Trish Knits.com

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FO Report: Halloween Scarf

Halloween scarf completed

Project Name: Halloween Scarf
Source: http://circe.canalblog.com/archives/2009/04/23/index.html
Yarn Used: Various, but featuring Vitreous Humor, by Insubordiknit
Needle Size: 13, for the eyeball yarn
Date Started: June 2, 2009
Date Completed: June 9, 2009

Notes: I knit most of this scarf on my Singer Cord Knitter, so each cord went fairly quickly. The eyeball yarn cord was knit by hand on size 13 needles. I actually have a little bit left over so I’m trying to decide what to do with it. I think I’ll keep it for decoration. I braided most of the cords loosely and tacked them together a little bit but I did not tack down the eyeball cord in case I ever want to recycle it for another scarf. I’ll try to get a photo of my daughter wearing it tomorrow. It looks much better on a person than on a chair!

Yarn Yummies

Look what I got in the mail yesterday!

Cascade Eco Alpaca

It’s Cascade Eco Alpaca which I purchased from The Loopy Ewe for 20% off. Sheri is hosting a knitalong for Jared Flood’s Girasole pattern, and well, I had to jump on the bandwagon! The knitalong is supposed to run through October 1, but I doubt I will finish in time. But, wow, the yarn is SO soft and SO yummy… I had to jump at the chance to get some at a discounted price. Oh wow, even though I know I can’t start my blanket just yet, I really want to! I can’t wait to have that yarn in my fingers. Yummy!

Well, I guess I better get to bed before I turn into a pumpkin… just wanted to share the day’s knitting news with people who I know would understand and share my joy. I’m sure most of you know what it’s like to live with people who love you but only tolerate your knitting? That’s what it’s like for me most of the time. Nobody here shares my excitement over the softest yarn ever or the joy of a completed project. (Though I do think my daughter is coveting a skein of the Eco Alpaca at the moment–guess I’d better be sure to count them before casting on for my project!) So, thank you for reading and sharing in the moments with me. It’s great having a community of knitters to share these little things with.

Until next time…

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June 9, 2009
I Love the Knitters!

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of our Bowie Borders Knitting Group. (Do we need a catchier name? “The Saturday Afternoon Mostly Once A Month Knit Group”? Hmmm. I’m open to ideas! Someone wanted to know what our group was called yesterday. Haha. We don’t have a name. How about, “Just Show Up And Knit”? I dunno.

Anyway, it was a fun afternoon! As usual I had my camera handy, and took some pictures to mark the occasion. Click to biggefy:

We were pleased to welcome two newbies to the group yesterday: Helene and Stacy. Helene impressed everyone with her beautiful stranded knitting, and the gorgeous dress she’s making. Most everyone was making something wearable… sweaters, socks, shawls, a dress… even my silly i-cord is going to be incorporated into a scarf. Rhoda is making good progress on her bucket bag, and Jo had some gorgeous socks on the needles that she was making with her own handspun yarn. Of course there was much chatter, yummy desserts, and plenty of pouring over magazines and books while group members helped each other with their knitting conundrums.

Not pictured with the group this time are Amber and Leslie. Not sure how they escaped my camera. Sorry!

Next week, June 13, 2009, is Worldwide Knit in Public Day. I didn’t get it together enough to list us as an official event, but rest assured, the Bowie Maryland Knitters Group (or whatever the heck we’re called) will be in our usual spot at 2:00 p.m., doing what we love to do best. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and knit a bit. We’d love to have you.

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June 7, 2009
Crankin’ Out the Cords

I’ve been busy cranking out the i-cords with my handy dandy cord knitter machine:

two i-cords next to balls of yarn

The two cords that I have made so far were done with Rowan Wool Cotton and Cascade 220. Now I’m wondering if I should try it tomorrow with my Noro Kureyon yarn. Should I dare? If so, I’ll let you know how it goes.

This machine works well, if you use it very slowly and make sure you push the errant stitches down on the hooks so they’re below the latches as the next bit of yarn is being caught in the hooks. And I find I have to put my hand down on the base to hold it steady as I crank because the suction cups don’t stick well on my table. Your mileage may vary on that. I definitely need to use the weight to hold the cord down as it comes out the bottom. That helps a lot. So I alternate between using my thumb to push the stitches down as it goes round and round (I only need to do this every four or five stitches) and placing my palm on the base of the machine as I crank.

The second cord went way faster than the first. The first one took all evening to get the rhythm of the thing. The second took just under two hours. So, despite its quirks, I say this thing is a success. For me at least, the not-speed-knitter, it was way faster than doing it by hand. So, yay! Only the fattest cords will be done by hand. So this project will go very fast. That, my friends, is a very good thing.

A Beautiful Little Song

Someone on Ravelry posted this little song on YouTube on Monday. I heard it yesterday for the first time and it just about brought me to tears. Have a listen:

See? I told you so.

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June 3, 2009
Happy Birthday, DH!

My DH is tolerant, in fact, fully supportive, of my knitting habit. Frequently I’ll find a knitting bag for my birthday or a needle set under the Christmas tree. But, you see… he’s not a wearer of knitwear. He doesn’t wear hats, unless he’s shoveling snow. Never a scarf or mittens. And sweaters? Forget about it. A couple years ago when we remodeled the bedroom we took every last one of them to Goodwill. (Well, except for a lovely cabled cardigan which I kept for myself!)

So, I’ve never knit him anything. Until now:

knit birthday card

Ok, it’s small, but it’s the thought that counts! I love making knitted do-dads for note cards. and this, I guess, is my first stab at a birthday card. It just takes a few minutes of knitting and some card stock and glue…

Anyway, we have a fun day planned. I’m taking DH to see the Star Trek movie this afternoon and then we’re having dinner out. No kids. How cool is that?

Happy birthday to my DH! Gotta run for now…

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May 31, 2009
New Knitting Toy

Today the Brownies left a box with this in it on my porch:

Singer Spool Knitter

It’s the Singer Spool Knitter! I got it because I really, really want to make one of these, which is the Spaghetti Scrap Scarf by Circé Belles Boucles. Her blog is in French, but the images are amazing. Have a look.

I admit that my motives for doing this scarf are a bit more macabre than that beautiful, funky design would suggest. I want to use mine to make grey, black, and dark purple cords along with one cord of my eyeball yarn that I recently acquired from Insubordiknit. I see that the product is sold out, so I do feel lucky to have some. How creepy would that be, a black and grey snaky scarf with stringy eyeballs popping out now and then? I think it is the perfect Halloween costume.

So anyway, I bought this Singer gadget hearing on one of my knitting lists that it does heavier yarns than some of the other spool knitters do, so I thought it would be worth a try. We’ll see. The yarn in the photo isn’t anywhere near worsted weight, and it took me a while to get the hang of it to do this one bit of cord that I have so far. We’ll have to see how far it will go. I’m pretty lazy about knitting cords, and the thought of doing them all by hand doesn’t excite me, but the scarf itself does, so we shall see how it goes. Of course I don’t expect to be able to knit the eyeball yarn on my little spool gadget, but if I could knock some of the others out that way? I’d be really, really happy.

Gotta run. It’s Leno’s last night, and I’m watching. When it was Johnny’s last night, 17 years ago, it was the night before my husband and I moved in together, thus, a major turning point in my life. Nothing so earth-shattering this time around, but I gotta wonder if something’s not looming.

**Update**

Guess what??? While watching Leno I did try to use the spool knitter with Wool of the Andes yarn, which is worsted weight. Guess what?? It WORKED. As long as I went really slowly and made sure that my previous round of stitches would drop below the latch on the hook before the hook picked up the next round. Yes, I mean REAAALLLLLLYYYYYY slow. But it’s still faster than knitting it myself. I think it’ll be good. Yay!!

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May 29, 2009
McMorial Day Weekend

That’s what our daughter used to call it, “McMorial Day.” This was probably when she was about three years old, and it’s one of those phrases that has a permanent place in our family lexicon. And it was a good weekend, too! Busy, but really, unusually wonderful.

After the Stitch n Pitch on Saturday night, on Sunday, we had the pleasure of visiting with Marc, Jen, Caitlin and Calli, who we’ve been missing terribly over the last four years since they moved to Michigan. I’ve known Jen since she was 5 years old, and by some twist of fate, our two oldest children were born on the same day, 88 minutes apart. So, one of my oldest friends and I had birthday buddy daughters. How cool is that?

When they lived here we all even lived in the same town and our kids went to the same school. We all even used to hang out at the swim club together, so it seemed only right that since this weekend was opening weekend for the swim club, that, weather permitting, we should all hang out there, like always. It was such great fun to see them again and to let the kids play together. Of course I’m not the only one whose kids have gotten bigger over the last four years. It was fun to see how everyone has grown and how Jen and Marc’s girls are becoming such beautiful young ladies.

Jen and Trish
This is Jen with me. Of course, as I suspected, I didn’t get the hot pink scarf done in time, but I worked on it and she said she’d like to have one in that color. Phew! She likes it. Of course I’m really bad at keeping secrets and I told her she’d have it in about three weeks.

Diana and Caitlin
The birthday buddies, together again.

Baby Claire
I also got to meet little Claire, for whom I made the February Baby Sweater last year. She’s a happy girl! (She’s the daughter of our former pool manager, and they happened by to say hello!)

Our time at the pool was cut short by a thunderstorm, but luckily there was a family-style restaurant just up the road that could handle a large group on short notice. So it was our two families, plus some other friends of the girls and their parents, for a lovely impromptu dinner party after the pool.

Calli
Look how big Calli is getting! She is as sweet as ever!

Marc
Marc! With Hair! (My kids didn’t even remember that he HAD hair, as he used to sport the shaved head look.)

Caitlin and Mara
Mara and her mom were able to join us at the pool and at dinner.

Emily, Diana, Caitlin and Mara
Four friends, together again. The cameras were flashing and there was much giggling going on at their end of the table. Afterward, Emily’s mom drove the other girls to Caitlin’s hotel so they could enjoy a night swim at the hotel’s indoor pool. I’m so glad all our girls had the chance to spend so much time together. I’m really hoping that we can all get together again soon.

Today was the annual Memorial Day Picnic at our swim club. It was sunny off and on (mostly off), and we were able to get some swimming in before the promised thunderstorms brought and abrupt end to the party.

BoyZilla strikes a swim pose
BoyZilla is quite proud of himself that he can swim in the shallow end of the pool by himself this year. When he saw me come over to the pool with the camera, he said, “Here mom, let me do my best swimming pose for you.” Nope, that one’s not camera shy!

BoyZilla shows off his underwater handstand
BoyZilla was eager to perform his feats of daring do for the camera. I think he figured out how to do the handstand just this weekend.

Her Highness the Teen
The girl child is quite a bit more camera shy, however, and she thought that if she stayed far enough away from me that I wouldn’t be able to get her photo. She thought wrong. Haha!

Hot dog… yum!
Call me weird, but I love taking closeup photos of food. This was my lovely grilled hot dog, shortly before it found its way into my mouth.

So, we had a very full weekend! I was so glad to participate in so many fun activities, and will be sorry to return to a more “normal” routine tomorrow. I’m having my usual Sunday night dread of work, except that it’s Monday. Which is a good thing, I guess, because that means it’s a short week coming up. Thank goodness for that!

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May 25, 2009