Pattern over-confidence

I had company over last night to watch some movies and chat and have some laughs.  Of course I decided to pick up my knitting while the movie was going.  Normally this activity is fine and I knit along and all is well, but not last night.

I'm still working on Hitchhiker scarves for the girls, so I decided I would start #3.  The yarn is a beautiful handpainted wool and silk blend with rich amethyst jewel colors.  It's going to turn out fabulous when it's finished.

I got fairly far last night and was loving the look and drape of this yarn.... THEN I went to pick it up again this morning.... I found this....

What's up with that little half sized baby tooth?  How in the world did this get past me?

I feel so stupid this morning.  I started out ripping it out up to the next correct row, but in the end I just ripped out the whole thing and will start over.  I can't even think about caving in and putting lifelines in this project, but maybe I ought to.

I think my project today will be writing up a spreadsheet of stitch count for myself.

Wold Wide Knit in Public Day 2014

Well I DID TRY to get a WWKIP gathering here... We don't have a yarn shop within 90 miles of here, but I did stop at the quilt shop and ask around a bit, these ladies are about as close to finding local knitters and I'm going to get.  I posted on Ravelry and I posted an event on Facebook, but no interest at all.  I found one crocheter and one loom knitter who might like to join a guild if I start one, but nobody who wanted to sit and knit with me out in the park today... It's very disheartening.  So I decided to just go be a conspicuous knitter all on my own. (my son's are such good sports about their silly mommy!!)

The Freedom Rally (motorcycle club rally) is in town this weekend so I couldn't think of a more interesting place than that to park my housewife self down in the middle of it all and get out my needles.  I'm STILL working on the Hitchhiker scarf... I have not picked it up since last weekend so I am still on tooth 21.  I've got a Pi shawl KAL going on and that has eaten up quite a bit of my knitting time.

Anyway... Here we are at the drag races out at Airport six this afternoon.  Hitchhiker is turning out to be pretty much a perfect knit in public project.  I love it.  It's just as portable as a dishcloth, and just as mindless.  It was chilly and windy out today and my knitting was slow because my hands don't really like the chill, so I didn't get an entire tooth done, but I'm pretty close.

Go put something on your needles - anything at all.  Go forth and knit!

Knitting Cowgirl Style!

I've been working on Martina Behm's Hitchhiker scarf.  I'm using Cascade Handpaint fingering yarn in colorway "fruit salad" on size 3 needles.

I chose this project because I kept hearing people rave about this pattern -- This has the distinction of being the very first pattern I ever bought on Ravelry and I am so glad I did.  I love the look of it, I love the mindlessness of it.  It is a great knitting in public kind of project, but it doesn't seem to get the same kind of attention the little dishcloths get and I don't know why.

Anyway, I took the scarf with me to the rodeo tonight (yes, the RODEO!).  This is the ultimate in Wyoming multitasking - I was able to watch the cowboys, participate in the crowd, and still knit while in the bleachers with dozens of kids running around me.  I finished tooth 19 and half of tooth 20, which I know doesn't sound like much, but I think it was an accomplishment.. Truly!

Little Baskets - a pretty perfect pattern

I am always trying out new designs with the specific intent of finding patterns that can be EASILY knit in public and during group situations without dependence on a pattern.

Little Baskets is absolutely perfect for that purpose.  It's one of the designs that can be  looked at and see where you are without having to memorize an actual pattern.  

It is easy to have a conversation or pay attention to another person while this is knit.  It's fast and it's beautiful.. It's quite squishy and dimensional.  It makes a lovely dishcloth, and if it was expanded it would made a lovely blanket too.
Knits and purls only, no shaping - 9 inch cloth

This pattern used to be on Danielle Côté's website knitdishclothcorner, but the domain has expired and can only be accessed via the wayback machine website.  Those pages often don't load properly and often have broken images so I took a screenshot of her pattern and have decided to post it here and share it with other public knitters -- no copyright infringement intended - this is NOT my pattern, it was designed and copyrighted by Danielle Côté in 2006.  She originally called it "Petit panier 1". (click on the image to make it full sized)

I love Danielle's designs so much and have made several of her cloths.  Most of them translate very well into larger projects with just a little math.  If you can access the archive of her site, please do so, and take a look at all her unique patterns.  I have singled out this basket weave pattern because of it's simplicity and it's ability to be completed in a distracting environment without a pattern.  I promise you'll get compliments.

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Ok, so I'm on a green dishcloth kick - this Peaches 'n Cream ombre compliments my Corelle - (callaway - it's ivy leaves on white), and my table linens pretty well.  It's called key lime pie... I bought a full cone.

My other cloth I made yesterday from Danielle's design is this one...

9 inch square, all knits and purls, no shaping.

This one is called "Dunes de sable" or "Sand waves", copyrighted in 2004.  This is a gorgeous and sturdy cloth, fully reversible, but doesn't really adapt well into public knitting.  I knit this one in front of Netflix and that was OK, but I wouldn't knit it at church.