Category Archives: knitting

 First, pics from my outing to Windsor Button. I went by the Frog Pond on Boston Common on my way there. It looked so nice I wished I could take a dip:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Windsor Button:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knitting on the bus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interlude: the new I-195 bridge in Providence:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at home, a neatened craft table, with tins ready to be made into sconces:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My new knitting basket. It’s a bath caddy from Stop & Shop:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shawl in progress. Once again, I’m not in love, but for some reason I’m continuing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sugar N Cream hand towel in progress:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cotton-ease ready for striped hand towels:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So as you can see, I have not adandonned the garter stitch. I actually like how it’s coming out on the hand towel, and I’m living with the shawl for now. I feel like it will be not lovely, but highly functional as a TV shawl.

Up next: pictues of the haul of German scrap I got in PA in June.

First off, I’ve added my blogroll. Hope you follow some links there; I’ve only added sites that I visit faithfully.

So yesterday I did indeed go to Windsor Button, and I got a load of stuff:

• 4 balls of Lion Wool-ease chunky in bay harbor for a shawl
• 3 balls of Lion cotton-ease in lake, lime, and stone for a striped hand towel
• 1 ball of obmre sugar n cream for another towel – I just liked the colors (I think it’s lime stripes)

Shawl will be from a free lion pattern. It’s really simple: cast on 3, knit 3, knit 1, yo, knit to end, on and on till you have 35″ or as much as you want (I think I want a bit more cause I’ll want it plus size). I started it on the tail end of my lunch hour yesterday and kept going on the bus/train. I started out really loving it, esp when I saw how the increases were working, BUT. Here’s the thing- I’m no big fan of garter stitch. Yes, it is the easiest thing in the world, but I just don’t like how it looks or feels. I’m hoping to come around on this. I was hoping to make my hand towels with it, and I’m gearing up for a Mason Dixon inspired log cabin project, but looking at the 10″ of shawl I’ve got, I’m just not that happy. I’m torn. On one hand, I have this new idea for a pattern. The garter stitch is useful for doing the increases at the ends of the rows, but there’s no need for them in the body of the shawl. What if I changed the pattern so that there were 3 garter stitches to accomodate the yo’s on the edges, but the body was stockinette stitch? I find this idea pretty attractive.

But on the other hand, I’m afraid that I’m abandoning this project too soon. Is there some rule for craft projects like Nancy Pearl’s 50-page reading rule? I worry that I might start to like it once the piece gets bigger and looking more like the finished shawl. Plus, it’s really fun to knit. Ideas? Advice?

As I said, for the two hand towels, I was planning on doing garter. But now I have this idea to do stockinette with a 4-stitch and -row rib border. But once again, I wonder if I’m getting hasty and over-ambitious. Perhaps I should make myself try garter. That’s me all over, secon-guessing myself, then second-guessing the second guess.

Finished a little something last night, still semi-secret. Now I have itchy hands. I’m being kept awake at night thinking of things to knit. When did I become such a crazay knitter?? Basically any craft with a needle I’ll go for, I guess.

I’ve been planning to go on a yarn shopping trip sometime this week or weekend, but the logistics were tripping me up, as usual, to an unreasonable extent. When to go? After work? On the weekend? With M? Without? Should I go to Michael’s or Mind’s Eye? Chain or LYS? Aarg! Then this morning I had a brainstorm. I was like, “I wish there was a place close to work, but there isn- Windsor Button!!” It’s right there, how could I forget? So I’m off to there on my lunch hour. I might also try and hit Winmill Fabrics for some nice cotton for embroidery. I have a coupla projects in mind for both knit and embroidery.

The other day I picked up stitches for the first time! Since it’s just a little edging of a few rows, I don’t think I’ll really know how I did until I bind off. I was supposed to pick up a particular number of stitches, but instead I just picked up as many as looked right. Hope that all works out! =) I can see one place where the original piece is a tiny bit puckered, but I’m hoping that is an isolated case that will be barely noticable.

Big photo posts to come soon, since I just learned how to get photos from my phone to my computer with Bluetooth – hooray!