Tu-torial, Tu-torial! How lovely are your pictures!

The clay so green, it looks like spring,
And red and yellow fun it brings,
Tu-torial of Polymer Clay -
Oh, show me how to make a cane!

Did you ever wonder how the picture gets into one of those little, flat beads? I know that I did, and so I did some research and learned also how to make picture beads myself!

So much to share today, and so many pictures, bear with me folks! Later on, there will be a little (read: few words, many pictures!) tutorial on how I made a Christmas Tree cane of polymer clay, which I then cut into beads for use on my Row Counters!

But first, as promised last time, Sock Pattern and Yarn Review #2:
In February, I pulled Edwardian Boating Socks out of my bin for my February Socks! The yarn is 5th Avenue Funky Sock Yarn, by Herrshners, and I had only one problem with this yarn, as it was not what I expected it to be. On the website, it stated that the yarn was wool/nylon, but when I read the label, it said Acrylic/nylon. . .that's a big difference. Some people really don't like to knit/wear socks in acrylic, and I confess that I am (at times) one of them. I guess you can't beat the big A for sturdiness and easy care (don't even think about bringing an iron into the room), but it does not breathe well, and is better suited to slippers and house-socks than inside-a-shoe socks. . .especially in warm weather! Still, the colors were good, and they played together nicely to make this pattern really sing:

By the way, I love the way this pattern knits and looks, but I learned (the hard way because I never tried it on as I went) that the linen stitch panels killed the elasticity of the thing, so that I couldn't even think about putting it over my foot without a re-do! I ended up knitting those panels in seed stitch, and ultimately the socks fit. . .but I gave them to College Girl anyway. . .I am a sucker for a teenager who loves hand-knit socks!

Overall, these socks are a good bet. :o) The pattern is well written and pretty, but remember to add stitches to your regular size in this pattern OR change the stitch on the plain panels to skip the inelastic linen stitch! I probably won't buy the yarn again for socks, though I might get some for other things.

And now, on with the Tu-torial!!! It's not all-inclusive, and there are many ways to build a Millefiori-style "cane" with clay, some high-tech, some not. The following is just my low-tech take. If you are going to dive into the process, you might also check out some additional sites for more information, and refer to the use and baking instructions on whatever clay you are using. . .but this is how I turned this SculpeyIII clay:
. . .into these beads!:

Creating Christmas Tree Beads in Polymer Clay
Disclaimer: Do not use any of your polymer clay tools/ovens for food once they have been used with polymer clay! Residue from the clay can remain even after cleaning/washing, and baking clay (even a little bit) at temperatures over the manufacturer's suggested baking temp can create toxic fumes.

Step 1: Start with clean everything to avoid accidentally mixing colors. Wiping with baby wipes will take the clay off of most surfaces.

Condition the clay, I use a pasta machine, set on the thickest setting at first. . .
Then rolling it a little thinner and smoother as the clay gets softer. . .

Until I can roll paper-thin sheets on the lowest setting. The clay is soft, shiny and smooth when it is ready. . .

You can also condition the clay by simply working it in your hands, but I really love the results I get with the pasta roller. Bonus!, I don't need a rolling pin to create thin sheets!

Step 2: Once the clay is nice and soft, I divide it into small pieces which I then roll into 1/2" long tubes that I will use like Lite-Brite pegs to make a "picture" for the center of the cane:

Here are all of my colors rolled into pieces. . .some are thicker and some are thinner. I don't know how many I will need when I start, so I just roll out what I think I might need for now. I can make more if I need to, and I can use leftovers for something else!

Step 3: Stand the tubes up, and push them together to make a picture. . .in this case, a Christmas Tree for the holidays! My piece will be made up of several tubes of clay, and it will be about 1/2" thick everywhere because the clay tubes are all about the same length. There may be some tiny spaces, but these will be worked out when we "reduce" the cane's diameter.

Step 4: Now, we need a background, so I roll out some pieces of the white clay to fit into the outside edges, and to help me create a round-ish piece from my triangular tree!

Step 5: With some of my leftover clay, I make borders for the cane by putting the clay through the pasta machine again to make a 1/2"wide ribbon of clay for each border. For this cane, I want the green to be on the outside, so it's the last color I roll out to wrap around.

Right now, this piece is about 3" in diameter, and about 1/2" thick. Now it's time to make my round slab of clay into a thin tube of magical beads!

Step 6: The Magic Happens as I hold the slab in the curve of my hand, trying to maintain the flat edges, and I squish and squoosh and squash the clay, compressing it from the outside in. . .

. . .working from the center of the forming tube toward the picture ends. . .I am not "rolling" the tube, like I did earlier with my tiny clay pieces, but carefully compressing it, as evenly as I can. . .

. . .until the "picture" ends become distorted beyond recognition, and the tube is about 3/4-1" in diameter. Just keep squishing ("reducing") from all sides, gently and evenly. . .

. . .until it the ends look something like this. Where did the Christmas Tree go???

Step 7: Here comes the real magic. . .take a deep breath and swiftly cut the cane in the center with a very sharp blade to see the magic!

Amazing, no?
Step 8: Now that the cane is so much thinner, you can squoosh a bit more, and cut off the bulky end. Then roll the tube out to be as thin as you like. Mine was about 1/4 - 1/2" in diameter. Then I let the thin tube rest for about 30 minutes before I used my sharp blade to cut the beads from the center of the cane.

Note: Anytime you roll the cane thinner, the ends will distort a bit, but you can cut these ugly pieces off and make colorful, spherical or oblong beads with them. Bonus!, these "leftovers" beads will match your cane beads perfectly!

Step 9: After the beads are cut (about 1/8" thick), you can make a hole lengthwise with a pin or thin piece of wire for creating a charm later. Or, if you want buttons, you can make holes through the flat sides of the bead.

Step 10: Then bake, according to the package instructions on the clay, approximately 15 minutes for every 1/4" of thickness in your pieces. Here are some of my beads, "skewered" and ready to be baked. On some of the canes, I added thin layers of red or yellow clay to the outer edge of the cane for a different look.

After baking and cooling, here are my beads! I will seal them with a shiny or matte glaze, and make knitting jewelry from them. . .just like I did with my spider friends!!!

Whew! That was a LOT of writing. Now, I think it's time to knit! I hope that you get some knitting and crafting time today. . .maybe you should try some polymer clay!

Or you could just Knit in Good Health!

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Well, I guess it goes without saying that Little Red is quite afraid of the Big Bad Wolf. . .or at least she was afraid, before the Woodsman chopped him open, thus freeing Grandma and making the forest a safer place for all creatures. That makes sense.

What doesn't make sense (to Pretty Knitty anyway) is why so many knitters are afraid of the sock. The knitted sock, small and meek, will send even experienced knitters into a frenzy. . .they are not ready, sure that they cannot master knitting socks themselves, even though many of the techniques are no different than any other knitting. For example, short-row shaping (found in most heel constructions) is also found in many sweater patterns; knitting in the round happens in hats and mittens; decreases and picking up stitches are a part of many patterns. . .maybe it's the tiny needles that frighten them?

Or maybe it's the dreaded Kitchener Stitch. . .dum-dum-DUMMMMMM!!! But really, the kitchener is just a combination of knitting and sewing. Don't get me wrong, learning to kitchener takes a little patience and practice, but all you're really doing is using a sewing needle to close a seam by duplicating a knit row between the two rows of stitches-in-waiting. There are great tutorials all over the web, so I won't go into detail here, but I am confident that anyone can do it. Give it a shot, and come back to tell me about your "Aha Moment" with the kitchener stitch!

Knitting techniques aside, I also know some knitters that get so intimidated by the number of sock patterns out there, that they just don't really know where to start! So, since I have been working through a sock pattern a month in my own personal sock club, I have decided to offer a little review of the socks I have knit so far this year. Maybe something I say or show will help you to step out of your comfort zone and knit your first pair of socks!?! Just one pattern per post for the next 8 posts, and here we go!

In January, I knit November Socks. Now, that might seem a bit counter-intuitive to some, but when I said, "The envelope, please!," that first month, that's what was inside, so I went with it. These were knit in Serenity Sock Yarn (in the color Paprika) on 2.25 (1US) needles. The yarn is part of the Deborah Norville Collection (50% wool, 25% bamboo, 25% nylon), and very soft. It was a little thinner than I usually work with, so I probably should have gone down a needle size and cast on more stitches, but I didn't.

The pattern looks pretty cool knitted up, sorry for my bad picture...here's another, for your reference, so that you can see the stitch definition a little better. I used less than 100g of yarn, starting with two 50g skeins, and I probably had about 25g leftover.

Of course, even in the better photo of the unfinished sock, the stitch definition is not good. I think it's a combination of the patterning in the yarn, and my preference for always starting on a knit (not purl) stitch that had me not really loving this pattern. . .if I knit it again, I will use a solid yarn, probably something a little more substantial. And if I use this yarn again (I have used it twice now on 2.25mm), I will probably go down a needle size to the 2mm.

All in all, this project was more positive than negative. :) College Girl was the recipient of the November Socks, and she wears them, and she likes them! I would have made changes if I were the kind of knitter who really studies a pattern before I dive in, but I am not. And there you have it, review number one! Please let me know if there are questions I did not answer, or if there are additional details you would like me to provide in the next review.

On to the current events in today's Knitting Knews:
The toe in the first two photos, that you saw at the start of this post, belongs to the August club socks, Wickerware! These were knit from the same yarn as the ones in my review, and I could copy all of that info here, but really, what's the point? You just read all that! lol

Here's a shot of the finished pair, "hanging out" in the garden:

More details on my Rav Project Page. I will also review these socks in about a month, or so. :)

And when you finish one pair of socks, you know what to do next? Start another! Soooo, the page for this next project has been started over on Ravelry, even though I will not officially cast on until tomorrow. Watch out for September Squalls!!!
There are many other projects currently on Pretty Knitty's needles, but most of them are of the secret/Christmas variety, so I guess the blog ends here. It's time for Pretty Knitty to get outside and take a little walk anyway. . .thanks for stopping by, and. . .

Knit in Good Health!

Arachnophobia!!!

The following definition is taken from Wikipedia, so I offer the disclaimer that it may or may not be 100% accurate in it's definition or use of statistical data. . .but the vintage drawing of Little Miss Muffet that accompanied the article was pretty funny!

Arachnophobia or arachnephobia (from the Greek: arachne, "spider" and phobos, "fear") is a specific phobia, the fear of spiders and other arachnids. It is a manifestation of zoophobia, among the most common of all phobias. The reactions of arachnophobics often seem irrational to others (and sometimes to the sufferers themselves). People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbor spiders or that has visible signs of their presence, such as webs. . .

. . .In some extreme cases, even a picture or a realistic drawing of a spider can also evoke fear. . .

. . .if you suffer from arachnophobia, I apologize to you for the obvious distress I have caused with these photos. Of course, if you have an extreme case, you have not been able to read the blog today, and you have missed the apology. . .ironic, isn't it? ;-)

In any case, Halloween's approach had me feeling creative this week, so I did some caning. . .not the painful kind that you find in third-world countries, but the polymer clay kind. . .I think the results were pretty successful. . .unless, of course, you suffer from Arachnophobia! Look for these babies to show up in the shop as soon as I can glaze them and put them together!

In Knitting Knews, there are some finished Mitts, and some Christmas Knitting on the needles! Check out my Rav page for more details, as most of that is secret knitting - shhhh!

Here's a photo of the first item finished in ITALIAN YARN! I am so pumped to have worked these up so quickly. . .I think the yarn was a sport weight, and I love the color! I used the lace pattern from my Knit 1, Breathe 1 Shawl pattern, and just made it into mitts. Can't wait to wear these. . .the yarn was a pleasure to knit up, and I see a second pair of these coming off my needles in the near future!

Oh, and if I have the time, I am planning some Christmas canes for the shop as well, and I hope to be on the ball enough to take some photos and put up a quick tutorial on how it works. I know, there are many tuts on this already, but still it amazes me every time I make it work, and I can't help but believe that it will also amaze you! Sooo, prepare to be amazed, somewhere in the next week or two! haha!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Four-Eyes!

I had a lot of nicknames as a kid. Don't get me wrong, I am not bragging. Most of my nicknames were less than flattering, and some were downright mean. I was a "fluffy" kid, much the same as I am a "fluffy" adult, I guess. . .and I wore glasses (see post title), and I was rather uncoordinated. It was a recipe for nickname disaster. There were times that I thought I might not survive the humiliation, or the next gym class. . .seriously uncoordinated!

Despite Four-Eyes, Fatso, and some that I cannot repeat in a family-friendly blog post, I have made it now into my forty-third year, pretty much unscathed. Sure, I have been in short-term therapy a couple times (truthfully, I can't think of anyone who would not benefit from a little therapy as an adult), but I have learned who I am, and I like me. It's a good place to be.

I also know that this life isn't all about me. This blog is generally about me, and my knitting, but this life is about so much more than just me. If you have known me for much time at all, you know that my higher priority is living right and loving life while I am here. Living right is often about other people, and it's pretty hard sometimes, but it's so much more rewarding than always doing just what I want to do. As a matter of fact, the best advice I ever received, when I was feeling really low, was to go do something for someone else (which seemed pretty counter-productive when I was feeling so drained. . .), and it works! I recommend it to anyone and to everyone. Just get outta your comfort zone a little and help someone else find hope. . .it's out there, just waiting to be found, I promise.

So there you have it. It's not about me all of the time. It's not about me even most of the time. . .sometimes it feels like it's not ever about me at all. However, this post is about I.

1. I, as in me, as in I have finished some knitting, and I would like to show you! Here is the Supernatural Baby Sweater and Hat that I finished this week. They are washed and laying flat to dry, even as I post, and they will be gifted at church tomorrow (hopefully, if my good friends with the new baby are there!)!

2. This post is about I, as in I-cord, as in miles and miles of I-cord for Christmas Project #1, now finished, that I can't show you - Sorry! I have also started Christmas Project #3, and I am well on my way with Project #2. . .I promise there will be pictures here after the exchange! For now, if you are on Ravelry, check out the links!

3. This post is about I, as in the letter I, as in I is for Italian yarn that my Aunt sent to me from Italy while she was there visiting my cousin, her 3rd child, in the Army and stationed with his family in Italy! It's a tough job, but I guess somebody's gotta do it! lol

From looking at the labels, all in Italian, I believe there is Worsted (or DK?) and Fingering weight 100% Merino. . .absolutely the softest, most luxurious yarn I have ever smooshed up against my cheeks and nose. . .mmmmmmmm!

And Baby Yarn (fingering, I think) in 100% cotton, variegated and beautiful!

My Aunt has played with yarn as long as I can remember, and she knows there is a grandchild in my near future, so she made sure the baby has Italian yarn, too! What a great aunt (and cousins) I have!

Well, that's 3 "I's," and since the post is titled "Four Eyes", it might be good if I could include 4 "I's" as well, don'tchathink?

. . .OH! I do have one last "I". . .

4. I do! Or, rather, she does. . .or she will, when the time comes!

That's right! College Girl is officially engaged! With a ring and everything! The picture is a little fuzzy, but the bride-to-be is a little jumpy, and she can be a bit camera-shy. . .I did the best that I could, under the circumstances! It will be some time before the ceremony, and there will be a new baby niece or nephew born to her brother and his wife before the bride's big day, so it will be a busy time in the Pretty Knitty family! You know what? I couldn't be happier for all of them. . .or for me!

Whew! Four "I's" can sure take a lot of energy! Now I think it's time to smoosh some yarn, knit a bit, and dream of the "big days" that both of my kids have coming up! Yay!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope that you will Knit in Good Health this week!

And The Knit Goes On. . .

Sticks keep making fabric out of yarn;
Fabric wraps around to keep you warm.
Stitches, knit and purl, combine as one;
Non-knitters don't "get" the knitting fun. . .

And the Knit goes on,
And the Knit goes on.
And the Knit goes O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-On,
And the Knit goes on!

And this knit goes on my foot! Well, truth be told, this Wickerware sock is a little small for me, even though I did stretch it all the way on for a piccie! But it will be looking for a smaller foot when it's mate is finished, nonetheless. hmmmm. . .who's got a smaller foot than me?
This knit goes on a baby head! It's the Simple Stripes Baby Hat that I started after I finished the sweater it was designed to match (which is sooo does, Yay!)!

And the Super Natural Stripes sweater was a quick and fun knit. I can't wait until the hat is finished and both pieces are laundered and ready to gift! Super-Striped Yay!

And this knit goes on me. . .eventually! lol It's the body of my Summer's End Cardigan. This is the body, which is supposed to be knit to 9" before the waist shaping, but I am gonna go longer.

I love the detail of this lace, and so far I have knit 5 repeats of the 10 row pattern for just under 9 inches. I am thinking at least 6 pattern repeats, maybe 7, still too early to tell. I love this color, every time I pick this up, I love the color more! I am so glad that I took the plunge to dye a sweater's worth! Yay!

And the knit goes on, and on, and on. . .as does the life of the knitter. Big Doin's at Pretty Knitty's house in the next couple years. Tune in on Saturday for more details!

Until then, Knit in Good Health!