It Came From The Bag

Let me first preface this post with this; I am not a yarn snob, though I play one for my friends.  I truly believe in a knit and let knit philosophy, regardless of the teasing "Friends don't let friends knit acrylic," I give my wife.  

As far as yarn goes, I only have two rules.  

First, never knit acrylic for a baby.  Acrylic is highly flammable, continues to burn after a flame is taken away, and melts for perfect adhesion to flesh.  The chemicals used to treat acrylic to remove these properties are rather nasty, and anything you give a baby goes straight into it's mouth.  There are plenty of other materials that are machine washable, so there are far better choices for baby clothing out there.

Second, knit what will make you happy.  If your going to spend hours knitting a piece of clothing, than you should be happy with the material for your chosen project.  You may need to save up longer for more expensive yarn, but if you'll be happier with the end product, I say buy the pricey stuff.  If wool is too scratchy, or your allergic to it, then find something that feels right for you.

So, a few weeks ago my wife was offered a chance to buy a bag of fiber, she didn't really want it, but there wasn't much chance to think about it, and she bought it anyway.  In the bag was a ball of yellow chenille yarn, it looks like it could have been around since the 70's, and it probably has been.  Because she bought, she is instilled with a determination to use this yarn, and has tried to cast on at least twice.  This is despite the fact that she doesn't like the color, and the yarn is so old and brittle that it continuously breaks while trying to knit with it.

Last night, she finally admitted that it just wasn't working.  It's just too frustrating to try to knit.  It's time to put old yeller down, and this dog won't be missed.

I, Blog.

Or more appropriately I don't Blog.   Now the reason for this is not complete laziness on my part, (although I suppose I must admit to a least a little of that,) nor is it completely procrastination, although in way that's closer to the mark.  I am working on the blog, just not in a fashion that anyone but me can see.  I'm trying to find the program I'd prefer to blog on, as well as make a template for my blog that's unique to me and not just a standard theme from blog software.  However, this is all taking me a while to fiddle with different programs, and I've been telling myself why bother updating the blog when I'm just going to change it soon.  Of course using soon as a marker of time is relative to what one is doing, and it may be another month before I come to a decision on what blog, template, etc to use.  So instead, I'll just update the blog and import when the time comes.

So, here is what I'm currently doing. 

This is my wife's second spinning wheel, which we picked up in Portland for a great price.  She is kindly letting me use it until the wheel that I ordered comes in October.  Now I'm not particularly a spinner, I was quite happy to be just a knitter, and that's what I told everyone at the spinning group that my wife goes to.  I'd happily knit in a corner while everyone else spun, and while it looked fun, I have more than enough on my plate just knitting.  Then I learned about the Journey wheel, as well as some of the cool things that you can spin up that you just can't buy at the store, and I was hooked.  It will never be quite the passion that it is to my wife, but it is a nice diversion from knitting every now and then.

This is just a simple sock I'm working on, one of those projects that is straight and mindless stockinette, when I want to knit but don't want anything too complicated.  Done with Fly designs Nymph Hand painted Yarn.

Here we have a fingerless glove, in a checker board pattern, done with Shibui Knits Ink and Seaweed.

Look, Intarsia Spaghetti.

That's it for now, I've got several other projects I'm working on, but nothing that I can post at the moment.  With any luck, I'll have a newer and better blog up and running in a month or so, but I'll go ahead and try to update at least once a week until then.

A Rose in any other yarn.....

May not be quite the same, but should still look great.  I knitted this rose as a surprise valentines gift for my wonderful wife, although in the end it wasn't quite the surprise I wanted it to be, since I was still working on it the night before.  It's a bit obvious that your up to something when you tell your wife not to peek, and then attempt to knit something while its in a bag.  Not really easy, although it went smoother when I decided to just hold it in my lap under a table.  

I came up with the idea while working with the current sock in the Rockin' Sock Club, and realized that the colors would be perfect, and it would be a fantastic way to use up the extra yarn.  I made the Medium size in the sock, and still have enough to make one more rose, which my wife was excited about, since she really loved the first one.

So, here's the picture and pattern.

Petals A Plenty

A Knitted Rose by Scott Dilley

Materials

About 45 Yards of Blue Moon STR lightweight in Dragon Dance

About 5 Yards of Dream in Color Smooshy in Happy Forest

2 Size 1 Circular Needles

1 Spare Circular Needle or DPN's in 0 or 1, for holding stitches.

Gauge= 9 stitches & 13 rows per inch  (Don't worry about exact gauge, smaller or larger gauges will make a smaller or larger rose.)

Pattern notes

Each petal is made in the round, similar to a toe up sock. It's easiest to weave starting ends in after the 5th or 6th round of each petal.

All CO's are made with Judy Becker's Magic Cast On with 2 Circular Needles held together.

All Increases are made by picking up the stitch under the current stitch on the left needle with the right needle, placing that stitch on the left needle, then knitting said stitch.

Small Petal, Make 2

CO 4 stitches

Rnd 1 Knit

Rnd 2 Inc 1, K4, Inc 1, K4

Rnd 3 Knit

Rnd 4 Inc 1, K5, Inc 1, K5

Rnd 5 Knit

Rnd 6 Inc 1, K6, Inc 1, K6

Rnd 7 Knit

Rnd 8 Knit

Rnd 9 K2tog, K5, K2tog, K5

Rnd 10 K2tog, K4, K2tog, K4

Rnd 11 Hold both sides of knitting together on 2 Needles, and Knit 1 stitch from each needle together. Slip 5 live stitches onto a stitch holder or spare needle, leave enough of a tail to weave ends in.

Medium Petal, Make 3

CO 8 stitches 

Rnd 1 Knit

Rnd 2 Inc 1, K8, Inc 1, K8

Rnd 3 Knit

Rnd 4 Inc 1, K9, Inc 1, K9

Rnd 5 Knit

Rnd 6 Inc 1, K10, Inc 1, K10

Rnd 7 Knit

Rnd 8 Inc 1, K11, Inc 1, K11

Rnd 9 Knit

Rnd 10 Knit

Rnd 11 K2tog, K10, K2tog, K10

Rnd 12 K2tog, K9, K2tog, K9

Rnd 13 K2tog, K8, K2tog, K8

Rnd 14 Hold both sides of knitting together on 2 Needles, and Knit 1 stitch from each needle together.  Slip 9 live stitches onto a stitch holder or spare needle, leave enough of a tail to weave ends in.

Large Petal, Make 4

CO 12 stitches

Rnd 1 Knit

Rnd 2 Inc 1, K12, Inc 1, K12

Rnd 3 Knit

Rnd 4 Inc 1, K13, Inc 1, K13

Rnd 5 Knit

Rnd 6 Inc 1, K14, Inc 1, K14

Rnd 7 Knit

Rnd 8 Inc 1, K15, Inc 1, K15

Rnd 9 Knit

Rnd 10 Inc 1, K16, Inc 1, K16

Rnd 11 Knit

Rnd 12 Knit

Rnd 13 K2tog, K15, K2tog, K15

Rnd 14 K2tog, K14, K2tog, K14

Rnd 15 K2tog, K13, K2tog, K13

Rnd 16 K2tog, K12, K2tog, K12

Rnd 17 Hold both sides of knitting together on 2 Needles, and Knit 1 stitch from each needle together.  Slip 13 live stitches onto a stitch holder or spare needle, leave enough of a tail to weave ends in.  After making final petal, leave the working yarn attached, this will be the the petal #1 in the petal sequence.

Finishing

This is where things start to get tricky, I'll put in an alternate method of construction at the end.  

Before starting, weave in all ends along the purl ridge, except for the one large petal with working yarn.

Slip one large rose Petal to a #1 Circular needle, Purl ridge facing you, this is now the Main needle. With another Circ, or with a DPN, slip 5 stitches from Left side off the Main needle.  Now take a second Large Petal, purl ridge facing and hold to the front of the first petal. Now slip 1 stitch from right side onto Main needle, then slip 1 stitch of the 1st Petal onto Main needle. Continue slipping 1 stitch from 2nd petal onto Main needle, and 1 stitch from 1st petal until last 5 stitches of 1st petal and first 5 stitches of 2nd petal are on the Main needle.  Now slip the remaining stitches of the 2nd petal onto main needle, then slip 5 stitches from left side of 2nd Petal onto another needle as for 1st Petal. Repeat the same process of slipping alternate stitches for the 3rd and 4th petals, making sure that the right hand side of the petals are overlapping the toward the front of the left hand side.  

When all 4 Large Petals are transfered onto one Circ, transfer 21 stitches onto another Circ from the right hand side (with purl ridge facing), making sure to maintain the order of overlapping stitches. Fold work so the purl ridges are on the inside of work, and slip 5 stitches of Petal #4 and #1 onto spare needles, then slip them back on alternating between each petal, maintaining the petal pattern so each petal overlaps in a pinwheel style pattern. 

All the Large Petals are now joined in the round, purl ridge inside, knit stitches outside.  The tail should be at a spot where double stitches end and the single stitches begin, the start of the single stitches is now the beginning of the round.  

Rnd 1 (K3, SSK 5x) Rep 4 times (32 Stitches)

Rnd 2 (K3, K2tog) Rep 6 times, K2 (26 stitches)

Rnd 3 K1, (K2tog) Rep 8 times, K2 (18 stitches)

Put 2 Medium Petals on different Circulars or DPN.  Now you need to work stitches from the medium petals into the current work.  Slip 1 stitch from beginning of round onto the other end of it's circular needle (main needle), 1 stitch from 1st Medium petal and 1 stitch from 2nd Medium Petal, repeat sequence 2 more times.  Slip 1 stitch from main round onto main needle, then 1 stitch from 1st Medium petal. Repeat 2 more times.  Slip 1 stitch from main round to main needle, slip 1 from 3rd medium petal, slip 1 stitch from 1st petal. Repeat 2 more times, leave all these stitches on 1st Circ.  Starting with other circ on the other side of the round, slip 1 stitch from main round onto other end of it's circular needle, and 1 stitch from medium petal 3. Repeat 2 more times. Slip 1 stitch from main round, slip 1 from 1st medium petal, slip 1 from 3rd medium petal. Repeat 2 more times. Slip 1 from main round, slip 1 from 1st medium petal. Repeat 2 more times.

Rnd 4 SSK 3 stitches together 3 times, SSK 2 stitches together 3 times. Repeat to end of round. (18 stitches)

Slip 1 stitch from main round in previous manner, slip 1 from small petal, slip 1 from main round, slip 1 from small petal, slip 2 from main round, slip 1 from small petal, slip 2 from main round, slip 1 from small petal, slip 2 from main round, slip 1 from small petal, slip 1 from main round.  Repeat with other side of main round and final small petal.

Rnd 5 (SSK 2 times, SSK 3 stitches together 3 times, K1) Repeat once. (12 stitches)

Rnd 6 (K1, K2tog) Rep 4 times (8 stitches)

Rnd 7 (K2tog) Rep 4 times (4 stitches)

Slip 4 remaining stitches onto one circular needle or one DPN, change to green yarn, and continue in I-cord stitch for 2 1/2 inches or desired stem length. Weave in ends.

Sew on a pin back, or push a straight pin through back of work to wear as a brooch.  Or sew onto a hat or scarf for decoration.

Alternate method of final construction.

If you really don't want to deal with all the fiddling of slipping stitches, and you don't care how the bottom of the rose looks, then you can try this method for final construction.

Knit small petals one extra round after final round, knit Medium petals two extra rounds after final round, knit Large petals four extra rounds after final round.  Bind off on all petals.

Sew Four large petals into a pinwheel shape, overlapping each petal by 5 stitches, sew three medium petals in a pinwheel shape, overlapping each petal by 3 stitches, into the bottom of the large petals, then sew the two small petals into the bottom of the medium petals.  If the petals do not want to stand up, and keep flopping flat, then you can weave a piece of scrap yarn through the inside of the four large petals, far enough down that you won't see it, then pull the scrap yarn tight to bring the outer petals into a tighter circle.  Pick up four stitches on the bottom of the rose, then knit in I-cord with green Yarn for 2 1/2 inches or desired stem length.  Weave in ends.

Big Trouble in Little Madrona

This past weekend was Madrona Fiber Arts Festival.  There was money in the checking account when we went on Thursday.  It's very empty now.  Sigh.

On the other hand, there are now enormous piles of fiber lying around the house that wasn't there before, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  Eventually it will be knitted up and will then also make me feel all warm and fuzzy on the outside too.

I enjoyed the classes, although overall it was even more fun just hanging out with all my knitting friends and meeting all kinds of new knitting friends. 

Yes, this post is short, but I've spent the first part of today writing up the pattern for my Petaled Rose, which will be the next post.  I need to make an attempt to update the blog more often, at least once a week from now on.  Maybe if someone could put an extra hour into the day, that would be fantastic.

To boldly go..... where everyone else has already gone.

Ok, here it is, all my friends are doing the blog thing, so like a little lemming, I'm jumping off the cliff with everyone else.  Somehow I don't think this will actually help me get more done in the day, nevertheless I shall endeavor to keep up with it, just in case there may be someone out there who might care. 

I imagine that most of the posts here will be about knitting, or other fiber related activities, although I can not promise that other strange and unrelated things will somehow make their way into my posts.  

I'm hoping that this weekend I will somehow find the time to update my ravelry account, and then find time to alter the template on my blog, perhaps take all the pictures of items I'm working on, and generally get some stuff done.  Or I'll sit around with a cat on my lap knitting the hours away until work on monday.  We'll see.