Tag Archives: knitting

Fun and Games – Random Stripe Generator

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I found this wonderful knitting tool on a blog. (Does anyone else get lost following from one blog to another around the Internet?) Anyway, I digress …

I found this wonderful knitting tool on Caitlin’s blog (biscuitsandjam dot com) and it helps you create a random stripe pattern for your knits. If, for example you’re knitting a striped scarf, you can click on the colors of yarn you want to use and the number/numbers of rows in each stripe that you want to have in your scarf and the random generator shows you what your scarf will look like.

Better yet, if you don’t like the first pattern, refresh your screen and it will show you another and another and another until you love one. Scroll down and there’s your pattern! Marvelous!

Here’s the link to take you (magically) to biscuitsandjam dot com’s random stripe generator … have fun playing with stripes! And a big thank you to Caitlin (in Portland, OR) for the tool. And the fun blog!

Work and Risk and the Central Florida Fair

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Entered in the Central Florida Fair

So, I had an interview today with Michael’s … I’ve applied to teach knitting in their store in Sanford, FL. It’s very interesting to bring my knitted samples and listen to the feedback. Talk about confirmation! I’m excited about the opportunity to teach there.

Meanwhile, I’ve finished knitting a pair of felted slippers for my former colleague at the Health Improvement Collaborative (the best little non-profit in Cincinnati), Erika. She chose the yarn and I think she’s going to be very pleased. I’m eager to see how they look felted! I’m not sure I’d have chosen the yarn but I’m glad Erika did because I really like it! Goes to show you what happens when you try something new and different … something that you might not have tried.

I’m not really a risk taker. It’s (normally) frightening to try new things in life. That being said, it’s such a good way to stretch myself. I found the same satisfaction in my Ohio book club where it was sometimes challenging to even think about reading some of the book choices. But I liked most of the books.

SO, on that note, I’ve entered two pieces of my knitting in the Central Florida Fair. I’m a bit weirded out about it because I’ve never done anything like this before but I’m also energized by the idea. And, frankly, am thinking about what I can knit to submit next year, too! I hope to have the opportunity to join my knitting group for demonstrations so that I can also go and see (and photograph) the knitting entries … and see what’s there.

Off I go into my day. I’m hoping to take before and after photos of Erika’s slippers later today and will post them here!

Gone knitting!

 

Felted Bag with Annie Modesitt

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Bee-fore (LOL!)

This is the bag that I made in one of my knitting classes with Annie Modesitt a couple of weekends ago. I finally got around to felting it and getting it photographed. (Because we all know how busy the Queen Bee is these days?!) Anyway … you can see the stitches and the lovely orange diamond knit by Annie herself!

Orange diamond by Annie

And now, the final, finished, felted piece.

Finished and Felted

The stitch definition is all but gone! The natural wool (aka ivory yarn) was from California, straight from the farm and felted a bit differently than the other yarns, but that’s OK! I am very pleased with the way it turned out and would like to make the larger version. This one is too small to fold over and add handles to … not sure it’ll be particularly useful, but it sure it cute!

Gone knitting.

Knitting Reunion

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I am a knitter. I learn from other knitters … about knitting and life!

Last night my original Florida knitting group got together again. One of our members has moved out of town, had a baby, moved on. Not that the rest of us couldn’t got on without her, but the whole group kind of folded. Different priorities. Changing lives. Babies taking the place of sticks and string. As it should be.

But last night she was back in town for a conference and some of us gathered again for a time (a late time!) It was fun. And I didn’t knit a stitch. Didn’t even get my knitting bag into the living room. A glass of wine and the company of good women.

Knitting has brought me together with some remarkable people … Liang, Lindsay, Kelly, Kristen, the Jennifers, Cindi, Bob, Jeff, Karen, Beth, Bonnie, Annie, Pat, Betty, Pam … there are so many. Each teaching me something along the way.

Last night’s group was younger than me and they teach me to look back and appreciate my wisdom. I have lived well, was (am) a good mother, am bright, valuable and valued.

Life is good.

Gone knitting.

Annie-isms … The Rules

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So, having paid for the weekend with Annie Modesitt (reasonable though it was!) I thought I’d milk it for all it’s worth! Get it? … Milk it? … Cow? (Supposed to be a joke … my kids always told me I’m not funny but I know that I can be. LOL!)

Love!

There were several knitting tips and life tips that Annie imparted to our group along the way and I wanted to share some of them with you. Because you deserve it. And because I think so often that things that apply to knitting also apply to living.

Ponder this:

Annie’s Three Rules

#1 – I’ll tell you later (Yes, this is what she said … not kidding!)

#2 – During class, I (this is Annie speaking, not me … although the rule is so appropriate for a classroom setting, I may just steal the rule!) should be the only one talking.

#3 – Don’t rip out the knitting that you’ve done in class. It’s hard to do a post-mortem without a body in the room.

And her number one rule … are you ready for it? Drum roll, please …

Don’t say anything about yourself that you wouldn’t want your daughter to say about herself (that you wouldn’t want to hear your daughter say about herself).

Saying negative things about ourselves only brings us more of the same.

Conversely, saying positive things about ourselves only brings us more of the same.

Interestingly, I found this on one of my Facebook favorites this morning.

Acting As If (with credit to happiness in your life dot com)

It’s a relatively new favorite page, but a favorite all the same. Primarily because it’s all about being positive – and I believe that you have to act as if … we believe what we tell ourselves … and if we tell ourselves positive things, we’ll attract more positive to our lives and we’ll be happier. Sounds easy, right?

One of my college friends reminded me that this was similar to the way that Abileen (think the book/movie ‘The Help’) talked to the little girl that she cared for because she never heard it from her mother. So true! That little girl (or boy, let’s not discriminate) needs to hear our mother tell us we’re special. That first intimate relationship with another human being is so important for our emotional and personal development and it’s crucial to becoming who we really are. And because so many of us didn’t hear that from our mothers, we can heal that inner little child by telling ourselves things we need to know.

So, for today, I’m practicing telling myself positive things. Anything practiced can become a   habit – and I really believe that this will bring even more happiness into my life.

Gone knitting!

A Weekend with Annie Modesitt

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Knit or Knot Group

OMG! She is fabulous!

Day 1 – Friday

Classes on Friday were Embellishments and Heel! Learn Toe UP Socks with Mutt-Luks!

Embellishments Swatch

You can see we did several different embellishments. I, personally, love love love the little dreadlocks! Anyway, you’ll see that there are several rows of garter stitch (just to warm up our fingers!) and then the first embellishment was the “dreadlocks”. Next, bobbles. These are nice perky bobbles with no droop or hole underneath. I love the idea of using these as buttons. Next we did a few rows of cables … without a cable needle. A great technique because, Annie says, using the cable needles stretches the yarn and sometimes makes for a gap or hole in the fabric. This technique will not! Last, but certainly not least, we did a couple of different bind offs … a picot bind off (on the right) and an i-cord bind off (on the left). The picot bind off could be used as closure for a cardigan sweater, for example, with some lovely bobbles as buttons. The i-cord band could include i-cord loops or frogs. I’ll be playing with a few of these ideas. I’ve played with adding i-cord to a flat garment but never edging a garment with i-cord!

(PS) My swatch is sitting on one of the books that I bought at the classes which Annie has written, Confessions of a Knitting Heretic. The second book I bought was this one:

Cheaper than Therapy is a collection of stories that were gathered by Annie. Since I’m a one book at a time kind of girl, I’ve not really dug into either one yet. But I am looking forward to them both!

The second half of our technique classes on Friday was a toe-up sock with a different (and better) toe and a different heel … an after thought heel of sorts, made with short rows. We didn’t really make a sock but we started (duh!) with making the toe and then knitted several rounds of the “sock” before adding some scrap yarn to mark where the heel will go. I still need to go back and finish the “sock” and I’ll show you pictures at a later date … or I’ll add them to this posting.

Day 2- Entrelac Lace

Saturday we did entrelac. Lots of entrelac. Mind-boggling entrelac!

Entrelac Swatch

We started out with our work flat, working back and forth in entrelac. I really like the look of  the entrelac (especially in two colors). It’s such a harlequin look. With the idea that entrelac can also be worked in the round, we then joined our work and then made the squares bigger and worked the top ones in lace. It was fascinating to think about taking a somewhat complicated technique and making it more complicated but the lace skirt pattern that Annie used as her example is really lovely and I would love to make something similar!

Day 3- The Universal Mitered Bag/ Modular Knitting

Sunday we made a small Mitered Bag. Using three colors, we learned how to form the interlocking triangles in different sizes and how to construct a bag (to be felted) using the technique. I found this technique really easy to follow and really enjoyed it. Annie even knitted on my bag to show how to do some of the steps … thus, I have a bright orange and a couple of tiny gray “diamonds” (on the left) which she gave me permission to pull out – but who in their right mind would pull out Annie Modesitt’s knitting? I think it makes my bag all the more special!

My Mitered Bag

This is the bag before felting. Notice the really cool “edge” at the top where the purple and cream yarn are twisted.

Two Rounds of Twisted Edging - Looks like Herringbone!

I originally had gone around again (because this round was done by Annie. Yay!) but it was too wide and I went back, after making sure I could actually DO the technique, and tore it out and bound off. I do think I’ll buy some good wool for felting and make the next size bag because it was really lovely and a good size.

Annie also gave us some tips for felting (and told us about her online classes that she offers … I would encourage anyone wanting to learn more about our craft to check out her classes  … click here to be magically transported to her site! She’s a wonderful and thorough teacher and I learned a lot!)

So, add in a potluck lunch that lasted into the next day, some great knitting women in the Orlando Knit or Knot group – which, by the way, is the local Knitting Guild Association group – and a lot of laughs, and you get the general gist of the weekend.

I had a blast – and I’m still recovering from the mind-bending concentration. I took some notes and will share some of them with you “down the road”. But for now …

Gone knitting (maybe my heel)!

Second Iteration?

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So, you’ve seen the Malabrigo Rasta cowl that I knitted (in a simple seed stitch and in a lousy photograph) a few posts ago.

Poor color (not accurate) and not a great look!

Well, I decided to redesign it … which meant frogging it and then re-knitting.

I totally love the yarn and want to work with it but it’s just not working with me … or for me! I’ve knitted three really long 5-stitch I-cords and braided them together and this is what it looks like now!

(photo coming soon!)

I’m still not sure I’m in love with this and probably will frog it, too! I really want to use this yarn for something that I love love love … something that I will wear or carry or otherwise use on a regular basis! For now, it’s going to sit on the needles and we’ll see where it takes me!

Knitting is a lot like life – you never know where you’re going to end up. One day you may be very productive and other days, never get out of your own way. It’s learning to recognize each day for the value that it adds  and accepting every one as it is. Judge me not, I don’t get a ton accomplished every day but over the course of time, it all balances out and I’m proud of where I am today.

Gone knitting!

 

Challenge

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For Christmas I got some beautiful new yarn from my LYS – Knit in Longwood, Florida. It’s a relatively small shop but it’s warm and welcoming and they have some splendiferous (yes, my word!) fiber!

Anyway, it’s a super bulky yarn by Malabrigo called Rasta in the Archangel colorway. It’s lovely in it’s wide variety of colors from purple to yellow to orange and blue and green. Like all other Malabrigo yarns, though, it’s got a lovely, soft hand and it’s great to knit with! (None of the photos of the yarn look like the yarn that I have!)

Poor color (not accurate) and not a great look!

I have already used one hank to make a seed stitch cowl (it was a free pattern with the yarn). But when it was finished, I didn’t like the way it looked … especially when I put it on. So … I did what any other knitter would do and frogged the sucker! Un-wove (yes, another one of my words!) the ends and ripped it out, ready to start over again.

Tonight, I’m trying a new approach. Something that I thought about when I was braiding the  ties for an earflap hat. Something totally different and an “out of the box” approach to this beautiful yarn.

Once again my knitting relates to my life. I’ve started a new life after having lived a very different one. My marriage needed to be  frogged too (so to speak). It wasn’t working. Not in the fabric of my life. It didn’t make me happy. Today, I’m re-knitting the frogged yarn. Creating a new life that suits me better. Learning the feel of the yarn in my hand as it passes through my fingers with each stitch … just as I’m learning about myself and the fibers that are spun together to make up the person that I am today. It’s a work-in-progress. But it’s fitting better and I’m learning so much and I’m knitting a beautiful fabric that will be my life.

Each time I sign off from an entry on this blog, I say, “gone knitting” or something similar. It’s not said lightly because, for me, knitting is serious business. I’m knitting in the hope that I can make a living and I’m knitting to make a life. And today, life is good.

Gone knitting.

New Year, New Look

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I’m sporting new hair today after going to visit Stephanie to “fix” it, I decided to take of several inches of length (I’m never sure going in what I’ll do) and I feel lighter and ready to kick some New Year bootay! I’m ready now with a stylin’ new hairdo!

I’ve also given my website/blog a new look featuring some of my knitting in the banner and the wonderful beachy sea glass blue-green, martha stewart-esque color that is now the background. I love cables and featured the cable comes from my knitted coat. One of these days I’ll post a picture of it here with me wearing it but for today, here it is flat on the floor (thank God I’m not in it!)

I knitted this sweater over the course of a couple of years and love it (although I don’t have many opportunities to wear it in Central Florida!) The pattern is Jo Sharp‘s “Uptown” cabled coat from the Jo Sharp Village Hand Knitting Collection Book Number Six. (I’ve just visited the Jo Sharp Website and it must be out of print now!) Anyway, I bought the book and yarn at a LYS in Cincinnati that was going out of business and everything was 50% off! Yippee! So the Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra Yarn (all 31 balls of it!) was not as awfully expensive as it might have been. I love the coat’s mustardy color and, of course, the cables. BTW, I love knitting with Jo Sharp yarn and at the Website, the prices are not bad! Special discounts apply for purchasing 10 balls of yarn … and it’s quite a savings!

So, with that … I and my new hair are gone knitting!