Some felting magic!

With my two felting projects finished Saturday night, yesterday was felting day! Even though everything is still in the process of drying I thought I would post my results as I am very excited to show everyone. Felting is magic...at least that is what my youngest son thinks :)

My tote bag before feltingand after felting

My first project was a felted tote bag. My bag although modified is based on the pattern for
Baby's Got a Brand New Big Bag by Maia. Janice inspired me to knit this bag. Janice is quite the bag lady. I just love all of her creations. As far as my modifictions for this wonderful bag go...I knit the bag as the pattern states, but with no decreases. I just knit it straight up from the bottom and I did my own striping effect. I used a mixture of Moda Dea Cartwheel - hazey and Paton's Classic Merino - new denim and denim marl. I am happy with the results. Both yarns felted very well together, but I did expect the bag to be a bit bigger. Next time I'll have to make one even bigger!!

My second felting project was the fiber trend felted clogs. I have heard and read so much about this pattern I just had to try it. I purchased the pattern at my local LYS. In fact when I went to buy it they needed to order it for me...guess that states the obvious as it must be a very popular pattern. This pattern is truely amazing. I enjoyed knitting them and I'm sure there will be more in my knitting future. Once agin I used my tried and true felting yarn Patons Classic Merino - dark grey mix and peacock. Since they did not go through the spin cycle, they are still soaking wet this morning. How long does it take for them to dry completely? Now I have to do some research to make the soles slip proof. I have some ideas, but want to check them out further first chance I get. The clogs (women's size 10) are huge before felting. You can see them next to my old pair of clogs:

before felting

after felting they look like a perfect fit!

I'm going to knit a pair for my husband sometime. He wears a men's size 13 so I can't even imagine how big they will be before felting!

Off and running...happy knitting :)

Yes, I did make another ballband!

First of all I wanted to tell you that I have been working on another project... actually two, but I'm not ready to show you just yet...sorry! The only hint I'll give you is that they both involve felting.

In the meantime I've been working on knitting up some more of my chenille yarn for washcloths. I can't believe I did it, but yes, I knit another ball band! It still is my favorite cloth after all and I thought it would be fun to see it in chenille.
I used my cotton chenille yarn from PASA yarn mill (Uxbridge, MA) along with Peaches & Cream - shaded denim. Actually I like mixing the Peaches & Cream cotton with the chenille. It gives the cloth a little more body. I'm dying to try it out. I'm totally in love with the other chenille cloths I have made. The easiest one to make is grandmother's favorite and it works and washes great. My middle guy likes my chenille hob nail cloth. I was surprised when he tried it out last week. Usually the boys could care less about my knitted cloths...so I was very glad when I noticed that he had used it and when I asked he said he liked it :)

I also experimented with one of the stitch patterns in Barbara Walker's "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns"..."Dots and Dashes". You can also find the stitch pattern here.
I used Bernat Handcrafter cotton- robins egg with the chenille. I think I should have made a border as it seems a little bit wonky. I think it will make a good wash cloth. Will be anxious to see it's shape after being washed!

Guess that's about it for now.
happy knitting :)

My new pattern board!

I thought I would share with you this nifty idea I discovered in my travels from one of my fellow knitting bloggers. I outfitted myself with the necessary ingredients to make myself this magnetic pattern board. I got the idea from Lisa. I bought a magnetic memo board at the stationery dept. at walmart. In addition I bought a roll of magnetic tape which can be found in the craft dept. Both things together cost less the $10.00. I mounted colorful orange paper to the back side of the magnetic tape since one side is sticky.
Now I can easily keep track of where I am in my pattern. I was used to using a pencil to mark the rows that were done.... this way is much better. Thanks, Lisa :)

Since today is Valentine's Day I made my boys a treat...Self Frosting Cupcakes. You can check them out here.

Happy Valentines Day :)
and Happy Knitting :)

Hob Nail Dish/Wash Cloth Pattern

My Hob Nail dish/wash cloth pattern is based on a stitch pattern found in Barbara Walker's "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns". Meg Swanson of www.schoolhousepress.com kindly gave me permission to use the cluster stitch pattern. Thank you Meg!

When and if you knit a cloth with this pattern, please send me your pictures and I'll post them in my gallery :) Thanks!

Edited: 8/9/07
Please email me if you would like the PDF file of this pattern for easier printing. I would be happy to email it to you. I am looking for another site to host my patterns in the PDF format. If anyone can recommend a reliable free site please let me know. Thanks :)
Edited: 9/28/2007
Click here to download pattern PDF file. Please email me with any problems or questions. Thanks!
Materials: Worsted weight cotton yarn or cotton chenille. ( I used my cotton from a cone. Probably one small ball will be enough.) Size 7 needles and one double pointed needle (dpn)

Gauge: Really doesn't matter.
Using long tail cast on, cast on 43 stitches.

Knit 5 rows. If using a different cast-on method knit one more row. You should have 3 garter ridges.

Row1: Knit 4, Purl 35, Knit 4

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: Knit 4, Purl 35, Knit 4

Row 4: Knit 8, * knit next 3 sts and transfer the 3 sts just knitted onto dpn; then wind yarn 6 times counterclockwise (looking down from top) around these three sts under dpn; then return the 3 sts to right-hand needle (cluster 3); knit 3; rep from * , end knit 8.

Row 5: Knit 4, Purl 35, Knit 4

Row 6: Knit

Row 7: Knit 4, Purl 35, Knit 4

Row 8: Knit 5, * cluster 3, k3, rpt from *, end knit 5

Repeat rows 1 - 8 , 4 times then rpt rows 1 -7 one time.

Knit 5 rows and bind off.

Cluster Stitch pattern printed by permission of Schoolhouse Press www.schoolhousepress.com .
Copyright ©2007 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Hob Nail Dish/Wash Cloth

In searching for a good pattern for my cotton chenille yarn I came up with my own pattern with the help of Barbara Walker. I wanted a pattern that would show some design, rather than become blurred as chenille has a tendency to do.
I'm calling the cloth "Hob Nail" because the texture reminds me of Hob Nail glass. This is an extremely easy pattern as it only has one easy pattern row, but it does have a technique that I had never done before. I think it has a different and unique look and I think the texture will make it a good cloth :)You use a third needle (double point) to wrap a group of stitches and that is what creates the bump. I have not found this technique used in a dishcloth pattern so far in my searches. Bobbles, yes, but not this stitch. Here is a close-up of the wrapping or winding:
This pattern is considered or classified as a cable stitch, but it does not involve any crossing over so really and truely is not a cable and since it uses a third needle it is classified as such technically speaking. The bump or "hob nail" created is a cluster stitch. You can get a variety of looks by how tight you wind the clusters. My cotton chenille cloths are wound a little less tight than the cloth I made with regular cotton yarn. By winding it very tight you can get a smocking effect, which I have not tried.
I even like the look of the back of the cloth:
Let me know if you are interested in the pattern. If so, I'll write it up for you and post it later :)

Happy Knitting :)

Look, see what I finished this week!

Well, for those of you who are wondering, yes, I do have more socks in my future. Many I hope. I have enough yarn in my stash for three more pairs. I will eventually get back to them and will keep you up to date when I do :)

Hallelujah, I finally finished the prayer shawl that I started quite some time ago...seems like eons now. This one is made the long way with the yarn that was donated by Coats and Clark to our church.
I love how this turned out and I didn't have to install any fringe when I was finished knitting. This was a great take-along project. I would knit on it while waiting for doctor's appointments ( my 90 year old Dad has many!) and during basketball games as well as waiting while my boys had their private music lessons. I think it will be a good one for either a man or a woman. My husband picked up on that right away. He usually doesn't have too much to say about my knitting, but I do think he likes this one. The beige and black yarn is probably Red Heart acrylic and what makes the shawl special is the addition of Red Heart Casual Cot'n Blend Yarn. All of the yarn had no labels and looked like mill ends. I knit 3 rows of each color, alternating the colors in a pattern.
Needing a break, I decided to give the Four Corners dishcloth a try. I made two.
This is a different sort of dishcloth pattern that I found though my Monthly Dishcloth Yahoo group. It is based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's square baby blanket pattern. First time for me doing the invisible cast on method and garter stitch grafting. (Good directions for this and the invisible cast on is in the back of EZ's Knitting Almanac.) The pattern consists mostly of short row knitting. It's a fun pattern to try and you get the added bounus of learning a couple of new techniques. You can find the pattern on 1870 Pearl's website. The link for the pattern is in the right hand side column.

Recently after trying out my cotton chenille washcloth that I made...I knew I had to get busy and make more. Remember the cotton chenille I bought at the mill a while back? And the cloth I made from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book? Well, I absolutely love that cloth. It makes the all time best, softest washcloth. Not very pretty color wise, but it it's just great. This type of yarn does not lend itself well to most dish/wash cloth patterns, so I thought I would try it with grandmother's favorite. I used size 7 needles and kept knitting until I had 50 stitches.
I'm going to make a bunch of these. I'm not so crazy about the mason dixon one - construction wise, mainly because it doesn't lay flat or fold well, so I'm searching for another pattern. For now the old stand by will do.