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Posts Tagged ‘Diane’

A Field Trip to Artfibers’

Posted in knitting, MaggiKnits, tagged , , , , , , , on December 2, 2009| 1 Comment »

A couple of weeks ago our Saturday morning knitting group went on a “field trip”. We traveled to Artfibers in Pinole and knit amongst the wonderful fibers. Some of us walked away with yarn for new projects. Diane and I looked, awed, and then sat down to knit on existing projects.

I am knitting a summer shell/tank out of MaggiKnits linen in dusty rose. Diane is knitting a stole with Queensland Collection’s Kathmandu in smoky gray (yarn available through Skein Lane Studio) – it is trimmed with Crystal Palace’s Waikiki in a deep vibrant blue. Will show both when completed. Notice the colorful quilt that is hanging on the wall behind of us. I emailed Rox of Artfibers last night and here’s her info on the beautiful quilt.

“The quilt was designed and made by a good friend and wonderful quilter named Evelyn who lives in New Zealand.  On one of our trips to New Zealand, Evelyn gave me a sneak preview of a show where this quilt was being shown along with a series of others she had made on the theme of stained glass.  I fell in love with this piece.  She came to stay with us for a bit last spring and we
got the pleasure of showing her some of the wonders of the SF Bay area.  When she departed, she presented the quilt to us as a gift (made me cry!).   It is nice to have a large wall to show it on.  It’s a powerful piece that really adds so much to the ambiance of Artfibers!”

PJ is knitting a scarf for her son Sam – she is knitting it in Bouton d’or’s Ksar – the pattern Textural Scarf in Scarves by Judith. Check out the Ravelry link  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/PJKnitsUFOs/textural.

PJ did purchase some yarn, She bought 1300 yards of Tsuki, a silk/mohair laceweight that she plans to carry along with some merino that she purchased when when traveled in New Zealand. Her thought is she will make a cardigan, but so far she has only swatched and sketched. Words directly from PJ.

It was a fun time knitting and shopping (for some) at Artfibers. We will journey there again.

Carol had fun selecting new yarn and then relaxed as you can see in the last photo.

Nina and Terry were off shopping when these photos were taken!

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Saturday morning workshop!

Posted in knitting, Mason-Dixon Knitting, tagged , , , , , , , on August 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Natasha Marsha Elliot and Nina

Natasha Marsha Elliot and Nina

What an excitement loaded morning….designs, sharing, laughter and baby Elliot came with his mother Natasha. Once again….you’d think we’d never seen a baby….so many oohs and aahs! And he really is a lovely baby and so glad that Natasha can be with us. Some of the other highlights: Eleanor shared her Sock Summit experience (you might also want to check the Yarn Harlot’s blog), Terry shared another one of her creations, Cathy – a truly left-handed continental knitter – shared her latest translation of cable instructions as well as a baby sweater for her grandchild, Rebecca just completed a hat, Maurie is working on her adult surprise sweater, Susanne is finishing a cape stole, Diane has finished her Moderne Baby Blanket and is now working on the completion of her top-down sweater, Marsha is working on an adult Moderne Blanket, and yes…Natasha can still knit – she is working on an Feather Ripple Afghan using deep rich red and rust colors, Katie is knitting away with her gift scarves, Nina is on her rendition of MaggiKnits La Alhambra design, and Margo is making progress on her blue sweater…a lace design.

Margo was having a problem reading which row she should be on as she shapes the curves on the neckline. She thought she was on row 9 and I finally discerned that she wass on row 11….and that the first shaping on the right side of the neck was off….but I said “It’s not obvious so I might let it go.” Where upon Margo says looking at the rest of the group, “If she doesn’t care, then I don’t! (She usually does!) Let’s move on.” It’s hard to express Margo’s wonderful delivery of words and expression…but it is great and she makes us all laugh.

And a knitting tip from Cathy…as you are trying to remember names…use word association. This came up because Terry was trying to remember the name of the stitch pattern…you know the one where you just keep knitting…well it was garter. And here is Cathy’s tip: Gunsmoke – Miss Kitty wore garters! Another round of laughter.

One more tip from Eleanor which came from Charlene Schurch, instructor at Socks Summit and author of Sensational Knitted Socks….when you are swatching and changing needles in the same swatch (which is what I recommend that you do rather than casting off and starting a new swatch..simply change needles) use yo’s as separation between needle size swatches….this will control the tension between the different needle sizes used within the same swatch.

And now some more photos! Enjoy!

Coming next: works from Tues, Thurs and Friday.

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The Saga of the Stoles – Part 4

Posted in knitting, tagged , , , , on May 6, 2009| 3 Comments »

The Rebozo Stole – This is a wonderful design from Cheryl Oberle featured in Folk Shawls. I helped Sandy pick out this yarn, Silky Wool and Silky Wool Tweed, for a stole for one of her relatives. And then Sandy’s health condition got worse…she wasn’t able to recover and she left us in March 2006. I inherited this part of her yarn stash….I loved the project itself and had such fun helping her to pick out the yarns. And then I had the fun of knitting  it ….a special memory of Sandy.

…..Silky Wool is available through Skein Lane Studio; Silky Wool Tweed has been discontinued.

Diane also knit the Rebozo.  She used Shetland Wool. After wearing it a couple of times, she discovered that the yarn had broken on her cast-on row. She didn’t remember what method she used, but it was taut….and it continued to break and break along the cast-on row.  Finally, we cut that black edge off…..oh, yes, it was black! We picked up the stitches and then bound them off. Another success story…with a few choice words along the way. But the end result was that we were both very happy for Diane.

….reminder to double click photos for up and personal look!

Coming next: The Saga of the Stoles – Part 5  (We’re almost there!)

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Baby Luke’s Sweater

Posted in knitting, knitting techniques, tagged , , , , , , on April 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Diane (she’s in a couple of our knitting workshops) has just completed this beautiful sweater for her 1-yr old nephew, Luke.  She has learned alot along the way. The first challenge was that the pattern called for a DK weight (5.5 sts/in) and she chose a Paton’s Worsted weight (5sts/in). We did the math and chose the instructions for the smaller size knowing that we -she- would get a size around 22-24 inches. Now the finished sweater measures out just fine….but what Diane didn’t realize is that Luke is a small guy. He will grow into it.

Some of the other things that she learned are: two kinds of seaming, picking up stitches, the one-row buttonhole, and the P2tog bind off. The pattern is such a compliment to the yarn. I think I want to make an adult size…because one knows I can have never have enough knit items!

Tomorrow: A flash from the recent past of some of the knitting fun we have.

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