Knitted With Love

Working in a library with wonderful people is great. . . when some of those wonderful people are also knitters . . . well, can it get any better?! There is always someone around when you get stuck on a pattern, need advice, share yarn with . . . and of course show a completed project to. 

Suzanne has been quietly knitting in the staff room for the past few weeks making a 'stuffie' for her son. Luckily I was working today when she brought in the completed project. I confess that I didn't know exactly what . . . or rather who . . . he is . . . but then I also confess that I am not a Star Wars fan. (Suzanne however has a really awesome Star Wars pocketbook. Even I . . . the non-Star Wars fan . . . acknowledge the cuteness of it!)

He is Admiral Ackbar. But more importantly he is the cutest, softest, cuddliest thing. Just looking at him gives you that warm fuzzy feeling that a hand crafted gift gives you. That feeling you get knowing someone thinks enough of you to spend their free time creating a gift just for you. (And let's face it, when short rows and embroidery are involved, someone flat out loves you!).

I wish you could squeeze him like I did. 

I had to share him with you. 

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Turning T-shirts Into Yarn.

One of the best things about working in the library is having creative co-workers . . . like Lindsey. When another co-worker cleans her office . . . resulting in a lot of T-shirts that are left in a 'who-wants-these-?' staff area  . . . Lindsey looked at them and saw . . . yarn. (I know, right?! Yarn?!! I looked at them and saw a pile of T-shirts that I wouldn't wear.)

When she showed me her 'yarn' I was of course . . .  'how did you do that?' Since she is nice . . . she showed me. I went home and copied her and made my own T-shirt yarn. Want to make some??

Start with . . . you guessed it, a T-shirt.

Lay it flat and smooth it out.
















Next cut it just below the armholes . . . 

Then cut off the hemmed edge at the bottom.


You now have a tube.

Next fold your 'tube' in half, but leave one edge about 1 1/2 inches longer than the other.


Now comes the fun part.

Cut from the bottom through the first fold . . . but don't cut all the way across. Leave the fold furthest away intact.











Repeat all the way across. I made my strips about an inch thick. (Maybe you noticed my lime-green-Only-You-Can-Prevent-Forest-Fires ruler. I had a grandiose vision of carefully measuring each strip. I threw that idea out the window and just eyeballed it once I started. I decided to be a free spirit.)

When you are finished, unfold it and separate all the loops.

Next cut diagonally to make one big strip.

(You would cut from where my thumb is to the notch created by the two top loops.)









You will end up with one big long strip of jersey fabric.

Give it a gentle tug and a little bit of magic will happen. The ends will roll in and it will turn into . . . 

. . . a pile of T-shirt yarn!!!!

I'm not sure what I will make with it. Maybe a cowl?

Go ahead, give it a try. You must have a lot of old T-shirts that you are probably never going to wear again. (And if you see Lindsey tell her thanks for sharing!)






Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Monday Night Knitting

Hand surgery, weddings, and expectant mothers kept some of our knitters away . . . but we still had lots of friends to chat with and projects to view!



There was roving to touch and feel . . . the white is merino wool and feels like you are holding a cloud in your hand . . . the cranberry/green/brown is yak and silk and feels like . . . well it feels like nothing you have touched before!! (So soft!!!)

And still more roving . . . 
this one looked like autumn. Nancy joined us and started in with 'autumn' using her drop spindle . . . makes me want to try it again!!












Dinah brought in her skein of yarn that she was spinning last month. It's gorgeous. All I can think of is a field of lavender on a hillside in Scotland . . . with a castle in the background. (I don't even know if lavender grows in Scotland . . . ).

More beautiful colors! 

Linda finished a scarf/shawl made of sock yarn. 
It's like a sunset . . . reds and a little orange showing too.









Joan finished her ornament and is starting another one.















Marguerite finished her afghan. OMG . . . it makes me want to grab it from her, make a cup of tea and sit down with a book.

Peggy is working on a scarf.
















I love Monday nights. A wonderful group of talent and support . . . all under one roof!

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Monday Night Knitting Group

Look at us!! Who wouldn't want to come and knit or spin with a group like this??!!














Plus the library is air conditioned - always a plus when it's 92 degrees!

Peggy's afghan is gorgeous! All those cables!

Joy's scarf is coming along . . . 

Janet started a swatch for a sweater she's going to make . . . the color is great . . . coral? peach? . . . not sure, but I love it!


Marguerite is still working on her afghan . . . hers also has lots of cables!

There's always lots of baby sweaters . . . and with so many 'future grammies' . . . I bet there will be even more!













Joan is working on Christmas Ornaments  . . . 















. . . and Pat is weaving a necklace . . . little-tiny-beads-onto-thread-with-a-sewing-needle. YIKES! Talk about tinkerish work. (It's really pretty awesome).














What a group. Join us next time. We have plenty of chairs and there is always room at the table for another fiber friend.

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Monday Night Knitting Group

Favorite day to work? The third Monday of the month!! I love the chance to sit and meet with my 'knitting friends'. 

Look what they accomplished this time!








It's not spread out . . . so you can't tell that this is a beautiful cotton lace pattern.









An afghan still on the needles . .  . I love all these cables!













A blanket ready to be blocked . . . it's going to keep someone toasty warm!













Speaking of being warm . . . hand-knit socks will do it too!!

There is an expectant mom out there that is going to receive a great shower gift! Two sweaters, hats, burping cloths . . . 









These knitters inspire me every month. They are knitting for cancer, for church charities . . . for everyone but themselves!! 

They are awesome. Come and join us.

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Hurry Up and Slow Down

click here to place a hold

When I went up to the reference desk the other day . . . on some 'work-related-issue' . . . there sat Suzanne, getting the new magazines ready to be put out. So of course when she held up the new Vogue Knitting magazine . . . well, I may have forgot that I went up there on a 'work-related-issue'. I did what I always do . . . a quick scan through to see if any of the sweaters needed to go on my Oh-I-Love-This-I-Want-To-Knit-This List. Sadly, none of them really grabbed me. Suzanne agreed and I decided I could rationalize the time I spent looking through the magazine and discussing knitting as a 'readers advisory, book review sort of a thing. (I know it's stretching it, but . . . oh well).



I still took the magazine so I could read through it and see what's new in the fiber world. That's when I saw the article, 25 Tips for Faster Knitting by Leslie Petrovski. Right away I thought, Really? Faster knitting? Does everything have to be faster? People drive on the highway like they are trying out for NASCAR. We tap our feet and shift our weight when we wait in line at the grocery store. If we lose electricity and Nstar doesn't have it restored in an hour we rant and rave . . . (never mind if it's a blizzard with a foot of snow and a line is down and a human being has to climb a pole or something!)

Isn't it bad enough that I whip out my iPhone when I am driving with my husband so I can Google the answer to whatever the question of the moment is? I text my son and and worry what could have happened to him if he doesn't respond within 5 minutes. I make Minute Rice and I can heat up dinner in 5 minutes in the microwave. . . and now. . . well now I have to speed up my knitting?!

Then I slowed down (ironic, huh?) and actually read the article. Some of her hints I was already doing (use charts instead of written instructions, choose the best needles for your yarn, cable without a needle). Some I confess I will probably never do (have a deadline looming . . . sorry, I can't take that kind of added stress; don't drink alcohol while knitting . . . is wine alcohol?) And then I read her last tip - "Decide who you are as a knitter. Not everyone wants to set speed records." How true.

So here I sit with a glass of wine . . . .plodding along . . . still knitting my peach sweater with cables. I have been working on it since January. I still have a sleeve I haven't started. But when I pick up my needles a sense of calm comes over me and I realize I am sharing a craft that has been done for generations. A craft that came before the internet and electricity and even Addi-Turbo needles. I relax knowing that my decision was already made. I'm one of the knitters that isn't going to set any records. 

That being said, I would like to get this sweater done . . . I have my next project picked out . . . I just have to narrow it down to which one!

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Monday Night Knitting Group

Monday night was a small group for knitting . . . but a creative group! 






I mean really . . . . look at these socks! Linda made them . . . the smaller pair are for her grandson . . . I LOVE them!!

















Peggy is making a baby blanket, and at the rate she knits, let's see . . . it's 2 days after we met . . . she's probably done!!










Susan made this adorable hat for her future grandbaby . . . perfect to keep a new-born head warm!



Joan is still working on her socks . . . Audrey is working on a blanket for her future grandbaby (all these babies!!) . . . and Joy is working on a scarf.


I always go home feeling so lucky to knit with such wonderful people. Knitters really are special. Join us. We're fun too!


Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Monday Night Knitting Group

After last nights group, I think perhaps our group should be renamed! Instead of Monday Night Knitting, we'll call it Monday Night Fiber!! Joining us for the night were 4 fabulous women and their spinning wheels and drop spindles!

Just sitting there listening to the quiet hum of the wheels was so relaxing.

Watching their piles of fleece turn into yarn right before our eyes was almost hypnotic . . . and it looked so effortless . . . then Martha let me sit at her wheel and try.

OMG!! It's not nearly as easy as they made it look!



Pat joined us again with her weaving . . . 

The picture doesn't really show it . . . but there are beads woven in!!! She also explained how to create 'the wavy effect'. (I'm sure there is an official term that sounds better than 'wavy effect'.) The finished project will be a purse. 












And of course there were knitters . . .

Joan is working on 
socks again . . . .
















Joy is going to make a sweater in this gorgeous green that we all assured her was the 'in' color. 

Here she is making a swatch to test her gauge, (as every good knitter should do!!).









Liz came and learned how to sew her hand-warmers together.














And there were more . . . but apparently my skills as a photographer are lacking . . .  the other pictures are blurry . . . maybe I can blame it on my camera phone??

We'll meet again on May 18th. Come and see us . . . bring your favorite 'fiber project'. The more the merrier . . . 

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

Monday Night Knitting Group

I realized last night that our Monday Night Group has been meeting for over a year . . . wow, that time went by fast! Last night went by fast too! Take a look at some of our projects -





Marguerite's scarf is almost done . . .























Audrey's Christmas stocking only needs the name added . . .



















 Joan's scarf just needs to be bound off . . . 













Lizzie's sweater
just needs sleeves . . . 
















Peggy just needs to block her Christmas stockings . . . .

She is also like a human knitting machine. Not shown are two other stockings she made since we met last month!!















 Linda brought in her Boston Strong hat . . .















And here is a table of industrious knitters that did not mind their working fingers being shown, but wanted to remain anonymous.








Joan also came and worked on her sock and a scarf (how did she escape my camera??).

We'll meet again on October 20th. In the meantime I've been given the assignment of searching for a pattern for Claire's Cowl. Don't worry . . . I'm on it!

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

If More is Better . . . Then Let's Increase!

I am still working on the plain stockinette stitch sweater for my husband. . . although it is working up pretty quick.

When it is next to a purl stitch,
the bar created when increasing
will just blend in with the other
 purl stitches.

I have just finished the cuff on the second sleeve and I need to increase 4 stitches evenly across the row. My favorite increase when I am doing it in ribbing is the easiest - the bar increase (knit into the front and back of the stitch). If you work this increase using a knit stitch that is followed by a purl stitch, the bar that is created will be hidden in the purl 'gully'. (If you use it on plain stockinette stitch the bar will be visible.)

Okay,  I'm going to go finish the row. Then I think I knit a few rows and start the arm increases. I'll use M1 (make one) increases. I like the way they blend in with stockinette stitch. 

Come back and I'll show you how to do them so they slant to the right and to the left. 

Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.

From the Library's Shelves . . . the Digital Shelves!

One of my 2013 New Year's Resolutions was to organize my patterns. What a mess I had . . . booklets, photocopies and pages ripped from the many knitting magazines I had . . . all in a pile. But I did it. I found huge loose-leaf binders and put each pattern in it's own page protector and then filed them away. All the scarf and shawls together, all the men's together,  the children's, women's cardigans and pullovers - each with their own spot to live in my bookcase. Very neat, very organized, very - hey, these-take-up-a-lot-of-room!

But I know if I go through and throw some of them out . . . well you know too. Someone is going to ask me for it or I am going to suddenly want to knit it. Looking at the binders does make me happy that I am now living in the 'digital age'. Reading, and being able to keep, a magazine on my iPad has kept my loose-leaf binder collection from taking over my den. I can keep as many as I want, all accessible at a finger tip. 

To make it even better . . . I can import the pattern from the magazine into an app on my iPad and knit it from there. Directions, graphs, I can make notes . . . all with no paper involved. I use KnitCompanion. Can it get any easier?

  
Well, maybe not easier, but it gets better! Knitting magazines for free! If your library has Zinio available (and of course Duxbury Free Library does!!), you have at your finger tips, access to magazines right there from your comfortable rocking chair while you sip a glass of wine. If you want, stay in your jammies. Interweave Knits and Knitter's Magazine are both available. 

 



 
Click here to get started. 


Go ahead, try it. If you need help give the library a call - you don't even have to tell us if you are in your jammies.


Until next time, keep your nose in a book or your fingers in fiber.