Using the proper tools

I remember a time when I had no clue about Addi-turbos. I thought circular knitting needles were the best thing since sliced bread for making sweaters and hats and afghans. No more would I have to cram all those stitches onto a 14" metal straight needles. Then, came a day when I heard about a yarn shop across the way that was the newest chapter of an old shop that had closed when the owner retired. I wanted to go look it over and possibly pick up a needle for a project. At that time, I thought the Susan Bates Silvalume needles were pretty slick tools to be used. Looking at the price tag on the Addi-turbos sent my heart racing! How could a needle be THAT good and worth that price? I thought as the shop owner touted it's praises. I walked around the store for a while looking at all the yarn that was different from the 'original' store. I ended up letting my desire to work on the project that I needed the needle for (long since forgotten) dictate the purchase of this 'new finagled-high priced-you're going to really have to show me what you can do' circular needle.

That's where my love affair with the Addi-turbos began! And, it's where I learned that using the right tools for the job works for knitters as well as for car mechanics and house repairs. Remembering from years ago, being told that we HAD to buy this tool, or that tool for fixing up a house we were going to eventually buy...made me think that maybe I should start investing in this craft that I'd been working at for more than 40 years. That it wasn't just a passing fancy, and if I was good to other people, maybe it would be OK to be good to me, too. It was from there on, that I started using Birthday money and other 'found' money to buy tools that were 'right' for the job as I could come up with money over time to replace bad joins and the straight needles were sent off to unclog drains and vacuum cleaners.

Now, I know that not everyone likes my choices, and there are many others out there. And that's OK. I also believe you should try out choices and then decide which ones are right for you to use for your particular projects. And I'm thinking that now I should take some of my own advice since it appears...

I need some new garden tools.

Ya think the ground was a might be hard?

It's been years since I grew plants in the yard. With the possibility of the kids coming home this summer, I thought they'd like some fresh tomatoes and peppers. Then I finally found some lavender plants that I've wanted, but couldn't find for more than 25 years. I guess my timing was off and I looked at the nursery after they were all sold out.

Now, before you tell me I have the containers in the ground, I know. It's on purpose, I'm trying to see if I can out-smart the gophers that also live in my neighborhood.

It couldn't hurt. I'm tired of 'feeding' them-so far, I have won for 2 weeks.

In the meantime, using other 'proper tools', we have a finished Crayon Ripple Throw, pattern from www.lionbrand.com , using an 'H' hook, and the new "WHITE" from Simply Soft.

I got around to washing my socks that so many of you told me to do, and what do you know? The socks went right back into shape, just like you said it would! Thank you for all your help! Knitters are fabulous people!

Yep, I'll be making some more..once I get my to-do with deadlines list pared down a wee bit.

Then I knit up a couple of Baby Jiffy Knit sweaters with Sweet Baby Delights Baby yarn from the Hobby Lobby stores and (US) 4's (3.5mm) circulars (yes, they were Addi's). Then I added a little hat using the pattern I found on Ravelry from: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/preemie-hats-for-charity here and http://carissaknits.blogspot.com/2007/07/preemie-hats-for-charity.html . I changed the pattern to pick up the texture from the sweaters using a (US) 3 (3.25mm) 12" circulars. I've also used double points, and prefer the 12" circulars. It goes faster with the circulars.

My plan is to write out the changes to this pattern and post it here soon. I like it for preemie sized hats. These are going to be sent down to the Naval Hospital in San Diego NICU.

I moved my old entertainment center back where it belongs and finally have a place for my Grandfather's wooden chairs and the others things from my grandparents, and picked up over the years. No more leaving them in boxes. (see..proper tools for the job!)

As soon as I get this Beribboned Sweater finished from Kids, Kids, Kids, I'm trying to get back to the baby sweaters that were sent to 'time out' with the wrong sized needles used and my apparent lack of picking up the correct number of stitches after frogging parts of them. Ya, I remember them. I was hoping they'd pipe down and be quiet. However, their deadline is Tuesday. So is the blanket that I started back in February.

Guess I should get my tools out and get them finished?

Yep, thought so, too.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to Mommies,

and Grandmothers....

Aunties...

Cousins...

Children who make us mothers....

"extra" kids who call us 'other Mommies"....

those who should be Mothers...

who want to be Mothers...

don't want to be Mothers...

Know a Mother...

Love a Mother...

Lost a Mother...

Lost a child...

Dads who fill in or become the Mother...

and those who let someone else be a Mother.

Hugs and love all around, may your day be filled with lots of hugs, laughter and most of all, love.

(appologies to everyone in my heart today, that I haven't put into the pictures...but you know who you are!)

Always trust the math

Thinking that I finally had the 'star' down that would make me happy on this Lonestar sweater, I was beginning to second guess my 'math abilities' once more. Now, I KNOW that I hated high school math. ULG. That was sheer torture to my teen aged brain. Years later as I was driving my middle daughter down the street in front of her high school, and we were listening to my then 'new' Jimmy Buffet CD, the song 'I Hate Math' came on. I thought I'd died and gone to math-hater's heaven! That song had us cracking up the whole trip home! Fabulous, I thought, I've discovered my 'anthem'!

Getting to this point of the sweater once more, the star was falling into place, but the counts on the side of the star were off. Not to matter, I just marked up my notes once more. Good thing, I thought, that I'd not written my notes in public yet-clearly math was my nemesis once more and I didn't want to put bad math skills out in the open...(ya..cue music here)...What I've since learned over the past gazillion knitting years, is that if the math doesn't 'add up'...generally there is a reason. If your counts are off by one, and you haven't had any decreases...there's generally a problem-somewhere.

Have you found mine, yet?

Ya-all the way back to where I ripped out the first star...apparently I neglected to pick up one of the stitches. That sweater has been set aside in the time out bag while I settle down before ripping it out once again. I figure I need to be less 'math crazed' so I can count well enough to make sure I've picked up ALL of the stitches next time.

In the meantime I did what any yarn fanatic would do...

I started yet another project! Now that the 7 oz skeins are back on the shelves with a REAL WHITE color (as opposed to the icky-grey-yucky-wannabe white)...We are back in business. And since Syracuse daughter has a friend who is awaiting the birth of her first child, I picked up my 'h' hook and started in on Lion Brand's Crayon Ripple Throw. Then...

I stopped at the local nursery for the first time in YEARS...and thought I'd pick up a few plants and see if we can outsmart the gophers this summer. Time will tell. The day I went into labor with my middle daughter, I had planted a whole row of tomato plants. Before I was finished so I could head off to the delivery room, you could hear and then watch..."chomp chomp chomp...woosh!" as the gophers were eating and pulling the plants underground. Just like in the cartoons! ulg. Enough to make your head hurt.

Today, the blanket is now one repeat of the white away from the top rainbow section. I'm going to go sit in the sunshine, and see how far I can get this afternoon.

Watch out Lonestar Sweater...your mess with my math days are numbered!

Enjoy your knitting, and pay attention to your Math. It always wins. dagnabit!

still not happy...

I'm not happy with this 'star'...so call me Queen of Rippet these days..back to the drawing board.





In other news. Please extend Sympathies to Kay and her family after the passing of her husband last Saturday. I think I can safely say, the knit blogging world is in shock and sadness with the news. Love, hugs and prayers...sometimes, it's all I know to say.

paying attention will make a difference...

Ok, this isn't the best of the pictures that I've posted, but it will give you a bit of an idea of the pattern in the King Cole sweater. I would take more, but I'm debating on whether to finish the sweater as it, or frog it...why?

Because as I was putting on the last stitch holder at this point, I went to pull out the smaler tips of my needles to start the sleeves, and discovered I'd been using the 4.5mm tips rather than the 4.omm tips. I thought as I laid this sweater down like this, that it was looking a bit on the wide. side. ulg. What a pain. I'm going to measure it - later and see how much wider it turned out to be before making my decision. In the meantime I did what any other knitter would do....

I cast on for another baby sweater! This is the Lonestar sweater from P2Designs. I'm using Bernat Satin Sport weight yarn. The original pattern was worked up in Bernat Sox yarn. However, since I found this pattern several years ago, I've not been able to find the solid colors in the Sox. I have to say...this is feeling really soft! And I like the way it's working up. Certainly hope it will withstand repeated washings! This is the kind of sweater that should be passed around between family members. We'll see how this one turns out. Rather than sew on a felted star, I am going to knit in a star intarsia style. You can find the pattern here:
http://www.p2designs.com/images/patterns/LonestarLayette.html

knitting along...

Yesterday I swung over to Michael's just to have a little look around. Like I really needed to, huh? But rumors have been heard about how they're going to re-do their whole yarn department so I thought ...what the heck...let's see what's going on. Well. I found a lot of their yarn on clearance. I picked up some 'grape' to start the preemie sized sweater that I showed you from the King Cole patterns.

It's written for King Cole DK weight, which I don't have. However, I thought I'd substitute this for it. Since this sweater is going to be sent to a charity, I'm not really worried about the gauge being spot on. If it's truly a preemie size, it'll head down to the Balboa NICU. If it's a bit larger, it's heading towards WRC in Texas. Both are AC4C projects this month.

I have finished 4 of the pattern repeats.

As per usual these days, I've connected all three parts and am knitting it from the bottom up with the 'edge' stitches being garter stitch to make seaming it easier later on.

I've had some questions about the pattern, so I was online today trying to find more information on where it might be found. This is King Cole pattern #2979 for DK & 4 Ply. It's called a Matinee Coat and Bonnet, knitted in either King Cole Baby DK or King Cole Baby 4 Ply. This is a new company to me. And it's sold through Cascade Yarns. http://www.cascadeyarns.com/kingcole-yarns.asp You can see the whole catalogue of their patterns here: http://www.cascadeyarns.com/patterns/King%20colePattern_catalogue_2007.pdf it's a pdf file, so give it a few moments to load up. Their picture looks better than my cropped down one here. I did email them earlier today, and the only answer I got back was to 'google search for it.' Sorry, it wasn't the answer I was hoping for, either. However, I'm thinking of going to my local stores that carry Cascade yarn, and bring in the list of all the patterns that I'm interested in, to see if they could get them for me. There were quite a few that I'd be happy to knit up. They're really cute, if you ask me.

Then, just about the time I was ready to leave, I thought I'd give the yarn racks one more look over...and look at what I found...

are you ready for this?

Do you KNOW what this is???????

Any ideas yet?

Here's the label information...

If I'm not mistaken, it's the WHITE-WHITE that's been long awaited! Back in the stores...well, unless I get there first! (haha....ha........) Sorry...but, 'tis my job to help you find what we're all looking for...after all, life is to short to knit up that ugly grey stuff! Enjoy!

checking in from the upstate areas...

I'm checking in for a bit. It's been fun and busy around here. Before I left for my daughter's for the holiday, I managed to finish another camo beanie (Cathy's Beanies, size medium) for one of the AC4C groups in April. It's going to go down to the Balboa Hospital for the hospice program.

Then, while trying to remember where in tarnation I put my sweater pattern and wool that I'd picked up back in Bay City I think a year or so ago, I started pulling out bags of yarn, etc... from two closets. You know how one thing leads to another? Yep...well, one of the things I came across was this 'Christmas scarf' that I'd started several years ago. It's on a pair of (US) 3's (3.25mm) needles using 3 skeins of Regia Nations sock yarn! I made one out of the Navy/Maize for my Auntie N before starting this one. But never had a deadline to finish this one. So I've pulled this out and have it sitting next to my chair as a 'fill in' project. I'd like to get it out of the yarntainer and free up the needles. But then again, I'm in no hurry.

In the mean time, while re-organizing all of the stuff, I went to bring some things out to 'organize' them and what did I find? The sweater stuff I'd been looking for since Christmastime already 'organized'! I tell you, this is why I should never organize things at home. I can't find a bloomin' thing that way!

Here's where the sweater is today. I started it while on the plane to Cincinnati before taking a nap. Then worked on it after getting to my daughter's apartment. It certainly makes for an easy conversational opener! The flight attendant saw my casting on and had to take a look. Turns out she's a knitter herself! Can you imagine-her kids are 'tired' of too many hand knitted socks! (I didn't dare tell her of my recent saga!) It was fun to tell her about Hobby Lobby and AC Moore (she'd never heard of them!) and watch her reaction to the sweater.

The particulars of this sweater-it's Rusic Wool in denim and the "Florence" sweater from Ella Rae book 7 the Queenland collection. I'm knitting it bottom up as one piece. So you'll notice the stitch markers to denote the sides of the sweater and the cable sections. I've made the 'edge' stitches in garter stitch to make the mattress stitching up of the side seams easy-peasy when the time comes. And now it's taking a 'nap' while I go back and catch up on a few other things. Once I'd found it, I couldn't resist getting it on the needles!

I've made more wine charms and stitch makers for the Easter holiday/Spring time with beads I picked up from AC Moore and Jo-Ann's in Syracuse/Fayetteville areas. Too cute? I just wish I could have found some little bunny charms! Trust me, they were no where to be found....

The night before Easter, after mulling over my daughter's request for a 'cute apron' to wear while serving her guests...I stitched this up. Now, had I been home with the sewing machine, it would probably have been done in about 20 minutes. HOWEVER, daughter doesn't have a sewing machine, so I had to hand stitch the whole thing! It's See & Sew pattern B4585. Again, I've changed that, too. I double layered it for a reversible apron. Little Easter eggs on one side, solid pink on the other. I used gros grain ribbon rather than fabric ties on the side and the top. I'll be adding the pockets at a later time. I took me freakin' forever to back stitch all the way around this puppy, and I'd rather stitch the pockets with the sewing machine, thankyouverymuch. The hole in my finger tip will agree with that executive decision!

Now, check out these patterns I was able to pick up yesterday, while out shopping with my friend Norma! remember her? She's the fastest crocheter I've ever seen! And after her medical issues, she's doing GREAT! Ah...it's such a blast to see a friend who is looking SOOOOOOOOOOO healthy! I was so excited about seeing her, and shopping for all things yarny and pattern'y'...I plum forgot to get pictures of us! She's a fabulous yarn shopping guide! And I can't wait to see her again! Ahhhhhh....friends who knit/crochet/sew and can talk such topics...are a lot of fun!

But, back to the picture. Check out the center pattern-it's written for preemie, newborn, and I think 3-6 months size! Really cute? ya! And my needles are itching to get one of those cast on. If I can get the big pink blanket finished soon, I'd really like to make one in the Preemie sized..to send to Balboa NICU with the AC4C projects. For now, I'm going to post this and get back to my needles. I'm so enjoying that Rustic Wool...but I'm making myself finish the other things first. We won't talk about the 10 skeins of Easter Egged colored cotton balls I'd picked up and started with dishcloths the other day as well....But hey, I need a way to stop talking to the daughter while she's writing her last papers of the semester!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Here's hoping you found lots of laughter....

Some great food...

Maybe a surprise, or two along the way.....

But above it all...

Great friends and family to share it with!