New Felting Projects

I just purchased this yarn from The Yarntreehouse on Ebay, these are their photos, it came in the mail yesterday and I didn't want to waste my batteries taking a new photo when these represent it perfectly. It's not as soft as merino wool, it's got about the same texture as Knit Picks, Wool of the Andes so I anticipate it felting up very nicely.

This is how the wool is supposed to knit up and I think it's soooo pretty. I can't wait to see how it's going to look as a felted bag! and a felted hat! Wouldn't those colors brighten up a dreary winter day! It's like rainbow sherbet :)

This is a picture of my first felted bag. I was warned that this felting thing could become addictive and it is :)

The Flower Beds

I don't think I'll ever understand this, we moved to the desert and E.J. has decided he needs to turn our yard into Hawaii :) As you can see, Augie doesn't get it either and he thinks it's his personal little hole digging, green eating, shangrilah.
E.J. was told that bulbs wouldn't grow here, so of course, he planted all kinds of bulbs :) and of course, they were all wrong. The day lilies hadn't opened up yet for the picture but the glads are blooming all around the yard. I thought the wind would break the stalks, but so far they are going like gang busters.
and get aload of these! I just love the orange ones, they are perfect and just beautiful. The snapdragons behind them were throw aways from the nursery last year. Guess they decided to tough it out too. I'll get some more shots of the other areas of the yard later, it's really hard to get anything descent because I still haven't taken my camera to the shop to fix the focus on it. It's only been a year and a half since Alex and I dropped it..... Sheesh, shame on me. I just can't seem to let go of it long enough to send it off.

Lace Curtains

Well, I got them knitted up, blocked and Viola! I'm still not done. This darned acrylic yarn just refuses to cooperate, my choices are either to kill it or add some kind of fancy edges to try and tame the curl. Other than that, I'm really rather pleased with them. I knit them on my Toyota KS858, I just love the way that machine handles the lace knitting and I'll be doing lots more of it.

The yarn is a 2/24 acrylic, low fuzzing which is ok for curtains. It would actually make a nice lacy baby afghan or a lacy shawl.

And here is the final product. I killed them a little bit with a steam iron and some light starch. I am happy with them now and will let them brighten up my little knitting room. Huh Oh! There's an uncovered window on the opposite wall.... here we go again :)

Didn't Shrink!

While I was in California this past winter, I knitted up a pair of the Pocketbook Slippers with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. I figured I would just hand wash them since this was my felting yarn for clog slippers. The pattern http://www.knitwits-heaven.com/pocket_book_slippers.htm was a super quick knit and there is a machine version out there too, I just can't seem to find it at the moment.

Anyway, I accidently washed them today, warm water cold rinse and guess what? They didn't felt! They didn't shrink either, they came out just fine! Yeah! By the way, these little slippers fold up into each other and take up no space at all so I've been carrying them around in my purse (haha look like a pocketbook, fit in a pocketbook how very clever) because several of my friends and family don't allow shoes on their carpets. These are very cute and comfortable too and I just noticed that the pattern site has a toddler version. I'm thinking if I add a couple of stitches I could make a pair that will fit my granddaughter too, they look so much like little mary janes.

What I've been up to lately

Hi everyone, I thought I'd let you know that I've been sewing for my granddaughter and my hubby, I put up a few pictures of some nightgowns and one of the dresses on my sewing page if you want to see.

So, the UFO's that I'm currently in the middle of are:

2 more dresses for Trinity,
1 more pair of flannel pj bottoms for E.J.,
developing a hand knit summer cotton hat for E.J.,
another pair of felted clog slippers,
the lace curtain panels,
a hand knit Barbie coat and a couple more little tops for Barbie,
a felted hat (just have the swatch knit, will felt it to see if this yarn will work),
I've also made a couple of passes at knitting socks on the flatbed with ribber, no luck yet but I won't give up,
and I now have some mylars to see if that part of my electronic scanner box works on my White 1602 so want to get to that today too.

So, all in all, I'm still a busy little girl and I think I have enough on the table to actually stop starting and start finishing :) The last lace panel just got cast off the machine so I'll be blocking them and sewing the rod pocket and hanging them up soon. I'll be sure to post pictures when they are hanging merrily in my knitting room window. I do love making the lace!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The wearin' o' the green, only thing missing is the Guiness. I think instead of braids on this one, I might try the cut and sew (sew and cut) method we've been chatting about on our email group and make it a snug fitting cap instead. I machine sewed the back seam and it was really easy to do, but then, of all the holiday's, a leprechaun should have something a little silly like braids, well, easter bunnies too. Yup, another experiment coming up :)

On the KS858 today

This is how far I got last night so these shots are from day one :) I'm using a very pale yellow 100% Acrylic 2/24 yarn. I thought I'd go through my learning phase with this then I'll try cotton for my kitchen curtains.
I received my new lace carriage so decided to make some lace panel curtains for my knitting room. The windows are small in there so I'm hoping I'll be able to finish them this week. Right! I also have to finish up E.J.'s St. Patty's Day hat so he can wear it for the holiday too. Plenty to get done for sure. On the lace, I thought I had made a mistake but what looks like a missed line is just a crease in the cardboard that I put behind it so you could see the pattern and if it is a mistake, too bad!!! I'm not ripping it out now LOL!!!

Simul-NOT!

This is where I started. I was very optimistic since one big hole seamed like an easy adjustment to fix....

and this is where I've stopped...

Don't get me wrong, I still absolutely love my Toyota machines, the pros definitely outweigh the cons, I just had such high hopes for this particular function of it and it hasn't gone my way, yet. Yes, I will try again. Some other day when I'm in the mood for some more self loathing and torture. These were done on my KS950 with my KR505 ribber. The long strip with the varigated looking band of ribbing will be the hat. It's a little short so I may have to put it back on the machine, but it will be one solid color of plain dark green.

These are the pieces that I figured I could go ahead and share with the world. The wadded up mess of yarn is representative of about 4 other attempts. I finally quit trying to save the yarn and tossed the other disasters.

HOWEVER... See how the back turns out in comparison to fair isle with floats? This is why I will try this again and I am bound and determined to make it work right. Well, that is unless my White doublebed does doublejacquard or at least a version of floatless fair isle, which I'm pretty sure it does. In that case, I will let this be another lesson and excuse for owning and using so many different knitting machines :)

Rasta Hat from Knitty Gritty Show

This is the pattern that was demonstrated on the HGTV/DIY knitting show, Knitty Gritty. It really turned out nice and it was fun to knit. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight and it turned out a little too big, so the next one will be done on smaller needles. Years ago, I had crocheted a snood to hold my hair back, well, E.J. confiscated it and wore it all the time, it was like this but in a mesh and no visor/brim. Now he wants me to make another snood, but with the visor like this one has. I actually think I can pull it off. He'll look silly as ever, but his hair will be out of the wind since he's decided to be a long hair again :)

More Felted Slippers

For Mom....
My sister Joan asked for blue and this pair of red went home with my daughter, Becca :) I'm home now and while I was away I hand knit 3 pairs of felted clogs, 1 pair of pocket book slippers, 1 pair of Red Heart Strata Dorm Socks, 3 cotton dishcloths and machine knit 2 Barbie outfits along with a few lace punchcard swatches. I guess this is the kind of productivity you get when you don't have computer access 24 hours a day. No distractions, just lots of knitting :)

Tester Barbie Outfit

I got the Brother HK840 up and running and here is her first completed project, a pullover sweater and the long pull on skirt. What a breeze to make, I just kind of eyeballed it all, the body of the sweater is one piece and the sleeves were knit from the shoulders down, the skirt was just a rectangle with a thin cord of elastic for the waist, seamed up the back and hemmed. Viola! You sock knitters out there might recognize the yarn as Knit Picks Simple Stripes sock yarn :) Now if I could just find my punch cards so I can test that out!!!

Christmas Pillowghan

Well, finally! I finished the pillowghan for E.J.'s boss. It really shouldn't take this long, but I ran out of green yarn, and our Wal-Mart isn't the greatest for keeping a good stock of items on their shelves. Then there are all the other projects that I let side track me.... Anyway, I hope she likes it. I used the Toyota 610, the pillow pocket is a two color tuck pattern. That was really fun to do and I really like the way it turned out too. I'll be using that stitch pattern for more items.

Just for Grins :)

Before and after felting :) I couldn't get the slippers to dry after 3 days and I could tell that I hadn't rinsed all the soap out, so I went ahead and ran them through the washer one more time. This time I didn't stop the wash before it went through the whole cycle and now they are a perfect size 8 (down 2 more sizes) so I'll be making a different pair for the mother of my grandson. It's just as well, since blue is her favorite color. Hmmm... I may just have to keep these for myself? Nah, these will go to my mother in law. They're just a hair too small for me. I started another pair in the red and brown and couldn't resist putting up a picture of the difference. I sure hope they stop shrinking though. I think I can keep them out of the dryer but hand wash in cool water? The reality is that they won't and they'll end up going through the laundry. As long as they stay in proportion, that's ok, there's always someone with smaller feet somewhere LOL!!!

WOW!!! Felted Clogs

I finished them, the felted clog slippers, and they are wonderful! These were hand knit from the Fiber Trends Clog Slippers pattern using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes yarn. I knew it must work, but since this was my first felting experience, and the knitted project was sooo floppy and loose, I had my doubts and just look at them!!! I love this!!! I made the large women's size, just because I didn't know how it was going to work out, and they actually are a large women's size which means they are too big for me but they'll fit my daughter in law, she wears size 9 and 10's, so they should be perfect for her. It's a good thing they don't fit me, I think I would have had a hard time parting with them otherwise. :)

Santa Hat #2

I finally got a natural smile.
Here's Santa Hat number 2. I will refine the punchcard a bit more but I like the all over Santa's better than the row of larger Santa's in the first hat. And I got in trouble for leaving off the braids! He prefers braids to tassles :)

December Hat

Here is the first hat for December. Not as much fun as the pumpkins were, so I'm going to see if I can make a 12st Santa face for an all over pattern like the October hat was and maybe add a band of some sort of a green pattern to go between the ribbing and the hat. You can really see where the needles didn't select correctly in a couple of spots. I hope that practice and experience will make catching these little mistakes easier while there is still time to fix them. E.J. likes braids better than the tassles too. Ok, since he is the one wearing it, I suppose I can accommodate that :) This row of Santa's would make a cute sweater though, especially if it were bordered with a little green pattern on the top and bottom. Hmmmmm.......

Felted Clog Slippers

Here is slipper number 1, pre-felting. I can't stop laughing at how huge it is! Fee-Fi-Fo Fum! Slippers for giants! My foot isn't even all the way back to the heel and it just dwarfs my 'not so small' size 8.5 feet. Too funny and I can't wait to see how this felting thing works, so it's off to knit up the second one and to the washer and we'll see how they turn out :)

Toyota KS610 Scarf

I set up the Toyota KS610, a 9mm machine and knit this scarf. I had forgotten how much I love this yarn! It was from Caron, a thick and thin response to LB's Homespun, called Fascination. It's a shame they didn't keep it long. I still have several skeins in several colors. When I got it the only machine I was using was my Bond and I had to EON to use it. I have since used it on 2 different 9mm machines, the LK100 and the Toyota KS610, and it works beautifully on them using every needle and as loose a tension as possible on the carriage. This particular scarf was an experiment with a T9 setting, but I like the T10 much better. The higher setting on the LK100 had a more relaxed fabric and didn't curl near as bad as this one did. Even with 2 rows of crochet, it fights to curl. This yarn is soooo soft and lush! I think I need a new sweater LOL!!!

End of the Strata Saga

Here's the tassle hat to go with the Red Heart Strata baby blanket I made last month. As I was whining about before, I washed, I fabric softened, I steamed and steamd and the yarn is just too scratchy for an adults skin, let alone a delicate little newborn baby so.....
Flip! Turned it over, crocheted a strap and Viola! A new purse/bag!!! It's nice and tightly knit too, I made it on the LK140 and the steam melted it just enough where it's made a nice sturdy feeling little purse. I think my granddaughter will love it :) Heck, if she doesn't like it, I do. I'll just make a longer strap and it will hold a wallet, checkbook, lipstick and cell phone, what more do ya need when going out? LOL!

Sock? Not!!!

The Machine Sock Process....

Looks like a good start at a perfectly respectable sock right?

Nice ribbing. See? Nice little tube going, went to put more weight on it because it started to skip a couple of stitches and...

I guess I should have zagged when I zigged because when I transferred the ribbing and started the circular knitting, I ended up with, well I don't even know how to describe it, but you sure can't get your foot in it! I must have had some buttons set wrong (zagged) and instead of knitting one side at a time, it knit one row all together and then I must of changed something (zigged) when I finished the set up and just knit away thinking I had a perfect tube going on. LOL!! Oh well, here we go again, that darned learning curve!

Happy Halloween Hat

and here is the punchcard pattern done correctly :) It's not blue! It's Purple!!! Oh well, you get the idea anyway. I knit a folded up 2x1 ribbed hem, then did the punchcard patterned rows, took it off on waste yarn, sewed up the back seam, then sewed the top straight across and braided the tassles. Pretty funny and my husband loves it! Happy Halloween!

First Homemade Punchcard!

They aren't little bombs, they are little pumpkins. Well, they're supposed to be anyway, and they looked good on paper. Whew! What a learning day. First of all, the pumpkins are supposed to be orange and the background purple (couldn't get my camera to give up on making the purple blue) so I need to switch what is color one and color two, I didn't look at each row to make sure the needles were selected right, I wore long sleeves and noticed that I was bumping some of the needles so I have some odd stitches every so often, but other than that, I'm actually kind of tickled with it. I just love learning days!!!

Oh, I based the card on a smiling train face from Wendy Phillips Small World pattern book and I only ruined 1 card. I don't think that's too bad for a first go at it :)

Strata Blanket Completed

I finished the blanket, spread it over the chair, stepped into the kitchen to get the camera, and this is what happened. My house dog loves it as much as my house cat I guess. If nothing else this scratchy type yarn would make great pet pads :) Actually I was able to soften it up a bit with fabric softener and steaming it. I do not recommend that garments that touch the skin be created from this yarn, but things like back packs, rugs, placemats, decorator pillows, and throws would be awesome. The patterning yarn in the bulkier weight is great.
I'm usually not a fan of the purl side of knitting, but I have to say that I like the purl side better on this blanket. It almost has a woven look to it.and this is to be a hat and shows the actual stripes as it was intended to be used. With a little more time, I think you could actually figure out the gauge/stitches to get the colors to change on the edges. And they say machine knitting is cheating, bwahahahaa!! but that's for another day, I've got socks to finish! :)

Red Heart Strata yarn

The overalls and little socks from the Opal Brazil yarn were a huge hit, everyone wants a pair of socks now, even complete strangers :) Those colors are just so eye catching. Anyway, one of the gals from the Machine Knitting group mentioned that Red Heart had a new yarn out called Strata, she shared a scarf she had made from it and it turned out wonderful. I got curious about how the self stripes would work on a wider scale and I've been testing out my LK140 and hadn't tried the heavier yarn yet so I thought I'd try a baby blanket with it. This color way, Crayon, is similar to the socks I made, so I hoped it would go with the socks, sort of like a set. I think this yarn would make a great hat, especially one of those with the corners and tassles hanging from them like pony tails, but I'll use the HK100 or the LK100. I think the yarn is too bulky for the mid-gauge, at least for my taste in fabric anyway.

E.J. says it's got too much green and gold in it which makes it a Green Bay Packer blanket and that's not allowed in this Lions Den, sheesh, what a one track mind! My cat won't leave it alone, I went ahead and just took the pictures because she was going to snag it with her claws if I kept kicking her off, so that is Xena, my little warrior princess :) She really likes the blanket and thinks it's just for her, my vote is still out, I think I'd like it better with smaller panels so you get a real simulated fair isle stripe, maybe each panel edged with red and then assembled sort of like those mile a minute afghans, but I'm going to go ahead and finish it up as is and put a red pie crust edge around it.