Knit Spot Knit

Weaving has taken over

2012-01-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

I know the blog is called KnitSpotKnit but I have branched out and absolutely love weaving. I have been trying to weave everyday. It doesn't always happen but I try. I love the feeling of creating cloth. It is the same feeling I have when I knit.

I really love weaving rag rugs.

I started a couple years ago on a loaned loom. A friend had a loom and knew I was interested in learning. So the loom came to the house and it was the beginning of my collection. I started with a long table runner. And when I saw long I mean really long...8 feet.

Here is a lovely soft Alpaca that will be a scarf.

I have been lucky to have my own personal weaving coach, my mother-in-law. Without her I am not sure I could have warped the loom for the first time. Whenever I have a problem, I text or call out my SOS.

The scarf above is one of a series that are on the same warp yarn. I have been able to play with patterns and come out with several totally different scarves. I am in the process of finishing these up and will post a picture or two when I take them off the loom later today. Off to weave....

My Wish list at KnitPicks

2011-11-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

Just love this rainbow of yarn.

I love KnitPicks. I just love reading their catalogs.

Their pictures make you want to pet the page. I have been drooling over the catalog and on the website again today.

Here is my wish list. Currently they are having a contest and I am a sucker for yarn giveaway! If I share my wishlist, I am entered win. KnitPicks wish List

Even if i don't win, It has been fun going through the catalog and selecting great gift ideas. Some of the things on my list are for me personally and others are for some of the other fiber addicts in my life.

Idol Knitting complete

2011-09-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

I could claim I am super busy but well sometimes it's just plain procrastination.
The second day of Idol Knitting began in the dark. Everyone was told to be in line by 5 am. So we pulled ourselves out of bed and headed down to the Rose Garden Arena. Although we were there plenty early, I have a feeling folks lined up much earlier to in front of the line.
Front of the line has it's perks: more time on camera, you get in the area sooner and you have a view

Idol Knitting Day 1

2011-07-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

"Idle hands are the devils work." That's what my gram would say. Last weekend I had Idol hands. As in American Idol hands. Our son Bryce's lovely, talented girlfriend Courtney auditioned for American Idol in Portland, Oregon on Saturday. (The result show is later in the blog, wait for it.)

'Road Trip' for a knitter has a whole other meaning than most people. For a knitter, it means deciding on what you are going to knit. So I selected a the Lace Ribbon pattern from Knitty.com. I was hoping for an easy to remember pattern so I wouldn't have to concentrate too hard during all the action. It turned out to be a pretty good choice.

Courtney gets her wristband!

We left the house at O'Dark 30. Which translates to 3:30am to begin our drive to Portland, Oregon about 3 1/2 hours away. We arrived at the Rose Garden in Portland to find...no line! So we get to walk right in and get our wristbands and tickets for Saturday's audition. And yippee! I get a wristband and ticket too. On the American Idol rules it state one person can accompany the singer. Sweet!

So with no waiting to register we are left to wait till we can check in to our hotel. Love the folks at the Doubletree at Loyd's Center. They let us check in where we promptly all took naps.

After trying to sleep for awhile Courtney and I hit the mall for sushi (not bad) and a little accessory shopping. We found the cutest necklace and earrings to go with her audition outfit.
When we got back to the hotel we decided we needed to go do something fun or we would worry ourselves to death. After cruising the web for something to do, Brad found out that The Waterfront Blues Festival was going starting that afternoon.

So we jumped onto the The Max (with free train rides within the city) and we were off to check out one of the largest blues festivals in the region. It was a beautiful hot day in Portland and boy are there a lot of pale people!
Admittedly I was one.

It was a great time and got us all in the mood for more music tomorrow. The place had four bands playing on stages located throughout the park. We started out with a glass of Washington Wine from St. Michelle which was awesome since you can roam the festival and are not confined to a "drinker's coral". It s great they projected the music onto large screens. There were boats lined up along the shore and the screen would rotate so they could see the performers too.

Courtney and myself enjoying a little brew.

We all had a great time checking out the vendors, very eclectic cuz we are in Portland. Didn't buy anything but some ice cold beer because it was in the 80's. We then sent photos of our beers to Bryce just so he knew what he was missing. (We drank one of his favorite beers.)

We had a great couple hours listening to some amazing musicians and watching people. As you can see, it was packed. It was a really good time. We ate some great food at Paddy's a few blocks away and went back to the hotel to crash. We had to be in line the next day at 5:00am.

Check out this performer who was amazing. It is just a real short video but it gives you a taste of what he could do. He stood perfectly still until someone put a tip in his jar. Then he went into a great routine.

PS. I didn't knit on Day One.

Spinning in place

2011-05-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

My life is spinning. Some big changes are coming and now my head is spinning. Change is good but I hate feeling the lose of control. When my world starts spinning, I have found myself spending more time at the spinning wheel. I retreated to the front porch to card some lovely grey alpaca. The fleece hadn't been washed and was really dusty...too dusty for the inside.

And there it was. All by itself waiting for me to take a breath and notice it.The lone surviving tree peonies.

We have had some major thunderstorms and the heavy rains had knocked all the petals off the tree peonies except one.

These flowers are usually hard to miss, big brassy dinner plate sized blooms.

The last tree peonie of the season.

I'm thankful I didn't miss it. Thanks for waiting!

This past week has been so busy and chaotic that I haven't gotten very much downtime. But when I have had some time I found myself drawn to the spinning wheel and some fluffy fleece. I'm in no way a pro, totally a novice. An enthusiastic novice.

Last weekend during a burst of energy, my husband made me two new tools for my spinning obsession: a lazy kate and spool holder. On the lazy kate are two different types of alpaca; suri and huacaya. I struggled with the suri. The fleece I used was drum carded and very tangly. I ended up predrafting it or in plain English tugging it apart before I spun it. The suri was lovely but still tangly and I should have recarded the rolags. Learning.

My new lazy kate with yummy alapaca waiting to be plied.

I plied the two spools last night into a pretty skein waiting to be washed and blocked. It is soft now and i can't wait until it has been finished. Thinking a cowl or hat. Definitely something decadent worn next to the skin.

Creative Moment

2011-03-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

I was stricken by a creative moment yesterday. It happens quite a bit actually but rarely do I act upon them. Yesterday was one of those ocassions where I headed my need to create something tangible. I create many intangibles, websites, logos and all that stuff that comes with working for a small marketing and design company.

My super cute suit bag.

Since we are a small company, we tend to work all the time. Yesterday I played hookie.
I have a commission project that a project for but the yarn I ordered for it still has not arrived. Th project is a felted knit purse. I went scouring thrift shops to find a sweater I could either take apart for yarn or another wool item that I could felt and sew. I found a couple possibilities but they were in the washer felting....slowly. My washer is much too gentle to shrink a lambs wool sweater in one try. Ugh!

So while I was waiting I decided to test out the sewing pattern on another felted piece. The jacket was originally a womens size 2x blazer. Now, it would likely fit a grade schooler.

The jacket minus the sleeves I just cut off.

Because of the small size of the felted jacket, I needed to adjust the size of the purse. The width was fine but it would need to be a shallower style. And I wanted to incorporate the pocket of the jacket.

I laid the pattern over the pocket and adjusted the height of the pattern to fit .

After cutting the front out I cut the back of the purse from the back of the jacket. I couldn't use the front because of the button holes. They had stayed full size despite the felting. Odd but felting is a crap shoot, you never know what you are going to get when you take it out of the dryer.

Really love the idea of the pocket. Nice and deep.

Then came the straps and lining. The fabric was a remnant from a pair pj's many years back.
The straps are fun and inspired by those paper chains I loved to make as a kid.

Buttonhole stitch to finish the top edge for fun.

Chain strap is really comfy.

Phone fits in pocket - it is deeper than shown.

Finished the front with cute felted rose and a few leaves. The closure is a button and a 'leaf' shaped tab. The color is a bit off. It is a pretty brown/gray tweed.

Fun creative day and I definitely want to make more. So if you have any wool suits or suit sets, send them my way. I'm thinking I will give in to my creative juices more often this spring.

I love hats

2011-02-17T20:59:00.000-08:00

I love knitting hats. I start them from the brim and work up to the top. I start at the top and work my way down. And one of the best reasons is they are portable and quick. I make them for friends, family and myself.

I finished a couple more hats this week. One has been in my knitting bag for weeks as I contemplated how to finish the brim. It is a great knitted hat with ear flaps and the brim.I have tried different types of plastic for the brim with varying degrees of success. Some have lasted for awhile and other broke in the washing. Today I used a baseball cap brim to make the brim. Everybody gets those free hats that no one will ever wear. Since we had a few sitting around, I tried trimming one to use for the plastic insert in a knitted brim. It worked wonderfully. The hat is in shades of gray and the hat brim was black. I hate when the plastic shows through the holes in the yarn.

Now the hat is off to a ski trip in Colorado. Hope it has fun! I hope to see it in action. Hint, hint.

Inspired...

2011-02-10T23:08:00.000-08:00

I got inspired this evening to update my blog. For someone who teaches others how to use social media with Twitter, Facebook and yes, even blogs; I am sad blogger. I think about it, lecture about but rarely do it. So tonight I got a little creative and designed a new template for my personal blog.

I plan to play with the header graphic and create some really sweet icons etc but right now I am just happy to be blogging. I have to admit that the last template I designed was pretty sad. I really wasn't inspired to design one...just knew I had to replace the one I had.

Thanks to my friend Rene' aka Dusty Ruffles. Check out her wonderfully active and totally brilliant blog at http://www.adventureswithdusty.blogspot.com/.

Sock Monkey!

2010-11-26T15:58:00.000-08:00

This has to be my largest knitting project ever! I am not sure when I will take on another project of this size but it sure was fun! And isn't he cute? I didn't have a pattern so I just made it up as I went along.

Nice sweater!

The sock monkey costume was requested by my husband after seeing the car commercial with the life sized sock monkey. As I have knitted smaller sock monkeys I figured "how hard could it be to make a life sized version?" Well, it wasn't hard but it was a lot of work.

Showing off his tail! It was the last thing I finished knitting.

The sock monkey was knitted using three Caron Pounders in Lace and a second brown yarn from a cone of lace weight (3/15) I had on hand. The off white was from Red Heart (1 skein) and a partial skein of red from my stash.

I made the arms first. i knitted them two at a time from the closed mitten ends up the arm. I am planning to redo part of the hands to make the "hands" removable. It sounded good at the time but not super functional.

First Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving was very special. It is always special to bring together family and friends over great food and wine. Time to eat to much turkey and pie.

This year was special because for one person it was their first taste of a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner. I know every year new people enjoy the holiday: babies, immigrants, visitors from other countries, etc. So why is this interesting to anyone? Let me share.

First Thanksgiving dinner (this is the third serving on his plate)

Our traditional Thanksgiving dinner was the first for someone that has lived here almost all his life. How could that be? besides being vegetarian, Ketul is from a traditional Hindu family that has grown up without ever experiencing the turkey overload. No, he didn't eat the turkey. His favorite dish turned out to be vegetarian stuffing with a close runner up of the skittles salad. (That's another story.)

It was a very diverse group of eaters that we had the joy of cooking with and for. We had a vegetarian, lactose intolerant, peanut allergy, and gluten intolerant. And the best part is that everyone had a variety of things they could eat. Nobody starved or felt left out.

The plan this year was for everyone to bring their favorite Thanksgiving dish or a dish with a great memory from Thanksgivings past. We enjoyed an amazing smoked turkey, Grandma's mashed potatoes, Honey Glazed carrots, Grandma Gray's Broken Glass Salad, quinoa salad, Megan's first vegetarian and regular stuffing with water chestnuts, homemade pumpkin pie from our own pumpkin, homemade apple pie and Kylie's first pumpkin cheesecake. And much more...

We also shared the day with some wonderful folks from California. Son has been dating a great girl from California for several years. This year they made the long drive up from the bay area to enjoy Thanksgiving with us. Since we both live in wine country, we shared some great wines from Sonoma. Last year was Courtney's 21 wine run. In honor, we shared some nice wines from Sonoma including a 2008 Cab from
Kunde Family Estate and 2007 Cab from B.R. Cohn Winery. There was one more but frankly I don't recall. :) apparently California Cabs goes very well with the game Apples to Apples. They both seem to improve with the paring.


Family game time

For dinner we paired our amazing assortment of food dishes with a custom blending of three Lembergers from Yakima Valley Vintners. The Lemberger were produced using three different oaks and bottled separately. This let everyone choose the flavor profile they liked and eventually progress to custom blending.

What a great day. The diverse dietary restrictions could have been an issue but it wasn't. Everyone was creative in their cooking and everyone left the table stuffed at least once.

Playing with templates

2010-08-04T08:54:00.000-07:00

I am playing with templates and trying to get rid of the cutest blog on the block mystery code. Bear with me it should get better soon!

Lace table runner

2009-03-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile. But while I was "offline" I have been on a lace kick.
Right now it is a table runner with a leaf lace pattern. The lace pattern of a pair of socks from Knitty.

The yarn came from the local knitting store, Knitty Gritty. I picked it up after my doctor's appointment. The shop is in the 3-cities and i don't go down there that often. But the shop is really close to the doctor's office.

The yarn is a cotton with beautiful flecks. Granted it the wrong season, but the yarn looks like golden leaves. So I went searching for the perfect lace pattern.
Originally it was going to be a scarf but I forgot about blocking...yep it will add inches to the width.

So at the last doctor's appointment I picked up another skein of yarn.
The pattern of lace was made to work in the round but my table runner is knitted back and forth. I remembered the difference when I got a few rows...frogging I went.

Right now it is about halfway.

Not sure about whether I will add a border or not. Time will tell.

The purse is done!I finally sewed the lining and added the button. The lining is sooo cute. It is vintage material. I ended up with a box of material at an estate sale. I wanted the sewing machine, a girls can never have too many sewing machines.
So when I finished the purse, I went digging through it to find the perfect material.

When an easy project is okay

2009-01-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

I needed an easy no-brainer project. So I am knitting a basic garter stitch scarf with some great colored bouccle yarn. Knit one row, turn, knit your way back. The scarf is almost done. Why am I feeling guilty about having more than one project? I'm working on it so it isn't really a WIP.

So why do I feel guilty? I keep getting this feeling that I should be challenging myself, more gloves on double pointed needles. Or an enterlac scarf. Maybe finish those socks I started last year. I quit not because they were hard but because my gauge was not consistent. Who wants one sock bigger than the other? It really isn't that different if you block them. Maybe I should finish the last sock? I have already turned the heal...

I have the urge to make a pair of mittens to match that cute white fuzzy hat I designed. It was one of my hat patterns that just "happened" while playing with stitches.

Then there are all those great sweater patterns I want to knit while it is still cold. It would all be so much easier if the magazines would stop making feel like I should be preparing for spring...

I think I will start those fuzzy white mittens. Spring is not here yet!

Knit Spot Knits

2009-01-19T22:58:00.003-08:00

Finally the yellow sweater

2009-01-19T21:35:00.000-08:00

The yellow sweater. Finally I know.

The sweater turned out really nice but super warm I mean warn enough to wear on a really cold day. In a blizzard with wind chill.
The color is so pretty and rich. A buttery yellow.
I changed the pattern a bit. I added the seed stitch border at the bottom to keep it from curling.
The picot crocheted stitch on the sleeves also add a nice touch.
The buttons were some I found while cleaning out Grandma Gray's house. They were the replacement buttons for something she no longer had in her closet.
I had chosen wooden buttons to go on the sweater before I saw these on the sweater.
So, all in all a nice sweater for cold days and good memories.

Viruses for the holidays

2009-01-18T00:14:00.000-08:00

Viruses struck me over the holidays. I got sick and so did my computer!

I used to think that virus software would keep you from getting a trojan. That thought went to the wayside along with the theory that Airbourne would keep me from getting sick. Neither proved true.

I got a terrible virus before Thanskgiving and didn't get better until almost Christmas.

The computer virus struck right before Christmas and it took days to make it go away.

I have always used Norton AntiVirus and did the live updates. So when I found that I had a virus (not from Norton but a freebie SpyBot.) When I contacted Norton, they were willing to make the virus go away, for $100.00!

Instead, I went to www.bleepingcomputers.com and downloaded instructions on how to clean it off the computer. I used Malwarebytes malware remover.

This was the only combination of software that removed the trojan. Others said they could but their claims were false.

So now I am back and more posts are on their way.

I finished the green sweater and some Christmas presents.

In my rush to get everything done and wrapped, I didn't take pictures of some items like Miranda's convertible mittens, so cute. Megan's purple hat...looked great on her and perfect color match for her snowboard outfit.

So look for the photos...I just need to get them off my camera.
Challenges. I can't find my battery charger and I can't get the pictures off without it working.

Challenges.

Great Dorito Crash the Superbowl

2008-12-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

Here's another great video commercial from Miranda's friend Karl.
Check it out and go vote! You may notice Miranda in the background, she is a white shirt chatting to a very tall guy.

Scarf knitting for Special Olympics

2008-12-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

I am sewing the ends into the scarf I knitted for the Special Olympics. The Special
Olympics World Winter Games Scarf Project is in it's second year. The goal is that when the athletes participating in the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games walk into the Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho on February 7, 2009 they will all be wearing a blue and white scarf.

The colors were chosen to match the organizations official colors. The colors are from the Red Heart yarn, delft blue and soft white.

I chose to knit a pattern using modular triangles. Some call it a multi-directional scarf. It was good practice for me as I have only done this style of construction once before for an adorable bath mat.
I hate sewing seams so this is a great technique. Since I did alternating colors, I have some ends to weave in.

At the moment I am debating whether to add fringe or not. I have tons of yarn leftover from the big skeins. So I can make another one or save it for another project. Here is a link to some suggested patterns.

Hmmm...decisions.

The finished scarves must arrive by January 15, 2009 in Boise, Idaho so I have time to decide. If anyone else is interested the information is available at Coats and Clark site. I read about it in Crochet Today.

Thanksgiving is for family

2008-12-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is a time for family. Sometimes during the holidays you find a new "family member." That is sort of what happened last Saturday.

Last Saturday after a day of wine tasting with husband Brad and mother-in-law Diana, we stopped by Bern's Tavern. Granted I was sick and felt like crap but I knew this would be worth it.

For the last nine or ten years, Brad and I have thought that we had found his "lost aunt." Okay, maybe she wasn't lost...we just haven't had helped the rest of the family find her.

We met Linda years ago when started going to an old bar in Prosser called Bern's. Linda works there in the evenings and most weekends. Her nephew owns the bar. She also works at the local newspaper as a typesetter. I worked with her while I was the editor of the Grandview Herald. But I digress.

So we went into the tavern to "get a beer." It didn't matter that we had already stopped by Whistran Brewing to sample the chocolate stout. Yummy...and it comes with a chocolate truffle.

Back to the lost relative. The bar's entrance is a long and narrow. One side of the room is flanked by the old wooden bar. As you get towards the end of the bar their is a grill and fry baskets. A lady is flipping burgers and turns around. It's Linda and the look on Diana's face is priceless! Linda has short dark hair streaked with "salt", wire-rimmed glasses, and is about five feet tall. She is Diana's twin...from another mother of course. Yep, they are speechless.

As we sat down with our pitcher of beer, they are both trying to come to grips with their new found twin. And it isn't just the twins who are confused.As Diana and I are sitting at the bar waiting for the band to start, a tall man in a visor comes up behind Diana. He gives a great big hug and he starts telling "Aunt Linda" how well her nephew played in the state football playoffs. Yep. He's totally fooled until Diana finds her voice in time to tell him she isn't Linda. Me? I'm cracking up! So hard I am coughing! Too funny!

It turns out that they were both born the same year about six months apart. So that rules out adoption...too close in age.

Brad grabbed the camera after dancing with me and Diana. Yep they danced and they were having a great time. So here's the picture of Aunt Linda and Diana.
Remarkable...

Green sweater is almost done..

2008-11-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

I finished the yellow sweater from Interweave. I added two large silver buttons that we found at Gramma Gray's. I wore it at BAM (Bellevue Art Museum) and it looked pretty good. It is one really, really warm sweater! It doesn't matter that it has short sleeves, it was toasty! I used heavier weight yarn than the pattern used so it is bulkier than the original. That made the sweater heavier as well as warmer. Still cute just not sure about the sleeve cuffs. I added a crocheted picot edging to the sleeves and bottom hem. Thinking about continuing the sleeves longer in the kimono style.

The pattern is "Flutter Sleeve" by Pam Allen. The original used a cotton, silk and nylon blend. I think I could've made a smaller size even though I swatched and matched the gauge. I think it needs less ease. All in all I learned a lot from making it and will wear it again.

I am almost done with the green sweater from Interweave. I am using the "Painted Silk" pattern by Connie Chang Chincio. Again using a warmer yarn, a wool cotton blend instead of the silk. I just need to finish the seaming and the neck ribbing. I really like how it is turning out. I am using a yarn from Jojoland called Bloom. The yarn is actually two strands of yarn twisted together. The base yarn is a apple green wool wrapped with a white and black cotton yarn. It gives it a tweedy look.

I think I will really like this one once it is completed.

Better finish the seaming so I can finish up the neckline. With the cold weather, this should be a nice weight of sweater to wear around.

Pumpkin hat

2008-10-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

I have been busy knitting sweaters. And that is just it...I am knitting them but I haven't seamed them up.
So instead I got distracted by the season and a little girl's first birthday. My great niece Siana turned one last month. She is just the right size to wear an adorable pumpkin hat.
This is the first pumpkin hat I have made and I did it without a pattern.
The hat started with an i-cord and worked down from the top ending with a ribbed edge.
For fun, I knitted a leaf and a curly tendril to go on the top.
The yarn is Patons "Look at me" baby sport yarn.

Okay time to add a post

2008-09-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

I may not be posting but I am definitely knitting.
I have a gorgeous yellow sweater that only needs to be seamed up the sides. It is made out of Brown Sheep Prairie Silk in a yellow named as Leveraged Lemon. The pattern is from Interweave Knits and is called Printed Silk Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio.
I have to admit that I hate seaming. Really hate seaming. So I started another project.
It is a apple green cotton and wool yarn from Jojoland. I am working on the back now and it is looking pretty good.
Nope, I haven't seamed the yellow sweater yet...

New Blog

2007-10-03T16:31:00.001-07:00

Okay, I did it. I started a blog. Yeah it took me awhile but it is hard to type with needles in your hand. Besides I read so many wonderful blogs by knitters, what could I possibly add?

I spend hours a day at the computer why would I add another reason to sit in this room and stare at a rectangular screen? Good question.

I do research on the computer for hours everyday, looking for trends and news on competitors for several companies in North America. But I always seem to get distracted by a knitting group email or such. Then next thing you know I am off task.

Hmmm. New sock KAL .Yarn sale. Better check it out.....