Category: Knitting

I’ve finally had the chance to upload all the photos I took while away on vacation. I hit the ground running, once I arrived home, and haven’t had too much time for anything… It’ s been that busy.  

Eventually I’ll catch up with comments left, blog visits, etc., And I’ll be sure to post some of the pictures I took while in South Carolina.

You know… I completely forgot to take pictures of the dishcloth until we were leaving at 2:30 am Saturday morning, so please excuse the blur. I’m knitting up some more, so I’ll be sure to “proper photos.”  

I had plenty of downtime while I was away, during those times my hooks and knitting needles stayed in my hands. Why? I like to keep my hands busy. I did manage to gift the condo with one of my traditional knitted dishcloths. It was nothing fancy, and only took less than an hour to knit. I made this while visiting at my grandmothers old house. She now resides in Florida, but she and her children, normally come to South Carolina, twice yearly.

My four-year old cousin watched most of the dishcloth making process, while my circular knitting needles clicked merrily along the short rows.

What I do love about knitted cotton dishcloths is their absorbency, since it’s knitted, the fabric is stretchy, which I believe enhances its absorbency. Bottom line, they do an amazing job of scrubbing the gunk off cookware. And I thought the brightly colored dishcloth added a bit of pizazz to the dishcloth drawer.

When I returned home, I did email the condo owner to tell her that I left a token dishcloth. I also thanked her for making her condo awesome. We’ll  be back later in the year. She responded late yesterday, and thanked me for the dishcloth. Although simple, it triggered fond memories of her grandmother making knitted dishcloths for her mom, when she was young. 

And while I made that dishcloth for the condominium “just because” … I did get a knitting request from the owner. These days, I rarely sell any of my creative designs or take on commissioned work… I really don’t have the time, and some people don’t have a clue about the price when it comes to quality hand crafted items.  But, this lady isn’t like that, she gets it.  So, I’m working on a commissioned knitted item. 

While the language makes me cringe, might I refer my readers to Harlan Ellison’s rant about this topic? It’s called, Pay the Writer! Of course, this concept doesn’t only apply to writing, there are plenty of people that are eager to undervalue your hard work… if you let them. I don’t! 😉

A few days ago, I mentioned that I’m working on a knitted cable purse. Although I’m not a purse person, this one really appealed to me…

The simple cable design, combined with the contrast (white purse accented with a black bow)  drew me in, and I saved the .pdf pattern for the knitted Christine bag.

When I saved it to my queue, I had no intention of working on it while I was on vacation, but somewhere down the line, I knew I’d be casting it on, but I had no idea it would be this soon. I worked on it the past few days, several (stupid) mistakes were made. Such as the repeat of one of the cables I was making. It took me about five attempts (which is about six rows) before I finally paid attention and got it right. You’d have thought that I’d be more attentive after the first few froggings (ripping out stitches) but that didn’t happen. 😉

Of course, I brought my knitting needles with me on vacation. Crochet or knitting, is a perfect pastime, when sitting around visiting with family.

Oh by the way… I found the amazing  knitted Christine bag on Ravelry! Ravelry is my favorite crochet and knitted website; so many patterns, and not enough time to do all the ones I adore. That was about a month ago. This bag, is one of numerous purses, (crochet and knit) that I browsed on that site, and it’s the one that appealed to me the most.

My knitted cable purse; it’s almost completed. Yeah!

The above picture, shows the almost completed purse. I still need to line the bag, attach handles, and I’m thinking I’ll add a bow– but it’ll be knitted silk blend.

I’m deviating from the pattern slightly in that I’m not using chunky yarn. I’m also not using the suggested size 15 or 19 knitting needles. Instead, I’m using worsted weight yarn, and size eight circular knitting needles. Additionally, I won’t be using wooden handles; I chose to make handles by making a knitted i-cord.

How to make an i-cord

I-Cord is durable, and I’ll increase its durability by using two strands of the worsted yarn. Since this bag was made with cotton there aren’t any special care instructions for it. I consider this a test bag. I wanted to check out the pattern, before I moved onto more delicate yarn such as silk, cashmere, or a wool blend.

The lining will be hand sewn into the knitted purse, and even though I have zippers at home, I’ll be purchasing a metal zipper. I’m thinking I might add a pocket on the inside also.

I already have ideas about the next purse, beads will be included, and perhaps I’ll add a knitted design too. I’m thinking of using a metallic yarn for that, I’m undecided on what colors though. Also, I’m thinking of making the inside look as pretty as the outside. Which in the next purses case, means some type of embroidery. Pretty on the inside and outside, is a motto I use when I design clothes, so why wouldn’t I do this with my crochet and knitted items too? I’m going to deviate from the pattern a lot, so it won’t look like the original idea at all, but the inspiration came from knitting the Christine bag. 😉

If you’re unsure about seaming, check out the designer’s instructions for seaming and attaching handles for the knitted Christine bag, while it’s not new to me, since I’ve made numerous bags before, I do believe her instructions will be extremely helpful to someone new to this process. The instructions are straightforward, and she provides pictures too.

In other news…

My four-year old cousin was pleased when I crocheted a beanie hat, for her Dora doll, last evening. It took about thirty minutes to make. She was playing with my nine-year old daughter, but took regular breaks to check out the hat progress. You should have seen the big smile on her face, once it was complete. That happens to be her favorite doll. She even sleeps with her. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to snap a few photos of Dora rocking her crocheted beanie hat, sometime today.

It didn’t take long to finish knitting the ribbed beanie hat. I only had about five rows to do after all, and it was all decrease rows.

Afterwards I washed the hat, but I think it’s missing something. I most likely will add some type of crocheted embellishment to this knitted hat.

I like the style, but the next time I make it I’ll be adding my own twist to this pattern test. 

I won’t be pattern testing anything for a while, instead the next few months I’ll be devoting my time to some of the crocheted and knitted projects that are on my to handcrafted list. Before you know it, Christmas will be here. I have no intentions of making several hand-crafted items at the last minute. All my hand-crafted gifts should be complete by October 2012.

The knitted ribbed beanie hat is almost complete, I should have it finished in about an hour.

I added green lifelines to this knitted beanie hat, and once the knitted hat is completed, I’ll be yanking them out.

And since it’s pouring down rain outside, it looks as though my daughter and I might be inside today… if it doesn’t stop raining. Personally I hope it stops raining. We both love being outdoors, and I’d love to cut the grass later today.

Do you remember the silly mistakes I made with the knitted beanie hat?

Hopefully the knitted beanie hat mistakes are behind me. I did make another simple mistake yesterday. Instead of doing 3″ of the brim color, I went ahead and did 5″.

I included the large brim in the above picture, shortly afterwards I frogged it back to 3″. The purple isn’t part of the design, those are my lifelines, in case of a mistake (like was made here) I just have to frog (rip out stitches) to where it’s mistake free, or in this case frog to 3″.

In my defense I do like making the ridge stitch. It’s simple and elegant. After ripping out the stitches, I immediately proceeded to add one more row of that color, before switching to purple for the crown.

You could say this was a teachable moment, since I used this opportunity to talk with my nine-year old daughter about mistakes, and how we all make them. Instead of giving up, we should continue trying until we get it right. It sounds simple enough right? Amazingly a lot of people give up on many things, because they weren’t able to master something, early.

The reality is there are many things in life that will take a lot of practice before you master the technique.

Today in my Lutheran church, I noticed that we’re already starting to promote Operation Christmas Child, It’s nice to see this is something going on throughout the year, because lets face it… some families could use our help all year-round. A lot of the gifts for Operation Christmas Child, are sent to children in other countries, but there are plenty of children, and families, here in the USA that could use assistance, so I support them too.

The mention of Christmas in the church bulletin, made me think of my own Christmas list…

Of course I’ll be making handcrafted items for a few local charities, it’s something I’ve been doing for years, but I’ll also be making items for those I know too; if they’re craft worthy. At the top of my list is my nine-year old daughter, and my father comes next. He loves anything I make for him. This year I’m making him a few handcrafted items; a hat, scarf, mittens, socks, and I’m thinking of making him a traditional knitted Guernsey Sweater.

Before morning service, my online search landed me onto this page featuring a free guernsey knitted sweater by Debbie Bliss. Naturally, I saved and printed the .pdf file, and within the next week I’ll start working on the sweater. Since I’m starting on the sweater in advance, there’s really no need to rush, it will be one of my longer “works in progress”.

I’ll definitely use some type of wool for his sweater. Unlike myself, it doesn’t make him itch. While I could never wear the item, because of a rash that would develop from the wool I don’t have any problem crocheting or knitting something made out of wool. Perhaps it’s because the project only stays in my hand, and not other parts of my skin?

My father loves to be outside, even when the weather is cold, I know knitting him something such as this will be helpful in keeping him warm, and perhaps my mother won’t fuss about him coming in the house.

Interesting knitting tidbit: Did you know that many historians believe that men created knitting?