Abigail Knits

Blog Is Moving!

2007-06-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

So I have finally had enough of the "new" Blogger. I hate that I cannot be logged in to blogger and my personal email account at the same time. Google, which usually makes me happy, has really messed things up this time :)

I can now be found at

http://crayolaab.wordpress.com/

I hope you will follow me over there! I am in the process of importing all of my old entries from this site and eventually I will probably close things down over here but not for awhile.

Fingerless Gloves

2007-06-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

(This is the second time I have posted a post successfully according to the new Blogger only to have it not show up on my Blogspot page. I am really not happy with new Blogger lately - anyone have suggestions for a photo-friendly blog site?)

I'm making these gloves for the friend of a woman in my knitting group. She has a disease that means she has to wear gloves nearly all the time, so the woman in my knitting group has put out a call for fingerless gloves for her friend.
I think I bit off a bit more than I should have on this one - I'm making them up entirely. I'm not sure I'm pleased enough with them to give them to someone else. I think the middle finger is a bit too long and that's easy to fix. However, I think the palm is a bit too bunchy (possibly just due to the thickness of the yarn) and I don't have the patience to fix that. I'm also not positive I can recreate it for the other hand. So this might be a single glove for me - we'll see.
I do really like this detail around the cuff; it reminds me of leaves on a vine.
I am very proud of my thumb gusset, though!

It's My Birthday Tomorrow!

2007-06-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday tomorrow, and coincidentally someone at my knitting group last night was sharing these prototype headbands with us :)

She said she would be sharing the pattern with the blog world when she finalizes it, but I think it's great the way it is!
The fabric is beautiful, the photos definitely don't do it justice.

Thank you Suzanne!

Basic Dishcloth

2007-06-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

This is a boring project but I love the colors :)
Just a quick and easy basic dishcloth.
Sugar n Creme, I believe. For my mother :)

Curran Scarf

2007-06-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

This is my April Three Irish Girls YOTM yarn. It's Galenas Merino, dyed in the Curran colorway. I love-love-love this yarn. I don't know why. I would not have thought I would like it. But I love it. I have visions in my head of a big (adult-sized-sweater) project using this stuff. For now, though, it has become a drop-stitch scarf.
Tomás thinks it is just fabulous. He approves of Three Irish Girls yarn in general and seemed especially fond of this one. I did not attempt to get a photo of the scarf stretched out fully.
Close up of the color. Yes, it's a single ply yarn. Yes, I have said in the past that I loathe single ply yarns. More and more I am beginning to think that I just loathe Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride.
This is how much yarn I had left (that's my handy new scale - it measures to the nearest gram!). I originally underestimated how much yarn was left and bound off too early. Actually, I just really wanted ice cream and I had promised myself I wouldn't get any unless I finished the scarf, so I think I convinced myself I didn't have enough for another repeat just so I could have ice cream. When I got home from knitting night I unpicked the bind off and did another repeat. Not too shabby! I'm getting good at this guessing game.

Ruffle Washcloth

2007-06-02T22:24:00.000-07:00

I still had yarn left over after making the flower washcloth so I made this. I didn't intend for it to be ruffly but after the fact I actually like it a lot. It is nice and floppy in my hand. I did the flower cloth on size 7s (Knitpicks options) and this one started on u-nitt bamboo DPNs size 8 and then used Knitpicks size 8 options, binding off with the size 11s.
I think it looks kind of like a sun dial here. The chenille was VERY hard on my hands. I spent about 4 hours on both cloths today, 2 earlier and 2 this evening, and my hands are kind of tingly now. Very strange.
A close up of the fabric :) This cloth is stockinette in the center and garter around the edges.

Flower Washcloth

2007-06-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

This is my Three Irish Girls May Yarn of the Month Club yarn project. The yarn is Sonnet Italian Chenille, dyed by Dashing Dachs in the "Shubunkin" colorway. 125 yards to 4 oz, rayon/cotton blend.
This photo shows how shiny and pretty the yarn is.
And I think this one shows off the awesome way the yarn spiraled toward the center.
Here's another view, just for fun :)

Top-down Hat

2007-05-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

I had some yarn leftover from my felted bag, so I made this little hat. I'll be donating it to my LYS which is collecting warm hats. I think it's for the Dulaan Project.
I started with six stitches and did kfab increases in sets of 6 until it seemed big enough.
Then I worked until I was out of blue, then I worked until I was out of red (which was really mostly orange for the hat). My cast off is a little tight so I might re-do it tomorrow.

Nashua Wooly Stripes

2007-05-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

I picked this yarn up on sale last year. I had other plans for it originally but they fell through. So I tried the yarn as "Danica" from Knitty. I liked the pattern fine but not with this yarn. I didn't realise the blue yarn had this teal color in it (you couldn't tell in the skein), or that the red color went so yellow-orange.
Instead, I decided it would be a felted bag. I quite like it, pre-felted (back).
Pre-felted (front). I wish I had thought to measure it. Alas I didn't. It seemed nearly big enough to be a sweater!
Post-felted. Ignore the bags and boxes coming out of it. Blocking is tricky!

Baby Sweater, (nearly) Finished

2007-05-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

You would not believe how many ends I had to weave in. The sweater is really not lopsided, it just needs a good blocking. It's very soft. I wish I had used a size smaller needle I think - but I wanted to make sure I had a nice soft floppy fabric, and I certainly do.
I was a little unsure of how the striping would look carrying on to the arm this way. I kind of like it. I don't like the underarm area very much. It's slightly choppy. It was my first time seaming in garter stitch and it was a bit tricky.
On the inside on one side I carried the yarn up the edge instead of cutting it for each color change. I tacked it all down so it wouldn't have loose pieces to catch baby's fingers on.
Here's one of the side seams. Not bad for my first garter stitch seaming. Not perfect but I think it will do.

A Sweater Progresses

2007-05-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the original MDK Baby Kimono. I was nearly finished with the first front when I realised 1) I was worried about running out of yarn and 2) the neckline was all wrong. I decided to rip all the way back to where I bound off for the neck. I knit one more stripe's worth on the back before binding off.
Then I re-worked the front, making it a cardigan rather than a kimono. I worked four button holes by binding off one stitch and casting it back on in the next row. If I could do it again I would bind off two stitches and cast two back on, I think, but I was worried that would make TOO big of a hole.
The sleeves are 5" wide at the armhole edge; I felt like the MDK pattern made sleeves that were just too skinny. I also made the sleeves a bit longer which required more increases/decreases so I spaced them out accordingly.

This is where I ended on Thursday when I just couldn't look at it anymore!

Details of WWF Swap

2007-05-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

The lotion
The DPN holders
The knitting needle chart (I got a few of these - I'll stick one in each knitting bag!)
The stitch markers. They are beautiful, and nice and simple!

Wooly Wonder Forums Magic Yarn Ball swap!

2007-05-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

I got my magic yarn ball swap package today! I forgot to take a picture before I started unwrapping the yarn. What can I say. It's been a long week!

Here's a photo when I was halfway through unwrapping.
All done! The haul included beaded stitch markers from Hide and Sheep on Etsy, Peppermint & Pumice scrub from Bella Bug Boutique, Knit.1 Summer 2007, DPN holders, a needle shaped pin, some hand lotion and some little cards to keep track of my knitting needles.

I'm not sure what the yarn is - waiting to hear back from my yarn buddy - but it's really pretty. A nice, deep, rich chocolately brown with a hint of pink. Yummy!

Modified MDK Baby Kimono

2007-05-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Yarn: Manos Cotton Stria

Colors: Pistachio, Orchid and Sky

Pattern: Modified Mason-Dixon Knitting Baby Kimono

Needles: Knitpicks Options size 6, 40"

Photos of the finished object to follow... just one front left to go. And of course, a million ends to weave in!

Shorties

2007-05-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Finished this pair of shorties. I think we decided the yarn is Marr Haven. I didn't really care for it. Too rustic and it feels funny to me. Makes a nice pair of shorties though :) The dye job is lovely also. I used all of the blue but still have a bunch of green/variegated leftover. Not sure I like how it pooled but not bothered enough to fix it. Also wish I'd done garter instead of seed stitch for the cuffs but again - not so much on the "care enough to fix" spectrum :)

Vanilla Spice is on hold. I've started one arm and am maybe 1/2 way finished. Started a baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting out of Manos Cotton Stria for a co-worker's baby gift. It's a girl - so I'm striping pink, green and blue. It looks awesome. I think. Feels nice too. Soft but not velvety. I'm hoping it can handle gentle wash/cold. I'll do up a swatch and test before I gift the item. We'll see. Either way I think the mum-to-be will handle it with care so I don't feel awful using a "hand wash, spin excess water in spin cycle, machine dry" yarn.

Vanilla Spice: Body

2007-05-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

The body of my Vanilla Spice cardigan is now finished. I am happy with it. This is a medium, although I stretched it a tiny bit so it is longer and not quite as wide. I think it is 39" total not 41". It is hard to tell exactly without buttons. I am not sure what kind of buttons to get. Something to break it up a little bit but not too busy.

I think the length is good. I do wish I had done waist shaping and bust shaping. I may make this again but I would add these modifications. The fabric is really nice though. Soft and squishable.

It is very blendy - I really need to pick buttons that make the front panel "pop". I'm also not 100% in love with the ribbed edging. I think I will like it after blocking but I have a devil of a time keeping my slipped stitch edge nice and tight so I will have to fiddle with it a little bit.

You can just barely make out the seams along the shoulder. The pattern mentions that they are set back just slightly from the top of the shoulder and you can tell that here. I'm not sure why the pattern is written that way - maybe just to keep you from having to work a little bit longer straps on the back? I contemplated grafting instead of the 3-needle bind off but in the end decided it probably needs the 3-needle bind off for structural integrity. We shall see.

Vanilla Spice: Back & Right Front Completed

2007-05-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the cat. It's time for bed, I ran out of patience. It is not a small cardigan, it's a big cat. I'm making the Medium. It's fabulous. I actually tried it on myself, but couldn't manage to hold the shoulder together, hold the front together, and take a photo at the same time so you don't get to see that :) I'll try for a photo after I've finished the left front and seamed it.
Here's the right front (left to look at). I love the stitch pattern. Subtle texture. It's really nice.
Also, the back neckline. I haven't paid enough attention to the later instructions to figure out why I didn't bind off here just yet. That was silly, really. I am sure it will all work out in the end. It's a remarkably well-written pattern. Except for the stitch counts that aren't correct during the neck/arm shaping.

The right front, showing the neckline shaping and a tiny bit of the armhole shaping. Beautiful. I've got to get daylight photos - maybe tomorrow.

Vanilla Spice

2007-05-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

I've been working late a lot lately so the pictures aren't great - there's no sunlight to be had inside by the time I get home!
I am making progress though. I'm nearly finished my second hank, and nearly finished with the underarm section of the cardigan. I am worried about running out of yarn because I lied in my previous post - my gauge is *not* spot-on. I'm getting an extra row per inch, or an extra 4 rows per 4 inches, also known as an extra 20 rows per the 21.75" finished height of the cardigan. (Did I mention I'm also adding an extra .75" to the length? I'd add more, but that worked out nicely in terms of button spacing, freaking out about yarn, etc.)
The pattern is nice. Not too fussy, not too complicated. Easy to mindlessly knit. My edges are a little sloppy so I'll be spending time manually adjusting them when I finish but I'd rather do that than pick up & knit the front bands separately :)

Cross your fingers for me that I *dont* need another skein of this stuff. I'm doubtful it will work but it can't hurt!

Swatching for Vanilla Spice

2007-04-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Knitty's spring surprises are out and I am really liking a couple of them. First up is Vanilla Spice, a cute cardigan with a subtle "seed" stitch pattern. It's not quite seed stitch but close. I have been hauling around 6 skeins of Artful Yarns Fable in The Boy Who Cried Wolf (aka color 96) for the last three years and this year decided to actually use it. I saw this pattern and thought - hey, why not? I swatched and the unblocked measurements were pretty close...
...so I did a quick rinse/wring (note to self: this yarn doesn't really like being wrung out) and block, and re-measured. I'm close to spot on with the gauge so I'm going to go for it! The photo makes the swatch look really unevenly blocked but it isn't, I promise! It's also not dry yet :)
The colors are not accurate at all in this photo but you can tell how it is a 4-ply yarn, with each ply a different color. It's got a light blue (periwinkle), a lavender, and two shades of a kind of moss green. Very pretty!

I am going to try to add some waist shaping and I am undecided on whether to leave the pockets or not. I'm also not sure which size to cast on just yet - it'll either be Small or Medium according to the measurements, and since I can't conceive of being a size small I think I will go with the Medium. That means I don't have much extra in the way of yarn, and I have this idea that I would like a tiny bit extra length-wise, so ditching the pockets will give me a little bit more room for error with yarn quantity.

Cute set!

2007-04-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

I made this cute set for a friend's toddler. I used Peace Fleece in Volgasippi Blue (more teal than expected) and Father's Grey (darker than expected). I seem to have a slight allergy to either Peace Fleece's processing methods or mohair. If I forgot to wash my hands after working with the yarn before rubbing my eyes, they got really itchy.

I used inspiration from some different wrap sweater patterns to come up with this one, which is completely seamless - I worked the body in the round and then did a 3-needle bind off for the shoulders. Then, I picked up stitches and worked the sleeves in the round down to the cuffs. Then, I picked up stitches and worked the band around the neck opening. The ties are twisted cords. If I did it again, I would probably prefer buttons, or maybe ribbon. Not sure, really.

These shorties are a little more capri-length, but the toddler will grow in to them. I love the little pocket detail - I got the idea for the pocket from a friend from my knitting group's longies/shorties pattern. Too cute! I just hope my sewing stands up to the abuse of a toddler :)

The two pieces together - the sweater looks huge compared to the shorties, but I wanted to be sure it fits for long enough to make it worth all of my time :)

Cute Shorties!

2007-04-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

I just finished these adorable shorties. They are "small" with an unstretched waist of 14", hips of 16", and a rise of ~15". The inseam is 3".
The yarn is gorgeous, an organic merino (Stallion). the colorway is called "Lion Cub" and it is a Yarn of the Month club yarn from the Irish Baby Knits yarn of the month club. This yarn is seriously heaven. It is dyed by Hilary of Dashing Dachs. According to IBK, "Stallion is a Aran/bulky weight yarn, with 152 yards per four ounce skein, and a recommended needle size of US 10-11."
I used needles sized 2 and 3 (I seem to get the same gauge with a yarn regardless of needle size, unless I go really small or big, and I had circs in those sizes readily available) and it worked up to a nice, firm fabric that is not stiff and just feels wonderful. They probably took about 5 hours total.
The best part? I used Every Single Bit of the yarn, exactly. It was perfect. Actually, I would have liked a tiny bit more yarn because I like the cord a bit longer but it's long enough and I'm satisfied :)

Stupid Blogger

2007-04-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

The day has finally come with Blogger would not let me log in to Old Blogger. I have now been forced to convert to New Blogger. I am not amused.

What are my options? I have a domain name and can host a blog there if I wanted to. The HUGE bonus of Blogger in my opinion is that I can upload photos/post directly from Picasa, without needing to put the photos on my photo gallery first. Can anything compare?

Gratuitous Kitty Pictures

2007-04-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

It seems that many knitters have cats. The reason for this correlation is unknown. Is it that cat people like to knit? Is it that knitters like cats? The world may never know. I, too, have a cat. Here he is outside, checking out my as-yet-unused planters. You can see the one on the left still has a plant in it. That's the only thing that survived my tender loving care last year. Whoops.
And here he is posing inside, isn't he beautiful? His name is Tomás Murphy Hobbes and he weighs 16 lbs. Believe it or not he is only about 1 lb overweight. He's a big boy, that's for sure!

Mason-Dixon Knitting: Baby Kimono

2007-04-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

I finally finished seaming the Kimono. I am still undecided if I will give it to my coworker or not. Apparently the kimono-style makes it "too girly". I love it very much, at any rate. The yarn is so pretty - it reminds me of a watercolor painting. I can't remember which one but it's famous. I am a little bit worried that the armholes are too small, but little baby fists and wrists are tiny, right? The arms look really long to me too, but hey, whatever. I hit gauge and it matches what the pattern says. I don't like it in general though and would probably not do it again.

Here is a picture of the inside of the side seam. Not too bad looking if I do say so myself. I chose to make the kimono in stockinette though the pattern suggests garter (the book was written by people who loathe purling, apparently) because I didn't think the yarn would look as nice in garter stitch and I think I was right if this reverse stockinette is any indication.

The underside of the arm. The arm is decreased across the length so it was not quite as easy as the side seams. I was also joining vertically rather than horizontally. But, I think I did reasonably well.

Maybe this picture gives you some idea of what I mean when I say it looks like a watercolor. You can also see my absolutely perfect side seam here. I am so proud. You only know it's there because the color of yarn changes ;)

Mystery Project, Part 2 - Seaming

2007-04-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

I am giving these pictures their own post because they are about seaming. I am very proud of my seams on this project. I have never seamed stockinette like this before. It is very tedious, kind of annoying, but dead easy. The biggest problem was keeping hold of the selvedge stitches (tiny!) so I could pick up the bar with my needle.
See how long and straight and, well, perfect the seam is? See how annoyingly obvious the color changes are in from this angle?
The sleeve was not quite as easy due to the constant increases - but all in all, not too shabby for a first try!

Mystery Project Update, Part 1

2007-04-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

You may or may not remember the mystery project I was working on in July of last year. Well, the pieces have been finished since August, but with mistakes. First, the back was too short. So, I frogged and re-knit. Then, I had to pick up a bajillion stitches for the front band so it sat for awhile. I finally did that and then I had to figure out how to seam the edges. The ladies at my knitting group were very helpful and I seamed the edges. THEN I thought to check the sleeves against the sleeve-holes.
Whoops. The front and back may be the same size, but they aren't the RIGHT size - as you can tell in this picture. I am still not sure what I am going to do about this. It would be easy to rip a few rows out of the front & back pieces, but I really do not relish the thought of re-knitting the front band. I might try to ease the sleeves into the armholes but I don't think that will work, either. Someone at knitting suggested I just make it a vest - great idea, but I am completely out of the brown yarn and I really feel like it would need some sort of cuff at the armhole edges.
So, this really cute back patch is just sitting around, waiting for me to make a decision one way or another. In the end, I will probably rip out the front band, rip back part of the front and back, and re-do it so the arms fit... but not any time soon, that's for sure!

Old Dishcloth

2007-04-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

I'm working on getting rid of old stuff, and this certainly qualifies. This is the first dishcloth I ever made. It's out of that craft store cotton - Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton, or Peaches n Creme, something like that - in a variegated green/white color. See how the bottom right corner is really pointy? Yeah, that's cause I suck :)

All joking aside, I can tell that this is not a recent piece of work. The stitches are uneven, the tension on the edges is all wonky, and it just isn't quite right. But, it's a dishcloth for heaven's sake.
See how wobbly the stitches are?

I have half a ball left - I think I'll start another one :)

Mystery Yarn Update

2007-04-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone was wondering - I had ordered "Summer Breezer", which was supposed to be mostly blue. The yarn I got, while mostly pink, was in fact Summer Breeze. How frustrating! I contacted the woman who runs the YOTM club and she was happy to let me exchange or return the yarn. Since I am not sure I trust that Front Porch will look like it does in the picture, I decided to return the yarn for a one-month subscription extension. Next month, it's back to my favorite dyer and I am looking forward to it :)

Wait... What color?

2007-04-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

I belong to a Yarn of the Month club. This means that every month I get to choose one of two colorways of a handdyed yarn. This month, the choices were as follows:

1) Front Porch. I thought this was lovely, very reminiscent of autumn.

2) Summer Breeze. This one is also nice (although the photo looks a bit splotchy) and very springy.

This is what I received. Guess which colorway I ordered.

Ugly bug 2

2007-03-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

Does Blogger only allow 4 photos per post from Picasa? Here are two more of the ugly bug - the top one not so clear but it kind of shows how bendy he is, trying to climb up the glass. In the bottom one his long front antenna is folded up!

UGLY BUG

2007-03-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

What is this disgusting bug I found in our spare room?

Fiber Trends Felted Clogs - Finished!

2007-03-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

These took a lot longer to felt than I expected! The pattern said 10-30 minutes and they took the full 30 minutes, if not more. I kept pulling them out to try them on and it was very tricky because the water was HOT!
Here is a view looking down. You can see how stiff they are and how well they hold the shape! You can also kind of tell that the felt is slightly "textured". Knitpicks Wool of the Andes does this also, but I don't remember Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride doing it. I will have to investigate this phenomenon more thoroughly in the future.
A much better fit, post-felting!

After wearing them around the house a bit, I am definitely going to add something to the sole - either black puff paint or leather soles - because they are very slippery on tile/linoleum.
I also think they could have been ever so slightly smaller, too - they are stretching out a bit with wear. But, I will be wearing them over thicker socks at the ski cabin so I will leave them as they are for the time being. I have enough yarn for another pair for the house, so I just might make those a size smaller.

Fiber Trends Felted Clogs

2007-03-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

Here are my finished, pre-felted Fiber Trends clogs (with a pair of baby mitts for size). I used Patons Classic Wool, held doubled, in Wedgewood and Black. I actually quite liked the yarn - it's nothing special but certainly not horrible. I got it on sale so these slippers cost me less than $13. I used nearly two skeins of the Black, and nearly one skein of the Wedgewood.
That is my foot sticking out of the clog, to give you some idea of how big it is! The sole is double-thick. The weird color pattern you can see where the Wedgewood meets the Black sole is where the increases happen. I have to admit at such a loose gauge, with yarn held doubled, it was kind of tricky keeping track of it all!
Here is the bottom of the sole. It is worked in one long piece, and then seamed together down the middle.
I messed up a little bit with the "bumper" on one of the soles - I worked it the wrong way (going up instead of going down). I decided I didn't care enough to re-do it (I hate picking up stitches!) so I left it. You can see here how the bottom of the left slipper doesn't look as "finished".. oh well!

Broadstreet Mittens

2007-03-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

I have finished one and am halfway through a second of a pair of Broadstreet Mittens from knitty.com. I love these! The yarn is something luscious which is slipping my mind at the moment, in a gorgeous rich colorway of burgundies and purples and navies.

Anyway, I am mostly very happy with these - except with the flap top. I did a sock toe with paired decreases at either side, but in retrospect I think it makes the tip too pointy. I think I am going to undo the decreases and redo it with 5-6 decreases around.

The main thing I don't like is how far down the top comes when it is pulled over. I'm supposed to sew on a little button for the flap to hook on to, but it would have to fall halfway down the ribbing to be in the right place and that just seems wrong to me. I think a slightly less pointed flap would help.
I can't help but think to myself that it looks funny with a full thumb - and wonder if there is a way to put a little flap on the thumb as well. Of course there is a way, but I think it would make it too bulky and really just be silly. The thought is there, though!
From this angle, I quite like the appearance of the flap - it looks a bit more rounded and gentler, and I think that's what I need.

Mason-Dixon Knitting Baby Kimono

2007-03-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here's the MDK Baby Kimono, in a gorgeous yarn from my IrishBabyKnits Yarn of the Month club subscription. The colorway is Shirlie, I am completely blanking on the yarn though - I think it may be "Gretel", a wool/alpaca blend. I really love the yarn but of course I only get one skein of it so sometimes it can be tricky to decide what to do with it! The pattern calls for garter stitch originally but I went with stockinette because I thought garter would be too busy with this colorway.

I haven't sewn the seams yet, I'm still deciding whether this is the right pattern for the yarn or not! I am a little weirded out by the sizing but I hope once I seam it, it will look right. I remember reading somewhere that for baby sweaters the arms should be as long as the body, which is just about right as you can see here.

This was originally intended for a coworker's baby shower. She doesn't know yet if it is a boy or a girl, and I thought the blue/green colors would be gender neutral enough - but I have had several people tell me that the wrap style is "girlie", so now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. We'll see :)

Calorimetries

2007-03-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

I made this Calorimetry (from Knitty.com) for my mom to wear when she is out shoveling or doing other things in the cold New England winters. It will fit under a larger hat for extra warmth or work on its own when it isn't that cold out. The yarn is 100purewool, and I *love* it. It's a single-ply which I am not usually a fan of but this yarn is so soft and gorgeous I cannot resist. I still have a bit left and I am hoarding it, trying to decide what to do with it. It's really lovely.
The pattern calls for it to be closed with a button, but I don't like buttons, so I didn't do one. Instead, I made a twisted cord to be used as a tie. The pattern also calls for the short rows to be done in a manner which I consider to be incorrect, which leaves little holes behind. I dislike holes, so I did them properly with the exception of the first two which I used for the cord to thread through. Mom really likes it!

Here's another Calorimetry, using the gorgeous hand-dyed yarn that I used for Amelia's mitts (see previous post). Between Calorimetry and the mitts, I used all of the yarn that I had, with just enough left over to make one baby sock. Does anyone know a one-footed baby? I think I'm going to try the local hospital to see if they can use it.

This is what Calorimetry looks like when worn. I might actually have to make one for myself! It functions as a headband *and* earwarmer all in one, which is pretty nifty. It's also really soft and flexible, unlike most lycra/fabric headbands.

Mitts for Amelia

2007-03-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

I made these mitts for a friend to try out for her baby, who likes to suck her thumb. You can't tell in these photos, but each mitt has a little slit on the side where she can poke her thumb out and suck on it. I tried to make the hole big enough that the thumb and the part of the hand where the thumb branches out will both fit through the hole, so she doesn't end up sucking the mitt, but I'm not positive I managed. They are just 2x2 rib for the cuff and then worked plain for a bit before decreasing at the top. There's an eyelet row too that I threaded a twisted cord through to help the mitts stay on.
The yarn is Cascade 220, dyed by some WAHM - I got a bit of the yarn (half a skein?) as part of a trade recently and what better use to put it to than this! It's so pretty, I wish I could get more of it, but I have no idea who dyed it.

For the future, I think I would modify the pattern ever so slightly by starting out with fewer rib stitches and increasing for the mitt. I would also do the right number of stitches to do 5-6 decreases at the top instead of 4. Overall, for a made-up pattern, I think this is just fine.

I'm still waiting to see if they actually fit/function, though!

Cabled Hat

2007-03-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend recently lost his favorite winter hat, just before a trip to NYC. He requested a new hat, with some "texture" which I finally realised translated to cables. He also wanted a dark/charcoal grey. My LYS didn't carry Cascade 220 (my hat yarn of choice) in a dark enough grey so I went with this Berocco Ultra Alpaca in this gorgeous color - I believe it is "Charcoal Mix". This yarn is oh-so-yummy to work with but slightly thinner than Cascade 220. The halo helps it look like a nice firm fabric however. I eventually settled on a simple ropey cable that always crosses on top. It's a 6 stitch cable and I originally started with a 3 stitch purl section separating each cable. After my first cable twist I realised this would make the hat too big, so I decreased the purl section to two stitches. This means the hat fits nice and snug for the most part but it's a little bit looser at the bottom. If I hadn't been on a tight deadline, and hadn't already tried about four different stitch patterns, I might have started over again and worked the whole thing with a 2 stitch purl section, but alas - I was lazy. I was worried about the dark yarn hiding the cables but ultimately, I think it worked out quite nicely. I did some decreases at the top - first decreasing each of the three-stitch cable pieces to two, then decreasing the 2-stitch purl sections to 1, etc. I may try to take some better photos of the crown section and I may not - I also think I will write out the pattern more specifically so I have some hope of duplicating it in the future!

Longies

2007-01-24T18:22:00.000-08:00

This is Big Blue BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) from Wooly Wonders by Nada. It is dyed in the " Starry Nite" colorway, with coordinating "gold" trim. This yarn is beautiful. It is soft, firm, sturdy, and just all around wonderful.

Nada and her husband Brad originally donated this yarn to me to use for a raffle to benefit the Professor. Unfortunately, little Natty passed away before our second round of auctions/raffles, and we decided we would give them up. Instead, I offered to knit a pair of longies for Nada to raffle/auction off for her own benefit - Nada and Brad are saving up for a round of IVF, to try to conceive a child.
I figure this is a win-win situation; I wanted to try this yarn, but didn't want to shell out big bucks for it :)
These longies are HUGE (since I've mostly just done smalls until now!) - a M/L ish size, with an 18inch rise, 18inch waist and 10inch inseam. I used almost exactly 8 oz of the Starry Nite, and maybe 1-1.5oz of the gold. I wish I hadn't been so cautious with the gold at first; I would prefer the waistband to be a bit longer, but NO WAY am I ripping these out!!

Hot Pink Hat

2007-01-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

A friend requested a "hot pink" hat. I hope she's happy with this one. I had a devil of a time working out the decreases, having not thought about them in advance. It's k2, p1 rib and very comfy! I used Peace Fleece in Perestroika Pink and then white Cascade 220 doubled for the stripes. Not bad if I do say so myself, considering I made it up as I went :P

iPod Mini "Sock"

2007-01-14T11:08:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my aunt asked for a cover for her iPod mini. Being the clueless person that I am, I decided to wait until close to the last minute to go get one for her - not realising that they don't really carry these in stores anymore (now that the mini is no longer sold). Whoops! Well, I gave her an iTunes gift card instead, but felt bad for not getting her a cover.. so I worked up this quick knitted "sock" instead. After doing some research I discovered that the iPod mini was about the same size as my new phone, so I used that for a measurement. I used leftover Rowan DK Cashsoft doubled (Seriously. This is one *soft* sock!) and it was luscious. It took a couple of hours - not bad. I cast on half the necessary stitches, then knit front and back (alternating stitches between two needles) before starting the k2, p2 pattern.

You can tell here that my cast on was not quite as clean as it might have been but it was good enough for me. I used the sewn bind off to make sure it was good and stretchy.

FuzzyFeet

2007-01-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

I had two skeins of this gorgeous yarn from
IrishBabyKnits in Eire, on their (her?) Lindon Merino. It's a lovely squishable soft yarn. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it, and finally settled on a pair of Fuzzyfeet from Knitty. I knit them up in just a couple of nights but I haven't had the courage to felt them yet. I only used just under one skein of the yarn, so I still have another skein-and-a-bit left. I'm not 100% sure that this is the best use for this yarn, and once I felt them, that's it!

Here's a close-up of the color, a bit more accurate than the photo above. It's really pretty! The yarn is sort of minimally processed so there were just a few flecks of vegetable matter in it. Not any worse than Noro Kureyon, that's for sure. I am toying with the idea of ripping it out and trying the Felted Mocs from Fiber Trends instead, but I just can't decide. I should probably make a child's hat/mitten/scarf set and call it quits since felting seems to be a "waste" of this gorgeous yarn, but I don't know any kid who needs said set nor am I generous enough to donate this delicious yarn to a stranger :P

Chunky Cable Hat

2006-12-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

I was recently gifted a 6-month subscription to the Irish Baby Knits "yarn of the month" club. I received my first yarn on Friday - Riddermark Merino, a chunky 100% wool. The suggested needle size is US11-15 and I got approximately 90 yards. The colorway is called "Campbell" and it's a lovely mix of gold/bronze/copper/silver/white and I love it. It is not my usual style but it is beautiful. I was so taken by it, in fact, that I had to make something RIGHT AWAY. I did a little swatch, figured I was getting about 3sts/inch on sz 9 Clover Takumi DPNs (I am officially in LOVE with these needles! Brittany Birches have *nothing* on these!), and cast on.

I'm not completely satisfied with it - I'm going to have to rip at least half of the hat out - but it's a good start. If I had done a little Googling I'm sure I could have found an existing pattern and not had to mess around making something up, but I was lazy so there you have it. I was a bit concerned about running out of yarn also. After finishing this hat, I have enough yarn left for three more full rows by my count, and the hat is ever so slightly too short and ever so slightly too tight. I could solve this by only cabling every OTHER rib (it's worked in 4x1 rib with a cable every 7th row), but unfortunately I have an odd number of ribs (11) so this would look funny. I think I'm going to rip back a bit and just add in two more rows before I start the crown decreases and hope that that works. I think the "too tight" would be fixed if it were just a smidge longer. Another option is to rip and re-work on sz 10s or 10.5s, and ANOTHER option would be to try it with 10 ribs and cable every other row (might still be too tight) or 12 ribs (I think I would run out of yarn). I think the 10.5's would make the fabric too loose, and I don't have sz 10's, so we'll see. I don't think I have any desire to work this yarn and these cables on Denise Interchangeables...

My other quandary unfortunately is the striping. I love, love, love the way it stripes for the bulk of the hat but after I did the first set of crown decreases I hit the magic row size and the colors started piling up on themselves. Then after the next set of decreases, the colors started migrating the other direction. Oh, well.

I'll probably mess around with it a bit more until I have something I'm really satisfied with but overall I am quite pleased with it. I even worked cables and decreases in the dark (car ride up to Stevens Pass) so I am impressed with myself ;)

A nice bonus is that the hat totally matches my new ski jacket. (Nevermind the fact that I never wear a hat and my ski jacket at the same time.. it still makes me happy.)

This yarn is delicious. It's wonderfully soft, very firm and doesn't get fuzzy after being ripped out a couple dozen times (only about four, really, but it *seemed* like a lot!). It is soft and squishy and just luscious, and the colorway is beautiful as always. There were tiny bits of veggie matter every so often but nothing too unusual for a yarn like this - I've had to pull more junk out of Noro Kureyon before. DEFINITELY a good yarn for a nice cosy sweater and soft enough for baby stuff, too.

Thanks, Rachel!!

Say What?

2006-12-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

You could not pay me to work with this yarn.. oh, wait, someone is. Oh well. It's Joann brand Sensations, a super bulky, slightly thick and thin yarn with two plies - one in red, the other variegated (going from olive to yellow to orange to pink). Each ply is not very well spun but they are spun together reasonably well. I'm not a spinner so that's not a very technical explanation but there you have it. This yarn is CHUNKY. The recommended needle size is 17 - say what?? I'm working it with 8's cause I have a death wish, and getting 3.5 sts/inch. These longies are a favor for someone I know online, who bought the yarn so her grandma could crochet some longies, but it was too thick and thus too difficult for her grandma to work with, so she wanted someone to make them for her. She provided the yarn and I'm using a free, ok-to-knit-for-commercial-use pattern (with lots of mods to suit the yarn and my own changes) - and she's paying me.

I charged a reasonable amount, but now I'm wishing I had not been so anxious to finish - I started with measurements that were based on memory, and after finishing the body I questioned it (the body looked disproportionate)- she re-measured and her memory was off. I think I'm going to leave the legs as-is, re-do the body to the gussets and then cut and graft the legs back on. The legs should be fine, just the rise and waist need adjusting. Oh well. She'll still have them in time for Christmas.

Leif's Snowflake Hat

2006-12-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

This hat was three attempts in the making. First it was too big (I forgot to account for negative ease), then too small (I used a newborn head measurement instead of 1 year), and finally it was JUST RIGHT. Each version I made had a slightly different pattern on it - this one, with the checkerboard at the bottom, was the final one and luckily, my favorite! The fair isle got easier each time and I am glad in a way that it took me so many tries because now I am quite comfortable with holding both strands of yarn.

I used sz 1 needles for the solid portions and 3 for the fair isle bits which worked really well. There is no weird bulge where I switched to a single color. There are two things I am not 100% satisfied with, which are related. The first is that the snowflake pattern is not centered over the front-center of the hat. This is because, had I centered it, the disconnect at the end of each round would have fallen mid-snowflake. As it was, it fell at the very end of the snowflake near the diamonds - the other thing I didn't like. I am not quite sure how to avoid the little jog at the end of a round with fair isle but I am sure I will figure it out eventually!

This yarn is AMAZING. It is so soft and pretty - 100% alpaca, sportweight.

The earflaps - I forget how many stitches I cast on for those - but I picked up 25 stitches across the top of each one. I seem to think I had 112 stitches in total (7 repeats of a 16-stitch repeat snowflake) which means that the front/back were 31 stitches across. The white border was fewer and then I increased after every 3 stitches. After the snowflakes, I decreased 7 times every other row for awhile and then every row.

It fits the recipient remarkably well - and should hopefully allow for a bit of growth too. The earflaps were a bit long - almost long enough to button under his chin - hmmmmmm.

I'm Still Around!

2006-11-19T21:13:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting much lately, but I have been knitting! I've finished the Clapotis, and just need to block and weave in the ends - I like it, but it's considerably smaller than the original. It only used two skeins of Manos del Uruguay, so I *could* have made it bigger, but I think I will like it this size.

I also knit a pair of Knitty's Fuzzyfeet out of luscious Lindon Merino from irishbabyknits.com in the Eire colorway. I haven't felted them yet because I'm scared the yarn won't felt well and it will ruin the beautiful yarn. BUT, hopefully soon I will get up the courage to do so!

Two baby sweaters are still languishing in a pile - maybe I'll get around to finishing them one of these days, and then find a baby to fit them. Ah, well.

Hybrid Rib Soaker

2006-11-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

This is IrishBabyKnit's Elenya Alpaca, in the "McDermott" colorway. It's knit up on 5's or 6's, I forget which... and makes a really lovely fabric. It's much prettier knit up than it was in the center-pull ball, perfect for a springtime knit or perhaps something Easter-y.

Here's a Hybrid Rib soaker from Little Turtle Knits pattern, which I will be offering in a raffle at the Fiber Arts Avengers Hyena Cart. It's not yet washed/lanolised but it should be a pretty accurate size medium. It's a really quick knit and will be a lovely soaker for some lucky little baby - and hopefully raise a lot of money for Nat, a three year old with an aggressive brain tumor.

Fruit!

2006-11-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

I made a few more stuffed pumpkins, and tried something new with the stems. I think this curvy stem is cute!
I used the same pattern, slightly modified , to make a cute little apple. I cast on 28, increased to 35, then worked for about 20 rows then I started working decreases every four stitches, then a knit row, then decreases every three stitches, then a knit row, then decreases every other row etc - ending up with 7 stitches which I just pulled the yarn through. Then I added a stem and tried to make a little leaf. The leaf is kind of pathetic but hey what can you do. I tacked it down to the apple.

Fiber Arts Avengers

2006-11-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

I have recently joined a group called the Fiber Arts Avengers, which is a collection of crafters (knitters, quilters, dyers, diaper-makers, etc) who have come together to raise money for a variety of causes. Most recently, the "cause" is a little boy named Nat, called "The Professor" by his friends and family. Nat has a malignant brain tumor and will be undergoing all sorts of horrible treatments that no child (or adult!) should have to experience.

We'll be offering a series of auctions and raffles over the next few days, with the first listings going up on Friday. You can find out more here: http://hyenacart.com/Charity_raffles/ . Most of the auctions are baby/cloth diapering related, but I wanted to mention it just in case anyone is interested. I'm contributing some pumpkins toward a fantastic gift basket that will include lots of little stuffed fruits/veggies and blocks.

Clapotis - Manos STyle

2006-10-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

It's a work-in-progress, but I like it! I'm a little disappointed that the variegated yarn has so much of the dark blue in it, it makes it hard to see that I'm using a fibonacci stripe sequence :)

Nevermind all of the horrible ends to weave in - I know I should be doing it as I go but I just can't bear to :) I've dropped four stitches so far and it's fun!

I'm loving the pattern, although I keep getting so caught up in it that I forget to pay attention to my striping - I've unknit too many rows to count ;)

I like the yarn, but it dries my hands out something fierce. I also think there's something in it that I'm allergic to, but I'm not sure. I'm hoping a good wash will fix that because this puppy is for ME! Theoretically it's something *in* the yarn and not the wool itself as I haven't had problems with wool in the past. I had a terrible sneezing fit when I put on my wool jacket this morning too (it was 33 degrees out! brrrrr), again I'm hoping it just needs a cleaning/

I love-love-love this colorway.

Fetching, Take Two

2006-10-30T17:43:00.000-08:00

Here's the second pair of Fetching I made - finished in the car on the way to the wedding where they were gifts :) I actually do like the striping, and I'm glad I lengthened them ever so slightly.

Halloween Fun!

2006-10-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

I have a bunch of leftover orange yarn (Cascade 220) after finishing Leif's longies, and I ran across this great pumpkin pattern from CurlyPurly. It is a really simple, basic pattern that is easily adaptable so I pulled out my sz 5 DPNs and got to work. This took me about an hour or so. I followed the pattern for the most part with a few modifications.

To start, I cast on 28 stitches and k3, kf&b for the first row. This set me up with the 35 stitches I needed to work the k4, p1 pattern. I worked this for 25 rows and then worked a decrease row - k3, k2tog. Then I pulled the end through the stitches and pulled tight. I stuffed with some wool scraps (and some absolutely luscious Rowan Cashsoft!) before feeding the tail through the cast on and pulling tight. Then I brought the tail through to the other side, pulled until it looked like a pumpkin, tied the two ends together and wove them in. I hope it stays put!

After that, I wove a tail of some green Galway Highland Heather through the top of the ball to create five "stitches". Then I picked up those stitches and worked some i-cord. C'est fini!

One more photo

2006-10-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

Forgot this photo of both gloves next to each other - less you think I didn't actually finish them both! ;)

You can sort of tell what I was referring to when I mentioned that the thumbholes begin in a different place on each pair.. very annoying (to me)!

Fetching, the First

2006-10-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

My LYS doesn't carry the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, so I used Rowan Cashsoft 4-ply (57% extra fine merino, 33% microfibre, 10% cashmere). I didn't like the worsted weight Cashsoft color choices, hence the 4-ply, which I used doubled. The woman at my LYS showed me how to estimate gauge for a yarn doubled based on the singled gauge - you take the spi (in this case, 7), multiply it by 2 (14) and divide by 3 (4.666.....). This was pretty close to the suggested gauge for the Cashmerino, so I went with it. The colors I used were Amethyst and Loganberry. Because the pattern called for exactly one ball of the Cashmerino and I knew I wanted to add an extra few rows, I decided to buy an extra ball of yarn in a different color to make stripes. As it turned out, I did have some of the contrasting color leftover but I doubt that I would have had enough without the contrast color stripes for this length. I used sz 5 double points because I don't have 6's, but my gauge was fine.

I worked the pattern exactly as written up to the thumbholes (except for the stripe pattern), and then I worked six 4x1 rib rows, a cable row, and 5 4x1 rib rows before binding off. I did not do the picot bind off because I thought it just made it look sloppy. My striping pattern was as follows: after the last wrist cable, I worked 5 rows main color, 4 rows contrast color, 5 rows main color, 4 rows contrast color (then thumbhole!) then changed to main color for the rest.
I have one major complaint with the pattern, and it wouldn't have been a complaint if I had been thinking instead of just knitting. The instructions for the left hand say to cable in the opposite direction, but make no allowances for the position of the thumbhole. I put it in the same place as the right hand thumb. Now, there is no reason that the gloves can't be reversible, but it bothers me that the thumbhole falls in a different position relative to the cable stripes on each glove. For my next pair, I'm going to shift the thumb hole ever so slightly - the right hand mitt folds nicely and lays flat with the thumb in the correct position, because it starts directly after a purl column, but the left hand one does not because it starts mid-knit section.

All in all, an easy, quick pattern - two TV shows for the knitting (Gilmore Girls one night, Grey's Anatomy another), about 15 minutes of finishing during Numb3rs, and they're finished! I have another pair already half-finished in shades of green, and they will be gifts for my godsister and her partner at their wedding next week :)

Fetching

2006-10-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a couple of pairs of Fetching from Knitty for wedding presents for my godsister and her partner. I made one last night and have decided it's too short - I'd like it to go a bit further up on the fingers - so I'll be ripping and reworking it. Instead of doing it entirely in a solid color, I think I will add some striping - not sure how, and not sure if I'll go with a contrasting color or a coordinating color, but I'll decide soon :)

I have this dark green and then a deep mauve-y purple, and then ligher versions of this green and the purple. I'll either do dark purple/light purple and dark green/light green, or dark green/light purple and dark purple/light green. We'll see.

The yarn is Rowan's version of the recommended yarn - I'll have to post details later, because I can't remember just now.

Christmas Socks?

2006-10-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

I am working on these socks from the Falling Leaves pattern at Knitty, using Knitpicks' Sock Garden yarn in Hollyberry (if I remember correctly). It's going reasonably quickly now that I've become familiar with the lace pattern. They look disproportionately long but they measure just right.. we'll see!

Autumn Longies

2006-10-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

I made these for my friend's baby. He's awfully cute and these pants are awfully cute on him! They look kind of funny in this photo but I promise they look awesome in person. The yarn is IrishBabyKnit's Elenya Alpaca in the Nolan colorway. I don't remember exactly what needles I used, but I know sz 1 for the waist/cuffs because those are Cascade 220 which is a little bit thicker than the Elenya Alpaca. I think I used sz 3's and then sz 6's for the rest of the body. I don't remember the exact stitch counts or anything at the moment - I worked a medium-ish size to get the striping to work out correctly. There's a mistake because I was a moron and didn't realise it until I was so far along I couldn't bear to rip and re-start, but hopefully nobody will notice :)

I am particularly fond of the crotch gusset. I'm not sure if it's supposed to look like this, but it does, and I like it! It's really neat to look at. I wonder if there's a different way to work the increases so it doesn't stick up as much, though. I'm not sure.
I worked the waist from the longies UP, after taking out the provisional cast on because I couldn't bear the thought of 106 or however many stitches worth of grafting. This meant there was a half-stitch jog where the color change occurred which led to this interesting texture. I kind of like it but I dislike how it's not consistent (due to the k3, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1 patterning).

I sent these off to Leif yesterday so he will be able to wear them now that the autumn weather is coming and the leaves are falling off the trees!

Sad Yarn

2006-09-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

The longies are happy but the yarn is not. It's gone. I'm on the hunt for some yarn to make the cuffs/waistband with - wish me luck!

Alternatively I'm trying to decide if giving up a few stitches will be enough to finish the waistband/cuffs, without compromising the non-pooling yarn. Also if it's worth re-knitting. I'm leaning toward NO.

(Grey's Anatomy is good for my knitting - I started these on Friday PM, ran out of yarn on Sunday afternoon.)

Better Patterning

2006-09-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

So, I started over on the longies to see what would happen. Not bad, is it? Much better than the previous pooling. I'm much further than this now - partway down the legs - and the yarn is striping nicely, no more pooling. Yay!

More Longies!

2006-09-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

This pair of longies is made with Irish Baby Knits' Elenya Alpaca yarn in the colorway Nolan. It's really pretty - the orange isn't quite as bright as it is in this photo. I really love the yarn, it's so soft. A little thinner than worsted weight but still very nice. I am not sure if I should be worried about running out of yarn or not but I am. We'll see.

I cast on 96 stitches, and I'm using the Curly Purly waistband with short rows. I'm beginning to wish I had started 2" in so I could work the cuffs/waist in a contrasting color if I need to. Oh well.

These top two photos show the front and the back. I am working 4 short rows - one at 2", 3", 4" (where the ribbing pattern changes) and a final one at 5". This is because Leif needs a bit more room in the rear, based on the trial pair. As you can see from this photo that creates a little jog in the color pattern - but it's still cute.

I'm half tempted to rip it all out and try again with only 88 stitches (multiples of 8 are needed for the waistband). It might change the striping just enough to avoid the pooling.

I am really loving the colors. I wouldn't have chosen them but they really are lovely. There are small bits of green where the blue and yellow intersect and a deeper almost brown color where blue and orange meet. Oh so pretty! It makes me want to take up dyeing. Like I need another hobby!

The Elenya Alpaca is an alpaca/merino blend. It's very soft and ever so slightly fuzzy. I have heard it may pill slightly but it stays just as soft as it is now - which is lovely. It will be nice against little Leif's delicate baby skin :)

Mikenzie's Baby's Soaker

2006-09-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

My coworker's baby shower was today. I finished the soaker on Wednesday. I ripped out the first cuff and re-did it differently. I picked up ~56 stitches on a sz 3 needle and worked k1, p1 ribbing for 8 rows and then did *k1, p1, k1, p1, k2tog* followed by *k1, p1, k1, p1, k1* for six? rounds. It's a little more than the 1" cuff that the pattern called for but I wanted to make sure it was going to be snug. I think at the very end I had a k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1. Not sure why I did that now, but it made sense at the time. Here's a closeup of the cuff. I think I could have done ssk or something to make the transition a little bit smoother.. but I wasn't about to fuss with it too much. I bound off very loosely with sz 8 needles and it seems to be stretchy enough.

I tried to take a good photo of the yarn color and couldn't manage. This one is the best I could do in terms of showing off the subtle variations in color. I like it much better double-stranded than I did singled. Beautiful yarn, too. It's brighter than this photo, but not quite as bright as the photo below. It's lovely. Anyway, she seemed to like it and she knew what it was so hopefully it will work properly. Keep your fingers crossed! She promised me an update but couldn't guarantee a photo - they don't have a digital camera! I wonder how long that will last...:)

That's an 8.5x11 inch piece of paper to give you an idea of how big it is :)

&$#@#$@#$

2006-09-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

I have re-named this the "sweater of doom". Seriously. Anything I could have done wrong, I did. I would have been better off knitting the Shine Sport singled and just working however-many-more-stitches to make it work with the pattern. This making-up-patterns business is hard!

What have you done this time, you ask?

Besides going ahead with 6 rows of variegated, 10 rows of red, 6 rows of variegated? (The red *really* stands out! I haven't decided if I like it. This would be a good time to make that decision but I just can't decide.)

Besides knitting a 29-stitch sleeve before realising it was entirely too large?

Besides being a little worried that the sleeves are too long? (The trend seems to be to have the arms be as long as the body or as long as the body minus a half inch or so - I went with as long as the body, and I'm thinking they're too long.)

Besides all that......I neglected to include my 3-stitch seed stitch buttonbands when splitting for front and back. I turned my 81-stitch body into a 41-stitch back and two 20-inch front panels. It wasn't until six rows later that I decided to write out the decrease pattern to make sure I'd be able to work enough decreases to end with the appropriate stitch counts. When I discovered I couldn't, I puzzled and wondered and thought about it for awhile. Then I realised my mistake.

R-i-i-i-p.

This has *not* been my day. I do think it will be cute, though, and it's oh-so-soft. I think it would be nicer with thin-variegated, medium-red, thin-variegated, medium-red, thin-variegated striping but I can't decide how much I really care.

Soaker for Mikenzie

2006-09-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

A coworker is having a baby and her shower is Friday (er, yes, I know that is 6 days away). Here's the soaker I'm working on for her. I think I need to rip and re-knit the cuff, so I haven't done the second one yet. I'm still not confident in the height - the leg opening is ever so slightly larger than I think it should be - but I can't decide if it matters. I'm leaning toward thinking it doesn't, provided my cuffs are loose enough. I KNOW the cuff needs to be un-bound-off and redone more loosely. I tried a sewn bind off and it looked tacky so I tried just being extra loose - no go. Outside of that, I suspect I might have made the cuff slightly too small at the end. It fits up to my elbow which seems like it should be big enough for a chunky baby thigh but I am just never sure! So, I'm undecided. Until I decide, the other cuff will not be knit.

The Infamous Cardigan

2006-09-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here is the current incarnation of the Shine Sport cardigan. I am afraid that the stripes are going to be too wide. I haven't ripped yet - I decided instead of experimenting on the 80? 90? stitch wide body, I'm going to experiment with the 30? stitch sleeves. Makes much more sense, doesn't it? Especially since the width will be much more disproportionate on the sleeves :)

New Comment Setting

2006-09-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

By the way,
I have been having some trouble with spam commenters and since I don't check this blog every day I don't always notice quickly. I hate the thought of spam (with links to questionable sites) being on my blog so I have switched to the comment style where you have to type what you see in a box to comment. Sorry for the inconvenience.. Blogger doesn't seem to have an option to ban a certain user, and the comment moderation option didn't seem that great to me. Is anyone aware of a better way to do things that I may be missing?

Striped Baby Cardigan

2006-09-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'm working on making a striped baby cardigan. The yarn is Knitpick's Shine Sport, held doubled, and I have river (a nice bright-ish blue, but not neon by any means), cherry (a BRIGHT red, ever-so-slightly-pink but overall just a bright red) and cabin, a four-ply with a strand each of river, cherry, a light blue and a goldenrod type color. Photos are here, if you are interested.

The way I want to stripe it is as follows:

The cardigan is going to be about 7" long from hem to underarm and then another ~4 inches from there. The striping pattern I was planning was 4" of blue, 1" of the variegated, 2" of the red (this brings it to the underarm), 1" of variegated and 3" of blue to finish it off. I have begun this, though, and I'm worried that it is just Too Much Red, and somewhat too much of the variegated all in one bit. However, I don't think I have enough blue yarn to do 5" of blue, 1/2" (or 3/4") of variegated, then 1.5 (or 1.25") of red, then 1/2" (or 3/4") of variegated, then 3.5" (or 3.25") of blue.

I'm therefore thinking about keeping the 4" blue bottom edge and 3" blue top edge, and alternating variegated-red-variegated-red-variegated for the middle section. I'm not sure this will help though.

Any thoughts? Any pictures of similarly-striped infant/toddler sweaters/cardis so I can get an idea of proportions? Any leftover skeins of river?

Knit-rip, Knit-rip, Knit-rip

2006-09-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

That is the story of my life lately.

A coworker is having a baby. We're having a shower for her. I don't want to spend a fortune. I thought, hey, why don't I knit something? I can even use stash yarn!

First thought: sweater. I have a bunch of Knitpicks Shine Sport to use up (In cherry, river and "cabin" - a mix of cherry, river, light blue and orange-ish). I thought that would be great. I love Knitty's Daisy. No problem. Except I can't get gauge. Single-stranded it's way off, double-stranded it's equally off. No problem. I'll just adjust the pattern. Oh, wait a minute - it's a bottom-up raglan, but it's SEAMED. What? Seaming?! No way. I thought it was a seamless knit-in-one-piece raglan. Very funny.

Well, I decided I could probably figure it out so I did a rough swatch (with the yarn doubled - I like the fabric that way, nice and sturdy and it knits up quickly on sz 8s!). At first I thought I'd just try knitting the smallest size (I was aiming for the largest size, 6-12 mos) and just go with those stitch counts. Then I realised my row gauge was way off... and anyway, the thing was turning out HUGE. 26" circumference anyone? That would fit a four year old. Riiiiiiip.

Then I pulled out another (seamless!) raglan pattern I have that calls for worsted weight and tried to just use one of their stitch counts, figuring I could work out the numbers from there. Nope, still too big! The gauge swatch is fine and dandy but this is cotton, and when you add the weight of the piece it changes things just a little. Riiiiiiiiiip!

Finally I recalculated and picked a stitch count that would (theoretically) give me a 20" circumference (survey says a 9 month old has an 18" chest circumference.. works for me!). Well, I guess it sort of did, but now I can't for the life of me figure out how to coordinate the shaping. I think I'm just going to wing it but for now I've put it down. I also can't decide exactly how to stripe it. I'm thinking solid blue top and bottom, middle red stripe (top of this stripe even with the underarm, repeating across the sleeves) and a Cabin stripe on either side of the red stripe. I'm going for a total of 7.5" in the lower body (before underarm) and 4.5" (approx) of raglan shaping, so I'm thinking 4" of blue, 2" of red and 1.5" of cabin on either side of the red. I'm worried about having enough blue, though, in which case I really *should* do 3" of blue, 2.5" of red and 2" of the cabin - but that might be too overwhelming. So then I thought about just doing random stripes - you know, 2-3 rows of each color? Anyway, I'm stumped, so I've set this aside for now. Another baby will get this sweater!

I thought booties - but that requires a hat - and maybe matching mittens - and cotton isn't best suited to that, and I wanted to use the cotton darn it! I haven't any nice baby-soft wool on hand.

Then I discovered coworker is cloth diapering. She's open to trying prefolds and soakers. So she's getting this (it still needs cuffs and finishing):

This has been several rips in the making, too. The waist band has been fine from the get-go. The variegated part, not so much. I didn't bother swatching. It's small enough. I just went at it. The yarn singled wasn't turning out tight enough for me so I decided I should double it. This was, of course, after 3" of knitting. I convinced myself I could leave 1" singled, but still had to.... Riiiiiiip.

After working to about 4" (out of 5.5 total!) I remembered that boys wet in the front and the yarn probably needed doubling from the start. Riiiiiip.

Then I misread the pattern and knit for about four rows too many - and kitchenered the seam closed. Whoops. Riiiiiip.

Now, it should be DONE. If not, I don't care, it's going to be done. All that's left are the cuffs. That's a job for another day. I am rubbish at evenly picking up stitches so it's likely to involve lots of Riiiiipppppping.

Knucks

2006-08-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

These photos are not great, I apologise. I've also since finished this half of the pair, but have not taken more photos. I'm not sure I'll leave it as-is, but we'll see. This is my version of Knucks, which was written by Pamela, who goes to my knitting group. It's an interesting pattern; top-down fingerless gloves. I made a slight modification, which was to work a decrease at each edge just after the end of the thumb gusset, because I have skinny wrists. I'm thinking I still don't quite like it and in fact I think I may make the whole thing a bit smaller. I worked the cuff in seed stitch, because the textured stitch that Pam suggested was killing my wrist to work, and ribbing didn't seem fitting, but I think I need to find something stretchier that will pull in a bit more. I'm also contemplating making the cuff longer.

The yarn is luscious. I am using the Rowan Felted Tweed recommended by the pattern, in "Midnight" (color 188 - dye lot R0133). This photo does not do it justice - it's rich and deep and looks like a starry night sky. Beautiful. It's also incredibly lightweight and soft. To be honest, I would never have made these based on the pattern, but I had a chance to try on a pair Pam made at the knitting group and the combination of yarn and fit won me over. I have been toying with full-length gloves, too, but we'll see.

Now, so I can throw the ball band away, the yarn is 50% merino wool, 25% alpaca and 25% viscose/rayon. A 50g ball has approx 175m/191yds and it can be machine washed in a warm, gentle wool cycle. Suggested gauge is 22-24 sts/30-32 rows over 10cm/4in with US 5-6 needles.

I worked these on sz 4's I believe.

Clapotis

2006-08-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

I am finally contemplating knitting a Clapotis from Knitty. I have four skeins of Manos del Uruguay which demand something interesting but not too fancy. I hope this will be just the thing.

I have two colors of Manos; one solid (dark blue) and one variegated (dark blues/browney-oranges/teals). I would like to do stripes. Fibonacci inspired stripes.

I am concerned about having enough yarn but will buy more if necessary.

I have two options. Each requires a different striping pattern. One will mean a shorter/possibly thinner scarf/shawl/wrap, the other a larger/possibly wider one.

Which striping pattern is more eye-pleasing? Keep in mind that the stripes will be at a 45 degree angle. Ignore the fact that I used a different color in the second option.

Lux Tank

2006-08-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

I finished this tank top awhile ago, but the weather has not been cooperating and so I have not had a chance to wear it. On our recent trip to Minnesota, the weather was perfect, we were going to be in and outside, and I decided it was time to break it in! It is so comfy to wear, but I think I will be making another one with some modifications. I have no idea how to make said modifications, but I imagine I can figure something out. Here is a front view - please note that in person, you cannot actually see my bra through the tank! These photos were taken after a 3.5 hour plane flight and a long day of travelling, so the tank had a good workout!

The back is fine; I am pleased with how it turned out. It could be higher, but it is fine at the height that it is now, and the length is perfect at the back. The straps have a tendency to curl inward, and I'm not quite sure how to fix that. I'll attempt a more vigorous blocking first and see if that solves the problem.

The front is where I would like to make a few changes. I feel like it could use a little short-row shaping in the bust. This would then mean I could have it a bit more tailored in the bottom portion, perhaps with some decreases just before the lace pattern starts or perhaps just a smaller circumference all around and then the short row shaping would add enough fabric in the bust. I'm toying with thinking it would be nice to shape it as more of a scoop neck rather than a straight edge but I'm not sure it's worth it.

Another addition that I may try with this one is to string a thin ribbon through the top row of eyelets and put a little bow at the front. This seems to be the "in" thing lately, if Ann Taylor Loft is any indication, and I think it may help give it a bit more shape.

Finally, I need to do the side seams differently. On this one, I slipped the first stitch of each row to create a nice edge to seam. Unfortunately when I tried to mattress stitch the edges together, that meant there were big holes. Whoops. I guess that wasn't the best thing to do after all. So, I found another way of sewing the seam together - basically just whip-stitching it - and it made this interesting pattern. Not what I was going for, but I think it's nice nonetheless.

All in all, I'm fairly pleased with this - it's comfy, it looks good, and it fits!

ETA Yarn Stats so I can throw the ballbands away:
Classic Yarns Luxury Cotton DK, 50% cotton, 45% viscose, 5% silk. 50g ball has 95m/104yds. Color 0234 Dk Pink Slipper, dyelot 5L5. Recommended gauge is 22 sts/30 rows to 10cm/4in with US 6. Hand wash only, dry flat out of direct heat/sunlight.

Very Funny

2006-08-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Secret Pal, Part 2

2006-08-21T21:14:00.000-07:00

I hope this is a reasonable photo of the organic cotton and the Plymouth Eros (something) that she included. I cannot wait to play with my new toys! :)

Thank you, Secret Pal!

2006-08-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

I received my final package from my One Skein Secret Pal today. WOW! I have the best pal EVER. She sent me a whole box full of goodies, including something for the cat! He LOVES his kitty wonton - I am not sure if it's stuffed with catnip or if it just holds an inherent appeal for cats but he pounced on it as soon as I showed it to him and spent a good thirty minutes cuddling his new toy.

She also made me a BEAUTIFUL purse! It's from a pattern called "Twitterpated" and uses one skein of Fantasy Naturale by Plymouth. She has sewn in a lovely lining that matches the yarn wonderfully and added a leather strap. The construction of this purse is amazing, I can never get my linings quite so neat! I really like the strap, too. I suppose it is only right to mention that the purse almost exactly matches the dress that I am probably wearing to a wedding this Saturday, for which I have (had!) no matching purse.

As if that weren't enough, I also got a skein of Blue Sky Organic Cotton in a lovely creamy color. I have been eyeing this stuff, but haven't tried it myself. It is just as soft as I imagined! Wow. I am not sure what I'll do with it yet, but something very special. The photo of the ball didn't turn out very well, so I won't bore you with it - but it is wonderful!

She also sent me several things which I am sure she just thought would be neat little additions but are things I have been looking *everywhere* for recently! It's as if she read my mind.

Item 1: mini mints (in a Red Sox tin - do you think she knew I'm from NH? :) ) with NO NUTRASWEET!
Item 2: A magnetic notepad for the fridge (for grocery lists) - it even has a matching pencil with a magnetic strip glued on to it!
Item 3: Travel size containers of Bath and Body Works (::drools:: I missed this stuff in England!) body wash and shower gel
Item 4: The Original Boston Baked Beans Candy Coated Peanuts .. I have to admit, I wasn't actually looking everywhere for these, but I *have* been craving something sweet'n'salty lately... ;)
Item 5: Burt's Bees Lip Balm. This stuff is wonderful but I never manage to find it when I'm looking.
Item 6: The most adorable magnet in the shape of a cat, with a little fish dangling from his mouth - and a spot for a little photo in the middle.

A Year in the Making

2006-08-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

I started these socks over a year ago. To be precise, I printed out the pattern (Kathryn Tewson's Universal Sock Pattern) on 6/8/2005. I will say that I don't remember if I did this in America or in England, so that could be either June 8 or 6 August. Either way, it was over a year ago. I finally finished the second sock last week at my knitting group, wove in the ends on Saturday, and sent them off to the recipient on Tuesday. They were for my mother. She received them today and really likes them! I was worried that the tall cuffs would be too tall to not have any shaping, but alas they are okay!!

Specs:
Kathryn Tewson's cuff-down Universal Sock Pattern, cast on 64 stitches. Two circs at once, size 1 or 2 (I don't recall). 8 sts/inch, at any rate. k2, p2 ribbing for 16 rounds. K3, p1 ribbing for 64 rounds. Sl 1, k1 flap-and-gusset heel. Approx 64 rows in the foot, with k3, p1 ribbing on the top. Knitpicks' Sock Memories in Morning Glory. 100% Merino Wool.

Really Annoyed

2006-07-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

So I must have been really out of it when I was working on the final piece to the mystery project; a length that was meant to measure 7" somehow is only 6" after blocking. Whoops. I must have measured on a curve or something. Unfortunately this means I have to rip out everything I finished on Tuesday at Stitch n Pitch - nearly three hours of knitting! It also brings back my worries about having enough yarn, but I think I have a solution for that one :)

Bummer, dude. I was just getting excited about another project!

Stitch n Pitch; Mystery Project; Mom's Socks

2006-07-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

I went to Stitch n Pitch night at Safeco Field last night with my knitting group. We watched the Mariners get CREAMED by the Blue Jays. It was really rather sad!

I really enjoyed myself. I carpooled with two other women from my knitting group. The drive over was reasonably pleasant. We parked near the field and went in to find our seats. We were in the very very top row, behind home plate. Great seats! Good view of the whole field, and we had the sun at our backs (until it went down, of course). It was nice because the sun felt warm and toasty on my back but it was not in my eyes and wasn't too hot. Thank heavens things cooled down yesterday or it could have been miserable! Anyway, I was very impressed by my seat. Yes, it was a long way up (I didn't count the flights of stairs but it was a fair few!) but it was a good view.

The game itself was pretty good besides the fact that we lost. By about 10 runs. Ouch.

I must say, however, I was astounded at the lack of *baseball*. It's been a few years since I've been to a game - and I'll admit that I was sitting in the "stitchers" area, so it was full of (mostly) women who may or may not really enjoy watching baseball - but I felt like for many people, the emphasis was on the food and the non-baseball entertainment. It seemed like the video screen was always showing something TOTALLY unrelated to the game. There were prize drawings, quiz games, hide-a-ball-under-a-hat-and-move-them-around, a simulated car race, etc. When the teams were switching places and doing a quick warm-up, BAM, something else would come up on the screen. I really wonder if anyone was actually watching THE GAME.

I did, however, get a lot of knitting done. I made good progress on the mystery project - I've finished the last piece! I'm going to set it to block shortly and hopefully be able to assemble it soon. Then I need to add another bit to it, and it will be finished. Yay! My yarn fears were unfounded; apparently I'm a horrible judge of how much yarn is left. Yay!

I also worked on a sock for my mother. It's the second of a pair that I started over a year ago, if I recall correctly, and it has been calling my name recently just begging to be finished. I used Knitpick's Sock Garden in Morning Glory and it is luscious. It's 100% Merino Wool so I'm sure it will pill and felt and possibly wear out sooner rather than later but it is so soft!

I'm using two circs for these socks, I have no idea what size - 2, perhaps - and Kathryn Tewson's Universal Sock Pattern. For the top of the foot and the leg, it's 3x1 rib and the cuff is 2x2 if I am remembering correctly. I hope Mom likes them!

Mystery Project Update

2006-07-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm making reasonable progress on the final piece of my mystery project, considering the temperature has not dropped below 80 in what feels like AGES (really only about four days). I'm starting to worry about having enough yarn, of course, which is terrifying. I've been frantically measuring as I go along, and am exactly on gauge in terms of the dimensions so far, so I'm hoping I'm just a really bad judge of (a) how much yarn is left in the skein and (b) how much I'll need for finishing. As long as I can finish this piece with this skein, I can always suck it up and buy another one for the finishing, even if it is a different dyelot. When purchasing yarn, I normally loko at recommended amounts - if one size larger than the size I plan to make calls for the same number of balls of yarn, I don't order an extra one; if the size I'm making is the last size that calls for that number of balls, I do. I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone else.

Anyway, this plan has worked wonderfully for me so far but this time I have been foiled. See, I decided after purchasing the yarn that I was actually going to make a medium instead of a small - having purchased the yarn recommended for small, since medium called for the same number of balls - but now that I am making the medium, using my logic I should have bought another ball.

Ah, well. We shall see!

Mystery Project: 2/3 finished

2006-07-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

The mystery project is 2/3 finished. The part I have just finished seems to me as if it would be the most tedious but I am sure when I am halfway through the next (last) piece then I will feel that it is the most tedious. Of course then comes the blocking and finishing - let's hope it doesn't take me too long! I'm beginning to worry about fit.

Test Longies

2006-07-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

My beautiful cat, hiding behind the curtain.

These started out as a test of a pattern I'll be using; I was planning on making shorts but when I got to the point of thinking about length (I decided on 4.5"), I realised I probably had enough yarn left for longies. I did! I still have more than enough left for a waist tie, too.

I tried to get an accurate picture of the color and failed, but this shows how the yarn is actually four different colored strands twisted together. It's really pretty IRL, kind of heathered looking.

I hear that Cascade 220 is not great for soakers because it is over-processed, but perhaps with enough lanolizing it will work. It will help me sort out more accurate measurements for the next pair I am making - out of a beautiful custom-dyed yarn from Irish Baby Knits (this yarn, but the orange is more orange and less rust in person). It also convinced me that 270 yards should be plenty for a pair of longies for Leif for the winter since I got this pair out of less than 220 yards. Yay! I can't wait to get started, this yarn is luscious!

To-Do List

2006-07-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

I'm dying to order some of Knitpick's new needles, but I'd like to order some yarn at the same time (even though I've got $40.50 or something worth of needles - it saves me either paying shipping or ordering $40 of yarn in the future for a few random skeins). However, I should not be buying more yarn until I have used up some of what I have.

To this end, I would like to pledge to finish the following projects before starting anything new (or buying more yarn!):

0) Leif's longies - 0% finished; PRIORITY once I check out the fit on the test pair I've just finished.

1) Mystery Project - I'm 50% finished; still enthusiastic just lacking in time.

2) Purple/yellow socks - I'm perhaps 75% finished? I honestly don't recall. I think I'm past the heel on the 2nd sock.

3) W tank - needs a bottom border. Undecided on what to do for said border - leaning toward seed stitch, but may compete with garter-stitch body. Perhaps openwork?

4) Dark socks - I have about four rows of these toe-up, two-at-once socks finished. Looking for a pattern of some sort but don't want it to fight with the variegation.

5) New hat for me out of my OneSkein June yarn. Must rip and re-start, creating much sadness.

I've got a fair amount of yarn that I purchased for projects that no longer appeal to me. I may arrange a swap or sale of some sort in the near future. We shall see.

New Soaker

2006-07-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

After ripping out the previous funny-shaped soaker, I started this one. I am using the WonderShorts pattern from Wooly Wonder, with the Curly Purly pleated waistband. I worked the initial 1x1 rib for an inch, then 1 inch of the next step in the waistband, then another inch of the last step. Then I added two short rows at 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 inches and worked even until 5 1/2 inches where I worked the crotch gusset thing. Now I'm working on the legs. I am too cheap to buy a long Addi, and my Denise needles don't work for Magic Loop (too stiff- I'm lusting after the Knitpicks Needles to the point of thinking about selling my Denises to fund a Knitpicks purchase....), so I'm two-needle-ing it with the Addi and a Denise. I have no idea what size Addi it is; it's the 16" circ I use for hats out of C220 and since this is a soaker out of 220, I decided it would work. Seems to have done so, I'm getting gauge dead on. Now I just have to work the legs until they are as long as I want them. I'm thinking 3 inches total - the baby's got a 7" inseam, so that should be knee-length? The pattern calls for four rows of garter at the end but I'm thinking four rows of seed stitch instead.

I skipped my knitting group tonight so I can go scrapbooking on Friday (there's just too much to do to do it all! I picked the wrong career to have multiple hobbies..), and I am missing the comraderie. I'll probably miss next week too because I have an exam on Thursday morning. Ah, well.

Pool of Sadness

2006-07-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know how to convince Picasa I would like more than one photo per blog entry? It is much easier to post photos from Picasa than via Blogger but I can't figure out how to post multiple pictures at once. This is the beginning of my hat with my luscious One Skein swap yarn, which is doomed to be ripped because I don't like the swirl pattern. I will combat this by alternating rows (or perhaps every other row) from a different end of the ball. This is made easier by the fact that there were two knots in the skein, which means I have two medium and one small ball already split for my convenience :)

Rip-it, Rip-it

2006-07-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's official. This soaker is no more. RIP, too-tall (and too small for intended recipient) but otherwise wonderful soaker. We will see you again in another life!

Mystery Project

2006-07-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of the mystery project. It's coming along nicely - halfway finished, I should think, and the half that remains is the easier half!

Secret Project; Soaker and Longies; Hat; Tank

2006-07-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of photos - I haven't uploaded them from my camera yet. I'll have photos of two things coming up soon: my new secret project (coming along nicely!) and the soaker I am about to rip out. It's the wrong size. My gauge is dead on but there's a quirk in the pattern that I missed on the first time through. I'm going to rip and re-knit it in a different size, and practice a few things for the longies I'm making for a friend. I'd like to include elastic along the waistband, and use the pleated waistline from CurlyPurly (I keep typing "curlypurply" by mistake, and it makes me giggle). I'm not sure if I'll do this by carrying along the elastic, or by threading it through post-waistband-construction so those are some things I'll experiment with.

I've set aside my hat project from my one-skein yarn; I'm getting pooling I'm not happy with at the moment, so I'm investigating other options. After considering some striping and a slip-stitch/mosaic pattern, I think I'm just going to knit the hat and alternate yarn from opposite ends of the ball. Once again, a-ripping I must go. I've got a few pictures of the hat on my camera waiting to be uploaded, too, so I'll post those soon as well.

Oh, and the lux tank? Still awaiting blocking..

New Project

2006-07-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

I started work on a new project on Wednesday at knitting group. It's going to be a secret for now, so I won't share details, but I'm making good progress. I have two big complaints, however.

I purchased the yarn for this from Knitpicks. I selected two of their sock yarns (one solid, one patterned). The yarns are from different lines, but their gauges and fiber content matched. However, THEY'RE DIFFERENT. They feel different, they behave differently, and one is slightly thicker than the other. It's driving me crazy. Also, the colors don't match as well when knitted up as they did in the balls. Oh well.

I'm pleased with the project so far - I'm hitting gauge dead on, which always makes me happy. I'm also moving pretty quickly which again, makes me happy.

I'll take some pictures this evening.

Leif's Measurements

2006-07-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

I'm making a pair of longies for the cutest.baby.ever. I measured him today, and I know I'll lose the paper I wrote the measurements on, so I'm recording them here where they won't get lost.

(note to self: measurements OVER a trifold diaper laid in a snap-closed cover)

waist: 16"
hips: 18"
rise: 14"
inseam: 7"
thigh: 9.5"

I don't know if any of these measurements make sense, but they're what I got. Leif was kind of squirmy but not too bad. I think the thighs will be the toughest bit to fit. We'll see.

Tank Top

2006-07-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

I am so close to finishing my tank top it is not even funny. Here are some photos of the tank in progress.

I am pretty pleased with the evenness of my tension on this one. The stitches are fairly even and really don't even look like they need much blocking. I hoped to finish knitting by tonight so I can block it overnight and seam it tomorrow. We have casual days all week at the office because we met our target of $50m in sales, and I'm hoping this would be suitable enough to wear. I'm not 100% sure what I think about wearing sleeveless tops in the office, even for casual days, but I figure I can run it by my boss on Monday.

Tomás had to explore the tank as soon as I started to lay it out for pictures. He is really quite a silly cat. For some reason, the unmoving needle interested him more than the loose yarn ends! He is usually quite interested in the knitting while it is not moving, but not as interested in it when I am working on something - thankfully! He is occasionally quite interested in the yarn as it comes off the ball, though.

I'm not as happy with my edges. For the most part, the seam will cover them up, but I think I'm going to have to investigate smooth edging. Perhaps it's a combination of different stitches or possibly different tension, I'm not sure. For this, I slipped the first stitch every row up until the point when I don't seam, and from there I just worked it in pattern and tried to be carefully even. After I finished, I read something saying to have an even edge you should knit every row but I don't really know how much that helps.

One Skein swap

2006-07-01T19:53:00.000-07:00

I have been participating in the One Skein swap. I wish I had thought to take a photo of the skein I sent my pal, but alas, I didn't.

On Friday I received my skein from my pal. It's beautiful. I love it. It is a lovely wool yarn that looks handpainted. I don't know if it is or not, but it's really pretty - blues and greens, just my favourite colours! I might look through the One Skein book again to see if I am inspired to make anything special, but it may become a basic hat for me, using the Needle Beetle pattern that I love. At 165 yards, it is probably a little shy (I usually use Cascade 220 and have a small amount left), so I'll have to hunt up a matching solid for a stripe or two.

Here are some photos:

Almost There...

2006-06-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

Long time no post! Sorry about that. And you don't even get pictures for your patience.

I have several exciting things to share but a few will wait until there are pictures.

The most exciting thing is that I've finished the back on my lux cotton tank. All that remains is four rows of the pattern repeat and the straps. I am going to need to double check the pattern to see how it calls for the straps to be finished - I'm suspecting a possible kitchener stitch, but I'm not sure.

Then comes blocking. This will be exciting. I bought blocking pins! For now, I'm just going to use the carpet, with a towel under the pieces. Bad me, but it will work.

Then comes seaming. I'm nervous about this part. Seaming and I don't like each other. I'd rather Kitchener stitch or do a sewn bind off than seam.

Projects in the wings, in no particular order:

-Devan in KnitPick's Simple Stripes in Autumn and Essential in Cocoa before the recipient outgrows it.

-Possibly some fruit/veg hats with leftovers in response to this request on Livejournal (which was in response to this post on a knitting blog).

-Finish the 2nd sock of a pair made from Knitpick's Sock Memories in some colour that no longer exists that is yellow, purple, blue.

-Finish a tank top I almost finished last year (it needs an edging of some sort along the bottom and possibly the neckline. I may bring this to my knitting group or LYS for advice). I should raid my book of knitting patterns for ideas.

-Knit some longies for a friend's baby, again while they still fit. This will take priority as it's being done as an exchange ;) We need to get together to discuss pattern and yarn.

Well, that sounds like enough for now, even though there are plenty of other things lingering in the background :)

Lux Cotton Tank

2006-06-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

I went by my lys the other day (it's conveniently located next to my office) and they had a cute tank top on display. I went in to look at it and an employee came over to talk to me and see if I needed help. I said that I liked the tank but was worried about the fit; I had sort of thought that my next tank should have short-row shaping. She said she thought this one would be fine, and would I like to try it on? I did, and I liked it, so I got the pattern and some yarn. I am not normally a pink person but this just called my name. It's really pretty and it's actually two-toned although you only see that if you look closely.

The pattern is by an employee at the yarn shop and it's a pattern they put out, here's a photo of the picture page of the pattern so you can see what the tank looks like. I actually am not at all attracted to this tank based on this photo; but the store model looks good and I liked it when I tried it on.

I cast on on Monday and have spent a few hours working on it so far. I like it, but I'm not really liking my Denises with this yarn. The yarn is kind of splitty and doesn't have much give; I don't think the Denises are quite pointy enough for the K2togs and s1k1pssos. Also, because I'm using ... either the 5's or 6's, I forget which ... at any rate, the needles are almost the same size as the cord, so the work just doesn't slide along the needles. I'm constantly tugging and fighting with the yarn. I don't really want to shell out for more needles at the moment though so I'll just suck it up and deal. Plus I've come too far to want to start over with new needles and I *know* my gauge would change.

Here's a close-up of the patterned rib stitch:

I've since spent another 2 hours on it at my local knitting group, but Blogger ate my post earlier today when I took the photo. I'm working the front and back together at this point to ensure that 7.5" happens at the same point on the front and back and because I know I'd never finish otherwise! I am at the point now when I'm bored and ready to move on to the next step; unfortunately, I'm only 4 inches into a 7.5" section. BUMMER!

Katrina Rib: Finished!

2006-06-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last night, I finally finished my Katrina Rib. I cast on for this on May 14th, and had a major exam on the 25th, so I am really pleased that I've finished so quickly. I am happy with how it's turned out; it still needs blocking but that has to wait until I get some heavy plastic to put under a towel. I've read about blocking using your carpet, but I worry about water soaking into the carpet pad so the woman at my LYS suggested I lay heavy plastic over the carpet and then a towel on top of that. I think I'll give it a shot!

Pattern: Cookie's Katrina Rib; size S/M

Yarn: Knitpick's Merino Style in Cinnamon; my yarn spreadsheet says I purchased 6 skeins but I remember thinking about adding one extra in case I decided to lengthen the sleeves; unfortunately, I can't recall, and I sent the packing slip back with a return. Either way, I did end up needing a small amount of the last skein for the sleeves. I love this colour, it's rich and warm and very lovely. The yarn is relatively soft but I do think I'll wear a light tank underneath.

Needles: unknown needle, unknown size. The woman at my LYS suggested that it's a Susan Bates Quicksilver circ, and it measures between a 5 and 6. It's a 29" needle so I used the magic loop method for the neck and arms, and was fine for the rest.

Modifications: I lengthened this by about 2". Really, I would have liked about another inch in length, but I also wanted to end on an evenly-spaced travel section (ie, 3x3 ribbing everywhere but the 2x2 portion in the center) and I was worried about the 2x2 rib travelling around my body. I also worked 5 rows at the sleeve instead of 2 prior to binding off.

Comments: I really enjoyed this pattern; it had just enough going on to keep it interesting and the 3x3 rib wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Because it's worked from the top down, there is NO seaming and very minimal finishing - a perfect project for a beginner! My stitches are a LITTLE uneven around the increases but I am going to play with this a little bit when I block it and hope they even out a bit. My only complaint is that I didn't realise it would accentuate my chest quite so much...

Front view; the travelling rib section in the middle is 2x2 the rest is 3x3.

Back view; you can see the small gaps on my left shoulder where my increases were a little bit loose.

Katrina Rib: Nearly There

2006-06-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

I am very close to being finished with the Katrina Rib but you don't get any pictures because I'm not that nice. I knit for longer than the pattern suggested because I wanted it to be nice and long, and finally reached a point where the travelling rib maintained the 3x3 pattern around the body (to get back to a 3x3 ribbing point again would require another 24 rows, which would be too long and use too much yarn!). I didn't want to transfer to a cable and back just to try it on, so I decided to chance it and just bind off. After investigating a few stretchy bind offs (because nothing is worse than a tight-waisted jumper) I settled on Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind off. This took about an hour. I was not amused. However, after trying on the jumper I do think that it was worth it. Unfortunately, I also think I would have preferred another inch or two in length - but I am NOT going to undo the bind off, and anyway, that would leave me at a not-3x3-around point in the travelling rib.

Upon doing more research I discovered that this bind-off isn't suggested for ribbing on things like jumper necks because you only stretch them to put them on and once they are on they relax again, and the sewn bind off does not allow the ribbing to pull back in. I'll have to keep this in mind and find a different stretchy bind off for necks and armbands if necessary although in this case it worked well.

I found this article about stretchy bind offs and enjoyed it, so I may use this as a jumping off point in the future.

Last night, I was only able to go to my local knitting group for about 45 minutes, but it was long enough to finish one of the cap sleeves. Unfortunately, I didn't pay enough attention and have forgotten how many rows I ended up knitting (more than the two the pattern recommended). Again, I used the sewn bind off for extra stretch.

I estimate I will be finished with this in approximately one hour of additional work but that wasn't enough to convince me to pick up the needles and get going tonight! Oh, well.

I have three other projects awaiting beginning (one for which I suspect I will need to purchase needles, one which needs some pattern writing, and another which I am not allowing myself to start until I finish the Katrina Rib) and three other projects on the needles (one which I think I have messed up enough to warrant ripping, and the other two are socks which always take me ages!). That's kind of overkill, if you ask me. Working right next to a nice yarn shop does not help, either.

Katrina Rib - Trying it on!

2006-05-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

I reached a goal in my studying and rewarded myself by trying on the Katrina Rib. I definitely will be doing more than 12" from the armpits down, which is not an amusing thought. I am getting bored now! :) I also am concerned that by the time I get the length I want, the 2x2 ribbing will have travelled halfway around the back. I'm trying to come up with a way to prevent this and I have a picture in my mind, but I can't quite work out how to do it. I may set this aside for awhile to sort it out; I have a new project I'm dying to try!

It's hard to take good, clear photos of yourself in a mirror!

Katrina Rib Update

2006-05-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

I took some photos of the progress I'd made this afternoon, and then I got a bunch more done while we watched a movie. It's moving really quickly; I'm on row 90 and I imagine I am 2/3 to 3/4 finished. At some point soon I am going to put it on some string and try it on; I'm not quite sure how long I want to make it. I'm also toying with sending the travelling rib back the other way, but I'm not quite sure about that. It will depend on how much longer I decide to make it.

The stitch holder marks one of the sleeves.

Top-down view.

It's hard to get a photo of it lying flat because of the stitch holders at the sleeves. Ah, well.

I did make one mistake and realised it five rows later; I was not about to rip back five rows, so at one point I travelled the rib at the wrong spot (row 58 instead of 57). I decided I can live with that. I also attempted to knit a weird knot into the fabric but when I got back around to it on the next row I realised that was a bad idea, so I did rip back on that one! It goes quickly in the sense that I seem to get back to a travel row (every 4 rows) in no time at all; the length does not seem to be growing that quickly though!

Katrina Rib

2006-05-19T17:53:00.000-07:00

I purchased yarn for the Katrina Rib pattern in March or something like that. I chose Knitpick's Merino Style in Cinnamon. I love it! It's a nice warm brown.

I started work on this on the day my brother graduated from UPS (the 14th). I worked on it for a few hours during the commencement ceremony and in the car on the way down. Probably three hours total. I cast on and knit a few rows and then realised I'd messed up the pattern so I had to start over. Also, I don't have a short enough circular in the right size so I was using the magic loop method, and that slows me down. I was getting annoyed with the lack of progress I was making.

Wednesday, I went to a local knitting group for the first time (Eastside Stitchers) and pulled out my project and started knitting. A few rows later I realised I didn't have to do the magic loop anymore, I had increased enough so that the jumper fits around the whole needle (it's knit top down). How exciting! However, this also meant that I now had a lot more stitches per row :) Anyway, I got about two hours' worth in on Wednesday evening, and probably an hour over the course of the week at work (during lunches and when waiting for queries to run). I can't believe how quickly it seems to be going, because when I look at it I realise I've only done 35 rounds.

The merino style is a beautiful yarn to work with, too. It feels nice, looks nice and doesn't split much at all. The jumper is coming along nicely - in about 10 more rows, I get to split off the sleeves, and I'm going to try it on at that point. Hope it fits!!

Jumpers - Finished!

2006-04-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished the jumpers for my friend's twin babies - good timing, as a c-section is scheduled for Thursday if my friend can manage to make it that far! Instead of ribbon ties as suggested in the pattern, I used a pretty sparkly yarn and made twisted cords (take a length of yarn, fold it in half, and twist twist twist until you can twist no more, then bring both ends together and let it twist back on itself). I hope they stand up to use. I made a pair of socks each with my own pattern, which I will post at a later date once I refine it, again using the pretty sparkly yarn for ties. The yarn by the way was Knitpick's Shine (sport, I think - not the worsted) in Violet and Orchid in case I didn't mention that already. Very pretty, bright colours! Instead of the flowers suggested on the Magknits pattern I just did a crochet edging along each edge using the sparkly yarn again - this helps hide my not-perfect edge, too! On the pink jumper, I messed up and did my decreases right at the edge instead of one stitch in from the edge, so it wasn't quite as smooth.

My biggest concern is that the sparkly yarn frays a bit at the ends, so I have tied them off carefully and I may try dipping the ends in clear nail polish to give them a bit of stability. Not quite sure on that one :(

The jumpers and socks - front side. The ties are a bit long here; I still have to trim them once I decide on a length.

Back of the jumpers.

Detail of the edging.

Completed Sophie

2006-04-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here is my version of Magknit's Sophie.

I used Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Violet and Tulip. I used one full skein of the Tulip and one and a bit of the Violet if I recall correctly. I used size 10.5 needles (my Denises).

I pretty much followed the pattern except I lengthened it to allow for the striping. The striping pattern I used was as follows:

13 a - 1 b - 8 a - 1 b - 5 a - 2 b - 3 a - 3 b - 2 a - 5 b - 1 a - 8 b - 1 a - 13 b

This gave me something like 66 rows, so I decreased every 12 rows instead of every 10 rows like the pattern said.

Booties!

2006-04-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I showed off the cutest booties.

However even though I followed the pattern exactly, and the measurements match the pattern, they seem way too big for the twins - so I sent them off to my friend Linny, who just had a baby girl (Megan). I got this awesome multicolour pink/purple/pretty yarn that kind of shimmers to make a twisted tie for the booties and they are so cute. I hope Megan and her parents like them :) I had planned to make a cute little hat for Megan but these booties were too precious.

I'm currently working on some socks for the twins - much more to scale, I think. I'll use the same shimmery yarn to make ties for them so they will stay on more readily. I'm thinking I'll embroider the jumpers with the same yarn, too! ;)

Finished!

2006-04-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the 2nd jumper. It took me a bit longer because I've been busy at work, etc. I now have to block them both and decide how/what to embroider. Also decide if I want to use a ribbon-tie closure or knitted/crocheted strings.

I also whipped up a pair of booties which I dislike - they are HUGE. I think I may just do little matching socks instead. If I am feeling ambitious I will whip up some hats as well. We'll see.