This term I’m teaching three noon-hour classes at a local elementary school.
Last week in our “Yarn Play” class we made knitting spools out of toilet paper tubes and popsicle sticks. We used hot glue to secure the popsicle sticks to the tubes, then the kids personalized their knitting spools with stickers and markers.
This week we started knitting using their new spools. There was much excitement as everyone’s knitted cord was long enough to come out of the bottom of the spool.
For those who knit up their cord quickly there was just enough time to make a flower like the one below (instructions here). I’ve been seriously considering offering a noon-hour class that’s all spool knitting. There are so many great project ideas for the knitted cord.
Gail sent me photos of her recent projects for her grandson and this delightful email.
Now finished my grandson’s JoJo sweater and matching Tobie’s mittens. He is 10 and a half months old and lives in Jakarta Indonesia…where the temp all year round is about 30 celcius. But in the fall he will be moving to Kiev, Ukraine where he will make good use of his warm woolies.
I am about to start a matching beret for him as he will be a little bi-lingual Canadian as his mother is from Quebec City and speaks French to him and my son speaks English to him.
What a lucky little guy to have so many experiences and a Grandma who knits for him! Thanks for sharing Gail.
Woohoo! THREE of my designs were selected for an upcoming book by a well known publisher. There is very little I can tell you about the projects right now except that I’m eagerly awaiting the yarn. While I wait I’m working on the spreadsheets and instructions so everything will be in readiness once the yarn arrives.
I’ll be knitting my little fingers to the bone to meet the deadline—about three to four weeks after the yarn arrives.
Mum, I may be drafting you to help when you’re in town!
I’m slogging away on my Rockin’ Sock Club stranded socks. I say “slogging” only because I’m finding the knitting awkward and I really need to do something about my technique. My hands cramp up and I’m having a hard time tensioning the yarn with my left hand.
I have been trying a couple of tricks. I’m knitting the sock inside out so the floats have to travel a little further around the outside circumference of the sock. This should diminish any problems with tight tension. I guess I won’t really know for sure until I block the sock—right now it’s a bit bumpy looking.
Up until now I’ve never joined a sock club or participated in a knit along. Am I missing out?
So this year I decided to join the Rockin’ Sock Club by Blue Moon Fiber Arts—of course you know that they dye the fabulous Socks That Rocks yarn. To date I’ve received two packets of yarn and patterns in the mail … then I realised that unless I want to accumulate more stash, I need to start knitting. By the way, I LOVE Tina’s colourways so far. It’s quite a thrill having someone else choose my colours for me.
Last night I cast on for the first month’s socks. We had a choice of patterns and I chose the one with stranded work. I admire other knitters’ even tension and gorgeous creations. It’s time I got over my personal hurdle of working with two strands and practice.
I’m using the magic loop technique and it’s not too bad so far. The tension is a bit wobbly at the end of the round but I’ll keep practicing and I’m hoping by the end of the first sock to have the problem licked.
Are you a member in any sock/yarn/lace/fibre clubs?
We went to France for spring break so there hasn’t been too much knitting happening around here.
I carefully planned a project for the trip—the Pinkerton shawl from Interweave Knits Spring 2011. I bought a delicious skein of Hand Maiden Mini Maiden, 50% wool, 50% silk in Pewter.
I spent a long time examining the skeins in the store and chose the one with the most silvery light sections. After I started knitting I was disappointed to see the brown colours popping. I felt that the skeins with the darker purply sections probably would have been more satisfying for me.
Although I tend not to do much knitting while traveling, this is the perfect portable project. The knitting is simple and doesn’t require special attention to the instructions. Most of the knitting on this shawl happened upon our return. I have yet to block and photograph it properly.
I’ll have more travel photos to share too once they are organized.
March 14, 2011 at 10:29 am
by Holli · Filed under Knitting
A couple of weeks ago Devan lost his (my) Newfoundland trigger mitten at school. We’ve scoured the school top to bottom and checked the lost and found repeatedly. No mitten. I wore these mittens when I was his age, living in Newfoundland.
I needed a knitting project for a weekend trip to Whistler so … new mittens. When I was researching the trigger mitten blog post I came across Newfoundland bubble mittens. I don’t remember them from my childhood but they looked fun to knit. I read through a couple brief patterns (CreativeWhimsy and Maggiknits) and grabbed some worsted yarn and my needles before we left.
We stayed with a large group of friends and they were amazed to watch the yarn turn into a pair of mittens. (Obviously no knitters in their families!)
Devan had new mittens by the end of the weekend. He decided he would like the colours reversed for the second mitten so they are a mismatched set that he’s been proudly wearing ever since.
Project Stats Pattern: a little bit of CreativeWhimsy, a bit of Maggiknits and a bit me Yarn:Cascade 220 in yellow (7827) and Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Superwash in charcoal (29) Challenges: I kept on underestimating the size of Devan’s hands. I think I reknit the top and thumb three times!
Fibonacci expounded on this concept with an example of rabbit reproduction.
Children’s author Emily Gravett used this premise for her humorous book called The Rabbit Problem. Set out like a wall calendar, each month gets hairier with the rabbits’ antics for surviving in their field and accommodating their growing family.
It’s cold in February so the rabbits knit an orange and cream striped hoody to keep warm.
There are lots of little extras in the book like a carrot cookbook, newspaper and most importantly a knitting pattern.
The instructions are hilarious with abbreviations such as: uw (untangle wool) and ht (have a cup of tea).
As the seasons progress it’s too hot to wear the sweater and it’s pressed into service to dress a scarecrow. Later still there are classified ads in Fibonacci’s Field’s local newspaper for a “bit used and wonky” jumper and knitting stuff for sale. If you spend the time to look at all the little details in the illustrations you’ll be rewarded.
JUMPER
(Pure angora wool) Orange & cream
Bit used and wonky
See Lonely R
KNITTING STUFF
Needles wool etc, barely used. Some wool is knotted. Good project.
Chalk R
Grab this book to see the other antics the rabbits get up to. There’s a hole in all the pages so you can hang it “calendar-style” on your wall and enjoy the illustrations year round.
I’ve been busy as a beaver but there’s nothing I can show for it. I haven’t been submitting to publications very much to date because my schedule didn’t allow me to commit to short deadlines.
I have more flexibility now and it’s time to start the next phase of my design career. Earlier this month I was working hard on pulling together a number of submissions for an upcoming book.
I just heard today that one of my designs was accepted. Yippee!
There’s an up side to the submissions that weren’t accepted for that particular publication. I can either resubmit them elsewhere or publish them myself. I haven’t decided yet what to do but you’ll see them eventually!
and she’ll be at my LYS, 
