Shamrock Knits

Knitting Time-Out and Charity Updates

It seems I can't work on a project unless I've started it three times. I've been trying to work on the Lacy Little Top, but I kept making it too big. I've officially given this project a time-out because I've frogged it now three times. It's got bad mo-jo around it right now. I'm a loose knitter and I've been knitting on size 1 needles because I felt the size 0 looked too tight. Kathy thinks I might knit looser during the project than I do for the gauge swatch. I guess she has done in the past. It's one possibility. Doree said that I seem to think I'm a bigger size than I am. That's a very likely possibility. I think there was discussion about ease with this pattern on Knitting Daily. I'll have to check that out before I start this project - again.

I've finally been catching up on the knitting podcasts that I listen to. Both WEBS and Stash and Burn mentioned donating to The House that Yarn Built. This is a team sponsored house in Brad Pitt's Make It Right organization for rebuilding a section of New Orleans. It takes around $150K to build an eco-friendly home. I've been buying a lot of yarn at the WEBS anniversary sale, that I figured I could at least donate $20 to the cause.

I also received an email from the Books For Soldiers group that I support the troops through. They've had difficulties raising funds this year, so they may have to end the site this year. They were also the target of a major cyber attack. The IT resources used alot of funds defending the website. I usually just send packages and forget to donate for the site maintenance, so I did that as well. It makes me mad though that they were specifically targeted. There's not enough fighting and hatred already?

Finished Socks

I finished my first pair of socks. Thanks to Kathy for giving me a sock tutorial. The yarn is a hand dyed yarn that Selena gave me for Christmas. I'm not thrilled with the color pooling, but the yarn is really nice. It's a little hard to see the cables, but they're all over these puppies. :)

I don't know if I'll make another pair for awhile, but I wanted to try them out. I really liked the toe-up cast on. That was pretty cool. Check another item off my list of what I haven't knit before.

Finished Log Cabin

I finished the log cabin blanket and gave it to my friend. I really liked the textured garter pattern.

I'm definitely cruisin' along on my socks. They're about 4 inches above the heel section. I'm just going to keep knitting until I run out of yarn. I need to finish them soon because I want to swatch with these needles and get on to the next project!

Log Cabin Blanket

I heard about this pattern from the a podcast about a year ago. (It may have been Stash and Burn.) The podcasters were talking about one of the booths they saw at Stitches from Bella Knitting. I fell in love with the non-garter log cabin blankets they had. The blankets use the garter technique, in that every row is knit, however on some of the right side rows there are textured stitches. This blanket uses a slip stitch pattern in three colors for the center square and the textured pattern has a knit into the row below on some of the rows. There is another textured blanket that uses yarn - overs. The finished blankets are gorgeous.

I bought just the patterns because I didn't know how large of a blanket I was going to make (or for who). A coworker at work is having her second baby boy, so I thought I'd make this for her. The blues and offwhite were donated from Doree's stash, and I bought 1 skein of the green to add color. It's not quite the exact shade of green that I wanted, but it's better than the other option of pale mint green.

Here's a close up of the center square.

Here's a close up of the log cabin strips. (The center panel colors are more true to life.)

Here's the progress so far. According to the pattern, there are 4 strips on each side. I'm going to make it a little bigger, but I haven't decided how much yet. This is a really quick knit in the worsted weight yarn.

Non-Prego Vest Done

I finished the BTS Vest from Fitted Knits. I think I'd decrease a little more in the shoulder straps next time. I did a little bit, bit it would be better if the straps were a little narrower. I shortened the armhole trim by 3 rows as well. I like how it came out, though I seriously have some issues with taking pictures. I feel like such a dork standing there posing, that I do end up looking like a dork.

First Quilt

Last weekend, my Thursday night knitting group met at Kathy's house for a quilting demonstration. We had two working machines (mine was working so well) and four people making small quilts. I added extra fabric at the top so it can be hung on the wall. This wall quilt will go to my niece, Ava, for her bedroom. Or, if my sister doesn't like it, then it'll go to my stepmother for her my niece's (same Ava) bedroom there. The grandparent's house is her home-away-from-home. :)

I think it came out pretty good for my first time. It's my first finished sewing project as well, come to think of it. I attempted to sew straight "X" lines through each square and the border is folded over and mitered. I'm pretty happy with it. Kathy took pictures of everyone's finished project, so hopefully she'll either post them or give us the pictures. I forgot to recharge my camera before I went to her house. Oops!

Anyway, thanks again Kathy and Betty for showing us how to make a quilt and for letting us take over your house for the day!

Monster Bookcase

Happy Easter everyone! I ordered a glass covered bookcase from Wickes Furniture a few weeks ago. It came this weekend. I absolutely love it. It's huge, but it holds almost all of my collectible books. I collect first edition hardcovers, and get them signed by the author if I can. It's about 6 feet long and 7 feet tall, but she's a beauty.

I put it in my office where my desk used to be.  I moved the desk by myself and am paying for it now. I'm sore all over - legs, arms, back, you name it. It was worth it though. I prefer the desk where I have it now and the bookcase along the main wall.

Cheers!

Happy St Patty's everyone!

I've been working on a few different projects over the last couple of weeks. One of them is not the cable socks. Some people have second sock syndrome. I have turning the heel syndrome. I'm doing them both at the same time on one circular needle. I don't know what my hang up is, but I just didn't feel like doing the short rows for awhile. They're in my bag in case I ever get the urge.

A friend at work's been trying to adopt for almost a year now. A couple of weeks ago, she got the word that she'll be adopting a baby boy. I'm so happy for her. We had a shower for her at work last Thursday. I made her a knit hat in a simple 2 by 2 rib. Betty from my knit group made the pom pom for it. She's the best at those.

I also made this blanket. It's machine knit with rows of single crochet trim. I used Red Heart Sport that I had in stash. Gotta love that. This was the blanket that I was going to make my nephew when he was born, but I had issues with row counting and seaming. I think this one looks much better now. It's made on my mid-gauge LK 150 machine. The strips are made separately and seamed as the next strip is knitted.

Here's the progress on my vest. I'm finishing the second front and then have the back to do. We'll see how it turns out. I really like the colors though.

Third time's a charm

I received some answers to my questions at the KAL. I ripped out the second version and did another swatch. I counted 4.9 stitches to the inch instead of the 4.5 in the pattern. I decided to go down 2 sizes and make the 39". I had Friday off, so I did a lot of knitting over the weekend. I've just started the waffle stitch section.

It's just slightly tight, so I'm hoping when it's washed it'll loosen a little bit. I also used my shamrock stitch marker that I made last year. Maybe this one's is my lucky charm.

Prego Vest

No pictures today, just griping. I have gauge issues. Apparently, I don't know how to count. I'm trying to work on the Back To School Vest from Fitted Knits. I'm a loose knitter, but for some reason, I swatched with the recommended needles (size 7). This wouldn't be a problem if I could count or see that my gauge was waaaaay off. For some reason, I thought I was ok.

I was in between sizes for the pattern. Usually, I would go up to give myself some room. I say "usually" lightly here since I've only made 3 garments. ;P Anyway, I'm almost finished with the bottom border and am thinking that this looks really big. I mean REALLY big. The last time, it was a hunchback sweater. This time, it's a trimester pregrancy vest. The thing was at least 6-7 inches, unstretched, bigger than my belly. That's even bigger than my thunder thighs! Strike one.

So, I go to the frog pond and swatch again with size 6 and size 5 needles. On the size 5, the 18 inches were just slightly larger than the 4 inches required. I'm thinkin' that's fine. Well, it probably would be fine if I'd gone down a size instead of up a size on the pattern. I've even been knitting with the buddha marker. Strike two.

I'm going to post some questions on the KAL group Robin moderates, but I'm going to pose them here as well. First question is regarding the yarn. I'm using the recommended Cascade 220. After this is washed and does any "blooming" (whatever that is), would that make the garment larger or smaller? This will help in deciding which size to knit.

Question two regards the pattern. I'm not sure if I understand this correctly. If I decide to make the finished bust size of 41", the picture shows 23" for the bust. This means the bust will be 46", right? Even after knitting on the size 5 needles, I'm about 4-5 inches bigger than my belly. Does this mean that I'm ok? Does the 5 inches mean the pattern gives that much room for wearing a shirt underneath the vest? Isn't that a bit much? I know the ribbing section will be smaller because of the stretch and will hug the body, but I didn't think the bottom border (alternating stockinette and reverse stockinette) should be that much bigger.

Oh knowledgeable world of knitters - please help me! Gracias!