The missing tiger

I am off to "Vogue Knitting Live" tomorrow and I went to print out all the knitted blocks for the zoo blanket. After looking in all my computer files I realized I never took a picture and down loaded the Tiger. So when I get back I will have to do it. There is a picture of it knitted up in the layed out blanket, but no close up. It will just have to do for now. I'm looking forward to the show. I'm taking only 1 class, "Brioche Lace". It should be fun. I also have a lecture "Behind the scenes of Creating the Finishing School" book. That should be interesting. I like both teachers. This year I'm doing the market by myself since I have my very own electric scooter and I don't need anyone to push me like I did when I was in my wheelchair. I feel like I been liberated & freed. I can take my time and not feel rushed. It should be fun. Ruth is going to meet me around 5 and I'm going to sleep over her place. So she will help me go up town & I spend the evening with the Rosenthals. Sunday morning they will help me get into a cab so I can go back to the show for my early morning class. It should be a fun weekend. All for now.

I'm finally blogging again. It's been quite awhile. Too long. And this blanket has been taking me toooo long to. I am down to 1 more panel, the center one. I've graphed it out. It's going to be a giraffe. As you can see I have layed out the panels so I know the placement of each one and how big I need to make the giraffe. I need to get more yarn so I can start to knit the final panel. You would think I would have enough left over yarn to complete the giraffe, but not. I am very happy on how the animals came out. I have my favorites and I have the ones that I had a hard time doing. But for the most part it's been a fun project. It's going to be interesting when I knit the whole thing together. Right now I'm thinking garter stitch, but I will see. Next weekend is Vogue Live NY & I hope to pick up some ideas. Well all for now. Terry

knitting along

I have been knitting along doing the tiger and I have about 2" done. I am enjoying this pattern. But as usual I didn't pick out the background color for the sky. And I think I'm going to do the rev st st. But subject to change. I'll have to go thru my stash of yarns to see what blues I have. I did a much better provisional cast-on- it's a crochet cast-on that I found on "You-tube". Also using the shorter size us3 needles. Hopefully this will all work out in the end. Back to knitting!

I'm Back

As you can see I finally finished knitting the orangutan & the panda bear. I was very pleased the way they both came out. I would have done more but I got sidetracked in other projects. I made 2 chemo hats for my daughter Gail who has breast cancer and is now on her way to recovery having her last chemo treatment last Monday. But she is bald and it will take time for her hair to grow back. I also made myself a silk shawl. I ripped out a shawl that I started 2 years ago that I didn't like working on and found a pattern that I enjoyed much better and it came out great. Maybe I will take a picture and post it. I love wearing it. I am not saving it for special occasions and using it in the evenings when I'm cold. The silk yarn was very pricy so why should it be put away and saved.

I also just finished the graphed for the tiger. That took me 3 days worth of corrections & finishing touches until I was happy with the results. It was a long winter full of family health problems, house problems & weather problems all getting in the way of knitting. I'm glad that it's behind me now. I'm trying to get back on tract. But it seem my health/head gets in the way.
On to knitting. Beside knitting the tiger I am also working on a summer light weight jacket for me with yarn that my friend Ruth got for me from Germany. I like having 2 projects going on at the same time. An easy one that I can take with me anywhere, and of cause the zoo blanket. Signing out for now. Terry

orangutan

Here is the graph of the Orangutan. It will also be 8x11" (56 stitches x 104 rows), same as the parrot. I may make some more adjustments to the graph. I have been staring at the finished graph for the last day or 2. Not constantly but from time to time. I put the graph across from where I sit knitting and keep looking at it. This is the 3rd time I made finished adjustments. That's how I like to work. I don't start knitting until I'm totally happy with it. And even then I might make changes as I go along. I'm still not sure about the background yet. Stst or revStst.

I have all the yarn for this block. Which is a good thing. I'm still thinking of how I want to do the fur on the orangutan body. I want it to look furry so I might do a furry edgy. I will to a test swatch first as always.

Here is the finished knitted Parrot. I'm happy the way it came out. I'm still not sure if I will be adding some overlays to this block, such as, leaves & feathers. There is alot of texture in the background with the chervon stitch. The pink on the bottom is from the provisional cast-on that will be removed when the whole blanket will be put together. This part will be grafted together with the border.

I am still working on the next block which is a gorilla. I am just about finished with the graph, which is also being done in my Stitch Painter program. Once I'm finished and I like it I will post the graph. I thought I was done but after looked at it for a while there were spot I want to fix.

Parrot graph

This is the graph of the parrot. I'm doing a chevron stitch for the background that gets wider apart as it gets toward the bottom. I'm also going to do some kind of stitches for the feathers for the wings. When I get there I will decide. I have a test swatch that I will work on to see if I like it first. I think it will be some kind of slip stitche to make it look like feathers. The tail's feathers will be an overlay. The leaves will also be overlays, giving that 3D look. The branch I may do an I-cord. But you know me. It's design as I go. I will be keeping good notes and the graph is in the computer, so this time I may able to sell the pattern if I want. It will be for sale 2 ways. One way with no overlays, just intarsia and ST ST. And the 2nd way for the more experienced creative knitter with all the overlays and fancy stitches. The gauge will be 7st=1" & 9 rows=1". I mostly use DK weight yarn on size US3 needles. This has been working for me on all my blankets. I like the hand I get with this. You can also use Lt Worsted, Sport, or Baby. The gauge is the most important. Otherwise the animals will be distorted. Just a side note- I'm a very tight knitter and I tend to knit a little looser doing intarsia. And as they say "SWATCH" before knitting.
And now it's time for me to start knitting and get off the computer!
Terry