My Christmas Stocking

Here's my Christmas stocking!



It took about 3 days to complete (working just about an hour each day). It is 15.5 inches long. A few nice long sticks of candy should fit nicely in there! This is using the Lion Brand Holiday Homespun colors. The challenging part was the heel of course. I may just get some cheap yarn and knit a bunch of practice heels until I get comfortable with it. I really like how the stocking came out and I'm considering adding something else to it as a decoration. I'm going to try my hand at making a snowflake, and if it comes out right, I will add it to the stocking (if it looks right on it). I also have to add the loop for the stocking to be hung by the chimney (with care, of course!)

My new baby...

Baby HAT, that is!!! Fresh from the loom, combining the Country Loom Landscape and Bernat Baby Coordinates White:

I must say that the Bernat is lasting for a VERY long time and it combines well with other yarns.

My latest hat

Here's the newest one, I just finished it today:

I used Loops & Threads Country Loom yarn. This is one that I haven't used before and I found it to be very easy to work with. It is 100% acrylic, and the color is called Landscape. I would buy it again.

It's baaaaack!!!!!

Due to an unexpected increase in the amount of time I have available (don't bother asking me how), the scratchboard project that was on the back burner due to loom knitting has come roaring back with a vengeance. I am a little more than halfway done with a project that I started months ago. I accomplished so much in just 2 days! If all goes well, at the end of the week I will have a new piece to post and sell!

It's finished!!!

Here are the green leaves for the poinsettia completed and assembled:


And here is the poinsettia!!!

I am so proud of myself for doing it and I think it came out really nice! It measures 12 inches across, which is a bigger size than the instructions stated. But that is probably because I kept losing count of the number of rows I was knitting for the green leaves, so they aren't all the same size.


Most of the time you only get to see the front of a project. Well, here is what the back looks like. That little bit of red yarn is what is left from me knitting the red to the green:

Lovin' that flower!

Everyone who sees my poinsettia is giving it raves!And it isn't even done yet! Next I am kntting the green leaves that will be attached behind it. I have finished 4 so far:

I only need two more, which I expect to complete tomorrow.The first 3 didn't come out so well. They are uneven and skinny to me. But I altered the directions a little bit and the last one I did came out better. Most of the green leaf will be hidden behind the red ones anyway, so it won't be too noticeable. See if you can pick out which one is the last one I did.

Leaves Assembled

Voila! The poinsettia! It only took a few minutes to assemble the red leaves.

I made the yellow part using Bernat Satin Sport Warm Yellow and 15 yellow pony beads. The instructions were to string the beads onto the yarn first and then knit them in. At first I thought this was going to create a tangled, loose mess, but I knit it taut and cinched the bottom closed. As I gathered the top it clustered into the neat ball that you see here. I didn't have the Knifty Knitter spool loom, so I improvised using the pink loom, removing one of the pegs, and using a loom clip, as below:

This was easy to do. Here is what the back of the poinsettia looks like:

So far I have completed 3 of the green leaves, which I will post shortly.

Here are the leaves!

My wife said they look like chili peppers. They do, actually. The way I arrranged them on the page could be a work of art unto itself.

Poinsettia almost half done...

I’m finally getting the hang of making these red flower leaves. I was able to get one done in less than 30 minutes today! I’m on the last one now, number 6. It was a little tight even though I kept the yarn loose; I’m not sure why. Once number 6 is done, I’ll post a picture of the leaves, then I’ll sew them together per the instructions and post a picture of them all sewn together. I was thinking last night that I could make the entire plant, but I don’t feel that ambitious (yet). The day may come.

But I did get an idea for Thanksgiving. It would be a nice little craft to put on each guest’s plate at the dinner. That is, if it turns out right when I make it. I don’t expect that I’ll have it ready in time for such a thing, but it will be a neat little something for later. Too bad I thought of the idea so late.

Finally Knitting Easier...

I finally figured out a good way to wrap the yarn on the loom. I wrap it on as gently as a feather. It isn’t loose but it doesn’t get taut like it was getting before, and I am able to knit without the difficulty and tightness I was experiencing.

Today I knitted the rest of the second flower leaf and completed another one. So now half of the flower is complete! Just 3 more red flower leaves to complete and I can start on the green leaves. I can tell it is going to look really nice when it is done. I'm excited!

Loom Clips

I forgot to mention that I used loom clips as I was knitting the practice sock. Using the clips was easy... SNAP! and they are in place. But unsnapping them must be done carefully. I was concerned that I might break them as I twisted them off, but I didn't.

I am almost finished with the second leaf for my poinsettia. I'm still struggling with the yarn being wrapped too tightly on the loom, so I have to find that "perfect" balance to knit with. The two main problems with the yarn being too tight are: 1. sometimes the peg pops out of the loom while you're trying to pull the yarn over the top of it, and 2. sometimes the yarn you are trying to knit over comes off as you are trying to knit off. So both strands of yarn are left dangling while you try to figure out which one belongs on top. ARGH!

Tangled

Yesterday I was working on the second leaf for the poinsettia, but I wound the yarn too loosely around the loom and it just became a tangled, confused mess. I will start again today!!

Incurable...

I can’t escape: I was doing laundry and I saw a knitted hat my wife had, and I thought to myself, I could do that…

I was in the closet and I saw one of my wife’s sweaters hanging there, and I thought to myself, that’s an interesting pattern, I could try that…

I was reading the paper and I saw a production still from the movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox. Mr. Fox is talking to his wife, who has on a knit sweater. I thought to myself, that could have been my sweater in that movie! Does anybody else go through this?

Loom Lunacy

It’s official… I’m a totally hopeless case when it comes to loom knitting. I get teary and drool at the sight of yarn, thinking of all the wonderful things I could make with it. I’m scanning YouTube and the web for various new stitches and projects to challenge me. I discovered websites for men who knit. I learned to loom knit my first sock and I’m becoming more familiar with all the knitting terminology. I’m starting to combine different yarns to see how they look together. I haven’t scratched a single piece of scratchboard for awhile. And now my coworkers know that I loom knit, and I’m not ashamed. One of them even asked me to make a hat, and when I made it for him, he bought it (my first sale, yippee!) It’s official: I’M A LOOM KNITTER!!! Deal with it. I wonder if there is a way to combine knitting and scratchboard…

Here are a few of the projects I’ve been working on to date -

My adult hat collection:

This was an experiment I did using Lion Brand Homespun Montana Sky and some glass beads I bought from Michael's. I strung the beads onto the yarn and kept moving them down the yarn as I knit until I got to where I wanted to place them. It was a tedious process. Once it was done the beads were loosely attached after all that, and they flop around. Next time I will add the beads after I finish the hat. I think next time I would also use more beads or larger beads.

This is my hat, which I used Lion Brand Thick and Quick navy blue wool, and another navy blue regular yarn. I created brims for all my other adult hats, but this was the first one I tried without a brim. I thought if I didn't make a brim that it might unravel, but that isn't the case, so some of my baby hats are brimless also. The two blues are different hues; if you look carefully you can see it:

This is a hat and scarf set I did using Homespun Black, Montana Sky, and the remnants of another mixed white Homespun that I had:

Another hat I made, using Lion Brand Homespun Harvest. I like the variations in color:

This was my first baby hat. I used Bernat Baby Coordinates White. It has a silky white strand running through it, I don't know if you can see that from the picture. After I made this hat, I just kept adding the Bernat White to everything else I did:

Here are a few baby hats that I combined different weights of yarn together, just to experiment.

This one has three different color strands and is very thick. It wasn't too hard working with three strands but it was a little tricky making sure they were all together on each peg:

Here is the Montana Sky and Bernat White together:

Next to the white baby hat, I think I like this one (Bernat white and Homespun Saffron) the best:

Here’s my first sock. I figured I would try to figure out on my own how to make the heel, but my meager attempts did not work (i.e decreasing the size and then just leaving one stand on a peg while I continued to knit, hence the loop you see hanging out from the side). So I turned to the web, and after some clear instructions I figured it out:

Here’s my attempt at alternating ribbed stitches. I like how the pattern looks, and though the yarn looks black it is actually navy blue. Can you see the pattern? The photo didn't really translate it too well. I was running out of the blue yarn, so I started playing with the pattern a bit, making it smaller.

Finally, I am attempting to make a poinsettia (using Lion Brand Holiday Homespun Holly) based on a tutorial I found on the Loom Lore blog (Friday, 12/7/07): http://loomlady.blogspot.com/. It took me nearly an hour to do the first leaf, since I wasn’t used to the technique involved with making it. The yarn keeps getting so tight, I have to fight with it to get it to pull it over the pegs sometimes. But the results come out so tightly woven it’s nice. And I like how I can pull together one end of the yarn and it closes the knitting up, and the more you knit the more it starts making a cup-like shape. Eventually I am going to have a complete flower to post on my blog, and I will be so proud of it!

The photo is a little dark because that red yarn is so bright that the camera flash made it too intense. Those "sparkles" are the yellow thread that holds the yarn together.

You might think I am partial to Lion Brand yarn, and I do admit that I enjoy using it very much, but I also can appreciate the fine yarns from other manufacturers and from individuals that I see online at etsy and other sites.

You can see I've been busy!!! Maybe you should get a loom and see how much fun it is for yourself!

Knittin' Archives Part 2

2-6-09 ~ I am almost at the halfway point knitting my wife's shawl:

It is 23" long so far and I am on my 5th ball of yarn. I have 5 more left but I don't know if I'll use them all yet. I'm truly getting bit by the loom knitting bug now, and I've been thinking of other projects to do, like knitting a baby blanket to have "just in case" we get invited to a baby shower or to give to a local hospital.

2-16-09 ~ Here is the progress on the shawl:

So far it's up to 29". I think it is coming out even nicer than I thought it would.
I also just finished an all black scarf for a friend who doesn't know he/she is getting it yet.
And I just started a scarf for my wife, whom I had not made a scarf for yet. I bought some of that gorgeous recycled unrefined silk yarn I had blogged about last month from TheWoolPeddler.com. It is so soft and beautiful! I bought 200g of it. When it came it wasn't wrapped in a ball so I just started working with it right away. I soon learned that I had better make it into a ball before it turns into a tangled mess. Unfortunately I had already started, so it was starting to get tangled. I had always wondered why I would see in those old movies sometimes a person with their hands out holding the yarn while a second person winds it into a ball. Several hours and a few scissor clips later I had 4 balls of yarn of various sizes.

I wasn't sure if I had enough to make the length of scarf I wanted to make, but I figured I'd just start it and order more if I needed to. My wife loves the color and richness of it, and as I work with it, it becomes more and more beautiful, since the variety of colors in it will allow her to wear it with many different outfits. Here it is:

2-20-09 ~ I am so happy with the progress I've been making on these projects for my wife. The shawl is already at 37":

I'm going to measure one of her other shawls to make sure this one is the same length (or a bit longer). However I just noticed that even though I take a new picture of it, it probably looks the same to you from week to week. I'll have to figure out a way to illustrate that it is getting longer.
And her scarf is at 17":

It isn't as hard to work with as I had imagined, though it will be thin in some spots. To me that makes it more delicate, and even though it will be a little thin, it is strong and will take a lot of abuse. The colors in it are so rich and luxurious, no one will guess that it didn't cost a lot when they see it!

3-15-09 ~ I had some personal business to take care of last week, and it took a good part of my time, so I didn't work on the knitting projects too much. But when I was able to get back to it last weekend and during this week, I finished my wife's scarf! Here it is, finished, at 68" long:

It is like stained glass:

You will see different colors in it depending on the light you're in. It is so rich and beautiful, I love it, and so does my sweetie! A great big thank you to The Wool Peddler at TheWoolPeddler.com! I advise anyone looking for some great yarn to check out their website.
I decided to hang the shawl on the door so you could get a better idea of how long it is getting. That red at the top is just a towel I put there so the dust on top of the door wouldn't get on the shawl:

As you can see it is almost the full length of the door. Right now it is at 68" - same length as the scarf - and I have two more balls of yarn to go. I expect to have it done in early April. All this knitting has really been a wonderful experience for me, and I look forward to seeing what role it will take on in my life after I finish the shawl.

3-22-09 ~ It has been a productive week for knitting, and I am finally on my last ball of yarn! I have knitted this shawl out of 10 balls of yarn, and it took longer than I thought it would. But I am grateful for the journey and excited to present it to my wife. Right now it is 83" long, and I expect to have it done before the end of the week:

As you can see, it covers the whole door now. I had to use a different door than last time to take this picture.

4-04-09 ~ I'M DONE WITH THE SHAWL!! YAY! It took me about 8 weeks to do, and I'm very happy with how it turned out (so is my wife). The total length is 84":

I was done with it last week but I didn't have any batteries for my digital camera so I didn't blog about it. While I was working on the shawl I completed 2 scarves for some dear friends of ours, who were very appreciative of them.

Grounds For Sculpture

I forgot to mention that the fam and I went to Grounds For Sculpture down in Hamilton NJ a few weekends ago. It was great! It wasn't too far of a drive either. Peacocks wander about the property as you meander through the landscaped grounds full of different sculptures of various sizes, colors, shapes, and styles. My daughter liked it so much she said she wanted to come back before we even left the parking lot. I liked the fact that she was able to touch many of the sculptures, so we didn't have to walk through there telling her "Don't touch that!" every two minutes. It was their anniversary celebration, so they had dancing and free ice cream and cupcakes. They were also having artist's tours, where one of the artists who has a sculpture on the grounds discusses their art. A good time was had by all. If you go be prepared to spend a lot of time walking outside, though they do have indoor exhibits as well. There are also two dining areas: one is a restaurant, the other a cafe, priced accordingly. It cost $10 per person to get in, and my daughter was free. But if you have a Bank of America card and you go the first weekend of the month, you get in free. You can read more about it (and see pictures) at my wife's blog, Super Savvy Spender. The link: http://supersavvyspender.blogspot.com/ and read June 8.