Who enjoys KAL or CAL?

Do you enjoy knit alongs or crochet alongs?  Do you like the suspense of it?  Do you like knowing you are working alongside others doing the same thing but different?

I used to think I would like it.  I even tried some online over the years.  I could never keep up though.  It seemed that when my sons were younger they ate up time, either because they truly needed me to do things for them or during school years, they needed me there to taxi.  As they got older and left home, things never seemed to slow down.  I seem to do better with an in person KAL or CAL.

This says I can commit to those I have to face in person rather than put off and play catch up when I feel like it or when I have time as I see fit.

I have been considering running a KAL/CAL in 2018.  Perhaps on a semi-monthly or monthly basis with clues coming out on the first or last day of the month or the first and 15th.  I'm unsure what type of project to do.  I do know, I would offer a YouTube video of an unfamiliar technique.  Options being considered are an afghan, a cowl/scarf, a shawl, a sweater.

Whatever is chosen will be in worsted weight.  That seems to be universally available.  Color options would be totally up to you.  The only advice I would offer is when a variegated or dark color might be inappropriate.  It's very hard to see things like lace or cables in dark or variegated yarns.

Weeks 17 to 33 of A Year in Stitches

I am going to offer a bunch of different charts and stitches in  this post to finish the catch up from the spring to mid summer weeks when I was working on a wedding and a carnival.

The charts will be for both knit and crochet.   There will be color work charts, cable charts, and lace charts. 

There will be written stitch patterns.   These are harder to use universally without a lot of creativity and thought behind them.  However, I'm sure everyone will have fun with at least some of these.

Week 17

For knitting, work in stockinette/reverse stockinette or colorwork.  For crochet, work in fair isle or tapestry.  If you choose color work, you can do bands of colors or keep it 2 colors throughout.

 Week 18

As for week 17, the same applies here.  Have fun with this.  Can you make it a lace?

Week 19

Enjoy the weather with some fun spring/summer motifs.  Color work is the way to go for these.  The brighter the better.

Week 20

This would be great as a pillow, purse, or in an afghan as panels.

Week 21
Lots of fun motifs here for gearing up for the colder weather that is sure to come or simpler items.  All these can be done in texture or color.  Use fingering weight yarns or lace weight and make these into bookmarks or book covers for those books that you read over and over.

 Week 22

Play with tapestry crochet and make change purses, make up bags, pencil pouches.  Play with texture and have even more fun now that you know the charts better.

 Week 23

Week 24

I can see the potential for coasters, mug rugs, cup cozies and napkin/flatware holders in these.  Who wouldn't love a picnic when these beauties are on the table with yummy food.  Don't forget to put the picnic table's feet in bowls of water to deter ants from joining you and hang a red ball covered in sweet smelling sticky in a tree away from you to deter flies and bees.  The bowls of water can be pie tins for wider feet and the balls can be washed off.

Week 25

This could be an early gift made up when we don't even want to dream of hot cocoa or fireplaces.  The markings on the side look like yarn color names.  However, I don't know which company this came from to give credit.  Anyone know?

Week 26

Here is a lovely little block from Japan.  It's Crochet, done in one of the join as you go methods.  For Knitting here's a lovely Russian lace stitch.

Week 27

Here is a granny type square.  Imagine this in the colors of the summer!  That would be one smart tote bag.  This knit stitch pattern on the other hand reminds me of roses in summer.  This could be a beautiful baby blanket or a made into a sweet dress for your little girl.

Week 28

Here are a bunch more square and hexagon motifs.  Mix and Match them unifying them by color choice or pick one or two and go crazy with the patterns.

Week 29

Here's a fun little crown for the prince or princess in your life.    It's crochet.  Try in worsted weight yarn and you can do fewer repeats.  Glue "gems" around the band for a really regal look.

The Knitting stitch reminds me more of a flower I see growing along roadsides, Queen Anne's Lace.  But this isn't the name of the stitch.

Week 30

Architecture has given us some beaurtiful knit and crochet patterns.    This arches pattern is crochet.  I can see it as a pillow cover, afghan, baby gift.... What can you see it as?  Meanwhile the seersucker knit stitch pattern just sounds like summer.  Done in a light weight cotton, linen, hemp or silk yarn it could be a beautiful shell.

Week 31

Interlocking crochet has fascinated me for quite a while.  It shows a different stitch to each side.

Meanwhile the knit stitch below it is a fake Entrelac stitch pattern.  This is done with a trick of the eye and is in a fair isle type of knitting.

Week 32

Mitered, Ribbed, handy as can be for dish cloths, hot pads, potholders.  Do them in cotton for good heat protection.  Chain an odd number of stitches plus 1 for turning or cast on an odd number of stitches.  Mark the center stitch.  Using Garter stitch or single crochet, work to the stitch before the marked one.  Dec3tog or k3tog.  Continue to the end.  Turn.  If you are crocheting, crochet in the back loop only. Work even to the stitch before the marked one.  dec3tog or k3tog.  Continue to 1 stitch.  Bind off.  Weave ends.  Can be done in 1 row stripes, 2 row stripes with unused color carried up the side or almost anything.

Week 33

One of my other loves is quilting.  I happen to live on the outskirts of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, which has a rich history in quilting and frugality.  This is the Trip Around the World Quilt Pattern Or Sunshine and Shadow Quilt Pattern.  It depends on what you do with it.  Trip Around the World uses a variety of colors, where the Sunshine and Shadow uses shades of one color similar to what is shown.  The trip around the world is symbolic of travel. something most Amish don't do.   However, the Colonials, way back when, would trade fabrics or sometimes piece a quilt top for a friend who was leaving to pioneer either in the New World or out West.  One ring of fabric or even just a quarter of a ring symbolized that friend.  

In Sunshine and Shadow, the colors are kept to 3-5, going from a very pale to very dark (black or as close to as you can get) and starting over or fading back to very pale.  It symbolized that we can't appreciate the sunshine without the shadows, just as we can't appreciate life without death or separation.

Choose to do these in granny squares, mitered squares, or something completely different.  Start at a corner and work one block. Working in the join as you go, continue adding blocks in the colors your choose.

If you don't like the color choice given below, get your own 4 squares to the inch graph paper and a box of crayons or colored pencils and draw out what you want yours to look like.  Just remember, the colors need to be in concentric rings for this pattern.

Swatches

What to do with all those swatches?  We all know as a good knitter or crocheter you have been making swatches.  A proper sized swatch is about 5 to 8 inches square.  Some of us have also started sweaters or other large projects that for whatever reason have been abandoned.  I know I have a few.  If you don't want to frog your project and deal with the ramen noodle* yarn, you will probably have left it sit there unloved.

Does this seem to also relate to granny squares?  It should.  Squares are amazing for so many things.  Granny squares are not just the ones that were ever so popular for centuries.  Google granny squares and you can come up with hundreds of different patterns.  There are books upon books of granny squares, old and new.

If your projects are usually the same color family, you will have an easier time.  But even if they aren't, you can still put together a unique and completely charming project.  It is best if the swatches are the same size, but even that can be gotten around by adding a frame or border around the edge.  By using one color for the border you can make them all not only the same size, but you can make them all cohesive, like adding the black border to the old granny afghan squares.

Joining the swatches/squares can be just as fun.  There are the old standards of slip stitching them together, single crocheting them together, or sewing them together with your choice of method.  Whipstitch was my husband's grandmother's favorite.  I like that one and the mattress stitch.  Please don't use a sewing machine.  The yarn gets caught in the feed dogs and jams.  The thread can cut the yarn over time.  The yarn gets caught on the presser foot.  It doesn't look nice because you usually can't get the tension loose enough.

Ok.  Swatches and Granny Squares.  Check.  All the same size.  Check.  Joining method picked.  Check.  Now what can I make????  The list is almost endless.  An early post here is about a cardigan for a baby.  Afghans come to mind but that is a no brainer.  Don't need that many afghans?  If this is what you love to make anyway, here are some ideas.  Donate them to your local Warm Up America project, hospital for cancer patients to use during chemotherapy treatments, hospital or maternity home for underprivileged babies, animal shelter for them to have a comfy corner in what amounts to a concrete jail until they can be adopted.  Seam small ones together in a variety of ways to make eyeglass case, soap saver, scrubbies for dishes, wash cloths, hats, cushions, pillows, tote bags or purses.  

What are your ideas??  Post below.

*ramen noodle yarn is the crinkly curly yarn isn't straight after ripping out.  This is worse the longer the project sits in the knit or crochet state.  Winding into a long hank, tying in at least 6 places, and washing by hand (soak for at least an hour in water with a rinseless wool wash) then hanging to dry can fix some of this.

Summer Knitting and crocheting, aka Getting Ready for the Holidays

Summer knitting and crocheting

Once the flip flops and beach apparel have been created, it’s still too hot to knit or crochet large items.   It's also probably too hot to think too hard for patterns.  Quick and simple to complete projects are great.  Now is the time to think of what you might want to gift to co workers for the upcoming holidays.  Now is the time to think of what you might want to craft for your decorations.

I offer the following ideas.  All are small and won’t make you much hotter.

1.       Decorations for a specific holiday or year round appeal.

          a.      Crochet wreaths

          b.      Snowflakes

          c.      Holly leaves, knit or crochet

          d.      Nativity figures

          e.      Mini mittens, hats, sweaters, socks

          f.       Ice skates
               g.      Easter Eggs
          h.      Butterflies
          I.       Acorns
          j.        Pinecones
          k.       Autumn leaves
          l.        flowers

2.       Amigurumi Christmas animals and people

3.       Hats mittens, cowls, mitts, socks

4.       mug rugs, mug hugs (keeps a  hot cup hot longer or cold drinks cold longer, depending.  The rug will also keep the sweat from running down to stain the tables or the heat from leaving a mark.)

All of the above ideas are available in knit or crochet ideas.  Patterns are available all over the internet.  Search for the item, either knit or crochet and free pattern.  You will be amazed at what you find.

I wrote this before the summer was much of a thought.  Summer was a hope at the end of the winter that never seemed to want to end.  At I type this update, today's high temperature was 80.  Yesterday it didn't make it above 74.  This is the end of June.  For the past 30 years or so, it gets HOT, as in 90+, and is very dry at this time of year.  So far we have had a very wet late spring and early summer.  I'm not minding the larger projects yet.  But be assured, these ideas will be needed soon.  I think.

Chirstmas in July Day 6

Today is the day to think about who might need an afghan as a gift.

Do you have a wee one coming into the family?  Feather and Fan baby afghan is a quick and easy pattern to be completed in time for the new arrival. This is one that would work equally well in Christmas colors.  

Do you have a new couple in the family?  Tree of Life Afghan for knitting  or  Tree of Life afghan for crocheting  is a very nice gift for the newly weds gathered under your tree.  Lion Brand even  a has a baby version.  

Do you just want to keep someone warm?  Try these beginer choices choices in knit and crochet.

http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/knit-lapghan
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/crochet-granny-blues-lapghan
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/reversible-squares-afghan
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/blue-ice-throw

You might enjoy these more challenging choices.

http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/tumbling-blocks-throw
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/pattern-correction-isle-aran-throw
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/tumbling-blocks-throw
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/colorful-squares-throw

simple work

Why would anyone ever work the plain garter stitch xxx?  Why would anyone just make a simple crochet block all the same?  There is nothing wrong with plain and simple.  For beginners it is all about practicing the new and that is great.  We all need to practice the new.  It's how we get better at what we are learning.

It also holds the power to soothe a troubled person.  Recently, my family had a minor tragedy occur.  Everyone is fine as in not in a hospital. Everyone is not fine in the respect that we carry on as before.  We see this all the time when major tragedy hit our country in 2001, when loved ones are lost, when tragedies strike whole communities.

Simple garter stitch, plain granny squares, double crochet squares, garter and ribbed slippers, all these are quick to craft but more importantly, they hold the rhythm that lulls us into not feeling overwhelmed, kind of like a rocking chair for some, back rubs for others.  They give the rest we sometimes need and can't get watching television or cleaning or any of the things we have to do to get through our days.

What has helped me?  Garter stitch dish cloths.  I now have quite a few and these don't wear out nearly as fast as those I bought.

Here is the pattern I prefer to use.  I don't have to think for any of it.

Materials needed:  worsted weight cotton yarn.  I use Lily Sugar & Cream and Peaches & Creme.  They are affordable and easily found in my area on store shelves.  Mid sized needles, with my favorites being US size 6 - 8.  Use whatever size gets you the density you desire.  When I'm stressed, I have been known to go up to size 11 or 13 to get a gauge that doesn't result in cardboard.

Cast on 3.
Row 1: knit1, yo, knit 1, yo, knit 1.  (5 stitches now.  This will increase by 1 stitch every row)
Row 2 - 35 -50:  knit 2, yo, knit to the end of the row.  
Next Row:  knit 2, yo, knit 2 together, knit 2 together, knit to the end of the row.  (The yarn over keeps the pattern the same on the decrease side.   The first knit 2 together keeps the stitch count the same.  The second decreases by 1.  This row will decrease you back down to about 4 or 5 stitches.)
You decide when it's big enough.  Want a blanket instead?  Keep increasing.  Then continue down the other side.  For a blanket I would use something soft and easy to use that doesn't have a lot of "stuff" for me to think about.  But that is just me.  On better times, I might use a novelty yarn with an easy pattern.  I'm on familiar ground but still get something that looks different and unique.

Yarn and sewing machines and knitting machines

Yesterday I set about to clear some room in my sewing/craft room in the basement.  That sentence alone gives a hint of things to come.  The reason I needed to do this was a I have a big sewing project to do for my day job and wanted room by my machine.  I did actually get there.  I did not get the job done to my satisfaction but that is for another time.

I'm convinced that yarn balls, skeins, hanks, even fleece multiplies while left alone in a darkened room.  Silly you say?  Hear me out.  I found yarn that I do remember buying, yarn I have never seen before, yarn I have seen but don't know where it came from nor what I used it for.

Yarn I do remember buying I accept.  It was close out cottons for dish cloths and such.  It might have been part of a leftover ball from a Christmas present or worse whole skeins.  I try to keep fibers together and weights  in those broad categories, kind of like yarn departments.  I'm not lucky enough to have the nice bins.  But then I also don't have to worry about my pets nesting in them or having yarn get dusty before it gets used.

Yarns I have never seen before or don't remember where it came from or where I used it but do know I have are more perplexing.  I found the bit of sweater that needs frogging still that had been son #2's.  He has his finished sweater so all is fine.  I have found things that completely bewilder me.  Why would I buy that????  Where did I buy it?  What did I use it for?  What was I planning for this yarn?

I also clustered together the UFOs found.  I have all in their own bags, a shawl, a pair of worsted weight socks for a son, a baptism shawl that is no longer needed, 5 skeins of worsted alpaca for a Miss Lambert's scarf started on a guild retreat, 3 pairs of vanilla socks for me, cotton yarn and tulle kitted up for dish cloth and scrubby creation, pumpkin hats for a guild fundraiser started but not finished, mittens also for the guild but in mismatched sizes, a feather and fan prayer shawl, granny squares for an afghan, 3 unfinished quilts of varying sizes, a kit of yarn and pattern for pocket pals also for a guild fundraiser, lavender alpaca for a scarf for my soon to be daughter in law before discovering she hates lavender, an adult surprise jacket for me, 1/4 of a hippo (?????), and an unfinished dog sweater.

Some of these things are for classes.  Most are clearly guild related and should be finished.  Other things should just be finished so they are done and can be utilized.  The quilts are going to take time and lots of it.  

Once all the yarn is away.  Once all the Christmas decorations are also in their appropriate spaces.  Once I sort the summer clothes and get them where they need to go and the winter stuff has a place to go.  Once all this is done, I might actually be able to work in that room as I intended and get Christmas done early.