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Thursday, August 30, 2007

biNding oFF


Today I finally bound off the front part of the sweater.. I like it.. but it's definitely not perfect.. It's supposed to be size 12-24 months... it looks big to me ... I did do a swatch and I am knitting to gauge.. so it must be a loose fitting sweater .. or.. maybe I'm just used to knitting itty bitty baby sweaters.... the yarn color is in between brown and grey.. although it does look grey in the pictures... I'm working on the sleeves now and should be done with this some time today.. woohoo!!



I like using a crochet hook to cast off. I think it makes a more uniform and neat finished edge.. if u have never done this.. it's very easy. Just use the crochet hook instead of your right hand needle.. knit one stitch.. knit the next stitch and pull it through the first stitch..one loop on the crochet hook.. repeat to the end..

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

modify ~MoDifY ~modify

Well.. there have been some changes... my blog is a bit more roomy... everything isn't squished up in the middle anymore... and a new image at the top.. the image was a spur of the moment thing and I might work on something different for the near future... this is the photo that was used for the image... can't u tell???.. so much pink.. (sorry Carmen) and thank u David (Grinder) for so kindly working on my blog for quite a while yesterday.. so much kindness lately.. must mean I have to pass on some kindness to others... like in the movie pay it forward ... while looking for this link I found out that there are real pay it forward movements.. humm.. this is interesting..I'm going to check it out after I finish this post..



Mean while there are more changes here... I made a boo boo on my ribbed baby jacket and decided to change it rather than rip it.. what I decided to do is change the 2x2 ribbing to a reverse cable rib.. I like it.. it has made the sweater a little more interesting to knit.. the boo boo I made was not increasing the right amount of stitches for the sleeves... and I could have ripped it out at that point because I wasn't too far along when I noticed it.. but I thought that maybe some ribbing added to the sleeves might look nice.. change it up a bit.. so I knit on.. and then I thought.. humm what if.. I did a different pattern instead of ribbing on both the sleeves and the front of the sweater.. yes.. that's it.. so.. many days have gone by.. as I contemplated different stitches that would fit into the number of stitches needed to be picked up around the front edge.. I got tired of trying to figure this out and put the sweater down for a day or 2.. and then it just came to me.. and "BAM".. reverse cable rib.. I need to do one more row of the cable twist and 3 rows more to finish it off..(I've been pretty stressed lately and it's showing in my knitting..I feel like I mutilated this sweater).. maybe I'll crochet something next.. 0.0'

Friday, August 24, 2007

a WoNdErFuL SuRpriSe..


While I was sitting here.. contemplating my broken camera... the fedex man knocked on my door.. and..he left 2 little boxes.. I haven't ordered anything recently so.... what the heck could it be.. surprise surprise.. OMG.. a new beautiful camera..!!!!... my wonderful son felt I should have this.. but man... he set me up.!!!... So .. this blog will not be without pictures..
I see many knitted guy items in the near future..
(^_^)..

ChiT~ChaT

The design wheels are turning again.. since I don't have a camera to take pictures today.. I decided to look at some of the items I have been designing this year. Little by little one by one I'm editing the patterns so that others will be able to follow them... I'm going to change the way I originally connected the crochet motifs with knitting on my reptilian shrug. I found a better way to do it that wasn't so complicated and it worked just fine...and I woke up this morning with more ideas for future projects to design that I'm just itching to work on ..






If u have noticed.. lately I haven't been finishing as many items as I usually do..this has partially to do with some personal matters that have been stressing me out lately and partially do to ravelry.. oo yes.. and it seems I'm not the only one that has this problem.. it's been mentioned a few times to me.. ravelry is really wonderful and has really helped me organize the projects I have completed.. it's the notebook I never took time to make of all my projects.. both knit and crochet.. the yarns I used .. the needles sizes and the dates in which I completed them. I don't know about u .. but I deviate quit a bit from the written pattern a lot and rarely make notations of what I did.. such a bad habit... now thanks to ravelry .. it's all there so neat.. I can actually see all the books I own too.. 0.0.. but all in all the draw back and the good part at the same time is that u can see what everyone else has in their notebooks too.. and omy.. I can spend hours and hours looking at all the beautiful projects people have finished... there is a lot of knitting going on in the world.. it's just amazing and really hard to imagine that many people making that many projects ... why just the quantity of socks alone that have been knitted is overwhelming.. you need never feel alone as a knitter anymore.. or weird.. the way it looks on ravelry... we might take over the world.. (do u remember pinky and the brain.. ) knitters unite and take over the world.. 0.0.. ok no more silly stuff.. ..Well I have plans on adding my fair share of knitted projects this year.. I have some special men in my life that need to keep warm this winter.. and some special girls.. and off course there are the babies.. I'm planning my Christmas knitting list.. that seems to have gotten larger than ever.. even though I had planned to cut down my holiday knitting.. oo well.. Ill need some good movies to watch while I knit.. yay for netflix..!!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

LarGeR ThaN LiFe..!!


Shew.. It's finally done.... I have to say this bag was a little more work intensive than I thought it would be when I started it.. and yes.. it's a fabulous size.. gigantic .. I foresee it full of lots of yarn for larger projects.. or maybe a few projects at a time... I'm pleased with how it turned out..



I also added some pockets as I have seen others do that have made this bag.. a large pocket for magazines or a book and pockets just the right size for needles.. unfortunately.. my camera has decided it wants a vacation or something right now.. there are some technical difficulties.. it might be the memory card.. hopefully that's all it is.. so until I find out the problem this is the last picture I could get out of it.. so sad.. the good news... I love that bag..(^_^)

Friday, August 17, 2007

+*+soMe tReaSures+*+

My 2 current projest... Both on the way to completion. I finished all the crochet and sewed together all the blocks on my Larger than life bag.. I have my fabric for the lining and right after I finish this post I will get right to it... Next is the Ribbed baby jacket at just about the 1/2 point. I have six more rows to knit then I can separate it for the front opening... (that's the sweater back and most of the sleeves in the picture)...btw I'm using lion brand cotton ease for the baby sweater.





I've been cleaning out some closets lately and came across a box of old knits that I have put aside for one reason or another.. The first one is the first shawl that I crocheted... umm.. it's so old that I think u can call it vintage by now.. 0.0... Next is a jeremy fisher sweater..probably finished in the 80's sometime...a crocheted little girls flower sweater finished in the early 90's.. a gray tree pullover that I believe is an old phildar pattern knit for a little boy.. also from the 80'.. a little girls kitty face sweater maybe from the 90's.. this one might be from phildar also.. well those are some of my small treasures. I will continue to store them away in a safe place.. I'm really pleased that all are in good condition and actually wearable...well back to cleaning out the closet and sewing together the bag lining.. (^_^) (click to see a larger picture)

Monday, August 13, 2007

Colorful baby blanket (^_^)

I have previously posted this pattern. I cleaned it up and have made it more user friendly.

Colorful baby blanket(^_^)

















This blanket was knit on a knitting machine and the crochet edging added after... here is a close up of the edging pattern.













You can also knit this blanket by hand... here is the pattern:


Materials:


Yarn- 2 skeins of Caron simply soft (for a one color blanket)+ any other worsted weight yarn for trim in different colors ( I have also used cotton for the edging for some texture)

The knitting machine used to make this project is a Singer 155 , 110 bed machine, A bulky weight machine that will knit worsted weight and a little heavier yarns.

Needles-size 9 needle

Crochet hook-size I-9
Gauge 16 sts = 4"..(thats aprox)

Cast on 100 sts.. knit in st. st. for 155 - 180 rows.. or your desired length..Bind off all sts.
(that part is easy) You can knit as many stripes as you like, use only 3 colors and make 3 big stripes of equal length or just use just one color. Bind off all stitches but do not tie it off. Keep the last loop, this will go on your crochet hook and will be the first stitch of the crochet edging.



To start the crochet border you need to make one row of single crochet evenly around the entire blanket edge as follows:


Make one sc in each stitch along the top edge of the blanket .Work 3 sc in the corner st.


On the next side make 1 sc in each of the next 2 end of row sts, then miss one row end st, repeated this until you get to the next corner. 3 sc in next corner st.


Make one sc in each stitch along the bottom edge of the blanket .Work 3 sc in the corner st.


On the next side make 1 sc in each of the next 2 end of row sts, then miss one row end st, repeated this until you get to the next corner. Work 3 sc in the corner st.

Slip st in first st to join. Do not cut yarn.


Now you are ready for the edging. You can choose any crochet edging that you like or the one that I have used.

With the same color as your foundation row of sc... (Turn your work and slip st in next 2 sc. Turn your work)
Chain 6 *skip 1 sc, sc in next st, chain 4* repeat pattern until you reach the next corner, chain 6 in corner and repeat the pattern again until you have gone all around the blanket (making a chain 6 in each corner).. slip st in the bottom of first chain..change color by not completing the slip stitch and pulling the new color through to complete the slip st..

Next row.. chain 6,* sc in next chain 4 loop, chain 4* repeat this around chaining 6 in each corner. Add as many rows of chain loops as u would like. I did 5 rows, each row in a different color.
For the solid blanket I made some easy flowers each from a different yarn and sewed them in place.


This makes a beautiful and fast baby blanket. Perfect for that last minute baby shower gift. Enjoy.

Colorful Baby Blanket©2007 Adrienne Medrano

Thursday, August 09, 2007

It's a super hot.. humid..over bright day in florida today..it's even hot in the air-conditioned room I sit in.. I have been working on my larger than life bag.. ..at this point all the blocks are complete. . I picked out some fabric for the lining yesterday and just setting up to get this project done!!!... I'm going to dig through my fabric a little more before I settle on that one..



The bag might look something like this... I'm going to play with the blocks a little more for some fine tunning...so what I have left to do is finish the side and bottom strip and tuck in all the ends then work on the sewing and attaching the lining... I see an end ... coming.. soon..This is the only project I've been working on lately and I really have been work pretty slow.. I going through some major life changes right now that are rather stressful and will probably be selling my house in a couple months.. I'm trying to get my wip's out of the way while I still have time to work on them... and plan to make a few Christmas presents.. I'm only making a few this year... I need to cut back on my knitting work load for a bit.. that doesn't mean I wont be knitting.. probably just not as much as usual..

Monday, August 06, 2007


This is all I have done in the last few days. I finally finished reading Harry Potter#7 and of course I loved it. My larger than life bag is slowly getting done. I have a harder time choosing which color to use and where.. I'm not totally sure I like the results.. but I'm plugging along determined to finish some time this week. I have an idea of the fabric I want to use. I have to see if I have enough in my fabric stash. I'm sure if there isn't enough of that one there will something that will work. I was thinking in the brown tones. This was such a poopy post.. I've been boring lately.. (^_^)

Wednesday, August 01, 2007


I've started my Larger than life bag... I'm still on a yarn diet so I'm using yarn from my stash. .. Yarn that was left over from projects and abandoned projects. .. not yarn goes to waste here..I had the choice of using cotton or wool and I choose wool. First of all I think that wool is lighter and with use tends to cling to itself. . I wouldn't have to worry as much about ends popping out. Cotton tends to feel heavier and doesn't have the memory that wool does...anyway those are my thoughts and why I chose wool over cotton for my bag. The other reason is that I have a larger color selection in wool than I have in cotton. .. That was probably the deciding factor... I took this picture yesterday and have more blocks finished. I'll take more pictures tomorrow.. as I mentioned the other day.. I actually won an invite to ravelry.. my name is apixiegirl if u want to find me..so I have been exploring its many facets.. man u could loose yourself in there and never come out..there were some bugs that were affecting my account and took about a day to clear up..so I did that for 1 full day.. then I started loading projects and checking out all the wonderful projects and things happening there... and so.. there went another day.. ....




While all that was going on I did finish my ribbed lace bolero. I'm pleased with it. Measuring the length was a bit tricky for some reason I think cotton lies.. it likes to be tricky... the result is the finished length is a weee bit longer than I would have liked..