Friday, April 01, 2011

Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks

Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting TricksKnitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While there are some patterns in this book...and patterns I have already used, the book is more about the social aspects of knitting. The book is hilarious. Anyone who has knitted any length of time knows of or has been in the situations Stephanie talks about in such an amusing way. I think even a non knitter might even enjoy her writing.

The book also serves a practical purpose. There are instructions for various stitches and projects as well as list of things to do or not do. All are informative and enjoyable.



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Monday, February 28, 2011

How am I doing?

I have been knitting like crazy! I finished David's scarf in 2 days because they were leaving for New York and it was snowy there. I don’t think I have ever knitted anything that fast…even on Christmas Eve. Since we are in Florida, I thought I had a long time before he’d get into any cold weather.

I finally finished the bulky loopy yarn prayer shawls and the tam and scarf set. I did NOT like that yarn. It was a mill end and it kept getting tangled and the tiny individual threads snagged. Once knit, it looks pretty good, but it is not easy to work with. If I can find my camera, I will post pictures. I used it to take the picture of David’s scarf and since it was about 2:30 am when I took it, I can’t remember where I put the camera. I was more than a little sleepy by then.

I'm doing very well on my hats with several on the needles right now. Some are mindless and quick to take to my meetings and others have to be done when I am alone. The chemo hats are great to take along, so I am trying to keep one on the needles all the time. The only problem is that I want to knit everything with my size 6 Lantern Moon circular needles. I love them, but they are so expensive and I hate to get another pair of the same size.

I am also knitting squares for a charity blanket our group is giving away to the St. Gerard’s Campus in St. Augustine and blankets for another charity one of our group members is involved with. I’ll probably knit the squares all year long since they are so easy to carry and work up so fast. Then there is the sampler scarf and hat I am designing to teach my two friends how to knit. That will become either a gift or a charity project. I’m making it with Red Heart Fiesta and I really like it. I have a lot of inexpensive yarn left over from years of knitting kids sweaters, so I am trying to use it up.

That’s another thing I am doing pretty well with…using my stash. I have tons of yarn and now that my house is so much smaller, I have to do something to save space. I am trying to use the largest yarn first so I can reduce my stash quickest. Unfortunately, my cousin sent me some instructions for knitting Mary Hoyer doll clothes to sell on ebay, but they use very fine yarn. I love knitting things like that, but it isn’t helping make much space. About the only yarn I buy is what I need to go with something I already have and I am trying to keep that at a minimum.

So, how am I doing so far? I’d say pretty good. If I can keep this up all year, there should be a lot more space around here and a lot of warm bodies

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

2012 UFOs and projects

Here's my list for 2011. I am not sure I can get it all done, but at least I have listed a group from which to select.

UFOs:
Blue baby afghan - Leisure Arts #3049, Our Best Knit Collection
Ann Norling Vest
Cranberry sweater
Green Doll outfit
Blue Doll coat
Crimson Cutie - 3
Green Fair Isle - I frogged this so it is technically not a UFO
Pastel Toddler Sweater
Eli's Aran
Alina's Aran - frog
Border Options Sweater
Red Ruffles Sweater


Projects:
Purple Boa - Addie - finished
Hat for Julie - finished
Boa for Trish - finished

David's Scarf - The Dudester Scarf - finished
Hats for T.E. and Evan
Fair Isle felted bowl
Prayer Shawls (2) - finished
Fair Isle for Addie, Victoria and Eli
Felted tote bag
Triple Moebius bowl
Moebius bowls
8 Stash Baskets - 1 finished
Crochet laundry basket - almost finished
Grand Plan Top-Down Capelets - Jan (not sure about this)
Star Wars hat and sweater for Charles
Aran Cardigan for me
Hooded Pullover - Leisure Arts #3049, Our Best Knit Collection
Qiviut cowl
6 headbands
Grey scarf
Grey hat

DNA hat and scarf - Lee
5 Aran hats
8 Fair Isle hats
6 Fun fur hats
30 Earflap hats
12 Cancer hats
Felted purses - moebius - Christmas gifts
iPod cozies
12 coffee cozies - 7 finished
6 felted bowls - 1 finished
3 Tea cozies - 1 for Jan
Scrap yarn shawl
Scarf and tam - finished
6 Charity afghans
Doll Clothes - 12 outfits

Sunday, January 09, 2011

I did it!

I set a goal of knitting 23 hats and finishing 23 UFOs for Christmas and I made it! I'll be grinning for a week over this! Of course, I have added more hats now. I had my granddaughter try on a hat for my grandniece and it looked so cute on her and she loved it, so she now has that one and I am making another for my other granddaughter and I still have the one for my grandniece to do. I should get them done by Tuesday. I am going to post a photo on Ravelry on as soon as I can download them. The hat looks like a Russian hat with some Plymouth Jelli Beenz yarn at the top and Flutter Fiber eyelash yarn for the main part of the hat. I did these in purple, but I am going to try some other colors. They are so cute!

I also knit another earflap hat and have a request for another. I might have to be a lot more careful in choosing the people I get to try on these hats...so many of them end up with my sample! Not really:) It's nice to know that they love the hats and want them for themselves. That's music to a knitter's ear. This Christmas I ended up making 3 more earflap hats and 3 more Russian hats along with another scarf as requests.

Now I am going to have to make up some more goals, but I think I am going to just let these counters stay for a while to remind me of how good it feels to achieve my goal:)