3-21 1st spring river trip

We went to the river Monday after Terry got off work. A gorgeous spring day. Steffi rode her bike, it's only 3 miles and there's a nice bike path but the wind gets stiff and the path goes under a bridge construction so I'm skeered of using it. heehee.

I love walking along the river, it's so hard but I feel so good afterwards, especially when I don't fall. Remember I don't have any balance nerves and both my cochlea's were crushed from the original brain tumors, so walking is always something like living on a tightrope. Walking on lumpy sand is a huge workout for me, but I love it.

Steffi all dressed to ride.


The river is high, this is a good thing.


Bird tracks, Nick pointed them out.


Midget standing in the river. Terry couldn't let her go, there was another lose dog further down the beach.


See sand, Nick? The river is receeding.


Steffi loses her shoe in the muck. It's about the same spot where Terry fell in the quicksand last year.


Yeah going home!!

3-15

Here is Midget napping under a baby blanket I just loomed using the 5' infinity double rake from Decor Accents, Inc.

Here's the pattern I wrote up if you want to make it too. It's approximately 30x36 inches.

I am making a new afghan and it is a work in progress, I'll add pictures as I go along. The 5 foot infinity loom from Decor Accents, Inc is the loom I'm using.


Yarn from Hobby Lobby. I started out with 18 skeins of Icelandic Jewel yarn, 6 skeins each of 3 different colors. Terry chose the color combo. I love when Hobby Lobby has yarn on sale!! Each skein made 14 rows with a few feet left over. I just worked one skein at a time, then tied on a new color. He picked these colors for Nick but I thought Steffi might like it better, she said she would take it. Actually when I asked if she wanted the afghan she said I guess. heehee.

Day 3 with 3 stripes, approximately 5 feet by 12 inches.

Day 4 with 5 stripes

Day 5 with 8 stripes

Day 6 with 9 stripes it's getting so heavy now, WOW.


OOPS, little break to the hospital for another sleep test. My kind of test, no pokey needles involved. Looks like no sleep involved either.



Will catch up to this soon. I'm trying to do one stripe a day. One stripe equals 14 rows and one skein of yarn.

Day7 - 11 stripes


Day8 - 12 stripes


Day9 - 13 stripes


Day10 - 14 stripes


Using a Russian join to patch up a factory knot. I find it really helps with this yarn after doing the join, moisten my hands and scrub the yarn back and forth between my palms to get a tight weave. This site has great videos for knitting with needles. Scroll down to the several options for joining yarn.


Day11 - 16 rows
.

Two more stripes to go... WHEW

Hobby Lobby had a sale on this Icelandic Jewel yarn for $1 a skein!! I now need a room to store yarn in, lol.

The afghan is finished!! And Terry has claimed it, heehee, so we will buy more yarn tomorrow to make Steffi an afghan. It took me 14 days to make this afghan.



Hey guess what??? My dad said he'll sell some hats for me if I loom them. My dad got me my first job, he's still trying to keep me in the money, heehee. Seriously, thanks Dad.

I bought some looms

Ok, really I've bought several looms. Here are my opinions.

1 Provo Craft Knifty Knitter round looms 4 pack purchased at Hobby Lobby.

I LOVE THEM. These were the first looms I bought and I was quickly addicted to them, they are easy and fun.


2 Provo Craft Knifty Knitter long loom 4 pack purchased at Hobby Lobby.

Not as impressed with the smaller pegs that pop off the loom too easily but I like these looms, they make great shawls and scarves. Missing pegs will not be replaced per Provo Craft customer service.


3 Provo Craft Knifty Knitter purple long loom purchased at Hobby Lobby.

Has nice pegs and I have made many scarves with it. The gauge is huge and the loom is too short to do much with, it only has 18 pegs.


4 Markman Farm Looms - Don't go there, note to self.

A big boo hiss. Poor quality loom, disrespectful customer service. A lot of mewling from the owner, very unsatisfactory experience. Did not receive emails confirming order. In fact my email inquiries were mostly ignored and returning the loom turned into a crime. Have heard similar stories from others about poor quality looms and poor customer service.


5 Decor Accents, Inc.

I bought the huge 5 foot infinity loom. It's a wonderful loom. Customer service was excellent. Received emails confirming my order and again when the order shipped. The order shipped in less than the 21 days expected delivery time.


6 Frame Knitting

Friday afternoon I ordered the 34 inch knitting board and Saturday morning I received an email that my ordered had shipped with instructions to find the special tool and knitting books. WOW. Super customer service, can't wait to see the loom.

Free Loom Patterns I have created

http://algamble.blogspot.com/2007/03/striped-baby-afghan.html



http://algamble.blogspot.com/2007/02/checkerboard-hat.html



http://algamble.blogspot.com/2006/11/loomed-pony-tail-hat.html



http://algamble.blogspot.com/2007/05/knit-purl-hotpads.html

Striped Baby Afghan

Infinity loom double rake http://decoraccentsinc.com/

4 skeins homespun yarn, 2 skeins of each color

Finished size = 36” x 30”

Do not grip the yarn tightly, let it slip through your fingers or use a yarn guide (a stiff plastic straw)

Wrap yarn loosely on pegs.

Count around the loom until you reach peg70. Place a stitch marker on peg 70. Do the same for the top row of pegs. This is a guide to show you where to stop wrapping the pegs.

Cast on using the dark color yarn. Figure 8 stitch all 70 sets of pegs (140 pegs). This is row 1.

http://tearmanual.plugin.com.br/html/pontos_2.html

Lay a long scrap of yarn across these pegs to aid you in finishing the afghan. I used a bright yellow piece of worsted weight yarn.

Row 2 – Using the dark yarn escama stitch all 140 pegs and knit off. I believe this stitch is called escama, click on the link to view an image.

http://tearmanual.plugin.com.br/html/pontos_1.html

Next row switch colors. Two rows equal one stripe.

Row 3 – place dark yarn between pegs 2 and 3 and set the tail out of the way, do not cut. Pull the dark yarn up to peg 1 and start laying the yarn on the pegs again. This will weave the yarn up the inside of the afghan and hide it. Make a slip knot with contrasting color and put it on the bottom peg1. Escama stitch all 140 pegs and knit off.


Row 4 – With the contrasting yarn escama stitch all 140 pegs and knit off. Lay contrasting yarn aside, do not cut.

Repeat 2 rows of each color, always alternating color after 2 rows for 154 rows or 77 stripes.

Bind off. I used the method of putting both loops 70 on the crochet hook, then pulling the top loop 69 through both loops, then putting the bottom loop 69 on the hook and pulling the top loop 68 through both loops.

To finish the top of the afghan I again pulled the one loop through 2 with the crochet hook and then removed the yellow yarn.

Video here

http://www.knittingboard.com/Articles.asp?ID=132