Knot Again

I've got a few new posts up

2005-05-22T09:00:00.000-06:00

Really, please come play at my new home... that's where all the fun is!

Another new post

2005-05-05T09:36:00.000-06:00

Over at Knot Again's new home.

What are y'all still doing here? Change your bookmarks and Bloglines subscriptions... the new place is where all the fun is.

Another new post

2005-04-29T10:07:00.000-06:00

is up over at Knot Again's new home... including an FO to report. If you're still visiting here, please switch your bookmarks and Bloglines subscriptions over to the new site... that's where all the fun stuff will be from now on.

Go visit...

2005-04-23T22:50:00.000-06:00

Knot Again's new home... I have another new post up, with pictures (including some VERY yummy yarn).

If you haven't yet, switch over your Bloglines subscription.

New post

2005-04-22T07:21:00.000-06:00

I've got a new post up at Knot Again's new home.

My trial ran out and I had to make a decision...

2005-04-20T23:48:00.000-06:00

I've decided to move Knot Again... go here to check it out.

Knitty, knitty, knitty, knitty, KNITTY

2005-04-07T11:07:00.000-06:00

The new knitty is up!

Nona of nonaKnits has a wrap pattern in there: Tie one one

If you don't already read nona's blog, you should. She's very funny... I think she's the only person I've ever "met" who can pull off talking about themselves in the 3rd person and have it be cute, rather than annoying. She's also very informative... she's sharing her exploration into short rows on her blog now, with directions, so you can explore along with her.

I also really like the Branching out scarf pattern and the Via diagonale bag pattern.

The Hot tamale skirt... it's fun enough, I might just make one for the entertainment value alone. I could use an excuse to try fair isle, anyways.

If I did sleeveless, I'd be going nuts over Soleil, W, and Ribbon Xback, too. If I were smart enough to figure out how to put in sleeves, I'd be doing Soleil, and W, anyways, with those additions. Unfortunately, I'm not that smart (or maybe it's fortunate... it's not like I don't have a HUGE list of things I want to do already).

In-laws, a neice and a nephew, oh my!

2005-04-06T10:17:00.000-06:00

I had some company come to visit this weekend.

My in-laws brought 2 of the cousins over for a visit. Their trip here last Wednesday was hampered by a nasty snowstorm and a couple of wrecks along the way that caused big delays, so we were very glad when they made it. The snowstorm followed them, here, though, and we had another day like this one with the horizontal snow. The poor puppy did NOT want to spend any time outside, even to do her business... which meant she spent more time outside when I had to deal with it.

Since my MIL was actually HERE, I finally got around to clipping those too short handles on her Sophie and lengthened them so we could felt it while she was here. I made a big deal of the felting, showing all the kids the magic trick that shrunk it. Much entertainment there! I also thought it called for a little something more to make it special, so MIL and I went hunting for just the right thing. We finally settled on a little brooch. Here's the finished bag:

See... she likes it:

My next trick was to fix my daughter's poncho. I had to do 3 rows of double crochet, with the 2nd and 3rd each skipping some stitches on the row before to reduce the overall number of stitches in order to make the neckline small enough. But, it fits now:

I started the fun fur type edging on it, too. I got all the way around the neck and 3/4 of the way around the bottom before I ran out of yarn, so I'm going to have to pick up some more, and I'll have plenty left over after finishing the bottom hem. I think I'll have a use for the rest, though... the little one doesn't like how open the stitches are that I did at the neckline, so I'll work another row or two around there to hide it. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the extra Wiggles yarn, too. I might be able to make a headband or even the cuffs on a pair of anklet socks for her, who knows. If I decide on the anklets, it'll probably be a long time before I get to them.

I got to go to this month's Crochet Meetup. Everyone there but me was there for the first time. I've only actually been to one other one, and here I was being the old-timer. Too weird.

I met some lovely ladies. One of them had brought some finished doilies and was working on a doily there as well. She has only been crocheting since just a little before Christmas, but she was clearly better than I was. You should have seen her working... I've never seen anything like it. She was SOOOOOOO fast! It was simply amazing. She was holding the working thread different than I do... the completed stuff just hung underneath (I usually hold it to keep it from hanging, because I'm afraid that will elongate the stitches). I hope she comes again... I'd like to watch closer as she's working to see if I could do it. My crocheting is much more ~~ponderous~~ deliberate, which means even when I'm working fast, I'm going much slower than she was.

Lookee what I got !

2005-03-31T01:09:00.000-07:00

I ordered this lovely stuff:

to make a feather & fan scarf for my sister - a somewhat late Christmas present (for those of you who weren't reading then... for Christmas, I had the ladies in my family pick from a few select projects something for me to make for them).

It is hand dyed, 100% kid mohair from Brooks Farm. It's their Primero yarn in the Chianti colorway. Oh, my goodness is this lovely stuff!!! Vibrant, striking colors, and so, so soft. It comes in huge 500 yard hanks, so even though the price looks high, you're getting so, so much. It really is a good deal for the amount you get.

And, I just noticed that they've started offering (what looks to be) a worsted weight wool/silk blend for even less per yard. None of the colorways they have up now are quite me, but I'll be watching to see if they put up more... at that price, it's a steal of a deal, and I think it'd make a fantastic second Clapotis!

All last week

2005-03-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Besides being sick, this is what I spent my time doing last week:

Months ago, my daughter had picked out some yarn (TLC wiggles in cherry, which is a true hot pink color, even though these pictures make it look a bit orangey), and asked me to make her a poncho out of it. I've had so many other projects that I wanted to do that I kept putting it off. But, with her birthday being this last Saturday, I put everything aside and worked on it, and only it, all last week.

I started with this pattern, but since the yarn I was using (and the hook I was using... I couldn't find the one called for in the pattern) did not give me the same gauge, I just tried to make it to the dimensions (after all, it's just 2 rectangles... nothing really fancy). I crocheted a chain that looked to me to be about 13" (I was comparing it to the long side of an 8.5"x11" piece of paper), but after I had crocheted back into the foundation chain, it stretched a bit, and ended up being 14.5" long. I hate crocheting into the foundation chain, so instead of ripping back, I just figured I'd work with it. In the pattern, the length of the rectangles was roughly double that of the width, so I made my rectangles a bit longer, and then seamed it all up. It took me much longer to do than I had anticipated, and I was seaming and weaving in ends (with a smaller crochet hook... because, of course, I couldn't find my darning needle when I needed it) after midnight on Friday night, and I didn't have time to add the eyelash yarn trim (I can do that later).

So, anyways... the poncho was larger than I'd originally intended. I figured that would just mean she could wear it longer, but... um... check out how much too big it is:

Oops. I think I can fix it by doing a round or two of double crochet all around the neckline. I may only opt to do the eyelash trim around the neck, as the puppy kept biting at the long corners, and I think the eyelash trim on the bottom would make it even more puppy-appealing.

Trying to do this in one week seriously burned me out. I didn't knit or crochet a thing the whole weekend.

Generous knitters

2005-03-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've been so lucky recently to win (or nearly win) a few contests being held by other knitters. Getting the packages in the mail has been a nice pick-me-up as I've been sick this week.

First off, Cara from January One sent me 6 of her beautiful Photo Art Cards. 3 of the ones she sent me are up for sale:

SP007 from the Spring Collection,

SU002 from the Summer Collection, and

SU017 from the Summer Collection

I also got 3 that she doesn't have up for sale:

I especially like the one with the bug. I don't know why, but the bug really makes me smile :)

I got these awhile back, but my computer has been acting poopy (it would take many, many tries to get it to boot up), and then it wouldn't boot up at all. My husband took it to work, and they figured out that the video card had quit working with our computer. It works fine if we put it in another computer, but it won't work in ours anymore. Go figure.

Then Lisa from BlogDogBlog held a caption contest for one of her cute doggie pictures, and she's so generous, she said everyone who entered won! Talk about generous!!! The prize was sock yarn... here's what I got:

And lastly, Bron from Bron's Blog II held a contest to name her new treadmill. She liked one of my entries the best, so she sent me this:

That's 2 fantastic patterns (The Art Nouveau Poncho and the Celebrity Look-Alike Shawl) from Stitch Diva Studios and 2 skeins of KnitPicks Andean Silk Twist. I couldn't possibly be more excited. Those just happened to be the 2 patterns I liked most from that company and had put off buying over and over again... Bron... how did you know????? And I've been thinking about that exact color of the Andean Silk Twist since Wendy made a little ipod cozy out of it. I don't know what I'll do with it yet (although I do think I would like to get some Andean Silk in Navy to stripe it with), but I love it. It is so, So, SO soft.

Thank you ladies! You're so kind.

Lots of knitting progress this week

2005-03-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

I knit the back of Ribby Cardi up to the length the pattern states before doing the armhole shaping. I'm still trying to figure out whether I should lengthen it or not. Too many things I own are too short, and a lot of the Ribby's I've seen are short in my book. But, I measured another sweater I have that is a length I like, and the measurements, both from the underarm down and from the shoulder down are really close to what the pattern lists, so now I just don't know.

I've also knit the fronts up to 7":

I did the last couple of ankle rounds on my 2nd Fuzzyfoot, and then knit the heel flap and turned the heel... only to find out that I'd knit the heel flap 2 rows too long, so I have to frog the heel turn and those 2 rows and then redo the heel turn (if it was the first one, I'd just leave it and do the 2nd to match, but since it's the second one, I'll frog). I didn't feel like taking a picture when I'd be frogging though, so nothing to show here on that.

I also got Clapotis back on track. I frogged a couple of inches, and as per MJ's suggestion (which was the same thing the LYS owner I asked about it suggested), I eliminated a few inches (I chose to take out most of a length of green... about 10"), and as you can see, that helped immensely:

I was afraid the pooling would just start up again later, but it didn't, and I came to the end of the first ball of yarn just after dropping the 6th stitch. I estimate that I was able to knit 12,145 stitches with the first ball, and that took me through the increase rows and a little over 5.5 repeats of the straight rows. The 3rd ball should do the decrease rows and the same number of repeats. I used those numbers and figured that the 2nd ball will do 9 repeats plus enough to complete the partial repeats of the other 2 balls. That's more repeats than the pattern calls for, but I think the length will be about the same.

Have I mentioned... I love this yarn, I love these colors, and I love this pattern. It's all completely addictive, and it's all I really want to work on.

I got myself a new small project bag

2005-03-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get something I could use as both a purse and a knitting project bag... both so that I can carry just ONE bag, and because I am not feeling good about carrying around all the shapeless, droopy tote bags I've been using. Maybe it shouldn't matter, but somehow it does.

I really like it. It's a good size... it'll easy hold Clapotis as well my wallet and PDA, and while it doesn't have a ton of pockets, it has one that is perfect for my keys, and I've pretty much decided that I need to find a way to easily switch the essentials from bag to bag so that I can take whichever project I want to work on with me.

I do need to find a large project bag. I'm trying to decide whether to pick up something I found this weekend, or to hold out for a Knitter's Purse, which I LOVE, but it's also about 3 times the price, and I always seem to find myself spending all my free money on yarn, so I don't know when, or if, I'll be able to pull that off.

Zhaan's first post

2005-03-14T00:46:00.000-07:00

Hi, everybody. Nice to meet you. Do you see me meeting you. Huh, do you, huh? I'm wagging my tail... no wait, I'm wagging my WHOLE HIND END just to show you how excited I am to meet you.

I'm a pretty good puppy... at least the knothead lady says so. She and mister knothead think I'm really smart. For instance... I'm mostly house trained. The lady didn't think it would go so easily, but I just about have it figured out. Sure, there's a few accidents still, but I almost always go outside. Out the door, run over by the fence, make a piddle, walk all the way around the yard, and sometimes do that other thing on our way around.

Mister knothead says he's trying to train me. I like this part. Clicks and treats. Woo-hoo!

Oh, and do you all know about bones? Rawhide bones are so neat. The knothead lady is amazed by how fast I go through them. Chew, chew, chew... I love to chew! Oh, but sometimes the knothead lady doesn't like that. She says they give me plenty of doggie chew things, I shouldn't chew on other things... like this:

Well, it looked good to me! Yarn is fun, too, but she's being more stingy with that, since she noticed I liked it, and so I have to get it when she's not looking... and then I have to run, because even if she's sitting all tucked up like a pretzel, she will come after me and take it away.

Here's me doing one of my favorite things... getting my tummy scratched! The knothead lady wanted to get a picture of me doing my crazy face (DON'T MESS WITH MY TUMMY SCRATCHES!), but she only got the crazy eyes, and not the crazy teeth.

Until next time.

- Zhaan

All Clapotis all the time

2005-03-08T21:39:00.001-07:00

Since I started this project, I haven't hardly been able to work on anything else. I did try to work on the baby afghan a couple of times, but I think I ripped as much (or at least nearly as much) as I crocheted.

Here's how far I'd gotten on that:

If it weren't for all the ripping and re-doing (and the lack of working on it out of frustration), I'm sure I could be done with the entire main panel by now, and be working on the edging.

So, about Clapotis... here's some progress shots:

I've gotten through 4 repeats of the straight rows, and I'm ready to drop the 5th stitch. I'm trying to decide whether to do so or not. Can you see the way the green has been pooling for about the last few inches? I really don't like. I'm also trying to figure out why it started pooling so strongly. It had been doing fine on the straight rows for a while, and then instead of the small staggered pooling, it suddenly started to stack up in wide stripes.

Would it help to rip back a few inches and redo it, or would it just turn out the same?

Also, I still haven't come to the end of the first 200 yd. ball. I don't know how much farther it will go, but this is longer than I realized it would. The other thing I could think to do would be to rip back to where I switched from increase rows to straight rows, and do another repeat... or take one out (although I think I'd rather have it wider than narrower... it's only about 14" or 15" wide now, so it's narrower than the pattern... I would think that would mean that I'm not using as much yarn per row, and I could end up with a really long piece, so widening it ought to be okay, right?). I don't know whether that would fix the problem or not... it could still end up pooling weird.

If you have any recommendations, I'd sure appreciate them.

Meet Zotoh Zhaan

2005-03-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

Althought we'll mostly just call her Zhaan (pronounced zan... it's the name of a character from a TV show we liked). She's a lab/border collie mix that's about 3 months old. We adopted her from the humane society.

Awwww... my husband has been wanting a dog for quite awhile now. Think maybe he's happy?

Here she is playing fetch:

And here she is with another toy (I thought this would be nice to have for comfort):

She's such a cutie!

Thanks so much...

2005-03-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

to all of you who took the time to post encouragement to me. I really appreciate it.

I also want to apologize for leaving you all hanging so long... it was rather a busy weekend, and you'll see why in my next post.

I do want to address a few things, though. I don't expect everyone who visits to comment (I don't comment on every post I read... not even close), and I don't expect comments on every post. I also understand how easy it is to get behind on reading through you Bloglines subscriptions... I have similar numbers of feeds to those who've mentioned it, and it is very hard to keep up (any time you do catch up, it seems there's suddenly a tidal wave of new posts).

I'm also not nearly as obsessed with comments as I realize the last post made me look. I do notice numbers (I'm just that way... a total fountain of factoids), but it really never bothered me before.

It's just that this particular post wasn't a regular post. This was something that was a big deal, even if I wasn't seriously hurt, I sure could've been. And knowing that even more people than usual came by and saw what had happened and none of them... well, you know from the last post... that hurt.

And yes, I do plan to continue blogging. I was NOT trying to make an ultimatum... just trying to sort out my feelings. At the time, I was really sad.... but thinking about not doing it also made me sad. That never was a solution.

So, anyways... back to my normal style of blog entries.

Reconsidering blogging

2005-03-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well, where to start...

I know how many people are subscribed to my blog with Bloglines, and I have a tracker that tells me how many people visit my blog every day. I've noticed that compared to other knit bloggers with similar subscription numbers, I get far fewer comments. I've wondered why, but tried not to worry about it until now.

But these last two days... To know that somewhere between 45 and 90 people have visited and read that I was in an accident, and not a single person could be bothered to even say "Hey, I'm glad you're okay"... well, at the very least, it makes me wonder whether there's any point in all the effort I put into maintaining the blog.

I'd been trying out TypePad and planning to change my blog over to there to make information more accessible, and basically just make things nicer for the readers, but Typepad is costly, and when I'm not sure if it's even worth doing on a free site, it's hard to see shelling out money for it.

I don't know what I'll do about it in the end, but at the moment, it really seems like 'why bother?' It looks like I already have the evidence of what my doing so is worth.

Accidental knitting

2005-03-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

I was heading to a crochet meetup last night. I stopped at a stoplight and was rear-ended. Luckily for me, I was in a minivan, and the car that hit me was a little compact. The only damage to my car that I can see is the scrapes underneath my rear bumper. I was jostled a bit, and my back was a little stiff last night and a little sore this morning, but that was all. The worst of it was that I missed my chance to go to the meetup. I'd really been looking forward to being with other women that shared my interests, and to get a chance to look at some of the new knitting magazines that are out (the meetup is at Barnes & Noble).

So, anyways... the whole time I was sitting in my car waiting for the police to show up (there was another accident not too far away at about the same time), I was wondering if I should get out Clapotis and work on it. I didn't end up doing so, but I kept wanting to.

So... what's the most unusual place you've ever knit? What's the weirdest place you ever considered?

I knit myself to sleep

2005-02-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

I cast on last night for Clapotis (actually, I did so a few times). I got through the set-up rows, and about 2 1/2 repeats of the increase rows. Here's a couple of progress photos:

Notice anything unexpected?

I am not using stitch markers. A BIG thanks to Stephanie for the idea. Basically, you purl the stitches you're going to drop... actually (and I'm not sure if this was what she meant, but this is how I did it), you do a ribbed row... purled on the front and knit on the back. Here's the details, if anyone wants to do the same:

On the WS row after adding a yo, make sure you knit the yo.
On the RS rows, p1 (instead of k1) in between each set of k1 tbl
On the rest of the WS rows, knit all stitches that were purled on the front

It's that easy, and you can keep track of the stitches to drop w/o having to use any stitch markers. SLICK!

Here's a pic of the back:

This is a really cool pattern! Once you get past the set up rows, it is really easy to do, and actually fairly easy to remember... even with the modifications I made. I didn't want to stop knitting on this at all... in fact, I worked on it, until I was tinking as much as I was knitting because I was so tired I couldn't count any more... and then I set it aside and dozed on the couch a little before I could get up and go to bed. It's a fantastically engrossing pattern, and I haven't even gotten to the dropped stitches yet. I can totally see more of these in my future!

CROCHET CONTENT

2005-02-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Wow... it's been awhile since I've worked on any crochet. I wonder why I let it get away from me... I really love to do it. I think it's just because there are so many truly incredible knitting patterns that I want to do that it tends to take over.

So, anyways... I got started on the afghan for my new niece. I got through the whole bottom border of motifs last night, take a look:

Also note my lovely new Clover Soft Touch crochet hook. I couldn't find my H hook to get started, and I'd always wanted to try one of these, so when I went to buy my ball winder, I picked up one of these, too. It is nice.

Back to the crochet... here's a closeup of the motif (on a darker background, so you can see it better):

The picture of the finished afghan shows these being taller than they are wide. Mine have turned out wider than they are tall. I think I cinches on my double crochets more than most. In the future, that'll be something for me to work on, but for now, I'm just going to leave it as it is. Unless you're comparing it to the original, I doubt anyone would look at it and say there's anything wrong with it.

At this rate, it'll probably take me about a week more to finish the main body of the afghan, and I'm guessing another 2-3 for the edging. Since the baby is supposed to stay in the NICU for at least another week and a half, I should make it in time to send before she comes home. If I want to add a hat and booties or anything else, though, I'd better pick up the pace.

All wound up

2005-02-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

Betcha can't guess what I finally gave in and bought.

How much is someone's time worth? I had been winding my skeins into center pull balls by hand. It took me nearly 2.5 hours per 200 yd. skein. I wanted so bad to start using some of this yummy yarn I have, and I just couldn't bear the idea of all the time that winding it would involve... even if I just did the stuff I wanted to use right now, it would take so long I wouldn't be able to get around to knitting any time soon. With the ball winder, 200 yards only took about 15 minutes to wind. There's nearly 12*200=2400 yards of yarn shown here... that would've taken me somewhere between 24 and 30 hours to wind by hand, but only about 3 with the ball winder. So, using a conservative figure, I'll say I saved 21 hours by using the ball winder... my time would only have to be worth $2/hour then for the ball winder to have already paid for itself (mine cost me $38 plus tax and a 40 minute one way drive to get to the store... you can get them for about that from ebay, and a little more from one or two online stores... others have them for way more... the other yarn store near me was charging $12 more... oh, yeah... JoAnns online has them for $40 now and is offering 20% off your total purchase, which would probably cover all the shipping charges).

So, if you have a knitter in your life who doesn't have one of these things... they will love you forever if you get them one.

A swift might be nice, too... but the time savings for adding that would probably not be quite as dramatic, and they cost even more than the ball winder itself.

Stash enhancement, take 1

2005-02-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Look what I got in the mail:

I've wanted to make my own My So Called Scarf ever since I saw Stacey wearing hers at the Knit & Crochet Out in October. The colors in this yarn are just like a watercolor painting... they remind me very much of a Monet. This is definitely one of my favorite yarns EVER!

This is Araucania Nature Wool. I bought it to make the Backyard Leaves scarf from Scarf Style. I wanted something that was mottled when knit up, rather than just a solid color... but I did want it to be all greens, and not a fully variegated colorway. This does that. That being said, I am a little disappointed in it, because it doesn't look like the same color as the swatch on the site:

It's more Kelly green than the swatch makes it look. I'm not sure I would've bought it if I'd seen it in person first. I'll probably still use it, because I haven't yet found a better option for a reasonable price (occassionally handpaintedyarn.com has a green that I like but it's just as likely to look different on my monitor as the Nature Wool did), and, I've already spent the money on it. If I don't use all the yarn for the scarf (I think I should have a bit left over), maybe I'll knit up a swatch and see if I can get closer to what I had in mind by overdying it. If I still don't love the color, I'm sure this scarf would make a really nice gift.

I got them from Rosie's Yarn Cellar. I couldn't have more nice things to say about this company. They shipped fast, and there is no flat shipping fee... just per-skein amounts on some of their yarns... the shipping for my order totalled only $2.00. Woo-Hoo! Way better than I could do elsewhere.

I also picked up some of this:

To make this:

GORGEOUS crocheted afghan for my brand new niece who was born this weekend, 5 weeks early. I love the feel of this yarn. Some reviews say it blooms when you wash it, which doesn't bode too well for the stitch definition, but I'm willing to chance it, because it just feels so good, anda preemie just ought to have soft stuff next to their skin.

One down...

2005-02-19T21:11:00.000-07:00

I finished my first fuzzy foot:

I'm so glad I picked a felting project for my first sock, because I did not do well. This is the sock's good side.

I put a piece of white paper in for contrast so you can see a little better... here's a closeup of the decreases on this side:

Good Side

And here's a closeup of the decreases on the other side:

Bad Side

As you can see, the decreases on this second side leave A LOT to be desired. It's also extremely evident to me where the needles came together. I tightened my stitches up as much as possible... they were good and snug as I knit them. But, as I came around to that same spot, and all the weight of the sock and the other DPN's was hanging off of just a stitch or two, those stitches stretched out, and that's where the looseness comes from ( I'm not sure how much that would be eliminated by lighter needles and yarn). I couldn't figure any good way around that... any advice would be much appreciated.

As of now, I'm afraid to even bother with real socks or mittens or hats done on DPN's. Maybe I should try the 2 circs method... at least that way, there's only 2 joins, instead of 3 or 4. Or, maybe I should give up and buy some Clover mini-circular needles. Of course, you do still need the DPN's to do the toe decreases, and probably the heel flap, but it might save some frustration.

I have cast on for the second sock and knit an inch or so on it. So, even though I'm a bit discouraged, I haven't totally given up. Which isn't to say that the second one is looking to improve upon the problems of the first, but I DO want these.

Falling farther and farther behind

2005-02-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

I had a plan for what I wanted to accomplish with my knitting this year (the first 3 months are fully fleshed out, the rest have very little yet):

January

MIL's Sophie needs a small fix and a felt
SIL's Sophie DONE
SIL's Scarf DONE
Sister's scarf I still need to get the yarn
Mom's Booga I have most of the yarn, and have done some calculations

February

Ribby Cardi I've got a long ways to go
Homespun poncho still stalled
Fuzzy feet one about half done
DH's NaCraga I have the yarn... I REALLY need to get started on this if I'm going to get it even close to done.
DD's crocheted poncho I have the yarn

March

Bear in bunny suit (for baby girl to be born near the end of March)
? ABC Blanket (for same... might do a crocheted blanket instead).
Clapotis I have the yarn
A different SIL's ?
Nantucket Brocade sweater I have the yarn

As you can see, I'm really not making the kind of progress I'd like to (and this list includes putting off the thrummed mittens for my Dad for next Christmas... there was no way I would've gotten them done by his birthday last month).

I think part of my problem is that the projects I need to work on most are NOT at all the ones I want to do. I can't feel justified in doing what I want with the already promised items still nagging at me to finish them, but I also can't get excited about them and make serious progress on them.

Even the fuzzy feet I'm working on, which I really NEED because my feet are always so cold, are not really much fun, because I'm still not liking working with the DPN's... mostly because I'm not doing as well on them as I would like to. I'll talk more about that in another post, though.

There's so many more projects I want to get to, besides what's on this list, and I can't hardly even look at NEW ones... I'll never get to them anyways.

Sorry about the whine... I'm just so discouraged about it all, and wish I could find a way to start making some real progress.

A day late and a dollar short

2005-02-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

This is what I've been working on for the last week and a half. I realized the Saturday before last that if I wanted to complete this for Valentine's Day, I would have to start it. So, I went to JoAnn's and picked up some Jiffy Thick 'N' Quick, which is as near the same gauge (and in a Valentiney color) as the yarn called for in the pattern.

This project nearly got the better of me (or maybe it did... you decide after you finish reading). There has been much ripping involved with this project.

One of the first problems I encountered was that I didn't want half a heart at the bottom of each end of the scarf. If you follow the pattern as written, that's exactly what you get, so I figured out how to modify it to eliminate the extra yarnovers on the first 2 RS rows. It took me a couple of tries to get it, but I finally did. If you want to make the same modification, here it is:

1st Row 1: K8, yo, k1, yo, k8.
1st Row 3: K5, k3tog, yo, k3, yo, k3tog, k5

I also did the first and last two stitches in garter stitch, and made a nice slip stitch edge by slipping the first stitch of each row purlwise with the yarn in front. If you need more information on that because I'm not being clear, let me know.

So, anyways... I got sick last Tuesday, and have been dealing with that, and then the after-sick-symptoms for the last week. That did not help my knitting at all.

I finished the first side by Wednesday, and took the second side with me to a meeting with the ladies group at my church on Thursday. I knit, and knit, and knit, and made a lot of progress (probably 5 or 6 repeats). I picked it up again Friday, and noticed that in the 1st repeat I'd knit on Thursday, I'd put a yo in the wrong place. There was no way I would be able to fix it without at least ripping it back to that point (I know of no way to drop a stitch down when there's lace bits on that column). I tried it, but since every RS row had lace on it, I was not able to pick up the stitches right, so I ended up just ripping back to the start. And then in my haste, I forgot to do the modifications I mentioned for the first couple of rows, so I had to rip it out again. I finally got going and actually knit a lot... I was nearly back to where I'd been before I had to go to bed.

Saturday, I just could NOT bring myself to work on it, even while I was watching TV. I was really disappointed, because I had wanted to get it done for Sunday, because I see a lot more people on Sunday than I do during the week. Sunday also ended up seeing very little knitting.

Monday was rather busy, and I didn't end up getting to it until late afternoon. I worked as fast as I could, but I still didn't get it done before the last errands of the day, so I never even got to wear it out. I did finish the knitting last night, and did a 3 needle bind-off to finish it up. But having missed the day, I just cut the yarn and called it a day.

I'm surprised I could get any desire together today to work on the finishing, but I wanted to steam block it, and since I've never done it before, I think the novelty helped spur me on. Steam blocking made a HUGE difference, though. Before blocking, it wanted to fold backwards along the center line and at the change between stockinette stitching and garter stitching. It pretty much wanted to be a tube. Here's a before and after comparison:

Now all I have left is weaving in ends. I'm not quite sure if my regular needle will be big enough to do it... this is HUMONGOUS yarn. And, it's almost like, what's the point now, since Valentine's Day is over.

Oh, and you should know, k4tog is a bear of a stitch. I dreaded it every time, and it was HARD every time. Since the Jiffy T'n'Q left me with so much left over, I may try it out with 2 k2tog's, the first slipped over the second, to see if that gives a descent alternative that would be infinitely easier.

Also, I don't love the tip of the bottom-most heart quite so close to the edge... if I were to do this again, I would add a couple of rows before starting the pattern (maybe in garter stitch or seed stitch, to help with the curling).

Oh, and one last note... the color of the scarf is off in both pictures (although I tried to correct it in the first one). The color is really a nice burgundy/wine color.

Too much to talk about...

2005-02-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

I've been doing stuff, really I have. I've also been meaning to post... I just kept saying "when this is done, I'll write"... I kept wanting to include more stuff.

I finished knitting up my sister-in-law's green Sophie and felted it:

I wasn't totally happy with the way the handles joined the bag on the first one I did, so I tried something different on this one. I knit 3 past the row marker, and then bound off until 3 before the next marker. I knit the next 12, and then bound off until 3 before the last marker. I slipped the last 9 stitches and the first 3 from the last round onto dpns, and then did the same with the 12 stitches I'd knit. Then, I knitted back and forth in stockinette, doing k2tog or p2tog at the beginning and end of each row until I had 6 left, and then started the handles. Here's what the difference looks like:

I do like it better, although if I do this bag again, I'll probably k2tog or p2tog only at the beginnings of each row, so that I get a gentler curvature on the transition. I also used the ends of the yarn to join the two parts of the handles for the first inch or so, so that I didn't have a gap right at the bottom.

I don't know why, but the green yarn lasted much longer than the blue yarn did. I used almost every bit of 2 skeins of the blue yarn. With the green, I made the handles longer, and still had at LEAST 2 yards left over (maybe it was even 4). I measured the two bags against each other, and they were very close... it might be possiblethat I added a row on the blue or missed one on the green, but I can't tell for sure... otherwise, the skein lengths are not consistent.

So, anyways, after I finished the green bag, I noticed something... the handles on the blue bag are NOT long enough. They're about the same length now as my original was AFTER felting. This will not do. However, I wove the ends in REALLY good, so now I have to cut the handles and pull them back a bit and work on them a little more. Luckily, I mistakenly ordered 3 skeins of each, so I do have more I can work with.

I also finished weaving in the ends in on the crocheted scarf I made her (her birthday came up recently, so she had 2 things picked out from the Christmas Gift Catalog), and I should be able to send them off today or tomorrow. Oh, wait... I hadn't mentioned doing the scarf, had I? It was such a quick thing, I must've forgotten about it. Here's a picture:

In other knitting news, I started my first sock. I picked the most forgiving way to try this out possible... with the Fuzzy Feet felted slipper pattern from knitty. I've made it through the heel turn. That was a leap of faith... the instructions didn't make sense to me when I first read them. They sounded a little better this morning, and then of course, it all just came together when I tried it. See:

I also placed a small order with elann. I had been trying to hold off purchasing anything, but one of the colors I had planned to use on another Ribby Cardi (the pattern is just so great for possibilities, that I keep wanting to do more, even though I haven't finished the first) was about to sell out, so it was then or never... well, at least then or I'd have to wait and see if they got more of it in. I bought 8 skeins of Oxblood (it's more than I'll need, but since there would only be a couple left after I got what I needed, I just picked them all up), which I planned on using for the sleeves, with Coffee Bean Brown for the body. It arrived a few days ago, and I'm not sure what I think of the color.

This picture of it looks like the color sample on the website did... a nice deep, rich red. That's not really how it looks in person, though. It's more like half-dried blood - less red and more brownish. I don't know if I would like it paired with the Coffee Bean Brown... it won't have the kind of contrast I had in mind when I bought it.

Now, it's not a bad color... just not what I had expected. In fact, it looks like it would match my dishes rather well... take a look:

So, if I don't like it, I could make some felted potholders, and maybe even some felted placemats, I don't know. There's always elann's swap center, if I can't figure anything out at all.

I also got some more sock yarn. Stacey is right... buying sock yarn is addictive! I have 2 each of 6 different colorways (from various companies) and 1 each of at least 2 more. And if I didn't think $20 for a pair of socks seems outrageous, I'd have a bunch of Cherry Tree Hill and Koigu and more and more, as well.

Have I mentioned I haven't knit any socks yet? All I've done sock-wise is start the Fuzzy Feet.

Here's a peek at what I got (It's elann's Sock it to Me, Colori in Tiffany Roses and Northern Forest):

Newsflash: Knitting cited as cause for lower levels of self-control

2005-01-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

A relatively new, but apparently fearless knitter, who we'll call the resident knothead to protect her identity, breaks down into tears as she relates her sad story to this reporter.

"I couldn't stop myself," she said in trying to justify her actions of yesterday. "I mean, I know I don't need it yet, but I just had to go get it."

Yesterday, in an obsessive-compulsive fit, the resident knothead dragged her 4 year old to Michael's to pick up two skeins of yarn (Lion Brand Microspun in Lime and Black) in order to start a new project: The Alien Illusion scarf from S'n'B by Debbie Stoller (see photos below).

"I got the book from the library just a few days ago. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since." the resident knothead said. "I know my son would love it, and it seems like such a fun pattern. I've searched out pictures to include in my blog, and asked questions on message boards. This project just grabbed me."

The resident knothead then admitted that her son, the intended recipient, wouldn't have his birthday until August. There is no rush to get the supplies for or start the project, and she has at least a dozen projects that she needs and wants to do for which she already had the yarn... some of which are promised presents for this PAST Christmas, and some which are due much sooner than August.

As further evidence of the lack of self-control caused by knitting, the resident knothead ended our interview by saying "I'll probably cast on today.* "

* the resident knothead will probably have to return to the scene of the crime to acquire two additional skeins of yarn... thereby repeating the crime. in her haste, she didn't write down the pattern requirements.

Bored to tears...

2005-01-25T01:07:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to Kitchener stitching the handles of my mother-in-law's Sophie (it's only been waiting a week or so for me to just sit down and do it).

My sister-in-law's Sophie had been waiting that long as well for me to pick up the stithes around the bottom so I could start the sides. That was waiting on me to finish the Kitchener so I could free up my 10.5 dpns.

So I finished that, and then I knitted, and knitted, and knitted knit stitch after mind-numbing knit stitch (broken up only 8 times every 10 rows for the decreases). I'm done with the 1st skein of the Peruvian Highland Wool... so pretty much exactly half-way done with the bag. And, since I was bored enough to make note of it, the end of that first ball comes a little over half way through the 22nd round.

Sophie is a great bag, and makes great travel or intense TV show knitting, but when you have to do it, and are on a schedule, so doing it means you're not doing the knitting you really want to do, it's just a tad bit tedious. Strike that... EXTREMELY tedious.

One bright spot... boy do those stitch markers I made (see here and here) look great against the dark green:

Interesting...

2005-01-24T01:34:00.000-07:00

I just got an email newsletter from Lion Brand yarns. Usually these come with links to new free patterns, but this time, they're rolling out a line of patterns for purchase.

I don't fault them for having some patterns for sale... it's not like all the other yarn brands out there give all the patterns away that are designed to use their yarns. But at least make sure they have something special that makes it worth purchasing! Most of them were really just basic patterns (like the two rectangles seamed together that make a poncho) you can find free on their site or elsewhere that happened to use their yarn. Some of their free patterns show much more innovation.

The one that really got me was the Northern Lights Wrap. They want you to pay $2.50 for the pattern, when they gave you enough information that anyone who can knit and purl can recreate it without the pattern... it's stockinette with a garter stitch border that uses one strand each of two yarns (6 balls of their Moonlight Mohair and 4 balls Trellis) and it has finished dimensions of 12"x70". I've been knitting for about 6 months (if that) and really haven't finished too many things, and I could just about do this one in my sleep.

I've been working on it...

2005-01-22T01:49:00.000-07:00

I've made it through the waist ribbing on the back. Not a whole lot of point showing a picture, I'm sure you all know what that much will look like.

I also picked up the two front panels and started working on them. One of the balls had a break in the yarn (and a knot to go with it), and of course, it had to fall such that I didn't notice it until I was 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through the row, and it won't reach the rest of the way. So, I get to join the yarns in the middle of the fabric or tink back to the beginning of the row. I'd prefer not to have to knit two strands together to make the change... I have tried that on my felted bags (where it didn't matter), and it does make a lump, so I may tink back, unless I figure out a different way to change yarns.

I Ka-Not Ka-nit for the life of me!

2005-01-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

Well, according to Alison, Tuesday is knit-along day, and since I've been feeling like knitting on my Christmas gifts is akin to pulling off my fingernails, I thought I'd take that advice and work on something I've been wanting to, and make some progress on one of my knit-alongs.

So, I picked up the back of Ribby Cardi and started working on it. I'd gotten through almost 2 rows before I noticed a problem...

on the last row that I'd knitted before I had to lay it down before, I'd missed the switch between the 3x1 rib in the middle and the 2x2 rib on the side, and done the wrong stitch. So, I pulled out my needles and ripped it back to the mistake. Picking the stitches back up onto the needles was a bit of a pain, but I did it, and finished up the row, and switched the working needle (I have Denise Interchangeables) up to the size 7...

and I can't remember how far I got, but I noticed one of the x1's didn't look right, and I figured I'd just purled straight across it a couple of rows back. Luckily, this time I remembered you could drop down a single stitch and rework it with a crochet hook. It worked like a charm, and I just kept wishing I had thought of that for the first boo-boo...

So, I finished that row and got another row and a half done before I realized that I had forgotten to change the other needle out from the size 6 to the size 7. (You can imagine me smacking myself in the head here.) Since I didn't want to repeat the ripping out and picking up thing again, I tinked it back that row and a half and switched that second needle up. And then I noticed that a few rows back I split the yarn on one of the stitches.

AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I'll use the crochet hook trick again, but *sigh* without all this trouble, I could probably have finished up the ribbing band on the back today. SOOOOOOO disheartening.

I love/hate elann

2005-01-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

I love them, because they have great prices... I hate that their great prices make it so easy to justify spending too much!

I got a package from them last week... here's my goodies:

This blue Peruvian Highland Wool is to make a Sophie bag for my mother-in-law (it's not really shiny in real life... that was the flash).

And this green is for a Sophie for my sister-in-law (also not shiny).

This Filatura di Crosa 501 in charcoal heather is to make a sweater for my hubby... I want to do Na Craga from Aran Knitting by Alice Starmore. I hope that's not too ambitious. Here's a closeup of the yarn:

This is Filatura di Crosa 501 Tweed. I'm planning on using the blue for a pair of thrummed mittens for my dad, and the wine color for a scarf for me (I'm thinking this one).

And last, some sock yarn... cause I make so many socks. Well, I do want to try, and sock yarns tend to have some really pretty color patterns to them.

And buggars... they have some new great stuff up. I was waiting for all the things on the preview page to come up, so I could order them all at once (it was less than a week between all of them), but before the last one came up, a LOT of the other stuff had sold out. All the baby cashmere is gone. I wanted to use the solid colored sock yarn to make a kid-sized version of the Nasty Dog Dragon scarf in Scarf Style, but the charcoal of that sold out almost immediately, and some of the other colors I would've needed sold quickly, too (and, they didn't have any oranges). AND, they've got some new stock of the Peruvian Highland Wool. I'm thinking a fully ribbed version of the Ribby Cardi would look great in Coffee Bean Brown and Oxblood, but I'm not even close to finishing the first one, so how can I justify buying yarn for another one? *sigh*

A Doubly Knitterly Christmas

2005-01-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took me so long to post about this... I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately.

This Christmas, I thought I'd help everyone out by actually having an idea of things they could get me. I used Blogger to make up wish list's for myself and my kids (DH never did get around to telling anyone what he wanted... luckily, I had a few good ideas that were especially great, because he didn't have even an inkling about them). Mostly, it was a great idea. I say mostly, because there was one problem with it... no one else could update it, and no one wanted to ruin their surprise by telling me so I could update it, so everyone saw exactly the same list. (I don't know if it would have helped if I'd let them... my mom, bless her heart, is decidedly NOT computer oriented, and would have been more likely to delete everything than just change what she wanted to.)

So, I got what I most wanted... a set of Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needles from my parents... AND another one from my dear husband. Poor guy... he felt so bad. I didn't want him to... I thought it was kindof funny.

In our house, Santa usually brings books and a family gift (and fills stockings, of course). I ended up buying my own book from Santa. Of all the books I wanted, Scarf Style was the one I wanted most of all, so I got it for Santa to give to me. LOL... that was also something my parents had ordered (it still hasn't come... it, or one of the other books they chose, was on back-order... they should arrive this next week, though). I do know they also got me Knitting on the Road, but I can't remember if there was one more or not.

*sigh* I tried.

Update

2005-01-06T23:39:00.000-07:00

* Cross post from the Ribby Cardi Knitalong

I cast on for the back day before yesterday.

I cast on for the two front panels yesterday.

And today, I cast on for the sleeves.

Now I'm done.

At least, I'm done casting on.

Here's where I'm at now:

All the parts are started.

I finished up to where you change to the larger needles on all the parts. I figured it would be a good idea to do them as close as possible to the same time, so that my tension would be the same across all the pieces.

I'm not sure how much more I'll get done in the next week or two... my elann order came with most of the yarn I need to work on the things my family picked out of the Christmas gift catalog. So, I have obligatory knitting to do... two Sophies, a crocheted scarf, and a modified (greatly enlarged) Booga Bag. At least all of those are pretty easy, if time consuming. I still have to order the yarn for the feather and fan scarf my sister wants. hat one's going to take awhile, but I think I'll alternate with the Ribby Cardi once I get to that point.

And I want to make some thrummed mittens for my dad's birthday, which is a week from today (I'm not counting on getting them done on time, but I want to do as much as possible). Oh, and I've never done mittens before, let alone thrummed ones, and the thrummed mitten patterns I've found so far do not include instructions for a large men's size... nor do they say what exactly they mean by a medium men's... so I don't know whether my dad's hands would fit in the "medium" men's or not. Plus, the last attempt I made at knitting on dpns... well, no matter how hard I tried to make it so, the stitches between the needles were not as tight as they should've been. So, it should be interesting.

*sigh* I'd really rather just work on THIS project!

- Leisel

P.S. Can I overuse the word and or what?

A better picture of Sophie

2005-01-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Now that the sun's up (at least I think it is... the cloud cover is solid here), I was able to take a decent picture of my Sophie that shows the color better. Click on the little images to see a larger version... the larger images show it all much better.

Sophie in natural light

Closeup of the Sophie fabric

Wow! does this stuff felt !

2005-01-03T23:18:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to felting my Sophie bag tonight. I'd been waiting to weave in some ends and I kept procrastinating it.

Here's the pre-felting pictures (pre-felting dimensions... 9"w x 5"d x 10"t, w/ a handle drop of 11"):

Completed Sophie

Sophie hanging

Closeup of stitch detail

My camera is not picking up the colors right... go here for a better view of the colorway (it's number 9440).

And here are some post-felting pictures (post-felting dimensions... 8"w x 4"d x 6"t, w/ a handle drop of 7"):

Sophie in shadow

This is closer to the color it looks now, but it is wet, and late at night, so...

Sophie spotlighted

Here's one with the flash on all the way. I THINK it may end up looking closer to this in daylight. I'll have to see if I can get a better image tomorrow.

For a little perspective,

Here's the finished Sophie hanging

This picture is actually zoomed in a little closer than the pre-felted hanging picture, so the size difference is even greater than what you can see.

And here's a closeup of the finished fabric:

This only took one trip through the wash to shrink it this much. My booga bag (using Kureyon) took 2.

The finished dimensions are pretty close to what the pattern lists, which surprises me, because it looks so dainty. I did pull and tug at it a bit to get it to the shape and evenness that I wanted. I'm just going to let it hang on the door handle to dry, though... it really doesn't look like it needs extra help blocking. I think my washing machine does a pretty good job of spinning out the water.

This little bag is so very cute! My girls are going to be rather jealous.

I did forget to weave in and trim the tail from the cast-on... would it be safe to cut it off now that it's felted, or should I just leave it be in the bottom of the bag?

Post-Christmas post

2005-01-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Besides the Christmas rush to do things, we got a semi-surprise visit from my parents right after Christmas (they booked the flight Christmas eve for the day after Christmas... and the only reason they didn't show up on my doorstep for a complete surprise is because they were supposed to bring the Christmas gift my Grandma had made for me, and she told me that's why she hadn't sent it).

Well, my Christmas gift catalog went over rather well, I do believe. I only had one person who wanted a store-bought gift instead of a hand-made one. I will get to make two Sophie's, a crocheted scarf, one modified Booga (my mom wants it big enough to be able to put a notebook or binder in), and a Feather & Fan scarf. And, my mom wanted to make a Feather & Fan scarf herself, so she bought some really pretty yarn (I think it was Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in Country Garden, but I can't promise) that will go so beautifully with her black pea coat.

The only problem with the gift catalog idea is that, while most people are so excited to be done with their Christmas knitting so they can work on something that they just WANT to do, I'm just getting started. Luckily, the bags at least are really easy knits, so they will be done fairly quickly, or can be done as travel and TV knitting while I have something else a little more involved going as well.

Oh, and I also have a knitted project I want to do for my dad for his birthday on the 13th. I ordered the yarn from Elann a couple of days ago, but I can't get started until it arrives. I hope I can get that done, as it's something I haven't worked on before, so I don't know how difficult it will be for me. So, there's a lot on my plate still to do.

I did, however, get something to do just for me. While I was at the LYS with my mom, I noticed some yarn (Cascade 220 Quattro in color 9440) I've been fascinated with every since I first saw it. I'd only seen it online before, though, so I was thrilled to find it. I thought it would be perfect for a Sophie for me (I had to try out the pattern, first, now didn't I? Especially since I have to wait for the yarn for the other two to come from Elann). So far, I'm already done with the entire bag body and I've started working the handle cords. I love the way it knits up. The fabric is nice and even, and there is some fun micro-flashing of the colors, which is completely irregular because it's not dependent on color repeat, but instead on which side of the yarn shows on each stitch. I can't wait to felt it... I hear the Quattro becomes really heathered looking. Oh, and it is definitely less scratchy than the Peruvian Highland Wool from Elann, so it's been nice to knit with.

So, I should have an FO to show you fairly soon, and I'll tell you later about the knitterly things I was given for Christmas :)

Dilemma

2005-01-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

I went out today and bought the 2005 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar (I'd hoped I'd get it for Christmas, but no such luck... but, it the store had marked down all their calendars by 50%, so that was a pleasant surprise).

Now I've opened it, and it's taking all my will power not to flip through all the patterns. I want to see them all now, but I feel like I OUGHT to wait and just turn one page a day. That's awfully frustrating, though, on the days that don't have something you're interested in.

So, how about a little informal poll...

Should I just go ahead and look through them all now

or

Should I show some self-restraint and only look at that days' page.

(Just for the record... I did cheat a tiny bit already. I did look at a couple of pages ahead to see if there was something more interesting coming up SOON. There's not.)

* Cross post from the Ribby Cardi knitalong

2004-12-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

I swatched for Ribby Cardi today, and luckily, I'm getting gauge with the recommended needle size... most surprisingly, I'm getting row gauge, too. I'm not used to that happening.

Now I'm ready to cast on, and being the prefectionist I am, I'm feeling all hung up about what cast-on method to use. Is there a best one to use for ribbing? Is there a place online that talks about the pros and cons of different cast-on methods (I 'm hoping so... I don't want to have to wait to find a book about it before I can cast on)? I usually (HA! I'm a rather new knitter... usually doesn't mean too much yet)like the cable cast-on, as it looks nice and is nice and stretchy, too... but I heard someone mention tubular cast-on, and was wondering if there was a reason that would be better. The tutorials seem clear as mud to me (I think I'd have to follow the instructions before they really made sense to me), but it seems as if with the tubular cast-on, your first little bit looks 1x1 ribbed. I'm not sure how I'd like the look of that with the ribbing that already exists in the pattern. And someone else said they used the long-tail cast-on, which is one I haven't tried yet (told you I'm a new knitter).

Any help would be appreciated. I hate feeling so indecisive, especially when I really just want to START working on this.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds...

2004-12-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

* image courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics

100 rows

2004-12-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

Secret project # 1 went so, SOOOOOO much faster than secret project #3 is. Not too surprising... they both used the same type of yarn, but #1 was knitted w/ 28 stitches per row on US 8's, while #3 is knitted w/ 54 stitches per row on US 5's.

So, now that I've done 100 rows on #3, I've worked 5400 stitches, and it's 15" long.

#1 used 28*(56*6+5, or 341 rows)= 9458 stitches total. Stitch-wise, I'm well over half way through the total of #1 (57%). I am only able to knit about 2.5 inches on it in a day. I'm getting SO, SOOOOOO tired of it... even though I love the way it looks, I'm just so bored. I wanna play with something else.

*Update 12/21/04 11:47 pm.... I had just saved this post as a draft, instead of posting it. Now, I've used almost the entire skein for #3. There's very little left... maybe enough for another row or two, but almost certainly not enough for the complete 4 row repeat... and now the surprise item is 27.5" long (the finished item will be twice that). At 188 and 54 stitches per row, that's 10152 stitches. Hmmm... that doesn't seem like nearly as big a difference stitch-wise as it felt like.

Cute as can be sheep ornament, but...

2004-12-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

Can you believe the price this is going for? WOWZA!

Tiny Sheep Mini Christmas stocking ornamentOOAK

Ok, ok...

2004-12-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

I'm busting to show someone. If you leave me a comment with your email address, I'll send you the URL to a picture of secret project #3.

Knitting Magic

2004-12-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

I've been rolling my yarn into center-pull balls. This is seriously my least favorite part of knitting. I'm thinking I need a ball-winder. It would save me about 2 - 2.5 hours per skein.

Center Pull Ball

Another one

However, I really really love the results. I get such a kick out of pulling out the yarn. It reminds me of that silly magician's trick with the endless scarves. Just fun.

I put secret project #2 aside because I had to tink back a row, and now I have to figure out how to make sure each stitch is on the needle the right direction. I was doing k2p2 ribbing... would all the yarn still wrap under to the back, over to the front like knit stitch does, or would it be different for the knits and purls?

And I started secret project #3 using the Byzantine. I can't wait to show you the pictures of this one. It is FABU! This pattern is gorgeous with this colorway. I love it.

So, in lieu of actual knitting photos, I found a fun little survey over at A Call to Adventure...

Holiday Survey

1. Egg nog - yum or yuck?

YUM! Love the stuff. I get excited every year when it starts appearing in the stores next to the milk. I usually cut it half and half with milk, because otherwise it's just so rich, and, it saves a little money too.

2. Stay up until midnight on New Years?

Yep... of course, I stay up until midnight MOST days. I'm one of the worst night owls I know. Going to bed at midnight would be rather early for me.

3. Prefer white or colored lights?

I love both... white lights look more elegant, but colored lights are fun and happy.

4. Favorite holiday song.

Wow... that one is really hard. I like so many of them. Silent Night and Away in a Manger are probably my two favorite spiritual ones. Walking in a Winter Wonderland is pretty high on my traditional songs list, but I'm not sure if I can say favorite, because I feel like I'm drawing a blank, and just can't think of the names of others that I like.

5. What is your tackiest holiday decoration?

What? Nothing I own is tacky! (Ha!) I've always wanted to do have a special commemorative Christmas ornament for each year. That only happened the first year we were married. I bought a frog prince ornament (it has a string hanging out the bottom that if you pull it makes the arms and legs move up and down), because I'd kissed enough frogs and found my handsome prince. I think it's cute, but it's silly, too, and rather large for tree-hanging.

6. Do your kids have too much and you wonder just WHY you are getting more?? lol

Sortof yes, sortof no. I'm not good at getting rid of things, so toys have a tendency to get out of hand, but this year, we moved, and haven't gotten much back out, so it doesn't seem as much like they have too much.

7. If you celebrate Christmas, when does your tree go up and come down?

Um... when I get around to it. I'm not so good with schedules.

8. Christmas again - open presents on Christmas eve, morning, or other?

Both... I like to get jammies to open Christmas eve, so that Christmas day pictures look good, but most presents have to wait until Christmas morning.

9. Favorite holiday tradition?

Um... also not good with traditions.

10. What do YOU want for Christmas?

Denise interchangeable needles (I'm getting really sick of having to go out and buy needles before I can start any project, and what if I don't get gauge... 2 trips? And that's only if I don't end up on a wild goose chase, which is my SOP*... it seems whatever I want, whatever store I go to ends up being out of them when I need them... and the GOOD yarn stores are 45 minutes across town).

Lotsa knitting books.

How do you do it?

2004-12-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

First off, before I forget, thank you so much Mary, Lizz, Katie, Bogie and Shannon for taking the time to direct me to helpful places.

I wish I could show you pictures, but I can't. The projects I'm working on now are SECRET.

I finished knitting secret project #1 from the Emilie yarn. I just need to weave in ends and wash and block it.

Now I've started secret project #2 (I'm using the Last of the Summer Berries for this one). This is my first ever knit in the round with DPN's. ARGH! This is so hard! Maybe it's just that the first row is hard (I hate knitting into the cast on row... it's so much harder than the rest of the knitting), and maybe it's that I have to use metal DPN's with teeny tiny yarn (it's about the thickness of #10 crochet thread), I dunno, but if this whole project goes like this, I'm going to asphyxiate. I keep having to remind myself to breathe, I'm concentrating so hard on it. So, how do people do this without going insane or passing out from not breathing?

It doesn't help that I'm doing k2p2 ribbing. I don't mind purling (even though I'm much better at knitting), but going back and forth between the two I find difficult. I can't get into a rhythm.

I feel so incredibly awkward. When I went up the the Boulder Knit & Crochet Out, there was a lady doing a hat on (fatter wood) DPN's. It all seemed to work so smoothly for her. I want to be that good. And I want it to be now, so that I can actually get this project done in time. Maybe I should just give up and go buy things. I dunno. I really wanted to do something SPECIAL, and I bought the yarn. I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.

HELP. ME. PLEASE.

2004-12-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

I've been knitting this secret object (sorry I can't show pictures), and I managed to miscount the rows, so I had to frog it back.

I SERIOUSLY need frogging lessons. I tried putting one of the needles through the stitches on the row I was going to frog back to. I managed to put it in backwards (how do you tell which row goes which way? AND, I also managed to pick them up twisted. I did notice this before I started to knit again, so I twisted each stitch before I knit it... the wrong way, so now instead of doing waves, the yarn on the row does loops. I also don't know, and may never know, whether I have the first stitch of the row turned the right way. Ends of rows are weird anyways.

So, now I have to go back and re-do it. I'm doing that the slow way this time... stitch by stitch (luckily, on this, there's not a whole lot of stitches).

I've tried other ways of frogging, and the stitch by stitch one is the only one that I seem to be able to not muck up on.

So, are there any online tutorials on how to frog knitting properly? (Frogging with crochet was so, so much easier. Since there's only one stitch on the hook at any time, the worst you can do is go back a few extra stitches. With knitting, there's always the potential of having it work it's way out to the point you just plain have to start over. Talk about scary!)

And, are there any Yahoo groups or message boards where you can post questions and have people answer? I haven't been able to find any, but maybe that's just because there's so many Yahoo groups that have knit or knitting in the description that I can't find the one or two that are like that.

TIA

GOING. NOW. TO. BEAT. MY. HEAD. AGAINST. SOMETHING. HARD.

Update:

I knit it twisted again after I frogged that row stitch by stitch. I frogged two more rows to get out of the trap I'd set myself, and I think my problem was that I had picked it up right, and didn't need to twist it after all. So now I'm back on track. What a pain though.

Seriously... I can't mess anything else up... ever.

Oh, and tiramisu is much more fun than beating one's head against something hard.

I'm still hoping for an email group or message board where I can ask questions, though, so if you know of any, please, PLEASE let me know.

Get away from my stash!

2004-12-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... maybe I'm just a little bit possessive here.

I had laid out my lovely new yarn for it's photo op, when this little imp came along and thought she'd claim some of it as her own:

"Mommy...

I want you to make me a robe out of

This yarn right here (the Last of the Summer Berries),

Right now!

Or else!"

A robe? Interesting choice of apparel for this yarn.

And, so not going to happen. Besides the fact that the yarn is already destined for something else (well, at least one skein of it, anyways... we'll have to see how much yarn the planned project takes), being demanding is a sure way NOT to get what you want around here.

LOL... luckily for her, she was just trying express her desire in a silly way (notice the grin on her face), not really trying to bully me into it. If she's lucky, I'll have enough of it left over to make her something small... like 4 year old sized fingerless mittens. We'll see. But it definitely won't be until after I get all my other Christmas knitting done.

Let the drooling begin

2004-11-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Take a look at all the lovelies I got in the mail.

First, some cashmerino:

Even with sunlight to take the pictures by, I still had to lighten the image to get the color even close to what it looks like in person. It's a mauvey-lavender color, but it does look darker and brighter in direct sunlight. The plan is for it to become this sweater:

Man, is this stuff soft! I got a great deal on it on ebay (normally, I wouldn't even think of buying this yarn... way too pricey). It came in a lot of 20 balls, so when I'm done, there should be plenty of extra, and I can either make myself some matching socks (I'm wanting to design a cuffed sock with the cable pattern from the neckline on the cuff), or sell the extra to recoup some of the $$, or both, depending on how much I end up using.

Now, onto the REALLY good stuff. I stumbled onto a fantastic new source for handpainted yarn. This artist has the most incredible color sense. I adore so many of her colorways! Here's what I got:

Byzantine on alpaca

Closeup of Byzantine

Emilie on Alpaca

Closeup of Emilie

Last of the Summer Berries on alpaca

Closeup of Last of the Summer Berries

Briar Rose in alpaca

Closeup of Briar Rose on alpaca

Briar Rose on cashmere

Closeup of Briar Rose on Cashmere

I wasn't originally planning on getting the cashmere, but the artist posted about how the different fibers picked up the colorways differently, and some of what I'd ordered turned out such that it wouldn't work for the project I had in mind. I wanted to do Clapotis in Water Lillies, and I ordered it in merino, because that's the least expensive. On the cashmere, the shades in the Water Lillies colorway look smokey and sophisticated... on the merino, they remind me of bubblegum or a handful of kids candy (cute, just not what I had in mind for Clapotis). So, she offered to let me exchange it.

Now, Axelle is making Clapotis in Water Lillies in the Cashmere. I'm not quite sure whether to be insanely jealous, because *hmph* I want that, and 3 skeins of cashmere is JUST TOO MUCH for my budget; or to be greatful because I can see if it does turn out as great as I thought it would (yeah, and what if it does... then what do I do? I almost wonder if she's doing it to kill what tiny bit of self-control I have); or to scramble around to find the money somewhere because I just MUST HAVE IT. ARGH! (Okay... Water Lillies turned out much better on alpaca than it did on the merino, so maybe I can still do it without being fiscally irresponsible... and, the Briar Rose on the alpaca just happens to look fantastic with the cashmerino... so, maybe more than one Clapotis in my future... and I didn't even like the pattern when I first saw it!)

The colors are definitely the most vibrant on the cashmere, but most of the colorways turn out great on the other fibers, just maybe not exactly as they look on the cashmere. I'm rather happy with what I got, and I'm almost 100% certain I will order from this artist again... because not only does she have great color sense, she's also gracious and gives wonderful customer service.

I know, I know... you're jealous now and you all want some too.

Here's where to get it:

A. L. de Sauveterre hand-painted luxury fibers @ Two Pointy Sticks

PS... I have a confession. I also ordered some yarn for Ribby Cardi. That's another pattern I wasn't interested in to start with, but everybody's doing it, and the colors elann had to choose from were calling to me to do something with them and I couldn't just order without something in mind, AND one of the colors I was liking the best was about to sell out, so you see I just HAD to order it this weekend (the color is gone now, btw, so if I hadn't, there's no question I would've missed out). *PHEW... take a breath, girl!* At any rate, here's the colors I'll be doing it in (I think the blue will make it look great with jeans):

I just love how you can customize the colors of this pattern! If you were to buy it in a retail store, you'd have a choice of maybe 4 or 5 sets of colors... doing it this way, there were hundreds of colors and thousands of combinations possible... there won't hardly be any two alike!

But... I sure feel like I'm spending myself out of house and home! It is just so wrong that making stuff yourself costs more than buying the same thing already made does.

I'm doomed

2004-11-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

This morning Bloglines tells me that I have 36 new posts in my Crochet category and 191 new posts in my Knitting category (that doesn't include my Knitting favorites category that I did manage to keep up on, mostly, over the weekend).

That'll teach me to think there would be less posting over a holiday week.

*sigh* I'll never catch up (even if I pretend I don't have children to feed and sleep to get or any sort of life whatsoever).

Do you shave your Booga?

2004-11-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to knitting up my little addition to my Booga Bag, so I could put it into the washer to felt it (yeah, yeah... I know it's technically FULLING instead of felting, but I like the way felting sounds better, so there).

Initial size:

8" x 4.5" on the bottom x 11.5" tall

i-cord = (about 72" long, using the vaunted outstretched-arm-to-nose-equals-one-yard method)

1st felt:

8" x 4" on the bottom x 9" tall

i-cord = 55" long

2nd felt:

7" x 3.5" on the bottom x 8" tall

i-cord = 49"

And here's my little additon... it's a tab. The idea is, you put the ball or skein of yarn in the bag, and thread the yarn through the tab and then on to your needles. As you knit and need more yarn, you can pull on it, and the ball/skein can bounce around all it needs to in the bag without escaping, and the yarn will still come up nice and neat through the tab. Maybe I don't really need the tab for that... maybe just having it in a bag at all would take care of it for me, I don't know, because I haven't been knitting from a bag. It was just driving me nuts that the ball/skein is always trying to escape whenever I try to get more.

My tab invention

And one last gratuitous shot:

Booga blocking

I'm still surprised that I had a box that was the right size to block it with. It's now sitting in front of the fire (gas) with a fan blowing on it. The washing machine did a really good job of spinning out the water, but I've heard lots of people saying how long theirs took to dry, so I'm giving it all the help I can. I want to show it off when our company comes on Wednesday.

OH! I almost forgot to ask... if anyone has made a Booga Bag or other felted bag before... do you shave the fuzz off, or is the fuzz part of the charm?

At it again...

2004-11-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

I played around with making some more stitch markers. Here's what I came up with:

Leafy stitch marker

Butterfly stitch marker

Bronze stitch marker

The beads on the butterfly stitch marker read more pink in person, and the amount of pink vs. green changes depending on how the bead is turned.

I'm not very happy with the Bronze stitch marker, and I'll probably take it apart. They don't make the pins or hooks in anything but silver and gold, so I thought I'd try to make them out of wire, since I could get a coppery color in that. There's too much space, though, between the beads and the dangly thing below them (I have no idea what to call it... I just thought it looked neat), and the wire was MUCH softer than I would've liked for the part that goes around the needle. I couldn't get enough stability with just one wrap of the wire, and with more than one, I ran into the trouble of the wraps staying together. Wrapping more wire around those wraps just makes it look messy. I do still like the main bead, though. You really can't see how neat it is from the picture. It's got a black core with flecks of gold in it that's just so pretty. I guess I'll have to give up the dangly bronze thing and re-do them with silver.

Oh, and I got past the increases on the second sleeve... I just need to keep knitting in st st to length. Then I (get to???) start on the finishing. I've never seamed anything or made button bands before, and the only time I picked up stitches was on the Booga Bag, where the amount of stitches to pick up was more intutive than the 3 out of 4 you generally do when you're picking up off of st st. I'm a bit worried about how well I'll be able to do it.

Update on the baby sweater

2004-11-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

UGH! I had to re-write this post, as Blogger decided to puke when I tried to publish it before.

I finished:

the front panels

and one:

sleeve

and I cast on for the second sleeve and knit past the ribbing and through the first set of increases I have to count rows for. I had to cast on twice, because the first time I accidentally cast on with the larger needles. I didn't even notice until I'd done all the ribbing and was about to start with the increases.

I love the way the front panels look... they remind me of a mosaic, and they have and interesting raised texture, too. I know I still have to add the button bands, but they seem too narrow to match the back. The sleeve, on the other hand, seems huge. I know that's just because it's all layed out flat.

I'm really impressed with myself for sticking with this when I want so much to get to work on other things.

I have a question I'm hoping someone can answer for me. Take a look at this:

Closeup of ribbing

Does anyone know why the ribs seem to get smaller as they go up? The ribbing as a whole gets larger as they go up, and the ribs on the reverse side look a lot more straight from top to bottom. I don't like how uneven they look, but I don't know what to do about it... it looks the same on all of the pieces I've done so far. I used the knitting on cast on method, if that makes any difference. Is there anything I can do to make the ribbing look like it's supposed to (with this that's already done, hopefully, but even if there's something I can do different the next time to make it work, I'd appreciate the info)?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Christmas is coming... gift giving idea

2004-11-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about Christmas giving for a while now. I'd like to knit or crochet things to give for Christmas, but I really don't believe I'll have enough time to finish most of the things I would do, especially since I alredy have a bucketload of things I want to make for myself... and I know for sure I'll be happy to have something homemade... I don't even have to guess about me.

So I've been toying with this idea:

I'll make up a whole bunch of things that I want for me (like these or these or this or this or this or these or this or this or this).

Then I'll put them all in a box (or post pictures, for those that don't live near me). Any of the ladies in my family can pick one, or ask me to make one in another color. Anything they don't pick, I get to keep, and anything they do pick, I can remake for myself. Or if they don't like anything, they can just tell me that, too, and THEN I'll go hunting for something appropriate in the stores.

What do you think... would it fly?

I finished the back of the baby sweater...

2004-11-12T01:25:00.000-07:00

* Aye, but it be a curly beastie! * There really isn't a bump
on the side of the fabric in the lower left... I just could only get
it to lay so flat.

I'm even less pleased with the pooling now... it travelled:

Where the lime green and light blue alternate, it reminds me a bit of
the optical illusion with the sillhouetted faces and the vase in
between.

I'm not changing it, though. I doubt it would be any less weird no
matter where I started in the color pattern (especially since it
travelled... either my guage changes from row to row, which I can't
see, or the colors are not exactly the same length each repeat.

About an inch from the top, I split the yarn on a stitch and didn't
notice it until the end of the next row. WHAT A PAIN!!! I had to rip
it out more than once, because I was not getting the stitches back on
the needle right. I finally ended up purling knitwise (I think... I
could be just making up a new stitch for all I know) in order to get
the stitches to go the right way. If I never have to do that again,
it'll be too soon.

Now the neckline stitches are sitting on my biggest cable needle. You
think that'll get me to finish this off before I start on that poncho
I SOOOOO want to make? Maybe if I can convince myself that there's
nothing else I could possibly move thm to to free up the cable needle.
Uh-huh... I'm that gullible, especially when I'm the one telling the
lie.

I started on the ribbing for the left front. And then just about the
worst thing that could've happened as far as knitting goes happened.
My needle fell down the side of the couch. Now, you have to
realize... this couch is designed as a trap for stuff. It can fall
down in their easily, but it's impossible to get it out w/o removing
some of the staples holding the fabric taut on the side: There's a
board placed just so as to keep it all away from where you might be
able to reach it. So, my DH and I tipped the couch over, and he
pulled out a bunch of staples so that I could just snake my arm in and
grab at stuff. OH, WHAT I FOUND IN THERE! The instructions for
caring for my new cookware, pens and kid necklaces, the needle I knew
I lost AND one of the ones for the set I have to use for the regular
knitwork on this baby sweater (I didn't even know that one was
missing)... oh, and that pink crochet hook that came in my Crochet for
the Cause scarf kit. I owe my 4 year old an apology. And, I
scratched up the back of my hand and my arm on the plywood. The skin
on my hands is not tough... I have eczema, and they do not need to be
beat up like that.

Why yes, I do have Startitis... how could you tell?

2004-11-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

Before I forget to mention it, I did get over to Michael's yesterday, and SCORE! They did have the Homespun I needed in the right color, with the right dye lot even. Woo-Hoo!!!

I got an invitation to a baby shower this last week (the day after it happened, but we won't mention that... okay, so maybe we will). My cousin is having a baby in December. And for some insane reason, I decided I wanted to try to knit something for her. I'd seen a pattern for an adorable sweater/hat/sock set at the Coats & Clark website:

Patty Cakes cardigan & hat set

Their website showed that they also had that particular yarn in more boyish colors, so I went on a hunt all over the city for it. The variegated Beach colorway was easy to find, but the first store only had the lime green to go with it, and I wanted the bright blue (of course, I bought the lime green anyways, just in case). Then for some reason I started thinking it was a TLC yarn rather than a Red Heart yarn, and that caused me all sorts of problems finding it. I did finally, though. I was so excited when I swatched for it... I was getting gauge spot on. But then I realized I was getting it with what was supposed to be the large needles and I was using the small needles... I'd have to go back for another set of needles.

So, I finally cast on (my first time successfully knitting on), and got the ribbing done:

Then I switched to the variegated yarn and bigger needles, and did a few rows:

Hmmm... it's pooling. I wasn't sure at first if I liked that, and I almost ripped it back out to start over. But, I figured that I would probably just end up with it pooling in a different place, and at least how it is now, the lime green stripe is fairly centered on the back. So, it stays. It's growing on me.

Do you notice what I did wrong? (No, it's not that the ribbing is bigger on one side than the other... the piece wouldn't stop curling so I could take a picture).

DD had picked out some blue yarn to crochet with a while back. After all that hunting for the matching yarn, I used the wrong one. It's also a bigger yarn than the variegated one... As long as I keep using it, I'm sure it will just look like a design detail, but BUGGARS! it irritates me.

I also notice that the ribbing looks bigger at the bottom and smaller at the top. Is that how 1x1 ribbing usually looks?

Oh, and just an aside... the larger needles I have are plastic ones made by Lion brand. I do not like them... way too bendy for my tastes, and the yarn is an acrylic, and it squeaks along them. I wish I'd held out in that size for metal needles.

I think...

2004-11-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

I knit continental style. I haven't found anything that shows it in such a way that I'm certain, though. I'm hoping there's some more experienced knitters out there that can tell me if it sounds like I do.

I mostly use the left needle as a prop. I balance it on my tummy (or leg, if it's longer). I do the work with the right hand and needle, and then manipulate the yarn with the left hand, a lot like I do when I crochet.

Does that sound like continental style knitting, or just like I'm a really weird and awkward knitter?

Stash enhancement

2004-11-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

We have a new (huge) JoAnn's here in town. They had their grand opening over this last week, and I knew from dropping in at their soft opening that they were selling Homespun for $3.99, so I went to get the supplies for a project I want to do. I've been REALLY wanting to make this:

Fringed poncho

If I were to make it out of the yarn called for in the pattern, I would have to spend $250 on yarn alone! Sorry, but that is so far out of the question as to be laughable. I could easily buy 5 really nice items of clothing (or more!) with that amount of money. I wouldn't even spend that much on this if it were already knit for me. Luckily for me, Lion brand Homespun is the same guage, and is much, much less expensive. Closer to $50, but that's still fairly expensive, so I've been waiting for a sale so I could get it at least a little less than that. They only had 8 skeins of the color I chose, and I needed 10, but I bought them all in hopes that with it being a variegated yarn, different lots won't end up being differently colored enough for it to be a problem. Oh, and I just saw Michael's ad, and they're selling Homespun for $3.97 this week. Maybe (MAYBE) it won't be so hard to get the same dye lot after all. Here's the colorway I'll be using:

Yarn for poncho

I do wish Homespun came in a color more like that of the yarn used in the pattern (I'm really drawn to the blue-grey), but they don't. Other color options of the Homespun that I liked were less neutral, and I decided that would mean I wouldn't get to wear the poncho as much.

And of course, I had to get a bunch more knitting supplies to go along with my plan to make this pattern:

Knitting notions

I got both straight (metal) and circular (plastic) needles in the size called for in the pattern, as well as cable stitch holders in various sizes, and some dpns to do the i-cord for my Booga bag.

And, they were having a 40% off sale on all their jewlery making supplies, so I bought some beads and such to make more stitch markers:

Bead stash enhancement

I'm thinking I might try selling some on eBay. I wonder if that would fly.

Booga Bag body done

2004-11-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

Finished Booga Bag body

I still have to weave in the ends and make the i-cord, but the bag itself is all finished! Right now (before felting) the bag is almost 8 inches wide by 4.5 inches deep along the bottom, by 11.5 inches tall. I've used just shy of 2 skeins of the Noro (you can see the little bit left over from the second skein). I wonder how much of the third skein most people ended up using. Since I only have the i-cord to do out of it, I would guess I'll only be using about half that skein, if that.

The bag is supposed to felt down to 4.5"x7.5"x8.5" Hmmm... I guess the dimensions aren't going to turn out quite the same, unless stockinette stitch felts differently (ie. way more) than the garter stitch of the bottom.

Something else I find interesting (probably just because this is one of my very first knit objects) is how different 34 stitches are compared to 34 rows.

I'm also rather excited that it actually looks well knit. The stitches look even (and what little unevenness there is can easily be accounted for by the fact that the yarn is thick in some places and thin in others), even though it didn't feel like I was knitting consistently as I went along. Knitting (or at least stockinette stitch) seems to be pretty forgiving compared to crochet in that regard.

I used my PDA as both my portable pattern and my row counter. Every time I finished a row, I'd make a tick mark. It worked out well for me, so I'll probably use it that way from now on.

And now for some comic relief. After a little too much knitting at once, I decided the bag was looking a bit like a beret:

Ok, nope... not a beret

I think I needed a break.

I voted!

2004-11-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

More stitch-markery goodness

2004-11-01T23:34:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed making my other stitch marker so much that today I pulled out some other supplies I'd bought and made a whole set:

Dragonfly stitch markers

I made them similar but not identical... I figured that with the beads in different positions, I could use them for counting things... either something where I had to do multiple things on each row, or where I had to do the same thing a certain number of times... I could tell which number I was on by swapping the stitch marker out each time I did it.

I got another 14 rounds of knitting done on my Booga Bag. I wanted to do more, but my finger was getting rubbed raw by the yarn, and I was getting VERRRRRY SLEEEEEEPYYYYY. I timed myself on one round, and it took me just over 10 1/2 minutes. I don't think I'm going that fast on every round, but it's still not as long as it feels like it takes. Still, I figured that meant roughly another 10 hours worth of knitting from that point (another 8.5 now). And, that doesn't inlcude making the i-cord.

Lookie what I made!

2004-11-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

I made myself a stitch marker:

I must say, I am way too excited about this. It pleased me to no end to dangle the thing and swing it around. I was afraid it might end up too stiff to do that, because really, I had no idea what I was doing. I just bought some supplies and tried it, and it worked.

See me using my pretty new stitch marker:

I finished the bottom of the bag and picked up stitches all around so I could start knitting the body of it in the round. Picking stitches up on the end was easy. I had a lot of difficulty doing it on the other long side, though. The pattern called for 34 stitches to be picked up, and that should've been easy enough, since there are 34 stitches on each row anyways. I kept ending up with 32 or 33, though, so in the end, I just fudged it.

I have to say, though... knitting 100 stitches in the round does not simply take 3 times as long as knitting 34 stitches back and forth. By the end of the bottom of the bag, I was doing a row every 3 minutes (I finally figured out how to loosen my stitches up enough to not have them bind too much on the needles... I tend to knit and crochet tight). I haven't timed it, but it sure feels like more than 10 minutes per round now. Way more time spent scootching the stitches around the needles.

Oh, and I have already found my first (infamous) color changing knot in my Noro, so I got to try out a new skill of changing yarns sooner than planned.

I woke up this morning to find this:

The view outside my window

And here's a picture of the closeup of that farthest house. I'm not sure the camera focused right, but there WAS a big gust of wind that blew a lot of snow along obscuring the view.

And finally:

The sky... yes, it really is one solid color... talk about bleak!

The wind is blowing from the north (HARD), and I wish I could show you what it looks like. I can't think of the words to describe it. It's really scouring all the dry snow off the ground and moving it down the street. Makes me think of a large flooded river or a freight train. Gratefully, the schools are closed today.

To leave you on a brighter note, here's my sweet kids all dressed up for Halloween:

A ninja

Snow White

A fairy

Knitting news

2004-10-31T02:18:00.000-07:00

Look what my nice mail lady brought me today:

NORO!

I've been SOOO wanting to make a Booga Bag. I found an online source that sells it for a good price, and I ordered enough for 2 of the Booga Bags (colors 115 and 124), and one extra ball in 94, because it looked interesting, and they only had one left (I could probably make a small version for something). That one loner is wound different and the brand name is only listed in Japanese. Interesting. I also got some Berrocco Chinchilla so I could see how the keyhole scarf I've mentioned before worked up in the yarn it was designed with. It's a nice soft yarn, so it'll be fun to work with.

I was so excited to work on it that I cast on as soon as I had a chance. I thought I'd use the opportunity to learn a new cast on technique. I used the single cast on for the Optik scarf, as it was the only one I even knew about until recently. I tried to do the knitting on method, but I couldn't make it work. I couldn't do it loose enough to do more than 4 or 5 (stitches?), and it was taking me way too long, so I went back to single cast on. *sigh* I got about 10 rows done tonight.

I've also almost come to the end of the yarn for my Optik scarf. Big problem... it's nowhere near as long as I wanted it to be.

Optik scarf (progress?)

It's about 22" long and a little over 4" wide, which means this is about how much I can wrap it around my neck:

Optik scarf around my neck

I haven't come to the end of the yarn yet, but I'm close. The balls are pretty small now. I would prefer that it be about twice as long as it is (if I hold one end and the middle of the back of my neck, the other hangs to about where I wanted the scarf to land).

I was thinking, if I could just get it long enough to have decent ends (that would require at least 8 more inches in length, basically to make a square of the matterial on each end beyond where it overlaps), I could just pin it together with a great pin or button and magnetic clasp. I'm thinking I won't be able to make it that far, and I'm not sure with this yarn if blocking would make much difference (okay, so I've never blocked anything... I'm a complete novice).

I can see two other options:

1) I could buy a 3rd skein of the Optik, and just use that to lengthen the scarf. it would still be a short scarf, but it would be long enough for the pin/button option. I don't want it to cost half again as much, though.

2) I could rip it back out and instead of doubling it up on itself, pair it with another yarn. I bought some Lion brand Microspun in black that I could do it with. That way, it would end up the length I wanted, and the Microspun IS nice and soft. The colors in the fabric would likely be somewhat less striking than they are now, though. The idea of undoing all that I've done already makes me rather sad, though, and it would be extra frustrating, because this yarn is so delicate that ripping it out might end up causing problems. Maybe I should unroll one of the balls and use the other end of the Optik to swatch this option. I dunno.

So, what would you do? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

It's about time!

2004-10-27T14:29:00.000-06:00

Blogger has been down for something like the last 15 hours. I haven't been able to get on to post, or to access either my blog or anyone else's that uses Blogger/Blogspot. I am not a happy camper. I've been toying with the idea of moving over to Typepad (I really like that they allow categorizing your posts, having photo albums, on-site trackback, and that you can edit/delete comments) . If this proves to be more than a one time thing, there's no question that will happen.

Anyhow, on to the actual posting.

My 4 year old absolutely loved my Crochet for the Cause scarf, and wanted me to make her one. How can a mother resist a request like that??? So, I pulled some yarn out of my little stash, and made one up for her. It was about 3" wide, and about 3 feet long, and it took me less than one evening to make. And of course, then I had to make one for my 6 year old, because I wouldn't want her to feel neglected. Hers is the same length, but about 4" wide. I did the first foot the same night as my 4 year old's, but I had to finish it up the next night, and give it to them the day after that. They loved them (I knew they would):

Pink Scarves all around

The yarn I used was Caron Simply Soft. It really is soft and nice to touch. It does, however, like to untwist... and it seemed to do it more where the joinings were (or maybe it's just that it's more noticeable there), which doesn't look so great if you look close (not that anyone but me does). It also has a LOT of drape, so they hang longer and skinnier than I'd intended.

My 6 year old has caught the crochet bug. She's been chaining up a storm. She's such a funny thing... I've been having her use my bigger Crystalites set (L-P). Each day, she would pick out a smaller one to use, and when I finally asked her about it, she told me that it was because she was getting better, and she was using the smallest one that day because now she was an expert :) (LOL... it doesn't matter which hook she uses, she tightenes the stitches up to what I would get with about a size G or H hook).

The chain's the thing

She's so proud of herself!

My first FO!

2004-10-23T01:44:00.000-06:00

Ok, maybe not the first one EVER, but certainly the first one since I started my blog or heard the acronym FO.

Crochet for the Cause scarf: DONE!

It ended up being about 5.5" wide, and roughly 48" long (based on my uber-accurate measurements, arrived at by folding the scarf into fourths lengthwise and then laying an 8.5"x11" piece of paper on top for comparison), if you discount the fringe. If you include the fringe, then it's about 8" longer. The pattern said the finished dimensions would be 7" x 50". As my dad is fond of saying... "close enough for government work".

PS... For some reason, the fringe really pleases me. :)

Help, please

2004-10-22T11:49:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been making some progress on my Crochet for the Cause scarf.

Cause scarf progress

I ripped what I had back out, because it was narrower than the pattern said it should be, which means it would probably be way longer than I wanted. So, I took it out, and added another repeat of the pattern. Then, I worked on it pretty much all night. It's now about 22" long (it's supposed to end up about 50" long), but after the yarn had rested over night, it is still only about 5 1/2" to 5" wide, rather than the 7" it's supposed to be. I don't think it will grow too long, though. The yarn is disappearing faster than would seem to be right for it to end up 2 1/2 times as long as it is now. I may be wrong, though... this is the first time I've pulled the yarn from the center, so I may not be guaging it well.

Here's where I could use some help. When I join a chain to something on the previous row/round, especially if I'm joining to a chain space, I end up with a loosey goosey stitch. Can you see how open it is?

Loosey goosey joining

I have tried everything I can think of to avoid this, and nothing I've done will make it a nice, tight, join. Is there anything I can do, or is this just the way it is and I should quit being such an obsessive perfectionist?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

The sky is on fire!

2004-10-21T19:13:00.000-06:00

I took some pictures tonight at sunset, and it looks like nothing less than the sky burning furiously.

Ablaze

Maelstrom

Can you see the evil face in the clouds?

Click on the picture for a larger image, if you have a hard time finding it.

If you still can't see it, click here, and I'll show you.

"Bearly" working

2004-10-21T01:51:00.000-06:00

I joined my first -along. I'm going to be doing a (how cute is that?).

I'll be working on a crocheted thread bear. It is the most adorable thing I've ever seen. It's also fully thread jointed, so you can move his arms and legs and turn his head. Here are a couple of pictures of what it should look like when I'm all finished:

The Cutest Little Thread Bear ever

This little blue one was the first one the pattern's author made up to sell. It was made with tatting thread and stands just 1" tall. It sold for $174.

Cutest threadbear... another example.

This pink one was made with #10 crochet thread and was just shy of 2" tall. It sold for $269. I've also seen it done up as a panda bear... too cute.

I bought the pattern from the author, and she specifically says you can make them to sell. Since she's rather famous in the thread bear world, I doubt I'd get the same kind of price for mine, but maybe this can help with the cost of my yarn addiction. :) And then again, maybe it'll just turn out that I have a cute little bear of my very own... who knows.

I started working on mine before we moved, but had to put her away to pack and such. I'm making up a rose colored one, and I plan on crocheting a little rose to attach to her when she's done. Here's my progress so far (I sure hope my sticky note didn't fall off the pattern... otherwise, I won't know where I'm at):

Bear beginnings

(Anyone ever tried to take a picture of their own hand while balancing the camera and pushing the button with your NON-dominant hand, all while trying to get the focus right and not wiggle too much? It's sooooo hard! I'm shocked that I actually got a picture I could use out of the experience.)

Stash enhancement and progress made...

2004-10-19T23:58:00.000-06:00

Stash enhancement

I got home today from going to a movie with the kids, and found a package on my doorstep :) Here's what I got:

Yarn Delivery

There's 3 of each of these yarns. The chenille is for this scarf:

Beaded scarf

It is the exact color (teal) the pattern says it uses, but it doesn't look anything like it. The picture from the magazine makes the scarf itself look more like navy blue. The picture above shows the bright teal, but it really doesn't even capture the brightness of it. This is one bold color! I may like how it turns out, but if not, I'm pretty sure I can think of at least one person that it would make a good gift for for Christmas.

The Incredible yarn is for this scarf. The color is Autumn Leaves. I fell in love with this scarf when I saw it, and the color is going to look great on me.

The Color Waves yarn is for this bag:

Color Splash Handbag

Another thing that I just knew I had to make as soon as I saw it. I'm really not much of a bag person, so to fall in love with a handbag is a surprise for me. I have not been able to find the handles pictured here. I bought a couple of other options, we'll have to see if either of them work out, or if I have to go on a more extensive hunt for ones that will work with this pattern.

Progress

I spent some time this evening re-dying my Misti baby alpaca lace weight yarn. I hope the color turns out better this time. I was very careful... I put the side down that had the most misses from before, and I made sure that I spent the first little bit (actually, the whole time I could still see pink in the water) stirring the yarn around, so that all of it was exposed to the dye. I really wish I could tell if the color is more even than it was before. Until it dries, though, it all looks more grey and less pink than it will really end up being. If it didn't take, I'm just going to have to chalk it up to the way the yarn takes color, and hope it doesn't look too bad once I've crocheted it into the shawl.

I also worked on the Crochet for the Cause scarf (with my Crystalite hooks).

Start of the Cause scarf

The pattern says the hook they give you is a size P, then says it's 10.0mm. My Crystalites set shows the P as being 11.5mm and the N as being 10.0mm, but even that looked bigger to me than the one in the kit (granted, I don't have it to do a side-by-side comparison). I ended up doing the foundation row with the N, and the rest of the pattern with the M (9.0mm).

Can I just tell you how frustrated the foundation chain makes me? The chains don't tend to stay even when you try to crochet into them, and being the perfectionist that I am, it just drives me bananas.

Gremlin tales

2004-10-19T23:38:00.000-06:00

I have a gremlin living in my house. He's sneaky. He'll hide out for years, so we think he's gone, but every now and then, something happens, and I KNOW he's here.

Remember my missing pink crochet hook? It's still missing. As far as I can tell, it is nowhere. There were maybe 3 minutes from the time I last saw it to the time I started frantically looking for it, and I didn't get up from where I was sitting at that time. We've looked everywhere. I've torn the couch apart multiple times (interesting what I DID find in it), and dug my hands into all the cracks and crevices. DH and I even tipped the couch back to take a look underneath, to no avail. The kids cleaned up the room. DH has even now (not because of the crochet hook, but he has) taken a bunch of moving boxes out of the room down to the basement. It just isn't there. Nor have we been able to find it anywhere else (the computer room, DD's bedroom, nowhere).

Have you ever had something go missing that absolutely cannot be missing? Let me tell you a couple of tales of my gremlin's earlier exploits (he's been with me at least since college).

During my sophomore year of college, I had a Biology class. Towards the end of the year, there was a huge test, and I needed desperately to study for it. My book suddenly was nowhere to be found. Luckily, my fiancee (my DH now) had a roommate that had the same class, and he let me borrow his book to study. I stayed up late into the night studying for the test, both in the kitchen and in my bedroom in my apartment. I finally got too sleepy to study and went to sleep in my bed. I woke up early the next morning, and studied more in my bed, and then finally went to go take the test. I returned the book to the roommate, and went to take a nap (I'd been up way, WAY too late). I laid down in my bed, and there was my book... UNDER THE PILLOW. Now, I'd slept in that bed, and I'm sure you know college biology books are huge. There is no way I would have missed it having slept and studied on the bed as I had. My roommates said they hadn't taken it, and I have no reason to doubt them. None of them were taking the class, and they weren't so capricious or malicious to have taken it when I needed it to study for a test.

Later, after DH and I were married and living in married student housing, I had received a pell grant check for something like $800 or $900. I set it on our table... I knew exactly where it was. Other things piled up on the table, too (I have horizontal surface sydrome... all the horizontal surfaces in my house end up covered with stuff), but I never moved the check, and neither did my hubby. I finally got around to wanting to cash the check and I searched all over the table for it... first where I KNEW it was, and later through ALL the piles of papers. I did this repeatedly, and could not find the check. I don't remember how long later (a week or a few), I was looking through the papers on the table for something else (or... maybe I was even cleaning up... what a novel idea that would've been at the time), and lo and behold... there was the check. EXACTLY where I had placed it, and therefore EXACTLY where I'd been searching for it. There's no way I would've missed it before, and yet it wasn't there... but then it was.

ARGH! So now the little beasty has my pink crochet hook. Any guesses where it will turn up?

UPS came... finally

2004-10-18T17:07:00.000-06:00

My long awaited Crochet for the Cause kit came:

Crochet for the Cause kit

I was so excited, I could barely make myself stop to take a picture before tearing into it. I found something to wrap the fringe with (note: a VCR tape is a perfect measuring guide for 10" lengths of yarn... 4" wide and 1" deep), and was working on that, when I noticed my 4 year old messing with the pretty pink crochet hook. After getting her to put it down, I finished up the fringe wrapping, and then cut it and used a small bit of yarn to tie the lenths into a bundle, so I wouldn't lose them.

Then in true Knot Again fashion, I couldn't find the pink crochet hook so that I could start on the scarf *whimper*. I searched all around where it and I had been; the little one denies taking it, and I couldn't find it where she had been (insert head smacking sound here).

Now granted, I do have a Crystalites hook in the same size the pink hook is supposed to be, so I could probably go get that if I had to (and if it doesn't turn up by the kids' bedtime, I will, so that I can work on it while I watch TV), but I sooooo want to use the pink one (silly, huh)?

Froggin': Knitting progress, or lack thereof...

2004-10-16T12:37:00.000-06:00

I started working on my Optik scarf tonight. After a few rows, I noticed that I had managed to lose a stitch, and so I had to start pulling it back out. I really hate doing that with this yarn, because sometimes it tangles and I can't get it out more w/o damaging the yarn, and it makes it fuzzier all along the way. I must've lost the stitch (probably by knitting two stitches together) the last time I worked on the scarf, because I had to pull out more than I had actually done today.

I spent the rest of the night getting back to where I'd gotten before the frogging (or fairly close, anways).

The scarf is long enough to BARELY overlap when I wrap it around my neck. I'm not thinking it'll end up as long as I wanted it to be, and I'm pretty sure I won't have enough to do the fringe I was hoping for. Now I have to decide if I want to spend the money for another hank, or if I want to try to add a button... and if I go the button route, how do I guage where to put the button hole withouth having to go to the end and then rip it back out again.

I'd post a picture, but really, it's just a longer rectangle than it was before, so there's not much difference between what it is now and what it was before. I'll post a pic when I get to the end of these two skeins, and have a better idea of just how long it will end up being.

My sky

2004-10-15T22:50:00.000-06:00

For all you skywatching knitters out there, here's a picture of my sky, taken at sunset last week. I love the pastels.

My sky: Sunset, October 7, 2004

Enjoy!

The Great Pink Ribbon Project

2004-10-14T16:04:00.000-06:00

My Threaded Bliss is hosting The Great Pink Ribbon Project. The sweet lady who runs this store is taking donated knit or crocheted pink ribbons and will sell them to earn money for breast cancer research.

If you have a little extra pink yarn around (any fiber is okay), and have a few minutes to spend making a ribbon or two, it would be so nice if you would. The pattern below is easy and quick to work up... but they can be knit or crocheted. Follow the link above for the address to send them to.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help out!

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month...

2004-10-13T13:36:00.000-06:00

I made up a pattern for a crocheted pink ribbon:

Crocheted Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon

Crocheted Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon pattern:

Materials:

Small amount worsted weight yarn in pink
Size G crochet hook

Chain 31

Row 1: Sc in the 1st ch from the hook, and in every ch across (30 sc). Ch 1, turn.
Row 2: Sc in each ch across.

Edging: Ch 1. Sc in the middle of the end of the ribbon. Ch 1. Sc in extra loops of each ch of the foundation row. Ch1. Sc in the middle of the 2nd end of the ribbon. Ch 1. Sl St to 1st sc of row 2 and fasten off, leaving a long tail (about 6").

Finishing: Wrap into a ribbon shape. Weave in ends, using the tail to secure the two thicknesses together where they join.

(Note: when sc'ing into the extra loops of the foundation row, I found it helpful to use the actual hook to catch the loops, rather than the head of the hook. I hope that makes sense.)

Enjoy!

Wow! I'm knitting!

2004-10-12T23:31:00.000-06:00

Optik scarf start

I cast on for the Optik scarf tonight. I'm using 2 strands to even out the thick/thin parts of the material. It looks like I got about 6 inches done. That took me pretty much most of the evening... oh, say 3 hours. Since the yarn has one mostly thin strand and one thick and thin strand, it is a little hard to work with. But look at the amazing colors! (You can click on the picture for a larger version.) The only thing I don't like is that the gold sparkly bits aren't more evenly spaced out. I'm way too much of a perfectionist.

See my shiny new Addi turbo circulars? Even though I have to fight to keep the stitches from slipping off, I do so, SO much better working with metal than I had been able to with the bamboo. And, I hope that eventually, I'll be skilled enough that it won't take so much effort to keep the stitches behaving.

Strike 4

2004-10-09T20:50:00.000-06:00

Today I went on one of my infamous wild goose chases. I spent all afternoon running around the city looking for the Crochet for the Cause kit by Lion Brand Yarn. We're getting a new, larger JoAnn's in town, and it doesn't open until the 29th. Walmart didn't have it. Michael's didn't have it. Hobby Lobby didn't have it. ARGH!

I finally ended up ordering it online, direct from Lion. I really wanted to just start it today, and I hated having to pay shipping, but that was the only choice I was left with.

I LOVE CROCHETING!

2004-10-08T23:07:00.000-06:00

I like all kinds of ways to create things on my own, but I really have to say that crocheting is at the top of my list right now.

One thing I truly love about crocheting is that it makes me feel feminine. My hands look so elegant while I do it. The yarn/string slips effortlessly through my fingers, and voila! something beautiful emerges.

I want to feel the same way about knitting. There are tons of incredibly beautiful things that I want to knit (you stinky knitters are the ones that introduced me to the world of gorgeous yarns, and my pocketbook loathes you). So far, though, knitting makes me feel like a klutz. Between my trouble keeping the tension anything close to even, and the stitches wanting to either all slip off the needles or stick in place, and the weird way I've ended up holding my knitting needles to make it work for me (I balance the bottom of my left needle on my tummy while I use my right hand to work the right needle and my left hand to handle the yarn and keep the stitches on the left needle in place) that just looks and feels awkward and anything but feminine... I just don't get the same feeling from knitting.

Feeling better

2004-10-08T23:02:00.000-06:00

I was able to work some more on my softy goodness scarf again tonight. I was a little smarter about it this time, and took some allergy medicine before I got started, and I made sure I did not touch my face while I was working on it, and washed my hands when I got tired enough I had to put it down. It's grown to about 12 inches long now. I'm beginning to hope I have enough yarn to put a shell stitch border on it.

Ay, matey, I be the one-eyed knitting pirate...

2004-10-07T23:33:00.000-06:00

Ok, really, it's the crocheting pirate, but that doesn't roll off the tongue nearly as well.

My left eye is terribly swollen.

So, I posted about the lovely, soft angora yarn I got. Today I started working it into a scarf. I had to frog it out and start over a bunch, because I'm sort of making it up as I go along, because the keyhole scarf pattern I was planning on using calls for thicker yarn, a much too large crochet hook, and has the slit going the opposite way from how I want it to go (It's definitely easier to work going the other way, but since when do I do things the easy way.

So, anyways, I'm working it a lot, and somewhere along the line, I realize that my eyes are REALLY watering. There's also filmy stuff moving across it in front of my vision, so I start rubbing my eyes trying to get rid of it.

Here's the thing... I'm allergic to rabbits. No, I didn't forget that... I just was hoping it wouldn't be a factor. I have a sweater with angora in it, and it doesn't bother me, and I touched the hank of yarn and rolled it into a ball before, all without significant problems. But, I think the amount of touching involved when I'm knitting and crocheting is just too much for my poor confused immune system.

Hopefully, my little scarf won't bother me when it's all done, and I'm just wearing it around my neck... because I so want this little luxury.

I did get about 6 to 8 inches of it finished (it's 3 or 4 inches wide). I didn't measure it, and I'm not pulling it back out now to do so.

Of course, I'm thinking this might mean I shouldn't make these for all the ladies in my family like I wanted to (who wouldn't love me if wrapped their necks in such softy goodness???). Doesn't necessarily mean I won't... but I probably shouldn't. That, and the fact that the price of the hanks went up from $20 to $27 within the last 2 weeks at both places I can buy it from. That's not a small bump in price... it's a 30% increase! YIKES!

*sigh*

Goodbye bamboo circulars.

2004-10-06T23:50:00.000-06:00

I went back to Green Valley Weavers & Knitters. I'm happy to say they were willing to let me return the bamboo circular knitting needles. Of course, I was wanting to exchange them for the more-than-double-the-price Addi turbos, so, I'm guessing they didn't feel they were out anything.

While I was there I also picked up some of the softest yarn:

Woodlake Woolies yarn

It's made out of angora, and it's just heavenly to feel. I was disappointed to see that they raised the price from $20 to $27. Luckily for me, they still had one hank in the color I liked marked at the old price (the lady who worked there pointed out to me that they didn't change the prices on the ones they already had, just put the higher price on the new stuff they got in). I want to make a scarf out of it. I'm thinking of making a keyhole scarf like this one. I might tinker around with the pattern a bit, though, because I'd like the keyhole to go the other way.

I'm also still drooling over Prism yarn's Cool Stuff. The store had 300 yard hanks for $84 the last time I came in... the price has gone up to $90 now, though. Either way, it's way too expensive, but I really love the variegated materials in it. It's so nice! I especially loved the Periwinkle colorway, and the web page above has more colors than were at the store... I love the Peacock; and the Pearl, Antique, Patina, Smoke, and Tumbleweed all look great, too. *sigh* I have way too expensive taste.

Pictures! Hobby Lobby acquisitions:

2004-10-06T22:00:00.000-06:00

TLC Wiggles and eyelash yarn

The picture doesn't capture the color of the Wiggles yarn very well. It really is a nice hot pink color... it looks a little orangy in the picture. I thought I'd use these to make my 6 year old a poncho.

Camoflage sock yarn

This I got to make my son some socks. I had planned to make me and my hubby and the kids socks for Christmas, rather than buying slippers. We'll see how that works out.

Pictures! Green Valley Weavers & Knitters acquisitions:

2004-10-06T21:00:00.000-06:00

Optik yarn

This is the gorgeous Optik yarn from Berroco I've been talking about. It's just amazing.

Wildfoote Sock yarn

This is the sock yarn I bought. Now it seems all the sock patterns I come across (including the one on the yarn manufacturer's website... despite the fact that the label for the yarn says needle size 1 or 2) don't use size 2's. I'll have to do a more extensive search online for a pattern to use.

Pictures! Knitter's Kove acquisitions:

2004-10-06T20:00:00.000-06:00

As promised, here are the pictures of my yarn store purchases:

Kool-Aid dyed

This is the Misti baby alpaca lace weight yarn. It was originally the shade MC-1070 from this color card.

I used the instructions for Kool-Aid dying from this site. I was especially glad to find the color chart, so that I could get an idea of what I wanted to do beforehand.

I used Slammin' Strawberry Kiwi (I would've used Soarin' Strawberry Lemonade if I could've found it). The first time through, I didn't get very much color, and the coverage was awful. There defninitely was not enough liquid. It is amazing how fast this stuff sucks up the dye! The instructions said 45 minutes, but honestly, the water was just milky after only 5 or 10 minutes.

So, I tried again. This time, I used twice as much dye and a LOT more water. The color is better, but the coverage is not. I let it sit for a few minutes before turning it over. I think I really need to be stirring it in the dye bath constantly while it sucks up the dye... it just happens too fast. My tongs kept catching threads, too, which was most frustrating.

Here's a closeup showing how uneven the dye is in places:

Kool-Aid dyed close-up

I think this is going to require a third dunking. I'm just afraid the color is going to end up being way more vibrant than I was hoping for (I wanted a soft, heathery pink). I don't think I would've minded it being a little variegated as far as depth of color, but as you can see, there's big spots that got pretty much no color. Perhaps the fact that the pattern I'm going to be using is pretty lacy will help.

Here's a picture of the finished product:

Juan's shawl

Isn't it gorgeous!?! It's a crochet pattern (I was pleasantly suprised to find it there, since I've heard so many stories about knitting snobbery at yarn stores). I think it will be fun to make, because the yarn is so nice and soft. And, it's thin like crochet thread, so it's like what I'm used to working with.

I also bought some Cascade 220, also with the idea of testing out different Kool-Aid colors and dying techniques.

Cascade 220

I want to thank...

2004-10-04T22:33:00.000-06:00

Whoever it was that posted on their blog about DiscountYarnSale.com. I've been wanting to make this scarf with Lion Brand's new Incredible ribbon yarn. The price seemed daunting to me, though. I was able to get the Incredible, as well as some Homespun for the Color Splash Handbag and some chenille to make the Beaded Scarf from there, and with shipping, it was still less than I've been able to find elsewhere.

Inspiration coming out of my ears

2004-10-03T23:50:00.000-06:00

I stopped at Barnes and Noble and then at Hobby Lobby, and bought magazines at each place.

The first magazine I picked up was Interweave Knits Crochet special:

Interweave Knits Crochet

I've really wanted to make this bag since I first saw it, so I gave in and bought the magazine, even though it's the only pattern in there that REALLY inspires me.

Color Splash Handbag

I also picked up Better Homes & Gardens Crochet:

BHG Simply Creative Crochet

This one is more promising. I found a bunch of things in there I'd like to do. I LOVE this beaded scarf:

Beaded scarf

And I think the Hooded Car Coat is nice, although I don't know if it will ever rise to the top of my list of things I want to make:

Hooded car coat

My 6 year old daughter would love this flowered bag:

Flower Power Pack

And my (almost 4) year old is really into Strawberry Shortcake, and she loves pink, so I think she'd like it if I could figure out a way to make this cute sweater and hat set in her size (the magazine only lists 18 months and 2 years):

Strawberry Outfit

And finally, I found last year's issue of Vogue Knitting International:

Vogue Knitting International Winter 2003/2004

Jackpot! I want to make so many of the projects in here. The one I most want to make is this turtleneck poncho:

Fringed poncho

I wonder, though, if it would be too much for me. So far, the only thing I've knitted is my Optik scarf (and I'm not done yet), which is only garter stitch (granted, I did do some stockinette when I was testing out the yarn, so I can do that, too). I REALLY do want one of these, though, and now is when the weather is right for it.

Here's some more of the projects that I like:

Fringed collar jacket

Love the colors on this one. I would probably want to lengthen it, though.

Cropped pullover

This one I would definitely have to lengthen. I love the shaping on it, though. Hmmmm... I also need to flatten my tummy a bit before I make it, or it won't look good on me.

Cabled Turtleneck

I know this isn't the best picture. They had a bunch of pictures layered, and this one that showed the sweater best went across two pages. I was also a little wiggly, but since the other things were against me, anyways, I figured I wouldn't bother trying to get a better picture.

The sweater is covered in neat little cables that make a basketweave pattern. There's also a hat and cape pattern that match it (I probaby wouldn't make the cape, but I think it would also work for a scarf).

Fair Isle pullover

I think this would be a neat pattern to try out Fair Isle on.

There is not enough time in my life to complete all these projects, not to mention all the stuff I already had in the works or planned before finding these. ARGH!

New knitting needles

2004-10-02T23:24:00.000-06:00

I stopped by Hobby Lobby today. I picked up a pair of plain old ordinary straight metal knitting needles (I think the brand is Boye, but I've already tossed the cardboard). I cast on again, and, they work so much better for me. I got through a few rows (somewhere between one and two inches in fabric length).

Then I decided I had another problem (make that two).

First, I don't know if I like the way the garter stitch looks in this fabric (okay, really, it's not one of my favorite looks any time I see it). So, I slid all my stitches off the straight needles onto the circulars for holding, and cast on again with the other ball (that turned out to be handy). Then I tried it in stockinette stitch. Alright. I'm not sure I like that either. It looks better from the front, but the back is definitely the back side. Hmmm....

The second problem is with the yarn being so thick in some places and thin in others. It seems that I get a lot of matching up of thin parts with thin parts and thick parts with thick parts as I'm knitting along. This leaves it looking worn through in some places, and I don't like it. Plus, the stitch pattern is more evident in the thin/thin areas.

I'm thinking holding two strands together would make me happier, because it would even out the thin/thick problem, and hide the stitches better. I'm just not sure if I would have enough yarn if I did it that way.

While I was there, I also picked up some more yarn for the stash. I'll post the pictures when I get the camera back.

I'm beginning to think I can't knit.

2004-10-01T23:01:00.002-06:00

I've cast on at least twice for the Optik scarf, but both times, the stitches got too tight to knit into by the end of the second row (not counting the cast-on row).

I'm hoping this is just a case of me and the bamboo knitting needles not getting along. They don't seem pointy enough, and the yarn doesn't slide on them well. I'm also not liking the way the bendy part wants to stay in one particular shape (the way it was curled in the package).

Another yarn store

2004-09-29T20:00:00.000-06:00

I got to go to Green Valley Weavers & Knitters today. Oh, boy, do they have some great stuff! I was almost drooling they had so much nice stuff. It was definitely hard narrowing down what to get w/o breaking the bank.

I ended up getting 2 skeins of Berroco Optik in the Tiffany colorway. I totally fell in love with it when I saw it, and the price wasn't too outlandish ($11.00 for an 87 yard hank). I plan to make a scarf out of it. That way, the stitch at least should be easy enough for my first project (just knit every row), which should help make up for trying to do it with such an unusually textured yarn.

I also got some Wildfoote sock yarn to try to make socks out of, some Clover bamboo circular needles (or is that needle... since it's all attached together, is it singular or plural?) in size 10.5 to use for the scarf, and some size 2 double-point needles to try making socks out of. I'm afraid of dpns... they seem so complicated... so, I thought I'd just jump in and face my fear.

Then, I wanted to get some sort of basic knitting instruction book/booklet. I looked at a few, and wished I could get the Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book, but at nearly $40, that was a little more than I could handle. Then I found the Quick Reference version, and bought that... it was only $20. Rather than waiting for that picture, I'll just steal one off the web:

Vogue Knitting Quick Reference

I finally got to go to a real bonified yarn store today.

2004-09-27T15:50:00.000-06:00

It wasn't the one I was originally planning to go to, because it turns out, they're closed on Mondays, but there were wonderfully yummy things at Knitter's Kove, too.

I got a couple of hanks of baby alpaca laceweight yarn in a greyish/off-white mix, which I plan to dye with Kool-Aid and make into a beautiful crocheted shawl that they had the pattern for in the store. I'll have to post a picture later... DH took the camera with him hunting.

I also got a couple of worsted weight skeins of wool, one in white and one in grey to play with color-wise. I was so surprised that I could find wool that felt nice, rather than being icky scratchy.

Hi, again

2004-09-24T17:06:00.000-06:00

What a weird thing to say, considering I don't think anyone has ever read my blog (that tends to happen when you don't tell anyone about it).

The big reason it's been a long time since I've posted anything is that we moved. Just a few miles from our old house, but this house is nearly twice as big, and has a better layout. I still need to figure out how to organize things, and that's proving to be such a challenge. Too many options, I think.

Anyhow, hopefully now I can get back to working on some things... It's been driving me crazy not doing anything crochet-wise.

1 granny, 2 granny, 3 granny, 4.

2004-07-30T15:45:00.000-06:00

Well, I've finished two of the granny square bases. I'm happy to say they both turned out the same size. I'm in the middle of working on the 3rd, and I expect I'll be able to have all 4 done by tonight.

I will need to add a row of sc around the edge to make them exactly six inches, but that's fine... it'll give me an excuse to tie in with one of the colors in the embellishments.

These will be the first grannies I've done. The nice thing about grannies is that they're so easy I could almost do them in my sleep. It'll be something I'll be able to do regardless of most distractions, and something to fall back on when I'm too stressed to do any of the more complex things I sometimes work on.

2004-07-30T15:42:00.000-06:00

granny

No, no, no, no, no

2004-07-29T01:18:00.000-06:00

I had to frog it again! I re-finished round 20 and was half way around round 21 when I noticed a part of the pattern I missed on one of the repeats. So, tons of crocheting today, but not really much progress.

At this rate, I won't have this done in time to send it to my swap partner, and I REALLY want her to have it... it would be perfect for her.

I also managed to agree to do some granny squares for an afghan for a lady who just had surgery. I'm happy to do them, it's just that they're also due at the same time, and so are another thing that might keep me for finishing this doily.

Round and round and round I go.

2004-07-28T17:00:00.000-06:00

I've been working on this special doily for a swap I'm doing. It's the Elemental Acheivement doily in Patricia Kristofferson's Ultimate Doilies book. I really love how textural it is. It has 39 rounds, and it's supposed to end up being 19 inches across. My gauge swatch was much smaller than what it was supposed to be, though, so I'm not sure if it will end up being nearly that large.

I just frogged an entire round because I thought I made a mistake. Now I'm not sure if I did... I may have been looking at the wrong part of the pattern for this round. UGH!

At least I'm past round 19. That was the hardest one so far, and I had to frog it at least once, too.

2004-07-28T16:55:00.000-06:00

Elemental Acheivement doily, round 20

First post

2004-07-26T01:48:00.000-06:00

Well, this is really just to test the waters here. If you're reading this, you can know that you're at the end.