Satchel

Pattern: Satchel [Smaller Striped Version] from Knitty, Camelia Flower from Noni

Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, Daffodil (23436) & Sapphire Heather (23899)

Needles: US Size 13

I used a magnetic snap (I bought it at Hobby Lobby. Joanns and Michaels don't carry them any more). In the past, I sewed a piece of fabric onto the bag and connected the clasp to the fabric, not the bag. This time I cut the felted wool (which is scary) and covered the back with the flower and the lining.

I also folded a plastic needlepoint canvas and put it in between the liner and the purse. It keeps sharp objects from poking through the felted bag.This is the pocket. I put it on the back of the satchel. It's large enough to hold a small cell phone.Things I'd do differently:

• I'd attach the pocket to the bag before I felted it. I think I'd have to pull it apart before it dried, but I think the pocket would have looked a little better.
• I would double knit the strap and attach it before I felted the bag.
• Use colors that are closer together in the color spectrum. It looks like the blue bled into the yellow, but when you look at it closer, the fibers from the blue actually penetrated the yellow. If the colors were closer together, then I think the effect wouldn't be so dramatic.
• I wouldn't knit a synthetic yarn into the flower. It just didn't felt well and ended up not looking it's best.

Even with all the above points, I do like this bag. The size is right and I wouldn't mind having one of these for myself. This was knit for a charity auction.

Twisted Stitch Baby hat

Pattern: Twisted stitch baby hat on circular needles (it came with my Bluebonnet Knitting Guild (BBKG) charity knits pattern book)

Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted, #896

Needles: US Size 6

I need to pump up my charity knit numbers. This will be donated to the BBKG. This was the first time I've tried a twisted stitch. I really like knitting with it.

Franny Onsy

Pattern: Berroco's Franny from Booklet #245 - for size 12 months

Yarn: Universal Yarn's Pebbles Color 14 (100% Polymide)

Needles: size 8

This was fairly quick to make, but I'm getting to where I dislike knitting stockinette. The next time I make it, I'll do a couple of things differently:

1. knit the bottom pieces at the same time (two pieces on needles) and then join to knit in the round until the arms.
2. put 3 button holes on the left shoulder. The pattern called for only one.
3. knit with a lighter weight yarn. I think this is going to be a very warm outfit.

I also would like to embellish this, but because the recipient decided to find out the sex of her baby when it's born, well, I'm stuck with making generic baby stuff.

Garter Scarf

Here's a scarf I made from some stash yarn

Pattern: It's a simple 15 stitch garter

Yarn: Berroco's Hush (Goodnight Moon #6303) - 3 skeins

Needles: US Size 9

This scarf is going to one of M's teachers for an end of year gift.

I like how it looks.

CSM status

I have to find a better umbrella or a way to keep the yarn attached to the weight below the knitting. When I use the umbrella that comes with the machine, the yarn where it gets pulled away from the hooks does not knit. Then I also have some needles where the latches have been damaged. So, I'm encouraged. I used an onion bag and that was how I found out that I had some bad needles.

It's coming. No socks yet, but it'll happen!

Getting closer to figuring this out

There are two reasons why the needles aren't catching the yarn on my CSM:

First, I changed directions with the needles still engaged (bad!). I now understand that I have to lift needles up so I can allow gravity to move the direction of the uplift cams to allow a change of directions of the needles.

So that explains why the needles weren't being lifted. But the yarn carrier was not lined up with where the needle action was occurring.

Second, I had the tension cam adjustment screw located incorrectly. Here's from the manual. Look at the stops (the metal just above the arrow that is pointing to the bottom gear (A). The tension cam adjustment screw is located on the flat side.This is how my machine was set up:

So it was on the wrong side. Here's how I corrected it:

See how the yarn carrier (not installed, but the screw is shown) and the tension cam adjustment screw is now located in between the stops.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Cams were in correctly

Okay. I have no idea why the needles aren't raising up. I took the cylinder off the machine to flip the uplift cams and this is what I saw:

I believe they're installed correctly. Here's a picture of the cams from the handbook (the uplift cams are marked D6 in the diagram):

So why aren't the needles travelling up the uplift cams?

The third shoe dropped

Okay. I wrecked J's car and the window motor on my car stopped working. One of my SnB friends asked what will be the third thing to happen?

It happened on Saturday. While pulling into the parking lot of Curves/Weight Watchers, my car died. I thought it was because I ran out of gas. Four gallons later, the car still didn't start. So I had it towed to the dealership because it's still under warranty (by it's chinny chin chin).

Well, the timing belt broke and the folks said that the damage could be BAD (like replace the whole engine kind of bad). Well, we lucked out and the engine wasn't damaged. The belt was not covered under warranty, but after ducking the engine replacement bullet, paying for a new belt was great - sort of.

A-ha moment

I have been dragging my little CSM machine out occasionally to see if I could get it to work. I use it until I get totally frustrated and put it up again. I have yet to be able to get it to knit.


I felt like the problem was with how I used the set up basket. I got some help from the sock knitter's group and used this photo as a guide. The rubber bands work wonderfully.

Then I made sure that I had proper tension on the umbrella (I had three weights).

The yarn was still not catching. Here's a photo of my cylinder with the needles in it.

Here's a photo of Gay's set up:

>>>>>>Eric from the list properly diagnosed the problem - I put the uplift cams in upside down.<<<<<<<

ETA: Nope. See a later post - I had the put the machine together incorrectly.

D'oh!

I'm actually excited about knowing this. Perhaps I can get my machine to start working!

Wedding Gift

Well, I decided to knit from my stash (KFMS) for this gift. So I used Elann.com Sonata for the hand towel: And some Sugar 'n Cream for the face cloths. (Wine & Potpourri)

I used the Mason Dixon book for the Chevron pattern but I only knitted 14 stripes instead of the called for 24 - mainly because I ran out of yarn. I made up my own "pattern" for the face cloths.

Bunny!

I was inspired by this bunny I saw on Softies Central . . .Since Jess Hutch's Spherey makes a perfect quick sphere, here's my knitted version:
I knitted it out of Paton's Be Mine yarn. It's so nice and soft.

Thanks goes out to Cindy who mentioned the face was missing a nose. I can't help but feel like he looks more like a dog than a bunny. Perhaps the ears should have been longer and thinner?


Oh, and I now have a favorite fiber fill:

It's light weight and can be shaped well. I really like this stuff better than Poly-fil. I bought this bag at my local Walmart.

My next softie will be a chick that was inspired by the same artist:

It's an eye ball

D is the daughter of GOAM (who has REALLY been wonderful to help me on a project that grew to ginormous proportions). I have never met a girl who loves balls as much as this one does. She saw M's Mr. Handster and wanted one for her own. I showed her my big box 'o cotton yarn and told her I'd make one for her in any color she chose. As you can see, she chose the baby rainbow colorway.I made the mistake of showing her the head before I started on the arms and legs. She wanted no part of adding them to her ball. I am really touched by how much she loves it.

GOAM instantly dubbed it the eye ball. :)

I'm happy with how quickly it knitted up. I'm currently toying with the idea of writing a bunny pattern. I'm just thinking through how I'd like it to look.

I watch too many movies

I saw this on Tasha's blog and had to play along:

"It’s been alleged that if you’ve seen over 85 movies you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste it in and put x’s by the ones that you have seen. Add them up, figure out whether you’ve got a life or not, and post it."

Bleh. I counted 161 and it could be more if you count that I saw a lot of the originals, too.

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
(X) The Princess Bride
(X) AnchorMan
(X) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
(X) White Oleander
(X) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
(X) The Princess Diaries
(X) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie
(X) American Pie 2
(X) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(X) Lilo & Stitch
(X) Finding Nemo
(X) Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
(X) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
(X) Butterfly Effect
(X)13 Going on 30
(X) I, Robot
(X) Robots
(X) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(X) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(X) Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
(X) KingPin
(X) Never Been Kissed
(X) Meet The Parents
(X) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
(X) Joe Dirt
(X ) King Kong
(X) A Cinderella Story
(X) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(X) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(X) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
(X) Halloween
(X)The Ring
( )The Ring 2
( )Surviving Christmas
(X) Flubber
(X) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(X) Practical Magic
(X) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(X) Hellboy
(X) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
(X) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(X) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
(X) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
(X) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number SlevIn
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
(X) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
(X) Lone Star
(X) Bedazzled (I’ve seen both versions)
(X) Predator I
( ) Predator II
(X) The Fog (Does the original count?)
( ) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(X) Independence Day
(X) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(X) Christine
(X) E.T
( ) Children of the Corn
(X) My Bosses Daughter
(X) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds
(X) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(X) She’s All That
(X) Calendar Girls
(X) Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
(X) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
(X) Big Trouble in Little China
(X)The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
(X) The Terminator 3
(X) X-Men
(X) X-2
(X) X3
(X) Spider-Man
(X) Spider-Man 2
(X) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday (Both versions)
(X) Reign of Fire
(X) The Skulls
(X) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
(X) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
(X) The Notebook
(X) K-Pax
(X) Krippendorf’s Tribe
(X) A Walk to Remember
(X) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(X) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
(X) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
(X) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
(X ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
(X) Kung Fu Hustle
(X) Shaolin Soccer
(X) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(X ) Shaun Of the Dead
(X) Willard (both versions)
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(X) Hulk
(X) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
(X ) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(X) 28 days later
(X) Orgazmo
(X) Phantasm
(X) Waterworld
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 1
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
(X) the Hills Have Eyes (again, does the original count?)
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
(X) Re-Animator
(X) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(X) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
(X) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
(X) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix: Reloaded
(X) The Matrix: Revolutions
(X) Animatrix
(X) Evil Dead
(X) Evil Dead 2
(X) Team America: World Police
(X) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
(X) Hannibal

Robots in the round & another Mr. Handster

I've been on a real kick making Jess Hutch's robots. I made one without taking a picture. But the other two are proof in concepts - i.e., you *can* knit her robots in the round. These two guys are headed to a pair of twin boy babies.

These were knitted in Sugar n Cream cotton. I love knitting them in cotton because they're nigh invulnerable and easy for new parents to throw them in the washer/dryer.

One problem with knitting them in the round is you have to start at the top of the head and, therefore, can't attach the antenna on the inside seam. Here's how mine turned out:
But the real problem occurs when I'm doing intarsia in the round. I still haven't found a clean way to wrap and turn the work without it looking wonky. My next attempt I'll knit them with an extra stitch cast on on both sides and mattress stitch the border. I think that's going to be the cleanest way to do it.Here's a Jess Hutch Spherey. My daughter dubbed it Mr. Handster when she was younger and the name stuck. When we got Mel our dog, he ended up chewing up Mr. Handster. This is his replacement with a different color scheme ala' M's choices.

I wanted to fix the smile, but M loves it just the way it is.

Snaggle Tooth

M has lost her first tooth at age 5. I couldn't help but feel a little sad to see her tooth fall out. The nights I spent trying to calm her when she was initially teething. . . We worked so hard on keeping her comfortable. I know it's a good thing, but I can't believe I have snaggle tooth!

Yarn

My neighbor raises satin angora rabbits and spins her own yarn. Her stuff is just beautiful and she's now venturing out on her own.

I have my eyes on the Blue Saphires!

Free Pattern - Nearly Gloves II

I fell in love with the Ziti yarn from Artfibers when I went to San Francisco. It reminds me of a sparkly mosaic. The photo doesn't do it justice! Here's a photo of the front and back of the gloves.The good folks of Artfibers sent me to Marnie Maclean's website for her Nearly Gloves. I wanted something a little more ornate and based this on the cables and eyelets dishcloth I did a while back.


Materials:

Ziti yarn (1 ball) Artfibers
Size 13 needles
Cable needle (I actually used a ball point pen)


Special Stitches:

yo - yarn over
skp - slip a stitch, knit the next stitch, pass the slipped stitch over the knitted stitch.
k2tog - knit two stitches together
C4F - slip two stitches onto cable needle and move the needle forward. Knit the next two stitches. Next knit the two stitches located on cable needle.
pm = place marker
CO - Cast on
BO - Bind off



If you have any questions, www.knittinghelp.com is a great resource.


Left Glove:


CO 25 stitches.


Row 1: (k2, p2) six times, k1
Row 2: p1, (k2, p2) six times.
Row 3: (k2, p2) six times, k1
Row 4: p1, (k2, p2) six times.
Row 5: (k2, p2) three times, k2tog, yo, p2, k4, p2, k2tog, yo, k1
Row 6: p3, k2, p4, (k2, p2) four times
Row 7: (k2, p2) three times, yo, skp, p2, C4F, p2, yo, skp, k1
Row 8: p3, k2, p4, (k2, p2) four times (repeats row 6 for each even row)
Row 9: (k2, p2) three times, k2tog, yo, p2, k4, p2, k2tog, yo, k1
Row 10: p3, k2, p4, (k2, p2) four times
Row 11: (k2, p2) three times, yo, skp, p2, k4, p2, yo, skp, k1
Row 12: p3, k2, p4, (k2, p2) four times

Repeat rows 5 through 12 three more times (for a total of 4 cables).

Picot bind off:
CO2, BO4 till the last stitch. Weave in ends.

Finishing: sew the top inch together. Weave in threaded yarn to allow for thumb (about 1 3/4 inch) and sew remaining edges together.

Right Glove:

CO 25 stitches.

Row 1: (k2, p2) six times, k1
Row 2: p1, (k2, p2) six times.
Row 3: (k2, p2) six times, k1
Row 4: p1, (k2, p2) six times
Row 5: k1, k2tog, yo, p2, k4, p2, k2tog, yo, k1, (p2, k2) 2 times, p2, k1
Row 6: p1, (k2, p2) 3 times, p1, k2, p4, k2, p3
Row 7: k1, yo, skp, p2, C4F, p2, yo, skp, k1, (p2, k2) 2 times, p2, k1
Row 8: p1, (k2, p2) 3 times, p1, k2, p4, k2, p3
Row 9: k1, k2tog, yo, p2, k4, p2, k2tog, yo, k1, (p2, k2) 2 times, p2, k1
Row 10: p1, (k2, p2) 3 times, p1, k2, p4, k2, p3
Row 11: k1, yo, skp, p2, k4, p2, yo, skp, k1, (p2, k2) 2 times, p2, k1
Row 12: p1, (k2, p2) 3 times, p1, k2, p4, k2, p3

Repeat rows 5 through 12 three more times (for a total of 4 cables).

Picot bind off:
CO2, BO4 till the last stitch. Weave in ends.

Finishing: sew the top inch together. Weave in threaded yarn to allow for thumb (about 1 3/4 inch) and sew remaining edges together.

If you make these, all I ask is that you send me a link to a photo!

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Good and Bad

Well, I've had good times and bad lately. First the bad: I hit my neighbors tree with my husband's car with everyone in it. I made over $4,000 in damages to the car. Thank goodness for insurance and seat belts.

Another bad is that I killed my phone when I was in San Francisco (see good below). I was touching sea creatures at the Aquarium of the Bay and it slipped out of my purse into the water.

The final bad is that my windows in MY car aren't working - the good is that I have 2500 miles left on my warranty so I hope it can be fixed.

Next the good: we went to San Francisco for a week. Highlight of the trip for me was a jaunt to Artfibers and Noe Knits. If you ever find yourself in SF, you need to ditch the hubby (or non-knitters) and plan on spending lots of time in Artfibers. They have samples of everything and encourage you to sit and knit them. All the people who stopped in had the same problem I did: husbands. I could have easily spent the whole day there. As it stood, I bought some Ming, Kyoto, Ziti, and Oodles. I knitted some Nearly Gloves in the Ziti - I really like them and will have to post my version of them in a later post. I love all the yarn I got from

I then ditched J & M on Monday night and went over to Noe Knits. The shop keeper is fabulous and they were very welcoming. I then went to Bliss Bar for the Chicks with Sticks meet up. What fun that was! I fell in love with a Peter Rabbit. I'll have to knit one up.

Seven days in San Francisco is too much. M & I did so much. I am totally exhausted and am very happy to be home. I'll blog about what we did in a later post.

MFN - warning: explict (sort of)

MFN = Male Frontal Nudity

Back in college, I used to keep a mental tally of all the movies that had MFN - not hard to do as it's not something that happens often.

Rome, the HBO drama, had an episode with MFN recently and I must say, Tobias Menzies has nothing to be shy about. I never did notice him until the MFN scene.

He's huge.

Babies - again

Sorry for not posting for awhile. I had to organize a retreat, a school Valentine's Day party, and a fifth birthday party (I can't believe I have a five year old!). All are thankfully done and everyone had a great time. Of course, my household was hit with flu this year right in the middle of all the festivities. We're getting the shot next year.

It seems like I haven't really wanted to knit, but I actually have gotten some items finished.

Another Bobbi Bear - yes, the legs are different lengths. I'm going to have to enter that into the "folksy hand knit charm" category and just not worry about it (of course I'm going to worry - don't we all knit pick our own stuff to death?). SnC in purple. 2 skeins of the small balls. I knitted this one differently than what was in the directions. I essentially knitted the main body/head, embroidered, and sewed on the ears before I stuffed it. I then picked up the stitches for the arms and finished him up. MDK kimono (I need to add the ties) with an Ellen's Ruffled Hat. OTN: Super Quick Baby Socks
Another hooded bath towel - and yes, my dye lots were different for the pink. (crud)

After I finish the socks, I'll make some Jess Hutch robots out of cotton. I like giving cotton to new parents because the item can be machine washed and dried.

Oh, and the blue bear/hooded bath towel was a hit at the baby shower last Sunday.

Babies, babies every where

I've been knitting - really! Here's my latest:

The hooded baby towel pattern is free and came from here.

The washcloth was a standard Grandmother's favorite but with four stitches cast on and a M1 after two stitches instead of a YO - I did it to match the towel pattern.

The bear is a Baby Bobbi Bear and was really great to knit up. The only sewing needed was to sew the ears to the head (and after looking at the photo's, I wish I sewed them a little lower). Very nice pattern and only uses two skeins of SnC cotton and one whole back of 12 oz of poly fill. I used some scrap green to embroider the nose and two 9 mm black safety eyes. Here's the bear all by himself:

Here he is snuggled up in the bath towel:

If you can't tell, I just love these colors for little guys. I am knitting up a Hot Pink, Orange, variegated version for a new baby girl that has been born into J's extended family. I may make a Baby Kimono instead of the bear.

Hypno-toad

J & I went to a great new Chinese restaurant located nearby. We were greeted by this monstrosity. Reminds me of the Hypno-toad from Futurama. (Warning, the hypno-toad link has sounds)

Knitting weirdness

I found this link on Jess Hutchinson's site. It took them 5 years to knit and you can see it on Google map.

2006 FO's

Toe-up Socks

Cigar Gloved

Another Speed Six Afghan

Twinkletoes

Lacy Round Dishcloth

Pinafore Dress

Alligator Mittens from Stitch N Bitch Nation

Interweave 2006 Holiday Fair Isle Hat

Speed Stix Afghan

Snowflake Illusion Dishcloth

Noni Majolica Vase Purse

Turkey Dishcloth

Captain Underpants

Garterlac Dishcloth, Flower Petal Dishcloth, Lost Points Shawl

Candy Corn Illusion Dishcloth

Double Flower Dishcloth

Mosaic Snowflake Dishcloth

Yuletide Gnome #2

Bulky Baby Bibbed Pullover & Umbilical Cord Hat

Mid-September Dishcloth KAL

Baby Hoodie Cardi

Yuletide Gnome #1

Moss Grid Hand Towel from Mason Dixon

Absorba the Great Bath Mat from Mason Dixon

Crochet Yarn Bag & Fair-isle Children's Hat

Snake Charmer Baby Cardi from Knitty

Mason Dixon Dish Towel/Cloth set

Double Heart Dishcloth & Lacy Mock Cable Dishcloth

Noni Bags: Another Medium Carpet Bag

Noni Bags: Medium Carpet Bag, Garden Party, Garden Party w/ruffles, Small Carpet Bag

Bombshell Sweater from Big Girl Knits

Another Henry bear from Jess Hutch

Felted Easter Baskets

Chemo Hat

A baby hat and another Robot from Jess Hutch

Another Henry bear from Jess Hutch

Another Henry bear from Jess Hutch

Alligator Mittens from Stitch N Bitch Nation and a Robot from Jess Hutch

Henry bear from Jess Hutch

Spherey from Jess Hutch

Devil Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch

Hex Update

I have the two front panels done and am working on the back panel.

I also have a better shot of the Moss pattern as compared to the Seed stitch.

Moss:

Seed:

Dumb old boring knitting post

J is tired of seeing me blog about knitting. Tough Titty Toenails! It's my blog and I can blog about whatever I want to.

I still haven't received my Circular Sock-knitting Machine. I keep watching the mail and every day around 3 pm I get anxious and volunteer to go get the mail (I never volunteer to go get the mail). I want my new toy!

I've been busy. Work is getting in the way! (It's a good thing, really)

I made a hat for Caps for the Capital and a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. I didn't get photo's because I knitted them right up to when I needed to get them to their respective charities.

I also finished and felted a purse. I still need to sew it together.

I'm not happy with how the purse blocked and am thinking about sending it through the washer one more time so I can work the kinks out.

I'm also not very happy at how the blue yarn bled into the yellow. I don't think the dye bled. I think the blue fibers felted into the yellow.

I am a bit lukewarm about the way the flower turned out. It's not as fuzzy as I would have liked. Probably should have double stranded the nylon/mohair yarn.

I do like the size of the purse and the length of the handle.

Teeth

The whole family went to the dentist last week. $4,000 + in dental fees later, all of us came home with crooked smiles. Turns out the old metal fillings I had in my mouth for decades aren't working so well, so I had to get them drilled out and re-done. Now the back of my mouth isn't gray anymore.

I hate the dentist. But I have only one set of teeth. I guess they're a necessary evil.

Update

I have been in CAD training this week, so I've been somewhat busy. It's always fun to attend classes all day and then work into the evening. (sigh)

I'm glad I am taking the class, though. I've been using AutoCAD since 1986 (egads I'm getting old). Civil3D came out and it's a TOTALLY DIFFERENT PRODUCT!! I've been hitting my head against the wall for the past couple of months as I stumble through using all the new do-dads. Once I finally figure out how to control stuff, I'm fairly happy with the new way of doing things. I just don't have the process down.

Gotta get back to class.

Gettin' Greedy

J has a new game up called Countdown Dice and it's based on one of our favorite board games by Sid Sackson, Can't Stop. Some times when I can't get a dice combination before I commit, I growl that I got greedy.

It's a fun little game and I like the way it plays and looks.

A building with no windows?

We've past by this building for years, but now they've done something that has captured my attention. . .

Did they paint the windows?

(I really just wanted to play with my new phone camera)

Six weird things about me

1. I had a fear of earwigs - really. I totally freaked out once when I thought one had gotten close to my ears. I thought they get into your ears and will pinch my ear drum. Just thinking about it makes me so embarrassed.
2. I stack plates at restaurants after we're finished eating. It's to help the wait staff clear the table and, I must admit, is somewhat fun to do. I like to try to get all the dishes put together so they can be taken away by one person. Drives my husband insane.
3. Whenever I end up liking a television show - namely Sci-Fi shows, they invariably get cancelled. I guess I like bad television.
4. I remember the color of people's eyes. Don't know why. I just do.
5. I am generally the straight man in my relationship with my husband. Bob Newhart was a straight man.

Auto Knitter Circular Sock-knitting Machine

Well, I bought an expensive toy off of eBay. It's an antique Circular Sock-Knitting Machine.


I'm not sure how old this one is, but they're generally a couple of decades old. I do love my knitted socks and would like to be able to whip them out in a couple of hours. This machine is in beautiful condition. Can't wait!

Uspshlee

M wrote us a note today and is very proud 'cause she wrote it out herself:

Re-started my Hex Coat

A while back, I started my Hex Coat, but I screwed it up. I knitted it in seed stitch instead of moss stitch.

If you've ever wondered what the difference is, hopefully you can see it here. Here's the seed stitch:

Here's what I'm doing now. The moss stitch:

I'm a bit disappointed that this photo doesn't show the diamonds. It really softens it up.

I also didn't take into account that my hips are wider than my chest. The other thing I did was knitted the rib in the same needle size as what I'm knitting the coat. I did not like how the rib area pulled dramatically in - not good for a woman with large hips.

The top of the photo below is where the hexagon's will be added later on. The bottom is the outer edge. I've chosen to do a shaped coat - 'cause I'm shaped. I've knitted to the waist and am now increasing to cover my chest. I'm keeping track of where I increased on each row.

I'm glad I ripped out my previous attempt. I'm much happier with this attempt.

Socks are DONE!

Okay, my fear of hand knitting socks is officially over. I don't know why it took me so long to get the toe right on the very first sock. It needlessly intimidated me.

Well, I'm not intimidated anymore!

Viola!

I love them. They are so soft and warm and fit my feet perfectly. The color is quite lovely. . Right now I have an obsession with Circular Sock Knitting Machines. I want one, but they're terribly expensive. Not to mention that it's a crap shoot on what you are getting if you buy one - they're all antiques. I'm still not besotted with hand knitting socks like other folks are as I've casted on for my Hex Coat

I'm heavily modifying it to fit my shape. Here's a quick sketch showing some of the modifications I'm doing to make this fit right.

The sleeves and arm holes are challenging me a bit right now. I'm not sure how to bind off in the sleeve area, and I have to work it out so I can adjust the arm hole area. I'm also shortening it quite a bit. The pattern calls for the 40 3/4" long. I'm going to shorten it to 30" long. That will make it hit my upper thigh, which is really just the right length.