Crafty Cat

Monday workout

2009-11-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

I'm late with this one.

Push-ups: normal, wide, narrow, wide, repeat
Step onto bench and jump
Crab walk x2
High jump, bringing knees to chest
Lying on side, with hip raised and propped up on one arm, lift dumbbell - first, perpendicularly out from the body and up, then parallel to the body and up

There may have been more, but my mind is blanking on me.

Clearing Out

2009-11-21T00:15:00.000-08:00

It feels good to finally go through my stash & random WIPs. I'm also clearing through my Rav stash/projects. Once I organize all my stuff, synch everything up, come up with storage solutions, and frog the abandoned projects, I'll be able to actually plan and work on new things.

Updates

2009-04-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

I need to post pictures of my finished Renaissance Faire costume....but I'm too lazy to do that right now. :P

I'm almost done with my "White Nights Camisole" (in purple!). I'm up to the armhole part where I need to separate for the front and back. It goes from there up to the neck, and then there's a collar.

Stuff I need to work on:
- Finish off Vixen Tank - it was almost done but then I got caught up finishing the gifts for my uncle.
- Finish off Kai-Mei socks - I got hung up on the fact that I had the wrong number of stitches at the toe. I need to finish the toe and finish the 2nd sock.
- Knit/crochet a top for Scarlett. Maybe a baby item as well.

- Sew a pillowcase for the long body pillow we have.
- Sew a tote bag for Michelle.
- Sew a magazine/book holder to hang on the bathroom wall.
- Hem my dress pants.
- Experiment with sewing another top. I want to achieve spectacular bustiness.

DOH

2009-04-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

Didn't get much done last night. I had to go to JoAnn's to pick up more double folded bias tape (picked out an olive color) with matching thread. I also went to Borders to get the latest Vogue Knitting magazine. It's got some really nice pieces in it this issue. I also picked up a few sewing magazines that looked like they had really good tips.

So last night I sewed the bust darts on the vest pieces with the interfacing. I sewed the shoulder seams and side seams too. On the lining I have one shoulder seam done with the other shoulder seam and both side seams still to be done. It was annoying because I screwed up sewing and had to pick out stitches....TWICE. Ugh. I hope the rest of it won't be too bad. I can't go to sleep too late tonight if I want to get up at 7:00am tomorrow for archery. If I can't finish tonight, I'll have time tomorrow afternoon as well. That should be enough, I think.

Only a few days left

2009-04-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

...before going to the Renaissance Faire. I may go on Sunday instead of Saturday as Lawrence declared that archery plus Faire equals too much activity for one day.

Tuesday night, after knitting, I stayed up until almost 4am sewing. This is one seriously addicting activity. It didn't even feel like I got much done! I ironed the red fabric and traced the vest pattern pieces onto it. I cut it out, pinned the bust darts on the front and sewed in the darts. That was all.

After sewing them together, I took a look at the pattern and realized that I had done it wrong... You're supposed to baste the interfacing to the cloth *before* you sew up the darts. GAHHHH. Then I realized that I could just have those pieces be the lining.

Last night, I traced and cut another set of the vest pattern pieces. I had already cut the interfacing a week ago, thankfully. I pinned the interfacing onto the cloth and basted it all together. That ended up being rather time consuming as well. The only thing I had time for at the end was to pin the bust dart seams together and mark out the line I was to sew on.

Reading through the instructions, I also realized that I used the WRONG bias tape. I had used the double folded bias tape for the blouse's elastic casing, but then I realized I was supposed to use the single fold - no wonder I ran out! It's the vest that calls for the double folded bias tape to enclose the edges of the outside, interfacing, and lining fabrics. I'm going to have to head back to JoAnn's for more bias tape...joy! I doubt they have more of the dark brown I've been using since I took the last one in the store on Tuesday. On the bright side, that means I could pick a different color to use for the bias tape! I realized that dark brown edges on a dark red vest would probably not show up very well. Unfortunately, I don't know what would work better. Black maybe? Black matches everything...

If I can go to JoAnn's tonight, I *might* be able to finish the vest tonight. Besides the darts for the front of the vest, I will have to sew the shoulder seams and side seams together. Next comes the bias tape all around the armholes, neckline, front opening, and bottom edges. That will probably be the most time consuming part since there are so many curves everywhere. Once that is done, all I have to do is hammer in the grommets and create a cord to lace the front with.

Costume Update

2009-04-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

Skirt - Done except I need to sew on the eye & hook. I sewed on the eye...but then I realized I did it upside down. Who knew that bend in the wire is actually there for a reason? I bought the smallest size JoAnn's has because I didn't want it to be visible, but after trying to manipulate it I'm starting to think that wasn't a good idea. It's a real pain because it's fiddly in my clumsy fingers and it's hard on the eyes.

Blouse - I've got the pieces cut out and ready to go. I studied the drawings and the instructions and I *think* I understand. Problem: I bought the wrong color of bias tape. I thought the bias tape was for the vest so I bought it in brown as accent that matches the skirt. Apparently the [white] blouse needs bias tape for the elastic band at the sleeve cuffs. ::sighhhhhh:: I'm going to have to go back to JoAnn's before I can even start sewing the blouse.

Vest - I didn't get to meet up with Annette today for further fitting because she had to go in to work. I did get to talk to her on the phone and she gave me some advice on what I could do on my own. She suggested I cut out the pattern pieces again with the broadcloth with an extra inch on each of the side seams so I have room to play around with the angles. Then, when sewing the side seams, I can experiment sewing straight halfway up, and then turning the fabric on the front piece so the seam angles in. That would reduce the extra space I had at the armhole. Then for the bust dart, I follow the line but a few inches from the tip, I dip in close to the edge of the seam and end it almost parallel.

Renaissance Faire

2009-04-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'm planning to go to the Renaissance Faire for the first time this year. It came about rather suddenly as I was at work going through a demo of our County's website for the redesign of our Department's webpages. I saw a listing announcing the Renaissance Faire starting in April and that reminded me that I had never been to one before.

I asked my boss about it because he used to go every year. I thought Lawrence might consider it too geeky, but he said he'd be interested. I was okay with not going in costume but at knitting night, Annette convinced me to make my own costume. She said she'd help me out too - how could I turn down that offer? :) I would get to go in costume (I guess I've always had a thing for that since cosplaying at my first anime conventions). I would get practice sewing garments. AND, I would have the help of someone experienced with sewing from patterns.

I picked out 2 Simplicity patterns from advice I found online - #5582 and #3618. I got real lucky and bought both for $.99 each from Jo-Ann's pre-Easter sale.

I met with Annette and she showed me how to get started. She also gave me a bunch of tracing paper so I could trace the patterns onto the paper and cut out the paper. When I got home, I was so excited I stayed up late making my practice vest (for fitting purposes). I got fabric for my costume and stayed up till 3am cutting out all the pattern pieces.

Current Status
Vest - Practice vest sewn. Need less pointy darts (make tip flatter along fold). Maybe need more in circumference. Armholes a little baggy. Annette will help me fit it.

Blouse - Pattern pieces cut and fabric ready. Will start on this as soon as the skirt is done.

Skirt - Sewed the panels together. Currently attaching the waistband. After that, need to hem the bottom. Still need to buy twill tape to run through the waistband, and maybe an eye/hook closure.

Morgan Hat

2009-03-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

After much knitting on Friday and Saturday, I reached the top edges of the hat where you knit each stitch together with the one 3 rows below, creating a sort of rolled edge. I measured the hat at that point and realized it was way too big. The pattern says it has a width of about 8.25". On size 6 needles, I was getting a width of nearly 10".

On Sunday afternoon, I sat at Borders and ripped everything out so I could start over. I used size 4 needles and now have a width much closer to 8.25". The fabric is tighter too, which is nice because I felt it was too loose and had too many holes before.

At the rate I'm knitting the hat, I can probably finish it tonight or tomorrow. I could potentially even finish up a pair of Knucks made in the same Rowanspun yarn. I don't think the socks will happen. They would be the odd ones out since they wouldn't be made with a matching yarn.

The Rowanspun is softer than it felt in the skein. I hear it blooms and gets much softer after a good wet soaking.

Current Project Status

2009-03-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

Quick update on the status of my active projects.

Rona Lace Shawl - It's been a while since I've worked on this because it is now at the point where each round takes me at least half an hour to finish. With at least 50 more rounds to go, I'm not looking forward to all the time I still need to spend on this.

Crusoe Socks - I'm past the heel on the 2nd sock. These may be done by this weekend but I've got a few other projects I need to start.

Vixen Camisole - I started this the same time as the Crusoe socks. This is also almost done - it's such an easy pattern that I've just been flying away on it. I also may finish this weekend (although I'd still have to buy the ribbon for the straps).

Projects I plan on starting and completing by next weekend (they're going to my uncle for his 70th birthday):

Comfy Socks - These socks are knit with a bulky yarn. I actually made a pair using this pattern for my grandfather. Unfortunately, I gave them to him right before he was taken to the hospital and he never got a chance to wear them before he passed away. I put the socks in his coffin before the was cremated since they were made for him. I should have some bulky yarns in my stash I can use for this - Moda Dea Tweedle Dee & Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky. I've got some leftover bits Cascade Magnum I could use for stripes too.

Morgan Hat - This type of hat is called a "flat top", "golf cap" or "driver's cap". An excellent item for an elderly gentleman! I'm thinking of using my Rowan Rowanspun 4ply in Sludge, doubled. It's dark and has a tweed look to it. I've even got some super heavy interfacing I can use for the lip of the cap.

Knucks - These are fingerless gloves that still have a bit of each finger. I'm thinking of also doubling up the Rowan Rowanspun 4ply in Sludge for these. I'll have matching hat & gloves.

* My thanks to the wonderful people who replied to my post on Ravelry with their suggestions.

The Circle of Crafting

2009-03-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

I've been knitting so much stuff recently that I'm at that point again where I'm feeling the urge to work on a different craft for a bit. After receiving my new heddle, I never took the time to put the warp back onto my Kromski loom. I wanted to take it out of the closet on Monday but I got preoccupied. Last night at the knitting group, we had two people who were spinners. Maybe I should take out my drop spindle and give it another whirl? :P I was also thinking about digging out my jewelry wire and pliers so I could try to making ear cuffs.

Updated projects with photos

2009-03-24T10:57:00.001-07:00

I took some time this weekend to upload photos of projects I hadn't yet uploaded onto Ravelry. Here are just a few photos:

Muffin playing with the bumble bee toy I made for her:

"Crusoe" socks (because they're "stranded"):

"Monterey" socks from The Eclectic Sole:

"Endpaper Mitts", pattern by Eunny Jang:

dramaz?

2009-03-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

I love my online communities but I think reading about the drama that inevitably goes on is getting to me. I need to focus more on my knitting!

Seaming sucks

2008-10-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize it would take so long to seam sleeves. Because there's all these curves, diagonal lines, and matching rows to columns, I have to make sure I line up the pieces perfectly. Otherwise, it will look really crappy. My sweater should be done by now but I put off blocking & seaming the pieces in anticipation of the suckiness. The pieces got washed and blocked. I looked up instructions on what to do and then started to realize how annoying this could get.

The pattern for the Multiplicity sweater calls for a slip-stitch selvedge. I can't actually seam into the selvedge stitches because they're too big, so I have to make my seam one stitch into the fabric. At least those big slipped stitches make lining things up easier. Some people suggested using a three-needle bind-off for selvedge stitches like that, but I wasn't sure if that would turn out pretty, and that would mean picking up stitches. In the end, I used this blog post's guide to seaming sleeves. I used tiny little safety pins to pin the pieces together.

In the entire 2.5 hours of Tuesday's knitting night, I was able to seam the shoulders, match up one sleeve to the front/back pieces, and seam up half the armhole. I finished the rest of the armhole last night. I did rip back two times because I wanted to get it right. The sleeve edge does seem to be a little shorter than the sweater armhole allows for, but I was able to match it up evenly. Now it's time for the second sleeve...ugh. Once I finish it though, the rest of it will be smooth sailing because it will be matching up stitches one-to-one.

WIP Progress

2008-10-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly but surely getting through all these piled up WIPs now that my pieces to my sweater are done.

Clementine Shawlette
- I decided not to graft in pattern and just do the kitchener grafting described in the instructions.
- The yarn relaxed a lot after washing, and the shawlette is longer than I expected. To wear it, I'm going to have to pull the ends up, causing the back to droop low, which isn't a bad thing.
- The ends still need to be woven in.

Monterey Socks
- I bound off the first pair of socks.
- The ends need to be woven in.
- I need to make the 2nd sock.

Marilinda Socks
- I started the 2nd sock.
- I need to finish the rest of the sock, from the cuff on down.

Rona Lace Shawl
- I have not worked on this much.
- Same, I still need to finish around 40 rows.

Multiplicity Sweater
- I finished the front, the back, and the 2 sleeves.
- It's been washed & blocked.
- I need to seam the pieces together, first the front piece to the back piece, up the sides and across the shoulders. Then, each of the sleeves need to be set in at the armholes.
- I need to buy buttons.
- After seaming, I need to knit up the cowl neck.

WIPs

2008-10-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Works in Progress

Clementine Shawl
- Both sides are done but the gauge for each side does not match. One side takes more pattern repeats to reach the same length as the other side.
- I may have to wash/block them both before deciding what to do.
- I have to figure out how to graft them together.

Monterey Socks
- First sock needs to be bound off.
- Second sock needs to be knit.
- I need to do some research first and figure out a better way to cast on/cast off in the middle of a row.

Marilinda Socks
- First sock is done and the ends need to be woven in.
- Second sock needs to be knit.

Rona Lace Shawl
- I need to finish the 45 or so rounds left.

Multiplicity Sweater
- I need to finish the 2 sleeves.
- The cowl portion needs to be knit.
- I need to find suitable buttons.
- I should also figure out if I have enough yarn left, and then order more if necessary.
- The pieces then need to be blocked and seamed (3-needle bind-off?).

_____________________________________________

Christmas Presents

After the debacle that was last year's Christmas gifts, I don't know if I can bring myself to knit presents for everyone again for this year. Maybe I could do it if it were something quick but with all the stuff I've been working on, I can't figure out what that could be. If I don't knit or crochet something, then what should I give my cousins? I wish I could give chocolate, since I found a bunch of cool chocolate companies, but they're all boys who probably don't eat chocolate. I was thinking about cooking. Maybe not my chocolate truffles, but something like homemade toffee? Packaged up nicely?

Knitted Dissections

2008-10-07T09:33:00.001-07:00

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5197504&section_id=5395372

These are awesome - knitted/felted dissected rats & frogs. These things earned a mention on the Pharyngula blog.

Lawrence wants a sweater?

2008-10-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Doh. I get so lazy and preoccupied with other things that I haven't updated this blog with pictures of my work in SUCH a long time...with Ravelry there, the prospect of having to upload pictures and update twice is not-so-appealing.

One thing this blog is good for is getting thoughts out of my head.

Yesterday night, Lawrence asked me to make a sweater for him! :D I was so surprised because he hates wearing sweaters, he doesn't like the look of knitted stitches, and prefers smooth, finely woven fabrics that are cut and tailored to a nice finished look. He specified that he still doesn't like cables, which unfortunately so many men's sweaters make use of. What he would like is argyle. I think that's because argyle is one of those traditional elements that has been utilized by the young, hip crowd - much like tartan plaids. So, wearing an argyle sweater, he can pass as suitably stuffy at his sales job AND pass as a yuppy punky hipster when we go out.

Perhaps I could try to add in some cool design elements to exaggerate the transformation. Or...maybe I've been watching too much Project Runway.

Like an Addict

2008-09-07T15:10:00.001-07:00

At the time I wrote the previous post, I was probably over-reacting to things. We talked things over the next day because he didn't realize how upset he made me. I tried to step back and look at things from a different perspective, and I could see how many of my actions were a bit too overboard. I was also using my knitting as a crutch, or sometimes even an excuse to not participate in social situations. I can't truely say that knitting does not divide my attention until I become more sociable. Being able to knit without looking would help too (eye contact!!!).

So when I'm with others, I will refrain from knitting at restaurants while we're waiting for our food. I will try to engage in conversations. bleh :P

Torn

2008-09-03T02:15:00.001-07:00

I'm feeling really torn right now. I feel like everyone in my life thinks I'm overly obsessed with knitting. Apparently it's all I think about, it's all I talk about, it's all I do. Lawrence feels that it has become a harmful addiction, like when I played World of Warcraft all the time - except this is even worse because I can bring my knitting with me anywhere.

I really don't want to become petulant and turn this into a wedge between us but I'm afraid my initial reaction is to do something rather pouty. He's often said that he supports my hobbies and he's happy that I have things that I'm interested in, but I don't know. I feel like it causes him too much trouble with too little for him to gain. For one thing, he doesn't wear knitted things so it's not like he's getting anything out of my knitting. When I'm knitting or on Ravelry, my attention is not fully focused on him, nor is it fully on activities with him. I don't go and sit with him to watch TV. I decline to play video games with him in order to knit or be on the computer. When I go out, I always bring my knitting with me and find ways to get a bit of knitting done. It takes up lots of closet space and random balls of yarn always find ways to place themselves all over the apartment. I feel like he also thinks that if I weren't so obsessed with knitting, I would "take care of myself" more and do things like exercise, style my hair, cook, etc.

He feels that I'm blinded by my feelings because I have a whole Ravelry community at my back, enabling me and telling me to ignore anyone who says anything negative about my knitting. It's like a cult, and being in the middle of it I can't see how harmfully deep into it I am. I can see his point, but I still feel that my crafting is important to me (is this what cultists and fundamentalists feel like when someone challenges their worldview?). I was trying to figure out why and I think it's a result of a natural progression. I grew up with the message drilled into me that I could do anything.

All throughout high school this felt true for the most part. Nothing was so difficult that I couldn't get through it. I started to see some cracks in my junior/senior year when I took classes outside my high school. I took an online Physics class through the John Hopkins program. I was bored out of my mind and could not stay awake through the video lectures - fail. I took a C++ class at the local community college and so much of it felt beyond me. The only reason I got through was because I had a friend who was willing to help me out on my projects. I took a 2nd semester Calculus class. Math was one subject I had always felt confident in because of all the work I had to put into it. I got a C- in that Calculus class. Come college, everything took work and time - things that I put off and ignored until I ended up almost failing out of school.

I found satisfaction in what felt like the few things I could still succeed in. I started crafting. First there was the physical crafting - origami, sewing, knitting, crochet, beading. Then I started playing World of Warcraft and through my boyfriend I was able to learn to be a good player and raid successfully in a great guild. After the guild splintered and my gaming stopped, I picked up the knitting and crochet again. This second time around I had Ravelry and a previously undiscovered online world of crafting. With so much knowledge at my fingertips, I could take on anything. My hobby would also result in tangible, utilitarian objects. This was something gaming would never have. I could be successful at a skill, AND I got a useful bonus prize at the end.

I feel like taking knitting out of my life would be like taking the potential for success out of my life. Watching TV and playing games is great and all, but I can't accomplish anything through those activities and I need to accomplish things with my life. I also don't want to give up doing what I want to do with my life and end up resenting Lawrence over it. I'm sure he doesn't want that either but I don't know how we can reach a compromise.

First Weaving project

2008-07-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

I finally got a chance to start weaving last night. Yesterday I finished up the crochet hook holder and the baby blanket. I had my calculations ready for the warping and I was mentally ready to get started.

I sure am getting a lot of practice warping...The first 2 times I had to take apart my warp and rewind the yarn into balls because one of the pegs was loose and my tension was way too tight. I loosened up a bit for the 3rd try. When I was almost done with the first ball I counted the number of ends and I was already beyond my calculated number of ends. The problem is I had calculated that it would take me 1.5 balls of this yarn. I then proceeded to smack myself on the head. I used a different yarn initially to mark out my path. This yarn I cut to be roughly 2.33 yards, and then I proceeded to wrap for the entire circuit of the path. The thing is, each END is supposed to be 2.33 yards. My first 3 attempts at warping were actually producing ends that were roughly 1.16 yards long, half of what I needed. No wonder one ball was more than enough.

For my 4th attempt, I took a second ball, wound it on the ball winder, then joined it to the first ball (still sitting on the warping board) with a weaver's knot and finished winding the 2 into 1 ball. I will probably have to fine a better solution to join ends for warping, but a weaver's knot is tight and I don't think conventional knitting joins (spit slicing, Russian join) would hold up to the tension. I am now almost done warping, with 126 out of a needed 144 ends on the warping board.

Updates on a few things

2008-07-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

Weaving~
The loom arrived this week, w00t! Lucky for me the weaving books I bought from the Interweave Hurt Books sale also arrived this week. There's a lot more planning and math that goes into weaving than I realized, but it's still doable. I made my calculations and decided on the yarn. If I have time tonight I'll try my hand at warping the loom. Too bad the video instructions that came with the loom were on a VHS tape! The newer versions come with a DVD. I decided on using my KnitPicks Palette yarn since it was cheap and I've got several bags of it. Even if the project goes blech, the yarn was only $2 a ball. It probably won't take as much yarn as I'm imagining. For 2.33 yards at a width of 15", I'm only going to need 336 yards for the warp, which is about 1.5 balls of the Palette.

I haven't decided on the yarn for the weft yet. I may continue to use the Palette. I may use a different color of Palette. I may switch it up a bit to mix the colors. That may not turn out very good as the only colors I have a red, blue, and green (garnet heather, marine heather, & verdant heather). Why can't I pick out more complimentary colors instead of one color at each extreme of the spectrum?? I may end up using some of the other yarns I have in my stash. I have a bunch of thin boucle & chenille that I bought of eBay several years ago. This could turn out to be a multi-part super-experiment. I plan to keep a detailed journal through Google Docs.

Rag Knitting
Fail fail fail. I tried doing what the book showed...snip a bit into the edge of the fabric and rip straight down. That did not work very well for the first strip as it ended up deforming the fabric because I had to pull too hard. I ended up cutting and that gave me tons and tons of frayed edges. There were lots of little fiber bits all over the place, sticking out of the edges of the fabric and all over the floor. I spent a lot of time cutting holes & knotting the strips together. It was okay to crochet with once I figured out I needed my giant crochet hook. I had just enough to finish the bag with, but I'm not so sure it's usable. There are just too many little bits of thread sticking out everywhere and it looks SO messy. This may go straight into the trash.

Fabric from Japan
So I ordered some fabric from an Etsy vendor in Japan because I knew Japanese fabrics come in all sorts of cute and I wanted something really cute for my crochet hook holder. They got here yesterday! The fabrics are totally awesome and cute. Two of them are a little thicker/coarser than I thought but they're still really cute. A thicker fabric may bulk up the crochet hook holder too much, but uh...good thing I made the ties extra long. :D Before warping the loom tonight I will probably finish up this project.

More Goodies from Japan
I bought some things from another Etsy vendor. I ordered several Hamanaka crochet hooks from her because they came in every size I need, they're double ended so you need fewer hooks, and they come with extra padding in the middle so they're easier on your hands. She also sells tawashi yarn and books, so I bought 1 book and 3 balls of acrylic anti-bacterial tawashi yarn. I also bought some cute little animal stickers and a set of pom pom makers!

Weaving & Rag Knitting

2008-07-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

I did it! I bought a Kromski Loom! Someone just posted up one for sale over the weekend on Ravelry. It was a 24" one too. I got it for $180 which is quite a bit less than the ~$213 it would cost to order from Paradise Fibers (shipping included). I can't wait to get it & try it out!!

I found my old pajamas and I'm currently in the process of cutting it into strips for some rag knitting. :) There are patterns in one of the books my aunt got for me from Japan.

Weaving

2008-07-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

I've been seriously considering taking up weaving. I looked into various non-floor looms and decided on the Kromski Harp 24" Rigid Heddle Loom. I was ready to buy it from someone on Ravelry, but she decided not to sell. That just means I get more time to consider this purchase (unless there's some special sale going on)! I did buy a few weaving books from the Interweave Press "Hurt Book Sale". Given that I feel my pros & cons are fairly balanced, I'm going to wait until I get those books before I decide whether or not I'll actually buy a rigid heddle loom.

Pros:

new craft = fun new skill
could quickly get rid of large amounts of stash yarn that would never be knit/crocheted
weaving large pieces of fabric is potentially less time consuming than knitting/crocheting
quicker creation of home decor items (not counting set up & finishing time)
woven is flatter, Lawrence may like the look better than knit/crocheted things

Cons:

learning curve - don't know how steep
may not have time to practice weaving, may knit/crochet too much instead (like with spinning)
warping sounds incredibly boring and time consuming
loom takes up space, especially if getting a stand (closet too full)
may not have enough table space for loom, so may need a stand
may end up accumulating large quantities of coned yarn
don't know much about yet, so could have over-expectations about ease/speed
no classes nearby that I know of

The Ravelry Effect

2008-07-01T13:13:00.001-07:00

...strikes me again. There's a thread about the previews for the new Fall 2008 Knitscene magazine. I normally probably would not even bother to check out preview pictures, but once you hear people raving about this pattern and that pattern, it's hard not to go take a look for yourself.

They've got some beautiful photography, with great attention to lighting and colors. I think that is one of the biggest problems I have with the non-Interweave magazines. A lot of the time they use the most hideous color combinations and no artistry in the lighting or poses whatsoever. Just a quick glance through the Knitscene photos, and I already want to buy the issue. Even if I look more closely and find that I only like some of the projects, I will probably still buy it anyway.

Finishing

2008-06-26T13:52:00.001-07:00

Finishing takes an unexpectedly long time to get through. Since Lawrence was out last night, I stayed up till 1am finishing some projects. I starched my doily and set it to dry on some plastic wrap. I wove in the ends at the center of the Sahara sweater, where you seam up the neckline, and I let it soak in water. It's drying on a cut open trash bag on the ground (thankfully I have concrete floors). I still need to seam my 2nd Noro entrelac wrist warmer, weave in the ends to a pair of socks, soak/block and attach ribbons to my Butterfly Wrap (yeah, that one has been sitting around for a LONG time).

I was going to organize my yarn and dig out the stuff I'll never use...but that didn't happen. Finishing stuff took way too long. Well, then again I was chatting online. Heh. I considered getting a lap loom so I could use up those random yarns by weaving them together. It sounds like a quick & dirty way to get rid of large quantities of different colored & textured yarns. Then I can make things like pillows, placemats, etc.

GAHHHH

2008-06-25T21:58:00.000-07:00

I'm on the last 2 rows of my Sahara sweater, and I ran out of yarn. I thought I had more skeins, but I couldn't find any in the box!!! In a fit of exasperation, I bought a skein from Lavendar & Peonies. The O-Wool Balance was on sale for $4.74 but shipping was $6.00. I was just thinking I may have enough in scraps that I can spit slice together for the last 2 rows...but I really don't know if I'll have enough!

Progress Update

2008-06-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Sahara - I'm about 3/4 of the way through the 2nd sleeve. I've finished the 2 stitch increases, and one of the 4 stitch increases. Three more sets of 4 stitch increases at 7 rows a set, plus 2 repeats of the diamond rib for the cuff, and I can finish it off! :D Last night, despite a dull headache and lack of sleep, I pushed my way through a quarter of the sleeve. If I concentrate on it tonight, I can probably get it done today. I don't know if that will be possible though, as Lawrence and I have to go to his parents' place for dinner...meaning no knitting for however long we're there.

Rona Lace Shawl - This is coming along slowly...mostly when I don't feel like working on the sweater. It's difficult doing the KB, so it goes very slowly even when I do work on it. I can't wait to see how it turns out but it may very well take until Christmas to finish the thing.

Leyburn Socks - I started these socks over the weekend. Given all the sock yarn I bought through other peoples' destashes on Ravelry, I wanted to actually start working on socks again. I decided to try out the Hill Country Alpaca (in Purple Mountain) because all the socks I've made so far have been with Cherry Tree Hill yarns. I really wanted to try the Leyburn socks to see how the lattice quilt stitch works up. I think it would work very well for a more brightly contrasting variegated yarn. It still looks nice in the Purple Mountain colorway (purple, blue, brown), and actually looks more formal than any pair of hand knitted socks I've ever seen. They're like business socks....for when it's business time. Hah, Flight of the Conchords reference there. They're songs are hilarious. :D

Entrelac Wristwarmers - The entrelac wristwarmers in the Japanese book I bought, "Nordic Knitting. Ten fabulous techniques," caught my eye the first time I saw them. It's a perfect project for a skein of Noro. I can try out both knitting entrelac and knitting with Noro while producing a useful and cool looking product, all at the same time. It works up really quickly, but I think I perhaps should have used size 7 needles or made the wristwarmers only 4 repeats wide instead of 5. They seem like they may be a little loose on my wrists when I expected them to be more snug. However, I do still have to wash/block them and seam them up. The entrelac is surprisingly fun and interesting to knit up. I think it's because the knitting is being modularized into small blocks at a time. You feel like you're flying through the knitting every time you finish a connecting row, and then every time you finish a block. The changing colors help too because you're not staring at the same uniform color the entire way.

Technique Note:
I ran into a problem with the diamond rib lace in Sahara. I've seen the same problem mentioned by other knitters. Lace patterns often have sections that call for knitting or purling several stitches together, creating a little bump of gathered stitches. This technique is used in creating "nupps" like those found on the Swallowtail Shawl. This troublesome stitch is compounded when the stitch calls for knitting or purling the stitches together through the back loop. So, after using a crochet hook and wondering at how anyone would have the patience to put up with the trouble, I tried to work out a better solution.

The idea basically follow the same strategy as a skp stitch, or s1, k1, psso. You slip 1 stitch, you knit the next, then you pass the slipped stitch over the stitch you just knit. It was like an epiphany when I realized that passing slipped stitches over accomplishes the same decrease as if you just knit the 2 stitches together, except you only ever need to stick your needle into 1 stitch at a time. The only thing you have to work out is the orientation of your stitches.

For the p3togtbl stitch, I basically looked at the orientation of my needles in relation to the yarn, and how the orientation of the yarn changes after the stitch. If you try to make a p3togtbl, you start off by trying to put your right needle into the back of the 3rd stitch on your left needle while both needles are pointing in the same direction. Assuming you were able to successfully make the stitch, what you would be doing is pulling up a loop of working yarn through 3 stitches, from the stitch closest to the tip of your left needle, left through 3 stitches. You would get the same result if you ptbl of the first stitch, then pulled the resulting stitch straight on through the next 2 stitches on your left needle. So, you ptbl - 2 stitches remain on the left needle while you have 1 worked stitch on the right needle. Slip the worked stitch back to the left needle without changing its orientation. Use your right needle to slip the 2 following stitches over the worked stitch. Slip that stitch back to your right needle without changing orientation.

This would also work if you slip the first 2 stitches to the right needle, then ptbl on the 3rd stitch of the left needle. This leaves all 3 of your stitches on the right needle. You then only need to pass each of those first 2 slipped stitches over your 3rd worked stitch. Instant, easy p3togtbl! :)

Sahara Sleeves Update

2008-06-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

I've finished my left sleeve using increases to make it a bell sleeve. Starting at around the elbow, or roughly 18.5" from the under arm, I increased by (2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 4) stitches, every 7 rows. It looks rather nice, and not too big like I was afraid of. I was originally planning to do 6 stitches for the last 2 increases, but was already getting scared at how big it would be.

Sleeves take fricking forever! I'll be glad to finally get this sweater done, and in fact it actually will be my first real sweater! I was saying to people before that it was just a short-sleeved top. My boss said that because it's knitted, it was still a sweater, just a short-sleeved sweater. But, now that it's long-sleeved I can be comfortable either way. Even so, after this I am going to be so happy to do a top without sleeves. Maybe I'd actually be able to wear it NOW too! It is soooo hot in my office right now because the air conditioner is broken and I have no hair tie for my long hair. Uck.

So, as for the next project, I'm planning to make the Lelah Top, halter top version; Coachella once I get my Berocco Suede; and the Pink Sundae Camisole found in Sensual Knits. I may end up frogging the start of my Demeter, if I need those needles.

I also plan to start up a pair of socks (Leyburn socks) using some of the variegated sock yarn I bought. Ahh, there's also the socks from Cat Bordhi's book, which I am waiting for to arrive. I have a lace shawl on the needles (Rona Lace Shawl) that I'm still working on right now too. That one, I may leave as a long term project to be finished by Christmas for presents. As soon as I get some suitable yarn though, I do want to start up either Lyra or another Herbert Niebling lace pattern (maybe a smaller one that Lawrence would agree to use as a table runner).

Wow, there's a ton of patterns I want to start working on immediately! :) I'll post a list later.

Edit: I found the page where I saw the instructions for the halter top variation of the Lelah Top [here]. That was actually the exact project I saw on Ravelry that made me want to knit the Lelah Top! :)

Japanese Cat Zakka Knitting Book

2008-06-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

I saw pictures of this book several months ago, and I've been looking for it since! It's out of print and the only sources seem to be directly from Japan. Amazingly, Lacis is carrying it! I definitely want to buy it, but it will cost at least $30 what with s/h and tax since Lacis is in California. I'm going to look up the patterns first to make sure I want it, but there is a good chance I'll be placing an order tonight. :)

Meanwhile...ever since I realized that there is an *active* ISO/Destash board on Ravelry, I've been lurking there, reading ever FS (For Sale) post and update! I seriously refresh the page every few minutes. I've already spent...$450...buying magazines, books, and yarns. I've also been buying elsewhere too....eBay, Mochimochi Land, Interweave Knits, Lacis, Amazon, StitchDiva, KnitPicks, and Kinokuniya.

Lucky for me, I've got a new weekend job as a receptionist. It pays surprisingly well at $15/hr for doing practically nothing. >_> I should be able to make back the money I spent on knitting the last 2 months by the end of July, assuming I don't buy any more. That prospect does not look good as only today I've spent $45, potentially becoming $75 tonight. The good news is that once the yarn starts arriving, I will be actively matching the yarn to prospective projects (which I have also been browsing through). I will also be digging through all my pre-existing stash to weed out all the stuff I want to get rid of. Some yarns I may be able to use after I think about it and come up with something (NOTE: consider for potential gifts, aka babies, birthdays, Christmas). Then perhaps I will be too preoccupied - by actually knitting - to buy more yarn.

Sahara Sleeves

2008-06-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

I originally planned to make Sahara with short sleeves. Since I'm using a wool/cotton blend and it's summer now, I figured I could make a nice top to wear. However, when I mentioned that to Lawrence, he complained that a short sleeved sweater in a bulky yarn would look weird! Although the yarn is worsted, not bulky, I admit it is bulky comparatively to a fingering weight yarn. I started to doubt myself and thought maybe it wouldn't work so well as a short sleeved sweater...maybe I'm just blinded as a knitter and because I look at knitted garments so much I don't realize that a short sleeved knitted sweater would look weird...? But dang, I want to be done with this thing! With short sleeves, I would have been done by now! I also wasn't sure if I even had enough yarn left!

Well, I checked and I had besides the 1 ball attached, I still have 3 skeins left. Considering I bought 9 balls total, I used 5 and a bit for the body of the sweater. Three skeins should definitely be enough for just the sleeves. Even though the yarn has cotton in it, it's also still half wool. Perhaps it wouldn't be as cool to wear in the summer as I imagined. It is also kind of bulky. I mean, it's not a tight fit. I didn't make it with much negative ease, if any at all. There may be some in the bust once I sew up the neckline, but that's fine. I feel like I should do that first, before I finish the sleeves just so it will look nice when I show it off.

Bleh...sleeves take too long cause the circumference is too small. I've had to pull out 2 loops of my circulars (as if I were using 3 dpns). It gets twisted too, so I have to alternate directions when I rotate. Oh, and also for some reason I thought the long-sleeved version was designed with bell sleeves! The pattern calls for knitting even all the way down after the upper arm decreases. Maybe it's the lace at the wrists make it flare out a bit? I'm thinking of increasing a little bit. Perhaps when I get to that point, I'll put it on waste yarn and start the other sleeve instead. That way I can look at it as a whole and get a better idea of how it will look. Or maybe I just shouldn't bother trying to modify the pattern... :P

Knitting Night

2008-06-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

Annette from our Rose City Knitters group messaged me through Ravelry the other day asking when if I'd be coming back to the weekly meetings soon...awww! :D I haven't been going since nearly the beginning of the year. At first it was because Lawrence's mom was living at our apartment and she has a thing against knitting - she thinks it's a waste of time, is hazardous to our health, and contributes to bad air quality in our apartment. She stayed with us for several months (as in, we couldn't get rid of her), and it was tough for me to ever get out of the house without being questioned over what I was doing.

Then, we moved to a new apartment last month and even though Lawrence's mom wasn't there anymore, every Tuesday it seemed like there was just something or other we got caught up in that made me miss knitting night - like unpacking, Bed Bath & Beyond shopping, and furniture shopping.

So finally, nothing this week and just as I was getting apprehensive about going (did they still meet? was there still anyone I knew who went? would they still even remember me?), Annette messaged me! I had a fun time and I look forward to going every week again. I met 2 people I hadn't seen there before, although we were missing several people who used to be there.

Some things I need to remember to bring next time: the Herbert Niebling patterns and my Japanese knitting/crochet books.

p3togtbl

2008-06-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

P3tog tbl, p3tbl, p3 sts tog tbl, purl 3 together through back loop...however you say it, this can be one nasty stitch to make. Lucky me, the Diamond Rib pattern in Sahara uses this stitch. K3togtbl, which was used in the diamond rib at the bottom hem was at least doable by slipping, knitting, then passing the slipped stitch(es) over. It took me a while to figure out how to easily do the p3togtbl, which is the same stitch from the other side. It was difficult to find information, but I did see a post mention a crochet hook being used.

1) Crochet Hook - The method I used was to stick the crochet hook through the stitches so the hook ends up where the point of my knitting needle would have been had I tried to purl through the back loops. This is the same direction the left hand needle is pointing, which is pointing to the right. After many awkward tries at it, I came up with a fairly quick system. Slip the 3 stitches off the left needle since it'll be nearly impossible to get the hook through the loops while they're on the needle. Take your crochet hook, and stick the butt end left through the loops. You don't have to bring your hook hook-first from left to right, if you stick the non-hook end from right to left, your hook still ends up in the correct orientation. Now, as if you were crocheting, wrap the yarn around the hook and pull through the 3 loops. Now you've got your final stitch coming out of the left and your working yarn coming out of the right. Flip the hook with the stitch around, clockwise as seen from above and put the stitch on the right needle. Similarly, move your working yarn clockwise, bringing it to the back for the following knit stitches.

2) Passing Over - I just realized there is probably a way to do this by passing stitches over. I haven't tried it yet, but my attempt at visualizing this would suggest the following: purl 1 stitch through the back loop. Slip this stitch back onto the left needle without twisting. Slip the next 2 stitches over the purled stitch. Slip back to the right needle. That might do it.

Sahara Progress

2008-06-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been a significant amount since my last post, but I'm just SO excited! :D It's my first top! I've started on the increases, but it will take just as long as the decreases (the circumference of the hip is made to be the same as the bust). I compared it with my waist, and I think the narrowest part *should* fall at my waist.

I am actually kind of torn over what to do about the bottom portion of the top. I could just follow the directions and trust in their measurements...or I could measure myself and modify the length and the rate of increases to try to get it to fall where I want. I can't wait to do the diamond lace edgings too! :D BTW, here's a link to the top:

Sahara

Fitted top

2008-06-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

I set out to knit myself a fitted top a few months ago. I was all excited about it and looking forward to making something out of Sensual Knits. I even ordered a bajillion balls of the fingering weight yarn, Palette, from KnitPicks. I started on the Demeter Camisole. Considering that it was in a fingering weight yarn, the same weight used for socks...I actually got pretty far before getting sidetracked. I got through all the decreases and am now at the point where the increases start. However, the pattern doesn't include any additional bust shaping, besides just the typical increases/decreases, so I wanted to add bust darts. I've never done it before, and I have to calculate the stitches based on my measurements.

As a result, I got lazy and ignored it. It's currently sitting in a bag somewhere in the apartment. However, just last week I read a thread about Sahara, from Stitchdiva.com, discussing it as an easily customizable top that allows room for the bust. The neckline is actually a knitted border added on to the top, and at the bust the 2 sides are seamed together. You can seam it up as high as you're comfortable, or keep it low if you want. You can make it in a sleeveless, short-sleeved, or long-sleeved version. Plus, the neckline makes a plunging 'V' that looks very flattering. It uses a worsted weight yarn which makes it work up a lot more quickly than fingering weight. I'm using the O-Wool Balance I bought from Organic Imaginings. One week in and I am over halfway through. I am just about ready to join the piece in the round, which happens near the waistline. It is currently at about 14" long, 8.5" away from the final length of 22.5". After that, the bottom is shaped for a shirt-tail hem. The sleeve stitches are picked up and knit (I'm making the short-sleeved version). The diamond rib neckline stitches are also picked up and knit. Finally, the center of the neckline is seamed together.

I would post pictures but I need a bigger memory card for my camera. :(

Time for another Reorganization

2008-05-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

I already went through and organized all my yarn by taking pictures and entering the data into my Ravelry stash. In the process I found a bunch of UFOs (un-finished objects) that I had forgotten about. I took the time to frog a few of them as well as work on some of them.

Frogged -
There was a crochet lace scarf from a Japanese pattern book that I was making out of Red Heart Symphony in Moss Green, a brushed acrylic yarn that looks like a very soft fuzzy mohair. That was a real pain to take apart because it was so easy to crochet through the fuzziness of the yarn.

I also frogged the bulky Clapotis, for which I used some Moda Dea Tweedle Dee in Cinnamon Twist. The pattern was made for a much thinner yarn and I didn't properly adjust the number of repeats for the bulky yarn. I also didn't remember where in the pattern I was because it had been so long since I last worked on it...so I just saved myself the trouble and frogged it.

Another item that got frogged was a pair of Endpaper Mitts. Well, actually it was only one of the mitts, but it was already half done. I decided I couldn't really live with the yellow yarn. It was too bright of a contrast with the red. I don't know if I'd ever make anything out of yellow yarn seeing as I don't look good in bright yellows. Maybe I'd use it for toys, but I don't really have any coordinating colors. I'm thinking of maybe over-dyeing it with some Kool-Aid.

In Progress -
I have an amigurumi elephant I never finished. I sewed the front legs on in the wrong place, so I never touched it. I was able to find the yarn ends and take the legs off, but I actually ended up unraveling part of a leg. I'll need to look at the instructions again before I re-sew it on. OH, and I just remembered another reason I never finished it. At the time I didn't have snap-on eyes. I thought I would just glue them on, so I sewed the head to the body. I'm going to have to take that apart to put eyes in.

I've still got an argyle golf club cozy to finish. There are wayyy too many ends on the thing. I kind of feel like frogging it and redoing it without the small lengths of yarn and just using the yarn while attached to the skeins. I could use the small frogged lengths on some sort of scrap blanket project.

Ela's scarf is still not done. By the time I finish it, he'll be back in Hawaii and will have no need for a scarf until next winter.

I started working on my Demeter Camisole again. I've just barely started the waist-to-bust increases, but this may go on hold because I want to put in bust shaping.

The Athenian scarf is waiting for me to feel in the mood for broomstick crochet again. I wish I didn't make it so wide.

The "My So-Called Scarf" made with Paton SWS needs more yarn. I don't know if I'll keep it in this scarf. It's a little too thick and spongy feeling. I was thinking about doing some felting with it. I have some SWS in a solid color that would match. I've also got 2 more balls in pinks/greens. Maybe that would make for some interesting contrasting stripes. My only problem with felting is that you have to knit a lot bigger than the actual size because it can shrink a lot!

On Hold -
The aran braid socks I'm working on using the KnitPicks Gossamer in Red Hat are currently on hold until I dig out another hank and wind it into a ball. I ran out of the first ball while working on the heel flap of the 2nd sock. That's pretty good for what amounts to about 220 yards of yarn. That means a pair of socks probably takes just a little bit more than 300 yards of fingering weight yarn.

The original aran braid socks I started several years ago will probably be frogged. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I don't have a plan for the sock I'll make with the self-striping yarn either.

I finished crocheting a pinwheel doily, but it needs to be starched and blocked.

The Butterfly Wrap needs to be washed & blocked before I can tie the ribbons.

I'm waiting on the purse handles before I finish up the Hawaiian Motif Purse. I also need to find a button to use for the closure, and some "purse bottom" material to keep the bottom stiff.

Socks made from Laceweight Yarn

2008-04-30T10:53:00.001-07:00

My first purchase from KnitPicks was pure impulse. I read about a sale, and visited the website for the first time. Actually it was also my first yarn purchase from an online yarn store (not counting Ebay). I was taken back by how *cheap* the yarn was! Granted, it was all laceweight yarn I was looking at. Still...$2-$4 for a hank...I totally splurged and bought 4 hanks each of 4 yarns [details here]. I bought for of Shadow in Campfire, which is kind of a brownish, earthy orange. I used over half of one hank of it to make a lace scarf for my mom. I bought 8 hanks of Gossamer in 2 colorways. Sunrise is a variegated light blue with light pink. Sounds and looks nice until you try to figure out wth you're actually going to make with it. Top Hat is a variegated yarn in red, black, purple, and various shades between. It looks beautiful, but as a lacy item...I don't know. The Alpaca Cloud looks really thin and is very soft. It looks beautiful and I still haven't decided on a project I'm willing to use it up on. I got it in a moss green that is a nice soft, muted green color. Here are pictures of the Gossamer variegated yarns.

Sunrise:

Top Hat:

So, while looking at wool/silk blend yarns I can buy to make a sweater out of, I was considering the cost effectiveness of buying a laceweight and doubling it up to get a fingering weight yarn. Somehow I realized that socks are made with fingering weight yarn, and I have a bunch of laceweight in variegated colors that I don't know what to do with. Also, variegated yarns are perfect for socks in ways they could never be perfect for any other garments. Thus, I gave it a try and started on a pair of socks using the Gossamer laceweight in the Top Hat colorway. I also figured that by doubling the yarn I'd be able to prevent any nasty pooling.

I just finished the first sock last night, and the results turned out rather nice. They're soft and they feel sturdy. The colors do not exactly pool either. They ended up striping...but in various ways. It seems like each section of the sock ended up with a different striping pattern. I don't have a picture of the completed sock, but here's a picture I took while the sock was in progress. By the way, the pattern I used was the one I used for my first sock attempt, Aran Braid Socks for Teri.

In the picture, you can see the there is a striping thing going on in the leg of the sock. There's a sort red-black-red stripe pattern going on with bits of purple in between. In hte back and forth portion of the heel, the stripe turned to black-red-purple, repeated. The gusset, being many more stitches around than the leg, created a thinner stripe pattern with a line of black alternating between the red-purples. As the circumference decreases for the foot, the striping returns to something more similar to the leg, but not quite as regular. In the leg, there were long stretches where both strands would be the same color...either red or black. In the foot, somehow the colors got offset enough that the same colors did not overlap together.

Overall the effect is not bad. I like it. I don't expect to be able to duplicate the striping patterns on the second sock. This did not take all that much yarn either. I still have a bunch left from the first hank. Assuming the yardage is accurate, this took less than 220 yards. It will be interesting to see how far the rest of the hank will take me into the second sock.

Yarn purchasing

2008-04-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

I admit, I just made a big purchase of yarn. I spent $100 at Organic Imaginings on some SWTC Pure, a 100% soysilk, and O~Wool Balance, an organic blend of 50% merino wool and 50% cotton fibers.

The store was offering a buy 2 get 1 free deal, along with a free t-shirt and free shipping on orders over $50.

LittleKnits is also having a sale on their Noro Kureyon at $4.68/ball or $42.50/bag of 10. I've been trying to decide all weekend whether or not to order a bag. I've really wanted to try knitting with it, since so many people rave about the beautiful colors. They're rather random and unpredictable. I don't typically like yarn in bright colors so I would typically avoid something like this. But, on LittleKnits, they have knitted up samples of the yarn. Based on those samples, I wouldn't mind getting some Noro Kureyon in colorways 150 & 172....but I can't decide which one. Also, I'd like to have an idea of what I would make with 1000 yards of a colorful stripy yarn. I may end up felting it.

Spring Cleaning

2008-04-21T10:06:00.001-07:00

Lawrence and I are moving to a new apartment in the middle of May. This time we want to get everything packed well before moving day. I'm taking this opportunity to finally photograph and catalog all my yarns. I've got two giant trash bags full photographed, uploaded to Flickr, and entered into my Ravelry stash.

Learn from my Mistakes

2008-04-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

1) Check for gauge. Even if it's not a garment. Even if it's a purse because you might end up with an over-large purse and not enough yarn.

2) Read the directions and know what materials you need (and bring them with you) if you're working on a project away from your supplies.

I was up to row 13 in the body part of the Hawaiian Motif purse. I decided to take compare the yardage & gauge of the Berkshire Bulky I'm using with the Karabella Aurora Bulky the pattern calls for. It turns out that I was getting 12.5 sts and 13 rows per 4" when the pattern gauge called for 17 sts and 19 rows per 4". That's a big difference, and would account for why I would have run out of yarn. My purse was turning out roughly 4" longer than it was supposed to, and to match the pattern purse's height, I would have had to stop at 23 rows for the body as opposed to the 35 rows called for in the pattern.

I decided to frog the whole thing and start over. For one, I'm using a hook size I when the pattern calls for a G. Maybe H would be doable, but an I hook is probably making the fabric too loose anyway. For another, even if I started adjusting the pattern for my gauge, I'd only be able to affect the height, and that would change the overall shape of the bag as well as probably still leave me short of yarn. Thus, it's rip rip I go! It makes me sad, but this is one of the things that knitting and crocheting teaches you. Sometimes you have to be able to distance yourself and start over for a better quality result.

I received my order of yarn from Knit Picks yesterday! I was so excited because then I could start all those cute tops from Sensual Knits. But then...I took forever trying to find my Addi ciriculars, the only circulars I have smaller than size 3. I have a regular Addi Turbo in size 0 and a Addi Turbo Lace in size 2. I tried the size 2 on a gauge swatch but it was coming out too big for the Pink Sundae Camisole. I tried the size 0 circulars and that ended up too tight. That means I need a size 1, which I do not have. So, I looked at the other patterns and decided to start on the Demeter Camisole, which took a looser gauge. It was already too late at night by then. This morning I wound the yarn for the camisole into a ball, grabbed my size 2 needles & the Sensual Knits book, and left for work. I take a look at the pattern and remember that it calls for a provisional cast-on. The only other yarn I have on me is my Berkshire Bulky. I have no other needles, just crochet hooks.

I guess I get to just sit on the train today.

Busy Weekend.

2008-04-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

For such a busy weekend I actually got a bit of stuff done. Well, not "completed" done, but progress nonetheless. I finished up the first ball of Patons SWS for my "My So-Called Scarf". I finished a couple more rows on that Athenian Scarf. I even finished 3 rounds of my star shaped blanket! Sure, that doesn't sound like much, but each of those rounds get progressively bigger and the blanket feels pretty big already.

Here are some pictures of these projects. They aren't the most recent, but better than nothing. :P

"My So-Called Scarf" using Patons SWS

Athenian Scarf in Bernat Alpaca Natural

Star-Shaped Blanket in Lion Brand Homespun

AND, as a bonus, here's a picture of my first lace project (started last year), completed and blocked. I gave it to my mom when I went home over the weekend.

OhEmGee, it's HERE!

2008-04-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

The yarn swift & ball winder I ordered off of eBay is here!!! :D

It's a Swedish, Glimakra yarn swift and a Japanese, Royal ball winder. I tried them out and they both work perfectly! This is now the perfect opportunity for me to organize my stash! I can convert all my hanks into cakes of yarn, and i can do that while playing WoW. :)

New projects out of old[ish] yarn

2008-04-03T10:55:00.001-07:00

It's so sad that as a crafting/knitting/crocheting blog, I have a distinct lack of photos. I even have a digital camera now....what can I say? Call me lazy, I guess. :P

Anyway, as my star blanket reached critical mass and became too large/bulky to carry around with me in my [new] purse, I started thinking about how to use up the yarn in my stash. Actually, I started out by looking at the patterns in my Queue and thought about what I could make with the yarns already in my stash.

Athenian Scarf in broomstick lace

I've been wanting to make something in broomstick lace, and even if I couldn't start the Hourglass Jacket, there was an Athenian Scarf that looked very nice and basic. To figure out a yarn for this scarf, I thought about the qualities of the original scarf that I liked. What was it that drew me to the scarf?

Bold stitch definition
The way the broomstick part crosses
Solid coloring

With this I could determine what yarns in my stash would be able to fulfill these qualities. I wouldn't use any of my laceweight yarn. I wouldn't use any variegated yarns either. I wouldn't use the fuzzy yarns. I also had to make sure I had enough to make a scarf with. In the end I decided to use my Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends in Peony (pink). I had 2 balls of this, in case I needed that much. Each ball is rather large to begin with, and the yarn is a bulky 2-ply. Although slightly fuzzy because the plies are loosely spun, it's got a very nice luster to it and has nice definition. The effect is slightly different from the original Athenian Scarf in which an 8-ply yarn was used (Debbie Bliss Cathay).

My only issue with the way it's turning out so far is that I would prefer the broomstick loop part to be a little more open. The holes seem a little too small right now, but I don't have a knitting needle large enough to achieve this. I may stop by Michael's today to pick one up. Alternatively, I could create my own "broomstick", loop holder thingy out of paper taped together to be stiff. I do have plenty of that lying around on my desk.

My So-Called Scarf, a slip-stitch pattern

I've wanted to create something that utilizes a slip-stitch based pattern. Slip-stitches show off variegated yarns beautifully, and they add texture and stitch definition while still looking refined. I could be pulling all of that out of my ass, but it sounds better than saying "slip-stitch purty!" It's actually a stitch pattern from a pattern book, repeated in scarf shape, but distributed by the people at the store, Imaginknit, in San Francisco. The pattern can now be found on their website at here.

Looking over everyone else's photos of this scarf on Ravelry, I came up with a few guidelines for myself regarding the yarn for this scarf.

Single ply
Shine factor (from silk, soy, bamboo, etc.)
Multi-colored (striping or variegated)

I decided on using my Paton SWS. Since I only have 1 ball of Natural Crimson left, I may turn that into a skinnier scarf. People seemed to typically use 2-3 balls of Paton SWS for their scarves. I may use my Natural Pink with this pattern as well, alternating the rows to create a sort of mixed up striping pattern.

Foot Fetishists

2008-04-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

There have been a few threads on Ravelry warning about the foot fetishists on Flickr who will favorite knitters' photos of their socks. Sometimes they will get invites to post their pictures to 'sock groups'. Apparently there is also an eBay market for used socks. I just did a search, and sure enough...they are all identified as "well worn" and come with plenty of pictures.

Hilarious to be sure, but what I wonder is how disturbed should I be? I mean, do these people just like to look at these pictures because they think they're pretty? Do they actually get off on this stuff, or is it merely a visual aid to stimulate their imagination? WTH do they do with used socks and hose?

Tightening purls

2008-03-31T13:49:00.001-07:00

While working on the lace party scarf, I noticed after I switched to continental that my purled rows were looser than the knit rows. I didn't bother looking up and experimenting with various techniques so it's a good thing that today I saw a thread on Ravelry where someone else was having the same problem. Suggestions include using interchangeable circulars and using a smaller needle on the purl row; tightening the tension for the purl row; knitting backwards instead of purling; use combination knitting by wrapping the yarn the wrong way on purls and knitting into the back loop on knits.

Combination knitting sounds like it might get confusing in a complicated pattern...but then again...it probably wouldn't be that much more difficult. All you would have to do is look at the legs and make sure you always knit/purl into the front leg.

Knitting backwards is something I still want to learn to do proficiently.

Star Blanket

2008-03-30T11:41:00.001-07:00

This is my first stashbusting project. I'm making the Chromium Star Blanket out of my various skeins of Lion Brand Homespun. It's crocheted so it's slightly annoying because the texture of the yarn makes it difficult to see stitches. This star is already turning out totally cute so I'm feeling good about how this is going to turn out. Plus, 3 out of 3 people I asked like this blanket over the other ones I was considering.

3/31/08 update: Here's a pic of my star blanket so far!! :D

Stash busting project ideas

2008-03-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to make any clothing items because most of the yarn I have stashed is not so great for wearing. It's cheap big box store stuff, and I don't have enough of any one nicer yarn to make a garment. So, the alternative then is to make home decorative items. I don't know why but I've been feeling big on home decor lately. A while ago I bought the book, Simple Sewing (by Lotta Jansdotter) because I liked the simplistic, contemporary style of the designs and fabrics in it. Even if I don't specifically use the patterns, it's a good source of inspiration. I'm actually planning to make the wall hanging pocket organizer. However, that means I need to actually buy some cloth, so it won't really be conducive to reducing my stash.

While using the Ravelry pattern browser, I came up with a few good ideas for potential projects. The problem is that it needs to be something on the large side, but should not be in only 1-2 colors. First of all, because I probably don't have enough of any one color to make a large project with, second some of the yarns I have would not look good by themselves. For example, I have several skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in a solid forest green. I have a couple skeins in a heathered teal. I think there's more in a lighter heathered color too.

While the yarns in my stash come in many colors, I did not consider coordination when choosing colors. Thus, a lot of the yarns would not really go together well in many instances. Luckily, while looking at patterns I saw some creative color solutions.

In terms of project types, I looked mostly at blankets/afghans, rugs, & pillows. Quilt-inspired patterns seem to provide the best color combination solutions. Examples would be log cabin-style blankets, modern deco-style blankets, and various geometric pattern repetitions. Although I did not specifically find a plaid design I liked, I saw one that inspired me to use the Tartan Designer web tool to design my own plaid considering my color and yardage limitations. I would get a rough idea of how the resulting color combinations would look before I even cast on!

Busting through the Stash

2008-03-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

Using up the yarn in my stash is something I need to do before I can seriously justify buying more things. I'm looking for ideas on Ravelry. I would do something like use extra large needles and knit a bulky blanket with multiple strands....but I think the end result would drive Lawrence batty. He'd toss it out before I'd get a chance to use it. I'm not sure I want to do a project where I'm not sure I'd have enough yarn...but that may be my only opportunity to create something worth keeping.

Nearly completed socks & Scarf (finally)

2008-03-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

Last night I went out with Lawrence to a cafe where he and his cousins played cards together. While they played cards, I finished up my Zephyr socks, painstakingly undoing the plies and weaving each ply in separately. Thats 3 strands x 2 ends x 2 socks = 12 ends to weave in. At least....they're done! They do still need to be soaked & blocked for better photos, but that should be easy.

I was also able to do many more rows of the party lace scarf, my first attempt at lace. Then I figured it was long enough and I bound it off. It definitely needs to be blocked. I'm not sure whether to do it before or after blocking, but I was also going to thread some orange seed beads on orange sewing thread and weave it in. Then, I can save it for Christmas to give to my mom. >:)

Knitting Rewards as Incentives

2008-03-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

I just read about the idea on Ravelry. You set a goal for yourself, and every time you get a step further to that goal, you reward yourself with some yarn. I think that's an awesome idea! I've got so many projects I want to start up, but I already have so much yarn. In the mean time I can bust what I have. Right now I'm trying to lose weight, so maybe at each milestone (10 lbs lost?) I can reward myself with enough yarn for a big project!

I started at 170 lbs....ugh. I am currently hovering around 166 lbs since starting the "Biggest Loser" contest at my work. When I reach 160 lbs. I can invest in a swift & winder system, be that an actual swift & winder or a K'Nex/TinkerToys set. At 150 lbs., I'll go all out and indulge myself in some nice yarn for a sweater. I don't know if I can bring myself to spend over $100 on one sweater, but it will be tempting. Oh, what the hell. What kind of reward would it be if I limit myself?? Some Tilli Tomas for the Silken Cowl Tank, or the Hourglass Jacket would be absolutely gorgeous. Since I've got so much stuff, I could make it also an alternative goal to sell it. Once I sell $100's worth, I'll let myself spend money on yarn for a sweater.

Queue

2008-03-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

With so many things in my queue, so many different yarns I need to make these, and so many yarns already in my stash...I think I need to write up some software to match the 2 together. Lawrence was saying I should probably get rid of some of my yarn before I go out and buy a whole bunch more. He's right, I know. So much of the yarn I have was impulsively bought and there isn't enough of any one of them to do a large project. I need some stash busting ideas too. I think Ravelry has some groups where I can look for stash busting projects! Eh, that means I'll need to probably go buy another set of large knitting needles.

- Deep V Argyle Vest
- Endpaper Mitts
- Giselle
- Hourglass Jacket
- DNA model
- FSM plush
- WoW-themed, horde symbol? BElf swirls?
- Dahlia
- Celestine
- Rambling Rose Jacket
- Lace
-- Scheherazade
-- Hanami Stole
-- Heere be Dragone
- from Sensual Knits
-- Vixen Camisole
-- Demeter Camisole
-- Pink Sundae Camisole
-- Silken Cowl Tank
-- Lace Panel Twin Set
-- Sayuri Sweater
-- Transparency Sweater
-- Multicplicity Sweater
-- Silky Neglige

Hourglass Jacket

2008-03-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

It's out! The Hourglass Jacket is a fitted jacket made using broomstick crochet, a crochet lace technique that uses a 'broomstick' (or super large knitting needle) and a crochet hook to make these cool looking open loops. I must add this to my 'to make' list. Maybe it can be a stash busting project.

http://www.stitchdiva.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SDS-044

(image from the StitchDiva website, it's not mine)

Reorganization

2008-03-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

It feels like it's time again to get organized!

Budget:
- Yarn swift
- Ball winder
- Kitchen scale
- Yarn for new projects (sweaters)
- Books: Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters
- Hairpin crochet lace tools
- giant needles (for large-sized knitting & broomstick crochet)
- floor mats for blocking
- giant hooks (for large-sized crocheting of blankets)

Tools:
- Categorize stash yarns
- Organize tools
- Make a needle holder pouch
- Add yarn photos on Ravelry
- Update needle information on Ravelry

Projects:
- Scarf/belt holder (crochet with yarn around brass rings)
- Blue bunny slippers for Cameron
- Hemlock Ring blanket (finish putting in life line and rip back to fix mistake, finish more rounds, and then bind off)
- Frog & re-knit Vogon socks
- Finish 2nd Zephyr sock
- Finish bulky Clapotis
- Finish 1 Womb
- Finish Ela's scarf

Future:
- Sayuri Sweater
- Deep V Argyle Vest
- Endpaper Mitts
- Pink Sundae Camisole
- DNA model
- FSM plush
- WoW-themed, horde symbol? BElf swirls?

Broomstick Lace (Crochet)

2008-03-07T14:24:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to try this technique. There are some awesome patterns and instructions on the Stitch Diva website including a new pattern for a great looking broomstick lace top that's coming out soon.

Hemlock Ring Blanket progress

2008-03-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

After going through 3 (4?) balls of Nashua Creative Focus Worsted, I was ready to bind off. Unfortunately I didn't have enough yarn left at the end of the last repeat...I only got to bind off 1/8 of the way around. The blanket was then put on hold as I needed to obtain another ball of the yarn. I finally had the chance to go to Unwind in Burbank and I bought the yarn (along with the Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome and the latest Interweave Knits).

I spit-spliced the yarn ends together (wow that stuff works). However, part of the way through the round, my count was off. The feather and fan pattern that is the outside of the doily pattern is basically a single round of YOs, K2togs, and SSKs followed by 4 rounds of straight knitting. I match the increases and decreases with the previous round of increases/decreases. That is, the point at which the left-leaning & right-leaning decreases meet should line up for every round of increases/decreases for the pattern to come out radially symmetrical. So, looking more closely, I noticed I made a mistake several rounds down in the last round of increases/decreases.

I haven't hashed out what needs to be done to fix the mistake, so I have yet again put the blanket on hold while I have easier, quicker, more portable projects to finish (socks). However, I may actually pick it up again this weekend. On the Zephy socks I made a mistake that I did not find until several rounds after the fact. It involved a YO, and I was able to drop the stitches and knit it back up (not even with a crochet hook) and I fixed it no problem. Given that the Zephyr socks contain many rounds of moving YOs and decreases, the blanket should be cake, right? :D

Socks!

2008-03-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

I've been on a sock knitting binge ever since that first pair of Hedera socks. I can totally understand the craze over sock knitting now.

You can't stop at just one pair of socks, you've got to have several pairs of socks (with the ultimately goal of course of replacing all your mass-produced socks)
Sock yarns come in SO many different beautiful colors and patterns. You've got plain solids, semi-solids, gradiented (slow color changes), variegated (jumbled colors), self-striping, self-patterning, brights, darks, contrasting colors, harmonizing colors.
They're small and portable from start to finish. Even with 2 socks at once, it's a perfect project to carry everywhere. I even worked on them while walking.
So many variations in techniques. You can do them on double-pointed needles, 2 circular needles, or 1 long circular (Magic Loop). You can do them one at a time, 2 at a time side-by-side, or 2 at a time one-inside-the -other. You can knit them from the cuff down or from the toe up. There's various techniques for shaping the toes, the heel, the gusset.
They can also incorporate various other knitting techniques like lace, cables, entrelac, & colorwork.
You can shape them to fit your feet, and once you've done enough you should be familiar with how to size them for your feet. They knit up much faster than a sweater too, so there's not so much to lose by experimenting.

These are the Hedera socks made with Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. They may be a tad tight on my feet because they were knit on size 0 circulars. These socks were knit from the cuff down, and ended up being a good size for my feet. I was afraid of not having enough yarn so I made the leg short than the pattern called for. I ended up having a bunch of yarn left over.

These next socks are 'Vog On socks. These were made with Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK on size 2 needles. The pattern came with instructions for both cuff down and toe up versions, so I went ahead and did the toe up version. I also did these 2 at a time on one circular. Unfortunately, these ended up being too big for my feet! Since I worked on these at work and while walking, by the time I realized they were too big, I was already done with the heel and did not want to bother frogging back. There's probably a good inch in the length of the foot that could be taken off for it to properly fit my foot. They fit Lawrence's size 11 feet perfectly. Too bad wool irritates his skin.

This next photo is of the Zephyr Socks that I'm working on. This is using Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome on size 2 circulars. I'm doing it only 1 sock at a time and it's cuff down, as you can tell by the picture. Sockittome has nylon in it, unlike the Supersock which is 100% merino wool. I can already tell that I should have used a stretchier cast-on. Instead of 4 pattern repeats for the leg portion, I only made 3 repeats so the top of the sock doesn't have to ride too far up my thick calves.

I think most people block their socks, but I haven't bothered for any of mine. I don't want to spend to much on sock blockers so I'll probably look up a way to make my own. I remember seeing instructions on how to bend wire hangers into the right shape. These socks feel rather loose, but maybe having nylon fiber will help keep them more durable. We shall see. Other things on my to-get list include wool wash so I can properly wash these socks and sandals so I can wear these socks at home without worrying about wearing holes in them.

Hat Attack starts!

2008-02-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

Aaaand, the pattern is out, let the madness begin! :D

Hat Attack starts tomorrow!

2008-02-08T11:06:00.001-08:00

Between 9am-10am EST Saturday morning, the pattern for Hat Attack will be released! It's a game based on Sock Wars, which itself was based on the popular Assassin game.

Once the pattern is revealed, hundreds of knitters will start knitting a hat to mail to their assigned targets. You finish the hat and mail it to your target as quickly as you can. Once you kill them, they send you the hat they were working on so you can assassinate their target. On and on it goes until either you get killed by a hat someone knit for you, or you are the last one standing. >:]

They've released the yarn & gauge used for the designed hat. I still need to swatch the yarn I want to use to try to get gauge. Someone had the good idea of casting on at least 60 stitches to avoid that painful first step. Hm, but what if it's knit from the center out? I don't know if hats are usually knit one way or the other as I've never knitted any before. The pattern will have cables, and there's a multi-colored option. I have a nice pink yarn to match the Patons SWS in Natural Crimson, in case I'm feeling adventurous. Then again, cables...are not exactly my forte in terms of speed. Some people can do them without a cable needle, but I feel like my stitches are never stretchy enough for that. Even with a cable needle, it gets pretty tight. I'm pretty sure that if I tried to just leave the stitches loose while cabling, I'll have a mess of dropped stitches.

project hearts

2008-01-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

There was a thread on Ravelry about feeling sad when one of the little hearts next to the projects (signifying someone marked your project as a "favorite") disappeared. I was really happy when I got my first heart, and I just checked today to see that I had several more on several different projects! That gives me the warm fuzzies inside, especially seeing that they're all from different people, heeheeeee. :D

Starting over: Socks; Starting anew: Purses

2008-01-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

In my first knitting phase, about 2 years ago, I started knitting socks on DPNs. I don't have the label for the ball of yarn I was using but I think it might be Regia. It was a busy pattern, with criss-crossing cables on all sides. I only finished about 4" of the leg and it was left in a bag, unfinished. After making those big bulky socks for my grandpa, and actually knitting a heel & gusset, I felt more confident in tackling the techniques on "real" socks in fingering/sock weight yarn.

Skip now to last weekend, when I went over to my aunt's house. I brought her the cat sweater I finished and she absolutely adored it. We took the cat and attempted to put the sweater on. I actually thought it wasn't going to happen, but the cat didn't really seem to mind too much. The only thing was when she tried to walk, her legs pulled up inside the sleeves and she tripped and rolled over on the ground, hahaha. It was really funny to watch but we took the sweater off of her after seeing that. In being afraid of making the sweater too tight, I ended up making it way too loose in the body, and also too long and loose in the sleeves.

So my aunt had been toying with the idea of learning to knit since the first time we went to visit her LYS. That night, I suggested it again and she said she would totally want to make a purse. She doesn't wear scarves and she finds yarns too scratchy for her skin, but would so totally use a cute purse! I took her on Ravelry and started showing her project photos. She ended up really liking the purses from Noni Design's Spring 2007 collection. Unfortunately the yarn store didn't carry any of the patterns, and we didn't want to wait for the pattern. Instead, we found another purse, the Hawaiian Motif Crochet Handbag found on Nexstitch.com. The next step is now finding the yarn. Each bag needs 5 skeins of Karabella Aurora Bulky, which costs $7.50-$8.50/skein. Plus, it needs a ball each of 3 other colors of Karabella Aurora 8. That adds up to a lot for 2 purses. I asked on Ravelry for a bunch of suggestions, but some of the alternatives cost just as much. Either I go with the original suggested yarn or substitute something from KnitPicks, which will cost half as much.

At the LYS, although we didn't find the pattern we wanted, I ended up buying some sock yarn from Cherry Tree Hill! I've seen that brand on the forums and figured I'd give it a try. I got a skein of fingering weight and a skein of DK weight. I also bought a set of Addi Turbo size 1 circular needles and decided very suddenly to make Cookie A.'s Hedera, found on Knitty.

I've got a cameraaa!

2008-01-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

Lawrence got me a Canon PowerShot digital camera for Christmas! :D Yay! I can now take pictures of my projects without having to go to him for his Nikon! I still have a problem...the default memory card that comes with the camera is way too small. It only fits like...8 pictures.

I've ignored my blog for the past month because of the holiday season. It's nice to not be in so much of a rush anymore, and even though so many people say that they learned to not craft Christmas gifts....I guess it takes living through the hell to really learn the lesson. I stayed up (almost) all night and worked all day to finish gifts. Even then, I have some that I haven't completely finished:

1 baby duck and a mommy duck (lily's sugar'n cream)
crochet striped scarf (vanna's choice)
bunny slippers (bernat cashmere/moda dea dream)
argyle golf cozy (red heart)
scarf for philip

I admit I've been putting off some of these. The ducks because I don't like sewing pieces together. The crochet striped scarf because I've actually already finished it (I had to give it away for the Christmas gift exchange and I now need to make a replacement). The bunny slippers because I need more Moda Dea Dream yarn. The golf cozy because I used too many loose pieces of yarn and I'm going to have a hell of a time weaving the ends in. Philip's scarf because it's a scarf and scarves are evil and long and can get really boring.

I also have a bunch of projects that are not gifts, but are still works in progress:

hemlock ring blanket
clapotis
amigurumi elephant
womb
lace party scarf
butterfly wrap

The hemlock ring blanket is getting closer to completion. I am on round 93 (out of 121) and there are 440 stitches per round (600 by the 121st round). The clapotis I'm still not sure how long to make it. I'm not sure if I have enough of the yarn either. I'll get around to it again I'm sure. The amigurumi elephant I've been avoiding because the head & body are already sewn together and I will need to take them apart to get the safety eyes in the head. Or, I could just hot glue them while sticking them in. Even then, I probably have to take apart the legs because I put them in the wrong position. The womb just needs the pipe cleaners and stuffing. The lace party scarf is getting near the ideal length...maybe another 6-12 inches. The butterfly wrap still needs to be blocked and needs the ribbons to be properly tied. I also need to find some occasion to actually wear it.

Lawrence said he wouldn't mind giving me $200 for me to buy yarn. I don't remember the context that caused him to say it and I hope he means he would give me $200 to buy $200-worth of yarn if I wanted to. Actually I'm thinking I should buy a swift & ball winder.

Doh, still no pictures

2007-12-14T14:19:00.001-08:00

Lawrence left the camera at work yesterday...tonight I'm going to my parents' place. Bleh. I did finish the bulky socks, so that's pretty cool. I'm going to give them to my grandpa tonight instead of waiting for Christmas. I've started a pair of Dashings for my brother, which I had to frog and re-knit because I did NOT check the gauge (bad!). I started crocheting baby ducky parts for the duck amigurumi. I really don't like working with the pure cotton. The non-stretchiness is tough on my hands and the fiber splits really easily so it's hard on my eyes too.

My list of things to finish:

puffy slouchy hat (tweedle dee cinnamon twist)
dashings (nashua creative focus) - 25%
3 baby ducks and a mommy duck (lily's sugar'n cream) - 10%
triforce scarf (vanna's choice) - 40%
crochet striped scarf (vanna's choice)
bunny slippers (bernat cashmere/moda dea dream)
shrug (black shimmer snowflake chunky)
argyle golf cozy (red heart)
baby booties (bernat be mine)
basketball (orange yarn)
amigurumi/fetching

Wow, that's still quite a bit. Most of these aren't difficult...just time consuming.

Procrastinated knitting

2007-12-12T09:25:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I didn't get the 2nd sock done, but I did finish the first sock. I didn't get to go to Joann's because Lawrence was being neurotic over this minuscule rattling noise coming from the door of his car. I was working on the Hemlock Ring Blanket, however. I think it's like finals stress....when I have something I should be doing, aka Christmas knitting, I find a million other things to occupy me instead.

I finished putting together the wreath and we hung it on the door last night. It's pretty awesome...but we still need a nail to hang up the other piece above the door (I think it's called swag...). :D I can't wait to get a picture up!! Perhaps tonight...

2 weeks left...

2007-12-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

What am I doing starting a Hemlock Ring Blanket (modified from a doily pattern by jared of brooklyntweed)?

I started the socks for my grandpa. It's pretty awesome for my first real attempt at a sock. I'm doubling the Tweedle Dee, so it's knitting up super-chunky at 3 stitches/inch. Unfortunately I didn't have enough yarn. I had to get some more from Michael's last night (they only charged me $1.50 because the ball band was missing!). I can see myself finishing it up fairly quickly...I may even be able to get the 2nd sock done tonight at Zephyr.

Saturday I made a slouchy hat in blue Dolcetto. I gave it to Peggy to try. If she likes it and will wear it, I'll make her another one so she can give that one to her sister. If not, she can just give it to her sister and I'll make her something else - like the argyle dog sweater she sent me a picture of. :) I've learned my lesson from last time and will do it flat.

Yesterday at the Subaru dealership I was able to finish several more inches of the Triforce scarf while waiting for Lawrence's car to get tuned. It may be about half done now.

Christmas Wreath

2007-12-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

I got the urge to make a Christmas wreath this weekend. Lawrence and I went to Michael's last night for wreath-making supplies. This was spurred on partially because my apartment complex is having a door decorating contest. First place for best door decorations gets $350!!! :D I'm going to have the most awesome door in the building...

Spindle!

2007-12-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

Lawrence drove me to Stick and Stone in Van Nuys on Wednesday and I bought a spindle! :D It's a Hi-Lo spindle, suitable for use as both a top-whorl and bottom-whorl. It's the only beginner spindle they had in stock, but they also had a 20% off sale going on so I bought some nice soft alpaca roving.

Attempts at Argyle

2007-12-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

So, the argyle golf club cozies I'm making...yeah...um, they may take a little longer than I thought. I thought the 6.5 inches of 1x1 ribbing on size 5 needles would be the tough part! The colorwork is harder than I originally thought it would be, and I think that's particularly because it's argyle. There are places with several color switches, there are big blocks of color. Plus, it's in the round. The instructions specified to knit it flat and then seam up the side. I don't like seeming, I have all these nice shiny new circulars, so I thought I'd be clever and knit it in the round.

Fast forward to the argyle. I didn't realize color working technique would be an issue, and I certainly didn't think it would be that much more difficult in the round. I figured...well ok I'll just carry the yarn in the back and use it when I come to a color I need it for. I think that's called stranding, and is usually used with fair isle where you are constantly alternating between 2 colors. Problem is I was working with 3 colors, and some places I use one color every 15 spaces or so. That leaves a long loose strand hanging in the back. You have to leave enough slack to not distort the fabric. Even if you do that, your fabric can't stretch beyond the length of that strand, and you can't make it too loose or else the stitches will be loose on the front side, and the loops on the back may get caught on things. I did this for 2 rounds before I realized this was a problem. Maybe it's not so bad flat, but doing this using Magic Loop for a round item, I wasn't leaving enough slack at the turn, and my cozy was going to be permanently nipped in on 2 sides.

Okay, so that doesn't work and I tink back. I look up information and they say you usually use intarsia for argyle color work. No problem, I'll cut up my yarn and make bobbins even though I was trying to avoid doing that. I go for another 2 rounds and I'm all proud of myself for understanding the yarn twist at the color changes before I realize I'm running into a problem similar to the fair isle where the yarn is being stranded in the back. I finish series of stitches in a color, and since I'm working in the round, the next time I get to that section the yarn is on the far end and I need to pull it across the back so I can use the color on the beginning. That didn't seem right. I research some more and apparently intarsia is not meant for things worked in the round! When you knit flat, the yarn is in the correct place when you go backwards on the flip side.

Luckily there are a lot of websites and blogs that have dealt with this issue. They usually involve wrapping the yarn when you reach the beginning of the round, and then reversing your knitting and knitting along the back side. Apparently learning to knit backwards is awesome for this purpose (Knitty has an article on this).

Like an overexcited puppy

2007-12-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

That's what I feel like whenever I go into a yarn store, or even the yarn section of a craft store. My heart rate goes up, my eyes get big, and my mind goes blank. I can't for the life of me remember what I need to buy. I can only recall a few things at a time and then hope that I covered all the bases.

When I was a kid, this used to happen every time I walked into the library.

Last night I went to Michael's before heading over to Zephyr. I bought 5 skeins of Red Heart (ok, one of them was Caron) acrylic yarn. Plain ol' Red Heart Super Saver - stuff that I swore to myself I'd never touch again. I'm using it to make the golf cozies. Even though the pattern calls for Malabrigo wool, I can't bring myself to use wool. Since the golf cozies go over the part of the golf club that contacts the grass, I assume the golf cozy will get dirty and need to be washed. Now who wants to hand wash golf cozies?

I may need to buy some more Tweedle Dee for various projects. I also still need to buy yarn suitable for Fetchings for my brother and maybe my cousin. I may also pick up some nice yarn for my aunts.

Faster than I thought

2007-12-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

That double-knit (in the round) stockinette triforce scarf is coming along faster than I thought it would. It IS just knit stitches, since it's in the round. It is truly mindless knitting. I got it up to 11 inches last night while watching Tin Man. I also started the first Fetching in Tweedle Dee Blackberry to match my puffy hat. Right now, it just needs the thumb to be finished and I'll be able to start the second one. I had to modify the pattern a bit because the pattern is for worsted and I'm using a bulky yarn.

Using size 13 circular needles, I had a gauge of 3 stitches/4 rows = 1 x 1 inches.
1) CO 25 sts using cable cast on.
2) 4x1 rib for 3 rounds
3) cables for 1 round
4) 4x1 rib for 4 rounds
5) cables for 1 round
6) 4x1 rib for 10 rounds
7) k4 with waste yarn, re-knit with working yarn, finish round in 4x1 rib
8) 4x1 rib for 3 rounds
9) cables for 1 round
10) 4x1 rib for 3 rounds
11) picot bind-off
12) pick up 3 sts above waste yarn, 4 sts below, plus 1 additional at each end of the opening so you have 4 sts + 5sts on your needles
13) k 3 rounds & then BO loosely

This morning I chatted with the lady who sat next to me on the train. She was a librarian who crochets and sews. She likes reading science fiction and fantasy, and sews costumes. That was pretty cool! I need more interesting people like that to start talking to me on the train. None of that "oh, i'd never have the patience to do that, blah blah blah" stuff.

I'm going to go to Michael's tonight to pick up more yarn. I wish I could go to JoAnn's to see if they have the Debbie Mumm stuff in stock but the bus going up Lake doesn't come that often and I need to make it to Zephyr by 7:30pm for knitting. Well, I suppose I don't have to make it exactly at 7:30, so I'll see what I feel like when I actually get there.

I need:

firm orange yarn, not too soft but good for plushy basketball
yarn for fetching for bro
cheap acrylics for golf cozies - white, purple, blue, green, red, varying shades
blue cashmere?
honey vanna's choice
baby yarn for amigurumi
yellow Sugar'n Cream cotton

Will I finish in time??

2007-12-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

I didn't spend my Saturday knitting/crocheting as much as I would have liked. I did play WoW and my Ravelry-guilded hunter is now level 19.

This weekend I finished the cat sweater, and it cracked me up so much as I was making it because it's just the most ridiculous thing. I'm glad it didn't take too long, just in case the cat won't let us put it on her. I also finished sewing together one baby duck.

I need more Vanna's Choice yarn for the flower scarf. I think I'll just be perpetually buying the red or yellow as I run out of one and then the other every time I make this scarf.

I've been trying to decide which yarn I should use for the bunny slippers. I'm thinking maybe the Bernat Alpaca. I decided to use my second ball of Tweedle Dee Blackberry to make the socks for my grandpa. The baby booties, using the $2 ball of Patons Be Mine my mom found, are now on the needles (KnitPicks Options, hell yeah).

The triforce scarf is in progress, this is my biggest worry because I decided to knit this tubularly. It's going to be around 60 inches of tubular stockinette fun. I don't know how long it will take. I have about 4 inches done from last night and this morning's commute. That may be about 1.5-2 hours-worth of knitting. That means I may need 30 hours to finish within 3 weeks. Piece of cake! Right? Right?? :( I dunno...we'll see. It is going faster than I expected it to. I attribute that to my switching over to continental knitting. The yarn isn't helping, though. The Vanna's Choice isn't really stretchy with my knitting (maybe my needles are too small) and I have to readjust and tug often, slowing my knitting down a lot.

Looking at my list, it's so obvious why knitters have such large stashes.

crocheted basketball plushy (need yarn)
fetching (for bro, haven't decided on yarn)
golf club cozies (need yarn - cheap acrylics)
gray/blue bunny slippers (have yarn, not started yet)
triforce scarf (in progress)
bulky socks (have yarn, not started yet)
flower scarf (on hold pending more yarn)
basic booties (in progress)
soft amigurumi for baby (need yarn)
amigurumi (need 2 more babies & 1 mommy, need more yarn)
slouchy hats (for 3 friends, pending yarn)

Other Photos

2007-12-01T23:21:00.000-08:00

Ok, I guess it just felt like I had a lot of pictures. There aren't really that many new finished projects.

Mommy Duck from Anapaulaoli's Mommy Duck & Baby Duck pattern
Lily's Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn - yellow & orange
polyester filling, black snap on eyes

Saartje's Bootees
Bernat Satin Sport Solids in Aran and Wine, buttons from JoAnn's
- nice spare booties for last minute baby gifts, probably going to my erhu teacher, Karen Han

Ela's Scarf (finished at last)
Vanna's Choice in chocolate, olive, & honey
- doesn't look that much different from the last picture of it I put up. There's more brown...but it IS done and being shipped to its recipient this week.

Parade of Photos

2007-12-01T23:07:00.000-08:00

And so it starts. I shall separate them into groups. Here are the pretty puff slouchy hats (I must've posted it a few times already, but for consistency's sake, pattern here).

Slouch Hat #1
JoAnn Sensations Bellezzo Collection Dolcetto in Dolcetto Blue

Slouchy Hat #2
Moda Dea Tweedle Dee in Blackberry

Slouchy Hat #3
JoAnn Sensations Bellezzo Collection Dolcetto in Dolcetto Yellow

Sorry the angle on these pictures is so boring and repetitive...but I suppose this is the only way Lawrence sees me since he's 9 inches taller than me. Can you tell I like this hat? :) Someone on Ravelry was able to find me some more balls of the blue Dolcetto at her local JoAnn's, so I will be making at least one more hat in the blue. One goes to JoJo and the other to Ally. I would make one for Peggy but she never puts her hair down. I think I will make one in a darker color for Becky.

Domo-kun Pillow

2007-12-01T22:44:00.001-08:00

This is the Domo-kun pillow I made for my brother for his birthday. It's made of fleece, sewn together using a sewing machine (Simplicity Creative Spirit), stuffed with polyester filling, and its facial features are pieces of felt glued on with a hot glue gun. I think I did a pretty good job. Lawrence said I it needs arms and legs. Perhaps I'll try that on version 2.0, but a rectangular block is good enough for me on my first attempt at a sewn plushy.

knitting marathon

2007-11-30T16:13:00.000-08:00

I find myself not really getting my knitting done on weekends because I've started playing WoW more. Well, December is now upon us and I've still got gifts to finish. It's crunch time and I was considering going to Starbucks, Borders, or some other cozy place with coffee and pastries for a Christmas knitting marathon! The Urban Craft Center is having a crafting event tonight, but Santa Monica is a bit far for me at night.

Then again it may be nicer to sit at home. I'll sit myself down in front of the computer and watch some TV series or movies (www.youtube.com/www.crunchyroll.com), and practice the skill of knitting without looking. At least it'll be warm. My fingers are freezing right now.

the AntiCraft

2007-11-30T09:56:00.000-08:00

The AntiCraft is a crafting e-zine that comes out quarterly. It focuses mostly on knitting patterns but has things like cooking recipes and pumpkin carving instructions that I've seen in the latest issue. I found a link to it on Ravelry through a pattern for a knitted condom. Just looking through their archives, I found a pattern for a knitted snatchel (ha ha) and some wire beaded nipple pasties. Heh, this is probably not safe for work so I'll browse more at home.

OMG, YES!

2007-11-29T17:55:00.000-08:00

I got my package, yayyyyy! The Scooba my bro and I are getting our parents for Christmas arrived too. :D Time to play!

Prioritization

2007-11-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, in the interest of getting Christmas gifts done I've decided to prioritize new projects into a list. Not that I'll even follow it... :) But it's always good to have these ideas tucked away for future reference.

gray bunny slippers
triforce scarf
bulky socks
flower scarf
cat sweater
basic booties
soft amigurumi for baby
amigurumi (at least several ducks for coworkers, friends, family, & emergencies)
slouchy hats (for 2 friends)

Note: lace scarf for my mom will probably be relegated to non-occasion fit status because my bro wants to team up with me to get them a Roomba, which I am totally up for. Those things are hella cute! BTW, I've noticed that I started saying "hella" again; no clue why. Need 2 knitting related things (shawls/yarn/hand-dyed) for 2 aunts who knit.

I have more pictures on the way, as soon as I get them from Lawrence.

ack, NO!

2007-11-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

I missed it again! When I got to the leasing office, it was closed and there was no one inside. It was about 5 minutes past 6pm! If I got on the train just one train earlier I would have got my package...now I have to wait for tomorrow... That means no cool new projects for me tonight. :( I might finish a few though.

Amigurumi make for quick cute presents indeed

2007-11-28T16:07:00.000-08:00

The first mommy duck needs to be stuffed & sewn together. The first baby duck just needs its head and then it's ready for stuffing & sewing. That'll be 2 down and 3 more to go! ;) I could have this finished by the end of the week! Or maybe not. I need to leave work earlier today so I can pick up my KnitPicks package. That means I can start knitting more things!

A few items from my Ravelry queue and Christmas gift list that I want to start on:

the Peripatetic Knitter's Bag
the Juno Regina Stole from Knitty
a sweater that cats love
a large, fancy, complicated lace stole/shawl like this, this, this, this, or this.
socks
a Zelda-inspired triforce scarf (for my cousin)
slippers (for my grandpa)
gray bunny slippers (for my cousin-in-law)

BTW, yesterday night I stopped by Vons on my way home and picked up several packets of Kool-Aid in cherry, strawberry, grape, lemonade, mango, lemon-lime, orange, and I think pina-pineapple. Unfortunately, there were no blue flavors. :(

Picking up the amigurumi again

2007-11-28T01:26:00.001-08:00

At tonight's (last night's?) knitting night, out of all my projects, I decided to start on the amigurumi Christmas gifts for my coworkers. I'm thinking of making a mommy duck for each of my 2 bosses, and then baby ducks for the 3 other coworkers on my team.

The lady at the coffee shop asked me if I made my hat. She said it was really cute. That made me happy! :D

murgurglurglurgle

2007-11-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

>_< I've been waiting for my KnitPicks order to arrive...I've got so many patterns using circular needles that I want to start!!! I was afraid they forgot to leave a package notification slip in my mailbox so I went directly to the leasing office after work.

I got there at 6:20pm....apparently they closed at 6. For some stupid reason I thought they closed at 6:30. Of course, on my way back to the apartment I check my mail and there is a package slip, so my package DID arrive today. And I DID miss picking it up because I left work too late! That means can't start all these cool new projects at the knitting night tonight! That means I'm stuck with my boring old projects that I've been working on for weeks! :( booooooo

Ok, maybe not. I've got a bunch of cotton that I've been meaning to make amigurumi out of for Christmas presents. Or there's the scarf I've been meaning to knit for my cousin....haha, but that's boring! Who wants to bring plain ol' boring projects to knitting night? It's the perfect time to show off things to other knitters who will actually get excited with you!

gimme teh slouchies!

2007-11-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

That Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat is so cute, quick, and easy...I see myself making lots of them for people this Christmas. I'm keeping my Tweedle Dee one, but the light blue Dolcetto is going to Ally. I'm currently making one in light yellow Dolcetto for JoJo. I want more Dolcetto! I now really regret not buying them when I saw them on sale at JoAnn's. :( :( So much for being good and not splurging on yarn I don't have an immediate need for....this is why we need to follow our instincts and buy yarn when we feel the urge to! :D I now need another cheap option for these hats, something that will give me a wider choice of colors. Actually it probably doesn't even need to be that cheap since I'll only need one ball and maybe just a bit over 100 yards. I suppose this is where Ravelry's stash feature comes in real handy.

When I saw my aunt this weekend she said that she wouldn't really wear scarves, but she really liked the Garden Scarf I made and would wear that if I made it, because it's more of an accessory than a scarf. That means...I'm frogging that cat's paw scarf. It's funny how knitters say sometimes you knit something and it just doesn't feel right so you can't finish it. In the case of this scarf, it's so true! There's just 2 things I don't like about it....the garter stitch for one. Secondly, it's not very symmetrical - in the pattern at least. I don't think you can tell so much by looking at it, but I couldn't get into the groove of it. It just didn't make sense to me on a logical level. That's okay tho. The cashmere probably would have been wasted as a lace scarf. I think the yarn would rather be a pair of wristwarmers. :) Perhaps I'll make a Fetching out of it, or just use that pattern for the WoW wristwarmers - arctic gloves of the wolf or something. That'd be cute, with some beads in it for added sparklies. :D

Finishing

2007-11-23T22:56:00.000-08:00

I think I have a problem with finishing my projects. Or maybe it's just that I'm starting so many.

On Thanksgiving I went to my parents' place and I made a Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat using the "Bellezza Collection Dolcetto" yarn I got for $1.97 at Jo-Ann's. I had to modify the pattern by not doing one of the increase rows because the yarn I'm using is chunky and it would have been way too big. Yesterday I made one out of my Tweedle Dee in Blackberry, following the instructions except for one sc round. It is wayyy too big. I'm going to have to frog it back and remove the last increase round. x_x That means doing 3 rounds of puff stitch over again. GAH.

The party lace scarf & clapotis are now on repeat status...repeat until desired length. I don't have the cat's paw pattern memorized yet so that one is reserved for periods where I can devote undivided attention. Ela's scarf still needs one more row of brown I think. Today I'm going to go visit my grandpa in the hospital so I suppose I'll have some time to work on finishing these things.

Growing Exponentially

2007-11-21T20:30:00.000-08:00

I've bought SO much yarn in the past 2 months, it's seriously scary. At least they've been cheap. Except for one $24 skein of cashmere. Everything else has been $6 per ball or under. I don't know how I'm ever going to use it all up. Every time I come up with a project I want to start, I need to buy the yarn for it. Either I don't have the right type yarn, don't have the correct color, or don't have enough. I can't even begin to list all the yarn here. If you're on Ravelry you can check it out (username: matikin9), otherwise tough luck. :)

Silly Boyfriends

2007-11-21T19:39:00.000-08:00

I wasn't able to make it to the knitting meeting yesterday night because my boyfriend asked me to stay home with him. At first I was annoyed....because I was really looking forward to hanging out with other knitters for a few hours....and just knit. But then, he has been working at the LA Auto Show this past week and he doesn't come home until 10-11pm at night. He hasn't even had a day off because there's only 2 salespeople and him and his boss switch around between manning the dealership and the auto show. Yesterday was his only day off because he had to go to the dentist, and drive his mom all the way out to Santa Monica to her dentist. Oh yes, and he needs like $4,000-worth of dental work over the next year to replace all his fillings and get his wisdom teeth out.

He usually has a good reason to request things from me, and I figured these were pretty good reasons for me to skip the knitting and spend time with him. We watched Law & Order, House, and then played WoW a bit together. It was nice, and I still got some knitting done! :)

Busy at work

2007-11-20T14:12:00.000-08:00

Work, as in "pays for my yarn" work. I haven't had a chance to write up about the spinning class, but I will say very briefly that it was awesome!

I worked on my Party Lace Scarf in on the bus that day, in continental, and I messed up at the end of a row. I didn't realize until I was 2 rows past the point, because there's a purl row in between the pattern rows. I tinked back, but I had no idea how the loops were supposed to go together because it was on the edge, and all the loops kind of pull in tighter there so there's no clear pattern. It made me put off working on the thing until today. I took a look at it at lunch and figured out a satisfactory solution without having to just knit two stitches together. I think I fixed it correctly. I was so worried that I'd end up with a mistake in the lace that would ruin the scarf and all the time I spent would have been wasted! There's still so much yarn left to go through, I might not use up the entire skein.

I'm almost at the end of my first ball of Tweedle Dee for my Clapotis. After the second ball, it should be just about the perfect size. I wonder if blocking will work. The yarn is 80% acrylic and only 16% wool.

I've started on Saartje's Bootees. At lunch today I finished up the sole in a dark red soft cotton yarn. I left the cream colored yarn at home, but doh, I totally did not think to start the second bootie! That will probably be my walking project.

Last night I worked on Ela's scarf and I have one more row to finish. Then I'll give it a wash and I can ship it off. I also need to send Sly his scarf.

Well! That it's been a rather productive first half of the week! Tonight is knitting night at Zephyr Cafe on Colorado Ave. (come join us 7:30-10pm if you're near the Pasadena area). Tonight needs to be very productive as well. :D

Urgh, I may need to stop by Jo-Ann's beforehand for some fabric. My brother's b-day is on the 28th and I need to make his birthday present. I have to give it to him on Thursday because we're all going to be at my parents' house for Thanksgiving that day.

Clapotis pics

2007-11-18T10:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of my clapotis taken yesterday morning. I actually have 1 more repeat of the straight section done. I don't think it's as boring to knit as some of the people on Ravelry make it out to be. For me, the thrill of every repeat is enough to get me to knit 12 rows at a time. It's very satisfying to be able to drop those stitches! I really love the color variation from the Tweedle Dee yarn: rich reds to purples to oranges and back to reds again.

Here's a picture of my improvised stitch markers. The only downside is that they're not as easy to transfer as the plastic stitch markers because they wind themselves close to the needle. At least that makes them less likely to accidentally fall off. The one on the left I made using one strand of red and one strand of black.

Here's a closeup shot. So basically the what you do is take a length of yarn (you could tie 2 pieces to get one length long enough) and fold it in half. Stick something in the folded end (crochet hook, pencil, etc.) and twist the loose ends on the other side. Keep on twisting until the whole thing starts to twist on itself when you bring the two ends together. Let it twist on itself, and guide it so the ends are even. Remove your hook/pencil/whatever from the folded end and stick the loose end through (pretty much like how skeins of yarn are made). Knot the loose end, and voila! You've got a little twisty-tie stitch marker that stick on a needle.

Finished my Garden Scarf

2007-11-17T23:01:00.000-08:00

Here it is! :D This is the Garden Scarf from The Happy Hooker. I made a 2-leaf chain using instructions I found here. To keep the scarf in place, I merely cross the ends and stick one of the leaves through 2 overlapping holes. Instant wearable cuteness! :D

Yarn-made Stitch Markers and the Clap

2007-11-16T12:38:00.000-08:00

The other day on Ravelry there was a thread on why the Clapotis was so popular (from the latest figures on Ravelry: 2,240 finished and 576 in progress). I didn't like it when I first saw it and I too wondered why it was so popular. But, after a while it really grew on me - especially after seeing other peoples' claps. I think it has to do with the way it's worn in the photos on Knitty. Someone in the thread mentioned that the model is wearing it purl-side out. That makes the dropped stitches bump out and thus you get the weird (to me at least) lumpy silhouette. In the photos on Ravelry however, it seems that most people are wearing it knit-side out, making the dropped stitches dip and the fabric drape more flatly.

Fast forward to 2 nights ago when I went to Michael's and saw the Moda Dea Tweedle Dee yarn. It was on sale, it's SO soft, and the colors are SO beautiful I wanted to buy balls in every color (see the pretty shades on Yarndex here)! But...I couldn't justify it to myself when I already had 2 balls sitting at home with absolutely no project in mind for them and tons of other projects on the needles/hooks. At some point I made the connection: Clapotis....Tweedle Dee. Tweedle Dee...Clapotis! Soft, fuzzy, reddish-orangey-brown variegated bulky yarn...dropped stitch and thus not too heavy scarf knit in bias! I've wanted to try drop stitch. Apparently Clapotis is good for showing off variegated yarns. I need to go back to Michael's tonight to buy all their Tweedle Dee. Good thing Lawrence isn't coming home till late tonight. Bleh, unfortunately that also means I might not get pictures up today. The camera is in his car.

Since I'm using a bulky yarn I didn't want to make this full-sized. The pattern only calls for a worsted weight yarn. The directions on Knitty include instructions for adapting the pattern to accommodate size preferences. After the Set-up rows, I did the increase rows once instead of the 6 times required by the pattern. So far I've done the one repeat of the straight row section. It was very satisfying to drop those stitches! :) I didn't realize how much the dropped stitches would cause the fabric to open up! It's going to turn out larger than I first thought, but it's okay because the dropped stitches scrunchy up nicely too.

I almost forgot my original idea for this post...the stitch markers! The pattern calls for 18 stitch markers. I've never even used 1 in my knitting before, but I have several from an eBay purchase a few years ago. Since I'm using size 11 needles, I need larger stitch markers. I originally bought these cheap wire jewelry findings that bend open. I was thinking I could use my wire beads to decorate them and make my own cool stitch markers. Well, they're not big enough for the size 11 needles. Ok, no cool stitch markers...so I go to the regular round plastic things. Luckily the largest ones fit. BUT, I only have 4 of them and I need 6 total even with just 1 pattern increase. This is where those little yarn bits I've been saving come in handy! I keep them in a little baggy on my desk. So, I took a couple strands, tied one end together, and twisted it in until it twisted back onto itself. This is the way the ties inside the Butterfly Wrap are made. The part where the yarn twists back onto itself leaves me with a loop of potentially large sizes. Because of the twist, it will naturally twist itself down as much as it can so it's not prone to falling off the needles. Eh, it's hard to explain but it's intuitive awesomeness will be apparent once I get a picture up!

Tomorrow is the Spinning class, 10am-4pm, at the Urban Craft Center! w00t! I have a feeling I will need to go buy myself a drop spindle afterwards.

I'm starting to get confused over whether I've already posted on something here or in my Ravelry project pages. Eeps!

Funny bunnies

2007-11-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

I should have called the wonky slipper a "she". They're analogous to Lawrence and me...he's more of the serious, lost-in-his-own-thoughts type while I'm the weirdo. haha.

I went to Michael's last night because I read on a forum that ALL their yarn was on sale. Well...they had no more Vanna's Choice in chocolate. :( I needed 1 more ball for Ela's scarf. GAHHH. However, I did pick up other yarn...specifically some cotton because I wanted to try making Saartje's Bootees (under free patterns on the right). They are SO cute, and I figure it can't hurt to have a few lying around for the next time I need a baby gift!

Yesterday morning I started a Garden Scarf (from The Happy Hooker). It's basically a bunch of big open flowers crocheted together. It's perfect for walking because I'm only holding 1 flower at a time until I have to join it to the scarf. I'm making this one for myself so I don't get burnt out making gifts for others! :) I've already 7 flowers (over 2 feet) done. I'm using the left over Vanna's Choice yarn in Brick and Honey from Ela's scarf.

After getting more involved in the knitting community, I'm just finding more and more things I want to make! :D Like the slouchy hat on Happy2Knit's blog. That led me to go look for patterns and I found the Pretty Puff Slouchy Hat.

Scarf Pictures

2007-11-14T15:48:00.000-08:00

3 scarves, with pictures!

Sly's scarf - I designed it myself, although it was more *ahem* improvised than designed.

Ela's scarf - I need another ball of the brown to finish this up. This is the Stars (and Stripes) Forever scarf from The Happy Hooker, but modified for 3 colors instead of 4. Lawrence said adding in the red would be overkill.

Mom's scarf - This is the Party Lace Scarf, without beads.

Bunny Slipper pictures!

2007-11-14T15:45:00.000-08:00

Here they are! :) One of them is a little wonky, he looks confused.

I got it!

2007-11-07T12:21:00.001-08:00

I was just sitting here thinking about the ladies I was knitting with last night and I put the yarn in my left hand and picked at it with the needle. Before I knew it I was knitting continental, just like that! I even finished the rest of my lace row (with yo's, ssk's, and k2tog's aplenty). I tried doing continental once before, but for some reason the hand motion just didn't click. This is awesome! One thing I'm having a little trouble with is holding the yarn in my left hand but I'm sure I'll figure that out with some more practice.

On another note, last night was the first meeting for the Tues night Pasadena Ravelry knitters group. We met at Zephyr, a very cute little coffee house with yummy pastries. I loved meeting other knitters & crocheters and one of the ladies runs an online yarn shop where she sells cashmere yarn! At $24 a skein, I can't run out and buy a bunch, but I think I will get some to make something for my aunt Jennifer. She loves cashmere, but I'm having a hard time thinking of something I can make for her. She doesn't actually wear any knit accessories...but then perhaps she will if I make some for her! lol, she'll love anything I make for her just because I made it.

Edit: Ok, so maybe purling isn't as intuitive. I need to figure out how to hold onto my left needle without my index & middle fingers.

While (yarn
2007-11-06T08:46:00.000-08:00
The yarn I ordered from Knit Picks arrived last week! I picked it up yesterday because I didn't realize it would ship SO quickly! I made my order on Sunday, Oct. 28th, and apparently the package arrived at the end of the week. I didn't even check the mail because I thought it would take 2 weeks minimum. Then Lawrence told me yesterday that when he checked the mail, there was a package notification slip...which must have been my package of yarn!

I bought several skeins of lace weight yarn in colorways that were on sale. In fact, I think they still have more of it that's on sale because they're making room for more colors. Of course, I ordered $47-worth of yarn because orders over $45 get free shipping.

Shadow
100% merino wool
440 yards
$1.99/hank

Gossamer
100% merino wool
440 yards
$2.99/hank

Alpaca Cloud
100% baby alpaca
440 yards
$3.99/hank

Then yesterday when we went to Arcadia to buy Chinese newspapers, we stopped by the JoAnn's there and I bought $27 more in yarn. I bought some Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn for amigurumi, some JoAnn Sensations yarn that was on sale (omg that stuff is so soft!), and some Patons worsted weight classic wool in Aran so that I can try dyeing and maybe felting.

.._.._.._.._.._.._..

Last night I finished weaving in the random ends that were sticking out of the bunny slippers. So that project is completed.

On Sunday, I finished up the lace cuff of the butterfly wrap and wove the ends in. I didn't have time to properly finish the ribbon ties, so I will need to do that. I didn't end up wearing it to the Nightwish concert...and truthfully I probably would have been very cold if I wore it. It still needs to be blocked, and I hope I find another occasion to wear it.

Being a productive weekend, I also finished up Sly's scarf last night. I don't know what the hell is up with my row counting, but it turns out that after "fixing" the red stripe, I ended up with an extra row. However, it's okay because I just made sure that the horizontal red stripe connecting the two pieces had the same number of stitches on both pieces so when I sewed it together, it would just kind of...line itself up. It doesn't look so bad, and will probably be better after I block it. If I can block it. I just realized the Vanna's Choice yarn is acrylic.

I frogged the beginning of Ela's scarf and restarted it to go along with the striped self-fringing scarf pattern in The Happy Hooker. I made it slightly shorter so it's 250 stitches-long instead of 300.

I sewed the body to the head of the amigurumi elephant. I ran out of yarn in the ball I was using, so I'm using the other balls of random blue yarn I had. I thought they were all the same color, but it looks like the other balls are slightly darker. This elephant is going to be kind of weird looking. I also sewed on two of the legs, but I think I sewed them in the wrong place. Maybe it will still be cute in a sort of deformed way... :/

This morning on my way to work, I wound one of the hanks of Knit Picks Shadow into a yarn cocoon so I can start knitting (w00t, knitting!) a lace scarf for my mom's Christmas present. The pattern looks insanely easy...it's just 4 rows of alternating knit increases/decreases & purls, repeated to the desired length or until your yarn runs out. It's the Party Lace Scarf from MagKnits, but without the beads. I'm just doing knit stitches where the beads would have been.

One step forward, two steps backwards

2007-11-03T01:13:00.000-07:00

...and then perhaps another 2 steps forward.

The other night I was finishing up Sly's scarf. The one that's black with a red stripe. The one that I didn't make long enough so I thought, it's ok I'll just crochet some more and attach it one way or another. I wove the ends in, I crocheted two rows to the correct ends of each piece and rejoiced that I would soon have another Finished Object! I was in the process of sewing them together when I realized the two pieces weren't aligned properly. I re-seamed several times before I [stupidly] realized I was one row short on the extension piece. . . one row of the red stripe. Of course, that means the majority of the piece will have to be frogged and re-crocheted. Thankfully it shouldn't take too long. Now my only problem is getting around to un-weaving the ends.

The Nightwish concert is Sunday! I still have half the lace cuff to finish. The piece still needs to be blocked. Lawrence and I spent all of tonight cleaning out the closet. That's just fine and peachy and normally I would love to get the apartment cleaned but I've got a damn wrap to finish by Sunday and I don't want to stay up all night doing it! Tomorrow I've got to go to my parents' place because it's my deceased grandmother's birthday. We're going to go visit her grave site, maybe have lunch. They might play mah-jong in the afternoon. Maybe I'll have time to finish this wrap and maybe I won't. Even if I have time to finish the crocheting I won't be able to block it there. I'll bring a few other projects to work on, maybe the amigurumi or the scarves.

Sunday is also the Weaving and Fiber Festival, hosted by the Southern California Handweavers' Guild. The ladies in the Los Angeles group on Ravelry have been saying it's worth going so I've convinced Lawrence to drive me all the way down to Torrance for it. If I block the wrap on Saturday night, it should be finished in time for Sunday night, eh? Hopefully.

Addicted to Ravelry

2007-10-30T10:28:00.001-07:00

OMG, some of the posts are hilarious! Using old knitting needles as stakes for tomato and orchid plants...

Butterfly Wrap - I'm finally done with the right sleeve! I've started on the left one and I have 14 sleeve rows and 17 cuff rows left to go.

Baby Jellyfish Amigurumi Photo

2007-10-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of the finished baby jellyfish (pattern by Anapaulaoli), made with Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn.

I put the bunny slippers through the washer & dryer so they're a lot fuzzier now. But, after giving them to Lawrence to play with, somehow I'm missing a slipper so I won't have pictures of them up tonight.

Photos on Saturday

2007-10-27T01:09:00.000-07:00

Lawrence forgot to bring home the camera again. BUT, we had to stop by his work place anyway to check up on an appointment he made for Saturday, so we did end up bringing the camera home. This means I can upload a ton of pictures tomorrow, yay!

Progress, all around

2007-10-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

I finally got my invite to Ravelry yesterday! I spent all day on the site, and it looks pretty awesome. I will probably spend a large portion of Saturday entering project & yarn information.

Lawrence helped me sew the button eyes onto the bunny slippers, so they are also finally, um, non-eyeless! I think I'm supposed to wash them and let them dry to fluff them up a bit, and then they will be completely finished.

Unfortunately Lawrence left his Nikon at work so I'll have to wait for tonight to take pictures.

I am on the last row of the right sleeve before the lace work on the butterfly wrap. I may save that for when I get home just because I don't want to have to deal with losing my place in the pattern. Or I won't be able to help myself and I will work on the lace at every spare moment I get.

It's really a toss up because yesterday I started the mommy elephant amigurumi from Anapaulaoli. I finished stuffing the head last night, and as of this morning I've got 1 ear done. The other ear shouldn't take too long, and then there's the body and 4 legs. Making these is actually very fun! Even though the long stretches of single crochet are monotonous and make me impatient, I love how these things get created so quickly. It's like "Rows 4-11: sc 18" and you're like "4, 5, 6, ....that's 8 rows of single crochet...am i done yet? how many more rows?" But before you know it, you're decreasing and decreasing, and you've just got a little hole left for the stuffing. Like most crochet & knitting, the foundation row/chain and the first row are the most annoying.

The great thing about this elephant is that I get to use up the gigantic balls of blue yarn that my mom and I found in our garage many years ago. I don't know what the fiber is or what brand it is, I just know I have several huge balls of it. There are 4 plys and it splits easily if it becomes untwisted, which it tends to do. However, for some reason it has been fairly easy to work with for this elephant. That's good because I had no idea what I was going to do with all the yarn and it was just taking up space in my stash. On a side note, I think it would be very cute to tie little bow ribbons on these amigurumi.

Eyes

2007-10-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Eyes are an important anchor in a face. They bring soul to inanimate objects and can convey a variety of emotions and impressions.

That said, my bunny slippers are still missing their eyes. My [almost] complete baby jellyfish is also waiting for eyes. I need to finish them before I start to amass a horde of eyeless animals in my apartment. That could be pretty creepy.

#580 on Ravelry!

Amigurumi Jellyfish

2007-10-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

No pictures, I forgot. :( I was busy last night going to Michaels (Vanna's Choice on sale for $2!), the supermarket, cooking food, going to the gym, and also trying out the amigurumi patterns I bought from Anapaulaoli!

I started with the baby jellyfish because I had some leftover cotton yarn. It's a natural off-white color, with random flecks of blue, red, yellow, and purple thrown in. It crocheted up really quickly - which, I suppose, isn't a surprise but I've never gotten that far on an amigurumi before. Before I knew it the instructions called for me to embroider the mouth and put on the eyes, but I had no eyes! Hence, I convinced Lawrence to drive me to Michaels so I could get eyes to finish the jellyfish. :) While I was there I also picked up 4 balls of Vanna's Choice in brick, chocolate, honey, and olive for another striped gift scarf.

As of this morning after the walk to the train station and the train ride to work, I have only 3 tentacles left to finish the jellyfish. :) I bet the mommy and daddy amigurumis would work up pretty quickly too. I could make pairs of them in a period of 2-3 days each and give those out as Christmas gifts!