Posts from — August 2006

Get you mind out of the gutter! I’m talkin’ twisted i-cord baby. I never event thought about doing this before until I met a new knitting buddy. She mentioned she’d like to use it for a felted bag and I had never really heard of it before. Twisting together two separate i-cords of different colors is one thing, but knitting a two color i-cord that looks twisted is another. I finally found the “recipe” on one of the knitting forums. It goes a little something like this. You’ll need two different colors of yarn (duh).

For this example, I’ll use black and red. As in regular i-cord, don’t turn the work at the end of each row. Just slide the work to the opposite end and begin the next row.

Cast on 4 red
Row 1: K2 red, K2 black
Row 2: K1 black, K2 red, K1 black
Row 3: K2 black, K2 red
Row 4: K1 red, K2 black, K1 red
Repeat rows 1-4 until desired length is achieved.  Embrace the twisted i-cord, for it is good.
I can’t believe I didn’t post the completely finished bag, lining, strap, zipper and all.  Oh and about the lining…it’s really better to sew the lining and zipper in at the same time if you can stand it (tough on the hands).  I didn’t do that this time and I would much rather have the zipper hidden by the lining.

It’s high time over here at Chez Procrastinator that I have another FO. (oh, sorry, still no smilies…I know that is upsetting…just picture cute icons where ever there is a :word: between colons) This has ONLY been on the needles for a couple of months. Oh sure, I have projects that have been OTN even longer than that, but for whatever reason, this one drove me insane. I am talking of course, about “the tank.” Yes, only one month from the fall equinox it is complete. Fortunately the weather around here does not pay attention to such rules of nature. So here I am with my head not even chopped off in my summery tank. Not my favorite knit top ever, but not bad. In case you’ve forgotten (I almost did) the yarn is Lang Yarns “Lea”, 56% Cotton and 44% Nylon. It’s a good thing I did wait to attach the straps because the blocking did stretch them and I would have had to find an 8 foot tall friend to give this to. I like the color changes in the yarn (you can see the patterning much better in the picture on the right) but I’m not wild about the gauge. Even after blocking the cotton parts and the Nylon parts look a little different and wonky compared to each other. Just don’t look too close.

And now…my NEW TOY! One of my very favorite knit blog babes sent me this. La! It’s a Chibi, but not just any Chibi. It’s the elusive orange Chibi. Not only that…it has smaller silver (my favorite) needles instead of the huge gold needle with teeth marks (BAD doggie)!

Why are my smilies not showing in the comments or posts despite being shown on the page?  Anyone good with Wordpress?  It’s weird because once a comment or post is posted, the url for the image is totally wacky.  If you happen to know anything about this, please let me know!

:treadmill:Blocking is magic, but first…what a GORGEOUS day! We finally got a front that made this really hot and humid weather go away. It was about 65 degrees this morning and relatively crisp, so we took the dogs for a 6 mile walk. It was still hot towards the end, but it’s amazing how much better both of the dogs do when it’s cooler (and us too for that matter)!

On to the blocking…I’m always amazed how different knitting can look once it’s subjected to water. Someday I really must swatch and wet my fabric BEFORE jumping into the knitting. I finally made myself focus on the tank yesterday. Silly, really…I had the border done in no time. It’s just a simple scallop border from the Knitter’s Bible. I should be embarrassed that this has been sitting 7/8 finished just waiting to be worn in the summer sun when it only took about a 1/2 hour to get it finished.

The only problem now is that the tank has grown quite a bit. Unfortunately, it’s still too wet to try on today but I’m glad I waited after blocking to attach the straps. At least I’ll be able to control the length a bit with the straps.

What to knit now is the question! I have my new slippers, the dreaded tank is finally done and there are plenty of socks for the moment. I’d really like to design a nice holiday sweater set for this yummy Catalina Baby Silk. After all, I really NEED to knit with it…that way I can more intelligently comment on the fiber when everyone comes flocking to but it, right?:rofl:

I hate it when I am so completely stupid! Will I EVER learn that when writing anything longer than a couple of sentences for a blog post one should hit the SAVE button??? There is nothing worse than having a particularly witty somewhat lengthy post going only to have your silly Firefox browser suddenly crash. Now you’ll just have to get the uninspired crappy version of this story since I am now a little grumpy at my ineptitude and unable to reproduce the fabulous post with which I was about to dazzle you. At least I could remember my silly title. *hit save button idiot*

Ahem…ok. So, it’s a good thing that I’ve recently overcome the knitting funk…one of my most worn pieces of knitting was recently in a little accident. My clogs were just sitting there in the middle of my bedroom minding their own business when Bodhi came along and decided they looked like a rawhide chew. The first round produced only minor damage. I can live with one toe poking out…no big deal. However, there was a second round of damage a couple of weeks later that made a new pair of clogs more of a necessity. Still wearable, yes, but a little uncomfortable with most of the sole missing. I think my subconscious may have been at work here. I was never a huge fan of this pair of clogs since I made them of leftovers and made the smaller size to save yarn. The result was a functional if not very thickly felted pair of clogs. I yearned to have thick brightly colored clogs but how could I possibly justify making more when I already had a pair that was perfectly functional? How indeed…by “accidentally” leaving the offending clogs where they could be attacked by canines that can’t possibly pass up the opportunity to gnaw on something that has so much of “mom’s” smell on it? Yes, the perfect plan.

So now, out of my knitting funk, I was able to execute the replacement of my well worn clogs. I am much happier about this pair since I was able to choose whatever wild colors my heart desired and make the largest woman’s size so as to end up with a thickly felted clog. This pattern never ceases to amaze me with its fabulously written instructions and huge un-felted size. I chose Cascade 220 colors 9468, 7814 and 9468 to create my bright and happy Fiber Trends Clogs. I am wearing them as I write and couldn’t be happier with the result.  Even though these are perfect, I know they will be worn so much that yet another pair can’t be too far in the future. I love this pattern so much that I fully intend to get it for the store. In fact, I may just have to go dig up that information right now. Especially now that I have the Cascade 220 it makes perfect sense that I should have this pattern available.

Well, I finally busted out of my knitting funk! Whatever good mojo and potions you guys sent my way must’ve finally worked.

This is my first Noni bag and I am very happy with the results. The patterns are very well written and easy to follow. This is the sculpture bag with an unfurling rose. It was also a very quick knit. I did the bag Tuesday night in front of the television and the rose in a couple of hours between work and emails yesterday. These would make great Christmas gifts! GADS…can you believe it’s already August? Definitely time to start thinking about holiday knitting.

I think I’m going to line the bag and I haven’t decided what to do about a handle yet. Really, I’m much more of a strap girl…so I’ll have to decide if I want to knit one or use something like a silver chain. I may try a twisted i-cord with the green and black (although I HATE i-cord, I think it would look great).

I started something else last night (yes, I am now officially on a roll). Due to a small incident my clogs had with a resident canines, I am in need of a new pair. Really, the old pair was pretty pitiful anyway. Made of left overs and not even so much the right size as to make them thickly felted. I almost got one of the new clogs finished last night. Maybe taking a shot break from knitting was a good thing…recharge the knitting batteries and creative senses?