Knitted Headband Photos

I finally got some decent photos of the headband I knitted for the pattern I designed and mentioned earlier in this blog. This is the first one I knitted. I still have to do photos of the pink and green camo one. But today is almost over and I still have five or six things on my to-do list.

Easy Knit Scarf

I got tired of crocheting at the archery range yesterday and luckily I had a pair of big needles with me so I started crocheting a scarf in steel blue and medium purple Caron yarn. I did it in garter stitch and I got about a foot knitted before it got too cold to knit. That's the thing about Boye aluminum needles; in cold weather they are just like holding two popsicles.

The big needles will make a nice fluffly scarf. It's basically 20 stitches across and knit every row. It's what I call 'mindless knitting', a simple project to pass the time that doesn't have any finicky details or patterns to refer back to. Easy enough to knit in public while carrying on a conversation and watching people go by.
I leave my complicated projects at home for times when I'm alone and can concentrate.

One More Sleeve To Go

So far on my sweater I have the front panel, the back panel and one sleeve finished. Things have been hectic, but it shouldn't take too long to make the last sleeve if I can just find a few hours of uninterrupted time. I've already had to renew the book once, so I'd like to get on with it. I'm thinking of just buying the book from Amazon is it's out in paperback too. We'll see.

Sleeve and Video 51 Things

Today I finished the sleeve for the confetti sweater. I also made a youtube video called 51 things. My knitted headband is on there. Also some items I crocheted.

Confetti Sweater and Book

This is the knitting book I'm doing the sweater from. It's page 95.

Confetti Sweater 5 AM

I woke up before five AM with a tummy ache. Since I needed to sit up for awhile, I started working on my confetti sweater. After about an hour of knitting I felt I could lay down again and get some more sleep. I'm just about ready to put the marker in place for the V-neck.

Confetti Sweater Update

I finished the back panel of the sweater and I am well on the way with the front panel. This should be faster now that I know how the pattern goes. This sweater has no ribbing so I hope I like it. If it comes out I want to make more.

Tags and Blog Labels

I added labels to my blog again so it's easier to search by topic or follow along with a certain project. The tags are listed in the right column at the bottom of the page. That should help you track down the parts of the blog you want to read.

Sweater Back

I almost have the back section of the sweater finished. This pattern has four parts; the back, the front, and the sleeves. So I'm happy to be almost done with part 1. The front is much the same as the back, only its split in the center to form the neck.

Multidirectional Scarf

Today I needed a project to take on a day trip, and I grabbed a headwrap I was knitting. Then I grabbed a tote bag to stuff it into and we rushed out the door. I didn't have time to clean out the totebag first and later in the day I went through the bag and found the multidimensional scarf I started a year and a half ago. I worked on it a while hoping I'd remember the technique, but not a chance. So I ripped out the stitches I did today and when I got home I looked the directions up again on the Internet and ultimately found the link on my own blog that led to the directions. So here they are: scarf Now I need to go in the other room and see if I can correct the part I did wrong today.

Loom knitting

Today I took a break from knitting on needles to knitting on a loom. The knitting is still done one stitch at a time with a hook. It makes a very nice texture. My loom knitting is on a different blog though.Here

Yellow Sweater cont.

Now that I've got about a foot of stockinette stitch done on my new sweater back, it's a lot stretchier than I thought and there is a chance it might fit me after all. My guage was a bit on the big side and that slight difference could give me just enough extra space to fit me. We shall see. I'll probably add an inch or two to sleeve length as well, because I have longer than average arms.

The Cost of Knitting

I've seen some lovely knitted items on Etsy.com and people keep saying they are selling their knitting. But I've never been able to sell a single knitted item on Etsy. My prices reflect the time invested, and I see many other knitters only covering the cost of their supplies. They don't seem to add any wage for their time spent. Not all of them, but some of them. I do know one lady that manages to sell $300 hats. But I just can't see selling a handknit hat for $20.00. And I can't compete with those that do. I know they are trying to compete with Walmart/Kmart prices. Or they live in countries where $1.00 an hour is considered a good wage. It's really a no win situation.

Knitting and Cross Stitch

Yesterday I got over to Michael's and got the embroidery floss 791 I needed to finish the Twilight cross stitch quote. I might design some sort of artsy border to go around it and to add more color.

I also started working on that multicolored sweater and did some more this morning. It's knitting up fast on the number 15 knitting needles. After my recent tedious projects it's nice to see so much progress so quickly. It's been foggy out and there is just something so cheery about knitting with bright colors on a gloomy day.

Sweater

I just started knitting a new sweater. The largest pattern size was L and I'm XL so it's probably going to be a gift or go into my Etsy shop. But I thought I'd learn some valuable techniques along the way. It's multicolored acrylic yarn that is mostly yellow. I got the yarn for free and want to put it to good use.

Velona and Kaffe Fassett

Yesterday I was looking up local yarn stores and found this Kaffe Fassette interview at Velona yarn store. http://www.velona.com/items/velona113.html

Kaffe's books are famous amongst knitters and fiber artists.

Checkerboard headwrap

This morning I finished the knitting part of the checkerboard headwrap. And not a moment too soon, as I only had about a foot of yarn left. Then using the same needles I started knitting another one out of Lion Trellis yarn.

That Does Not Compute

Here it is Friday the day after the American Thanksgiving. I'd rather be knitting but my computer is being impossible. For no apparent reason, my computer suddenly goes silent and whatever windows are open at the time just freeze on my screen, and I'm just dead in the water. The only thing that works is to turn the power off and then back on, and even then, it's taking a good 30 seconds to five minutes to kick back on and restart itself.

I spent an hour running a virus scan and just when it was about complete my computer froze again and I lost the scan. So now I'm running a 'quick scan' hoping it gets through before my computer has another seizure.

If I had to choose between computer problems and knitting problems I'd go with the knitting problems.

Vintage Book

Someone gave me some vintage knitting pattern books, so I'm trying out a bit of those on the new yellow and navy project I started yesterday. I had gotten through the first row of the pattern repeat when I spotted something fishy. So I tried to rip back to just that spot, but then I dropped another stitch, and eventually took out 3 rows, and tried again. Now an hour later I'm about to the point where I made the mistake the first time. Part of the problem is I'm using two strands of yarn and have to knit into the back of every other stitch so it's binding up a bit. Still, onward and upward.

Two strands together

I was cleaning and came across some navy yarn and some gold yarn. So I cast them on together on some rather large needles just to see how it would look. Sometimes I like knitting nothing in particular just for the heck of it.