Time for Fall Sweater Knitting.......

Last Fall I knitted this sweater, it's called Silver Belle and can be found on Ravelry. I use it as a jacket instead of as a sweater and have really enjoyed wearing it. The construction was different so made the mundane task of sewing the pieces together a little more interesting. For one thing, the long cable up the center back is knitted with the peplum bottom and the back pieces are sewn to either side of the cable.

My knitting mo-jo kind of leaves me during the summer when there is so much to do outside. Now it's time again to start scoping out a pattern for a great Fall sweater. There are a zillion patterns out there, the problem with about half of them is that they really aren't practical to wear. And so the search for a perfect Fall sweater pattern begins............................any suggestions? I love to learn new techniques during project knitting and admire a lot of the Japanese designs, but am not sure I could figure out the directions.

Comfort Knitting

This is the third Running Horse hat I've knitted. I just love the pattern. A dear friend of mine was in a horrible accident and I needed something to keep my mind occupied. Knitting a familiar pattern with enough difficulty to make me pay attention was just what I needed.

My experiment in making a bath puff using a modified kitchen scrubby pattern turned out so-so on the first try. I tried starting on the same size hook and increased the hook two sizes for a few rows and then increased two sizes again for a few more rows. The end result is cute, but still too dense and compact to make a good bath puff in my opinion. It just needs to be more airy and open, which I'm not sure can be achieved. I may give it another try, we'll see...................

Plain Jane, but very useful

This is a quick to make set I made to finish using up the last bit of what was a huge and never ending skein of cotton. I lost count of how many dishcloths I made out of that skein.

What I like about this duo is that they are so very usable. The dishcloth is exactly the same on both sides, so there's no wrong or right side. I've never made any of the little scrubbies before, so can't swear to it, but it seems like it will be great for dishes.

The scrubby is crocheted, which I seldom do. It always takes me a little bit to get back in the swing of crochet because there's always such a long span between the last time I made a crocheted item. At first it was really hurting my hands to crochet the thick cotton, but it got a little more fluid as I went along. I still prefer to use thinner cotton to crochet, and I've always much preferred knitting to crocheting.

Both of these are the simplest patterns I've ever come across. The plain little dishcloth is called Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth (on Ravelry). Directions: worsted weight cotton, size US 6 needles. Cast on 4 stitches.

Row 1: knit 4

*Row 2: Knit 2, YO, knit across row

*Row 3: Knit 1, K2 tog, YO, K2 tog, knit across row

*Repeat Row 2 until you have 44 stitches

*Repeat Row 3 until you have 4 stitches, bind off, weave in ends.

I can't find where I came across the pattern for the little scrubby, but it is very simple and best I can remember this is all you do: Size G hook, worsted weight cotton

Chain 3

SC 6 in second stitch from hook, do not join, but turn and

*SC 2 in each SC, turn*, repeat between **'s until desired size

It won't really start looking like a scrubby for quite a lot of rows, but it's really fast to make.

I think I'm going to try using a larger crochet hook and make a bath puff from the scrubby

pattern. It would make a great machine washable bath puff if it weren't so dense. We'll see how it comes out.........

Fun Dishcloth #2

This was really fun for me to knit since I'm horse crazy. The pattern calls for size US 5 needles. Worsted weight cotton on size 5 needles can be a little rough on the hands. The larger dishcloth was knitted on US 6 needles. Much easier on the hands and a more usable fabric density for a dishcloth, but the actual horse design loses some crispness. Since I like to actually use my dishcloths I vote for the larger one on the size 6 needles. Which one do you like?

You can find the free pattern on Ravelry, it's Giddy-up Cloth by Amy-lynne Mitchell.

I've been making a few jewelry pieces and am beginning to think about what knitting projects I'd like to start this Fall. The colorwork hats I knitted at the end of last winter were so much fun I may start with something small like that and work my way into a larger project as the days grow shorter and colder. Here's a picture of one of my favorites:

YIKES!!!!!

This ginormous black widow spider greeted me this morning when I went out on the screened- in porch to have a cup of coffee. She was just chillin' there hanging on the screen. Thank goodness she was on the outside of the screen and not in there with me. It was hard to get a good clear picture with my dinosaur of a camera, but you can get the idea. Her abdomen is the size of a marble! I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I left her there while I ran some errands. After talking to a friend who scared me to death about what the spider could do to me, I decided to take action. The only bug stuff I had on hand was some extreme ant killer. I unloaded several blasts from the safety of the inside of the screen. Once I had pretty much drenched her I let her alone for awhile and then out of pure curiosity got a jar and went out and carefully pushed her into it with a stick. I've seen a few black widows, but this one is 10 times the size of any of them. I have to add that moments prior to going out to find this black widow hanging from my screened- in porch the Terminix man had knocked on my door to let me know he had just completed his quarterly treatment of the perimeter of my house. Wow, d'ya suppose he could miss a marble sized black widow sticking out like a sore thumb on the screen if he'd actually sprayed the perimeter? One can only wonder................................

Fun Dishcloth #1

Here's a fun little dishcloth perfect for summer knitting. The pattern is available free on Ravelry, it's called "Baked with Love" by Rachel van Schie. If you're not a Ravelry member you can get the pattern at: http://www.knitsbyrachel.com/page19.html These are good for instant gratification, you can knit one in an afternoon or two. I didn't make any changes to the pattern on this one, it's great just as written.

The second 1Bag is finished, but since it looks exactly like the first one, I won't bore you with a picture. I was able to get both 1Bags out of one cone with a little left over. I'm really enjoying using them and encourage anyone who knits to make at least one.

Summer is flying by too quickly! There's so much to do and so little time. The days are already getting shorter : (. My spoiled kitteh's are oblivious :

I love summer!

Summer is my favorite season. I love being outdoors in the sunshine. Makes for a very boring blog though. I apologize to anyone who reads this, there's just so much going on in the summer that the computer is often forgotten.

I have been knitting a few small sort of mindless projects though. Things that don't require a lot of concentration. Since my blog has been basically non existent lately with no real knitting content I will show one project at a time so I can spread them out over a few posts. Sad isn't it? I promise, when the weather starts getting cold I'll be posting more interesting content and a lot more frequently.

The 1Bag is a pattern I found on Ravelry for free. It's a knit grocery bag and has proved to be very useful. I have to admit I haven't been using it as intended by the pattern designer. It's meant to be used to avoid using paper or plastic bags when shopping. I'd have to knit about 100 of these to make my trips to the grocery go green, so I've been using mine to tote necessary items back and forth to the pool. I love it and it's totally washer and dryer friendly, so much easier than a regular beach bag. It's a fast knit and perfect for a quick, portable summer project. If you aren't a Ravelry member you can get the pattern here: http://www.iliveonafarm.com/1bag.html I used Peaches and Cream shaded denim bought on a cone at Wal-Mart. You should be able to get two out of a cone of yarn. I'm knitting my second one now, but I made my first one a little larger than the pattern so I'm not sure I'll be able to squeak two out of my cone. I used size 9 needles for the body of the bag and size 7 needles for the bottom and handles. I added 8 rows of the closed stitch pattern to the top of the bag to keep it from gaping. I'm going to make every effort to take both my 1Bags with me when I go to the store to do a small part to help our Mother Earth.

I hope you are enjoying your summer! This is what my cat Harley has been doing this summer.......