Maybe a bigger note to self

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I guess that's why I don't listen to myself about blogging in the moment when things are fresh (meaning my memory) and my notes are clear!

So, here is last week in review.

Claudia (not surprisingly) finished the Plymouth Toddler Striped Jumper (pattern C163). It is adorable. She knit it in Tahki Cotton Classic. We worked on how to do a single crochet edging and she took to it with ease. :)
Michelle is working on the Suss Baby Doll (pattern 312) knit in Suss Mosaic. The bottom of the sweater is knit in two rectangles, seamed, and then the top is picked up from that. She's just about at that part, so stay tuned. It shouldn't take me more than a week or two to let you know.
She and Mary took my crocheted flowers class last week at Knitting Central
We had a lot of fun. Here are the flowers she completed.
Mary told us the Warmup America squares are "coming in like crazy". She started sewing them together, trying several different stitches. I showed her the mattress stitch. When you mention sewing to Mary, she shifts into a completely different persona. Sewing is a favorite of hers. Needless to say, she got the stitch immediately and was happily on her way. Two days later, she had this to show for her efforts:
Robin pointed out that her hands have been featured in many project pictures. There's a career path, the Carol Marryl (sp?) of knitting. I know I'm dating myself. For those of you that the name sounds familiar, think Price is right of years ago.

Robin was working on sewing the pieces of her baby sweater together. It was the day for the mattress stitch.
Robin was the "booty lady" today (notice spelling please). She finished these booties to match the hat in just two days!
When we reviewed the mattress stitch, Mary loved it and Robin hated it. Can't win them all.

Elizabeth brought a new sock in progress:
She brought out her "leilani" sweater from Berroco and was not a happy camper. The way the sweater is designed, one front is intentionally longer than the other. The style just did not suit when she sewed it together and tried it on. We all had to agree with her, and she stoically planned to rip out one side and make them even.

Robin was ready to change to dpn for her hat, she was catching up to Mary. The had is adorable. (pictured above with booties).

One pattern she was working on called for you to kf&b. She thought it was a knitting curse word. :)

Note to Self

Last week was crazy for me and I put off writing the posts for each stitch and chat. Mistake! It's not as easy or fun to write a week after the fact.

Everyone had been really busy and we worked on a few new techniques.

Claudia is making an adorable striped dress for a little girl in cotton classic. It's knit in the round so after 1 round of introducing the contrast color, I showed her how to keep the stripes even. After the first round with the new color and as your about to knit your next round, you take the stitch below the new color (it's the main color) and put it one the left hand needle next to the new color and knit them together.
Mary finished the loopy scarf knit in Twinkle. I took a picture of it, but it came out to dark and didn't do it justice. She's ready to line the meter-mitered square vest. Just waiting on the lining.

Robin finished the front of her baby sweater and I was able to show her how to do the 3-needle bind-off to join the shoulder seams instead of sewing them. It's a great technique and a real crowd pleaser.
The kids came with me because it was school break, so we had a field trip. Genna joined us and was working on an American Girl Poncho for her cousin's birthday. She had to borrow dpn's (otherwise known as toothpicks) from Mary. It came out really cute. I found the pattern at
Major Knitter's blog


Happily I finished this skirt for one of my nieces. I was delighted to be able to use yarn from my stash. The sparkly yarn (which I still love) was from a more sparkly period in my yarn obsessions. I just have to finish the top to go with it.

On Friday Mary and Elizabeth joined me. I marveled at their organization. They both used report covers for their patterns to keep them neat and organized.

I always have good intentions toward organizing. Unfortunately they fall short once I've bought all the lovely supplies (a throwback to buying school supplies for school). I'm sorely tempted to copy them. (Who am I kidding? It's on my errand list already!)

Elizabeth finished the backs of two of her sweaters. They went by in quick succession and I wasn't quick enough with my camera. She also finished another pair of socks. YES! We've recruited another sock knitter into the fold! Elizabeth is a loose knitter and is finding she has to work some sock yarn on 00! Mary was shocked that the numbers didn't stop at 0.
These are called Broadripple socks and the pattern is available on Knitty

Mary and I did some more with crocheted flowers. This Hibiscus flower came out great in the variegated cotton.

Errata, The Seamy Side of Knitting

My sister and I got to talking about errors in patterns today and we both admitted that the saying the word "errata" makes it sound like a dirty knitting word. It just doesn't sound right (who came up with that word anyway?). I always say "errors in patterns".

Anyway, she's stepping in as a guest blog poster today:

Errata – The Seamy Side of Knitting
(No, we don’t mean the Adult section of the video store).

We both cringe when we have to say the word out loud (thinking people with misinterpret what we mean, into something naughty). Once we get past the teenage embarrassment of the awkward name – this is an important tool for us all. I just finished knitting the Coachella pattern from Summer Knitty.com. When I was 3 rows from being finished, I thought hmmm I should look at this on Ravelry.

I found several examples of finished Coachella sweaters – many of them had error notations, (I know - say the word Errata). That hindsight thing, not so useful in knitting. I really wish I had checked for errors/comments before I got this far, it would have been very useful. Well, the Coachella is now finished and is a little too baggy – the main area that other knitters commented on was that the suggested extra knitting in the bust was not a good idea and would make it too baggy.

So, the lesson learned is that despite the inappropriate sound of Errata, I should really start looking at the knitting errors that others have found, so I can save myself some pain and ripping.

Who knows, maybe saying the word Errata, will add some spice to my married life? Then again, if I say the word in front of my husband, it may create a distraction that takes time away from knitting!

Robin, Mary and I met on Friday

Lenore popped in for a quick pattern intervention.

Mary is truly in the home stretch of her mitered squares vest.
Mary just kept pulling projects out of her magic bag! First her vest, then we review her crochet in advance of the two crochet classes she's taking with me at Knitting Central. She began another pair of socks too. Next up, sweaters for the men in her life and a much bigger magic bag!

Robin has been working steadily on a cardigan from an Ann Norling pattern for crew necks and cardigans in different sizes and gauges. Well, she was motoring right along and was ready to talk about the second front when we realized that instead of knitting the back and the left front, she had knit two backs! Thinking fast on our feet we realized that if she switched to making a crew neck she was right on track, no ripping involved, just keep knitting! Yeah! We were quite happy with ourselves.

As I'm writing this Sunday, I can share with you that I did in fact finish the "last minute bolero" two hours before she had to wear it. It was a great success!The following picture was approved for blogging. Phew!

Everyone had a couple of projects going today.

Michelle finished the first side of her multi-yarn beach cover-up. The colors just make you feel summery and happy.

She worked on the gauge for a baby doll tunic she's making for her step-daughter in Suss Mosaic yarn. The skirt is knit sideways and the then bodice is picked up from the side edge. We've been warned to carefully work that pick up.

Claudia brought in the sweater she's making in the Alpaca yarn she bought in Peru. It is absolutely so soft and lovely.

I had her do mock circular gauge for the Toddler Striped Jumper she's knitting in Tahki cotton classic. Although she loves the cotton classic, she was not a happy camper doing the mock circular gauge. The only other way to do a circular gauge would be to cast on more stitches and work up the gauge on a circular or dpn. I suppose going forward you could start your sleeve as a gauge if that worked or just start a sock, knit a few inches and take it out if you have to.

She learned how to join in the round and is going to work up to the color change to learn how to align the stripes and carry the yarn along the side.

Robin worked on her cotton baby hat for a while, it's coming out beautifully. Cilantro is a lovely cotton to work with. She also spent some time on the bulky baby sweater she's working on.
Robin and Claudia commiserated in their mutual dislike of knitting with mohair. What can I say, I like knitting with it and love the results.

Danielle, we missed you and after the holidays would love to come and visit you if you would be up for it (and us!).

I was working on a last minute bolero for my daughter to wear to a party. I don't know why I give myself 11th hour projects to work on. The saving grace is that I'm using stash yarn and its a yarn I've been struggling with getting out of my stash every year. Don't ask me why, it's a black cotton and every year I've been trying to figure out what to do with it. The down-side other then the very short deadline is that it's dk weight and is taking longer than it would if it were bulky.

It's a Boy!

I heard from Danielle's husband and she had a baby boy this weekend.

Mother and baby are doing fine.

The baby's name is Eric Joseph.

Welcome to the world, Eric Joseph!

Congratulations to Danielle, Avi, and Jason.

It's all about the pockets

I was able to wear my "on the go shawl" today for the first time. It was a relatively easy knit, the biggest challenge was remembering to stay in seed stitch. More often than not I ribbed my stitches and had to go back and fix them. Hopefully I got them all, and if I didn't, please don't point them out.

We decided collectively that the best thing about this shawl were the pockets. They provided just the right detail and are very useful.

Elizabeth came with a full bag of show and tell. Here's a picture of the infamous moving mudd button that put Elizabeth on a quest for just the right yarn and sweater.
The socks she made for her son gave rave reviews and subtle (or not so subtle) inquiries about placing orders. So Elizabeth is onto her 3rd pair of socks, this one for herself.

The pattern is called "Broadripple" and is available on Knitty
Here's her progress on a sweater from Berroco book #270, knit in Linen Jeans. I like how it feels knit up and the shaping is coming out great.

Mary is moving along with the Warmup America - Greenwich project of blanket squares (or as Robin refers to it, her "washcloth project". She's taken on a friend's blanket square.
She brought in the most recent Simply Knitting magazine and found a great sweater coat pattern called "Woven Warmth. It's knit in King Cole Homespun, which I'm guessing is a yarn available in England (where the magazine is published). I looked up the yarn and it's 80% acrylic, 20% wool, has 81 yards per skein, and is bulky - 3 sts/1".

Thanks for looking for the craft caddy from Michael's. I spent some time online looking for it and couldn't find anything on their website or anything like it at Target or similar stores. It's one hot item!

Oh! I have a super bulky patter for you to look at, remind me when I see you. I made it for Joe and it's our of super bulky yarn. I think it was Sirdar Denim Chunky. It was a cotton wool mix I think.

Robin brought in the baby hat she started. I guess we didn't spend enough time on the concept of knitting in the round. After leaving the group, she began to knit back and forth (the first row was connected). She got disconnected and then realized what she was doing and tried to go back in the round. She got a do-over.
We got to talking about Ravelry. Mary joined a group called the travelling scarf. It's made up of groups of 12 people. 12 scarves travel around and each person knits on the scarf with their own choice of yarn and stitch. It's a really cool idea. Mary, I think yours should be seed stitch. :)

Elizabeth told us that the Must Have Cardigan has become a knit-a-long. I think I want to look into that, although it may be as an observer. Click here's to find out what the yarn harlot has to say about it.

Here's a link to see that pattern. Scroll down till you see the Must Have Cardigan.

Danielle made it to the stitch and chat and we were all glad to see her. She looked great and was just about at her due date. She's almost finished her hospital knitting project. Thankfully we're on the notification list!

Mary aka Mary Poppins and her magic carpet bag

Sometimes I can't keep up with the banter between who's knitting what, what's happening on The View, politics, and random threads of conversation. It's like cross pollination the way the conversation zigs around the table.

Claudia put her blanket squares together and it looks great. She's going to bring it to the Nimble Thimble, a quilt shop in Port Chester, NY to see if they will put a fabric backing on it. It's a great idea and it will be good to know what shops are willing to do that.
She was working on her kid silk haze shawl (without much enthusiasm). When Shelly asked her how much more she had left, Claudia morosely showed her a nearly full skein. Needless to say she is not enjoying knitting with mohair.

Michelle shared her most recent Knitting Central Sock Club package. The yarn is gorgeous! It's called Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino sock yarn. I loved her color too.
She finished her lovely silk tunic. (The picture above is the back and the picture below is the front, although it could be worn .either way)I think if Robin chooses to make this, Michelle will be able to steer her clear of the pitfalls of implied information.
When Mary joined us she thought we'd been together for a while, we settled in so quickly. Upon noticing Michelle's sock yarn, she asked if it was that Cujo stuff. We were totally baffled until she said you know, the stuff on the back wall. The Koigu! That had us bursting out laughing.

I almost had to separate Mary and Michelle, they got totally tangled up in their yarns, it was like going fishing for tangled lines.

Mary had me hopping today with her magic bag. Man, she pulled out project after project. The first thing we looked at were different choices for the garter band on her meter-mitered vest. The yarn we all liked needed to be rolled. I offered to hold it for her and out came her ball winder!!! It still took three of us to wind the skein though. After a little jockeying into position, we settled into Michelle holding the skein, Mary winding the yarn, and I held the ball winder in place. It didn't quite fit the table. The fuzz was flying and Michelle got her upper body workout!

After the mitered vest, she pulled out squares for her "Warm Up America - Greenwich" project. Robin thought they were wash clothes (which they could very well have been).
Rather than submitting the squares to the national organization, her group is going to vote on who to give the finished blanket to. I look forward to hearing more details. This program is a great way to help people and you can use up small yardages of stash. Each square is 6 x 6 inches.

Next out of the magic bag was a combination snood (head band) and neck warmer. She's making it out cotton chenille by Crystal Palace. It's supposed to be knit in the round. They implied this rather than said it, so Mary knit it straight. After the ribbing she realized it should be knit in the round and kind of worked two kind of random connecting rows that didn't quite do the trick (A for effort though). Michelle wanted her to rip it out and start over, Mary would have none of that. I got her disconnected and connected in the round. She'll just sew the ribbing closed later.

It was funny because upon realizing that all she had to do was knit in the round for the remainder of the neck warmer, she said "that's it? I didn't know it was easy, did you know it was easy". I didn't when she bought it, and when I looked at the pattern as we worked on it, I noticed that it was marked "easy". Well Mary, there's your easy project that you can talk and knit with!

And yet another project came out of the magic bag. I love a woman who comes prepared! She wanted to learn how to make bobbles for a scarf in the new Twinkle book. We worked on the bobbles and here were her two first practice bobbles.
Well, you can imagine the comments this evoked. Robin looked over and said "What are you doing now?" Mary answered "you never know what I know. I'm making boobs!". Needless to say it went down hill from there. In the end, we decided it would've been a bust enlargement for barbie! If she does make this scarf, I'll never be able to think of it as anything other than the boob scarf!

Robin was working on her baby sweater for a while and then she wanted to start the baby hat to match the booties. To say she was not pleased when I asked her to a gauge (and a mock circular gauge at that). This was to be her first foray into knitting in the round and the mock circular gauge did not encourage her. She made it to maybe two inches and had just about had it. We went over how to do the long tail cast on with two skeins or yarn (or the inside strand and outside strand of one ball). I'm going to add this instruction to techniques soon.

Shelly came in ready to start a baby sweater and her gauge was off. That gauge word really is a tough thing. I asked her to make another swatch and afterwards, settled on what needle to use.

I don't enjoy doing gauge swatches either, the difference in size and fit makes it really important. The last thing any of us want is to have to reknit a whole garment or put it in the parking lot because the gauge was off and the garment comes out wrong. (I hear you all groaning at me - I'm getting on my soap box and expounding the virtues of gauge.)

When it was nearly time to leave, we all heard a buzzing noise (Mary's phone). Mary exclaimed "Wow, it's moving!". Mary you add a lot of joy and laughter our lives! It was a great closing note.

Oh, and Danielle, we talked about your absence and Mary figured you were at the hospital. We gave serious thought to going to the hospital, our knitting in hand and sitting around you for moral support and knitting through your labor. That would've been quite a sight! Who loves
you?!