The Knitting Sanitarium

Olympic Gold

2010-03-01T21:20:00.003-05:00

It wasn't always pretty, but I finished! 1 sweater, 17 days. Thank God it comes only once every four years!

I wore the sweater to work today, in celebration (and relief. plus, I hadn't done laundry). I'm really happy with the way it looks and the way it fits, except that I think the sleeves might be too short.

I'm going to wash it before I make any decisions (it's superwash, it might grow. and no, I didn't swatch). If it doesn't grow adequately, I'll probably cut the cuffs off, knit the sleeves a few inches longer, and then graft the cuffs back on. Fortunately, that isn't a decision that has to be made now. For now, I'm basking in the glory of Olympic gold.

3 days, 2 sleeves

2010-02-26T11:54:00.004-05:00

3 days and 2 sleeves - that's what I've got between me and Knitting Olympic glory or failure. Fortunately, I don't have much else going on this weekend, so think I've got a good shot at it being glory instead of failure. On the plus side, even if I don't make it in time for the Knitting Olympics, I'll have a new sweater by Tuesday or Wednesday, so I guess I win either way.

Olympic!

2010-02-13T10:33:00.004-05:00

The 2010 Olympic games seem like a fitting excuse to return to the blog, particularly as I'm participating in both the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics. I'm not totally bonkers, though; I'm doing the same project for both of them - Wisteria, by Kate Gilbert.

My lack of TV made it impossible to watch the opening ceremony live, from home (why does NBC require you to have cable to watch their live online video? Isn't the whole point of its being online so that people without TV's can watch it?). But the footage from the ceremony is available this morning, so I'm enjoying my tea, working on Wisteria, and watching the parade of nations. Thoughts:

Andorra - early contenders for best knitwear. I love the sweaters and caps!
Azerbaijan - what's with the paisley pants? Those are intense.
Czech Republic - pants almost as awesome as Azerbaijan's, but with matching jackets!
Georgia - keeping it classy and respectful under tough conditions.
Germany - reminding me of nothing so much as Easter eggs.
Kazakhstan - I think the whole delegation should have dressed like the flag bearer.
Monaco - rocking the argyle sweaters.
Mongolia - I like the traditional dress of the flag bearer.
Russia - nice jackets, distinct but not overwhelming.
Sweden - some nice, flag-matching, crochet caps.
United States - I can't tell if those are moose or deer on the caps, but either way, I like it. Also, I noticed later, they've got really nice cabled sweaters.

From what I could find to watch, Canada seemed more intent on hosting a celebration than on impressing the world. Except for the glitch with the torch lighting, I thought it was a nice ceremony.

Something for home

2009-10-14T21:27:00.000-04:00

Every time lately that I've had a few minutes (or hours) to sit and spend as I'd like, I've been knitting. Lots of knitting, not so much on the photography, blogging, etc. So, somewhat to my chagrin, I'm posting an entry I wrote a while ago (for such an eventuality), just so I don't go an entire month without posting.

How can you tell you're in a knitter's house (besides the obvious, like the swift and ball winder that seem permanently installed on the dining room table)? By the presence of knitted things - socks, sweaters, blankets, dish cloths, tea cozies, cushions, etc. (I have yet to meet a knitter who doesn't keep at least some of their handiwork).

In an effort to improve my fiberly street cred (because, you know, having a blog and knitting at work leave that in doubt), try a new technique, use up some scraps, and protect my furniture, I made coasters.

They're actually crocheted (which isn't the new technique) rather than knitted. I used the scraps from the Baby Bright afghan and what is very nearly the world's simplest crochet pattern (ravlink). My new technique? Felting. I started by hand felting them in the sink, where I got some of them to fuzz up before giving up and deciding that they were going in the washer. Now, for reasons having to do with my unwillingness to part with my laundry quarters and my sense that a load consisting of four coasters is wasteful, I threw them in the wash with some regular laundry (not in hot water). As you can see, they're hardly felted at all.

Coasters before felting

Coasters after felting

But that's okay - they still save my furniture from water rings!

A bit of lace

2009-09-21T21:43:00.003-04:00

I promised a finished object post for the Arabesque stole I made for my friend. I believe my stated time line was "soon." Does a week and a half qualify?

I apologize up front for the lousy full-object pictures. There was all of 28 hours between when I finished it and gave it to my friend, and all of them were either nighttime or really cloudy (and therefore pretty dark). I don't think I've ever taken so many bad pictures in my life as I did of that stole. Anyway, without further ado, I give you the Arabesque stole.

Almost finished - just needs blocking and the ends woven in.

Pinned out on blocking wires. This is, sadly, the only semi-decent picture of the entire thing in its finished state. I can't believe I didn't get even one in focus.

To recap, the pattern is Arabesque (ravlink). I knit it in Jojoland Harmony (ravlink, again) and US size 3 Addi lace needles. I added an extra repeat to the center panel, and if I had it to do again, would probably add more. The finished stole was somewhat shorter than I'd intended - a little over five feet, I think, and I was shooting for six something. This is what comes of not swatching, I guess.

Even though I was little tired of it by the time I finished the knitting, I really couldn't be more thrilled with the finished product.

The lace came out perfectly balanced, in my opinion, between being substantial and airy, solid yet holey. And I love the colors.

Perhaps best of all? I have more of the yarn.

Ahoy maties!

2009-09-19T19:54:00.003-04:00

Avast, there, ye scurvy bilge rats! Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! For some reason, pirates generally not be known fer their knittin' but that doesn't mean they can't appreciate some good fiber. And we wenches are especially appreciative.

We wenches like the baubles and the pretties, especially when they be gifts! This be a gift from me mother. Who doesn't love dolphins?

A wench also needs a little something for her feet, to keep those pretties warm and comfy. Despite the lovely blues and oceany cables, this sock turned out to be a lubber and had to be keelhauled.

Fortunately, this pair came to a better fate. Looking like a nighttime lagoon where mermaids live, they adorn my feet like (uncursed) Spanish gold.

Then there's this piece of treasure. Like a whirlpool of spun silver, it's actually wool and silk. And far less treacherous than a real whirlpool!

Arr, me hearties! I'm off fer some grog and knittin'!

Painting Yarn

2009-09-11T12:53:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I promised to tell you about my process for the Pepper Flat.

It started out as a 100 g ball of Trekking Pro Natura, in white. Pro Natura is a wool/bamboo blend, so I wasn't sure how it would take the dye, but I figured since it's mostly wool I'd be okay. I cast on about 100 stitches and knit until I ran out of yarn. (Yes, I know you can buy already knit blanks. But in this case, I think the miles of stockinette were actually good for may sanity.)

To prepare it, I soaked the finished blank in a sink of warm water, no soap.

While it soaked, I prepared my dyes - in this case Paas Easter Egg dyes, mixed per Paas' instructions with vinegar and light on the water.

The actual painting was a bit messy. I spread the damp (I squeezed out most of the water from the soaking) blank out on my counter (granite countertop) and used a teaspoon and a syringe to paint the blank with random blobs of color. The goal was to have no white yarn left anywhere.

To set the dye, I spiraled the flat up to fit into a Pyrex pie plate with as little opportunity for dye seeping to fabric below it as possible. I stuck the whole thing in a plastic bag and microwaved it, I think for about two minutes.

Then I let it cool (keeping it covered), and nuked it again. After cooling from the second application of heat, I rinsed it out in cool water and spread it out to dry.

I can't wait to hear from my sister how it looks knitted into something else.

P.S. I did finish the Arabesque stole in time to send home with my friend! Pictures soon.

Hello September!

2009-09-02T21:22:00.000-04:00

September's here and it's already starting to feel like fall. It's no longer oppressively hot during the day, and at night it's cool enough that long pants and sleeves are warranted. With little exception (ragweed comes to mind), I love fall. I like the cooler weather and the changing colors. I like the farmers' markets and that it's cool enough to knit sweaters again.

Speaking of farmers' markets and knitting, I was poking around one of my local ones recently in search of peaches (found, and made into cobbler!), where I saw this:

Which reminded me rather strongly of this:

I knit and painted the flat as a gift for my sister (it was for her birthday, and yes, it was late). I'll share my method later, but for now, I'm off to knit furiously on a stole. The recipient's going to be in town this weekend, so if I finish it, I don't have to mail it to her! I just have to finish the edging and block it, which is totally doable. I think.

Texture and the miracle of blocking

2009-08-17T21:14:00.003-04:00

Back in February, I acquired some lovely yarn and started a scarf for myself. Then school and work and my desire to both graduate and remain employed intruded, and somehow it was July before I had the scarf finished. On the upswing, besides having a great scarf for the winter that I swear is coming (I'm so ready to be done with this 90 degrees stuff), finishing it when I did made for more fun photography, since I'd just gotten a new camera.

Blocking has always amazed me. You take some wrinkly, misshapen, unfortunate-looking piece of cloth, apply some water and pins or some careful steaming, and suddenly there's this amazing thing before you. It's like knitting achieves enlightenment and only through blocking can it reach its full potential. I'd just never satisfactorily captured the process until now.

The pre-blocking amorphous pile of stitches.

Which by magic turns into a neat, orderly, smooth, scarf.

I probably shouldn't admit how much I love the contrasts here, the directions, the differences between stockinette and dropped stitches, between front and back sides...

Not such great photography, but I love how it's trying to masquerade as a pair of pants. It's like it saw "The Wrong Trousers" too many times.

Meet Leky!

2009-08-12T21:12:00.004-04:00

At the end of May, my sister and I took a trip across the pond to London, Cardiff, and Dublin. Like any sensible tourists, we had a guide:

Leky showed us many sights (although not nearly as many as I can show you, since a lot of the photos were on my sister's camera and she takes after me when it comes to timely dealing with photos). One of Leky's favorite places was the Natural History Museum in London, where he had it out with a T-Rex. I intervened before either of them got hurt.

My favorite moment with Leky was when we were getting on the Eye. Leky had been traveling in my bag, so he was the first thing the security guard saw when he opened my bag. He cracked up, pulled Leky out and turned to the other security guard with "Look, mate, it's a Dalek!" The other security guard just looked at him and me like we were both nuts. Fortunately, once we got on the Eye, Leky behaved himself and didn't attempt to destroy any of London's landmarks in a futile attempt at exterminating the human race.

Leky's favorite afternoon (and one of mine as well) was one we spent in the castle park in Cardiff. I spent the afternoon knitting while Leky enjoyed the miniature daisies (he may tried to exterminate a few).

Now that we're back (and have been for months), Leky's duties have changed from tour guide to desk guard. He does an excellent job watching over my pen collection at work.

Hiatus

2009-08-08T18:23:00.002-04:00

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry that my attention to you is so sporadic. I know you feel neglected when I don't write for weeks at a time, and for that, I'm deeply sorry. But you're always here waiting for me when I sit down at the computer, and you're so patient, never demanding attention when I'd rather give it to something else (like Battlestar Galactica). You're always so happy to post anything I have to say, and you seem to love my yarns and knitting just as much as I do. I can't promise that I'll do any better on the frequent posting in the future (we both know how my previous resolutions on the subject have turned out), but I wanted to say that I really do appreciate your faithful, undemanding friendship.

Yours,
Meredith

P.S. I do have some knitting content. Several months ago, I engaged in a sci-fi knitting swap. For the craft-it-yourself portion of the swap, I made this geeky washcloth:

I do love those rebel scum...

Variation on a theme

2009-07-21T22:29:00.002-04:00

One of the recurring themes in my knitting life is that I am late with gifts, especially birth day gifts for my sisters. Luckily for me, they love knitted things, even when I finish them months late and take still more months to mail them. This time, though, I did something different, for variety's sake, I suppose.

My middle sister's birthday is in May. I had one of her gifts done in January. January! And somehow, I didn't get it in the mail until the end of June. June! I'm just going to say that I was waiting to accumulate a whole box of things to send to my family, and leave it at that. No need to mention any of my other tardiness...

Anyway, I crocheted my sister a scarf.

Boteh Scarf, in Trekking Hand Art, colorway Jamaika.

This was my first foray into crochet (besides edgings) since about the time I was 6. The crazy shaping might make you think the pattern is complicated, but the instructions are clear and easily memorized, and the crochet itself is not very challenging (I think the whole thing uses three stitches). All in all, I had a lot of fun making it, and I hope my sister will have a lot of fun wearing it. You know, after summer is over.

Acquisitions

2009-07-12T21:42:00.003-04:00

I don't know how this happens so often: I sit down at the computer to blog, start by doing something else, and suddenly, it's three hours later at the end of the evening, I haven't blogged and I should really be going to bed. Normally, I give up on the blogging in favor of sleep, not not tonight! I still need to prepare for Monday, though, so this will be a quickie.

I've had some interesting acquisitions lately, chief among them a new camera. I've been playing a lot with the new camera, and used it to take some pictures of my most recent yarn acquisitions.

Limari by Araucania, a fantastically soft, marvelously blotchy super bulky wool/alpaca/silk blend that I bought as souvenir yarn in London.

Zauberball by Schoppel-Wolle, a remarkably fun-looking sock yarn and another souvenir from my London trip.

A load of Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Socks that Rock in light and medium weights and intended for four different projects.

Still so far behind...

2009-07-05T20:49:00.003-04:00

My blogging is still months behind my actual knitting. This is a direct result of two things: 1) I don't like to blog about gifts (as finished objects) until the recipient has actually gotten it (and I'm really slow in getting things to my family), and 2) when things get crazy busy, I quit blogging but I don't quit knitting.

Anyway, my dad's birthday was back in February. His birthday present was a scarf that I didn't finish until March and didn't get in the mail until last week. I realize scarves are not useful in the summer, even in Alaska, but summer's short and it'll be cold again in a few months, so I don't feel too badly about it.

It's a Noro two-row stripe scarf in 1x1 ribbing. Simple, and I picked sedate colorways on purpose, because while my dad has occasionally been known to where almost anything (you should see the cycling and skiing clothes), he's new to scarves and I didn't want to overwhelm him with both a new accessory and outrageous colors.

In any case, I hope he finds it to be a useful winter accessory to wear with his leather jacket in a stylish fashion the rest of the family will approve of.

Matching socks

2009-06-28T12:15:00.000-04:00

Because even 16-year-old girls have occasions for which their socks really ought to match, I also made my sister a pair of matching socks. Not quite so matching as to be identical twins, but these are at least the same yarn, in the same colorway, in the same pattern and the same size. And yes, the left sock is inside-out. That was on purpose, too.

Pattern: Hypnosis by Janel Laidman
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug, in Lapis, about 240 yds used
Needles: 24" Addi turbos in US size 1.5
Size: to fit a woman's 8

I modified the pattern a little bit, to change how the pattern interacted with the heel, and I think I worked a different heel (I don't actually remember now). Jitterbug is a fun yarn (also a fun dance, by the way), although a little thicker/heavier than a lot of the sock yarns I use.

Let's do the time warp again*

2009-06-21T20:19:00.004-04:00

I've written previously about warping spacetime. Last time, it was a week. This time, an afternoon. I'm pretty sure that I accomplish an impossibly large number of things this afternoon, especially since I started late. In about 5 hours:

I took out the trash.
I took care of the recycling.
I did two loads of laundry (in the machine).
I cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes.
I cleaned out (and actually cleaned!) the refrigerator.
I vacuumed everything (to be fair, my place is small).
I cleaned the bathroom (sink, toilet, and tub).
I mopped the kitchen, bathroom, and dining room.
I hand washed my bathmat and kitchen area rug (they don't readily fit in the washer).
I updated the anti-virus software and otherwise got my desktop fully working again.
I hand washed all my running clothes.
I hand washed several sweaters.
I ate dinner.
I watched an episode of Battlestar Galactica (I came late to the party, I'm only in season 1).

Now, how is that all possible? Surely getting that much done in a Sunday afternoon requires some sort of warping of the spacetime continuum. Or Mary Poppins-like abilities to make things take care of themselves, but I'm sure I don't have that, since I remember doing all of those things I said, and I'm sure if things could put themselves away, my place would be even neater.

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about my mind-bogglingly productive afternoon. You came to read about knitting. Which I really have been doing, despite what recent posts might lead you to believe. As usual, I have several (four, to be precise) things on which I'm actively working, and I don't have good (or bad, for that matter) pictures of them all. So I'll just tell you about my favorite WIP of the moment.

It's the Arabesque stole in Jojoland Harmony (ravlinks). I'm making it for a friend who got married last summer. She picked out the pattern and the yarn, and I was originally intending for it to be a wedding gift. Now, my goal is to have it done by her first anniversary. I've got a month and a half; I think I can make it. Especially if I can transfer this time warp stuff from housework to knitting.

*Since you all liked the last earworm so well, I thought I'd give you another. :-)

From the ashes of disaster...

2009-06-15T21:11:00.004-04:00

Continuing my quest to take care of bloggage, today I bring you one of the things I made for my sister for her 16th birthday (which was in February): Dobby socks!

Dobbytomus: a rare subspecies of Pomatomus

To be completely honest, I only made one of these for her for her birthday. The other one I rescued from what was nearly a sock tragedy.

You may recall that a while back, I knit myself a pair of blue Pomatomus (ravlink) socks. I rather liked these and wore them on occasional (my life has sadly few opportunities for wearing handknit wool socks). One day, back about November, I pulled them out of my sock drawer to put them on, and to my horror discovered that the heel of one was moth eaten! You can imagine my dismay. I immediately cleaned and quarantined all my wool socks (fortunately kept nowhere near the yarn) and bought a couple dozen lavendar-scented cedar blocks for all my wool storage places. I can happily report that I have found no other damage or evidence of a beastly invasion.

But that still left the question of what to do with the one perfectly good sock. I didn't have the yarn to make a second one to match, and I don't wear mismatched socks (except on accident). But then it occurred to me: I have a younger sister who's obsessed with Harry Potter and would love to wear mismatched socks. So I found some yarn (Koigu) for the not-quite-matching mate, and knitted away. My sister assures me she likes the result.

So there you have it: further evidence that the roses of success can grow from the ashes of disaster!

Bloggage

2009-06-12T19:55:00.003-04:00

You know how you go through life and things happen to you and you either deal with them or they turn into baggage? It turns out there's a similar thing for blogging. You go through life knitting, and things either get blogged about or they turn into bloggage. This can be minimized by regular blogging, which as we all know, is not my strength. However, I am determined to do something about my bloggage, one project at a time. At the rate I go, I'll probably get caught up in about 2017, but I'm still going to give it a shot.

First up, Patrol Socks.

These are just John Doe socks with a twisted rib/cable thing down the sides. They're knit from Regia sock yarn in the Kaffe Fassett colorway Fog with mirage patterning. I think I used just a smidge over two balls for socks that fit a man's size 10.

They're called Patrol Socks because I started (and finished) them for Mr. Willoughby while he was on patrol. Then Willoughby revealed himself to be a blackguard and undeserving of wooly, knitted love. Fortunately for me, I have a friend who was particularly helpful to me in getting through Willoughby's revealing his true colors. He offered me a unique perspective (all my other close friends are women) and a reminder that all men are not cads. And fortunately for my friend, his feet are the same size as Willoughby's, or at least close enough that the socks fit him. So he got the socks instead.

You know, I think it's possible that the only thing better than knowing that your handknits are worn and appreciated is knowing that you're cared about. Don't you think?

100 - from the road

2009-06-01T15:53:00.000-04:00

This is my 100th post. That means over the almost 2 and 1/2 years that I've been blogging, I've written about 0.8 posts/week. When I started this, I had grand visions of blogging multiple times a week. I don't think my grand visions accounted for such things as work, school, and the need to buy groceries and do laundry. Still, 100. I think that's something.

I feel like I should have something profound to go with such a neat number, but since I'm traveling, I've got to rely on a post I wrote and added pictures to (the really important part) a while ago. So while I'm all out of profound and insightful, I give you bright and cheerful!

Baby bibs! In bright cotton yarn, photographed on a bright sunny day. I made these as a way to use up some of the ball ends from my dish cloth making. My favorite part? The buttons.

How can you not love the cute little girl buttons? I think I like the butterfly the best...

More regularish blogging to return when I'm back on my usual continent.

So much to share

2009-05-17T18:00:00.002-04:00

In the last month that I've been more or less absent from the blog, a lot's gone on.

I had a great trip to the UK - got to do some sightseeing in London, enjoyed some great Indian food, and sampled a good selection of beers. My favorite thing? Jane Austen manuscripts at the British Library. No pictures of that, though. Instead, a sampling of what I saw elsewhere in London:

I finished my master's degree! I am now a Master of Engineering. I am also now firmly of the opinion that only crazy people try to earn degrees while working full time.

To celebrate, I spent a weekend in Florida with some girl friends. It was like I was living someone else's life for the weekend. There was complimentary champagne when we checked in. Then there were massages at the amazing day spa (I don't think I'd been that relaxed in years). There were three pools, one with a waterfall and one with water slides. There was a private island in the gulf. There were bars - one poolside (ordering fruity drinks while dressed only in a bathing suit is something everyone should do at least once) and one in the hotel itself (pomegranate mojitos are my new favorite drink). And then, on the flight back, there was the shuttle launch.

Somewhere in all this busy-ness, I've even managed to do some knitting. Hard to believe, isn't it? Unfortunately, all the recent knitting is currently unphotographed. But fortuitously, I am way behind on posting about all manner of finished items. And so I present: one big granny square I dubbed Baby Bright.

Finished months ago, it's crocheted from Northampton by Valley Yarns. I pretty much just kept at it until I ran out of yarn. It's amazing what tenacity can get you!

Neener neener!

2009-04-23T12:10:00.003-04:00

Dear blog,

I admit, I have nothing useful to say. I don't even have any good knitting to share. Really, I'm blogging just to gloat. What about, you ask? Just this: I'm in Derbyshire! The Jane Austen fan girl part of me has been absolutely giddy for the few days I've been here. Some details to come upon my return and recovery from jetlag.

Cheers!
Meredith

Study Break

2009-04-14T21:52:00.002-04:00

Oof, I feel like my brain has turned to meringue. It seems to have retained more structure than mush, but at the same time feels rather insubstantial. As long as I'm not doing homework or something else useful (there's some laundry that needs addressing and the kitchen's got a depressing collection of dirty dishes), I should probably go to bed in an attempt to do something about the insubstantiality. Instead, I'm blogging. Why? Good question. Since I don't know, I'll keep it short.

For Christmas, one of my friends crocheted me a lovely scarf. It's from dark blue Wool-Ease Thick & Quick. It's thick and warm, and I thought the only thing it could possibly need is a matching hat. So I made one!

When I asked my friend what yarn she used, she said she had a whole ball left over and that I was welcome to it. It made the matchy-matchy aspect of the project so much easier.

The hat is An Unoriginal Hat, by Yarn Harlot. I quite liked wearing the hat (it hasn't been cold enough for several weeks), and it was a fast knit from an easy pattern, but I don't think I'll knit another one. The big yarn and the big needles were really tough on my hands. But every now and then, a little pain is worthwhile!*

*I also apply this philosophy to school. It's why I didn't let the Dalek exterminate my homework.

Antithesis

2009-04-12T21:08:00.004-04:00

Happy Easter!

I have no knitting that is in any way particularly appropriate to the holiday - no spring items, no pastels, no bunnies, and nothing religious - so I thought I'd go with the antithesis of the ultimate triumph of good over evil and life over death.

Dalek in progress, wishing it had its weapons attached so that it could exterminate* my homework.**

For the record, I graduate in four weeks, assuming I both pass my two classes and survive the next month. I can't wait.

*Actually, I'd really rather it NOT exterminate the homework, since I'd like to be able to turn it in.
**On the other hand, it's an assignment that's sucked up far too much time and quite a bit of my sanity with depressingly little result, so there would be some real satisfaction in seeing it turned to ash.

Apologia

2009-04-09T21:55:00.003-04:00

I believe I may owe you an apologia.* I thought my April Fools post was a good one - especially since I really have been into cooking and baking lately. I did not intend, though, to leave it up as the main post for over a week. However, my time has been consumed by such things as earning a living, filing my taxes, trying to graduate, and doing laundry so I could not scare off people by my appearance in public. Blogging, understandably I think, was not at the top of my priorities. In any event, I'm happy to announce the return of my irregularly scheduled knitting blog!

I'd love to tell you what I'm working on right now (I can hardly believe it myself), but I haven't any pictures, and what's more, I haven't the time to take any tonight. How about a somewhat recently finished object instead? Good. In that case I present my Diamond Rain.

This was a case of the pattern being more a guideline than a pattern, since I modified it quite a bit. The pattern's written for a worsted yarn, but I used a DK. So to get a small (in circumference) I roughly followed the instructions for an XL.

I also added quite a bit of length - an extra inch of ribbing and an extra repeat of the diamond motif (which I reworked to be done with three traveling stitches in each cable rather than two). The crochet at the back of the neck and around the armholes did a nice job of stabilizing them, and a good steam blocking made it eminently wearable, don't you think?**

*I learned a new word today! Oh, the things that happen when you read the dictionary.
**For reasons that I doubt will ever be known, even to me, I am nearly as fond of the tilted picture of the dirty mirror as I am of the vest itself. Really, I think it's the tiltedness.

Change of plans

2009-04-01T20:52:00.003-04:00

I've decided something. Change should be met with change. My life has had some pretty big changes recently, all beyond my control. So I'm going to compensate with some changes within my control. To start with, I'm changing this blog. Instead of a knitting blog, it's going to be a food blog! I've been thinking about food for a while, so I've already got some great food to show you.

First up: one of my favorite snacks. I love how little effort it takes, and how wonderful it tastes. Of course, as a displaced New Mexican, I'll put green chile on pretty much anything.

Toasted whole grain bagel with cream cheese and roasted green chile.

Next up: something on the other end of the spectrum, both in terms of taste and effort. I'm not generally big into cakes, but this one I love.

German chocolate cake, complete with pecan worshippers on top.

Still in the dessert category, the next item is less rich, but no less round. It has the added benefit of being able to masquerade as healthy food, since the main items are fruit and bread.

Peach cobbler. Simple and delicious.

My last item for the evening is a self-conflicted, but delicious, mixture of the classy and the humble.

Brie and blackberry jam pastries. Pastry dough is actually crescent rolls from a can with delusions of standing.

Hungry?

A casting error and associated knitting

2009-03-21T20:34:00.003-04:00

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, but it's been a near thing. You see, in addition to enough work and school to keep two normal, sane people busy, my life has had far more excitement recently than I would have liked. Allow me to explain:

I am a fan of Jane Austen. In what is a testament to her genius (and a demonstration of my geeky ways), I very frequently use Miss Austen's stories as allegories for my own life. I look at the people I know and the situations that I see them and me in, and I amuse myself by matching them up to characters and situations from Miss Austen's books. To that end (and as has been previously mentioned on this blog), there was a man in my life who I had cast in the role of Mr. Darcy, but I erred in my casting. This man, it turns out, was not at all fit for the role of Mr. Darcy and has shown himself to be perfectly fit for the role of Mr. Willoughby. Fortunately for me, I have the temper of Elinor rather than Marianne Dashwood, so I haven't done anything especially untoward or foolish, despite my new found appreciation for her situation. In fact, I think I've been doing pretty well, with the help of some especially good yarn and knitting.

Good yarn

Lorna's Laces produces a limited edition colorway for each month, available here. They announced their color for February just as I was discovering the true fecklessness of Willoughby. The colorway ("Simply the Blues") is good and the description was positively too perfect, so I bought enough for a hat and scarf in Shepherd Sport.

I hadn't knit with Shepherd Sport before, but I'm completely smitten. It's like Shepherd Sock, only softer. (Seriously, I hadn't thought that was possible until I got my hands on some.)

Good knitting

I wanted to do something uncomplicated with my lovely blue yarn, so I'm turning it into a Clapotis and am planning a matching beret. I haven't started the hat yet, but the scarf is coming along nicely.

Separately, I started a sweater for myself (yes, I'm aware that it's already spring in this part of the country and that it will be practically summer before I finish, but reminding me of that is like interfering with a good sulk). It's the Urban Aran from Paton's Street Smart, except that I'm doing it out of a worsted rather than a bulky, and I'm making it a cardigan instead of a pullover. What makes this particularly delightful, besides the fact that it's a beautiful pattern to start with, is that the yarn is wonderful mood therapy. It turns out that knitting cables with dark, charcoal grey yarn is like knitting with a bad mood made manifest, except that the result is beautiful, and the mood I'm left with is noticeably brighter.

So far, a sleeve and a bit in, I'm loving the sweater and feeling much better for it.

Now, if only I knit through my work and school loads so easily... I'll be back when I can, but that may not be until May, when I'll (hopefully) be done with school. Wish me luck!

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T19:29:00.004-05:00

I am normally pretty unsentimental about this holiday, but this year I'm feeling particularly bitter (like bad coffee, not dark chocolate). But I refuse to succumb to such feelings, which is why I have something remarkably sentimental for you.

About this time last year, things seemed to be going wonderfully, and in a fit of sentimentality, I came up with the pattern. Oddly enough, the name that I picked then is even more fitting for my current mood: Smoldering Hearts.

The pattern is available as a .pdf on Ravelry, for your enjoyment.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if I can find some dark chocolate. And maybe some red wine. And definitely a Cary Grant movie.

Another 2008 FO

2009-02-11T20:58:00.002-05:00

You'd think I'd be done with those by now, wouldn't you? But no. I'm just not that on top of things. :-)

For Christmas, my youngest sister got Nutkins:

They're pretty heavily modified - I did ribbed rather than picot cuffs, reversed half the fake cables, knit them top down, and did an eye of the partridge heel flap. These were fun to knit, but they were surprisingly unstretchy. I had to add about 20% to my usual stitch count (for the same size, gauge, and needles).

Next time, if I can manage it, I'll wrap up the 2008 knitting. And if not, maybe you'll get to see a bit of 2009! (now that it's well into February...)

Theme song

2009-02-04T21:23:00.002-05:00

This is the square that doesn't end
It goes on and on my friends
This lady started making it, not knowing what it was
And she'll keep on crocheting it forever just because
This is the square that doesn't end...

For the record, I think I have another 10 hours of crocheting, plus an hour of end-weaving in order to be done.

Sage advice

2009-01-19T21:15:00.002-05:00

Not mine, but Elizabeth Zimmermann's: Knit on through all crises.

I'm not sure the last week qualifies as a crisis, but it's been rough. Fortunately, I've had my knitting to help get me through. Here's a brief survey of what I've been working on.

Patrol socks for Mr. Darcy:

A Noro two-row scarf for my dad:

A gigantic granny square baby blanket that I will probably donate:

These three projects offer a nice variation in yarn weight and technique that's easy on the hands, simple enough to be pretty mindless, but with enough variety to save my sanity. Thank God for yarn.

Out with the old

2009-01-11T14:07:00.003-05:00

Today, we bring you continuing coverage in old knitting.

Over the past few months, I've been making some effort to do something about some of my WIPs. The lace will get done (three lace projects at once was a bit much), if somewhat slowly. So they stay. The KIP blanket was never intended to be done quickly (in part because I can't afford that much yarn all at once), so it stays too. The dishcloths are still intended as a gift for my mother (I'd like to make it a complete set, instead of half a set), so they stay too, although I should be able to churn those out pretty quickly. The socks actually are done, just unblogged, and the vest is a new WIP, and one being actively worked on.

There were two projects, though, that when I got to them, I was completely unenthused by their unfinished state. Not that there was anything wrong with either, as far as they went, by my taste and abilities have changed somewhat, and I was no longer excited about them.

First up: the silk corset tanktop

I have nothing against lingerie; in fact, I have plans to knit some. But I am past the point where I will wear lingerie-like things in public as outerwear. As you can see, I never got that far, so the decision to frog this was pretty easy. I think I'm going to use the yarn for this, instead.

Next up: Picovoli

This was a much harder decision, mostly because I was so close to being done. It's a well-written pattern, and it fit me well, but I had two problems with it - I didn't like the sleeves, and I don't know what I was thinking when I decided that picot edges would be a good thing. Not that there's anything wrong with picot edges, but I have a strong preference for clean lines and smooth edges. So in the end, Picovoli got frogged too. I think the yarn's going to become this.

It's remarkably refreshing to have those off my WIP list and off my mind. Plus, I'm really excited about having the needles back and the planned alternative projects!

More loose ends

2009-01-06T20:47:00.002-05:00

Incredibly, I haven't blogged about one of my most favoritest finished objects from 2008. I blogged while I was working on it, but I never gave it its moment in the bloglight that it deserves as a beautiful piece of knitting.* So I give you now, in finished form, Miss Darcy!

(It's being modeled by a chair because I'm incapable of taking good pictures of a lace scarf while wearing said scarf.)

Miss Darcy is a scarf of my own invention, pulled together from stitch patterns in Barbara Walker, with the edging (though designed by me) knitted on with some guidance from Victorian Lace Today.

As much as I loved designing this scarf, I love wearing it more. It's not the sort of scarf you need on days when it's miserably cold and winding and you really need something to pull up over your nose while your hat's pulled down almost over your eyes so you have as little skin exposed as possible, but it's a fantastic scarf for the nice days that are still cool enough that a scarf is helpful.

Although blocking opened it up incredibly, the yarn is still soft and wonderful, and super comfortable against the skin. Maybe I this is what I need to knit myself a shrug out of...

*My reason for not blogging about it was that I wanted to wait until I had the pattern written up. I figured I better not keep waiting, since there's no telling when that might be, but if there are requests, I'll do my best to get it written up and posted on Ravelry.

The year that was

2009-01-03T19:03:00.003-05:00

Well, so much for 2008. In typical fashion, I still have loose ends to tie up. Well, not literally, since I actually did manage to get everyone's gifts for the past year done, if not on time, in the past year. But I still have finished objects to blog about and patterns to write up. And at the rate that I get things done, it may very well take me until some time in February (although my goal is to finish up with the 2008 stuff by the end of January), so I guess I better get started.

My first step was to get things squared away on Ravelry. I put in all the yarn I've gotten over the past few months, added the books I got for Christmas, and got my project list all up-to-date. Frighteningly, that took most of the day. But since I've joined the 2009 Stash Knit Down, it's a useful move. I'm doing the 24 projects variant, in which the guidelines are that at least half of them should be from stash, and that at least three of them should involve new techniques. My first project for the year is a stealth project and therefore currently unbloggable, but it is a new technique project, which excites me deeply!

My next step is to work on getting all my finished things blogged about. As I said, this may take a while. So finished thing the first: Bayerische Socks!

I'm really pleased with the way they turned out, especially since the second and third socks did come out the same size to make a matched pair. And perhaps best of all, I got them done in time to give to my mom for Christmas!

Yarn: Patons Kroy 4-ply
Needles: Size 1 Inox DPNs (which worked way better than bamboo)

The final step in getting 2008 knitting business taken care of is to write up the patterns for a scarf and socks that I haven't even blogged about yet (did I mention I was behind?). I'm going to do that in parallel with the catch-up blogging, and with a little (okay, a lot) of luck, I'll be caught up by Valentine's Day.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2009, filled with family, friends, and really good yarn!

Hello December...

2008-12-11T19:16:00.003-05:00

I meant to post well over a week ago, but somehow, time kept moving without my posting. Actually, I suppose it's a good thing time kept moving. I'd hate to have the power to stop time until everything I'm supposed to get done/want to get done actually gets done, because really, I'm a big fan of the whole "time moves forward" thing. Huge fan. Because it means that no matter how lousy I feel, as long as I don't give up, time will move, and things will change. Improve, I hope, but change at the very least. (I'm sick - sore throat, congestion, runny nose, the whole shebang - so please forgive my less than spunky attitude at present. It's hard to be spunky when your head feels like it's been stuffed full of poorly washed fleece.)

So (and I'm sure this will shock you), I'm behind on blogging about my knitting. This sort of thing happens when one continues knitting, even if one is not blogging about it. I've got two new projects and some serious progress on an old one, but no photos of them, which makes it kind of hard to share. Instead of showing you my new knitting, I'm going to show you some of my old, but previously unblogged about, knitting. I give you, as a finished object, Winter Jaywalkers:

I made these socks as a birthday gift for Mr. Darcy. (In the interest of complete honesty, his birthday was about a month ago, and I totally got the socks to him before his birthday. I think that makes two birthdays that I managed on time.) He tells me that they should come in handy during his upcoming sojourn under the ocean. He also tells me that they fit, which is good, since they clearly don't fit me.

As always, the Jaywalker pattern was a fun one to knit, and I enjoyed the Regia yarn. This pair took somewhere on the order of two and a half balls, some of which went to careful alignment to make sure the striping didn't suddenly change anywhere. I was quite pleased with the resulting near-identical nature of this pair, too.

And now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go take more cold medicine and then attempt some homework. I think it will add an exciting new twist to reading about optimization. Although, on reflection, I suppose it might not be optimal... oh well.

Slip Sliding Away...

2008-11-29T14:25:00.002-05:00

Today is my mom's birthday. Since she's a knitter with a well-defined color palette (green, mostly, but also blue and brown), she's easy to shop for. I got her yarn (what else?) in green and brown. I also knit her socks, since she isn't so much of a sock knitter (although you should see the way she turns out hats), and everyone who's loved by a knitter should have at least one pair of hand-knit socks.

Pattern: Slippery
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Icehouse (note the green and blue)

(It's tilted because it's really hard to take a picture
of you're own feet when you're standing like that)

The pattern was a fun one to knit, and it didn't bother me at all the the socks are more fraternal than identical. Especially since the striping at the ankles did turn out to match pretty closely (see first picture).

I made very few changes to this pattern. I knit a different number of repeats/partial repeats in the leg to end the side panels in a place that I thought made more sense, and I change the chart just before the toe because I thought it flowed into the stockinette of the toe better my way.

Anyway, happy birthday Mom, and I hope you like the socks.

One of those people?

2008-11-24T20:59:00.004-05:00

Thank you for the kind comments on my new sweater. I'd be wearing it every day if it weren't for the fact that I think my coworkers might worry about me if I did that. Well, that, and it tends to leave blue fuzz behind on whatever I wear it over. But I'm still really, really enjoying it.

Lately, I've been wondering if I might be one of those people. I think maybe I am, but I'm not sure which kind of them. You see, I'm very nearly done with all my Christmas shopping, sewing, and knitting. I have part of a sock to finish, and two quilts to finish binding, and that's it. Before you start to think that I really am one of those freakishly on-top-of-it people who gets everything done early, let me share something with you. A few weeks ago, I finished up my sister's birthday present and sent it to her. This was for her most recent birthday, which, I'm ashamed to admit, was in February. So I think I may actually be one of those so-late-and-scatter-brained-you-wonder-how-they-ever-get-anything-done-on-time people. You can see how I might be uncertain, though, all things considered.

But on to what you really care about - the knitting of this mysterious gift!

This project required that I develop some new skills - intarsia, introducing knitting to the sewing machine, and my favorite: mattress stitch.

Believe it or not, I'd never before done a seam with mattress stitch, but now that I have, I'm a huge fan. It produced such a neat, sturdy, and nearly invisible seam:

I'm somewhat less a fan of intarsia. I really like the way argyle looks, but I've gotten my fill of knitting with it for a while. I will say, though, that you can do some really fun things with it. How else would you ever get arrrgyle?

Project details: Dale of Norway Baby Ull in black, grey, and red, total usage, about a ball. It's lined with black cotton flannel, which helps both with wind blocking and makes it far more comfortable for those who are wool-sensitive.

I hear my sister likes it. Indeed, she seems to like it enough that she's fogiven me for being months late with it. Either that, or she's just afraid that if she complains about my timeliness, I won't knit her any more socks. ;-)

Better with buttons

2008-11-22T20:17:00.003-05:00

The Tangled Yoke Cardigan is done. Gloriously, beautifully done.

I finished sewing the buttons on Thursday night (I don't know how it can possibly take two entire evenings to sew on 9 buttons; I really thought I was more efficient than that) and I wore it to work on Friday (as predicted, I was at work on Friday, and as expected, it wasn't much fun). I also wore it all day today, and will probably wear it tomorrow.

I am completely in love with this sweater. I love the yarn, which is a wool/cashmere/alpaca/microfiber blend. It is, I think, the softest tweed I've ever touched. Also, I love the tweediness, especially the bright blue slubs.

The only thing I'm not completely in love with, is that the soft, dark yarn makes it a little hard to see the patterning in the yoke. But it doesn't make it that hard, and it's such a small fault that I can very easily forgive it.

On the whole, I loved this project from start to finish. The pattern was clear and easy to follow. The yarn was a joy to knit with (even if it did turn my bamboo needles blue). And perhaps best of all, the sweater fits wonderfully and is a joy to wear (of course, it helps that the weather finally turned cold).

Is it Friday yet?

2008-11-18T20:52:00.003-05:00

Yes, I know it's only Tuesday, and that I have two or three more days to get through. In theory, I get every other Friday off in exchange for working 9 hour days instead of the usual 8, but that theory is dependent on things going fairly smoothly - nothing breaking, no boss types getting into tizzies about my stuff, and my being able to make some progress on my veritable mountain of work. If Monday and today have been any indication, I'll be working on Friday. Today was so bad that I was at work for 12 hours, ate lunch at my desk, and didn't make it to the gym (I often use my lunch hour to work out). At an early afternoon meeting, my boss thought it was Wednesday. By 4:30, I could have sworn it was Thursday... So even though it's only Tuesday, I'm really, really ready for Friday.

In the knitting news, the Tangled Yoke Cardigan is tantalizingly close to being done:

I got all of the knitting and weaving in of ends finished on Sunday, so all I have to do is sew the buttons on. Unfortunately for the knitting, last night I had neither the energy nor coherence to sew buttons. I probably would have sewed them to the band with the buttonholes in it, or something equally stupid. Tonight, I've got a little more energy and coherence, but after I blog, I'm spending it on necessary adult things, like cleaning the kitchen. I'll do a finished object post for it this weekend, after buttons are on and once I get some decent pictures in some natural light.

I've already started my next project, although, since it's only ribbing so far, it isn't very interesting, photographically speaking. The swatch is much curiouser:

Also curious is that I can't decide if the yarn is a blue purple or a red purple. It varies amazingly with the light.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to take care of the requisite bits of adulthood and then go to bed so I can get through the rest of the week with something at least vaguely akin to dignity and grace.

Purple warmth and an evening for myself

2008-11-10T19:56:00.004-05:00

Over the weekend, I finished the Koolhaas hat. And just in time too! Our lovely warm temperatures of the weekend and last week gave way to a nice, brisk morning today and gave me the opportunity to wear my new hat, although not the matching scarf (it was only 40ish - it wasn't that cold).

The matched set:

Linen stitch scarf and Koolhaas hat in Queensland Rustic Wool, knit on size 9s and 7s, respectively.

I knit what the pattern claims is the man's size hat because the woman's size was too short - it didn't cover my ears, and that's a requirement I have for winter hats.

The scarf will be really great when it gets cold enough to wear my coat and I need something to block the wind and cover my face. It's long enough to wrap around my neck twice and still easily tuck into my coat. It almost makes me excited for winter!

I really like the way the yarn looks in both patterns, although the two effects are quite different - not just in appearance but in texture. The hat is delightfully thick and squishy, while the scarf is just as delightfully firm and drapey. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the results. :-)

It's been several weeks now since I've been able to really relax (perhaps unsurprisingly, this coincides with Mr. Darcy's departure for his ship and his suddenly being quite busy and not able to spend nearly as much time talking with me as I'd been used to), partly due to parenthetical statements, and partly due to my workload at work and school. My plan for tonight was to work late, and then come home and work on homework. But tomorrow's a holiday, so I didn't stay very late at work, and this morning I learned that my homework isn't due until Thursday. So I shelved the responsible plans when I got home, poured myself a glass of wine, got a book, and took a bath. It was, really and truly, the first time in weeks that I've been able to relax without feeling guilty about the work I was putting off. In short, it was fantastic. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue my lovely evening by more reading and some knitting on the navy tweed blob with sleeves (which is coming along nicely, actually):

Democracy

2008-11-04T21:20:00.003-05:00

Democracy - it's a nerve-wracking process.

Today, I exercised my right to vote. I got up a little earlier than usual, got myself out of the house about a half hour early, and was at the polling place before it opened (at 6 a.m.). I stood in the line that spiraled around a basketball court (I vote at an elementary school) and knit. After 40 minutes or so, I got to skip the last 30-some feet of the line because they were looking for people with last names at the end of the alphabet (sometimes it works out well to be a W). And then I cast my vote. It amazes me that my government trusts its citizens enough to let us pick the leaders. I feel empowered. Now, all I have to do is sit and wait patiently to learn how the rest of the citizenry voted. While I'm not considering moving to Canada, I am anxious about the outcome. Patience may be a virtue, but it isn't one I have a great deal of at the moment.

Right now, I should be asleep or doing homework. (In my defense, I did do one problem and started to look at a second, and there are only three in the assignment, which isn't due until next week anyway.) But this is what I am actually doing (well, technically, right now I'm blogging, but you know what I mean):

Knitting on the Koolhaas hat that I started Sunday night and, in between stitches, hopping madly from site to site to see how the election's turning out. (You may think that it would be easier to just pick a station or two and listen to/watch the coverage, and you would be right, except for the fact that I don't own a TV.) I'd pick just one, but they are all using different guidelines for calling the states and their associated electoral votes. The knitting is, I think, the only thing keeping me from going crazy as I wait and watch...

I kind of hope it ends soon so I can go to bed.

Happiness is...

2008-11-03T19:53:00.003-05:00

Technicolor daisies:

A finished scarf:

With enough yarn left for a matching hat:

Progress on a sweater:

Having found buttons you like:

A scarf of purple sparklies:

Being the crazy lady in the bookstore cafe because you couldn't wait to get home to read It Itches, and it's much too good not to laugh out loud, even in public.

And finding the time to blog, especially when things get tough. And personally, these are some pretty tough times. I'll be back in a day or two!

Warped spacetime

2008-10-19T20:21:00.003-04:00

I have a theory.

We know that we live in what seems to be a four dimensional world and in which we are subject to certain rules. Nothing can go faster than light in a vacuum. Nothing, even light, can get out of a black hole. For some reason, we can move anyway we want in the first three dimensions but only forward in the fourth. In this world, some things like matter and energy are conserved. Neither can be created or destroyed, although they can be interchanged (but you're probably even less interested in the details of that phenomenon than I am in explaining them).

My theory is that knitting is subject to a similar conservation law. We've all experienced the knitting equivalent of a black hole, where we knit and knit and knit on a sleeve or scarf or something and it just doesn't get any longer. Here's what I think: all that knitting that's not going into your project, despite the motion of your hands and needles and consumption of yarn is actually going to some other knitter by way of some warped aspect of spacetime. Some other knitter is moving her hands and needles and using up yarn at the usual rate but ending up with rapidly growing sleeves or scarves or socks. It's a sort of conservation of yarn and knitting.

I could be wrong, but I have no other way to explain the amount of knitting I've done since I posted last Sunday. Since that post, I have spent approximately 50 hours at work, 9 hours commuting, and 10 hours on school work. I have read Free Range Knitter (start to finish) and about half of Quantum of Solace. I've gone for a bike ride, a swim, and a run (on different days). I've been to church, got my car washed, bought groceries and made a trip to Target. I'm not living in squalor - I've kept the dining room table clear, the kitchen clean and my floor free of dirty clothes. I have slept (not as much as I would have liked - probably about 50 hours for the week). And somehow, even with all of that, I have managed an incredible amount of knitting.

The winter jaywalkers are now a complete sock (I even wove in the ends) and the start of a mate. (By the way, the first attempt at the first of these socks? Too big. It turns out I was right, and size 11 feet aren't quite that big. They're large, just not that large.)

I'd mentioned a scarf. This is the scarf, knit in linen stitch out of Queensland Collection Rustic Wool. I'm really liking it, especially how purple it is. I think the linen stitch is producing a nicely mottled and fantastically dense fabric. I can't wait to get to the end so I can add fringe!

And I think I said something about a sweater, too. I don't have much experience knitting sweaters - I've only knit one before. That was my Olympic sweater and it took me a bit over a year to finish. This time, though, it's going much faster (I've started with sleeves, so that may be part of it), and I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll have it done by Thanksgiving. (Of course in saying that, I've probably jinxed myself, but I like to live on the edge a little, at least when it comes to knitting.)

Really, I think the only way that I could have done this much knitting is if I was benefiting from some other knitter's black hole. To that knitter: I'm sorry I'm stealing your knitting, but thank you for the effort. I hope someday, you get to benefit from one of my black holes.

Brought to you by the number 3

2008-10-15T19:42:00.004-04:00

Three scarves, knit for charity (specifically for the scarves for the homeless drive at my church)

Pattern: Multi-directional diagonal scarf. Each scarf is made of short-row polygons with 3 sides (also known as triangles).

Each scarf was made of 3 skeins of Patons Soy Wool Stripes.

Natural Denim:

Natural Plum:

Natural Blue (which has a surprising amount of brown in it):

The yarn is very soft in the skein, and knits up nicely, although it's not quite so soft as garter stitch. The main virtue of this yarn is, I think, that it's inexpensive. It cost wonderfully little money. Unfortunately, the was one drawback: knots. In 9 skeins, there were 7 knots. But for an inexpensive yarn, it's really quite charming - soft, warm, and with much less raw vegetable matter than Lopi.

This post is made possible in part by yarn, blogger, and readers like you.

SSS: Socks, Scarves, and Startitis

2008-10-12T16:31:00.006-04:00

As I was updating my Ravelry today, I realized something. Not only have I been absent from the blog for the past few weeks, I've been delinquent in posting some of my better projects for months. And by "better" I mean "anything not actually given away."

A brief survey of unblogged FOs (detailed blogs to come in the future, I swear):

As you can see, it's all scarves and socks. Not a lot of variety. Sadly, there isn't much more variety in my recently unblogged UFOs, either:

Which brings me to my final S: startitis. I'm craving something new, something for myself, and something not socky. But mostly something new. So I've cast on two new projects, both for myself. A linen stitch scarf (linen stitch is slow, but makes a lovely, dense fabric, and besides, it's in a great color) and this. Details to follow when I have pictures.

Antidote

2008-09-13T19:41:00.003-04:00

This week has been one of those weeks. You know the sort. One of those weeks when even though nothing major goes wrong (no serious illness, job loss, financial crisis, etc.) and you've still got a lot going for you (you've got your home, food, clothes, family, friends, etc.), the week still seems awful. All the little things pile up until you think this adulthood kick is one lousy deal, and you really wish that everything would just go away and leave you alone for a little while.

This week, while I felt like I was being smothered by a gajillion little things that refused to go right (for instance, the gallon of milk that went sour more than 10 days before its sell-by date), even my knitting wasn't much help.

I've been working on the second Bayerische sock. It's actually going pretty well, and when considered on its own, I'm quite pleased with it. The problem is in comparing it to its mate:

This shows the problem even better:

They aren't the same size. I think to get a matched pair, I'm going to have to knit 3 socks. Fortunately, I have plenty of yarn for doing so. The real problem is that I'm just not that in love with this pattern. While I think it's absolutely gorgeous, I also find it a little fiddly and hard on my hands.

So as my alternative, easy, mindless sock project, I started some Jaywalkers for Mr. Darcy. I really like the Jaywalker pattern. It's easy and smooth and I can knit it while I'm reading. In less than a week, then, I got the first sock done:

Looks pretty good, no? And it even took less than half the yarn I had. There's only one problem. I'm a little nervous about the size. Are size 11 feet really that big?

(Sock that fits a ladies' 9.5 included for scale.)

So it's on hold until I see Mr. Darcy in a week and a half and can make him try it on. There's no way I'm frogging two socks, if it comes to that.

Given the state of things, what's a woman to do? What antidote can there be for all the unpleasantness and frustration, when even the knitting is involved in the conspiracy? There are, I would think, many options such as hiding under the bed, running away, or setting fire to something, but I chose a different path.

I took some very lovely, recently acquired yarn

(Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 in Blue Lagoon)

and wound it into an equally lovely yarn cake.

And then I cast on while watching Sleepless in Seattle. (I did get further than the picture suggests.)

New sock in pretty yarn while watching delightful chick flick = pretty effective antidote.

A Weekend in Which I do no Knitting.

2008-09-07T21:22:00.003-04:00

None. Not even a single stitch. Shocking, isn't it?

So, you may be asking, if I didn't do any knitting, what did I do all weekend? In addition to the chores and errands necessary to keep up the appearances of being a functioning adult, I sewed.

I've been on a mission lately (several weeks now), to de-clutter my place. I don't think I have a lot of stuff to begin with, but much of it isn't well organized, and I know that some of it, I really don't need. So as part of de-cluttering, every few weeks (largely as I have the time and motivation), I go through some particular aspect of my belongings, and give it a thorough sorting and organizing. Anything I don't need/wear/use gets thrown out or donated. Everything else gets put away neatly. A few weeks ago, I did my closet. This weekend, I tackled a corner of my office. Yes, just a corner - it's a slow process. One can't rush these things, you know. The corner I picked was the one with my sewing table. I use the term loosely, since prior to Saturday, I hadn't once used it as such, but it did hold the sewing machine. And a bunch of stuff.

Incredibly, much of the stuff on the sewing table was sewing related, specifically projects that I'd left out in the hopes that looking at them sitting there unfinished would inspire (guilt being more likely) me to do something about them, like actually finish them. Well, it turns out that all I really needed was a tropical storm to keep me trapped inside:

(Hanna dumped all kinds of rain on Saturday - I don't think this picture accurately conveys just how wet it was.)

So I sewed. I hemmed and hung curtains. I fixed a sweater (store-bought, an underarm seam had come undone) and a blouse (somehow, the button band had come unstitched near the collar). I lined a headband (the ear-warmer sort). But mostly, I turned this:

into this:

The first is exactly what it looks like - a pile of fabric sitting on a chair. The second is two quilt tops and backs (sitting on the ironing board), just not assembled to each other yet. These are to be quilts for my former roommates - one who loves blue

and one who really likes orange.

The plan for next weekend is to attach the backs and quilt them!

Blue Scarves

2008-09-05T09:19:00.007-04:00

So, you may remember a while (like early-July) back, I scored some blue wool for charity knitting. It turned out that the wool was quite nice to knit with, and made two lovely blue scarves. (It would be odd if the scarves had turned out some other color...)

Exhibit A: The Long Miter

This was a fantastically easy, yet somehow not completely mind-numbing knit.
Recipe:
Cast on an odd number of stitches (I think I had 37).
Row 1: Kfb, knit to one stitch before center stitch, do a double decrease (I slip two stitches together, knit 1, pass slipped stitches over), knit to last stitch, kfb.
Row 2: Knit.
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you're running low on yarn. Then continue, but instead of kfb, just knit the first and last stitches in row 1.
Continue until you've got one stitch left. Pull yarn through this stitch to bind off. Weave in ends.

Exhibit B: An Easy Bias Scarf, with a Hint of Lace

This is ever-so-slightly less easy than the Long Miter. For this scarf, you have to be able to knit, purl, and not be scared of a yarn over.
Recipe:
Cast on 2 stitches.
Setup:
Kfb, K1, turn.
Kfb, K2, turn.
Kfb, K3, turn.
Kfb, K4, turn.
Increase section:
Row 1: K3, YO, K3.
Row 2: K3, P1, K3.
Row 3: K3, YO, K1, YO, K3.
Row 4: K3, P3, K3.
Row 5: K3, YO, K3, YO, K3.
Row 6: K3, P5, K3.
Continue in pattern until scarf is desired width.
Middle section:
Row 1: K2, SSK, YO, K2tog, knit to last 3 stitches, YO, K3.
Row 2: K3, purl to last 3 stitches, K3.
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until scarf is desired length or you're running low on yarn.
Decrease section:
Row 1: K2, SSK, YO, K2tog, knit to last 6 stitches, SSK, YO, K2tog, K2.
Row 2: K3, purl to last 3 stitches, K3.
Continue until you have 11 stitches left.
Ending:
Row 1: K2, SSK, YO, S1 k2tog psso, YO, K2tog, K2.
Row 2: K3, P3, K3.
Row 3: K2, SSK, YO, K3tog, K2.
Row 4: K3, P1, K3.
Row 5: K2, S1 k2tog psso, K2.
Row 6: K5.
Row 7: SSK, K1, K2tog.
Row 8: K3.
Row 9: S2KPsso (slip two stitches together, knit 1, pass slipped stitches over).
Pull yarn through last stitch.
Finishing: Weave in ends. Block. Blocking is especially important to keep this one from curling up.

Catching my breath

2008-08-20T21:41:00.003-04:00

I'm back. I had a lovely trip to Denver, although I did not make it to the Lamb Shoppe (this is probably because none of my girl friends are fiber addicts like me). The trip was the first time we'd all gotten together since we graduated over two years ago, but in many ways, it was like we'd never been apart. In short, it was a weekend full of much talking and giggling, and it was a fantastic time. And to top it off, not only did one of my dearest friends get married, I got the gift done in time!

Ballband dish cloths in Peaches and Creme worsted weight, colors white and shaded blue. I think I had them done about 12 hours before the wedding. (Apologies for the lousy photo - it was around midnight in a hotel room kitchenette - the lighting was bad and the counter ugly, but it was the best I could do.)

Since I'm still trying to recover from all the travel/work/school work/life as an adult, I'm going to keep it short tonight and save the scarves for later. I'm not going anywhere this weekend, though, so there's the possibility that I might even get to relax a bit...

Overcome by events

2008-08-10T21:39:00.002-04:00

So, the last two weeks or so, I've been pretty much completely overcome by events. Work has been absolutely nuts (staying until 9:30pm really isn't my idea of a good time), there's a huge looming deadline for class work (which I've been studiously ignoring), and there's my social life -I had a friend staying with me last weekend, and I've spent this weekend visiting Mr. Darcy, which has been completely wonderful. In fact, the only reason I can justify blogging right now, is that I'm sitting in an airport, waiting for my plane that was supposed to have taken off almost an hour ago and isn't even here yet. They tell me that I have another hour and a half to wait.

But despite the crazy hectic blur that is my life of late, I have managed to do some knitting. Although I've kind of fallen down on the job when it comes to photographing said knitting.

I've worked on the second Bayerische sock - I'm almost done with the leg. No picture, though.

I knit two of four wash cloths (again, no pictures) that I'm planning to be a gift for my friend who's getting married on Saturday. I have a couple of commutes and a flight to Denver between now and then. I can totally get them done. (Please don't disillusion me. Clinging to the illusion of hopeful competency is much better than falling victim to the pit of despair.)

And I've been knitting scarves.

I've knit a scarf and part of a second (no pictures of either) out of Patons Soy Wool Stripes, and I'm pretty pleased with the yarn. It's soft and has nice color changes. It's reasonably consistent in thickness, although there has been a frustratingly high number of knots (two or three so far in four balls). Even so, it's great yarn, especially when one factors in the price.

And I knit the Chinese wool (thanks, Nicole, for confirming that it's wool!) into two scarves - a large mitery thing (no picture) and an easy, bias-knit scarf. There actually are photos of the bias-knit scarf, but the free wi-fi in the airport won't let me get to Flickr to get the photo so that I can post it here.

Perhaps I should take this as a sign that I should be working on my project for class instead of blogging... I expect I'll be back with pictures in a week or so - I just have to survive the week and a whirlwind trip to Denver next weekend. Easy, right?

It was a dark and stormy night...

2008-07-28T21:38:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, I got an email from one of my friends along the lines of "Ack! The wedding's in three weeks, what are you getting them?!" To which my reaction was, "Ack! I have no idea! I wonder if I have time to knit dish cloths?"

So, I'm thinking, three weeks, four dish cloths - I already have cotton yarn on hand, so this should be easy! (Thinking that something is going to be easy is usually a nice bit of ironic foreshadowing. I should have known better.) I pulled out the yarn, and went to find needles. Now, I'm pretty sure I own at least one size 7 circular, since I've made dish cloths before, but I couldn't find one for the life of me. I checked the needle stash. I tossed the yarn dresser and the yarn closet. I went through all of the bags in which I'd stuck yarn while traveling at any point in the past few months. No needles.

Okay, the needle situation can be rectified. It just means a trip to my LYS. I had errands to run on Sunday after church anyway, so I just added the LYS to my list (it wasn't even out of my way). Sunday afternoon a thunderstorm rolled through (the only part of the story that was literally dark and stormy), which made it hard to do what I probably should have done.

What I should have done was written down on a sticky note the size and kind of needles I wanted, flagged down some passerby, given them the sticky note and a twenty, and told them they could keep the change if they went in and got the needles for me. That's what I should have done. But did I? No. Of course not.

No, I thought to myself, "It's just needles. I won't even fondle any yarn. I can be strong." In short, I lied to myself. Although, to be fair, I did make it to the needle wall and pick out what I needed without fondling any yarn, but somewhere between there and the cash register, I was overcome by wool fumes. It's the only explanation for how I went in just for needles and came out with these:

Watershed, by the Neighborhood Fiber Co. in Truxton Circle (the colorway). It's a wool/seacell blend that's fantastically soft. And given that I have a distinct fascination with seacell (I love the way it smells like the ocean still), a love of all things purple, and a weakness for local dyers, I suppose I had zero chance of making it out of the shop without this.

Penthouse Silk Lace, also by the Neighborhood Fiber Co. in Randle Circle. It's a two-ply lace-weight in 100% silk and one of the softest things I've ever touched. Plus I absolutely adore the silvery-blue colors and the way it seems to shimmer, even in the hank. When I touched this yarn, I couldn't help but dream about how wonderful a silk stole this would make and how fantastic it would feel on bare arms and shoulders. And I knew that if I didn't get it, someone else would, and I would be plagued with doubt and regret.

But first, I should probably go work on those dish cloths...

I like socks.

2008-07-24T20:31:00.007-04:00

I had a friend in high school who would fill awkward pauses with the statement, "I like rice." As a question, it was useful for diffusing tension: there's nothing for breaking up a frivolous but heated argument quite like, "um, I like rice?"

Anyway, I like socks.

I like plain socks.

I like blue socks.

I like wool socks.

I like warm socks.

I like socks.

From the top: Jane Doe socks in Regia Stretch. John Doe socks in Mirasol Hacho, colorwarys Midnight Velvet and Northern Lights. All three pairs were knit from the Jane and John Doe Socks pattern by me and available on Ravelry.

Chinese for wool?

2008-07-22T19:48:00.003-04:00

My church is collecting hand knit and crochet scarves for the homeless. To encourage people to participate, they're even providing yarn for those who want it. Since I like knitting and doing good, I stopped by to get some yarn. It was mostly acrylic in various colors and qualities, but I was fortunate enough to find some much maligned wool in the stash. At least, I think it's wool. It certainly feels like wool, but the labels are in Chinese.

Does anybody read Chinese? Can you tell me what this yarn is? Brand? Fiber content? I'd be grateful for any light you can shed on this.

Looking on the bright side

2008-07-20T23:13:00.003-04:00

If I'm not my usual, chipper self for the next few weeks, I beg your kind indulgence. I'm going through a bit of a challenging transition right now. You see, Mr. Darcy might actually more appropriately be called Captain Wentworth. He has gone off (under Navy orders that were decided long before we started dating) to seek his fortune. So, like a long list of Navy wives and sweethearts before me, I find myself necessarily left behind. Fortunately, modern communication and transportation mean that we'll be able to talk to and see each other far more often than Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth.

And in the meantime, I'm looking on the bright side and thinking about all the time I have for my things that I didn't before. All the things I'll be able to catch up on, and finish, and start, maybe.

I pulled out Picovoli from the WIP drawer - it's almost finished. Just needs cap sleeves and sewing of the hems.

Remember my first sock? In what is possibly a miraculous recovery from second sock syndrome, I've started it's mate.

I started new lace. This is the Arabesque stole in Jojoland lace-weight.

This pile of fabric? It's destiny is to become two 9-patch quilts - one in red, one in blue.

And then of course, there's my rather lengthy queue on Ravelry, my venture in spinning, and a couple thousand pages of reading I'd like to do. So really, I don't think there's the slightest risk of my being bored. In fact, I might even come to enjoy the extra time to myself...

On the bandwagon

2008-07-07T21:31:00.003-04:00

There seem to be some things that every knitter knits at least once. A scarf, a hat, a sock, a baby surprise jacket. And until one has knit those things, one may be faced with many crises of self doubt - am I a real knitter? Can I call myself a real knitter when I haven't knit (fill in the blank)? In almost every case, the answer is yes, you are a real knitter, even if all you've ever made are garter stitch scarves. That notwithstanding, it can be deeply satisfying to knit those items that seem to make "real knitters."

Now, I've never really questioned my credentials as a knitter (at least, not much), but that hasn't kept me from feeling woefully left behind a time or two. Like when it seemed everyone in the blogosphere was on Ravelry and I wasn't. And I'm still sad that I missed the Tulip Jacket rage. But I did recently knit one of those "everybody knits it at least once" items. I made my first baby surprise jacket:

It's knit out of Baby Ull, held double on size five (I think, it was a while ago) needles. The buttons are the small bear buttons from Schoolhouse Press.

The pattern is delightful and ingenious, if a little hard to follow at first. And I don't know that it's possible to say enough wonderful things about Meg Swansen's video guide. All in all, it was great fun to knit, and I'm sure I will knit many more in my time as a Knitter.

Back by popular demand

2008-06-29T20:31:00.003-04:00

I won't even try to explain (in detail) what I've been up to for the past several months instead of blogging. There's been work, chores, school work, travel, volleyball, dancing, more travel, more dancing, and lots and lots of time with Mr. Darcy. There have even been some fiber-related activities. In short, I've been busy (I'm not sure that word adequately conveys how much I've been doing), and blogging hasn't quite made it to the top of the to-do list. But thanks to several factors (things settling down a little, Mr. Darcy's being out of town, being informed that I've been missed in the blogosphere - this was particularly touching - and the alignment of the planets), I'm back. And I think (no promises, especially given my track record) it will be on a regular and somewhat frequent basis!

Unfortunately, as behind as I am on blogging, I'm just as behind on going through photographs of my yarn, knitting, and other fiber endeavors. So it'll be a while for me to catch up. And it means that tonight, instead of writing about recent knitting, I'm going to tell you about my new hobby, because it's the only thing that's got a picture ready to go.

For well over a year now, I've been thinking about spinning. I really like the magic of knitting and all of the things you can do with yarn and sticks. But I'm also fascinated by the yarn itself, and how it gets to be the way that it is. One of the manifestations of this was my foray into dying (there are plans for more). Another manifestation is my interest in spinning. I'm deeply intrigued by the process that turns fluff into usable yarn.

For Christmas, my mom gave me a drop spindle kit that consisted of a small drop spindle and about half an ounce of purple roving. When I opened it, I immediately had to give this spinning business a try, and so sat there spinning until I'd turned that half ounce of roving into this:

It's not enough to knit into anything, really, so I'm just going to put it on a loop of fishing line and call it a Christmas tree ornament.

About a week ago, I got the spindle back out and started on some new yarn, but pictures will have to wait. And, even more exciting, I discovered that there's a yarn shop/fiber artist school only a few miles from me. I can't wait to take some classes and learn to really spin!

A Harlot moment

2008-04-03T22:10:00.002-04:00

So, I'm blogging on the road. Well, not literally. But I'm in Boston for the weekend, visiting one of my dearest friends. It should be a fantastic weekend of seeing the sights (I somehow lived here for four years without managing to get pictures of any of it...), a bit of yarn, and some really excellent catching up.

I had a moment in the airport, though, that I just have to share. I'd gotten off the plane and was walking through the terminal. My ears still needed to pop, though, so I was fishing around in my bag for the gum that I was sure I'd stuck in it. As I'm rummaging unsuccessfully, a couple of men call out, "Um, excuse me, you dropped your yarn." I'd manage to knock the ball of sock yarn out of my bag (the sock was still in the bag, though), and was, at that point, trailing about forty feet of yarn. One of the men very nicely picked up the ball and handed it to me, while the other tried really hard not to laugh. I did laugh, though, since the only other alternative would have been mortal embarrassment.

I wonder how long it would have taken me to notice if they hadn't said something...

Um... hello?

2008-03-26T21:51:00.003-04:00

Anybody there? I wouldn't blame you at all if you aren't. I mean, it's my blog, and I haven't even been here in an embarrassingly long time.

But if you are there, you'll be happy to know that although I've fallen off the face of the blogosphere, I haven't actually fallen off the face of the planet. In fact, aside from my utter lack of blogging, I'm doing pretty fantastically. I've just been unbelievably busy - take a look at what's on my plate:
1. Work - typically I spend 12 hours a week day either at work or getting to/from it
2. Grad class - lots of math I can handle, teaching myself C++ is quite a trick, though. And it's a time sink, since it's sucked up something on the order of 12-15 hours a week.
3. Dancing - I've been spending one or two evenings a week swing dancing. It's the bees knees.
4. Fundamentals of Engineering - the exam is in just over two weeks and I am so sick of studying for it. And by studying, I mean relearning everything I haven't thought about in four years.
5. Mr. Darcy - possibly the real reason that I haven't been knitting (much) or blogging (at all) is that I've been spending nearly every free waking moment (and probably a few that aren't free) with a gentleman we'll call Mr. Darcy.

Good news for blogging, though: I just got a spiffy new laptop that is way faster than my desktop, in addition to being more happily compatible with such things as my camera, and a million times more portable. So, despite the fact that I don't know where in my average week I'll find the time (I've been thinking lately that sleep is vastly overrated. Actually, even when I was really little, I didn't like sleeping since I was convinced that if I was asleep, I'd miss something interesting.), but I think there's a pretty good chance that I'll be going back to semi-regular blogging. I'm thinking once a week would be a pretty good start. And then maybe twice, post FE.

So, even though I've completely blown my New Year's resolutions about commenting and blogging frequency, there's still the possibility of meeting the one about real fiber content. Even though I have been doing some knitting, I don't have any pictures of it (they're all on the other computer still). Instead, I give you my oldest WIP:

The beginnings of a Twisted Bargello quilt that I started 8 or 9 years ago. I really like the pattern, and I love the colors I chose, and really, I think it will look awesome finished. I just haven't had any sewing motivation in ages. And at the moment, my machine is buried under yarn, so it'll be a while yet before I get to it. But it's on the list!

Not according to plan

2008-02-12T21:03:00.001-05:00

I didn't intend to let another week go by without blogging. In fact, I'd planned to blog last Thursday, but due to circumstances beyond my control (from Thursday evening through Sunday evening, I was unpleasantly ill), I had to shift my planned blogging time, and in the end, for various reasons, it turns out that today is my earliest opportunity to sit down and produce something for this establishment of mine.

For reasons closely related to my not blogging, I also haven't been knitting much. And to make matters worse, I have no good pictures of the few things I have been working on. Fortunately, I have a four-day weekend coming up, so I should be able to get in some good blogging, as well as catch up on the other things in my life that convince people I'm a civilized adult (laundry, vacuuming, etc.).

As I recall, about six weeks ago, I made a resolution about there being real fiber content in every post. Now, it turns out that there are actually several things I could present here: some very pretty yarn sitting on my floor, the very lovely laceweight I acquired a few weeks ago, my first venture into the world of the inimitable EZ, my oldest WIP, or what is likely to become my newest obsession. But for various reasons (mostly the aforementioned lack of pictures), instead you get... more socks!

Are you not just thrilled?

I finished the Hawaii Jaywalkers (finally. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I started them back in August).

The original idea with these socks was that they would be a KAL with my chief enabler (CE). But I was moving/traveling/losing my mind in August and was in desperate need of something simple to knit with yarn that wasn't boxed up and sitting in storage somewhere. So I started (and finished, I think) without my CE, which I guess means we'll have to pick something else to do as a KAL.

I really like the way the pattern knits up and does nice things with variegated yarns. And I really like Lorna's Laces - it's such a smooth, soft, well-behaved yarn. I'm not such a fan of this particular colorway, though. It's a bit too heavy on the bright green for my tastes, but fortunately, I know lots of people (probably 2) whose feet are the same size as mine and who would wear socks with this much bright green.

But come to think of it, I do like them inside out...

Topsy Turvy

2008-02-05T20:19:00.000-05:00

Sorry for disappearing from the blogosphere for almost two weeks! I have some excuse, though, I think.

You know how sometimes you're going along, and every thing's going more or less predictably and you feel completely in control of your life? (I suspect that this may be a feeling that disappears forever once one has children. I don't actually know, though.) But then something happens, and it turns out that you really aren't at all in control of your life and that whatever you thought things were, they're actually completely different? That's been my life of the past 4 to 6 weeks, in a good way. At the beginning of January, I thought I had everything in control in terms of work, school, and my rather limited social life. Now, I'm grateful that I'm not actually in charge of my life, since work is better than expected, my grad class is not what I expected, and socially things are so much better than I could have wished for. The only downside to good work, lots of class, and the revival of my obsession with dancing? Not so much time for knitting.

But I have been knitting!

I finished the Monkey socks for my sister.

I'm really pleased with the way they turned out. I really liked the yarn, in terms of the way it behaved, the way it felt, and most especially in the color.

And the Monkey pattern is a delightful one. As far as I am concerned, its best attribute is that it has enough stretches of knit stitches that it can be knit while doing other things, but that the purl bits do a fantastic job of breaking up the monotony if you're just knitting.

On the topic of purls, someone (Kathy maybe?) asked if I had trouble with laddering at the needle changes in purl stitch. I don't, and I think I know why (let's not dwell on how long I spent analyzing my own knitting technique to figure this out).

When I knit, I start a new needle by sticking it under the other needles and into the stitch, like this:

But when I purl, I start the new needle by bringing it over the old needle and under the one that has the stitch I'm about to purl, like this:

The result is that in each case, the working yarn has the least distance possible to go between needles, and therefore less opportunity to ladder.

As you can tell, I've started a sock, but if I tell you about it (and the other knitting I've been doing) now, two things will happen: 1) I'll be up much later than I'd like (I haven't gone to bed before 11 in over a week, and I get up at 5ish on weekdays, so you can understand why I'm ranking sleep so high on the list tonight) and 2) I won't have anything to blog about for the next few days (as I said, I really haven't been knitting that much - it'd be a shame to blow it all on one post).

So, tune in next time for a mystery episode. Will it be socks? Scarfs? Argyle? Baby sweaters? A baby blanket? Only time will tell.

The last of 2007

2008-01-23T19:53:00.000-05:00

I was going to blog about socks today. The sock knitting has been pretty good lately - two finished pairs, and a new one (of my own design!) started, even. But despite the good sock knitting mojo, the sock blogging mojo has gone missing. So instead, I'll catch up on the last of my 2007 knitting. (It's already embarrassing that I've let it go this long. It would be really embarrassing if I let it go until February.)

Before Christmas, I went on a washcloth-knitting rampage. My goal was to make three sets of 4 washcloths each - one for my mom, one for my aunt, and one for my grandma. I didn't quite make it.

I got a set done for my aunt (yarn - white and lilac ombre, worsted weight, Peaches & Creme):

I got a set done for my grandmother (yarn - white and winterberry ombre, worsted weight, Peaches & Creme):

I got half a set done for my mother (yarn - black and blackwatch ombre, worsted weight, Peaches & Creme). Fortunately, she's a knitter too, and since I also got her yarn, she really didn't care that I had only half her gift done.

The Christmas knitting also included the socks I didn't finish for my youngest sister, and a scarf for my middle sister. The scarf?

Clapotis, knit from Lorna's Laces Swirl DK Multi, colorway Flames. I think I knit it on size 5 needles, but I'm not sure, and I have absolutely no recollection of my gauge. But it was a fun pattern to knit (I modified it to make it narrower, and to make the columns of twisted stitches real columns of twisted stitches), and the Lorna's Laces Swirl DK is a very cool yarn.

Apparently, it's not just a pretty scarf, but a useful one too! (Makes me glad I live someplace not quite so cold...)

Maybe I'll blog about socks tomorrow...

How to show a sock a good time

2008-01-20T20:59:00.000-05:00

In honor of my blog's birthday (it's a year old today!), I took my current sock-in-progress out to celebrate.

We went for a drive. I let it sit in front and pick the music. (It picked Afro Celt Sound System.)

We went and got chai (neither the sock nor I are coffee drinkers). The sock was very well-behaved, and even let the nice old man who said I reminded him of his mother hold it.

We went to a movie. We saw 27 Dresses, which turned out to be funny and sweet if disappointingly predictable, and which had (even for a chick flick) a couple of gaping plot holes. But it was fun. :)

And best of all, we went shopping. I even let the sock pick out some yarn. It picked two skeins of Wildfoote in the symphony colorway.

It was a good time.

The masses have spoken

2008-01-16T18:58:00.000-05:00

Capitulating to popular demand, I give you the pattern for the cabled scarf and matching mittenettes:

Scarf

Yarn: Ram Wools, Inca Silk
Gauge: 22 stitches per 4 inches
Needles: Size 5 circulars or straights or size to obtain gauge (although it's a scarf, so gauge is optional)

Abbreviations:
C8F: Cable 8 front - slip next 4 sts onto a cable needle, hold at front of work, knit next 4 sts off left hand needle, knit sts off cable needle
C8B: Cable 8 back - slip next 4 sts onto a cable needle, hold at back of work, knit next 4 sts off left hand needle, knit sts off cable needle

Cast on 39 sts.
Row 1 (RS): K1P1 19 times. P1.
Row 2 (WS): Same as row 1.
Row 3: P1K1 19 times. K1.
Row 4: Same as row 3.
Row 5: K1P1 twice. P2, K12, P3, K12, P2. P1K1 twice.
Row 6: P1K1 twice. K2, P12, K3, P12, K2. K1P1 twice.
Row 7: P1K1 twice. P2, K4, C8F, P3, K4, C8B, P2. K1P1 twice.
Row 8: K1P1 twice. K2, P12, K3, P12, K2. P1K1 twice.
Rows 9 and 10: Same as rows 5 and 6.
Row 11: P1K1 twice. P2, C8B, K4, P3, C8F, K4, P2. K1P1 twice.
Row 12: Same as row 8.
Repeat rows 5-12 until scarf is desired length or you have run out of yarn. If you run out of yarn, frog last five or six rows.
Starting on a RS row, work 4 rows of double moss stitch as set from border.
Cast off. Weave in ends. Block lightly if desired.

Cable Mittenettes

Yarn: 1 Skein Ram Wools, Inca Silk
Gauge: 22 stitches per 4 inches
Needles: 1 set each of size 4 and size 5 DPNs or size to obtain gauge (on larger needles)

Abbreviations:
C4B: Cable 4 back - slip next2 sts onto cable needle and hold at back of work, knit next 2 sts from left needle, knit sts from cable needle
C4F: Cable 4 front - slip next2 sts onto cable needle and hold at front of work, knit next 2 sts from left needle, knit sts from cable needle
M1: Make 1 - I did this by picking up the bar between two stitches and knitting it through the back loop

Left Mittenette:
On smaller needles, cast on 41 sts. Join, being careful not to twist.
Cuff:
*Round 1: Work K1P1 over first 12 stitches. K12 (set up for cable). Work P1K1 over rest of round (23 sts).
Round 2: Work ribbing over first 12 sts. K2, C4B. Work ribbing over rest of round.
Round 3: Work as for round 1.
Round 4: Work ribbing over first 12 sts. C4F, K2. Work ribbing over rest of round.*
Repeat from * to * 5 times. This gives you 24 rows for the ribbed cuff.
Palm:
Switch to larger needles.
Round 1: K11, P1. Work cable as set. P1, K rest of round (22 sts).
Round 2 (increase round): K3, M1, K1, M1. Work rest of round as set.
Rounds 3 and 4: Knit, except work cable and accompanying purl stitches as set.
Round 5 (increase round): K4, M1, K1, M1. Work rest of round as set.
Continue as set, working an increase round every three rounds. Rounds 8, 11, 14, 17, and 20 will be increase rounds. After last increase rounds, work two more rounds as for rounds 3 and 4. (55 sts)
Round 23: K3. Place next 15 stitches on waste yarn. CO1 across gap, work the rest of the round as set. (41 sts)
Rounds 24, 25, 26: Knit, except work cable and accompanying purl stitches as set.
Switch to smaller needles.
Round 27: Work K1P1 over first 12 stitches. Work cable as set. Work P1K1 over rest of round.
Work 5 more rounds as for round 27. Bind off, using tubular bind-off.
Thumb:
Using smaller needles, pick up 15 stitches from waste yarn and 3 stitches from palm. Work 4 rounds of K1P1 ribbing. Bind off using tubular bind-off.
Finishing: Weave in ends. Block lightly if desired.

Right Mittenette:
Cast on and work cuff as for left mittenette.
Palm:
Switch to larger needles and work first round as for left mittenette.
Round 2 (increase round): K11, P1, work cable as set, P1, K7, M1, K1, M1, K rest of round.
Rounds 3 and 4: Knit, except work cable and accompanying purl stitches as set.
Round 5 (increase round): K11, P1, work cable as set, P1, K8, M1, K1, M1, K rest of round.
Continue as set, working an increase round every three rounds. Rounds 8, 11, 14, 17, and 20 will be increase rounds. After last increase rounds, work two more rounds as for rounds 3 and 4. (55 sts)
Round 23: Work first 26 stitches of round as set. Place next 15 stitches on waste yarn. CO1 across gap, K rest of the round. (41 sts)
Rounds 24, 25, 26: Knit, except work cable and accompanying purl stitches as set.
Switch to smaller needles.
Round 27: Work K1P1 over first 12 stitches. Work cable as set. Work P1K1 over rest of round.
Work 5 more rounds as for round 27. Bind off, using tubular bind-off.
Thumb:
Using smaller needles, pick up 15 stitches from waste yarn and 3 stitches from palm. Work 4 rounds of K1P1 ribbing. Bind off using tubular bind-off.
Finishing: Weave in ends. Block lightly if desired.

Please let me know if you have questions/comments/horrible and life-changing issues on these patterns. These are reconstructed from my scribbles on a sheet of engineering paper, and certainly not immune to error.

P.S. I'm afraid Inca Silk may have been discontinued, since it's not listed on Ram Wools' website. According to Ravelry (my ball bands are long gone, so we're going to go with what Ravelry has to say), it's a DK weight yarn that's 80% alpaca, 20% silk.

Distractions

2008-01-12T15:06:00.000-05:00

I have no knitting to show you today. I did not finish the Monkey sock; in fact, it's only about three rounds further along than it was Thursday. The secret something is still secret and still taking over my desk. Miss Darcy's still on hold. I couldn't find good pictures of some of the catch-up FO's I was going to show you. And the scarf pattern is still a collection of scribbles on engineering paper, but I'll get it typed up in a day or two, I promise!

So to distract you from my utter lack of knitting, I'm going to show you pretty fiber.

First up: Jamieson & Smith Shetland Jumper Weight. This yarn was intended to become a couple of baby surprise jackets. It's nice wool, but it isn't superwash, and it's a little coarser than I think something going on a baby should be. So now it's strictly stash. It might be destined to become something felted. A purse maybe? Felted boxes? I'm not sure. But I desperately want to try felting.

It turns out that one of the best things about having other knitters in the family is that we all think yarn is a great gift. The rest of the yarns in this yarn parade were all gifts from my mom and middle sister (the youngest isn't quite into yarn yet, and we're still working on my dad).

Gift number 1 (and a complete surprise, which is pretty rare given the way my family does gift shopping): Rustic Wool by Queensland Collection. I have no idea what it's going to become, but that's all right. For now, I'm content to fondle this incredibly soft, squishy wool and look adoringly at its charmingly purple variegation.

Gift number 2 (also a surprise, but not so much, since I'd let it be known that I had something of a crush on these colors): Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Ice House (the multi) and Island Blue (the solid). I'm pretty sure these will become socks and that the little bits leftover will go into a blanket or hats or mittens or something. Or maybe I'll skip the socks and go straight to a blanket or a hat or mittens or something. Who knows? In any case, you really can't have too much sock yarn.

Gift number 3 (not a surprise at all, since I picked out the yarn, and then stood in line behind my mom so I could buy other yarn, which I think included a yarn gift for her. This is pretty much the usual way we shop for each other.): Wildfoote sock yarn by the Brown Sheep Company. For me, this is really branching out color-wise, since probably 95% of my yarn is black, blue or purple. (Egads - I just realized that my stash resembles a bruise more than anything else.) Perhaps surprisingly, given my usual color preferences, I'm quite enraptured with this yarn and have spent much time trying to figure out what sock pattern will best complement it.

Gift number 4 (also picked out by me, but still a bit of a surprise in the amount): Harlequin by Dale of Norway. The picture might be misleading, since I actually have 17 balls of this yarn - plenty for a sweater. For reasons unknown to me, I've been strangely attracted to tweeds lately (I can't remember ever being so before, and I can remember at times thinking tweeds were generally hideous, but clearly, I've gotten over that). This tweed is incredible. It's a blend of wool, microfiber, alpaca, cashmere, and viscose, and is positively hand-sucking. Plus, it comes in some very lovely colors. This will become a sweater for me at some point, but I don't have a pattern in mind yet.

And I think I'd better stop there. I'll probably get in trouble with the FCC or somebody if I show more yarn pr0n in a single post.

Playing Catch-up

2008-01-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

I didn't know what to blog about today. My life currently makes for pretty poor blog fodder, and my knitting is either not very interesting or semi-secret. The Monkey sock has been my commuting knitting (I ride a bus and train to work) and my knitting-while-reading object. I started the last repeat today, and tomorrow should see the sock finished.

I did get the extra ball of yarn that I needed for Miss Darcy, but while I was waiting for it, I cast on something else, and that something else has sort of taken over my desk. For the sake, then, of what little sanity I have left, I am not working on Miss Darcy until I have finished the something and reclaimed my desk.

Unfortunately (for the blog) this something is for someone who knows about the blog (I don't think this person reads it regularly, so I'm willing to post this), so this will be the only picture until the recipient has the something in his/her possession.

And I thought that was all I had to blog about today, which really doesn't seem like very much or very interesting. Then I recalled that even though I disappeared from the blog for several months, I didn't completely quit knitting during that time. So there are other things I can talk about!

Remember this scarf that I started ages ago to go with these? Well, I finished it some time in November, I think.

Yarn: Ram Wools Inca Silk
Needles: Size 5, I think
Pattern: My own, possibly to appear here (would you like it?)

I love this scarf. It's narrow, so not so great for wear when you really need a scarf that you can pull over your mouth and nose and still cover your neck with, but it's much better at filling in the V between the lapels of my coat than any other scarf I've ever worn. (The mittenettes are pretty great, too.)

I know that wasn't much, but that wraps up this edition of Catch-up Blogging. Join us in our next episode when we discuss wash cloths, or maybe another scarf! I'll see you next time! (I loved that show!)

Punctual gifts are overrated

2008-01-06T16:33:00.000-05:00

Remember these, that I started back in October? They were supposed to be a Christmas present for my sister. This is their current state:

Clearly, I missed the deadline. (Although I would have made it, had she not introduced me to this while I was home. Apparently I am helpless in the face of the combined powers of LEGO and Star Wars.) My new plan is to send them to her with her birthday gift (that gives me about a month to finish both items).

I'm about halfway through the heel flap of the second sock, and I still think both the yarn and the pattern are quite charming. In fact, this quality is even more apparent when the sock is on the foot instead of lying on the floor.

Now I understand why the last step of the pattern is "block well."

I've also been working on Miss Darcy. When last I wrote about this scarf, I was unsure that I liked the edging. After that post, I decided that I didn't like the edging, frogged it, and set off in search of an edging I did like. A few hours later, I still hadn't found anything quite like what I had in mind, so I charted my own and started knitting again.

On the whole, I'm quite pleased with the result. (By the way, the reason only one end is done? I ran out of yarn. But never fear! More is on the way, and it's even the same dye lot!) The only part that doesn't completely thrill me is the wonkiness at the corners.

Even before I started knitting the corners, I suspected something along these lines would happen. The only way to prevent it, I think, would have been to work out some sort of short row corner. But a little bit of playing around didn't get me anything I liked any better, so my scarf will just have ruffled ends. And I'm okay with that.

Recipe Whatever

2008-01-04T09:44:00.000-05:00

Ann and Kay recently invited their readers to post pictures of their recipe boxes/drawers/whatevers and to share a recipe from said box/drawer/whatever. I definitely have a recipe whatever:

These are assorted recipes that I have tucked into the back of my 1979 edition of Betty Crocker's Cookbook. This is the same edition (but not the same book; she still has hers) that my mother got when she got married. Many of our family's favorite recipes are at least based on ones in this edition of Betty Crocker. For recipes from elsewhere, most often from other family members, my mom does have a recipe box of them. Every time I want to make one of them for the first time, I call or email my mom and have her send it to me. I print them out or write them down and tuck them into my Betty Crocker cookbook. I'm also pretty shameless about asking other people for recipes. Really, I don't think my personal collection is too shabby, especially when you consider that I've only been living on my own with a reasonable kitchen for about a year and a half (I've been living on my own longer than that, but the dorm kitchen wasn't reasonable, so we won't speak of it further).

And now for the recipe to share. This one isn't actually one of my mom's: it's only in her collection because I added it years ago. I originally got the recipe in a high school Spanish class, but I've modified it substantially since then. Without further ado, I give you:

Bizcochitos (Mexican sugar cookies)

1/2 cup apple juice
1 tbsp. anise
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup butter
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
4-5 cups flour
cinnamon-sugar mixture

Preheat oven to 400.
Combine apple juice, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside.
Cream butter, shortening, and sugar together.
Add flour and knead.
Add water mixture and knead until well mixed.
Roll dough out to 1/16" to 1/8" thick on a lightly floured board.
Cut with Christmas cookie cutters or biscuit cutter.
Roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture (I put my mixture in a pie plate and then treat the cookies like they’re French toast and the mixture is the eggs)
Place on cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes in oven until golden brown.

Makes about four dozen.

Enjoy!

This post's fiber content: paper (which is, I realize, stretching the rules)

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-01T14:53:00.000-05:00

While I find the celebration of an arbitrary calendar event somewhat odd, I readily concede that the event itself is a necessary one and can be quite useful.

For celebrating, I had one of the best New Year's Eves I've ever had. I knit, I watched Pride and Prejudice, and I went to bed early. It may have been untraditional and possibly anti-social, but it was fun. :-)

The knitting: I recently acquired some of the most fantastic yarn I've ever had the pleasure of fondling. The yarn is Grace - Silk&Wool by Louisa Harding. It's half silk, half merino wool, is delightfully soft and smooth and has a wonderful sheen. When I saw it in a wonderful dark royal blue shade, I was done for. I knew as soon as I saw it that I would be getting it and making myself a scarf. I give you (in progress) Miss Darcy:

The pattern is of my own design, assembled (so far) with help from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, The New Knitting Stitch Library, and Victorian Lace Today. The only problem is that I'm not sure I like the edging, so I may frog it and try something else.

One of the useful things about New Year's is that it clearly marks the end of something and the beginning of something else. Even if it is an arbitrary calendar event, it's a useful way to mark changes, not just in the calendar but in other places. And of course, when it comes to resolutions, there's the peer pressure aspect of things. So here are my resolutions:

1) I will blog more frequently. Specifically I will try to blog at least twice a week, and I will blog enough that I will have at least 8 posts every month.

2) I will have actual fiber content (knitting, spinning, crochet, sewing, and quilting are all fair game) in every post.

3) I will comment more frequently. Any time I come across a recent blog entry (one of the three most recent for that blog) with fewer than twenty comments, I will leave a comment. I will also leave a comment (no matter how many have been left before me) every time I read a post that is particularly funny, touching, or useful.

4) I will finish my WIPs. With the exception of the blanket, I will complete or abandon (that is, frog, and reclaim the yarn) every WIP I currently have (they are, for the record, Miss Darcy, Monkey Socks, Hawaii Jaywalkers, Mystery Stole 3, blackwatch washcloths, Picovoli, Print o' the Wave stole, Bayerische Socken, and the silk corset).

I hope your 2008 is filled with joy, blessings, and fiber!

Holy Knitting, Batman! It's Ravelry!

2007-11-23T15:40:00.000-05:00

You know how everyone's been raving about Ravelry? In fact, I bet you're on Ravelry. I came rather late to the party, but man! what a party it is! You can find me as StarrySkyKnits.

Real blog content will resume as soon as I extricate myself from Ravelry...

Oh, the Irony!

2007-10-30T21:13:00.000-04:00

So, clearly I'm over-ambitious when it comes to setting goals. My apologies for my long absence. But I'm very nearly done with the work on my condo, and down to just a few boxes still to unpack. In fact, *whispers* I think I'm done enough that I'll be back to blogging rather more frequently, like once or twice a week.

Since I last blogged, I've made some slight progress on the Hawaii Jaywalker sock. It's the first of the pair, and so close to done that it's embarrassing that I didn't finish it before starting on the next thing that caught my eye. (And please, say nothing about second sock syndrome...)

There's a particular yarn, in a particular colorway, that I've been coveting for months. I didn't order it online because of the moving chaos, but every time I've been in a yarn shop, I've looked for it. So, then a bit over a week ago, my sister came to visit, and I took her to the LYS so she could pick out a sock yarn that I would make into socks for her for Christmas. This particular shop has many shelves full of sock yarn. My sister walked to these shelves, looked for about 30 seconds, and pulled out a hank, announcing that she had found the yarn she wanted. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, as the hank she pulled out was the very yarn, in the very colorway, that I've been longing for. And, of course, they only had one hank. But I do try to be a good sister, so I got it for her and got a different colorway for myself.

Fleece Artist Merino Sock in Cornflower (hank, mine) and Polar Sea (ball, my sister's).

She also picked out a pattern for her socks, and I couldn't have been more pleased with her choice, since it's a pattern I've been eying for some time: Monkey Socks!

It turns out that this yarn is completely delightful to work with, in addition to being beautifully dyed. So I think I'm still coveting...

Juggling alligators

2007-10-02T17:45:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking for about a week now that I really should get back to blogging. I even got so far as to consider (although not decide) what my first post back should contain. The problem is that I haven't got much to report, at least not knitting-wise. So I kept putting it off. Then I saw Lynne's comment on my last post and knew I shouldn't put it off any longer.

Lynne is right - I am back from my business travels. Here's the quick version of the last two months: When I last blogged (back at the beginning of August), I had a week of school left. I finished up school, watched movers pack all of my stuff up, as well as all of my roommates' stuff - somehow we managed to keep it mostly separate and mostly going to the right person. Then I loaded what little I'd kept into my car and left Pittsburgh. I dropped some of my stuff off in a friend's garage in DC and kept going to Newport News. I spent three weeks there, except for coming back to DC on weekends to work on (painting, and such) my new place. Then it was a week in Idaho, and back to DC to start work. I had the movers deliver the rest of my stuff, did a little unpacking, and then took a vacation! I spent three fantastic days in San Diego on the beach, and another three days in Albuquerque, where I got what I hope is a year's supply of frozen green chile. I was back at work last week and back down in Norfolk for the beginning of this week. And now, I'm back in DC and not going anywhere for at least a month.

I'm embarrassed to admit how little knitting I got done in all that time. I started a new sock:

And I made some pretty good progress on my Print O' the Wave stole. It turns out that the stole is good airplane knitting.

On the other hand, it isn't as if I don't have knitting to show because I've been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I think Lynne's suggestion of juggling alligators is apt, given that this is the more-or-less current state of my condo:

Working only on weekends and evenings, I've so far managed to paint the dining room, living room and hall, and part of the second bedroom (currently a storage disaster, planned to be an office). The gray on the walls just had to go, and the purple really makes me happy. The master bedroom will by the end of this weekend be a lovely blue and have all the proper furniture back in it (and not in the dining room or living room). At the pace I'm going, I expect to get everything - painting, unpacking, decorating, and some new furniture - by November.

I'll do my best to blog once a week, but it may be less often than that. I'm not abandoning you, I promise. It's just that I'm still juggling alligators :)

Four finished objects and a funeral

2007-08-02T16:44:00.000-04:00

Well, that depends on how you count socks. If you count by pairs, than it's only two finished objects.

I finished my Tour de France knitting:

And a picture on the foot (although less keeping with the theme of the KAL):

I'm really super pleased with the way these socks came out. I thoroughly enjoyed the patter, and I really love knitting with Trekking XXL.

I also finished my Pomatomus socks:

These are knit out of Anne, by Schaefer. While I really liked the colorway, especially with this pattern, I'm not a huge fan of the yarn in general. It isn't a very smooth wool, so it tends to shed a bit during knitting and I don't think it's as comfortable to wear as, say, Trekking XXL.

The funeral:

I started this glove just about a year and a half ago, just as I was becoming a Knitter. The yarn is Falk, and came from stash diving in my mother's stash. The pattern is based on Meg Swanson's i-cord finger gloves, the patterning was my own. I found this as I was cleaning out my stash drawer (yes, that's singular; no, that isn't all of my stash: the rest lives in shoe boxes under my bed), getting ready for moving. Pulling it out, I realized that while I still like the snowflake on the back of the hand, I like absolutely nothing else about it anymore. I didn't like the white as the base color, my attaching of the fingers to the palm was terrible, I didn't like the patterning I did across the palm, my stranded knitting was puckering horribly, and somehow (something to do with it being 90 degrees and humid here) the glove was too small. I took a picture and then unceremoniously dumped it in the trash. Next time I decide to knit gloves, I think I'll use Baby Ull...

I've also been working on my Mystery Stole, although at rather a slower pace than I would have liked. School's been a bit intense (in the five days left, I have five tests to take and two reports to finish), so the knitting has been slower. I've also come to realize that when I get really stressed, I don't knit to decompress, I read. So that also explains some of the lack of progress.

This was the state of the stole mid-way through last weekend. I'm now about forty rows further along, but still a long way from finishing clue 4, so clearly, having it done by the time clue 5 comes out tomorrow isn't going to happen. Oh well, at least I know I'll have knitting to take with me on my month of business travel...

Still breathing

2007-07-25T20:08:00.000-04:00

I've taken the advice of last post, and Cheryl's advice not to breathe fire. My life continues to be a whirl wind of school, homework, paperwork, and general craziness, but I have managed to get some knitting done.

I'm so close to being done with the Coupling socks (my TdF project) that I can almost feel them on my feet. I just have to bind off and weave in ends on one sock, and then I'm done!

This weekend was a road trip to Allentown, PA (by way of Intercourse and Blue Ball), and since I didn't have to drive, I made some progress on one of my WIP's - my Pomatomus socks, actually. (I would have made a lot more progress, but I finally got my hands on a copy of Harry Potter Saturday afternoon and so did pretty much zero knitting between then and Monday night when I finished the book.)

I've also been making progress on the mystery stole - I'm part way through clue 3. I think my chances of catching up by clue 5 are pretty good.

And now, I'm off to do more paperwork. And hopefully a little knitting.

Just keep breathing...

2007-07-20T23:23:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been AWOL the past week or so. Things have been just a bit crazy, and show no signs of lightening up before, say, the middle of September. You may remember that I've been looking at condos; well, I found one I liked, made an offer and accepted the seller's counter offer. Closing is in a month. In the mean time, I have 14 more days of school left, and the movers are coming for all of my stuff in 20. Before then, I need to do some sorting and weeding of my belongings, not to mention pack enough clothes to get me through a month of business travel. I also have to take care of all the other things that go with moving - forward my mail, get all the utilities turned off, that sort of thing. If all goes well, my stuff and I will be moving into my new condo September 10th, or so. Until then, I'm just trying to remember that as long as I keep breathing, everything will sort itself out somehow. And I'll do my best to blog somewhat more frequently, but I make no guarantees.

I have been doing some knitting though! (Knitting is good for the sanity. What I'd really, really, really like right now is about three days in which I can knit, read, sleep, and eat at my leisure without any requirements to do anything else.)

I've got not quite a pair of Coupling Socks (my TdF project). I finished the first sock and am nearly through turning the heel on the second.

I've also been making some pretty good progress on the Mystery Stole:

The picture was taken earlier tonight, about 1/3 the way through Clue 2. I'm now about 20 rows further along. I'd like to catch up to the group by the time Clue 5 comes out (two weeks from now), but given the somewhat crazy state of my life right now, and the release of the final Harry Potter book, that might not happen. I'm just going to keep breathing (and knitting) and see what happens...

Change of plans

2007-07-12T19:49:00.000-04:00

The way today was supposed to work: go to class, do homework, come home, go running, eat dinner, clean room, balance the checkbook, maybe do a little knitting and TdF-watching.

The way today actually worked (so far): go to class, spend a very long time at school, come home, discover that my Misti Alpaca lace arrived, eat dinner, blog. I expect the rest of my evening to go something like this: wind yarn while watching Tour de France, pick up clothes and balance the checkbook to give my hands a chance to recover (I don't have a swift or ballwinder, so it'll be 400m of lace weight wound by hand), cast on and start knitting on MS3.

The Misti Alpaca is delightfully soft in the hank, and I've heard that it knits up beautifully. I ordered both clear and smoky silver beads, since I wasn't sure which would go better, but I think I'm going to go with the smoky silver (the beads on the right).

In other knitting news, the Coupling socks (my TdF knitting) are coming along nicely. I got the heel turned and a few inches of leg done.

I think I'm going to knit another inch or so of pattern before adding an inch to inch and a half of ribbing for the cuff. I really like the pattern. I enjoyed doing the short row toe and am pleased with the way it turned out. I really like the neatness, too, of the gusset heel, and am thrilled that it fit right on the first try. And have I mentioned that I like the way the pattern and the yarn work together to look like foamy waves?

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have some yarn to wind.

Not too bad...

2007-07-11T07:42:00.000-04:00

As I expected, Monday and Tuesday weren't too bad on the knitting front.

I finished the set of lilac and black wash cloths. This is easily the most time I've had between finishing a gift and the event for which it is intended. I have a whole 10 days to spare!

On the Tour de France knitting front, good progress has been made. I frogged the original toe that was too wide, and started again, but following the pattern this time. I've just started the increases for the gussets. The pattern is easy to follow, and I really like the way it looks with this yarn. Despite the crappiness of the picture (it was late last night when I took it), I hope that you can see how the sort of stripey/mottled tealness goes with the stitch pattern to look like the foamy soupy water just after a wave has broken. By the way, do you see the cycling connection now?

Unfortunately, I have to be out the door and on my way to class in about ten minutes, so I've got to keep this short. The latest Harry Potter movie was quite good (I got most of a blanket square done) and totally worth the likelihood that I'll false asleep in class... :)

Sunday Travel Section: London

2007-07-08T21:25:00.000-04:00

In honor of the Tour de France prologue being in London, that's where we travel this Sunday.

If you watched (or saw pictures of) the prologue, you will quickly realize that London is a much prettier city in July than January (which is when I was there). Still, it's quite a neat city. I think - but I'm not positive, so don't hold me to it - that the picture was taken from the top of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.

The Tour de France is one of my favorite sporting events. I really like to ride (when I lived in DC I commuted to work by bike and will again when I move back), I really like to watch cycling (especially on TV, since the English-speaking commentators are usually British), and, to be perfectly honest, I really, really like to watch the cyclists. For me, watching cycling is like watching swimming, except that in cycling I have some interest in the techniques and strategies.

Anyway, at the urging of my chief enabler, I joined the Tour de France Knit Along. I'm knitting for the green jersey. I was originally thinking I'd make cycling socks (winter riding makes for cold feet), but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that even if I did make cycling socks, I probably wouldn't wear them cycling, because I really like my athletic socks to be snug and elastic, and I haven't figured out yet how to knit socks like that. So, that left two questions - what pattern to knit and how to relate it to cycling.

The answer to the first was surprisingly easy. One of the first places I looked for interesting sock patterns was Knitty. As it turns out, the current summer issue has a pattern that 1) looked like a lot of fun, 2) would require me to learn some new techniques, and 3) would go well with the yarn I'd picked out. The answer to the second took me a bit longer to come up with, and hasn't quite been executed yet, so I'll leave you in suspense. I hope it isn't too much to bear.

In the meantime, here's my false start.

The pattern said that the sock should be 56 stitches in circumference. I have another pair of socks of the same yarn that are 70 stitches around and fit snugly, so I thought surely the author was joking. No, I'm pretty sure she wasn't. This, my first start, is 70 stitches around for the foot and seems pretty much too big, so I'll be starting over. Fortunately, tomorrow's classes are less than thrilling, so it should be a good knitting day.

Happy Independence Day!

2007-07-04T17:05:00.000-04:00

I celebrated last night by taking the knitting (a mitered square) out to a baseball game, which was followed by a concert and fireworks. The game was good, the concert was good, and the fireworks were good.

Today, since it was a federal holiday, there was no school, so we grilled kabobs and watched the crazy fireworks that our neighbors were (and still are) setting off.

And tomorrow it's back to work, but at least it was a good day off.

Sunday Travel Section: North to Alaska

2007-07-01T19:04:00.000-04:00

Portage Pass, between Whittier and Portage, AK.

This is where I wish I was right now. Truthfully, I'd settle for just about anywhere not here, but a sunny day in Alaska summer would be fantastic. Since I can't simply drop everything and put myself on a flight to Anchorage to see if there is, in fact, any sun or summer this year, I'm going to do the next best thing: knit wash cloths - with purple yarn! See?

2 of 4 wash cloths to be, as a set, a wedding gift for friends who are doing their kitchen in black, and her favorite color is lilac.

Oof...

2007-06-25T21:08:00.000-04:00

So, no travel section this week, sorry. I think the travel section of my paper must have gotten swapped for the real estate section this week...

I spent the weekend in DC. This is how I packed:

This is how much knitting I actually did (I decided to frog and reknit the heel - and see how it fits this time?):

My reason for going to DC was to look at condos. After two whole days (total of about 12 hours) of looking at condos (I'd show pictures, but really, one unfurnished condo looks pretty much like any other unfurnished condo when you aren't there, and they're mostly a blur in my mind anyway), I'm pretty much wiped out. On the plus side, I found a couple of serious possibilities and may be making an offer soon.

When I got back, I found all of this waiting for me (in boxes) on the front porch:

It's lots of Peaches and Creme cotton (for washcloths), and some Mission Falls 1824 Wool (destined for the miter blanket). There's only one problem. See the pink yarn on the left? That was supposed to be purple. It was supposed to be going into washcloths to be gifts for someone whose favorite color is lilac and whose kitchen appliances are black (think washrags a la Mason Dixon in purple and black). That yarn, despite being named lilac, is definitely pink. Oh well, I've ordered some Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, that I know is lilac.

And tonight, I had more things that I should have been doing than I really want to admit, but a weekend of very little relaxation and not much more sleep plus a long day at school meant that I did this, instead:

It made me feel a little better, so it's ok, right?

In my defense...

2007-06-20T21:33:00.000-04:00

Recently, there have been some questions as to whether I've actually done any knitting. There may even have been some suggestion that the Sunday Travel Section is no more than a ploy on my part to distract you from the lack of knitting by showing you pretty pictures of far away places. While I know it doesn't seem like there's been much knitting (funny how things go so slowly when you're actively (more or less) working on 6 different things), I really have been knitting.

Exhibit A: My blog post from last Friday/Saturday. I still haven't decided what to do about the lack of fitting...

Exhibit B: One finished Bayerische sock

I haven't started the second one yet, and I think there'll be a touch of SSS here. While I really like the pattern, I should have used a lighter yarn - the Patons Kroy 4 ply is too thick for the needles I'm using and this pattern. Plus, the sock is slightly bigger than I really like...

Exhibit C: Picovoli

This isn't actually the current state of Picovoli. I've made further progress (I'm about three rounds from starting the waist increases) this week, but I haven't been able to get any good pictures.

Exhibit D: The second Pomatomus sock

Progress has been slow here, but there has been progress. I'm now about half a pattern repeat (11 rounds) from starting the heel. (The tomato plant is my roommate's. I thought some of you might enjoy the picture for more than just the sock.)

So you see? I have been knitting.

P.S. I'm traveling this weekend, so the Sunday Travel Section might not get posted until Monday.

Sunday Travel Section: Edinburgh

2007-06-17T20:07:00.000-04:00

This Sunday we go to Edinburgh, Scotland. I went there a few years ago with a group of friends, and we had a fantastic time, despite it being the middle of January and quite cold. We hiked up Arthur's Seat, which afforded a spectacular view of Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament (as well as the rest of the city).

Walking around the city, we encountered this quartet:

I don't think I noticed at the time, but now I'm rather intrigued by their socks. Especially the bobbles on the cuffs...

On Socks

2007-06-15T17:19:00.000-04:00

Last time, I wrote that maybe I'm starting to understand how Wendy can knit socks so quickly. Wendy knits lots of plain socks, and this is my first pair of really plain socks. This is also my first pair of toe-up socks, which has nothing to do with their going relatively quickly.

I started the toe-up socks for two reasons: the summer IK has a guide to toe-up socks, and I thought I should learn some new techniques to expand my knitting repertoire. I started the toe with an eastern (aka Turkish) cast on of sixteen stitches (much pointier than I make toes on top-down socks, but much wider than the recommended 8). I found the cast on to be fiddly and frustrating, and the toe maddening to knit until I got to the point where I started the ribbing. The foot went fine, and a couple nights ago, I turned the heel.

I did a short row heel, something else it turns out I'm not really a fan of. I thought it was much more awkward to work than a flap heel, and a bit harder to size than a flap heel. Compared to the balls of my feet, my heels are relatively narrow, so I worked the heel down to fewer stitches than recommended. I think I could have gone down two more stitches and gotten a better fit, but what I got was pretty good. Of course, working down to fewer stitches meant the heel would be longer than the guidelines, and I thought I'd compensated by going with a shorter than recommended foot, but I guess I didn't compensate enough.

Do you see the problem?

Trying the sock on after I turned the heel gave me a false sense of security, since apparently, I should have started the heel about four rows earlier. So now I can either frog back to before the heel (I don't really feel like knitting the heel again, though - if I didn't like it the first time, I'm not sure why I would the second) or shorten the toe by picking out the cast on, frogging a few rows and then grafting it shut (the problem is that I like the way the unribbed area of the toe looks now). What do you think?

In the meantime, I took this sock out to frolic in the garden.

Guilt free

2007-06-12T21:31:00.000-04:00

I did cast on something else, and so far, it's coming along swimmingly. See? No guilt here.

I've also been making pretty good progress on the purple club socks. They're quite basic, and despite my winging it without a pattern, they're going really quickly. I'm beginning to see how Wendy can knit socks so quickly.

I think Lorraine is right - I do need more needles (and not just sock needles). I haven't been a Knitter for very long, and I've had an income for even less time, so my collection of needles and notions is quite small. As I discover I need something for a project, I buy it, and so slowly add to the collection.

Thank you for the nice comments about the vegetation in the pictures. The greenery that my knitting likes to frolic about in is my roommates' garden and potted plant collection. As someone who grew up in the Southwest, which is beautiful but not known for being green, I have an intense fascination with green vegetation, especially if it grows without being watered by a person.

Sunday Travel Section: Shenandoah

2007-06-10T15:07:00.000-04:00

Last summer, I drove my car from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Boston, Massachusetts. (The route is not quite the one we followed, but it's close). I was driving with a friend, and we saw lots of fun and interesting things. One of the prettiest places we saw, though, was Shenandoah National Park. Skyline Drive was full of scenic overlooks, and even the road itself was pretty:

And in knitting, the latest sock had a pretty good time at a barbecue last night and is enjoying the sun and flowers today.

Accidental casting on...

2007-06-09T14:34:00.000-04:00

One night this week (I don't remember which; it's been one of those weeks), I was doing the grocery shopping. Going from the bread aisle to the checkout, I passed by the magazines, and saw the Summer Interweave Knits. Even if the cover pattern were the only one in the magazine I'd knit, it would have been worth getting, but there are no fewer than seven patterns that I'd like to knit.

The only problem is that I've been feeling a little bad about having so many works in progress, some of which I haven't even looked at, much less knit on, since last summer. Fortunately, the sweater I really want to knit is wool, and that doesn't mix so well with temperatures in the high 80s accompanied by humidity. So that one will probably wait until this fall. Still, there might have been a bit an accident...

But it's only a sock, right? And since I made some really good progress on the pomatomus socks, it's ok that I have three socks on the needles right now, right? Even if it means I'm using every size 1 dpn I own...

Pomatomus progress: first sock finished, and halfway done with the leg of the second.

I think I'm going to go knit. If I finish something, maybe I can start this without feeling too bad...

Sunday Travel, plus Knitting

2007-06-03T11:28:00.000-04:00

When I last wrote, I promised some proof that I've been knitting, so I'll start with that and get to the travel at the end.

My class-time knitting, Pomatomus, has been coming along nicely:

My collection of mitered squares for the blanket is still small, but it is twice as big as it was:

I even did some knitting on the Print o' the Wave stole:

For this week's travel, we're staying in Pittsburgh. As a city, Pittsburgh offers a quite pretty skyline and a very nice ball park. I'm especially fond of the ball park, since I went to the Padres/Pirates game there Wednesday night, had a great seat and a great time watching the Padres win. So, there are two reasons for going to PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

For baseball fans, this is the sort of view you can get for less than standing room only in some parks.

For the non-baseball inclined, this is the view of the city from the cheap seats (which also have a good view of the field, convenient for groups whose interest in the game is mixed).

And now I'm off to face another week of classes and homework. If I'm lucky and get to do any interesting knitting, I'll post mid-week. Otherwise, I'll see you next time for the Sunday Travel Section.

Sunday Travel Section: Memorial Day

2007-05-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know it's Tuesday. But I was in DC for the weekend, and this week still has two tests and more assignments than I care to think about, so I'll have to ask you all to pardon my tardiness (and general lack of knitting content). Even though I wasn't there to play tourist, I did check out the Air Force Memorial:

(Knitting content to resume this weekend, I promise.)

Sunday Travel Section: Boston

2007-05-20T12:50:00.000-04:00

The past week was a bit busy - we had a major project due on Friday, so I was spending very nearly all of my waking hours at school working on it. Fortunately, this hasn't seriously affected my knitting time (since I knit during class), just my blogging time.

I finished the Horcrux socks, and I really like the way they turned out.

Pattern: Horcrux socks in fingering weight
Modifications: I changed the heel, foot and toe.
Yarn: Trekking XXL

Remember the Schaefer I bought a while back? I dug it out of the stash and started Pomatomus socks. My yarn doesn't look so much like the actual fish, but it does make me think of a small, bright, tropical fish.

I'm really glad I started the Sunday travel section; it helps me post at least once a week and avoid the disappearances like happened last month. This Sunday, for no particular reason (besides that I was going through my pictures and found one I liked), we travel to Boston. I went to school there (technically Cambridge, but close enough), so I'm rather fond of the place, if not so much the weather. The picture was taken from Boston Harbor.

Sunday Travel Section: Feeling Outdoorsy

2007-05-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been overcome by the fumes in a yarn shop and walked out with enough wool for two sweaters, some silk for no particular reason, and some really gorgeous laceweight that may or may not become a shawl? Well, it turns out, that at least for some people, camping/biking/sporting goods stores have a similar effect. I don't know if the merchandise gives off endorphins, or what, but there's got to be something. I went shopping today at REI (my absolutely most favorite store - if I could max out my credit card anywhere, it would be there, and they have the funniest commercials, too) and spent um... rather a bit more than I'd intended to before going in. So I left feeling quite proud of myself (it was all on sale after all, and there's a dividend too, for members, and I am one) and ready for some outdoor adventure. Unfortunately, my next destination was not the great outdoors, or even a local bike trail, but school need not get in the way of the Sunday Travel Section!

So, please join me somewhere between Independence Mine and the top of Independence Pass, Alaska.

Knitting with sunset

2007-05-11T19:22:00.000-04:00

The horcrux socks are coming along nicely.

And the knitting fates seem to be on my side (which means they'll probably smite me later in some other project. I didn't do any math before I started to make sure that there would in fact be enough yarn for two socks - I just dove in. The first sock took about 34 g of a 100g ball, so I'm in excellent shape there. I also made no attempt to start the two socks at similar places in the yarn. I just knit the first sock until it was done, cut the yarn and cast on for the second sock from where I'd left off. I don't think I could have matched the striping more closely if I'd tried.

I still love this yarn. It's quite soft and springy, and it's a very round yarn. It stands up to frogging fantastically (there was a bit on the first sock that got frogged three times). I still love watching the colors go by as I knit, and I realized something. Have you ever watched a sunset? I don't just mean the fifteen minutes or so after the sun's touched the horizon, but the full show from when the sun is still completely above the horizon to quite a while after it's set. In a really good sunset, the sky starts off day blue, and then turns orange and pink (this effect is particularly spectacular when you get pink clouds against a purple sky). As the sun goes down, the pinks deepen to purples, and the whole sky changes shades of blue. Sometimes, in a really, really good sunset, the sun turns green just as the last little bit disappears. And then, if you sit and watch until the stars start to come out, the sky turns a magnificent shade of blue, that slowly gets deeper until it becomes the black of the night sky. That's what this yarn reminds me of, with its pinks, purples, teal, and blue - a really phenomenal sunset.

Finished Object: El Zano Jaywalkers

2007-05-07T22:01:00.000-04:00

I'd mentioned that I finished the El Zano Jaywalkers. Here they are in all their purple-orange stripeyness.

Cheryl asked how I got the yarn to be self-striping. As she guessed, there was some math involved, but it was easy math. Eunny has an excellent guide to dying self-striping yarn here. But here's my technique, in a nutshell: First, figure out what you want your striping pattern to be (i.e., 2 orange, 2 purple, 4 orange, 6 purple). Then you figure out how much yarn it takes to knit a round; this involves actually knitting. You make a giant hank whose circumference is the total number of rows in your striping pattern times the length of yarn it takes to knit a round. Divide the hank up appropriately - for me this involved making it look like a lopsided, four-tentacled octopus (I pulled all of the transitions to the center so each tentacle would be one color, corresponding to a stripe) - and dye away.

Lorraine asked if the socks smell like the Koolaid used to dye them. They don't so much smell like the flavors as they do like a non-descript Koolaid smell. What I mean is that they don't smell like orange or grape, but they do smell like Koolaid. Fortunately, the smell is not strong (smelling it practically requires sticking my nose against the sock), and I suspect it will fade with washing.

In other knitting, the Horcrux sock is coming along swimmingly.

(It doesn't look nearly as retarded on the foot as it does laying flat.) This is easily the fastest any of my knitting has gone for quite a while. Can you tell I like it?

Sunday Travel, the late edition

2007-05-06T21:01:00.000-04:00

Sorry this post is coming late. I spent most of the weekend goofing off, which forced a spurt of productivity this evening. I did finish the El Zano Jaywalkers last week; I'll have a finished object post on them in the next day or two. And I started a new pair of socks:

The pattern is the fingering weight version of Horcrux Socks, and the yarn is the Trekking XXL I got a while back. I have some minor issues with the pattern - I changed the way one of the rows in the lace part was worked, I've changed the heel, and I'll be making some minor modifications to the foot, too. The yarn, on the other hand, I'm completely charmed by. I love watching the colors go by as I knit, and I rather like the way the colors are knitting up.

As it happens, the colors of the Trekking bring us to this week's destination: Waikiki

Happy Birthday Sarah

2007-05-02T22:20:00.000-04:00

So, my sister's birthday is today, and I'm not done with her present. I'd originally hoped to have it done and in the mail so that she would get it today, but that clearly is no longer a possibility. Still, I want her to have something on her birthday. So I give her (and you) a photo essay:

Sunday Travel Section

2007-04-29T20:54:00.000-04:00

I really wanted to be able to blog about Print O' the Wave was coming along beautifully, or how I'd started new socks, or how I'd pulled the knitted corset out of my WIP collection and made some nice progress there, but the demands of school and life would have it otherwise - I spent nearly all weekend doing homework. I think the sum total of my knitting for the weekend was two rows on the stole. (By the way, Lorraine, the Kidsilk Haze is shade #633; I think it's called Violetta.)

Now, under normal, non-school-dominated conditions, I really like Sundays. Since Saturdays are for chores, Sundays are for reflection, relaxing, and appreciating the world I live in. I'd like to share that aspect of Sundays with all of you - photographically. So Sundays will be for mini-vacations.

This Sunday, we travel to the Benedictine Abbey in Admont, Austria.

Are you there?

2007-04-26T20:59:00.000-04:00

I know I sort of fell off the planet, blog-wise, the past couple weeks. I'm sorry. School's been picking up, so I've been a bit busier, and the weather last weekend was completely lovely, so I spent all weekend outside, instead of blogging.

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh, yes, I was working on the black ribbed scarf.

I got it finished and wove in all the ends. It's a wonderfully soft scarf in colors I love, but I won't be keeping it. I started it before I knew I had any preferences in scarf thickness and width, and it's rather wider than I'd like to wear. So I'll most likely be donating it this winter.

Nearly two weeks ago, when I went down to D.C., I did make it to a yarn shop. I bought some Addi Natura needles (for lace knitting) and two balls of Mission Falls 1824 wool in a purple that, ironically, is very nearly the same shade as my luggage. On the drive back up from D.C. I started squares for a mitered blanket.

The garter stitch is fantastically mindless, and the squares are delightfully soft and scrunchy. Each square takes maybe three-quarters of a ball, and I've got four of five balls on hand, so I should be okay for a little while. I've got color cards coming in the mail so that I can make some real color choices (instead of buying the only two balls that weren't cream or gray).

In the meantime (and in a minor fit of startitis), I've also cast on this:

It's the Print O' the Wave stole in Kidsilk Haze. So far, I'm enjoying the challenge of knitting lace in actual lace weight. It was also good fun to learn the provisional cast on (a new technique for me).

I'm still planning to start some more socks in the near future. I've still been plugging away (slowly) at the Bayerische Socken, but I want to work on something brighter - springier even. Perhaps next time there'll be new socks on the needles to introduce to the blog...

Blah...

2007-04-11T23:06:00.000-04:00

That's pretty much how I feel about just about everything right now. The weather? Rainy and cold = blah. Pittsburgh? Hilly and no sidewalks, plus blah weather = more blah. School? Blah, but at least class is some good knitting time.

My knitting? Pretty much blah. I've been knitting a round or two a night on the Bayerische sock, and while I really do like it very much, I really want to work on something faster, less complex, and easier on the hands (the combination of pointy needles and tight stitches leaves my fingers aching after a few rounds). The scarf to match the mittenettes is no longer my class time knitting - there was too much cabling and turning to really be knittable in any class with note taking, and it was getting to be awkwardly long for knitting in class - it kept falling out of my lap. I'll finish it eventually, probably in the next month (or three, let's be realistic). My opinion of my current class knitting? Blah. It's blah for a number of reasons - color, the fact that I had to frog it once, the fact that my test bit for gauge lied to me (what did I expect?), and it turns out that I screw up a lot more when I'm knitting little yarn without looking at it than when I'm knitting big yarn without looking at it.

Ironically, the only piece of knitting I don't feel blah about is definitely my blahest:

The black ribbed scarf is coming along quite nicely, especially considering that I've only been working on it while reading for class. I really like how quickly it's going (gotta love the size 9 needles), and I really, really love the yarn. I'm using Mission Falls 1824 Wool, which is soft, smooth, and delightfully sproingy. Sometimes, instead of knitting on the scarf, I just sit and squeeze it and appreciate the lovely bounce in the yarn.

The blahness, though, has spread even to my consideration of what to cast on next. I got some Kidsilk Haze for Easter, that's destined to become a Print o' the Wave shawl. I've got some Kidsilk Night and some general shawl plans for it. I've got some really nice Artyarns Ultramerino to become a sweater, and some fun looking sock yarns that want to become fun looking socks. The problem though is that I don't feel like knitting anything complicated or doing and design work right now, and all of the above involve one or both. The solution? Garter stitch. Specifically, a blanket of garter stitch miters out of 1824 wool. I did some online shopping, and in a fit of reason, decided not to order several hundred dollars of yarn without knowing what the colors actually looked like, and only ordered color cards (I ordered the one for 1824 Cotton while I was at it). I've been planning to go by a yarn store this weekend in search of needles (for knitting the Kidsilk), though, so I'll probably see if I can pick up some 1824 wool while I'm at it...

Resistance is futile...

2007-04-10T18:42:00.000-04:00

We are the Knitting Borg. You will learn to knit. Resistance is futile.

Triumph

2007-04-08T11:45:00.000-04:00

The grey sweater is finished, and best of all, it fits!

(Sorry about the lousy picture: self-photography is hard)

It doesn't fit perfectly - it could use a little bit more ease across the back, a touch less ease across the front, and the arms could stand to have a slightly bigger circumference. But despite that, it fits well enough. I wore it all day Thursday (it did snow), and I'm pleased with both its warmth and comfort.

The yoke pattern is No. 10 from Lett-Lopi No. 16, and it looks almost as good from the reverse as it does from the right side.

I didn't follow the pattern at all for shaping the body and sleeves. I winged it with the help of Elizabeth Zimmermann's seamless sweater guidelines. The challenging aspect of this was completely unexpected. Before I started, I swatched on both size 6 and size 7 needles so I could pick which fabric I liked better. I preferred the fabric knit on size 7 needles (it was a little lighter, and less stiff), so I went to the store and bought size 7 circulars in varying lengths. Or at least I thought I did. As I was finishing the body, I started trying it on the check the length and noticed that it seemed tighter than it ought. Perplexed, I checked the gauge of the sweater and discovered that it was the same as the swatch I'd done on size 6 needles. This seemed odd to me, so I got out my needle size checker and discovered that I'd been knitting on size 6 needles! There was no possibility of mix-up on my end (I simply don't own enough needles), since these had gone straight from the store's package labeled size 7 to my knitting. At that point, I wasn't willing to frog the body, so I adjusted the number of stitches to account for it all being on size 6s and went with it. The lesson? Always double check your needles, even when they're fresh from the store.

There's so much I like about this sweater - I love the dark blue with the grey. I really like the pattern of the yoke. I like the way it fits. I like the blue on the cuffs and hem. The technical detail I'm proudest of, though? The underarm grafts:

When I introduced the sweater to the blog, I mentioned that it was my Knitting Olympics project. Despite my late finish, I think I could have done the sweater in two weeks had I not severely underestimated the amount of time school was going to take. Still, I think I'm at least as happy with it now as I would be had I finished it during the Olympics.

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T11:31:00.000-04:00

May you all have a wonderful, blessed Easter! Even if you aren't Christian, take a moment to appreciate the wonder of the new life coming into the world (if you can see it under the snow). And everyone can appreciate the gift-giving rabbit...

Hiding yarn is way better than hiding eggs!

Wet wool...

2007-04-03T23:28:00.000-04:00

... smells remarkably like wet dog. Except cleaner.

My Lopi sweater is blocking. My process? I gave it a bath in cold water with Woolite (it's what I've got), and rinsed it well - I was really surprised at how dirty the wash water was. Maybe it's related to the rather high vegetative content of Lopi... After rinsing it, I folded the sweater up in a towel and walked on it until the towel was as wet as the sweater. Then I carefully laid the sweater out on a different towel and left it to dry. Despite the lack of steam and pins, the blocking has been remarkably successful in removing the imperfections.

I'll post a finished object series of pictures later this week. It's supposed to get cold and maybe snow Thursday and Friday, so I think I'll actually get to wear the sweater. :-)

Now that I'm done with the sweater, I'm trying to decide what to knit next. I really like the Cable-Down Raglan from the spring IK. I also kind of like the Green Tea Raglan - except that I'd knit it in purple. Or maybe I should knit socks... I was thinking of using the Trekking XXL I got to make a variation of these. I've got some Baby Ull I could turn into Jaywalkers... Or maybe lace is really what I want to do next. I've got some black Kidsilk Night and some ideas for a pattern...

Of course, as I'm pondering these possibilities, there are other voices crying for my attention. My collection of WIPs can be pretty vocal when it wants to be. A few weeks ago when I was weighing my stash, I came across my longest neglected WIP - a scarf that I must have started about four years ago. It didn't even have needles stuck in it any more, but its yarn is Mission Falls 1824, a delightfully soft, squishy wool.

I'm still planning to cast on something new this weekend - any recommendations? But in the meantime, I stuck needles back into the neglected scarf and have been working on it as reading knitting (something I can knit while reading). I've also been making pretty good progress on my class knitting - the cabled scarf that matches the mittenettes.

Don't tell the scarf (since I really do like it), but I'm starting to get a little bored with it. It'll be lovely when it's done, but right now I want some excitement in my knitting...