07.25.07
Posted in BobaKnit, Uncategorized, hats at 1:06 pm by pauline
After almost a year, I finally made it out to the ballpark again. With Barry’s race towards his record breaking homerun, and the Second Annual Stitch N Pitch Night, who can resist? Ron & Nate came with me to the game and they let me keep their goody bags.
I was always skeptical of people who said they can knit at a ball game so I thought I’d try it myself since I had so much company.
I did 3 rounds of my Monkey sock and decided that the stitches were too small and too dark to be doing in a situation where I’m supposed to keep your eye on the ball. So, I switched over to the bulky yarn spiral rib hat. Doing bulky projects from time to time gives me a sense of accomplishment since everything goes so fast and I can knit on for minutes at a time without looking down at my work.
The Giants went scoreless until 2 outs at the bottom of 9th when they tied the game went on to extra innings(more knitting time for me). We finally left at the top of the 13th inning when they fell behind 6-4. Listening to radio, on the way home, they were still playing the bottom of the 13th and finally lost 7-5.
I’m so glad we didn’t get shut out and watching all those last minute rallies were great fun. The downside is that I would put away my knitting whenever the Giants were up just to find myself taking it out again when inning’s over and the game is still tied.
Here is a picture of some of the items that came with the Stitch N Pitch goody bag and the progress I made on my hat.
Although they were several rows away, I saw many of my BobaKnit and LYS friends and their families. There were happy husbands, kids, & friends of knitters seated with the knitters cheering on our team. After 12 and a half innings I concluded that it is possible to knit at a ballgame AND if more families can do what the Stitch N Pitch families did last night, the world would be a better place.
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07.24.07
Posted in baby stuff, blankets at 12:05 am by pauline
The interior of my Garter Stitch Blanket is the Square Baby Blanket from EZ’s Knitting Workshop. It was great fun knitting short rows, changing colors, pivoting around the center of the blanket until the last row met the first row. After grafting the last row to the first row, I picked up stitches all the way around at the rate of one stitch per row of purl bumps.
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Here’s Katie with the blanket to give an idea of the scale and size of the completed project. |
In order to preserve the rounded corners, I increased 3 stitches on each corner every other round until the last 6 rows and continued evenly after that.
This will be a gift to a wonderful couple at church expecting their first child.
Yarn: 3 balls Bernat Softee Chunky (100g/150m each)
Needles: 10.5 US (6.5mm) circular
Pattern for the interior:EZ’s Square Baby Blanket casting on 32 stitches for the first square.
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07.18.07
Posted in Elaine, baby stuff, blankets, mrseknstitch, sweaters at 12:21 pm by mrseknstitch
I’m now a grandmother of Nee’s assessory dog, Sweetie Godzilla Princess Moahnee Stinky Choy (name changes each blog) and she was visiting after a bit of a scare. She must’ve eaten something really bad and was acting disoriented and wobbly and wouldn’t eat or drink. We almost had to go to the 24 hour very expensive hospital, but waited. She’s fine now after a big bill for xrays, blood work, sedation and xrays. Everything, except loose bowels — yuck …which explains why she’s convalescing at OUR home, not with the other Princess.
So we had a low key day of knitting with grandma in the backyard on a somewhat blustery day. At one point, she sat on my lap and had the strand of yarn go through her mouth before it got to the knitting needle. Had to put a stop to that little trick quick. “Grandpa” was cooking on the grill and came home early to make sure Sweetie was ok.
I rumaged through my bags of stuff from our Maine trip in April and lo and behold found a kit we purchased in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at a very cute yarn shop, The Yarn Basket on Ladd Street (yarns you yearn for). The lady was so nice and the place was small and cozy, jammed to the ceiling with great looking yarn of many different variety. Examples of very creative and beautiful scarves, sweaters, capes, ponchos, bags, scrugs, you name it, were literally piled on top of each other in this shop. The owner’s name was also Elaine and I felt it was God’s will that we linger and stay there to touch, shop, look, dream, touch some more and ooo and ahhhh.
Well, Pauline and I ditched our spouses and children and stayed there for quite awhile and bought stuff that we forgot about till now. The kit was 2 balls of yarn – MY (Muench Yarns) – Tessin (made in Germany and imported by Muench Yarns Inc of (where else) Petaluma, California (yeah, right next door practically), a pattern and 2 very cute sheep buttons. There is no finished product picture, so we’re going by memory and pattern alone. I think the finished product was a baby striped sweater with a yoke flap in front that buttons on either side of the baby’s chest under the chubby cheeks. We will soon find out. A #10 needle is called for.
This blanket was the finished product for Theresa and Glenn who’s journey to this point of having #2 is nothing short of a miracle. We are still, by faith, anticipating the arrival early next year of their special baby. I used Baby Cloud yarn, #10 again and the 4 square pattern.
The finished pink and green square blanket for Cortney and Kyle’s #1 on the way — shower is this Saturday.
The turquoisey blue part of this diagonal square was yarn bought at Portland, Maine on sale, and since I didn’t plan very well, I ran out of this yarn but found something similar with a lighter blue. This yarn has a mohairy feel to it and I double up with another yarn to mute the turquoise so that it’ll have more of a baby-ish look. This finished baby blanket will be going to Kim and George for their #2 baby, a boy due this year. In Riverside, they don’t need too thick of a blankety, so this should be a good throw for them to use. Big sister Samantha is about 2 years old and has the same birthday as my Princess Nee.
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There is a flurry of knitting during this time of the year, the hottest time of the year, of course, because the rest of the year is devoted to my wonderful first graders. If I had my druthers, I’d be knitting for them. They all need at least a scarf to wear for those 2 – 3 days of real chill in California and their snow trips to Tahoe.
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07.16.07
Posted in Elaine, blankets, mrseknstitch at 4:17 pm by mrseknstitch
My good friend Diane said that she didn’t want a scarf, but her legs get cold while sitting at her desk in her office, so I made her a lap afghan which is basically a big diagonal square with Homespun and some kind of mohair-ish light brown. The Homespun is a lot more green-er than the picture shows and is called Mediterranean, reminscent of Diane and Sandy’s European cruise adventure. Yeah, we both miss Sandy still. This was for Diane’s birthday in October and I finished it in June –hey, it’s worth the wait,right?
This square patchwork pattern was something Pauline told me to try and I did. The blanket is for Cortney and Chris who are expecting their first daughter. I used 2 strands of yarn to get some color changes but trying to stay with the pink theme. I hope little Caitlyn will like this when she arrives in September.
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07.07.07
Posted in socks at 11:36 pm by pauline
I finally got around to taking pictures of my X-mas Rock Cedar Creek Socks! Many thanks to my favorite sock model, Katie. The pooling was crazy but I like it! These are the brightest colored socks I’ve ever work on!
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock lightweight X-mas Rock colorway
Pattern: Cedar Creek from Blue Moon’s 2006 Sock Club (The pattern is now available from the BMFA site if you didn’t belong to the club last year)
Size: Medium (the smaller of the 2 sizes) casting on 64 sts for the picot edge
Needles: Addi Turbos Size 1 circular everywhere except the heel flap where I used Addi Turbos Size 2
Started mid April on the way to Maine and finished mid May, weeks after I got home while doing a whole lot of other knitting in between. But now I’m finished and have given them to Elaine for her birthday!
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07.04.07
Posted in Uncategorized, accessories, gifts at 4:10 pm by pauline
I wasn’t able to make to make it to the grandest knitterly farewell party ever for Kristi, Cookie’s co-blogger. It looked like really great fun. See Abigail’s or Cindy’s blog for some really great pictures and videos. Since I couldn’t be there to send her off, I made her a little sock knitting-related present to give to her at her last BobaKnit.
It’s the perfect size for a ball of sock yarn, needles, a sock in progress, and a tape measure. It’s basically the charming Spiral Rib Bag from One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit & Crochet with a few embellishments. I added a contrasting single crochet border to the top edge and used the same yarn for the i-cord and the bottom of the bag.
But every bag that holds knitting needs a lining to keep needles from poking through and a pocket to hold little things that tend to wander.
So, I found some fabric in my stash and measured out the sides of the lining and added a half inch seam allowance.
Then I computed the diameter of circular bottom, since I know its circumference:
diameter = circumference/pi
Since the bag measured 7.5 ” across flattened, the circumference of the circular bottom is 15″, making the finished diameter of the bottom of the lining about 4.75 “. Adding a half inch seam allowance, the circle of fabric needs to have 5.75″ diameter. I found a bowl in my kitchen that was about the right size and used that as a cutting pattern.
Here’s all the pieces cut out, including a pocket!
Next, I fold down the top edge of the pocket and sew hem. Then the remaining three sides are folded under and sewn in place. This is where I wished I had one of those sewing machines that can embroider letters! Since I don’t have one, I stitch in my name and the year by hand.
I then sew the side seam and pin the bottom in place, distributing the fullness evenly.
I sew the bottom in place, slip it into the bag, fold the top edge under, and pin the lining into the bag. I machine sewed the lining in place, all the way around, right through the folded lining and the top edge of the knitted bag.
I really liked the way this turned out and it fits my sock knitting perfectly. I hope Kristi enjoys it.
Yarn: MC – Lily Sugar & Cream – Potpourri Hombre
CC – Lion Brand Cotton Ease – Lime
Needles: US size 8
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