AnnapolisKnits Paints the AA County Fair BLUE!

Between Lori, Marseille, Genia, and I, I counted 15 blue ribbons. Our Borders knitting group, AnnapolisKnits on Ravelry, certainly cleaned up!

Here's how I did at the County Fair.  Keep in mind that I learned to knit on December 30, 2009.

3rd Place: Knit Dishcloth

Lily Sugar’n Cream Stripes in colorway 1008, a self-striping cotton yarn, was used to make this Scallops Dishcloth #009 by Love 2 Knit. The striping helps to define the waves in the cloth, created by the use of yarn-overs and knitting stitches together. These hand-knit dishcloths are workhorses in the kitchen and bathroom; they don’t wear out easily.
100% Cotton in Worsted weight

1st Place: Knit Sweater
 
This Completely Reversible Shrug is an original design. The stitch pattern was created by GeniaP for a yarn I wanted to use. She told me how many stitches to cast on and how many rows to knit before beginning the 4-row lace pattern. I knit the stitch pattern, increasing and decreasing to fit me, folded it in half and ran a seam up to about the elbow.  This is the result. There is NO wrong way to wear this shrug.Wrong-side, right-side, top, or bottom, it fits the same whichever way you put it on! This particular shrug is my silk version, the original having been knit with a wool/bamboo blend. The yarn is HipKnits Silk Aran in the Seaweed colorway. 100% Silk in Aran weight

1st Place: Miscellaneous Knit Item
 
This Basket Whip Cowl is a modified version of the Fresco Basket Whip Cowl pattern by Laura Patterson. To create enough length to cover from the top of thehead past the nape of the neck, I knit 4 repeats of the 28-row lace pattern, instead of the 3½ repeats the designer calls for. I further modified the pattern by using Schaefer Yarn Company Heather, which was not the yarn the designer used. The Cowl can be worn either as a simple neck-warmer, or it can be pulled over the head as a hood and still cover the neck in cold weather.
55% Merino, 30% Silk, 15% Nylon in Fingering weight

No ribbon, but 3 of my friends placed in the Adult Shawl class.
 
This One-Skein Shawl by Clara Parkes was the very first shawl I ever knit. I used a gorgeous skein of Tess’ Designer Yarns Super Socks & Baby to create it. The yarn was just too pretty to make socks with it. The shawl is knit from the neck down. I increased to 120 stitches per side before starting the border. Because I was nowhere close to running out of yarn, I also did 5 repeats of the border. It’s a great shawl for summer evenings.
80% Wool, 20% Nylon in Fingering weight

1st Place: Knit Hat (Adult)

The Shepherd Bulky Rainbow Hat by Bobbe Morris was knit with Cascade Yarns Lana Bambu in colorway 07. This was a fun design to knit and used yarn left over from another project. This hat is knit flat and then seamed.
79% Wool, 21% Bamboo in Worsted weight

1st Place: Felted Accessory
 
The Fuchsia Felted Bowl is a cute little accessory that can decorate any home. This Bowl was knitted using Cascade Yarns 220 Heathers in the Teal Heather colorway, No. 2434. The completed project was then washed in hot water to create the felted effect. The holes around the rim were made simply by twisting the cast-on stitches before continuing to knit.
100% Merino in Worsted Weight

2nd Place: Adult Scarf

Linda O'Leary’s Waterfall Scarf was knit using Neighborhood Fiber Co. Penthouse Spun Silk in the Cleveland Park colorway. The “waterfall” effect is achieved by knitting every 4th stitch in the bind-off process so that the knit stitches drop once the project is removed from the needles.
100% Silk yarn in Aran weight

2nd Place: Knit Tote Bag

I modified the Sunshine String Bag pattern by Elizabeth Moreno to create straps rather than handles, so the bag can be carried over a shoulder. The yarn is Aslan Trends Pima Clasico Cotton in natural and pink colorways. The bag is knitted from the top down, and a cable cast-on is used to “fill in” the gap between the handle ends once those stitches are cast off to create the handles themselves.
100% Cotton in Worsted weight

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to Crossed Purposes.  Not only to my readers, but also to me. Since I've been gone so long, I'm going to write shortly about lots of different things.  I will be writing on a more regular basis, though, as I have a De-Stress assignment for one of my classes and I've chosen to write as my new de-stressing activity.  Blogging has the added bonus of getting back in touch with you, my neglected readers.

College
I can't believe summer is unofficially over. I started my third semester of college courses this past Monday.  Unlike the Spring semester, where I masochistically took College Algebra and English Composition & Literature at the same time, the Fall semester will have a much slower pace.  Women's Health Issues and US Women's History are both courses with minimal homework and fun class time.  Oceanography will take more studying and homework time, but it's a physical science course that I need to get my Associates degree.

Chet's Protege
As those who read my previous post know, Chet passed away on June 19. I still miss him, but he remains with me in the most important way. Kasey and I went to visit a fun pet boutique in West Annapolis shortly after Chet died, only to find Woofs & Whiskers was closing its doors to allow the owner to pursue other opportunities.  Everything was 60% off and I picked up this little guy.

I've named him Beetle-Bug, after You-Know-Who, and he sits on the bookcase in my bedroom keeping watch over me and Kasey. He's a Webkinz, but I haven't bothered to go to the website to register him.  I always think of my Chetter-Bug when I see Beetle; he makes me smile. 

 Ravelry & Knitting
To my cross-stitch and needlepoint friends, no, I have not picked up my needles since last October.  Or, rather, I have a new type of needles! I learned to knit on December 30th of last year and have been going gangbusters with my new yarn addiction.  The County Fair is two weeks away and I've been knitting up a storm.  I finished two small projects this weekend and have a shawl on my knitting needles.

< If you knit or crochet and don't know about Ravelry.com, you need to go there! I'm warning you, though: It's ADDICTIVE.  I take no responsibility if you stop playing FarmVille or Mafia Wars and hang out on Ravelry all day. There are thousands of free patterns, discussion forums, and groups that cover every topic (Proof: I belong to Grammar Nerds, NCIS, Golden Lovers, and Child-Free by Choice, just to name a few).  All of my knitting projects are listed there, with project details and pictures.  It's a very helpful tool for tracking my stash and noting what I like/don't like about patterns and yarns.

This is what I've been up to with my new needles:

 These are my first two knitting projects, scarves for Anna & Caleb

I used the leftover yarn from my 4th project, a shrug, to make this hat. It's my 2nd project that has cables.


This cute little bowl was a quick knit. I started it Friday night and finished it in a few hours. I only made it, though, because there's a Felted Basket category at the County Fair.


This is my silk shrug. A friend wrote an easy pattern for me to make a warm shrug from some gorgeous yarn I purchased. The wool/bamboo blend is very warm, so this version, done in silk was supposed to be my warm-weather shrug. Who knew an open weave done with silk would be just as warm as the wool blend? I still love wearing it, although it's now put away until Fair entry drop-off. I don't want anything happening to it between now and then.


My youngest brother, Ben, is modeling my Basket Whip Cowl and making faces at me. Anna and Bre saw this and now they both want one. I have to find the right pink yarn for Anna's. Bre is a bit easier; I have her favorite colors in my stash already.


I'm entering my Summer Shawl in the Child's Shawl category only because it turned out smaller than I'd hoped. I later found out that it has a tighter weave because I twisted the purled stitches. It gives the fabric a very pleasing texture, but doesn't stretch as much. It's made with sock-weight yarn, so maybe that's a good thing.


The Lucy Bag was my 3rd knitting project. This was the reason I wanted to learn to knit in the first place. Several ladies in the knitting groups I stitched with had these bags and I wanted one. After knitting it, the bag is washed in hot water to felt the wool. I'm also in the process of making a felted backpack.


I can't wait to see Grandma's face when she gets this scarf. The yarn it's made from, Penthouse Spun Silk by Neighborhood Fiber Co. is my favorite yarn. See? My fiber addiction hasn't changed much. I'm still a sucker for hand-dyed silk! The scarf is about 6' long and the close-up shows the stitch definition.


This last picture is my Cinderella Cotton Slipper. I call it that because it has thwarted all my efforts to knit a mate for it. I have tried about 8 times and end up with too many stitches on my needles every time. I don't know why I'm having such difficulty when the first one was so easy, but I will get back to it at some point.



Life in General
Kasey and I are adapting to apartment life. Believe it or not, we're still not settled in 100%. I'm contemplating another rearrangement of the living room furniture.  Most importantly, though, Uncle Wes & Mom put the house on the market this week.  It saddens me that property taxes are forcing the sale of a home that's been in our family for over 60 years. Nana & PopPop paid $1,250 for 2 acres on the water in 1946, when only "river rats" lived on the water. Today, now that every yuppie in Anne Arundel County wants waterfront property, its assessed value is $1.6 million, but it is on the market for $685,000.  Talk about over-inflation!  Sooner or later, I have to get the rest of my belongings out of the house. Right now, though, I have nowhere to put them. I'm still looking for an affordable storage unit in the area.

Oh, yes, Kasey Kay.  You all want to hear what my Punkin' Head has been up to, don't you?   Well, on May 1st she proved what an awesome Golden girl she is by earning her AKC Canine Good Citizen title on her first try! She's now, officially, "Kasey Kay, CGC."

She still only gets groomed by Mike at the Muddy Paw Wash (Bark 'n Bean). We go the first week of every month, since she's out and about with me all the time.  I have to call ahead to make sure he'll be there because Kasey misbehaves for everyone else.  Don't believe me?  Well, she sits down at every opportunity, turns around when they don't want her to, and spooks at the drier.  She's not bad, but it's very irritating.  She's hilarious when Mike grooms her, though.  She stands like a pro and stays on the grooming table to be dried, but, if he walks away for a split second or doesn't pet her enough while she's being dried, she barks at him!  She's a demanding little wench, I tell ya!

It's time for bed here, as tomorrow is an early day. Not only do I have to be at dialysis before my usual time, but I have another appointment in the morning.

Sweet dreams & I'll be writing again soon.

Fair Week in Anne Arundel County, September 13-20

While I was cleaning my living room last weekend, I ran across the catalog for the Anne Arundel County Fair. I knew it was around the 16th because it's always close to Mom's birthday. I wanted to check when entry drop-offs were because I planned to enter my stitcher's book, A Stitcher's Companion. Lo and behold! Entries were Sunday and Monday, and it was already Sunday night by that point.

First thing Monday morning, I went to the County Fairgrounds in Crownsville to enter ASC in the Needlearts competition. The lady who took my entry wasn't happy that the only category ASC would fit was Miscellaneous. She thought, it was such a wide category, my book wouldn't stand out.

BUT IT DID! With my very first entry into any kind of judged competition, A Stitcher's Companion won FIRST in the Miscellaneous class and CHAMPION of its division! Carol called me Wednesday night to let me know. I couldn't help shrieking and jumping up and down. While I didn't get best in show, the BIS winner was richly deserved, a very pretty sweater. Now the joke is that my prize is $5. That's what it cost to get into the fair, so I broke even.