2010 Advent Calendar Scarf

I know it's a bit late and not the correct season, but I decided to knit one of the many lace patterns that I have stored on my computer.  This one is from a group of German designers.  The yarn suggested is wool lace yarn from 600 m per 100 grams or thinner.  Well coloring within the lines has never been my strong point and when my youngest daughter and I were at Michael's one day, I found some Aunt Lydia's crochet thread #10 with a length of 300 yds. or 274 m.  Close enough for me and I liked the name of the color Zen Green.  I chose a 2.75 mm instead of a 4 mm needle.  The bamboo looks better knit with a smaller needle size. The pattern is free from Ravelry and can be found here.

The first six sections are done.  Altogether there are 24 sections.  Lately, I find that I have more difficulty knitting with such thin and a bit floppy (due to the 100% Bamboo) yarn.  Due to age, my hands are shaking just slightly-- almost not visible--but it does make really fine knitting somewhat more difficult.  It's particularly noticeable at the start of lace knitting.  Therefore, I have decided that the next time I knit with such fine yarn, I will do a provisional cast on by knitting an inch with a slightly thicker yarn and then start the actual project.  After finishing, I can always cut off the mismatched piece of knitting and finish the edge with a crochet row or Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn cast off.  I am getting too old to make myself a basket case over such minor issues. 

So knit on merrily and, oh, don't find the mistakes. 

June Afghan Squares

Here are the June squares.  We are about half-way through.

Knit on Merrily!

Afghan: March, April, May

I just realized I never showed the blocks for March, April and May.  Must have been too busy finishing sweaters for the Motherless Child Foundation and knitting tees for myself.  So, duck, you are being bombarded with the squares for all three months.  I continue to marvel how nicely the bulk undyed sock yarn from WEBS knits up. All squares were designed by Vicki Mikulak for the Yahoo Group Holiday Mystery Gifts.

March Squares:

 

April Squares:

May Squares:

Now I am all caught up.  Knit on Merrily!



Commentary

At least one person's opinion on the state of affairs of our current political events.  Angie and I took a drive yesterday.  Instead of driving along Lake Michigan, we took the road to the right and drove along Lake Hamlin which runs perpendicular just east of Lake Michigan and guess what we found?

In case you have trouble reading the headings on the two doors, the top one is labeled "Politicians" and the bottom door says "Voters."  I am trying to figure out how to avoid all those PAC ads between now and November.  Maybe I'll just watch Netflix. 

Back to knitting on my latest Tee.

Knit on , merrily!

Part 3: Froggy went a frogging...

...and has been sent back to his lily pad hopefully for a long time-out.  The sweater disaster has been fixed and is ready for summer weather. Knit with sock yarn consisting of 75% Bamboo and 25% Nylon on 4.5 mm (US 7) needles.  The pattern is named Celebrity and is from a Verena magazine.

Knit on Merrily!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, O My!

Well only bears.

I have had a lousy week; my hives have returned due to an allergic reaction to who knows what, my desk top computer's hard drive with all my favorite games finally gave up the ghost after many years of service, and the firewall on my lap top has given me fits all day long.   So yesterday my daughter and I sought some diversion and took a drive to Cadillac, Michigan to visit the used bookstore. On the way, we saw lots of cars parked on the side of the road, showing that the Morel mushroom hunters were out in force since it had rained most of Thursday.  We were fleetingly thinking about joining the search for Morels when we saw this sign:

We had not seen this sign before on M55, a few miles west of Cadillac  and it does look almost brand new.  As soon as Angie saw the sign, she said "Well, maybe not.  I'm not going out there looking for mushrooms."  Apparently bears are frequently seen further south than they used to be.  For some of us the re-appearance of bears in the lower Peninsula is progress, along with the eagle which is now off the endangered species list as well. But they could have better manners and habitate in areas were the Morel mushroom is not to be found.  After all, even Angie eats Morels.

Next post will hold some knitting news again.  Froggie has been banished back to his lily pad and the Verena top is now wearable. And, I have started a new Tee with Maggi Knits Irish Linen yarn (52% cotton and 48% linen). As you can see I am on a sweater knitting kick lately.

So keep on knitting, merrily.

More Spring Cleaning

My winter sweater is done just in time for Winter to end and Spring to begin.  Although it came in handy yesterday when we went plant shopping since it was only in the mid 40s.  This pattern is called Sock Yarn Sideways Swing Cardigan and can be found here for purchase.  It is knit with 6 ply sock yarn.  The designer used OnLine sock yarn, but I got a wonderful deal at www.littleknits.com on Regia 6 ply Kaffe Facett yarn and the cost of the yarn was just under $20 for an extra-extra large size.  At my age and for a knitter life can't get any better than that.  So here is my mug shot including cardigan.  As you can see, I am a wee bit short, but wide. I did change all edgings on the  cardigan to a moss stitch pattern instead of the picot edging. What I liked about the pattern was that you can make the front wider than the back for those of us who are "frontally challenged."

By the way that's my walnut cane, bought once upon a time at a yard sale for 5 cents as a hiking stick.  I think it has much more character than one of those that you buy at the pharmacy. This stick is so me. Unfortunately, I think, I have to turn in my Birkenstocks when walking on our uneven land.

In the mean time, knit on merrily.