Lindy's Knits & Laces Blog

This Blog has moved

2009-08-14T16:45:00.002-05:00

Lindy's Knits & Laces Blog has moved. Click on the link below to find my blog:

www.lindysknitslaces.com/wordpress

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T20:42:00.002-05:00

It's spring! We've had a cool start to spring this year. But the bushes and the trees are now budding and the grass is beginning to turn green. The threat of snow has gone and now we only have rain and thunderstorms in our forecast. Daytime temperatures are now between 55 and 60.

I wish for everyone to have a Happy Easter this Sunday. I will be enjoying dinner with my family and giving a prayer of thanks for the blessing of being able to do so.

Summer Knitting

2008-07-07T07:15:00.003-05:00

I'm back after a 9 week hiatus. Life sometime intervenes in personal activities and I haven't had time to blog since just after my son's wedding. Things seem to be settling down and since we have hit that time of the summer when there's not much on TV to watch, I may have some time in the evenings to work on my blog and my website.

For the next few posts, I'm going to focus on the topic of "Summer Knitting". Summer is that time of year when I like to have a few smaller projects going on my needles. Small projects are very portable and can be easily tossed into the car or suitcase when heading out of town on a trip. These projects also need to be fairly simple patterns -- I don't like having to concentrate on a complex pattern when traveling or sitting with friends/relatives.

My first summer knitting project was a knitted doily. Knitted doilies are a bit of novelty for me -- since I also crochet, I have always crocheted my doilies and never really gave much thought to the possibility that doilies could also be knitted. However, I have recently discovered two lovely patterns for knitted doilies on the web and I knit them up using size 10 crochet cotton thread and size US 3 needles.

Doily 1 is “Liz Snella’s Heirloom Doily”. Finished it measured 12 inches in diameter. I used double point needles to start and then switched to a 24 inch circular needle. As with all doilies, this pattern knit up quickly and I was able to finish it in a couple of evenings.

Doily 2 is named “Doily with Star”. Finished it measured 10 inches in diameter. With this doily, I used two circular needles rather than double points and a circular needle. Again, I was able to finish this doily in only a few hours of knitting.

I gave both of these doilies to my MIL for Mother’s Day. She was delighted – and since she doesn’t knit, she was also surprised that I had knitted them rather than crocheted them.

So – if you are looking for a small summer project: try knitting a doily. It’s a great way to practice using double points and/or two circular needles. I’ve included links to the two patterns below.

Happy knitting. Lindy

Links to patterns: Liz Snella's Heirloom Doily

Doliy with Star

Secret of the Stole II: Savannah Completed

2008-04-14T07:34:00.003-05:00

Finished hint 9 on 3/28/08 – just a week ahead of my son’s wedding. Didn’t have time to post pictures until now – busy with all the wedding activities. The bride loved the stole and she looked lovely wearing it with her wedding gown.

We don’t have pictures from the wedding yet, but here are a couple of pictures of the hint 9 and the completed stole.

The completed stole was very soft and draped beautifully.

Now working on finishing up the other shawl I have on needles – this one is for my daughter. It’s the Candle Flame shawl pattern from Knit Picks in light teal Zephyr yarn.

Secret of the Stole II: Hints 7 & 8

2008-03-24T21:00:00.002-05:00

I finished hint 7 on 3/13/08, but had no time to post pictures.
You can see the length of the stole and the arch on the right edge.
This is a truly beautiful lace pattern and the cashmere yarn makes
it very special.

Close up view of hint 7 -- I just love this pattern!

Finished up hint 8 on Easter Sunday evening (3/23/08) and took pictures this morning. Close up shot shows the continuation of the "squares".

This picture shows the length of the stole and its lovely drape.
Hint 9 came out a week ago, so I did not complete this KAL before the theme and name were revealed. Meet the lovely "Savannah".

On to knit hint 9 -- I hope to finish this week -- the wedding is two weeks from last Saturday, but I should have enough time to finish knitting and block the stole.

Secret of the Stole II: Hint 6 Completed 3/13/08

2008-03-19T19:49:00.003-05:00

I finished hint 6 last Thursday but haven't had time to post the pictures.

The stole is now two-thirds completed and is about 40 inches long.

The pattern continues with the lovely motifs that are repeating as we knit.

I have hint 7 nearly completed and I hope to finish it this evening.
I will post Friday.

Since hints 8 & 9 are now out, it's clear that I am behind and will not
complete this KAL on the timeframe. I should, however, have it done and blocked in time to give it to the bride for her wedding day.

Happy Leap Day! Hint 5 now done.

2008-02-29T14:34:00.003-06:00

I finished hint 5 of the SoSii stole this morning. What a beautiful pattern this is turning out to be! Just love the design and the way the stole drapes.

I have slowed down on my knitting due to too many things to do and not enough time to knit. So while hint 7 was posted this morning, I will be starting hint 6 sometime later tonight (I hope...)

As our son's wedding draws closer, I find that I have more things to do related to the wedding and less time to just sit and knit. But, I need to stay with this project as it is intended to be a gift for the bride to wear on her wedding day.

Hint 4 Completed This Morning

2008-02-16T14:54:00.004-06:00

I finished knitting hint 4 of the Secret of the Stole II this morning. You can see the close-up of the hint in this picture.

Pattern is absolutely lovely and is knitting up beautifully in the 100 % Monogolian Cashmere yarn. I can't tell for certain at this point whether the right edge will continue growing at an angle or will begin to form a curved edge on the next hint.

This picture shows the entire length of the stole as knitted to this point. Very lovely and soft -- and perfect for a bride!

Secret of the Stole II: Hint 3

2008-02-10T16:35:00.000-06:00

Finished Hint 3 in the cashmere yarn on 2/7/08. It's turning out to be an intriguing pattern. Diamonds, rosettes and slanting lines.

Pinned flat the piece is at least 24 inches wide. So it will be wider still when wet blocked. It's also about 30 inches long, so it appears that the finished length will be longer than the estimated 60 inches DK gave at the start of this KAL.

I have decided to put the superfine merino yarn on hold for now. I'm finding that I don't have as much time to knit as I thought I would.

Started hint 4 yesterday -- and there was an interesting change in the pattern -- we started adding additional stitches along the right side. Is this going to be a triangle? Hmmm....

SoSii -- Hint 2 finished in Merino

2008-02-04T19:40:00.000-06:00

Finished hint 2 in the Superfine Merino yarn on Saturday. Good way to finish up Ground Hog's Day.

The merino is not as soft as the cashmere, but it does knit up well and shows the lace pattern stitch definition.

SoS ii Hint 2 done (in cashmere)

2008-01-31T20:30:00.000-06:00

I finished knitting hint 2 in the cashmere yarn last evening. Waited until this morning to take pics. The cashmere version is knitting up very nicely. It's very soft and drapes well. I think it shows the stitch definition nicely as well.

This is a lovely pattern so far -- it is developing into an intriguing design. Hint 2 took longer to knit this week. This was in part because I was busy with family things most of the weekend and really didn't get down to knitting until Sunday.

Started working the hint up in the superfine merino -- but only got about 10 rows done last night and haven't started knitting yet this evening. Hint 3 arrives tomorrow -- so I'm going to be behind on version 2.

Secret of the Stole II: Hint 1 - A Tale of Two Yarns

2008-01-22T20:38:00.001-06:00

The first hint for the Secret of the Stole II came out last Friday. I finished the hint twice. Yes -- twice.

I had decided to use the cashmere yarn for this stole -- and then I tried to cast on using the long tail cast on recommended by DK. Much to my surprise and dismay -- the yarn broke each time I attempted to cast on -- I did finally cast on using a knit on cast on method. After the rough start, the cashmere yarn knit up fine and I like the result. But I am a little concerned about this yarn's stability and strength. Hence, the second version of hint 1 in the superfine merino.

Casting on with the merino yarn using the long tail cast on was uneventful -- no breaks. Now, this is what I am used to with yarns -- even fine yarns. So, I am now doing this KAL in two yarns -- and then I'll decide which one I like better.

I'd appreciate hearing from others with more experience knitting cashmere yarn. What has been your experience?

Secret of the Stole II Group

2008-01-03T19:22:00.000-06:00

If you've never done a Knit A Long -- give it a try! My first was the Secret of the Stole -- and I really enjoyed it. (See my earlier posts.) DK does a wonderful job with the designs and moderating the KAL. If you are interested in trying knitting lace and want a project with lots of support and encouragement, I'd recommend joining the Secret of the Stole II KAL.

The Secret of the Stole II Knit A Long begins January 18, 2008. The KAL is still open for those who are interested but have not yet joined. For further information or to join the group go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/secretofthestole-ii/.

Good knitting! Lindy

New Website from DK & Mr. K

2008-01-02T21:44:00.000-06:00

DK - the nautical knitter and her husband, Mr. K have just launched this wonderful new website. It is fantastic! Kudos to Mr. K -- as I understand it, he is the computer genius and this is one of the best knitting websites I've seen.

It's filled with lots of stuff for knitters -- You must check out this website -- go to this link:
Knit with Us

Secret of the Stole II Swatches

2008-01-01T15:48:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

I have finished two swatches for the Secret of the Stole II KAL -- which begins January 18.

I am trying to decide which yarn to use for this KAL. I may be giving this stole to my future DIL for her wedding in April. Both yarns are lovely and knit up well in the swatches.

The first yarn is Sarah's Yarns 100% Monogolian cashmere 2 ply. It has a really soft feel to it and I'm sure it would be warm. The color is natural white.

The second yarn is JaggerSpun Superfine merino wool 2/18. It is not as soft and is less fuzzy than the cashmere. The color is vanilla, so it is a bit darker in color as well. It appears to be a little lacy-er than the cashmere in the swatch.

Opinions anyone?

About Knitting Socks

2007-12-18T19:51:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I've had time to blog -- the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so hectic!

Since finishing the Secret of the Stole, I have been spending time working on two lace projects. One is another shawl and I'll blog about that later. The other is a pair of socks in Regia Silk yarn that I am knitting on two circular needles. This my first project knitting two socks at the same time using two circulars.

Some thoughts about knitting socks. There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to hand-knitting socks. The one school simply doesn't see any reason for doing this and the other is completely taken with the idea of being able to hand-knit socks. BTW -- if you knit socks, you know which group you are in. :) Unfortunately, my DH belongs in the first group -- and after spending the time making him a pair of socks that he made fun of -- I have informed him that he has received his first and ONLY pair of hand-knit socks from me.

Now -- I like to knit socks because I enjoy having a small portable project on needles that I can take with me whenever I travel or am going to be somewhere where I will need something to keep me busy. There are many sock knitters who are completely absorbed with knitting socks and they make lots and lots of socks and are very involved in finding new yarns and patterns for knitting socks. I think the popularity of knitting socks has really brought about a great deal of innovation and creativity. Just take a look at all the options we have for sock yarns today -- I don't remember seeing such variety ten years ago. Now you can find sock yarns in many fibers from wool to bamboo -- and Oh, my! the colors and the self-striping or self-patterning yarns! Yes, this could develop into an obsession....

Back to my lace socks. In this project I am combining my current interest in lace knitting with the fun of knitting two socks on two circulars. So far, I am still working on the leg or cuff of the socks -- but they are turning out nicely.

I am not one who uses patterns much anymore. What I have learned about knitting socks is that there are basic technics involved -- knitting in the round, knitting and turning the heel and then picking up stitches and knitting the gusset of the sock and then knitting the toe and finishing with grafting the last few stitches of the toe. When it comes to patterns -- I like to experiment with different patterns from a stitch pattern library rather than buy or download a specific pattern -- so I tend to create my own. For this project, I borrowed the lace pattern from a sock pattern in "A Gathering of Lace" and determined the number of stitches based upon my guage with the yarn and the size of my foot. (These socks are for me!)

Some other thoughts about knitting socks. I recommend that new knitters take on the task of learning to knit in the round using double point needles. There are times when knowing how to use dpns is of value for any knitter -- especially for very small diameters. Try a simple hat pattern and a worsted weight yarn to begin. After you have mastered the dpns, try using two circulars. There are many good resources on this technic and it is my favorite way to knit socks. I started by knitting one sock at a time on two circulars -- I think it is best to get the hang of the technic before trying to do two socks at the same time. But -- once you know how to use the two circulars to knit one sock -- it doesn't take much to learn to add that second sock to the needles and begin knitting a pair of socks. There is another technic called the "magic loop" where you knit socks on one longer circular needles. This will probably be my next learning challenge, but I'm fairly content with the two circular needle technic for now....

Here are some pictures of my socks in progress:

Secret of the Stole Finished!

2007-11-29T21:04:00.000-06:00

I finished the stole on Monday evening. I blocked it Tuesday evening, but did not have a chance to take photos until this morning. The finished fabric is very light and airy and I am very proud of my first laceweight knit stole. The stole measures 18 inches wide by 74 inches long. It is just the right size to wrap around one's shoulders.

Many thanks to DK, the Nautical Knitter for the wonderful design and the KAL. I have greatly enjoyed participating in this project and I learned a great deal.

Here's a close-up of the last section of this stole:

This section of the design is quite elaborate and complex -- lots of yarn overs and decreases.

Hint 7 Completed 11/23/07

2007-11-29T20:53:00.000-06:00

Didn't get any pictures posted last week due to Thanksgiving. I finished hint 7 late Friday night. You can see the beginning of the point.

Secret of the Stole - Hint 6 finished

2007-11-16T16:06:00.000-06:00

Finished hint 6 a little behind schedule. This was a busy week with lots of activities and I didn't have as much time to knit as I have the last 5 weeks. So -- I stayed up later last night to finish the last few rows. Then I started making mistakes and decided to get up early this morning to finish rather than keep messing things up due to fatigue.

Got up at 5:00 AM and tinked back about half a row on the last pattern row. I think I fixed the problem -- but I may have added my own personal "design element" in doing so.

The stole is turning out beautifully. Since it now too long to get a good picture of -- I am now just taking shots of the newest section.

Here's the latest picture:

A Closer Look at Hint 5

2007-11-09T21:25:00.001-06:00

Here's a picture of just the Hint 5 section of the Secret of the Stole.

This picture really shows the detail of the pattern and you can also see the two beads that are at the top portion of the section. Isn't lovely?

Secret of the Stole - Hint 5 Now Done

2007-11-08T20:17:00.000-06:00

Finished hint 5 of the Secret of the Stole this morning. It is now 42 inches long, and would probably be even longer if stretched it when blocking.

This picture doesn't show the detail as well as I would like, so I may try to take another shot of the stole tomorrow morning -- maybe a close up of just the hint 5 section...

This stole is turning out to be very lightweight, but very warm and I love the ever changing pattern. Hint 6 is released tomorrow!

Better Pictures of Hint 4

2007-10-29T18:22:00.000-05:00

I just learned that you get much better pictures of your knitting if you use daylight rather than artificial lighting at night.

Here are two pictures of my Secret of the Stole KAL through hint 4. You can see the beads and the lovely lace patterning that is beginning to emerge.

Now to wait until this coming Friday for the next hint.....

Hint 4 Is Done

2007-10-28T20:13:00.000-05:00

Finished hint 4 this evening. This section went fairly quickly. It was a repetitive series of staggered yarnovers. I'll try to take a picture in the morning -- the daylight pictures show the details much clearer.

The Nautical Knitter gave us instructions on how to shorten or lengthen the stole in this hint. When you finish this hint, you are halfway done. My stole now measures approximately 17.5 inches by 32 inches. It would be a little longer if it was stretched and blocked, so I decided to stay with this length.

Hint 3 Finished!

2007-10-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

I finished hint 3 of the Secret of the Stole KAL. This is turning into a lovely piece of lace fabric. Knitting hint 3 was much more fun and went much faster now that I am using my new Addi Lace needles.

I also took a little tutorial from Nautical Knitter's blog on how to take pictures of your knitting. So once I figured out how to turn off the flash on my digital camera -- I got a really nice picture of the stole that shows the beads! Cool! If you are interested in this tutorial go to http://www.nauticalknitter.com/.

Pictures of the stole through Hint 3 are below. I need to go start knitting on Hint 4 -- it came out this morning and I'm itching to get started....

Secret of the Stole KAL

2007-10-19T17:53:00.000-05:00

I am participating in the Secret of the Stole KAL. This is my first experience doing a Knit A Long. Joined this on a whim and I am really enjoying myself.

I decided to use the KAL as a way of motivating me to get past a mental block I had about using laceweight yarn and using it to knit lace. My very first attempt to knit this very fine yarn was frustrating and I finally gave up the attempt and chose to use another "friendlier" yarn for the lace shawl project I wanted to do for my sister. This shawl is now done except for weaving in the ends and doing the blocking -- so I will post a picture of it when it's done drying. It turned out well...BUT that laceweight yarn I had purchased for the project originally just sat in my stash waiting for me to try again.

So, I started the KAL with a committment to make that ball of laceweight yarn into a lace stole. It took me three attempts to cast on and get started before I got a feel for knitting the yarn. I was successful in completing the first hint on time. Then I started on Hint 2 last Friday -- I found myself "tinking" several times during the evening. Fortunately, I was able to knit back and correct the errors each time before I'd gone too far along -- but anytime you are doing that the knitting is neither fun nor relaxing. So, Saturday I splurged on Addi Lace circular needles at my LYS and switched from my Addi Turbos to the lace needles. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The points are sharper -- which makes the decreases so much easier. And the needles have more grip on them -- so no more slipping off of stitches inadvertantly.

Lesson learned from this? Your needles do make a difference -- so if you are having trouble knitting something, ask yourself if a different type of needle might be worth a try.

The stole is a design of the KAL owner and it is knitting up into a lovely lace pattern. It has another first for me in that the pattern includes adding beads as you knit. The beads don't really show up well in the pictures I have, but they are really good looking as part of the overall design.

Here are pictures of my stole so far:

Hint 1: Using Skacel Merino Laceweight Yarn,

US Size 3 Addi Turbo Needles and Ivory beads, size 8.

Hint 2:

Hint 3 came out this morning, so I need to start knitting. I'll add pictures as I finish each hint.

First Post

2007-10-12T19:21:00.000-05:00

Just set up this blog. I am new to blogging. I have read about blogs, read blogs -- but never blogged myself. Decided it was time to give this a try.

I plan to use this blog to recreate the website I had several years ago. The website was "Lindy's Knits and Laces" and I took it down because we bought a new house and in the process of moving from one house to the other -- we changed internet providers. I just never seemed to have time to work through setting the website up with the new provider. So while I have wanted to re-establish the website, I didn't get to it and about 3 years have past since I took it down. In the meantime -- blogs came into being and with the typical speed of internet innovations -- really took hold.

As I thought about re-establishing my website, I began to realize that I needed to look into this "blog" thing. It seems that this is a "must" if you want to be connected through the web. So -- I have now made my preliminary move into the blogosphere.

I'd appreciate constructive feedback as I work on getting this blog established.