Our weather doesn’t know whether it’s spring or winter. One day our temps are in the eighties, and the next it’s too chilly to open the windows. I suppose one day it will all settle down. In the meantime, we’ve had some welcome rain and drizzle.
Knitting Dishcloths
I haven’t done a whole lot of knitting lately. I finished my Baltic Sea Stole, but I haven’t dressed it yet. It’s waiting with five or so others to get dressed one of these days. Obviously, my knitting shawls is not involved with wearing them; it’s the process of the knitting.
I have been knitting some dishcloths. I went back to that to get rid of the dishcloth yarn I have, or so I told myself. That and the fact that my dishcloths that I really use are on their last legs. So the other day I found two dishcloths that I started years ago when all I was knitting was the old Grandmother’s Favorite dishcloth, and I decided it was time they were finished. I had run out of yarn in the color I was using and put them on stitch holders, so I took scraps and finished them. I had used forty stitches for them on a size 7 needle. The pattern is extremely easy. Then one of the shawls I’d been thinking I’d do on a knit-along fell through. So I wound up knitting more dishcloths.
These are some red and black dishcloths I’ve made. The top black and white one is Victoria from Danielle Côté. If you can’t get anywhere clicking on that link, you may be like me. You can’t use Firefox to get there. Use Internet Explorer to get there, and it should be okay. It’s an easy pattern, but it makes a huge dishcloth. The red and white one at the top right is done in sand stitch. You can find the pattern here. The mixed yarn one at the bottom is from a pattern for which I can’t remember the name.
The green palm tree is from Knitted Kitty Creations, actually it was a freebie from Carol’s Yahoo group. It was super easy, and it makes a small washcloth. The blue and green washcloth was the Mid-April 2008 cloth from the Monthly Knitting Dishcloth KAL on Yahoo. There was a lot of discussion on this one as it was being made, but I thought it was very easy, and I loved the result.
This photo shows two more I’ve made. The one on the left is called Vortex Six, and I got it from reading Ravelry. I must say, her site is very hard to navigate; I couldn’t find a way while I was there to search for the two other versions of this pattern, so I’m just giving you the specific links–Vortex (5) and Vortex (7). Six was not difficult to make, but you do need to be sure you’re following the directions. When you start the first one, if you get to a place where you don’t know what you’re doing, stop and rip a row if you need to and try again. Ten to one you’ve just forgotten to return on a row. This was a lot of fun to make, and I loved the fact that I wasn’t continually cutting yarn. This is made with two yarns and neither is cut the whole way through.
The solid yellow dishcloth is the Diagonal Ripple Dishcloth here. I thought this turned out very attractive. Now, she says the cloth benefits by being blocked, but who in her right mind blocks dishcloths? Not me. So I just stretched the warp out of it that you get from knitting it diagonally, and there it is, warts and all.
The upshot of all this is that I’ve got some new dishcloths to use, and as I locate them, I’m throwing out the old ones I’ve been using. (They weren’t knitted anyway.) It has increased my pleasure in cleaning in the kitchen, and I’m glad I did it. I have a huge stack of dishcloths made, I’ve given many away, so it’s time I used them before they run us out of house and home.
Knitting Shawls
I’ve had rotten luck lately with the shawl knit-alongs I’ve joined. I’ve learned to be a little cautious before beginning a shawl that is a knit-along. Sometimes you get into knitting a shawl you really don’t care for. That ruins the enjoyment. So two I recently joined have turned into shawls that are either way too small or triangular. I’ve decided I want to avoid triangular shawls for a while. I have a ton of those. The other which was a much desired rectangular shawl just fell apart. If you’ve been following these knit-alongs, you probably know which one that was.
So here I am without a shawl on the needles for the first time in ages. I think I’ll pull out one of my knitting books and make one of those. At least that way I can know what the project is before I begin it.
Genealogy
The rest of my world is going along okay. Same old stuff. I’ve been doing a lot of genealogy, and I have a lot more to do. I’m still transcribing my grandmother’s letters and the Shrock ledger. Every now and then, you run across some data that is so funny, you can’t help but laugh out loud. So I’ll leave you with a tidbit I found this morning:
Name: [Withheld]
Sex: F
Birth: 3 AUG 1904 in Graham, Young County, TX
Occupation: housewife
Religion: Moron
I have to shake my head at that one. Spelling brings many people down, and that guy landed with a big thud.