When all else fails

start a new project.



I haven't abandoned the vest, I just wanted to start these socks. This is Plymouth Sockotta, 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool and 15% nylon. I went to Elaine's Yarn in Davison Michigan and really wanted some sock yarn. I wasn't looking for a self-patterning yarn, but it's what came home with me. This is the first time I've used Wendy's generic toe-up pattern. I've only used a toe-up pattern once and it was for the Magical Mystery Sock Tour.

The MMST pattern I used had a figure eight cast on that took me hours to get right. My simple sock can be found on page four of the tour.

Not too exciting

Today I took a photo of my unfinished vest.



I can't say I'm in love with it. I think it's too bulky, but I will finish it since it's mindless knitting which is all I'm capable of at the moment.

Winter has finally arrived, just in time for the start of the tax season. I knew there was a reason I was going to look for a job closer to my home.

Making mistakes

I couldn't resist starting my vest, and I see I didn't continue the ribbing where I was supposed to. It will be easy to fix, but I haven't had time to knit the past few days. At first I didn't like the way the color combinations were knitting up, when looking at it in the daylight though, I like it. As soon as I can get a daylight photo, I will post it.

More Yarn!

I went to Mary Maxim yesterday and bought five skeins of Kureyon for a vest. I looked through all of my old knitting magazines and found a pattern that should work. Of course it would be a lot easier to buy the pattern from ChicKnits. I'm using colorway #163, they had only two Kureyon colors that I liked.

Mary Maxim has a buyer reward program, if you buy $300.00 in merchandise, you get $20.00 off your next purchase. I finally filled my card last time I was there, instead of paying $40.00, it cost me only $20.00. Now that Mary Maxim has a much larger yarn selection I might be able to fill that card quicker. I think it took almost 3 years to fill the old card.

Back to Knitting

I bought a miniature dachshund puppy last May and she has really cut into my knitting time. Only recently has she calmed down enough that I can sit and knit without chasing her and my ball of yarn. Doesn't she look innocent?



Currently I'm working on a sweater from Knitter's No. 54 Fall 1999 which I started last winter. I'm using Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Hyacinth. The back and left front are finished and I'm half way through the right front. As much as I like wearing sweaters, I prefer knitting vests just so I can finish that much quicker and move on to the next project. If I can find some Noro Kureyon that I like, I think I'm going to knit a vest like Bonnie Marie.

Thomas McHale

1967-2001
World Trade Center

I did not know you or any of the others who died on September 11. You went to work that day, just like me and every other American, but the terrorists chose your building to send their message.

You had a wife, good friends and co-workers, and an unborn son whom you never knew. But he, Collin Thomas, almost 5 years old now, will know you, and you will live on through him.

And those of us who did not lose anyone that day, shall remember.

it's working now.

I don't have dice blue finished, but I continue to work on it. It's given me more grief than I anticipated.

After seeing cece I had to buy the pattern. The only yarn I had that would work was Mary Maxim Mellowspun. If blogger's photo upload was working I would post a scan of what I have knit so far. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide what yarn I want to buy for my next cece.

I've narrowed the selection down to brown sheep cotton fleece, Elann's Peruvian collection silk or quechua. Elann has some affordable cotton, sonata and connemara, but I don't know if I would like knitting with it. Not having a local yarn store is really a pain in the neck.

Here are the first few rows of Dice Blue.
It's a very easy pattern to follow, any beginning lace knitter should be able to knit this shawl.

For experienced lace knitters it may be somewhat monotonous, though.

I've changed my knitting plans all ready. While perusing my Knitter's mags for a cable sweater, I came across dice blue, or in my case it will be dice midnight alpaca cloud from knitpicks . Of course, this is all dependent on whether once I start the scarf, I don't rip it out.

I can't believe I haven't posted since September! I can't believe I haven't knitted anything either! I've started numerous projects and ultimately tore them apart for one reason or another. I started fiber trends moebius scarf, but my needles were too short, as soon as I can get some 40" needles I'm going to start it again. Now that tax season has started I need a knitting project!

I finished my vest over the weekend. The steeks weren't as bad as I thought they would be. The yarn I used was slippery, so I had to take the extra step of doing an overcast stitch on the cut edge. I don't know if that will help anything or not, time will tell.

Now I'm back to working on a sweater I started in July.

Since my DH has been goose hunting since Wednesday, I've had a lot of knitting time. I started a fair isle vest from an old Knitter's Magazine. This vest will be my first experience with steeks. I'm using Peruvian Alpaca yarn that I purchased from Elann quite some time ago. See, I said I would start using up my stash...

My little foray into weaving was short-lived, not that I haven't enjoyed learning something new, it just isn't the same as knitting.
So, in my effort to clean up some of the UFOs, I have finished my black flower basket shawl.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to report in the knitting department. My 93 year old grandmother was moved into assisted living on August 1st and we've been cleaning out her house ever since. You know those news stories you read about people having a house so full of stuff that a person can't even sit down? That's my grandmother's house. We have filled 5 20-yd dumpsters and will probably need at least one more before we are through. It's been fun in a lot of ways, kind of a treasure hunt, but we are all ready for it to be completed. On Thursday Aug. 24 we are having our second estate sale, since we couldn't put everything out during the first one.

She has an old floor loom in her basement which she said I could have. I don't know anything about weaving, but she also has a table loom that I'm going to use to learn. She was a knitter, but did more crochet than knitting. And she embroidered a lot of linens and added crochet edgings. She had a large stash of yarn, but all of it had to be thrown out because it wasn't stored properly. I have a small stash and will definitely be thinking twice before I make another yarn purchase.

I'm satisfied with the size, I thought it might be too small before I started the final chart.

Kiri is done except for weaving in the ends. Here's a close up which shows the colors more accurately.

I'm still knitting kiri. It takes about two hours to knit 10 rows, so it will be awhile before it's finished. I purchased two skeins, but I think I'll use only one and make it smaller. Since I'm using size 4 needles, the pattern is tighter than the original pattern and it's one of the reasons it's taking me longer to finish.

Blogger is misbehaving. I posted something yesterday and it shows up in the archives but not here.

I started another flower basket shawl using black fingering weight yarn. The shawl is almost done, but when I received my order from www.handpaintedyarn.com


I had to start another shawl. I love the vivid colors! This is lace weight wool, a little on the scratchy side, but I don't mind it, quite a change from the soft alpaca, though. I'm making the kiri shawl, which is very much like the flower basket shawl. At first, I was hesitant to make the kiri because I thought I would get bored, but the colors keep it interesting.