The quilting guild to which I belong started a fun actiity this year and I have gotten on the bandwagon. Each member was asked to list their unfinished projects (UFOs) on a specially prepared sheet of paper. That sheet was filed in a file folder and kept at the guild. As members finish projects, they check them off on their filed form. At each meeting, members who have completed projects get to take part in a drawing for prizes, and of course, they are encouraged to bring in their previously UFOs for show-and-tell.

I only had about 15 UFOs, but some members had lists in the hundreds. Just the activity of going through my knitting/quilting space to make the list made me aware of the sheer volume of projects I have that have been sitting around for years. It really feels good to mark an item off the list, and I will be taking 2 items to the next guild meeting for show-and-tell.

pictures to follow soon, and here they are.

I’ve been busy since the beginning of January. Having completed several projects, it seemed expedient to share them. This sweater is Waterlily from Book of Fair Isle Knitting by Alice Starmore.

I knit it with Brown Sheep’s Nature Spun in a Sport Weight. My daughter will enjoy this for her birthday in April.

Then I discovered Margaret E. Fisher’s new (and first) book titled Seven Things that can “Make or Break” a Sweater, which is published by Vanduki Press. The book is organized into 7 chapters: Cast-On Edge, Increasing in Ribbing, Slanting Decreases, Invisible Increases, Blocking, Picking Up Stitches for Bands, and Buttonholes. What makes the guide so great is a little Baby Cardi in the Pattern section at the back of the book. The cardigan relates to the seven previous chapters, so as you read and learn or polish a technique you can then use that skill in the cardigan. Also in the Pattern section are 6  more garments to make: Diamond Yoke Pullover, Eugenie’s Cardigan, Two-Texture Pullover, Sweater without Sleeves, Color Tie Cardigan, and My Sister’s Sweater. Photos of the Baby Cardi are below. The white with stripes was made with Jill Eaton worsted weight yarn, and blue with Berroco’s Comfort.

It has been too long since I last wrote. I had a little surgery, the election came and went, and during my recovery, I did a lot of knitting. Interestingly, the Cast On (November, 2008-January 2009) issue that includes my name for passing Level III is also the best Cast On I have seen since becoming a member.

The issue features mittens, and while I have not devoted a lot of time to making them in the past, I couldn’t wait to get started on these.

In a new section titled “Fahion Framework Series”, Arenda Holladay presents a basic introduction to mittens and follows that with a Mitten Lesson that is very detailed. Everything that is in a framed text box is part of the pattern. Everything that is in NOT in a framed box is explanatory. Photos are provided for clarification. All of that takes 5 pages with a bibliography. The super part is that 3 more patterns follow – variations of the basic pattern that began the now total of 9 pages.

The extra mittens are each proceeded with Beyond the Pattern information. Explanations are in red type and labeled as Technical Tips.

Earlier in the issue, Holladay provides a Cable Stitch Lesson, which is the first “in an ongoing series of Stitch Anatomy technique articles”. Once you work through that lesson, which produces a cabled pillow, you can move on to a cabled shoulder bag – the Beyond the Pattern addendum for that topic. Also included in the issue are cabled sweaters, mittens, a cabled sock pattern, and a skirt pattern.

You’ve got to check this out. Cast On has arrived.

Welcome and come back often. This is a trial. I have been writing a blog elsewhere, but think I like the look of things here. I will write once a week – about knitting, quilting, and life in general. As I learn the lay of the land here I’m sure the site’s design will become more decorate.

I just discovered this amazing site and have started knitting swatches like a fiend. http://thewalkertreasury.wordpress.com/The organizers of the group, mostly college students if I understand correctly, have undertaken the task of providing photos for all of the stitch patterns in Walker’s four volumes. It’s a gargantuan effort, and many other knitters are contributing. Knitting a swatch is fun to do when you are bored to tears with the 16″ of Stockinette stitch you have to do before your current sweater pattern gets interesting.

You have to apply to them, sign up for a pattern, and they email you back. I don’t think they every turn anyone away – they just want to insure that two contributors aren’t working on the same swatch. At any rate, I strongly urge everyone to hop on over and take a look.

On The Needles

Socks for a granddaughter

Sweaters for two granddaughters

Squares for an afghan

Swatches for a new Fair Isle I am designing.

With much excitement, I have begun working on swatches to include in the Walker Treasury Project. I started with the Quaker Ridging from Barbara Walker’s first book, A Treasury of Knitting Pattterns. The swatch directions are on page 15.

The stats for Quaker Ridging are –

Yarn: Cascade 220
Wraps Per Inch:
Needles: U.S. 8s (5mm)
Gauge: 5 sts = 1”
Pattern: Quaker Ridging
Stitch Count Repeat:  Any number of sts
Book: A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Page: Page 15

Also on page 15 is Waving Rib Pattern.

Yarn:    Cascade 220
Wraps Per Inch:
Needles: U.S. 8s (5mm)
Gauge: 7.75 sts = 1”
Pattern: Wavy Rib Pattern
Stitch Count Repeat: Multiple of 6sts
Book:    A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Page:    Page 15

These two patterns are listed on the Walker Treasury Project as not worked yet, but I have now uploaded them to the Flickr Group pool’s Walker Treasury listings.

Last night I taught the first Beginning Knitting class at my LYS – 10 students, 2 of whom were left-handed. What a challenge and what fun it was. Afterwards I came home and taught my self to knit left handed. Having been a keyboard player most of my life, I think my finger and hand independence level is pretty high, and while my little left-handed swatch took longer than normal to work, the tension is not perfect but not bad – perhaps a little looser than is my usual. I’m sure it would improve with practice.

To knit the swatch of Stockinette stitch below, here’s what I did:

• Hold needle with CO row in right hand.
• Hold empty needle and working yarn in left hand.
• Row 1: To knit: insert left needle into front leg of st, right to left, front to back, and wrap counterclockwise.
• Row 2: To purl – insert left needle into back leg of st, back to front, right left, and wrap clockwise.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who finds this helpful or in error. This was experimental and is only my solution. The swatch doesn’t have any twisted stitches as you can see.

Stockinette Stitch

I spent the weekend looking after grandchildren, and took along Walker Treasury Project swatches to work on. I completed 5 swatches, but was only able to upload 3 today. The other two will go up tomorrow. This is such fun, because I feel involved in an important project – as if I am contributing to something of value – and I am learning all sorts of new stitch patterns at the same time. The Twisted Check Pattern also looks quite nice from the reverse side.

I know I could have chosen more exciting patterns to knit, but most of these Simple Knit-Purl Combinations have not been worked yet, and somebody has to do them. It might as well be me. Stop by and take a look.

It’s been a busy ten days since I last wrote here. I finished a sweater and a poncho for my granddaughters for Christmas, and worked up 17 swatches for the Walker Treasury Project. http://thewalkertreasury.wordpress.com/ That group has reorganized, added new moderators/administrators, cleaned up the database of more than 1,700 stitches in Barbara Walker’s four Treasuries and Mosaic Knitting, and will go public within a few days with an improved home page. The swatches that I worded are all on the WTP site, or you can view thumbnails of them below:

This pattern is just plain fun to knit. The cuff is worked separately, and then stitches are picked up to work on down the leg toward the heel. The little decorations, holly and red beads, are knit and applied after the stocking has been finished and blocked.

The pattern is now available for sale on Ravelry.

You will find a few other patterns there as well.

OK. I know this blog is supposed to be about knitting, but I think the original description says something about “musings on life.” Well, these are my musings.

I’m fed up with politics and politians. It is a matter of the Constitution that “We, the People” have the power, and I think it’s time that we exercise it. We can whine about the corruption in Washington, but unless we rise up and vote as a body, we have no right to complain.

We must refuse to return Senators and Representatives to another term if they have inserted pork projects into bills. We must refuse to return them if they are derisive and refuse to work with their counterparts across the aisle. We must refuse to vote for politicans who are caught with their hands in our pockets.

It has become prevalent in the past 15-20 years to support an issue, i.e. Gay rights, abortion, right to life, etc., and disregard all the other issues that are also important. This must stop. As voters it is our responsibility to consider all of the issues. Voting for a candidate based upon their stance on a single issue is short-sighted and often uninformed.

There – I’ve had my say and feel strongly about it. The time is now. I wish this germ had bloomed 6 months ago instead of just 3 weeks before an election, but it didn’t. There are 3 weeks left to research the voting records of your congressmen/congresswomen. You can go here to search all actions of Congress, and I urge you to do so.

Way too much, I’m afraid. Let’s see – there are 2 pairs of socks, a new design for a tunic I am working on. I had hoped to submit it for the Knitting Guild Association’s Yarnmarket design contest, but there just wasn’t enough time to knit the item. Also, a cable tunic that was very popular a year ago, an Intarsia felted bag for a class I will be teaching, and …. there must be more. Clearly there aren’t enough hours in the day.

The gifts are wrapped, the cookies decorated, the grocery shopping done, and all that’s left to be done is a last-minute vacuum. Family begins arriving Christmas Eve and arrives in shifts through the 26th. It will be a full house, and with 5 grandchildren, probably a noisy one as well. That’s as it should be.

Knitting projects for gifts include 3 sweaters, a poncho, 2 earflap hats, 5 pairs of mittens, 3 pairs of sox, and a partridge in a Pare tree. Oh, there is also a quilt for an Olympic-size queen bed and a quilted Welcome banner.

When the rush is over, the wrapping paper in the trash, and family has eased on out, I look forward to a peaceful New Year with lots of time for knitting. I wish you all the save.

New Year’s Resolutions? I’ll try to be better about writing here.