And we're off...Knit a long update

Claudia and Robin have started their bags in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky and are zipping along.

Elizabeth is making a different bag in the book and will start once her Christmas projects are done (she has her yarn).

Mary is knitting her bag in Unikat and we're going to adjust the pattern so she can felt it. She swatched it and has started knitting with it.

Michelle found an interesing yarn and is ready to begin.

Danielle is getting the book from Michelle and will look for the yarn soon.

I want to check my stash and see if I have something and then I'll catch up with everyone.

Everyone that came today has been busy knitting away.

Elizabeth is onto the last two borders of the dog afghan. Crocheting the border and weaving in the last few ends will be all that is left. She's got a hideout planned if need be, to finish the blanket before Christmas. It's the day after Christmas and I am eager to know what happened!!!! Elizabeth, please post to this comment (or email me) so we know what happened!

In the meantime, the scarf she knit in the Tahki Torino Long Print for her exercise buddy, was a hit and she's almost done with the Zara scarf for her daughter.

Michelle found a really interesting yarn to knit a Karabella scarf pattern. She has two last minute unexpected gifts to make and is well under way to get them done.

Danielle knit a third of the way through the big blocks blanket she's knitting in Blue Sky Organic Cotton. The body of the blanket is knit in a "stone" color and she'll border it with a soft blue. Today she joined the roll brim hat in the round. The roll is the same soft blue and the rest of the hat will be the stone color. After this, she's going to make the same booties that Robin is making.

Robin finished the first bootie and it is so cute. We took a poll when she stopped by Knitting Central on whether the booties were too small. Among those taking the poll were two grandmothers and a Douala. The ruling was that it was just right!

Mary finished her second sock and has plans on knitting another. She began swatching the Unikat for the Daffodil bag.

We welcomed Katie into our group on Wednesday. She teaches Cello, Violin, and Viola. Every time I teach someone to knit, they come up with their own interpretation of how to hold the needle and how to remember the long-tail cast-on. For Katie, it was thinking of the "bow hold" when holding the needle for casting on. I love that! She took to knitting right away and had some pretty variegated yarn to knit a scarf with.

Having finished her first project, a cheerful yellow blanket, Claudia started the Daffodil bag right away in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky. She also plans on starting a simple baby sweater.
Robin's bootie began to take shape as a result of the short rows and it is adorable! She plans on making her Daffodil bag in Cashmerino Chunky as well.
Mary was onto the gusset of her second sock. She also began a silk scarf knit in Tilli Tomas yarns and pattern. We had to play around with the pattern in a plain yarn to get the feel of it. It's going to be beautifu.

She also finished her Ariel poncho, key word being poncho. :) She forgot it was a poncho, sewed it up halfway and wondered what was wrong with it. We pinned it around and it looks great!

Extreme Knitting, Seriously!

I received this article from the Wall Street Journal about a knitting contest based on the game "Assasins", Sock It to Me:Competitive KnittersGet Deadly Serious

Knit-a-long Update

The knit-a-long will begin Friday, December 28th and/or Friday, January 4th. Here are the bag details from an earlier post:

The bag we're going to knit is called "Daffodil". It measures 16 1/4" x 11 1/2".

If you're interested in joining the kal, click the book title to order the book from Amazon: 25 More Bags to Knit: Beautiful Bags in Stylish Colors . The link doesn't allow for searching inside the bag.

The pattern calls for a flat, cotton, ribbon that gets 3 stitches/1", and the pattern requires approximately 308 yards the needles used were 10.5 and 11 US needle size.

The bag was pictured with bamboo handles and we could order those.

Use (buy) whatever needles the yarn suggest or what would give you gauge... that refers to those who don't knit to gauge on the needles suggested. You know who you are :)

Several Yarn Options:
Crystal Palace Glam
Crystal Palace Deco Ribbon
Tahki Capri Print
Tahki Timo
Katia Venecia
Loopdloop Fern (I'm leaning toward this one, and it's available at Knitting Central)
View other options in this yarndex search

Felted Bags Are Done

The bag on the left is "pre-felting"

The bags were knit and felted weeks ago. That's the fun and easy part. I do not like sewing. So they sat in a corner. The kids asked every couple of days, "Is my bag ready yet?" Well, I finally forced myself to sit down and finish them. (Being snowed in will do that to you.) I finished them ss much to be able to give them to the kids as to cross them off my to do list. I have to train a kid to like finishing so that I have in-house finishing available.

The pre-felting /felted dimensions were:

18" wide/17"

18" High/15"

6" deep/5.5"

I love how different they are.

We've gone to the dogs

Elizabeth was the first to arrive and showed me the awesome progress on her dog afghan. The amount of work that she has put on this afghan is inspiring and impressive. When I looked at all the dogs sewn together, it made me stop and think about all the steps involved in making this blanket: the individual dogs ~ intarsia, weaving in ends, working out the borders, encountering a yarn shortage, emergency steeking (of sorts), and ultimately a border around the border. Wow just doesn't cover it. There were customers of Cosi coming up to her and complimenting her on the blanket.

When her husband was around (and she couldn't work on the blanket), she worked on two gift scarves. The red one is Tahki Zara and the second is Tahki Long Print. I love how the Tahki Long Print feels and looks. I may ask ninjaknitter to make me a matching scarf, hat, and mittens. :)

Danielle finished her Plymouth Italia Fingerpaints scarf in one week! She made an interesting point about beginners and starting out with a scarf. (She herself started out with a sweater, so she has a good point of reference.) When a beginner makes a scarf, they finish relatively quickly and are happy and motivated to move on to another project. Sometimes when a new knitter starts out with something larger, they don't get that same feeling and the project can move more slowly.

Personally, I have never felt that a new knitter needs to begin with a scarf. I've always felt that if a new knitter is really inspired by a project, that's the way to go. Maybe this is because I began with a sweater. Back in the day when I learned to knit, you jumped right into a sweater. I don't think I made a scarf until about 5 years ago.

Now Danielle is onto knitting an infant roll brim hat in Blue Sky Organic Cotton, in colors pale blue and stone. There's a blanket to follow in the same yarn and colors. This yarn is so soft, it's perfect for a baby.

Mary and Robin learned short rows today. Mary was working on turning the heel on her second sock (no sss ~ second sock syndrome for Mary) and Robin was working on the instep of baby booties.

Working short rows is a technique that enables a knitter to work curves or angles into otherwise flat knitting. This is done by working part of a row (designated by the pattern) and then turning the work like you've finished a row and working across that row to a point designated by the pattern. These two steps are repeated until the desired shape is achieved. So for Mary it is the curve of the heel and for Robin it is the shape of the bootie instep.

We talked about the KAL and Mary mentioned a yarn she liked from the Yarndex search I linked (in a recent post - see knitalong in the categories). Well, the name she called it came out a little jumbly. It took a moment and Elizabeth and I had to channel Mary and think in "Mary" ~ we realized she was referring to Tahki Capri Print. It's a really pretty variegated ribbon. I've been leaning toward using the Loop d' Loop Fern yarn and know this yarn is tempting.

Honey, I shrunk the knits!

I took a class at Knitting Central taught by one of my coworkers, Laura. The class was on knitting miniatures. I had so much fun knitting these little things. Laura is a fun teacher. The hat was my first effort and knitting fair isle. Laura said that it should be considerably more manageable when I try it on needles smaller than 0!

My daughter tried out knitting the mittens and really loved it. She's now attempting to knit the Christmas Stocking.

The miniatures make great ornaments, gift tags, and gifts.

Happily, Claudia rejoined us yesterday. She finished two ruffled edges to sew onto her blanket (her first project!). I just want to add that she completed these with emailed instructions while on vacation. Talk about taking to knitting quickly! For the third ruffle, I showed her how to pick up stitches and knit the ruffle right onto the blanket. Yellow is such a cheerful color and the blanket look very sweet. She's knitting this from the absolutely biggest ball of yarn I've ever seen. I think it's called "pound of love". Claudia, when you're done, you can either make something else from this skein, or come into Knitting Central and pick out a new project.

Michelle has got several projects in the works (as usual) and we checking in on several of them. She's making another Flap Happy Hat, we reviewed how to get your stripes to line up evenly and carrying the tails in to reduce the amount of weaving later on.

She's onto the second glove (of her second set of "Weekend Fingerless Gloves), this one is trimmed with black fur instead of brown.











I finished a herringbone collar for my hair dresser in her favorite colors :) .
I began a scarf that will be part of a set for or one of my kids.

Flap Happy Two

Ninjaknitter finished a hat for her Dad! Here's proud papa wearing his new hat.

Full House

The finished projects keep coming. What an amazing time we had, there was so much action going on between the finished projects and the new projects. The KAL is progressing, once everyone has the book and the yarn, we'll be ready to start. I looked at the Loop d'loop fern yarn, and it will take 4 skeins to make the bag. Although it's not shimmery, it has an interesting texture.

Robin finished the shawl she's been knitting in Venezia, the pattern is from the 25th anniversary issue of Vogue. It came out stunning and will make a great gift.

We were all in awe that our newest member finished her first scarf in a week. I think both Mary and Robin shouted out "OMG!" (Mary knew there was a certain karma in lending her a chibbi needle for weaving in ends!)

This wasn't just any scarf either, a 2x2 ribbed cashmere scarf for her husband's birthday. We are looking forward to hearing how it was received. Her kids told her she looked like a knitting wave. I like that! She's got orders lining up for more scarves and she plans on making a hat to match the scarf. What a way to jump into knitting. Danielle finished her poncho and it's just the right size. Inspired by the look of a ribbed scarf, she began to make one in Plymouth Italia Fingerpaints yarn. Next up is a baby blanket and booties in Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton.

We had a little refresher in casting on when Robin went to start a pair of baby booties. How quickly we forget. :) Mary helped her out and added another descriptive word for the long-tail cast on ... a tepee. I've heard and used sling shot, upside down A, and now I'll add this to the repertoire. It's interesting how everyone looks at the cast on differently.

Mary introduced us (some of us anyway) to a diaper cake as a new baby gift. I'd never heard of it. She brought it in to show us; what a creative gift!!! I have the contact information if anyone wants it.

Sara was starting the last ruffle on the pink ruffle blanket. Sara, please remember to email me a picture of it and the cable sweater!!! Does Michelle know you finished it?

Elizabeth was having an off knitting day. I think the stress of the pet blanket is getting to her.

He'll be impressed with whatever you have done and at whatever point in the finished you're at. Considering that Hanukkah ends tomorrow night, Joe is getting his gloves by Christmas? the end of the month? the end of the winter?

After my blocking scare with the dog, I enjoyed wearing my shawl immensely. I know this is an odd pose, this seams to be the pose everyone who makes the shawl takes for a picture. And no, Robin, I didn't do my hair, it is courtesy of my daughter. :) I think I'll need a video tutorial. And lastly, my ninja knitter strikes again. She finished a scarf for her friend in maybe 2-3 days tops. She's almost done with a hat for her Dad knit in Torino Bulky.

Blocking Tails

I finished the Ella shawl from Knitty last night and was really excited, the pattern is fun. I knit it in Belle Hand dyed 100% silk by the Kangaroo Dyer. At first I wanted the yarn just because it was purple and silk. I fell in love with the yarn this summer when I saw it at Webs in Northhampton, MA . My sister wanted me to put it back because I didn't have a project for it (I'm still educating her in the joys of a stash). In the end I bought enough to seriously make something. Anyway, I've been knitting steadily because I want to wear it this Holiday season.

This morning I went through the whole blocking business, pins, wires and all. (I do not like blocking). Here's where the blocking tails comes in. When I came home tonight, I found my 11 y.o. lab LYING ON THE SILK SHAWL AS IT LAY BLOCKING. OMG. I couldn't believe it. I grabbed him by his paws and tried to shimmy him off the shawl. In the end, one of my kids gently pushed him and I held his paws. One false move and those claws would've been the end of my shawl. Thankfully the shawl came out unscathed and oddly dry only in the part he was sleeping!

Finished Knits

There were several finished knits to show off on Wednesday.

Lynn finished her first scarf and was really proud and excited. Next up, a felted cat bed. I love sharing in the enthusiasm of finished projects and the fun of planning the next project.

Mary finished her first sock!!!! By George she's got it! It's fantastic, she quietly mastered the Kitchener stitch. Unbelievable! The kitchener stitch strikes fear in most, the first time they have to do it; Mary took it in stride with her usual sense of humor. (Renamed Kurchner stitch by Mary). Mary I think you've found your niche in socks and of course I love the purple contrast.
Next up for Mary, a Design Source afghan done in cotton (a great way to experiment with new stitches) and of course the s & c kal. (See previous post on kal for supply information). We'll plan the start date when every one's yarn is in. Let me know if you want to participate.

Michelle finished her first pair of fingerless gloves, from my pattern "Weekend Fingerless Gloves" The neutral colors look really classic.
She was also test knit a new pattern for me, "Flap Happy". The hat can be knit in 3 different yarn weights and 5 different sizes. Her grandson is adorable model!

Vicki made awesome progress on her husband's cashmere scarf. We talked about how to block it out to make the rib pattern stand out. At the rate she's knitting, she'll have it done in no time. A question came up that we want input on. What is the best way to store hand knits in a warm and humid climate? Silica?

Stitch and Chat's First Knitalong

As many of us are nearing the point of starting a new project, we've talked about making the same bag. Claudia introduced us to this book, and the bag she picked, the Daffodil bag.

I don't have a picture of the bag yet, however, it is a stylish medium sized purse that (depending on the yarn) could be a holiday purse or everyday purse. The bag is knit with a sparkly yarn in the book.

If you're interested in joining the kal, click the book title to order the book from Amazon: 25 More Bags to Knit: Beautiful Bags in Stylish Colors . The link doesn't allow for searching inside the bag.

The pattern calls for a flat, cotton, ribbon that gets 3 stitches/1", and the pattern requires approximately 308 yards. The bag was pictured with bamboo handles and we could order those.

Several Yarn Options:
Crystal Palace Glam
Crystal Palace Deco Ribbon
Tahki Capri Print
Tahki Timo
Katia Venecia
Loopdloop Fern (I'm leaning toward this one)
View other options in this yarndex search

I haven't set a date to start yet, I want to give everyone a chance to order the book, and find the yarn they'd like to use.
When you decide what you'd like to make it in, we can talk about where to get it.

Gift Knits

I caught up with Robin, Sara, and Elizabeth yesterday. We also had a new knitter join our midst, Vicki.

Robin is nearly done with the Vogue shawl she's making, and none too soon. She's definitely grown weary of it. The seed stitch scarf in Silk Garden is coming along nicely. Originally we were going to add a keyhole. However, when we thought it through, we realized that the keyhole would totally disrupt the variegation of the yarn and look funny. So, no keyhole - so much simpler that way. She's going to be done with both of these soon, good thing the knitalong (KAL) will start soon. That makes two hand-knitted gifts ready for the holidays.

Sara finished the second ruffle and we sewed the first corner together. It is so sweet looking. I'm sure her friend will love it. Vicki was interested in the pattern for a gift.

Elizabeth has been very busy with the doggie afghan (also growing weary of her project). She's onto the border, the difficulty now (other than the dreaded dog bones) is finding the time when her husband isn't around to work on it). Robin and I agreed that although we really admired the afghan and the work that went into it, we didn't think we had the same patience and persistence to make it. After the Great American Afghan that I'm working on, I think I'd like to make a sampler afghan in Manos yarn.
Here's a picture of the 3/4 sleeve cardigan Elizabeth has been working on. The fit is perfect and her idea of knitting a contrast color inside the cardigan fronts to keep it from rolling was inspired. It's working out really well. The only challenge is getting the right number stitches to pick up to keep the fronts stitches from riding up. Still, we all want this pattern, it's great. Elizabeth, can you leave a comment where the pattern is?
I met Vicki Thursday at Knitting Central . She's coming back to knitting and her first project is to be a cashmere scarf for her husband's birthday, NEXT SUNDAY. She remembered how to cast on, knit and purl almost immediately. After a quick gauge swatch, she was on her way. We figured out that she had to work a minimum of 9" a day to finish it on time. I was impressed by the strength of her intent to get it done. It reminded me of when Sara first came to Knit Together to learn to knit and chose as her first project a baby sweater for the baby she was pregnant with. She too was totally determined to make it and she did, before the baby was born.