My self-imposed goal of knitting a pair of socks a month (like the Yarn Harlot) might have been over-ambitious. I’m knitting very slowly – it’s school holidays (so just as I get the pattern sorted in my head a little person demands my attention) and it is very hot and humid (not good weather for knitting).
Filed under Knitting, Sock Knitting
Some finished objects for 2010
Back on January the 1st 2010 I wrote craft resolutions for the year. Here is that post …
My plan for 2010 is to consume less. So to make that happen I’m not going to buy any fabric this year or knitting yarn. I don’t have a stash of quilt wadding, so I’ll still need to buy that and the thread for quilting.
I’m also not going to buy any more craft books. I subscribe to the Inspirations magazine and I think I’ll continue to buy The Knitter magazine.
I’m also going to keep a record of my craft spending – it’s easy to get carried away particularly when I read other peoples blogs and covet stuff.
By the end of the year I want to have finished
- Alphabet Quilt
- Spiral Blanket
- Pair of Socks (using this yarn)
- Scarf
- Another quilt (design yet to be decided)
- A machine embroidery project
So how did I go? I definitely failed on the consume less goal – I bought more fabric, yarn, books and magazines I now even subscribe to The Knitter. I also kept no record (there might be a good reason for that!).
I did finish the Alphabet Quilt, but not the spiral blanket, the scarf or the socks. I did finish a different scarf and pair of socks, the hand print quilt (for the pre-primary teacher) and a couple of different machine embroidery projects.
So my goals for 2011 are:
Obviously I need to focus on finishing things!
Filed under miscellaneous
I’m going to make socks. Above is my swatch – 7 stitches/inch (odd how knitting and quilting still use imperial measurements).
The yarn is Moda Vera Noir (Sorry I can’t find a link).
The diamond seed pattern is as follows …
Multiples of 8
R1: *p1, k7 * rep from *
R2&8: *k1, p1, k5, p1, * rep from *
R3&7: *k2, p1, k3, p1, k1 * rep from *
R4&6: *k3, p1, k1, p1, k2 * rep from *
R5: *k4, p1, k3*
My aim is to have this finished by the end of January (I’ll see if a self-imposed deadline makes any difference).
Filed under Knitting, Sock Knitting
I have the Vogue Knitting App for my Ipod.
Yesterday I finally took stock of my yarn stash and knitting needle collection and stored it all in the inventory. This means, I hope, I won’t buy the same set of needles again (how many sets of 4mm needles does one need?).
I also discovered a few stashes of yarn that I completely forgotten about (oops!).
Filed under Knitting
I finished the top I was knitting for Miss P – as you can see the neck is a bit funny!
Here are the instructions for the neck decreases …
Change colour as before. Knit until before last round with the
colour. Decrease by K2tog 20 (24) 28 (28) s evenly around the last
round with this colour.
I understood this to mean: knit two together and then knit 28 stitches and repeat until the round is completed. I now realise it means knit two together 28 times (and spread the decreases evenly around the round).
I know I can undo it and fix it, but I just can’t face it at the moment. I shall move onto something small (like socks). It’s been really hot and knitting something big that covers me is very unappealing.
Filed under Knitting
There are heaps of post-it notes stuck in my copy of this book and I’m only up to Lesson Two – Yoke Patterns Weaving and Finishing! I wish I had this book when I first started knitting.
Things like this …
It’s a good idea to form the habit of slipping the first stitch of every row in back-and-forth knitting as this makes any selvedge firm without tightness.
And I had no idea that knit and purl were the two sides of the same stitch!
Also, when joining the round you should use both strands for three stitches.
There is even diagrams about the way a stitch should look on the needle (for a knit stitch the right half of the loop should be in front of the needle.
There is information on decreases that lean to the right (k2tog) and the left (ssk).
This book is fabulous and I think knitters of all abilities would find something to interest them and possibly learn something new.
Filed under Book Review, Knitting
I’ve made the sleeves and attached them – not as tricky as I thought. Although I cast-off the stitches on the body and the sleeves and I think it would have been better to keep them live and the graft them – now I’m going to have to use mattress stitch.
Filed under Knitting
This is Miss P’s Christmas embroidery (the design is from here) – I used a christmas print on the Sunbonnet Sue, but the Christmas parts are a bit hidden.
I used two layers of iron-on tear- away stabiliser and it has worked well. I also starched the fabric, which does seam to make a difference.
Filed under Applique, Machine Embroidery
It has become a bit of a family tradition that I make Miss A and Miss P Christmas T-Shirts. The design above is for Miss A – it’s from Bunnycup embroidery. I used two layers of stabiliser, but it still puckered a bit.
I’m stitching Miss P’s at the moment.
Filed under Machine Embroidery
I’ve been working on my all-in-one top. I’m at the point when I start knitting the sleeves.
The pattern so far (from here) has been really easy to follow – just round and round with a purl round every 10th time. I do have to say that stitch markers have made the whole process a bit quicker – I don’t have to think about the starting point.
I’m slightly concerned about the sleeves. I think I understand how it is all going to go together (I could be wrong of course), but I want the pattern on the body to flow into the pattern on the sleeves – this might require some thought.
