Continuing 2/17's Project, the Felted Foursome

I have not forgotten the Cat Bordhi Felted Foursome. In spite of the fact that I'm still trying to pack extra yarn and stuff for the impending move I have been knitting in the evening and I took the Felted Foursome with me to the Mill where we demo knitting or spinning or weaving or whatever our current project is. I had my handle done and proceeded to knit 4 separate parts which I wasn't sure about. When I got home I tossed it in the knitting basket and forgot about it for a week. That was a mistake. Yesterday I picked it up again and couldn't figure out where I was on the pattern. I ended up taking out waste yarn and then having to rewind the whole thing and start over. Let me warn you, rewinding isn't all that easy with this project.

In the beginning of this pattern Cat says: "You may find yourself a little disoriented until you've gone far enough to see what you're making, but fear not; keep knitting and soon you shall have your very own Felted Foursome" She's right, I now know what's happening and I'm anxious to finish this magical thing. Yup---I said Magical Thing...it truly is as Magical as she says it is. Hats off to Cat Bordhi for making hand knitting so much fun!!!


Look at the picture. Can you see the 4 separate parts that will soon be 4 pots? And of course, the MCO (mobius cast on) handle in the middle. AWESOME!!!! I can't wait to finish it.

The Bunny Fun is Spreading

Look at these cuties!!! Eileen Montgomery from Ontario, Canada sent me these pictures. Here's what Eileen had to say:

"I knit your bunny several years ago so here's a picture. She's so cute in her bright spring colours, holding a wooden carrot. Her dress' fairisle pattern looks like part of SW #69. I have just knit a sheep version by using SW #47, beads in the tucks, a textured yarn and half the number of rows for the ears." eileen@eileenmontgomery.com

Doggone, these little charmers are soooo cute. Now of course I want to try a sheep.

Finally a UFO is Done

I think its been 2 years since I started this project. A lot has happened since then but I finally decided to get back to it. Of course, after sitting on my loom for 2 years it needed some TLC before I could actually work on it again. One of the reasons I didn't finish it was because there was one thread not tied onto the back beam. My weaving friend came over and helped me ready it for weaving again. What a mess, I was tempted to just take it off and dump it but I really liked the colors and wanted to finish it.

My original objective for this project was to figure out the length so that it would fit my table with extra to hang over the edges. Not as easy with weaving on a loom as weaving on a knitting machine. I also wanted to work on edges, trying my best to make them nice and neat, which isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I achieved the first objective but the second one -- well, the edges leave a lot to be desired. I think the choice of yarn has something to do with the finish as well because its a hard cotton yarn (Cotton Fine from Brown Sheep). I love the yarn but I'm afraid all the flaws show because there's no "fuzz" in the yarn to hide weaving in ends and that sort of thing. The places where I had to rewind the bobbin and start with a new thread really show, I'm not sure why but I'll bet my weaving friends can tell me how to eliminate that little bulge you get when you weave in the ends. UGH!

I want to start another one but I have told myself I have a lot of UFO's to work on first and the loom is going to be taken apart and packed for moving. That should keep me focused on UFO's.

Cat Bordhi's 2nd TMG

I bought the Second Treasury of Magical Knitting after I made so many Mobius Scarves from the Knitty Gritty show on DIY TV ( http://tinyurl.com/l34dq ) that I decided I loved mobius knitting but needed something new to make. The book is hillarious and I immediately sat down and read the whole thing, chuckling and laughing and reading it to anyone who would listen. But it wasn't until today that I finally decided to make the Felted Foursome from the book. Somehow you end up with 4 pockets all attached with a handle and you can store knitting needles, flowers, whatever in the 4 pockets. I spun up some yarn for the project and I can't wait to knit it. Plyed it into a 2-ply and was ready to knit. I dug out my extra long size 11 needles and got comfy.
Then I was stumped. The directions tell me to MCO 100. Place marker and K 135. How can I K 135 when I only have 100? Does she mean to cast on 100 on the top and 100 on the bottom? I checked her web page and there's corrections for a few pages but not for this page so here I am, stuck! I am comfy, my needles are ready, I cast on and can't knit the pattern until I figure this out. Time for ice cream!!!!

Oh good grief, I figured it out after re-reading the book. When you do the MCO you are putting 100 sts on the top and 100 sts on the bottom of the cable on the extra long needle. DUH! Well, tomorrow will be a better day, I will sleep on this and start again. Meanwhile, I have my yarn sitting in the middle of the dining room table so I can admire it as I pass by.

Poor long-suffering Cat Bordhi, I wrote to her last night when I was confused and she wrote me back already (can you believe her service???)Here's her answer

Dear Roz-
If you haven't made the paper model in the intro chapter, please do. Your knitting acts like the sentence you write. If the strip fo paper is 11 inches long, you will have 22 inches of space to write.
So when you MCO 100 sts, you actually will have 200 sts to knit. The 135 will take you just part of the way around the first round of knitting. Enjoy your adventure.

And because she was so nice to answer me, here's her ad:

Passing Paws Press, Inc.

www.catbordhi.com
New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One ($28.95)
Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles ($16.95)
Treasure Forest ( $21.95, winner of the Nautilus Award for Young Adult Fiction)
A Treasury of Magical Knitting ($26.95)
A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting ($26.95)
And in the works:
New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Two (2009)
Knitting Around the Foot: Ancient Pathways (2010)

Happy Valentines Day

Have you tried the Mystery Pattern yet? Well, its not too late to make it and here's why:

Donna-Jean in Ohio made this one, she said she had a lot of fun with it.

Clarisse from AZ says, I especially liked that I got an instant small pillow :)

Roz's Mystery, filled with fluff and a little potpourri, its hanging over the mirror in my car. (sock yarn by Knitivity.com--appropriately called "Cupid's My Hero") Check out how that color striped even when I shortrowed..way to go Ray!

And I saved this one for last .....here's why its not too late to knit your Mystery. Joan DelPozzo, Wales, ME says, This is themystery patten with all numbers cut in half. I can't take credit for thinking of this. My former dealer came up with the idea. The hat is based on the Marian Reynolds fruit hats.

Update--February 19th--Natalie decided to knit a shamrock after she saw the hat above. She and Melissa are going to put a pin on it and wear it on March 17th. What a good idea.......

Well, the Mystery is out but its still not too late to knit yours. Whether you make it red, pink or green or purple!!! we want to see it. Send Pictures!!!!

WAIT! did you miss the Mystery Pattern? Go HERE . We can't wait to see yours!

It's February

I've spent the entire week working, not for pay of course. First I finished my little faux leather top cabinet, then I helped a friend set up a bookkeeping system and I hired a real estate company to sell my house. Boo Hoo, I've been dreading this because this means I have to clean the loft up and put up my toys. I have decided I have to live here though so whatever I'm doing at the time will be out, the rest will be put away (someplace). If I didn't live in the humid South, I'd put things in the garage but since I can't do that there's no option other than packing the boxes and here they sit!!! Oh well, its time to get on with it.

Remember, its February which means its Mystery Pattern month. Do send me pictures if you solve the Mystery. I'll post them, along with mine, here soon.

What I do in my spare time

I've been painting between building a web page and knitting. Here's what happened. My DH had a file cabinet under his computer table that he set his coffee cup on as he read his email. I confess, I did the same. The cabinet was made out of that fake wood stuff -- you know, bits of sawdust glued together and called wood? It had a strip of glued on fake wood covering it. Well, after a million cups of coffee the top was looking horrible so I decided to paint it. I also have a cedar chest that I got when I graduated from High School a million years ago and it also is pretty beat up. I stuck the 2 back in the spare room and put plants on them for the winter but suddenly I had a brilliant idea. Why not try one of those faux paint projects on them? Back in the memory bank was a faux leather look from TLC's Trading Spaces. OK, you know what happened!!! I looked up the faux leather look on DIYTV's web page, bought the stuff and started in. I highly suggest if you try this, you do the faux work first, I did the flat black paint first and had to go back over it when it was finished because drips from the faux work hit the flat black putting glueish drips on flat black paint that washing didn't help.

I started with brown wrapping paper and tore it into little pieces. I laid them in a paper plate full of Decoupage Finish and plastered the little bits all over the top. After that dried overnight I painted the glued and sealed stuff with brown paint (called Leather Brown and it was way too light). I didn't like the look so then I painted again with a darker brown that I had mixed at the local Ace Hardware. This time I took a rag and patted the paint on with that. Then I took a picture. I've found photos help you find the flaws. After looking at the picture I did some more paperwork and more paint. Finally!!! I was ready to put on a few light coats of clear satin polyurethane. When done I let it sit a few days and then put on another coat of flat black on the base and after looking at my picture I see I need to take the drawers out and paint the insides of the cabinet but that's OK, I bought more flat black to do my cedar chest.

What I'll do on the cedar chest though is use tissue paper for the faux leather rather than brown wrapping paper. It looks ok on the cabinet but that wasn't what I really had in mind, I wanted more of a flat finish on it rather than the sort of bumpy finish I got with the brown paper. Still, my DH would have loved his newly finished cabinet and I like it too. Its going with me when I move instead of to the dump as I originally planned.

Oh yes, plant is back on it because that room has windows on 2 sides and that's where I keep my plants in the winter, they have to be up where they'll get as much daylight as possible. This particular plant is sick but if it survives the winter it will look better when it gets back out on the back porch where it's humid and hot in the summer. I only wonder what will happen if I take it North when I move. Poor thing!