There's a Cricket in the House!

A cricket in the house is good luck. Right? Well. . . this cricket that entered the house is wooden, needed assembly and eats yarn. 

That’s right!  A new 10 inch Schacht Cricket Rigid Heddle Loom now resides in our home. The Cricket is cute and small. It was a gift from some friends who know that I like knitting and yarn. And they also know that there is a lot of yarn in our home. The Cricket is supposed to eat through large piles of yarn very quickly. Supposed to. 

Schacht Cricket Loom (picture from Schachtspindle.com)

The first project on the loom has been completed. I used some yarn left over Cascade Luna from Lucy to make a dish cloth and to practice plain weaving. The solid yarn was lovingly warped between the loom and the warping peg to make two cloths. Then, the variegated yarn was used in the weft.

Plain weave on left and looped dishcloth on right.

The first cloth was woven way too tightly, but has a neat stripe that was unexpected. The second was woven into a looped dishcloth using a straight size US 8 (5.0 mm) knitting needle. This method makes a great cloth, but it is quite slow. 

The next project on the Cricket was made with Sugar and Cream cones in ecru and green.  The project used all the slots and holes to utilize the entire width of the loom. I alternated two ends white and two ends green on the warp.  I also alternated two picks white and two picks green on the weft.  This makes a wonderful houndstooth cloth. I wove the dishcloth 9 inches square. I hemstitched the beginning and end of the cloth while still on the loom. 

Houndtooth Fabric

Hemstitched edge and cardboard spacer

Loom ready for to weave. 

Supposed to use up stash. Well . . . I had the ecru in stash but bought the green cone yesterday. Hmmmm.

Having fun with the new Cricket, but I can see that this might not burn through the stash as much as had been hoped.

We’ll see.

Until next time. . . . . .

A New Love

Lucy is Finished!  What a delightful knit. She has had a bath, lovingly squeezed and is drying on her yoga mat. The pattern directions were very clearly written. I am pleased with the colorwork and plan to use the alternation of variegated and solid yarns on future projects. Great design feature. Cudos to c2knits!

I tried on Lucy before her bath. She feels like a luxurious bathrobe. She fits well. Unfortunately, I am finding that while I like knitting raglan sleeve sweaters, I don’t like the way they look on me.  I think I need more structure in the shoulder and sleeve join.

I plan to wear Lucy and show her off. She will be a great sweater to grab when the air conditioning gets too cold to bear. She will be warm and cozy.  

Since my needles were lonely, I cast on and finished a 7 inch by 7 inch lace acrylic square for our guild blanket project. Each month someone teaches a new skill that we adapt to a square. One brave soul in the guild is sewing the squares together. Thank goodness, it is not me!

A few mistakes - Realized I needed stitch markers!

My small needles were also  lonely, so I cast on and finished one very tiny baby sock in watermelon pink Pediwick sock yarn using my Fingering Weight Baby Sock Pattern. The project made for an enjoyable evening. The needles are calling to me to finish the other one. Maybe, I can ignore them for a few days.

Another sweater has become my new love. I picked up the Locke Street Cardigan by Glenna C. and looked it over. I am about 5 inches into the sleeves working them two at a time. The reason for my straying from this sweater is not the cables, is not the small needles (US 5 (3.5 mm)), and is not the dark forest green alpaca yarn. The issue is two at a time. Constantly untangling the yarn. Just not fun. So slow!!!! I know many knitters like the technique, but I hate it.

So, I put one sleeve on hold and am only working with one sleeve. In 30 minutes, I have completed two pattern repeats. Yeah!  The knitting seems to be flying by. This sweater also has set in sleeves which should be a better fit for me.  So far, delightful. Like we are dancing smoothly together. 

Don’t tell Lucy!

Until next time . . . .