– Well I finally finish the orange shawl.
I am really proud at how well this turned out. While knitting it, I was getting frustrated with cutting the yarn after each row for the fringe. Glad I did! I think the fringe turned out great. I had about ten different colors of yarn and used a size thirteen needle. Not sure how many stitches I had cast on. I know my mom can’t wait to receive this one. Hold your horses mom, I’ll be there soon. 🙂
– I have been collecting orange yarns at just about every yarn store Q and I have been to in the last 2 years. This all started when I saw a fantastic shawl on display in a yarn store in Missoula, MT. Q and I were at the store with our mom. She loved the shawl.
As you can see, I have added a reddish brown yarn to the mix. I just found a dark green to use as a slight accent to help pop the orange. In the bottom right hand picture, I used two strands of the yarn; one from the middle and one from the inside of the ball.
I cast on 200 stitches using a US 10 needle. After finishing a row, I cut the yarn long enough so I can make a fringe at each end of the shawl. I tied the next piece of yarn to the one I just cut. I knit four rows of each yarn before changing to the next yarn. I am just knitting-as-I-go and randomly choosing the next yarn. Go ahead and try one. It is great way to use up odd balls and left over yarns. Just a note: If your yarn is too thin mix it with another yarn or use 2 strands together. 🙂
~Help needed! Last I checked, over 5000 Ravelry users have Color Affection by Veera Välimäki as a project.
I need input from all of you! What yarn should I use? I cannot use the small needles due to my friend Arthur-itis in my hands. I want to use size 6 needles. I cannot find a suitable yarn. Have any of you knitted the size that used Size 6 needles? Which yarn did you use? Curls and I went to two yarn stores yesterday, I left in frustration because I’m finding this IMPOSSIBLE!
Then there are the colors! I loved All She Wants To Do Is Knit’s reply to me. She recommends using a paint chip phone app to help pick colors! I’m going to download one ASAP. What a fabulous idea. She too is drawn to bright colors, as am I. Curls doesn’t have that “problem”. I wear a lot of orange during the summer, so I’m looking at bright oranges, sunny yellows, fiery reds, etc. But…. how will that translate during the winter months. Sigh…… Paint chip app, here I come.
SOS! Help needed. Input greatly appreciated. Yarns?
– My mom taught me to crochet at an early age.
This brown shawl was my first project. 🙂 It really is brown. Q took this to college with her. She loved it, it was cold in San Luis Obispo compared to San Diego. She gave it back a few years ago saying it would need to eventually be passed on to one of my boys.
This was my second crochet project. I remember going with my mom to Yarn Mart to buy the blue yarn. Remember Yarn Mart! HUGE store with a zillion types of yarn to choose from. The shade of blue is just so wonderful!
Next, my mom taught me to knit. I would knit and knit just for practice. This is my first knitting project.
When I was in high school, this afghan kit was given to me one Christmas by mom. After a while, I got tired of knitting and knitting and knitting this afghan, so I bound off, even thought I had lots yarn left over. This could be one of the reasons I get bored with off-white yarn. A little while later, I used the leftover yarn to make a sweater with a hood and pockets which zipped up the front. Every time she sees the afghan, my mom says, ” I can’t believe I bought you such a complicated pattern for your first project.” I didn’t think about it being difficult. The only mistake I can see today is in the popcorn pattern. 😦 Don’t zoom in to close, I don’t want you to see the holes. 😎 I have tied up most of them. Lesson learned: store my woolens with cedar chips, with lavender, or in my deep freezer otherwise they become a fiesta for moths. 🙂
My precious granddaughter’s favorite birthday present was her American Girl which she has been wanting forever! Last night I decided that I had better make AG a shawl too. I did not feel like messing around developing a pattern. To be honest, I’m SICK of working with the yarn and just wanted to be done. 😎 Ravelry here I come. I found the perfect lace shawl pattern: American Girl Shawlette Or Poncho by Jacqueline Gibb. Within a couple of hours the shawl was done and blocked. So adorable! Isn’t the pattern exquisite? I’m going to make shawl stick pins for both shawls.
See that tiny piece of yarn left up at the right edge? I purposely left it so that you can see that’s all of the hand-dyed yarn left! I wish I had a doll on which to model it, alas. Maybe I need to buy one? 😎 Especially after seeing the American Girl patterns on Ravelry! Yikes!
This is my precious girl with her AG. They look as if they are twins. 😎 Aunt Emma gave her the matching outfits. Guess it’s time for me to make doll clothes for a third generation: me, my girls and my granddaughter. 😎
Sweaty Knitter had the best post about Faggotting and Faggots. Sorry, I can’t resist. 😎 I’m really fagged working with this yarn and all of the faggots I’ve had to make. (Ok, you can groan now.) Fagged = tired. One definition not listed. 😎
While on our Northwest Journey, one of our favorite yarn stops was at Yellow House Yarns in Puyallup ( pronounced Pew – All – Up said together quickly). What a wonderful store, make sure it is on your “must visit” if you are ever in the Seattle area. Anyway….. there was a stunning shawl on display. When I inquired about it, I was told it was designed by the owner, Megan Peters, and was titled Lay Girl Shawl. 😎 I was told that Megan hated to cast on a ton of stitches to make a shawl, so she designed this one starting from a few stitches and building up. The pattern was free with yarn purchase, so how could I pass up that deal? The two colors I picked for the shawl were Heritage by Cascade (MC) and Jitterbug 400 by Colinette (CC). Today, I checked Ravelry for the pattern and I found it for download: Lazy Girl Shawl
Modelling and Photography by Melissa Mitchell
The ruffle is actually done with short rows. I’ve done a lot of short row patterns, but the wrapped and turn stitches alternated. In this pattern the wrapped and turned stitch was always the same. When the stitch is always the same, a hole can appear. The pattern had the best idea for getting rid of that hole, I have found others online giving instructions too. Look at the bottom right under the “braided” part, see, no hole.
Look at the wrap and turn while knitting, there’s a big hole after the wrap and turn stitch. (Right marker in hole.)
Zoom in and you’ll see three wraps around the wrap and turn stitch. (Last stitch on right hand needle, stitch has been slipped.)
Instructions for removing hole.
1. Slip the wrapped stitch to the right hand needle. (See picture above)
2. Pick up the three wraps with the left hand needle. (Below)
3. Knit the wraps and pass slip stitch over. (Below) Look ma, no holes! 😎
Of course, after I took the pictures I realized that I had mixed up my colors. The purple was to be the main color. So…… you guessed it! I had to unravel the whole thing and start again!! *%&$#@. And, this was the project I was doing because I was getting annoyed by the lace shawl project I was working on! Here it is with the correct color order. Notice the marker on the right side. It’s for my old eyes which have trouble seeing dark colors when I knit at night. Oh, I stayed up until 2 am last night just to finish that lace shawl and be done!
~I’m sure all of us have knit our share of warm, serviceable scarves. Every so often it’s fun to knit something totally outrageous to wear as neck candy. While visiting the Acorn Street Yarn shop they had an extremely fun exhibit of yarns made specifically to “knit” into ruffled, wild, scarves/neck candy. It took me at least half and hour to decide which one to purchase. The directions were on the package. It took a couple of hours to make while on the road to Missoula. Finished it at my sister’s house. Sad to say that I did not keep the label so I cannot remember what the yarn is. It is really long so this picture shows the scarf doubled. Isn’t it fabulous?
Barbara is such a fast knitter that she made two scarves during our journey. It really was cold! The yarn is Cascade’s Alpaca and is softer-than-soft (my favorite yarn to knit with). She knit both in a straight garter stitch. After she got home, she decided she did not like the plain look on hers and wanted to “punch” the color of the yarn better. So she tore out the entire scarf and reknit using the Fisherman’s Rib, a type of Brioche stitch, found at one of our favorite online sites, The PurlBee. It is so pretty and SOFT. She lives in our San Diego mountains where it gets cold and this scarf is wonderful!
I have a totally off-the-wall “neck candy” that is almost finished, I’ll try and share that with you tomorrow. Today is spinning day, at least for a bit. It is still cold, drizzly, gray here and the arthritic hands do complain. I do see spots of blue poking through here and there. I’m wearing my new Maja shawlette, with the perfect stick pin, to keep warm.
I’ll leave you with a stunning picture taken during sunset at Carlsbad State Park in San Diego County, California. It was taken by daughter Emily while we were camping there a few weeks ago. She fancied it up with the iPhone app Histamatic. Cool!
Curls and Q 