Knittin' Archives Part 1

Here are the archives of all my knitting projects from before I switched my blog over to Blogger:

2008

12-27-08 ~ I knew back in the summertime that I wanted to make handmade gifts for my family this year, but I thought I was going to be able to learn how to quilt. I wanted to make quilts for everyone with family pictures on them. Rather ambitious for someone who has never quilted before!! So after I did a little research at the local yarn and craft store, I decided to make something different. I had always wanted one of those hand-cranked knitting machines and I started looking for it. Surprisingly, my wife found it when she was in the local thrift store and bought it for me. I tried it out, but I wasn't too happy with the results. Sometimes it would miss the yarn and you had to re-thread it back in, which made it difficult to simply turn the crank and knit without a care. So I went to Wal-mart and bought a Knifty Knitter loom and some yarn to practice. It was slow going at first, having to learn a new craft. But the directions were very easy to follow (once I read them several times and studied the pictures). And in no time I was loom knitting. I've discovered a new way to relax and create something wonderful for the people I love. The photo below is a picture of me nearly done with the scarf for my mother-in-law:

I sent it to her and she was absolutely delighted with it. I made one for my parents too but haven't heard back yet since they weren't available when I called. I haven't finished two more I'm making for other family members. Once I got started, I enjoyed it so much. It is a very peaceful and fulfilling activity, since you see the progress you are making so rapidly.

2009

1-2-09 ~ Here is the scarf that I just finished for my sister:

and here is a detail of the scarf:

I think it came out so nice. I didn't measure the length but it is 2.5 rolls of this color yarn. It took about 2 weeks to complete, working on it for about 1-2 hours a day during the week. I'm working on my brother-in-law's scarf right now and it should be done by the end of next week.

1-7-09 ~ Here is the black scarf that I finished for my brother-in-law:

Here is a detail:

I didn't measure the length but it is 1.75 rolls of this color yarn. It is not as wide as the others because the wider ones seemed more feminine to me.

1-8-09 ~ Who knew I'd be knitting my way into 2009?! Here is the scarf that I finished for my daughter:

It probably took about 1/4 of the red and not much of the white to complete. It measures 4.5 x 34.5. I decided to try knitting two colors together to see how it would look, and I think it came out great. The white yarn has various colors marbled into it, and you never know which color you are going to get as you work your way through the yarn. When I bought it I thought it would mostly be blue but there is also purple and brown so far; I'm sure other colors I haven't seen yet are hiding in there. If you look closely at the picture above you can tell that the white ends are both different colors. Here is a detail of the scarf:

It is as soft and warm as it looks! This scarf took the shortest amount of time to complete: 5 hours. It is the shortest and least wide of all of the ones I've done.

I was loom knitting this scarf as my wife and I sat in a public waiting room, and all the women on staff came over and commented on how nice it was coming out. One showed us a lavender and white baby blanket she had crocheted. It was beautiful! She also loom knitted: she made little hats for the premature babies to wear at a local hospital. She described how she made the hats and the little pom-poms for the top. She shared with me some tips on knitting and showed my wife (who has an interest in sewing) how to make the rail fence pattern for quilts. The women were surprised that I could get almost the entire scarf done in the amount of time we were sitting there and kept coming over to check my progress. If I get ambitious I might try to make a hat and maybe some mittens for her.

1-15-09 ~ Here are two more projects I have started this week. The first one is a scarf for me. My daughter loved her scarf when I gave it to her and I decided to make mine two colors too:

This is about 5 hours worth of knitting, and already I have 28" in length. I'm using the 8" loom. I hope to be done with it by the end of next week since the temperatures are in the single digits around here! I'm using the same yarn I used for all my other scarves: Lion's Brand Homespun.
This is the shawl that I started making for my wife:

It is a different brand of yarn: Patons Divine. The color is Denim Storm:

It has wispy strands, almost as if you had taken a comb to the yarn and pulled it through:

I thought those wispy strands were going to make it easier for the yarn to snag as I worked it, but it didn't. This is about 3 hours of knitting on the 20" loom. I have 3 inches of length. We bought ten 142 yard rolls of it, so hopefully that is enough to do the job. Can you tell that I'm really enjoying this?! What's next, Artman Greg scarves? Maybe.

1-22-09 ~ Progress is so quick and visible when you knit, that is one of the most satisfying parts about it. Here's how they look after just two weeks. Mine measures 50",

the shawl is 12.5":

1-30-09 ~ My scarf is done! I made mine the longest (72") because I like nice long scarves to wear. It is so soft and warm, I love it! My hat goes off to Lion's Brand yarn! So it took about 2.5 weeks, partly because last week I only worked on it 3 days:

And here is the progress on my wife's shawl. It is now 19":

Knit knit!

That's what a friend said to me the other night as I was logging off, and I loved it! Then I thought to myself, I really am addicted to loom knitting now. I was on YouTube the other day looking for new loom knitting techniques and I found quite a few. I tried one called the honeycomb, and here's how it turned out:

This is a closeup of the loom with the honeycomb pattern. It was so much easier being able to follow along watching someone do it on YouTube! It makes the pattern on the scarf much larger and bolder.

These are the two projects I was working on last week:

I made the hat using three different kinds of LionsBrand Homespun yarn I had leftover from other projects. It is tightly woven together, as opposed to how loose and gently the honecomb pattern feels.

Next up: I will master the baby hat and booties.

Knittin' Season Part 2

Here are closeups of the first hat I made and the baby hat.

This is the last hat I made so far. I like the three colors together and I am knitting a scarf to go with it. I plan to try other patterns and color combinations as I grow more and more comfortable with using the round loom. I also hope to figure out how to create a cable stitch on the loom, or at least something that is similar to that.

I GOT BIT, and other news

I notice that the days are getting shorter again, and suddenly, out of nowhere… OUCH!!! I got bit! Right on my hands! Feels like I got bit on my heart too. Uh, oh…. It was the KNITTING BUG! The loom knitting species, to be exact. I was all set to get started the other night but other chores got in the way. My wife bought me some round looms for Father’s Day that I haven’t used yet, but I took them out of the package so that they would invite me to get busy at a moment’s notice. I hope to set about starting my first hat before the weekend is out. I’ll keep you posted.

Sometimes friends can influence you more than you realize. I have a friend who recently challenged me to reach out and be more open to people and positive experiences, which is a good thing. Knowing him, he’s probably reading this right now with a bit of a chuckle. This is also something I’ve been challenged with at church as of late. All of the challenges have shown me areas where I need to improve, and I’m certain this will become evident in my art over time.

I’ve also rediscovered an interest in art therapy. It has been years since I thought about art therapy, but lately I have been giving art therapy exercises to a friend and it has been exciting to see his progress. I have to do more research to see if it is a serious or capricious interest. Right now it seems like a serious interest.

Back in the Zone

I got some artwork done, which is great. At first it felt a little mechanical, but then my creative zone kicked in and I was able to start drawing freely. Now I notice that even if I only have a moment to draw, the creative zone kicks in faster. I can enter in and draw without having to warm up, and the piece will look as though it may have been completed in a few sittings rather than the long time it is taking for it to be created.

The Wild Kingdom continues...

This week I saw a baby fox in our yard.

At first it was at the back of the yard, gnawing on a bone, presumably something it had killed. Then it wandered about, nibbling on things crawling about in the grass that I couldn't see. I stood still and took pictures of it. It came closer and closer until it was only 10 feet away, and that's when I got this picture:

It looked up when it heard the camera click. I moved, and it scampered away. When I looked out the window later on, it was still in the yard but further away.

And every night we can hear the cows across the street mooing. Even with the doors and windows closed, you can hear them pretty well.

I'm almost halfway done with writing my book, yay! I hope you will read it. It's about how a creative person can connect to God through quiet time and so much more than that.

Also, I wanted to include some pictures of the last two scarves I had loom knitted for two dear friends: