A Sweater for Me

I've been searching for the perfect sweater for me for quite a while and finally found it. I'm making Buttercup.

This sweater has been in the top 10 of my queue for a long time. I've been hesitant to cast on given the bad luck I've had the past 2 years making sweaters for me. They either turned out to be not flattering on me or I outgrew them before I was even close to finishing. I've seen this sweater on many different body types on Ravelry and for the most part it was very flattering.

I've finished with the yoke and most of the body and have started on the sleeves.


The first sleeve is finished except for the fan and feather lace trim. I really love the feel of this sweater and since I've knitted with Hempathy I know it will soften up even more when soaked.

I'm still working on beading projects but not so much lately. I've been spending a lot of my time getting my knitting machines up and running again. To that end I attending a knitting machine seminar in Raleigh, NC this past Friday and Saturday. It was hosted by the Carolinas Machine Knitting Guild and Featured four instructors from the US and Canada. I learned a lot, got some things refreshed and met a lot of new people. I really want to learn to knit circular socks on the knitting machine and I now feel more empowered to give it a try. My stash of coned yarns is as large as the handknitting stash so I really need to get busy and put it to use. I also own four electronic machines and they are being wasted so it's time to get my ducks in a row.

Time is at a premium these days. I'm on the Women's Day choir at church and we meet on Monday and Wednesday, I attend exercise classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and most Saturday's I have something going on. I'm also test knitting another pattern so I've replaced my regular knitting with that. I'm always amazed at how things are so slow and calm during the winter time and as soon as spring arises everything picks back up.

Beads, Beads Everywhere

Our beading weekend was fantastic!!! We had such a good time that we are already planning the next one. Nancy graciously invited us to her cabin in Chesnee for the weekend. We headed up on Friday after I got off work.


Nancy has been a beader for years as well as an accomplished knitter and painter. She has also been waging a courageous battle against several types of cancer for the past few years. Millie another knitting friend who started beading last year was our driver and co-coordinator of the trip. I rounded out the group of three.

We stopped for dinner and picked up some goodies along the way and once we got to the cabin we settled our things, took over the dining room table and immediately started working on our projects. On Friday we visited Horsefeathers Bead Store in Campobello, SC which is right up the road and dropped some cash. It is off the beaten path but worth visiting. They have an excellent selection of Delica beads.

We also visited North Woods Farm Fiber and Yarn Store in Inman, SC. They have a wonderful selection of yarn, books, needles and bags. In addition to these items they also have an alpaca farm and process their own fiber. I was tempted several times to purchase yarn but managed to stick to the no yarn buying plan. I did purchase some ChiaoGoo needles to test since I have heard such good things about them and this is the first store I've been in that had them. They also sell KnitPicks and Blackthorn needles. I forgot to take my camera with me so I didn't get pictures of either place. I would have loved to get pictures of all of the alpacas especially the babies.

Once we got back and had dinner we began beading in earnest. I started my most time consuming project having found the perfect beads to complete the design at Horsefeathers. I purchased some Rivoli's from Fire Mountain Gems before we left and the colors were not what I expected when light reflected on them so I found some beads that coordinated better at Horsefeathers. This was my first time creating bezels but I was anxious to try the new technique.

We resumed work on our projects Saturday and I finally remembered to get out the camera. The first picture is Nancy, the second Millie and the last me.




I finished two projects and only need to add the button closure and loop on the last.


From bottom to top: Rivoli Square Dance bracelet, Triangle bracelet and Wave Ring


My favorite project is the rivoli bracelet but I learned from all of them. I feel the need to challenge myself with each project and I'm driven to learn all that I can about this new hobby. I'm sure that I'll eventually settle down with some favorite methods but for know I'm having fun trying new ones.

I did manage to get a little knitting done on the way up and back. My Adamas shawl has reached the point where I have to decide if I want to make it bigger or work the final chart. I have two full skeins of yarn remaining so I can easily make it larger. That's it for now. I'm off to put together some beads for some more Wave rings.

Finishing

This past week has been all about finishing. For the most part I'm really good about finishing things once they're made but every now and then I hit the wall where it can take me weeks or months to get something completed.

October 2010 was when I had my first beading lesson. Millie wore a fringe bracelet to our knitting guild meeting that month and also brought several other bracelets that she had made for show and share. I asked her if she would teach me how to bead and we've been meeting to bead since then.

Our first beading project was the fringe bracelet I had admired. I used 11/0 emerald silver-lined AB seed beads for the fringe and 8/0 emerald silver-lined seed beads for the core. It's funny but what I just typed made no sense to me at all a few months ago and now I am totally immersed in bead speak.



This weekend three of us are going to Nancy's cabin in the mountains to immerse ourselves in a weekend of beading, good food and friendship. I've been planning my projects and can't wait to get away.

Thursday I finished the first installment of the sock club.




Specs:
Pattern: Split Reed Socks from Think Outside the Sox
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot Elderberry
Needles: 1 dpn's
Size: Womens large (10N)
Knitted: February 28- March 18, 2011

I made these for me and they feel fantastic. The only modification I made was to knit these toe-up.

Next up are two hats that had been languishing in the finishing line. First is the Cabled Chapeau which languished while I tried to figure out what to use to shape the brim. I purchased a hat kit at the Greenville Knit-Inn which contained a craft foam visor to use for the brim. I immediately went to AC Moore when I got home, purchased the foam and attached the visor. It then took me over another month to attach the strap and buttons.



Specs:
Pattern: Cabled Chapeau
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted Deep Sea
Needles: 8 US
Knitted: December 1,2010 - March 20, 2011

I made this for my mom's friend Velma. It is part of a set with the Saroyan shawl/scarf made with the same yarn. She has seen it, tried it on and loves it.

Last up is Limpetiole which I originally was going to knit as part of a Wooly Wormhead KAL.


Specs:
Pattern: Limpetiole
Yarn: Wool2dye4 Merino Silk Undyed
Needles: 5 US
Size: 20 (medium)
Knitted: January 2-10,2011

I knitted this for my oldest brother's friend Anne. I was a real slacker on this as I didn't get it blocked until this past Friday. I love the hat. It has wonderful drape and feels luxurious. I'm sure she'll love it even if she has to wait most of a year to wear it.

That's it for the project round. I always feel relieved once I cleaned up some of the loose ends.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The only way to become really good at something is to practice. While we all may be born with natural talents or gifts we still need to work at improving or perfecting them.

We try to have a beading get together once a month and each time we work on a new project. I usually finish that project and don't work on anything beading-related until the next get together. Today I decided that I need to work on my beading skills and tackle projects on my own to see if I can understand and interpret the instructions. To that end I started on some new projects.

The first project used the spiral peyote technique I learned last month. It is a pair of turtle earrings. I had some trials during the making of the first turtle but once I ripped it and started over I could clearly see what needed to be done.



For the first time I am making an entire set which will consist of the necklace, bracelet and earrings. This combination is more formal than all of the previous beading I have done. I started with a base of pearls and silver charlotte beads.


Once the base was completed the arches and picots were added in the same pass.



All went well until I put the necklace on and one of the threads broke causing two pearls to fall out. I put it aside until today when I fixed the part that started to come loose from the thread breaking and replaced the missing beads. I can tell that my technique is improving. For a long time I struggled with joining new thread and tying the old threads off. They wouldn't hold and the piece would fall apart. That wasn't my problem this time as it appeared that I'd actually went through the core of the thread more than once and causing it to ravel and break. Now I'm confident enough to go back and finish some incomplete projects I'd put aside for the above reasons.

I would like to thank Monica and Kathy for your responses to my questions. I've decided to use Saturdays and Sundays for sewing and working on the knitting machines especially now that it's March Madness. The beading and knitting projects are portable and I can carry them into the den and work on them while I watch the games. The other two aren't and since there isn't a tv in the craft room I'd rather work on the other two when I have more time in the day. I can bring the sewing machine into the den and set up in there if absolutely necessary so I have more leeway with my sewing projects plus some of them will require hand finishing which means I can bring them into the den.

I'm at a point in my life where I no longer want to sacrifice one hobby for another so it is essential that I find a way to work them all in. The only thing left to find time for is the cross stitch and the spinning or maybe it's time to give something up.

Take a Chill Pill or Time Out Anyone?

After a two month break we had a beading session today. We always have lunch before getting started and today Millie's mom made some great chili, Nancy prepared a wonderful salad and Gail made delicious homemade salsa and cornbread. For dessert I made Molten Chocolate Cakes and Calvin brought coffee and french vanilla ice cream. I haven't made this dessert in a very long time and it was every bit as good as I remember.

Our planned project was the spiral peyote bracelet. This project did not come easy to me and I experienced some serious frustration trying to get it started. My way to deal with project frustation whether it be knitting, sewing, beading or programming is to take a time out and step away for a while to clear my head and let my frustation level subside.

Millie took a look at what I was doing and realized that I was working clockwise instead of counterclockwise. This solved the problem and once I got restarted things went smoothly.


Looking at what I originally thought would be just a bracelet, I'm now considering making a bracelet and matching necklace with coordinating earrings. I don't typically wear a lot of gold or goldtoned jewelry anymore but I do wear a lot of red and I love the look of the bracelet. I don't want to get in the habit of making a lot of random pieces and would love to have some sets.

I made it to the heel of the Drip Candle socks Thursday and was not at all pleased with the results. Colinette Jitterbug is closer to sportweight and I chose to use it for the heel. This resulted in a bulky and not to attractive heel when compared with the rest of the sock. I sought mom's opinion and she agreed so I ripped the entire heel out last night. I will use the green supersock instead. In the photo you can still see some of the blue but that has also been frogged.


This has been a great weekend and tomorrow promises to be another beautiful day. I plan to get back to work on the almost finished test knitting and sit out on the deck for a change and enjoy the sun. I hope that you are having a beautiful weekend as well.

A Whole Lot of Knitting Going On

Even though the blog has been quiet there has been a lot of knitting going on. I took inventory of the projects I've knitted so far this year and I'm at 25+. I wish I had knitted more than one adult sweater but I'm pleased with all of the other projects. I still may be able to get in one more.

I have several projects that need to be photographed. Daylight savings time is killing me because by the time I get home the good daylight is already gone. I'm hoping to get some good photos this weekend. I also have 3 items that need to be blocked but the den is taken over by Christmas decorations. Mom is creating a different color scheme this year, we already have 3, which means they (mom and sis)are going through everything to pick out the right colors.

I finished the Volna scarf in the medium size. More details to come when the scarf is blocked and better pictures are taken.



I participated in Woolly Wormhead's Mystery KAL on Ravelry. She is a fabulous knitted hat designer. I was a little late joining in but I did manage to finish hat A. She has released the pattern as Bellefleur. It is the first hat I've knitted using fingering weight yarn and I loved it. I still have hat B to knit which has been released as Limpetiole. It is done in dk weight and has some of the same Elements as Bellefleur.

I received a request last year from one of my mom's friends for a hat and coordinating scarf. It took a while for me to decide on the patterns. I've finished the scarf which is in need of blocking and am currently working on the hat. The color is deeper and more intense than this picture shows. The hat is the Cabled Chapeau from Stitch Nation.


We had our final beading session of the year. We were joined by my mom and knitting friends Calvin and Gail. I made lasagna, Calvin made a wonderful salad and Millie made a delicious orange pound cake. My mom said she understands why we have such a great time when we get together.

Our project was crystal bracelets. We both used Swarovski crystals and Delica beads. I finished the blue bracelet while at Millie's and did the black one later that evening at home. This is my favorite project so far and I love the fact that I was able to complete the entire bracelet. I forgot to order gold jump rings so I still have to get some to complete the black bracelet. The pattern is Dazzling Diamonds from Bead&Button magazine.


I do plan to knit a few Christmas presents mainly hats. I'm adding some none-family to the list and I know they will appreciate them. I've made some beaded bracelets for the ladies in the family and still have to do the bags for the girls. Once the shopping for the boys is finished I'll be good to go.

This weekend I'm entertaining two young men so there won't be much room for crafting and after that it's time for the Christmas parties. Let the holidays begin.