Tag Archive | knitting needles

Crazy for Crochet

I can’t stop crocheting lately! Ever since I learned to knit, I’ve preferred it to crochet. Knitting is easier on my wrist and I love the fabric it creates. But I do still love the quickness of crochet, and it’s the perfect way to use all my cotton yarns. I made another small cross-body bag, just kind of made up my own pattern, and this one has a flap and a button closure. I debated between a dark silver button and a white flower. The flower was cute, but made the bag seem more appropriate for a young girl, and I wanted this to be more versatile. It’s something I would definitely carry. I’ve been working on a custom order through Etsy, but the other day I got a request for a couple of chemo caps. In my book, chemo caps always go to the top of the list. I used soft, washable acrylic and made them a small adult size so hopefully they’ll fit snugly. This is the Shelbi Hat pattern, and I’ve made it several times now. It’s very quick but looks intricate and interesting. I especially like that the pattern comes with four different sizes. It’s not a free one, but it’s absolutely worth the money for me.

Oh, and I had a wee knitting crisis the other day! You know I’m making a bag for my sister, right? Well, I picked it up and (GASP!) found this: I have no idea what happened. These are fixed-tip needles from Joann, so I’ve asked my handy hubby if he can fashion a new tip on it. Nothing to lose, right? In the meantime, I switched to my Knitter’s Pride Nova interchangeables, and actually the metal works much better with the cotton blend yarn anyway. Knits much faster. THIS is why I have so many needles! (Well, that and they’re really cool and I just like to buy them.)

Finally, puppies. We bought a fire pit last year and it sat outside all winter long. The puppies found it recently and Grace has fallen in love with the basin. She pushes and pulls it around the yard, tries to flip it, and especially loves to sit in it. I’m not sure we’ll get to use it again as a fire pit.

We had a knitting casualty

Mar4

Yesterday was a sad day in my house. I had to bid farewell to a Knitter’s Pride knitting needle. These are the size 7 14″ needles from the big set I got as a gift last year. I love these needles. But if you’ll remember, I have two puppies.They’re both around a year old, between 60 and 70 pounds, and they love to play. I was sitting on the couch yesterday, knitting along while chatting with my SIL who’d come over for a crafternoon, and the puppies started roughhousing. They love to chase each other around the house, nipping and chewing and falling and bumping. They jumped on the couch where I was sitting, and rammed into me. I was irritated at first because they made me drop a few stitches. I pushed the dogs off, picked up the stitches, and knit on to the end of the row. As I turned the work to start the next, I noticed the needle was bent. My dogs have more power than I realized. (My mother’s reaction: “Do you realize you could have been seriously hurt?”) Anyway, fortunately I have another set of metal size 7s, just not the fancy Knitter’s Pride, and I was able to continue on my Gradient Cowl.That’s the extent of my knitting yesterday. It was not a good yarn today. I do hope today is better. But I will share the photo of my finished Heartbeat Cowl.The pattern is called River Deep, Mountain High but the red made me think of heartbeats. It still needs blocking and will look much better after that, but I adore this color. Makes me want to start wearing red so I can keep it for myself!

Knitting Needles Galore

Nov30

Okay, so remember yesterday I said we spent the day out around Weston, Missouri? Well, the kids wanted to go to HMS Beagle in Parkville, so we stopped there on the way home. I kind of got tired of the science stuff (I know, I’m sorry, I’m terrible) so I went down to the antique mall a couple stores away. I wandered all through it and found only a combination square/level for my son, who likes to woodwork with his dad. THEN! At the very end, on my way to pay, I glanced down and underneath a table I saw THIS:It was so full it wouldn’t close, and the needles were taped together into pairs, so I couldn’t really get into it too much to see what all it held. The tag just said “Assorted knitting needles & case $29”. Well. What knitter would have left it there? Certainly I couldn’t! As soon as I got home I dumped it all out onto the table and was surprised to see some little DPNs and crochet hooks fall out along with the long straights. Unfortunately, they’d all been taped together with scotch tape, so my first step was to clean them all with Goo Gone to get rid of tape residue. Then I washed them all in hot soapy water to get rid of Goo Gone residue. Then I matched up sizes and colors and laid them all out on the table to dry. Behold!In that case were 42 pairs of straight needles, 8 sets of DPNs (some mismatched) and 12 crochet hooks. That’s 62 pieces for $29! Woohoo!! Now, obviously I’ve been crocheting and knitting long enough that I already had some of these sizes, but I was able to supplement my collection pretty well, mostly with smaller sizes and DPNs. Oh yeah, and with Tunisian crochet hooks too! I was delighted to get a size 19 crochet hook. I really love the long red plastic DPNs (they’re on the lower towel, next to the ivory DPNs). There was also a set of red plastic straights, but I accidentally broke one while cleaning it. Oops.

So now I have two complete sets of 14″ metal straights and a pretty full collection of DPNs and Tunisian crochet hooks. I was able to supplement my daughter’s set of knitting needles, and I passed on the two teeny-tiny steel hooks to my SIL. I gave three sets of needles to my daughter for a friend who’s just started knitting. And after all that, I STILL have a set of 11 pairs of knitting needles left over, plus several random pairs! I think I will try to sell them and recoup some of my purchase price. Gotta love antique stores! What’s the best thing you’ve ever found?

Finding Time

May22

This is the busiest time of year if you have kids, which is why I haven’t had time to post anything in ages. The girl had music concerts and recitals and contests and auditions and award ceremonies. The boy had school parties and fifth grade graduation. Add that to the weekly lessons and time spent training the dog, and it means my knitting has fallen too low on my list of priorities lately. I have been finding time to play with my yarn here and there, just not nearly as often as I would like. But now that school is almost over I am eager to ramp it up, and it’ll get easier thanks to my fabulous Mother’s Day present! I told Alex I didn’t want him to spend money on me; I wanted the gift of time and energy. And boy, did it pay off. See, look:

That, my friends, is my new swift. I saw it on Pinterest and have been bugging the hubby for one ever since, and finally he made one! I love it. It works wonderfully, and it can fold up for storage or moving. That’s not all though: he’s been experimenting with turning wood, and I received a beautiful set of maple knitting needles. They’re 14″, US size 17. A bit heavier than the bamboo I’ve worked with before, but that wasn’t a problem once I got used to it.

I couldn’t wait to use them, of course. I wound 5 or 6 balls of yarn first, just to play with my swift, then I poked through Ravelry for a cowl pattern using that size needle. And heck, who could resist something called the World’s Fastest Cowl? I’d been waiting for the right pattern to go with two balls of this super bulky Trendsetter Genie that I’d picked up at an estate sale. I do love my bulky multi-color yarns, you know.

My other Mother’s Day present was knitting time, and the cowl lived up to its name. By the end of the day, I had a fabulous new cowl…that I won’t be able to wear for a few months.

I’ve got a couple other completed projects to share, but I can’t just yet (spoilers!). I also have four WIPs (that’s a lot for me) and plans to start another today. It’s the last full quiet day before school lets out, so I’m going to sit back and enjoy my solitude by casting on something just for me: a teddy bear with this Berroco Ultra Alpaca.