The Little Skein that could

Today, for the first time, I was able to work with my Fast Flyer to make some fine yarn and to try my hand at cotton.  Let me tell you something about cotton  my friends, is a lot of work.  I can see how a Charka may be a better choice, but like everything you have to learn how to spin cotton with lots of patience.  I may try some other day using my spindle. I may just keep on trying until I get it , cotton has a very short drafting zone, and it requires a lot of work.  I did get to use my Fast Flyer to try some other spinning , I will have to practice some more and see what happens.

The yarn above was made using the fast flyer.  The fiber was dyed as roving and it was not done very well .  I cooked the fiber too long before I learned how to do it properly or rather better.  It is nice roving to practice drafting and also worked well with my hand cards as I did some color blending that was very nice, the rolag below is one of the blends of red and yellow.  The yellow-blue, the blue - red , were two ply.  The red -yellow by itself was Navajo plied, which means it gets 3 strands of yarn.  It was fun and it was practice.  I got a visit from my friend to spend some time spinning with me.  We talked and listened to music, had tea and some cookies.  This is it for today until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Mindful Washclothes

Mindful washcloths is  a good pattern to make washcloths. Garter stitch, rice stitch and basketweave.    More than that, I was trying to see the value of cotton chenille by making some of the with cotton chenille  You know or perhaps you don't chenille is the word for caterpillar in french and this yarn looks like it has thousands of little legs, like a butterfly caterpillar.  The yarn is very soft and not easy to crochet or knit with, but in the end I think if I made some towels, this will be a good choice of yarns.  The test will be when they wash.

The first  Washcloth is made of Alpaca Sky Cotton  has endured the washer and the dryer very nicely.

The green chenille above is a hand towel in the guests' bathroom, let's see how it holds when I wash it and dry.  The black I believe will be like a hot pad for a nice Geo Amethyst I have and it will also have to endure the test of washing and drying.

There is more to come this week, but this is it for today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Mosaic Knitting, Square 9

Mosaic knitting is not unlike Fair Isle or what we Americans know as Color Stranding. The materials are the same, the techniques that is a different story. I was able to get gauge by allowing myself to be relaxed. Still this square will relax some more once it is blocked. I am really loving the cotton idea, I mean using cotton for a throw, which will be washable, but not very warm.

I am hoping that I use all the cotton I have on this project. I am not home so you do not have the beautiful Bamboo background that I have used n the other Squares, still this square s more beautiful in reality than in pictures. I hope to inspire you to use cotton and to Learn to Knit with this book, no matter if you are a new knitter or an experienced one. These squares take patience and take sometimes more than one casting on to reach gauge, which is very important. Hopoe to see you during the weekend withmore adventures inknitting and maybe some knitting in public pictures as well. Thaks for stopping by!

LTKA Square 8 (Happy Mother's Day)

This is called the Rose Fabric and it starts the Color Knitting of this book. It is the prelude to Mosaic knitting, it is done with the Knit , Knit 1 Below. This is a very interesting fabric and very light. I was very surprise at the lightness of the fabric. I was able to reach my gauge , but I had to recast once.
The Rose Fabric is a lovely airy fabric that will make a beautiful blanket. I will be making more postings after Mother Day! I will be visiting my mother and wishing her a Happy Mother's Day personally this year. I hope all the Mothers out there Have a great Mother's Day Thanks for stopping by!

LTKA Square 7

Hi everyone and welcome to May. Besides that Mercury is retrograde for most of May life is good. When Mercury is retrograde communications break down, and there is a breakdown of equipment, electronics and such. It is also a great time to review contracts, fix equipment and get channels of communication cleared. Now back to Knitting lol!

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I was able to match my gauge once more in this Learn to Knit Afghan Square 7. What a beautiful square, it has twisted purl and knit stitches and regular as well. It shows you the garter stitch versus the ribbing in a very clear way. The Beauty of one of the sides is amazing. I did not dare to call any side right and wrong because both sides are beautiful.

Here is the other side. The main difference is the edge made by the travelling back loop stitch it actually frames this square beautifully . Hope we can keep on learning and showing you this squares every week. Since I am going to visit some relatives for a couple of weeks there may be few postings in the next 3 weeks or so, but I shall return. In the meantime I will do my best to do postings every two or three days until the middle of June and see if we can get this afghan finished. lol!

Thanks for stopping by.

Square 7 BWLTKA Side A et B

How can there be a right side and a wrong side to this beautiful square. Of course there is/ Here you see the difference betwen garter stitch and 1 x 1 ribbing,. You are also able to see knitting and purling through the back loop along with the regular boring way of knitting lol!!!!
Again I am able to match my gauge by relaxing my cast on and being persistent in my stitches. I believe that for the first time I am understanding gauge and what knitting is all about. Seriously, I never thought that I wouls be able to match this gauge, but the last 2 squares say differently.

If you are learning to Knit or want to get more experience knitting you need to do this afghan. Why ? You may ask me. Simple answer is the gamut of experiences this book will put you through will enhance your craft and will challenge your mind. I am really enjoying the journy I am taking and the squares I am making . Thanks for stopping by!

LTKA Square 6

This square shows you ribbing, 2 x 2 ribbing twisted and not twisted or as some may call it , normal. lol! A relaxed cast on and relaxed knitting finally paid off in reaching the gauge, but it is a matter of the material, the needles and how you feel. My gauge will definitely change with a different material even if it is the same weight or thickness.

This is the second time that I have reached my gauge perfectly. I am enjoying the making of this Afghan tremendously, because I am learning a lot about how I knit and how stitches behave. I find myself looking forward to the next square which I have done already, but will not post until tomorrow. The next square is actually the most beautiful square that I have ever done in my life and it is so simple. Thanks for stopping by!

LTKA Square 5

The diagonal rib of 2 x 2 square is a very interesting square. It is done with very little manipulation of the simple 2 x 2 rib offset every 4 rows by one stitch giving you the illusion that you see here.

As I learn about how I personally knit, by making this afghan I am realizing that I may be casting on too tight. I have decided to cast on a bit more relaxed to actually reach a better gauge square and I was able to do that here. I was able to match my gauge in length without having to add more stitches, yet my row count was an extra set still. In this journey I realized how basic is the cast on of any item, and how necessary is the cast off to match the cast on for the garment or piece to have a sense of balance and form. I also realize how just the one stitch can change the look of this ribbing. This will be a very pretty ribbing for the bottom of a plain sweater or how beautiful a set of sleeves will look in this kind of ribbing. Thanks for stopping by!

LTKA Square 4

Lattice and seed stitch square is an interesting square, the posibilities of making a sweater like this are great, lots of work. Seed stitch is a very pretty stitch. I had to extend myself almost 18 rows to get my gauge. I learned that I need to relax my cast on. A relaxed long tail cast on can be stretchy if you do not make it tight lol!
Thanks for stopping by and we shall see you next week!

A Cottony Christmas

A Cottony Christmas was made on a whim, meaning that it was an afterthought not in wool. This crown is a snowflake, real snowflakes are six points. The Crown has a Tapestry Crochet style as this will make it warmer, taking into consideration that is cotton and that is Kitchen Type Cotton.

The Pom Pom is a bit asymmetrical and it looks like a great crazy snowflake very cool if you ask me.
There are 3 tc trees around the bottom of the hat, then a green surface sc and the termination of the hat is done with a Reverse sc in red. This yarn was rough on the hands, but once it is made, it is soft. IT will wash nicely and dry with no problems. Part of this hat is recycled yarn from other hats I had before. In this economy you need to reuse anything that still looks good, can you tell which yarn is the recycled yarn?
The hat was made using two kinds of hooks F and G, sc and dc and tc only on the little trees
Thanks for Stopping by!

A 5 Hour Jacket in Progress

This 5 hour jacket is coming along nicely, I have added a bit of Araucania Hand Painted Cotton and it is coming out beautifully. I am going to finish this Jacket with an I-Cord Bind off and all around the front of the Jacket so that I can put the buttonholes while I make the I-Cord border. I will have a Video showing you how to make Button Holes using a built in I-Cord. Thanks for stopping by!

Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton Cone WIP/FO

SO here goes the washcloth for the baby wrap. I was playing around with YO yarn overs and K2 tog and thought it was a cute design. I have been knitting more than crocheting, but the crochet will get it's time soon. I finished the washcloth with an I-Cord Bind off which you can click to see a small demonstration. I am really liking the I-cord for termination of any kind of project crochet or knit.Here below I am showing you the rest of the Cone of Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton. I am making a 5 hour baby sweater, but this one has some mistakes in the stitch counting. I do not have the mistakes, the pattern does. I decided to modify the pattern a bit and just have fun with it.
Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Wrap WIP

This is definitely a very nice and quick knit. It is a very versatile piece, you can make a hood for the wrap, you can add an I-Cord Border or a crochet border. The stitch is simple garter stitch, Knit every row. For those of us that have challenges with purling lol, this is the perfect stitch to deal with.
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I am amazed at the easiness of this pattern just plain garter stitch. I never realized how useful this stitch was and the creative way to use Yarn overs and Double Decreases. It does not follow the rule of Zimmerman's decreases, but it gets a logical decrease as I will explain later. I should point out that I am using a cone and it makes things a lot easier, only one or two ends to weave lol! Thanks for stopping by!

Summer In Kobol A Baby Set

This is the cutesy hat that goes with the set. This pattern is part of a book from Leisure Arts.
This is a great pattern and I made it in cotton. I enjoyed the color combination and the way the white softens the green! This was a very fun pattern to make, very easy, it is amazing the texture that a slip stitch followed by a single crochet is able to make. I hope you enjoy the view.!
This will be put together with the Summer in Kobol Blanket below for a Baby Welcoming Party. I was going to make the booties, but I will leave it like this. It is a fast crochet pattern once you get over the changing colors. This colors get left on a stitch holder and picked up after you get done using the other color, then you leave the other color on a stitch holder as well. It can be adjusted and I may say it can be designed a bit easier and better, but the overall rating from 1-10 for this pattern is a 9.5! If you want to see the Summer in Kobol Afghan you can click HERE and it will take you to the post. Thanks for stopping by!

Summer in Kobol, Dragonfly Dreams

I call this Afghan / blanket Summer in Kobol aka Dragonfly dreams by Michelle Wilcox. It is a nice small afghan that will allow you to learn the FPDC (Front Post Double Crochet and Bobble stitches . You will be using them constantly on the project. When you are making this afghan you have to take into consideration that there are 35 Columns and 41 Rows, so when you join them together as the diagram explains , some squares are perpendicular and thus the rows and the columns will be touching. I would use 6 single crochet decreases to yield the illusion of 35 rows. Once I got done with that I did the same on the border. The Pattern calls for 2 rounds, I made three. Two rounds of single crochet, the first round is used to give the afghan the evenness that it requires by making the appropriate decreases where the go and the second row is just to make it firmer. It ends with a nice 5 double crochet shell, sk one st, sc in next all around. Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Surprise Jacket WIP

The Baby Surprise Jacket is a real surprise as it is done in cotton and not in wool. Wool has different properties than cotton as we all know and when it comes to weave the ends, cotton takes a bit more work than wool. I used remnants of colors and I am very proud of the outcome. I will have a video explaining a bit more about the assembling of it and the termination of this Sweater. It is almost done, I still want to make a hat and get some very funky buttons this week. Thanks for stopping by!