You Say It’s Your Birthday? at Knitting

This goes out to our former group member Kerrie, who had a birthday today. We miss you Kerrie! Interestingly enough, besides Kerrie, 3 other knitting groupies have had birthdays in the past month. Are people who were born under the sign of Leo natural needlework divas? I thought so.

Rachel contemplates a new project in crochet

Lois asks Ethel for some clarification in her sock project

Grayzie tries to dive in nose-first

how about this bag?

Wait, here’s another one! MMMMMMM….

I got up to “L” on the Martin Storey blanket

Hope everyone with a happy summer birthday feels renewed and ready to roar in a new year, full of great new needlework! XD

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Show and Tell Knitting Mystery

Knit one, purl one, knit one, purl one….oh, hi there!

We made lots of progress in the past week.

Lois’s cable afghan

Ethel with freeform crochet WIP

Ethel was actually involved in 3 projects, this just shows one.

Rachael finished her cotton wash cloth

Today was Rachael’s birthday, and she was wearing the awesome dress that she was working on a few weeks ago. She said, to celebrate, she was going to go home and cut out another dress. Can’t wait to see what fabric and style pattern she chooses.

Tricia was tired and said she hadn’t done much on the white sparkly scarf, so I agreed to hold off on the photo of her project this time.

my alphabet afghan blocks

Lois brought a few items for “Show and Tell.” Can you guess what they are?

Lois’s Guess What? Item #1

Item #2 What is it?

Seriously, we knew the first item–a darning egg, right? But does anyone know what the second item is?

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Lovely Knitting on a Midsummer’s Night

Ethel and her new phone (and towel hanger WIP)

Great knitting meeting this week!

Tricia worked on a sparkly white scarf

Tricia took a wash cloth pattern and extended it into a scarf!

Elizabeth’s crochet components

Elizabeth worked on an afghan in what she calls “granny strips”–her version of Granny squares, except they are long strips. The new purple strip will soon have a light lavender center. She will probably edge these in black.

Lois’s afghan, two panels-at- a -time cable construction

Lois is also making an afghan, with two long center panels. It’s easier when you make the same thing, two-at-a-time, she says.

Lois likes this cable needle best so far

Martin Storey blanket

The cats interfered with my new project, a knitted blanket from the Aran and Celtic Children’s book. One block at a time, in Rowan felted tweed yarn, with intarsia alphabet letters in each block. Ethel showed me how to weave in the intarsia loops that are formed on the back. (I took a little break from the Sophie Tunic—I’ll be back…) To see Martin Storey’s Fall/Winter brochure from Rowan look at this you-tube vid here.

Rachel and cotton knit cloth

So what’s on your needles this fine summer night?

 

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Knitting as Grounding in the Midst of Life

Three of us stole a little time together knitting, after a hiatus and in the middle of life-altering events! Some of us are back from vacation, some of us have had houseguests. One of us has a two-year old who’s just been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes 😦 . One of us had a lightning strike and lost almost all her household  appliances.

Meanwhile, Ethel got interested in a new needle-art form:

Freeform Crochet

 

Looks very intriguing!

Lois finished her teal green shawl. We get to observe Lois making lots of hats, shawls, afghans, and other beautiful objects. But then they disappear off her radar and we don’t always find out where they went, because she doesn’t like to jump into the limelight. But her creations go to folks at the Atrium, a local assisted-living facility, family members, and friends who might be staying in a local hospital or rehabilitation center in which overzealous air-conditioning necessitates a warm blankie.

Lois and her new project, a white cable-knit afghan

 

 

We live in Florida, and in the summer IT IS HOT. So we love it when we have someone to knit for who might appreciate warm woolies, and also tropical-friendly fibers that are nice to knit with in our climate.

Ethel and her new project, a kitchen towel hanger

 

We’re in the second week of July and already the stores are full of fall stuff. The seasons are racing along. What are you knitting this summer? Have you started on fall/winter projects yet? What is your favorite summer knitting project?

 

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Knit/Crochet on the 8th Day

Today is the ninth of January and suddenly I feel like everything’s changed.

One harbinger of change is the Zero to Hero program I’ve signed into: it’s a month-long series of blog posts by our esteemed platform, WordPress, that’s supposed to help us evolve from a pitiful, nowhere blog to a fantastic one.

I’ve made a few changes; you may have noticed some differences in appearance. But I think the hugest development is that I’ve branched out in my observance of other peoples’ blogs. One notable new category in my Reader is “Art.” Art (in the WP Reader anyway) is Amour, in my mind now! Oh, gosh, I LOVE scrolling through and seeing what bloggers have posted. And they don’t seem to care if they have few comments or much feedback. It’s a treasure trove of fun things to look at and be inspired by. Also, more and more Knitting and Spinning blogs are springing up in the Reader!

Last night we knitted after a holiday hiatus.

Ethel made a girl’s dress

Ethel finished her grandson’s vest

Ethel’s poncho’s matching hat with flower

ceramic yarn bowl Ethel got as a gift

Ethel’s clip-on crocheted flower hair ornaments

hair ornaments: the clip sides

I was working on a doll sweater from Simply Stylish

Trish worked on her blanket

Newbie Robin learns the art of crochet from a friendly teacher

Our shoes were notable. Guess whose shoes I forgot to photograph? We wish everyone warm footsies!

crocs

leopard clogs

tasseled sherpa-lined clogs

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Knitting, Natterly

At Wednesday Night Knitting we knitted and nattered about current fibery happenings. I’ve been busy and not wanting to drive at night, so I’ve missed the last two monthly meetings of the Gainesville Handweavers’ Guild. In September, the program was all about Ginger Clark’s (of local Ewephoric Fibers) recent Patagonia Cashmere experiences. I was reading the latest issue of Spin-off, and happened to see this gorgeous ad for Golding spinning paraphernalia featuring Ginger Clark! She’s nationwide!

Ginger Clark ad in Fall 2013 Spin-off

2013 Fall issue

I also missed October’s meeting. One of the guild members filled me in on that session, which was presented by local PhD student Carlee Forbes, about Woven Raffia in the Kongo, part of a current exhibition at the Harn Museum, called Kongo Across the Waters. This project was a collaboration between the Harn Museum and the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium. Luckily the exhibit will still be up at the Harn for a while, and the Guild plans another African textiles presentation at January’s meeting, The History of Indigo in Africa.

Meanwhile, we worked on our projects: Ethel on her hat, vest, and a new blue knitted project.

Ethel’s new blue bamboo and silk project

Auracania vest for a boy

more of Ethel’s hat

I finished a doll’s purse.

Trisha and the beautiful afghan of many colors

Trisha worked on her afghan some more. Isn’t it looking grand? She told us she had to frog and redo the whole row she did last week because she got a color out of sync. Daylight savings time had us nodding and yawning.

Bob’s dreaming of wooly times

Grayzie’s shutting out the nattering

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Knitting and Carding and Spinning Paraphernalia

We departed briefly from our normal knitting activities at Wednesday Night Knitting and watched a DVD about Carding Wool. I love that someone at Interweave put the techniques of 4 different “stars” of the spinning world together in one production. I like to see what these folks who’ve just followed their interests in fiber (or, in Norman Kennedy’s case, his livelihood since childhood) have to say.

clockwise from top left: silk noil, raw Corriedale, hemp sliver, combed alpaca/bamboo top, hand carders for wool

I am amazed at how much influence preparation of the fiber has to the final product, the handspun yarn. And because I feel that I am a grouper rather than a stringer, as far as learning styles go, I’ve enjoyed watching videos and reading texts about spinning and its myriad little components.

Lois has made much progress on the afghan

Lois worked on her lovely soft afghan, in the fluffy gray and blue and purple variegated acrylic yarn. Someone is going to feel very loved when wrapped up in that plushy blanket!

I made progress on mine, which is supposed to be a “wrap” but it’s really an afghan that will have a wide ruffle around it.

Ethel brought Rattie to show us her Norwegian costume.

Ethel and Norwegian Rat

Since Rattie is of the hooded rat species, Ethel wants to make her a hood also. Her little vest is edged with gold and green cross-stitching, she has a golden needleworked necklace, and she is wearing a crocheted flower coronet.

Chevron cowl

Ethel put the final touches on her knitted cowl by joining the ends with Kitchener Stitch and a Russian bind-off. We were enthusiastic about all the cast-ons and bind-offs in her new book 211 Ways to Begin and End Your Knitting. That’s a lot of ways, isn’t it?

Cobble-stitch sample

Here’s another recent work by Ethel, the cobble stitch.

We discussed possibilities for the new ebay wheel, which appears to not be an antique as misrepresented in the online auction. However, we may get her to spin and see what her cute little self can craft with us.

ebay wheel

DH is still planning, among other projects, to make a spinning wheel from beginning to end. I also happened upon a cool project for a drum carder for $50 that he may decide to try out. [please,please, please!] We love our tools and other mechanical playthings! I just got an email from a family member today, in which she congratulated me on obtaining a spinning wheel and asked if knitting was a lot easier to do on the wheel than by hand? 🙂

Next Wednesday will be the February meeting of the Gainesville Handweavers Guild; subject Navajo Weaving. It’s the last meeting before their parent organization’s (Florida Tropical Weaver’s Guild) annual conference. I’ve heard that some of the conference workshops are filled up but you may want to check out the small classes and the vendors from all over.

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Moveable Feasts, with Knitting

This week has been a bit confusing and over the top re: holidays. Gotta love America’s melting pot of holidays! On the 10th it was a celebration of Chinese New Year. Time for some General Tso’s chicken. My DH and I always argued about whether it was General Tso or General Tao. He asked one of his graduate students and she said it could be either one, but that it’s really not something you’d eat in China. It’s American Chinese food.

Tuesday it was Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday. Here the Mardi Gras meal includes King Cake, a sweet yeast-dough ring cake with a cinnamon-sugar filling and purple, green and gold frosting. I’ve read in other blogs that on Shrove Tuesday, folks always eat pancakes. Today is Valentine’s Day and the hustle/bustle is all about luuvvv. Chocolate! One of our fellow gym class members met us at the door this morning with this little treat.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Saturday is our local Gold & Green Ball. Click on this page to see more Gold & Green Ball. Without holidays, what would we do with our time and money?

But that brings me around to yesterday’s “holiday,” Wednesday Night Knitting. Ethel brought chocolate-covered pomegranate pips with which to celebrate. Woo hoo!

chevron scarf with 2 yarns

The scarf pattern Ethel chose is a variation of this one in Creative Knitting.

scarf pattern inspiration

she used a 100% merino tweedy twist and then half of the scarf has a strand of green sparkly Stacy Charles Ritratto held double with the wool for a little excitement.

Lois’ new picks

Lois and Ethel discussed new possibilities for afghans. Lois tried the feather and fan, but didn’t like how the yarn bunched up. Perhaps simple stockinette would make a better blanket? Stockinette with a seed stitch border to keep the edges from curling up? Long circular needles will come in handy to keep the long rows in order. I started a kind of an afghan: the pattern is Lana Grossa’s Mohair Wrap from the Quick Knits mag. Except rather than luxurious mohair, I used Joann Sensations boucle, hence my title variation: Ghetto Mohair Wrap. I have a ton of this yarn in my stash. (“Perhaps the result of a clearance sale?” Ethel asked.) I’m not crazy about boucle yarn, however, I started knitting this and I like it a lot.

Ghetto mohair project

It’s a big rectangle of stockinette stitch with a wide ruffle border. With this, I have become a knitter who has “more than one project on the needles” at a time–something I could never imagine myself doing. I have evolved!

International Sock of Doom

Here’s another current WIP, the February sock from the Sock It To Me 2013 ravelry group. I’m also working on the Laera Shawl via Craftsy and another ruffle scarf.

Ethel’s grand haul of Auraucana and Ella Rae yarn from Tuesday Morning

On the spinning front, I latched onto this antique flax wheel I found in McIntosh. It’s not quite ready to spin; it needs a drive band and the broken flyer fixed. But I’ve had a lot of fun dreaming of folks in the past who may have spun with her, and the practical projects they may have provided to their luuuvvved ones. Happy early spring holidays everyone!

flax wheel and bird cage distaff

flyer & bobbin

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Knitting Merges With Woodworking: We Made Our Own Nostepinder

It was nostepinder night at Knitting! We started with some blanks of cherry wood that my DH had cylinderized to make it go quicker (in case our wood turning took longer than we figured it might). Trish was the first to start out at the Jet mini-lathe. DH bought this pretty baby a short while ago, and put it on a rolling stand to make it easy to move into the optimal turning position. Lucky for us, we had a beautiful January night with no rain or wind, and a balmy temperature in the low 70’s. Yay!

Tricia perfecting the turn

She chose to put in a few little coves and beads on her nostepinde. We used Easy Tools for this work, and everyone seemed to be very happy with them.

applying some grit

Trish was a natural. After forming the tool and adding some unique flourishes, she sanded it with a couple of different grades of paper, and DH helped put on a linseed oil finish and cut it off with the parting tool.

Tricia and her brand new nostepinde that she just finished making a moment ago!

Next, Ethel took on the mini-lathe.

Ethel roughing out the pinde

While she was sanding, Lois drove up. She showed us a bowl that had been made from a beech tree in their own front yard. Marvelous workmanship!

Lois with beech wood bowl

Ethel and her finished nostie

Ethel was very satisfied with her functional work of art and was eager to get right into center-pull yarn ball winding.

Ready, set, wind!

Now we were ready to wind. Just for more clarification, we watched a great You-Tube video about how to wind the yarn by Noreen Crone-Findlay. I have watched this so many times now, I almost know it by heart. Noreen mentioned that her husband had made that particular nostie, and we loved the shape and design burned into the wooden handle. And thanks to Kathleen Cubley at Knitting Daily blog, whose irresistible post on Discovering New Tools awakened me to the possibility that we, too, could have our own personal, individually-crafted nostepinder! I’ve been wanting to merge knitting with woodworking all last year, and this was the perfect chance to make it happen! A fabulous start to an artsy-craftsy new year!

Ethel is making a cowl out of the Red Heart Boutique Magical yarn that was featured on the cover of Love of Knitting magazine, and was the article in their Knit-a-long. A truly gorgeous purple and gray, thick and thin, sparkly and matte combination yarn!

Aslan Tango ball giftie from Ethel

She gave me a skein of acrylic/polyamide Tango yarn that she had wound into a center-pull ball using a size 35 needle for a nostepinde, prior to making the actual tool tonight! Thanks, Ethel!

Tricia and her knitted afghan

Trish almost made it out the door without showing off her WIP, a beautiful knitted afghan of white and many colors. Inspiring! Thanks to everyone for coming to Knitting and making it so fun. Looking forward to many yarny adventures in 2013.

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Knever-ending Kneedles and Knots

Wednesday Night Knitting was relocated to Tiffany’s house last evening, owing to the fact that she’s pregnant with twins :). She and her mom, Lorraine, hosted a fun party, and Tiffany actually made some progress on her afghan. One month left to go; will she do it? She says the twins will have to share it at this point.

The family that knits together…

Meanwhile, Lorraine was busy with a blanket for ANOTHER grandchild due shortly after the these two. Makes me think of Psalm 127 verse 3 – 5, a Bible verse about children being an heritage from the Lord and comparing them to arrows, that always makes me smile. Here’s a fun site called Quiverfull.com. May everyone who wants to, experience the joys of a full quiver!

Lorraine and blanket

Ethel and citrus disks

Ethel finished two of her citrus-colored circles. She says the directions identify them as potholders, but they could also be cotton wash cloths. I have seen pattern sheets for these in the stores at JoAnn’s and Michael’s. She is working on the lemony one next. Lois worked on —guess what? More hats! Beautiful job!

Lois and Ethel, modeling Lois’ hats

Tina and new project

Tina worked on a new project: another potholder, washcloth, or will it be a coaster?

a fast, easy slip knot

I was in awe of the speed and agility she possesses in making a slip knot. When I started knitting again, I had a hard time remembering how to do it; I had to look at a picture tutorial every time for ages. She learned from her dad, a knot-tying fisherman.

Yummy treats

Thanks for the refreshments!

We also got to see the dinosaur-themed quilt, one of two

Dinosaur quilt

Lorraine has been working on recently, and the other quilt Tiffany started and her sister finished. Gorgeous!

Tiffany and her quilt

Ahem; I didn’t accomplish anything worthwhile this week. I looked for some projects in the various books and magazines dotting the landscape of my sewing room, but I either didn’t have the right needles or the right yarn for them. JoAnn’s and Michael’s don’t have any circular needles other than 16″, 29″, or 36″ and I needed some 24″ and 32″ ones. Wah, wah, wah. Looks like a trip to Yarnworks is on the agenda. But I wanted to show pics of a doll that a friend found at a yard sale; she has the most elaborate crocheted outfit.

Doll

Is the underskirt single crochet or slip stitch?

I can remember back in my youth, I saw a lot of dolls with long crocheted dresses splayed out on a chenille bedspread in someone’s guest room. And the large, odd-shaped jars of bath salts (I seriously hope no one finds this blog post who is on a Google search for bath salts. Shudder!) with crocheted bottle-covers on the backs of toilet seats in someone’s pink ceramic-tiled bathroom. Oh yeah, the pictures in my mind’s eye are of my grandma’s house. She was born in 1899. If she was a young woman today, she might be one of those yarn-bombers who covers bicycles and tree trunks and fences with knit and crochet.

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