(De)construction Weekend

Sunday, January 04, 2009

I think it's a testament to my growth as a knitter and, hopefully, an increase in my patience that I can now...

...calmly hack up a sweater I knit in order to fix something.  Here is my Scoop Neck Vest Sweater after picking out, stitch-by-bloody-stitch, the beautiful tubular bind-off of the neckline (132 stitches, to be exact).  Next came the sleeves...

But you must be very, very careful which thread you cut or can end up swearing quite a bit...

...like I did here.  Always cut the seam stitches from INside the sweater so it's easy to see which is the seam stitch and which is just a little ladder between stitches.

Ta-da!  Hacked up sweater!  And it barely even hurt (me; I can't speak for the sweater).

And here are the pieces that needed to be fixed.  The whole reason I hacked it apart was because of something I foresaw when I made it: the front strap was about nine rows longer than the back strap.  I thought it was odd but trusted the pattern, which I usually advise you do... unless, of course, the pattern isn't right or is seeming like it's going to cause serious problems which, in this case, it did.  The shoulder seam, once this sucker was all finished up initially, fell beHIND the top of my shoulder.  Those extra nine stitches caused the armhole to be slightly too big and so it was constantly falling off my shoulders.  It was annoying and made the whole sweater look frumpy.

So yeah, we come to today: the actual fixing of the straps took about ten minutes.  The deconstructing and reconstructing the sweater?  An entire afternoon and the first quarter of a football game (we lost).  Was it worth it?  Hell yeah!  I've had the sweater on now for a couple of hours and nothing has slipped off my shoulders even once!  It looks the same as before though so I didn't bother taking any new pictures.  

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The other sweater I hacked apart was my Not-So-Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan.  I added sleeves and I absolutely adore it now.  I actually did the first sleeve right before Christmas while waiting for more Little Birds yarn and did the entire second sleeve yesterday.  I've been a girl on a mission this weekend!  I'll post pictures of the sleeved one soon.

Thanks to my perserverance, and knowledge that classes begin again in a week and I won't have time anymore for it, I now have two more hand-knit sweaters to keep me warm this winter.  That's five total!  Yay!

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I apologize for the extra-long post but I just wanted to say I'm so glad I took the plunge and "fixed" these two sweaters.  I'd had them both for a long time (slightly over a year for one and slightly under a year for the other) and had only worn them a handful of times each because of the silly little problems: no sleeves make for a cold Katie and droopy shoulders suck.  Now I know I'll wear them all the time!  And all it took was a few hours here and there of fixing... but would have taken no time had I listened to my intuition in the first place.  

I hope I've learned something...

Happy New Year, everyone!

Little Blue Birds on my Shoulder

Friday, January 02, 2009

Little Birds is done!







It's so cozy warm too. I can't wait to make another fair-isle sweater! Venezia may be closer in my future than I thought. ;)

Finally Finals Week

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The title says it all I think. Whew. Even though I liked all of my classes this semester I am definitely welcoming the break. I have another sock to finish for my Grandma for Christmas. Here is the first one:



That's an anklet version of the Japanese Feather Socks. This is the third time I've used this pattern and I still love it! I had to adapt the stitch count and the pattern a little because the yarn is thinner than called for but it's working out great - except for a little mistake I made on the foot that I'm hoping nobody will notice...

I also decided on the Kiehkuralapaset Swirly Mittens for my sister but have yet to buy the yarn for them... which is too bad because we had one heck of a blizzard here this weekend and I didn't have an official BlizzKAL project to work on! So I worked on Little Birds and my Grandma's sock instead. Worked out well but I really need to get my sister's yarn ordered so I have it for the next storm. I'm thinking about Dalegarn Daletta in a light green and dark green... or light green and black. Any thoughts?

Oh, I've finished Kurt's socks since I last posted too but I don't have a picture yet. He wore them the other day when it was blizzarding and cold (-50 F windchills!) but I forgot to take a picture. Whoops.

Also pictureless is my Little Birds progress. Just imagine another sleeve about half done. I think I'm going to run out of Eesit (the cream color) and I've done nothing about it yet. I'll probably regret it very soon.

One last thing: my friend who I'm gifting the green Socks that Rock booties and socks to had her baby last night! I'm so excited to go see him but I still need to wrap the gifts. I think I'll go do that and then study for my last final, which is tomorrow morning, until I can go up and see her and the babe.

Help!

Thursday, December 04, 2008

The North Dakota Knitters Ravelry Group, of which I'm one of the founders and mods, is having a BlizzKAL. Basically, we are getting a hat project and various emergency goodies (candles, chocolate, tea) ready to work on when we have snow days or blizzards in the state. I want to knit my sister a pair of mittens and matching hat this year and I'm still having trouble deciding which to make. I tried having her make the choice but she was overwhelmed with all the wonderful patterns on Ravelry and ultimately decided I could just pick something. Here is what I'm thinking:

Vinterblomster mittens and I would use the little flowers to make a matching stranded hat. This pattern reminded me a little of her when I saw it.

Heather's Mittens which caught my eye because my sister LOVES green not because the pattern reminded me of her.

Kiehkuralapaset... again with the green. I'm not so sure she is a swirly girl though.

Fiddlehead Mittens. Not free but they do have the inner liner which would be helpful to learn how to do. Plus, I think the pattern might look really nice with a varigated background and solid fiddles. Or whatever it is they are.

My sister is kind of a hippy tomboy type, by which I mean she wears dresses and sandals all summer long but doesn't wear make-up or get all fancied up too often. She's beautiful in a simple way so I want mittens that reflect that.

So again, I will use the pattern from the mittens to make the matching hat which will be my official BlizzKAL pattern. What do you think?

Witty Title Here

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Our Thanksgiving was really nice. We saw both sides of the family and stuffed ourselves with delicious food. Then on Friday we visited my 100-year-old Grandma Eleanor. The rest of the weekend has been spent buying groceries, cooking, doing some homework, and knitting.

I finally turned the heel on Kurt's second sock! Whew. These puppies are taking forever. But they aren't my #1 priority so it's okay.



My #1 priority this weekend has been Little Birds. I only have one more row of birds and vines and I will have completed the first sleeve up to the underarm. I hope to do that tonight and start the ribbing of the second sleeve. I've read the directions past that and, um, I'm a little confused as to how all these pieces come together for the final bit of knitting but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

One thing to note is that while my stranded knitting got a little neater and nicer while knitting the body, it's gone right back to crap on the sleeves. I just have a harder time keeping the tension even when working around on DPN's. Maybe I should have gotten some 16" circ's. I don't really like knitting with them but I bet my tension would be a little more even.



Lastly, the Socks that Rock for my grandma's socks hasn't come in the mail yet. They must be overwhelmed with Christmas shipping because usually their yarn comes super-fast. I did get an email the other day though and expect it soon now... which is good because time is ticking!

Birds and Socks

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Little Birds continues to fly by...



Last week, I had the idea that maybe I could finish it before Thanksgiving but today I realize how deluded that thought was. Two stranded sleeves in three days? Not going to happen. Oh well, I can definitely shoot for a Christmas finishing.

I've been taking Kurt's second sock around with me to appointments and such lately and have gotten about halfway down the leg. Speaking of legs... Kurt's is probably fractured but it's right along the growth plate and likely a very, very small fracture. Since it's the fibula, and most of a person's body weight rests on the tibia, he doesn't need a cast but just got one of those lovely giant boots. He even gave up the crutches already too which is really nice for both of us.

I also ordered some Socks that Rock in the Mochaberry colorway for my Grandma's Christmas Socks. It should be here tomorrow. She requested the Japanese Feather pattern last year and, since she likes ankle socks, they should go super-quick.

Talk at ya next week! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Broken...?

Sunday, November 16, 2008

I finished the gift socks already!



A pair of socks in a week is a definite personal best for me. I don't know how I ended up with so much knitting time this week but I'm glad I did because it means I can get back to knitting on my sweater.

First though, here is how much knitting I can get done during the three hour wait at the ER/ Urgent Care to find out that Kurt's ankle may or may not be broken.



*sigh* As much as I like to delude myself into thinking it isn't broken because he isn't in a lot of pain now that he has a splint on it... the enormity of his poor swollen foot is telling me differently. We will go in to an orthopedic doc on Monday to find out for sure.

I Have Birds

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Yay! I started the colorwork on Election Night and it's going quickly. I'm so excited about this sweater but a little nervous about sizing since, with the steek, I can't try it on as I go.

Also, unfortunately, my only US3 circs are the really long ones (36"?) so I'm going to have to switch to something else soon because I'm decreasing twice every round and it's getting pretty small pretty fast. Since my town doesn't have a real LYS with a vast array of needle sizes I ended up just getting another set of US3 DPNs and might switch to those. For some reason, Michael's and JoAnn's don't carry any circular needles smaller than a US6.

Oh, and I started a sock last night. I realized that I really need to get trucking on this pair as they're a gift and the deadline is coming up quick. Plus, I still have to knit my Grandma's annual Christmas socks. Eek! I'm quickly running out of time...

Busy, Busy

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Well, yesterday was my Mom's birthday party and she LOVED her stole. Absolutely LOVED it. She actually got up from the table in the middle of opening gifts and went around to every table to show it off. I don't have any pictures to post of her wearing though because my camera was acting up. I should have one later.

I got another chunk of ribbing done on my Little Birds sweater. I should get to the colorwork this week sometime, depending on how much time I get to knit. With Halloween on Friday and family stuff all day yesterday I didn't get any homework done so I'm pretty much chained to my desk today.

On Friday, I had a bunch of knitters over for a Halloween knitting party in honor of my friend Jenna being in town. We had so much fun and so much food! It was a great time!

Stick a Fork in It

Monday, October 27, 2008

The joy is immense.



Pattern: Swan Lake/ 2007 Mystery Stole by Pink Lemon Twist (Melanie Gibbons)
Yarn: Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud
Needles: US 2 circs
Mods: Knit two of Clues 1-4 and then grafted them together to make a symmetrical stole instead of the asymmetrical version with the wing. Except for a little blurp in the twisted edge lace pattern, the grafting isn't even noticeable. Hooray me!

Like my rigged up blocking "wires"? I figured cotton yarn was almost like wire. I'm obviously too cheap to buy wire and do it right even though my friend Susanna had the great idea of going to a hardware-type store and getting some - much less expensive than buying actual blocking wires. The cotton seems to be working though and, honestly, I hate this thing so it's all it gets.

Maybe I should explain? I don't hate the pattern, the pattern is beautiful and lovely and I'm sure many lace knitters will be very pleased with it. The asymmetrical version is not my thing though it is sort of lovely in it's own way... it looks pretty draped over shoulders, for example, like it's supposed to be worn. No, the problem with me and the Mystery Stole is the laceweight yarn. I actually don't even mind knitting lace, as can be seen by the few pairs of lacy socks I've made. It's just that ridiculously thin, easy to lose your grip on, lace yarn. We will not work together again, me and the laceweight.

Anyone want a skein of Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud? Beautiful heathered lavender color!

*sigh*

Sunday, October 26, 2008

It's a terrible picture of a lumpy, unblocked, scraggly piece of lace but I had to share this moment. My 2007 Mystery Stole, Swan Lake without the wing, is finished. Complete.

Now it just needs a swift beating, er, blocking and to be wrapped and then, come Saturday, it will be out of my life forever. FOREVER.

I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

Bonjour!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

I've been knitting. A little.



I still hate this thing.

My mom is having her 60th birthday on November 1st though so it seems the perfect opportunity to finish it up and finally give it to her. She's only been waiting (lukewarmly, I might add...) for over a year. I say lukewarmly because she's not sure she'll like it. She doesn't think it will be warm. Well, it's thin and lacey but it's made out of alpaca so I sure hope it will be at least a little warm. And since I don't know of anyone else who would like it, and she would be hurt if I gave it to someone else even though she feels lukewarmly about it, it will be hers.



I love this thing already even though it's knit so far on size ONE needles. It goes up to threes for the colorwork and it's going to be lovely, I just know it.

I also have a second sock for Kurt and a pair of socks to make for a friend. Not sure everything will be done by the time I'd like them to be...

Also, I just wanted to let you all know that I am still reading your blogs! I'm just too busy to post on my own or comment much on yours.

Schooling

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Well, I'm back at it. I'm just about to the middle of the semester already. Want to take a guess at how much knitting I've gotten done so far?



Yep, that's pretty much it. Of course, you have to picture me knitting this sock down to the heel, realizing it didn't fit and re-knitting it, then re-knitting the toe because it wasn't quite long enough. That boy's got giant feet!

I also cast on for my Little Birds sweater this week. Started on Thursday while watching the Vice Presidential debates with my friend Susanna who recently moved here from New York. Finished the cast on last night which is when I realized this sweater is knit on US 1's, not US 3's. Whoa. This sucker is going to take me FORever. But it will be worth it. The colors are just gorgeous and I love the pattern. I would show you pictures but it's already pretty dark out and the pictures I took yesterday with my phone look like total crap. Next time!

Bad News Bears

Sunday, August 31, 2008

I've been happily knitting away on Kurt's sort-of-camofluage socks now for about a week. I turned the heel on Thursday and finished the gusset increases last night. Then I thought to have him try it on... and the leg part fits... but it's practically impossible to get his foot through that heel.

Help!

Is there a way to increase right before the heel and then decrease down again in the gusset? Will this look weird or fit weird? How do I figure out how many stitches to add?

(On the other hand, they fit me perfectly. Mwahaha. I would keep them but I did promise them they were his so I can't. I have to make them work somehow, even if it means ripping the whole thing out.)

Yeah, I Stole That

Friday, August 22, 2008

My days of freedom are dwindling, classes start next Tuesday. I've finished pretty much all of the house projects I wanted to get done this summer and am just spending my time knitting, reading, and watching the Olympics. Being lazy and relaxed, which are two things I generally don't let myself do very often, especially during the school year. Here's a fun little quiz from Ellie's blog.

It seems I may have eaten a lot of things, but I haven't eaten a lot of non-traditional things.

1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles (How authentic? We buy ours at the Asian Market...)
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed (Nori, at least.)
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

So Far, So Good

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Mystery Stole keeps chugging along. I really didn't think I'd be able to keep up with my lofty goals (half a chart per day = ~2 hours knitting time) but I haven't missed one yet.



The real question is whether I can get ahead enough to make up for the day I'll miss when I go out of town on Saturday to a non-Mystery Stole-friendly event (only because I'll be visiting, not because it's not knitting friendly!) I'd also like to make sure it's pointed out that this is LAST year's Mystery Stole: the Swan Lake one, the asymmetrical winged one that I'm knitting symmetrically by knitting the first four clues twice.

Since my friend Jenna went off and moved to Duluth, the land of prettiness, my friend Courtney and I realized we were going to be shit out of luck if we needed to wind any yarn since she had been our resident ball winder and swift person. So we teamed up and I bought a ball winder and she a swift.



The ball winder doesn't seem like the sturdiest one in the world but it was only $28 at Joann.com, which I thought was a pretty decent deal. I'll try it out tonight and see if it falls apart.

Stranded

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Already posted pics on Ravelry but certainly don't want to forget about the blog.



Pattern: Cat Mittens
Yarn: Dalegarn Baby Ull
Needles: US 3 DPNs
Mods: Used US 3 needles instead of the recommended US 2.

I love these mittens! And I love doing stranded colorwork! I can't wait to start my Little Birds sweater but it seems that everyone else in the world is planning to make it as well because so many yarn stores online are out of the colors required. When I ordered, the site I ordered from said they had them in but I soon got an email saying they were out and waiting for more on its way from the UK. Should be here in a week or so.



Pattern: Elephante
Yarn: Scraps from Jenna. Thanks again, Jenna!
Needles: US 4 DPNs
Mods: Changed the striping, added a short row in the trunk to curve it up, and made the head much smaller because I was running out of yarn.

When I got to Duluth on our mini-vacation, I realized I had forgotten my knitting box at home... with my beads and beading crochet hook in it for the Mystery Stole. With nothing to knit on, Jenna tossed her stash and found me some scraps and I started Elephante. Today we're going to bring him to his new owner, little baby Grady who was born on 8/8/08.

While I wait for Little Bird's yarn I'm working on the Mystery Stole. Damn I hate that thing. I hate knitting with laceweight yarn and I would just frog it if I didn't have this stupid sense of needing to finish it. I will conquer this stupid thing! I've set up a schedule to follow so I can finish it before school starts next week, we'll see if I can follow it.

Almost forgot! My friend Courtney and I knit on Ice Cream Cozies while watching the Olympic Gymnastic All-Around last Thursday. I tried mine out with some Phish Food on Friday and it worked great: kept my fingers from freezing.



Pattern: Ice Cream Cozy
Yarn: Cascade Fixation, Lavendar
Needles: US 7 DPNs
Mods: None.

Vacation

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Now this is the life. No school, no homework, no working... just house projects, knitting, and reading books. Also, this week we went on a mini-vacation to see our friends Jenna and Brian who just moved to Duluth, MN.


We bought yarn.

Plymouth Yarn Co. - Happy Feet


Fibranatura - Yummy


Dale of Norway, Baby Ull for Cat Mittens


We knit on the beach...

(This is the body of an Elephante for a baby that was born on Friday. I best get my knitting priorities straight and finish this little guy up!)

...and at waterfalls.



We ate delicious food.

We saw beautiful sights.

And now I'm home again with nothing to do but knit mittens in the middle of summer. Finished the first one this morning. I think I have a new favorite knitting technique... One step closer to Venezia!





(For those of you who use a feed aggregater: sorry for the triple post! Edited spelling and dumbness.)

Socks and Coffee

Sunday, July 20, 2008

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I was in the lab three days last week instead of the usual two and my online summer class has gotten a little busier too. There has been a lot of waiting around for things to filter or evaporate in the lab though which means knitting time. Here are the Kaffe Fassett Regia socks that I bound off on last Thursday.



Pattern: Stockinette Socks for me
Yarn: Regia Design Line, Kaffe Fassett Colorway
Needles: US 1 DPNs
Mods: None because I made it up as I went along. Basically one inch of 2x2 ribbing, then stockinette with a short row heel. I prefer the fit of heel flaps but think short row heels show off stripes better.

Last night, while watching Read or Die episodes with Kurt, I cast on for a Cabled Coffee Cuff. We received the yarn and pattern at the Stitch and Pitch. Prairie Yarns in Fargo has teamed up with Dunn Brothers Coffee to sell these donated cuffs and the proceeds go to the Great Plains Food Bank.



I also knit up the two inch swatches of four different yarns that Boucle Yarn Studio provided at the game but pictures and critique of those will have to wait until they're blocked and photographed.

Now I'm off to paint trim on the garage, reinstall garage windows and study for my Psych test, which is tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Stitch and Pitch

Friday, July 04, 2008

Didn't take many pictures at the Stitch and Pitch and I'll admit that it was mainly for aesthetic reasons. The temperature hovered right around 90 degrees for most of the game and I really don't think you want to see pictures of a bunch of knitters sweating their very pores off their skin. Thankfully, right around the seventh inning stretch a thunderstorm nearby (with spectacular lightening) blew in a nice cool breeze and none of the fussy rainy part. Here's a picture of Tina, from Boucle Yarn Studio in Fargo, binding off our team effort scarf.



We started with around 80 people in the Stitch and Pitch section and here is who was left to gift the scarf to the Red Hawk's mascot, Hawkeye.



Overall, it was a really fun time even though I can't stand that kind of heat (this is why I live in ND). I had a hard time keeping track of the game and actually thought our team won until it was later pointed out to me on Ravelry that I had the score backwards. Oops! Still, I would totally go again. Hopefully they'll have another one next year!

I took some pictures today of my yarn drawer in my desk where I keep my WIP's.



If you click to make it big you can maybe see, clockwise from the left, the beginnings of the second half of my Mystery Stole from last year, the sock I started for the baseball game then ripped and started again in the lab yesterday, and the ever-constant dishcloth which I keep there to work on when I don't feel like working on more thought-demanding projects. And here is the pile of yarn and needles and odds and ends I cleaned out of the drawer just moments before snapping the beautifully organized picture above.



Okay, I'm off to get some stuff done before we go do fireworks. Happy Fourth everyone!