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My knitting Instagram account has changed names. Formerly theknittinghour, it now has underscores between the words! Please follow my knitting life on Instagram @the_knitting_hour! I want to know of fellow fiber enthusiasts so I can follow you back.
2019 Adds to Photo Gallery
The last things I’ll be posting for 2019 are part of a separate post on miniaturizing. I was very honored to have the opportunity to present a short talk to my local guild on this topic at our December 14 meeting, which had the added perks of a potluck meal and a fun gift exchange! See the presentation photos and narrative here.
After that on Dec.c 14, my husband and I went to his departmental Christmas dinner party at the home of friends that we have a long, special relationship with. I have given their children knitted ornaments over a period of years, and some of them I’d completely forgotten about in terms of colors and specific design. As in the case of the ornaments I showcased on my special Christmas tree brought from home for the guild meeting, some of the ones I’ve given to this sweet family are miniatures I made up myself from full-sized patterns. Others were minis to begin with, like the Berroco Minutia patterns:
My other 2019 knitting projects can be summed up neatly:
1. Bags
2. Ornaments
3. WIPs
The owl mini-bag and the Santa face ornament stem from the same source: 2020’s edition of “Knitting Calendar”, a boxful of single-sheet patterns to keep one’s needles clicking for a twelvemonth – a little Austenspeak woven in, there.
Another quick knit in 2020 Knitting Calendar package of patterns purchased at Little Professor Bookcenter in Homewood, Alabama. Coffee is optional, but preferable. Coffee in a housewarming gift from your sister, purchased at Owens Original Pottery, is a real bonus!
This guy asked to be photographed against a scrapbooking paper background. I think he plans to use this as his profile pic. By the time this one came off the needles, I felt I was truly acing this ultra-cute pattern by Mary C. Gildersleeve.
More scrapbooking papers line a basket where I’m holding this year’s stash of neighbor and coworker gifts. Out came the ink pads & stampers & Etsy-purchased personalized “knit by” stamp for more fun! Etsy shop here.
New patterns like the Santa face are great! But so are tried-and-true go-tos. This 2019 “earth tones” edition of my post Christmas 365: Jingle-bell Bell Ornament was worked on size 4 needles in Yarn Bee “soft and smooth” with nice color nuances. Photo background is a “two-color star stitch” pillow. Personalized stamp on gift tag was purchased at PrintMint, an Etsy shop.
Works in Progress. We all have those longer-term projects buried in our knitting bags, don’t we? Back in the summer, I posted to Members and Friends of Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild from Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia of the blue-and-white baby sweater you see below. I’ve made progress…slowly! I’m on the “back nine” now.
The other neglected project I try to work on a few rows per week these days is a table runner in soft earth tones, my kitchen’s growing color scheme, by “Scrap Basket Stripes” placemat pattern found in free pattern directories once upon a time.
So…what’s been vying for my knitting time in 2019?
I’m glad you asked me!
On a regular basis, a few basic interests call to me at those times I’m willing to set my knitting aside: Baking. Writing. Reading…and not necessarily in that order. Please hover or click on images for explanatory captions!
Please find out more about my new novels A Stranger’s Promise and No Doubt It’s Love. Click here for Facebook page and here for reviews and purchasing paperback or e-books on Amazon.
I’ve come across some good nonfiction this year, including Worry Less, Live More by Robert J. Morgan and The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile. But nothing helps me to unwind at night better than my collection of vintage juvenile fiction, most notably the classic Trixie Belden mystery series. Here are covers of book 9 in different editions. I’ve been having fun in October 2019 finding the text differences, starting with Idlewild Airport name changed to JFK, and expression “in a swivet” changed to “in a tizzy”.
Meanwhile, here are pictures of random other recent projects:
Pre-2019
I embarked upon finding the perfect color match for the blue one of this set of small, felted bowls I made several years ago by a pattern you can still find online here. Bigelow Tea and Traditional Medicinals companies were kind enough to send me pictures over Instagram, at my request, of some of their products outside the box – literally, I mean! I needed to see what the tea bag packaging, not the outside of the box, looked like, and I wasn’t finding pictures online of anything but boxes, or unwrapped tea bags in various somebodies’ mugs. :0-)
The blue and green bowls had been sitting out of sight in my pantry until I did a recent pantry reorganize. That’s when I realized that the Twinings Pure Peppermint (which I almost always have on hand) was perfect for the green bowl.
The aqua blue winner: EveryDay Detox Lemon by Traditional Medicinals! Basically, a perfect color match….and the tea is good, too!
Instagram caption for the above video of my “candy corn colors” felted cozy: #autumncolors #cupcozy #coffeeoftheday #coffeewithwhippedcream #goodmorning #knittedcupcozy #feltedwool #feltedcupcozy
First-ever “plarn” project! Turning strips of flimsy plastic grocery bag into one sturdy reusable plastic shopping bag! Kudos to free instructions available multiple places! Find a post with lots of pictures of the finished product (as well as of the “WIP”) here.
While at Marriott Grand Hotel in Point Clear for hubby’s business trip in Sept. 2018, I took these pics to post for the first time in Facebook closed group Addicted to Knitting. Those folks are posting very impressive projects, so I didn’t want to share a 2-hour cup cozy or my latest diagonal washcloth!! Bright green/blue unlined “Emma” bag with built-in handles is from a free pattern online. The army green purse I made without a pattern for a daughter’s Christmas gift…and it has wound up in my possession! It has the necessary purse details including a zippered section in the lining and a magnetic closure.
February 21, 2018. I call this “Feeling Fabulous” … and it’s not even about a good hair day or about modeling a brand new, beautiful garment I made with my own two hands (although the completed “top-down” seamless sweater from a magazine pattern is a fabulous project to celebrate! #yay). This pose is really about life, vitality, and rejoicing in all that God has provided. Folks, remember me this way!
Yes. I’m past using our move-in process that led up to and followed November 1, 2017 as an excuse for not posting. Here are a few projects I’ve made (or finished) while also finding places to store clothing, dishes, and the mementos we couldn’t part with when we decluttered.
Above: an art piece that’s a wool bowl “in process,” which here means it is finished except for binding off. Since I don’t plan to felt the bowl, it was fun to use an eyelet detail to make the piece more of a conversation piece. Now, I just need to find someone who wants to engage me in conversation about it!
Above: I’ve started early on “little gifts” for Christmas 2018.
Above: I whipped up a quick batch of felted wool balls just in time to share a few with some new friends from Germany and with the cousin who was hosting them (and us) on Christmas Day. #woot #funtimes
Below: a purse for my sister and a purse for me. The “Bamboo Bag” in a somewhat recent magazine caught my eye and said “try me.” It seems a little larger in the photo than mine turned out, but Jane was excited to receive it as an early birthday present and carried it to relatives’ house when we all had a yummy barbecue lunch with this couple who have relocated to Birmingham after years in West Virginia and other locales compliments of the Air Force. We saw some interesting photo subjects at their home, including Chuck Yeager and Elvis Presley!
Notice my sister’s attractive blue-green scarf. She made this reversible, tubular garment using a knitting loom. Here, she is sporting the reverse stockinette side. Great job, Jane! I think I’ve been inspired by your beautiful work; I’ve started a long scarf in similar colors, using size 15 needles in hopes of finishing it quickly enough to use before spring.
The gray clutch bag above is kind of a monstrosity. I have both boning and plastic canvas inside the lining to give it shape, and I didn’t get the frame exactly straight. It looks more like a file box now than a purse, but I’m using it. I made it up after looking at some photos. I like the reverse stockinette texture of the light gray.
Below: the extremely cold weather of January 2018 led me to pull these strange, stashbuster legwarmers out and wear them inside my boots! (And check out that white athletic sock serving as a desperation measure against a drafty door frame!! I must look to buy or make a “draft dodger” instead.)
I’ve been enjoying this first try of clever design called “cross-collar vest.” (I’m the model on the right.)
And, one can never talk too much about one’s granddog! Here’s another view of him in the sweater I made for him last year. He’s two years old now! #theygrowupsofast
The following group of pictures will help to explain why I didn’t have much time to add pictures between August & October. We moved! Just “across town,” so to speak, but it was a long time in the making (like a lot of knitting projects!). Below the Instagram pic of Jeff in front of our former house and me in front of our current one are images of (arguably) the most important room in our new home…the one – other than the kitchen – that has had the most attention from yours truly in the past 48 hours.
Early view of the east wall with record player and desk. See storage left to right of CIRCULAR NEEDLES (on IKEA scarf caddy); STRAIGHT NEEDLES (in colorful trashcan); and DOUBLE-POINTED NEEDLES (some in purple vase, others in metal bin below that).
Alas! The love seat wouldn’t fit with its matching sofa in the den. I quickly offered to find it a better home.
This craft room’s closet is a work in progress. Right now, it has most of my yarn, wool hats, knitted sweaters (in the bags), and more that doesn’t show in this photo.
Somewhere in storage, still, are my 3-ring binders of alphabetically-arranged knitting patterns and reference materials. I’m holding space here for those!
Our slightly worse-for-thirty-years-of-wear kitchen table with no leaves and only 2 of its 6 chairs. Ignore the evidence of my snack while unpacking boxes and notice the ball-winding gizmo at right (it’s a new toy); sewing maching at left (yes, I made the quilted cover a long time ago); and backpack-style carry bag at front left, made recently from a top-notch online sewing tutorial. It’s my current project bag. I’ve started 2 different vest patterns with unlikely on-hand yarns to test them for size before I buy yarn. This room is feeling a lot like a knitting shop where you can pull a binder off the shelf, sit down at a table, and peruse patterns at leisure. WHEEEEEEE!!!! [clapping hands emoticon; elated face emoticon]
VCR still works! #backgroundnoisewhileknitting
Desk is more cluttered now with computer, stationery caddy, more knitting supplies, and a few knitting mags out for inspiration. The one that’s turned to a page with a pink background intrigues me. That’s a pattern for a tote bag whose placement of purl stitches makes the vertical sections look like stalks of bamboo.
Thanks for touring my new craft room with me!
This and that
In random order: Instagram post with my owl cup cozy and some yummy pumpkin bread we received as a moving-day gift; fabric doll for our Samaritan’s Purse shoebox for a child; baby hats on hand, from which I need to select one for a gift pretty soon.
Latest miniatures
It’s time for 2017 Christmas miniatures! Tiny toboggans, sweaters, and slippers are such fun. Check here for the entire story of the mini kimono sweater shown below.
April-May 2017 project: “Elizabeth Bennet”-inspired cropped cardigan from a sale book I picked up earlier this year at Charlotte Yarn in Charlotte, NC.
Mother’s Day 2017. It was too warm to wear a sweater this warm to church, but I persuaded Jeff to walk out and shoot this video for me since I hadn’t published the pink sweater anywhere. Remarkably, the top right image is a pretty satisfying hair pic, too – except for how gray it looks. :0-)
This all-in-one pattern by Stefanie Japel in the book Fitted Knits, found on sale at Charlotte Yarn in January, is easy to follow and very clever with its eyelet sleeve details and the perfectly-rolling collar!
April 27, 2017. Geared up (literally) for air-conditioning season at work. Second time out for this “big and bulky jacket” from a 1986 book. See post!
Here is the same “Big and Bulky Jacket” on the job! It doesn’t exactly go with this casual Friday outfit, but today it has made me realize all over again the main reason I continue to knit cute shrug & wrap & sweater patterns: the garments really are so warm!
Where knitting and photo sketching meet…joy and beauty happen!
Spring 2017 project, pocket scarf without a pattern, as a work in progress. As shown, I had some 75 or more rows to go before binding off & attaching two patch pockets. On these plenty-big size 9 bamboo needles, the acrylic yarn slides so smoothly, and the fun cable pattern was a true joy to work. The photo below, plus a scarf shown at the February meeting of Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild, were my inspiration.
Two-day foray into irresistible free pattern
I ran across this free pattern for an attractive “capelet” that said the whole thing could be made from one skein of Lion Brand “Homespun.” My skein got all the way down to only a few yards left, and I was convinced for a while that I’d be making another trip to the store before I could finish. Source (and kudos for a great pattern!): http://www.nyanpon.com/2012/08/one-skein-ruffled-capelet.html
Christmas is past and winter is here: boot toppers galore and a few hats thrown in
Knitting for Christmas is officially “kicked off”
The blue and white booties shown below are for a cousin on my husband’s side. Another special cousin, also living in Georgia, gave me some very nice books of patterns for my birthday in September, by Phildar. I’ve had a load of fun just getting my feet wet interpreting instructions not written for a gal born and raised in the southern U.S.
From the Phildar pattern for a baby’s “angel top” sweater, I created the white and green miniature pictured above. It’s about 3″ tall. This weekend project was an exercise in mathematics as well as a great review of short row shaping. I believe my mother made the gorgeous red doily shown underneath, and the JOY blocks came from my husband’s family. #pricelessheirlooms
A different sweet lady (this time in my local area, Birmingham), also from her mother’s belongings, gave me some needlework yarns from which I gleaned the red strand I ran through the tiny eyelet holes around the neck. The angel top actually ties in the back, not the front, but – due to a slight mistake on the “front” side of one of the sleeves – I turned the item over for this photo and will place it on my Christmas tree as shown. By the way, sweaters are also called “jumpers.” Just ask the Harry Potter folks. #ohwhatfunitistoknitChristmasgiftsandornaments
Stay tuned for photos of my first-ever miniature tree wholly dedicated to knitted ornaments.
Newest adorable project to show off!
I needed a baby gift, quick, for a family member whose due date is Thanksgiving Day. Here is the perfect project, a pattern knitted flat and seamed along the center back and bottom. I am telling you, you can FLY THROUGH a pattern like this. I sat down on Sunday afternoon with a marathon of Signed, Sealed, Delivered on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, completing bootie #1 and about 90% of bootie #2. That is weekend knitting euphoria, my friends. This pattern is from a 3-color ensemble found in a booklet I purchased a few weeks ago at Michael’s. There, it was shown in brown, blue, and green. I amended the color scheme for a 2-color version. And I’ve already selected yarns for several other color combos – for boy, for girl, for Christmas.
Too, I indulged my need to miniaturize, once again, and did smaller booties by the same design, to be used for Christmas ornaments. This smaller version turns out to fit the American Girl dolls perfectly! But that’s a whole ‘nother blog post coming…
Speaking of slippers…
Don’t be misled into thinking everything I knit is a success. Take this felted “Fjord Slipper,” for instance. It turned out large enough to fit a defensive lineman’s foot instead of my none-too-dainty size 9.5! I’m keeping it as a “trophy” of failure and I do not plan to attempt a second slipper to match. Do you think I could make a planter out of it? Perhaps a storage place for my pajamas?
Getting some summer wear out of a recent creation
Life has been so busy lately, I can’t even tell you from memory what pattern I used for this extra-long (too long?) tank top, nor when I finished it. I had fun showing it off during one of my husband’s business trips that I was very thankful to tag along for. The fact that whatever waist shaping I worked in and the finishing of the neckline and the depth of the underarm openings actually make this garment “proudly wearable” is a true surprise. I’m not very good at fitting myself yet, unfortunately.
Best new free pattern found recently online!
I have now made three “Emma” handbags by the same easy pattern, but two of those still have to be felted. Take a look at the free pattern on this web page and send a comment if you want any “extra” tips from someone who has worked the pattern. Below are some photos of the early stages of my first go with this project:
And, the finished product:
Newest original pattern, inspired by woven shawls
I call this accessory “Triangular Shawlette with Instant Fringe.” If you love different colors and textures in the same project, this is the knitted accessory for you! Below, see that this versatile triangle can be worn either “frontwards” (over the teal knit top), or “backwards” (over the white T-shirt). In the trial run, I used a solid “main color” of dark grayish-blue wool, and three novelty or fashion yarns in a consistent repeat throughout. In the model of pink and brown tones, I used a color-changing blended fiber as the main color and varied somewhat from the blue shawlette in arranging the pattern of stripes in contrasting colors of brown, tan, and taupe.
Diagonal washcloth: I can’t seem to get away from these
This diagonal washcloth was given as a thank-you gift for some good neighbors who came to our rescue when we had a minor water crisis going on in the basement. YIKES!
My first felted bowl in quite a while: “before” and “after”
My latest wool bowl! See its picot bind-off stubbornly curling over until it is felted. As indicated in the video, the final product is something I plan to offer for the Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild’s annual, month-long exhibit at Homewood Public Library in early fall. Now, THAT’S exciting!
After!
Normally, I don’t dry my wool bowls upside down like this, but I wanted to encourage the flare of the bowl’s sides not to get too expanded. So, I trussed it up and hung the bowl upside down over – if you can believe it – the clear plastic casing of my Pampered Chef food chopper.
Below, the featured photo of my post dated April 15. What a fun project this was, and how nice to have tracked down author Claire Lacoste-Kapstein through online detective work that led me to some helpful folks at University of Rhode Island, so I could request permission to show images from her 1983 book. What a very nice lady – it feels really special to have had a brief phone chat with her.
Now, have fun browsing through more of my knitting creations. I sure had fun making them!
As the morning starts best with coffee, let’s start off with a coffee cup “cosy” that boasts the cutest cabled owl motif you ever saw. When I turn this piece around and around in my hands (Is there anything to compare with touching the beautiful textures of finished knitting?), each owl has its own facial expression.
A second beverage for good measure – and a shout out to my husband, Jeff, who would rather drink Coke than coffee for breakfast. I actually alternated two different color-change cotton yarns in this can cosy, but it’s “dead simple” to make. (Is that a British expression? I read it in a romance novel years ago in reference to some kind of meat curry.) This pretty and practical accessory is worked in the round with 30 stitches on size 6 DPNs (double-pointed needles). Project instructions are now up! Find Beginner DPN on the menu page.
Still in the household goods category, a couple of cute cotton washcloths. If you haven’t learned to knit cables yet, please try. Cables are SO cool, and they are not as difficult as you might think!
It’s never too soon or too late to talk about Christmas, especially when you’re knitting large items that will take several months to complete, like the attractive, striped stocking my friend Billie showed me the other day. I’d love to try the pattern she is making, but right now my ambitions are a bit smaller. Here is the pretty texture of the “Chevron Seed Stitch” I worked in the middle of a solid-color Christmas ornament. #SuccessfulExperiment but I have to say that the “make one” increases were not easy with this acrylic yarn that has very little “give” in it. That may be why the pattern recommends wool yarn.
Below, just a small handful of my clothing items. I’m not always this reluctant to include my face and hair in photos….or am I? The “robin egg blue” cropped sweater is a vintage pattern I found online called “cocktail blouse.” Here is the link. The pattern stitch is very clever. It doesn’t have a name in the pattern, so I call it cocktail blouse stitch. I used the stitch in a cotton soda can cosy once, and I have posted an entire article on this stitch pattern – because I worked out how to knit it “in the round,” as well. Here is how you work the stitch flat. Make a swatch; you’ll like it! [[Use ODD # of sts. Wrong-side rows: k1, (yo, sl1 p/w, k1). Right-side rows: (k1, k2tog tbl), k1 – the 2 to be knitted together are the yo & the slipped stitch done on the previous row.]]
The gray sweater fits nicely and I need to make that pattern again with a slightly more durable yarn and a less-bulky collar. True turtlenecks don’t seem to go with my narrow jawline. The pale gray concoction around my neck is explained in the post, TIP TIME! Emergency knitting supplies. Find it on the blog’s menu.
Here’s an interesting Celtic Heart knot that was a lot more difficult to tie from online instructions than it was to knit in i-cord:
Every good sweater needs a piece of jewelry, right? Well, sometimes. Wearing the pin shown below on a garment I knitted might be “overkill,” but the pin itself created quite a stir the other week when I debuted it at work. I found the pattern for this craft in a library book. The “needles” are bamboo food skewers I found at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I cut them to slightly over 3.25″ long with heavy-duty shears and glued a wooden bead on the cut end. I had to pad the skewer with some shreds of cotton yarn, all coated in glue, to make it fit the hole. I sized a skewer with my needle sizer and found it to be a size 6. Who knew? So, I made the little sample of knitting on regular size 6 needles and then slid it onto the “mini” needle. The miniature skein of yarn is wrapped in a label cut from plain old white paper and secured with a piece of double-sided tape. I used about 4 safety pins to secure this to my garment. Too cute!
Fingerless hand warmers made with size 5 needles; rectangular baby “blankee” I gathered with elastic around the top edge and slid onto the body of a stuffed animal; “log cabin” washcloth:
I found a stitch pattern that produces a diamond motif, called King Charles’ Brocade. It’s perfect for baby hats! On this one, I decreased to just 3 or 4 stitches at the top, turned the work inside-out, and finished with a length of i-cord that I tacked down into a little button shape.
I sent a pair of purple hand warmers and some thick slippers to my sister, Jane, as a combination late-birthday and hostess gift after we stayed at her house recently. Here she is, modeling those items from the super-useful wooden storage/bench seat in her beautiful kitchen:
Felted wool bowl “before” and “after.” The pattern was inspired by ribbon stitch, instructions found in a library book. I have this bowl on my dresser with bracelets in it.
More wool bowls. I have made a TON of these! The two-toned one with picot bind-off turned out especially well. I gave that one as a host gift to some very nice friends who had us to dinner.
Above, the chevron (or “Little Vees”) pattern in the rim of the wool bowl is very distinct. (This is one of my very, very favorite knitting photos!) The finished bowl, also shown above, was given to some sweet friends we met as “dance team parents” when our daughters were in school together. As the “after” picture suggests, a great use for this textile art creation is to set it on your table or countertop or microwave oven with teabags in it. So attractive and so practical! A cotton basket can serve the same purpose or be used to hold Christmas goodies, as shown above, right.
All this talk of wool and Christmas suggests cooler weather, so here is my first spherical Christmas ornament, almost finished. This free pattern I found on Ravelry.com under Christmas Ball #1 by Knitty Galore. I love the two-color design and I sure do have plans to make more of these. The solid pink ornament shown above is by the same basic pattern, made after I made the blue and black one. Once you get to the mid-section of 64 stitches, there’s a ton of things you can do for variety.
“Scrap basket stripes” placemat. I made a set of four and entered them in the county fair a few years ago. The fun and clever part of this pattern is sliding the work to the other end of a circular needle in order to knit in the same direction twice consecutively, which creates the unique way each color appears. Very clever, indeed. Give an “A+” to whomever devised that technique.
Speaking of the county fair… how’d this picture get here? That’s a quilt I made up from scratch. I call it “Pinwheel Parade” and I justify its being here because its design was VERY mathematical, as a lot of aspects of knitting are. :0-) And there I am, too; that’s pretty much what I look like when my head isn’t chopped out of photos.
Here are my wool hats. I think this is all of them, and all except one of them were made by the same pattern. Guess which one I sometimes wear to Auburn football games. Guess which one I have never worn because it doesn’t seem to go with my hair (but it would probably look perfect on Mary Crawley of Downton Abbey).
If you’re not wearing your awesome felted hat out somewhere, you at least need a cute picture, for fun. So, here is a sketch variation of a mirror selfie:
Here’s a shot from Instagram, created with PicStitch
Just for fun, I threw this picture together after reading a very interesting line late in the book Pride and Prejudice, the Jane Austen classic whose fan base, of all ages, never seems to shrink. Elizabeth Bennet’s tumultuous romance with Mr. Darcy is on the brink of its happy resolution, and her nervousness at his current visit is such that she grabs her needlework “with an eagerness” it didn’t often command. I, on the other hand, never seem to lack eagerness with my knitting or sewing! So, here is “The main difference between me and Eliza Bennet.”
Thanks so much for meandering through the gallery. I have a lot more to post here, so please visit again!
Long Tail and Short Tales 