KNIT-O-MATIC: 10/03/2004

Friday, October 08, 2004

New Kit - Easy Cabled Poncho $25

New Kit! Fast & Easy Wooly Poncho

New Kit! Fast & Easy Wooly Poncho, $55 to $75.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

PATTERN-MATIC - FREE 'Love Child' Kids Poncho Pattern

Love Child

Haley Waxberg

Size* XS(S, M, L, XL, XXL)

Size 4(5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16)

Age 4-5(5-6, 6-7, 7-8, 8-9, 9-10, 10-11, 11-12, 12-13)

Chest 23(24, 25, 26, 28, 28.5, 30, 32, 34)”

Height 39-42 (42-45, 45-49, 49-53, 53-55, 55-57, 57-60, 60-62, 62-64)"

Length 14.5(15.5, 16.5, 17.5, 18.5, 19.5)”

Meters required 200(200 , 250, 250, 325, 325)m

*(based on oldnavy.com sizing for girls)

MATERIALS
• 8mm/60cm circular needles
• 8mm/40cm needles or 8mm DPN
• Poucet Colorado (2 strands held together) 50g/125m
• 2 stitch markers (different colours)
• darning needle to weave in ends

Note on Yarn Substitutions:
It is best to use a yarn that is a wool/synthetic blend & with some texture for this pattern. The fiber combination makes the garment lighter and easier to wash and the texture is forgiving and allows you to use larger needles and a looser weave.

Suggestions:
• Scheepjes Arada(blend)
• Needful/Lana Gato Labrador (synthetic)
• Dale Ara (100% wool)
• Plassard Versatile (100% wool)
• Needful Keope (blend)
• SRK Pom (synthetic)
• Wendy Velvet Touch (2 strands together, synthetic)
• Wendy Velvet Touch Chunky (synthetic)

GAUGE
• approx 14 sts & 14 Rows = 4”/10cm

NECK
• With 8mm DPN or circ needles cast on 36(40, 44, 44, 48, 48) sts and join the 2 ends
together in a circle by drawing the tail through the last stitch with a tapestry needle and
tie it in a knot. Place stitch marker at the place where the two ends were joined.
• Purl to 18^th (20, 22, 22, 24, 24) stitch and place 2^nd marker after it. Work in P to end of
row.
• Purl for another 2(2,3,3,3, 3) rounds. (If you want to make a mock turtle neck work for 2”,
if you want to make a folding turtle neck work a total of 4”.)
• Knit 1 round. Continue to K all stitches for the rest of the pattern.

BODY
R5 Work to the stitch before the next marker, MAKE 1 (M1), pass marker to the right
needle, K1, M1, work in pattern to stitch before second marker, M1, pass marker
to the right needle, K1, M1.
R6 Knit 1 round.
• Repeat rows 5 & 6 until piece measures 13”(14”, 15”, 16”, 17”, 18”) from cast on edge.
• Purl 4 rounds.
• Cast off LOOSELY.

FINISHING
Gently press with steam iron, covering the surface with a tea towel. Spray surface of garment with gentle mist of water before pressing. Sew in tails.

☺ Love Child Poncho pattern Haley Waxberg, Knitomatic, 1378 Bathurst St, Toronto ON M5R 3J1, 2004, knitomatic@gmail.com.

COPYING IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY!

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

CBC Double Bill tonight

looks like CBC is doing a double bill tonight at 9pm: the fifth estate is running "The Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney" - it'll also be on CBC newsworld Sunday, October 10th at 3:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 12th at 10:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 13th at 1:00 a.m & 4:00 a.m. Enquiring minds want to know!

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Girl's Social Politics - on CBC radio tomorrow!

if you were ever bullied as a girl or just feel like you're still in junior high, there's a very interesting show on CBC radio one (99.1) at 9pm tomorrow night (and then the 13th and the 20th) about girls behaviour called It's a Girls World. i saw the NFB film version , it was REALLY good. the film is being broadcast on the Passionate Eye Showcase on CBC Newsworld on Tuesday, October 12 at 8 pm and 11 pm E.T; and again on Saturday, October 16 at 7 pm E.T. part 1 & 2 are about kids & really insighful, but Part 3 of the series is especially interesting for adults who were & were not bullied as a child.

eggy update

i am having a very bridget jones moment with this egg & bread strata. i definitely don't care for the spinach and will feed the crusts to the birds next time. also, using the unsweetened soy milk was a mistake. infact, i could skip the cheese too. maybe i should just make bread pudding, or maybe skip the bread altogether & make custard. mmmmm, custard. yum. fall is definitely here if i am cooking comfort food. this is my version of the overwhelming urge to make hats & mitts & scarves for everyone in the family that overcomes knitters as soon as the temperature falls below 17 degrees celsius. well, that is not exactly true, my mind isn't devoid of cold weather projects, i just think on a bigger scale, i am conceiving & drafting a magnificent sweater coat. still, i think i'll make some rice pudding tonight .... :-)

upcoming classes

Knitting for Beginners – Easy Scarf
Next class Oct 12/19 - 1 space left!
Tuesdays, 6-8pm, 2 weeks (4 hours total) Contact the store to register
Kit: "entry level scarf". worsted weight yarn, 5mm needles.
Learn to cast on stitches, knit, purl, cast off.
Total cost for class $40 & class kit $25 (yarn and needles included)

Love your Laundry

how much do i love eucalan?! i'm still in day-off mode and doing laudry & cooking an Egg & Bread Strata for breakfasts to come. The strata is an indulgence from Wholefoods that i've been indulging in a little too often (tres chere and i need to soyify it) & decided even I could make it. it is doing it's eggy thing right now.

as for the eucalan, we were first introduced as a wool wash that you didn't have to rinse out. then i found out you could use it to block knittted garments - righteous! but the real epiphany wasn't until i got desperate for clean underwear and did my handwash with it. it's been almost a decade since i developed a love-hate relationship with the handwash: while i was studying in italy, excavating in greece and travelling through europe, there have been many hours lost to a less than successful hand wash. the wash part i'm ok with, the rinse is torture. or should i say the rinse, and rinse, and rinse, and rinse, and rinse. also, it kills me to wash in soap, even the stuff for delicates, because it destroys the fibers, and i LOVE my clothes. then bAM! epiphany! you don't have to rinse Eucalan! soak in bathroom sink, add Eucalan, swoosh awound, let it sit a bit, bathroom smells great, hands smell great, squish the water out of the garments and hang to dry. it's the lazy fashionista's dream! my blacks stay black, my brights stay bright, my underwear don't erode into shredded ghosts of their former selves. it's ALL good. oh, and it isn't completely beyond the budget. i'm doing refills at the store, or if you become a total addict i can get you a gallon (seriously! they sell the stuff in gallon jugs. apparently they sell it to some swank madison avenue cleaners in NYC who only wash in Eucalan).

i like the anaolgy between the egg & bread strata & the hand wash: the bread is lovely on it's own, but itt gets saturated in the eggy mixture & steeps, kinda like the laundry. .

Monday, October 04, 2004

Minutes of the snb

Thanks to everyone who came & hung out yesterday! My mom actually came & knitted. And then, at dinner she kept knitting! I have designed an asymmetrical poncho for her and she's really into it.

another twisted knitter's technique has been corrected (not that there's anything wrong with that!). once again i found myself sitting, chatting with people and took a look at what others were working on and said: "hey, that's a nice twisted stitch you've got goin' on there! what ya makin'?" and of course the obligatory response: "what's a twisted stitch? i'm knitting regular." - frown. Don't feel embarrassed if you are a twisted knitter, it can happen to anyone self taught and some people who are taught by poor intructors. i think the only reason i emerged unscathed was because my grandmother was an assiduous perfectionist and she would have pointed it out to me if i'd been doing it. (my bubby was an amazing, warm and generous person, but she was also nervous all the time, much like a small bird. i do not advocate her approach to knitting, especially if you are a beginner; she was constantly ripping work out. if she was 25 yearls old today she'd probably be diagnosed as OCD or GAD (not that there's anything wrong with that! it's just between you and your neuroteransmitters.)

i didn't get any of my UFO's done. Mostly 'cause i don't know where i left off & other, more fun things need to be done. (i was cold so i started making a shawl from some colinette that has been lurking in my stash for years. i think i bought it on sale at romni at the x-mas sale about 5 years ago and it was so nice i was scared to touch it.