How To: Lacey Tea Towel

I feel kind of guilty tagging this as a "tutorial" because it was so quick and easy! My dad gave me some tea towels (because well, you really can't have too many tea towels) and I decided to give it a bit of girly flair.  I was inspired by towels that I saw at W's mom's house, and I thought "Wow, how easy would that be to make...!?"  Plus, it can cover up tears, stains, or scorch marks when you leave your tea towel under your electric kettle and nearly set the fire alarm off and have to run the towel outside and wave it around in the snow...

Oh, is that just me? Anyway, all you need is a towel, some lace (I bought a spool of lace for about a dollar at Wal*mart ages ago: no idea why.) and needle and thread or a sewing machine. 

Sew the lace in rows into the towel.  For best results, pin the rows a little less apart than the width of your lace.

I wish I had some ribbon to finish this off! I think it would also look good mixing different types of lace, or maybe just add a lace edging along the very edge?  So many possibilities! And I still have a whole spool of lace left! I wish I more tea towels.

Giving in to Temptation!

Today I woke up. I worked for two hours.  Then, I researched stuff so boring that it's not even fun to blog about.  Then I wrote a paper.  Then I went to class.  Then, more research and homework.  Then, class again.  Then dinner.

When W left to shoot his two-quarter, I told myself I would get a head start on the weekend's homework (Why do teachers like to make assignments due on the weekend? Do they think we don't have anything better to do?)... and as I sat down at my desk, my knees bumped against a box. 

It was the Singer Simple that I got for Christmas.  Why hadn't I opened it yet?  Oh, right, school.

I figured I had done a good job today. I should treat myself.

I unboxed the machine, ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the automatic threader, sewed some scraps of fabric, sewed up some seams I needed to mend, sewed up a little tutorial for tomorrow... and then...

Well, then I ran out of things to sew.  My eye lingered on my bag of quilting stuff. I HAD SAID that I wanted to cut all the pieces first, then sew, but did I really?

No, not at all.

So, there's four squares and the center of a flower done! I'm proud that I managed to line up the diamond pretty well, and proud that I remembered to iron (almost) all the seams flat, but I'm a little disappointed at the fabric choice.

You can't even see my seams! Hopefully it'll look more like a flower when the side petals are on!

But anyway, that was my evening - see you tomorrow for a sweet, quick tutorial.

P.S. - If you think I'm some sort of quilting prodigy, here's my four squares before I sewed them. Hopefully I'll get better at this whole "cutting pieces the same size" thing.

One Down, One to Go!

Last night I finished 50% of W's socks. I'm pretty proud to have finished one so quickly, especially with all the other WIPs I have going on right now. (So... Many...)

Anyway, for posterity, I feel like I should write down what I did.  I don't feel like anyone else will want to know my particular manly sock formula, but I need to know it, to make the second sock!

So, here's the knit code:

72 Stitches. Work in a 3x3 rib for 11 rounds.  Work half a round, then start heel flap over 50% of the stitches.  Heel flap is 23 rows long, with a slipped stitch edge. Heel is a half kercheif heel with 7 stitches in the middle.  Pick up 15 stitches from either side of the heel flap. Decrease 7 times on each side for the gusset. Should be back to 72 stitches. Work 12 cm, then decrease four stitches every other round until there are 26 stitches. Kitchner off.

Free Pattern: Slouchy Ridges Hat

It is finished! It, being me. I'm finished compiling data from my awesome testers, sifting through photos of my sorry mug, tweaking pixels on the PDF... and now, I present my first pattern of 2011.

Pattern Name: Slouchy Ridges Hat

Difficulty: Easy

Yardage: 200 yards

Techniques: Knitting in the round, Working stripes (if you want a multicolored hat), and another technique explained in the pattern.

My goal this year is to publish 11 patterns. The ones I self-publish will be free all year long, and on January first of 2012 they'll go up for sale, so download this one while you can!

What I like about this hat is that it's stockinette stitch in the round, making it a good zone-out project, but every so often there's the pick-up round, where you have to pay attention.  It's hard to find knitting projects that have that duality.

Anyway, I hope you like it, too! You can download your own free copy here: download now

Dumb Moves!

So, I mentioned in my last post that I'm making my brother a Jaques Cousteau hat. Here's a picture of what I have so far.

Notice anything off?

The hat pattern calls for a K3 P2 rib.

My hat? It's worked in a K3 P3 rib.  I have no idea why! How could I miss something so obvious!?

Anyway, I'm thinking of just rolling with it. I want to finish the hat before I go home next Friday, because then I can give it to him. 

But let me tell you, it was so hard to resist the urge to just tear it all out! 4 inches in, I think I just need to deal with it, haha!

Stritting

I have been stressed.  Let's not mince words, life has been on edge as of recently.  My new bank card hasn't come in the mail yet, so I'm forced to wait to cash back pay from last year and Christmas checks.  I had a test today, I've got a presentation tomorrow, and I still don't quite know how I'm going to bang out that term paper due in four weeks.  Homework for class A doesn't make any sense, I have to unload the dishwasher, and there's a pile of laundry in the corner of my room that won't wash itself.

So, my knitting has been blah.  I started this sock for W over the weekend, when the needles I was knitting Zucchi's sweater on broke:

The yarn is from the take and replace swap, just a simple stockinette sock with a kercheif heel.

And last night, I started a Jaques Cousteau Hat for my brother.

The pluses of these projects is that they're easy to do.  I can knit while I read, and in class, which helps me focus and worry less.  It's nice to have some easy projects once in a while, ones that I don't need a pattern for or whose pattern is just tres simple.

Socks All for Me!

Last night I finished my two socks.

I tried the first on.  It was heaven.  It was orgasmic.  I will never knit anything but socks again, until I can assure my feet will always be covered by socks as comfortable and squishy as these comfortable, squishy socks.

The second one...

I was not so lucky.

I don't know what went wrong.  I pulled, I tugged, I cried and prayed.  I felt like Cinderella's ugly step sister, desperately wanting the glass slipper to fit on my feet so I could go back to the prince's castle and live happily ever after.  No dice.  This sock was NOT coming on.

So, another knitting mystery to solve.  The socks were the same stitches, same width and length, same gauge.  I washed the good sock and pressed it flat to block (or something like it, I don't have sock blockers.)

And the other was punished severely.

Then, I went on a road trip, ate Stewart's Ice Cream for the first time, came home, and tried my socks on.

Apparently the bad sock learned its lesson in time out, because it slipped on.  It looks a little baggy, though, but oh well.  Viva la new socks!

Oh, and thanks a lot to Kathy and Emily for helping me solve my yarn mystery! I couldn't reply to your comment via email, so I thought I'd call you out in a post :)