Hello I am your new host

Dear Lovely knitters,

My name is Elizabeth (But people call me Liz). I am happily married, have 2 cats, and one beautiful girl (who is about to start school). My hobbies are vast but here are some of them:

* Reading

* Writing

* Listening to and composing music

* And of course Knitting!!!

I have inherited this blog from the original owner, she has had many medical issues and the doctors are still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong. Unfortunately she has a lot of stress and… chaos that keeps her from maintaining and posting. So she kindly asked me to take ownership. I humbly agreed and we can all hope that she is (one day) able to possess this blog once again.

She has asked me to inform you all that she finished the baby shower socks and is still working on the test shawl. She has also asked me to post a picture when the test knit is over. I shall honor her wishes and do so. Now for my works in progress. Right now I am working on a pair of my plain jane vanilla socks (The pattern I use, is Ayla’s plain jane vanilla socks with a tweak, I change the cast on stitches; more on that in a moment). I am also going to start making my first ever lace shawl, I am having a hard time choosing a pattern but I believe I will make Annis. But instead of making the nupps I will replace them with beads (I apologize to the people that like bobbles and nupps, but I do not).

Here is the “formula” I used to figure out how many stitches to cast on for the plain jane vanilla socks.

Take your gauge and multiply it by your ankle circumference

Take the number you receive from the top and multiply it by 0.9 or 0.8 (this results in 10 or 20% negative ease, which “helps” your sock stay up better.

The last step is to round up or down (as needed) to get the stitches needed to make your sock. If the stitch pattern is quite stretchy, you can cast on fewer; if it is rather stiff, one or two more won’t hurt.

Here are a couple of examples:

8 * 9 = 72

72 * 0.9 = 64.8 (round up to 65)

72 * 0.8 = 57.6 (round up to 58)

 

8 * 6 = 48

48 * 0.9 = 43.2 (round down to 43)

48 * 0.8 = 38.4 (round down to 38)

** If you already have a whole number just take away the decimal, this only applies to numbers that you round down.

I hope this helps you. Until next time, stay safe and warm and keep knitting

Baby shower knitting

I have put the shawl that I am test knitting temporarily on hold (at least until Sunday). I have been invited to my sister in laws baby shower, and I need to make socks for her ASAP! If you don’t hear from me until next week, just know that I am knitting like a mad woman on baby socks.

To every member in my house:

Do not bother me unless you are broken, bleeding, or someone is on fire! IT is mandatory that I knit. Do not (under any circumstances) bother me while I am knitting! If I am not knitting (i.e. taking a short break) then you can bother me. But other then that, leave me alone. Do not make this woman grow the fangs of doom and glare at you.

Its my birthday

Today marks the day that I was born, and on this very special day I am playing and spending time with my daughter (my beautiful angel) and I am (more then likely) going to knit later on tonight. And what will I be knitting on? Who knows. I might knit on a shawl, I might knit on a sock, it might have beads, but I haven’t figured out what I am going to knit. And I will let that be a surprise. Hope everyone’s day is going well. Until next time, I am going to sit on the chesterfield and look at the many patterns on ravelry and hopefully get inspired.

It seems like forever

It seems like forever since I last posted, I have been having fun with my “medical journey” and have had some family issues come up that have kept me from posting. But here I am, alive and knitting like a mad women. I am (now) working on 2 shawls. One you have seen which is Kassandra and the other is a test knit called seashells. I wish I could show you a picture of that one, but until I have permission from the author to post a picture; you will unfortunately have to use your imagination (that or go on ravelry ((my rav id is ayla)) and look under red seashells.)

Usually I am not the type of knitter that works on one project at a time, but since the test knit has to be done and blocked by the end of may, I have a deadline to meet so sadly I must work on the seashells shawl until I get it done. But I am happy to say that I am almost done with the 4th repeat of chart B which means that I only have 4 repeats of chart D and 1 of chart E. So in essence you could say that I am (almost) half way. But I do have a question. I am making this shawl out of super wash wool, and having never blocked anything before; I am wondering if super wash wool can be blocked and how to do it. If you have any tips, tricks, or suggestions please leave them in the comments section. Until the next time I post, happy knitting, and stay warm and safe!

A new start

Today, marks the first day of my attempt at knitting a shawl. This is the FIRST ever shawl, that I have knit. Needless to say I am excited. But I realize that staring at a knitting chart on a computer screen makes my eyes strain and I become confused as to where I am. So here is a tip, print out the pattern and save your eyeballs!

For those of you that are curious, I am knitting Kassandra. I am using Wollmeise Roter Himbeermund. And here is a picture of what I have done, just in one day. I am quite impressed at how “fast” this shawl is knitting up!

Finally the test knit is done

Finally the test knit is done, and now what you have all been waiting for. I present to you my plain jane vanilla sock pattern, from what I have gathered from the testers the sock may fit a newborn, 3 and 6 month old. Hope you enjoy the pattern!

My plain jane vanilla baby socks

Finished the scarf

Yesterday, I had measured the scarf to see how much more I had to knit; in order to make the length I desired. I measured and found out that I only had 4 more inches to go (which according to my gauge meant that I had 22 rows ((10 ridges))). I sat down, determined to finish. While knitting I skyped with my best friend, still knitting on the scarf and chatting. Unbeknownst to me, I assume I got out of the knitting black hole, because when I measured the scarf; I had 5 ft 5 and 1/2 inches long. I had originally wanted the scarf to be 5 ft long, but an extra 5 and 1/2 inches doesn’t bother me any.

So what this means is that, late last night I finished the scarf. Unfortunately I had to go to bed, and didn’t have time to take a picture. But now I am awake and full of energy. So, I present to you; a couple pictures of the completed scarf. I hope you enjoy looking at them. I know I do

Here is a picture of my baby socks

I have successfully designed my own plain jane vanilla baby sock pattern. It is currently being test knit and will be available when the test knit (and corrections) are completed. But here is a spoiler picture, hope you enjoy! I am off to make another pair!!!

Designing once again

It is true that I had completed one baby bootie (pattern by the Yarnharlot) but for whatever reason the pattern rubbed me the wrong way. Its not that it isn’t cute, it is. But something was off. And I think I know what it is. In my mind making baby booties or socks should be “quick and relatively painless.” and the main thing that slowed me down was that I had to do a purl row in order to make garter stitch on circular or dpn’s.

So off I went to search ravelry, for what seems like years but was probably only hours. I was looking at page after page of small baby booties and then baby socks. I swear looking at all those pages made me dizzy. Non the less, I was unsuccessful at finding the “perfect baby sock or bootie”. So I decided to design my own. And before you ask, it is a baby sock because according to my aunt (who also knits) baby socks and booties are interchangeable (they are basically the same thing) except baby socks tend to stay on better. Once I have the pattern written out, I will have it test knit and then post the pattern here on the blog. But for those of you who can’t wait, here is a spoiler picture.

and before you ask, the yarn is Regia cotton India color. Dyelot 4311 in the color blue.

I am such a procrastinator

I am such a procrastinator. I realize you all were looking forward to seeing pictures of the completed booties. But sadly I will admit that I have become a procrastinator as of late. I know, I know grab the stones to stone me later. What I have been working on is a pattern called the skinny scarf. Here is a picture

and yes before anyone asks, the yarn is purple and it is lands’ end feel good yarn. I do not know how warm this scarf will be, but man it is quite soft (both to the touch and on skin)!