McMorran Yarn Balance aka Hmm, who knew?

I had never heard of one of these. A McMorran Yarn Balance. Created by a guy in Scotland to measure yarn. When I finished reading it all I could think was "Hmm, who knew?"

My next projects will be...

Becca, sister of the hat thief Griffin, has picked out this hat. I am actually quite proud of myself because I had picked that pattern out at one point in time to make HER a hat but never got around to it. She has also chosen 100purewool.com's black and cyan. Jason's rib-a-roni hat is made from that colorway. It's somewhere else on this blog if you must see the color. I also have to replace Levi's rib-a-roni hat that Griffin wore home. Levi chose 100purewool.com's colors pink and choc. The same one's that the fetchings are made of, also in another post on here. As open minded as I try to be I just can't let my 4 year old boy wear a pink and brown hat to school. So he chose this

Also from 100purewool.com. Yes I have alot of PW. Being a newbieknitter I have a rather smallish stash. Since I have a smallish house and knit slow I am pretty good at not buying more yarn til I need to. Sort of.

I made it, they stole it

I've read of the syndrome where you knit up some lovely objects. People come to your home. You stupidly show off your lovely objects. You no longer own lovely objects. Lovely objects have gone home with the people.

Let me explain. With pictures.
Meet Griffin. Griffin is wearing his birthday hat from me.

Meet Levi. Levi is wearing HIS hat handknitted by me.

And here's Griffin again.

Get the picture?

I can't decide!!

I feel the urge to create a LARGE item. Up to this point I've only made small items. Amigurumi, or shorties, and even the occasional sock or two, . But I'm feeling the urge to make something nice for ME! Something I can actually use. Something beautiful. Something unique. I feel I've gained enough knitting skill to tackle a larger item. It might take me a year to make what I have in mind but I really want to try something new! So here's the dilemma. Do I want to make a blanket/afghan? I'm looking at this pattern, Alexi Throw. It has cables. Now granted I've not done a whole lot of cables but I like the way they look. I'm also looking at this entrelac Himalaya shawl. I've never done entrelac though. So I was thinking if I decide to do the Himalaya, I would practice first on an Entrelac Scarf Tutorial. For either project I was thinking of getting Noro Kureyon. Here's a blog with some great examples of Noro projects. So which would you do?

Dash away Dash away Dash away

That's all I'm saying.

Finished Fetchings!

Here are my notes from Rav.



Melanie-hardly-finished 12/6-one at a time, 45 cast on, came out big
ellie-pink/choc
Erin-browns
Pat-choc/pink-finished 12/9, 2 @ a time, 40 cast on just right (for me anyway!)
12/10 cast on “nuts” for Erin
12/12 cast on rose and choc, first stripes attempt, 2 @ a time magic loop. Forgot to do cable round. Will have to frog some.
12/15 finished 4 pairs but will try to redo the hardly pair as they are HUGE and ugly with the trim.
12/18 all FIVE pairs are done! I made another pair of hardly without the hot pink trim. I had to do the thumb in the hot pink because I did run out of hardly but they’re all done! All of them! WOOHOO
The hardly pair, after blocking look like blocks! They look awful and are huge! I will have to remake these if I have time.

My tips on making Fetching would be to cast on 40 on larger needles and knit loosely especially the cables. Do the optional thumb that is in the comments section of the pattern. I will try to remember to copy and paste it here. Also do these magic loop two at a time so they come out the same. I had such a great time making these as I could switch it up and make each pair different.

Optional thumb:Starting at the 5th row after the last wrist cable row:
Row 5: k2, m1, k2, p1, continue in 4x1 ribbing.
next row and all alternate rows, knit 4x1 ribbing and k new stitches picked up for gusset.
Row 7: k2, m1, k1, m1, k2, p1 continue in 4x1 ribbing
Row 9: k2, m1, K3, m1, k2, p1 continue in 4x1 ribbing
Repeat the increase rows alternated with regular rows until you have added 15 new stitches.
Then: k2, put 15 new stitches onto waste yarn, k2, p1, continue in 4x1 ribbing and follow pattern through picot bind off.
To Make thumb: pick up 15 live stitches off waste yarn, pick up 2 stitches and finish thumb as directed. This makes a nice comfortable thumb gusset. The gusset adds some width, so for those with smaller hands, you may want to consider starting the pattern with 40 stitches instead of 45.

Take the poll

Look on the right side menu. See that little poll? Go ahead! Vote!

Cute kids mittens!

I found the cutest kids' mitten pattern. FREE PATTERN! The best kind! I started out on Ravelry.com's blog group trying to come up with ideas on drawing visitors to my blog. I found Daisy Mum's blog. From there I decided to find more knitting blogs to subscribe to. I found The Daily Knitter on this blog. On the Daily Knitter I found the cutest kid's mitten pattern!

Blogger templates

If you ever try to upload a new template and get some weird error code. Don't bother googling it. I didn't find one person who knew what to do. What I did though was switch from Firefox to IE. :) Like it?

Knitpicks.com rocks my world

Over the summer I ordered and received in a timely manner their options set. I had hemmed and hawed and talked it over with hubby. I didn't know if I wanted to spend that much money BUT then again every time I start a new (aka different) project I have to order the right size needles to do it. And sometimes the a couple of sizes up and down, too, if it needed accurate gauge. I've only been knitting about a year and have very few needles. So I decided it would probably be a money saver to buy the options interchangeable needles. I love magic loop and that's how I do soakers and, well, anything else that is done in the round. I read the reviews on Ravelry.com Common issues seemed to be the cable coming out of it's base but everyone said Knitpicks.com has awesome customer service. And they do. One of the needles, size 4 I think it was, wouldn't screw onto the cables. The opening was too big. No questions asked they sent a replacement SET. Not one but TWO! Couple of months go by, I'm working on my Fetchings, and the cable pulled out of it's base. I called them up and no problem! A new SET of 32 inch cables are on the way! How awesome is that??

Fetching Prattle

Ok so I'm really loving this pattern. It is fast and easy. I don't even need to follow the pattern anymore it's that easy to memorize. And it's super easy to modify. Add rows, add cables, switch up the ribbing, I'm doing a different thumb than the pattern calls for. I got the idea from another knitter on Ravelry.com. It's in the comments section of the pattern there on Ravelry. I have to cast on 40 instead of 45 and I use a larger needle for the cast on. I then arrange the cast on stitches onto one long cable for magic loop. This latest pair I'm doing stripes. I'm halfway up the palm. I will probably be done tomorrow with these and hopefully get to remake the ones done in Hardly. I don't like how the hardly ones turned out. They're huge and I don't like the pink trim. So if you are interested in doing fingerless mitts or want to learn how to do cables this pattern is a great one for both! I highly recommend checking out the ravelry comments section for the optional thumb.

The Wii Craze

Ok for you folks who think you have to stand at Walmart on Black Friday, freezing your ass off to get a good deal Amazon has them for 249.00 with free shipping. I ordered mine back on Nov. 13. I also suggest buying a second remote and nunchuk so two people can play at once. Also a remote jacket is recommended to help protect the remote if it gets thrown or dropped. The remote that comes with the console doesn't have a jacket.

I did knit a little while dh played wii last night!

Wii vs Knitting

Uhoh. Do I have a new past time? Which will win my undivided attention? Ok nothing ever gets my undivided attention with 3 kidlets underfoot so which will get my 30 seconds here, 30 seconds there? We may only get to play Wii when Lucy's asleep. DH gets rather energetic while playing the Sports. He's a big dude compared to little Lulu.

Quite Fetching

I made myself a pair of fingerless mitts from the pattern, Fetching. Made from Hacho Mirasol yarn. I may have to buy more of this yarn for a pair of yoga socks. Purchase of this yarn helps support a children's center in Peru, where the yarn comes from.



I am also making 4 pairs of these for Levi's teachers and aids. The first pair, done in 100purewool.com's Hardly came out huge. I did a cast on of 45, one at a time, magic loop and then blocked them. I may remake these if I have time. The second pair are also done in 100purewool.com, chocolate and pink. Cast on of 40, 2 @ a time, magic loop. Not blocked. Much better!

Flyfishing socks

Flyfishing socks
Originally uploaded by MamaNak

So these are suppose to be a christmas present for someone. These are socks made from Charlene Schurch's book "Sensational Knitted Socks". It is the beaded rib. It's easy to follow. Short row toe was a little daunting but I hate wrap and turn short rows anyway. The yarn is from KnitPicks, Flyfishing. The person I am making these for have HUGE feet. I hate making socks anyway because it takes so long and it can be tedious. Plus I have to hold the tension so tight it hurts my index finger. So I have set these aside for now and am making some Fetching fingerless mitts for other people (including myself).

Levi's Rib-a-roni Hat

levisribaronihat
Originally uploaded by MamaNak

Knitted up in 100purewool's Mesto colorway. Very fast and easy pattern. I have 3 of these. One for hubby, son and FIL.

Jason's Ribaroni Hat

jasonshat
Originally uploaded by MamaNak

Knit in 100purewool, cyan and black.