The Other Random Walk

I'm trying to blog all the stuff I've been meaning to blog over my lunchtime at work, which explains posting in the middle of the day.

Last fall, at the Knox Farm Fiberfest, I purchased a big bunch of green handdyed singles, and even more naturally brown singles. I will be making my first sweater out of them. It will be a plain, top-down raglan in the round. I also got a Plymouth Sister bamboo needle interchangeable set, which I love.

I like Dominoes, and hun got me a double 15 set last summer. :)

I disassembled the thrummed mittens from a few years ago, because I had 1/4 of a mitten made, and didn't really like thrumming, plus I lost the pattern. I skeined the wool, and then put it in a clean dishpan with some Eucalan wool wash, and hot water, and left it overnight. In the morning, I rinsed it well in cold water, and hung it to dry. Presto! Good as new, and will be used in a pair of wristers!

Lionbrand is re-introducing their Cotton Ease (worsted weight, 50% acrylic, 50% cotton) line, and they have a new organic cotton line too. I would like to play with these, but I need to knit from stash first for a while.

Geta are really cool Japanese wood sandals. Here's how to make them!

Local Harvest can help you find farmers' markets, organic food, and community farmers near you. If you're concerned about sustainable eating, it looks like a decent resource.

I have a lot of books on tea and how it's grown, and I am reading one of them, but it is on hold while I obsess about lace knitting.

Spool knitters are also called French knitters, knitting Nancies, knitting pegs, or knitting knobs, or corkers. They look like this or these. Or you can take a spool and nail four nails into the top and use that instead of a fancy store bought one.

I have several, from several different manufacturers. Worsted weight cotton makes a nice long cat toy. Or you can knit a long strand, then coil it up and sew it down for a chair cushion or a rug.

More patterns here, and lots of spool knitting stuff here. You could also google the terms at the top of the post.

Klutz offers a book on spool knitted jewelry. I'm tempted....

Also, knitting looms (also called knitting rakes, knit-a-rounds (a brand name) work on the same principle as a spool knitter, but much larger. Again, google for more links; I don't have enough time to sort the good ones out.

I may come back someday and make this entry prettier...

I've been tatting a bit lately. My tatting bag comes from DS9Designs, and it has red roses on it. It was a gift from a dear friend.

I've decided I need to build my skills some, so I switched from a simple bookmark pattern that has chains in it to an even simpler one with a 4 ring motif that is repeated, joined together. I also switched from size 80 tatting cotton to size 10 crochet cotton. (The size 10 is Coats & Clark's Opera; the 80 is DMC tatting cotton.)

When tatting make sure you have a hard thread, not a soft, smooshy one. The soft threads don't work well, because they compress down when you pull and the knots don't stay even.

So, here is how I'm making my handles for the crochet string bags.

Using the same size needle as for the rest of the bag, crochet 36 chains and join per the directions; single crochet back instead of double crochet.

When the bag is finished, take worsted weight cotton and a 5.00 mm hook. Chain 5 (starting chain), turn, sc in 3rd chain from hook, sc sc, ch 2 turn.

Continue rows of 3 sc until it is the length of the handle.

Then wrap it around the handle, and slip stitch the edges together, forming a cushy worsted weight cotton tube around the nasty hard handle.

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~rowen/renbk/rendressbook.html

Posted so I don't lose it!

YvY:

The best hooks are Clover Soft Touch hooks. They look like this</>, and you can get them at JoAnne's or A.C.Moore. They only come in sizes from C to J.

For smaller sizes, you need HANDLE CROCHET HOOKS; you'll scroll down to see them. They are Inox steel hooks, and labelled "Irma."

These are the best hooks because they have good, consistant throat sizes, which makes it easier to keep your stitches the same size.

Lacis (the Irma link) is also a good place to order lacemaking supplies.

I finished the punchneedle cat and it looks sweet. I'm now working on a heart for a friend of mine. MR, don't look! I should be done to give it to you on Monday!

The Clover hoop and stand are really nice and make it so much easier to work than propping up a regular hoop on a pile of coasters. The Clover punchneedle is sweet, and is much nicer to use than the cheap one that I purchased when I wasn't sure I would like punchneedle.

Oh, I subscribed to Interweave Knits in order to get the Priscilla Gibson-Roberts tabi pattern. (Tabi are big-toe separate socks, and PGR is awesome.) I'll be letting my New Stitches and Piecework subscriptions lapse. New Stitches is $70 a year, and the Piecework and Interweave Knits subscriptions are the same cost.

Project Notes: another headkerchief

So, my wrist is better enough that I have started and finished a headkerchief in white, yellow, blue, & green variegated Lily Sugar 'n' Cream. Yay! Started it on Friday night, finished last night. I used a seed stitch on the strap-border part, though not on the straps themselves. With the short repeat of the variegation, it looks very pretty.

Project Notes: String bag in Size 3 Crochet Cotton

String bag project in general here.
Pattern here.

Fiber: J&P Coats Royale, 2 balls, one pink, one green (colors here) 150 yds per ball.

I used the 2.5 mm (size C) Clover hook for most of it, but for the handles, I used a size H (5.00 mm) hook and 30 stitches, not 36. This made nice, thick handles, that I expect will be comfortable.

I used the additional 4 rows of chain 20, and the additional single crochets around the handles, which widened them nicely.

I had originally bought 4 balls of this thread in order to tat bookmarks, but I decided that it was too soft to use for tatting, and anyway, I have enough tatting thread to last a lifetime. (I bought out a local sewing shop's stock at half price.)

I started this and finished it in about 9 days, and it was not my only project.

when you get a run in your stockings, cut off the top part, and use the toe part to hold a center pull ball together. Use the segments above the toe in the same manner, but with one of the open ends knotted.

I have not knit in 2 weeks. I am going nuts.

Damn tendonitis.

So, how do you know if you are a beginner, and intermediate, or an advanced knitter or crocheter? You look at the Craft Yarn Council!

There's a lot of other fun stuff at that link, including sizing standards, and yarn weight standards and recommended needle sizes.

Knitty offers suggestions on how to increase your level of difficulty in a reasonable fashion, and also commentary on/for those of us who jump into things with both feet!

And if you're looking for a really good beginner's knitting or crochet book, may I recommend Knitting in Plain English and Crocheting in Plain English both by Maggie Righetti.