Is Wednesday WIP Day?

Yeah! I finally finished the crocheted squares afghan. It's pretty colorful and warm looking!


Finished a poncho I started last month using up even more stash. Pattern here




KFYS Report (Confession)

Well I am happy that I can crochet more without my wrists hurting. I just have to remember to switch from crocheting to knitting and rotate the crafts.

And, I've been using up more stash by crocheting up the leftovers from the bigger blankets into little grannies. But when I went to Joann's today to buy some buttons, these 3 fellows jumped in my shopping cart and came home with me.....



Little 8 point star still needs a few more rows and thanks to a reader I think I have a source for a knitted chevron/ripple type blanket.

Answer to Monika about the Curve of Pursuit I started last year. No I have not forgotten it, I am just "aging" it :) - seriously I do have it out and in my conga line of Wips.

Blanket Binge

Another fork in my knitting road - I've been on a kick to finish up some blanket WIPs that have been laying around here.

I started this woven one back in Sept 2006 and never got around to crocheting the edgings.
It will be baby blanket size when I'm done assembling.








Then there is this warmish bigger afghan, mostly crocheted squares, one or two knit ones.
This one was also started back in Sept of 2006. I've got all those squares to put together and then it will be another FO for me!





I'm almost done with the 8 point star blankie. I think about 4 more rows should do it.



And I didn't know but these are popular on the web right now - they even have a Ripple KAL going.

Mik has a couple of great patterns that I wish I had seen before I tried working my brain to come up with my 8 point star. I think I'll be giving hers a try because I like the rounder points on her blankets.

Now if only I can find a KNITTED round ripple pattern. Anyone?

Knitting For The Wee Ones

I've gone into a baby sweater knitting zone! I just had to make another Mossy Jacket and this time I used some baby weight yarn from my stash. I really do not like knitting with lightweight yarn of this type, so I doubled it up and followed the instructions and added some cute kitty buttons.





And I could not resist starting another Free Pattern From f.Pea. This is so cute!
It's an Organic Guernsey - well mine is just plain old Red Heart, but it's still looking good!






8 Point Star Update

I've been adding more rows and here is what it looks like today!

Seeing Stars

I've just veered away from my next project and started out on this cute 8pt star blanket.
It's based on a number free patterns of star blankets on the web. This being one of them.
I tweaked the pattern a little bit to get 8 points. I Googled around and found other patterns under 6 point ripple afghans. It is not finished yet - I still have more rounds to go!





Cute Sweater Update

Well Ms.Pea, here's the outcome of that cute little baby sweater you have under Free Pattern Fridays.

I think I got the shaping right and I used a few odd balls from the stash to make stripes.
Now I need to buy some orange or lime green buttons. All the buttons in my button stash are just too boring for these lively colors. The pattern is so easy, that I've started another one :)




Blanket Eye Candy for those Blanket Junkies

Yeah, you know who you are :)

I finally finished this afghan that started out with my good intentions of making a few squares to mail to one of our listmom's (Gail ) who collects them and makes up afghans for the Rez.
Well I just got so entranced by all the color combos that I decided to make up the afghan myself and I'll be mailing it to the Rez soon.







I just love how those diagonals came out that I am thinking of making more diagonal only blankets.





Answers to Questions

Monika asked where I got those cute little WIP baskets.
I found them at different stores, Kmart and Target. The other day I was at Target and they had some in the Dollar Bins.

And how did I connect the blanket? I worked 2 rows of single crochet around each block and decided to join into 4 block groups using plain old mattress stitch. Then I worked another round of single crochet around each 4 block group. I joined up each 4 block group and finally worked a round of single crochet around the whole blanket.

Sandy asked me about the pattern I used for "Cute Little Raglan".


It's from Children's Sweaters & Hats Knitting Seamless Raglan Top Down: Step by Step Patterns & Photos (Richdesigns)

March KFYS Update

Knit From Your Stash Update

Well I'm doing great but I did have to go out and buy some yarn. I only had one skein of a cadet blue that I was using to edge an afghan I am working on, so I went out and bought 2 more skeins. And that's ok because I had allowed myself to purchase more yarn IF I needed it to complete a project.


This is the afghan that I've been working on using up most of my odd bits and leftovers.
It's basically garter stitch on #6 needles and a crochet edging.



I've joined up some of the squares - these are the diagonals.





Meanwhile on the back burner are these little projects lined up and waiting for their turn.



And I'm being tempted by this cute baby sweater on f.p's blog.

Plus my sister ordred this vest pattern from Patternworks and I am supposed to be knitting up a sample.

Comments on some Comments

Thank you to Needles of Steel for the picot hem advice - I think I'll try it all in one next time.

Pam I have a Bond knitting machine or USM/ISM.

And yes, Debbie, I have tried EZ's Mocassin sock pattern - I like it but it is not that quick and easy to knit up.

Hats R Us

I've been busy trying to finish up a blanket I started. The blanket is taking awhile - so I'll post some hat FO's.

This one is from one of the Cottage Creations booklets - I used Woolease




The Flap Hat from this pattern - I used some chunky type yarn I had in the stash





And a smaller one with less stitches






And this basic hat with 2 strands of worsted wt

A Hole In One

This is why I don't do knitted socks for myself.



Remember these slipper socks? I just had finished them in January and now I've worn a hole in the sole. Could be because they were not knit at a tighter gauge, could be the yarn type, could be I wore them too much. And yes I do drag my feet, one foot in particular because I have a slight scoliosis back problem - so I cannot fix that, but I really like warm slippers.

The crocheted ones seem to be holding up better but I prefer knitted ones.
So I fiddled around with a generic garter stitch type slipper and left the sole part until last.
I picked up 12 sts at the black stripe and knitted back towards the heel, picking up and knitting together the ends of the cuff stitches.
The plan is that when I wear a hole in the sole, I can unravel it and re-do it. We'll see....



At least they are bright and cheery!

Finished Objects

I finished this seaming up my machine & handknit sweater sometime ago, but have not been feeling well enough to post. Today I am trying to catch up on all computer chores, email, etc.

So I proudly present the Finished Object!



Conclusion - I think I like this construction method!



And here is a cute little baby sized poncho I crocheted. I added the ribbon just for show and instead of fringe, I crocheted a little loopy edging.

Pattern can be found here.

Machine Knit Plus Hand Knit Fun

Here's another example of my wierd machine and handknit experiments.
I love handknitting fairisle - I hate doing it on the machine. I've tried but I get much better results by hand knitting.
Started this little sweater - another Mary Rich Goodwin pattern - and here you can see I've completed it up to the part where you separate the sleeves from the body.





I then hung each sleeve, front and back on my knitting machine and knit the stockinette part.



Now I will just work the fairisle borders and ribbing by hand and then sew up the seams.
I'm pretty good at seaming up so I don't mind that part.

Pam asked what kind of machine I am using. It's a Bond aka Incredible Sweater Machine aka Ultimate Sweater Machine.
It sure comes in handy for those stockinette parts!

Sweaters For Charity

I'm still busy working on sweaters for the Cheyenne River Reservation Sweater Challenge.
There is no specific number of sweaters one has to make or needs to make. It's all up to what and how many one wants to make and send.

Being that it is very cold up in South Dakota right now, I am trying to make as many as I can.

If anyone is interested they can send sweaters to any of the addresses listed on the homepage of our Yahoo Group - Native American Support


My Latest Sweater Experiments

I'm getting quite good at working up these small sweaters on my ISM. I was having a problem rehanging the sleeves, but now I pick up and knit the first row by hand and then transfer to the machine.

Here's a little green sweater whose yoke was made first in garter stitch and then the other parts hung on the machine to knit up.





I saw a sweater with this type of rectangular yoke in an old Knitters magazine. So I thought I could knit it up by hand then attach the ends and continue on using the machine.



Garter stitch stretches and is larger in gauge than stockinette stitch, so the top is a bit larger.
I think next time I will try a ribbed yoke to draw in the neckline.