Pooling vs. Flooding

Monday, March 30, 2009

I finished my blue socks with the annoying pooling and they actually look alright.

Since then, I've begun my sister's Swirly Hat aka, my official Blizzard KAL hat.  

I meant to do it a few blizzards ago but last weeks ended up being just fine... especially since it was an official snow day with classes canceled and everything.  Then, after one day back at school, they canceled the next two days so the students could help with the flood-fighting efforts.  So, in between sandbagging and staying caught up with homework, I've been working on this little hat.  I'm a little nervous about it fitting since a) I'm not very good at making hats that fit, b) I didn't exactly get gauge, and c) it's looking a little small even though gauge tells me it should be huge.  I'm just hoping that's because the provisional cast-on I used left a short piece of yarn in the edge that belies it's actual length.  Yeah, that's it.

As for the flood, we are fine here in Grand Forks (though some areas are not completely dry) and are expecting the river to crest mid-week.  Fargo seems to be safe but their dikes need to hold for a few more days at least while the water levels decrease... and they're getting hit with another storm today and tomorrow so hopefully that won't leave too much moisture.  Keep them in your thoughts, please.  

(I apologize for the horrible quality of the pictures but Kurt still hasn't found the digital camera that he took to winter camp last month...)

Breaking into Spring

Sunday, March 15, 2009

We're doing some spring cleaning today... it's not very fun but I will feel much better when the house is cleaner and a little more presentable because...  Jenna and Brian are coming to visit on Tuesday!!  I'm very excited.  We're going to have a potluck with some other knitters and hang out and catch up.

Here's what I'm currently knitting:

Notice the non-Circle of Friendship-ness of it.  That pattern looked really bad with this yarn so it became a plain Jane stockinette sock. Also, sorry for the crappy picture but Kurt took the digital camera to camp and it hasn't made its way back yet (he thinks he left it in the vehicle on the way home).  I loved the pooling of this yarn in my swatch but it didn't transfer to the sock.  The only way I can see to get it back would be to knit something with a very small circumference (like a baby bootie or circular swatch) and this yarn is meant for me so that's not happening.  I will just have to deal.

My sister was visiting this weekend so I lengthened the thumbs on her mittens last night while we tried to get her hooked on Firefly.  Then today I ordered yarn for her hat.

That's all the fiber news for this week.  It's my spring break so I'm hoping to get in some knitting time somewhere in between my studying and catching up with homework time.  I may also paint the bathroom.  We'll see on that last.

Have a great week everyone!

Mittens!

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Here are pictures from my sister of the Swirly Mittens.

The thumbs ended up being a little too small so I'll probably add on to them next time I see her. I made them a few rows shorter than mine because she has much shorter fingers than I do but I guess I overdid it.  Really though, the fact that there is a right AND a left thumb is enough for me at this point in time.  Jenna reminded me of Elizabeth Zimmerman's instructions for an afterthought thumb in the Knitter's Almanac and I had my little mistake all fixed up in no time at Susanna's house a couple weeks ago.

A couple weeks ago already.  Whew.  It's been rough.  I had my first Physical Chemistry test and am gearing up for my second Biochem test.  This one is on metabolism and I've been a little overwhelmed but am making great studying progress today.

  

I cast on for the Circle of Friendship socks the other night while watching a movie but dropped one of my cast on stitches and decided it was too late to start again.  I hope to have time later tonight to try again but we'll just see how that goes.  In the meantime, I'll just keep the pretty blue yarn on my desk as motivation.  ;-)

Dangit

Monday, February 16, 2009

If anyone else noticed the strangeness in my mittens yesterday and politely didn't say anything: thank you.  I think.  Because it took me knitting all of the second thumb, binding off, and weaving in the ends to realize.... I had two right-hand mittens.  Dangit!

Anyone know of any good tutorials for slipping in an afterthought thumb when you hadn't planned for it?  I've already ripped out and sewn up the offending thumb hole.

Too Cool to be Square

Sunday, February 15, 2009

So I read over on Lab Cat's blog today about square needles.  Have you heard of these?  I'm intrigued.  I'm bummed that the circs and DPNs will only come in aluminum though since wood is so much easier on my hands.  Maybe the squareness would make up for it?  In any case, I've bookmarked them in my Thinking of Buying folder.

I knit a little this week!  The combination of tests and only having the stupid annoying thumbs left on Leah's (my sister) mittens put me off it the last couple of weeks.  Does anyone else hate knitting thumbs or fingers on mittens and gloves?  They're just so fiddly!  Especially with the stranded colorwork.  Anyway, I did finish one thumb and plan to finish the other today.  

Then they definitely need a good blocking.  Once I get them in the mail, Leah's hands can be warm again and I will have to order more yarn and start on her hat.  To match the gloves, it will be the Swirly Hat by Joanne Jongsma.

I'm also still thinking of starting a pair of socks for myself.  Maybe tomorrow.  I have the day off from school and will be meeting with a couple of friends for an afternoon of knitting.   I think my Fibranatura Yummy sock yarn needs to be knit into some pretty socks for myself.  I just need a good pattern.  I'm thinking about the Circle of Friendship socks that Jenna made once with yarn I gave to her (because I bought this yarn while I was visiting her in her new home last summer) but I'm a little worried about pooling.

Speaking of Jenna, look what she sent me!  

The long-awaited Malabrigo sock yarn in a luscious brown.  (I love brown.)

70% superwash merino, 30% alpaca, 3-ply

It was an early birthday and late Christmas gift.  I'm really late blogging about this because I received it in early January... but it's been in my yarn drawer in my desk and I take it out and admire the handspun every once in awhile when I'm studying.  I'm always so amazed by Jenna's handspun because she is fairly new to spinning and it's just so beautiful and perfect.  I think she's a natural or worked her ass off when she got her wheel to learn how to do it right.  Actually, I'm sure it was a combination of both, knowing her and what a hard-worker she is.

Okay, this post got super long and I apologize but when I actually have time to post I like to try to catch you all up on what's been going on, fiber-wise, with me.

Drive-by Posting

Sunday, February 08, 2009

I have a Biochem test tomorrow so I don't have time for a nice, insightful post.  I'm knee-deep in amino acids and vitamin precursors but should be able to have a better post next weekend.

I did want to stop in and say that I finished knitting the main part of my sister's mittens but haven't done the thumbs yet.  I'm having trouble picking up the "top" stitches.  I think what I did was an afterthought thumb... I don't really know.  I knit the thumb stitches with a scrap yarn and then slipped them back to the right needle and knit the pattern into those.  On the first one I picked up the stitches under the scrap with no problems but when I picked up the ones on top... they turned out to not really be stitches.  I don't know how else to describe it but I got frustrated and gave up.  I keep meaning to search the Techknitting site but never take the time.  Looks like I can't procrastinate much longer if I actually want to finish the mittens.

Anyway, I'll try to take pictures by next week!  And I should have a new project started soon too!

Steeking

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Long ago I promised a post on my steeking experience but when it came down to cutting the steek the camera battery was dead so I had to resort to taking pics with my phone camera because... well, I wasn't going to wait to charge the camera battery.

I have to preface this all by admitting when I heard what steeking was my first thought was not "Yikes!  Cutting knitting!  Oh, the horror!" it was "Whoa, that's so cool!  I have to try it!"  I'm a process knitter and steeking is a damn cool process.  I just wasn't expecting my first try to be on such an involved project... I pictured it more like a swatch or something.

So when it came time to cut the steek on Little Birds, the instructions said if I had used a nice, hairy, sticky yarn I didn't need to reinforce the steek.  I used the recommended hairy, sticky yarn so I didn't reinforce.  I just took the scissors, and cut.

I held my breath and was half-expecting the yarn to unravel even though I'd seen how crazy sticky this stuff was throughout the knitting of the sweater.  I can assure you that it didn't and even now that I've worn it several (many) times, it's just gotten more sticky rather than less.  This sucker isn't going anywhere.

I wish I had taken a picture as I was picking up the stitches for the collar because it was amazing how beautifully the steek stitches folded back and flattened down.  I still find it a little amazing how nicely this all came together.

Here is me proudly wearing my finished, sans buttons, sweater for the first time.  ...and you know the rest of the story.  This is my favorite sweater ever.  I highly recommend Ysolda's patterns as they are very well-written and well worth the effort.

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Current knitting: still working on my sister's mittens and sort of working on a hat/bonnet thing for myself.  Thinking about starting some new socks.

(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!