Quick Project Update

I really shouldn't be spending time with this. I have to finish up stuff for my work conference next week. But if I don't post this now, I won't get around to it at all.

Honestly, I don't think the pics are as true to color. I took them in a different area which has fluorescents. Definitely not taking more there. I didn't have a lot of time to tweak them.

Christmas Lace Kitchen Hand Towel Xmas Present

Cast On:

November 9 2008

Completed:

November 11 2008

Pattern:

Christmas Lace Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel by Cathy Waldie

http://wishingiwasknitting.blogspot.com/2008/04/christmas-lace-kitchen-hanging-hand.html

Made for:

Sister-in-law Andrea

Needles:

US 7 / 4.5 mm Knitpicks Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton

~0.82 skeins = 150.9 yards (138.0m)

Dyed by me for sister-in-law

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns Sale in NJ

Yarn dyed by me to compliment Andrea’s kitchen.

I was worried I wouldn’t have enough yarn for entire project. But it worked out fine, even a bit to spare.

Size - 12" wide, 13" long on towel with additional 3" on loop.

I think it would be better if the strap were thicker. If I ever redo the pattern, I would go with at least 2-4 more stitches for the strap.

Purple Circular Scrubbie

Cast On & Finished:

November 11, 2008

Pattern:

Circular Scrubby Pattern by Gwen Bortner

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

Made for:

Sister-in-law Kelly

Needles:

US 10 / 6.0 mm Knitpicks Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton

~ 0.08 skeins = 14.7 yards (13.5m)

Dyed by me for sister-in-law

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. I am not sure why exactly as I was careful when sewing the seams together. Might need to tweak the repeats more or something.

Yarn dyed by me as my SIL likes purple.

Reverse Diamond Towel Xmas Present

Cast On:

November 11, 2008

Pattern:

Reverse Diamond Towel by Vaunda Rae Giberson

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

Made for:

Sister-in-law Kelly

Needles:

US 7 / 4.5 mm Knitpicks Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton

~0.88 skeins = 161.9 yards (148.1m)

Dyed by me for sister-in-law

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns Sale in NJ

Making for my sister-in-law for Xmas. Not a bad project. Though it was weird. I had some trouble counting row 5 or 6. Messed it up a bunch of times. *shrugs* Just one of those weird moments. *chuckle*

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

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

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

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

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

(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

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!

Dyed Yarn & Xmas Knitting

Here are some pics of the Lily Elite Cotton yarn I dyed over the weekend.

Generated by Flickr Album Maker

Some are much lighter after they dried than I anticipated. But I am pretty happy overall with the colors. Other than the red. It is a bit too light for my tastes. Problem was I ran low on the Fire Red dye that I was using. I added some fuscia red dye to it. But it still seems to pale. But it is bright enough that I think it will be good as a Christmas red. *crosses fingers*

I dyed it with the intention of creating dish cloths/towels for some people as Xmas presents. I hope that will be enough. I confess I am feeling tapped out money wise. So that may be all some people get. Though I am betting other people are in a similar situation this year. So I am not going to stress it.

(I can post this on here because non-knitters I know do not read this. And if you are a knitter who will be getting a present from me, you should know this won't be your present! *grin*)

I started with one for my sister-in-law. Only to rip the entire thing out and pick another pattern.

The first pattern I picked was:

http://www.jimsyldesign.com/dishbout/kpatterns/smocked.html

Pretty, but I realized the carried over strands that are picked up are a terrible idea for a dish towel! It would get caught on anything like utensils and such! Not sure why so many people have made that one on Ravelry. I think it would be fine as a washcloth, but not a dishcloth in my opinion.

I end up doing this one instead:

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

It is simpler than it looks but pretty. I think my sister-in-law will like it. *crosses fingers*

Ostrich Plume Dish Towel Xmas Present

Cast On:

November 4 2008

Pattern:

Ostrich Plume Dishcloth by Edith Taylor

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

Made for:

Sister-in-law J

Needles:

US 7 / 4.5 mm Knitpicks Options

Yarn:

Lily Elite Cotton - Dyed by Me

1 skeins = 184.0 yards (168.2m)

Purchased at Smiley's Yarns in Woodhaven, New York

The purple, brown & mixed grey and other colors are for some of my other in-laws. The brown & grey were to compliment their kitchen colors. (Though I am not sure about the grey one. I will knit it up, but it may end up getting redyed or some The purple is just because I know my sister-in-law likes purple. I am figuring the red & green for some Xmas towels.

I still have 4 balls of the Lily Elite Cotton that isn't dyed. I am debating what I will do. One of my sister-in-laws like cows. So I was thinking about doing something about that for one of them. But I didn't dye that up. I was originally thinking about knitting it first and then dyeing it. But now I am thinking it would make more sense to dye it first.

I will see if I have any left over brown from the one. Also, there is a Smiley sale the first week of December. So I can check if they have more of the cotton in other colors.

I used up all my black dye, the fire red and some others during the dyeing over the weekend. So I either need to replenish it or just go with what I have for the time being. I have plenty of knitting ahead of me. So we will see. *smile*

Also, here is a pic of the Panda Cotton sock blank I dyed over the weekend.

Sock Blank Purchased from Whimsy Pimsy etsy shop:

http://WhimsyPimsy.etsy.com

I am honestly not sure about the colors. They aren't what I was expecting. But I think it will be interesting.

I am leaning towards doing something like a chevron to get movement to the stripes. But I also do not want anything too complex given this will be my first time knitting with a sock black.

The Sock Knitters Anonymous KAL for Nov. is either a Wendy Johnson pattern or mosaic knitting. I am very tempted by mosaic knitting but do not have yarn for it. I was thinking about using one of the Wendy Johnson toe up patterns and adding a chevron to it. I am a bit tempted by her toe-up feather and fan pattern. But I suspect that would be too busy for the yarn.