Winter Seafoam Flower

My previous post shared my adventures with recycled yarn - and this is the project that I'll be using it for .. this sweater is just soooo gorgeous and I've been drooling over it for the past few months waiting to be able to start this for Restitch 2010 (I've made a group on Ravelry for it that you are more than welcome to join - Ravelery members click here

Today I struggled with crochet, and I've not done any in 20 years since I made a blanket for my new born Godson ... then it was like 11 years before that that I crocheted .. oi vay! Talk about getting frustrated!! But I hit up the videos on Garn Studios and got the flower section on the back done in just a few hours .. I had a few back up and restarts (yes this means I frogged!!), I see a few spots where I'm like .. Hmmm??? .. but all in all, I'm very happy with it

The Drops Design patterns have always been a wee bit intimidating for me, but I'm biting the bullet and just forging ahead .. i'm a smart woman and I can figure this out ... taking my own advice of 'one line at a time' should be my mantra for this pattern.

I think once i get over the (**shudders) of charts and the not so simplistic language in the pattern, I'll be fine .. I made it thru the crochet flower back piece ..so the rest should be workable! It seems easier now than when I first started, so I can't see it getting any harder .. I know .. famous last words!! heh .... But if I have to frog - I frog .. only way to learn :)

Wish me luck!!

Recycling Yarn- continued :)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I would have pics and my adventure with recycling a thrift store sweater. Helpful tips n hints found here.

We left off with my yarn being BOTH DK and worsted weight and me trying this to see I could even the gauge out by using the above-mentioned tutorial. After unraveling the sweater I ended up with several balls of yarn ..

First thing I needed to do was get all this yarn into same size pieces .. using 2 chairs, that measure a yarn on one side, I wrapped it round the chairs 50 time to make up 100 yard hanks. Look like shrubs don't they? This was how they looked after I took them off the chairs. I ended up with 17 hanks of 100 yards each with a some left over that I hadn't frogged off the sweater.


So following the directions I did the soak for a bit with shampoo, then dried as best I could then do the fling about and hang .. one thing she neglected to mention that this flinging was an Olympic event .. ESH! .. I flung and flinged and flung and flinged for a good 15 - 20 mins and I didn't see any serious straightening out of my yarn .. so i gave up and just hung it up and weighted it down with soup cans..

Now I've a thought on why I didn't see any straightening .. in her tutorial she used a yarn that was 100% wool, I've not clue what the fibre content is in this yarn, but I'm betting it's acrylic 100%. So that could have a lot to do with why it didn't straighten out like hers did ..

BUT ever notice how there's always a BUT

It did go from super poodle curly, to just having a relaxed wave instead ... and I could live with that .. as my main goal for this experiment was to see if my yarn would go back to being worsted and it did!!!! So here I was with having worsted weight yarn, mildly wavey, but it was all worsted! It knitted up to gauge and I was able to start my sweater today .. got the crochet back done and have started the battle of the back and reading charts :D So far so good and only 3 frog sessions .. but that's okay .. it was only 4 rows over 28 stitches - heh

So here's 1 2oz ball of 100 yards of gorgeous worsted weight yarn. 11 more are still hanging in my shower waiting to totally dry so I can wind them up in my pull balls :D videos here for pull skein and more

Even tho they aren't straight, they are all worsted weight - I can certainly live with that! You can see in this picture here that all the strands are the same weight :D Mission Accomplished

Restitch - GO!!!

Restitch 2010 is now underway! The official kick-off has started. If you've not hit your thrift shop of choice, dark closet corner, relative's closet - now's the time to head there :) ... I got a start with my Looping Chalices hat and the Dripping Chalices scarf using the cold weather and no decent stuff in my yarn stash as an excuse :D .. worked for me heh .. umm let me define decent .. nothing that wasn't marled, swirled or black .. marled / swirled yarns have the nasty habit of losing your decorative stitches and I really didn't want to use black ... it's so hard to see to work with. So i frogged the sweater I bought at Value Village and balled it up for my hat and scarf.

Quick chat on the scarf .. Popsicle Scarf pattern on ravelry written by Purple Sage - it had just the right look to nicely compliment my Looping Chalices hat. It was a quick and easy knit to do, even tho I found it tedious at times, it was still super easy and quick to make .. the M1 and then dropping that stitch 7 rows later is a perfect change. This scarf is actually taller than me and I'm 5' 3". It's nice and warm - and the pattern allows it to be almost a reversible scarf.

For my first (well second ... third!) project I picked this gorgeous sweater from Drops Design - DROPS Jacket with cable and lace pattern and crochet triangle on back piece. I've always been a wee bit intimidated by their patterns, but was definitely taking the plunge! I just fell in love with this pattern and am itching to try it! I think even if I supremely goof it, it'll still look stunning .. LOL

A friend from work gave me a sweater that doesn't fit her boyfriend - unless he was a gorilla, and this man is NOT a gorilla. AWESOME!! Ooodles n ooodles of yarn there .. Gorgeous seafoam green worsted weight. Got to Knatter on Wednesday nite and had my balls of yarn all ready to go, pattern printed .. just had to do my test swatch and I was off .. heh .. so I thought. I did my first swatch with the 8s that the pattern calls for .. it was small .. so i jumped up a needle size to 9s ..that was small too **scratches heads ... thinks a bit .. hmmmmm The pattern calls for 2 strands of DK yarn with it being 12 wpi (worsted) and 17 sts / 4 in (also worsted). I'm generally a gauge knitter .. I did NOT want to go up to 10s .. not with YO and cables being in this pattern .. I had visions of my hoodie or NOT sweater skitter across my brain .. so I looked at the yarn .. Gina had a skein of worsted on the couch so I compared the strands .. well geeze o pete .. bloodyhell .. ** kicks the table .. rolls eyes Bet you already know what I saw and quickly figured out. Since the yarn was kinked from being knitted, it was alternately DK and worsted weight. **bangs head So this yarn in essense wasn't DK or worsted .. it was technically both. When I did my hat and scarf, it didn't matter what the gauge was, so I took no notice of it so to speak .. but gauge matters in this pattern ..

BUT

You knew there was a but .. there always is .. heheheheheheheheh ... Helene had found this site on steps to take when you buy a sweater from a thrift shop and the best way to get it unraveled and unkinked. While I had already read it, I didn't do the soak, fling and hang part of it . ... So that's my current step in my project ..

Oh the link?? Recycle Yarn from Thrift Store Sweater I'm half way thru my yarn and have pics and an adventure with it .. like you would expect anything else .. I'll be posting about that one later with my observations and finished 'yarn' :D Talk to you soon!

Pattern Published

I did it .. managed to get it typed out and it even still manages to make sense :D

You can find the pattern at Chalices Hat Pattern along with pdf links for your convenience ..

For Ravelry users it's been added to my designs .. G's Stitches

Looping Chalices

After a false start and a really twitty error, I finally got my hat for ME finished. On the chunky cable beret I used the wrong weight. For some stooopid reason I thought that I had a worsted weight yarn while it was a double knit / sport weight. So I was lucky it was big enough to be considered a beanie LOL .. I'll do that one again, with the proper weight yarn.

Now back to the main topic .. my hat .. I wanted a hat that would hold the rat's nest that I call hair in a manageable fashion as well as a hat that wouldn't make me look like a total git .. me and hats .. ICK!! We just do NOT get along - They are not flattering to me in the least - not even ball hats .. So i was looking for a slouchy type beret hat that would cover all these requirements for me .. I sort of found one, but you know how that worked out, so I decided to flip thru a stitch dictionary I have 440 More Knitting Stitches and found a few all over lace patterns that I liked so a swatching I went.

Horseshoe

Chalice

Oriel

I really liked the horseshoe and the chalice .. the Oriel .. well that was wrong on so many different levels it wasn't funny . something with my yarn over or yarn over needle went wonky .. so that one was out for the time being .. But I opted for the Chalice pattern .. I found it to be delicate and with this specific yarn the details still stood out enough to make out ..

It only took a few day to do, even with some back stitching as i was easily distracted (Oh look, a shiny thing! plus contending with my back again .. But I really do like it and it looks pretty nice on me surprisingly enough!! I was worried that I would look like Toad from Super Mario Brothers, Princess Zelda, but I really don't! Reg rather giggles a bit when he sees it at first .. heartless bugger, but I think that he's more doing that to get under my skin than it looks really awful ..

it IS warm!! I've to write the pattern out to put on FiberBabble pattern Blog as well as make a scarf for me .. I can call this one a success :D

Re-stitch 2010 ...

Just a wee bit early for me .. I was watching the mercury drop and drop and drop as it got colder and colder for that week before Christmas .. so i went digging for patterns .. found some beauties, then dove into my stash .. hmmmm - okay this isn't going to work .. i've stripes, marls, marbles - or black .. i do NOT want black .. grumbles ..what to do ... what to do ... AHA! I know it's only early December, but why can't I start my Recycle project a wee bit early .. find a sweater, frog it and then make a hat n scarf :D w00t w00t w00t .. i'm so clever!! heh

Let's take a few steps back here .. i've an issue with hats ... they look like garbage on me .. even ball hats look horrid .. so I don't wear them .. when we had a car, earwarmers were great .. but no car this year .. soooo - i have a choice .. freeze my kazots off, or buckle and find a hat .. what i decided on was a type of beret / slouch hat .. large enough to hold the rat's nest i call hair, and classy enough I might not look like a total git in it! Then I would make a scarf that matches .. found some really nice ones and added them to my scarf queue ..

So off to the local thrift shop .. I found 2 beauties to use .. and started with the plum coloured one since it matches the dark trim on my coat .. i've a lavender coat so this does look good .. only concern it's a fuzzy type yarn .. but that's cool .. makes life a wee bit tricky to knit with at times .. but I'll adapt :D First off I took off the collar and then started to work on the hood .. next victim was a sleeve ... Now I had more than enough to do a hat (I didn't frog the collar - just the hood and sleeve) at this point and that's all I needed to jump in both feet without looking.

I start working on a chunky cabled beret ... knitted up great .. now I did this double stranded and my cast on was too tight, so that made the ribbing band TIGHT .. easy enough to fix .. rung the needles thru the ribbing stitches, unravel it to the needles and do a ribbing w larger needles :D Awesome plan .. but for some reason it ended up small .. I put it on my husband goes .. you look like the Pope ... :O I put it on and show my friend helene and told her what reg said .. she laughed and said .. well you do! LMAO .. oi vay! I knit it to gauge CRAP!!!!! So froggy came visiting and took my Pope beanie away .. You do realize that's the second project that i've frogged at starbucks .. altho that would've been frogged regardless .. so while frogging I had my stitch dictionary with me and started to look thru the panels .. and then I had a nova thought ...

I decided that I would write my own pattern that would fit my rat's nest and go from there .. and it would have a matching scarf to go with it :D Since the yarn is fuzzy, I've opted to do test swatches of the panels I like the best and decide how they look in this yarn and see how they knit up with this weight yarn at this gauge ... So far - one is done .. the horseshoe panel - done over 2 panels and the pattern 3 times ..

Once I post this, I'll be starting on the next panel .. I hope to have even a quick pic and blurb to put up for both of them before the end of the week .. but please do not hold your breath .. time hits a warp around me lately and runs off at mach 9 .. seriously .. where does it bloody well go!?!?!

anywho .. wish me luck and I do plan to have fun on it .. we do have a community site ready to launch soon .. keep an eye on this page for future announcements ..

OMG .. I am such a freeeken twit! Yes I know .. you've heard this before .. well twit for brains here started to look at the yarn she was using .. now, while the swatch knitted up to gauge that was with me doing double stranded knitting for the first time AND my tension was rather wibbly .. so of course as I get used to it .. it evens out .. so of course the beret wouldn't fit .. i was using worsted and NOT bulky .. oi vay .. some days i should seriously lock myself away for sharp objects .. pfft

Bobbles Bibbled n Bammed!

Wow it's been a bit since i've had the time to sit down and collect my thoughts for a blog post .. errr at least one that makes sense of sorts. :\ .. Well the GOOD thing about not posting in a bit is that I've a lot to share at least ..

BOBBLE CARDI:
is FINALLY done .. I didn't break any land speed records getting it there either .. Just took my time .. the 'slowest' part of finishing was thinking bout the zipper .. the one i bought was to long .. it matched perfectly, and was separating .. so I knew I had to fidge it somehow .. Now if mum was still alive, she would have been able to say .. oh do this .. but she isn't - so I had to dredge my memory (rather a deep scary place at times!!) and then ask my 96 yo grandmother if I was on the right track - she may be 96 but she's still sharp as a tack with a wicked sense of humour LMAO .. love my gma!!! She gave me the answer i needed in order to go ahead with confidence - (now i'm wishing i had taken pics of this .. :( )

Line up the bottom as usual; the take the excess at the top and fold it over and then cut. Then securely lock stitch / zig zag it into place .. now there could be an issue of the zipper tape unraveling with the cut .. I've cut it with pinking sheers .. if that proves to not work, the n I'll do some interfacing / zigzag stitching .. but it's all done .. a wee bit boob snug, but this hasn't been washed yet, and I know it will relax in the wash and over time with wear .. Ravelry members you can access my notes on the project page.

Just a few pics to show what it looks like .. doing this I broke 2 needles and refreshed my knowledge of profanity in several different languages .. stooopid thread ... it was a perfect match .. as well as a the main ingredient for frustration .. it's now in the trash and i changed threads / colours and the rest of it stitched up zippy quick ROFL ..



To see what else I've got bubbling in my brain .. I've sent up another post with my plots n plans ...

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the coming year with joy and eagerness :)