Hexi-Madness

I've joined the craze that is Hexipuff Madness. I joined in on the fun that is the beekeepers quilt from Tiny Owl Knits. This really is such a great idea that I couldn't pass it up when I came across it. It's a very simple pattern and such a quick knit. Well...the puffs are lol. The quilt is quite another story lol. But I like the idea of it being a long term project. The quilt consists of these little fun things called Hexipuffs that are about 3 inches across. They look like honeycombs. Each puff uses approx 12-15 yrds depending on how you knit. When you make around 400 or so of them depending on how big you want your quilt to be, you link them together via the pattern and you have a quilt! I've seen people use them to make a bunch of different things like pillows, seat pads, and even a headboard. Even though I've been knitting for a while, and the pattern was a breeze, my first couple hexipuffs came out lacking lol. The pattern suggests size 4 needles so I started there. The first hexi was too small. I went up a needle size but I hadn't gotten used to the pattern so my second hexi was too sloppy. By the third Hexi, I got the hang of it and it came out juuuuust right. Well almost. I had a setback. I got so excited that I closed it without stuffing it! Silly me. I opened it back up and stuffed it but I don't feel I stuffed it enough. Next one I'm going to add more. I used poly fiberfill to stuff it. Im also knitting on 2 16" circular needles which I find I like better for small things as opposed to magic loop.



I'm keeping them in this vase for now which I think is cute. Im considering buying a large glass bowl or vase to throw them in for decoration in the future.

I also went ahead and ordered a project bag off of Etsy for my hexipuff knitting bag that has adorable colorful owls on it. I can't wait until it gets here. I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival like a puppy at the door. When it comes in, I will share.

You can also join the Tiny Owl Knits group on Ravelry for the beekeepers quilt knit-a-long where you can share your progress and pictures of all your beautiful hexipuffs with other beekeepers :) She hosts mini skein swaps as well as other fun events. I hadn't realized it before, but when I looked through Tiny Owl Knits available pattern designs, I realized I had a few of them in my favorites on Etsy. She really has amazing designs.


The Beekeepers quilt has also enabled me to join a the mini skein club from Space Cadet Creations. There are a few options. The single subscription gives you five 20g skeins (enough for 2 hexipuffs) for $28+shipping, and the double which gives you 10 for $54+shipping. Then you choose your colorway. You can opt for the gentle mix, which is most semi-solids in gently varigated colorways that coordinate together, or the wild mix. The wild mix focuses on overall contrast and a wider variegation. I chose the wild mix because I like crazy colors and most of my sock yarn is wild. I figured this would work best when matching her yarn to various yarns I aquire through my etsy obsession.

My subscription starts in January so I hopped on etsy to hold me over until I receive my first shipment. I grabbed some amazing mini skeins from Shiny Sheep Designs.






These are what I used to make my first hexipuffs and I'm a fan. She has an amazing selection of mini skeins in her store in amazing colors. I love that her mini skeins are also enough to make 2 hexipuffs. Some sellers are offering mini skeins that are only 12 yards which is really cutting it close. It doesn't leave much room for error. I will definitely be using Shiny Sheep Designs as a quick fix from now on.

All in all, I love this idea. It's brilliant and a lot of fun!

 

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Back from Hiatus

I had to take some time off over the holiday to catch up on some things. I spent thanksgiving in NY with family and things have been crazy! So here's what i have accomplished:

I finally finished the Man Scarf!! This seriously took me forever. It was the knit that wouldn't end.

I did block it to stretch it out so the ribbing would be more prominent and because I wanted to open it up and make it wider, but it ended up pulling back in. Next time I think I'm going to add a couple more rows of ribbing so it's wider.

I also crocheted a sleeve for my kindle paperwhite using a free pattern off or ravelry found here.

I used the same pattern to make a Google Nexus 10 cover as a custom order from my Etsy shop.

Currently I'm working on leg warmers, leg warmers, and leg warmers since that's what everyone wants for xmas :) I can't wait to get back to knitting through my ever growing queue. So many things to knit, so little time!

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Review J-Knit App for iPad/iPhone

I've been meaning for a while now to spread the word about one of my favorite apps. J-Knit pro for iPad and J-Knit for iPhone. Of all the apps for knitting I have, this one I find to be one of the best and most useful. It gives you a place to store project pictures, notes, and information, as well as provides a pdf link to your pattern, a row counter, and row by row pattern instructions. Let me start by showing you how it looks.

Here is the main screen. J-Knit supports knitpoint patterns that can be purchased here. Once you buy a knitpoint pattern, it is loaded into J-Knit completely and you are ready to knit. An excellent feature. It's also a good way to see an example of how patterns are entered into the app.

The web portal takes you into your J-knit account where your personal projects are stored. For no additional charge, the portal allows you to save a limited number of projects. For a small fee of $15 per year, you receive unlimited project saves. I chose this option because its convenient to have room for all my projects. After I've already taken the time to add my pattern into the app, I wouldn't want to erase it and then put it back if I chose to knit the same item again. I also want to support the developers, and help alleviate some of the burden of maintaining the app and its website.

Once you log in, your information is stored so you don't have to re-enter your info every time. Inside, you'll see a list of your projects stored in your account with the option to import and export. As of right now, J-Knit does not have supported iCloud integration. I hope that maybe it will be available in the future. The import/export feature is a way to send current project information between your iPad, iPhone, and computer. If your using your j-Knit on your iPad and want to switch over to your phone, export the project. Then on your phone, go into the web portal and import the same file. It will update at the exact place you left off on your iPad. This works the same way on all 3 devices.

In the settings tab, you can opt to keep your screen from timing out

Here is what your project listing looks like on your device. Once you go into a project, you"ll need to set it up. This is a little complex and can be discouraging at first. Detailed information can be found on J-Knit's website. Another one of the many great things about this app is the Ravelry group! J-knits developers are online and answer questions quickly and thoroughly. What more can we ask for? They truly care about what they've created and they are readily available to help. In the forums you'll see other question knitters have asked and it will teach you more ways to use this app.

This is inside the project.

This is the project setup screen. When you link the pdf to the pattern, you can copy and past into the setup so you don't have to write everything out word for word. Theres also a way to add pattern blocks into the setup so you don't have to keep rewriting the same thing. For example, this pattern has a 5 row pattern repeat that creates the cable design. I create a pattern "block" of the 5 lines and set them to repeat the amount of times the pattern tells me to. Easy! After you input the pattern, you are ready to knit.

Unlike most row counters, this app tells you what you should be doing for the current row. You hit the counter to tell you what you should be doing this row that you haven't yet knit. So if the counter reads 32, you have 31 rows knitted.

This app also helps for increases and decreases. When you start, it'll ask you how many stitches you have to start with. When you add in the increase or decrease, you will also add in how many stitches you are adding or taking away. The app does the math and tells you how many stitches you should have after you knit the row. A major help if you needed to rip back because you made a mistake or just to keep you on track.

To me, this app does it all. It's my everything. I don't have to keep looking back at my pattern, to find my place after every row. I don't have to keep a pattern in my bag with a pen, or stickers, or whatever I was using before. The time it takes to input the pattern into the app is time well spent and worth every minute. Forget lace charts, I want J-knit. There is a lite version so give this app a try and spread the word. I want J-Knit to stay around forever.

J-Knit Rocks!!!!!!!!!!

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Atomic Scrubber Cloths FO's/CAL with Freshstitches

 

I finally finished the set of dishcloths I've been working on this past week. Using Lily Sugar and cream, I found the density of this cloth didn't work well as a washcloth because it wouldn't hold a lather, but it worked as an excellent dishcloth. The pattern creates a bumpy texture that is awesome for scrubbing. I'm made set of 3 in brown, orange, and yellow for autumn harvest colors. Weird thing I found with the Lily's yarn, the brown yarn was actually thicker than the other colors. I used my "phone-a-friend" and she said she had the same issue with one of her colors as well, but it wasn't the brown. Weird and duly noted. This caused a slight issue because the brown cloth made with the thicker yarn came out slightly larger than the other. To offset this, when I blocked them, I really stretched out the other two to match the size of the brown one, and the brown one I gently squared off but didn't pull on so as not to increase the size.

I love the way they came out and I love this pattern. The only problem I have with making these is the technique required to create the design is a very tight knit and hard on my hands. My thumbs really cramp and I can't knit them that fast. I made all three of these back to back so from now on I'll have to make only one at a time.

I'm still working on my New York scarf and leg warmers. One day I will get them done! I'm also participating in:

 

The link is here. There is still time to start as this last week only the materials were given out. I haven't decided what colors I'm going to use yet but I think I'm going to try and use sugar and cream because I have so much of it and I want to use it up. I don't have the proper yardage in any of the other yarn I own and I don't really want to go out and buy more. I'll have to see. It should be fun and challenging since my crochet skills are seriously lacking!

 

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WIP/FO/Lesson Learned

Luckily for me and most of Delaware, hurricane Sandy did not hit as hard as we were expecting and we escaped catastrophe. Of course, not everyone was as lucky. I prepared for the hurricane with water, candles, and lots of yarn. :) While lazing around all day, I took the opportunity to knit the day away. Right now I'm working on a set of fall colored dishcloths for a gift. I'm using the Atomic Scrubber cloth pattern from Harvest Moon Designs. When I'm done blocking I'll post. I'm also working on a crochet iPad sleeve as a custom order from my etsy shop. I don't crochet much so it's been a trial but its moving along.

I finished the ear flap hat I was working on for my little girl Brenna. I used a discontinued ball of Peaches and Cream cotton that I'm disappointed I didn't buy more of. I love the pink and brown color scheme. I only used 1 ball. She's with Daddy today so I haven't gotten to see her in it yet, but here it is.

 

This hat would have only taken me a couple hours, but...here is my lesson learned: So I have this problem where I get distracted easily. I have never knit anything from start to finish without restarting the whole thing because of a mistake or miscalculation, or that I haven't had to tink or rip back. I swear I spend more time going backwards than forwards! So once again, I ran into trouble on the decrease. This is a very simple basic hat with your standard decrease. I used a multiple of 8. I was at the top and almost finished at which time I think I jinxed myself by saying "I'm so close to being done!" Anyway, I noticed my stitch count was uneven between my markers. So I start pulling back to find where I messed up. It was so far back and then my head hurt trying to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move forward so I ended up ripping back to the row before you start the decrease. *sigh* Lesson learned: it is easier and takes less time to count the number of stitches between each marker or the entire row to make sure you have the correct stitch count, than it does ripping out and starting over. Something of course we all know but might not always do. I think most of the time I knit with a hope and a prayer lol. Of course, once I did this, I finished without incident. It was such an easy knit and it's super cute. There's a group out there called Emily's Hats for Hope and if I can find the time, I'd love to make these to donate to the cause.

 

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Book Review Knit Notes

How I came to buy this book is actually through a series of unfortunate events. I've been using the Vogue Knitting app for over a year. Let's just say that is the best, most well designed, and most poorly executed app. For me, this app was everything. Every time there is a problem with the app, there is no way to contact he developer and Vogue does an insanely shitty job of keeping up with this app. It honestly sucks and there's no reason for it. Especially since they advertise and promote the app. They should care more. Bt they don't. So when I went to use it this year, I opened it to find it had erased everything! All of my projects notes...gone! What I also loved about it was that, not only did it have a needle and crochet hook inventory, it kept track of what project your needles were on. And your stash. Gone! I read the reviews and everyone is having this problem. Vogue still has done nothing to fix it pissing off tons of customers. So I decided, of course, that I was never going to rely on a computer again. I picked up a blank journal from Barnes and Noble and thought, how the hell am I going to keep this book organized? Then I received via iPad the new Knit Simple Magazine and saw "Knit Notes" advertised in it. I looked it up on amazon and after looking through it (which amazon lets you do for this book) that I'd give it a shot. It cost $10 with free 2 day shipping because I have amazon prime. So here it is

It is spiral bound on the inside with a hard outer cover over the binding so you don't see the spirals.

There's plenty of space to keep notes. It starts with a page for your basic project info. Needles used, type yarn, etc. there is also graph paper which I might not use for every project but it an extra area that I can write extra stuff down on. Then the next set of pages has space for project notes. There's so much room and I love this because when I knit a pattern more than once, I like to keep notes on how that project turned out with the yarn I used and needles so I can take notes on future suggestions. Every project is different when you start changing variables and now I have a place to keep it all. I like how they give you basically 4 pages for a project. So now I feel like I don't have to cram info on little pages and have projects out of sequence and messy because I ran out of room. I love this book and I plan on using it again when I run out of room. He'll, I might even just buy more and use them as different book types, like "scarf book" or "hat book." Needless to say, I'm glad I found this book so soon after my catastrophe. It was such a relief.

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LYS haul!

So one of the stores around here called Kitschy Stitch and is located on Rehoboth beach in Delaware. I picked up the most amazing project bag made by a local resident. It's so different and gorgeous! The fact that its square makes for an excellent bag.

 

This is her smaller bag and it has tons of space. It fits my cake of yarn, project and notions with plenty ofroom to spare. I love this fabric and she had other ones available in different pattern including Halloween ones. This small style bag was 35$ and of course there is no sales tax in DE. First state to ratify the constitution and all. Alison is the owner of Kitchy Stitch and she ships. I would recommend getting your hands on one of these. For now the designer doesn't sell them online but her email is bags@kompulsivelykreative.com.

Here are some buttons I recently purchased as well.

The top pair is from a local LYS in Newark DE called Stitches with Style. They remind me of nature and I really like them. The colors are beautiful. The bottom set is also my new favorite button. Those I did buy at Kitschy Stitch. They remind me of Lord of the Rings for some reason. I have plans for these buttons to end up on my boot toppers.

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