Thursday, June 30, 2005

Sampler Shawl and Knotty Lady

Did you know that casting on 401 stitches is a pain?? It's even crazier to be knitting all the time wondering if you are going to "get it right." But plod along I have gone today, until my yarn got tangled. Since Madli's shawl had an early demise and never really even made it through the first phase, I started at the other end of the skein (big mistake), until I hit an impasse of knots because one end got twisted with the other. ( I really should have taken a picture of the tangled mess, but it was quite embarrassing that I had allowed it to get to such a state.) Finally, I have untangled the mess and should have smooth sailing (caution to the wind - probably should never state that - that will jinx me for sure).

On another knitting knote(couldn't resist the alliteration), Marcia is who I am referring to when I call her the "knotty lady" - because in our shawl ministry, we make the shawls and some of the shawls have fringe on the end. The yarn I use frays a good bit, so at the end of each string, I knot it to keep it from fraying. She was the sucker saint that offered to knot the ends of the fringe. In all seriousness, I am grateful that she is doing it, and she gets to add her prayers to the prayer shawl!
Not only is tomorrow a new month, but it is a special day in our family. Angus, my oldest, will be 28 - pictures forthcoming on his birthday!!!

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Madli and more on butterflies



It just doesn't get much prettier than this - this swallowtail, under the management of my little friend, Davis, hatched out and found some begonias to light on while taking a rest before taking off into the world. Must have thought that Sooz was a flower too with the pretty pink shirt she had on. We are now in the search of more cats of the insect type to replenish the caterpillar nursery.

Madli - I admit defeat - Nupps or no nupps, it's not working - things are not in alignment - I have restarted too many times, and it is time to put it away until I can do it and do it right. It's a sad thing to admit defeat, but I have tried to make it behave and look right and behave, but as soon as I turn my back, I know the needles are up to no good. It's a conspiracy. For those of you curious about Madli - go here - she didn't let it get the best of her and it looks pretty darn good.
So I am going to open up Folk Shawls and get started on one of the shawls in there - until then, Madli, it's been real...

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

I had a domestic moment - and Madli's shawl




Yes, I know some of you that know me might be surprised - but I decided to be domestic for a short bit in the kitchen. My husband reigns supreme in there since he is a superb cook, and in addition, presentation is also a part of his perfectionism. In the kitchen, I will liken us to Felix and Oscar from the Odd Couple, and for the most part, it is best that I leave culinary creations to him.

However, he brought home a nice big block of extra sharp cheddar cheese for making pimento cheese for sandwiches. Well, I can usually make that without making too huge of a mess, and I usually do a pretty good job of it. Grate the cheese, add diced pimentos (gotta watch out for SLICED pimientos, who easily disguise themselves on the shelves and will hop into the cart if you don't watch it), light mayonnaise, some cayenne pepper (I know mom, I will have to make some for you without), and this time, just for my friend Sharon, I added a bit of garlic salt to it (if I had had powder, I would have done that, but I had to use the salted version).

I don't make this often, usually at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and occasionally during the rest of the year when I know there are folks around that will enjoy it, and since I believe that Jim's son, Jimmy, likes it, I made a healthy batch. I do believe he has hollow legs at 15. Nothing wrong with that boy's appetite.

Now, to Madli's shawl, but before I get there, I want to thank all who have emailed me and left comments on the Faroese style shawl. Makes the heart glad to be affirmed from folks near and far in the work that is being knitted. Only a fellow knitter truly knows the work that is devoted to each piece.
I typed a lengthy note about Madli, and the merino extra fine wool and size 5 needles and how things weren't going well. Explorer decided to freeze up and eat my posting, so you will be relieved of my ponderings as to why I didn't think things were going well. However, I am trying the yarn on size 7 needles and giving Madli another chance. It's not going particularly well right now, and Madli is winning the fight, so I will wait to post a picture when I rectify the error of my ways - to show it now would not be meaningful to anyone so I thought I would post something my friend Sooz is knitting and obviously is having much more success than I am with Madli. Sooz is younger and wiser than me in that she doesn't bite off more than she can chew knit. Here is her project in the works for her daughter:


On another note, age has taught me not to run on slick concrete in the rain to save a cookbook -- what's a rained on book compared to a bum knee (see several days below).

Monday, June 27, 2005

Faroese Shawl completed



Well, to be official, it is a Faroese style shawl, since that is what the name of it is on the pattern in Cast on Magazine Spring 2004 issue. I used the size 11 needles, finished with the required 161 stitches at the end, and even pulled out the crochet hook to do the single chain at the bottom (something is weird about crocheting and I can't put my finger on it - no pun intended).

I don't know whether to call this a shawl, a scarf, a sharf, or a scawl. On me it's like a big scarf - perhaps on a petite person, it would be a shawl. The biggest difference in how I made it was by not using Lionbrand Homespun and using a worsted weight yarn made by Plymouth Encore (75% acrylic and 25% wool). To me a shawl is something you can wrap your self in and keep warm and feel swaddled. This does not give me that feeling. It's like a throw over the shoulder that will accessorize an outfit.
Until further notice, I will call this a sharf. There really should be two of them here since I started all over again near the end of the scarf in a frenzy of not being able to find the error. My daughter Laura liked the sharf, but didn't like the color (her polite way of saying, don't give this to me). It will find a home to some deserving purple loving sharf wearer.
So, you decide, shawl, scarf, scawl, or sharf? My friend Susan came over to be the model for the new finished item. Here it is:



Susan was ever so kind to model this even in the sultry heat of South Georgia.

If I do this again, I think I am going to try using size 13 or 15 needles and go with Homespun which is bulkier, but that will be for another day...... off to work on Madli's shawl which has been on the back burner. We went to Sewpulatives in Thomasville for us both to get circular needles that were shorter in length - her needs was for a hat she was making and I need it for Madli's shawl. Plus I prefer bamboo needles anyway.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In other news, dear daughter Laura earned an A in organic chemistry this summer in the first session at Bainbridge College. NO small feat, - and we are very proud of her!

Sunday, June 26, 2005

A brief reprieve from the knitting scene



Do not get hasty with assumptions that I am taking a break from the knitting frenzy, but sometimes there are occasions which need mentioning which affirm that Cathy DOES have a life outside of her knitting. Case in point:

Friends gathered around the table to celebrate a feast of steak, baked potato, stolen fresh corn from the field, salad, and German Chocolate cake. Notice there are 5 of us and the females are outnumbered because KIT decided to go visit her sister Judy in Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks. Now we know she loves her sister dearly, but the real reason she went was because she wanted to escape the sweltering heat of south Georgia. Well, HA, wouldn't you know it, the afternoon temperature was 79 degrees with a cool breeze, no bugs, and a pool temperature of 86 degrees. Now, it doesn't get much better than that in this part of the world at this time of year. Now, being the Weather Channel watcher that I am, I did notice a heat wave up in the parts of Pennsylvania to indicate that Kit was NOT experiencing the same weather as we were. Now those of you that know us might wonder who was taking the picture - none other than Jim's son, Jimmy, who I might add took a great picture to include both the table and did not chop off any of our heads.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now some of you who have been reading this blog know that Davis has been supervising the caterpillars in his back yard. This is a cropped picture of him in his managerial mode - cropped because we don't want anyone to crack make any jokes about his future potential of being a plumber - so to save face for this child, I was kind enough to prevent him from anyone trying to blackmail him just because his britches didn't quite make it up to his waist. ANYWAY, Davis did an EXCELLENT job of making sure those caterpillars made it all the way to butterflydom - Davis, you have potential my friend!




Speaking of friends, my dear friend Beth officiated during morning prayer this morning since our rector is at University of the South doing graduate work. As expected, she did a wonderful job and without a hitch. (Beth is in the picture above with the aqua blue dress with flowers on it.)

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Emergencies, dishcloth and a frog on the blog


What does this knee have to do with knitting?(other than the alliteration of the two words) It looks like the typical bum knee, but Susan wanted to save her beloved Annual Southern Living Cookbooks during an unexpected rainstorm and her knee will probably cost more than replacing those books - we got a phone call around 9 pm with Susan needing to go to the emergency room to make sure nothing was broken, plus a tetanus shot was in order (see the $$$$ adding up??) Most importantly, she is fine, but a bit "stoved up" today, and I think the next time those books are out and the rain begins, she might just SAUNTER over to get her books instead of making a mad dash (that comes with age too Sooz). However, let's move on as to what that knee has to do with knitting a dishcloth. When we got the call, of course we were glad to be called to sit wh ile her MOST ADORABLE children were at their most ADORABLE time - asleep in the bed. So Jim and I sat and watched flicked a variety of programs ( I was NOT in control of the remote). I had grabbed a skein of yarn and needles - I needed to do something I did not need a pattern, but didn't need the large prayer shawl that is too big to lug around now. So off we went, and this is how long the emergency room visit lasted (see dishcloth below) - now we aren't going to say HOW long it took, but we are going to measure this visit in dishcloth time - this visit took exactly ONE dishcloth's worth of time. Unconventional measure of time, but much more fun!



Now, let's move on to Annie, Mom's dog. Annie works like clockwork - around 10pm each night, she gets antsy by the sliding glass door. If you look at the bottom of the picture, you will see a toad (though for the purposes of a blog, don't you think frog on the blog sound better?) - Annie's hunting instincts kick in and she becomes the hunter that terriers can be. She HAS to go outside to torment this poor creature (we have finally realized there are 3 in the family, but one stays in the same spot at the sliding glass door each evening awaiting the abuse)

This is no innocent dog
Below is the victim toad - who seems to be unamused with the barking and tormenting the dog seems to delight in, and for all the toad lovers out there, we have yet to find a toad that has not survived the evening.

Victim toad awaiting its nightly torment by a Yorkshire Terrier, who points to it in true hunter instinct, but does nothing but bark at the toad. Are there any toad rescues out there to take this toad out of its misery?
So, Friday nights in southwest Georgia is not all boring - dishcloths, emergency rooms, dogs and frogs toads.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Fruitful avoidance behavior

In a little over an hour's worth of my time, I cranked out this cotton washcloth. Now the knitlist has had some exchanges of email debating the worthiness of this humble knitting project and there are those that sit on both sides of the fence. Now this one is my first, and I must say it was refreshing to have a beginning to end project in a short period of time, using less than a skein of cotton yarn from Walmart. It's far from being perfect as the imperfections of my knitting show up oh so well under the scrutiny of the camera lens, but, it was an hour of time where I could wile away time, not thinking too much about what I was actually doing. It was a project I could take with me to a sit and sew or stitch and bitch as it is now called, and be able to carry on a conversation. In addition, as Trilla, who encouraged me to read Mindful Knitting, stated, it makes a lovely gift with a nice bar of soap - and such a simple lovely gift it will make. Thanks Trilla.
However, the truth of the matter is that I was avoiding the Faroese SHAWL, I unknitted all last night until I got to a place where I KNEW the shawl was ok. All counts were accounted for and I could forge ahead. I proceeded through two rows , and my nervous little soul told me......count to make sure things are even.... well, after two rows, they weren't, I put the shawl down and went to bed. The thing is I don't want to go back on this and fix it, I was diligent in making sure everything was just right and now this. It's a conspiracy.. so the washcloth was my way of taking control, to KNOW I can knit, I KNOW I can complete something with out taking out more than I am knitting in. Alas, it waits for me in the basket, but I am suspicious enough to recount, I bet the numbers are different today. Wonder if they are in my favor this time......

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

I stumble and tumble

I cannot dance, O Lord,
Unless You lead me.
If You wish me to leap joyfully,
Let me see You dance and sing
Then I will leap into Love
And from Love into Knowledge,
And from Knowledge into the Harvest,
That sweetest Fruit beyond human sense.
There I will stay with You, whirling.

Mechtild of Magdeburg(13th century)

Why do I start my blog with this? Well, today I have unknitted, and the whole day, I have hummed in my head "I stumble, and tumble, I stumble, and tumble, which comes from a selection that the group I sing with Voces Angelorum, sung this Spring, Dancing, by Scott Tucker, paraphrases Mechtild's poem, with the phrase "I stumble and tumble" in it.
And I have stumbled and tumbled with my Faroese Styled shawl and am trying to find the error of my ways. Somewhere, there is a mistake and I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet. I am getting close, but no cigar yet. It's a bit disconcerting, but if a blog serves any good purpose, it allows for some "sticktuitiveness" on a project and to see the project through - tomorrow I will continue to unknit (I guess knitting is like dancing with fingers and yarn and unwhirling getting back to Mechtild).
In the mail, I received two books that I ordered - Folk Shawls and Folk Bags - both I have glanced at prior to ordering. Each have shawls and bags from different parts of the world and I look forward to reading and trying some of them out.

In addition to the stumbling and tumbling with my unknitting, the chair/recliner I knit in has lost a rivet in the leg part which lifts up, which means it is nearing its demise. There is something about finding a chair that seems to work while knitting, reading, and snoozing, and have them serve all 3 well. So in the near future, a new one will be taking its place, and hopefully it will fit the above mentioned 3 activities well.

Let's hope the stumbling and tumbling will end tomorrow and I will go in a forward motion of dancing with the yarn.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Faroese shawl and Gilead

Well, blogger ate my post, so I am having to repost a lengthy musing on this Faroese style shawl. I believe my friend Naomi asked me what made it faroese - so doing the plundering I am inclined to do to acquire bits of knowledge here and there, I find that there is a group of Faroe Islands between Ireland and Iceland, and if you are Norwegian or from Denmark, you do not need a passport to travel there. Also in my surfing, I read somewhere that a TRUE faroese shawl can go through a wedding band - now that would be quite the lace shawl. However, I can assure you that this will NOT travel through a wedding band or bracelet. but it MIGHT go through a necklace.
Now details on this shawl. The pattern comes from Cast ON magazine 2004 and called for Lion Brand Homespun - I tried starting it several times and I could never really see the pattern. Now, I am no yarn snob yet, so I had no problem using Homespun, but it never looked right to me, so I changed out to Plymouth Encore in a nice medium purple. It's 75% acrylic and 25% wool and is knitting up quite nicely. The image you see is pretty true to the color. It's knitted from the top down and a 16 row repeat. I am using size 11 circulars and I am guessing I have another 32 or 48 rows to go. I believe I will use 2-3 skeins by the time I complete the shawl.
I find that I am most successful in not making as many mistakes if I go ahead and plan on completing 16 rows before stopping. If I stop midpoint, I am likely to forget where I am, and I lose the momentum.
Now, on the Madli shawl that I am working on - it's doing pretty nicely, but I have a spot that I can tell there is an error. It's not negotiable as to whether to leave it or not, it needs "fixin", the question is can it be done without ripping it out. TWT (Time will tell)


Our church's book club just finished Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year and is probably one of the most beautifully written books I have read. Now, I have not completed the book, because I keep on rereading sections of it as if for the first time. It's a book that I believe will withstand the test of time. Robinson captures the essence of God's grace and love and delivers to the readers an opportunity to explore life in a character that has lived life through its beauty and suffering, knowing God is present in his every day life. Robinson has given us a jewel of a book and each and every one of our book club members gave it the thumbs up. My guess is that it will be the pick of the year as the best one we have read.

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Father's Day Sale at the Yarn Shop


Exhibit 1 Posted by Hello
I attribute my venture over to the local yarn shop to Sharon - it all started with her. She brought me a shawl pattern that she thought I would be interested in - Madli's Shawl - from Interweave Magazine - Summer Issue 2004 - an example can be found on this page.

I knew, in the back of my mind, that there was some kind of sale going on, but couldn't remember the details. So Mom and I traipsed (spellcheck didn't like this word) over to Thomasville to check it out. It was "mystery" sale, which means you draw the discount out of the bag to see what kind of discount you get after your purchase is added up. Lo and behold, for once, I hit the jackpot and got the yarn for 50% off - now THAT is pretty exciting. I knew I should have shot for the silk skeins I saw..... anyway, I got some nice merino wool yarn for the shawl.
WEll, all the hard work searching for the perfect yarn for this shawl created an appetite and we moseyed over to Liam's, a nice local restaurant that serves urban cuisine. We split the chicken pasta dish and a fruit bowl that hit the spot.

Back to the shawl...Madli's shawl has some challenges with one that I think is a bit sadistic - it calls for a purl 7 together in several places, and I will keep you apprised of the progress. Right now, it is at cast on 101 stitches on size 5 needles. I chose not to worry about the gauge since it is a shawl. We will see if that matters down the road.
The second challenge is this is the first pattern I have knitted with that is by chart only. We will see if my brain can switch the gears to reading the hieroglyphic font without insanity taking place.
The third challenge is to find quiet time to focus on the knitting. This is not the type of project you take to a sit and sew unless you want to create pandemonium in your work while trying to carry on a conversation. Based on Murphy's law, once I begin this
  • the phone will ring
  • the dog will want out and will be scratching furiously at the door
  • someone in the house will ask a question and wonder why it will take 5 minutes for me to answer while I try to get to a stopping point to answer it, and to process it.

If anyone has completed or worked on Madli's shawl, I would love to hear your comments and recommendations - this one will stretch me to new frontiers into the knitosphere.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Blocked

Well, this is my first blocked project. I went to Walmart to get some stainless steel pins to block "Branching out" shawl - well, as I finish it is interesting that it is called that because it may look like it was branching out, but it was more like I was branching out - in using kid mohair which is fine to knit with but a PAIN to frog/tink/RIP OUT -- and I am glad to say there will be no more of that with this project. Below is a close up of the blocking - it was a little tricky and I was afraid the sides would look sort of scalloped (there must be a term when it is inverted, but back in the resources of my brain will not allow me to regurgitate the term). I placed the damp project on towels and turned my ceiling fan on high. didn't take to long to dry. I think using these pins will help me with keeping up with them while taking them out. I don't want my dear husband to find one in the middle of the night. Ounce of prevention......

I show this part of the shawl because at the end in the center, the scarf was really being pulled in so it gave the appearance of being "V" shaped - that was at the beginnning of my shawl and not sure what caused it. (If you are still reading this and know the answer, I would love feedback, so I don't repeat it) - Blocking helped it, but I was so very careful to cast on loosely and try not to be knit too tightly. Since i just took the pins all out, I will reserve the statement that it is "fixed" until time passes. This project ended up being shy of 5 feet, and took countless hours because of having to go back and fix mistakes. Took a little less than 2 skeins of kid mohair. As to its destiny, that is yet to be determined.
However, it is now finished......and I am off to other projects. Like a simple washcloth. (Oh yeah, I still have the baby blanket on needles that I took to the beach, but it is almost finished and I have another prayer shawl started, those are the ones that I do that I can go on automatic pilot on - sort of like Yarn Harlot does with her socks, but these are less portable.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Branching out scarf finished and caterpillars

Annie, my Mom's dog is guarding this scarf - now Annie is not any ordinary yorkie - she has just had a new haircut, but she doesn't like her hair up so you can't see her eyes in this picture, but this dog deliberately stood by the scarf just so she could get into the act. Plus she wants to be on the Internet so all can see how cute she is. Her favorite thing to do right now is to bark at the toad that lives right outside the sliding glass door. She will also come to a point like she is hunting it. She is always ready for ACTION. However, the purpose of the picture really is to show off the branching out scarf that I found as a free pattern from knitty.com . I used size 7 needles and used baby kid mohair with it. I learned alot using this yarn, first and foremost is that it is a lot easier to KNIT with mohair than it is to RIP or TINK it out -I think I did more of the latter than I did of the former. But all 4 1/2 feet of it is finished except for the blocking, which will be done tomorrow. Below is a fuzzy close up.


Branching out close up before blocking Posted by Hello



Lastly, Rachael and I went over to see the caterpillars that are eating all the fennel to prepare for their last stage before becoming butterflies. Davis is taking good care of the caterpillars and watching them eat to their hearts content. They stay in a caterpillar nursery most of the time except when we are taking pictures. These will be swallowtails when they come out of their chrysallis.

Today, my mom got connected to DSL so hopefully she can cruise the Internet at breakneck speed. All you folks that email her can now send her a picture and it won't take forever to download. Plus she can talk on the phone AND cruise the Internet. - just doesn't get better than that now, does it Mom?

Monday, June 13, 2005

A trip to the daylily farm

A trip to the daylily at peak is a feast for the eyes - breathtaking - however, oppressively hot. The hosts were gracious enough to offer us cool lemonade. Susan, her Mom (known as "Gigi" by her beautiful grandchildren), and I took off and visited the gardens with Davis, Mary Grantham and my daughter Rachael. They had a great time at the waterwheel below. It was a miracle they all ended up in the same picture at one time since they are in constant motion.





Out of the thousands of daylilies, I happened to find one that had a little frog in it. I believe the name of this daylily is Bubbling Edge, one of my favorite. He was quite content inside of the daylily.
It's amazing that this daylily farm, acres of beautiful flowers in Whigham, Georgia, is little known by the locals here. I came home without any daylilies today as I had already done the damage several weeks ago and made a pact with myself not to clean out the bank account on such beauties. However, a boatload of a few daylilies made it back with Susan's mom, so she will be doing some digging in the next couple of days.

I did a little knitting today on the branching out shawl - I stepped away for a few minutes from my work and some pesky animal took off with the mohair and took it around the room and had some fun. So I spent some time this afternoon undoing the damage. My goal is to be finished this week and post the end result.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Here is the prayer shawl I knitted - I used Lion Brand Homespun with a color of Windsor - I used size 13 needles casting on 63 stitches. I think I could have gotten by with 57. I randomly placed some novelty yarn that was marine blue and green and purple, but the name escapes me as to what I used, and I can't find the wrapper - I hope it shows up - I know it is 100% nylon and I got it at Walmart. It was a little pricey, but it really makes and sets off the shawl and is super soft. Below is a close up of the shawl. The Homespun in the Windsor didn't seem to have the same texture as some of the other Homespuns. Has anyone else experienced that where it felt different yet should be the same yarn? This shawl is over 5 feet so I think it will need to be for someone larger. No fringe at the end, just the novelty yarn.


Close up of shawl Posted by Hello

Now, I am making progress on the branching out shawl from knitty.com - it's been a test of perseverance and not for those that get easily frustrated. I have been mastering K3 together, and then was reading a pattern my dear friend Sharon found for me and it has a P7 together which I think is rather sadistic for someone to place into a pattern - that pattern is not on my next to do list, but it is pretty enough to have in my notebook of future items to knit.

Close up of shawl Posted by Hello

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Tropical Storm Arlene couldn't even keep the knitters and crocheters away.

Even the drenching rain we had from tropical storm Arlene could not keep the knitters and crocheters away from our shawl ministry meeting this morning - my head count was 11 folks - give or take one - and the shawls overfloweth with abundance. Folks have been producing shawls and it was an awesome experience to bless at least 8 today. One of the ones that was blessed goes to:

Nancy, who will be moving to Minnesota this month. Now we southerners know there is only one day of summer up there and the rest of the year is cold. And the day they call summer is what we could have any season of the year anyway. For the northerners reading this, we folks in south Georgia have been known to turn on the air conditioning at some point every month of the year - but I digress. Nancy has a shawl made from Lion Bran's Homespun - Corinthian. We hope it keeps her warm, as well as feeling loved with all the prayers that have gone into it. Perhaps she can find a shawl ministry where she is moving, or start one herself, she can knit at a lickety split speed and brought 2 beautiful prayer shawls. We wish her the very best at her new job at a law school doing what she says she does best - crunch numbers, but we also think she has many other talents too numerous to mention.


Here is the stack of shawls blessed - more were blessed but the creators kept them for them to be delivered to their recipient.


Holding the shawl is Naomi, recipient of the shawl.
This shawl was created by Phyllis and notice the cool ribbon embellishing the shawl. When worn, the ribbon will be on the back of the recipient, adding a fancy look to the shawl. Phyllis, artisan that she is, has decided that this will be her trademark or logo. She also had an orange one with yellow ribbon decorating the back. When Phyllis isn't crocheting or knitting, she is a master quilter.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Fuzzy Wuzzy


Posted by Hello You see before you the same purse both before and after it was felted. I have used the purple wool(top and bottom of the purse) and the dark green yarn before - the lime green and the orange is tapestry yarn that Naomi graciouisly let me use.
Do not let the size of the picture deceive you - the prefelted size of the purse was a little bit bigger than the size of a notebook - afterwards, I took the picture of the felted purse ON the notebook and had room on all sides. Felting it twice I could still see each individual stitch - the third time around it truly felted and shrunk considerably. And it looks like it needs a shave. The others I have felted have not been this.....hairy.

ON another note. the buttonhole portion of the purse. I am not sure what I am doing to make it curl up - would it have helped to reduce the number of cast on stitches?

I did not follow the instructions from where I got the pattern from - Mason Dixon Knitting - I went straight up instead of giving it a "pursier look"
So my questionz are:
  • Can you shave the felting so it is less fuzzy?
  • how do you get the buttonhole from curling at the top?

This really looks more like a child's purse now.

Suggestions appreciated.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Felting with tapestry yarn


Before and after felting Posted by Hello
I experimented with some tapestry wool by Elsa Williams - Naomi, a good friend of mine has a box she purchased at our church bazaar years ago with ALL kinds of beautiful colors. I asked if I could experiment with some and so I gave it a test run. I used size 10 needles - and I doubled the yarn. Next go round, I think I will use a bigger needle size so the felting gets a tighter look. Thank you Naomi for sharing your stash for me to play with - now I want to get serious about the felting.



Sunday, June 05, 2005

The BEACH and musings


Blanket in progress at Panama City Beach Posted by Hello This past weekend, four of us went to Panama City Beach to rest and relax. The weather was glorious, and defied the predictions of meteorologists all around. We had lots of sun, which meant this fair skinned lady spent a good portion of the day inside until the sun rays had respectfully kept down low. However, briefly the knitting made it outside so you could get a view of what I could see while I knitted. Yes, there are pipes between the blanket and the water - they are dredging to get sand - now this process is more complicated than I can wrap this brain around, so I will just assume it gets done.
I never got in the water - the gulf that is - the flag warnings indicated it wasn't such a good idea - and Saturday the water was full of jelly fish - so I opted for the pool. There were three of us knitters there, and I did see they brought their knitting, but if they brought it out to knit, I did not see it. (Closet knitters....) However, their skin indicates they DID go to the beach. Mine remains pretty fair. (See below - I am the one on the far right)

Friends! Posted by Hello
We had a great time - this was taken Saturday evening - by the intracoastal waterway in the big community of Ebro (right outside of Panama City Beach) Boondocks is appropriately named and is right under a bridge and a canopy of beautiful oaks. No see'ums joined us that evening so insect repellant was needed. Ever had fried pickles? We did! Not to mention GREAT fresh Florida seafood. Thank you, dear friends for a wonderful weekend.

Now, I must tell you something about the prayer baby blanket I had worked on. The more I worked on it, the more I realized I had miscalculated and created a baby bedspread blanket and by the time I had used all the skeins it was still wider than long - NOT GOOD. So, I did what I had to do and tinked tinked tinked - and THIS TIME I casted on 87 stitches for the 29 repeat pattern instead of 145. This should take caere of the disproportion and just goes to show that perseverance is the key, and never to assume what I THINK will work WILL work. It's working much more quickly now that the width is 60% of the previous blanket, and I think it will finally be manageable. (See that it did make it above to the beach and that is the NEW blanket and I have already completed one skein and working on the next. I should be through in 2 more skeins.


If you are still reading this, please let me know if you have done something like this before - where you have miscalculated BIG TIME so I can commiserate. Or you can still comment and say HELLO or comment!

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Let's take a moment

Yesterday wasn't an ordinary day - it was our 2nd Wedding anniversary! Jim puts up with me which should make him as close to sainthood as one can be while still alive. We did some of our favorite things yesterday
  • go to a bookstore - I got the book Knit Lit
  • went out to eat at Manna's in Tallahassee
  • went to an office supply store and purchased this:


I have been fighting with my patterns that I need to follow and I believe this is a solution to my problem. If you are looking for something like this it's called a Adjustable Book And Copyholder.

Of course we got home at a respectable hour, I knitted and proceeded to spill iced tea on one of my projects, which will remain anonymous to protect its innocence.

Today has been dreary and the rain has worn out its welcome after raining for several days in a row - the dogs are tired of it, and the people in this house are also. And, it needs to go away because tomorrow, I will be going with 3 friends to the beach - and who wants to go to the beach to look at rain?