happy valentines.

Posted on February 15, 2014 by cpeezers

I knitted some hearts for Valentines Day. It had been such a busy week and I decided that on Thursday night I was just going to sit down for a little knitting time. I stopped by my LYS and picked up some red yarn – Peace Fleece in Ukrainian Red. It was a great red! I found this free pattern from one of my old favorites – Mochimochiland.

I tried to get a good picture of Davey holding a heart, but the light was not cooperating with me. Neither was Davey really for that matter, but that was ok. I liked this picture.

Davey had such a big day at school. They celebrated Valentines Day and it was also Clifford’s birthday!

He made us some beautiful Valentines gifts too. He made a heart with his handprints.

On the back was part of one of my most favorite ee cummings poems (he’s my favorite poet).

I love how he wrote his name. He insists on an upper case A.

Davey enjoyed showing David his Valentine treats.

Today it’s snowing. It’s really pretty and I wish I was capable of getting a good picture of it falling. Instead I got a picture of Buster letting me know that he wanted to play.

Silly dog.

Happy Saturday!

More Headbands. I’ve gotten reflective!

Posted on January 21, 2014 by cpeezers

I’ve knitted another couple of headbands. There are many reasons to knit these.

A. They fit great. The garter stitch is stretchy and adapts awesomely to any head shape (that may be a bit of an overstatement, but it’s a versatile fit for sure).

B. They knit up so fast and are fun to make. (The pattern is called It’s a Cinch!)

C. This is related to B. I finish a project and get to feel happy about actually having finished something.

So then I read somewhere (probably on pinterest) about Red Heart’s bulky weight reflective yarn.

I had to immediately order some and try it out. Because it is bulky weight, I just cast on 17 stitches instead of the 20 listed in the instructions. Then on the first one I made, I joined the ends with a piece of that reflective yarn. That didn’t work so well. Too bulky and that reflective strand running through the yarn made it hard to gather. So on the second headband, I used just a scrap piece of worsted. That worked a lot better.

Here are the two I knitted with the bulky reflective yarn.

Now to demonstrate the reflective quality of the yarn. Regular picture:

Next, I had David take a picture of me on the dark basement stairs:

Isn’t that cool!?! I am fascinated by the reflective quality! Not only is this head band comfortable and warm, but it has an added visibility/safety factor!

Busy Times and an alien

Posted on January 17, 2014 by cpeezers

We are getting back into the swing of things after Christmas break. We had a great trip to California where we spent time with my entire family. But now, we are all back at school and work. The days just fly by.

When we got home from our trip, we didn’t have much time before school started again. One of the things we had to do was to create an alien for Davey’s class.

This was so much fun. We had a great time planning it. Davey art directed all the way through and helped me build him.

I decided to put my knitting skills to work. I used the Rebecca Danger Monster Chunk pattern to make the body. (I used a bulky cotton that I had.) We used ping pong balls for the feet. The pipe cleaners worked great for legs and antenna. Then I glued together several buttons and painted them for his ears (I guess those are ears?!). Davey helped me design his felt face.

We had a great time with him.

I’ve not been knitting much the past few days. I have a “chicken coat” started which was requested from a friend. I’m hoping for a picture of the chicken modeling the coat, so I need to get it finished! I made some progress on “Hulda Holly” on our drive to and from California. I have hopes of finishing it this year in time to enter it in the fair! That’s my goal which I hope will drive me to finish.

Happy Weekend!

Headbands? Head Wraps? Also known as Earwarmers!

Posted on January 3, 2014 by cpeezers

December 31, 2017: I am adding a pdf at the bottom of this post and some basic instructions for knitting the band that I used for the center. Nice people often email me to ask for the pattern and I email it to them. Originally, I hadn’t included it here because I didn’t want to take credit, so again it’s not my pattern – just a great one that I found on ravelry!

I made a few gifts for Christmas this year. I didn’t have a whole heck of a lot of time to knit so I wanted to find a good pattern that I also thought would knit up fairly quickly. I thought a headband might be a practical but fun gift, so I went looking for patterns. I found such a simple but fun to make pattern. It’s called the “It’s a Cinch Head Wrap”.

I used a Knit Picks Swish DK weight to make these. It’s a nice reasonably priced superwash wool, and I enjoy knitting with it.

You simply knit a garter stitch rectangle. Then you whip stitch the ends loosely. Next, you just gather it by pulling on the yarn ends.

In the pattern, the designer finished the headband by wrapping yarn around the gathered portion. I didn’t like this much, or rather, I was not able to make it look very nice so I looked at the other ravelry projects and found another person who had finished it in a different way. She knit a stockinette stitch strip, wrapped it around the gathered portion and sewed it securely in place. I love how this looks.

So I took some pictures of my headbands as shown above and again below:

Cute yes? But so much cuter modeled by my nieces and sister-in-law.

Her sister looked really cute in hers as well, but I failed miserably in my photos and ended up with two very blurry substandard pictures.

I love it on my sister in law.

And its versatility is demonstrated by how cute the same headband looks on my niece:

I think they are so cute on my beautiful models.

I plan to make more of these! I saw where Redheart has a reflective yarn. I’m going to try that out next I think.

Here is the PDF for the pattern: itsacinch

Also here is a basic guide to how I make the center strip: I estimate when I make the center trip. Typically, I make a stockinette strip about 9-10 stitches wide. I had to just knit it to a length that I felt would fit around the wrap the way I wanted it to, so I just kept folding it around the band until I thought it was the length it needed to be. Then I bound off, put it around the band, and sewed it together as tight as I thought I needed to make the band look the way I wanted to. It’s really pretty nice as there is no exact way it has to be done.

On the First Day of Christmas…

Posted on December 23, 2013 by cpeezers

On the first day of Christmas

my true love gave to me

a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the second day of Christmas

my True love gave to me

Two turtle doves…

I bought a great book last summer. It has patterns for all of the animals and people from the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”.

Here’s a link to the book: The Twelve Knits of Christmas.

Davey thinks I should knit 2 turtle doves, 3 french hens, 4 calling birds, etc. all the way up to 12. I don’t see that happening. This year I managed to finish the partridge and the turtle dove. At this rate, I will have one apiece done in 6 years. I was realistic this year and realized that I was not going to get them all done, but I am hopeful that I will finish at least a few throughout 2014.

This is a fun pattern book. The pieces are knit flat and then seamed together. I am never sure if I like this better than knitting small stuffed things in the round or not. I do not like fiddling with 10 or fewer stitches arranged on 3 dpns. It’s tricky. I actually don’t mind the seaming at all, but it’s always tricky to seam up and stuff so that they look nice. The knitting is by far the easiest part (for me anyway).

So far the patterns are fun and not too difficult at all. However, I’ve only done two basic bird shapes. I have not yet attempted any of the knitted human figures. Hopefully I will tackle those next year! My dream goal would be to have them all done by next Christmas.

We shall see.

Knitting knitting – Utilitarian Style

Posted on December 5, 2013 by cpeezers

I guess I have said this already, and I may be guilty of saying it many more times, but it is cold in these parts!

It’s kinda fun though because I have tons of use for my knitted things. I’ve been wearing my handknit socks almost every day. The requests for additional knitted things are pouring in from David.

I just finished knitting him a gaiter. It is just a 1×1 rib tube that is a little longer than his neck. He calls it his gorget. I call it a portable turtleneck. I am going to make one for me too. It is so warm.

So I’ve been knitting useful things. He wants a pair of gloves too. I need to give another pair a go anyway. I want to make a pair of gloves that look really finished and nice when I am done. I’ve got a way that I am going to improve where the fingers attach to the hand. Now I am noticing that my new pair has several homely little ends peeking out. I’ve got to do a better job of weaving in ends. I don’t typically have problems with ends, but maybe it’s because gloves fit snugly and are smooth so I don’t know if the friction gets the ends moving? It’s something else that I need to work on.

Here’s David in his knitted gear. I made the hat a few years ago. It has alpaca in it, so it’s become all kinds of floppy. He likes it though because he can wear it to school and then not have the hat head look when he takes it off. He has the Sweater on, and if he doesn’t start wearing it to school, I am! Finally, he has his new “gorget” on. I can’t recommend that simple gorget enough! It’s not the most exciting knit in the world however. I am going to change it up maybe when I make one for me. Although that 1×1 rib is snug and comfy.

How to Knit a Glove

Posted on November 30, 2013 by cpeezers

I probably should have titled this post how “not” to knit a glove. I knit my first pair of gloves about 4 years ago. I hadn’t been knitting very long then, but I gave it a try. I made a lot of mistakes one being that I used a really soft camel blend yarn which served to emphasize every single blemish (and there were lots).

This time I used Cascade 220 – that nice superwash wool. I used the same pattern as I had used for my first pair of gloves. It did go a lot better than my first pair, but you know what’s tough? Where the darn fingers attach to the hand. My photographer captured my frustration well didn’t he?!?

The gloves don’t look too bad though do they? They really turned out pretty good. But – I have a new plan of action for my next pair. A friend advised me to pick up lots more stitches then the pattern calls for when picking up the stitches for each finger. I know I should know this! I just didn’t do it. Next pair I will for sure. Then you just decrease them out over the next round or two. This should prevent those large gaping holes which are so hard for me to sew up neatly when I am done.

I also used some conductive thread in the index fingers and thumbs. This is so I can use my phone with my gloves on. The conductive thread does not blend too subtly though.

While not subtle, it works really well. I can definitely use my phone although the extra bulk makes it a little difficult to type (I have enough troubles with this with my bare fingers). Next time I think I am going to try a fingering weight yarn (this yarn is a light worsted). I also found some conductive thread at my awesome LYS, and it looks a little more delicate. I may try it instead. (this thread worked well, but it’s very “wiry” – I ordered it from Knit Picks.)

The best part of the gloves was that my photographer agreed to take pictures of me. Here he is:

He loves it when I let him wield my “good” camera. He’s been taking pictures with it since he was about 3 and he could barely hold it up. He is rapidly gaining expertise!

As one final idea for better gloves, I think I should use a self-striping yarn next time. The stripes would distract from any small imperfections that might occur. These solid colors leave little to the imagination.

Gloves really knit up quickly. The fingers are tricky and a little fiddly, but gloves make me feel like a real knitter despite the imperfections.

Thanks photographer Davey!

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

Posted on November 28, 2013 by cpeezers

We’ve had a nice day. It was the three of us here for Thanksgiving dinner. I attempted to make a real turkey. I did ok. The turkey was kinda dry. In past years, I’ve been getting a turkey from Honey Baked Ham. This year, I didn’t want to drive over the mountains to Bellevue to get it, but I think next year I will. Still – I’d be happy with just all the great sides that go with the turkey. I made a cranberry sauce that I really like that comes from the Pioneer Woman. I made her sweet potatoes too (they are like dessert with dinner!).

Davey even tried just a little of everything. That was a first. He helped me make the rolls. This consisted of arranging two rolls in each muffin space (spot? hole?) in the muffin pan. He did a great job and was very proud of his handiwork. They were frozen when he was arranging them, so he had to find pairs of rolls that would fit. He said it was like math. He loves math.

We watched the Macy’s Day Parade and the Westminster Dog Show too.

Davey made me a really sweet card. I love how he “draws” out “I love you”.

David and I tried to take some pictures with Davey, but he’s not big on sitting still for a picture these days. This is what it is like basically:

It’s a little bit impossible, but we kept at it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Emma’s Big Ole Mittens

Posted on November 16, 2013 by cpeezers

It’s gotten cold in these parts, and I need a pair of mittens. I probably should have knocked out some utilitarian snug plain old mittens, but no, I thought I needed to do something a little fancier.

I chose a pattern from ravelry called “Emma’s Mittens”. I had some worsted weight yarn from Tahki Stacy Charles called Sedona. It’s a wool/silk blend. Really nice to knit with.

So I finished a mitten. It was lots of fun. Cables and bobbles both! Here’s the top. It could use some blocking so that the bobbles pop up better.

The palm of the mitten was fun too. It was a seed stitch pattern. The thumb was an afterthought thumb – also seed stitch.

There’s a problem though. This mitten is enormous – and the reason I haven’t blocked. I don’t need it huger! My hand flops all around inside it. David tried it on and it’s kinda big on him too. (He referred to this as more of a “gauntlet”.) It’s very disappointing. It’s my own darn fault of course. I should have either done a swatch (it would never have crossed my mind to swatch a mitten – although it probably should have).

It occurred me that I could see if it would felt up a little but I’m afraid that would mess up the cables and bobbles. The silk in the yarn probably won’t lend to good felting either.

Ugh. I haven’t frogged it yet, but I am not knitting the second one either.

Lesson learned. Pay attention. Swatch. Or take into account that I am a loose knitter and adjust accordingly. Also my yarn selection was probably not ideal either.

I may go more utilitarian on my next attempt. Although I am thinking about doing some gloves and putting in some of that conductive yarn at pointer and thumb finger tips.

It’s getting cold!

Posted on November 6, 2013 by cpeezers

gosh it’s getting cold here. We had some cold weather in Colorado, but we’d usually have cold and then it would warm up to 50 or 60 degrees for a few days. Here it is just progressively getting colder and colder. It’s not terrible yet – 40s – but it’s cold in the morning!

I had knitted myself some great bulky fingerless gloves.

These mitts are great. I love that they are bulky, and it’s a great pattern. I highly recommend it. However, they are not keeping my fingertips warm. I am closer to the Arctic circle now; I require mittens.

So tonight I started some, and I am getting ready to get right back to them! All other knitting projects have been shoved aside in order to get these done!

I know. I have a ways to go. Better get crackin’!

Cpeezers

Family, School and Yarn

Category Archives: Knitting