For Your Halloween Knitting Pleasure

I haven't tried either of these patterns, but they look interesting:

Barbie Witch

Pumpkin Washcloth

And here's a chart from me. Enjoy.

Writer's Cramp

What am I doing today? I am signing 600 pieces of paper, to be printed and bound into copies of I Heart Felt (which will be released in February). I will do other local signings and appearances when the book comes out, but I don't know if I will be doing any national appearances or not. However, non local people who want a signed copy will be able to get one of these directly from Taunton.

I doubt I'll finish signing all 600 today, but I'm going to give it a shot, with my best handwriting (which is not very good, just ask Mrs. Kirkland, my 4th grade teacher).

Sock City On the Road

I was on the road a lot last week- picking up a younger sister from the Sioux Falls airport (185 miles away), and then a sisters and husbands weekend trip across the state to Deadwood (old-time Gambling town). When I'm on the road, I knit. And what I knit on the road is socks. I didn't knit all of these socks this weekend, but I finished several pairs (I didn't knit much while in Deadwood because I was too busy sight seeing and giving money to slot machines, which failed to return the favor).



I highly recommend visiting Mt. Rushmore in the fall- you have the place almost to yourself. Ditto Crazy Horse. It is much better to contemplate history (both the good and the bad), nature, and the amazing force of the sculptors' personalities without 10,000 people elbowing you aside.

I finished Magic 28, #10- knit with heavier yarn (I needed size 6 needles this time, and even those were a tad small for this yarn). This is some of my friend Dana's hand-dyed yarn.

I also got all 3 pairs of Christmas socks done for my grandkids- all variations on a theme, with the smallest pair being the goofiest. I think the variegated yarn might have been an Online yarn, the solid blue is Phildar, the Solid red is Fortissima. My sock recipe for kids: Size 2 needles, sockweight yarn

Size 1-2: 56 sts, cuff whatever length you want, heel over 28 sts, foot 4 1/2" from heel, star toe
Size 12-13: 56 sts ribbing, dec to 54 for cuff, heel over 26 sts, foot 4" from heel, star toe
Size 10: 56 sts ribbing, dec to 54 for cuff, heel over 26 sts, foot 3 1/2" from heel, star toe.

The other pair is also Fortissima Colori (like the Opal Mexiko)- I love these colorways, and bought an entire bag a few years ago, and am slowly knitting them up.

Be good while I'm gone

I'll be gone until late Monday- have fun, and I'll see you all on the flip side.

Freebie Friday- Stranded Pumpkin Tam (companion to the mitts)

I didn't think I was going to be able to do a Freebie Friday this week, but I worked up a child-size tam to go with last week's stranded mittens. The universal comment on the first Freebie Friday tam was that it was too big (I knew it too, I felted my original a bit). I had recommended people drop down one size needles, from 7 to 6. For this tam, I used size 5 and reduced the number of rows in the first chart to make the tam child sized (with the same number of stitches). Though I didn't knit another sample, I'm pretty sure if you use size 6 needles and do about 8 more rounds on Chart 1, you'll have an adult size tam.

Click on image to enlarge, right click to save as a jpg.

Thursday Tab- Special Wednesday Edition- Saalfield #2728 Girls of the West

I'll be away from the computer for most of Thursday, so I thought I'd get the Thursday Tab uploaded a bit early this week.

I don't have any information on this set- it's Saalfield's #2728 Girls of The West. The clothes look to me like late 40's-early 50's(both the fashion, and the style of drawing), but though the dolls are meant to look early 50's, their style looks 60's (and the 15 cent price is a clue as well). I think maybe these clothes came from an earlier book and the dolls were redrawn for a reissue (often, the clothes and dolls were drawn by different artists).

Anyway, it's a great set, with 6 pages of gorgeous western-style clothes.

Click on the images to enlarge, right click to save each as a jpg. Print in any graphics program, dolls on card stock, clothes on plain paper.

The perfect buttons

My packet of buttons came from The Button Drawer while I was gone over the weekend. When I opened the packet yesterday, I was a little disappointed. I thought the buttons were too small, and not the right color. Then I got the sweater out, and was amazed. Those buttons could not have been more perfect (which tells you how terrible my *eyeball sense* is). These are 1/2" green resin squares, and they are exactly what I had in mind (well, I had 4-hole buttons in mind, so I could cross stitch them on with contrasting thread, but these work fine too).

I still don't love the yarn, but I really love the finished Folkloric Blocks sweater.

BTW- I cannot speak highly enough about The Button Drawer. Their prices are reasonable, their selection is amazing, there is no minimum order requirement, and they have lightning fast shipping.

Gobble Gobble

Get your needles out- it's only a month until Thanksgiving, and you know you've always wanted to serve tea from a cozy that looks like a week-old carved pumpkin after a frost. While wearing a
Turkey Hat.

Link courtesy of my friend Melanie.

Sock City

I babysat beautiful grandchildren this last weekend, but that still left time for knitting (they go to bed early... heh...). I finished Magic 28, pair #9, using leftover yarn from the Niblet Socks (one of the early Freebie Friday patterns). I have enough of this yarn left to knit another pair (or at least most of another pair, maybe with contrasting heels, toes and cuffs). The latest batch of socks is going to CIC.

And I finished the red and white socks for me, from Mark's Clown yarn (something like 45% cotton, some wool, some nylon, superwash- I lost the band but I remember that much). But guess what happened when I washed the red and white socks gently by hand, with dish soap, in warm water? Now I have Red and pink socks (unwashed leftover yarn for comparison). It's possible that the extra color might come out in the next wash, but I'm washing them separately no matter what. I am too old and cranky for accidental pink undies.

Checking In

It's going to be one of those weeks- I'm not home now (therefore I can't scan the 2 pairs of socks I finished recently), or post any of the old needlework magazine pics that amuse me so much. And next week will be full of company and family, and another out of town weekend jaunt. That's lots of fun for me, but it doesn't leave much time for blogging, and no tme at all for working up a Freebie Friday pattern. I'll post as I can this week, and the week after, things should be back to normal.

Freebie Friday- Stranded Pumpkin Mitts

Just in time for Halloween. Knit the slightly larger version to wear over gloves, or the smaller one to wear alone.

There are 3 pages for this pattern. Click each to enlarge, right click to save as a jpg.

Thursday Tab- Whitman Bridal Cut-Outs #1966, 1965

My but they were bendy back in 1965. And there is *something* about men in white undies and black knee-socks that just... makes me giggle.

Bridal sets were a staple in the paper doll universe. You get pretty ladies in beautiful dresses, and accompanying men (sometimes with no outfits), and usually an adorable little girl in ruffles. It's win-win-win.

This set is particularly nice- the covers are beautifully drawn, and each of the 6 dolls has a page of clothes (though it's not one of those books with pockets to hold the dolls and clothes). It was published by Whitman in 1965.

Click on images to enlarge, right click to save. Print from any graphics program, card stock for dolls, plain paper for the clothes.

Knit Picks Palette Substitutions for AS Oregon Cardigan, Autumn Colorway

Okay, I have numerous other projects to finish (including a sweater with Rowan yarns that is my own design), but ever since I saw the pic in the Holiday Vogue Knitting, I knew that the autumn colorway of the AS Oregon sweater was in my future.

Since I have vowed to use up as much of my stash as possible, instead of ordering the *proper*yarn for this sweater, I'm going to use Knit Picks Palette yarns, of which I have a huge amount, in all of the colors (including the new heathers). I went through the color charts and matched KP yarns as best I could to the smallish pic in Vogue. And then I entered the chart into my cross stitch program (which is where I design all of my Fair Isle things). And then I made a list of the KP substitutions. And then I knit the swatch, which turned out beautifully (though I think I may make a couple of color changes- one brown and one red are both too dark, and I mistook one color on my chart and used green instead of gray as the background on the lowest leaf section). The color substitutions are my own approximations and preferences- you may think other colors work better (and you may well be right), but just in case anyone is interested, I've uploaded the substitution list (click to enlarge, right click to save). The yardage estimates are just that- they may or may not be enough to complete the sweater as shown.

But I am absolutely not starting this sweater yet.

You can't fool me...

McCalls Needlework and Crafts Winter 66-67 insists that those mystery poofs are actually mohair flowers and leaves, but I know campfires and smoke signals when I see them.

Love the sweater, hate the yarn

I finished the Folkloric Blocks sweater (from Knitter's Winter 2006). I love the colors. I love the design. I will love the square buttons I intend to find for it. I still hate the yarn though. Knitting a complex sweater (intarsia isn't particularly difficult, but I much prefer Fair Isle in the round) with yarn you don't like makes for a less than delightful experience. But it's done, and I'm sure the intended recipient will like it. And I'm going to sell the leftover yarn on eBay.

Modifications to the pattern: I added the border pattern to the sleeves because I wasn't sure I had enough orange yarn to complete them as shown in the pattern. I like the change.

No-Wrap Short-Row Heel Workshop

Please Note- Pages 3 and 4 have been revised. Photo scans will be uploaded under the November 6, 2007 entries (rather than uploading them here).

I taught this workshop at NCFF this year. It needs a few illustrations for beginning knitters (especially when it comes to picking up stitches), but I think anyone who has already done a flap-gusset heel and wants to learn a short row heel, these instructions will help.

It's a slightly different take on the usual instructions (counting the stitches left on the needle before turning, rather than the stitches in between turns), that I think makes visualization while knitting a little easier. Let me know what you all think.

The workshop has instructions for a worsted weight sock knit with size 4 or 5 needles and 48 sts. It also has a fingering weight sock pattern, with size 2 needles and 56 sts.

I want to teach this workshop again, so if you find mistakes or confusing portions, please comment so I can fix the text. Thanks.

There are 5 pages in this workshop. Each page must be downloaded and saved separately. Click on the images to enlarge, right click to save each as a jpg. Please don't repost the pages. I'd rather you link to here.

Magic 28 #7, and socks for me

Not that I don't knit plenty of socks for me, but it's been awhile since I cast on a pair that was just for fun (as opposed to trying out a new pattern- my original, or someone else's- or yarn). I got this yarn from my friend Melanie for my birthday last year, and it has been rattling around in my knitting bag long enough that the bands have disappeared or disintegrated. I'm sure it's Marks Clown, with a fairly high cotton content (and wool- I know it's superwash). I love how the patterning is coming out, and I need a pair of red socks (though the actual sock is a bit pinker than my scan). My only worry is making the socks match. Since there is only one color, it's going to be hard to tell the difference between where the wide red/white band starts and where the narrower red/white band starts when I cast on the mate. I have a 50/50 chance of getting it right on the first try, and the socks will look fine even if they don't match perfectly.

I can't remember what yarn Magic 28 #7 is from- I know that the variegated is one of Dana's handpaints, but the coral is a commercial wool/mohair. I just don't know whose commercial wool/mohair (it doesn't look like a Brown Sheep color).

Freebie Friday- Button Band Hat

This simple hat pattern knits up quickly on 10.5 needles and bulky yarn. I used some of the old wool/alpaca Knit Picks Sierra that I had on hand. The buttons are my own hand-made lampwork.

The Sierra line has been renamed Cadena, but it's the same yarn. Unfortunately, the color I used (Lettuce) has been discontinued, but there are other great colors that would work. I think maybe Noro Iro might be the same size as well.

There are 2 pages in this pattern. Each must be downloaded and saved separately. Click on the images to enlarge, right click to save each as a jpg.