Ladders

In all my knitted items in-the-round I have never, ever had ladders between my needles.

Not a knitter?  A ladder is what happens to the stitches on the ends of each double-pointed needle when the tension changes. It shows up between your double-pointed needles looking like a dropped stitch.  Click here for ways to avoid this.

henrys-hat-ladder-2

I’m not sure what happened this time except that I was using three needles and the working needle instead of four and not pulling the second stitch on the needle as tightly as I should have while I was knitting.  Plus this is knitted inside out and the laddering occurred in the purl section so it wasn’t as noticeable to me.

henrys-hat-ladder-1

So the hat will be ripped out until I get to the purl section and I’m either going to use four needles and a working needle or switch to a short circular needle.

What’s your trick to avoid ladders?

My Advent calendar

Mr. Aitch surprised me with my own Advent/Christmas Wishes calendar.

advent-2016-001

What could it be?

advent-2016-002

Hmmm…from Paintbox Yarns.*

advent-2016-003

Day 1…

advent-2016-004

10 grams (31 yards) of Soft Camel DK yarn.  How sweet!

*I received no compensation from Paintbox Yarns.

Stash busting again

Ten years ago I received this yarn as a Christmas gift from someone in my office.  She knew I wanted to try felting and this yarn is great (so I’ve heard) for felting.

lopi-004

I bought a new winter coat this year and it’s not my usual red or green.  It’s called Marigold (source).

marigold-coat

Anyway I need a new hat and purse to go with this unusual (for me) color.

lopi-001

My green and blue hat just doesn’t look that good with this golden-yellow.

lopi-002Nor does my Ruby and Charcoal purse I made several years ago.  Plus it’s just too small!

lopi-003

After swatching the Lopi and holding it against my skin, it’s too scratchy for a hat but it will make a perfect purse.  I only have 320 yards so I hope I have enough for something felted that won’t be too small.

And it’s only one color.  It’s a BIG no-no to mix different brands of yarn when felting so if I want another color, I’ll either have to dye this or find it in a different color…and since that yarn is discontinued, finding some might be difficult.

No specific pattern yet for the purse.  Any suggestions?