A Bit of Knitting

While talking with my mum one day, she mentions that her sewing group is starting a knitting project. A world wide Kaffe Fassett mystery knit along. Partnered with Rowan Yarns, using their worsted wool line. There will be three pattern options: an afghan, a square pillow or a large rectangle pillow, all using the same mystery pattern. 

It's October, and every 7 to 10 days a new part of the pattern is published with the final instructions published mid December. Really.... everyone has time to do this around Christmas!! right??

My mums sewing group start up an email group which they will use to keep up with one another to share photos, progress, any hints that helped them, to moan and groan, etc....

There is also an official forum related to the knit along, which will be a great resource for information and inspiration.

I hear about their shopping trip to buy yarn - they opt for a much more economical acrylic yarn. 

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, I jump right in, go yarn shopping and soon join their little group to share in each others progress.

                                                                   Time to shop
                                                              lining up my needles
                                                    of course I don't have the correct size.
                                                                            hmmm.....

We are given four colourways to choose from - my choice is the reds. I have printed out the Rowen colour chart to compare and match their colours with my choice of acrylic yarn. I also decided I wouldn't spend a lot of money buying wool for a project that was still a mystery. 

I am not seeing a lot of red, and question my selection, but I have trust in the plan and stay with my choices. The regret comes later. 

My bag with pattern and the first four colours goes with me and a friend on a road trip to Montreal. 

Nothing gets done...concentration is needed to get this thing started.

I start and restart square # 1.....maybe 5 times.

 I think I like the square.

Preparations for more house guests and life in general keep me busy.

Not a lot of progress.

with only the first 7 squares finished

Mum's group are already weeks ahead. 

I start another square.

I thought I was knitting a red colourway, what's going on here? 

Not sure if I like this project.

House guests arrive, and more road trips are taken.....Mandy and Andy(my sister & brother-in-law)  are here from NZ. We road trip our way around a huge chunk of New York State. To Niagara, over to the Canadian side, Lancaster, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC and then to NYC - knitting and unpicking a few rows here and there. 

Mandy shows some interest and offers to knit a square for me. 

Each square is blocked, I am seeing problems - lots of stretch.

                                                    eventually I have 9 piles of 7 squares.

I begin the joining process. 

One row at a time

All those ends need to be woven in and snipped.

                                         At week 10 we are given the pattern for the edge. 
                                          At this stage I am about 10 weeks behind.

Progress picks up....

It was easy to sit and knit when it was so cold outside.

Finished at last. 

I did take a couple of photos to show the other ladies, here with a bit of sunlight across it.

In the end I did enjoy the project, I don't like my colour choices much, and I really do not like the acrylic yarn at all. One day I might do it again using proper wool.

My plan was to "pose" it properly for a good photo later - but completely forgot.

It was soon boxed up and shipped away as a gift for James. 

                                          He said it was "really cool" and I believe him :)

Now I will mention that at some stage in January I put down my size 4 needles and picked up 4 small  double pointed needles and some lovely Mink/cashmere wool

                                         and whipped up a pair of finger less mitts for mum...
                                          these needed to arrive in NZ in time for her birthday.

                                       and....a pair of socks were knit and shipped off for another gift as well.

                   Mandy wrote to tell me that she was joining the craze...she had started an afghan too.
                                                              Pictures please Mandy!!

                                                     

Getting things done

While being a lazy blogger I was busy with a few projects.

Ages was spent organising photos on the computer. Then getting some printed, put into boxes ready for going into albums....I am years behind in that project and have many boxes of prints waiting, I bet you do too!! I'm waiting for a rainy day, what about you?? I welcome someone to challenge me into getting our photo albums finished!

On a more crafty note, first up are a couple of pairs of socks, the blue ones were sent off to NZ as a gift...the other pair I'll send to you if you are the first to ask in the comments link. They will fit size 7-8.

I now have the four needle knitting learning curve behind me, so will be more willing to look at other sock patterns and knit up a few different pairs using some different wools.

A pile of baby beanies were finished while watching TV.

The sewing machine got a bit of use too.....a friend up in Atlanta is trying to convince me that my ironing board covers will sell!! I got busy and made up a few ready to send them to her to sell for me :-)!!

I also made up a few more microwave corn bags - the kind you use as a cold pack or heating pad. Last year I made one as a gift for a friend - I had used a fabric with angels on it - her husband recently told me how he uses it all the time. He's our Alabama football fan so I made up a couple more just for him using Alabama fabrics....a bit more manly!

And with some scraps I made a little hand warmer for a pocket on a cold morning.

Here is another one that I made for Cheryl. While she was visiting we uploaded photos from her camera onto our computer. She has loads of cute pet photos that I thought would be great to use. So I played around with a couple of the photos, decided to crop them down, change them to black & white, keeping the "red eye effect" eyes of her cat as the only colour. Do all cat eyes turn that teal when you use a flash??

I printed the edited photos onto printer fabric, and with some cute black and white dog bone and cat paw fabric I found for the job, stitched it up using one on the back and the other on the front.

The bag is folded in half here, so it is twice this size.

A Curious Squirrel

We haven't been outside much with the recent cold temperatures, so today when it warmed up a bit I couldn't resist taking my knitting out to a sunny spot out on the back porch. I have been knitting up some pink baby hats with the wool I was given last week. I have had a bit of a cold so wasn't feeling the urge to knit something that required me to think nor to put down four needles instead of two when I needed to stop and blow my nose ;-)

I wasn't out there long when Baby-Girl Squirrel stopped by for a visit.....she was happy with the treats I had in my pocket and soon decided that there had to be more somewhere ....maybe even in the interesting bag of pink stuff....she eventually settled down to chew a hole in my tape measure.

I have a darling video but am unable to upload it here for some reason, so I have taken snapshots of the video for you instead.

A Pair of Sox

I wore my socks today!!!

I finished the first one while on a road trip....back roads through rural Mississippi and Alabama are interesting, but I still need to be doing something, so out came the knitting. I had a bit of a struggle with the sixteen stitches above...the grafting at the tip of the toes. The instructions were not helpful at all, they completely confused me, so I ended up following a video over the Internet....after that I managed to graft sock #2 on my own.

Now thanks to my friend Sandy who let me raid her wool/yarn supply, I have a few more balls of wool waiting to be turned into socks.

Time to pick up the knitting again

I got a good rhythm going and knitted happily away until I came to the heel.....with a bit of concentration I managed the first stage. But the next stage requires a bit too much concentration and I haven't had time for that...you know how a really good book, hosting a party, a weekend away and Christmas all tend to put a stop to most other things.



I am looking forward to some cozy nights by the fire and picking it up again.

now she is knitting...

Hey, we all need a new challange now and then....my latest is socks!! Maybe it's got something to do with wanting to have warm feet on these colder days (I have plenty of warm socks already) sitting by the fire when it's dark and raining outside, or maybe I just need to add another thing to the huge pile of handwork I have....who knows??

It all started when I ran out of wool making more baby beanies and headed out shopping for more when I saw a free sock pattern. Hmmm I thought, I could do that, so I picked out the "sock" yarn (which isn't very warm and maybe even a bit scratchy) , found the pack of needles and headed home.

The progress shown took me at least four tries....cast on 56 stitches and devide onto three needles..... got that done, but no where in the pattern did they tell me to use a fourth needle to do the knitting - finally I figured it out!

This is complicated! and looking down the instructions I have no idea what half of it means, so watch for progress updates :-)

Knitting for Mackenzie Frances

This post was lost so I am putting up the photos again.

Little Mackenzie, born Sept 1st in Christchurch is my third cousin. I made the plain white items and had them waiting for pink or blue details.

The handmade touch

I have been busy with a few projects....one is a surprise for my OLDER sister who is turning 50 this week!! I will load those pictures later - as she is still waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

Lately I have had my knitting needles out - it's been years, so I started off slowly with a simple baby beanie. I made a few...about 25 actually.

a nice simple pattern

adding my touch of decoration

finished and ready


I got adventurous and did some stripes - these are all wools left over from when I was knitting for my last baby....almost 15 years ago. I knew I would use then one day! (the little pink above had to be bought)



There is a reason I made about 25 hats....My British friend has a team of ladies knitting for her, she collects our offerings and sends them off to homeless shelters and foster homes. I will keep at it and maybe try to branch out a bit. Anyone got a really really basic jersey pattern?



Then an invitation came to a baby shower,


time to try my luck with some booties.



many false starts later I managed to produce these booties

A pink beanie and a heart added to an undershirt

an adorable ultra soft cuddly with a baby bunny in the pocket "Lulla Bunny Bye" (didn't make that) and the gift was ready to box.

into these.