Started October 11, 2009
Finished October 15, 2009

Pattern: Fair Isle Beret from the Harmony Guide to Aran and Fair Isle Knitting.

I really loved knitting this hat. I forgot how enjoyable Fair Isle actually is and how quick it goes. I guess the changing colors keep you knitting so you can see what the next row is going to look like. Once I got past the two repeats of the chart for the border of the hat, and started the chart of the star, I had to rip it back a couple of times. I wanted to make sure the colors on the top were as pleasing as the colors of the border. I think it turned out beautiful, although I probably could have kept ripping it out and trying different things for days.

I still have lots of this natural dyed yarn left, although I am about out of the yellows. I might try to squeeze one more out of it, either for myself or Reagan. I figure Mom will want this one, instead of the one I originally knit for her. It is definitely the most beautiful of the two, although I really like the Wesley hat as well.

I’ve already cast on for the next hat, although I am trying to decide whether to put my own border chart in. I couldn’t possibly knit the same exact hat twice, now could I?

I had the best evening tonight. For the first time in 11 years I got to talk to my best friend from right after highschool, Robin. We weren’t great friends in high school, but started college in the same community college and became such great friends. I lost touch with her when I was pregnant with Reagan, and have spent the last 11 years trying to find her based on her maiden name, her name from her first marriage, and where I knew she was living the last time I talked to her. Not a week has gone by since we got on the internet that I haven’t typed her name into a search engine. I have called more “Robin *****” and asked them if they went to my high school than I care to remember.

But today I found her! Or she found me. More likely, God caused our paths to cross. I am so happy, and so blessed. I just can’t believe it!! She sounded so happy and content, and for that I am so glad.

I started another hat out of the natural dyed yarn. I’m not showing the one I made for Mom until after she gets it. Can’t decide if I’ll mail it or just take it with me when we go for Thanksgiving. (39 days and counting) I’ll show you pictures of this one though, and then if she wants this one, I’ll either give the one I made her to Reagan, or take it apart and knit another one like this if I don’t have enough yarn for two like this. I love this hat, it is so pretty!

Anyway, I guess I’ll go to bed and try to sleep. I don’t know if I can, I’m so happy! God has been so good to me again!

This came in the mail today..
Who needs flowers when your husband buys you knitting books out of the blue? And a knitting book I’ve wanted to get my hands on for a very long time as well!

I Love you Sean, you’re the best!

I have been really busy working on fiber stuff, homeschool, and my knitting class. Knitting class is just great. The first day I thought I might have bitten off more than I could chew, but each time we meet it gets better. I tried to start everyone off with size 8 needles and worsted weight yarn, but after the first day I dug out the size 15 needles I had bought on clearance somewhere and plied up a bunch of yarn to jumbo size, and took that to class. All but one of the girls eventually ended up with larger straight needles and jumbo plied yarn. It worked much better, and I would suggest starting elementary age students out that way. Once they have the knitting process down you can always move them to “smaller” needles and yarn.

All six of the girls in my class are now able to cast on and do the knit stitch, and three of them can purl, two can bind off. So I guess we are doing all right. It’s a lot of fun to watch them “get it”! I am starting to think about easy projects to do. I figure in about 2 classes we will be able to start an easy project.

I finished two projects this week, a hat and bib for a lady at the homeschool co-op who is expecting and due in three weeks, and a pair of fingerless mittens for Reagan.

The bib is the same bib I made for the pastor’s grandson a post or two ago. This one is for a girl though, so I did it in hot pink, with a textured stitch and the I cord border. I kind of didn’t follow the pattern very well, so it is really big. I figure the kid can use it until it gets to Kindergarten, it’s so big. The hat is a beret from Wooly Wormhead and it turned out so cute. I added the I-cord brim, and I really like the way it looks. I hope the mama to be likes it as well.

I also made a pair of fingerless mittens for Reagan. These are made from the yarn I spun on my spinning wheel when I first got it, and then knit into a hat for Reagan. The dog chewed the point off the hat, so it had to be unraveled and made into something else. I am pleased with how well this yarn is holding up, although the knit stitches made with it are a little wonky. It is probably over-spun to some extent. She loves them though, and that’s what matters. I’m glad I was able to re-use the yarn. I wanted to make the Butterfly Beret with it, but didn’t have enough yarn. I think that pattern would look really cute with Reagan’s new hair cut. She is looking awfully grown up for as young as she is. She’s almost taller than I am, now.

I have a lot of projects in my “to-do” list, so be prepared for lots of updates. I am going HOME to WV for Thanksgiving, and I have lots of projects to get done for people here and there before then, so it should mean lots of blogging. I hope!

P.S.  All these things are knitted right handed!! I am finding that far more enjoyable than knitting left handed, because I can do the norweigian purl on K1P1 ribbing. So glad I finally made myself sit down and learn how to knit with my right hand.

Well, I haven’t got really any progress to show on any project. I have been getting ready for my knitting class by continueing to knit lots of dishcloths. I decided dishcloths would be good projects for the kids, since I have found one for each knitting skill they need to learn. That would allow them to knit a series of dishcloths and have a present or bunch of presents at Christmas for their mom or grandma or whomever. I think it is a brilliant plan, but we’ll see.

I got two sets of the Zephyr knitting needles from KnitPicks this week. I really like them, but not as much as the harmony wood needles. I finally managed to complete my set of harmony woods in all the sizes I actually use, size 4 through 9. I don’t usually knit anything that requires a larger needle than 9, and I have all the smaller fixed 40 inch Harmony needles that they make in 40″ circulars for magic loop knitting of socks.

It is getting dark earlier and earlier now. Only around 7:30 now and it is getting dark. With the shorter days it is also getting cooler. Hard to believe that I consder anything below 90 cool, but it has been a long, hot summer.

I am trying to decide what to knit next. I have several things on my short list. Something out of the natural dyed yarn for mom (any ideas, Mom? Mittens? Slippers? not a lot of yarn there) a pair of socks, a hat for me out of the angora/ivy wool. A hat or something out of the plain Ivy wool. There is more of that, so it could even be a vest, or series of items. That shawl that I want to design and knit out of the cashmere yarn that I salvaged from a sweater. Something for someone special that I have started and ripped out a couple of times because I wasn’t happy with the gauge. I need to get something portable started by Thursday when co-op starts, so I have something to knit during play practice and before my class starts. Say a little prayer that my class goes well, I have really tried to prepare for it well, but I get shy even in front of kids.

Have a good Labor Day!

Sign-ups for homeschool co-op were last Thursday. I have avoided teaching at co-op, prefering to work on crafts or snack or clean-up, but the format was a little different this year, so I took the plunge and offered to teach a knitting class. I have put a lot of thought into it, I will have a 45 minute class once a week. 7 kids signed up, 3rd graders and 6th graders, and I think that is a really nice group. One of the mothers I really like will be helping me, so that helps too.

There was only one problem, that I knew I was going to have to deal with before classes actually start in September. I knit with my left hand controlling the needle that manipulates the needle, or in a “looking glass” style. I taught myself to knit shortly after Chad was born, and being left handed, that is how it felt comfortable to me, I guess. The only real problem with that is that all my cables were backwards until I learned to read knitting charts, but that certainly didn’t bother me.

I didn’t want to teach all those kids to knit “backwards” though. The only thing to do was to learn how to knit with my right hand controlling the manipulating needle. I’ve always been a little bit ambidextrious, and I’ve been able to knit back and forth for a long time, so that wasn’t the problem. It was the casting on, purling and casting off that I was worried about, and how to hold the yarn.

I’ve always held the yarn in my left hand, so that is how it felt most comfortable to knit “right handed”. This is continental style knitting. I used a cable cast on instead of my long tail cast on, because that is the first cast on I want to teach my students. That went pretty well. After a little practice, I cast on for a waffle weave dishcloth. I think it turned out pretty well, for my first entirely right handed project. I think after our learning knitting, it will be my classes first project as well, it will give them something to give their mothers for Christmas. I’m not sure how many different techniques we will be able to cover in this semester, but I have a whole list planned out, and I can always add things if they pick it up quickly. I need to teach Crochet as well, but that I already do right handed. I’ve always crocheted right handed. Isn’t that strange? Maybe because my cousin Jill taught me and she is right handed? I bet that’s it.

Do I think I will stick with right handed knitting? I doubt it. It just feels weird when it’s time to turn and knit or purl the next row. I want to just put the needle in and revert to left handed knitting. Maybe if I kept knitting this way it would begin to feel more natural, but I doubt I would even start a huge project knitting right handed.

Yarn: I Love This Cotton (available at Hobby Lobby)

1 Skein Ivory + a little

1 Skein Taupe

1/2 Skein Antique Teal

Patterns:

Drops Knitted Bib

Plymouth Yarn Top Down Baby Sweater

My own baby hat pattern

I’ve known for a while that I needed to make a baby gift for my pastor’s son and his wife, who are expecting their first child.  It took a while for inspiration to hit though.  I found this bib pattern at the DROPS site, and that did it.  I decided to knit it in ivory and tan, and then crochet a border of teal around it. I love that color combination.  Once the bib was done and the border was crocehted on, though, I didn’t like the way it looked.  I ripped it out and did an applied I-Cord edge instead, and that sealed it! I loved the way it looked!  I did the icord from the top inside corner of the bib to the other, then did a long  I cord before attaching that I cord to the inside of the neck edge, and then finished by doing an equal amount of icord for the other string.  It is so cute. I wanted it to be perfect though, so I ended up knitting a second bib before I was satisfied.

I had so much extra yarn, that I decided to knit a jacket as well.  Surely if I was knitting a whole jacket, though, I would need more yarn! So back to Hobby Lobby I went to buy another skein of each color. Luckily I was able to match the dye lots.  The jacket was a lot of fun as well, I was a little worried before I blocked it, but blocking made it looks so much better.  For the one button hole, I just did a few lines of free I-cord while attaching the I-Cord edge, and that worked wonderfully. 

Still had plenty of yarn though! So a hat was in order.  I just used my basic baby hat pattern, since I cord would not make a good hat brim. I learned how to do jogless stripes on this hat, a skill that had eluded me up to this point.  I wish I had bothered to figure it out while I was doing the sleeves on the baby jacket.  I squared the decreases instead of doing them equally spaced so that the hat would have some of the same angles as the bib and jacket.

I really liked this project. I love that it looks like a real set and not the hodgepodge of patterns it actually is. I have had so much fun doing it, and I used only a skein and a little of the ivory, one skein of the taupe and half or less of the teal.  If I get real ambitious I might do a pair of pants as well, if I can find an simple pattern.  I would say that this outfit would fit the 3-6 month range in size.  I hope little Gideon enjoys wearing it as much as I enjoyed knitting it!

Pattern: Aeolian Shawl

Yarn: recycled silk/cashmere

Needles: Size 5 Knit Picks wooden tips

Started May 20, 2009, finished July 14, 2009

I started this shawl when I was driving Chad back and forth to art class, and quickly become infatuated with it.  It was such a pleasure to knit, with clear instructions and charts, that I found myself knitting every possible moment.  Sometimes with large projects I get bored and want to quit early on, but not this one.  It was a challenge to see how many rows I could get done in a day. By the end, I was only getting a couple of rows done a day, but it was fun knitting.

I made this shawl for my friend Tina.  Tina is such a blessing to me, and I wanted to do something for her that would show her how much she means to me.  I inteded for it to be a Christmas present, but a few weeks ago, Tina called and said her son was getting married in September, so  I knew I would be giving it to her early, just in case she wanted to wear it.  Tina and I are both country girls, mucking about in the garden and with the animals more than having somewhere fancy to go, and I knew if I didn’t give it to her in time for the wedding, she might not have a chance to wear it for a lot longer.  Not that I feel she has to wear it, but I wanted to give her the option, LOL.

The yarn for this shawl was thrift store sweater recycled yarn,  I think it was 90% silk and 10% cashmere.  It is very soft.  When I unraveled it, it was tiny tiny yarn, so I ended up plying it on the spinning wheel.  This is a four ply lace weight yarn, now.  As I got closer to the end of the shawl I started worrying that I was going to run out, and there was no way to get more.  I started knitting faster and faster, like if I just knit fast enough, I’d reach the end of the shawl before I reached then end of the yarn.  Everytime I would think it just wasn’t going to be enough I’d find another little bawl of it hidden away in a drawer.  That, I am sure, is just lack of an efficent yarn storage system on my part, but it sure felt like a miracle everytime it happened!

The yarn was a little soft too. It didn’t block as well as wool does, and I ended up lightly spraying it with starch and then ironing it while it was pinned to the bed to get it to hold it’s shape.  I’ve never heard of anyone doing that, but it worked.

Blocking itself took over two hours.  There are a lot of points on this shawl, and my bed wasn’t nearly big enough. I ended up wrapping the ends of  the shawl around the sides and foot of the bed to get it all pinned out.  Once it was pinned out though, it was beautiful.

A couple of weekends ago I had a rare treat and was able to attend the Spinning Guild meeting in Tahlequah. I was so thrilled to get to go, as I hadn’t been able to make a meeting since before Sean started school. I had a wonderful time. We got together along with some stock pots and propane burners and had a natural dye day!

From left to right, these yarns were colored with: onion skin, coreopsis, coreopsis dipped in an ammonia bath, logwood, cochineal, indigo, elderberry, and elderberry with an ammonia bath. The ammonia bath I used for the coreposis and the elderberry was just a couple of “glugs” added to a fair amount of water. You don’t want to use too much ammonia or it makes the yarn brittle and harsh.

I’m thinking I might knit a fairisle beret out of these yarns.

Some more pics from dye day:

Cochineal dyebath

All of our dye pots

We had a great time, such a great time I completely forgot to take pictures after we really got started. Gina Levasque provided the more exotic dyes for us, Margie brought the onions skin, I brought the coreopsis dye, and Veronica Avery organized the whole thing. The spinning guild meeting is every second Saturday at the historic Murrel Home in Tahlequah OK. If you are in the area, please come, there are lots of great people there!

It is so hard to believe how much barely more than a week can change baby bunnies! The two week old babies that just looked like regular bunnies are now definitely looking like French Angoras!

These are the two black kits from Mercy’s litter. One is a male, the other female. Taking pictures of all the kits was like herding cats. Difficult to say the least. Hard to keep them in place, focus the camera and get the right exposure. Still got a couple of good pics though.

There were four Ruby Eyed White (or REW) kits in this litter. They all seem to be growing nice coats. There seems to be a difference between the coats of the white rabbits and the coats of the rabbits with color. THe tort and black rabbits look slicker, and seem shinier, white the REW rabbits seem to have more volume to their coats, and not as shiny. I might keep one of the REW, but I haven’t decided for sure.

And then there is Clover. Yes, we’ve already named her. We handle all the babies every day, so they will be friendly and easy to handle, but Clover gets more than her fair share of attention. You open the cage door, and Clover hops over to be petted and oohed and aahed at. She is just so cute and so sweet. We will definitely be keeping her.