Craptina

It's been a very merry.

Does everyone know how much the Spiders kick ass? I hadn't posted about it, but they really made christmas come early with the most amazing birthday gift, shortly after the special day. I recently got to take a test drive on my brand new blocking board.

Lucy, Dizzle, and Darla couldn't resist checking it out. Thank you so much to all of you who helped give such a generous gift. And even those that couldn't put in, you guys rock too. Look at this thing!>?!@ I love my spiders :) Who could ask for a better group of women?

It has been awhile since my last post, and there has been so much crafting going on, but first let me share the awsome gift Big A got, without any hints from me: The KIPer Knitting Bag Set

This bag set is perfect for the crafter on the go. God that sounded dorky. But really, I can't even count how many pockets this thing has, and each craft bag has it's own detachable shoulder strap at different lengths! I've already switched bags and transferred the wallet- you can't imagine how thrilling it is.
((If you haven't noticed yet, my goal for 2007 is to include as many cat pictures as possible into this blog.))

And for the holiday Big A and I went to Long Island to be with his family and we had a great time. I got quite a bit of knitting done while I was out there, including another inch or two on the Sienna Cardigan. But since that is such a big project, I cast on for some split finger mittens, or shall I say smittens?  I hadn't tried my hand at mittens yet, but i figured it was time, and I think they came out nicely.
          
Pattern: Split Finger Mittens (I'm calling them smittens)
From: Vogue Knitting Mittens and Gloves, Knitting on the Go   a cute book with lots of interesting patterns.
Yarn: Leftover Brooksfarm from the Accidential Kinda Sweater, this stuff is so sweet.
Needles: Size 5 DPNs
Time: about two serious knitting days. 5-6 hrs per mitten?
Mods: I did the straight up ribbing, it called for twisted rib, but I don't like it as much. And the ribbbing is even, it's just shoddy in the picture.
For: My lovely roomate and friend Laura, who also happens so be a smoker, so she'll love 'em.

This pattern was so fun and quick  that I decided to do another pair for myself with some other Brooksfarm that I had lying around.
                                                                                        
Lastly, I cast on for a scarf for my sisters roomate who just moved here from Mexico. He's completely unprepared for the winter, and has requested a scarf. I'm working up some Lambs Pride bulky, so this baby should be done soon.

I hope you'll notice my new knitting bag and needles from The Sassy Stichess. I got these at the spider halloween party. She made that knitting bag herself. Check out some other things she's made at her Etsy shop.

 

pictures,finally!

Phew! I made my way over to my friend Maria's tonight to mooch off her internet and ice cream. Where to begin first? I guess we should start with Suss Design purchases (which everyone already posted about) that I'm still feeling that tingly-good-sale-feeling. I totally made out like a bandit and bought way too much. But who can pass up a good sale? Besides, my stash was getting a little small.  Gleek and I made our way there on Friday night before heading to the Point.

This is the Suss Shimmer, a really soft Alpaca and acrylic blend. I bet there's a shawl in here somewhere!

This is the Classic Elite Lush Angora Wool. I've got that pink in mind for a sweater, maybe a cardigan?  I've been looking at bristow and sitcom chic on knitty.  I'd gladly welcome any other ideas...

This is some Katia ribbon- I've got a tank top in mind that will go perfectly.

And some Lamb's Pride bulky to keep the stash well fed- you can't go wrong at $4.50 a skein!

More?! Of course there's more! I finished off the sale with some Suss Angora in taupe.

That night, after the sale, I really had a hard time sleeping. I was so excited to start a new project. I cast on Saturday morning for the Trellis Scarf from IK I mentioned earlier. The k7tog IS a little tricky. One really has to hold on to the yarn because it's knitted though the same 7 sts several times. However, each time the repeat happens, once you got the first group knitted, it's not so back the next couple times.

Ready for more pictures? Here's a close up on the 7 into 5 cluster.

I'm not really crazy about the yo in the middle of the diamond, but I guess it's part of the pattern, and I'm not feeling mathy enough to modify the pattern.

And the flipflops galore! Before heading to Suss, Gleek and I hit up the sample sale at Mella Shoes. Amen for moving sales! I've given a couple of pairs away, (I'm not the flipflop queen like Gleek) but thankfully I don't have too many friends that wear a size 9!

Sheesh,ok, this is enough pictures for now. I have another sweater going at the moment, but I think this post is coming to a close. Maybe later this week I'll fill you in on the sweater drama- there's lots in development, (aside from the knitting--how juicy!) but that's going to take awhile to explain....

Lace Table runner

This lace runner was made with Knit Picks Shadow Lace Merino wool yarn.One skein of "sunset" was used. The final size is 10" x 37". This pattern can be easily adjusted in length and width to adjust your needs. See patterns for details. The stitches were taken from the Mon Tricot Knitting Dictionary. This is an old text, but a great resource for ideas. 

Fish tail stitch II is the main stitch of the pattern

The center of the pattern uses the St. John's Wort stitch

Seed st as border:

Fishtail stitch II pattern (multiple of 10):
Row 1: *yo, k3, sl 1, k2tog, psso, k3, yo, k1*
Row 2 and all alt rows: P
Row 3: *k1, yo, k2, sl 1,  k2tog, psso, k2, yo, k2*
Row 5: *k2, yo, k1, sl 1,k2tog, psso, k1, yo, k3*
Row 7: *k3, yo, sl 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k4*

St. John's Wort Stitch (multiple of 6):
Row 1: *sl 1 purlwise, k2, psso k2, k3*
Row 2: *p4, yo, p1*
Row 3: *k3, sl 1 purlwise, k2, psso k2*
Row 4: *p1, yo, p4*

Seed stitch (multiple of 2):
Row 1: *k1, p1*
Row 2: As row 1
Note: If row ends k1, the next row will begin k1 or vise versa (end p1, begin p1)

PATTERN
Cast on 60 sts
Work 10 rows in Seed st. On 11th row work first five stitches in seed stitch. (Work the first and last five sts of each row in seed st to create a border.) On 6th st, begin row 1 of Fishtail stitch pattern and continue until piece measures 13" from cast on edge.

On the last row of fishtail stitch at 13" change pattern to St. John's wort and work for 8" total. *Continue working seed stitch border on the first and last 5 sts of each row. After 8" of St. John's wort stitch is complete, change pattern back to fishtail and continue working for another 13" total. End with 10 rows in seed st.

The Bag!

Good evening.

Throat is much better and feeling fine. Grapefruit seed extract to the rescue. It tastes nasty, but spanks my cold's ass. I knitted my pants off yesterday, and finished the handbag that I've been working on for the last week. Thank god for subway knitting, or it never would've happened.

This pattern is from the book "Simple Knits for Sophisticated Living" by Barbara Albright.Link to the book on Amazon  I'm not crazy about a lot of the patterns, but there's a lot of things in there with potential. This pattern is called Carried-Away Felted Bag. I used KnitPicks "Wool of the Andes" for the pattern. I used Maple Syrup for the body and Carrot for the lining and strap.

BEFORE:

   

The length is 17 inches, and about 14 wide. The strap is 90inches (!!!) which took forever, and did not need to be as long as the pattern indicated.

After felting the length turned out about 12". Felting with Wool of the Andes took about three small loads to felt properly. The pockets did not felt fully but enough to be secure.

I've added pockets to the interior and tacked down the straps to the bottom. I wore this bag to Sheep and Wool and it held up ok. The straps need to be tacked down along the length of the bag to be more sturdy.  The picture with the pattern indicated a more rectangular bag, but the pattern followed for a longer bag. Still, I'm happy with the outcome despite the misleading picture and plan on making others.