Cell Phone/iPod Cozy

(Wow! This is my 4th blog post today!)

I have been asked to teach a class of (28 - 30!!) adults in a continuing education program how to knit over a two day period in a couple of weeks. I figured a small, useful, garter stitch project would be a good project to get them started on.

My recommendation to their teacher was to try and scrounge knitting needles from colleagues and ask the students to see if their parents, grandparents or other family members might have knitting needles they could borrow. The teacher is going to provide the yarn and we'll be able to provide each student with a few extra grams of yarn than the cozy will require.

I thought it was important for the students to experience 100% wool so with a budget in mind, I suggested the teacher buy some Patons Classic Wool for the project. We should be able to wind off about 5 little balls of yarn from each 100g ball. She hopes to use her Michaels 40% off coupons. I will provide the buttons unless the students want to bring their own. Hopefully we'll be able to scrounge some darning needles as well for the finishing. I have a few students can borrow for the class.

So my design for an iPod or cell phone cozy was born. I customarily teach beginners the knitted cast on. I know it isn't used as much as the long-tail cast on but once the student has more or less mastered the knitted cast on, they have pretty much grasped the basics of knitting. I will also be teaching a bind off and (gasp!) even how to do a two-stitch buttonhole by binding off 2 sts and doing a twisted loop cast on in the next row.

Here is the project with the knitting completed. The buttonhole is visible near the pointy end.

After sewing the sides up with a whip stitch and sewing on the button, it is ready for its device.

Ta da!

I really think the students will be able to complete the project in a reasonable amount of time even if there's not enough class time allotted.

I think I'll knit up another one with snazzier yarn...

Faux Cormo

A few weeks ago when I was at The Gathering in Port Hope, I picked up a couple of 50g bags of lime green roving. It wasn't until I got it home, I realized they were not only not the exact same colour but they weren't even the same breed of sheep! One bag was 50g of Key Lime Corriedale and the other was Lime Green Merino.

But the colours were close enough so I figured I'd spin them up and ply them together and have 50/50 Corriedale and Merino yarn - kinda like 'faux Cormo'.

I finished spinning the Corriedale a week or so ago and this evening at our spinning group, I finished spinning the Merino.

When I got home, I plied the two singles and ended up with a nice spool of 2-ply yarn, a little thicker than fingering weight.

It worked out to be 92g and 332g. (Sorry about the crappy photo)

There was a little bit left on the Merino spool so I Andean plyed it in preparation for plying it on the wheel. I learned how to do this when I did a spinning workshop on my UK knitting tour last fall.

It's a great way to prepare a single leaving an inside end (under my watch band) and an outer end which one can then ply together using a spindle or a wheel.

It was 8g of 100% Merino and 33 yd.

Now to find the perfect lace pattern for this handspun...

Finishing More UFOs

I'm forever sorting through the piles of paper (bills, patterns, recipes, etc.) on my desk and recently unearthed several UFOs. I finished the little flowerpot pin cushion the other day.

It was a 'make and take' project we did at the April meeting of the Trillium Embroidery Guild. It was designed by one of our guild members, Carol Arsenault, whose designs are featured in many stitching magazines around the world. This project is the embroidery project that appears on the cover of the current A Needle Pulling Thread magazine.

I had finished all the stitching which consisted of French and Colonial knots so I just needed to fill the flowerpot with fibrefill and glue the 'posies' to the top of the pot. It took about 5 minutes to finish it.

I also finally blocked the Shaun the Sheep project this morning. I modified the pattern somewhat from the original.

Here, you better can see the texture of the white yarn. It was a pain to work with but yielded the desired effect. I had the googly eyes left over from another project.

I'm going to use this fabric for the lining.

The bottom of the knitted piece will fold up and I'll add a zipper and lining and sew up the sides. I think it will look very spiffy once it's done.

Real Italian Souvenirs

While on our epic cruise/Italian land tour last month, we did a bit of shopping. I didn't have anything particular in mind until I saw these Italian landmark beads in Florence. They are Tedora charms and are compatible with Pandora beads.

 

Skip bought me the first one for my birthday.

Il Duomo

I got two more in Florence. 

Ponte Vecchio

Il Giglio - symbol of Firenze

I waited until we were in Rome to get three more.

La Bocca della Verità

The Pantheon

Colosseum

So here are the Florentine beads (with my cruise ship bead)

and these are the Roman Beads (with the Pandora suitcase bead).

I am delighted with my souvenirs of my lovely time in Italy. :-)

Shuttlebugs

One of our spinning group's members, Diane, is a member of the Shuttlebugs Weaving and Spinning Guild in Greenwood, ON. She was so enthusiastic about them she inspired Jennifer, Julia and me to check them out and perhaps join and learn to weave. They have Leclerc Dorothy table looms to loan us as we learn. They meet the 2nd Wednesday of the month so we attended the meeting this week.

Last weekend was WASOON - Weavers And Spinners Of Ontario North in Elliot Lake. The weaving and spinning weekend takes place every year rotating among the cities of northern Ontario.

Most of the meeting consisted of reports about WASOON by three members who attended.

At one of the workshops, they learned how to make toggle buttons from rolled up triangles of leather - the same way you'd roll up a crescent roll.

And every month there is a time for 'Show and Tell'. Here's a cute, little bookmark someone made.

The Shuttlebugs seemed pleased that the four of us were interested in learning their craft. They've arranged to have someone teach us how to weave and our first lesson will be on Monday, May 21.

What really inspired my interest in learning how to weave was seeing the lovely things on this blog. I really want to make this scarf. It only took one skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Painted Sock yarn!

On my way back home, I dropped into the Whitby Civic Recreation Complex to see if they were willing to allow the Whitby Spinners to use part of their space for our Monday night spinning get-togethers. The administrator I spoke to thought it would be a great idea and gave us a couple of areas to choose from in the building. I picked a spot where we'd be very visible but not in a major traffic zone. The best part of this is that it's not going to cost us anything as we are a not-for-profit community group. It's free!! Wheeee!!!

Tomorrow morning I'm going to attend the Alpaca Shearing and Wool Day at Windreach Farm. I'll be taking my wheel and hope to get the last of the lime green merino spun up. I'll try to remember to take some pictures.

Knitting Sunshine

I finished Jennifer's Angel Lace Shawl and got it blocked yesterday.

The yarn is Indigodragonfly Sea Cell Silk - 60% Sea Cell/40% Silk in the What the Hay?! colourway.

I really liked the deep yellow colour. Here's the obligatory sofa shot.

It reminds me of sunshine and sunny days.

It would look smashing covering a dark or white shirt... or any blue or green top.

I still am amazed at what a hard blocking does to a blob of knitted lace.

I'm pretty sure she'll like it.  :-)

Frolicking With Knitters, etc.

On Friday, Marion and I went to the CreativFestival. I haven't attended in the recent past because there are fewer and fewer knitting and cross-stitching vendors but this year, I went with new eyes, now that I have begun to do more sewing and quilting. I bought a couple of kits to make chainmaille bracelets from Hyperlynks. I need to get flat pliers before I tackle one of the kits. There were three sewing machines I could have bought had I decided to make the investment but I held off. Some were really good deals because of the show, but the time wasn't right for me (that $1000 brake job last week put a real crimp in my budget). I can't remember what else I bought but I didn't spend very much money. I was saving for the next day's splurging.

Saturday was the Knitter's Frolic, a knitting show sponsored by the Toronto knitting guild, the Downtown Knit Collective or DKC. There were about 50 vendors and classes scheduled on many aspects of knitting over the weekend. As it is such a big task to organize and many volunteers are needed, I was contacted to see if I would like to volunteer to help out as I have done in the past. My knitterly friend, Jennifer, volunteered to wind yarn for an hour and our 'payment' was free admission, free snacks and beverages in the refreshment room and we got to wear name tags that said 'Volunteer'.

Jennifer and I did a very thorough investigation of all the booths as soon as we got there and again a couple more times after we wound yarn. We didn't want to miss anything.

I held off buying several things that looked alluring (in a knitterly way) but still came away with some 'booty'.

The first thing I bought was this lovely Jawoll Silk blend sock yarn. It was a show special and I couldn't pass up the price.

Several of my hand-knitted sock are showing their age so I want to get some more socks knitted for myself.

This polyester, flax and silk blend was also a show special. I have no idea what I'll knit with it, but I can't pass up a deal.

Here's another skein of yarn from The Black Lamb for socks for myself.

I was relieved to see more of this amazing overdyed superwash pencil roving. Can you believe it was bubblegum pink and orange before Laurie overdyed it?

Starlight is a double knit pattern. I'll be on the hunt for some light fingering weight yarn for this one. I have some mohair/silk laceweight in my stash that I'll use for Whisper.

I also snagged a couple of vials of soft, rubbery stitch markers.

And who could pass this guy up?

He is actually a Milkbone brand dog toy with a squeaker inside. I bought him to add to my ever-expanding sheep/lamb collection (as if I needed to collect more stuff...).

On Sunday, I took Franklin Habit's "Photographing Your Fibre" class. He explained the basic principles of photography and how to create the best lighting conditions for photographing fibre and knitted projects (natural, diffused light; DIY light tent; north facing window; in the full shade on a sunny day, etc.). I have never really studied these basics so it was perfect for me. He also explained how just by changing the white balance (WB) of the camera, you can change the quality of the photo. Most point and shoot cameras today have everything needed to take a good photo of one's fibre, yarn skein or project. It's just a matter of understanding how you can change the settings to get the best shot. Most of all he encouraged us to take photos all the time, several of the same thing with different settings and lightings and then determine the settings of the photos we liked the best.

Franklin also talked about composition and how 'props' can be used to enhance the photo rather than distracting from the main subject.

He has strong beliefs about what he likes, yet is gentle and, I believe, somewhat shy. I was one of the few people who asked if he is accustomed to posing for photos with 'fans'. He graciously accepted my invitation.

Yes, Franklin is quite compact in stature. We both had heels on our shoes that were about the same height. I'm only 5' 6" and I felt like I towered over him. He had a busy weekend and I believe he really liked our Canadian hospitality (and cookies and butter tarts). He was kind of bummed out to not have seen a Mountie. He thought they'd be wandering around like the cartoon characters at Disneyworld. Once it was explained to him that Mounties do not do policing for municipal or provincial matters in Ontario (or Québec), he understood why he wasn't seeing them all over the place.

That was another item checked off my 'bucket list'.

This morning, I dropped into Lena's school where she is the vice-principal and has a knitting club that meets every Monday at lunch. Participants are in Grades 6 - 8. I took my drop spindle and spinning wheel to show them how yarn is made. Some of the kids had seen spinning wheels on TV before. After my demo, I sat and knit with them until the end of lunch.  It was fun. Hopefully, they'll knit together again next year and I'll be able to drop in more frequently. (I blurred the kids' faces because I wasn't sure I was permitted to put their images on the Internet - erring on the side of caution).

This young lady had her own knitting loom.

It's great for knitting in the round.

Tonight, I met with my spinning group at the coffee shop. There were 5 of us and we took up almost a whole section of the place. I hope we can find a good place to go sometime soon. I have a couple more ideas of places where we might be able to go.

After I got home from spinning, I was feeling somewhat tired. After reading what I just wrote, I understand why. Having all this fun can be tiring! Who knew?