Here I am again
Boy, I really got out of the habit of blogging regularly. Sorry about that, life has been hard for the last few months. Now I have about a million things to say but I will just have to choose a few and space them out.
First — Happy 16th birthday (a little late) to my dear Henry! You’re really fun to hang out with and I am so proud of you!
We went to the zoo together on a cool cloudy Sunday for photography fun:
Here’s another nice thing I want to share. Dan gave me a tiny rug-hooking kit for my birthday and I had such fun learning this new skill! Very soon I want to make something bigger. It seems like a great craft for using up the small amounts of leftover yarn that I end up with, and all I will need to buy is a bit of burlap for the foundation!
And I’m working on a beautiful yellow lace shawl. The pattern is “Hartfield”. Details on Ravelry: http://ravel.me/kayray/h1
Category: Blog, Handmade 4 comments »
October 8th, 2011 at 9:31 am
Henry’s such a cool kid. Happy 16th to him, indeed!
I love the sheep! What a thoughtful gift from Dan! And I love the lace shawl. I made a couple of lace scarves, and I really enjoy that process when I can memorize the pattern. But if I can’t, then I get into a world of trouble and find myself doing almost as much unknitting as knitting.
How do you do it??
October 9th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Kathy, do you remember how I used to admire the little hooked-rug pictures in your kitchen? I think Scott’s mom made them? Anyway, I’ve wanted to try rug-hooking ever since then!
Lace… keep your wits about you and trust your instincts. Lace patterns usually make sense, and after a while you can kind of feel if something has gone wrong. I sometimes drop yarnovers by accident, so when things seem “funny” that’s the first thing I look for. It’s very easy to recreate a dropped yarnover if you catch it on the next row or so.
Also, use lifelines at sensible times so you can keep track of where you are and have a safe haven to rip back to, if necessary. This pattern is pretty easy so I’m only using lifelines to mark off the repeats. They also eliminate a lot of row-counting. I hate counting rows!
Also, I prefer to work from charts. My brain copes with them better than with the “k3tog, *YO k2tog* twice” kind of stuff…
October 11th, 2011 at 6:54 am
I still have those hooked rug pictures! My mom gave them to Scott and me for our wedding present, actually. She bought them in Newfoundland or somewhere like that–it was some kind of indigenous craft.
Thanks for the hints about knitting lace. Keeping my wits about me! LOL! That’s such good advice!
Are lifelines the little strings I can see in the photo? I will check on youtube to see if there’s a video about using those. :-) So far there has always been a youtube tutorial for any knitting hurdle I’ve needed to cross. What a resource!
Right now I have my hands full though. Scott’s stepmom sent me 8 balls of pure cashmere yarn and an easy pullover sweater pattern, so that’s what’s on my needles right now. It’s amazing yarn, it feels like butter slipping through my fingers as I knit with it.
And then she also sent me a bunch of yarn for a second sweater after this one. Yikes! She filled up my dance card for the next couple months I think. But it was amazingly generous of her.
So–sweater knitting, here I come! My main fear, aside from the construction after the knitting, has been the sheer scope of a sweater project. But this first one I’m doing in the cashmere, the yarn is worsted weight or maybe a tad bulkier than that, on #10 needles. It’s coming along pretty quickly.
Wish we were hanging out and knitting TOGETHER!
October 11th, 2011 at 10:39 am
I don’t see any cashmere sweaters on your Ravelry page… hint, hint.
Yes, the strings are lifelines. Just thread a needle with anything smooth and fine — sewing thread, crochet cotton — and run the needle through the loops of a row while they’re still on the knitting needle, skipping stitch markers of course. Leave a lot of slack and tie the ends together. Now every stitch in that row is present and accounted for if you need to rip back to that point.
Yes come knit with me!!!