Knitting with my Grammie

   For my long holiday weekend I have not sat in my big comfy chair in the nice air conditioned house. No, I spent most of Saturday working in the yard and cleaning up the house. House cleaning has played less of part in my day today, but has still been a necessary evil as I am expecting a bit of company tomorrow. I wish I could say that I've been working on beautiful and exciting projects in the minutes I've stolen away for crafting. But, sadly, that wouldn't be true.
   I'm still plugging away at the Magical Waves stole. I'm about a quarter of the way through section four. My deadline for getting it done is a wedding on the 20th of August. So I'm dawdling a little now that I've got the pattern all straightened out. I did wear it to a wedding on the 18th of June even though the fourth section was not attached yet. No one knew the difference except for me.
   In between working on the stole I've been making dish cloths and kitchen towels. They're quick and easy and I can practically do the dish cloths in my sleep. I always think of my Grammie when I make dish cloths and towels. The pattern I use for both is the one my Grammie used. Unfortunately my Gram died before I started knitting, but I have a lovely collection of her hand made dish cloths and towels that she gave me when I got married. I extrapolated the patterns from what she had given me. It's a wonderfully cozy feeling of carrying on a family tradition of making things that are both pretty and useful for ourselves and for others. I get the feeling of still being able to sit and work with my grandmother even though she is no longer with me.
   I hope everyone out there is having a safe and wonderful long weekend!

Movin' on

   I have been absent I admit. But I have a good reason I promise! We have finally finished moving into our new house. We got the last of the boxes sorted and emptied this afternoon. I even have a lovely little nook next to my beloved fluffy chair that my work bag fits into quite nicely.
   That's enough about moving. I wore my Magical Waves stole last weekend even though it wasn't quite finished. I got some rave reviews, and no one had any idea the fits it gave me. I do still have to finish and attach the 4th section. However, I have a couple of months before the next wedding. I think I can manage to get the whole thing done in time. I'm even thinking of casting on a dishcloth just to give myself a break. Unfortunately dishcloths are very exciting to blog about. I'm going to go back to the mystery shawl as soon as we get a bit more settled & I'm not too pooped to think at night.
   The blog should resume a more regular publication schedule now that everything is a bit more settled. Good night all.

Getting Attatched

   I have finished section three of my Magical Waves stole. And as I began to attach it to section one, lo and behold, a new and exciting pattern error! This one is not nearly as bad as the error in section one. The pattern for section three has one too many repeats in it. Just do 29 repeats where the pattern calls for 30 and it should be fine. It is pretty easy to correct for the section one error when joining one and three together. All I did was add a dc to the dtr joins on the joining strip. So the pattern as I have adjusted it would read like this:


Joining Strip
Row 9: Dc in each of next 4 dc; ch 2, yo once insert hook in next free arch of section one yo and pull up a loop; yo and pull through 2 loops on hook, yo 3 times draw up loop through dc join; yo, pull through 2 loops on hook 3 times; yo,  pull through 3 remaining loops; ch 2, turn.

Row 11: Dc in each of next 4 dc; ch 2, yo 3 times pull up loop through same dc join as row 9; yo, pull through 2 loops on hook 3; yo, insert hook in next free arch on section one; yo, pull up a loop; yo, pull through 2 loops; yo, pull through 3 remaining loops.
  Other wise I have just worked the joining strip as written and it is fine. hopefully this will be my last pattern correction masquerading as a blog post. You may be thinking, "What kind of lunatic spends time crocheting and blogging about crocheting a week before they move?" The answer is: this kind of lunatic. I hope where ever you are it's not as hot as it is here!

As Promised

I'm a few days later than I meant to be, but here are the Magical Waves Stole pics that I promised.

 This is section one completed starting section. Right after I landed on a solution to the pattern problem.

 And voi la! Sections one and two complete with filler clusters.

 And here's a close up of the filler clusters.

And so far I haven't had any problems with section three. I'm about half way done with it right now. And I need to get back to work on it, because I need to have it done on about 2 weeks! Hope y'all enjoyed the pics!

Busy Busy Busy

   So, Mother's Day, three days out of town to visit family, hubby out of town for a week. All of these things make finding time to work on projects challenging enough, never mind finding time to blog about it. I'm sure everyone out there will be happy to know that my fix for the pattern error in my shawl has worked wonderfully and you can't tell that there was a pattern error. Unless you ask me about the shawl and I complain about it some more. :-) I am hoping to get some pictures posted this weekend, but I'm not making any promises. I've also embarked upon my first KAL. I'm doing the summer mystery shawl by Wendy Johnson. Anyone who is interested can check it out on her blog here. I also have to warn everyone out there in the blogosphere that the entries will probably remain a bit sporadic for a few more weeks as out little family is moving to a new little house with an enormous yard for the kids. The packing and getting new internet services set up may make posting a little sketchy until the end of June. But I'll do my best! As it is quite late here and I'm getting sleepy, so I shall bit you good night and wish you sweet, fiber crafty dreams.

Shock and Dismay

   So, it would seem that they publishers of Crochet Master Class did not test the patterns before they published the book. There is a major error in the pattern so that part 1 doesn't match up with part 2. I was very disappointed when I discovered this Monday night. After some scowling at the pattern and the work I had already done, I decided how I was going to fix it. I'm about a fifth of the way through the second section now, and I think my fix is going to work out so that the pattern error will only be noticeable to me.
   This is the first pattern that I have ever worked from a book that has had this kind of error in it. I guess I just assumed that all patterns were tested according to the written instructions before they were published. I've learned my lesson. I'll be sure to check Ravelry from now on to see if anyone has run into any errors in a pattern before I launch into it. Fortunately it was a crochet project not a knitting project. I feeling pretty confident fixing things on the fly with crochet. If it had been a knitting pattern I would have been very tempted to cry and rip the whole thing out and start over.
    I have to go for now, as there is a three year old determined to sit on my lap while I try to type. Happy crafting!

Mother's Day

   Honestly motherhood is the primary reason why I don't get nearly as much crafting done as I would like. But that's quite alright. I wouldn't trade may two little guys for all the knitting time in the world! And my wonderful spouse has been out of town for work three of the past four weeks. This has also been somewhat detrimental to blogging and anything else that isn't feeding, cleaning, or entertaining two little boys.
   On to the crafting portion of our program today. I am finished with the first section of my shawl! As soon as I'm done writing here I will be embarking on the second section. I am very much into this project now. I love it! The colors are working out just splendidly! I must gush again about how much a new crochet technique has re-invigorated my love of this craft. This new spark in my long love affair with crochet has not impeded my plans for knitting some stuffed animals for Christmas gifts as soon as the shawl is finished. I will try to get my act together and take some pictures of my shawl in progress this coming week. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Short and Sweet

   Today's installment will be brief as the title suggests. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I am not far enough along in my shawl for it to be at all interesting to photograph or write about. So far it is going quite smoothly. I really like the way the color repeat in the yarn is organizing itself through the shawl pattern. The second reason for my brevity is; the sun is finally shining! It has rained every day for the past week. I am tired of the rain! I'm also running out of ways to keep a three year old boy entertained indoors. There are a lot of new finger paintings gracing the basement art area.
   I have decided on a pattern for my shawl to go with the dress I got for the weddings I'm going to this summer. It is in my Crochet Master Class book. I'm using Berroco Sox yarn. It is shades of blue from a cornflower blue to almost gray. I'm about a third of the way through the first of four sections for the shawl. So far the work up has been simpler than it originally looked. I think the middle two sections are going to be the most challenging. That's all I've got for now. Time for enjoying some of this sunshine while it lasts!

Something New

   I'm a little behind on the posting this week. There was a very busy Easter weekend. The Easter Bunny went a little but nuts making sure that every family member she encountered over the weekend had some eggs with jellybeans or chocolate. There has also been finishing the project purge, reading my new books, and deciding what project I want to start with. I finished my Silly Snake, frogged the stranded hat and I am now down to three works in progress.

 The completed Scarf That Never Ends.

And the completed Silly Snake. He's not perfect, but the boys love him and that's far more important than my perfectionist sensitivities.
   I have decided on a project from my new books. I'm crocheting a shawl from my Crochet Masterclass book. It's a bruges crochet pattern called Magical Waves. I'm only 12 rows into it, so there's not much to photograph yet. So far, so good. I've read through the pattern and it seems to be making sense to my brain thus far. I am super excited about learning a new technique. I will of course, update progress on said shawl when I've made some. :-) This and my Stitch Sampler Afghan will be my all consuming projects for the foreseeable future. Now all I need is some time to really dive into my new crochet project! I hope everyone out there is safe from the violent spring weather many of us are experiencing.

Project Purge and New Books

   First and foremost, I'm sure you all will be happy to know that the Scarf that Never Ends was completed last Sunday night (the 17th)! It looks pretty good even if I do say so myself. Pictures will be posted as soon as my husband returns from North Carolina with our camera. Poor guy has had to spend the past two weeks there for work. But, on to my chosen topic for the evening. I am trying to be a more organized crafter. Towards that end I have made a new commitment to myself. "No more than four yarn craft projects in progress at a time." I have one purge project completed. One project has sadly been frogged. It is a good thing I'm almost down to three projects because I got my anniversary gift today.
   What did my darling husband get me you ask? I got four new knitting and crochet books! I was so excited when I saw them in the mail today. I'm sure the trials and triumphs of the projects in these will soon be featured here. In the interest of not short changing you  since you've taken the time and effort to come and visit my blogland today, I'll share the books I got today with you. The one that I was most excited about & dove into as soon as I got the box open is called Crochet Master Class. It is full of different specialized crochet techniques, some that I'd never heard of! I'm so glad that most of the chapters include a sample square to try out the technique before launching into an entire project. The next book is 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet. I haven't opened this one up yet, but the examples that are on the cover are just beautiful. I can't wait to start embellishing with them. Book number three is Knitted Wild Animals. This one has been opened and flipped through by my three year old son. He is very excited. He keeps flipping through the pages naming the animals. This is great because I bought this book mainly to make things for him & his little brother. And last but not least, we have 400 Knitting Stitches. This is going to come in very handy for my stitch sample afghan.
   And now, dear readers, I must leave you. The are two kids and only one of me. Also I want to jump back into reading my new books. I am going to try to update at least once a week. Please keep coming back & I'll keep writing. I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!

This is the Scarf that never ends...

   I was going to save this post until the scarf that never ends was finished. And I foolishly thought that was going to be two days ago. So lest I go another month without posting, I will share st story of the Scarf that Never Ends, while it remains unfinished. It seems rather appropriate that way.
   This is the scarf that never ends. Yes it goes on and on my friends. Some woman started knitting it not knowing what it was, ad she'll continue knitting it forever just because... Thank you Lamb Chop for most of the words and the tune. The pattern is dead simple. I found a yarn I liked but it was in a finer gauge. So, I upped the size of my needles and added 50% more stitches to the cast on. This scarf is worked along the length and in the even rows you knit in the front and back of every stitch. The scarf has seven rows. So even though I only added 50 stitches to the first row. I inadvertently added 200 stitches to the last row. I am still casting off. I fear that even though I work on this every day I will be casting off until some time next year. If you want to see the pattern, it is the Potato Chip Scarf on knitpicks, with the changes I mentioned. I will share pictures if the scarf ever actually ends...
   And that is the story of the scarf that never ends. Feel free to share about projects that never seem to get done no matter how much you work on them.

Apologies from an Absentee Author

   I'll start with I'm sorry for neglecting the blog-o-sphere for the entire month of March. I thought about blogging, but every time it crossed my mind I was int he middle of something that had nothing to do with crafting or I had no time to sit and write. I apologize again & hope you will forgive me and continue to read. March is the second busiest month in the family for birthdays with my husband, oldest son, & brother-in-law all have birthdays within a two week span. That and when you have 6 inches of snow on the ground and temps in the upper 80s less than 2 weeks later, it's just not right. The lovely weather we had earlier in the month inspired me to spend plenty of time playing outside with the kids, and not so much crafting, thinking about crafting, or blogging.
   With all of that said, I'm currently trying to thin out the work-in-progress collection. I have set a personal edict that I shall start no more projects until I thin the WIP herd down to a point were even with a new project, I will have no more than four projects going at a time. The current catalog of partially finished projects includes; a nifty little scarf that I am in the process of casting off, known as the scarf that never ends; the stuffed snake; The red and blue crocheted afghan; the knit sampler afghan; stranded knit blocks hat, and a shawl that I think is going to frogged instead of finished. So that's six projects I have going. I am determined to finish the scarf, snake, & hat before I start anything else.
   I am planning a shawl to go with the dress I bought for all the weddings I'm going to this summer. I think will save my planning for my next project and the story of "the scarf that never ends" for my next installment. For all of you who come back to reading my blog. THANK YOU!

How the family comes in

   Here's how my family effects the crafting process other than in project requests. My father turned 60 on the 20th of February. I'm sure those of you who, like me, enjoy creating memorable events for loved ones can imagine how this significant birthday might have disrupted life. Sadly the disruption spread to my blog as well. To keep a long story short; Mom & I planned a huge surprise party for him. Three days of cooking were involved in this. Family came in from out of town. Then there has been the cleaning up and getting the house back to normal. I did manage to get the first of Mom's typing gloves done. She was so excited about it that she took it to work to show a co-worker who also suffers from cold hands. That is why the picture here is the wrist band of the second glove. I'll post a pic of the finished pair sometime next week. And now for your viewing pleasure, I hope, pics of my finished shrug.

 The view from the back.

 The view from the front.

  And here is the wristband with it's ball of beautiful Lana D'Oro. I'll post the pattern here and on Ravelry when I get the pictures taken after the pair is finished. Thank you for reading!

Success!

  First off, I want to apologize for my dereliction of blog duty. It was a combo effort. On Saturday night I sliced the tip of my right index finger open. I'm fine, no stitches or anything. I just took a good chunk of skin off the tip of my finger and today is the first day since that it hasn't hurt to type. I have also been knitting frantically since I got the big, bulky bandage off of my finger. The result of the furious knitting is... I have finished my shrug! For a first attempt at a sweater ever in which I substituted yarn & different size needles than were called for, it turned out very well. There will be pictures posted as soon as I get some taken.
   The next "featured" project is going to be a pair of fingerless gloves for my mother made from Cascade Lana D'Oro color 1063, which is a beautiful dark aqua & marine blue heather color. I'm hoping that there will be enough in the skein to make a pair for myself also. I really love the color. I'll have pictures of this too when I put up the pics of my shrug.
   Right now, however, both of my children are sleeping, the sun is shining and WARM, so I'm going to sit on the deck with my knitting and enjoy! hope everyone is have a productive and sunny day!

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Mommy

   So, I get all excited about the progress I'm making on my shrug. My Mom gets all excited because the sooner I'm done with the shrug, the sooner she gets her fingerless gloves. And of course, the only knitting I got done was last night during Bible Study. What has derailed my ferocious knitting agenda you ask? I'll give you a hint.

 Culprit Number One: Quinn Micheal will be 3 in March

Culprit Number Two: Connor Joseph 3months.
   Don't get me wrong, I love my little boys very much, but quite often the two of them are not terribly conducive to knitting. I can't knit while I'm feeding the baby. I'm not quite desperate enough to try yet. And Quinn will pull my hands off the needles when he wants something. He's a pretty strong little bugger too. The end result of all of this is that I've only knit about 8 rows in the past two days. I'm hoping to get more done over the weekend, but it's finally supposed to warm up over the weekend and knitting may get sidelined in favor of going outside and absorbing some sunshine. Only time will tell, but I am now thinking that my goal of wearing my shrug on Valentine's Day is not going to be met. Maybe I'll have it done in time for President's Day.

Works in Progess

Works in Progress, that aren't being worked on. Well, aren't being worked on much. The shrug in the pretty hand-painted yarn is pretty much my all consuming passion right now. But I drift back to my other projects in odd moments of inspiration. Featured in photo today are my shockingly simple crocheted afghan & my sock snake.

 This afghan  looks like it should be challenging. Just trust me, it really isn't. It's worked along the length, so I'm actually a little shy of halfway done.

The snake is my own pattern. He was inspired by an expedition into toe-up socks & a blue/ green/ grey ombre yarn I had floating around my stash. I'll publish the pattern as soon as he's done. The plan is to make him somewhere between 2 to 3 ft long. The afghan pattern came from Leisure Arts "A Year of Afghans" Book 4. The name of the pattern is Emerald Trellis. I changed the colors of course.
   The shrug is coming along well. I'm about 5 rows shy of having the back half done. I may complete my shrug by next Sunday after all! I will post more of my works in progress at I get them out, or, *gasp* get them finished. Happy crafting!

The Super Knitting Bowl

   After spending most of the afternoon cooking and snacking, I was able to spend almost the entire game knitting! That was almost as thrilling as watching the Packers win their 4th Super Bowl. Yes I'm a Packers fan, my mother passed it on. Anyway, since I got to knit through most of the game; I managed to finish my second sleeve for my shrug & cast on the back. I even got about 18 rows of the back knit before I went to bed last night. If I get some work done at the Stitch Night at Bah! Yarns tonight, I should be well on my way to my gaol of finishing my shrug within the next week.
   Now that the finish line of my shrug is in sight, I'm looking forward to my next project. I was at Hearthsone Knits in South St. Louis county picking up a special order that my cousin placed a few weeks ago. And I found some beautiful Cascade Lana D'oro in a lovely heathered blue that is destined to become some fingerless gloves for my mom & if there's enough left, a pair for me too! I'll put the exact colorway when I actually get them started. Honestly I'm not going to run all the way downstairs to get the label right now.
  I'm planning a little photo shoot of all of my current works in progress tomorrow since it's supposed to snow again tomorrow. I'd have done it today, but I had to run errands before it snows again. As always I wish everyone warm and happy crafting!


P.S.
Super Bowl Menu:
Mini Reubens
Homemade Two Bite Brownies
Meatballs
Hamburger-Salsa Con-Queso Dip
French Onion Dip
Candy

Chugging Along

   It's cold here in St. Louis. The kind of cold that almost makes your teeth hurt when you go outside. It's so cold that I have already decided that my next project is going to be a couple of pairs of fingerless mitts. One pair for me to keep my hands warm while crafting, another pair for my Mom to keep her hands warm while she types at work. I'm about halfway through the second sleeve of my shrug. Like most needle crafters I have multiple projects of varying difficulty going at once. For those of you who I'm sure are insatiably curious about what mine may be, I, of course, will share. In addition to my shrug I am also working on a scrap yarn stitch sampler afghan, a crocheted afghan, and I also have some yarn for when I get my act together and tackle some socks.
   The sampler afghan is great for three reasons. First, it helps me get rid of odds and ends in my stash. Secondly, it's a great way  to try out different pattern stitches, so if one gets really irritating, it doesn't last too long. Last, I feel like I'm completing things really quickly when I get the squares done & move on to the next pattern. The crocheted afghan got shelved for a little while because what looked like a complex and interesting pattern turned out to be dead simple & got a little tedious. I actually started the socks once, but my beloved little boy got into my bag & put a pretty good run in the sock on the needles. The result was me unraveling to whole thing & waiting for some inspiration to start over.
   We're supposed to get more snow over the weekend, so hopefully I will be able to finish my second sleeve and start on the back. I have truly grandiose aspirations of finishing my shrug before Valentine's Day. Now I'm going to go make cornbread to go with the chili I'm making for dinner on this chilly evening. Then I can knit while it's baking!

Work in Progress

I'm very excited because I've finished my first sleeve on the first sweater I've ever tried to knit! I've been working on it every chance I've had today so that I could post a picture and actually blog about something that I'm working on.

Now I will confess that this is not the most complicated pattern ever. It is a simple stockinette shrug pattern that I found on Ravelry. It's 3 pieces, two sleeves and the back. The back is just a rectangle with ribbing on each end. It's being done in Dream in Color Classy in the Some Summer Sky color way. I have to give a shout out to Beth and Bah! Yarn for helping me out with the yarn. Beth & Bah! will probably get more shout outs as this goes on since this is this closest yarn store and the host of Monday night Stitch Night.
   I'd write more, but I can't wait to cast on my second sleeve. Everyone keep warm out there. I don't know about you, but our outdoor thermometer says it's about 12 degrees here. Good Night.

Snowed In

   Actually we're not snowed in yet as much as we're iced in. There has been a fairly impressive amount of all sorts of frozen precipitation around here today, and it's not supposed to be over for another 12-18 hours. What do you do when a major winter storm comes your way? You pull out your work bag and go to town! As I throw myself out into cyberspace to share my crafty ways; my work bag springs to mind. The picture I have posted is of my bag displayed on an afghan I crocheted for my mother for Christmas about 3 years ago.
   My work bag is a vital part of my crafting habit. It comes with me any time I'm going to be sitting some where for more than 20 min. Car rides, doctors appointments, work (back when I did such a thing); it's like an extension of my personality some days. It's got everything I need, and is one of the few things I keep consistently organized. It holds my binder of loose leaf & printed off the net patterns; a magenta pencil pouch with my little notions i.e. stitch holders, yarn needles, cable needles, row markers, tatting shuttle, little post-it pad, row counters, pencil, that sort of thing; a light blue pencil pouch with my double point knitting needles, and a purple pouch with all of my crochet hooks; any books I'm working from; and of course how every many of my current projects will fit. As I'm sure you've guessed it can be quite heavy at times. I will tell you the afghans that are done all as one piece never live in this bag. They have their own canvas bag because they are just so darn bulky once you get more than like 10 rows in.
   I inherited my bag from my Grammie. She had several for various purposes. It's a piece of needle craft heritage that can go where ever I do. It's not anything even remotely resembling fashionable, but it's an heirloom that I tote with pride. I have to admit that this probably won't be the last time that the paraphernalia and tools capture my compositional imagination ahead of the actual projects I'm working on. 

And so it begins...

   So I've decided in a fit of equal parts extroversion and cabin fever, to start a blog. It's mostly about my crafting habit. But since my family & life in general are such an integral part of my inspiration & crafting habits, they will make some frequent appearances too. Since my crafting includes knitting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, tatting (or shuttle lace) and beading; stitches seemed a fairly consistent if not quite universal theme. Right now knitting is in the forefront. It will probably stay the dominant craft until my children are old enough that beads aren't a choking hazard, and I find a good crochet challenge. The quilt I'm working on hand quilting is in storage until we move and I have more space for my craft stash.
    Since this is supposed to be a craft blog, I guess I'll put my craft experience out there. I guess the order I learned these things makes the most sense. I learned to crochet first. My Mom & Aunt  Marion taught me how to crochet, after a lot of begging on my part, when I was six or seven. They taught me about holding the hook, yarn tension, and how to do a chain stitch, other than that all of my crafts are self taught. I have been crocheting for about 23-24yrs. Yes I have moved beyond the chain stitch. : ) I got interested in beading when I was about 12 or so. I started getting serious designing and making jewelry when I was about 16 and discovered I was allergic to nickel. So, I guess I've been designing and making jewelry for about 14 yrs now. Quilting came next. I got into that while I was working at a fabric store during college. I picked that up about 10 yrs ago. Tatting and knitting I actually learned about the same time, but tatting and I have a longer personal history, so I'll go into that first. I became fascinated with tatting about the age of 5, watching my grandmother. If you've ever seen it done, watching this beautiful lace grow out of these somewhat odd hand motions is amazing! I tried in vain at several points in my life to get Gram to teach me, but she never passed that skill on to any of the family members who asked her. I learned how to tat about 2and a half years ago when I found a really good book. That is also how I learned to knit around the same time. I found a really good book on teaching yourself to knit. I can teach myself almost anything from a book as long as the author's writing/ instruction style jives with the way my brain works.
   Future posts will have more on my works in progress, any nifty tips or tricks I pick up, and specific crafting content in general. I hope you enjoy my compulsive crafting chronicles and come back for more!