need some advice & life update

Hello everyone!  Do you know anything about double knitting?  I’ve never made anything by double knitting before, so I don’t know how to do the cast on edge properly or the decreases on the inside layer of, say, a hat.  Any recommendations?  I believe there are probably many ways to do it, but what do you think is best?

I thought about just knitting a regular top-down hat and then switching colors at the end, going on to create a mirrored bottom-up hat that’s attatched tot he first, making a bullet shape.  Then I could just flip one of them inside the other and get the same effect!  That seems like taking the easy way out, though, and I want to at least know how to do it properly before choosing how I want to do it.

In other news, I finally got a job!  Yippee!  A real, full time job in the counseling field)!  It’s at a nonprofit place nearby that predominantly does psychosocial rehabilitation, I believe, serving a majority of bipolar and schizophrenic clients that have been referred for this specific kind of help.

I’m not sure what I’ll be doing precisely, so I’m incredibly nervous.  Something was mentioned about a caseload of about 15 a week and groups of up to 50 people.  I think I’m going to freeze up from nerves, I really do (because I myself have social anxiety which often makes coherent speech in front of strangers nigh impossible, turns my face into a beet, and makes me forget what I’m doing).  Mom says, however, that there will surely be a short training period so that I can get settled in.  I think I am going to go through some of my more relevant textbooks from grad school and refresh my knowledge and skills base, just in case.  I swear, I’m more nervous now than I was when I was waiting to hear yes or no!  I start on the 18th so the next week and a half will be nerve wracking, I’m sure.  Time to pull out some distracting activities (or as we say in the counseling field, coping skills)!

Thanks for stopping by — I hope to see you back again soon!

Navajo 3-ply tutorial is up

There is now a tutorial for the Navajo 3-ply method available.  This method allows you to use 3 strands of 1 ball at once, eliminating the need for multiple balls of yarn when tripling up.  It works with both knitting and crocheting, and is ideal for when you have a ton of fingering or lace weight yarn that you don’t know what to do with.  Turn it into worsted or bulky yarn with this method!  To view the tutorial, you can find it under “crochet tutorials” in the drop-down menu bar, or you can

click here

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoy the tutorial!

a finished cowl & other fun stuff

A third chunky circle scarf has joined the ranks of yarncrafted items in the front closet:

chunky circle scarf 3 1Yep, the pattern is good enough to make at least 3.  Granted, at least one will be a Christmas gift, but I don’t want to let go of this one because grey is my new favorite color.

chunky circle scarf 3 2This one was made with Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints, which is a fingering weight yarn.  The pattern calls for either 2 strands of worsted held together or chunky yarn, but I used the Navajo 3-ply technique to triple-strand the fingering weight yarn, making it suitable for this project.  I may do a tutorial on that if anybody is interested, so let me know!

Yesterday Chris and I went to the Renaissance Festival with a bunch of friends.  It was really fun, but I only got a few pictures.  My favorite is from the falconry show, where many raptors were brought out and flew across the audience.  This one is an eagle owl:

photo 4 (2)The friends we went with also gave me some yarn-related birthday presents which I thought I’d share with ya’ll (this is the same friend who made the yarn bowl for the giveaway).  A wonderful ball winder, which I have already used:

photo 2 (1)She also gave me a needle gauge and some needle holders, which should make things a lot easier!  Did you know that, while KnitPicks needles are my favorite, the interchangeable ones aren’t stamped with their size?  Now that’s not a problem!

photo 1 (1)After arriving home from our visit to the Renaissance Fair with our wonderful friends, we were getting out of the car and found this little girl outside with no tags:

photo 1 (3)She looks like a little pittie/lab mix, and she’s sweet as can be!  We asked around and I think she belongs to some neighbors we haven’t been able to catch at home yet, so she’s inside with us.  She’s not housebroken, she’s covered in fleas, and she was very nervous about being in a house with new people, but I pulled out the trundle bed and some washable pillows and blankets and slept with her last night.  She and our dog Zero are getting along fine, but if we have to keep her for the rest of the day we’re gonna have to give her a bath in Dawn dish soap (which kills fleas better than actual flea shampoo).  I hope she’s OK with water.

Well that’s about it for today, I think.  See you soon!

 

 

 

 

 

finished The Northern Loop cowl

northernloopfinishedI love it!  It’s made with 2 full skeins of KnitPicks Billow in the shade Lichen and size 10.5 straight needles.  It includes a provisional cast on and a three needle bind of.  This was my first three needle bind off ever:

northernloopthreeneedlebindoffI think it turned out fine!  There’s a bit of a bump where I weaved in the ends at the spot where I changed from one skein to the other:

northernloopedgeBut it’s not too noticeable, especially when you have it on.  The two skeins gave me about 50 inches of cowl, and the yarn is SUPER SOFT.  I think the thick and thin bits make the cowl look somehow more handmade and maybe a little “rustic.”  Not sure if that’s the right word… What do you think?  Click here for the Ravelry page (the pattern is free).

Now there are only 4 WIPs left to finish.  I would like to finish one or two before moving on and starting something new, although I have lots of things I want to start now!  Do you find yourself with multitudes of WIPs, or are you a one-project-at-a-time kind of gal?

That’s all for today, I think.  I do have a crochet WIP to share but it can wait until it’s a bit further along.  I hope you have a wonderful day/night, and thanks for stopping by!

 

 

PDF pattern for the CAL (with step-by-step photos)

Working through the day I have finished turning the as-we-go stripey blanket CAL into a PDF with the photos included.  This version is not so printer friendly as the photo-free version — this one’s over 80 pages!  But for those who want to follow the instructions without being online, this will hopefully help out.

click here for PDF pattern

Enjoy!

cal114