Egeblad Blanket

My friends J & R got married this past Labor Day weekend.  For their main present, I knit them a lap blanket following the Egeblad pattern on YarnOver.net.

Pattern: Egeblad
Yarn: Lion's Brand Cotton-Ease in Taupe (8 balls)
Needle: US10/6.0mm

Pattern is knitted in the round, starting at the center and spiraling outwards.

Modifications:  I used worsted weight yarn and larger needles.  I also changed the crochet bind-off to chain 5 instead of 8, since the loops were too long in my worsted weight yarn.

I needed to make the blanket larger than the original pattern.  Other knitters on Ravelry had accomplished this by creating more "rays" (the look of which I didn't particularly care for) or by simply repeating the zig-zag section of the rays multiple times, and stretching everything out in the blocking.  I couldn't do this since I was using cotton/acrylic yarn, so I modified the chart to increase the number of stitches.  I didn't quite succeed in making the blanket lie flat, but I thought I'd share the chart in case it could help someone else.

Egeblad Extension Chart

If you have problems with the download or questions about the chart, please drop a comment.

Getting ready for summer

My latest knitting projects have been all for me -- shawls and wraps for the summer.

First off was a new white cardigan.  I have two -- one is the white cardigan that was part of my school uniform in 5th grade.  I picked the embroidered school name out many years ago, and since it's 100% acrylic it's showing no signs of wear.  Yes, I still wear it.  I'm wearing it right now.  It still fits, and the sleeves are still too long.

My other white cardigan is off-white and I've lost a button or two so I need to replace them.

I decided to knit the "Pearl-Trimmed Cardigan" from the May issue of Creative Knitting.  I decided to make it in the recommended yarn, for once, and even the same color (a cream/off-white).

This picture is about a month old -- I now have the whole body of the sweater done, all of one sleeve, and 90% of the other, thanks to a good few hours of knitting time at my brother-in-law's graduation ceremony Saturday.

A couple of weekends ago I went shopping for a new dress to wear to weddings this summer.  I was hoping for a nice colored dress -- but I didn't like the bold, huge prints that seem to be the style this season.  I ended up with a black-and-white print dress, not a good match for a cream-colored cardigan, so I had to cast on something else to go with.

(Okay, imagine it over a nice dress rather than a T-shirt.)

This is the Summer Lace Shawlette from Interweave Knits (It's available free online).  I finished it in less than a week, using a new acrylic/wool blend yarn from NaturallyCaron.com.  I made mine a little longer and wider than the pattern specifies.  The interesting thing about this pattern is that it's shaped to fit around the shoulders, not just a rectangle or triangle.  I think it will be a little easier to handle without fussing than a triangular shawl would be.

My latest project is another wrap -- this one will be a cape, and I'm knitting it from a lace-weight merino wool so it'll be a little less warm than the red shawlette.

This is a free pattern from Drops Design, a Norwegian company that gives away patterns to sell their yarn.  I had the yarn in my stash from a KnitPicks clearance color sale, so I hope I have enough to finish the project -- otherwise I'll have to buy a different color for whatever part of the top I don't finish.  It seems to be knitting up quickly, and the lace pattern keeps me interested.

By the way, I've started the Ivy League Vest from Interweave Knits Winter 2007.  I had all sorts of fun buying the wrong weight yarn and recalculating the pattern to my new gauge, then misreading the colorwork chart, a couple of times.

It's slow going, a lot of small stitches on slippery needles, and because of the stranded colorwork I'm knitting two-handed which is not yet comfortable.  This is something I'll have to plug away on in short stints.

Dinner!

This is what I ate tonight.

From 12 o'clock, clockwise: extra firm tofu, enoki mushrooms, beef, shitake mushrooms, snow peas, yam noodles, napa cabbage.  Bean sprouts and green onions in the center.

Stitch Markers!

Last weekend I embarked on another cross-craftual enterprise: beaded stitch markers!

I basically followed the instructions from here, but used a jump ring to connect each beaded pin to a toggle closure loop.

I used two different sizes of toggle closures.

I'm now using these markers on my two main projects: the purple wheat tank and the gingham bag.

The bag is turning out quite thick; I'm not sure what I'll use it for (but I'll find something.)  The tank overlay seems to be having some issues -- issues with me failing to read the pattern properly.  I'm not overly worried though.

I'm getting itchy fingers to start a new project.  I'm considering the Ivy League Vest or the Boogie Vest.

A Bevy of Projects

I've been so busy crafting I haven't posted!  Yeah, right.  Anyways, I do have some stuff to show off.

1) Spinning

I attended a Roc Day hosted by the local handspinners guild.  I decided to try my hand at drop spindling and bought the tools to create this:

Top: undyed Cotswold, purchased at Roc Day.  Bottom: hand-dyed "Smokestack" Bluefaced Leicester purchased online.

All yarn is 2-ply: the Cotswold ranges from worsted to bulky weight, and the BFL from sport to worsted.

I don't have any idea what I'll do with the Cotswold; the BFL may become a shawlette or pair of slippers.

I enjoy spinning a lot but drop spindling is too time consuming for me.  I want a Hitchhiker!  Well, it'll go on my list of stuff I want but don't want to pay for quite yet.

2) Crochet

My brother- and sister-in-law are expecting a boy in a couple of months.  I'm working on another Lion Baby Bath Wrap for them:

3) Knit 

 For me, I've got a tank top

(need to finish the straps and knit the wrap overlay)

and my purse project is a little bag from a book my mom gave me for Christmas:

Ok, not so exciting.  There's a picture of the finished item in the above link -- and I've made a bunch of progress on mine since I took this picture last Friday.

Three posts in one day... the sky must be falling...

Just because I cooked last night for the first time in a while, I decided I'd share the recipe.  I got this from my friend J when we lived together for a summer a few years back.

Honey Mustard Chicken Pitas

2 large or 3 medium boneless chicken breasts
olive oil
1 large red bell pepper
a few tablespoons of brown French mustard
a few tablespoons of honey
pita bread
sharp Cheddar cheese, sliced

Trim fat and gristle and dice chicken into 3/4 or 1 inch cubes.

Saute chicken in a tablespoon or so of olive oil (in batches if the pan gets too crowded) until cooked through.

Add a large dollop of mustard and one of honey.  Stir into the chicken.  The mustard should thicken up the pan juices; if still runny then either cook down the sauce or add more mustard and honey to taste.

Seed and dice the bell pepper into 3/4 or 1 inch pieces.  Add to the chicken and cook until heated through but not soggy.

Cut a pita round in half, open up one half and line with 1-2 slices of sharp Cheddar cheese.  Spoon in chicken mixture.  Eat.  Repeat until it's time for dessert.

Frogging... I hate it.

I'm not a big fan of frogging.  If I can find a way to fix the mistake or gloss over it, I will.  I'm very good at dropping stitches in knitting to fix problems rows back (try fixing a miscrossed 6-stitch cable two crosses back sometime... it's quite exhilarating when you succeed).

I've messed up this part of the lion towel before, and I just bought more yarn and made the towel part too big.  But when I considered the problems:

• Not increasing enough, so the towel would be too long,
• Not having a lot of yarn, and not wanting to buy too much, again...
• and a very odd and abrupt transition between two dye lots of yarn,

I decided to be "fearless" and redo the whole sucker.  This time I'm taking the offending differently-colored ball and alternating every two rows between the darker and lighter shades.

My re-started towel bottom point.

This time I've double-checked my stitch counts while the numbers are still small and I'm ignoring the fact that it looks wrong and bad (fan-shaped, not triangular -- must have faith, must have faith...).  Now for some more endurance crocheting.

Grr... from the frog pond.

Someday, I will learn to count properly.  In the meantime, I'll continue to do 88 rows of single crochet, increasing only 1 stitch per row rather than the 2 I'm supposed to... and continue to visit the frog pond.

Since I had to grab my swift anyways, I realized I'd never posted about it, so instead of ripping I took pictures.

Inspired by Crafty Diversions' instructions.

My swift.  Homemade for about $20 and a few hours.

 
The swift consists of two hardwood 1x2's, mitered in the center, sitting on a purchased lazy susan.  I used a long eye bolt, the eye to tie the end of the yarn to when necessary, the length so I can fold the two arms together without unscrewing the whole thing.

I use 4 bolts sitting in holed drilled through the arms to keep the wood parts from sliding off the lazy susan.

Four dowels hold the yarn.  They fit into holes drilled about halfway through the arms.

Sigh.  Back to ripping.

Christmas 2007

A rundown of my Christmas knitting projects:

Grandma's Fingerless Mitts

I wanted to make something my grandmother could wear to keep her hands and wrists warm inside in the winter.  These fingerless mitts keep the fingers free while covering pulse points and the wrist joint.
Yarn: Colinette Cadenza (a DK weight superwash merino wool)
Needles: US4/3.5mm DPNs
Pattern: Rose's Wrist Warmers

Florida Clapotis

Clapotis is a pretty popular scarf pattern, using dropped stitches to create an open texture.  I knit one for my grandmother in Florida in a cotton/linen/rayon textured yarn so it wouldn't be too warm (I hope).... She did say that it wasn't big or warm enough for her when it reached 32° in early January.
Yarn: Lang Oasis
Needles: US9/5.5 mm circular
Pattern: Clapotis

Green Hatmione/Hermittens

Inspired by knitwear in the Harry Potter movies (specifically, a hat worn by Hermione in Prisoner of Azkaban).  I made a set for myself, and decided to make another set for my mother-in-law.
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca
Needles: For hat, US7/4.5mm circ, US6/4.0mm DPNs
   For mittens, US6/4.0mm, US5/3.75mm DPNs
Pattern: Hatmione, Hermittens (also in Charmed Knits)

 Palindrome Scarf

Usually cables look good on one side of the fabric and bad on the other.  This scarf pattern creates a fabric with no wrong side; the cables are wide cables over ribbing.  I chose an acrylic yarn so it could be machine washed and dried, and a bright red so my father-in-law could wear it to Cornell hockey games.
Yarn: Red Heart Soft Yarn
Needles: US7/4.5mm circ
Pattern: Palindrome

 Ice Queen I/II

In early December, the new Knitty came out with a one-skein pattern that looked perfect as gifts for my mother and my friend N.  Kidsilk Haze is not a cheap yarn, but only one skein is quite doable, and I'd never tried beading in my knitting before.
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze (mohair & silk)
Needles: US5/3.75mm, US8/5.0mm circ
Pattern: Ice Queen

 Mitered Tote Bag

I wanted to try a new technique: mitered squares.  This pattern was in a magazine I picked up on a whim.  Given to N's daughter A.
Yarn: Cascade Sierra (cotton & wool)
Needles: US7/4.5mm circ, US6/4.0mm DPNs
Pattern: Mighty Mitered Bag (in Creative Knitting Nov 2007)

Red Festive Top

When I got tired of knitting all these gifts, I worked on this crochet project for myself.  I planned on wearing it to church on Christmas Eve, and succeeded!
Yarn: Patons Brilliant
Hook: US I/5.5mm
Pattern: Crochet Festive Top

Once again, a failure to blog

Sigh.  Trying again to keep up with this blog.

Holiday projects for gifts dominated the last few months of 2007, which means that I didn't want to post in case I spoiled surprises for any of my family that might read this blog (I know you're out there, Mom!)

I've also been playing with my Ravelry account, which recently gave me the ability to show you progress bars that update themselves based on information in that database (see to the right ---->).  Ravelry is an online project notebook & social networking site, currently in beta, and the progress bar widgets are even more beta than that, so I had to do a lot of my own futzing around, learning a little bit about javascript and css, to get them to look halfway decent.  They are still a work in progress, but I'm satisfied for right now.

So, crafting updates, in reverse chronological order, since that's how my mind works... for Christmas my dear hubby got me a set of interchangeable knitting needles.  I love them for their sharp points and slick finish.  My first project on my new needles was started and completed while I was traveling for the holidays: the Blue Jeans Shawl.

 

Pattern link.

Uses one skein of lace weight yarn (only about 2 yards unknit!).  It's still drying from my blocking tonight, so I don't know how much of me I can fit under it, but it should be nice for cool summer evenings.

I'm also currently working on a tank top for the summer and I just started a hooded baby towel for my brother- and sister-in-law.

I'll post about the gifts I made tomorrow or so, since I'm heading to bed now.