I finished stitching this last Monday.
Sunday, 16 March 2025
Cardinal’s Winter - Stitching is Done
Friday, 14 March 2025
A Potato Chip Pattern? (I Couldn't Knit Just One)
I released the red, blob from the blocking pins and wires and am very pleased at how it turned out.
I found more golden yellow yarn in my stash and knit another one yesterday, ending at about 12:45am. It is the fourth one I've knit. This yarn is YvieKnits Sparkly Sock yarn - 75% merino superwash/20% nylon/5% stellina. I purchased it 12 years ago at the Campbellford Spin-in.
I used a small part of this skein for some of the buildings in my Trondheim mittens.
Tuesday, 11 March 2025
I Started Another VEVO Yesterday and Fnished it Today
The yellow VEVO blocked out beautifully. The paper lets the laciness show - so light and airy.
Pinning out the points really highlights the lace.It tucks very nicely around the neck. It’s so light, yet as warm as a scarf would be. Then can be easily shoved into a pocket.
I started another one yesterday - this time using red Lang Merino 400 lace yarn. Again, I plied two strands together to make fingering weight yarn.
These are so quick and easy to knit. I used stitch markers on every repeat on the brown, alpaca one I knit last week. On the last two, I could read the lace well enough not to need all the stitch markers. The purl stitches at the beginning of every round on the chart made it easy to keep alignment of the lace pattern.
Saturday, 8 March 2025
Monkey Craft Brain - Being Multicraftual
The resulting yarn was about fingering weight.
Friday, 7 March 2025
Vent D’Est Vent D’Ouest (VEVO)
I’m pleased at how the latest neck ring turned out after blocking.
It is so light and airy. Being alpaca, it is very snuggly around the neck, yet doesn’t have the bulk of a scarf.
It is easily jammed into a pocket, then easily pulled over the head.I’m going to check the laceweight and sock yarns in my stash and cast on another tonight. It only took three days to knit this. I don’t have any fixed plans for the weekend so can probably get a lot done before Monday.
Thursday, 6 March 2025
Saying Goodbye
The brawny movers came today to take away my piano.
I proclaimed 'Slava Ukraini' when they told me where they were originally from. They did an excellent job of getting the piano onto the dolly,
out the front door and up onto the truck.I texted Jen3 when they left so she would be ready to receive them at her end. She sent me a picture of it in its new location.
I was kinda surprised at how emotional I felt after the guys left. Somehow it marked the end of a era. The piano had been a graduation gift from my mother 48 years ago. It didn't make it out of her house and with me until 6 years later when I bought my first home - then continuously over the next 42 years. I practiced on it in high school, played carols on it every Christmas, played tunes by the Carpenters, Elton John, Antonio Carlos Jobim, the Peanuts gang. I practiced piano parts for my vocal music class on it. Scooter practiced on it over the 10 years or so of his piano lessons.
Once out of the house, I moved the sofa over so it would be centred on the area rug for the first time. I also had to move the picture over to centre it above the sofa as well.
Then I set up the new keyboard, organized my piano music a bit, and played for about an hour. It nice to not have to tune it - just turn on the power and go.
Even though I filled most of the space with the keyboard, it really does feel more spacious in the living room. Next, I'll have to do something about the flooring but that will have to wait until after the kitchen renovations.
I also finished knitting the neck warmer I started a two days ago. I used a ball of baby alpaca yarn I bought at Toft Farm in Dunchurch, England when I was on my UK knitting tour in 2011. The free pattern is Vent D'Est Vent D'Oest (VEVO) by Marie Adeline Boyer. I cast on the smaller size and knit Chart A according to the pattern and Chart B twice using a 4mm needle. It didn't use up the whole ball of yarn. I gave it a soak and have it pinned out to dry.
It should be ready to wear tomorrow.Sunday, 2 March 2025
A Stretchy Bindoff and Kitchener Stitch
Poppy has been knitting like a fiend, finishing her Icelandic sweater for our upcoming trip. She recently consulted with me about how she should do the collar as she was modifying it from the original pattern. She decided to do a crew neck by knitting a ribbed collar and folding it, anchoring the edge inside where the yoke meets the collar.
Her first attempt yielded too tight a bindoff so we had to figure something else out. I invited her over to my place so we could solve the issue. After another failed attempt on my part, I realized we needed to do a stretchy bindoff at the same time we were attaching the edge of the collar to the inside. This is the bindoff we used:
Knit 2 sts, slip the first stitch over the second one, do a yarnover and slip the remaining stitch over the yarnover, leaving one stitch on the right needle. *Knit another stitch, slip the first over the second, then yarn over and slip the stitch over that. Repeat from * until all the stitches have been bound off.
The final task was to graft the stitches that were on holders under the arms. I showed, then taught Poppy how to do Kitchener stitch (grafting) joining two swatches together.
Next I put the stitches from the two holders onto the two needles and started grafting a couple of stitches. I taught her the little chant, “Knit, slip, purl; purl, slip, knit”. Then let her do the rest of the stitches on the first underarm. We then got the stitches for the second underarm onto the needles and she did the whole graft by herself. Brava!
Then I showed her how to darn the holes on each side of the graft, running the darning needle around like a drawstring, then weaving the end in.