Full House

There were six of us today and we got through a lot of different questions.

Mary brought in her gauge of the hat (she's knitting it in Blue Sky Organic Cotton). After much thought, she's going to pick up a #2 circular needle and cast on the stitches. We'll begin the hat next week. Knitting a gauge "in the round" was getting the best of her, so we're moving on. When asked about the Jane Elliott, "La Baguette" bag she is knitting, Mary replied that it was parked literally and figuratively in the parking lot. We got a good laugh at that. Having all the different yarns, pattern stitches, and bobbins was not as much fun as we thought in the beginning and will revisit it another time.

I think one of the projects we're going to embark on are knit bags, some felted, some knit.

Sara brought in the sleeve to her husband's cable sweater. She's well on her way to finishing the first sleeve and starting the second. When Sara is determined, things get done. This sweater is for Christmas, this year! The baby blanket she's working on is coming along. Another 5-7 inches and she'll be ready to add the ruffle.

Peggy joined us for the first day with several hibernating projects. She wanted to get back on track with them and get motivated. I think a couple of hours in the group's company accomplished that. She had several projects:

• An intarsia rug. She had stranded the yarn behind and wanted to know if it could be blocked smooth. Unfortunately, it couldn't and we all took a collective deep breath as she ripped it out. I taught her how to make a "yarn butterfly" to use instead of bobbins. It's like a knitting magic trick. I'll go into that at the end of the post.
• A lace project. She brought beautiful Lacey lamb lace weight yarn for the project. Before starting, I suggested she practice the pattern with waste yarn, to work out any confusion and learn any new stitches. That worked out really well and now she's ready to begin the project. I forgot to mention that she might want to enlarge the charts to make them easier to read, and use either a post-it note or a magnetic board to keep track of what row she is on.
• Stowaway bag. This required what I call forensic knitting. This project had been hibernating for a while and she couldn't figure out where she left off. Now she's back on track. This is such a cool pattern for making your own "spare bag" to keep with you. You knit the bag and create a pocket for it to store in. I have the pattern myself and will look it up to add a reference to it.

I think when it was all said and done, Peggy felt motivated and ready to get back to her knitting. The only question will be, which project to tackle first.

Robin is about to finish the fifth row of blocks of her baby blanket and get going on the last row. She is really ready to be done with this blanket and move on. I love how what started out as a challenging first project is now a no brainer and boring at that. Awesome!

Danielle came in for a little forensic knitting help as well. She got turned around on a cable scarf and switched her right/wrong sides. I unknit it back to the last cable cross on a right side and now she's back in business.

Elizabeth, having finished the short-sleeved cardigan, is ready to start her next project. The yarn is definitely a different weight than the pattern calls for. We played with different gauges and how to adjust the pattern to get the right fit and feel of the yarn.

The Artyarns sweater in Sheep Shop yarn is coming along. There definitely was a difference in dye lots, even though the yarn doesn't specify dye lots. Elizabeth came up with a good plan though. The two more similar skeins will be used for the front and the other skeins will be used for the back and lace trim.

And now for the yarn butterfly (bobbin).

1. Take the yarn and wrap it around the outside of your thumb.
2. Bring the yarn around your first two fingers and in between your second and third finger.
3. Now bring the yarn across the inside of your last two fingers.
4. Continue in a figure eight pattern bringing the yarn around the outside of the third and fourth fingers, cut through the middle and across the inside of the first two fingers. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 until you have as much yarn gathered as you think you'll need.
5. Cut the yarn from the ball and bring the tail through your middle fingers and around the center until secured.
6. Now you have a mini center-pull ball that will act as a bobbin for intarsia.

Random Conversation Notes:

• Check out the movie Cinema Paradiso
• Knitting as a means of keeping your mind sharp.
• Darien Tea Shop as a good place to sit and knit.
• The Enchanted Tea Shop in Norwalk, worth checking out.
• In search of a worsted weight variegated cotton for Mary to make an afghan.
• Cooking Dinners in Norwalk , a place to get fresh home cooked meals as an alternative to take out on rushed evenings.