New Year Resolutions

I am in the process of working on Episode 4 for the podcast. The sound levels have to be adjusted, however, so it will come out sometime in the next week or so.

On the hook, I have the camouflage afghan for my friend's son. I am on the fourth and final skein of yarn......thank goodness. Then, I have to start working on knitting a pair of socks for my father. I gave him an IOU for socks for Christmas. There are three skeins of black Patons Kroy that should work well for this project.

I still have two shawls to work on. The Swallowtail in Schaefer Anne. A plain triangle shawl in Joann's Sensations Rainbow Boucle in scarlet.

What projects are you all starting in the new year? Or what projects do you have left from 2008 to finish? Leave me a comment.

Episode 3 Hurry Up Christmas

In this episode, it is all about the OOOOOHHHHH. That would be, oh, I didn't get the gift done. My plan for knitting gifts has gone awry. OH NO, what do I knit now? Or what can I make now?

Music is from the Podsafe Music Network

Let It Go by Great Big Sea

Had a Plan, Had to Change It (Blues Instrumental) by Derek K. Miller

Christmas in the Country by Codie Prevost

Hurry Up Christmas Ideas

Ribbed Beanie from Woolie Wormhead

************************************************************************************* Short Kid Afghan (the afghan I was working on during the podcast)

US Size 15 Needles (10 mm)
Hold Two strands of Worsted Weight Yarn TOGETHER throughout entire afghan
Gauge - Not really that important

Cast on 84 stitches
Knit 7 Rows
Row 8: Knit 3 stitches, Purl until before last 3 stitches, Knit 3 stitches
Row 9: Knit all stitches
Repeat Rows 8 and 9 until afghan is almost as tall as the kid.
Repeat Row 8 for 1 row
Knit 7 Rows
Bind off.
Drink hot chocolate and repeat "Next year, I will start knitting in June......"
*************************************************************************************

Dishcloth Boutique. Site is full of dishcloth and towel patterns
Glycerin Soap Article

LorAnn Oils

Basic Soapmaking Kit from LorAnn Oils (about $15 US)

Episode 2 - Socks

Thanks for listening! Here are links for the yarns, techniques, and music in this episode.

Double Pointed Needles

Two Circular Needles (from Cat Bordhi)

The Magic Loop

Cuff Down Method

Toe Up Method

Provisional Cast Ons (from Knitting Daily TV)

Judy's Magic Cast On

Cat Bordhi

Kertzer On Your Toes Sock Yarn

Cascade Fixation (note: under the name of the yarn is the link to the free patterns)

Elann Esprit

Alan Lauris - No Matching Socks (from the Podsafe Music Network)

Podcast

So I have started a podcast. Knits Up? I apologize in advance for the audio quality. The technical staff (me) will be working on improving that aspect of the podcast. See below for a list of links to things, websites, and people I mention in the show.

Me on Ravelry.com

Lion Brand Diagonal Baby Blanket

Cast On

Lime and Violet

Knitmore Girls

Yarn Harlot

Wendy Knits

Knit and Tonic

The Panopticon

Lightbox - My version

Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework

Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swansen

Big Knits (Dawn French)

Knitted Tams (Mary Rowe)

Post in Progress

I am working on a few projects right now. I haven't been able to knit for approximately 2-3 months due to work-related injury. Now, I am taking it very easy and knitting only limited amounts of time.

Projects I have started:


1) Hat for my boyfriend's birthday. We went out in college and a few years after college. Been friends for the last 3 years and saw each other again over the summer at our class reunion. It was like we were in college all over again. Google eyed and in love. He is so cute and approved the yarn via cellphone pictures.

2) Blanket for a friend who just had a baby. It's a boy so blue Lion Brand Homespun is the name of the game.

3) The Swallowtail shawl is hibernating right now. I am hesitant to work on any project with fine yarn.

4) Another mohair shawl is on the needles. It is knit from Reynolds Fusion which changes color as you knit. The first shawl came out well and all it took was two skeins.

4) I have three afghans on the needles for a friend and his two children who moved into a new home over the summer. He is holding my lap quilt hostage at his house (I left it there) until I get at least of the afghans done. They are all on large needles and I will work on them as I get projects done.


CHRISTMAS KNITTING

1) Calorimetry (from Knitty) is going to be for for the women in the family.
2) Fetching (from Knitting) will supplement the women who don't get a calorimetry.
3) Boys and girls (my cousins' children) will get hats.
4) Guys (uncles and the like) - don't know yet.....any suggestions faithful readers?

Summer of 1,000 projects

I have startitis this summer. The condition tragically appears anytime I am halfway through another project. Let's count:

1) Swallowtail Shawl from Schaefer Anne (reds and purples) 25% done
2) Alpaca Scarf from yarn I bought at a garage sale for 50 cents - 85% done
3) Afghan for my friend's daughter from Lion Brand Homespun - 20% done
4) Afghan for my friend from Red Heart Plush in several autumn colors - 4.5 inches - I may frog this one and go for knitting it in strips on the Bond and just crocheting the strips together with some varigated TLC essentials that is a fall medley.
5) On your toes bamboo socks - using Broadripple right now.
6) Several other sock projects that need to be completed before cold weather sets in.

I should take some pictures and update my Ravelry page too. I am Knittercny on Ravelry by the way.

July Knitting

I have a bunch of projects I need to start working on and a bunch I actually have started. 3 or 4 afghans for a friend and his children who are moving into a new house next weekend. I started a shawl for myself out of Schaefer Anne. I have started the Swallowtail Shawl. And I have to rip out a couple of repeats. It got screwed up two repeats (12 rows) back and I almost could let it go, but not quite.

The bamboo socks are stalled. I tried to start the BFF socks pattern by Cookie A., but I chose too large of a size.

So in other words, it is going to be a rip-roaring time at my house.

Summer Knitting

We've officially started summer. I haven't posted for a long time due to the all emcompassing involvement with Ravelry. I'm KnitterCNY on Ravelry by the way.

Right now, I've started knitting a pair of socks with Kertzer On Your Toes Bamboo in a lime color. I have recently learned how to knit with two circular needles so I am using Knitpicks 2.25 mm 24 inch needles. The cable is supple and flexible and I haven't lost them like I usually do with double points.

The guild is going well. Our last meeting before the summer break will be on June 14th and is a show & share. I'm going to to take some digital picutres for people and email them if they don't have a digital camera.

The CNY Ravelers group is also pretty active. They are planning a gathering for World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 14th at Carousel Mall. It's just getting together and hanging out and knitting. Very cool. I will have to be a little late due to the knitting guild meeting being the same day in Baldwinsville.

I am also planning to use some of the Bernat Denimstyle in my stash to make a sweater. I want to plan to make a cardigan. I have switched to some of the lighter yarns to get more into summer knitting.

What are you working on for summer knitting? Please feel free to leave a comment.

Origami Sweater Part Two

About a month back, I started the Origami Sweater by Diane Piwko of InKnitters (Spring 2006 issue). I thought, it's for a baby, let's make it out of acrylic. Umm, not so much. I got about half-way through the first panel and literally threw it in a chair for a timeout. The yarn was Moda Dea Sassy Stripes. Though this yarn in another color way is coming out beautifully for some socks I'm knitting, as a baby sweater, I hate the feel of the yarn. I switched to wool. Before you say, oh no, not wool for a baby. This is washable wool. The sweater is for a my cousin's new baby daughter who will probably be wearing a onesie next to her skin and the wool is soft. It's some Rowan Designer DK that I had in my stash in a beige color and some purple. My cousin's husband and father both work at Olivet Nazerene University. The colors of the university just happen to be purple and gold. Now, not having any gold yarn, I'll settle for beige. I started the sweater over again on Friday and I am almost done with the first of two panels. Pictures to come soon!

Friendly Cardigan & Origami Sweater

I have started a sweater for a good friend who has been bugging me for two months. Every time I walk into his house, he asks, "Where is my cardigan?". I had knit Christmas gifts for him, his wife, and daughter plus my two other guy friends and their kids. Those gifts were pretty successful so I thought, what the heck, I'll knit a cardigan. This friend seemed to me to need a classic cardigan, I thought, My Three Sons, Father Knows Best. The next step was to scourer the extensive magazine collection I have. I finally found the pattern in an old Family Circle Easy Knitting magazine (Fall 1996). It is a shawl collar cardigan by Dawn Brocco. Originally shown as a plaid check in Donegal Tweed, I chose to knit it in Lion Brand Woolease in the Autumn colorway. Okay, so let's review. A 12 year old magazine and a yarn who's colorway has been discontinued. I bought the yarn at least 5 years ago. And weirdly, I had 10 skeins and was looking on the wire shelving in my apartment and came across an 11th skein. The pattern is wonderful because it is knit from the bottom up all in one piece. The sleeves are picked up at the armholes and knit down to the cuffs. In other words, I DON'T HAVE TO SEAM ANYTHING!!! YEAH!!!!

In other news, I have finally started the Origami Sweater. I am referring to an article by Diane Piwko, editor of InKnitters magazine, from the Spring 2005 issue. This magazine is no longer being published. Last year, when my local knitting guild was looking into starting a KAL, I emailed Diane Piwko about the article because I found it an interesting concept and thought it would be a great stash-buster. She very kindly emailed back and gave me permission to photocopy 25 copies of the article so our guild members could knit this sweater. Basically, it is two parallelograms and clever folding to get a cool sweater. I started the 6 month old size for my cousin's new baby. I am using Moda Dea Sassy Stripes in the Stormy colorway. This yarn is 100% acrylic and I figured it would be good for being washed and dried by machine. The guild will have a meeting to update our progress on this pattern and bring our sweaters to admire in either March or April depending on our schedule. Hopefully, our members will allow some photos of the sweaters to be taken so we can share them on the guild website.

Quick Cardigan

I wanted to start on a quick cardigan using some of my stash yarn.   I had started a side to side cardigan a few years ago with Lion Brand Al-pa-ka (discontinued) in Black and Oxford Tweed (grey/black twist).    I am frogging it and using a strand of each color to make a raglan cardigan.  The pattern I am knitting is from the Lion Brand website.  I am using size US 10 needles because I tend to knit quite loosely.   I have knitted this pattern in the past in Lion Brand Woolease Chunky and it turned into a cozy sweater.