Yet Another Test Knit Cowl :)

Not to be dismissive in any respect, I just seem to be making a lot of these lately.  It's too warm for hats most of the year, so it's light cowls or scarves and fingerless mitts that keep me from freezing at my highly air conditioned desk.  So, when a pretty test knit pattern comes along, I'm willing to give a go.

This one is a smaller, less drapey cowl than the others I've done recently, so I probably won't get much chance to wear it till it gets cold again, but I definitely liked the pattern, so it's all good.

 

The Yarn

Good ol' Lion Brand Wool-Ease.  Inexpensive, tons of colors, durable, and not pure acrylic so definitely softer than a lot of Red Heart colors. Easy to find (even Wal-Mart carries it).  Lighter colors tend to pill a bit, but I've used this yarn repeatedly and really like it for inexpensive projects.  I used just over 3/4 of a skein of Wool-Ease for this project (about 140 yards).

The Pattern

The Staggered Diamonds Cowl by Kaitlyn Yeager (FantasyFlyte Designs)

The yarn is knit up at a denser gauge, so the Wool-Ease was a little scratchy as I was working with it.  But, I've worked with it before and I know it'll soften up pretty soon with wear and washing.

The pattern is pretty easy to follow, but you do need to watch yourself; it's not a totally mindless knit.  There are a few spots in mine where I messed up, just zoning out and not paying attention to the chart. I had to back up and fix the twists. One stitch cables are a bit fiddly to correct, but not impossible. Still, lesson learned: pay attention to your work :)

Also, the pattern is designed not to go completely around.  That is, there is a break in the lattice at the start/end of the round.  Trust the stitch count, it will even out, but yes, it does look like that at the end of hte round. You can kinda see it in the picture on the right below, how the diamonds don't match up about a third of the way across the picture?  That was where my round started.

  

Notes, Alterations, Etc.

No changes, actually.  Only thought in passing is that this would be a very easy pattern to increase for a bigger cowl.  Make it thicker (deeper?) by continuing with more repeats or the chart, or make it a bigger loop by casting on more multiples of 8.  Other than that, this one was pretty straight-forward :)

Purple Days Test Knit

These were a pair of test knits I did simultaneously.  Well, it's a set right?  You can't make just part of a set!  And so, here we have the Purple Days Mitts and the Purple Days Cowl.

The Yarn

Unfortunately, another yarn that's been discontinued.  I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, since I was able to afford it, being on super-clearance, normally alpaca-silk-cashmere yarns being a little out of my price range.  Still, it was absolutely lovely to work with, and unfortunately won't be available soon :(  It's really soft and nice to work with.  The colors are lovely (and totally the reason I chose this yarn for this project, the whole Purple theme).  And no color bleeding when I wet-blocked (sometimes an issue with these handpainted yarns)

I used just over 0.5 skein (82 yds) for the mitts, and about 2.25 skeins (310 yds) for the cowl.  Altogether, I've got about a skein left, so enough to make a matching hat or headband :)

The Patterns

Since these were test knits, there were changes to be made, simply being still works in progress.  The mitts, for example, called for too many stitches at the given gauge.  One tester solved the problem by casting on 10 fewer stitches.  I went waaaaaay down on my needle size to get to a size that would fit my tiny hands.  This has been corrected/adjusted in the final pattern, but it was something I had to consider as I made them.  I liked the pattern very much.  The lace was a simple little repeat that helped break up the stockinette without taking all your concentration.  The mitts were also very quick to knit - one mitt in less than 3 hours!  I think I finished the pair in about 3 movies worth of time, give or take.

 

For the cowl, I wanted it a little bigger than the dimensions that a sportweight gauge would have yielded.  So, I held two strands together for this one.  It was also nice, in that it helped prevent color pooling.  The cowl is long and drapey, with enough room to be doubled up if I want it a little warmer (the picture on the left below).

 

Notes, Alterations, Etc.

For the cowl:

Sport weight was a bit light for this pattern to get the size cowl I like, so as I mentioned above, I held the yarn double and worked that way. Love how it came out.  That was really the only change I had with the cowl.

For the mitts:

• Used a smaller gauge (6 st to inch, not 3.5-4) and still cast on 40 stitches - my hands are just not that big…
• Worked 7 rows in each of the ribbing and stockinette stitch sections (I kept the lace pattern the same).  The smaller gauge meant shorter rows as well, so I needed to lengthen the mitts a little to keep them functional.
• Held aside 8 stitches for thumb, then picked up 8 more (16 stitches total, not 20) - like with the gauge, just needed to make it a little smaller to fit my hands

The mitts are raveled here.  The cowl is raveled here.

Pinteresting Wednesdays - bamboo placemat vases

OK, this one might be cheating a little.  Well, stretching the definition of Pinteresting juuuuuuust a little.  Yes, this project is currently on Pinterest, and pinned on my Craft Ideas board, but I was the one who added it :)  Still, the original website where I found it, Dollar Store Crafts, was one I discovered through Pinterest.  The website I pinned was the full instructions for this project at In This Life.  So, in a round-about way, I think this still counts as a Pinteresting Project!

 

I did make some changes as compared to the inspiration project, but it's definitely still the same idea, just tailored to my own decor and tastes.  Here's what I used:

• Glassware of assorted heights.  I didn't use the sugar shakers, but two vases and a drinking glass.  The Dollar Trees in my area didn't have multiple sizes of sugar shakers, so to make an assortment of heights, I turned to other glassware to suit my needs.
• Two plain bamboo placemats.  I liked the colored ones in the inspiration piece, but the colors don't match anything in our house.  The plain placemats were slightly more expensive, not being at the Dollar Tree but at the commissary, but they were still only about $1.25.  Not too big a difference.
• The third placemat came from Target (I believe) and is a black and natural striped pattern.  Still not a Dollar Tree placemat, but also still only about $1
• Scissors
• Hot glue
• Paint - black

What next?

I really followed the directions as given this time!  *gasp*  I know!  That's kinda unusual for me with my knitting and craftiness.  As I stated above, the website with the full instructions and lots of pictures is In This Life.  I'm just summarizing here and noting the few changes I made.

1. Make sure the glassware is clean and dry.  Set aside the tops, if using sugar shakers. I was using vases, so didn't have to worry.
2. If you are doing anything to the mats decorating-wise, do it before you start cutting and hot-gluing.  Painting over hot glue can get messy.  I painted two of my mats plain black using just basic craft-store acrylic paint and a foam brush.  Make sure they are completely dry before continuing on.
3. Trim a mat to the height of one of the glasses.  The easiest way to do this is to score the placemat first with a craft knife, and then cut it with scissors.
4. Wrap the trimmed mat around the glasses.  
5. Cut the mat to just fit around the shaker.
6. Be sure to secure the end pieces of the mat immediately with hot glue in a couple of places, especially at the strings.  This will prevent the mat from falling apart.  Otherwise, the sticks in the placemat will fall away once the strings are cut.  Not a mess you want to deal with!
7. Carefully hot glue the mat to the glass, wrapping the mat around as you go.  Be careful to keep the bottom of the glass even with the bottom edge of the mat. 
8. Secure with rubber bands and let dry.  Ta-da!

Repeat these steps with your other glasses, and you'll have a set.  Fill them with whatever you want!

All in all, the biggest changes I made to the inspiration piece were what glassware I used for the bases, and painting the plain bamboo mats instead of using the colored ones.  I ended up with 3 vases still, but in patterned black and natural instead of eclectically colored stripes.  Definitely more my taste.

Also, it is easier to paint the placemats a solid color instead of a pattern.  I had originially wanted to paint the middle-sized vase a black and white pattern, but things just kept smudging on the slats.  When I found the striped placemat, it solved my problem perfectly.  So, personal experience, it's much easier to make it a simple paint job than to try and do something involved on the textured surface.

Review: Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits

One of my resolutions this year is trying to read more.  My goal is 2 books a month, and so far, that's a pretty good average pace.  Average, because I never read one book at a time, so it's not always an even 2-a-month.  For example, I didn't really finish much in June, because I had 4 books going, so I'm on pace to make up for that in July :) 

This one was one that was a free download on Amazon Kindle (click the picture below to go to the Amazon page): Pride, Prejudice, and Cheese Grits by Mary Jane Hathaway.

Summary (courtesy Amazon's page):

Shelby Roswell is a history professor on the fast track to tenure until her new book is crushed in a review by the famous historian, Ransom Fielding. She struggles to regain her momentum only to discover that Fielding has taken a visiting professorship at her college. The place that was once a refuge from the poverty of her past is now a battlefield of Civil War proportions.

Ransom is still struggling with his role in his wife’s accidental death six years ago and was hoping a year at Shelby’s small college would be a respite from the reminders back home. He never bargained for falling in love with the one woman who would give anything to make him leave. Together Shelby and Ransom learn that home is never very far away, and when you least expect it, love arrives.

With a cast of Civil War re-enactors, an evil wedding planner, antebellum mansions, and several mysterious diaries, 'Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits' will take you on a touching and hilarious ride through a modern South you haven't seen before. NOW WITH RECIPES

Yes, I got the one with the recipes too.  The only appearance of the cheese grits, as a matter of fact (they don't play any part in the story).

Free Kindle books are nice, but I'm still not going to waste my time, even if I haven't wasted money, on a book that's not worth it.  So, I always start with the other Amazon user comments, just to get an idea if it might be interesting.  Beyond that, I read it to make up my mind on my own :)

One of most frequent complaints in the the Amazon reviews questioned the Pride and Prejudice connections.  It honestly didn't bother me too much.  Hot-headed heroine, awkward hero, lots of butting heads and misconceptions.  At that level, it really didn't bother me.  There were scenes that were straight out of P&P, though.  Funnily enough, those were the scenes I liked the least.  Just didn't fit, somehow.  (Slight spoiler alert)  The party that Shelby goes to with her mom and sisters and the disastrous matchmaking attempt was straight-up Mr. Collins.  And that honestly bothered me.  It's a modern story, but that scene just seemed so... anachronistic.  I mean, I have friends who have received "You're not getting any younger" type comments from friends or family, but in this day and age, 27 is not absurd, especially for someone in academia.  PhDs aren't overnight degrees, after all.  Her mother getting frantic about her 27-year-old daughter turning down a date with a guy in his early 40s just seemed out of place.  Yes, Shelby did behave on the ruder side, but the guy was pretty much insulting everything she'd worked for and cared about.

The other big complaint in the Amazon reviews were about proofreading mistakes.  Looks like I downloaded a later edition, because it wasn't an issue.  There were still some, and a few continuity things that nagged at me, but otherwise, don't be put off by that criticism. 

As for the story itself...

It is Christian romance.  Meaning, no steamy scenes.  Lots of banter, smoldering looks, and a kiss or two before the wedding at the end.  It is listed as Religious Romance in the categories down near bottom of the Amazon page.  I hadn't really noticed it, but I'm up for Austen in any form.  If you're not, or you're looking for something steamier, this isn't the book for that. 

On that same note, it's not a beat-you-over-the-head preaching sort of story.  A character is looking for forgiveness, another for strength, characters pray and from time to time, talk about the importance of faith in a relationship. And that's about it.  No moralizing, not really heavy handed proselytizing.  I didn't find it distracting from the story at all. 

I liked the lead characters.  Shelby, the heroine, is outspoken, honest, pretty but not "everybody hates me because I'm too pretty" (yes, I recently tried to start one whose heroine was like that.  I couldn't finish it).  And yes, I have a partiality for nerdy, sarcastic, curly redheads :)  The hero, Ransom, is suitably awkward and proud for an Austen hero.  I liked them, honestly.  I powered through the book in 2 days, so it kept my attention pretty securely. 

I liked the best friend as a character, too.  A lot of the other secondary characters seemed very underdeveloped, though.  They just kinda appeared for a scene and then disappeared.  Tasha, the romantic rival, was entertaining, if aggravating, but then my personality tends more to Shelby's views than Tasha's.

I felt the disasters were a little rushed, especially at the end.  The video especially seemed to just come and go with little development.  Things just kinda happened and then never mentioned again, like the author was trying to fit in too much.  Like the faux pas at Ransom's aunt's party?  And the back-to-back disasters towards the end felt very rushed.  Everything worked out alright, and for the most part, no loose ends.  Just felt like things kinda happened and then were gone, no lasting repercussions.

My biggest complaint was the questionable Southern geography.  The book is set at the fictitious Midland College in the fictitious town of Spartainville, MS.  So, they talk about going to Oxford for shopping and so forth.  No problem, there's an Oxford, MS.  The heroine's hometown is Flea Bite Creek, though.  Though it's never mentioned where Flea Bite Creek is in the book, there really IS a Flea Bite Creek.  In South Carolina.  South of Columbia, actually, about 9 hours from Oxford, MS.  Resulted in a few issues for me:

• Her "regular weekends home" seemed off to me.  I've done the 8 hr drive from Greenville, SC to Virginia Beach, VA very regularly, and it's makes for a very draining weekend.  Add two more hours for the round trip... Hard to believe.
• With the 9 hr distance, the dismissive way people talked about Flea Bite Creek just didn't fit.  If you're going to be dismissive about a tiny Southern town, you're going to do so about the ones nearby, not ones 9 hours away.  People always talk about what they know.
• Also, characters mentioned Savannah and Charleston as destinations like they were just a couple hours away.  From Oxford, MS, these cities are each about 10 hours away.  People tend to be 'out of sight, out of mind' so seemed a little weird.  It's like being in Atlanta and regularly talking about Baltimore as a destination.  The Southeast uses a relatively small radius, as a region; things are more compact.  I've learned in Texas, an hour and a half drive is nothing.  "Oh, it's just in Austin."  In the Southeast, that same hour and a half would pass a dozen more towns than what would be in the same stretch in Texas or further west. 

I realize it's a stupid complaint for a work of fiction, but I spent two years looking at Southern maps for my job, including for some job sites in Oxford, and it bothered me. It was as if the South was just a nebulous region in this story, everything all kinda near each other.  Probably not something that would bother too many other people, but there you go.  One of those little tickles in the back of your mind in the story that wouldn't go away.

Overall: 3.75 of 5.  Glad it was a free book, but I'm always glad of a free book.  I don't know if I'd've bought it, but it was pretty good  and it did draw me in.  It's a Christian romance, as mentioned, so nothing steamy, but the characters are cute together.  Likable leads, and in all, a nice, fluffy, fun read.  Just some quirks that made me wonder if the author had spent much time in the South...

Surprise Cowl

This one's a follow-up to the Surprise Hat, the test knit from last month.

Again, the yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, and the pattern is the The Surprise Hat and Cowl by Cinzia.  Everything I'd say about the yarn and the pattern is really already discussed in the previous post.  As I mentioned, it's a very easy pattern to work with and to remember.  Obviously, I like it enough to make the cowl after test-knitting the hat!

 

I made only a few minor changes in the cowl, compared to the written directions:

• I went down a needle size (US9) and then knit the Large size.  As I tend to snag on things, I wanted the cowl lacy, but not too snaggy.  The smaller needle size gave me a slightly denser knit, not quite so open.  My aggressive blocking plus the cotton content in the yarn means that the cowl will stretch and drape plenty, even after finishing the blocking in the dryer (as I did for the hat). 
• I did 7 rounds of seed stitch for the borders, making wider borders than the pattern called for.  I wanted it to match the hat  :)
• With the wider borders, I didn't do all the pattern repeats.  I just worked it until it was about a width I liked, finished that pattern repeat and then did my border.

 

It's raveled here.

And those are really all my notes for that pattern!  I guess really, I just wanted to show off new pictures ;)

A pair of finished knitting projects

Two scarves to chatter about here.  Both finished last year, one all the way back in January, and I'm only now getting around to posting on it.  The other was knocked out later in the year while I was sick and spending a lot of time on the couch.  Both are finally getting noted now.

The first one was begun as we were travelling at the holidays and I needed a mindless project during all those hours of driving.  This suited the need perfectly.  The pattern is But I'm Biased by Kate D'Ettore, available as a free Ravelry download or on her blog.  It's one of those lovely, uncomplicated patterns where you just keep knitting until you run out of yarn, and then Ta-Da: lovely scarf!  And with only two rows to memorize, it made for wonderful in-the-car knitting.

The yarn is Malabrigo Rios, color Candombe.  The color reminds me of woods and dusk and other lovely things, all blues and greens and purples with touches of brown and light blues.  As we all know, "mmmmm, Malabrigo!"  Yes, it is as wonderful to work with as it's reputed to be.  The resulting scarf is delightfully soft and squishy and warm.  I only bought one skein at the Yarn Crawl in Oct, planning a simple one-skein scarf for myself as a treat.  This worked perfectly.

It's raveled here.

A required Kitty Helping shot.  Anytime I'm blocking something, Scruffy will choose the moment I'm taking pictures to sit right on top!

The second project for today is the one knocked very quickly.  Being sick enough to not want to be active, but not so sick that I could just laze about and not move at all, I settled in on the couch with White Collar (seasons 1 and 2 are both on Netflix Instant Watch!) and this scarf.

The yarn is Hometown USA again, this time in the Lake Tahoe colorway.  We took a vacation up there a couple years ago, so I do have some connection to the name.  Between weather and stress and timing, though, it wasn't really my favorite trip, so nothing really sentimental.  Honestly, I just really loved the color :)  It's rich blue with tweedy hints of green and purple. 

The pattern is the Icon Scarf by Elizabeth Nields, published in the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2010.  The Icon Scarf.  Dorky little me, however, kept reading it in my head as the Ionic scarf.  I don't know if it's too many years of Latin or too many years in science labs, but Ionic just stuck in my head for this one.  As a result, I refer to this as the Column Scarf.  It's leaning toward the Latin 'Ionic' reference, and the long, thin scarf just seems to fit a column, so I think it works :)  The pattern is pretty easy to memorize, but the cable twist row does get a little fiddly.  Not that it's an impossible, physics-defying sort of knitting move, but it does take a little to get the hang of two cable needles going in opposite directions.  At least it did for me.  

The two pictures below each have their purpose:  show the colors (left) and the pattern (right).

 

Other than that, I wouldn't make this in acrylic again.  It did open up a little with blocking, but a natural fiber would have opened up more, to show off the laciness inside the cable. Yes, I do know that.  Yes, I used the acrylic yarn anyway.  Still, I am pretty satisfied with the final project, and I knocked it out in a weekend, so who can complain?  :)

It's raveled here.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I'm writing about scarves in Texas in May, where it is in the low 90s this week.  

Oh So Pinteresting Wednesday: Not quite sewn vest!

So, it's not sewing (not a single stitch) but I made a vest!  Just playing with fabric, really.  :)

 

Another idea I found on Pinterest.  There are several versions of the vest available on the web, so I'm not going to reprint all the instructions here.  The ones that I used the most were at Dried Figs and Wooden Spools, Behind the Seams and at S3w G33ky.  The method for all is summarized as:

• Buy jersey knit material.  I found mine on sale at Hobby Lobby, so in addition to being an easy craft, it was one on sale too!  I used a yard - made it a 45x36 in rectangle I was working with.
• Fold in half.
• Cut armholes at the location you want.  It helps to pin the pieces together to line the armholes up properly.  Dried Figs has some good pictures of the process, if you want a full visual tutorial.  I have broader shoulders than the examples I was working from, so my armholes were cut a little wider.  My armholes were approximately 10 inches long, located 6 inches down from the top of the material, and about 7 inches in from the fold (they are 15 inches apart in the final project)
• Wear!

Hmmmm....  So, apparently, I lied.  I did write up everything here.  It really is that easy!  

One of the other perks of this vest is that, being just a big rectangle (or square, if that's how you cut your material), is that it also acts as a lovely lightweight scarf.  We went up to Irving soon after we moved to TX for the Genghis Khan exhibit, and I wore the piece as a vest while we were out and about, but threw on a windbreaker and wore the piece as a scarf while we were inside the exhibit.  There was a Mongolian mummy among all the artifacts on display, so the exhibit had to be VERY well air conditioned (about 65 degrees!).  I really liked having the versatility in what I was wearing that day, because Texas in September is nowhere near 65!