Elann Community Chat Center

CatBookMom - all messages by user

4/5/2005 5:21:40 PM
What to Make with Gift Yarn? Thanks for the input. I was a little dubious about the colors and the type of yarn, but I thought I`d ask for your opinions. I hadn`t thought about using the ladder yarn with a darker color, which I think may be a good idea, esp. the suggestion to use it more as a trim to a shawl.
4/5/2005 5:45:13 PM
Elannites` Retreat I`ve been reading about this retreat. I haven`t discussed this with my DH yet, but he was urging me to go to the Santa Clara TKGA Conference. Or even the one in Oakland. So I`m thinking he`d agree to the Sept retreat.

But -is there room left for September? It sounds like a wonderful time!
4/5/2005 6:27:02 PM
What to Make with Gift Yarn? I saw that yarn and color. It looks like a rather thin ribbon. Has anyone worked with the Princess?

Oh, yes, blues and greens and purples are my colors. I took a class in using colors at the TKGA conference here in Burbank last fall. The instrucor told us to bring yarns in at least 12 colors; when I gathered together all my blues/greens/purple yarns of all sorts, I had nearly 24 different yarns!

Right now, I`m feeling really foolish. I carefully wrapped the gift yarn in the tissue paper that it came in and put it away. I just can`t find where I put it, undoubtedly somewhere very safe - safe even from me!
4/6/2005 12:20:16 PM
Circs vs. straight Circs rule! About the only thing that I still knit on straights are fancy-yarn scarves on size 17 or bigger, since they are made with so few stitches. I do gauge swatches on the same circular needles, so whatever effect the circs have on my gauge versus straight needles is irrelevant.
4/6/2005 12:26:50 PM
Skacel Vacation Yarn Has anyone worked with this yarn? It looks a lot like Art Yarn`s Ballet, but a bit bulkier. The deep pink would make a terrific warm-weather scarf.

Wait... What am I doing? NO MORE YARN!!!

never mind. *sigh*
4/6/2005 1:48:06 PM
Posted Phots of FOs I *think* I`ve posted a few pix of some of my knitted projects. At least I got them under the 50kb size! Note that up until last fall, I had bought very few yarns from Elann. It was the HW that got me hooked!
4/6/2005 2:07:09 PM
Flower Basket Shawls Thanks for the directions. I feel the same way about the Clovers - actually I think my first efforts will be on a no-name size 10 that was donated to our charity group and no one wanted; there`s only one or two others who use circs.

`Scuse me for mentioning it here, but you might try the bamboo needles at WEBS (www.yarn.com). The points are very much like the Crystal Palace needles, including the metal sleeve and the pivoting of the cord, which I really like, but these sell for half the cost of the CPs. The cord is much like the Clovers, so it takes some effort to straighten it.
4/6/2005 2:13:14 PM
Elannites` Retreat Yay! Please sign me up for September! When do we need to send a deposit? And I`ll have to figure out my arrival time after checking on flights. The chores will be not-so-bad with others to help.

Do people fly into Vancouver? It`s a long drive from Seattle. My DH grew up in Chehalis, etc. and has family-in-love in Bellingham, Poulsbo and Port Angeles.
4/6/2005 2:17:07 PM
Flower Basket Shawls THREE?!! Well, I fell off the wagon just a bit. I got 5 skeins of the Baby Silk in the Gentle Violet to make one of thes FB shawls. You have all made it sound so do-able and relatively easy. This will be my first lace project. But I`ve got several WIPs to finish in the next few weeks, then I can indulge myself in that gorgeous BS!! Happy Dance!
4/6/2005 4:06:51 PM
Barbara, great projects and very cool kitty! Thank you. The cats sometimes sleep with the sides of the bed up, but mostly seem to feel it`s better squashed.

Making the Clapotis is a good lesson in using a row counter, but the directions are very easy to follow. The Schaefer Laurel yarn is lovely to work with; it`s considerably heavier than Sonata, perhaps as much as twice the size. My scarf is 2/3 the size of the pattern, using 400 yds (the skein size) rather than 600. But it was easy just to do fewer repeats. I`m thinking of making another in a woolen yarn for fall/winter.
4/6/2005 5:13:34 PM
Barbara, great projects and very cool kitty! Schaefer Laurel (http://www.schaeferyarn.com/cc5.htm) is a worsted weight, and each skein has 400yds. I figured that 2/3 of the pattern size was plenty; the pattern called for 600 yds and the scarf to be 21+ inches wide! It is knit diagonally, but I found the pattern to be very easy to follow. The increase, middle and decrease sections are carefully set out and the repeat sections are easy to follow. By the time you are into the middle section, you pretty much have the pattern in your mind, but I think it is important to count your rows and to use stitch markers as the pattern suggests.

The Baby Poncho is for a brand-new cousin just born this week. Mason is twice-removed, as the genealogical types call it, since his grandmother is my first cousin. The Poncho is really good practice at picking up stitches, since you only cast on for one small section and pick up stitches to start new ones. The picture of the adorable baby on the Fiber Trends pattern made the choice of pattern a slam-dunk! Although, I *have* had a couple of jokers say the kid will think he`s SuperBaby! LOL!

The hooded pastel jacket was for a grandson-by-love; my DH has known his grandparents since junior high school. We call Hayden, his brother Andrew and his cousin Rita our `honorary GKs`. We didn`t know the baby`s gender, but his mom Teresa likes purple, and I fell for the cuteness of the Tiny Tots yarn in pink, blue and purple. I crocheted a blanket (I`m much faster at crochet than knitting!) in wide stripes of pink, blue, purple and green, separated by white. So it seemed like a good idea to make the jacket in `matching` color blocks. I didn`t have any more purple so there`s none in the jacket. Since the pattern is worked from the bottom up, it was easy to change from green to white at the armscye and to make a pink and a blue sleeve. The hood was half blue, half pink, but on the opposite side from the arms. That meant I had to graft the center top of the hood, but it worked just like the book said!! *grin*

It`s kind of you to approve my projects. In looking at the fabulous shawls and sweaters that the rest of you have posted, I wasn`t sure that I should post my little beginner projects.
4/6/2005 5:15:54 PM
Ruth! What a gorgeous shawl and a lucky daughter! My goodness, that`s a BIG shawl! It looks just wonderful. I`m with the others in wanting to know yarn and pattern, please.
4/6/2005 5:18:57 PM
Barbara, great projects and very cool kitty! Thanks. It was fun to do, but there were over 70 ends to weave in! I worked the white garter stitch trim with 2 balls of white, and the stripes were 10 rows each, so all the ends were on one side, but still...
4/6/2005 5:58:50 PM
Barbara, great projects and very cool kitty! That`s exactly how the Poncho is made! Picking up for the red edging takes a LONG needle; I used my Denise 40" and the stitches were pretty tightly squeezed together. I know that many knitters prefer to use superwash wool for kids` clothes, but the few mothers I know with little kids don`t have time for `dry flat`, let alone `hand wash`.

Midnight and Shadow are nearly-identical female littermates. Not long after the picture of Midnight on the cat bed was taken, Shadow moved in and has pretty much monopolized the bed, to the point that Midnight won`t use it even when her sister isn`t in it. So I have a second bed just started; it sort of got put aside for the Baby Poncho and a few other projects.
4/7/2005 10:02:25 AM
Barbara, great projects and very cool kitty! Thanks to Bri, Shui Kuen and Daryl. The Sirdar Tiny Tots is fun to work with, and so is the TLC Wiggles. The Wiggles was hard to find, but www.knitting-warehouse.com carries it at a nice discount. I`d picked up a single skein of the red at Stitches from the Heart; they have a LYS in West LA. Tiny Tots came from a rather upscale LYS, but is available at a couple of online vendors. The TLC Baby is very much like Caron`s Simply Soft, silky and easy to work with, plus great yardage.

On the needles are several projects:
a simple K2tog, yo shawl/scarf in another colorway of the Schaefer Laurel;
a wintry deep-pink scarf for a cancer-survivor friend in Handpainted Yarn`s super-soft bulky merino - this stuff is similar to Manos wool, but much cheaper, and nearly as soft as the Misti Alpaca;
swatching in HW Dusty Teal for a vest for DH - he`s chosen an allover cable design *sigh*;
plus the second cat bed.

I`m also struggling a bit with a variation of the BowTie Scarf in Schoeller Stahl Hobby. I decided that the usual garter stitch BowTie is too boring, so I`m working it in a simple chevron lace center pattern with garter-stitch borders. To make the lace come out right, I`ve worked it in two pieces, both starting from the middle, using the provisional cast-on technique that is used for Myrna Stahman`s seaman`s scarves. I *thought* I wrote the pattern down pretty well as I did the first half, but the second half is not being cooperative!
4/7/2005 10:32:05 AM
Spring Knitty Issue is Up You *have* to go check out the new Knitty. I haven`t made it past the front page, I`m laughing so much. The new photo looks like the outrageous, ridiculous high fashion stuff that the LA Times magazine carries quarterly. I`m nearly ROFLMAO!!!
4/7/2005 12:21:15 PM
off to Europe, twitching all the way... My sympathies. If you crochet, perhaps crochet hooks are allowed? I was at jury duty last week and no knitting needles are allowed in the building, but I finished a pair of crocheted slippers for charity while waiting to be called.
4/7/2005 12:25:56 PM
Spring Knitty Issue is Up You have a good point about the bell sleeves and foods! I wonder if it would be possible to add a cuff to the end of the sleeve, making a pretty belled shape.

BTW, Knitty is having a photo contest, looking for terrific photos of items knitted from their patterns. I think I got there by way of "Scoop", which is Amy Singer`s editorial column. They want jazzy photos like the ones they use in their magazine, not just `hanging on the wall`. Check it out!
4/7/2005 1:27:04 PM
Circs vs. straight Since you brought it up, I forgot to mention how handy the Denise points can be used all by themselves; no cords. I have used them for cable needles and for making I-cord, as well as dpns when I just need to work a few stitches. I made a couple of the Crystal Palace Baby Jester Hats at Christmas, and you graft 3 sets of corners together, 8 sts on each needle. The Denise worked great, and I didn`t have to go buy more sets of dpns!
4/7/2005 6:08:56 PM
Barbara-cute BEAR! Doing this was much easier than I thought it would be. The original pattern was written for Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky, on 15s (I think). Another knitter at my LYS had made an 8inch one with worsted and size 3 needles- very cute! There`s now a Blue Sky pattern out for a bear about the same size as the one I made, which would be easier to do than faking it! lol!

With the Jiffy, size 9 needles seemed to give a good firm fabric (swatching helps!). It worked really well to do the same # of stitches and rows in the smaller gauge. You cast on for the body, knit that, then pick up at the bottom for the legs and then divide them - gets a bit tricky going down to less than 2inches for each leg! At the top you pick up for the head. There`s a center piece that shapes the face, and it`s tricky to get that in the right place of the circle (small frog pond). Next comes picking up and doing the arms, which I made bigger around to look better. I think you stuff through one of the arms and then knit it on. The ears are made separately and stitched on.

The vest was yet another variation on the Knitty baby sweater(lol!), but it was sort of made to the bear`s measurements. Cast on and knit enough to go around the bear, work rows till it`s long enough, separate for the armholes and work them just like a jacket. The armhole shaping was very free-form! And the eyes and nose are sort of embroidered on.

I was a bit reluctant to see him go at Christmas; he WAS pretty cute!
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