Patchwork Girl's Rambling Warps

HAPPY BLOG BIRTHDAY!!!

This time last year I discovered blogs & shortly after, I decided I wanted to start my own blog & discovered blogspot.

For a short while, my blog was on the tornadowood.com website, but we had a crash in February, I moved my blog back to blogspot "temporarily" and just recently started putting together a new blog on tornadowood. I had hoped it would be ready today, but it's not, so I'll just keep mirroring the posts so that the transition will be fairly smooth.

I'm hoping to have some photo galleries of WIPs & FOs & knitalongs linked from the blog... I will have the usual links to the weblog rings (Fiber Arts Bloggers, Knitting & Mommies), Knitting Meetup & my tag-board and a couple of other favorite links. I THOUGHT about posting links to my "favorite" blogs, but have not decided what to do about that since sometimes there could be hurt feelings about it...what I will probably do instead is link exchanges. That will eliminate the risk of hurt feelings & other political nonsense. Also, if i mention something on someone else's blog, I'll post the link... none of this "favorite" stuff for me!

A little history:

I've been knitting since I was very young, around 6: I pestered my mom to teach me until she finally relented & cast on some yarn onto 2 pencils & I went from there learning to cast on & purl. I was never much of a compulsive knitter, but I had my moments & sometimes I took my knitting to school...somewhere I have a scarf that I made in a beige yarn with combinations of knits & purls to make diamond shapes & other random designs...that was NOT a curly scarf!

I eventually learned to do needlepoint: anyone ever notice what copycats kids are? My mom took up needlepoint with a vengence & somewhere I have some of her framed pieces since she did some pieces for a friend who was doing a book on needlepoint. I do not remember the woman's name or the name of the book & my mom is not around to tell me... Susan something, I think. Helpful, huh? Before my mom died, I picked up her needlepoint UFO of Unicorn in the Garden... I got a fair bit done & after she died, it helped me feel close to her. I never finished this since it was stolen from a friend's car a long time ago... I did get another, but never got much done on it either and at this moment, I don't know where it is... in the late 80s/early 90s I discovered long point needlepoint & did a little of that, never finished... this brings me to something my mom always told me: finish what you start... ahem... after she died I found MANY UFOs of hers... probably "do what I say, not what I do"... since then I've learned to finish my projects...

In the early 90s, I got interested in spinning & weaving & then a year ago I got back into knitting...which leads us to my blog history:

At first, my blog was NOT a knitting blog, it was a general fiber blog with an emphasis on weaving... I still weave, but mostly knit nowadays, it's much easier to knit while watching TV or carrying on a conversation since I don't have to look at my knitting...weaving requires looking at what I'm doing & since I'm deaf & I read lips, I don't get much weaving done when others want to talk!

I started knitting again when people were flashing their socks around on different blogs... I tried doing a pair of cabled socks for my youngest son & never finished them because they would never fit him.... and I finished another pair of socks that I had started in 1999 & also finished a sweater that reuven may be able to wear this winter (if he can get his head through it...I may re-do the neck, I don't know!) and I've done a few other things, which you'll be able to find in my archives on the new blog... or possibly on the archives on this blogspot blog if they're working...

I'm thankful for the people I've "met" through this blog & hope to meet some of you in person some day... I've learned a lot from you & had fun with the knit along for the Smooch tank (which evolved into a top with sleeves & mine is almost done)...and for the focus that the blog has given me on my projects.

That brings us up to date... hopefully I'll be posting a little more often since tomorrow is the last day of swimming lessons & I don't think we're going to be going to the next session since school starts 3 days before the next session ends... plus I only budgeted for 2 sessions of swimming lessons for the twins & one for the younger 2. We'll keep going swimming "just for fun" a few times a week until the pool closes...

One more thing: I found out 2 days ago that I've lost at least 20 pounds so far... gotta do a little shopping since my smaller pants don't fit yet (BUT THEY WILL!!) & the ones I have now are too loose...

Project update & kids' knitting projects

Here's an update of the Shapely Smooch top showing the neck...it's not easy to see, but next time I'll try to photograph it so that you can see the eyelets. They were fun to do!

Here's the back with an instant gratification Cottage Creations gingerbread (took less than a day & I didn't knit all day) that I made last week using discontinued Brunswick Germantown yarn from the stash...it's a bit mis-shapen, don'tcha think? The kids love it, that's what counts!:

I still need to knit the sleeves for the Shapely Smooch top & I'm trying to decide how I want to do them. They'll probably be knit separately & sewn in rather than knit onto the top...I've also been swatching other yarns to try to decide what to work on next. I've been swatching my Gedifra Wellness (from Elann) & Luna Silk yarn (from artfibers)... I'm finding that I like the look of the swatch on tighter than recommended gauges..but this is before washing/blocking, so I'm not sure what to do...should I go with the recommended gauge for the yarn or go with the gauge that I like?

No photo updates of the Cabin Fever tank top, but I've been working on it during swimming lessons...it's 100% cotton & it's all I can stand working with in the hot weather... it's about 5" along now.

Evan & Micah have been working on their knitting a fair bit this weekend.

Micah is doing a sweater & it's supposed to be "oversized"...we did a "try on" when we switched from the smaller needle to the fatter one & it is HUGE for an 8 year old size...it's supposed to be about 37 inches or so... he's knitting in the round & changing colors when HE feels like it! He's doing a pretty good job. The pattern in Kids Knitting calls for drop shoulder sleeves, but I may have him do set in sleeves instead, we'll see! At the rate he's going, he may be able to wear the sweater this winter.

He's using Paton's Shetland Chunky yarn, which is 75% acrylic and 25% wool. He initially said that he wanted to make Reuven a sweater & not knowing that he would knit and knit and knit, I figured "let's make it in a middle-aged-kid size so he can grow into it" and he's got about 5 or 6 inches done on it so far...

Evan is making a teddy bear tunic from the book "Sweaters for Teddy Bears: book I" by Betty Lampen... he's doing really good considering he's only been knitting a couple of weeks! He's using red heart rainbow yarn & has only been working on this since Thursday or Friday:

We had to do a lot of fiddling with Paint Shop Pro to get the colors to come close to reality...I think the tunic could have come out better, but y'all get the idea!

If this keeps up, we're going to have to set up a family knitting blog! I do have some worries about the boys terrorizing my yarn stash, but right now they're mostly interested in mostly acrylic yarns (machine washable)...

Harrison is learning to knit also... when he wants to knit, he sits on my lap & then we do the rhyme "under the fence, catch the sheep, back we come, off we leap"..he can do some of the knitting process himself, but has not been able to do a whole stitch alone...someday!

Reuven also likes to sit in my lap while I knit, and will hold one needle while I knit...for him, it's mostly for cuddling & watching...

Swimming lessons & other stuff

We've been busy with swimming lessons...the twins are in level 3 & Harrison's in level 1 & Reuven's in the infant & preschool aquatic class... he seems to enjoy the water, for the first half hour or so & then he gets weird...he may not like being in the deeper water, even with a life vest on... he likes trying to jump though! He had no trouble floating, but he's slightly on the chubby side...

I've been working on the Knitting Beyond the Hebrides Mystery project (see the instructions for it on www.knittngbeyondthehebrides.org)... only I'm going to have to stop taking it to swimming lessons because I chose Lopi lite yarn & it's horrible to knit with outdoors in the summertime... no problem with it in air conditioning...I've been procrastinating on finising the Shapely Smooch pattern because I'm having trouble understanding the neck section...

I swatched the linen last week & came to the conclusion that I need 3 strands and a size 3 US needle to get a fabric I like. I'll have to do a tiny swatch to test wash... I'm going to use it to do the SpinCraft lace cardi with saddle shoulder, but will use a different lace pattern, probably one of the new scarf lace patterns...will let y'all know after I swatch. I probably won't work on this until later in the year since i still want to do another tank before I'm done.

No photos today: i'm tired & am a little sunburned!

How do you feed toddlers once they move from the "oooh, here's something I'm ALLOWED to put in my mouth!" (baby food) to acting like a cat: some days they'll gobble it up & another day will treat that previously loved food like it was the worst ting in the world... some days we can HONESTLY say that Reuven is full of bologna: he knows how to open the fridge now, so if the duct tape is worn off from the rest of us opening it, he can get in, so he helps himself to the bologna...and cheese... he'll gobble up entire slices of bread or he'll lick the peanut butter off his bread & leave the bread to call in the ants... this evening's antic was sitting ON the table instead of sitting in our chair...

New yarns

I got some new 8 Lea Linen yarn from mypollywogs in today's mail...bleached linen...two 3/4 lb cones & I'm planning to make a SpinCraft lace cardigan with saddle shoulder out of it. I won't start it right away, but I WILL swatch it right away! Here is a photo of it:

I'm not happy with the picture: it was taken indoors without a flash & it was the only photo of the bunch that looks good & shows the yarn color somewhat accurately. I suppose I should try taking pictures outside, may do that another time.

I'm allllllllmost done with the back of the Shapely Smooch T & when I'm done with it, I'll see if I want to modify anything about the basic shoulder length/shaping before moving onto the sleeves...I'll post a photo update another time.

Meanwhile, here's some Gedifra Wellness & Valencia de Topacio that I bought a couple of weeks ago in anticipation of another project: some of this will be for the SpinCraft tank top:

The shawl this is sitting on was done on a triangle loom & it's available for sale. The yarns, however, are all mine!

I'm keeping today's entry shorter than my usual since Monday's entry didn't get posted for some reason & I want to give y'all a chance to read it before bombarding you with more stuff!

Monday's entry

I thought I posted this entry on Monday, but it didn't show up on my blogspot blog... well here it is again & I guess it's time to start using my new Movable Type blog instead of using this...as soon as all my other doodads (tag-board, etc) are fixed up on the MT blog, I'll post the link..

Did a bit of knitting over the weekend. I have a few more rows to do on the back of my Shapely Smooch T & took a break from knitting a lot on that project & made a Cottage Creations Gingerbread using Yarns Brunswick Germantown worsted in a gingery color... I started it on Friday or Saturday & it was done last night. Harrison fell asleep with it.

Last night I started Cottage Creations Bridget or Paddy, I haven't decided which. I'm ready to do the eyes & haven't decided between a bright blue or pale blue yet. The skin color yarn is a wonderful Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in the discontinued Prairie Peach...when I found out that the color was discontinued, I bought a few skeins of it just in case... I'm glad I did!

About 5 years ago, when the twins were 3 years old, I made Paddy using mostly Lamb's Pride yarns & a couple of the yarns were Brown Sheep Naturespun... we're not sure what happened to this doll, it was lost in 2000 & this is the first time that I've decided to make another... I will probably do it differently than the pattern suggests: instead of making an Aran sweater, I may design a fair isle sweater... I thought this would be a good way to do a fair isle for the first time... I haven't decided how to do this other than to knit in the round & I will probably do steeks, but won't do machine steeks since this sweater would be knitted onto the doll... I do have a little hand held sewing machine that looks a little like a stapler, but we never figured out how to use it..I'll only be steeking the sleeves, not sure if I'll modify the neck except for the colors....

I wrote to Cottage Creations about carrying their patterns on the tornadowood website & if anyone is interested in maybe doing a knit along with one of the CC dolls, let me know! I might be able to put together some Jaggerspun 2/8 Maine line kits for this if there is enough interest...

I'll post pictures in the next day or two!

Last week's entry from blogspot

I'm supposed to be double posting here & on blogspot until I'm ready to give up blogspot.... will do that from now on now on!

[ Thu Jul 10, 07:37:02 AM | ]

finished the front!

Last night I finished the front of my Shapely Smooch T... at least I THINK I did, I'll have to see if it looks okay & fits okay & may decide to re-do it, I'm not sure. I started working on the back above the armholes (remember I worked in the round up to the armholes & the section below the armholes is ALL done) and am STILL trying to decide which back neck to use: Smooch or Shapely? I'll probably use the Smooch back neck since it'd probably match the front better... and will use the armhole edging from Shapely...

Kids knitting: Evan & Micah are both working on knitting squares: they want to make bean bags out of their squares, an idea they got from Melanie Falick's Kids Knitting book.

I think Evan finally got the hang of how to do the knit (garter) stitch but he has a funny way of doing his stitches & occasionally gets a purl row... I try to tell him to insert the needle point UP into the stitch, but I'm not sure how he's achieving this purl stitch, I didn't TEACH him purl yet & told both of the boys that I want to see perfect garter stitches before I'll teach them purl... I think Evan is still getting the feeling for the needles, he "got" how to knit a couple of weeks ago: I showed him, sat him in my lap, knit a row or two while he watched, then took his hands & held his hands through the stitches, etc...and he'd spend a few minutes, put the knitting down, come back & try again until he figured it out & now he doesn't have to sit next to me or in my lap... he knits very tight, probably because he's holding the needles very tightly... I've tried to tell him to relax... the needles won't run away, etc... he likes to take his knitting when we go somewhere & works on it in the car...

I taught Micah over a year ago & he got it right away... I just had to show him how I did a couple of stitches, didn't have to guide his hands or anything, he watched for a couple of stitches & was ready to try it on his own with a bit of verbal guidance from me from time to time... I still pick up stitches for him & cast on, but I think Micah is ready to go beyond that now... This just goes to show how two people work things out totally differently...

Harrison (5-1/2) wants to learn to knit & he has a little yellow square going but he is still in the lap stage where I do the knitting while I hold his hands...he's gotten to the point where he can do "under the fence"...then I wrap the yarn over the needle, he pulls it through & we both take the stitch off...

Something interesting about teaching Harrison: he's left handed...but I'm teaching him continental and I figure that once he's ready to try knitting on his own, he'll figure out how own adaptation of how to knit... I'll let y'all know when we get to this point!

I joined Knitting Meetup (see the link on the right side) and found out this morning that the closest meetup has been cancelled. I really don't want to go alllllllll the way into Dallas, so I guess I'll see if I can drum up some interest in knitting in & around Gainesville, TX...

On the weight loss front, I'm still losing, but I think I've slowed down a bit... as of June 30, I had lost 13 pounds & I know I've lost at least another 1 or 2 since... I figure I'm losing about 5 pounds a month & that's fine...

Hopefully I'll get to take the kids swimming today: we didn't go yesterday because I spent most of the afternoon at Wal-Mart waiting for them to put on a new tire & had to do other errands as well... we had a slow leak which turned into a flat, they found that the hole was in the sidewall of the tire & couldn't be fixed...so I got a new tire...

I got a bit of

I got a bit of progress done on the Smooch T (which is evolving into something different than a Smooch tank)...I'm loving this: last night I was working on one side of the front v-neck & couldn't convince myself that sleeping JUST might be a good idea, I wanted to see how the front would turn out... I got a fair bit done & just need to finish the other side of the front & start the back & make sleeves & voila!

I think I'm going to call this the Shapely Smooch T since I'm using some of the instructions from the Whitelies Designs Shapely t & tank pattern for this project... here's what's happening:

I adjusted the number of stitches to go with my gauge of 4.5 stitches to the inch.
I did the picot edging & the V-lace edging from the smooch pattern
I did the body shaping from the Smooch pattern
I put in some short rows for the bust
I used the armhole shaping from the Shapely tank pattern
and the V-neck shaping from the Smooch pattern

I will use short rows for the shoulders & do a 3 needle bind off
I haven't decided whether to use the back neck shaping from the Shapely tank pattern or the Smooch pattern, I'll probably use the Smooch shaping for the back.
I will follow the sleeve pattern from the Shapely T pattern but will do the bottom of the sleeves differently. I don't know if I'll do the sleeves in the round or not.

I did a try on this morning & it's snug but looks like it'll be a good fit.

Someone commented that I'm working fast... but I must be one of the slowest competent knitters on the planet! I wouldn't call myself experienced since there's a lot of things I haven't tried yet, but I'm not afraid to try new techniques. as far as speed goes, I knit at a lesiurely meditative pace... if I try to knit fast it hurts, so I don't... remember the Hare & the Tortoise: slow & steady wins the race... however, fast & steady will beat me any day!

Did I mention that I may run out of the blue yarn or may not have enough of the blue for the sleeves? That doesn't faze me, I'll just pick another color to combine with the plum fingering yarn... maybe white or a pale purple or red? I may even intentionally use a different color for the sleeves, even if it looks like I'll have enough yarn for the sleeves! Why be ordinary?? I'll sleep on it... maybe swatch a little... I thought 3 one hundred gram skeins would be enough, and it WOULD have if I was only going to do a tank top...

PHOTOS! I think my problem

PHOTOS!

I think my problem with taking photos may be because I'm not as tall as Gary, so I tried standing up on my Bollinger Stepper to make me about 4 or 5 inches taller & that may be all that I need to get a better focus... anyway, here is a photo of my Cabin Fever tank top:

It has a big of glare from the flash, but this will give you an idea what I'm working on. I'm especially pleased with how the cast on came out: I emailed the pattern designer, Deb, and she said that she used the long tail cast on combined with the ribbing cast on that is shown in Elizabeth Zimmermann's book "Knitting Around"... I did the regular long tail for the knit part of the ribbing & the purl long tail for the purl part of the ribbing & I'm happy with it, especially since I spent a bit of time trying to do some of the other cast ons, including the cable cast on & knit on cast on & tubular cast on and was NOT happy with any of them...

This project is something I can work on during TV time & I'll get back to spending more time with it once the Smooch top is done. I've decided how I'm going to do the sleeves: for the armhole decreases, I'll follow the instructions for the White Lies Designs T, which is shown in the instructions for the Shapely T and Shapely Tank, both free patterns...For the v-neck, I'll follow the instructions for Smooch & I'll do the picot edging at the bottom of the sleeves to match the tank...

Here is an updated photo of Smooch showing the whole thing so far. Notice the way the sides draw in for the shaping:

Here is a close up of the shaping section:

And finally, if you'd like to see a photo of the silk bookmarks I'm weaving on my Mesquite Little Stick inkle loom, it can be seen on the I Can Spin website on the Inkle Weaving Pages.

And last, I leave you with a photo of Littleface looking comfy (????):

I'm making progress with my

I'm making progress with my Smooch! tank/short sleeved top... I've got all the increases & decreases done for the sides & now have to work my way up to the 34cm point before doing separating the front & back & doing the armholes. I've pretty much decided that this yarn will NOT be comfortable in 90+ degree weather, so I'm going to put short sleeves on it so I can wear it the other 3 seasons... I just need to decide what kind of armholes to do & what type of sleeves... I don't really want to have to sew the sleeves, it would be nice to pick up stitches around the armhole & work down, but I'm thinking about doing the picot edging at the bottom of the sleeve, so I'd need to work from the bottom up for that (unless someone knows how to do the picot edging working down)... I may also do the zig zag lace on the sleeves as well, we'll see.. maybe just a few eyelets, I want to keep this SOMEWHAT simple, but relevant!

I'll make a tank with the Topacio & Wellness yarns... also will see about doing something with some silk & cotton yarn that I spun several years ago, assuming i have enough of it... and may order some silk & cotton yarn... I think I have 2 more tanks in my system at least & may design one of them myself...and of course will work on the Cabin Fever tank, which is almost boring to do, but a good project for mindless TV knitting... been busy knitting Smooch & haven't wanted to work on the CF tank...

Tank tops won't go out of style anytime soon, so I'll plan on wearing mine next summer if they don't get done in time, though I'm amazed at how fast Smooch is knitting up...

Photos tomorrow, perhaps? We'll see!

I've been thinking about my

I've been thinking about my next tank top & I'm not sure if I'll do another Smooch OR Pagan... I'll either do Bonne Marie's tank or I might do Connie Delaney's new tank (SpinCraft) when it comes out... knit along anyone? Connie's tank sounds like it may be constructed in one piece...and like all her patterns, it should be set up for you to customize the pattern for yourself to your measurements & your yarn & your gauge... since I have a few skeins of Gedifra Wellness & Valeria di Roma Topacio yarns, I can make one or two skeins with it, though may have to get a couple more to make 2...

The Cabin Fever tank is 100% cotton. I found a cone of soft natural colored cotton in my stash... I wound it into yarn balls on the ball winder & then put 3 or 4 strands together into a yarn ball & it's coming out nice... it MAY be fox fiber cotton, I'm not sure... It's a repetitive pattern, soI'm almost sure that the Bucket of Chic hat that I'm working on is Fox Fiber..it's a blend of natural & khaki colored yarns & I'm working it with 4 strands of the yarn & it's coming out nice.. I have to steam the hat & then I'll work on the top & it'll be done...

I tried doing the Aran Cardigan swatch last night & was having trouble getting the foundation row going... I was tired, so I'll try again after I've had some rest.

Swimming lesson update: Micah did not pass level 3, his teacher wants him to go throug it again to improve his skills... Evan passed level 2, so now both of the boys can take level 3... I found out this morning that the 10am level 3 starting Monday is FULL, so we can only sign up for the one in the 4th session... level 3 & level 1 meets at the same time, so Harrison & the twins (or just Evan) can take Level 3 at the same time! That'll be good. I don't think i'm going to take Reuven for swimming lessons this year because we can't work out the schedule... next year we'll have to figure out how to get him started with swimming...he'll still need to be in the Infant/Preschool class until he turns 4...we'll probably take a 2 week break from swimming lessons & just go to the pool or the lake & I'll try to get the boys to practice doing whole laps...when I was learning to swim, I remember we had to swim non-stop for 5 minutes to pass the advanced beginner level & then 10 or 15 minutes to pass intermediate & then 15 or 20 minutes to pass swimmers... I went all the way up to Swimmers or the level right above that, can't remember what it was called... I still remember a lot of my stuff... I also took Junior Lifesaving when I was 13 or 14 but don't remember a lot of it...

Have a happy 5t, everyone! I'll probably post an update photo or two & will probably post a photo of the Little Stick inkle loom with the silk warp.. I started doing my name in pick up for a bookmark...

I finished HP book 5 a couple of days ago.. I thought it was pretty good...I won't say anything specific, but I sort of think that the outcome of the 7th book will tell us what kind of person the author is!

Got a few more rounds

Got a few more rounds done on smooch & got to thinking that maybe the Cotton Fleece & fine yarns combined 1 strand each would be better as a cool weather garment so I'm thinking of putting in short sleeves instead of sleeveless, so I gues it won't be sleeveless anymore... I just can't see wasting this yarn on a garment that I can't wear because it's too warm for summer & too bare for the other 3 seasons.... I'll still maintain the deep v neckline, maybe not as deep...

My next project WILL probably be a tank, either Smooch or Pagan... anyone have any preferences between the 2 patterns? How do they fit? Is Smooch more comfortable than Pagan or what? Alison, whatcha think? I'll be using Gedifra Wellness &
Valeria di Roma Topacio yarn (which is VERY similar to Wellness & I've heard that Wellness is very similar to All Seasons Cotton)... I did a small swatch of the wellness & di Roma Topacio yarn & it's MUCH lighter than the Brown Sheep yarns...

I also started swatching some of the Donegal Tweed yarn for an Aran sweater using the SpinCraft Aran cardigan pattern with saddle sleeves... anyone want to knit along with me on this one? I'll probably actually start it after I'm done knitting tank tops...

The first session of our swimming lessons end tomorrow... the pool staff is talking about not doing level 1 at 11 o'clock starting Monday & that's what class Harrison needs to be in... we'll see how the twins do on their classes to see whether we'll do any more classes...