Archive for the ‘Tutorials’ Category

Kayaking on Beautiful Lake Huron


14 Aug

Spring came and went. Birds migrated through our area with little or no aplomb. Was this actually the way it happened? Where were the fresh, cool winds? Was there nothing truly exciting during migration season? Did we even have a spring? Last time I really looked it was April and the sun was shining. Now…it’s mid-August and I”m wondering where did the season go?

babies

When our brains are clogged with too many worries and stresses we forget to STOP, and look around. We tend to ignore the small things that give us pleasure. Why do we do this to ourselves? Sometimes we need our friends to give us a good kick in the butt. Thank you! You know who you are. Thank you for the “straight from the shoulder”, “no bs” talk!

Moving on! Over the past few months I have started as many projects as I have frogged. Nothing has really felt “right”. Recently however I cast on some simple, variegated kitchen cotton. First I tried a prayer-type shawl …no not right. Now I’m more than halfway through an old fashioned triangle shawl and it’s beautiful. I think it will also serve well as a beach towel. We’ll see.

shawl

If you want to try an old fashioned triangle shawl here’s the garter stitch pattern. Play around with it, add different types of stitches to have some fun.

Cast on 5 stitches.

Row 1: Knit 1, yarn over, knit 1, yarn over, place marker, knit 1, place marker, yarn over, knit 1, yarn over, knit 1     

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: Knit 1, yarn over, knit to marker, yarn over, slip marker, knit 1, slip marker, yarn over, knit to last stitch, yarn over, knit 1.

Row 4: knit.

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until it’s the size you want.  It’s just that simple.

Kayaking has been great this year. I actually had a chance to yak around Dorcas Bay, near Tobermory. It was beautiful. Northern Lake Huron is so clear.  I could see all the rock at the bottom. Honestly it was like looking at the surface of the moon underwater. As I was paddling I kept seeing two and three Cormorants at a time flying overhead. I kept wondering if I would be lucky enough to find (and smell) a nesting site.

bottom-22

Rounding the point into Johnson’s Harbor I spied a tiny island of rock with small specks of black moving around. The closer I paddled the more certain I was that those specks were Cormorants. Now I was getting excited!

dorcusbay-2

Paddling closer still I was able to clearly see that not only were there Cormorants but Terns and ducks that look similar to Hooded Mergansers! I’m still not sure what they were.  I’ve only ever seen one or two Hooded Mergansers so this was treat!

ducks

Stayed tuned for my next post!  I’ll share with you the reason we were in Tobermory.

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It’s Not Often You Praise a Car Dealership and Custom Pattern Tutorial


03 Feb

I thought today was going to be “one of those days”. My hubby and I had to take our car to the dealership. You know the wait and fear of the unknown when you have to take your car in to the “shop”. We bought the car there in December. It’s used, 2003 Taurus wagon, but a great deal.

The word WARRANTY means different things to many companies. You’re never really sure if it’s to be honored honorably. Sorry…couldn’t resist the play on words. And of course you hope you don’t have to find out. Well we did have to approach them for a few issues. Surprisingly we were very happy with Courtesy Ford’s business ethics.

NO PROBLEM! That’s really what it is like dealing with them. They go the full distance. We have been back to them twice about warranty issues. Not only did they honor the warranty but they were organized, friendly, and fair. THANK YOU Courtesy Ford.

I believe that good old fashioned business ethics should be applauded!

While we were there I worked on my latest project:

This one is my own pattern and I’m loving it! Just a quick tip about photographing your work: I find that turning off your flash and positioning the piece under a light gives you much better detail of your work. The flash, whether using soft or not, obscures the detail of the stitches.

Bascially I wanted my hat and neck warmer to be a set so I incorporated the woven cable into my pattern.

//////00/////////00//00/////////00//00/////////00//00/////////00//00/////////00//00/////////00//////

The line above shows my planning when I cast on my stitches.

/=knit and 0=purl

I know I want six rows of garter stitch to trim the piece and that I want buttonholes so that I can use some funky buttons and not have to pull the neck warmer over my head.

The cable is worked over nine stitches with two purl, two knit, two purl in between the cables.

Again, take the time to knit a swatch. I decided I wanted a tighter material so I used smaller needles, 4.23mm. The swatch told me some vital information:

1. My gauge is 5 stitches per inch or 5sts/inch. This one piece of info helps to me figure out how many stitches to cast on no matter what size needles and wool combination. Basically I can alter any pattern to fit my needs as well as create my own pattern.

2. The tightness of my material. By knitting a swatch I can actually see and feel what type of material I will be making. Now is the time to make changes, NOT halfway through a project.

3. If I am using a variegated wool a swatch will give me a good idea as to how the colors will pool. If I’m not happy with the way they pool then I can switch needles sizes and/or stitches.

4. If you are planning on felting your project pretesting a swatch will give you an excellent gauge as to how much your material will shrink to achieve the feeling you want. Now is the time to rethink your pattern if it’s not what you want.

Alright, I’ll get off my soapbox. I know that I need about 100 stitches cast on because my neck it roughly 16 inches around plus some slack, I chose about four inches. Don’t forget, when making cables your material will pull in. So if I were to write all this info into a pattern it would look like this:

CO 99 sts

Row 1) k
Row 2) p
Repeat Rows 1&2 twice more
Row 7) k6, *p2, k9, p2, k2, repeat from * to last six sts, k6
Row 8] k6, *k2, p9, k2, p2, repeat from * to last six sts, k6
Row 9) k6, *p2, sl 3sts to cable needle, k3, cross cable needle at front of work and k3 from cable needle, k3, p2 repeat from * to last six sts, k6
Row 10) k6, *k2, p9, k2, k2, repeat from * to last six sts, k6
Row 11) repeat Row 7
Row 12) repeat Row 8
Row 13) k6, *p2, k3, sl 3sts to cable needle, k3, cross cable needle at back of work and k3 from cable needle, k3, p2 repeat from * to last six sts, k6
Row 14) repeat Row 8

Rows 7 to 14 are your pattern rows. Repeat these rows until your neck warmer is the length you want.

Finnish off with six rows of garter stitch.

I’m going to try a new-to-me technique call “steeking” for the button holes. But you’ll have to wait until I’ve done it for a tut.

Until next time, stay well and warm.

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Shower Slippers and A Road Trip


20 Jan

My hubby and I decided it was time for a road trip one Sunday. He’s been working a lot of hours and we’ve been pretty stressed about finances. So, to heck with the gas, sometimes you just have to enjoy yourself a little.

We struck out driving south, out of the city, towards Lake Erie. The day was overcast but for the middle of winter in Ontario it was a nice day. Once out of the city we just started picking roads at random as long as they went the direction we wanted to go. And it was down one of these roads that I saw a hawk the size of a toddler sitting in a smaller, bare tree. By the time I realized what I had seen, and we back the car up, it was gone. But it was flying away.

We stopped in a little town, Copenhagen, just north of Port Bruce at the Wood Connection. I love this place!

Out front you can see many of his outdoor pieces. My favorite is the window frame planters:

frames

So on we go down into Port Bruce. I love the feeling I get when we go down that hill…almost like the real world has to stay at the top. We drove around town, took maybe a minute LOL! At the pier we saw some really large pieces of ice out on the lake and the ice hills at the shore were getting pretty huge…. here’s a pic of some kids playing on them:

icehills

So we drove around town again and headed north, back to the city. On the way through Aylmer we decided to drop in our friend Cheryl at the Hockey Arena. Her son had a hockey game and hopefully we were in time to watch. We parked beside her….. you never miss Cheryl’s van:

gripp

Those are stainless steel balls from her friends in Texas. And when she flies down the road they swing pretty well. LOL! We missed most of the hockey game. DAMN but what we saw was good!

So after going for coffee we head home. During this trip I was going to make a pair of slippers to put on after showering. Yah right! I was too busy enjoying the drive.

These slippers did turn out great!:

slippers

I really wanted something I could wear right out of the shower that would keep my feet warm and clean until I could get the moisturizer on them. These work perfectly. In fact I ended up making two pairs using a free pattern from Knitting on the Net.

Because I wanted something to put on right out of the shower I decided to make them out of kitchen cotton on size US 10.5 knitting needles. They are nice and soft and very cozy.

That’s all for tonight. C’ya soon!

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ArtemisNorth

A place to explore a combination of creativity and life in SouthWestern Ontario.


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