I saw this cartoon by Gary Varvel on the front page of Newsblaze.com and because of the content thought it was a giggle.
So how many of us knitters can identify re knitting from an old project? I know I can as I am currently knitting a sweater that has had a previous life as a jacket.
I have just completed and mailed this gorgeous baby blanket and hat to the United Kingdom. I am hoping for its safe arrival by the end of next week because the baby who will use it arrives January 22nd 2010.
Ever since the pattern arrived in the LYS where I used to work I have wanted a reason to knit this stunning lace baby blanket. When my dear friend Sue Medlycott told me in 2009 that her elder daughter Lisa and husband Craig were expecting ab baby in early 2010 I knew immediately that a baby blanket would be made by me and I would finally get to use the Estonian Lullaby Baby Blanket pattern at last.
When I resigned from the LYS in early 2008 I made a decision with myself not to buy any yarn until I could see the tops of the window seats.. Shopping in that stash I found 8 balls of Sirdar Snuggly Babycare DK yarn. The pattern wanted 1050 yards and with the 8 balls at 147 yards I had 1176 yards. This yarn is a combination of acrylic and cotton in a white/cream colour and the label describes it as being machine washable. I am hoping that it will be an easy care yarn for Lisa to take care of.
I started the project in October using #8 addi turbo needles and got gauge straight away. As we don’t know the sex of the baby I chose the design with the garter stitch border rather than the more lacy border. The pattern is extremely well written and the graphs are very accurate and easy to read.
Like most lace projects I have made once I start they become an obsession as I have to do a pattern repeat each time I pick the knitting up during the day. This with DK weight yarn and #8 needles seemed to fly along and I found myself doing a repeat quickly. I did complete the blanket in November but as I had eye surgery the finishing had to wait until I could see comfortably to do that.
There was some yarn left over so I made a little toddler hat using Ann Norling pattern #55 that needed 140 yards of DK weight yarn. Now I am not sure if that will be too small or too large for the baby, but it was one way of using the left over yarn.
Because of the yarn mixture the blanket and the hat are very soft but also extremely light in weight. I knew that an all cotton blanket would weigh quite heavily on a new baby so am delighted with the choice I made as it really does look and feel both light and airy.
Michele Camacho and Carl Brittain
One of the nicest yarn companies I saw at Stitches West 2009 was a sister and brother team, Michele Camacho and Carl Brittain of Toots LeBlanc & Co. a family owned business located in Oregon. 
We had stopped to look at another booth and as I turned around I noticed an Alice Starmore designed hand knitted fair isle sweater hanging up on the booth opposite. The sweater knitted in two soft natural colours using Toots LeBlanc yarns was really lovely and of course I then had to touch and feel everything they had in their booth.
Carl Brittain
They sell roving in a blend of Jacob/Alpaca and then several blends of yarn including, Merino/Angora, Jacob/Alpaca, Jacob/Alpaca/Mohair, and Blue-Faced Leicester/Pygora Goat. Looking at their website they have yarn from lace weight up to bulky weight in a selection of natural colours and blends. In this day and age when everyone is looking for natural plant and animal fiber it was nice to find out that this company use just the natural colours from the animals. And also no harsh soaps or chemicals were used in the processing of the fiber or yarns.
Michele Camacho
When I looked at the website for Stitches West 2010, Toots LeBlanc & Co is listed on the vendor site so will be visiting their booth again this year.
They have some very nice patterns for sale including, a felted tea cozy which I think would be great for gift for the 2010 Holiday Season…. And if you notice Michele has a ‘bracelet’ hanging on her left arm which holds a wound skein of yarn safely while knitting anywhere. I bought one and find it great when knitting outside as I don’t have the fear of my yarn falling on the ground or on a dirty floor inside a store. An added bonus is that Chester and Lester my two Maine Coon cats ignore the yarn when it is not loose on a chair, a sofa or table and I can knit in peace.
I was very lucky to get the book A Stitch in Time by Jane Waller and Susan Crawford for Christmas. We had to order it directly from a company in the UK as it was not available anywhere in America. The original edition we found through one business in the UK was being sold for 215 pounds so we decided that a newer version with apparently less patterns was good enough for 29.99 pounds.
The book is very well presented with the ‘original’ pattern from each era reprinted with the updated 2008 version of the knitting pattern. So many of the really old patterns only came in one size – usually tiny – and in this book they have added several sizes and modern yarns. I like that they have put the yardage/meters on the yarns they have used because I can then use a substitute when I go through my stash of yarn.
All the photos are very nice and the patterns can easily be seen in the yarns they have knitted them in. Many times companies will do a stunning design, then use gorgeous yarns only to do the sample in navy blue or black which makes it very difficult to see the design in the photographs.
Every pattern in the book needs to be knitted as far as I am concerned. So many choices that I am going to keep reading the book for another week or so and then make a decision after I have completed Alan’s sweater.
The blog has not been kept up to date because I had been having problems with eye sight. This had to be addressed and finally after a few tears I had cataract surgery on my left eye. The surgery was December 10th and now with corrective lenses I have 20/20 vision in my left eye. My eyes will be retested January 15th and will then have new glasses made which hopefully will allow me to drive again and also use the computer comfortably with no glare.
Lorna Miser is holding a Craft Sale
Friday November 20, 2009 from 8am-4pm
Moon Circle, Folsom CA in the clubhouse by the pool
FOR SALE
Name brand quality yarns
Hand knit hats, sweaters and more
Craft books and supplies
100’s of rubberstamps
Quilting fabric and notions
Finished handmade crafts
Contact Lorna for more information
530-409-1775 or lornaknits@yahoo.com
Well I did complete Alan’s vest about a month ago. Trying to get him to model it so I can put a photo on here has been impossible so far. The Knitting Pure and Simple pattern was fun and accurate plus the vest size fits very well indeed.
Letting you into a secret I have started another Knitting Pure and Simple project for Alan. This one is pattern number 991 which is a neck down pullover for men. It is the first top down I have started for Alan, although this summer I made about four for myself all from Knitting Pure and Simple patterns.
The sweater was not the first choice for the yarn I am using. I was so happy with the vest that I thought another vest – with a different pattern – would work really well for him. However the book that I chose the vest from has become a bitter disappointment. I had completed the back up to the neck shaping and did one side easily. When I started to do the second neck and of course shoulder shaping there were some instruction’s missing from pattern. And in fact when I then read the pattern instruction’s for the front shaping that too had a problem. I searched on line for corrections and found many comments about the book – none positive – as knitters were having problems with other vest patterns in the book. I emailed the publisher after not finding any corrections they mentioned a correction for another page, and then suggested I might like to pay for a download of the most recent version of the book. Hello pay for something that I already own I don’t think so!
So many companies are putting out books and patterns with errors in which we the consumer are paying for. Yes I know I can go on line and get the corrections, but in the case of my Mother she does not have access to a computer unless my Father is home too. And I am sure there are other knitters out there with the same problem. This past week I have had to get in touch with a magazine for an error in a lace doily pattern. This is the first doily I have attempted to knit and even the experienced lace knitters at the guild I belong to could not work the pattern out. Fortunately I got a lovely response from the magazine the same day with the correction included in the email. And yes I will try the pattern again and buy the magazine again!
As for the vest book I have with the many errors. I shall keep that until we have a large garage sale probably after Christmas with enough collective yarn for sale to start a small yarn store. In fact I will go through my book case and see if there are other books that I know I shall not be knitting from and sell those as well. These books are taking up valuable real estate on my book cases and there is one book I want to buy BUT is dreadfully expensive. With the sale of the ones I am not going to use I could buy something that I will love use and enjoy.
Who would have thought that one could have a love affair with some double pointed needles at my age!
Someone I knit with at the lace guild had been using the Hiya Hiya circular needles to make lace. They had mentioned how smooth the joins were and how sharp the points were on the smaller size needles. More importantly was the fact they were made of stainless steel and left no residue or colour on their pure white yarn. This was exciting because they had previously been using the Addi Turbo Lace needles and their white tablecloth was black in parts from the needles.
As I have plenty of circular needles in all brands, shapes and sizes I could not justify the expense of just another brand of circular needles to try. But as the saying goes there is more than one way to skin a cat!
I found a local yarn store that sold Hiya Hiya needles and decided to purchase double pointed needles as I have started being able to knit socks again. I had a very bad fall several months ago and found it very difficult to knit with any needles smaller than a size US6 comfortably. When I got to the store they had size US1 and US2 and so I bought a pair of each.
When I started a pair of socks for my Dad, what I found immediately was that the 6 inch length was absolutely perfect. I have previously struggled with the 7 and 9 inch ones – far too much needle, and then the 4 inch ones stick in the palm of my hand and are very uncomfortable. Now that maybe my style of knitting, however my knitting friend on Sundays went back to using the long needles as the 4 inch ones hurt her hands too.
Since buying the first two pair I have gone back and purchased US3 and US4 both of which I can use for the sleeves on an Alice Starmore sweater I am currently knitting. My father recently sent me a knitting pattern for some cable socks, is that a hint or what, and that pattern suggests both the US1 and US2 so the smallest size will also get used fairly soon too.
As for the socks I originally started with the Hiya Hiya needles for Dad? They will be on their way to Australia this week. And since then I have made a pair for Alan and have almost completed the first pair for myself.
Without a doubt there is no struggling with needles that are too long or too short with these 6 inch Hiya Hiya needles
The New York Sheep and Wool Festival will host the only all-fiber event in the United States in honor of the United Nations International Year of International Fibres (IYNF).
See the story Fiber Lovers Invited to the International Tent at Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival
We have been working non-stop for the past year to bring nine speakers from around the world to share their unique fiber stories with the American market.
Please consider looking at keepthefleece.org and making a donation to help contribute to the Heifer International largest flock of animals too
I just had the most amazing day at Lambtown 2009 in Dixon California. They had moved the day from July to the first Saturday in October and what a good idea that was. The weather was cool in the early morning but warmed up to a pleasant temperature for all the visitors and of course the animals too. Actually in Madden Hall it was rather cool with the air conditioning on freezing I think for part of the morning. While the time of year was wonderful the organisers will have to remember to have hot beverages available from vendors if this is the permanent weekend. Shaved ice, beer and smoothies were not appetitising at 8am on an October morning. Perhaps a vendor with coffee and muffins could be invited next year.
Wild Fibers Magazine had a booth there for the first time, and so many people stopped by the booth and thanked us for having the magazine available for sale or to sign up for a subscription. It was a pleasure to introduce the magazine to new subscribers who had never seen the magazine before. And also to talk about the contents to many visitors who while not crafts people were interested to learn about all the natural fibers around the world that we must continue to use and support.
My friend Kathie stopped by the booth with a gift for me of a beginning instruction manual, roving and a drop spindle determined to teach me to spin. And low and behold I had a great conversation with a spinning teacher who lives very close to me in El Dorado Hills and she gives private lessons on her own spinning wheels. Now I am even more tempted to learn as I really have no excuses now.
It was quite a long day leaving home at about 7.15am and we got home around 9pm. But so great to meet such wonderful people so very enjoyable.
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