Nothing Smokey loves more than napping on fresh knitting

Nothing Smokey loves more than napping on fresh knitting
Originally uploaded by Loretta

The purple and green underneath her are pre-felted clogs made from Cascade 220 and the aqua (turquoise?) is the Wisp scarf form the summer Knitty made from Douceur et Soie by K1C2. I'm knitting a second one of those scarves because it's great bus knitting.

Second try at the Modified Lotus Blossom Tank

This is from last summer's Interweave Knits. I saw the changes that Sophie made

lotus-number-2a
Originally uploaded by Loretta

on hers and read the knit-a-long that she joined. The biggest problems that I saw cropping up for people were bra coverage and front rolling. I know that the straigh across neckline isn't the best for me so I set about making modifications.

At Sophie's suggestion, I used the Shapely Tank pattern for the idea for bust short rows. But that pattern still calls for a round neck instead of a V. I knit the first one using the second size from the original pattern for the bottom and my measurement size from the shapely tank for the top, but substituting a v-neck for a round neck. When I got done, there were some things I didn't like about the way it hung, it was too big around, and the v-neck was too high.

So I started over, ripping the first one as I knit the second. I knit the bottom of the tank from the original pattern, smallest size. Then for the top I used the smallest size of the shapely tank pattern for the back and a bigger size for the front. I did six repeats of short row (I had only done four on the first edition) and they fall right under the armhole in the front. Then as soon as I finished the short rows I started the v-neck. I did garter stitch around the neck and armholes, making one set of short rows across the back of each arm hole for better side to side bra coverage.

I'm much happier with the result. It hangs straight and doesn't have excess fabric. It covers what it's supposed to cover, but it's nice and cool. The lace pattern on the bottom gives good ventilation for those hot days. For yarn I used Reynolds Saucy Sport, so it's machine washable, and size 7 needles.

Yarn inspector

Yarn inspector
Originally uploaded by Loretta

Smokey has to check the yarn for quality and fiber content. She's obviously a real knitter's cat.

Feather & Fan

Feather & Fan
Originally uploaded by Loretta

So what do you do with one skein of Knit Picks Pallette, some knitting needles, and a little time on your hands? Just as an experiment I started out knitting feather & fan increasing and doubling the repeats as soon as there were enough stitches. I think it came out pretty and is now sitting on the back of one of my chairs.

It's about 22" across, but If I'd had more yarn I could have made a full sized circular shawl. I'll file that away in the ideas for later pile.

Felted clogs, pre-felting

Felted clogs, pre-felting
Originally uploaded by Loretta

It's such a neat little pattern and these guys knit up so fast on size 13 neeldes with two strands of yarn. Very ingenious pattern. You can knit a single sole for use with the leather bottoms. But there's something I love about a self-contained knitted item.

Bottom of felted clogs

Bottom of felted clogs
Originally uploaded by Loretta

Here's the bottom of the double sole. Cute huh?

Felted clogs, post felting

Felted clogs, post felting
Originally uploaded by Loretta

Well these couldn't have come out any better. I used Fiber Trends Felted Clogs pattern and Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride. They knit up really fast on size 13 needles with a double stand of Lamb's Pride. Beverly Galeskas is a woman after my own heart the way she writes patterns. Everything ties up neatly into the finished clog. The double soles give you a neat place to hide ends without too much trouble.

I met Beverly Galeskas at my much missed old LYS that closed in 1998 when the owner retired. No other shop in town has replaced it either in merchandise or vibe. Then I met her again at a Stitches West in 1994 I think it was. Anyway, she's nice. It turns out that one of my classmates this year in the PTA program is her step-daughter. How's that for a nice degrees of separation thingie.

I made these for a Christmas present and now everyone (including me) wants some. So I started "Felted Clogs for Christmas Part II" this June, but this time in Cascade 220, which also came out nice. Pictures later...

Felted Mittens, post-felting

Felted Mittens, post-felting
Originally uploaded by Loretta

These were Christmas presents for last Christmas (2006). I think they came out nice. I used Fiber Trends Snow Country Mitten pattern. The purple ones are double stranded Cascade 220 and the orange ones are double stranded Lamb's Pride Worsted.

I'm planning on posting a finished knitting project a day until I'm up to date on what I've knit this year.

Ready for Summer Quarter

Ready for Summer Quarter
Originally uploaded by Loretta

OK just to prove that I'm not a complete slob 100% of the time. I did clean my desk in the week between spring and summer quarters. and Here's how it looked for about a week and a half. Nice right! But don't look in the closet, OK? Every once in a while my husband freaks out on the mess and makes me sort through stuff. I'm always glad I did, but it's not necessarily a smooth process.

I actually started back to knitting again that week too. It's never too early to start maknig Christmas presents.

The aftermath of the school year

The aftermath of spring quarter
Originally uploaded by Loretta

Scary huh! but I made it through all of my classroom work, with a 4.0, I might add. I got an A- in Pediatrics, but it was only a 1 credit class so it didn't carry much weight and my cumulative GPA was back up by the end of summer quarter. OK so nobody cares about that.

But I am knitting again. Yay! My first full time clinical assignment starts next Friday, but I'm going to be riding the bus in Seattle, so I will have lots of time to knit on the bus. I cleaned up and inventoried a tiny part of my yarn. Too scary to dig into the big stuff in the closet until I run out of what is already out of the closet.

Here's why I haven't been knitting much this month

Here's my study space
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I'm once again a full time student, spending much time with the books at this desk and in the PT lab. I'm loving the Physical Therapy curriculum.

I have most of my knitted christmas presents done, so the only thing I'll probably knit between now and December are some baby booties for a friend whose baby is due in December. Of course, you know I'm lying, It's hard to stay away from knitting for that long.

Sea turtles shawl

sea turtles blocked
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

It's the swallow tail shawl from the Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits, but I think it looks like sea turtles returning to the sea, so that's what I'm calling it. The bud pattern is the turtles and the border is the sea. The yarn is laceweight alpaca that I bought in Denver in 2000. Sometimes the yarn just has to wait for the right project to come along. I also have a cone of it in purple. Mmmm...

I like this pattern a lot so I'm comtemplating adapting it to a faorese style shawl. I'll be able to use the existing turtle part of the chart for the side panels, but I'll have to adapt it for the center panel and then figure out how I will get the border pattern to fit. Sounds like a fun fall challenge! Or perhaps something I should tackle during Christmas break. School is taking up most of my time and attnetion right now.

Wearing Half a sweater

Wearing Half a sweater
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Here's the left half on. This is going to be a very warm sweater.

Half sweater

Half sweater
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

The left half of the Round the Bend is done. The color is a bit washed out in this picture.

Top half of one side of the Round the bend

Top half of one side of the Round the bend
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Rounding the first bend of the left half. I already like the way it looks.

Two sleeves

Two sleeves
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

I started Meg Swansen's Round The Bend sweater in the thick brick red yarn my mom brought me from Ireland. I knit both the sleeves together because that's the most boring part of this pattern

Lace shoulder wrap

Lace shoulder wrap
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

This pattern was from the latest issue of Interweave Knits. It called for laceweight Misti Alpaca, but I didn't have any, so I used leftover yarn (Knit Picks Merino Style) from the Sunburst sweater. It's worsted weight instead of lace weight and I used size 9 needles instead of size 3 or 4 called for int he pattern. I also ran out of yarn before I completed the bottom patterning, but oh well! I think it came out great. The pattern looks a bit like swimming sea turtles to me. It was an easy pattern to memorize so it was great for knitting on the bus. I'm sure I'll make more of them.

Alpaca silk scarf

Alpaca silk scarf
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

My hands needed a break from the fair isle, because I stupidly pushed past my limits on Saturday night in a fever to get the sleeve started. You'd think I'd know better. I probably should have taken a whole day off, or maybe two. But my friends Renee & Sophie were visiting and that visit included a trip to the yarn store and knitting while watching videos. Sigh, I had to knit something. I had two skeins for Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk that I had picked up from the clearance shelf of one of my less frequented yarn shops. What to do with 2 small skeins of yarn?

I cast on about 300 (give or take) stitches to size 9 needles, then I knit back and forth in garter stitch until I was about out of yarn, then bound off and used the reat of the yarn for fringe.

The resulting scarf seen here is about 6 feet 5 inches long exclusive of the fringe and is very soft. It wraps nicely around my neck a few times, or I can wear it folded in half with the ends passed through the loop. I'm ready for winter (all but the dark nights, *shiver*)

Crocheted sleeve steek

Crocheted sleeve steek
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

After knitting the sweater body to the top of the shoulders I did a three needle bind off to join the tops of the shoulders. Then I crocheted up and down one of the sleeve steeks and cut the sitiches between the rows of crochet.


Here is a picture of the cut steek









Then I picked up stitches around the cut steek for the sleeve. It will be knit down from the shoulder to the wrist, repeating the color patterns from the body (except upside down).

After: A Steek is Born

Lynda's finished zip cardigan
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

After cutting the steek, basting and sewing in the zipper. Viola! Lynda's finished zip front cardigan. Now she has a sweater she will wear instead of something relegated to the bottom of a drawer or the back of a closet.