Tag Archives: knitting

Hot! Lobster Claws … fresh out of the pot

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Hot, hot, hot weekend! We’re having June weather in May. It’s too hot to go outside and I dream of having a car with auto-start so I could get the A/C going before I have to leave. Are you figuring out that I dislike the heat? Even our back “sun room” is super hot … by the time I’m awake, it’s time to get out of there to my cooler Atelier!

My inside activities have been cleaning up and knitting … and knitting planning! I have several original patterns that I’ve written and have been “afraid” to put out for test knitting. Partly because I didn’t know how to do it … but I’ve found a Ravelry group that does test knitting and as soon as I knit my patterns one more time, off they’re going!

"Cooked Lobster" Mittens

First one to be leaving the fold is the “Cooked Lobster” mittens for children. This is one that I wrote after having bought a pattern that didn’t look like lobster claws at all! I love my pattern, though – complete with the knitted band … looks like it’s just out of the pot! And if it was just out of the pot, it would be steaming hot!

Gone knitting (in my cooler Atelier!)

 

New on the Needles

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I bought some yummy cotton yarn to make myself a Drops knitted tunic that I saw somewhere online when I was wandering. The pattern is a free Ravelry download. The yarn was on sale (serious sale! I think it was $3.99 a skein!) at WEBS. It’s Berroco’s Pure Pima (color #2243 “Barely Blue”). I love that Jimmy Bean’s sent me a bag and matched the dye lots of the extra few skeins. It’s a pretty sky blue color with a bit of a gray undertone and I really like it. The pattern is found here!


Classic and simple patterning … I loved the yellow but my mother always said that when I wore yellow I looked green. I don’t want to look green!

Will be winding a skein and doing a swatch … because I know that if I don’t swatch, I will make the sweater in the wrong size! I guess I had best measure my chest, too … just in case! (Note to self – gauge is not for wussies!)

Also trying a pair of baby socks by Cat Bordhi – you can find out all about Cat at her website CatBordhi dot com. All of a sudden, I have an interest in knitting baby things … could be that there’s a new little niece or nephew in the oven!? Anyway, it’s the Baby Life Rings socks and they’re cuter than cute. Found some Cascade Yarns Fixation (also at WEBS) in a couple of colors … color #9030 (“denim”, if my memory serves) and color #9936 (“pacific”in really great ocean colors.) It looks like they’ll stay on the baby feet with three rings around the ankles. Always an issue for new parents, keeping feet on those wiggle pigs … I aim to please!

Already on the needles, my son’s socks. I’ll report on the yarn … because it’s not making this knitter happy. I’ve never had a ball of sock yarn “fight” with me quite so much! Promised by his graduation in June … who can believe that my baby will be graduating from college? And the baby blanket – reversible cables in a white acrylic yarn (to make it easier to wash over and over!)

Finished – a pair of lobster mittens (cooked, of course!) and two pairs of slipper socks. Also finished is a dishcloth … ours are getting pretty yucky! Photos will come soon … maybe tomorrow!

Grateful for fingers that work.

Gone knitting!

Future Knitting

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I haven’t been doing a whole lot of knitting that I “want” to do … rather, it’s been knitting that I have been doing for others. Often for work. And I’m so grateful for the friends and family members and even some perfect strangers who have bought my work!

This summer, I want to do some holiday knitting and crafting. I also want to make a tea cosy or two … just because I really like them. I may even be able to design one for my shop! But I’m starting to think about what yarn I need (and what I could use that I already have) for these projects!

I love new projects!

Gone knitting.

GINORMOUS Purple Socks

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I’ve finished another project today. This one is for my Etsy shop. Have you visited my Etsy shop yet? If not, please do! I’d be delighted to give you a tour – and soon, I’ll be heading out on a little vacation and all of my items will be expiring and there will be nothing to buy until I come back!

Use coupon code “FREESHIP” and you’ll enjoy free shipping on some of the loveliest hand-knit items ever. I really love what’s in my shop!

But I digress …

Today I finished the second of a pair of soon-to-be-felted slipper socks. These are in a lovely lavender (how’s that for alliteration?) I think I am going to go buy a bit of roving and needle felt something on these slippers once they are felted and dry. I was watching my friend Cindi at knitting on Thursday and it looks like it’s a blast. So, we’ll see!

Happy Feet Slipper Socks by Queen Bee Knits

My goal is to get one more pair knitted up before I leave on vacation … a multicolored pair just like the ones I made for my friend Erika. I really loved the way hers came out – and, coincidentally, so did she!

The pattern, once tested, will be available on my website and Ravelry. How exciting is that!?

Gone knitting!

Happy Easter!

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Thanks to theRaineySister.com for this knitting peeps photo!

Happy Easter to all my readers and knitting Peeps! (LOL!)

I just read a blog about hot cross buns and I’m feeling like I want to bake some today – before our Easter feast. It’s been a lot of years but I made them for several years when my kids were younger and at home. Lately, I’ve been rekindling these traditions – does that mean that I’m coming back into my own? Recapturing that lost part of me? I think it does and it feels good.

Happy Easter, Happy Passover to my wonderful knitting peeps!

Gone knitting (after I bake!)!

 

 

 

Lost & Found

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I lost my 40″ circular needle wire (with some points on it) and was having difficulty knitting the booties that I wanted to start. wanting to make I’m not sure I’ve ever made booties before and wasn’t sure how the process went … consequently, my super long cord was essential to the project. I searched my entire Atelier to no avail. But yesterday after my Michael’s knitting demo, I searched for a third time and voila! I found the needle! An Easter miracle the day before Easter?

I got the first bootie cast on and finished now. It’s cute. I’ve used a pattern that I found on Ravelry but I’ve changed it up a bit – as a knitter has a tendency to do. So, one little bootie is finished. Three to go! (And I have to make a couple of pompoms for the matching hats, too.)

Haven’t moved much on the first of three (or more) baby blankets but those aren’t “due” until summer. And I have all the days of driving north … it’s almost time again!

It’s a beautiful day here in Florida. Great Easter egg-hunt weather and I’m sure kids all over are having a joyous day. I have such fond memories of the egg hunts at our house when the kids were little (and not so little) and one failed hunt when I decided to fill the kids’ baskets and hide the baskets. That never happened again (though the baskets were a success!)

Gone knitting!

I’ve lost it!

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I went looking for my 40″ circular needle “wire” yesterday. I need it so knit up a quick pair or two of baby booties with the magic loop method. I love that with the magic loop I don’t have oodles of pokey needles aimed at all times at my wrists!

Anyway, I can’t find it at all. I’ve searched my needle “organizers” (and they certainly must not work if one is lost!) and one of my two knitting bags. I know I had it when I was knitting all those bazillions of fingerless mitts around Christmas time … where it’s gone?

Gone … knitting when I find my needle! 🙂

Another Knitting Post? Reversible Cables Baby Blanket

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Just to shock the hell out of you, here’s another post on knitting.

Cables are really not a difficult stitch. They may look intimidating but they’re really not difficult. There are only two stitches in knitting: knit and purl. (And dropped or added which are not official stitches and they’re not welcome in my knitting.)

Reversible Cables Pacific Heights Organic Baby Blanket

This blanket is a pattern that I found on Ravelry. I liked it for its simplicity and its cables! I love cables (must be my Irish heritage!) Blankets for babies should be washable and dry able because they’re going to be washed and dried a lot – and they’re meant to be used! This one is white … inconsistent with the mess that babies make but totally in line with their innocence. I love white baby blankets.

The yarn that I chose for this is “cheap-o” yarn from JoAnn Fabrics – Sensations Rainbow Classic. Described as “a classic brushed yarn, it’s a big ball and it should be enough for the whole blanket. (I hope!) it’s really soft and a little bit fuzzy like a mohair yarn (but acrylic). It’s a bulkier weight than the pattern called for so I’ve changed the number of stitches that I cast on and we’ll see how it goes. I also decided to use a larger needle and pulled out my Denises … in a size U.S. 11.

The pattern is called Pacific Heights Organic Baby Blanket created by Patty Thomas. It’s a simple pattern with Garter stitch with a lovely bunch of cables in the center. They are reversible cables which means that you can turn the blanket over and the cables look good on both sides. Very clever! And I really love that when I forgot the pattern when I went  into work the other day, that the repeat is simple enough that I could remember it! Yay!

I’m knitting this blanket for my sister Annie to give to a friend who is having a baby this summer. She’s actually asked for three blankets. Yikes! I’d best get busy …

Gone knitting!

Knitting Certification – progress

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I am a knitter!

In order to teach at Michael’s, I have to become certified to teach knitting with the CYC (Craft Yarn Council). I have been working on getting the swatches knitted for the first five lessons and I’m nearly there. One swatch (lace) to go and then the ends need to be woven in and they all need to be blocked. I’ll attempt to get this project done and in the mail this week.

OMG, that means today and tomorrow!

The certification is somewhat simpler than the requirements that I’ve experienced in the Knitting Masters Program through the Knitting Guild Association … which I will get back to working on as soon as I get some orders for knitted garments finished and sent. Orders from friends and family are keeping this Queen Bee’s fingers busy!

I’m grateful that my knitting can help them to give a hand-made gift to special friends!

Gone knitting!

Call Me “Teacher”

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I haven’t written a lot about knitting in the last few posts. You must think I’m not knitting …

Well, I certainly am knitting but it’s been such an odd assortment of “oddities” that you may not believe it. I’ve finished a seed stitch bordered baby blanket and a newborn hat to match. I have finished a seed stitch dog jacket, as yet unnamed, to add to the Prima Dogma line by Queen Bee Knits. It turned out really cute, if I do say so myself! No pictures yet, sorry!

I’ve also been working on samples and demos at the Michaels store where I’ll be teaching knitting in April. I am not sure whether I misunderstood or if the store managers were unclear but, whatever, we’ll figure it out! I’ve got a calendar together for April and have sent out two emails to potential students who have been interested enough to give me their contact information. Signs will go up in the store next week when I get back from my trip to Chicago – in the yarn aisle. I’ll also have a few samples … I hope! I’ll be knitting them in Chicago with my own yarn. A couple of hats and a couple of fingerless mitts … and I’m hopeful that the classes will be attended!

I’ve knitted one uterus for the “government free v-jj” project headed by Annie Modesitt and another of her friends. I’m getting political? Who knew? But it’s fun to have an opinion and take the risk of sending a knitted female body part to a couple of Florida politicians. One as a thank you and one as a “hands off my uterus!”. 🙂

I’m also knitting swatches for my certification. I’d love to get them all finished and sent off by the end of the month. Not sure it will happen but it’s a goal to head toward.

All in all, life is good and I am feeling lighter and more hopeful. It’s nice to have a job to come home to after our summer vacation. Time to get some Queen Bee Knits patterns ready for test knitting (look out Ravelry! and Knit or Knot!) and to get some pieces knitted up for my shop.

Gone knitting … well, at least I’ll be dreaming about knitting!