the dark side of knitting.....

be nice or I will have to stab you

NIFTY TRICK: OK, this is the niftiest trick of them all and I, my friends, am sharing this with you. It is called a "lifeline". Say, you are doing a lace or cable pattern, which is done over several rows. At the end of your last row of the pattern, run a long length of dental floss on a yarn needle through the "live stitches" on your knitting needle, then just keep knitting as you were. Should you make a mistake, you simply take your knitting off the needles and rip out up to where your "lifeline" is. You will find your stitches safe and happy. Just pick up these stitches with your knitting needle and you are good to go. The stitches will be going in the right direction (not twisted) and if you have ever tried to tear out and pick up lace knitting, it is nearly impossible with all of the YO's and K2tog's and SSK's. Plus, having that dental floss where it is can be a great point of reference on a complicated pattern, should you get lost. You can easily see where you are at in relation to your "lifeline". This is SINGULARLY the best piece of knitting advice I have ever received. I learned this trick when I was making lace socks. I love it!!

NIFTY TRICK: Make photocopies of your pattern and make notes. By the time I have completed a project, my patterns look a mess. I circle the size numbers, cross out when I have completed a step, spell out abbreviations and make notes to myself. Sometimes I will change something and will jot down what I did or in some cases did not do. I also like to enlarge lace and cable charts- easier to follow and easier on the eyes, too!!

NIFTY TRICK: Always work in the best possible light. An investment in a craft light (I love my Ott Light) will insure that you can see what you are doing!!

Helena for Haley

This baby cardigan was one of the most fun and gratifying projects I have done to date. It took me a week to make and was knit entirely in one piece, from the neck down and when I was done knitting, there was no seeming whatsoever. She was done. "Helena" cardigan was designed by Alison Green Will- and is a free pattern that I found on Ravelry.com. I love the picot hems and the clever construction. When I was finishing the front and the neck edge and was binding off, three stitches were put on holders for each of the ties, then I went back, picked up the three stitches and knit the ties from there. So cool. This should fit a 6-12 month-old baby girl and will handle the washer and the dryer. Gorgeous lilac colored Cascade Quatro was left over from another project and there was just enough to complete this little cardi and some to spare. Made for dear friend's Lizzy's first grandbaby Haley Elizabeth. I could not be happier with this project and am really excited about giving this as a gift. It does not look like it was made by "loving hands at home" as my mum would say.....

when only the finest will do....

Hello beautiful cashmere scarf in the making! You have got to love "trade". I taught a knitting class, made about $140 and turned around and spent $180 on Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere yarn. I picked up four skeins @150 yards each. I think that I will only use three of the four, so I may have some left over to make some fingerless gloves for me. The recipient of this scarf will be my wonderful, adorable, generous friend. It will look great against his gray hair. My goal is to have it finished by June 15th, which is the next SF Opera date to see Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West.

Fresh Picked Cardigan

Made for a friend's little girl who will be starting kindergarten in the fall. This cute, crop-length cardigan will be perfect for someone who loves pink. Made totally from left-overs from another project, this was a freebie....free yarn, free pattern and took less than a week to make!

but is was tooo-oooo laaaaaaate!

I was about 90% finished with my Ariann cardigan, tried it on and hated everything about it. First of all, this is not my color. My sister can wear this drabby green, a color that I love, say for furniture, but makes me look sickly. Secondly, the fit was not good. I looked, like, oh my God- totally tubular. Lastly, I am not a fan of Plymouth Gallway Yarn. For a good, plain wool, I should have went with Cascade 220, my reliable, nicely priced basic, go-to yarn. I was not happy with the stitch definition. There was a lot of openwork lace on this bad gal, and I should have stopped sooner. I really should have finished it and gave it to my sister, but I did not have it in me. I unraveled the whole thing and am going to donate the yarn to The Legacy. I want it to go away. The Legacy is located in Sebastopol and is operated by volunteers. They accept yarn, fabric, patterns, buttons, etc and the proceeds go to hospice. I love the concept of The Legacy, but do not like going in there. Aside from being kinda disorganized, the place smells like stale cigartettes and moth balls. They do good work, bless their hearts and this yarn along with some other leftovers is going bye-bye and to a good cause.

she's come undone