Purling Sprite

Cables Handbag--Loom Knitted

Last night, I was feeling creative and I designed a cables handbag--loom knitted. The bag was very simple...pattern to come soon after I finish working out all the instructions.  What do you think? Is it a keeper? I don't know if the handles go very well with it but they were the only ones I had at 1am in the morning.

I just wish I had a sewing maching to make a liner to line it, but I think I know someone whom may have one not in use. If not, I will have to go and invest on little cheapy one. Any suggestions on a good, stupid user friendly, and inexpensive sewing machine?

Today, I will go and pick up more yarn, a different set of handles, and a snap closure and knit it again. I have enlisted the help of hubby to help me make a couple of these awesome handles that Stacey made for her bag. Of course, hubby saw them and said ok, I could make them for you, how many do you want?  And wouldn't you like some that were made with spindles instead? Wow, isn't he just the bestest.

Check it out!

Check this out!!! Uncle Sam was very nice this year to give me some little extra mula, and after seriously considering what to do with it: a)Spend it, b) spend it, c)spend it, I decided, well, to spend it! heheheh. I think I made a wise decision on the choices, what do you think? I got the 4 Treasury books by Barbara G. Walker--wow, it will take me a lifetime to read them all. I also got Inspired Cable Knits by Fiona Ellis...woooooww, I am in love with her designs, especially the Celtic Icon sweater.

• A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
• A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns
• A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns
• A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns
• And
• Inspired Cable Knits

Isn't this sweater just gorgeous!! I love those cables, the way the flow, the color of the yarn....I love it!

A few loom knitters have asked me how I have time to do all the looming and loomy things that I do--well, it is time I showed you my secret weapons. It is not me. I am not superwoman, I wish I were. Are you ready to see the truth? I think we all need a few little guys like mine. Enjoy!!

In the mornings, he gets dressed all by himself. Then, he makes his bed. If I am busy, he goes and even makes his own breakfast which consists of Tortillas and Cheese. Most of the time, I cook him breakfast, but sometimes, he likes to play big boy and he makes us Peanut Butter and Jelly for breakfast and/or lunch.

Vacuuming time at my house--fun time for the kids. They both love the vacuum (now, Bryant used to be terrified of it) now, he tells me that it is his job to vacuum while I knit--heheheh, I have him well trained. I am seriously considering getting 2 little vacuums for them. They really enjoy the chore and it could

1)Free my time to do some other chores

2) Teach them responsibility.

Sweeping the kitchen floor is one of the daily fights. Bryant wants to do it and of course, most of the time I want to get it done fast so I can move on with the day and get the mopping done. Most of the time, he gets to hold the little sweeper plastic thingy (which the name just flew my mind) . He is really sweeping in this picture.

If you really want to get some knitting done, then you must get a dishwasher, and no, not the electric kind, but the kind that actually scrubs the dishes. See him in action--he loves doing the dishes--really :).

The laundry is a family affair at this house. I told them all that if they wear clothes and want them clean, they all need to pitch in. Mom can fold them, but they have to help doing the laundry. B & N put the dirty clothes in the washer (I hold Nyah in my arms while I give her the clothes). To put them in the dryer, they both stand by the opening of the dryer while I hand them the wet clothes. It is a nice operating system we have with the laundry. When it is dry and the clothes have cooled off a bit. They both run to the dryer and take them out and put them on B's bed.

Picking up stuff off the floors is their responsibility. They know that they have to pick up their toys, if not, in a garbage bag they go.

Well, my secret is out for you all to see. We are an efficient family in the house. I have my little helpers whom help me all day long keep my house decent. Of course, sometimes their help is not really help, but in time, they will learn and then I will be free (hahahah, I keep telling myself that).

Cables on a knitting loom

I remember the first time I saw knitted cables, my Grandma was calmly sitting on her rocking chair watching her favorite Mexican soaps on the telly, she was knitting a stunning v neck red sweater and it had the most gorgeous cables I had ever seen. I remember looking at her fingers knit away and manipulate the stitches from one way to another. I swear she was able to knit a complete adult sweater in 3 days! I was only 11 years old and since then cables have been one of my main attractions to knitted garments. Maybe it is my connection to my Grandma that makes me want to knit them, maybe it is the intricacy of the twists, whatever the reason, I have an attraction to them that will never end.

I have been trying to find a way to make the cables on the looms without having to move and stretch the loops too much. In this tutorial, you will find one of the methods I have found that make a nice 6 stitch cable on rake (round loom) that won’t stress the stitches too much.

Enjoy!

Materials:

• Any loom with at least 12 pegs (I used a small gauge loom in sample)
• Bits bulky weight yarn
• Knitting tool
• Cable Needle (or stitch holder)

Pattern Notes:

• Work loom from right to left
• 6 stitch cable demonstrated
• Flat Panel knitting
• K=Knit=Single Stitch
• P=Purl
• Pattern Stitch: multiple of 12; Cable consists of the middle 6 stitches; the 3 stitches at each side are background stitches.

Instructions:

Starting at peg 1: Cast on 12 stitches

Garter Stitch Border:

Row 1: Purl

Row 2: Knit

Row 3: Purl

Row 4: Knit

End Garter Stitch Border

Row 5-9: P3, K6, P3

Prep for cables:

E-wrap peg 4 once, e-wrap peg 5 twice, e-wrap peg 6 twice, e-wrap peg 7 twice, e-wrap peg 8 twice, e-wrap peg 9 once (pegs 5-8 have 3 e-wraps on them, pegs 4 & 9 have only 2). Purl the last 3 stitches. Knit over 1 over 1 on pegs 4 & 9, knit over 1 over 2 on pegs 5, 6, 7, and 8) You should have 1 loop on each peg, except pegs 5-8 will show 2 wraps.

Take off the loops from pegs 6, 5 and 4 (unwrapping the 2 e-wraps on pegs 5 & 6 and thus elongating the stitches**). Place them on the cable holder (in this order 6, 5 and 4) let it fall to the back of the work.*

Take the loop from peg 7 and elongate it and place it on peg 4.

Take the loop from peg 8 and elongate it and place it on peg 5.

Take the loop from peg 9 and place it on peg 6.

Now, you will take the loops off the cable holder and place them in this order.

Place the loop that was on peg 6 on peg 9

Place the loop that was on peg 5 on peg 8

Place the loop that was on peg 4 on peg 7

Row 10: P3, K6, P3.

Repeat rows 5-10, 4 more times. Repeat rows 1-4 Bind off: Remove with flat removal method. You can find the PDF for this tutorial at Loom Knit

Enjoy!

**I take the top loop off the peg and tug it a bit with the knitting tool and this unwraps the bottom loop.

*If you place them towards the back it crosses the cables to the right. If you place them to the front, it will cross the cables to the left.

For complete instructions, please download the PDF file.

(c)Isela Phelps. All rights reserved.

Lying by ommision--update on the BOOOOOOK

My dear friends, I am guilty of a terrible crime. I am ashamed of not telling you all the news about the box. I actually received some news about it last week, news that will affect my future. I still cannot believe the outcome...can you guess it?

Yep, the book deal is going through. I will be writing a book on Loom Knitting for Quarto publishing, a division of Quintet Publishing.

Yah, I almost fell of my chair when I read the email from my publisher and then my editor--hahah, I feel so weird saying those big words. You can guess what I will be doing for the next 2 months--writing and loom knitting non-stop! Thankfully, I have recruited the help of a dear Dlandra....hahahah, the two of us will be working non-stop, we will emerge for fresh air every Saturday, heheheh.

I finally broke down and called my Mom and my little brother. I didn't tell her before for fear of it not going through and just building high hopes (of course, she said that the fact that they contacted me in the first place is enough to make any mother talk about it). She was so happy and I could sense that she felt proud of me. She has always had high hopes for me (I guess every parent does) but, I am the only one of her children whom actually went to college (ok, disregard the fact that I don't know how to write, hahahah). Anyways, she was psyched! My little brother, well, his exact words (yah, I had to write them down, cuz it was just soo awesome) "woooooowww, Mom, I am the little brother of a big time book author!!!" For once, I felt that I may be a good influence in his life, that maybe, just maybe I can be the one he looks up to, and maybe he will follow my steps and go to college and gets his life going in the right track.

That same afternoon, I received a phone call from my Mom's English teacher congratulating me for the great achievement. I just couldn't believe it, Mom is really telling everyone about it, heheh. I'll probably get a note or a phone call from her doctor this week :).

I still remember sitting in my math class back in 1992 and not knowing what the teacher was saying. I understood the numbers, but goodness, I couldn't understand one single word. Needless to say, my first test was a 14! Yah, a 14 out of 100! I felt awful. I felt like the dumbest person in the whole planet. Decision reached by the teachers and counselor--She doesn't understand English. She must learn the language first then she can be in English classes, in the meantime she needs to take them all in Spanish. My heart was crushed! During the next year, I immersed myself in books, after school programs, and even sleeping with the tv on so that I could by some miracle absorb the English language by osmosis. I guess the studying worked, the tv I don't know, but, the studying did! My only hope is that I do all my teachers and my mother proud with this book, it is not a story book, but a book nonetheless :). 

Capelet in design

Last Thursday, I picked up a copy of Knitter's magazine at Yarn Today. Why, well, I fell in love with this beautiful capelet.

It makes me want to go to Prom night again! It has little pearl accents and a ribbon. I couldn't leave the magazine behind. I brought it home with me. Only one bad thing--I don't have any yarn for it, nothing similar to it at all :(.

I know the design is there for needles, but the loom knitter in me wants something similar made on the looms, so I grabbed yarn and loom and started it at midnight last night. There was a lot of frogging of different swatches to get my desired size of wedge, but I think I have finally found the exact number of wedges and the magic number of short rows to get the desired effect. It doesn't look like much right now, but I think I may be in the right track. The color is not the best either, but I will go and pick up some fluffly yarn today and see if I can make a dreamy cape.

---

Hearts and Boats

In knitting fair isle, I have come to realize that the most difficult part is coming up with the design, then combine the difficulty of the design with a set number of pegs on a loom and you are in for an afternoon with Mr. Math!

I had a simple heart design already drawn up from a few years back, but changing the yarn and stitch, changed my entire design, so I had sit and re-design to account for the changes. The crown of the hat has some colourwork too. I am not sure if I should add anything to the tops, like pom poms or maybe a I-cord knot. Any suggestions?

The little boats were a bit more difficult to come up with--drawing was never my strength and I feel so inept at it that even drawing a little boat took me a few hours. Again, having the little boat fit into the peg number of the knitting loom was the most difficult part.

In case you are wandering how the Inside looks, I have included a picture; things look a bit stranded but not too fugly.

Are they ok, what do you think? Oh, they were made on a fine gauge knitting loom. Fugly? Would they end up in YKW, but maybe they are even too fugly to end up in there...oohhh dear. Do the boats look like boats? Hubby suggested me to make little planes, but I couldn't make a design with little planes :(. I really wanted a girly hat and a boyish hat--no, I am not expecting, I just wanted a design for each.

Oh you are sooo fine!

No, I am not talking about me, but yeah, I am kinda hot too! (nod in agreement) heheheh

I was referring to the little sock loom from my previous post. While I have been knitting away at my sweater, I have also been designing on the side some knitting loom patterns. I have to admit that my beloved sweater has fallen to the side, with Spring around the corner, the color is not calling my name right now, so I am in no rush to finish it just yet. I have the body and one sleeve done, one sleeve to go and then the neckline. But, it will probably sit in the "to do" basket until next winter.

But, again, I am digressing, the oooh so fine sock knitters will be available to the public (I know you are all excited and can't wait) So far, there are only plans to make them in sizes for socks--but, I can already see the line growing to include hat looms! The unknown land of 7+ stitches per inch awaits us all loom knitters, so exciting!

In the past few weeks, I have been very much in the mood of knitting things in pink. Good thing that it is Project Spectrum's color for this month, so I have an excuse to show you all my pink stuff that I have been creating.

My fancy pink camera cozy, with my own cable design and applied I-cord around the top of the baggy. It is really cute (to my eyes anyways). Of course, I cannot take a picture of it with my camera inside cuz well I only have one camera and if the camera is in there, then I can't take the picture...duh moment! If you think you recognize the yarn, you are in the right track. It was done with left overs from my Pink Steps socks.

Next in line, we have a pink garter stitch hat done on a knitting loom--the crown has decreases to reduce in the bulk. Done on a super secret knitting loom that only 3 people have seen it. Right now, said knitting loom is in the testing stages, but it is niceeeeee!

My other pink project, has a pretty bluish/greyish stripes. Ths project is done on a knitting board--simple project for beginners. Again, I am testing a super secret knitting loom--the same knitting loom that made the Pink Garter Stitch scarf

Lastly, another pink, this time combined with a beige for one of my favorite combinations of colors--Neopolitan! You can't really see much from the picture, but it is just some simple fair isle, nothing fancy, I will probably have more pictures from this project tomorrow. The entire design is still in the works as I would like to add some simple lace eyelets to it, or maybe add more colors than just the two.

I am in the Pink mode right now, I don't know what I am going to do next month with Orange and Yellow...maybe I make a felted carrot! But in the mean time, I will listen to some Pink Floyd to round off my pink life ;)

Extra Fine

My new hot knitting loom! I have looms, looms galore, but I have always wanted something that I could use some of my sock yarn with. Okay, so I could have used it before with my Fine Gauge sock looms, but I had to use the double stitch, thus making it impossible for me to use the Purl Stitch and well, every knitter knows that you need to use both the purl and the knits to make a nice ribbed cuff.

What is a maiden to do when you have these needs, but nothing to fulfill it. The maiden simply calls her wonderful, magnificent, crafty knight of her life and whines, tells him her needs. Then, the knight in shining armor shows up at 6pm, kneels down by her feet, and hands her this jewel of a loom, with the tiniest little pins. The maiden swoons at this precious gift, takes it aways (without even saying thanks to the knight) and plops down on the couch to begin her knitting.

The clicking of the tool was all you could hear for hours. The only thing that stopped her progress on the little stocking was the clammoring kids' voices claiming they were hungry. Finally, after a few hours of knitting, the maiden got her prized sock!

Her precious sock knitter gives her an amazing, never achieved 7.5 stitches per inch and 10 rows to the inch. What? Are you sure? Sure, sure, check it for yourself. I am not kidding you, click on the picture and look closely.

The new sock knitter loom that will provide 7.5 stitches per inch using Magic Stripes yarn or similar and the single stitch! Pretty knifty!

Wondergirl was asleep so she couldn't really pose with the little sock. I put it on her, but there were no smiles or chasing around like I usually have to do when I put some of my knitted items on her. So, I had to recruit Wonderboy, the sock is a bit small on him, but you can see the stitches really nicely.

So, what do you think, c'mon let me know, let my little elf (aka hubby) hear your amazement at his new creation. I am so spoiled :)!

We have a winner!!! 1000th Comment

Not even a year later, my blog has received the 1000th comment!! I must be a blabber mouth  (in this case blabber fingers) and blog quite a bit.

Thank you all for the great comments and for bringing me a great blogging experience.

Bring out the balloons and the confetti, our 1000th comment...drum rolll pleaseeeee.....cheeesseee...

The lovely and gorgeous.... Teri!

She will take home, Wallace and Gromit, the Curse of the Were Rabbit!

 

Thank you all for participating!

Next month is my blogiversary and my real anniversary: 1 year blogging, 5 years married! It is an exciting month...I have some news that I will leave for another couple of posts...stay tuned to the Purling Sprite Channel.

*Splash*

Yep,  many of you were right my anal retentive self could not let that sock be made the wrong way. I had to rip it! It is not in my nature to do make something  wrong purposely.  Not only did I forget the 2 purls before and after the cable, but I forgot to add the stitches to the body of the sock altogether. I am really a doofus! I was so concentrated in following the chart that I forgot to follow the written directions.

So into the pool it went to visit Mr. Frog. But, now, it is a pretty, perfect sock (note: perfect in the sense that it at least fits me, even if it does have laddering problems in some parts).

The picture of my sock was taken down in Salt Lake at the SnB meeting! Yah! me at a SnB meeting :)! Kim was here visiting and her and Mim were going to go down, so Dlandra and I tagged along.  It was my first girl's day out too and I loved it (granted by 8pm I was missing my hubby and kids).  A must stop at Black Sheep yarn store was in order. The spoils of the evening: 2 skeins of Cashsoft DK, some awesome Crystal Palace dpns, and 1 skein of handpainted yarn (handpainted yarn was purchased at the SnB meeting)!

But there were more fun stored for the evening--I got to meet so many wonderful knitters. Some of which I have read their blogs for many months now--knitter's present at the wonderful gathering: bloggers: Mim, Kim, Tina,  Margene, Eliza, Susan, Laurie, Katherine, Bonnie, Teri and non-bloggers Julie, Heather, Jessamin, and Karen.  A gathering of knitted socks was a must!  Of course cameras came out to record the moment in history!

(Photo Caption: Kim and Me!)

The Gathering of Socks!

The gorgeous Mim when trying to take a picture of me and Kim at SnB.

We miss you Kim...come back to Utah after law school, I need my free lawyer near me!

It was an amazing girls date night out!