Fringed Cowl

 I bought a cowl from Stitch Fix in the last year or so.  I was quite surprised by how much I like the cowl.  It is soft and easy and is fringed,  I wanted to duplicate it, but that has not proved to be so simple.  I have started and given up on several ideas.  The one I am now working on could possibly work,  I am in Boston.  I brought some red white and blue yarn that I thought I might use for a DAR wrap, but I haven't yet done so.  So I took out the Red yarn in DK weight,  It is Indiecita DK  100% Baby Alpaca.  I bought a cowl pattern by Ambah O'Brien called Zaggy Cowl for inspiration.  However, I am not following the pattern exactly.  I cast on slightly more stitches:  138.  It is a repeat of only two stitches, so any even number of stitches should work.   It lends itself to notecard organization which makes it fairly mindless.  I am liking it so far,  I just didn't want to loose my thoughts this morning.  I'll update my post as I move along on this project.

Standard Hat sizing

 Harps and Thistles had this in their weekly e-mail today....

Bayshore Wrap.....I-Cord Tab Cast on

In preparation for my knee surgery, I am doing a lot of silly "stuff"....not working on my yard.....not buying Christmas gifts....nothing practical.  I am spending time deciding which yarn to take with me to Boston and which patterns.  

I figure I am going to have a lot of down time.  Something I am not used to having.  And it would seem that without my tennis and golf and projects, there will be an unusual amount of time for knitting and genealogy.

I have some pretty yarn called Nebula that is self striping.  It is fingering knit on size 3 needles.  I have two balls with 416 yards in each ball.  The pattern calls for two colors, but I will let the color changes speak for themselves.

I looked for the perfect project that would be simple to keep me occupied interesting to finish.  I worry that my brain will not be up to anything complicated.  The pattern I chose is called Bayshore Wrap.

I like the shape an size.  But I decided to work the I-Cord Tab Cast on before surgery as these tabs can be challenging.  This one was simple but as DAR would say, it was fiddly

 

However, I am extremely happy with my results on the tab after tearing it out and restarting two or three times.  So I am ready to do the easy knitting on the project.  For future reference, the keys to getting this tab looking this good is to follow the directions on the Bayshore Wrap and to put self locking markers on the stitches to be picked up after row 4 in the tab.  You want to do this immediately after you knit the first row 2 as she suggests in the photos on page 6.  This one hint saves all sorts of craziness!  When you see her photos in the pattern this will make sense.

I am ready to start section 1 on page 4.  I have already done the set up.

Finished the shawl January 2024.  I was a bit disappointed when I blocked it, but then found that I LOVE it when I actually wear it.  It goes with everything!

How much Yarn do I need

Lion Brand yarn sent an e-mail this morning with a chart that estimates how much yarn one will need for various projects:

 

Wrap to match jeans: Olives Pink

 The other wrap that I plan to make to match the jeans I bought for Mary's wedding is yarn that I bought from Harps and Thistles when she was having a sale:  I think it is hand dyed yarn that was kind of odds and ends she had left over.  But I loved the yarn when she sent out an e-mail

I am using Olive Pink for the pattern.  ,

Finished February 2023.  I like it a lot!  

DAR red, white and blue wrap

 Suddenly it popped into my head as I prepared for my first DAR meeting as regent this month that I want a red, white, and blue wrap to  wear on occasion to a meeting.  I found suitable yarn in my stash.  I will add the yarn at a future date.  However, one huge question came to my mind as I read about different patterns that might be suitable:  Are these yarns colorfast?  Will my stripes bleed to pink when I try to block the shawl?

A google search found this you tube explaining how to test for colorfastness from Very Pink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w7iMenFGBc

The yarns proved to be very colorfast so I am ready to start.  I am using Springtime Wrap by Diane L. Augustin for the shape.  The yarn is DK.  However, I am going to use Lewisian Shawl and Hindsight shawl by Rose Mogerman as the color inspiration.  

I have decided to make the width 22 inches.  This is double the size of the spring time wrap.  So the amount of stitches that I am casting on is 128

Quaker Yarn Stretcher

 I bought some jeans for Mary's wedding that I did not end up wearing.  I hope to wear them a bit this fall. They have a very pretty pattern on them....and I thought it would be fun to have something knitted to wear with them.  I love both possible projects.  I will start them tonight.  

First is going to be the Quaker yarn stretcher.  I used this pattern several years ago.  This time I am going to make it with a Cascade Yarn called Tangier.  I have approx 440 yards and it is an Aran weight yarn.  The yarn says US 8-9 needles.  The pattern calls for using size 10 needles for worsted weight yarn.  The loose guage causes the yarn  to go further.  Below is a photo of a finished shawl in a different yarn but somewhat similar to the yarn I will use.

Hopefully it will be as pretty as the one above and the one below:

Here is the finished Wrap:

Overtone/Undertone

 Churchmouse sent an e-mail with Brooklyn Tweed yarn information.  I found it very interesting.  

Knitting for World War I

 Harps and Thistles sent newsletter today that included a link to a really great article about knitting in WWI.  Here is a photo from the article followed by the link to read the entire article.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/when-knitting-was-a-patriotic-duty-wwi-homefront-wool-brigades?utm_source=Customers&utm_campaign=e712bcf5da-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_05_02_38_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e25910db8b-e712bcf5da-508883713&mc_cid=e712bcf5da&mc_eid=178c0f918a

Lakeside Phairo Wrap

I am finishing a Lakeside Phairo Wrap today.  Perhaps I won't do the actual cutting, but the knitting is done.  I bought this as a kit after Sally told me how much she had enjoyed knitting this.  It is knitted in Linen and extremely mindless which has made it a good summer project.   

Using my pretty basket as a pattern

This spring I started a new shawl that uses  my basket as a pattern.  I have owned the basket for several years.  At some point I bought linen yarn in like colors to knit a shawl that matches the basket.  And I began to knit.

My best guess is that I cast on 127 stitches and then did garter stitches n the straw color for about seven rows.Then I began to copy the pattern from the basket.  However as I am counting stitches after knitting for a while it seems that my count is about 10 stitches more.  I am not sure if I have picked up a few stitches as I have gone or if I have miscounted my cast on stitches.  However, my advice if someone (including me) is trying to make a copy of this shawl, is to write down cast on stitches and try to stay close to this number,

Today I picked the shawl up again after having laid it down before Mary's wedding.  I am ready to start the next section and it is a lace section and I can not remember what the pattern was that I was using.  So I decided it was time to document my pattern here on the blog site.  Below is the photo of the basket that I am using as the pattern:

My notes say that I used the pattern in the Wendy's Fern Shawl for the lace panels.  And that I copied the shape from several wraps that I have done lately that have a knit one, knit front and back on the front side beginning and a knit two together knit one on the end of the right side rows,  This causes the shawl to have stripes on the bias.  You will see what this means when I take a photo of the finished shawl.

This morning I am working on the lace pattern part.  My pattern is not as airy as the basket.  But I think that I like it well enough to proceed.  The lace pattern is k2tog, yo, knit three after the initial beginning on the right side of k1, knit front and back.  The row ends with knit tog, k1,  You have to kind of make it work at the end and front to keep right pattern.  But here is where the k2tog goes:

The two stitches knit together are the stitch over the yo in the row below with the next stitch that would have been the first of the knit three stitches.  

The wrong side rows are just knit across with the k1 knit front and back at beginning of row and k2tog, knit 1 at end of row.

Repeat these two rows six times or as many rows as you want the lace pattern to be,

 

Knitting in the Waiting room

 Harps and Thistles sent a link to a post that spoke to me this morning:

https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/2022/06/15/knitters-notebook-waiting-room-knitting/?utm_source=Customers&utm_campaign=e7bdae489d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_05_02_38_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e25910db8b-e7bdae489d-508883713&mc_cid=e7bdae489d&mc_eid=178c0f918a

I sent the link to my knitting group with the comment below:

I think this speaks to many of us…..Certainly I would never have made it through my husband’s year of treatment without my knitting and my computer.  And what a crazy thing  it is that I can almost not knit any time except when passing hours in some waiting room or event?  

Sally sent me the following comment that made me want to blog these thoughts:

Thank you Marsha.  This is so true both as the waiter and the patient. Socks are my waiting room project.  Sometimes just one row.  Sometimes knit so tightly that you can notice the gauge change.  Sometimes many weird stitches that are repaired at a calmer moment or left as a sort of a scar and a reminder.  Socks never seem to just be socks.

And I added to her:

Your words call me to put a blog post together…..It is almost like a life line to know that your knitting is with you if you end up all night at the hospital instead of just an hour or two in the waiting room.  A comfort to have it with you even if you don’t actually knit or even knit poorly.

I am preparing to spend many hours on a plane in the next week...and one of the most important things I will have with me is my knitting.  A project not so hard that I will have trouble....and not so large as to have to lug it...and not so easy as to not be of interest.  It needs to fit easily into my back pack.

Substituting Yarn in a project

The Yarn store, Harps and Thistles sent the link below this morning for a really great article explaining how to choose an alternate yarn than the one suggested in a pattern:

 https://making-stories.com/blogs/blog/how-to-substitute-yarn?utm_source=Customers&utm_campaign=8bfa0c4fb9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_05_02_38_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e25910db8b-8bfa0c4fb9-508883713&mc_cid=8bfa0c4fb9&mc_eid=178c0f918a

Easter sale at Webs

Sally and I finished winding the balls of Cascade Ultra Pima.  The colors are amazing.  We split all of the skeins to make the cost of the sweater Sea Glass more affordable.  

And here is a photo of the Sea Glass sweater:

When we finished winding the balls we began to decide on a color for the ribbing.  Sally has chosen a really pretty dark blue called Armada.  I decided on black. Webs had Cascade's Ultra Pima on sale.  It looks like a softer black than the one in the above photo....but you never know until the mail man comes.....Here is what I texted to Sally:

Thanks.  I’ll finish winding them and add them to the basket.  I am very happy with our picks for the ribbing.  I think that mine is going to be a soft black not a ink color.  Of course, you never know until the mail man delivers them.  I bought some incan spice yarn that was on sale.  Made in Peru and sold by Plymouth yarns….bet it has been discontinued.  I had bought 5 balls when Mitzi and I went to Lexington when the yarn shop in the strip mall was going out of business.  I bought it for a Steven Be project that was on display.  And my notes to myself on my slide show were that I loved the drape of the project on display.  But now I don’t love the size of the project and would like to make something bigger ….so I bought some more of the yarn to make a larger project.  I had lots of fun looking for a project yesterday….didn’t settle on one but found LOTS of gorgeous project with several colors ….backed into the projects with a search for cheshire cat by Wonderland yarns that was also on sale…but I managed to refrain….but it took me to projects that used mini skeins and lots of colors.  The Incan Spice is fingering.

Knights who say Knit

 

Sunny Sail wrap

 I finished my Concatenation shawl yesterday.  I had a major problem at the end in that I must have put an ink pen into the basket to take with me one day and there was a huge ink blob in the middle of the shawl that I did not feel as if I could live with.  So after the bind off, I cut out the section and reknit a few rows.  Then I used the link below to help me knit a graft between the two sets of live stitches.  This process is a way to knit the kitchener stitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S9v-pEiu-M

the join that I made is not perfect, but I am much happier with the join than I would have been with the ink blob!  So today I will block and take photos.  I do love this shawl!

But then I had a serious problem in that I had to have a mindless project to use during the 24 hour History of Ukraine  program!  And often starting a new project is not mindless!  However I found the perfect project.  

When I downloaded the English version, the shawl had a new name:

I am doing my version in yellow Mohair/Silk yarn from Debbie Bliss called Angel

And a sock yarn by Noro:

 This is truly a great mindless project.  Today my plan is to look for a wedding shawl to work on as well ...or perhaps two.  

My new favorite way to wind balls!

I can not believe it has taken me this many years to discover that I can read a digital book while I wind yarn balls!  It works absolutely great!  I spent the entire evening last night winding yarn for the upcoming MKAL (As You Wish) and reading a book about the history of Bucks County, PA and working on my marshamoses blog site!  I am back at it the morning while I drink my coffee.  YEA!  I think I am going to be very ready by Tuesday when the first clue drops!

 

Knitting a sock for the sock workshop

In preparation for the up coming sock workshop this month I had a crazy idea to try.  Sally and I are thinking about making a sweater that is meant to use up one's stash.  It calls for about 16 different colors and is knit with a stitch that looks a bit woven.  So I was thinking perhaps I might try a sock in the stitch to use as a swatch for my sweater.  But we are knitting in cotton and cotton is less than perfect for socks.  Then I remembered that when i used to knit socks and the Ewe and Eye was was the place to go for yarn, Mrs Newman introduced me to elastic to add to cuffs and whatever.  So I googled ....and here is one thing that I found with my google search:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9R_Ki4SeW4

It is a video about a cast on to use for a top down sock that makes for a very stretchy  top of the sock.

E-how says this about adding elastic:

Knitting sweaters with custom design

 On Sundays I received a newsletter from the yarn shop Harps and Thistles.  Judy almost has something of interest in her newsletter.  She has a feature called Ask Hank that often has a tip of interest to me.  This week a reader asked Hank about changing a neckline so it fits more closely and is higher.  Hank replied that he suggested using Elizabeth Zimmerman's system EPS (Elizabeth's Percentage System)

And then Hank suggested reading the following article:

https://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/FEATknitbynumbers.html?utm_source=Customers&utm_campaign=96f9035d1e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_05_02_38_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e25910db8b-96f9035d1e-508883713&mc_cid=96f9035d1e&mc_eid=178c0f918a

and the article in the newsletter ends with:

If you're not up for knitting an entire EPS sweater, then the pattern tells us that a close-ish fitting neckline is about 45% of the chest measurement. Find the total number of stitches around the chest, and figure 45% of those stitches. This is your target for the neckline. You can make adjustments to your pattern based on that number. This percentage can be translated into nearly any style of sweater where you want to change the neckline.

As You Wish: An unconceivable MKL byMary Annarella

I can not help it!  It is an addiction!  I wanted to wait …but then the colors I want might be gone….and you know how I feel about Miss Babs!  And I just finished the Snark O Meter.  All except putting the fringe on. And so I just pushed purchase…..the new Avon yarn in the colorway:  Prepare to Die

Mary Annarella (of The Knights Who Say Knit fame) is bringing us yet another fun and beautiful MKAL. 

So here is the story.  And it seems it is often my story ....that one thing happening in my life connects to another  thing in my life in a coincidental way.  I was reading the King Arthur trilogy written by Mary Stewart.  I started it at Christmas when I needed a book that was purely entertainment.  So I had knights and battles and Kings and Princesses and high adventure on my mind.

I finished my snark o meter and blocked it and began to think about my next knitting project.  Absolutely I would knit something that uses yarn from my stash!  And then I received the e-mail from Miss Babs about As you Wish. 

The designer of As You Wish, Mary Annarella,  had a MKAL recently called The Knights Who Say Knit.  Dar says that this is a reference to Monty Pythons Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).

Mary Annarella  says this about the last MKAL:

The Mystery Knit-A-Long that is not dead yet!

I seek the finest and silliest knitters to join me in a this quest for the grail! You have proven yourself worthy--Will you join us? There will be coconuts! Unladen swallows! And you must bring us….a SHRUBBERY! 

And about this newest project she says:

This pattern (including the Prologue above...) is an homage to The Princess Bride, which was based on William Goldman’s book of the same title (which in turn was based on S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure). The film is a true classic

 How can I miss the opportunity to do the MKAL, read the book, and watch the movie again one more time?  TOO much fun!  Could not help myself!

I am writing again on Feb 21 as the first clue will drop tomorrow morning.  I am READY!   

I wound the balls over the weekend!  I have chosen the red as C1, the grey/blue as C2, the Gold as C3 and the Light grey as C4.

I can hardly wait!

I enthusiastically started this wrap....and after a few days decided I was not interested in continuing.  So this yarn should be around for another project.  Pretty colors!

The bias rectangular shawl

 Knit stars sent an e-mail today in which was embedded a video made by Ambah O’Brien.  It takes many years to figure out which items one is most likely to wear.  By chance I had begun to think that my own favorite style was a bias rectangular shawl  So I took a few screen shots of Ambah wearing her creation:

A hat that fits

 I receive the newsletter from the knitting shop in Cuyago Falls Ohio.  Cindy is the shop owner and the person who puts the newsletter together.  This week the bottom of the newsletter had a Ask Hank article that I found of great interest.  I often felt that I did not want to start a hat because I worried that the hat would not fit the person for whom I was knitting this hat for.  But here is the answer on how to knit a hat that will fit.