NJ and You, Perfect Together

That was an old state tourism slogan. So NJ and the Big Fat Sicilian Engagement Party were perfect together, the rain passed right before everyone arrived, and it was a total blast — it was fun to see family. The best part was getting a bunch of time the day after the party to just hang out with my two sisters. We laugh together. A lot. That kind of laughing where your stomach hurts and you think that you might never breathe again. At one point I actually had to stop driving up the driveway because I was afraid I would hit the stone wall, I was that out of control. Forget drugs and alcohol. Sisters, man. My drug of choice. Once, many years ago, we were in a little cafe, laughing in our usual restrained ladylike way and a man came over and said, “Whatever you ladies are on, can I get some?” Nice to see that we haven’t lost our touch. My mother used to quote her mother, saying “The loud laugh bespeaks the vacant mind.” Don’t bogart that sister, baby, pass it around. Make my mind vacant.

NJ knitting content.The All Seasons Toddler Cardigan is done, and almost written up. I threw it in the suitcase, hoping there would be a child to model.

Nina, my niece, loved the sweater and wouldn’t take it off for hours, in spite of the rather sticky day. It even matched her dress and the flowers.

The twins were fascinated by a real new baby. Especially the toes.

More NJ connection. Annie Modesitt moved to Minnesota from NJ a few months ago. She and her family were resettling here. Her husband was starting to look for job but his back was bothering him. Not a back problem. Cancer. They have now been told that he has 2 years to live. Imagine just moving away from your family and support system, not to mention job, and getting that kind of news. Annie is now the sole earner in the family, and needs to travel to teaching engagements to keep the income coming. There’s a fundraising move afoot. Annie is giving away a pattern and asking those who download it to consider donating the cost of the pattern. Or more. You know about my Blanche Dubois thang — please think about helping Annie and her family depend on the kindness of strangers.

Here’s the link to the pattern, and and photo.

I’ll never knit this, I’m sure, but I’m glad to be the one who can help a teeny bit, and not the one driving my husband to the Mayo Clinic for treatment. Let’s all us knitters be perfect together.

Malagaiter from Magknits

from MLE

Here’s a few more views of my Malagaiter pattern from the December Magknits. I know that this is not exactly a new idea, but I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. Something soft, quick to knit, suitable for a gift when the recipient may not yet have proven him or herself knit-worthy. I use mine all the time, so it has been wear tested in the reputedly harsh climate of Minnesota. This global warming thang has moderated the weather here quite a bit. Which is perfect for this convertible item.

Red Scarf Project

Here is my current submission for the Red Scarf Project. I have another on the needles. Along with about 7 other projects on other needles.

I have finally written up my two favorite simple scarf stitch patterns to encourage others to participate. I heart Cartridge Belt Rib for its purl-free ribbing. It goes very quickly, and it’s very easy to spot and correct mistakes.

Brioche Rib is my other scarf standby. It has a lovely rhythm, but it is not so easy to correct mistakes. No dropping down the troublemaker a few rows and whipping it back into shape. You have to rip back to find the offender and fix it. I believe it is worth it, however. Just remember to check your work every few rows.

Really cool? I went into teach the other night and there were TWO donations for the project. They were donated anonymously, so if you left these at the Yarnery in St. Paul, let me know!

I thought I’d get the post-it note, too. Guess not.

So, get hip, get red, get over to Now Norma Knits.

Stockinette Square No Sew Blanket

After cranking out these two cotton log cabins for a niece and nephew to be, who are now:

I thought about a next project, maybe using leftovers from the leftovers. It had been so darn hot, a small cotton project seemed alluring. I made a couple of mitered squares for Jennifer’s Ukrainian project, but the idea of an entire blanket of these wasn’t appealing to me. Especially the idea of so much sewing up.

I pondered stockinette squares using the begin from the center style, like in old counterpane patterns. I was recently experimenting with these for a felted bag. Then I scanned the stash and found an ancient bag of Cotton Kureyon. I bought two bags of this when it was being discontinued. Last year, I made a pink and purple colorway into a sweater for the little girl across the street. She was thrilled, and I intended to use the other colorway for her brother, my local color expert. (Just turned 9, and the eye of a painter. Have you ever met a 5 year old who can tell turquoise from teal? But, when Suzanne asked me to make her another sweater, because hers was too small, I became suspicious. She did not grow that much in two months. She showed me the badly felted sweater. I guess it is not fair to ask non-knitting busy parents to hand wash clothing. Sigh.

So Winston did not get the other bag of Cotton Kureyon, and it seemed the perfect stuff for this blanket project. Striping with no weaving in of ends. Mostly cotton. I guess this yarn didn’t quite count as leftover, but it was leftover from an old purchase, and at least qualified as stash-busting. You could do the same thing with the wool Kureyon or another self striping yarn, or make your own stripes, with a few more ends to weave in. But still no sewing!

Here’s a chatty explanation. If you are more Sgt. Friday than Chatty Cathy, you can go right to the Executive Summary.

I tried several ways of starting. It made sense to start using 5 dpn’s with one for each side and the fifth to work with. If you don’t have 5 of one size, it doesn’t really matter. Use one of a similar size, and you won’t notice. (I think I read this in an EZ book, and it really doesn’t matter.)

Circular Beginnings
My favorite circular beginning, Emily Ocker’s beginning, did not work well with this yarn, because you have to tug on the yarn to tighten up the circle, and Cotton Kureyon breaks when you look at it. Or, more frequently, when you give a tug to get more yarn, and discover you were sitting on the ball. (There is an excellent explanation of this beginning from Theresa at Spelling Tuesday.)

Next, I tried just casting on the stitches to one needle, and dividing them among the four needles. It worked, but was like juggling, which I have never managed to learn. And bean bags are easier to handle than slippery pointy sticks.
Then, I tried using a toe-up sock start. I don’t make toe up socks as a rule, but this trick did work. What I didn’t like was the non circular appearance of the center. (or the twisted stitches which are not supposed to be a part of this.)

Then my brainstorm — using a long circular I started with the 8 stitches using the magic loop technique, then transferred them to the double pointed needles after a few rounds. It worked perfectly for me, but as always knitter’s choice. I worked one knit round, one increase round, increasing after the first stitch and before the last stitch on each needle. I don’t like to think too much while I knit, so I worked until the square seemed like the right size ( roughly 10.5 inches) and there were 40 sts on each side of the square – 40 is an easy number to remember when making the next 11 squares. For stitch holders, I used other circular needles and narrow satin ribbon. This ribbon is way better than yarn for holding stitches. It keeps the stitches open and makes it easy to slide a needle back into them. I learned this from a student whose name I can’t remember so credit giving is in spirit only.

Strips
I only had 10 skeins of the Cotton Kureyon, not enough to make an entire blanket. Two skeins made three squares. To supplement, I picked up some Cascade Sierra, to use for sashing. (Sashing is plain or pieced strips of fabric that are used between quilt blocks.) This would make the blanket bigger and give me a way to join the squares. Since one goal of this project, during a killer heat wave, was to create a blanket that would be knit in small pieces as long as possible, I knit 20 rows (10 ridges) of garter stitch in Sierra for the blue sash on one edge of each square before assembling into strips.

Here’s a low-tech illustration of the layout.

Joining
I wanted to avoid sewing, so I had two options: grafting or three-needle bind off. I did try grafting. I liked the way the stretchiness matched the fabric of the squares, but I preferred the appearance of the three -needle bind off. It’s important, however, to keep the bind off as loose and stretchy as you can. I tend to bind off tightly, so I used a needle 3 sizes bigger for the 3rd needle.

For the long side, after four squares are together into one strip, using the Sierra, I picked up stitches. Use the live stitches where available, then pick up stitches over the garter stitch. Write down the total number of stitches, so you have the same number on other strips. Mine was 194. Work 20 rows of garter stitch. Pick up stitches along the length of the next strip. Join using three-needle bind off.

At this point, using the Sierra, I picked up stitches along each side separately and worked 20 rows of garter stitch (10 ridges) as you would for a log cabin blanket. Here’s a view of the reverse, to see the ends left to weave in. This is technically NOT sewing.

Border
The sashing was not enough. The blanket cried out for a border. (Hear the sobs?) Initially, I worked a garter-stitch mitered border in the Cotton Kureyon ala MDK. It looked bad, lopsided from the color repeats. I love the borders on this Amish crib quilt , and was inspired to make a cheapo version of one. I picked up stitches along the edge, cast on 5 sts on one of the double points, and worked a knitted on garter stitch border, perpendicular to the blanket. For the corners, I did short rows. Cheapo version of Amish Quilt success, and nicely blended shading, too, courtesy of the Kureyon.

Dulaan Cloud Cardigan

My website progress is slow, so I am putting the Cloud Cardigan Pattern here. This was originally inspired by Ryan’s Cloud Hat. The gauge is suitable for any chunky/bulky yarn, though. It is a top down raglan with a knitted in button band.

The sweaters I photographed before I shipped them off to Flagstaff were nice, but not terribly photogenic. Their fuzziness and multicolor don’t't allow the detail to show. (Perhaps with another photographer.) But, my friend Janelle Anderson offered to use her fashion illustration skills and draw one for me. So I’ll change this when I get the artwork. But I want to get this posted so folks who are attending knit-ins like Franklin’s in Chicago can use it if they would like to. Please feel free to comment, point out errors, make helpful suggestions.