Holiday Gifts Week 6

It was a special treat celebrating Linda’s birthday and having the opportunity to watch an old classic TV show, “The Avengers;” the episode was, I think, “The Girl from Auntie” which included a group of knitters using the continental style. We continued working on mittens this week, and they are turning out pretty good.

Special Message To Everyone from Linda
"I can't begin to tell you how overwhelmed I was by your kindess in throwing a surprise party for me. No one has ever done anything like that for me before. I was frankly dumbstruck. Thank You! I am really wrestling for the right words to express my deep gratitude."

Next Project
The cornucopia begins next week, and the patterns will be distributed at that time. Linda showed us the ones she knitted (prior to felting): the cornucopia, gourd, and pumpkin. A list of supplies is under last week’s blog; however, you do not have to use Lite Lopi yarn. The cornucopia will take one skein; the rest of the veggies will not take as much. Diana brought in a wonderful book by Nicky Epstein called “Knitting Never Felt Better: The Definitive Guide to Fabulous Felting.” There are many more veggies and fruit in this book to create a lovely centerpiece. Bea is working on getting more patterns for us. Linda says this project goes very fast, and we will be done in two weeks.

Sooo, she asked us what we would like our project after that to be. It was voted to do the game set since it takes longer and we could work on it during the Thanksgiving holidays. For that project only two contrasting colors of yarn is needed (one skein each), and acrylic is okay such as Wool-Ease. By the way, Wool-Ease is on sale at Joanne’s this week for 2 for $4. Linda used pink and brown colors on size 8 needles.

News
The Auburn community festival was a hit; both Diana and Vicki did very well selling their items. They were happy to see many from the class. In addition, Diana was asked to teach knitting to teens and adults by the Auburn Recreation District. :)

Have a fabulous week. Keep on knittin’.

Holiday Gifts Week 5

Aren't these lovely? All by Diana for sale at the Community Festival

Candi made these darling slippers for her daughter: felted, embroidered, and beaded.

All pumpkins bright and beautiful from three sides. Candi brought the tablecloth to color coordinate with the pumpkins.

As you can see, we viewed sweet little pumpkins tonight all from only one pattern but in 20 different ways. It is Diane's birthday today, and she brought us carrot cake to celebrate. Bea mentioned that she has knitted 15 flower power washcloths -- Way to go!

Linda went over the first mitten pattern to teach us how to tweak it for knitting in the round since it is written for making two sides on straight needles. A pattern for mittens with a cable design was given to us. This pattern is a level 2 on straight needles and a level 2+ in the round. Be glad that you were not a single gal of long ago Norway -- Linda shared with us the history of Selbuvotter and the amount of outfits an engaged woman had to make in order to get marry. Oh my...

Community Festival
Come support Diana and Vicki at the Community Festival in Auburn this Saturday, Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Recreation Park. It is off Auburn-Folsom Rd and Racetrack Rd. There will be live music, contests, crafts, food, and fun. Diana will be selling her beautiful felted wallets, and Vicki will be selling polished rock items such as zipper pulls, jewelry, and goodie bags.

Homework
Continue knitting mittens for the next two weeks.

Supplies for Next Project
On November 1, our cornucopia begins. This project consists of a felted cornucopia with a vine and leaf, a gourd, pumpkin, Indian corn, and perhaps some other veggie. Here is a list of supplies:

10.5 double point needles
Lopi Lite wool yarn (worsted weight, single ply) in the following colors:
Orange #1410
Pine #1407
Crimson #0434
Hazel #1401
Goldenrod #0435
White #0051

Wool of the Andes and Knit Picks were two places mentioned where you may want to order yarn. Linda dyed her own yarn from kool aid for this project. She also suggested splitting the yarn with someone to make it cost effective; I think she said each skein makes two.

Anyway, come back next week. We miss you knitters on the road. As Linda L. says, "Knit on!"

Holiday Gifts Week 4

Hi. I was out of town this Thursday and could not attend class. Here are the class notes from Linda L.

Show & Tell
More pumpkins were finished and so cute! Be sure to bring them next week when Irene will hopefully be taking photos. We also saw more flower washcloths being finished. Ruth brought in miscellaneous trims to share with everyone and we drew names for taking turns choosing. Linda announced a challenge to incorporate trim in a project by the end of our class semester. Linda made copies of the pumpkin pattern which Irene wrote in a row by row format and everyone cheered when she passed them out. Thanks, Irene!

Next Project
Linda announced the start of our next project: Mittens. She had 3 types of beautiful Mitten samples which she showed and passed around for us to see. She rated them according to difficulty on a 1-4 scale.

#1: Basic Mitten on straight needles and assembled front/back. All sizes from tiny ornament to adult.
#1+: Basic Mitten on DPN knit in round.
#2: Striped Mitten in sport weight with lots of colors. Suggested for a group to share different colors.
#2+: Striped Mitten on DPN knitted in round
#3: Fingerless gloves with mitten cover, knit with straight needles and seamed together.
#3+: Fingerless gloves knit in round, recommended wood or bamboo needles to keep stitches from sliding off.
#4: Selbuvotter Mittens using worsted weight and needle size 8. Linda used wool yarn called Whiskey available at Auburn Needleworks.

Refer to your pattern/instruction sheets for additional information, and Linda will be getting us started on Thursday night.

That's all I got. See you Thursday night, and meanwhile, Knit-On! -- Linda

Holiday Gifts Week 3

Washcloths by Bea, Georgia, Teri, and Julie

Vicki's pillow

Julie's cat bed

What a surprise to find rain pouring in the parking lot as we left another warm, fun-filled knitting night. There was teasing all night long directed to anyone who started the pumpkin pattern early and a joke was played on many of the students by adding our names on the help list, but it was all in fun and love.

Linda showed us a magnetic travel stand that is handy for following detailed patterns such as fair isle or mosaic designs. It can be ordered through Knit Picks inexpensively. Also an i-cord bind off handout was passed around.

The pumpkin pattern was started, and several of us forgot to bring waste yarn which is used for the cast on. Thanks to a fabulous group of knotty knitters who shares and came to our rescue. There is a correction to the pattern: On the last line of the second paragraph, it should say, "the last row of the I-cord M1 between the 1st and 2nd & the 2nd and 3rd st." For example, K1, M1, K1, M1, K1 -- go from 3 to 5 sts. Here are some questions and answers about this pattern:
What is the purpose of the waste yarn?
To have live stitches at the top to pick up.
What type of cast on should we use? Long tail is easiest.
Which needles do we use to pick up the 56 stitches?
Use circular.

Challenge
A challenge was born from Show ‘n Tell. Ruth was given a big bag of trim that she is not interested in using. Linda came up with a challenge for the class. We will be given a piece of trim next week to add to any of our knitting projects by the last class in December.

By the way, Ruth knitted some cute hats. Bea made the most washcloths, at least seven! Diane came up with a pencil pouch for her students. Julie finished a felted cat bed using scrap yarn and a whimsical, colorful cotton washcloth. Last but not least, Vicki’s flower pillow is a hit.

Next Project
The next project will begin two weeks from today, October 18. A list of supplies will be added next week. Don't start the new project until then.

News
See Diana for a stuffed pumpkin pattern with an arrangement on top.
A reminder, Monday nights are open for an extra night of knitting.
Did you know that we have a secret greeting? Come to class to find out.

Yes, there is class next week. Happy Birthday October knitters!