Woven Baby Blanket

This little blanket was woven on a Beka rigid heddle loom using a 10 dpi heddle. The woven part is variegated Bernat Softee Baby in the "pink parade" colourway. The crocheted edge is made in the same yarn but in the solid pink colour.

The woven portion has a beautiful, soft drape. To improve the drape of the edging I used a relatively unknown technique for blocking acrylic yarns. I "killed' the finished edging by blocking it with steam before it was machine sewn to the woven section. Now it's as soft and flowing as the woven part.

Weaving Samples

I purchased Betty Lynn Davenport's revised book, "Textures and Patterns for the Rigid Heddle" and have been exploring some of the learning experiments.

My first 11 samples are done in worsted weight wool with the 8 dpi heddle. The first 10 are experiments with creating varying lengths of floats using a pick up stick.




Before reading through the instructions in the book I never realized how EASY it is to weave using a pick up stick. I always thought that for every row a pick up stick was used you had to go across picking up all those threads each and every time. NOT SO. For the first 10 samples I picked up the warp threads ONCE. The pick up stick is then left resting, in place, behind the heddle until it is used again.

For the last sample, a 3/1 lace, it required a different pattern of threads picked up, but after picking them up once I was able to weave it off, just bringing the pick up stick forward when needed. Fantastic! I love my little rigid heddle loom.

Masters Monday - 2.19

I've finished the back of the Masters Level II vest, and I'm working on the left front piece.

It's up to the neckline shaping and underarm now. The way I have the neckline shaping written out doesn't look as good as I thought it would so I have paused for a bit while I consider the alternatives.

As I show this as a work in progress keep in mind that these pieces are not blocked. Hopefully any irregularities will be reduced in the blocking.

Masters Monday - 2.18

Just when you thought I had been reduced to a crawl with the TKGA Master Knitter program, I rallied this week with a sudden burst of speed.

Frustrated with last week's yarn purchase I did some checking and returned to my original yarn choice for the Masters Level II vest. I had abandoned it before, thinking that it was too thick for the program's requirement of double knitting to worsted weight yarn. I considered the yarn I had to be more like an Aran weight. I went back and double checked the TKGA directions and then went to the Yarn Standards website and discovered that there are two weight classes that are considered to be "worsted weight". The one I normally associate with worsted weight is actually "#3, DK Light Worsted", but there is a second category "#4, Worsted, Afghan, Aran" and I am well within the stitch gauge range for the #4 class. The definitions at the Yarn Standards website are accepted by TKGA so this yarn will be fine.

The yarn still doesn't work for my selected pattern though so I had more than a little additional work ahead of me. First off I had to do a large amount of sampling. I started with the attempt to find a nice gauge for this yarn. On the left in the above picture I started with small needles and worked my way up (the swatch is actually upside down....the pattern stitch section should be at the top) to larger needles until I found a gauge that gave good stitch formation and the required fluidity in the knitted fabric. I then made sure that needle size also looked good in the pattern stitch.

The second rather sloppy looking swatch is a variety of tests I needed to make before rewriting the pattern to suit the yarn. I checked that the yarn looked okay for my planned tubular cast on and that I was able to neatly seam tubular cast on. I also experimented with various selvedge treatments and with moving the stitch repeat to different sections to find my best seaming options. These swatches are for my own benefit and don't have to be handed in so I placed some seams on one side and some on the other because I was also checking to see which side of the pattern stitch I liked best.

Then I came to my next hurdle when I wound the skeins into balls.

This WAS 5 skeins of yarn. EVERY single skein had at least 3 knots.....meaning for each skein I ended up with 4 mini balls rather than the one large, 4 ounce ball I expected. Some of the knots were only a few inches apart! VERY unacceptable. I will be writing a letter of complaint.

Despite fears that I may run out of yarn (all those extra yarn joins are going to really eat up the yardage) I have decided to get started. What I can't show here is all the hours I spent rewriting my chosen pattern to reflect my change in gauge, centering of the pattern, cast on, and personal sizing. My new custom pattern is a reflection of the design elements in the original pattern reworked with Sweater Wizard software, and then copied into a word program where I redid and expanded upon the wording for clarity.

I will likely be finished the back piece today.

Masters Monday - 2.17

This yarn has made me very angry, very angry indeed!

Another attempt at buying yarn for my Master Knitter Level II Vest...

~~~~~Kaploooeeee!~~~~~

I thought this yarn would work. The gauge was right. The colour was right. The price was right. But the feel......~~shudder~~.....how did I overlook the feel of the stuff? In the store I managed to convince myself that the feel was "rustic", perfect for the casual vest I have in mind. After getting the yarn home, washing it, (yup, I washed it....not returnable now!), and knitting up a swatch I realized that knitting with this stuff would be like spending hours and hours (many days actually) scraping my fingernails down a chalkboard. The feel of this "Briggs and Little, Regal" running through my fingers makes me cringe. While I wouldn't say it's actually scratchy, it feels dry and ...... raspy?

I could cringe and bear it and suffer through the knitting if I thought it would otherwise work up nicely for the vest, but look at those stitches! Horrid. They don't nestle into each other nicely or plump up. No "bounce". The knitting has uneven gaps and misshapen stitches. It looks about as lovely as knitted twine. Ugh. Must find something else.

This crud will be set aside for a weaving, most likely something that will be fulled or felted. At least with weaving you don't have to actually touch the stuff as much as you do with knitting!

Excuses

Okay, okay. So this photo of an old, old finished project (the wall quilt is almost 20 years old!) Is just an excuse to get my cute little granddaughter's photo on my blog.


And speaking of excuses, a quick comment about the recent lack of Masters Monday posts.

• I've been very busy organizing a knitter's group in my area.
• I HAVE done a bit of work on the requirements each week but it hasn't been knitting or worthy of a photo.....(answering questions, researching techniques).
• I've had a migraine headache on both of the missed Masters Mondays (no, really!)
• I've been sidetracked trying to finish a sweater I shouldn't have started in the first place.

Good news though. I bought yarn for the Master Knitter's Level II vest today.

In The Beginning

Woo Hooo! The first meeting of ..... um .... um .... well we didn't actually take a final vote on a name or anything so I'll just call the group the Upper Fraser Valley Knitting Group for now and shuffle through the questionnaire again in search of what the alternatives were so we can make a final decision.

Now. As I was saying. The first meeting of the Upper Fraser Valley Knitting Group was a great success. 17 knitters in attendance. Much enthusiasm and friendship and a whole lot of knitting going on. Plans are in the works to meet locally for WWKIP day, (World Wide Knit In Public Day), on Saturday, June 14.

I brought my camera to the meeting, got permission from all but one of the participants to occasionally post photos of the group on my blog, and then wouldn't you know it.....I forgot to take pictures! The inaugural meeting and I didn't get a single picture. BAH. We will need a group photographer I think.

Fine Tuning

I've made a few small revisions to the way I warp my rigid heddle loom. First, for wider warps I'm now using 3 pegs for the continuous warping.

I had my husband secure the pegs into a board which I can then attach with C-clamps to my warping table (an old door he uses as a work bench). Using 3 pegs seems to make for a more even warp while at the same time eliminating the pile up of warp threads that happens when trying to put them all on only one peg.

For this stage of the warping (beaming the warp), I've done away with the heddle blocks and I just clamp the heddle securely with strong clamps.

Then I turned the C-clamps sideways on the board for added weight and let it drag along the table as resistance as I wound on the warp. I liked having the warp ends still looped around the pegs. It really helped to keep things even. At the bottom of this picture you can just see the burgundy coloured vinyl venetian blind slats I use as warp spacers.

Nice and even!

Gotcha Covered

My husband came home with a new gadget....

....and, much to his horror, I couldn't resist using some of my handspun to crochet it a custom fit, protective cover.

Relax! It's only a temporary measure until he buys a leather cover for the GPS.

Meet TomTom. My new travelling buddy.

Ooops! Did I say, "My"? I meant "ours"....er....okay, "his", but I'm the one with the incredible knack for getting lost. Very lost.

Moving Tigers

It's hard to take pictures of tigers on the run!

Oh sheesh! Enough of that! I'll get a picture of them at rest.

Size 5 toddler socks made for my granddaughter, Kaylen. Pattern generated by Sock Wizard software. Yarn is Opal Rainforest in the "Tiger" colourway.

New Knitting Group!

A knitting group is finally starting up in Chilliwack! We need your support to make this a success.

All knitters in the Upper Fraser Valley are welcome. This will be an informal group for knitters to get together to enjoy each others' company, show off finished projects, get help with new techniques and confusing pattern directions, and offer encouragement to newer knitters. Although there will be no business type meeting and no dues, with everyone's help lets make this a fun and learning environment --- more than your average "stitch n bitch". Possible activities could include knit-a-longs, challenges, charity knitting, socials, "yarn crawls", technique demonstrations, field trips, swap tables, guest speakers, book and yarn reviews, knitting humor readings and so on.

Bring your knitting and your friends to the first meeting, to be held in the multipurpose room at the Chilliwack Library on Sunday, May 4th from 1 - 3 pm. At this first gathering we will discuss arrangements for possible meeting dates and times and choose a group name so we can be included in the next Leisure Guide.

We have the summer months ahead of us to gather socially, and will launch into full operation come September when the Leisure Guide comes out and everyone is back into their fall routines.

Hope to see you there!

Email me if you're interested. My e-addy is on my profile page. Thanks!

Mystic Forest

Last Wednesday I showed you what I had on the wheel. Nothing new in that regard, I'm still spinning away on batt after batt of the "Mystic Forest" custom batts I made up on my drum carder.

But this week I have the first skein to show you. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. Not too glittery --- just the right amount of glitz for a bit of life when the sun hits it.

The first skein is 138 g / 3.75 ounces and somewhere around 298 yds / 266 metres. I estimate that I'll have enough of this blend to make about 8 skeins this size. I still have no idea what I'll make with it. Although I forgot to measure the WPI, I'd say it was about a fingering/DK weight.

Masters Monday - 2.16

Well, whaddaya know? A wee bit of progress to report! (What's that saying? If it wasn't for the last minute a lot of things wouldn't get done.)

This is Swatch 21 - picking up stitches.

For this swatch the knitter has to figure out how many stitches to pick up and how to place them most effectively along selvedge and bind off edges. The swatch also tests your ability to select and position appropriate decreases for the neckline.

What's On the Wheel

Michelle asked if I would consider doing a weekly blog post on my spinning, in much the same fashion that I do the Masters Monday posts. I pondered the idea for a while before deciding that for me, the weekly posts about spinning won't work.

The main reason is that I am a one-thing-at-a-time spinner and, wanting enough to actually DO something with when I'm finished, I spin large amounts of most of the preparations that I begin.

Like this for instance. This is part of about 2 POUNDS of blended batts that I am drum carding and spinning. It's a combination of black superwash merino, bright lime green merino, and a blue/green firestar. I have no idea what I'll make with it when I'm done, but it will be a long while before I card, spin, and ply it all ---- months likely, as I don't spin every day.

That type of long term focus would make for very boring weekly spinning reports.

Masters Monday - 2.15

Oh dear. Not a whole lot of Masters progress to report this week.

I DID do a gauge swatch for the Level II vest though.....only to find out the yarn that I purchased for it will not work. Not only that, but I can't even use the yarn with a different pattern. The yarn label did not include the gauge, and after swatching I have found it's too thick to meet the vest requirements. It will eventually get used up, but not for my Masters knitting.

In preparation for the next swatch and the vest I've also pulled out all my books which mention picking up stitches. Yes, I have been picking up stitches around necklines and armholes for years, and I know how to do it, but it never hurts to see what the "experts" advise. It also looks better on the swatch label if you can refer to an actual written resource rather than quoting "personal experience" only.

Side Tracked

Monday evening I set out to begin my Master Knitter Level II vest, but I was side tracked. The yarn I intended to use was a little too thick to get gauge without the fabric becoming too stiff. I then tried a ball of handspun, more on a lark than anything, seeing as handspun with its characteristic unevenness is a poor choice for an item where your knitting will be judged on stitch uniformity, but I just wanted to see if some day I could use it for that vest pattern.

The handspun was thinner than I expected and was not appropriate for the intended vest, BUT.....

....it's a perfect DK weight, and works for a pattern I've been wanting to knit in handspun for quite some time. This first piece is the back of a raglan, cabled hoodie. I will likely dye it a denim colour when I am finished with the knitting.

Sirdar "Jackets 8427"

Masters Monday 2.14

I'll chalk this week's effort up as research and practice.

Swatches 17 - 20 are all about buttonholes so I dug out all my reference books and found every mention of every type of buttonhole I could. The little strip on top was a bit of practice. In the end I decided that I will wait for the April issue of "Cast On", the TKGA magazine, which is supposed to be coming out with an entire article on buttonholes. Other technical articles I have found in the magazine have always been quite enlightening, often refining techniques in a way I have not found in my other references.

Maybe I'll start on the argyle sock or vest. I have the yarn for both.

KoPP Socks

The King of the Potato People socks are done. (Named after the colourway, hand dyed by Rabbitch of Rabbitworks Fibre Studio.)

The toe shape and construction is my own adaptation of several socks I have knit and loved, the stitch pattern of stockinette on the sole, and a rib variation (2 rows stockinette, 2 rows of k2, p2 ribbing) on the remainder was my own idea, the remainder of the basic sock construction, including the eye of partridge heel was a pattern I generated on Sock Wizard software.

FLIPPY!

I've been in a bit of a funk lately, bored with my look and wanting a bit of a lift. Today I went out and boldly did something about it!

I got my hair highlighted, nothing drastic, still with lots of my natural colour (the mousy brown and the ... ahem ... silver), but with the lift of a bit of lighter golden brown.

And I got it cut and styled into an upswept, spikey, fun change of pace. Again nothing too drastic. If I wake tomorrow morning with deep regrets and unable to get it to do the upswing, I can always comb it back into more or less my old hairstyle.

So far, (day one) I like it.

Now That It's Safe

Several months ago there was a lull in my knit related blogging as I was working away on a baby gift that I wanted to keep a secret.

This is a pattern (named, simply "Blanket"), by Amanda Griffiths from the book Luxury Knits: Simple and Stylish Projects for the Most Desirable Knitwear . I adapted the blanket to be more baby sized by using less repeats.

And here she is, our sweet little grand niece wrapped in the blanket.

(reverse side of blanket showing)