Category Archives: Knit

Please Get Permission….

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I have put several free patterns that were created by me  up on this site.  They were uploaded with the thought in mind that others j0210200might like to use them.  If they are  used  for personal use… that’s great.  If they are  used  to sell the products ..well… I hope  millions are made,  all the kids are sent to college and that 4th house in Tuscany is available to be bought.  The fact is that those patterns were done easily by me.  I did not have to take a lot of notes, work out all the sizes and combinations that would work for everyone in the universe.  

I put links up to many free patterns.  I do this because I feel that if I enjoy these patterns then my readers will probably enjoy them also.  I have blogged about this before….. These patterns are put out there for our enjoyment.  Some of them are copyrighted.  Some may not be formally copyrighted, but there is such thing as Creative Commons.   If a person feels that they want to use a pattern for profit of any kind…. PLEASE BE SURE TO GET PERMISSION FROM THE CREATOR!   Just because there is  a link to a pattern or a site and the word “free” is used does not mean that it is free for commercial manufacture.  The owner of this site cannot give you permission to use the pattern for profit.  Only the creator can do that. 

It is too sad that the reason for this post is misuse of one of the most popular patterns that is linked to here on Fabric Follies Two.

NanoEffects…. Free Knitting Patterns

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MerinoSilk5050082009It’s been a busy week around here. What with trips around Texas and Oklahoma, there has been little time for anything other than enjoying the pleasure of visiting with our son and daughter in law. Since they live way up North in “Cold Country”, they are the recipient of most of the knitted wool things that I have made recently. And bless their hearts..lol..they have not complained at all about those little puckers or points on things as I have tried to learn how to end a fingertip or do Fair Isle.

While they were here I finished spinning the silk that had been on the spinning wheel for a while.  It was then plied with some Merino that had previously been spun and had been waiting patiently on the lazy kate.  This was my first experience with the silk/merino separate plying.  I love it.  The softness and sheen are out of this world. 

Nanoeffects… this is where I will go to find a pattern to knit this up.  Love this site… Give it a once over… you’ll love it too…

Free Knitting Patterns by Kathy North

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My daughter called yesterday.  Her first grandbaby is on the way thanks to her knitneedleyarnballDH’s son who lives in Montana.  I had to smile.  (Remember when you discovered for the first time that you were gonna be a Grandma?  I do. ) I tried to slide right past the fact that if she becomes Grandma…what does that make me?  lol  Well, we’ll continue to slide right past that one.. ;o)

I was doing a little googling this morning and came across some really lovely free knitting and crochet patterns by Kathy North at Designs by Kathy North .

I fell in love with the Ruffled Lace Christmas Stocking and the Rippling Waves Baby Blanket.   While I will probably be teaching her the knit and purl stitches soon, I think I will save these two patterns for myself….lol

Have a look…

Wonderful Vacation…Grandma’s Spinning Wheel in Tucson, AZ

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We are home at last from two weeks of vacation.  Tired and happy.  We got to see that wonderful new grandbaby, Hannah, and what a little beauty she is… ChuckHannah2062009

Of course there is no way I could be a bit prejudiced…lol … but I truly believe she is the most lovely little girl since my own little lovely daughter.. who is still lovely after 4 grown sons!  

On our way through Arizona we stayed at Best Western Motels (NAYY) and guess what!??  You can earn points that make the prices cheaper for later stays… and the last room we stayed in was a suite.. for the price of just a regular room.. that was great!  And again… NAYY.  I just thought I would pass that bit of info on for anyone else who is planning a vacation… Check your favorite  motels and hotels out… they may offer the same savings…

I found a website online for a fiber, yarn and spinning wheel studio in Tucson, AZ.  We stopped and I was soooo tickled to get to meet another spinner.   

DonnaGrandma'sTucson2009

Meet Donna…of Grandma’s Spinning Wheel  in Tucson, Arizona.  She has been a spinner since the ’70s when the only thing around that talked about spinning was the magazine Spin Off.  For someone like me who spins because I love it, I found it amazing that she was a professional spinner who could spin a pound of wool in an hour! She took the time to show me the joys of spinning on several different kinds of spinning wheels. 

 One was a Majacraft…

LindaDonnaSpinning

This  was a great little wheel that would be wonderful for someone in a small apartment or house.  It doesn’t take up much space and boy! does it spin.  It has double treadles.. and that was new to me since my Kromski Prelude is a single treadle.  I really enjoyed the flyer on this little wheel.  It does not have hooks for your yarn.  Instead, it has a small curly-cue of wire that you hook your yarn through and when you want to move down your bobbin, you just press the two sides together and move it.  This gives you infinite moves to fill the bobbin  instead of the designated moves of the hooks.  Makes for smoother bobbin fill and more yards per bobbin…hmm

This is the Ashford Elizabeth.  

LindaSpinningAshford

 What a beauty!  Since I am accustomed to a single treadle, I really liked the large treadle on this wheel.  I suppose you could use both feet on it if you like.  I did find that it was a little stiffer to treadle than my Prelude, but in all fairness, Donna told me that I may have to fiddle with the tension a bit.  I could sure get used to seeing this lovely in my den..lol   Love the look of this wheel!

And now… my favorite of all… the Kromski Sonata…

LindaSpinningSonataTucson2009

This wheel also has the double treadles.  Donna had to remind me a bit to slow down my treadling.  But once I got the hang of it, boy was it smooth.  The treadles were smooth and easy … no stiffness,  hanging up or bobbing … great!  I have not wanted a castle style wheel until now.  I am thinking this will be my next wheel! 

There was such a selection of fibers! 

MerinoSilkTucson

I had a really hard time deciding which ones I wanted…lol  I finally decided on this beautiful merino/silk.  I’m sure you notice in the pic that I couldn’t wait to try spinning it…soooo… I had my son that lives in Mesa, AZ  dig around and find the spindle I made and sent to him..then I stole it..lol  (With a promise to send him another one!)   This stuff spins like a dream!  I think I have enough to spin up some almost gossamer weight that I will knit into a shawl.  I can hardly wait… (And yes… I am having a hard time keeping myself from knitting… I think I may have to just live with the discomfort in my wrist and arm…sigh) 

Did I tell you that Donna is a weaver too?

BoatShuttle2009

  With a Rigid Heddle Loom…  ;o)   She had a jacket on her loom when we were there…what a beauty.   Watching her was a definite inspiration.  So… I bought a new boat shuttle.  She said it makes weaving  much easier.  I have not had time to try it yet, but you can bet I will in the next few days.. ;o) 

The time to leave came wayyy too soon…

GrandmasSpinningTucson

I must apologize since I seem to have lost the card they gave me that has both their names on it… I showed it to so many people that I’m sure I have left it somewhere…sigh  Oh well… maybe they will stop in when they are in Tucson!  ;o) 

This was such a lovely place… warm, friendly and welcoming.  I was invited back for the Spin-In they have every Thursday and I had planned to stop on the way back home….but I think my sweet DH was really ready to start home and make some time, so on we came.  But you can bet that next time we are in Tuscon I will plan for it to be on a Thursday…lol

 

 

 

 

   

New Wool… at last… (free scarf pattern)

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We made a trip to Durant yesterday and replenished the wool supply.  I loveOzarkMillsWool to go to Ozark Carding Mills, LLC … the only problem is that I can spend us into bankruptcy in just a few minutes…lol 

The cotton in the upper left of the picture is just a small sample she gave to see if I liked to spin it.  She said it is much easier to spin in this form than the cotton balls that I have tried before.   As luck would have it, she still had some of the chocolate (she calls it moorit) merino lamb.. yayyy   This time I also bought some merino white.  There are no plans for any of this right now, but I thought I might try to blend some of the silk with the merino white… 8 oz white merino with 2 oz. silk.  I think that would make a terrific scarf in whatever color it decided it wanted to be.  Maybe even a small shawl. 

CotswoldSpinningBefore I took the above picture I had already pulled the Cotswold out of the bag.  This is the first time I have done Cotswold and find it relatively easy to spin.  This has rug planning written all over it.  This is definitely NOT for use against the skin.  I suppose it could be used for an over-the-clothes sweater, but the wrist and neck might be a bit scratchy.  Anyway.. we’ll see what it turns out to be. 

LinhsIvyScarf2

I’m afraid the Linh’s Ivy Scarf will have to be put on hold indefinitely.  My right hand and arm have developed something quite painful… I think it is a combination of the constant computer use and the small knitting needles… We are no longer doing the LRRP Ranger Association newsletter so that should help some.   I have decided to put all the small needle knitting aside until I see for sure what is happening.  Sure hate this… I was really looking forward to seeing this finished… hand spun wool plyed with polyester machine embroidery thread (very shiny)… (This pattern was found via Ravelry… one of my favorite places on the web… ;o)

HandknittedWashcloths

 

Using the size 10 knitting needles to do these two cotton wash cloths didn’t seem to hurt my hand as much as the smaller needles did, but can’t honestly say it was painless… sigh..  Oh well.. will just have to leave the knitting alone for a while. 

 

Flax2ply

 

This flax was removed from my spinning wheel so I could begin the Cotswold.  There isn’t much of it, but I find that spinning flax is just not my thing right now.  This is very stiff and I am thinking that is because it needs to be woven and then finished with a hot water wash.  I think I will make a bookmark on my small loom and see how it turns out.  I don’t know if tea or coffee will dye it, but I’m sure going to try it….

 

It’s a lovely day outside today… sunny and green… what a lovely Sunday… Hope everyone has a good day…

Hand Made Heddle, Shuttle and Turtleneck Cozy

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I started working on this last week sometime.  I don’t know why I decided to do this, but for some reason I just found it necessary…lol  So while at Lowe’s with DH one day I picked up a 1/4 “x6″x24″  piece of poplar and decided to give it a shot.   I love it… However… immediately after this picture was taken I sat down to work with it again and dropped the shuttle… Voila!  swoosh to a new 2 long prong, 2 short prong shuttle…lol   The tiles on the floor are a little hard on shuttle prongs… I found that it works wonderfully well but will have to make me an inkle loom now.  I have caught the woodworking bug!  More pictures of the process at my Flickr site here…

I am in a Tea group on Ravelry and everyone is making a cozy for their teapot.  This is what I came up with.  A turtleneck….lol  The turtleneck is handspun, kool aid dyed mixed wool.  The body is hand spun, kool aid dyed mixed wool/alpaca.   It’s made to fit my favorite teapot and the necklace was handcarved for me by my uncle…  All in all.. I love it…  ;o)

Weaving, Card Weaving, Naalbinding and Knitting…Busy, Busy

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bluecottonrunnerI finished the blue cotton weaving I did as place mats and  decided that I like it better as a runner.   I didn’t wash it in the washing machine, but I did handwash it in very hot water and soap, wringing it out before hanging it on the line.  It did shrink a little… which is good… it needed a little fulling to tighten the weave a bit.  It did not shrink excessively and it did not fade.  The colors did not run.  I had read in one of the forums that Lily’s Sugar and Cream  yarns were very bad about both..shrinking and having the colors fade and run… Not so in this case…

naalbindlacescarf21

I am still working on this scarf… just not very quickly…lol  I’m not quite sure where I want to go with it and with naalbinding you can’t just pull out the stitches and start again from a certain point.   Naalbinding backwards to remove the stitches is not my favorite thing..lol   Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing if this turns into a real scarf or a skinny minny because I am too afraid to mess it up… ;o)

ezpishawl304282009

The EZ Pi Shawl is what I work on while watching television at night.  It is growing ever so slowly now that the each row is 624 stitches.  I finally used the last of the first ball of mixed wool singles.  These last 2 balls did not dye quite as dark as the first one so I will have to re-dye the entire thing when I am finished. In the mean time, I am excited to see it growing and wondering  how far this ball will go. 

cardweaving20092

This card weaving was started yesterday.  The story behind this is… I am forever leaving my purse  somewhere..usually miles away before I miss it.  Not good…

After looking into wrist wallets I have decided to make my own.  That’s where this comes in.. as the wrist band to hold it on if I decide to make one that will fit like a wrist watch and have the wallet dangle.   I am not very good at card weaving yet, but I guess it’s like most things…with a little practice I will figure out how to remember which direction I am turning the cards..lol  And the edges… well we won’t discuss that at this stage.. But I do like how it is turning out even with thecardweaving20091 imperfections.  I find card weaving to be completely fascinating.  And the strength of this band is amazing.  I am using a red and a variegated green crochet cotton #10 thread for this and I truly believe this could be used as reins for horses or even saddle straps.  I don’t think there is anything that could break this band.  Amazing.  And from cards cut from cereal boxes and a bit of string… wow…

Resourse of Sheep Breeds and Their Wool

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AUS048

 

In one of my spindling groups today,  a url was brought up that I found so very helpful I thought I would share with everyone.  This information came together in the form of a swap done in 1995 by several spinners who worked with the individual wools and sent info and samples to everyone else in the swap.  What a labor of  love!  I don’t know who they all were or I would acknowledge them. Here is the url…

http://web.archive.org/web/20080108071647/http://www.sdcwg.org/notebooks/sbs.html#meist

Have a look…

Spindle Spinning Class..coming up fast!

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spindling-tutorial-035Next Saturday will be my first Spindle Spinning Class.  It starts at 9:30am at the Red River Museum here in Sherman, TX.  Ask me if I’m nervous!  lol  I will still be working on tweaking the booklet on the night before the class!  Maybe it will go good… we’ll see…

 

 

teapotcozyI think I have finally figured out the Brioche Stitch.  I did this teapot cozy as a rectangle and then sewed the edges together.  It is a very stretchy stitch and I still have trouble with the ends.. I had to use a 3 stitch garter stitch edging, so looks like I still need to watch a few more videos..lol  But I love the way it looks and knits up. 

This is the video I watched more than any other in my efforts to learn this stitch.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEiKRKSJ4pk