Category: Knitting

I’m happy to say that a few minutes ago I finished knitting the checkered cowl.

It seemed like this took forever to complete, but that’s because I was only able to work on it a few minutes now and again. So of course the time completing this project seemed to take forever.

This is one of the “playing with stitches” projects that I was knitting. I didn’t use a pattern I came up with my own. I decided to use my favorite stitches (stockinette and seed stitch) and alternate them throughout the entire project. I must say I’m pleased with the results. Eventually, I’ll make a matching hat and gloves to complete the ensemble. 😉 And who knows, I might even add a matching scarf, for the days for when wearing a cowl is not enough. No, this cowl isn’t for me. My hands love to stay busy, so I make things and set them aside to be given to someone at a later time.

The majority of the items I make are hats. I’m currently knitting and setting aside hats to be given to a local hospital this fall. I make hats for NICU and cancer patients.

Now that this project is finished, I’m itching to work on something else however I don’t know what I want to make. Part of me wants to knit an amigurumi… but what? This past May, I knitted an amigurumi voodoo doll for my daughter’s birthday. She loves that knitted toy. Then there’s another part of me that wants to work on a simple sweater for me. Perhaps it’s time that I start knitting the Sylvi cardigan. I adore knitting cable stitch.

I haven’t been on Ravelry in a while. There’s been so much going on in my life that I really haven’t had the time to add that to the equation…

This past weekend, I logged onto Ravelry, and learned that Signature needles were now offering detachable cables. Unlike the “interchangeable cables” that can be swapped between needles sizes. The only changing you’ll be doing with Signature knitting needles, is swapping cable length. Signature needles are calling these needles “Signature convertible knitting needles.”

To be honest, that’s a whole lot less appealing (at least for me) than the  interchangeable cables but I might pick up one needle size since I do love the Stiletto points. I will say, that the Signature points are a tiny bit sharper than my Interchangeable Hiya Hiya Steel Sharp needles. But I don’t see myself replacing my Hiya Hiya Steel Sharp set. I love the quality of my Hiya Hiya’s and use them exclusively for all my knitting projects.

Signature knitting needles are a bit pricey, purchasing one will cost me a little over $40. But I’m perfectly happy with spending a bit more for a quality item. After all, the items I choose for the various crafts I do are expected to last a long time.

In other news…

I’ve almost completed the “checkered cowl.”  This is my own pattern, I think I have about twelve more rows to do. I’ll definitely post pictures once it’s complete.

I’m still knitting that “checkered cowl”. I haven’t had too much time to knit, but I try to knit a few rows weekly.

The stitch pattern is stockinette and seed stitch.  It’s simple, but I really like how this knitted cowl looks. If you look closely, you’ll see metal rings. That lets me know that I need to swap my stitch pattern. I’m almost finished. I think I’ll do one more “section of blocks” before I tuck it away. I still haven’t decided on who will receive this handcrafted item, but I’ll make sure the person actually wants something like this.

Since I used size 3 knitting needles, the stitches are tightly woven together and will do a great job blocking out the cold winds that might blow.

I haven’t done any knitting or sewing posts in a while, which isn’t too surprising since I’ve been excited about my honeybees. And although the past few weeks this site has been filled with numerous posts about my adventures in beekeeping, I’m still finding the time to be creative.

This past weekend, I finished another knitted hat that’s been added to my ever growing pile of hats that will be given to NICU babies and Cancer patients.

And a few days ago I moved onto the above knitted cowl. I’m not following a pattern, just playing around with stitches. This is a combination of stockinette and seed stitch. I don’t think you can really see the stitch definition in the above picture.

Of course the knitting is made possible by using my lovely Hiya Hiya Steel Sharp circular knitting needles. The knitting needle size is 3. When it comes to knitting I normally knit with small needles, it’s just my preference.

My daughter and I are watching the Hobbit, again.

So much crocheted, knitted, sewing and weaving goodness in one amazing movie! We didn’t watch it when it came out in the movie theater, we saw it for the first time on Saturday. Naturally watching this movie, just added fuel to my want to knit another project dilemma. For the past few weeks I’ve been wanting to knit something big. I’ve vacillated between an sweater or a shawl? I think I’ll compromise and make myself a cardigan. The only thing left to do is to settle on the type I want to make. If you have any suggestions, post them here please! I guess I could knit the Sylvie coat, I purchased the pattern a while ago, but I want to make something a bit shorter.

Earlier today, I stumbled upon this video of Patrick Swayze and his wife, Lisa Niemi dancing at the World Music Awards. I was a big fan of Swayze ever since I saw him in Red Dawn many years ago. I remember hearing he had developed pancreatic cancer and was saddened when I learned that he lost his battle with the disease. The first person I knew that had cancer was a young girl named Sherry. I was about ten years old, she was only five. Even at that age, I can remember the treatments she received, how much thinner she became, the hair loss, weakened condition and eventually her death. I’m guessing that is something I’ll always remember since I remember her being an active “little kid” until her condition became worse.

About eleven years ago, I was engaged. My fiancé, who was divorced, had a daughter who died of cancer at four years old… he never recovered from that and always missed her, which is understandable. He never got to see our daughter since he was killed in a car accident (by a drunk driver) about a three weeks after I was pregnant. I didn’t even know I was pregnant at the time of his death. I’ve had a few relatives that have had cancer and uncle (74 years old) whom we lost last year and a cousin who lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of 24.

Currently, I’m knitting another hat for the NICU and cancer patients. This hat is small and squishably soft so will work perfectly for a young cancer patient. Hats are my favorite items to knit. They’re portable and can be simple or more elaborate like the knitted kitty hat I made for my daughter. It’s up to you. Sometimes people ask me why I create things for people I don’t know. It’s my hope that the items I create brings a little spark of happiness to the recipients. Lots of prayers go into the items I make and although I might know the person I truly hope and pray that they realize that their are strangers who care about them and hope they are healed.

Remember when I wrote about those cute Hiya Hiya cable stoppers?

Well, it looks like they’re finally available for purchase. I normally purchase my needles and Malabrigo yarn from Just Yarn, but it doesn’t look like they have them in stock, at least not right now.  However, The Yarn Grove has the large Hiya Hiya cable stoppers in stock, but they don’t have the small Hiya Hiya cable stoppers available.

Currently, I only have one project on my large knitting needles. Don’t even ask me how many projects I’m working on with my Hiya Hiya Steel Sharp (small) set! Let’s see… the knitted voodoo doll that I’m making for my daughter is almost complete!  I’m knitting a pair of socks and I’m making a shawl for myself. The knitted afghan is my long term work in progress and I’m using needles from my Hiya Hiya large set for that project.

I most likely will hold off purchasing the Hiya Hiya cable stoppers for now since I don’t use my large Hiya Hiya set as much. However, when they stoppers become available in the small size I’ll be sure to purchase a few pairs. Until that time, the Hiya Hiya cable connectors work perfectly for my works in progress.