Knitting into the Mystery

I want to thank everyone for their warm wishes and congratulations on the new baby. It means alot to me. Thank You!

Like lots of people, I'm always up for a good mystery. It goes without saying that there are a great many mystery authors but mystery knitters? Well I must say that Melanie is knitting herself into this position. She is the author of the Mystery Knitting series. Currently we are on Mystery Stole 3!

I got suckered in by the intrigue and suspense of the whole thing during Mystery Shawl 1 and 2, so when I heard about Mystery Stole 3 I signed up right away. And it was a good thing that I did because I just about missed the cutoff date.

Not wanting to go and get more yarn, I decided to raid the stash. I found some Elann.com Super Kydd. Its a lace weight mohair and nylon blend. I have never knit with such a fine yarn before so this is a challenge. Luckily I have my Knit Picks Option needles (I'm using US4) and the pointy tips are coming in quite handy. I got some glass size 6 seed beads at JoAnn's in a milky blue color.

We are in week 4 of the clues and I'm still plugging away at clue 1. I am almost done with chart 2 of clue one but its still clue 1. I was hoping to catch up this weekend. I got sidetracked with birthing babies and nursing and making sure the 2 yr old feels important.

I've decided to not post pictures of my stole progress because I want to preserve the integrity of the mystery. Ok lets just face it, its one more picture I have to take and I'm the lazy sort! So you will see a picture when its all said and done.

More Sydney

Sydney Marie

Sydney Marie Grant
8 pounds 11 ounces
Entered the world on July 17, 2007

Welcome home baby girl! You gave mommy quite a scare at the hospital, getting a fever and all. I have a feeling that this is just first of many scares throughout your life. Just try to keep the scares to about one a year and I'll be OK with that.



Let me introduce you to your family. You have a great big sister, Karolyn, who I'm quite certain will be able to show you the ropes like how to avoid eating and chase the dog around. She is also really good at having to go potty when mommy does. Her other interests are finger painting and helping mommy.


Your daddy loves to dive in the Great Lakes and fix his cars and build things. Try not to touch his tools and all will be well.

Your mommy loves to knit. I would greatly appreciate it if you were able to stay out of the stash and the needles. Your big sister is not able to understand this as she seems to think that all of the yarn is hers. Mommy is able to share the yarn but lets just wait until you and your sister are able to do the knit stitch. I'm told that kids are perfectly capable of doing this when they are about 5, so until then please refrain from the stash. Other than that, you can get into what ever you want to. If you could pass that on to your big sister mommy would greatly appreciate it.

I love you baby girl.

Mommy

Parrot Bay

I finished my Parrot Bay socks from the Lorna's Laces yarn I got at City Knits!



I just love the results! These little numbers are going to the hospital with me on Friday!

Michigan the Great!

Michigan is a wonderful place to live. Its full of so many things that one wonders why we would ever want to leave the state at all. We are home to the Motor City and Cereal City. We are known for our blueberries and cherries. Holland Michigan has beautiful tulips. Unfortunately we can't claim the Simpsons, VT beat us out of that one. D'OH! But we do have Bigfoot!

According to today's Detroit News article, Michigan is home to Bigfoot. He has been spotted in the Michigan's Upper Peninsula over quite some time now and is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, a California group running the search, will be more than happy to have you along with them for a mere $300. Its a small price to pay for a chance at spotting, or at least hearing, a legend.

Crocheted Steeks

I have been doing steeks by using my sewing machine for awhile now. Its very simple and easy. Fast and convenient. However its also very messy. The results are just not as professional as I would have liked the finished product to be.
One day while reading the Zimmermaniacs blog someone posted about their crocheted steeks. Shortly thereafter Jared did the same thing. I was sold.

Both people said that Eunny had an excellent tutorial on how to perform the technique and they couldn't have been more correct!

I found a crochet hook a size smaller than my needle as suggested and started putting in my single crochets in the exact spot that I wanted to cut my cardigan.



I crocheted down the one side and then up the other. This was quite time consuming but I was assured that this is a much cleaner and neater method than the sewing machine. Besides I already started so I might as well finish it and see how it turns out.

Now its time for the cutting. Due to the fact that I can't have an adult beverage, ice cream was involved. Alot of ice cream. Breyers to be exact. One must have a steady hand and be on a sugar high for this surgical operation about to take place.



Holy God it worked!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. Perfect little stitches that had been stitched together and then cut and are not going anywhere!



Everything is clean and neat and the blue crocheted steeks blend in with the rest of the sweater.

The only thing left to do is to hand sew in the sleeves, time consuming but the results are worth it, add the neck and button bands, and tack down the insides where the sweater was steeked.

Best Laid Plans

Cate the next 2 posts are for you! I'm gonna tell you how I did my steeks for the Fair Isle.

Before one can actually take scissors to a knitted sweater that is 2 years in the making, one must plan for the event.

My sweater cardigan needs to be planned out. I have 300 stitches in the round which means that there are 150 sts for the front and 150 sts for the back. Out of these 150 stitches I need to figure out how many I'm going to use for the shoulders and for the neck hole.

Being a fan of Mrs. Zimmerman, I decided to employ the percentage system and adjusted it to suit my needs. I also have to remember that this cardigan is meant to have the shoulders drop onto the arm so I'm going to need extra shoulder stitches for that.

150 stitches = 100%

Shoulders
40% x 150 sts = 60 sts
2 shoulders x 60 = 120 sts

Neck
Remaining 20% x 150 sts = 30 sts

Now that the calculations have been made, I took some left over cotton yarn and blocked off the stitches.



All of the separate sections of stitches are on individual waste yarn holders. For example, the 60 shoulder stitches for the front are on a separate waste yarn than the back shoulder stitches.




Next, I decided on where I wanted to cut open the front as well where to place the sleeves. I then ran waste yarn down these areas so I knew where to place the steeks.

After all the stitches are on the waste yarns and I know where I'm going to place the steeks, I turned the sweater inside out and did a 3-needle bind off on the sleeve area.

This was enough work for one day. Tomorrow, steeks!

City Knits

When searching for the perfect button, knitters know that JoAnn's or Michael's will just not do the trick. These big box stores are fantastic for a great many things but not for the perfect button which is to be placed on a Fair Isle sweater that has been worked on for the past 2 years. Try explaining this to DH.

Me: Honey? Can you take me to City Knits so I can get some buttons?

DH: Can't you drive?

Me: I can't fit behind the wheel.

DH: Where is City Knits?

Me: Downtown Detroit in the Fisher Building.

DH: Can't you just go to JoAnn's?

This is the point in the conversation that we all just take a very very deep breath and remember that this is the man that you love and adore.

Me: Are you kidding me? You want me to go to JoAnn's for some buttons that were made in a third world country that everyone else on the planet has to put on Maxine's sweater that I have been working on for 2 whole years?

DH:

Me: Never mind, I'll take myself.

DH: No you're not! Its dangerous in Detroit and I don't want you down there by yourself in your condition. Get in the car.

So off to City Knits we go!

City Knits is located in the Fisher Building, which has been recently refurbished. I'd be willing to be it was the cat's meow back in her day. Brass door pulls, marble floors, high painted ceilings, the works. Spared no expense. I'm so glad that she is being restored to her respectible self.

The shop itself is wonderful! Full of great yarny selection and buttons from local artists as well as from artists around the world. The book selection puts other LYS book selections to shame. Not only do they have the trendy books but they also have the stitch dictionaries and the OLD how to books. This totally impressed me!

Of course I couldn't just get the buttons I originally came for. I found the Lorna's Laces sock yarn.



I've never used such wonderful sock yarn before so I thought I would splurge a little. And then they wound it for me as well!!! That was great cuz it meant no sitting on the floor with the skein on my feet, trying to reach past the over extended belly that can't possibly stretch more than it already has, and ball it up.

I'm going to call the resulting socks "Parrot Bay" as they remind me of the vibrant colors of Parrots and I could really go for a drink right about now!



I also got a book!



Where is the picture of the buttons you ask? I forgot to take them. I'm sorry and I'll do better next time!

Little White Boxes

I love little white boxes. Especially if the little white box was left by the post man on my front porch with a postmark from Washington State. My little white box always contains goodies and other treasures any knitter would love to have.

Here is what my little white box contained today!



20 hanks of Berroco Softwist! I have absolutely no idea what the luscious blend of wool and rayon wants to be when it grows up but I'm sure it will let me know. A spring time top? Or maybe a fall 3/4 sleeve pullover? Only time will tell.

In addition to the yarn, I received some books.



I have been wanting these books on lace for quite some time now and I'm glad that they just happened to make it in my inbox during check out time. Both are loaded with inspiration and some great lessons on how to knit and properly block lace.

These goodies as well as the rest of the stash will need to keep me satiated until the next little white box makes its appearance!

Results Revealed

Several months ago the question of stashing came up at the chat site. It was started because one of the chatters saw a survey somewhere and we had all agreed that it was very unrealistic. I think that the greatest number of accumulated stash was the ridiculously small amount of 20 balls. This is a sweaters worth people! So this discussion led me to start an informal survey of my own.

First off, I want to thank the 59 people that took the time to take the survey! Of these knitting gurus, no one can quite open up a store. Granted I have no idea who voted and who didn't so I am left with my imagination and I can imagine quite a bit. When I met Bri while I was in Florida, she admitted to having seen stashes larger than some local yarn stores. Of course they were pretty small yarn stores, possibly closet sized, so it probably didn't take much to fill it up. However her DH Charles did comment on this. Now I'm thinking if a guy is gonna take the time to mention that someones stash has more in it than a yarn store, then I'm guessing that it is a pretty small store.

2 people have just started knitting so they don't have a stash. I want to welcome you guys to the wonderful world of knitting and stashing!

The majority of the voters said that they have several 20 gallon tub full (38 people, I was one of them). This does not surprise me. Its quite easy to fill up a a 20 gallon tub especially with all the great yarn sales out there. And every knitter knows that you have to get the quantity right up front because its not going to last forever. In fact when its gone, its gone and thats the end of it.

12 people said they have 1 20 gallon tub full. My theory on this is that that they actually have more than the 1 tub but its in boxes and not in a tub so it doesn't count. OR its sock yarn, which everyone knows by now doesn't count. Of course they could just have the one tub and I'm reading too much into the situation.

The remaining 5 people have a box full. I attribute this to them being new knitters who have recently found the great savings to be had on the internet. I'm quite certain that they will have a sizable yarn stash before too long!

Once again I want to thank everyone for participating in the survey it was great fun! If you have an idea for another survey let me know.

Mission Accomplished!

Miss Maxine in her brand spankin' new wool sweater! (I think she likes it!)