destiknit™

I have quite a lot to catch up on but the first item to address is the most recent – Plurk.

‘What is Plurk?’

To my surprise, many listeners, readers, Tweeters and Ravelers have asked this question in the past 48 hours.  Plurk is making my networking life a whole lot easier.  From one site, Plurk, I post my updates/comments.  They are streamed over to Twitter and Facebook – no extra entries required!  Some may say, “Um, so what.”  But for me, Plurk has removed the stress of using these great Networking applications/sites because – c’mon – time is limited and valuable!

On to the good stuff:

Dyeing – I joined a Dye -Long and Swap over in the Makin’ Cookies group in Ravelry.  I was assigned to dye a skein of yarn for Debbie, who loves pinks, oranges and teal.  Hmmm…. would these all go together?  I decided to dye a skein in a pink semi-solid colorway.  The result was nice but not at all exciting.  I am guessing Debbie is an exciting person, based on her color preferences.  I then sprinkled orange, yellow and teal dots of color over the now pink-semi skein.

Makin' Cookies DAL

Spinning – I haven’t really been good about spinning these past weeks.  But, I have played with my fiber stash quite a bit.  As mentioned in the , I had ordered a pair of hand combs.  These are my first hand combs, I’ve never touched a pair in my life before they arrived in the mail last week.  I put them to use almost immediately and I just love them!  They are pretty, too.

My New Hand Combs <3

Knitting – After sitting on the needles far too long, I’ve finally finished the Pomatomus for DD.  That’s all I’m saying about that ;)  On to the next pair!

Poms for Z

Felting – After combing some wool, I decided to felt some more as well.  This time, I was going for a lightweight, lacy piece.  The end result, was just what I had been going for.  Next time, I may embed some Angelina or sequins.

Lacy Felt

Crochet – Yes, Crochet!  I’ve finally relaxed and tackled the hook!  DD took this journey with me, though her interest isn’t as high as mine, she felt satisfied after completing a granny square and hasn’t picked up the hook since.  I, on the other hand, have learned a handful of stitches and am now learning to follow a pattern and read the charts.

Crochet Study

Finally, non fiber crafting is always alive and well in our home.  School is out and I have resolved to do at least one craft/activity a week with the kids.  Last week brought a few activities:

We started the week by making Sun Tea.  De-Lish-Us.

Sweet Sun Tea

Then we tackled the Crayon Box.  Let me explain the Crayon Box:  A large packing box where broken, small and unlabeled crayons lay in peace.  We have been adding to this “collection” for  more than 6 years as I just can not seem to throw away what are otherwise, good crayons.  I decided we would give new life to these crayons.

Remembering a failed childhood attempt where my sister and I baked crayons in my Easy Bake Oven.  We thought we would melt down our broken crayons in the mini cake pans and have new, funky crayons.  It didn’t go so well for a few reasons:  the rather high temperature caused an awful smell and lots of smoke in our bedroom and removing the small, hot mini cake pans from the oven without spilling all the super-hot wax proved to be a challenge.

I decided the kids and I would do something similar but much safer and hopefully with better results.  We lined some cupcake tins and added the broken crayons, popped them in a low-temp oven until melted, allowed them to cool and Viola! Cool, funky crayons!

Cool, Funky Crayons

Cool, Funky Crayons

Flash forward to Thursday.  The kids and I went to the store in need of wrapping paper for Father’s Day.  I hate buying wrapping paper – it seems like such a waste of money.  After much conversation with the kids, I remembered a roll of craft paper stored behind a shelf.  We unrolled the paper and took out the new Funky, Cool Crayons and the kids just scribbled away (sitting under crayons above).  Dad agreed, this was the best wrapping paper, ever.

As mentioned in last week’s entry and this week’s podcast, I am planning a Knit Study/Learn Along.  I still am not certain of the actual title but am leaning heavily toward Knit Study.  What do you think?

So you know, I will be playing along with you.  Each week I will announce the new study on the podcast, then post instructions here.  During the week, I will insert photos of my progress and/or instructional info here and in the Destiknit the Podcast Group in Ravelry.

This week will be easy.

1. Gather up some worsted weight yarn and needles in three different sizes.
2. Cast on at least 32 stitches onto the largest needle size, Knit 1.5 to 2 inches (height) in stockinette stitch.
3. Switch to the next size smaller needle, Knit 1.5 to 2 inches in stockinette stitch.
4. Switch to the last set of needles, Knit 1.5 to 2 inches in stockinette stitch, BO.

Now, some of you may ask, “Why am I casting on 32 stitches?  Why not 16-24?”  In my opinion, you should make a swatch larger than 4 inches (10 cm) for several reasons.  The first being your measurement of 4 inches (10 cm) should be taken from the center of your swatch.  By doing this, you have no worries or fussiness of rolling stitches near the selvedges also, stitches nearer the selvedges tend to be tighter.  Another reason for making a larger swatch is to see the true drape in fabric.

The exercise in the study is to note the effects of needle size in gauge and the overall effects of the fabric due to needle size.  I have a reason for this… stick with me here.

(Photo of my finished swatch will be here)

Next, let’s wash our swatch, just as we would wash a finished piece.

(Photo of my swatch being washed will be here)

Block your piece as you normally would.  If you have never blocked a piece before, instructions can be found here.

(Photo of my swatch blocking will be here)

Once your swatch is dry, measure 4 inches (10 cm) from the center of your swatch.  Because we are only knitting 1.5 to 2 inches high, we will not worry too much (at the moment) about row count.

(Photo of my block and gauge measurements will be here)

So, what was the point in this exercise?

(I will answer this question when we are finished) ;)

I was supposed to write this week about my Unst socks the tension project I created for you.  But, I did not get around to it this week :(

I will get it out later in the following week :promise:.

This week, we have something far more exciting – the results of the Prize Drawing!!!  You can listen to the drawing in Destiknit the Podcast, in iTunes and Ravelry or, if you are not so patient (and I really do not blame you!), you can click here to see the results :)

I truly enjoyed organizing this KAL and Prize Drawing.  I learned quite a bit and would love to do this again next year!