Category Archives: Knitting

Summer on Blossom Street

20 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by in Knitting, Knitting Sites, Thoughts

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Watching a complex stitch pattern grow as I knit
silences the voice in my head that tells me to sweep the floor.
I imagine dust bunnies are knitting themselves together under my chair.
[Katherine Misegades, designer]

summeronblossomstreethbThe mail just came and I received a copy of Debbie Macomber’s newest book, Summer on Blossom Street. This is the fifth book in her Blossom Street series — knitting is a topic that runs through this series. I am excited because she used a quotation from me at the beginning of Chapter 35.

Ms Macomber’s 2009 Newsletter also mentions a new yarn shop in Port Orchard, Washington, named A Good Yarn Shop. Those of you familiar with her books will recognize that as the name of the shop on Blossom Street. I wish I didn’t live a gazillion miles away from there.

Sea Air and Sunshine

03 Friday Apr 2009

Posted by in Drawing, Knitting, Ongoing Projects

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Sometimes you gotta create what you want to be a part of.
[Geri Weitzman]

knitting_design

I bundled up in a borrowed electric blanket and shivered while I watched sleet pile up on the garage roof. I’d just come in from shoveling snow. My nose was running and my spirits hit a low as the dark sky triggered the streetlights to come on in midday. I knew in my heart that flowers would bloom again, but I needed a mental exercise to convince myself of that. Think tropical vacation, I told myself. That was a month and a half ago.

What is my concept of the color of the tropics? What is my concept of the look of the tropics—you must understand my concept is formed more by picture postcards than actual travel experience. My journey started with colored pencils and is currently flying on the wings of my knitting needles. I returned the blanket to its owner and stored my snow shovel until fall. If it snows again, I’ll just let it melt best it can. This isn’t finished but, I couldn’t wait to share it.

I’m using three colors of Saucon Sock yarn from Kraemer Yarns, Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Here is what they say about their yarn:

Saucon Sock is a cotton, acrylic, and nylon blend perfect for year round socks. It comes in many bright, vibrant colors with more on the way! Although it is designed specifically for socks, Saucon Sock can be used for lace shawls, baby blankets, and sweaters, if you have the patience! Whether you are looking for a cool washable sock yarn or even if you just have an allergy to wool, Saucon Sock is a beautiful no-wool yarn that will hold its shape.

I’m knitting two garments. One is a sleeveless shell that has horizontal stripes. The other is a short lace bolero with short sleeves and V-neck. The shell has a deep ribbing that will show from the bottom of the bolero. I’ll keep you posted about its progress. I wish I could knit faster.

Double Knitting

15 Sunday Mar 2009

Posted by in Knitting

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It develops math skills. A knitting project is geometric.
[Maggie DeCuir]

The edges look a bit ragged on this sample (this is one potholder—the top photo is the reverse side to the bottom photo). This is knit out of dish cloth cotton, a fiber not nearly as forgiving as wool. I know that the cast-on and bind-off rows would look better in wool, but I have yet to find a tidy way to work the side edges.

I designed this for a knitting class during which I mainly want to introduce the technique. It is handy to know the theory to use when starting and finishing any piece of knitting even if the rest isn’t double knit.

I’ve ordered Double Knitting: Reversible Two-Color Designs by M’Lou Baber. Years ago, I knit a double knit coat then I met M’Lou and was drawn to her designs. Her work is the most stunning double knitting that I’ve ever seen. I am looking forward to seeing her book.

Teaching knitting classes is not only great fun for me, but it also introduces me to how other people think in reference to their knitting. That helps when writing out pattern instructions. I am now aware that some folks may interpret what I write differently than what I intended. There are times when I know I need to present the same thing several different ways.

Pine Trees and Clam Shells

16 Monday Feb 2009

Posted by in Knitting

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I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station,
through which God speaks to us every hour,
if we will only tune in.
[George Washington Carver]

Nature is inspirational to be sure. The sweater at the left features pine trees. It was knit using Cascade 220. I’m using it as the basis of a class I’m leading at Sarah Jane’s Yarn Shoppe. The sweater above is the same pattern but I replaced the pine trees with clam shells that I found in an Alice Starmore book. Then, I found clamshell pewter buttons at Danforth in Vermont. I’m anxious to get this sweater finished just to see how it looks.

New Bolero

08 Monday Dec 2008

Posted by in Knitting

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Winning isn’t always finishing first. Sometimes winning is just finishing.
[Manuel Diotte]

Just finished. This bolero is knitted using about 900 yards of worsted weight yarn. I started at the cuffs, worked a cable and the sleeve increases along the upper arm then shaped the body and added the garter stitch edge as I worked to the center back. I Kitchner stitched the back together. The back is shaped with increases that put a curve in the bottom edge. The Question is, would anyone be interested in this pattern (especially with the Kitchnered seam)?

[An update on my last post: little buddy, Toby, is healed. His leg injury wasnt serious but the vet found an eye infection that we have treated and cured. Also, I found an inexpensive place to fix my dental plate and it is repaired without even a sign of the break. They fit better as well.]

Michael’s Red Hat

27 Monday Oct 2008

Posted by in Knitting, Thoughts

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Boys are God’s way of telling you that your house is too neat!
[Author Unknown]

Michael Alexander will be one year old the first of December. I designed the red hat for a class I’m teaching at Sarah Jane’s Yarn Shoppe. I tried it on Michael and he wore it home. It suited him. That often happens with my knitting. Somehow, I knew when I finished the green, lace shawl (in the recent post below), it would find a home of its own. I was moved to give it to the silent auction that raised money for the St. Mary’s soup kitchen last Saturday night. This morning, I stopped at our local cafe for breakfast on my way home from Curves. I met a friend who said he had the winning bid on the shawl and he gave it to his mother yesterday. He said that she wept and told him to put it on her when she died. That may sound a bit strange, but it is the highest of compliments. I’m so blessed.

Shamrock Shawl

19 Sunday Oct 2008

Posted by in Knitting

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Many an Irish property was increased by the lace of a daughter’s petticoat.
[Irish Proverb]

I never knew if that meant the daughter flirted to get a husband by showing the lace on her petticoat, or if the lace was worth so much that it figured into the price of the property.

I knit this shawl using fine silk/wool yarn. I adapted Marianne Kinzel’s “Trifolium Design” from her Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting (available from Dover Books). I added clear glass beads to the crochet loops that finish the shawl.

I received this book for Christmas in 1965 and have knitted almost every pattern in it. There are no errors. In the forty years I’ve spent wearing out this book, I never realized the thought behind the pattern selections until now. Ms Kinzel designed and wrote her lace patterns in England, but was originally from Bohemia. In this book, she included four spectacular patterns that represent the four segments of the United Kingdom: Scotland—”Balmoral” (Thistle), England—”Rose of England,” Ireland—”Trifolium,” and Wales—”Daffodil.”

Spending Life

14 Tuesday Oct 2008

Posted by in Favorite Things, Knitting, Ongoing Projects, Thoughts

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Life is like a coin.
You can spend it any way you wish,
but you only spend it once.
[Lillian Dickson]

I’ve been spending life enjoying myself thoroughly. Our October is unusually warm so I’ve taken every opportunity to drive with the top down and, of course, with a grin on my face. It is great to have white hair and drive a sports car. I’m obviously so far past mid life that nobody could suspect me of being in crisis. I get broad grins and thumbs up in return.

I spent time in one of my favorite places last weekend, New Harmony, Indiana. A group of knitters met at the Barn Abby for a retreat. The folks from Atkinson Farm Yarns in Vincennes, Indiana even brought a selection of yarn for us to browse through. The weather was perfect and the crops on the farms looked like they were right out of a James Whitcomb Riley poem.

In addition to my day job (which is so much fun I can’t call it work) and exercising at Curves, I’ve been teaching knitting classes at Sarah Jane’s Yarn Shoppe. My little buddy, Toby, takes me for walks and we join friends and family for yummy suppers. There is a point to all of this—choice.

I could stress out as I watch my retirement savings evaporate. I could watch political shows on TV even though the campaign has gone on a year too long in my opinion. I could worry myself sick over how other people spend their lives. The question is, would my stressing out change one thing for the better any more than my gripping the arm rests keeps an airplane in the air? Of course not. So, I voted early—for me, the campaign is over. I found the off button on my TV, and filed my depleted quarterly financial report away. Choosing to be delighted changes a lot.

Susan Briggs

11 Monday Aug 2008

Posted by in Knitting, Knitting Sites, Thoughts

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Each friend represents a world in us,
a world possibly not born until they arrive,
and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.
[Anais Nin]

I never met Susan Briggs but she made a difference in my life as surely as any close friend. She was the owner and shepherd of Tongue River Farm—home of Susan’s beloved Icelandic sheep. A number of years ago, Susan emailed and asked me if I’d design a sock pattern using her Icelandic sock-weight yarn. I agreed and she sent me a skein of brown and a skein of cream color. One design turned into six and I gathered the patterns in a little pattern book, The Tongue River Farm Sock Collection. When my daughter learned to spin, she ordered roving from Susan—it has been a favorite fiber of hers.

When I emailed Susan about the new correction (listed in the next post), her daughter wrote me back to say that Susan died July 15, 2008 at her home in Missouri. I’m writing this post to honor her memory, and to help her family by letting folks know where they can order Susan’s remaining inventory of yarn, roving, fleeces, books, etc.

Dennis and Marilyn Miles of Bloomin’ Acres Farm are marketing Susan’s items. They have a website at this LINK, and they can also be reached by email at this LINK. Their phone in Lincoln, Arkansas is 479-848-3060.

Correction

08 Friday Aug 2008

Posted by in Knitting

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Time for direction correction!
[L. M. Heroux]

Book CoverFor several years, my sock pattern book, The Tongue River Sock Collection, has been sold with a correction label on the inside cover. That correction reads:

CORRECTION: Fancy Checkerboard Sock, chart-section #5 on Page 5 — Hold the book sideways as you would to read the chart information. There are three columns of stitches on the far left of chart-section #5 that should be deleted from the chart.

I just received an email from a knitter who pointed out another error. There is a Chart Symbol Key on the back cover. The Words “Left Lifted Increase” and “Right Lifted Increase” are in the wrong place. The following diagram and instructions show how the symbol key should read:

lifted increaseRIGHT INCREASE: Knit the stitch from the left needle. Pick up the loop of the stitch below the one just knit and knit into that loop.

LEFT INCREASE: Knit the loop below the stitch on the left needle. Knit into the actual stitch.

My apologies to any knitters who were frustrated by this error. I wish I had a way of composing patterns error-free.