I WANT TO KNIT!!

I'm supposed to be working. I'm not sure what on, but it's a good thing that my major prof doesn't know about my blog... I'm daydreaming about the perfect baby knits browsing patterns and wishing I could go on a yarn shopping spree. If I had $500... hehe. I have a couple of projects in mind, a pattern that I want to write and at this moment I wish I was a stay at home mom again who got to clean house for a couple hours, play with the munchkin and knit for the rest of the day. Ah that was the life of laziness!

I have been working on a pattern though, for my honey's first sweater. I am really unexicted about the yarn, even more about the color which I think I will overdye either blue or black, but the pattern (the whole 6 inches I have worked) seems to be going okay. This may be a little over abitious and I'm sure that I am the only one on earth who would want to do this, but the idea is to write a pattern that has set in sleeve shaping, that is completely seemless. Unless some OCD knitter such as myself has already done this and I am not aware. Of course I will offer a seamed version of this when I get finished.

Another of my less inspire projects, Kody's socks are trudging along too. I was so proud when I reached 3.5 inches!! Then I realized that although I thought I knew my guage, I had chosen size 0 needles instead of size 1. So now I have to rip out that 3.5 inches of hell and start over!! Yay!

In reality I'm just trying to waste another 5 minutes before I have to go to class.

The basketweave stitch tutorial and free pattern

This can be a little bit difficult of a stitch pattern to understand, and it's even harder to explain, but I'm going to have a go at it... This pattern is basically cabling on both sides of the work without using a cable needle. The front side of the work cables 1 stitch left and the wrong side cables 1 stitch right over two stitches. As far as the terminology, first and second refers to the order of the stitches as they are on the left needle, not the order that new stitches are made.

Row 1: (RS) k1,

*Insert the right needle into the second stitch on the left needle (knitwise), behind the first stitch as shown below. You can go through the front leg of the stitch or the back loop, it really doesn't make a difference on the finished piece, it is easier to go through the back loop.

Make your new stitch, but leave the old stitch on the left hand needle...

Next, insert your right needle into the first stitch on the left needle...

make your new stitch...

Then drop both of the old stitches off of the left needle.

You can see in the picture above that the stitch that was first on the left needle ("first old stitch") has crossed over the stitch that was second in line. * Repeat *-* until 1 stitch remains, k1


Row 2: (WS) p2,


*Insert the right needle into the second stitch (purlwise) in front of the first stitch on the left needle as shown

Make the new stitch and leave the old stitch on the left needle

Insert the right needle in the first stitch on the left needle

make your new stitch...then drop both old stitches off the left needle.If you look on the right side of your work you will see that there is a right leaning stitch just made.* Repeat *-* until there are two stitches left, p2.

Repeat rows 1 and 2!

Free Pattern: Basket weave tutorial swatch coffee cozy

Materials: Worsted weight yarn, I'm guessing here, but I think 50 yards should do it. I used some left over Plymouth Encore wool/acrylic.
Size 7 needles
2 buttons

Gauge: About 4 right leaning stitches per inch in pattern.
Finished size: 3.5 inches wide x 9 inches circumference
Cast on 24 stitches. Work 2 rows in garter stitch.
Work in basket weave pattern until the piece measures 10 inches, BO in following pattern:
*k1, k1tog, rep from *.
Finishing:
Overlap the ends as shown in the photo below, sew together. Add buttons as shown, weave in any loose ends, add to coffee cup!

Gearing up for holiday knitting

First off, we managed to get through the hurricane without any trees falling on our trucks or home and didn't even lose power. Honestly I was a little disappointed, I'm kind of a sucker for natural disaster drama, but I'm glad that the damage was kept to the minimum for everyone else's sake. The storm was talked up so much that it was kind of a let down when all we got was rain and some weak wind. I did get out of school/work for two extra days though. I have gotten a lot of crafting done over this extended weekend too. I only have one more block plus the sashing on my mom's quilt left to quilt, I started and almost finished a crochet blanket for the baby, I finished the Druid Mitten's, did one of two fingerless gloves, sold some yarn, and started a pair of socks (see below for more on the socks). Whew, that sounds like a lot. Let me tell you I am bored out of my mind.

Look a collage of my accomplishments!!

Well its come to that time of year again when I'm starting to panic and dread all of the holiday knitting that needs to be done. It's not often that knitting becomes a unwanted chore, but that is the case a couple of months before Christmas. This is also the time that I realize that the men in knitter's lives are often overlooked when it comes to style. Not wanting to put forth any creativity of my own I've been looking for a nice pullover pattern for the hubby I have been looking for a nice pattern, preferably free cause I'm broke, that won't make him look like Mr. Rogers or, well, gay, and maybe one that he might be willing to wear. Looks like I'm going to have to use that shriveled up thing that rattles around in my head and write a pattern or fork over five bucks to a deserving designer.

Another knitting challenge is fitting a pair of socks to a guy. Men have the oddest feet and if you want to make a pair that fits right you should take proper measurements, but does anyone really want to get that close to a guys foot? Especially when they belong to someone you don't snuggle with. Somehow I always feel the need to make Joe's friends socks just for being great guys and putting up with my attitude and being there when Joe or I need a helping hand. Ben got a pair of blue alpaca socks last spring and now it's Kody's turn. It should be rather challenging considering that I want them to be a surprise and I have to eye up his feet every time he is over. I can't even use Joe a model cause Kody has totally different feet than my husband.

I decided to use the traditional sock recipe and very simple k3 p1 stitch pattern using Brown Sheep's Wildfoote. I must admit that although the color (brown sugar) is very well suited to a man, I'm not thrilled with it. I figure I will work about 2" a day and should be done sometime in September. I have some surprise plans for the sock though and will be sure to make Kody model them (I imagine a photo shoot in front of the gas fireplace, with feet kicked up, light that sucker up, try to get a few shots off before passing out from carbon monoxide poisoning cause the idiots didn't vent the fireplace properly or simply from heat exhaustion cause it will still be 80 degrees here in Louisiana, desperately trying to turn of the gas, all the while hoping that Kody smiled nicely and didn't make faces)...I digress...and write a pattern that I can share with the world!