Timberline Work in Progress

 
I wanted to share with you one of my works in progress.  I have been knitting this cardigan for almost 1.5 years.  The pattern is not that difficult to follow, but it is very time consuming.  You also have to make decisions along the way about whether or not follow certain instructions or not.  Why you may ask?

It says to bind of by k2tog some of the cabled stitches when you bind off.  The difficulty with this action  is that you  need to bind off the complementary area in the same way.  Why you ask again?  Well if you want things to pair off nicely when you are sewing the shoulders together, I rather have the same amount of stitches on both sides.  I think this makes is easier right?

Today I finished the right side as well.  I am going to start the left side panel tomorrow and hopefully finish it  before i go to my Monday Night Knit group.  What is actually left is the button band and collar.  I am also interested in making after thought pockets by mimicking the pattern of one of the panels.  I will keep you apprised of the progress as I have other things to do and in the works.  Thanks for stopping by!

Bad Santa Hat 2014

This pattern is part of a Calendar of patterns that you get.  There is a pattern that comes out each month.  I had enjoyed all the pattern that came out of this calendar year and I am looking forward to next year's calendar.  Here is a link to the Calendar December Bad Santa Hat  and the  Ebook for 2014.  Have a wonderful rest of week and Ho Ho ho!

Brethren socks in White

I am done just in time for Thanksgiving , I have made the Brethren in white. It is amazing to be able to make socks for yourself. Next week I am hoping to work on my Cardigan and on two hats that I have designed, I am testing them as we speak. I also have a new pattern for a scarf that promises to be fun. In the meantime have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving 2014. Thanks for stopping by!

The New Knitting Circle by San Francisco Magazine

Thanks to the San Francisco Magazine for featuring some of the guys  from our knitting circle, whic also includes crocheters.  Nine of us went to the shoot, only 8 show up.  Charles Ford is the guy missing. There is a group of fellows that meet on Sunday at a local Coffee house.  2349 Market street, Espressamente Illy Castro.  There are crocheters and knitters and we are men of many venues and backgrounds, doing something creative.  We call the attention of the casual and not so casual passer by .  We are the New Knitting Circle  San Francisco Style.  Here is the link to the Free Digital Copy of the Magazine http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/digital-edition  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Morchen Brethren

Another pair of socks before the Men's Fall Knitting Retreat.  I will tell you that this is the most wonderful men sock pattern that I have made in my life.  There are such a beauty, I am thinking of modifying this pattern to make a pair of kilt hose for me.  I love this pattern and I love bright colors.
  
 There are more than two projects on the horizon.  There are more than 2  scarves in the burner for the  knit fashion and at least one Tapestry crochet hat.  Hope your week is as fantastic as mine.  I am heading for the gym and will definitely have a great gym session. I can't way to see my Brethren next week and look at them from a new perspective.  Thanks for stopping by!

Men Fall Knitting Retreat 2013

To begin with it is the 6th Fall Retreat and it is the best Vacation a knitter can have. Men of all walks of life and as diverse as yarn. This table was all the items that we will be bidding on the Silent Auction.  This auction benefits the Scholarship Fund.  It is tax deductible, we are a 501c now. There were a lot of new faces and some new ones as well. This year we were able to sponsor 3 guys with scholarships.
  

The first night we had a spinning class with Michael Wade and some assistants. If you don't know how to spin, he will teach you and teach you . I want to take the class again and again, because Michael makes this class a lot of fun. You become full of wonder and your yarn experience will change your perspective about fiber. Tomorrow there will be more classes and more pictures about what we did, or better yet, what I did during the days at the retreat.
 Even our friend Jeremy got to take the class. This young fellow, that is legally blind and hardly hears, is in a wheelechair, and is an amazing human being. Is like our little brother that we protect. Tomorrow is another day. The boys spent the night spinning and spinning until late, helping each other and just having fun. Thanks for stopping by and yep That is Nigel!

Bow tie completed

This is the Bow tie on top of some lace.  I have to say that I would make this bow tie again.  I  did not know how much I was going to like this pattern until I finished it. This pattern is very tricky , it has double knitting  in an unexpected way.   The pattern is  a bit confusing until you understand what it is trying to do.  It has decreases and increases, you make two sides and graft them.  The pattern calls for 40 stitches and there was no way I was making it 40, I did a test drive and it looked like a propeller, I went down to 30 and US 2.  Next time I make this pattern I will go to US 1 and 30 stitches.  If you are interested in making this pattern, I will say go with 100% wool, it will make a magnificent bow tie.  The blend that I am using, is an 80/20 superwash wool / nylon.  It is going to work ok, but is not the best choice for this pattern in my opinion.   If you want to get this pattern, go to Knit Picks and grab it.  I used 25 grams of yarn at about 92 yards of material , fingering weight. Thanks for stopping by!

The Medici Hat by Woolly Wormhead

One of my first designers to test my hat making abilities was Woolly Wormhead.  This designer without a doubt had the best hats in the world.  The were made on the flat and then kitchener together. I got myself into plenty of trouble, but I learned a lot about making hats.

Here are different views with my cool Kilt socks on of the Medici hat.

The link will direct you to the purchase option, it is a fun hat to be made.  I went with dk weight yarn, double strands and it took 95 grams or two skeins.  I opted to go a needle size down and made the smaller size hat.  It has a beautiful cable cast on , and lovely twisted stitches. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Brethren by Millard Fontenot

The Brethren is a significant step in my life.  Some people think of knitting as making wonderful hand made items that look like they were made by a machine.  On the contrary my dears, a hand made item has the essence of the hand crafter,  It is perfect in it's imperfection. Practice makes perfect, but don't let that phrase scare you, but motivate you to make more than one.  I have been making socks for a while, most of the time afraid of making them, because socks become lost in thought some times.  Second sock syndrome is one of those fatal syndromes that take some of us by surprise.

 

I have to tell you that making this sock was a great experience.  I read the pattern and took into consideration the cables, the yarn and my personal gauge and decided to make the sock.  I figure that if it was tight, I could fine someone to gift it too, but I was pretty sure that It was going to be a good fit. Mr. Fontenot dislikes to start a Round or Row with a Purl stitch, a man that makes my heart sing as a designer goes.  This facts assured me that I would not have to deal with the same issue of purlin on the first stitch.  What happens is that he designed the pattern to dance a bit with the stitches and thus keeping the first stitches as knit and thus my heart kept signing.

 

This yarn is this green, as you see the green on my patio.  I have to say that I am getting to be a better photographer as time goes by.  A better photographer means taking the picture when the right timing is there, lol.  No kidding,  as I will tell you that the golden hour, is the best time to take a picture.  The golden hour is the hour right before the official  Sunset.  I was reminded of that hour by my good friend Kyle Kunecke , a good photographer himself.  I will also have to give credit to Mister  Franklin Habit, my Fiber Photographer teacher ,as he gave me some fantastic insights into photography for the fiber artist.  I want to thank you for allowing me into your space and thank you for stopping by!

MFKR 2012 Part 2

I am not going to bleed the MFKR 2012, there is going to be part 3 lol. This is a gret venue to go every year, is a good vacation and you meet so many talented people, is amazing. This year I had the opportunity to make it to the 5th one in a row. I will never forget the first one at Poiint Bonita, what fun we had.


I can tell you that this is a wonderful place to be and to meet so many men with such talent is a great honor. There were two other guys who also joined the 5 Year club of attending the MFKR. I received this beautiful token of appreciation from Wonder Mike and by Proxy the MFKR. It is some wonderful lace yarn and a bag made by Nathan Grisham, his bags are fantastic, made in the USA and can be found at http://www.etsy.com/shop/Knit1Eat1 , from project bags to Messenger bags. Go and check him out.


Every Year Skacel Knitting is behind us with gifts and back packs. Here were the guys from the Contest and some of the guys that went to Skacel, there are more than this few.

This is part of my Crochet Basics for Knitters. The class was a success. Everyone learned from basic slip stitch, chain, single crochet, double crochet, treble crochet. Everyone got an A+. The picture below is taken by me. I believe the picture above was taken by Wonder Mike or Franklin Habit. Every year we have a fun Kilt Night with Show and tell. Here is a pictures, it is not a Kilt Night only. We being the men we are, just decided to have some kind of special event with kilts, sarongs or any unbifurcated fabric you want to wear. Slacks are acceptable, shorts are acceptable, nothing serious just some fun for the guys.

Among the show and tell was my crochet hat, my weaved scarf and the socks I am wearing, oh and the "Daniel" hat , a pattern normally for sale Here, which I donated to the retreat binder for the guys to enjoy as well. Yep there is part 3 from this blog and lots of more fun in the works. Thanks for stopping by!

Good Fortune of Homespun

I am almost finished with the Old Forge. This is one of the most delightful knits I have done in a long time. My gauge have kind of become a little loose. A lesson to learn is to always order more yarn lol. As I was making the garter stitch border I decided to do a mathematical equation to how much yarn I have left and how much yarn I still need to complete the project. I was going to be short, so I had some options. First option was to use the Crimson and the yarn left in alternating sections. There are 600 Stitches, so I had choices. My calculations reported back to me that I would need about 50 grams of yarn finish it. I would order more,but I thought I had some yarn that had the same kind of color, You bet, I have some Alpaca , homespun by me in a Rose Grey colorway and that is exactly the color this other yarn is. It is a heathered grayish brown with a rosy hue. To the left of the orange stitch market  on the garter stitch market is the new yarn, is a bit fuzzy and spun more tight, but practically the same.

Exciting for me, as I wanted to make a blanket with my homespun and this was the perfect yarn to finish this blanket.  I am hoping to be done in the next few days, the only blocking that I will be doing is a slight steam blocking.  There will be pictures soon, thanks for stopping by!

Knit or Crochet in Public

In Purto Rico a man Knitting in Public or Crocheting in Public is a wonderful sight.  People ask me if I am an Artisan, and I have to say YES!

Here In the picture above you find me knitting in public.  At the bottom you find me crocheting in public .  I had to hide the item I am crocheting as it is the new hat that will be coming out soon.  Tonight I went to Punto Reves again and what an experience.  I enjoyed the company of the creative people that surrounded me.  I  am so glad that I found this place and I will tell you that I would go every day if I could.  There is something wonderful happening here and I got so much inspiration.  Thanks to CUca and Merce for their hospitality and fantastic Coffee.  The coffee, the conversation, the sharing of ideas and techniques, it is really what Knitting and crocheting is about. Thanks for stopping by!

Franklin Habit's Sahar

I am finally done with the Sahar Stole.  This pattern is by Franklin Habit. I enjoy doing lace and sometimes it becomes repetitive and that is fun. It is also something that you get use to it and then you become bored some times.  The Sahar Stole is a pattern that will teach  you about lace. You can see what wonder stitches like SSK and K2tog do on a stole like this one.  The selvedge is your friend and if you follow the instructions without fear, you will get an amazing stole.  I made this baby on US 4 , I committed to make it relaxed. I was happily surprised at the blocked size. is A bit over 88 inches length and 16 inches width.



I say this is a great lace project, it will teach you plenty and you get to graft the two pieces together. I used a sports weight Knit Picks overspun yarn. I can tell you that it was a fantastic choice. My stole does not have a bias. I figured that a lot of the torque from being overspun would dissipate in the Yarn overs and it did. That tells me that the Sahar Stole is a great Pattern for  hand spun yarn. Thanks to Franklin for this wonderful adventure in lace. Thanks for stopping by.

MSKR 2010 Pt1

The MSKR 2010 was held as always at the Easton Mountain Retreat.  This is where most of us were staying. My retreat experience was not the best for me personally, maybe because I found some challenges that were unexpected and my life experience has not prepared me to be able to handle them in a better way.  I did what I normally do, which is I stayed away from people  at night to be able to enjoy the day time with them as I was very upset about many things.  Do not let my personal experience color the retreat, it is personal and that is all I will say.  In the end I believe the experience made us better able to handle future situations.  I am glad I did not leave when I wanted to and that I stayed until the end.  It would have been very awkward, more than it has been.

You will not see as many pictures as you know I would take, because there were some issues about some people not wanting their picture taken.  The main issue was they did not want to speak up either, I was crushed, I could not reconcile how to take pictures when someone did not tell me they objected, so I decided instead to take no people pictures  after that.  There is a video I will be posting it later this week.  It takes a lot of effort to go through the pictures and videos and compose them, that is why is so important to have the information about who does not want their picture taken.  Photographers understand that.  As always if your picture is in my blog and you desire it to be taken off email me and I will definitely photoshop your head off and replace it with ALF's.

It was nice to get there early, because we got the chance to participate in the making of the packages for the guys that will be arriving later this afternoon.

These where the 45 goody bags that The Facilitators came up with , very clever and lots of fun stuff for knitters.  Inside the bag was a skein of Ozark Mountain Hand Spun,  a Calculator, some stitch markers with the MKR logo, and other cutesy stuff that people that knit appreciate.  We got a pen as well woohoo!  I like pens I guess everyone does, specially if they have the name of a Yarn Store. There was a Cat Toy Felting Kit, a knit kit and a spinning kit, oh and a kool-aid dye kit.  I will come back with the information of the vendors  that gave us stuff.  I am making progress and healing I guess as I am posting.  This is very difficult for me, but what the heck let's keep having fun.

There were 3 tables full of stuff for the guys last day which is when the guys get to pick their prizes, sneaky , but worked fantastic.  I actually liked the idea, because we got to see the items day after day and had our favorites.

In the end this is what makes part of the retreat a great venue.  The fantastic vendors and private business owners that donate to our Retreat, along with the guys that come to this place from different parts of the country  and other countries, to gather with other men of like minded ways and knit , crochet, spin and card the whole weekend long.  All in all I had a wonderful time and may go some other time in the future after certain things get addressed, some of them have been addressed already, everything is coming out in a very positive  light and I am happy for that. I will make some other postings, maybe two more about the retreat, not many pictures, but enough that you get the idea of the beauty of the place and the fun the guys were having, even me.  Thanks for stopping by.

Apollo A Man's Shawl

When inspiration strikes you go for the gold, because you don't know when the muses are going to go home.  I present you Apollo A Man's Shawl.  What makes it a Man's Shawl, well nothing really, I made it with a man in mind, a woman may certainly wear it with pride and without hesitation of being discriminated against.  It is Lace after all. One of the particular things that people don't realize in lace is that lace is a reverse craft, kind of.  I make the design to be deformed or blocked , thus when you knit the design it looks very different than when you block it.

It may be called a Prayer Shawl

I love the way it drapes on 100 % Fisherman's Wool

Well Back to my reading, but before I do.  I want to thank Naomi once more for her invaluable help.  I also want to thank my Ravelry Group  and the Men Knitting Retreats for their inspiration.  I want to thank the Muses for their kind visit and while they are here I shall continue to design .  I have two more patterns in mind, but this time is for women. The Patterns are for sale if you are interested, look for them on the sidebar, Thanks for your support  and for stopping by.

East Coast Men Knitting Retreat 2010

This year I am going to reach the Half Century mark lol! As a present to myself I am going to meet the guys from the East Coast Men's Knitting Retreat. Some of them have visited us on the West Coast , but some I have never met. What is most important is that there will be crafting among the guys in a very positive atmosphere. There is so much talent and there is definitely a lot of fun. The East Coast Retreats have been set to be at Easton Mountain Retreat Center, Upstate New York from May 20 to May 23 , 2010. All guys are cordially invited to attend. You can send the guys to this website for more information MENS KNITTING RETREATS. Thanks for stopping by!

Persian Poppies , Moonshadow, Toot's LeBlanc

The Day Started with Kaffe Fasset's Persian Poppies class by James Herbison. James has his own Yarn Shop and has a specialty on Sock Yarn you can find it http://www.joyofyarn.co.nz I had such a great time and even though this swatch is a mixture of acrylic and wool, it gave me the opportunity to learn this technique of color. What I actually liked about learning from James is that his world at home is a bit different than mine, his winter is while are summer is. They definitely have a different way of looking at the world as we know.

Here we were trying different techniques and candies from New Zealand, all deliciousness aside it was fun to finally meet James and share some time with this wonderful guy!

The Same day we went to the Moonshadow Alpaca Ranch owned by two Ladies. What a great experienc to meet the Alpaca you bought the yarn from and to see how well they are treated. I know we all want to get cheap yarn, but nothing like seeing how these animals are taken care of by two caring people. Each yarn has the name of the alpaca it came from, what a fun place to visit.

The Alpacas are very shi at first, but very curious about us and what we were doing there, even though they scare easily by sudden movements, they are very friendly and daring. One of them was sniffing my wool bag, guess they liked the wool or perhaps they thought their hair wool end up in such a beautiful bag some day. I smell Cousin Sheeps on this one they said! There was a black Alpaca that had the best eyelashes I have seen , lol! He was gorgeous lol!
Later that day we Had Toot's Leblanc come for a visit. Owner's Carl Brittain & Michele Camacho gave us a wonderful presentation. I am honored to have the possibility of having them carry one of my patterns. I am working on getting it tested and when ready I will forward it to them. Michele was chatting with me in Spanish which was a lot of fun, she speaks very fluent Spanish. Her brother was a very Handsome shy guy.

That day we got a Knitting machine demostration by Morgan Hicks from All Points Yarn , and later that night we had a horrible Swedish Vampire movie for Movie Night PJ Party. lol! IKEA will never be the same after you watch this movie. Terrible choice, but it was fun to look at something through the eyes of the Swedish, I know I am so antropological sometimes. Thanks for stopping by!