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VRWKNWC: Conservative Crafters of the World, Unite!
me | 12/7/06 | Knitting a Conundrum

Posted on 12/07/2006 6:51:44 AM PST by Knitting A Conundrum

OK.

Who's still crafting?

What are you doing?

Got any pictures?


TOPICS: Hobbies
KEYWORDS: cooking; crafting; handiwork; knitting; needlework
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To: Mamzelle
Do you have any advice on how much this will stretch? I started a sweater for my son and after about a foot tore it out and restarted it in small. It just seems to be spreading in every direction even as I knit it! The woman at the yarn store told me that the cables would help stabilize the sweater, and she believed that it would only lengthen a bit.
Sheesh, I sound like a novice, and I have been knitting for over 40 years!
121 posted on 12/09/2006 12:12:33 PM PST by Grammy
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To: Grammy
I am not a knitter, but alpaca is not supposed to be as stretchy as wool. It's not as good for socks, for instance--too hot. It's hair, not wool, so it doesn't have the "spring " in the hair shaft. It also does not shrink in the washing as badly as wool. In the spinning, it has a texture closer to that of a baby's hair than kinky wool, and you have to twist it more to get it to hold together to make yarn.

Like I said, I don't knit, but my mother does, and every once in a while she gets hold of some yarn that is just maddening and won't behave at all. When you make yarn, you discover how many ways things can go wrong. The thing that most dependably stabilizes a yarn is plying--putting several yarns together seems to cancel out a lot of problems.

122 posted on 12/09/2006 12:43:16 PM PST by Mamzelle
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To: Mamzelle

Thanks for the info. I know how warm it is as I am currently sitting under a throw made of baby alpaca. It gets warm enough that I need to throw it off occasionally!

As I think about this yarn It occurs to me that it is so slick and soft that it is the stitches that are shifting, more than the wool that is stretching. Guess I'll just finish this sucker off and see what happens.
8-)


123 posted on 12/09/2006 12:52:40 PM PST by Grammy
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To: Grammy

I did knit a little (little) shawl once of alpaca, I wanted to knit something out of the yarn I had spun, and I made the stitches tighter than I would have with the Rominy or Leicester wool I often spun. Sometimes knitters don't like working with alpaca for its lack of bounciness and springiness--but I love the finished products. I've done all kinds of things with fabric and yarn, but knitting drives me crazy because I drop stitches.


124 posted on 12/09/2006 1:02:00 PM PST by Mamzelle
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To: pbear8

Look how cute they are!


125 posted on 12/09/2006 4:20:19 PM PST by secret garden (Dubiety reigns here)
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Comment #126 Removed by Moderator

To: Diana in Wisconsin

Thank you! Late January/early February, I usually do an indoor picnic event. I'm looking forward to using your recipe. :)


127 posted on 12/10/2006 4:38:27 AM PST by Alia
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To: Knitting A Conundrum
If you go to my home page on FR, you will see the Christmas ornaments I stitched and the stars I folded for a tree for the Festival of Trees. The company I work for donated the tree. We were very proud this year, the tree sold for $1600. The theme was "From the Attic". The tree skirt was crocheted by one of the members of the tree committee, the rocking chair the bear was sitting in was handmade by a husband of one of the women on the tree committee, and the blue afgan by the bear was crocheted by the head of tree committe. I coordinated the stitched ornaments (made 60 kits and received 55 stitched ornaments back. I stitched the three ornaments shown on my home page.) I also folded about 100 stars. Now I am tatting little snowflakes for family, friends, and members of the tree committee. Whew!
Utah Girl's homepage on FR
128 posted on 12/10/2006 5:20:06 AM PST by Utah Girl
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To: Utah Girl

This is a gorgeous tree, Utah Girl! Well done indeed!


129 posted on 12/10/2006 5:57:03 AM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: Mercat; alwaysconservative; wildehunt; IN Farm Girl; proudofthesouth; HarleyLady27; ...

Something neat from WWI with things to make for soldiers (some of which are probably still pretty useful to make): (Note - it is a PDF)

Nicoll, Maud Churchill. Knitting and Sewing. How to Make Seventy Useful Articles for Men in the Army and Navy, George H. Doran Company, New York, 1918, 209 pages. Note: Scanned images provided by Tess Parrish.


http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books/nmc_knit.pdf


130 posted on 12/10/2006 9:46:28 AM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: Knitting A Conundrum

Neat! I'll have to look that over later, but I did download it. All 308 pages of it!

You find the most amazing stuff!


131 posted on 12/10/2006 10:58:22 AM PST by alwaysconservative (In memory)
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To: Alia

You're welcome. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. :)

If you're going to grill over an open flame with it, cook the meat first, and put the sauce on near the end of the cooking time. It burns easily due to the amount of sugar in it.

It makes a really good Sloppy Joe, too. Just fry up your burger and onions, drain, then add enough of the BBQ sauce to the "sloppiness" level you like and heat through. :)


132 posted on 12/10/2006 11:26:43 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: alwaysconservative

Always looking...good craft resources are a treasure!


133 posted on 12/10/2006 11:37:32 AM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

If we are going to talk about food, here is my favorite cold weather I've got the blues make it kind of fast soup.

1 pound ground meat (pork is best for this, I think, but I have used beef, turkey and chicken, too)

1 can yellow hominy
1 can white hominy (reserve the liquid from at least one of these

3 cans of chicken broth (you could get by with 2, but it'll be a bit thicker.

1/2 bag frozen bell pepper strips, like bird's eye sells (or about 2 cups of sliced red and yellow bell pepper strips).

chopped onion (1 medium will do, or less to your tastes.

Black pepper
Paprika (I like the sweet hungarian type)


Fry the meat. If it's too greasy, strain it. Add onions and bell peppers, saute until they've softened, add hominy and hominy juice, broth, pepper and paprika to taste (I know I usually get something like a couple of teaspoons of the paprika in).

Cook until it's hot.

Serves best with biscuits.


134 posted on 12/10/2006 11:47:33 AM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: Knitting A Conundrum

Now that's Comfort Food! I'll need it in a few weeks when the weather dips below freezing and I'm up to my butt in snowdrifts, LOL! :)


135 posted on 12/10/2006 12:09:52 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I made soup yesterday. We've got the midwinter gray skies, but mostly in the upper 30s, lower 40s which makes it damp and yucky (clear skies below freezing are so much more comfy than rain at 40).

All I did to start was throw in a small chuck roast and onion soup mix and small potatos and carrots into a crock pot. Ate most of the roast last night. Today, I added cabbage and celery and onions. Had that for lunch. After lunch, I added more soup mix and some dried tomatos and zucchini. If we don't eat this up, tomorrow I will add some turnips and maybe cook some dry hominy to the soup. I am craving vegetable soup right now big time.

Only problem with all this soup making is I haven't found the box my spice shelf got packed in...it's not seasoned nearly as well as I like it....


136 posted on 12/10/2006 12:25:09 PM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: Knitting A Conundrum

You cook like I do. If it's one meal today, the same ingredients are called something else the next, LOL! (That comes from years of practice feeding three teen boys.)

'The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.' ~ Calvin Trillin


137 posted on 12/10/2006 12:30:12 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

It is amazing how much food teen boys put away...went through two of them myself...


138 posted on 12/10/2006 12:44:07 PM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: Mercat; alwaysconservative; wildehunt; IN Farm Girl; proudofthesouth; HarleyLady27; ...

Want to knit a pair of socks but don't know what to do first?

Check your gauge, grab a tape measure and then pop over to this webpage:

The Arachne Sock Calculator

http://www.panix.com/~ilaine/socks.html


139 posted on 12/10/2006 12:46:44 PM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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To: Knitting A Conundrum

A Treasure Trove of Quilt and Textile-Related Resources


This page has a great collection of links to a variety of sites

http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/links.html


140 posted on 12/10/2006 12:48:06 PM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God Micah 6:8)
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