KNITALLICA

Hold onto your hats...

2009-03-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

This might be a long one.

I keep hearing people whingeing about this whole spring forward deal, but I love it. I can already tell it's going to do wonders for my blogging, since I get off work and it's (gasp) light out. I love writing a knitting blog, god knows I have way too much to say about knitting in general and if I didn't have a blog I would be going around making my friends admire my yarn and squish my hats. (Oh wait, I do that anyway.)

But I hate taking pictures. Hate it. I don't think I'm a bad photographer, I've gotten the occasional compliment, but I am definitely a reluctant one. I love photographs, but I'm always the one bringing my camera to places, taking two pictures and then trying to foist it off onto someone else. So convincing myself to go out and take pictures for the blog has always been a challenge for me.

Today, though, thanks to this miraculous light, I hauled my butt up, went out to the wooded median in F parking lot (my prime picture location) and took some overdue shots.

This is my go-to hat lately. It's the fantastic Marsan watch cap pattern, which I've been knitting obsessively lately. The yarn is recycled from a thrifted J.Crew sweater, my first time successfully frogging a commercial sweater for yarn. I had tried it before and hated it, and hated it even while I was doing it this time, until I read somewhere that a lot of commercial sweaters are seamed together with little crochet chains. All you have to do is find it, pull the end, and the chained seam totally unravels. It's like a miracle. This totally beats my snipping-each-individual seam stitch method, and I'm definitely going to try this more in the future. I don't know the fiber content because the sweater didn't have a tag, but it has little fluffy hairy bits in it so presumably it's natural. I held the yarn double for this hat since I wasn't sure of its strength.

I bought the yarn for this second hat as a wee birthday present to myself. I've wanted this colorway for ages, but this was my first time using Noro and seeing it knit up isn't quite as exciting as in the skein. I'm not too crazy about the lime green and the hunter orange right next to each other. I might frog it and turn it into a couple Turn a Squares. On the other hand, it is spectacularly awful with my orange scarf and orange sunglasses, which is an admirable quality in itself. As I came of age in the early 2000s, I usually have a deep-seated aversion to orange, having worn way too much of it when I was 12 (I owned, in 2001, an orange Old Navy visor. I feel that was the definitive fashion article of the times.)

Despite this healthy aversion, I have, apparently, become the sort of person who wears orange. Not only that, the kind of person who mixes orange and lime green. I have been horrified to discover, in fact, that my most common color combination these days is orange, green and purple. When my lovely friend Sue pulled out a stack of miller mitts she'd knit and let me pick a pair, and I immediately grabbed these, I knew I had a problem.

I wear, nearly every day, my green vest, orange scarf and purple skirt, and now these mitts. They're absolutely gorgeous (and Sue found the yarn at a garage sale...she has major garage sale mojo) but how, exactly, did I become the kind of person whose token color combination is orange, green and purple? Shouldn't there have been some sort of warning signs?

Ahem.

Why, look at that, I actually have a picture of me wearing the Noro hat with my orange scarf and sunglasses, memorialized for all time.

I look like some sort of technicolor Ted Kaczynski. I would give a disclaimer that I'm actually much more svelte than I appear, but I'm wearing so much f#%*ing clothing in that picture that I'm not even insecure about it. (One of my favorite hobbies is listing the number of layers I have on, but having discovered that few people find this as entertaining as I do, suffice it to say that I am wearing two hats.)

That's me and my mom at an Iditarod party in Alaska. (For those of you who didn't grow up in Alaska and have an Iditarod unit in elementary school, the Iditarod is a sled dog race. The sled dog race. It runs from Anchorage to Nome, memorializing the historic event you have possibly seen portrayed in the fine piece of cinema that is Disney's Balto. It has a ceremonial start in Anchorage, then starts for real in a town called Willow. On the ceremonial leg, time doesn't matter, so mushers are just touring through town for fun. One of my mom's friends has a house right on the ceremonial route, so he throws a big Iditarod party every year.)

And guess who stopped at the party?

That's right. Lance Mackey. Lance Mackey is a really, really big deal. He's pretty much a living legend. The two biggest sled dog races are the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest, and they happen within weeks of each other. Everyone always thought it would be impossible for a single musher to win both of them in one year, but Lance Mackey won them both, in the same year, two years in a row. He's also a cancer survivor. On top of this, he is really nice. Like I said, big, big deal. (I may also be secretly in love with him, but try not to think about that because it freaks me out.)

But, my friends, my fellow knit bloggers, what's missing from that picture? Hmm? Anything?

A SOCK. A SOCK IS WHAT IS MISSING FROM THAT PICTURE. Lance Mackey stopped, right in front of me, was taking pictures with people, I had a sock WITH ME and I didn't even think to ask him to hold it. DAMN. This was without a doubt one of my worst moves ever. I know he would have held it. Lance Mackey is kind and good. Lance Mackey is in no position to judge other peoples' weird hobbies. He would have done it. To be fair, the sock was pink and lace, so it might have been a little weird, but I know he would have held it. I don't know if I will ever forgive myself for missing this opportunity. Damn.

I'm a talker today

2009-03-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

On my way back from Anchorage on Monday (more on that later), I stopped over in Juneau for a couple hours to see my dear ~~old~~ Dad. We had a couple hours to kill, and it was too windy and cold out to go for a walk, so imagine my joy when he suggested, "Well, why don't we go to the yarn shop?" The yarn shop, however, was closed. We briefly discussed breaking in, but a friend of ours does own it, so we concluded that such measures were a little out of line, even in situations in which the shop is closed but you can see the exact colorway of Lorna's Laces you've wanted for years hanging in the window and someone wants to buy it for you and you can't get in... I managed to get over it, we swung by the JoAnn on the way out to the airport, and he hooked me up with a nice stack of Patton's as a belated birthday gift, on sale and enough to make a sweater. Nice.

I wasn't sure whether I'd keep the grey or exchange it for another color...the last thing I need is more depressing winter clothing, but on the other hand, I'm considering officially giving my grey garter yoke cardigan to a friend of mine who has subtly co-opted it, so that would create an opening for a grey sweater in my life. (I have come to accept that the garter yoke sweater looks infinitely better on her than it does on me. I am 5'3" - okay, 5' 2 3/4" - while she is 5'10", which means that it is unequivocally too big for me, a fact I have been attempting to deny ever since I finished it. I'm trying not to be too bitter about this.)

Anyway, I'm planning on knitting it into a Gathered Pullover (since it seems my Pendulum of Fickleness has swung back in its direction). It's not the weight called for, but I never liked that pattern until I saw fellow SnBer Courtney's version, which is in worsted weight with positive ease, so I'm going to do something along those lines. Instead of knitting it as specified in the pattern, I'd convert mine to a bottom-up raglan with a steeked neck. Essentially I'd only be using the cable chart. Because, well, why do something simply when I can make it incredibly complicated and potentially fraught with peril? I have yet to knit a sweater actually following a pattern and am not sure I ever will.

Also, I have a terrible secret, the reason for the steek, the reason I don't knit patterns that combine knitting flat and in the round: I row out. Really, really, really terribly row out. As Priscilla Gibson-Roberts puts it in Knitting in the Old Way, "With the knit side facing, every other row will appear just a tad looser. But if you turn to the purl side, you will see a major difference - this is called rowing out, and it is not a mark of excellence."

What I think Priscilla is too nice to say there is that rowing out is bad. Very bad. I actually think it looks kind of cool, gives flat knitting a neat texture, but the problem with patterns that combine flat and circular knitting is that only part of the garment is "rowed-out," while the rest looks normal. Ugh. A lot of people recommend combined knitting to fix the problem, in order to tighten up the purl stitches, which are usually the loose ones. My problem, (naturally, since I am apparently determined to make my life difficult) is that instead of purling too loosely, I purl too tightly, so combined knitting would actually make the problem worse. Sigh. Mine is a sad lot in life. I'm short and I purl too tightly. How will I ever go on?

P.S. This is how much yarn was in my bag when I unpacked. I travel carry-on only, but I have my priorities right.

(Communist Manifesto included for scale)

Garden vegetables on your (tiny) feet

2009-03-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

This is the Sunshine LL left over from the Hufflepuff socks. Thanks to the stripes and Sarah's tiny feets, I had a fair amount of yarn left over - over 60g. (Oh yeah, I just got a scale. I am wildly obsessed with it. More on that later, maybe.) I tied the two skeins together in hopes that this would increase their chances of turning out similar, then handpainted them in the oven: just squeezed the excess water out of the yarn, laid it out flat in my roasting pan and started pouring colors over it. I think I left too much water in the skein before I started painting because some of the later colors spread a bit, like the yarn was too saturated for them to fully absorb. I love the look, I think it looks sort of kettle dyed and am hoping it won't pool too badly because of this. *knocks on head*

I didn't much like it at first but it's grown on me, reminds me of garden colors - kale, squash, earth, pumpkins - so I'm going to knit it into a pair of toe-up anklets for my mom, who has both tiny feet and a fantastic green thumb. It is a fine thing for your primary sock-recipient have tiny feet. Thanks Mom! I'll even forgive you for making me short.

I really cannot recommend small-footed persons highly enough. I happen to be one myself and to have inherited these feet from my mother (though not quite to her extreme; I wear a 6.5 while she wears a 5.5), but should you not have had the great fortune to have been born into a small-footed family, consider making more friends of our ilk. If they wear a size below 6, especially, they probably feel relatively marginalized by society, foot-wise, so for you to knit them socks and praise their small feet would be a fantastic boon to both of you. Lest we forget, large-footed people require love too. But they also require more yarn.

Kindness & Loyalty

2009-02-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

I knit these Hufflepuff socks up for my dear friend Sarah for Christmas. She is possibly the only person I know who is as obsessed with Harry Potter as I am, so these were a natural gift. Er, yeah, they were a little late.

I was planning on using this pattern, but the intarsia in the round was fiddly and bothersome and I had forgotten just how much I hate duplicate stitch. It gives me hives. So they're just plain, but I think she gets the point.

Tune in next time to see what I did with the left over yarn and learn why you too should cultivate a circle of small-footed loved ones.

I'm spinning

2009-02-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

I'm spinning because I saw this bonnet and I totally lost it. I had to have one just like it. Also, I am totally wild for Leethal. Reading her blog brings out some strange, brightly-colored part of me that usually lies latent under all the black & Dostoevsky.

I'm (hopefully) making mine out of this Suffolk that I dyed a couple months ago, and this is a big deal, because I am crazy for this roving, it's probably the coolest thing I've ever dyed. (Someone pointed out to me recently that I speak almost entirely in hyperbole, but I think it's more accurate to say that I live in hyperbole.)

I am seriously protective of it and have been saving it for the perfect project, and it is a testament to my faith in Leethal's enabling & Adrian's designing, that I trust them to not mislead me and to provide a project worthy of this roving. It is also a testament to how totally insane I am that I have somehow decided that I am capable of determining whether two total strangers on the internet are somehow "trustworthy" by virtue of the fact that I like their knitting. Few bulbs short of a marquee.

I've got one and a half bobbins filled up with singles. This yarn will maybe end up sportweight-ish and maybe I will have enough of it. It's not like there's anything I can do if there's not, so I'm not worrying too much about it. (Lie. Blatant lie.) We'll see how things turn out.

P.S. Isn't photographing roving on snow the best ever? I almost wanted it to stick around just so I could keep using it as a backdrop. Ha!

Hear ye

2009-02-14T17:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day y'all. I'm not normally the type to point that out to you, since I'm usually firmly in the bitter anti-Valentine's Day camp, but strangely, this year I am not full of spite. Maybe this is a sign of personal growth? Maybe it is because I am going to an exciting Valentine's Day dance party tonight (I briefly toyed with the possibility of making heart-shaped Jello shots for the occasion, but fortunately the fates prevented me from actually putting this depraved plan into action).

So here, to further inflame the passions of the anti-Valentine's Day party, is my personal contribution to the world of vaguely artsy Valentine's Day blog photos.

You will note that it contains both red (a certain swatch) and Hershey's kisses (procured from my roommate for "photographic purposes only" - as an aside, did you know that apparently Hershey's chocolate now contains more vegetable oil than actual chocolate? Is this at all surprising?).

I feel this is sufficiently festive. I may even celebrate by casting on the project this swatch belongs to. Any guesses? (Hint: it is not the Gathered Pullover. I am nothing if not fickle.)

whoo boy

2009-02-10T12:56:00.001-08:00

Just finished the hat. Do I know what everyone is getting for Christmas or what?

It's like a miracle

2009-02-10T12:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'll admit that I am pretty skeptical towards bulky yarn & its proponents. This is probably due to working in a yarn shop and being horrified at watching hundreds of beginning knitters convince themselves that it will be easiest to learn to knit with Twinkle Soft Chunky & size 19 needles, which is possibly the hardest possible way to learn to knit, but I digress. If I wanted speed, I would buy the hat, not knit it.

Now I'm forced to admit that they may have a point.

This is how much hat I can knit in one lecture on Russian nationalist music of the 19th century.

That's just Glinka through Borodin! We haven't even gotten to Mussorgsky! It's fast. Seriously fast. This is the second of these hats (Wool Ease Thick n' Quick) I've knit in a week for my roommate, and I'm kind of hooked on them. Hopefully this one will be less trouble than the first, which ended up being a) pointy and b) far too long.

It has been rectified with much cutting and frogging. Pretty intensive surgery, really. I've been using the Marsan Watchcap pattern as a guide, casting on 64 stitches and dividing the hat into 4 sections of 16 for the decreases. The thing about this hat is to knit far less than you'd expect before beginning the decreases: they add a lot more height than your average swirl-top.

Oh, and the period-appropriate snow? All my fault. I brought my non-waterproof shoes out of storage this weekend. Oops.

Poshlost

2009-02-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

Speaking of the sweater that pilled a lot, I realized I hadn't posted it. Have you figured out that this blog is erratic at best and I am absolutely shameless about it? But I'm actually really stoked about this sweater. And also a little bitter. I finally knit a sweater that fits me absolutely perfectly, that I want to wear every day, and it pills to the extent that it is practically shameful to wear. Go figure.

(Apparently it also makes my boobs look strange. I will pretend that is not the case.)

I spent YEARS trying to figure out the chart I wanted for the yoke of this sweater. Then I saw ikkinetic’s Lopi sweater and I fell madly in love. It was perfect. I wanted my sweater to look exactly like it. So, with much squinting at the computer screen, I, er, ripped off the design. Mea culpa, Lopi. The wee yellow flecks were a bit of last-minute duplicate stitch when I thought that space looked "empty," but I really think they tie the whole thing together.

You can't really see the yoke design with my hair in the way. I wish I could say that this was why I got an a-line hair cut - so as to better show off the yokes of my sweaters...

...but it was entirely coincidence.

I also made the World’s Biggest Dumbass Steek Mistake (a.k.a. WBDSM - please note the similarity to BDSM a.k.a. bondage/sado-masochism - I am convinced this is not coincidence and that maybe I have been listening to the Savage Lovecast too much?).

I wanted the henley button-band to be the equivalent of about five stitches wide, so when I got to the yoke, I cast off five stitches. What I didn’t do was cast on more than five stitches for the steek, because I am the world’s biggest ass hat. This meant that I had three stitches for the crochet steek, and one stitch on either side for picking up the button band. This is about as close as you can cut it (I cannot help but pun, it is my great curse in life) and there was definitely a moment when I thought this sweater was doomed and I was going to have to rip out the entire yoke and use the yarn for the kindling of my self-immolating fire. I think I got cocky after the garter yoke cardigan. For god’s sake people, don’t mix hubris and steeking.

Full-steam ahead

2009-02-03T17:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sick. I've been sounding whiny in the blog lately, but I'm pretty sure the "oh my god I'm so exhausted" complaint and the "hey wait, now I'm sick too?!" complaints are largely connected.

There is a pretty good chance that what I'm about to do is connected to those two issues, too.

So I have this cone of yarn, and I am crazy for it.

I really want to knit a Gathered Pullover out of it, but I have a problem. This yarn pills like crazy. I know it pills like crazy. I've knit a sweater out of it before and I barely wear it, even though I love it, because the pilling is totally out of control.

It's Nature Spun Sport. I have a Shedir knit out of Nature Spun Worsted that hasn't pilled at all, so I had a plan to knit this up into a cabled sweater, hoping that the tighter gauge and cables and stuff would somehow "contain" the pills. But I don't really feel like knitting or wearing a cabled sweater right now. I want my friggin' Gathered Pullover. The G.P. is knit at an extremely loose gauge, but I'm thinking I'll knit mine at a "normal" gauge for the yarn to lower that risk of pilling. But I still know this sweater is going to pill, and I don't know if I should just knit it, love it and get myself a sweater shaver, or pull my head out of my arse and realize how stupid I'm being.

So, starting a new sweater, with a yarn that I know pills, at the wrong gauge for the pattern, while I'm sick and brain dead - bad idea, or, in a sort of shoot-the-moon-what-more-could-go-wrong-the-knitting-fates-won't-know-what-hit-'em sort of way, genius?

Speaking of yarn...

2009-02-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

Did I tell you I finished my Navajo-plying?!

More importantly, did I tell you that I am friggin' OBSESSED?!

(HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT THAT I LIKE TO USE CAPS LOCK A LOT BECAUSE I AM REALLY ENTHUSIASTIC?!?!)

Look! Yarn! About 40 yards of the crappiest, most inconsistent faux-3-ply in the universe and I am crazy for it.

That's right. It went really, really well. I think this was largely do to the fact that I watched a lot of videos (or mostly this one, over and over - love the slowmo), read a lot of tutorials about it, and then had a week where I was too busy to actually try it, so I just obsessively acted it out in my head for six days. (And occasionally practiced the hand motions under my desk during lecture. I'm sure no one noticed. Right.)

This seems like a seriously good way to tackle it - familiarize yourself with it abstractly, then attempt. Maybe. Maybe this method will utterly fail you. But me, now I want to Navajo-ply everything. So. Much. Fun.

It may appear that this photo is blurry. I acquiesce that it may be slightly blurry, but would also suggest that it is really the yarn that is blurry.

Oh! And the best thing about this yarn?! It has first-time spinner voodoo in it! My friend Katie was over and ~~was bullied into~~ expressed interest in spinning.

I am posting this blurry picture instead of one of the several non-blurry pictures that I have of this monumental event because she was making an expression of extreme concentration that was not the most flattering and probably not something she wants posted on the internet; because I like the idea that she was actually just spinning REALLY FAST; and because I am hoping that if it is blurry you won't notice the peanut butter jar sitting on the window sill by my bed and won't come to think that I am the sort of weirdo who sits in bed and eats peanut butter out of the jar. Because I'm totally not. Really. Wait, what were we talking about? Oh yeah. Katie. Spinning.

Look at her first yarn. Does it ever freak you out when you're teaching someone a skill, and they are infinitely better at it than you were when you started, and you get this vision of how good they will be if they keep at it and then you get a strange swooping sensation of darkness in your brain?

She has serious powers. My first yarn looked like the wool equivalent of mashed potatoes. Lucky for her, her birthday is coming up, so she's getting my old spindle. She says she wants shots, but I know better. Every college girl wants dead technology for her 21st birthday, right?

On Death and Dyeing

2009-01-31T18:31:00.000-08:00

I realized that I mentioned Kool-Aid dyed wool in my last post without any previous mention of dyeing. I got started when I was back in Montana for this summer (should you ever work up the courage to brave the depraved microcosm of hell that is a Montana Wal-Mart, they have a truly extensive collection of Kool-Aid). I had tried it before in my dorm room at college, but I am seriously not a big fan of microwave dyeing. Nonetheless, it resulted in this:

Seen here drying. I took great pleasure in how much this looked like some part of an internal organ hanging out my window.

My first attempt, once I had use of a full kitchen, was with food coloring. My one hint as far as achieving colors that aren't INSANELY NEON BRIGHT with Kool-Aid/food coloring is to dull the color a little bit with a drop or two of its compliment. Unfortunately, our food coloring box was missing the red, so this one turned out INSANELY NEON BRIGHT.

Maybe that picture isn't quite capturing the full effect. That shit is blinding. In the immortal words of Nicole, it looked like TOXIC SNOT. And it got felted in the dye bath. It was basically the world's biggest waste of Corriedale and I'll be damned if I was going to waste my time predrafting this hideous, eyeball-scorching, felted mass of refuse. I threw it out my window and spent the fall getting a savage stab of pleasure when I would see it lying there amongst the leaves and mushrooms, getting rained on.

Seriously.

Don't fuck wit dis.

My next attempts were much more successful. I split up the rest of my fiber into little 1 oz. batches in order to experiment and dyed them in the oven, using Hello Yarn's oven dyeing tutorial. (Can I take a moment to make a plug for Adrian? Look at how friggin' cool she is. She puts her methods, IN A TUTORIAL, up on the internet and we still go completely insane and sign up for massive wait lists and crash her server because we want her fiber so badly. She literally cannot dye fast enough. Good lesson to the ruder, more spiteful and secretive artists out there.)

I dyed up some more Corrie...

I spun this up into about 80 yards of sport weight sock yarn, which would be terrifically disappointing if I didn't have a seriously awesome plan.

(I'm somehow missing pictures of this really great orangey pinky sunrisey one I did, which I spun up into bulky singles and knit into a Calorimetry for my friend Hannah and it's probably the best thing I've ever knit ever. So naturally, I have no pictures. GFS.)

And some BFL.

The one on the right got spun up into about 100 yards of laceweight, which I have absolutely no idea how to use. The one on the left is my precious, which I am too scared to spin because it is the most beautiful thing ever created by my hands. It is worth noting that this sample, which I thought would suck, was created by me mixing a bunch of random colors, saying, "Holy shit, that is the ugliest orange I've ever seen in my entire life" and throwing it into the oven with reckless abandon. This is how you get cool things. Planning makes lame stuff, random chance makes awesome. For me, kind of the total opposite of knitting.

I'm definitely hooked on dyeing. Kool-Aid really isn't cheap, though, when you're going through it in such quantities, so I'm thinking about picking up an acid-dye kit. More adventures, ho!

2009-01-22T23:43:00.001-08:00

I am freakin' exhausted. I've had two essays due in two days (which wouldn't be so terrible except I have procrastinated one to the point where I was talking to my roommate about deadlines and saying that it was due, er, tomorrow and she replied, "When it's that close, it's not exactly a deadline anymore.") and, in a cruel twist of fate, have tried to reform my sleeping habits at the same time. I'm trying to get to bed by midnight, which has resulted in me, instead of staying up too late, waking up at 4 or 5 a.m. and being unable to fall back asleep. This is not new, but having nightmares is. Lots of nightmares. Been reading too much Gogol. Anyway.

When I'm too tired to think, too tired to knit, I really just want to spin singles.

I'd had this marinating on the wheel for a while, but spun up the rest out of stress. My friend Sue's homegrown Montana Suffolk, dyed with Kool-Aid by yours truly. (Admittedly not my most ambitious attempt.)

I finished up the singles but I wanted more! I'm on a budget-imposed fiber diet right now, which is fine yarn-wise, but my spinning stash was still in its embryonic stages when this diet hit and it is totally depleted. It's all just undyed fiber left, and since I haven't had time to dye, the going is rough.

I became determined to Navajo ply the singles. Just in case you're wondering, if you're looking to take a break from the stress of writing on a short deadline, teaching yourself how to Navajo ply is probably not the best option. I managed to stop myself before I got far enough along to start crying.

After finishing my essay, I coaxed myself away from the edge, resisting the urge to try again, citing such aforementioned reasons of exhaustion and stress. This turned out to be a good idea, as apparently I was so tired that when trying to take my sweater off to go to bed I managed to "Navajo ply" my hair into my necklace.

Tomorrow? We try again. But first we sleep. Maybe.

Animals as knitwear models, revisited

2008-11-30T00:04:00.000-08:00

Snoop is not amused.

Elliphantom's Herringbone Mittens, sans poms
Berocco Ultra Alpaca frogged from ill-fated Norah Gaughan Stag Bag. (Apologies for all the Ravelry links, but I have a friend I'm trying to convince to join Ravelry and I need to show her what she's missing. Also, I have forgotten how to link anywhere else. I must have linked somewhere before Ravelry, but it must have been much harder.)
Bamboo #3's, next time I will go up to 4's for proper thumb coverage. My stupid fucking mitten thumbs are always too fucking small and it drives me insane!

Finally!

2008-09-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Excuse the smarmy look, I don't know where that came from.

...I actually knit a sweater I like. It doesn't fit quite as nicely as I'd have liked, it's a little loose (damn you gauge) and I think I made the yoke a little tall, but I am absolutely thrilled with the construction method. Knitting the stockinette in the round and the garter stitch flat. I must say that I am rather impressed by my cleverness, and though it may be too bold to say this, I think I can feel EZ smiling down on me from heaven for doing what she does best: using one's ingenuity to avoid purling. 'Nuff said.

As I said before, this yarn is the reincarnation of the Zupa Viking Cardi. From that sweater, I learned that I hate knitting flat and I hate sewing seams, or even thinking about sewing seams. This sweater is basically the complete opposite. Glory.

The info:

Pattern: Garter yoke sweater of my own design, using EZ's seamless yoke sweater scheme with a great love for the February Baby Sweater. I have been better about taking notes when I knit lately, but going back through my knitting notebook everything I wrote down about this sweater is completely useless. I have no idea what any of it means or how to use it to improve my future sweaters. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink, I guess.
Yarn: Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-ply in Lewis Grey. 12 balls, I think.
Needles: #3 Bamboo

The low down on construction:

Cast on body plus 9 steek stitches. All borders are in garter rib. Added waist shaping. Joined sleeves and body after working false seams. EZ's yokes are shaped by three K1, K2tog decrease rounds: One halfway through the yoke, one at 3/4 and one at the neck. I worked in the round, in stockinette, for half the yoke. Worked first decrease round, then cast off steek stitches and began working back and forth in garter stitch for rest of yoke. I threw in a couple short rows when I began the garter stitch, as well.

When finished with yoke, steeked front of stockinette body (no reinforcement), picked up stitches for button bands along entire length of cardigan, and worked them in garter rib as well, binding off in purl on the right side. Picked up stitches along neck and button band and worked tiny roll hem. Wove ze pits.

Why didn't I reinforce the steek? Because I'm a bad ass, that's why! No, but seriously, a combination of thrills and pure laziness. Also, I had 9 steek stitches, which is like riding a motorcycle with training wheels. I was going to do a crochet steek a la Eunny, but I was also irresistibly, masochistically drawn to the idea of doing it without any reinforcement. As a test, I steeked my swatch and pulled at it a bit. It seemed to unravel only when I pulled it vertically. Made a mental note not to pull it vertically, then cut. I whip stitched the steek facings down, and after a bit of wear they are all felty with the body of the sweater and not going anywhere. I swear my sweater has not fallen apart, exploded, been torn to shreds by ravenous hordes, or cursed by the gods. FEAR NOT THE STEEK.

2008-09-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what to write about this Shetland Triangle, because knitting it was possibly the most boring thing I've done since the last time I took a math class. I was so excessively bored with it that it languished, for months, needing only the peaked edging, but I couldn't bring myself even to do that. Finally, I pulled through and started knitting the edging, only to run out of yarn and have to RIP out the edging and a pattern repeat and start it over. I could have burned the thing. But enough. I am glad it is finished, because it is very pretty. But never again.

I will almost certainly always wear it like this...

But it is good to know that I can wear it like this...

...for reasons I cannot yet begin to form.

After taking the above pictures, I decided that what this post could use was a little pizazz. What would be the perfect bloggy picture? But of course! I would model it on one of my mother's beautiful black Tennessee Walkers. The contrast of red on black, the elegance, oh yes, it was perfect.

The other horses had their grazing muzzles on, so I recruited the baby, Rivers.

He was enthusiastic, but not particularly cooperative. Most of my pictures turned out like this:

Mostly, he likes to eat things. I suppose I should have forseen this.

I finally got a couple shots, though he completely ignored me when I attempted to turn him so the light was better.

Which begs the question: how does a horse wear a shawl, anyway?

Block Party

2008-08-17T16:34:00.001-07:00

The Birth of the Smooshy Garter Yoke Sweater

2008-05-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

I am allowed to be this excited about a sweater?

Because I am.

Two sleeves and half a body, soon to become this:

I've been having the irresistible urge to knit a sweater lately, but after frogging Vebjorg I couldn't bring myself to buy more yarn when I'd have two sweaters' worth just marinating in the stash. (The other belongs to the colorwork yoke sweater I've been designing on and off for a year...more on that some other time.) I'm sure I will look back on this statement and laugh, but having sweater amounts of stash yarn just seems wild to me.

So various brainstorming and sketches later, I had a glorious smooshy garter yoke sweater. I'm sort of following EZ's seamless yoke sweater scheme, but using my own numbers for stitch count (shaping and such discerned from the fantastic Magic Formula and Waist Shaping sections in Stitch n' Bitch nation). I know it looks like Cobblestone, but it's more inspired by the February Baby Sweater & the Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

I'm knitting it in the round up to the beginning of the garter stitch yoke, where I'll divide it so I can work the garter stitch in back & forth all-knit rows. I'll steek the front of the stockinette body once I'm done. I'm quite excited and have been knitting it obsessively. It probably could have been done by now except my hands are absolutely killing me lately so I'm taking the week off.

2008-04-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

...You know what that means, don't you.

It is with great joy that I report the abandonment and frogging of the Zupa Viking Cardi (a.k.a. Vebjorg).

The ZVC was my re-entrance to the world of sweater knitting and it failed miserably. The pattern is clever and charming, but I didn't like the shape given and wanted to work with thinner yarn so I commenced rewriting the entire pattern. Unfortunately, in order to do that I first had to knit the pattern panels in order to knit the fronts in order to knit the sleeve caps in order to knit the back. And then sew like nine seams. In a yarn I don't really even like. It did not get very far.

Doomed.

It's been sitting under my bed being resented since almost the moment that I started it, but it is being reborn.

Now that is a seriously large swatch. (That's a quarter.) Amazing how by combining two of the things I hate most - swatching and seminar - they both become more bearable. More info soon.

Fucking Homer

2008-04-24T00:40:00.000-07:00

Or, how long can I procrastinate writing this paper on the Iliad?

My apologies to the classicists out there but if I have to relate one more thing to the Iliad I am going to curl up into a tiny ball and cry. Also, blogging is great procrastination.

Here's something entirely unrelated to the book-that-must-not-be-named: Monkey socks! And no-purl ones, at that. They're for my mum since she refuses to wear the first pair of socks that I knit her, since they "might get holes in them." I figure if I absolutely overwhelm her with hand-knit socks they'll lose their novelty and she'll actually start wearing them.

Somehow I missed the whole Monkey sock brouhaha (I am always late on the uptake. Always. I somehow manage to find out about all these patterns like six months after everyone decided they were overdone) and never particularly liked the pattern. Then I saw no-purl Monkeys and my life was changed forever. I am madly in love with this pattern. It's perfect for variegated yarn but more elastic than Jaywalkers. I want to knit 353263 more pairs.

For the record, I saw one person comment on how no-purl Monkeys may be the product of latent purl hatred, and let me state that I am probably the biggest fan of purling out there. I just hate reverse stockinette. Speaking of which, I have a leg warmer disaster to post one of these days...

One may be bigger than the other. For some reason my socks have been turning out different sizes lately. Evil wizards.

(As you may be able to tell, I have stopped shaving my legs. Viking Boy is less thrilled than I am.)

It's like a whole different fabric than the original.

Pattern: No Purl Monkeys by Cookie A/Crafty Pancake. That's the Ravelry link, if you don't have Ravelry the original pattern is here. As one would guess, just don't purl. That's it.
Yarn: KPPPM...I keep the ball bands, but the color numbers mean nothing to me so I don't know which this is. Such is the Koigu curse.
Needles: Silvalume #1 DPNs, as per usual.

FO Parade: Part One

2008-04-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

(One interesting thing about college that I had not foreseen: finding somewhere outside to take blog pictures without looking like some sort of crazy person who takes pictures of her feet. I decided on the woods behind my dorm, but then spent the next 45 minutes picking bits of moss off the socks, so this is clearly not a permanent solution...)

Pattern: Charade from I May Be Knitting a Ranch House
Yarn: Regia Silk
Needles: #1 Silvalume DPNs

These are the highly awaited second pair of socks for Viking Boy. They are nowhere near as cool as the first pair but it's hard to beat Eunny Jang and Lorna's Laces. That said, I liked this pattern well enough and probably would like these socks more if I were less disappointed with Regia Silk. It's gloriously soft when knit at a loose gauge and my mum has knit a darling little baby hat out of it, but it just doesn't work up nicely at the tight gauge required for long-lasting socks. It looked worn out and pilly by the time I was finished knitting the socks. I have three more skeins of it and may use two to knit a colorwork hat, but will probably exchange the third. I am generally unimpressed.

Fortunately, I scored some sweet LL in Cedar in an awesome trade with Grumperina, so with any luck the next pair is going to kick ass. They may involve viking runes.

Tomorrow: Yarn Harlot in Seattle, if I can drag my ill arse out of bed in order to get on a train. Also: how long can one girl survive entirely off Saltine crackers?

It's been a long time, baby

2008-04-19T22:44:00.001-07:00

Woo golly, haven't posted here in a while. I've moved to Olympia and started at Evergreen, if that's any sort of excuse. I've been busy enough that it took getting laid up with the flu to get me back on the blog (even though I should be reading). It seems like the flu is traveling around the blogosphere and that makes me wonder if it is scientifically possible to catch diseases from your blog roll. Maybe.

I've got a big bundle of unposted FOs, as per usual, but I don't have the energy to copy that many URLs right now...so I leave you with a picture of my (second) handspun. This top from The Fiber Denn on Etsy. I just found her shop through an Etsy search and I most thrilled with it.

It seems I have figured out the secret to cover up my crappy beginner spinning: pretty colors! That said, despite its admitted crapiness, I am entirely enamored with it. I feel like new mother. It is, without a doubt, the most amazing yarn in the entire world, because it is beautiful and I MADE IT WITH MY HANDS. I sit around petting it and making my floor mates look at it and admiring the peachy tequila sunrise colors and where the blackberry and grape marl on each other. Once I learn how to get rid of the big fluffy bits that come from joining a new strip I am going to be unbearable.

I give up

2008-02-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

How to knit a pair of knee socks:

Start with a wonderful, easy to follow pattern. Cast on. Knit with a freakish level of enjoyment.

Get ass kicked by short row heel.

Rip. Hide socks in shame.

Pick them up again, return to stockinette honeymoon.

Get distracted while watching dog show, realize you've made four inches worth of increases up the front of the leg.

Rip. Hide socks with bitter resentment.

Knit ribbing in contrasting color. Realize you didn't plan where you started the contrasting color. Decide it'll be okay. Realize you started it in the middle of the front of the leg.

Rip.

Start ribbing in back of leg, knit 1" of ribbing, decide you'd rather have a picot edge.

Rip.

Start picot edge. Remember that the ribbing was going to add height that the picot edge will not. Decide it will be okay. Try sock on. It's not okay.

Rip.

Knit additional length in main color. Work picot edge.

Sewn down hems using TECHknitting's tutorial.

Thread elastic through picot edge, both to hold socks up and to prevent picot edge from flaring out.

Take pictures.

Look closely at pictures. Realize you made the picot edges two different heights.

Decide it will be okay because you can not bear to rip again. It will be okay. It will be okay.

And because I have been calling them my Carhartt socks, it's only appropriate to illustrate why they are so named:

It says something quite disturbing about my personal fashion sense that in order to take that picture I had to choose between my multiple pairs of Carhartts.

Carhartt socks from Diana's knee sock pattern
Trekking XXL in green/olive, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in charcoal
#1 Silvalume DPNs

In other news, I just got a new old Mac (it's a PowerBook G4). I love it madly but good lord it's like a whole different language. The only thing that completely baffles me is using iPhoto, so if the pictures are extraordinarily huge, that's why, apologies.

SAINTS PRESERVE US

2008-02-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

Malabrigo sock yarn.

The Elusive Bayerische

2008-02-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

They've been finished for over a month, I've had the pictures for at least two weeks, but I just haven't gotten around to posting. It might be because the pictures didn't turn out too well (bad lighting, impatient model who didn't understand why it was so important for me to take pictures so I could show the internets) or because he received them with more glee than I could possibly have dreamed and I needed no more approval than that (yes, he has requested more socks; yes, I have cast on).

(Okay, worst FO picture ever, sorry.)

Bayerische Socks by Eunny Jang
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Charcoal
Size 0 DPNS (they are pretty tight on him, and he has wee skinny stick legs...I would probably go up a needle size or two for the average dude.)

He made all his friends look at them and praise them. There is no higher honor.

Fluffy fluffy down

2008-02-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

It was my mom's birthday last weekend, so I flew up to Anchorage to celebrate with her. It's Anchorage, I'm a knitter, so I had to go to Oomingmak.

My very astute observations:

Good lord that is a lot of pins. I may or may not have mentioned blocking wires to the girl working.

Saints preserve us.

2008-01-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

It's Monday. My first day off in a week. (You know, I really love when it's Sunday, the sun's come out for the first time in two months, I'm at work, and you come in to the shop with your grandson, whom you keep entertained by letting him go around with a basket and pick out all his "favorite" yarns - not so you can buy them, but so I can put them back after you leave. Thanks. Really.)

I need to run errands but my bike has a flat, I don't have a pump, and the evil scary bike shop by my house is closed on Mondays. So I am procrastinating, and I don't have any pictures of knitwear to post.

So I leave you with this:

My strange, strange urge to knit a hat that looks like the Tacoma Dome. Ponder that.

No rush

2008-01-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

I've been adding things to my Ravelry que. Again. I just want to knit everything. I've heard of some people talking about wanting to shorten their que, but I like having mine there, all 23 things that I absolutely must knit. I will, eventually, or maybe I won't.

Like the Swallowtail Shawl. I fell madly in love with it the very first time I saw a picture. In August I bought some KnitPick's Alpaca Cloud and a 24" circ and cast on. Four times. Then six more. Then waited a couple months. Then cast on three more times. No matter what, I just couldn't do it.

I knit the Flower Basket Shawl and realized that I'm not a dummy, I can knit lace. I decided to blame the yarn and needle and splurge. I bought a skein of Malabrigo Lace and an Addi Lace needle and, voila. Shawl. You get what you pay for.

I couldn't wait to wear it after blocking, so none of those glorious crisp post-blocking pictures, just the one.

Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from the Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits
Malabrigo Lace in Tortuga
#4 24" Addi Lace

It's nice to wear just as a little lace bandana. Next up: an enormous Shetland triangle to wrap many a time about the neck.

WTF

2008-01-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

In which we see the seeds of not swatching bear their bitter fruit

Or, I would feel loathsome if not for the tricksy tricksy decreases

Shedir from Knitty
(Which is a brilliant, extremely well-written and clever pattern, which you should knit despite my experience. Did I mention that the decreases were the most fun I've had all year?)
Naturespun Worsted in Stone (Did I consider Calmer? Ha! Cotton and acrylic? Are you fucking serious?)
Bryspun #4

That's right. I didn't swatch and now I am forced to eat my own limbs in shame.

Can I tell you a secret? I rarely, if ever, swatch. I mean, what do I knit? Hats. Socks. Shawls. Mittens. How can a shawl not fit? How would I swatch for a sock? A small, round tube - why not just knit the damn thing? If it doesn't work, I'll rip it out and start over again. I don't see why that should bother me any more than knitting three swatches.

Here that has come to bite me in the ass, but only because I make things more complicated than they need to be.

Round one: I like slouchy hats. (I already have perpetual helmet hair, I don't need hat hair to compound the problem.) I cast on an extra pattern repeat on #3s.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

I have never experienced pain while knitting before, but that was before I used Prym metal circs. May the gods of your pantheon cast down whoever invited those foul things. I curse them to the depths of the foulest sea. Seriously. Shooting pains through my arms, shoulders, hands. Could barely knit a row without collapsing. Hands hurt for weeks; still hurt, actually. EVIL, EVIL PRYM. STAY AWAY. CURSE THE PRYM.

Round two: I purchase #4 Bryspun circ and DPNs. I like Bryspun, a lot, they are glorious and cheap and I figured they would save my ailing hands (I know, I should have stopped knitting until the pain was gone). Round #1 was also a bit too small, so I added yet another pattern repeat. (That was my mistake. Also, I didn't do the ribbing on a smaller needle. Blast.)

Which gave me a hat that would fit the Hulk. To be obstinate, I would like to point out that it is mostly too tall, which is not the fault of gauge, but of misunderestimating the height that the decreases add.

My fashionable roommate suggests wearing it like this. I think that looks pretty cute.

But it's probably going to get the rip. The decreases were so fun I (probably?) wouldn't mind knitting it again.

But not now. Right now, I don't feel like knitting. At all. I also don't feel like eating the Ben & Jerry's I just purchases, so clearly I have gone completely fucking insane.

Sunflower Tam

2008-01-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

The next couple of days are going to be a barrage of FOs that I've finally gotten around to taking pictures of. Today: a Sunflower Tam.

Sunflower Tam from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature
Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Azul Profundo
#9 Addi 16" circ

Modifications:

I thought the tam shape they gave in the book was goofy-looking, and besides being uninterested in looking like a medieval peasant, I have extremely strong feelings about purl turning rows. Instead, I cast on 96 stitches, knit the ribbing, then immediately increased to the required 128 stitches (k3, m1). Knit for about 4 inches, then started the mock cable design.

It grew a bit after blocking, so I threaded thin jewelry elastic through the ribbing to help keep it on.

I look like a total dork when I wear it, but it is very, very soft. Malabrigo is my new favorite yarn in the entire world.

Mittens fo' Kim

2008-01-03T22:25:00.000-08:00

Harder than finishing the mittens: trying to do a photoshoot with a black lab puppy around.

They're my first colorwork project, and you can tell: I got my tension issues worked out on the second one and, consequentially, it turned out a good inch bigger than the first! Sort of sorted out in blocking, but, oh well.

Kim got them for Christmas because it wouldn't be fair otherways; she'd admired them from day one and was always demanding that strangers look at them and say nice things. Kim, while she refuses to admit that she wants to knit, is what I refer to as a "Fiber Ally." She requests knit things, proudly wears the Jaywalkers I gave her for her birthday, and is always willing to pet soft yarn. Give it time. She'll come around.

In which Viking Boy earns some serious Brownie Points

2007-12-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

I was watching a movie with said Viking Boy, working on the Navy socks when he inquired as to why I was working on these socks instead of his socks. (He knows that the Navy socks are not his socks because I have taken to working on his socks in front of him since he lost his glasses. He knows they are grey, and socks, but cannot see anything else.) I explained that these were going to be his socks if I should not finish the Bayerische socks in time, since I had encountered the aforementioned problem of them being much too small for him.

His response: "That's okay. I like tight socks."

I then explained that I didn't think he understood, these socks fit me, they would be much too small for him.

"That sounds perfect."

To prove my point, I made him try on one of the near-finished Navy socks. He responded that they really fit more like slippers (I assure you, these socks fit him perfectly) so the far too small ones should fit just how he liked.

Which means I don't have to reknit them. Saints preserve us.

He then agreed to wear the one finished Navy sock to bed, and in all likelihood would have done so had I not realized that I didn't have a yarn needle to graft the toe.

He is a keeper.

Florrie's Flower Basket Shawl

2007-11-30T17:40:00.000-08:00

(True color)

Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn Clark
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Suri Silk
Needles: #8 Clover bamboo

P.S. I got hired at the Yarn Garden...25% employee discount, here I come.

Nana's Christmas Scarf

2007-11-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

In a remarkable act of foresight, I finished this Christmas present in April while I was in Morocco visiting family. I only point that out because while I traveled for two weeks carrying everything I needed in a Jansport backpack, I brought this scarf, plus its extra skein and four balls of sock yarn. I prioritize.

It's Brooke Nelson's Column of Leaves scarf, knit out of Cascade Pastaza. I've always had trouble capturing the color in pictures; it's a gorgeous British red of the sort only a matriarch like my Nana can pull off, but it's got this amazing blue and yellow heathering that adds a whole other dimension to the yarn. I love Pastaza fiercely.

I was putting away miscellaneous strewn-about needles just a couple minutes ago and realized that the set of straights I always thought were 9's are actually 8's. Considering I started this scarf on 9's and then apparently switched to 8's when I splintered a needle, it has remarkably even gauge. (No, I do not own a needle gauge, I prefer to live dangerously.)

The color in this picture isn't very accurate, but you can really see the blue.

It turned out a little wider than I had hoped - I think Pastaza is a fairly heavy worsted and would probably use a thinner yarn next time.

Tomorrow: more FO's and mayhaps..some good news. We'll see!

At least they didn't confiscate my needles

2007-11-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

I grew up in Alaska, and my dad still lives there, so for Thanksgiving I went up to visit him. Since I would be flying, I figured this would provide ample time for Christmas knitting.

Packing list:

- Bayerische socks (Viking Boy)
-Two skeins of Cascade Pastaza and two skeins of 220 (thrummed slippers for my dad and his girlfriend. Did I mention I was adding to my list?)
- One skein Malabrigo (Calorimetry for my mom)
- Leftovers from Odessa (Pretty sure I lost the first one; [yes, I am so very scatterbrained that I can't even be sure if I've lost it] should have enough left in the skein to make a second.)

What really happened:

Bayerische socks

(sorry for the huge picture, will resize it when my computer can handle opening Photoshop again)

Nearly finished first sock, tried it on, realized it fit me perfectly, and would therefore be too small for Viking Boy. Beat chest savagely at though of having to knit THREE socks, sighed, resigned myself to knitting nothing else for a month, went to cast on second sock on 1's - realized I had forgotten to bring the second skein of Lorna's Laces. ALDHKKAFLSHDGLKHDGDGALKSDF

Thrummed slippers

Be grateful I did the experiment for you. No problem, right? Just a big sock with thrums. I gleefully bought 8 oz. of Blue Faced Leicester, made a big pile of thrums (if you think you get weird looks knitting in public, try sitting in an airport tearing apart top), and cast on. All went well until I got to the heel flap, where, in accordance with my thrumming pattern, I was either going to have to thrum on the purl side or k2tog on the purl side. Both looked like crap, I said to hell with this, I have better things to do with my time.

Instead, I am giving my dad's girlfriend the yarn (since she knows how to knit, just needs inspiration) and was going to knit my dad a colorwork hat, but then he insulted wool, so he is getting an Amazon.com gift certificate instead. Seriously.

Calorimetry

Turned out lovely, despite Malabrigo's attempt to thwart me with pooling (luckily, the short rows put an end to that. I get way, way too emotional about variegated yarn). Since this pattern is notorious for turning out huge, I only cast on 100 st, then repeated row 5 until it looked about half the size I wanted it. Just needs a button.

Worried that I wouldn't finish Viking Boy's socks in time, so I bought a pair of 3's and cast on a new pair of socks with the Cascade 220 I had with me. My generic 1x1/3x1 rib pattern, with a heel flap since I have lately become enamored with these. Yes, the heel may be slightly pointy. We will not speak of this.

First toe needs to be grafted (this is why I knit my socks toe up), but my god, worsted weight socks are satisfying.

And then I was worried I wouldn't have enough to knit on the plane so I went to Jo-Anne and bought four skeins of Wool Ease and a #8 circ and cast on this garter stitch scarfish monstrosity which I am remarkably fond of. It reminds me of peppermints. You will note that I bought Wool Ease, despite its 80% acrylic content - I usually poo poo on acrylic but I am a sucker for Wool Ease. I think it's the colors.

But first I left my notions baggie in the seat back pocket on my first flight. Go figure.

"Gee, I probably shouldn't put that there. I'm going to forget it for sure. Yeah, better take that out."

Next day later, looking for cable needle: "FUCK!"

It's blocking

2007-11-16T21:42:00.000-08:00

2007-11-14T08:26:00.001-08:00

It's a sock!

After a couple false starts, much progress was made, mostly thanks to my discovery that I can, in fact, knit at work. It's a bit akward when a customer shows up right while I'm in the middle of a 7 stitch ribbed cross, and I know there will be no words for my fury when I finally and inevitably get guacamole on them, but considering that I can finish a little over a pattern repeat while there, I think it's worth it.

Speaking of seven stitch ribbed crosses, these little trollops were the reason I've had so many false starts on these socks. I had never cabled without a cable needle before, and she didn't give instructions on how to do them with a cable needle. Fortunately, the kind folks over at knitting were able to help me out. Check it out if you're having trouble. Otherways, I have finally become a cabling-without-a-cable needle convert, at least for constant tiny little twists like the ones in these socks.

Given my speed so far, I think I might actually finish these in time for Christmas without too much pain. The second one is going to be a serious, serious labor of love.

What have I done?

2007-11-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

Put the down payment on 14 special-ordered balls of Scottish Tweed 4-ply, that's what. $68. Because I am spending $140 to knit an entire sweater out of fingering weight yarn. A sweater with two cabled panels; the rest entirely stockinette. Now that I've typed that I realize the true insanity of the task I am about to undertake.

Rationalizations I've come up with so far:

1. My last (and only) sweater I've knit was out of worsted on 9s. I never wore it. Ever. It grew after blocking, made me look 20 pounds heavier and I gave it to my best friend Hana for Christmas. This time I want a sweater I can actually wear. I am willing to put in the work.

2. I'll finally have a project I can knit while actually watching movies. We watch upwards of five movies a week; it'll be done in no time. I can probably finish a whole sleeve during an extended edition of Lord of the Rings (right..).

3. I could have gotten the yarn for cheaper online, I know this, but Sally at Close Knit was so helpful every time I went in there for knit night and made her talk tweeds with me that I felt absolutely obliged to give her the purchase. Too many knit shops in Portland have been closing lately.

4. After finally reading a copy of At Knit's End, I have realized that I may or may not be a gauge snob. I should..do..what..I like?

5. I might just be a masochist.

2007-10-24T17:27:00.001-07:00

While I'm here, let me show you a finished Odessa so I can send the pictures into Grumperina's gallery.

I cannot wear fitted hats without looking like a 14-year-old skater boy, so I knit mine on 8's out of worsted instead of the DK & 6s recommended by the pattern. Ergo, slouch, but not too much. I didn't learn how to use my macro mode until yesterday (seriously) so no up close pictures.

Cascade 220 in a marled black and brown...I barely used half the skein, and could probably get another hat out of it but can't be positive without a scale.
Knit on Bryspun DPNS & a Clover circ.
Also, no beads. So not me.

I love this hat more than life itself. It's perfect and knit up easily in a little over a day. Thank you Grumperina!

Meet the WIPs

2007-10-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

I guess this is the place to start, the characters you'll be seeing around in the future. Before you begin to regard me as a thorough and other ways devoted knitter, let me state for the record: these are not all the WIPs, just the ones I need to and/or foresee finishing in the future. Read: by Christmas, at least. So..here we go?

My most worked on project o' the moment:

Clessidra, knit out of Louet Gems. They're knitting up rather nicely - the chart is easily memorized (and I am not the sort of person who can usually memorize charts), the cables add a bit of interest. They grew rather rapidly when I was knitting them on the MAX to work, but since I've taken to riding my bike these days they are stagnating. Still, glorious socks. I intend to wear them with my cuffed Carhartts. My only complaint is my yarn choice: I looked high and low for solid colored sock yarn at my LYS(s) and could not find ANY. Christ, people. Finally some Louet showed up at Twisted so I picked it up without thinking - oops. It's a 2-ply. I know better than to knit cables with a 2-ply. Oh well. The color is great.

Eunny Jang's Bayerische Socks out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in charcoal. For Viking Boy for Christmas. I tried to knit these last winter and failed miserably, but that was during the horrible phase where I tried to knit socks on bamboo 1's. I knit much too tightly, it was painful and involved some fractures and cursing and hate. I will try again as a better knitter and more patient person (and on metal DPNS). Clearly, not much yet, I just cast on a couple nights ago and haven't had a chance to knit since. Finishing these in time may be a trial. But Lorna's Laces is glory and sweetness.

That's not too bad, though. The next project is the most pathetic WIP ever. Not because it's barely started, but because of where it's halted:

Seriously. I knit the second mitten in a week and then stopped. One inch and some gathering away from a pair of mittens. They have been sitting in this state for over a month now. Why am I torturing myself like this? It might be because I made the first thumb too short, don't want to pick it out, can't decide whether to make the second thumb the right length or make them both equally too small. So I am procrastinating. Go figure. Generic sportweight wool, wound off the cone and sold by the ounce at Joseph's Coat. Best way to buy yarn ever.

And the last imperative project, a Flower Basket Lace Shawl for my grandma Florrie. She's not my biological grandmother, she was the wife of my grandpa who died two years ago, but she's an amazing person and spoils me every year at Christmas so I have decided to spoil her in revenge. Alpaca/silk, mmmm...

So. Not impressive. I have yet to experience the miracle of lace blocking, though, so I may become a convert.

Hello Internets

2007-10-11T07:59:00.001-07:00

This is a blog that has been a long time in the making. Not because it's special or requires any sort of real preperation, just because of technical difficulties with my stupid old laptop. (And laziness, and procrastination. There was much of that.) I couldn't load Blogger without freezing and now it won't connect to the wireless in our house. I am posting this from my boyfriend's roommate's computer. But one day, soon, I will make it to a coffee shop, upload some damn pictures, and get this thing started. Now I just need to bribe my Photoshop-happy friend to make me a logo. I have already admitted to her that I started a knitting blog, so the laughter and mocking is out of the way. Knittalica ho!