Tuesday, March 28, 2006

I have been doing something






My sister called me one day and told me about this lady that makes fur hats and they are oh so cute. The lady told me they she sells them for $10 dollars. So AC Moore had some fun fur on sale so I said let's see what the fuss is. I made a baby hat, brought it into work and two people said I want one! I made them both a hat and one lady said she wanted a scarf to match. I mistakenly washed and dryed the hats and that is why there are no pictures. They are matted. So I made another one and the lady said she wanted it longer and she thought the matted one did not look too bad. So I am going to take the matted one down and try to mix it with some non matted we will see. The whole point of this post was the scarf. It came out real well. I needed more yarn. I wasn't sure how to knit the fur Lean Ann Siad every third needle (ETN) and Viola! So the pattern is Cast on 19 and knit till the end of the ball. I put a sport weight acrylic with it. You will need two balls of fun fur. to get a decent length. It does curl I do not suggest heat! So mine will just curl. I know this is not new but it is to me! This experiment also brought me 20 dollars. Because I made the free one and the same lady said I want two more how much do you charge? I charged what the other lady charged $10 a piece. Go me!I am thinking Fun Fur Scarves for Teacher Appreciation Day. But my daughter who is only two said Ms. Maria already has a scarf. We made her one for Christmas. Lea forgets nothing. Maybe need to go back to the embellishing that buttonhole bag. I hope she like my little projects.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Finished but not great


I finshed the button hole bag but it is not perfect. My handles do not match. There are several things wrong and I should have waited until I had someone who knows what they are doing help me. Personally for the first time on circular needles it is not bad. I have been burning to felt it and since it is not perfect I will gently felt it in the bathtub. See you soon.

Friday, March 10, 2006

The Beginning of Greatness


I had to frog this bag about two times but that is ok cause look where I am now. It is looking good. I did not know that circular needles did stockingnette so that is where I went wrong yesterday. I am halfway through my increases then I do 10-15 rows then I decrease. Do the buttonhole handles and I am done. It is going pretty quick I can kind of see how it can be addictive. If I work on it tonight, all nightI can probably finish it. We will see.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

More Buttonhole Saga



I started a bag with the circular needles. Let me tell you why. The numbers I came up with were for the black wool. I went out and bought cream and blue yarn. I did not want to work with black yarn because I could not see the stitches. When I realized I had to re swatch I said forget it I will swatch later. I am so backwards because know I want a purple bag. I bought some pretty purple wool and I will swatch that right after I am finished with my handknit buttonhole bag. The thing with the hand knit one is I had to double it because the stitches were way too lose. The purple one I have no choice because I only have one skein so I will make that on the machine once i get the guage info. I will pray for the best.

The pictures are of my second attempt at the bag. Both bags were made in the same night. I show it flopped out and flat. When I tried to get it to stand on its own that is when I realized the base was not big enough. It was square when I finshed it but I hand felted it and missed the part about being gentle. So it turned into a trapezoid.

I told Lela I made the bag for her. She has plans for this bag. She said she is going to give her buttonhole bag to Ms. Maria (her daycare teacher). Lela is 2 yrs old. When the baby asks "are you making that for me?" How can you say no. This is my better bag. But anyway I will try and glam it up for Ms. Maria. I was thinking zipper and a pretty ribbon. I will take pics.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Buttonhole bag the beginning



Well I am trying to make the buttonhole bag. original pattern is at the mason dixon knitting blog . I don't hand knit all that well so I am trying to rewrite the pattern in bondese. It is not going so well. I have done two tries with the pattern I made myslef. It dawned on me yesterday that my base is not big enough. As you can see with the first picture. I was reading the other day at the pattern Kay and Ann did at first and it had some measurements on it so I was like Yes! But Lea Ann said that if I knew the width of the garter stitch then I would be good. So I emailed Ann/Kay and Kay said she did not have one non felted but she thought 12 inches wide maybe less. So I am going to go with 12 inches. My main problem is wool is expensive. I went to AC moore and got the cheapest wool they had and it was still $5.33 for 3.5 oz. The pattern called for Lamb's Pride bulky. I was anxious and got Patons Classic. So the next bag I will make will be Patons. I will eventually make one by hand especially if this one I make on the machine does not come out. That is my last hope. To make one per the instructions measure it and then break the pattern down to bondese. I am determined. I asked Ann Wilson to look at the pattern I wrote and she rewrote it for me. I modified her pattern to include the numbers I came up with.

Now here is what I got if you see something let me know (all info is pre felted)
Gauge
17 sts = 4"
24 rows = 4"

She says the strip is about 12" wide and 14" long
so I need it to be at least 51 sts wide and 84 rows long

The body is 16" wide and 11.5" high
so it should be at least 68 sts wide and 69 rows long. Yes or no?