Knitting in the April 2009 Crafts 'n Things Magazine

The April 2009 issue of Crafts 'n Things Magazine has some wonderful knitting projects in it including a women's sweater, a swirly tablecloth with beads and a baby cardigan. The circular Knitted Swirl Tablecloth is fancy indeed. Then they have a knit-across sweater in a mossy green.

There is also a baby cardigan called the Boston Baby cardigan shown in peach. It has a collar, buttons, cables...so if easy projects bore you, this could be just the thing.

If you prefer crochet projects, there are some of those in the magazine too.

Knitting Poem

Take time to knit if you must sit
Make a cable if you are able
Never knit your boyfriend a sweater
Or he will find someone he likes better.

New Yarn New Grandson

I picked up some new yarn recently at Joanne's. Now that I have a grandson there are so many more new things I can make that I never needed before like baby blankets and booties and toys. I had two daughters so never really explored things boys like. It's like a whole new world. He's growing so fast. He just turned six months old. I've already crocheted him some things and I gave him a sock monkey but I haven't knitted anything for him yet. At least my bf's mom gave me a bunch of baby yarn. I shared some of it with my daughter. But one way or another that kid will have something knitted sooner or later.

Knit Fast, Die Young

I just finished another of the books on my 100 books a year goal. I'm mentioning it here because it has a knitting theme. It's called Knit Fast, Die Young by Mary Kruger. It's her 2nd one. I haven't read the first one, Died in the Wool. It would be fun to read it outloud at your local knitting circle. Since it's a murder mystery I don't want to give the plot away so I won't say too much about it.

Last Sleeve

I don't always want to knit so much as I want to just move the project along so it doesn't get buried. So today I made myself sit and knit for an hour on my sweater sleeve. I don't know why I've been procrastinating. I think I have an inner imp that just refuses to finish things. It's like a cliffhanger in a soap opera only the ending never happens. I'm sure my boyfriend is getting tired of looking at it at the end of the couch. Anyway I'm done knitting for the day I think. I'm going to go work on some beaded earrings.

I just wrote another gift article here: http://hubpages.com/hub/People-Love-to-Give-Gifts I'd like to make some knit cuffs so I can put the photo in the article. But that is a project for another day.

Making a Dress Form

My daughter came to visit and not only found my missing cable needle, but a matching crochet hook. I hadn't even realized I lost a crochet hook.

Today we helped each other make duct tape dress forms. Now I'll have something to hang scarves and scarflettes and scoods on to photograph for my Etsy shop. Seeing my duct tape twin in 3D form was shocking to me though. We don't normally see ourselves in the round and I was a lot rounder than my mind could swallow. In fact right now I have a towel covering the scary thing. I couldn't look at it and eat dinner at the same time. After stuffing the form, my first impulse was to throw it in the dumpster but then I had a vision of some neighborhood kid pulling it out of the trash, putting it in a red wagon and dragging it around the neighborhood.

It's going to come in handy for freeform knitting and crochet. I'll finally have something to pin the little pieces to that is approximately my shape. It's very hard to pin things on to your own back.

Lost Cable Needle

Yesterday I was knitting on the couch, and wanted to do some cables. So I found my cable needle stuck it in my yarn, and then life sucked me away from my project. It wasn't until this morning I had another chance to work on it. And now the cable needle has vanished without a trace. I have a feeling it's disappeared inside the sleeper couch somewhere. So tomorrow I'm going to have to unfold it and look again. I was so aggravated I didn't even do any knitting today. It doesn't help anything that the cable needle is gold, the blanket it was on is gold, and the couch is earth tones. I hate losing things and I do it with alarming regularity.

How Not to Make a Hat

I wanted to knit a hat so I got some yarn labeled papaya and set to work. I used double pointed needles, cast on 90 stitches and started doing a 2x2 cable for the brim. About an inch into it, I realized it would be too small for me, almost a little girl's size. So I ripped it all out, and cast on 120 stitches, figuring it would be plenty big this time. I did 4 or 5 rows and it's still going to be way too small. Even worse I don't have 5 needles and the 4 needles won't hold any more stitches. It's maxed out. I'm not sure what I want to do about it. But it's 1 AM so it will have to be a problem for another day.

Yarn

I used some of my birthday and Christmas money to buy more yarn at Joann's during their 25% off sale. This time I took my daughter Heather with me. She bought two shades of purple yarn to knit or crochet a scarf for herself.
I also bought some Celtic Knotwork buttons and some clasps. And I'm glad I got them on Sunday when they were 50% off because we went back there tonight and the sale was over.

Yesterday I started the last sleeve of the confetti sweater. I'm at that stage where I've lost all motivation to finish, and that is a dangerous place to be. It's where a lot of my knitting projects go to die. I can't let that happen this time. If I do, I'll only be disappointed in myself.

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