Poppy

Just found a new pattern that I am absolutely in love with. It’s called “Poppy”. You can find it here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/poppy-11 This was truly a case of love-at-first-sight for me. It’s just a really elegant, simple look. I knew I had to make one right away. And since a friend of mine is having a baby girl in February, I seized the opportunity to knit something really cute for her.

My friend and her husband are huge Chicago Bear fans. So when I looked at the pattern I instantly envisioned it in navy and orange. I think it looks fantastic. (Please, noone tell my husband that I put one of our Packer babies in Bear’s colors.)

My next step, I think, will be to convert this pattern to be knit on my Passap. It should be easy enough, it’s essentially one giant sock heel. Even the garter stitch rows won’t be too bad on the machine because they are just single ridges.

Here’s a link to my project page on Ravelry, if you’re interested: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/lzbthmcmullen/poppy

Up is down… Down is up…

Have you ever had one of those days when you had too much to do and everything that could possibly go wrong did? Yeah, I’m having a month like that. This week has been especially bad. First, I lost my phone. It turns out one of my kids had hidden it AND put it on “airplane” mode so it wouldn’t ring. Then, I went to McDonald’s to get breakfast only to discover that somehow my wallet had mysteriously disappeared from my purse. (I did find it later, at home.) I have tons of paperwork that needs to be done, but I also have a ton of homework. AHHH! Where to start?

On the knitting front however, I just ordered a complete set of DPNs off eBay; and I’m getting ready to make gauge swatches for a Christmas tree skirt for my pastor.

I’m hoping to have some nice knitting/crochet pictures to show here in the next few days.

Oh, wait! I just remembered the baby shower gifts I made:

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a cute pair of Cowboy “boots” to match the hat, but somehow I missed getting a picture of them before I mailed them to Texas. These are for my Sister-in-Law’s sister who is having a baby in December (I think it’s December).

Done, done, done!

WooHoo! I finished my scarf/shawl and got the pictures submitted for class. Here’s a look at the finished product.

I absolutely love how it turned out. I have dubbed my version of this pattern the “Spring of Life” shawl because of how the butterflies remind me of the whimsy of youth. I hope my grade reflects the amount of time I put into this project.

They’re done!

Finished my socks today. They just need washed with the next load of laundry and they’ll be ready for wear. Check them out:

Sorry for the bad pictures (and the swollen ankles). I should be able to get better pictures after they are washed!

Alternate Progress

Well, I’m still working on the socks; I’m up to the heel on the second one. But I had to take time off from them to work on a project for a Humanities class I’m taking. I had to come up with an original art project based on the word “Spring”. I am not really a “art person” so I’m knitting for my project. This is what I have so far:
It’s a heavily modified version of Foldi’s Butterfly Lace Shawl. Heavily modified because it’s a hand-knitting pattern and I’m knitting it on my Passap. I love how it’s looking so far. I’m about half done with the knitting. I need to knit the other half of the shawl and graft the two pieces together at the center. I am also thinking about dyeing it starting with a dark pink at the ends and fading to the natural color at the center.

Discoveries

I’ve been working on the Orla Spring Socks pattern from Ravelry here. And I have discovered a few things:
1. I only like ankle socks. I originally made a taller sock and I didn’t like how it felt on my ankle.
2. I HATE French heels. I knit one complete sock according to the pattern, but I am now frogging it to make a pair that I will actually wear. I prefer a short-row heel, at the moment the Fish Lips Kiss heel is my go-to.

You can see from the picture that the FLK heel is much smoother; it also fits better on my foot.
3. I love the “flat” toe from the pattern (with a few modifications).

I love the roundness of this toe. The pattern originally called to you to decrease down to 8 stitches and then gather them, but that would have completely ruined the shape. Instead, I knit toe-up starting with 24sts and just changed all the decreases to increases. I love the look of it, and it fits perfectly.
4. It takes about the same amount of time to knit a sock as it does to drive from Lebanon, MO to San Antonio, TX. I knit, or rather re-knit, the first sock of the pair while my husband drove us to San Antonio for vacation this last week.

My new socks

These are my brand new socks, fresh off the e6000. I just finished them today. I have to say I love how I managed to get the patterns to almost match perfectly. That’s very hard to do on the Passap because you can’t see what you’re doing until you’re finished.
These took most of one ball of Premier Yarns: Non-wool Sock Yarn. I picked up a ball of purple and a ball of blue last time I was at Hobby Lobby for $4.99 each. $5 isn’t too bad for a durable, washable pair of socks! They are a little large at the moment, but from a previous pair with this same yarn, I know they will be perfect after they’re washed. Link to my Ravelry project page for these: Footie Socks.


This is all the yarn I have left from the ball. It’s a good thing I have small-ish feet. (I wear a size 7.5 shoe) Although if I were to knit for my friend Megan (a size 4.5 shoe) I could probably get three pairs out of two balls of yarn. LOL!

Lady Cornwall Finished

Well I just finished my Lady Cornwall. And I just discovered (the hard way) that apparently my mystery yarn was wool. I didn’t even know I had any wool in the house! I threw the shrug in the washing machine so it would be clean before I steam blocked it (what you do with acrylic); but I noticed when I went to switch my clothes to the dryer, that it had slightly felted. Bummer! Needless to say it is now drying on top of the dryer instead of inside it.

Still looks great, though. Still it’s good that I had already planned to make another one because I don’t think this one will stay in my house very long being hand-wash only.

Notes for next time: Continue YO increases all the way down the front; pair with double decreases for the last half to keep the same shape.

Texas Tree Skirt

So, I’ve finally finished knitting all the wedges for my husband’s Christmas tree skirt. Working on blocking all the pieces today.

Why do I bother blocking? Is it really worth all the work? I did use acrylic yarn after all. Well, take a look at this “before and after” picture. This is two wedges of the same design one before blocking and one after.

Quite the difference, huh? I hope to get all the pieces steamed and seamed today. Then all I have to do is knit the inside and outside borders.

In case your wondering, I’m blocking these pieces on an exercise mat. I picked it up from Wal-Mart this morning. It’s this one here. I will eventually get a grid marked on it to make blocking easier. I already checked and Sharpie won’t rub off even when vigorously steamed.

How many stitches…

…will fit on a 14” knitting needle?
Well, for me, in worsted weight yarn, the answer is about 195. Yep, that’s all 195 stitches of the last row of my Lady Cornwall all on one needle.

Now I have the wonderful task of switching to a circular needle and knitting all the ribbing around this thing. Yay, me! I hope to have this finished by Monday evening. Hopefully I can find somewhere to block it where the kids will leave it alone.

Finally, an update

Well, it’s been a while. I thought I’d stop by and show you what I’m working on. This is a Christmas tree skirt I am working on for my husband (he’s from Texas, obviously).

I’ve also been doing some hand knitting.
That’s a Lady Cornwall on my needles believe-it-or-not. I hope to have both the tree skirt and the shrug finished by Sunday. I think it’s do-able.
More pictures when I’m done…

Yes, I’m still here

Goodness, I just looked and it turns out my last post was in July of last year. Sorry to be so negligent. I’ve been really busy lately: going to school full time, taking care of 5 kids, and working. There’s been lot’s of knitting too, just not much time to take pictures and post about it. I hope to be able to update the blog soon on all my projects.