Knitting

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Sometimes I think I'm a better blog friend than blogger... and sometimes I think I'm okay with that. But, don't worry, I'm not going to vanish off the face of the blogging world. I still like to show what I'm knitting and maybe this summer I'll have more time to go on about knitting here. For now though...

Here are the socks I've been working on with my "leftover" Kona Superwash. I say "leftover" because there is no question that I'm going to have enough yarn to finish these and STILL have yarn leftover.




Pretty simple pattern, if you can call it a pattern. Fifty some odd stitches (51 maybe?) with three four stitch cables. I centered one cable on the top of my foot so the other two are sort of on the edge of the heel flap. I think it looks neat.

I started these toe-up originally but they were too tight and I couldn't get a nice heel flap sort of thing going so I frogged and I'm much happier with them now. I think I've been converted to a top-down sock girl. Whoa. I've also already worn the finished one once inadvertantly because I grabbed it and one of my other socks in this yarn. I didn't realize it until a couple of days later when I was looking for the finished one to check something for the one in progress.

I also started and didn't finish a baby sweater in cotton last week. I ended up just purchasing an outfit for the babe. Why do I think cotton is going to change for me and NOT kill my wrists? Because it's on sale? That somehow sale cotton magically loses it's tendonitis charms?

Well, that's all I have for now, I better rush off to class.

Leftovers

Monday, March 12, 2007

I don't know about you but I like leftovers. I could eat food leftovers all week and not get too bored. Yarn leftovers are even better. I finished the socks - no, I don't have pictures yet - and I have 4.3 ounces of yarn leftover. Kona Superwash starts off with 8 ounces and if you figure in a little extra weight from the Kool-aid dye (I don't know if it actually weighs anything or not so I'm trying to err on the side of caution here) I still have half leftover. Holy crap!

So tell me, yarnover's help in using less wool, yes? So maybe I should be looking at another yarn-overy pattern for the last half? (I said ovary...)

Also, Jenna commented on my last post about the superwash. She said they've washed great and haven't really pilled at all. I'm looking forward to that. My Wildfoote Baudelaire's are just fuzzy and icky-looking.

That's all. Just wanted to drop by. Also, I'm excited for Eunny to be the new editor of IK. How neat!

Progress

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The Japanese Feather Socks have become my favorite socks and I haven't even finished them yet. Just look at them! (click to make it bigger if you want to see the details)



They're so fast to knit, the pattern is easy but beautiful, and the yarn, my God I love this yarn! I asked Jenna, since she was so kind as to give it to me for Kool-aid dying fun, and she said it's Kona Superwash (you have to scroll just a little). Only $12.50 for 560 yards! I can tell you now, I'll definitely be ordering some of this. I think sportweight is definitely more on line with what I want from my hand-knit wool socks. I have poor circulation so I tend to have cold extremities. Exercise definitely helps but I haven't always made time for it. Nice, thick wool socks help keep me a little cozier.

To give a little bit of an idea how much 560 yards is...


the second sock pictured here is almost done. One more 28 row repeat, which goes so fast, and the toe and look at all the yarn I have left! I'll probably be able to knit another pair out of the leftovers. Maybe a shorter pair but still, four socks from one hank. Wow.



Another project this week (or rather, last weekend) was to wind the green DK sweater into balls. Me and my wine-nostepinne didn't even try this one, Jenna came over and we used her ball winder. Now the yarn just sits by my laptop and awaits a new project.

I also ordered a tiny bit of yarn this week. I got a couple of contrasting colors of Essential from Knitpicks so I can try my hand at some simple Fair Isle on the cuffs of my soon-to-be-started black socks. I also ordered two new pairs of US 2 DPN's since mine are pretty warped. I think the warping started when I used them to knit my gloves in worsted and then once they're a little bit bent they just bend more so easily that it was sort of a downward spiral. It'll be nice to start fresh. Oh, and the needles were on sale at Knitpicks for $5.44 so if you're needing some bamboo DPN's now's the time to get over there and order!

That's it, I'm going to go clean the house and finish up my socks. Hope you're all having a great weekend! I know I am, what with next week being Spring Break and all. :)

Cakes of Yarn

Friday, March 02, 2007

So I've started the Japanese Feather Socks twice now. The first time I got gauge with US 2's and used the ridiculous recommended amount of stitches (48) because I had complete and total (almost) faith in the pattern. Of course, they were too small. But not by much, so I ripped and started again adding one purl stitch in between each repeat. They're still snug but they might work this time. I hope so because I'd hate to rip again.


I had a really hard time getting a decent picture because the yarn is so well, bright, I guess, though it doesn't seem that bright to me. Also, please excuse the bright whiteness of my leg and it's well, ungroomed status. Focus on the pretty, pretty sock that is oh, so much prettier in person! I love it!

That's all on the knitting front. I've realized that this sock can't be my backpack sock for two reasons, 1) the yarn cake is too gigantic to lug around and doesn't fit in my Dr. Suess bag that I normally carry my sock-in-progress in, and 2) while the pattern is easy and repeatable, it IS a 28 row repeat and you kind of need to keep pretty good track of where you are. There is too much of a chance of me completely screwing it up if I work on it anywhere but at home in a nice, calm atmosphere. Due to this, I'll probably buy myself another pair of double-points and start some other socks. Probably toe-up, 2x2 ribbing on the leg, 60 stitches, in black Knitpicks from my stash. So: boring. But I'll post pics when they're done.

I've noticed a definite increase in spam comments lately. Kind of a bummer. I don't want to have to require a log in for comments but I might if I start getting more than one or two spam ones a day. Just a heads-up.

It's "blizzarding" here today and Kurt had the day off. I used this, and my not-yet-plowed alley this morning, as an excuse not to go to work like I usually do for a couple hours on Friday mornings. Instead, I slept in and then took the bus to class instead of dealing with slippery roads and unplowed alleys. I'm glad I did. But I'm also very glad to be home... it's been a loooooong day and I'm ready to sit around and knit.

Snow Day

Sunday, February 25, 2007

It snowed so much last night. Holy crap! At least 5-6 inches though I haven't been outside to check it out firsthand. Today I'm staying in and working on homework... right after I finish procrastinating and posting here.

I finished Kurt's socks last night!


Specs:
Yarn: Some superwash wool stuff that Jenna gave Kurt to dye when we did our Kool-aid dying. Thanks Jenna!
Needles: Takumi Clover's size US 2.
Pattern: Top-down, french heel, 2x2 ribbing on leg and top of foot.
Gauge: Eh, I don't know. I had a hard time getting the right size on these even though I did two gauge swatches! I ended up with 60 stitches but probably could have gone with 56. They fit nicely because of the rib and it'll allow Kurt to grow into them a little bit.
Notes: Can you see the size of the foot on them!? Kurt's feet are just about the size of mine and very similar: long and narrow. Can't wait to knit him socks when he gets to about a size 10 like his dad was! (Not.)

Oh and here's a picture of one on his foot. He insisted I take it so I'll post it too.




Next project up is the Japanese Feather Socks for me with my Kool-aid dyed yarn. I wrapped it up into a giganto yarn cake last night during Star Wars III. Kurt timed me and said it took an hour and 15 minutes. I thought it was more like 20 minutes! There's just something about winding yarn that's so relaxing, I guess. I know I'm in the minority with my manual-winding but there's just something so satisfying about winding it all up and then pulling that yarn from the middle at first. You know, the whole accomplishment of making something that works. Anyway, here it is with my 7" double-points on top for scale.

Pretty shiny and new in here...

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

So I updated to the new blogger today. So far, so good but my font looks really funky in here so we'll see what it looks like on the page.

Today is going to be my short "love of wool" post. You know, every knit blogger has at least one post where they marvel at the awesome qualities of wool: this is mine.

Kurt and I recently went "camping" with Cub Scouts (don't worry we had nice cozy cabins) and we spent an entire afternoon outdoors the first day we got there. We're talking 3+ hours here when the actual temp. was probably right around 0 degrees and the wind chill at the top of the sledding hill late in the afternoon was definitely below the donut. I had bought us both new snowpants and we both had nice thick wool socks and boots but it's those not-completely-covered areas you worry about: the cheeks, the hands because they're getting snow all over them which melts with your hand warmth and ugh, I was expecting to be freezing my ass off. Not so. My wool socks and boots kept my feet toasty and my down coat kept my body cozy and, surprising the hell out of even wool-lover me, my hands were warm even when the gloves were soaking wet. Wool is so awesome! A couple times I had to unflip my mitten flap to buckle a ski-boot or something for one of the boys and the flap would freeze solid in a couple of minutes but once I popped it back up and my hand warmed the wool it would feel completely cozy again. Whoa. To be a sheep. They must never get cold!

So that's my wool-loving story. It's my attempt to get back into this knit-blogging thing. I have been knitting, of course, just haven't had (made) the time to blog about it.

• I finished the first of Kurt's socks that I'm knitting with his own hand-dyed with Kool-aid yarn and am up to the heel on the second.
  
• I knit almost that whole green sweater in DK weight yarn but I'm going to rip it out. The more I knit it, the more perturbed I am that it IS DK and that I couldn't get gauge for the Gatsby Girl with it. I'll figure something else out. (But the design I made up for the sweater as I went along will probably come back in a worsted incarnation.)
• This weekend I swatched for (aren't you proud, Jenna?) and started Twinkletoes from Knitty. Only in a different gauge, yarn, and color. Hah. Just watch me not follow patterns lately.

Hopefully I'll have (make) some time to post pictures of these projects this weekend. Who knows though, my second round of tests is coming up for this semester. Oy.

School Daze

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Well, classes have begun again and I'm sure you can tell by the lack of posts. Maybe not actually, I didn't post so much during the break either!

In any case, I'm still knitting but I've been sick all weekend and it's been detrimental to any knitting progress. Normally when I have a cold and want to lay around all day I love to sit and knit but every single time I tried this weekend I ended up ripping out what I'd done. Either I'd change my mind about something or I'd make a mistake or count wrong. It was terrible! So I put the green sweater away and read Memoirs of a Geisha from start to finish. It was pretty good.

Something else about the green sweater though. Remember how I said I was surprised at how soft the Wool of the Andes was now? What you'll notice if you follow the link is that I ordered Merino Style, not Wool of the Andes. Doh. While it makes me feel dumb on one hand, it makes me feel smart on the other: at least I ordered the right yarn for the Gatsby Girl Pullover I had intended on making. And now it makes sense that my green sweater is smaller than I thought it would be because I'm knitting with DK weight and not the WoTA that I knit the first striped one in. It's all coming together. I do think the sweater is going to fit fine after blocking though. The only problem is that I still don't understand why I couldn't get gauge for the Gatsy Girl (which is why I decided on a different sweater). I tried three different needle sizes and got no where near gauge. Strange, strange.

So that's life around here. I started a pair of socks for Kurt to keep in my backpack but so far I've only gotten about two inches down the cuff. I'm sure that will change when (if) I start taking the bus to school. As it is, I drive and so I get there just in time for class with no knitting time left.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures soon. Life is full this week as I'm still sick (stupid cold), have lots of homework, and am trying to clean and finish lots of little projects in my house for my upcoming (on Saturday) housewarming party.

Have a great week!

A week late and a dollar short

Monday, January 08, 2007

Or, my obligatory end of year knitting post...

Here is the list of things I wanted to knit last year:

Cabled Scarf, fingerless gloves, and hat set for me (in progress)
Fingerless gloves for Kurt
Socks for me (many, many socks for me. teehee)
Socks for Kurt
Mon Petit Chou
Lacy Socks for me
Tubey
Solid colored raglan top-down sweater

And here is what I actually knit:

Dishcloths
Striped knee-highs
Neck warmer (stretched out, unwearable neck warmer)
Essential Stripe Sweater (Olympics knitting)
Elegant Cabled Scarf
Fingerless Mittens (Kurt's)
Cable and Rib Socks
Orange Ribbed Socks
Baudelaire Socks (mine)
Mon Petit Chou (started it)
Orange Hedera Socks (Sister's)
Baudelaire Socks (Mom's)
Elegant Cabled Fingerless Mittens
Classy Slip-Up Socks (Sister's. Finished right after the New Year.)
Homegrown Ribbed Socks (Grandma's. Not finished.)

Not too shabby. I still need a cabled hat for my winter set but I really didn't do too bad. Here is what I'm planning for 2007:

Finish Grandma's socks
Solid top-down raglan (started this weekend)
Felted mary jane slippers
Cabled ear-flap hat
Gatsby Girl pullover from Interweave Knits Fall 2006
Finish Mon Petit Chou
Socks for me
Socks for Kurt
Socks for Emily (another sister)
Socks for Grandma for Christmas 2007
Finish cotton lace top that I'll never wear

Wow, I hadn't intended for the list to be that long but I guess I have more projects listed in my head than I thought.

So there ya go. My year in knitting and year ahead. I'll post pictures of the top down raglan beginnings later this week. I'm using the Essential Stripe pattern from Knit and Tonic that I used for my Olympic sweater last year but with Wool of the Andes in Moss. Gotta run or I'll be late for work!

Overdying!

Friday, December 22, 2006

This week has been full of Christmas parties, Christmas preparations, and Christmas knitting. So how is it that it still doesn't feel that much like Christmas? Maybe because Kurt decided we don't need a tree since he prefers to put all of the presents under our palm tree. Maybe because we never took the time to put up decorations. Maybe because I'm just too busy with many other projects! Either way: meh. It'll be Christmas soon and then it will be all over again for a another year (thank God). As I think I've mentioned before, I prefer Thanksgiving.

Happy Solstice though! I forgot to light a candle last night but I did fall asleep thinking happy thoughts about the coming of the light and longer days.

Today's Friday post is not about all of those things though, it's about my Kool-aid dying! Previously my hand-Kool-aid-dyed yarn looked something like this:



(That would be the one on the right.)

A couple of weekends ago, while Kurt was eating pizza and playing video games at a friend's house mere hours before coming down with the nasty norovirus stomach flu, and in the midst of studying for finals, I did this:



this:



and this:



In order to end up with this:



Which I am very pleased with and excited to knit with once I finish my grandma's Christmas socks and my sister's Bearfoot socks. At the rate I'm going, I should have one completed by Christmas Eve, which is when we celebrate at her house, and one partially completed. The Regia Cotton Plus is okay but much less "giving" than I was hoping for. The cotton/polymid portion of it is a bit high for my poor little wrists and not quite as soft as I was hoping for but hot damn if these aren't going to be some hard-wearing socks! Which will hopefully soften up after washing... After trying out a couple different patterns and stitch amounts I decided on 64 stitches with US 1's with a rib pattern that I made up on the spot. It's something like K3, P2, K4, P3, K8, P3, K4, P2, K3 and repeat. I like it and the color is definitely "Jeans". It knits up looking just like denim!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Of Mice and Knits

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Mice in the kitchen this week at work. Can you come in on a Monday morning to anything more gross? Well yes, if it had been cockroaches I would have turned around and walked right out. But still, mice. Ew.

The semester is over and there is much rejoicing! Including a dinner out and a trip to the yarn store with Jenna last night! But neither of us found anything we wanted to buy despite the immense amount of time we tried and the sales. The sales are good but not good enough to buy yarn we don't need. Gasp, I know.

With the semester over though (and tests completed, I think I got two B's and two A's for my four classes) I've already gotten a chunk of knitting time in. Tuesday evening I finished my mom's Christmas socks...



and started my sister's socks.



The yarn I was so desperately hoping to find last night was sock yarn for my Grandma's Christmas socks. This is the Grandma that buys all the kids and grandkids socks every year for Christmas and she totally deserves a pair of handknit socks every year for Christmas. Even though she's using the ones I knit her last year as slippers. I think it's because they're wool and so warm. So I was on the lookout for some cotton sock yarn but it was all ugly. Then I would have given up and bought some Mountain Colors Bearfoot for her but they didn't have any in colors she would like, just reds, which I had to restrain myself from buying because I love it.

Jenna even offered up anything from her stash but I couldn't decide and wasn't sure what would be best and then I got all indecision-like about what pattern to use. So I decided to just hand dye the dye-your-own yarn I still have laying around from Knitpicks. I got some Kool-aid from the store, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and I dunked the wool in some water and prepared to start tearing open Kool-aid packets when I remembered: it's hand wash only. Shit! I don't want to do that to my Grandma. She needs the ease of wash n' go. So I hopped on the internet and ended up ordering some Regia Cotton Plus in a jeans colorway and next-day shipped it. Or I think I next-day shipped it and we'll find out if it doesn't show up in the next few days.

So post-purchase, tell me: is Regia Cotton Plus any good? I've never felt it so I don't know if it's as soft as I've been reading and I've never heard of anyone using it but it seems like a good deal: it has wool and it has cotton and I like that idea. If it sucks I might have to take Jenna up on the offer of buying her Cherry Tree Hill and get knitting.

Last weekend I also overdyed my other Kool-aid dyed yarn but I'll show pictures of that later on rather than make one gigantic post today.

Friday Nights Are Sacred

Friday, December 08, 2006

So Friday seems to be the day I actually get around to updating this thing which is sort of unfortunate because people don't comment as much over the weekend. But at least you're still reading it, right? Right? I may just be losing readers like crazy since the school business started. No time to update and people move on. I think about updating during the week but never seem to find time to log in and say anything... not that there's much TO say today. Friday it is.

In my last post, there were no pictures because I was busy and lazy on the blog front and didn't really have much to show. Today there are no pictures because it has finally hit me that the one box I'm missing since the move is the box with my top desk drawer stuff in it, and that includes my picture card for my phone's tiny little memory card. What a bummer. I've taken lots of pictures! And I would have taken nice yarny pictures for you today but what's the point since I can't transfer them. Le sigh.

Good news though: I found out that the LYS (aka Ben Franklin Crafts, the only store to carry nice wool within a 70 mile radius) is not really closing! They're merely having a blowout sale to make it easier to move all of the inventory into their new location! I found this out because yesterday I had a little time to kill (sort of) and decided to go check out the sale there. I ended up buying a few hanks of Classic Elite Renaissance (40% off!) to make some nice wooly felted slippers out of. They're red and green but not Christmas red and green. Boy, it sure sucks not being able to show you a picture. I was told that they're "in" colors right now though if that helps. Like a burgundy-ish red and a pale green. I think the colors are Green Grape and Chianti but I'm not sure.

I also picked up a hank of Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Indian Corn colorway (25% off). Wow is that some squishy soft pretty stuff! I'm thinking socks for my sister since I'm planning to make socks for my other sister with a green Mountain Colors.

Hmm, so that's about it. No knitting since last Saturday for me. I fixed the heel on my mom's sock during the Harry Potter Extravaganza and finished one pattern repeat on the leg. No yarn dying and no new socks started. House stuff happened instead and some half-hearted studying for my Chem test which landed me a C. A C! I'm outraged at myself! So this weekend will be filled with much studying so I can ace my finals and end up with A's. I'm an A student dammit, and I want to stay that way!

Anyway, have a great weekend all!

Impending Doom

Friday, December 01, 2006

Well, the holidays are approaching. I'm not in the "holiday spirit" this year but, you know, I can't really remember the last time I was so it's not too much of a loss. Gifts will be purchased, eggnog milkshakes drank, and maybe even a tree decorated if we're lucky. The past couple of years we've just decorated our cane tree because the old house was too small for a real tree.

Holiday knitting is currently at a standstill. I've re-knit the heel on my mom's second sock twice now and when I got to the end I realized I'm about three stitches off. The heel is slightly crooked. I was debating whether I could just keep knitting and maybe she wouldn't notice but it's going to have to be frogged and I just haven't gotten up the gumption to do it yet. Tonight is Friday Night Movie Night though so I'll probably do it then. Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family and all.

I'm also itching to start a new pair of socks for myself. Me, me, me! My toes are cold! I don't have enough hand-knit socks to make it through the week! Even though I have a to-do list about a mile long, I'm secretly scheming to overdye my Black Cherry kool-aid yarn this weekend and start a pair. I've been thinking about hand-knit socks lately and how my favorite pairs are the plain-jane 2x2 ribbed ones or the plainish cable and rib ones. And I'd like to have a simple project to carry around but the Japanese Feather Socks are also calling out to me. They would look so pretty in a nice solid color! We'll see what happens. The guilt of not starting my sister's socks might get to me instead.

And, before I go, the picture you've all been waiting for:



The new house is awesome and I can still hardly believe this all worked out and I'm actually living in a house that I *own*. Well, that the bank owns, but you know what I mean. New house projects and new house shopping has been fun and I'm sure will continue to be. Projects for this weekend include 1) more shopping, 2)replacing the wax seal on the upstairs toilet (I can't wait to do this!), 3) installing the medicine cabinet in the guest bath, and unpacking some more boxes. That's the short list, I don't want to bore you with the long one.

Have a great weekend!

I never thought I'd leave this place, it has all kinds of storage space... *

Thursday, November 16, 2006

*Silkworm lyric, but true when compared to my new house. There are closets in the upstairs bedrooms and... that's it. No broom closet under the stairs because the stairs to the basement are under the stairs. No closet in the main floor bedroom because it's been converted into a bathroom. Very Few Closets in the new house. Not that the current house boasts many more, just a nice sized one in the bathroom, but I digress.

I've hit a milestone in the packing process: this morning I finally managed to make the house echoey. It's creeping the cats out a little bit but I'm having a grand old time clicking my tongue and listening to the echo. It means I'm almost done packing.

I took a little break after realizing we echoed and finished up a pattern repeat on my mom's second sock. Then I realized I had a tiny bit of time to snap pictures and post here before I go to class and slave away on my handmade ceramic dinnerware set (final project, has to be completely "built" by Thanksgiving and I currently have two dinner plates and I need four dinner plates, four salad plates, four bowls, and four cups. Oy.) Here's what little knitting I've been up to:



I finished my fingerless gloves finally. The cables are slightly (like two rows) off somehow but I still love them and they're sooo much warmer than my other ones. And, of course, these ones match my scarf from last winter. I didn't get a picture of them together but if you want to be reminded of what the scarf looks like just click on the Elegant Cabled Scarf link on the right.



My mom's socks for Christmas. The only knitted Christmas present I'm worrying about this year. I was originally hoping to get a pair for my sister and my Grandma "Giver-of-Socks" done but they both understand that I'm a leetle bit busy and probably won't make the deadline.

And FINALLY, here is a picture of me and that cute little babe I knitted the sweater for. It's a bit big but he'll grow into it this winter, I'm sure.



I also finished the front of my Mon Petit Chou but didn't get a good picture. It's pink and lacy and I think it'll fit this time.

In related news, I heard today that my "local" yarn store, Ben Franklin Crafts, is going out of business. What a bummer. But I guess I should at least be happy that everything is going to be mega on-sale. Not that I'll have money to buy any what with buying a house and all.

In house news, I close and take possession on Monday and will move next week. Most likely, my next post here will be from my new humble abode. Maybe during winter break I can even get pictures taken and posted of it when boxes get unpacked and it starts looking like home. Don't hold your breath though. ;)

For now, be contented with a picture of Fred and George and a couple of their new favorite toys.



And Kurt practicing violin in the living room while I spy on him from the box filled porch.



Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

No Babies!

Friday, October 20, 2006

Well, I'm not preggers like half the knitting world even though it does seem to be contagious lately...

The official unofficial news is that I'm finally buying a house!

It was a shock even to me when I found The House about a month into my first semester back at college. The first question, of course, was "Holy crap, can I even afford this right now?". Maybe it's my creative budgeting, but it seems possible if a little tight. Thankfully I'm able to work extra hours during off times at school, like winter and spring break and my employer is very flexible with when and how I work my regular hours during school. If I absolutely can't make it to the office, I can work from home or come in on nights and weekends.

But the house! You want to hear about the house! It's a two story, three bedrooms, one and a quarter baths, a fenced backyard and beautiful drafty old windows - some even still have the sash weights and cords. (I'm not sure why but these old windows with the sash weights have just taken on a magical quality in my mind. They are, at the moment, my favorite feature of the house even though they're currently letting a gale of a wind through. I'm exaggerating. It's not that bad.)

I had my inspection last night, the bank will do their appraisal probably next week, and then the city inspector has to come if I end up using the city's downpayment assistance program. As my inspector put it last night: "I hope I look this good when I'm 98!" Basically, it's an old house with a lot of old house features (good and bad) but overall, it's a good house. And it's exactly what I wanted in a house. If everything goes well, I'll be moving exactly one month from today. And I haven't started packing. :)

Knitting is good. I will have completed my first cabled fingerless glove by the end of the weekend and probably another dishcloth too. Once I get the other fingerless glove done, I need to get cracking on my mom's other sock, my sister's Christmas socks, and my little cabbage (Mon Petit Chou).

Have a great weekend!

Time Flies...

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Hi all! School is getting the better of me but I have the great grades to show for it so I guess it's okay. It's been busy here at the Red house. I've officially declared my major as Chemistry and received an A on both my latest Chemistry test and Pre-calculus quiz. I've decided that Art classes can suck it. Ceramics is not as fun as I thought it would be because glazes do not look like what you want them to look like. And... there's been knitting. Not a whole lot but a little.



My mom's first Christmas Baudelaire. The picture is actually from last weekend. Sorry about that. I finished it up last night during our Friday Night Movie Night so I could use the needles to restart my cabled fingerless gloves from last winter. It's been cold here and it snowed already! Granted, the snow is gone but I know it won't be long until new white stuff comes to replace it. I need me some gloves to match my scarf!



Mon Petit Chou, restarted on brand new US 5 needles. I think the fit will be much better now. But it's been a neglected project while I worked on my Mom's sock and a dishcloth (which is finished but already in use so a picture wouldn't be so great.)

Lastly, I went on a yarn crawl with some friends a couple of weekends ago. I bought some Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Juniper colorway for my sister's Christmas socks (probably with the Classic Slip-up pattern from that book that look like a sock that a friend borrowed me.) Sorry, no picture of the yarn but it came from Pieces of String, a "store" about an hour from where I live. The owner was kind enough to let us in to buy yarn from her basement mail order stash. While there, Kurt bought his first "real" yarn. Check this out, it's Brown Sheep Burly Spun and he's making a garter stitch scarf with it.



Holy crap, huh? It's huge! And here's a picture of Kurt knitting away on a mini scarf for one of his stuffed animals.



There's one more piece of big news but I don't want to jinx it. I'll tell you when I know for sure. Just cross your fingers for me. :)

Holy crispy crap!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

It's been so long! I'm alive, I've just been super busy. This school stuff, let me tell ya. Lately, I feel like I need to write every tiny thing I need to do each day down in my planner so I don't forget. Things like homework, work tasks, making supper, brushing my teeth, telling Kurt goodnight... I feel like I'm constantly on fast-forward. During the week, I rarely have time to knit so I make time on the weekends to relax and knit and read some blogs. I've decided to cut my work hours down a bit to make sure I don't get behind in schoolwork again - it was minor and I worked it out but it was enough to realize that I've been trying, once again, to be Superwoman and I'm not Superwoman.

I have some finished objects though and that's part of what I'm here to talk about (and maybe mention the friend Kurt has over today who is repeating "work it, work it, work it" to Kurt as he plays this Pokemon Snap game on Nintendo. I'm reminded of that line in The Princess Bride, "I do not think that means what you think it means...")


Hmm, that's not knitting, is it?


Pretty... bear with me, there's knitting here somewhere.


Uh, this one looks nothing like I wanted it to. It was supposed to be tall and graceful and get thinner at the top. Seems like a nice segway into...


My sister's Hedera socks. They're almost done but I think there'll be some reconstruction on the toe. You see, I seem to have this misconception of how good I am at getting gauge. When I think to myself about gauge and why I don't do gauge swatches, I tell myself (and sometimes others) that I usually get gauge. This is far from the truth. Not only were these socks supposed to be mine until they ended up waaaay too wide but I seemed to think that the toe would be fine knit with my off-gauge.


Instead, the toe looks like this. A very short toe that doesn't really cover any of the toes. I know that it would work and it doesn't look that bad and she wouldn't care one way or the other but I'll probably rip back and add a few extra rows of stockinette between where the pattern ends and the toe decreases begin.

Cathi wanted to know about the Gloss yarn I'm using for the Hedera socks. I really like it! It's nice to knit, very soft once it's knit up and has a nice subtle sheen to it. I'm not sure if it's worth the handwashing as I prefer machine wash socks myself and I'm not sure my sister will be the best judge of that. I don't think I've broken the news to her yet actually.

And, lastly, a picture of another gauge miscalculation.



I'll spare you the holding-up-to-body shot and just say that these are a bit too big. Not terribly so but enough to warrant a frogging and new needle-buying. It's okay, I like excuses to buy new needles. Especially when I have a 50% off coupon.

Sorry for the extra long post but I did my best to catch up with where I left off. There are definitely things missing. Like the pictures from the chicken butchering day at my dad's and there's a baby sweater around here somewhere that I promised to take pictures of but this will have to suffice for now. Pre-calculus is calling me.

You know you're a geek when...

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

you finish your homework before 8:00 pm for the first time since school started a week ago and the first thing you do is jump up grinning and grab yarn and needles.

I've begun Mon Petit Chou. How happy am I?



So happy that I'll even post a crappy night-time picture, I guess. Supremely happy actually. As I said before, I've been wanting to make Mon Petit Chou since way before I was at the skill level to even attempt it. All I had time for was the picot edge but it is a beautiful picot edge, wouldn't you say?

I do have another project on the needles as well: the Hedera socks from Knitty in Knitpicks new Gloss sock yarn. I thought the pattern would show off the shiny bit-o-silk yarn well but the gauge is getting the best of me. I'm going to have my sister try them on this weekend to see if they'll fit her, otherwise they're off to the frog pond.

And I have to admit, in first week of school frustration, I did order more yarn. Just a bit. A couple balls of Essential in Navy Blue for my Mom's Christmas socks and some Merino Style in Moss for the Gatsby Girl Pullover from the Fall Interweave Knits (you have to scroll a little). So basically, I'm willing to splurge on yarn if it's cheap yarn. Knitpicks, you are oh so mediocre but I love you so.

Meanwhile, the Cascade Fixation is soft and squishy and not hard to knit at all... so far!

Gearing Up

Friday, August 18, 2006

Gettin' the gear. Well, the supplies anyway. I ordered my Cascade Fixation for Mon Petit Chou tonight finally. I've been wanting to knit this since I saw it over a year ago when it was still way beyond my skill level. I ended up ordering from Hello Knitty because they seemed to have the lowest price for Fixation on first glance. $4.50 a ball. Not bad! If it really only takes me two balls it'll be cheaper than the cute bra and panty sets I've been buying lately... I did get 3 balls of Pink Lemonade just in case and somehow a ball of Orchid ended up in my basket too. Not sure how that happened. Hehehe.

I've also been gearing down, in a way. I noticed this week that my Bloglines feed had gotten up to 71 blogs. 71! Can you believe that? There's no way I can keep up with 71 blogs once I start school next week! So I somehow pared it down to 37. Most are still Knit Blogs, of course, but there is a spattering of Med Student Blogs and Food Blogs along with maybe three or four random ones. I'd like to pare it down even more but I just don't see who else I could cut out. I love you all! Don't worry, if you regularly post on my blog you're still there. :)

That's all for now. I finished the baby sweater and seamed it up tonight. I'm so-so on it. I definitely lost track of my gauge a little after the first piece so it's a little funky. I also added some ribbing at the bottom and neck but it's still rolling, making my ribbing look ridiculous. I'll block tomorrow, take pictures, and see how it comes out. I'll even *gasp* POST the pictures!

Summer

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Summer has been busy around here. I've been knitting again! The wrist brace frankensteining really paid off. I've finished my Baudelaires, purchased yarn, and have a couple of projects lined up (which, unfortunately both still need yarn). Right now I'm working on my first baby sweater. It's so cute! More details and pictures of all these projects coming up. For now, I'll leave you with a (sort of) recent picture of my garden. We've been eating lots of goodies lately and never want this part of summer (the good veggies part) to end!

Back and Forth and Back and Forth and Back

Monday, July 31, 2006

Five points to anyone who can name the song and artist the title comes from.

So far the Baudelaire socks are fun, fascinating, and aggravating as hell. I realized the other day my post may have sounded a little down on knit designers and that's not how I wanted to sound at all! The problem comes in interpreting the pattern and so far I've not done that correctly 100% of the time with this one. There are a couple of sections that were a few ambiguous sections that I figured out pretty easily but I'm not sure a beginning knitter could have. Then again, it is rated "Piquant" so beginning knitters could expect it to be a challenge. (Boy do I ramble.)

First off, I measured my foot: 10". The pattern stated that I should do this size according to that foot size but I'm guessing it really meant like, the standard length I make my socks, which is somewhere around 8.75" because, as I've said, I like them snug. This is what you get when you make a sock for a 10" foot.



Just in case it's not real obvious from that picture, I'll try it on for you.



Ah, yeah, at least an inch too big. So I frogged and was left with this:



I'm back to, and past, where I was already though. This pattern is just mesmerizing. And after doing toe-up socks forever, I finally know what a gusset is. Hooray for me, right? I feel a little smarter anyway. The heel on this thing is really cool. It looks like a heel flap but it's done toe-up. There are wrap and turns, which I'm used to, and also a bunch of knit and purl togethers and it just looks so darn fancy. Wow, what a geek. I'll stop now.

For the record, my wrist is feeling much better. I made some adjustments to my wrist brace that I wear overnight and it seems to have made a dramatic difference. They are always too big so I sewed up a little more on the thumb side and it fits much better. Before it almost made it worse because, while it relieved the carpal tunnel-like symptoms, it seemed to created tendonitis ones on the outside of my wrist! Anyway, much better now. I'm so happy to be knitting like crazy again!