DUD

Last night the capri's were a dud. I used almost an entire pound on Cotton on one piece. I am making mine in four pieces because I only have 130 needles. I need to be measured so I will know what size to pick on Knitware. I picked 46 49 inch hips sounds about right for my chunky tail. But honey I knitted 220 rows That is two baby blankets! I email Sheila and she said what size did you pick? Do they match your measurements? I said well I have not taken my measurements. Let me start over. So that went that.

My first knit along

Tonight I will make some capri's. Along with a fellow knitter. She told me what to do and it does not sound hard. This will be the first pair of pants I have ever made myself. I make hat and scarves all the time this will be for my trip to the beach in July. I cannot wait. I know I can I know I can I know I can.

Goings On

My green onions are coming up. My money is gone so there will not be any strawberries or tomatoes. My hostas is growing. I am going to move it to a shadier spot in the house. The table by the door will be fine and make the other table just for pictures. I need to find a new place for the elephant ear. I am going to make shift something to fence the plant in because it is all over the place.
I untangled the purple wool it has some knots but it is done. Now I just have to find the first ball and make a swatch. I still have not made my buttonhole bag. I got the needles ready to cast on 52 but nothing. I still need to do Roz's scarf. I saw some Berroco silk and it is just like microspun. Oh Berroco suede is divine! Why does it cost $10 a ball! Ouch! Will not have any anytime soon.
The books I plan to read this summer are Summer Sisiters by Judy Blume, Green Mile by Stephen King and Wuthering Heights I think By Jane Austin I may have read this one already and if so I will replace it with something from around the house.

Newton's First Law

Newton's first law of motion states that "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." Objects "tend to keep on doing what they're doing." In fact, it is the natural tendency of objects to resist changes in their state of motion. This tendency to resist changes in their state of motion is described as inertia.

I made my cotton swatch and my microspun swatch. I have not washed them yet. But once I do it is on. Once I start moving I can't stop.

Summer Reading Challenge

I have joined the summer reading challenge. I plan to read one book a week. If I am reading I am not knitting so 1 week read 1 week knit. Click the link (the title of this post) to find out more.

TO SAVE TIME, TAKE TIME TO CHECK GAUGE

Why do I not listen. Bought lessons are what my mom calls them (lesson you could have had for free)I never really understood gauge because I crocheted most of the time and mostly hats. I did make about two things that came out too big or too small. I thought a knitting machine would change that that I would not have to worry about gauge. WRONG! I never want to make something simple I always want to do the hand knit pattern. I read the pattern it seems easy enough for the machine just take out this or that. Yeah right. So far I have recently had two major blunders. All because I did not do a swatch! My romper that I thought I missed up because I created a homemade pattern, and now the Panobo it is a free pattern from Berroco. I thought since I had some red heart the gauge was going to be about the same as the rest of the yarn I swatched earlier. NEGATIVE. The thing came out big enough to fit Lela and it was supposed to fit me. I made the small one. That may not have fit me. I am going to go with that. But it really did not come out right the opening was small. The point of this post is I am tired of failed attemps. Future reference find the pattern translate into MK find the yarn swatch plug in gauge. I have found that making a calculator where all the math is done I just have to but in the gauge information makes it easier for me when I switch yarn. Because no matter what I use a different yarn each time.

Humungo

Humungo is short for Humungous (sp) I t totally ignored the gauge. And it is what I got. I thought I was making newborn size and it came out big enough to Fit Lela. I got pics of that too. You know I cannot find my cord to download pictures for my camera! Anyway I learned the hard way and I washed and dried mungo got my swatch measurements and I am going to start over. I am putting a shirt collar short sleeve pullover from Knitware Sweaters and a pair of panties form Knitware basics together to get a summer romper. The only thing I do not like is the seam down the front of the panties. But if I get it to come out right man I will be happy center seam and all.

I Know

I know this is not knitting but isn't it oh so cute.

Click the link. This is what it was supposed to be but I used nylon thread and g hook so that is why it is much smaller. I am getting the handles soon. Then will post a completed pic.

Buttons

I am going to use the attached picture on these layettes I have brewing in my mind. Using all gina ahren patterns (basic jacket, mile a minute hats and ankle socks for the entire family maybe even a blanket) the linkis to a jacket i am thinking of making. all I have to do is put a shirt collar on the basic jacket. I am thinking of using the poodle buttons and painting them silver. A matching skirt would be oh so cute. Well I will keep you posted.

Nothing New on the Knitting Front

I got a partial poncho on the machine now. It was going to be a large two rectangle poncho but I got tired and I found a new pattern and it may end up being a one strip asymetrical poncho just to get it off my machine. My Carolina Bonder meeting is not until this Sat. I got a few pieces to show. You know what happened to my machine knit button hole bag. I bought another hank of purple and did not unravel it right so now I have a tangled ball of mess. My thought is to handknit the base and then rehang it and don't do any increases. But I would like to have that done before the meeting. And I am on this thing with clutches. They maybe done by Sat. I need zippers and lining. Oh and I want to make a bag that matches my shoes. Wait til Ms. Mary see those! I got to find some jeans that match the bag and make the bag like in payless. I got to looking at the shoes and it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

I have no drive.

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

25% Yankee

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I saw this looking at someone else log thought I would try it. It is sorta fun.
I need to make sweaters for many people but that last project just took it out of me. I will get it back soon but for now I am beat.

Finally

I am finally finished. I am proud of myself. Now that I finished those I am not satisfied. I want to make a Chanel sweater. I got a palm pilot and I am loving keeping all my information in there. I am new to it but I am getting use to it. I will love having my patterns right at hand. Need to figure out how to print but one step at a time.

I Am Almost Finished

I have begun to stitch around or sew down my stars. My stars are a bit haphazard and I would like to take the placket off the back shoulder and put it on the front shoulder. I think I know how to do button holes so I will do that but now since my money is funny I got to find some buttons. I had wanted to buy some from AC Moore something jazzy but that isn’t going to happen. I am using cream crochet thread to go around the stars. It looks country or rustic I like it. Yes, I am tooting my own horn J!I keep thinking about waste canvas. Maybe I should make Lela something. The stitches were so small though.

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Still No Sleeves

I still do not have any sleeves nor stars. I have no ideas what I am waiting for? I really do not want to scramble around in two weeks trying to get this stuff ready. You know I am not liking the collars on these sweaters I am thinking that I need to make them longer. The ducks are partially finished. I made six duck washcloths and I put them up somewhere and I have no idea where I put them!Those were for the shower as well. The ducks do not really go with the shower gift they are for someone else. I made a red pink and white hat that the red duck will go well with I wonder if I have enough time to make her a sweater? I have enough red. Not sure about the pink and the white. we will see.

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Progress

I have one sweater made I told you that. But I did not tell you that I have made my very first flag sweater! I have yet to put the sleeves on then I have to put the stars on and then the buttons. But I have it. This may seem crazy but I think I want a flag poncho. I have this Cape Cod blue yarn that is just the best. I am going to make the triangle blanket found in Vougue on the go baby knits two book. I look at the patterns in the book and see which one I can do on the machine. I did the dcuk blanket that way. Actually I bought the book for the duck blanket. I could not get that blanket off my mind. I hated buying the book because I am not that grand of a hand knitter. Just yesterday I figured out how to do the cast on where you you go under your thumb them under your finger and back throught your thumb. I got som more knitting needles. My point is that Now that I spent 13 on a book I can't really use I better find a way other than a coaster. Now this maybe illegal but i don't really post the patterns I was told to say how I did it. I don't post the graph which was all I really needed. I was thinking about making a book called how I did it with My knitting machine (that doesn't really sound right) Something more like how I created it with my knitting machine. So Coleen's son will have a mix of crocheted and knitted items. I use Gina Ahren's pattern alot as my base and i go from there. I need to get on the ball and create sweaters for my daughter brfore she decides she does not want handmade sweaters. I got the best plan for a twin set. May I should try one of those tonight since she is at her granny's. I am trying to stay at home so that I wont spend any moeny but the money is burning hole in my pocket.

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