Dishcloths are underrated

WEll hello, I have been knitting dishcloths. "Why?" you may ask. Well because I read an article this weekend in the news paper that said that kitchen sponges can be "mean little transporters of bacteria". In the article (which was printed in the Stars and Stripes but was originally from The Seattle Times) they suggested using a clean dishcloth for every day. So I decided that my cotton yarn must finally be utilized. And so on I go knitting dishcloths. I have a feeling this is all my brain can handle by knitting anyway these days. I have a zillion worries about this move, and all future travels. My life will surely be unsettled for the next two months. So I put away the sock for now and out come some squares. I may get more creative as I go... but this is what I have so far. I am using Lion Cotton (by lionbrand) in grape. And size 7 Denise needles. I love my Denises and they are the best knititng present I ever got. If you only buy one set of needles, make them Denises. They are fairly inexpensive and they rock.





What I like about these is I can finish them in a day or two. And they look so pretty. Already I am thinking of giving away the basketweave one to a friend with some nice soap to use as a washcloth. So again it begins that it will probably take me the next two months to make 7 dishcloths that I don't give away. :)

well that is all for now, friends.

knitting time has been limited!

Sorry to the folks that read this blog often. I have not been posting very often and the reason? I have not been knitting a whole lot. I have only gotten as far as the gussett in that sock. (and I think I will run out of yarn so this may end up being a child's sock!!)

So the reasons I haven't been knitting? 1. busy at Red Cross 2. busy searching/applying for jobs 3. busy trying to find an apartment that we can afford in the DC area 4. being upset because numbers 2 and 3 are not happening as fast as I would like 5. being plain tired.

It's not much of a list but it has really worn me out. For those of you who like a current and frequently updated blog, please only check back every week or so. I promise once I get settled in August I will post more often. But in the next three weeks we have to pack, clean, sell furniture etc. and Harland has to run around to all kinds of Army offices to clear. Then we take our trip to Hawaii, LA, Dayton, Birdsboro, Manchester and finally to DC. I don't know how often I will get to post, although I hope to have some cool pictures at least once a week on here.

So there is that.
Cheers y'all.

starting a new sock

I am sooo over lace for now.
I'm sure I will soon return to Agi, but I think my true love is socks. So I have been pretty eager to make a sock from my new sock book - which finally came.

I am working on "oak ribbed sock" on page 30 of Nacy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks". I am using size 1 needles and Knit Pick's Parade in Forest. I have some concerns I may run out of yarn since the pattern calls for more than I have - but I am shortening the cuff by 2.5 inches in hopes I will be okay.

I am being a bit of a daredevil, so we shall see what happens.

Anyway, here is a picture of the cuff - You can see how the pattern changes after the first inch or so. I really like it.


Here is a shot looking in, I actually really like the way the inside looks... maybe I'll start a new "wear your socks inside out" trend?

The Susan Bag

Well, I decided to make my dearest friend Susan a bag for her birthday. I wanted it to be pretty special - so I decided I wanted a felted bag. So I bought some nice Paton's classic merino and started knitting. Now I admit when I started this in January I had no idea what I was doing. I had met my KB but he wasn't my knitting boyfriend yet... and I wasn't as savy at finding information on the web.

So I decided to make up my own thing, and I thought I would share the pattern so y'all could either make something like it - or improve on the design.

Here is the beginning. I used size 11 needles, and cast on 42 stitches.
I knitted (in stockingette) 20 red Rows, 8 green rows and 34 orange rows. No there is no scientific reasoning behind these numbers. They just looked good.


Then I continued by making 10 garter rows (continuing in orange) then switched back to stockingette and knitted the same as before but in reverse- 34 more orange, 8 green and 20 red. Then I bound it off.

The next part was tricky... I neede to pickup stitches and I had no idea how to do that... so I enlisted the help of knittinghelp.com which has a great video. I picked up 8 stiches from the garter stitch section and knitted (in stockingette) until it reached the top of the bag. I really should have counted the rows, but I didn't. Probably 62 rows would work out well. Then I did the same for the other side.



For the handle I took 8 stitches (so it would match the sides in width) and knitted for an hour until the strap was sufficient length (I personally hate short straps and like to cross my strap over my chest if possible).



And then the part i did badly... you need to sew the sides up so that everything is attached well (but not too well or it will felt wonky). Unfortunatly one side was not sewn as well as it should be and this is the bad part of the Susan's bag. I have learned my lesson and so hopefully the next bag she gets from me will not have any major flaws. (sorry Susan!). It was made with much love, though and so I hope it passes just for that. There is something really nice about making something for someone, you get to think about them the whole time.

Felting had to happen. So I tucked the strap into the bag and ran it through two hot water agitating sessions in the washer. I washed in in a pillowcase with the top of the case folded over and pinned so the fuzzies didn't escape. The felting came out nice. Here it is drying. I must say that I am amazed at how long it took to dry. I figured a day would do it - but it took three... and I had really squeezed it between two dry towels like they say... so that is why I was so amazed!



And so there it is! I am not sure if she likes it or if she is being polite, but it made it's way to Alabama (only a little late). Hip Hip Hooray for the Susan Bag!

Amazing Agi

The time has come to tell a tale of exciting adventures in store for me and my partner in the Amazing Lace. My partner's name is Agi, short for diagonals, which is the pattern she is based on. I entered this race on the encouragement of my knitting boyfriend, Sean. (Yes, my husband knows I have a knitting boyfriend.) Anyway, I came to discover Agi because I needed a simple yet sophisticated pattern for a scarf present. I am a beginner at lace and was unsuccessful in my attempts until I met kind, patient, Agi.





Here is a close up of her. And one of me. We don't really look a like at all. But we are enjoying our time here in Korea.


That is right, we are currently half way around the world from our family. My husband is currently stationed over here. He's in the Army.



I am going to show you what Agi and I have done together so far in Korea. Here is a picture of us in a park.


There are some Korean Kimchee pots on the left. Kimchee is a very spicy combination of cabbage, hot pepper, garlic, and ginger. It is left to ferment... Nowadays mostly in refrigerators, but it used to place in pots like these for the winter.







Agi is attempting to scare you into thinking she may be eaten, but back in the day these totem poles were used to show boundaries of towns. Usually, they were a way to alert people of a friendly town to stay at.













Anyway - so what do we do over here in Korea? Well this weekend we mostly sat in a bus stuck in traffic. We went to Seoul for a job fair, but most of the day was spent traveling. Seoul traffic is pretty awful on the weekend.


Other than getting out of Donduchoen to head to the big city (we're about 2 hours north of Seoul, right on the DMZ). We volunteer at the American Red Cross when we don't work at the ACAP office.


Here's Agi volunteering today.













And when we have time we like to kick back and read other knitting blogs and dream of creating new things....




But the best part of Amazing Lace is that we have a lot of travels coming up soon, because we are coming back to the States and hitting up a lot of places on the way. It's almost like the amazing race, except, well, we have to buy some plane tickets to make sure we get back in time for starting our jobs (which I hope we'll have by then).




See, my husband and I got married in a short amount of time so that we could be married before he left the States back in 2004. We had a small wedding with only our parents and his sister in attendance. We have never met each other's families. So this trip will be our chance to do so! I am excited to meet his side of the family, but I am afraid I haven't learned much Chinese to talk to his Grandmother.




So anyway, this is the story of me and my partner, Agi, in the Amazing Lace.

Enter Agi

Well, I just could not get the hang of branching out. The farthest I ever got was 1.5 repeats. I think I will need to start on some thicker yarn and try it that way. But for now I needed a lace project I could work on.

I looked everywhere for a simple scarf design that was something I thought someone would wear. I ended up kind of creating my own off a stitch pattern on about.com. So I am now creating a scarf with a simple diagional pattern.

I will be posting some pictures of what I have so far tonight when I come home from work. Since I am in the Amazing Lace project... I will finally create my first entry. So, stay tuned.

I was going to take some more outside pictures today - but it is totally pouring out. I am not even going to wear my new skirt! Curses!

A new couple

Okay - well finally I have a pair of socks.
You can all breathe a sigh of relief.