another attempt

OK. Here is another attempt to link to a previous post. I think it works! My day is complete...I have learned something new!

April Angst Away

This is how much yarn was left from my April Angst UFO. (Okay, the link does not work. I'm still figuring out how to link to a previous post in my own blog...see entry on April 23rd.) I was getting a little antsy and wondering if there was enough for the final repeat, the border, and the bind off.

There was, and I did finish this UFO within the "scheduled" month! I'm still not overly fond of it, but it is done.


Specs:
1 skein Euroflax sport weight linen- 100 grams
color "neptune"
size 5 needles
Moss Grid Towel pattern from MDK

I do not know why I was so down on this particular project.

1. It is not gift-worthy.
2. Blue is not my favorite color, although I do have some blue in my kitchen, where the towel will live and be useful.
3. The pattern was relatively easy to memorize, but I think patterns of just knits and purls are relatively boring. I am not a mathematician, but I'm reminded of the binary system. Lots can be done with it, mathematically and artistically, but it is just 0 and 1. Just knit and purl. I prefer to have some ssk's and k2togs thrown in for a little variety...
4. I may be about to enter a knitting slump...

Tomorrow is a new month, and I am excited about May's UFO. The picture is really cool!

I saw a rainbow

Driving back from lunch yesterday, I saw a rainbow. There were a few clouds floating around, but the sky was mostly clear and sunny. Actually, it was only part of a rainbow's arc- it looked like a horizontal prism in the sky. I wish I had stopped to take a photo! It was a bizarre but beautiful sight. I know there must have been droplets of water somewhere up there, but I did not bother to try to figure out the details of how it came to be. It just was, and I enjoyed it! It definitely reminded me of an almost finished project...

I did it myself!

What a wonderful way to spend a gorgeous Saturday morning:



in the mountains
outside
at a yarn shop
with friends
playing with colors
learning a new technique

After donning aprons and gloves, we placed our wool on plastic wrap and chose our colors. I wish I could have been inside everyone's brain to see how they envisioned their yarn. Here is a photo of 2 skeins in progress- one still in the painting stage, and one being wrapped for the final setting of the colors.

Personally, my vision and my finished product could not have been further apart. I did not even take any "in progress photos" of my attempts. There was supposed to be a whole lot more yellow, but the blue and the green wicked through it. Once I took it home, unwrapped it, rinsed it out, and hung it to dry, I was pleased. I know it will not knit up the way I had hoped, but I could be in for another pleasant surprise.!

Waterfalls

In the 4 or 5 years that I have been knitting prayer shawls, I've found myself under the spell of 40% off coupons and/or sales of Homespun at Michael's and Hobby Lobby. Even though I grow weary of the pattern and do not like the way the yarn frays on the ends, I continue to be an "in the box" knitter and stick with the original pattern and yarn suggestion for the prayer shawls. Of course, I have used other yarns and other patterns (very creatively, I may add...I'm working on an unusual one now.) I always seem to come back to the K3P3 Homespun. The "March Prayers" shawl I finished recently (Homespun "Olive," 63 stitches, size 13 circs, fringed) was in process for over 6 months. Granted, most of the knitting was done in the office, but when our Knitting Guild was given the challenge of finishing 40 shawls by the end of the year, I realized I had to get one finished and another started. My Homespun stash has enough for 5 shawls. I reached in, pulled out a skein of yarn, and as soon as I had cast on the stitches, I was mesmerized by the color. I was enthralled. I could bury my eyes in it forever. When I looked at the name of the color, I realized why: "Waterfall."

I have this thing for waterfalls. When I was considering names for a blog (see first blog entry- I haven't figured out how to do a link to my own stuff), one of the final contenders was "Moonlight and Waterfalls" (even though that doesn't have anything to do with knitting, it has much to do with me.) Moonlight fascinates me, the way it can light up the evening just by reflecting the sunlight. I know the moon phases in and out, but so do I. I remember being with Daddy on the beach, dancing in the moonbeams and wondering about where the moonpath on the ocean would lead. Waterfalls are all about joy and journeys. Again, Daddy was my mountains and waterfalls inspiration. (I love you too, Mom!) Waterfalls took on a new meaning after I read "Hinds' Feet on High Places" by Hannah Hurnard. It's an allegory of Christian journey. I need to read it again, but what I remember most is Much-Afraid realizing the joy of self-giving as each droplet plunged with joyful abandon into the unknown, yet knowing that the Shepherd was with and in each drop along its journey, through all the obstacles and still waters.

Enough theological reflection. It's time to knit!

April Angst

I am not overly fond of the color.

I am not overly fond of the pattern.

I am not overly fond of the yarn itself.

I am going to finish this moss grid hand towel from MDK in April.

I am going to be fond of the finished project...I might even like it!

March Prayers

Our local Knitting Guild meets monthly in the fellowship hall of a church. For the past several years, we have knit Prayer Shawls for their pastoral care ministry. The goal this year to to have presented them with 40 shawls by the end of December. For about 6 months, I have been working a a shawl at the office. It is amazing how, when the stacks of paper get too high, I can open my knitting bag and find peace. The peace is not just for me...it goes right into each stitch of the shawl. The phone may ring and the emails pile up, but just knitting a row or two (or three of four) gets my mind clear as to what is really important. I decided that I needed to finish this shawl for my March project. There is still way too much Homespun in my stash! I am working on another one at homethat is supposed to use up all my fun fur stash, but I'll save that never-ending story for another day!



And so, the shawl.

February Feet, part trois

And finally, a patterned sock!

Having found my way through using the various "tools" of knitting (ie 1 circular, 2 circulars, and dpns) I decided to incorporate a real pattern into my socks. The supposed "2 on 1" socks from Friday's blog did involve a pattern, but it was basically just fancy ribbing. This time, I went for a lacier pattern.

The specs: 2 balls Fortissima Colori Socka Disco

set of size 3 dpns

pattern: Peaks n Valleys (from Knit Socks By Betsy McCarthy)

This was a very easy pattern to memorize. Socks are such a good take-along project that I did not want to be dealing with having to take-along the pattern, too. From this project, I learned that multi-colored yarns and patterns can sometimes compete with each other. These socks would have looked just as happy knit in the stockinette stitch. Next time I use a pattern, it will be with a solid color so I can see the details better! I do love the socks (I'm still working on figuring out how to take better pictures so the colors are more true.) I wish I had taken a close-up of the pattern in the finished sock. You can see it started in the first picture.

When I finished these socks (the end of March) I thought I was going to have to put them away until next fall. I had already painted my toenails in anticipation of sandal weather- we had several days the first week in April of 80 degree weather. But April fooled us all and is living up to its name as the "cruelest month." I, for one, am just as happy still to be wearing my socks and sweaters!

I now have a week's worth of winter socks. I do have a bit more sock yarn in my stash, but most are dark colors. Maybe I should check out my LYS for some summer weight/color sock yarns...cold feet can happen in July, too!

February Feet, part deux

Golly, I still have quite a bit to lean about editing, spacing, photography, and remembering to spell check! I have no idea why there was so much emptiness at the bottom of yesterday's post...

Anyway, here is UFO sock #2. Apparently, I did not honor it by taking a solo picture as a UFO. It is the sock on the top.

The specs:

2 balls Moda Dea Sassy Stripes "Crayon"

2 Addi's- size 3

generic sock pattern

I took a class in this technique on the back porch of a friend's mountain house last summer. I probably spent too much time gazing off into the amazing view. I would put a picture of the view here, but I am still a privacy freak and don't want to give anything away. Also, I do not have her permission! (I think she would say yes, as long as I don't show any faces...just mountains.)

I enjoyed learning this technique, and obviously put it to good use when I changed the "2-on-1" socks, detailed in yesterday's post, to "1-on-2." This style of knitting is safe and relatively easy. If I had been using 2 circulars instead of 5 dpn's while knitting on my son's deck Easter weekend, I would not have had to re-align my stitches on 4 dpn's when I dropped a needle perfectly between the boards. However, for some reason I just like the "feel" of all those itty bitty wooden needles in my hands. This photo of the finished socks was taken on the deck in my backyard- I do not allow dpns out there! I learn fast! I also learned that I prefer taking pictures outside...

Since I am not online at home, "February Feet, part trois" will have to wait until Monday.

Peace-

February Feet- an apology

I originally posted this entry on April 11th. It had some formatting errors in it, and in my naivete (ie ignorance) I thought I could edit it where it was and everything would be fine. Little did I know that it would disappear. I have no idea where it will reappear (original date or today) so this is just a learning experience. Oh well. Here it is again....

February feet are not always happy feet. Mine are always cold. How I would love to have had at least a week's worth of hand knit socks! I've been knitting socks for about 2 years now, but have used only the generic Lion Brand pattern. I've used various yarns and needle sizes, but always knit with a set of 5 dpns. Most of the socks were given to friends or to our church bazaar. Last summer, it was time to learn new techniques, and since I wasn't sure of the outcome, I planned to keep the finished products for myself! These 3 pair of socks were started and abandoned in 2006: (I know- it is a lousy picture. I was so anxious to get this blog going that I have not taken the time to find the best place/lighting/background for photo ops. I'll be working on that!





1 sock on 2 needles

2 socks on 1 needle

1 sock on 5dpns but with a patterned leg




And now, the story of the finishing of the 2-on-1.

I took a class at my LYS to learn how to knit 2 socks on one circular needle (using Socks! The Next Step by Carole Wulster.)

The specs:

2 hanks of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in "camouflage."
40" Addi Turbo size 3 (more on that later)
pattern: broken rib



I finally mastered the technique of sliding and had knit as far down as the heel, but was stuck on the heel shaping. Other projects called to me, so I put these socks ina bag and under the table. When I revisited these socks in February, I determined that I did not like knitting 2 on one and was going finish each sock individually on 5 dpns. The guage was off just a smidge (since I think Addis are just sized by mm's) and I wasn't going to let that bother me. But id did bother me, so I ended up finishing each sock on the one-sock-two-circulars method, which I also learned last summer and is the subject of the second UFO sock story tomorrow. Anyway, I used 2 addi's to finish the socks, but came to a halt with a decision to make for the toe:


Do I continue in the pattern down the toe (left foot)or just do stockinette (right foot?) I opted for the pattern to the toe. Of course, I had not considered this when I began the sock, and I had an even rather than an odd number of repeats. Anyway, I am happy with my decision. I had knit the one on the right first, but did not mind the frogging and tinking. I just wanted to get them finished!

Again, what follow is a relatively lousy photo, but it IS a finished pair of socks!










Tomorrow, another heart-wrenching story of UFO sock knitting.

January 2007- dishcloth frenzy

Yes, for awhile I was totally addicted. This first picture shows the stash of Sugar 'n Cream and Peaches 'n Cream that I was trying to deplete.

As anyone who has knit a ballband dishrag knows, it is impossible to knit just one. There is probably enough yarn left for another one, and maybe it can be combined with other colors. But golly wouldn't it look good if I just went out and just bought one more ball of yellow. I could use it to make THREE dishrags, one in combination with blue, one with green and one with white. That one looks like scrambled eggs. But there is still some blue left over, so maybe I'll get a variegated ball that could also be used with the purple. And on and on and on it goes. I was able to call a halt to the whole process before an intervention was necessary, and have relegated the remnants to my gift wrap box to use as ribbon. Phew.

I had made a number of these last year for Christmas gifts, and was wondering what I could do with all these. I recently found out that my LYS is coordinating a service project to provide dish/washcloths next Christmas to the 1800 or so recipients of Mobile Meals in our community. Something tells me there may be more dishcloth knitting in my future...Here are some of the finished products, arranged in quilt fashion.

I did use the edging suggested by someone on the Mason-Dixon KAL. It makes a nice, finished look. (CO 4 additional stitches at the beginning. Alwayys knit the first 2 stitches, work the pattern, then with yarn in front, slip the last 2 stitches.)

Tomorrow: February feet

Can I really do this?

Yes, I did use "spell check" but I did not use anything, including my brain, for proofreading for context. I am not a nimble typist, and my fifth grade teacher did not live in a church. But she would always HAVE conniption fits...

I do read many other knitting blogs, and I always imagined knitters sitting at their computers, with a cup of tea or coffee and a scone beside them and a cat or dog curled up in a sunspot near their feet. Words and sentences, with immaculate spelling and syntax, would flow through their fingers like the finest wool yarn. Hilarious tales of woe and joy, dropped stitches and yarns from heaven, would delight readers. They would actually have downloaded, edited, and uploaded amazing pictures of intricate lace and intarsia, taken with a normal digital camera but looking oh-so-professional and appearing in just the right place. (Actually, they probably didn't even have to edit the photos....)

I though I could be them. Time for a reality check!

With no internet access at home, the best I can do right now is sit at my desk at work, with a bottle of water, a ringing phone, and a parade of people. Type a sentence, answer the phone, reread and correct the sentence, go to a meeting for an hour, and then write the next sentence. Aw, it's not really that bad- I've written this whole paragraph without interruption! It has taken me ten minutes, though, because I have to think and rewrite and respell!! Anyway, now that I know that I can't always depend on spell check and that I am who I am and am not anybody else, I guess I will proceed with my blogging attempts...tomorrow.

In the meantime, here is another photo of my muses. I miss them.

2007: A Knitting Odyssey

And thus, the tail begins (usually with a slip knot.)

The Mission: To go boldly ( my 5th grade English teacher was adamant about the evils of split infinitives) into my stash and create FO's from UFO's.

Star Date: Later than I had intended.

A little history: (My fifth grade English teacher would nave a conniption fit with my use of dots, dashes, colons, parentheses, and quotation marks...) About a year ago, I decided I was ready to try two new things in my life: cats and blogging. It seemed a purrfect fit. I had already decided on a name for the blog, "Tink and Purl," and now all I needed was two adorable kittens whose names would be "Tinker" and "Purl." ("Tink/Tinker" is a double entendre: Tink/knit, of course, and a mountain near my alma mater in Roanoke, VA. I loved that mountain.) Anyway, two kittens from the same litter came to live with me, but I had to accept the fact that both were males. Thus, Purl, the yellow kitten, became Puff.

We really did try hard to live together happily, but an unexpected 3 week business trip out of the country, followed by an almost 2 week visit to my daughter, and too many other weekends away proved to be too much boarding tome and not enough bonding time. Sadly, but happily, they are back on the farm, probably chasing real mice instead of dumb ole balls of yarn. I miss them.

With all the trips and with piles of work at the office to occupy my time, I never got around to getting the blog out of my head and into cyberspace. Of course, I kept on knitting!

My stash is not overwhelming, but does occupy a substantial number of WalMart bins in the guest room walk-in closet. In the process of simplifying my life, I realized it was time to do the best I could with what I already had (ie don't buy anymore yarn...hah!) I do not make New Year's resolutions, but in January, when enthusiasm is at its highest level, I decided I would dedicate each month to a specific UFO or PHSBNS (that's a new one..Planned, Have Supplies, But Not Started.) I would journal all this on my blog. See how smooth the road to Heaven is? It's all paved with my good intentions!!!! I did finish all of my planned January projects in January, but February was not finished until the end of March.

Since I do not have Internet access at home, my next post will have to wait until next week. I will have the list of my monthly goals as well as a few more pictures.

'Til then, Happy Birthday "Tink and Purl."