Since February I have been challenging myself with new techniques the 2 I have tried recently were cabling and socks (2 seperate projects)

The Apple  Pie Hat by tincanknits excited me I  have knit enough barley’s in the past few months I was looking for something new to knit and challenge myself and something new to show my mother in law when she returned from her trip. this pattern got me excited me when I saw it on instagram I knew I had to knit it right away. The pattern was very meditative and addicting. I would lay in bed at night thinking I want to finish that hat! A friend told me shes surprised how patient I am with complex patterns and not so with the social aspect sometimes. So here it is the picture of my apple pie hat. Its not perfect but I was really intending it for me and not a gift. I still need to work on my decreases on double points.

Next challenge socks. I’ve tried them before doing Magic Loop. I just can’t close my gaps when I do it. So I bought a 9″ circular I thought it might be easier to go around and I was right. I even tried doing stockinette doing magic loop again gaps and dropped stitches. Only downfall to doing a 9″ circular is dropping stitches so I always have a locking stitch marker on the bottom (or top since I am doing cuff down) attached incase I do.I am doing 72 stitches around since my one leg is more thick then the other and  I am at 6″ so far and need to go to 7 before I transfer to dpns to do the heel. My first attempt going this far I am impressed with myselff. Here is a picture from today.

So far that’s all I have to say. Until next time.

Lately I have been taking a break from knitting, because sometimes life gets in the way but I wanted to pop in and say hello …

I have been knitting dishcloths for the past month like mad … I found these pattterns on ravelry

Hedgehog! He turned out so cute I made it blue because I thought of Sonic and my toddler is a big fan.

I like sheep and I thought it would be fun to make.

I thought of this alligator too though you cant really tell.

In the spirit of Flash Gorddon on Tv I made this

Lastly I am tired of knitting dishcloths so I started my first pair of cuff down socks … First try would not go past my foot so I wentt with the largest here is my progress so far …

thats it for now I will post more later…

Let me tell you life has been busy lately,I will discuss that a little bit later but I am still knitting up a storm in the meantime.

On the needles and Looms…

I have a cowl that is out of lion brand tweed stripe mixed berries I decided after I did a hat that I have a better chance selling “sets” as  in hat and cowl our hat and scarf so after I made a hat out of the same yarn I decided to do a 5 purl 5 knit for 5 sections this is my result so far. I am really liking the dark to light effect I have  only about 10 more rows to go till I cast off…

Secondly I am working on baby hats. They are always big sellers at craft shows I found this yarn a couple years ago in the clearance bin @ AC Moore right now there is a  brim I have 2 done if you scroll down even further.

Finished Objects…

Here is the hat that goes with the cowl. It was done on the Martha Stewart Loom by Lion Brand. In the previous post it is the same hat smaller in size for my sister in law.

These are the baby hats that you saw earlier completed w… unsure yet if I am going to do green or brown for boys.

This is a hat cowl boot cuff set that I made I think I am going to put the boot cuffs on my Etsy site they sell better over there. Its out of loops  and threads impeccable  out o the color folklore.

Finally I have this cowl I made its my go to cowl pattern I found on Raverly. It’s called the Kinetic cowl its really simple to do and once you do rows 1 to 5 you basically do 4 more repeats.

High Spirits….

Well my husband and I are coming up to the preschool years for the buddy. He starts in September and is very excited. He is also a crafty one like me like I said before. He has a ball of hometown usa he “knits” with and being 3.5 its adorable.

So before preschool this mommy will take a 2 week vacation to see hers in the Bay Area.  So excited to go to break up the routine and rejuvinate myself.

So thats it for now I will talk to you later.

So a couple days ago I mentioned that I was in WIP land. I really didn’t feel like starting anything new the past few days so I have just been knitting on projects and 3 projects got completed.

First up was my hat that I have been working on .. It was for my sister in law who is much smaller then I am so instead of using the martha loom I used my All In One Loom by knitting board and went down from 80 to 50 pegs I don’t know if it fits her yet because when I saw her the clan was taking my nephew to his last day of kindergarten.

Next finished object is for my cousin. When I bought this off ebay I wasn’t sure what to knit with it. Her favorite colors are blue and green I was happy to finish this and going to send it to her soon!

Lastly, this doctor who tardis dishcloth for us. As I mentioned the first time I knitted these they sold so because we are whovians in this house its a little off by the picture but I enjoyed making this.

So whats next I am going to start this project its called a baktus. I got this yarn at the Lancaster Yarn Shop in Intercourse, PA. I love this yarn and cant wait to knit with it.

Next are my socks, I am waiting for my needles to arrive before I knit the vanilla latte socks.

Till next time…

This weekend was very busy so I have not done a lot of knitting. My mother visited and when she visits it feels like we are always in the car. Not that I am complaining but I always need a day off after she leaves. She left early this morning so after I got up I went into my WIP basket.

So here we go…

First off I am started this cowl 2 nights ago I found it on Ravelry its called the darn knit kinetic cowl its a free pattern and is only 25 rows. If your looking for a quick easy cowl heere you go …

I started this Dr Who dishcloth its a TARDIS .. I made my first set and it sold so I am making a second set for us.

This was my car knitting over the weekend this is going to be an infinity scarf where I am going to sew the ends together once I am finished with the 2 skeins.

This is usually my car knitting it is going to be a scarf with yarn overs.

Lastly this is a hat that I made in red for myself I really don’t like to make this but I wanted to make one smaller for my sister in law. I can only limit myself to a number of rows per day on this hat but it is almost done yay!

That’s all I have for now. Till later.

After I returned from Stitches West in March (which I loved!!!) in California. I returned to work at a bakery/tea room owned by my sister-in-law. For the past 2 years she has been at the York County Fairgrounds Garden Show. Where we serve high tea (scones, sandwiches, dessert, tea all for one price!) Menu is normally set which makes the job serving easier. While I was talking to customers one told me about a yarn store in East Berlin calling The Mannings. I have never heard of this yarn store we normally do not venture out because we are carless at the moment. I asked my mother in law and sister in law if they heard of it and they have not. I was destined to go there. I made it my mission.

Fast forward to now. My birthday was a few weeks ago and my mother flew in for it on my birthday we finally went to the Mannings! It was an adventure to get there(back roads) but I finally got to experience. To my mom it was nice, but to me it was YARN HEAVEN. I cannot tell you how many times I walked around until I started picking stuff off the shelves and I found some good stuff for me to knit with. Anytime I go to a specialty yarn store I only get stuff for me or those who appreciate what I knit for them. (close family, friends, etc) also refered to as knit worthy.

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking a lot of broadening my skill set into more advanced kitting, spinning etc, I talked about my project chart in an earlier blog,

This week I finished a cowl for my mother in law so I decided to try entrelac knitting. I’m always up for a challenge now.

So while I wait for my mother to return for her second trip in a month. I am off to knit on my doctor who dishcloth..

Yup that’s me! My name is Rainah (pronounced in 2 syllables [rain’ah])

I am a past crocheter, a medium loom knitter, and an avid needle knitter now. I often have an assistant who’s sitting beside me when I am knitting or blogging by the name of “buddy” hes 3.5 and 1 out of the 4 loves of my life. I started crocheting in my early 20’s when my grandmother got sick and we had to put her in a home I would often spend afternoons with her crocheting. (Usually I was crocheting she was watching.) I was on and off quite a bit taking a hiatus here and there until I got engaged and married in 2009. I wanted to learn more crocheting so my husband bought me “the happy hooker” I never really got outside of making scarves but I wanted to make much more then scarves.

After the birth of “buddy” in late 2010. I suffered through a bout of post par tum depression. My mother and I were walking through Michael’s one day and we saw the knifty knitter looms. After my mother returned from visiting me to California  my mother-in-law and I sat at her dining room table figuring the “loom” thing out. We got it! Didn’t know at the time we can go on you tube to figure it out. Finally the following summer wanting to know more I searched you tube and that’s where I blossomed figuring out stitches and cool new things to try.

Last fall, I was curious, a little burned out from the loom thing so I thought I would try needle knitting. My best friend has taught herself so I took a dive I went on you tube again and watched over and over again how to in thee basics of knitting and one day it finally clicked. So I am an avid needle  knitter now. I learn so much off of new stitch a day.com and everyone else.

When I am not knitting you can sometimes find me at the Red Brick Bakery in Red Lion, PA – Nerding out to Knitting Podcasts, or shopping I like to do alot of it. 🙂

Earlier this week I have been listening to the KnottyGirls Knitcast by Laura and Jen they had a question someone asked how to avoid knitting burnout they had great suggestions check out their answers in their show notes.

It got me to thinking for my own use. Since I am a spreadsheet nerd. I created one for myself. In my first tab I have labeled “wips” (works in progress) in which I have projects that are on my needles and looms that I have been working on and off on. so I have those projects going down in a column in parenthases I have a reaalistic number on that project weather its a day or a week of the rows I would like to do.  Across the top  I have the days if I do a row or 2 I have it marked off. It helps break up the monotony of doing one project all day.

In my other tabs I have a “future” tab of projects that I have thought about doing when I get done with one off the “wip” list I will pull one from there. Also, there is a rewards tab only valid if I finish a project. Say if I complete a project I can go to the rewards tab and learn a new knitting skill I have been thinking about but havent felt the urge to learn yet.

Till next time.

Wow! Its been almost a month that time has gone by and I posted I am usually really good about keeping up with things. This is usually a busy time of year for our family. (birthdays, craft shows, anniversary, holidays) I have not been knitting a lot recently but I finished an order for my uncle and cousin.

I am taking a break because I feel burned out from working with my looms. But when there is burnout there is always my “devils tower” (my place where unfinished objects go).

I’ve been working on a cowl that I put away because I got orders and it is for my mother in law her birthday falls on Monday. So I am happy to say that I finished it last night and it just needs blocked and it’ll be ready.

I have another scarf that is in the tower I pulled out due to it turning into yarn barf and needing another skein. Its out of loops and threads impeccable folklore. Thankfully I have my husband who is more patient with yarn barf then I am.

Also,  there is the mid December infinity scarf by a crafty house that is on 19 circs I have started this before until I watched  a video on how to join in the round from  newstitchaday.com

Last I want to push the craft show I have been in this for about 3 years now. Its run by my Brother in law up at their Bed and Breakfast. I have focused more on what I have sold in the past few years so there are flower pins, hats, toddler hats, and baby hats in there. Yes I am obsessed with making hats. I plan to donate what I dont sell at the end of the year.

Thats all I have for now till later. 🙂

Its been awhile since I have blogged and I have been very busy project wise. I had an order from my etsy store to make these 2 sets of hats and fingerless gloves. I thought the black set would be the easy one since I already had black yarn. The gloves were no problem but once I got to the hat it was a challenge I was almost done with it and I discovered I had a twisted strand and with the yarn being black i just decided to rip it and start all over again. It took me an additional 2 days the pattern is so meticulous and your stitches have to be perfect or it just wont work out.

Then I had to go smaller with the second set because it was for a 9 year old with the changing colors. I was throwing back and forth the idea to change colors with this hat to see if it would be doable. I have done this hat so much that I memorized it. I thought the gloves would be easy.  I made the loom 18 pegs instead of going 24 it took me at least 2 days to get this right. Normally I do a crochet cast off but for this set I would use a stretchy it didn’t even fit my toddler.

I finally got it done on Sunday and I was shooting for a Friday deadline. Now the plus side is I know what size and what to do the next time I try this.

While I would take “breaks” from knitting these sets for my order I would be knitting dishcloths and pot holders I have the t-shirt yarn from lion brand I have been holding onto all this time. I thought they would make good pot holders. So I casted on 15 stitches and went till I hit about 8 inches.  Here is a picture below. I think Im going to keep these ones for us. Until I get better.

Another thing I have been doing is trying to knit dishcloths. I had to find the right needles the aluminum ones were way to large and the toddler thought they were “noodles.” I found 7 bamboo needles at Michael’s and then went on my trying to knit the perfect square dishcloth. The blue one was much wider and rectangular I went to 44 stitches on that. I was going off what my mother in law does. The second one I went to 36 inches and it seems more square to me. We just have to wash it to see.

Thats all I have for now till later.