A Large Blanket

Petr is huge. Or it will be huge. I measured the width the other day, just to see how far I had to go, and it is 41" across. That's over three feet.

At last measure, I had 25" in length, so I've got a ways to go. I'm getting 5 rows per inch, so if I do 5 rows a day, it will be done in a little more than two weeks. Here's hoping! I've got 4 rows so far today.

Tomorrow is the Little Guy's Birthday. He'll be three. He sure has changed from the days he got to be wrapped up like a burrito.

Something Old, Something Blue

Wednesday I decided I was going to start knitting something. Something for me! Something using some of the lovely yarn I have. I've had my eye on the Asymmetrical Cabled Cardi for some time. The pattern calls for Malabrigo Worsted, which I happen to have. Time to get started.

The pattern also calls for size 9 needles. Knowing that I always have to go down a needle size, I headed to the knitting closet to find my size 8 needles. This is when I realized I really need to organize. Could not find size 8 anywhere. I'm pretty sure I have multiple size 8 needles, even multiple size 8 circular needles, but where they got themselves off to, I have no idea.

Then I realized that perhaps I was using some size 8s for the Petroleum Blanket. I called it this because it is made of acrylic yarn...a lovely blue Bernat Softee Baby. This particular blanket has been wrapped up inside a plastic bag since March 2008. It didn't even get the dignity of a plastic Target bag. Nope...just a generic plastic bag that says, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" all over it. It's really quite sad.

I pulled Petr (new attitude towards blanket, new name) out of the bag and sure enough, there were a set of size 8 needles. The very first size 8 circular needles I ever bought. Cheapy size 8s bought at some big box craft store...the needles have some kind of paint or something over them that has begun to wear away. They make a horrible scratchy sound when they touch. I don't like these needles.

It was about this point I realized that maybe I didn't want to knit the Assymetrical Cabled Cardi. I think the powers that be are sending me a message, "Don't Knit This!" This winter, when I first thought I might want to knit this, I went to the Yarnery to get some Malabrigo. None of the colors jumped out at me, so I bought knitting books instead. Now, I have the yarn, but did I really want to pull another half-complete project off of the needles? Needles that I don't like and would rather get rid of? Not really. And, how much do I really like this pattern? Not too terribly much.

So...I made a snap decision to finish Petr. Yeah, it's kind of a boring pattern and it's knit out of acrylic and it seems that I will never finish. But, I think when it is done, it will be lovely. So there you have it. I'll spend a good portion of the summer with a large pile of acrylic in my lap.

I got to it right away. Attached my iPod to the mini-speakers I got this weekend, started up a Cast On podcast, and began knitting. Wish me luck! I think I'll need it.

The Last of the Marley Hats

At least for now.

If you are tired of looking at Marley Hats knit in green, blue, and yellow, imagine how I feel about knitting them. Not really...it's a great hat to knit. I'm sure I'll make more in the future. I still have LOTS of the Tahki Cotton Classic sitting around...perfect amounts to do one or two rows of a hat. I do have another plan for them though that I will get to in a moment.

Why do I love the Marley hat so much? Like all baby hats, it is easy and quick. I don't completely follow the pattern, but it is fun to play with different textures in the same hat. The style of the hat is perfect for a boy or girl. Switch the colors up a little and you get a whole new look.

And the Marley Topper...this is what makes the Marley Hat. The topper is so fun and cute. I have to admit though, it is a pain to make. I have watched the tutorial video, and she makes it look so easy. Every time I make one, I struggle with getting it on the hat. Even with that, it's still pretty easy.

I've done all my Marley Hats with the Tahki Cotton Classic, a wonderful mercerized cotton available in a mind-boggling array of colors. This yarn has a lovely sheen, is not splitty like some yarns can be, and produces a nice stretchy hat. Very nice stitch definition as well. I can't speak to how it might look in other projects, but for a small hat it works wonderfully.

Just to give you an idea of how much yarn I used, I had one skein each of blue, yellow, and green and I made three hats in the 0-6 month size.

This same yarn is also used to make the flowers for the Rosebud hat. David and I have friends who recently had a baby girl (well, it's been a few months now), so my plan is make this hat, using the bits and pieces of this yarn I have to make the flowers.

I just saw on Susan B. Anderson's website that amp;sr=1-1">Itty Bitty Toys is on the way! I can't wait!

And in completely unrelated news, what is this?

Last weekend, I went with Gigi and her hubby to the furniture store and played with the Little Guy while they picked out a big boy bed for him. This toy was there. Looks like George Custer on a motorcyle...which seems really strange to me. Am I missing something?

The End Result...

...is a really ugly scarf. I'll get to that in a minute.

I had two more days of my fiber and fabric structure class on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday we spent most of the day talking about man-made fibers. We talked about fibers that are made from reconstituted cellulose (an example is rayon) and synthetic fibers (such as the much maligned acrylic). I don't have my notes with me, so I won't try to go into any details.

Our instructor encouraged us to arrange our fiber samples in an aesthetically pleasing manner. As you can see, I ignored that advice.

We then moved on to talk about fabric structures - different weaves and knits and such - and different treatments for fibers. I found this all fascinating. I think others in the class were anxious to get to the hands on aspect of the class, but I was content to soak up all this information. I really wasn't in any hurry to be creative. You'll see why in a minute.

For our class project, we each got a velvet scarf that we treated with some gunk (a combination of a thickener and some kind of stuff you use in swimming pools) to burnout the protein part of the scarf and leave behind the non-protein. In this case, silk and rayon. We applied the gunk with paintbrushes, squirt bottles, whatever was on hand.

This is where things got iffy for me, as anything that slightly resembles drawing or painting shuts down my creative synapses. So, while I was doing a lame combination of squares and squiggles...

Holly was drawing these lovely Koi.

We left the scarves overnight for the gunk to dry.

Wednesday we dyed our creations. I forgot my camera, so I can only show you the finished product. We used Kool-Aid.

You can see that something in the pot also left blue marks on my scarf...

Oh yeah, I also burned a hole in the scarf while ironing it.

So, it pretty much turned out to be quite ugly. I think I may donate this to the dress up closet at my dad and step-mom's house. I took a silk scarf with me that I plan to play around with. Maybe that will turn out a little bit better.

I am the Crazy Sweater Lady

This morning, I brought my dad's sweater to class for show and tell. This is the lovely wool, cabled sweater I gave him about a year and a half ago. It really turned out nice.

When I got on the bus this morning, I sat in front of a young woman knitting! Having already had some coffee, I was feeling friendly and asked her what she was working on. She was knitting a sleeve for a cardigan, in the round.

So, then I asked her if I could show her something and proceeded to pull this big wool sweater out of my bag. I'm sure she thought I was nuts. She was very nice about it though and said it was beautiful. We chatted very briefly and then I went back to listening to my podcast and she knit.

Maybe it isn't so crazy. We are both knitters after all...we should share more!

I forgot my camera today so I cannot yet show you pics from class yesterday. I'll wait to blog about it until I have my camera.

"Let's Talk About Wool"

Has a knitter ever heard such lovely words? Yesterday was the first full day of my fiber workshop, and I learned a lot about wool, cotton, silk, linen, and more. Yesterday was more of a lecture day, so I do not have many pictures to share, but today we will get more hands on.

A few highlights of the day:
The instructor had a softball size bunch of Qiviut. Holly and I migrated toward this immediately.

We learned about why linen is so much cooler than cotton, and held swatches of each up to our faces. The linen did feel cooler! Something about teh cellulose structure of cotton having more holes so it traps more air closer to your body. Cotton has to be this way so the cotton can be light and fluffy and float away to spread the seeds around.

Ever heard of heirloom tomatoes? Apparently, there is heirloom cotton as well. She had some samples of this.

We know that wool has crimps, but the more crimps, the finer the wool will be. Merino is very crimpy.

Superwash wool has been sent through a process that strips the scales off the wool. This means the scales cannot catch against one another and cause shrinking.

"Silk is pretty universally considered yummy."

Silk is so shiny due to the trianular shape of the fiber. There is always a flat surface for the light to hit and bounce back.

The only picture I took yesterday was of my wool swatches. We also got a bunch of silk swatches, but I forgot to take a picture of those. Not surprisingly, we did not get a qiviut swatch.

Our homework last night was to do some burn tests of some mystery swatches. A little scary, but fun. I think both samples I took were cotton, although one was mercerized.

More tomorrow!

My Favorite Kind of Morning

David and I are having a lazy Sunday, something we haven't been able to enjoy for the last few weeks. We wandered over to the Egg and I for breakfast, and as we stepped outside I thought, "Brrr....it's a little chilly," a thought that has not crossed my mind in quite awhile.

I had the Kamikaze Yogurt...the tang of plain yogurt nicely complemented by blueberries, bananas, and walnuts. I felt it balanced the carbs and sugar in the caramel roll quite well.

We've been lazing around with the paper ever since. Windows open, breeze coming in, I actually curled up in a blanket earlier! I just came back up from getting coffee downstairs, and as I walked in, the apartment has that fresh air smell, a surprise since judging by the dust bunny I just found, it's been a while since David has cleaned. Which is FINE because he has a broken arm!

Needless to say, I feel in my element. Cool breeze, coffee, paper, and fibery goodness on deck for this afternoon.

I begin my Split Rock Arts Program workshop today. I am taking Fiber and Fabric Structures: An Intensive. I'll be sure to post each day about what we have learned and what I am making. I've been looking through my stash to see what fibers I could take to play around with...the corn yarn is a must, the bamboo as well. I also have some undyed wool I will take as well...we'll be playing around with more than just Kool-Aid.