I've been knitting quite a bit on this trip.  I spent a couple hours on this project during our train ride from Venice to Geneva.  I had some licorice, a Coke Zero, and some amazing views.

The knitting is pretty easy once the pattern is memorized.  It's definitely not a project for beginners.  But I think any advanced beginner could follow along with the pattern no problem.

I've been doing some shopping, too.  This picture gives a hint to one item that will be going in the August craft challenge packet. This is a cute little stationery store that I found near Campo Del Friari in Venice.  I have a limited number of packets available for August, so if you want to participate--get your packet before they're sold out.

Last night as I was packing, I realized that I didn't have a good knitting project to bring along.  I did a search on Ravelry and came up with this project that fit perfectly with this skein of mystery yarn I got from Julie.  I'm modifying it a bit to suit my taste.  I'm making it into a scarf so instead of 15 repeats of the wavy pattern, I'm only doing 5.  I didn't have enough yarn to make a shawl, anyway.

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture.  It was late at night and all I had was my camera on hand (the other camera was packed).  You can't really tell how beautiful the yarn is.  I should be able to post some in progress pictures over the next few days.

It's been a long time since I've been so excited about a project!

]]> http://www.christynelson.net/2010/06/summit-travel-knitting/feed/ 0 http://www.christynelson.net/2010/04/pinwheel-jacket/ http://www.christynelson.net/2010/04/pinwheel-jacket/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:03:03 +0000 christy http://www.christynelson.net/?p=3222

Here's another project from years ago.  This is the Pinwheel Jacket.   You can find the free pattern at Elann.com but you need to register there to have access to it.

I made this sweater using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.  It held up surprisingly well over the years.  My daughter is still able to wear this sweater.  It has grown well with her.  The nature of the pattern really allows for it to grow along with the child.  As they get bigger, the collar gets smaller and smaller and you can unroll the sleeves.  I don't think it will last until next fall, but two years worth of wear for a child's garment is not too shabby.

I used a basic grosgrain ribbon to tie the front.  Even that ribbon lasted this whole time!

The pattern is also available in adult sizes.  I may go through my yarn stash and see if I have something suitable to make this for me!

This dishcloth pattern comes from the famous Peaches n' Cream ballband.  Mason Dixon Knitting brought it back into "vogue" four-five years ago and I jumped on the bandwagon a couple of years later.  Looking at these pictures made me remember just how much fun these are to knit.  They are a super quick project, too!

Here is the link to the free ballband dishcloth knitting pattern.  You can get a couple of dishcloths from the two balls of cotton yarn.  It is so much fun to mix and match.  There are so many great cottons out there now that I think I may need to make some more.

Need a quick wedding gift idea?  For a couple of bucks and a couple hours of your time, you've got a nice handmade gift to pass along.  Pair it with a Pyrex casserole dish (one of my best loved gifts from my wedding) and you're good to go!

Don't know how to knit?  Why not check out my Knitting School series?  Good times.

This is the pattern that first caught my eye.  It is the Tappan Zee.

image copyright Amy King

I really like the overall design.  The lacework on top will keep it interesting.  The major benefit?  No seaming!

This next pattern is Emmaline.   It wasn't love at first sight but I kept coming back to look at it.  I don't know if this would be the most flattering on my body type but I think I'd like to try and knit it.

image copyright Jennifer Wood

I think this will be a quick knit and I can fit it to me.  I like the square neck and cap sleeves.  Another bonus?  No seaming!

Remember how last year around this time I was thinking about summer knitting and picked out this project to never mention it again?   I did actually start on the sweater and made quite a bit of progress.  Then it got to a point where I couldn't stand to knit on it any longer.  Knitting is supposed to be fun and that project just wasn't.  So, here's to hoping that one of these projects will work out for me and I'll have something good to report!

Do you have a preference?  Because, I'm still on the fence.  Help me decide!

You will notice that when the flame is being extinguished, I still have my knitting on the needles.  I still had a few minutes left of knitting to do.

Since we got to cast on during the beginning of the opening ceremonies, I figure I have until the end of the closing ceremonies to finish.  The knitting is complete!

Is it a completed garment?  No.  But I did it!  Here's my knitting olympics analogy:  I skated a clean program but got disqualified because I forgot to wear my costume.

I so know how those athletes feel that put in a gold medal performance only to come in 4th or fall down at the last second.*

There's always the Sochi Knitting Olympics.  See you in 4 years.

*please note the sarcasm.

It took a lot of sacrifice.  I couldn't even take breaks to eat solid food!

But it was so worth it!  Having that gold medal and being a Knitting Olympian confirmed that I'm crazy changed my life.

I'm going to do it again.  I just don't know what I want to make.  I won't be able to accomplish something of the same magnitude this year.  But, I do want to challenge myself.  I'll be looking for a pattern today.  Here are things I know for sure:

1. I will knit from my stash.

2. I will knit for me.

3. It will be awesome.

Care to join me on this epic quest for knitting Olympic glory?  We have from Feb 12-28 to make history!

Last month I wrote about the French Press Felted Slipper pattern that I knew I had to make.  It is the kind of pattern that is quick enough to knit but isn't something you can just knit without thinking.  The pattern needs to be followed and it isn't one that can be memorized easily.  For this reason, I had to knit this project over a few nights.  The total time spent knitting was probably just over 90 minutes.  The seaming took another 60 minutes.  The felting took another 30 minutes plus drying time.

I'm super pleased with the finished product.  Here are the details:

Yarn: Plymouth Galway--I used a good portion of 2 skeins.  Because most of it is knit using 2 strands, I just pulled from two full skeins.  I probably have enough left to make at least one more pair out of those skeins.

Felt Flowers from Stampin' Up--I didn't have any cute buttons to use on hand and remembered that I have these little flower embellishments.  They are perfect!

Grippies--star shaped "Grippies" provide a non-slip surface on the bottom of the slippers.  I won these during a twitter party last year but this is the first time I've used them.  You just iron them on and they are machine washable.  Easy and clever.  If I didn't have these, I would have used some puff paint on the bottom.

Pattern notes--the pattern was well written but the pictures showing how to seam them up weren't that clear.  Because I had made something similar before, I had an idea of how to do it.  But, if you're a beginning knitter, you might have a bit of a problem with the finishing instructions.

My main motivation for making these slippers was to have something cute to wear while I recover from surgery.  I got my gallbladder out last week and I spent the night in the hospital.  These slippers were the talk of the floor.  All the nurses kept coming in to look at them!   They couldn't believe I made them myself.  And that is exactly why I love to make things myself!

I knit this really cute scarf last year.  I started it in February and finished it in December.  It was my "purse project".  I kept it in my purse and worked on it whenever I was waiting somewhere.  I used the chevron scarf pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  I used some Noro sock yarn (color 95) that I purchased on my trip to NYC in 2008.  I used one whole skein and worked from both ends to make the color changes.

When you knit something, chances are you'll need to block it.  But, what does this mean?  Blocking is what you do to your knitted yarn to make it be the shape and size that it should be.  There are several different methods but what I'm going to show you in this post is wet-blocking.

Get your knitting wet.  My yarn is 100% wool so I want to make sure I'm using cold water and no agitation.  I don't want it to felt!  I rolled it around in the water a bit to make sure it is all wet.

Next I wrapped up the scarf in this towel and twisted it.  This got out a lot of the excess water.  Now my scarf is completely damp and ready to be bent to my will!  Mwah ha ha.

The next thing you want to do is find a flat surface where you can pin out your project.  I used my daughter's bed to pin out this long scarf.  You'll want to use rust-proof pins and use them liberally.  There are blocking boards you can buy with measurements on them.  These can be helpful if you're blocking something that needs to be very precise.  For a scarf?  Meh.  It doesn't really matter to me.  I just wanted to soften it up a bit and make it not roll up on itself quite so much.

I let it dry overnight.  Unpin your work and wear it!

If you are blocking a project that needs seaming, you'll want to do the blocking before you seam.  It will make the seaming process so much easier.  Trust me.

Oh, how I wish I had someone besides myself to take this picture.  Anyway, you can see the finished project.  It is a great scarf and now you know how to block your knitting!

How's that for an attractive snapshot?  I spent some time over the weekend felting some slippers and I had the grand idea of vlogging it for all the world to see.  Don't you want to learn how to felt?

Here's a great video for you.

If you don't want to take the time to watch the video (just over 3 minutes), here are some highlights.

1.  You must use 100% wool.

2.  Hot water and agitation are key.

3.  Use a top loading washer or by hand.

4.  It will take a while.

5.  Mold your finished product to the shape you want and let it dry.