Stormy Weather fronts and Periscope Experiment

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Woohoo!  I took advantage of Tom’s being on vacation and we got busy on the Stormy Weather fronts and Periscope Experiment. Sooooo, a stumbling block has been surpassed. Two blocks, actually . . .

  1. Stormy Weather progress is being made, I knit the Stormy Weather fronts after knitting the back in September 2014!
  2. Videotaping has commenced, and we live broadcasted as a periscope experiment. I haven’t watched the replays, but Tom said he stuck his head in there a few times while I was busy. That Guy!

What is Stormy Weather?

Published in Knit ‘N Style February 2014 – #189, the Stormy Weather Tunic Hoodie is designed by Mary Anne Oger. It is knit in Linen Concerto, which has the appearance of being hand-dyed. What makes the design unique is it is knit sideways.  Mary Anne takes special care when designing so the colors match up at the shoulder seam. In other words, when Mary Anne says to do something, there is a reason to do it and don’t ignore her advice like I did. You may want to take a moment and read through Mary Anne’s hints on her blog, Needles To Say. So much good machine knitting info and inspiration there.

My colors don’t match at the shoulder seam. I didn’t care when I started knitting it, but now? Back in September 2014 when I started this project and knit a size too small, I blogged about a group knitting session and I asked the question:  Do you find you have to tear out after group knitting session, hand or machine?

The Yarn — Linen Concerto

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Contents: 48% Rayon, 42% Linen, 10% Cotton / Machine Wash & Dry
Gauge: 5.5 sts = 1″/US 5 needle
Yardage: 101 yards
Weight(s): DK
Put Up: 10 x 50g ball
Collection/Brand: Plymouth Brand Italian Collection

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 If you would like to knit this project, please email me directly and we’ll get you set up.

What is Periscope

Periscope is a way to video stream something immediately and it is saved for 24 hours viewing in the app for later. It was so much fun!! The problem I found that I want to use it as a streaming class mechanism and it is a two-man operation. Here’s the Katch.me Collection for the right front, left front, and shoulder seam [which I’m going to redo, the shoulder seam only, not the knitting]. But I’m debating: mattress stitch by hand or seam on the machine?? I LOVE mattress stitching by hand!!! What would you do?

ClubKnit Update

Finally, I’m moving along on the clubknit.knittingtoday.com knitalong pages. And the subscriber dashboards are coming together in my head. We’re going to go ahead and launch a new knitalong, the Mystery Yarn Club, within the next couple of days. Let me just suggest, if you haven’t already, that you join as a Beta-Subscriber. It is only $50 and they will get not only first dibs on the club, but they will get no less than $32.75 value by already being a part of that exclusive Subscriber membership. That’s a huge savings over the course of the year and a couple of projects.

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Back to knitting . . . Lea-Ann

P.S. Don’t forget to reply and let me know what you think about tearing back or not after group knitting sessions!!!

Dancing Stripes, UFO

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Unfinished Object (UFO)

Friday’s are supposed to celebrate those finished objects everyone has been working so hard on. But, in reality, I have not taken the time to reach out and ask anyone to share. So instead, I pulled a bag off my shelf and decided to see what has been holding me up on that project. This project, Dancing Stripes, had a program schedule in it for my niece’s 2007 bible quiz bowl meet. Wow! A project that has sat on my shelf for about ten years. Is this my oldest UFO? Hmmm. A topic for another time.

dancing-stripes-redo

Why the UFO status?

I love the yarn. Fingering weight New England Shetland wool from Harrisville designs.

I love the colors. Signature colors by Vivian Hoxbro. The depth of the shades just call to me. Melon, purple haze, peacock, grass, mustard, and BlackBerry (not pictured). Oh I wish my photography skills could show you the blend of blue and green colors in that peacock or the orange and yellow in mustard.

Harrisville Wool New England Shetland

And, finally, I love the stitch pattern too! Fringes followed alongside short row garter stitch creating a zig zag pattern that is so easy to zen out to.

What I don’t love? The design. Sorry, Vivian, but the way those zig zags point to middle horizontally just makes me cringe. Thus the ufo status.

dancing-stripes-patt

Dancing Stripes Repurposed

So I’m thinking about different options for what I can do with this project. A felted piece? A bag? Table runner? No….

Take a look at the UFO picture again and compare it to the pattern photo. The fringe is on the side, not the bottom. And the stripes point down, not sideways. And the length of that peice is the length I like for a cardigan. Soooo. What happens if I knit this around the body which puts the fringe off-center in an assymetrical look. Somehow I would have to pick up at the top edge to do a yoke of some sort and make it a vest??

Opinions? Other options or ideas? Follow along with this project on my Ravelry page.

Inspiration, Organization, Meetup

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Organization

Today, I find myself organizing books, magazines and leaflets while looking for a pattern I’m really sure I have in my pattern stash. You know, that one you have knit so many times but still want to have the piece of paper to follow along just in case?? After working through the organization of a stack of looseleaf patterns, I can say success! I found it. It’s now sitting on the quilt on the chair and I probably had better put it in my knitting bag before my grandson hits my office and says “I color, Grandma?”

Inspiration

And as I go through each bin, and move things around by category or publisher, I’m reminded of projects I’ve either knit, taught, or want to knit. And I get stressed. Does that ever happen to you? The thought of so many things I have yet to accomplish nauseates me. When am i ever going to find a time to sit down and work on these ideas, will I lose them in the shuffle, how will I remember this project in the middle of this book or magazine?

Ahhhh, deep breathe, cup of coffee.

coffee

 

Digital Organizing

Now that I am trying to be more organized in my life (I have no less than five 3-ring binders just of project notes and ideas for ClubKnit), I’ll add my new ideas to my clubKnit Evernote notebook (message me if you want an invite so I can earn points to upgrade to Premium). I love that my notebook goes anywhere I have smart phone or computer access. I take a photo, tag it as “inspiration” and machine or hand, give it a description and record the source and boom, I’m done with that detail and now its off my mind. The next step is to remember to review the notebook when I’m feeling a little stuck for ideas, right?

How do you organize your projects, ideas, and plans??

Meetup Reminder

ClubKnit members, don’t forget to join us for an in-person meet up Friday, February 19 from 2-5 and/or 6-9 and/or Saturday from 10-5. Bring your ClubKnit project, machine or hand, and if you want to do a baby bootie, fingering weight yarn and size 2 set of five double point needles.

I’ll be working on two projects, the Stormy Weather Tunic adapted to a cardigan on the LK-150 and hand knitting Christine’s baby booties for NICU in Fort Wayne.

If you want to know more about ClubKnit, read here. If you aren’t a member, feel free to come and pay $5 at the door. Thanks!!

What are you working on this weekend?

Richard Lee, a very special dad

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Today we gathered to honor the memory of my step-father-in-law, Richard Lee. From the get go, he was definitely dad. He loved us unconditionally, he encouraged us in our faith and prayed with and for us. You knew where you stood with dad, because he made sure he told you straight up what he believed and what the Bible said. I know I will see him in Heaven some day. I can see him dancing and shouting praises. As I take a couple days to be with family, I focus on prayer and praise and thank you all so much for being alongside us. I’ll be back to working on schedule as soon as possible. — Lea-Annrichardlee

 

Harken back to 2002 or 2003

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Today is Throwback Thursday, so I dug through the archives to find some pictures for inspiration. It made me kind of sad looking at the store all full of products and displays, but that’s a story for another time. Today, let’s harken back to the days of my son, Trent, hanging out at the store with me when he’s supposed to be doing his homeschooling and instead is knitting….procrastination at its finest because he knew I would let him get away with it.

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Trent, set up to make his own afghan on the Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine.

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Looks like we had a gathering coming up since there were some other machines, chairs and tables. He’s coming along nicely.

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Such a hard worker. Don’t get too cocky though, Trent!

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See! I told you. With the Bond machines, you have to be careful that the yarn doesn’t come out of the carriage or wrap around the bottom of the green plates that hold the knitting pushed back. Frankly, it’s one of the reasons I prefer knitting on the lk-150 now. Do you have a Bond Incredible Sweater Machine or Ultimate Sweater Machine? Have you added other machines to your “collection?”

Feel Good Delivery, Charity Gift Knitting

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Your wishes Delivered

Many of you know my hubby is a UPS man. I’m real proud of him. He’s worked there almost 30 years and its about time for him to retire. He is currently doing my shipping and receiving, so many of you actually get to see his notes on your invoices. Some days, we talk on his bluetooth while he is delivering and I can tell how much he cares for his customers and treats them well. As do they treat him well. That being said, I was really pleased to see UPS highlight something near and dear to my heart, supporting charity gift knitting. Watch . . . .

So what do you think? Did UPS do a good thing delivering this wish?

Charity Gift Knitting

Do you do charity or gift knitting? Tell me a little about it. Do you use a particular pattern and yarn every time? Or is it more eclectic and you knit whatever comes to mind and in whatever yarn presents itself? Do you have a link to the pattern you can share in the comments?

Pattern Ideas

If you would like to tackle some projects for charity knitting, here is a couple patterns to get you started.

  • Basic Drop Stitch Tube Scarf pattern by Mary Anne Oger suitable for Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine or LK-150 knitting.
  • Judi Gibson’s basic ribbed hat pattern for hand knitters, but could be knit flat and seams for machine knitting.

In the future, we’ll have a place for you to upload these projects. But in the meantime, why not register for the Basic (free) version of ClubKnit and upload your pictures in the Community/Forum area??

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Pages, posts, and confusion?

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Hi everyone, thank you to those who have registered as beta-subscribers for all access to everything behind the scenes. I have so much I want to share with you. If you are not a beta-subscriber and would like to help us out by contributing your time, experience, and save some money, check out the info page here.

I’m in the process of gathering questions to put in the Library. What do you frequently look up on the internet? What question would you like answered? Put your question in the comments.

I’m setting up a page for the Pathways knitalong project. What I have to figure out is how to not only put the forum for the project on that page, but to have my post containing hints & tips filter automatically onto that page. anyone have experience with that? I’m told by a professional it has to do something with a loop and meta info {ugh} — confusion reigns!!! Once I get this working, anyone who bought the kit project will have a link on their dashboard to easily get to the information. Then, I’ll go back and do the Marseille Tee and Stormy Weather.

One year ago today: from Ultimate Knitting Club to ClubKnit for hand and machine knitters

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One year ago, I thought the direction I was taking was a full blown support site for Bond knitting machine owners. When I found out Spinrite had stopped production it was like I’d lost a job. After 24 years of supporting Bond knitters, I no longer had a purpose. But, time and introspection took care of that.

Introducing ClubKnit.KnittingToday.com

Inspiration, Education, and Community for hand and machine knitters. Join the Basic (Free) level here.
Now if I can just get all the bits and pieces of various programs to do their part. The forums, yarn clubs, online classes, and knitalongs. Plus blogging daily. Right now I’m working on the next yarn club, a Sock Yarn Mystery Club. Stayed tuned!!!
Questions? Suggestions? Encouragement? Post a comment.

Working On The Innards

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What’s happening inside the ClubKnit community pages:

As I progress through the building of this community website, i’m first concentrating on two things:

  1. free content and discussion, and
  2. Knitalong (KAL) content and discussion

I actually have three hand knitting projects that I’m knitting on the LK-150 (Stormy Weather, Marseille and Pathways). Initially the discussion and KAL area will reflect these projects.

Free content access:

The free content consists of blog posts as well as a community discussion area in the Forums. It will require you to join ClubKnit and be logged in to see and respond to forum posts. The purpose of doing this is so we can keep as much spam and riff raff out as possible.

Interested? Join here: [register_Basic (free)]

KAL Members content access:

Once you purchase a project from Knitting Today, we’ll add you to the members-only area where you can ask questions and respond to not only blog posts related to the project, but the KAL-specific discussion area in the forum. Once you log in, you’ll have a specialized dashboard that has links specifically to the areas available to you. Of course, you’ll also have access to the general free content areas of the site.

Subscribers (Future) content:

Plans include offering different blog posts such as Monday Motivation, Technique Tuesday, WWW Wednesday, Throwback Thursday and FO Friday. This is an aggressive blog posting schedule for someone (Me, Lea-Ann) who really doesn’t have a history of writing. Bear with me as I work on setting up my work schedule so I can best support you and your knitting projects.

As we develop content, we’ll add classes. For example,

  • Knitting Today News Cable Newsletter
  • Get It Out of the Box for the new and returning LK-150 owner
  • Hints, tips and tricks for the Ultimate Sweater Machine owner
  • basic sweater techniques for hand and machine knitters
  • Cast on Methods for hand and machine knitters

Your feedback is super important so I spend my time and effort on those things most beneficial to you. Please feel free to comment below or in the Free forums once you join. These classes will have a Per Class fee, but we’ll also offer an annual membership option (Subscriber) for extended access and reduced registration costs. There are other goodies we’ll be implementing for those Subscribers like coupons to use when shopping at Knitting Today, in-person events, and additional content access.

I’m really excited to be offering this community to you, my knitters and customers, and hope you’ll look forward as much as I am to joining us online for all of your technical knitting needs.