See Leann Knit

The Most Important FO of all...

2011-04-05T18:44:00.003-04:00

Logan Isaac Ross
Born March 29, 2011 at 3pm
9lbs, 3oz and 21.5 inches of perfection!!!

State of the Knitting - FO's Edition, Part II

2011-03-15T18:04:00.000-04:00

Okay, seriously, time is passing WAY too fast. I can tell by the way my belly is growing exponentially, leaving many too-small maternity clothes in its wake. My due date is in nine days. That's N-I-N-E, as in two days more than a week. That's just crazy talk! Thanks to some serious swelling of the feet and legs and tons of crazy pain after a full day of work, I've been on bed rest for the past week (in which time my blood pressure has dropped the 20 points it rose in the prior two weeks - something everyone tells me not to worry about, but really how can I not?) I manage to get a little baby prep done each day...I can get about 10 minutes in of folding clothes or finding somewhere to put XYZ baby gear before the back pain begins. Which of course, I then stretch it to about 30 minutes "just finishing up" before I finally head back to the couch to grab the knitting needles and stream another Buffy episode on Netflix and wait for the pain to subside.

I know I promised a State of the Knitting WIP edition in my last post, but I just feel like everything I'm working on is too boring to show in its in-progress state. So you get FO Edition Part II instead! Since having to clear out my much-loved (though increasingly, annoyingly *orange*) Pumpkinarium to make room for Baby, I've been trying to finish up the long-unfinished projects so that they fit neatly into the corner by the side of the couch I've claimed as my new knitting spot. This latest batch of FO's has me much closer...but there's still a sweater and a vest waiting on design decisions and a stretch of time where I can do some detailed, focused knitting as opposed to mindless stockinette or ribbing, a pair of Pinked Socks opposite those I made for my mom awaiting a solution to my running out of black an inch before the toe was due to start, a second Jayne Hat for Adam, a bag full of squares to be somehow joined and made into (half) a blanket, and a special project for Baby to wear home from the hospital.

Without further ado:

The Waltz

Pattern: The Waltz
Yarn: Sweet Nothings by Bittersweet Woolery
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony US3
Modifications: I lengthened the scarf a little by doing 35 repeats instead of 30. I thought about having less stitches between the pattern repeats, or changing the border stitches to be garter for less curling, but ultimately ended up knitting the pattern as written.

This scarf was part of a knit-along and swap I participated in....last year. Technically this is a 2010 FO, finished in November to mail to its rightful owner, Marcy. Blocking in my pregnant state proved to be a very difficult barrier to overcome, however. Adam even went to the welding supply store and bought me some makeshift blocking wires...but I just couldn't get down on the floor to do it. It only brought pain. My friend Dorre came to my rescue in February when she offered to block the scarf for me. I was finally able mail the scarf to Marcy this week...and included some goodies (yarn and sweets) to hopefully make up for the fact that I was four months late!

This yarn was perfect for this project – as if anything from Tina would be anything less! The subtle color variation keeps it interesting, but doesn’t hide the pattern at all. I’m continuously stunned (and more than a little professionally jealous, lol!) of what comes out of her dyepots!

This was my first lace project, and I really enjoyed it! When I can get close enough to my wheel to actually be able to spin again (and when I can sit in a chair for an extended amount of time without my feet and ankles tripling in size), I'll spin up the second half of some BFL for another lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today (this one for me to keep). At some point I would also really like to knit Honey Baby in a special colorway dyed just for Baby.

Lichen Ribbed Sock

Not the best picture, but it looked even more weird when I rotated it, so this is what you get! I'm just thankful my ankles are back to their normal size so I'm not photographing it on sock blockers like the Pinked Socks.

Pattern: Lichen Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill (I think), in colorway Butternut Squash
Needle: Knitpicks Nickel Plated DPN's, US 2 (2.75mm)
Modifications: None

I started these socks last year some time...the last of the four pairs of simple ribbed socks from Nancy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks". Granted, I actually only have two pairs to actually show for this (one pair felted and the other pair were too small and went to Mom). I wasn't in love with the way the yarn was pooling though (it was *gorgeous* in the skein, all springy and bright), and into hibernation they went for a long, long time. There's a new challenge I'm participating in to finish a pair of socks per month, and I figured that finishing up the second of these socks and starting and finishing the second Entrelac Sock could count as my first pair. (Don't ask about the status of the Entrelac socks, please.)

These basic ribbed socks are knit with a Welsh Heel and a Star Toe of Three Points. I wasn't a huge fan of the heel when knitting - there were YO's involved and it didn't make me too happy. They seem to fit okay though, so I'll give it a pass. The toe was a little strange, too...it's a 3-inch toe, which is awfully long as far as toes go, and even though the rounded toe instead of the usual pointed toe feels a little odd upon first wear, I think it may be the solution to my Pinked Socks problem noted above. As long as the fit is good, why not, right?

I'm still not a fan of the pooling, but when I put them on and lower my pants, I only see the foot, with three inches of non-pooling toe, so it's not quite so bad as looking at the whole sock. I'm considering throwing it into the dyepot with some blue dye, but they may be spared.

T-Rex

Pattern: T-Rex from Patons
Yarn: Leftover unnamed acrylic yarn, worsted weight, in purple, yellow, black, and white
Needle: Knitpicks Nickle Plated Fixed Circular, US3 (3.25mm)

This was a combination of a really fun and really annoying knit, lol! The pattern is beyond cute (and so is the finished dinosaur), but the instructions were very spotty in places, especially when it came to seaming and doing the detailed double-stitching and outlining at the end. I spent about four days finishing this guy. I now know that I hate double-stitching but I give good mattress stitch! (Wait till you see the next FO!)

You start by knitting each leg, including the bottom of the foot, with lots of weird shaping for where the tail gets sewn in. You knit the tail, and then a gusset, which gets attached to the legs before continuing on to the upper body. Seaming the gusset into the legs was *very* confusing for me, and it ended up being about an inch too short, so I had to knit an inch and then finish seaming it up. The upper body was relatively easy, and then two parts of neck. After seaming up the back of the neck, you pick up stitches to knit the head flat, to be seamed under the chin and at the nose.

It was actually kind of fun as I knit the upper body and head, because it looked more like I was knitting a T-Rex Halloween costume for Baby than what would be a stuffed toy...it's *that* big! (As you can see in the picture, it's more than two steps tall.) After the head is done, the seaming begins. And keeps going and going and going. And then comes the double stitching, and the outlining. I had trouble with the eye placement, but I think it came out okay. The teeth were a disaster, and still are despite my best attempt to fix them. And please let's not discuss the awful, lopsided mouth. Then come the arms and the raised spots that go from the bottom of the tail to the top of the head.

But despite all that, he's still way cute! And doesn't look anything like Barney, even though my yarn color choice was questioned many times during this process (he's coming out much more blue in these photos, but he really is bright purple.) But I just sniffed and said, "It's what I had, and Barney has a GREEN stomach, TYVM" and kept knitting away. I get the last laugh, muah-ah-ah!

There's a Stegosaurus that I could knit to go with him, but I'm not quite sure about it yet. I think I have enough of the never-ending worsted weight acrylic yarn to make him, but I'm not quite up for another set of those instructions (or days of more mattress and duplicate stitch) just yet.

And last, but certainly not least, Winter Wonderland Coat

Pattern: Winter Wonderland Coat from "Inspired to Knit" by Michele Rose Arne
Yarn: Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool in Oatmeal, just over 3 skeins
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony Options, US6
Modifications: None

I found this pattern when flipping through some of my knitting books whilst taking a rest from painting the baby's room. We had pushed my bookshelf and knitting chair to the center of the room while we painted, since they were being re-purposed to stay in the room. Well, on the bookshelf were still all of my knitting books, and I just had to take a peek at some of the ones I hadn't looked at since they'd arrived on my doorstep. I saw this pattern and it was one of those "I must knit this NOW" moments. It was January, and I knew it would be perfect in my last couple months of pregnancy when the weather turned ever-so-slightly warmer and nothing was fitting anymore. Because of the pregnancy weight (which seems to have materialized EVERYWHERE...not just in the belly), there is much less ease than I would normally want, but hopefully it will fit much better after the baby is born and I magically am super-skinny, weighing less than I did even pre-pregnancy. Post-honeymoon weight would be excellent. (That happens, right? Out comes an eight pound baby and off comes 50 pounds? Right? Oh Darn.) I digress.

I decided to use Fishermen's Wool because I'd heard really good things about it, and at $10 for 465 yards, it couldn't be beat for a garment of this size! I love the heathering of the Oatmeal colorway, and the neutrality of the color means I can wear it with anything underneath - you really can't beat that!

The construction of this coat is rather brilliant - you start with the back, then knit each front, and then two guessets that are just the length of the skirt, starting at about six inches wide at the bottom and decreasing to just one stitch at the top, fitting snuggly in between the back and fronts to give the skirt of the coat extra swing.

Surprisingly, this was an extremely quick knit...especially considering it was my first project not only of this scale, but of the complexity of lace and cables. It did help that the worsted weight gauge was much bigger than my usual fingering weight garments. I cast on at the airport before a 6-hour flight to Vancouver for a work retreat (yes, at 31 weeks pregnant!) and worked on little else until I was binding off the collar four weeks later. It did help that I spent most nights with my feet up in front of the tv, forcing myself to rest and relax due to pregnancy aches and pains. Two 6-hour flights and two 5-hour train rides helped a little bit, too.

The lace pattern was extremely challenging for me, which probably helped it to hold my constant attention. I really struggled in the beginning, and if you look closely at the back, you can see my mess-ups. But by the end of the second sleeve, I had mastered reading that pattern and could pick out where my errors were. Bring on the next lace project!

Because of said brilliant construction, I spent days seaming this garment, as well...good practice for the T-Rex though! It didn't help that I could only block two pieces at a time due to lack of space...so I would block then seam, block then seam. Or, rather, Adam would block and then I would seam, since getting down on the floor to block is much too painful, as mentioned above. He's really much too good for me.

The only part of the coat I'm not happy with is the collar. The sample garment has a wide, square collar that sits flat but for a slight curl at the edges. This collar is nor does nothing of the sort. I tried tacking it in all sorts of ways, but it just wants to roll up into nothing. I'm hoping my mom in her infinite sewing wisdom will have some ideas when she arrives in a few days for the baby. I thought I had a close-up picture of the collar, but I can't seem to find it.

Oh, the buttons! The buttons are from Sunshine Pottery, sadly website-less. She vended next to me at the Maine Fiber Frolic and she and her husband were so much fun! They were from Tennessee and picked out Adam's accent right away. On Saturday, after a full day of vending, she went home and made a gallon or so of sweet tea for Adam and brought it to him on Sunday. His entire face lit up and I'm fairly certain it made his weekend! I'm so sad to not be vending at Maine this year again...I was very much looking forward to it (I can't even begin to explain how much), but couldn't get Monday off to travel home because of the new job...it's Day 4 of month-end close, for any finance people out there. Somehow I don't think driving eight hours on Friday evening, vending all day Saturday and Sunday, then driving eight hours home after 5pm and going to work on Monday morning...all with a 3 month old baby, crazy puppy, and cranky husband...would be a very good idea. Sigh. I'm currently looking for more finance calendar-friendly fiber festivals to make up for missing Maine. It will take two or three, probably. I digress...again.

For good measure, here's a belly shot at 36 weeks. It's almost three weeks later and I'm exponentially bigger...

State of the Knitting - FO's Edition

2011-02-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

What was that I said about trying to blog more? Good grief, how is it the middle of February already? Where does the time go?

Believe it or not, there has actually been *tons* of knitting going on! I’m not going to do an individual FO post for each item…I’ve been on a finishing-but-no-blogging-or-pictures kick, so I’m just going to lump them all together. Get ready for a post that’s going to knock your socks off!!!

Jayne Hat

Pattern: Jayne Cobb Hat
Yarn: Various acrylics in worsted weight
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN, US6
Modifications: I changed the earflaps – added a garter stitch border and rounded out the edges. I plan to add tassels, too.

Adam has begged for a Jayne Hat for a couple years now. I think he had given up hope that I would ever knit him one, because at each fiber festival I dragged him to, he was on the prowl for a finished one for-sale. I surprised him with it for Christmas last year. I used acrylic yarn from Michaels (gasp!) – a combination of a couple different brands, but I don’t remember which. Whatever was there in the right colors, honestly. I wanted it to be washable, and didn’t have time to order yarn online or go to the LYS without having to tell Adam what I was up to. I hid the Michaels bag in the back of the car and only brought it out at knit night. I cast on one week and finished the next, then wrapped it up and voila!

Only, not so voila. While Adam completely loved it (and was totally surprised), I wasn’t quite happy with the earflaps. I thought that the hat from Firefly had rounded earflaps, but the best pattern I could find (and believe me, there are a ton of them out there!) had square earflaps. I knew that the stockinette would curl and it would drive me nuts. Adam confirmed that the original Jayne Hat did have rounded earflaps, as well as a long, braided tassel at the ends. I spent another knit night fiddling and finally came away with the finished product.

Adam likes it so much, he asked for a second one, “to keep nice”. After all, why have one hat when you can make two in twice the time? (Bonus points if you can tell me what move that slightly altered quote came from.)

Slytherin Scarf

Pattern: improvised
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish DK
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN’s US3, KP Harmony 12” Fixed Circular US3, KP Nickel-Plated 24” Fixed Circular US3

The first thing I knit when I got back into knitting in 2007 was a Gryffindor scarf for Adam. We were watching Harry Potter and he casually mentioned “You know, if you wanted to knit me a Harry Potter scarf, I would wear it.” I had been watching reruns of Knitty Gritty on HGTV and was just waiting for the right inspiration to strike. Little did Adam know what he was getting himself into, right? The Gryffindor scarf I knit was awful – I used Lion Brand Homespun on US3 needles and did plain stockinette. It rolls like crazy, there’s a place where I (completely obliviously) dropped about 5 stitches at the edge and tried to sew them down to at least keep the scarf from unraveling, it’s pilling (for lack of a better term – I wouldn’t really call it pills in the traditional sense…more like flyaways), I could go on and on. But Adam wears it faithfully and loves it (especially now that it matches his Jayne Hat!)

The other issue is that Adam really isn’t a Gryffindor. He’s really more of a Slytherin (of the non-evil variety.) Now that I know much, much more about knitting, I wanted to knit him a higher-quality scarf.

I basically did this one on the fly…with a few calculations to get me started. I knew I wanted a 6-foot long scarf, and that, according to something I’d read when I knit that first scarf, there should be 13 stripes on an HP scarf from the first two movies to be authentic. I did some division for the length of each stripe, and cast on 100 stitches on DPN’s, estimating that would give me about 12” around based on the recommended gauge of the yarn.

Knitting with DPN’s was completely annoying and unruly (I was using about seven of them), and I hated picking it up. So I ordered a 12” circular and switched to that. The needles were too small for my hands and I hated it worse than the DPN’s. So the scarf hibernated for a while. I had to finish my MIL’s fair isle sweater (they were both supposed to be 2009 Christmas presents) and then because I hated the needle so, I never picked the scarf back up.

It hibernated until August, when the fabulous Tina showed me the basics of magic loop at her annual W.O.O.L. retreat. I modified it slightly to work with the 24” needle I had on hand, and it suddenly became *so* much easier to knit this scarf!

What finally sealed the deal on the finishing of the scarf was a 10-hour (each way) drive to South Bend, IN for Adam to pick up a 1928 Model A car body Thanksgiving weekend. I normally can’t knit in the car because I get sick (especially with Adam’s driving, lol!), but I knew that this easy stockinette in-the-round would work for the trip because I could knit without looking down. I finished all but the last stripe in the car that weekend and slowly finished it over the course of several knit nights. Then I added some fringe (which took another several knit nights because of my OCD), and Adam finally has a new Harry Potter scarf! It looks much, much better than the old one, and even matches the hat he bought at Notre Dame on our trip to South Bend!

Invincibility Star

I originally decided I wasn’t going to do any baby knitting, at least not of the clothes variety. I really had no desire to do anything gender-neutral, and then once we found out we’re having a boy, I looked at my nephew who was wearing 12-month outfits long before his first birthday, and realized I could spend a ton of time knitting really cute baby sweaters Baby would never fit into. Sure, I could knit a couple newborn sized-items, since he’s due in March and that definitely still qualifies as winter in these parts (despite what my aunt says about having a “spring baby.”) But what happens if he’s huge? Ten-pound babies are not unknown on both sides of the aisle here. So should I knit 3-month old size? What happens if he’s little and is swimming in them, but then is far too big for them by the time the weather turns cold again? It was all too much for me to handle.

So I searched like mad for things I could knit without driving myself crazy with the over-analyzing. I settled on a baby blanket pattern that I fell in love with the first time I saw it and planned to dye a special colorway just for Baby. But dyeing became harder and harder the bigger I got, and there’s no way I could do any now. So this will be saved for after Baby is born and I can get around the kitchen/basement work area again. Considering I still have the baby blanket my mom sewed when she was pregnant with me, I’m thinking a blanket isn’t something he’ll outgrow uber-quickly so there’s not really any rush.

Stuffed Toys enter Stage Right. I found all sorts of cool free patterns for stuffed toys! I had a lot of leftover washable worsted weight yarn sitting in my stash from various blanket swap projects that I would never use otherwise, so I went to town. Adam has an affinity for anything NES (the original) related, and I found some really cool Super Mario Brothers patterns.

The first one I tackled was the Invisibility Star. I had the perfect yellow yarn in my stash.

Pattern: Super Mario Invincibility Star
Yarn: random yellow acrylic, worsted weight, plus a little black and white for the eyes.
Needle: Various US3 DPN’s
Modifications: None

This was an easy, easy knit. It was much larger than I anticipated – more of a pillow than a stuffed toy. But I love it! I want to make another for my nephew when I get the chance.

You knit a triangle for each point of the star, and then join them all together at the widest side and start decreasing for the center. I love the spiral pattern it makes – it gives the star a lot of dimension.

Pinked Socks

Pattern: Pinked Socks (IK Winter 2010)
Yarn: Forbidden Woolery Footloose, Winter Dusk, 1 skein (used about half)
Knitpicks Stroll, black, 2 skeins (but didn’t use all of either)
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPNs, US1
Modifications: None. I did work them two at a time, on two sets of DPN’s, so I wouldn’t get second sock syndrome. I knit each cuff, then each leg, then each heel/foot, then each toe. It worked out quite well, if I do say so myself!

Last summer when I visited before Comic Con, I gave my mom these socks that ended up being just slightly too small for me. I never imagined she would become crazy for handknit socks! She called me up just before Christmas and let me know that if I wanted to knit her any more, she had pants in grey, black, navy, and brown and wouldn’t mind having socks to match for the three months of the year it’s cold enough to wear handknit socks in southern CA.

I ordered some Knitpicks Stroll sock yarn in black, but just couldn’t make myself knit a pair of solidly black socks. Then came the IK Winter 2010 issue with several pairs of *fabulous* socks in it. I instantly needed to cast on for the Pinked Socks…you know how it is. I paired the black yarn with Forbidden Woolery Footloose in Winter Dusk, a new colorway fresh from the dyepot. I loved the variation the purple/pink undertones gave the gray and thought it would work perfectly for either the mom-requested black *or* gray socks.

We were off to CA for Christmas, and I had hoped to be able to finish the socks before we came home, but no such luck. Despite casting on right away and working on them every evening after work, two at a time, on the plane ride out there, and every spare moment I had in CA (which ended up being much fewer and farther between than I had hoped), the socks came home with me, about 2/3 done. I kept working at it though, and completed they are!

I love them so much I’m planning to make myself a pair, working the colors opposite – grey as the main color and black as the contrast. It will do me double duty – fabulous socks to wear, and a product sample to carry around to fiber festivals this year. Can’t beat that.

In Conclusion

I think that does it as far as FO's are concerned, for now. I have a couple more right around the corner...the most fantabulous coat ever, another stuffed toy, and possibly even another long-hibernating sweater for the Knitpicks IDP program before the month of February is up. Stay tuned for a "State of the Knitting - WIP's Edition" post, coming soon to a blog near you (well, this blog at least). There have also been some stash enhancements, of both the fiber and yarn variety, that should not go unshared. There may have even been a trip to WEBS.

Last Post of the Year...

2010-12-31T13:10:00.002-05:00

This year has been rather tumultuous, which has definitely shown itself in the sporadic way I've treated this blog.

There are too many things to count that went unblogged - from FO's to fiber festivals to any number of other things. I hope to at least show off the FO's in the coming months. There's a handspun Tangled Yoke Cardigan and a couple of designs that have been under wraps for far too long.

2011 promises to be an amazing year...whether it will be a positive or negative "amazing" is yet to be determined.

I would love to set some knitting/spinning goals, but with a baby appearing somewhere around March, I'm going to be realistic and determine now that there's no way I can estimate how much knitting time I'll have.

I would even love to show you how I fared against the goals I set at the beginning of 2010. But knowing how few of my projects I actually blogged about, I'm not going to attempt that, either.

The one goal I will set, however, is to blog more frequently. I do miss it so. There's a certain sense of pride one feels when blogging their triumphs of the knitting world.

I hope to have the Forbidden Woolery website completely up and running in January. Knitty has officially rejected the latest pattern I sent them, Caroline, (two days before Christmas, no less!) but the overwhelming response I've gotten from the knitters who have seen it has convinced me that I must offer it for sale. I have some other freebies I have created along the way to share, as well. I coerced Risa into fixing whatever is wrong with my shopping cart function in exchange for yarn and fiber, so hopefully all will be on track soon!

Ideas are constantly swirling around my head, begging to be designed and knit. Right now I'm enjoying a small break, knitting stuffed toys in anticipation of Baby's arrival, and I also have plans to start in on a Honey Baby in a special colorway dyed just for Baby.

Let's not even talk about the constant prep for 2011 Fiber Festivals. I hope to have a busy and productive year on the Fiber Festival scene, from Clermont in April to New England in November. Heaven knows my dyepots have been busy for the past couple months, and there is much much more planned in order to be ready for Clermont before Baby arrives. Somehow I just don't think I will have time/stamina for dyeing with a newborn in the house!

So, I will leave you with my (somewhat scattered) dreams for 2011. Happy New Year!!!

The Shetland Trader

2010-12-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

I just ordered Gudren Johnston’s new book – The Shetland Trader – Book One. I first saw mention of it on Brooklyn Tweed, as Jared Flood is responsible for the stunning photography. I won’t post any pictures here, for fear of stepping on someone’s toes, but you have to check them out!

Before I get into the patterns, I wanted to detail exactly why I am now a huge fan of Gudren, aside from her amazing designs. On her website, the only link to purchase is through Ravelry. I emailed her, asking if there was another way to purchase her book, as I prefer not to support them. She responded rather promptly, but only to say she was afraid not. I was bummed, but understood. However, she wrote back a couple hours later and said I could purchase a single copy directly from her wholesaler, Deep South Fibers. So I did.

But, having a brand new Nook Color I have taken to carrying with me everywhere (which is another story altogether), I kinda wanted the e-book version they were offering free if you purchase through Rav. So I thanked her profusely, let her know I had ordered a copy of her book, and asked about the e-book offer. She said my order from the wholesaler would not include the e-book, but that she would gift it to me via email. And she did.

Good customer service is enough to make me a loyal fan for life. But Gudren went above and beyond “good” customer service. I am so touched by the extra mile she went for a single customer she’d never heard of before, just so I could knit her fantabulous designs!

And truly fantabulous they are. All the designs incorporate an aspect of traditional Shetland lace knitting, as that is where Gudren is from and what inspires her knitting. However, her ability to modernize the traditional patterns is what makes her work truly stunning. And, especially important to me, most of the designs in the book are knit with fingering or laceweight yarn. As I become a more experienced knitter, I truly gravitate towards garments made in lightweight yarn as opposed to worsted weight as the majority of them seem to be.

The first design that caught my eye and caused me to want to purchase the book is Laar. It’s a beautiful cardigan knit in lace yarn on US3 needles. Which you know means it has amazing drape, even without the 50/50 merino/silk yarn it’s knit in. I just stocked the shop with a crazy-soft lace yarn that’s 70% alpaca, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere. Originally, I purchased the base yarn so I could design a pair of gloves that have been swimming in my head since Thanksgiving in my new Winter Dusk colorway. Now I’m thinking that the Peter Rabbit colorway would make a mighty fine Laar. What say you?

But one design does not warrant a $23 purchase…at least not for me. So then there is Norie, a very cute, slouchy beanie-hat combining lace stripes with garter stitch accents. I think I can dig up some DK weight yarn from the stash for this. If not, I’m sure I could refigure for some Indulge Sport .

And then I saw that Plivver uses fingering weight yarn, as well. At this point, I thought, “Are you kidding me?” This book is perfect for me! I could probably knit just about every garment in here! Granted, Plivver won’t fit me until next fall brings handknit weather again, but I just made up a queue yesterday of everything I want to knit, not including baby knits, and I have more than enough to keep me busy until this would fit me again! The lace body combined with the ribbed cowl neck is striking, and I think that drapey Twinkle or super soft Lush would be the perfect yarn to pair with this design!

I could truly gush forever. But you just have to check it out for yourself.

State of the Knitting

2010-12-08T10:41:00.000-05:00

The problem with knitting monogamously is that there is little to no blog fodder for weeks on end! I’ve been trying to finish up one project at a time to make it through my crazy stack of WIPs to (a) help clean out my office to convert it to the nursery and (b) make room for a whole stack of new projects – baby projects!!!

I have no pictures to show, unfortunately. I've been waiting to post the following post for about 3 weeks until I had pictures...but I'm just not getting there!

First up was the Waltz scarf for Marcy. I mostly finished this up in the two weeks I had off before I started my new job. I finally bound off a couple weeks ago, but couldn't seem to get the blocking done, despite the makeshift blocking wires Adam bought me at the welding supply store. I blame Baby, because it's convenient. But, finally, it’s happily blocking so I can send it off to its eager recipient, more than a few weeks late. I’ll wait for her to get it and take some modeled shots before doing an official FO post. I have to say the best part about this KAL and swap was getting to see all the Facebook status updates of “I’m going to waltz a little before bedtime” and all the confused replies from friends. Always put a smile on my face!

Adam’s Slytherin Scarf has been coming with me to knit night for many weeks, but progress was slow. Even though it’s just plain stockinette in the round with only 100 stitches per round, I can never seem to get more than half a stripe done each week. I don’t know what the deal is! Then we took a little road trip to South Bend, Indiana so Adam could pick up a 1928 Model A car body and various other car parts for his new car build. The scarf was more than half done when we left, and 10 hours each way helped me make some serious progress! I have 11.5 out of 13 stripes done! I’m hoping it will be finished before it’s time for him to start shoveling snow. Since I get to sit this year out while growing the baby, at least he’ll be nice and warm in this double layer scarf. Maybe the neighbors will take pity on him and help out with one of their snowblowers. Any time I go out to shovel without Adam, they always end up finishing for me. For as much as I diss on New Jersey, our neighbors truly are the best. I've had to take a minor detour along the way to finish up another project at knit night. I'm hoping to finish that project this week, and then the scarf will be back at center focus!

In the spirit of the release of the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I dug out my other HP WIP – my Ravenclaw Entrelac Socks v.2. The first sock is officially done, minus the tassels, and it fits perfectly! I think I even remember all my modifications so I can repeat it in the second sock...or third sock, as the case may be. Aside from wanting to finally wear these amazing socks, I really want to set it out as a finished sample in my booth at fiber festivals next year. I have a whole line of Harry Potter house colors in this base – Twisted Sock –and would love to show off what you can do with them! The best part is that if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, there are also some pretty popular sports teams with the same colors, or you can mix and match.

Knitting has begun on Secret Project #2. I finally was able to get all the details nailed down in my head over the weekend, put pencil to paper, did some math, and cast on! And, like with any new project, I don't want to stop knitting on it! I'm trying to maintain my monogamous focus on finishing WIPs, but this has definitely taken center stage for nighttime knitting. I'm really stretching the boundaries with this piece, and I couldn't be more excited. There are lots of exquisite details, like applied i-cord "piping", hemmed edges, a beautiful, natural color palette, and some of the softest alpaca yarn I have ever worked with. I might not be able to keep it a secret for long!

That’s about it on the knitting front. Good night and good luck.

Thank You Mood!!!

2010-10-23T17:33:00.002-04:00

The design I have in mind for the yummy alpaca yarn I bought at Rhinebeck (aka Secret Project #2) requires a belt buckle. The stitch pattern and shape are all set...all that's missing now is a zipper. Have I piqued your interest yet?

I looked online at what seemed to be a million belt buckle places, but all I seemed to be able to find were themed belt buckles that were meant to be put on a belt purchased at a store...nothing fit to attach to a knitted belt. So where's a knitter to go?

Mood!!!

Oh my belt buckle! And the buttons! After eight seasons of Project Runway, I knew Mood would be Heaven on Earth, but I really had no idea. There were walls and walls of buttons...it was impossible to look at them all. Especially after visiting the belt buckle corner and being completely laden down by boxes due to my (a) inability to choose and (b) Adam's theory that they weren't very expensive (most were $4 each) and I should just buy a bunch while I was there and come up with something to do with them later. He's *such* the enabler.

There were wood buckles in all shades and sizes...

And all kinds of metal, but I fell for the pewter. Unfortunately there was just this one size in stock, at least that was round...

Ones that looked like leather, but weren't...

And ones that are simply too stunning for words, pure pieces of art...

What, you didn't think I left buttonless, did you?

Aside from the current design, to which one of those wood buckles is promised, I have no idea what I'll do with any of them. But the fabulous metal buckle is sure to inspire something simple and beautiful where it can be center stage, and the buttons, on closeout with only five remaining, are yearning to be attached to something springy and feminine.

After collecting the buckles and buttons, we wandered through aisle upon aisle of every fabric type imaginable - from fake fur and alpaca, to wool suiting and even vinyl. The only thing that would have made the trip more complete would've been a sighting of Swatch, their awesome doggie!

And, of course, what do we say?

Thank you, Mood!!!

(Adam would only take a picture wearing the t-shirt he so desperately wanted in front of his "manly" car.)

Greetings from Rhinebeck!

2010-10-16T18:23:00.002-04:00

This is just begging me for colorwork! My sole purchase at Rhinebeck this year. I went with an idea firmly planted in my head and I knew exactly the booth I wanted to hit up. But when I got to the barn where said booth was supposed to be, it wasn't there! I ended up at the "A Touch of Twist" booth, petting their natural-colored alpaca sport yarns. The colors were drool-worthy and exactly what I had in mind, with the added bonus of being crazy soft. The stitch pattern I have in mind creates a firm, non-curling fabric, so I'm hoping the softness of the alpaca will balance it out. If not, I have another stitch pattern in mind for just the darker color, hence the three skeins of dark versus two each of the others, and I'm sure it won't be too taxing to find something else to do with the lovely camel and creme yarns!

Elsewhere at Rhinebeck, this felted wall-hanging blew me away:

Can you believe that this is felted??? Look at that shading on the dragon wings and underneath the rocks! The amount of talent I saw all over the place astounded me. I only snapped a picture of this, though, otherwise I'd be posting pictures all night!

In other Rhinebeck news...I entered the fair isle sweater I knit for my mother-in-law, but didn't place. (The shawl is not mine.)

Apparently I had tension and blocking issues. I understand where the blocking comment comes from, because I did a rush-block job back in June, leaving the little indentations from where I pinned it out, never dreaming that I would enter it for competition. But the ladies at the WOOL retreat this year convinced me to enter, and I completely forgot about it! I'm really not sure where the tension comment came from - I thought my tension was pretty darn even!

I did, however, have major buttonhole issues, but more about that at another time when I can share more FO pictures. (Then again, knowing me, said FO blog post will never get done. So, as a teaser, let's just say that EZ's afterthought buttonholes DO NOT work for stranded knitting!!! You should know that BEFORE you cut.)

Even though I didn't win anything, the amount of ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the sweater when I dropped it off for judging, combined with the fact that someone asked to take my picture with it this morning (making me feel like a rock star), and, most importantly, that my mother-in-law is positively over the moon about it, make it a Best-In-Show winner to me!

Heading back to the festival tomorrow to peek at the Sheep-to-Shawl competition in which some friends are competing and then driving back home in the afternoon. I start my new job on Monday, so wish me luck!!!

State of the Knitting

2010-09-27T17:59:00.007-04:00

It’s time to confess as to what, exactly, I’ve been up to since I’ve been away. Be forewarned: it’s not going to be pretty. Facing the impossible number of WIP’s may send me spiraling back to the land of the knitting mojo-less. But I will try to fight it…if only to better clean out my office/knitting room to make way for The Progeny.

Beware the deluge of poorly-lit photos to follow.

Lichen Ribbed Socks – This is the last in the series of four basic ribbed socks from Knitting Vintage Socks. I received the yarn, Cherry Tree Hill, colorway Butternut Squash, in a swap and absolutely loved it skeined up. Unfortunately, the knitted product isn't quite so pleasing to the eye. The pooling is such that all the yellows and oranges gather and the purple, green, and brown colors gather. I'm planning to finish the socks, but have a feeling they will be relegated to boot socks. That means that just one of the four were successful. I plan to re-knit the other three, as I really wanted to end up with four pairs of ribbed socks at the end of this!

Nederland Vest - I only ever knit about three rows past the cast-on for this vest, and then it went to UFO land. I really do love the colors I picked as well as the pattern, and am excited to work with Hempathy. I decided, however, that I wanted some extra ease in the vest that I hadn't wanted went I originally cast on. I frogged the little bit of work I had done, and it lays in a WIP bag with all the rest.

Entrelac Socks - I finished one of these socks last summer, but couldn't get it on very well - it was way too tight in the ankle. So a-frogging I went, as much as it pained me. I have since knit about half of the first sock again, and it fits much better than the first. I just hope I kept good notes for when I finally start the second (or third, as the case may be) sock. I'd love to have these done for the Harry Potter 7 premiere in November, but I doubt I can work that fast!

Argyle Hearts Sweater v.2 - I loved Version 1 of this sweater so very much, but it was one of the first sweaters I knit, and I wrote the pattern as I went. Now that I know more about shaping and fit, I thought I'd give it a second go around. I'm using KnitPicks Palette this time, a wonderfully wooly fingering weight yarn. The hope is that the argyle pattern will be less blocky than in the DK-weight version. So far, I'm loving the fingering weight version in this sturdy yarn, though the many bobbins for the argyle hearts pattern are giving me a little trouble. It takes more concentration than I have at certain times, so it's something I must sit down and tackle with no distractions to ensure I get the quality I strive to achieve. I plan to write the pattern up and submit to KnitPicks Independent Designer Program. Wish me luck!

Slytherin Scarf - this was supposed to be a Christmas present for Adam last year, but his mom's fair isle cardigan took precedence. Not to mention that knitting 100 stitches in the round on DPN's was too unruly, and the 12" circular needle I bought was awkward, as the needles were too small for my hands. I learned how to Magic Loop at W.O.O.L. (Weekend Out On the Lake) this year, and have been doing a modified technique to accommodate the shorter cable, rather than buy a longer needle. It's going infinitely faster now, and is a good project to bring to Thursday night knitting at Panera with my new (to me) knitting group. I'm almost halfway done now and am hoping it will be done for Christmas this year. With our desire to move, I was worried that I would finish just in time to move to California, out of scarf weather. But it looks like we will be in New Jersey for a while longer, and Adam will get plenty of use out of it shoveling snow this winter! (He's happy about the scarf, but not the shoveling part. Especially since I will be largely pregnant by the time the serious snow rolls around and unable to help. I'm happy about this part, teehee!)

The Waltz - this scarf is for a knit-along and swap. We are knitting the scarves together, but for someone else in the group. We will swap the finished product. The yarn is from the fantabulous Tina of Bittersweet Woolery and even though I have only managed to get through two repeats, I am already loving the yarn, the pattern, and the finished product. I will be very sad to give this up, but know it is going to a good home!

Fair Isle Cardigan - just when I thought I was done with this sweater, I realized that I forgot buttonholes!!! Elizabeth Zimmerman to the rescue! I will be using her Afterthought Buttonhole technique from Knitting Without Tears to put in the buttonholes. I let the ladies at W.O.O.L. convince me to enter it into the fair isle category at Rhinebeck, so I will be bringing it up there in a couple weeks for judging, and then off it will go to my mother-in-law just in time for winter. I brought it down for her to see finished when we visited in August and she loves it even more than I hoped she would. It's such a pleasure to knit for people who truly understand the love that goes into a handknit sweater. I know she will treasure it always, and that makes my heart happy.

Ron's Blanket - I've participated in three rounds of this swap now, and a fourth is underway (but have I actually started knitting? Of course not!) here is a bag full of squares just waiting to be joined. Truthfully, I'm waiting for a little more variation of color before beginning to join them together - while the purpose of the blanket is to be odds and ends (cut from old sweaters, probably), I would still like the pleasantness that comes from a well-balanced color palette. Each time I go buy yarn for a swap round, I lay out my squares and decide where the holes are. It seems to be working!

Secret Project #1 - I furiously knit on this throughout most of July. It is a sweater that I designed based off a summer top I saw in the cafeteria at work one day. I'm so excited about the way it turned out, and the reception it has gotten from the knitters who have seen it so far. The pattern is written up, and after taking a few pictures of a sample I worked up to show the technique for a certain piece of the sweater, off to Knitty the pattern goes! The deadline is this Friday, and I'm just waiting for good picture-taking light to take the sample photos and hit send!

Secret Project #2 - I got the idea for this project from one of my tv shows that I watch over and over on DVD while I knit. I believe I was actually watching this one while knitting on Secret Project #1! I'm not very far along on this one, but have printed out some interesting stitch patterns and drawn up sketches for the design. I went searching for Mood Fabrics while in NYC last week, but alas, couldn't find it. Apparently I didn't look up in the right spot, as it's on the 3rd floor. I was going to peruse their buckles for said secret project. Are you intrigued yet? I plan to buy the yarn at Rhinebeck...I know exactly the booth I'm making a beeline for to hit up first!

Phew! Can you see why I've been avoiding blogging? It hurts to fess up to so many WIP's! Must keep knitting...must keep knitting...must keep knitting...

I'm alive...

2010-09-19T21:09:00.004-04:00

and have a picture from the Garden State Sheep Breeder's Festival to prove it...

I'll write more about that later. And about the crazy number of WIP's I found whilst cleaning out my office that need to be finished. Which is probably why I didn't get around to blogging again weeks ago...I don't want to fess up to how many projects I've started and not finished over the past six months or so.

In the meantime, I'm not the only thing alive these days....

All in a Day's Work

2010-05-17T19:44:00.006-04:00

From left to right: Great Pumpkin; Professor Plum; Irish Sea; Poppies, Poppies; Sugar Plums; Root Beer Float; Forever in Blue Jeans; and Gummy Beary Juice.

This is the first batch of dyeing for the Maine Fiber Frolic next month, all in my bamboo fiber blend. I should be finished next weekend, and then two weeks to label, fuss, and put everything together and head up north!

I have four FO's to share - two knitting and two spinning. Just need to find the motivation to take pictures! These were easy - I braided them up down in the basement where they were finishing drying (after an afternoon in the sun yesterday) and threw them over the dye rack under the new daylight bulbs and voila! FO's are a whole other story...

Still Alive...

2010-05-03T18:24:00.003-04:00

Just a little picture to show that I'm still alive. This beauty came out of the dyepot while preparing for the Chancellor's Sheep & Wool Show I vended at two weekends ago. This colorway is Lake District, reminiscent of our trip to England last fall. Check out how many different shades of blue there are - it makes me so happy! If I weren't still too timid to attempt lace, I would be stashing it away for my own use. For those of you who are braver than I, it's up in the shop just waiting for a home!

Last weekend was Maryland Sheep & Wool, where my partners and I were finally able to reveal our super-secret project to a small group of knitters - Nimblestix, the next generation in fiber arts communities. There isn't much to share with you at this point, but I will definitely be sharing more as I can. This has been our brain-child for the past year, and it's so exciting to finally be able to share. There is much hard work and oodles of passion going into this, let me just say!

I find out about the job-front on Wednesday. It could honestly go either way at this point. Emotionally, I just want it to be over but the realist in me says, "what are a few panic attacks for a couple more paychecks?" We'll see how it goes.

I will be vending again at the Maine Fiber Frolic on June 5th & 6th. Come out and see me if you're in the area!

There has been a little bit of knitting, and a lot of spinning. Hopefully I will get to share pictures and FO's with you soon. For now, especially if my job continues for another 30 days, I will pop in with some enticing photos of what's coming out of the dyepot as well as off the needles and wheel.

Stay tuned!

Change is coming...

2010-04-04T21:36:00.003-04:00

Well, it looks like I will have a lot more time for knitting, spinning, dyeing, and yes, even blogging in the near future.

You see, I'm in the process of losing my job. It could be 30 days from now, but maybe 60 or even 90 days. And, by some miracle, I may not lose it at all. But I'm betting on 30 days. All the long hours I've been working for the past 6 months at the expense of nearly everything else just weren't enough for good ole Corporate America.

It's interesting timing, actually. Because I had already made the decision to quit in six months' time. On Monday, we signed papers to put our house on the market on April 30th. On Thursday (April Fools' Day, no less), I learned that I would lose my job. I try not to get religious or political on my knitting blog, but it just goes to show you that the cheesy saying is true, "Man plans and God laughs."

The second change would be that we're moving back to California - the Valley to be precise (that's San Fernando Valley, or northern Los Angeles, for those of you who aren't familiar with California-speak.) I grew up in San Diego and most of my family is in the Inland Empire and friends are in LA or Orange County. So it's basically going home.

Because while my company seems to want to screw me over despite all my hard work, Adam's company actually wants to reward him for all of his. They're looking for a place for us to live (and actually asked, "Is a pool required?" before asking what our budget was) and have left the door wide open as to the terms of Adam's employment. All we have to do is pack and move. It's quite a blessing.

My plan is to help out Adam with his accounting and administrative tasks so he can focus on his projects, hopefully causing a lift in revenue. Given that this is nowhere near a full-time job, I will be able to focus on all things Forbidden - both dyeing and designing. And my super-secret project that won't be a super secret *too* much longer. Despite the crying, worrying, and an extremely bruised ego, I'm starting to get quite excited about the possibilities. Freedom. I named my truck after it, why shouldn't I get some, too?

I've worked in Corporate America for almost 10 years. Not an extremely long time for some, but that's my entire career thus far. The problem lies in that I've hated every single minute of it. Have I liked certain aspects of the different jobs I've held? Absolutely. Did I enjoy the perks? You bet. Free museums, international travel, discounts on Broadway shows, free trips to see family - how could I not? Not having to worry about money? Awesome.

But it all came with a price. I feel as if my life has been on hold for the past ten years, and never more so than the past five. A 40-hour work week is a highly uncommon occurrence, not to mention two or three hours commuting per day. Let's not even talk about three-week business trips with no opportunity to come home (and let's especially not talk about the mere 36 hours I had at home during a Tijuana trip the month leading up to my wedding.)

Does Corporate America work for some? Absolutely. But not for me. And I've been sweeping that little fact under the rug for quite some time. When I was in college, I dreamed of wearing serious suits and being a VIP. But I didn't even get through my first year in Corporate America after college before my dad died. Killed himself, to be exact. And that changed everything.

So I planned, and God laughed. While the timing may not be what I wanted, God is finally giving me the tools to do what I really want in life. To do something creative. To work for myself. To build a home. To start a family.

Am I scared? You betcha. But I'm a fighter. And even ten years in Corporate American hasn't been able to completely destroy the optimist in me. There's always a silver lining. I look forward to exploring the depths of this one.

And lest you think I'm being all evolved about this...some pictures to show my therapeutic pyromania.

A Yarn Story

2010-03-25T19:28:00.002-04:00

The following is a story of caution, when one mixes yarn with unplanned impulse. Read with care.

I've spent the last few weeks preparing for the Chancellor's Sheep and Wool Showcase. It will be my first time vending at a fiber festival, and I'm very excited (and also very nervous). Not only have I been dyeing yarn and fiber, but I've also been setting up my new shop, which included having new graphics made by the fabulous Tina, and setting up a fiber/yarn processing and storage shop in the formerly dark and dank basement. Needless to say, it's been a lot of work.

Which is why I should not have listened to the little voice in my head that said, "Hey! You should wind off that ENTIRE cone of DK weight yarn and dye it in one big hank and then split it off into 100g skeins." But listen I did. And this is what I ended up with:

And that, my friends, was after a full evening's worth of winding and untangling.

Two days later, I had this:

The Diet Dr. Pepper can is there for two reasons. Most importantly, for scale. That is a 1 lb ball of painstakingly hand-wound yarn. And it was only through countless cans of my dear friend and constant companion, Diet Dr. Pepper, that I was able to finish with my sanity in tact. Well, at least as in tact as it was before I started. Questionable at best.

And now, finally, I have this:

Three skeins of approximately 250 yards of DK weight yarn in my new "Sherwood Forest" colorway. I was inspired to do this colorway after visiting Nottingham on our English anniversary excursion last October.

We visited Robin Hood,

Took a tour of the castle grounds,

Including the tunnels that go all throughout the mountain under the castle,

Had lunch at a FABULOUS pub at the foot of the castle,

And saw lots and lots of beer (but didn't stay to drink any),

Do you notice how there aren't any pictures of Sherwood Forest there? That's because it's been pushed so far back from the walls of the castle by urban sprawl that I just couldn't bear to take a picture. So I decided to memorialize the famed forest in yarn.

You can find it here.

My Funny Valentine....

2010-03-15T17:49:00.002-04:00

I took advantage of the monsoon this weekend and got back to the dyepot. I had a custom order for some of my bamboo blend fiber for a color I wasn't too sure about. But I ended up loving it! As the title of this post suggests, I'm naming it "Funny Valentine". These aren't photos I would put up on Etsy, but I wanted to take advantage of the cloudy light that is the only way I can accurately portray reds and didn't want to wade through the wet basement to get out the lightbox. And yes, the couch is on the porch - we had a lovely new couch delivered today as a result of retail therapy while we were visiting my family in CA a couple weeks ago. The old couch is awaiting pickup by the soon-to-be college kid down the street who helps out Adam on his car.

Also out of the dyepot was a new version of my Eastwick colorway that I'm not convinced I love (that's what I get for messing with it though, eh?), and a very happy accident that created a new colorway that I've been longing to make for months. I dyed up a whole pound of Superwash Merino DK in "Sherwood Forest". It's still drying (the monsoon didn't help out so much with the drying factor), and then I need to skein it up and get some pictures. It's highly delectable - earthy and beautiful with golds, warm, rich browns, deep green and a so many colors in between! I was going for blues, purples and reds, wouldn't ya know? I love overdyeing!

And, on a very exciting front, Tangled Yoke Cardigan is done! It's blocked (and washed once since then, even) and fits so perfectly it could only be fate! I wanted to get pictures of it while I was in CA, but didn't get the chance. It's supposed to be sunny and 65 this weekend though, so I'll have no excuse!

Spinning FO: Black & Blue

2010-02-15T21:07:00.005-05:00

Fiber: “Black & Blue”, Falkland from See Kay Craft
Wheel: Kromski Minstrel, 8.5:1 ratio whorl (I think)
Weight: 3.45oz/98g
Yardage: 510 yards, 2 ply
WPI: 15/Fingering
Techniques: Spun worsted

I bought this fiber at the New Jersey Sheep & Wool (It's not actually called that, but you get the point) from Carolyn at See Kay Craft. I loved the contrast between the blue and the red/pink. I'm not a fan of pink by any stretch of the imagination (I actually believe it's the root of all evil. Many people think it's money. The Bible actually says it's the love of money. But really, it's pink.)

However, there is enough depth and richness in the pink in this yarn that it is an exception to the rule. I've been itching to get back to my wheel for quite some time. However, the rest of the orange for my Tangled Yoke Cardigan has been haunting me. I want to finish the cardigan before it gets too warm to wear it, but I'm so tired of spinning orange! Over the past few weeks, I finally managed to finish. Sadly, I have no pictures of what came off my wheel - it went straight into the sweater. More about that later.

After finally finishing the orange, I wanted the complete opposite. What's the opposite of orange? Blue. I have a few different blues in my fiber stash, but I chose Black & Blue because of the fiber content - Falkland. I've been dyeing it for some time, and its softness was too enticing to pass up.

I took my first day off in months a couple weeks ago. I sat down at the wheel first thing in the morning and didn't stop until I had this beautiful, soft 2-ply yarn. It took me just about all day, and the remainder of Buffy Season 8 and the first half of Ally McBeal Season 1. It was a good day. (We won't discuss how I came in the next to 80 emails and how it took me all day to catch up.)

I wasn't spinning for anything in particular, which was a nice break after spinning with such intent for the past 6 months. I let the fiber do the talking. With such contrast in between the blue and the red/pink, I wanted to preserve the color changes. I split the fiber in half lengthwise, one half for each ply, and then split that again in thirds. While the weight of each third of each half was consistent, it still didn't quite match up. There is more blue than any other color, and there are many sections where the blues meet up, even if in different shades. As a result, there's more barber-poling than I wanted, but I like it anyway.

As I spun, I thought I might use it for a pretty lace stole. I've been wanting to break out the Victorian Lace Today that I got for Christmas...especially with spring coming near. I want the weather to be warmer, but I don't want to put away my beloved scarves! A lace stole is just the ticket. There wasn't anything right, though. I think this one will just look pretty in my stash for a bit until I find the right pattern. I could spend a good few months staring at it.

FO: Madder Ribbed Socks

2010-02-08T20:58:00.005-05:00

Pattern: Madder Ribbed Socks
Designer: Nancy Bush (Knitting Vintage Socks)
Yarn: Handspun
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN US1
Mods: None

I cast these socks on even though I had a million other projects on the needles. I find myself troubled without a pair of socks on the needles, these days. With an overwhelming number of things going on, I need that quick, easy knit to pick up and lose myself in. These socks were perfect for that.

At the end of the longest January in my memory, I realized that I hadn't picked up my knitting needles since Christmas! That's just wrong. But after over a month of working 14+ hour days (I actually broke my record for longest day worked - 18 hours and 15 minutes - in the midst of my longest week worked - 82 hours) I needed a quick fix. On my first Saturday morning off, I picked up the second sock that was *almost* ready for a heel turn, and finished it that night. Perfect.

Almost. While I really like the way this toe fits much better than the Yarrow Ribbed Socks, it fell short for me. Literally. The pattern says to leave approximately 3.5 inches to work the toe, which I did. But my heel ended up about an inch too short! But rather than rip back the toe on the first sock, I went straight into knitting the second sock. So of course I knit the second sock the same length (my OCD couldn't handle anything else.) Needless to say, they don't fit quite right.

The gauge is too loose to wear them alone, but that's actually perfect for someone like me who is perpetually cold - two pairs of socks is more than just an 80's fad in my house. The question now is whether I should gift them to someone who has smaller feet than I (thinking of mom, but not sure the color is right), or to rip back to the foot and knit another inch. The toe on the first sock wouldn't match right, but that doesn't really bother me, oddly enough.

I'll think on it for a while...

New Years Revelations

2010-01-03T17:35:00.004-05:00

2009 was a very trying year for me. There were lots of ups and downs that I don't really care to rehash (mainly the downs, but I don't want to be "la la la" girl, either.

I realized as I looked over my (sporadic, at best) blog this year, that there seemed to be lots of knitting and spinning but nothing really finished. There were a good amount of socks, some accessories, the fabulous Laura's Cardigan, cute stuffed animals, a little sewing, and some as-yet unblogged FO's. Not to mention the spinning, which I seem not to have labeled as FO's and that certainly needs to change! I didn't come close to meeting any of the goals I set out at the beginning of the year (except for the spinning, with the help of my fabulous new wheel), but I'm honestly okay with that!

Somehow this year, knitting became work for me, and that's never a good thing. Between a new job that's kicking my butt, trying to keep my shop stocked and advertised, a super secret BIG project that I can't talk about just yet but that sucks up tons of time (in a good way), and trying to keep up with the hundreds of designs I see in my head....knitting is no longer relaxing. And with all of these things going on, relaxation is what I need the most.

At the same time I'm renaming my shop to Forbidden Woolery (which I'm so excited about!), I'm going to take some time off from dyeing. I'll be moving all my inventory to the new shop (once it's set up and I can link to it), but I won't be dyeing anything new until it's time to stock up for Clermont Sheep & Wool.

Another reason for the hiatus on the work-side of knitting is because I've started so many projects that I just haven't had the time or desire to finish. And it's time to take stock and get them finished! I wanted to have them finished to start the new year fresh, but I got too wrapped up in trying to finish the Fair Isle Cardigan for Adam's mom that everything else just fell away.

So here's my first edition of State of the Knitting 2010:

Fair Isle Cardigan:

State: One sleeve down, one to go. All of the trim is done, other than sewing on the buttons. Still lots of ends to weave in, though!
Verdict: This is priority numero uno.

Slytherin Scarf:

State: Three stripes down, ten to go. This was supposed to be Adam's Christmas present, but again with the focusing on the Fair Isle Cardigan (not that it did any good).
Verdict: This will be one of the top priorities to finish. It's cold and Adam needs a scarf!

Tangled Yoke Cardigan:

State: Nothing new on this. Still working on the yoke, and trying to finish the last of the spinning.
Verdict: I want this sweater to be done! This goes into the next round robin with the Slytherin Scarf.

Lichen Ribbed Socks:

State: Nothing new on these, either. Getting ready to turn the heel. They're a little big, but will make a nice outer pair of socks on those cold Jersey nights.
Verdict: These will probably make it into the round robin too, just to lighten up the load.

Nederland Vest:

State: As you can tell, this is barely started. It's meant for summertime, when heavy handknit sweaters are obviously out.
Verdict: To be completed, but on the back burner as compared to the other projects.

No Place Like Home:

State: Nothing new on these, either. Which is sad, considering it's going on a year since I promised them to a co-worker for his boss.
Verdict: This really should be high up on the priority list. After Lichen Ribbed Socks, these go into the round robin. With one good weekend of knitting, I should be able to complete these. Then to write up the pattern...

Entrelac Socks:

State: Nothing new here, either (sensing a theme?) Still one down, one to go, with the fit not quite right.
Verdict: To be frogged. Surprised? I love these socks too much for them to be mediocre versions of what I really want them to be. I have too many sweaters like that - a dream sweater, but the fit is *just* off. I want these to shine! Especially since I dyed the yarn and would love to put a line of Harry Potter house colored yarn in my shop. So while I will be frogging these, I will definitely re-knit them! With a different cast on and toe. Because this Turkish-something-or-other really annoys me.

Corona Sweater:

State: I haven't touched this in almost a year. The yarn and the pattern were never quite right - although it's only 50% alpaca, the cables just aren't popping. And the measurements serious bother me - the sweater defies mathematics in that a size 36 is like 25 inches around, yet somehow fits.
Verdict: To be frogged. The yarn is too pretty for a mediocre sweater. I'll soak and rewind and find a new, better pattern for it.

So there you have it....the State of the Knitting. ALL the knitting, in case you didn't notice. And I didn't even clean out all of my hiding spots, so there could be more lurking. The thought is very scary.

I predict that 2010 will be the year of the cardigan. I've realized that I love cardigans - and I only have one or two. And none hand-knit. Laura's Cardigan doesn't fit into this category, because it's not long-sleeved. I'm talking about the type of cardigans that you leave on the back of your office chair for when the a/c is spazzing and it's like 50 degrees in the building even though it's 90 degrees with 80% humidity oustide. My work wardrobe consists largely of button-down shirts, which tend to make an outfit look unfinished without a great sweater or jacket. Hence, the need for many more cardigans.

I'm not going to make any goals this year, other than to enjoy my knitting again, and remember the passion I have for all things fiber - that passion that led me to this blog, to my shop, and to invest so much time and energy into learning everything I can about knitting, spinning, dyeing, carding, and all the other fiber-y goodness that goes along with those things.

Two more weeks of busy at work, and then both the holiday shopping season and the inventory season are over. After that, I hope to have much more time to devote to all of the above.

Happy New Year!!!

Just Keep Knitting...

2009-12-11T21:37:00.005-05:00

That's my new mantra, like Dori.

Just keep knitting...just keep knitting

This is doubled over, so each row is actually four times what you see here.

Just keep knitting...just keep knitting

It's very slow going, and I know it won't be done before Christmas. But I'm going to try to get as much done between now and wrapping up the WIP for my mother-in-law to open.

Ten and a half inches down, 14.5 to go until the shoulder seams.

Round Robin

2009-11-29T18:20:00.005-05:00

I posted a while back about how I like to handle multiple projects on the needles at one time. And if I were with it, I would know exactly where I posted that and would link back to it. But I'm not so with it - how many days till Christmas? Maybe then I'll be back to normal-crazy instead of insane-crazy.

Regardless, I like to knit while watching DVD's. I have a little set up in my office with a comfy leather chair and a TV that I call my knitting corner. I don't get cable, so I watch lots and lots of DVD's - usually seasons of my favorite TV shows that have long since bit the dust - Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc - and a few more current ones - True Blood and Smallville, to name a couple. Occasionally I throw in some Netflix-rented movies or some tried-and-true favorite girly movies, like Ever After, Kate & Leopold, Chocolat, etc.

When I have lots of projects going that I either (a) want to finish up or (b) want to knit on equally because flavor is the spice of life, I turn to an old favorite TV show and go to town. This works well for four projects at a time, because each disc usually has four episodes. I knit on each project for an episode, then switch to the next one.

I took the (rare, as of late) opportunity of a semi-slow holiday weekend to settle down with Season 2 and 3 of Buffy and work on some projects:

1. Tangled Yoke Cardigan - I finished up the second sleeve and attached the sleeves to the body to start working the yoke. I've knit a little over an inch on the yoke so far. I have another couple inches before I can start working the cable pattern.

2. Lichen Ribbed Sock (Vintage Knitted Socks by Nancy Bush) - this is the second pair of simple ribbed socks I'm working from this book. Lichen Ribbed Sock has a star toe and a Dutch or Horseshoe heel. I'm not uber-crazy about the heel, but I'm digging the toe. The yarn is handspun - I started this on my drop spindle in March, and then finished it up on my wheel in May. Because of the way I plied it, trying to keep the integrity of the colors, but not doing a 3-ply Navaho plied (which I don't know how to do yet), the first sock turned out with the leg entirely purple, with a burst of orange for the heel, and then slight striping for the foot. I didn't love it as I knit and knit (and knit and knit) for 8 inches of purple, but once it was done I loved it - and was entirely convinced that I would never come close to matching the second sock. But I actually did come pretty close! I've got another 1/2 inch to go before starting the heel flap, and I've got about an inch of orange on there. The heel will probably be purple, and then a very striped foot. We'll see how they "go" (I can't say match) when the second sock is done.

3. I still have about 60 grams of fiber left to spin for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. After spinning this on and off for months, I have to say that, while I love what I've created, I'm REALLY ready to dive into my plentiful stash of other-colored fiber to get a new, and SMALL, project on the wheel. Given where I'm at on the sweater and how much yarn I have left in my last ball, I can't imagine I will need all of the yarn that I've spun/will spin in this last batch. We'll see how it goes, but I'm thinking I'll list the leftovers in my shop, along with some carded batts with the leftover roving I have.

4. The Project that Shall Not Be Named - this is Adam's Christmas present. I couldn't take it out of the project bag to photograph, because he was lurking in the hallway (vacuuming) and I didn't want to risk him seeing it. I've had a couple close calls already. He now knows I'm knitting him something, but doesn't know what it is (so he says). I do an okay job at hiding it when he bursts into my office and I happen to be working on it, and most of the time he knocks and gives me a chance to hide it under the quilt.

So that's what's actively on the needles right now! There are many more projects cocooning in the project bag, not to mention the cardigan for Adam's mom that's still awaiting yarn from Knitpicks. It's going to be tight, trying to get that one done before we leave on the 23rd!

FO: Yarrow Ribbed Socks

2009-11-18T20:04:00.003-05:00

Pattern: Yarrow Ribbed Socks
Designer: Nancy Bush (Knitting Vintage Socks)
Yarn: Knitpicks Imagination - Wicked Stepmother
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN US1
Mods: None

These socks were a very quick knit - even though they took me months to finish. I started them as lunchtime knitting in the summer, but didn't work more than a couple rounds per day. I took them with me to Tennessee and finished them in 3 days. We do a lot of sitting around when we visit Adam's family, and it's perfect knitting time.

I didn't make any modifications to this pattern. It's just a simple ribbed pattern - k3, p1, k1, p1. The differences (from any sock I've knit) come in the construction of the toe and heel, which is why I wanted to knit these in the first place.

The heel is a German heel - knit a little wider than the more common forms of heel flaps, and it also includes a purl border that adds a detail that I just love, but can't explain why. There's also a purl seam stitch down the back of the heel stitch. The picture below isn't the best to show the minute detail, but you can get the idea.

The toe wasn't quite so successful, in my opinion. I love the way it fits on top, but there's a row of decreases down the middle of the bottom of the foot, and that's not quite so comfortable. Again with the fuzzy details in the picture - not sure if you can see it very well.

The yarn is a fabulous blend of alpaca and wool. It's fuzzy and warm - perfect for socks. However, the skeins come in 50g lots. Even though my two skeins were the same dyelot, there was a lot of inconsistencies between the two. One sock has much more light purple and red, and the other has lots of dark purple. The red also shows up as much more pink when knit up than it did in the skein. I'm happy with the colors, don't get me wrong, I just noticed these things and wanted to pass it on!

All in all - I'm a very happy camper!

Can't wait to cast on for my next Vintage ribbed sock in some handspun. But first I have some serious Christmas knitting and WIP finishing...

P.S. - I grew that pumpkin in my garden! Isn't it cool?

Color!

2009-11-15T07:47:00.004-05:00

I think I got myself in over my head this year with the Christmas knitting. It wouldn't have been too bad if I had started in September like I had originally planned when plotting with Adam for this gift for his mom. But like the good little procrastinator I am, I started swatching just this week.

Note: This picture is from the Knitpicks website.

Normally I love winding up cakes of yarn for a new project. But yesterday I wound 19 cakes of yarn. That takes a long time, folks! Not only that, but the skeins I was winding from were positively annoying! The yarn loved to come out of the skein in clumps, causing the need to stop, unclump, and proceed.

After about 14 skeins were done, I enlisted Adam's help. He scoffed at my annoyance and said, "I can do it." I showed him with one skein, and off he went. And soon found out why I was so frustrated.

But, two hours later, all the skeins were wound, and I found myself in the midst of a sea of color.

I wasn't quite sure how I would keep all of those yarns straight, since many of the colors are so similar, and the chart doesn't go a long way in helping distinguish them. All of the color blocks look so similar that it's hard to figure out which color is which without the help of symbols within the color blocks. On the side of the chart, the author has helpfully noted the name of the two colors next to the part of the chart where those colors are used. However, this is only helpful if you know the name of each color you're working with. This fact usually gets lost after winding cakes, so I came up with (what I think is) a clever means of keeping everything in order.

I cut out the portion of the label with the color name, folded it in half, and fastened it like a little flag around the ends of the yarn that I wound around the cake. I wound a little more around than I normally would, to give a better base to tape the flag on, but it worked out quite well.

Since this is a Knitpicks pattern, I simply downloaded all of the required yarn (Pallette) into an order and purchased. Unfortunately, I got all the way through winding 19 balls of yarn and started swatching before realizing that I was missing a few colors! The pattern calls for 22 colors. I called Knitpicks, and it seems their ordering system (for this type of order) isn't too good at telling customers when a yarn is backordered. The other three colors aren't available until next week, so it seems I will be cooling my heels for just a bit longer, causing the Christmas knitting rush to be even more of a crunch.

The first missing color appears in row 15, so I figured I would get a head start on the pattern. With 8 sts per inch, knitting a size 52, it's not like I was getting to row 15 anytime soon!

And so next, I proceeded to find out what's worse than winding 19 balls of yarn - casting on 426 stitches on 3mm (US2) needles. Twice. Because the first time, despite my careful measuring - wrapping the yarn around the needle 10 times, then doubling that length for 20 sts, then doubling again for 40, again for 80, etc, etc, and leaving a 6" tail and a little more for "just in case" - I ran out of yarn after the first 400 sts cast on. And so I measured again, added about two feet onto the measurement, and finished all 426 sts with about a foot to spare.

And away I went!

As you can see, there isn't much progress to show. With 2x2 ribbing using two colors, and 52", it's slow-going. I'm currently finishing about 2 rows per episode of Buffy. This is disturbing indeed, as at this rate there's no way I will finish before December 23rd, which is when we leave for TN. I'm counting on the knitting to speed up considerably when the ribbing is past, as all projects tend to do. But even then, it's going to be tight. Especially with my increasing work hours as Christmas draws nearer - toy stores need inventory for Christmas, lots and lots of inventory!

But as I start to panic, I figure I'll just look at my wall of color, blocking out the bleak winter scene behind it, and hopefully it will make me happy.

Stay tuned for an in-depth review of all WIP's and UFO's - despite the rush of Christmas knitting, it's time to clean out the knitting basket to start afresh in the New Year! And, for your viewing pleasure, I even have some FO's that have been hiding from the blog for quite some time.

I'm alive...

2009-11-03T20:42:00.002-05:00

and knitting occasionally too. I hope to have another big "state of the knitting" update soon. Things here have been nuts...some good and some bad.

We're headed to Tennessee tomorrow for Adam's grandma's funeral. She passed away at the hospital, in her sleep, on Sunday night after a long, wonderful 85 years. She will be dearly missed.

Harvest Swap

2009-10-18T07:38:00.002-04:00

I woke up on Friday to the most awesome package for the HARVEST swap I am participating in. Technically it arrived on Thursday, but I didn't see it until I was up in the wee hours of Friday morning. Gotta love jet lag!

The idea behind the swap was to give something for each letter in "harvest".

H - Halloween - The little pumpkin
A - Aroma - Chai tea
R - Recipes - sweet strawberries and turkey!
V - Veteran's Day - Faded Glory hat
E - Eats - Halloween Oreos, Football-shaped chocolates and truffles in a reusable tin
S - Squoosy - A skein of the squishiest, yummiest sock yarn ever
T - Tacky - a pair of goblets with skeleton hands!

This package is awesome in so many ways. I made the exact same pumpkin for my swapee and fell in love with it! Also, I went grocery shopping on Tuesday and came home and told DH, "It was sooooo hard not to buy those Halloween Oreos - they're so pretty and orange!" And mmmm chai tea.

And yeah...that yarn couldn't be MORE perfect for me. Let's have a closer look, shall we?

Change?

2009-10-07T16:17:00.015-04:00

We've been in the UK for 5 days now, and it's been the most fantastic time so far. There were cities we absolutely loved:

York

Leeds

Obnoxious red flags not withstanding, is this not the epitome of Diagon Alley?

As with any trip like this, there were some towns that we weren't so crazy about but had something cool none-the-less - the copious amount of restaurants in Birmingham (not pictured) and Nottingham Castle (even if Sherwood Forest looked like it has been demolished and suburbanized.)

But driving through the Lake District was stunning and majestic (do you see the sheep!?!)

On a knitting note, behold Tangled Yoke so far - lots and lots of stockinette. (Ignore the very badly hotel-room lit photo)

I'm about one inch from finishing the body, ready to start on the sleeves. I should have enough yarn to almost finish the sleeves, and am about 1/3 of the way through spinning the last 700 yards or so of singles for the yoke and finishing. Think I can finish by Rhinebeck in 10 days?

I've had a lot of time to think on this trip...about a lot of different things. Related to knitting - where am I going? How do I let my knitting past affect my knitting future? Am I happy with the direction I'm taking my dyeing? If this (designing and dyeing) is something I really want to try to make a living at, is my vision broad enough for that? I've definitely noticed that vision changing lately, and I think it's going in the right direction. My company's name, Enchanted Hues, has never quite made me happy, and I'm afraid that it not only pigeonholes me into a very narrow focus, but that it is far too common in the knitting world.

When Tina was holding a contest to name her new dyeing company, I came up with the name, Forbidden. And I immediately became attached, silently praying, "Please don't pick that one!" after I posted the comment on her blog. Luckily for me, she didn't.

The simple word has many meanings in my knitting world, ones that I couldn't even begin to explain here. Somehow, it just seems right to me. It allows for a broader scope, and just makes me happy in a way that Enchanted Hues never did. I created a colorway during a swap called "Poisoned Apple", and it's easily my most favorite colorway I've ever made - A deep, dark, blood red that turns out differently each time I dye it, and with each fiber I use.

Poisoned Apple -> Forbidden?

It works on many levels for me (both mythical-y and religiously), and I thought that an apple with a bite out of it would make a killer logo. I even found a beautiful Swarovski apple pendant in York, displayed with a whole set of crystal figurines of Snow White and each of the Seven Dwarves , that started the wheels turning in my head.

So, what do you think? Should I make the change? Forbidden Yarn? Forbidden Fiber? Forbidden Woolery?

Just a quick note...

2009-09-30T22:27:00.007-04:00

to say that I'm headed on vacation. We're celebrating our 4th anniversary with a drive through the English countryside.

We leave Friday night and will arrive in London Saturday morning. We'll visit Windsor and St. Albans (where Adam spent much time while he worked on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, then drive to Leeds and York, then to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to visit Hadrian's Wall, then down to Birmingham via the Lake District (and Beatrix Potter!) where we'll have a heavenly spa day, take a quick peek at Wales, then back to London via Stonehenge (Adam's first visit, my second) for a trip to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, our favorite London pub, and back home again.

Phew!

I'm taking along my Tangled Yoke Cardigan, which grows every day but I don't have the yarn spun up to finish while we're gone, so it might not be done for me to wear to Rhinebeck, which is just a few days after we get home. But who knows, maybe I'll have it ready by Stitches East!

I'm also taking along the next round of squares for my blanket swap, which are due to be mailed the same day as Rhinebeck.

Stay tuned for pictures of knitting and England (and hopefully a combination of the two!) If anyone has any LYS recommendations, please share! I'm not above yarnie detours...

In Which She Attempts the Longest Blog Post Ever...

2009-09-20T17:14:00.002-04:00

I haven't given a "State of the Knitting" update in a long time. As a result (oooh, there's my ex-auditorness coming through), there has been much going on that I haven't even mentioned in the smallest way.

Let's start with the non-knitting news. In July, I got a promotion!!! It couldn't have come at a better time, which I won't go into publicly here. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to transfer into our Logistics Department as Manager of Distribution Operations, an opportunity I had given up on in June. I officially started on August 17th and it's been amazing. I have been learning so much, and every day brings something new and interesting. It is such a big change from the near stagnant learning curve and huge amounts of boredom I had been experiencing after 7 years in audit.

August saw the W.O.O.L retreat that I posted about here. What I didn't get around to posting was all the stash enhancing I did. I know, I know, I was on a yarn diet. To be fair, I didn't buy any yarn! I did buy a lot of fiber though.

The first was 1 lb of this beautiful green merino wool from Little Barn. The depth is extraordinary and Kim was destashing the entire pound for just $10. I have no clue what I will make with it once it's spun up, but I'm looking forward to whatever it may be!

The fiber below was technically a post-W.O.O.L. stash enhancement. It's 64's Merino Wool in colorway Poseidon by Cris at Into the Whirled. I had a very encouraging conversation with Cris at W.O.O.L., in which she convinced me to vend at Clermont Sheep & Wool next April and to send in some samples for the Phat Fiber Sampler Box, which I did in September and plan to again for October. W.O.O.L. was my first vending experience, and it was wonderful. I had never actually seen people interact with my yarns and fiber before, and it gave a whole new depth to what I'm trying to do. One of the aspects of W.O.O.L. was a silent auction, in which Cris offered up 4 oz of this Poseidon colorway. I bid a couple times, but didn't win. So I ordered up 8 oz. from Cris, since I just couldn't get it out of my head. Again - no idea what I'll make with this, but the stormy combination of blues was too beautiful to pass up, especially because I haven't knit with a lot of blue, and I do so love blue!

With this beautiful fiber, she also sent a couple of samples that blew me away:

Last, but not least, I purchased this too-cute-for-words sock monkey project bag from JessaLu. In the picture, you can see my lunchtime knitting, the beginnings of a Yarrow Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks in Knitpicks Imagination, Evil Stepmother colorway.

September 5th was my 29th birthday, and Adam spoiled me beyond belief. At W.O.O.L., Tina of Rows Red demonstrated her Strauch Petite drum carder. It was awesome! I had been thinking about one for a while, wanting to experiment with colors and batts for my shop, but drum carders were pretty far out of my budget. After all the swooning I did over Tina's drum carder after I came home, Adam decided to get me my very own Strauch Petite:

You can see the leftovers from all the orange superwash BFL I've been carding up for my Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

But that, apparently, wasn't enough spoiling for Adam, because he also completely blew me away with a new computer! He got me a Gateway Netbook, which is just too cute for words. Check out my new (messy) setup:

You can even see the air conditioner that Adam installed for me early in the summer so that I don't sit and bake in the Pumpkinarium all summer long! It's been heaven - I can't even begin to explain.

September also saw the New Jersey Sheep Shearer's Festival, in which many of the women I met at W.O.O.L. were vending. Adam and I drove down to pet the sheep, and ended up chasing a runaway llama, doing some stash enhancement, buying a partial fleece of a NEW crossbreed that I can't wait to wash, dye, and card up, and getting very, very wet.

This is Little Dude from Zarzuelas Fibers, 6 ounces of superwash merino, dotted with beautiful blues and browns.

Apparently I had a thing for blue and brown that day, because check out what I got from See Kay Craft, 3 ounces of Falklands wool, one of my new obsessions. The color is a little washed out in this photo.

Since I have twice as much of "Little Dude" as "Black & Blue", I'm considering doing another 3-ply - two of "Little Dude" and one of "Black & Blue" - for something special. Not sure yet. When am I ever, though?

And finally, Dapplewood sock yarn, from Bittersweet Woolery, aka Tina. She scrambled to dye up enough stock to show at the festival, and I was blown away by everything that she did. The depth of color on every single skein of yarn/braid of fiber was beyond amazing and this photo cannot begin to do it justice. I can only aspire to be half as good as Tina some day! I absolutely cannot wait to get a sock on the needles with this gem and can't believe I managed to get away from there with just one skein:

I have been spinning my heart out, can I just tell you? I've pretty much been spinning non-stop, actually, in order to get enough yarn spun up to knit my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I'm up to ~1,000 yards, all between 13 and 14 wpi, of soft, squishy superwash BFL in a very heathered orange. The drum carder has significantly sped up the front-end of the process, but I can only spin so fast! My goal is to get all the spinning done (~700 yards to go) and to cast on for the cardigan before we leave for England on October 2nd. If I can speed knit my way through the endless stockinette in the airport and the long flight, I should be in good shape to finish it up before Rhinebeck, which is the Saturday after we get home. I'm not 100% sure I can get it done, but I'm sure going to try!

On the knitting front, I have an unsung FO from January, my first FO of 2009 as a matter of fact, that I finally manager to snap a photo of:

Finally, my own pair of Endpaper Mitts! I wear them all the time at work - they're wonderful! Hopefully I'll be able to put up a full FO post at some point.

I talked at length about this pair of mitts in a previous post, but never posted a photo because my intention was to submit for the spring 2010 Knitty. The deadline came and went and I just couldn't get my ducks in a row, so I plan to self-publish the pattern when it's done. I call them "No Place Like Home", because the twisted-stitch pattern on the top of the hand reminds me so much of a hot air balloon, which immediately makes me think of the Wizard of Oz. The pattern is much muddled by the odd pooling of the Araucania yarn I chose,

so I've been doing double duty with my test knit - testing out the smaller size to give correct dimensions in the pattern diagram, and to show what the pattern looks like in a solid yarn. I have only one mitt knit up in this leftover Cascade Heritage:

What's the Cascade Heritage leftover from, you ask? Well, that would be my Tidepool Vest, which I submitted to the fall 2010 Knitty and was summarily (but very nicely) rejected. This pattern helped me get over a big hump in my knitting, and it's important to me to get it out into the knitting world.

I've written up the pattern and am almost ready to self-publish. First, I need to figure out how to print to a pdf (my new computer is being finicky), and then I need to find the right place to host it for free. I originally thought of Patternfish, but they only host for-sale patterns and I want to offer this one for free. I know there's another place to offer it for free, I just haven't done the research.

I do believe that wraps up this State of the Knitting address. There is definitely more on the horizon, though! We're heading into "season" at work, though, and as I'm now responsible for the flow of product from our distribution centers into the stores, my hours will probably get longer until after Christmas. Just think of me any time you walk into a Toys "R" Us (or Babies "R" Us or even FAO Schwartz) store, and know that I had a (small) hand in delivering what you see before you!

And the winner is...

2009-09-12T13:54:00.002-04:00

Clumsy Knitter!!!

You can pick out anything from my shop. Convo me on Etsy with what you want, and your shipping info and I'll have it on the way lickety-split!

I have much to update on...my blog has been dormant though my knitting/carding/spinning/dyeing has definitely not been!!! I just wanted to get this posted since the contest officially ended two days ago.

Why?

2009-09-03T20:08:00.002-04:00

A fellow knitter friend of mine, Tammy, posed the question this week of, "Why do you knit?" This question sent me to pondering.

Here was my response:

All of the above. I knit for the art of it. For the warm sweaters in the cold Jersey winters. For the creativity. As a meditative outlet. Because I can't stop my mind from inspecting every knit garment I see and wondering how it was made and how it would look as a handknit and what would I do to change it up? For the comfort of warm wool socks on cold hardwood floors. Because I just can't seem to sit still. Because there's nothing better for a knitter's ego than someone's eyes lighting up and the expression, "You MADE that?" For the frustration of frogging and the ultimate satisfaction of finally getting right what you frogged 5 times before. For the puzzle of complicated cables and other stitch patterns. For the sheer genius in some designers' construction. Because I see beautiful color everywhere I go and it inspires me....

It's been a hard week for this knitter. I'm struggling with an ailing hand after a weekend of hard spinning for my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I finished one beautiful skein of pretty-close-to-perfect-if-I-do-say-so-myself yarn. I can't remember how many yards - probably 150-200 or so. A long way to go, and I get sharp pains when I tweak my hand just so, and I'm afraid to sit down at the wheel, if that was, in fact, the cause, and do more damage.

The procrastinator in me waited until the very last minute to submit a handwarmer pattern to Knitty that I've been slaving over for the past couple months. I finally gave up in the eleventh hour. Adam surprised me with a beautiful new computer (a Gateway Netbook, for those who are so inclined!) last night when I got home from work, and I just couldn't put all the elements together in time to get the pattern and photos ready for submission. I'd purchased a new knitting font because the free one I was using wasn't quite up to snuff. I couldn't figure out how to make the new font space correctly and I finally gave up at 9pm and went to bed. Perhaps the design will wait for a future issue of Knitty (or other), or perhaps I will self-publish the pattern along with my submission from the fall issue that didn't make it in.

I have a whole box full of fiber that's calling my name to be dyed into deep semi-solids and stocked in my Etsy shop, awaiting the September Phat Fiber boxes, some of which will contain some samples of my "Poisoned Apple" colorway. I really love to dye...I wouldn't be spending such a large percentage of my limited, highly coveted free time doing it if I didn't. But I've been completely engrossed in a new (to me) series of books that haven't left much time for anything other than settling down on the couch or in bed and traveling back to 18th century Scotland, France, and America. And I feel rather guilty about neglecting the dyeing, let alone the knitting and spinning.

I've been swatching like mad, trying to come up with the perfect stitch pattern for my next project, and nothing is coming out right. I broke my yarn diet to buy a cone of cherry red fingering weight wool, dreaming of a beautiful red cardigan. It was too good a deal to pass up - 2,400 yards of fingering weight wool (enough for said cardigan with generous swatching, plus a matching pair of socks. Or two. For $25.) Only the yarn wasn't quite what I expected. It's a lot thinner than I woul normally want, and isn't very fluffy. So all of my swatching has been pretty fruitless - the resulting fabric just isn't quite right. I like it in stockinette okay, but I'm craving texture and interest in this red cardigan of mine. I'm , hoping for some blocking magic - that the wool will soften and bloom and I'll fall in love with it.

With all of the above chaos in my knitting life, it's no wonder that I've been a little off, so to speak. Tammy's question allowed me to really remember why I knit, and why I love it so.

Saturday is my birthday - the big 29. I don't plan on getting any older. If you ask me next year, I will be turning 29 all over again. Yes, I know everyone says that your 30's are your best years...but there is still something big I wanted to do before 30, and the chances of that happening are getting slimmer by the day, which saddens me.

So, since I missed my blogiversary in July, I'm celebrating my birthday with a giveaway. Tell me why you knit. Inspire me! I'll pick a name at random from the comments and the lucky winner will get any item of their choice from my shop. Contest closes September 10th, 12 midnight EDT.

FO: Elijah v.2

2009-08-25T21:19:00.003-04:00

Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda
Yarn: Enchanted Hues Merino DK,Gummy Beary Juice, 155 yards/62 grams
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN's, US2
Modifications: I knit the arms and legs in the reverse order so that I could have more room to maneuver. And I knit the ears first, instead of last, for the same reason.

There isn't much to say about Elijah that I didn't already say here. This Elijah was a gift to my little niece, Sarika. Sadly, I have no pictures to show, so you'll just have to believe me!!!

I dyed up this yarn specifically for little miss Sarika. My mom told me that my brother and his wife were decorating the nursery in deep pinks and fuschia. I immediately pictured this yarn in my head, and started mixing away. Can you imagine how happy I was to get it on the first shot? I started with a deep pink, and then overdyed that with a berry color of my own mixing. The product was this purple-y pink goodness that I've dubbed "Gummy Beary Juice" in honor of the cartoon my brother and I used to watch every day after school. I totally still hear the song in my head. "Gummy Bears...bouncing here and there and everywhere...High adventure that's beyond compare...They are the Gummy Bears!" Yes, I know I'm a nerd.

I made some modifications from the last Elijah I knit. I figured out how to do the actual invisible cast on called for, instead of giving up and using long tail. As I mentioned above, I knit the arms and legs in the reverse order so that I would have more room to maneuver. Since you stuff as you go, it can get a little tight as you're adding on arms and legs that flop everywhere...especially after all said arms and legs are on and you're squeezing in two ears on the head. Switching the order helped a lot, but it was still a little awkward.

Look! Elijah and Venom are friends!

I really love this pattern. As long as friends/family continue to have babies, I will continue to knit little Elijahs for all!

Sewing FO: Venom

2009-08-23T09:54:00.005-04:00

I'm not a huge sewer, but I know how. And every once in a while, a project jumps out at me and I pull out the little sewing machine my mom gave me for Christmas a while back.

I don't know if I've mentioned before what my husband does. Without getting into too many nerdy details, he's a digital sculptor. He started out in the movie industry, creating models used for special effects. His company also used these models to create collectibles for those movies. For our first Christmas, he took a 3-D scan of my head that he had done on our first date (which was an entire Thanksgiving weekend) when he was showing me where he worked, and made me my very own 12 inch statue, using the body of one of my favorite characters of all time. I won't say who/show a picture, because I'm not sure of copyright issues. Needless to say, it's awesome. Anyways...about 5 years and a couple jobs later, he's still working in the collectibles industry, but he focuses more on 18-ish inch detailed statues.

So, Comic Con is a *huge* part of his year every July. It takes place in San Diego, which also happens to be my hometown. (Well, home county, since I'm actually from a small town in the mountains in north-eastern San Diego.) This is the first year I've gone with him, though I did go once upon a time when I was a wee lassie of 15. My, how it has changed! Aside from the crazy masses of people dressed up like their favorite comic book heroes, there were tons of forums on everything imaginable - from breaking into the industry as a writer, artist, or any other profession, to upcoming movie/tv releases and current favorite shows. We only made it to a few of these forums, but that's a whole other story.

But I digress. Less than a week before we were supposed to leave, Adam decided that he wanted to make a plush version of Venom that he had sculpted as part of another project and brought to Comic Con in 2008. He gave the depicted statue to the artist, Mark Brooks, who he works with often. The Mary Jane statue didn't travel home so well, so Mark decided not to bring her to the 2009 Comic Con. Somehow they came up with the idea to create a plush character using the same art, and that's where I came in. Adam, apparently wildly overestimating my sewing skills, was sure we could do it.

So we dug in the weekend before Comic Con. I wish I had pictures of the whole process, because, in retrospect, it was pretty great. However, it was extremely stressful and maddening at the time! We started with a muslin pattern, which I sewed over and over, snipping here and there, Adam stuffing and unstuffing to make adjustments, cutting a little bit more 'round the edges, etc, all day Saturday and a little bit on Sunday morning.

After the pattern was (almost) set, we started in on the real thing. I had called my mom from JoAnn's to ask her what the best material would be to work with, and she expertly told us to get ultrasuede - the ends wouldn't fray while I was sewing (and re-sewing), and the finished project would be soft and plush-looking. So we picked up a few yards of black ultrasuede, as well as some little pieces of white, pink, and red for details.

At some point on Sunday night, Venom was born...

Unfortunately, the lighting in the hotel room wasn't the best to take FO pictures of, but I thought you would get the idea. I don't have anything for scale, either, but he's at least 2 feet tall, and his arm span is probably 2-3 feet wide. So he's a big guy!! I'm totally in love with him, and carried him all through Preview Night at Comic Con. Not to mention through two airports four times, surrounded by Comic Con goers who actually knew what he was. It was pretty cool, and a great sense of accomplishment.

However, I told Adam next time that he needed to think of these genius ideas more than 5 days in advance. And if he could give me two months, I'd probably do *much* better at knitting something up!

And...inspired by the panel at Comic Con, a new colorway for my shop - Eastwick, a semi-solid, deep teal that is mouth-watering.

The DK is perfect for a scarf or mittens and, of course, there's fingering weight for a luscious pair of socks! I have a big update coming soon....

W.O.O.L. 2009

2009-08-16T08:46:00.004-04:00

The wonderful Tina of Rows Red dreamed up W.O.O.L. (Weekend Out On the Lake) a few years ago. It takes place in paradise...otherwise known as a quiet women's lodge (Wiawaka Holiday House) that sits on Lake George in upstate New York (Adirondacks). Spinners and knitters alike, from all different walks of life and all different skill levels gather at this lovely retreat and talk, laugh, relax, and enjoy the company of other knitters and spinners. All I have to say is that anywhere I can walk around with a mini-skein of freshly spun yarn around my neck and nobody even glances twice, is a place where I belong. Most importantly, I learned that there is nothing like spinning out in the sunshine. You can see Tina's (much more detailed) recap here and pictures on the Flickr group. I can't believe it, but I didn't take a single picture all weekend long!

What I did do, though, was get inspired. I don't think it's a very easy thing to explain (nor do I wish to talk of any unpleasantness), but I've felt very disconnected from the knitting community lately. I feel much like an island. It continued even through Friday night up at W.O.O.L., as I struggled to fit in with a large group of people, only one of whom I "knew" via a swap and blog interaction. But something magical happened out on the dock on Saturday morning, surrounded by fiber, spinning wheels, and peace.

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself. A rather huge goal, given my experience level. I wanted to make a Tangled Yoke Cardigan. But I wanted to make it out of my own handspun. From my own hand-dyed fiber. That I had carded up into a beautiful, heathered orange of my own creation.

Let's count the hurdles:
1. I had only been spinning for about four or five months at this point. On a spindle. Which I love - spinning on a spindle is somewhat magical, and a wonderful way to be introduced to the world of spinning. But it's slow. I can spin up an half an ounce of singles in about 4 hours. A sweater requires about two pounds of fiber - that's 32 ounces. At 8 hours per ounce, that's 256 hours. I can only spin on a spindle about 2 hours a day before my shoulders hurt too badly from hunching over. The math just gets too scary from here.

2. I didn't exactly know how to card anything. I didn't even own carders - not hand carders, certainly not a drum carder. Purchasing hand carders was simple enough, though for a project this size, a drum carder was much more coveted (and way out of budget). In case you can't tell from my blog thus far, I tend to just jump in with both feet. Who needs to learn on something simple when I have loftier goals and limited time? I figured that if I could pick up spinning by watching a YouTube video, I could figure out hand carding and make some beautiful rolags for myself!

Okay, so only two major hurdles. The first was solved in April, with an unexpected bonus that gave me the ability to purchase my as-yet-unnamed Polish beauty.

The second was a little slower going. I purchased a pair of Louet hand-carders a few months ago, but they sat, unopened, in a box of undyed fiber until just last week. I dyed up around two pounds of fiber - 20-ish ounces of a golden yellow-orange, and 5-ish each of a rustic red and a chocolate brown.

Out came the carders. My first pass was at home, the week before W.O.O.L. I wanted to see what I was getting myself into. I thought that if it was harder than I expected, I would find a video on YouTube and be on my merry hand-carding way. After a couple passes that left the knuckle on my middle finger more than a little bloody, I put the carders down. But didn't have time to find something on YouTube. So I winged it, that first night at W.O.O.L. Just pretended I knew what I was doing, and carded up a semi-decent first rolag that I spun into some very fine singles.

And on Saturday morning, I pleaded for help! Tina taught me the art of hand-carding out on the dock in the beautiful sunshine. With just a quick demonstration, I was carding away in no time! It's all about the teacher, folks! Those three-separate colors became the beautiful, heathered orange rolag I imagined.

And, after a full day on the dock, that one little rolag became a whole bag full!

And then started the sampling. One of the wonderful things about Interweave Knits is that they make it very easy to substitute handspun for the recommended yarns for each project. In the back of every issue, there is a yarn index that shows a picture of one strand of yarn, then lists the fiber content, brand info, etc, and the WPI. That's Wraps Per Inch. The magic number for a spinner. If you can spin to match how many times that yarn wraps around an object of any circumference in the span of an inch, you can substitute any commercial yarn in any project. Sampling is a very important part of that process. IK listed the recommended Rowan Felted Tweed at 13 wpi, a light sport weight yarn. Now, if I had been smart, I would've purchased a spinners control card and brought it with me. But I wasn't that smart. So there started the sampling.

The first sample, on the right, was 20 wpi, which is a laceweight. I can't even express my astonishment at having created a 3-ply laceweight yarn. Normally, I would've thought it was the coolest thing ever! But I needed 13 wpi, so that wouldn't do at all.

The second sample, on the left, was 16 wpi, which is a fingering weight yarn. I normally spin a 2-ply fingering weight yarn. It's just how my spinning tends to work out.

Third time is a charm, no? Late into the night on Saturday, I spun up another rolag into 3 sets of singles, and plied them together. At first glance, it was still much too thin. I guessed that maybe I had gone from 16 wpi to 15 or, if I was really lucky, 14 wpi. Close, but no cigar. I soaked the yarn anyway, gave it a few thwacks against the sink for good measure (it helps to set the twist), and set it to dry overnight.

And overnight, something magical happened - it bloomed! It became light and airy and beautiful! As everyone packed up their spinning wheels and supplies and drove off, I madly searched for a wpi gauge - another thing I had forgotten to bring with me! The wonderful Cris, of Into The Whirled produced a gauge for me out of thin air (I swear she did!), and I wrapped, and wrapped, and wrapped in eager silence. And counted silently. And then let out a yelp of glee. "Thirteen!!!!" And those who knew what I was talking about cheered with me. And those who didn't looked at me a little bit funny. But it didn't matter - I had my wpi gauge!

And that's where the wearing yarn as a necklace came into play. I wore it all around Wiawaka as I packed up the car and said my goodbyes. I petted it a lot, and marveled at my creation. And then hit the road home. And when I stopped at the first travel center on the Thruway, the weird looks began, and I reluctantly was drawn back into the real world.

That night, though, back in the Pumpkinarium, I took my 19 yards of fluffy 13 wpi and knit up a swatch. And soaked it. And waited again. Having 13 wpi was all fine and good, but it was the 6 stitches per inch that I really needed.

I waited patiently while said swatch dried, and then took a ruler to it. And guess what? Six stitches per inch! And a lovely, soft, drapey, airy fabric in a beautiful, one-of-a-kind heathered orange that I can't wait to wear as a sweater!

FO: Laura's Cardigan

2009-08-03T21:53:00.002-04:00

At long last!

Pattern: Laura's Cardigan fro Summer 2009 IK
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fine
Needle: Knit Picks Harmony Options, US 2
Modifications: I worked the length of size 25.5 and the width of 20. Some style mods when I wear it, too. See below.

I first saw this cardigan in the IK Summer 2009 preview. And I knew I had to knit it. The need only strengthened when the issue came in the mail. I searched my LYS for the yarn, but came up empty. Even my first few online searches left me empty-handed. But my persistence paid off, because I found a shop that carried the the yarn (Brown Sheep Cotton Fine) and actually had all the right colors in stock. I hadn't heard of them before, but I decided to chance it. And it was so worth it!

This sweater is definitely one of the more complicated garments I've knit thus far, even though, when I stop to think about it, it really isn't! The plaid is a slip-stitch pattern, where you knit the intarsia pattern one row (RS), slide the work back and work a k1 sl1 with the contrast color (RS). Then you work the same two rows on the wrong side. Lather, rinse, repeat. It really only looks complicated. And we won't talk about the 14 inches of ribbing OF DOOM.

The construction of the sweater was odd. You start with the two front stripe panels directly under the plaid section on the front. Then you put those aside and work on the back section of plaid up into the shoulders. You then pick up the live stitches from the provisional cast on, and work down through the armholes. When you reach bottom of the armholes, you join with the two front pieces you started with and work the sweater as one piece down to the waist, ending with the inch of plaid pattern at the bottom, a turn row of purls, and the inside hem (which gets whip-stitched into place at the end.) Then you pick up the live stitches on the fronts of the cardigan, and work the plaid pattern on the front up to the shoulders. The finishing is straight forward - button rows, neckline, and the little back collar that you can't see in the pictures.

The pattern says that the ribbing will stretch to double its size, therefore I knit a size 20. I usually knit a 36 or 38, depending on how much ease I want. The size 20 barely stretches to fit, and gaps a little more than I mind when closed.

The collar comes up WAY too high to suit my comfort level. I've taken to flipping it open, even though it reveals the millions of ends I wove in. I only bought 12 buttons, but the pattern calls for 15. I could have gone back and bought another set, but I knew that with the bottom barely closing around my waist and the neck being higher than I would ever button it to (not to mention the gapping at the bust, too), I left off two buttons at the top and one at the bottom. I lucked out in that Express has teal this season, and it's right close to the "jade" colorway, which is one of the main colors of this sweater. It's the perfect cami to wear under the half-buttoned cardigan, helping to negate the effects of the gapping throughout the middle and the fact that I don't even dare attempt to close it around the bust.

The sleeves were constructed differently, meant to be a little poofy and retro. They don't quite fit that way on me, though, and I'm not sad about it! I actually really love the way the sleeves fit - not tight at all, as most sleeves are wont to be on me. The shoulders do tend to bunch up on me though, causing the ribbing of the sleeves to push up and sit on my shoulders about an inch past where the seam should sit. (Does that even make sense?) In my infinite laziness, I haven't attempted to block it out yet. But I will at some point!

Despite ALL of these complaints and little fixes I had to make, I really, really love this sweater. It was worth every minute of painstaking stitch in the ribbing OF DOOM! Two thumbs up!

I'm so far behind on figuring out my summer of stash tally. But this one dipped deep. Too bad I messed it all up when I found the PERFECT cone of red fingering weight wool on closeout. Two and a half pounds of it, to be exact. Enough for the light summer cardi I've been dreaming of...generous swatching and a couple of pairs of matching socks. For $25, including shipping. How could I pass that up? I'll just have to keep knitting away! I'll update it soon.

Stay tuned for many more FO's! Including a non-knitting FO that I couldn't be more proud of and can't wait to share!

FO: Bayerische Socks

2009-07-23T11:49:00.002-04:00

Pattern: Bayerische Socks by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock, Bitterroot, 1 skein
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony Wood DPN, US1/2.25mm; Knitpicks Harmony Sock Needles US1/2.25mm; Knitpicks Nickel Plated DPN, US1/2.25mm
Modifications: None.

What else is there to say about these beautiful socks? They are probably the most complicated thing I've ever knit. I can't even count the number of times I ripped back - whole rows, sections of each cable, ribbing...the frogging went on and on. But they're done! And so soft and comfortable!

I'm a big fan of the colorways of Dani at Sunshine Yarns. Her colorways are always beautiful, and she does lots of colorways from two of my most favorite inspirations - Harry Potter and Twilight. Her Soft line is actually one of the same base yarns I use in my shop, so I always love working with it. It held up to all of the frogging I did, which caused a big sigh of relief every time I ripped back for the 3rd or 4th time on a particular section. This Bitterroot colorway is a gorgeous overdye of brown and orange, fully of autumny-goodness.

You'll notice under the "Needle" section that I used 3 different needles. I started with the Harmony DPNs, but the long needles were a little awkward with all the cabling going on. So I switched to the new sock needles, which solved that awkward problem, but created another one. They're so short that I had to palm the end of the needle as I knit, which could be quite painful at times. I think for simple ribbed socks, these would be great (and I intend to try!). But for the complicated cabling, they just weren't right. I finally hit the nail on the head when I switched to the nickel-plated needles. Yes, the original awkwardness was back, but the points were so sharp that they were perfect for those 7-stitch crosses that I dreaded whilst using both types of wood needles.

I did four repeats of the cuff pattern, because I like my socks a little longer than most knitted patterns allow for. I worried the entire first sock that I would run out of yarn because of this, especially considering I have a size 9 foot. But I weighed the first sock when it was complete, and I had just enough yarn to make it through the second sock. And maybe even enough to make a square in the sock yarn entrelac blanket formulating in my head.

The fourth cable pattern was split at the gusset, and half was worked on each side of the gusset down the foot, with the other three cable patterns worked as set, to create a long line of cables down the leg, continuing on the top of the foot to the toe. This part is probably what gave me the most pause in knitting these socks. The cable charts were positioned on the unfinished pattern (this pattern was spread out over a series of two blog posts by Eunny, and she hasn't created a comprehensive pattern to-date, which is understandable giving her editorship of the beloved IK) in reverse order of what would make sense to me. Chart "D1" was to the left of "D2". Given that you read patterns from right to left, I was constantly reading, and therefore knitting, "D2" first. I solved this problem by downloading a free knitting font and creating my own charts. It worked like a charm for the second sock and I was finished in no time!!!

I've been rather obsessed with cables lately, and these were the perfect remedy. Or catalyst. Whichever. Regardless, they're soft, stretchy, and so pretty! A definite win.

Oh the Tangled Ends We Weave (in)

2009-07-11T19:19:00.003-04:00

Or something like that.

What do you get when you spend a five hour train ride weaving in ends?

Technically, that's one five hour train ride plus a whole extra weekend. That's a whole lot of ends to weave in, let me just tell you.

Luckily for me, you also get this:

All she awaits now is some buttons. Much like the cat, my curiosity is killing me. I've probably tried the cardigan on about 10 times throughout varying stages of done-ness, and not one time did it look like it was going to fit quite right. It's very discouraging, especially given my passion for this sweater - not to mention how much time and effort have gone into knitting her!

Generally, I knit a size 36 or 38 for all my sweaters, and they fit perfectly. Because of the ribbing, Laura's Cardigan is sized differently. Following the instructions that the ribbing stretched to double, I knit a size 20, thinking it would be plenty roomy enough if it stretched out to 40 inches. I had four inches of ease, even.

It's hard to tell with no buttons on, but, at this point, it doesn't look like that's the case. I'm still holding out hope, though.

Buttons, buttons, who's got the buttons?

(photo borrowed from www.chrisglass.com)

Ron's Blanket

2009-07-07T20:07:00.002-04:00

In case you couldn’t tell from my millions of Harry Potter posts and projects, I’m a big fan. I’d say my Harry Potter obsession is tied with my knitting obsession…and when I can combine the two, it makes me one happy knitting muggle.

Late last year, someone put out the idea of making this blanket from the Harry Potter movies. I don’t have any good pictures of it, so sorry for the poor quality!

Since the blanket is made up of many squares, all different patterns, colors, and textures, we decided to do a swap. There were so many people interested that we had to have two different groups. After deciding that the squares looked to be 8x8, we also decided to use worsted weight yarn for consistency, and earthy tones only (no bright or pastel colors). I think we decided on washable fibers only, but I’m not sure - I think I received some that weren’t. People went crazy with this swap! There were squares with all sorts of different HP-related colorwork, stitch patterns, some were crocheted, etc. It was great! I made these:

And received this back:

Not all squares are perfectly 8x8, but I’ll just have to get a little creative in the joining of the squares. I figure it’ll just add to the charm of the blanket. I thought we were going to keep it washable, but that didn't happen, either. Some of my favorite squares are hand wash only (namely that Gryffindor-colored "R" on top), and as yet I'm undecided on whether to include them or not. What do you think?

The idea was to keep the swap going until everyone had enough squares to make the size blanket they wanted. I was in the middle of the second swap when…well, I wasn’t able to finish the second swap.

But I still wanted to make my blanket!

So I rounded up the (new) troops, and swap number two began! Same rules, different group, and what’s this? I actually was moderating a swap? Go figure.

I’m a little cable-crazy right now…so I searched through my new stitch pattern books, and found an all-over cable pattern with an irresistible texture. I went stash-diving, and came up with the leftover Wool-Ease from Hogwarts Sweater v3.0. The swatch showed me that I’d have to have a garter-stitch border in order to make the pattern fit for the dimensions I needed, but I was game.

After making it through the first couple squares, I realized I would only have enough to make six of the necessary nine for the swap. So out came the two leftover balls of yarn from the first round (KnitPicks Swish Worsted). But I still lacked one ball of yarn. Each of those balls would only yield one square. I was using 26 grams per square, and Swish skeins contain 50 grams (I even weighed them to see if, by some miracle, I had an extra gram or two in either ball to work with. But no.

Hmmm. What to do? In a stroke of brilliance (if I do say so myself), I suddenly remembered a little swatch I did last year with some Swish Worsted in Truffle. Score! That’s square #9. And enough of each color to make an extra square for myself, or maybe to use in the next round.

So what will round 2 turn this into?

The Summer of Stash Tally (to be adjusted later, when I'm home from my work trip and can weigh out and calculate how much of the Swish Worsted I used) sits at:

Yards used: 380

Yards remaining: 20,961

I did some more stash-diving and came up with all sorts of worsted yarns without a designated project to call home. Most aren't washable, but what's a mish-mosh blanket without a couple felted squares in the mix?

Accio yarn!

In Which She Has a Sleeve

2009-06-23T19:35:00.004-04:00

Laura's Cardigan is moving along at a mighty fine pace! I thought for sure that a little sleeve would only take a night's worth of knitting. I mean, I can get a long sweater sleeve done in a weekend, flat. But, for some reason, this little bugger wanted to take the entire weekend!

Granted, there was only half-a-day's knitting on Saturday. Adam and I were restless after countless weeks of rain (and no sunny days on the horizon), so we wandered out to PA to the new Sands casino. Growing up in southern CA, I'm used to quickie trips to Vegas for the weekend and miss my slot machine fix!

We spent the afternoon sitting down at a slot machine, losing $20, then getting up to find a new one. The slots weren't great - nothing extremely fun like there is in Vegas, but the Stonehenge slots were nice to us. We won some, we lost more, and ended up not too much worse for the wear. Less than a trip into NYC for a day, at least. And we had a yummy dinner at the Irish pub located inside the casino. I thought about checking out Emeril's, but fish 'n chips just sounded so much better than some expensive fancy fare.

Then it was back to work on my sleeve. By the end of the day Sunday, I managed to finish one out (not to mention grocery shopping, 3 loads of laundry and countless trips outside with the dog.)

The construction of the sleeve is rather odd, in my opinion, but I'm going with it. Of course, if it turns out to be ill-fitting, I'm going to be angry at myself for not switching it up, given the amount of work each sleeve is taking. Normally, after you do the initial bind-off for the sleeve cap, there is some succession of decreases to make the the sleeve cap trapezoid-shaped. For this sweater, you do the initial bind off (eight stitches for my size), and then continue to knit in pattern for 4 more inches, and then start rather steep shaping. For my size, there were 10 rows of decreasing 2 sts per row, every RS row, and then 8 rows of decreasing 4 sts per row, every RS row.

I tried on the sleeve when I was done, and the armpit seems a little low. In looking closely at the picture in the magazine, it seems to fit the model that way, too. I'm still going with it for now, and am just at the initial bind off for sleeve no.2.

I should have the second sleeve finished over the weekend, and onto the button band. I have a long train ride to and from to the Boston area and plan to get lots of knitting done!

I've devised a plan to get all these WIPs off the needles so I can begin a whole new case of start-itis. After Laura's Cardigan is wrapped up, I will finally steek and finish up the Deep V Argyle Vest for Angie. After that, it's time to start and finish the second Ravenclaw Entrelac Sock, to be done in time to wear to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (on the first night, of course - it's tradition.)

And, lastly, I will finish up the Bayerische Sock. I actually worked on it some over the weekend, between finishing the first sleeve and starting the second, and have one of four 16-row cable repeats done on the cuff. And, no frogging to report - that's a major feat, folks.

But you know between all those, I will start a new project or two. I just can't help myself. Especially because, if I'm going to make my goal of spinning for and knitting the Tangled Yoke Cardigan by October, then I really need to finish dyeing up the fiber and get carding! Two pounds of fiber is a lot to hand card (especially for this beginner) and spin. I'll be doing a 3-ply DK-weight yarn so the cables really pop, and that's no easy feat!

A Person...Can Develop a Cold

2009-06-18T14:29:00.004-04:00

Look! My first tomato babies of the year!

And...after a long, long wait, my daylilies are blooming!

I'm really excited over them this year, too. I transplanted these on the side of the house from the front garden in spring of 2007. We got some blooms that year, but not many. Last year, they pretty much doubled in size and we had blooms for a good, solid month. This spring, they've multiplied exponentially, and it's taken all the willpower (and time management skills) not to count how many buds are on the plants. Take a look and the before and after pics.

Spring 2007, after transplanting:

Spring 2009, two years later:

Crazy, huh?

Wait...this is a knitting blog??? Are you sure?

Hmm...knitting. There's been a lot of that going on, too. But I can't show everything that I've been working on. Secret projects are a ton of fun, but they don't really make good blog fodder!

Not to worry, I have some bloggble knitting, too. I cast on (for the third time) for the second Bayerische sock over the weekend. I counted out my stitches three times before finally beginning the ribbing to make sure that I had exactly 76 stitches. I wasn't going to rip out that ribbing one more time! After I assured myself the stitch count was correct, I flew threw the ribbing, the increase row, and then started the cabling. I downloaded a free charting font and recharted the cable patterns to make them more fluid, and easier to follow. Especially for the foot - I didn't want a repeat of all that ripping I did on the first foot because I couldn't keep Charts D1 and D2 straight.

And what did I end up doing three rows into the cabling? Riiiiiip. I put that down and worked on Laura's Cardigan for the rest of the weekend.

I finished the ribbing of doom, the plaid pattern hem, and the interface for the turned hem. After that, I worked the upper right front of the cardigan - more plaid, and worked most of the upper left front. It's getting closer, and looking excellent, if I do say so myself - though it's pretty impossible to get a good picture of the entire cardigan at this stage, to show all the progress in one shot.

There were a few measuring snafu's that needed to be worked through - for example, I spent a good while measuring from the top of the ribbing instead of the beginning of the armhole, so I knit a couple inches more than I needed in plaid before starting the shoulder and neck shaping, and had to rip back. I didn't lose a ton of time, it was more the annoyance factor of how much time I've spent frogging in the past few weeks. I really need to work on some easier projects next!

I'm currently itching to cast on for the Yarrow Ribbed Socks from "Knitting Vintage Socks" with some Knitpicks Imagination in "Wicked Stepmother" that's been burning a hole in my stash since the yarn was first released last year, but am forcing myself to get a couple of my FIVE WIPs off the needles (including at least one pair of socks)! This should satisfy the craving for simple though, no?

The title of this blog post has nothing to do with knitting or the garden. But Adam and I did have the quintessential Saturday in New York City - brunch at Tavern on the Green (so yummy) followed by Guys & Dolls. The line, "A person...can develop a cold" is from one of Adelaide's (played by Lauren Graham) songs.

Some Serious Knitters

2009-06-10T06:51:00.001-04:00

I like to think of myself as a "serious" knitter. But these ladies take the cake. Talk about the ultimate mini-village. We have a Halloween village and a Christmas village - I never thought about a knitted village! The creativity of knitters continues to astound me daily.

Emerging...

2009-06-07T23:35:00.000-04:00

It's 11:07 on a Sunday night (way past my bedtime on a school night), and I'm just emerging from a knitting frenzy. Did I finish the second Bayerische or Ravenclaw Entrelac? Nope! Did I finally steek and trim out the Deep V Argyle Vest for my friend Angie? Of course not! How about that Laura's Cardigan? Ha!

Instead, I spent the weekend completely immersed in a new project. It began at lunchtime on Friday, when a coworker commented on my Endpaper Mitts (still unblogged), and mentioned that his boss is always freezing in her office, and maybe could I help him get in good with her and knit up a pair of handwarmers for him to give her?

Well, you know how that particular story goes...so little time, so much to knit - for me! I contemplated knitting yet another pair of Endpaper Mitts. This would make pair #5. I probably had enough leftovers from the first four pairs in the stash, and what a great stash-busting exercise that would be!

But then I remembered this spectacular twisted stitch pattern from one of the Knitting Treasuries that would look fantastic perched right atop a hand. Perhaps on the back of a pair of handwarmers? Fridays are short days during the summer - we have the opportunity to work an hour extra Monday through Thursday and once we hit 40 hours for the week on Friday, we can go home. After lunch. So I went home.

And I tried to be good - really I did. I cast on 72 stitches for the second Bayerische, and knit all 14 rows of ribbing. And when I got to the end of the increase round, ready to jump into the deliciously complicated cables, I realized that I had only cast on 70 stitches. So out it all came.

Enter swatching marathon. I poured over my stitch pattern books, trying to find the perfect line up. And then I swatched with some DK weight yarn leftover from the Riding to Avalon. But the pattern was way to big to fit on the back of a handwarmer. So I pulled out the leftovers (Knitpicks Essential) from the multiple pairs of Endpaper Mitts. Perfect! I swatched the cuff pattern, matched it up with the back of the hand pattern, did some math, some charting (using this nifty free font), and cast on! I knit through the first pattern repeat on the cuff on 2.75 mm (US2) needles, but it was too loose. So out it came. And then I went to bed.

On Saturday, after a long day of weeding out the Rhodendron bed (which is huge, and mighty full of tall, tall weeds after all the rain we've had lately) and painting a ton of spindles on the staircase, I sat down to restart the second Bayerische. And cast on 72 stitches. I was positive this time that I cast on all 72. And when I got to the end of the increase round, I was short. Why? Because I was supposed to cast on 76. So frog it, I did. Again. And that was the end of that (for now).

I turned back to my swatches. Because you know I couldn't get it out of my head that easily. I had swatched on 2.25mm (US1), and I really liked that fabric better than on the 2.75mm from Friday night. But, based on the measurements of the swatch, I was worried it would be too tight for my crazy big hands/forearms. Oh well! I pulled the 2.25mm DPN's back out, and cast on. And knit, knit, knit away. Perfect! I got through the first pattern repeat on the cuff (and most of the way through Veronica Mars season 3) before I looked up at the clock and realized it was 1:30am.

At 8am this morning, I was up and at 'em, the doggie was fed and had been outside twice, the first load of clothes in the washer, the grocery shopping done, the pie for an afternoon party made and freezing, and I was back at work on the cuff with Ms. Mars and the fictional town of Neptune (which I think I have pinpointed to somewhere between San Diego and LA.)

I made it to the end of the cuff before I had to hit the road for said party. And, trust me, it took every ounce of willpower I had to put. the. knitting. down.

And guess what I picked up as soon as I walked in the door at 6pm? Work tomorrow? Who cares! I don't need to make a lunch, or print out those pesky cycle count spreadsheets. I have handwarmers-to-be waiting for me!

I realized that said spectacular twisted stitch pattern would be quite annoying on the palm whilst trying to type or do other tasks one might attempt with handwarmers in place, so I went back to the stitch dictionaries and started swatching again. I found another stitch pattern that I adored, but, once swatched, realized that it wasn't quite right, either. I filed it away for another time and went for an old standby instead, and started working on the hand. I was about halfway through the hand (and much, much problem solving), when I saw the late hour. Duty calls, my friends.

There is no pictorial evidence of my knitting escapades, unfortunately. Just tall tales of mad obsession, which hopefully will be enough entertainment value for now. Gotta keep y'all guessing, right?

And now, it's 11:35 and we have officially entered the witching hour (aka the time at which Leann cannot possibly sleep long enough before work in the morning and will, inevitably be a witch (or a word that rhymes with witch) to all.)

Ribbing of Doom

2009-06-04T19:55:00.000-04:00

I’m borrowing this term from a fellow knitter friend. She coined it for a mere four inches of garter rib. Sure, it was 300 stitches, but four inches compareth not to the 13 I’ve done so far on Laura’s Cardigan. And mine is true ribbing, not garter rib. With color changes every four or eight rows. See?

The lighting isn't the best, but I had a bad day and was too lazy to do something about it. Sorry! I have about another inch or two of stripes and then one more inch of plaid pattern before I can start working on the tops of the cardigan fronts - more plaid.

Needless to say, progress on this has slowed some. It doesn’t help that I’m working on another project – a swap whose deadline came and went. But, since I’m moderating the swap, I have a nice little cushion while I await all packages to come in so I can shuffle them up and turn them back out. I’m saving that swap for another post (a project like this one deserves a day in the spotlight, rather than being sandwiched into another post.)

There’s really not much other knitting news to tell! I haven’t cast on for the second sock for either Ravenclaw Entrelac or Bayerische.

So….how about some pretty flowers?

I don't remember the name for these, but they're pretty and just keep blooming!

Poppies - a little taste of home. These plants give yellow, white and orange blooms. They're quite different than the wild ones that grow in California, but I'll take what I can get!

Rhododendrons - the newest addition to the garden this year. We planted them to replace the dried out, thorny vine and poison ivy infested hedges that have been in between our and the neighbors' house for years. The story goes that brothers lived in the two houses, and neither wanted to claim the hedges as theirs (probably because they were uglier than sin.) So each clipped only their side of the hedge, and nobody clipped the top. It was bad. These are filling in fast, and the flowers are far, far prettier than what was there before! Of course, the old hedges have been there so long that the roots wouldn't give out, so we had to settle for just cutting them down to the ground and letting the Rhodies grow around them and hope they would die off. Only now, with so much sun, they're growing back faster than I can clean off the new sprouts to deaden them! I will prevail, though!

Much more knitting content next time, I promise. I might even cast on for another sock! Gasp!

Ready, Set, SWAP!

2009-06-02T19:26:00.003-04:00

No matter how hard I try to only buy yarns with a specific project in mind, there are some yarns that have been sitting in my stash for quite some time.

I’d like to enter into evidence the following item:

This is a skein of beautiful, squishy Tahki Torino. Of which seven skeins (five in raisin, two in black) have been sitting in my stash for almost 2 years now.

See, I bought them when I was a young knitter, once upon a time when I considered all yarns to be equal, no matter their weight, fiber content, dye lot, etc, etc. I picked these up at a LYS in Princeton when Adam and I took the short drive down there to spend a beautiful day leisurely strolling through the quaint shops in town and the beautiful campus.

The black was intended for the Deep V Argyle Vest (of which, sadly I never made an FO post.) Didn't think to check that it was heavier than the DK weight required. It felt like the yarn I had swatched with (Sublime Merino DK), so certainly it must be the same. I’ll just add it to the leftovers from my swatch! Wrong.

The raisin was intended for a sweater that’s been in my head ever since I saw a version of it on Veronica Mars. Yes, even as a young knitter, I had lofty goals of making up my own sweaters. Well, the very first sweater I knit was Adam’s Hogwarts Sweater, which I made up as I went along…and then had to rip and re-knit three times before finally having a sweater that fit him (Hogwarts Sweater v3.0) But what I didn’t know is that I really prefer to knit in lighter weight yarns because they’re just better suited to my figure. The aran/worsted weight of Tahki Torino would make up into something I probably would never wear due to its bulkiness. Plus, I never could find the other colors needed for that sweater in similar fiber content /basic texture and weight.

So in my stash they sat. And sat. And sat.

Until one day I decided to count everything in my stash. And then proceeded to faint.

So swap it, I did. I received three beautiful skeins of sock yarn from a lovely knitter who believes she took advantage of me. Did I get less yarn than I gave? Maybe. But three skeins of sock yarn will leave my stash much sooner than those seven balls of Tahki Torino.

That’s one skein of Trekking XXL, of which I’ve been reading much about on several blogs. There’s enough for a pair of socks in that skein. There's also a skein of Regia Silk, and one unknown skein. But it was pretty, so I took it! Neither of these have enough for a pair of socks (which I didn't know when I took them, but am fine with), but I will probably dye something up to use for toes, heels, and maybe some solid stripes on the cuff. We’ll see how it goes.

The stash, adjusted for this swap, the beautiful Lorna’s Laces from Laura, and some calculation errors, now comes in at 21,613 yards.

I’m getting there, right? Just lie to me. I could use a lie that makes me feel better rather than tears me down right about now!

One Down, One To Go...

2009-05-20T17:45:00.005-04:00

Two first socks came off the needles in the past week or so.

I finally managed to finish the last few rows of the ribbing on my first Entrelac Sock. I still need to do the tassel, though. I’m saving that till the end to ensure both tassels are the same. It fits pretty well – it’s still tight around the ankle (and, therefore, in putting on the sock), and a little loose around the leg at the ribbing. I’m hoping the ankle will stretch out some with wear, as did my Falling Monkeys, and that I can tighten up the ribbing a little with the addition of the tassel.

The first Bayerische sock flew off the needles, it seems! As soon as I got the hang of the pattern and was no longer constantly ripping back rows and rows, it was time to turn the heel and the pattern changed again. I was back to ripping back 3 rows every other row, it seemed, as Chart D split into D1 and D2. With knitting charts being read from right to left, my eyes automatically went to the chart on the right to work first, which was D2, not D1. I think I was ripping back the stitches for those two charts right to beginning the toe. But, it was worth it all – because it’s pretty.

AND I can even cast on for both socks #2 at the same time, because I got a nice package from KnitPicks in the mail last week!

Laura’s Cardigan is also coming along nicely. I find the sequence in which it is worked quite odd, but it doesn’t bother me any time other than when I stop to look at my progress. First, you knit the stripe sequence for the cardigan fronts, starting with a provisional cast on at the top, knitting downwards for a few inches.

Then you work the plaid pattern for the upper back, starting with a provisional cast on at the bottom, and ending with the shoulder bind-offs and putting the back neck stitches on a holder. You remove the provisional cast on from the upper back and work the stripe sequence to the same point at which you worked the left and right fronts. Then you join the fronts to the back (at the armhole) and begin working in the round. I’ve worked through the multi-color stripe pattern and through the waist stripe pattern.

At this point, the stripe pattern reverts to the multi-color pattern for another 7-ish inches, then one inch of plaid for the hem. I think, after that, I’ll be picking up the provisional cast-on stitches for each of the fronts and working the plaid pattern on each side, to meet up with the back at the shoulders.

For once, I’m not subbing out the yarn. This is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece Fine, in the same colors as the pattern uses. I had a hard time finding all the colors at one place online (none of my LYS carry this yarn, much to my chagrin), but finally found it at a reasonable price. The pattern struck me so much just as it is, I didn’t dare to dream of making it in any different colors, so it worked out perfectly for me. Also, because the yarn is thin, I was happy to work with cotton (which I don’t normally relish) so I could wear this cardigan all summer. I wouldn’t have been able to do so if I subbed out for lovely wool. Who knows, maybe I’ll be so inspired by the way it turns out that I’ll make another one, in different colors, in wool. Nah…probably not!

I got another wonderful package in the mail last week – this one from Amazon. After searching through the Harmony Guide for cable stitches, I still didn’t find quite what I wanted. In order to get free shipping with Knitpicks order, I threw in the book Cables Untangled (seen in the picture above), recommended by Dana. But, I still really wanted those Barbara Walker Knitting Treasuries. Because I’ve also been itching to try out some knit/purl combinations for some socks. (What can I say, I’ve been reading too much Knitspot lately, and I’m inspired.) But then, I couldn’t decide which of the four to order. What happens if I ordered one and two, and settled on a cable pattern for my sweater that I didn’t love, but was just okay with? Now, I realize this could happen even if I ordered all four treasuries, because the perfect cable might not reside there – it might not even exist! But I needed to exhaust all resources. So, I bit the bullet and ordered all four.

And, I’m very glad I did. Because the perfect cable pattern just happens to reside in one of those treasuries that I might not have ordered if I had to choose sight-unseen, and my head is going crazy with all the ideas! The last details are forming in my head, and I’m getting close to putting pen to paper and needle to yarn to swatch it out.

And, last but not least, another inspiration from Anne:

Flower of the day: Azalea

They’re exploding in my little front garden, a little spot of heaven in the morning as I drag myself to work, and brightening my spirit as I try to release the trials and tribulations of the work day in the evening.

The Best of Times; The Worst of Times

2009-05-20T10:49:00.002-04:00

I had a whole “woe is me” post written about work crap that I’ve been going through lately. But I decided that I needed to focus on the positive. So the only background to the “Worst of Times” that I’m going to give is to say that I was up for a promotion at work when my manager left the department. And I didn’t get it. And the person who did – I don’t like him. He’s a nice enough guy…but we hold *very* different beliefs, and as far as I can tell, work at very different quality levels.

With that said, I have to again repeat what an amazing group of women (knitters) I’m blessed to belong to. I posted on our message board about my work blues on the day I found out that (a) I wasn’t getting the promotion and (b) who was, a very kind woman, Laura, e-mailed me and said she was sorry that I was having such a hard time at work, and she wanted to send me something to cheer me up, so could she please have my address?

I was floored. But how could I say no to someone who wanted to spoil me?

My package arrived on Saturday, just as Adam and I were rushing to get ready to head into the city for his 30th birthday dinner at Peter Luger (so yum, by the way!) I opened it up, and this is what I saw:

I’ve been dying to try some Lorna’s Laces – I see it all over the internet EVERYWHERE, and it always looks so luscious and happy. And it is! Even better, the colorway is called “Bittersweet”, which is just too funny, and too perfect for the situation.

She included some soft scents from Bath & Body Works, in the form of hand gel (no more germies!) and a plug-in which is *so* going into the bathroom! Not forgetting the lip gloss, too!

And…these earrings and shawl pin. She MADE these. The earrings went in right away, as they just happened to compliment my dinner outfit perfectly. And the shawl pin couldn’t have come at a more perfect time, because I’ve been wanting to knit a shawl for a while, and just finally found exactly the one I want to knit. And, bonus, I bought the perfect roving at MDSW without even knowing it! Now I just have to get spinning (and, um, learn how to knit lace!)

What more could a girl want?

THANK YOU LAURA!

Turn of the Wheel

2009-05-13T20:31:00.003-04:00

This one has been off the wheel for a while, I just haven't had time to write about it yet.

4 oz of Superwash BFL from Spinning Bunny, I think in the Autumn Sunrise colorway, but I can't remember for sure. It was a gift from my wonderful spoiler during the Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap I participated in a few months back.

I started this on the spindle while I was on vacation in Arizona in March. I didn't get very far, though. I wasn't enjoying it much - the fiber was pretty slippery on the spindle, and it kept breaking. I finished it up when I got my wheel - the fiber behaved completely differently, and I really loved spinning it.

When plying, I tried to keep the barber-poling to a minimum and protect the color changes. Both of these colors are so beautiful and vibrant; I really wanted to keep that. I had four bobbins, each about 1/4 full, that I used to while plying, so I could break the singles when a color change was happening on one single and not the other. It worked pretty well, but I did end up with a little bit of barber-poling here and there. Not enough to ruin the effect I was going for, by any means.

There is 444 yards, about 16 wpi. (Since this has been done for a while, it's already included in my stash quantification, so I'm safe there.) I'm thinking this would be perfect for socks from my new book, probably one of the basic ribbed socks with a fun new heel and toe to try out. I want this yarn to shine, not be hidden by a busy pattern, and any of the several versions of ribbed socks in this book will do.

State of the Knitting

2009-05-12T15:02:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, as soon as I kitchenered up the second Falling Monkey, and had all the ends weaved in, I immediately cast on for two new projects. That brings the total WIPs (as opposed to UFOs) up to four.

Laura’s Cardigan – I just couldn’t wait any longer. The yarn was sitting on my scrapbook table, baiting me. What could I do but wind up all the yarns and cast on?

(This is the first part of the two fronts of the cardigan.)

I swatched first – I did the ribbing and then a little bit of the plaid pattern. I didn’t get gauge exactly, but close enough. The ribbing stretches, so I’m not too worried. I am worried, however, at keeping track of all my little bobbins!

Bayerische Socks – I’m participating in a Bayerische Sock knit along. These socks are beautiful (what does Eunny design that isn’t, though?)

And they’re every bit as complicated as the pattern hints at. I had a little trouble interpreting the 7-stitch cable the first time around, and it happens 4 times every 8th round. When I got to the 4th round, I noticed that my knit and purl stitches weren’t in the right place to do the next set of crosses, so I laddered back down to the 2nd round and rearranged. The cables didn’t lay completely right, but I was okay with that. I kept knitting merrily on, through the second round of cables, all the way to Round 10.

And then I looked back to admire my work. And realized that the first round of cables were going in the wrong direction. I wavered for another few minutes, and then bravely frogged. I didn’t plan my frogging well though, and ended up back to the 13th out of 14 rounds of ribbing on the cuff. It took a while to get through the intense increase round and back into the cables. But I made it through that first round of 7-stitch crosses breezily. And then on the 3rd round, had to ladder all 12 stitches on Chart B (did I mention that there are FOUR CHARTS per round?) back to the first round, and reknit that section. I was just happy I didn’t need to rip all the way back again!

I’m back up to Round 7, and it’s going much better. I’m very happy with my yarn choice (Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock in Bitterroot) – I was a little worried that the 2-ply wouldn’t show enough definition in the cables, and also that the variegation would be too busy. But, so far, neither of those have been an issue.

There's really not much to show, but here you go!

Entrelac Socks – I’m almost done with the first sock. All of the Entrelac is done, and I’m working through the ribbing at the cuff.

I really love these socks – though they’re a little tight. I swatched to gauge perfectly, however I think the construction is just too small for my humongous ankles.

I started with a US1, and then switched to a US2 when I tried on the sock after turning the heel (managing to break one of my US1’s in the process) and noticed how small it was. I knit with the US2’s up to the last round of MC blocks, when I tried on the sock again and noticed that it was getting pretty tight on my calf. I switched to US2.5 for the last two rows of blocks, the top triangles, and the ribbing. I haven’t tried it on again, but I think it will fit nice and snug. I really hate knee socks that fall down, and I’m hoping the fact that these are pretty tight will help that.

Of course, once I'm done with the first one, I can't start the second until the Bayerische socks are done, since I was so smart and used the same US1 (inadvertently, my only pair) needles for the Bayerische as I did to start the Entrelacs. Go me.

Deep V Argyle Vest (v2.0) – I haven’t blogged about this one yet, nor photographed it. This is a gift for my friend Angie. She requested this vest specifically after seeing mine, and even picked out the colors (Knitpicks Telemark) in Tidepool Heather and Black).

I’ve been working on this for quite a while – since February, I think. I was halfway done when it took a backseat in March while I went searching for my knitting mojo. I tried to have it done before her birthday at the end of April, but it just didn’t happen. I have just a little ways to go on the stranded knitting, and then will cut the steeks and do the neck and sleeve ribbing.

I ran out of black yarn for this (which was surprising, considering the amount of leftovers I had after version 1.0), and had to order another skein. I kept my fingers crossed for two reasons – (1)that the yarn I had would last all the way through the stranded knitting, and (2) that the yarn that came wouldn’t be *too* far off from the dye lot I had. There was no way Knitpicks would still have this dyelot in stock, since I bought it last fall. I’m not sure if the last skein will hold out until the end, but the dyelot I received is indistinguishable from what I have. Right now, at least. We’ll see what happens when I actually start knitting with it!

I'm trying to decided if I'm brave enough to cut away without the crochet reinforcement, a la Clumsy Knitter. I'm betting I'm not, though. I'm such a chicken! Maybe if it weren't for someone else...

I have a strategy when I’m working multiple WIPs, none of which necessarily take precedence over another, and all of which I’m still interested in completing soon (therefore they are not UFOs, but WIPs). I usually knit while watching TV. Since I don’t have cable in the Pumpkinarium, I rely on my ever-growing collection of DVD’s. I mostly watch the seasons of my favorite tv shows I’ve collected over the years (Buffy, Angel, Veronica Mars, Smallville, Charmed and Gilmore Girls), and some that I rent from Netflix (Big Love, Robin Hood (BBC), etc). I occasionally throw in a day of movies…but usually stick to my TV shows. Especially when I’ve got a lot of WIPs to work. I knit on each one for a whole episode – about 40 minutes, depending on the show, and then switch. And then, after two shows, I move the laundry and take out the doggie. It’s a system I’ve been honing for the past two years, and it works pretty well! Especially right now, because there are four shows to a DVD, and four WIPs…you get the idea. This works on the weekends when there’s nothing particularly exciting going on. On weeknights, I tend to pick one (sometimes two) projects per night and stick with that. Or, sometimes I fall asleep on the couch with nary a thought to the knitting.

And yes, I know how pathetic I am!

FO: Falling Monkeys

2009-05-11T20:58:00.001-04:00

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock, Fall Leaves
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPNs, US0
Mods: None

There really isn’t much to say about these socks…it’s not like they haven’t been knit a million times before me! The pattern was interesting, but easy. The second sock somehow managed to be tighter than the first. Almost too tight, really. It’s a little hard to get over my massive ankle…but once it’s on, they’re really comfortable. This yarn is soft soft and lovely.

This is the first Cookie A. pattern I’ve knit…but I’m in love with her new book and can’t wait to get some of these socks on my needles!

Summer of Stash tally-

Yards used: 275 yards (these didn’t even use 2/3 of the skein!)

Yards remaining: 24,050 yards

And, since I finished one UFO, I immediately cast on for two new projects! Because that makes sense, right?

Oh My Stash!

2009-05-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

I've been buying a lot of yarn lately. That's not entirely the truth, as I participated in quite a few swaps where I was gifted some, too. And I've dyed up a little here and there for special projects.

Regardless, my stash overfloweth. I've been struggling over the past couple months to find a new way to track my stash. A friend very generously offered to download all the work I put into organizing my stash in January into an Excel spreadsheet, so that was my starting point. I formatted the spreadsheet to better work for my needs. (I should mention here that I tend to go slightly overboard with my Excel spreadsheets. Don't even ask about the series of budget spreadsheets I've developed over the past 3 years.) I created separate tabs for each weight of yarn, as well as one for handspun and another for fiber. I then totaled up each tab onto a summary tab.

And then I fainted.

In January, after my re-organization, I counted roughly 12,000 yards (or about 7 miles) of yarn. There were a few skeins here and there missing...but no more than 500 yards or so.

As of Friday, I have approximately 24,325 yards of yarn. That's roughly 13.82 miles. More than a half-marathon. I also have 44.07 ounces of fiber, or about 2.75 pounds.

Excel doesn't lie, my friends.

Granted, most of this yarn has specific projects attached to it. Some of these projects require a little additional yarn, but mostly I have everything I need to knit for quite a while. Especially if you include the fiber I can spin.

Basically, I need to quit buying yarn!

In 2007, the "Summer of Stash" was born. I think it needs to be reborn out of its ashes, much like the fabled Phoenix. At least in the Ross household. I pledge (to try really hard)not to buy any yarn/fiber this summer, aside from what I need for my shop. I'm starting NOW - May 9th (coincidentally, Adam's 30th birthday.) My yarn/fiber diet will end when we leave for our anniversary trip to England on October 2nd.

As part of the Summer of Stash Rebirth, I will keep a running tally of my stash. For every FO post between May 9th and October 2nd, I will subtract how much yarn I used out of the stash. For every spinning project, I will add to the tally.

Ready. Set. Go!!!

{Runs off to finish those pesky Falling Monkey socks so she can subtract the yarn from the stash alredy!}

Books Books Books

2009-05-08T19:32:00.001-04:00

I’ve been adding to my (rather sparse) knitting library lately. I can’t imagine ever running out of patterns available in magazines or online that I want to knit, and there are very few books that include more than one or two patterns I would want to make, so I didn’t really see the purpose in creating a robust knitting library. But every once in a while a book pops up that I covet. I have quite a few on my Amazon wish list for birthday/Christmas present ideas, and more recently I’ve been getting interested in knitting history and the types of patterns that come along with that. Also, as I start to knit more things of my own design, I’ve been looking for stitch dictionaries more than anything else.

My two most recent acquisitions serve a specific purpose. A couple of blogs I’ve been reading over the past couple weeks focus a lot on sock knitting. It’s never something I’ve had a passion for, but I’m certainly intrigued by it. Perhaps more so now because I’ve been dyeing up so much sock yarn for my shop. It also might have something to do with my newfound interest in the rather diverse history of my craft. Combine this with my love of all things British, and you have the reason why I purchased “Knitting Vintage Socks”. The author, Nancy Bush, interpreted sock patterns of olde in England, mostly from Weldon’s Practical Needlework series, which was published in the late 1800’s through the early 1920’s. Combined with several different types of toes and heels, these vintage patterns have me salivating like the smell of freshly cooked (real) Mexican food. She recreated patterns meant for men, women, and children alike, and even resized children’s socks to fit a woman’s foot. My sock yarn stash is meager compared to the rest of my stash, but I do so love to spin sock yarn – and my fiber stash certainly is not hurting these days. I think this book is the perfect inspiration to keep me planted at my new spinning wheel (as if I really needed more motivation to do that!)

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a brand new cone of 2,200 yards of beautiful DK weight 50/50 alpaca/wool that I want to use for something special. I have an idea in my head of the type of sweater I want to make, thanks to this picture from Lolly. I don’t intend to try to copy this cable, or the picot edging, and those weird things on the sleeves definitely aren’t to my taste…but this picture has definitely inspired me to create/find a beautiful cable of my own, and put it into a classy, simple, maybe even floaty sweater. I picked up the "Harmony Guides Cables & Arans" at Borders after flipping through it and seeing the wonderful variety of both simple and slightly more complicated cables. Some of the cable patterns are repeated, with different names, which is a little irksome, but, overall, I think this book is a great starting point for me to start swatching and sketching. I’m not sure if I will find quite the cable I want in this book, and I’m dying to get my hands on some of Barbara Walker’s Treasuries, which I think might contain the more complicated cable patterns that I’m searching for.

On another note, I realized yesterday that I haven’t had a finished object to show since February! I’ve been so caught up in my spinning wheel and my secret project that I didn’t even realize! My knitting time has slowed a little as I struggle to find a new balance between life, work, and traffic, as well as while I enjoyed the new wheel and spun up a couple custom orders. Hopefully things will be getting back to normal around here, and I’ll have lots of knitting progress (and FO’s) to show soon! In fact, I was so concerned over the lack of FO’s that I stayed up way too late last night working on my last Falling Monkeys sock from last year. It’s my oldest UFO (unless you count poor Mirabella, still hanging off the closet trim with one sleeve missing – which I don’t.) I turned the heel and am almost through with the gusset decreases. Then I have 5 more pattern repeats for the foot and will start decreasing for the toe. It should be done rather easily this weekend.

Which is good, because look what came in the mail yesterday! And you know how much it’s killing me to not cast on for Laura’s Cardigan immediately.

Loot

2009-05-06T19:43:00.000-04:00

Saturday, Adam and I made the trek down to Maryland for the Sheep & Wool Festival. It was the first for both of us! Adam was amazed at the amount of cars in the parking lot – he didn’t understand what the draw was. I was just bummed that I forgot my camera!

We had a little snafu in the beginning. Aside from the rain and an accident slowing our 220 mile trip down to about 4.5 hours, we got to the parking lot only to see a sign that read, “Police will remove unattended pets and children from vehicles.” Well, we had brought Bailey with us. We knew from the website that she wasn’t allowed inside the festival…but we figured that since it would only be 66 degrees, and we were only staying for a few hours, she would be fine in the car with the windows cracked. We do it all the time. There was no way she could’ve stayed home for 12+ hours without someone to let her outside to “potty”.

So Adam stayed with her in the car while I ventured in. I stopped by the information booth first thing to ask if the police would literally break into the car if they saw her in there, and they said that they would make an announcement over the loudspeaker, but that yes, if we didn’t answer the call, they would break into the car. They suggested leaving a note with our phone number on it, so we would be sure not to miss the call. I mentioned they might want to reference that next to their “no pets inside the festival” policy on the website, to which I received a blank stare. Adam wrote up a note, cracked the windows, left Bailey with some water, and came in to join me. Yay!

Oh my. Sensory overload! There were so many booths and so much pretty yarn. And the fiber! I’ve never seen so much and so many different types all in one place! I had a smallish budget, and I knew right away I would have a hard time figuring out the best way to spend it.

We walked all around the place, to just get a feel, first. We petted some sheep. Adam thought it was weird when I swooned at the softness of one sheep in particular, then looked it in the eyes and said, “I want to knit you.” Personally, I thought it was a perfectly sane statement.

My stash was overflowing even before the festival, so I really tried to only consider purchasing things for specific projects. I have a few vests/warm-weather projects I want to knit sooner rather than later, so I stuck to the list I made before-hand of their requirements. Of course, I didn’t find anything for those projects. There really wasn’t anything I wanted (or could afford) 6-10 skeins of to make a vest or sweater. And I really didn’t want to just buy sock yarn. Firstly, I have enough of that to last a good while and, secondly, sometimes I feel like buying a skein of sock yarn is a copout (even though I do it quite often.)

I really didn’t intend to buy any spinning fiber. I have plenty in the stash – more than I will probably spin all year, considering the two pounds of fiber I’m dyeing, carding, and spinning this summer to make my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. For some reason, I’ve been on a green– a limey, chartreuse, bright green – kick. I saw this BFL at a booth in the main hall at Bullens Wullens, for a very reasonable price, and thought long and hard about what I could do with 3oz of yarn. I tend to spin fingering weight yarn, and 3 oz would be enough for a pair of (low cuff) socks, but I didn’t want that limit on it. While I sat and pondered, Adam dug up four more ounces of the same colorway! I still don’t know what I’ll do with seven ounces, but it gives me a lot more options than just three.

My second purchase of the day was a cone (a whole kilo!) of this beautifully heathered, warm grey 50/50 alpaca/wool blend of DK weight yarn from...well, I don't know - there's no name on the cone! But it's fluffy and soft and gorgeous and I love it! I have a very specific project in mind for it that includes a beautiful cable detail. I have a picture in my head, but it’s not completely formed just yet. I’m still playing with a few different combinations in my head before I actually put needle to yarn to start swatching. Being that I have an entire kilo of yarn (2,200 yards), I plan on swatching fairly intensely for this one until I have just what I want.

Purchases out of the way (or so I thought), we looked for some food (and really didn’t have trouble finding any.) I love fair food. Beyond words. Corndogs and Cotton Candy and Funnel Cakes, oh my! Unfortunately, Adam can’t eat most of it, and I don’t like to flaunt the fact that I can. We did find, however, the yummiest French fries ever…and managed to eat two tubs of them throughout the day. Plus a side of cheese (for me). And a big glass of fresh strawberry lemonade (iced tea for Adam). Drool.

Tummies full of greasy French fry goodness, I met up with some wonderful knitterly friends on the lawn outside the main hall. We talked, laughed, oohed and ahhed, and had so much fun. There was flip-flop throwing, rolling down the hill, and an intense game of chase. Okay, so that was the kids…but we had fun too!

After the meet-up, I ventured back into the main hall, intent on finding the Socks That Rock booth I heard was there. Alas, I did not find the STR, but I found something even better. Yarn for a project that was actually on my list! This beautiful dark blue, 2-ply fingering weight yarn from Old Mill Yarn(Domy Heather - Midnight) is speckled with individual fibers of red and green. It makes the color so deep and wonderful, words simply cannot describe it…and pictures certainly cannot do it justice. It’s exactly what I was waiting for to pair with my Malabrigo sock yarn for a lightweight argyle sweater. Actually, I never could have imagined something quite this great – it’s way better than what I imagined. And the owner was so nice. She was out of color cards, but offered to mail me one after the festival if I called her and told her I was there but she had run out. Let me tell you, I will definitely be ordering more of her yarn! A 100 gram skein is only $8.95. I bought three for my cardigan. I think I might only need two for what I’m planning, but I didn’t want to run out. And this would make a gorgeous pair of matching socks, so I’m not complaining!

All in all, it was a very successful day! We got home before 8pm, plenty of time left in the evening to ogle my new purchases some more. Bailey was more than ready to be out of that car about an hour before then, though. She’s a little scaredy-cat, and refused to go potty anywhere along the way, at the fairgrounds, or on the way home. She raced out of the car when we got home, let me tell you!

And we won’t talk about how my spillover ottoman no longer closes, making it virtually useless as its former foot rest for the knitting chair.

And we *certainly* won’t talk about the Brown Sheep Cotton Fine on its way from Woobee Knit Shop for Laura’s Cardigan. *OR* the Hempathy I just ordered from WEBS today for the Nederland Vest and the Adobe Table Runner (because I had to order enough for both projects to get the discount!)

But we WILL talk about all the lovely knitting in my future!

Moment In Time

2009-04-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Tina at Rows Red tagged me for this photo meme. The rules are:

1. Take a picture of yourself right now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.

2. Load the picture onto your blog.

3. Tag three people to play.

Well, I was tagged at work, and I don't have a camera there. So I took the picture first thing when I got home from work. I promise I didn't primp. This is me after a long, boring day at work in which no actual work took place! Being in between audits (more specifically, being ready to start a new audit that's all planned out but not being allowed to, left only with the ability to twiddle one's thumbs whilst trying to look busy) is the pits.

I digress.

I'm tagging....everyone who reads this post! Yes, I'm totally copping out of this one. Today I got to deal with a new, even higher level of incompetence (which I truly didn't think was possible), so this is what you get.

One Lovely Blog

2009-04-29T23:00:00.000-04:00

Awww...Not Ready for Handspun nominated me for having "One Lovely Blog". You're too sweet!

I read a lot of blogs...and when I find one I love, I read it from the very beginning. It passes the time at work during slow times. It's so hard to choose just five of these lovely blogs I follow, but here goes:

Rows Red - Her spinning inspires me, and I love (and am dumbfounded at) her crochet ability. We "met" because she was my spoilee in the Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap, and I had so much fun making up her packages every month. And, hi, she loves vampires as much as I do. I can't wait to meet in person at her WOOL retreat.

Clumsy Knitter - because she lives in San Diego, where I grew up, and I love seeing pictures of my beloved San Diego on her blog. And her knitting is fun to follow, too! Especially all that beautiful lace she's been doing lately.

Learner's Per-knit - Watching Kristen learn to knit is so much fun! I love seeing her master a new technique and end up with a beautiful finished object. And Kristen's was the first knitting blog I ever read. I never knew about the knitting blog world until I saw a link to her blog on The Nest a couple years ago. It was all downhill from there!

Karen Squared - Not just "Needles and Wool" anymore! I think I really felt the pull to learn to spin when I saw Karen learn on her blog. Same with colorwork. What would I do without these two things?

Fancie Pants Knits - Another one of the first blogs I read. I just love Amanda's knitting - it's always so perfect! And the colors of her blog have a calming effect on me.

So...there you go! Just a few (well, five) of my favorite lovely blogs - but there are so many more that I love to read!

My Pensieve

2009-04-29T15:38:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite things in the Harry Potter series is Dumbledore's pensieve. The idea of swimming in one's own thoughts in an attempt to make order out of madness is highly appealing to me. Especially when I'm up late at night, unable to turn off my brain so I can get some sleep.

I do a lot of thinking in my dyeing process. Putting colors together, carefully painting or drip-drip-dripping the dyes onto fiber or yarn, setting up each individual package to steam to perfection. Or dumping color into a pot of water and throwing in some yarn. The process, when going smoothly, is very soothing to me. The ability to create colorful beauty out of a blank canvas leaves me in constant awe of my new craft.

A weekend's worth of dyeing, up now at Enchanted Hues:

1. Buttercup - Twisted Sock, 2. Buttercup - SW BFL, 3. As You Wish - SW BFL, 4. Cherry Blossom Festival - Twisted Sock, 5. Alice - Merino Sock, 6. As You Wish - Merino Sock, 7. As You Wish - Merino Sock, 8. Alice - Twisted Sock, 9. Cherry Blossom Festival - Merino Sock

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

2009-04-28T10:17:00.001-04:00

I never appreciated spring so much as after 6 months of brutal winter. And now, I get to come home every day to this:

The Third Annual Ross Family Cherry Blossom Festival is going on as I type!

Stay tuned for my new colorway, "Cherry Blossom Festival", inspired by this little miracle I have the privilege of witnessing.

Shop update coming tomorrow.

Have I mentioned lately...

2009-04-27T09:27:00.001-04:00

How much I LOVE my spinning wheel?

444 yards of merino, dyed by me in my "Yellow Brick Road" colorway. Approximately 17wpi - a thin, beautiful fingering weight. This was a custom order, and I can't even tell you how hard it is to part with this yarn. It's screaming, "You know you want to keep me and knit a beautiful pair of socks with me!"

I MUST Knit This.

2009-04-25T20:03:00.001-04:00

I'm generally not much of a spring/summer knitter. I fully intended to focus on my spinning, dyeing, and sock-knitting this summer, with a vest here and there. Vests, in my opinion, are the perfect way to get around the absence of hand-knit garment weather in the spring and summer. Plus, not a huge amount of wool sitting in my lap on a hot, hot day in the un-air-conditioned Pumpkinarium. My recent knitting-garments-in-fingering-weight-yarn kick helps, too. And, hey, I'm ahead of the fad for once! Vogue Knitting has an article about knitting with thinner yarns, and a lot of the IK Spring 2009 issue is knit in DK or under weight yarns. Go me!

I digress.

When I saw "Laura's Cardigan" in the new IK, I just knew I had to knit it. And the suggested yarn is actually in my budget! But I can't find it anywhere. At least, not all four colors in the same store...and paying for shipping four separate times isn't very appealing.

I will prevail!

Gratuitous Yarn Shot

2009-04-22T07:29:00.000-04:00

Sunshine Yarns Soft Sock Yarn - Bitteroot. For a Bayerische Sock knit-a-long

Malabrigo Sock - Lettuce. Acquired on a NYC yarn crawl at Knitty City on Saturday. It's begging me for some special colorwork. The idea is solidifying in my head and I'm itching to cast on.

It’s here!

2009-04-17T07:26:00.001-04:00

My wonderful, beautiful Kromski Minstrel has arrived. I’ve been coveting this wheel for quite some time. And it was well, well worth the wait.

It actually arrived almost two weeks ago, but I haven’t been able to pull myself away from it long enough to take pictures and write a post about it!

Adam, being the wonderful husband that he is, knew I was having a bad week. When he saw the boxes on the porch Wednesday afternoon, he popped in the DVD, pulled out the instructions, and spent two hours putting the wheel together for me. I came home from work and it was staring at me in all its fully-assembled beauty.

Too much beauty, in fact. I was afraid to touch it. I just stared in awe, wondering how the heck it worked! Since I don’t have much time after work during the week, I decided to keep ogling it until Saturday, when I finally had time to sit down with the video and learn how to work it.

To start, I pulled out the leftover Teal Corriedale from my “Learn to Spin” spindle kit I bought last summer when I decided I wanted to, well, learn to spin. My spindle kit came with 8 oz, and I only used about half of it before I moved on to other, more variegated (and, thus, more interesting to spin) colors. But this fiber was perfect to start with on my wheel, since I didn’t really care how much of it became actual yarn versus the “yarn barf” I produced during my first spindling attempts.

It took me a while to get the hang of “pinching” – not letting the fiber wind itself around the bobbin until I was good and ready, having given it as much spin as I wanted.

Once I got the hang of that, I had to figure out how to start spinning again when the fiber broke (which was happening to me quite often.) I couldn’t get the pedals to cooperate with me – I would start the wheel, and then push the pedal. The wheel would stop, start turning in the opposite direction, and break the fiber all over again. I don’t want to even talk about how much fiber I lost this way (fiber I actually cared about – I was past the teal corriedale at this point.) I don't know what the ratio I spun this on - I haven't figured out the tech-speak yet. But this is approximated 16 wpi, or fingering weight. Exactly what the doctor ordered - yay!

But, two weeks later, I’m spinning away! I have to say, the months I spent slowly spindling away really helped me learn to use the wheel so much faster. Having already learned to draft, I could really focus on the wheel itself, rather than learning how to handle the fiber – drafting, how much spin to put on it, etc.

So, how much more do I love my wheel than my spindles? Well, it was taking 3 hours to spin 0.5 ounces of fiber for a custom spin order (2-ply, fingering weight) on the spindle. I had managed to get almost 2 ounces done in just over 2 weeks. I finished the rest, including plying, in that first weekend I had my wheel. ‘Nuff said.

(The fiber on the bobbins right now is this beautiful SW BFL I received in the Warm Ewe Up Swap. I started it on the spindle, and am finishing it 10 times faster on the wheel. Yay!)

Swap Goodness

2009-04-08T12:54:00.000-04:00

I received a lovely package in the mail on Friday. Coming home to packages, especially unexpected ones, is the best.

This is the last package from the Warm Ewe Up Swap I participated in over the last couple months. My spoiler, Denise, was awesome. She sent me all sorts of yarn and goodies, and this month is no exception.

In that box are 3 skeins of Lamb's Pride in ORANGE (yay!), a box of yummy Tazo black tea, a little Hogwarts sticker, and a cute little sunflower-growing kit. Not pictured is a HUGE back of Tootsie Rolls that barely made it through the weekend, but managed to make it into work to keep me company during the endless afternoons.

Since I'm on a vest craze right now, I'm keeping the Lamb's Pride in mind for a new vest. Probably Argyle. What, you expected something different?

And thus ends my swapping days. I wouldn't even know where to go to find a swap that I could participate in. Which is sad, because they're so much fun! I met the wonderful Tina of Rows Red through this swap - she was my spoilee - and now it looks like I'll be heading up to her WOOL (Weekend Out On the Lake) gathering in the Catskills later in the summer. Yay!

Conquering Entrelac

2009-04-07T08:55:00.000-04:00

As previously noted, I've been planning to make Eunny's Entrelac Socks using Ravenclaw colors for the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premiere.

The problem was that I didn't *exactly* know how to do entrelac.

So, last weekend, in between a custom spinning order and my super-secret project, I taught myself how to do entrelac using the directions that come with the Entrelac Socks pattern I purchased from IK (I believe it was an article in the same issue that they've included with the pattern, which I think is so thoughtful.)

And then I wound my beautiful (if I do say so myself) skeins of Ravenclaw-inspired yarn, and away I went!

I'm really loving the variegated yarn for this project, too. I thought about dyeing the yarn more solid, but I thought that the variation in the shades of blue and silver would give the sock more interest. I'm glad I took the chance, because it's really working out well.

I'm about halfway through the foot on the first sock. The knitting is interesting enough to pass quickly - constantly picking up stitches, lots of SSK's and K2tog's. It's a knitter with ADD's dream project.

Let's see if I still feel that way once the heel is turned and I have a knee-high length sock's worth of entrelac ahead of me.

Musings from the Dye Pot...

2009-03-30T14:32:00.000-04:00

For my Entrelac Socks in Ravenclaw (movie) colors for the Harry Potter movie premiere in July (since I can't exactly wear a worsted-weight wool sweater in July!)

Oh, the fiber!

The big stack of yellowy-orange on the right is the first 22 ounces of fiber for my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I still need to dye up 10 more ounces of red and brown (not yet sure how much of each color to make up the 10.) I will handcard them together to make a delicious, variegated orange and spin from rolags. It's my big project of the year. (BTW, the color in this picture is WAY off...but the stack was too big to fit in my lightbox, and I wanted to show just how much of it there is!)

(The color is slightly off here, but it's my favorite picture of the yarn)

The last three are up for sale in my shop.

Knitting Mojo

2009-03-26T09:12:00.000-04:00

While I was in AZ for vacation, my mom and I scouted out the LYS and many scrapbooking stores. I found this gem in a LYS (which I can't remember the name of) in Peoria, where we were staying. It's Dream In Color Smooshy, not sure what the color is. The LYS labeled it "Blue". But, if you look closely, there is lots of green and purple undertones in the teal. It's fantastic. I knew instantly that I wasn't going to make socks with it.

Needless to say, my knitting mojo has taken a big hit over the past couple weeks. I can't even face my UFO bag, and no joy lies in my spindle, either. Let's not even talk about the dye pot. Without advertising and swaps on The-Place-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named(**See Note below), I'm not sure I can generate enough business to keep my Etsy shop alive. I have a few tricks up my sleeve yet, and I'm saving my pennies for an ad in the fall issue of an online knitting magazine. But the sparks of my creativity have taken a hit.

So, I made a plan. This past Saturday I mapped out all of the LYS on the Upper West and East Sides of Manhattan, planning to force my knitting mojo to come back. I even had a route all marked up on a map I printed out from Mapquest, starting with Knitty City, on 79th & Amsterdam. Like always, I came in through the Lincoln Tunnel, and parked at Port Authority. At about 11am, I started in on the 40 blocks (~2 miles) up to Knitty City, determined to find something to go with my Smooshy. And, after my knitting mojo came back, I was going to celebrate with a famous Magnolia's cupcake.

I read good reviews of Knitty City online, and so I was excited when I finally got there (falling madly in love with the Upper West Side on the way). Spread out before me was a yarn haven, exactly what I needed. I petted the Malabrigo, loved on the beautiful rainbow of Cascade 220, and even found what I was looking for - some chocolate brown Heritage Cascade sock yarn. It was hard to put the yummy Koigu (in a lighter shade of brown) down, but this deep shade of chocolate was really what I wanted.

Throughout all my yarn petting, there was a beginner's knitting group going on right next to me. The instructor was going over the different pattern resources online, complete with a little packet of information. And then, the inevitable. She began to sing the praises of The-Place-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named. And there went the sparks of my knitting mojo. It took everything I had not to scream of the injustices on the community boards.

I was so distracted that I picked up a pair of US2.5 circular needles in a 40" length, intending to use them for my undisclosed project with Smooshy and Cascade Heritage. I walked about 20 blocks before I realized that I would never be able to use a 40" cable needle for what I was planning. Or, really, ever. Sigh.

I quietly paid for my merchandise, skipped the other LYS on my list, and headed straight to Magnolia Bakery for said famous cupcake for desperately-needed consolation. And then I went home.

I stared at my two skeins of yarn for a while. Then I paired it with some Bare Merino from Knitpicks in fingering weight that I always have on hand to test new dye colors. I drew out a quick schematic, did a little swatching, and forced myself to start knitting. And I've been forcing myself to knit at least an hour (or through one episode of Charmed) every night after work this week. My project is coming along quite nicely, TYVM. In the spirit of putting on my "big girl panties", I'm attempting my very first submission to a knitting publication. As such, I can only leave you with this image:

I have to note that the first song on my running soundtrack every morning rings true again. Just as it did when I was weeding through some family issues after my dad's suicide. Just as it did when I needed to leave California. Just as it did when I needed to quit my old job.

Makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
Makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Makes me learn a little bit faster
Makes my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter

I know I can get through this, get my knitting (and spinning and dyeing) mojo back, and keep working to make my dreams come true. And I thank all the women of The Bunker for reminding me that The-Place-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named is not the end-all be-all of the knitting world.

And thus closes the chapter of my life. I won't mention The-Place-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named on this blog again.

*************************************************************************************

**Note: I am omitting the name of this website due to the constant trolling by certain members of said website who played a hand (as in a Royal Flush) to said banishment. Google is not my friend in this instance, and I really just want to be left alone. Also, I still think said website is a fabulous resource for knitters. The pattern and yarn searches cannot be matched anywhere else.

A funny thing happened on Saturday... (Repost)

2009-03-26T09:08:00.000-04:00

I posted this here last week, and then took it down. I had second thoughts about including this in my blog because I wanted to keep this all about knitting. Now that the dust has settled, I think it *does* need to be here, due to the way it has changed my knitting "world".

While some people have been reinstated, it is seemingly at random. Most of the banned members who had businesses were reinstated (at least those who asked). I guess my little Etsy shop wasn't considered important enough, because I'm still banned.

I'm not reposting this to stir anything up. Just the opposite. I want to put it to rest so that *maybe* I can get back to my knitting.

************************************************************************************
A funny thing happened on Saturday...

I opened the computer, typed www.ravelry.com, and was given the following error message: “403 Forbidden”.

Yep. Yours truly has been banned from Ravelry.

What did I do wrong, you ask? According to the “official notice of suspension” I received last night at 11:49pm from Lawyer Craig (THREE days after being banned with no word, mind you), this is why:

“Please be advised that your user account at www.Ravelry.com (the “Website”) has been permanently suspended due to a violation of Ravelry, LLC’s (the “Company”) Terms of Use.

This suspension is a result of your ongoing effort to disrupt the Website and the experience of its users. We have identified your actions through your membership on the website www.bunkerboard.com. Your actions are well documented and validated by your IP address. We have compiled numerous examples of certain users, including you, from the offending website using our Website’s posting, flagging, and voting features, amongst other tactics, to disrupt and harass our legitimate and serious users.

Section 8(1) of the Website’s Terms of Use specifically states that you agree not to use the Website to post content that is harassing or otherwise objectionable. This same Section, paragraph (12), also states that you agree not to use the Website to harass another user. If found in violation of any of the Website’s Terms of Use or if you have acted in a manner which demonstrates you do not intend to comply with the Terms of Use, Section 12(2)(4) allows the Company to immediately terminate your user account.

At this time, your user account will remain in permanent suspension and you will be unable to access the Website for any purpose. If you have patterns that you have purchased and stored on the Website, we will email these to you within seven (7) days of this email. For people who have advertisements on the Website, they will be immediately removed. Since these advertisements are paid in the arrears, we will not be seeking payment for removed advertisements from advertisers who had their accounts suspended.

If you feel you have been suspended in error, you are welcome to submit a request for reinstatement to legal@ravelry.com and we will consider these appeals on a case-by- base basis. However, I will advise that if you were a member of www.bunkerboard.com we will not consider your appeal. If indeed we determine you were suspended in error, we will of course reinstate your account immediately and apologize for any inconvenience.

The decision to suspend users did not come easy to the owners of Ravelry. However, since the community has grown so large, we just cannot continue to expend valuable resources on policing a few users who have such a negative impact on the entire community. We are a small company with very limited resources who are attempting to provide an enjoyable experience for all users and we cannot continue to tolerate this type of disruptive and objectionable conduct.

Sincerely,
Craig S. Stelmach, Esq.”

Yes, it’s time to come out of the conservative closet. I am a conservative. I have been very careful not to mention anything about politics on my blog, as I don’t feel a knitting blog is the place for them. (Okay, I *did* make one joke about global warming. But it wasn’t politically motivated.)

I was a member of “The Bunker” when it was closed on Ravelry in January. I won’t even get into the details of what happened there. It was closed, end of story.

With Casey’s blessing, some of the members of the former “Bunker” created an offline group. Our desire was to be left alone by trolls, so “Bunker Board” was created by one of the members, using her own funds to purchase the space.

If you read the above letter, or any of the rumors floating around both Ravelry and the blogging/twitter community right now, the owners of Ravelry and certain other members would have you believe that we tried to disrupt the community there. I think I even heard one about a concerted effort to crash a server? (I wouldn’t even know where to begin to do that.) This is simply not true.

Did we post links to Ravelry on our site? Sure. But so do lots of other people – designers, yarn companies, and bloggers, to name a few. There are also offsite groups belonging to members of “Ravelry Rubberneckers” (RR for short, whose sole purpose is to troll Ravelry, look for drama, post links, and then laugh about it in their groups, both on and off of Ravelry. If you try to post in their Ravelry group to defend yourself, they delete your post. It’s in their group rules.) and the Ravelry group, “Lazy, Stupid, and Godless” (LSG).

There was no concentrated attack on Ravelry of any kind. That’s a complete fabrication. I definitely was no part of any “ongoing effort to disrupt the Website and the experience of its users.” I LOVED Ravelry. I participated in countless swaps, learned to both spin and dye through the groups there, spent hours ignoring work and searching for patterns or oohing and ahhing over photos in the many spinning groups I belonged to. And I really, really loved nerding out with my fellow Harry Potter and Twilight fanatics. If such an “ongoing effort” exists, it is not, in any way, related to Bunker Board. Despite what others will have you believe.

I’m not blind to the fact that I have no recourse. I’ve lost all of the work put into organizing and logging every yard of yarn I own in the Stash section of Ravelry back in January. All of my pictures and personal information remain there for everyone to see as I am refused access to delete them. I cannot finish out a number of swaps I belonged to, negatively affecting many members of the Ravelry community. And my account will continue to be touted as active in Ravelry’s numbers to advertisers, despite the fact that it was suspended.

I have never flagged a post (I don’t even know how, to be honest) or been contacted by a moderator because my posts were offensive in any way. I’ve never had any contact with (aside from one response from Casey in the thread announcing the closing of The Bunker), and certainly never abused, the site owners. My post history (still available for anyone to see) certainly shows that I’ve never harassed any other member of Ravelry. I wouldn’t even want to. And I’ve been given no proof that I have done any of the things which resulted in my account’s suspension.

The only thing I am guilty of is clicking on a link from Bunker Board and using the voting buttons in the linked thread on Ravelry. When The Bunker was in existence, we were told over and over again that these buttons were not a form of harassment. But now, apparently, they are. If I had known this was against the Terms of Service (TOS), you better believe I would never have voted on any post. Ever. But given the examples above of RR and LSG, I believed it to be fine. If I had been given notice I was violating the TOS in any way, shape or form before my account was suspended, I absolutely would have ceased clicking on links from the outside group, and would not have touched those voting buttons. I’m a rule follower, through and through. I’m actually quite paranoid about it. And I never would’ve done anything I believed to put my account, and reputation, in jeopardy.

I’m not going to say I was banned because I’m conservative. I can’t back up that fact. The circumstances are suspect, though, to say the least. Especially considering the fact that the RR and LSG groups are still active both outside and within Ravelry, and none of their members are known to be banned.

Nothing has ever come easy to me. And I have never cried victim of anything. I simply put on my “Big Girl Panties” and work harder. In the end, that’s the only thing that will come of this, for me.

I just ask that you not listen to the rumors. Please believe I’m the person represented in this blog, not the person those people are saying I am. It kills me that I am unable to defend myself directly to those people posting awful rumors about me (and other Bunker Board members) on Ravelry. I hope you believe that something really isn’t right here.

I am the WORST Spoilee Ever...

2009-03-12T22:47:00.000-04:00

I have completely forgotten to post the wonderful packages I've received from my Warm Ewe Up secret pal. So here's a little feast for your eyes:

She got me ORANGE MALABRIGO, for goodness sake. Does life get any better? Well, if you're me, it does. Because there's also 4 oz of Superwash BFL in a beautiful wine-orange combination. I've started spinning it on my good ole beginner's Louet spindle whilst on vacation in AZ (we're here till Saturday afternoon), and am having a blast! Even moreso after the wonderful massage therapist here at the resort massaged out the cramps I was getting in my thumb from drafting.

And, because that wasn't enough, there was massive amounts of sugar...including Tootsie Rolls, one of my absolute favorite candies, which were gone that same evening, thus they didn't make the picture.

And a magazine all about vests! And a vanilla-scented soy candle. Yum.

You're the bestest secret pal ever!

Warm Ewe Up Swap Bi-Weekly Blog Question #5

2009-03-02T16:45:00.001-05:00

What knitting/crochet pattern have you worked that you could see yourself making over and over and never get tired of?

Hmm...I don't know if there is a pattern I could knit over and over and never get tired of. I've made 4 pairs of Endpaper Mitts (only one for myself - not yet blogged for 2009), but I can't see myself making another. Maybe a regular old pair of 2x2 ribbed socks? I do so love the one pair I've made myself already. But, then again, there are sooo many sock patterns I would love to still try.

So...in reality, I don't think there is one pattern. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Sorry folks.

Eek!

2009-02-20T22:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last post! But, I have good reason. My house is completely torn apart!!! We've had new floors put in the kitchen, livingroom, and the upstairs hallway and Adam's office. Basically, everywhere but the two bedrooms and the bathroom. But first, we had to tear out all the old flooring. Including the nasty carpet in the livingroom that exposed the 110-year old wood slat floors that let us see through the basement! Next came the painter! A friend of mine at work's husband is a painter, and the winter is really slow, so he gave us a very good deal to paint the livingroom, hallway/stairwell, Adam's office, bedroom, and all the trim and doors. So far he's finished Adam's office and the livingroom, both in a bright, warm, spring green. It looks awesome with the new floors!

Now, you'd think I'd post pictures with all this description, but I have no clue where the camera is, given that all of Adam's office was emptied into the Pumpkinarium, and you pretty much can't open the door. And if you actually make it into the room, turn around and you'll knock something down. Adam's a BIG collector of toys/comics/statues/etc....and they're ALL in my scrapbook room! And the camera is in there....somewhere.

But I definitely have some knitting to share when things get back to normal around here! Deep V Argyle Vest v.2 is well underway for my friend Angie, plus a little lace bookmark/headband for a swap recipient. Not to mention that I've been a part of some awesome swaps lately that I haven't had the chance to brag about!

Hopefully Adam will be emptying my scrapbook room this weekend - just in time to fill it up with the stuff from the bedroom so we can tear out the carpet and closet in there. YAY! In between, though, I'll try to get some pictorial evidence of everything....including the knitting.

Warm Ewe Up Swap Bi-Weekly Blog Question #4

2009-02-08T17:57:00.001-05:00

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day this year?

I already had my Valentines Day! I wanted to have a date in New York City, because we so rarely get in there, especially during the winter, and I so love the city! We planned to see a show and go ice skating in NYC, but Adam waited a little too long to order tickets for Guys and Dolls, which is what I really wanted to see. So, instead, he got tickets to Equus (how romantic, no?) and afterwards we went ice skating in Central Park. We followed it with a quick dinner at one of my favorite places, Cosi, and then headed home! We ended up going yesterday, as Equus closed today. And then, since the weather was cooperating (46 degrees!), we went ahead and did the ice-skating, as well. It was awesome! :-)

Stash

2009-02-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned a 2009 destash several times in my past few posts...enough so that I figured it deserved a post of its own. Mostly because I spent so much time this month organizing, photographing, and detail logging every scrap of yarn in the Pumpkinarium.

Why did I do this, you ask? At the end of last year, I participated in the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC). Since I didn't make the sign-up deadline, I was merely a squib who was allowed to play on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team because they needed a Beater, and only one person in Ravenclaw was confident enough in their spinning abilities to sign up. And, as any Harry Potter fan knows, there are two Beaters on a Quidditch team.

So this term I was determined to actually be sorted into Ravenclaw and get to participate fully in the House Cup. And I did! My first homework assignment for January was for Herbology. "January has long been the month here at Hogwarts where the Greenhouses organized and cleaned. Seeds get sorted and put away, the gardening plans get finalized and the planting containers are cleaned and potted with fresh soil ready for the next months plantings." As such, our assignment was:

1. Clean up our Ravelry queue as well as update our stash/needles if time permitted.
2. Organize our stash
3. Make a 12-month plan of projects, at least one project per month.

My stash started out looking like this:

And this:

And this:

Not to mention the ottoman:

And so I started organizing. And taking pictures of everything. And then logging each skein or hank of yarn (which, of course, I wound into yarn cakes of all sizes) and bump of fiber into Ravelry. I sorted all the yarn, first into known projects, like a Deep V Argyle Vest for my friend Angie, or a planned self-designed Argyle Raglan Vest, or another self-designed vest that I have half the yarn for. Then I sorted the remnants of past projects - two skeins left from the Tilted Duster, one from Gathered Pullover, not to mention a bunch of mini-skeins left from Hogwarts Sweater v.3...and tons of partial skeins...some of which I don't even know the fiber content or brand of yarn. All of these were sorted by weight into ziploc bags for future stash-diving for smaller projects whenever the mood strikes. I have a feeling I'll be doing lots of impromptu colorwork this year. Probably lots of stripes. I also organized, logged, and bagged all my fiber, sucking the air out of the ziploc bags whenever possible in order to save storage space.

The fiber likely to be spun sooner rather than later was placed in one of the bins on my bookshelf, next to the bin holding the yarn waiting for a particular project. Everything else went into the ottoman. Wanna see?

And look! I even have my very own WIP basket (or shopping bag - whatever.)

Every skein and partial skein is logged into my stash page on Ravelry. I also edited all my projects to link to my stash page, so it shows how many skeins I started out with, and how much is left...to the gram - I weighed it all. This *so* was the project to indulge in my OCD!

And Ravelry has this nifty tool where you can export your stash into Excel. And so I did...not because I wanted to save it, but because I was very curious how much yarn, exactly, I had. Clumsy Knitter mentioned on her blog how many yards of yarn she had in her stash, and I wanted to know how many yards are in mine!

Well, I wanted to know until I actually knew.

I have over 12,000 yards of yarn. That's 7 miles, people. I can't even run 7 miles...and yet somehow, I will knit it. If you knit it, they will come. (Fully aware (and proud) of my nerdiness.)

What Would I Do If I Weren't a Knitter?

2009-02-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

Being a California girl in the throws of my fourth harsh New Jersey winter begs the question.

And the answer....I dunno!

And I really don't want to find out! With my new scarf, hat, and especially my mittens, I'm the warmest this winter than I ever have been before, despite the fact that I'm fairly certain this is the coldest winter since we've lived here.

Global warming, anyone?

FO: Snowball Hat

2009-02-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Snowball Hat, Interweave Knits Fall 2007 (RavLink)
Yarn: Sublime Yarns Extra Fine Merino in Cream, just under 2 skeins.
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN US6
Mods: To account for the gauge difference, I cast on an extra 16 stitches, or one cable repeat.

So I've knit several hats lately, but none of them seem to cut it in the depths of New Jersey winters (not to mention one of them was for Adam.) They all seem to be just a little bit too short - not quite covering my ears enough to keep out the cold wind. When I saw this pattern in Interweave Knits last fall, I wanted to knit it right away. I had the yarn leftover from my Deep V Argyle Vest, but not the needles. And, as it turns out, I had the wrong yarn.

In the interest of stash busting this year, I decided to finally cast on for the Snowball Hat. I pulled out the pattern, and the yarn I intended to use, only to re-read the yarn requirements and find out it calls for worsted weight, not DK. I made a few gauge swatches and decided that I could make it work with my DK, and I would just add on an extra cable repeat and figure out the decreases later.

The cable pattern was easy - there was only one true cable - a six stitch cross, and then a twisted stitch on either side. I added a few extra cable repeats to account for the gauge differences, and was done well within a weekend. But when I tried it on, I had the same ear-covering problem. And I was not going to settle for that this time around! I frogged back to where I began the decreases, added another 4 cable repeats, and decreased again. When I tried it on the second time, I was very happy with the length.

All that was left after that was the pom pom. I had never made a pom pom before. I wasn't even sure I liked them. But I was determined! Especially because I was pretty sure the hat was so-named because of the snowball-looking pom pom. And it looked a little...unfinished...without it. I tried to decipher the instructions from the back of the IK magazine, but to no avail. So to Michael's I headed, where I found a pom pom maker. 20 minutes later, I was home, and my pom pom was made! It took a little while to figure out just how to secure it to the top, but once I did, I was very, very happy with my snowball hat! So happy, in fact, that I've warn it every day since.

Warm Ewe Up Swap Bi-Weekly Blog Question #3

2009-01-31T07:59:00.000-05:00

What is your favorite way to keep warm when it’s snowing outside?

I love to curl up on my knitting chair, close the door to the Pumpkinarium (my room gets *all* the heat in the house, even more so when the door is closed!), put in a good dvd, cover up with my Harry Potter quilt my mom made me when the first movie came out, and knit away!

FO: Bella's Mittens

2009-01-29T23:49:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned here how much I love Twilight. I guess it's only natural, given my obvious obsession over Harry Potter, right? While Twilight is not written nearly as well as the Harry Potter books (well, the later HP books), the story enthralls me. If you forget about Bella's character flaws, especially for those uber-feminists out there, the love story is intense and beautiful in its own way. But....don't even get me started on how Breaking Dawn failed me.

Anyways. Twilight the movie came out in November. While the movie was just, "meh", for lack of a better word, there were some pretty cool knits in there. Especially a pair of mittens Bella wears. They looked oh-so-warm, and the fact that they went up almost to her elbows really interested me after hearing on the news that when the temperature dips down below a certain point, if there is any skin exposed between your glove and your sweater and/or coat, the blood that flows through that exposed area will flash freeze. Freaky, no?

And just as I was pondering how I would go about figuring out a pattern to make my own elbow-length mittens, I look at the Twilight Saga Fans Ravelry group, and voila! Two patterns to choose from! I love Ravelry!

Pattern: Bella's Mittens by Marielle Henault (Ravlink)
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool in Pearl Grey, held double, just under 2.5 skeins
Needle: Clover DPN US8
Mods: My only mod was to use a worsted weight yarn and hold it double to get the bulky gauge. That, and, I thought the mittens from the movie were light gray, even though the mittens called for dark gray yarn. I was wrong. But I still love my mittens!

I cast on for these mittens when I sat down on the plane for a flight to California, via Houston. The first leg of the flight was about 4 hours, and I knit the entire way there. Because of my Druid Mittens turning out too small, I added an extra cable repeat to the hand. And then it was too long. If it hadn't been for that mistake, I would've finished the first mitten before we landed. Instead, I frogged back to where the decreases should've been, and finished the mitten about 20 minutes into my layover. I finished the second mitten shortly after returning home. I blame my lack of knitting time during my trip on Sookie Stackhouse. And 11-hour inventories.

And, as any self-respecting Twilight fan would:

FO: Crush the Turtle

2009-01-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

My first finished object of 2008 was for a swap on Ravelry, the Pixar Swap. My spoilee's favorite Pixar movie was Finding Nemo, and her favorite character is Crush.

After the fun I had knitting Elijah, and the fact that my spoilee's queue and projects pages were full of knitted animals, I decided that she needed her very own Crush.

Pattern: Turtle by Kath Dalmeny, from the book "World of Knitted Toys"
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool in Sage and Cocoa, about 1/2 a skein each.
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony DPN US2
Mods: I didn't modify the pattern at all, just the colors. I made the entire shell cocoa, instead of checkered, and also the tops of the feet and tail. The underbelly, head and bottoms of the feet and tail were sage. Oh, and I added the little brown stitches to the top of his head like Crush has.

I wasn't really a fan of all the piecing and seaming I had to do to put the turtle together, or the way the legs, tail and head were attached to the body. It seemed a little flimsy to me, and because of the two colors, the stitches would always show. I tried to insert the feet and tails into the body and seam them in between the shell and underbelly, but I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. I ended up reinforcing the seams on the underbelly with the sage yarn and accepting imperfection.

Getting the front legs to bend was another challenge, and I don't know how I did it in the end (and I especially don't know how I repeated it for the second leg), but it turned out okay. Look, he's swimming! In the....snow?

FO: Argyle Hearts

2009-01-25T15:48:00.000-05:00

Pattern: my own
Yarn: Debbie Blish Cashmerino DK, just over 8 skeins; Valley Yarns Deerfield in Natural, Heather Blue, and Eggplant, and Debbie Bliss Rialto in Red, less than one skein each.
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony Interchangeable US5, Knitpicks Harmony DPN, US5

I dreamed of this sweater for years. And now it's mine. That, my friends, is the magic of knitting.

This is my first *real* design. Not that I have any sizes for it other than the one I made for myself. At least not right now. I designed the two Hogwarts Sweaters as I went, but that was just a basic v-neck sweater. Argyle Hearts required charting, and I must have knit the neckline four times before I finally got it the way I wanted. I took everything I learned from making up the Hogwarts Sweaters as I went and poured it into this sweater.

And I couldn't be happier with the result.

I first saw a sweater similar to this on an episode of What Not to Wear. I don't remember the specifics of it, but I remember seeing hearts intertwined in an argyle pattern and wished beyond belief that I could have a sweater just like it! This was long before I ever became obsessed with knitting, so I never dreamed that I would knit it myself. And then, in the summer of 2007, when my knitting skills were blossoming, I was bored at work (like always), and started charting in Excel. I had no idea what I was doing. But I played around with the size of the diamonds, and then added in some hearts. And then some colors. And then some different colors. And voila! I had a pattern that I loved.

I started knitting the actual sweater this past summer. Since it had to be knit in pieces, instead of in the round like I usually knit, it meant that there was no heavy pile of wool in my lap in the 90 degree weather in my leather knitting chair with no air conditioner in the room. I swatched a couple times, deciding between a light blue and a dark blue, and whether I liked the natural color instead of a bright white. I couldn't put my needles down, I was too excited at the prospect of this sweater. And then, once the armholes and neckline were figured out, the front was complete. And it was all too easy to knit the plain stockinette back. And then seam them together. And add in a couple sleeves. Suddenly, I had myself a dream sweater! Magic of knitting, I tell ya!

When I first tried it on, I wasn't too happy with the fit. The front was a little too wide at the top, and it stretched a little funny across the chest and into my arm. I was severely deflated. And so it sat in the WIP pile for a while, while I tried to think of a solution. But I never did.

And then one day I decided I needed to just bite the bullet and finish the big stack of WIP's. Lots of sleeves to knit, seams to be done, problems to figure out. So I put the sweater back on. Only this time I was wearing a collared shirt, just like I had always intended to pair it with. And voila! The fit was perfect. I couldn't have made it more perfect if I designed and knit it myself. Oh wait, I did. Lol.

I'm just not going to think about the big mess of ends on the reverse side of the argyle pattern just waiting to be woven in. Thank you, intarsia!

Warm Ewe Up Swap Bi-Weekly Blog Question #2

2009-01-18T17:45:00.000-05:00

I'm a little late on my bi-weekly blog question due to my "InvenTOURy". I observed three inventories at our stores over 7 days in 3 different cities in CA/AZ. Plus a weekend with family/friends in Southern California. That didn't leave a whole lot of blogging (or knitting!) time. But it was nice to get out to CA (especially into the 80 degree weather at my aunt's house in Riverside!) I came back to Jersey to fresh snow and negative wind chill. Awesome.

If you could only knit or crochet with one brand of yarn for the rest of the year, what would it be and why?

This, for me, is a very, very tough question. I knit with a lot of Knitpicks, because that's what's in my budget. If you look at my Ravelry stash (which I'm in the process of completely updating for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup Herbology homework assignment for January), there is a ton of it in there. There's a ton of variety, and the price is right. So if it were up to my funding, that's probably what it would be. But if I could choose anything, I would probably choose Rowan. I have always wanted to knit with Rowan before, and they have a ton of variety as well. They pretty much have every type of yarn that fits in my planned projects for 2009 (which I happen to have a faint grasp on due to said Herbology homework) and I think it would be fun to try out some of their yarns.

I think, when it comes down to it though, if I'm being honest...I couldn't pick just one brand. Variety is the spice of life, and I do love me some spice (so long as I don't have to eat it, lol.)

Unsung FO's of 2008

2009-01-18T17:32:00.000-05:00

As I've been reflecting on 2008, I realized that there are a few projects I didn't really blog about at all - mostly because they were gifts/swap projects that I forgot to take a picture of before I sent them out. No picture equals no FO blog post.

Endpaper Mitts (2) - I made a pair of these for my friend Angie for Christmas 2007. Her cousin liked them so much, she paid me $50 to knit her two pairs. I knit one in the original pattern, and the second in just a plain stockinette with no colorwork. This was Jan-Feb 2008.

Irish Hiking Scarf - As a late Christmas present for my best friend, Oriana, I knit my first Irish Hiking Scarf of the year. I knit with the same yarn as mine - Knitpicks Swish in Worsted, except where mine was purple, hers was blue. This was Jan 2008.

Greenery Hat - This was part of the "Mmmm Baked Goods" Swap I participated in for the Odd Ducks Swap group on Ravelry. I baked my favorite holiday cookies, Butterscotch Gingerbread, as my swapee, SonShine on Ravelry, loves Butterscotch, and I knit her a simple cabled hat using Knitpicks Andean Silk in Jade.

I also have Mirabella, on which the knitting is complete, save for sewing in the second sleeve. But it's not 100% finished, so it hasn't had a dedicated post yet. I'm sure I will blog about it properly in 2009 when it's finished and fits right...but it really belongs as a 2008 FO.

And then there's Argyle Hearts. I blogged a little about this project earlier in 2008. It's the first sweater I entirely designed and knit. It's almost done - just have to weave in the million and one ends from the intarsia pattern. But it was entirely knit in 2008. That will get a separate post, hopefully this week, with pictures and all, seeing as how I've already worn (and absolutely loved) it three times already.

Finally, there's Corona (aka the Sweater that Defies All Mathematics). This is about 90% done, all in December 2008, with the yarn I intended for my Tangled Yoke before I realized I didn't have enough. I'm attempting to figure out how to knit my Corona sans hoodie, which is giving me some grief due to the cabled border on the neckline. It's sitting in the (brand new) UFO bag next to my knitting chair, waiting for inspiration to strike. It, too, will get a proper post in 2009 - including an explanation of its nickname - but the majority of the knitting was in 2008, so it warrants mentioning here.

I'm itching to post my first 2009 FO's (there are two!), but the accountant in me is forcing myself to do this in proper order, finishing out 2008 before moving on to 2009. Hopefully by this weekend I'll be boasting 3-4 FO's for the first month of the year. I'm cranking out the small projects, lemme tell ya!

So the final, final count for 2008, of which I am now quite proud, is as follows:

8-ish sweaters (5 complete, 1 needs seaming, 1 needs the ends weaved in, and 1 is 90% complete)
3 hats
2 scarves
2 pairs of hand warmers (mitts)
1 pair of mittens
1 pair of socks
1 stuffed animal

YAY!

2008 Round-up and 2009 Goals

2009-01-04T19:49:00.000-05:00

And the final count for the year is:

5 sweaters
2 hats
1 scarf
1 pair of mittens
1 pair of socks
1 stuffed animal

and a partridge in a pear tree!

Eleven finished objects in 2008 (plus a couple more that need to be blogged. I will add them to the count as I get them blogged.) It actually sounds pretty pitiful for how much time I spend knitting! I did have about a 3-month break in the spring, though. I'm trying to make myself feel better, but it's not really working!

I haven't looked up how many yards of yarn I spun (or how much time I spent making "yarn barf" before I got something usable!)

Goals for 2009:
-20 finished objects (no particular makeup, though I think I'm shooting for 6 sweaters, 1 every other month.)

-2,000 yards spun (including enough DK weight yarn for my Tangled Yoke Cardigan.)

Warm Ewe Up Swap Bi-Weekly Blog Question #1

2009-01-04T19:38:00.000-05:00

Why did you learn to knit?

I honestly don't remember learning how to knit. I've just always known. My mom owned a craft store when I was really little - pre-kindergarten. I learned how to knit, crochet, cross-stitch, sew, toll-paint and quilt before my memories actually begin!

I didn't really get into knitting until the summer 2007. I started watching "Knitty Gritty" reruns on HGTV, and then DH casually mentioned that he'd like a Harry Potter scarf. And maybe a sweater. And thus begun the obsession. When I found the knitting blog community, it was all over!

Edited to add:

HA! I just realized that I answered the question, "When did you learn to knit?", not "why". Go me! I started out with the right intentions, being that I don't know WHY I learned to knit because I've just always known how. But I started getting into it in the summer of 2007 to keep my idle hands busy, and because I was astonished at all the cool patterns that were out there! When I started reading knitting blogs, I couldn't keep my eyes in my head. And I wanted to make all those beautiful things and learn all those cool techniques. So here I am, not quite 2 years later, and quite possibly even more obsessed than I was when I first started!

FO: Elijah

2009-01-04T19:28:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Elijah from Ysolda
Yarn: Debbie Blish Cashmerino DK
Needle: Knitpicks Harmony US2 DPN
Modifications: None

This is an unblogged FO from 2008. I have some major catching up to do after not having a computer at home for so long!

Elijah was a very quick knit with some leftover Debbie Blish Cashmerino for a friend's toddler, Irelyn.

I love the construction of this stuffed animal. First, you knit the head, starting with 4 stitches, then increasing for the globe of the head, then decreasing into the trunk. Stuff as you go. Then you pick up for the body, stuffing as you go again. Then the legs, then the arms and, finally, the ears. There is no finishing aside from the french knots for the eyes.

And he's so cute!

FO: Riding to (Chocolat) Avalon

2008-12-22T21:12:00.000-05:00

So, this has been done for a while. A while being that I've worn it enough times for the pilling to start and to acquire a snag that I'm not quite sure I can fix. None-the-less, here it is:

Pattern: Riding to Avalon from Knitscene Fall 2008.
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style, Hollyberry
Needles: Harmony Options, US3
Modifications: Extra length to the body, as always. A little bit extra length on the arms, also, so the sleeves brush my knuckles.

Verdict: I like it pretty well. I haven't blocked it yet, so the "stockinette roll" might go away yet, though I'm guessing that the single purl row at the bottom isn't *quite* enough to make that happen. The yarn is pilling horribly - I've worn it only 4 or 5 times, and it's pilling all along the inside of the arms, and fuzzing up on the front of the body. I don't know that I'll ever use Knitpicks for a full sweater again - this is the second sweater to pill rather quickly, and the most anything has ever pilled on me.

I'm a big fan of the hood, although it sits crooked on my head (not pictured.) I went back and forth between knitting the hood in the pattern stitch, or knitting it stockinette and edging it in the pattern. The pattern stitch, called the "purl twist" stitch, took a lot of time. Rows 1 & 3 were knit. Row 2 was k2, purl twist (p2tog, keep stitches on the left needle, purl into the back of the second stitch, drop both stitches). Row 4 was purl twist, k2. After the miles of stockinette, it was very time consuming. But ultimately, I decided it was worth it. And I'm very glad I did. I love the texture of the hood immensely.

The buttons are just simple mother-of-pearl (ish) buttons from Wal-Mart. The spacing on the sleeves turned out a little bit funny, and I'm still not a fan of the crochet-chain button loops (a la Mirabella), but I really love the way the placket turned out.

And now for my boo-boo. Somewhere along the way, the sleeve got snagged. And I'm not quite sure how or where, because the snag is unlike anything I've seen. It's as if all but one of the plies in the yarn were snipped, and that one ply is holding the hold sleeve together (well, really just the one stitch, but if that were to go, I'd have to re-knit the whole sleeve, I'm pretty sure. I'm going to try using a darning needle and going over the (now) one-ply stitch as if I were double-stitching it, and then weave in the remainder of the yarn that got loose. We'll see how that holds up.

I like wearing the sweater, despite the pilling, and I've gotten tons of complements on it - especially from my co-workers who watched me knit various parts of it at lunch. And, hey, it was the perfect color for me to work in the Toys "R" Us store all weekend in order to earn more vacation days for Christmas! The pattern was easy and fairly intuitive, and I was very happy to finally learn how to do the 3-needle bind-off at the shoulders. I will definitely be employing that skill with the next sweater!

And now, despite a few FO's that have yet to make it to the blog, I bid you adieu for the rest of 2008. Tomorrow morning we head to Memphis to spend the holidays with Adam's family, as we do every year. No internet, not much cell phone service, and lots and lots of land to play on. Heaven.