Inspiration - Lace Handknit Sweater

Isn't this pretty? I had to comment and ask what fiber she used:

http://knitflix.blogspot.com/2009/11/hkf_20.html

Sneak Preview

I have four sections of the shawl done. Four to go, plus an edging.

What's Diana Working On?

Are you wondering why I'm "quiet?" Well, I am knitting a lace weight shawl in lace using the swirl idea (like the swirl baby blanket). I have simplified this so that there are only two passes with the lace carriage and 2 passes with the regular carriage, then an increase. I want it simple so everyone with a standard Brother and a lace carriage can make it. In fact, I'm using a small enough pattern repeat to work with punch card machines.

This is slow going for me because lace yarn is SO fine and I only have a little time each evening to knit. It takes more stitches and rows, and I need lots of light to pick up the tiny edge stitches. I probably won't do this again - I'll use a fingering-sock-2/12 weight instead and have a bigger shawl, still gorgeous, in less time. The technique will be just the same, though, and this makes such a big impact for an easy technique. It just takes patience, and you have to be very gentle with the lace weight yarn so it doesn't break.

You can make lace shawls every bit as beautiful as the handknitters do, and they often knit for months to get one done.

After I get the shawl triangles done I will film the edging and photograph the finished project. Maybe tonight I'll get a photo to put up of the current state of the project.

Inspiration - Lace tam

Over at All Tangled Up, a great lace tam:

http://www.alltangledup.com/movabletype/archives/002017.html

Inspiration - Adorable Doggie Sweater

So cute! And so is the little dog:

http://www.masondixonknitting.com/archives/2009_11.html#002759

I also have a cute little dog who likes to take walks, no matter how cold it is. Yes, we actually do get cold days in Central Texas. Well, this little number wouldn't take much yarn at all, and isn't it cute!

Child's Warm Hat - My Pile, So Far

Once I got the pattern figured out and the video filmed, edited and uploaded, I kept on knitting kids' hats through the weekend.

I had a lot of odd balls of sock yarn, much of which has been sitting around a while. It was fun to knit these up and see how they'd look in all the different sock yarns.

Pictured: two of my favorites in a close-up, and then the whole crowd. These hats are big enough for a middle-school child. I tried a few smaller ones and then decided to go a little bigger.

I still need to sew the side seams on over half of them. Here's the collection so far - I say so far because there are still two full plastic shoeboxes with little balls of leftover sock yarn.

Just for Smiles - Video from Mason Dixon Knitting

Y'all enjoy...



Who says we knitters don't have our little secrets, our dramas, our love triangles?

New Video - Warm Child's Hat

A project for those little cold ears. I am using wool sock yarn for this one. Each hat takes about 40 grams. If you don't have enough of one color, well, do stripes! Use any standard machine with ribber:




My hope is you'll knit some warm wool hats for the Nepal project described at Crossroads Knits. She's collecting the knitted goods and getting them over to the charitable agency:

http://crossroadknits.blogspot.com/2009/11/project-nepal.html

Cute Baby Knits

How does she get so much cute handknitting done? Check these out:

http://thecaffeineatedknitter.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-poor-blog.html

Answers to Questions on Swirl Baby Blanket

1. Quantity of yarn - I used one skein of light and one skein of dark pink for the blanket, plus a good chunk of a third skein for the edging. Five skeins would make two blankets. Not much yarn for a generously sized baby blanket. (Yarn goes farther when you knit. I remember when I had the yarn shop and we were crocheting afghans, a number of our decent sized crocheted afghans took 3 pounds of yarn!)

2. The blue blanket in worsted was 50 stitches at the wide end for each triangle. The pink, sport weight one, 60 stitches at the wide end for each triangle. I've been thinking about doing a fingering weight scrappy blanket on the standard machine, and I will need more stitches for that thinner stuff.

3. When I describe picking up the second triangle, yes, one needle is empty and pick up one bar on each of the other 59 needles. What I was trying to say there (and not succeeding) is that all together, there are 60 needles. What matters the most is that you do each triangle with the same number of stitches and rows.

4. You could certainly have a nice circle with 9 triangles. However, that won't let you alternate 2 colors. It might be nifty with 3 colors, though.

5. Most round baby blankets seem to be short-row jobs. On this project, I actually may have come up with something we haven't seen before, but machine knitting's been around a long time with a lot of talented people coming up with ideas all the time. When I had the idea, poor John couldn't even get me to talk to him. I had to knit it RIGHT NOW and see how it worked out.

More swirl ideas have been hatching all this week, and Saturday I will have a chance to try some of them out.

Heartbreak at Fort Hood - Mentally Ill or Evil?

Ft. Hood is not far at all from where I live. I grew up on military bases, and am tremendously grateful to our soldiers. My thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.

In the aftermath of his killing spree, it seems awfully twisted to speculate that Dr. Hassan "snapped" or was "stressed" or had "mental illness," and as a result, killed all those people. If the media's going to speculate at all for the sake of rolling a good story and pulling in viewers, why not examine his many previous comments and behaviors realistically? It appears he planned the crime. He said many worrisome things, such as comparing a suicide bomber to a soldier who saves lives by covering a grenade, he discussed the murder of Infidels at a medical meeting, and he pushed his Islamic radical views on co-workers and patients. Oh! Did I mention his religion? I must not be politically correct. If a non-Muslim did this, say a Christian or a Jew, his religious faith would be fair game. The "terrorist" word would be trotted out by now.


The reporters are yammering about the guy's mental health and spinning like tops to avoid discussing his other issues.

All this pointing at mental illness seems shockingly unfair to people with actual mental illness!


I worked at a mental health non-profit for several years, and the professionals there told me that:


1. People with serious mental illness, and their families, suffer terribly.


2. Many people do not seek treatment and do not receive available relief because of societal stigmatization of mental illness.



3. The vast, vast majority of people with mental illnesses do not commit acts of violence.


4. Millions of people with mental illness live loving, productive lives, requiring on their part considerable struggle and courage.


Let's make a strong distinction, please, between "ill" and "evil." Let's not be soooo politically correct that we compare murder and mental illness in the same breath.


America has been good to Dr. Hassan. I don't know what his life would have been like in Palestine, but in America, he had a free education - including free medical school, fully paid by Uncle Sam. He lived in beautiful parts of the country, and he worshipped freely. He was a Major, a high rank in the U. S. Army, with great pay and benefits. We have an amazing, generous, free and tolerant people, and he ought to have been loyal to his country and fellow soldiers.

Americans are generally a fair people, and we know hooey when we hear it. We know that for every radicalized hater, there are a million other people of minority backgrounds who want to worship, live and prosper in peace. We must protect all our people from killers, their manipulators and apologists.

Swirl Round Baby Blanket Videos

Swirl Baby Blanket Part 1 of 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBje2C9n3Oc

Swirl Baby Blanket Part 2 of 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYbFGR5D4Ew

Swirl Baby Blanket Part 3 of 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVp0qM1Qsck

Newest Video Project - Circular Swirl Baby Blanket

I have completed the videos for a new project.

I call this the Circular Swirl Baby Blanket. I've made it twice so far, once using a light-weight worsted yarn in a light denim blue, and the second time, using two shades of pink.

This can be made on any flatbed knitting machine. It's all main bed; no ribber required.

I needed a very "girlie" blanket for a co-worker's new baby daughter, and I went to the store looking for whatever color combination struck me. I loved this, but it didn't photograph as well as I hoped. On the videos, in particular, it bounces too much light. Go figure, I can get a glare from yarn that's worse than the glare issues off metal needles!

Anyway, the pink version took a little more than two balls (you'll need part of a third ball for the edging) of sport-weight Bernat Coordinates yarn. It's in 5-1/2 ounce skeins.

Here is a detail of the seaming between triangles. You do not have to sew ten triangles together! The pieces of the pie are put together with a sew-as-you-go technique.

I would characterize the project as a beginner difficulty project. The videos are detailed, as usual, and there are three videos. The first video shows how to do the first triangle; the second, how to do the second triangle, joining one edge as you go. The third through ninth triangles are knitted just like the second triangle. The tenth triangle joins the first and ninth triangles as you knit, so the whole circle is knitted. A "worm" edging going on after that. You will need an afternoon to get it all knitted and edged. Finishing entails gathering up the center, hiding all the ends, and a very light steaming.

This pinwheel closeup is the center of the blanket. When I do something that entails gathering up a circle of stitches, I like to go through them with the needle two or even three times, pulling the yarn up tightly. This center isn't going to open up easily.

The other thing about the blanket videos that you might get a kick out of is that I used a "worm" edging. This is a very easy and popular edging, and if you've never done it, you should try it.

The "worm" edging is on the third video, along with a little finishing information.

I will upload the videos this evening.

Please help - knit for cold children in Nepal

Information:

http://crossroadknits.blogspot.com/2009/11/project-nepal.html

Inspiration - Great Scarf

This scarf would be a great gift:

http://knitting-up-a-storm.blogspot.com/2009/11/double-looped-scarf.html

John and I went to Wurstfest in New Braunfels. We had never been to a Wurstfest before, although our son has been telling us how much fun it is. German people settled much of this area and this is a family event.

We enjoyed a spectularly pretty day in New Braunfels, Texas, with the sun shining, the sky clear, and temperatures in the 70s.

Here is a view of the Guadalupe River, taken from just inside the entrance gate to the festival.

The concessions are operated by local groups to benefit local efforts, like Little League, Rotary, Optimists, and high school clubs. There are places selling bratwurst, sauerkraut, beer, german chocolate pie, cheesecake, ice cream, funnel cakes, deli sandwiches, crafts, crazy hats, roasted nuts, clothing, Christmas ornaments, beer steins, and I forget what else.

There's a quiet little beer house at Wurstfest, near the beergarten, which contains an amazing beer bottle collection. The last picture here is just a small fraction of the collection.

We saw a lot of adults, even old guys, in lederhosen and folk clothing. Tyrolean hats abounded, but I also saw lots of zany novelty hats, my favorite being the lady's helmet with horns and blonde braids being worn by manly men.

In addition, there was a big crafts fair, heavy on the lederhosen and folk clothing, woodworked and hand painted items. There's a railroad museum, but we didn't make it over there.

There were rides for kids, and lots of children there. There were big tents and rooms with oom-pah bands. The bands were quite talented and polished, good enough to draw crowds who weren't eating or drinking, just listening, even though it's not every day one hears accordion music and yodelling! There was an awful lot of chicken dancing going on, the crowd just generally having fun.

What I'm Knitting

I am cranking socks these last few days. I'm rather fussy about my socks. I use the 72-stitch cylinder on the Legare for most of them, and I run ribbing down the top of the foot for an elegant look and somewhat better fit. I have that whole gorgeous grab bag of sock yarn I bought from Barry, and Christmas is coming. I have several people who will be disappointed if they don't get socks at Christmas.

Of course I'm thinking about what the next videos will be, and for a while, I think gift ideas are the best plan. I have a scarf pattern I made a bunch of last year that I might put up, and I have an idea for a warm scarf/hood as well. Additionally, I have a baby sweater in my head that needs to get worked out and knitted and would be a great little gift sweater.

I didn't go to Weight Watchers until Tuesday this week, and lost about a half pound for the week. Last week I had lost just a little over a pound. So I continue to work at it and expect some health benefits to accrue.

Inspiration

Beautiful scarf:

http://the-panopticon.blogspot.com/2009/10/story-of-scarf.html

LOVE the way the cables are done!

Hmm, we could do something like that on the knitting machine with ribber, or the garter carriage. You just have to be patient and do some hand-transferring.

Crazy Woman Puts Shawl On Tree

Finally, a pretty decent photo of the drop lace shawl.

Last night when I got home, it was beautiful outside with plenty of good light, but I still had to walk the dog and do a few things before I could mess around with trying to photograph my shawl. Attempts to photograph this big black object inside the house had been very frustrating, and I'm dismayed to admit that there isn't a good shot of it in the how-to video.

I didn't have a model. I was home alone. The shawl is too large to show on a hanger. So, I draped the shawl on a low branch of our magnolia tree. (I always wanted a magnolia tree, and when we purchased this house in Texas, the tree was small but healthy. Now it's as tall as the two-story house. It blooms with enormous, plate-sized fragrant white flowers. Its shade is so dense that no grass grows directly under it.)

By the way, see the nice straight edges on this shawl? The only finishing is one row of single crochet at each of the two narrow ends. On the sides of the panel, I had two extra ribber stitches on each side, which did not have corresponding main bed stitches. Since the main bed stitches create the drop holes, there were never any holey spots along the edge. Those side edges look just fine. Also, after killing the shawl, curling is minimal.

Lunchtime at the Thai Noodle House

I met Melissa, a UT student friend, for lunch at the Thai Noodle House in Austin. This little restaurant is tucked away on a tiny side street (maybe I should say, alley) off Guadalupe, the street lined with businesses that cater to University of Texas Students.

It rained and was gloomy in the morning, but by lunchtime, it was sunny and beautiful.

The Thai Noodle House serves delicious Asian food, and on nice days, you can sit on the deck and enjoy the flowers.