Plain Jane Knits Up A Storm

A few musings about my needlecraft hobbies - knitting, crocheting, quilting, & cross-stitch along with my other love, genealogy. While growing up, I used to HATE the term "Plain Jane", but when it comes to knitting & crocheting, I've realized that I really *am* a Plain Jane in that I don't use fancy yarns.

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Location: Northern Detroit Metro area, Michigan, United States

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Another Day, Another Thousand Stitches

There's not a whole lot new in Plain-Jane-ville. I'm working on the 4th double crochet baby afghan, a knit hat in forest green Homespun (both K4 projects) and I just dropped the 7th column of stitches on my Clapotis and am working toward the 8th. I'll spare everyone another Clapotis photo until it's finished. I'm completely awe-struck by some of the other members of the Knit-Along who have finished theirs in less than a week! It's going to take me way longer than that, but then I'm switching back and forth between projects depending upon which one hurts my hands the least at the moment.

Friday, as usual, was our day for heading for the library. I'd run out of reading material Wednesday night and the Currently Reading section of the sidebar was blank. Along with a stack of hopefully entertaining novels, I wandered through the knitting book section and came home with Knit Lit, by Linda Rogharr & Molly Wolf, Men in Knits, by Tara Jon Manning & A Close Knit Family by Melissa Leapman. Knit Lit is a small paperback full of stories about knitters that I've been reading in small snatches to make it last longer. Men in Knits has some great patterns, many of them presented in sizes for both men & boys. "Jack's Aran Cardigan" on page 43 (photo on page 44) has me wondering if I could substitute a worsted weight yarn for the Classic Elite Gatsby (12 st & 20 rows to 4" on size 10s) that it calls for and knit one of the larger sizes which would then come out smaller and maybe fit me. I can see a long session with the calculator is in my future. This is the second time I've borrowed A Close Knit Family - the first time I knit the Nordic Warmth pullover for my grandson.



I reworked the pattern from drop shoulders to a raglan and knit it in the round without seams. Earlier this week, I visited Bron's Blog II and saw her "Uxbridge Cardigan" photo in the 16 Feb post - the pattern for which is in this same book under the title "The South Hadley Tweeds." I had briefly noticed the cardigan when I had the book out earlier, but did not realize how flattering a sweater it could be until I saw the photo on Bron's site. So there's a second PPIP or Potential Project In Progress added to my list. Both sweaters would need a slightly tweedy yarn or at least a heather, so I'm thinking in terms of perhaps the next time one of the stores puts WoolEase on sale.

Also on Friday, I wandered down to my LYS, Heritage Spinning & Weaving here in Lake Orion. I was amazed at how much the shop has grown and how many beautiful yarns Joan stocks. The shop started out a few years ago in the back room of a Speedy Print type store and has now grown to fill the entire store. So many beautiful yarns, so few $$ in my wallet .

I'll finish up with a few photos of the puppets I crocheted for my youngest daughter who teaches first grade in Chino, CA. She requested some of these to use while she was teaching her class phonetics and others are ones I made just for the fun of making them.











4 Comments:

Blogger Kathy said...

The sweater is just gorgeous! I like the puppets, too. :)

4:44 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Those puppets are wonderful and your daughter must be super happy to have 'em! Great job. (I'd love to hear what stories she tells with the puppets - the snake was especially nice.)

7:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those puppets are awesome :)

9:40 AM  
Blogger Thora said...

Omigosh! Your puppets are adorable!!

9:55 PM  

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