I will return to my yarn agenda soon but I just returned from a nice and productive conference in Florida. I haven’t been able to travel much lately and so I wasn’t sure that I would be able to attend. Thanks to my husband who Mom sat, I got away for a few days. Nice resort geared to golfers. Good weather and nice company. We can all use a change of scenery!
Grounds of the Sawgrass Marriott
One of four pools
Beach in Ponte Vedra, Florida
Well this week I was determined to start and finish Building Block #7
Block # 7
from Knit Purl Hunters afghan book.
Building Blocks by Knit Purl Hunter
I went to my group class with Kari the wonder woman at my Local Yarn Store Knitknack in Maplewood, NJ and thought I had it all down. Well for some reason it turned out to be harder than I thought. I put a large F in the word frog this week. A four row pattern and I had to start over three times before I got it right. In row three you reduce ten stitches and in row four you put them back. I had a different number of stitches every time I did row three and four. Well I think I finally have it down. We’ll see.
My Block # 7
I saw a preview of this magazine early last month. Even though I said I was through with magazines, I waited impatiently for my LYS Knitknack in Maplewood, New Jersey to get copies of it. When I went to my monthly building block class Wednesday they had it.
Among other patterns there is one for a black and white dress that I love.
And a really cute cardigan.
I can’t wait to start on one or the other. I’ll let you know. There are so many pretty patterns in this book I was really impressed.
Sometimes I need immediate gratification. While I love knitting, most of my knitting projects need time and patience. So this week I have been crocheting. I started making granny squares using several squares that I have seen as inspiration.
Last night my Bergen Crafter buddy Cynthia taught me how crochet the popcorn stitch. To me this is equal to the knitted bobble. I like it. So on with my “I must have something to show right now” project. If I can only stay awake this evening to do it. Lol!
Latest Project
I find that if I am unable to write here for a few days I am lost. I want to keep you informed of my activities but once I stop I don’t seem to know where to start. Anyway this week I finished my fifth building block for my afghan. It appears blue in the picture but it’s actually black.
Block Number Five for Building Block Afghan
Then I began making mini granny squares but as you can see they aren’t the same size. Sorry for the blurry picture. I am challenged today. I’ll let you know what I’m doing with them later.
Mini Granny Squares
Yarn review tomorrow!
I have finished the crazy, groovy, hippy baby blanket. Far out, dude:
And then I decided to make some pansies with my adapted version of this pattern:
I decided to chain 8 then make it into the central loop. The pattern above says 7, but if you are using wool, there isn't enough space. I then chain 3, do 3 double crochet (UK treble crochet, but calling it double crochet makes more sense to me because there are two stages), then chain 3 again and slip stitch back into the loop.
There are several reasons to have a slipped stitch edge in knitting. My current favorite is so that you have a nice neat edge of v’s that make seaming, attaching separate pieces of work together a simple process. The edge is loose and easy to work with and when you are a beginning knitter this helps you have a professional looking project. Take a look at this YouTube video:
I intended to do something different this week but my first interview will have to wait. Bergen Crafters met tonight and someone came from the main library to take pictures of our group for a Library newsletter. There was as usual a lot going on. Various projects from the group. We had a good time again.
Cynthia’s latest scarf project
Lawana a prolific crocheter is trying her hand at knitting
