2d Trimester, Wk 6

The weather was nice this evening, and we had a lot to learn and talk about.

Sandy has been busy knitting gloves.

Teri finished two pairs of open mittens. She added a button on one mitten and a loop on the other to keep the pair together when not in use.

Vicki hand dyed the yarn to make these open mittens. She alternated a solid and a variegated yarn every 5 rows to make this design.

Linda finished the Adult Surprise Jacket! She used only 3-1/4 balls of yarn.

Stringing Beads
Next week we will start the beaded projects for the next few weeks. Linda demonstrated how to string beads onto yarn in preparation. For the seed beads, she strongly recommends purchasing the beads on strings called a hank. Here is a photo.

One string of beads is tied on to the yarn and dragged from the string to the yarn over a plate in case of a disaster. A knot will have to be placed on the other end of the string of beads so they don't get loose.

A needle strung with regular thread is used to loop under the yarn for larger beads. Each bead is added individually. Linda will show us a third method later.

Copies of two of the beaded projects were handed out in class. For supplies, see last week's blog. It is your choice whether to start on the smaller mini project or on the larger beaded scarf. The mini beaded necklace is a smaller project and may be hard on the eyes whereas the scarf project will have many yarn overs and over 900 beads to string.

50 State Flower Challenge
A list of all 50 states and their state flowers was passed around. Most of us signed up for the flowers that were in Linda's knitting books so we had a pattern. Diana will be contacting former Knotty Knitters to help us make all 50 for the June Art Walk and possibly the state fair.

Linda brought four flower books to class for patterns.

Bus to Stitches West
The biggest news of the evening was that Linda checked into getting a bus from Auburn to Santa Clara for Stitches West on Feb 27 if there are enough passengers. The cost is $42 per person (based on 30+ passengers); the bus itself costs $1,280 to rent. With 40-50 passengers, the cost will be even lower. The bus will leave at 7 am (somewhere in Auburn where there is plenty of parking) and arrive at the convention center around 10 am. The bus will then leave Santa Clara at 6 pm arriving back in Auburn around 10 pm. There will be a short dinner stop along the way back with several dining choices. The bus will have an onboard restroom. Contact Linda Pietz at 530-367-5607 if you are interested. A $42 check should be mailed to her to secure your space (however next week in class should be fine). The deadline is Feb 12. We will be reimbursed the difference if 40-50 people sign up. Diana is notifying Fibers and former Knotty Knitters by email. Laurie will spread the news to The Tin Thimble and Beverly's. Irene will contact the ladies in Auburn Lake Trails and on Ravelry. Linda has already spoken with Lisa at Auburn Needleworks. We received a flyer in class.

More News
Linda had extra 2010 Ozark craft camp brochures for anyone interested. A variety of crafts will be taught, and the costs are listed in the brochure.

A Master Knitter with the National Knitting Guild of America stopped by to say hi. She explained how to become a Master Knitter for either hand or machine knitters. There is a 6-8 weeks course online for $175 with 3-tier levels. She made swatches at home and sent them in to be judged. The hardest thing for her was designing and knitting her own cardigan that had to have an elaborate design. She will get the address and information to Linda next week for anyone interested in becoming a Master Knitter.

Possible Future Projects using a Glove

Rosemary's cute beret using two different skeins of bulky wool yarn.

Rosemary made this bag for Linda. She used chalkboard fabric for writing on.

Pat used 3 balls of Noro for this pretty scarf.

Happy Knitting!

2d Trimester, Wk 5

It was a rainy, dark night, but we came. Linda covered a lot of material and gave us a lot of options on patterns and challenges. First, here are some show 'n tells.

Rosemary finished a pair of tweed fingerless mitts.

Louise finished a pair too in a diamond design. Her yarn is from KnitPicks.

Irene finished two alligator scarves. These are nice...

But this is awesome! Sandy stuffed the alligator and added a mouth and legs.

Diana had a big surprise to show us. This is a 20" knitter's loom that she has been eyeing for two years. She purchased it at Fibers, and she told us that she is very impressed with their new store. They have started selling their own gorgeous hand painted yarn and patterns.

Tonight's Project: Mittens/Gloves
Linda read pages 2 & 3 and showed us on her hand how to make each finger for the gloves. She also explained the bottom part on page 1 that starts with "Set thumb aside." The class decided to take one more week for this project instead of starting a new one next week.

She also passed around photos of a future project making animals out of lightly felted yarn or gloves. She will be bringing a hand crank sewing machine to class for use at that time.

Another option is to make the Four Block Hat; a handout for this pattern was given to us. She showed us the difference between the Three Block and the Four Block Hat with a 3-dimensional display.

Knitted Bead Projects
In two weeks, we will start knitting with beads. There are several mini beaded purse necklace patterns to choose from and a scarf. Here is a sample of one of the purse necklaces. Linda L made this beautiful gold one.


For the mini purse necklace, you will need to purchase the following:
one Perle cotton yarn size 8 thread (either Anchors or DMC, Auburn Needleworks carry both; Linda prefers Anchors),
0000 (quad ot) needles (Auburn Needleworks has these little ones for $5),
and seed beads either size 10 or 11 (size 10 is better; the higher the number the smaller the bead). Gypsy Wind in old town (Auburn) has a good supply of beads on hanks.

When buying seed beads for this project, get the ones already on strings. Several strings make a hank, and one hank makes several mini purses. Loose beads will take too long to string. It helps to have a big eye needle, but it is not necessary. Beverly's carries big eye needles which looks like a small, thin piece of wire with a slit in the middle. Gypsy Wind also has big eye needles, but they are too long according to Linda.

For the Susan Undulating Wave scarf, you will need to buy 4 packages of size 6 beads like the photo below. These beads are much larger than the seed beads. This package is from Gypsy Wind and costs $2. It is best to buy all four packages at one time. We will also need 2 skeins (really 1-1/2 skeins) of Cascade 220 and size 7 needles. Cascade 220 is a light worsted weight yarn.


Yarn and beads should be in contrasting color for the design to stand out, and it makes it easier to see while knitting. Linda is going to use black yarn with stain glass color beads. During the next class Linda will teach us how to string beads in preparation for the beaded projects in two weeks. So next week, bring seed beads and Perle cotton yarn for the mini purse necklace or size 6 beads, a sewing needle, and regular thread for the scarf.

It was also suggested that a magnifying glass that hangs around your neck or strong reading glasses would be helpful when working with seed beads.

Ideas for Challenges
Linda gave us a choice from three projects she came up with for the Art Walk. The choices were 1) a one-piece swimsuit representing different countries, 2) 50 State flowers, and 3) finger puppets. We decided on #2 since #1 is similar to the bra and #3 is similar to the dolls we made last year. Making 50 flowers means that we will need to make more than one state flower per person, and we would like to recruit past knotty knitters to join us in this project. Diana will compile the email list of past Knotty Knitters. A sign up list of the states and the state flowers will be passed around next week. (Louise already asked for Oregon, and Linda's daughter will make Florida.) The flowers can be knitted, crocheted, felted, beaded, embellished, etc. "Just have fun with it."

Here is an example of a flower. Linda will supply the bed spring stem for a small fee.

Finger Puppets

Stitches West
A list went around to find out which day would work out better to go to Stitches West in Santa Clara. So far, there are 5 for Friday, 6 for Saturday, and 2 maybes & 4 for Friday/Saturday (spend one night). We also talked about getting a coach from Auburn to Santa Clara. Linda will ask Lisa if she would like to work together in getting a bus since about 50 passengers will be needed.

Long Range Goal
Linda must decide by next week whether to have classes with ARD in the Fall. She was hoping to make this decision later on to see if more students will enroll or come back in the Spring. The minimum number of students needed for this trimester to make it a go for her was not reached, so she does not know what to do in the future. She can make better wages with less students through Placer School for Adults, but it would mean less sessions and higher fees for us ($88 for 10 weeks, probably one session in the Fall and one in the Spring). A couple of the students said they would join her class whatever she decides, and one said she likes the clean tables, chairs, and room at ARD. She would like our feedback so please email or talk to her personally as soon as you can.

More News
Sue came back from her trip to Seattle and gave us a great report on the yarn shop called Tricote. She has never been to a shop where you can stay for hours to browse and knit, have your measurements taken for sweaters and get advice on which patterns and yarn work for one's body type, have someone finish projects for you if you like, and feel warmth and friendliness from the staff the whole time. The shop was amazing with walls of yarn and rows of buttons. She went back to the shop for several days and showed us their first book of patterns they designed.

Sarah is recovering from her bike accident. She writes, "I am doing much better. My clavicle and scapula are healing well, I no longer have to wear an "Immobilizer" to hold my arm slammed up against my body. Now the challenge is to gain back the range of motion and strength in my arm that I lost while immobilized. Every day brings some new accomplishment, and less soreness. I am looking forward to getting back on my bike, hopefully in the next week or two after this rain stops. I have been knitting, trying to complete a sweater project that I've had around for a while. I finished off a couple of small Christmas gifts while recovering too. Say hi to everyone in class for me."

Be happy and knit on!

2d Trimester, Wk 4

It was another warm and cozy class; thankfully, there was no fog.

Linda went over portions of the mitten/glove pattern. She demonstrated the right & left slant increases which is also explained in The Knitter's Companion and showed us how to pick up stitches for the thumb. When picking up stitches for the thumb gusset, it is important to twist the stitches to close gaps and prevent holes. For our homework, we can finish all but the thumb portion which Linda will go over in class next week. She will also talk about how to knit the fingers for the gloves at that time. We were also given a handout on the different thumb types we can knit, how to avoid ladders between needles, and tips/tricks for knitting mittens/gloves.

Art Walk
The Spring challenge will be revealed to us next week (instead of this week). This challenge is for the Summer Art Walk.

Stitch 'n Ride
Many of us received an email this week from the Stitch 'n Ride coordinator to let us know that there will be no Stitch 'n Ride train this year. There wasn't enough sponsors and work is being done to the rails. However, if you order train tickets online to Santa Clara from capitolcorridor.org under the Stitch 'n Ride category, you will receive a 50% discount on your tickets during any of the four days of Stitches West. A list will go around next week to determine which day may make work the best for our class to attend the event. For information about Stitches West, go to this website, www.knittinguniverse.com.

Linda's Show 'n Tell, The Adult Surprise Jacket. The yarn is very pretty. She said that she had to do some major cleansing since she was working from the inside (wrong side) instead of the outside (right side) and it also caused her to add the buttons to the wrong side. Got that?

Diana felted this beautiful velvet yarn that makes a super soft fabric. It feels luxurious.

Teri said she found an easy pattern to knit this cute beret. The band inside is lime green. It looks really good on, but of course, I missed getting the picture.

Diane is going to town with the lovely hit 'n miss scarf. She made another one for her Christmas gift exchange at work.

Pat bought this ribbon yarn and size 19 needles at an estate sale to make this scarf. She also added a blue sparkle yarn for additional bling.

Happy knitting!

2d Trimester, Wk 3

It was nice to be together again after the two-week break. We enjoyed hearing about Linda's Florida trip. And even though most of us knitted through the holidays, there were few projects for show n' tell. Many were given away as gifts.

Laurie showed us a nice gift she received at Christmas. It is the knit kit from Knit Picks. Here are the front and back views. This kit is compact size and contains a measuring tape, thread cutter, crochet hook, stitch markers, scissors, stitch counter, and tip protectors.


Vickie found this nice baby blanket at a thrift store in Colfax for only $4. It is very well made and a complicated pattern.


This Week's Project
We all forgot about bringing DK yarn to class this week for the mitten and gloves project. (DK yarn is 3-ply between baby/sport and worsted wt yarn.) It must have been on the blog from before the Christmas party. Linda gave us four pages of patterns for mittens to gloves.

Our assignment is to gauge, measure our hand around the circumference of the knuckles, and do the first page up to the finger style. We should decide if we want to do the fingerless, open fingers, mittens, or glove design by the next class. Fingerless is the easiest whereas gloves are the hardest. Linda stresses the importance of gauging for this project. If your hand circumference is larger than the size mentioned on the pattern, you can go up a size unless it is very close to the smaller size. It takes about 200-300 yds of yarn, and you can use DPNs or the Hiya Hiya needles.

Also, Diane brought copies of the Snowman and a Star pattern. Noelle shared with us a curly scarf pattern called Fusilli, and Irene brought copies of the angel ornament.

Art Walk
Linda asked us if we wanted to participate in the Art Walk this year. She says the project is small, fast, and somewhat edgey. She will reveal what it is next week.

Other News
Joann's is having a Teacher Appreciation Day this Saturday. Show your ID and receive 25% off.

Diane's daughter is having a 50% off sale at her boutique this Saturday too. Click on the lefthand side of this blog for details.

Noelle tells us that we can view her on December's show by going to the Martha Stewart Show online. She is receiving the gifts from the Martha Stewart Show little by little, but it is a huge amount and top of the line.

Sandy made this cute little bell ornament for Christmas.

Happy Birthday to all January knitters and Happy Knitting everyone!