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| I have created a new, improved blog! Please visit http://knittingminnesota.blogspot.com . Please update your bookmarks. All posts and patterns from this blog have been moved to the new one! Thanks
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What a busy 5 months I have had! Our real estate business was really busy from January until mid-May. Things are starting to wind down for our slow season. Yes, June and July along with December are our slowest months. This is the first chance I've really had to think about knitting again. We took a road trip this Easter to Mississippi and I was able to start on another Noni bag. I just now finished that one for my grandmother. I've started on the sun dress (really more of a swimsuit cover-up) in knit.1 summer '07. I'm making this for my sister for her birthday. She's always going to Mexico for short beach weekends. I will post pictures soon of the finished Noni bags.
I'm so happy to be knitting and playing with yarn again! I have a few more designs for kids in my little head and will try to get them down on paper by this fall/winter.
I hope everyone is still enjoying the dragon scarf pattern!
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| Well, I finally remember why I don't knit much in the spring and summer. I'm just too darn busy at work. I have so many great pattern ideas...just not much time to put them down on paper. I'm hoping to refocus, now that I'm back from vacation, and schedule time in my calendar every day to devote to knitting. Gotta have my priorities straight, right???
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I got a chance this weekend to visit Crafty Planet in Minneapolis. What a cool store. They have a great yarn selection, tons of books, embroidery patterns, fabric and more. I'll definately visit them again. They also expressed interest in making a kit with my dragon scarf. That would be cool. Vickie Howell is going to be there on Feb. 16th before the big Knit Out event at Mall of America. My husband has such a crush on her...he has suddenly developed an interest in going to Crafty Planet too.
Last weekend I took a class on felted flowers with two very talented ladies from Wisconsin. You can find their site here. They have 2 books coming out soon that are sure to be a hit with needlefelters. Check out their site for some very unusual embellishing techniques.
Yesterday I hopped over to a local thrift store to search for wool sweaters to felt. I found two sweaters, a really cool scarf and a few demin items to practice some needle felting embellishment. I'll post some pics of my finds soon.
I'm finally done with my toddler dresses. I just need to block them, then I'll post pictures!
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There are so many things I still have to learn about knitting. My latest project taught me a few important lessons. It all started when I saw the adorable toddler dress found in the latest issue (April '07) of Knit N' Style magazine. I thought it would be perfect for Melissa's baby girl, Rowan, who had a birthday coming up. The pattern calls for about 400 yards of mercerized cotton. I substituted Plymouth Fantasy for the Schaefer Laurel that it called for. To make a long story short....the finished dress is very heavy. It feels like it weighs 2 pounds. But after reading the yarn label I realized that is mathematically impossible. I used a little over 3 skeins of yarn weighing 100 grams each. So, the dress weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 325 grams or .7 pounds. I purchased the beautiful Kelly yarn, that I posted about previously, because I didn't like the way my tension looked and because the dress seemed heavy. The Kelly yarn (55% cotton 45% acrylic) weighs 50g per skein. I will end up using about 3.5 skeins for a total of 175 grams or .39 pounds. That's nearly half the weight! Not only is the weight better, but my tension is much more even with the cotton blend.
So, let this be a lesson to new knitters out there. If you want a light weight summer garment, and the gauge and yarn content are basically the same, be sure to compare the weight of the yarn as well. I wasn't able to get the dress in the Kelly yarn finished in time for Rowan's birthday on Saturday. I guess that's ok since it's freezing outside. Jack and I had fun at her party. She is a beautiful baby. I can't wait to see her in the finished product. I will post pictures of the dresses later!
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Yarn: Paton's SWS in Natural Geranium (70% wool 30% soy); 4-5 skeins, 109 yards each
Needle: Size 11
Gauge: 3 sts/inch
Measurements of my sewing machine: 14" wide, 11" tall, 6" deep
Finished measurements of cover: 14" wide, 10" tall, 6" deep
CO 52 sts
Work in st-st for 30 rows
(top of cover will be purl side of st-st)
Pick up 30 sts on the short side
Pick up 52 sts on the long side
Pick up another 30 sts on the other short side.
Place marker and join
Knit round and round and round for 78 rows. I was running very low on skein #4 and stopped at row 65. If you want your cover taller than 10", use 5 skeins of yarn and complete all 78 rows.
BO, weave in ends
** Paton's SWS felts extremely fast. ** Do not leave unattended when felting. Pull the cover out and measure it so you don't felt it too much. Roll it up in a towel and squeeze out excess water gently. Block the cover on your machine or similar sized box. I still had my plastic cover and kept this on my sewing machine while it blocked. If you don't have a plastic cover for your machine...try a large plastic bag. Don't put the wet wool directly on your machine!
Another wool yarn such as Cascade 220 or Galway should work just fine. It will, however, take longer to felt to these measurements. I will test this soon with one of these yarns.
Embellish to your heart's content. I used some scrapbooking brads and buttons to decorate mine. Have fun.
If your machine is a different size and you need help figuring out how many sts and rows you need, just e-mail me.
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Finally. All my magazines, books, patterns, yarn, and sewing materials are in one place. (Unless I'm working on 3 projects at once... then they are probably strewn all over the house) But now they at least have a home. The white bookshelf unit with the drawers is from Target. I really like the versatility of it. I can see adding another one on top pretty soon.
I was making really good progress on Rowan's birthday present when I got sidetracked by my sewing machine cover. That ugly plastic thing just has to go. I dug through the stash and found some Paton's SWS. I've really been wanting to knit something out of it. Of course I had 3 skeins and it looks like I'll need 4. Looks like I'm off to the buy more yarn.  If the final product turns out good, I will post the pattern for the sewing machine cover.
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I was able to correct the uneven tension mentioned in the previous entry by wrapping the yarn around my pinky twice when purling. (I'm a thrower) But...I'm still not thrilled with the look of the mercerized cotton. Sooooo I ordered this cotton/acrylic blend from http://www.yarnmarket.com . The colors are beautiful, the yarn seems just a tad bit more forgiving and it is very lightweight. I can't wait to get started on Rowan's birthday project with this yarn. Very happy with the service from Yarn Market. Quick shipping, etc. Would definately order from them again.
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Thanks to everyone that has visited the blog in the last week. I've gotten great feedback about the dragon pattern. I'm looking forward to seeing a few of them finished.
I started on my latest project this week. It is a birthday present for my friend's baby girl. I can't post a picture just yet in case she stops by the blog  . This is the first item I've knitted with 100% cotton. It is so different from all the other fibers that I've knitted with. The lack of stretch in the yarn makes purling difficult. I also think it's going to be too heavy. I ordered a cotton/nylon blend from Yarn Market. I'll make another one of these with that yarn and whichever one turns out best goes to Miss Rowan. The other...to ebay  .
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by Deb Menz. I'm the kind of person that can sit and stare at a wall of yarn for an hour and walk away with nothing. I love color, but have grown frustrated trying to coordinate certain projects. This book is simply amazing. I'm already looking at color so differently. It comes with color wheels you can remove from the book and take to the yarn store with you. It shows color examples in different crafts such as quilting, bead embroidery, knitting, spinning, etc. I highly recommend this book! The other book is from