Tag Archives: Knitting

Spring Fever Follow-up

Posted on April 20, 2007 | 1 comment

My last day off did not work out the way it was planned. Life got in the way with the result that I did not accomplish many of the items on my original list.

The closet in the computer/craft/homeschool supply room was cleaned out a bit. This room contains so much it will take more time to clean it out. There is a pile of items in the living waiting drop off at a local charity.

The only knitting goal I accomplished was knitting on the mate for the first sock. In the past few days the gusset decreases have been completed and the remainder of the foot is being worked on. The other items on the list are still waiting for my attention.  They will eventually get done.

The weather in our area is supposed to be beautiful  this weekend with sunny skies and temperatures in the 70’s. It is my weekend off so my hunch is that knitting time will be limited.

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Spring Fever

Posted on April 17, 2007 | Comments Off on Spring Fever

I have a case of Spring Fever. It usually hits about this time every year. The only difference this time is that it is a lot more intense than it has been for years. I am not completely sure why this is the case.

My goal for this spring is to tackle one area of the house a week for a couple of hours and see how much cleaning and uncluttering can be done.

Last week’s victim was our living room and hallway. It was vacuumed, dusted and de-cluttered to such an extent that my family was amazed. The best part was that it only took a couple hours.

Later today I will be cleaning out the closet in the computer/craft/homeschool supply room. My destination is the closet shelf which is home to an assortment of items ranging from books to yarn. My goal is to see what is there and get rid of items no longer wanted or needed. Yarn will most likely not be touched. I do know that there are some latch hook rug kits that can go.   The rest remains to be seen.

Another goal for today is to allow myself some knitting project time. Here is my list of knitting projects to work on today:

1. Work on the mate for the first sock.

2. Weave in loose ends on some of the scarves made a few           weeks ago.

3. Work on the first sock of another pair of socks.

4. Knit a while on a scarf that has been on the needles for a          couple of weeks.

It sounds like a fun day. :)

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Slipper Socks and LIfe

Posted on April 13, 2007 | Comments Off on Slipper Socks and LIfe

The second slipper sock is almost finished. It only needs to have the final stitches on the toe woven in. My original plan was to finish it today, but there were not enough hours in this day to accomplish that.

Most of the morning was spent cleaning. First on the agenda was  deep cleaning in the living room. All of the furniture that I could move was moved, dusted and vacuumed behind. The floor of the entryway was washed by hand. The kitchen floor and the hallway were also vacuumed. It was a time consuming project even with help from my family.

The late morning and early afternoon hours found us running errand such as grocery shopping and taking recyclables to our town’s Recycle Center. These were not exciting or fun tasks but are just part of life.

There was a little knitting time this afternoon to work on a scarf that has been on the needles for a while. Between the socks and slipper socks, there has not been enough time to complete it. I will post pictures another time.

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More Knitting

Posted on April 8, 2007 | Comments Off on More Knitting

I am most pleased at the moment. The gusset on the second slipper sock has been started successfully! I was very careful this past week at my knitting lesson to make sure I understood the pattern and could knit from it without anyone around to  interpret it for me.  The fact that I did this is encouraging. It means that the next pair of socks I make from it will be able to be done on my own.

I will post pictures of the completed slipper in a couple of days.

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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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Scarves

Posted on March 11, 2007 | Comments Off on Scarves

For quite a while I have also been considering the enormous size of my stash; the amount of storage space in my house and the relationship between the two. My stash is too large for this house. That is all there is to it.

I am also keenly aware of the needs of those less fortunate than my family and I. Even when life has been hardest we were blessed to have a roof on our head; a bit of food on the table and our other basic needs met. If we had needed more blankets, hats, scarves or other warm items my hands and stash could have provided them with a minimum of time and effort. Others are not so fortunate. I know. I was a home health nurse who went to some of the poorest sections of our metropolitan area and witnessed some of the needs. .

These two facts, combined with the inspiration from this post: 40 Days For Others: Scarves, have resulted in much of my knitting or crocheting time being devoted to knitting scarves to be given to at least one local charity.

StashScarfa

StashScarvesb

I cannot claim credit for the pattern since there could be one already written for it. What I did was use 4-6 strands of yarn, depending on the thickness of the strands and a pair of # 19 knitting needles. The yarns were not always the same texture or thickness. My goal is to have a thick warm item.

I cast on 14 stitches ( For those who understand the concept of multiples I used Multiples of 2 plus two. ) and worked a 2 x 2 ribbing of Knit 2, Purl 2 one row and Purl 2, Knit 2 on the next row. I did these two rows until the scarves measured about 60 inches or one of the strands of yarn ran out. For a couple of scarves there was more than one skein of the same color in my stash. If the scarf wasn’t quite long enough to suit me, I just attached the next skein and continued. The width is about 5 inches.

For the first couple of scarves, I knit the first row or 2 before starting the ribbing and knit the last row or two before binding off. I didn’t the way this looked and decided to just work the entire scarf in ribbing.

I must give credit to my resident Color Experts also know as Husband and Child #1. They very willingly gave their help with color and texture choices for these items.

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It’s Saturday!

Posted on March 10, 2007 | Comments Off on It’s Saturday!

It is Saturday and the first of two days off in a row!! I am a tad excited to say the least. I enjoy my job a lot, but weekends off are a treasure.

About a year ago I took one knitting lesson with the idea of taking a series of them. My first goal was to learn to knit socks. I have wanted to learn to do this since I was a teenager. Life didn’t work out the way it was planned and the knitting lessons had to be put on hold.

The sock was put away until I was able to schedule another knitting lesson. The lesson was this past Wednesday. I learned to turn a heel, make the heel gusset and began shaping the gusset. It was enthralling to watch my tubular piece of knitting begin to look like a sock. The turning of the heel is an amazing process which I think will always fascinate me.

This is only my very first knitted sock. There are flaws in the stitching. Some of the stitches are not even. I have not dropped as many stitches on one project in a long time. That is all right because this is a learning experience.

There is a lot more to be done on this one. I will post more pictures in the days ahead. The mate to it will be made and they will be worn with pride and joy.

It is only one of many yet to be made. I am already addicted to sock knitting. There are so many styles to make and so many colorways and types of yarn waiting to be tried.

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Peacefull Morning

Posted on February 25, 2007 | 1 comment

I woke up very early this morning before dawn. There are those who would possibly complain about this, but it was a treat for me. It has given me a chance to update my other blogs, to knit and have a quiet breakfast alone before my family wakes up. My bagel is whole wheat topped with Clover Honey.


As I prepared and looked at my food some sweet yet poignant memories went through my mind. My Grandfather on my Mom’s side of the family was a beekeeper and raised roses for many years before his death more than fifty years ago. As children and young adults my siblings , cousins and I knew the taste of Grandpa Mahoney’s honey from his Honey House. Some of the honey he processed existed for more than twenty years after his death. This was honey with parts of the cone packed in the jar. We ate it on toast, had it in tea and milk. Over the years it sometimes crystallized in the jar to the extent that an open jar had to be placed in a pan of water on the stove and heated in order for it to be usable.

Breakfast

The Honey House was really the garage in the back of my Grandparents’ home that had been turned into my Grandfather’s storage area for his beekeeping hobby. It was small but full of honey and other treasures from his labors.

The other legacy he left was roses. He grew them in their yard. The sidewalk leading from the back door to the Honey House was lined with rose bushes. They were of almost any shade and hue. The front yard had rose bushes growing on trellises on either side of the house. The colors were beautiful. In the Spring and Summer the aroma was intoxicating. To this day I have a difficult time passing a rose bush without stopping to inhale the sweet fragrance given off by its flowers. When I do, I am almost instantly transported to those years when his rose garden flourished.

As you see, this morning’s humble breakfast was more than a Bagel with Honey and a beverage. It was a journey into a part of my life and heritage.

May your day be as Blessed as mine has already been.

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Interesting Weekend

Posted on January 15, 2007 | Comments Off on Interesting Weekend

Here is a picture from this weekend’s ice storm:
icey-branchoptc.jpg

Many of the trees in our area are being adversely affected by the weight of the ice on them. We have been fortunate because despite the storm roads are not bad. We lost power twice this weekend, but only for relatively short periods each time.

The first time occurred overnight Friday night and into Saturday morning. We had electricity again before noon. This was pretty impressive for our neighborhood.

The most inconvenient time was yesterday afternoon. The electricity was out for most of the afternoon. It would not have been a big issue except that our plans for that time included doing laundry and cooking for the upcoming week. Instead, my family played Chess while I started knitting an afghan that is on my list of items to make in the next few weeks. We used a combination of daylight and battery operated lanterns as light sources.

Here is the beginning of the afghan:

Anthea ghan

It is based on the Take It Easy Scarf. After doing a gauge swatch I cast on 150 stitches on a #15, 47 inch circular needle. It is an easy pattern that is working up quickly and easily. I am using some one strand of blue and one strand of a dark rose acryclic from my stash. I may change colors at some point, but have not decided right now.

The afternoon turned out to be fun. We had some good family  time and I got some knitting done.  After the lights came on we resumed laundry and cooked.

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