Category Archives: Tips & Tutorials

Toppings

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jenjoycedesign© felted pom pom

A little something that I call  ” the felted toorie ”

toorie 

or tourie (ˈtʊrɪ  )

noun Scottish

1. a tassel or bobble on a bonnet

2. Also: toorie bonnet

a bonnet with a toorie
Word origin of ‘toorie’

C19: from Scot toor tower

Toorie is just a Scots name for the little ball that goes on top of many of their hats, often looking like little red cherries.

I just made a regular medium-sized pompom,  entirely in Jamiesons Shetland Spindrift — color Sholmit.  I snipped the fresh pom pom right off of the cardboard, then it went through a wild hot & soapy wash while being rolled in my hands, and ended up really bumpy , felted, and generally unappealing  (you can  see my tutorial if you want to see all the steps.)

jenjoycedesign© trimmed toorie.JPG

Until you take scissors to it!

Trimmed to perfection , it is ready for this tam.

Two tams are waiting back stage …. nervous, nearly forgetting their lines.

A January Day

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jenjoycedesign© clouds

The weather has been fabulously wet and the cloud & fog shows as entertaining as can be, and nothing is better than cups of coffee and a little knitting, or in this case,  sweater surgery, as was needed this morning. Can you see the section I have added on? About 4 inches worth!

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Remember this post  from mid November? Well apparently Miss Thirteen has totally outgrown her Autumn Sweater, and it needed lengthening, which I was very keen to do, for it was rather outgrown before she even recieved it. Backstory is that both my nieces were measured for their Autumn sweaters last July, then I had them all knit by mid August , just awaiting the equinox so we could have our Autumn Photo Spree. Well, a couple of weeks before the equinox, the devastating fire which consumed half of the county happened, and everybody was so displaced for weeks (my nieces’ home narrowly escaping destruction)  … and so this year they didn’t actually receive their Autumn Sweaters until Mid November.  Three months after they were measured, and  not difficult to guess that as Miss Thirteen is growing like a  weed,  some lengthening would be in order.

So, I’ve enjoyed doing a little sweater surgery today and made a tutorial to add to Tips From The Table. I hope you enjoy it and that it can be of use to you or any bottom-up sweaters you know which are in need of a little sweater surgery.

Lengthening Bottom-Up Tutorial HERE

jenjoycedesign© fixed

Sock News

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I am sort of taking a break from any projects which require  a lot of creativity, for a spell.   Sometimes I want to just defrag and knit a basic project, and contemplate more logical ideas.

For instance, sock knitting. Very basic sock knitting, I’ve decided, is extremely under-rated. I want to cultivate the utilitarian-ness of basic-sock-knitting, and I can’t really see myself ever becoming very decorative about them.   Just two knit/two purl rib sock knitting , where the numbers are multiples of 8, and really, for the adults and teens I know and love and knit for, and using fingering or even sport weight yarn, I’m figuring there are likely going to be two common sets of numbers to work from ~ total stitches being 56, or total stitches being 64.   Sport weight yarn with 64 or 56 stitches,  on #3 needles will be a large-ish sock, maybe a little snugger on size#2 needles (like for Kilt Hose !) , and I’m seeing that fingering weight yarn with 64 or 56 stitches and size#0 – #2 needles is a good variation of size range too. I’m knitting my second pair of Regular Ol’ Socks and  keeping very vigilently to #2 needles ~ this time careful to not accidentally knit with the #3 needles.

(Question: How can one so easily and so often mix them up? Answer: too many needles heeped in a cigar box, unlabelled).

I knit very snugly, and these stitches are super duper fine and …. well these puppies are tight! Imagine what I could do with fine fingering weight, my tight knitting, and size #0 needles !!! I could change the world ! Or… at least… I could knit some very fine, very nice socks for my wee hoofish feet, using 64 stitches, or even introduce a new number of 68 or 72 stitches… just imagine…knee-highs…with delicious rib decreases…and even increases !  I’m salivating !

So here is another observation I’m making : Using two 16in circular needles (a pain, yes, and having to adjust needles every half row is high-maintenance knitting for me, but must be done, because the 56-stitch socks in fine fingering weight yarn, stretched around one 9in circular needle is a job wrestling the whole way, pushing stitches along at their widest possible girth is also high maintenance.

Here we have progress with two 16in circular needles…


And here is progress with one 9in circular needle…

I must admit that I prefer low maintenance for something as ‘easy’ and ‘simple’ as a Regular Ol’ Classic Sock.  I’m thinking that streamlining the two 16″circular needle method is the best bet for a sock that’s not big (like for gent)… but for my feet, which are more like wee hooves of a baby burro… but   I still am sleuthing out the best method.

Edit In : Okay, for the second time , on the second pair of socks, I’ve decided a set of 4 double-pointed needles are actually the least bit fussy and least maintenance.  Suprising, since I have to switch out 3 times in one row !  Most importantly the yarn loops don’t get stressed when getting pushed between the fine cable and over the needle join.. where I’m constantly having to really pull and that I’ve decided , is the agitating ‘fiddly bit’ I can do without.  DPNS are IN.

Speedy(er)

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I am struggling with the perpetually fussy and tedious switching between needles in the 2-needle method of knitting socks ~ which I love by the way, as there’s just no way can I stand poking and catching and detangling of yarn using traditional set of four straight double-pointed needles, I’m just not that talented. Or rather, not that patient.  But it slows the knitting rhythm down quite a bit to have to adjust and switch out, (as on any style: 1 needle ‘magic loop’,  2 needle style, and 4 straight dpns)… but I have discovered just now that the 9″ length circular needle I had bought a few years ago and never used, is perfect for the socks !!!  Especially the straight-a-way stockinette section in these …  So yes, I do love the two-circular-needle-method through all the rib and the heel flap & turn, but folks, when it’s time to knit the long foot section of stockinette with microscopic yarn at a gazillion stitches per inch, when no attention is really needed for stitch pattern,  I have just discovered ~finally~ that these little 9 inch circulars work like a dandy !

I remember the lady at the yarn store giving me attitude when I wanted to order them (they were not in stock) and she said ” I don’t know why anybody would want to use them…”.  Okay, well, one of the few physical blessings I guess I was born with, is small hands and feet, and thus I can knit a sock with 9″ circulars.

Mainly, I am trying to learn habits which will allow me to knit in a more speedy fashion, just little time-saving tricks such as this. Now I can do other things while knitting… um… like reading knitting blogs. 

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Edit in :  Okay, I’ve changed my mind,  I think I can actually knit nearly the whole (adult) sock (excluding the toe section)  using 9inch needles !  Which is exactly what I will do with my next pair coming up.

Edit in 2:   Evidently I don’t know what the heck I’m doing when I say one method is better than another . Eating my words about now , how with socks I prefer two, or one circular needle method, and never double-pointed needles (they tangle so…and stab…ouch ! ) Here I am in the toe sections of the grey socks, and I happen to have a set of four #2 dpns,  yes, I do, and the tips are sooo pointy…(I think they’re Addi stainless steel)…  and those tips decrease soooo efficiently!!!  I am not only deciding that…wow…the dpns  really *do* make a difference, but, dang it if I don’t really like the super pointy needles (since trying to knit faster is my *thing* right now.  Please pass the salt and pepper…

Alejandro’s Manos

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I pulled out my bags of raw alpaca, and began spinning a few days prior.

The perfect choice of animal fiber for Alejandro’s gloves, he who frequently ski’s the snow of the Andes Mountains, in Patagonia.

Plying natural black with natural grey .

I used the basic charts from   Ann Budd ~ Handy Book of Patterns  as a guideline (especially since I was knitting with handspun and needed a custom gauge). However, I prefered a ‘left’ and a ‘right’ glove, so I had to somewhat re-invented the off-set thumb for myself ~a definite improvement .  I would enjoy publishing my own version of a glove pattern ~ soon ~ because I love making gloves now !

A Walk Among Wildflowers

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Red clover in full blossom, is just so beautiful!

Into the vineyard, and into the back meadow along the canyon edge, passing lovely lupine …

And lush yellow blossoms along meadow trail …

many random tiny flowers …

purple brodea …

The meadow filled with flowers !

Along the vineyard rows, poppies.

Top leaf is right on top of San Francisco in the distance.

Beautiful pink Indian Paint Brush flowers along the top row .

Now leaving the little field of many flowers …

… and back home.

Spring Vests Progress

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Nearing the finish of the two bodies of vests for nieces. Can you see the steeked front and sleeve holes? (For those of you who are wondering, steeks are extra stitches made into the round of stitches, to be cut open later, allowing the body to be knit uninterrupted in knit or patterned stitches). So far , this is my 3rd project involving steeks, and I am only now *just* getting the hang of it.

Note: After this project for the nieces, I think I will be quite unlikely to knit self-striping yarn for a while, it’s just so ‘been there-done that’ kind of experience. Vivid, cute, in their favorite colors, but I won’t be in a hurry to knit another self-striping yarn project.