I have a lot to say today. With pictures & ever 'thang 

First-I received a lovely donation from Miss Laura T. this week of 2 beautimous lap robes for the Veterans. Pictures don't do them justice! 

Cozy Comfort Prayer Shawl

Beth's Little Star Afghan

       

Next-I have an FO! Wooo!!  Scarf-A-Licious is done. Quick, fun & purdy if I do say so myself! At first I wasn't sure I liked it because the garter stripes seem more modern & the lace edge is definitely not. But, I love me some lace so there! This project made me wonder who started the current trend of garter stitch in stripes? It seems to be very popular & all over everything. Anybody know who was first with this recent trend?

Scarf-A-Licious

  

Missing
Swatch

Lastly-I've been wanting to design a cardigan for myself for awhile now. I have this old ratty cardi that I bought years ago & I want to make a copy of it. I bought the yarn last year & even swatched my design & made some notes. I can't find my swatch though. I know I did one because I have a picture of it.

Wierd, I seem to be losing things! Maybe my size 6 straights are with the swatch in the black hole. 

Anyway, yesterday I decided the time was now. So, I'm using the Sweater Wizard as a base for this sweater. I found a similar leaf motif that I think will work. Here's a picture of what I want to make. My sweater has a large leaf motif on the back & smaller ones on each front. I don't know how to make the pattern that I found larger for the back. If anybody has any ideas, I'd appreciate hearing them!!

Ratty Old Cardi

 

OK-that's it! Thanks for "listening"!!

The Summer Olympics are in full swing & I've been watching as much as possible. I just finished the USA women's semi-final against Dominican Republic. Whew! We won it! The Ravellenic Games are also in full swing & I'm working on my scarf swap scarf for the games. Not sure if I'll finish by Sunday or not. It'll be close. There's been too much dancing for me to really spend a lot of time on it.

Now...the real reason for this post is a little bragging. You may know that I am the moderator for the Folk Shawls forum on Ravelry. I've been doing this for several years. It's a pretty low activity forum but I try to be conscientious & a good mod by checking in every few days & replying when I can. Cheryl Oberle posts pretty frequently & is great about answering questions there. Last week I got a real shock. A PM from Cheryl thanking me for me dedication to the group & she gave me a pattern for a new shawl that she's written called Faroette. I was so excited & thrilled! I cast on for the shawl on Sunday & I think it's going to be pretty quick & mindless. Which is great!

I am still working on crochet baby things for Market Days in Sept.

I finally finished the Clapotis yesterday at my knitting group. I was so thrilled & excited to finish it!! Of course, we were all talking & I happened to realize that I had one stitch less than I should have. Or maybe it was one more. Yah, right. Anyway, I finished it. When I got it out of my bag to finish dropping the stitches I saw that I'd missed one drop. What a bummer!! I thought about it for awhile & decided that I was so done with that project. I just couldn't face backing it out to the missed drop.

There was some discussion on the FB group about whether to block or not. I wet blocked it & I'm much happier with it blocked than unblocked. My yarn was sock yarn & a little scratchy before a good soak in Eucalan. It's nice & drapey now.

So, here it is. Done & done. We are doing a scarf swap in the local knitting group in October & I had planned to put this scarf in the swap. But I won't now. Shit!

I was listening to The Knitmore Girls podcast today while riding the bike. If you've never listened to them, give them a listen. They're very entertaining. And even though they talk about things local to them a lot, I still enjoy their banter & review of products. I really enjoyed the portion where they talked about how they get so much knitting done. Guess how they do it? By having multiple projects started & ready to go. That way when you have time to knit you're set to go. It really justifies having multiple projects. I LOVE IT!! 

I am nearing the end of several projects right now & starting to think about what I want to do next. The Clap is done. The Wool Eater is getting very close. I have 2 rounds of white & then I want to figure out some sort of edging with the purple. I started the rib edging on the Drops Bolero today. Since I'm making the largest size it will be slow going with 400+- stitches per round. And I poked a hole in my finger today so I had to stop working on it.

The Rambling Rows has been languising because (a) it's boring & (b) it's too hot to knit on a wool blanket. And I've been crocheting lap blankets in off time. 

I'm thinking of starting the Scarf-A-Licious Wrap. It's so cute. Of course, I don't have yarn for it, but hey that's ok according to The Knitmore Girls. I need more projects.

Have a great 4th everyone! Stay safe with the fireworks!!

The Wool Eater

You want to know what the hardest part about blogging is. It's coming up with a catchy title. And I suck at it. I’m seriously considering just numbering them like for podcasts.

Our internet was down all day Sunday. And, of course, that was the one day that I had great ideas to blog about & loads of time to do it. Of course. Actually, the internet is still down today on Monday so I’m typing this up in Word & will upload it when & if the damn thing ever comes back up. Update: It's UP!!

What’s on My Needles:

The wrong side looks like Chrysanthemums

I knitted & crocheted so much yesterday that I’ve aggravated my right shoulder/arm/wrist/hand.

I’m working obsessively on The Wool Eater Blanket by Sarah London. I don’t think I’ve blogged about this project before. It’s crochet which I don’t normally like the looks of. (Wow! My grammar is horrid!) Anyway, this afghan looks amazing. Take a look at some projects on Ravelry & I think you’ll agree with me. The back side is nice too. It is worked from the center out in a square. It’s a two round repeat.

The pattern was a little tricky. Or it may be that my crochet skills are not up to the level of this pattern. Oh yea. I just remembered that it's written in Australian terminology which makes it more confusing for me. The rest of this paragraph is tedious detail about the pattern. Skip ahead if you're so inclined.  I read a lot about it on Ravelry which lead me to a video for Bavarian crochet. This is apparently what this pattern uses. The video helped a lot. Combined with the comments on Ravelry & I was able to figure this pattern out. Even with help the hard parts for me were figuring out where to place the slip stitches for rows 3, 5 and placement of the 8 cluny group on those same rows. FYI-For the 8 cluny group you don’t make any stitches in the “dip” where the slip stitch is. You only make the cluny group over the back posts of the previous rounds trc. Until this afghan I had never done backpost crochet. In fact, I’d never heard of it. I would recommend doing a practice run with worsted weight yarn before you jump off into your project.

I’m using only stash yarns. At least that was the plan. I thought I’d have plenty of this off the wall yarn that I picked up at Walmart a year or so ago for $1 per skein. It's called Georga Promo Fil. I bought 9 or 10 skeins of white, 1 of a dark purple, 1 of a light purple & 1 light blue. I’ve used small amounts of the purples for hats.  The yarn is very soft, acrylic, dk weight. I’m not sure of the yardage & can’t look it up because the damn internet is down. I also had almost a full skein of Universal Yarns Worsted Tapestry in a colorway that works well with the others. 

My plan was to alternate two rows/rounds of white, two of color, two white, etc. All went well through round 17 when I only made it ¾ of the way with the light purple. So, I finished that last ¼ round with white. Then the next two rounds were white. My next two rounds are with the dark purple. Except that I only have 12 g left after one round. Argh! I think I’ll try the next round with the pale blue & see how it looks. Or maybe hit the LYS in search of a compatible purple dk weight. I still have 3-4 skeins of white left but I’m almost out of colors. It’s only about 22 inches square now and each repeat grows it about 1.5 inches.

Update: I ran by Nan's Needleworks yesterday & picked up two skeins of Dark Horse in two colorways that will work. So, I don't even want to think of how much this small "stash buster" blanket is gonna cost me. Not that the Dark Horse was expensive. It was on sale even.

The other new item OTN is a Fir Cone Square Shawl by Cheryl Oberle. I’ve loved this pattern for years. Somehow, I’m a moderator on the Folk Shawls forum on Ravelry. We’ve decided to do a KAL for the Fir Cone. So, I cast on yesterday using some old laceweight that I got from B several years ago. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 8000 yards of it. It’s rather scratchy & I’d definitely rather use fingering weight but I just can’t justify spending the money right now on 2200 yards of yarn with all the medical bills.

What’s NOT on my needles: anything for the Market Days in September. I’m bad. That’s what I should be working on. I know. Baby things. I do have a couple of baby blankets, hats & one sweater in my basket. But I need more. I know.

Procrastination

I'm not happy right now! I spent about 20 minutes writing a wonderfully fascinating post using Picasa & when I clicked "post" it got an error. All my lovely & scintillating prose is gone!

So, to rephrase....the picture at left is a collage of my first week of Photo A Day. Taking a pic everyday is harder than it sounds. Because you want it to be symbolic in some way or at least be a really good picture.

Saturday is normally my day to clean out my inbox, update Quicken, pay a few bills etc. It's a job that I don't love. So, I'm procrastinating by writing here.

Our local knitting group is planning to have a booth in the Marble Falls Market Days in September. Our last attempt at such a thing was a huge FAIL! I'm hoping this will be better. We learned some things from the last one. Let me list all a few of the things we did wrong:

1. We had too many workers in our booth. It was intimidating to the customers.
2. Our booth was set up poorly (my fault). It made it difficult for customers.
3. Some items were hung up on the wall out of reach of customers.

Market Days is a much bigger event with good traffic. One lady has great birdhouses that her husband makes, another has written an awesome cookbook that sells well. I worry that having too much diversity in our booth is not a good thing. I worry.

I don't know what type of knitted/crocheted items the other women are planning to include. I am thinking of making up a few pairs of fingerless mitts. They are popular & quick to knit. The only thing I sold in the last show was one baby hat. Ok...maybe I'll crochet a few of those! Should I focus on baby things or fingerless mitts?

What do you think?

Photo A Day

6/1/2012

6/2/2012

So, I saw this idea somewhere on FB the other day & I thought it was pretty cool. Take a photo everyday for a year. In theory it will help you be a better photographer. And will serve as a journal. Of sorts. I have 2 more pics in my camera but haven't freed them yet. I forgot to take one on Sunday. Oh well. I'm not going to beat myself up over this. Really. I'm not.

We watched Julie & Julia tonight. What a cute movie. I loved it. Not sure Gary did. He actually said "what is the point of this movie?" My answer "entertainment". Ha! Like I ever asked that at a Mission Impossible movie.

Death & Knitting

Two things that are inevitable. At least they are in my life. It's on my mind today.

Two weeks ago, hubby's brother passed away. I only ever knew him as "Junior". He was 86 and not in good health so not totally a surprise. But still. Now there are only two brothers left. His oldest brother who is 92 and hubby who was the youngest of 7 children.

Saturday, hubby's ex passed away. Again, not in good health & we had been expecting it with her. But it's hard because she was the mother of his girls. So, lots of family drama going on with that.

Then there's my good friend & knitting buddy, Georgia, who just learned she has leukemia. And she doesn't have health insurance. Our local group is taking up a collection to try to help her with expenses. She's about my age & just the sweetest & cutest gal I know. She looks like Michaela Conlin who plays Angela Montenegro on the TV series Bones. I'm serious! She is adorable! She's been sick for probably a year. One thing and another but this time it looks bad for her. It just breaks my heart. She hasn't been able to come to knitting group in months and months because she's been battling one cold after another.

On a brighter note....my daughter gave me a pair of gorgeous earrings for mother's day. They're Stella & Dot brand which she tells me all the celebs are wearing. Whatever...I love them.

We had a family get together on Saturday for Memorial Day & a late mother's day celebration. It was so nice to get the kids up here for the day & stuff ourselves with smoky brisket that melted in your mouth & sweet, crisp corn on the cob.

I frogged the Sunrise Socks. Somehow once I had learned how to do toe up socks & knit two at a time on 2 circs that I was bored to tears with them. I just can't love socks no matter how many times I try. The toe & heel are fun. The rest is just boring! So, then I tried to let the yarn become a Clapotis but I made it too wide & was going to run out of yarn. Although, I knitted on in quiet denial for a couple of days. So, it was frogged again. I guess that yarn doesn't know what it wants to be.

I started a Clapotis scarf with a KAL group on Facebook. I'm using sock yarn & it's fun to drop the stitches. I am about halfway on it.

The Rambling Rows afghan is about 30% completed. It's ok. But another very boring knit. Plus, I'm not loving how some of the squares are coming together at the corners.  I'm seriously considering frogging it & starting this one.

The Diamond Lace scarf has about 10 rows to completion. I think I might have gotten off somewhere in the first lace section but I can't really tell until I get it off the needles & block it out. It's still pretty I think.

I am almost ready to start focusing on designing a sweater. I have some really great ideas & I am itching to find a few days of quiet time that I can devote to it.

Yesterday I made a really cute suncatcher from melted plastic beads. Really! It turned out pretty cute but I need to make 2 more before I put up a picture.

One more thing....we're going to have a scarf swap on LSSK. So, if you're interested & if you're a member run over there & sign up.

Ok...that's it for now.

WIP's & Needles

WIP's & Needles....sounds kinda kinky doesn't it? hee hee... We all know it's not.

First...my big story of the week. I had bought a Crystal Palace size 1 circ awhile back. When I tried to use it the join was just terrible. My socks snagged on it so bad that it was an exercise in frustration to knit with.  Instead of throwing it away (because my upbringing won't let me waste anything) I put it back in my needle bag & went to HCW for an Addi Turbo size 1. Made the socks. Yay!

Fast forward to this past Monday when I started another pair of socks trying to get lots of projects lined up for my upcoming surgery. I used  the Crystal Palace needles forgetting what a pain in the ass they were. Well, after just a couple of rounds I was furious. So, I took a picture of the needles & fired off an email to CP. I was nice because that's how I am. Surprise! I got a very nice email back within 24 hrs & they said they'd send me a replacement. There had been a bad batch of needles using softer metal for the caps. Anyway, I got the new needles in the only a day or two later & cast on yesterday for socks on them. The new needles work great & you can clearly see how much thinner the metal cap is & how much tighter it fits the cable in this picture. Can you guess which needle is the new one? Thank you Andy & Crystal Palace! I truly love the needles. The cable is very pliable & it rotates which is cool.

Crystal Palace needles new & old


These are the socks. All The Math by Helena Bristow, Kroy Jacquards yarn

All The Math Socks

I love the colorway used in the Ravelry page for these socks & have found the yarn online in a couple of places.  

Seriously thinking of ordering it. I started another pair of socks last week and what's up with that because I have never been a sock knitter. I mean I've tried it a few times but it has never grabbed me. All the sudden, that's all I want to knit. Weird! Anyway, the socks I cast on last week are Sunrise Socks by Wendy D. Johnson. I am using Crystal Palace Panda Silk Print in a lovely colorway that has blues, purples and greens. I love this yarn!! It is very soft & lovely to knit with.

For good measure I'll put up pics of my progress on the Rambling Rows Afghan. I'm enjoying this knit although I don't like how the squares look at the sides where you pick up and knit.

And the Diamond Lace Scarf:

I am suffering from cabin fever today. It's going to be a long week. Recovery is boring. LOL. I have input all my needles & hooks into Ravelry database if that gives you any idea. And I'm thinking about paying some bills. Now, that's the ultimate in bored! There's only so many hours that I can knit on itty bitty needles. And why is Ravelry so slow today? Grrrrr!!

Wildflowers & FO's

 

First the wildflowers. They are spectacular this year! Finally a good year. This is across the street from my house. It's like we live in our own private park. 

Next up....the FO's. This is a sweet little crocheted blanket. The pattern is called Corner to Corner Throw. There is even a video if you google it to show how to do it. It's a little complicated to start if you aren't a great crocheted (like me). But it was fun.  Don't have anyone in mind for this so maybe I'll save it.

Here is another Stripe the Squares blanket. It's my second one. And while fun, I think it's the last one.

I also finished the River Slippers but no pic. They're meh.

WIPs-

Still have the Diamond Dress It Up Scarf otn. Last night I started a Rambling Rows throw for my living room. It's a quick, cute, mindless knit. That's it for now. I think I'll get out & enjoy the weather!

BUSY!!

I have been so busy it seems this entire winter that I feel like the months are just racing away from me! I honestly don't know how some of you do it! You work, have kids still at home, knit, blog, podcast, spin, go to Fiber Fests....It's mind boggling to me!

What's Going On In My World:


In 2 words. Flooring, painting. Since my birthday in late October we have been doing some home renovations. Pulled up the carpeting in the living room, office & hallway. We painted all of those rooms (Behr Gobi Desert) & then put down this awesome vinyl flooring. It's called Allure & we got it at Home Depot. It comes in 1'x3' planks & is installed as a floating floor over your concrete or even over old vinyl. We got the colorway called Ashlar. It's a dark (but not too dark) stone looking flooring with browns, oranges, golds & to my surprise a dusty blue. That sounds very 70's but trust me it's not. I didn't see any blue in the store samples. Anyway, I love it so far & it wasn't too hard to put down. Except going from one room into another because there are supposed to be transition strips that you can buy from Home Depot. Guess what? Home Depot has no clue what you're asking for & G even called the 800 # in the package & look all over the internet. No luck. But we persevered & did it.Here's a pic of the office at about the halfway mark.

    By the time we got those 3 areas finished it was into mid December so we decided to hold off on the remaining rooms until after Christmas. That stretched into February. Then we tackled the kitchen & dining room. Oh yea...somewhere in between we did the entry hall. It has been a tremendous amount of work but it looks great & I'm so thrilled with it. It is so much cleaner than carpet & we're hoping to see some improvement in our allergies. We still have the laundry room to do & plan to start that next week. Oh and paint the bathrooms.

What's On My Needles/Hooks?

1. Holiday Wine Tags - I started these back in Nov 2011 thinking they'd be great Christmas gifts. I think I only got one set made. They are cute but I ran out of time & they're somewhat tedious because of the small thread & hook.
2. Diamond Lace Dress It Up Scarf - Started this in early January using Classic Elite Yarns  Mountain Top Vail in Chestnut colorway. It's a luscious alpaca/bamboo yarn gifted to me by my SS- Carrie K. I have had to frog the scarf once because I didn't like my cast on. Cast on again using the crochet over the needles method & it looks nice. It has been languising due to the Irish Diamond Shawl finish up. But it's now on the front burner.
3. River Slippers - Started these in late January & got one finished fairly quickly. I don't love them. Not sure why. They look really small. But I will finish them because I feel like a failure if I don't finish things. LOL.
4. Stripe The Squares Baby! -  This is my second blanket using this pattern. It's really easy & looks great! I will probably send this to G's great-grandniece Sarai. She was born just a few weeks ago. Or, maybe I will send it to the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Gastonia.
5. Special Olympics Scarves - Our local group, Hooked On Threads, is making scarves for our Special Olympics to be held in Marble Falls in early April. Of course, it will not be cold weather then. These scarves are as a memento for the athletes. Our group has committed to 22 scarves-one for each athlete & for each coach. I have finished two & am on my third. They're all crochet.
6. A baby hat that I cast on for out of sheer desperation for something to knit while on the bike.
7. I have swatched for my cardigan project & have a general plan but have yet to begin the actual knitting. I just don't want to start another project until I have something completed. Maybe I should knock out the other River Slipper. That might give me the mental go ahead. 

What Have I Finished?

The Irish Diamond Shawl!! Woo. I love it & Mom does too.

What Am I Reading/Listening To?

I finished reading The Hunger Games. Loved it! I have started the second book in the series Catching Fire. It's good but I'm not enjoying it as much as the first book. It is depressing & much more emotional to me than the first book.

I am listening to Vengeance In Death by J.D. Robb on audiobooks. Love this series!

I've also started listening to a couple of podcasts lately. One is Knit Naturally by Dawn who used to be a member of LSSK. Not sure if she still is but I enjoy listening to her & hearing about her world. It's great! 

The other is Wool Junkies who just started podcasting in December. I'm enjoying theirs as well.

I think that's all I want to say today! Have a great day!

WIP Wednesday

    The Irish Diamond Shawl is coming along pretty well. There are 600+ stitches per row now so it's a slow go but I'm still enjoying it & will hate to see it end. The first lace pattern is totally mindless. Once you're in the groove you don't even need the pattern except as a brief reminder. You can easily read your knitting to tell which row you're on so you don't even need a row counter. LOVE. IT. I don't have a more recent picture but I'm into the second repeat of the 2nd lace pattern so only about 20 rows to the end. Of course, every other row increases 8 stitches so it's getting slower & slower. The second lace repeat is a little more challenging than the first but still easy to memorize as a row goes along. It's almost a Zen type mediatative knit. Ok, I'll quit gushing over it. It was planned for Mom's birthday but that has come & gone. I'm still planning to finish it this month. Maybe the one month anniversary of her birthday. LOL.  

 

The Canaletto Cowl was a quick, fun knit. The pic isn't very good, I know. I enjoyed the knit just wish there was more cold weather so I could wear it!

What else is on my needles? 

Several projects. Seems that I have a mild case of startitis. I was thinking the other day about my progress as a knitter. When I was a new knitter I rarely had more than one project going at a time. I started one & I finished it. Totally typical. Now, I find that as I near the end of one project I start searching for another one comparable in difficulty level. And I always need a challenging project as well as one completely mindless project. As I'm ending the Irish Diamond Shawl I searched for another lace project. 

To that end I've started the Diamond Lace Dress Up Scarf. It seems that diamonds are appealing to me lately. I really love the look of those open diamond patterns on the edges. I'm using some luscious alpaca/bamboo yarn that was gifted to me by my SS this year.

 

I also have started, frogged & re started the River Slippers from IK Winter 2011. But, I'm just not loving the pattern. I have one slipper almost finished & it has been sitting lonely & neglected in my knitting basket for several weeks. It would be a quick knit if I would just get into it.

For my easy/mindless project I started another Stripe the Squares Baby! This one is being done in chocolate, strawberry & bone Simply Soft. Reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream.  This is a fun, quick & mindless knit.

I finished the Mixed Blues Cowl awhile back but have not seamed it together yet. 

I am working on swatches for my sweater design. This designing stuff is hard work & slow going. I need quiet & plenty of it to work on the design. The original yarn I chose will not work. I don't know why but I think it was too soft to really show the design well. So, I'm on my second swatch using Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Tweed in Brass Heather. It's looking pretty good so far.

What am I reading you ask?

I just started The Hunger Games yesterday. This book is so good. It doesn't sound like something I'd like but it got such great reviews that I thought I'd give it a shot. I am hooked! The book takes place in the future in North America. The government sponsors an annual Hunger Games in which young participants are chosen by random draw to participate in a fight to the death "game" which is televised. 

I'm also still into the "In Death" series by J.D. Robb. I'm listening to these on audiobooks. I just finished Ceremony In Death & am taking a break to read The Hunger Games.

Also, reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon. Gee! I am really into futuristic sci/fi type books. Weird!

One more thing to leave you with.... a cool yarn desktop for February.

My Latest FO

Actually finished this little pretty a few weeks ago. I am so freaking proud of it! It's taken me over 2 years to finish it, not that I've knitted on it exclusively by any stretch of the imagination but it was a pretty complicated knit for me. And I added beads which might not have been the smartest choice. Wish I had a good picture showing the beads.

The pattern is from Victorian Lace Today. Alpine Knit Scarf with Double Rose Leaf Center Pattern and Diamond Border. Whew! I don't think I've ever known the true name of it until now when I looked it up. I always called it the Alpine Shawl. Anyway, that book has the most boring & ridiculous names for such gorgeous shawls/scarves!

I had a few mishaps along the way. But, oh yea...wanted to tell you what yarn I used. Gorgeous stuff. Claudia Handpainted Silk Lace. OMG! This yarn is so gorgeous. The colorway that I bought (at Old Oaks Ranch in like 2008) is called DK Green. Again, a dumb name, imo. The yarn color changes very subtly from a greyish green to a more grey and then back again. Just gorgeous. I don't usually go for handpainted yarns but this one was so subtle that I actually wished for a tiny bit more color change.

Ok...so now to the nitty gritty. The book is lovely. They spent a lot of $ and pages on lovely artwork. They could've spent some of that on better charts & directions. Just my opinion. Or maybe that's just me trying to shift the blame. LOL. Suffice it to say that Chart A is very confusing. Look at my Ravelry page  for my detailed notes.

One bit of advice, if you knit this....after you figure out how to do Chart A, remember what you did on the first edge because you're gonna have to do it again at the other end. Duh!

Free Pattern-Cozy Soft Earwarmer

A few weeks ago I was trying to find a hat that looked good on my little pointy head & would keep my ears warm. Nada. Zip. I look awful in caps & hats. I think it's because of my short hair & my angular face. Anyway, after searching the net for an earwarmer I decided to design my own. I like it & it was a great use for that single skein of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran that I've had marinating for about 4 years. I'm pleased with the results & thought I'd offer the pattern to anyone else that needs such a thing. Please let me know if you make it & if there are any errors. UPDATE: There was an error on row 1 which I have now corrected. It said c3b & should have been c3b. I'm so sorry!!

Also, here's the link to a downloadable pattern. Earwarmer

Earwarmer

Copyright Beverly Shipley 2012

wendydancer.blogspot.com

Skills:

Advancing beginner

Easy cable stitch

Seaming ends or 3 needle bind off (optional)

Provisional Cast on (optional)

Materials:

 5.5 mm (US 9) needles

1 skein of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk

1 cable needle

1 darning needle

Gauge:

About 17 sts=4 inches. Not critical.

Abbreviations:

k= knit

p=purl

sts=stitches

c2b=slip next stitch onto cable needle, hold to back of work and knit the next stitch, k the stitch from the cable needle.

c2f=slip the next stitch onto cable needle, hold cable needle to front of work and knit the next stitch, knit the stitch from the cable needle.

Note: You may prefer to use a provisional cast on & then finish the earwarmer with a three needle bind off rather than sewing the ends together.

Pattern:

Row 1: k4, p3, c2b, p1, c2b, p3, k4

Row 2: k4, k3, p2, k1, p2, k3, k4

Row 3: k4, p3, c2f, p1, c2f, p3, k4

Row 4: k4, k3, p2, k1, p2, k3, k4

Directions:

Cast on 19 sts. Pattern is worked keeping the first & last 4 sts on each row in garter stitch. Odd rows are right side, even rows are wrong side. On even rows, knit the knits & purl the purls, except for the 1^st & last 4 sts which are knit on every row.

Begin pattern & work until it is long enough to fit snugly around the head. Cast off & seam ends together or use 3 needle bind off if you began with a provisional cast on.

Change of Title

I've decided to change the title of my blog from Lifestyles of the Knot so Rich & Famous (which I always thought was a very stupid title but couldn't come up with anything better) to a much more suitable one.

Lifestyles of A Selfish Knitter. Because I am. And I'm not ashamed of it. I came across this article recently & I love it. I embrace it!!

I want to share another cool site that I stumbled across recently. Knitting and crochet themed wallpapers for your computer desktop that also include a calendar! How cool is that?

Off to dance this afternoon..........