Knit Advent Day 23
This long, skinny triangle is shaped with short rows. I wanted to twist the triangle, which would mimic some icicle ornaments I had seen. Oops, when I twisted it, the wrong side of the knitting showed. There was nothing for it, but to knit another long, skinny triangle. I sewed the triangles together, twisted, then mounted the icicle onto felt.
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Charles was working in Austin this week (in 2005), so the girls and I came along for fun. Eva and I went out the first evening to visit the wonderful Book People store, and then on to Half-Price Book Store. Half-Price Book Store has a lot more remainders and bargain new books than it had 25 years ago, when I first became a regular customer. The number of truly used books is pretty low, outside of paperback fiction. But it was great to browse without a particular goal in mind.
On our way home today, we stopped by the Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe in Cedar Park, Texas. Judy, of Heavenly Babies, raves about this shop, and I can understand why. The shop is full of beautiful yarns, the atmosphere is happy, and the staff is friendly. We spent money there and it was fun. I recommend it. The address is 2800 E. Whitestone Blvd., but if you are coming from Hwy 183, you need to turn on Hwy 1431, between the Albertson’s and the HEB. It is in a row of shops next to a supermarket.
2021 UPDATE: the Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe in Cedar Park closed several years ago.
Knit Advent Day 22
The only stranded color ornament in the collection is this Fair Isle snowflake. I like the shaded blues. That’s the great thing about using embroidery floss. There are so many shades and tints and tones of each color, that you’re bound to find the one you need. Granted, measuring only eight yards per hank, embroidery floss isn’t exactly sweater material, but it’s good for small pieces. I can imagine flowers crocheted from embroidery floss, perfect for embellishment.
Knit Advent Day 21
This is probably my favorite of the ornaments. I love the little poinsettia leaves, so cleverly knitted and sewn onto the felt backing. The gold sequins are the crowning touch. I also like the shape of the background felt.
Got a new book for myself today (in 2005): a compilation of seven Perry Mason novels in one volume, by Erle Stanley Gardner. For hours of reading pleasure, Erle Stanley Gardner rates as my favorite author of all.
Knit Advent Day 20
Santa is knitted in intarsia, and can be color-customized. Eyes and mouth were added later with duplicate stitch.
Knit Advent Day 19
Short rows shape the heel of this stocking ornament. It’s knitted from the top down. I started the short rows with the top gold outline on the heel, then made a lot of very short rows for the cream-colored heel. The gold outline at the bottom of the heel is also a short row, and I had to do quite a bit of ripping out to get the gold rows to meet properly.
To get the perfect angle between foot and cuff, the short rows continue into the turquoise of the foot. You should be able to see how the first three turquoise ridges after the heel are short rows. The toe is decreased on each side, then bound off to give the classic stocking toe shape.
Knit Advent Day 18
The cardinal is regular stockinette stitch intarsia and the pine needles are embroidered.
Cardinals stay around all winter in North Central Texas. They look like bright ornaments in our leafless trees.
Knit Advent Day 17
Here’s another garter intarsia ornament, a plain Christmas ball with band around it, which was knitted from side-to-side. The ball is shaped by increasing or decreasing only at the edges. The colors in the band just jog over and back to make its curved shape.
If you compare it with the drum (Day 10) you can see the difference that internal shaping makes. I shaped the drum by increasing and decreasing inside the outlines of the drum. That method moved the red body and gold rims of the drum in a curved shape, without creating jogs. The drum was also knitted side-to-side.
Knit Advent Day 16
Garter stitch is easy to chart, because 1 stitch is as wide as the height of one ridge (2 rows). That means you can chart it on square graph paper, with one block equal to one stitch and one ridge (2 rows). The other nice thing about this is that you can shape the edges very easily by casting on or binding off along the sides of a piece.
That’s what I did to make this candle. The three pieces are just garter stitch, worked to a graph that was the shape I wanted. A little embroidery serves as a wick.
Knit Advent Day 15
My daughter Eva’s favorite kinds of animals are insects and fish, so I have crafted a number of fishy things over the years. This ornament uses variegated and solid cotton embroidery floss, in the mosaic color technique.
In 2021, Eva is still fascinated by insects and fish. If I decide to redo this, it will be knitted with all solid-color thread, or a different variegated thread.
Knit Advent Day 14
To make this look like a bow, I had to shape the knitted ribbon. If I had knitted it straight and tied it, the knot would have looked clumsy and bulky. The strip of garter stitch was wavy and surprisingly long. I actually tied the knitting into a bow, and sewed it onto the felt.
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This yellow swatch turned out much better than I imagined it would. It uses several different kinds of Lion Brand yarn: Wool-Ease in two shades of yellow, Lion Cotton variegated yellow, Fun Fur in yellow, Trellis (the dark stripe), and Incredible, which is the variegated ribbon yarn.
It’s a swatch for a vest for 10-year-old (in 2005) Eva, who looks great in yellow.