Newbie's current projects

Hi, this is so exciting to communicate with knitters again!! None of my
friends/family understand...

CULTURE SHOCK: I was in yarn shock yesterday - I hadn't been yarn shopping
for a VERY long time and went into a JoAnn's yarn section the other night.
Aaagghhhh! Incredible! I could not believe the types of yarns now
available - colors - textures - creativity - wonder of wonders!! I also went
to Halcyon Yarn Shop in Maine - knitting heaven!!!! Has anyone else had the
experience of being away from knitting and then going back to find all these
changes....

MY PROJECTS:
Just finished:
- For 85 yr old Aunt Lottie - Lap blanket using a Red Heart worsted weight
variegated yarn in muted blues/pinks/purples. I used a simple ss/reverse ss
alternating blocks with a garter stitch border. I loved the colors in the
yarn, but didn't like the way it worked up, and it's not very soft. I've
liked a lot of RH yarns, but not this one.
- For a new friend: Scarf in a double seed stitch using Patons Viking yarn
(100% wool chunky in a dark brown - I think this is an old yarn - I got it
on sale years ago - $1 for a 100gm ball - can you stand it!!?? I'd bet it's
good for felting.) This is not terribly soft, but I know it's warm - I used
it many years ago to make mittens for my boys when they went to "Deep
Freeze" camping trips with the scouts - tenting in January in the
Adirondacks. What brave boys!
- For my step-grand daughter: two needle mittens using cotton candy (pink)
Red Heart Hokey Pokey.

Current projects:
-- For my brother's unborn grandson: Short sleeve, raglan baby sweater in
stocking st using Hokey pokey robin's egg blue with different colors for the
ribbings. 1/2 done!
-- For my step-grand daughter: sweater in color blocks using Red Heart Hokey
Pokey knitted with an off-white Sirdar denim. i used the white for the
ribbings, and since I won't have enough to do the same size blocks for the
sleeves, I will do the sleeves in the white with thin stripes of the colors.
2/3 done!
-- Sweater for my son in a Sirdar aran pattern using Paton's Canadiana. 2/3
done!!
-- Socks for me using Paton's Canadiana - this is my first time using dp
needles - one sock is 2/3 done. I thought I could never do this!!
-- Red two needle mittens - one done
-- For step-grandson - Red and black scarf - if I can figure out what stitch
to use! Any suggestions for scarf for a 10 year old boy? They seem to grow
up too fast!

--
In knitting fellowship,
Susan

***************************
Knitting is a haven, a safe place
where one can touch history,
dance with art,
and create a peaceful life.
---Nancy Bush, author of "Folk Socks"


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In article et,
Soozergirl wrote:
Hi, this is so exciting to communicate with knitters again!! None of my
friends/family understand...

CULTURE SHOCK: I was in yarn shock yesterday - I hadn't been yarn shopping
for a VERY long time and went into a JoAnn's yarn section the other night.
Aaagghhhh! Incredible! I could not believe the types of yarns now
available - colors - textures - creativity - wonder of wonders!! I also went
to Halcyon Yarn Shop in Maine - knitting heaven!!!! Has anyone else had the
experience of being away from knitting and then going back to find all these
changes....

There have certainly been some improvements in acrylics. I have found some
old leftovers from years ago and they feel unpleasant compared to some of the
newer yarns - though my old favorite, Orlon[TM], can stand up to the best.

MY PROJECTS:
Just finished:
- For 85 yr old Aunt Lottie - Lap blanket using a Red Heart worsted weight
variegated yarn in muted blues/pinks/purples. I used a simple ss/reverse ss
alternating blocks with a garter stitch border. I loved the colors in the
yarn, but didn't like the way it worked up, and it's not very soft. I've
liked a lot of RH yarns, but not this one.

My experience with Red Heart has been that it is thicker than some other
acrylic brands and that it softens noticeably once it is washed.

I just made a stocking cap to use up a lot of small leftovers of old
fingering weight yarns, eight rows of a color and two rows of a dark blue
between each color section, finished off with a tapering end of all dark blue.
I managed to balance the color weights with an almost-random order, and had
just enough left to make the tassel.

=Tamar

"suzee" wrote in message
reenews.net...
Richard Eney wrote:
In article et,
Soozergirl wrote:

Hi, this is so exciting to communicate with knitters again!! None of my
friends/family understand...

CULTURE SHOCK: I was in yarn shock yesterday - I hadn't been yarn
shopping
for a VERY long time and went into a JoAnn's yarn section the other
night.
Aaagghhhh! Incredible! I could not believe the types of yarns now
available - colors - textures - creativity - wonder of wonders!! I also
went
to Halcyon Yarn Shop in Maine - knitting heaven!!!! Has anyone else had
the
experience of being away from knitting and then going back to find all
these
changes....


There have certainly been some improvements in acrylics. I have found
some
old leftovers from years ago and they feel unpleasant compared to some
of the
newer yarns - though my old favorite, Orlon[TM], can stand up to the
best.

nods Some of the new acrylics, like the larger, cheaper ones, are
still as scratchy at the old ones, but many are nice and soft.

Yes - I've had a lot of luck with acrylics, but this one was pretty
scratchy, although it was still fun to work with. Sometimes I like the look
and feel of the yarn while I'm knitting, but not the finished product. Go
figure...
Susan K

sue


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Soozergirl wrote:
Hi, this is so exciting to communicate with knitters again!! None of my
friends/family understand...

CULTURE SHOCK: I was in yarn shock yesterday - I hadn't been yarn shopping
for a VERY long time and went into a JoAnn's yarn section the other night.
Aaagghhhh! Incredible! I could not believe the types of yarns now
available - colors - textures - creativity - wonder of wonders!! I also went
to Halcyon Yarn Shop in Maine - knitting heaven!!!! Has anyone else had the
experience of being away from knitting and then going back to find all these
changes....

Yep, me. I learned to knit at 14 and made things regularly for years and
years until about 13 years ago. It's the new yarns that got me back into
it, and now I've discovered different techniques. And I have a lot of
stash yarn I've held on to all these years, so it's been pretty cool.

sue

Richard Eney wrote:
In article et,
Soozergirl wrote:

Hi, this is so exciting to communicate with knitters again!! None of my
friends/family understand...

CULTURE SHOCK: I was in yarn shock yesterday - I hadn't been yarn shopping
for a VERY long time and went into a JoAnn's yarn section the other night.
Aaagghhhh! Incredible! I could not believe the types of yarns now
available - colors - textures - creativity - wonder of wonders!! I also went
to Halcyon Yarn Shop in Maine - knitting heaven!!!! Has anyone else had the
experience of being away from knitting and then going back to find all these
changes....


There have certainly been some improvements in acrylics. I have found some
old leftovers from years ago and they feel unpleasant compared to some of the
newer yarns - though my old favorite, Orlon[TM], can stand up to the best.

nods Some of the new acrylics, like the larger, cheaper ones, are
still as scratchy at the old ones, but many are nice and soft.

sue

The cap sounds nice - did you use all similar weight/texture yarns or mix
them? I like to take two very different strands and knit with them. Years
ago I went to a mill ends shop that had huge cones of threads, and used
those with worsted weight yarn - got some interesting effects with that.

Susan K

"Richard Eney" wrote in message
...
In article et,
Soozergirl wrote:
Hi, this is so exciting to communicate with knitters again!! None of my
friends/family understand...

CULTURE SHOCK: I was in yarn shock yesterday - I hadn't been yarn
shopping
for a VERY long time and went into a JoAnn's yarn section the other
night.
Aaagghhhh! Incredible! I could not believe the types of yarns now
available - colors - textures - creativity - wonder of wonders!! I also
went
to Halcyon Yarn Shop in Maine - knitting heaven!!!! Has anyone else had
the
experience of being away from knitting and then going back to find all
these
changes....

There have certainly been some improvements in acrylics. I have found
some
old leftovers from years ago and they feel unpleasant compared to some of
the
newer yarns - though my old favorite, Orlon[TM], can stand up to the best.

MY PROJECTS:
Just finished:
- For 85 yr old Aunt Lottie - Lap blanket using a Red Heart worsted
weight
variegated yarn in muted blues/pinks/purples. I used a simple ss/reverse
ss
alternating blocks with a garter stitch border. I loved the colors in the
yarn, but didn't like the way it worked up, and it's not very soft. I've
liked a lot of RH yarns, but not this one.

My experience with Red Heart has been that it is thicker than some other
acrylic brands and that it softens noticeably once it is washed.

I just made a stocking cap to use up a lot of small leftovers of old
fingering weight yarns, eight rows of a color and two rows of a dark blue
between each color section, finished off with a tapering end of all dark
blue.
I managed to balance the color weights with an almost-random order, and
had
just enough left to make the tassel.

=Tamar


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.859 / Virus Database: 585 - Release Date: 2/14/05

In article .net,
Soozergirl wrote:
The cap sounds nice - did you use all similar weight/texture yarns or mix
them? I like to take two very different strands and knit with them. Years
ago I went to a mill ends shop that had huge cones of threads, and used
those with worsted weight yarn - got some interesting effects with that.

I try to match weights as much as possible. Sometimes it isn't really
possible, when using up random scraps and odd balls, even with acrylics
there are differences in actual size between "worsted weight" yarns
from different companies. It's less important when doing stranded color
knitting, because the two yarns double up, but in stripes different weights
can be very noticeable.

But the biggest decision is always: tassel or pompom? ;-)

=Tamar

Snicker!

"Richard Eney" wrote in message
...
In article .net,
Soozergirl wrote:
The cap sounds nice - did you use all similar weight/texture yarns or mix
them? I like to take two very different strands and knit with them. Years
ago I went to a mill ends shop that had huge cones of threads, and used
those with worsted weight yarn - got some interesting effects with that.

I try to match weights as much as possible. Sometimes it isn't really
possible, when using up random scraps and odd balls, even with acrylics
there are differences in actual size between "worsted weight" yarns
from different companies. It's less important when doing stranded color
knitting, because the two yarns double up, but in stripes different
weights
can be very noticeable.

But the biggest decision is always: tassel or pompom? ;-)

=Tamar


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.859 / Virus Database: 585 - Release Date: 2/14/05