SailingKnitter

Here's your chance! I've begun to sell my large collection of knitting magazines on eBay! Search eBay by my seller ID - sailingknitter - of course, and you can see what we've managed to let go of. Lots of Vogue Knitting, Piecework, Easy Knitting, Creative Knitting, and more. I'm working my way thru the stacks this weekend, then it is on to the boxes/bags/piles of yarn. If you haven't read a Piecework magazine - they are wonderful! They have great articles on the history of various types of needlecraft with pictures of museum pieces, patterns, and stories about the women that created the pieces. Plus, you can get ideas from the other needlework to apply to your knitting!
Okay - plodding on upstairs to gather more stuff for eBay...

Yep - finally finished another pair of "walking socks". I call them this because these are the simple socks that I knit while walking for exercise at lunchtime at work. I keep the pattern to simple 4 x 2 ribbing and plain stocking stitch.

This rather uninteresting grey pair is for my husband. Actually the yarn (Trekking XXL) is a grey with little blue/red/black flecks in it. So...now I need to cast on for another pair - my youngest son just elected himself as the recipient. Again, I'll use Trekking XXL - this is a truly amazing sock yarn as it holds up for brutal wash after wash. My husband throws all his stuff into one "dark" load - jeans, handknit socks, sweatshirts, etc. - then into the dryer.

After a few years of wash and wear, the Trekking XXL holds up much better than the other brands of sock yarn. It doesn't have as much shrinkage and keeps the stitch definition by not fuzzing on the surface.

Here's another finished object - a toddler sweater as a shop sample for Frog Pond Knits. The pattern, a hooded cardigan, is from the newest Sirdar Chino Knits book. The yarn is "Karisma" Superwash wool by\Garnstudio, and the buttons are from JHB International. The yarn felt a little scratchy as I was working with it, but after a full-immersion blocking it is now so soft! Yes, I would put a toddler of mine in this sweater - superwash & soft & warm is a great combination. I spent 2 HOURS looking at buttons for this cardi - these little PINECONE BUTTONS are just SO SWEET and I think that they work with the brown wool. Anyway, this is a quick little project that I highly recommend.

Now, on to other UFOs...

Finished Object! I finally finished the THRUMMED hat that I knit for my son who is modeling it in the picture. Check out the picture below for the inside of the hat where you can see all the little tufts (thrums) of roving that are knit into this hat! This will keep him nice and warm this winter while skiing up at Tahoe.

The natural colored band is from some yarn that was spun & plied while I watched this fall up at the California Wool & Fiber Festival/Mendocino County Fair. This yarn is the winner in the "quality" catagory of the spin-off. Because I admired it the spinner gave it to me right there on the spot. So...I started knitting it into the hat I was working on while watching the spinning events!

The little off-white V's in the hat are the backs of the thrums. As he wears the hat, the thrums will felt slightly from the heat, moisture, and rubbing which will create a nice heat-catching, thermal insulating layer.

Other works on the needles: a pair of gray socks for dear husband, a Charlottes Web shawl from Koigu yarns for ME, a brown wool cardigan as a shop sample for Frog Pond Knits, and many more oldies...

The kitchen is almost DONE! Today Jones and my younger son will be sealing the tile counter tops. All the appliances are in, the tile work is done, and it is beautiful. Too bad it's for someone else..it would be nice to live with all of the luxuries - but, I'm heading off to other pastures.

The BEFORE picture - the 1980's cutesy kitchen we've lived with for 8 years minus the sink, oven, cooktop, hood. Yeah, I know, when we moved in we said that we'd paint over the stenciled pink hearts - just never got around to it.

So here it is now with no flooring, no appliances 9except the dishwasher) and the tile counters & backsplash ripped off of the walls. And here it sits, and sits.

Today, the big box home improvement store called to say they were delivering the tile! Yippee!!! A Great Big Truck lumbered up the street, slowed in front of our house and stopped. Jones had already make room in the garage for the tile, sheets of hardyback, grout, mortar, etc. so we were good and ready.

Imagine our surprise when the delivery kid rang the doorbell and was standing there with just one small box. Yep, that's it - one small box of 22 tiles and the installation guys come day after tomorrow!!! Seems there's some sort of mixup about the tile. Oh yeah - we've PAID for loads of goodies - they just sent out 22 tiles.

That's them - the 22 tiles that were sent out in the big truck.

OK - Knitting content. I've finished my two knitting classes that I was teaching at Sierra College - Beginning and Fair Isle - Whew! I'm pooped. Here's a pic of the hats that these 1st time Fair Isle Knitters created!!

We used the new Knit Picks 'Palette' yarn and it was very nice. Each student selected their own colorways from the boxes of the full line of Palette yarns. Of course, these haven't been blocked yet as they haven't finished knitting the tops - but the colors and workmanship are wonderful!

But then wait - I also led a program for my local knitting guild here in Sacramento for a "Mystery Project". We all brought in our left over yarns and made our own Artsy/Fartsy knitting yarns by tying a couple of yards of each yarn together into one big ball. This is really a fun project as we get to socialize and talk. Not like the guild meetings where we have to sit quietly like in grammer school and get barked at by the teacher.

Anyway, I had been exposed to this project at the "Sheeper Than Therapy" Fresno Knitting Guild Retreat last month when Gwen Bortner led us. I took one of my balls home and hanked it - then overdyed it with RIT dye - RIT because it would color both protein as well as cellulose fibers. WoW! It really took the dye. I'll post pictures soon!

Later...

Check out this knitted Corselette set from White Lies Designs! www.whiteliesdesigns.com

I knit this sample for the designer, Joan McGowan-Michaels for display at events such as Stitches. It was a BLAST to knit! Really quite easy. It is knit with Fixation cotton/lycra yarn so it has a nice stretch to it and is soft enough to really wear. Oh, if only I was 30 years younger...(Yeah, I cropped out my face on this photo - too scary.)

Anyway, check out Joan's other designs, she sells the patterns as well as the yarns and kits and they are so feminine!

Knit on...