Horray, this morning I can upload photos. This is the bottom band of Nigella, the circle sweater. After around 900 rows I'll bind off and then pick up stitches with a 36" circular needle and start the stockinette and decreases. I DO think this could be done on the machine and maybe I will make one on the machine next time but I'm enjoying knitting it by hand at the moment.

So you don't have to scroll down to look at it, here's Nigella. Its a Berroco pattern in book # 259 in case you'd like to get the pattern.

2 years ago my daughter and I found circle sweaters in Fred Meyer in Tacoma WA. Honestly that was the most comfortable sweater I've ever owned but it ws made out of crummy yarn that pilled almost from the minute we put them on. I said then that I would like to make one some day and wanted to figure out how that one was made but never took the time. When I saw Nigella I knew this was even better. The yarn is 50% cotton/50% Model Rayon (whatever Model means, I don't know).

This would make a great Christmas present but I'll have to do it on the machine if I want to make more than this one because it would take way too long by hand to make several, given there's 900 rows of lace before you start the rest of the sweater. Not sure the actual stockinette would go very fast by machine because it looks like you decrease across the rows often, that is do-able on the machine but takes time. Of course, thinking about it, the actual knitting wouldn't take all that much time.

While I was pampering myself, I bought a pair of Knit Picks Options Harmony Wood Circular needles. I like Bamboo needles for slippery yarn and this is slippery yarn so who can resist the Harmony Wood needles??? And while I was ordering I ordered their new blocking mats, only $19.99 and they're fabulous, they come as 9 9" square puzzle pieces, you use as many squares as you need for your project. How handy is that? you can take them apart and store them in their box when you aren't using them. I love it!!! I didn't get the case for the needles and all that stuff but 1 pair of circular Options needles comes with the stitch holder and the little screw to put the needles and cable together. I have a set of Boye circulars and broke the size 8 as well as the cable which really broke my heart. BUT you can replace 1 needle and cable if you want, however I have heard such good things about Knit Picks needles, I decided to go that way. This new one can be stored in my Boye case. Now all I need is a sewing/craft table to use as my blocking table, cutting table, hooping table, etc. I was going to go get one at Hancock Fabrics yesterday but got waylaid at Walmart where I bought a new camera for trips, its small enough to plop in my travel bag, my old one wasn't that small.

Enough money spent this month though and we're only half through the month.

Enjoy! While I have the luxury of my Internet Satellite's speed I'm going to put up some pictures of my yard but will start another post for that.

Satellites, Bears and Knitting

My Internet has been down since April 6 when the Internet satellite I use suddenly quit working. First someone from Florida called to make an apt to fix it. The next day someone from VA called to make apt and then someone from Iowa. WHAT? I live in SC, did anyone tell them that? or do they have an atlas or globe? Finally after calling day after day and threatening to go with another satellite company, the guy came. It took until Tuesday the 14th to get someone out here. He moved the dish closer to the house, said he didn't know how it ever worked as far away as it was originally installed. Well, it was put in January 2006 and its worked pretty good although not as fast as cable or DSL but 4 times faster than dial up so we were happy. As soon as the guy left, the thing went back to its shenanigans, on again, off again. Over and over, so that it was impossible to get on and stay on. Yesterday it finally locked on for longer periods and today its still on for longer periods although I don't dare say too much for fear it will hear me and quit again. XX fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, since I couldn't get on the Internet I started hand knitting my wonderful circle cardigan, Nigella. The pattern is written so that you start with a long straight piece of lace, almost 900 rows of it. Funny, I'm not a very patient person but when it comes to knitting, I can knit and tear out and start over as long as it takes to figure something out. After a couple of mis-starts I decided to study what I was doing each row so that if I made a mistake I could quickly fix it. That worked until I was up to 96 rows when I saw an error down the line and ripped back out once again but now I'm back up to row 46 and seem to be doing OK with it, its just a matter of concentration now (hard as patience for me but....) I tried to upload a picture of what I have done so far but the satellite, although its working won't let me upload anything. Bah Humbug! The pictures in the book and on the internet sure don't look like lace but lace it is. The yarn is 50% cotton and 50% rayon. the straight piece will be turned sideways and I'll be picking up stitches over those 900 or so rows, to start the circle. Its intriging to knit this thing, I am so anxious to finish it but not anxious enough to put it on the knitting machine although it would make those 900 rows go sooooo much faster. Maybe after I finish it I'll give it a try on the machine, the lace might be the part that can't be duplicated but where there's a will, there's a way, right?

Meanwhile, the other night, I was exhausted and went to bed before one of my favorite TV shows comes on (forget what it was, but I have DVR and recorded it). About 30 minutes after I hit the hay---the dog started to bark furiously. Good Grief, what now? I laid there and waited to see if he'd shut up but he wasn't shutting up, he was running around the living room like a maniac. Suddenly the motion light on my garage door went on and so of course, I was terrified, thinking there was a burglar. We've neve rhad anyone bother us before because we live on a very dark road in the mountains, what idiot would come up here and bother anyone? I peeked out of the curtains and there, in front of the garage, about 10 feet from my window, was a bear. A large bear. Now--DNR assures me that one doesn't need to be afraid of a bear here in SC. Just leave him alone, the dog barking will make him leave because bears don't want to be messing with people or dogs. Great! I watched and wished I had my camera close by but anyway, he left, going between garage and woods and heading for the "bear camp" next door which gave me a chuckle. I hope he left tracks, those bear hunters will croak when they see a bear actually came all the way to their cabin. Dog kept barking though until I knew it was safe enough to show him there wasn't anything in the yard. I opened the front door and held him up so that he could see through the screen that all was quiet and no one was there. Poor little dog slept the rest of the night in the bay window, watching I guess, just in case that guy came back.

Last night the same thing happened again only I don't know what it was he was barking at. The neighbor's 2 dogs were barking furiously all evening and well into the night and then mine started in again. This morning I went out to look and found tracks that resemble dog tracks in the mulch around my flowers. Doggone it, I don't want anything tramping through my flowers, I've put way too much work into them. I suspect it was a coyote which I've heard are coming closer and closer to our houses here in Pickens and can cause a bigger problem than a bear because coyote's can kill pets. I know I don't want to come in contact with one and I sure don't want Biscuit to meet one face to face because Biscuit thinks he's a lion.

Well, as soon as I can successfully upload some pictures, I will. I'm anxious to show off my azaleas, my new rocks and edging, all the work the landscaper did for me to pretty up the yard and of course, my knitting. Patience, my dear, patience--as my mother used to say to me, or was it the nuns in school?????

New Hand Knitting Goodies

I had the nicest time yesterday. I went to Hagood Mill in Pickens where the spinners and knitters meet on the 1st Saturday of the month. The weather was perfect, if you had a sweater on because it was 75 degrees but breezy and the cabin porch was mostly shady. I took Biscuit with me and he thoroughly enjoyed laying in the sun on the porch, getting up occasionally to greet tourists who came to talk to us and look at the cabin. There were only 3 of us there yesterday, Nancy, Dee and I. It was fun though, we admired each other's projects (Dee was spinning some unknown origin wool and Nancy was knitting a feather and fan project to wear on Easter Sunday. I was knitting on the second half of my beaded scarf, trying to get it finished before Nigella comes (see Nigella below). So it was an enjoyable day. When I got home and checked the mail box, I had a wonderful surprise.

A few months ago I had ordered the coolest new gadget for knitters, its called The Knit Kit, from theknitkit.com .

I also just ordered yarn from Jimmy Beans Wool Co for a circle cardigan that is in one of Berroco's book # 259, the cardigan is called Nigella. I have wanted to make a circle cardigan for a long time and actually downloaded a freebee from elann.com but people on Ravelry were having problems with the sleeves on that one so I was hesitant to try it. Meanwhile I got a newsletter from Berroco, talking about odd shaped knitting projects and Nigella caught my eye. It is knit with a Berroco yarn called Touche and I bought the color, Lemon Meringue. Sounds yummy? Look at the pictures of Nigella and the close-up of the patterning which I just absolutely love:

I can't wait to get the yarn and I can't wait to wear the sweater. The yarn is 50% cotton, 50% rayon. Perfect for my Hawaiian trip because I read that you need sweaters in Hawaii for restaurants and shops because of the air conditioning, you go in from the heat and freeze. Its the same here in SC actually, some restaurants are so cold I have to remember to take my sweater when I go to them. So--hopefully I'll have this done in time for the trip. Meanwhile though, I just ordered a skein of yarn from Ray at Knitivity. Ray has a contest going, its a One Skein Contest...you must use his sock yarn and make something unique. I already know what I'm going to make, just not quite sure if I'm going to machine knit it or hand knit it but knit it I will--before I start Nigella.

So much to do.......so little time!

Dogwoods

I haven't been to town this week, perhaps the dogwoods are already blooming there but here in the foothills, my dogwoods are just now starting to show the beginning of blossoms. Here's a photo I took this morning, the tree is right beside the screen of our back porch, I love it being so close.
When we moved to SC back in 1961 my husband (who was the master of stories and fables, not always true) told me the story about the dogwood and the cross and told me that the dogwood always blooms at Easter time. I remembered that this year as I've watched my tree get ready to bloom. Then I decided to Google Dogwood and see if he was just telling me that or if it really was a legend. I found out it really was a true legend and there's more to it, I'll bet anything he knew the rest of it too. Here's what I found:

The word ~dogwood~ comes from a custom in England to wash dogs with a concoction made from dogwood bark to cure mange.

According to legend the dogwood was the size of the oak and other forest trees. Being firm and strong, it was chosen as the timber for the cross, during the Crucifixion of Christ. According to stories, the tree was distressed for being used for a cruel purpose, and Jesus being nailed to it sensed this and told the tree, "Because of your regret and pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth it shall be slender and bent and twisted and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross, two long and two short petals. In the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints, brown with rust and stained with red, and in the middle of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see it will remember ..."

The wood of dogwood was widely used in the textile industry and to make shuttlecocks, spools, dowels, baseball bats and shingles. Dogwood is so hard that it can even be used as a wedge to split other wood. The bark was used to make tea as a remedy for fever. According to Loudon, 1838, Arboretum Euonymus, a decoction of its leaves was used to wash dogs to free them from vermin. It was used to intoxicate fishes in Jamaica and as a tobacco additive by American Indians.

British Columbia adopted the Pacific dogwood Cornus nuttallii as its official provincial flower in 1956. During World War II, the sale of dogwood lapel pins earned money to purchase wool and other comforts for British Columbian soldiers. Dogwood blossoms are depicted on British Columbia’s coat of arms and on a flag flown by franco-Columbians, or French-speaking residents.

Dogwood ~Flowers or Trees~ are the official state flowers/trees of Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia & British Columbia.

On April 23, 1995 President and Mrs. Clinton planted a flowering dogwood on the grounds of the White House to memorialize the loss of life in the Oklahoma City Bombing.

My Logo

OK, I know you're dying to know how I got this logo. I've had it since 1987. How it came about was, in December 1986 we came to SC from Michigan to have a look at our property one more time before we built a house. We got a map that showed the mountains and their names and discovered that the mountain in front of our property was called Piney Mountain. So my son decided we should call our house Piney Mountain Cottage since it sits at the bottom of Piney Mountain. That was it, the Perfect name.

About that same time I decided to go ahead and start up a business. I wasn't sure what I was going to sell, probably knits since like most machine knitters who buy their first knitting machine thinks they're going to start selling knits (little do they know what that entails...)

So I went back to our home in Michigan, wrote to South Carolina and applied for my business license. That following summer we moved. We planned on living in a camper in the driveway while the house was being built. I wasn't about to live here in that camper until there was electricity so I went to Spokane where my Mom lived and hung out with her for the summer.

Mother's next door neighbor has a daughter close to the same age as me. The daughter is an artist, home from art school. I decided to ask her to draw a logo for me. I knew I wanted it to be a little old lady, knitting of course, and a cottage with the mountains in the background. Well----the logo you see is sort of what she came up with. I loved it but the only problem with it was the mountains. She and I grew up near the Rocky Mountains, the mountains around here are rounder and softer, older my husband told me. So I rounded out the mountains and there you have it, my Piney Mountain Cottage logo. I love it as much now as I did when she first came up with it.

Knitweave Scarfvest

This is a lightweight vest (or scarf) and drapes slightly around the neck. Look at the picture, you can see light through the fabric, I would never knit this sock yarn alone at this high tension but I believe knitting it loosely with no weights helped with the edges rolling problem.

Machine: Silver Reed LK 150

Knitting Yarn: 3-50g balls of Red Heart Heart & Sole with Aloe (I purchased this at Hobby Lobby This is a superwash wool sock yarn).

Weaving Yarn: 1-50g ball Queensland Collection, Kathmandu Aran Tweed double knit weight wool, 85% Merino Wool, 10% Silk, 5% Cashmere.
(any wool yarn will work for this but since it only takes 1 ball, make it special. I highly recommend a wool blend for this project because it steams flat easier than acrylic.

4 buttons

Final Measurement: 6 inches wide x 40 inches long on the straight sides plus the 2 pointed ends

Gauge:Woven Swatch - 6 sts and 8 rows per inch with 1 strand of Red Heart and 1 strand of the weaving yarn.

Machine:This was knitted on the LK 150 but I used the LK 140 carriage which knits looser than the LK 150 carriage. I used a loose tension (4), probably if I had use the LK 150 carriage I would have to use a tension 5 to match the gauge I got with this carriage. I purposely knitted it loose and used no weights to help eliminate curly edges. You can see light through the fabric when you hold it up but that’s ok, its soft and lightweight and wonderful to wear.

How to Weave on the LK 150:I used a 1x1 weave, over one, under the next, alternating every row. To weave just place the weaving yarn in front of you in a bowl or something that will keep it from rolling all over the floor, don't use the antenna. Leave the knit (background) yarn in the antenna as normal. As you weave, pull forward every other needle as you get to it. Needle 1, put the weaving yarn over the needle, back against the bed, needle 2 put the weaving yarn under, alternating over every other needle. Then knit the row with your Red Heart yarn. Next row alternate the over and under needles so those that you put over last row, put under this row, be sure to pull out the needles as you get to them. If you have a weaving carriage, follow the directions that came with it.

Knitting Directions:
E-Wrap cast on 2 stitches with your Red Heart Yarn. Hold the stitches with your hand under the bed rather than using weights or use a lightweight plastic clothespin to hold it down but don’t use anything heavy. Remove the clothes pin ASAP. K across.

Begin Knitweaving:
Row 1. Weave under 1 stitch and over the second stitch. Knit across with the Red Heart yarn in the carriage.

Begin increasing every row on carriage side.
Row 2.Increase on carriage side, continue weaving, your first row was over/under and you’ve added a stitch, this row will be under/over/under. Continue this sequence increasing 1 stitch carriage side each row until you have 12 stitches each side, or until your piece is 6 inches wide.

Continue knit weaving until your scarf is 34 inches long (row 272)or, with a tape measure, drape 40 inches around your neck as a scarf, go to your mirror and make a note where you want the first buttonhole. You’ll want the 4th buttonhole to end about 2 rows before the end of your 40 inches. Place 2 more buttonholes evenly between the first and last. or just follow my directions below:

Mark for buttonholes:
At Row 272 mark the left side edge with contrast yarn for your first buttonhole.
Continue knitweaving, mark your second buttonhole at row 288.
Mark row 304 and finally at row 318.
Knit 2 more rows, you will be at row 320 or 40 inches.

Begin decreasing every row carriage side until you have 2 stitches left, weaving every row as you did on the other side. Bind off those 2 stitches.

Knitting Machine Crochet-Like Trim:
Use 2 strands of Red Heart’s Heart and Sole

Knit-crochet your edges using the Crab Stitch technique on your machine from Charlene Tate's web page, http://charmknits.com/crochet-like-trims.htm WARNING: Work a few rows and check to make sure your work isn’t puckering from putting the stitches too close together. If they are, take out that bit and do it again, skipping a stitch to keep the work flat. Charlene suggests you skip every 6th stitch.

Start with the base stitch: Begin with the right side of the garment facing you, working from R to L, pick up the first full fabric st and hang on a ndl. K 2 rws. Pick up bump under st and hang on ndl to the R of the ndl. K 2 rws. Two ndls are now in work and a base st is finished.

Continue with the Crab Stitch Technique: With a single prong tool, pick up next fabric st and hang on new ndl to the L of the L ndl. Transfer R st to new L ndl and put empty ndl out of work (A) position. (Original L ndl becomes R ndl.) K 2 rws. Repeat until last fabric st remains. On the Curves, do the stitch twice to help keep the shape correct. To end, hang last fabric st on L ndl and transfer st on R ndl to L ndl. K 1 rw.

When finished with the first row, go around 1 more time. This time pick up the bars between the bump from the first crochet row. When you get to the buttonhole markers make your buttonholes by knitting 4 stitches in the same space before continuing with the crab stitch (sort of like making a chain if you were crocheting. Before you continue, make sure your button will fit through but not too loose, you don’t want it to come unbuttoned when you are wearing it. If you prefer, just crochet a chain after you get the work off the needles.

To finish your scarfvest, if you’ve used wool you can actually steam with your steam iron and press down hard shaping it as you steam. I folded mine in half to keep the shape the same on both side. Weave in all ends and sew your buttons on. you’re ready to wear.

Double click on the diagram to see the measurements

If you’d like to make this scarfvest on any other machine, make a tension swatch. Get out your calculator and start with 2 needles, ewrap cast on, increase every stitch every row on carriage side until you have a 6 inch width. Continue knitweaving every row until your piece is 40 inches long. Decrease down to 2 stitches. Repeat the Crochet-Like Trim as above. Sorry but I have no idea how many balls of the yarn it will take. If you buy extra you can always make a pair of socks with the Red Heart yarn. Remember, no weights and knit it loose enough that it holds it shape but is a bit drapey.

Scarfvest is finished

Here it is finally, the scarfvest I've been working on forever (it seems like it anyway). Its knitweave, the knitting yarn is Red Heart's Heart and Sole, a sock yarn, superwash wool, spun with aloe. I really like the yarn and will definitely use it again. The weaving yarn is a double knit wool that I bought in a yarn shop in Wisconsin while visiting over Christmas.

You can probably tell from the pictures I knitted it pretty loose because I had a theory that one of the reasons our machine knit edges curl so much is because the machine has it stretched tight horizontally and we have it stretched tight vertically with weights. So--I used no weights and knitted it looser than I usually do. The edges still rolled a little but nothing like they usually do.

I solved the slight roll by doing machine knit crochet edges. I knew that Charlene Tate has several how-to-crochet by machine on her web site at www.charmknits.com/ I did the Crab Stitch which is a backward single crochet all the way around. When I was finished I decided to do 1 more row. Normally you wouldn't do 2 rows of crab stitch but I like the way this looks, probably a bit different than if I had crocheted it by hand but I'll never crochet by hand again unless I have to do a stitch that isn't on Charlene's web page. To make the buttonholes I did sort of a chain stitch (on the machine) as I got to the place where I had left a buttonhole marker, I just knitted 4 rows on 1 stitch, then joined it by continuing on with the crab stitch, hard to explain but it worked.

Tomorrow I'll get my notes out and see if I can write up how I made this thing, right now I can't remember exactly how many stitches I used and exactly how I did the tuxedo ends but I wrote it all down.