Against-Drunkenness-With-a-Dash-of-Love Socks

Heddas Socks by Elisabet Erikstad

Happily optimistic, I joined the Sock It To Me 2015 sock group on Ravelry. Ok, so I didn’t get a sock finished for January. Can I blame it on the fact I joined on Feb 1? Well…… I did look at the group at the beginning of January, I just didn’t jump in. The club is based on a theme monthly gemstones or flowers. I totally love it! Those of you older folks, remember running to the Hallmark store as kids to pick up the free, purse-sized, yearly, calendar-book? The best part was that for each month the gemstone and flower was given. I always thought that the gemstone and flower for my birth month, November, was yucky. Once I found blue topaz I like it! February is lucky, it’s the best!

Here is a list of Monthly Themes for 2015:
January: Garnet/Carnation
February: Amethyst/Violet
March: Aquamarine/Daffodil
April: Diamond/Daisy or Sweet Pea
May: Emerald/Sunflower or Lily of the Valley
June: Pearl/Rose
July: Ruby/Larkspur
August: Peridot/Gladiolus or Lily
September: Sapphire/Forget-Me-Not or Aster
October: Opal/Marigold
November: Topaz/Chrysanthemum
December: Turquoise/Holly or Narcissus

All of this rambling leads me to these thoughts? What to knit? Did you know that the word “amethyst” is derived from an ancient Greek word loosely meaning “against intoxication”? They believe that wearing an amethyst would prevent intoxication. Along this line of thought I could knit sock with straight lines symbolizing sobriety, or cables with straight lines indicating the overcoming of intoxication, or……. Then there is the Sweet Violet with it’s heart shaped leaves. I love hearts and socks with hearts on them in purple, my fav color, what’s not to love? Perhaps a sock combining hearts, for the violet, and lines, for the amethyst, is the best choice. Which ever pattern I pick, the socks will be knit in a purple color.

The socks featured here are ones I’m considering, all free on Ravelry:

Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku

Socks On A Plane by Laura Linneman

Viking Socks by Karen S. Lauger

Mandy’s Heart Socks by Alexandra Richards

Hearts Abound Socks
by Kerin Dimeler-Laurence

Any thoughts? Input?

Thanks for stopping by. Have a crafty day!

Short DPN Fix

Fix for short DPN

On our farewell visit to Hawaii last November, the youngest LL decided that the QR hat I made for Mason, his brother, belonged to him.  Solution: make a hat for LL. My daughter said it had to be the same size as Mason’s hat, his little three-year old head loved the ten-year old hat size. Luckily, I blogged about Mason in QR Code on Oct 12, 2012 and had included the pattern on the tutorial. One drawback, they lived on the windward side of Oahu and the only “cheap” source of yarn and needles was at Ben Franklin. Unfortunately, the selection of acrylics was negligible, so I had to settle for Red Heart. A three year old’s hat must be easily cleaned. Since all of my good needles were back home and I certainly did not need more DPNs I bought a set of Boyle. The DPNs were too short for all of the stitches which needed to be on each needle. I found this out after the stitches kept falling off. My solution? I used some of my granddaughter’s hair bands to hold the stitches on the needles. I would knit a side, put the hair band on, take the hair band off of the next side, etc. It took longer this way, but after learning the hard way that the stitches would fall off, this was a perfect solution. Also notice, for those of us with arthritis who have a harder time moving stitch markers I like to use a charm clipped to the start side so I know when I’m back at the beginning. I found a free QR code generator online and after graphing the QR code for LL’s name I began knitting. Very quick knit.

LL and QR Hat

Of course, as a typical 3 year old, LL was not about to put the hat on properly. He liked it sticking up on his head with his ears showing. Loves the hat. It was 80 degrees yesterday at the park, but he did not want to take the hat off after the “photo session”.

Mason’s QR code hat

Finished Object Friday: Lolo Shawl

Lolo Shawl

The Lolo Shawl is finished. Now to send it off to sister Lindsay. It was a fun, quick knit. Both the pattern and the yarn are from Raven Ridge Fiber Arts which I purchased at Joseph’s Coat yarn shop in Missoula, Montana. Sister Lindsay picked out both the pattern and the yarn.

 Try a new craft today and have fun!

Repurpose Vintage Doily Patterns

New Vintage Lace: Knits Inspired By The Past

I’m really enjoying this book by Andrea Jurgrau. The lace shawl pattern in this book are all repurposed vintage doily designs. The author has taken old doily patterns and rewritten them into shawls and other accessories. Click on this link to Ravelry to see all of the patterns in the book. Quite delightful.

Chapter 5: Doily Dissection–A Little Geometry and a Lot of Fun explains how to take a vintage doily knitting pattern and change it into a shawl pattern. Easy to follow, great instructions. Really quite clever.  I’ve been doing flitting through the websites looking for free doily patterns, this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg, it’s just an ice cube of what can be found:

Antique Pattern Library – this site has been mentioned before and is listed in the book

Vintage Purls

Knitting Pattern Central

Free Knitting Patterns for Doilies and Tablecloths

And, not to sounds as if I’m a walking ad today, I signed up for Amazon Kindle Unlimited’s free month. I found this book and many other knitting books which I’ve been busily reading and perusing for the trial period. Tina, there are also Zentangle books. Of course, I’ve been madly reading the cozy mystery series by G. A. McKevett – starting with Just Desserts.

 

 

Surprises From Swindon

Grandson in Mouse Hat

When showing up to watch our precious grandson, Little Man (LM), on Friday, he was so excited to show off the surprise presents which he’d received from his great-grandma Joycie and Mary, her best friend since they were 16. He’s wearing the adorable hat-with-a-mouse-in-the-pocket made by Mary. Some of you long time followers might remember the stunning, hand-knit, table cloth Joycie gave to me.

Close up of Mouse Hat

Sweater (Jumper) by Joycie, Hat by Mary

Little Man was excited that the hat matched the new sweater (or jumper as Joycie says) so perfectly. The day was a bit too warm to wear the jumper out on our walk. Joyice had mama measure LM and email the results to her, so the sweater has been knit in England to fit LM in California. Hurray! He thinks the tail on the mouse is hysterical! Can you see it?

In addition to the clothes, Mary made some wonderful “chew” toys. LM’s mom, my daughter, adores Elephants so it was wonderful to see two “chew” elephants. Nate was not happy that he couldn’t have the toys before pictures were taken! Elephant noses are the perfect size to chew. Mary makes a much larger, knit soldier, about 36″ tall, which she donates every year to a local charity’s auction.

“Chew” toys by Mary.

On a different note, I cancelled the domain curlsandq.com, however, I kept curlsandq.wordpress.com. I’m wondering how many people are actually getting my post now since I haven’t been seeing any traffic? Please let me know if this post came through. I just didn’t feel as if I needed to pay the $26/year.

FO Friday: The Ribbit Hat

~Ah, FO Friday and The Ribbit Hat is off the needles and on my son’s head. The yarn was Knitpick’s Bare fingerling which was dyed to my son’s color specifications. When I saw the finished yarn hanging to dry and while winding it, I HATED the color.  Not wanting a solid color, I twisted the yarn and put into the dye pot dry. When I started knitting with it, I loved the yarn AND the color. Go figure. As it’s knitted, the color looks so rich. The pattern is Perfect Reversible Watch Cap by Nancy Elizabeth Designs. Super simple, just remember it’s k1, p1 around, not k around. Sigh….. I’m not a member of  The House of Manatee and this got a bit boring, but the double decrease made this The House of Monkey member happy since I’d never used this method before. Double Decrease: (slip next 2 stitches together knitwise, knit the third stitch, pass the 2 slipped stitches over). Ta Da, let me present The Ribbit hat!

The Ribbit Hat

For other wonderful FO visit Tami’s Amis blog. And, Ginny’s Yarn Along.

It’s Official, Q’s a Process Knitter

 – I love all of the bloggers I follow. When I’m not feeling well, they cheer me up. When I already have WAY too many WIP’s, I can count on them to post simply wonderful new patterns which I cannot resist. My hands start itching when they share the latest yarn or fiber that they are using.  Neither Curls nor I are eloquent writers, as a scientist I’m great at scientific writing: short, concise and to-the-point. There are times when I read a blog and the writer pinpoints exactly what I want to say. I’ve blogged about my overload of WIPs in the past and even listed SOME on the blog. I’ve admitted that I have KADD (Knitter’s Attention Deficit Disorder). Curl’s called it QADD (Q’s Attention Deficit Disorder). On March 15, Anastasia owner of For The Knit Of It blogged: What Knitting is to Me and Too Many WIPs! This is me!

That’s right. I’m admitting it. I have way too many WIPs going on.

I think I’ve firmly established myself as a Process Knitter. For those of you who don’t know what that is (no secret, I’m a Knit Picks podcast-aholic), it’s process vs product knitter. The process knitter loves the making of projects. Product knitters knit for the end result, the beautiful knit. Neither one is better than the other! It’s just a personality thing.
That’s right. I’m admitting it. I have way too many WIPs going on.

That explains why I need to have so many projects. I seldom wear the things I make. More often, I find someone to give them to. Yet, I love casting on new projects. I love having so much going on. Each project fits my mood. Some are for other people so have deadlines. Some I cast-on something just to work on in a movie theater or in the car. Some I start because I just because. I love it!

And I love that moment when I step back and see what I’ve made. As I knit, all I see are stitches. I don’t see a sweater or mittens or socks or a cowl. I see one stitch at a time.

Anastasia
For The Knit Of It

Curl’s is a product knitter. I admit it, I’ve never finished a sweater. Gasp! I get bored; been there, done that, now on to the next project. So thanks Anastasia! Now I don’t need to feel so darn guilty about all of my WIP’s.

Let’s see how I’ve done with the WIP’s mentioned in my January 2, 2013 post:

• Tidal Wave Socks – by Deby Lake
• Litla Dimun Shawl – in Folk Shawls
• 2012 Mystery Shawl KAL
• Mystery Shawl
• Brioche Scarf – in Knitting Brioche
• Lavender Linen Lace Shawl
• Self-fringing Shawl
• Directional Scarf
• Volna Scarf – by Grumperina
• Victorian Shawlette
• Kimono by Plymouth Yarns
• Concerto – triangular ruffle shawl by Sheera
• Heart to Heart Beaded Scarf – by Sivia Harding
• Amanda’s Vest for Scarf Knitters – by Amanda’s Art-Yarn
• Flower Blanket – black and white handout, no author listed
• Knotty Scarflet – Sivia Harding
• Lazy Girl Shawl – Melissa Mitchel
• Kaellingesjal 1897 – Hap shawl by Mette Roerbec
• Norwegian Star – finish second sock
• Winona – shrug by Berroco

What’s that you say? None of them finished? I have finished:

• a pair and 1/2 of socks – I really HATE the feel, texture, yarn on Feb’s Sock-It-To-Me sock and have just finished one.
• 2 hats

Other new WIP’s

• 3/4 of a girl’s vest – really am close to being done, but after visiting my granddaughter I’m not sure she would wear it. So, now it’s in limbo.
  

• A Watch Cap for Mike

Finished Object Friday: Linen Scarf and Pretti-Cozy

~I really enjoyed knitting this new-to-me stitch, the Linen Stitch, even though it took fifteen minutes to knit one row of the scarf. The yarn was from “Three Irish Girls.” I love the look it gives to the scarf. The pattern is from Churchmouse Yarn and Tea. It is an easy stitch to learn and to knit. Look at the beautiful drape.  I am going to love wearing my new scarf.  The linen stitch is quite simple: Row 1: k1, sl1wyif (slip 1 stitch knitwise with yarn in front) Row 2: p1, sli1wyib (slip 1 stitch purlwise with yarn in back) 😎

Curl’s Linen Stitch Scarf

~I’m an iced tea drinker: rain, shine, or snow. Walking across the parking lot in 45 degree weather with iced tea in hand I admit, my hand was REALLY cold. Time to knit an iced tea cup cozy. While checking out Pinterest I saw the perfect cup cozy, Pretti-Cozy a free pattern on Ravelry designed by Mimie Wong. It’s a very quick knit and uses scrap yarn. Ok, Curls was visiting Wednesday, so I gave it to her. That’s her Iced-Americana-Decaf-With-Cream cup which is modeling the cozy. Time to whip up another one.

Q’s Pretti-Cozy

To see other wonderful finished object this Friday, check out Tami’s Amis FO Friday.

January Wrap Up

~Feeling good about the projects finished this month. All have been completed using up stash.  Here’s my progress on 2013 Goals:

Knitting:

• Leaf Muddars – my pattern
• Peasant Ruffled Pidge – Skacel Knitting
• Whittier Hat – by Anne Kuo Lukito, my handspun yarn
• Beginner’s Socks – Heather Storta
• State Street Cowl – Quince and Co.
• Small knit bag – my pattern
• Tidal Wave Socks – by Deby Lake
• Litla Dimun Shawl – in Folk Shawls
• 2012 Mystery Shawl KAL
• Mystery Shawl
• Brioche Scarf – in Knitting Brioche – Half done
• Lavender Linen Lace Shawl
• Self-fringing Shawl
• Directional Scarf
• Volna Scarf – by Grumperina – Done some knitting
• Victorian Shawlette – Done some knitting
• Kimono by Plymouth Yarns – Done some knitting
• Concerto – triangular ruffle shawl by Sheera
• Heart to Heart Beaded Scarf – by Sivia Harding – Done some knitting
• Amanda’s Vest for Scarf Knitters – by Amanda’s Art-Yarn
• Flower Blanket – black and white handout, no author listed – new block knit
• Knotty Scarflet – Sivia Harding
• Lazy Girl Shawl – Melissa Mitchel
• Kaellingesjal 1897 – Hap shawl by Mette Roerbec
• Norwegian Star – finish second sock
• Winona – shrug by Berroco

Sewing:

• Nightgown – 2 1/2 yards
• Bucket bag – 1 yard
• Pieced squares for queen sized quilt

Muddars Are Finally A Finished Object

~Muddars = Swedish for cuff. I love making beaded muddars. For some reason, the first cuff knit up so well, the US size O needles and beads flew into a beautiful cuff. The second cuff was pure torture to knit. I admit to tons of cussing and ribbiting while doing this cuff. What the heck? Ok, truth be told I finished the first cuff a few years ago. But, DONE! And, given to sister Barb. She mentioned that she needed some new fingerless gloves and told her I was finishing a pair just for her. She told me that she loves them warts and all!

She gave them a “test run” on our hike Tuesday. She’s trying to key out  the the birds we saw on our hike into Ramona’s Grassland Habitat Preserve.

Barb wearing the beaded muddars Q made for her.

Materials Used:

1. My pattern
2. Needles: – US O
3. Yarn – GGH Woolywasch
4. Beads – Size 8

BTW, I got the t-shirt for her when visiting Wildseed Farms which is a wildflower farm located in Fredericksburg, TX. The shirt has beautiful butterflies on both the front and the back. It’s really a deep purple. Don’t you love digital cameras which turn purple into a royal blue color?

 

I’ve added our name to Finished Object’s Friday at Tami’s Ami’s site. Visit to see other wonderful Finished Objects.