Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Finishing Drive - Status Update

Limeade dishcloth - DONE!
Haiku, needing buttons - DONE!
Childhood, needing half of a front, sleeves, and neck/button bands, plus finishing - Front Done! Sleeves Done! About halfway through button band, still needs neckband and finishing
Yarn for second sock of current pair (Math #1) - Cuff done, working on leg
Love Me Al plastic bag bag - DONE! Finished up over the weekend

I won't have too much knitting time this week, as I am in final cramming mode for my CAPM exam on Friday morning, but the Childhood and Math sock will be getting all of my attention.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Valley Yarn Crawl


Valley Yarn Crawl
Originally uploaded by gldyas
We were over in the Valley a few days ago dropping off the Mini for scheduled service, and checked out a few very nice yarn stores in the area, Le Knitterie Parisienne and Stitch Cafe. I liked them both, but I especially liked the friendly, approachable staff at Stitch Cafe. They have a lovely display of handpainted yarn in the center of the store, much of it dyed on site under their Amore Colore label. They also offer classes. I'll be shopping there again, especially because they are OPEN ON SUNDAYS. You read it right, an LYS actually open all weekend!

Haul from the crawl, as pictured, included three skeins of dyeable sock superwash, my first skeins of Koigu, three skeins of Rowan Summer Tweed, and a gorgeous pair of size 8 rosewood Lantern Moon needles.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Yesterday afternoon I cleaned out the basket of yarn and abandoned projects in the corner of my bedroom. I moved the yarn worth saving into my main stash, and even got rid of a few small balls. There was a felted bag and a completed hat in there that I put into the bag of garage sale stuff.

The works in progress from the basket came out front and moved into my red knitting caddy of current work. Haiku, which I made for Pumpkin, had been sitting there, only lacking five buttons, since April 2005. The ChildHood sweater, also for Pumpkin, has been dormant since May of 2005.

My log cabin blanket was taking up a lot of room in the caddy, and it's too hot to knit a big wool blanket right now, so I took the needle tips off and moved it into one of the drawers in my stash closet, and cleaned out yarn ball bands and other detritus that had collected in the caddy.

With the log cabin out of the way and the resurrected projects added to the basket, I decided that I want to finish all of my work in the caddy, except for the Snowdrop Shawl, before I cast on for anything new. I've done a lot of yarn shopping lately and I have plenty of things I want to begin.

As of yesterday afternoon, the caddy contents were:

Limeade dishcloth
Haiku, needing buttons
Childhood - need half of a front, sleeves, and neck/button bands, plus finishing
Yarn for second sock of current pair (Math #1) - need to cast on
Love Me Al plastic bag bag - need to make more bag yarn
Snowdrop Shawl - exempted!

Last night, I sewed on the buttons on Haiku. Amazingly, it fits Pumpkin and she'll be able to wear it this fall. I finished the half-done front piece of ChildHood last night and started the first sleeve today. I took Pumpkin to a matinee of Ratatouille this morning and finished the Limeade washcloth.

So as of right now, the status is:
Limeade dishcloth - DONE!
Haiku, needing buttons - DONE!
Childhood, needing half of a front, sleeves, and neck/button bands, plus finishing - Front Done! Sleeve #1 in progress
Yarn for second sock of current pair (Math #1) - Will probably cast on tomorrow, as I'll be carpooling all week and socks are perfect traveling knits
Love Me Al plastic bag bag - need to make more bag yarn

I think I can be strong. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Limeade Bib and Dishcloth Patterns

It was really hot today, and the color of this yarn made me think of cool summertime beverages. I made a bib, but I think the stripes of stockinette and reverse stockinette created by the odd number of rows in the pattern would also be great for a scrubby kitchen cloth, and I’ve included instructions for a dishcloth variation.



Materials:
1 skein Sugar ‘n’ Cream cotton – Hot Green
Size 8 straight or circular needles
One 3/8 inch button (bib only)
Two stitch markers (optional)
Tapestry needle

Instructions:
Seed stitch (over an odd number of stitches): *K1, P1*, repeat to end of row.
When you turn the work to the other side, the pattern remains the same. You will be knitting the purl stitches and purling the knit stitches from the previous row to create the seed stitch pattern.

Seed Border (SB): K1, P1, K1, P1, K1

Limeade Bib

Cast on 33 stitches.
Work 3 rows seed stitch.
Row 4: Work 5 stitches seed stitch, place marker, work seed stitch until 5 stitches remain on left needle, place marker, work last 5 stitches in seed stitch. The markers separate the border stitches from the body of the bib. If you’re comfortable with keeping track of 5 stitches on either side as you work, you can omit the markers.

Row 5: SB to marker, knit to second marker, SB to end of row
Row 6: SB to marker, purl to second marker, SB to end of row
Row 7: SB to marker, knit to second marker, SB to end of row

Repeat rows 5-7 twelve times.

Work 4 rows seed stitch.
For straps, work seed stitch to first marker, remove marker, work two more stitches seed stitch. Bind off, in pattern, until two stitches before second marker. Work two stitches in seed stitch, remove marker, and work remaining stitches in seed stitch.

Work straps separately.

Strap A: Work in seed stitch until strap measures 5 inches. Bind off in pattern.
Strap B: Work in seed stitch until strap measures 4.5 inches.
Create buttonhole – Work 3 in seed stitch, bind off 2, work 2 in seed stitch. On next row, work 3, cast on 2, work 2
Work in seed stitch until strap measures 5 inches. Bind off in pattern.

Sew on button. Weave in ends.

Limeade Dishcloth Variation

Cast on 45 stitches.
Work rows 1-4 as for bib.
Work rows 5-7, as for bib.
Repeat rows 5-7 eighteen times.
Work 4 rows seed stitch.
Bind off in pattern.
Weave in ends.