~Ah, FO Friday and The Ribbit Hat is off the needles and on my son’s head. The yarn was Knitpick’s Bare fingerling which was dyed to my son’s color specifications. When I saw the finished yarn hanging to dry and while winding it, I HATED the color. Not wanting a solid color, I twisted the yarn and put into the dye pot dry. When I started knitting with it, I loved the yarn AND the color. Go figure. As it’s knitted, the color looks so rich. The pattern is Perfect Reversible Watch Cap by Nancy Elizabeth Designs. Super simple, just remember it’s k1, p1 around, not k around. Sigh….. I’m not a member of The House of Manatee and this got a bit boring, but the double decrease made this The House of Monkey member happy since I’d never used this method before. Double Decrease: (slip next 2 stitches together knitwise, knit the third stitch, pass the 2 slipped stitches over). Ta Da, let me present The Ribbit hat!
The Ribbit Hat
For other wonderful FO visit Tami’s Amis blog. And, Ginny’s Yarn Along.
~Finished Object. Hand spun BFL Jazz and plied with handspun brown Shetland. Super yum skein. Now I have one more skein to go; BFL is spun and on bobbin waiting to ply with Shetland. I’m thinking of knitting a hitchhiker.
BFL Meets Shetland
~Except for skydiving and other physical activities of that genre, I’ve never kept myself from trying something because I was afraid to fail. In elementary school, I can vividly remember a story about Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb. When a boy asked him if he felt as if he were a failure because he had tried so many times to invent a lightbulb that worked Edison replied, “Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” That story has stuck with me my entire life. I was also raised in a family where we were encouraged to try “things”. My sisters and I were never told we couldn’t do something because we were girls.
As a result, unless it’s dangerous, I’ve never let the fear of failure stand in my way of learning or trying a new skill, pattern, etc. As with Thomas Edison, I have found techniques that don’t work, so I try something else. With my optimistic mindset, I bought the Effie and Ollie elephant pattern by Heather Bailey. Daughter Em loves elephants and this pattern would make perfect “baby blocks” for the new grandson, who will be born in September. I have to admit it, I may have found my Waterloo. My mind may be young and eager, but the hands not-so-much. Arthritis in the right hand and nerve damage to two fingers of the left hand have made sewing tiny objects rather difficult. Oh, to go back in time to when this would have been a moot point and sewing this little elephant a cinch. Tiny tail frustrations, after the third try I did my own thing ala Thomas Edison I learned what wouldn’t work. Then there is the super, tiny trunk. No way could I get that trimmed and turned right-side-out and have it look right. Poor little trunk twists off to the left. Lastly, clipping the seams all around and getting it ready to stuff. What’s that I see? A hole in the legs where stitching should have been? Did these old eyes not see the seam and clip through it? I can hear our mom now, “Be careful when clipping the seams, don’t get too close or you’ll clip right through the stitching.” Well mom, I can hear your warning, but either bad light or bad hands, I clipped through. Little elephant projectile across the room. I’m amazed at how something so light could actually make it across the room. Stomping down the stairs from my studio ensued. I don’t get frustrated very often, but when I do it really upsets the Hubs, he’s not used to it and doesn’t quite know what to do. It’s been two days, I’ve had time to cool down.
Effie Elephant
This is NOT a failure, it’s just lessons learned:
- Trying to pull an 1/4 inch width tail right-side will not work for me, even using the cord-sewn-in-the-seam method to try and pull it. (Another tip from my mom. She’s is/was a fabulous seamstress.) A wider width worked, as well as a folded tail. I like the folded tail best.
- Next time I need to clip seams, bring the elephant outside. The light is bright enough out there for me to see the seams properly. Besides, it’s always nice to get outside.
- Most of the elephant was easy to do, remember this and when frustrated don’t spend an hour getting really worked up. Put the item down and go do something else.
So thank you Thomas Edison, again your words ring in my ears and I’ll be back to try Effie and Ollie. “Success is almost in my grasp.”
~Ah…… So soft on the hands, Shetland fiber. And, I thought BFL was soft. I’ve found a new fiber to love. I purchased this gorgeous Shetland from Paradise Fibers when they had a sale. One of the women in the spinning class recommended it. This is such a super soft fiber! After spinning Western Sky Knits’ BFL Jazz I decided I wanted to ply it with a brown colored fiber. I pulled out the Shetland and think this will be a perfect match.
Shetland and BFL
~It finished! The Capriole Shawlette by Rachel Henry. The particulars can be found on my Ravelry project page. There has been much discussion about poorly written patterns in blogland lately, but I’m happy to report that this was one of the best-written patterns I’ve ever follow. Knitters are warned ahead of time which rows don’t follow the markers and in which directions the markers will be moved and replaced. Without further ado, here’s Capriole being blocked. I should have used wires along the sides. The spruce color turned out perfectly beautiful for the pattern. My confession is that I’m not sure what to do with it. I don’t really wear shawlettes. Remember, as a process knitter I love the knitting I just usually knit items to give away. 
The Hubs doesn’t think it would do him justice, even though greenish colors always bring out the green in his eyes.
Capriole Shawlette
As a special perk for anyone who finished Capriole by April 30 and posted a picture both in Raverly projects and in the group, they receive their choice of a free Rachel Henry pattern. I happened to have had Courbette in my queue for awhile so I snatched it up. I think it’s perfect for the bits of stash left over. It is knit in four different sections, although the sections are knit together and not sewn. You can see two of the sections here.
Courbette by Rachel Henry
Please visit Karen at Sweaty Knitter for How Not To Write Instructions. In fact, she has an entire series on how to write good knitting patterns.
FO Friday to get to Tamis Amis to check out other FO.
~ Reaching for the project bag with the Frogged Hat (new name) last night I noticed something and started laughing. Can you see what I was laughing at? Notice the monkey project bag I had already made for myself ( I made one for Curls also) and blogged about last October! The proof is in the project bag! Curls and I are members of The Monkey House!
Monkey Project Bag caught my eye.
October Project Bags
Frogging Time
Frogging Time
(Sung to Crying Time)
Oh, It’s frogging time again, I can’t believe it.
I kept knitting round and round, when I should have be purling.
And now it’s all about frogging time.
Oh, the patterns is so very easy, knit, purl, knit purl all around.
But I got so busy talking and a yaking, that I kept on knitting all around.
And now it’s all about frogging time.
Oh, I knit a hundred fifty stitches a row, for 5 row.
That’s seven hundred fifty stitches to frog, and I started cussin’
And now it’s all about frogging time.
Took the picture after frogging 3 rows. Then I found a partial row where I knit every stitch instead of knit, purl, knit, purl. Really, who does that? This is not a fancy yarn over, skk, etc. If this hat weren’t for my son I’d dump it! LOL!
Don’t forget WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along. See what other great projects are out there.
