So my flight was two hours late out of Iowa, and then I had to change my connecting flight in Memphis. With the result that I had five hours to kill in the airport.
Knitting helped fill the vast block of time. I started a pair of socks in Malabrigo Sock Yarn, color 850 Archangel, and so far I'm really loving it. It has nice spring and it is very soft and the colorway is endlessly fascinating. Which is important when you are trying to kill FIVE hours.
Then I took a photo, and uploaded it to my iPad. Then I uploaded the
photo Flickr.
Then I blogged it.
I love technology toys.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Martha Would Be Proud
Whenever I fly off somewhere I buy a Martha Stewart magazine to take on the plane, and there is usually an article about the next cool thing to collect. This time it was vintage map textiles. These can be found in the form of tablecloths, dish towels, scarfs and handkerchiefs. My sister and I always go junk antique shopping on vacation and we hit most of the second hand stores in the Willamette valley, or so it seemed. We also visited a few antique malls, and I was able to find only one map textile.
I found this tablecloth at an antique mall in Kalama, WA on the road trip from Seattle to Monmouth, Oregon. (Actually, my sister found it, but I was glad she did.) It makes sense that I would start a collection with the letter A, so the next state I'll be looking for will be Arizona.
I found another Alaska tablecloth, which is not a map, but a souvenir textile nevertheless.
I photographed them both on the living room floor knowing that they would be distorted in the photo. But, through the magic of Photoshop, I was able to bring them back to (roughly) square.
I found this tablecloth at an antique mall in Kalama, WA on the road trip from Seattle to Monmouth, Oregon. (Actually, my sister found it, but I was glad she did.) It makes sense that I would start a collection with the letter A, so the next state I'll be looking for will be Arizona.
I found another Alaska tablecloth, which is not a map, but a souvenir textile nevertheless.
I photographed them both on the living room floor knowing that they would be distorted in the photo. But, through the magic of Photoshop, I was able to bring them back to (roughly) square.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
You Can't Have Too Many of These
I found these gardening containers at Target a couple of weeks ago. I just bought one, but when I got it home and opened it up, I thought to myself -- YARN! And lots of it.
These stand about three feet high. They come flat, buttoned down with two toggles (visible at top), and they are spring-loaded. Unbutton those toggles, and - bam! - they spring right up. Ready to be filled with yarn. I quickly ran out and bought another one, plus a third one (even bigger) to serve the actual purpose for which it was intended (yard cleanup).
I had about four willow laundry baskets spread around on the floor in my studio, taking up precious real estate, and getting in the way. I consolidated my yarn stash down to two of these yarn bins, and there is still room to go! How great is that?
These stand about three feet high. They come flat, buttoned down with two toggles (visible at top), and they are spring-loaded. Unbutton those toggles, and - bam! - they spring right up. Ready to be filled with yarn. I quickly ran out and bought another one, plus a third one (even bigger) to serve the actual purpose for which it was intended (yard cleanup).
I had about four willow laundry baskets spread around on the floor in my studio, taking up precious real estate, and getting in the way. I consolidated my yarn stash down to two of these yarn bins, and there is still room to go! How great is that?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Jack's Blanket
This is the finished blanket for baby Jack (due in July). It's only the second project I've accomplished out of my chenille routine in the last, oh, five years. That's going to change, because this was pretty fun. I used really soft cotton from Hobby Lobby (who knew?) called I Love This Cotton! Ombres & Prints, and the color is called Aqua Ombre. I used 9 balls of this this yarn, 5+ for the warp, and 3+ for the weft.
At 8 ends per inch in the reed, it wove up almost perfectly balanced, at 9 picks per inch. I used up a ball every 15 1/2" or so in the weaving process. I zigzagged the woven ends when it was done and then gave it a gentle wash in the machine. It came out great.
The hardest part was sewing on the blanket binding, something I'd never attempted before. I did each side separately. Forget about mitering the corners. There was no way. I loosened the tension on my machine and put the stitch length as long as I could. I pinned and basted. The thing is, the binding is pretty tightly woven, and has absolutely no give. The handwoven blanket on the other hand, was soft and smooshy and was all over the place. So, the finished edges are not the best, but I don't think baby Jack will mind too much.
In the interest of sharing, I've made a PDF of the weaving draft and instructions. If you like this project, please feel free to use it. Download it here.
At 8 ends per inch in the reed, it wove up almost perfectly balanced, at 9 picks per inch. I used up a ball every 15 1/2" or so in the weaving process. I zigzagged the woven ends when it was done and then gave it a gentle wash in the machine. It came out great.
The hardest part was sewing on the blanket binding, something I'd never attempted before. I did each side separately. Forget about mitering the corners. There was no way. I loosened the tension on my machine and put the stitch length as long as I could. I pinned and basted. The thing is, the binding is pretty tightly woven, and has absolutely no give. The handwoven blanket on the other hand, was soft and smooshy and was all over the place. So, the finished edges are not the best, but I don't think baby Jack will mind too much.
In the interest of sharing, I've made a PDF of the weaving draft and instructions. If you like this project, please feel free to use it. Download it here.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
My Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan
I finished this sweater in March, but I haven't gotten around to blogging about it. Maybe it was the baby blanket I was weaving (blog post coming soon!). Maybe it was the baby booties I was knitting. Maybe it was the tencel and rayon yarns I was painting and photographing. Maybe it was the day job.
Anyway, it's done now and blocked and I am wearing it now as I write. I knitted this top down raglan sweater with yarn that my sister gave me for my birthday last year. It's Lambs Pride Worsted in a plum heather. It's cozy and comfy and just right for ... April? Oh well. I started knitting in October, figured out that I had my gauge horribly wrong, and started over in, oh, maybe January. Once I had the right needles for the job, the knitting went much easier.
This sweater is knitted from the neck down. All you do is measure the size of the neck opening you want, get your gauge, and the calculator that comes with the pattern helps you figure out how many stitches to cast on. From there, it's just a matter of increasing at the raglan points until you have the body width you want. Then you knit. And knit. And knit. Arms are held on scrap yarn until the body is complete, then picked up again and finished in no time. If you're fast. Which I am not.
It's great for any age and any size body. Clearly I made this one a tad large, but it'll be great for layering. Next winter.
You can find the pattern here.
Anyway, it's done now and blocked and I am wearing it now as I write. I knitted this top down raglan sweater with yarn that my sister gave me for my birthday last year. It's Lambs Pride Worsted in a plum heather. It's cozy and comfy and just right for ... April? Oh well. I started knitting in October, figured out that I had my gauge horribly wrong, and started over in, oh, maybe January. Once I had the right needles for the job, the knitting went much easier.
This sweater is knitted from the neck down. All you do is measure the size of the neck opening you want, get your gauge, and the calculator that comes with the pattern helps you figure out how many stitches to cast on. From there, it's just a matter of increasing at the raglan points until you have the body width you want. Then you knit. And knit. And knit. Arms are held on scrap yarn until the body is complete, then picked up again and finished in no time. If you're fast. Which I am not.
It's great for any age and any size body. Clearly I made this one a tad large, but it'll be great for layering. Next winter.
You can find the pattern here.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
It's a Small (Weaving) World (or, I never realized how small the weaving community is, until I became a knitter)
I don't often stray from my chenille rut routine, but when I do, I like to be able to research my options. I like to be able to gather examples of my project, with yarn options, color options, pattern options. I want to surround myself with other projects, then narrow down the possibilities, until I have just the right version of what I had in mind. Then I will take that information, and plan my own project, choose the yarns and the weave draft, and fill my current weaving notebook with all the pertinent information relating to my new project.
Well. I wanted to weave a baby blanket. My magazine stash isn't what it used to be, having sold off most of it on eBay a few years back, but I needed the space, and I figured the online community would come around (this is me being overly optimistic). So, I looked around to see if there were any books available on the topic of weaving for babies. The only publication out there was published in 1990, and it is out of print. Back to eBay? I think not. A Google search on "baby blanket patterns for weaving" yields 2 results. If you substitute "knitting" in the phrase for "weaving", you get pages and pages of results, many of them free patterns.
Ravelry is a fabulous social networking site for knitters and crocheters, which I joined about a year or so ago. The databases for yarn, patterns, projects are huge. You want a baby blanket pattern? You got it. You can pick a pattern, and see it in all kinds of yarn brands and colors. Some are free, some are from books or magazines that you would have to buy, some are PDF downloads that you can purchase. The smorgasbord of choices is just amazing. And now, Ravelry is slowly showing acceptance to weaving. Now, if you add a new project, weaving is on the list of possible techniques, where it didn't used to be. There are weaving groups to join, and forums to contribute to. And, if you initiate a search in projects for "baby blanket," and specify weaving as the technique, you will get results -- four pages worth of photos and projects.
The thing is, I didn't really want anything fancy patternwise. I'm using plain weave, sett 8 ends per inch. I just wanted to work out the yarn options, and I had no place to go in my own weaving library. But as long as I have Ravelry to consult, I'm happy.
Oh, yes, and here's the blanket I'm working on:
Well. I wanted to weave a baby blanket. My magazine stash isn't what it used to be, having sold off most of it on eBay a few years back, but I needed the space, and I figured the online community would come around (this is me being overly optimistic). So, I looked around to see if there were any books available on the topic of weaving for babies. The only publication out there was published in 1990, and it is out of print. Back to eBay? I think not. A Google search on "baby blanket patterns for weaving" yields 2 results. If you substitute "knitting" in the phrase for "weaving", you get pages and pages of results, many of them free patterns.
Ravelry is a fabulous social networking site for knitters and crocheters, which I joined about a year or so ago. The databases for yarn, patterns, projects are huge. You want a baby blanket pattern? You got it. You can pick a pattern, and see it in all kinds of yarn brands and colors. Some are free, some are from books or magazines that you would have to buy, some are PDF downloads that you can purchase. The smorgasbord of choices is just amazing. And now, Ravelry is slowly showing acceptance to weaving. Now, if you add a new project, weaving is on the list of possible techniques, where it didn't used to be. There are weaving groups to join, and forums to contribute to. And, if you initiate a search in projects for "baby blanket," and specify weaving as the technique, you will get results -- four pages worth of photos and projects.
The thing is, I didn't really want anything fancy patternwise. I'm using plain weave, sett 8 ends per inch. I just wanted to work out the yarn options, and I had no place to go in my own weaving library. But as long as I have Ravelry to consult, I'm happy.
Oh, yes, and here's the blanket I'm working on:
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Hawaii Socks - A Personal Best
I finished my entry into the Ravelympics 2010 Sock Hockey event last night. It was a long haul, two solid weeks of knitting nothing but socks, but I made it before the closing ceremonies with time to spare.
I cast on during the opening ceremonies on February 12. (Okay, I was out for the evening and cast on during my lunch hour that day, but it still counts.) Each row had 72 stitches. There were 12 rows to the inch. Each sock is roughly 16 inches from cuff to toe. That works out to (sacre bleu!) a whopping 13,824 stitches per sock!
Using size 0 needles! When I go back to knitting the sweater I'm working on size 7 needles, they will feel like knitting logs.
I am wearing these Hawaii socks (so named by Lorna's Laces yarn and it seems to me extremely appropriate in this awful winter which isn't over yet) as I write and they are quite comfy in my Crocs slippers.
A technical conundrum: I grafted the toe on the first one and decided I hated grafting so much that I would try the three needle bind off on the second one. Hated that too. I found a third alternative in Knitty in an article extolling the virtues of just knitting the toe to about 8 or 10 stiches and then cinching it closed. A most elegant solution and one I will certainly try next time!
I cast on during the opening ceremonies on February 12. (Okay, I was out for the evening and cast on during my lunch hour that day, but it still counts.) Each row had 72 stitches. There were 12 rows to the inch. Each sock is roughly 16 inches from cuff to toe. That works out to (sacre bleu!) a whopping 13,824 stitches per sock!
Using size 0 needles! When I go back to knitting the sweater I'm working on size 7 needles, they will feel like knitting logs.
I am wearing these Hawaii socks (so named by Lorna's Laces yarn and it seems to me extremely appropriate in this awful winter which isn't over yet) as I write and they are quite comfy in my Crocs slippers.
A technical conundrum: I grafted the toe on the first one and decided I hated grafting so much that I would try the three needle bind off on the second one. Hated that too. I found a third alternative in Knitty in an article extolling the virtues of just knitting the toe to about 8 or 10 stiches and then cinching it closed. A most elegant solution and one I will certainly try next time!
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