Month: January 2019

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

It’s Cold!

Iris Rose

In many parts of central and eastern North America it is very cold right now. Our turn here in Alberta is coming in the next couple of days. While we will not be experiencing the deep cold that has held our neighbor provinces to the east in its thrall, minus 25 celsius is cold enough for me thank you very much.

It will be good time to stay home and knit or crochet to increase your internal heat generated by your motions. That is my theory anyway and I am sticking to that logic.

It is also a great time to work on a blanket. Having all of that weight and yarn on your lap is so cozy and you can fool everyone around you into thinking that you are a superwoman or man in that you are not cold at all!

I have free pattern for a blanket in my Ravelry store that works up quickly and is nice and cuddly. I made the original in Bernat Blanket yarn, but it can easily made with any worsted weight held double. Try combing two colours for a really pretty speckled look. I am repeating the pattern here for you but, if you want to work from a pdf, click on the link above to take you to a free download.


The blanket, 115cm x 155cm (45” x 60”), is knit with garter stitch in the Shetland style with a centre rectangle and then subsequent rows worked around that. You will need 800 metres (885 yards) of bulky weight yarn. You can use Bernat Blanket as I did or any worsted weight yarn held double which will double the amount of yarn that you need of course.

You will need 10 or 12mm circular needles. Use one to start then two or a very long one as the size of the blanket grows. I used an interchangeable with a cable connector and used two 100 cm (40”) cables.

With a 10 or 12mm circular needle, cast on 18 stitches and knit 60 rows, bind off.

Pick up and knit 18 stitches across the short side of the rectangle, place a marker, 30 stitches along the long side, place a marker, then 18 stitches at the other short side, place a marker and finally another 30 stitches along the last long side, placing a final marker. (To garter stitch in the round, you will knit the first row and purl the next. These two rows will be worked throughout.) Purl the next row.

Increase in each corner on each knit row by making a stitch before the marker, slip the marker, knit one and make another stitch. Make a stitch by lifting the bar between two stitches onto the left needle and knit through the back loop.

I changed colours every 14 rows, then 18, 18 and 12 rows to make the stripes around the centre piece. You can alternate colours as often as you like or make it all in one colour. Just have fun with it!

Enjoy the pattern (great for TV knitting) and have a great (and warm) week ahead.

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

The Addi Egg is Fun!

Iris Rose

Well, I am back. I’m still hacking and sniffling but much better than last week.

This week I am featuring a new to me Addi mini knitter called the Egg. It is available on eBay and has been nagging me to buy it for a long while now. I broke down right before the holidays and, because it was right before the holidays, was delivered in mid-January. The shipping time was actually not bad as it was sent from Germany.

The price was reasonable, about forty-six dollars Canadian, plus free shipping.

This little knitter is fun to use, really fun to use. I own an Embellishknit that I use for Icord and have not been really happy with the difficulty I have with getting the darn thing to start knitting. The Egg was super easy to thread up and cast on. The cord that it produces is six stitches so larger than the other Icord and not suitable as a replacement for four stitch Icord.

I used DK yarn in this sample and, after about five minutes work, ended up with a long piece (I couldn’t stop turning the handle!) that was about 2cm or 1 ½” wide when flattened. I can picture using it as a bag handle, maybe with a cord threaded through it for reinforcement. I am going to play with using it as an applied trim on a sweater.

I will report back when I have used the trim in an actual garment or accessory. Maybe I will get something done next week?

I knit a little sweater with Caron Cakes Latte yarn which very quickly appeared and disappeared from Michaels stores. I bought two cakes, both the same colour number and both the same dye or production lot. I needed the second cake only for one of the sleeves.

I like to rewind any skeins or cakes before I start work in order to avoid the surprise of a knot in an unfortunate place. The first cake was great, the second had a knot at a colour change which I could work around. The problem that I ran into with the knotted yarn was that the grey, although in the correct sequence of colour change, was not the same grey as the first cake. It was hidden inside of the cake. I tried using the grey on the outside of the cake to make the sleeves match, but that length was not long enough.

The sweater turned out to be quite cute and I think that I am likely the only one that will notice the off colour (more brown than grey like the front, but I like things to match! Not just okay but really seriously match as the fronts and backs do.  The bottom edge is crocheted and will be redone with a smaller hook to eliminate the waves.  I am already working on it.

No more Latte, yarn that is, for me even if I could find it.

Happy week to you all and I wish you kindness and tangle free yarn in all of your crafting.

PS: for those of you who use Windows 10, check out the yarn and knitting theme for your desktop wallpaper. It is free in the theme store.

Baking

Mushroom Soup, Yum!

Iris Rose

I missed you last week! I have been under the weather with a nasty bug and had some other busy stuff come up, but I am back.

I am still sniffling and coughing; my comfort food when I feel like this is homemade soup. I had a bunch of lovely mushrooms in the fridge and a container of cream. I bet that you know where this is going, don’t you?

Here is my own recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup. I use dried herbs as, you know, Canada and winter. This is definitely not low calorie or heart friendly so if that concerns you, turn away and go back to your knitting or crocheting with  my understanding and blessing.

Ingredients:
12 to 14 Crimini mushrooms, sliced
½ c butter, divided into two pieces
1/3 c flour
2 c water
2 c 10% cream
1 tsp chicken stock base
¼ tsp cilantro
1 tsp dried chives
¼ tsp granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pan (I use a deep sauté pan) over medium heat, melt ¼ cup of butter and heat until it starts to bubble. Stir in the mushrooms and sauté until they start to give up their juices. Stir in the herbs and seasonings. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the other ¼ cup of butter in to melt. When it is melted and the mushrooms look glossy, stir in the flour. Stir in the water and stock base and return to the heat, stirring constantly so that it thickens smoothly. When the soup is thick, stir in the cream. Cover and let it simmer on low heat for about half an hour. If it is too thick for you, stir in another ½ half cup of cream and/or water or more until it is to your taste.

I apologize for the photo but steam and camera lenses are not optimum for a great picture.

Have a great week and happy cooking and crafting.

Knitting

New Year, New Projects

Iris Rose

Happy New Year to you all! If you are like me, you pretend that you don’t make any New Year’s resolution but secretly, you know that you do.

Mine for the last few Januarys has been to keep track of the projects completed throughout the year. You thought I was going to write that I would work only from stash or not buy any more yarn didn’t you. Heck no, where is the fun in collecting then? Back to the project resolution, I still haven’t kept it proving my humanness once again.  Maybe this will be the year (or not).

I did start last year (really late) by trying to photograph everything that I made and then loading it up to my Ravelry projects page. Who knew that you would have to fill in so many details? I got very quickly bored with that as you can see from my project list. I need a quick, quick, quick way to keep track, any suggestions? I have tried a journal in the past also but with the same result. I think that I may be a lost cause as I resent the time cataloguing when I could be crafting.

Yay, my yoke is done! It desperately needs blocking, but the sweater fits and I have already picked up the stitches for the bottom garter band and knit two rows. This has been one of those projects that haunts you. I know how I wanted it to look (not the way it does) but will be satisfied once it is done, I am sure. How many times can you frog a hand knit yoke? My answer to that is seven!

Just because you are working on one thing doesn’t mean that you can’t start another, does it? I am planning on a series of machine knit yoke sweaters in kid sizes for my sales and Etsy store and began the first today. I hope that the yoke sweater trend lasts another season!

Finally, I have finished the tunic that I featured last week. Only three frogs on this neck treatment so no new records broken.

Thanks for reading and may happiness and kindness follow you this week and all your yarn be tangle free!