knitting and crochet
Latest Knitting Adventure
While in Iowa this summer I visited a lovely yarn shop. One of their displays was a very cute pair of slippers called Mukluks. These are the cutest things.
I made one and have the other mostly done. I thought I would make these for myself, but alas my son has taken them. He said they are so comfy.
I will post better pictures when I have the other finished. Hopefully tonight.
Swedish Slippers
I have had so much fun the last couple of days knitting up these slippers. It was so easy and I can’t wait to make myself a pair.
I found these as a kit at the Nebraska Fiber Fair in Mitchell on Saturday. Linda George of Rocky Mountain Mittens had a wonderful assortment of already knit items and kits with the pattern included.
These were so fun, that I made my sister a pair.
My Current Project
I started a washcloth today. I didn’t get much time to work on it while cooking for hunters today. Hopefully tomorrow I can get it finished.
My First Design. . . And Many Lessons Learned
I wanted to create a hat for a friend that had color work involved. Therefore I used an app to pull it all together.
Some parts I really like and others like the decreasing, well not so much. I learned a lot and hopefully more attempts in the future.
Current Project
I have been slowly working on a hat for a friend. It is one of those projects that takes concentration and paying careful attention. I created the pattern myself and used an app to generate the patterns for the color work.
What projects are you working on?
Start, rip, start,rip, and finally FINISHED.
Out with Brioche, and in with Fair Isle!
Yesterday I let my frustration go. I decided to put the brioche project on the shelf for now. I had ripped out and ripped out and ripped out until I no longer really wanted to even make the Brioche scarf.
I decided that I needed to do something fun and something quick to get back in the knitting mood. Is that even a real mood? Well for me I think it is!
I have had this Plymouth yarn baby alpaca brush floating around in my yarn bag for a good four months. I have been wanting to make something with it preferably a hat for quite some time and I decided that now would be a perfect time to get it out and get going. It is so soft that I decided I hat with a a little fair Isle pattern would be perfect.
I started this yesterday on the way to the other Ranch to drop off a calf. The kids had picked out three steers for 4H, and they only needed two. This one was a little wild and never wanted to really calm down so he was headed back to all of his buddies at the Lance Creek Ranch.
After starting the reading and getting going on the pattern, I have decided this is so much better than the brioche. Sometimes it’s just not meant to happen.
Hopefully this weather will not keep my new Addie needles delayed too long I am anxious to skip started on JJ’s mittens. This is another new project that has me a little frustrated. I wouldn’t say frustrated but size 2 needles takes a long time to finish. And not only that but, unlike a hat or scarf when you don’t enjoy or look forward to working on something, you know that if you just get through it you will be done. With mittens you have to make another one. That is a true nightmare.
Brioche Stitch! You are my ENEMY!
While visiting my mom the first of February she talked me into, well she just signed me up, for a class on the Brioche stitch. We went over to Rogersville to Sunnyside Yarns. It is a cute little store and easy to find whatever you need.
Well we were introduced to the American Brioche stitch and the Dutch brioche stitch. I conquered each quickly and then visited the remainder of the time. She gave us a simple pattern for a scarf and away we went with one new stitch under our belts.
Then I started working on it. The American way with the slip and yarn over and then knit 2 together is fun and easy. Until, yes until you mess up. Then there is no fixing. It just becomes a mix of loose yarn and holes. Ripping it out is my only option. So I start, mess up and rip out. Start get about 15 rows rip it out. Frustration is not something I enjoy. I like to conquer and move on. I can’t move on past this stitch. I have started to just cut it off instead of ripping it out. Enough was enough.
I decided to decrease my needle size and try the Dutch method. It is just a knit and three knit below stitch. This can kind of be undone. So far so good. We will see how far I get.
Simple but Stylish
I looked and looked over the past six months to find a hat pattern for this yard. It is a hand-painted yarn that I picked up at the Brown Sheep company in Nebraska. It is a very gated yarn and trying to find a pattern is hard. Reading so much on patterns I found you either want the pattern to stand out or you want to going to stand out but you can’t have both. We sticking with that theory trying to find a pattern that will fit this yarn became difficult.
Unlike most people who find a pattern and then go to the yarn store and find a yarn that fits it, I am backwards. Whenever I am at a store I buy lots of yard that I like and then try to find a pattern to make with them later needless to say it has created quite the yarn stash. However I have some of the prettiest yarns and now it is just finding fun patterns to make and I seldom make the same pattern twice.
So this hat is just a simple reading and then knitting all the way up with the decreasing pattern at the top. Very simple but I think it fits well with his hat. It has a slight slouch so it’s kind of stylish. The colors go well with anything and I’m not sure if I’m going to keep it or give it away for now it’s going into my completed pile and I’ll figure that out later.
The Modern Ranch Wife 