A New Use For The Stash

Now don't laugh.  I still have a latch hook tool for making those rugs we all worked on a few decades ago.  That craze, however, was not my first attempt at hooking a rug.  Several women in my family made hooked rugs or pillow tops. 

 I remember Mama cutting strips of wool or felt and little me winding it into balls.  The last piece that Mama made is a cherished pillow top that still graces the yarn studio.

Here is her pillow.  Over forty years old and still going strong.  This is done by pulling up loops of wool to the right side of the work.  It is a different working process from the new method that I learned.

That's right - something new for this old brain.  And I get to use up stash yarn in the process.

Here is my first effort at rug punching.  In this method, a special tool is used to punch from the back of the work.  The tool makes uniform depth loops on the right side of the work.

I learned from Una Walker, she of Wooly Walkers fame.  Click over and see some of her great work.  Una is also a shoe maker - great video on her site about how to make felted top shoes.

The base of my mug mat is monk cloth, which folds up flat and does not take up much space in the stash "area."  A few punch tools will slip easily into the "other supplies" bin and I plan to start with small hoops rather than a large one. 

A few new supplies that easily hide away, a new use for the yarn stash, and my time is now wasted looking for ideas in the great wide world of Google. 

Fuzzy Knitting

Katia Jumbo.  Super bulky and gigantic to work with for someone who prefers a nice dk.  It is a fun fuzzy acrylic that works up fast.  Well, the Tree needed a fast shop sample made so I put down the Noro sweater and picked up the Big Needles to make a vest.

This is a re-gauged interpretation of In The Mood by Veronik Avery (click the link - it's free).  The pattern is great and it was easy to change for this fat yarn.

My only issue with the yarn was how to "weave" in the ends.  Normally, I weave in as I go, but that was not working on this yarn.   And I don't think there is a needle eye large enough to thread with this fluffery.

Adaptation was required.  I had to finger weave the ends through the stitches.  It was easy and allowed me to get the tension just right. 

This big super bulky vest is not my style.  It is a style that many will enjoy and within the first day on display in the shop, it garnered attention and several folks tried it on. 

Here is Annette, one of the owners, showing how cute the thing is when worn with style.

Making this vest (and trying it on) reminded me that this yarn world is wide enough and wonderful enough for everyone!

Yarn on people.  Yarn on.

Slow On Year Turning

Yeah, yeah, the calendar claims that it is a new year and I should be rushing around with renewed vim and vigor.  I'm a bit slow on the uptake and I admit it.

Actually, I was a bit slow on the let go as well.  This was to be a 2014 present for Himself.

It is not a vest.  If it were supposed to be a vest - it still would not have made it into the 2014 FO list on Ravelry.

The good news is that the sleeves were cast on last night.  I'm counting that as progress.  This is not a difficult thing to make.  But it has reminded me that knitting a man size is a whole heaping lot more stockinette than knitting a short woman size.  And that is all I have to say about that.

The Noro stripes wanted to be continuous so the bottom is knit in the round.  Experience tells me that even with all the color, I will see the row gauge change when I start knitting the front & back flat.  So. . . .I came up with what is probably not an original thought but it tricks my eye and makes me happy.

First, please know that the bottom ribbing (4x2), the row break at armholes and the top two inches and neck ribbing are Noro Solo that enhances the blue of the stripey part.  At that row break, not only did I use the solid blue, but two purl ridges were tossed in.  Those ridges and solid color trick the eye into ignoring the change in row gauge that shows up with this method.

For those who are wanting to tell me a thing or two - - -I don't steek.  Yes, that would solve the issue.  But I don't steek.  I'm scared, don't you know.