Monday Night Knitting Group

The temperatures are finally making it feel like Fall!! Good thing all the 'Monday Night Knitters' have been busy!!




Lizzy's husband will have a warm head.

(I just hope he isn't shoveling the same amount of snow we got last year when he is wearing it!!)

Margaret is working on her afghan . . . even though it's not done, she'll stay warm with it sitting in her lap while she is knitting away! 
















Peggy, aka 'the human knitting machine', finished this gorgeous cabled shawl. It's a donation for a cancer support group . . .it will keep someone who needs an extra hug warm . . . I bet it will warm their heart too.

'The Human Knitting Machine' has also finished all these adorable sweater sets for the many future moms-to-be that she knows. 


Did I mention that she also works?? How DOES she do it??













Pat will stay warm with this Norwegian hat.

It makes me want to start a two-color project! 

We even talked about steeks . . . I freely admit that I am a chicken. The thought of cutting my knitting. I know, I know . . . it's done all the time . . . but . . . gasp!

Linda is making a 'football' scarf . . . or is it a cowl? 

It's a pretty cool concept. You start it at the beginning of the season using your team colors and knit while you watch the games. For every touchdown you knit a certain amount of rows . . . using one color for the home team and the other for the opposition. If there is a touchback (and other footballish terms) you knit a certain amount of rows, etc. When the game is over you knit a white stripe. . . then pick it up again the next week. At the end of the season you will have a creation that will keep any football fan warm!






Joan is working on Christmas Tree ornaments. 

I think she has the patience of a saint to be doing these!!













Martha is using this awesome yarn that . . . yes, she spun herself!! (I think that makes her kind of awesome too!).

I wish you could feel how soft it is.














Speaking of spinning . . . Dinah's fleece is a blend of greens and purples and it's pretty much just to die for. (Or is that to 'dye' for?!)

Carol's fleece is gray . . . also really nice!!

Monica is making an I-cord with a pretty nifty device. Makes me think of a great way to edge a sweater!!








So much talent . . . so many warm items!


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

New Beginnings

FINALLY . . . I have finished my peach sweater! While it sits in my closet awaiting the cool weather, I had the quandary of what to start next. I decided on a Sally Melville pattern - L'Envelope. Got out the yarn I'll use, got out the needles and worked a swatch. I also decided I would be a good girl and since the directions cautioned to not only work a swatch,  but to also launder it as you would the sweater . . . well, I always have dirty clothes so in to the laundry it went.

The swatch came out with perfect gauge . . . so I'm all set to go. I check the directions again to see how many stitches to cast on and the directions recommend using a crochet cast-on. What?! I always use the long-tail or the cable cast-ons. EEEK!! . . . Am I going to have to learn something??!! 

I did some research and here it is . . . and . . . it couldn't be easier.

Start with a slip knot on a crochet hook.


(Pick a crochet hook size that will correspond to your knitting needle size.)






Then pick up one of your needles and holding the yarn in your left hand, place it under the needle.


Try and anchor the tail between your ring finger and baby fingers.






Reach over the needle with your crochet hook and pick up the yarn.


Bring it across the needle and through the slip knot on your crochet hook.











Then use your left index finger to bring the yarn back under the needle.













Repeat . . . bringing the yarn across the needle and through your crochet hook.












When you have the correct number of stitches . . . 
minus one . . .on your needle, place the one on your crochet hook on the needle.


Pretty easy, huh?









Here they are . . . .all lined up.













Here's the edge after I worked a few rows.










The pattern also calls to slip the first stitch purl-wise.



I can see why Sally recommends this cast-on . . . it blends in nicely with the edge.





I think I like this cast-on. A definite advantage is that similar to the cable cast-on, you just use the working yarn . . . no estimating needed . . . unlike the long-tail cast-on. How many times have I called it too short with the long-tail and had to start all over again!!

In fact, this makes me want to try a few other different cast-ons.  I'll keep you posted on which ones I try.

Just goes to show ya . . . you can teach an old dog new tricks!  

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.

The Things We Do For Our Knitting

I thought I had heard - and seen - almost all the tips and tricks for when you are missing some knitting supplies. 
No needles? Use pencils. 
No stitch holders? Use a paper clip.
No cable needle? Go without or use the paperclip again.
No ruler? From your index finger knuckle to the next joint is 1 inch.

Mother's ring turned stitch marker. 

Knitting in the round and no marker? 

Well I confess . . . this I have never seen.

Lizzie was in the library the other day and showed me her . . .  ingenuity? Actually I think it was more like sheer genius! I laughed and knew I had to share it with you.


You've got to love it. 






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

From the Library Shelves

Have you ever gone into the yarn store and seen a skein of yarn that felt and looked so wonderful that it had to come home with you? You know, the one you looked at and thought to yourself 'I don't know what I'll do with it but . . . ' Maybe you even spent a little too much money for that skein of yarn, but it spoke to you as yarn often does and it found its way onto the passenger seat of your car as you drove home. (I bet you even peaked in the bag and stroked it when you were at a stop light!)

Well if you bought lace weight yarn, you are in luck! One of the latest additions to the library's collection is Lace Yarn Studio by Carol Sulcoski. The book is broken down into projects using one, two or three skeins of lace weight yarn. (Just in case you really splurged on your last yarn store stop and you bought more than one of those irresistible skeins!)

Not only does Carol provide some really great patterns (like the gauntlets on page 29 and the cardigan on page 83), but she also has some great tips for knitters that are not use to working with lace weight yarn.  
          

                                                                                                                                                                                                click here to place a hold


Take a look at it. If you are one of those knitters that is intimidated by lace weight yarn . . . fear no more! This book will help you choose the right needles, the right cast on, the right lighting, even what to do with your left-over lace yarn!! I think I am off to my local yarn store . . . 

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.