Trish Knits.com

Tag: needles

…And Then the Tears Came

I was having a great day today. I went shopping with my mom, who bought me some really gorgeous amethyst earrings for my new earholes. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to go shopping together but I think she finally feels well enough and that feels really great to me.

Then I took Diana to the pool where she met up with a friend and I settled in for an evening of knitting.

That’s when I saw it. a dropped stitch, right at the cable cross of my baby sweater. I managed to rip back to the row with the dropped stitch:

closeup of cable after ripping out

But am doubting my fortitude for picking up ladder by ladder and re-knitting. This yarn is so splitty and hard to do cables with. But tonight, I got some encouragement, of a very high order.

I did a search on Ravelry for fixing cables and up popped a message by Janet Szabo, the Queen of Cables, in my book, where she stated that she’s about to have a DVD come out on cables. In the DVD are techniques for fixing them She invited folks to drop her a line and say if they wanted to be informed when the DVD is released, which of course I did. I mentioned that I am in the middle of trying to fix my first cable. She must have been online because she replied within minutes and offered to look at a photo of my poor cable if I had one. (I had taken the photo for this blog post not 10 minutes before… LOVE my macro photography settings on my camera!)

So I sent her the photo, and basically she suggested that I do what I had been planning to do, that is, re-knit, ladder by ladder, but she also suggested that I use some straight cable needles, like the Brittany cable needles, so I ordered some. Hopefully they should be here soon. In the meantime, I’m stepping back from the sweater.

Thanks, Janet!

Just When I Thought my Birthday Was Over…

My DH told me before that something he got for my birthday didn’t come in time. Well that was two weeks ago, so I was starting to think it was becoming a non-issue. But then, today, this came:

Namaste Newport bag in the peacock colorway

It’s the Namaste Newport bag in the Peacock colorway. I know folks are simply rabid for this bag in this color so it must have been backordered. I’m going to love it… it’s smaller than my others but it does have a firm bottom. Great for knitting in the car, which is where most of mine gets done.

It does, however, have an imperfection:

closeup of bag handles showing excess threads

It looks like it got caught in the sewing machine! It has several places where it is stitched with several layers of thread and there are extra strings. I’m going to try snipping them and see if it holds up. If it doesn’t, I’ll send it back… but I think this bag and I are going to be fast friends. Thanks, hubby!

July 26, 2008
Worms, Anyone??

Ok, this is going to sound crazy, but on the Knit Picks discussion board on Ravelry, folks started talking about finding a better way to store their Harmony needles. Someone mentioned that they found a “worm binder” at Wally World and that it was a perfect fit. Now, I don’t go browsing the fishin’ pole section every day, in fact, never, so I had never even heard of one of these marvelous contraptions. Yesterday, I braved a throng of tween girls at the new Hannah Montana movie, and it just so happens that at this mall where my favorite theater is, there is an Outdoor World store, that includes a Bass Pro Shop. Lo and behold, there they were! But alas, the one I found in the store, and bought fairly immediately, is ~~not available online~~ — yes it is, here’s the link: Extreme Worm Binder (Mine is the “medium” size.). The bag is made of some sort of waterproof fabric, and includes lots of little ziploc bags (for fishing tackle) inside. The outside has a zipper pocket, and because the bag itself is soft sided, it is really very roomy.

Here is a view of the inside front cover, showing two zipper pockets. They are the perfect size for my needle sizer, scissors, or whatever else I need to carry.

And here is the inside back cover, which has quite a few small pockets, perfect for end buttons, stitch markers, the little “key” thingys that help tighten the needles, etc.

And this is the back cover, which has a mesh pocket with a velcro tab for holding it closed. Overall, this bag is great! All of my needles fit in there, which is more than I can say for the bag that came with my Harmony set. (Ok, there’s enough room for one pair of each of the interchangeable tips in the bag that the set comes with, plus you can throw cables and stuff in the center section, but then where would I put my fixed circulars that are sized 0 to 3? especially since the 1’s and 2’s have two sizes each, and the needle sizer doesn’t have holes for each of these. I would have a devil of a time telling them apart. PLUS, I have multiple pairs of tips for my favorite sizes, and now they will all fit in the ziploc bag things. It’s great that I can keep all of my needles together.

So, I highly recommend a fishing worm binder (also called a tackle binder or a bait binder) as wonderful knitting needle storage. I should have gotten more than one. The only thing is I hope I can somehow remove the Bass Pro patch off the front and replace it with something a little more “girly”…. My dad would be rolling his eyes at me if he could see this!

February 3, 2008
I’m So Weak!

Ok, yes it’s true… my Yarnaholic Tracker does not lie. Last week, I caved and bought yarn. LOTS of yarn. What am I going to do with it? I don’t know yet. But it’s here. In my stash. That pile, you know, the one that’s overtaking my house.

I shopped at Knit Picks, as per usual, and got Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather and Onyx Heather. My daughter has a lovely purple afghan that my step mother made for her a number of years ago, when her room was purple. So I got enough yarn to make myself an afghan and have some left over for some felted hats (of course).

Then there is the not-so-small matter of the endless brown blanket for Miss Z. I am making progress. I am. I am. I am still enjoying knitting it. But there is the issue of that huge box of new yarn and I SO want to make something with it. The Miss Z. blanket cannot wait so I must remain strong. I must hold my resolve to finish that project first and to work on nothing else until it is done. Miss Z. needs it. I need to be able to give it to her. And I will. In a way I am glad she likes brown and I don’t. for a brown blanket, it is turning out BEAUTIFUL if I don’t say so myself, and if it were in colors I actually loved I might have a hard time giving it away. No, not really. I can’t remember the last time I knitted something with such joy and such purpose. It’s a cool feeling.

Wanna know what else was in the box? A set of size 7 Harmony needle tips with a 24″ cable set, that’s what! IJ at work has been eager to learn to knit. About a month ago she bought herself a learn to knit book and I told her about KnittingHelp.com. She doesn’t live near a yarn shop so I offered to include starter needles and a ball of yarn in my big order, which of course she then paid me back for. She decided she would go home with her book, yarn, needles, and website and see what she could do on her own, then she’ll come to me with questions next week. I hope she has an easy time and can get going! I bet she’ll be fine. She seems like the kind of person who would be a successful self-taught knitter. I can’t wait to give her some pointers on Monday!

The last item in my bag was the Harmony Cable Needle Set. Aren’t they just lovely? I usually prefer to cable without a cable needle, but there are times when the extra insurance is really helpful, such as with a slippery yarn or one without much give. I just love looking at them, and hope they will be not too slippery to do the job!

All for now, talk to you soon.

January 31, 2008
Kneedles!

The other day when my mom was over she asked me if I still have the yarn I was planning to use to make her a felted hat. The snot green yarn. for the snot hat? Why yes, I still have it. My mom has taken up knitting this year, and nearly every grandkid has been gifted with fuzzy mittens this winter. But now she wants to tackle her hat. Herself. How cool is that??

So on Sunday, she’s having a hat knitting lesson. She of course needed the right tools for the job, so I ordered for her, her very own Size 11 Harmony needle tips and cables, which will be perfect for the job. The yarn is all balled up and ready to go. And I actually own more than one copy of the pattern (link chosen at random… lots of folks carry this pattern). I’m going to teach Magic Loop simultaneously with the concept of knitting in the round, so that my mom will never have to switch to double pointed needles while making her hat. I think it will be fun. Then we’ll wrap up our knitting lesson with a yummy steak dinner. I can’t wait! How fun it is going to be.

Of course, I couldn’t buy needles for my mom without putting in an order for a little something for myself! I got all of the Harmony Circulars in sizes 0 to 3, just to round out my set. I also will get a set of the Harmony Cable Needles sometime soon, but only because they’re so pretty. I don’t really use cable needles that often… it depends on the give in the yarn. Still, I am finding these Harmonies to be too beautiful to pass up!

Miss Z.’s blanket is coming along great. Yesterday we had lots of volunteer knitters at work, so the list is growing! Our director of HR gave permission for me to send an email to our whole organization. So, people were coming in and out of my office all day. More pics this weekend…

January 10, 2008
Happy New Year!

A couple of weeks ago I purchased the Knit Wit Flower Looms from Bucilla while strolling the aisles of my AC Moore store. (Boy, was I disappointed with their yarn selection, but that’s another post for another day). I remember having something like this as a kid but not really understanding how it worked or having the patience for it. Now I’m feeling a wee bit nostalgic for some of those 70s feeling things (minus the burnt orange yarn) and I am wanting to create something with flower motifs. Don’t know what yet, but I guess I’ll figure that out.

I am making progress on Miss Z’s Blanket, but not so much that it’s time to post another photo. I’ve gained maybe about 3 inches since my last post. Thank goodness for bulky yarns. I want to weave in some ends and switch the project to my new Harmony needles because the next yarn I have in mind is slippery. Also I want to weave in some ends before they become too unwieldy to manage.

Speaking of Harmony needles, I took my kit out and put all of the needles in the zipper case, and realized immediately that my kit has spaces left for size 13, 15, and 17 needles. So, of course, I ordered them. Also a couple of doohickies and some books. For some reason I have misplaced my Knit Picks needle sizer so I ordered two more, one for each needle case. I’ll probably find the lost one when I clean up around here, but I guess one can never have too many tools!

Diana Knits Again!

So a couple of weeks ago, Diana tells me that her homeroom teacher is expecting a baby. She decides she wants to use my leftover yarn from my rainbow stripey baby blanket. So I give her the yarn, and some needles, and right away, she hates it. The yarn doesn’t have a lot of give, and keeps pulling off the needles as she is trying to negotiate her first row into her too-tight cast on. The needles I had in the size she wanted to use were my Knit Picks Options, which were too slippery for the job and her novice hands, anyway. So off we went to AC Moore, and I purchased a bamboo circular needle. While we were there, I worked on her to NOT use that garish, rainbow yarn for a baby blanket for a newborn. Thankfully, she chose some TLC Baby Amore and decided to do a very simple, striped baby blanket in garter stitch. She plans to vary the width of the stripes and switch colors when she feels like it. Sounded like a plan to me, so we gathered up her yarn and home we went.

She cast on with no problem on her new size 9 needles of her very own, and she is knitting at a fairly good pace. I’ve included the photo, here:

Did I make any New Year’s resolutions that are Knitting related? Nope. The one thing I did say that I wanted to do was to try to go to bed earlier each night. This no sleeping stuff isn’t good for me. Looks like I’ve broken my resolution already! Sigh…

January 2, 2008
The Night After Christmas…

Hi, all! I hope everyone had a great holiday. I know we did. Our kids got a much-wished-for Wii for Christmas, and much to our delight (and dismay), even our 5-year-old took to it pretty quickly. (He’s the current bowling champ in the household.) Thankfully, he still says his Thomas the Tank Engine Carnival Play Set is his favorite gift (from Grandma, of course…) though the older one LOVES the Wii. Hey, at least we’ll know where to find her.

Me? In between the Christmas card writing and the cooking and the eating and all of that other stuff, I’ve been trying to steal as many moments as I can to work on Miss Z.’s Blanket. It’s coming along, but with me being the admitted slowest knitter in the world, of course it will take longer than I ever would want it to. I decided during my last week at work during the holidays that I was going to call the project the “Many Hands, Big Heart” afghan. My logic is that since Miss Z. is a co-worker, that I would let any other co-worker who wants to, to knit on it for a stitch, or a row, or whatever suits them. Even if I only teach a person to make one stitch, their contribution still counts. I only actually work on-site two days a week these days, so coordinating the project will be interesting, but I am hoping to get lots of hands to chip in. So far, MANY people have expressed interest, and the Office Director for our department has said I can send an email to everyone in our wider group. That’s cool.

A little bird mentioned to me recently that I wrap my stitches “backwards” when I knit. I didn’t realize this as my stitches aren’t at all twisted (at least I’m consistent!) but now seeing so many other knitters work on my blanket too I can definitely see that my way of doing things is not what the majority does. In this case though I have many colors and textures going, and with the whole concept of Many Hands, I think it will be a design feature, if you will, if some of the stitches might be a bit twisted. I don’t think the recipient will notice, and if there does end up being a twisted stitch here and there, then so be it. Each one will be twisted with love.

Knitterly Gifties

Santa was very good to me! DH presented me with the long-awaited Options Harmony interchangeable needles. Now I have the whole set, except for the largest sizes of tips, which aren’t included. I’ll probably get them separately just because I am a completist, even though it is rare when I knit with anything higher than an 11. I did cheat and get myself a couple pairs of tips before Christmas, but I did wait for the whole set to come. Yay! I’m even thinking of switching out my metal Options on my current WIP to the wood ones. Haven’t decided yet on that.

My inlaws gave me the Quantaray Portable Photo Studio, which I am also considering to be a knitting related item. I love to shoot photos of my yarn related things for this blog, and frankly, I’m getting tired of shooting from the same old red kitchen chair every time. The kitchen chair has been optimal to now because I have overhead pot lights in the kitchen which are pretty good for color accuracy. So now I get to play with mini photography lights and see how I do. That is, when I get them working. Unfortunately one of the lights in my kit is loose and we could not tighten it and get it to work. I’m going to have to exchange my kit for another, which hopefully won’t be too hard to do. I can’t wait to play with it! Yay!!

Well, it’s getting late here so I better sign off for now and get ready for bed. Hope everyone is recovering well from much celebrating (or if not from celebrating, from doing something else fun on your day off!) Me? I gotta go back to work tomorrow. Drat.

December 26, 2007