Knitting Stash: an app for Android

I've been doing more programming than knitting lately. What have I been working on? Why a knitting app, of course. It is for android phones. It has sections for keeping track of your projects, your knitting needles and crochet hooks, and also a section for row counters. Here are some screenshots:





Here's the QR code to download the app from the Android Market if that's how you roll:

Steven pondering while wearing the Fog of Existence Sweater

Steven pondering while wearing the Fog of Existence Sweater
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

Its finished and it fits!

Progress on the Fog of Existence Hybrid Sweater

Progress on the Fog of Existence Hybrid Sweater
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

I'm knitting another hybrid sweater, this one for Steven. I named it the Fog of Existence. That sounds like a sweater Ingmar Bergman might've worn.

Rooster Oven Mitt

Rooster Oven Mitt
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

We had craft night at our house tonight. Bonnie and her friend Sonya made A-Line Skirts. Lindsay worked on a billfold. Steven worked on making a dress shirt pattern and I made an oven mitt.

The oven mitt pattern is from the book Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotterfrom the book Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter

Owlz Grocery Bag Holder

Grocery Bag Holder
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

I made a grocery bag holder with some awesome fabric I got at Fancy Tiger. Owlz! This project goes out to my Aunt Kay and my friend Kyle, both of whom have an owl patronus.

The pattern is from the book sew what! Bags by Lexie Barnes.

Valentine's Day Catnip Heart

Valentine's Day Catnip Heart
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

My friend Zach from Fancy Tiger, gave me two catnip hearts, unfortunately we have three cats so I had to make a few more. They are simple: cut out two hearts from a sheet of wool felt or quilting fabric, sew them together except for a small hole, stuff them with catnip (I used a funnel), sew the hole closed. If you have a pinking shears, cut along the border for a fancy look! Bossy demands the Fancy.

Here's a couple of pictures of Bossy's reaction. (the other two cats had similar reactions.

My First Sweater is finished

My First Sweater
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

I finished my sweater. Its a "hybrid sweater" by Elizabeth Zimmerman. All of it was knit on circular needles. First I knit the two sleeves and the body separately, then I joined them on one large 32" circular needle. With the three pieces joined I knit the yoke. With the hybrid sweater, you start by decreasing on the first and last stitches on the front and back of the body like a raglan sweater and then once you get to the shoulders you create a saddle, like EZ's saddle shoulder sweater. (So its a hybrid between her raglan and saddle shoulder designs.) Its a very fun design--I will definitely make another one, (probably right now!) but her directions are a bit sparse at times.

I've been wearing the sweater pretty constant since I finished blocking it. Its a bit baggier than I was planning, but I like it.

Mushroom Nook Sleeve

Mushroom Nook Sleeve and Vonnegut
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

My brother and sisters got me a Nook for Christmas! Its sweet, so I busted out the sewing machine to sew a protective sleeve for it. Its been quite a while since I've used the sewing machine so the finishing is a bit rough in one or two places, but its functional and the mushroom fabric rocks!

Tin Woodsman's Socks

Socks blocking!
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

I finished my Tin Woodsman's Socks this morning. I gave them a soak with my lavendar shampoo and am blocking them now. I made some sock blockers out of old wire hangars.

The pattern is Woodsman's Socks from Elizabeth Zimmerman's book: Knitting Around.

Socks, again

Woodsman Sock
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

My latest project is the Woodsmans Socks, from Elizabeth Zimmermans Knitting Around. These are thick, heavy wool socks. I'm using Cascade eco-wool, which is undyed and minimally processed.



I finished the first sock, it fits both Steven and I. Its very warm and surprisingly soft. I immediately cast on the second sock last night (best defense against single sock syndrome) so hopefully we'll have a finished pair of socks this week.

I've been on a double pointed needles kick, My last three projects have been skinny tube/dpn projects. And I'm really kind of enjoying it. People have all sorts of strategies for avoiding the use of dpns, including magic loop and knitting on 2 circular needles. Perhaps its because when I knit with dpns I use warm and more flexible wood needles instead of the nickel plated circs, but my hands seem to be enjoying the switch too.

I've seen a lot of archival pictures of knitters walking around, fetching water, etc. while knitting socks or mittens on a set of dpns. There was a device called a gully hook that you wore on your belt and it held your ball of yarn and you were free to walk around while knitting. Multitasking didn't start with the computer.

The project on Ravelry.

Dashing fingerless gloves.

Finished Dashing Mitts
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

My first cabling project. Cables were a little tricky at first, but nothing to be intimidated by. And after a while fun to knit.

(Its hard to take a picture by yourself of two gloves in action. I finised these a few days ago. They are the ever-popular Dashing pattern from Knitty, knit in cascade heather yarn in the mallard colorway. )

I've worn these quite a bit around town, and they are nice and warm.

The different colored section of yarn in the above photo is the future home of The Thumb. You knit about 6 or 7 stitches on a 12 inch piece of waste yarn, then you slip those 6 or 7 strange colored stitches back on to your needle and knit them again. You continue knitting and finish the body of the glove. Then afterwards you come back, pull out the waste yarn and knit up the thumb on those loose stiches.

First Sock, so lonely...

First Sock
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

Notice the singular. Now I understand second sock syndrome. This is just a bootie sock, there are only about 2 inches of rib before I started the heel flap. The heel, turning the heel and picking up stitches were all a blast! I loved the tricky parts. Then I got to the foot, and knitting that seemed to take forever, around and around and around: granted I have large feet... Then I finished the toes, and suddenly the socks looked like mitten tops! I'll have to add the picture, it made me want to knit a pair of mittens. And on to the second sock, but--these kind of sag at the ankles so I may make a new pair with a smaller weight yarn. This was worsted: cascade 220, on size 6 needles..

It was a fun project, especially learning the new tricky parts, but it also made me think, I have a lot (A LOT) of wool socks from REI already, whereas what I really need is to knit some gloves and a sweater or two. And maybe I will come back to knitting socks in the spring and summer when small light weight knitting projects are handy.

Tractor Hat, Christmas present for George

Tractor Hat
Originally uploaded by denverfiddler

I knit this for my nephew George, who loves playing with tractors, especially John Deere tractors! He seemed to love the hat and wore it inside whenever he was playing with his farm set.

For his birthday in the fall, I'm going to knit him a Christmas stocking with this same tractor pattern.

The tractor pattern comes from the book Hat Heads. I improvised the rest of the design. Half way through the tractor pattern I learned how to twist the two strands on the back of the needle, which is good because there are several places where one color is carried over 8 stitches (that means long floats in the back of the hat.) The technique I learned prevents this.

The yarn is spud and chloe, so its a washable wool/cotton blend.