#fofriday Hearth Socks

 

Recently on a Friday, for #fofriday on Instagram, @ggmadeit posted a blog post that detailed her finished project that week. I thought that was a really neat idea and thought I’d try it myself. I’m not going to do it for all of my finished projects, just the ones that I really enjoy, feel like are an accomplishment or those that I modified.

 

This is my first installment of recording an #fofriday this way.

I made the Hearth Socks by DanaRaeMakes. The pattern is available on Ravelry.

 

I watched these socks on Instagram for a while waiting for them to come out. I knew immediately which yarn I would use for them. I had a sock set in stash from Leading Men Fiber Arts from June 2019. It is the “he will have his revenge” sock set with the contrast color being "poison apple".

 

I was also planning on taking part in the #fallingleavessockkal2020 and these socks fit the bill. For the KAL the socks have to be fall colors or some how speak of fall. The Revenge color way has a gray base and the hearth pattern with the gray looks like a stone fire place, a warm place for fall.

 

The yarn is like I said from Leading Men Fiber Arts, in their Show Stopper base and the “he will have his revenge” colorway, with a “poison apple” mini.  The Show Stopper base is a 75% super wash merino and 25% nylon blend.  I use this yarn often for socks.  I do put them in both the washer and the dryer.  They come out great every time.

 

I have recently learned that I like the look and feel of a 3 x 2 rib. I knit socks using the same needle size and similar yarn weight when I knit socks for me. It makes it easy and not too much thinking. I just add in the pattern from the design I have chosen. A few weeks ago on Patreon where I follow The Yarn Harlot and Franklin Habit, I learned that when choosing a ribbing and sock pattern to look ahead and make them flow together, I did so. 

 

Here are the changes I made.

 

I cast on 75 stitches and worked 12 rounds of ribbing. Using a mini for cuffs, heels and toes it takes just a bit more than the 20g in a mini to do that, so I kept the cuff ribbing short.

 

I then shifted the pattern so that the slip stitches were in the center of my 3 knit stitches from the rib.

 

Then I was off and knitting. I’m a mirror knitter and sometimes things can get interesting and confusing. Thankfully that didn’t happen with this pattern. By happy accident, when I finished my heel flap, the place where I usually pick up an extra stitch close the hole on each side of the foot, was a slip stitch. I am very pleased with how this turned out.

 

Dana has the back of the heel to be very pointy. Honestly I don’t like the look. I finished the first heel and had worked a few rounds on the foot, saw how pointy it was and said I wasn’t going to do the other one that way. When I finished the sock, I was at Mom’s. I showed her how pointy the heel was. I then put the sock on... I made the second sock the same way. While the look off the foot is odd, the fit is great! I will be doing this for future socks.

 

 

This is the first sock where I have worked the decreases on the gusset so that the decrease lines can be seen. I have asked a company about making stitch markers that indicate which decrease to use, so that I can then place the marker on the side that needs that decrease.

 

 

 

My last round before the toe I chose to work as plain knit in the main color.

 

 

I did run just a bit short on the 2nd sock. My friend and neighbor, @coffeenapknit rescued me. She had a mini and I borrowed, used what I needed and then returned it.

 

I am very pleased with these finished socks and their fit!

My Mistake

I recently figured out that I was missing a step in my math when I was figuring out the stats for the pandemics.  While my numbers were quite off, see corrections below, I still think that we are over reacting.  Recent activity from Wuhan and other countries, without new cases in months, backs that up.  We either need to open it all up and let those get sick who are going to.  Or close it all down as these other countries who are already passed it did.  With the open it all up situation, if you are high risk or scared then please stay home and have everything delivered to keep yourself safe.  As I said before so many of these new ways of living should have already been part of civilized American life style.  Wash your hands often, well and with soap.  If you are sick stay home, be seen by medical professionals if needed.  Let's get back to basics people.  It isn't about you, yourself and you, it's about ALL of us.

Take care of each other and until next time...

Happy making! 

A New Direction

 Happy end of summer everyone!

I hope that even though things look different than they usually do this time of year that you can find hope and comfort, if not, seek Jesus.

This will be my last post for a while.  I haven't yet decided if I will post regularly or randomly or how often.

I find that since I have Ravelry at my finger tips at home on the computer daily I have much less to share in my blog.  When I didn't have internet access at home I typed my blog post in a word processing document and used cut and paste and added pictures to make the blog post.  Most of my posts are about the projects I am currently working on.

I didn't add these details to my Ravelry projects because loading pictures on the phone took forever and typing that much was tedious.  I also only had a small amount of time on line on the phone unless I sat in a parking lot to do just that.

Now with Ravelry so easily at hand I am recording more into my project pages and find myself with less  to talk about here.

So the new direction is more Ravelry and more IG.  I will post more progress photos on IG and detail what changes I made, how I dyed the yarn or chose the design elements on my Ravelry project page.

Also on IG I will be doing short videos.  I plan to do more YouTube videos as well.

I have started putting designs on Payhip, but have fallen behind getting everything settled for school, which started today for 2/3 of my children.

I enjoy sharing here, but I also realize there is a lot out there to read and it isn't possible to read it all.  Using IG and YouTube I hope to bring meaningful and quick info to you.

I am Azariahs1982 on IG.

Thanks for hanging here with me.

Play nice and be safe.

Until next time...

Happy Making!

VOTE!

Hello Everyone!

As I sit and write this today, my 2 oldest children return to school in 2 weeks.  Other than one being a freshman and the other senior, this is significant because CoViD-19 is still in full swing.

I honestly am not scared to send my children back to school.  First and foremost the Lord is going to take care of them and He hasn't said to keep them home.  Second is that my husband and my mom both work with the public on a daily basis.  My husband works at a correctional facility and we have been exposed to worse than CoViD-19.

My mom is a clerk at a gas station in a busy part of town less than a mile from 3 hospitals, she did get CoViD-19 on July 15th.  It is was the GI kind and recovered quickly.  That was the Lord providing there because my 80 year old Grandma whom my Mom lives with got a UTI that caused confusion and my Mom thankfully was fully recovered to care for her with all of that.

In my home town, the town where my Mom still lives, Aurora, Colorado some of the police officers are still making poor decisions.  This past weekend they cuffed a 6 year old.  I am still astonished and outraged at that choice.  I am praying for the new Chief, Vanessa and that better polices and training would be put in place.  I know one problem the force is having is the recruits they are getting just don't have to fortitude to be an officer.  Many can't pass the gun test...  Please pray for your local law enforcement and for the Lord to do the work that needs done.  For safety and patience until that work is rolling.  It took time to get here, it is going to take time to make it better.

Below is me and math and numbers and thoughts on pandemics.  Feel free to skip it, but it does offer another point of view.  I'm willing to have a discussion in the comments or through email.

While I'm on the subject I'm going to go ahead and talk a bit more about this pandemic.

H1N1 in 2009 spread 5 times faster than CoViD-19. 22 million cases in the US in the first 6 months. H1N1 mostly infected and killed those in the 18-64 age range.  In the first six months of H1N1 0.07% of the US population was infected.  In the first six months of CoViD-19 the number of positive tests recorded comes out to 0.01% of the population is infected.  If we go so far as to multiply that by 10 for those not being tested, seen or recorded that brings it to 0.1% of the US population.

We are at home and running away from less than 1% of the population.  Less than 1 person out of 1000 that you encounter might be infected. H1N1 was about the same, maybe higher if we were to add in those that didn't go to the doctor or the hospital.

So what's the difference? Some say the death rate.  While CoViD-19 is technically 150 times more deadly, let's look at what that really means.  Of  the 0.1% of the US population that might be infected, the death rate is 0.03%.  That is 0.03% of 0.1%.  For 1 person in 1,000 possibly being infected, 1 person in 33,333 you encounter might die.

H1N1 killed 12,469 in the first year in the US.  As I write CoViD-19 has killed 156,840 in the US alone.  The majority of whom, 80%, are over 65 years of age.

I think the difference is the demographic of those dying and God's plan.  The government is sending all the children back to school, during a time when numbers are far worse than when they were pulled out in the Spring, but we can't have an election, too dangerous.  Still letting inmates out because it's too dangerous, but have to go to school.  Just for the record there have been ZERO positive cases in the inmates where my husband works.  The older demographic is the one that "they" care about and want to protect.

SARS has a death rate of nearly 1% and only by the grace of God didn't fully get out of China and spread.

The yearly flu has a death rate of 0.1% which is the spread rate of CoViD-19.

I understand that death is loss, I am not minimizing that.  I also know that we can't all live forever and whatever happened to survival of the fittest?

CoViD-19 being a corona virus is most likely here to stay, so we need to find a better way to deal with it than to hide from it.  Add it to the list of the other 4 corona viruses that cause the common cold and move forward.

We as humans are now living the way you should have been living all along.  Wash your hands and stop licking yourself!

This is a wake up call people! For Americans a call to be less selfish, deal with having less, of everything and not having as many choices at the store. A call to turn to the Lord, Jesus, forgiver of ALL sin and Savoir of souls.

Okay off the soap box and on to the fiber arts.

I have started putting my patterns on Payhip.  It is taking some thinking and a bit of time.  I am having to rewrite the descriptions for my designs to have more detail and be more specific.  I needed to do this any way just so that they would be cleaner and leave less questions.

I was also thinking about my descriptions because of the accessibility issue for those using readers to help them knit or crochet.  I have decided that for some of my designs such as socks, hats and blankets for example I will offer both written and charted instructions.  For my lace designs, it will continue to be chart only.

I did finish the tank top.  Here is a picture of me wearing it.

I really do like it.  I will talk more about what I learned and changes I will make for the future next week on the Sweater Update, which will be a video this time!  My final thoughts and a link to the video will be on the sweater update page.

I have almost finished my Empower People bandana from Bzy Peach.

I went back and forth on "joining" this group and finally decided to.  The reason I was back and forth is because I don't agree with everything, everything.  I agree with nearly everything and decided it was a message I can share.  Mostly to get out and VOTE!  We live in a country where we have the opportunity and the responsibility to vote, so please, please do so.  This is how changes can be made and your voice gets heard.  In my house if you are of age and didn't vote, you can't complain.

I did finish my Stained Glass Cowl.  I ran short of black yarn because I didn't realize until I was about a third of the way through that there were different cast on numbers for the fingering weight and DK weight cowls.  That was the only difference in the pattern.  I used the fingering weight cast on number which was higher than the cast on number I should have used and therefore ran out of black yarn.

At first I just did a 3 needle bind off and blocked it, but I was not pleased.

So I ripped the 3 needle bind off and chose 2 of the tiny balls of the colorful bits I had left and worked 3 rounds of garter stitch and then bound off.  Here it is blocking.

Here you can see the 3 pins and how they are holding the foam tube in place.

Here it is done.

Too hot to wear, even for just a quick picture.  I still want to tack the new colors in place and when the weather cools down a bit more I'm sure I'll be wearing it a lot.

Still hard at work on the MKAL with Stunning String.  Next week I'll update on the Arrow socks.  For real the test knit announcement is tomorrow.  I finally got it to a place where I am comfortable sharing it.

I almost forgot.  I finished my L Ease in the Woods too!

I have a new design coming out next week.  Here is a sneak peek.

Be kind, be safe and be sensible.

Until next time guys...

Happy Making!

2020 Goals check in

Nearing the end of Summer, but honestly it feels somewhat pointless.  There isn't even a start date for school for my 2 high schoolers.  My middle schooler is in a different district and is scheduled to start until September 8th...

I thought that this would be a good time to check in on my goals for 2020.  I recorded 2 or 3 in my last post of 2019 for fiber and I have 2 for food that have been long standing and finally gotten to.

For fiber:

First is my sweater project with Shirley Paden.  From the last post you can see it is going slower than I had anticipated but it is moving forward nonetheless.  There will be a new update on the tank next week!

Next, is a goal I can't believe I even set.  I decided to have all of my books put into my Ravelry library by the end of 2020.  When I set that goal my library was the same size as now...

...but I didn't have internet at home!  What was I thinking?  Not sure but the Lord has worked it out just fine.  That is a goal that I should meet just fine.  I currently have 547 items in my library.  179 of which are downloads.

I just passed the half way point of the knit section and I only started the beginning of this month when I realized that I could.

My final goal was to learn Imperial lengths almost as well as I know Imperial weights.  That's going okay.  While I can't convert everything quickly yet, I do know about what a needle is when told to me in millimeters.  I no longer have to go running for a conversion chart.  I know how many mm to a m and a km and all.  What I want to know better is how that compares to inches, feet and miles.
I also know that the best way to retain info is application, that's why I know that 100g is just under 4oz, from experience.  It will take time for all this to be quick info in my head but if I keep at it, it will happen.

My food goals for a while have been carrot cake and tamales.

I finally decided to make my spice cake recipe with carrots in it.  I was good, tasted like carrot cake but the color was off.  I will add pureed carrots as well as pieces next time.

Tamales have always been very daunting.  I've been told they are time consuming.  Like days...  I found a recipe in a book that I will share after I try it, that makes it be done in a couple of hours and makes 20.  My daughter and I will try them out, probably in September when the weather cools down a bit and I'll let you know how it goes.

I still haven't blocked my Fan Shawl.  It will get blocked this weekend after I finish my Stained Glass Cowl.  I try to have more than one item to block at a time so that I can use the water more than once.

On Friday I will be picking up and starting the border on my CoViD-19 shawl.  I've really enjoyed this piece and think it is going to be finished just in time for cooler weather.

Still working on getting that test knit call out so keep watch.

I have also been selected as a test knitter for Making Stories Issue 5.  The yarn is coming from The Fibre Company.

My current MKAL with Stunning String is going well.  We are working on BOTH ends at the same time so it looks like a mess.

I have receiving the Cast of Characters from Leading Men Fiber Arts since it began in April.  Each shipment comes with 5 mini 20g skeins of yarn.  They started at the beginning of the alphabet and will go through the end.  I am trying to decide what I am going to make with these yarns.  At first I thought I would make a granny square blanket and even swatched, chose a hook and number of rounds...  Then today I realized that if I knit 2 rows in each color that the ends could become the fringe on one end...  So I am going to work on that and see how much yarn that would take.

I was sorry to hear about the loss Tahra, one of the dyers of Brew City Yarns.  Her family and friends are in my prayers.  You'll be missed Tahra!

Stay safe to be healthy and please be kind to others and wear your mask!

Until next time...

Happy making!

Sheltering In Place

Sorry this is a week late.  The day I went to publish we had a freezer issue and so my daughter and I spent 3 hours saving food, defrosting and such.  This week you guys get one of almost everything.  The only thing I'm not posting today is a new Can't Stop, Won't Stop video.

The fifth and final KAL during my quarantine time is called Sheltering In Place.  It is from Andrea Jurgrau of BadCatDesigns.  I am almost finished with mine.  I am on chart 8 of 9 and have the border and edging after that,  I will have plenty of yarn though, which is nice to know.  I am using a lace weight yarn in 100% alpaca.  It is from a ranch that is local to me called Enchanted Fibers Guild LLC.  It is a nice gray, 2 ply yarn.  I have 2 skeins of about 100g each with 875 yards in each skein.

Here is a picture of my progress.

Last week I finished my Fan Shawl from Crafty Flutterby.  The pattern is the Twisted Minstrel.  I still haven't blocked it, but will soon.

Two weeks ago, I finished my Quarantine Release project and forgot to share it.  They are the Flores socks from Joji Locatelli.  I enjoyed them.  I even followed the directions instead of just using the stitch pattern with my usual recipe.  I like the way the heel is and now I have more understanding about sock decreases as a mirror knitter.  I will share more on that in the future.

I have put some more pictures and an update on the sweater page.

I have posted a short on picking up a dropped purl stitch here.  In it I mention my LYS as Longmont Yarn Shoppe.  While I love that shop, it is 92 miles away and that seems extravagant during this pandemic.  The LYS I mention in this blog post is Knot Just Yarn, which is only 51 miles from home.  Same as Walmart and Natural Grocer.

On August 4th, I will be releasing a new pattern.  It is the first in a series of four.  It is called Spring.  The collection is called "Seasons of Sophistication".  They will be available individually.  When they are all released they will also be available as a collection for a discount.
All four pieces are the same garment, a shawl with sleeves.  The shawl is a Pi shawl worked from the center out.  All the pieces have the same center.  The motifs differ from there depending on the season.  I chose motifs for each season that remind of that season here in the Eastern plains of Colorado.  This collection has been a long time in coming and I am excited to finally see it getting published!

I've been hard at work on few other designs as well and will even be putting a call out for test knitters for one of them in the next week or so.

CoViD-19 is still keeping us mostly home.  My daughter and I did go to a spin in at the LYS.  It was masked and distance but still nice to be around people.  We are getting near to when school should start, we don't have a start date yet here for Byers...

Many of the predictions I have made about CoViD-19 along the way are beginning to come true.  The only prediction that I made that didn't happen was I thought that they would never shut the USA down economically because we wouldn't survive it.  Well half true I guess..

The others...

That because CoViD-19 is a corona virus, like the common cold, you will be able to get it again, it won't be one and done.

There will be no cure, it is a virus.

The summer months are not going to make it any less prevalent.  Look how hard it hit Australia in February 2020, a very hot summer for them.

I understand the feeling torn on what to do right now.  The numbers here in the states, real or not, compared to those of other countries show that we shut down too late, not hard enough and not long enough.  I understand that our government is different than many, most other countries out there.  I also understand that Americans are very spoiled and selfish.  This shut down was for public safety reasons.  I know logically looking at H1N1 of 2009 and we did nothing really makes you scratch your head at this.
Where the government is and what they are doing or not doing right now is causing both loss of life and loss of the economy.  There isn't an answer for the US that will preserve both, it is going to have to be one or the other.  With numbers going up and the government not doing anything, looks very irresponsible.

My current prediction for CoViD-19 is a bit more long term.  It will never be totally gone.  It is going to be added to the list of 4 corona viruses that cause the common cold.  It will be that some people die of the common cold each year, like people die of the flu each year.

My other prediction is on herd immunity.  That if the number of cases keeps doubling at the rate they have and based on current US population, it will take until about September or October of next year, to reach that 70% ish mark.  I doubled the current death rate to a full 1% and that makes a loss of about 2 million people.

I know loss of life is hard, devastating, it is part of life though.  We can't live forever.  Am I saying that we should be reckless and just say forget it all?  No I am not.  I have no problem with the masks in most situations.  The situation I'm struggling with is having to wear it in the hospital while in labor...  As a woman who went through natural, but induced labor 3 times, I can't imagine trying to breathe that way.

I think having virtual doc appointments when possible is good.  Having shopping hours for people in high risk categories, yes.  I think that this country not being open 24/7 is a good thing and we need to get back to more of that.  Eating out is a fun treat, not a way of life.  It's time for Americans to slow down and get back to basics.

I'm praying that the things we have done and learned during this pandemic will be applied in other areas of life.  As a pure life educator I'm really hoping people will apply these same principles to their sex life.

Be smart, be kind, stay safe and until next time...

Happy making!

Switch when 2 or more

This is the first from last KAL that I worked on during quarantine.

Mom and I have been working on these mystery shawls from Stunning String together.  This one we didn't get to cast on together because of the lock down.  I cast mine on in the back yard all by myself.

This one is called Family Tree.  It has lots of cables and is worked in DK weight yarn; Stunning Strings Studio Dynamic.  Mom and I chose to do the smallest size which comes out to be an overgrown scarf.  We were each sent 2 hanks of yarn in our color choice.  I chose a blue and Mom a green.

From the beginning I decided to alternate my balls of yarn.  Stunning String is an indie dyer out of Illinois.  When working with yarn of the same color from an indie dyer it is suggested to alternate between skeins if you are using 2 or more skeins of the same color in a project.  Mom worked through skein 1 and then went into skein 2.  Below are our finished pieces and difference that made.

This is Mom's scarf.  You can clearly see the line of the skein change, no it is not the lighting.

Here is mine.  The color differences are there, but a more even.

I put up a new video on YouTube today about working with multiple skeins of yarn in the same project from an indie dyer, check it out.

After wearing the decision to not become a Creator on Patreon, I'm good with it and I'm not going to do it.  I am supporting a couple of makers there and love the work they are doing.

A few weeks ago Nijah and I started a new project, called Instead of Estes.  It was a special project of yarn from Six and Seven Fiber, the new Monet minis using the Sea Glass pattern, that we decided to do together since we couldn't go to Estes for the Estes Park Wool Market this year.

Nijah finished hers and mailed it off to a friend in Oregon before I caught a picture of it.  She only used 5 of the 10 mini skeins of yarn.  The pattern calls for 800 yards of yarn and she only used about half that, following the directions as written.  It came out full size when blocked.  I was about to change to my 4th color and was going to have the same problem.

 
I bought these 10 colors to used together and I wanted to use them all.  So I ripped out the shawl.  I rewound the yarn back into balls and have put it away for now.  I am planning to do the Longma's Cowl fading the colors.  The way Rachel put them in the package.  I know it's more yarn than called for but I think I can add some repeats in both directions and have a couple of styling options.  Keep an eye here to find out.

This past week in the town that I consider my hometown, Aurora, Colorado, there was a protest to get justice for Elijah McClain.  I learned just a couple of days ago that Elijah was killed by Aurora PD and an EMT literally just stones throw from my apartment building.

I have been driving past this memorial for months.  It was just the cross and a string of lights until the last week or so.  I drive by this memorial when I go to visit my Mom each week.  This is Elijah's memorial.  Tomorrow my daughter and I will go place items we've made there and pray for the friends and family who are grieving and want justice.

The world has/is changing in many ways, yet I still see many that stay the same, selfish people, racism that my Mom taught my sister and I so vehemently is wrong.  Which was a difficult task with parents born and raised in the south in the 1940s who were part of our daily life.  I miss Aurora very much.  The diversity and the culture.  Lord willing I'll get back there someday, but if not I am so very thankful that I can visit and interact with so many different people.

The Lord Jesus made us all, has a purpose for us all and loves us all.

Will the true followers of Jesus please stand up!  Stand with those who are being hurt and help them.

Until next time...

Happy making. 

Painting Bricks

I love Stephen West's work.  His colors are so bright, happy and sometimes unexpected.  During quarantine I bought two of his recent patterns, Fantastitch and Painting Bricks.  I came home, as I still didn't have internet and had driven to the mailbox to check on IG and email, and printed out my new patterns.  Painting Bricks only printed 2 pages.  On the bottom of the second page it said that a Slip Stitch along would be starting April 3 and the pattern would be released just before that.  The 2 pages contained the yardage, needle and gauge info.

Another KAL?  Sure why not, what else is there to do?

So I got to work finding yarn.  My stash of DK weight wool is very small.  I gave away all of my acrylic and that is no longer an option with my allergy any way.  I didn't have enough for a main color in fingering but I had these balls of Classic Elite Water Spun in white that had been given to me.  I had time to dye them, but will it be enough?  The pattern calls for a size 7 needle and I had just finished another project with this yarn and that needle size so I knew they would go well together.

I decided to just go for it.  I dyed one ball of each of 6 contrasting colors.  That left me 6 balls for the main color, black.

Though it was a bit early in the year, I solar dyed these yarns in the back yard.

I put the black yarn in a large pot and put it out to set as well.

 
The sun proved to not be hot enough yet to fully set the dye and I had to finish the colors in the microwave and the black on the stove.

 
The yarn is discontinued, but it is a single ply yarn that is slightly felted.  It didn't take the dye the way Merino wool usually does that there was a lot of dye left in the jars when the was done.

I used M and Ms to figure out how I wanted to order my colors.

Then I cast on.  At first it went quickly.  It didn't take long though for the rows to become long and I was only able to finish 4 of them in an evening.

As I approached then end it became apparent that I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish the entire piece.  I had already had to substitute some orange for the red I ran short of.  I wanted to be able to work the I-cord bind off and the black was getting low.  I made the decision to finish short of all the repeats and ended with this much pink remaining.

I did the next 4 rows in black and then worked the I-cord bind off.  The piece came out plenty big enough.  I did not finish in time to be included in the KAL that was on Ravelry but I am so very happy with the finished piece.

I often have about a dozen projects going at one time.   I understand that for most people that is very overwhelming.  I look at my knitting projects as T.V. shows.  With the capability to binge watch almost anything I understand spending the whole day on one show, however I don't think most people do.  I watch very little T.V.  We have a T.V. that is hooked up to a DVD player and that is all.  No antenna or cable here.  Even with the internet now we haven't subscribed to anything like Netflix and have no plans to.  There is little time for T.V. for my hubby and I.  Most of my time is spent knitting, crocheting, spinning or prepping for one of those.  What do I do while I sit and...  I listen to audio books and podcasts mostly.  In the evening, after dark and my hubby can't see well enough to work outside or it has gotten too cold we will watch a couple of episodes of shows we have on DVD.

For me to sit and make all day in front of the T.V. would be tedious, as I would often be pushing the pause button to that I can count.  I do that with my audio too.

I don't work that same project for more than about an hour each day.  Not every project is worked everyday or even every week.  I have a project that I work on during a certain book club book each month, another during my morning Bible study podcast, one for loading screens when working on the computer, another one, idiot work while making dinner and then whatever I choose for the evening.  Still other projects for the car and during church or in person Bible study.  Varying my projects is part of the reason I am able to make for so many hours a day.



I have decided not to become a creator on Patreon at this point.  I feel the Lord is leading me in a different direction at the moment.


I did get the third installment of my Can't Stop, Won't Stop up on YouTube today.

In the next week or so I will be looking for test knitters for a sock pattern I've been working on.  Watch here and on IG if you would like to take part.

I have finished updating all of my patterns available in my Ravelry store, my projects on my page and the Ravelry group that host.

I hope that your summer is off to a decent start.  I know so much looks very different now, and it will for a while.  Be flexible and you shall not be broken.

Until next time...

Happy making!

Another Quarantine KAL

During quarantine I worked on 5 different KALs.  Last week I told you about finding and dyeing the yarn for the GG Orange Love KAL.  This week I'm going to share with you a cowl KAL.

The KAL was hosted by Leading Men Fiber Arts from Clinton, IL.  The pattern used for the KAL was Cohenside Cowl from Shanalines Designs.  I had already bought this pattern to make a cowl for each member of my family.  I love her  designs, fun and practical.  The patterns are well written and fun to knit as well.  My husband Carl and my oldest Uriah had already picked out their yarn, which was coming from Leading Men Fiber arts!  Yea!  I get to participate in KAL using yarn and a pattern I already had and still qualify for the prize.  I cast on Uriah's first.  I chose the yarn base for them, Soliloquy, 100% BFL.  Uriah chose the color black walnut.  I worked his exactly as the pattern stated without any changes.  He likes it and I think it turned out nicely too.

Carl chose Man of Mystery and wanted his to be taller, so I added enough stitches to do another repeat of the pattern.  He wanted it to be the same distance around as Uriah's though so I worked the same number of repeats for his.

I started and finished both of these pieces in April and entered them for the prize in the KAL.  I won!  The prize was a gift card to Leading Men Fiber Arts.  I used it to buy Nijah, my daughter, who is also a fiber artist, and I Yarn Pouches.  She wears hers everywhere with a sock kept in it.

Bind off in the middle of a row or round.
I recently uploaded a video to YouTube on how to bind off in the middle of a row or round.  This is something that to me could benefit from having it explained here in words and pictures as well.

Binding off in the middle of a row or round is done for many different reasons, most often for placement of sleeves.  It can also be done for shaping of a bag or stuffed animal.

These pictures, just like the video show binding off in a row.

Work across the number of stitches indicated by the pattern.  Here is an example.

Your piece has 21 stitches across.  The directions now read as follows.  K 3, BO 5, K 5, BO 5, K 3.  Here's what that would look like in pictures.

I have knit the first 3 stitches as directed.

Next is to bind off  the next 5 stitches.  Before I learned what I was doing wrong I would knit the next stitch and then bind off a stitch.  My stitch count was always wrong and I would just fudge it.  Here is what I should have been doing.  Knit the next stitch, yes...

And the next one too.  I now have 5 knit stitches on the needle.

Now take stitch number 4 over stitch number 5 for binding off.  That leaves you with your first 3 stitches and one bound off.

I continued binding off the 5 stitches, counting each one that was slipped over and off the needle.  When I reached 5, the next step is to K 5.  This stitch hanging out where I finished the 5 bind off stitches, is stitch number 5 of my K 5.

Then I knit the next 4 stitches.

Then bind off the next 5 stitches as before.
 

 Remember that last bound off stitch is the first stitch of the next section.

Then finish with the last 2 knit stitches.

That is how to bind off in the middle of a row or round.  If you have questions please let me know.  Here is a link to my YouTube channel, look for Bind off in Row to see this in action.  The video is shot using my left hand because I am a mirror knitter.

I am still working on recording classes.  Not sure where they will go from there.  I'm having second thoughts about Patreon, I'll let you know next week.

Tomorrow I will release a new YouTube on short rows.  I learned a few tricks recently that I'd like to share with you.

Black Lives Matter

Until next time...

Happy Making!

Real Life Knitter

This one has a lot of pictures into.  Even though the date is late April on the entry below, I started dyeing yarn for GG KAL early March.

April 27, 2020

I started the GG Loves Orange KAL on March 15, 2020 with everyone else. I chose to work the KAL pattern, Orange Love Poncho and used orange yarn.

I didn't have any orange yarn and my yarn budget was to be spent on up coming festivals. I dug and found a skein of Lion Brand's Fisherman. I ordered 2 more, just to be sure.

 

I rewound them into hanks and dyed them with some pumpkin orange dye from Jacquard, I had mixed up years ago.

 

I was pleased with the way it turned out after drying.

I wound the skeins into cakes using my ball winder and swift. This is the largest cake I have ever wound. 8 ounces!

 

Cast on day came and I got started.

 

I worked the foundation rows before the cables begin. I looked at the chart for the cables, in which I have recently, slowly gained more and more experience with. This project however was not in the round or symmetrical so was going to take some thinking.

I am a mirror knitter as you may know and if I just followed the chart in the opposite direction as I usually do, my baubles will be in the right place, going the wrong direction.  I wanted them to be both in the correct place and going the correct direction.  The baubles in this pattern go sort of diagonally.

 

I opened the pattern's PDF and took a screen shot of the chart. I was then able to put that into my word processor and then make a mirror of it. This fixed everything! This will not work in every situation, but it did in this one.

When this rectangle is finished, the edge opposite the cables is sewn to form the neck opening. I got out a piece of paper and made some markings and did a bit of folding to see if it was going to truly work all the way through and it was.

 

I moved forward with the piece using my mirrored chart.

I worked a total of 13 repeats and the then finished off the bauble section with a few more rows into repeat number 14.

I blocked the piece before sewing the neck.

I sewed the neck closed as directed in the pattern. The only thing that I changed was the size of the crochet hook I used. I went up to an "I". I did this because working the seam with the smaller hook was pulling the piece too tightly. This crocheted seam doesn't have the give that the knitting it is joining does; so you need to make sure that the crocheted seam is loose enough to not pull on the piece.

I had plenty of yarn left over, which I wanted to any way. Some will actually be going into my Painting Bricks shawl from West Knits because I ran out of yellow. Then I will also have enough to make Dolores a version of this poncho.

I also just finished up a test knit for Shana Cohen of Shanalines designs. It is her Air Hugs design and I will share on IG when it becomes available for purchase on Ravelry.

I have been hard at work on my first sweater design. I have updated the sweater page here.

I finally, finally warped my 4 harness floor loom!

I am so excited about this. I used the video "Beginning Four Harness Weaving" by Deborah Chandler, produced by Yarnbarn and her book as well. Both of which I bought from Eugene Textiles Company at the Interweave Yarn Fest in 2019.

 

Yes the DVD was dubbed over from the VHS of the 1980's but it is so good. I am a very novice weaver and the nearest experienced weaver to me in about 70ish miles away in Brighton, Colorado. Using the book and DVD I was able to tame my no brand beast and get it warped.

I did mess up at the warping board and ended up with 240 cut ends in my hand, instead of 120 and had a huge threading mess that took a week to get under control.

I took the time to do it, a little at a time each day. After I got that mess sorted, I got the book back out and very carefully went over how to use the warping board again. One key thing that is either not clear in the video or that I missed is where it says "count here and multiply by two." That's what I missed, next time.

Now I am all set up and ready to weave. The next part is learning to read a draft.

I have updated the knitting patterns in my Ravelry store.  The crochet ones are next.

 

Patreon sign ups will be opening June 17 at $3 a month. I will have a link to that when it goes live. Here is a list of benefits.

Weekly behind the scenes design blog

10% pattern discount

Twice monthly tip videos, early release

I am excited about this and to how it goes.  If you have any thoughts or ideas for what you would like to see please leave a comment or email me.

The last thing I want to mention this week is about being a Real Life Knitter and what that means to me and for my content.

I knit, crochet or spin almost every waking moment.  Exceptions are during most meals, most of my time behind the wheel and tending to the plants.

I love to teach about things that I know about.  I know a lot about fiber arts and want to share, hence the blog and YouTube channel.

All that said my photos and videos will be done during my real life knitting moments.  So my nails won't always be great, they will NEVER be painted, there might be back ground noise or something odd in a photo.  One example is the photo in this blog of me casting on the GG KAL.  My hubby took it with the light streaming in the window behind me.  I didn't know until he text me the picture the next day that he had even taken it so there was no chance for a redo.

When I am recording or shooting for detail teaching I do my best to make sure there is little back ground noise, that the light is good and details are clear.  I do have 3 children and a few farm animals so stuff always happens.  Occassionally I will just ignore the situation and finish the shoot, other things are edited out.  I am the editor and producer as well.  I've been working on computers for over 20 years and learning more each day about the software I use.  Please bear with me.

If you made it this far, thank you!

Next time I will talk about another KAL and my newest video release on short rows.

Until then...

Happy making!