You know when inspiration hits, and you can’t really seem to put a new project down?  I know that sometimes it’s easy to get lost in a book.  This time I got lost in a pair of mittens.  For some unexplainable reason I just kept picking up the needles to knit just a little bit more, and before I knew it, all that was left was to knit the thumb.  Thumbs are quick to knit, so I cast on for the second mitten, and then I had to do the cuff before I forgot what I did with the first one…Next thing I know it is past midnight, and I am done!  The picture doesn’t do justice to the colour of the yarn, but I’m thrilled with the results.  I think it’s a record!  On Tuesday this was a bag of fluff.  On Saturday it is a pair of mittens!

Knitting with handspun is interesting, the colour of this pot luck roving does not stay constant, so each mitten changes colour slightly, and the thumbs don’t match.  I like it though….it’s proof that they are hand made, and they are definitely unique.

Now that they are done, I can get on with other important things like doing my dishes!

After the harrowing canoeing adventure on Wednesday, I decided to stay on land for most of the day on Thursday.  I spent part of rest hour watching over the children as they relaxed under the trees and I finished up some i-cord ties.  I am thankful that my camera revived itself enough to take several photos.  I think the water has ruined some of the electrical workings on the insides.  I can’t turn the flash on or off anymore.

Pattern:  Top Down Bonnet (Ravelink) by A. Bizilia (blog).
Yarn: Cotton Supreme Batik (which I now adore!)

I noticed that the colourway “summer camp” seems to match the paint at Camp Hyanto perfectly.  I love the combination of these natural colours, the colours of the beach on a sunny day.

Camp is certainly a peaceful place to be when the sun shines.

I know some people get nervous when I don’t write for a few days….so I’m signing out.

I’m going to spend a few days volunteering at Camp Hyanto.  I wrote about how much I love this place a while back, and I try to spend a week each summer giving back to the place that gave me so much.

I’ll be bringing my knitting….but I’m sure I’ll be so busy having fun that not much will get done.  In any case, I will be completely disconnected from technology, and that’s probably a good thing every now and again.

What do you do to disconnect?

]]> http://www.swatchless.com/2010/07/off-to-camp/feed/ 0 http://www.swatchless.com/2010/07/what-a-day/ http://www.swatchless.com/2010/07/what-a-day/#comments Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:28:14 +0000 swatchless http://www.swatchless.com/?p=1856

At 8 AM I was at the car place…..knitting the last of the cabled baby vest, and getting my car checked out before I take it on a bit of an adventure this August.  The car guys noticed that the chip in my windshield was no longer a chip, and starting to crack and spread a little…..

Long story short, I headed off to Speedy Glass to have the chip filled in with resin–I’d had this done before, and it worked really well, and cost a whole lot less than a new windshield.  Of course, on the way there I happen to leave a few extra minutes for a quick trip to Wool-Tyme…(it’s on the way if you plan your route correctly)  I bought some more Cotton Supreme Batik in the colourways “summer camp” and “waffle cone”–it’s SO soft and silky, you’d hardly know it is cotton!

knitting while waiting for the windshield outcome

So I sit and wait (knitting a top down bonnet for yet another friend who has just had a baby) while my windshield is being operated on.  And after half an hour I get notified that the chip wouldn’t seal, and in fact, the pressure that was used to try to seal it has now cracked the windshield even more!

Great….

So, I am the proud owner of a new windshield.  Luckily they had the right kind in stock, and it was early enough in the day that they could install it before closing time.

In the mean time, I knit while the Speedy Glass man drove me downtown to meet some friends (blog)  visiting from out west, and their two darling boys.  We took a fun ride on the Wolfe Island Ferry and saw boats and windmills and enjoyed the sun.

I went on the roof WAY up there.

My next adventure for the day was to find Maggie, another crafty girl who makes pottery for a living, but she knits and spins and sews too.  She has recently been in search of vast quantities of denim.  Since I had worn through the knees of my jeans and made them into shorts, I donated the bottoms to her.  She’s turning all of the pieces she is collecting into a denim ball gown!  Pretty cool idea.

I got invited up to her roof and enjoyed the view and the breeze from up there.  I don’t know that I have ever been on a roof like that before!

Since I was already downtown, and it was hot and sticky and I was ready to have a rest and knit a bit, I headed to the screening room to watch The Secret In Their Eyes, a mystery that is entirely in Spanish.  It’s a challenge to knit, follow a pattern in your head, and read the subtitles.  After the movie, the woman sitting behind me started talking with me.  It turns out that I was a camp counselor for her kids, she wasn’t sure that she recognized me until I pulled out my knitting–I guess it’s my trademark!

What did you do today??

There’s nothing like eating watermelon with feet dangling off the dock, toes dipping in the water, listening to the loons call from a distant corner of the lake.

I’ve taken a few days away from the computer to sit in the woods, by the water, and enjoy the company of family.

My knitting came with me.  I picked up a ball of brown Life DK from Wool-Tyme.  This yarn is such a joy to work with. It feels like wool, it has a nice shine and softness to it, the brown colour has glints of green, blue, pink, orange in it–it will coordinate with many outfits, and it is completely machine washable–something VERY important for baby clothes. It is the same brand of yarn that I made the Eilidh sweater from.

I’m working on a little sweater for a friend who has just had a baby girl.  Making up the pattern as you go is such fun, but you have to be sure to either keep notes, or finish it fast so you remember what you did in previous rows.  I’m trying the “finish it fast” approach.  The ends got sewn by Monday morning!

front view

back view

I really like how the neck turned out, the cables continue from the front and back, framing the neck, and meeting up along the shoulder.  I think I might incorporate these ideas into other projects.  What is best (in my opinion) is that I did not have to sew ANYTHING!  There are no stitches picked up either!

front of neck

The body is knit from the bottom up, in the round.  The front and back are knit flat, but the shoulders are joined by a three needle bind off.  I like the look of the neck as it is, so I will not add any ribbed border.  The sleeve openings are also nicely defined by the seed stitch.

back of neck

I look forward to seeing this sweater in action.  I hope it could be a dress this fall, and a sweater next year.

]]> http://www.swatchless.com/2010/07/cottage-knitting/feed/ 1 http://www.swatchless.com/2010/07/sock-inspiration/ http://www.swatchless.com/2010/07/sock-inspiration/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:50:41 +0000 swatchless http://www.swatchless.com/?p=1834

I’m having fun searching for inspiration on Ravelry now…but when the new search features kick in, I’m ready to have my socks knocked off!

I usually get excited about fiddly colour work or interesting lace patterns, but today I was looking for something extra creative and colourful.  Here are some of the fabulous socks I’ve found in my search today.  May you be equally inspired!

1.  These socks are remarkable.  I’m not sure how people come up with this kind of completely different idea.  The pattern is called Hexagons and it is by Kirsten Hall (blog).  I’m thinking of having a look at the book Think Outside the Sox (the source of this and many other inspirational sock designs).

Image source: Ravelry Pattern: Hexagons by Kirsten Hall

2. These socks inspire me because they are so cute, and the idea could be transformed to many other different kinds of animals.  The yarn she used is Opal in the colourway Tiger.  The pattern isn’t available yet, but there are notes so you could do it yourself….I think I might have to try it sometime!  Thanks so much to Marlene (blog) for her creativity and inspiration.

Image Source: Ravelry Pattern: Wovenflame's Tiger Toes Socks

3. These are a pair of knee socks (pattern) knit by someone who doesn’t usually make or wear socks.  Kelly (blog) sure did a lot of knitting!!  I am impressed by how they match, and that she dyed some of the yarn herself.  Really cool project.  They’d brighten up my day for sure.  I’d wear them with my rubber boots!

Image Source: Ravelry Pattern: Knee Socks by Diana Parrington

4.  The next pair of socks are totally different from anything I’ve seen before, or even imagined.  They are knit first, and painted later!  What’s cooler is that they look just like bananas–Who would have thought of that?!  Brigitte from Germany (blog–in German)–Here are the pattern notes for these socks.

Image Source: Ravelry

5.  Another great pattern from Think Outside the Sox, is the Lonely Socks Club:Entrelac Sock by Natalia Vasilieva.  Kirsten (blog) knit these lovely socks.  I’ve never tried the Entrelac knitting technique, but I really like how it looks.  These socks are unique because the entrelac part goes all over the heel and toe too!  Pretty amazing design work.

Image Source: Ravelry

What patterns inspire you?

Ever since I saw the Top Down Bonnet pattern on Ravelry by Adrian Bizilia (helloyarn) I was smitten!  I made the original bonnet with the anime face on it, and sent it to a friend in Japan.  The ears aren’t sticking up, but they are there!

I’ve also made it without ears, and with stripes, for another friend’s baby.

Today I worked up another little variation.  I added some lace…

This is the lace pattern that I used.  Since I worked it in the round, row 2 and 4 are knit.  If this were worked flat, row 2 and 4 would be purl rows.

Row 1: (K1, K2tog, YO, K1, YO, SSK) repeat

Row 2: knit

Row 3: K2tog (YO, K3, YO, Slip 1, K2tog, pas the slip stitch over *this decreases 2 stitches*) repeat

Row 4: knit

After working 12 rows of lace, I cast off knitwise.  The edge kept rolling, so I added another border.  I will not admit to crocheting, because I didn’t actually use a hook.  This is my process:

Pick up a stitch through the cast off edge.  Work a chain of single crochet 2 times then crochet through the border again 2 stitches away from the first stitch.  Continue this (or something like it) around the edge of the bonnet.  It helped the border stay flat, and I think it makes it extra cute.

What do you do to spice up your regular patterns?

I sent out a request for test knitters for the hat pattern I wrote up earlier in the week, but I think everyone was feeling a little opposed to knitting winter hats while it’s so hot!

It’s a challenge to proof-read a pattern without going through the steps all over again, so….voilà…another hat!  This time it is made with Lion Brand Cotton Ease, a lovely soft blend of cotton and acrylic.  It is light weight and has more drape than the wool version.  It’s machine washable too!

The pattern will be available as soon as I can get a few good photos of it in action.

Would you like to add a little bit of colour to something that is already knit?  Duplicate stitch may be what you are looking for.  It can be used in the O Canada mittens (Olympic mittens) as an alternative to the stranded colourwork.  Follow the charts in duplicate stitch after the red mittens are completed.

You need:

• a darning needle, or a needle with an eye big enough for the yarn that you are using.
• yarn for duplicate stitch (contrasting colour to the original knit fabric)
• original knit fabric

What to do:

Step 1:  Thread your needle, and come up through a hole (at the bottom of a V) from the wrong side of the fabric.  The right side should be facing you.

insert needle through from the wrong side of the fabric to the right side.

Step 2: From the hole, follow the yarn upwards.  It will loop behind 2 strands of yarn and back down again.  That’s what you do with your yarn.  Trace the path with the needle!

insert the needle through both sides of a stitch one row up.

Step 3:  Pull the yarn through, you have now traced half a stitch.

Pull yarn through, you now have half a duplicate stitch!

Step 4:  Follow the other half of the stitch back down.  The needle will be inserted under 2 more strands of yarn.

Keep tracing the path of the yarn

Step 5: Pull the yarn tight and you can see one stitch, a little heart shape, in your contrasting colour.

One stitch has been duplicated!

With practice it gets pretty fast.  Just always remember to follow the path of the yarn and you’ll be fine.

several stitches complete (3 in the top row, 4 in the bottom row)

What other techniques would you like help with?

Well, ya never know what’s around the corner…I flipped to Ravelry yesterday to find an announcement to a party–a SEARCH PARTY!

The motivation was to have knitters/crocheters classify all the patterns on Ravelry,  and I guess to cull the pages with dead links.  They are getting ready to release a new search tool that will allow us to search based on many different attributes, from construction technique to the texture of the fabric.

Of course, knowing Ravelry, there are great incentives for us to comb through the patterns–a prize draw for some gorgeous prize packages. (photo credits: Ravelry.com)

I spent quite a bit of time online classifying things, I think I got 217 patterns done before they ran out of patterns to sort.

Knitters are truly amazing people–there are no limits to what a group of us can do!

Stop by and classify some patterns if you have a moment.  It’s gonna help keep Ravelry awesome!