Whee!

I’m soooo excited! One of my collages is EBSQ’s Art of the Day today! This is the second time since I joined in January that I’ve had art chosen for Art of the Day. It is quite the honor!

Hot Beads!

I know, I said I’d share some of my purchases on Friday. But then I felt ashamed sharing them in their natural state. Especially since they were budget yarns… But, I don’t make much money so if I’m making gifts for someone as just a nice gesture I have to watch the pocketbook. That said, it is picture day today… I’m almost done with the RAK scarf which I’m calling hot beads…

Here are some of the beads I’m using for the fringe detail on this scarf.

This scarf was knit from CottonEase in Orange with a very open stitch. (You’ll get to see the actual scarf better when I finish the fringe.) Then I’m using a 100% cotton that is mercverized for the fringe. I wanted the bright pink and needed something a bit smaller so the beads would fit it.

That said, I’ve busted one beading needle so far. I can’t find my dental floss threaders which I think work much better and are significantly cheaper so if you bust a few on a project you’re out about 20 cents! But, they are getting a bit harder to find these days. I have a few errands to run today though so I’ll try to locate another pack of them. I’ve only started the fringe on the one end, but the in-laws came up for the afternoon yesterday so I only got to work on it for about an hour yesterday. I hope to be done before Stitch ‘n Bitch tonight, though I really have to get some actual work done on my on-line classes as the test term starts on Wednesdy… Yikes!

Done! More or Less…

1 ball Trendsetter Dune, Color 30
Sz 13 US needles, CO 11 sts

Done, done, done! I actually completed the knitting on Tuesday at knitting tea, but didn’t have time to take photos and post until now :-( I don’t think it is quite finished yet. I’d like to weave some nice bias silk ribbon in similarly verigated colors through the openwork. However, it doesn’t seem that nice ribbon is very readily available here in Ft. Collins and I’m a bit scared to order on-line for fear that it won’t actually blend in with the scarf and that sort of ribbon is not cheap! But, we’ll see. I haven’t exhausted all the places to check here in town yet, but I must pace myself. Plus, I don’t even know what/who the scarf is for. If it’s just for me or someone else… LOL!

This easy, but great looking pattern has had my mind spinning in the last several days of ideas for other scarves and such. So I headed to good old HobLob for some less expensive yarns to play with. I’m planning on one for me I think and another as a RAK and yet one more just to use up some yarn I had bought for one project that ended up not working to the right gauge. I think they all will be variations on this same stitch pattern. They go quite fast if that is what you are focusing on. And, frankly I’ve had such bad luck with the two new socks I wanted to start that I think I’ll focus on the scarves for a bit here and let my frustration tolerance build back up, LOL! I’ll probably have pics of those purchases tomorrow…

Handmade Lace & Patterns by Annette Feldman and
A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swanson

This openwork pattern also has given me the courage to finally delve into knitted lace (not quite ready to tackle a whole new hobby like the tatting or the hairpin lace just yet). So, to whet my appetite I checked out a couple of books from the library. One is older and includes crochet, hairpin lace and tatting in addition to knitting, but the projects are really cool and timeless I think. The other is much more contemporary but the projects are even more elegant and gorgeous (though that might be due to color photography and glossy pages vs. matter page with screened black and white photos).

Then to not leave my other creative pursuits to dry up and whither away (I haven’t done collage or bookbinding in at least a few weeks) I picked up a couple books. Probably 6 months ago or so we went to this amazing exhibit at the Denver Art Museum and there were a couple of pieces by Paul Klee that had really attracted me, so I checked out a couple of books with his artwork in it so I can become more familiar with his art and perhaps a bit of his process.

The Blue Four: Feininger, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, and Klee in the New World
& Paul Klee by Jean-Louis Ferrier

More socks!

Reynolds Saucy
Sz 5 needles

Not as good as the opal socks, but they’ll do for hanging around the house I guess. They aren’t as quite a good match size-wise as the Opal - I think because there was something like a 2 month break in between them.

I’m now sort of floating around in project land with little direction. I have the Dune scarf going and would like to get going on the hats for my sister and my mom, but alas don’t have the input I need from them yet on what they want. There is of course the front of my Shapely Tank, but I’m loathe to pick up the Bernat Cottontots again for a while as it’s sooo darn hard on my hands. We are cooling off a fair bit. I suppose I could get started on my poncho I want to do…

Well, for tonight it’ll have to just be the scarf. I think I have enough left to keep me busy for the two hours. Oh, who am I kidding - I talk too much so I’m really, really slow when I’m at Stitch ‘n Bitch. I should have more than enough left…

I have also started kniting some wire. I was wanting to make some ribbons of knit wire to use in an art journal project I have going on. I’m thinking it is a bit too slow of a process to be able to make as much wire ribbon as I had wanted, but I’ll keep poking along at it for a while and try use some of it. This is the first little bit so it isn’t looking as good as I hope it will once I get a better hang of working with wire.

26-gauge Copper Wire
Sz 5 Needles
Garter Stitch

My First Complete Pair of Socks!

Opal Croccodile Color 9
Sz 1, 80 sts, K3 P1 Ribbing for Cuff

I did it! I’m even pretty sure I got the Kitchner right on the second sock :-) I’ll have to ask Amanda on Monday night at Stitch ‘n Bitch if it looks right this time. If I did indeed get it right, it was just a matter of not worrying so much about how the yarn carried from the front needle to the back needle and vice versa.

Some notes…

• While the sz 1 made a really dense fabric that should hold up to a lot of wear, it is just that - dense and I don’t think I have enough yarn left over to have made a pair of men’s socks using sz1 so next time I’d probably up to a sz 2. I tend to knit tight when on DPNs.
• The toe is too pointy and feels slightly akward on my feet. I worked to 40 sts decreasing every other row then every row down to 12 and then grafted those twelve together (6 and 6) as recommended in Ann Budd’s book for this gauge. Next time, perhaps decrease every other row right down to 20 and graft those (10 and 10).
• I can’t wait to make more! :-) Next up, worsted weight sea weed cabled socks for John and the bright Sockotta with Whisper cuffs ones for Karen. I think I might work a bit of a lacy pattern (perhaps the same one I’m using on my scarf if I can get it transferred to the round properly) on the cuff since she is in Houston until real close to Christmas probably.

However, before I jump on new socks, as much as I just want to go, go, go on figuring out the patterns for the new ones I’m going to finish the second pink cotton one. There isn’t really that much left on it anyway.