Tag Archives: Stash

A Word About Yarn

Posted on February 17, 2015 | Comments Off on A Word About Yarn

You will notice that I normally  use  the original Peaches & Creme yarn or Sugar and Cream yarn.  That is because it is primarily what is in my stash. There are a lot of other good  brands of cotton yarns available such as : I Love this Cotton by Hobby Lobby, Sugar and Cream, Knit Picks yarns, Brown Sheep yarns and  many others.

Yarn comes in  different weights such as Aran, DK, Sport and Fingering Weight. If you want more information about yarn weights take a look at the Craft Yarn Council‘s page about Yarn Standards .  I am sure most of you know that yarn weight; hook or needle size and other factors affect gauge. Gauge affects the size of an item you make. Please keep these factors in mind if you use a different yarn than the one recommended by a designer or if you are making something where size is important.

I hope you are having a wonderful day!

 

 

 

 

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Things That Inspire Me

Posted on May 24, 2011 | 1 comment

I am fortunate to have a spare bedroom in my home. Despite being small, it serves as a computer and craft room. Here are a couple pictures of its contents that inspire me.

This one is part of the acrylic and cotton in my stash. The acrylic will be used to make slippers for the Pink Slipper Project. The cotton will become baby items for a couple of charities.

Here is part of my stash of cotton yarn:

I am  inspired  by the beauty of the colors available for my use.

May each of you have a day full of colors and other things that inspire you.

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Grounded

Posted on February 8, 2008 | 4 comments

Since I am normally a fairly healthy person with lots of energy, it takes a lot to get me down. I have caught what seems to be the local Flu bug. :(  Oh Yuck!! I have the classic symptoms of coughing, sneezing, body aches, elevated body temperature, weakness and being tired ( wiped out ). My truly wonderful and loving husband said "You sound terrible" A call to my friendly physician yesterday resulted in her calling a prescription for antibiotics to my pharmacy. In the fifteen or more years I have been seeing her, this is the first time she has ever called in medication for me without having actually seen me. She is a stickler about such things. Bless her wonderful heart and extremely high sense of ethics!

Not only that, but she has grounded me from yesterday through the weekend. My first response was that she was over reacting a bit. I should have known better. She was wise in doing so. I still feel lousy.  She was right in making that decision. This Lady who sees herself as " just an average physician"  has extraordinarily high standards of ethics, practice and care.

Of course, I am doing all of the right nursing measures: forcing
fluids; extra vitamin C; plenty of antioxidants; extra sleep; extra
rest; Tylenol and taking the antibiotic as ordered. I do feel badly for
my employer, since that means one less nurse on a tight schedule. But
with a high temperature and the symptoms I am experiencing, it is a
violation of conscience and good health practices for me to go to work.
I would much rather be working than home with this stuff any day.

Under the circumstances , what is a person to do? I pondered this question for a  very short time yesterday and came to what seems to be a logical conclusion. I should knit, of course! It keeps my mind and hands busy; does not take much energy; and makes me feel good about myself. In addition,  I like doing it. Yesterday, in a burst of energy, I wove in loose ends on some dish/wash cloths, and completed two more that were almost done. At this point today, there is not the energy or motivation to take pictures of them, but hopefully that will come in a couple of days.

Thank goodness for the ability to knit, knitting needles and a large stash of yarn, threads and patterns. Once again all of those things are holding me in good stead.  Today, I have  done some work, which is really play, on the Building Blocks cloth  by Sue Schaefer. It can be seen just a little bit down the page. She undoubtedly one of my favorite designers and this pattern is no exception. It is working up quickly and easily without using too much concentration, which meets my need today.

 

Another thing for which I am very grateful on days like today is the Internet and email. I can talk with with  family and knitting friends; download free patterns and work ( it is really play ) on my blogs.  These are fun things to do that don’t require much energy and I can stop whenever I choose.

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New Year

Posted on January 8, 2008 | Comments Off on New Year

The holidays are over and life is settling down again.

Here are some of my knitting goals for this year:

   * Knit two dishcloths a week or more.

   * Somehow use more yarn than I buy.

   * Learn to do intarsia.

   * Finish up some partially done projects.

   * Learn to read charts. I want to learn to do this so I can

     translate them into words due to some visual issues.

   * Play around with knitting cables.

Except for the first one, these are not in any particular order.
When the second one was posted to an email group, I was completely serious about it. After thinking about it and being faced with such details in life such as yarn sales and new yarns, I have come to realize that this goal is unrealistic.
At the end of last week I took advantage of a 30% of most yarn sale at Michael’s and bought enough yarn for making the Ribbons of Life Scarf found here. Prudent knitter that I am, extra yarn was purchased to insure enough to complete the pattern. There is now an additional 200 gr–7.0 ounces of yarn in my overflowing stash. I have not used nearly that much in the past week. 

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October in St. Louis

Posted on October 14, 2007 | 2 comments

It is finally October!!!! Well duh….It is actually October 15. This is and always has been a special month for me. It is the month my Mom and I have birthdays. It is also the start of the most glorious weather in St. Louis. Some days are hot to the point where it seems that Summer in all its hot misery will never end. Some days start off a bit chilly but then get St. Louis Summer hot with all of the humidity that goes with it. Other days have a St. Louis type mixture of sunny and warm to sunny and chilly all in one. Then there are some truly Autumn days. These start off and remain a bit chilly compared to the summer days. These are my favorite. They remind me that Autumn is finally here.

There are other signs that Autumn is here. We begin to talk of and wear jackets and sweaters. They get put in vehicles just in case it gets chilly out later. We talk about jackets and heaters in cars at work. The air conditioner is no longer on the entire day. It is actually chilly out at night. The house really does get cool with the windows open. The sun is still not up at 6:30am. It starts getting darker after 6pm. Long warm pants sound good to wear. I begin to think about making scarves and hats for others from the yarn in my stash. I begin looking for slipper patterns.  The abandoned bags of hats and scarves that only require the weaving in of loose ends begins to look appealing. We begin to talk about Holiday plans and how work schedules will affect the next few months. These are some of the more subtle signs that Autumn is upon us.

It is truly Autumn in St. Louis. October is finally here.

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Pictures of Finished Projects

Posted on July 1, 2007 | 2 comments

My knitting time this week has been spent making dishcloths, a bib and more squares for Greensburg. The dishcloths and bib are from the stash of cotton recently purchased.

About two weeks ago I posted a picture of the first part of the Mad Dash

Cloth. Here is a picture of the finished cloth:

Mad Dash

I would have taken a better picture of it , but it is in the soiled laundry basket. This picture does not do justice to the lovely pattern.

Recently I talked about needing to get out of a rut when it comes to making dish and wash cloths. After completing the Mad Dash cloth I decided to make the well known Darrell Waltrip Cloth. My original plan was to make one just to do something different. I liked it so much I have completed two of them. A third one is on the needles.

This is the first one I did. It is made with Peaches n Creme Passion yarn.

DWaltrip cloth

Even though I saw pictures of it on Knitting Knonsense, I was amazed at its beauty. It does a wonderful job of bringing attention to the colors of the yarn. Since it is also an easy pattern for me to memorize this a good pattern to use when spending time with my family. It also works up quickly. Because the designer lists the multiples of stitches used, it is extremely easy to adjust the size of the cloth. I prefer smaller cloths than a lot of people so this is important to me when making them for myself.

Here is a picture of the second one. It is made with P&C Butter & Cream

DW butter&Cream

I rarely buy patterns for dishcloths or other items, choosing instead to use free available resources. Several weeks ago, while doing research for my other blog, I came across a baby bib pattern at that caught my imagination. I wanted to buy it immediately, but chose to wait and see if I changed my mind at a later date. In the end the pattern was ordered and very promptly delivered. It is the Eyelet Diamond Baby Bib from here.
ED Baby Bib

It is made from Gumdrops by Peaches & Cream. The colors are much more vibrant in real life. This was a real experiment for me for a couple of reasons. It has been a very long time since I have used a pattern requiring the use of a stitch holder. It was not a challenge to my ability by any means, but it made the pattern interesting. The other reason is that this was my first time to make an I-cord. It was pretty cool! This pattern is a great addition to my pattern collection. It will become well used in the future.

Here are pictures of a couple of other dish cloths made recently using two of my favorite colorways of Peaches & Cream: Gumdrops and Potpourri Ombre.

Gumdrop BWeave1A
EPPotPurri1

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Socks and Slipper Socks

Posted on June 3, 2007 | Comments Off on Socks and Slipper Socks

This has been a busy week on the sock knitting front in my house. About a month ago I purchased some Instant Gratification Sock Yarn from Hill Country Yarns. The colorway I chose was Country Carribean. My original plan was to make them on size #7 needles. Thanks to the wise advice received from the Socknitters group at Yahoo, I chose to make a gauge swatch and use much smaller needles. They are now being made on size #2 DPN’s. They were on 2 circular needles for a while so the stitches would not come off the needles while I was recovering for a few hours in the hospital from a test.

The first one was started on Thursday, May 31. Here is a picture of it a couple of hours ago:
second-socks.jpg

This is the fastest I have ever made a sock. It looks a lot neater than the my first pair. The stitches are more even and there is no hole at the start of the gusset. It is also proving to be much easier.

I also finally got the end of the toe woven in on the first pair today.They turned out fine considering the fact that this was my first time making socks. Here are some pictures:
First socks

First Socks again

These were made using Trekking Colorway #135. I used size #3 needles for these. The next time around with this yarn I will use smaller needles. The stripes do not match, but that was done on purpose. I wanted to make them without cutting the yarn in between them just to see how they would look. I am happy with them. Now that they have been washed and dried in the dryer, they are soft and comfortable. They are great socks and will be worn with pleasure. :)

Here is a picture of the completed pair of slipper socks made for my husband:
Slipper socks
I used Red Heart Worsted Wt. from my stash. Making them served as extra practice in sock making since they are made from a basic sock pattern on size #7 needles. He has been wearing them happily despite the unmanly color.

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Socks, Slippers and Life

Posted on April 8, 2007 | 2 comments

It feels like it has been forever since I have written here. Life has been busy as usual.

My first sock is finished!! Here it is:
Finished Sock

The owner of Hearthstone Knits, Georgia, helped me finish it off a couple of weeks ago. I threw the sock in the air very shortly after completing it. Then it was tried on and admired by those nearby. It felt like such an accomplishment.

The second one of the pair was started before I left the store. Part of my reasoning was that I wanted to avoid Second Sock Syndrome. The other part of my reasoning was to make sure that I cast it on correctly and didn’t have a problem.

I was able to the second one done without help up to the point of turning the heel. At my knitting lesson this past Wednesday my questions were answered. I felt silly taking notes as Georgia shared her knowledge of sock knitting with me. She was patient as I did this.

Here is a picture of the second sock in progress:
Second Sock

I am working on the gusset and should be able to complete the sock in the next few days.

There is more to this story than this. Since I had reached a stopping point on the second sock, I decided to start a slipper sock, using the same pattern with fewer stitches and larger needles and yarn. My intent was to have a teaching and learning tool. I dug out some Red Heart Worsted Wt. in a light color and a pair of size 7 dpn’s. I was able to turn the heel accurately on my own. I got stuck on how to pick up the stitches for the gusset. The only other time in my life that I had done this was on the first sock.

The slipper sock and the regular sock went to the knitting lesson with me. Georgia understood and showed me on the larger needles how to pick up stitches on both items. I finished off the first slipper sock Friday morning. Here it is:

Slipper sock

Despite its faults, it is still a wearable item. My husband has graciously said he will wear this and its mate around the house. The off white is not his favorite color, but he has been promised a more manly pair before winter. The mate to it is in ready to have the gusset started. My goal today is to do that later today.

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Socks and Stash

Posted on March 18, 2007 | 2 comments

This has been a fun and busy week as far as knitting goes.

I finished one more scarf from yarn in my stash. I used some worsted wt. in a shade of Aran and some dark green. It is a thick scarf that should be warm when worn.

Warm Scarf

A lot of work has been done on Sock # 1. There are about 2 1/2 inches to be done before starting the toe shaping. The toe needs to be completed except for a few rows before my next knitting lesson on my Tuesday. At that lesson the sock will be completed and Sock # 2 will be started. Yeah!!

Sock #1

Yesterday was fun. I had promised myself a trip to Hearthstone Knits. There was not time last week to look around very much because so much time was spent on my knitting lesson. Yesterday was the last day of the Spring Clearance Sale. I wanted to get some yarn from the Clearance bins and some sock yarn. Here is what I brought home:
new-yarn.jpg

This will be combined with other yarn in my stash to make scarves. All but the yellow came from the clearance bins and were inexpensive.

Sock Yarn

These will become socks. The one on the left and the one in center are for me. The one on the right will become a pair for my husband. It was originally to be for my son, but after I got home he put in a request for some plain white or blue socks. Hopefully there is such yarn. I have not looked for any yet.

At first I felt badly about buying the yarn, but after thinking about it and talking with my husband I no longer feel that way. One of my knitting goals for this year is to try other yarns, especially the fun fur type. It makes sense to do this with yarn bought for less than its original price. Sock yarn on the other hand is to be purchased when I choose to do so. The fact that it was on sale was a bonus. It is hard for me to find store bought socks that feel comfortable because I am sensitive to textures. From now on most of my socks, other than those worn for work, will be hand knit.

Have a great day!

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