Author: Trish

Isn’t it the cutest thing? I was so excited to share that you can still see the wet glue… but after one failed attempt at a knitted note card design, I think I did good!

Here’s the inside:

The inside contains a folded letter to a friend and a small collage of photos. I’m no scrapbooker and I am not good with scissors and glue! (Speaking of glue, I need to run and put the cap back on! Haha.) I need to practice this stuff, but I think the friend who will receive this card, who has been bugging me to write a letter for months and months, will be very surprised! Just had to share!

So if you’ve been following along since last month, you’ll know that I’m doing a rainbow-y bright baby blanket for my co-worker, who’s expecting her first bundle of joy. So for my second square of the project, I’ve chosen trinity stitch. This is a stitch that I’ve read about but had never tried before.

Visually, I love this stitch. But I am finding it slow going and hard on my shoulders and hands. I think it’s the p3tog part that’s making it tough. I’m already trying to decide what Square Three is going to be, and I have so many choices in front of me at the moment that I can’t decide!

Crochet Mystery

When I was younger, my grandmother gave me a crochet pattern for a shell stitch afghan that looked like this:

I’ve always adored this pattern, but can no longer crochet. What I’m wondering is, can this be emulated with knitting? It alternates shells with single crochet stitches in the first row. On the second row, you put a single crochet into the shell and a crochet “V” into the single crochet from row one, which has the effect of putting a straight edge of stitches above the shells. Then you repeat those two rows, and in the end, you get vertical columns of shells with lacy “V’s” in between. Hmmmm.

This was my favorite pattern back then, back in the days when I was a crocheter. I am not a crocheter now. It hurts too much. I even had sore hands after making this little example swatch. The first of these afghans was for a college boyfriend (nobody ever told me about the knitter’s boyfriend curse; I guess it applies to crocheters too!) And then a few years later I made three more. And I GAVE THEM ALL AWAY! I have no examples of this beautiful pattern. I now am much better about making some things for myself. Everything I ever made when I was younger is pretty much gone. Except for a shell stitch bedspread I made for another college boyfriend, not the same pattern. Luckily that time the curse was broken and my now-husband brought it with him to our married home. (Married 14 years and counting, and we still have that blanket.) But, I digress.

So, I’d be really grateful for any sage advice from some knit and crochet experts, that can help me figure this one out, and try to reclaim something that recalls my favorite design from my past.

Snow Day!

Ok, I know all you people suffering up North are going to laugh at this one. But everything was shut down around town today because of this teeny amount of gunk on the ground. But the thing is, it’s mostly sleet and freezing rain, and frankly, folks around DC don’t know how to handle it. The ice is supposed to get worse overnight and I’m secretly praying that my kids’ school will be closed tomorrow so I don’t have to go out in this crud. But shhhh! Don’t tell them I feel that way! Sleep well, and stay warm and safe.

My last picture of this stitch pattern didn’t do it justice at all. I guess it was the hot pink on the red background that distorted everything and made it hard to photograph. So here it is again. I’ve had lots of waiting around to do over the last couple of days, so I’ve gotten some progress made on the thing. Whatcha’ think?

In Today’s Inbox

Somebody on one of my mailing lists posted the following blog today:

The Walker Treasury Project

The focus is for contributers to knit swatches that represent the stitch patterns in Barbara Walker’s Treasuries. (See my library page for links to purchase each one via Amazon.) It’s fun to see all the swatches in color, but I have to say that I am wondering whether there are any possible copyright issues involved. Still, it’s fun to see the stitches with today’s photography rather than the somewhat murky black and white photos in the actual books. I’ll have fun checking back to this blog on occasion.

So last week after finishing the Santa Hat I started on the baby afghan for my expectant co-worker. But I wasn’t happy with it; the square was too big. It was a stockinette square with the seed stitch heart motif, “Bumpy Love,” by Sarah Bradberry. But the square I was making was too big and floppy, even around that fairly generously-sized motif. So, at my buddy Rhoda’s urging I frogged! And instead of re-casting on the heart motif I opted for this plaited cable and double moss stitch pattern for now. I think the heart will be better suited on an interior square rather than the bottom corner. My goal is to show a different stitch pattern for each square; and since I am so fond of cables, probably a fair number of the squares will contain cable patterns. But I don’t want to do too much of a good thing, either. So we’ll see in the end what I come up with! I’m even thinking of doing several two-color designs. And given that this blankie is made with bright, neon colors, this is going to be one wild thing!

Speaking of Buddy Rhoda…

Rhoda hit the sale this weekend at All About Yarn, and she brought me this:

It’s just so ME! All rainbow-y and purple-y and soft and it just feels wonderful! It’s Taos by Crystal Palace and it’s yum! I think it’s crying out to be “My So-Called Scarf,” but alas, due to the aforementioned baby blanket, it will have to wait for now.

I was knitting with Rhoda yesterday, and I commented to her that there was no way I could be getting gauge on this hat, because it was only supposed to take 3 balls of the main color, and here I am, at the end of the third ball, and nowhere near done. Now, I know sometimes that happens in knitting, but late last night it hit me. I’ve made a mistake. A pretty big one.

See how there’s a stockinette band on either side of the cable band? In doing my decreases, I’ve decreased the band on one side, but not the other!! How dumb to miss that! I thought the decreases were seeming like they were taking forever, and I’ve even nicknamed this hat, “The Hat That Will Not Be Done.” Now I know why!

But, rather than rip back more than 30 rows to correct the problem, I’ve decided to ADD 20 rows to the pattern, so I can throw in those other decreases at a reasonable interval, and then get to the point where I’m actually supposed to be for finishing the pattern. DUH! The hat is long enough already, and yes, now I’m going to make it even longer. But in the end, I think it will be ok. I just feel like a total idiot in the meantime.

And here I thought I might actually be done this weekend. Guess not! Perhaps this will be the longest stocking cap on record. Yikes!