Thursday, January 29, 2009

I Can't Bear It Anymore

Harry Bear II. He's sustainable too, inside and out! He is knit with the suggested yarn for the pattern, Berroco Chinchilla (it's Rayon). Colorway: Fawn. Stuffed with Bamboo. I have never tried bamboo fiber fill before. It is nice and squishy.
I am getting so side-tracked with these stuffed animals. It is time to put them aside and continue with my other projects on the needles. 1. Nora Gaughan's Kingscot. I am half finished with the back. 2. Nora Gaughan's Flow. I have completed the back and getting ready to cast on the front. 3. Luscious Lace Scarf...hanging out waiting to be picked up again.
So...happy knitting Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 26, 2009

Pardon Me But....

you have a cute butt!!!! Couldn't resist. Harry Bear II.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Side Tracked

The other day I was poking around on the Berroco website for possible errata for Flow (I came across something in the pattern that didn't make sense) and stumbled upon this cute critter. This is Harry Bear. I immediately fell in love with him and dropped everything I was working on - Norah Gaughan's Flow and Kingscot.



Harry knits up really fast. I went to one of my LYS and found the suggested yarn, Chinchilla and lots of other fun alternatives. I decided to start the first one (I told you I fell in love with this bear) with this yarn:



Sprinkles made by King Cole

Yep it is 100% Polyester (just stay away from the fire)

Color: Koala

65 yards to a skein. The pattern calls for 77. So I had to buy 2 skeins and have a ton of yardage left on the second one...oh well.



The yarn is a bit tricky to work with because of all those textural loops. I went slowly so I didn't make a mistake because there is no way to tink your way out of it.



Success! I whip-stitched the pieces together and you would never know it. It looks seamless.







I raided my stash and found this chenille from Crystal Palace Yarns. Not a very good choice at all. It knit up sloppy. You could see all the short rows and after I stuffed it you could see that too. It also knit up really tiny compared to Harry above. It was a good excercise to work through the pattern. He will end up in the frog pond.


Happy Knitting!!Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Going With The Flow


Norah Gaughan's Flow that is...

Last week I ordered Seduce from Webs...it came so fast via usps. A couple of days before that I ordered yarn for another Norah sweater (more on that another day) and it still isn't here. Webs sent that yarn UPS, or slow boat to China. I guess if it weighs a certain amount they go with the cheapest route. Who knows, who cares. I am just happy I have something to work on now. After receiving it yesterday I promptly went to work on Flow. This will be my second Flow. I love the patten so much, fits well, looks great, etc. The last Flow I made was with Berocco's Soft Twist. It turned out okay and was a suitable substitution but now I am making Flow with Seduce the way it was designed. The yarn is luscious. I love the color green and this hue is just my shade.




I have about 4 inches into it already. This is a super easy pattern to knit. The pattern calls for us#8. When I started out with the size 8 it was so sloppy and gauzy I went down to a size us#6 and have gauge and like it much better.



The yarn is a mixture of rayon and linen with little bit of nylon for strength. It is slippery which is why I am using my Knit Pick Harmony interchangeable needles. So not a problem.


Tomorrow is the MLKJ holiday so lot's of knitting time.




Saturday, January 10, 2009

Fingerless Mitts - Quick and Easy

What's not to love about fingerless mitts. I wore these cute pink ones the other day and a woman mentioned to me how much she loved them but they were so hard to find and when you did find them in a store they cost over $40. We knitters are so lucky to be able to whip out a pair in a day and have the cost be less than $10, depending on the yarn used.

This pattern is easy and fun and can be found for free on Ysolda's blog. I already mentioned the particulars on another post so I won't repeat here. I am planning on making a few more in different colorways using the same Rowan Felted Tweed yarn. I think one of the things I like the most about this pattern and the yarn is the mitt is not bulky so you don't feel like you have "paws" on your hands.














This mitt below I made-up the pattern. I had bought this alpaca yarn to make a sweater last Fall...well, I never made that sweater - didn't like the pattern. The yarn just sat around and after poking around in my stash I decided that a pair of mitts would be perfect. I doubled the yarn to get a worsted weight and improvised as I went along. They are friendly mitts but sort of on the "paw" side. I actually love them to throw on when I go for my afternoon walks, which lately have been very chilly.


The yarn is Drops Alpaca knit on #5 dpns. I started with a garter cuff and worked into stockinette body with no additional increases. I like thumbs with gussetts so that is included. Easy and quick, soft and warm. My basic fingerless mitt. There are lots of options you can create with this basic pattern.



















Happy Knitting!!!

Monday, January 05, 2009

More Needles

One can never have too many needles. My husband gave me Addi Clicks for Christmas!

My box doesn't look like this picture however. I have 3 compartments where the cords are and there is a cool needle sizer in there too.

I haven't really had an opportunity to really use them other than a quick cast on just to give them a test drive. They are really nice. I thought the connection between the blue cord and needle would be a problem because when you run your finger over the join it isn't completely smooth, but the yarn doesn't get hung up there so that is a good thing. My biggest disappointment is there is NOT a size US 5. What's up with that! I am working on two projects right now that I am using #5 needles. I read reviews from Knitter's Review, the newsletter that Clara Parkes writes and she mentioned that a #5 is going to be manufactured to add to the kit. I think it is sort of weird that the #5 was not included. They could have omitted the #15 - how many times do you knit with that size? Me, very rarely. But I am happy over all with the product. Can't wait until they come out with the lace tips!!!!!



Happy Knitting!!!!