Doggie Dos...

Just a quick update, I finished a cute little mosaic coat for Archie...

Frog it!

Well bring out the whips and the thumbscrews I've been a bad bad knitting blogger. You know... "father forgive me... it's been ages since I last posted". Anyway, we didn't have an official get together as such, but Kristi did come over and share her latest bit o' lace.

I still have the shadow knit sweater I'm working on for Savanna... though it may become a pillow and I'll make her a mosaic knit sweater instead, it's very tempting.




Oh yes and I got quite the nice platform find the other day, a Raw silk sweater, large enough to fit Aaron. He tried it on after it had a wash but he said he didn't really care for it (though who could blame him, it did have this obnoxious reindeer pattern all over it). So I've been frogging it out and keeping the silk for myself (say that five time fast). It's coming apart quickly and I've got about 8 oz so far. It's an oatmeal sort of color but I'm thinking of dyeing whatever I knit out of it a nice burgundy. I might try a sideways knit this time. Who knows?

Coat of many Cables

Well, it only came to me after everyone had left that I'd only gotten pictures of my coat. Ah, well. 'spose it makes up for last time when none of my stuff was up there. I think it turned out well, I love the cableing. I just need to add the buttons with icord fasteners and the pink flower and it's good to go. Much thanks to Amber for her refresher tutorial on the knifty knitter slipper socks, that was most helpful. And thanks to Kristi for sharing a look at her new yarn finds. May our yarn stashes grow ever more abundant!

Mosaic Knitting!!!

These are now only $32 on amazon, you can even get free shipping if you don't mind a bit of a wait. It's a much better deal than the $80 to $100 I'd been seeing lately. And, yes I finally bought one :) Should give us some good ideas for mosaic knits.

Illusion Knitting... The Case of the Dark Mark Scarf

Well, I did remember my camera this time, although I had to get in through the window to get it as I'd already locked myself out of my house. Much thanks to Zeke for holding the ladder so I could get back in.

Well this time we have Amber sporting a beautiful hat and scarf set in bright lovely jewel tones (I love the red fun fur on the rolled brim of the hat). And I finally caught a picture of Kristi's finished coverlette which is absolutely enchanting. And of course we have Kristi's illusion (or shadow) knit Dark Mark scarf. You can just see the skull and snake popping out of the fabric at this angle. Fantastic!

There's nothing of my stuff up at this time because I'm hoping to actually finish something and then put up a pic of the finished product... oh yes much thanks to Kristi on the use of her book with the lesson in pockets, most useful :)

Getting Back Into the Knit of Things

Well I have to admit it. I really have become a fair weather non-knitter. The sun comes out and I find things to do other than knit. Oh the humanity! Oh well, I'm still working on my projects for my nieces (you can just see the heart poking out a bit on the illusion knit sweater can't you?). I've also included a pic of Amber's adorable forest colored scarf. I've really got to sit down and make me a loom scarf... it seems such an obvious thing to do with a loom doesn't it, but here I am adrift in a sea of past loom hats... Ah well, what was I saying. Oh yes, and here is Kristi's lovely wrap in shades of ocean blue (correct me if I'm wrong on the name Kristi, I know it's hand dyed and it deserves it's proper moniker.) I really like the beads on this wrap, very much like bubbles on the ocean waves. Well, we had a lot of fun. We even watched You, Me and Dupree... Amber's right, you never do look at butter the same way again, or at Audrey Hepburn for that matter. Ah well, that's why I found you don't play around with the funky cold medina.... Peace out.

It's time to start the music....

Well, in all the excitement of going to first Fridays art galleries I completely forgot my camera (again) but on the upside the artwork was wonderful. Amber worked on head bands, I'm working on a coat for my niece Mickia, and Kristi is still working on that beautiful shawl (which I really need to get a pic of, grrrr). Oh, and there were many muppets involved as the evening went on, many many muppets...

And a few more...

Well, I discovered something I could felt with the wool yarn Kristi gave me. I thought about redying it, but then I thought - why fight it and tryed to go for a 70s look. It's not bad, and it gave me a chance to practice the leaf edging again.

Dolly Duds

I almost forgot, I've started knitting for dolls again. This is a fingerless glove and scarf set I made recently. It's made with angora yarn which was so nice to work with. You gotta love yarn that's made from bunnies (their fur that is).

Kermit the Frog Green...

No knitting night tonight... oh well, but I thought I'd post my latest project. I finished it a couple of days ago and brought it to Leroy yesterday. It's a bit big but that's good because its double knit and it will be awhile before it's cold enough that he'll need it. It's very... green, as you can see. :)

Spinning Spider Web

Well now they've figured out how to make the stuff...

The Real Spider-Man

Can you imagine knitting with it? Cooooool......

The Elephant is Looking Cool and Cozy

Well Knitting was at my place. It was so cool having you guys out. Sorry about all the sirens, there was a lot of action out our way last night. As you can see I've put up picks of all our new creations. I love your choice of model for your scarf Amber, he's so cute. As you can see Kristi's socks came out quite nicely and I'm really loving the color patterns in her cotton work. My shopping bag is now a beach bag (also good for stuffing another knitting project in that I'm currently working on). Oh guys, I really enjoyed Darma and Greg and Aaron would love to see the Jane Seymore episode (he's sorta sweet on her you know). The Wedding Singer was fantastic too, hadn't seen that one in a while. You sort of forget that Adam Sandler can sing and be sweet in his own weird way.

Self Stripeing Fun

Well, it was my first time using a self stripeing yarn (other than your regular varagated of course) and I have to admit it was kinda fun. This is a dice bag for Aaron by the way... it was going to be a tie but I just could'nt get the gauge right. To tell you the truth I think he was sort of happy to be getting the bag instead.
Oh, everybody let me know where they'd like to meet this week.

New Knits

Well we had a wonderful time at Amber's this week. BTW thanks for the trip to Barns & Nobel guys I get out there so rarely. Well, as you can see Kristi's been quite the buzy bee. All the photos this time around are of her projects (minus the lovely scarf that Amber is making). I have to admit the sock in progress does look a bit like a torture device.

A Whole New Blog...

Ok I made a few more changes... lets just call it spring cleaning. I've added a link list now so if anybody has any ideas for links they'd like to see on it please let me know.

Well I finished the shorter fingerless gloves. I'm pretty pleased with them. I found the pattern on the web but I had to mess with it to get it to work. She had a mistake in her chart for the cable and of course I had to tinker with the gadge, but I was happy to know that I've come far enough along in this craft to recognize other peoples mistakes in their patterns and correct them *yeah!* Oh, I also did the thumbs completely differently, and I think the technique could be used to make pockets as well... I'll have to test that out. Oh yes, Cleo costarred with me in this picture. ;)

Spring Knits

Well, we had knitting at my place once again. It was so much fun having you guys out, and thank you so much Kristi for the drinks. I loved all the projects everyone was working on... I'll have to make one of those headbands that Amber is sporting for myself. And at some point I'll have to sit down with Kristi and have her show me how she does that circular spiral baby blanket thingy (looks like a rasta hat while in process -- see pic). Anyway, loved them all and I hope to have you guys out at my place more often. Maybe if it warms up enough we could do our knitting outside. Aaron did say he wanted to get a mosquito magnet -- it could work -- *hope*. Hmmm... or knitting 'round the fire pit, could be interesting... we'd have to watch out for sparks.

Long Cabled Fingerless Gloves

(Can you see the cables?)
I finished the long fingerless gloves. I'm pretty happy about them, I may even do some short ones as well.




The pattern for them is here... in case anyone wants to make some.
knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTdashing.html

Can you tell I've been visiting Knitty a lot lately?

And now we revisit... Mathematical Knitting!

Hello, remember that link I posted way back when about the woman who was crocheting models of hyperbolic space (pretty cool). Well here are a few more links for mathematical knitting and crocheting. They have some really great pics of the models themselves... worth a look in. www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?type=article&article_id=218392811

www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061223/bob10.asp

www.toroidalsnark.net/mathknit.html

The 3rd link has some of the coolest pics (you've got to click on her links and look around), and not just for models of hyperbolic space, there's other types of mathematical knitting there too. I particularly liked the link on orientable surfaces. Check it out.

Enjoy!

Space Invaders

Finished the Space Invaders coat for Archie. I got the idea from this pattern...

www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTbmp.html

In case anybody wants the charts. I can't imagine how long it must have taken her to do those socks!

E.Z. Seemless Sweater

Well I finally finished the seemless sweater based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's calculations. It's in green of course (My favorite color though I wear it so rarely in clothes). I had to redo the yoke once as the pattern I originally chose was too big. I'm pretty pleased with it. It does look a bit 60s to me but then that sort of sweater does I think. The major advantage is that it went very quickly compared to other sweaters I've done.

Princess, Glow in the Dark, Cape

Well I finished the cape. She seems to like it, she stood in our dark bathroom and checked it out in the mirror, she even wore it like hair- freaky glow in the dark hair. We had great fun. She wanted to tie it under her arms until I explained that she had to wear it like Superman. She seemed to get it after that. Oh and the pom pons were just perfect, thank you for the suggestion Amber.

First Bite...

Well I had a wonderful time at Amber's last night. We watched love at first bite. Boy did that bring back some memories, it was great fun.

You can see the checkerboard scarf Amber's working on. I love the muted colors, all in lovely jewel tones. And this is the capelet I've been working on for Savanna. I just finished putting the trim on it today (complete with pom pons as Amber suggested) and it looks great, very girly girl. The glow in the dark beads will be Savanna's favorite I think.

Video Ga Ga...

Here's a very helpful site for figuring out how to increase and decrease. It's got other great videos too. If you can't get the video to start in the window that pops up, click on the direct link to video thingy at the bottom of the window. Gives you a great visual w/spoken instructions too.

www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/decrease.php

Panta!

Here's a link to the panta pattern that Kristi made (she sent me this in Email -- Thank you Kristi!)

www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=51351.30

And here's one to the most enjoyable and entertaining Domiknitrix web site...

www.domiknitrix.com/

And a link to her tshirts with the cute, kinky logo on them (yes I checked and they're hers - no knockoffs here).

www.spreadshirt.com/shop.php?sid=70857

And of course, the best for last, the wonderful blog that Amber shared with me (thanks much Amber) Crazy Aunt Pearl! You gotta love those cats...

www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2005/09/what_are_you_lo.php

Knitting Group... at my place.

Well, we met again, this time at my house. Note the wonderful coverlet that Kristi is wearing. She had just finished it that night and draped it on her shoulders before moving on to the next project. Amber is working on a scarf with this fantastic checkerboard pattern, it's very clever looking, I'll have to try one myself. I'm still woking on my EZ, no seems (well just at the underarms) sweater in green. I'll probably post a pic of it as soon at the sleeves are attached.

Manly Knitting

Welcome Shane, our first man at knitting group. Here he is working on his chainmail (very cool). It's a bit difficult to see on the dark green carpet but it's pretty incredible stuff.

Heart Like a Wheel...

This is Kristi's new spinning wheel, she's still looking for a missing part. Hmmm... I may check for that at howstuffworks.com. It would be cool if we could learn how to spin. :)

A Jacket for Leroy

Hey guys, I just revamped the little coat I was working on for my nephew-to-be Leroy. I finished it with an I cord border, I finally learned how to knit one unto a garment! Then I did a little bobble button for the loop (I learned that from the knitting calander). I think it looks a bit like some of the costumes they have for civilians on Star Trek. Aaron thinks it looks a bit "green" or "hippy". It occured to me that if you could knit an I cord directly unto a garment you should be able to make celtic knots that way too... worth looking into.

Color Weaving, (aka Weaving in Ends)

Well we had another great meeting (to which I did not bring my camera. AAARRRGGGG!) I'm really bumming too because we had some neat stuff going on there. Kristi brought in the wool that her son had dyed for her (and it was lovely), and Amber had started this beautiful new texture in pretty muted tones. Well, no worries. If you have picks send them to me to post, or I can catch up with you later and get some pictures. We also tried some Color Weaving (I'm so thrilled about this one) and I think everybody picked up on it pretty quick. Here's the website I found that shows how to do the knit side for stock knit...

sockpr0n.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-weave-in-ends-while-knitting.html

I hope that made a successful link, if not there's always cutting and pasting to the address bar. This site has quite a few picks so it may take a while. I can't seem to find the one that showed how to do it when purling but it was a pain to read anyway so I might just post some picks of how it's done both ways later.

Savanna's "Princess" Hat

Well I've done several projects lately but I keep forgeting to get pictures of them before I give them away (silly me!) But this one I started on the loom just recently. I'd made a nice purple, green, and blue hat for my niece Mickia with a festive fur bottom. Savanna saw it and hinted that it was too big for Mickia's head (Savanna's been told by her mother that her head is fairly big for her age). Later when I gave Mickia the hat, Savanna came right out and asked if she could have it. Poor thing, I've been knitting a lot of things for her soon-to-be little brother Leroy too, and I think she's getting envyous. She told me she'd like me to make her a "pink princess dress". Well I've never knit a dress before and I told her so, but I did manage to start this pink princess hat before her dad picked her up and took her home. It has the festive fur too. I used a bluky pink cotton from a sweater I'd recycled. The hat is nice and thick and should give her room for growth. Oh, if anyone needs knitting graph paper to tool around with and make your own designs this is an excellent site...
www.sweaterscapes.com/grafpap-134.htm
Just print it out and you're good to go.

Knitting Group Meets Again...

Wow, sorry it's taken me awhile to post this. Well, our group met again (one member shy - Kristi wasn't feeling well, Get well soon Kristi, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE... we miss you.)
This is Amber's latest creation made on her knify knitter loom - wonderful slipper socks with fun fur tops. Such a neat idea, and it never occured to me. Yeah! one more use for fun fur!