when the lights came up at two . . .

They don't exactly look like something Death brought with him in his suitcase, but I fear these stripes may be too 70's-tastic to be worn by anyone but me. It would have to be a special person I could give them to, and I don't think I know anyone that special.



And by 'special' I mean 'anyone as inclined to disregard color convention as I am.'

On the other hand, these are just Plain Sock, knit on US #2s, out of Patons Kroy, and I have a feeling that they will probably last forever. And hey, I like the colors. Not that I really need another pair of wool socks. What I do need is a large project of some sort, but I don't know what it should be. Nor do I have any large quantities of yarn lying around. Well, there may be some of the cheap SWS lurking about. Maybe I'll do something with that.

Dammit, what was I thinking, knitting up all my yarn into sweaters this fall? Now what do I DO?

(Oh, and have I mentioned that my mom adores her Aran birthday sweater? She wears it literally All The Time. It's awesome. It's become her winter coat, I think. Makes me feel good.)

a successful Christmas!

My mom adores her new knitwear, though I think she's much more excited by her fingerless gloves, which took two seconds to make, and are of fairly crappy yarn, than her awesome twisty socks. You never can tell, can you?

I didn't finish any other knitwear. I was 3/4 of the way into another pair of fingerless gloves when the 23rd happened, and I was at my grandma's cooking for half the day, and then out finishing up the shopping with my mom for the rest of the evening. It was a good day, but the gloves didn't get finished. So now I'll finish them up and barter them to my brother for a t-shirt. Rock on.

Of course, I have to get better before I feel like doing any knitting: there's been a 24-hour sort of flu here, and the house has looked like the Home of the Zombie Dead for the past couple of days. I had a comparatively light case, but now I have the Headache That Won't Die from not eating for two days. Oh, for some extra-strength Excedrin. My kingdom for some really good painkillers.

I discovered last night that no matter how sickly I feel, watching the tv without knitting something makes me feel really weird. So I started a random sock (Patons Kroy Stripes, in basic plain sock pattern) to get me through the Doctor Who Christmas special. And yay, my laptop didn't break directly after watching, like it did last year. And I have about three inches of plain sock. Actually, I should look at that thing in daylight and see what it looks like. Between the headache and the dim light, I don't really have a good idea of what the stripes look like.

ha ha!

I finished the twisty sock. YESTERDAY, no less. Get it, me. And with a wee bit of yarn to spare. And not even such a wee bit that I was in any way scared once I got to the end. Yay yay yay. I can't even tell you how awesome I feel about this. Those are some awesome socks.

So now, of course, I have cast on and finished one of a pair of fingerless gloves which, if I finish them, I'll give to my dad. If I don't, I'll give them to my brother later.

The faux Noro scarf carries on apace: I'm thinking I may have to push for the handmade swap after all, just so I can get rid of the thing. Not that it's ugly or anything: it's solid red with striping black and grey, and it's tasteful and festive all at the same time, but really, do I need another scarf cluttering up my life? NO. Well, I've also got some hats lying around that I don't need, but I think the scarf has less ends to sew in. So we'll see. I imagine there will be some discussing tomorrow at Pirohi Fest 2008. Oh my GOD those things are delicious. You know I only help make them because that's one less day I have to wait to eat them. SO. GOOD.

Happy Solstice!!

I can't wait till there's an actual appreciable difference in how early it gets dark, because this is ridiculous.

In knitting news:

I've only got one more run of the chart and then the toe to do on my second twisty sock. It's got a mistake on the back--I couldn't deal with ripping out yet again, and besides, we're RUNNING OUT OF TIME--but the mistake is pretty, so what the hell. If we're really lucky, I will not run out of yarn. Cross your fingers.

I'm making one of those pervasive two-row scarves, out of one striping and one solid color of SWS. Yep, the stuff I picked up for $1.50 last month. Because A) you never know when you'll need a random gift, and B) it's really nice to knit something I don't have to think about. That twisty sock needs a hell of a lot of thinking.

Also, my mother needs to learn not to tell everyone everything my brothers and I talk about. Brother #2 and I were saying a couple of weeks ago that it would be fun to do a handmade gift yankee swap sort of thing, but never actually mentioned it again, because really, there aren't that many people in the family who make stuff worth getting. (B2 and I totally do.) And then last night I get a Facebook message from one of my cousins in Connecticut, asking if we're doing a handmade swap, and getting really excited about it. I am not sure how this cousin caught wind of the idea: neither the brother or I have mentioned it past that one conversation, and I know for a fact that my mom has not talked to this cousin's mom yet this holiday season. Which means that my mom mentioned it to someone else (seriously, mom?) who then told this cousin. Who is fourteen and very excited about it. Sigh. Well, if she's dead set on it, I think I have a purple hat that I can sew the ends in on (finally!) and throw into the pot.

uh oh

No, I have not had to rip the sock out for the fourth time. However, I did go on an Epic Shopping Adventure with my mom last night, so not much knitting was done.

How epic, you ask? Well, not quite as amazing as our 10-hour shopping fest two or so weeks ago, but let's just say that Macy's closed at midnight. I'm not sure when the rest of the mall closed, but I think it was later than usual. We did finish most of her list, I got something cute and meaningful for my big brother, and we got some rather good bargains (we are CHAMPION hunter-gatherers, especially when it comes to clothing and household goods) so all in all, a very successful trip. And I told some lost people where the Bath and Body Works was, so I was all helpful and stuff.

Today I have to try to knit a twisty sock. It had better work. I really like these socks.

oh dear god.

Now I can't get the pattern right no matter how hard I try or how careful I am. I've screwed it up again, about five rows back from where I am now. Which is not very far at all.

It may be time to start all over, after some kind of purification ritual.

Christ, what a pain in the ass. I'm not usually idiotic like this!

son of a bitch.

I managed to get through the first twisty sock without making any horrible mistakes. Then yesterday, about two inches in on the second sock, I twisted left when I should have twisted right, and didn't notice for about TEN ROWS.

Say it with me now: NOOOOOOOOO.

And of course, ripping it out didn't go well, because I suck at counting rows when there are cables involved. And the twists are a pain in my tushie. I think I have it all set now, but I am not looking forward to picking it back up today. But I have to, because I'm behind about half a chart on my Knitting Quotas. Baroque has a 32-row chart(on the size I'm doing,) which repeats close to four times (on the sock I'm doing). If I do 32 rows a day, the sock will get done well before Christmas.

And it has to, because there won't be much time for knitting on Christmas Eve, which is a giant mad festival at my grandma's house (imagine a riot with really good food, and presents) nor will there be much time for knitting on the 23rd, which is when we cook the really good food. Making pirohi (from scratch, thanks) for approximately 50 people is not a speedy event.

Neither is this damn sock, though I have to say that it's worth it, because it's GORGEOUS. It'll be a shame to hide them in shoes.

of butter and knitting.

So I just baked a batch of very buttery lace cookies--the really flat thin kind that you bend around the handle of a wooden spoon to make a cute cylinder. And now, no matter how many times I wash my hands, they still feel buttery, and I can't bring myself to touch my knitting.

Maybe I'll put up the Christmas tree instead.

no excuse

Really, I have no excuse for disappearing. I'm doing some Christmas knitting, yes, but no one I'm knitting for reads this blog. Or they'd better not. That would be embarrassing. Mostly I've been using my time to bake cookies and knit. I'm on a bit of a knitting schedule right now: I'm doing Baroque from Knitty for my mom, and when you start very twisty socks two weeks before Christmas, you can't lollygag around. They're going quite a bit quicker than I'd expected, so I'm happy. There is also the chance that I'll run out of yarn, which is not so happy.

And then when I'm done with those I can make my brother another pair of fingerless gloves, and he will trade me a shirt for them. Probably something with tentacles. The best part of this is that last Christmas he made fun of the gloves, saying that they looked like something a homeless man in a musical would wear. And now he wears them all the time and wants more. Ha! I totally win.

random knitting

That's right. It's the Christmas season, but am I knitting a Christmas present? No. I bought some random Patons Stretch Sock last week, and it was there in the tub staring at me . . . saying Knit With Me . . . and so I am. I'm doing the November Socks, found on this quality blog, and they are just scooting right along. I think the yarn I have is a little TOO variegated for the pattern to really show, but whatever. These are not expected to be work-of-art socks. I can guarantee you I'll make the pattern again, though. You get a really nice honeycomb pattern for hardly any effort at all. If I ever have to make someone fancy-looking socks fast, I'm doing this pattern in a solid color. Bam. Done.

Another element to the speediness might be my needles: while cleaning the downstairs hallway last night, I found a ziploc bag of random yarn-related items. Most of it was fugly crochet patterns from the 70's--plus one book that actually has really nice classic baby stuff--but there were two sets of old Boye aluminum double points, and I'm knitting this sock on the size 1s, and dude. It's going like a dream. They're really light, and really smooth, and I've only had bamboo needles in this small a size before. I think I'm a convert. Tiny metal needles really spin my propeller. I must have more!

thank goodness that's over.

Let's have a dance of joy: I just finished (except for sewing in four bajillion ends) a pair of black fingerless gloves for my mama. That's one Christmas present down! Hopefully that will also be the LAST DAMN TIME I knit anything in black on wee needles. It can be a pain in the tushie. (Especially if you've had a sip or two of kirschwasser, but we don't need to go into that, do we?) That's two pair of black fingerless gloves I've done, and one pair of socks. Ooog. No. More. (Though I have to admit the black fingerless gloves are quite elegant, and I kinda want some. I'm gonna suffer without, though.)

Um. Right. I made these bad boys out of Sandnesgarn Sisu, which is kind of like Lanett's ugly stepcousin. It's still decent yarn, it's just not as soft and yummy as Lanett. However, it will keep my mama's hands warm, so it's all good.

I really don't have much Christmas knitting left to do. I think I'm going to make my mom a pair of socks, but I need to get yarn for those, as I may have said. (I have Very Bad Blog Memory sometimes) and I'm toying with the idea of making random stuff for my brothers, but eh, they'd probably rather have cds or books.

Disco Potholder Update

They've been felted! They're drying on my bed right now--which reminds me, I should check on them--and they look pretty good. The orange one didn't shrink down as small as the rest of them, which is odd, because it's all Patons--the blue one is the only one that has some Cascade 220 snuck in.

They're a lovely thickness, and they're a pretty decent size. Maybe a little bigger than I would have liked, but hey, I have no idea what other people's potholder preferences are. So yay! If we're really lucky, I'll post a picture of the finished product. Which would require me actually taking a picture.

And what am I knitting now? I am knitting a pair of black fingerless gloves on size 1 needles. My mom wants a pair for when she has to take tickets in the winter. Blargh. I may go blind, but she's got small hands, so it's going pretty fast. Started in the first quarter of the Steeler game yesterday, and I only have three fingers left to do on the first glove. Go me! The Christmas presents are dropping like flies.

Oh God, I just totally tempted fate, didn't I? Everything is going to snarl and not fit from here on in. Great.

proof of recycling

I ended up swiping buttons from an old black sweater yesterday, and while they aren't perfect, neither are they hideous. Behold the FLS in action:



(I'm playing with a baby, hence the wackiness.)

For the record, I love this sweater with all my black heart. It could maybe have used another half-inch of room in the bust, but whatever. Close enough, and the rest of it fits perfectly and is generally fabulous. One of my friends at the party wants to make one, but claims it's beyond her skill. She didn't believe me when I told her it was one of the easiest sweaters ever. Really. It doesn't take much brainpower at all. Anyway, I still may go find it some real buttons someday. Because then, if I put these buttons back on their original sweater, I can give it to one of my cousins.

(Speaking of my cousins, I passed the Shrunken Hat on this week, and the baby cousin loves it. It looks just as fantastic on her as I thought it would. I feel she was probably just meant to have the hat all along.)

Man, if my aunts weren't all of a size that would render the cost of yarn prohibitive, I would totally make an FLS, throw it in the grab bag, and watch them fight over it.

it's recycling, ok?

It may be a recycling attempt, but I feel I've hit a bit of a new low here. I still haven't found buttons for my February Lady Sweater--it's been finished for over a month!--and today has found me looking through my closet, seeing if I've got anything I can steal buttons from.

I don't have anything that's striking me as perfect, but I still may jack something. I'm going to a birthday party this afternoon (a first birthday scrapbooking party, God help me) and I thought it would be fun to wear my sweater. But it doesn't have buttons. Rrrr. This means I will probably be at the pricey button store on Monday.

Unless I find a forgotten cardigan or jacket with excellent buttons between now and then.

It's that time of year . . .

. . . when we all start knitting like maniacs, though I'm trying not to make TOO many presents this year.

Anyhow, today I present the start of my holiday knitting:



Super Disco Awesome Squares waiting to be felted and turned into Super Disco Potholders. I made these bad boys out of some random Patons and Cascade 220 I had lying around. I'm hoping they felt into something resembling potholder-shape, but if not, eh, I'll sew whatever shapes they are together and call them a purse or something. Whatever happens, I am completely in love with the colors and the stripeyness. We all know I can't resist stripes.

I really want to make a Super Disco Blanket out of these two colors:



It's a blanket that would make you blind, but it'd be worth it to have seen it once.

There is one fly in this Happy Disco Ointment, however. Look at this sad and tragic square:




Do you see it? Do you see that sad little loop of brown in the upper left corner? That's where the brown ran out. I am lacking only as much brown as is needed to single crochet 24 inches. (Or so.) Oh, the doom and sadness. Oh, the cursing that went on last night. I guess I could edge two of them with their color, instead of brown, or edge them all with a contrasting color, but I really did like the brown edge. Made the whole thing a kind of classy disco. And sure, I could always buy more brown, but . . . I was so proud of the stashbusty aspect of this gift. Dammit, this is why a person needs to have knitting friends, because then I could call them all and beg a wee bit of brown.

Ah well. I will survive, as the disco song says.

I wonder if I can find some sort of Disco Pan to go with my Disco Potholders? (If we're going to be precise, they're probably more Psychedelic Potholders than Disco Potholders, but disco is so much easier to spell.)

hilarious labels

So I was at Macy's today, petting the sweaters in the Eileen Fisher section. (They feel gooooooood.) Anyway, naturally I can't remember the exact wording, but this one tag said something like "Yarn Links" and was advertising the stitch as the new texture of luxury.

In case you were wondering, the "new texture of luxury" is garter stitch.

It was a really nice sweater, though. LOTS of really nice sweaters.

I wish I wasn't poor.

shrinkage update

So remember how I was talking about giving the shrunken hat away? Well, today the very baby cousin I was thinking of giving the hat to called and asked if I would teach her to knit--because she wants that very sort of hat! It's some kind of knitted fate. Particularly since she doesn't know I have the very sort of hat she wants: she just knows I knit.

Naturally I'll teach her to knit. And she can totally have the hat. Hopefully we won't have to shrink it more to get it to fit her.

Gotta love it when a so-called ruined item is just what someone else was wanting.

shrinkage

So I made myself a hat out of some Louet Euroflax this summer. It's quite a nice hat. I like it. I even like the way the unwashed linen felt, but since everything I've read about linen yarn has said "yes, go ahead and wash and dry it, it gets even better!" I washed it. And dried it. And now it is too small.

Anyone else have this problem? It didn't shrink all THAT much, but I like hats that cover my ears, and now this one does with only a lot of tugging.

Le sigh. So now I have to decide if I should keep it and tug on it, or find someone with a smaller head than mine and give them an extremely high-quality hat. I have a ten-year-old cousin who would look fantastic in it . . . maybe I'll pass it on. Because I do have half a skein left, and could totally make myself another one. I had to add repetitions to the pattern anyway: perhaps I will make another one with a larger needle.

Anyway. Just be careful that your Euroflax may shrink. At least when it's in a lace pattern.

I'm surprised at how not horribly upset I am about this. I guess it's because it's not RUINED, it just doesn't fit me anymore. And it's not really a pain in the ass, like yesterday's horrible incident with about 300 yards of recycled fingering weight yarn. EPIC TANGLE. Times were dark.

whimper

I am slowly but surely losing the battle against NOT LEARNING TO SPIN. I don't have room for fleece and crap. I don't have money to buy any. But I kind of want to. I kind of like the idea of being able to make a hat or whatever that is really mine-all-mine.

But it's such a slippery slope! Then comes dying, and arrrrrgh. I really don't need to. I don't want to want to. But I'm pretty sure I'm losing the fight.

I may be asking for a drop spindle for Christmas, though God knows there are other things I could use more.

Whimper. I have no willpower. Help.

Veteran's Day

Thanks, guys.

just what I didn't need

More yarn! Oh dear God. I went to Michaels' today with my brother, for no good reason other than that he was going and had asked if I wanted to go along. And then all the yarn was on sale--including Patons SWS for $1.50. Holy crap. What's a girl to do, I ask you? Actually, it's a good thing my brother was there, or I might have REALLY stocked up on the SWS. I only bought four skeins, though, and then some Patons Classic Merino, which was also quite a good price.

And here, as promised, is the handspun by CosyMakes, purchased this weekend:



It is so totally gonna be a hat before the week is out. I hope.

well-meaning but clueless people

So I consider myself to be pretty good at this whole knitting thing, problems with sweater fit aside. I've made some nice stuff in the three or so years I've been knitting for real.

And I have this acquaintance who has been knitting for ages and is very good at it. And whenever I mention anything about what I'm knitting, her comments and advice are always the MOST OBVIOUS THING IMAGINABLE. Stuff that I CLEARLY know/understand already, or I could not make half the stuff I do. In my opinion, knitting is not at all difficult. (Fitting sweaters is, but I blame that on my boobs.) And I find it interesting, so I read about it a lot. I am a fairly well-informed knitter. A snippet of credit for having some brains and sense and skill is all I ask. I don't think that's too much to ask.

In other news, my mama bought me a skein of handspun at a craft fair yesterday. It's oooh very pretty. I shall post a picture of it after there is sun to take a picture of it in.

mmm, recycling

I haven't been doing too much actual knitting lately--there's a birthday present I HAVE to finish, but since it's already late I'm totally slacking--but I have been dismantling a few of my old sweaters for their yarn. One old blue cashmere one (that was drying in the last picture we saw) and one grey one from the Gap. Not quite as beloved a sweater as the red one, but a very nice sweater nonetheless. I got quite a bit of good yarn out of that one.

I'm trying to decide if I want to knit something for the grownup Christmas grab bag at my grandma's. I can never think of anything good to buy for it, and if I knit something, well, I still run the risk that no one will like it, but at least I will have had a good time knitting it. I'm sort of considering making a scarf or stole out of the grey former sweater (the gift is supposed to cost around $30, but hey, anything I make will automatically be worth at least that, so I don't care if I got the yarn for free and have already worn it) or else maybe a pair each of women's and men's fingerless gloves. I feel that my relatives are more likely to wear fingerless gloves than a lace scarf, but who knows, maybe they just need a push into the realm of lace-scarf-wearing. My aunt Ann would probably rock a lace scarf. She's got style. Doesn't have many chances to dress herself up, but when she does, STYLE ATTACK.

Oooh, and I got Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits from the library the other day, and I loves it. It shall be going on my Christmas list.

(Sorry for talking about Christmas so much! Don't worry, I'm not listening to the music.)

my room smells like wet wool.

Because all this stuff is drying.



Note the knitting needles (stuck where a normal person's dresser would have a handle) acting as a drying rack. Go ingenuity!

There's something not fair about needing to wear all your woollies when it gets cold, but since it's cold it takes forever for them to dry. Grr.

I think we all know the drill, but I'm gonna say it anyway.

Butts to the polls, people. It's voting time.

hat stress

Ok, now I'm all hat-paranoid. Like, I just made one that's rather nice, kinda funky (it's drying, so no pictures yet) and kind of odd, maybe, and so I don't know if it's a 'good' hat, or not. ARGH! I made it with my mother in mind, but is it good enough? Will she just be pretending she likes it?

This is not cool. I'm anxious enough about people liking things I make them as it is.

Blargh. Say no to hat stress!

Maybe I'll just make another Obama hat. Most of the people I know would like one of those.

huh.

Looks like I'm guilty of Extreme Exclamation Point Overuse lately. I'm really sorry about that.

I'll try to calm down.

yes we can!

So I'm not one of those crazed-from-the-beginning Obama supporters--I only got on the bus after Hillary was out and he started talking more about policy and less about hope--but I am clearly on the bus now, as witness what I made today:



I also have a wee baby prototype, and luckily I know at least two mamas who'd be happy to have it on their baby's head. I may have to make another one for the other baby. We don't want brawling!

oh no! I may have to buy yarn!

And this is funny, because I just wrote posts in other places about A) all the random hats I have lying around, because sometimes you just feel like knitting a hat, and B) the fact that the guys in my family don't seem that excited about the knitwear I make them.

And now, without my bringing the matter up, I have been accused of keeping all the 'good' hats for myself--I usually only keep the ones I make out of scraps!--and my brother was meeping that I haven't made him a hat or socks. So then I was scrounging around in my yarn, and I really don't have many man-friendly colors. I may have to remedy that. Woe! Agony!

waiting . . .

Though I'm starting to think there's a chance this sweater will never dry, the yarn feels much nicer than it did before I dunked it, so I think I made the right choice.

Speaking of choices, am now trying to decide what sort of short cardigan to make out of the pale green Plymouth alpaca that's lurking in my closet. I kind of want to do something with cables . . . but then there's lace . . . and do I want long or elbow-length sleeves? Maybe something fun with cables and ribs? I'm even considering (gasp!) bobbles. BOBBLES? I am not normally a very bobble-y person. Maybe I'm coming down with something.

oh, the suspense!

So I blocked my February Lady Sweater this morning. You know, because I wanted bits of it to be different sizes, like I said, and I wanted the lace to open up a bit. Plus some of the yarn was kinda scraggly from having been so many other things, and it really needed a bath to help it out.

And now I'm afraid the damn thing is going to be enormous. I guess we shall find out tonight--and the damn thing had better dry by tonight, because it's on my bed, which is the only largish flat space I have.

Damn, I wish I could find my #2s so I could make some socks. I find the #1s make a slightly too rough fabric out of Trekking. :( If I were two sets of #2 knitting needles, where would I be?

Oh, hey, I think I've got a picture somewhere . . .



My sweater, being mysterious. (In real life, it's actually teal with some purple heathering.)

almost there!

Only one cuff left! That's right, approximately 12 rows, and then I need to get some buttons, and voila, I will have a new sweater.

Like with the hot pink yarn, I am thrilled that this yarn has finally found itself a home. Cascade 220 in Lapis, in case anyone is wondering.

And since I have no pictures of it yet, and have had no pictures for a while, let me find you something from the ol' desktop . . .



There we go. Some fireworks from last weekend. It was either that or me in a Viking hat, but I think we should save the Viking hat in case times get really dark.

ha ha!

I've finished the first sleeve--a long sleeve, thank you very much--and I'm totally going to have enough yarn. Life is good.

The one small . . . unknown, I guess we'll call it . . . that I have left with the sweater is that I knit the sleeve up so it just hits my wrist. I think it will block out a little longer. It had better. I don't like the dilemma of oh, if I knit it long enough, it'll grow too much when blocked, but then neither do I want to be stuck with an overly short sleeve . . . well, I guess it's not like I won't have enough yarn, so I can always unpick the cuff and do another repeat of the lace.

Blocking will be interesting: I've never blocked anything that wasn't in flat pieces, so we'll see how this goes. (In a few days: I am intending this to be a two-sleeved sweater.) It will be especially interesting--to me, at least--because I want the body to block out wider and the sleeves to be longer. Hopefully I can make this happen.

And yes, I bought yarn today. Some Trekking Handart in Tundra, and some Trekking pro natura in a lovely faded teal sort of shade. And before you think I'm addicted to Trekking, I'm really not, it's just that that store doesn't carry scads of sock yarn, and the Trekking usually has the best colors. I hope the colors in the handart knit up nicely. I would know already, but I can't find my damn size 2 needles. I have two sets, and like a moron, I store them together and now can't find either. Oh wah, my life is so hard. :)

sorry, no pictures yet!

Now I'm at the bit of the sweater, which happens with almost every sweater I make, where I'm all, "Oh crap, will I have enough yarn?" I tend to like my sweaters long. I was really hoping to have enough yarn to do long sleeves, instead of three-quarter, but it looks like that will be right out.

Or I get another skein of yarn and don't give a shit that it's a completely different dye lot. There is a strong chance that I'll do this. Shh, don't tell anyone.

I will also most likely be heading to the yarn store on Friday--I have an audition nearby, so naturally I'll have to stop in. Ok, and I really do need to get some tiny needles so I can finish mending a sweater for my mom. There was collar removal, and now there has to be some new, looser-collar (or really, binding off) attachment. And I need teensy needles. Oh darn. Shopping! You know this means I'm gonna come home with more sock yarn. You know it.

More February Bitching

Ok. I took out the eyelets on the sleeves. Hopefully this will A) make the sleeves not ridiculous, and B) not make the whole top of the sweater look ridiculous.

At this point, only time will tell, because I don't think I'm gonna feel like trying it on today. Putting it back on the needle after it's been on the waste yarn always feels like so much work.

Who knows, though, there's a hockey game for me to knit through today--that's right! It's hockey season! Knit Stanley Cups for everyone!--so maybe I'll get so much of the body done this afternoon that I'll want to try it on.

God, I hope it fits. Because it will A) be super-cute and useful, and B) mean I have knit up a bunch of yarn that's been lying around for a while, so I'll be able to start pondering my next large project for me. Well, ok, the next project is going to be some sort of short cardigan with the pale green alpaca that's lurking on top of my dresser, but after that, I mean. One thing I do know: the post-alpaca sweater is gonna have cables. Lots of 'em. I love me some cables.

(I also need to purchase some man-colored sock yarn, because the boy I was messing around with this summer just sent me a rather excellent--if very late--birthday present, so I think I'll have to knit him some fingerless gloves. If I can find a suitable color. He's picky.)

Le sigh

Besides the not-being-able-to-count problem I'm having this week (it even reared its ugly head when I was baking, leaving me with cookies of a very weird texture) I have also been attacked by a February Lady Sweater with GINORMOUS SLEEVES. It's sad when the rest of the top fits beautifully, but then the sleeves would still fit me if my arms doubled in size.

Once again, I blame it on my shoulders. If they were wider, they'd fill things out a little better. Or I could blame it on my boobs. They could do me a favor and shrink. And seriously, those of you with ACTUAL large bosoms may feel free to laugh at me right now. It's just that I'm disproportionate enough for it to make me want to scream.

So there's been some ripping back on the sweater, and I'm going to take out some of the eyelet increases on the shoulders, and hope that will make it small enough for me to tolerate. Otherwise I'm gonna have to pull the whole thing out and do some finagling with the cast-on numbers, and did I mention I can't do math this week? Like the time I added 21 and 21 and got 52? And then cut fringe to that effect? Hot mess, that's me.

But at least I can name six out of nine Supreme Court Justices. My mom was quizzing me as to things Sarah Palin probably wouldn't be able to answer. I couldn't remember Stevens, Breyer, and Souter. Ah well. I know them now!

pink stuff

Yes, the pink has finally found a home! It's gone out in public, and I felt pretty cute in it, so it's staying with us.



Just your basic top-down raglan madness, with some arrowhead lace thrown in to make it more festive. I would have liked the lace to start higher, but oh well. I ripped it back once, to start it higher, but the yarn is a cotton/wool blend (Cascade Sierra, I believe) and as such, the whole garment tends to stretch downwards when I wear it. C'est la vie, I suppose.

Now I just have to soak it in some salt water for a bit to set the color, and all shall be well.

My latest project is a February Lady Sweater, like everyone else in the knitting world. I can't quite believe I'm making a popular project, but it's so cuuuute. (Never saw the allure of the Clapotis, but the February Lady Sweater is quite stylish.) The only problem with this sweater, so far, is that I can't count. My math skills, which are never very good, have been the pits this week. There was almost screaming last night, and today there will be mistake-fixing. Gah.

What I Learned This Week.

Short-row heel! I'm not sure how I feel about it--actually, this whole sock might be a touch too small--but I sure as hell can do it. It certainly looks cute. I feel this heel would be quite nice on baby socks.

Also, am using this pattern for my Trekking, and it looks pretty nice. It still might be better as an actual Just Plain Sock, but what the hell, right? I may have enough left to do a pair of short plain ol' socks. I'd wear two pair of jewel-colored stripey socks. Or I could figure out which of my friends have smaller feet than I do and send them the first pair. 'Course, I don't know how my friends would feel about brightly colored stripey socks. They might just think I'm weird. Well, I mean, they already KNOW I'm weird, but you know what I mean.

um.

For continuity's sake, I will mention that yes, that hot pink yarn is bloody well going to stay in the sweater form it is now. It's not the world's greatest sweater, but I'm pretty sure I'll wear it, so ha! Check that off. Pictures to come when I don't have a migraine.

Now my dilemma involves the Trekking I bought on my birthday yarn store venture. I can't find a pattern that I think is worthy of such pretty colors. I'm tempted to just knit it up as a plain ol' sock, but that's just a tad boring . . . it deserves better than Plain Sock. But not something so fancy it'll turn into Mess.

Ah well. I will keep searching.

In other news, I ADORE my zombie socks with all my black heart, and the Yummy whatever yarn that was that I made the Jaywalkers out of softened up a bit after washing, and is much more pleasant.

Bedtime now.

a question of hemming.

Right. Some of you may remember that I own some extremely bright pink yarn, that I've been trying to knit up into something wearable for over a year now. I'm too poor to buy yarn and then not make it into something someone on this earth can use! Anyway, I've headed back into the world of the top-down raglan, because I can make those fit me, (I've got scrawny shoulders and largish boobs, remember? Pain in the ass.) and I think--I say I think--I've come up with a winner.

I'm nearly to the bottom, so am now trying to decide what the heck to do with the hem. I don't want a rolled hem. There's lace involved, so folding is right out. Ribbing would look funny, as it's sort of a babydoll top. I'm hoping that kind where you purl a row or two and then the cast-off end rolls up over that will work and not be too thick.

Hopefully there will not be too much swearing involved.

(I also wish I'd decided there would be lace involved before I started, because now the collar is the only part of the sweater with ribbing. I would have made it lacy, too, but now it's far, far too late to go back. And the sleeves might end up with ribbed cuffs, though I'm going to try with lace first.)

Oh, the adventure of it all.

mmm, camera.

Stuff I've made lately:

First we have my Zombie Socks. I kind of dote on these. All the knitting through the back loop was a pain in the ass, but hey, the socks are cute and thanks to them, I know all about the dropped stitch as design element. Yay learning something!



And these are my Gansey Gloves (someday there will be links: I'm SO LAZY!) without fingers. This is some Shibui sock yarn whose colorway I of course don't know, the ballband having been lost somewhere between here and Texas. Not because of evacuation, (though my poor Galveston did get its butt kicked, didn't it?) just because of moving.



I freakin' love how this yarn knit up. Each of the colors is lovely in itself, and then they all blend together so beautifully, not into a mega-mess like so many variegated yarns do. I actually like how the colors in the Sockotta turned out, as well. Yay me picking yarn I like!

As for what I'm working on now, let's just say that I think you've seen the yarn before, and hopefully it will fit in this incarnation. I am about to do some serious making-up-as-I-go. We shall see. And you may even see, because I do post pictures, even if I'm slow about it.

happy birthday to me . . .

And when I say 'happy birthday to me,' I mean I just went yarn shopping. :) Unfortunately, the only yarn store a girl without a car can easily get to in this town is really not the best yarn store in this town, but they'd just got in some sock yarn, so I am now the happy owner of two skeins of Trekking that I really don't need, but which are lovely. One is definitely for me, and one could possibly end up as a Christmas present for someone.

The store just doesn't have enough yarns in large quantities, so there wasn't anything Aran-sweater-suitable. I'm gonna have to call in some favors and find someone who wants to drive to one of the other stores. There are at least two good ones, dammit.

On the rest of the knitting front: am still having horrible problems with fit. Everything I knit for myself is too big. I don't understand. I think it's some kind of mental block, or some kind of subconscious "If I knit something and it's too small, then I'll feel fat," and so then I make everything too big and am just pissy. Especially because really, if you saw me, you'd know that fat and I really have not much of an acquaintance. So that sort of mental block is just weird.

I finished the first of my Zombie Socks and have started on the second. They're the first socks I've made whose fit I haven't really liked. I'm thinking this could be because I used Fortissima Sockotta, so they're not quite as reboundy as completely wool socks would be, or it could just be because my feet are narrow. What the hell, I'll wear them anyway. Everyone should have zombie-themed clothing.

ha ha!

I finally understand the on-purpose dropped stitch.

I feel so clever.

once again, not paying attention.

It's a little disturbing when you pick up the sock you were knitting on four needles and notice that it's now on three. And you really don't remember when you combined those two needles' worth of stitches.

And people don't believe me when I tell them that sometimes I don't pay attention.

(I have a feeling there may be lots of pictures taken tomorrow. Which may mean some fun photos for ye olde blog. Or I could be lying and I'll be a lazy ass tomorrow. Oooh, the suspense.)

ha!

Knitting is funny. And, apparently, meth addict-like.



(My internet is being an arse, so I can't do the fun linky thing. Will try again later.)

Have tried again . . . let's see how this goes!

hmmm.

Have I mentioned that somewhere in this summer's travels, my size 1 double-points have gone missing? And that everything I want to knit seems to want 1's? Ah well: I have little hands, perhaps I can use my trusty 0's again. Too bad they're getting distinctly bent. Will metal 0's bend as well, does anyone think? Because my bamboo ones are gonna be circles pretty soon. Maybe rosewood would hold its shape?

Anyway. I think I'll swatch for some gloves, since the Excedrin I took for my headache will probably keep me up for a while.

(And by the way, does anyone else fully admire a woman who'd wear an orange pantsuit? I really can't help but adore Hillary Clinton.)

ok, this is freaky.

There's nothing I want to knit. Nothing I have yarn for, anyhow. And I have a good deal of yarn. Certainly enough to find something to knit. But I'm just kind of . . . bleah. I get like this when I'm unemployed. It's not cool. It's one of the things that leads me to liken my so-called acting career to drugs. When I don't have a job, I'm just not happy. Which really makes me think I should quit and do something else so I don't have to deal with hitting these lows.

But anyway. This is not a blog where I whine about being unemployed. This is a blog where I talk about stuff I knit! And I'm not knitting anything. What I need to do is find me a cute glove pattern so I can make some cute fingerless gloves. I've done some looking on Ravelry and other places, but so far nothing's jumped out at me. I guess I should just go get me some Barbara Walker from the library and make up my own cute gloves, right? Maybe that'll get me off my ass tomorrow.

socks!

No pictures of the socks, but I couldn't help myself, I knit up some wee cute socks to go with the baby hat. Cause really, what's a heartless girl like me gonna do with yellow + rainbow stripe yarn?

Now that I've got all that cute out of my system, I can go back to my Jaywalkers. Remember the day I was freaking out because I wanted sock yarn? Well, I lost the battle, and bought not only the Sockotta, but also some Yummy (I forget the brand) and immediately started up some Jaywalkers out of the latter. Believe me, the sock knitting was possibly the only thing that stood between my castmates and death that last weekend. And there was this boy who's the only thing that stood between me and having a finished pair of socks right now, but he was fun and my feet aren't too cold, so I guess that's ok. :)

And now I'm at home and noticing all this yarn I forgot I had, though naturally I still want to buy more . . . my birthday is coming up, maybe I can get someone to give me yarn money! Or a trip to the two yarn stores in town that I haven't been to.

How do you know when something crosses the line from hobby to obsession? Argh.

hats!

And pictures of hats, no less. Ok, on the top one you can only sorta see the hat, but I wasn't doing so well with hat photography (and there may have been tequila involved) so this is what you get. It's Lacecap from the ever-awesome Knitty. Sure, these hats haven't been in style in years, but maybe I can bring them back. :) It's also what my Louet Euroflax wanted to be, and who am I to argue with the yarn?

And this little guy is a pretty much made-up baby hat for a shower this weekend. My cousin's first kid is due in October: the kid's gonna need some hats. Luckily I had some unisex-ish baby yarn on hand! I lost the label somewhere in Texas, so we'll all just have to wonder exactly what it's made out of. Definitely wool. though. Must remember to tell the mom-to-be not to put it in the dryer.

what I need to do:

I need to stop messing around on the internets so I can finish my hat and then make a pair of socks. I'm having this weird urge to knit socks. Could it be because the weather has been slightly cooler these past few days? I don't know, but I'm jonesing for some socks.

They'll have to be short socks: the only sock yarn I've got right now is one skein of Shibui. It's lovely, but I feel the socks will have to be wee.

I'm trying very hard not to think about the lone skein of Sockotta that's hanging out only a block from me at the yarn store. It's all nice and blue-grey . . . no! I will not purchase! I will knit with what I have!

I hope. Seriously, me. You're poor, and about to be unemployed as of Monday. No yarn!

remember me?

Yeah. I've been busy. Oooh, I was also broken for a while. Got tackled by a friend, wound up requiring three stitches in my elbow. The couple of days where I really couldn't move my arm--and was also too hopped up on pain pills to knit--were not much fun. However, because I am super badass, I finished the sweater in time for my mom's birthday, and it fits and she loves it. Unfortunately, I was so excited that I finished it that I forgot to take pictures. I will take pictures next time I am around the parents, never fear!

So now I'm making a hat out of the green linen yarn, from a pattern on Knitty that I'm too lazy to link to right now. I have to do a show in two hours, so if I'm gonna do any posting, I have to get this done quick. I'm hoping the hat will fit me. The pattern seems to claim it'll stretch, but I don't know. And the yarn's too expensive and nice for me to want to give it away. Louet Euroflax is my new friend. I'm trying to decide if I want to buy the navy blue from the yarn store so I can make something for my mom, though I really don't know what. It's just that she loves navy blue . . .

Oh, and I taught someone to knit! I'm in a production of Music Man, and the director wanted Mrs Paroo to knit as part of her stage business. So I taught her, and I think she's hooked. She knows how to knit and purl, and she's already started knitting stuff not on stage. Ha ha! A convert! Go me!

I shall try not to be so invisible in the future.

sleeve saga

Guess who knit about twelve inches of sleeve before deciding that it's probably not wide enough?

Yep.

Me.

Fortunately I'm ahead enough in the quota that I still kind of rock.

However, this pushes my playing-with-other-yarn-date even further into the future.

Ah well. Did I mention that I got five-dollar leopard flats yesterday? Rack Room Shoes is my new best friend.

getting cocky

Who's about three inches into the first sleeve?

That's right: I am.

Rock on, me.

(And no, this industry is in no way connected to the fact that I bought some linen yarn yesterday and I'm dying to see how it knits up. The sooner I get this blue madness finished, the sooner I can play in the Euroflax.)

still knitting blue stuff

The blue sweater is scooting along nicely. There's no point in pictures: I'm working on the front now, which is basically just like the back.

The reason the sweater is moving along so quickly is that I panicked last week and imposed knitting quotas, basically three inches a day. I'm not allowed to do anything fun till I get it done. So I get up and I knit an inch, and then I do an inch at dinner break and an inch at night. You would not believe how quick you can finish an Aran sweater when you've got goals and quotas--and no boys to distract you. This may actually be the key to my current knitting success: the fact that I've been separated from all my friends. I'll be reunited with most of them in a week or so, so I really need to haul ass on the sweater. But I've got three days off coming up, so the front will be finished by Tuesday, and I'll then get going on the sleeves.

And I have a feeling I'm gonna be buying yarn tomorrow. I don't need any yarn, but I do need a treat. My current show is a soul-sucking piece of crap, and my God, do I deserve a treat. I have to lead the audience participation section. I deserve all the yarn I want. Too bad I'm not being paid enough to afford all the yarn I want. Ah well. I'll pick up a little something, because also, when I'm reunited with the friends, there will not be any yarn in walking distance, and I need something to pet while I'm in Galveston.

now with pictures!

So here's the blue thingie I've been working on. Not bad, huh? The front will have a slightly wider honeycomb pattern, and probably a few more purl stitches between the honeycomb and its basic cable neighbors, but other than that, I'm really pleased with it. It's knitting up very quickly, and it appears to be the right size. And I believe I'll have enough yarn. (Did I mention that yesterday? It's so hard to remember what I've said. Sorry if I'm repetitious. Enjoy the blue.)

I kind of love these superimposed wave cables. You know I'm gonna make myself an Aran sweater next (because omigod I'm having so much fun making this one) and it'll probably have quite a few of the same motifs. Because I like them. Don't worry, I'll mix them up enough that we won't have mother-daughter sweaters. I'm too old for that.

living on the edge

1. Watching hockey game.

2. Drinking beer.

3. Knitting Aran sweater.

4. Clearly insane.

tangled up in blue

So yes, I have internet access, but I can't get blogger to work at home, only at the coffee shop. Pain in the ass.

Anyway, because I am a contrary sort of person, I've started on the massive blue Aran sweater. There was an ugly moment earlier in the week when I was trying to get the cables to line up with the ribbing, and getting really pissed off, and my iTunes shuffle decided to play me Tangled Up In Blue. How did it know? Is Apple that all-powerful? I've got it sorted out now, and it actually looks quite nice, though I think I'm going to change things just a bit for the front of the sweater. I don't think my mom will care if her sweater's not entirely matching. I wouldn't. And I'm starting rehearsal for another show on Monday, so I don't really have time to undo and re-do. Not if I'm gonna get this thing done by the middle of July. Actually, it's going really quickly, so it'll be fine--I just don't want to take any chances.

My pink stockinette madness turned out pretty well--I should have made the neckline a bit smaller, and may still do something to it, but otherwise it's just a big sort of 80's influenced sweater that will keep me warm in Texas air conditioning this summer.

LET'S GO PENS!

You wouldn't believe how much knitting you can get done during a hockey game, especially if you're doing circular stockinette. I've almost got a pink sweater finished.

And now that I've got my own computer again (yay!) and reliable internet to go with it, here's a shot of my spring masterpiece, the Stanley Cup:

It's a little wiggly in the picture, but you get the idea. I just made a small sparkly one that's pretty sweet, too. There will probably be pictures to follow. Once I take them.

As for other knitting news: the yarn store in town has closed--but one of the stores on our quaint town square has a decent selection of yarn. This is bad, having nice yarn only a block away from me. That's right: a block away. I should just have all my paychecks sent there. I've already bought some cotton yarn whose name I can't remember, because I need a washcloth, and well, since I have no car, it'll seriously be faster and easier to knit one than to hitch a ride to go buy one. No one really wants to drive a lot, given gas prices. So I bought some green, and am knitting it up.

My next big project will be something for my mom's birthday. Like I said, I really want to make something big, complicated, and Aran, but I feel that the weather really lends itself more to something cotton. Actually, the yarn shop has some lovely Louet linens, which I would buy in a second if I knew how the stuff would behave. It's too pricey for poor little actor me to just buy some for kicks. Even though I know my mom would adore something made out of the navy blue.

Finally. I can haz computer!

I don't know why my happiness is making me speak in lolcat, but it is. A computer? I has it.

So. Awesome.

Anyway, in case you've been wondering what I've been up to:

I knit a Stanley Cup. Actually, I've knit (pause for counting) five Stanley Cups so far. This was the third, and the first that actually looked like a Stanley Cup.

If you're lucky, there will be pictures of the big one tomorrow. It's awesome.

I also knit a Travelling Roses Scarf.

I know you're like, what the hell, you've actually knit something that looks like its pattern, omg FREAK OUT, but don't worry, this really is recycled yarn from an unraveled Gap sweater. Any matching redness is merely coincidental. AND I've been unraveling an awesome light blue cashmere sweater (stained on the front) which will be turned into awesome lace sometime this summer.

And right now I'm doing a bloody slow, pain in my ass sewn bind-off on a shrug that I'm hoping will fit so I can wear it to a wedding on Saturday. Cross your fingers! And make me get the hell off the internet. The novelty of the computer has me stuck here posting pictures everywhere. Nooo! The horror! The horror!

Scratch

Ow. The Stanley Cup is kicking my ass. I may have to be a scratch for this evening's knitting, due to carpal tunnel. On the other hand, soon the muscles on my fingers will be quite nicely sculpted. :)

And it's only about a half-size Stanley Cup. I'm glad I downsized: full-size, which I may do eventually--would probably kill me.

Does Gary Roberts knit? I could use some help.

Is this Heaven?

It's not quite Heaven, and I'm not there yet, but this summer I'm going to work at a place that has both margaritas and a nice yarn store within walking distance. The only fly in this drunken knitting ointment is that I don't think there's cable or reliable internet, so it's going to be tough to keep tabs on the playoff hockey.

Also, the producer is, as usual, being damn slow about calling me back, and if I'm gonna get there in time for the first show, I need to buy a plane ticket ASAP. I just need a few more details before I start shopping. And then, singing, tequila, and yarn. Eventually there will be a salt water pool and a sauna involved, but that's not in the same place as the yarn.

I guess a girl can't have everything.

playoff hockey!

Playoff hockey means extra-special knitting. In my case, it means knitting a (nearly) life-sized Stanley Cup. I should get the barrel done during tonight's game, and then it's on to the fiddly top part, which will not be nearly as mindless, especially since I'm more or less making it up as I go. Really. I am. I've made a couple of small Stanley Cup prototypes, but the full-sized one will be a whole different bag of chips, I'm thinking.

And to think, when I started knitting, that I swore I would never be That Person who knits giant gloves for hand chairs and the like. Well, now I'm totally That Person. I'm going to own a big ol' stuffed Stanley Cup.

I'm kinda awesome.

hmmm.

Who's ready for a disjointed blog post? Whee!

First of all: I finished (finally!) the Travelling Roses scarf that used to be a Gap turtleneck. It's pretty awesome, though not necessarily anything I'd ever want to wear. My mom doesn't wear scarves either, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it. I guess I'll probably end up wearing it, though I prefer my scarves to be longer and thinner. I have a ton more basically laceweight red merino left, so I forsee many more lace scarf-like things to come. I've been looking for a shawl pattern, but haven't liked anything that much yet. I'm also not a triangular-shawl sort of girl. I will probably find a scarf pattern and widen it.

Next: I'm still making odd hats and scarves and mittens out of odd balls of yarn. Some are nice, some are eh. I'm probably going to throw them all at some charity this fall or winter.

I still can't seem to grasp the concept of fit. Negative ease seems to be beyond me. Everything I knit is too big. It's SUCH the pain in my ass.

I recently remembered that I belong to Ravelry. After all the fuss about the site, I feel like a big loser for being so uninterested in it. Mostly I suck at joining any kind of community, I'm not really inclined to organize anything, and there's so much chaff on the site that I don't have the patience to sort through the groups and stuff to look for something good. I also get sort of bugged with . . . I don't know, obviousness? Self-consciousness? I mean, I knit in public ALL THE TIME, and I don't see what the big deal is. It's like reading in public. It's something I do to keep myself amused. That's just one example, but it's the stuff like that that bugs. Or the 'why don't you like your local yarn store' stuff. Sigh. I'm mostly just cranky today, but having to wade through all that makes me tired. So I should probably just not bother, right? And yet it seems like it could be so useful . . . maybe I'll look at it again someday when the sun is shining and I have a job, and I'll be more enthused.

Argh, now I've gone all depressing. Sorry! Think of the charity hats! Think of a day with sunshine! Think that this time next year (barring hideous disaster) George Bush will not be president! Things probably won't be a whole lot better, but at least we won't still have the worst president ever. Whee!

I need an intervention.

I have apparently snapped. I've made three hats this past week, and have started on a fourth. There is no good reason for this. Spring is coming. I don't have to keep the world warm or anything. And, people, these are seriously random hats. No real recipients intended. I'll probably be happy of the damn things when Christmas rolls around, but really, wtf?

Granted, the first hat was made with a purpose. A fun green baby hat, from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. It's so cute. It took less than two hours to make, making me wish I knew more babies, particularly wee ones. Oh, the fun I could have . . . actually, I have to get off my tush and mail the hat today, because with the way babies grow, it might not fit the kid next week. And oh God, it's so cute. So I made a bigger one, just because. And then I made this blue stripey hat to use up some yarn. And now I am making a glorious cream-pink-orange-yellow striped hat that I am totally in love with. I may have to keep it, and I don't even wear hats that often. I have plenty of other projects I'm supposed to be working on, and instead I am having a random hat fit.

Help.

debating ugliness.

Ever knit something you can't decide if it's cool or ugly? Ever knit something you're pretty sure is ugly just because it's fun to knit? I'm doing both of those things right now. (Unless it turns out ot be cool once it's on.) I'm knitting up the . . . what the hell to call it? A capelet? A shrug? A weird-ass bolero? Anyway, it's the 'thing' that's on the cover of 2006's (I think) winter Vogue Knitting.

I found the magazine while cleaning my room, looked at the cover, and thought God, that's ugly. But then after a second and a third look I started thinking it was kinda cool. And then I had enough yarn to make it. And then I started making it. And it's really fun to knit. It's got cables just frequently enough to be interesting, and you don't have to look at the pattern too often, and I'm still entertained by seeing the strip of knitting turn into a pentagon. So. We'll see if it's cool or ugly in probably ten days. And we'll see if it fits. I have problems with making things fit, as I may or may not have discussed already. There's something about ease that just doesn't compute in my brain. I can't seem to figure out what size will fit my body the way it's supposed to, and I tend to make things too big, unless it's some top-down item that I can try on as I go.

And I'm also making a lace scarf from the unraveled bits of my red sweater. I have so much red yarn it isn't funny. I'll have to pick a second project to make out of it. Whee! Lots of free yarn! And recycled, so it's like I'm saving the planet.

poor little blog.

Not having my own computer is still no fun.

As for the knitting: I tried to make a groovy sweater vest, but as with the poncho, I have the skinniest shoulders ever, and so what fits the rest of me positively hangs off my shoulders. I am going to have to play a fun shaping game someday when I am feeling more innovative.

I've scooted on to some lace knitting now. Unraveled an old favorite sweater and am having at the extremely thin yarn with a pair of size 2 needles. Today has gone quite nicely, though if you'd asked me last night I would have told you I was thinking of enrolling in kindergarten, because my counting skills were sucking the big one. I did some color coding of the chart, and am much better now.

and there was felting.

Got all mad scientist with the rubber gloves in my freezing basement yesterday, and I now have a felty bag drying in my room. The bag is now referred to as the Experimental Bag, as I have learned a lot about felting from it.

The first thing I learned was that the dark green yarn was not acrylic, as I had feared. In fact, it felted much better than the light green yarn, which is too bad, because I have a shitload of the light green left.

Second thing is that felted stuff likes to shrink from up to down, not so much side to side. This would have been useful basic felting advice. Then again, it's not like I researched How To Felt in any kind of depth, so maybe the info is out there.

Third, my straps could have used some sort of double layer. However, they're too long (I think, like I said, it's still drying) so I might cut them and sew the halves on top of each other.

I think I would definitely felt something again. I can see the potential for making really nifty things, once I get more used to how the process works.

Guess What?

My sweater is A) finished, and B) awesome. It fits well, and will fit even better when I get back down to my fighting weight. (Not that I fight, but you get the picture.) Ha. Someday you might even get pictures, but don't hold your breath. Someday I will stun you with photos of all the stuff I've made since my computer went to the big Mac store in the sky.

A finished sweater, naturally, scoots us on to fun planning of What Large Item To Make Next. I have a definite sweater in mind that I want to make, but I can't find a pattern, darn it. I should really just figure it out on my own, right? If I do (attempt to) I'm sure you'll hear the cursing.

In the meantime, I'm working on my very first felted item. It's a bag that I actually started over two years ago, got bored with, and moved on. The sad part is that there was actually very little left to finish. I just have to make some straps, and then it's going in the washer and we'll see what happens. Kind of exciting, no?

so far, so good!

My haphazard measurements seem to be working. The body increases on my sweater look pretty good so far. I've got about seven or eight inches of body left to go. Then all I have to do are cuffs, neck edging, and some sewing in, and poof! Sweater!

On the not so fun side of things (as if the sewing-in wasn't not so fun enough) there's a knit-and-crochet fest in town this weekend, and as none of my friends here knit, and I have no car, I shall not be going, barring a miracle. Or this could be good, as it means I won't spend money I don't have on yarn I technically don't need. Right. I shall hold on to that thought.

imagination time!

Since I still have no photos, you'll just have to imagine. Remember the shrug I was making well before Christmas? Well, it sucked, as I think I mentioned, and I was turning it into a raglan sweater, as I think I also mentioned. There may even have been pictures.

Anyhow, I picked it back up again to knit during the Super Bowl. (In your face, Patriots!) It now has two navy blue sleeves, which are quite nice, and I unraveled the body, which didn't fit quite right, and will probably get cracking on that again tonight. Not to be overly optimistic, as it seems I was with the Poncho of Doom, but there's a chance I could have a nice sweater in about two days. How fun would that be?

one of the classic blunders

No, I did not get involved in a land war in Asia. I forgot that I have the narrowest shoulders on God's earth, and so, while my poncho is all super and 60's around my bosom and hips, it's a tad . . . I dunno, 80's, maybe, around the shoulders.

Fuck. I mean, the whole point of this poncho is that somehow two rectangles with a hood (and some buttons) manage to look adorable, so it's not like I want to re-do it and make some weird oblongs look cute with a hood.

Gah. Curse you, narrow shoulders! (I might also add that it's come to my attention recently that my head is narrow. Great.) Now I don't get to be super or 60's. No, I just get to do some unraveling and decide what to try this yarn as next.

Son of a bitch.

Oh, my poor blog.

I really, really miss having my very own computer.

But enough of woe! Remember the big ol' swathe of seed stitch I posted a while ago? That was gonna be the Super 60's Poncho? Well, I've finally gotten back to it, and now have a back and a front. Today's mission is to sew some shoulders together and then, if we're very, very lucky and it fits, start on the hood. We could be super, 60's style, by Sunday if everything goes well.

Then it could be Super 60's Poncho Sunday, instead of merely Super Bowl Sunday.

Dude, I wish I were still in Phoenix, though I'll probably get more wear out of my poncho here in the frozen north.

(Oh, I will also have to get buttons. Choosing buttons will probably slow down the process considerably.)

just popping in

Right. Computer still broken. Parents' computer, naturally, has something wrong with the photo application, so can't upload pictures, rendering this blog boring and tragic.

Am still knitting, of course. Have recently made a pair of gloves and a hat for a friend whose birthday is today, actually. I hope, as always, that they fit.

Am now making a pair of gloves for me, out of the leftover psychotic green yarn from that last pair of socks I did. I figure no one but me would really want to wear neon camouflage gloves, and since I actually don't own any gloves with fingers, it's a more-or-less perfect match. Well, and they will also have to have powder blue fingers, since I don't quite have enough green.

Ooooh, and this pair of gloves also proves that I can totally make gloves from the stats in my head. Sweet!

mmm, yarn.

It's so nice to be back in the land of yarn stores, after being stuck with JoAnn's and Michaels' for so long. Granted, I haven't been to the really awesome store yet, but as I am unemployed this is probably a good thing.

And hey, I only got yarn that I so-called needed: stuff to make a hat and gloves for a friend's 30th birthday. I wanted to make her something more impressive--30, you know?--but I've only got two weeks or so. While we all know I could knit a pair of pants in that amount of time, I somehow don't think she'd be thrilled by a pair of knit pants. I could probably also do a sweater, but like I said, I'm unemployed. Hat and gloves (of lovely shades of aqua tweed and blue, aqua tweed courtesy of Plymouth Yarn) it will have to be.

I really wanted to get this awesome hand-painted stuff in browns and blues and greens that went so well with some super-awesome acid-green sock weight yarn, but those colors just weren't right for this friend. So sad. Would have been awesome. I will be lusting after the acid green yarn for a very long time. Just so we know.

hi!

Right. For the approximately two people who read this, I hope you haven't given up on me! I have not quit knitting or anything, no, my computer went into a coma the day after Christmas, and my never regain consciousness. Well, that's not true, and the only reason this isn't a post of extreme woe and panic is that the hard drive is ok, it's just the machine that's busted. So, yes, expensive, but nothing irreplaceable has been lost. Though I am kind of pissed about all the knitting patterns I had bookmarked.

Anyway, on to more pleasant things, like the fact that this year's Christmas knitting was quite well-received, and all seems to fit. My mother particularly liked her hat. My brother may have spent last night using his socks as hand puppets, but at least fun was had. My other brother says that his fingerless gloves will come in quite handy if he ever has to play a homeless man in a musical. I think he may have been mocking me.

And now, on to knitting other stuff! Have to go re-find the pattern for that 60's poncho and finish it up. So I can wear it and be 60's-tastic.