Making It Up As I Go

once upon a time . . .

2012-01-13T17:55:00.003-05:00

Once upon a time (this December, to be exact) I made my first foray into the world of beaded knitwear. I made a beaded Annis, which I then was too lazy to take pictures of before I gave it away.

It turned out really really well, and was loved by all those who saw it, and all those who were in possession of it. (It changed hands a good three times at a holiday party.)

So then I was like OMG BEADED KNITTING IS AWESOME I MUST DO MORE, so I bought some beads:

And then it turned out that, though I thought the last beads I'd had were 8/0, maybe they weren't, because my teeny tiny ancient crochet hook, though teeny tiny by most standards, is way too big to fit through these beads.

Poop.

So now I have to buy an even teenier crochet hook, and I'm currently caught in the dilemma of Do I Buy Just The Crochet Hook And Pay Twice As Much For Shipping As I Pay For The Hook, or Do I Buy Some Yarn, Too? (I know. First world problems much?) I really should just buy the hook, but it hurts my soul a bit to pay four bucks of shipping on a two-dollar item.

But I really want to start slapping some beads on some laceweight, so . . . argh, I don't know. I mean, it's not like the world will end if I don't buy the hook soon, or anything, but then if the world does go and end in December, it would be nice to have used some of my beads first.

sock photos!

2012-01-09T14:57:00.002-05:00

And a week later, we have pictures.

I won't lie, I've been busy with some other stuff and the socks are still not much longer than this. A little bit, but not much.

I'm really very pleased with them--I just hope my notes are clear enough that I can make a second one that matches.

knee socks!

2012-01-03T17:06:00.002-05:00

I was going to do an awesome post about the fact that I have finally gotten around to starting the knee socks I've been wanting forever, but blogger won't upload my pictures. This post will therefore be distinctly less than awesome.

The socks are still pretty great. I'm doing them in a nice blue/teal heather Cascade 220 Superwash, in the hopes that I will then be able to wear them in my brown boots without any nasty felting happening.

I'm probably about halfway done with the leg. There's an awesome big cable at the top, and it narrows to a smaller, much less fancy cable that's going to go the whole way down the leg. There may be more fanciness at the ankle, but the jury is still out on that one. I'll decide when I get there. All I know is that these are going to be awesomely warm, and I might have to go out and buy a pair of some kind of shoe that's a size bigger than I usually wear, just so I can show them off properly. I'm pretty sure they'll fit in my boots. If they don't, oh well, I'll just have to wear them around the house. Or borrow my mom's shoes. I think she's a size bigger.

Pictures to come! (So annoying.)

grandma mitts

2011-12-27T20:01:00.002-05:00

I finished the two thumbs in plenty of time for everyone to have a Merry Christmas!

I have no idea if my grandma will actually wear them, but they were my dad's idea, so she could have something to keep her hands warm while she does her crossword puzzles. My grandma and I are always cold.

It feels so weird now, to have nothing I have to knit. And all the audiobooks I had on request at the library showed up this week, so I had better find something to knit on while I listen to them. I think I want to do another beaded thing, so I ordered a bunch of beads this morning. Which means I have to wait until they show up. What to do until then?

it's like Santa's workshop in here!

2011-12-20T23:22:00.002-05:00

I'm finishing stuff left and right, y'all. I have about four rows left on a hat (I have to switch to double-points, that's why it's not finished,) an inch and a half of a fingerless mitt (ok, and two thumbs) and the foot of a worsted weight sock to do. HA. TOTALLY POSSIBLE. And the socks don't even really have to be finished, so whatever.

Anyway, look how the lace blob turned out! I like it, even if it is the second leafy thing I've made my mother this year. Oh well. She likes nature.

And this is a beaded Annis that's going in the handmade swap thingie. It's blocking even as we speak. It turned out really well, even if I'm not entirely sure I like the color of the beads with the yarn. Whatever. It's done, and people will like it. Ok, now I have to go unpin it so I can go to bed.

a couple more gifts . . .

2011-12-15T10:55:00.002-05:00

First up, a sock for my grandma. I have one sock finished for one grandma and one mitt finished for the other grandma. If we are lucky, they will each get a pair of items for Christmas. This is just an improvised slipper sock on size 7 needles in some extremely washable Vanna's Choice.

Next, this lovely black blob of recycled sweater will hopefully block out nicely enough to be a shawl for my mom. More details later, when I'm not so hungry. I only have three rows left, but they're rather long rows. I should know if it's any good tomorrow or the next day!

HO. HO. HO.

2011-12-09T14:25:00.002-05:00

Time to get festive with the potholders! If I could just somehow convince myself to make random holiday potholders (and not just Christmas, all the holidays) throughout the year, my life would be so much easier.

Anyway, here we have a couple of DROPS patterns. This first one is actually a pattern for a potholder, not one of my usual hacked together jobs. It's a good pattern, just at my gauge it's maybe a little big knit in dishcloth cotton on size 3 needles. Pretty, though!

I used a reindeer chart from a sock pattern for this one. I think I should probably have used size 4 needles instead of size 5, but oh well. It'll do. And it may shrink a bit in the wash, so that's fine.

I have a plethora of other items on the go, so maybe there will be pictures of them soon. Oh, Christmas. You are such a mess.

still here . . .

2011-12-04T22:28:00.003-05:00

Ooof. This last week was exhausting. I had to do things too horrible and complicated to speak of.

I did manage to get some knitting in, though! I've got a few Christmasy things halfway done, and they are cute. Pictures to come when I am not too lazy to look for my camera, but there's a reindeer potholder involved, so.

In the meantime, I finally finished my Saroyan, and I'm quite fond of it:

It's all soft and warm and looks FABULOUS with my pink coat. My first project after Christmas is going to be fingerless gloves to match. Sweet!

And here's a picture (I'm really hoping I didn't already show you these, but I'm too lazy to look) of my unblocked Morgain. started another shawl for my mom.

I finished it about a week ago, but it's kind of an awkward shape/size--my size modifications were apparently not winners--so I started another black shawl for my mom. It was going along swimmingly until I messed something up a few days ago, and I have not had sufficient brainpower to fix it. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow it might be possible.

very sloooooooowly

2011-11-23T10:32:00.002-05:00

So besides being sick last month, I've also managed to pull a muscle in my chest. This has pretty much canceled all knitting. I can do a little bit at a time, but if I do too much, OUCH. I have been plodding along on my mom's shawl. I think I have about six rows left at this point, which is a definite yay. Here it is looking almost not-scraggly:

I figure I'll have it done and blocked by the end of the week. I was hoping to finish it sooner, because I wanted to make some colorwork holiday potholders for St Nicholas' Day, and I need the needles that the shawl is on, but now I don't know if I even want to knit cotton with the muscle issue, so . . . who knows, the potholders may be canceled. They were going to be SO CUTE, too!

Ah well--I also have a hat almost finished that I think will be for one of my brothers, unless I think of something to buy him, in which case it will go in the grab bag pile.

in a pinch . . .

2011-11-18T13:09:00.002-05:00

. . . your personal steamer can get wrinkles out of fringe just as well as it can help your throat.

I made this scarf a couple of years ago out of some Madil bamboo stuff, and I always forget I have it, which is really a shame because I love the color so much. I'm going to try to wear it this weekend, now that I've steamed the fringe all nice and stuff.

yarn store haul!

2011-10-22T18:01:00.002-05:00

It's only a smallish and not very interesting haul, but I'm fond of it nonetheless.

I went to Natural Stitches' pre-inventory sale last week, intent on picking up some black yarn for socks for my mom (yeah, don't need that anymore,) some green cotton for some Christmas potholders, and some random thing for me.

I did pretty well--couldn't decide between the greens, so I got both, and the For Me yarn is some Cascade 220 superwash which I think will end up as some kind of leg warmer or boot sock-ish thing. I probably should have gotten a third skein, but oh well, the budget calls.

I'm actually pretty excited about the Christmas potholders. If they are even half as fabulous as they are in my mind, they'll be quite fabulous indeed.

ok, I've been busy.

2011-10-20T10:03:00.002-05:00

Here's part of the reason you haven't heard from me lately. I went to Philly for the weekend, and ate lots of cupcakes.

My friends and I were sensible and cut all the cupcakes into thirds so we could taste them all and yet only eat the equivalent of two whole cupcakes. Yeah. Two whole cupcakes were still too much, and we were all lying around the apartment like Calvin and Hobbes in that Halloween strip where Calvin says that if anyone even mentions Milk Duds he's going to barf. Yeah. That was us. Good times.

I also managed to catch some stupid virus or something that has left me as weak as a very weak thing. There has not been any knitting in the past week. Yeah. ANY. That's positively unheard of around here. Here's some of the stuff I'm working on, though.

A Morgain shawl. Still in the scraggly stage. This was going to be for the handmade grab bag, but my mother and I went to the opera recently, and she was hinting Very Strongly that she could use a large black lacy shawl (she really liked my Vernal Equinox Surprise Shawl) so now I'm thinking maybe I'll just give her this one? It's more than halfway done, and I can't seem to find a pattern I love for her, so . . . I'm sure I can find something else to make for the grab bag.

And these guys are a pair of improvised leg warmers. With free-form cables. I know, it sounds all artsy, but it's really just because I'm too lazy to count. I like the one with the crossing cables better than I like the zig-zag cables, but I'm too lazy to re-do the zig-zag one, so whatever. The leg warmers are definitely more for warmth than for fashion, anyway.

I'm sure you will all be appalled to know that when I was in Philly I went in at least one yarn store and did not buy a damn thing. I know, right? But I had just bought some stuff at a local sale before I left, so the yarn budget was down . . . but today I saw that an awesome local craft fair is coming up soon, so maybe I'll get some fancy hand-dyed yarn there. Just because.

not meant to be?

2011-09-30T10:07:00.002-05:00

So we have this handmade yankee swap thing at my grandma's house every Christmas Eve. (And by 'every' I mean 'the past two years.') I've mentioned it before, I know. It has quickly become one of the favorite parts of Christmas Eve, as we get to see the awesome and ridiculous things everyone makes.

This year I want to use up some of the absurdly vast quantities of black laceweight I have and make a scarf or shawl or something. So far I am not having much luck. I tried to do a Sagittaria Shawl (too lazy to link, I am having a tragic morning, there was an unfortunate incident with my foot, a piece of glass, and several Band-Aids) but though I love the look of the pattern on the body of the shawl, I was not having much fun knitting it. I don't know if I'll ever get back to it.

So yesterday I cast on for an Annis, and if you've ever made one you will know this is no small feat as you have to cast on 363 stitches. Did that, knit the first two rows, was all, "YES THIS IS THE FIRST ANNIS I HAVE EVER MADE (I've made two others, it's so pretty) WHERE I HAVE NOT FUCKED UP IN THE FIRST COUPLE OF ROWS" and then Row Three happened, and something went Horribly Wrong (to be honest, I was watching Fringe and I might have had a sip of gin, so maybe conditions weren't optimal, but I was pretty sure I could still count to three) and when I was tinking back disaster struck.

Yeah, so that mess got unraveled, and now I have to either psych myself up to cast on all those stitches again, or I have to pick another pattern.

I'll keep you posted.

stuff I've been knitting . . .

2011-09-26T08:11:00.002-05:00

Umm . . . this will not be the most inspired post in the world, but I feel like we haven't had any photos of knit stuff in a while, so here you go.

I made a pair of Garter Stitch Mitts. They were v. fun to knit, and they're super cute on. I think they'd be great just plain in some really nice yarn, but since I had some acrylic to use up, I did a stripe.

I love the stripe. I also learned how to graft garter stitch (which is super easy, it's like Kitchener stitch's less-involved cousin) which is something, I guess.

I will not be keeping these mitts, cute as they are. The last thing I need--besides, like, malaria--is another pair of fingerless mitts in the blue family. I still have nothing that will look good with my pink coat this winter. Maybe I should get on that.

And I've started a rainbowy sock. I have (naturally) lost the ballband, but it's one of those wooly-cottony-nylony sort of blends, which, I have to say, might be my favorite for socks. I do love a good wool sock, but there's something about the wool/cotton sock yarns that I really like. Someday I may figure out what that is.

The sock is about three times longer now--I just started the gusset last night. The pattern is mostly improvised (Note To Self: you cast on 24 stitches for the toe!) and pretty plain. I put in some slipped stitches for 'interest,' but the yarn is so busy that you can barely see them. Oh well. It's subtle. :)

Of knitters and People Who Knit.

2011-09-14T23:12:00.002-05:00

I haven't been knitting a whole lot lately. I recently acquired a snazzy new digital piano, so I've been practicing like the piano is crack and I am an addict. It's a really sweet piano. So yeah, that plus the fact that I don't have any good books on tape or tv shows I'm addicted to, and there hasn't been much knitting. Don't worry, I have some stuff requested at the library, so eventually there will be more knitted stuff to show you. And it's not like I haven't been knitting, I've just been knitting less.

Anyway, what I was really going to talk about (I have had some gin, so forgive me) is the whole knitter thing. I knit a fucking lot, and I have a blog about knitting, and I like to read about knitting, but I have never been a joiner, and I've always felt really awkward about the whole 'knitter' thing. I am much more of a person who knits. I don't get all up in arms if someone 'disses' knitting. I really don't care.

I bring this up because I took my blue cabled mitts on their first outing today, and damn if they aren't extremely eye-catching, and damn if people who knit don't come out of the woodwork to chat. And I am so awkward, because I'm not all KNITTERS! RAH! and I feel like such a moron. I'm never sure what to say to these people. What's your favorite yarn? Pick or throw? I also feel slightly awkward when people ask me how long I've been knitting, and it's really only five or six years, I think, but damn if I don't make really complicated shit. It's not that hard, y'all. Then again, with the whole unemployed thing, I do put in a lot of time knitting.

Anyway. I am indeed always contemplating the whole knitter vs person-who-knits thing. I'm not sure why I feel so awkward about it, but I do.

" . . . in fact, terrified of the sea! Well. That's the sort that's dangerous."

2011-09-04T11:35:00.003-05:00

So over on Ravelry I'm in this lovely Folklore and Fairy Tales group, and this autumn we're playing around with the idea of the sea. Or bodies of water. Watery things, anyway. Mostly we read water-themed stuff, and create water-themed items, but I thought what the heck, maybe we should have some watery music.

First up I'm going to give you part one of Edward Elgar's Sea Pictures. I'd never heard of the singer before, and the video is maybe a little awkward, but I think she sounds great.

Here are the words to Sea Slumber Song, the first song in the cycle. If you're really ambitious, the cycle is actually written for mezzo and orchestra, and there are plenty of orchestral versions on the youtube.

You can't get watery without Die Schone Mullerin (I'm sorry, I don't know how to to do umlauts! Picture them over the O and the U) with the brook burbling through the piano parts. And you can't do Die Schone Mullerin without Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, so here he is:

And then, of course, pirates. The tarantella starts at about :57.

More watery tunes to come!

Cables!

2011-09-01T09:54:00.002-05:00

I made a pair of Evenstar Gloves. I will admit that I kind of on principle stay away from the 'themed' sort of pattern. I don't know, there's something about patterns named after Lord of the Rings or Dr Who or whatever stuff that makes me feel a little bit embarrassed for everyone concerned. (Yes, this from a woman who knit an Infinity Gauntlet. I don't claim to make sense. I'm just telling you how I feel.)

However. These mitts are so pretty, and they have that fun wrap stitch, and I can't resist a good wrap stitch, and I had this blue dk yarn . . . so I decided to make a pair for a gift.

And then they turned out to be so perfect, and I love the way the subtle variations in the yarn work in the cables, and, well, I'm keeping them.

Keeping them is truly a sign of how much I like these, because besides the whole embarrassed thing, I'm not really a fan of long mitts. I have sworn to wear them a lot this winter, because if I don't, then I do have to give them away. They cannot be allowed to languish in a drawer waiting for Aragorn to come back . . . oh crap.

On the other hand, if they could perhaps lure Viggo Mortensen to my doorstep, I'd be more than ok with that.

a jolly, happy soul.

2011-08-21T08:44:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you just get the urge to make something so unspeakably horrible that it ends up being fabulous.

Behold the horror that is a tiny snowman sweater.

Someone is going to be soooo lucky this Christmas!

like a fiend with his dope, or a drunkard his wine . . .

2011-08-14T11:39:00.004-05:00

. . . I keep knitting stripey things.

To be fair, I knit the one pictured quite a while ago. It took rather a long-ass time, because it's laceweight and I have to pay a little more attention than I do with fingering.

Anyway, I decided yesterday that I might as well make the mate to this guy, because it's awfully cute, and the weather will probably get cold again eventually. I went looking for my notes, such as they were, and discovered that yep, I'd thrown them out. I am so clever!

So I just spent a bit of time figuring out what I'd done, and jotting it down in an actual notebook so I won't lose it again. Yay! And with season 3 of Burn Notice in my hot little hands, who knows, I may have two mitts much sooner than I could otherwise expect.

Or I might give these away and make myself another pair. The wrist and hand are maybe a little larger than I like for myself.

Not a stripe in the lot.

2011-08-03T15:20:00.001-05:00

A random smattering of things I've been working on, offered without comment.

staying ahead of the weather.

2011-07-31T09:06:00.002-05:00

Over on Ravelry I'm part of an excellent group of hockey fans. We have a superfun playoff pool every year, and even though my picks were absolute crap this time around, I still came away with an excellent prize, Catalina Alpaca Silk. I admit I wound it up and started knitting away on a Saroyan almost as soon as I saw the stuff.

This is a lovely pattern, and very quick. The leaves are adorable. I admit that after I'd knitted about three leaves I started worrying that I was going to have a Leafy Thing Obsession. Be warned. There could be more leaves in the future, especially if I decide/have enough yarn to do a hat or mitts to match.

And speaking of obsessions:

Some of them will go to Children's Hospital, and I'll either sell the rest or give them as gifts. You see those yellow and blue ones? I love those madly. I may have to keep them.

last leafy blue post, I promise.

2011-07-14T12:32:00.004-05:00

I have some better pictures, so.

It's very pretty, even though it's more of a scarf than a wrap, and I really wanted to make my mom a wrap.

Oh well: there are plenty of other colors, holidays, and patterns in the universe. She'll get a nice big wrap eventually!

blue leafy thing blocking

2011-07-10T21:01:00.004-05:00

I finished it! Thank you, season two of The Wire. I may be thinking in profanities, but I don't think I would have gotten through that epic bind-off without you.

I couldn't get a decent shot of the whole thing blocking, but here are a few close-ups to give you the general idea.

I really like the leaves.

I'm kind of waiting till it dries (which it had better do soon, who blocks something on her bed at 8 pm, sometimes I am not clever) to see if the white/lighter blue bits look like pretty variations, or more like I splashed the shawl with bleach.

It might have been nice if the wrap was either longer or wider, but hey, that's what I get for messing with gauge. It's about a foot wide, maybe 14 inches, and it's all circular on my twin bed, so we'll see how long it is when I unpin it.

I hope it's a practical size--practical in the stage sense of 'working' not practical in the sense of 'sensible and useful.'

Whatever it is, it sure is pretty. It's a lovely design.

And best of all, it's done with over a week to spare! Go me!

lacy things!

2011-07-06T08:04:00.004-05:00

I seem to be stepping back from my striping madness. You'd think this was good, but now I am indulging in some lacy madness. Apparently I obsess easily. Well, and I know that, that's why I started knitting in the first place, because even a weird stripe obsession is better than playing too much Minesweeper. Minesweeper only gets you carpal tunnel, not something you can wear.

Bear in mind that most of these items have been made in the last . . . oh, say three weeks. Maybe two.

First up we have an Annis. If you can successfully navigate the casting on of billions of stitches (I exaggerate: 363 stitches only) this thing is a breeze, and it's super pretty once it's finished. It's a gift for a friend.

Here's another shot of the Kudzu Shawlette. It really is a good bit further along than last time you saw it! It's just that you knit it the long way, so progress shows slowly. Mine's probably going to be very narrow, since I'm doing it in laceweight on size 4 needles. It's pretty, though, and it feels lovely. I'm hoping it'll be a decent size once it's blocked. I know, I know, I should have swatched. I prefer to live on the edge.

I had forgotten how much mindless fun big ol' triangle shawls are! This guy, Undine, has a very easily memorized stitch pattern for the body of the shawl, so it just zooms right along. I think I did this one on a size 6 needle, which only added to the zooming. This one may end up in the handmade grab bag at my grandma's this Christmas. (Please ignore the wiggly blocking.)

And lastly we have a hilarious receipt I found in my purse the other day.

It's stuff I bought at a card store, I swear!

aw, it's my 400th post.

2011-06-28T09:17:00.003-05:00

I should probably throw some kind of party, but I'm a slacker, so all you're going to get are some random pictures. And they're not even very good pictures, because I've abandoned my stripey mitt obsession for a bit of a lace fit.

First up we have a Kudzu Shawlette. Well, the very beginnings of a Kudzu Shawlette.

This is theoretically for my mom's birthday. I'm not entirely certain I like it in the laceweight, but we shall see. This is definitely a time when I should have swatched, but I didn't. Doom and destruction may ensue.

And this blob, which is currently blocking and much less blobby, is a Super Sekrit item for a swap, so you'll probably have to wait a while to see it. Suffice it to say that if you find a shawl pattern with an easily-memorizeable lace motif, and you do it in laceweight on US 6 needles, you can have a sizeable and decently impressive shawl in pretty much no time. (Except for the bind-off. The bind-off will take you forever, and you'll be really glad East Lynne is 60 chapters long.)

I'm thinking I'll make a similar black shawl for the handmade grab bag this year. I have sooooo much black laceweight recycled out of old sweaters, and, God help me, I still have one old black sweater waiting to be unraveled. No, wait, I have two. Dear God. Black lace shawls and wraps for everyone!

a repeat.

2011-06-20T09:04:00.002-05:00

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret. Once again a gift, once again not blocked out to be slouchy.

This is a fairly soft acrylic blend, so I have a feeling that once it's been worn for a while, it will go a bit on the floppy side.

I still really dig this pattern. And I still want one for myself.

provisional cast-on joy.

2011-06-15T22:34:00.002-05:00

I have never, ever, been able to figure out how to do a crocheted provisional cast-on so that the crocheted chain unzips neatly from my knit stitches.

But now, ha ha, thanks to the super-duper clear instructions for the Grace Lace Beret, I can do it! One simple phrase was all I needed: "pick up 60 stitches from the back of crochet chains." Winner!

And I'd thought I was doing well because I already had a random piece of crocheted chain in the right weight and length just lying around in my bag of scrap yarn. But no, now my lazy ass has learned a new skill, too.

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about this. It will save me a lot of frustration in the future, I can feel it.

A Sparkly Blue Thing

2011-06-07T18:06:00.003-05:00

If you look very, very closely, you can see a faint stripe in this yarn, but it's not quite enough to count towards my stripey projects. :)

Anyway, here's your first look at my Sparkly Blue Thing. The yarn is Blue Heron Rayon Metallic, which appeared on my doorstep in a swap. It's soooo pretty I can't even deal.

The pattern is Something Lacy Shrug. I've been wanting to do something of this sort for a while, but most of the patterns I've found have had lace that seems a little bit 'granny' to me. I'm still not convinced that this isn't a bit granny.

I guess it's a granny with sass, though. The pattern calls for just a little bit of ribbing for sleeves, but I think I might make them longer, if it doesn't look silly. I should have plenty of yarn.

a quick stripey hit.

2011-05-24T12:10:00.002-05:00

Tiny stripey sweater! I feel the need to bust out a tiny sweater every so often. This one is a keychain. It's got i-cord coming out of the sleeve and attaching to a key. I have no idea how practical this is, but it sure is cute.

Oh, and the yellow yarn? It's the stuff I dyed myself! It's maybe a slight bit too brown to be a real Pittsburgh medium-yellow, but I like it anyway. It hearkens back to the old Terrible Towels.

random round-up.

2011-05-19T08:02:00.002-05:00

We had a primary election this week. I knew it would be a slow day, so I brought some knitting. Each of these items was barely started at the beginning of the day.

They grew a lot.

The scarf is in stripes, yes, but notice how I am weaning myself away from my solid stripes in the fingerless mitt. We've got a bit of colorwork going on! This mitt was the perfect thing to knit on Slow Election Day. It was just complicated enough that it was interesting (gotta love variegated yarn for that) but not so complicated that I couldn't figure out where I was when I picked it back up after registering a voter.

And I made a wee nerdy Green Lantern case thing for my brother's birthday. It's pretty cute. I didn't have time to block it, or it wouldn't look so squiggly. :)

Orange! (And perhaps some stripes. Because.)

2011-05-10T17:27:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I say "orange" and then the first thing I do is fake you out with some blue. We'll just all have to live with it. Anyway, this is my wool/silk laceweight from NeuroticKnitterz. I dig it, and I think my mom will too. I'm trying to decide what sort of lacy thing I want to make out of it. Right now I'm thinking a half-circle shawl, but I haven't found one that I really, really adore.

The yarn is actually a good bit brighter than in this picture. It's sooo pretty.

Ok. On to the orange segment of the day! (Ha ha, get it? Orange segment? I just made an awesome salad with quinoa and cilantro and scallions and oranges, so I may have oranges on the brain.)

This is from my second-ever adventure in dying. I was overdying some light brown--it is now a coppery brown, which is much more me--and thought what the heck, I'll toss in some of this white Knit Picks Palette I have leftover from Christmas. I had three extra (more or less) skeins, and I really don't think I need that much white. I dig this orange, though. I think I also dig this dying thing, though I do not have a precise nature and will therefore probably never be very good at it.

And here we have some stripes! This is stripey yarn, in my defense. I saw it lying there a few days ago, and there wasn't enough to make into anything, not even a baby hat, so it became this wee little pouch. I don't know what I'll keep in it, but it sure is cute.

The Promised Hat

2011-05-04T10:27:00.002-05:00

It's big, it's red, and it's snoodly.

First we have an up-close shot of the stitch pattern, which is your basic Zigzag Lace from the first Barbara Walker book. I happened to have it out of the library. The hat used about a skein and a half of Knit One Crochet Too's Tartelette.

The hat, which was made up as I went along, turned out pretty much how I wanted it to. It's very slouchy and very very red, though, and I have not had the guts (or maybe just the occasion) to wear it outside the house.

In other news, I finally bought the 'treat' yarn I had been promising myself for months. I'd been looking for a lighter orange, but I finally found some blue laceweight that was almost exactly what I wanted for a shawl for my mom, so, to save on postage, I bought some orange yarn from the same shop.

I liked it pretty well in the pictures online (duh, or I wouldn't have bought it) but I LOVE IT in person. Like, LOVE IT. It looks way better in person than in my pictures, too. It's kind of a glowing rusty orange-brown, and I don't know how I'm going to choose a pattern for it.

That's a nice merino/nylon fingering weight in Rust by NeuroticKnitterz , y'all. It's good stuff.

I'll show you pictures of the blue laceweight later. Right now it's in a bit of a snarl. I had some winding issues. But the color is awesome!

check this out!

2011-04-25T21:52:00.002-05:00

Get ready, friends, for I have several non-stripey things to show you this week! (Don't worry, I'll probably have to have a Stripe Day soon, because I've got plenty, but first, some other stuff.)

Remember that grey laceweight yarn I did my Vernal Equinox Shawl out of? It used to be a Gap turtleneck? I had a goodly amount left, even after the shawl, and let's face it, I love grey knitwear, but grey is not my best color. I really don't need two grey shawls, you know? So I dyed it green!

This was my first foray into the world of dying. I used good ol' Paas, because there was some in the cupboard left over from last Easter. It turned out a nice uneven mossy green, which was kind of hard to photograph, but you get the general idea from these pictures. I think next time I will remember to stir the yarn a bit when it's in the pot, but I think the erratic dye job will actually look really nice when it's knit up.

And yeah, that's right, I said 'next time.' I've done my best not to get started with any dying or spinning or any of that, because the last thing I need is another hobby or something else to spend money on, but it's kind of fun to make yarn be the color you want it to be. I've got some white yarn left over from my mom's Christmas sweater, and I might have to turn it some kind of orange. Just because you can never have too much orange yarn.

Next up (oooh, a teaser!) we will have a big red hat made out of ribbon yarn. I kind of love it.

cables!

2011-04-16T08:41:00.002-05:00

I've been working on my cabled vest sort of sporadically. Sort of an every-other-day thing. I should really just print out the damn chart so I can work on it while I watch playoff hockey, but so far I have been too lazy. Anyway, here's where we stand:

And a dramatic closer shot! It's almost impossible to capture the actual color of this yarn. It's a dark teal with purple flecks.

And the start of a pair of red-and-blue stripey mitts, because you know I can't help myself.

more baby hats!

2011-04-10T08:09:00.002-05:00

So this year my knitting creed seems to be "roll with the obsession, kid." First we had the stripes, and now we have the Baby Hat:

They're so darn cute! And they knit up in, like, four seconds! And you can put dangling leaves on them. Believe me, I did not make just one of the leafy yellow ones. OMG. Luckily these baby hats will be able to do some good: they're all (or most, I'm sure someone I know will have a baby eventually) headed off to the NICU to make worried parents smile a little.

But don't think I've forgotten the stripes. :)

Last year my mom mentioned that red-white-and-blue potholders would be nice for the patriotic chunk of the summer, so that's what she's getting for Mothers' Day. I just wish I wasn't so terrible at embroidering stars. I can do freestyle cute flowers no problem, but my stars always look like they've been melted or squashed. Or both. Sigh.

some stripes, some not . . .

2011-04-03T08:25:00.003-05:00

This will be a bit of a scrambly sort of post, but hey, I'm not one of those marvelous sorts of bloggers whose posts are nearly works of art, so I suppose we're used to it. :)

Behold some things I've been making!

A small green hat. I am smote with the cute of this hat. I want to make more cute green hats with flowers on them, but I don't know any babies small enough to give this one to, so I'm trying very hard not to make more. Sometimes you've just got to knock out a cute hat, though, you know?

This will (hopefully) be a cabled vest with (hopefully) a hood. I am hoping I have enough yarn for the hood. I'm very much enjoying knitting this. I feel like I haven't done real cables in ages! Oh, right, the pattern is this Lion Brand Cabled Vest Thingie. (Not the official pattern title.) I'm doing the small size for the back, and will probably do the fronts as a medium and fudge the decreases so the shoulders are the same sizes.

And then we have the stripes. Yeah. I think the obsession may be fading a bit, but here's the current stack:

I did a whole bunch of singles for a while, and now I have a rule that I can't start a new one until I've made one of the singles a mate. I finished a mate yesterday, sooo . . . I do have to have a Thumb Day sometime soon, though. Three or so of them need thumbs.

You will notice the red and rainbow gloves are no longer in the stack. I gave them to a friend--I made them for her, after all!--and she was pretty stoked. Yay stripey mitts!

Here's one of my current singles: a laceweight stripey elbow glove. I wish it were pink and orange, but I didn't have any pink or orange wool sweaters in the 90's, and so I can't unravel them now.

I kind of adore this glove, but I might not be cool enough to wear it. I might have to find someone more goth and make their day.

omg--it's not stripey!

2011-03-30T08:25:00.002-05:00

I've had this skein of Malabrigo Sock for at least two years now, and I've tried to knit it up into various things, but I haven't liked any of them. Finally, in complete despair, I knit it into a fairly plain shawl-thing: The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief.

I modified the pattern for fingering weight--basically I did 30 rows in each stockinette section--and it turned out a decent size.

I still don't like it much. I tried it on, you know, with the point in front all stylish and whatnot, and I look like such a poser.

I did have some fun with the macro feature on my camera, though! And here's how much yarn I had left:

I think this may end up in the handmade grab bag this Christmas, unless I figure out someone who really needs it as a gift before that. I do have one friend and one cousin who really really like purple . . .

a fit of the stripeys.

2011-03-24T21:16:00.002-05:00

You guys. I can't stop. I might need an intervention.

I have several color combinations I still want to try.

And I'm making a purple thing out of this damn Malabrigo Sock that just won't look nice no matter what I do with it. Let this be a lesson to me: Don't Buy Variegated Yarn.

Stripey Mitt Recipe

2011-03-13T14:51:00.005-05:00

Because what the heck, right?

Anyway, if you want to make your own Stripey Mitts, here's the general scoop. And by the 'general scoop' I mean this is How I Made Mine. Your hand size and gauge may vary.

Fingering Weight Stripey Mitts

I used:

Patons Kroy FX in Clover Colors
Patons Kroy in Black
Knit Picks Palette in Garnet Heather (the Palette is noticeably thinner than the Kroy, but it works out ok)

US 1 (2.25mm) dpns

My gauge appears to be 8 1/2 stitches per inch. I would say these mitts would fit a ladies small or medium hand. My palms are about 7.25 inches around.

Here's what you do:

Cast on 57 stitches, join to knit in the round. Don't twist them!

Knit 5 rows seed stitch.

Start striping! I did five-row stripes, and you'll probably want to do jogless joins, where you knit one round of the new color, and then on the first stitch of the second round of the new color you pick up the stitch below it (in the old color) and you knit those together.

Knit stripes for as long as you'd like your cuff to be. My red-and-rainbow mitts have seven stripes before the thumb gusset.

Now decide where you want your seam to fall. If you're jogless joining, it won't be much of a seam, but I like to put them on the palm of the hand anyway. So for one hand you'll want to start your gusset about sixteen stitches after the start of the round, and on the other hand you'll want to start sixteen stitches before the start of the round.

For the gusset, knit to the desired spot, place a marker if you want, and then M1, K1, M1. Knit two rounds. Repeat these three rounds--still striping!--until your gusset is the size you want. I increased to 19 stitches, at which point I was about halfway through the red stripe. I finished the red stripe, not increasing any more, knit one round in the rainbow stuff, and then on the next round put the 19 gusset stitches on waste yarn, cast on one to cover the gap, and striped to the end of the mitt.

For the final stripe, knit one round plain, five rounds of seed stitch, and bind off.

Now go back to the thumb and put those stitches on your dpns. Pick up two stitches to fill in the gap, and knit the four rows of rainbow stripe, decreasing a few stitches if you need to to make it fit. Re-attach the red, knit one round plain, and then three or so rows of seed stitch. Bind off, sew in all the ends, and there you have it!

Clear as mud, right?

The worsted gloves are pretty much the same, only I cast on 36 and did stripes of four, with two or three rows of garter stitch as the 'cuffs.' ETA: Oh, and unless you have ginormous thumbs, you'll probably want to keep the gusset around 13 stitches. :)

stripey things.

2011-03-12T09:15:00.003-05:00

Ok, so the first thing isn't stripey. The first thing is a bunch of drying yarn that I have reclaimed from other items. The purple is from a sweater I decided I didn't want to finish, the blue is some Trekking from the second pair of socks I ever made (they were ankle socks, and I didn't wear them anymore, and I feel the need to stripe that blue with some off-white. OMG they are going to be fabulous mitts) and the black was my very favorite sweater in the early bit of this century, but it got a bit chewed so I shall now turn it into something else.

And now we get to the stripes! Some nice worsted stripes. These mitts took no time at all to make. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but for some reason I had to make them.

Seriously, I'm having this weird obsession with stripes. I don't even know what to do. I don't know if anyone but me would ever want the SUPER LOUD pink and green ones, but the red + rainbow ones are for a friend who has been sadly hinting that I never make her anything. (There are reasons why I never make her anything, but we don't need to go into all that here. Suffice it to say that I think she'll like them, and it lets me knit some stripes, so everybody wins.)

pictures!

2011-03-01T22:24:00.002-05:00

I got a little camera-happy today. Check it out! Here's the stripey sweater:

And some stripey mitts:

And my Firebird Lace Socks--well, one of them--all tested and looking spiffy:

by the way

2011-02-26T09:13:00.002-05:00

I forgot to mention in the last post: I finished the stripey sweater, and it blocked beautifully and is kind of awesome. Of course I have no photos, but believe me, it's pretty sweet. Sure, the body could be a little narrower, and I really wish I had enough green for long sleeves (there is a chance I will see if I have enough yarn for long sleeves by knitting the forearms and grafting them on) but on the whole I like it a lot.

I'll take pictures soon, because I do wear it a lot. Maybe I'll even wear it today! We'll see if I have a decent long-sleeved shirt to wear under it.

And now I need to think of a new Big Project to make, even though, yeah, have not finished any of the things I'm supposed to finish. We're having a bit of Family Health Drama, so I am a bit distracted.

stuff I am knitting!

2011-02-23T10:48:00.003-05:00

Do I win a prize for the Most Imaginative Post Title Ever? My apologies.

Anyway, here's what I'm working on now!

I'm test-knitting a pattern for the lovely Greenethumb (oh hey, if you scroll down a bit at that link, you just might see some items you'll recognize!) and here is the toe:

There's some v. pretty lace going on on the rest of the sock.

And here are some stripey mitts I'm making. Just your basic mitt pattern, made awesome by some striping action and Patons Kroy FX. I've had the idea for these mitts in my head since before Christmas, and I'm quite pleased to say that they look just like they looked in my head. This doesn't happen all that often.

These mitts are a Yay Chemo Is Over! present for a friend of mine.

Ugh, and I really, really need to finish the Goldfish Mittens before winter is over, but for some reason I can't gin up any enthusiasm for doing those wee thumbs, even though I very much enjoy the 'magic' of an afterthought thumb.

Finishing-Up Time?

2011-02-15T15:01:00.002-05:00

I am so almost done with my stripey sweater. I'm still unsure of the length, and maybe some of the shaping, but I'm going to block it tomorrow and see if that helps it any. This blocking will commence tomorrow because the temperature is supposed to be around 50, so perhaps it will not take the sweater a week to dry.

So that will be finished, and my awesome grey shawl is finished--at the party on Sunday my friends decided that I was the person they most wanted to be stranded with on a desert island, because I could make useful items including fishing nets and hammocks--and next I need to put the thumbs on my poor wee languishing goldfish mittens, and then I think--I hope--it will be on to the poor wee projects languishing about in bags. If I can finish at least one or two of those, I will feel better about life. (I'm feeling rather crappy about life today, but that's another story.)

Oooh, I am also test-knitting a pair of socks. They are red and they have lace. I'll be finishing those up, too. And then what? Perhaps a pair of orange felted slippers? Perhaps another wrap? I definitely want to make another big flashy wrap, but so far I can't decide on a pattern or a color.

I am also determined to get some potential Christmas gifts done early this year. Now that I know my knittings are v. popular amongst the relatives, I'm thinking I'll do something local-sports-related for the main gift swap, and then maybe something lacy for the handmade one. (Part of me wants to bust out some sort of other craft entirely for the handmade swap, just to freak people out, but let's face it, I am A) good at knitting, and B) lazy, so I probably will just stick with the yarn.)

And who knows what all else? I also want to do a pair of full-fingered Thanos Gloves + Infinity Gauntlet. Because that would be hilarious.

Now I'm just blathering! More soon, hopefully with pictures of a lovely, comfy, dry, striped sweater.

IT'S SO PRETTY!

2011-02-09T18:03:00.003-05:00

I finished my crochet edging around 3:30 this afternoon, and was going to wait to block the shawl until tomorrow, but then I couldn't help myself. Pinned it out on my bed, and this being winter with the furnace on and my bed being a loft, the shawl was dry in no time. I unpinned it about ten minutes ago, and have spent those ten minutes preening in front of a mirror, completely unable to say anything but "IT'S SO PRETTY!"

It really is very pretty. I love it to bits.

In case you want to make your own, it's a Vernal Equinox Shawl.

Designed by Lankakomero.

Knit out of yarn that was once a Gap turtleneck. On US 6 needles. It was super fun to knit: the only thing I found slightly awkward, clearly, was the crocheted edging, but I even got pretty good at that towards the end.

YAY I CAN'T WAIT TO WEAR IT TO MY PARTY THIS WEEKEND!

IT'S SO PRETTY!

remember my grey shawl?

2011-02-08T23:53:00.002-05:00

My Vernal Equinox Shawl that I knit last fall and that has sat in a lump on my desk since November because the crochet edging is slower than Christmas?

Well, I've picked it up again, and though the crocheting of the edging is not going any faster than it did the first time I tried it, I've at least figured out where the various stitches are supposed to go, so I know when I've lost count. I lose count frequently.

Anyway, I'm about a third done with the edging (FOREVER, I tell you, FOREVER) but I know I will slog on because I would like to wear it to a party this Sunday. I figure as long as I have it done by Saturday morning (which I totally will) I will have time to block it.

Dude. It took me less time to knit a whole damn shawl than it did to convince myself I wanted to do the edging. On the plus side, I had built it up to be such a horrific chore that I've been pleasantly surprised at how not-horrific it is. Well done, me!

it's a sweater!

2011-02-08T14:29:00.003-05:00

Half a sweater, anyway.

I need to knit several more rows at the hem, because it's rolling up too much, and then I'll have to figure out what kind of sleeves to do--I kind of like the idea of short sleeves, but they might be impractical--and then I will have a nice warm recycled sweater! Yay!

And then I can knit something else! Yay!

And I will have more room for yarn, but less room in my closet. I'm not sure this is a good tradeoff.

more random knitted items!

2011-01-31T23:14:00.002-05:00

Because we know that's what I do best.

First we have Sourwood Mountain. This is the second pair of these mitts I've made. They're surprisingly quick, and I think they're so pretty. The only modification I made was that I didn't bind off the thumb gusset where the pattern says to, instead I put the stitches on some waste yarn so I could do some rows of stockinette and ribbing later. It makes the thumb hole much less constrictive.

And here we have the start of a pair of Goldfish Mittens (or Purplefish, as the case may be) for a toddler friend of mine. I hope she's ok with having fish hands. These knit up at the speed of light and are super cute. Like, SUPER CUTE. Bow to the cuteness.

Last, we've got a tiny sweater. It's a surprise for someone out there! I really just threw it together, but I kind of love the color combination and the (extremely simple) pattern, so I may see if I can squeeze a pair of fingerless mitts out of the yarn bits I have left. I have plenty of the dark blue, and probably enough green, but the light blue could be a problem.

I am also knitting away on my latest seat-of-the-pants sweater. The body is almost finished. I imagine I'll have it finished by the end of this week, and then then sleeves shouldn't take much time at all, and then, yay! Sweater!

This reminds me, I should make sure I actually have a full set of size 10 dpns. I have been losing needles like nobody's business lately.

nothing super interesting to report . . .

2011-01-19T09:34:00.003-05:00

But I am knitting! Just try and stop me, really. :)

I've made this cute wee hat for a friend's impending baby:

It's a Gooseberry Hat, by Suvi Simola And here's a close-up of the antenna. This hat is v. cute in person, but I haven't managed to get a photo that really does justice to the cute.

And then I'm doing a pair of BonBons, which are almost finished, as in so finished that I think I only have to bind off the second one and do the thumb, but I don't love them as much as I thought I would, so the finishing motivation has been hard to find.

I've made a Boring Man Hat, too boring to photograph, and now I'm knitting on a recycled-yarn striped raglan sweater for me. It's good show knitting, though I really should separate the sleeves before I head over to rehearsal today.

the first projects of 2011!

2011-01-07T19:47:00.002-05:00

Right. So the Stripey Gloves have become Stripey Mitts. I think I'll get more wear of them that way. I think I'm just going to buy some black gloves to wear under them. (The whole "get more wear" thing may just be a graceful cover for "I don't feel like knitting fingers.") Anyway, I love them. I love the fabric this yarn made on US4 needles. I love the cute little yellow edge I did at the finger line, which you will get to see eventually. For now, an in-progress photo:

And then I finished the Cap Karma Hat for my grandma. It seems plenty large to me. If it doesn't fit, I am going to decide that people are just messing with me about their heads being gigantic, and no one is getting another gift hat ever again.

What shall I make next? I have some super-secret stuff I'm making for a swap, and I'm going to make a Boring Man Hat for my brother--or maybe I'll do something silly with a Transformers logo on it--and then who knows? Mittens for me? I won't have to knit fingers . . .

What shall we knit this year?

2011-01-03T09:04:00.003-05:00

Somehow last year turned into a year of colorwork. Not sure what happened there, but I sure got excited about the stranded knitting. I wonder what this year's fad will be? At this point it's not going to be colorwork, because I can't stand the thought of it, and am ready for some nice fake cables or lace or something.

I've started a Cap Karma Hat by Smariek Knits for my grandma's birthday. It has some nice little cables. It's also out of some pain-in-the-tushie acrylic, but I don't trust my grandma not to wash it, so acrylic it must be.

I'm making a pair of gloves for me--in worsted so maybe I will get them done before winter is over--in the rest of my Draygone Yarns' hockey worsted. Pens colorway, of course. They don't match my coat, but oh well. Black and yellow seem to go with anything around here.

Anyway. Just a brief start-of-year sum up! I think I would like to make myself a sweater this year, and I really need to finish my Vernal Equinox Shawl. Holy hell. It's gorgeous and it's been sitting in a lump for at least three months waiting for its crocheted edging.

EVERYTHING FITS.

2010-12-26T17:29:00.002-05:00

That's right. It all fits. The stubby wee arms, the short rows, everything. IT ALL FITS. I can't even tell you how thrilled I am. My mother loves her sweater. (She was so stunned by it that she had to ask if I made it. No, Mum, I bought your sweater this year. Of course I made it!) The Retro Socks were a hit, and the Infinity Gauntlet, though I was up much too late and much too early finishing the damn thing, is utterly fantastic. Behold:

Yeah. I think I may have to make a whole pair with full fingers and everything. That is a pretty great, geektastical item. And I want one for myself. I admit it.

Yay! Go Christmas! Go everyone liking their presents! Oh, and the mitts were a hit at the handmade grab bag. I like it when everyone likes their presents and EVERYTHING FITS.

Note to Self:

2010-12-23T23:45:00.002-05:00

Do not ever do NaNoWriMo and attempt to knit a fingering-weight sweater for Christmas in the same month. I've been trying to figure out why I'm so damn behind with the gifties, and I think it's NaNo. Well, and the two solid days of choir concerts last weekend. Those sure didn't help. :(

Not that it's a Gifting Tragedy here. The Retro Socks are done. The Grab Bag Mitts are done. I just have to sew in ends on the ginormous red sweater of doooooom. I'll do that tomorrow morning. The Infinity Gauntlet is super-close to being done. I'm going to finish the cuff tonight, and do the gems tomorrow. Hopefully the gems will not be too much of a pain in the ass. I'm kind of bummed that I've pretty much run out of yarn, though, and will not be able to do cute i-cord detailing around the gems. I'm hoping I can find some embroidery floss that's close to the orange-yellow of the glove, and I can do something with that. I guess there's no reason I can't do embroidery-floss i-cord, is there?

Man, all I need is about ten more yards of this yellow, that's what's really annoying. Sucks that it's the same color as I used for the toes and heels of the Retro Socks.

Anyway. Back to the grind! Adam Warlock needs his glove!

stick a fork in it.

2010-12-20T08:04:00.002-05:00

Cause this bad boy is DONE!

I still have to block it--and I'm hoping things will be slightly less wriggly after blocking--but hopefully that is the easy part. Mostly it is DONE and I think there's about a 95% chance that it will fit, so.

In case you want one of your own, the pattern is this free one from Drops, though I modified it to make it a pullover and re-calculated everything to go with the gauge I was getting with the yarn I had. The black and white are Knit Picks Palette, and the red is Lion Brand LB 1878. I have a feeling the Lion Brand stuff isn't going to wear very well, but oh well, you knit with what you can afford.

Um. What else? Did the whole thing on size 2 needles, and it's sized to be about 54" around with short-row extra room for bosoms.

I am so relieved that this thing is done. Now I can finish the Infinity Gauntlet and stuff.

stay on target . . .

2010-12-16T10:42:00.002-05:00

Ugh, I did two rows wrong on the red sweater on Tuesday, so I spent Wednesday fixing them. Now I'm back to where I should have been yesterday. :(

On the other hand, I have one more three-color row left, and then it's all two colors and decreases, so I should still have the damn thing done by the 20th.

I think the Retro Socks might end up as a post-Christmas present, though. Sad face.

slowest sweater ever.

2010-12-12T14:57:00.002-05:00

Am still knitting away on the Giant Red Monster. I really don't have all that much left to do on it: maybe 40 or so rows on the yoke chart, and then some short rows for the back, and then some ribbing for the neck, and bam! Sweater!

However. There are sooooo many stitches in each row, and I (being an idiot) had to go and fiddle with the chart, so there are now about eight rows where I have to do three colors. You guys. It is going so. slowly. It's like the sweater that time forgot or something. I celebrate whenever I hit a decrease row. I mean, I'm so pleased to see the decrease rows come up that if I weren't knitting colorwork, I would do a shot to celebrate.

And watch, the damn thing probably won't fit the woman anyway. I admit I'm sort of looking forward to getting a pair of scissors, chopping away at anything that doesn't work, and re-knitting and grafting it. That could be entertaining. Or maybe it will fit well enough, who knows? It's just that when you're knitting for a 5'3" woman who wears an I cup, proportion goes wild.

I really, really, really want to knit a chunky hat right now, just for some instant gratification, but I can't think of anyone who really needs a chunky hat for their Christmas gift, and God knows I don't need any more hats.

Ok. Enough procrastinating and whining. Back to the knitting!

:(

progress . . . a little progress.

2010-12-09T15:26:00.002-05:00

Actually I'm posting here because I'm about to start the zillion-stitch colorwork yoke on the red sweater of death, and I need to take a bit of a break before I jump in. ARGH THE STRESS. MY MOTHER IS SHORT. I DON'T WANT THE YOKE TO BE TOO LONG SO HER ARMHOLES ARE AROUND HER ELBOWS.

Ok. I feel better since I got that out. Here are some photos as your reward for listening to me panic and whine:

If I get both mitts finished, they will go into the handmade grab bag on Christmas Eve. Up next we have the Infinity Gauntlet:

Just have to add some half-fingers and some Infinity Gems to that one. And here we have a comic picture of three sleeves in a box. Yes, I made sure to put the correct ones on the sweater:

To paraphrase that cinematic gem The Three Amigos: KNIT, VERY OLD ONE. KNIT LIKE THE WIND.

getting there.

2010-12-07T10:23:00.002-05:00

1. I now have a body and two sleeves (technically almost three, I knit most of a first one before I decided it was too small, and I'd BETTER put the correct ones on the sweater) finished for the Hubris Sweater. I've 'only' got the colorwork yoke left, which is theoretically the 'fun' part, so I'm looking forward to it, right? Right.

2. I've got one finished Retro Sock. I'm planning to mainly work on the second one at my concerts next week. There will be a lot of sitting around, and the Retro Sock is portable and requires very little counting.

3. Approximately two rows have been knit on this year's Brilliant Joke Gift. Why do I never think of these in the spring or something? Anyway, it's merely a glove, so I should be able to hack it out in a day or two.

4. One black-and-gold hat is completely finished. I will probably give it to my big brother. If I have time, I will knit another one (there's plenty of yarn left!) and give it to . . . someone else.

5. Because I can't seem to resist knitted comedy, I acquired another item on my To Do list. My dad and I feel that a tiny sweater with his department's logo on it would be a hilarious edition to his office tree, so a tiny sweater it is. I just have to do the arms and the logo on it, but I went with v. small needles to knit it, and it's taking longer than I would like.

6. Am slightly worried about my Handmade Grab Bag Gift. I've got most of one mitt done, but it takes me a while to do it (it's more colorwork, apparently I am all about the colorwork this Christmas) and I'm trying to decide if I should keep going with it or chuck it and do a pair of stripey gloves or a quick hat. I figure my deadline for bailing and doing a hat is Dec. 20. I can do a hat between the 20th and the 24th.

Ok. Enough time wasted on the interwebz! Must get back to knitting!

WHY ARE YOUR HANDS ON BITS OF STRING, CHILD?

2010-12-02T15:13:00.003-05:00

For St Nicholas' Day, I am making my mother a pair of wee Christmas ornament mittens. (Or 'glubs,' as I tend to think of them.) There may be a bobble hat to match later.

(All other Christmas gifts continue on apace, though I have had an unutterably brilliant idea for one of my brothers, and so the Retro Socks may get shunted to the back of the queue.)

communism was just a red herring.

2010-11-26T09:51:00.002-05:00

So. At this point I am reasonably certain that I'm not going to run out of yarn. In fact, I am reasonably certain that the extra black and white yarn I just ordered is not going to be necessary. However, I imagine it will not go to waste. Anyway, here's what the Overly Ambitious Sweater is up to these days:

I have only about five inches to go on that sleeve (way to have short arms, Mum!) and then I just have the other sleeve and the colorwork yoke to go. So right now I am pretty optimistic about getting it done for Christmas. Whether it fits or not is another question entirely, but I'm the sort who doesn't mind ripping out and re-knitting, so.

I think my mom should like it. I like it. I wasn't sure about the cuff at first, but now the more I look at it, the more I like it. I'm starting to want one for myself, which is always a good sign.

omg short rows.

2010-11-20T10:13:00.003-05:00

So I've been working and working on my ridiculously ambitious sweater project, and dude. I am now at the part where you worry about not having enough yarn. I am, however, nearly done with the body. I should be able to finish it this weekend and be on to the sleeves starting Monday. So I really am on schedule to finish it before Christmas, I just worry about, you know, fit, and having enough yarn.

I knit short rows on the bosom of this thing for three hours last night (whilst watching hockey) and am still not done with them. Let's just say the cup size I am dealing with is well into the alphabet. Oy. On the other hand, if it does fit, she'll be quite pleased to have a sweater that is long enough in the front.

My first Retro Football Sock is at least two-thirds done. It's amazing how fast a round goes when you've got 80 stitches instead of 400. I'm almost to the toe, and then it'll be off to the second one!

I still need to decide what to do about my grab bag gift--but I did start, just for a break from the endless stockinette of my life--a pair of red and grey mitts for a friend who saw the mitts I'd made for another friend and was whining that I never make her anything. These mitts are kind of a bit unisex, so if I run into troubles, I can use them for the grab bag. I actually quite like them. My favorite part of the pattern is that it has a hem where you do a provisional cast-on and then pick those stitches up at the appropriate time, fold them to the back, and knit them together with the row you're working on, thereby eliminating the need to sew your hem down later. GENIUS. (And the worst explanation ever, but believe me, it's brilliant and awesome. And covers up the long floats in the cuff pattern, so you don't have to worry about people getting their fingers stuck.)

Ugh, that was long. I've had too much caffeine, I think. And it's not even 10:30 yet. AIEEE!

no pictures yet . . .

2010-11-16T14:09:00.002-05:00

. . . but I shall tell you what's up, because I know you're so super curious. :)

First of all, the Rainbow Mitts were a big hit with their intended recipient. Yay! They fit and everything. Good times.

The Retro Socks are not very far past the heel, but I'm sort of saving them to knit while I sit around at eleven choir concerts in December, so there's no need to panic about them. I also have a hat planned that I will probably work on while waiting to sing. It's a plain ol' stockinette hat, so it won't take very long.

Mostly I've been doing miles of stockinette for what I hope will turn out to be a sweater for my mom. I'm trying to get the body done this week so I can start on the sleeves. There's going to be a colorwork yoke involved, but I think, if I keep plugging away, I can get it done by Christmas. Luckily the first season of Burn Notice (which I've been waiting for for MONTHS) is on its way to my library, just in time to entertain me whilst I knit miles of stockinette. I'm also listening to The Mill on the Floss, which is very good and quite entertaining, but sometimes you want a little modern tv where stuff blows up and Sharon Gless is hilarious.

It's the most wonderful time of the year . . .

2010-11-06T09:25:00.003-05:00

. . . the time when you're all, "Argh, I want to knit things for gifts but arrrrrrgh."

Anyway, I've started on a few things. One epic gift for my mom that I'm not posting about yet because I'm kind of embarrassed at how ambitious it is. Once I get going a bit and see if I have a chance of finishing on time, then we can talk about it.

I did start a super-retro Pitt sock for my dad:

It's thoroughly portable, so I'm kind of saving it for when I'm out and about. I did most of the cuff (it's much longer than in the picture) on Election Day, after a surprise call to come work the polls. I was glad I had a really easy knitting project right on top of the pile, because even though we were quite busy, there were still bits of downtime that were perfect for getting some Christmas done.

Oooh, I also have some self-striping Draygone Yarnes Penguins worsted in my hot little hands, and I can't decide if I should do a hat for one of my brothers, something for the handmade grab bag, or something for me. (See how I slipped that in there?) There actually may be enough for both a hat and some mitts, so I should probably just make both and then figure who to give them to.

knitting like a fiend

2010-10-29T09:19:00.003-05:00

First, some wee pictures of stuff I've finished recently:

I really am pretty pleased with how the rainbow mitts turned out. I think I'm going to cast on another pair today (because I need some reasonably mobile knitting to take to choir concerts) with an eye to them being Christmas presents. Now is the time for Christmas knitting to begin in earnest, or it would be if the yarn I ordered would show up. Ok, that's mean, I do expect some of it today, and then I can get started on the Big Project, a sweater for my mom.

On the other hand, I could take my purple gloves to the concerts. That would be pretty mobile. No! It should be giftie time, right? Right.

remember books?

2010-10-19T11:56:00.002-05:00

The Endpaper Mitts, as some of you may know, finish up with a tubular bind-off. This being the digital age, I looked online in a couple of places to find out how to do it, and they all turned out looking just dreadful. So in a fit of desperation I turned to the book I should have turned to in the first place, The Knitting Answer Book, by Margaret Radcliffe.

I think I've mentioned this book before, but not for a while. Dude, this book rocks. It's not very big, so you can take it with you, and it has really terrific, clear instructions for, well, every knitting thing I haven't been able to figure out otherwise. Needless to say, the tubular bind-off instructions were excellent, and the tops of my mitts look great. I wish I'd thought to look in the book when I couldn't figure out the tubular cast-on from online sources, but oh well, I'm planning to make another pair of the mitts, so I have another chance to learn.

The tubular bind-off looks pretty awesome in the 1x1 rib, by the way. I highly recommend it, and I'm not usually a fan of sewn bind-offs.

glubs.

2010-10-17T22:41:00.003-05:00

Or, rather, fingerless mitt-thingies. :)

First off, my friend loved the purple-and-green (with matching motif) mitts. Yay! Apparently they will go very well with her coat.

I've also started a pair of Endpaper Mitts for another friend, one who has been having a difficult time of it lately. I asked her what she likes in knitwear, and she suggested red, or rainbows. Ha! I have contrived to do both, and I kind of love them.

Sure, they'd do better with a bit more contrast between the red and the rainbow, but they will do their job well anyhow. That's a little Trekking XXL in #100, and some Knit Picks Palette in Pimento. Or maybe Lipstick. I don't remember. Oops. I am hoping to have enough of the Trekking left that I can do a pair with black instead of the red. And then either keep them for myself (though, as we know, I really don't need any more mitts) or make someone's Christmas (or Random Present Day) merry.

As for my socks, I only need to do the cuff on the second one, but I have had a migraine for two days, and it's really slowed my life down. I think I'm better now. I'd better be. I will be so cranky if I feel like crap again tomorrow.

Socktober!

2010-10-12T10:11:00.004-05:00

Usually I am not a joiner, but I cannot resist the hilarious punny good time that is Socktoberfest. Or maybe I just like knitting socks, and will leap at any excuse. Whichever. Here's what I've been up to, at the expense of various other projects that I should be finishing:

A pair of nice warm thick worsted weight socks, done with size 4 needles. No cold will be getting these puppies! I started them in the middle of last week, when it was all kinds of cold. I finished them on Friday or Saturday, when it was around 75 and sunny, so yeah, haven't worn them yet. I dig them, though!

Orange socks! Oh, how I love the orange. The pattern is Scylla, if anyone's wondering. It's doing pretty well at staving off any horrible pooling, although the second sock seems to have all the bright bits of color on the sole and all the drabber bits on the front. 'Drabber' being a term I use loosely because it's still plenty bright.

I've also been wanting to do some sort of colorwork sock, but really, I should finish my grey shawl--I just have to do the crocheted edging, dammit!--and knit up the last quarter of the heinous woolly undershorts I've been threatening to make forever. Oh, and my purple gloves. Yeah. I don't even know where they are. Ooops . . .

I am a genius.

2010-09-30T09:31:00.003-05:00

Not.

Ages and ages ago (by which I mean July, or perhaps August) I started on a pair of purple and green stripey mitts (yes, like blue and white ones) for a friend of mine who adores purple and lime green. I got the first one finished, all except the thumb, and about half of the second one, before children's theater and other madness intervened.

So then a couple of days ago I found the bag they were in, and was all, oh hey, I should finish these! And I was very careful to look at the thumb gusset and do them both the same, and to count how many rows I had above the thumb before the colorwork motif happened.

You see where this is going, right?

One of these things is not like the other . . .

Clever me, putting the wrist motif at the top there on the first one, and not bothering to check for the second.

Now, if I were making these for myself, I'd probably just leave it, because I'm not so much with the caring that things match, but I don't know how my friend feels about it. And anyway, I do like the 'wrist' motif a lot better. And I only have to pull out a few rows, and I knit 2-color stuff pretty fast, so it should take me all of 20 minutes to fix it.

I'm still pretty annoyed with myself.

a photographed item!

2010-09-28T14:31:00.002-05:00

A hat! A Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, to be precise. I've wanted to make one of these forever, and lo, I needed to make a thank-you hat for a friend, so she's getting one.

I haven't blocked it out to slouchiness: I think it looks super cute the way it is, and I also think this sort of shape is more what's in this year. I admit to loving it so much that I might have to make one for myself, which would be ok since my friend and I do not live in the same state. :)

I hope she likes it as much as I do!

(Oh, and the knitting is finished on the Equinox shawl. Now I'm slogging my way through the crochet bind-off. Good God, it's taking forever. And the next chunk of Battlestar Galactica is not yet ready at the library! Aiee!)

almost there . . .

2010-09-26T07:33:00.001-05:00

Battlestar Galactica has really helped with the grey shawl. I am now on the very last clue! Only six or so rows to go!

I am a little bit peeved that I got almost the whole way to the end before seriously screwing up--and since I wasn't about to rip out four rows of 300+ stitches, one of the motifs is not quite like the others anymore. This makes me cranky. No, what makes me cranky is that I couldn't figure out how to fix it. (The mess-up was of the dropped-stitch-in-a-decrease-section variety.) Usually I can fix anything, and this has made me cranky about my knitting skills.

Oh well. The shawl still looks pretty good, and I'm mostly enjoying Battlestar Galactica, though I could really do without all the prophecy crap. Particularly because when they mention the Arrow of Apollo and the Tomb of Athena, all I can think about is the flagon with the dragon and the brew that is true, and then I start wondering when Danny Kaye will show up and if he will be a Cylon, and that's a little bit awkward.

Anyway! I am looking forward to seeing how big the shawl will actually be--looks like not very, that's what I get for using 'laceweight'--and am also knitting a hat as a thank-you for a friend. It's fun! I haven't knit with big needles for a while. It goes so quickly!

updates . . .

2010-09-17T08:44:00.002-05:00

1. Have not knit on my purple glove in well over a week. This is not a good sign. It needs fingers! And a mate!

2. Have taken apart a bright pink sweater that I don't wear anymore. Am trying to decide if I want to re-knit it into something similar that fits better, or to do something with stripes of bright green and black.

3. The Vernal Equinox Shawl is still in a big tangle of mess. I just have one more repeat to go on Clue #4, which is pleasant. I am very tired of Clue #4. I think it's going to be a great-looking shawl when finished, though. If I ever finish. Those rows are getting long! On the other hand, I've got season 1 of Battlestar Galactica waiting for me at the library, so perhaps I will get into it enough to sit around knitting a lot.

4. What I really need to be doing right now is not puttering about on the internet, but finishing my brother's Commemorative Romeo And Juliet Potholder. He's in his Very First Play Ever this weekend, AND he just bought a new house, so I'm combining housewares and a quote from his play. I'm also trying to felt it, which is why I really need to finish it so it has half a chance at drying overnight. And hopefully it will shrink down to a decent size in the washer. Otherwise I'll be making some sort of other Commemorative Potholder on the four-hour trip to his place. Oy.

grey tangle of mess

2010-09-12T08:21:00.002-05:00

It's my Vernal Equinox Shawl! Check it out:

It may look like a big ol' scribble now, but all the finished ones I've seen pictures of are gorgeous. I do kind of wish that I had prettier yarn to make it out of (this is just an old unraveled grey sweater) but I'm sure it'll be nice just the same. And grey goes with most things, so I'll probably wear it a lot. If it ever gets finished. Let me tell you, Clue #4 is taking forever, mostly because I don't have any real lace needles. Stubby tips + double decreases = pain in the rear.

As for my glove, it has most of one finger finished! It's going to be quite nice. But, ha, looking at the pattern on Ravelry I discovered that there's actually an error in the chart (I admit I thought it was a little weird when I started, but I was like, oh well, whatever) but when I look at the glove, I like how it looks and there's really no problem. To my eyeballs, anyway.

(I'm also dithering over whether I want to make my mom a lace wrap or a sweater for Christmas. I need to decide soon, because whichever it is, there will be a lot of knitting involved.)

glove!

2010-09-07T16:18:00.003-05:00

I have decided to go with 'glove' instead of 'sock.'

This picture is a couple of days old--I'm just about done with the thumb gusset, and then on to the hand and the fingers. I hope twisted rib fingers look ok, because I can't see suddenly getting all stockinette on things.

I guess I'll just have to find myself a three-quarter sleeve coat or jacket, now won't I?

sock or glove?

2010-09-01T10:42:00.003-05:00

So I'm knitting away at yet another sock--amazing how unemployment catches you up on the ol' knitting--and I'm wondering if it should really be an elbow-length glove. WTF? What do I need an elbow-length glove for? I do not have a 3/4 sleeve coat or jacket with which to show them off. But they're very pretty, and it might be sad to just have them go on feet.

Naturally I have not taken a picture of the awesome, mostly since my computer has been on the blink, and corrupted files in iPhoto have been the problem, and even though it's supposedly all fixed, I don't even want to open that application right now. So I will just tell you that the yarn is Malabrigo sock in some kind of excellent purple-ness (I bought it last year, wound it into a ball, and promptly lost the tag, so yeah, beats me) and the pattern is Ripple Weave Socks, by Charlene Schurch.

If I didn't loathe doing this kind of stitch pattern so much (if I mess up, I can never tell how to put it right!) I would totally make myself a whole sweater in it, because I love love love the way it looks. Maybe someday if I hit the lottery and can afford a whole sweater's worth of some sort of purple Malabrigo sock, I will force myself to do that sweater. Because it would be sweet.

Um, so, do we think I should make gloves or socks? Socks would be easier, because I have a pattern (and there's an eye of partridge heel on the horizon!) but gloves might be super-awesome. And I don't think I own a decent pair of full-fingered gloves right now. Hmmm . . . but there's just something so satisfying about knitting a sock. I don't know what to do!

good lord.

2010-08-23T12:23:00.003-05:00

Yeah. When I said I was busy, I wasn't kidding. But hey, now my summer of madness is over, and though I may be unemployed again, I have time to breathe. It's a fair trade, I think. For a while. I don't see why my life has to be either unemployment or jobs that need you to work 18-hour days. Clearly I need a new profession.

Anyway, I did knit a bunch of stuff towards the end there, when I was actually in a show and had a lot of time to knit while sitting around at rehearsal. Let me see if I can dredge up a photo or two . . .

Here we go! I did another Square Circle Hat, but this one with sock yarn--the yarn I won in our Puck This! hockey playoff pool on Ravelry. It's almost hockey season again, you guys! I will soon be able to wear my prize hat while watching games.

And I made a pair of basic ol' socks. Love the stripes. Thanks, Lolly!

I'm also making a pair of half-finger gloves with the rest of the stripey sock yarn, and then last night I knit up a slipper, totally on a whim. It's the sort that needs to be felted, so perhaps I will knit the other one today and felt them tomorrow, and see what happens. I'm curious to see if a felted slipper will actually be a useful item, and if it is, LOOK OUT. Those things knit up so fast that I will probably end up with a pair of slippers for every day of the week.

I have been SO BUSY!

2010-07-22T16:44:00.003-05:00

Ok. I'm still alive! My summer job has been wildly busy, and there has not really been a whole lot of time for knitting or blogging. Here are the few scraps I've done.

First up, the Big Green Blob!

It's going to be a tunic-y sort of pullover. I hope it fits. I get cold in the air conditioning. The miles and miles of stockinette are totally boring, but perfect to knit while you are babysitting the sound guy to make sure he gets all the cues right.

Second we have the Super Cute Winter Mitts, which are my mom's birthday gift. She's visiting me this weekend, and I just have to wait for them to dry before I give them to her. I kind of adore these mitts. I will be making a pair for myself, and possibly for a friend.

Maybe I'll do a link to the pattern when I finish my mitts? No time now! I have to go learn to sing Memory from Cats. WTF?

this is a little awkward.

2010-06-12T09:18:00.003-05:00

I'm heading off to my summer job tomorrow, so I started an easy stockinette cardigan thing that will a) be handy plane knitting, and b) be useful once it's finished. Yay, right?

You'd think so, until I busted out my carry-on bag and saw this:

Yep, that's right. My cardigan is the same color as my carry-on bag. I am overly coordinated. Lest you think I have some mad passion for salmon or coral or whatever this color is, I'll have you know that both the bag and the yarn were gifts. I like both of them very much, true, but . . . oh dear. I'm going to feel a bit silly sitting in the airport tomorrow.

here's how clever I am.

2010-05-30T16:50:00.002-05:00

I made yet another snazzy potholder for a bridal shower. The bridal shower was yesterday. I didn't take any pictures of the snazzy potholder because I was in a bit of a rush, of course, and I was all, "Oh, no worries, I'll just take a picture of it when the bride-to-be holds it up!" And of course, you know how they play that game where they set a timer and whoever's gift is being opened when the timer goes off gets a prize? Of course the timer goes off when my gift was being opened, and I was so distracted by the glory of winning that I forgot to take a picture.

:(

Oh well. I am now the proud owner of a very pink, very flowered stainless steel water bottle. And the bride-to-be liked her potholder. Even if I don't have photographic evidence.

glorious sock!

2010-05-23T08:51:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I popped on my half-finished sock and flailed my foot around in the window until I could get some nice pictures. I hope no one across the street was watching. Or maybe I hope they were watching, because it would have been pretty funny, and who can't use a good laugh? (There was one crisis moment when the needles got caught in the lace curtain. I was starting to feel like I was in a Ben Stiller movie.) Anyway, the sock:

Isn't it glorious? Like I said, red AND orange AND yellow AND pink. So awesome. The yarn is Woolarina Handpainted fingering weight, and it is in my hot little hands because Lolly is awesome.

The pattern is Leyburn Socks, a pattern I'd had my eye on for a while as a good way to keep variegated yarn from getting all pooly and wacky. It's pretty fun, with the wee lattice stitch and all. I think the cuff may end up being a little large, but I think I'm going to leave it, since I don't feel like doing the math to take out ten or so stitches.

I Hemmed It!

2010-05-21T11:27:00.002-05:00

Yay! The guideline worked! Totally thrilled. The guideline was so handy I could even hem this sucker in the car. Which I did on Wednesday. :)

Now to block it, try it on, and see what the heck kind of closure I should put on it. I have two different sets of grey buttons which would look nice, should I decide to go the button-band route. (Or I could go buttons-and-loops.) I am also contemplating a belt route. Too many choices! Too many, I say.

For my other road-trip amusement, I started on an incredibly, gloriously loud sock. Colors to burn the eyeballs, y'all, and I couldn't love them more. I have no idea how it'll photograph, but I'll get to it eventually. Just know that there is orange AND red AND yellow AND pink. So awesome.

I'm also freaking out a bit about my mother's birthday. I can't think of anything to knit her, because she has TONS OF KNITWEAR, and it's all my fault. I guess I could make her another sweater, but I don't really feel like knitting a sweater in the summer in Texas. And if I DON'T knit her something, then I am shit out of luck for birthday gift ideas. Maybe I could record a song for her? Argh, I don't know. I've still got two months, and I can totally get something epic done in two months, if I have to, but I need to decide SOON.

of hemming.

2010-05-12T16:03:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to hem my recycled cardigan for a couple of days now. The sleeves look ok now. I had a couple of do-overs because of overly tight bind-offs, but they're ok. The hem hem, the bottom, is a real pain in my rear. I don't want it to be squiggly, but measuring doesn't seem to work, and I'm not particularly good at keeping my stitches in the same line of purl bumps . . . this afternoon I tried basting in a guideline thread, but I'm pretty sure that it hasn't stayed between the proper rows of purl bumps.

Ugh. If the guideline doesn't work, I'm just going to block it, in hopes that it'll even out the purl lines, and sew it up from there. Hopefully.

I really want to wear this sweater! It's very plain but very flattering. (And no, I still have no idea if I should put buttons or what on it. I'm so indecisive.)

where do they GO?

2010-05-02T19:34:00.003-05:00

Y'all, my knitting needles are totally disappearing. My double-points, I mean. I don't know where they've all gone! Even the Great Knitting Needle Spill Of '09 can't account for all of it. I thought I'd be picking them out of the carpet forever, but then I got rid of the carpet, and yes, I checked for needles before I threw it out.

This needle problem can lead to comedy, like when, in dim lighting, I grabbed up five silver needles to do the sleeves on my recycled blue sweater. I know the silver ones are size 5's. No problem, right? WRONG! I'd finished the first sleeve before I realized that two of 'em were smaller. Probably size 3's. WTF? My 3's are aqua! I have no idea where the other two 5's have gone. Oh, and did I undo that sleeve and find several needles of the same size to re-do it? Nope, I just knit the other sleeve with the same mish-mash of needles. Ha ha! It looks fine, only I'm doing turned-up hems, and my cast-off is too tight for the hem to lie right, and I haven't been able to convince myself that a do-over won't really be that annoying. I do want to wear the sweater, so I guess I'll get around to it soon. (The sweater's pretty cute, I might add. Only I don't know what kind of fasteners I want to put on it. I have some silver buttons that might look nice, or I could do a belt, or I could just leave it open . . . argh, I can't decide.)

So. That is my current Knitting Problem. I am almost done with my potholders, which are quite nice, and I will take pictures if the sun ever comes out again.

what the playoffs are all about!

2010-04-21T19:37:00.001-05:00

Q: Where does the general keep his armies?

2010-04-21T18:06:00.002-05:00

A: in his sleevies!

That's my second-favorite Dad Joke. :) I bring it up today because I am finished with the body of my current Seat-Of-The-Pants Sweater, and have to start on the sleeves. I never like doing sleeves, because I'm not good at counting and am always afraid they'll come out crooked. (It's a top-down raglan, so no, I'm not going to be doing them both at once. I totally would, otherwise.)

Here's a picture, though it's really just a scraggly dark blob right now. And much more blue than it looks here:

It actually seems to fit very nicely. Covers my bosoms and everything. I'm kind of stoked. I mean, I won't know for sure until I block it, but I don't think it'll need an extra anything for any purpose other than decoration. Yay!

I really should get on those sleeves, though. If I knit like the wind, I can wear it to a concert on Friday. My mom is busy, so my dad gets to take me instead. It's apparently circus-themed. Maybe I should knit up some kind of Scary Clown Purse real quick?

quality knitting miniseries.

2010-04-18T08:34:00.002-05:00

No, not a miniseries with knitting! A miniseries to knit to. I really dig knitting to tv and movies and whatnot. I've tried books on tape, but I don't concentrate on them very well. I do much better with something that's been filmed. And most of the time I don't need to look to knit, so as long as I pick something with a fair amount of dialogue that'll get me through the parts where I do have to look, all is well.

This week I've been 'watching' that most recent version of Bleak House that the BBC did. You know, the one with Gillian Anderson. It's actually pretty good--and it's really long, which is awesome for Knitting Purposes. I think I have one segment left to watch. Oh boy, I'm excited to see how things turn out! I do think, though, that the goofy Dickensian names might work better on a page than they do spoken. (Unless English people really do have cutesy-poo weird last names? There can't possibly be as many as Dickens throws in there.)

Anyway, off to watch the end! I'm about halfway through a potholder with a pretty sweet orange on it, in case anyone was wondering. I did the back for a lemon, but have decided that it needs a color I don't have for the background of the lemon side, and have not yet got to a store. I think cotton was on sale at Michaels' last week, too. Serves me right for being slow. :(

But honey, I thought you wanted a new vacuum!

2010-04-16T09:42:00.004-05:00

When I was trying to think of something awesome yet cheapish that I could make my mother for Mothers' Day, I stumbled across a wee bin of leftover cotton yarn in the back of my closet. Since my mother's potholders have been looking a little singed lately, I am ruthlessly ignoring the little voice that says "but that's like buying someone a toaster for your anniversary!" and potholder-ing away. I figure if I make them really, really pretty, I might be able to avoid toaster or vacuum comparisons.

This will be the first one, front and back:

The tulip is from Debbie Abrahams' book 100 More Afghan Squares To Knit. Now, I'll admit it, I'm a snob, and usually I don't find anything I like in that sort of book, but dude, this one has all kinds of cute charts for fruit (there's a kiwi!) and a tulip and a wee cute fluffy chick . . . there are also some creepy clown-heads, but I flip past that part of the book pretty quickly. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm totally contemplating making some Creepy Clown Potholders just for the hell of it. Christmas Handmade Grab Bag Gift, anyone? Nightmare in a box? There's this one frowny clown which, if made into a potholder, is guaranteed to make anyone who's seen Poltergeist set it on fire on purpose. :)

I'm intending to make four potholders, but they're kind of like popcorn, and I may just end up knitting the damn things until I run out of cotton yarn. And then it's possible that I'll start on the wool or acrylic.

Now my only worry is that my mom will think they're too nice to use, because she won't want them to get all singed. And I will have to tell her that that's ok, if they get ruined, then I get to make more!

Spring? YAY!

2010-04-06T16:14:00.003-05:00

I may be taking the concept of putting-away-the-winter-clothes a bit far this spring. Instead of folding all my sweaters up and putting them in drawers and bins, I'm unraveling some of them--the ones I didn't wear much this winter--and putting them in bins. And then I can make new sweaters out of them during the year! I think there might be a grey sweater with blue and green patterns on the yoke in my near future. Good times.

My seat-of-the-pants blue sweater is . . . well, I like the fabric very much. And the back and sleeves seem to fit well. However, there is not nearly enough fabric to make the two fronts close over my ginormous bosoms. (They're not really THAT ginormous. They're just, as I've mentioned, proportionally ginormous.) At first I was going to undo the whole thing, but then I was like, hmm, maybe I could put some kind of big wide collar/button band concept that would add three or four inches to the front? So I think I'm going to try that. There is a chance it will be a contrasting color, only then I will need to find more of a contrasting color than I was originally planning to. (I bet cream would be nice. Navy and cream are nice together.)

Oh, and I started a pair of Endpaper Mitts when I was on my road trip this week. I didn't knit much of them, because I was too lazy to print out the pattern, and fancy that, it was a huge pain in the rear to knit from my laptop when I was away. They're in Knit Picks Palette in grey and dark red (sorry, I never remember color names) and they look quite nice so far.

laughing at myself.

2010-03-27T10:39:00.003-05:00

Well, after making so many almost-exactly-to-pattern projects post-Christmas, I am back in full winging it form! Mostly. I mean, I have a pattern for a v-neck cardigan, and I'm following that for the v-neck shaping, but the yarn and needles and gauge aren't anything like the same, and Lord only knows what will happen after I finish the yoke.

One idea that is simmering is to edge the whole thing in contrasting applied i-cord. That is what has led to today's comedy. The yarn I'm using is a sort of heathered navy blue that was once a rather nice store-bought tank top that I just wasn't wearing anymore. So I was online looking for some yarn that might work for the edging, but a lot of the less pricey lace weight--like Knit Picks--is much thicker than the yarn I have. And then I thought, well, it's not like I'll need a lot of the contrasting yarn--I can probably just go to a thrift store and look for a color I like and recycle that sweater. Or ask my friends if they've got any old green or purple sweaters they don't want. I'm rather bummed that I don't have anything. I mean, give me a couple of years, but I'd like to wear this cardigan this spring.

So yeah, after my road trip this week, there may indeed be hilarious yarn shopping at the thrift store.

Grey Lace!

2010-03-25T15:13:00.003-05:00

I finished it! Ok, I finished it a couple of days ago. I was hoping to wear it to the opera this week, but it was cold and rainy and it didn't really go with any of my cold-and-rainy outfits. So sad, because it's awesome:

It turned out to be just the right length--which means it fits on a twin bed for blocking. I would have liked it to be a little wider, but it is certainly Wide Enough, and I imagine I will get a lot of wear out of it. When it's either a lot colder than it is now, or just a bit warmer.

Anyway, for those of you who care about that sort of thing, I did a wider version of Oiseau de Feu. I cast on 91 stitches, used size 4 needles and 2 skeins of Knit Picks Gloss Lace in Sterling. I cast on using an 8 or 9 needle--there's actually a chance I did one border with an 8 and one with a 9--so that the edge would be nice and loose to make points with.

One thing I do need to work on when knitting this sort of lace is that I always slip the first stitch so I'll have a nice edge, but I invariably make that slipped stitch too loose, because I'm all anxious that it'll be too tight and not stretch. It's never too tight. It always stretches, and in fact, the slipped-stitch bits are a bit too loose and look messy. Something to work on, I guess. I find it amusing that this is my big challenge when knitting lacy things. Nupps? No problem. Wacky charts? Grafting? Provisional cast-ons? All ok. Slipped stitches are another story.

still knitting grey lace . . .

2010-03-14T15:31:00.003-05:00

Am still chugging away on the Oiseau de Cendre. I have opera tickets for next week, and so, since I am so close to finished with this stole, I clearly have to have it done in time to wear it to the opera. This should not be a problem. I'm about 3/4 done. Yay!

I'd forgotten how much I enjoy knitting lace. I kind of want to make my mother a silk shawl for her birthday, but I did make her a wrap last year, and I can't decide if it would be too much the same thing. Last year's wrap was wool, though, and I thought something she could wear in spring and summer would be nice. There will be a wedding coming up in September--not mine, don't worry!--that she could wear it to and be all spiffy.

Uh-oh: missing project!

2010-03-07T09:31:00.003-05:00

So yesterday I was all "Hey, I could unravel the Disco Scarf while I watch tv!" And then I COULDN'T FIND IT. Now, granted, I didn't look very hard, but it wasn't where I thought it would be. This freaks me out just a little. I wonder where I would have put it?

Because, you know, one of this year's plans is to do that scarf RIGHT. It'll be so awesome if done right. OMG. I might have to keep it for myself. No, I have enough scarves already.

Um, and to make this post not completely useless babble, check out my Oiseau de Cendre stole-thingie so far!

I'm definitely liking it, but I probably should have gone up a needle size or two. This Knit Picks Gloss is pretty thick for lace weight. In my admittedly limited lace weight experience. :)

I bet you think this will be about mittens!

2010-03-04T08:44:00.002-05:00

But it's not. I don't seem to have any colors that would be awesome with my pink coat, so pink-coat-matching-mittens will probably have to wait until next year. (And you watch, my mother will probably decide I need a new coat as my birthday present, and give me something that matches all my other mittens . . . anyway.)

So this is not about mittens. This is about me knitting lace! I have some grey Knit Picks Gloss Lace, thanks to the awesome Mary T. of the Knitting on Top of the World Knit-a-Thon. I knew the title of a mysterious childhood knitting book, and she sent some yarn to thank me. How did she know that's just what I would like??? ;)

And a couple of days ago I was all I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO KNIT! And then I was all "I haven't done any lace in a while," and so now I am making an Oiseau de Feu scarf. Well, stole, probably. I've made it wider, because I have a couple of narrow lace scarves and I don't wear them as much as I wear the wider ones.

I love the pattern so far. The wrapped stitches are a bit of a pain in the rear--I haven't found a non-awkward way to do them--but they look awesome, so I'll forgive them. The rest of it is an easy-to-read good time. I don't actually know if I have enough yarn, due to the whole 'widening' thing, but what would be the fun of knitting with no suspense?

I was going to wait to make this post until I took pictures, but then I was like, "That could be next year, the way I go!" so here we are. They would just be the blobby sort of "Look! Unblocked lace!" pictures that you can't really tell much from anyway, so it's not like you're missing out.

ahem.

2010-02-22T16:59:00.002-05:00

I don't know how this happens, but I keep making myself blue and green gloves and mitts and whatnot. Like, I have three pair of blue and green handwarmy items. Which is nice--I like blue and green--but my winter coat is PINK. Would it kill me to make a pair of gloves in maroon or something?

Apparently it would.

I was planning to make another pair of Latvian-inspired something anyway . . . maybe now is the time to find something Pink Coat Friendly? Unfortunately I don't have any maroon or burgundy. Would be nice with grey--which I have--AND my coat.

Omg, totally useless post. Um . . . I wore my blue and green Latvian Mitts out in public today, and they were lovely and warm. I might have to make a pair of full mittens. I don't know. Would I wear mittens?

first mitt!

2010-02-19T16:29:00.002-05:00

Naturally it has been finished for a couple of days, and I am only just now getting around to posting the photo.

I think it turned out pretty well! Still not completely enamored of the colors, but plenty enamored enough to wear it. :)

The second mitt should be finished tonight. I'm just about done with the thumb gusset.

In other news, I've also finished another Square Circle Hat, this one to send to a friend in a sassy surprise care package. I just have to block it, and it'll be ready to go. Best of all, I've used up some leftover yarn from a sweater I made my mom, and I'm sending it far away, so no one will be all "Hurrrr, you made this out of your mom's sweater." Yes, haven't you ever heard of leftovers? Geez. Anyway, I'm quite fond of the hat. And the mitts!

And I think I may be getting the urge to knit more tiny sweaters. They're like crack cocaine, folks. Or maybe those sour cream and onion Pringles. Oh wow, I love those, and I can't even remember the last time I had any. This is probably for the best.

well gee whiz.

2010-02-15T16:37:00.003-05:00

Good thing I started making this pair of stranded mitts, because the fucking snow is coming down again, so I'm gonna need something to wear over my gloves whilst I shovel.

I've actually finished the first mitt, and though I'm not really keen on the light blue, and the light green and dark blue don't look as good together on the hand as I'd hoped, whatever, it's still a pretty cute mitt-thingie. And it's very warm! I'm nearly finished with the cuff of the second one, so if I do some Olympics-watching tonight and tomorrow (and when I say 'if' I mean 'when') I'll have a nice new pair of mitts soon. Yay!

I'm also thinking, since these are so quick, of doing a pair of Endpaper Mitts in red and gray. I think that would be sort of awesome.

Also, opinion poll, how unisex do you think a pattern like this could be? You know, for Christmas Grab Bag Purposes. They're sort of addictive to make, and since no one is expecting a trunk of mittens as my dowry, I think it's best to find a use for them as gifts . . . I just don't know if something of this sort, however manly in color, is something an American dude would wear. (I'm expecting there will still be more women than men in this grab bag, but still. The last pair of mitts I put in were very much girls-only, and I'd like to do something that's at least dude-possible this time.)

gettin' ready!

2010-02-12T19:03:00.002-05:00

You guys, have I mentioned how much I love the Olympics? Like, I ADORE them, even the stuff like curling. I could watch the Olympics 24/7 and not get bored. I think I prefer the Winter Olympics (hockey and figure skating and curling! Whee!) as a general thing, but the Summer Olympics will always have a special place in my heart because in 2000 they kept me company while slogging through tough music theory homework and learning a really difficult opera score. Male swimmers make all that so much better.

But what does this have to do with knitting, you ask? It has to do with me finally deciding to make the darn Latvian Mitts, though I still don't know if I will like them, and if I don't like them there's a chance I will just chuck them and do Endpaper Mitts. I've even decided on my color scheme: two shades each of green and blue, and one of purple. There is also a chance that the purple will be swapped out for red or yellow, if I don't like it. There is another chance that I will make purple and green Endpaper Mitts. Anything could happen!

Mostly I just wish the Olympics would start already. And I hope the Georgian team decides to stay and play, because I know that if I were the athlete who died, I would not want the rest of the team to withdraw out of some misguided respect for me. Now, if they're too shaken up to compete, ok, I could see that, but I think any athlete would want their teammates to get it done.

Anyway. That got sad! I hope there is at least one moose in the opening ceremony. I have my fingers crossed for a moose.

stuff that is happening:

2010-02-08T21:46:00.002-05:00

1. Still working on the purple and grey sweater. I thought I'd be on to the sleeves by now, but apparently my body is really, really long. Am hopeful that I can be done soon, though am now worried that the sleeves will have to be three-quarter.

2. Lots of snow. I mean, HOLY CRAP LOTS OF SNOW, and there is supposed to be more tomorrow. Awesome. And by 'awesome' I mean ENOUGH ALREADY.

3. I made a pair of baby socks--the orange and yellow ones--and they're quite cute. Naturally, no pictures have been taken. I'm taking pictures of snow this week, not socks.

4. I've shown the tiny sweaters to a couple of people, and they invariably make people laugh. They're so cute and weird and multitudinous.

5. I have contemplated colors for my (theoretical) Latvian Mitts, but not actually knit any of them together to see how they will actually look. I clearly want an adventure.

6. You know all that knitwear I make? I've been wearing it, lots of it, because it's so darn cold. My Aeolian shawl might as well be grafted to my neck. That's right, I believe in shoveling snow in fluffy-ass hand-knit lace. And then there are the socks and the hats--though I have a truly ridiculous white fake fur hat that I prefer to wear for shoveling, it's very warm--and the mitts . . . hell yeah, my hobby comes in handy. Go me!

speedy delivery!

2010-01-30T10:38:00.003-05:00

Remember that yarn I ordered on Wednesday? Of course you do: it was my previous post. :) Anyway, it arrived today! That sure was quick. And just in time, too, because I was sitting here all out of Tiny Sweater Inspiration. Perhaps new colors will do the trick.

The orange and yellow stuff, while not quite as bright as I would like, is still pretty nice. I think it will work. It'll just have to be a slightly sophisticated baby, not all bright and wild. Well, ok, the orange is still pretty bright. The baby will most likely be able to see it.

AS for the rest of the yarn, this is the first time my monitor has deceived me as to color: there was a red (should have expected this, with red, right?) that looked to be much more of a purple-red on my monitor, but in real life it's pretty straight-up red. Still a red with a blue undertone, so it will not go to waste around here, but something closer to purple would have suited my other colors better. Also not entirely certain of the light blue, but again, it won't go to waste.

The needle I ordered is the tiniest wee cute thing ever. 16-inch 2.25mm needle anyone? Shall we take bets on how quickly I lose it?

Anyway, yay! Now to look for baby sock patterns. I'll probably just do Basic Sock and cute it up with the colors, but you never know.

LATER! Here's the yarn:

The stuff with the labels on is the new yarn: I stuffed the rest of my Palette in the box so I could see how it all looks together. I'm not too keen on the dark green, but I'm sure it'll come in handy somewhere down the road.

shopping!

2010-01-27T13:29:00.002-05:00

Just ordered some yellow and orange yarn for the baby items I mentioned a while ago. I just got some stuff from KnitPicks, (ha ha, put that link in to be an enabler) because I figured if I don't like the colors--for a baby, God knows I'll put most oranges and yellows on myself--I at least won't be out too much cash.

Right. Because then of course I also bought a circular needle in a size I need--ok, well cheaper than anything I would find in a real live store around here--and, of course, some yarn for a pair of colorwork mitts I want to do next month. I could have just done some Endpaper Mitts, because, hey, I've got two colors of yarn that would look nice together, but nooo, I want to do something more complicated, such as the Snowflake Fingerless Gloves or a pair of Latvian Fingerless Mitts , and so, of course, some yarn was purchased.

I am rather proud that I at least kept myself from buying any sock yarn or anything. While KnitPicks is not my favorite yarn ever, they do have lots of nice colors, and the Palette yarn becomes pretty soft after it's been soaked a bit.

The next thing I need to acquire--argh, was so trying not to buy!--is some red acrylic. I need--yes, need--to make a pair of patriotic shorts. :)

oh hey

2010-01-24T19:12:00.003-05:00

Just remembered that I took some pictures of the loud purple-and-grey sweater I'm sort of making up. Remember that the purple is louder in person!

The yarn is a bamboo/wool/nylon blend, and it's all kinds of soft. I think it's a Deborah Norville brand, of all the hilarious things. It was on sale for $2.50 a skein about a month ago, and I figured that for $15, I could make myself a rather loud sweater. :)

I tried putting in some short rows for bust shaping today, but I have only the most general idea of how that works, so now I have to try it on again and see if I'm anything like right. Which means putting all those tiny little stitches on waste yarn, and then putting them all back on the needle again . . . needless to say, I am not eager. And I have a sneaking suspicion that I did the shaping a bit too high, but oh well. We shall see!

Eventually.