Frugal Knitting.

We have all felt the ripples of the eminent recession.
Knitting is not an inexpensive past time or hobby...well for me it is not. I knit fairly quickly and then it's on to the next project. I am somewhat of a yarn snob, but I have been known to knit with some "fair" quality yarn.

You may have noticed that there hasn't been too much enhancement to the stash.
There are a couple reasons for that. Money, the most obvious reason, and the idea of stash itself.
It is very hard to restrain oneself when you are in your LYS. Not a craft store, but a store filled with high quality fiber choices. How quickly we are enamoured with a simple touch...soft...squishy...luxurious...sometimes we can't even put it down. It goes into the stash to be knit someday.
No project in mind.
It stares at you, waiting to be knit...but that project never really comes along. Then you feel obligated to knit it up...sometimes not matching it up to the best project.

So, I am very careful now. If there is a project to knit, I buy the yarn for it.
(Now, that being said, please don't speak of my actions in New Hamburg the other day...I had projects in mind...and the 20%, 30%, 40% off...I must go back.) I was really good at Shall we Knit, surprisingly. We can always use sock yarn;)

Other than that occasional trip to the LYS, I have been frequently Michaels Craft Store.
Coupon in hand, I pick up a ball of patons classic, kroy sock or even Lion Brand thick and quick! It is difficult to just pick up the one item you have a 40% or 50% off coupon for...but I can do it.
So, on the needles is an afghan I am working on. Not only do I love green, as we have previously discussed, but I love leaf motifs.



The thick and quick is no joke. It knits up very quickly...and it thick and warm and squishy! Perfect for an afghan. With a coupon you can get it for $4 a ball...well, this colour (cilantro) is being cleared out...$4.99 a ball is the regular price...and I have had a couple 50% off coupons. It makes for a lot of trips...but for $2.50 come on!

Get your coupon...in and out...one item only!
You can do it too.

Green

I don't know why I am afraid of colour.
I like colour...well not bright crazy ones.
Muted tones, warm, natural colours.
I rarely paint a "colour" in my house. I use shades of beige, taupes, whites and green.
I like green.
I have a light green couch, green candle holders and vases, new candles that go from cream to green (if you haven't checked out Michaels craft store for christmas sales...go...the "christmas candles" are like$2...these are vanilla cedar), green with brown pillows, green plants...and now I have started another green afghan!



I know, I know...this room needs an accent colour.
I am thinking about an orange...a warm orange, not a bright one.

Oh, the scratchy yarn...I won't be knitting a sweater...probably not even an afghan. I am thinking about a bag...or a dozen of them!
I will be overdyeing it.

Guess what colour I bought.
Yup...moss green.

There is hope for my children. They were home sick a few days this week...during the yarn dyeing experience. So we picked up some natural coloured Patons Kroy sock yarn and they picked some colours out...



These are not my children!

First dyeing attempt. Results...blah.

So, here's the thing. Well, let me show you...



You see where I am going? Well, me neither.
I knew it would not be brown...it is deeper than my monitor is showing...but it is this weird fleshy tone. AND the yarn I thought might soften up...but no...it is the scratchiest yarn ever. EVER.
So I knit a swatch and soaked it in conditioner...awaiting the results.

Option 1
An afghan. The colour could possibly work because it is almost "stonehouse" which is on my livingroom walls...and in my sisters kitchen that adjoins her livingroom which is "herbes de provence." So, it would be a nice colour to go on her leather sofa....well maybe a leather chair...well, whatever leather piece she buys. (get rid of those puffy sofas!)

I love Girasole and will be knitting this for sure...so that is a possibility.

Option 2
Hope the conditioner softens it enough that it could be an "outwear" sweater - nothing against the skin. Now that being said, I will need to overdye it another colour. Black - grey, purple, green? Suggestions?

Anyone?

It was historic over here as well!

So, like many of you, I was glued to the tv today watching the inauguration of Obama.

What a truly historic day.

We Canadians need a great leader...need some hope...thankfully this 44th president will affect our lives as well.



So history was made...

and

history was made in my kitchen as well!



I decided to celebrate Obama's inauguration by dyeing some yarn!!



This yarn my sister surrendered to me a while back. It was gifted to her from her boss who was visiting Ireland. I have no idea what it is...I am pretty positive it is wool...definitely not merino...I had no idea how much. So, I had to measure it out. After measuring everthing in the house, I decided to use the bottom front legs of a chair. I measured one skein (which was approx 8 oz)..it turns out I have about 1450 yrds between all four skeins.



I was hoping (key word hoping) to dye it a brown...but my fear of colour...well...let me tell you what I did.



I have wilton icing dyes in the house. The brown was not full...but I had atleast a teaspoon or so. I knew it would not be a deep brown. I mixed it with water giving me about 2 cups of colour.







With so much yarn I had to work in batches.

I soaked 2 skeins in the sink for 1/2 hour.







Then I added 1 cup of the colour to a full pot of lukewarm water.

I started heating it on medium high until it reach around 150 degrees F and then I added 1/2c of vinegar.







I brought it up to 180 degrees F and simmered for 1/2 hour. This was the scariest part for me. I stood there the entire time making sure the temp didn't rise above 180...the fear of felting was real!

I then had to dump the pot into a sink to cool.







I refilled the pot, soaked the next 2 skeins and went through all the steps again. You can see the colour...not brown. Looks almost tea soaked. Well, anything is better than the natural for me, so I will call it a success!

I'll hang it to dry, wind it, swatch it and come up with something to knit....hmmmm.

The designer in me.

There are knit designs brewing over here.

I debated knitting this gorgeous kids sweater for my goddaughter and her sister. The girls will be turning 8 in a few weeks. I can't even tell you how old that makes me feel...anyway, by the time I order the book, and the yarn...knit 2 sweaters...I will be cutting it way to close.
So, remembering that their mom had given me some yarn that she was going to knit them something out of...
(She bought the yarn a few years ago and then she never knit the pattern and now they have grown so much she surrendered the yarn to me to figure something out.)
I thought I better come up with my own design.

I decided on a top down sweater. Simple.

I loved the big ribbed cowl on the other sweater...so why not knit a big ribbed cowl neck?!

I also love the look of yo increases for the raglan sleeves...especially in a chunkier yarn.







One is complete!







The twins were here on the weekend so I was able to size them up...so far so good.

The sweater is not the only other knit design I have in mind...there are a few accessories I am hoping to write up over the next couple weeks. Sketches are done...a few swatches...I just need to knit them up...

Warming up some necks.

Smooshie and warm!




Pattern: Thermis
Yarn: Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran x2 balls.
Adjustments: None. I used a tubular cast on and a tubular cast off. The two do produce different results, as a commentor noted. The cast off is much stretchier and looks bigger than the cast on. I suppose you could go down a couple needle sizes for the cast off and they would be more similar...but to me, it works out fine for this project!
The feel of the cashmerino is divine!
It is meant for a gift...if I can keep it off my neck;)

I also knit a Thermis for my Hubby.



Again, I love it...but I thought he should try a neck warmer out since he hasn't really ever worn the scarf I knit for him. He was very hesitant at first...but I assured him that it was very "manly" looking. He has been sporting it every day! He even says it is the best thing I have ever knit for him. (yes, out of all the hundreds of things I have knit...he has only got a pair of socks, a scarf and now a neck warmer...)
I used Patons Classic Merino for his...I really love this darker grey colour.

Lastly, I knit up a wham bam thank you lamb neckwarmer to match with the pink urchin.



This is my friends daughter...my goddaughters sister. I knew that hat would look great on her, so I used up the leftovers to make the neck warmer. She actually wore it around the house all day! What a cutie.
FYI this one is only 15 sts wide, and the size was perfect for her. Needless to say, I will be making two more sets for her sisters!

Tubular bind off with kitchener stitch.

Ok, here it goes. Go get some needles and a bit of yarn and have at it. Work and inch of 1x1 ribbing (K1, P1) so you can bind it off.
Go ahead, I'll wait.
Ok, now. We need to set up the bind off by knitting 4 rows, so ensure you have enough yarn left.

Set up rows:
Sarting with a right side row Knit the first stitch. Now bring your yarn to the front of your work as if to purl.

Slip the purl stitch as if to purl.

Now move your yarn to the back and knit the next stitch.

Continue across the row and finish the row by slipping the last purl stitch.
Turn your work and it will look like this.

You can now repeat these steps for 3 more rows, ending with a ws side row.

Ok, that was the set up part...is eveyone ok?
Good.
Go grab 2 circular needles smaller than the ones you are working on. These will act as stitch holders basically, so the size does not matter, as long as they are smaller.
We will now tranfer all the the knit stitches to the front needle and all the purl stitches to the back needle. (You need to work steadily...children/animals bouncing on the couch are not a good idea when working this next step!)

Tranfering the stitches on to two needles:
The knitting should be in your left hand and the needles in your right. I use my right index finder to hold the needles slightly apart and grab any stitches if needed. Using the front needle slip the first knit stitch as if to purl and on the back needle slip the first purl stitch as if to purl.

Continue slipping as if to purl. All knit stitches go on the front needle and all purl stitches go on the back needle.

Once all your stitches are transfered on to the spare needles, it will look like this.

You are now ready for kitchener stitch.

Take a deep breath and proceed as follows.
Set up the kitchener stitch by having the purl stitches at the back, with the working yarn, and the knit stitches at the front.

Leaving a fair length for stitching, thread the length of working yarn onto a needle. Put the needle in the first knit stitch on the front needle as if to purl and pull the yarn through. Leave the stitch on the knitting needle.

Now, put your needle through the first purl stitch on the back needle as if to knit. Pull the yarn through and leave the stitch on the knitting needle.


Do the following two steps until you have no stitches left.
1. Put the needle through the first knit stitch in the front needle as if to knit dropping if off the knitting needle. Then put the needle through the second stitch on the same needle as if to purl, leaving it on the needle. Pull the yarn through.


2. Put the needle through the first purl stitch on the back needle as if to purl dropping it off the knitting needle. Then put the needle through the second stitch on the same needle as if to knit, leaving it on the needle. Pull the yarn through.

*Keep your eye on your sewing tension as you go.

When you get down to the last stitch on the front needle, just put the needle in as if to knit and slip it off. The last stitch on the back needle, put the needle in as if to purl and slip it off. Sew in your end and have a look at your beautiful tubular bind off!

Casting on and casting off.

Remembering my knitting resolution of thinking through cast on's and cast off's, I used the tubular cast on (my favourite version here) for Thermis.



What a great little pattern. I love that you can knit such a fashionable gift with such little yarn...patons classic merino, no less...is such little time! I plan to make at least a couple of these to keep for gifts for next year. This one I was hoping my hubby may try. It looks manly enough!

I decided since I used the tubular cast on that I would try a tubular cast off.



I love it! It is a really stretchy cast off and would be great for so many projects, especially toe up socks! It produces such a professional looking finish.

Now, I must warn you that it involves kitchener stitch...like a lot of it! Of course it depends on how many stitches you have on the needles....lets just say 124...divided by two of course, so 62 stitches on each needle...it is not for the faint at heart.

Since I have another Thermis on the go, I will show you how it did it....

The afghan I never knew I would knit!

I must say that I am a ravelry junkie. I know it is sad. I used to be such a blogger junkie...then came ravelry and it just seems so easy and to the point...no thinking involded. You also can go to different forums and join different groups of people with similar interest etc...you know how it works! That is where I found the cambridge knitters.

Since moving here I've been working on making our house a home and settling the kids in. Yes I have been knitting but I haven't really done anything for me. So I dragged myself out of the house one friday morning to meet with these knitters. I am so glad I did, I really look forward to meeting up with the knitters every Friday.

They had planned knitting the Great American Aran Afghan. It is made up of 20 squares designed by different knitters. After all the squares are complete, you seam them together and knit on a border.
Hmmmm. Squares sewn together. I wasn't sure about this adventure...not what I had in mind for an afghan. The more I looked at other knitters results on ravelry...the more it started to grow on me. Each square is so unique looking and knitting a 12x12 square would give you a sense of acomplishment after each one. I am in!
I headed out to Michaels craft store to pick up some yarn. I wasn't sure how much of a dollar investment I wanted to put into this...as fabulous as it would be knit out of cashmerino aran...I just can't spend that kind of money. So I decided on Patons Classic Wool...warm and inexpensive. I chose a really nice olive colour. The only reservation I had was that it is not washable...so it probably won't be gifted out. I can wash it on the hand wash cycle in my front loader...but I have no idea how I will dry it. I will cross that bridge when I come to it! Lets get it knit first!
First up is Judy Sumner's square.



I wasn't sure about the spider, I am a bit of an arachnophobic.



Look at how cute it is? Who could be afraid of a little yarn spider?!
Check out the bug!



I love it!
This square is really unique looking. There are 4 different charts to follow...so my eyes were killing me. I was just so excited about this new project...I stayed up until midnight to finish it.
Yes, that's right. The square we are taking a month to work on...I knit in one day. I am taking the fun out of working together!
The next square I will knit slower...I promise ladies!

Selbu Modern

Here is the final knit of 2008...blocked and finally photographed!



Started and Finished over 2 days of christmas holidays!
Pattern: Selbu Modern
Yarn: Elann Devon in mauve and green a partial skein of each.
Adjustments: None really. I went up in needle size (US 3 for the ribbing and US 4 for main section). I used a tubular cast on. This one is my favourite. The instructions are well written...there are pictures...and it is easy to do.
I really liked knitting this and it's already been worn out to my knit and chat! It's a keeper!



My sister saw me sporting Selbu and she says: "Hey, nice hat! Where did you get it?"
I just stood there thinking...really? Does she really think that I didn't knit it?! HA!
She thought I bought it! Seriously!
and that my friends is why....
I am knitting her one!