lisa’s place

In case you’re like me and you just can’t get enough applications for your iPhone, check out these great knitting applications from Michael Golden at Ashland Sky.  These pictures are just screen shots taken from my iPhone.

I never had any idea why you’d want to take a screen shot of your phone, but it can be really handy.  If you don’t know how to do this, it’s really simple:  just hold down the home button (the round one) and then click the top button, the screen will flash and the screen shot will be added to the Camera Roll on your iPhone.

iKnit Needle Sizer:

This one is so simple, it’s silly.  Just lay your needle or crochet hook on your screen and match it up.

Definitely a needle gauge you’ll always have with you – and a real steal at 99 cents!  Those plastic ones I am always buying and breaking/losing are at least $3-5!  I just have to get used to having this with me all the time and remember to use it.

and KnitGauge:

This one is also pretty much self explanatory and SO useful – I can’t wait to need to use it.

Line up your swatch at one peg, slide the other one to the edge of the stitches you want to measure, count the number of stitches between the pegs, move the slider to that number and voila your gauge!

As a bonus, you could measure just about anything up to 2.82″ just by moving the pegs and using them like a little pair of calipers!  Cool, eh?  It also has a little ruler built in (inches and centimeters).

I love this, no more fiddly-effing around with a little window or a ruler to check gauge, just drag the little peg   Ingenious, I tell you.  This one is only 99 cents, as well.  Wow!  These two apps are the best $1.98 I’ve spent in a very long time!

I haven’t said this in a couple of days, but what in the heck did I do without an iPhone?  How do people live without one?

This flu has given me more time than usual to stare blankly at my computer screen.  Here are some interesting things I’ve found:

Knitting Chart Generator (chartGen):

This little application is great!  Turn your written knitting directions into an easy to read chart.  Simply type in your knitting instructions or click on the various knitting stitch buttons and then click *Preview Chart* or *Get Printer-Friendly Chart* and that’s it.  I’ve only messed around with it a little bit, but it works really well.  The page is set up so it is really easy and intuitive to use.  There is a Ravelry thread here where the author is posting updates and taking suggestions.

How about this handy little gadget?  I used to have a little foam version (but, of course, I lost it a long time ago…)

What a great way to use up little sock yarn scraps.  Here’s the link to the pattern.

And check out these paperdolls.  They look like such fun!

I seem to remember burning out a bit when I cut out paperdolls last time around (but I was probably about 8 years old, maybe I’d have more patience now).

Speaking of patience…  I seriously doubt I’d ever actually make these, but I wish I would.  I just love them, they are so serene and so pretty.  I think they’d be worth the time.

Here’s the link to the tutorial.  It looks really well explained.

Good night, all.

Here is my version of the very popular Hemlock Ring Blanket.  Here is the Ravelry link.

I used handspun blue faced leicester top – a worsted/bulky single that I spun pretty loosely.  I wanted the yarn to be really soft and smooshy.

As a general rule, I tend to treat my handspun yarns (particularly the singles) pretty roughly.  I washed this yarn in very hot water with Soak and then rinsed and swished and slightly squeezed the yarn through a series of subsequent hot and cold rinses just until the singles started to ever so slightly stick together.  This is a very fine line to walk.  But if you pay close attention, I think the benefits are really worth the risk.  The result is a very soft, ever-so-slightly fulled/felted single that is a joy to knit.  This particular fiber has a bit of a cloudiness to it that I really like:

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep good track of the actual yardage (I do know that I used about 13 ounces of yarn).  I worked the pattern to row 55 of Jared’s chart and then bound off according to the original hemlock doily pattern.  Binding off was not trivial, but I think the end product was well worth the effort.

This was a surprisingly quick knit.  The most difficult part for me was the blocking process:  I felt confident that I’d have no trouble blocking this yarn, but I didn’t understand the muscle power that would be required.  Prior to blocking, this little blanket was about 2.5 feet in diameter – after blocking, it measured over 4 feet in diameter.  It took a whole lotta pins, both hands, and a few false starts, but it blocked perfectly into a completely flat and exactly-as-I-had-imagined-it blanket!  I’m sure I’ll make another one of these – maybe using a semi-solid Malabrigo or with more handspun.

The Woolgirl Sock Club is beyond wonderful. I’d hear rumors that Jen really outdoes herself, but still… Unfortunately, in my rush to start knitting, I didn’t take any pictures of the first package and its contents (I won’t make that mistake again). Take a look at this picture of the package for April here.

The pattern for these socks was really well written and quick and fun to knit up! The socks were done after just a few evenings of knitting.

With just a couple of exceptions, I followed the pattern without making changes.

Pattern:

I did modify the toe quite a bit and I added a single crochet border to the cast-on edge of the top of the sock, For some reason, the tops of the socks just looked awful. I blame the speed at which I cast on for these…

In order to maintain the pattern down the toes of the socks, I made the following modifications to the toes:

For the sole of each sock, decrease as written in the pattern.

For the patterning on the top of the sock (over 28 stitches):

Row 1: p1, k2, p2, ssk, k6, p2, k6, k2tog, p2, k2, p1 (26 st)
Row 2: p1, k2, p2, k7, p2, k7, p2, k2, p1
Row 3: p1, k2, p2, ssk, k5, p2, k5, k2tog, p2, k2, p1 (24 st)
Row 4: p1, k2, p2, k14, p2, k2, p1
Row 5: p1, k2, p2, ssk, k10, k2tog, p2, k2, p1 (22 st)
Row 6: p1, k2, p2, k12, p2, k2, p1
Row 7: p1, k2, p2, ssk, k8, k2tog, p2, k2, p1 (20 st)
Row 8: p1, k2, p2, k10, p2, k2, p1
Row 9: p1, k2, p2, ssk, k6, k2tog, p2, k2, p1 (18 st)
Row 10: p1, k2, p2, k8, p2, k2, p1
Row 11: p1, wrap 2, p2, ssk, k4, k2tog, p2, wrap 2, p1 (16 st)
Row 12: p1, k2, p2, k6, p2, k2, p1
Row 13: p1, k2, p2, ssk, k2, k2tog, p2, k2, p1 (14 st)
Row 14: p1, k2, p2, k4, p2, k2, p1
Row 15: p1, k2, p2, ssk, k2tog, p2, k2, p1 (12 st)
Row 16: p1, k2, p2, k2, p2, k2, p1
Row 17: p1, k2, p2tog, k2, p2tog, k2, p1 (10 st)
Row 18: p1, k2, p1, k2, p1, k2, p1
Row 19: p1, ssk, p1, k2, p1, k2tog, p1 (8 st)
Row 20: knit 8
Row 21: graft toe using kitchener stitch