More socks

I went digging through my drawer the other day and every pair of hand knit socks I have, have a hole in them!
WTH!
Ok granted, we are talking about sock that are pushing anywhere from 7 to 10 years old, but still!
I have been putting off chunking them, as I said some are the first socks I ever knit. But alas it is time to say goodbye,to put them to rest.
Rest in peace faithful friends. You deserve it!
So it is with a heavy heart that I begin to knit "The Replacements" (insert piano music)
I started these last night watching the season opener of Hawaii 5O. It was such a good episode that by the time the news came on, the heel had been turned and I was working on the gusset.
The yarn is Vinca, 75% super wash wool and 25% nylon.
I feel bad that the traitorous "replacements" already have my toes twitchy with anticipation.
This yarn is kinda rough to knit with, but when you wash it, it blooms into soft cuddly heaven for your feet.
The pattern is a simple 2x2 rib for 12 rows on the cuff, and my favorite heel, s1k1 across,purl back, k1s1 across.
I like this heel so much more better( yeah I said that) than the regular s1k1 every other row. Looks all fancy and shit.
Keep your eyes peeled, when the "replacements" are finished, I'm giving away a skein of this yarn. Which is enough to make one pair of women's medium sized anklets.

Ms. Jessie's Shawl

It's finally blocking.
I had to clean up the grand brats room and vacuum the floor so I could lay it out in there and shut the door.
Jule found it the other day and decided it was the most comfy thing ever to lay on. Hence the shutting of the door.
As you can see by the pictures, at first I had it blocked out " wingspan" style, but that just looked way too big for Lil ole Ms. Jessie, so then I pulled it all back in a little bit.
You can do some absolutely amazing things with blocking. As much as I hate waiting, it always makes it worth it.
After it dries it's off to Aunt Julie's house. She is the best gift wrapper ever!

Back to the shawl

I love KnitPicks, I really do. But waiting for my yarn to get here, I finished a lot of my sweater.

It did finally arrive yesterday. Which actually was perfect timing, as I had gotten down to the ribbing on the bottom of the sweater. Perfect stopping point, not so confusing when I pick it back up ;0)

Fortunately I had the foresight to grab two extra skeins, just in case.
This shawl really does eat up the yarn.
But I love it! It is warm and soft. And has just enough detail to make it interesting, while still being great tv knitting.

The Purl Bee: Awesome patterns

Have you been to the Purl Bee website lately?
She has the most awesome patterns on her website like the: Big Herringbone Cowl  for one.
I LOVE this cowl. It looks so toasty warm and trendy. The pattern is something I haven't tried yet, so I think this is going to be one of the next projects on the needles.

I have been searching around the web the last few days looking for gifts for the girls and the kids to make for this Christmas.
I have it almost narrowed down to a couple of ideas, but I can't share what they are.

Though I am thinking maybe some of these Braided Cowls for the kids. It would be much easier for a kid to wear this instead of a scarf.

And these Felted Oven Mitts I think my Mom would love them!

Wow! You could literally be on this page all day long!
Check it out!

Waiting for more yarn, Park Avenue Cardifan

The last of the yarn is ordered for Ms. Jessie's shawl.
Well, what is a knitter to do while waiting?
Knit something else of course!
I found some really, really vintage yarn in a bag of an unfinished diagonal shell crochet afghan, and enough yarn to finish the project.
The rust color of this yarn is perfect for what I want. So to the frog pond the afghan goes. Reclaimed yarn!
This yarn is soooo soft!
The label says Kmart and the price tag says 78 cents. Gotta be vintage! You can't buy a sample yarn for that!

And the winner is....

Dawn!
Congratulations!!
If you're on FB you can private message me your address and I will get your book right out to you.
Or email me at leah @ knittinfun . com without the spaces.
Everyone else, never fear, I have lots more that will be given away.
Thank you everyone for checking out the blog.

Labor Day Giveaway

It's that time again!
I have this great book with 50 great projects for babies and toddlers.
Family Circle's Easy Baby Knits

This is a great book I bought when I was becoming a MiMi every other year. I have gotten to using only a few simple go to patterns now as gifts, so now this book needs a new home.

The rules are the same. Comment below and BFF will draw a number to chose the winner. (sorry BFF I know this disqualifies you, but I got plenty of patterns if you need one;0)

Drawing will be Tuesday.
Because who wants to labor on Labor Day? Well besides a hugely pregnant woman who is two weeks late.... But that's another story

More Knitting Apps for the iPad

Knitting Bag App

This handy little app helps you track a project.

You list your project and you can count rows, pattern rows and pattern count. It has a handy little section for notes also.

It's a very simple little app, but I can see it is going to be very handy!

Nifty little knitting app for iPad or iPhone

If you have an iPad you really should check this out.
This app stores your PDF patterns and has a nifty little bar you can turn on and move from line to line to mark your place in a pattern. For lace knitting, highlighting your rows is a must!

In all honesty, I downloaded the free version, but I like it so much, I'm seriously thinking about paying the 9.99 for the pro version.
When you get time, check it out. I think you will like it.

Jknit

Ms. Jessie's Shawl

Finally finished the increases
Now 15 rows of straight knitting, then start the decreases.

My Next Project: Park Ave Cardigan

Messing around on Ravelry, I found this absolutely awesome pattern at the One Crafty Mama blog.

 

This pattern looks absolutely perfect for me. 

It's knit in one piece, it has a little bit of waist and hip shaping, and no buttons, button bands or seams!

Perfect!

As soon as I am finished with Ms. Jessie's Shawl  I am going to start this with some wool.

I love sweaters, I love them so much, I wear them in the dead of our 100 degree, 100% humidity heat.(it stays very, very cold where I work)

I am going to be pulling another magazine, or book, from my shelves this weekend so keep your eyes peeled. Another giveaway is coming soon!

Cool tag

The Cost of Knitting

Now I know that the cost of everything is going up. Lord knows I can't even hit up Wally World anymore for under a hundred bucks.
What I have noticed lately, that the cost of yarn has sky rocketed!
Eventually knitting, with nice wools,cottons and lace yarns, will become a hobby for the elite.
In the interest of full disclosure, everyone knows I have more yarn than I will ever be able to use.
Now I'm seeing my stash in a whole new light.
Ten years ago when the stash was still very substantial, if I saw some beautiful yarn that I just "had to have" I bought it.
Now? If I don't have it in my stash, I usually don't knit it, unless it's with some cheap acrylic from Walmart.
No more wool blankets and Egyptian cotton sweaters from me. Now it's all acrylic.
In acrylic's defense there are plenty of yarns that are soft and cuddly and a pleasure to work with.

I did find some decent prices still at Knitpicks and that seems to be the place I will be getting all my "non cheap" yarn ;0)
I think it will be a long time before I purchase any LL's or any other designer named yarn again. ;0(
And Lord, don't get me started about the rocketing cost of patterns, pdf patterns, all written edited, emailed on the computer, patterns. whew!

3rd Skein On

63 sts on the body.
It's funny, when I first started knitting, it seemed like those 24 sts that you have to short row twice took forever. Now that I am up to 63 sts on the body, it seems like I breeze right through them.
I am a little over half way to half way ;0)
I'm going to put on 100 body sts before the center panel.
Yes, that is Jule, she had to touch it.

One skein down

The first skein is on the shawl.
38 body sts
It really is an easy pattern, once you decipher the designers notes.
And it takes a few rows for you to get your head around the fact that you are knitting this shawl sideways.
Once your past all that, it is easy knitting all the way.
Yes I know it's 5 in the a.m. But I have been up since 315 so, half my day is over already! Lol

Fourth times a charm

I don't know why I can never just start a project and finish it.
You start with ten body sts and increase one st ever 7th row.
Last night I started and got all the way up to 25 body sts and decided this was a really great shawl, but Ms Jessie is turning 100 she needs something fancier.
So I frogged all those sts, found a lace pattern that looked easy enough for me and started that.
By the time I got to row 20 I decided Ms Jessie is going to be 100 years old, she doesn't need lacey, she needs something warm.
So after work today I frogged all those sts and started back with the first shawl.
Then I got back up to 18 body sts and decided the fabric wasn't "drapey" enough and frogged all those sts and started back over on size 8 needles.
I think I am settled now, but I have noticed, I always knit this way.
I wish I could be one of those knitters who have it all figured out before they start!

Yarn has arrived

The yarn for Ms. Jessie's shawl arrived while I was on a whirlwind trip to Vermont.
Had it come in one day earlier, Brat #1 would not have had to deal with all my stress and I would have been at least half finished by the time we arrived back home. ;0)
Anyway, it's time to get knitting, the pattern looks simple enough and I love that the ruffle is knitted along with the shawl.
Will post progress pics as I go

On to Ms. Jessie's 100th Birthday Shawl

My boss's Mom, Ms.Jessie will be 100 years old in October!
Just...... wow!
Ms. Jessie is the sweetest lady and the Grandbrats love her to pieces.
I knew she was coming up on a hundred because it's only been a few years ago she got her license renewed and we all joked about how she was up for renewal again when she turned 100.
And now here we are.

I wanted to knit her something special, and I know how she gets cold so easy now, so I talked to my boss and found out her favorite color is hot pink. Of all colors!

Then I went on a Ravelry hunt for the perfect pattern.
It took me a while, I have been looking and thinking about this since May!
Then I found the Gentle Wave Shawl Pattern
This was it! It looked easy enough to knit and will definitely keep her warm.

Then it was on to the yarn.
My first choice? Knitpicks of course.
The pattern calls for a gauge of 24 sts to 4" on size 5 needles with a light fingering weight yarn.
Well, I don't know how or why it works out for me this way, but I always, always get the gauge called for on the yarn package. So, looking around at fingering weight yarn I found that they were all 24sts to 4" on size 1 to 3 needles. Well poop! If I go from the largest, a 3, all the way up to a 5, I am going to have a lace shawl, and that was not what I wanted.
Then I found this yarn

 Knitpicks Stroll Sport

In this color

Perfect! 75% machine washable wool and 25% nylon. No worrying about washing, it's very soft, and gauge was bang on!
Not bad, not bad at all!
And! no hot pink! I got as close as I could to a bright pink color with what they had.
I think she will like it. The whole thing, with the 2 day shipping was only $38.
So I think I did pretty good on this project so far.

Car Seat Blanket

I took the yarn leftover from making these three little hats, and made Mary a car seat blanket.

It's much smaller than a regular blanket for easy use in a car seat.


The pattern was very easy and simple.

download now

Burp cloths for Mary

I told you I would post the cloths I have been working on for Mary.

I am pushing the limit now, Brat#1 will be leaving Tuesday to get the kids and these have to be finished by then so she can take them with her.

The first cloth is a snowman pattern from over at Frogiez Place

She has some of my favorite patterns, including the Tree Frog towel I made for Brat #1 for Christmas a few years ago. Pictures of that can be found Frog Towel

The second towel is the almost finished product from the pattern in my last post.

It is super simple to turn any cloth into a towel, you just follow the pattern as written until the top border, omitting that, you add about ten or fifteen rows of st st knitting, depending on how long you want your cloth to be, then follow the pattern back from end to beginning.

For example, using Frogiez pattern
CO 37
Follow pattern rows 1 thru 45
St st for ten rows
Follow pattern rows 45 back to 1

That's it, easy, easy.
Go ahead and give it a try with some of your favorite cloth patterns.
These make great gifts.
And if you have spares, I never have enough time to finish all the ones my girls want, I'll send you my address ;0)