made by stacey

Ravelympic Knitting

2010-03-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

A day before the Olympics Closing Ceremonies, I finished my second and last Ravelympic/ Knitting Olympics project. It's a simple, cabled vest that I donated to the Afghans for Afghans Youth Campaign. I hope someone will like it!

The vest is based on a pattern by Jenifer Paulousky. Stashbusting 4 skeins (~500 yards) of Gedifra Shetland Deluxe, I knit for a 30 inch chest, excluded the waist shaping, and continued the cable pattern all the way to the neckline. I added an inch of garter stitch for the neck and picked up 73 stitches per armhole and knit garter for 6 ridges before binding off in purl. The vest measures 21 inches from top to bottom.

When I first heard the call for donations for the Youth Campaign, it coincided with the Ravelympics/ Knitting Olympics timeline. For me, the donation date was the last day of the Olympics and the last day of Stitches West, where I planned to drop off the vest. I was able to combine some Ravelympics fun and useful knitting. Plus, I used up all of my Gedifra yarn, leftovers from my husband's sweater. Coming full circle, I bought this yarn at Stitches last year.

Speaking of Stitches West 2010, I attended the market on Sunday, the last day. This year I didn't buy as much as usual and spent most of the time wandering around in a daze. It's like I never quite got my bearings. Possibly, as this was my sixth year there, I had already bought everything I wanted to try out and didn't have any specific vendors in mind. Still, I managed to come away with something!

From left to right:

Duet (mohair and wool) from Brooks Farm
Sock Yarn from Dream in Color
Red Sock Yarn from Icy Brambles (for my cousin)
Sock Yarn (Wild Things colorway) from Lisa Souza (for my cousin)
2 skeins of Yowza Whatta Skein in Black Cherry from Miss Babs

I was really impressed with the choice of colors at the Miss Babs booth and am looking forward to revisiting them next year. Since my cousin is still working on her Stitches stash from last year, she didn't go but sent me as her buyer, instead. I would be happy to do that again!

Olympic Knitting

2010-02-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

Tap tap. I'm still here! Time to blow the dust off this blog.

Alright, I entered the Ravelympics/Knitting Olympics 2010. I'm not doing anything particularly hard this time, but it will be an accomplishment to finish it all before the closing ceremonies.

First up, the Shroom hat knit with Spud and Chloe Outer. Yarn feels like butter and the hat is a huge mushroom cap on my head. I love it. Using most of the yarn, I knit a 4 inch rib brim, then knit 6 repeats of the puff rib before decreasing. In the end, I had ~25 inches of yarn left. It always feels great not to have much leftover.

Here's my Ravelympics 2010 Hat Halfpipe Medal!

Lazy Days

2009-06-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

On the way home from Japan, we stopped in Maui for a family reunion. This vacation leg was the complete opposite of the first in every way. Slow, laid back island pace, beaches, tropical music, etc. It was jarring to adjust to this after living at a frenetic but exciting pace in Japan. Still, we managed :)

Up to this point on vacation, I hadn't felt an urge to knit. I admit I still don't, but that's due to my annual summer slump rather than lack of interest. In Maui, since I had a lot more free time on my hands, I finally picked up the needles again and worked on a sock. It's the Earl Grey sock pattern by the Yarn Harlot in Cascade Heritage Paints sock yarn.

On the beach with the sock.

From Maui June 2009

Thanks to Ravelry, I located two yarn shops in Lahaina. At The Needlework Shop, the yarn selection was small, but I bought a skein of sock yarn dyed by a local artist, the Maui Dyer.

From Maui June 2009

Standing with my new yarn, Pineapple Upsidedown Cake.

From Maui June 2009

Next, I found the Yarn and Needlecrafts shop, but it was closed that day. Peeking through the window, I saw a small yarn selection, but I never made it back to explore during business hours.

From Maui June 2009

Back to real life. I will update some projects I completed like two months ago. I finally got around to taking some pictures of the FOs.

Traveling

2009-06-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we finally came home after a long vacation. First, we visited Tokyo and had an amazing time. There was so much to do there that we couldn't possibly fit it all in our schedule. Each night, our aching feet and legs could attest to the amount of walking we did all day. Even though I brought my knitting, I didn't have the energy nor feel the urge to knit at all while we were there. Of course, I managed to check out two craft stores and was on the lookout for the craft section at the department stores.

First off, Yuzawaya in Kichijo-ji. Before I went, I had a vague idea it was the Michaels of Japan but really was clueless. It was huge!!! Like the mothership of craft stores. 7 floors or something like that. Big floors too, not like the tiny, narrow buildings I was used to seeing in Tokyo. It isn't Michaels at all, as Yuzawaya seemed to have a good selection and variety of everything. Not just a little bit of everything. If only I could sew, I would've gone crazy on the fabric floors. I took a few pictures of the yarn aisles but it really doesn't do it justice. The knit and crochet section only took up maybe a third of a floor, but they had a bigger yarn stock than most of the LYSs near me at home.

From Japan Trip- Tokyo

There were aisles and aisles of yarn. Mostly, Japanese or Asian brands such as Puppy, but some brands I knew. There was the Noro aisle (missed taking the picture). I was tempted to buy up a bunch of Noro sock yarn because it was on sale for $12.50!!!! I must have been crazy tired to have passed that up because I did.

From Japan Trip- Tokyo

Be sure to look up at the top of the shelves.

From Japan Trip- Tokyo

Lots of samples everywhere!

From Japan Trip- Tokyo

So inspiring. I think the yarn companies must provide the sample garments, since I saw some similar ones at a different store. But I don't know for sure. It's a fantastic way to showcase and sell the yarn and pattern book. Samples at our LYSs are not provided by the yarn companies, I'm pretty sure.

Later that day, in Shinjuku, we came across Okadaya. Although the yarn selection was nice, it was a much smaller store than Yuzawaya. It was a very narrow building with several floors and only one small elevator. We took the stairs and stopped at every floor until I hit yarn. I should've learned the Japanese character for yarn or knitting, so I could read the store directory. Still it was fun exploring.

Days later, off in Kyoto, I walked by this:

From Japan Trip- Kyoto

Silk yarn and a spinning wheel. It was closed at the time so I'm not sure if this was a textiles shop or a tailor's, but it seemed to come out of nowhere. Maybe this was Avril but I didn't know it? By that time, I had stopped looking for craft stores and had forgotten about the famous Avril store. There was so much more to see and do, but it's funny how I can't get away from my craft!

Eventually, at the end of my Kyoto stay, I bought a pattern book at the Daimaru department store on Shijo Dori. The 7th floor has a small yarn department. It's amazing how universal knitting can be. I felt so at home in these departments it didn't matter that I couldn't really speak to the store clerks. I managed :)

Hexacomb

2009-06-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

A tea cozy for a friend. Stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's 1st Treasury. Fun to knit and finished it within a short time.

From made by stacey

It's a Pumpkin!

2009-04-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I hope I don't look like a pumpkin in this! It's the Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane. As of this moment, there are 1040 other Shaloms out there on Ravelry. Very popular! It's an easy, top-down cardigan with a twisted rib yoke. Simple yet appealing. I knit this with 4.5 skeins of Cascade 109 LE Bulky on size 6.5mm (10.5 US) needles. It's a rust orangy pumpkiny color. I really do like this cardigan, even with the fly-away front. There's enough coverage in front that it doesn't showcase my chest and stomach in an awful way. I'm glad the cardigan turned out bigger post-blocking than pre-blocking. It's a bit too big but still wearable.

Where did I get this yarn? From the WEBS booth at Stitches West! I bought enough yarn to make four sweaters. Stitches West was definitely calmer than previous years but still fun. Probably more enjoyable without the pushy crowds. Weeks ago, I meant to post about my haul but I've been MIA on the blog. So, besides Cascade 109, I bought Gedifra Shetland Deluxe at the WEBS booth. Both yarns were close-outs and heavily discounted. A real plus, when buying sweater quantities... I also bought some red-purple-orange (sounds horrible but looks great!) Mas Acero from Brooks Farm. And to top off my haul, I chose a light grey bulky weight 50/50 Jacob Alpaca yarn from Toots LeBlanc. Good loot! And I've already made something with one of my purchases. Woo hoo!

Cable-y Goodness

2009-02-16T17:26:00.000-08:00

This is old news but better late than never. Introducing my new cabled beret! Actually, I finished it at the end of December and have been wearing it ever since. For a long time, I've wanted to knit a slouchy beret and kept looking for the right pattern. On Ravelry, I came across the Cabled Goodness pattern, but I have to say my hat was "inspired by" the written pattern and not an exact copy of what the designer intended. I tried to follow her instructions, but things just didn't work out for me. So, when in doubt, wing it!

First off, I altered the brim circumference to 20 inches for the hat because I didn't think a 17 inch brim would go around my head. I was very wrong about that. As I neared completion, I tried the hat on and it swallowed my head. Way too big. With berets, since there's hardly a crown because you increase right away to make the disk shape, you need the brim to be snug just to stay on. Anyway, after I finished the top of the hat, I cut at stitch an inch or so in to the brim and unravelled all the way to the cast-on. Once I rescued all the stitches back onto the needles, I immediately decreased down to 17 inches, knit the ribbed brim, and bound off. That marked the end. This should have been an easy, straight forward hat to make, but it took longer than expected. It took three tries to figure out the decreases at the top. I must have been way off from the pattern because after initially following the written instructions, it didn't look right at all. Frogged it twice before the third time (the charm?) I made something work out, even though it doesn't have the cool cables snaking all the way to the top. Oh well. If the written pattern works out for you, that's great. I obviously had a hard time for some reason :)

Anyway, I love it now. This is fantastic yarn from Artfibers in San Francisco. Super squishy and luxurious. I made my pilgrimmage to Artfibers back in December before they closed their storefront. Even though I'm from this area, I had never been there before. I had known about it for a long time but took it for granted that it would always be there. At least I had a chance to do their "yarn tasting" and knit with a couple of their yarns before leaving.

Yarn: Ming (50% wool, 50% silk), Artfibers
Needles: size 7 (4.5mm)

Tweedy Aran Cardi

2009-02-10T14:40:00.000-08:00

I love this cardigan! It fits well, especially around the shoulders. I've worked on other set-in sleeve patterns, but those still looked drop-shouldered. All thanks go to Norah Gaughan for a well designed pattern.

Pattern: Tweedy Aran Cardigan by Norah Gaughan
Size: ~35 inches around chest
Yarn: Tahki Donegal Tweed, olive green, less than 6 hanks
Needles: size 6 and 8
Knitting time: 2 months start to finish

My gauge was a little bit bigger (closer to 4 stitches/inch) than the written gauge. Sticking with my own gauge, I followed the pattern for the smallest size and came out with finished chest size of about 35 inches. This is probably the warmest sweater I have. Now with the weather cooling down again, I can wear it often this season. Yay!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great time during the holidays! Time has flown by. Although I haven't blogged about anything in over a month, I've been busy with all the holiday hustle and bustle. Seems all I did over the past few weeks was eat, eat, eat. Not that I'm complaining.

Onto the knitting. I managed to cram in a lot of knitting, whenever I could. It's my way of keeping calm and centered.

Old business first. This is my first felted project ever. I made Meema's Felted Tote Bag from the first Stitch N Bitch book. Knit on 15s with 3 skeins of Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes Bulky in Grape.

Finished knitting within days back in October, but the felting process took me a lot longer. Since I only have coin-op washing machines in my building and can't control the speed, I hand felted the bag. Taking advice from my friend, Annika, the felting queen, I had super hot water ready, dish soap, and rubber gloves. Now, being the smartypants that I am, I decided to use my silcone oven mitts (way too big for my hands, by the way), so I wouldn't feel the boiling water as I pummeled the poor wool into felt fabric. Well, I managed to rub the skin off my knuckles because of too much movement inside the silicone mitts. EEEWWW. So, that set me back at least a week before the stinging subsided. Anyway, after the bag dried, I wanted to lose more of the stitch definition, plus shrink it more. A month and a half later (I was lazy), I re-felted the bag in hot (not boiling water) and didn't need gloves after the water cooled a bit.

Pre-felting bag dimensions: length x width x height, 11 inches x 6.5 inches x 16.5 inches
Final dimensions: 10 inches x 5 inches x 10 inches
Decreased ~40% vertically and ~15% horizontally

Next, I made a cowl from yarn I bought at Stitches West 2008.

It's super luxurious cashmere silk from Argosy. Haiku 4ply in Blackberry. I took the shell lace stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's First Treasury of Stitch Patterns, calculated for a 20 inch circumference, and knit til I used up all of the yarn, ~200 yards. Feels great against my neck.

There's more but that's all for now. Happy 2009!

Let's Skate!

2008-11-28T10:39:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! Now that I have my new top ready, I can go skating to work off my turkey dinner.

After three months of work, I finally completed my Skater's Top, the overtop. This is really a two piece set- a lace short-sleeved overtop and a plain stockinette long-sleeved undertop. The long sleeve top does have interesting cables on the sleeves. Although I wasn't planning originally to knit the undertop, I am now interested in making it to wear separately, not as a set. The weather here is not cold enough to merit wearing both simultaneosly. For me, a thin layering tee is enough to wear under the short-sleeved top.

For the overtop, there are two main lace charts to follow to make the pattern, the tree pattern and the little fir cone pattern. Things were fine until I had to decrease at the sleeves to shape the cap, etc. With my stitch count off everytime, I slowed my knitting between rounds, counted stitches, and decided how I would proceed while maintaining the stitch pattern yet decreasing here and there. Basically, I winged it but didn't write down my alterations (sorry). Luckily, it fits! As I knitted the last few rounds, I suddenly worried that it wouldn't fit and that all my work would have been wasted. Knowing that lace can stretch, I consoled myself that it would fit somehow, unless it had to stretch to frumpy proportions.

On Ravelry, I am one of the few people who have not used Rowan Kid Silk Haze, the recommended yarn, to make my top. Instead, I chose Valley Yarn's Colrain Laceweight, a wool and tencel blend, which I bought at the WEBS booth at Stitches West earlier this year. Lovely yarn. It felt smooth, running through my hands as I knit. Although it doesn't give off that "hazy" halo look as in the Kid Silk Haze, I think the clear stitch definition from this yarn works well for this top too. And I only used about 120 grams of the yarn, so I have half of the cone left! Need to think of something to use that for...

Pattern: Skater's Top, overtop
Book: Knitting Classic Style by Veronik Avery
Size: 38
Yarn: Valley Yarn's Colrain Laceweight, used ~770 yards (120 grams), blue grey
Needles: size 6 (4mm)

Completing this top was my goal for November's Knit a Sweater Month (NaNiSweMo). I'd been working on this for so long but allowed myself to work on many other projects at the same time. When the November challenge came up, I decided to finish the top and not let it drag out for more months. Anyway, it's done. So are my Fawkes socks (Belated Socktober). So many things suddenly reached a happy end recently. After months of slogging through WIPS and never feeling like I'd made progress, I finally made it to the end. Including things at my real job, last week really marked the culmination of a lot of work with knitting and non-knitting. I can fully enjoy the holidays! Now, what to knit next?

Belated Socktober

2008-11-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

Better late than never! Originally, I meant to finish these in October for the Socktober challenge, but it didn't happen. Oh well, I completed these last Friday, about a month after my start date.

Pattern: Fawkes Socks by Monkey Toes
Yarn: Superwash Sock Yarn (merino wool/bamboo/nylon) by Mary Jane's Attic
Color: Bananarama
Needle: 2.75mm

The pattern was inspired by Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, in the Harry Potter series. And yes, I realize I didn't use red or orange yarn to go along with the flame theme. I might try out a few of the other Harry Potter inspired sock patterns by the same sock designer- Nagini and Bellatrix. Fawkes reminded me a little bit of Cookie A's Monkey sock pattern but had narrower curves. The flame pattern is pretty cool, although I'm not sure how clear it is to see in this particular yarn colorway.

By the way, I chose this colorway because it's different from anything I'd usually buy. It's kind of crazy, and I really like it. The yarn was hand-dyed by Jamie of Mary Jane's Attic, who happens to be a childhood friend of my cousin. Small world! Recently, she opened her own fiber store in San Francisco, Urban Fauna Studio. Check it out! You can also see her yarn at the San Francisco Bazaar Bizarre this Sunday, November 30th. A cool indie craft fair that sounds similar to the Renegade Craft Fair I went to this summer. Can't wait to go!

Recycled Plastic Bag

2008-11-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

In an effort to be less wasteful, I'm interested in ways to re-use/recycle items at home. By using my own cloth bags at stores, I've reduced the amount of plastic and paper in our bag pile. That's fine, but, as a knitter, I want to go a step further and make something out of it. I can't help wanting to turn those plastic bags into something useful, other than garbage bags. Recently, I came across the Re-bag pattern by Cocoknits. It's a knit tote bag made out of chopped up plastic bags. It's a great idea, and she includes a tutorial on how to turn the plastic bags into yarn. Looks cool and crafty! I wonder how sturdy it is?

Socktober!

2008-10-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

It's Socktober, in case you didn't know! I joined an October challenge to knit down my sock yarn stash. The goal amount varies for each knitter, but I've pledged to knock down 500 yards, which is roughly 2 pairs of socks for my size feet. Last Saturday, I finished my first pair of the month.

Pattern: Nutkin Socks by Beth Lapensee
Yarn: Baywood Yarns, Sock
Color: Jewels
Needles: 2.75mm
Loved the curved lines in the stitch pattern! However, I made several modifications to the pattern structure, due to my personal preferences. I started with 2 inches of 2x2 rib cuff. For the heel, I made a slip stitch heel flap, instead of a short row heel. For the toe, I decreased on each side, rather than knitting short rows as written.

Don't these look like Christmas socks? They will be a gift for my mom this year. I'm glad I won't have to stress knit these towards the Christmas day deadline. The colors are fantastic. The red is so deep. Really lovely. The wool is super soft and squishy too. Great to knit with and wonderful to wear.

As of today, more than half the month has passed and I'm not sure if I will achieve my goal of 500 yards. An eighth of the way through, I've begun the Fawkes socks, but we'll see how it goes.

Sunday Hodge Podge

2008-09-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

More Elizabeth Zimmermann? I really had an EZ-influenced summer. BSJ number two. I began knitting this in late August and finished sometime in early September. However, I totally lagged on buying buttons, and when I eventually purchased some, I let them collect dust for a while. I love to knit, but I fall down when it comes to sewing. Anyway, tonight is the non-shower baby party for my friend and that was enough to motivate me to finish off the jacket.

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish DK (100% Superwash merino wool), less than three balls
Needles: size 6, 4mm
Size: 9-12 months, 18 inch circumference for chest, 11.5 inches from shoulder to bottom

As I mentioned before, I've been knitting hats for charity. This weekend, I will mail my donation for the 7long project. I made four new hats and am including two hats I knit years ago but never wore. The patterns are: two basic hats, Fake Isle, Ganomy, Three-Cornered Tam-o-shanter, and the Beehive.

I know this last picture is out of focus, but it was the best I could do before my camera gave up and died. The video screen has been wonky for the past month- blurry, distorted live images. However, that didn't affect the photos. Until yesterday. It was hit or miss- sometimes I'd get a picture and sometimes it would be a blank black image. Oh well. It was a good little camera and served us well for years.

Hats!

2008-09-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

These days, I've been churning out hats, hats, and more hats for the 7long project. The Stash and Burn girls are collecting hats for a pediatric oncology ward at UCSF in my old neighborhood. It's a good cause and very local to me, so I'm happy to do this. On a selfish note, I get to try out all sorts of hat patterns :)

I must be on an EZ kick these days. Mittens last time. Now, I've knit two more patterns from The Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann. First up, the Ganomy hat. It's supposed to be gnome-like. For adults, it looks a little funny. At least, how I made it. If I were to knit this again, I would make it smaller and lessen the pointiness on top. I can see how it can be fun for children to wear, like a costume hat. I hope they see it as a fun, playtime hat! Otherwise, I just made a very uncool hat.

This is an example of my old stash. I bought this green acrylic yarn from Walgreen's back in 1994. Yes, I know this because the receipt was still in the bag. And yes, Walgreen's must have sold cheap yarn way back then. It's not great yarn, but it's not as rough as Red Heart. I've never given it away or thrown it out because that would've been wasteful. Couldn't do it. Anyway, I knit this Ganomy hat on size 9 (5.5mm) needles to get gauge at 4 stitches per inch.

Next, the Three-Cornered hat/beret/tam, also from the Almanac. If you follow EZ's sizing directions, this hat will be HUGE. My husband laughed at me as I modeled the hat and said it looked like a spaceship sitting on my head. Plus, it covered half my face. Not a good hat to donate. So I frogged it and sized it way down. Started with an 18 inch circumference, instead of 20 inches. Now, it looks less spaceship-like and won't swallow some poor child's head.

I used Vanna's Choice acrylic for this hat and size 8 (5mm) needles. Less than one skein. Haven't used this yarn before, but I recommend it if you're looking for acrylic yarn. Soft and thick (aran weight). Nice colors too.

Additionally, I've knit two more hats, just haven't taken pictures yet. Another Fake Isle hat and a basic ribbed brim hat. These are instant gratification projects. I can make them within two nights, which is speedy for me. (I know others can bang these out within a few hours.) Currently, I have a lace top on the needles as well, but the hats are more fun.

EZ Norwegian Mittens, month of May

2008-08-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Norwegian Mittens from the Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift
1 ball in navy blue, 1 ball in denim blue
Needles: size 4 (3.5mm), two circulars

Okay, it isn't May, but it's not too late to make mittens for the winter. This is my FO for the Ravelympics challenge. As my Norwegian mittens qualified in more than one event, I "competed" in the Mitten Medley and the Colorwork Cross Country. I cast-on on August 8, 2008 and finished on August 19, 2008. 11 days, not too bad for me. The goal was to finish before the end of the Summer Olympics. I joined the Doctor Who group, Team Tardis, and knit for them. Also, a big thanks to Coach Simon for cheering me on during the competition :)

I really like stranded knitting. A few weeks ago, after I made my Fake Isle Hat, I felt the time was right to try making snowflake mittens. It was not hard at all. Before, I looked at colorwork and thought it was too daunting. I worried it would take some time for me to figure it out, etc. Nope, probably took a few seconds and then I was knitting round and round, forming a picture. Pick up one yarn, knit a few stitches, drop the yarn, pick up another color yarn, knit, drop the yarn, pick up color A again, etc. Easy, right?!

This pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmermann's (EZ) Knitter's Almanac. Mittens for the month of May. I think this is my first project out of the Almanac, actually. Her pithy directions were easy enough to follow, unlike the directions for her other patterns, such as the Baby Surprise Jacket. There isn't a whole lot of shaping involved with the mittens; it's a much more straightforward knit. The Thumb Trick? Very clever idea she "unvented."

Anyway, these mittens just fit my hands. I admit I didn't go for gauge, but it worked out in my favor, luckily. I used fingering weight yarn, which knit up much smaller than the written pattern calculated. I wear extra small gloves, so this isn't a problem for me. However, if I were to knit these for any other adult, I'd use DK or worsted weight yarn to make bigger mittens.

1 year Blogoversary!

2008-08-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

A year ago, I decided to give blogging a try. I wasn't sure how it would go or if I'd like it. But it's been a good experience. It has been so nice receiving comments from friends and knitters all over the world and knowing we have projects in common. At times, knitting can be so universal. Thanks to everyone who has ever left me a comment! You know it makes my day :)

Queenie

2008-08-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Queen of Cups socks by Nathania Apple
Yarn: Valley Yarns Franklin, Fried Green Tomatoes, used a little more than half a skein
Needles: size 2.75mm

These socks were so fun to make! I loved knitting the goblet lace and twisted rib pattern. I like how the semisolid green color shows off the cups and stems.

I began knitting this project last month, while I was in the knitting blackhole with Clapotis. I needed something to avoid falling into a knitting slump. Something quick, yet interesting and challenging. In came the Queen of Cups to the rescue! And the Fake Isle Hat.

Ravelympics Mitten Medley report. I've completed one mitten and have begun the second one. However, I seem to have bruised my index finger (the one that throws the yarn and pushes the needle/stitches around) and need to take a break from knitting for a day or two to allow for recovery. I'm on the DL. My husband commented that a coach would've noticed if I had been doing something wrong and could've prevented an injury. Since most Olympians have coaches, I need one too! He's been drafted as my coach. Pass the ice, please :)

Fake Isle Hat

2008-08-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

Here's my first foray into stranded knitting! I bought some beautiful Noro Kureyon yarn and mixed it with some leftover grey Cascade 220 yarn. Looks so intricate, like real Fair Isle. Except it's the Fake Isle Hat, which takes advantage of the long color stripes in the Noro yarn.

Pattern: Fake Isle Hat by Spunky Eclectic
Yarn: Noro Kureyon (a little less than one skein) and Cascade 220 (less than half a skein probably)
Needle: size 6 (4mm)
Size: Medium/Large, 21.5 inches circumference

I enjoyed stranded knitting so much that I've jumped straight into knitting Norwegian mittens. I'm in the Ravelympics, the knitting summer olympics, and on Team Tardis, for all the Doctor Who fans. I'm "competing" in the Mitten Medley and Colorwork Cross Country. More updates on that next time.

Clap-o-tee

2008-08-03T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here's one of the most popular knitting projects in the world. Clapotis, pronounced Clap-o-tee, as I found out at the yarn store when asked about yarn suggestions for Clap-o-tiss. I've known about this pattern for a long time but never had the urge to knit it until I saw one in person.

I love the finished project but the knitting became monotonous. Took over two months to complete, mainly because I worked on other small projects. It didn't help that my yarn was so thin, sport-weight or heavyweight sock yarn. Using thicker, worsted weight yarn would've made this a faster knit. However, I bought this yarn especially for this project and was not going to give up and re-purpose the yarn. This is seawool which has a bit of seaweed, cellulose, and silver blended in with wool. The idea sounded cool, so I gave it a try. I bought the yarn from the Creatively Dyed Yarn booth at Stitches West this year. I met Dianne, the dyer/owner, and loved all of her handpainted skeins.

Normally, I don't wear much pink, but I chose this colorway because it's different for me. There are flecks of bright turquoise, green, and yellow throughout the shawl. As I'm easily amused, seeing the changing colors as I knit kept me interested. It's sort of like a surprise to see what comes next.

Can't say knitting this was a complete joy. It's one of those projects that you have to suffer through just to get the prize at the end. The knitting was boring, but the yarn was and is fantastic.

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Seawool (70% merino wool, 30% seacell) by Creatively Dyed Yarn, used 2 skeins
Needle: size 5 (3.75mm)

edit: Dianne, thanks so much! I'm glad you like it.

Puffed Sleeve Cardi

2008-07-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

I finished knitting this about a month ago but didn't get around to taking a picture until now. Partly because I kept forgetting and partly because it's been too hot to model wool. Anyway, here it is!

Pattern: Puffed Sleeve Cardigan from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Size: 34 inches
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish DK (superwash merino wool), 6 balls (should've used 7 balls)
Needles: Size 6 (4mm) and size 4 (3.5mm)

Back in April, I cast on for this project and thought I'd be done within the month. If I'd worked on this monogamously, maybe that would have happened. Instead, I had a few other WIPS to combat the boredom of the plain stockinette knitting at the raglan increases. There were times when it seemed neverending. Eventually, I hunkered down and focused, so that by the end of May, the end was in sight. Except I ran out of yarn.

I originally ordered 5 balls of yarn because that's what was called for in the pattern. Yeah, I know I should've bought one more ball just in case, but I didn't. Great, I probably wouldn't be able to match the dye lot either. Now I had to order one ball from Knitpicks, but that just seemed like a waste of an order. I'd need to bulk up the order to make it worthwhile, so say the yarn fumes. So, I placed my order, received my green yarn (they ran out of my dye lot), and continued knitting. Except I started to run short while I knitted the last bit, the button bands!!! My emotions ran from panic to disbelief. Would I really have to order one more ball just to finish a few measly rows??

The solution? I dove into my stash and pulled out some leftover charcoal grey Cascade 220 and used that to finish off the button band. Hopefully the grey strip on the button band looks like a "design feature". Also, to add to the stress, the cardigan was too small for me, until I washed and blocked it out. Blocking works wonders! But prior to that, the too-tight cardigan was adding insult to injury to this whole process.

Many weeks have passed since then. Today, I really like my FO and have already worn it in public. Who knew it would cause so much trouble?! At least it fits me.

Renegade Craft Fair!

2008-07-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

This looks fun! I wonder how much yarn/knitting-related things will be for sale?! Still, it'll be fun to check out.

Granny Square

2008-06-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I suddenly had the urge to crochet something. I haven't crocheted in years and don't really know anything beyond the basics. Even then, I make up stitches. What's a hdc?? Half double crochet? Wouldn't that be a single crochet? Whatever, I made up my own version, which I've already forgotten! Oh well.

It was pretty fun to crochet this granny square, which will be a smallish wash cloth. I have an old Red Heart pamplet (acquired from my aunt) from the 1960's or 70's with a few crochet patterns. One of which is how to make a granny square. Super easy. Just double crochets around and around. Plus, I used up ALL of my leftover dishcloth yarn scraps.

For me, I finished this in record time! An hour or two? Crochet can be so quick. Sure beats the cardigan I finished knitting last night. Needs blocking and buttons, but it's done. That's a saga worth its own post next time.

Granny Square
Yarn: Lily Sugar and Cream cotton
Crochet Hook: 5mm

Small Socks

2008-06-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Baby Socks
Pattern: basic sock construction but sized (guesstimated) by me
Size: toddler foot but infant leg?? Size unknown until child arrives
Yarn: ~20grams Trekking XXL
Needles: 2.75mm

Baby shower today. I've never made baby socks before, so I thought why not? I like to knit socks and tiny socks would be fun. I really don't know when these socks will the fit the baby. The foot is 4 inches long and so is the leg. Could be infant knee highs? Maybe the foot is toddler size? We'll find out over the next year.

Emma

2008-06-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

I'm Emma?? I can't believe it! She's the character I like least, other than Marianne Dashwood. I've always identified more with Anne (Persuasion) or Elizabeth (P&P). Ack!

Take the Quiz here!

1000 Yard Challenge

2008-05-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

Although I haven't blogged much, I definitely have been knitting. I succeeded in the May 1000 yard challenge! Yay! Well, according to my own definition of finishing, that is. In April, I joined a group of knitters who wanted to decrease their yarn stash numbers by at least 1000 yards in one month. Although there weren't any hard and fast rules, I didn't count yardage until I considered my project as a Finished Object. I didn't count any yarn that was in a WIP.

In April, I finished off 600 yards, although I had about three unfinished projects on the needles going into May.

2 dishtowels- 200 yards

BSJ and hat- 400 yards

Puffed Sleeve Cardigan- WIP

Monkey socks- WIP

more dishtowels- WIP

For May, I did finish off two projects and almost finished my cardigan. Except I ran out of yarn for the cardigan. I need to order one more ball of yarn from Knitpicks to finish the button bands and the short sleeves. Although the cardigan is technically unfinished, I'm counting it out of my stash for May. I've slaved away at it for two months and used up all my yarn for this project. There's no way it's going back into my stash after this anyway. End total for May: 1165 yards

2 more dishtowels- 200 yards

Monkey socks- 350 yards

Puffed Sleeve Cardigan- 615 yards

Clapotis- WIP

I have approximately 10,235 yards of yarn at home. Not bad. It's on the low side compared to most knitters.

Here's another stashbusting tip. Decorate gifts with pom poms!

Monkey See, Monkey TWO!

2008-05-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

Pattern specs:
Monkey socks by Cookie A
Yarn: Lisa Souza Hardtwist Merino in Awwtum
Needles: size 2 (2.75mm)

Earlier this year, I made a pair of these socks for my aunt. Although I rarely knit a pattern more than once, I liked the pattern so much that I knit a pair for myself. This is hand dyed sock yarn from Lisa Souza's booth at Stitches West. I really love how the pattern shows off the variegated colors! The Awwtum colorway seems a bit brighter than the autumn colors I would normally think of. There's more pink in it than I initially realized. It's not a problem at all. Just the fun surprise as colors mix and match as you work.

BSJ

2008-04-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Size: 9 months (ended up with 12 month size)
Needle: 7 (4.5mm)
Yarn: ArtYarns Supermerino in color 107, ocean blue semisolid
For the jacket, I used a little over 300 yards. For the hat, I used less than 100 yards.

This is my first completed Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern, the ever popular BSJ. Her patterns are a test to the knitter's confidence. The instructions are a little vague because she intended for the knitters to make their own decisions. In the beginning, things were a little haywire, as I wondered "is this what she meant?" all over the place. Then, I got help through a dvd, and instantly I knew I was ok. Plus, it was a great moment when I folded the amorphous lump of knitting into a recognizable jacket. If you don't know already, this pattern is like origami.

Using DK weight yarn, I chose to make this jacket in the 9 month size. However, after handwashing it in Eucalan and blocking, I measured it to be for the 12 month size. Chest 18 inch circumference, length 12 inches. I really have no idea at what age the baby will be able to wear this! If he grows really fast, he might wear it at 6 months?!

Hi Sara. Surprise! I shipped this off to you last week, so I think it's safe for me to post about it now :) Enjoy!

Purple Karma

2008-04-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Anthropologie-inspired Capelet by Peonyknits
Yarn: Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes Bulky (2.5 skeins) in Grape
Needles: size 11 (8mm)

I really liked knitting this pattern. Very easy and straight-forward to knit. And in the end, you get a great cropped cardigan. Yeah, it's thick wool and wouldn't be worn outside during the warm spring/summer months. It might work out well in my office though. With the air conditioning blasting during the summer, it'll be a little bit of armor against the chill.

This capelet was the third incarnation for this yarn. Originally, I bought it to make the long sleeved v-neck sweater from Fitted Knits, but that didn't work out. I wasn' t sure about the color, I wasn't feeling the pattern, etc. The yarn was so tough at the gauge I thought it should be that my knitting needle cord snapped due to too much pushing and pulling of the stitches around my needles. Resistance is futile. Who said that? It was true in more ways than one. I do know better than to force yarn and needles into a gauge not meant to be, but, at the time, I obviously wasn't thinking.

Then, I came across the Rorschach Jacket pattern from Elizabeth Zimmermann. Again, the yarn had too much resistance on the needles (incorrect gauge) and miles of garter stitch with this stuff was not making me happy. Frogged. Although I will make this EZ jacket some other time with different yarn.

Finally, I remembered this cropped cardigan pattern and it used bulky weight yarn. I got gauge on size 11s (bigger needles than with the other two attempts at size 10s). The yarn was so much easier to knit. The stitches moved smoothly around the needles. Happiness. Good karma.

Inexplicable Knitters Day

2008-04-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

I didn't intend to do anything special for the Inexplicable Knitters Day, April 1. I'm not working on a sock at the moment, so I don't have any pictures with socks-in-progress, a pre-requisite. Still, this may count, as just inexplicable.

We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, so how could I pass up an opportunity to take a knitting picture there? I'm really sorry I didn't go back to the car and get out my BSJ sweater work-in-progress. So, I did the next best thing and whipped off my knit hat and held it up for a picture.

Then, we found Yoda and thought why not continue with my knit hat pictures? I thought about putting my hat on Yoda's head; he would've looked grateful :)

Anyway, those were my sorry attempts at crazy knit pictures. I know holding up a sock with four needles sticking through it would've been weirder. Still, I got a few weird looks at the Yoda statue. Mission accomplished, I suppose.

I should explain why I happened to be at these places. It was not to take knitting pictures, that's for sure! We had decided to take a mini-vacation in San Francisco, the city I grew up in. We did a bunch of touristy things, as well as visiting some of my old haunts for eats in the neighborhood. I haven't walked across the Golden Gate Bridge since an elementary school field trip, celebrating the bridge's 50th anniversary. Last year was it's 70th. It's a really nice walk, especially if it's a non-foggy day. After that, we decided to hunt for Yoda, since we were still in the Presidio. We don't live far away at all and do come back to the city quite often to see family and friends. It's just we never have time to stop and do these types of things.

Cousteau

2008-03-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Finished the hat for my dad. My mom's hat is here. My parents are going on an Alaskan cruise soon, so I figured they should have wool hats from their knitter daughter. I'm trying to imagine them walking around the deck, looking at the glaciers, wearing my hats... Do they get to cruise by the glaciers? Not too close, though? Probably would want to avoid a titanic disaster.

Anyway, this is the Jacques Cousteau hat. My dad, a scuba diver, will get a kick out of this. Yes, he will get to wear this on a ship. Ha! When I mentioned it over the phone to my mom, she knew exactly what I was making. The end product looks great, and I'd be glad to wear it myself. But knitting an entirely ribbed hat in BLACK yarn is so boring. While you're working with the yarn, the black color makes it hard to see what's going on. It just isn't a fun color to knit with. This should've been a fast knit, but it took probably two weeks start to finish. Other knitters know what I mean. Personally, I wear lots of black but prefer not to knit with it.

Pattern: Jacques Cousteau hat by Typy

Yarn: Cascade 220 wool (less than one skein)

Needles: size 7 (4.5mm) dpns

Hat model: Simon (not my dad)

Fiery Fish Scales

2008-03-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm on a roll with these Cookie A sock patterns. Here's Pomatomus!

Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot (60% superwash wool/ 25% mohair/ 15% nylon)
Color: Firestorm
Needles: size 2 (2.75mm) dpns

For the longest time, I considered this pattern to be too hard for me to even think about knitting. I knew it was incredibly popular, but I couldn't see how to knit those curved fish scales. I admit that I hadn't even looked at the written pattern when I made that "informed" decision. Ha! Then, last month, I had such a good experience knitting the Monkey socks that I printed out the Pomatomus pattern and jumped right in. It really wasn't that hard. Yes, I made two changes to the pattern but I didn't really deviate from the pattern.

To get the twisted rib look for the fish scale definition, you have to knit through the back loop. However, for any decreases, it was physically hard for me to knit two stitches together through the back loop. Everytime I came to that point, my knitting would stall. So, I changed it to k2tog from the front, the regular way. No biggy. Once I made that change, everything was much easier.

I also made a regular slipped stitch heel, instead of the twisted rib heel. I know it interrupts the "scaly" pattern down the heel, but I really wanted a thick heel.

I used up almost the whole skein of yarn too. Not much for leftovers! Nice. Plus, I love the "fiery" red color.

Here's the Story... Stitches West 2008

2008-02-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

I had a great time in Santa Clara at Stitches West. It's taken me four years to figure out how to make the most of this trade show. My first year, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the event, I bought two skeins of Schaefer Elaine yarn. Turned out not to be quite enough for a sweater but a sleeveless top/vest. Second year, I thought I'd walk around and wait for something to grab my attention. Duh, everything grabbed my attention and I couldn't figure out what to do. I left empty handed, if you can believe it. Third year, I had a plan- sock yarn and needles and I got them. Not a lot but enough to get me started on my first and second pair of socks.

This year, I made a list of vendors/yarns that I wanted to see in person. I knew I wanted to something laceweight to make the Skater's top from Knitting Classic Style. Something to substitute for Kid Silk Haze and it didn't have to have mohair. Also, I knew I wanted a knitting purse and would decide then and there between the Knitter's Satchel and Bella from Jordana Paige.

Sunday, the last day of the show. Much less crowded than the previous days. I couldn't go any other day, due to other commitments. I missed all of the Ravelry meet-ups and the Stash and Burn meet-up. But I went with my cousin and aunt, the one who taught me how to knit years ago. They'd never been and I don't think they knew what was coming. They came away with some great deals on yarn and seemed pretty happy about it all. We also bumped into my mom's friend, a master knitter, there too. We compared yarn.

My haul:

Ravelry tote bag and blue t-shirt
1 cone of Valley Yarns Colrain laceweight (grey blue)
1 cone of Valley Yarns 2/14 Alpaca Silk laceweight (grey)
2 skeins of Lisa Souza sock yarn in Awwtum (cute) and Emerald City
2 skeins of Creatively Dyed's Seawool (merino wool with sea cell)
1 skein of Argosy Haiku 4 ply in Blackberry (so soft, so nice!)
1 skein of Valley Yarns Franklin (fried green tomatoes!) sock yarn
Red Knitter's Satchel by Jordana Paige

I was going to play the Ravelry Passport game (get stamps from participating vendors) and have a chance to win a prize. But I arrived with only an hour left in the game, so I decided to focus instead on orienting myself at the market and not rush around collecting stamps. I bought a Ravelry tote bag right away, since I'd need it, in addition to my other shopping bag, to hold my purchases. I introduced myself to Jess and we chatted for a bit. That was really nice, seeing as I'm a complete stranger. At the end of the day, I came back and bought a t-shirt from Casey. In between, I met Kathy from the WEBS podcast. She rang up my purchase and Steve bagged my yarn. It was fun to hear their voices and finally see them in person. She thanked me for listening. I spoke very briefly to Dianne about her Creatively Dyed yarns. Really nice colors! I hope the trek across the country was worth it for her and her family.

Plus, I have a new purse/knitting bag! Thanks so much to Jordana's mom (I think it was her mom?) for letting me peek into her Bella bag to see how it looked and to "test drive" it around the booth. Although I chose the satchel, I may acquire a Bella in the future. One at a time.

I'm gushing. It was definitely my best time at Stitches West to date. There were other yarns I thought about getting, but it began to overwhelm me towards the end. By the time I got home, I was so tired. But quite happy.

Monkey Socks

2008-02-17T17:04:00.000-08:00

Monkeys! Aren't they cool? They were super easy to knit, even though they look like there's a lot going on. These are my first pair of patterned socks and my first Cookie A socks.

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A
Yarn: Trekking XXL blue multi
Needles: size 2 (2.75mm)

I really enjoyed knitting these socks! I know Monkey is considered the easiest of Cookie's patterns, and I can vouch that they're a great way to jump into sock knitting. Before this, I had knit three pairs of plain stockinette socks, which I thought were ok but not anything that made me want to join the ranks of crazy sock knitters. These, however, have changed my way of thinking. The pattern contained just enough challenge to keep me happy and was easy enough for me to crank through.

I noticed that she included a plain stockinette heel flap, which I'd never done before. I'd always made a slipped stitch or eye of partridge heel flap. No matter. Next time, maybe I'll add one of those in. Yes, there will be a next time! I plan to make another pair but in a lighter color yarn. I think it'll make the pattern a little easier to see.

Anyway, this is the other project I had talked about before. I had cast-on for my v-neck sweater but wasn't too happy with it. So, I started and completed the Irish Hiking Hat and also had the Monkeys going too. Quick note about my v-neck sweater. It's frogged. After my needle cord snapped off while trying to knit it, I took it as a sign that this sweater was not meant to be. Last week, I re-purposed the yarn for the Rorschach jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman but I'm still having a little knitting trouble. It must be the yarn? It's chunky, the color isn't exactly me, etc. It's physically exhausting to knit with this stuff; it doesn't move easily down my needles and cord. If it's a needle issue, I've got a new set of Knitpicks Options headed my way. By the way, I received my replacement cord from the Denise company and I'm happy to have my kit in one piece again. Anyway, we shall see what happens with the Rorshach.

What else is going on? I've cast on for Pomatomus socks. Fish scales!

Next week: Stitches West! Can't wait.

Irish Hiking Hat

2008-01-29T22:16:00.000-08:00

Instant gratification. Right after I finished my green Bluebell sweater, I cast-on to make Nicole Reeves' Irish Hiking Hat for my mom. I used less than one ball of Cascade 220 Heathers, an extra skein from my purple Back to School vest. I had an FO in about three or four days. I love the cables and how the whole thing feels. I want one too. Or maybe Gretel. Anyway, I sort of misread Nicole's pattern; she wrote that I should repeat the cable pattern until I reached 7 inches. In a hurry, I glanced at the instructions and thought I should repeat the cable pattern 7 times. If I'd done that, the hat would've fit a Conehead. So, a few days later, I read the instructions again, caught my mistake, but had already reached 10 inches. Since I was going to make the hat a little longer to cover the ears, it was ok. So, I ended up with 5 cable repeats before I decreased to shape the crown. I didn't rip anything back; it was fine as is. Ok, it's big, but the comfort and warmth make up for that!

Next, I plan to make a hat for my dad. Other than the yellow garter stitch scarf (my first project ever) I made for him when I was 11, I haven't knit anything new for him in years. I'm not sure what pattern to make. I dread a plain 2x2 or 2x4 ribbed hat. I know it'll look fine in the end, but the knitting will be horrifically boring. Plus, he requested black yarn.

Horrors!

2008-01-27T18:43:00.000-08:00

My knitting needle cord broke! I can't believe it. This has never happened to me before. I know these things are not indestructable, but I didn't sit and squash it or have a pet/baby chew on it. This morning, I was knitting along on a new sweater. As I pushed the stitches around the cord, the cord snapped at the join. I'm still a bit stunned!

See the top of the picture, where the little joint is at? And the clean break with the cord? Ack! Anyway, I need to get the rest of my stitches off that cord and pack it off to Denise needles for a replacement cord.

Actually, before this happened, I considered getting a new interchangeable needle set, the Knitpicks Options metal ones. I love my Denise set, as they're lightweight and plastic. I wouldn't give them up. However, while knitting this particular project, I dealt with a lot of resistance with this yarn on these plastic needles. Got me thinking about how the stitches might slide more easily on the metal needles. I own a few Knitpicks double pointed needles and a fixed circular needle, so I know they're good (and pointy!).

Anyway, I cast-on for the Cozy V-neck sweater from Fitted Knits last week. That's what's in the gory picture above. I'm using Wool of the Andes chunky in grape. Not sure if the color is really right for me, but we'll see. Coming off my last sweater, I'm a bit bored with knitting another stockinette sweater. So to change it up, I've got two other projects going which I'll show next time.

Jester Hats

2008-01-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

My jester hats from the Yarn Girls' Kid Knits book have been posted here! It's the Potter Craft January Newsletter. Scroll to the middle of the page; it's on the right. How exciting to see something of my own published/posted (and not self-posted :))!

This picture actually marked the first time I began documenting all of my knit FOs. Originally, I made these two hats for Elena's twins. They were so cute to make that I made one more for Terri's baby, Zoe, a few years later. There are so many possible color combinations that keep the pattern fun to knit.

Yay, it made my day to see my hats on their website!

Oh, and yes, for the pictures in my last post, I'm wearing my glasses. I know, I hardly ever wear them, but it was a lazy day. As for the beret, I'd been wearing it all day but then couldn't take it off because it flattened my hair. Now that I think about it, I could've posed on a non-bad hair day, with contacts in. Just wanted to get my FO picture done asap. Plus, it started to rain on me. Oh well!

Greenbell

2008-01-20T16:24:00.000-08:00

Finished! Washed and blocked too. My green Boatneck Bluebell Sweater from Fitted Knits is done. Here I am posing for my usual side profile shot. It looks better this way. After many starts and stops, I finally reached the end on Tuesday. What a relief. Last weekend, I thought I had this pattern beat; I was busy tweaking the sleeve pattern for a closer fit. I ended up going overboard that it wouldn't go around my forearms. So I had to rip it back AGAIN! This time, I followed the written directions but omitted the bell sleeve bit. Just knit straight until the wrist. Also, I only knit one "ring" at the wrist, instead of doing another ring triad. Having another bulky triad so soon after the ones at the elbow would've made my arms look short. I wanted to elongate the sleeves as much as possible.

For the body, I also omitted the ring triad at the bottom edge. Instead, I did a few rows of garter stitch and then bound off. With my body, I didn't think another set of bulky rings would look good around my hips, so I made it lay flat. One thing to note: the model in the book must have a super long torso. If I had not fitted the pattern to me, the sweater would've ended up mid-thigh!

In the end, was it worth it? Four frogs and some frustration. Well, yes, it all worked out eventually. If I hadn't altered anything, I would've spent a lot of time on an ill-fitting sweater that I'd never wear. So glad I made the boatneck neckline smaller. It's the width that I'm comfortable with right now; but the original cast-on would've made this totally off the shoulder. I cast-on 90 stitches (20 inches). I knit the chest to 34 inches, instead of 33 inches, because I thought the raglan sleeve-body separation was going to stretch too much if I made it smaller. Now I know it would've been safe to go with 33 inches but a little ease is ok.

Vitals: 4 skeins of Cascade 220 Heathers in sage green on size 8 (5mm) needles

Gauge: 4.5 stitches/inch; normally I have a 5st/inch on size 7s (4.5mm) with this yarn but I didn't want to recalculate the pattern, so I decided to go with the pattern gauge. It's a little stretchy but hopefully it'll keep it's shape.

My sweater pictures look out of focus. Somehow the sharp picture on Flickr is not translating here. If you click on the picture, it should take you to my Flickr album. Or check it out on Ravelry.

templates and the dumpling nazi

2008-01-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

I'm experimenting with different blog templates. I started out with the dark blue background with dots. This one has a light background with a different font. I'm trying to decide which one makes my pictures look better. Possibly the darker background? Or maybe it doesn't make a difference. Which overall look do you like better? Let me know.

Update on the Bluebell. I finished the body and am almost done with one sleeve. Still tweaking the pattern, so I'm not sure if I like how the sleeve is turning out. For sure, I've gotten rid of the bell sleeve shape. One thing I've learned from past bell-sleeved sweaters is that it's tough to eat anything without the sleeves dragging into all of your food. What a pain.

Sure would've made it awkward reaching over all the steam baskets for dumplings last night. We went out with friends at a dumpling restaurant. Good stuff. After we cleaned off everything on our plates, we ordered more shao lun bao (I can't spell it) but the Dumpling Nazi told us that they'd run out (No dumplings for you!). How do you run out of dumplings at the Dumpling House?! She told us to order something else and went away. While we thought about it, she came back, we ordered, my friend asked again if they'd really run out, then DN ripped the menu out of Simon's hands. We got her mad. Our potstickers eventually arrived, but she made us wait. Hee hee! Can't wait to go back!

Bluebell WIP

2008-01-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

After the power went out at work today (about 15 minutes after I arrived), I went home. We're having a terrible rain storm today, so I'm glad to be indoors, safe and sound. I did bring home some work, but I do plan to get in more knitting time.

Ok, time to talk about my Boatneck Bluebell Sweater from Fitted Knits. It's been frogged three times. Each time I think I'm set, I find out it doesn't fit right. Since the whole point of this book is about custom fitting patterns to yourself, it's only right to keep readjusting. Except I don't usually have this much trouble!

First frog (rip-it back):
the boatneck line was way too wide

Second frog:
I adjusted the neckline but forgot to recalculate the raglan sleeve/body proportions. I was in holiday mode and just wanted to knit, so I kept going and going...

Third frog:
After recalculating everything, I thought I'd be clever and start the ring triad and waist ribbing pattern a little lower. Nope! My torso is not that long, and so the rings started around the middle of my stomach and looked weird. The waist ribbing ended up around my hips.

Now, I've taken off an inch on the stockinette torso and will start the rings higher up, closer to the bust line. I hope I love this sweater in the end. I really wanted to make/wear it before I started, but who knew it would involve so many starts and stops!

Gift Knits

2007-12-26T12:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to you all!

My Christmas knitting for 2007. I made dishrags/washcloths from the Sugar N' Cream cotton yarn on size 7 (4.5mm) needles. Lots of fun to make, especially with all of the color combinations. Some of the colors are so loud that they might induce headaches, but from afar, they're very cheery.

With the same cotton yarn, I made mitered square coasters. The idea came from a Ravelry search which lead me to Drip. Differing from the original pattern, I used much thicker yarn (not sock yarn) and didn't add any fringe. Ok, this is why my attention span became so short over the past few weeks. It only took me about an hour or two to cast-on and then bind-off for one 4 inch by 4 inch coaster. Practically instant gratification. For a while, just the thought of tackling my frogged sweater was daunting.

The total count: 10 dishrags/washcloths (my aunt has turned them into trivets, so that's another use for them) and two sets of coasters

I've gotten positive responses so far from the recipients. I hope they do enjoy them! Time for me to sit back, relax, and enjoy a cuppa!

Unfocused

2007-12-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

Although I haven't posted any knitting pictures lately, I've been churning out some neat things. Well, my little project started off fun, but it's getting old. Knitting is supposed to nurture patience and put you into a zen-like mode. Throw Christmas knitting into the mix and all that just goes out the door! Right now, I have the attention span of a gnat. The deadline (Christmas day) is looming and the pressure is on to finish! I'm not making anything difficult, it's just becoming repetitive and tough to stay focused on one thing.

I'd like to work on my Boatneck sweater from Fitted Knits. A few weeks ago, I cast on for the smallest size and worked a few inches from the top. Tried it on and it's too boatnecky for me. It's practically off the shoulder. So, I've frogged it and need to rejigger the math the take a few inches off at the neckline. I'm wondering if I should use smaller sized needles to work the neckline, like size 5s or 6s. I'm using 8s to get gauge, but I'm thinking it might help to use 5s for the garter stitch border to "shrink" it inwards and make it lay flat, then switch to 8s for the rest of the sweater. Any opinions? Deduct a few inches from the neckline and use smaller needles? Or just use smaller needles with the original printed number of stitches for the border?

Anyway, I don't have much time to work on the sweater now. Actually, I should say I don't have time to re-think the pattern now. If I could just follow the pattern without custom fitting it, I could probably work on it and my gift knitting simultaneously.

It's a busy time of year, but I am having a good time with friends and family. I don't mean to sound like I'm totally stressed out about prezzie knitting. Although I've integrated knitting into my lifestyle, my time isn't solely for knitting (and work). Especially now, Simon and I are making time for holiday parties, seeing A Christmas Carol and The Hard Nut, having dinner with friends, etc. Koobideh kabobs! Yum!

Candy Colors

2007-12-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

I stopped by the big craft store to buy one ball of Sugar and Cream cotton yarn. Just wanted to try out a simple pattern for the kitchen. Well, my eyes were dazzled by all of the candy colors and the $2 price tag. See, I haven't come across cheap yarn like this in a while, so...

I bought one of each solid color in the bins. $12 for days of fun. My sock yarn costs more than that. When the time is right, I will post pictures of what I'm madly churning out with this cotton. Slipped stitch patterns, mitered square things...

Back to Work U-neck Vest

2007-11-25T14:13:00.000-08:00

It's the Back to School vest pattern but really it's back to work tomorrow. My four day weekend has flown by so quickly, and yet, I've probably eaten enough to last me a week.

Finished it over a week ago but didn't have time to take a picture in daylight. I wore it to Thanksgiving dinner and look forward to wearing it many more times to come. It's a very wearable vest and easy (fast) to knit too. I don't have any complaints about it, other than I should've made the body a little bit longer. It tends to ride up a little bit at the bottom, but I haven't blocked it yet either. That might take care of it, but it's not a big deal.

Pattern: BTS U-neck vest from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel

Size: 34

Yarn: Cascade 220 heathers (purple)

2 skeins with just a little bit leftover

Needles: US 8 (5mm) and US5 (3.75mm)

Back to School U-neck Vest WIP

2007-11-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

With my shawl FO behind me, I quickly cast-on for a new project, the Back to School U-neck vest from Fitted Knits. Besides my red scarf, for the past two months I've mainly been working with sock yarn and lace weight yarn. Thin stuff that seemed to take forever to progress. Now I'm back to worsted weight yarn (not thick, but way thicker than the other two), and I'm motoring through the vest pattern. It's only been a week, but I'm more than half way done and this is what it looks like.

And I got my Ravelry t-shirt in the mail this week too :)

New things. I came across a new video podcast, Knitterati, by Nina Casey. It's more like a film short or documentary, rather than a talk show. Although this is her first episode, I thought she did a great job in terms of interviewing her knitters and editing the whole video into one flowing piece. I'm not sure how far she plans to go with this format, but it would be intriguing to see if she probes deeper into why her knitters knit, how knitting has changed or incorporated into their lives, etc. Maybe that's not going to be the focus of her video podcasting, but I already can see glimmers of this kind of documentary in her work. Pretty cool! I look forward to Episode 2. Check it out.

Kiri Shawl

2007-11-06T23:26:00.000-08:00

Although I finished knitting this a week ago, here are pictures of my new shawl. This yarn is deceptively warm. It looks wisp thin, but all that mohair really retains the heat.

Pattern: Kiri

Yarn: 2 balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze

Needles: US7 (4.5mm) and US8 (5mm) for bind-off

~60inches wide and ~30 inches from neck to triangle point at bottom

With two balls of Kidsilk Haze, I managed to fit 10 repeats of chart 2 before completing chart 3 and binding off. Thanks to Polly for the advice about my leaf "burn rate" per ball of yarn. To be safe, I counted 70 leaves for the first ball. Great pattern! I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to knit their first lace shawl.

On the Blocking Board

2007-11-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

This is Kiri blocked on my new mats! Pretty cool how all the lumpy leaves straightened out after soaking the shawl in water and pinning everything into place.

My pictures are kind of dark, aren't they? I'm still learning how to take good pictures of my knits.

Unblocked Kiri

2007-10-31T21:58:00.000-07:00

I bound off the last stitch tonight! My two ball Kiri shawl is done. Wow, the last few rows took me days to finish. Mostly because I didn't devote enough time to sit and knit. Each row took me maybe 30 to 60 minutes to finish? Depended upon how distracted I was.

Speaking of distractions, I paused while knitting a leaf during last night's earthquake, but I kept on going after the shaking stopped. Seriously, I ought to have ducked under a table during the earthquake, but I just couldn't put down my lace! I was counting the stitch pattern and was not about to break my concentration, unless the quake worsened. After all of those elementary school earthquake drills and the 1989 quake, I knew better than to sit there by a glass window and watch the walls shake. I guess I was waiting for the quake to intensify before I took cover, but it never did. Everyone's fine, nothing even fell off the shelves. Anyway, I really hope I'm not so addicted to knitting that I can't even put down the needles/yarn during a natural disaster. If it's true, I'm in trouble!

Back to less scary things (happy halloween). Let's zoom in on the fern leaves!

I was afraid I'd run out of yarn and have to buy another ball just to finish the last bits. Although I knew I should've put in lifelines towards the end, just in case I needed to rip back and end the shawl a little earlier than planned, I didn't do it. Just kept pushing to see how far I could get. This is what was leftover. Yay!

Time to give the shawl a dunk in water and block it out. More details next time.

Cable and Lace Scarf

2007-10-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

An FO (Finished Object translated for my non-knitting friends), finally! I'm already wearing my new scarf, as I blog. Just bound off the last stitch today and am so glad it's done. It took longer than I thought to finish this project, but it has been a secondary project for the past two months or so. This yarn is really nice to knit with. Very soft, thick, and squishy. I think I started working on this in September, with the notion that it would be my relief yarn while I made socks for Simon. Going from thin (and hard bamboo/wool) sock yarn to this thicker alpaca blend and back again. However, once I finished the socks, I started up the Kiri shawl with threadlike yarn. So once again, my red scarf was the relief project. One that I could zone out, knit, and relax with.

Pattern: my own combination of three 4-stitch cable panels with lace yarnovers in between and selvedge edges

Size: 3.5 inches wide and ~60 inches long

Yarn: Andean Silk (alpaca/merino wool/silk) from Knitpicks, 3 whole balls

Color: Barn red

Needle: size 6 (4mm)

At least that's an accomplishment for the week! I'm happy with my new scarf, but now I need to focus on what else is on my needles. I'm still slogging through my Kiri shawl. I knit and knit and don't see any progress. Yes, it's the knitting black hole. It's around ~300 stitches per row, so that's probably why. That's not a lot for some people, but it's enough for me. I have to concentrate and sit near good lighting to see these skinny stitches. Wah wah wah :) Here's the deal: I won't allow myself to cast on for a new project until I finish my shawl. I'm almost there (I think). Well, maybe I'll wind the yarn for my next project... just to get a head start.

Fern Cobweb

2007-10-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Lace knitting! My first real entry into lace knitting. I'm making the Kiri shawl, pattern designed by Polly. I've got two balls of Kid Silk Haze, so that will limit the size. Almost done with ball 1, so I guess I can say I'm 50% done! (picture is not exactly up to date) I'm on the 8th repeat of chart 2. A few more fern leaf repeats and then the edging. I really hope I don't run out of yarn before I reach the end. I also hope I don't underestimate and have too much leftover either. Then, the leftovers will go into the scrap pile, which I can't seem to throw away.

Anyway, I wonder when I'll finish this project. I started off with a bang but as I increase the stitch number in each row, I am slowing down. The pattern is easy enough that I can memorize the pattern for the particular row I'm working on, but I'm not good enough that I can zone out and keep knitting. I really do have to concentrate and watch my needles and the thread-like yarn. Since I can't watch tv (trying to catch up on The War) that requires my attention, I've gotten back into P&P (6hr version), Jane Eyre (4hr), and Jane Eyre (6hr). Mind you, I'm not watching ALL of them back to back. I can listen and occasionally look up, since I've watched these movies hundreds of times already. I like the long versions because I don't have to stop knitting and hit the remote control too often.

All in all, I'm enjoying knitting this pattern. In the beginning, I screwed up a lot, although I don't think you can see it very well (thank you mohair). I had trouble "reading" my knitting on the needles. The stitches were so big and airy that I couldn't really make out what was what. Looked like a big messy cobweb. Now, I'm used to it and it's a coming along.

Also, this week, my orange legwarmers got mentioned by Jenny & Nicole! I'm glad you liked them. There were so many fantastic entries for the one skein contest. Everyone made something inspiring.

I am mohair

2007-10-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Mohair.You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.
Take this quiz!

Is this true?! I think it is! No one knows how I cover up my mistakes ;) Ha ha! And I'm currently working with Kid Silk Haze (mohair silk!). I can see why it'a aka Crack Silk Haze. Kiri shawl, in progress. Take the quiz and tell me what kind of yarn you are.

Simon's Socks

2007-10-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

Done! On Monday night, I finished knitting the socks. Tuesday, Simon wore the socks to work. Initially, he thought they felt a little rough (probably the bamboo?) but were fine after a while.

Details:

Basic stockinette socks

Trekking Pro Natura (75% superwash wool, 25% bamboo)

A little less than 1 skein

Color: brown multi

Needles: size 1 (2.25mm) dpns

As I've mentioned before, knitting with this yarn was ok, not great. Not nearly as soft and smooth as my other 100% wool sock yarns. After working with this for about a month, I adapted to the feel, but I'm not sure if I'd choose this wool/bamboo blend again. We hope it'll soften after washing.

Green and Purple Monster

2007-09-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

Late last week, my yarn order came in. More green and purple madness.

Knitpicks Swish DK (superwash merino wool), 5 skeins, moss green

Project: Puffed sleeve cardigan from Fitted Knits

Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky (100% wool), 6 skeins, grape

Project: V-neck sweater from Fitted Knits

I've got all of my supplies and I'm ready to cast-on for something new! Just gotta finish up my two other projects which should be soon. Simon's socks are almost done. I'm decreasing at the toe and he'll probably get to wear the pair by tomorrow night. I haven't picked up my cable and lace scarf in a week but that'll be a quick knit. Especially since those needles will feel like a pair of clubs compared to the size 1s I'm currently using on the socks.

Slowly, I've been populating "my notebook" on Ravelry with projects. Up to 14, I think. I'm also trying to add a Ravelry button to my blog on the upper left hand corner. But as you can see, it's not working yet. Any advice? I copied and pasted the html code and tried to link in the location of the button picture (in my picasa album) but obviously I'm missing something.

Socks, 1 of 2

2007-09-25T21:10:00.001-07:00

I'm halfway done with Simon's socks! One down, another to go. I'm already at the heel for the second one; almost there.

Ravelry is quite fun. I can see how it can eat up all of my free time in the evenings, as I punch in my project info and marvel at how much info is already in their database. The quickest part, for me, has been setting up my queue for future projects. I've got so many things I want to make and the database already can link my list with the pattern/pictures that other people have completed. Cool!

I'm in

2007-09-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo! I received my invitation to Ravelry and I'm in. Will start populating my profile with projects and pictures. I am maceknits over there, so come over and say hi.

I bought yarn this week. Online, I ordered enough yarn from Knitpicks to make two sweaters. Yesterday, I picked up another two sweaters worth of yarn at my LYS, Nine Rubies. Plus sock yarn, the only impulse buy. Even though I had projects in mind for each of these purchases, I went a little brainless when it came to picking colors. From Knitpicks, I had already chosen moss green for a cardigan and grapey purple for a v-neck sweater. Then, I went to the LYS and what did I choose? Green for a long sleeve sweater and purple for a vest. DUH. I didn't realize it until I got home. Plus, I got red sock yarn. And I've been trying to get away from red/orange/magenta colors for the past year! Go figure.

The haul from the local yarn store (my online order hasn't arrived yet):

Cascade 220 sage-green heather (5 skeins)

Project: Bluebell Boatneck Sweater from Fitted Knits

Cascade 220 purple heather (3 skeins)

Project: U-neck waffle weave vest from Fitted Knits

Mountain Colors Bearfoot (superwash merino wool/mohair/nylon)
color: firestorm
Project: socks for me, no pattern yet

Plans

2007-09-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

No new news since last time. I'm still slogging through the brown socks for my husband. If these were for me, I'd already be done with the first sock and onto the second one. I know because I tried it on already. Sock knitting is pretty easy to do. It's just that I have to go slow so I don't cramp my hands on the thin needles. If I go too fast, then I'll put my hands out of commission for a few days, which means no knitting. Can't let that happen, so I have to be patient. In the meantime, I'm alternating between carrying the yarn on the left hand (continental) and the right hand throw, all an attempt to keep my hands loose as I go along. I'm using double pointed needles but I should learn how to knit the Cat Bordhi way, with two circulars. Maybe that would be more ergonomic and quicker?

Also making progress with my red cable and lace scarf. Need to order more yarn for it.

Speaking of more yarn, I really want to knit a lot of new projects. From the Fitted Knits book, there are five patterns I'd like to start with- the Elizabeth Bennett cardigan with cabled waist and sleeves, the Boatneck sweater with ribbing at the waist and mid-sleeve, the U-neck waffle weave vest, the plain v-neck pullover with waist ribbing, and the Carrie cropped flared sleeved cardigan. You can see images of these here. Would I even wear a cropped cardigan/shrug?? Looks cool but not really my style. A vest? I haven't worn a vest in 20 years. Another long sleeve cardigan? Didn't I just spend half of this year with the Layoff cardigan? Imagine all of those buttons to sew on... Ick. Still, these all look so nice to knit! And I know of a yarn sale coming up next Saturday...

Plus, thanks to Alice's suggestion, I'm going to knit Kiri with my Kid Silk Haze. It's a fern motif lace shawl pattern. I'll make the medium sized shawl, so it could also work as a big scarf. I'm not really a shawl person, but then again, I've never worn one before either.

In The Works

2007-09-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog and leaving comments! How I love comments! In my last two posts, I was surprised and delighted to receive three comments from the UK and also from Vickie Howell! I just started blogging recently, so it amazes me how quickly I can connect with people from all over and not just hope that my friends/husband will maybe take a peek if they remember :) Most of my friends are non-knitters, so this is probably not the most intriguing blog for them to read. Unless I post pictures of presents I'm making for them (which really I wouldn't do until after I've given it to you). Or post-reception like this:

I've been meaning to post this picture of Georgie and his blankie. According to the people he lives with, he likes playing with the blanket and seems to know it belongs to him. Hope he likes the second one too. Double the fun? Thanks, Georgie, for being a contented recipient!

Before, I've talked about knitting for the husband and how he doesn't have much knitwear from me. Since then, I've completed his new hat. Check. Now, he gets socks.

Basic stockinette sock pattern
Trekking Natura yarn (wool-bamboo blend)
brown multi color
size 1 (2.25mm) sharp, pointy metal dpns from Knitpicks

So far, I'm not loving this yarn. It's just ok. The bamboo seems to make the yarn a little hard but maybe after a wash, it'll soften? Also, this yarn seems a bit thinner than the other sock yarns I've worked with (Fleece Artist and Cherry Tree Hill), which makes the whole process seem to take longer. Anyway, I've made a little progress since I took the picture. I've turned the heel and am currently knitting round and round for the foot. Then I have to repeat it all for the second sock.

In the meantime, to give myself a break from the socks, I'm making a cable and lace scarf for myself.

The lacy bit is between the cable panels but you can't really see it unless you stretch it out. The pattern is my own but nothing fancy. I'm using Knitpicks' Andean Silk in Barn Red. Alpaca, silk, and wool blend. Very nice to touch! Anyway, this is my birthday yarn, sort of. I set up an online order and had my husband do the purchase as my birthday present. For some reason, he got confused about this part of the order and changed it without asking me. Originally, I chose three balls of olive green. He altered it to two balls of barn red. Why??!! I don't have enough to finish this scarf and will have to order more. I'll probably add more yarn to the order, since I ought to make the shipping cost worth my while :) I'm not too annoyed about it. It's a lovely yarn to work with and is such a welcome contrast to the thin sock yarn, as I alternate between the projects.

One Skein

2007-09-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

Ideas for one skein projects!

Here is the husband's camping hat, modeled at Big Basin State Park, Labor Day weekend.

Actually, it was unusually warm at the campsite this year, so our wool hats weren't necessary. I knit this one with less than one ball of Cascade 220, with some leftover orange yarn (from my cable stitch hat) to edge the ribbed brim. Size 7 dpns.

Next up, legwarmers!

This pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts book. Alterations? I made them exactly to fit the length from my knee to ankle. No 1980s slouchy look! These are meant to be worn under my jeans in Winter, to keep me warm while I sit and knit. What's cool is that I used up an entire skein of Plymouth Encore worsted weight yarn for the pair. No waste! Size 7 dpns, 2x2 rib, easy.

Lana & Clark Lacy Ascot

Used an entire ball (100yds) of Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora yarn for this pattern from Vickie Howell. Didn't realize I cut off the bottom in the picture, but it pretty much ends right there.

Fingerless Mitts

Also made with Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora, but less than one ball for size small. Spiral rib pattern also from Last Minute Gifts.

Yes, the Debbie Bliss cotton angora was on sale and I bought a few odd balls. Although the yarn feels nice and soft, turns out I don't like angora that much- sheds all over my clothes. And yes, I've made a lot of things from the LMKG book- great ideas for small projects.

Kid Silk Haze, 2 balls

2007-09-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

Normally, I don't buy on impulse, but somehow two balls of Kid Silk Haze appeared in my basket at the yarn shop. What should I make? Obviously I didn't have a plan when I bought this.

I'm thinking about Wisp, Branching Out, or a wider and longer version of the Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Any suggestions for more easy lace patterns are welcome. I've never knit with this yarn before but have heard that it's tough to rip back mistakes. So I want an easy pattern that's relatively goof-proof. Or if I goof, the whole thing would be so holey anyway that you couldn't tell.

Leave a comment and suggest/vote for the pattern you think I should go for. Since I have two balls of yarn, I can either make one big scarf/wrap or two smaller ones.

The Layoff Cardigan

2007-08-29T20:47:00.001-07:00

070607 garter rib cardigan
Originally uploaded by maceknits

Ok, I didn't get laid off this year, but other people at my company did. Just before New Year's, my company tanked and I knew what was coming, even though no one officially said anything. As my co-workers and I speculated about which date would spell the end of our employment there, I started knitting this Cotton Cardigan from the Sarah Dallas Knitting book. Obviously, knitting eases any anxieties I might have anyday, but this project took on new meaning (which I didn't really recognize til I finished). I knit and knit through the layoff (early February) and finished. Finished the pieces, that is.

First off, I don't like to sew seams. It isn't any fun for me and I can drag it out. Anyway, I guess I likened this unfinished object (ufo) to my situation in life. With an unstable job, I was on the hunt for a new position, new company. And I subconsciously didn't want to finish this cardigan until I ended the unfinished business at my company. Why not finish the cardigan earlier and then hope that would translate into getting a new job faster? If only it were that easy.

To make a long story short, I'm happy at my new job and had a new cardigan to wear just days before my first day of work in June. But in my mind, this cardigan will forever be the Layoff Cardigan and will remind me of the changes I went through for half of 2007. Back in December, I had already planned to make this cardigan, but it definitely became something else.

Particulars:
8 balls of Rowan Yarn Classics Cashsoft DK
Size 5 and 7 needles
Garter rib pattern
what I changed: not much other than not using cotton for the Cotton Cardigan

Comments about the pattern: The pattern wasn't too difficult, other than piecing it together. Mainly stockinette stitch with a garter rib panel to keep the knitting interesting. In the end, I didn't think the fit was quite what I wanted. It's a little too boxy and the shoulders are wide. In this pattern book, I don't think any of the pictures really show off the patterns/projects, so it was a little harder to tell how this would truly turn out in the end. Still, I'm ok with my end product and have worn it a few times already.

Husband Knitwear

2007-08-26T22:00:00.001-07:00

I'm currently knitting a plain gray wool hat for my husband. A 2x2 rib brim and stockinette to the top. The only interesting bit is the two rows of orange edging at the beginning and the rest is all charcoal gray. I offered to try out some colorwork on it (like a zig zag), but he declined. Oh well, almost done. Although I'm having fun using my new Knitpicks very pointy double-pointed needles for this! He will get to wear this new hat at our upcoming camping trip over Labor Day weekend.

Next up: husband socks! I've just started knitting socks this year and he really would like a pair. Again, it will be basic stockinette. No patterned texture, just plain. I did buy a brown multi-colored yarn (Trekking Natura wool-bamboo), so I guess that will give the socks some character.

After all these years of knitting, I've hardly knit anything for my husband. He says he doesn't really want anything. Sweaters are too hot. Not too interested in accessories. Early on, I knit him a hat (which I'm finally replacing). I also knit him a scarf that I forgot to add a selvedge edge. So it ended up rolling inwards on both sides and looked like a skinny tube, which we both agreed he shouldn't wear. I replaced that in June, two or three years later...

I did knit a sweater for him but it turned out so bad that he's not allowed to be seen in public in it. First off, it's a bad idea to knit sweaters with super chunky bulky woolease yarn. It's so thick, it's like armor. And it weighs a ton. Acrylic yarn doesn't breathe either. At the time, I thought I was clever to use chunky yarn on fat needles to make it fast. I found a few patterns that had parts of the sweater I liked, so I combined bits of each pattern and made my own frankenstein plan. When I got to the collar, it was a lot wider than I had planned but I just thought, "Hey, I can wing it." I kept re-knitting the collar but it was not to be. Way too thick and wide. In the end, this project just wasn't meant to work. When he put it on, the back rode up. Needless to say, no pictures will be posted of this, although we get a laugh out of it every now and then.

Georgie's Blankets

2007-08-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

In my early knitting years, I accumulated a bit of worsted weight acrylic yarn. Like, the pound of yarn skeins? I had two of those in my stash. The receipt was still in the bag with these, dated 1994. And lots of other acrylic one skein wonders. Historical stash to be sure, but not what I'd want to knit or wear these days. What to do with all of this?

Pet blankets! As suggested by Nicole from Stash and Burn. Although I don't have any pets, I do know Georgie, my friend's corgi. My friend said she'd be happy to have a blanket for him. So I got to work.

Chevrons! The basic chevron stitch pattern is from Vogue knitting's stitch dictionary. I thought this would be a great idea to knit, but once the novelty of the pattern wore off, I got bored. I knew then and there that this would be a long haul to the end and that I should've crocheted this instead. I began this project with enthusiasm in March or April of this year but the enthusiasm waned by May and could've been destined a UFO (except I promised this is a gift, so it had to become an FO, somehow). During this time, I had a few other knitting projects going, so it was easy to let this one slip down the priority list. Anyway, by August, I felt guilty just looking at it unfinished, so I decided to plow ahead and focus. And I finished! Yay! I do like how it turned out in the end. And Georgie has received it already.

BUT, I didn't use up all that yarn! Georgie is getting another blankie.

I took the biggest crochet hook I owned ( size K, 6.5mm) and single crocheted away. Took about two weeks from start to finish. Could've finished in one week, but I sort of took a week off... Very quick (for me, that is; slow for others) to make, unlike the chevron blanket which took ~5 months.

It's been a good week. Two FOs! I finished Bad Penny and the crocheted Georgie Blankie.

Good Bad Penny

2007-08-21T20:36:00.000-07:00

I finished a short sleeve cotton sweater, Bad Penny, a Stefanie Japel pattern. I love how it turned out! I used GGH Linova, a cotton-linen yarn - dark green for the main color and lime green for contrast. The colors will look better in the natural light- gotta remember to take a new picture outdoors this weekend. Anyway, I'm pretty sure anyone who's wanted to knit this pattern, did so years ago. I'm behind the times in my knitting but I'll catch up eventually.

The pattern is fairly easy; plain knitting in the round, not too challenging. I tend to wear simpler styles anyway, so this top fits right in with my wardrobe. I do feel that I knit this sweater twice, though. Halfway through (the first time), I tried it on only to find out it was too big and frogged it. Had to rejigger the math to size it down, below the smallest written size in the pattern. I'm not teeny but it was just a little too baggy. Annoying but I'm glad I did it. I'm happy with the fit.

Funny enough, the topic of proper fit has been discussed lately on Interweave's Knitting Daily and the podcast, Stash and Burn. We invest so much time and effort into knitting these garments for ourselves that we really ought to learn how to customize patterns to our own bodies. Make the sweaters (and ourselves!) look their best! Isn't it disappointing when a sweater turns out frumpy dumpy? Didn't look that way in the pattern/magazine/book photo, did it? Oh well.

Lesson learned. Take realistic measurements of myself and (maybe) save myself the trouble of knitting the wrong size.

First Post

2007-08-19T14:47:00.001-07:00

maceknits, originally uploaded by maceknits.

I've finally created a knitting blog. We'll see how this goes!