Back on the Block

Another block has been completed. I think it's number 12 - might be number 13 - there was another completed that I do not count because it is horrendous - even more horrendous than the one I did that I do count. This one has no cuteness about it. I am artistically challenged. Wait, that's a lie - I don't have enough skill to be artistically challenged. I do not have that gene, germ, synapse whatever is is that people have that helps them become artists. I do not possess it and it clearly does not possess me.

I am a mature woman. I know not all talents are given to all people so this serves as only the means which God is telling me not to apply to the Art Institute or even fill out that match book cover with the advertising 'can you draw me?' when it doesn't matter, if you say 'no, i can't' and send it back, you'll get an acceptance letter. You would. I would get a note saying 'thank God, we would have felt bad taking your money.'

The block is call Bobble Lace because there are bobbles all over it outlining the lace pattern. I am surprised it took only a couple of hours - I would have had it finished by the end of Prince Caspian but I had to take out a few rows near the end and redo them but it was finished only a couple of minutes after.



It was too early to go to bed - a decision I regret as I fall asleep at my laptop - and I looked over a cap I crocheted the night before. I looked it over and decided I could design a slouch beret. Really, how long would it take me? I had an idea in my head and all I needed to do was to start crocheting.

I finally crawled into bed a little after 2 (my usual time but I was tired. Brain freeze. Thinking at that hour of the day is unadvised.) I was up and dressed by 9:30 this morning and came downstairs to finish it off and this is the result though you can't see all of it. The back has similar lace like at the brim with the double crochets in the middle. And it can be slouched or worn like a flapper. I even wrote down the pattern. Now all that is left is to get it tested on Ravelry to see if it makes sense and then I can type it up with the last one I did (the Glee hat) and start selling both of them.

Yeah, that's all. I don't know what gets into my head sometimes but it would be nice if common sense made an appearance. Just on odds it should happen a couple of times a year.

What if it happened already? Did I miss it? Nah, I would have blogged about it.

Whew!

I did a count of the blocks I've made for the afghan I am producing and I was a little astonished that the number is ten! Ten blocks have been made already. That means the afghan is nearly 1/3 done, right? I did say thirty blocks didn't I? Don't make me go back and look. I am having a somewhat lazy day.

We had some fun over the weekend - but let me not talk for the fabulous Melissa, the wonderful April, the charming Chantal, the lovely Laeh and the beautiful Pilvi. I had a great time hanging out with them on Sunday and as it turned out, we hung out all day with nary a man in sight.

We met up at my church to head out to the Morton Arboretum to participate in 'Lichen It' which is part of the Arboretum's Unframed Art display. We gathered (with a couple dozen other crocheters) in a room and created lichens (pronounced likens.)Lichens are fungi and algae that live closely together and help each other survive.(Per the website.) We made ours from crochet rope in purple, yellow and red and they will be sewn together and then artist Carol Hummel will dress a tree from trunk to branch tip with them. The installation will be in May and will stay up until November. That was a fun two hours and I have a pang of guilt which I am trying to rid myself of because we were supposed to stay there at knit together but we called an audible to go visit a new yarn shop. Now going off to a yarn shop is nothing new for us - we've done that before as an impulse - but Pilvi couldn't go because she lived very close to the arboretum so she hung out there to knit and I feel guilty that we left her.

But we did.

We traveled from Lisle to Chicago - not a bad trip but not a short one - to visit Windy Knitty - a very spacious, light filled shop. It was very comfortable and welcoming, the yarn was deemed reasonably priced and the fabulous Melissa said she found fiber there that she had not seen at other shops. It's a place we want to go back to and we are hoping to add it to our Sunday afternoon outings so that would be another area of the city where StitchCraft can rule!

From there, we headed back to my place so we could get the yarn I packaged up for the charming Chantal but forgot to put in the van and we went to eat - for some strange reason, none of us had sufficiently nourished ourselves that morning. At Elmwood we ate and looked at the books Melissa, April and I purchased. (Melissa got her via mail and April and I purchased ours at the shop!)

After that, we were ready to for bed - all before 7pm - we're rockers for sure!

To top it off, I received some good news from one of my buyers: the hat I made and sent three weeks ago finally arrived and she loves it!

Perfect ending.

Block Head

That bobble lace block on the needles was giving me fits last night. I was coming up short on stitches even though I was certain I had the stitch count right. It took me three tries before I figured out I was reading the pattern incorrectly and not doing one of the stitches in the bobble. Once I had that figured out (which didn't involved too much swearing, I swear!) it has been pretty smooth sailing. The project is coming along nicely. There's a block missing - it's on the blocking pad. It takes about 5 minutes to do the right side row of the block - the private side is purl across (except I am knitting the first and last stitches because I'm a rebel.) It's 16 rows and has to be repeated four times. I am two rows from finishing the second repeat so I should be able to get this done during the free time I have today.

I wanted to have six squares done before I start the put together phase - there's no real logic behind my logic it's just what I decided. I am going to frame each square in green then slip stitch them together. The final size should be about 60x72.

I am also looking for ideas on what to make with my Nuro Kureyon. I have maybe a dozen balls in two colors that would work together. I want to be able to do small projects because I want portions of the proceeds to go to an agency helping on the ground in Japan. I am thinking fingerless gloves. I've never used the fiber before but it looks beautiful in the skein which means it probably knits us beautifully as well. If anyone has any ideas on small projects that can be used, I'd love to hear them!

New Kid on the Block

The fabulous Melissa has had this book for some time and we have ooohed and aaahed over it. I have wanted it for some time but just couldn't bring myself to spend the $30 on it...then through the magic of technology, there was a coupon off one item at Borders and this beautiful book made its way into my home for the magical price of $17 and some change.

OK, this is a lesson in discipline and order for me. There are some really beautiful creations in this thick tome of 150 squares and most of the squares are stockinette with a little embellishment but they make those stockinette squares very textural and interesting.

Now, I know in the past that I have wanted to start something and go completely through it and it has sometimes happened and sometimes not - OK, more times not - but I really want to do an afghan with these squares. I've already knitted a couple of them and since they are basically stockinette, they come out the same size which is 11" square so I would really need just 30 to make an impressive sized afghan.

I already know there are three squares I won't be making: the seed stitch square (can't stand the repetition of the seed stitch. I could change it to a double seed stitch.) The garter stitch - it's too stretchy which is why I won't be making the rib stitch square.

But for the most part, I want to make these squares. I definitely want to make enough of them to make the afghan. I'm not putting pressure on myself, I just think this would be a great project and it would be nice to Julie/Julia the book.

Yes, I get bored. I get distracted. Something else calls my attention and I get forgetful. But I can do this. I can focus on it --- oh look at that bird outside.

I have some rewriting to do on my Glee pattern and it's on my list as well - not that it will take me away from knitting the blocks - laser beam focus, I tell ya. I wrote it up knowing the decrease section was a little snarky and sent it off to be tested and the tester came back and said the decrease section was snarky but was a real help in getting it straight. She made some suggestions to fix it so I am going to have to redo it in my language. She was very thorough and helped a lot.

We had a full Spring like day yesterday. Odd such a gorgeous day coming on the heels of the tsunami and earthquake in Japan. Nature is quite an amazing thing - beautiful and lethal at once. I add my prayers to all who have prayed for guidance, peace, comfort and the sprinkling of blessings and miracles.

It is Fini - shed!

There is nothing like a self argument to show yourself just how mature/immature you really are.
The Conflict:
The wedding afghan is finished. The wedding afghan is a present for my nephew and his fiancee who will be united in what I hope is wedded bliss next Saturday.

So far, nothing to argue about.

They should really be the one to 'open' the present. Therefore, I should not post a photo of the afghan here until after the wedding. Which means you guys would just have to wait until Saturday morning to see it.

But my niece to be and current nephew don't read my blog so they won't see it before they get to open it.

But still they should be the one to open it first.

They're registered at Target and some other place and everyone on the planet can pull up their Club Wed list and see what they want so it won't be such a big surprise cuz they know what they're getting, so why not post the photo here cuz they still get to open it in person and it always looks different in person than in the photo - and it always looks better in person.

But they should be the one to open it first.

Oh shut up.
No, You shut up.

Instant war.
What's the reason I want to post it now?
Cuz I want the instant gratification of seeing it on the blog and letting you see it!

Yea, that's mature.

It would be really nice if the photo was of Jeremy and Lily together with the afghan.

But then that depends on Jeremy and Lily taking a photo and getting it on line and getting it to me so I can get it on the blog. That's too many what if's for a couple that's getting married, going on a honeymoon then coming back straight to work. That's a lot to expect.

Gees, I wish I'd stop.

So, I do what I always do when I can't decide. It's one of the reason you marry - to have somebody to give you an opinion you can always ignore. Mr. Honey is sitting in his chair eating ice cream waiting for the Cubs (sigh) game to start and I ask him: should I post a photo of the afghan on the blog before they get it?

He shrugged. "Why not?"

Indeed.




030104

Back on the Block - Simple Stitch #4

So there I was cleaning out some of the emails in my in box. (There's over 700 unread and hardly any of it is spam) when I came across a Knitting Daily issue from February (yes, the oldest unread email is from February, but I am confident I will at least get to March before I'm through.)

Anyway, I was reading the issue that has the question was raised: What do you do to keep your knitting fresh and fun?
I'd be interested in hearing from you all what you do to keep it fresh. For me, freshness is key because I have an attention span as short as a....

what was I saying?

This afghan is helping me to keep it fun and fresh. I have one more square on the needles and it's a bobbin stitch and it's turning out to be great fun. My mind has been engaged and though I am feeling the time (it's almost a month in the making) there are tools that can be used on on other projects. That's always a great benefit with knitting: that stitch I learned for the afghan can be used in a hat.
Stitch 4 is a lattice weave and it's the first time I've completed the whole thing. I've tried it a few times and got myself lost in the pattern. (Tip, use a post it note to mark where you are my placing the edge of it underneath the line of the pattern you're working)

Just one more square to get off the needles and I can put this whole thing together. And if I do say so myself, it's looking pretty cute.

The question in the issue made me think I should come right over here and let you know what I do to keep the knitting mojo from up and leaving. So, come on and share. Let 's here from each other on what we do to keep our knitting funky, fresh and fun!

I've got to get back to cleaning out the mailbox...

Back on the Block - Simple Stitch #14

"I was in the hospital. I was in the ICU." Annie was talking to Mrs. Carson. "Rev. Bleecker came to see me."
"I told you he was fabulous. I don't know why you can't get along with him."
Annie shook her head. "He wasn't there to pray for me. He was there to tell me that I failed to get out the newsletter."
Mrs. Carson shook her head. "You know you're the only one who doesn't like him."
The Church on Peyton Place Corner

The afghan is moving along. One strip is already crocheted together and the next one has three of five blocks on it. There are two more blocks on the blocking board just waiting to be added to the pile. There are nine strips on the pile which would be about two more strips. This looks like it's the most complicated stitch in the bunch but it's the one that move along quite easily. I think I got it done in a matter of hours. That's because it's mostly k and p with some togs and yo's thrown in, but not very many. It's called the Tree Bud Stitch and it is the centerpiece of the afghan. There are only four strips so it can't be directly in the center, so it will be the third block on the strip. It's really quite lovely in person. It's a royal blue and very soft.

It's ten days to the wedding. The countdown is on. How many days (or even hours) will I have to spare?

Back on the Block - Simple Stitch #3

This is called Hunter Stitch. Don't ask me why cuz it looks like embossed ribbing to me. I wonder if there are any new stitches in the world or just old stitches with different names. In any case, this is the 3rd stitch out of 60 in Sampler Afghans.

Wow, you know what? It looks pretty in the picture. It looks pretty in three dimensions, too, but what you don't see is how soft this whole thing is. While watching 'Pride and Prejudice' last night with Keira what's her name and Matthew Macfayden. (Yes, I know it's Knightley) I decided to start putting strips together. It's less than two weeks before the wedding and I need to get moving on it. I crocheted them together with wrong side facing so to add a nice trim all around and then April in my knitting group gave me the idea of going around the entire afghan with a couple of different color strands. I'm going to take her up on that advice. But the steaming of the squares makes the whole afghan so soft. It's nice to touch. I hope they like it. Or at least put it out when I come for a visit.

I have about six squares to go and half of those may end up being stockinette. I've already done one and was about to start another when I saw a simple square in the book and decided on that. If I work at it, perhaps I can knock that one out today. Off to work!

Back on the Block - Simple Stitch #1

I said when the light comes the first block would come and here it is. I bought this book at Joann and I don't regret it. There are some stitches that I've done that I am proud of. A quick review of this book is that it has a variety of stitches some with just knits and purls, some with cables and lace and some with great texture. You will need to have a fair amount of confidence in order to get through all of them - gees, I think I just set myself up.



They say that every knitter's project has a flaw. I don't know who 'they' are, but I think they are the wisest group of theys I've ever not met.
This is the 3rd time I've made this pattern and though it comes out nearly as it should, it never quite gets to as it should. Something always goes a little off.

I ain't a perfectionist.
I think these are great, homemade touches.
I don't go back and change them unless they really, I mean really bothers me. And that hardly ever happens - though it does happen more than it used to.

This particular pattern is a butterfly stitch and it the big features are the yo's and the dropped yo's, the pulling the loose dropped yo's into the butterfly wing and the making of stitches by adding on in the middle of the row.

Believe it or not, this is an incredibly fast knit. I think it took only a few hours to complete. It was done during the duration of a Cubs game. I've made it in ivory the other times and it's stunning in that color. The color in the photo here doesn't do it justice. It's a nice square though I do remember the first time I did it, I found it a little scary.

It's an impressive block and it will lend elegance to whatever afghan it finds itself on. I wouldn't make an entire afghan out of it but it will certainly catch attention - even if it is a little off kilter.

Steamed!

I've been staying up all night - literally going to bed later than my normal 2am; I've been going at 3 to 4 in the morning because I am excited about the new venture in my head where writing and knitting can combine and I can branch off into another area where passion lies and earn a living without ever walking back into corporate America.

This lead me to venture outside in the snowy, cold weather to purchase something I would never have purchased if it wasn't for the dream.

I bought this:
It is a steamer. A portable steamer, to be exact. A Sharper Image portable steamer because I'm classy! Now understand, I don't block. I never liked to block. Marilyn blocks. She says the least I should do is block seams. Marilyn blocks everything. I think she blocks yarn labels. But not me. I avoid it like a cheap plague. But something came inside my head and said. "If you are going to sell homemade goods, you should make sure they are homemade and not handmade."

Sigh.

That would mean getting out the iron and the ironing board and trying to figure out how the iron makes steam (cuz I don't iron, either) and then it hit me this morning: get a portable steamer and you won't need the ironing board or the iron. You can pin down blocks on the press board you have and the bigger items on the huge beach towels, steam those puppies, let em dry and call it a good day. It also automatically disinfects and makes em smell cleaner. It's a trifecta!

I'm friggin' brilliant.

I have a block afghan wip. I have three strips of five blocks each already sewn together. I am thinking of undoing them and blocking the squares. I am also thinking of blocking the strips themselves and then blocking the rest of the squares as they are made. I think I will opt for that - excited I am, but I'm not totally insane.

I brought my steamer home and showed the HB - he does ironing every week even though he's retired. I thought he would be totally underwhelmed. He looked at it and said, "Hey, I wonder if I can use that on my cotton shirts?"

I flipped the box over and showed him the picture of someone doing a shirt. "Nice." he said.

I do believe somewhere an angel got his wings.