Category: wip

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6th Annual Be A Helper Craftalong

Welcome to our 6th annual craftalong! Inspired by the famous Mr. Rogers quote that in times of trouble you should look for the helpers, I’m encouraging folks to BE the helpers.

The 6th Be A Helper Craft-a-long has begun! We keep the rules simple.
• Anything you make for any charity counts, doesn’t have to be knit/crochet/woven or spun. ANYthing you make for ANY charity.
• One FO per Google Form submission: https://forms.gle/QdJuQUSr8uM7GoiF6
• Donating blood counts too!
• Google Form closes when I wake up March 15th.
• Wips are always welcome
• Partial FOs count, for example if you make a blanket strip and your local yarn shop sews them together to make full blankets, count your blanket strip.

One change this year – due to the ongoing accessibility issues at Ravelry, finished objects can be submitted here in the FO Thread (link goes to Ravelry) or via a Google Form.

Link to Google Form to submit your Finished Object/blood donation:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf08z2uqelVGeUBkm0fofQGveThChBBZzaMvNsRdlPlMzhbgA/viewform?usp=sf_link

And one last minute addition – due to the recent KY tornado crisis, I’ve adjusted the rules so that anyone who donated blood anywhere in the world on or after December 10 will earn an entry. Please post in the FO thread or the google form, and thank you for helping your fellow citizens!

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Back from Break

Three new Patterns
Three new Patterns
Three new Patterns waiting to be finished

After taking a much-needed break over the holidays (and recovering from my annual Christmas bought of bronchitis), I’m back at it! I’ve got 3 new patterns in various stages of completion, plus and oldy-but-goody that never got released, all waiting for me to finish them up and release them.

I’m using three fun new yarns – the blue cabled sweater is in Cascade’s Ultra Pima Fine, 100% Cotton. The gray tweed sweater is Remix, a unique blend from Berocco of 30% Nylon, 27% Cotton, 24% Acrylic, 10% Silk, & 9% Linen. And lastly the socks are Plymouth Yarn’s Diversity, which is an acrylic/polyester blend.

And the best part – all three are machine washable!

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Two new patterns!

wavesScarfI’ve got two new patterns nearing completion.  With the July 4th holiday coming up, I can’t promise when they’ll be up, but definitely soon.  Here’s a sneak peak at the back of a scarf. 🙂

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First Circular Shawl

evenstarStartEven though I design my own patterns I still patterns by other people – there are so many talented designers out there, how could I not??

I’m always looking to try something new, improve my technique and learn new skills so I am VERY excited to start my first circular shawl.  I’ve knitted several half-circle shawls but never a full circle before.

I just started the Evenstar Shawls by Susan Pandorf (available for purchase on Ravelry.com).  It’s a beautiful shawl inspired by the Lord of the Rings which is one of my favorite books (and yes, I like the movies, too).  Actually, since my husband has to work late tonight, I’ll probably pop Fellowship of the Rings into the DVD player and this once my little guy heads to bed.

I also had to learn my first circular cast on for this project, which, since I don’t know how to crochet, was completely new to me.

My finished piece will come out a bit different than Susan intended because I couldn’t track down a laceweight yarn that wasn’t wool.  I’m allergic to wool.  You don’t want me to knit with it.  It’s not pretty.  After half an hour I get hives.

Swatches - size 3 (top) and size 5 (bottom) needles
Swatches – size 3 (top) and size 5 (bottom) needles

So I’m knitting the shawl in a DK weight cotton – Kertzer’s Down to Earth Cotton in 0035 a pale pink.  It’s nice to wok with and affordable when you have to buy 1500 yards worth!  I also had to increase the needle size.  The pattern calls for lace-weight yarn on US size 3 needles.  I knitted the swatch and blocked it but the more complicated pattern designs (a 7-fold increase inside a k3tog) were murder on size 3 needles as those are the recommended size needles for this yarn.  I knit the swatch again last night on size 5 needles and life was MUCH easier.  And frankly, after blocking, it looks better, too.

Here are my swatches – you can judge for yourself, but I’m going with the larger needles for this lace shawl.

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Testing the Waters

Testing The WavesI’m trying out a new motif – and so far it’s looking good!  Can you tell what it is?

If it works out as planned different versions of this motif will be worked into a lace shawl and a scarf.

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Nearly Done!

My latest pattern is nearly done!

May Flowers Drying
May Flowers Drying

Literally, I’m waiting for the blasted thing to dry so I can photograph it and finalize the pattern.

Here’s a tantalizing hint of it, blocked and drying.  I have to say I LOVE my new blocking wires.  So much easier, so much faster and no more of those annoying scalloped edges you can get sometimes from pins.

Please don’t judge it by the colors you see here – the horrible yellow of the foam pad washes out everything.  I’ll post pictures of the finished piece so you can truly see the colors.

I use foam floor pads to pin on – like the kind you see in children’s playrooms.  Actually, that’s exactly what they are.  I ordered them from Amazon after a friend recommended it to me and they are soooooo much easier than the giant piece of cardboard I used to use.  And they are much easier to put away too, which makes my husband happy!