Sew Fasciknitting

Oh My Darlin'....

2008-09-23T11:12:00.002-05:00

I apologize about being a liar. I promised to be back yesterday with an FO and I wasn't - the knitting was finished, I just needed to weave in ends and steam block my Clementine... which of course I didn't do yesterday. But I did that this morning and she's finished now:

Pattern: Clementine Shawlette (rav link) by Michele Rose Orne
Made for: Holiday 08 Gift
Needle: US 3 / 3.25 mm Inox circs
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy
Colorway: Good Luck Jade
Started: September 18, 2008
Finished: September 21, 2008

This was a super quick knit and easy to memorize - great for zoning out in front of the television (which I happen to do a lot). With this pattern, you knit the two ends separately and then use the kitchener stitch to sew the two together to keep the "trees" going in the same direction. Stitching the two ends together took absolutely forever (about half of the Emmy's was spent fusing) and gave me a neck strain, but it's done now!

I loved this yarn. I really wanted to make a hat with the leftovers, but there definitely wasn't enough for that - you can see how much yarn was left in the top right corner of the above picture. Boo.

The Highland Games

2008-09-21T21:20:00.003-05:00

This weekend, I went to the New Hampshire Highland Games with Matt, his mom, his sister & his sister's boyfriend. Although this was my first time, they've all been multiple times. It was a lot of fun - lots of good food, fun athletic events to watch, and beautiful scenery. It's held in Lincoln, NH which is a ski town. It was at the base of Loon Mountain, but you could take either the ski lift of the Gondola up to the top and explore.

It was gorgeous! From certain views, you could even see Mt. Washington (not in this picture). I'm so happy that I've moved - New Hampshire is such a beautiful state. I'm getting pretty scared of winter, but I think I just need to experience it and then I get past that.

You know what else is gorgeous? The view out my living room window.

It's a cemetery that sits right beside my lot - the old part is what you can see, with dates as early as 1804 (at least, that's the earliest death date I've found). How cool is that? It makes me wish that I was a writer - I could go out and pick a plot and spin a yarn about the person buried here. It's strange being in such an old place (Warner was settled in 1774 - older than America!) and thinking about the thousands of people who have lived - and died - here for hundreds of years. What must there lives have been like? How cold the winters must have been without electric heat! How difficult it must have been to have make all of your own clothes and grow all of your own food and to be so completely self-sufficient! It kind of makes me look at knitting in a different light. Now, I knit socks and shawls for the love of the craft, the satisfaction of completing a lovely new garment that I can do what I like with. It must not have been so nonchalant 200 years ago - it was really a matter of survival, in some ways.

Anyway, I just wanted to post those photos. I'll be back tomorrow with a new finished object (a stealthy project!). I also start my new (part time) job at Borders tomorrow! yay!

Weirdness

2008-09-18T09:10:00.004-05:00

I've been moving along with Gerda- I'm on the sixth and final repeat and am loving how it's going to look. I hit a snafu last night though - I picked her up to work a little more and found this:

It looks like the yarn has been stretched out of some of the stitches - the result is random loops of yarn (kind of like when you're cross-stitching and don't pull the thread all the way through the back, ya know?) and then the correlating rows are gathered (like an elastic band). There are 3 or 4 of these happening, and I found that if I pull the stole from side to side, then the loops shorten but do not go away.

The only thing that I can think that caused this is Sammy.

If one can believe that.

At one point yesterday, I took a nap (hey, I'm unemployed, I can do that) and he was downstairs with me. I placed the stole on the floor beside the couch and maybe he thought he'd try to make a nice pallet out of it and rooted it to make it comfy for him. But I have no proof so I'm really not sure what happened.

As far as fixing it: I think I'm going to just continue knitting, knit on the border, and block it as-is. After it's all stretched out from the blocking, I'll clip the strings and then weave in the ends. It doesn't really seem as if it's distorting the motif too badly - almost like there's a purl row where there should be a knit - nothing too god-awful. But I'm going to ponder my plan of action a little more and see what I can come up with. Suggestions are definitely needed here!

But this baby is going to be HUGE:

I'm getting a little nervous about knitting on the border - the directions seem to say to knit on a border, and then knit a totally separate second part of the border (on different needles) and then graft those two together! What an undertaking - eeks! I think I'm going to look into other border options.

On Balancing

2008-09-15T20:22:00.003-05:00

I've been working on a new stole this past week: Gerda. Check her out:

This has been a blast to knit! First of all, this is the first time I've used Zephyr and it's been just amazing. I love the texture of the yarn and feel like it's the absolute perfect weight - I wish I could knit everything in this! Secondly, the pattern is amazing. It's 77 stitches across and each pattern repeat is 84 lines, which makes it quite challenging... so much fun!

The pictures I'm sharing were taken last week and show 1 repeat and the beginning of the second repeat. Right now, I'm about 15 rows into the 4th repeat, so I'm just over halfway finished with it! It has a knitted on border, which I'm nervous about... I haven't done that yet! I'm just crossing my fingers and will trust the pattern.

Last night, I finished "Blackbird House" by Alice Hoffman. Blackbird House is a farm in Cape Cod, MA that was built by a sailor back in the 17 or 1800s and has survived the storms of the generations of families that lived there. As families come and go, the Blackbird House is always a silent backdrop to their interesting lives. The farm has white blackbirds, sweet peas, turnips, and ghosts of past residents - a wonderful and cozy book to read during Autumn.

Which brings me to my big dilemma: I cannot seem to figure out how to balance reading and knitting. I love reading and finishing books: the accomplishment and enjoyment both bring me big rushes. But it's the same with the knitting: I love the feeling of finishing a project and then giving it away. I love doing both equally, but I can't be as productive if I split my time between the two. The obvious fix is to not worry about finishing things so often and quickly and to stop being an over achiever. Sun: don't rise tomorrow. I just cannot figure out the best way to reconcile the two.

Here's the best things that I can come up with:

1) utilize audio books when I can. My public library has a nice selection which I hope can keep me pretty busy and occupied.
2) While I can't do complex patterns without looking at my work, I can get by with simple knit stitches - maybe I can work on larger projects with big sections of stockinette (such as sweaters?) and read at the same time. This would definitely take some practice but is not out of the question.
3) Make it a point to knit the complex patterns that I really want to complete (such as lace) at times when I'm going to be watching television anyway - such as during my favorite shows or the news.

I know that this is silly, but it has truly been bothering me. Last night, as I was trying to fall asleep, I actually felt my heart-rate rise and felt a little anxious because I was thinking about how I hadn't worked on Gerda all weekend. Then I started telling myself that if I had been working on it, I would almost be finished by now - and that would be one more Holiday gift completed... Like I said, it's silly, but I just can't help it! I'd love to hear how others work this out in their own lives.

Finished Fun

2008-09-09T11:52:00.003-05:00

Lace has really become my go-to project of choice. It's so amazing how many images one can make with just a few different stitches. This is my Aspen Grove. Here are the specs:

Pattern: Aspen Grove by Miriam Felton
Yarn: Wooly Wonka Fibers Silk/Merino Laceweight
Colorway: Quaking Aspen
Needles: Addi Turbo Lace US 4
Modifications: Miriam describes the trunks as, "twisting, odd trunks of the aspens." I wanted the shawl to represent the pine trees in Southeast Texas: to reach straight to the sky. So I took out most of the twisting and tried to make them as straight as I could.

I loved this pattern - it was a quick knit and not too challenging. The first section involved pattern-work on both sides (right and wrong), but the other two sections has rest rows on the wrong side. So it's a great project for tv time or other brain dead moments.

Before we moved, I completed a pair of socks:

Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe Up
Yarn: Zitron Trekking (XXL)
Colorway: 104
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony, US 1.5

Extra-big because I want them to fit my little brother's monster feet. They're so soft and squishy - I really do love Trekking. It is so affordable and diverse - I can always find a colorway that I like!

This morning I've been rewatching old episodes of Felicity, organizing my flickr account, and adding books to my library at librarything. Very relaxed and lazy! I need to be looking for jobs though :(

New England

2008-09-08T20:50:00.001-05:00

IMG_0226
Originally uploaded by ktgdiddy

We're here - we finally made it to our new home about two weeks ago. What can I say? I love New Hampshire. This photo was taken atop of Mount Kearsarge which is pretty much in my backyard. You can drive almost to the top of the summit but if you want to get to the tippy top, there's about a half mile hike. I won't mention the fact that I didn't know that and I wore flip flops the day we went. I also won't mention the few tears of frustration and fear for my life. Moving on.

We're almost unpacked, but we are having storage problems. At first, our apartment seemed so small, but as we get more and more boxes taken care of I'm starting to think that it might be a bit bigger than our old place. Just a bit. The master bedroom is definitely bigger and I love that the master bath is connected to our room - the bath is definitely smaller, but we're working on utilizing the space.

Aside from packing, I have been job hunting. I've applied to a lot and have an interview next week. I hope to schedule more interviews, but we'll see. I've also done a ton of knitting (I'll blog the projects later) and watched a lot of TV on DVD - seasons 1 & 2 of The Wire and Season 2 of Dexter (the second season of Dexter ROCKED! I liked the first season but the second was way better), plus I've been rewatching the first two seasons of Ghost Hunters. It's been pretty nice and relaxing :)

Fall is coming and I'm soo very excited. There are so many fairs and festivals coming down the pike and we're trying to decide which we're going to attend. We know for sure that we'll be going to the Highland Games which is in just a few weeks!

Big News!

2008-08-12T09:36:00.002-05:00

We'll just ignore that I've been gone some months now and the fact that I hadn't really been knitting.

But I will share pictures of the few things I've completed in the last couple of weeks:

(ignore the mess in the background, more on that later)

Name: Autumn Scarf
Pattern: Diagonal Lace Scarf by Helena Frank
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted
Colorway: Whale Road

Name: Bee Fields
Pattern: Bee Fields by Anne Hanson
Made for: Mom
Needle: US 5 / 3.75 mm
Yarn: Wooly Wonka Fibers Merino laceweight
Colorway: Buckwheat Honey

Yay! It feels so good to be knitting again and excited about patterns and yarns! I've added a ton of stuff to my ravelry queue and am so ready for Autumn... which brings me to my big news. We're moving. In less than 2 weeks, we'll be headed for New Hampshire for a new adventure. I'll actually have a use for wooly, knitted things! This is the explanation for the clutter behind my photos - we've been packing for a while now and things are in quite a state of disarray.

Work is really busy right now because school is about to start and I'm trying to wrap a lot of things up that I've got going... it's pretty stressful, so I need to get back to that now. I just wanted to post an update (but no one reads, so no biggie anyway) and express my excitement in just one other medium. :)

I'm relieved

2008-02-15T09:54:00.002-06:00

Guess what? I've been knitting. Please praise the knitting gods. I casted on for a plain stockinette toe up sock the other day (with my new harmonies, nonetheless!) and have even done several rows on Bee Fields. I'm feeling it, I'm feeling it.

I haven't knitted as much as I'd like because of work. The receptionist has been out all week with the flu (it's REALLY going around here) and since I'm primary backup, that leaves me at the front desk... which also means that I've been working 9.5 hour days to at least keep a semi-controlled handle on my responsibilities as well as working up front. So I've been pretty exhausted this week, but it will be a long weekend for me (my b-day is Monday and I've taken that day off) so I'll be fine.

In addition, the democratic debate is going to happen next week RIGHT NEXT DOOR to where I work. CNN has been calling wanting to reserve classrooms, but hello? We have classes in them. The parking lot behind our building (which is where everyone on campus parks) will be shut down due to news crews and security purposes. The rumor is that we may have to shut down our building for the day, or at least part of the day. Cross your fingers. That would make next week awesome: out Monday, work Tuesdays and wednesday, out Thursday, work Friday. Sweet!

But this weekend I just want to lay low. Hopefully my knitting inspiration will continue, maybe I'll go see a movie, have a few good meals. I have a dr's appt on Monday, but I hope that will be quick and painless and I can enjoy the rest of my day then.

Tiny Break

2008-02-13T13:20:00.003-06:00

I've been a little preoccupied these last couple of weeks. First of all, I'll be honest: I haven't knitted a stitch in quite a while. Why? I'm not really sure. I'm not thrilled with either the Snowflake Socks nor Bee Fields. My unhappines from Snowflake comes from the fact that the first one is pretty tight and I know that they will actually be pretty unwearable. My slight unhappiness with Bee Fields comes from the difficulty level of the project - there seriously is no resting and "easy" rows in this baby... so it's definitely not mindless knitting. Why haven't I just cast on for a simple stockinette toe up sock? I couldn't tell you. Especially since I got the new Harmony Wood DPN set for my birthday. You'd think I'd be running to my stash, right? I don't really know what's wrong with me.

The main thing I've been doing in place of knitting is reading. I've read several books, and have been most thrilled with Kate Atkinson. I've seen her stuff on the shelves for years because she is near the Margaret Atwood section (which I scan each and every time I go to Half Price Books with the hope to score another of her works.. I have almost all of them now!), but had never been very interested. I read in some online community that she is a great mystery writer, so I randomly picked up "Case Histories" and "One Good Turn." Little did I know, Case Histories introduced a character (Jackson Brodie) and chronologically I should have started there. But I didn't - but luckily it didn't spoil my enjoyment. They were both wonderful novels... Especially since thriller-mystery type books are exactly what I've been craving lately. Case Histories featured 3 cold case-type mysteries (all wound into one cohesive story) and One Good Turn showed how one small decision/event/life catastrophe (?) affects so many other people. Just good fun. Right now I'm reading Crime and Punishment (just started this morning on the bus) and am not sure if I'm going to finish it. I honestly just grabbed it to pass the time.

One thing that I'm going to do is look for knitting Projects to work on. I'm looking at sweaters/cardigans because I've never really done one. The first on my list is Mrs. Darcy. I like this one because it's big yarn and big needles, and hopefully I will not get bogged down in tiny stitches and pattern repeats. I am a little worried that it might be too small for me, but maybe I'll just go up a needle size or two and see how it works? Yikes! Wish me luck.

So that's where I am - nothing exciting going on, just hanging out. Work is going okay - things could be better and they could be worse, but isn't that always the case? Even with the perfect job?

Oh, by the way. I got my hair cut. Really short. I love it.

Buzzy Bees

2008-01-24T07:45:00.000-06:00

In my last post I mentioned Bee Fields. Here's what it looked like on Sunday (or maybe it was Monday... yes, actually I think it was Monday):

People, this bugger is hard :(

This is the first lace project I've worked on (but to be honest, I haven't really worked on that many lace projects) that the wrong side isn't just a place to purl back across. There is shaping on the wrong side. This is really slowing down my progress, lol. We can assume that this won't be another 9 day lace project :p

I've worked on it a little bit every day. Last night I didn't work on it all (hello? Ghost Hunters and Project Runway require my undivided attention), but I did work on it on my lunch break, so I say that that counts.

I haven't worked on my Snowflake Socks at all - inspiration hasn't hit. I should really cast on for just plain toe up socks so at least I'll have one other FO this month (besides the toe up socks already completed)... so we'll see. I just dread winding any yarn because it always ends up being such a catastrophe.

Tomorrow's topic (so that I don't forget): the reorganization of my craft stuff - maybe I'll even take pictures!

Pictures and an Updates

2008-01-18T07:16:00.001-06:00

I hate it when life gets in the way and sucks out knitting mojo. I took pictures of my latest FOs, but they're not very good. I blame the inability to take my time taking pictures on life. At least I updated my sidebar with completed objects and finally put up the 2008 list.

So here we go. Beginning with Seraphim (the still unblocked Seraphim, but Seraphim nonetheless):

Name: Seraphim Shawl
Pattern: Seraphim Shawl by Miriam L. Felton
Needle: US 5 / 3.75 mm
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Lightweight
How much?: 3 skeins
Colorway: Rook-y
Started and Completed December 2007

I really enjoyed this knit. It was perfect for riding in the car up to 18 hours a day and really easy to follow and memorize. I almost wish that this was my first major lace project because the pattern was written impeccably (no errata!) and the charts are just so clear and easy to understand. Afraid of lace? Definitely start with Seraphim - you'll be hooked!

Like I said, it still needs to be blocked... but I'm wondering if I could get away with just steam blocking it? The lace is actually pretty clear, I believe... I'll think about it.

Next up: More socks!

Name: Toe Up Socks
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock by Wendy Johnson
Needle: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn: Zitron Trekking (XXL)
Colorway: 157
Started and Completed: December 2007

The socks are actually slightly stretched out in the picture. I wore them on the trip back to Texas and they were stuffed in the snow boots that I had to buy while in New Hampshire. Talk about staying toasty! But they're really cool: I like the thick stripes that happen (and look how nicely I got them to align!), but they're broken up by little bits of color still. And are they on sock blockers? Why, yes they are! Courtesy of my mum from The Loopy Ewe!!

Next: another toe up sock

Name: Toe Up Socks
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock by Wendy Johnson
Needle: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn: Zitron Trekking (XXL)
Colorway: 78
Purchased at: The Elegant Ewe in Concord, New Hampshire
Started and Completed January 2008

Please excuse the fuzzy picture, I must have been laughing or something :/

These were a little harder to get the colors to line up, mainly because I cast on for these in the car and all of the colors looked the same because of the sunny glare! So I really didn't know what they looked like until they were finished, haha :)

Here's a started project: Snowflake Socks

Snowflake Socks by Chrissy Gardiner

I actually finished this single sock, and have casted on the for the second. But take a peek at the side here:

How about those cute little stripes? I'm only working on this when I get the inspiration to do colorwork. (which lately hasn't been too often, woops) Last night I actually finally casted on for Bee Fields in the suggested Wooly Wonka Fibers merino laceweight (another XMas gift). It took me a little bit to get used to Anne's lace writing because I'd been using Miriam's so much... but it's now starting to become a little clearer. I even had too look up how to perform the backwards loop cast-on method (which is what makes those little bumps along the top of the shawl) so yay! Pictures (good ones, I hope) to come!

No pictures, but definitely finished objects!

2008-01-08T10:11:00.000-06:00

I was so pleased with my holiday knitting success! The only thing that didn't fit was my brother's hat, but I'll just whip him up another one soon enough. So yay! I started my Seraphim Shawl the Thursday before Christmas (the 20th) and finished it the Saturday after Christmas (the 29th). However, I didn't do the last two rows of the edging chart because I was running out of yarn. In fact, I had to pull out plain black Louet pearl for the cast-off because I completely ran out! Eek! I haven't blocked nor taken a picture of it yet, but I've definitely been snuggling in it - it's not perfect, but it's exactly what I wanted! I'm completely thrilled with it.

After I get my income tax return, I'm planning on buying more STR Ravenclan yarn (laci) to make Irtfa'a. This is gorgeous, as well!

In addition, I finished a pair of trekking socks and started another. Again, no pics... but maybe this weekend I'll snap a few.

In New Hampshire, I bought another spindle, a niddy noddy, and some more roving. It's my attempt to inspire myself to learn to spin... I make no promises, but we shall see.

This is chopppy. Sorry!!

Holiday Gifts are finished and wrapped

2007-12-19T11:05:00.000-06:00

Last night, I casted off of Swell and that completed my holiday gifts. I didn't get a picture of it, because my brain tooted and I wrapped it practically instantly afterwards. I'm pretty worried that both of the hats that I made won't fit, but I can always just make another one if they don't. I also decided to give my aunt that pair of socks that I originally made for her.

It took me a long time to finish the holiday knits because I basically took about a week and a half off of knitting. I re-started the Harry Potter series and got totally wrapped back up in Hogwarts... so there ya go. Today is actually my last day of work this year (I have a ton of overtime and won't even have to use any vacation time) and I won't be back to work until January 7... so I'm going to be winding yarn for my trip and organizing projects. I will be working on: toe up socks (duh, did you have any doubt?)' Seraphim Shawl in the amazing Socks that Rock Raven Coloray - Rooky (dudes, this is beautiful and I'm super stoked to have a cuddly shawl all on my own... what makes it even better is that it's kind of witch-y and I'm super obsessed with witches); and a Pinwheel Blanket of scrap sock yarn (this will be an ongoing project to use up scraps). I'm also going to take the 5th and 6th Harry Potter, just in case I decide to do some reading.

We're leaving the state Saturday morning and HAVE to be back in Austin by Jan 7 because I have to do an orientation session for new students. Other than that, we don't have serious plans. About a week in Arkansas, a day or two in Manassas, and about a week in New Hampshire. Dude, I am STOKED!!!! I want snow, I want the mountains, I want a fire, I want cuddly-cuddly-boo-boo.

So all my gifts are tagged, wrapped and ready to pack up. I've begun the yarn winding and will hopefully finish that off tomorrow (I try not to do too much at one time, because that's when I start knotting things), packing shall begin tomorrow, and maybe I'll start Seraphim by Friday.

If I have any readers out there, I hope you enjoy your holidays. Get lots of rest, get lots of knitting and reading done, get lots of family time, and enjoy any break you might have. See you after the break!!

Holiday Reorganization

2007-12-04T07:41:00.000-06:00

My commute it draining me. In the morning, I have no problem at all - I leave my apartment at 6:30 and catch the 6:40 bus, where the traffic is smooth and easy going. I'm able to read, knit, or nap on my way in. The bus is crowded, but not unpleasantly so. I don't get headaches, grumpy, or in an otherwise foul mood. I usually get into my office by 7:20, and usually my supervisor doesn't get in until after 8 and I'm able to leisurely slide into my day (except on the days when she gets here before I do - then it's a whole different story). However, I leave my office around 4:50 and ruuuun up the hill to catch the 5:10 bus. Sometimes, I don't make it out the door early enough and have to catch the 5:25 bus. No matter, because both buses are packed. Standing room only. I am usually able to get a seat, because I catch the first stop at the university (there are 4 stops along the perimeter of the university) and only people who work in the government offices downtown beat me. However, I'm not usually able to knit on the way home because it's hot, cramped and just plain uncomfortable. I can't read, because the traffic is stop and go and I get nauseous. Sometimes I sleep, but that can be hard too because there are so many people on the bus and they're all on their cell phones. So I sit in traffic, and rarely get home before 6 - usually it's around 6:30. By that time, I usually have a splitting headache. And that headache really cuts into my knitting time! Lately, I've been coming home and eating a snack... then around 7:40 or so (a little bit before TheBoy gets home from work), I try to cook a dinner for us to enjoy. That's actually helped a lot, because now at least I have some sort of goal for the night: cook dinner and clean the kitchen afterwards.

I'm ready to become a Yarn Harlot and find a way to work from home!

Last night was really disappointing for me. I wanted to watch the finale of Heroes and the special 2 hour Closer (I was going to catch the repeat from 10-12), but I wasn't able to stay up for the Closer. Maybe I'll catch the repeat this week? Tonight I am planning to watch the second and third installment of Tin Man on SciFi, so yay!

I managed to finish two things this weekend:

Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe Up
Needle: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn: Zitron Trekking (XXL)
Colorway: 167

Pattern: Branching Out by Susan Lawrence
Needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Solid
Colorway: Denim

Branching out still needs to be blocked, but for the purposes of checking off lists, we'll call this done. I titled this post "Holiday Reorganization" because I'm shifting around the holiday gifts.

The Trekking socks were supposed to be for my aunt, but I decided that it was dangerous to give someone a pair of socks when I don't know their foot size. So they're going to me instead :p I'm going to give my aunt a scarf that I recently knitted (about 2 years ago - I'm sorry, I'm just so tired of all of the holiday knitting... I'm ready to make something for MYSELF!!!). The Branching out is for The Boy's Sister (H). I was going to give her Clapotis, but I'm going to give it to TheBoy's Mom instead (because of the hole in her gift). All that's left is one little hat, which I started last night. Whew. I'm almost there!!! Here's an updated rundown of the gifts:

The Boy's Mom: Clapotis
The Boy's Sister K: Anemoi Mittens
The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend: Hat
The Boy's Sister H: Branching Out

My Mom: Icarus in Lane Borgosesia Periwinkle Purple
Dad: Socks
Aunt: Basketweave Scarf
Brother: Hat

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... choo choo!!

Another sock

2007-11-30T08:41:00.000-06:00

I finished 1/2 pair of socks last night. Here's an old piture of the SIP:

Name: Toe Up Sock
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock by Wendy Johnson
Needle: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn: Zitron Trekking (XXL)
Colorway: 167

This has been an interesting sock: I didn't try the sock on as I went to see where to start the heel - I used measurements from a little book I got from the Loopy Ewe. It said that for a size 7 sock, you should knit the foot 9.5 inches and then turn the heel. So I followed the direction, knit 9.5 inches, turned the heel, knit a few inches of the cuff. Then I tried the sock on. The heel was about 1.5 inches too far up my foot! So I ripped back, back, back down the cuff, back past the heel, and back about an 1.5... then I started again for real, and now it fits okay.

Like I said, I finished one sock last night and will probably start the second tonight. In addition, I've made some decisions about my holiday gifts. I've decided to give The Boy's Mom the clapotis that I knit for his sister, and make his sister a Branching Out (which has been started, pics to come) which should be pretty quick. In addition, I'm going to give my aunt these pair of socks (the Trekking), whip up a hat for my brother and call everything DONE! That's the plan anyway :p

Bad blogger

2007-11-28T07:59:00.000-06:00

I've been a bad blogger lately. But last Friday I finished a pair of socks:

Name: Toe Up Sock
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock by Wendy Johnson
Needle: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Yarn: Austermann Step
Colorway: 46 - North Cape

I like it - they came out pretty similar, except at the top of the sock. the brown never re-striped!! But here's the pretty toes:

Uh-oh

2007-11-23T11:41:00.000-06:00

Remember this project?

The Large Rectangle from Victorian Lace Today? The one that I finished months ago for The Boy's mom? The one that's just been waiting to be blocked? Well, I tried to block it this morning. This is what I found:

D'oh! I'm not sure what happened; it's been sitting crumpled in a WIP basket for a while now, so that probably has something to do with it. However, I'm not sure how to proceed. I left the thing looking like this in the extra room:

Blech... My thoughts are to try to pick back the cast off row and just rip back right past the hole. Or just put this on the back burner and knit something up for her really quick. I'm still two gifts short (not counting this disaster), with just under a month left. I'll have to think, I guess :(

Clapotis

2007-11-14T09:06:00.000-06:00

On Saturday afternoon, this was the state of Clapotis:

When I closed the door to the guest bedroom yesterday afternoon, it looked like this:

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Needle: Addi Turbo 4 US
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Super Solids
Colorway: Slate

I cast on for this last Thursday (or it could have been Friday), so about 11/8 and finished 11/13. I wasn't expecting this one to go so quickly - it was one of the holiday gifts that I thought I was going to slog through.

I didn't. I shimmied right along - and I made the full size, too. 6 repeats of the increase rows, 12 of the straight rows, and 6 of the decrease rows.

Update on holiday gifts:

The Boy's Mom: Stole from Victorial Lace Today - completed knitting, just need to block.
~~The Boy's Sister K: Anemoi Mittens~~
The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend: Hat
~~The Boy's Sister H: Clapotis in Cherry Tree Hill Slate~~

~~My Mom: Icarus in Lane Borgosesia Periwinkle Purple~~
~~Dad: Socks (finished!)~~
~~Brother: Hat~~
Aunt: Juno Regina

Almost finished, two more to go!

Icarus

2007-11-13T12:31:00.000-06:00

I've decided that I love knitting lace. I don't believe I'll ever produce a "perfect" piece of lace and that's okay. I think one of the wonderful things about knitting is problem solving - yes, I hung my head over the toilet bowl because of what I thought was a life ending mistake with Icarus... but guess what? Icarus still ended up okay.

Pattern: Icarus Shawl by Miriam L. Felton
Needle: Addi Turbo Size 5 US
Yarn: Baruffa Cashwool
Colorway: Periwinkle Purple
Modifications: I only did 4 repeats of the first chart instead of 5. I also lost my mind when I started the second chart and dropped a lot of yos (yes, on purpose) and ended up shifting the pattern from where it was supposed to be.

It's lovely. I never took it on a commute with me, but it's definitely commute-worthy as long as one is working on the first chart. it's all yo and stockinette stitch at the beginning. I didn't think I'd ever finish the last 5 rows. I knitted like a mad woman but didn't really seem to get anywhere. I hear this is common with large lace projects though.

Sammy likes it, too. I guess it's always possible that if my mom hates it, it will have a loving home with SamDog :)

I also finished a hat the night that Icarus was blocking (see previous post). I used Cascade 220 in black and a purplish-gray and size 4 needles. The pattern came from a livejournal community that I used to be a part of and was posted years ago. At the time I didn't understand the importance of documenting sources and for that I'm sorry. The pattern was used for decrease shaping, I threw in the stripes myself. That's my bro's gift. I started Clapotis on Friday night, and am now on the decrease rows. That's a gift for one of The Boy's sisters. After I finish Clap, I've got two more gifts to go. Another hat (for bro-in-law) which can be cranked out in an afternoon and a scarf for my aunt. I'm leaning towards Juno Regina. I ordered some zephyr a month ago that would be perfect for this, but that still has not been shipped. (I will not say who the vendor is. I will say that it is NOT the Loopy Ewe and that this was the first -and last- time I will use this online store). If it comes in in time, then I will definitely be using that.

By the way, I have been loving my two days off this week. I have knit, knit, knit and dreamed about living somewhere where the temp is less than 80 degrees in November. Now excuse me while I curl up on the couch and work some more on clap and get ready for "A Haunting."

A New Camera means new pictures!

2007-11-11T12:12:00.000-06:00

The Boy and I bought a new camera yesterday. It's really nice and takes good pictures - so I'm extremely excited about that. But I just want to post a few pictures of Icarus and another FO. I will post again (hopefully tomorrow) with more details on the FOs and do a little organizing. I have Monday and Tuesday off from work (all that overtime really does pay off!) and will take some blog time then :)

Like I said, tomorrow I will work on stringing words together along with the pictures. :)

Icarus

2007-11-07T10:12:00.000-06:00

Icarus is off the needles and is currently blocking. Just wanted to share.

Pictures tomorrow (I hope). Yay!!

Checking In

2007-10-31T07:43:00.000-05:00

Just want to say, "hi." My job is kicking my boo-tay and I've been working a lot of 10 hour days and some weekends. I haven't been taking pictures or blogging, but rest assured, I have been knitting. When the mayhem first began, I wasn't knitting... but then I realized that I was losing time on holiday knitting and knitting actually made me feel better - so I started a sock and went back and tackled the icarus a bit more. I'm now on the 3rd chart (just finished row 6) - so I'm making some headway. It doesn't look exactly the way it is supposed to look, but that's okay - my mom will never know, right?

Pictures of the fiasco to come, I hope.

Neglectful week

2007-10-19T07:49:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog and my knitting terribly this week.

First off, I finished the second Endpaper Mitt on Tuesday night. Have a peek:

Pattern: Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. I've renamed this version the Mint Chocolate Chip Mitts. I used Nature's Palette in chocolate and teal and sizes 0US Crystal Palace Bamboo dpns and Size 2US Brittany Burch wooden dpns. You can check out ravelry page for a little more info, if needed.

And yes, I casted on for the second mitt Tuesday (I stayed home sick) and finished it that same night. It's a fun, quick pattern that everyone should try :)

Work has me swamped - I haven't knitted since Tuesday and don't see myself even thinking about the needles again until Sunday. Take care and have a wonderful weekend :)

The Best Intentions Always Go Awry

2007-10-16T14:17:00.001-05:00

Have you ever hung your head over the toilet after a knitting mistake(s)? Well, now I can say that I have. The pain, the agony, the heartache - but maybe I should start at the beginning.

I was working on the Icarus Sunday night. I finally finished all of the repeats for the first chart and was ready to move onto the second chart. I decided to run a lifeline - you know, just in case. I've never used a lifeline before, but thought that this would be the best time to start. I've worked on the body of this shawl almost exclusively for the last 2 weeks and didn't want to lose all of that hard work. So here's the lifeline. Go ahead. Look closely.

It doesn't take much to see that I completely absentmindedly threaded the stitch markers with the lifeline. I discovered this after I started knitting the first row. So in the middle of the first row, I decided, "well, how important is this lifeline anyway?" and just jerked it out. Now I can cook with gas.

Well, the second chart's repeats kind of stagger the first charts - meaning, they do not start and stop at the same stitch (at least, not by my calculations), so of course I get off a little bit with the stitches (I always do when I don't have stitch markers - and I can accept that). Well, on my way back across the wrong side, I keep coming across these yo's. Why are there yo's? There aren't any yo's on the chart. These must be dropped, I think to myself. So for about 4 or 5 repeats, I'm consistently dropping yos- and thinking, "wow, my stitches are going to be way off... I wonder why I put all of those yo's in there?"

Well, those yos were supposed to be there. Yes, boys and girls, I don't know what I was thinking, but everything is way off right now. I told The Boy, "I think I'm going vomit" and had to sit over the toilet for a minute or so. Now I have to figure out how to fix it. Should I just move on and try to line the pattern up the way it should? Or should I tink back the 2 rows (and 300-something stitches for each row) and try to do it correctly? I'm still thinking about it and am a little cautious to pick it up again. So I started another pair of socks and am working on the second Endpaper Mitt a little more. Ugh.

Sammy sums up my feelings perfectly:

Can't think of titles anymore

2007-10-11T09:02:00.000-05:00

I was true to Icarus last night. I've decided to only do 4 repeats of the first chart (instead of 5) for a couple of reasons: 1)I'm using slightly larger needles than called for; 2)I really, really do not want to get sick of this knit, and am worried that I might if I keep chugging along.

I put together a small knitting kit for a coworker. She wants to learn to knit, so I grabbed an extra circular needle and gathered some old 'learning' yarn that I have laying around. Maybe on our lunch breaks I'll be able to help her. Yay!! Maybe I'll finally have someone around who will knit with me :)

Today I have a crazy long day (got here at 7, will be here until 8:30pm), so I'm going to take a break in the middle and visit Hill Country Weavers. I invited a coworker, so maybe she'll take me up on it.

I'm thinking about going to my parent's house this weekend, so that will mean tucking away Icarus and winding more yarn for other gifts that have nothing to do with my family. I have no problem with that.

I only got to watch a hair of Pushing Daisies last night... but guess what? A character KNITS. I kid you not. And apparently, he knits a LOT in the episode from last night, so I'm hoping to catch a repeat of it this weekend. So tune in to Pushing Daisies!

Progress... Bit by bit

2007-10-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

Last night I was loyal to Icarus... however, I only knit a few rows (maybe 6?). It was inevitable that it would slow down; each row adds more stitches, so it takes longer and longer to complete a row. I haven't been very gung-ho about doing anything these past few days anyway. There are some personal things going on (not super, home-related personal, but job-personal... if that makes sense). I am attempting to not bring any of that to this blog, but it affects my happiness, which affects my craftiness (what craftiness I do have), which affects blogging (I hope I'm using the correct word - I still have a hard time with 'affect' and 'effect' - hang in there with me, please).

However, tonight is Ghost Hunters and Pushing Daisies, so I have a hot date with the couch, remote control, Icarus, and SammyTheDog. Cannot wait. Pictures? Well, I can't wait to get my hands on this:

6 days is not soon enough!!

Jinxed

2007-10-09T16:08:00.001-05:00

I shouldn't have jinxed it; yesterday I said that I didn't want to knit anything but Icarus. Immediately after I knit a row or two I had to put it away. I picked up my Pomatomus for the first time since I started on it and finished the first chart. Then I picked up Icarus for a few more rows, and called it an early night. I hope it just a little slump and not anything major.

But that's all. Oh, and Sammy says, "hello."

State of the Icarus

2007-10-08T12:23:00.000-05:00

The great thing about this knit is that I just do not want to put it down. That revelation could also be a bad thing, because I don't want to start anything else! I don't even want to browse the web to find anything else to start!

There was one minor/major catastrophe over the weekend. Somehow I got my needles turned around and purled on the RS (instead of the WS). Now there's a ridge of purl stitches running right along the front of the shawl. You can kind of see it here:

My mother will never notice it. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself. That's what I get for watching Nip/Tuck while knitting. One can't be expected to completely pay attention with that kind of stuff happening in the background.

But let's take stock in the holiday gift-giving list. I'm adding my aunt to the list, because she's going to be staying with us at Christmas.

The Boy's Mom: Stole from Victorial Lace Today (almost finished, just need to block.. but I might make something else for her instead)
The Boy's Sister K: Anemoi Mittens finished!
The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend: ??
The Boy's Sister H: Clapotis in Cherry Tree Hill Slate

My Mom: Icarus in Lane Borgosesia Periwinkle Purple (cast on)
Dad: Socks (finished!)
Brother: Hat - need to pick a pattern
The Boy: ??
Aunt: Branching Out? Some pretty scarf, probably.

We have some pretty big holiday plans this year. A trip to New Hampshire is in the works, as is a cabin in Arkansas. More details as the time approaches, I'm sure. I'm extremely excited, because I loooove New Hampshire. The last time I was there (early last December), there was no snow. But this year, we're going a little bit later (only by a few weeks, but still) so I hope I get to see some pretty powder. And did I mention that I wanted to move to the Northeast? I do, I do, oh I do, I do. Maybe we'll just decide to never come back to Austin and stay up there forever. I'm sure my boss would love that, seeing as I have an orientation session the day I get back from vacation.

Proper Introductions

2007-10-04T12:07:00.000-05:00

While the Icarus is going along smoothly (finished the next repeat, no major catastrophes -yet-, yay!), it looks very similar to the last picture and I don't want to be too redundant. And since I don't really have anything else going on the needles, I thought I'd do something a little different today. I'd like to properly introduce you to Sammy, my shih tzu.

Sammy is 5.5 years old. He was given to me in August 2005 by a friend of my mother's coworker, who was, for whatever reason, unable to care for him. He's been an absolute delight since day 1. Sammy is incredibly smart - he loves to play fetch, dash around the room, and bark at the doorbell. He also spends a lot of his time doing this:

Laying at the foot of our bed and napping. A little tidbit is that when neither The Boy or I are at home, he gets put away in his kennel. For a long time, we'd let him stay free, but he would often rip up window blinds in his fervor to keep people away from our home. Even when we would keep him in the bedroom and not let him run around the entire apartment, he would continue to chew the bedroom blinds instead. So, after a lot of replacing and as much scolding (to which he acts pathetically), we decided that since dogs are indeed cave dwelling animals, then it was not cruel and unusual punishment to ask him to stay in his kennel. The good thing is that most days he only has to stay in there a few hours because The Boy and I have staggered work times.

A minor issue that we deal with is his chewing his toys. He chews his stuffed animals and plastic toys to bits (rips off appendages, specifically) and then swallows the goodies. Which then leads to rushing outside and to expel said appendages. It's not pretty. So we're slowly taking away stuffed and plastic toys, and replacing them with tough-skinned tennis balls and a blanket that I knit for him last year.

Yes, he does chew on this as well, but so far there has been minimal shredding and absolutely no ripping - meaning no piece of his blankie has ended up on the lawn yet.

Because Sammy spent the first 3.5 years of his life with another family, I'm a little sad that I wasn't involved in his socialization. He is a little frightful of strangers and other dogs, and it's hard to get him to calm down sometimes and be kind to others. But we're still working on that. And the important thing is that he is incredibly sweet to The Boy and I - and we will love him forever.

Winding Yarn

2007-10-03T09:10:00.000-05:00

Have I whined enough about hating to wind yarn from hanks into balls? I really, really, really dislike it. Monday night, I began winding the beautiful Baruffa Cashwool in perwinkle purple in anticipation of beginning my mom's Icarus Shawl. I had a glorious hour while watching Heroes and winding with absolutely no problem. After an hour, knots galore. Where did they come from? I wasn't doing anything different than before - but the knots just kept coming. I spent another hour just trying to get anywhere. I went to bed (angry) with this much wound:

Two little balls. And those weren't even wound well. You can see how loose the strands are and imagine the knots once I start tugging on them.

Tuesday I went home and tackled the yarn again (in a bit better spirits). I worked for at least another two hours on this and finally got it done! I could have wept tears of joy. Anyway, I began Icarus:

I completed the first chart and am now beginning the repeats on it. Loving it!! The charts are easy to read and follow; the pattern is intuitive. The yarn is so soft and lovely in my fingers; the new Addi Turbo needles are a dream. What more could one ask for? This is why I love to knit. Now if I could only get the winding part down... I would love for the entire process to be enjoyable. But there's still one big, sticky part that I dread. Would an umbrella swift change my life??? I can only hope.

Finished

2007-10-02T10:31:00.001-05:00

The mittens are finished.

A few specifications:
Pattern: Eunny Jang's Anemoi Mittens
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo DPN sizes 0 (US) and 1 (US)
Yarn: Louet Gems Fingering Weight in Black and Neptune Blue (1 ball of each)

Very lovely, very fun, great colorwork practice. Would definitely recommend.

Last week I casted on for Pomatomus socks in a yarn I haven't used before - Dream in Color's Strange Harvest.

Now, I'm no expert, and the blog world is afire over this yarn... however, I wasn't impressed. I love the color - it's very fall-like and makes me think of pumpkins. But it's very splitty (there are a few stitches in there hanging on by a thread - literally) and fairly course. While it was very exciting to pick up a hot new yarn, I'll definitely be trying out other lines in the future.

Taking Things Too Far

2007-10-01T13:11:00.000-05:00

I didn't mean to take it this far. This weekend started out innocently enough. My knitting assignment Friday night was to finish the decreases of the first Anemoi Mitten and then finish the thumb. Friday night I decreased, Saturday morning was the thumb.

The above picture is actually the reverse of the mitten. I like looking at the floats :p

But Saturday night I took things just a little too far. I cast on for the second mitten and knit, knit, knit. Sunday: more of the same. I didn't knit all day, by any means, but I did do a little more knitting. That knitting added up to this:

Yes, people, that's a nearly complete second mitten there. All that is left is the thumb. I don't know how it happened (or even why), but I knit my happy little heart out on that thing yesterday. And it's almost finished! I almost finished my second holiday gift! woohoo!

Misadventure tale: I didn't just knit this weekend. On Saturday, I went to the fabric store to pick up a few things. I've decided that I'm going to sew my coworkers stockings for their holiday gifts (and stuff them full of little fun things). So I decided that I should go ahead and pick up the pattern and some practice material. The pattern was originally priced $12.95 - but I was surprised by the fact that my total purchase was $12.99. Yes, the pattern was reduced to $1.99... can't beat that, right? Saturday night I cut out the material (very carefully of course. Yes, I put all the pattern pieces on the correct pieces of the material and they all turned out reasonably the same size) and sat down Sunday afternoon to piece it all together.

Or not.

I cannot read pattern instructions. In fact, I think those instructions are wrong.* Dead wrong. I think I'll try again tonight or later this week. Brace yourselves, because I am! Of course, I didn't take a picture because there was nothing to take a picture of... except some cut out fabric. Whoa is me.

In the knitting front: my Loopy Ewe package came in on Saturday, but due to bad timing, I wasn't able to get it. The mailperson came so late in the day that I guess he just dropped off the packages to the apartment office straight away, because they promptly closed. By the time he left a slip in my box, the office was already closed and I was unable to pick it up. And I don't know if The Boy will be able to pick it up this morning before work because of his classes... and I know I probably won't be home until after 6 - which is when they close. Life is hard - especially when you're waiting on yarn :(

*Yes, I realize that the pattern probably isn't wrong. It's me that's dead wrong. Just throw me a bone here.

Anemoi Update

2007-09-28T12:22:00.000-05:00

Above is the most recent pictures of the Anemoi Mittens. I'm certain I would be finished with that first mitt by now if it weren't for a little mishap last night... I misinterpreted the length of the hand before decreasing - it says to continue with the repeat until your 1.50 - 1.75" from the tip of your longest finger and then begin decreasing. I took it as 1.5" past your finger, but I realized after 2 repeats that it should have been before your finger. So I ripped back and tried again. I'm not at the decreases and will (cross your fingers) take care of that tonight.

However, the mittens are lovely and warm - my goodness are they warm! The wool is very nice to work with (Louet Pearl) and I love the colors together.

TGIF - right? Work is stressing me out right now (you don't even want to see my face) and I want nothing more than a cabin in the woods with 0% humidity and a light breeze. Oh, and to win the lottery so I don't have to go to work ever again. Why can't I have that?

Since I don't see that in my near future, I can only look forward to this weekend! I was thinking earlier this week that I'm constantly just "looking forward to the next weekend" - even on Monday - and I lose time/activities during the week because of this. So it's my new resolution to enjoy my evenings away from work and to stay up a little later than 9:30pm, when possible. Last night was successful: I stayed up until around 11:30 and actually enjoyed it. We'll see how long this lasts! Now, I'll probably go home and crash immediately on the couch and then wake up on Sunday afternoon.

But this weekend craftiness will (hopefully) compose of:
-finishing the first Anemoi Mitten
-cutting out squares for the quilt
-blocking a stole
-beginning a shawl
-beginning a cross-stitch project!

Finished Austermann Step

2007-09-27T08:21:00.001-05:00

IMG_0512
Originally uploaded by ktgdiddy

I actually took some pictures last night! Here are the specs for these socks:

Pattern: Wendy's generic Toe Up
Needles: KnitPicks 2.50mm (or 1.5US)
Yarn: Austermann Step 29-Ocean
Casted On: Saturday September, 15
Casted Off: Sunday September 23

I used my metal knitpicks for the first time in a loong time. I had been getting frustrated by their slipperiness (which is why I switched to bamboo), but for some reason just cast on with them with these socks and had no problem. Brava!

The yarn is pretty good too - just a little splitty, but held up well to any abuse I imposed upon it during the knitting process. And treated with aloe vera and jojoba oil? How cool is that?

These are my dad's Christmas present. We have the same size feet and the same bird legs, so I knitted them to fit me and they should be perfect on him. We'll see!

And just a peeksie at the Anemoi:

front:

back:

I apologize for the lighting on the second picture. For some reason, I thought it would look better without the flash on my computer - but of course I was dead wrong. I need a photography class or something.

But I love the mittens! I'm really enjoying working on them... I just can't work on them for too long at one time because my eyes start crossing and then I have to tink, tink, tink back. And then I start yelling. And that's no good.

I have a confession...

2007-09-26T15:36:00.000-05:00

I love celebrity news... I love reading tmz and perezhilton. But I hate it when I see things like this:

http://perezhilton.com/?p=6180#respond

It makes my heart sink. It puts tears in my eyes and literally makes my chest heavy. There he was... in MY city, with a girl that is NOT me. If I had this blog anytime during the years of 2002-2004 then you would all know how deep my love is for this man. But... I'm feeling a little bit better now that I'm writing about it but it's still a little hard to breathe. He's dated other girls and guess what? It hasn't worked out yet. That's what I keep telling myself.

I'm a little worried about the Loopy Ewe. They've had a shortage of mailing boxes AND there was a Sneak Up the night before I made my last purchase: that spells trouble for the normal quick shipping. I'm fully aware that it takes about two weeks for a knitpicks order to reach and I'm not complaning at all about the (relatively) slow shipment - it's just the first time since I started ordering that it's taken this long to ship out!! Poor Sheri and the crew!

But now that I have the opportunity, let's recap the holiday gifts:

The Boy's Mom: Stole from Victorial Lace Today (almost finished, just need to bind off)
The Boy's Sister K: Anemoi Mittens (cast on)
The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend: ??
The Boy's Sister H: Clapotis in Cherry Tree Hill Slate

My Mom: Icarus in Lane Borgosesia Periwinkle Purple
Dad: Socks (finished!)
Brother: ??
The Boy: ??

With these new decisions, it only leaves three people with question marks. And they're all men - how about that???

Have I mentioned that I joined my first knit a long? I can't remember. It's Secret of the Stole. I plan on using Lane Borgosesia Cashwool Wine Heather. I haven't swatched yet (mostly because I haven't wound the yarn yet), but I'm sure it will be fine. This will be the first big lace project for myself... I'm a little nervous about knitting something in which I have no idea how it's supposed to look - what if I don't like it? what if it makes me look fat (which it will)? what if? what if? what if? - but I've decided that there will be someone out there who likes it and would be happy to take it off of my hands for me if the results are less than desirable.

I wore my clapotis for the first time today - and I've been getting a lot of compliments! I'm actually not the biggest fan of the yarn I used - I wish I would have used a fingering weight or a sport weight (which is why I chose CTH for the gifted one) and in a solid color. I love the colors of the Stained Glass, but... well, I think I would prefer something solid. Possibly in this color... or this one. Who knows? But after Christmas, I believe that there might be another Clapotis in my possession.

By the way, I've made another discovery about myself - a discovery in which I've felt twinges of recognition in the past and am now ready to put out there. I don't think I'm a big fan of variegated yarn. I like self-striping socks and I like solid colors. I'm not so big on the yarn that just randomly changes colors. Maybe I'm a weirdo? Maybe not? And I'm not saying that's set in stone - I could completely change my mind at some point and really embrace the whole idea. And maybe not.

Maybe I'm just a freak.

I Do What I Can

2007-09-25T15:46:00.000-05:00

I'm doing the best I can with updating every day. The problem is, I'm not near fasciknitting enough to be posting every day :(

I did, however, make a few new purchases from The Loopy Ewe this morning. Please don't tell The Boy. But to be fair - most of what I bought is for holiday gift-giving. Most of it. I would say 99% of it. Or so.

I think I've decided on Icarus for my mom and Clapotis for The Boy's Sister H. That just leaves gifts for: The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend, brother, and the Boy to be found. I'm thinking possibly a hat for The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend - but am not sure. A hat or a scarf could do. I don't know him very well, so that's making it kind of hard. And my poor brother. I don't even know where to begin with him. I don't want to do socks because that's what I did for my dad. Although, I may have to just do the socks.

I'm in the middle of planning holiday vacations. My parents want to rent a cabin in Arkansas - which would be super cool. However, the Boy and I also want to go back to New Hampshire and squeeze in a visit. I'm hoping we can figure out how to do both... which I think we can. The good thing is that by the end of next month or so, we'll have earned a free flight from JetBlue, so we'll only need to buy one ticket... very nice. It's just coordinating our vacation schedules with work that will be a challenge. But we shall see.

Weekend fun

2007-09-24T13:20:00.000-05:00

I wanted to wait to make this post until I had taken pictures of FOs and just started projects, but then I had to get real. I'm so slow when it comes to taking pictures that I know it probably won't happen any time soon. So I'll harp on them now instead.

Remember last week when I couldn't get the picture of my Austermann Step sock to show up in photobucket? Well, it's showing up now, so here it is:

The only difference now is that the pair is finished. I cast off on that sock Friday night and began the second on saturday morning. Sunday evening I finished the second sock. So there it is, my dad's Christmas present is complete. I feel a little cheap so maybe I'll get something else for him - but yay! I'll have something to give him anyway.

I also began on the Anemoi Mittens yesterday. I had quite an encounter with my ball winder yesterday and luckily (or unluckily, it depends on how you see it), The Boy witnessed it. Maybe I'll get an umbrella swift out of my fit? One would hope. Anyway, he assisted me with winding the needed skeins for the anemoi mittens and I cast on. I'm on to the colorwork on the chart. I was excited to start a new colorwork project - and this is a challenging one! It's kind of hard to keep up with where you are in the pattern and I kept getting my main color and contrasting color mixed up, so I've had to tink back on pretty much every row so far... but I'm excited to have an end project. And this is my first pair of mittens! Yay!

As far as holiday knits goes, I'm still doing a little planning:

The Boy's Mom: Stole from Victorial Lace Today (almost finished, just need to bind off)
The Boy's Sister K: Anemoi Mittens (cast on)
The Boy's Sister K's boyfriend: ??
The Boy's Sister H: ??

My Mom: Stole or shawl... Am thinking either Icarus or Seraphim
Dad: Socks (finished!)
Brother: ??
The Boy: ??

So as you can see, I don't have much planning done :( That's no good.

Constant Comment is a Wonder Drug

2007-09-20T08:15:00.000-05:00

Yikes - blogger just told me that my last update was September 6... I meant to be more consistent with this blog. It just ain't happening I guess.

The big news? I got an invite to join Ravelry last week. It IS a pretty cool site, but I definitely haven't spent enough time trying to figure it all out yet. I joined a KAL (which stands for Knit a Long, more on it on a later entry, I think), my first ever. So we'll see. The hard part for me is making friends... I'm just not good at it.

In my last post I alluded to a new project:

Yes, that's the beginning of another pair of Endpaper Mitts. The photo is pretty wonky, but I promise it's the shape it is supposed to be. I still love the colorwork - I need to find more patterns like this! I broke down a week or so ago and bought the pattern for Eunny's Anemoi Mittens. I'd like to make them for Matt's sister. I've bought the yarn, but am just scared to wind them.

Yes, you read that correctly. I'm scared to wind them. Apparently, I don't know what the heck I'm doing when it comes to winding yarns from hanks because I just knot, knot, knot them up. I have a huge clump of mismatched yarn sitting on my dining table right now because of all of my screw ups... and I just do not want to mess up any more yarn.

However, Austermann Step is not in a hank, so I started on a new pair of socks over this past weekend:

But something weird is going on with photobucket (and honestly, I can't figure out how to put my pictures on here from flickr (der, I know). Anyway, the sock has zipped along and I'm already up past the ankle. They're for my dad and I'm going to make them extra tall (because men don't wear short socks, or so he says).

On to sewing: I haven't been. But I did buy this quilt kit and am about ready to start it. high five!

Anyway, enough rambling, back to work.

Not So Much

2007-09-06T07:49:00.000-05:00

When I bought my ball winder earlier this summer, I really thought it was going to change my life. Not so much.

Before, to wind hanks into balls, I used the Nostepinne method. I took an old toilet paper roll, sat on the floor with the hank draped around my knees, and rolled away. It took forever, I got knots and tangles, both in the hank and the newly wrapped ball. Flash forward to the ball winder days: it's faster, but I still get knots in the hank (though luckily not in the newly wound ball). I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong to get ALL of these knots that I've been having lately.

Now I'm convinced that an umbrella swift is going to change my life. Put it on the Christmas List and let's see if it does.

-----------------------------

On Monday I blogged that I'd finish the center pattern of the stole from VLT by this weekend and then add the border. Well, I finished that part on Monday. Now, I just need to add the border, block, and it can go into my stack of holiday gifts. I think I'll work diligently on that this weekend.

But I cast on for another project last night. Pictures to come. But let me tell you, give me yarn & needles, The Ghost Hunters, and 4 hours - and I'll come out with something!

The State of Things

2007-09-03T10:30:00.000-05:00

Last week was the first week of classes, and it exhausted me. I won't go into specifics, but I will tell you that I had no idea it would be this bad. So, as a result, I didn't get much knitting done. The little bit that has been done has been this weekend. But I am here to report on the State of Things.

First, off... those anklets? Remember them? Well, I finished this morning.

They're not the cutest, but they'll definitely keep me warm. They're Wendy's Generic Toe Up pattern with Lorna's Laces Mixed Berries. Love the colors :)

Second. Large Rectangle from Victorian Lace Today:

I'm loving it. I've completed 31/36 of the repeats, so maybe by next weekend I'll be able to start on the border? We'll see.

Third. Serrano.

I haven't worked on this since last weekend, simply because I haven't had the time to sit and think about what I'm doing. I'm almost finished with the waist decreases and am about to begin the waist increases. But it's going pretty well. Definitely not perfect, but to my standards it's fine.

And look what I bought at JoAnn's yesterday:

Now I have no excuses! The best part is, because of a coupon that I had and a sale that they were having, the total purchase was just $1 more than the originial place of the cutting mat. How cool is that? So, now I should be able to cut straight lines... I'll make a quilt! (just kidding, not really, but why not?) Sammy would love a quilt.

In the background, you can see the afghan that Matt's mom got made for us. She took a picture of Sammy and sent it in to CVS, and they made a cute little blanket out of it :)

that sweater, oh my!

2007-08-20T14:28:00.000-05:00

When I got home on Thursday, I tried to save at least the hem of Serrano by using this tutorial (scroll down, scroll down a little more. See? That one where the needle is inserted into the loops a few rows down. Yes, that one).

I'm not talented enough for it, apparently. I stuck a needle through all 198-something stitches, and of course all of the loops weren't on the same row. So once I got to a point in ripping back, I had some loops on the needle, some floating freely above, and finally I got to the dreaded point: one that just wouldn't come loose (because it was too low. So I frogged the entire thing, hem and all.

But, as one would expect, this actually happened to be a good thing. I decided to swatch with Lane Borgosesia... much better! I was getting a little disappointed, because the knitty article said that this was a light sweater, but with the knitpicks yarn, it was getting really heavy really fast... but this is almost a lace weight yarn and is keeping the sweater very light. I started the sweater on Friday, worked on it Friday and Saturday, and I'm about 15 rows into the first pattern repeat (I messed up on Row 15, but that's OK, I'll live with it, I swear)... we'll see how this one turns out!

I didn't do any knitting yesterday, because I spent almost the whole day getting everything cleaned up: we're having our carpet shampooed today and everything had to be up off the floor. Trust me, that was a task. We need more shelves and *I* need more space. The Boy doesn't really have that much stuff, but with the yarn and the needles and the patterns, things pile up really, really fast! :-/ And I don't really even have a huge stash to speak of, so I can't imagine being a bigger yarn freak than I already am... I'd have yarn sticking out of my nose, probably.

I'm still ready for my house in the mountains. No more Texas summers (which actually last all year long, in case you didn't know), and an actual winter. It's not fair.

Tomorrow is a stitch n bitch. I don't know if I should go or not... it's still very scary! :(

Ribbit, rippit, froggin' it

2007-08-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

This morning, I got online looking for help with the serrano... I'm about 4 inches into her and doing the waist shaping, but the decreases combined with the lace pattern were messing with my brain. So, of course, the yo's were all over the place. So I searched, and found a blog (sorry, I can't find the link!) mentioning that she was getting thrown off because she was knitting it as an 11 st repeat, rather than a 7.

What?

I, also, printed on a black and white printer and didn't catch the red box. D'oh!

So I am frogging the Serrano all the way down to the hem tonight, and hoping that when I knit the pattern in the fashion it was meant to be knitted then it will all make sense. I hope. Cross your fingers.

It's a good thing that I got an email from the Dean's Office today notifying me that I have 10.5 hours of overtime that I need to use this month, and I promptly requested to take tomorrow off. When I get home, I am going to: cook dinner, eat that puppy, frog serrano, then curl up on the couch and try to make up for the frogging tonight.

However, we're getting our carpet shampooed on Monday, so we have to get things off of the floor at some point. Maybe we'll dedicate Sunday to that? We shall see.

Lovely

2007-08-14T08:24:00.000-05:00

Let's take a peek into my WIPs basket, shall we? Now, this is digging up some ooold projects!

Serrano. On Saturday, while Sammy was getting a haircut and The Boy was napping from a long night's work, I casted on for her. I decided to use Needle Sizes 0 and 1 (US). The gauge was still a little big, but oh well... I can live with a slightly baggy sweater, right? Or I can just block a little less tightly. I've finished the hem, and have started on the body. I've done 4 rows of the pattern, if that gives you any idea where I am. And the exciting thing? This is my first sweater... so I'm a little intimidated, but really looking forward to having it completed.

Large Rectangle with Center Diamond Pattern. This has become my new commuter knitting. It's only a ten row repeat that is easily memorized, so I stuck it in my knitting bag this morning and went to town (literally and metaphorically, haha!) I've only done about 6 repeats (out of, I believe, 36), but now that I'm taking it on the bus it should start coming along pretty well.

Anklet socks. I don't even think I've worked on this since the last time I blogged about it. I've completed one sock and am just about to the heel of the second - and since it's an anklet, it should be fairly easy to finish. But right now, it's definitely on the back burner. It's just not holding my fancy.

Gryffindor Scarf. I've been working on this since I saw the Goblet of Fire in the movie theatre. When was that? Couldn't even tell you. Suffice it to say, this baby will probably be ripped soon. The only issue I would have with that would be that I have no idea what to do with all of that acrylic yarn!

Basketweave Scarf. (From SnB Nation) I started this (it was meant to be a gift) probably a year ago and ran out of yarn, then could never find the correct dye lot. I think I'll rip her.. actually, no. I think I'll just get more yarn in a different dye lot (that's OK for me) and finish it up. It's a nice hearty scarf.

Sooo... 5 projects going, soon to possibly be 4, that's not bad at all. However, I'd like to be a 2 project kind of gal - one at home, one for the commute. I guess we'll see how that goes.

One thing that I've really been wanting lately is to be a part of a knitting community. I don't know anyone else who knits (except for a coworker who is just starting to learn, so yay!), and I'd really like to have someone to troubleshoot with, talk about yarn, colors, patterns, etc. As you can see from blog comments around here, no one is giving me any feedback on my projects. I like having a blog because I like having a place to post my projects and record my achievements... so the no-comments thing isn't really a big deal in that respect... but I read other people's blogs and they all have so many knitting friends (IRL) or spinning friends and they have a place to go with questions or whatever. I want that! I know there's a local SnB that meets at a nearby Barnes and Noble every Tuesday night, but I am deathly afraid of meeting new people, and being "the new one." You know? On the other hand, I know that a group of people aren't just going to fall from the sky on top of me... I have to put myself out there a little bit more in order to get anything back.

So I probably won't go to the SnB tonight, but maybe next Tuesday? The Boy's hours change starting next week, so I think it will work out better and I should be able to go. Eeek... that's just very scary!

Projects, Swatches, and Purchases

2007-08-08T08:40:00.000-05:00

Last night I finished the sock that I started on Friday. Because I only have on hank of the Lorna's Laces (in Mixed Berries), I was a little worried that I wouldn't have enough yarn to do two full socks. So I decided to make it an anklet and bound off just above the ankle. For the second sock, I made the crochet chain last night, casted on this morning, and completed the toe on the bus to work this morning. I plan to unzip the crochet chain, pick up the stitches, join everything together, and begin the foot at lunch today.

For the toe, foot, and heel of this sock I used my (what has become) trusted Brittany Birch 1US 5in needles. The yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock) actually had a different gauge than the others I had been using, and it seemed a little big. So for the ribbing in the ankle, I switched to my brand spankin' new Crystal Palace 0US in 6inches. To be honest, I think I prefer the Crystal Palace (CP) over the Brittany Birch (BB). While I prefer the 5 inch length of the BB, the texture of CP was amazing. It felt as if it had a waxy, smooth texture as opposed to the dry BB. The good thing is that the BB doesn't allow stitches to slip off - the grain of the wood really holds on to the stitches. However, the stitches do not necessarily glide over the wood when I need them to either - this is a small flaw that I didn't even notice until I used the CP last night. But yay! I loved the CP needles.

In addition to finishing that sock last night, I did one more repeat on my lace project. It's only a ten row repeat, so it's very simple to memorize and execute. The yarn is luxurious (Yarn Palace Gentle, more specs later) and I'm looooovin it! I also swatched for Serrano. In my last Loopy purchase, I bought 1US and 2US Crystal Palace circs. the pattern gauges at 28 st/4 inches on the larger needles. In my swatch, 28 st=4.5. So I quickly switched to the 1 (although I haven't knit the swatch yet) and am hoping that this will give me better gauge. So what does this mean? This means I need to buy size 0 circs. Which brings me to this morning's purchase:

From the Loopy Ewe (of course), I got 0US Crystal Palace circs, 1 hank of Nature's Palette Autumn Leaf, 1 hank of Nature's Palette Light Teal, and one hank of Lane Borgosesia in Cashwool Borgeaux. The Lane Borgosesia and Autumn Leaf are for a pair of Gryffindor Socks, the Light Teal Nature's Palette will be paired with a stash yarn (NP in Chocolate) for another pair of Endpaper Mitts.

The Endpaper Mitts are because I'm itching to do some more colorwork, but am having kind of a hard time picking another pattern that's free and that I like. So I'm keeping my eye open and we'll see!

I Need Outta Here

2007-08-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

Texas, that is. I need to leave this state. Where to? New Hampshire. Maine. Vermont. New Brunswick. Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island. You catching my drift? I want to be somewhere on the East Coast-ish area - mountains and the sea. Long, cold winters with white, blue storms. In Texas? We've got none of it. Sure, we have a sea (swim in it if you dare) and we've got mountains (take water and an anti-venom agent when you go), but it's just not not the same.

It's just not the same.

(Am I being incredibly cynical and negative about Texas? Yes. A bit unfair? Probably so. But just humor me, please).

The good thing is that because of the recent downpours we've had, the heat level is much lower than it has been previous years... but the rain is slowing and the heat is, in turn, rising.

I blame this on my poor knitting weekend. I started a sock on Friday morning, worked a little bit on Saturday, and then a little more this morning. That's been the extent of my knitting these last few days. I realize that there's been a heatwave everywhere, and we're actually very LUCKY and even cooler than a lot of other places, but I still want to complain. I want my little cottage in the woods, where the mountains meet the sea (I think that may be copyrighted, woops, but I like it) and my little garden out back and my sheep in the barn (once I learn to spin, of course).

But all of this was to share the fact that I don't have another new FO to post about.

Good news? The Loopy Ewe will soon start carrying Trekking! I've been wanting to try it out for a while now, so now there's no excuse for me not to! I love the self-striping versions I've seen out there.

And I just have to say: The Loopy Ewe is the BEST online store out there. I don't know how she does it, but Sheri is awesome - she writes a handwritten note with each order, replies to ALL OF HER BLOG COMMENTS, gives lots of little gifts and fun things, is affordable, and ships super fast. Amazing, amazing, amazing - and even better, the store just projects an aura of being welcoming and inviting. Normally, I'm extremely shy and a little apprehensive about being around other knitters (all of the issues about: am I doing this stuff right?; I've only been knitting a few years, not my whole life; oh, oh, oh, I'm so inadequate), but she just seems so friendly and makes me comfortable about replying to her blog entries (which takes a lot of guts for me to do, my friend). So yay! I love the Loopy Ewe :)

One Rockin Pair of Socks

2007-08-03T07:28:00.000-05:00

The Monkey's? They are completed. (please excuse any poor photo qualities. Once again, no natural light. I'll try again tonight?)

Pattern: Monkey
Needles: Brittany Birch 2.25mm (5 in long)
Yarn: Claudia's Hand Painted in Just Plum
Casted On: Sunday July 29 (well, for the completed pair. I've casted on an uncountable number of times)
Casted Off: Thursday August 2

Yes, this was a FAST sock. And yes, I followed the pattern to a T (for the most part). I was smoking along on the second monkey last night when I realized that I was quickly running out of yarn. So for the toe, I skipped the rows 10 and 11 of the last lace pattern, the first knitting row of the decrease rounds, and doubled up on the decrease rounds ratio to the regular knitting toe, and it's kinda obvious:

See? The toe on the left is a little longer than the toe on the right. But that's all right, right? My new nugget of knowledge? It's a little dangerous to do cuff down socks! This does not happen on toe ups - you can just bind off a little sooner and no one would know the difference. But hey, life's not perfect is it?

After I finished the monkey socks last night, I decided to wind a hank of Cherry Tree Hill's sockittome sock yarn in Green Mountain Madness and begin on a new sock. The colors of this yarn are gorgeous - greens, blues, blacks. However, I quickly discovered that the hank was a mess. There are knots all in it, the yarn is kinked up around itself... it would have been impossible for me to wind late last night. I think I'll slowly attempt it over the weekend and see how far I get. I may just use it as scrap yarn if I need to, even though that would be almost shameful. This is only my first use of Cherry Tree Hill, and I don't believe that I'll risk it with them again (even though they're supposed to be good). However, you better believe that this will NOT impact my use with The Loopy Ewe whom I will love until the day I die with a burning passionate desire. That is all.

Lightbulbs (proverbial) and Compliments (literal)

2007-07-31T11:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, a lightbulb went off in my head. Those wretched slipped stitches on the heel of the monkey? I finally, just randomly, realized what they were for (I don't even think I was thinking about the monkey at this time, it just came to me)... they're to pick up the stitches for the gusset!!! I get it now!! As of right now, I've turned the heel and started on the gusset for the first Monkey. Ohmygosh - this is amazing!!

On to the compliment part...

I knit in public. I knit waiting for the bus (to and fro) and I knit on the bus (to and fro). I knit during my lunch break in the faculty/staff lounge while watching Who Want to be a Millionaire and PBS. I also knit (at times) when I'm covering the front desk and have little else to do. However, I don't do this to attract attention. I hate it when random people ask me about my knitting - not necessarily that they're interested, but because 1) I'm scared of people, 2) it's really not that impressive. I'm not conducting government experiments or designing anything - I'm following a patter, look: it's right here, and I'm basically doing the same 2 stitches over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. But I don't know how to just say, "thank you" when someone compliments my work and smile when they say, "wow, you must be patient." I think part of it is my lack of ability to make small talk with strangers and another part is that I just don't know how to take compliments. I need to find a more discrete way to knit though!

Pictures

2007-07-29T18:07:00.001-05:00

Since I've already blogged about these projects, I'm just going to show you the pictures. Not in a writing kind of mood!

Clapotis in KnitPicks' Shimmer (Stained Glass):

And see? I CAN make a pair of socks! (Standard toe up in KnitPicks' Felici - hummingbird)

Finished Project, half finished project, new project, contemplations on frustrations

2007-07-26T07:58:00.000-05:00

The Clapotis was finished last night! I took it out on the balcony and draped it around our little lemon tree to take pictures of it, but they just didn't turn out too well. With all of the rain, there has been VERY little sunshine, which doesn't bring out the prettiness of the yarn I used. But there will soon be pictures (I hope!)

I also finished a hummingbird sock yesterday. Again - no picture, although I tried. I wanted to take the sock pic in natural light because of a discovery I had on Monday morning. I began the sock on Sunday (by simply crocheting the chain, casting on, and beginning slightly on the toe). At the time I didn't realize there was green in the sock, only blue. When I took the sock out on the bus Monday morning, there was a bright and shining green color wrapped around the sock - that's how bad the lighting is in my apartment dudes. Then I began thinking that I should take all of my knitted projects out of doors and take a good looksie at them and look for more suprises! But anyway, last night I made another crochet chain and just cast on the back loops to begin the second sock. This morning before I left I knit a couple of rows, and then I finished up the toe while waiting on the bus and then on the commute. I hope that during lunch today I will be able to unzip the crochet chain and join her all together and be on my merry way up the foot!

While watching more of the second season of Six Feet Under, I flipped through my spiffy new copy of Victorian Lace Today and decided to cast on for one of the first projects in the book (I think it's called "large rectangle" or something like that - some of the names are a bit odd). It's an "easy lace" pattern - basically pretty diamonds and a border. The project called for fine gauged yarn (that's so vague, right?), and I'm using lace weight. I think (possibly) that lace weight might be a little lighter than what's called for? It also called for size 7US needles, and I'm using 4. I have 7. I don't know why I decided to use 4. Maybe I should frog and start with 7? Dunno - I'll mull it over.

Now the contemplation on my frustrations. I think, think, think I've finally figured the cuff down thing out. When I was working on the monkey, I was fine until the heel flap. While reading Cookie A's wonderful directions, I thought she made a mistake. "No. That can't possibly be right." when she said to:

Row 1: sl1, k31
Row 2: sl1, p31
Repeat 14 times more.

there will be 15 slipped stitches along each side.

I took it to mean that she wanted us to do something similar to how I'd been doing heels, meaning: wrap stitches. I also took the: 15 slipped stitches along each side, meaning that in the end (after casting on 64 stitches), you'll only have 2 live stitches in the middle, because you increase the slipped stitch each row. WRONG-O KATIE-O!!

*slaps head* I think I get it now. Really, I think I get it. After I finish the hummingbird socks, I am re-frogging the Monkey (yes, I think this is 3rd or 4th time that I've just completely ripped the sucker out) and starting anew. Oh, Please, let me get this right!!

Updates

2007-07-24T07:43:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, no pictures. I'm at work. And besides, there hasn't really been enough sun recently to take good pictures.

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Saturday evening. Don't worry - no spoilers here. The book (on the whole) was wonderful. There were a few things that I was a bit unhappy with, but I'm definitely not complaining. I think Rowling did what she wanted with the characters and the series, and I applaud here. 'Ear, 'ear.

On the knitting front, things are a bit slow. I'm in the decrease section of my clapotis. I should have it finished by this weekend? We'll see. I also started a new pair of socks in a new yarn: Knitpicks' Felici in Hummingbird. I have to say - it's adorable. The stripes are wonderful and it's just so soft and dreamy-like. I started the crochet chain cast-on and the toe briefly on Sunday night, so that it would be ready for my morning bus ride. Thanks to the morning ride, my lunch break, my front desk coverage yesterday, and the crazy crazy rainy bus ride home, I turned the heel and am working on the ribbing for the leg already. Quickie!

Pictures soon, I hope.

Weekend

2007-07-16T10:31:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful productive weekend.

Saturday I saw Lady Bird Johnson as she lay in repose. Lost another great Texas Woman. Where are the new arrivals? Then saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on 3D. The movie was good if you haven't read the book. There was a LOT left out (I was especially excited to see Tonks on the big screen, but she had maybe one speaking line - I was sorely disappointed). But it was good and worth the money. If for nothing, then the knits. I have been looking all over and can't seem to find it, but I LOVED Neville's blue cardigan. I'm going to keep searching, because it HAS to be out there somewhere.

I also started a clapotis last week. I've done 7 repeats of the straight rows. It's on a lace weight yarn, so it's a little small, but it's a lot lighter than the other one I was working on and I'm super excited about it. While waiting in line for HP, I started on the Monkey sock again. We'll see.

Sorry it's rushed. Gotta get back to work.

Monkey

2007-07-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

The Monkey has been frogged. The Monkey is no more. Luckily, I have a spiffy new ballwinder that made this easy and pretty and, heck, even fun.

I will not let this sock beat me. I will learn to knit from the cuff down. I will learn how to turn the heel and work the gusset. And the toe? The toe, somehow, ended up going the wrong direction. I know, I know... how could that be? I'm not sure. As of this moment, I have nothing on the needles (except a few really old projects that don't really even count) and need something to consume my evenings (besides watching rented movies 30 minutes at a time before bed). Just wanted to share.

A Couple of FOs

2007-07-09T18:29:00.000-05:00

First off, the finished projects:

Pattern: Sea and Shell stole
Needles: KnitPicks US4 circs
Yarn: KnitPicks lace (can't remember specs)
Casted On: March
Casted Off: Friday July, 6
Blocked: Sunday July, 8
Pre-blocked size: 47in x 16.5in
Post-blocked size: 58in x 19in

This was a delightful knit. I started it back in March and when all of my knitting fell to the wayside April - June, this fell as well. However, I picked it back up with fury and finished it a lot faster than I thought it would. I blocked it on Sunday and then wrapped it up and gifted it to a co-worker today. I was a little sad to see it go, but it's going to a good home :)

Pattern: Fir Cone from interweave knits
Needles: KnitPicks US4 circs
Yarn: DROPS Alpaca
Casted On: Friday July, 6
Casted Off: Monday July, 9
Blocked: Monday July, 9

I began this scarf on Friday night. A coworker recently celebrated a birthday last week and will be back at work tomorrow, so I had a little wiggle room to start and finish this. However, I do wish that I would have started it earlier because it definitely could have been better. I started with 42 st/row and ended with 32. Erm, yeah. I lost an entire repeat somewhere in there. And it shows. Bleghh... I did what I could do to fix it during the blocking, but... well, it could be better, that's how we'll leave it.

Monkey socks. Oh, monkey socks. I'll pick them back up either later tonight or tomorrow. I didn't touch them all weekend because of the last minute gift knitting that I did. I still don't know what I'm going to do about knitting it toe-up or cuff down. I think I'm going to continue with the cuff down version and look at the final produce, then see what I need to do.

Sewing? I've made a couple of pillows. I'm really bad at measuring things and then cutting/sewing in a straight line. But practice, practice, is what I say.

But I'm looking for a new lace pattern to start on. My nearby public library doesn't have any books with lace patterns, and neither does UT's library system.. can you believe that? I'm checking out Wendy's list of lace patterns and at Eunny's finished objects. I really like the Kimono, but I have to find a way to get my hands on Folk Shawls. We'll see.

Contemplations on Monkey

2007-07-06T12:02:00.000-05:00

So, as blogged earlier, I started Monkey socks Monday night. Tuesday I completed the leg and most of the heel. I then proceeded to rip out the heel and knit a heel that I was used to knitting (I didn't quite get the instructions the first time). Now, my monkey heel is a right angle (pictures later today, I hope) which I don't particularly like. So last night, I cast on to do a monkey sock toe-up instead of cuff down. I get that I'm going to have to flip the chart upside down, but will I then do everything backwards? Meaning, will the ssk now become k2tog and vice versa? What I'm really trying to figure out is to continue reading the chart from right to left? Or now from left to right?

I've spend time this morning (yes, at work... but give me a break, things are slow) trying to conceptualize this. But I guess the only way for me to find out is to try and then compare with my abandoned monkey. But if the pattern is backwards, would it really matter? Nah... this isn't a government experiment. It's a pair of socks for my cold feet. I told you that I'm not a perfectionist!

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

2007-07-02T21:08:00.000-05:00

I took some pictures of the current condition of the Sea and Shell Stole, the sewing machine, the sewing projects, and a new knitting project. They're actually uploading to photobucket as I post this. Please excuse the terrible pictures... it's (of course) been rainy lately, so I have no natural light from which to benefit. But it wouldn't really matter anyway because I only took the pictures about 10 mins ago, so it would have been dark either way.

OK, These first 2 pics are of the sewing table:

These are from my t-shirt project. Pic #1 is the graphic from the t-shirt, pic #2 is just a long strip. Who knows what I'll even be able to do with them?

My Sea and Shell stole now measures about 46 inches (pre-blocking):

I've done 27 repeats... I'm going to go up to 30 and then re-measure and figure out what I think then. Eek! I don't want to make it too long, but I don't want it to be too short either... Hmmm.

And look what I started today:

It's the Monkey Socks from Knitty! It's my first pair of cuff down socks AND the first time I've done anything other than stockinette stitch... soooo, I'm a little nervous about it, but I hope that I can figure things out when I get to them. We'll see!

New Title

2007-07-02T11:17:00.000-05:00

Just updating to say that I changed the title from the very well loved "Femi-KNITSA!" to "sew fasciknitting."

I realize that is presumptuous on a few levels:

1) Nobody has ever said that I'm fascinating. (or interesting, for that matter)
2) I can't sew.

So why put those two words together in an effort to describe moi? Because it's the only thing that I could come up with that was even a little clever. That's right, even a little clever. So let's hope a few things:

1) I become fascinating.
2) I learn to sew.

Then it won't be presumptuous at all!

Sew Fantastic

2007-07-02T08:20:00.000-05:00

I have eventful news. I bought a sewing machine this weekend.

It's a Singer Prelude.

Do I know how to sew? No. Do I understand the mechanics of a sewing machine? Oh goodness, no. But I've been contemplating and debating learning to sew for the past several months (not to mention yearning). I've looked at used ones on craigslist, but realized that they were basically the same price as the cheaper models in stores. So I went to Target Saturday morning after our weekly Kerbey Lane breakfast and just bought the Singer Prelude.

As I was pulling the machine out of the box, I said to her, "now, you be kind to me today." Matt's response was, "I'm always nice to you!" I had to tell him, "Not you! I'm not talking to you! I'm talking to the machine!"

The machine did not listen to me. It took me forever to figure out the bobbin case. And once I did, I swear, it took me hours to figure out how to pull up the freaking bobbin thread up with the upper thread. It's a little silly. But I kept telling myself, I have no experience sewing and I've never really used a sewing machine before (even though my mom is an awesome sewer and we've always had machines in my house) so it's ok that I don't understand the machine.

To practice sewing, I cut up an old t-shirt and sewed strips together. I'm not sure if there's anything I can do with those strips, but it was for practice's sake! I'm a little nervous to use patterns and such, but my plan is to go about this just as I did when I taught myself to knit: take it slow. Start with the easiest stuff and get very comfortable with that. Then bump it up. Then bump it up a little bit more. I'm in no hurry; although I would love to begin making my own wardrobe today, it's a little unrealistic.

As far as knitting - I'm still waiting on my sock yarn orders. I had them sent to my work address, but that may have been a mistake on my part. I used the street address (because I wasn't sure if the company's were going to use USPS or some other shipping company), but now realize that I should have used the university mailing address. It's a confusing situation... so still no commuting project in the works. boo. But I am still working on The Sea and Shell Stole. I've completed about 27 repeats now (whoa!)... and it is already super long, pre-blocked. I think I'm going to measure it tonight and see what the specs are, because I may just be able to bind off tonight and call it finished. We'll see.

I may try to post again tonight with pictures of the sewing machine and the stole... we'll see!

I also realized today that I need to find a new title for this blog... the play on "feminist" and "knit" has been done. :-/ I'm terrible at this sorta stuff.

At Work

2007-06-29T09:31:00.000-05:00

I'm primary backup for front desk coverage at work, and thhe baby of our receptionist has been sick these last couple of days. That means that I've spent a LOT of time in front of the computer and browsing blogs, news sites, etc. So I felt like posting in my blog!

As far as knitting goes, I've pretty much stuck to the Print o the Wave. I now have 19 repeats completed, so what is that? 15 more to go? I'm over halfway finished! Let me tell you.. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. Have I been tinking back to fix them. Oh gosh, no. Hahaha. Again, I'm not a perfectionist, so I just look at is as character. Right? Right?

I've made a few orders online. I've bought more sock yarn (with the hopes of doing something other than toe-up, plain knit stitch) and some crystal palace US 0 dpns. The Knitpicks dpns are awesome - I love their pointed ends and slick exterior, but they are just too slippery for me when I knit socks and other fingering weight things Trust me, they still have their place in my heart... but, for socks I'm going to stick with bamboo I believe.

Now the knitpicks circs are fantastic. Did I tell you I got the Options set? Well, I got the Knitpicks Options in February and am delighted. I'm actually using them for the Print o the Wave and it's perfect for the lace project.

As far as making purchases, I have a great desire to buy this: http://store.knitting-warehouse.com/072803.html. It's a ball-winder. How much time and heartache would that save me? I sometimes spend hours on the living room floor winding hanks into balls. Balls that sometimes get knotted up and cause even more strife as I have to put the knitting aside and untangle, untangle, untangle. And the $23.99 price is better than any other I've seen elsewhere. But for now, I think it's best to save a little moola and consider making the purchase next month (but since next month is only, oh, 2 or 3 days away, this may not be much of a wait!.

I'd like to post some pictures, but I don't have any. The weather around here has gotten much better and it's less rainy. I was talking to a co-worker the other day, and said that I would rather the rainy weather over hot-sticky-summery weather any day. But I didn't want people to get flooded out of their homes and have such a hard time! So... rain, please keep raining. However, don't do it on places that are already flooded or are about to be flooded. Or I could just ask weather to let up on the rain, but just stay cool. Maybe that will work better.

It's Raining.... Well, Rain

2007-06-27T20:20:00.001-05:00

Guess what?

The Endpaper Mitts have been completed!

Pattern: Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts
Needles: Brittany Birch US2 DPN and Knitpicks US0 DPN
Yarn: Nature's Palette in Coral and Chocolate... yum!
Casted On: around 9pm Friday June 22
Casted Off: around 8pm Tuesday June 26

That picture was taken by Matt and Sammy was very interested in what was going on. I love the mitts. I loved making the mitts... this was the first time I've done colorwork like that, so it felt really satisfying when I got into it and realized that I wasn't totally screwing everything up!

The hardest part for me was when I switched to the metal knitpicks needles while doing the cuffs and all of the ribbing... Although it felt smooth and swift, it was very slippery. I was terrified to take the knitting out while I was on the bus to and fro work because I just knew that stitches were going to fly and I would lose my needles. So I didn't - I only did colorwork on the bus... I kept my work tucked safely away as I closer to finishing up.

Right now, I'm working more on the Print o the wave. No pictures, because, well... it looks very similar to the way it did in March. I have a total of 16 repeats completed... 34 are called for in the pattern. I'm not messing it up TOO bad, so that's always a good thing.

Look though:

this birdie sleeps on our balcony. What you're looking at is a hook that has been placed in the rafters on the roof of our little balcony. Pretty much every night, when we turn on the outside light to look out, our little birdie is sitting on that hook and sleeping. we've got the pile of poop to prove it. How fun!

The reTurn of the Screw

2007-06-25T17:43:00.000-05:00

I disappeared for a while there... but don't worry, you didn't miss anything. I only just finished a new project and began on a new one. First things first:

Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Socks
Pattern Specifics: 60 stitches without any decreasing.
Needles: Brittany Birch 5 in. dpn's size 1US.
Yarn: Claudia's Handpainted in Turquoise Jeans

This was the first project where I used the Brittany Birch's. Fantastically cute and fun. BUT! What I really want to show you is this:

Wait... what is that? Could it be? No! No, it can't be....

But it is! It is!!

It's Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts!!

Can you believe it? It's been my weekend project... I finished one mitt and am about halfway through the second. w00t!

But I'm going back to to knit away :) Catch ya later!!

Save the Cheerleader

2007-03-16T22:53:00.000-05:00

The Irving Park socks are finished! Specs:
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Socks
Pattern Specifics: 60 stitches for the foot and up past the ankle. Before the ribbing I decreased to 56 stitches because I have bird legs.
Needles: KnitPicks dpn's size 1US.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Sportweight in Irving Park

I'm still having a hard time with the join after the heel... need to keep working on that. But I'm thrilled that I can now unzip the provisional cast on! (but I've went on and on about that before).

As promised, I've (so far) kept up with the "at least one repeat a weekday" on the Sea and Shells stole:

I don't know why, but it's sometimes hard to just sit down and start with the lace project. I think because it's so intimidating and it takes a fair amount of concentration (for me, anyway)... but once I've started, I love doing the lace work: I like how the fiber feels in my hands and just like admiring the shapes taking place.

I bought more sock yarn the other day, Claudia' Handpainted in Turquoise Jewel (no pic, sorry). I really want to get to work on Eunny's Endpaper Mitts, but I need to buy a set of 5 dpns in size 2... I have a set of 4, but that's no good :(

Ho hum, just going along

2007-03-13T21:56:00.000-05:00

Here's what it looked like today at 3:45:

Yes, it was rainy and dark and bleak and beautiful! Now that's my kind of day. We've been swimming in the rain around here, and I'm loving it.

As for knitting, I casted on for the second Irving sock this morning and as of now, this is what I have:

This definitely won't be another three day sock, but its progress is not too shabby. However, I'm excited to report that I have finally conquered the zipping off of the provisional cast-off, thanks to the Fabulous Eunny Jang! Before I was either cutting off the provisional cast-on (running the risk of actually cutting the stitches I needed) or slowly, but surely unknotting each and every loop, rather than just "unzipping" it quickly and easily. So thank you, Eunny!!

I also knitted another repeat on the Sea and Shells Stole - no pic because it bascially still looks exactly the same. I think my goal for that will be to knit at least one repeat each weekday and then I should be finished in, oh, about a month.

One more knitting thing - I tried to do a swatch for the endpaper mitts, and in the end I ended up with this:

No good :( And even worse, you should see my floor right now. I still need to clean everything up and get my coffee ready for the morning... and Sammy is also wiped out:

One Irving Park is completed

2007-03-12T20:55:00.000-05:00

One down, one to go:

I'm experimenting with binding-off methods. For the Fly Fishing Socks, I bound off with the following method: K2, *transfer stitches back to left needle, K2tog, K1* (I got it from Wendy. It was loose and stretchy, but it still kind of flowered out at the ends. For this sock, I used the Elizabeth Zimmerman's Sewn Cast Off and liked it! I think it's a little less stretchy than Wendy's preferred method, but there's no pucker or flowering going on.

At night, after The Boy goes to work, I usually watch some sort of TV on DVD. I've went through the first season of Six Feet Under and all 2.5 seasons of Lost (the first two seasons I watched on DVD, the rest of the third season (up until the most recent episode) I watched on abc.com. The last episode I got to watch on TV with the rest of the world, because I was caught up! But I've been somewhat at a loss recently as I've nothing to watch :( So I went to Best Buy this weekend and picked something out:

It's Nip/Tuck. I've never watched a single episode (before right this very second), but have heard nothing but good stuff... Besides, I get addicted to Dr. 90210, and the blurb on the box sounded a lot like the Dr 90210, so I can't really go wrong can I? It was a toss up between Nip/tuck and the Sopranos, but Nip was about $30 cheaper... we all know what wins in the end.

So I'm going to go and get my second hank of Irving Park wound into a ball so that it's ready to go tomorrow, drink some tea, and watch some more of Nip, and then off to bed I go! Goodnight.

Progress on Irving Park and the Sea and Shells Stole

2007-03-11T21:19:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning I casted on for the Irving Park socks. I snapped a quick pic right before I put my needles down, because I thought I was finished for the day:

(the key word was "thought"). I was delighted with Lorna's Laces; I've never used such designer yarn before and thought that the yarn was smooth and didn't split, for the most part.

But after I put the needles down after that pic, I shortly picked them back up again and knitted all the way to the heel and completed turning half of it. As of this moment, this is what the sock looks like:

I'm past the ankle and have begun the ribbing for the leg. I have to confess: the ribbing is the most boring part for me, even though it consists of both knit and purl stitches, while the foot is never boring for me but only uses the knit stitch. Go figure. Also, I'm still struggling with joining the front and back together after I've turned the heel - it's producing little holes at the join that I don't get while I'm doing the toe, which is the exact same technique as the heel. Example:

It's a tiny bit frustrating. I think the trick to this one is to pick up the stitches in the area further between the join. As it is, I'm picking up stitches right near the respective needles and not really doing a great job joining the two sides together that way. I'll test it with the next sock!!

Although I haven't worked on the Sea and Shells Stole at all this weekend, I wanted to share it's progress. I've completed seven or eight repeats, with only about 30 more to go! :p

And modeled by the SamDog:

I can't wait to block it and see how the design truly comes out!

Ok, back to watching The Prestige. But first two things:

1. Harry Potter is the coolest, yo.
2. Eunny Jang is a genius. A genius, I tell you!

More Socks and New Yarn!

2007-03-09T14:12:00.000-06:00

I've mentioned that I was working on a mystery gift. Here it is:

These are toe-up socks that I made for The Boy's birthday (which was yesterday). It's Wendy's Generic Pattern in KnitPicks Memories, colorway is Fly Fishing.

Sometimes it doesn't look like the sizes of socks don't match when they're side by side like the previous picture, so I took this picture to try to convince others that they are pretty much the same size!!

In addition, I went to my LYS today and spent waaay too much money. Lookie, lookie:

It's a pile-o-yarn!!

and of course, I have a few plans for the yarn!! These hanks of Lorna's Laces in the Irving Park Colorway are destined for socks:

These pretty, pretty hanks are Nature's Palette in Chocolate and Coral are going to be Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts:

And finally, some Rowan Felted Tweed for another pair of knucks. I hope that they will fit more snugly that my previous pair!

In other news, I watched The Shipping News yesterday and today (half last night, the other half today). It only encouraged me to continue my pining over living in maritime Candada. I need four seasons!! I'm so tired of year-round summer with just only a smattering of cooler weather stuck in the middle. Right now, it's 80F. It's the beginning of March and I don't want sun and blue skies - I want snow and bleak skies. I like bleak and downcast skies. Why do I have to live in Texas???

Hello again

2007-03-06T08:07:00.000-06:00

I'm taking the day off, so I finally have an opportunity to post pictures!

Short and sweet
Branching Out specs: Used Drops Alpaca, color 2918, not even 50 grams.

Branching Out close up:

In the above picture, you can see how I didn't do a very good job blocking. The loops are kind of stretched out and misshapen mayhem, but that's ok. And I don't think the color shows very well in this picture (I told you I'm terrible at taking pictures), because it's a very vibrant blue.

This picture shows the length and my Sammy. He's looking a little shaggy in that picture, but he got a haircut a couple of weeks ago!!

And Branching Out was Completed

2007-02-23T08:45:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week I completed branching out and gifted it immediately after blocking. I took pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet (will soon).

It was my first attempt at blocking, and I don't think I did a great job - the loops like kinda stretchy and misshaped, but that's ok.

Right now I'm working on a mystery something-or-other for a mystery-birthday coming up and The Sea and Shells Stole that I blogged about earlier. Yay!

Branching Out was Started

2007-02-12T07:52:00.000-06:00

On Friday I wrote about how I really, really wanted to attempt a lace project. I contemplated my small stash all day at work, and when I got home I started Branching Out. I'm really bad at paying attention to specs, but I'm using an alpaca yarn that I bought last summer at my LYS (it was a splurge, trust me). It's a bright blue (yes, I realize that there aren't that many leaves in nature that glow a blue hue, but give me a break) and on size 7 needles. I'll post more specs about it (and a picture) when I discover it myself!

Anyway, I've done about 18 repeats, so I'm about halfway there. It's riddled with mistakes, but I take pride in the fact that I am not a perfectionist... and this is one of those times when it comes in handy :p

More on lace yarn and the toe up sock update

2007-02-09T07:25:00.000-06:00

OK. After discovering the Lace Tutorial by Eunny, I've discovered that nice lace requires elasticity - which I don't believe the crochet string will provide. So I have ordered 2 hanks of KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud in Tide Pool Heather -- among other goodies.

In addition I bought a hank (even though I meant to buy TWO hanks) of Shimmer in Stained Glass for a clapotis and two hanks of a mystery yarn for a mystery gift.

And the total was under $30 - can you believe that? I love KnitPicks.

About the thicker, wool toe-up socks: I finished the first sock, and I'm not yet sure if I'm going to continue with the other. When I started the first pair, it was for a lack of something to do. Because I'm kind of stuck right now (I want to do some lace work, but I don't really have anything to do it with), I may actually do the second one... but if I can find something else to do, then I'm going to leave the first sock in my WIP basket and move on.

I may actually do a bit of research on Branching Out and look into yarn substitutions... Hmmm... My interest has been sparked!!

No Knitting Last Night

2007-02-07T07:57:00.000-06:00

Last night I had a pretty bad headache and was in bed (and asleep) by 9:30. Combined with the fact that I didn't get home until around 5:45, you can see that my evening consisted of: eating dinner (that I did not prepare), watching American Idol, bathing, and watching an episode of Lost - and that is it.

But I would like to share a bit about the socks that I started on Sunday (and really haven't worked on since). They're in DK weight on size 4 needles. The other pair of socks I knitted were sock weight with size 1 needles. So The Boy helped me with the gauge-math, and it's actually working out quite nicely... and knitting up really quickly! I hope to finish the first sock at some point this week, and begin and complete the second over the weekend.

More exciting news: my b-day is coming up (the 18th!) and my mother had me order the KnitPicks Options set on her credit card for my gift! It was shipped yesterday and I cannot wait for it to arrive. If memory serves me right, waiting on knitpicks shipments are excruciating, so I'm hoping to just sort of forget that I'm expecting these needles so that I'll just be surprised when they arrive. Once I get them, I'm going to start a lace project! This will be my first, and I can't decide between Knitty's Branching Out or the Sea and Shells Stole that I saw on a fellow bloggers site.

On one of my trips (in search of that darned Loch Ness colorway) to Hobby Lobby, I bought a ball of crochet string (I searched for a link or a picture of what I'm talking about but am having no luck... I'll try to get more information later) and a pair of US 4 circs (somehow, all of my circs are sized 9 through 11?? - which is why I'm excited about the KnitPicks set). I have a couple of concerns/indignations:

Because I can never seem to pay attention to what exactly I am buying, I bought a 16" circ instead of a larger one. What kind of lace project can I do on such a short cord??
Can I use crochet string for a lace project? To be honest, I cannot afford a specialty yarn shop right now, and these balls were about $1. I'm not sure how reasonable it is for me to spend a lot of money on specialty yarn when this is my first lace project. I just want to try my hand at it before I dive into the luxury pool.

Picking vs Throwing

2007-02-05T08:09:00.000-06:00

I am an English knitter. When I first taught myself to knit, I completely ignored the Continental instructions and went for the English advice. I assume it was because I saw "English" and thought, "oh, instructions in English. I'm an English speaker, so this must be for me."

But alas, I have been wishing for an awful long time that I would have ignored the "English" style and gone for the Continental. I could have pretended I was either French or Italian, and felt comfortable stealing their knitting principles and lying in a wine orchard and knitting wool socks. The reasons for wanting to knit Continental are numerous and I would like to expand on those at this time.

When I am ready to try Fair Isle or more complex color work, Continental style looks as if it's infinitely easier than English style
If I am on a plane or other type of public transportation (such as a bus) and decide to bring along a current project, then the chances of me either constantly elbowing my fellow passenger and causing this person to either grumble under his/her breath or, you know, getting killed will be less (hopefully).
I'm sure there are other reasons, but you get the picture for now

You may ask, "Then why don't you just learn to knit continental style, you silly knitter?" The answer boils down to one excruciating answer:

I am an impatient person. The Boy once asked me why I don't order more yarn from the Internet. My reply was (as is typical), "Because I don't like to wait for it to arrive." In this same vein, I don't enjoy taking the time to actually sit down and learn a completely new style of knitting. Oh, but I've tried. I'll take a whole two minutes of my knitting time and dedicate it to practicing "picking." But for some reason, this doesn't seem to be enough :-/

But one day! One day I will be a picker!!

Clapotis

2007-01-30T06:26:00.000-06:00

One of the last things I started last August (before I dropped knitting for the semester) was Knitty's Clapotis for my mom. She picked out some yarn (Yarn Bee's Highland Thistle in Loch Ness).

I love the colors (which aren't showcased well in the photo), but clapotis must be the worst pattern I could have chosen for that particular yarn. The fuzz makes it very difficult to unravel the stitches that I have dropped. Of course, if one's intention is to not drop stitches, then this yarn is a dream.

In addition, the yarn is bulky weight, so the scarf is heavy and thick... which would be great if my mom lives in New Brunswick... but the winters in South East Texas aren't very frigid, so I'm not sure how well this gift will serve her :(

And an even more frustrating turn of events is that I've used all of the yarn that she sent me - and now I can't find the colorway at neither of the two Hobby Lobbies near my apt. Sooo... I'll post pictures when I finish.

Completed socks and weekend hiking

2007-01-29T20:15:00.000-06:00

To start this post, I'd like to talk about the local state park that I went to over the weekend. Apart from it being one of the most difficult hikes I've ever been on in my entire life, it was one of the most beautiful places in Texas that I've been.

The above picture is taken from the peak of the hike. As I said, it was really hard... pretty much straight up. I forget now how much elevation gain it was, but there were times when I nearly just got on my hands and knees and crawled... whoa. Below is me sitting on a rock before we began the difficult part.

But what I'm really posting about is new socks!

The pattern is Wendy's Generic Toe-Up pattern with Knitpicks "Dancing." This is my first pair of socks, and I'm really excited about how they came out... however, I'm a smidgen bit disappointed that on one sock, the purple stripes visibly, while on the other it doesn't. But oh well... I still like them!
My feet say, "hello!'

Posting some old pics and an update

2007-01-26T20:30:00.000-06:00

Bow-chicka-wow-wow... I've been gone a while (yes, I abandoned this blog after only the first post!) and want to do an update. I have some old pictures in my photobucket account that I want to post and then I'll give an update on the things I'm working on right now. OK, off we go!

This is a picture of a little blanket I knitted for my dog. I made it from a Lion Brand pattern and it was really quick and really easy. It's made with Homespun yarn in "water fall" (I think) and I made it around August or September.

This is a picture of the basketweave scarf featured in Stitch n Bitch Nation. I also made this one way back in August or so, and I'm also working on a charcoal one.

This is a close up of the warm and fuzzy scarf, also from SnB Nation.

Ok, I think that's all I'm going to upload for now. On to what's (briefly) going on with me.

Part of the reason why I didn't knit much during the Fall Semester was because I was in my field placement and worked crazy hours. I was always exhausted and although I looked longingly at my yarn basket nearly every day, I was content to just sit on the couch and blankly watched whatever was on the tube. Now that I can do whatever I want to do in the evenings, I've been spending that time knitting. I haven't gotten a lot done, but I'm happy with what I'm working on.

I have finally began my first pair of socks. I've completed one and am working on the leg of the next (I'm doing toe-up socks)... I'm thrilled with the results; the socks aren't perfect, but I'm not a perfectionist by any means.

I've taken stock of my WIP basket, and this is what I have left incomplete from the summer:

An afghan for Matt
A clapotis for my mom
Harry Potter scarf for me
Basketweave scarf for a friend
Embroidery on my knucks
And oh yeah, I need to learn to spin!!!

So I hope to keep up this blog and keep up the knitting. I still love the process and fall in love with it all over again constantly. And now I'm going to work on my second sock!

Article from Knitty

2007-01-26T09:02:00.000-06:00

Yesterday at work I visited Knitty.com for the first time in a long time. I found a fabulous article entitled "What I Cannot Say" by Lan Xuan Le and fell in love. The dreamy way it's written is how I feel about knitting at times and to live in "the mountains by the sea" on a sheep farm is still what I yearn to do (and I don't care how that sounds). So here it is, please enjoy!

What I Cannot Say By Lan Xuan Le

We speak us all the words of love - with our lips, with our tongues, with our wit. I shall speak with my hands and craft with them the shape and texture of what I cannot say.
When I meet the man I love, I shall say to him, "Lover, I leave thee hence for a fortnight and hie me away to the mountains by the sea." And I shall go from him and drive north for hours. The road will wend through forests that smell of rainy winters and give way to wet mountains that glisten from the light reflected off the sea. North and north I shall go, through cities that glow at night like sunlight through dew-drenched cobwebs on the shore. Go and go I shall until, in the evening of the next day, I pull into a long, dirt drive where a rambling farmhouse lies at the foot of the mountains.
There I shall embrace the sister of my mother, press my face to her plump shoulder and smell the rain and dirt in her graying hair. Together, we shall sit by the hearth and laugh at old times until the evening fades. As the moon rises in the east, I shall tell her that I have met the man I love, and she will smile a secret smile and say to me, "Tomorrow we shall shear the sheep."
In the light of dawn rising over the mountain, I shall follow my mother’s sister across the yard into the fenced enclosure. We shall walk amongst the gentle bleating of the sheep until she finds a small, gray ram lying in the straw; its horns spiraled close about its head. I shall hold him as my mother’s sister shears the ram, its coat falling away in pieces under the buzzing of the electric razor. Together, we shall collect its fleece and on the kitchen table separate out the pieces, bellies, crutchings, and locks until there is only greasy fleece under our fingertips. My mother’s sister shall comb the locks and I shall wash them in boiling, soapy water until the liquid rinses clear. We shall lay the wool to dry on racks and bake scones in the afternoon as if I were a girl again and she my caretaker. My mother’s sister shall ask me of you, and I shall tell her of your brown eyes and freckled grin and strong hands. When the wool dries, my mother’s sister shall tease the yarn and I shall card the wool into fluffy balls of roving. We will leave these by the banked fire and drive west to the sea and sit on a pier drinking clear glasses of champagne in a small, smoky restaurant.

Through the mornings and evenings, I shall sit at the spinning wheel with my spindle and pump the treadle under my feet. From the balls of roving, I shall pull and twist threads of yarn, and my mother’s sister will wind them into off-white skeins, stacking them carefully into a cardboard box. When I finish, she shall kiss me on my cheek and embrace me again, bidding me to return like the sun rises in the morning. She shall take the box of yarn and place it into my car, waving to me as I leave her rambling farmhouse at the foot of the mountains where they meet the sea.

I shall drive south and south and south until I leave the mountains and rainy forests and enter into the embrace of dry, rolling hills. I shall return in the evening of the next day to our little house on a quiet street in a city with red tile roofs and shady arches. You will embrace me as I walk into our door, and you will inhale the smell of rain and dirt in my hair and say to me, "Lover, I am glad you have returned." I shall smile and take your hand in mine.

In the night, while you sleep between cool, cotton sheets, I shall reach over and measure the span of your bare, tan shoulders, my hands lingering on your warm skin. I shall, when you turn away, inspect your clothes and take the measure of your things. And while you are at work, I shall linger in front of my computer, perusing pages of sweater patterns, and I shall knit up the skeins of yarn in my cardboard box. As I knit, I shall pluck from my head hairs as black as ink. These I shall knit in amongst the soft white wool - tiny coal strands, visible only from the inside of the sweater. Everyday, when I hear your car pull into the drive, I shall fold my knitting into the box and put it away. You will embrace me when you enter the kitchen and I shall laugh.

Fall will turn to winter and your breath will be plumes of white in the air. I shall finish knitting the white wool into a sweater, put it into a box, and leave it on the bed. You will find it when you come home and wear it that evening when you kiss me, and time shall turn with the rising and setting of the sun. You will one day remark that there are many dark strands of hair knitted into the sweater, especially around your heart. I shall tell you a tale told me by the graying crone who taught me to knit. I shall say to you that the hair of she who gives the gift, so long as it stays in the knitting, shall bind to her the heart of the recipient.

You will be quiet for long moments and I shall look at you curiously in the slanting light of afternoon. Then you will embrace me and kiss my temple, and you will say, "Lover, you are my Crane Wife, and I promise I shall never look upon your spinning."

The heavens will weep as the rain comes down in the winter night and together we will lie twined beneath the rising moon.

The Link is Here

Intro Post

2006-09-24T20:22:00.000-05:00

Hello :) My name is Katie and, as you may be able to tell, I love to knit. I started knitting about 2 1/2 years ago, took about a year hiatus, and then picked it up again with a fury several months ago. I can never tell what is just a fleeting fancy (like embroidery) or something that I seriously love and want to make an integral part of my life (like I hope knitting is). But I will say that knitting makes me happy. I love the process of knitting. I love learning new things about it. Nothing makes me more calm or relaxed than sitting down with some knitting. I'm not sure what it is about the activity, but it works for me.

Another endeavor of mine is to spin yarn. I have the equipment, I just haven't had much of an opportunity to try my hand at it. Yet. So I hope to post my pathetic beginnings and (hopefully) gradually improving spun yarn.

A little about me: I'm a 5th year senior at a big university in Texas. I'm majoring in Social Work (minoring in Sociology) and will graduate in December. I'm in the middle of doing my fieldworld, so it's really cutting into my freetime - but that's ok. I will finally be finished with school soon! I live with my boyfriend (Matt), and our shih tzu (Sammy). I'm politically and socially liberal. I plan on posting lots of pictures, but 1) I take terrible pictures of things; 2) I take terrible pictures of myself; and 3) I have a crappy camera that I can never depend on. If you keep those 3 things in mind, we'll all be very happy.

I don't want to load up my first post with pictures, but I will post one: I recently knit up Knucks from Knitty and am very proud of them. In this picture, I hadn't weaved in the ends on one of the gloves and I haven't added any embroidery yet, but plan to use "harm none" for this particular pair. I have plans to make another pair, but I'm keeping the text a secret as of yet... it wasn't on the list of 2 four letter words that knitty provided as inspiration (at least I don't think it is), so I don't want to give it away too soon ;)