Knitn Fool

Stitches East

2006-11-18T00:21:00.000-05:00

Stitches East was held in my backyard a couple of weeks ago. I'm finally getting around to posting about it. I only went for one day and found out about it too late to get any classes, but the marketplace was awesome!! Yarn everywhere! Here is some of my treasure..

Noro for half price.

Alpaca to make winter scarves for the girls.

Wool and silk blends

Gorgeous Manos

While wandering after lunch, look who I spotted..the queen of the ballband! And she was wearing the (in)famous raspy. Did I behave and leave the woman her privacy? Of course not! I acted as any self-respecting knitting groupie would do. "Kay?? Oh, I love your book!" Luckily my friend was not so star-struck and coherently discussed the Chihuly exhibit with Kay.

Although we couldn't get any classes, we did attend a "market session" - a one-hour class right on the floor of the the marketplace. We attended the "carrying colors belt" class. Great class, great teacher. And... here's what we received to take home

I think the yarn and needles were worth more than the cost of the class.

All in all, a most excellent day!

To Block Or Not To Block?

2006-10-25T09:03:00.000-04:00

I never thought I would block a dishcloth. Why bother, right? It's just going to get wet and wash dishes, wipe counters, clean up spills, etc. But when I was finished the September mid-month Dishcloth KAL, it was so lumpy! It looked like large bubble wrap on the back. I tried to get a picture of it, but you couldn't see how mogul-looking it was.

So I blocked it - sort of. I just wet it and shaped it (no pins) and let it dry. Gigantic improvement! Here it is in all its blocked glory -

Haven't blogged much lately, but have been knitting. Have also been taking some knitting / crochet classes, and have been knitting and crocheting. Will be posting pics of FOs very soon. Just need to take some pictures.

Ballband Minis

2006-10-02T00:46:00.000-04:00

More ballbands.

These are mini ballbands. A good family friend was visiting one night before heading back to college and saw me knitting a ballband for one of my daughters. He loved it, and wanted me to knit him a smaller version to use as a coaster. But he wanted a large coaster. I knit the smaller one, but I think he wants something larger, so I knit the larger one. I'll send him both.

This picture gives better perspective -

Ballband Inside Out

2006-09-21T00:10:00.000-04:00

or, Monthly Dishcloth mid-August KAL Redux

This is a variation on the dishcloth we did in the Monthly Dishcloth group in mid-August. The original pattern used the contrast color for 2 rows of the repeat. Because it was only two rows, the cloth needed two colors with strong contrast. Several people, including me, started the KAL using a solid and a variegated that matched the solid. The pattern just didn't work well; the variegated was lost in too many areas. I suspected that if the cloth were done using the variegated in 4 rows instead of only 2 that the colors would pop more, like the Mason Dixon ballband. It worked, but I like both versions.

Original in white with orange, pink, yellow variegated.

Revised with blue and daisy ombre.

This cloth is the opposite of a Mason Dixon ballband. Instead of "bricks," it has "windows." The bricks in the ballband are garter stitch and the mortar is stockinette. This cloth has stockinette windows with garter stitch frames.

September Dishcloth KAL

2006-09-12T00:13:00.000-04:00

Finished the September KAL for the Monthly Dishcloth group last week.

Used size 8s and S'nC soft taupe.

Worked the bind-off in pattern and really like how it looks - much better than my normal bind-off.

Leftovers & Log Cabin on Labor Day

2006-09-04T15:45:00.000-04:00

Someone on the Monthly Dishcloth KAL asked what people did with their leftover yarn after making a dishcloth - those remainders that are too small to make another cloth. I remembered seeing some very pretty cloths made with leftovers, so this inspired me to get out my bag of scraps. This one was made using the Petal pattern.

The yarns are all Sugar 'n Cream and Peaches & Creme. You change colors on row 7. There were sooo many ends to weave in. I thought I might be able to carry yarns since the color changes were in the middle, so I left the ends attached to the balls after I changed colors. BIG MISTAKE! The yarns became so tangled. So on the second half of the cloth, I cut the yarns after making the color change. I also wove in the ends of the 1st half before I started the second half.

One of my daughters wants me to make a Modern Log Cabin blanket from the Mason Dixon Knitting book. So I made another scrap dishcloth using the log cabin technique.

You can see I need a lot more practice with log cabin. There are some who advocate leaving the stitches "live" on a stitch holder instead of binding off at the end of a log. I tried both ways and thought, for me, it was much neater to bind off. I used a crochet hook to pick up the stitches. I also tried to make the stitch pick up easier on the selvage ends by slipping the first stitch of each row as if to purl. That did make it easier, but my edges were so loosey-goosey that the first row of the new log with these picked up stitches was loose. Overall, I am not happy at all with my log cabin and am hesitant to start a large blanket using this. Any suggestions for improvement? All will be greatly appreciated.

Hope you all have a nice Labor Day holiday, and sorry to all the college kids who have to go to class today!

Back to College

2006-08-30T00:15:00.000-04:00

I spent last week getting my 3 daughters back to college for their second year. One went back on Monday, one on Wednesday, and one on Saturday. Each girl returned to school with a warshrag, knitted with the colors of her choosing.

This is SarSar - all Sugar 'n Cream (Pastel Print ombre, Hot Blue, Hot Pink) on size 8 needles.

This is Trishy. Again on size 8's, using S'nC Sunshine and Red and Lion Turquoise.

And this is LeeBee, also on size 8's but with S'nC Cool Breeze ombre and Light Blue.

Look at this edge, Lisa!

Ed., Instructions for this edge technique can be found on the Mason Dixon KAL blog here.

My daughters are identical triplets. The dishcloths are like my girls - same pattern, different colors.

They are my only children. They came all at once and they leave all at once. It's just as hard this second year as it was their first year.

August Mid-Month KAL

2006-08-25T00:52:00.000-04:00

Finished the mid-month KAL from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL group last week.

This pattern needs strong contrast. I started Day 1 of the KAL using S'nC Nuptune (white, blues, greens) as my primary color and P&C White as the contrast color. The white wasn't showing up very well and then I made a mistake (surprise! surprise!). So I frogged and started over with what you see - White primary with S'nC Playtime contrast.

The pattern can be found here.

Dishcloth Belts

2006-08-22T10:01:00.000-04:00

Not a dishcloth today!

Here are some belts make with SnC cotton. The ecru belt was made for my daughter. When my friend saw me working on it at the beach, she asked me to make her one in white with the pattern that I was using to make an eyeglass cloth. These are great travel projects to do while waiting in doctors' offices, for kids or husbands, in public, etc. I worked on one of them at a baseball game and at an outdoor movie.

Details -

Ecru belt - SnC Ecru on size 7 needles. Seed stitch. CO odd number. Work each row K1,P1,K1 across.

White belt - SnC White on size 7 needles. Pattern adapted from Perpetual Stitch Calendar.
Row 1 - K2,K1,P4,K2
Row 2 - K2,K3,P2,K2
Row 3 - K2,K3,P2,K2
Row 4 - K2,K1,P4,K2
Row 5 - K across
Row 6 - K across

Simple mindless knitting that is easily carried wherever you go.

Buckles can be simple D rings (from Joanns, Michaels, etc.). I went online and purchased some buckles from M&J Trimming and JCaroline Creative.

August Dishcloth KAL

2006-08-20T13:32:00.000-04:00

I'm finally posting my FO from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL for August. The cloth is superimposed on a photo of the Corolla Lighthouse on the northern Outer Banks. I'm learning how to play with PhotoShop and it's fun to play with these pictures. Can you find my ever-present mistake in the cloth?

There was much discussion about this cloth as we were knitting it - what is it? It was knit upside down, so it looked at first like a spider or other bug. Andi, our fearless leader, told us to use any solid color yarn, but made one comment just before we started that light blue would be a good color. As I was knitting it, I thought it was going to be a crab - a Chesapeake blue crab. Andi is from Maryland and only made the blue reference once, so I thought it was a hint. Oh well, wrong again!

I used size 7 needles and Bernat Handicrafter cotton - Blue Haze.

More About Yesterday's Ballband

2006-08-19T00:03:00.000-04:00

I've thought for a while that the Mason Dixon Ballband cloth would look good even just using one variegated yarn without a second yarn. I started it that way with Eartha and I like that but I want some more "punch" so added in the second color. I started SueBoo with a BooBoo only using P&C Gumdrops, a colorway that I love. But after about 2 rows of bricks, I knew I didn't like it by itself and so added the white. I really like the white with the Gumdrops as contrast. Just goes to prove something you more experienced knitters already know - not all variegated yarns are created equal.

Tidy Edges Ballband

2006-08-18T01:45:00.000-04:00

Another Mason Dixon Warshcloth.

Meet SueBoo with a boo-boo. My Mom saw this on the needles and asked if she could have it when finished. So, it's named in her honor. Her nickname is Sue and her mentally challenged brother used to always call her Sue-Boo. And that is how my husband and I affectionately refer to her. There is a mistake in the section that used only the variegated yarn. Will I ever knit a cloth without at least one mistake?

This is my first cloth done with Lisa's tidy edges. She explained this on the Monthly Dishcloth KAL and it was posted in the Mason Dixon KAL blog. It sure neatens up those jagged edges! I did exactly as Lisa explained, except I knit into the back of the first 2 stitches on each WS row. Thanks for this tip, Lisa!

I used P&C Gumdrops and White on size 8's.

What? No Knitting?

2006-08-14T00:49:00.000-04:00

Not this time. Just some pictures from a very beautiful weekend. What a great change and it's oh so nice to be able to turn off the ac during the first part of August in Baltimore!

A rare, beautiful, clear, blue sky in August.

One of the crepe myrtles that we planted over 10 years ago in our front yard and it's finally blooming like crazy.

Fireworks at the Frederick Keys game. It was a perfect night for a baseball game.

More knitting on the way.

Putting the Petal to the Metal

2006-08-10T00:21:00.000-04:00

Something different for me.

This was fun to knit, and pretty easy. Of course I miscounted the first time I tried it and had to frog it when it was more than half way finished. It looked more like a zig-zag than a circle (I had miscounted in more than one spot!) It is knit in wedges with short rows and all garter stitch with a slipped stitch and a yarn over in every other row. There were no DPNs required. Good thing - I'm not ready for that yet. I used S'nC ed. Over the Rainbow on #7 (metal) needles. The pattern is called Petal and can be found here. There are eyelets in each wedge but you can't see them in the picture.

A 12-Pack With Zero Calories

2006-08-01T00:54:00.000-04:00

Like all knitters, I am a yarn junkie - just can't get enough. Because I am currently addicted to knitting dishcloths, I am also addicted to cotton yarn. And because I love the Mason Dixon book so much and their many projects, I have a craving for Peaches & Creme. In my neck of the woods, the only place to buy P&C is the dreaded Wally World. And even though WW carries P&C, they have a very limited supply. Now one way around this dilema is to order directly from Elmore Pisgah, but... You must order at least 6 balls of any color, something I did not want to do. So I was delighted to find out that I could call Elmore Pisgah and order something called the "Mason Dixon 12-Pack." It's 12 balls of assorted colors that can be used to make coordinating ballbands.

The colors are -
1 White
11 Sunburst
19 Peacock
51 Apple Green
55 Light Green
133 Shaded Denim
139 Teal Ombre
165 Daisy Ombre
171 Pink Lemonade
175 Fiesta Ombre
181 Faded Denim
186 Lemon Lime

You may be able to specify which colors you want in your 12-pack. This comment was on my invoice - "This is the standard kit. We have had individuals request special colors and we try to honor their requests."

The cost is $18.00, plus shipping. Shipping to Maryland was $6. So my 12-pack cost $2 per ball - more expensive than Wally World, but I received such yummy colors. And I received my order within 3 days. What a fix!

Mid-July KAL

2006-07-28T01:08:00.000-04:00

This was the mid-July KAL from the monthly dishcloth group. The pattern came from here.

I used size 7 needles and Peaches & Creme Peppercorn Ombre.

I'm still new to knitting and this pattern was a bear for me. I frogged it 4 times before I finally got it right. I understood how to do it, but I kept making mistakes. Really should start using a lifeline but I'm too stubborn.

The yarn is from a cone I found at Wally World (aka WalMart). If you look at the Peaches & Creme website though, the Peppercorn Ombre looks completely different. On their website, it's one of those yarns with just flecks of color on a mostly ecru background. What's with this?? fodder for another post about P&C and Wally World.

Another Groupie Dishcloth

2006-07-25T09:02:00.000-04:00

Here is the July KAL from the Monthly Dishcloth Group. I used #8s and SnC light blue. The cloth was knitted upside down (from the top down). The waves were fun and probably something I wouldn't have tried quite yet had I known what was coming. The pattern for Dolly the Dolphin can be found here with lots of other animal patterns.

The Lilly Ensemble

2006-07-24T00:43:00.000-04:00

Here is Lilly accompanied by a pink flamingo dishcloth and a palm tree dishcloth. These were knitted for my friend who has a thing about pink flamingoes. If you live in Baltimore, you understand!

And here are close-ups of the flamingo and palm tree cloths -

Ed., The Flamingo cloth was knitted with #8 needles and SnC hot pink from a pattern I purchased from www.geocities.com/knitwits_heaven/. Click on "Patterns for Sale" then click on Animals. There are lots of animal patterns on sale for $2 for the electronic version.

The Palm Tree was knitted with #8 needles and SnC hot green from a pattern I found at www.rainyk.com/Dishcloths.html.

More Warshcloths

2006-07-23T00:46:00.000-04:00

This is Eartha, knitted for my aunt who wanted a brown dishcloth. I used Lion Kitchen cotton in Sagebrush and Sugar 'n Cream Soft Brown. The sagebrush color is more green in person. The picture looks blue.

And this is Lilly, knitted for my friend as part of a dishcloth ensemble :) . I used all Sugar'n Cream - hot pink, hot green and over the rainbow ombre.

Mason Dixon (Ball) Bandwagon

2006-07-19T09:18:00.000-04:00

I discovered the Mason Dixon Knitting book while surfing (lurking) on the internet. This book is great - wonderful projects and so enjoyable to read. The projects are simple but provide you with a starting point to use your imagination and take off. So far, I've only done the Ballband "warshcloth" but I plan to do several of the projects. The "warshcloth" is addicting in that you just want to keep experimenting with color combinations. Here is my first warshcloth.

I call it The Patriot :) I knitted it right before July 4th using Peaches & Creme white and Sugar 'n Cream Americana ombre. Gave it to my Mom because she likes patriotic things, but I bet she hasn't used it yet - precious knits syndrome as one of the authors would say.

Dishcloth Groupie

2006-07-17T00:37:00.000-04:00

I belong to two yahoo groups for dishcloth knitters - MonthlyDishcloths & Love2Knit Dishcloths.
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/monthlydishcloths

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Love2Knit_Dishcloths

Monthly Dishcloths has two KALs (knit-a-longs) each month. The beginning of the month KAL is always a "picture" of something related to that month (e.g., hearts for February, turkey for Novemeber). The middle of the month KAL is usually a pattern that introduces a new stitch. Here is the first KAL I did - it was June's

The Love2Knit group does KALs more sporadically and unscheduled. Here is my first Love2Knit cloth, the End of Spring KAL -

All of the KALs are mysteries. You don't know what you are knitting ahead of time. Six to 10 lines of the pattern are posted each day until you have the whole pattern. You are given guidelines for a color of yarn and needle size.

Besides the KALs, the groups have exchanges, contests, and bingo and serve as a good site for people like me to go for help from experienced knitters.

Why Am I Doing This?

2006-07-16T00:14:00.000-04:00

I spend WAY too much time on the internet. Lately a lot of that time is lurking on knitting blog sites. So I wanted to start my own blog so others can look at my knitting pictures.

I only started knitting in January. I only like to knit rectangular things - scarves, belts, and my current obsession - dishcloths. One day I would like to learn to make socks, but I have no desire at this point to knit a sweater. So you'll see lots of pictures of dishcloths.

This pattern was called Tweed Stitch. I used Peaches & Creme Lemon Lime. I like the way the pattern works with the ombres. Here is the link to the pattern. http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbout/kpatterns/1coltweedst.html

Just Testing

2006-07-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

Just starting and just testing. How does this look? Let's see if I can get a photo in here. Nope - can't seem to do it. Try again later.

Ok - I did it. I know - bad picture. Besides knitting, I'm trying to learn how to take decent digital photos, especially close-ups. Here's another pic -