A New Home

I have moved my blog to a new home. You can find me here. A new sittinandknittin. See you there!!!
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Let's Go Shopping

Elisa's Nest Tote is finished!

This free pattern from Ravelry is a fun fast knit.
I finished making the handles this morning and boy are my fingers sore from all that i-cording. I did it on US#3 DPs to make it dense so it wouldn't stretch too much when it is fully loaded with farmer's market goodies or anything for that matter. I am very pleased with the finished results even though I did make a few boo-boo's along the way. I will probably be the only one that will notice so I am not too upset with my efforts. And anyway its a veggie tote which will probably end up getting stained from cherries or some other juicy fruit!




Relaxed it is about 10" x 12". The i-cord handles are 18" long stretched making it very comfortable to sling over the shoulder.














You can see how it really stretches when it is loaded up.

I am planning on making more of these to use up all that Sonata yarn from Elann that I purchased months ago. Sonata is just too stiff for clothing but for totes it works so well.

Another Try

Does everyone who uses blogger have so many problems with it? I was working along on the last post and blogger started acting really strange. It wouldn't let me use the space bar as I was typing and it wouldn't let me post another photo....very irritating.

This is the other project I am working on - a shopping tote! I am making this for a friend as a thank-you gift. This is a quick knit. I am using up some cotton I bought at Elann that I planned to use for summer tops. I really don't like the feel of Sonata against my skin but it is great for this application. Just a few more inches then I can add the i-cord handles. I knit this in the round and did a 3-needle bind off on the bottom so it would be very sturdy to hold all those farmer's market goodies.

The finished unstretched size will be 8" x 12" and when loaded it will probably be twice that size.



(I see my toes through the glass table top!)

Hotter then HELL

This heat wave is killing me...no a/c in this hot house. I live in Marin Co, just north of San Francisco and we are in the midst of a killer heat wave. Yesterday it was 98 outside and 88 in the house. I work out of my home office so I don't have the opportunity to hang out in an air conditioned work environment...not a very productive day and today is just a carbon copy!

A couple of things I am currently working on - Mr. Greenjeans cardigan from Knitty.com. I call mine Ms. Periwinkle Jeans. The photo does not accurately represent the color at all. It really isn't that gray looking. This is a fun knit, top down all in the round - no seaming!!!! I just have the sleeves to finish up and it is wearable, and by the time they are finished I hope this heat wave is too. I decided not to do the button that the pattern called for so I could leave it open or add one of my favorite pins if I wanted it closed. The cool thing about knitting in top down you can try it on as you go - no unwanted surprises in the end.

Happiness....

you could never tell by the expression on my face, but yes, I do love this cardi and the way it turned out. My husband took lots more pictures and this one is the best (most flattering). I wore the sweater yesterday and thought it would be perfect timing for a photo shoot...wrong. He had five minutes to produce professional (ha-ha) looking photos before preparing for his class, the wind was blowing and the sun was just too hot. Not good makings for a relaxed photo shoot. So this will have to do.

This is the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from the Spring issue of Interweave Knits - 2008. I used the suggested yarn and made only a few modifications. 1. Three buttons instead of two. 2. Horizontal button holes instead of vertical. 3. Tacked the roll-up cuff to the sleeve. I never did block this and I probably won't. I don't think it really needs it because of the nature of the yarn. So what you have is a nice summer sweater!

A few more shots.

Finishing

This past weekend I accomplished a lot. I finished my Camo Tuscany Wrap and my Strawberry Flutter Sleeve Cardi. Flutter sleeve will be posted later so Camo will have center stage.


The yarn is Glacier Bay Sock Yarn - 3 ply merino, hand dyed. When I purchased the yarn at Marin Fiber Arts a couple of weeks ago, I immediately fell in love with the dye. I was concerned that the final knit up would be too stiff and scratchy for a wrap since it was sock yarn and the variegated dye would be too overwhelming for a lace shawl. When I was finished knitting it and after a 10 minute soak in the sink, the fiber bloomed deliciously soft and supple . When I took it off the needles it was so "springy" and "tiny" but after blocking it grew almost twice its size.


There are a lot of different opinions circulating out there in the knitting world about what type of yarn should be used to knit lace shawls or lace in general. In particular some think that variegated yarn will complete distract from the lovely intricate lace details...well, I will have to say I don't agree with that completely. Yes, this shawl would have been beautiful in a plain yarn and the lace detail would taken center stage, but with Camo, I think the yarn works extremely well in harmony with the pattern. I will have to add that Tuscany is a very simple pattern repeat and its simplicity lends a balance to the richness of the yarn. Some lace shawls have way too much pattern going on with them that a plain yarn would only be the way to go to show off all that hard work. In this case I think it works well and I am so pleased with the way it turned out.


This detail really shows the beauty of the dye with the light parts juxtaposed to the dark creating an almost 3 dimensional quality.

I can't wait to wrap myself up in this.
Off the needle size 25" x 55"
Blocked size 27" x 80"