Needlework Tuesday - Achoo!

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

Before I get into the work I did this week, I have a few questions regarding a past project. Two years ago, I knit myself a sweater. At the time it was a little big, but still wearable. I've lost some weight since then and now it's huge on me. Way too big to wear. The sweater (seen here) took me a long time to make and turned out quite nice. It's such a waste to let it sit in my closet and I'd love to salvage it somehow. I've only worn it a couple of times and I don't think I washed it yet. No blocking either from what I could remember. So, do you think I could rip it out and knit it again in a smaller size? Have you done this? Did you encounter any problems? What do I need to be mindful of? Can I just rip out the stitches and re-knit? Or are there some steps to take before the ripping or knitting (or re-knitting) can take place? I guess I could Google this, but I never know if the advice I get on the internet is sound or not. I figured I'd ask here first. Thanks for any information you can provide.

So, this week I worked on two projects. After I complained last week that the thumbs on my fingerless mitts were short or better yet, non-existent, Kate from Arts and Socks suggested that I could add to them by using the white parts of the yarn. Great suggestion! That's exactly what I did.

They turned out a little wonky because I wasn't paying close enough attention when I was knitting and made some really stupid mistakes. Rather than rip back, I tried to perform some surgery on the fly. Some of it was successful, some of it not so much. Oh, well. They are just for me and no one else will likely get that close to them to notice. Thanks for the suggestion, Kate.

The other project I worked on was some dishcloths made out of Mary Maxim's Scrub It Yarn. I tried a pattern that I found online, but I wasn't happy with it. I don't like spending time doing lace work or cables when it's not really going to be seen that well. Because this yarn was recovered from another project that I didn't like, I had lots of short lengths of yarn to deal with. Something easier was in order. I figured the texture of the yarn could take centre stage and decided to do some straight knitting. Cast on 40 stitches. Knit 60 rows (or so). Cast off. Done.

Here's another thing I did this week.  When I'm knitting I've forever looking for my supplies, like stitch markers, darning needles, etc. I had most of them in my knitting bag, but they were always falling to the bottom or getting lost in a side pocket. I decided to make use of one of the plastic, zippered bags that come with many of the projects from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month and put many of them in one place.

Some of my stuff is still MIA. Anyone know where my measuring tape ended up? How do you organize your items?

As far as future projects go, my allergies were really acting up this past week, so I put away the alpaca poncho I was working on. I thought that the yarn might be the culprit. Turned out it wasn't. At least, I don't think it was. I'll pull it out again this week and see if my symptoms return.  Spring is just around the corner and I'd love to have it done in time to wear it.  

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations. 

Needlework Tuesday - Two more completed projects!

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

Look at me completing projects!!! I have two to report on this week, both from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month.

The first is the Triangle Knit, which gave me so much trouble awhile back. I finally finished it, even though I ran into another small problem near the end. I won't go into the details, but it had me close to tears. However, I figured out a quick fix and it's done:

My husband didn't notice that the wrap wasn't straight before he took the photo. However, this way you can see the nice straight middle line. ;)

The other project I completed this week was the sock yarn hat/fingerless mitt combo. When I first started out with this project, I made the decision upfront to start each hat at the beginning of a new ball of yarn, hoping that the striping would be consistent.  All was going well, until I hit a factory-made knot/join in the ball of yarn on the second hat. When I first encountered it I was livid.  I knew immediately that the striping would be screwed up. I was so careful to plan it out only to be foiled by the manufacturing process. That combined with the problem with the wrap above was enough to wreck my mood for the entire week.

Anyway, it's done and in the long run no one is going to notice (probably), but me. Here's one of the hats finished, but not tucked into each other:

If you start in the middle and follow the pattern left and right simultaneously, you'll see where it diverges. Oh well, "best laid plans...".  Here are two "versions" of the reversible hat:

Ironically, I kind of prefer the one on the right.  It's technically the second that diverges from the consistent striping.  Go figure.

I also finished the other fingerless mitt. Here's a shot of the two of them together:

I probably could have made them identical by starting them at the same point in the yarn, but I wasn't sure I was going to have enough yarn to do that properly. (See what happened with the hat). My one complaint about the pattern is that it doesn't cover enough of my thumb:

If I'm energetic this coming week or month, I might pick up some stitches around the end of the thumb and do a few rows just to make it a little longer. (Another pattern I have for fingerless mitts does this.) However, there's no way to match the pattern, so it'll always look like an add on or afterthought.  I'm going to think about it some more before going through the trouble.

This week I was also working on my poncho. Here's what I have so far:

The colour is a off in this photo and I'm not loving it (more about this next week), but the pattern is really easy to decipher and follow.  I'll probably continue to work on it this week.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations. 

Needlework Tuesday - Knitting...again.

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

This week, I worked on a Spring Wreath from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month.  It showed up sometime last year, but I wasn't too excited about it. It's not my style at all and certainly isn't a project I would have chosen for myself. However, since it contained at least one new technique, finger knitting, I figured I'd give it a try.

The finger knitting was really fun to do.  I used that technique to make the cord to wrap the wreath.  I should have taken photos in progress, but since the yarn was actually on my fingers, I couldn't pick up the camera to take a shot.  There might be a few spots where the Styrofoam peeks through, but a straight pin or two can fix that quickly.   The flowers and leaves were really quick to knit.  About five minutes apiece for the flowers; less than that for the leaves.

All in all, it turned out pretty much as pictured.  I like the whole project a bit more now that it's done, but I still don't know if I'm going to hang it up in my home. The good thing is that in the assembly, glue was optional. I went with just straight pins, so that when I get sick of it, I can disassemble it and use the yarn for something else.  If it does grow on me, then disassembling it might be the best way to clean the different materials.

I also worked on the burgundy Triangle Knit Wrap that was giving me so many problems when I first started. It's still going really well. The rows are quite long now because there are 4 additional stitches every second row.  It takes awhile to get one row knitted, but so far I'm pleased with my progress. I don't have a photo this week...maybe in the next week or two.

I also did a little work on the sock yarn hat/fingerless mitt combo. I had deemed the hat a "finished" piece.  However, I decided to make the hat doubly thick (and reversible) for those cold southern Manitoba winters. I could have made the second hat a separate piece and sewn the two together. However, the pattern suggested that I pick up stitches around the bottom of the first hat and start the second one from there. Since I hadn't attempted anything like this before, I figured it was something new to try. Here's what it looks like so far:

I've marked the end of the first hat with a aqua stitch marker.  So, everything above the marker is the new hat; everything below is the old hat.  It's kind of weird, right? I'll provide more photos of how it's all going to work once I'm into it more.

You might notice that I have some point protectors on the double pointed needles. I had been having trouble with stitches falling off the needles, not only when knitting, but also when storing the piece and moving the piece around. I went to the yarn store to get better (wood/bamboo) needles, however, when I got there, the fabulous staff came up with some other/cheaper options. Since the metal needles I was currently using were almost brand new, they suggested I try the protectors first. They can be used on a variety of needle sizes and are definitely cheaper than new needles. So far, they are working great.

The next project for the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month showed up on Friday.  It's a pair of Fair Isle mitts. I like the look of it, but I'm not sure when I'm going to start. I wish they'd sent me the red yarn as indicated on the project photo, but the black yarn will do. You can't tell by the photo, but the two yarns are carried throughout the whole mitt making it doubly thick. One of the inside photos shows a stripy pattern on the palms. Interesting...

This coming week, I'm going to continue with my two current projects (wrap and hat) and possibly look into other projects I've abandoned along the way or maybe start the mitts???

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations.  

Needlework Tuesday - I finished something!!!!

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

I've got quite a few updates this week, so I better get started.

I love starting new projects, but for some reason they don't always get finished. I'm glad to report that that's not the case this week. I finished the pink entrelac baby blanket!! Yay me! I decided to go with the crocheted edge: one row each of single, double, and treble. Here's a close up of the edge:

Here's a shot of the finished blanket:

The border isn't perfect and will probably never lay completely flat unless it's really stretched out. However, I noticed that blanket and border in the project photo are a little wonky as well, so I'm blaming it on the entrelac technique.  It doesn't produce a nice clean edge on which to build a border. I think I did the best I could, especially since I'm still learning to crochet and I didn't have any instructions to follow.

A few weeks ago, I was working on a hat/fingerless mitts combo made out of sock yarn. I finished the hat and one of the mitts. Yay me, again!!!

I still have another hat (one fits inside the other to make is extra warm) and mitt to make, but since the hat is totally wearable as is, I'm counting this an another finish.   More on this later.

Last week, I was fighting with the Triangle Wrap from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month. I'm happy to report that I started again and it's going much better.

I started using the life line technique suggested by Heather as evidenced by the contrasting threads. For the time being, I left all of them in. However, once I start working on it again, I'll remove all but the current one.  I also looked into using another stitch marker or two to mark the centre section as Kate suggested, but after carefully studying the pattern I realized that there's really only one stitch in the centre and it's already marked.  It confused me at first because there's lots of increasing in this wrap...both on the ends and in the centre.   Thanks for both of these suggestions.

Lastly, Mary Maxim had a sale a couple of weeks back, so I ordered myself a poncho that I was eyeing in the catalogue. I started it, but haven't gotten very far. Here's the project photo and my colour choice (dark blue/green):

I didn't notice the type of yarn in the project until it showed up on my door step. That was extremely silly of me because in the past (many, many, many years ago) I've had allergic reactions to some animal fibres. I don't know if that's still the case because apparently not all allergies are for life. This one is an alpaca blend and I immediately noticed the texture and a slight smell when I opened the package. Not having spent any time around alpacas or llamas or their by-products, I don't know for sure if it's going to bother me. Fingers crossed.

This week, I'm going to take a look at another abandoned project, a spring wreath from Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month that showed up sometime last year. It's not my style at all, but since I don't have any plans to use the brightly coloured yarn elsewhere, I'm going to work make the wreath and see if it'll grow on me.  If not, it'll end up in the donation pile.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations. 

The 8th Circle by Sarah Cain

In The 8th Circle, Danny Ryan is still grieving over the loss of his wife and son when a friend of his drives his vehicle into a pond after being shot. The pond happens to be in Danny's front yard and Danny immediately becomes a suspect. Both Danny and Michael are (or were) journalists and now Danny suspects that Michael's last story may have gotten him killed. As he investigates to clear his name and get to the truth, Danny realizes that Michael was about to uncover a deep, dark secret that involved some very powerful people, who would do anything to keep that secret under wraps.

While I mostly enjoyed this book, I didn't love it. The story was good with plenty of twists and turns and progressed at a good pace. . I especially liked that just when I thought it was over, the story continued with more twists that I didn't see coming. However, there was something about the writing that bothered me. Also, the story was quite depraved at times and made me cringe more than once.

I thought Danny was a great main character. His life experiences, background, and upbringing definitely shaped him as a journalist. I really enjoyed reading about his experience in his profession as well as his upbringing. I'm not sure why, but there was a slight disconnect for me in his grieving and his now romantic pursuit.

For me, the author used a couple of words a little too often. Rather than unifying the story, they grated on me and seemed repetitive. One of those words was "lost". Lost girls, lost boys, he was lost, they were lost. The other was "ghost". Half a ghost, ghostly, desolate ghosts. Also, for some reason the color green stuck out. I wondered if the author liked green and used it a lot or she hated green and used it to represent evil or vile things. I didn't even really notice it until one of the characters showed up in all green. I thought that was an odd fashion choice even for this guy. Perhaps it was prominent in the story because some of the characters were Irish.

The title, The 8th Circle, was totally lost on me. Apparently, it's a reference to Dante's Inferno and the circles of hell. There is one brief reference to it in the book and many references to the word "inferno", but that wasn't enough to enlighten me. I finally looked it up after finishing the book.

I don't think I'd recommend this book to my friends, but I might pick up the next book the series to see how the series progresses.

For more information about this book, please visit the Crooked Lane Books website.

For more information about the author and to see her blog, please visit Sarah Cain's website.

Thanks to Julia from Kaye Publicity for this review copy.

The 8th Circle by Sarah Cain, Crooked Lane Books (The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC), ©2016. ISBN 9781629534855(Advance Uncorrected Proofs), 326p.

Needlework Tuesday - Knitting Woes

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

I had hoped to be posting more often in this new year, but it's the 4th week and only my second post. Oh, well. Even though I haven't posted much, I've been busy knitting up a storm.

Again, I'm going to start off with the baby blanket. It's bigger than I thought it was going to be, but I really like the result so far. Only the border remains...in solid pink. I don't care for the look of it on the pattern photo and the instructions don't make a lot of sense to me. Perhaps they are mitering the corners or doing a fancy edge. Not sure. Anyway, I'm contemplating doing something a little different. So far, I've come up with two options:

• do a few rows of crochet (singles/doubles or triples) around the edge. This would allow me to practice crocheting and wouldn't require me to pick up another ton (several hundred) of stitches around the edge.  I'm leaning towards this option.
• pick up stitches and knit a few rows (for the border) on the two shorter edges, then pick up stitches and knit borders for the longer edges. Straightforward. 

Anyway, here's what it looks like now:

The next project from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month showed up and at first I was thrilled. I adore wraps and shawls:

The yarn on this project has an alternating thick/thin silver thread running through it.  The pattern suggests that it would be good for a New Years party or anytime you need a little sparkle.  LOL.

After going out and purchasing the required circular needle and starting it, I've been swearing up a storm since. I've already had a false start and ripped it out after doing about 6 inches. Now I have a almost a whole ball knitted up and I'm thinking about doing that again. I'm not entirely sure, but I think at least one of my problems involves missing one yarn over (yo) in the pattern. Not every time. Just occasionally. That explains the lacy section. However, there's a straight knitting section that not working out and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Here's a photo:

You knit this one from the neck edge down, so the piece is upside down in the photo. I laid it out as flat as I could, but it's still hard to see. However, see the straight unmistakable centre line on the pattern photo? See the wavering centre line on mine piece? Also, notice how the bottom stitch marker and the top stitch marker don't line up? When I first noticed my error, I decided to let it go and continue. However, it's just gotten worse to the point that I need to do something. The good thing is that it really hasn't taken that long to get to this point, so I won't be so heartbroken about starting again.  I think I might sit down with just the pattern and do some counting of the middle section that's not lining up for me.  I could be misreading the pattern.

I've made some substantial progress on a couple of other projects, but I'll leave that until next week.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations.

I Love DK Books!

Once again it's time for the annual I Love DK promotion. From January 1st to January 31st, I encourage all of you who love DK books to use the #ILoveDK hashtag to nominate a favourite DK book either on Twitter or Facebook. If you don't have a blog and would like to write a review (or have written one already), feel free to post it on DK's Facebook page.

On Valentine's Day, DK will select one of the entries and that person will win $250 worth of DK books! One lucky participating blogger will also receive a similar prize.

I personally love DK books. They have so many wonderful books on a wide variety of subjects. There's really something for everyone. Whether you like to cook, workout, learn a new skill, or sit in your favourite chair and read about history, philosophy or other fascinating subjects, DK has a book for you.  Did I mention the travel guides, Idiot Guides (for learning new things), craft books, and parenting books? And that's just the adult books. They also have tons of children's books to keep the little ones entertained, educated, and busy.

It's really going to be hard for me to choose a favourite, but since I adore cookbooks and read them like others read novels, I decided to pick one that hasn't left my side since it showed up at my door.

It's called Grains as Mains. The book is filled with tons of "modern recipes using ancient grains". Things like quinoa, buckwheat, polenta, and more. I love this book because it's so beautifully presented with some of the best food photography I've ever seen and features current and relevant recipes that are OMG delicious. I've made a number of recipes from this book and each one is a keeper. I'll write more about those when I do a full review some time soon. For now, click here for more about the book and to see a great video about whole grains. By the way, the video is filled with some of the great mouth-watering food shots from the book.

That's it for now. I hope you love DK books as much as I do and participate in this great promotion.