I'm Such a Knitter

2011 FOs

2012-01-23T14:44:00.004-05:00

I did not knit much during my pregnancy, as evidenced below. And I just recently picked up the needles again so hopefully 2012 will have many, many more FOs! Babies certainly are a lot of work...

Candlelight Scarf

Newborn hat (charity)

2011 Reads

2012-01-23T14:34:00.003-05:00

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1), by George R.R. Martin [!!!]

Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson [!]

Lottery, by Patricia Wood

1/3 of The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown [#]

Nora, Nora, by Anne Rivers Siddons [!]

The New Yorkers, by Cathleen Schine

Baby books

Baby 411, by Denise & Alan Fields [!]

The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

Lost and Found, by Carolyn Parkhurst [!]

The Beach House, by Jane Green

1/3 of Room, by Emma Donoghue [#]

Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult (audio) [#]

KEY: [!] = Highly recommend and [#] = Disappointing

Elizabeth's Ark

2011-12-09T10:54:00.006-05:00

My friend Ana made me an awesome baby gift and gave it to me in October. I promptly photographed it for her Ravelry page and wrote a nice thank you note, but forgot to post it to my blog.

Presenting....Elizabeth (then about 2 months old) and the BEAUTIFUL Noah's Ark blanket that Ana crocheted for me.

I'm back!

2011-11-14T21:01:00.005-05:00

Well, hopefully :) My daughter is almost 3 months old now and I finally have the urge to knit again. I frogged the baby kicking bag I started when I was pregnant and am instead making a scarf for myself.
It's an easy chevron pattern, but requires me to knit the two halves separately and then seam them together so the scarf is symmetrical. Tonight I divided the yarn in half - I'd like to CO this week.

OTN: Kicking Bag

2011-07-16T07:53:00.003-04:00

Though I can't concentrate on anything elaborate right now, I would like to knit something for my soon-to-be-here daughter. I had to kill a few hours in the hospital waiting room yesterday (not there for me) and a nice, mostly stockinette baby Kicking Bag seemed like the perfect project to bring along.

I CO Thursday night just to get the right number of stitches on the needle--no mini cable, sorry Baby--and there are many many inches of (manageable) stockinette in my future.(Look how puffy my feet are and it was only about 8am.)

The other project sort-of-OTN is my Leyburn Socks. The pattern is still driving me nuts but I'm winging it nicely based on what I know the diamond shape is supposed to be doing (instead of following the instructions). I'm about halfway up leg #1 and it's turning out well.

Ok, so it’s about time for an update

2011-06-21T17:06:00.005-04:00

There has NOT been a lot of knitting going on… On June 10th I got up to the border/edging on Girasole and promptly put it aside. I have no idea why, but the thought of it overwhelms me a bit. I put in a lifeline and will just go for it. I should have plenty of yarn. I’d like to finish this in the next 4-5 weeks. Think I can do it?

Since they were less daunting, I thought maybe I’d tackle the Leyburn socks that have been in time-out for over a month. At lunch, (I thought) I figured out which row to start on (Row 1) and knitted away…

Obstacle 1: When I got to the end of Row 1, I was a stitch short. I fudged it, picked up a stitch, and moved on to Row 2.

Obstacle 2: When I was 3/4 of the way done with Row 2, I realized why I was a stitch short on Row 1. I missed picking up a stitch from my lifeline. I tinked back 1.5 rounds so I could pick up that stitch (all I need is a dropped stitch at the end of all of this), properly finished Row 1, and continued on my merry way.

Obstacle 3, a.k.a. The fun never ends: Row 1 proved not to be the right round to start with. When I went to knit Row 3, I realized that picking up the float where the pattern said to would make me create a second top-of-diamond instead of the bottom-of-diamond I can tell I need. Ugh. Must tink back again tonight and more carefully decide which round to start with: 3 or 5 or 7.

I’m not sure if this is all just me being dense, pregnancy brain, or lack of sleep…but to try to insure success tonight I decided to type up some idiot-proof directions. Directions that could not possibly steer me wrong. Well, unless one of the last two causes is to blame. We shall see.

The end of my lunch involved a visit to Ravelry. I copied the relevant parts of the Leyburn pattern and pasted them into Word. The lattice instructions are given for the foot (flat) and in order to knit the lattice pattern in the round (leg), you have to fudge the end of row 5 / beginning of row 6. The designer provides new instructions for Row 5 only, along with written instructions.

Instead of counting on my ability to look at a different part of the pattern when Row 5 rolls around, I deleted Row 5 from the foot/lattice instructions and pasted in the new Row 5 from the leg instructions. Think it will work? ::sigh:: I hope so. I want to wear these socks at some point!

…..AND….. (just so this isn’t a picture-less post)

My baby shower was this past weekend and I got some lovely handmade items.

My mother-in-law’s friend Michele made me this blanket and hat. Aren't they beautiful?

My friend gave me this gorgeous blanket, crocheted by her mom.

(My own baby knitting has not progressed past row 5 of a cardigan. Yeah, I better get on that now while I still get at least a little sleep.)

Been knitting

2011-05-26T14:14:00.006-04:00

Girasole

Here's the blanket as of lunchtime today. I'm on row 2 of repeat 2 of Chart F (that means I only have a few rounds until I start the knitted-on edging!).

I bought an extra skein of yarn so I wouldn't have to worry about running out but still got nervous when I had to begin my 3rd-to-last skein a few rows ago.

The blanket is GIGANTIC now and I didn't check my gauge so I was worried the border would eat up a ton of yarn. I asked in the Brooklyn Tweed group and another Raveler assured me that she knitted a larger version of the Girasole blanket and her border still took less than one skein of Cascade 220. That means I should be fine! ::phew::

Baby Sweater
(See previous post)

I swatched yesterday for my Maile Sweater, but think the needles may have been in the wrong slot of my case.

I used #2 needles (gauge = 6.75 sts/inch) and #4 needles (gauge = 7 sts/inch) and washed the swatch before I measured. This seems wrong, doesn't it?

The suggested gauge for my yarn (Ella Rae Lace Merino) is 6.5 sts/inch and the pattern, which only comes in one size, calls for 6 sts/inch. Even if the needles really were #2 and #4, I'll have to do some math to make sure I'll have enough yarn for the sweater.

ETA: Decided to knit the Sunnyside Cardigan with this yarn.

Hello, strangers!

2011-05-23T14:31:00.003-04:00

I am still alive. I'm fighting with my Leyburn socks (they're in time-out) and plugging away on my never-ending Girasole (which I still love). I'm knitting Chart F now, the last chart before the knitted-on border, and plan to get through its two repeats as fast as possible. The blanket is an enormous ~700 sts of worsted weight yarn and turning out beautifully. My goal is to finish it by July because....

....I'm having a baby girl in a few months! Yay!! That's what's been keeping me away from knitting and blogging, but now I'm getting down to the wire and really have to get moving on baby knitting. I've decided to make a purple Maile Sweater but my CO has been delayed by the fact that I can't find my needles. Um, yeah. We're rearranging our house in preparation for the little one's arrival and my knitting stuff is now in two rooms. I'll have to look again tonight.

Girasole progress

2011-04-18T21:30:00.004-04:00

My sweetie was in New England at the end of last week and I took Amtrak there to meet him. I'm telling you this because I got lots of knitting done!! I knitted away for 4 1/2 hours on Friday night and then again for several hours today during our car ride home.

*drum roll please*

I'm now done with Chart E!! I have 640 sts on the needle. It seemed to take forever to get to this point but I'm now just 22 (long) rows from the (time-consuming) knitted-on border. Yay!

Back in the knitting groove

2011-04-10T15:04:00.006-04:00

After a bit of a hiatus, I've been knitting pretty regularly again.

Last Saturday I spent a good deal of time knitting my Girasole blanket. I'm totally in love with this project again and bummed that it isn't very portable. It takes me about 30 minutes to knit a plain row and 45-60 minutes to knit a lace row. I don't mind...I love it anyway.

This past week I brought my Leyburn Socks to work a few times and finished most of foot #1. I went to visit friends yesterday, a trip that involved several hours on Amtrak trains and in waiting areas. By the time I got home last night I had finished the heel :)

Though I'm loving the way this sock is turning out, the pattern leaves something to be desired (at least for me). The instructions are kind of bare-bones and I had to resort to Googling on my phone to figure out how to do the heel… I had to fudge it in a couple places but think I did ok. Woohoo! 25% done with this project!

While I was in Philly, I visited Loop and bought myself some souvenir yarn: Ella Rae Lace Merino in a beautiful purple.

Bit by the knitting bug

2011-03-20T16:21:00.008-04:00

Girasole isn't very portable so I must cast on for some other projects if I want to have something to knit on at lunch, while I ride public transportation (3 days this week), and at knit night. Here's the plan for today:

#1 - Wind skeins into center-pull balls (done).
#2 - Admire cute dogs eating ice cubes in their sunny patch (done).
And being sweeties (done).

#3 - CO for the Leaf Lace Scarf with the purple Alpaca Cloud yarn. US #3 needles should work because that's what I used for the last project I knitted out of Alpaca Cloud.

#4 - Swatch for Leyburn Socks with the blue-purple Stroll yarn. I usually knit fingering-weight socks with US #1 needles so I'll start there.

Crafting Time

2011-03-17T14:43:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I've crocheted exactly one thing since I "learned" to crochet last March. I've been meaning to take on another project but honestly I haven't had time to decipher crochet abbreviations (makes me appreciate how foreign knitting instructions look to newbies) and master new techniques. My crafting time has really taken a hit the last year or so because of finishing up my second master's degree and, lately, because I've been ridiculously busy at work. Things have calmed down now so I'm picking the needles back up!

Crochet
Back in October, I bought yarn to make a Moss Fern Wrap and last Friday I went through the pattern and translated all of the abbreviations into words. Monday I brought my yarn, hook, and pattern to work with the intention of starting the project at lunch and thanks to the video at the bottom of this page I learned how to fsc (foundation single crochet). When I actually went to fsc, it occured to me that lace-weight mohair/silk yarn is not the best way to jump into crocheting. Um, yeah. Obviously.

Since then I've searched Ravelry to find an interesting crochet project that could be made with stash yarn. I didn't want to make a scarf or potholder, didn't have enough yarn for a sweater or shawl, and couldn't get excited about making a blanket or hat. Then I found some cute bibs: a frog-faced bib (have green yarn!) and a bib with an elephant on it (have gray yarn!). With any luck, those projects will each get another post sometime soon.

Knitting
After several months of hibernation, Girasole returned to my knitting rotation on February 1st. It sat untouched for many months because I kept making mistakes and because I had some master’s thesis deadlines to meet. (MA conferred February first--hooray!!)

<--I took this pic at lunch today. I'm a few rows into my second repeat of chart E. I was switching from a 32” cable to a 60” cable and the blanket still doesn’t lie flat with 92” of cable. That means it’ll be nice and BIG. Yay! Can’t wait to use this thing :) Since the number of sts increases with each round it's hard to estimate how much longer it will take to finish. It takes about an hour to do one round so I've got quite a bit of work still ahead of me.

FO: Candlelight Scarf

2011-02-23T21:05:00.006-05:00

A looong overdue post!

Pattern: “Candlelight Shawl” by Saccade Elyse
Source: Ravelry download [link]
Started: December 3, 2010
Finished & Blocked: January 31, 2011
Dimensions: 48” wide and 22” top to tip (just blocked--later shrank some)

Yarn: ~307 yds of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight yarn (80% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Nylon; 400 yds per 115 g ball) in "Poppy"
Needles: US #5
Modifications: See below.

I’m using this shawlette as a winter scarf. Lovely yarn, lovely color, beautiful design... However, I had trouble following the pattern so I’m sure it’s not exactly as the designer intended. I still like how it turned out and it’s the perfect size to wrap around my neck. The NY area is getting pummeled with wintery weather this year so it got lots of use this season.

I knitted the set-up rows and rows 1-30 without any trouble but when I got to the spot where I was supposed to repeat the rows/areas in the red box, my stitch count wouldn’t have any of it. After PMing back and forth with the designer and another Raveler, I ended up repeating rows 15-30 instead of 13-20 (be sure you repeat sts 12-19 and 48-55 as necessary from row 15+), and stopping at row 20 to begin the edging. I had 31g of yarn left and all worked out fine.

For the edging, I decided to continue in pattern for the edge sts and incomplete section (part right before the first full pattern repeat). It was supposed to be stockinette but I didn’t like the way that looked since we were still doing yo, k1, yo for the center sts. I’m pleased with the final result!

Overall, a beautiful pattern and a relatively quick knit.

2010 FOs

2011-01-02T12:16:00.003-05:00

Rooibos
Monkey socks
Wavy Socks
Oliver socks
Square Blanket (1st crochet project!)
Claudia hat (for Ravelympics 2010)
Sunday Swing Socks (for Ravelympics 2010)
Crofter's Cowl
Muir Scarf
Pretty Cowl

2010 Reads

2011-01-02T12:10:00.002-05:00

Every Last One, by Anna Quindlen
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: a novel, by Helen Simonson [!]
Digging to America, by Anne Tyler (audio) [!]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
Thesis stuff
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, by Alan Bradley [#]
Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke (audio) [!]
Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri [!]
When You Are Engulfed In Flames, by David Sedaris (audio)
Heloise & Abelard: A New Biography, by James Burge
Abelard and Heloise, a play, by Ronald Millar
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett (audio) [!]
In Extremis: The Story of Abelard and Heloise, by Howard Brenton

* KEY: [!] = Highly recommend and [#] = Disappointing

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T09:40:00.001-05:00

Here's a picture of our peanuts under the tree. Hope everyone has a nice holiday & a happy and healthy new year!

Lots to say

2010-12-13T21:36:00.007-05:00

Though I haven't been posting much, a lot has been going on.

I CO for the Candlelight Shawl in beautiful "Poppy" (red) Tanis Fiber Arts fingering weight yarn. That will get its own post.

I participated in my first-ever swap with the Mad Men group on Ravelry. It was an easy swap that involved sending off yarn, a pattern, and snacks (totaling $20-$25) to the person you got matched up with. The person I got likes Jane so I found a picture of Jane online, bought yarn inspired by the color of her dress, and a curvy sock pattern. For snacks, I went to a local store that sells old-fashioned candy and chose two 1960s-era goodies. Here is what I sent off:
The person who got my name went a little crazy (in a good way) and sent me a ton of stuff. In addition to yarn, a pattern, and snacks, she also gave me a calendar, a magnetic shopping list, a gift card, a candle, and more. The yarn is Manos del Uruguay Silk in colors Peggy would wear. Here's a picture:

I finished my Rooibos vest, and it's a bummer. It's such a bummer it doesn't even get its own FO post or a proper photo.

Started: September 18, 2010
Finished: December 2, 2010
Yarn: About 5 skeins of Knit Picks Swish Bulky (100% Merino; 137 yards per 100g skein) in Saffron, #25132
Size: Women's medium

Modifications: Went up a size because my gauge was off. I figured if the vest ended up too big, I could give it to my sister - unfortunately I somehow managed to read "repeat these six rows two times" as "repeat these six rows six times" (no idea how) and made the silly decision to carry on instead of ripping & re-knitting. Figured it'd just be a little long, which was fine with me. As it is, it's way too long for my short sister. Maybe with additional washings it will shrink, but it's definitely not meant to be a gift!

I had my eye on this pattern for quite a while and am upset about how it turned out. When I noticed that I'd messed up between the waist and armholes, I really should have ripped back. At least then I'd have a project that could be worn in public. As it is now, the vest is entirely too long and destined to be an in-house-only garment. ::sigh::

My sister has requested slipper-booties for my 1-1/2 year old nephew. I found a pattern for Greemy Slippers, which look similar to an outgrown slipper that actually stayed on his foot, but now that he's running around the house I'll have to find a way to make them grippy-bottomed. I really have to buy the yarn and get moving! Christmas Eve will be here before I know it.

(Excuse the poor writing in this post. Just needed to get it out there because it's been too long since I wrote anything here!)

FO: Monkey Socks

2010-11-28T16:21:00.008-05:00

Pattern: "Monkey" by Cookie A.
Source: Knitty, Winter 2006
Size: Women's medium
Started: October 9, 2010
Finished: November 2, 2010
Gifting: December 25, 2010

Yarn: less than 1 skein of Fiber Optic Yarns Foot Notes (420 yards per 114g skein; 80% Merino, 20% Nylon) in "No. 26 - Days of Wine & Roses" (even prettier in person than in these pics)
Needle: US 1½ - 2.5 mm
Modifications: Cuff is K2P2 ribbing instead of K1P1 ribbing. Did it by mistake on the first one, and made the second one to match.

I'm giving these Monkeys to my sister-in-law for Christmas. They should fit her more snugly/better than shown in the pictures and I really hope she likes them. I've never knitted her anything before and am sure I'll be super-nervous when she opens them.

It usually takes me forever to make socks, but these got knitted pretty quickly because of all the traveling I did in October - on planes, in cars, and on the subway. I originally CO with Socks That Rock Mediumweight with the intention of knitting these up on the bus/plane ride to and from two DC rallies. Unfortunately that version of the socks ended up being unacceptably unattractive (ugly color pooling) so I ripped it out in favor of this yarn. What a good decision - these socks are beautiful!
Knitted these socks with two circs, but used dpns to do the gussets. I was calling the STR version my "rally socks" so it's kinda cool that I finished them on Election Day.

A celebratory post

2010-10-19T19:04:00.005-04:00

I'm pretty much done with my thesis!! I filed my graduation paperwork today and will have my master's thesis 100% done by the end of the month. I can't even tell you how relieved I am!!!! To celebrate, I've been knitting like it's my job. Here's a taste of what I've been working on:

That's Hazel helping me photograph Monkey sock #1. I'm also working on a vest and some other stuff. More posts to come :)

FO: Wavy Socks

2010-09-04T15:13:00.007-04:00

Pattern: "Serpentine Socks" [Rav link]
Source: Socks from the Toe Up, by Wendy D. Johnson
Started: May 20, 2010
Finished: September 1, 2010 (Sock #1 was done on 6/18/10)
Gifting: December 24, 2010

Yarn: 2 skeins of Patons Kroy Socks 4 Ply [75% Wool, 25% Nylon; 166 yds per 50g skein] in #55011 - "Flax"
Needles: US #2
Size: Smallest size, to fit Women's medium
Gauge: 6.5 stitches and 9 rows = 1 inch in stockinette stitch
Modifications: I knitted these as written, except for an unintentional “design modification.” I knitted all even rows instead of purling the purls on those rows. The wave isn’t as pronounced as it should be but, since I did this consistently, the socks turned out fine.

Back in the beginning of the year, my mom requested another pair of socks. She *loves* the pair I gave her back in 2009 so is definitely worthy of more knitted gifts. :D I decided that socks would be a good Christmas present, but only if I left myself plenty of time to make them.

My schedule has been really crazy lately (thanks to a MA thesis that needs to get done asap) and socks take me forever to knit so...I kind of cheated. I chose a pattern that required non-fingering weight yarn. These knitted up quickly, and I'm happy with how they turned out. Hope they fit my mom as well as they fit me!

In the pictures, you can see how they're constructed. There's a stockinette ridge going up either side and a wavy pattern all down the front and on the back of the leg. I think they look cool on, and they fit snugly (which I think is essential for socks). The yarn was soft so I enjoyed knitting with it; if my mom tells me it holds up well, I'll use it again.

I learned some stuff while making them, too. This was my first time knitting a sock on 2 circs instead of 5 dpns. I like the technique even though I think I’m faster on dpns--it's nice not having to worry about sts slipping off the needle, etc. It was also my first time doing a Turkish cast on and an especially-stretchy bind off.

I knitted them a lot while in the car or at knit night, and even a little at WWKIP Day in Eisenhower Park. I brought them along on my vacation in July but didn't even take them out of my bag during our 2,600 mile road trip. I really should have finished them then, but was too busy enjoying the scenery and cuddling with my dogs, who came with us. ;)

Anyway, I'll give these to my mom on Christmas Eve. I hope she likes them!

Can I do it?

2010-08-13T12:33:00.004-04:00

Can I finish a sweater in time for the Fall weather? Probably not, but I'm going to try.

The Jali Cardigan was in the summer issue of IK and is knitted with cotton bamboo yarn. I'd like to finish it before it gets too cold, but any FO would be admirable at this point. ;)

My knitting friend stopped by the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in NYC and picked up the yarn for me. I liked the color and drape in the magazine, so asked her to buy me the same exact yarn. Not very creative of me, and I think it's the first time I've ever knitted with the exact yarn called for in the pattern. I swatched last night at knit night and may cast on for it this weekend.

Hazel

2010-07-25T20:31:00.006-04:00

We entered this picture of Hazel in our local newspaper's "Cutest Canine Contest." Unfortunately she didn't win, but isn't she cute??

This year we brought the dogs on vacation with us. We drove 2,600 miles in 7 days (WV, VA, SC, GA, AL, TN, and KY...plus an 8th day in NJ) and our pups behaved like angels the entire time. Dewey mostly sat on my lap, and Hazel mostly sat on the floor by my feet.

(Edited this post to better explain picture)

Wow, almost two months!

2010-06-29T20:59:00.009-04:00

It's been a long time since I last posted--I am alive and well. Attempting to write an 80-100 page master's thesis doesn't leave me much free time so I've been slacking on the knitting and the blogging. Here's a quick update.

Back in May I finished my husband's never-ending red socks and gleefully handed them over to him as he returned from his 100 mile bike ride, the Montauk Century. I was much less gleeful when sock #2 fit perfectly while sock #1 was a bit tight in the foot. (Sock #1 is on the left & comes to a point above the toes.) There's not much motivation to fix wool socks when it's 97 degrees outside because Dennis isn't going to wear them anytime soon...

I brought the deformed sock to WWKIP Day a couple weekends ago to unravel the foot, but thought I bound off too well and needed scissors (which I hadn't brought to the park). At knit night on Thursday, as I was picking out the stitches, I realized that I was undoing the *CO* (um, ribbing) instead of the BO (complicated shaping that needs repair). Ugh. It's at the bottom of my knitting basket now. Think I'm a bit over-tired & distracted? Yeah, me too.

On June 18th I finished the first of what I'm now calling my Wavy Socks (previously known by their pattern name, Serpentine Socks). At WWKIP Day, I CO for the second sock and finished the toe. I'm hoping to make good progress on it over the next 1.5 weeks...

...and maybe even start a baby sweater (small & portable). I swatched for the Maile baby sweater last night and might cast on as soon as Friday. I'm using stash yarn that I bought last summer while in France. It just so happens it's almost the same color as the Wavy Socks. Oh well. No need to buy yarn when there's beautiful and suitable stuff in my yarn hamper...

The black lace shawl I began a while back hasn't been touched because it's too complicated for tv knitting and my lunch breaks and after-work-time have been focused on my thesis whenever I'm not exhausted.

What else? Hmm. The puppies are best friends. Dewey has doubled in size since we got him in April; this picture is a little old already. He's getting a hair cut Thursday and I'll have to post an updated picture.

First crochet FO!

2010-05-07T22:02:00.011-04:00

This is just a basic granny square baby blanket; it was based on Baby Afghan #70454AD by Lion Brand Yarn.

Started: March 25, 2010
Finished: May 7, 2010
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solids & Heathers (20% wool, 80% acrylic; 197 yds per 85g ball) in Blush Heather (<2 balls), Violet (<1 ball), and Dark Rose Heather (just >1 ball)
Hook: size J

My knit night friend showed me how to do the shell edging. I really like the way this turned out!

Old posts here.

A non-knitting post

2010-04-25T15:04:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to say that I'll be MIA for a while longer. I'm really killing myself trying to get my thesis completed... Send good luck thoughts my way!

p.s. I'm super-close to finishing the crocheted baby blanket.

So many WIPs

2010-04-12T21:02:00.007-04:00

I don't think I've ever had so many works in progress before.

1. Oliver Socks - I'm about 1/2 done with sock #2's heel flap. This project is no longer suitable for buses, subways, or trains but still fits easily into my work bag. I knitted most of a heel flap at my ridiculously-early-dinner today (worked tonight so had dinner at 3:45). This pattern requires you to knit the gusset and arch shaping at the same time, which I found confusing the first time around because the stitch markers moved in a way I didn't anticipate. Now that I know what to expect, the second time should go much smoother.

2. Girasole - I'm happily knitting Chart D. I went away for Easter weekend and knitted a lot of Girasole on the way to SC and a bit more on the way home.

3. Square blanket - My first crocheted project is coming along nicely. I saw some granny square blankets at Lion Brand Yarn Studio and think I'm crocheting this too loosely but don't really care. I still love it! Next time around I'll know I'm a loose crocheter and will use a smaller hook.

4. Haruni Shawl - I started this this morning with the help of this helpful video (provisional COs always give me trouble). Only one half of the shawl is charted - the second half isn't included and neither are the first 3 sts, center stitch, or last 3 sts. It's not a big deal now that there are only a few sts per row but I hope I don't make a mess of things later on. I put 4 stitch markers to help me keep track of things.

5. Serpentine Socks - okay, well I'm jumping the gun a bit on these because I haven't started yet. My yarn, needles, CO instructions, and pattern (with errata) are ready to go though and I plan to begin asap.

In other big news: We got a(nother) puppy. His name is Dewey and he's a 3-month-old Miniature Schnauzer. He and Hazel are getting along smashingly so far. *huge smile*

Also, I saw Jared Flood speak recently. I sat in the last row and only took one blurry, far-away picture but the LBY Studio people took some great photos and really captured what the presentation was about so take a look at their blog post.

I'm back

2010-03-31T19:33:00.007-04:00

Wow, I've been MIA for weeks! I've been really busy meeting grad school deadlines but have been squeezing in yarn whenever I can.

Since my last post was about crochet, I'll start there. I got super motivated after "learning" to crochet a granny square at my knitting group, went out and bought all the stuff in this picture, and then massively failed at crochet attempt after crochet attempt. I could do the set-up round but was incapabale of going further. It turns out that I was pulling it too tight and trying to crochet into the wrong chain.

It wasn't until my group met up again on March 25th that I was able to master the granny square. And look at how much progress I've made!

Please excuse this cell phone picture, but here's what I've got so far. I'm doing LP, DP, LP, P, LP, DP, etc. Since I'm using the light pink yarn every other time, I've used up one full ball already. I'm not sure how big a square baby blanket should be, but I'll just crochet until I've either run out of light pink yarn or think the blanket is big enough.

I've also been knitting Dennis's Oliver socks. The cuff of the second sock is about 2/3 done and has been my commuter-knitting for the past couple of weeks. It's a super boring k2p2 ribbing that is perfect for mass transit (unless it's rush hour when you're crammed in the subway car like a sardine) and I've been keeping it in my purse for my frequent bus, subway, or train rides. Once I finish the cuff, I'm going to have to find another commuter project because the foot requires lots of concentration. The fussy foot is worth the effort though because sock #1 fit Dennis perfectly.

Lastly, Girasole is resting comfortably in my yarn basket. On March 6th I started ripping back to Chart C's halfway point, where I had put a lifeline. <-- Here is a picture of the blob that resembled a sea creature.

Since then, I knitted six more rows, put in a lifeline, then knit some more before realizing I'm one stitch short. I'm currently contemplating whether I should again rip back to mid-Chart C or fudge the one stitch and knit on. I don't see any errors in my knitting and am feeling kind of defeated. I'm supposed to see Jared Flood again tomorrow night (Kim sucked me into this one) so maybe I'll be that annoying audience person and ask for his expert eyes.

p.s. I really want to cast on for a black lace shawl; I'm not optimistic about finishing it in time for the May 1st wedding but may give it a go. This is of course despite the fact that I haven't worked on my mom's vest since before the Olympics. *sigh*

Crochet, here I come!

2010-03-06T22:07:00.010-05:00

Thursday night I learned to crochet. At least for the time being, I know how to single crochet, double crochet, and granny square. Very exciting! I've been wanting to learn for several years and am so glad that I now have a weekly opportunity to get help if needed (sorry & thanks, Kim!).

I'm envisioning myself crocheting blankets, baby stuff, and edgings for knitted items. After knitting a swatch and square, I think I'm ready to start my first real project.

I've decided to crochet a baby blanket from the Lion Brand website [someone's pretty pic here.] I went to Jo-Ann tonight and bought crochet hooks, a learn-to-crochet book that has great color illustrations and useful instructions, and purple, dark rose, and light pink Wool-Ease yarn. I'm going to use three colors instead of four and hope the combination looks nice.

I also bought a few other things: another ball of Rose Heather yarn so I can make a scarf to match my Ravelympics hat, a darning needle set, and button pins. The little container that holds my tapestry needles is cracked and I'll use the pins (don't have a little kink in the bottom) when I make the second of Dennis's socks.

FO: Claudia hat

2010-02-27T14:25:00.004-05:00

This project was a last-minute addition to my Ravelympics repertoire and got me a medal in the "Hat Half-Pipe" event.

Pattern: Claudia by MJ Kim
Started: February 26, 2010
Finished: February 27, 2010

Yarn: less than 1 skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solids & Heathers (80% Acrylic, 20% Wool; 197 yds per 85 g ball) in "Rose Heather"
Needles: #5 for most of the hat; #4 for the CO and fancy-ness

I saw this hat on Thursday night at my knitting group and *loved* it. On Friday I decided to use some stash yarn to knit one up for myself. I feel less guilty now about how easily I finished my Ravelympics socks...

This is the nicest hat I've knit, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. During the decreases, I could have k2tog a bit tighter but I think it turned out great. If I make this hat again, I'll learn how to cable without a cable needle. I was too busy watching tv to learn a new technique. ;)

FO: Sunday Swing Socks

2010-02-24T18:33:00.014-05:00

My Ravelympics 2010 project is done! These socks were entered in the "WIPs-Dancing" event, as you can see from the snazzy medal I just received.

Pattern: Sunday Swing Socks by Kristel Nyberg
Source: Knitty, Summer 2009
Started: August 19, 2009 (in Nice, France)
Finished: February 20, 2010 (during two man bobsled)

Size: Women's medium
Yarn: 240 yds of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight yarn (80% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Nylon; 400 yds per 115 g ball) in "Peacock"
Needles: #1 dpns

This pattern is from the Summer 2009 issue of Knitty. It was easy to follow and went by really quickly. (That's saying a lot because socks usually take me forever and a day to make.)

The toes fit especially well, and the color is really pretty in person. I only strayed once from the pattern; it said to pull the yarn through the 8 live stitches to close the toe, but I did Kitchener stitch.

I knitted them in front of the TV--Olympics, of course--and finished the first one during the pairs figure skating event and the second one during two man bobsled. In between, the socks and I saw men's figure skating, various skiing & skating events, and ice dancing.

Ravelry is awesome

2010-02-20T16:58:00.006-05:00

Most knitters know that Ravelry is completely awesome. Until recently, I'd been obsessed with it for searching for patterns, seeing what others are working on, looking for pattern help/errata, etc.

Additional Reason #1: About a month ago, I found a small group of young knitters who wanted to get together right up the street from my house. We now meet once a week and I always have a great time. (Last week I also got a lot of Ravelympics knitting done and soon I'll learn how to crochet.)

Additional Reason #2: A couple of weeks ago, someone contacted me because she saw my stash contained a 1/2 ball of yarn in her dye lot. I was happy to help and mailed it off. To my surprise, she wanted to thank me by sending yarn back my way. Look at the fabulous yarn she gave me.

The two skeins of Schoeller Stahl Fortissima Socka yarn in "Wine" will become Oliver socks for Dennis. The hank of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight yarn in "River Rocked" will become socks for me. Roseann is awesome, and very generous!!

I got the yarn the other day and spent a long time looking for patterns on Ravelry. If I'd voted in the Bobby Awards before today, I would have found the Database of Sock Patterns that was nominated for Most Educational Post/Thread. Educational indeed! I promptly voted for them and joined their group. (I also found some really cool patterns while voting.)

Thinking ahead

2010-02-17T20:01:00.004-05:00

I'm stressing out about non-knitting things, which always makes me start queuing projects. Not sure why that happens...

My husband requested some socks. Plan to cast on for "Oliver" as soon as possible.

I have a few weddings coming up. Think I might knit a "Triangular Summer Shawl" for them. I have plenty of black Zephyr Wool-Silk. Must get myself to the library and check out the book!

Also at the top of my queue: Jared Flood's "Turn a Square" hat.

The "Olympic Reindeer Hat" is pretty cool (I love Ravelry) and I'm wondering if I can knit it up before the cold weather goes away. Seems unlikely...

Ravelympics

2010-02-14T22:52:00.006-05:00

The Winter Olympics--and Ravelympics 2010--started on Friday night! At first I planned to participate in the "Lace Luge" but decided that was a bit insane based on my schedule. Instead I looked through my WIPs to find the one most worthy of being finished by February 28.

The winner? The Sunday Swing Socks I was supposed to have knitted when I was in Spain & France over the summer. They're entered in the "WIPs-Dancing" event.

<--Here is what they looked like as of 2/12/10. I barely did any knitting in Europe and had finished only the first cuff by the end December. (One of the requirements for projects entered in this event is that they've been untouched since mid-January.)

The yarn is gorgeous and I'm excited to be knitting it up. It usually takes me forever to knit socks so I thought the Ravelympics would be a good incentive for me to finish this pair quickly.

I only knitted one round during the opening ceremonies because we were at our friends' house, but the next evening and night I knitted for a ridiculous amount of time and managed to finish 2/3 of a sock. Today I knitted a bit more in front of the TV and...finished the first sock!!!! Woohoo!

(Sock #2 will take me much longer since I have to go back to work and complete the first deadline for my MA thesis.)

FO: Crofter's Cowl

2010-02-12T23:29:00.006-05:00

Pattern: "Crofter's Cowl" by Gudrun Johnston
Source: Ravelry [link]
Started: January 28, 2010
Finished: February 2, 2010
Gifted: February 12, 2010
Dimensions: 8.5" wide x 9" tall
Yarn: 1/2 skein of Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted [100% Merino Wool; 216 yds per 3.5 oz skein] in #23 - "Pagoda" (color "30 1 2")
Needles: US #7

I knitted this cowl for my friend's 30th birthday present and gave it to her today.

The color is beautiful in person but hard to photograph. Hope she likes it! :)

Pre-Ravelympics Update

2010-02-12T13:50:00.007-05:00

This is the last post I'll have on these projects until after the Ravelympics.

Girasole. I am still in love with this project and it's going to be hard for me to neglect it until February 28th.

As you can see, the blanket and I had a bit of a disagreement over Chart C. I was knitting along and came across a missed YO. Since it was just one stitch, and my lifeline was so far back, I fudged it and continued on my merry way. This was a bad idea; a few rows later I realized that the disruption to the design was too much for perfectionist me to live with and tinked (for those non-knitters reading this, that means unknit stitch by stitch...very time-consuming) 3 or 4 rounds of who-knows-how-many stitches. In the process, I realized that I made three mistakes in that round and that's why it looked so bad. Must have gotten distracted by the tv during that part! I am now done with Chart C and a lifeline is in place.

Quilted Diamond Vest. At last night's knit night I finished the back of this vest so the project is officially 50% done. I've only been working on it while at Panera so it's slow going.

I heart Girasole

2010-02-07T23:14:00.004-05:00

After knitting a third swatch, I decided to knit my blanket on #10 needles. I liked the way all three (9, 10, 10.5) came out and figured the 10 was a compromise.

I knitted the cast on, Chart A, and six knit rounds on #9 needles because I don't have #10 dpns. At that point I slipped my 80 stitches over to my #10 circ, put in a lifeline, took this --> picture, and went to bed.

Girasole is a large circle, and you knit it from the center out to the edges. I was nervous about this construction because I tried something like this before and failed miserably. This time went much better, thanks to this video.

I'm moving right along and have been having fun knitting Charts B and C. I like that the pattern changes dramatically from chart to chart; it keeps it interesting. About halfway through Chart C, after some challenging k4tog's, I put in a lifeline because it would be devastating to have knitted that much and then make an un-tinkable mistake. Ok, that's a bit dramatic but the rounds are taking longer and longer to complete...

My first ball of yarn lasted up until round 18 of Chart C, at which point I got to try out the spit join Jared mentioned at the lace class I attended. So far, so good. It was nice not to have an end dangling and to have such a smooth transition between balls of yarn.

This pattern is fun, relatively easy, and very beautiful. It's so hard for me to put it down! I don't know how I'll feel when each round has a zillion sts but for now I'm really enjoying myself.

Jared Flood

2010-01-31T11:17:00.007-05:00

Last Sunday I went to Jared Flood's (aka brooklyntweed's) lace class in Roslyn. I consider myself an intermediate lace knitter and learned a lot more than I expected. It was fabulous!

He handed out a lace chart for us to work on while he told us about techniques and tips. As we knitted, we implemented what he discussed: we did a provisional/crochet CO (different than the one I used for Muir), made selvedge stitches up the sides, practiced our chart reading skills, learned about different joins (Russian, felted/spit), got advice about lifelines, learned how to do knitted-on edging so the lace doesn't have a hard edge, and learned how to turn a corner.

I got about two panels of the lace sampler chart done before starting the knitted-on edging/bind off he talked about (pic on left). When I got home, I finished the BO, turned a corner, and knitted down one of the sides using those selvedge sts. Very exciting. I plan to finish the swatch so I can test out the provisional CO, which supposedly unzips easily.

I had never been to Knit before and really liked the space. They had two tables and lots of yarn and accessories. You can see some of it in this picture:

I got his book for Christmas and brought it along for him to sign.

And...he brought his Girasole. I have wanted to make the blanket version since I saw it in December 2008. Now that I've seen it in person, I'm extra motivated.

I went home and bought the pattern and 9 balls of Cascade 220 Superwash in "Dark Ginger" - an orangish brown. I swatched last night (flat instead of in the round; I know, I know) and am stressing out about which size needle to use.

The recommended #10.5 seemed way too loose before washing (when we're supposed to measure), but not so bad after. The #9 swatch looks nice but I'm a loose purler and am worried it won't look this way when I knit in the round. This is the most money I've ever spent on a project so I really want it to come out perfectly. I'll think about it for another day and then CO. Can't wait to wrap myself up in Girasole while watching TV!

FO: Muir Scarf

2010-01-23T18:01:00.014-05:00

Pattern: Muir, by Rosemary Hill
Source: Fall 2007 issue of Knitty
Started: January 19, 2008
Finished & Blocked: January 19, 2010
Size: 35" long x 8.5" wide, folded in half
Modifications: Repeated lace chart 7 times instead of 13.
Yarn: A little more than 1 skein of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud (100% Baby Alpaca; 440 yds per 50g ball) in color #C740, "Tide Pool Heather"
Needles: US #3

I love the pattern, the yarn, the color, and the way everyone else's shawls turned out. My scarf version took me exactly 2 years to finish; I CO days before starting my then-new job and the poor thing hibernated on and off as my grad class workload, my general busy-ness, and a new puppy allowed. I haven't been knitting a ton of tiny-gauge lace projects recently and am glad I got a spurt of energy. I abbreviated it into a scarf - because it is just too beautiful to leave as a UFO and because it will get more use as a non-shawl.

Over the holiday weekend I knitted the entire 7th repeat of the chart (without using a lifeline!) as well as the top border. I had planned to stop after 6 repeats, but the scarf was still too short...the additional repeat added 2.75" to the pre-blocked length and I'm happy with the finished size.

I was nervous that my project would unravel if I undid the provisional cast on incorrectly, but it worked out well enough. I must say that the bottom border was not done very precisely but I think I'm the only one who can tell. It took me almost my whole lunch hour on Tuesday to undo the CO and then 2-3 hours to knit the bottom border and bind off. That picot bind off is a killer, and very time-consuming!

Muir Scarf was a squarish blob before blocking but it ended up being the perfect size; it'll replace the Icarus that I've been wearing as my winter scarf for the past 3 seasons. This scarf will keep me toasty warm without hanging out of any of my coats...and it's the same yarn as Icarus (different color) so I know it will stand up well to daily use.

I may have done 2 repeats of the middle section of the chart had I known this wasn't going to become a shawl. Unfolded, the scarf is 35” x 16” - I blocked it to 39"x16" and it was 19"x17" before blocking.

Seven repeats of the chart along with the top border used up exactly one skein of yarn. I wound a 2nd skein when I was halfway through the picot bind off because I thought I'd run out. Just made it though, and needed to use the 2nd skein to knit the bottom border.

It seems silly, but I'm kind of excited that I finished Muir on what would have been its 2-year anniversary as a WIP. Love it!

(Old posts here.)

And the next knit is...

2010-01-22T19:56:00.006-05:00

Quilted Diamond Vest
I've had this in my queue since May. In case you didn't notice, it has a zipper. This kind of freaks me out but I've decided that I have to try a few "scary" techniques in 2010. First I'm going to tackle the zipper. Then colorwork, steeking, or a toy. Then who knows what. ;)

Since my gauge is not the same as the pattern's, I used a knitting calculator to see how many sts to cast on. Hope I measured the swatch right because it seems that adding 2 sts (to the back and to each front) will do the trick. I'm making them selvedge sts, slipping the 1st stitch of every row and knitting the last stitch of every row.

The pattern says that the border is in "moss pattern" but then gives instructions for 1x1 ribbing. I knitted 4 rows of moss stitch and then started on the chart. I put stitch markers at the points of the diamonds to help me read my knitting; once I got going, I really just used the chart to keep track of the waist shaping. The vest seems easy enough, at least until that zipper...

I've got about 7" of the back done. I got a good start on Monday then knitted some more at...a new knitting group that I found through Ravelry. We met for the first time on Thursday night and the location couldn't be more convenient. There were only four of us but I had a fabulous time and really really hope the group keeps meeting up. When the weather gets nicer I can walk or ride my bicycle.

I finished Muir and will take FO pictures over the weekend.

FO: Pretty Cowl

2010-01-14T22:36:00.009-05:00

Pattern: Birthday Cowl, by Nova Seals
Started: January 5, 2010
Finished: January 10, 2010
Gifted: January 14, 2010
Yarn: 1 skein of Malabrigo Merino Worsted [100% Merino Wool; 216 yds per 3.5 oz skein] in #99 - "Stone Blue" (color "15 02 04")
Needles: 16-inch #8 circs
Dimensions: 10" tall

This FO post is dramatically different than the one I thought I would write. The project all started because I needed to knit something soft and beautiful in order to cheer myself up (see here). My single skein of stashed* Malabrigo fit that description perfectly and I searched Ravelry to find something suitable (simple, one-skein, useful).

I fell in love with the cowl as I was knitting it but it's one of my favorite FOs ever because of Hazel. She was sitting next to me like a sweetheart as I bound off the last stitch. The camera was right there and I just couldn't help myself. I made poor Hazel model the cowl before I washed and blocked it.

She hated it. I loved it. She was such a good sport. I was smiling for days.

I'll always remember Hazel modeling it for me. She obviously preferred snoozing to what I was doing to her but she let me take a bunch of pictures anyway. (These are just a few of them; they're all super-cute.)

Anyway, I decided early on that this project would be a gift for my good friend. I've been wanting to knit her something for a while now and decided that, with this Arctic weather we've been having, she might like a handknit cowl. I gave it to her on Thursday night and she seemed to really like it. :)

The yarn is a beautiful blue and so soft. I made the bottom edge a little straighter than the CO edge and blocked it so it was a little wider at the bottom. I figured that this would make for a better fit and I am really happy with the way it turned out.

*On New Year's Eve I spent about 2.5 hours organizing my stash. I emptied my yarn hamper and various knitting bags/baskets onto the floor and organized the contents into three piles: Keep, Nice-But-Eh, and Toss/Donate. The Keep pile had yarn that I want to work with, the Nice-But-Eh pile had decent yarn that I wouldn't mind using for charity projects or trying to sell, and the Toss/Donate pile had yarns I didn't want to knit with/had inherited from others. I sat on the floor with my laptop, updated my stash in Ravelry, and sorted (and ziplocked) the yarn by weight. Luckily my Ravelry stash was mostly accurate and it was just a matter of deleting yarns or updating quantities. I was kind of harsh with what went back in my yarn hamper, which I'm sure makes my husband happy. ;)

2009 FOs

2010-01-05T20:39:00.000-05:00

Flower Washcloth

French Press Slippers

Black Hat

Baby Sophisticate sweater

Newborn Hat

Penny's Catskill Ridge

No-Daisy Daisy

Double Eyelet Rib Toe-Up Socks

Sea Foam baby blanket

February Lady

Midnight Socks

2009 Reads

2010-01-05T20:37:00.001-05:00

Historia Calamitatum: The Story of My Misfortunes, by Peter Abelard

How to raise the perfect dog, by Cesar Millan

Organized Crime and American Power: A History, by Michael Woodiwiss

Crime and Punishment in American History, by Lawrence Friedman

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley (audio) [!]

Reform and the Papacy in the Eleventh Century: Spirituality and Social Change, by Kathleen G. Cushing

Race, Crime, and the Law, by Randall Kennedy

Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of Force, by Jerome H. Skolnick & James J. Fyfe

About Alice, by Calvin Trillin (audio)

Keeping Faith, by Jodi Picoult (#)

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen (audio) [!]

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini [!]

Research shortcuts, by Judi Kesselman-Turkel and Franklynn Peterson (starting my thesis!)

Saturday, by Ian McEwan (audio)

The clothes on their backs : a novel, by Linda Grant

Aloft, by Chang-rae Lee (audio) [!]

(1/3 of) Thanks for the memories : a novel, by Cecelia Ahern [#]

American pastoral, by Philip Roth [!]

(1/2 of) Suite française, by Irène Némirovsky (audio)

Various books on puppies & on English Bulldogs

Puppy parenting : a month-by-month guide to the first year of your puppy's life, by Jan Greye and Gail Jessie Smith

Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert (audio)

(1/2 of) Speaking of Hillary : a reader's guide to the most controversial woman in America - edited by Susan K. Flinn

The kite runner, by Khaled Hosseini [!]

The Double Helix : a personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA, by James D. Watson

Marley & me : life and love with the world's worst dog, by John Grogan (audio)

* KEY: [!] = Highly recommend and [#] = Disappointing

My little Penny

2009-12-31T10:18:00.012-05:00

We adopted a sweet little Shih Tzu about 2.5 years ago and named her Penelope Ann. Who knew it was possible to love her so much in such a short time... We had to put Penny to sleep on Tuesday and I miss her little feet pitter-pattering on the floor, her little smooshed-nose noises, her eyes looking up at us, and her one-of-a-kind personality. It's hard to write in a few sentences how much she meant to me. She was such a good girl, my furry daughter, and I miss her already.

FO: Flower Washcloth

2009-12-26T21:46:00.005-05:00

Pattern: "Reverse-Bloom Flower Washcloth" by Cindy Taylor
Source: Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick (also available here)
Started: December 13, 2009
Finished: December 23, 2009
Size: about 10.5" from side to side
Yarn: 1 skein of Tivoli Cotton Chenille (99 yards yds per 50g ball; 100% Cotton) in color #232 - Maroon
Needles: US #6

I got this yarn years ages ago from a friend and co-worker but didn’t know what to do with it until I saw this pattern. This project was fun to knit but much bigger than I thought it would be (which is okay by me).

I didn’t enjoy the yarn so much though. It snapped on row 17 out of 21--and it wasn't that my tension was too tight. I tied a knot and buried it in the purl side of the washcloth and think it turned out fine. It's just for me so there's no need for perfection.

You knit the petals then join them in the round and decrease down to the center of the flower. After knitting the 5th petal, I didn’t break the yarn; I just started knitting in the round right away, leaving a couple less ends to weave in.

FO: French Press Slippers

2009-12-26T13:46:00.010-05:00

Pattern: French Press Felted Slippers by Melynda Bernardi
Started: December 18, 2009
Finished & Felted: December 20, 2009 (around lunch)
Flaps & buttons sewn on: December 23, 2009 (dry in the p.m., thank God)
Gifted: Christmas Eve
Yarn: 2.75 skeins of Elann Peruvian Highland Wool (109 yards yds per 50g ball; 100% Highland Wool) in color #2010, "Raspberry"
Size: Women's 5/6
Needles: US #15

I knitted these for my sister and gave them to her on Christmas Eve afternoon. She seemed to really like them when she opened them and I was so relieved that they mostly fit her--one slipper is perfect while the other is just a little bigger. She told me she wore them all day on Christmas and her husband's family really liked them. It makes me so happy that she's happy with them!

I read that they only take 90 minutes to make but I didn’t find that to be the case. They were more of a “weekend knit” for me, quick but still time-consuming. It took me a couple of days to knit them, most of Sunday morning to sew them together, about 45 minutes in the laundry room to felt them, three full days to dry them, and then the flap and buttons still needed to be sewn on. They were fun to knit and the color is really pretty in person; I'm happy with how they turned out, even though they aren't perfectly symmetrical, and would like to knit another pair.

[I really need to get better about deadlines though. I cut it close again, mostly because they took so long to dry. I learned from the baby sweater though, and dried them on the dining room's radiator with the curtain trapping the heat in around them. I'm not sure if they would have dried otherwise...]

I had to pilfer buttons from another knit because not having buttons the day before gifting something counts as a “knitting emergency.” With my sprained foot and the pushy last-minute shoppers, I couldn't make it to the button stores or craft stores. Sharon is going to puffy paint the bottoms herself to make them grippy.

Knitting mojo is back

2009-12-22T19:44:00.011-05:00

I've finished off several projects in quick succession and started working on more. Here are some updates:

I've been working on Muir again. Today at lunch I got interrupted and made another mistake; there is now an extra stitch and it totally killed my momentum.

I'm thinking that I might make it a "Muir Scarf" and stop after the 6th pattern repeat (instead of the 13th). That would make the finished dimensions about 22" wide x 40" long. Would that look weird? I'm thinking that it could be folded in half for extra warmth, which would make it 11" x 40". It's killing me that this lovely project has been on the needles for two years.

In other project news, I dug out a beautiful sock that's been OTN since the summer. I think it will be my car knitting for the Christmas travels. Also, I'm going to knit my co-worker a retirement present. I bought yarn and chose a pattern--more details on that after I swatch and get started, just in case I change my mind (which we all know I never do.)

I got some knitting goodies that I never blogged about.

Jared Flood's Made in Brooklyn pattern book. I'm trying to decide if I want to make one of the Beaumont hats or one of the sweaters (Stilwell or Redhook). Or maybe the Bridgewater shawl? Hmm. I'd like to say here that I usually don't see the point of short-sleeved sweaters, but really like the one in this book. He calls it a tunic so maybe that will help me like it better. ETA: This was an early Christmas present :)

Last month I bought these --> handy stitch markers after reading about them on Franklin Habit's blog. I couldn't decide which I wanted so bought both--and they fit different needle sizes so it's not a waste of money!

I finally, after a few years of waiting, bought The Color Scheme Bible by Anna Starmer. We borrowed this book from our local library when we first bought our house and ever since, I've wished I had it when buying yarn! The book is separated by color family, then pairs various main colors with accent colors and complementary colors, and gives ideas about how to use the colors to the best effect. I'm going to bring it with me next time I go to the yarn store for a project that needs more than one shade.

FO: Black Hat

2009-12-19T15:11:00.004-05:00

Pattern: Silk Garden Beanie
Started: November 26, 2009
Finished: December 17, 2009
Yarn: less than 2 skeins of Knit Picks Swish Worsted (110 yards yds per 50g ball; 100% Superwash Merino Wool) in Black
Gauge & Needles: 4 sts/inch (with yarn held double) on US #9 dpns
Modifications: Knit with two strands of yarn as one which led to different gauge/stitch count than pattern. I was otherwise true to the pattern.

I knitted up a plain black hat around this time in 2005 and wore the poor thing until the end of last season. I just loved it--it didn't smoosh my hair and was really warm. I tried to recreate it this year and think I succeeded. I love this hat!

Here's my old post. (Hey, look, "just in time for snow" again!)

Yarn

2009-12-13T20:18:00.008-05:00

My little Penny seems to be doing a bit better.* To celebrate, I bought myself some yarn over on Elann!

I'm going to make French Press slippers in "Raspberry" Peruvian Highland Wool - these will be a Christmas gift, if the yarn arrives in time and my knitting mojo returns.

I'm also going to make the Leaf Lace Scarf in "Cypress" Peruvian Baby Lace Merino - this will be a co-worker's retirement gift.

*She's been very sick lately and we went to the vet again yesterday. We're trying some steroids as a last hope and today Penny seems much more like herself. Christmas miracle? I really hope so; I love that little peanut so much.

ETA: Penelope Ann was indeed our Christmas miracle and our favorite present. (see more recent post)

FO: Baby Sophisticate

2009-12-07T19:20:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Baby Sophisticate
Started: November 21, 2009
Finished & Gifted: December 6, 2009
Size: 0-3 months
Yarn: 4+ skeins of Knit Picks Swish Worsted (110 yards yds per 50g ball; 100% Superwash Merino Wool) in the "Clematis Heather" colorway
Gauge: 15 sts/inch (with yarn held double) on US #8 needles for the body, buttonband, and collar. #10.5 DPNs for the sleeves.
Modifications: Knit with two strands of yarn as one in order to get gauge! Other modifications included shortening the length of the body & sleeves. Details below.

I knitted this little cardigan for my friend Ellie, who I met in graduate school and worked with in my first official-librarian job. (She's a knitter, too.) I hope she and her husband like it--I know she'll appreciate that it can be thrown in the washing machine!

The pattern calls for aran-weight yarn and I had a lot of trouble getting gauge. I did a lot of swatching (yes, I know!) and could not for the life of me get 15 sts/in. I looked on Ravelry and no one else seemed to be having this trouble. Before going out to buy new yarn I tried one last swatch--this time while holding two strands of yarn as one. It worked! This is a pretty important detail and I'm surprised no one has mentioned it on their blogs or project pages. I wonder if it's just me...

People were saying that you could knit this project in a weekend but I didn't find that to be the case. I brought the project with me for a long car ride the weekend before Thanksgiving and worked on it at lunch almost every day. I finished knitting Baby Sophisticate on Friday night, washed it, and put it out to dry. I planned to sew the buttons on on Saturday, wrap it, and go to my sister-in-law's Christmas party but the knitting gods weren't having any of that. I checked on the sweater on Saturday and it was still wet. I put it in the dryer on low for a while and laid it back out to dry overnight. Ha! Sunday morning I put it in the dryer again, sewed the buttons on, put it back in the dryer, and brought it along unwrapped for the drive to NJ. I placed it under the vent in my car and ended up wrapping it in the parking garage...still a little soggy. Oh well. I liked the way it turned out and really hope it fits! (I get very nervous when gifting knits.)

Notes in case I want to knit this again:

I wish I had noticed that the designer didn't want us to break the yarn when splitting for the body. When I got to the first armhole, I automatically cut the yarn and joined it again for the back sts. When I got to the second armhole I realized I wasn't supposed to do that and just knitted the last back stitch really tightly with the first front side stitch. On the way back, I made sure that stitch was tight and joined the other side with the back in the same way. It all seems to have worked out nicely. In the end, sewing the underarm holes was the only real finishing to do.

I shortened the length of the sweater/sleeves and really hope it fits the intended baby. The Yarn Harlot has mentioned that baby arms never seem to fit in baby sweater sleeves and, sure enough, when I knitted her Daisy pattern for my nephew, the sleeves fit him perfectly; I tried to match that pattern's dimensions when knitting Baby Sophisticate. That means that I made the length of this top-down sweater 4.5" from underarm to bottom (instead of 6") then did the trim. I also shortened the sleeve lengths to 4.5" so the cuffs won't have to be rolled. We shall see if this was a good move--I really hope I did the right thing!

I had to join a new ball of yarn to finish off the bottom trim, but skipped the sleeve instructions so I could just use that live stitch to pick up for the button band and collar. It worked great.

As for yarn, buy lots extra! I only bought 3 skeins of yarn because I figured I'd have plenty based on the pattern. I didn't count on having to hold the yarn double... I used just over two balls on the body of the sweater and had to divide up the remaining ball to finish up the rest. This was very optimistic of me and, as I was making the collar, I realized how little yarn I had left and ordered 2 more skeins. Amazingly Knit Picks had 2 more balls in the same dye lot. Someone up there was looking out for me! ;)

Don't try to dry a sweater in your chilly finished basement!

(By the way, the hat I gave to my vet was originally intended for Ellie. I was going to make a hat and mitten set but then changed my mind after I saw the little hat all knitted up.)

FO: Penny's Catskill Ridge

2009-11-30T21:12:00.013-05:00

Penny's Catskill Ridge is done! Well, it has been done for a while but the buttons have just been properly attached. This picture doesn't do the sweater any favors, but just imagine beautiful natural light and a pretty purple yarn ;)

Pattern: Catskill Ridge, size Medium
Knitting Started: October 22, 2009
Knitting Finished: October 26, 2009
Really Done: November 30, 2009
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice (170 yds per 100g ball; 100% acrylic) in "Dusty Purple"
Notions: US #10 (not good gauge) and Four 1/8” buttons
Mods: Only used one color and made up a crochet edging since I don’t crochet.

I used #10 needles because my #9s were MIA. The sweater would have looked & fit better if I had knitted it on the smaller needles but it will keep Penny, my 15 lb Shih Tzu, warm while she lounges around the house.

I originally sewed the buttons too close to the edge; the sweater looked ridiculous because the part around the belly dragged on the floor. The new placement of the buttons is much better and kind of makes up for the fact that my bad gauge made the sweater too big. Oops. Penny seems really happy with it and that's all that matters!

I like the shawl collar and think this pattern would work well for dogs of all different shapes and sizes. I plan to knit another one of these sweaters for my English Bulldog, Hazel (I'll be sure to buy some smaller needles).

See older posts here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T00:49:00.007-05:00

I'm going to make the most out of my car travel. I've packed:

Penny's Catskill Ridge dog sweater (just needs buttons)
Flower Washcloth (swatch is currently drying)
Winter Hat (materials awaiting CO)

I'm planning to work on the projects in that order. My poor little Shih Tzu has been very ill and I want to wrap her up in her warm sweater when she has the chills. I bought the buttons a while ago and all I need to do is sew them on (I've even marked where they have to go so truly have no excuse). That will be done first thing tomorrow.

The "Reverse-Bloom Flower Washcloth" has been mentioned before and has now been moved from my Ravelry queue to my Ravelry projects page. I will try to get most of a washcloth done tomorrow, if at all possible. I know the hat should be done before the washcloth because it would be useful right away but the Flower Washcloth is calling out to me because it's something completely new...

Okay, better get to bed. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Finished Baby Hat

2009-11-12T20:23:00.009-05:00

Pattern: Simple Newborn Hat with a Touch of Lace, by Ginny Foreman
Started: October 7, 2009
Finished: October 10, 2009
Gifted: November 10, 2009
Yarn: About 1/3 of a skein of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (135 yds per 50g skein; 55% wool, 33% microfiber, 12% cashmere) in "340614"

We adopted our Shih Tzu almost 2.5 years ago and she has...required plenty of medical attention. That means that we're a bit closer to our vet than most people. Dr. S had a baby girl on Sunday and (Tuesday, while bringing Penny in for yet another visit) I dropped off a little newborn-sized hat. This may be the first time I've ever given away a knit without taking a FO picture and I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed about it.

It's a cute little hat and I hope she likes it! The yarn is really soft and fabulous to work with--I'm going to keep it in mind for baby sweaters.

ETA: Vet said she loves it! She could tell it was made by hand and really appreciated it. Wonder if she has any knitters/crocheters in her family. ;)

The beast who ate my needle

2009-11-07T18:31:00.007-05:00

Yep, that's her. Good thing she's so cute!

This week I was lucky enough to be able to knit while watching tv (go, Yankees!! woohoo!). I was working on the Ocean Currents scarf because it didn't require my undivided attention and because I absolutely love the yarn. Anyway, after a while I went upstairs to make coffee for the next morning--stupidly leaving my WIP on the couch.

I say "stupidly" because the puppy pictured above has a history of liking my yarn and I suppose I was inviting what happened next. I set up the coffee pot and made my way back downstairs. Both dogs had been snoozing on the love seat when I left but now Hazel was on my couch with a soft, beautiful blue scarf captured between her front paws, wild-cat style.

I had to rip back the night's work because half of it was off the needle (and soggy). And take a look at my chomped-on needle... It's a nickel-plated circ from Knit Picks so I'll have to order a replacement (not too big of a deal). This one is now bent and the tip has teeth marks you can't see in this picture. Oh well.

As it turns out, I wasn't so crazy about the scarf anyway. The yarn is gorgeous but I was wondering whether it would lay as flat as I wanted it to once it was finished. I frogged the project today and will find a different scarf pattern.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T21:57:00.007-04:00

This is going to be another random post.

I've had a nasty cold all week. Right now I'm watching baseball, knitting, and napping instead of Halloween partying with my friends...

I got a wonderful book out of the library - Knitted Gifts by Interweave - and added it to my Christmas wish list because I like eight of the patterns.

Penny's Catskill Ridge sweater is knitted, washed, and blocked. I bought buttons for it today and hope she'll be able to wear it tomorrow. I'll write a FO post as soon as I get some pictures of her in it.

I started knitting the Ocean Currents scarf from the book Ocean Breezes. I might try to personalize the pattern so both ends are rounded.

Sweater and shawl

2009-10-19T20:39:00.005-04:00

Upcoming Sweater

I've decided that I want to knit myself a pullover. I haven't been doing much knitting this year so a semi-complicated sweater is just the thing to add to the mix, right? haha.

I truly love my stockinette Red Raglan--and practically live in it while on the couch in the winter--but am looking for something a bit more challenging. I tend to queue cardigans so had to search a bit for a pullover pattern. Possibilities: Eastlake, Threepenny Pullover, and Marseilles.

The last two times I bought nice yarn online (Maude Louise and February Lady) I received mismatched hand-dyed skeins that all had the same lot number. I will not go through that again! I'm going to buy this sweater's yarn at my LYS so I can hold it all in my hand and make sure it matches. I help out a local small business that way, too.

With yarn pricing/options in mind (and Marseilles as my top contender), I visited my LYS a few weekends ago. I was looking for a good yarn that doesn't cost a fortune...and which is also available in nice light colors so people can see my fancy needlework. The LYS owner suggested Cascade 220 Superwash and when I go back, that's probably what I'll buy. I have to wait until after my birthday so I have some cash in hand.

Muir

I've been working on Muir at lunchtime and have found that the chart is a cinch once I have a little momentum (I'm probably dooming myself to multiple rips back to my lifeline just by saying that). Instead of doing 2 rows per 30 minutes, I'm now able to do 4 rows per 45 minutes. Lace is always slow-going for me and I'm too afraid to attempt repairs instead of lifeline use. Someone send some bravery my way! ;) Anyway, I'm almost done with the 5th repeat of the chart.

I had wanted to wear it to one of this year's weddings... I'm not holding my breath, but it would be absolutely fabulous to wear it to the November one. I know, I know. Doing the math pretty much gaurantees that I couldn't finish it by then so I will just finish when I finish.

Secrecy

I've been plotting away and knitting a bit the last couple of weeks but can't write about it just yet. Details to follow.

My Grandma

2009-10-16T23:58:00.005-04:00

My paternal grandmother passed away last night. She was 93 and has lived down in GA for the past few years (in an assisted living facility near my aunt). She loved her family and adored having all of us together--4 kids & their spouses, 8 grandkids & their spouses, and 3 great-grandkids.

I don't want to write too much so will keep this note relevant to the blog. Like my other grandmother, who passed away last October, Grandma was a wonderfully-skilled crocheter. I'm lucky enough to have several beautiful bed-sized blankets, a lace table cloth, hot pads, pot holders, and Christmas decorations that she's made over the years. I'll miss her very much and cherish all of the memories I have with her.

In the picture above, from 2006: Grandmam, me, & Grandma

Day of Learning

2009-09-28T22:26:00.005-04:00

On Saturday my knitting guild hosted their 5th Annual Day of Learning event. There were 6 classes offered (3 options for each of the 2 sessions) and I took an afternoon class called "Swirls, Twirls, and Spirals."

<--We were asked to bring a variety of yarns to the session and I made these two truly ugly things. The colors I'd brought along were not good for what we were doing but I still learned the techniques and got to give them a try.

We did the small circle first; mine ended up being atrocious and I gave up a little early to go borrow yarn from the communal stash in hopes that the second technique would be more attractive. The instructor had talked about how different types of yarn give texture and dimension to the project so that's what I was hoping for (didn't happen so much in this case).

My biggest challenge of the day ended up being those little crocheted circles in the very center of the pieces. The instructor had brought along some random centers so I used one of those for the swirl. By the time we got to twirl all of the freebies had been used up and the crocheters just whipped up their own in about 2 minutes. I have *very* limited crochet skills (chaining & single crochet is about it) and after struggling for a long time the instructor (who was very nice, helpful, and patient) came over and made one for me. The third technique--spiral--was my favorite and could, of course, only be done in crochet. Now I really do have to learn crochet!

FO: Nicholas's Sweater

2009-09-22T19:30:00.006-04:00

Pattern: "Daisy" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Source: Summer 2003 issue of Knitty
Started: August 8, 2009 (en route to Madrid)
Finished: September 19, 2009
Gifted: September 20, 2009

Size: between 0-3 and 3-6 months
Modifications: Nicholas is kind of small for his age so I made up an in-between size: using a smaller gauge than the pattern called for, I CO for the 3-6 month size and made the lengths closer to the 0-3 month size.
Yarn: 2.5 balls of Knit Picks Swish Worsted (110 yards yds per 50g ball; 100% Superwash Merino Wool) in the "Deep Ocean" colorway
Needles & Gauge: between 5.5 and 6 sts/in on #5 needles

I made the plain, hoodless version of Daisy and called the cardigan the "No-Daisy Daisy" while I was working on it. I picked out the pattern months ago for my nephew/godson and I gave it to him at his baptism on Sunday. It fit him perfectly and his parents (my sister and brother-in-law) seemed to like it a lot.

I cut it really close this time. I washed & blocked the body of the sweater on Thursday night; finished, washed, & blocked the sleeves on Friday night; and did all of the finishing on Saturday morning before heading to NJ. I thought the finishing would just take a little while but it took me over 4 hours to knit the collar, seam and sew on the sleeves, weave in all of the ends, and attach the buttons. Who knew?! I wanted to get to my parents' house around 4:00 but didn't leave until about then and just made it to the restaurant in time for my brother-in-law's birthday dinner. The next morning we got up and went to the baptism so I cut it very close indeed. *phew* I'm so glad it all worked out. :)

p.s. I don't know if they want his face on the internet so I cropped the picture, which is a shame because he makes the most adorable faces!! (I love his little pudgy cheeks.)

FO: Eyelet Socks

2009-09-20T22:30:00.006-04:00

I finished these a while ago and never blogged about them.

Pattern: Double Eyelet Rib Toe-up Socks
Designer: Wendy D. Johnson
Started: June 2, 2009
Finished: August 2, 2009
Size: Women's medium
Yarn: 1 skein of Fiber Optic Yarns Foot Notes (420 yds per 114g ball; 80% Superwash merino wool, 20% Nylon) in "No. 4 - Solitude"
Needles: US #1 needles

This was the first pair of toe-up socks I've ever knit and I really enjoyed making them. The only thing I would do differently is the bind-off: the first sock's cuff is fine but the second one is a bit tight (rookie mistake).

For some reason this camera phone picture is the only FO shot I have--I finished them while returning from an out-of-state wedding--but there are better pictures in earlier posts so be sure to check those here.

No-Daisy Daisy

2009-08-29T12:29:00.003-04:00

I wound a bunch of skeins into center-pull balls before going on vacation, thinking I'd be knitting up a storm. After all, I had an 8-hour flight to Madrid, two one-hour flights within Europe, and a 9-hour flight back from Nice. I could easily finish a baby's cardigan and at least one sock, right? Wrong. I cast on for and knitted a bit of the No-Daisy Daisy early on but was then distracted by sight-seeing, sleep, and fiction (a treat!) until the last night when I decided to cast on for a sock. (I also worked on the NDD on the way home.) Oh well.

This week--back at work and still jet-lagged--the plain old stockinette of the baby cardigan was a treat at lunch. I worked on it a bit each day and, combined with the plane knitting, have gotten quite a bit done. The blue is a lovely shade and I really hope that I've calculated correctly so it fits my nephew properly. My gauge is somewhere between 5.5 and 6 sts per inch (instead of 5 sts/in) and I'm trying to make the sweater just a little smaller than the pattern calls for because Nicholas is a small baby.

The back and fronts of the cardigan are knit in one piece up until the armholes. I'm there now and trying to decide whether or not to start working the pieces separately. Chriss's Ravelry page tells how she made it seamless but I don't know if I'm up for trying it. I don't want anything to go wrong because I'd like to give the sweater to Nicholas mid-September. Grad school starts up again Monday so I don't have as much time as it sounds like.

Ahhh....Europe

2009-08-23T13:25:00.002-04:00

I'm back from my trip to Madrid, Barcelona, and Nice. Spain & France were amazing and Dennis and I are seriously entertaining thoughts of going back to Spain next summer for an extended stay. *sigh* Back to the real world tomorrow but I was glad to have a three-day weekend to recuperate. We picked Hazel up from our friend's house Thursday afternoon & my parents brought Penny here yesterday. We missed both the dogs while we were away, and it didn't help that Europeans bring their (very well-behaved) dogs everywhere, including restaurants, fancy buildings, and beaches.

Anyway, on to the knitting content. Though I prepped for and packed three projects, I barely did any knitting. I CO for the No-Daisy Daisy en route to Madrid (our first stop) and CO for Sunday Swing Socks on the last night in Nice (our third stop). I didn't get much knitting done at all but did increase my stash.

We were window-shopping in Nice on our last day and I spotted a yarn store. I was excited to see that it was open and managed to ask the nice French-speaking lady where the sock yarn was. On the flight home the next day I realized I didn't have to point at my foot--I knew the French word for socks because of my trip to Montreal in April & the chaussettes that followed from that souvenir yarn. Oh well. I bought two balls of Anny Blatt yarn (Baby Blatt in a neutral color called "Mastic").

More happy stuff

2009-07-30T18:13:00.010-04:00

Goodies in the mail
The Fall issue of Interweave Knits was waiting for me when I got home today. With the exception of the "Rule of Three" section, I loved just about every pattern. What a great issue!

Eyelet Socks
I had hoped to finish my 2nd sock by the end of the month (ahem, that would be tomorrow) but it's quite obvious that won't happen since I'm just a little into the leg of the toe-up sock. My new goal is to finish by August 7th because I want to use the needles to cast on for my...

European knitting!!
Ahh, can't wait! By the way, the yarn for my travel socks arrived last week and is fabulous. --> I can't decide if I want to make it into Hedgerow or Sunday Swing so have printed out both patterns to put in my suitcase. The second project will--as of now--be a "No-Daisy" Daisy cardigan for my little nephew Nicholas.

I've also checked out some guidebooks for Spain & France and have been perusing them a bit when I can. :D

Won something
I won the Bluebird shawl from Romi. It's so beautiful and I have to decide what yarn to use. Woo hoo!

Knitting for Europe

2009-07-13T21:54:00.003-04:00

I'm going to Europe next month and am already starting to think what knitting I want to bring along.

Since my current sock project will be done by then, I'll need another small & portable project for my carry-on. I decided on Hedgerow and bought some Blue Label Fingering Weight yarn in the Peacock Colourway. That's a nice I'm-on-the-French-Riviera color, right?

I'll have to pack something else, too. Muir? A baby cardigan? A baby blanket? Hmmm...I'll try not to get carried away. ;)

Happy stuff

2009-07-10T22:00:00.002-04:00

This is the little peanut who got my knitted baby blanket. Nicholas arrived yesterday and is absolutely perfect. :) I'm mildly obsessed with him already so I'm sure he'll be the recipient of many knits--I already have one as #1 in my queue.

In knitting news, I'm about 1/3 of the way through with the 2nd sock. We hit a ton of traffic going to see Nicholas today and I could have gotten about 4 hours (!) of knitting done in the car but was too excited to concentrate on the pattern. I'll knit on it some more over the weekend and will hopefully be done with it by the end of the month.

socks and rambling

2009-07-01T21:45:00.006-04:00

The university where I work always closes for six Fridays during the summer. It's fabulous to have three-day weekends but you have to work four long days (with short lunches) in order to avoid taking vacation time. It's a pet peeve of mine that library faculty have to do this but subject faculty do not. Let's not go there. I'm telling you this because it means that I do very little knitting during "summer hours." I have just enough time to eat and do a little something--like listen to the radio or read a few pages of my book (which is, right now, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini rather than my thesis work. shh!).

Anyway, this week we don't have to make up Friday's hours because we have Friday off as a holiday. Ahh, the luxury of having a normal lunch, an extra hour of sleep, and a few more minutes to myself at the end of the day. I was hoping I'd make some good progress on my knitting but today was the first time in 1.5 weeks that I picked up my needles.*

I did the beginning of sock #2's toe before leaving SC and then avoided the project because I was unhappy with how loosely I'd knitted the four stockinette rows and didn't want to face the CO again. Today at lunch, I ripped out what I had, re-CO, and finished about 3/4 of the toe increases. Not bad. Tomorrow I should be able to start the foot.

Just so there are some pictures in this post: Hazel now (almost 6 mos) & then (just over 2 mos)

*Monday was a beautiful day so I read outside at lunch, successfully avoiding the second sock. At night, the neighborhood dogs had an impromptu play date and I spent the rest of the evening with Hazel, who was getting spayed the next day. On Tuesday I didn't do any lunchtime knitting because I was preparing for an important meeting and at night I sat around the living room watching Hazel spacily look around, fight off sleep, and sleep. I felt so bad for her and am glad she's pretty much herself today. Poor little thing.

Soaring right along

2009-06-23T22:56:00.005-04:00

Sock #1 flew off the needles. I brought it along for my weekend in SC and knitted happily for most of Friday night's airplane experience.

Sunday morning I bound off the leg stitches and did the provisional CO for sock #2. (This is the second sock I've finished while at my in-laws' house--maybe I should there go more often!) Though I was happy to avoid casting-on on a plane, I didn't take advantage of my unexpected speed and ended up reading on the return flight.

I was planning on also bringing some yarn to begin a flower-shaped washcloth. I have never had *any* desire to knit a washcloth until I borrowed the book Weekend Knitting and immediately saw this really interesting-looking pattern. Thanks to a former co-worker I have plenty of cotton chenille yarn so I figured, "Hey why not?" It's small, it's portable, it uses up stash yarn. We'll see how long it takes me to CO.

At this month's guild meeting, we had a speaker from Lion Brand and got a LB tote bag and goodies. The bag is big enough to carry a small child so I'm not sure what I'll do with it but I'm sure I'll find a use. Anyone who knows me well knows I love my bags! Inside the free tote bag was a free ball of cotton yarn, an old issue of Knit.1, and some loose info. I was interested in the ball because I was eying a Cotton-Ease baby blanket a while back and Maize was one of its colors. I rather like it and will figure out something to use it for.

I just want to point out that my puppy has good taste. Hazel loves yarn, and not just because she's trying to get my attention. When it was colder she would try to chew on my lace scarf if I left it draped on the couch. When I tried to take a picture of the freebie yarn, she stole it off the the coffee table before I could get a shot. I'll have to move my knitting baskets! Bulldogs are supposed to be calm and lazy so hopefully Hazel won't be quite so hyper when she gets older. When we first got little Penny, she used to sit on my lace charts but now happily sits next to me while I knit. There's hope...

Love the sock

2009-06-07T17:23:00.014-04:00

I love this sock. The lace repeat is not complicated; 3 of the 4 rounds are the same and the fancy bit each 4th round is easy. The yarn is just fabulous and I *love* the colors and the way they're appearing (a dark bit getting used through a light stitch or vice versa. I must be easily amused).

<--The bottom of the sock is stockinette. Look how pretty the yarn is. I'm using a Creative Couture holder for the first time. I knew these things existed but I always preferred my ziplock bag...until I saw that my mom stuffs her WIP inside the bag. I suddenly saw why it would be useful and had to buy one. I put my yarn cake right in the bottom and pulled the yarn through the hole. I knit the sock, place it in its WIP holder (see below) and then put the whole thing--with pattern--inside this clear thing and zip it up. It's just perfect for socks!

I asked for this fancy WIP holder for Christmas because I've had WIPs slip off the needle during storage (not fun). I was so happy that my mom bought it for me! This is the first I'm using it because my last pair of socks were/are being worked on circs. I really love this little tube and can't imagine knitting another pair of socks on dpns without it!

I haven't had a picture of little Penny in a while so I had to include this one. She's been such a snuggler this weekend and has been keeping me company on the couch. Love her!

First toe-up socks

2009-06-03T20:04:00.010-04:00

I needed something pretty to work on. What better than colorful socks? I bought this hand-dyed yarn a few months ago from Fiber Optic and the hank has been patiently waiting for its turn on the needles. Monday night I swatched it for Wendy Johnson's Double Eyelet Rib Socks. I washed the little square and measured it the next morning--perfect! Exactly what the pattern calls for, 8 sts/inch.

I brought my dpns and yarn to work and attempted to start the project at lunch. The designer calls for a Turkish Cast-on (or Figure-8 or any other toe-up method) so at first I was concerned because I had neither crochet hook nor waste yarn. Since this is my first pair of toe-up socks, I had to look up instructions. I found a very helpful tutorial on Knitty--written by the sock designer herself--and attempted the Figure-8 CO since it required fewer supplies. I tried repeatedly and could *not* create the appropriate number of sts.

After work I again tried repeatedly without any luck and decided that I would have to use a crochet hook and the article's third method (supposedly easier). Indeed I was able to make the "Easy Toe," which begins with a provisional crocheted CO. I made a rookie mistake though: I made a crochet chain, knitted all 24 sts on to my first needle, knitted 4 rows of stockinette, and....oops. The next instruction would have left me with 48 sts rather than the required 24. I ripped it out, kind of glad for the practice run. I restarted, picked 12 sts out of the crochet chain, knit the 4 rows of stockinette, and cut the chain with scissors (I couldn't get the chain to "unzip" as it was supposed to). Sort of voilà! I put the project in my work bag and went to bed.

Today at lunch I encountered more problems. About two minutes into my break I dropped a dpn on the floor and spent 5-10 minutes crawling around trying to find it. I heard it clink when it fell out of my live sts (ahem) so knew it had to be somewhere. I finally found it and knitted on my merry way.

Tonight I finished the toe!! What I find amusing about the whole thing is that despite all of these problems, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself!

(Sorry for the 3 computer-camera photos)

FO: Sea Foam baby blanket

2009-06-01T20:23:00.006-04:00

Pattern: Feather & Fan baby blanket (link)
Started: February 13, 2009
Finished: April 4, 2009
Gifted: May 31, 2009
Size: Approx. 23" x 36"
Yarn: 8 balls of Knit Picks Comfy (109 yds per 50g ball; 75% Pima Cotton, 25% Acrylic) in "Sea Foam"
Needles & Gauge: 5 sts/inch on US #5 needles

I knit this blanket for my nephew-to-be, sister, and brother-in-law. I had a really hard time choosing a pattern because I wanted to make the "perfect" gift for them. I ended up making a Feather and Fan blanket and I just love it. I CO 136 sts, did 5 garter ridges, knit in pattern (with 5 edge sts each side) until the blanket was about 1" shorter than I wanted, did 5 garter ridges and cast off.

I chose Comfy because it was a mostly-cotton yarn (good for a summer baby!) and can be machine washed and dried. I would have liked to knit a blanket in an all-natural fiber but didn't want to use wool so that caused a problem. Knit Picks's description and a color card sold me on the yarn and the color I ended up buying.

When I began I didn't know if I was knitting for a boy or girl so I chose a color I thought would work for either sex. It's a really nice ocean color and I think it worked well with the pattern because it looks kind of seashell-y. :)

I think bringing Sea Foam on the plane trip to Vegas saved me because I got a ton of knitting done at the airports and on the long flights. That ended up being *really* useful because getting a puppy in early March really cut into my knitting time and I don't know if I would have made my deadline.

Old blog posts here.

See baby's picture here. :)

Inspiration?

2009-06-01T19:38:00.004-04:00

I'm searching for inspiration. I just saw the Summer 2009 issue of the Twist Collective and loved almost every single pattern. I've been finding *tons* of appealing projects and think it's time to start working on something other than a dog sweater (which I haven't been doing all that much of, by the way).

Catskill Ridge is a very pretty color in person and a nighttime/indoor picture doesn't do it justice. However, it's now at most 1/4 done and I'm going to either rip it out or put it aside. We'll see.

I am going to start working on some socks, I think. Hmm...

Kinda blah

2009-05-16T12:26:00.005-04:00

I keep meaning to post a new entry on this blog but keep stopping after writing a few sentences. I feel like I haven't been doing much knitting lately and, even when I'm in the car with the project and time to knit, I don't. Must be in a bit of a funk...

I while back I looked at Elann's collection of free patterns and found a pullover made out of Reynold's Olé Olé yarn. It's 60% cotton and I thought it might be a good for this time of year. I bought purple yarn and started knitting the back. I have no motivation to work on this project so think I'm going to frog it.

(Right now it's an unimpressive 10" of stockinette.)

This morning, instead of studying for Monday’s final exam, I looked around on Ravelry for something I could knit using 9 balls of Olé Olé yarn (15 sts/in, 720 yds total).

Moebius knitting

2009-04-17T11:48:00.002-04:00

I always have a nice time at my knitting guild meetings and wish my grad class schedule allowed me to attend more of them! Last night Ann (of Infinite Yarns, a LYS) taught how to make Moebius scarves/shawls. She brought along some yarn that we could purchase for the project and I decided on a blue skein of Araucania Ruca Multy.

Araucania Ruca Multy is a beautiful soft yarn that is made of 100% sugar cane. I couldn't resist it. I bought it at the beginning of the meeting and went over to wind it into a ball before the lesson started. That went smoothly until the skein was about half done and then it turned into a tangled mess. About an hour later I had it hand-wound into an old-fashioned ball (thanks in large part to two lovely ladies from Ribbonesque, another LYS).

Then the knitting began! Moebius knitting is not at all intuitive. I was glad there were people nearby to help clarify things. After you cast on, you join the yarn and then basically knit in a ridiculously tight loop for a few rows. Then it all opens up and your hands stop hurting. ;) The finished product is a big loop with twist.

I just wanted to learn the technique and have decided that I'm going to make this beautiful yarn into a lace scarf instead of a Moebius one because I think it will get more use.

My guild is doing some fun stuff this year. Starting this month, we're going to start a KAL where we'll make 12 mystery squares that eventually become a 30" x 40" blanket. Also, we're all going to read The Friday Night Knitting Club and discuss it at our July meeting.

I knew we'd be doing a hands-on activity and so didn't bring anything of my own to work on...Muir and the socks require charts and are therefore not ideal for group knitting anyway. I've been really exhausted lately and just wanted to snuggle on the couch but have been squeezing in some knitting time.

Here's an update: Muir is now about 1/3 of the way done. I knitted on it a bit over the weekend and brought it to work with me several days this week. I'm currently chugging away on the 4th repeat of the chart. Bavarian Twisted Sock #1 came to work with me last week. I'm done with the cuff and am on row 12 of the 1st repeat of the chart (28 rows of chart, repeated 5 times). I put it aside with plans of placing a lifeline in case I screw up now that the real pattern is about to begin. Yes, I use lifelines more than the average gal.

Okay, I'm going to go enjoy this lovely spring day. I took today off!

Gift done!

2009-04-04T23:29:00.004-04:00

I just finished the "surprise" project I've been working on! The shower is on May 31st so I completed it in plenty of time (despite my post-Hazel fears of not being able to do so.) *phew* Will blog on the FO after I gift it. In the meantime, take a look at it on my Ravelry page.

Not much to report

2009-03-24T21:37:00.004-04:00

As you might have guessed from my last post, I haven't been getting much knitting done lately. When I don't get to knit, I start fighting off the crazy urge to buy more yarn and cast on for new projects. I know this makes no sense but I can't seem to help it. Right now I'm fighting the "Submit Order" button over on elann.com, where I have the following items in my cart:

Ilga Leja's pattern "Queen of the Waves"

Needful Yarns Cable Due (in "Blue Mist") to knit the shawl mentioned above

Elann.com Peruvian Sierra Aran (in "Plum Heather") -- to make Ingenue, which is in the book I got for Christmas).

I will not give in!! I am determined not to spend any more money because buying and caring for a puppy is pricey. I have, therefore, decided that I will focus on my knitting deadlines:

My surprise project *must* be done by May. I haven't made much progress since we added a furry/wrinkly daughter to our household and I must admit that I'm getting a bit nervous about finishing it in time.

Hazel has been preventing lunchtime knitting because I've been driving home to take care of her and her small bladder. Thankfully that will be changing shortly because we just found someone who will drop by our house during the day. A baby dog is so much work...I can't imagine how much is involved in caring for a baby human! Hopefully I'll get lots of opportunities to find out when I spend time with the little nephew who's on the way!! :)

Muir should be done no later than October. I simply must wear her to one of the upcoming weddings and that one is furthest off and therefore a safer choice.

Meet Hazel

2009-03-08T23:32:00.005-04:00

I probably won't be getting much knitting done for a while. Hazel is a 2-month-old English Bulldog and we just picked her up today! She's a complete sweetie and is working hard to get my 5-year-old Shih Tzu to like her.

Excited

2009-03-06T18:56:00.009-05:00

I just got my monthly knitting guild newsletter and am totally excited because I realized that I'll be able to attend the next two meetings. My class is cancelled next week so I'll be able to go and then in April, the meeting is during spring break so I don't have class then either. Very exciting indeed! I'll bring my "surprise" project and hopefully get lots done.

Speaking of my knitting, how about an update? It's been a while since one of those...

My "secret" project has taken up most of my knitting time and I'm about 1/2 done with it. Can't go into details, but do look at my Ravelry page for pictures and updates. :) I brought it on my February trip to Las Vegas and got a lot of knitting done in the airport and on the plane. Like many of us knitters, I couldn't just bring one WIP with me. What if I ran out of yarn? What if I got sick of the project?

To be on the safe side, I originally packed into my carry-on 3 spare balls of yarn for the above-mentioned project and 1 spare ball of yarn for the sock I'd thrown in my bag. (I came somewhat to my senses and took out 1 skein from each project.) I did use one of the spare "surprise" skeins.
The Bavarian Twisted Stitch Sock that I packed was completed neglected on the trip but I guess I was either being overly optimistic or just wanted to have another knitting option... It's being knit on two circs and I'm maybe 10 rows into the cuff of sock #1. The picture is nothing great but I hate picture-less posts and it is documentation of the 12" of snow we got on Monday that is now mostly gone...go figure.
Though the surprise project has taken up most of my time, beautiful Muir is back on the needles again. I brought it to work this week and am now, after 10 months, up to the 4th chart. That means I'm almost 1/4 of the way done. Three weddings are coming up and I'd like to wear it to one of them (June, August, or October).

FO: February Lady

2009-02-28T15:53:00.014-05:00

I'm finally posting about my finished February Lady. Because of color difficulties (see saga in previous posts), this beautiful sweater ended up being a "vest." Instead of knitting the sleeves as directed, I did a few rounds of crochet.

I am completely in love with the way the body turned out and totally wish it had sleeves but it just wasn't meant to be.

Pattern: "February Lady Sweater" by Pamela Wynne
Source: Ravelry [link]
Started: November 14, 2008
Finished: February 8, 2009
Modifications: Made into a vest.
Size: XXS (35")
Yarn: 3 skeins [100% Merino Wool; 216 yds per 3.5 oz skein] of Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in #99 - "Stone Blue" (color "15 02 04")
Needles: US #7
Gauge: 4 sts/inch in stockinette. Yarn label says 4-5 sts/in on US 7-9

I'm wearing February Lady today and am very pleased with it. The drape is amazing! And I'm so happy with how the seams turned out--you can't even tell where they are. I think I may knit this pattern again (with a yarn that is not hand-dyed), complete with sleeves.

Above: "Look! No seams!" and a close up

February Lady update

2009-02-07T13:52:00.004-05:00

Isn't she beautiful so far? I've been knitting the back and the fronts separately (Is that what you're supposed to do with this pattern? If not, I'll just have sturdier seams than everyone else!) and now the back and one of the fronts is finished.

I was so happy to see that I have plenty of yarn left over to finish up the left front so that's what I'm working on now.

I haven't decided yet whether to make February Lady a vest or short-sleeved or 3/4-sleeved. I guess I'll have to see how far my yarn goes and how close of a match the extra ball is. For the record, the the extra ball looks *much* closer than the ball that came with the original purchase but it's not quite perfect. We'll see.

Look what came in today's mail

2009-02-05T13:26:00.004-05:00

Okay, so Green Gable arrived a couple of weeks ago. But the others arrived today!! I'm totally excited.

I've had my eye on Ursa for a while now and finally broke down and ordered the Berroco pattern book, Ultra Alpaca & Ultra Alpaca Light. It's the only project in there that I really like but that's okay.

Berroco: Norah Gaughan Vol. 3 is another story entirely. I *love* Eastlake (the reason I bought the book), Calvert, and Cire-Perdue. I also like Loppem, Assemblage, and Eastscarf. Linear is kind of nice too but I can't picture myself wearing it...

Let the race begin

2009-02-01T16:21:00.007-05:00

I'm going to be an aunt!! I found out a while ago now and have been looking for the perfect baby blanket pattern to knit for the occasion. It's been kind of hard because (a) my sister isn't going to find out whether she's having a girl or boy, (b) she said she doesn't want to get a ton of green and yellow stuff at her shower, and (c) I want to make something that suits her tastes. My mother assures me that she'll like anything I knit for her, but I want to make something that she would like if she saw it on the street, ya know?

After weighing my many options, I finally decided on a blanket that you'll be able to follow on my Ravelry page. I'm afraid my sister might actually look at my blog since we recently talked about it so I'm not going to post any details just now (I almost didn't even post the yarn because I want her to be completely surprised...but oh well). I originally wanted to use the same machine-washable wool I used to knit Dublin because I knew that it stood up well to heavy use, but since it's going to be a summer baby I thought cotton was more appropriate.

I chose to buy worsted weight yarn rather than the DK weight yarn called for in the pattern. The color, Sea Foam, should work well for either a boy or a girl and reminds me of the water in the Caribbean even though you can't see it so well in these pictures. The pattern is classic and the blanket should be highly usable. After looking through tons of patterns and asking my mom and my husband for their input, I chose something completely different so I hope it's well received!

Editor's note: Pattern changed three times since my "decision" and I hope everyone likes it!

lunch blogging

2009-01-30T12:05:00.003-05:00

This has been a tough week. Grad classes started up again and I am completely wiped out. I went to class three nights this week and, to exhaust me even further, I had stuff to do between work and class each and every one of those days. My eye has been twitching since yesterday!

I'll only have class twice a week from now on. This week was an anomaly but, as you might guess, knitting has taken a bit of a back seat as I start up with homework again. On Monday afternoon I tried to get some Muir done before things started up and ended up destroying the previous two days' worth of knitting by having to rip back to my lifeline. *sigh* This weekend is booked but I might be able to get some knitting done in the car. Hopefully actual knitting content will be posted soon--I do have some!

Update on yarn saga

2009-01-21T20:42:00.001-05:00

The extra ball of yarn from Eat.Sleep.Knit arrived in yesterday's mail. I held it up to my sweater and it's much better than what I had but I'm not sure it's quite the same as the others either. *sigh* My plan of action:

Rip left front of cardigan back to where I joined the dark ball of yarn. Secure stitches with waste yarn.

Knit up the rest of the sweater body.

Use leftovers from sweater body to complete left front of cardigan.

See how much of the sleeves can be knitted with remaining leftovers.

If needed, use newest ball of yarn. If not needed, return it for a refund.

Wish me luck!

What to do?

2009-01-13T22:42:00.004-05:00

There. Do you see it? One of the balls of Malabrigo is totally darker than the others.

I was happily knitting away with it--and yes, I noticed it seemed a little darker when I joined the new ball--when all of a sudden it was completely obvious that I would never wear the sweater like this. And ripping back and alternating rows for a while wouldn't solve the problem because the sleeves would still be way too dark for the body and one side of the cardigan front would have odd dark stripes in it.

I emailed Eat.Sleep.Knit to see if they have any balls of yarn closer in color to the rest of my sweater. Since someone might ask, all 4 balls of Malabrigo Merino Worsted are Stone Blue #99 and all of the labels say "15 02 04" so they should match. This must just be one of the downsides of handpainted yarn...

OTN

2009-01-11T18:23:00.010-05:00

February Lady

I haven't knitted this in a while. I worked on it some yesterday and today and the body is now more than 1/2 done - it's 12.5 inches from back of collar to bottom of back.

Muir is officially out of hibernation. I can't believe it's been over 9 months since I last put her down. She came to work with me on Friday and I did 2 rows during lunchtime. I had no trouble following the chart or completing the stitches, but it's slow going. It took me about 20 minutes to do 2 rows. Some of that was reacquainting myself with what the chart symbols meant and making sure I had the right number of stitches on my needle (always 125). I did 2 more rows today and am on chart 3 of 13, row 5.

Bijouterie. Well, my first attempt was unsuccessful. I think I bought the wrong kind of wire. I contacted Romi and asked her for reputable online places to buy the materials and she wrote right back and told me about Earthfaire, which sells a kit just for this pattern (minus beads, which is fine since the ones I bought will be fine!). I ordered it last night and can't wait for it to arrive!

FO: Midnight Socks

2009-01-10T14:56:00.011-05:00

"Have you seen my socks? Where are my socks?"

My husband kept laughing at me because I have must said that to him about a million times this week. I was madly knitting to try to finish my Midnight Socks in time for my mom's birthday and had been bringing them into odd places to get just a little bit more done--and then forgetting where I'd put them down. (I planned to gift them today.)

What really ended up being funny was the fact that the birthday trip is now postponed to wintry weather. Oh well! At least the project is no longer hanging over my head. My mother will get them next weekend instead.

Pattern: "Vivace Socks" by Elizabeth Sullivan
Source: Ravelry (my method) or this link
Started: November 26, 2008
Finished: January 8, 2009 (Sock #1 was finished on 12/30/08)
Size: Women's medium
Yarn: 1 skein [80% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Nylon; 400 yds per 4 oz skein] of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering weight in the Midnight Colourway.
Needles & Gauge: 8-10 stitches per inch on US #1 (2.25 mm)

It usually takes me forever to knit socks so 1.5 months isn't bad. And one sock in "13" days--mostly 6--is even better (even if my right pointer fingertip hurt from the way I hold my needle while knitting). For a while there I thought I wouldn't gift the socks but after I got the foot of #2 partially done they started growing on me. I really like them now. I finished most of the toe decreases by the time I left work on Thursday (love knitting at lunch instead of doing homework!) and finished it up that night at the monthly knitting guild meeting I rarely get to attend (see comment about homework), and finished and washed the pair when I got home. Yay!

The pattern is really just plain old stockinette with a bit of a fancy cuff. I had some trouble tacking down the cuff while knitting, as directed in the pattern, but sewed it down afterwards without any trouble. Here are some close-ups. (Sewing, then inside of sock, then RS of sock)
I hope my mom likes them!
See old posts here.

What I've been up to

2009-01-05T19:40:00.011-05:00

I didn't get much knitting done over vacation despite my intention of adding a few projects to my list of 2008 FOs. The only thing I made any progress on is Midnight Socks. I managed to finish the first one and get about halfway done with the leg of the second before heading back to work last Friday. Yesterday I knit on it a bit more and today at lunch I got up to the heel flap.

I'm disappointed in the way the socks are turning out and keep asking my husband if he thinks my mom will like them. He says yes but I'm not sure I like them enough to gift them... Let me explain. After I was well into sock #1, I read somewhere that hand-dyed sock yarns look best with textured patterns. That explains why Chaussettes de Montréal looked so fabulous (ribbing and cables) while this pair looks so....eh. Too bad I hadn't seen that info earlier!

I'll finish the project and then decide whether or not they'll go to my mom. (I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish them in time for her birthday on Saturday...) I tried on sock #1 and it fits perfectly and is wonderfully comfy so I might just keep them for myself if I don't think they're gift-worthy. I know I'll use them, regardless of how pretty they are. :>

As you can see, I was a very lucky knitter this Christmas. I got Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard, a cone dispenser (to hold cones of yarn), thingys to hold dpn projects-in-progress, point protectors, and a
Ravelry t-shirt featuring Bob in a pile of yarn. [After Christmas, I used gift money to buy the current issue of Knit.1, a color card for Knit Picks Swish Superwash, Kookaburra wool wash, and some sock yarn.]

My absolute favorite gift, which is not necessarily knitting-related, was the digital SLR that my hubby bought me!! As always, he picked out something fabulous and completely unexpected and I look forward to learning to use it better. I'd like to think that I have a decent start on that because I already have a "regular" SLR and took some photography classes before the whole 2nd MA/tenure thing started up again. Please excuse the two camera phone photos--hopefully the new SLR will mean more snazzy WIP/FO shots on the blog. ;)

2008 FOs

2009-01-02T17:40:00.002-05:00

Special Olympics Scarf

Chaussettes de Montréal

Toddler's Pullover

Saartje's Bootees

Maude Louise

Ravelympics Socks

Little Lambs baby blanket

Dennis's Socks

Classy Slip Up Socks

Felted Ice Cream Pint Cozy

Pullover for Penny

NYE FO: The Silver Rose

2008 Reads

2009-01-02T17:35:00.004-05:00

My life, by Bill Clinton (audio)

It itches: a stash of knitting cartoons, by Franklin Habit

Medieval Europe and the world: from late antiquity to modernity, 400-1500, by Robin W. Winks and Teofilo F. Ruiz

Rome, by M. Rostovtzeff

The consolation of philosophy, by Ancius Boethius

The lucky one, by Nicholas Sparks

Animal, vegetable, miracle : a year of food life, by Barbara Kingsolver (audio) [!]

The first urban Christians: the social world of the apostle Paul, by Wayne A. Meeks

Selected Works, by Cicero

Free-Range Knitter: the Yarn Harlot writes again, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Plato's Republic, translated by C. D. C. Reeve

Rome, by M. Rostovtzeff

Ancient Greece: from prehistoric to Hellenistic times, by Thomas R. Martin

Chasing windmills, by Catherine Ryan Hyde [#]

Body Surfing : a novel, by Anita Shreve

The Abstinence Teacher, by Tom Perrotta (audio) [!]

Cynthia Ozick's "The Shawl" [!]

The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, by David H. Richter

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill

Origins of the First World War, by James Joll

Michelin Must Sees : Montreal

Germany, 1866-1944 - by Gordon A. Craig

The Declaration of Independence and other great documents of American history, 1775-1864 - edited by John Grafton

Grounding of the metaphysics of morals, by Immanuel Kant

Ornamentalism: how the British saw their empire - by David Cannadine

1848 : the revolutionary tide in Europe - by Peter N. Stearns

A concise history of France, by Roger Price

Meditations on first philosophy, by René Descartes

The scientific revolution : aspirations and achievements, 1500-1700 - by James R. Jacob

The foundations of early modern Europe, 1460-1559 - by Rice and Grafton

Rewind, by Laura Dower [!]

* KEY: [!] = Highly recommend and [#] = Disappointing

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T23:14:00.005-05:00

I'm having a hard time believing Christmas is here. The past few months were kind of a blur and the holiday just snuck up on me. I took my last final exam last night (4 essays in 3 hours, anyone?) and today arrived at my last day of work in high spirits. I have almost 1.5 weeks off, starting now!! Woohoo!

On my way home I stopped to do some very-last-minute shopping and am now good to go. All gifts are wrapped and ready for the car. The newly-groomed furry family member has a new snowflake sweater to sport at the families' houses. The pie I made is in the fridge, waiting to be transported. All is lovely.

During my vacation time, I've got lots of lovely things planned but should have plenty of knitting time. I'll be able to knit February Lady while watching tv, socks while in the car, and now...Muir! I mentioned that she was returning and I plan to take a good look at her on Friday.

It's snowing

2008-12-16T21:26:00.005-05:00

At lunch today--instead of working on my reappointment paperwork or revising the final paper that's due tomorrow or studying for Monday's final exam--I knitted the heel of a beautiful hand-dyed Midnight Sock, listened to the radio, and sipped tea while watching big fat snowflakes fall outside my office window.

(Okay, so I worked on the paper tonight and will go to work early tomorrow. Sometimes you just need some knitting in the middle of the day so you don't pull your hair out. ;)

I ended up knitting most of the heel flap. Yay! These socks are hopefully being gifted in January and I should have plenty of time to complete them.

While it took me ages to knit half of sock #1, that's allowed because I was also working full-time and taking two grad classes. I took a couple of days off around Christmas and, between longish car trips and time on the couch, should be able to get some knitting done then.

Unfortunately, the following were not meant to be done by Christmas:

February Lady Sweater. I was hoping to wear this on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day but that'll never happen at this point. I'm at most 1/2 done with the body of the sweater and still have to knit two sleeves. *sigh*

Christmas hotpads for the aunts/uncles. To keep my sanity, I've decided that I will gift felted hotpads in Christmas 2009. It's absolutely impossible for me to knit twelve 11 x 12.5 stockinette squares and have them felted and dry by Christmas Day...

Green stuff being added to blue

2008-12-11T18:46:00.006-05:00

Muir has resurfaced! It's been a while. I haven't had much knitting time lately, as evidenced by my lack of posts, but I'm itching to knit some lace. And I want a rectangular shawl. Muir fits the bill and I dug her out of the knitting basket with hopes of starting her before Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, the Christmas hotpads are way behind schedule. I don't know if it's realistic for me to finish 10-12 of them with multiple papers and final exam looming. We'll see...

One blue project is done (the Special Olympics scarf, which is in the picture below) and February Lady is getting knitted when I get a chance to watch tv. The pattern is easy enough for me to do while following the plot of The Office and I'm enjoying knitting with the soft Malabrigo. The sock is good travel knitting and comes with me in the car (when I'm a passenger) and on the bus.

I was looking forward to attending my guild meeting tonight but had to be responsible and stay home for the reasons mentioned above. (Boo to being an adult!) I had all of my stuff together and ready to go. :(

In the picture you see the charity scarf I was going to hand in and yarn, needles, & notions needed for the hands-on workshop about fixing mistakes, sewing on zippers (something I really want to learn!), and more. I emailed someone to see where I can send the scarf and will now finish up this blog post so I can work on my papers.

Blue, blue, blue

2008-11-30T19:03:00.003-05:00

Everywhere I look, I see blue: a blue charity scarf, a blue sock, and a blue cardigan.

I'm really not enjoying the Special Olympics Scarf at all. It's knit with Red Heart yarn and doing two strands at once keeps leading to tangling. Ugh. I'm trying to finish it in time for the December guild meeting (it's due by the end of the year). It's currently only 28" long.

I restarted Midnight Socks. You're supposed to knit the CO edge together with the sock's 13th row to pin down the hem. When you fold the leg in half at this point, the picot edge looks pretty instead of like random holes (as seen above). I followed the pattern the first time around (with some difficulty) and decided to rip it out once I was 3" from the picot. I had gotten a lot of the sock knitted while on the bus on Wednesday but the part where I'd tacked down the CO edge looked wrong and I was unhappy with the way the color repeats were coming out. I pulled it off the needles and started again. I'm now about 2.5" from the funny-looking row that will be the picot edge.

The February Lady Sweater. Ah, I love her so. I measured from the center back of the collar down to my needles and I've got about 8" done so far. I'll keep knitting away on this while watching tv. I'm very pleased with it so far.

FO: Maude Louise

2008-11-15T21:52:00.009-05:00

Pattern: "Maude Louise" by Kristen Hanley Cardozo
Source: Ravelry (my method) or this link
Knitting Started: May 28, 2008
Knitting Finished: September 29, 2008
Sweater Done: November 7, 2008
Size: 32" bust (approx. 960 yds required)
Yarn: 5 skeins [100% Merino Wool; 216 yds per 3.5 oz skein] of Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in "Black Forest" (color "19 03 05")
Needles: I used #10, 9, 7 (pattern calls for US 8, US 6, and US 3)
Gauge: 4 sts/inch in stockinette. Yarn label says 4-5 sts/in on US 7-9

Note about pattern: If you use the version of the pattern that I did (still up 9/08), watch out for the lattice stitch pattern. For the waist, the RT instructions were missing four small words: "knit the skipped stitch" - I had, luckily, placed a lifeline here just in case so it wasn't too big a deal. For the sleeves, the chart was correct but the written out directions had RT and LT reversed throughout. I knitted about 5 rows following the written out directions before ripping back to the beginning of the design.

I didn't do the top part of the sweater as written (just plain stockinette instead of texture). If I knitted this sweater again I think I'd make the sleeves a little shorter and fiddle with the top of the button band a bit. Overall I'm really pleased with the cardigan and hope to get lots of use out of it. It really is a lovely pattern!

This was the first time I knit with Malabrigo (bought from Eat.Sleep.Knit) and *loved* working with it. After being 3/4 of the way done with the sweater I learned that it tends to pill so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it stays attractive after many washings. This yarn matched its description as an "incredibly soft single-ply merino wool" and I'm glad that it was "hand-dyed in Uruguay by a women's cooperative" – the yarn cost was not prohibitive for me and I'm glad I could help women make a living.

I wanted to have Maude Louise done in time for the start of Fall weather, but it wasn't meant to be. I finished it up last weekend and washed it before taking most of these pictures. It was crazy windy outside and between rain showers so we had to be quick...and finish up the photo session inside by the front door. Maybe I'll add a new picture or two sometime in the future. :)

FO: Chaussettes de Montreal

2008-11-13T21:07:00.011-05:00

Pattern: "Cable Rib Socks" by Erica Alexander
Source: Favorite Socks: 25 timeless designs from Interweave, p. 72-75
Started: September 26, 2008
Finished: November 13, 2008 (Sock #1 was finished 10/12/08)
Size: Women's medium
Yarn: 1 skein [80% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Nylon; 400 yds per 4 oz skein] of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering weight in the Spearmint Colourway. Look at this blog post.
Needles & Gauge: 8-10 stitches per inch on US #1 (2.25 mm)

Modifications: The pattern calls for 16 sts/inch so I had to do some math. I casted on 60 sts instead of 66 and modified accordingly. That mostly entailed knitting one less [k2, p1] repeat between each cable. "Design element" added.

Pictures edited 11/15/18.

FO: Toddler's Pullover

2008-11-09T15:34:00.007-05:00

It's been a weekend of finishing. On Friday I finished Maude Louise (FO post soon), Saturday I finished Saartje's Bootees, and today I finished Toddler's Pullover! All of these projects have been done for months but I'd put off seaming, attaching buttons, etc.

Pattern: Child's Aran Pullover
Knitting Started: August 22, 2008
Knitting Mostly Finished: August 29, 2008 - I blocked all the pieces (front, back, and sleeves)
Sweater officially finished: November 9, 2008 (!)
Size: Child's 2 (24" chest)
Yarn: 3.8 skeins of Knit Picks Swish Superwash [100% Superwash Wool; 110 yards per 50g skein] in "Fired Brick" (color #23885)
Needles: US #6 and US #5

This is a lovely little aran pattern with a center panel of blackberry stitch bordered by two little cables. The sleeves each have a cable going up them and the edges of the sweater roll up on themselves.

I should have finished this over Labor Day weekend but took my time doing the finishing touches. The pictures I took aren't that great, but the sweater's cute in person.

FO: Saartje's Bootees

2008-11-08T12:41:00.007-05:00

Way back in May: I had a bit of time off between Spring and Summer classes and, to celebrate, knitted at lunch. What a luxury this was at the time! Two lunches were devoted to Saartje's Bootees. I cast on the first bootie on a Tuesday and was finished knitting both by a Wednesday evening.

Pattern: "Saartje's Bootees" by Saartje de Bruijn
Source: Ravelry download (my method) or her blog (look on right)
Knitting Started: May 20, 2008
Knitting Finished: May 21, 2008
Buttons Attached: November 8, 2008 (!)
Size: Newborn
Yarn: Tiny amount of Knit Picks Risata [42% Cotton, 39% Superwash Merino Wool, 13% Polyamide, 6% Elite Elastic - 196 yards/50 gram ball] in "Marionberry" (color # 24126)
Needles: Size 2

I was surprised to be knitting with straight needles. I brought my dpns to work to cast on and was a bit nervous that sts would slip off when I was at the widest point. I was glad I made the newborn size or they actually might have!

The pattern is a little unclear so I had to do a bit of guessing. To be honest, I got so caught up in row 26 that I forgot to knit row 27. Oh well...the strap is just a little narrower than it's supposed to be which is hardly a big deal. I made sure to make both bootees the same way and I love how they turned out. Look--so tiny!

The only buttons I owned were the spare ones you get when you buy a shirt or pants and I didn't have four suitable ones. I went out and bought some little clear ones (look nicer in person than they do in these pictures) and just got around to attaching them today.

I made little loops at the back of each bootie because they’re going to be Christmas ornaments--I will mail one bootie each to the two friends who had babies this year. :)

Newbies beware: Much is left for improvisation so you have to have a bit of confidence in yourself. The finished product is adorable though.

Vote!

2008-11-04T16:04:00.005-05:00

Make sure you vote! I'm working the evening shift today and voted this morning.

On the knitting front, I've started up again. Yay! I'm working on the heel flap of sock #2 and plan to get a lot done tonight while watching the election results. :)

I usually shop in libraries

2008-10-28T13:41:00.004-04:00

I haven't really knitted anything in a while. I did about 3" of The Olympian while sitting in the hospital with my grandmother but didn't enjoy it a bit and haven't picked it--or anything else--up since. In lieu of knitting-related posts and in order for people not to think I fell off the face of the earth, I give you a book post that I wrote a while ago:

I usually shop in libraries.

Several weeks ago we went into a *huge* bookstore near our house and I went straight to the knitting & gardening area. I've been really interested in growing my own veggies lately (see below) and wanted to get a book that would be basic enough to teach me how not to make them die (I have a black thumb). I found several good ones and will check them out of the library. Next I moved to the craft books and then upstairs. By the time I met up with Dennis I had narrowed my pile of books-to-buy from 15 down to 5. When I saw that I was being greedy--he had only one book in his hand--I further narrowed my pile to 3, still feeling a bit guilty.

I bought:

The Free-Range Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
I love it! The essays are short and make me smile or laugh (often out loud). If you like her other books, you'll enjoy this one, too. I somehow forgot it had been released and was thrilled to find it on the shelf.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
For the past few weeks I've been listening to the audiobook version of this; I love it so much that I went out in search of the paperback. For one year, Barbara Kingsolver and her family documented their attempt to eat only what they could grow themselves or buy from local sources. The result is an informative book about agriculture, Americans' relationship to food, the government's contribution to our current state, and much more. I plan reading AVM (in print) when I'm done listening and think I've convinced my husband to join me--even though he's heard a million highlights already. He said it sounds like Fast Food Nation for farming. If interested, check this out - it's what piqued my interest.

As an aside, we've been trying to be conscience consumers for a while and eat organic when we can and have talked about growing our own vegetables since we bought our house. My grandfather had a *huge* garden (probably bigger than my current city-sized house) and I have fond memories of walking through it and picking tomatoes, beans, zucchini, etc.

Survival Sewing: emergency fixes for the rips, snags & tears of everyday life by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader & Nathalie Mornu
I've been wanting to learn the basics of sewing for quite a while, mostly in order to hem pants, hem curtains, and line knitted bags. Well! I saw this book and couldn't resist. The other books all seemed to be for sewing projects or learning to use your sewing machine. I gave my grandma's sewing machine back because I just didn't see myself actually using it but that doesn't mean that I don't need some help in this area. I've looked through most of this book and think it has good information. You can tell the authors are trying to grab young, hip readers and that can be annoying at times. Good info overall. So far I like it.

p.s. For Christmas I'm asking for Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard, which has an ugly cover but really nice patterns!

My grandmother

2008-10-24T14:10:00.003-04:00

My grandmother, whose 89th birthday would have been tomorrow, passed away on Sunday. She was a dear, sweet lady with a big heart and I miss her a lot already. There are so many things I could say about her but since this is my craft blog, I'd like to share some fibery reminiscences.

Grandmam was a crocheter who made us blankets and colorful ponchos when we were little and things for the house when we were older. When I moved into my first "real" home, she gave me a package containing hot pads, doilies, and other items that she had crocheted in advance--just in case she was unable to make them when she/we got older (she had made a package for each grandchild). I use those items all the time and always think of her when I do; as a knitter, I know how much love goes into each stitch.

She wasn't able to make big projects anymore but she still crocheted (mostly for families in need) and our phone conversations always included a discussion of what we were working on. She was one of the people I most enjoyed showing my FOs or WIPs to and she always had glowing things to say about my project even after I pointed out the parts that had gotten away from me.

These things seem trivial when I think of all the other reasons my Grandmam was such a wonderful person but they show some of her caring, generous side. She loved being with her family and friends and was there for every important event in my life; I consider myself blessed for knowing her for as long as I did and I hope she's happy up there with my grandfather.

Of all places

2008-10-08T20:59:00.004-04:00

I'd been carrying Maude Louise's finished button band around since it was done--and before that, the swatch had been a permanent fixture in my purse for weeks. I had no idea where to buy buttons but checked local craft stores and Target. When none of them had what I needed, I was a bit stumped.

Last week I went to my LYS after work to see if they had dark brown, preferably wooden, buttons. They had a whole corner filled with options, but nothing was the right color. The sales person helped me look through everything and said that dark brown was definitely a hole in their collection and that she'd buy some with her next order.

Eek! What to do now? She said that, when this happens, she directs people to an all-button store in a nearby town. (Ooh!) I went home to Google the address and didn't find a match. The store was in a different town than she mentioned, but it was nearby, and the town she mentioned had its own button store. (Ooh!) Someone on Ravelry told me about a store in Queens so now I had three options.

I tried to plan trips around my work, school, and personal schedule but didn't have much luck because of the time the stores closed on my free days. While in Walmart buying birthday wrapping paper (for the record, I rarely shop there), I saw the craft section had not only *buttons* but also the yarn I needed for my charity knitting!

Let me explain what I mean: my local knitting guild is knitting scarves for the Special Olympics. We were all asked (by the Olympics people) to use Red Heart Super Saver yarn in #885-Delft Blue and #311-White so each scarf would be the same exact color. At the guild meeting last time, people were saying that it was difficult to find the Delft Blue so I was going to order it online. I didn't want to pay shipping for yarn that I didn't really want to knit with and therefore held off. When I was looking at the buttons, I saw the Red Heart yarn and figured I'd take a look. Success! The Olympian will be started asap. It's due at Christmastime so there's no rush.

Okay, back to the buttons. I was glad that I'd brought the button band because I was able to make sure the button would go through the hole. It sounds like a silly thing, but it's really essential to wearing your cardigan properly. ;) The buttons I ended up buying were much smaller than I thought I'd need. They're 3/4" and plastic and I think they'll look lovely. If only I'd given my button-money to some small family-owned shop somewhere instead of a mega-store. *sigh*