Just found out about this, and wanted to spread the word.
People all over the world (myself included) are going to be turning out their lights from 8:30 - 9:30 (your local time) on this coming Saturday, March 28th, 2009. Learn more.
I've begun to work on the yellow dress that I envisioned when I originally designed this not-yellow tank. But I've been continuously running into snag after snag with this thing. I'm almost wondering if it's never meant to be.
Now, I completely understand that this frustration is entirely my own fault... I've ripped out this yoke 3 times already because I'm trying to alter the pattern, but not giving it the correct amount of attention it desires, and making foolish mistakes.
I began working on it because I wanted to crochet, not to play with numbers... so I just started crocheting. That was mistake number one. Mistake number two didn't occur to me until after I ripped it out the last time, refigured pattern to be worked back and forth, and re-crocheted the whole yoke and back. I didn't check the current gauge. I assumed that because I was using the same size crochet hook, with the same yarn, that the gauge would be the same.
The yellow dress has a shoulder width about 2" larger than the white tank. Now that I've measured the gauge, I realize that there are 2 fewer stitches over 4" than on the white tank. Sigh.
I've learned my lesson. There were a few things I didn't consider. While, the yarn and hook didn't change, I may have. Perhaps I'm just crocheting looser than I was a year ago when I crocheted the original version of this pattern. I have been going to yoga a lot more then I was then... and I did notice that my knitting has loosened up. And, maybe the color of the yarn effects the gauge? Working back and forth rather than in the round, has GOT to do something differently? Well, now I know... and this dress is going back into hybernation until I muster up the energy to tackle it again.
For now, I'll just continue to knit baby things and hats.
This is the Classic Silk Beret—designed recently for Classic Elite's newest Spring collection. The pattern can currently be found only in their Round Pond booklet. Because of my bulky, dreaded, hair, I've added an additional stitch repeat to the pattern to make it slightly larger. I've noticed that traditionally sized hats don't fit around my head any more. I'm working on rebuilding my hat collection, because of this. It's been fun!
So, I'm working on updating a few things in the CEY web-letter... which means I first need to educate myself on how to do them. One of those things is figuring out how to set up an RSS feed, so people can subscribe to updates. I think I've got it, but just to test it out before making it live to all the CEY lovers, I've decided to try it on my website first.
In the upper right corner of the page, you'll see an orange square with "Subscribe" written beside it. If you're interested in subscribing to my blog posts, it's now possible!
If you run into any issues, please contact me about them, as I'd love to make this as easy to use as possible, and I really don't know what I'm doing :)
I appreciate you guys, and know you all have a vast amount of knowledge. So, if you see anything funky (anything at all!), and know how to fix it. I'd love you forever if you shared your skills!
For my birthday, my friend Kevin bought me Lisa Hannigan's new CD, Sea Sew. Before listening to the music, I was impressed by the packaging. Lisa hand crafted everything used to create it. Her mom had knit the background, and Lisa sewed the dice and text throughout the booklet. I was really awed by her attention to detail and love for the craft.
I first listened to the music, finally, on Monday and I must say, she's one talented lady! I've been listening to it constantly! I can get through about 85% of the album during my commute, one way. It's a rather pleasant way to spend my time driving. I guess my car likes it too—I tried to take the CD out of my car to put the songs onto my i-pod, but the car didn't want to let it go... something's probably wrong with my stereo, but I found it funny, so I just left it in there. I'm sure it'll come out eventually.
If you want to hear more of her songs, visit her website and click on Launch Player. It really is beautiful. There isn't one song I don't enjoy.
I don't want to give too much away, because I'm not sure how often my sister or her husband check my blog... Classic Elite has come out with a new 100% organic cotton yarn—Sprout. I absolutely LOVE this yarn. It's fun to work with, knits up really fast, and it's earth friendly. Some of the colors in the line are absolutely fantastic too!
The minute I found out my sister was going to have a little bundle of joy, I thought of this yarn, and a sweater design to go with it. Unfortunately, said design did not work out, but because of my love for this yarn, I really wanted to make SOMETHING with it.
I was having trouble finding a stitch pattern that showed up beautifully. My original thought was to use a basketweave pattern, but because of the beautiful texture of this yarn, there wasn't much difference between the knit and purl sections... I tried big squares, and little squares, and a few other knit and purl stitch patterns before giving up on using a knit and purl texture.
Next I considered lace. I knit one swatch. It looked beautiful, but this was going to be for a baby... a boy or a girl... we don't know. The lace looked very feminine, and the pattern repeat was 6 stitches, so sizing the pattern would have been a pain for such a small size, in such a large yarn... I moved on.
That was all a few weekends ago... during my "knitters block". I resisted, but eventually accepted that I couldn't design this sweater. Of course, then something came to me... go figure.
Colorwork isn't really ever something I consider. I'm not a fan of knitting fair isle, so I avoid it. Slipped stitches, on the other hand, are simple and can create pretty interesting colored textures.
Before leaving work on Friday, I picked up one hank each of three colors. Then yesterday, I sat down with my favorite of the Barbra Walker stitch dictionaries and tried out a few slip stitch patterns. Before I knew it, I had a yoke knit, then the body... and the sleeves have been started.
One thing I didn't realize until I began knitting, was the button placement. For boys, buttons are on the right front, for girls they're on the left front. So, to temporarily solve this problem, I knit buttonholes on both button bands. When we find out if it's a girl or boy, I can sew the buttons over the unnecessary holes to hide them.
I haven't decided yet if this sweater is really suitable for both a boy or a girl. What do you guys think?
This past Tuesday, Classic Elite published my Lacy Crochet Kerchief pattern in their Web-Letter. From what I'm seeing on Ravelry, people really seem to like it. So, I've been inspired to teach a two-week class based on this pattern.
Thursday, April 23 and 30, 2009 from 5:30–7 pm at Hub Mills Store in Lowell, MA.
The cost of the class is $35.
You may bring yarn and your favorite hook, or purchase them in the store. This pattern will work with practically any size yarn, however I recommend, that if you're a beginning crocheter, you use worsted weight or thicker yarn.
Please register for this class by contacting Hub Mills Store:
Phone: 978-937-0320
e-mail: yarn@hubmillsstore.com
If there are fewer than three people registered, the class may be canceled, so if you're interested, please be sure to register.
I'm totally hooked on crochet lately. Seriously! I tried knitting a swatch last night, and ripped it out 5 times... nothing got done. When I woke up this morning, I saw the empty needles and the ball of yarn all neatly wound back up. It made me sad, honestly. I want to design something knitted in that yarn for my sister's baby, but knitting just doesn't want to come out of me right now. Knitter's block, I guess.
I read a quote earlier today from An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth: "Growth happens whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead."
This reminded me of my relationship with crochet lately. That's where the growth is happening. It's frustrating to see such a lack in knit-related items coming through me, but I need to let that go and really embrace the crochet, because that's what's here.
I need to let crochet lead for a while—see where it takes me.
So, this past weekend, while I was unable to design any knitting, and avoiding designing crochet for one reason or another... I decided I'd just enjoy the craft and crochet for fun! How rare! I followed my Violet, slouchy head friend pattern and used some stash yarn to create the hat shown to the right. I love how the multi-color yarn looks in this pattern. It really came out cute—me thinks.
I considered giving the hat away to someone, but couldn't decide who... and no birthdays are coming around soon (well, except my own, but I already have two of these hats), so I've decided to sell this hat on Etsy.
If you're interested in a hat like this, but would like it changed slightly (larger circumference, deeper rise, etc…) let me know and I'll see what I can do. I have TONS of this yarn and would love to use it up making these hats. They're so fun to make—and fast!
I decided to crochet up another version of the hat I posted about last week. This time I took careful notes about what I did so I could post the pattern for you all to make your own versions! I swear, I haven't taken this hat off since I've made it. One version or the other is always on my head. When I was out shoveling snow yesterday I had the solid version on, then when I came in to get warm, I put the wet, snow covered hat asside to dry and the lacy version took its place on my head.
Also this weekend, I got the urge to pull out my beads and do a little creating. I had planned on knitting with some wire, but I guess the beads were more enticing at the moment than the wire and needles were.
