford hat by Veronika Jobe.

 MeshaMarie was there.  She had taken a break from our Sunday group to get married and have a baby!  She brought some of her own designs to share.  This whale hat was one of my favorites.

Hvrdmnky brought the dresses she is knitting for her twins.

VanesaPolo!  what were you knitting?  I missed getting a photo.

Anyway, this Sunday group is such a wonderful way to start my week.  I go to early morning Mass, and am able to head to knitting right after.  Yarn Church!

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet with a yarny Sunday.

Back to School in Corderoy

Hello:

Corderoy
One of the great things about losing weight is that you get new clothes. Or, as in my case, since I'm a very cheap person, you get to wear old clothes that you haven't fit into for 15 years, again.  As my pants size drops, I am finally cleaning out my closet, and finding these pairs of pants that I wore way back when I was GAINING weight. I'm pretty sure they are now considered retro. I found a pair of velour bell bottoms (WHA????) that are too long, and I briefly thought about hemming them, until Moogie said, "No."  I am throwing away all my fat clothes, because I plan to never be that heavy again.  Anyway, I wore these dark gray cords to school on Wednesday.  Since the first 2 days of school are half schedule days (on Tuesday we had periods 1, 3, 5, &7, and Wednesday we had periods 2, 4, & 6) where we spend almost the whole day talking about rules, lockers, expectations, where the bathrooms are, etc.  There is not a whole lot of stuff for me to do, so I spend the periods pacing in the back of the classrooms.  Yep, pacing, walking back and forth.  I am getting my steps in.  If I can't help the teachers or the students, I will at least beat all my friends in our Fitbit challenge for the week.  I don't know if the students are just tired, or intimidated by the thought of Algebra, but they are mostly super quiet.  And, boy, cords, worn by a still overweight woman who is walking back and forth with her inner thighs rubbing together, are really loud.  No one ever said anything, but I was really self-conscious.

More About Weight Loss
Today, I was drinking one of my vegetable/fruit juice concoctions that I love instead of water in the classroom, and a student said, "Ms. Losi, did you just drink those juices all summer to lose weight? Because you look skinnier."  hahahahaha nice of him to notice.

Boredom
Did I mention that the first few days are really boring for me?  It's fun to see my old students, and I love the Math Team at my school, but until we are doing math, and I am helping the students, there is not much for me to do.  I really want to knit or crochet.  I mean REALLY.  I have been leaving my knitting in my car so I won't be tempted.  I usually knit during lunch, and on my breaks.  But I could totally knit simple things while standing/sitting in the back of the room waiting for the teacher to finish the (admittedly cool) pep talk/lecture on not giving up when math gets tough.  However, most of the projects I am working on right now are too complicated to do at school.

I have decided to make a new coverlet/bedspread for our Queen Sized bed.  I have gone off the deep end, because I am going to use crochet thread.  I am going to make hexagonal doilies and seam them together.  I am crazy.  Here is the first motif:

I am going to go back and take out those picots.  I actually made two of these, and hooked them together with the picots, but wow, it was a ridiculous amount of work.  I think I need to just use single crochets for the joining rounds.  I hope to make one or two each week, join as I go, use as many patterns as I can find or design, and repeat when I run out of new patterns.  We shall see how long I am interested in this project.  I might end up with a placemat.  A very lacy placemat.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet in corderoy.