Giveaway and the Springtime Bandit Finale!

The time has come my knitting peeps, to talk of many things – but I’m done on the Springtime Bandit! Almost. This is the last installment about this pattern and my adventures in advanced lace knitting.

Let me start off by pointing out the edge chart shows both RS and WS rows, which means you have to pay attention to EACH row. (Really, you get the hang of it after a couple of WS rows. Just don’t  get lazy!) The reading of the pattern is still the right side only before you have to go “backward” once you get to the middle (green) square. Let’s take a look at the chart, shall we?

The mighty third and ending chart

Doesn’t look intimidating AT ALL. I decided from the beginning of this chart to show it who’s boss and I took some strategy methods to make this crazy chart portion one of the least mistake and problem sections of this project. How did I do this? So glad you asked.

First, I wrote on every row of the chart and marked the K stitches so I wouldn’t count incorrectly in the “moment” of the row. Look closely at the first few rows (you can click on it for a closer look):

“Write” out the pattern

You will see that I wrote a number in the center of the K stitches and ran a line through the rest. This helped me know that I had to do so many K stitches before moving on to the next type of stitch. When you do this, be sure to use a non-black ink pen (pencil runs when highlighted and is hard to see), ensuring you don’t confusion your K shorthand with the actual pattern. Then, I wrote on the side of the main chart how many stitches are in each section before and after the pattern repeat (sill 14 stitches for repeat). This helped me know when I was getting to the end of repeating and needed to have enough stitches for the last portion of the row. I did all of these notations before I even started this chart because I knew I would get overwhelmed and wouldn’t want to start and stop between knitting rows.

Another helpful tip was to use a two color highlighter system. I highlighted the row I was on alternating colors making sure I didn’t confuse what row I was on by accidentally looking at the one below. One color was for the RS and one was for the WS. Of course after I did this chart I found out about a new discovery – highlighter tape. I was floored! You can put down this piece of tape, then pick it up and move it up a line. I really want to try this for next time.

To finish out, I steam ironed it which worked wonders with the cotton. I’ve washed it since I’ve ironed it and it really maintained its shape. Look in awe at the end result!

FINISHED!

The Prize

(GIVEAWAY!) To celebrate the end and for my loyal readers, I have a giveaway! I’m giving away a large skein of Lily Cotton, Sugar ‘n Cream Twists. This skein is 603 yards of cotton possibilities and with this size you can make a shawlette or scarf and still have enough left over for a washcloth! This giveaway is open until July 9, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. To enter leave a comment telling me your favorite lace pattern and whether you love or hate lace. For extra entries, follow me on twitter or retweet a post (leave another comment letting me know your Twitter handle). I will announce the winner on July 10, 2012.

Loving my lace fever,
-Stacy C.

Felt it up! (No, it’s not Feeling up)

It’s National Cleavage day and I couldn’t resist the title! Spring is right around the corner, this seems to be the PERFECT season to felt. We have eggs, flowers, purses, bowls, etc., the list goes on and is cute. Felting is one of those yarn projects that both knitting and crochet can do, so why not share a post for this month? There are different types of felting, felting sheets, rove felting and wet felting. We’re going to focus on wet wool felting (because that’s how it works for knitting and crocheting, we’ll talk other animal fibers later) and will refer to it from now on as “felting” – I hear by decree.

Through hours of trial and error, and following the scientific method (in the yarn world), I have come to the conclusion that four things, in order of importance, are necessary for proper felting: wool content, agitation, soap and hot water. You might think it interesting that hot water is at the end of the list. Let’s go through some of my felting projects to further explain:

Not the best picture, you get the idea

Mocassins for Him: I made these slippers for my dad last year, and they were the first thing I ever felted. I used Patons Classic Wool in deep olive and I can tell you, putting something I knit into the wash for the first time was so nerve racking! I used my top loading washer, some detergent, a couple pairs of dark colored pants, and went through two small loaded washes to get them to the size I wanted. When they came out, I was afraid they were too small and was worried about maintaining the shape. I had shoe forms to put into the slippers but they were too big and wouldn’t fit into my felted slipper. I decided to put them on the outside of my boots to get them to a bigger man size and it worked! My dad likes them and wears them to this day. Making sure to shape your felted item while it dries is important to remember, don’t go through all that trouble just to let it shrink dry.

Felted Fortune Cookies: I don’t yet have a picture for these because I still have to sew them into cookies. I didn’t get around to it before this post because I’ve been so annoyed with this project! I used the same wool as the slippers and tried the stove top method because I had two cookies and didn’t want to put them into the washer (I was trying to be eco). Let me tell you just stick to the washing machine method, it IS more eco.

Let’s begin this sage, I brought a large pot to a rolling boil and stuck my wool into it, then stood there and stirred it for twenty minutes and not much happened. The water got darker and the wool kind of got a little fuzzy. By fuzzy, I mean the look wool gets when it’s splashed with cold water. I decided to see if the rolling boil would help the wool, maybe my spoon was getting in the way. After 45 minutes, several gallons of water and maybe a millimeter of felting later, I decided to ramp this puppy up. I added some dish soap (the water was “pure” up until this point) got out my potato masher and went to town (as much as you can in boiling water) and I started to see some results!

After another 30 minutes the cookies had gotten smaller – by about .25 inches… I quickly realized, it was the agitation but I couldn’t produce enough to make it go faster without burning myself. Stirring isn’t enough agitation – mashing was the trick – I had to physically beat up the wool in hot water which isn’t really good for the skin, you know? I finally put my cookies into the washing machine and saw that it does more than stir, it is a hurricane of water movement. THAT is why you get such fantastic results in the washing machine – some times too good if you’re not careful. By the time I got to this point, I was tired of even looking at those cookies, just like you are of reading about this drama.

Al Green's "So in Love with You" keeps playing in my head

Fine Feather Cap: Yes, THE hat! This story begins with using the Lion Brand Yarn Wool-Ease, a wonderful acrylic and wool blend, but NOT made for felting. I knew there was a chance it wouldn’t work and I read the care instructions. But it has wool in it, I thought it might be possible. I did some research online and read how other people were told it doesn’t felt either, but it did for them. This is what I discovered – it doesn’t work for brand new, non-beat up wool. When I went back to these LIARS (it’s what it felt like after five failed felted loads, but I did get my too big jeans down to a wearable size!) I realized these ladies wore their favorite items almost daily by the time it went into the wash and felted. This causes me to believe if you beat the CRAP out of a low wool blend, you might have a shot of getting it to felt eons later. There’s more to this story in the last post, but to save time I will skip to the end.

Gonna shake these peacock feathers!

I finally got wonderful results using Patons Classic Wool in Aran; Red Heart’s Stitch Nation Full O’ Sheep in Passion Fruit, Mediterranean and Thyme; and this mystery yellow wool I got from a fellow yarn maker. I stuck to my tried and true method and as you can see, it was well worth all the hard work. I was so in love with the end result, I let the cap felt dry on my head! When I had to take it off for bed, I let it further dry on a plastic playground ball.

Even though some of my stories might seem daunting and appear to make felting not worth the effort, I’ve taken some of the tears out of it for you. If you haven’t ever tried it, think of this as a tutorial in what to avoid, and what to pay attention to, with your projects. I found a great tutorial by Lion Brand Yarn in the basics of this method (that reaffirms some of my follies too!). Also, for sticking with this post, I’m doing a giveaway! One luck reader will get a skein of Lion Brand Yarn Fisherman’s Wool in Natural Brown, with over 450 yds you’re sure to get a good project (or two!) out of it. To enter this great contest, leave a comment – for an extra entry, follow me on twitter (leave an additional comment to alert me that is why you followed me.) Entries must be received by Friday, April 20, 2012 and I will randomly select and announce the winner on Saturday, April 21, 2012.

Yes, I’m buying friends, but you’re ok with that because you might get more yarn, :-p
Stacy C.