PDXKnitterati

in which I show you an FO

Posted on June 18, 2010 | 10 comments

FO: as in finished object.

CollegeDude graduated from the University of Oregon on Monday. We’re all very proud of him, and thrilled to pieces. But now I need a new name for him…

It’s been super-busy around here, with just a little knitting. I did have several hours of knitting time in the car on the way to and from graduation, so I worked on Passiflora. My gauge swatches told me I needed to go down 3 needle sizes, so I did. It’s worked in the round, so it takes a while to get much length on the needles! I got about 3 inches done, and saw that it was way too tight. So I went back up 2 needle sizes, and started over. Depending on how I looked at it, I was either spot on, or way off. So I just kept knitting. I’m now halfway through the third ball of yarn, and I’m pretty sure I’m making gauge…or not.

The hem really curls. If I had any sense at all, I would steam it to see if it’s going to hang straight.

But I don’t want to get the ironing board out. It’s hiding to the left side of my IKEA shelves. You remember these.

They’re still this neat and tidy, except I filled that empty space with the knitting bag that’s supposed to be there. Perfect.

Eventually I’ll check about that hem. But not today…

10 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged graduation, Knit, passiflora

Single Skein Club: June edition

Posted on June 4, 2010 | 18 comments

It’s June, and that means it’s time for the next installment of Twisted’s Single Skein Club.

I was really looking forward to this month’s offering, because it’s my design! I was delighted when Shannon and Emily asked me to design June’s project. They wanted a market bag out of a single skein of Hemp for Knitting’s AllHemp6 (100g, 165 yards, DK weight).

I knew that the bag couldn’t be huge, so my usual bag construction with a rectangle bottom wasn’t going to cut it. I took this project on Crafty Mom Weekend in March, and this was the result. It’s big enough to hold goodies from the farmers’ market, or lots of yarn.

The kit comes with a skein of AllHemp6 in Pumpkin. Since I already have a bag in nearly that color, I swapped for a skein of Deep Sea. I get special treatment, just this month! The package also includes this little container of solid hand lotion. It smells fresh and feels great.

The pattern is available only through the Single Skein Club for now; it will be available to the public on September 1.

Knit on!

18 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

sew cute!

Posted on June 3, 2010 | 14 comments

I don’t sew a lot, but I have my mom’s old Singer 306 sewing machine from the 1950’s. I love this machine. It’s big, black, heavy, and makes a dreamy machine hum when it runs. I actually learned to sew on a newer Singer that Mom had in the 1970’s, but it didn’t have this great sound.

When I was at Mom’s house last week, I nearly tripped over something on the stair. It had been sitting there for a long time; it was pretty dusty. I decided it needed rescuing. She said I could take it home.

It’s a little hand-cranked Singer. Mom didn’t know much about it; she said my dad picked it up somewhere. He loved gadgets. Baba passed away in 2001, and I think the Singer may have been sitting on the stair since before that…

back

crank

It looks like it uses the same bobbin and bobbin holder as my big machine. It’s missing a needle. But other than that, it seems to be in good working order. I wonder what it was meant to do? Mending? Just a curio? It feels too solid to be a toy, but maybe it was. Time for a google search!

I poked around online and found this interesting site. It seems that my little Singer is a Singer 20 toy sewing machine. It was made sometime between 1926 and 1950, because it has the threading numbers on it (post 1926) and doesn’t look like the “modern” 1950’s models. Looking around some more, I found that the machine came with C-clamp to fasten it to a table. That makes sense; it would be hard to hold it and sew at the same time. Apparently Singer used to market these toy machines to young girls so they’d remember the Singer name when it was time to buy their own real machine. More about the marketing here, if you’re interested.

It looks like the little sister of my big machine, and I’m happy to give it a home.

In knitting news, I’ve finally cast on with the Incense for Passiflora. Can you believe I waited more than a month after the yarn arrived? There’s not much to show for it yet. I’ve gone down 3 needle sizes, and I hope I’m getting gauge. I’ll report back soon…

14 Comments

Posted in Knit, Uncategorized

Tagged passiflora, singer sewing machine, toy sewing machine

Ikea idea, realized

Posted on June 1, 2010 | 20 comments

Well, that was a highly productive weekend! We have a little room off our bedroom; it’s about 6 feet square, with three casement windows on each of two sides, one wall, and an archway from the bedroom as the fourth would-be wall. I think it was probably a dressing room or nursery, once upon a time. For us, it was a place where an extra dresser and an ironing board hung out. We rearranged the bedroom this weekend, and moved the dresser into the actual bedroom (the room is huge, with a fireplace). Here’s what I did with the one wall in the little room.

I love it. My baskets and totes are no longer cluttering the floor in the bedroom. Current projects, spinning, knitting, beading, origami, and sewing supplies now live in this shelf unit. Totes are in one of the clear boxes, and the baskets are out where I can see them. I’m organizing my knitting needles to make it easier to find what I’m looking for.

There’s still more organizing to do, and my stash yarn still lives under the bed, but the current stuff is all right here.

How was *your* weekend?

20 Comments

Posted in Knit

Pacific Shawl, redux

Posted on May 30, 2010 | 21 comments

The second incarnation of my Pacific Shawl is blocked and ready to wear.

I love it! Here’s how much bigger it is than the first one.

It feels great on my shoulders; it’s a lightweight wisp of a thing. Just warm enough. I think I blocked it to be a little more open than the first one; you can see the difference here.

It’s funny how the smaller one is darker than the larger one; they’re two skeins of the same yarn.

I like them both. They’re same same, but different!

Details:
Pacific Shawl, pattern coming soon
One skein of Malabrigo Sock yarn, 100g/440 yards: larger shawl used nearly an entire skein
Size 6 Lantern Moon ebony needles (26 inch circular)
Size 6/0 Toho beads for edging

Time to write the pattern…

21 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged pacific shawl

IKEA ideas

Posted on May 28, 2010 | 11 comments

I’ve been poking around at IKEA, trying to decide on a better way to store my yarn/projects/knitting paraphernalia. I really like the idea of these cubbies and related clear boxes. I have enough space for this 16 cubby shelf, but could possibly go a little smaller and not take up the entire wall in the little room off our bedroom. Would it be enough? Not sure yet…

While I was at IKEA, I also found a little folding bench which would be cute on our tiny front porch. I actually liked the idea of two chairs better, but they’re out of stock right now. No matter, I didn’t buy anything yet!

Except for one clear box to try out, and…this.

If it’s flexible enough, I want to knit something silly with it. I just don’t know what, yet. I’m assuming that the laces aren’t terribly long, and I don’t want to have to try to join pieces. I’m open to your ideas; what do you think?

11 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged IKEA, storage

Just enough…

Posted on May 27, 2010 | 8 comments

Barely. I finished knitting my amended Pacific shawl this morning, binding off a bazillion stitches. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Here’s the yarn I had left.

I don’t think there’s enough for even one more complete row. Glad that worked out! Now I need to block it, and then I can show it to you. I’ll be writing the pattern for several sizes, too, now that I know the outer limits of the skein…

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit

Bubba’s Blankie

Posted on May 19, 2010 | 13 comments

What’s this?

A beautiful basket from Lantern Moon.

And inside is the group project for Lorajean’s baby-to-be. She’s temporarily named him Bubba, so this is Bubba’s Blankie. It’s modeled on one I saw on the Yarn Harlot’s blog. Simple garter stitch strips, sewn together.

They’re matched at the center, and the ends stop when they stop. The gauge varies wildly, but it doesn’t really matter.

We had 14 strips, because we had 14 knitters. When Lorajean and I laid out the strips last week, we realized that this blanket was bigger than life! So the plan shifted, and she’ll have two blankets, nearly identical.

I slip stitch crocheted the strips together. I thought this would be the back of the blanket, but I like the look of this the chain loops. The other side of the blanket just shows little blips of color; it’s equally handsome.

Edit: Apparently I single crocheted the strips together. I don’t crochet much, so I never remember what the stitches are called. Sorry for the misinformation!

Lorajean loves it! She dyed the yarn for this project; it’s wonderfully soft superwash bulky merino. The colors seem to glow.

I have almost all the strips for the second blanket. One piece left! And then it’s time to get cracking, because the baby is due in two weeks…

Crochet like the wind!

Thank you to all the other knit nite knitters on this blanket: Shari, Shannon, Leigh, Marilyn, Peggy, Toni, Helen, Margaret, Cathy, Charlotte, Sarah and Paula, and special thanks to Cathy for providing the beautiful basket.

13 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged baby blanket, Knit, yarn

Pacific, round 1

Posted on May 17, 2010 | 22 comments

I love this so much more than the first try, it’s ridiculous. Lemons to lemonade…

It’s not rain; it’s the Pacific Ocean.

The waves are rolling. The sun is shining on the waves. It reminds me of Crafty Mom Weekend, watching the endlessly undulating ocean. (I wrote lyrics for a song that weekend, and the waves were in the lyrics, too. I sense a theme.)

I love working with beads. They’re so small, but they add such nice sparkle.

This is definitely a shawlette rather than a shawl. I had a fair amount of yarn left. I’m knitting this again with another skein of the same yarn, making it a bit bigger but still trying to keep it as a one skein project. I’m also fine-tuning a few things on it. I’ll eventually write up the pattern, and I’ll also do a video tutorial on adding beads. I like this “add as you go” method rather than pre-stringing all my beads at the beginning. Have you used beads in your knitting?

22 Comments

Posted in beading, Knit, pattern design

Virtue is its own reward

Posted on May 5, 2010 | 11 comments

That’s what they say. But it’s pretty sweet to get an additional reward.

Dez over at Knitting Asylum had a drawing for people who donated to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti. I won a prize! Pen and tape measure, and a beautiful stitch marker necklace made from Czech glass and shell. These are really pretty, and what a great way to keep track of them.

Thanks, Dez!

I was away for the weekend up at Menucha Retreat Center, working at our annual women’s retreat. This one was filled with music! We sang through the Holden Evening Prayer Service on Friday evening, which was lovely. Some of my Day Old Pastries were on hand to help with the music for the rest of the weekend. I love my Pastries.

I did get some knitting done. See my prototype shawl on my knee, and the new one in my hands? The new one is coming along swimmingly; I really like it. I’ll show it to you, soon. Check out the handknit socks, too.