Simple Stitches, Crazy Stitches, Fun Knitting

Yay Knitting! We met and got up-to-date on projects.
Tricia worked on the teal scarf/shawl.

Tricia and teal scarf/shawl

Lois with an orange cable hat

Ethel got some new pink all-cotton thick-and-thin slubby yarn

purse body: garter-stitch sari ribbon

I’ve been working on another purse using the pattern on the front of this Quick Knits mag: it’s garter-stitch Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

The leather handles are from http://www.cindysbuttoncompany.com; I got them from Four Purls‘ vendor booth at the 2012 Florida Fiber Inn.

 

This other project I started is the Tokyo Scarf designed by Emre Koc featured in 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders, in Feza Alp yarn.

Tokyo Scarf in Alp

Ethel’s linen stitch cloth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethel was experimenting with linen stitch to duplicate some wash cloths we saw on Pinterest. I liked the subtle blending of the purple color band with the burnt-orange, but she liked the greater contrast of the blue band.

Ethel’s linen-stitch cloth with blue contrasting color band

Rainbow Loom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we brought out the Hands Free Rainbow Loom with Organizer Kit.

 

 

 

 

Ethel made a rubber-band ring on the loom in about 5 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

Ethel’s rainbow-loom ring

Great fun!

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Hot buttered knitting

Attendance was slim at Wednesday Night Knitting:  Ethel and myself. We did have low-stress fun talking and comparing projects, however.

First, she presented me with a beautiful portrait of my cat. So thrilled! I told Grayzie he can go ahead and kick the bucket, now that he’s been immortalized on paper! [just kidding, of course!]

portrait of Grayzie, by Ethel

700 feet (yards?) of jewel-toned yarn for a fall project

Then she showed her recent fiber acquisitions, the Aztec fall colors blend and the purple Key West Karibbean Kotton she got from Yarnworks, our local fiber haven.

drapey cotton yarn

And she brought out some other projects she’s been working on.

panels for a future felted purse from Noro Kureyon

entrelac panel

scarf from Plymouth Flower yarn

I finished my diagonal scarf in the citrus-colored Flower , and then made one for a doll [because the cats wouldn’t have it].

She thinks she's being punished

Doll and scarf from Flower yarn

The 100% nylon Flower yarn sure snagged on my dry cuticles as I worked with it. I decided to slather on some unrefined shea butter I picked up at the Quilt Expo, brand name Karique. When I came across a booth that displayed two huge dishes piled high with mounds of unrefined shea butter, I had to ask, “why are you selling this at a quilt show?” They told me that according to the many marvelous properties of raw shea butter (sounds like vegetarian snake oil, eh?), you can load up your hands and sew without worrying that it will stain or soak into your fabric. And then they proved it by inviting me to apply a generous blob and then wipe my hands on a clean white cloth. Gaw-lee, it was true, the thick paste, so emollient on my hands, didn’t transfer to the fabric at all. I suppose I don’t mind if my hands are anointed with vegetable fat while I work as long as I’m not greasing up the project. Rather exotic, I must say!

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Knit-a-rama Oasis

Wednesday Night Knitting was a fun oasis in the middle of a strenuous week!
Tina came with marvelous treasures: shea butter and olive oil homemade felted soap-and-washcloth-in-one! She had Pumpkin Pie and Rosemary Mint flavors. Check out the Verdae website that was referenced on the tags. The felted covering was really more like wrapped roving rather than a knitted, then felted, cloth.

Felted soaps

Tina also brought some great project ideas: a sushi scarf from Rostitchery and a pattern for a cabled hat on the Knifty Knitter loom (I recently bought a set of them at a great bargain price, thanks to Ethel’s coupon boost!) Thank you! Tina started on a new baby hat, with the small round knifty knitter, using a worsted weight in pure white for the ribbed brim and then adding some pink eyelash yarn for the top.

loomed baby hat, Tina adding the pink eyelash yarn for the top

Tina also brought to our attention a new quilting shop in the Oaks Mall that is worth checking out!

The loomed and felted trivet

She brought the finished product of her loomed I-cord hot pad. It felted very tightly but maintained the stitch patterns more than the needle-knitted I-cord trivet she did previously (see pics of both the trivets in-process in prior blog posts here).

Trish and acrylic wash cloth

Trisha brought a dish/wash cloth she’s been working on in a green variegated acrylic yarn. It’s got a garter stitch border and a ribbed pattern of seed stitch with a stockinette stripe. Beautiful!

Ethel and future sweater in process

Ethel began working on a boy’s sweater with some beautiful bulky yarn from Tuesday Morning. When she saw what a mess I had made with the linen/cotton hank I’d gotten from there, she abandoned the sweater and took over my “OCD Work” and by the end of the evening, presented me with this beautiful ball.

the linen/cotton blend, all sorted thanks to Ethel

Lois with white shell pattern

Lois decided she was tired of working on hats for the moment, and got started on a beautiful white shell. However, by the end of the session, she was back to working on a hat. She is the hatmaker!
Debbie didn’t want me to take a picture of the sock she was working on–IN REVERSE! And Beth didn’t knit, but told us some great aviation stories and about some of the many places she’s been jetting around to lately.

Chamomile Sugar 'N Cream cloth

I finished the dish cloth I’d been working on, in Chamomile-scented Sugar “N Cream cotton. I really liked the smell of it, but I got distracted crocheting the ends, as you can see by the protruding edge! I got a chance to run to the Yarn Basket in Winter Haven, and got some more of the Rozetti Cocoon to finish my scarf.

Rozetti Cocoon Multi scarf in progress

Pink Camo purse body

I worked on the Pink Camo (a Hobby Lobby yarn) purse body–a soft, fluffy mohair-like but acrylic yarn, purse body–what a joy of mindless stockinette that goes fast in size 19 needles. Next time—report on the FL Fiber In!

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