Knitting Dragonflies

One week post surgery….and no those socks still are not right… Well at least this means I’m knitting, or frogging. I got to the toes of these socks, ( which had been frogged a few times already, they started out as toe up socks), and was ready to graft the toe, hummm……1 inch too short, ok, not a big deal. Frog again. I don’t know where my knitting mojo is! Am I too picky right now? Nothing seems to be turning out right. Of course I am looking at a bulky sweater that I have two balls of yarns left and sleeves, and collar and button band to knit. That had me pause and think. Then these socks, that I have carried around in my knitting bag for miles. Probably more miles than I’ll ever walk in them, especially due to the fact that there is not even one of them yet. Seriously may be a one sock syndrome pair! I think the answer to both of these questions is……cast on something else, quick….LOL Keep knitting…..

This guy lives by that motto, and is he rocking that outfit????? As Tim Gunn would say, that is a lotta look!! Maybe a little too matchy matchy?? Keep knitting….

So I work well under pressure, with a deadline. I decided, last minute, to sew my DH a shirt on our anniversary. So I got started in the morning, not early. I bought a heavy golden flannel, with a tea stained like pattern on it. He is a real outdoor type of guy. The shirt would be good for hiking etc. Getting things cut out. It’s been a LONG time since I sewed anything from a pattern. (that was clothing), how wide is that material? Yes, a LONG time. All cut out and ready to go, you can’t see it very well, but it is sitting on my new sewing basket. The one I was using was the one I had to buy in 6th grade for home ec. So after finishing the quilt I was working on I decided I deserved a new one. By the time my DH came home I had most of it done. Had to alter the shoulders a bit and the collar/neck. I still have the buttons to sew on and the buttonholes. (and the hem). But I’m pretty pleased with it. I especially like the button flaps for the pockets. The back yoke echos the patter

Back to my same theme, who doesn’t love Elizabeth Zimmermann?? Her baby Surprise jacket ( rav link )  is the evolution of several patterns. From what I can piece together, that pattern is the result of her playing around with the basic idea for a bit. I see that she made the Baby Garter-stitch Jacket: The Prequel, which is published in Wool Gathering #61, sept 99. A very nice simple baby jacket. I also found the Surplice Jacket, ( rav link ) published in Woolgathering #50 . I also found the Tomtem jacket ( rav link ), which has a hood, and I love this addition to the pattern. Although this pattern was written for a child, I decided to give it a go, and try to make it for a baby present! Yarn:I settled on some Organic Cotton, I had knitted a small project with this and fell in love with it. It just keeps getting softer and nicer. I also wanted a color that wasn’t a baby color, and finally decided on this one called “spice”. I fearlessly cast on, knit about 6 rows and realize

Just a peak of what I’ve been up to… My brother is getting married and I’ve been busy… No knitting has occurred, well that’s not entirely true, I have been knitting some dish cloths. I find that is good knitting when I’m stuck on my projects. So I still have the Iced sweater, with not enough yarn to finish it. I’m frowning at it, as I don’t want to frog it, I have found more yarn on EBay and may buy it. (what else am I going to do?) I still have my toe up socks that are in the knitting bag, not sure why I stopped those. Evidently I’m getting surgery, my thyroid nodule, has now grown . Not sure when, still haven’t seen the surgeon, you know how that goes, precertification etc.…. I’m hoping for some energy out of all of this. More later Get your knitting needles out, and I’ll try to also.

  Knitters usually have a favorite item to knit. Shawls, socks, dishcloths, toys, to name a few. Mine is sweaters. A strange item for a women who is plagued by hot flashes that scare my co workers. But if you are a knitter you will understand, when the knitting muse calls, you just answer it, no questions asked. My first big success into knitting sweaters was when I discovered Elizabeth Zimmerman , and, suddenly, after years of odd sweaters, or frogged sweaters, I had a “sweater that actually fit”! This was the beginning of my long love affair with sweaters. I think of my knitting phases as; 1-My FLAT period; scarves, afghans, dishcloths, basically anything flat and mindless. I was into loving the knitting, just for the knitting. Then I heard the siren of the sweater, I knitted quite a few flat, funny sweaters, that got frogged, given to anyone resembling the resulting size, and just generally huge “gauge” issues. 2-Sweater; In the round, bottom up, Yay! I discovered Elizabeth Zi

Wet, but pretty, I’m happy to see some bright color. May Day, marks the end of the unfarmable winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations. 4–10 May : Between Midspring and Midsummer Traditional summer begins Middle of astronomical spring I have gotten my Iced sweater back out and looked at it. Like most knitted items that are “resting”, when I look at it, I think I can have it done fairly quickly. My main concern is my yarn yardage. I’m pretty sure I’ll run out, of course the yarn is discontinued, but I have found some on eBay! But don’t want to over buy. I better get my needles clicking! May your knitting needles fly as fast as dragonflies…. I am selling all of my knitting magazine back issues off in lots on Ebay , if you are interested take a look! I don’t have them all listed yet, I still have two more piles to go through. *grin*

Oh Yes we sure do! (“This is definitely a Top 10 event, if not a Top 5 event in many places,” ) according to the paper. When did we start calling weather an “event”? We have had several small power outages and some backup of water. My husband and I have trenched around our house. We are calling ourselves honorary civil engineers, ha! (Not my house, thank goodness) Weather service: 'Catastrophic flash flooding possible' , see article Schools and business's are closed due to flooded streets. People are sandbagging and the national guard is here. More raining coming up to 9 inches for some areas. Steve bought an extra sump pump, in case this one goes out, why do things always stop working when you really need them? Keep your feet dry and your hands knitting! I’m inside, cleaning the house and hoping to get some knitting done.

Knitting has slowed down at my house. I seem to be unraveling a bit right now. This started with my fall down the stairs a year ago. I still have a “bump” to show for it, and a slightly wonky hip. I’m trying to work that into a sexy walk. Then a thyroid nodule, which involved much testing including a biopsy, which came back negative. Still waiting to get into an endocrinologist for that. The most recent thing happened when I woke up one morning and it looked like pepper had been spilled across my field of vision in my right eye. In addition to several dark bug like spots. Oh good, more doctor visits. This resulted in the happy news that I am not among the 85% that have a retinal tear with these symptoms. Yay, but the world looks different now. I hope to find my old self soon Until then keep knitting….

I’m still slogging along with my Iced sweater from Knitty . After an alarming number of frogs and ciphering, I am cautiously on a roll. Yes you would think with yarn this bulky, that this sweater would be done in a week. Me too! I started with this lovely yarn that I purchased for another pattern, sound familiar? How many times do I do this? It laid around and mocked me for some time. I just wasn’t happy with the pattern that I originally bought for it. Of course the yarn being rather super bulky, it was hard to find another pattern to fit my needs. Enter Knitty Fall 2010 Iced Sweater by Carol Feller . I feel in love with it and had to have it. Well,,,,,,I didn’t want to buy more yarn, so I decided I would “force” this yarn into behaving itself began and perilous journey. Getting Gauge: not going to happen, the knitting gods laughed at me…Frogged Getting Gauge second try: still laughing, and do I detect some snorting?….Frogged Begin knitting, I’m blindly knitting along, tightly

I’ve never been able to find some buttons that I thought looked good on this sweater! I’ve tried wood, metal with design, and various plastic. Finally I thought I would try to make some myself. Above is my Lion Neck Cardigan , with my buttons sewn on! I modified the pattern collar, see my rav link above. This was a fun top down pattern by Wendy Bernard. I decided to make some more buttons with engraved branches on them, and some larger buttons to paint on. Here are my buttons, ready to go into the oven. I roughly scratched some branches and leaves with a toothpick. And then made the button holes by sticking a cuticle stick into the back and front and smoothing the hole out. I made 5 buttons with branches on them for my sweater. Lion Neck Cardigan. (amazon book link) I rubbed in with my hands a acrylic green, using the paint brush to really make sure it got into all of the little cracks. Too green! So I added a burnt umber to my glaze and washed it over it. (I did this by us

I have been looking for the “right” buttons for a sweater. I can’t find what I want so I decided I would play around and see if I could create some. I thought of trying polymer clay. I bought a neutral color because I wanted to embed the design into it, and then bring it out with paint. First I purchased some Polymer Clay I made 3 simple buttons by: Warming the clay up until it was pliable and made a flattened piece of clay, like you would a sugar cookie, approx. 1/4 inch thick. I think used a sharpie pen, (the fat kind) as a rolling pin to even it out and make the top portion smooth. I used a bottle cap (from some body lotion) to punch the button out. A cuticle stick to make the button holes. I also used the cuticle stick to try and scrape a design into the button. I wanted to make a bamboo like design. (I made the design first and then punched the holes), Go into both sides of the button with your stick for the holes. Now bake according to the instructions on your clay

How many times have you bought all of the supplies for a project to knit, and then changed your mind about the yarn, or pattern? This seems to happen to me all too often. The above was a purchase several years ago. Somewhere along the line I decided I didn’t want to use the pattern I bought. I think it was due to the fact that I detest knitting a sweater in separate pieces and putting it together. I love to knit in the round. I discovered this after finding my first Elizabeth Zimmerman book, Knitting without Tears ! Her techniques and insistence on swatching for your gauge, turned me into a super sweater knitter. Her patterns were the first I could actually wear! Usually I would have to gift my knitted sweater to someone, anyone that was the size the sweater was. And while this had a certain excitement, and drama, I actually wanted a sweater for myself. Elizabeth's in depth explanation of gauge and how to calculate your size, finally made me realize how important gauge was, and

The snow is blowing and the schools are already closing. I have been spinning, almost totally done now with my dark brown BFL, and I have been eyeing the stash to see what I want to spin next. I’m fully committed to my sweater now, Iced from Knitty . I’m knitting it with Colinette Point Five, I have located a number of people on Ravelry that have some to sell in case I run out. It is a top down sweater, knitted in the round, (well technically from side to side), I’ve just gotten to below the arms. Had to go outside and play with the dogs in the snow, Penny rolled and had fun. Syd is the speed demon! I couldn’t get a clear photo. Keep warm this week!