Hairy Lace or Lacy Hair & 1st 06-07 Knitting Club

The beginning of Branching out from knitty.com. Everybody says it's an easy pattern and it is, in that the pattern repeat is only 10 rows, 5 of which are purling back. The difficulty lies in the fact that there is no place to put markers to take intermediate stitch counts as you go across. Missing Yarn Overs or other mistakes don't become apparent until you have the wrong number of stitches at the end of the row or the next odd number row. The moral is: count your stitches at the end of each row. The yarn is Ingenua by Katia. I'm surprised I got such a clear picture. It is actually verrry hairy and the gauge is chunky if not bulky.

Speaking of counting stitches after every row, I told my students that is a rule. We had our first knitting club meeting yesterday on Wednesday. I thought it went well. I didn't take attendance, but I think I had about 16 kids of the 23 or so who registered. I meant to bring great big needles and thick yarn to demo the knit stitch, but I forgot. I managed to use the Elmo machine to show how to make the stitch. I tried this last year & couldn't figure it out. I had many returning students who can already knit and not as many 3rd graders as before. Only one student had huge trouble even with my personal attention and Mrs. S's personal attention. Only a couple so far couldn't make themselves go on when they'd made a perceived or real mistake. Things were pretty calm and mostly kids stayed in their seats. I wonder why? I know it'll get more lively, but I've never seen it so calm before. Maybe it helped that I had the yarn & needles passed out and kids had to sit where there was yarn and were not allowed to move the yarn.

I didn't make everyone say the poem. Not everyone learns with mnemonics, even though they help me. (I find this very annoying. It's like the song says, "Why can't they be like we were, perfect in evaree way?)

In through the front door,
Around in the back,
Down through the middle,
And off jumps Jack.

I've thought to change the "down through the middle" line but I already passed out copies. Maybe next year. I really should have spent a little time finding better pictures to illustrate the knit stitch on that handout. Again, maybe next year. I had the fabric, but I didn't sew up enough non-flowered knitting bags. Nonetheless, I think we are off to a good start.

Yarn Pron Friday #2

Yep. I know it's Saturday.
This is handpainted merino sock yarn by ChaCha from the Knitty forum. You can just see the horse (mailer) it rode in on. It is called something like desert sunset. Sorry I can't remember the name, ChaCha. I was begifted of such goodness because I destashed some Rowan Cotton Tape on her. Check out how beautifully this is knitting up.

One more thing: I got this from ChaCha's blog.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop." What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

It's amazing. Milwaukee is in Wisconsin, on the Great Lake of Michigan, and is 90-120 minutes driving north of Chicago. However, people in my town don't say "pop;" we say "soda."

Have you seen

the cord that connects the camera to the computer? No? How about this Old Finished Object? This little mousie was part of a set of baby gear I made for my ex-coworker Jeanne's baby shower. It all started with the Petal Bib from One Skein. I actually had 2 skeins, so I added a hat, some booties, and then there was still some leftover. That became the mouse. It was the mouse that impressed people (non-knitters) at the shower. Yet it was the easiest, least mentally involved part of the whole ensemble. I've got to admit that it has a certain charm. The baby was a girl named Victoria Jeanne. I met her once and she, too, is charming. Here's the complete ensemble.


The Facts of the Matter
Pattern: Bib: Petal Bib from One Skein by Leigh Radford. Everything else: no patterns.
Yarn: Rowan Handknit Cotton. 2 skeins from a sale grabbag from Ruhama's
Needles: size 3 or 4
What I Learned: relearned knitted on i-cord for the bib ties.
Regrets: I might begin using elastic or elasticized yarn for bootie ties. It seems more comfortable.

Yarn Pron Friday

Merino dyed by Sue, the Reluctant Blogger, and I, spun by Sue. Generously given to me.

Sunday Fun

So many things to blog about, so little chance that Blogger will let me put in all the photos. Sue and I met in Germantown this morning and had breakfast together. Here's a hint as to where we ate. That is Sue's lovely and talented right hand and the dead soldier was actually maple syrup. The next picture just shows a few things I picked up on the way out the door. I was tempted by a purse made out of a hollowed-out pink poodle, but I managed

to resist. Although, it would make a great sock-in-progress bag. Hmmm...maybe it's not too late. It definitely would be better for my health. The coconut patties were delicious. A good call. The Squirrel Nut Zippers are an acquired taste. I think I've eaten almost enough of them to acquire the taste. They're just like those peanut butter taffies from Halloween that are wrapped in either orange or black waxed paper. The difference is that they don't have as much peanut flavor. They're nearly translucent. Behind them are 3 of those sticks of candy that are all most kids can afford at any vacation or museum stop. I got Cherry-Cola, Root Beer, and Horehound. Sue got some also.

Sue told me to post a pic of the pink Trekking socks I made even though they are an OFO or old finished object. Not that old, really. I think I finished them in September, or so. I thought this yarn would be very blendy like the ones for which Trekking is famous. But it's stripey as you can see. I don't know why I was attracted to this yarn. These are NOT my colors. On the girlie scale I am a 2 out of 10. These had 72 stitches. I can't remember if I decreased for the foot, but I did knit the foot on smaller needles. I've been trying and trying to post a pic of some other pink socks I made myself with Cascade Fixation from my 2005 Holiday Secret Pal, Doaner827. I'm just not getting anywhere with Blogger.

Well, duh.

Turn the Kujaku bag inside out. Well, duh. My brilliance is only surpassed by my dimness. This is like the time I got a short hair cut and the stylist combed it straight forward. I looked like my little brother when he was a child. I walked around for almost a week like that. I was depressed. I got lots of sympathy. Then I combed it backward, et voila! my normal, nice, bouncy, wavy, & might I add, brown, hair was back.

Knitting with Wire and a Designer

I am now a test knitter. Yes folks, Bev, from Monday Night knitting asked me to test knit a wire and bead bracelet. She is selling kits for bracelets and necklaces. I liked the experience and I thought her pattern was very good. The one I made had gold colored wire and gold colored pearls--the bumpy kind. You can see in the picture. She has all kinds of colors of wire and many types and colors of beads, as well as different patterns.

This is the clasp:

I had a contact cement incident earlier that day. You can see some of the glue still on my hand.
Here's Bev. She's wearing a knitted wire and bead necklace of her own design and the hat you saw in a previous post. Too bad I didn't capture the groovy little antenna/tassle/stem thingie. Bev is a master of the funky hat.

Angora Sockettes

How do you like my new camera? Me, neither. Anyhow, these are the angora bed socks completed.

The Facts of the Matter:

Pattern: None. 2 at once, toe-up, 60 stitches, afterthought heel

Yarn: "Italian Angora" from the 7-dollar yarn man at Stitches Midwest (2006)

Needles: 47" Addi number 1 US--the large number 1

Pluses: Color. I'd call it red hot red. It's love. Too bad you can't see it. Softness: Oh-My-GOD! Mileage: According to the label, this was only 15 grams and I had enough for atleast a couple more inches on both cuffs. The stitch pattern of little tiny purl v. knit triangles actually shows pretty well in real life. The camera does it almost no justice at all.

Minuses: Breaks very easily. Grabs onto itself. Almost no memory--notice the cuffs. And the number one minus . . . Pills like crazy! That didn't photograph either, but basically I've only worn them once and they're a mess. I don't expect them to last much longer. I may felt them for a small person when I retire them. Or I could maybe felt them into wrist warmers for me.

Regrets: None, really. This has been an exercise in luxury. What to do with the rest? And the black skein?

Kujaku Bag

This is a felted bag I made from Noro's Kujaku yarn. It's a lot like Kureyon except it's got a very fine polyester ply. Every 1 to 2 feet the wraps of this filament get very close together for an inch to 3 inches, making the yarn look like string there. This may be why I was able to get a deep discount on the price. I believe it's been discontinued.

The Facts of the Matter

Pattern: Bottom is a garter stitch rectangle whose edge stitches are picked up then knit upward in the round in stockinette. I got number-to-cast-on advice from my cyber fiber friend, Sue/Seiding,who's made a brace of booga bags. Click her name to see them on her blog.
Yarn: Noro Kujaku: 4-5 skeins (can't remember), 1 skein Lamb's Pride worsted in Plum (maybe) for the last inch, the handles and a large pocket to be added later possibly.
Needles: 16" circular, size 10.5 US
Details: The worms come from the tightly wrapped parts of the Kujaku. I tied them into loops and did not knit them because I figured that they'd make weak places and probably holes in the felted fabric. On the bottom I actually cut them, pulled off the tight filament, spit-spliced the yarn and kept

Piiiiisssssssst!

Blogger just ate a post on which I've been workin very hard. Harumph!