Holiday Gifts Week 10

Pat's pouch and checkerboard, Louise's purse and tomato pin cushion, Dolls by Diane's 2nd Grade Class

Diana's light bulb purse, Julie and Noelle's cornucopias, Barbara's felted bowls, Georgia's felted slippers, and Teri's kool-aid dyed mittens

It was nice to be together again. There are only two more classes to go, and many projects are being completed in time for the holidays. Congratulations to Carolyn for finishing the entrelac tote bag that was introducted to us in the Spring class. Linda L. brought us sweet, juicy mandarins from her own yard, and Linda P. went over two new patterns with us tonight. She added that she will rewrite the checkerboard pattern for us since it results in vertical stripes instead of checkerboards.

The patterns are a star stocking and moppet slippers. Although it is not mentioned at the beginning of the pattern, the stocking takes two colors of yarn. This pattern can be made bigger or smaller by adjusting the size of needles you use or by adding more rows to the leg portion. For a smaller stocking, use worsted weight yarn on size 8 needles; for a larger stocking, use double strands of worsted weight yarn on size 10/11 needles. We learned that a Jacquard is another word for fair isle and wyif means "with yarn in front" such as slip 1 with yarn in front. Linda wants us to be creative with this piece and “wow” her with our own design and embellishments.

The moppet slippers look like a colorful mop on your feet or Cousin It from the Addams Family or one of the Beatles' wig. For the fringe, use a crochet hook to loop the strands onto the slipper. Linda will bring extra scrap yarn two weeks from tonight for us to use. She suggests everyone bringing scrap yarn to share and to purchase a fringe maker for making fringe fast and easy.

Party
A party is scheduled for December 13. The menu is appetizers and desserts, plus bring your own drink. Linda will furnish forks/spoons.

Trim Contest
A prize, all the way from St. Louis, will be offered for the best trim on a project contest. Judging will take place on December 13.

Extension
The extension is tentative for January 10 and 17; we may know by next week.

Support Our Classmates at These December Events
Placer High School will be hosting a craft and food event on Saturday, December 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the cafeteria. Come support Diana and Julie as they will be selling there.

Colfax High School is presenting Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on December 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, and 15 at 7 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students. Vicki’s daughter is in this production as one of the Christmas ghosts. Address: Colfax Performing Arts Center, 24595 Ben Taylor Rd at Colfax High School. Also, don’t forget about Vicki’s polished rock necklaces, key chains, magnets, and zipper pulls; they make nice Christmas gifts.

See you next week. Knit away!

Holiday Gifts Week 9

Barbara's beaded cornucopia front and back.
Teri's cornucopia below. See the carpet thread on the corn.

Gloves and mittens by Teri, Irene, and Joyce
Vicki's soft, double stranded washcloths

As you can see in the photos, Barbara’s cornucopia is a hard act to follow; it is beautifully detailed with beads. In addition, Julie wrote her own pattern for a felted pomegranate for the cornucopia. Diane turned her cornucopia into a doll's hat and the corn husk into a coin purse. Joyce will be going to Peru in January, and Candi shared that De Colores, a shop in Davis, sells colorful alpaca clothing and accessories from Central America for a great price.

A new project was started: Checkerboard and Pouch. Linda went over the two patterns which were given to us in the packet during the first day of class. The pouch pattern is knitting inside out, so it will be rewritten and displayed here on this blog as soon as Linda works it out. (Updated 11/17 & 20, here is the correction to the pouch pattern; it should read K1 YF S1 purlwise then YB to start K1 again. Before every Slip 1 stitch, add a Yarn Forward stitch. Thanks to Diana for the phone call!)
(Update 11/21, I think Linda mentioned at the very end of her lesson that when starting the alternating checkerboards, the color must be reversed. So, Row 1 becomes Using B, do row 1; Row 2 becomes Using A, do row 2. When you first start the next set of checkerboards, the first row will be all one color. Then the next row begins alternating colors. Thank you to those of you who responded to my email.)

If you finish your checkerboard set before the next class, bring acrylic yarn (this will be knitted as a double strand), 10.5 straight needles, and a crochet hook to start a new project. Linda will give us new patterns for a Christmas stocking, slippers, and something else she did not mention.

Extension
There are only 3 more classes left; however, we voted on an extension for January. Yeah! We will work on the backgammon set then.

Schedule
No class next Monday & Thursday for Thanksgiving week.
Week 10, Nov 29 (plus Monday, Nov 26)
Week 11, Dec 6 (plus Monday, Dec 3)
Week 12, Dec 13 (plus Monday, Dec 10)
Extension 1, Jan 10
Extension 2, Jan 17
Registration for the Spring classes starts Jan 8.
Spring class starts Jan 25, I think.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Holiday Gifts Week 8

Sharon's cornucopia with pumpkin, corn, tomato, and eggplant. The outside of the cornucopia has a vine with leaves. Did you know that if you double click on the picture, you will get a larger view?

Irene's cornucopia with gourd and corn. Trim from Ruth is used on the rim.

Candi's mittens.

Diana's bowl.

Time is quickly going by; it is already the 8th week. Tonight we had a lovely time knitting cornucopias and mittens. I'm sorry that I forgot to take pictures of Bev's whimsical mittens, Barbara's cat bed and mat, and Noelle's cable mittens that they shared during show n' tell. Linda L. sent everyone an email with the new updated email addresses. If you did not get an email from Linda today in either your mail box or spam folder, please let her know. Also, Noelle gave us a copy of a braided neckpiece pattern that is very pretty.

There will be no Monday night classes for the next two weeks in observance of Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving Week. The Monday class will resume on November 26.

New Project

Next week Linda will go over the checkerboard game and pouch pattern. Two new techniques will be introduced: double sided knitting and knitting in the round on two straight needles. Scrap yarns and acrylic such as Wool-Ease are okay for this project.

There are only three more sessions after Thanksgiving. Projects include a backgammon set and retro slippers from the '50s and '60s.

January 2008 Class
Already thinking ahead, projects for the spring semester include free form knitting and vests.

That's it for now. Knit on!

Holiday Gifts Week 7

Pumpkins are so cute. Pat made three of the above including the big one. (Diana mentioned that she received 2 more orders for them.)

Yeah, we can knit mittens and gloves! Louise made the bowl and clutch. Linda L. made the Denise needle pouch.

Joyce shared how she made this beautiful red-felted hat. And, look at Teri's perfect wrap; she also dyed the yarn on the table with kool-aid.

The holidays will be here soon, and the weather will be just right for mittens and scarves. There were more mittens and pumpkins for show 'n tell, plus extra knitting projects that always inspires me to knit more. Interesting stories were told of beloved pets in the freezer, a touching moment when we realized that many of us share a common bond regarding not being able to please our mothers, and Julie's alien glove. Linda thanked everyone for the surprise birthday party last week; she spent last year without family so she was very touched this year.

Present Project

Here is a picture of Linda's cornucopia to give you an idea of our latest project (click twice on the photo for a larger view). We went over the patterns and made a few changes to them. Here is what Linda suggests:

1) The cornucopia. She suggests using two strands of yarn and adding more rows since it came out smaller than she desired.

2) Gourd. Under line 16 (correction: under line 17) of the pattern, Linda changed to 3 double point needles (5 st, 6 st, 5 st) to start knitting in the round. And, before felting tie a plastic bag in the hole so it does not close up.

3) Pumpkin. Under line 2, instead of "as I-cord" change to "in the round." Linda also suggests adding a contrasting color with a running stitch to make rims before felting. Otherwise, it looks somewhat plain.

4) Corn. Under line 7, change 15 rows to 18. Linda used two strands of color and knitted in the round with the purl side out. So the knits become purls, and the purls become knits. The hole to stuff the corn is very small so make sure to tie a plastic bag to keep it open before felting.

All veggies were stuffed with fiber fill after felting. Bea also made copies of extra fruit and vegetables for us.

Next Project

I also took a picture of Linda's gameboard and pouch to give you an idea of what it looks like. We will be making the smaller one and learning a new technique. It is darling.

Happy Birthday November Knitters! Have a great week!