Goldfishluv » Knitting

New Year’s Resolution aka Year Long Project

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:05:50 +0000

in 2012 I’ll be taking on Leafcutter Designs’ Conceptual Knitting Project Sky Scarf. It’s where you knit two rows of a scarf every day based on the color of the sky for that day.

Leafcutter Designs – Projects, Conceptual Knitting Patterns, Lea Redmond.

Photo credits Leafcutter Designs

I’ll be adding a twist to my scarf, using worsted weight (which is going to make it a huge long scarf) and using Diane’s Diagonal scarf (I’m going to add a dozen stitches or so to the width).

photo credit diane laugustin

I’ll post some in progress pictures as soon as it’s in progress… for today, I’m off to Michael’s to pick up the right color blues. I had the white and grey in my stash

Sockulator

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:48:32 +0000

I’ve been using this program/blog A LOT for making socks. My Grandparents each got hand knit socks from me and I used this calculator to fit them exactly to their feet. Thank you very much to whoever is behind this marvelous online tool!

WIP = Cowichan Sweater

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:59:56 +0000

I bought the wool from a lady on the lower mainland via a classified ad last year. I bought enough for two sweaters. I’m finally getting around to knitting it and I’m so excited!

Two of my most recently explored websites

admin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:56:27 +0000

http://www.flockshop.com

http://www.craftsy.com/

Slippers for Slippers

admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:40:15 +0000

I have a pair of moose hide slippers that I love but, they can be a little on the chilly side. So, I decided to make a slipper for inside the slipper and this is what I ended up with. I learned the toe up method with these and a figure 8 cast on.

Shark Attack!

admin — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:48:50 +0000

My Vice Principal is often outside, monitoring the student shenanigans, he needed a toque and the school mascot is a shark.

Principal’s Socks

admin — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:42:47 +0000

I’ve got a back log of knitting/craft projects that I’d like to share in the blogosphere so I’ll start with these socks I knit for my Principal last June.

He would tease me and say that knitting is for old ladies so he got a pair of itchy wool socks as a parting gift! They were well received and I’m not nearly as conniving as I thought…

The pattern can be found here on Ravelry

Christmas Stocking

admin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:14:37 +0000

I think Christmas stockings were one of my favorite things about Christmas. My parents allowed us to only open our stockings without them on Christmas morning so, no matter how early we were up, we were allowed to dig in to our stockings. There was always a Mandarin orange in the toe of the stocking and tons of puzzles, little books and cute toys to keep us busy while my parents slept.

Now that I don’t live with my parents I still wanted to keep the tradition so I set to knitting stockings for Batman and I. Unfortunately, I’d taken on too many projects that needed to be done for Christmas so this one didn’t get done until after and I still have to make myself one. Next year, we’ll continue the tradition.

I used Valley Yarns Spotten Christmas Stocking pattern but modified it a bit by using Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn, 7.0mm and 6.5mm double pointed needles. These materials make a nice large stocking but not overly huge. The first think Mr. Kent did when I gave it to him was kick off his slipper and try it on. He has about size 9.5 feet and it was just a tad too big for him.

Too young to knit?

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:53:40 +0000

On Saturday I took the car in to be serviced. The repairs were going to take a couple hours so I headed over to the coffee shop to have a nice cup of tea and work on my knitting project. So I ordered my tea and sat down in one of the over-stuffed, leather chairs in the corner, pulled out the mittens I’ve been working on and set to knitting. That’s when the gentleman beside me piped up, “you’re too young to be doing that!”. In the back of my mind I was a little offended, when is it too young to learn a valuable, tactile skill that improves motor skills and can foster literacy and social skills??! Instead of being abrupt I told him he would be surprised to know that there is a whole community of young fiber artists and all he’d have to do was a little internet research to discover the going-ons in the knitting world. I went on to back my argument with a segment from CBC radio where they interviewed a photographer with one of the only dark rooms left on the lower mainland. The photographer went on to say that more and more high school aged people were coming in to use his dark room because they are tired of sitting in front of a computer, fiddling with photoshop. They’re craving the hands-on aspect of the craft and the magic of having an image appear before their eyes.

I believe that society, with economic times and growing technology, has come full circle and we are getting back to out roots and the basics for survival. People want to know how it’s made and want to try to make it.

What do you think? Is there a “too young”?

Stitch n’ Bitch

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:30:23 +0000

Working out of town really cuts into one’s social life. I basically leave the house at quarter after six and am home again at 4ish, where two of those hours are spent driving and the other 8 are with 12-14 year olds who’s hormones are raging and their favorite past time is testing limits and pushing buttons. Needless to say, I’m exhausted at the end of the day… All I want to do is come home, eat something delicious that doesn’t take all night to make, knit and watch Fringe (a very entertaining, sci fi mystery about an FBI agent trying to solve messed up science mysteries. If you like CSI, you’ll LOVE fringe).

But that still doesn’t leave much time for a social life. This is where I reiterate that I LOVE RAVELRY. I joined the local knit group on ravelry where I found women my age who also love to knit, we coordinated an evening where we meet at the local pub, drink beer (or pomegranate ciders), eat, knit and visit. We are inspired by others ideas and projects and the conversation is never boring.

I look forward to my weekly Stitch n’ Bitch! See you Wednesday Ladies!