remembrance of projects past... and lace!

Hi all: I'm Kristina from Toronto. Very glad to be part of this KAL.

I'm trying two new things this August:

(a) lace knitting (which I've never done before). My first project will be the Montego Bay Scarf from IK Summer 2007 edition. I have also bought yarn for the Oriel lace blouse in the same mag.

(b) a stashbuster log cabin (have tried one once before with some very bad yarn from the stash and gave up in disgust). This one will incorporate swatches from past projects as the centre panel for each square/rectangle, then at some point I'll sew it all together.


Wish me luck! Great to see the other projects in process here...

My August project is finished!!

Finally, my first shawl ever is finished! For the first time I have knitted from a pattern with a diagram and it has taken a looong time! But thank's to this KAL I managed to pull myself together and complete it. It has actually been finished for a week or so, but I thought it looked a bit dull, and after I had been watching it for a while I frogged(is that the right word?) some rounds and casted off much more loosely. Then it got a "collar", and now I am much more satisfied with it. By the way: is it ok if I change my October post to mittens instead of socks?? I have ordered a pattern of some lovely mittens, and I have never knitted mittens before...
Now it is off to start the September project; learn how to do shadow knitting - I am SO looking forward to it!

August project complete!

I apologise in advance, this post is quite picture-heavy!

I meant to post this a couple weeks ago but never quite got round to it. Just after the beginning of August I did some hand-dyeing with food colouring. I used Club House food colours in red, blue, yellow and green. I did mix some of the colours (yellow and green made a beautiful bright green, which looks like Granny Smith apple skin green). I did a couple small skeins (maybe about 15g) in blue, yellow and green, and then one bigger one with red added.

I'm really pleased with how the dyeing turned out. The first little skein I did was the size of a dinner plate, with one third yellow, one third blue, and one third bright green. I wet the dye in a bowl with some vinegar added to the water, then put it on the plate. I painted the yarn with a paintbrush and drizzled some of the water mixture over it (but just a little). Then I zapped the entire plate for 2 minutes in the microwave, left it for 2, then zapped it for another 2 minutes. Then I rinsed it in really hot water and left it to dry. I started to knit it up and I really like how it looks. I'm thinking of felting it because I like how the colours look.

Need a pic? I actually remembered to take one :)



I also did a full mini-skein of green in water and vinegar (zapped the bowl with water, dye, vinegar and yarn all in there together), and another one in a clear mug with dye, vinegar and water. The second one I just left overnight (I forgot to zap it) and in the morning the dyebath was exhausted and the water was clear.

Here's another pic:


This was the zapped green and the 'clear mug left overnight' green:


And my final effort, with a couple of pics of the process:


And the last one:

Quinn Cable Bag - Progress

shows one pattern repeat

I finished one pattern repeat a few days ago and another last night. I'm using Vanna's new yarn because I really liked the color, the price was right, and I wanted to see how it would work up. It's working fine but wonder if I should have used wool so it could be blocked.

So I can keep track of my place in the pattern I color coded the odd rows orange and the even rows green. I cut and taped the chart symbols to just below the pattern so I could refer to them. I placed the pattern in a plastic sleeve so I can use my orange and green! dry erase markers to mark of each row as I knit them.

So far so good. Oh yeah, you can find the pattern right here.

August Baby Booties

They are done!!!! I can not believe it I have finished my first every knitted item! Woohoo!!!

I am soo very happy to have them off the needles but I strongly dislike them. I made them on homemade size 3 dpns-- I am too cheap to buy the ones in the store!!!

I have also casted-on for the Chevron Scarf for September.

New member/August task

Hello everyone!
My August task is something that I have desperately needed to do for a long time: I am getting my Stashbusting Challenge off the ground. This involves the following:
1) Posting the challenge to my blog, complete with the ground rules I am to follow re any additional money spent on supplies to complete projects;
2) Cataloguing my stash on Ravelry (which I haven't taken a lot of time to check out so far, but I have been referred there by a few other knitters);
3) Getting tickers for all of my WIPs on the blog, which in itself should shame me into finishing the dozen or so sad, neglected projects sitting in my apartment that are about 2 hours away from completion. This will also, hopefully, cause me to curb my habit of starting new projects halfway through current ones.
I have a little problem with impulse control. This is most of my stash here (it's a king size mattress):

There's also some at the foot of the bed that I couldn't fit in the frame. You can't tell from the picture, but the yarn is piled about 8 inches deep on the mattress in most places. Believe it or not, even though it took me (I'm not kidding) six hours to pull out all my yarn out of its hiding places, set up this shot and then put all the yarn back, I did not stop buying yarn after taking this photograph.
This month's task may not be a knitted object but boy, is it knitting-related.

A for August

Whoo-hoo. My August project is done. The painful part is wrangling with my camera and posting it to the blog. Baby steps.

PROJECT: Candy bag
NEEDLES: sz. 6 DPNs
YARN: Sugar 'N Cream cotton in Ecru
Sugar 'N Cream cotton in Country Twists

Now- on to September's afghan (which I have also been working on through August.) Pics next time.

August Cables!!!! =)

Project: Cable Headband

What's New: Cables

Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky - white and Caron Simply - black

Participant Name: Claudia

This was a very quick project!!! When I started it I got confused with the cable 'cause these cables are worked with 2 cable needles but after a while I got it!!! =) It's not perfect 'cause The ends did not match... but it's going to be under my hair so I kinda ignored it lol If I make another headband I will try to match the ends so I can wear it with my hair up!! =)

I casted on my September project but...

HOLES AGAIN lol but it's only in one side, the one I yarnover on the purl side... Here is the other side:

Have a nice week!!! Kisses! =)

One, two, three and I'm done!

The first baby hat pattern I came across in my vast array of hoarding was a sad little Learn to Knit Kit from Lion Brand. It was cute but I think I did something wrong and made it into something a little bit ugly as I went along, lol! Anyway, as I went along everything was fine. When I finished, it looked rather odd in an ugly-but-cute sort of way. This will not fit a newborn baby's head but will fit a preemie's head. It's tiny and will likely never leave my home :D

And although the rules for the KAL state to successfully complete one thing new for each month, I have really wanted to try my hand at the Umbilical Cord hat in Stitch 'N Bitch, The Knitter's Handbook by Debbie Stoller.

Obligatory in progress shot:

And the finished project done twice, in Lion Brand's Cotton-Ease Orangeade and Bubble Gum Pink.

Now these have won my heart and I just might have make a few more! They are so utterly adorable and completely addicting. I absolutely love them!

I learned the usefulness of stitch markers (not kidding!), that reading a pattern all the way through really is important, especially when it comes to something such as not all packages of dpns contain 5 needles. Oops! I need to loosen up on my stitching and relax my tension or I will never survive. But overall, and aside from the fact that I absolutely did not appreciate the Lion Brand kit, the Umbilical Cord Hat was a huge confidence booster for me - huge! And I am ready to look forward to September and pick out a project for, most likely, a baby blanket (but please don't hold me to that ;).

B4 Bag in progress

I'm working on this bag. I'm about halfway through the knitting. LOTS of new stuff for me on this one..

• Knitting a bag
• Knitting bumps and bobbles
• Knitting with beads
• Felting

I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out. The yarn is fabulous, wonderful colors, feels so good..

- Chelle