Last Friday I was joined by Danielle, Robin, and Bettina.
Danielle started a child’s sweater in Tahki Zara yarn, the color is a grey heather. The sweater resembles a “J. Crew” sweater with a roll neck and roll hem.
It’d be a great sweater for any age. The pattern comes from Debbie Bliss’ Quick Baby Knits. This book is making the rounds in our group, lots of great patterns.
Robin picked out a pattern from Lorna’s Laces called “Bulky Cardigan for children” She has to knit a gauge in a ridge stitch, she was not a happy camper. I sang the praises and importance of gauge; it didn’t help! Here’s a picture of a great beginning.
She’a also working on a wrap in Rowan Kid Silk Haze for a friend.
Bettina joined us today. We know each other from the “Knit Together” days. She decided to bring some blankets out of hibernation and finish them. It was easy to get her back on track, we just needed to figure out where she left off and review the pattern.
She has a really interesting business; she and her partner make custom “goody” bags for parties (and not just kid’s parties). They cater the bags to the request of the customer. Check out their website The Goodie Bag Girls . My description does not do them justice!
One of the ladies in the class shared with us the way she remembers whether she’s facing a knit or purl stitch: A purl wears a scarf and a knit wears a v-neck. I love these kinds of interpretations that help us remember.
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And know for Wednesday’s update. I feel like Chevy Chase with the Weekend News from Saturday Night Live. It’s early, I haven’t had enough coffee yet!
We had a full group today and it was a lot of fun.
Claudia came in with the baby wrap sweater done. It called for sewing on a ribbon for the wrap. Logistically we really weren’t sure what they were asking. We waited for Mary who is one of our sewing experts (Elizabeth being the other). Mary and Claudia worked out a more efficient and appealing way to sew on the ribbon. Claudia, please bring it in when you’ve sewn the ribbon!
I took a picture of the green baby sweater (knit in Blue Sky Organic Cotton) with the buttons. It is soooo cute and the buttons are perfect. This gift is being mailed to a friend in Peru!
Next she’s going to knit a gauge for a sweater for herself. We also continued our discussion about the next KAL being an afghan from the Design Source Collection and we’ll use either Manos de Uruguay or Blue Sky Organic Cotton. We’ll be able to learn many different stitches.
Danielle finished the back of the baby sweater and was up to the neckline on the front. We talked about ssk (decreases that slant left) and k2tog (decreases that slant right). She might be up to sewing by the next time we meet.
We talked about what would be a good substitute for Caron Simply Soft Baby Yarn for a baby hat. I looked it up and it’s a medium weight: 92 yards per skein, 4.5 stitches to the inch. Let me know if you need more information. The Blue Sky Organic Cotton would be fine for it, you would only need 1 skein (the cotton has 150 yards per skein).
Michelle came back after a bit of a hiatus. She’s been asked to knit 5 (I think) pairs of my Weekend Fingerless Gloves. She’s in the home stretch and figured out that she can knit a glove a day. I finally knit myself a pair and I love the headband.
She found a really cute knitting book set for knitting for little dogs. The Pampered Pooch by Edie Weinberg.
Mary came in with her mitered creation, she was asked if it was a scarf :). It will be a vest when it grows up and Mary definitely has the hang of the mitered squares. You can make a lot of interesting things with it.
Robin brought in the baby sweater she’s working on and the Rowan Kid Silk Haze scarf/shawl she’s making as a gift. It can be a little tricky to knit, it’s going to make a lovely gift. We were talking about socks and Robin told us that socks are the worst. Mary and I pointed out that she’s never made socks!!! I gave it my best shot, Robin, and you’re right, the book The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh is not available on book tape.
I showed one of the gloves I designed for my daughter and they asked if there was a pattern yet. I explained that it has to be “knit-edited” and that Michelle had done this for me with my Weekend Fingerless Gloves.
Mary and Robin offered to edit it for me and that it would by a “learning impaired knit-edit”, kind of a comic relief of editing I think. Thanks for the offer ladies, don’t be surprised if one day I ask you to do just that!
Mary and Robin offered to edit it for me and that it would by a “learning impaired knit-edit”, kind of a comic relief of editing I think. Thanks for the offer ladies, don’t be surprised if one day I ask you to do just that!Robin, please let us know about that juice fast. It could give whole new meaning to a KAL.
Oh! I promised to find a picture of the blanket for the pattern that Mary brought in. It’s from Lionbrand and it’s called a “Knit Centerpiece”. Here’s a picture of a finished blanket.
The reason it starts on double point needles is because you start in the center (the white square) on just a few stitches and increase every round, and change colors. It’s not long before you switch to a circular needle.
Mary was asked about the Jane Elliott bag she and I began last year. She told us that was in in the long-term parking lot and she was on a big trip! (parking lot is code for a hibernating project in our group!). Too many bobbles, different yarns, and different stitches. We’ll take it out of the lot down the road, maybe!
Shelley brought the sock she’s knitting. She had some trouble with adding stitches accidentally. We figured out that when she switched needles, her yarn wasn’t in the right position and that was causing her to think she had another stitch to knit. She got back on track and began the heel flap before we were done for the day.
