The Deviant In Me

This is the current WIP:
Let me say a couple of things:
1. It's a lot more colorful in person - though it's mighty colorful in the photo.

2. I realize it is not a hat. The general concept of it can be made into a hat. I have even though about incorporating the general concept into a hat but in it's current (and intended) state. This is an afghan. Looking at it from a distance, it looks like there's a lot of work going on to make it look all woven and stuff.

3. This afghan is a friggin' lot of work. Not made easier by the fact that the skein of yarn sitting at the back of the WIP has some how become entangled inside the skein so I have to stop every so often and do a detangle while the work in progress is in progress. This has sometimes met cutting and putting back together. This has never happened before that the yarn was tangled by a means that was not my doing.

Some where in the process of making a skein the skein making machine put both ends of the yarn on the inside. Usually, there's a end string inside so you can pull from within the skein and there's one on the outside so your yarn can roll around collecting dirt and dog hair, if that's your knitting preference. This skein has both end pieces in the same end. No, I did not notice, I trusted the yarn. Silly me.

4. I'm pretty sure I'm not following the pattern anymore. I didn't understand one of the instructions the first time around (no, I don't really read the pattern through before I start. I give it a cursory glance to see if there's something difficult that sticks out and to see what I'm going to change when I get going. What, you don't do that?)

On the other hand, I did get it reading it the third time and I will incorporate what it says during the next color change because it seems pretty nifty.

This is called design features and we will discuss that in detail at a later date.
040604

Even When You're Not Looking

It seems folks want to read about Jared and Alexander. Those are the names of the two sons in My Father's Son. I'll be taking input for a couple more days on which book to write. I don't have a problem writing this one first. The pre-write for this one is furthest along. But don't let that influence you.

The wedding afghan was on my mind and on my needles. That's the excuse I am using for slacking in other knitting areas. I haven't placed anything new in the shop since the 12th of August. That's almost the kiss of death for an online shop. Doing the afghan must be my excuse.

Of course, the last time (before the wedding afghan)that I showed off a completed object here was..this is what I'm saying. It might have been the yarn I dyed in August. Did I show you the yarn I dyed in August? Geez. If I didn't, the last item I showed you was the golden afghan.

However, there is something about knitting that sooner or later an ardent knitter will discover. Things get made when we're not looking. This is especially true if one is one of those knitters who have more than one project going at a time. So while the wedding afghan was indeed taking up space and time, there were other projects started right after it was completed. I failed to show and talk about one and the other has been the subject of a couple of recent posts...yes...the boring and the beautiful afghan is done along with a beaded pillow I made right after the wedding afghan was done. And would you believe it? I photographed them. Yes, I made my sore back get dressed and I took them to the backyard that doubles as the studio and I took their pictures.

The back of the pillow is a blue, brown and ivory variegated stockinette. I have to thank Vickie - a member of StitchCraft.
I was prepared to start this cover over because I thought I made it too big for the pillow form and with a 90 degree turn, Vickie showed me I didn't have to do it over. (I did have to redo the back, but thank goodness I didn't have to take out the beads. Thanks, Vickie!)



Do you see the bling in the fringe? Well, just in case you can't - I'll give you a real good look at it.

I wasn't going to do the fringe at all, but thought it added to the bohemian-ness of the throw. Then I thought I was going to leave out the sequins from the fringe, but the original pattern in the book calls for it and so I tied some in. Not too much, just enough so you know it's there, but not enough to overtake it.

It can double as a wrap or shawl (I know cuz I tried it.) As it turns out, I rather like it. But you can certainly see why it would be both boring and beautiful?

It takes some repetitive work to get over 600 sequins on any one object. (You should see the shawl pattern I cooked up that's using silver grey yarn with silver sequins. It is turning out to be quite beautiful and not quite as boring!)

I love how the sequins catch the light. Little stars. That's what they are. You can have your very own constellation wrapped around you.


And because a knitter's work is never really done (for which we are quite grateful) not only is the silver shawl on the needles, but a stained glass afghan is also in the making and maybe 1/3 of the way done. So there will be something new for you and for the job in the very near future!



031204

The Need to Knit

One must knit.
There are those of you who understand this concept and do not hesitate to agree.

One must knit.
In fact, I would hazard to say that most folks who follow a knitting blog, do so because they must knit. (That leaves room for those of who who just support me no matter what I do and those who love my writing..hahahaha.)

One must knit.
I must knit. Even if it means the knitting is sometimes painful. In this case, it is not a physical pain. It is a mental one. I am knitting an afghan/wrap. Very simple stockinette pattern. It's all stockinette. Except every fourth row I put in sequins at the beginning and the end of the row. So there's a band of sequins then plain stockinette and then sequins. This is after a few rows of sequins all the way across.

I don't need to put a photo there, do I? You get it. You can imagine how it's going to look. Well, you can if I tell you the color is kinda rust orange. I believed the yarn is Burnt Pumpkin and the sequins are a close copper color. When it's done there will be a rectangle with sequins on all sides and a clear stockinette middle. It should be very nice.

My stitches have never looked better. When stockinette is the main pattern, it's important the stitches look nice and even because it's the canvas. I was admiring my stitches last night. I was saying to myself they looked nice and smooth and really professional. I was complimenting myself on my improving in my craft.

It's going to be lovely with the fall color and the shiny sequins.
Assuming I haven't died of boredom.

Did I write that out loud? I believe I did. Do you know the cause of the boredom? It's not that it's stockinette because it's a four row repeat and you have to pay attention to the placement of the sequins because it's not the same: the placement starts on the 3rd stitch on one row and on the 6th (so I guess it's an 8 row repeat) but it can go wrong. That's not the source of the problem.

It's the needle size. I'm using size 9. Relatively small for an afghan with one stitch. It will be stunning when it's done but it's going to take a lot of rows with that size of needle. It's an afghan after all. The pattern called for it to be a short throw - but come on, it needed to be bigger. I couldn't stop at the 36 inches or the 500 sequins it calls for. No, It must be at least in the 50 inches range and it must have 750 sequins at least. (Which is why I changed the pattern from adding sequins every 6th row to every 4th row.)

Don't know why I didn't change the needle size while I was changing everything else. But I didn't and I'm too far to go back and though I think I have been working on this for a little more than a week, it's already playing with my mind. Don't suggest putting it down and working on something else - I have to get through it or else the effort I've already put in will go wasted.

Sigh.

I feel better just getting it out. Now I won't carry thing vibe with me to the project and it won't feel my little outburst and snag or something. It really does look nice and it will be stunning. We just have to make it through this little stone in the road. But we will because sometimes you have to go through these things to get to the other side. And it's worth getting to the other side.

Because one must knit.
030904

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...

Gloria!!

Well, what do you think? This is the first of two community afghans made by some of the folks who came to the Sit & Knit.

Marilyn put them all together and came up with this. Now, to be fair, out of the 30 squares in this afghan I can count at least a dozen that I made - I tend to get into a square phase when I know we are going to need a lot of them for projects like this. But it doesn't mean folks didn't make a lot of squares cuz they did. But it means we can make two afghans instead of one. There will be a lot of my squares in the other one as well but it will mostly be those folks who gave up their time to come and sit on the veranda of a mansion and knit for the Community Care Hospice.

I'm almost ready for the trip! I just have to pack my project bag and I should be all set. The camera is ready to go as well and I hope to take lots of photos for more than one post. I may even break down and buy some hoity-toity yarn! Hahahahahahahaha - I couldn't even write that without cracking up. Y'all know I ain't gonna do that!
(Please pray that the client who owes me the 1K will pay it - I am running out of money!!)

Midnight Motion

Bored. That's right. I'm bored. I have five hours free...well now, it's a little less than one. I watched 'Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian' and I worked on not one, but two, blankets on my needles, I read a chapter of a book and I ate sandwiches. I will have to clean up the kitchen in a little while - but for the moment, I was bored. So, I decided it was time to take photos of the afghan I was working on - you know, the black and white one I started about two weeks ago. I thought I would take the photos and share at least one of them with you - cuz you're family and family should help you become unbored.

So, here it is. I decided to free form the stripes, which is a good thing cuz I didn't always count the rows they way I should have if it were going to be an exact pattern. But I do like how it came out. Cream and black are such contrasts. It looks white I know, but trust me, it's cream. Or Ivory. Or ecru. Or whatever you want to call an off-white color without calling it off-white.

In any case, I rather like it!

When He Shines

Read my latest Squidoo lens about reading in the bathroom!


You will so need a cup of coffee for this:

So, let me tell you what the dog did last night. He was lying on the floor next to the surge protector that holds the plugs to the cable and DVR. He sneezed, his paw lifted up and when it came down, it turned off the surge protector.

Sigh.

I turned it back on - cuz I was watching the t and v and when I turned it back on, my DVR was blitzed. My cable did not recognize it's own DVR box. So I called Comcast and they reset it - still didn't recognize it.

Sigh. Sigh.

So, while they were trying to reset it, I asked them to let me know what specials they were running cuz I was looking to lower the cable bill. The very nice Comcast lady told me the cable I have now (standard cable package) was going away with the new digital revolution. (Still think that's a government conspiracy) so I would need to switch packages anyway and gave me three options: one for $49, one for $89, one for only Oprah could afford it. These fees would all be locked in for one year after which they would sky rocket like you wouldn't believe. I chose the middle package because it would be less than what we pay now and because after a year, I could threaten to go to a lower price one and lock in the price again.
I asked when it would be effective and she said immediately so I told her to wipe out everything I had that was extra on the service I have and just put in the new one.

You still with me?

So, the DVR never reset. All the movies I had saved...gone. All the episodes of Knitty Gritty...gone. Some of the season ending episodes..gone.

Dog was fine, though.

So, she set up an order for the technician to come out and see what was what. I also asked her if I could get a new remote because we've worn out one of the buttons and she told me where I could go to pick one up and that would save me $10 in a mailing fee. No problem. I would pick it up. I said good-bye to the nice Comcast lady and I was now wired so I wasn't going to bed - but hey, the new cable package includes all the movie channels so I was going to watch a movie - turned to HBO.

Nothing.

Shotime.

Nope.

Starz.

Nada.

She said the package also included the premium sports channels so I thought I'd watch some baseball.

Yeah, right.

OK, so maybe it would take until the morning. I would go get the new remote and all would be right with the world.

Getting the new remote was the easiest part of the experience. No problems with that. Came back home.

Remote won't sync with the t and v so now I have to use the remote for the cable and the remote for the t and v.

And the DVR is still out.

And I still don't have the new package - but all my old add on stuff has been wiped out just like I asked.

I've already apologized to God for whatever it was that I did - but honestly, I just think he's having some fun.

This is my latest work in progress. I didn't know how stunning it was until I saw the picture. It's going to be an afghan, of course, cuz I am in an afghan phase and probably will be until I go through all the patterns that are calling my name. I am in danger of running out of the ivory yarn so I have to make a mad dash to the basement to see if I have any in one of the five boxes down there - hey, it used to be six but I consolidated! I'm winging the stripes, but now that I see the photo, I think I will probably do one more round of the baby stripes, but then do the solid stripes the rest of the way. I think the thicker stripes make a better statement!

Oh, the cable guy is coming tomorrow between 1-4.

We're In This Love Together

Let me say how much I appreciate all you guys. I woke up this morning and went to my email and Twitter box and there were such lovely private tweets and emails that it just me smile with tears of joy. Earlier, I was talking with one of my very best friends on this planet and he said to me he was in the dumps and talking to me lifted him up.

You have no idea how much you've lifted my spirits especially after yesterday when someone tried to bring them down. (Don't worry, they didn't succeed too much.)

These forums have been such a great way to get to know some truly splendid people and I'm so honored you are part of my life.

Want to see what I've finished?


I'm in love with this bag! I searched and searched for the paillettes and finally found them at Hobby Lobby (that is going to be my new #1 craft store.) Come on, admit it, it's cute.
And I blocked out the cable afghan. I love my little steamer, I think I gave myself a facial when I was steaming the afghan. If someone can tell me how to make the deep purple photograph true in digital photography, I'd appreciate it.

This afghan is so soft and it blocked out to a very generous 54x64. That's a nice size afghan for anybody. It isn't something I would be placing in the shop now because it's more of a fall thing, but I'm thinking it might make a nice present for a graduate going off to school in the fall. And who doesn't love purple?

These will be both go on sale in the shop.

At Last

Read my lastest article on Squidoo!

I don't even remember when I started this afghan. I am certain it was some time this year and if I go looking through the blog I will find some reference to it. But I put it aside because - frankly - it was getting a little tedious doing all the cables. I didn't think too much about the design, I just started making cable strips and I'd say to myself "Oh, I know, I make this one with three cables, and the another strip with just one...oh, then I'll need one with two..and..."

You get the idea. My knitting eye is sometimes way bigger than my knitting stomach.

I was getting a little whacked out and so I put it in a trusty tote bag and put it aside while I worked on other things.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to cleaning the living room.
I was organizing boxes of yarn and placing some project filled and some empty tote bags in the boxes all to be carted down to the great yarn stash in the basement when I ran across this one and said. "I should really finish this." So I picked up the needles and started working on it.

Yes, some would say I was stalling in finishing the living room and if I had a good argument that disputed this claim I would use it now - but I was stalling. But then I did put down the project and move the boxes downstairs.

Here's the thing about putting away an project that's getting on your nerves: your nerves will get over it and then one day you will be able to pick it up - finish the last strip, sew it all together and try and take pictures of it before you hurry out the door to choir rehearsal. (OK, that last part was just me.)

It is now hanging on the blocking wires in the bathroom where it has been steamed. It will be incredibly soft because of the steaming and it will be cuddly because of the yarn and the cables. I have to take outdoor pictures of it because it will go on sale in the shop.

While I was going through the boxes, I ran across another wip. It was going to be a bag. It still is going to be a bag, but I'm going to change it up a little - a lot. It should turn out cute and if it does, you will be the first to know!

Today blogout! - Have you seen The Gift Hutch on Etsy? There are some very lovely pillows on her site. If you have a couple of minutes, go pay a visit.

Patience is a Virtue

I want you all to take a look at kat's site.(http://katnap.wordpress.com) It is simply one of the most gorgeous sites I've ever seen. go over and take a look at it - and read it while you're at it cuz the writing's pretty good, too.

Some things come quickly - some things take time. It is the yin and yang that keeps us in balance.
I started working on the 'cable box afghan' more than two weeks ago and it has tried my patience. It is not finished yet. I pinned the latest strip to the other three and figured I would need another three strips - two with one cable and the last one with two - and then the afghan would be done. (Of course, this is another design of mine which is probably one reason it's taking so long. Another thing I didn't consider was how much time doing a cable adds to the process. I've never made this many cables in one item before and they do take time because you have to use the third needles and have to do the twisting, etc. The result is stunning and I'm going to love it when its done but I didn't plan this afghan would take this long to make.
To help ease the pains of a project taking longer than I expected, I decided to start another project - it would be a hat. This hat. Seriously, how cute is this?
This actually took only a day to do so it wasn't much of a distraction, but it did serve its purpose in allowing me to do some more designing. This cloche like hat would be great in holding braids, dreads or extensions.
It's a little funky and a lot of cute.
I am back to working on the afghan and I expect it will take a few more weeks before it's done. Not only do the strips have to be done but then they have to be sewn together and a border put around the whole thing. But I understand now how the time put into it will make the whole experience that much better - especially when I'm done.

View From The Bridge

What else is there to do, really, but stay in and knit? I am recovering from the all day inaugural coverage and the first Etsy sale to back to normal. Today the weather is warming up so the snow pile will be gone, but it has been around for a few days when the weather was frightful.
Duke loves this weather and he loves the snow. He bugs us constantly to go outside so he can jump in the pile. He's gotten so clever that if I say no, he will actually go find the hub and bug him (and he usually gets his way there.)

In the meantime, I am reworking the cable stitch afghan pattern I cast on. I'm making it so different that it can't be called the same pattern. I didn't know I had this kind of design genie in me but I like her!

Man Cave Wrap

This is how it started.

then it turned into this..
Neither one of those really worked for me. It was supposed to be a simple blanket but the first two yarns just weren't making me happy. So, I started again and I didn't have enough yarn to do it all in one color so this is how it ended up.

I love it! It's warm and it's inviting (Even if I say so myself!) It is a very generous 50 x 50. (Pre-blocking!) The HB, who is very supportive, let out a spontaneous 'wow' when he saw it.
It's made with three skeins of "I Love This Yarn" and part of a skein of (what else?) Caron by the Pound. It's soft and warm and I think would look great on a chair in a man cave or a student's room.
I love it when a plan comes together...even if it takes three tries.

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.

Two Down and More to Go

These pics don't do the projects justice. There are three colors in the afghan: orange, red and fire red and the shawl is a lilac color. I am considering retaking the pics with the items outside. I may do that sometime in the morning.
One of the things that happens when you have a bunch of wips on the needle and you alternate working them day by day - they tend to be completed in little sets or groups. These were done within a day of each other. I don't remember how the rest will shake out, but my guess is they will all be done within a week of each other. It's just how to goes. Yep, I will retake the pics. This is what I get from 3 in the morning.


I have no idea which one I will be working on next. I do know I got within a few cast off stitches before deciding there was a blanket I didn't like so it will be frogged and redone. Maybe I will start on that.

Well, it's late...and early. I need to get some sleep before getting up and doing some work. I'll get the new and improved pics up asap.

By the way - this is my 100th post!! I am going to use it to announce a yarn giveaway. I have to finish up the details and then I will do a formal announcement, but it's a chance to give away some yarn. (In case you don't have a problem receiving inexpensive yarn!)

At Long Last - Cai!!

It's finally done! That's the hubby-bubby holding it in the second pic! I can't believe how huge it is and the HB says it's very warm as well. I can't believe I thought I could get that done in seventeen days. But, hey, there's nothing wrong with optimism.
I can't even begin to tell all the yarns that went into this. There's some very old Sayelle yarn, some Caron By the Pound, Caron Natura, some "I Love This Yarn" and I don't know what all. It was a good use for the stash, though you couldn't tell I even touched the yarn load. I still don't need to buy any yarn, though I am going to by the end of the month because Herschnerr's is running the free shipment and I can stock up on their chunky weight yarn which I like.

I used size nine needles and the whole thing is taller than I am - not that that's much of a stretch.

So, it's done and I am onto the baby blanket. I am almost certain to start another project really soon and I look forward to that as well. In the meantime, I took a really long walk this morning and I am sore. I am going to take that same long walk again tomorrow. The HB gave me my birthday present early - a trip to Florida in 10 weeks and I need to get into walking shape for it. With Cai out of the way, I am better mentally to get the legs in shape!

Cai - In Progress

It bugged me that I had nothing to show - boy, if I were in therapy that's a beginning of a session!

So, I took photos of Cai, my afghan that I have been working on since 8/8/08. This is 3 of the 5 strips that will go into the afghan. The fourth strip is done, but constructed in such a way that it cannot be added. So, I have to do the last one before I can add the next to the last one. What possessed me, you may ponder, to believe I could finish a 25 square afghan in a mere two weeks. Especially with squares like this one in the mix. I have no idea what I was thinking! So the final strip has begun and it will be finished some time soon and then the real fun begins of sewing them together. I am thinking of just doing a cross stitch in the darkest color or a simple mattress stitch. The sewing part is not my best event, but I will persevere. And I will post the final pics when all is said and done!