Cathy's Grace Notes

Blessing of Shawls

We blessed blankets for Levi's Hope, an organization for those who have experienced a loss of an infant through miscarriage or stillbirth.

We also blessed a shawl for someone who has had some long term health issues.

Yes we can socks

I knitted these throughout the election results. They will be worn today and will be my "Yes we can" socks!

Trekking XXL sock yarn size 2 needles - basic sock pattern I have by memory. The only change is a boxier toe - finished off with 20 stitches left at the toe instead of 12.

What I did on Sunday afternoon

390stitches, originally uploaded by catnipper.

I cast on 390 stitches for a feather and fan shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls book.

The other day I did the same thing...on a different circular needle - size 8 needles which are 32 inches long. Wasn't long enough, and I fought with the wooden needles on the end and how it interacted with the yarn. Cherry Tree Hill Alpine Lace, which has silk and mohair in it. So.....I had decided to get some Addi Turbo size 8s, 47 inch circular. No problem.

Well, yes problem. When I started the knitting, all was ok, until i got to the row where the pattern kicked in to the knitting. Then I found I was one stitch short in one place and one stitch over in another area and tried to compensate. Long story short, I ripped the whole thing out.

Anyone who has "tinked" or ripped out something with mohair will know it's not as easy as it sounds, so that took a little longer than typical.

390 cast on stitches - that's alot.

Knit 4 Lent

I hijacked this from the Charity knitting blog The Knit Before Christmas - but wait!!! This is not for Christmas, this is for Lent - who might join in this project??

Hello knitters,

I would like to introduce you to our Lenten Knitting & Crochet project: 4,000 Hats in 40 Days.

The idea for this project spun out of a wonderful Episcopal knitters community I found on Ravelry. If you aren’t already a member of Ravelry…well, what are you waiting for?!? It is a great resource for knitters and crocheters; and, you’ll be able to join our 4,000 hats in 40 days group.

Many of the knitters I’ve met on the site are Christmas at Sea knitters, and I was asked to lead a Christmas at Sea knit a long.

That got me dreaming big…I had been wondering how Christmas at Sea could possibly raise an additional 4,000 hats this year to give as gifts to the mariners working in the Gulf. In previous years our gifts to those mariners have been homemade cookies, cards and bandanas. The KAL and the need for hats seemed like a (challenging!) match made in heaven.

So we started a group. As of today we have 77 knitters committed to knitting for this project, and many of those knitters are taking the project to their parish.

I hope you’ll join us too. Here are the participation guidelines:

• Hats should be made in colors appropriate for both men and women.
• Hats should be made from machine washable yarn. If the yarn is not machine washable, please stick a note in it that says "Hand wash only"
• Hats can be made from our Seafarer’s Cap pattern, but can also be made from any pattern appropriate for both men and women.  You can find lots of great (and free!) patterns on the internet. Here are three suggestions that have been submitted by group members:

Stockinette Seamen’s Cap

Marsan Watchcap

Chunky Ribbed Cap

• Hats knitted for this project should be received by March 30

Lent begins on Wednesday, February 6. I hope you will join us! Please let me know if you have any questions at all. And please send any pictures of completed hats that you’d like to share.

Let the knitting begin!

4,000 Hats in 40 Days

Please consider our knitting project as part of your Lenten Discipline.

Please help us gather 4,000 of the VERY popular hand-knit or crocheted hats for mariners working in the Gulf Coast of the United States.   

These hats will be given as Christmas gifts, along with other items as part of the 2008 Christmas on the River Program.

Spread the word to your knitting and crocheting friends and help SCI raise 4,000 hats!   

             Finished items should be sent by March 30th to:

The Seamen’s Church Institute

241 Water Street

NY, NY 10038

Attn: Jeanette DeVita

Go to Ravelry and join here.

 

Ravelry

Have any of you knitters signed up for Ravelry? It's an online community similary to others and allows you to connect, supposedly, in ways that others, such as MyFace and Spacebook (ahem) -- but..... you have to wait to get in because they are still in Beta and don't want to overload and crash the system in its infancy. So..... those of us who are waiting ( and I would be one of them) has to go to the "antsy" page and wait patiently for my number in line to decrease. Right now, I am 5762 in line --- with 5761 in front of me. Anyone else waiting? Anyone in there? If you haven't signed up, and you are a knitter, you should.

Let me know where you are - are you in or are you still waiting????

Spanish Christening Shawl - finished!

This past weekend I finished the Spanishing Christening Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's book, Folk Shawls(Her book is linked to the side column on the left - my book is beginning to look ragged from its use - it's an excellent resource!). I used Caron's Simply Soft yarn this time which is more of a worsted yarn. I used size 8 needles, cast on 135 stitches in contrast to the suggested 195 and if I had to do it again, I would cast on 115 to get more of the desired width that I wanted.
I used this particular yarn for its ease of availability (local WM), durability and softness.  It took approximately four skeins of the white yarn.
The edging is what is termed a "godmother's" edging. It is a straight knit stitch with k 2tog and y/o to give the eyelet look. The edging is a binding off of 4 every set of rows. It was an easy one to memorize once you get the rhythm to it going.

Biggest challenge was finishing it since the baptism was held 2 1/2 weeks after the baby was born!

So You think I don't knit anymore?

I really am knitting - and here's proof. I am working on Lizard Ridge from Knitty - and I have posted about it over here.  Yarn is Noro Kureyon. Luscious yarn.

Evil Holes

In the middle of the night, the evil doers of the knitting universe decided to mess with my knitting.(click on the picture to enlarge and see what I am talking about - anxiety is setting in about this. I ain't too happy because I can guarantee you these holes that those blue arrows are pointing to in the picture were NOT there last night. See the area circled? That's the way it's supposed to look like. So, I have to see if I can fix it without tinking, or if I need to go back and fix it. And I thought I was at the smooth sailing part. Oh ye be humbled.....
I am awaiting some addi turbo circulars in size 8 to come in - purchased off Ebay in the middle of the night like a sniper in the night, I think I will be much happier with a little breathing space with this Spanish Christening Shawl that is packed onto the circulars I am using right now.
I need to be thinking kind thoughts on this blanket for the baby it is going to. I don't want it to have any bad vibes when it goes to the precious baby.

By the way, moi was on the front page of the local paper today. :) Must have been starving for some news. Check it out.

I DO KNIT

I bet some readers may have thought I have given up knitting. No, but haven't been doing a great deal other than warshcloths and bibs from the Mason Dixon Knitting book.
I have also started another Spanish Christening Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls book - one of my favorite books. I am using Caron's simply Soft this time to see how this compares to the other ones I have knitted. This seems to have a nice feel to it.

In the picture you can see I have had to rip out from the mistake I made. Things just weren't gee hawing just right. and I was trying to get it to "work out" in a couple of rows, but it just got worse, so I am back BEFORE the mistake.

You can click on the picture to get a better view of the Christening Shawl.