Category Archives: knitting

Facebook can lead to fun and simple lace knitting….

Posted on by
Reply

It always starts like this: I do my morning prayers, log onto my laptop and let it do its thing, get a cup of coffee, review my orders that need to be shipped/created for the day, then I venture onto Facebook. This is where it takes me awhile to drag myself away to the work that needs doing (yes, this can include housework, too). Sometimes, I have to set a timer and only allow myself 15 minutes of perusal time. Sometimes I’m able to walk away without the timer because I have TONS of work that needs doing. Sometimes I find things worth reading and end up digging around for more info. That’s when I need the timer.

Last week, I found a picture on Facebook that led me to some random photos on Pinterest, that led me to ravelry, where I found a link to this pattern written by tin can knits, called Vivid. While mine isn’t so very vivid, I love how it turned out and will be making quite a few of these to piece together into a nice shawl or wrap (I’ll add pictures to this post when I’ve got that part figured out.).

Here is the result of me seeing, liking and hunting it all down:

unblockedfirstsquare1 unblockedfirstsquare2

I love this quick, easy and very well written pattern so much that I started a second one right away. I’m using U.S. size 2 circular knitting needles with my hand dyed (Debra Ahrens Suffolk fleece and lime Kool-Aid), hand spun yarn.

Here is what the first square looks like when it’s blocked:

firstsquareblocked1 A pink one

Get on over to Ravelry and buy this pattern quickly before it disappears!

Go read her blog, too!! http://tincanknits.com/pattern-HUK-vivid.html

Oh! and don’t forget her nifty, neato tutorial for doing a pinhole cast-on (yes, it was my first time and I loved learning something new).

 

A case of mysterious yarn!

Posted on by
Reply

BerrocoYarn2

My dear loving husband, Mark, bought me a skein of fantastic yarn for Christmas. I removed its label, hid the label so I wouldn’t be tempted by it and wound the yarn into a nice ball. I set it aside until I knew (or thought I knew) what I was going to create from it.

BerrocoYarn1

I cast on 3 stitches and started what I imagined might become a felted hot pad. As I knit up the yarn, I discovered I liked handle of it and how it felt as it worked through my fingers. I fell in LOVE with all of the bright colors and muted color blends in it. I knew I was in trouble. I had to find the label. The label is long-lost in the mess I call my office.

I posted it on facebook, but no one seemed to know what it was so I went online and searched and searched. I thought I’d found it a few nights ago at yarn.com. I believed it was Berroco Boboli yarn in the dappled shade colorway. Wonderful! 5 skeins remaining and it’s being closed out. Click add to cart, click to pay, login to paypal to pay, paypal failed due to an unknown cause. I learned that the unknown cause was caused by another party buying up the last 5 skeins I could acquire for the great price of $7.99 per skein!

It turns out that I was wrong about it being Berroco. I’m glad I have a lot of friends with really good eyes and told me to go hang out at Craftsy for a while (it also helps that I found the missing Plymouth Yarn label). I bought 5 skeins of Plymouth Europa yarn in colorway Multi. I will now take what looks like a nice start to a good, warm babushka and set it aside until the yarn arrives.

PlymouthYarn3

If it turns out I’m mistaken, I’ll simply and carefull frog what I’ve knit up and start over with the matching skeins working what I have into it for a nice, subtle striped effect. It will still be a good babushka!