Sunday, December 16, 2007

Xmas Knits



Finals are finally over and my backlog of knitting is getting my full attention (well, what isn't taken up by the second season of Rome). I just finished my Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap. It is currently blocking on a mannequin head that my roommate happened to have. Just to finish something is exhilarating.



Fiona before the blocking. (Please ignore the sideways-ness of the pics. Blogger is not letting me re-orient them.)

Dad's Hunting Cap has a few inches of the ribbing done after all the false starts. For such an easy project it has given me a lot of headaches. May be those headaches make up for the crappy acrylic yard that I'm holding together with some crappy wool yarn. The first version of the hat was HUGE. I didn't have a measurement of Dad's head so I measured mine and added a few inches. When I tried it on my head when it was mostly finished, it fit like a bucket. So I frogged the entire thing, reconfigured the gauge and started knitting again. After a few rows, WHOOPS!, I saw that I had neglected to calculate for an even number of ribs. Frogged that and started again with a new recalculation. This time I was using some beautiful stitch markers to mark the ribs that NB gave me; however, they started some awful ladders in the transitions from the knit rib to the purl rib. So, I frogged it and started knitting again with contrasting stitch markers made of yarn. Same problem, so I frogged yet again. Now I'm not the last (I hope!) version and have a few inches. Knitting with my fingers crossed is kinda difficult, but I really can't start this over again.

The earwarmer/headband that I want to knit for Mom hasn't had the best of luck either. I had some yarn leftover from the scarf I made for her for Xmas (or St. Paddy's Day) and wanted to make for an earwarmer with the same yarn and stitch pattern. The pattern will have to be scratched though since the wavy nature of the pattern would make it difficult to get good ear coverage. Plus, the yarnover holes aren't conducive to warmth either. I'm thinking of doing a double moss stitch pattern. Easy and textured is the preferred way to go.

After, these get done, then I can return to those socks from Socktober fest. Sigh. It's a good thing I didn't do the NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater in a Month).

Oh! I'm leaving for Missouri on Tuesday and am trying to get ready for that too. I'll keep you updated as much as possible for the wild Mid-West, but my access to the internet will be limited to the hours that I spend at Panera Bread (which I here has free WiFi). I will also get some pictures up of the finished projects, promise!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Sad Farewell, #4 dpn

Today, as I was riding the #49 Muni bus through the Mission and knitting a sock (Baby Ull, turqoise), a sad thing happened. I dropped my free dpn in between the seat and the side of the bus. It landed on a little shelf of gum wrappers, sunflower seed hulls, and general filth. Muni is not one of the cleaner facets of San Francisco, and the #49 is not one of the cleaner facets of Muni. But I stuck my finger down in there anyway, and got a fingernail-ful of shmutz for my efforts. No luck. I tried using a pen, no luck. My stop was coming up, and the dpn only managed to get buried farther down in the good inch of yuckiness in that crack. Now my dpn is riding around town next to god-knows how, talking about about god-knows what.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Retro Throw

A possibility for a joint-knitting effort?


The instructions are at knitpicks....


This even seems like a good color combination; although, I think I'm wanting something in shades of ugly green, to replace the original "ugly blanket". It's acrylic, and someone (?) dried it in the dryer, and it sort of felted, er...melted, itself. Not crazy about blankets that have a right and a wrong side to them though.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Rhinebeck and back





My head is still spinning a bit from our trip to Rhinebeck: so many sheep, so many colors, so many really ugly FOs.

I managed to bulk up my stash a bit with some lace yarn from Sliver Moon and some worsted merino and more lace from Morehouse. I have more projects that I want to be knitting that I can't even sit down to work more on my Monkey sock.





One of the best things about the trip was being able to see Western Massachusetts in full autumn (while listening to This American Life podcasts!). NB was soo kind to drive the 3 hours to Upstate NY. What a fabulous day!

Monday, October 01, 2007

Knitting Update

Ah, so it's been far too long between posts. For me, school's back in session and my week is pretty much packed with school work and ballet class. For the time that I do have for knitting, I've been spending it on ravelry.com adding more and more projects to my queue.

Here's a quick update:

Lelah is still going strong, but the cooler weather plus my slow knitting has resulted in not much progress. I finished the first skein and am still on the lace part. I'm doing 12 repeats of 6 rows and only have 5 repeats left. After that it's just a bunch of stockingette stitch with decreases. I also want to add straps but have been unsatisfied with the examples that I've seen. Most straps are too thin and the other's have severe rolling issues that require crab stitching around the edges and extreme steaming to get them to lay somewhat flat. I've been toying with the idea of doing the straps in single or double moss stitch. I'm concerned that it'll look too busy.

Socktober Fest!
Nancy and I have started on Monkey for our Socktober Fest. We bought yarn, swatched, figured our yarn was definitely too thick for the socks. I'm buying new yarn today so that I can get a good start on them this weekend.

I'm also thinking ahead for Christmas. I learned my lesson last time not to knit people things for gifts, but I have two things that I should get done: a camo hat for Dad (b/c honestly, what else am I going to use that yarn for), and a earwarmer for Mom to match her scarf.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Summer projects

Yikes! It's been almost a month since my last post. There hasn't been too much to post about though. Knitting-wise, the Brea Bag project has hit a snag do to being indecisive about how to line the bag. I bought a bunch of cotton fabric and was debating how to attach the fabric to the knitting. I think I've settled on making a pattern from the bag pieces before they are all sewn together, sewing an identical fabric bag together and using iron-on facing to attach it to the knitted bag. Also, the crab stitching around the top edges has been somewhat frustrating to me and has deterred me from working more on it.

In other knitting project news, I've begun my first ever article of clothing. I've chosen the Lelah cami to knit. I think that I rather like knitting lace and this pattern is simple (only a 6-row repeat) so that I won't want to disown it by the time I've finished it.

For the camisole I chose a gray-colored, worsted weight yarn by Cotton Fleece. The yarn itself is a 80% cotton, 20% merino blend.

I've modified the pattern a bit by using No. 8 circular needles for the lace part and No. 6 circulars for the stockinette part. I perused some of the finished pictures of the pattern on Ravelry.com and didn't like the floppiness of most of them. I also desired to minimize the peepshow effect of the stockinette stitch with a too loose gauge. I'm also planning on adding a few extra rounds of the lace knitting so that the top falls to my hips. I think that I'll put straps on it and not have this as a tube top.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Ravelry, Woo Hoo.

I just got my approved invite to Ravelry! I'm loving all the little features and surprises. The designers have thought of all the details that I usually skip right over when I'm blogging. I like how it supplements the blogging about knitting experience without replacing it. If you want to just use Ravelry, I guess you could.

Anyway, they have a way to keep track of all your WIPs with pictures and needle/yarn details, your stash, your needle collection (with a printable little card in PDF!).

Well, you'll know what I'll be doing until the wee hours tonight.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

What I NEED!!!

I must have a

Big Dotty (from M-D knitting)

Toilet Seat Cover!!!

That is what my bathroom needs.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Organizing the Stash

I finally decided to get down to business and organize my knitting stash. I was keeping all my yarn in a plastic bag that was next to my knitting chair and consequently right under an open window: not the best place for keeping yarn clean and moth-free. I also had accumulated enough notions that whenever I move something on my chair or footstool a cascade of tinkering double-pointed needles would follow.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Mixed feelings--Finished Project



Here's a picture of my finished baby kimono after it was blocked on top and before it was blocked on the bottom (I think). To me it looks a little disproportionate--wider than it should be. Oh well. I haven't seen Kristin's baby yet and have no idea that it will fit.

My First Swatch/dishrag


Here's the first thing I ever knitted. It's so very ugly! It was supposed to be a rectangle but somehow it has managed to be shaped like my home state, Missouri. I've had a few people comment that I'm a meticulous knitter, i.e. slow. Now people can see what happens if I'm not careful.

Handbag--In Progress


My knitted bag project is coming along well. I've finished the first side of the bag and only need to repeat the front side as the back and knit the gusset. I've also have been thinking of lining the bag with some cotton fabric; I just need to find some. Boston seems to be rather lacking in fabric stores.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Lesson Learned

You really need to read a pattern BEFORE you go to the store to buy your supplies. This I learned today as I was swatching for my new knitted bag project. I didn't have the called for No.9 needles so I picked up some new bamboo ones at Windsor Button along with the called for yarn in a beautiful deep purple. I was watching tv and knitting my little swatch on my 9" No.9's. All was going well, I had doubled my yarn so that I was knitting two strands at a time. I finished, checked the gauge (which was ok, but that's another story), ripped out my swatch and looked at the pattern.

Ooops! Yeah, CO 126 of double stranded Ultra Alpaca. 126 stitches! I went ahead and started to cast on my stitches, squishing them tightly. I could only get on about 70 stitches. Looks like I'm heading back to my LYS.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Project Collaboration, II

Have you made any mitred squares yourself? From the sounds of things over on the Mason-Dixon blog, they're really addicting. Once you start making them you can't stop. And since I already can't stop making the MD ballband warshrags, I'm not sure I'm ready to take on another addiction at this time.

But I am intrigued by the collaboration idea. It would be cool if we made individual squares or something and then sewed them into an afghan or something. If we just made sure the finished squares turned out a certain size, then we wouldn't have to worry about gauge and all, right? (Unless we were doing all mitres--if the gauge wasn't consistent the stripes wouldn't match up.)

In a sort-of unrelated note, I've been wanting to make another zig-zag pattern "ugly blanket" for a couple of years now. The one you gave me is so great looking that I fantasize about making another one in hot pink, yellow, orange, and red. Or in crayola colors: pink, yellow, light green, regular green. And turquoise should be in there somewhere too. And in wool this time, instead of the original ugly blanket acrylic.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

WIP update

Argosy scarf--done. It's a little itchy. I like the pattern so much that I want to make another one.

Giant dishcloth baby blanket--frog? Very boring. May be OK if I add a crocheted ruffle around the edge, but I don't know if I can stay awake long enough to get there.

Leaf-pattern scarf--too hard/wrong yarn? I have about 6 inches completed in pink malabrigo. It's very soft, and the pattern is beautiful. Maybe malabrigo is too soft and fuzzy though. A yarn with more of a twist would produce better stitch definition. Since the pattern is so slow-going, I want everyone to at least be able to see the pattern better.

Ball-Band Warshrag--in progress. How many of these things have I made already? 10? The one I'm working on now is hot pink/varigated hot pink-white-lilac. It will scare the food off dishes.

Mittens. I have one cuff done. Hmm. The Misti Alpaca yarn is so nice I don't know what to make out of it. Maybe I should use a rougher yarn for the mittens and use the Misti for another scarf? Since I wear a scarf every single day here, I can't really have too many scarves.

Socks for mom, socks for dad. Don't ask. At least I finally found the directions for the socks for dad.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Project Collaboration


So I've been doing much brainstorming about what projects I want to do in the future. I've been spending more time browsing the web for ideas and inspiration, and while looking at the Mason-Dixon site, I remembered the beautiful log cabin blankets that they have. So my proposal is that we (Aidan, that includes you) would knit one together. We could each either collaborate on the colors or one person could start with a few colors and the other one would independently pick matching/contrasting colors. What do you think? One of us would knit a square and then send it on to the other. In the end we could give it as a gift (or, not) to a third party or one of us could get it (but then we might be obligated to make a second one.)

I personally don't know if I have it in me to knit an entire blanket myself. Let me know your thoughts, Aidan.

P.S. This is also a test to see if you're even paying attention to the blog anymore. I have doubts about your commitment to Sparkle Motion, er, Load of Knit.

Wheel Rental?



Oh, oh, oh! I just found that Adrian Bizilla of Hello Yarn has a spinning wheel that you can rent for $10/week and you can take spinning lessons for $30/hr including materials! Even better, Hello Yarn is based in the Boston area and is accessible via the T. Maybe not what I need now since I'm not even managing my current knitting projects very well, but maybe I'll be more ready in the fall.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Shooting for...

I've just linked a fabulous blog, BrooklynTweed, under links to the right. This blog is awesome! I'm very, very jealous of it. This is the form of the knitting blog. The knitting blog qua knitting blog if you will. I find it both inspiring, beautifully laid out, informative, and a great resource for links.

For example, I'm finishing up the baby kimono for my friend Kristin, and then I found BrooklynTweed's baby sweater, which came from Elliphantom Knits. Yikes! It's so beautiful.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Finally Finals are Finished

Phew! I'm starting to recover from the finals marathon and starting to think of knitting again. I need to finish the baby kimono that I started eons ago. Preferably I'll have it done by the time the kid is born.

I just wanted to share with everyone a new knitters social networking site, Ravelry (another networking site, I know). You can't register yet but you can get on the waiting list to be a member. It sounds like a good place to go for inspiration at least.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Techknitting website

Arg...finals are killing me and my knitting projects. That said, while procrastinating before heading to school for my Torts exam (Derby Day and Cinco de Mayo, it's too much), I found this site, Techknitting. There are some great Intarsia instructions that started to inspire me to want to create my own Cosby Sweater. There are also good hints about things like how to uncurl nylon circular needles.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Thank you Knittinghelp.com

The Argosy scarf (previously referred to accidentally as the Argonaut--I think I need a style manual or an editorial board or something), anyway, the Argosy scarf requires a cable cast-on for the new little extensions out to the side. The first couple times I did made them using the backward-loop method. Sure, it's so easy it seems like cheating, but at that point I was struggling with learning the pattern, so it felt justified. Now that I'm 3/4 of the way done with the scarf, I finally looked up how to do the cable cast on. It's easy. I feel silly for waiting so long to do the thing the right way. The little extensions look so much better with the cable cast-on edge!

Maybe I'll just have to knit an Argosy II or Argosy Jr.

P.S. Emily, did you ever find the original malabrigo scarf in the lost and found? Sniff. Sniff.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

It's not like it was a necklace made out of Macaroni

So I just deleted one of my entries from yesterday because I realized that it was a bit too harsh. The substance of the post was a tirade about why you shouldn't knit for non-knitters. I guess I had to learn my lesson the hard way and even though I might not stop knitting for my friends/family I will adjust my expectations of what response I get. Really, it is about the giving and not about the pat on the back in the end. No one, not even another knitter, can really now about all that you put into a piece, even if it is a dishcloth.

For those of you that didn't read my post yesterday, and I hope that was most of you, I'll give you a small recap. I think that my experience has a good discussion value.

I recently completed a scarf that I found to be rather challenging. The recipient was grateful and appreciative and all; however, when the recipient showed the scarf to one of her friends the resulting comment that it looked "like an expensive one, not one that was homemade." This incensed me even though I could see in intended compliment of quality. It is from the same type of person who would say "why make it when you can buy one in the store."

What do others think? Am I too sensitive about my knitted products? What are the elements of value? Why are people ashamed of having something homemade in the first place? When did the "store bought" items become the desired items? Is it a class issue? Why is homemade an insult but handmade is a compliment?

Saturday, March 31, 2007

More me projects


So in light of my last post, I've found some more ideas of gifts of give myself. One of them is this capelet that I've had my eye on forever at the Malabrigo website. I finally hunted down the pattern, and I think I'll put it on my list of things to knit.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Spring/Summer Knitting Projects


As it gets warmer and warmer outside, I start to get a tired of knitting warm things. My enthusiasm for scarves and gloves and hats fades rapidly. So the two projects are going to be Me Projects. And both of them are handbags.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Men Knitting

Here's a shout-out to Martin (Aidan, have you told him about the site yet?). I'm learning that most men who find out that I knit try to convince me that I'd love nothing more than to knit them a scarf. My old supervisor at work, classmates, friends (is this some odd antithesis to the boyfriend sweater rule?) all try to get me to make them something. At one point, I did almost convinced the president of my old company to take up knitting again on his long business trips.

So here's a bit of a link feast for those men who take matters into their own hands.

MenKnit
Real Men Knit Trailer
Men Who Knit
Health Benefits

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Mom's Scarf-Pictures


Here's what the scarf looks like on. (Boy, do I need a haircut!) I was able to mail it to Mom today so she should get it on Thursday. Phew! Next project, the baby kimono for Kristin's baby. I've already started knitting the swatch.

Finished!--Mom's Scarf

Yay! Hoorah! I finished Mom's scarf. It required knitting until 3 AM last night (good thing I'm on break), but it's done. I was very relieved to get it finished. The pattern lost most of it's beauty the longer I knitted it. It's time for this thing to go. I'm mailing it tomorrow at the latest so that she can get it in time for St. Pat's Day since it is a beautiful green color. I also blocked it last night, but it's still a bit damp so it might get mailed tomorrow. I'm posting a few pictures that aren't too blurry (I so need a tripod for the macro shots). I'll try to get a picture or two of the scarf modeled once it is dry.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Sushi Wallet--Yum

So cute!

http://www.pickupsticksonline.com/products/accessories/wallets/sushi.php

I'm putting this one on my wish list. OK, so of course kits are overpriced, but $18 is not so bad, right? Plus, I've never made anything with a zipper, or decorative sushi rolls, or (intentionally) felted anything.

In other news:

The argosy scarf has taken a back burner to warshrags for the time being. Evidently my knitting projects fall into two categories. Need to pay attention, don't need to pay attention. Argosy started off as a need to pay attention, but is now safely in the don't need to pay attention category. So, when I've been wanting to work on something that requires attention, I've been working on the liesl scarf. (I actually started making some headway, but then realized I'd missed a yo three rows back and had to undo it all again....) And when I want to work on something easy, I've been working on my latest ballband warshrag in "hot green" and bright yellow and white "daisy ombre". So far I've given all my warshrags away, but with my renewed dedication to Shining My Sink, this one may be a keeper.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Missing: My Favorite Scarf

Oh sadness! I've been fretful for the past couple of days because I've lost my prize scarf! This is the first scarf that I knitted in garter stitch last winter. I used a beautiful deep bluish-purple Malabrigo yarn and it's gone! I left it in Constitutional Law class on Tuesday and didn't even miss it until I was heading home seven hours later in 7 degree weather with a -40 degree windchill. I feel as though I've abandoned a puppy or child. I've been bugging the security office at school almost every shift to see if someone has turned it in, but, alas, no one has. I'm just crossing my fingers that my class mates are really kind and one of them picked it up for me. Tomorrow, we shall see if that's the case.

Spring Knitty

The new Spring Issue of Knitty is online!

It has warshrag links!

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall06/PATTbacktoschool.html

http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbout/kpatterns/knitting2.html

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Thanks!

Thanks for the dishcloth pattern. Yeah, I think that I have this whole thing backwards. During school I'm knitting the super complicated scarf that I can't mess up and can't do much else while knitting it. When I'm poised for a break from school, I get the super easy pattern that I can knit while reading.

Anyway, since I've been so busy lately, I've had dreams of how to multi-task better especially when knitting. When I'm reading for school I usually have my hands full with highlighters or pens or some sort of writing utensil. Why hasn't anyone invented knitting needles that double as pens or highlighters? Huh? It seems to me to be silly to have two or more needles plus a pencil. Ok. Where's my patent attorney? Maybe I shouldn't put this on the internet.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Garter Stitch R Us

Emily--

Here is the pattern for the super easy dishrag that I saw super-sized into a baby blanket at the LYS:

http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbout/kpatterns/grfavorite.html

You can watch TV and not even look at it, much less the directions. You can talk on the phone. You could probably even do your homework while you knit this thing.

It makes a very soft washcloth that you could even use in your bathroom.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

So Sick I Couldn't Even Knit

Last weekend, I learned the hard way what happens when you burn the candle from both ends for too long. Last Sunday, I came down with the flu and am finally getting back up to speed with one week left until Spring Break and some major homework to catch up on. I'm still coughing a lot and my voice is on hiatus, but I don't feel like death. I had to stay home from school both Monday and Tuesday and was too out of it to even knit! I kept trying to read my Contracts homework but would fall asleep. Then I'd wake up and decide to knit and couldn't focus on the pattern. That and I thought the worst present to give someone is a new scarf infected with influenza.

I was also able to fine an extra skein of Saphire Green Malabrigo Yarn in the same dye lot as the first skein at Windsor Button where I bought the first one (image that!). Now I think that Mom's Christmas scarf will be a Saint Patrick's day scarf. I'm sure that it'll come in handy while watching the parades and such.

I'm staying in Boston during the break and anticipate doing some school work, outlining my courses and some supplementary reading. I mostly hope to go to some coffeeshops during the day and relax and knit. I find Boston to have the worst proportion of coffeeshops to people. Whenever I just want to get a coffee and read and relax for a while I have to hunt to find a coffeeshop with any room in it. Maybe during the day during break will increase my chances.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Help for the Overcolored

So, I'm not the best visualizer when I comes to color combinations and tend to play it safe. I'm am also easily overwhelmed by all the different colors of yarn when I go to the LYS and have problems deciding what colors to buy. I just saw this post at Craftzine about this website at Adobe which allows you to try out color combinations without the commitment of buying stuff at the store. Things are easier for me if I can distill it all to the color wheel.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Look at My Must-stache!




Maybe it was Aidan's description of her maybe-not-so-evil wool ease acrylic wool, but my fingers started itching for some new wool. So to be frugally minded, I had a looksee at my stash of yarn. It's a very sad stash indeed. Most of it is reject yarn: yarn I've been given, yarn I've bought for a project and then abandoned, yarn I just can't figure out what to do with yet.

In the front row of this picture, on the far left is a handsome green heather wool with flecks of red, yellow and blue in it. I have no plans for it yet. I bought it on a whim at Uniquely Yours and well... The natural wool next to it is deemed "Poor man's cashmere." It's a very soft merino wool, don't get me wrong, but poor? This might not be as expensive as cashmere, but it's surely not cheep merino.

Next is the Cascade Pastaza, 50% llama, 50% Wool yarn that I bout at Uniquely Yours. I had intended to knit Mom's Christmas scarf (yeah, it's still in progress). I found that the llama had very little give to it so when you're doing increases and decreases you have a lot less maneuverability. Plus the short fibers started going haywire once I started knitting.

The next three skeins of yarn of Red Heart 100% Acrylique yarn. Yeah, I have one in traffic cone orange and two in fire-engine red. Hmmm...what to do with them? I was thinking of making wigs. Like this one.

Next, in the acrylic spectrum, I have one skein of camouflage and a wool skein of dirt brown. That's right Dad's getting a hit new hat before next deer season. He'll be so happy.

In the back row, I have my tower of cotton yarn. It's all Sugar 'n' Cream brand yarn including the three pound bag at the bottom. I swear Mid-Missouri is the best cheap yarn deal ever (now I know why the Mormons declare that Eden is in Missouri, they must have been to a Hobby Lobby before being forced out by the military). I have no idea what I'm doing with all the cotton. Aidan has the market cornered with dishrags.

My real problem today is that Mom's Christmas scarf is only three feet long and there's not a whole lot of yarn left. I need to search for some more Malabrigo this weekend. There was only one skein of Saphire Green at Windsor Button so I maybe trekking all over Boston to find another.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Can Wool-Ease be not evil?

That's the question. Some kind in-law gave me a random skein of oatmeal colored Lion's Brand Wool-Ease for Christmas. 80% Acrylic, 20% Wool. The weird thing is, I actually really like it. It feels soft and not dry/crunchy/static-y. But I'm wary of getting burned yet again by affordable synthetics that turn out to be crappy. Obviously, acrylic sucks. It's not warm, it snags on any little piece of rough skin around the fingernails, and it pills and looks like something the cat vomited up after wearing it once. However, I do know that some acrylic is crappy and some is much, much more crappy. What if you combine only slightly crappy acrylic with wool?

Also, I had the happy coincidence of finding a patttern for a dishrag (hmm, it's around here somewhere...I'll post it when I find it) and then seeing a baby blanket at a LYS made like a jumbo dishrag. It's the exact some pattern, just supersized. So easy! But. In the past I've crocheted baby blankets with Sugar n Creme cotton. They turn out kinda heavy, and I'm not sure how soft they are after you wash them. I like the natural fibers a lot. Especially for babies, 'cause they can get rashes from synthetics (it's plastic!--traps moisture), and they can give off chemicals. Ick. But, for some reason I'm not jazzed about the idea of making a 100% wool baby blanket. Superwash is expensive for a whole blankie.

So, am I crazy in thinking Wool-Ease may not disappoint me terribly? Is it worth a try? Or am I just deluding myself?

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Scarf pattern for your consideration

What do you think about this scarf pattern? It says it's easy to memorize, but I'm not so sure.

http://yummyyarn.indus3ous.com/patterns/MJG_Liesel.pdf

But maybe I can use it to make a scarf with only one skein (216 yds) of malabrigo "dusty".

Hmmm.


List of partially completed projects:

baby bib
Mom's socks
Dad's socks
argosy scarf
*new* superlong wrap from those knitting flash cards that I have

Hmmm.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Thinking about Knitting is as good as Knitting, right?


My next project to get done is my friend Kristin's baby kimono. I was surfing for some good patterns and came across this one. I also went and bought some lovely lilac yarn, Misti Cotton brand, which is sooo soft. I will at some point get around to knitting this one. I think that the blanket won't get made. It calls for thirteen 50-gram balls of yarn. My pocketbook isn't so big.

The past few weeks have been pretty brutal at school. My memo draft is done and was turned in on Monday so I've had a little more time to think about knitting. I got my hands on Dorothy L. Sayers' The Unpleasantness at the Belladonna Club on mp3 and have been listening to that while I knit.

Friday, February 16, 2007

malabrigo found

I needed some post-therapy session, TGIF, yarn store browsing (touching, squeezing, swooning) today. Which turning into yarn buying. Surprise!

But my lys had a whole new section of malabrigo yarn, and I'd been in the market for some nice different-yet-harmonious colored yarn to use in my very first entrelac project: www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTdanica.html .

I wanted to get the grass green color, but realized I'd feel like wearing the wine color and pink-tan color a lot more often. Sheesh. I even had to sit down on the little couch they have at the store while I made up my mind.

Still working on the "Argonaut". I'm almost ready to join up the second skein, so it's about half-way done.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Gauntlet, stalled project


Here's a picture of my intended gift for my roommate, Liz, for Christmas. Unfortunately, I have only gotten one of the pair done. That and I kinda think it makes it look like I have a cast on. Hmmm...next time I might do it in white and stitch doodles on it as though it was a real cast.

The pattern that I used was this one that I found on Knitty.com. I added an extra cable twist on the cuff since I hate too short gloves. It's bad enough to get the cold air hitting your wrist, but snow is the worst. I am using a chunky alpaca yarn from Frog Tree. I like the alpaca except that it's really heavy. My first intentions were to knit a scarf (surprise!), but halfway through it, I realized that I'd need to have someone spot me while I lifted it onto my neck.

Also, the yarn isn't colorfast. This isn't too big of a deal except that my needles are now blue and for awhile I thought that I had a serious bruise on a couple of my fingers. :}.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Works in Progress

Yo, I realize this post is lame without any pictures. Pictures will be forthcoming, as soon as the shots of the big dent that appeared in our car overnight (thankfully, along with a note under the windshield wiper) have been downloaded for safekeeping.

Works in Progress (in order of motivation to finish):

Argosy scarf http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTargosy.html with Atacama alpaca yarn. This one I'm keeping for myself.

Baby Bib O' Love from Mason-Dixon Knitting http://www.masondixonknitting.com with Sugar n' Creme yarn. I have a whole friggin' pound of "geranium", which I also used to make a matching Baby Genius Burp Cloth for my niece's 1st birthday a few weeks back. It was supposed to be a 2-item gift, but only the burp rag got done in time. My brother and sister-in-law are probably the worst targets for handknits (not crafty themselves, prefer store-bought stuff). But for the 1-year-old who just received everything she could ever want for Christmas just a month or so back, it was hard thinking of anything else to buy her. She seemed really into drooling and spitting up when I was hanging out with her at Christmas, so I thought she could at least put a pretty burp rag to good use. Plus, I have all that pink yarn!

Socks for Dad (shhh...don't tell him...it's supposed to be a surprise....) I've only finished the cuff and a little of the 4x2 ribbing pattern on the ankle of sock #1. This is the project I carry around in my purse when I'm running errands. (That pound of Sugar n' Creme just isn't that easy to haul around on the bus.) The pattern is vintage Vogue, circa 1950's, hence the US size 1 needles it calls for. I'm using modern yarn though--75% wool, 25% bamboo. Did I mention that Dad was the one who gave me the Mason-Dixon Knitting book for Christmas?

Socks for Mom, made with superwash worsted Brown Sheep yarn in "cornflower", size 5 needles. Poor Mom, this was also supposed to be a Christmas present for her too. The frustrating thing about these socks is that I had 1 and 1/2 of them done before Christmas, which is about the same number of socks that I still have done. They would've been finished by the time I left Missouri, except that I'd run out of yarn. Once back in San Francisco, I picked up an extra skein, and then that was it. OK, to be fair, there was also the having to frog the entire heel because of a super-loose weird-o stitch aways back. So, I'm working on re-knitting the heel flap, and that's where I've stalled out. The sock could easily be done in a day or two if I just sit down and get to work.

Mom's Christmas Scarf-yeah, I know it's February


Here's my current project that has had some fits and starts to getting underway. I originally had planned on using a vibrant read llama yarn that I purchased in Rolla, MO at Uniquely Yours over break, but the short fibers started getting too fuzzy so I switched to one of my favorite yarns Malabrigo in Saphire Green. The yarn is wonderful. I knitted my first scarf ever out of Malabrigo in Parisian Midnight and fell in love with knitting.

I got the pattern from Ysolda. I love it. It makes me look like an expert knitter but the pattern is super-easy once you get a feel for it. The only problem is that I don't know if I'll be getting it done before St. Patricks.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Welcome to Load of Knit!

I have of late found myself spending way too much time browsing the internet looking at other people's posts about their new knitting projects and such. I was also talking too many people's ears off about my current knitting project. These people, usually just acquaintances that I should be making friends with instead of scaring them away talking about yarn, were not the ones who should be on the receiving end of my obsession.

Additionally, there were several people that I used to have yarn talk with that now live too far away for our usual knitting discussions. So this is my attempt to 1) be active on the internet with respect to knitting, 2) stop alienating potential friends, 3) build a east-coast, west-coast knitting circle.

So here it goes. The idea is that this blog would used to post pictures, links, ideas, encouragements, and rants about what you're currently knitting, planning on knitting, or have knitted. At first I'm limiting access just to get the ball rolling. I am open to suggestions on how to juggle the blog and on what the name should be (I picked Load of Knit in a pinch).

knog on!

Emily