Category: Knitting

Here goes. I’m going to try my hand needles again on what’s hopefully a simpler lace project than that dumb tank I tried just recently…and totally FROGGED!! This one is from Meg Swansen’s beautiful book, A Gathering of Lace. So far, so good. But I’m being reeeeally careful and counting stitches each way, back and forth, and tinking wherever it’s not right. I’m using the lovely and beautiful Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in taupe…so soft!!! This is taking longer than the average knit for me, but frankly I’m being much more particular than normal. Have I finally learned my lesson?

Nah. Just tired of going to the frog pond. (Ribbit!)

 

I’m totally enjoying this pattern and am so glad I bought it. I’m having a blast trying different yarns and seeing how they felt. I’m trying to figure out a way to make them look more MALE. And I’ve added little snaps to the straps instead of the buttons suggested because there’s no way I could sew on tiny buttons AND an elastic to go around it. No, unh-unh!Now I have to find some baby feet to fill them! Luckily, in my very large family, there’s always a baby! WooHoooo!!!!

I think this Blanche hat is my favorite hat pattern to make. It’s only slightly brainless knitting, which makes it a great project to take places where you only have to minimally think about what you’re doing. It seems to work great with whatever yarn you choose to use, and it comes out looking like you really did something creative! It’s a wonderful pattern! Thanks, Janelle!(And it SO works on this little bear, dudn’t?)

Love this toe-up sock from Knitty.

And I REALLY like the little picot edging. Don’t know how I did it ‘cept followedthe directions,but it sure did come out cutsie and all.

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But I majorly screwed up the gusset area. Not sure exactly what I did wrong, but its mate will be done differently, nodoubtaboutit.

Well, these have to be the cutest little bootie-shoes I ever did see! I found them on someone else’s blog along with the pattern, and now I can’t find that blog! DOH! Anyway, I wanted to see how they’d knit up with this RED HEART KIDS YARN. I put little red heart buttons on because that’s all I could find, but with a blue or green button, they could be for both boy babies AND girl babies. And they were fun to make in an evening. Well, they were fun after I made the first one and figured out how to read the pattern correctly. But I’ll definitely do these again! Thanks to whoever that was that had them on their blog!

Here are some of the gals who keep me knittin’ pretty. We meet every Saturday morning at the local coffee house from about 9:00 to noon (or however long we can convince ourselves to stay). We’re all at different levels of knitting, with Caryn being our ‘local expert’ (though she’d beg to differ). I’m on the left, then Caryn, Anita (we like to call her “Aknita”), my sister Molly (who, though a school teacher, refuses to learn to read a pattern), and Brooke (who told us today she PREGGERS!). The only one missing is Kay. I’ll catch her next time, though.

It was sad. She’d worked on it for weeks. The pattern was difficult to read, especially for a beginning knitter with no fear. We all tried to help. Even me. (That was more like the blind leading the blind.)We’d seen it done before. Caryn, frustrated with a quick-knit cardigan sewn together wrong (we blame ourselves; there was a lot of yakking), and having a heck of a time trying to frog it, impulsively and with no regret tossed the whole project into the trash can. We were shocked. (Although I have to admit I was a bit impressed, myself.)

But we all learn by example. Even those of us old enough to use our mom’s words on our own kids. Aknita tried to fix her mistake. I tried, too. So did Caryn. In the end, after hours of picking and pulling and snipping and bitching, what else could she do? A precedence had been set.

I don’t know what happened to me, but a couple nights ago, before bed, I thought I’d try and knit up a gauge swatch for this great-looking sweater in the book Hot Knits by Melissa Leapman.  Well.

I was using Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, a really beautiful yarn, but also quite slippery on Addi circs.

Not being real familiar with lace, I was trying my darndest just to see if I could accomplish a swatch in the lace pattern written. Instead of winding down for bed, I got so wound UP in this dumb, slippery, swatch that my frustration level (and blood pressure) kept rising.

Then I made a little “harRUMPH” noise. Which turned into a little giggle. Which then turned into a laugh. Which led me to hoots and guffaws and screeching laughter that finally caused my son, waaaay down the hall with his headphones on, to come to our room to find out, “What’s the matter with mom?”

I could barely see through my tears as I found my way downstairs. By the time all was said and done, my insides ached, my nose was stuffed up, and my face looked like I’d had a bad botox job.

here is a fine line between hysterical laughter and just plain hysterics.