Monday, November 10, 2008

Productive Weekend

First I have to say thanks to Nils at Babe Fiber Garden. The replacement bracket & bolt for my Babe Production Double Treadle wheel arrived Friday. My darling husband Paul replaced it for me on Saturday. And it is working like a dream again. So I am back to spinning which is happy! *wiggles happily*

I spent a good portion of the weekend knitting Xmas stuff. I am pretty happy with the results so far.

I found a scrubbie pattern that works pretty well.

http://tankhouse.knitability.com/freepatterns/DishClothDuo.pdf

After looking at the Ravelry images of the scrubbie, I decided follow someone's suggestions for a larger size one.

Blue Xmas Scrubbie

Blue Xmas Scrubbie

Cast On & Completed:

November 7 2008

Pattern:

Circular Scrubby by Gwen Bortner

http://tankhouse.knitability.com/freepatterns/DishClothDuo.pdf

Made for:

Sister-in-law Jennifer

Needles:

US 9 / 5.5 mm Knitpick Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton

Dyed by me

0.08 skeins = 14.7 yards (13.5m)

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns Sale in NJ

Super quick and easy.

Cast on 25 stitches and did 22 rows. It is still kinda small. Good thing SIL has small hands.

Yarn dyed blue by me especially for SIL (to match her kitchen colors).

Ostrich Plume Dish Towel Xmas Present

Ostrich Plume Dish Towel & Scrubbie Xmas Present

Cast On:

November 4 2008

Completed:

November 7 2008

Pattern:

Ostrich Plume Dishcloth by Edith Taylor

http://www.groupepp.com/dishbout/kpatterns/ostplume.html

Made for:

Sister-in-law Jennifer

Needles:

US 7 / 4.5 mm Knitpicks Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton

Dyed by me

0.92 skeins = 169.3 yards (154.8m)

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns Sale in NJ

Yarn dyed blue by me especially for SIL (to match her kitchen colors).

I made a dish towel rather than a dishcloth. I had enough yarn for that & a scrubbie.

Size: 8" x 20"

Grey Xmas Scrubbie

Grey Xmas Scrubbie

Cast On & Completed:

November 8 2008

Pattern:

Circular Scrubby by Gwen Bortner

http://tankhouse.knitability.com/freepatterns/DishClothDuo.pdf

Made for:

Sister-in-law Bren & Husband Martin

Needles:

US 10 / 6.0 mm Knitpick Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton

Dyed by me

0.08 skeins = 14.7 yards (13.5m)

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns Sale in NJ

Cast on 30 stitches & did 24 repeats to get a decent size. Original pattern makes one that is very small.

It puffs up a bit, but I think that is because I didn't sew the edges together exactly right.

Yarn dyed by me to accent SIL's kitchen.

Basket Rib Dish Towel

Basket Rib Dish Towel

Cast On:

November 8 2008

Completed:

November 9 2008

Pattern:

Basket Rib Hand Towel by Traci Heiner

http://traciknits.blogspot.com/2008/05/basket-rib-hand-towel-free-pattern.html

Made for:

Sister-in-law Bren & husband Martin

Needles:

US 7 / 4.5 mm Knitpicks Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton

Dyed by me

0.08 skeins = 14.7 yards (13.5m)

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns Sale in NJ

Size: 10" x 18"

Fast & easy. Kinda glad I decided on dishtowels. They are going pretty quickly.

Yarn dyed by me. Done in colors to reflect SIL's countertop. Honest, I don’t think it does.

It was supposed to be darker. Still, I think the colors look good & the recipients will like it. *crossed fingers* (Okay, let's be honest, my BIL could care less. *smirk*)

Brown Xmas Scrubbie

Xmas Scrubbies

(Pic shows the three I have done together. Shows the differences in size.)

Cast On & Completed:

November 8 2008

Pattern:

Circular Scrubby by Gwen Bortner

http://tankhouse.knitability.com/freepatterns/DishClothDuo.pdf

Made for:

Sister-in-law Andrea

Needles:

US 10 / 6.0 mm Knitpick Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton

Dyed by me

0.08 skeins = 14.7 yards (13.5m)

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns Sale in NJ

Cast on 30 stitches & did 22 repeats to get a decent size. Original pattern makes one that is very small.

It puffs up a bit, but I think that is because I didn't sew the edges together exactly right.

Yarn dyed by me to accent SIL's kitchen.

Trellis Sweater

Trellis Baby Sweater

Cast On:

October 4, 2008

Nearly Completed:

October 13, 2008 (all but the buttons and overdyeing)

Completed (finished overdye & buttons):

November 7, 2008

Pattern:

Trellis by Britta Stolfus Rueschhoff

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTtrellis.html

Made for:

Michael & Jen's Newest Leah

Size:

Smallest

Needles:

US 7 / 4.5 mm Knitpicks Options

Yarn:

TLC Cotton Plus Solid in 3810 light blue

~1 skeins = 178.0 yards

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns Sale in NJ

Friday, I stopped by the Point while out during my lunch hour. I found the buttons on this sweater. They are too busy for the sweater. But I know the mom loves busy stuff, so she will like it I think. They also are similar to the buttons on the sweater I knit for her sister for Xmas. http://knittnkitten.blogspot.com/2008/06/trinitys-tomten-done.html

I had finished all but the dying and buttons by October 13. It was a pretty quick project.

I wanted to start on some more Xmas knitting. I have completed the sweater for Trinity, Michael & Jen’s daughter who is about to turn 1. I wanted to do something for their boy who was due in this fall.

I was told when I was visiting my family in Easter that it was a boy. No one told me otherwise. So I made a blue sweater. Then I got the call. It is a girl. Ummm…excuse me?! blink

I dyed the sweater to purple. It looks good. The nylon didn’t take the dye so there is an interesting heather affect to the yarn.

I am glad it looks okay because there was no way I was redoing it at this point. I have enough other Xmas knitting to do.

I did a search on baby projects in the TLC Cotton Plus and found the Trellis sweater. It looked really attractive so I decided to try it.

I sorta wish I had done a bigger size. Knowing Michael & Jen’s daughter Trinity is large, I should have anticipated a big baby. Plus it could have been worn later. But ah well. Honestly, I don’t know if they even liked the sweater I knit for Trinity last Xmas. So I don’t want to spend tons of time on it if it will never get worn.

I confess I am not thrilled with the way the pattern is written. I finally sat down and marked up the pattern with the row #s. I am not sure why the writer wrote it without the row #s. Other than that though, the pattern is great. And I love the way it turned out.

(Though heaven knows if I had known it was a girl I would have done something lacier. Ah well. *shakes head*)

So all in all, it was a super productive weekend. I am happy that I got so much done & am back to spinning again. Hooray!

1 comment:

Jamie said...

Congrats on getting so much done! The scrubbies and towels are nice and I LOVE the buttons on the sweater. Very sweet!