I Never Promised You an Organic Garden » Hobbies

Fabulous Felted Mittens

Becky McKimmy — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:54:49 +0000

I just finished a felted mittens class at Unwind Yarn Shop, and I am ecstatic about how my mittens turned out! This was not my first attempt at mittens, but it was definitely my first successful attempt. The class was a lot of fun, and the pattern (Snow Country Felted Mittens) was really easy to follow. I even felt confident wielding the 4 double point needles by the end of the class.

I made them with a combination of Cascade 220 Heather and Cascade Alpaca wool, and they are slightly fuzzy but not overly so. The pattern called for a wool and mohair combination, but I didn’t like the overly fuzzy, worn out looking results.

The mittens are quite warm and I can see that I will get quite a bit of use out of them. Now to make more!

Linen Stitch Scarf

Becky McKimmy — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:11:05 +0000

I recently completed yet another in my recent string of knitting projects and while it didn’t turn out how I hoped, I am pleased enough with the end result that I wanted to share.

I knit a scarf, which was originally intended for me but will be going to my mother-in-law instead, using the linen stitch. The stitch itself is neat and creates a very thick fabric in the end due to a lot of slipped stitches. What I like most about the stitch is the way it shows off and highlights variegated yarn.

Other than the ultimate goal of having a beautiful scarf, one of my main goals for this project was to be able to keep the cost under $30 and still buy my yarn from the local yarn shop. (I could have easily bought a $5 skein from Walmart, but it would have felt wrong.) And I am happy to say I was able to do that quite easily. With Vicki’s help, I picked out James C. Brett Marble Chunky in a beautiful colorway that came out to a total of $13. The yarn is gorgeous, and I love the feel of it.

Unfortunately this is also where my particular project went a little off course. The pattern is intended to be knit with yarn that has short variegations of color and create the effect of knitting with multiple strands of different colored yarn. The yarn I chose had much longer sections of color, and I ended up with blocks of color. The end result was very pretty and the transitions between the colors was beautiful, but it was not quite the effect I was going for.

I really enjoyed knitting the scarf and watching the way the colors played out, so I plan to try a different yarn and make another scarf that I will keep for myself. That is of course, after I finish the 5 other projects I have committed myself to

Mission Accomplished

Becky McKimmy — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:48:06 +0000

Very Exciting News: I have finished my first hand knitted wool sweater. I started this in February, and I just finished sewing up the sleeves at 9:30pm this evening. I still need to take the time to block it, but it is totally wearable at this moment. For all you non-knitters, blocking is dousing a completed project in water and pinning it out into the final shape you want. This helps to work out uneven stitches, ensure proper length and width, and generally improves the final look of your project.

Overall, I am very happy with how the sweater turned out and will wear it with pride. The body is a little longer than I intended but still stylish, and the sleeves are a little shorter than I expected but can be corrected with blocking. For those of you who knit or know this sort of information about clothing, the sweater is a raglan style (something to do with the shoulder seems) and was knitted from the top down, which allowed me to knit the sweater in the round and not have to sew all the sections together at the end. There really is no better way to make a sweater in my opinion. Who wants to sew pieces together?

When I began the class at Unwind Yarn Shop, I thought there was no way I would ever finish a wearable sweater, but I have really surprised myself. While it did take me seven months to complete the project, I did not spend all that time working on the sweater. I put it down this summer to work on other projects. All in all it is very empowering to complete such a big complex project and feel good about the result. Of course, at least part of the credit goes to Vicki and Julie from Unwind for answering my seemingly never-ending questions and being great teachers.

I think I will definitely be knitting another sweater someday in the future!

Richmond Fall Festival

Becky McKimmy — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:45:11 +0000

If anyone in the Richmond, Indiana area is looking for something fun to do this weekend, the Richmond Fall Festival is the place to go. The Festival combines several festivals into a single weekend of fun. There will be a plethora of events going on throughout Richmond most of which are free and family friendly.

The events begin Friday afternoon and run through Sunday, and free parking will be provided downtown and at Earlham College with shuttle service. Activities include but are not limited to:

Karaoke
Free showing of Gene Autry’s film “South of the Border”
Free pony rides
Art & Music Festival downtown, including book sellers row, great food, arts & crafts, and booths from local artisans including Unwind Yarn Shop
Free Rock concert downtown featuring Soul Marrow Transplant
Heritage festival at the Wayne County Historical Museum
Tours of the Gennett Mansion
Walk of Fame induction ceremony
Community Orchestra concert
Cope Environmental Center Fall Gala
and much much more.

For a full schedule of events visit the Waynet website or download the pdf from Richmond Fall Festival.com

It promises to be a great weekend and Matt and I will definitely attend.

Technology Today: Ravelry

Becky McKimmy — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:33:16 +0000

As I finish knitting projects (most recently a baby sweater and set of wash cloths), I record my new projects in Ravelry. Ravelry is a perfect union of two of my strongest areas of interest: knitting and the internet. It is an online community for knitters and crocheters that goes way beyond social networking. Ravelry allows its users to post and track projects, search patterns, store information about stashed yarn, search forums, keep a list of needles owned, join groups, see what others are making, comment on other users’ projects, and much much more.

I mostly use Ravelry to keep track of my projects, stashed yarn, and knitting needles. Each user has a notebook that stores this information for them. In the projects section there is a list of all the projects you are working on or have completed. There is a searchable database of patterns or you can add your own pattern. Each project entry also includes information about the yarn used, (there is a search able database of yarn), the status of your project, the progress of your project, your rating of the pattern and yarn used, and information about what needles were used. The project entry also contains a place to store images of the project. You can upload photos you have taken directly through Ravelry or through amazing integration with Flickr, you can simply drop and drag photos you already have listed on Flickr .

The stash section has a similar interface and will allow you to keep track of yarn you have on hand, including information about the brand, color, weight, and number of skeins. There is a searchable database of yarn available that has nearly every type of yarn, even that old neon green 1970’s skein you have leftover from your grandmother’s stash. Ravelry is also smart enough to reduce the number of skeins of a particular yarn if you list it as being used in a project. Another great feature is the ability to search for patterns that match yarn in your stash. Ravelry has a huge database of patterns sorted by yarn, project type, etc. This is a great way to make use of random skeins of yarn.

If all those great tools and helpful sections weren’t enough, Ravelry also provides an online community for knitters and crocheters. Users can connect with friends and view their projects. There are also groups based around different topics, geographic locations, events, etc. And possibly the most helpful, Ravelry has a large online forum system. This allows users to connect with others who are working on similar projects, ask questions of more seasoned knitters or crocheters, or find solutions to common problems.

Ravelry really is the place to be if you knit or crochet! For me it is the perfect melding of the two parts of my life and personality. The creative artistic knitter and the technical geeky webside developer. It feels as though this site was built with me in mind. If you knit or chrocet and haven’t checked it out yet — GO NOW! If you are already on Ravelry, you can find me at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/bemckimmy.

Big Bad Baby Blanket: Completed!

Becky McKimmy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:56:53 +0000

I just finished the largest knitting project I have undertaken thus far. I completed the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch-n-Bitch for a wonderful couple. Lee and Ashely Saylor are expecting the birth of their first child, Thomas, next month, and I spent the past four months knitting a baby blanket for them as a gift.

The pattern itself was very easy, and I was able to memorize it so there was no need for me to carry the book around with me all the time. The final product was approximately 36″ by 36″. I used 8 skeins of Encore Colorspun Worsted yarn: four in a sage green color and four in a cream and green variegated color. Truth be told, I had to purchase two extra skeins of yarn to complete the blanket because I came up short on yarn 9 rows from the end, but the pattern should be easily completed with 8 skeins.

It took me about four months to complete the blanket, but that was mostly because I did not knit every day. I have repetitive stress syndrome in my right wrist and shoulder so despite my strong urge to do so, I can’t knit everyday. About a week before Ashely’s baby shower I did start knitting everyday in a push to finish on time and was weaving in the loose ends about an hour before her shower started. Luckily it was wrapped and ready on time.

Overall I am very pleased with how the blanket turned out. Because I knitted with two strands of yarn at a time, the blanket is very warm and plush and will be plenty big for wrapping Thomas up well up to a year old. It is also made with washable wool so even if it gets dirty, and being that it is for a a baby we know it will, it can be thrown in the washing machine. I am also very happy with the overall pattern. The seed stitch boarder turned out great and I love the four block pattern on the main body. All in all this is a pattern I will definitely use again.

To see more photos of my finished blanket check out my flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/becky_mckimmy/

I Never Promised You an Organic Garden » Hobbies

Fabulous Felted Mittens

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Linen Stitch Scarf

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Technology Today: Ravelry

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