Finding Nemo Preemie Hat

It started as an Orioles hat. Miss Betty at the Kiwanis said the fathers of the new babies love the sports colors and gave me the yarn so I could make Orioles hats. I could do the Ravens too later. Since I have orange I thought I'd try some pumpkins for Halloween with little green stems of I-cord. But then it began to stripe. It began to remind me of a clown fish. Thus I made my Finding Nemo Preemie hat.

My cast on was too tight, so I reversed it and closed it with the I-cord. I think it looks like a fish tail that way too.



I polished off another "No hair Day" chemo hat last night too while watching the NASCAR race at Bristol. It was an uninspiring race unfortunately since they recently resurfaces the track - but I got these two projects done so all was not lost :) Jeff Gordon was doing well but got caught up in a late crash with fifty laps to go and ended up 19th. That's okay though. He's still in first place for the Championship.

GO JEFF !!

Knitting on Public Telivision

My friend Nittany Knits wrote something on her blog that prompted me to sent this to my local public television station:


I knit. I watch television while I knit. Currently there are no knitting shows listed on Maryland Public Television's Schedule. A friend recently let me know that there are two shows available on public television which highlights the needle and fiber arts. These are Knit and Crochet Today and Needle Arts Studio. I wish to point out an article which notes

"American Public Television has picked up the show (Knit and Crochet Today) and they have received confirmation that 41% of the PBS markets that were polled, including 12 of the top 20 markets, are intending to run the show.

41% are showing it but not MPT. Currently I go to the DIY network or HGTV, for my knitting content. I didn't know there were knitting shows available on public television. Please consider carrying the new show Knit and Crochet Today which is available Fall 2007 and Needle Arts Studio which is presented by Interweave Press, a respected knitting magazine and online presence. Both shows are of great interest to me.

Thank you, I look forward to seeing both shows in the schedule soon.

If you live in Maryland and would like to do your part to bring these two knitting shows to Howard County - email Maryland Public Television at comments@mpt.org You have my permission to use excerpts from my message above if you like.

Free Armwarmer Patterns

Gotta love free patterns. I’m making some things for me for a change too. With the cooler weather(August??), I need to keep my arms warm when I knit. I started these last week and they are coming along nicely. The pattern is April May by Cider Moon. No more Patternophobia for me. It was one of about 15 or so on my list of possibilities from some talented designers. The links are below.

Gratuitous cuteness courtesy of the baby bunny near our birdfeeder just now, sorry about the haze from the window but she's very timid. For reference - that step is five inches high.

Click the bunny to make her BIIIIG.

April May armwarmers

spookycabledmitts

Clapomitaines

Fetching

Dashing

Purple Skein

warm_cable_armwarmers

Wrist Warmer Pattern Generator

Web Surfing Mitts

Simple Wrist Warmers

Cabled_Fingerless

Diamond handwarmers pattern

fingerless_gloves

Bowhunting Skills

It was a tough decision.

I work on other things in-between because I need to concentrate on the pattern with the YO. It really isn’t bad though, and is shaping up nicely. It’s got just enough YO to look lacy without looking like they’ll catch in everything. Another inch or two and I’ll increase for the hand. I’m making them a bit longer than the pattern calls for because my arm circumference shortens the length a bit even though I added two repeats of the pattern. I want them plenty big to allow some shrinkage.

I’m using the Green Mountain Spinnery 20% cotton yellow yarn I got at Maryland Sheep and Wool. # 2 needles – my smallest yet. They feel kinda rough now but should wash up nice and soft. I like that I can toss them in the washer – and although I plan to avoid it, if they end up in the dryer all is not lost.

I went to the Kiwanis Group today. I needed a small project and Miss Betty suggested Preemie hats - they're always needing more and will use up small bits of yarn. While I was rooting around, she suggested Orioles colors. What fun! I may do some little pumpkins for Halloween too.

I took my copy of Simply Knitting over to the Ladies too since I was done with it. There was much oooing and aaahing over the patterns, but Miss Betty is from England and got the honor of taking it home first. I really got a kick out of sharing it - I don't think most of them buy such things and they thought that my husband was quite amazing for picking it out for me.

But then I knew that.

Seasick Chemo Cap

I like this one.

After a lot of time and effort, I overcame several personal hurdles and am happy with the end result.

It started with a preemie cap Down by the Seashore - I couldn't get the hang of it. The repeats didn't make sense even after several tries so I gave up and finished it in stockinette. But I liked the pattern dang it and was peeved about being bested by it. In order to see the stitches better, I made appropriate changes to knit an adult sized hat. As chronicled in previous posts here, I persevered and even got great input from a friend at Ravelry and my husband. The final insult came when I discovered I had not two balls of the pink yarn but one.





The resulting yarmulke effect was hiddeous.

Remembering what a good swatcher I had been,

I did some eyeball calculations and frogged out the grey.













Since I saw how unattractive the plain decreases were, I dressed up the crown with a few sets of garter stitch to continue the wave effect.

It's cushy, squishy and oh so soft.

All in all, a fine chemo hat.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Ravelry (or "how jess and casey ruined my life")

Because of you my butt is numb

my house unclean, no projects done

Because of you I sit and view

read all the groups, add to my queue

Because of you my friends all yawn

my DH hides, TV's not on

Because of you I'm absentee

lose track of time, breathe Ravelry

Because of you it's UFOs

no KIP, my world CO

The knitting world is in your queue

I made new friends, Because of you

xoxoxoxoxo tinkknitz

Doomed I Tell You

Down by the Seashore Preemie Hat looks pretty good. The Gedifra Marokko cotton yarn is so soft and cushy it will be a great chemo hat for a tender head. I've started the decreases now and am looking forward to putting this puppy to rest.

Sounds rosey, eh?

Last night to my dilemma, I discovered I don't have two balls of pink, but two balls of grey left. It figures, now that I solved the math problem everything goes hinky again. My choices are these:

• a grey yarmulke look
• frog it back a bit and make stripes like the pattern calls for
• frog the swatch for the "loopy topper" in pink
• frog it all and make a dishcloth
• burn it
  

This hat is doomed I tell you, doomed. I'm not sure of the final destination for this one.

But, he doesn't knit

So. Last night I finished another Red Hat Society - No Hair Day chemo hat. They're a quick knit and I needed something mindless the other day.

I cast on the little Down by the Seashore Preemie Hat again. I've been in touch with another knitter at Ravelry who made it. (did I mention that I really like Ravelry?) She is giving me some help with the pattern. The wonderful woman even offered to make another one and donate it to a charity so she could better help me. What an amazing gesture from someone I don't know. I cast on (the third time for this pattern) and was telling Bobby how sweet it was etc, etc. He asked me to explain the problem, which I did.

It's a lace pattern and has a section of stitches that repeat over and over. There is wording in the pattern that confuses me. Now, I've knitted Fair Isle with no trouble. The first row of this puppy reads:

1: p1, *k1, p2. repeat from * around. end p1

After my last repeat of the *pattern* I kept looking for one more stitch to purl. It got even worse later on in the pattern when yarn overs and K3tog came into play.

He got it.

He really did. Oh, he hasn't magically decided to knit and his hands are one with the needles. However the math part was clear to him. He picked up a pad of graph paper and wrote out the numbers 1 - 56 for my cast on stitches. Then he filled in a K or a P underneath to represent each stitch. I could see it. He made a knitting chart on a huge scale. He told me that his next step would have been to tape the ends of the pattern together to make a continuous loop - but I got it without that. Now I can boldly go forth.

This was the revelation: The statement " end p1" simply means the last stitch before the stitch marker should have been a purl. Kinda like a Spell Check. Sheesh!

My husband. I love him.