Wendy Knits

I was a good girl and knitted diligently on Ms. Flora last night. Her collar is done (except for weaving in ends) and I’m working on a front band. The collar has 28 rows of painstaking two-color garter stitch, but each of the front bands has half that — 14 rows. Breathing easier.

Collar:

Front band:

I was very grateful to have my Ott Light for the picking up of the stitches on the front band. The background color is rather dark.

By the way, if you are not already doing so, do go over and visit Lisa’s Flora. It’s great fun to see another Flora, a Flora sibling, if you will, taking shape!

Critter Knitting — er — Crocheting

Still crocheting away on my second BLANKIE. (Yes, you heard me correctly, I shouted the word “blankie.” If “blankie” offends you, well, bitez-moi.)

Anyway . . .

I’m surprised at how quickly I’ve gotten back in the saddle again, as it were, with crochet. Is Wendy going to forsake knitting for crochet? Is she going to live out her days crocheting granny squares? No no no. Emphatically no. But I am surprising myself with how quickly and easily I am crocheting now. Compared with how clumsily and ineptly I was crocheting a week ago.

Ooh! That reminds me — did anyone else have a funky granny square vest when they were a kid? When I was 12 or 13 they were oh-so-in-style and my grandmother made one for me. I was too cool for words.

I’m no doubt dating myself with that statement.

Questions! And Maybe Some Answers Too!

The other day Nathania asked:

I am nearing the bottom of the armhole on my Dale baby sweater and I have a question about armhole steeks on Dales. Do you actually cast on for armholes or do you follow the Dale instructions and just continue in the round and trust that those 4 stitches are enough?

I follow the Dale instructions. Remember, you won’t be picking up stitches around the armholes and knitting down, like you wold in a fair isle sweater. You are knitting the sleeve separately and sewing them into the cut-open armholes.

I wrote an article for Knitty last year about Norwegian sleeve steeks. You can check it out here.

And there was a question yesterday about Lucy from Barb:

Is Lucy’s hair as silky and shiny as it looks in her pics? She is just so beautiful.

Why, thank you, Barb, from both Lucy and me! Lucy’s fur is very soft and silky and does not get tangles or mats in it, which makes brushing her an easy task. And she loves being brushed! Ragdoll kitties’ fur has been compared to rabbit fur and I think that’s an accurate description.

Blog-iversary

Thanks for all your kind words and good wishes on my second blog-iversary. I find that I still have plenty to yap and drone on about, so no doubt I’ll be blogging for a while longer.

Critter Knitter Blankets Clarification

I’ve gotten a couple of questions in comments about materials for Critter Knitters blankets — can blankets be woven on a loom? Can they made from one layer of a fleece material?

I would say the answer to both questions is yes. As long as the basic guidelines are adhered to — the blankets are machine washable and dryable and constructed in a manner so that they won’t easily fall apart, and of course meet the size requirements, than anything goes. Within reason.

April Contest

The April contest will be announced on Monday, so y’all come back now, hear?

Yup, I finished my first Critter Knitters blankie — this crocheted in Plymouth Encore Chunky using a K hook.

Considering I haven’t crocheted for nigh on 20 years (and even back then only knew the basic stuff) I’m satisfied with the results. My goal was to not end up with a lopsided blankie and I succeeded. This baby is 18″ square.

In the afterglow of my crochet success, I’ve started crocheting a 24″ blankie.

Remember . . .

We are not just accepting knit and crochet blankets during this project — sewn and quilted blankies are welcome too! Be sure to check out the Critter Knitters website for guidelines on materials and sizes.

I strongly encourage any and all of you to consider making blankets, whether knit, crochet, sewn, or quilted. Because it’s for a great cause. Because you’ll feel good doing it. And because there is an absolute boatload of wonderful prizes there for the winning!

Lucy says . . . please?

Flora Collar

Plugging away on my Flora collar. It’s fun to knit, but slow-going in the undeniably funky two-color garter stitch. But the reslts are very pretty, so I don’t mind the painstaking nature of the work . . . much.

Colinette Poncho!

Just for grins, I wound my Colinette yarn for my poncho into balls.

Okay, everyone but L-B ignore this link. L-B, click here.

Diet Coke With Lime

I see I am not the only aficionado of this nectar of the gods. I was asked if it’s hard to get here. I can find it easily in the grocery store, packaged in a variety of ways.

But at the office it’s a different story. In the building where I work there are three places where you can buy bottled sodas, and two of them have started stocking Diet Coke with Lime. Both places were clean out of it last week because the distributor who delivers it was out of it. There was much consternation.

I was happy to see it back in stock on Monday. But now I’m afraid they’ll run out before the next visit from the distributor. I ordered –excuse me– asked a couple of my team members to kindly not buy any so there would be more for me.

Yesterday, these two team members, who shall remain nameless (but you know who you are, Fred and Monica), conspired to purchase bottles of Diet Coke with Lime, then stood outside my office door and opened said bottles in unison, in flagrant disregard of my order –er– request.

This is insubordination to the highest degree.

Wouldn’t you like to be a Steeker too?

Friends, do you have steek envy? Do you really really wanna cut that steek but can’t bring yourself to put scissors to your precious knitting without someone proving to you that it can actually be done without ruining said knitting?

Tell you what I’m gonna do.

On Wednesday, April 14, 2004, at 4:00pm Eastern Standard Time, I am going to cut a steek on Flora. In public.

I’ll be at my very favorite yarn shop in the entire universe, Knit Happens. And there, in front of anyone I can force to watch, I will cut open a Flora armhole steek and pick up stitches for a sleeve.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004. 4:00pm. Fear not the steek.

Flora

The body is nearly done in this photo.

What I’ll do next is cut open the neck steeks and knit the collar. Then I’ll cut open the front steeks and knit the front bands. Then the sleeves will come last.

And one of those sleeves steeks will be cut open in public. See above.

Knit Happens

I did stop by the Knit Happens Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday — the place was hopping! Evberyone was having a grand time. I didn’t stay too long because a migraine was blossoming, but Ian picked out some yarn for socks and I got a crochet hook too.

And “Hello!” to the girls I met in the needles & crochet hook room who recognized me from my blog!

Ingeborg Knit-along

A whole lotta people have joined the Yahoo Group I established for the knit-along. Right now there are discussions of yarns and colors and swatches going on. You can join by following the link from the Ingeborg button in my sidebar!

Why is Lucy wriggling in happiness? Because there are more prizes on the Critter Knitters prize page and more blankies on the blankets received page!