Small Projects Bags for Project Spectrum

Small Projects Bags for Project Spectrum, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

I got this inspiration to make at least one bag for each Project Spectrum month. Last month was red, and this month is green. I got side tracked by the lovely Amy Butler print. It his some green and a blue green so I'm counting the two bags in.

Meanwhile Pookiebacca and Pookiewok are waiting for their hand-painted eyes and nose to come from UK. Seems Chewy has blue eyes. I used Sirdar Foxy for Chewy and he is way hairy, almost like Cousin Itt. Hey may need a hair stylist.

DarthPookie

DarthPookie looks a little like a black dog. I wish I had made ribbing for the front of his helmet, but after fiddling so much I decided he is done. I had visions of Pookiebaca and PookieEwok, but since my new yarn came in my mind is on other projects.
I love having some Noro in stash and Sumptuous Yarn had Aya on special. It has a lot of cotton in it so I'm looking forward to trying it out. I still don't have a project,but I loved how Stitch Sampler Stole turned out so may do something along that lines.

Port Shawlette, FO

Pattern: Andrea's Shawl by Kirsten Kapur Published in Through The Loops Ravelry Store
Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock, colorway Port. Hand-spun Rapunzel. Hand dyed SW merino roving from Woolen Mill Street Yarns The fiber was a dream to spin.
Needles: size 6

Comments: I knit the medium mostly because I was too lazy to continue the 7 stitch edging. This was in spite of reading that the shawl came out small and knowing I was using a fingering weight rather then sport yarn. So it came out small and would not stretch much. My hand spun ran between a sport to fingering weight and knit up pretty well if I may say so myself. The shades of pink and purple matched well with port madelinetosh. The Madelinetosh was a nice and cushy in a dark purply plum. The pattern is well written and easy to follow. It is my first bottom up shawl. Unlike the top down and sideways shawls, one cannot try it on along the way. I'm think I like the sideways shawls the best, or a rectangular stole.

PookieLeia

Pookie Jedi 2

Pookie Jedi 2, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Pookies by Barbara Prime
Needles: size 4
Yarn: Cascade 220 hoodie and face, Ultra Alpaca for body.

Mods: going for the Yoda ears, safety eyes. The hoodie was a little small. No holes for the ears.

Very cute easy, well-written pattern.

Totoro with Umbrella

Intarsia in the Round, yo method. I'm not sure I got this right as I had large holes on the turns. I was able to needle felt them shut a bit.
I down loaded the Anne Berk video, Inside Intarsia, and will try her method next.
In the final photo, I had a bit of fun with the PS "artistic" filter, sponge.

Totoro with Umbrella, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Intarsia in the Round

Knitting Totoro's tummy has always been a challenge. The easy way, knitting-wise, is to knit it separately and sew it on, but I was never quite satisfied with the results. The other way is to knit it in, which is called intarsia. I tried knitting it in the round and discovered as many knitters before me that it is impossible to knit intarsia in the round without having extremely long floats and a big mess.

So either one has to deal with a seam if knitting flat, or figure out a way to knit back and forth without a seam or gap at the color change.

I started with this video, but I could not see exactly which loop she was picking up to knit together on the turn. My turns did not look nice like the ones in the video.



Next I tried the yo over method Knitty has another description here. Perhaps I am supposed to join a second ball of the main color in this method too?


I have a problem visualizing words sometimes, and while it looked a little better then my first attempt, my turns were still unsatisfactory. (This link was very wordy so I had problems deciphering it)

Dawn Brocca lists some references for additional information, but I don't own any of them. Update! After looking through my books I found some additional information in Knitting in the Old Way: Designs and Techniques from Ethnic Sweaters by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson














This is PookieD2 showing his good side.



I still have the wrap and turn method to try next time. This method involves joining a second ball, sigh.

Anyone know of any other tutorials or methods to try?

Quilt WIP

Awhile back I took a Shibori class from Darius Homayounpour at Kuni Island Fabrics. It was so much fun, I took it twice! The pieces have been marinating in stash since then, but yesterday I got going and hacked them up with wild abandon. I was inspired by one of my favorite stash designs, Harlequin, from The Weekend Quilt, by Leslie Linsley. I used the Fast Patch Method, by Anita Hallock, being very fond of speed, and the whole rolling cutter thing.

It's rather busy so I'm glad I decided to go for the plain navy squares and just happened to have the fabric in stash! Yay!

No doubt it will now go back to stash and marinate a while longer while I contemplate finishing. Sending it out for quilting is sounding mighty good.

Pookie Jedi

Pookie Jedi, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Pookie by Barbara Prime
Yarn: Bits and pieces. The green is Cascade SW
Needle: size 4
Mods: I was going for Yoda. The ear's didn't come out right and he looks like a green sheep. I knit the bottom in green and then did a stockinette body and hood.
Comments: Well written, cute pattern. I think it can be adapted to Princess Leia easily. I need me some safety eyes.

A Moray Eel

Blue is my favorite color. I have lots of blue yarn. I just have to think of a project. Is it time for St. Brigid? What to do with all my new Beaverslide? Perhaps it will rest in stash to be petted and admired until the right project comes along.

I'm combing the old books and magazine for inspiration. The problem is it's getting a bit warm to knit. I have absolutely no sock mojo. I'm tired of hats and shawlettes. I was going to spin spin spin today, but then in a fit of domestic endeavor I sliced my dominant pointer. I think it will only be out of commission a few days.

I did manage to crochet a moray eel. Blogless Miche is setting up her Hook the Reef project and the wonderful projects and links to incredible Hawaiian marine life is inspiring. I put if off too long and have missed the deadline and he is kind of short for an eel. I got to used some left over Ultra Alpaca, and some white slubby stuff of questionable fiber content.



(Yup that is my pile of Beaverslide!)

Cashmere Island Stole

Pattern: Stitch Sampler Shawl by On This Day Designs. A free Ravelry download! This a well written and very forgiving pattern. I occasionally ended up with an extra stitch that I just knit together on the same or next row.
Yarn: Cashmere Island by Noro. Now discontinued. Colorway 11. 7 skeins. I have not blocked this yet, but it feels a little softer then Silk Garden, but is a little cushier. There were a few knots, but not an excessive amount and this yarn spit splices very well. This being Noro, there were some tufss and other little surprises that I just knit in. The color changes were fun and melded in a pleasing way imo. The stole feels very cushy.
Needles: size 10
Mods: I added a bobble row and shortened the center panel by 5 rows, and mirrored it on the other side of the bobble row. I also CO on two extra stitches for an end stitch.
Comments: The unblocked size was about 54 x 16 inches. I'm not sure when I'll get around to blocking this. Noro makes me happy:)

FO, Scarves

Annis, a new ending. My shawl curled something fierce, which is not so unexpected for stockinette. This shawl is knit from the lace up and a curve is created with short rows. Rather clever. Many on Ravelry seem to somehow avoided the curl, perhaps with the yarn choice and aggressive blocking. I was not so lucky and of course there were other misadventures with this shawl along the way such as the nupp debacle.



The pattern and the yarn were not to blame.

I may have posted about the green scarf before. I have two scarves down for the 2011 Red Scarf Project. I hope the project continues.



The red is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints, pattern Berlin Scarf by the purl bee. The green is yer garden variety SW Cascade220, pattern My Accountant's Scarf by Darlene Joyce. I used size 8 straights for the red scarf and size 6 for the green scarf. I soaked both scarves, spun them in the washer, and dried them on cool in the dryer. They survived without a hitch. Both are great patterns and FREE!

My house is covered with painters, scraping and power washing away. I like living in a house, but boy is there a lot of stuff that needs to be done.

PS: The red scarf counts as a Project Spectrum Project! Yay!

Bulky Cowl with Handspun

Pattern: Patricia by Debbi Stone from The Stitches of My Life Designs, free Ravelry download. A nice easy, fast knit-up. The challenge was grafting the provisional cast-on, staying in pattern.
Yarn: Ashland Bay SW Merino. Hand spun, 3-ply. Dyed after plying in crock pot with 2 shades of Wilton's cake dye blue, and a dab of orange.
Needles: size 13

The Ashland Bay fiber was very nice to spin. Some of the singles were very over spun so I unwound it a bit before plying. Judith McKenzie's description of a 3 ply explains that the singles will lock together producing a fat, round yarn, that is good for cables. I was a bit distressed looking at my singles as there were so many corkscrew areas. I had this idea with the dying that I wanted shades of blue with some black areas, but did not have the black dye, so I thought if I went with a bit of orange the orange would separate into yellow and red so I I would have blues and a bit of purple and green. Umm, well, I got areas of orange.

The cowl came out better then I expected. I don't think I'll over dye it like I planned. The yarn has a nice plump solidness to it. The soaking and thwacking have evened out many of the blobby areas.

I have never worn a cowl and I wonder if it should be a bit more snug. I can imagine the winter winds of Chicago finding their way through. If it was a little more wide it could be pulled over my head. I'm not sure when I'll go some place cold enough to try it out.


Speaking of weather, I wonder if this icky, still, humid weather will move out next week. I've put off the house painting for 3 weeks already. At least it's not super hot yet.

I'm gearing up to work 2 days a week in June and July. A little income is never a bad thing:)

This and That

Number 2 sister and her extended family came for a visit and they were lucky to get some sun before the deluge. The last week or so has been a lot of gray skies, thunder and rain rain rain.


My niece joined my Saturday walking group at Hoomaluhia and the view of the mountains was most inspiring. I love the greens of the Koolaus.



May 1 is Lei Day in Hawaii. My group had a great breakfast on the beach following our walk around Kapiolani Park. The leis were cordoned off until the Queen picks her fave, so I wasn't able to get close enough for any photos while the ceremonies at the bandstand were underway.


The War Memorial in Waikiki was especially picture worthy.



FO: Annis
Yarn: Mountain Colors Winter Lace Jr (600 yd ball) Colorway Wild Horse.
Needles: size 8, 10 for the CO
Comments: I had a lot of trouble with this knit that had nothing to do with the instructions which were straight forward. It had nothing to do with yarn either, which was quite lovely to work with. First off were nupps. They have a fancy name but they are bobbles just the same. I generally avoid bobbles. I tried the crochet hook method which seemed to work pretty well. However I somehow got my needles twisted up in the lace and one of the nupps was stretched out of shape. I was too lazy to fix it properly so now its a little fluff ball. Then when I was nearly done, I realized I had a group of purl stitches in the knit side of my stockinette. I dropped them down and ended up with a bunch of enlarged stitches. Never fear, I said, they would block out, but they didn't. While pinning out the lace, I found I had missed on stitch on the bind off and it started to unravel. Yikes! I picked them all up after the thing dried and did Jen's Stretchy Bind off on the purl side and re-blocked the whole thing. The CO off edge curls. I quit for a while. Perhaps some kind of crochet edging will help? Now I'm reminded why I avoid lace weight!


I rolled up Opal's ball of yarn. It's a big one! Bigger then my ball winder! 8.4 ounces. She can do lace weight, yes she can.


I scored this lovely hank of fiber. Thank you Opal!


FO: SW merino. I was going for a bulky 3-ply. The dye job is awful, I know. The plan is to knit something and then dye it again. I will stick to two ply for now. I still tend to over spin my singles. I unwound some of them, but there still is as lot of energy in this yarn. It may have to become a Slug, but I'm toying with the idea of a bulky cowl. Just what I need for summer in Hawaii, lol.

Mother's Day Card

My mother loves violets...the common ones that smell so nice. We used have them growing in the yard, but it takes a lot of work to keep them going. The flowers were the easy part of the card, but the leaves really stumped me. I had envisioned using hearts, but they just didn't look right. So, in the the end I printed some up and cut them out.

The Purple

The Purple, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Noro hat, pattern by Saartje de Bruijn,
Yarn: Cascade Luna
Needles: size 4 and 5
Mods: decreases on purl sections to reduce the slouch. I knit this one bottom up and tried techknittings method of jogless joins.

Totoro Card

Totoro Card, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Embellished Totoro calendar cutout. Commercial cupcake sticker and printed card. Martha Stewart umbrella punch.

Chemo Hat

Chemo Hat, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Noro hat by Saartje de Bruijn
Yarn: Cascade Luna. I used a little more then one skein of the turquoise an a little less then one skein of the aqua. I enjoyed this yarn. I've read that some skeins of many knots. I encountered 2 in 3 balls.
Needles: Size 6 and 5.
Mods: I knit this top down and went down a needle size for the last 8 rows before binding off. To avoid changing color on the purl row, I knit the last row of each knit set in the new color before doing the 4 purl rows.

This hat was to be for a 14 yo girl who will be going through chemo. I'm a bit worried it's too large, because we all know how cotton stretches and does not spring back like the wonderful wool. I'm going to knit another one with smaller needles, just because I really enjoyed the very soft yarn, and the pattern goes by so quickly.

Ornamental Pineapple

Ornamental Pineapple, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

It's that time of year again. My little pineapples are pretty but struggling. I suspect some of the colors that make this one look so colorful are a result of not enough dirt and fertilizer in the pot. There has been a lot more rain lately, also.

It's almost time for the Golden Plover to return to the North. They have donned their breeding plummage.

I finished watching Sharpe's Rifles with Sean Bean and was sad as I enjoyed the series. Surprise surprise, I found there were two more later episodes, 15 and 16 and one is now in the mail! Yay!

I'm almost done with the credentialing for my part time job. Yup. I signed up to work as a contractor at the Navy Clinic again. My last hoorah! Well I've said that before.

Deep Blue Slouch

Project: Hat with hand spun, improvised top down beanie.
Yarn: My hand spun from Corgi Hill Farms Superwash BFL.
Needles: 3 and mostly 4
Comments: I have no yet figured out the wraps/inch and going by yardage estimates and weight I thought this yarn was worsted weight, although it looked more sport/fingering to me by the eyeball test. I tried various needle sizes and noted that the yarn did not have much elasticity, perhaps due to the superwashing? Based on yardage I had enough for some kind of neck warmers, fingerless mitts or a hat. The ribbing for the mitts never looked right, so it became a hat. I pretty much improved as I went. The gauge swatch lied so I ended up with a 24 in diameter hat. Loving the colors I just kept kntting until I hit 9 inches, then decreased gradually, changed to size 3 needles, and did and twisted rib. This seemed to tight, so I changed back to size 4 needles and did a regular 2x1 rib to finish out. It actually fits pretty well.
I loved the colors being a blue lover and all.
Hmm, I have just enough left over for a tassle or pom pom...what to do.