Who knew Grasshoppers Knitted too?

Last October, I bought my sister-in-law (who happens to be my best friend) a teach yourself how to knit book and taught her the basics. Note: She now calls me the Knitting Master and I call her "Grasshopper". In fact, I started her out with a yarn oven over scarf which she picked up like a champ. She picked it up so fast!! Now she is off and running and knitting everything - plus changing and creating her own patterns. Here are some of the items that she has made since then.


Can you believe that this is a five day sweater? That means she knitted it in a record 5 days!!! There are two things that I love about this sweater. One is that she changed the pattern to give it shape in the waist. Two she made it for me!! Who doesn't love a hand made sweater?




This is the beanie that she made for a bunch of her guy buddies. It fits me too - but she says that I don't look good in hats just balaclavas so I don't get this one. Again she changed the pattern.


She calls this on the never ending sweater. It is knit two, purl two the entire way through. So you know how much that slows you down. It took her about a month (most would find that fast but when you have a five day sweater that's tough to beat!). Again pattern was changed around the straps and the length.


This is the cutest purse made out of fun fur. She made the pattern all on her own. It's so cute and functional (in a fashionable way).

Angela K and Her Technic-Color Felted Bag

So I got the felting bug. After all it's so cool. You have the power to shape a bag out of yarn! Something that you can use! I guess I'm excited about using stuff today - 2 explanation marks and it's only 9am! (Oops that makes 3).

I found a pattern that used 5 colors. This was really my first project where I had changed colors and the second that I made an I-cord with. It was a fun pattern - but again, I didn't know about how you can weave your ends in - or better yet carry them up the side so you don't have to tie them all in. So I did a lot more sewing of ends than necessary. But live and learn. This bag uses the purl side on the outside of the bag - to make it appear more blended color wise. But I thought that the knit side was really pretty and would also make a nice felted bag. Maybe if I run out of projects, I'll make one only inside out (I won't hold my breath just in case). The other thing, is that I found out that felted items also become kind of water proof. I've spilled a water and diet coke inside the bag and it just kind of beads up inside. I couldn't tell by the pattern but thought the lady in the yarn store told me to use two strands of yarn - so I did. It made a really sturdy bag. I can carry really heavy stuff and the bag really holds its shape. I was worried that I would run out of the dark purple so I knit in the other colors on the handle. I wouldn't do this again because the colors look odd alone like that and almost feel like the handle is a bit long.

Here is my new bag to carry lunch and items to and fro to work. We can call it my Technic-color Brief Case. I posted it in my cube at work and one lady did stop by to admire it. I was so proud!!


Close up please.

Nope nothing in here except a cool pattern!


George is checking out the bag! I think he's impressed to!! Plus it's wool so what's not to like??

Felt Like a Canadian

So I heard about people taking old sweaters and felting them - so of course, I had to get in on that! Then again, I didn't really know how to felt - but how hard could it be? So I had a grey sweater from my mother-in-law that had a red maple leaf on it that I thought was wool. It said that it was 100% wool - which I thought was feltable (Is that a word? It is now!). So I pulled out some of the top of the sweater and some from the bottom (I unraveled it little at a time) and picked up the stitches on either end. I then had bought some red wool that matched the red in the maple leaf. The top I knit a red border and made a handle by knitting an I-cord. The bottom I knit a border about the same size as the top and then made a square bottom and sewed it into place. Look how big it looked - based on George's body (poor George the knitting model).


George the Knitting model - hard at work.

So it's not always work for the model as George showed us how much he likes natural fibers. He went nuts for the wool! We couldn't keep him out of it. He would go into my knitting bag and take the balls of wool and hug and sniff it!! Look what I mean:



He looks a little guilty in the last picture.

So after knitting the bag, I set off to felt it. I had gotten some hints on the internet and found that it was quite easy to felt. All you need is a zippered pillow case, some Wool Mix (a soap that you don't have to rinse out - I got it at Three Kittens in the Twin Cities - but I'm told you can find it at most knitting shops. But don't look at the chain stores because I couldn't find any there. You want this because wool kind of smells like wet dog. Which is why Geoge likes it I suppose.), a washer machine, an old towel to throw in with the bag to cause some friction, and hot water. I put it on medium size, hot water, and let it go for 5 minutes. Then I checked it and put it back in. I think in total, it took about 15 minutes to felt. The only problem is that the old sweater part (lets call the meat of the bag) did not felt. The maple leaf slightly felted but the gray part didn't. The top and bottom felted like a charm and seemed to hold the whole thing together. After I removed the bag, I took made a square bottom out of cardboard wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the bottom of the bag and forced the bag into that shape. Then I took newspaper and filled the bag to give that form. Then I hung it from a door knob to dry. I checked it about every hour or so to see how it was drying (this part was not really necessary and only added to my impatience).

I think it turned out quite nice. See for yourself:



Of course, George had to get into the picture since he was there from the beginning!

I sent the bag to my mother-in-law for a present. She took it to Portugal - which I was quite proud of. She said she carried it everywhere and that it held up quite nicely. Not too bad for a sweater and some tweaking! Now after thinking about it, I'm not sure that is how people are using old wool sweaters to felt with. If anyone knows how people are doing this, I'd love to hear about it!

Scary Balaclava

Many of you have asked what my Canadian husband looks like - so as not to disappoint you, here he is:


What you were expecting a different colored balaclava?? Balaclava is a Canadian term for face mask (at least that's what we called them where I grew up). I heard the term while in Canada and got the crazy idea that I had to knit one for Todd when I learned how to knit. Don't ask me why? And, by the way, I was living in North Carolina at the time. There was totally not a need for a balaclava. My mother-in-law came to the rescue with a pattern from Darlene - who took the time out to e-mail to me. It's a really easy pattern (if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll pass it along). Basically you just bind off the stitches on one row (where you want the mouth and eye holes) and cast them on the next. I also knit it in around because as a whole, I'm a much better knitter than I am a sewer.

Then while wearing the balaclava we decided that we looked scary. Notice that George is not in any of the pictures because he was hiding under the bed while we were making our best scary faces. So don't be afraid because here they are:


Scary Balaclava Todd


and Scary Balaclava Angela!!

What a Pair!!

This is the first pair of socks - all-be-it booties that I have ever made that are the same size!!


Here's the top view. Looks good.

And here's the profile. Still good. (Good thing I shaved my legs!!)


If you don't believe me - look at them minus the feet!!

What's Blue and White and Cabled all over?

It's a sweater that turned out as big as a coat.

My mother-in-law gave me a wonderful Christmas Gift. It kept me busy for about 3 months. It was a Sirdar sweater kit complete with pattern book and yarn. I had never cabeled before. But I thought, that can't be too hard. After I figured out that each color change means a different ball of yarn, I learned why bobbins were invented. I still had a mess and spent a lot of time taking out all the knots of yarn from them being wrapped around each other. I think that theoretically it should have unwrapped itself if I turned the knitting the exact opposite from how I had done on the row before. But I never got it right. I read later - somewhere on the net - that I could have put the balls into a box and cut slits for the yarn to come out and they wouldn't get wrapped around each other as much. But bobbins helped a bunch too. Only problem is that you don't know how much to wrap and you end up tying in even more ends! And this project has a lot of ends! I just bought a book that is supposed to tell you how to knit in your ends instead of having to sew them in with a needle. If anyone has any advice or information on that, I would love to hear about that. I had fun knitting this sweater, but I have to admit that I was glad that it did end. Also, it ended up being quite large. I would definately knit the smallest size no problem. Maybe my gauge was off, but I am usually right on. I seem to have the biggest trouble sizing the garments. So better too big than too small - but if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it. But I do think that it is quite nice. I'm really proud. Now check out the pictures. I should have taken some photos of the messes I had - but this way, no one will ever know.. Ooops.

George with a sleeve - he looks un-impressed.


George thinks that it makes a nice blanket too.


The finished sweater. I'm so proud.

Socks - Try, try Again

After finishing a big project this past week, I decided to try socks again. I needed something that I could finish quickly and after all, I had bought the alpaca sock yarn on a whim when I visited the Twin Cities and made my hubby stop at my favorite knitting store - 3 Kittens. So I followed the same pattern as my first pair of socks thinking that the reason why they didn't work is that I was unexperienced. But I found out that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Take a look at the sock that I ended up with:
Yup, still makes a sock that is too Big!!

So I searched the internet and found a sock calculator. Who knew?!! I found one at www.needletrax.com/mysocks.htm
And it worked! Here the picture of the new sock. Note that I had to make it smaller because since I used up enough yarn to make one large sock, I only have enough left to make a pair of bootie socks. Also note, that I tried to unravel the socks from the cuff down because I was going to fix the first sock - but that didn't work either! It only unravels backwards (that would be from the toe end). I would have had to unknit the entire sock! I like that alpaca yarn - but not that much! So much for my fast project I was looking for.
Much better. Note: my husband makes a good sock model. Now one more to go. When I finish. I'll take a picture of both socks at the same time.
Another thing I found out is that my cat George loves any natural yarn, wool, etc. Look at what he thinks about the sock:

I now want to call him - Alpaca George!!

Socks...Who Knew?

The next project that I tried to tackle were socks. After all, you see them every day and you can buy them at the evil Walmart for a couple of bucks at the most. How hard could they be to make? The first problem that I encountered was double pointed needles. That would be using 5 needles at once. I found a sock pattern for Magic Strips Basic Socks by Lion Brand Yarn - bought some self striping yarn from a yarn shop in Raleigh and went to work. The problem was that I knit on the inside of the needles and not the outside. Look at the socks. You can tell by the cuff that there the sock parts are inside the cuff. That's because I thought if I wanted the knitted part on the outside of the socks that I had to purl them from the inside. And I'd have to say that it worked. Except that it was really hard. Plus I had reverted to knitting so tightly that my hands and wrists hurt from forcing the needles between the yarn and the needle. Also, I felt that I was micro knitting because I had never used size 3 needles before. After my first sock, I called Gail (my knitting expert) to find out what I was doing wrong. She talked with her friend Darlene, who had the answer. I was knitting on the wrong side of the needles! Duh!! So the second sock I knit the right way. Only problem is, that it didn't fit as well as the first. It was too loose because the yarn probably wasn't the same number of stitches per inch as the Lion Brand yarn and I hadn't knit them half as tight. But they are my first socks and I will wear them with pride. One close fitting and one loose. My husband says that no one looks at socks, just wear them anyway. I am sure that everyone notices my creations so do will not believe that everyone can't tell that I made those socks that I have on and they are perfect in their uniqueness!

First Sweater

We moved to North Carolina for a short period of time (so the Northerners had arrived in the South- one Minnesotan and one Canuck), where I picked up my knitting out of desperation to keep my sanity. Note that I had not knit anything since my the fun fur scarf. My mother-in-law, Gail, came to the rescue again (she must have a sixth sense of what will keep me occupied) with my first sweater pattern book and yarn that she got for me for Christmas. We were alone that first Christmas (which was quite difficult) and I knit for the entire time. I started with my "Teach Yourself to Knit" book knitting a pair of slippers (I didn't want to mess the sweater up too badly). They must have turned out funny because I didn't even bother to take a picture of them. They were far too large for either myself of my husband, so I gave them to my brother Mark for Christmas. Mark - if you are reading this, you are welcome and I am just glad that you have big feet. You know what they say about big feet....big shoes (what were you thinking?). I hear that the slippers did not last more than one season. Oh well, you have to start somewhere. Remember, I didn't even know how to purl when I made those! When Gail taught me to knit, she didn't teach me to purl. I was a garter stitch gal and that was it. So everything else from the cast on and knit stitch is self taught. So if I get it wrong, there is only myself to blame!

So the sweater knit up easy with Sirdar (pattern 8411), Denim Ultra 2.25 stitches per inch yarn which knits up really fast. I knit the entire sweater in a matter of days and it turned out really nice - especially since I had just learned to purl, however, it doesn't quite fit. I made it just a smidge too small. I can't quite make myself give away my first ever sweater and am quite sure if I lose a few pounds that I will wear it some day. So just to make myself happy with something I could wear, I made a scarf and stocking hat with the left over yarn. My husband thought that I was crazy being that we were in North Carolina with a toque (or "Tobaggon" as they call it in North Carolina - they don't even know the correct winter terms. It's not like I want to put a sled on my head!!) and scarf. But a girl has to do, what a girl has to do!

In the Beginning

This is my first ever Blog. So therefore I will start in the beginning before I knew how to knit (it was the best of times, it was the worst of times). I had gone to Flin Flon, Manitoba (I mentioned that my hubby is Canadian) for Christmas in 2004. By the way, they take winter very seriously there. It was -40 degrees Celsius - which is the only metric temperature that I truly understand as it is the same as -40 degrees Fahrenheit (that is 40 degrees below zero) - every day for a week. So we had planted ourselves inside except for the few walks we took outside to get some exercise or a trip to the evil Walmart which had newly come to Flin Flon. We were all going quite stir crazy so my mother-in-law had decided that I needed something to do other than look out the window and watch TV. So she decided to teach me how to knit. Now if you are a new knitter, do not learn on fun fur. As the name suggests - it's supposed to be "fun." Knitting is not fun if you can't see what you are knitting and you don't know what you are doing. Also as a new knitter I had a death grip on the needles and was knitting tight enough so that I had to force the needles through the "fun fur" that I was sure going to escape (why else would I be knitting so tightly). I spent the whole time counting stitches and swearing under my breath. But in the end, I had a fun fur scarf which I just adore. Note that it took me the entire trip plus one week to finish the project which should have taken a normal knitter a couple of hours. My mother-in-law made a pair of mittens to match in a matter of days (she finished before I did) - which I also included in the picture.