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Archive for November, 2011

Tis the Season for Knitting and Music

Posted in Knitting Projects, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on November 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This week has been the week to finish up some projects- and does that feel good!!!!

I also had time to check out my Score Exchange site, and noticed that everyone is up-loading Carol of the Bells, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, and some of my other Christmas music.  It set me to thinking that some of you might be interested, if not for yourselves, then for your church, or singing group.  I will tell you that “Mary’s Song” is a great solo for a soprano.  The lady who performed it locally has a beautiful soprano voice and absolutely loved the challenge.   Anna’s Song” is in a lower range, and is a great piece for a Mezzo Soprano.   Both pieces include piano and choir parts.

I have sung Anna’s song many times, and always in costume.  It is amazing what a difference it makes when you actually re-enact those historial moments-besides, I not as nervous when I am pretending to be someone else.  🙂

The original source of these musical vignettes come from the musical I wrote entitled “The Promise,” which tells the story of Simeon and Anna in Luke II.

I just felt led to share this with you, so do with it what you will. If you have any trouble printing them off, let me know and I can send you a PDF.

Of course, my harp music is there, too.

If you will look to the right side of this page under”Blog Roll”

you will see a link that says Music for Christmas, click on it.

Now look for anything listed under “Judith Helms, ” – yes, that’s me.

Now to the knitting part-

I can’t stand it if I don’t have some kind of colorworks project to dink around with, so I started my Whitetail Buck Pillow.  I love the colors.  The pattern combines Intarsia, bobbles, and overlay stitches, and will be finished with cording around the sides.  I haven’t decided what pattern I will do on the back yet, but I will probably opt for a texture stitch of some kind.  This may seem tedious to some, but for me it is therapy.

Happy Holidays

and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

KT

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One More Hat- for My Pint Size Hunter

Posted in Knitting Projects, Uncategorized, tagged , on November 23, 2011| 1 Comment »

Just recently finished- yes I said “FINISHED,” another Mock Tyrolean for  my grandson’s birthday.  He is an avid hunter, and this hat was a special request.  I used Patton’s Classic Wool with the Camo colors.    Just thought I would let you see the results.  This multi-colored affect really shows off the closure for this design.

The picture above shows how the closure lays out when finished with steam.

I have another idea floating around in my brain for this hat, but it will have to wait till after the holidays.  Hummmm?????  Maybe a double knit?  Hummmm..??? Maybe…..

Maybe I need to finish up the projects in my five gallon bucket.  Two down, and two to go!

Happy knitting- KT

PS:  My 90 year old mom was here today and had to model my hat.  Here  are her suggestions-

Bill down!

Bill up!

She personally likes the idea of the movable bill, so she can shape the hat the way she wants.  Of course, the color isn’t her cup of tea.  She would prefer grey- light grey, that is.   Anyway, she put  her stamp of approval on it before she left.

Thanks mom!!!

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A Lace Shawl for Mom

Posted in Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on November 17, 2011| 2 Comments »

I just finished a lace shawl for my 90 year old mother.  I got the pattern from Heirloom-knitting.  It is an easy to knit, and is especially beautiful made of lace weight kid mohair.  But…. for my purposes, that being stability and warmth, I chose to knit it with Knitpicks “Gloss” fingering yarn, made of wool and silk.

Here is a photo of it on the bed, drying in the glare of the snow outside.

Here is a close-up.

I did modify the pattern on the top, as my mother will want to close it with some sort of button, or frog.  To give it a more stable finish after the finally row of decreases, I just knitted about 4 rows, then worked a Pico edge, to give it the extra stretch that was needed for it to lay out nicely.

As you can see in the photo above, I now have a modified scallop at the top, but it is not as drastic as the one’s on the sides.

The bind off I used was accomplished by casting on one stitch (knitted cast on). Knitting that stitch and the next one, I dropped the first stitch over the second, counting it as one cast off stitch.  Next, I cast off 2 more stitches in the normal way.

Slipping the stitch left on the right needle back to the left needle, I began the process again.   That’s  it!  Cast on one, bind off three.

*Note – Because I didn’t go to a smaller needle, as is sometimes recommended for a pico cast off,  this method created a small scalloped lace edge.  I think it looks great.  It works for me!!

You can get this lovely pattern call “Frost and Ice Shawl”  at Heirloom-knitting.

Happy Knitting –

KT

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Duplicate Stitches by the Half

Posted in knitting embellishments, Knitting Projects, Knitting Tutorials, Uncategorized, tagged on November 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

As I was working on my lastest Intarsia pattern, I did some experimenting with duplicate stitches.  I found that when it comes to “smoothing out the curves”  most of the time I only needed to cover one leg of the stitch, NOT BOTH.  This “half” duplicate stitch does not add a lot of bulk to your project, as does crocheted chains or regular duplicate stitches, and it retains the intregrity of the knit stitch.

Below I have illustrated the process.  Give it a try.

You begin as you would for a regular duplicate stitch, bringing your yarn up through the desired stitch.  Next, follow the green arrow,  sticking your needle down over the bar, and pulling your yarn through to the back between the two stitches on your right.

 Here you seen the results.

Work in the opposite direction, if you want to slant a half duplicate stitch to the left.

Below is a photo of the results in the real world.

Happy knitting!

Knit-tweaker

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Painting with Yarn II- Majestic Eagle

Posted in Knitting Projects, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on November 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This last month as I began working on my Wildlife series I found myself back in the mood to paint some more yarn pictures.  The White Tail Buck motif spurred me on, so here is #2 in the series- I just couldn’t put it aside.  I’m on a roll!!!

I realize that the digital renditions are not the real thing, but it does give one the luxury of seeing what the finished work will look like – almost.  It also gives me an opportunity to judge the balance, and color combinations; besides, never in a life time could I knit up all my ideas, I would have to live to be 200 plus.

All the charts in this pattern are detailed.  They include many variations and applications for you to consider, along with instructions for the special stitches I use in the finishing details.

The charts can be applied to the front of a sweater (Eagle motif options), incorporated into an afghans design (sportweight) and adapted to needlepoint project.  This particular pattern is charted for 8 stitches and 11 rows using a #1 (2.5) needle, knitting with fingering yarn, but I always include the charts for sportweight yarns as well.  All of the patterns are set up for knitting, thus the grids are composed of  rectangles, not squares. There is also a cameo grid applied to each version, which is one of the many options available.

The main pattern is set up for a 14 x 14 and 16 x 16 inch pillow tops, however, I always knit the whole pillow, (see my Tropicana Rose design in the pattern gallery)- I love using texture stitches on the back.

Bottom line for me is the artistic creation.  It’s been great fun, and very rewarding.

Pictured below are version I and II

 “Majestic Eagle”

  It will be on the shelf soon.   I hope you like it!

Happy Knitting!

Knit-tweaker

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