Last night, after a few days of steady knitting, I completed the longies for Garrett. Thrilled at the prospect of having him wear them out tomorrow to show them to Jen, who provided the yarn, I did something that usually takes at least a week of procrastinating and not only grafted the crotch seam, but wove in all the ends as well.
Needless to say, I was feeling like some pretty hot stuff-I mean I did the short rows and everything. After waiting rather impatiently for the kiddo to wake up (it seemed mean to wake a baby just because I'm a nut) I excitedly rushed to try them on, loudly bragging on myself while fighting to get his silly little kicking feet through the leg openings. They looked good, no, great!
Till I picked him up and realized his diaper was hanging out the back...not a good quality in a soaker. The stupid rise isn't high enough, so now I have to try and pick up at the waistband and add another couple inches. It wouldn't bother me as much if it was garter or stockinette, but I'm afraid it's going to screw up my nice stretchy ribbing. I put a post up on the Knitty boards, so hopefully I'll get either reassurance or a different fix-it method.
Sigh.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
The New Year
2009 flew by, and so much happened it's sort of pointless to try and summarize it all here. To hit the major points of the last few months, all I really need to say is that Garrett is here, healthy, and an amazing little creature that leaves me awe-struck every time I look at him. It's enough to make me forgive the time he's cut out of my knitting (haha).
I've never been much for new year's resolutions, but I think this year I'm going to make an effort...there are other people who will benefit from my self-improvement, and while I might not be motivated enough to make changes for myself, I love them more than enough to at least try.
The big thing is to try and keep things better organized. We're still unpacking from the move, and aren't likely to be finished any time soon since the flooring in the baby's room isn't done yet. I refuse to unpack only to have everything covered in saw dust, so our room is still an obstacle course. Once we CAN unpack though, I want to try and find a place for everything, and to keep it there. I've been systematically opening boxes of clothing to try things on, and have ousted more than half of what I've seen. Between things not fitting properly after 9 months of pregnancy (the hips are wider and aren't likely to magically go back, so there's no point trying to keep pants that won't zip) and them just being old and worn out-I'm not keeping anything that was purchased in middle or high school-most of the things that I've been carrying around the past few years are better off in a thrift store than in my closet. As I slowly replace things, I'm going to try and make sure I have a slightly more adult wardrobe. I don't know what the heck I'm going to be doing in the coming year, but I do know I'm tired of feeling shlubby all the time. Garrett deserves to NOT look like he's the spawn of poor white trash.
As far as this all applies to knitting, I've already gone through my Ravelry projects and queue to remove things I'm not doing and tagged the queued items and moved them to favorites so the queue is ACTUALLY a working queue. I'm going to try and keep better track of all those bajillions of patterns I have marked, and am going to figure out the stash thingie to get the yarn under control. I have to go through everything I have, put it in there, and then go through and see what I can make on the queue or in the faves from what I already have. Money's just too tight to go out and buy more yarn every time I get the itch to cast on. I also need to finish frogging the sweaters I bought at the thrift store to salvage the yarn, which will increase the stash as well. Having it in Rav will help me keep track of the salvaged fiber contents as well (hopefully!).
Anyway, on to current projects. I have a skein of really pretty brown Berocco Ultra Alpaca that Jen sent to me via Harlan, which I've been eyeing and dying to cast on since it came home. I exercised a little self-control though, and (mostly) finished Mom's holiday stocking first. Granted, I still need to graft the toe and pick up the afterthought heel, but the main part is complete and really, it's not like it's going to get any use before next December anyway. The baby needs pants NOW! So I have my favorite Chiagoo bamboo needles poised and ready to go, after a bit of time looking over different soaker patterns I decided to splice a few together. Between the Spare Ribs pattern and the Curly Purly one, I think I'll get the fitted waist I want to reduce bulk and the stretchiness to let the kiddo grow into it a bit...not to mention the room for the various flat and prefold diapers that add all different amounts of poof to his butt. I'll keep you posted on how it goes, and if things work I'll put up the spliced pattern I came up with.
If things work the way I hope they will, I'm going to try some foot-up longies starting with the stay-put bootie pattern. The ones I made from the leftover Merino 5 are fantastic, but are going to be too small for him soon. We also have a definitive lack of pants, so I think it'd be a good idea to try some footies.
All this talk of soakers is too much--I have to go cast on now. But my other resolution is to post here at least once a week, just to keep my head straight. Maybe next time I'll bemoan my inability to find a suitable yarn for Mom's Zora.
I've never been much for new year's resolutions, but I think this year I'm going to make an effort...there are other people who will benefit from my self-improvement, and while I might not be motivated enough to make changes for myself, I love them more than enough to at least try.
The big thing is to try and keep things better organized. We're still unpacking from the move, and aren't likely to be finished any time soon since the flooring in the baby's room isn't done yet. I refuse to unpack only to have everything covered in saw dust, so our room is still an obstacle course. Once we CAN unpack though, I want to try and find a place for everything, and to keep it there. I've been systematically opening boxes of clothing to try things on, and have ousted more than half of what I've seen. Between things not fitting properly after 9 months of pregnancy (the hips are wider and aren't likely to magically go back, so there's no point trying to keep pants that won't zip) and them just being old and worn out-I'm not keeping anything that was purchased in middle or high school-most of the things that I've been carrying around the past few years are better off in a thrift store than in my closet. As I slowly replace things, I'm going to try and make sure I have a slightly more adult wardrobe. I don't know what the heck I'm going to be doing in the coming year, but I do know I'm tired of feeling shlubby all the time. Garrett deserves to NOT look like he's the spawn of poor white trash.
As far as this all applies to knitting, I've already gone through my Ravelry projects and queue to remove things I'm not doing and tagged the queued items and moved them to favorites so the queue is ACTUALLY a working queue. I'm going to try and keep better track of all those bajillions of patterns I have marked, and am going to figure out the stash thingie to get the yarn under control. I have to go through everything I have, put it in there, and then go through and see what I can make on the queue or in the faves from what I already have. Money's just too tight to go out and buy more yarn every time I get the itch to cast on. I also need to finish frogging the sweaters I bought at the thrift store to salvage the yarn, which will increase the stash as well. Having it in Rav will help me keep track of the salvaged fiber contents as well (hopefully!).
Anyway, on to current projects. I have a skein of really pretty brown Berocco Ultra Alpaca that Jen sent to me via Harlan, which I've been eyeing and dying to cast on since it came home. I exercised a little self-control though, and (mostly) finished Mom's holiday stocking first. Granted, I still need to graft the toe and pick up the afterthought heel, but the main part is complete and really, it's not like it's going to get any use before next December anyway. The baby needs pants NOW! So I have my favorite Chiagoo bamboo needles poised and ready to go, after a bit of time looking over different soaker patterns I decided to splice a few together. Between the Spare Ribs pattern and the Curly Purly one, I think I'll get the fitted waist I want to reduce bulk and the stretchiness to let the kiddo grow into it a bit...not to mention the room for the various flat and prefold diapers that add all different amounts of poof to his butt. I'll keep you posted on how it goes, and if things work I'll put up the spliced pattern I came up with.
If things work the way I hope they will, I'm going to try some foot-up longies starting with the stay-put bootie pattern. The ones I made from the leftover Merino 5 are fantastic, but are going to be too small for him soon. We also have a definitive lack of pants, so I think it'd be a good idea to try some footies.
All this talk of soakers is too much--I have to go cast on now. But my other resolution is to post here at least once a week, just to keep my head straight. Maybe next time I'll bemoan my inability to find a suitable yarn for Mom's Zora.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Oh my
I really am bad at this updating thing, aren't I? At least I can console myself with the knowledge that the reason for my distraction is baby preparation. In that vein, I'm pleased to announce that the nursery is at least one coat of paint closer to being complete. The green is on the walls, and I love it and am rather proud for having mixed it myself. I just need to put a little blue on the trim around the closets, and call it a day. Other than that, the footing is the only thing upstairs that still needs a coat of paint (didn't know the boys were coming to install it, or I would have painted it before it went down) and I can't physically crawl around on my hands and knees to do it right now. So until there's a little baby around to make things a little more difficult, the footing stays three different colors and I've decided to be alright with it. I've also taken apart all the hand-me-down baby stuff to wash it all, so the carrier and co-sleeper have both been cleaned up to my standards. Woot!
As far as the knitting is concerned, the little trousers I was so excited about last post? Frogged less than 24 hours into the project. After an hour or two of plucking slowly along with tiny yarn on tiny needles, I was already at the point where I was having to pep-talk myself over the perceived lack of progress---it just wasn't going anywhere fast, but I was willing to keep at it if only to try and make the super-cute mental image in my head an eventual reality.
That was up until the point where I realized with horror that I'd twisted the stitches. Fits of rage and frustration ensued (after at least two more rounds of "Maybe not! Maybe I just have the stitches squished funny!"), I ripped the whole thing back, and threw that tiny yarn back into the bin. At some point I'll fish it back out and probably try again, almost definitely holding the yarn double so it doesn't seem like such a fruitless endeavor (I like noticeable progress after hours of work, so sue me!) but for now I'm happy with other things...not including the substitute trouser-jumper things I've almost made out of horrible chunky acrylic. Worst. Yarn. Ever.
Between weaving in the ends of the baby moderne blanket (crochet edge worked out fine, and there's only two or three inches towards one corner where it's slightly less wide than the rest as I ran out of blue yarn) I whipped out a ridiculously cute little top-down hat, complete with a Techknitter TKIO boing at the top. Inspired, I also dove into my Ravelry favorites to go through the baby things I'd marked but done nothing with, and busted out a pair of Stay-Put Baby Booties. While the first one took a little bit longer than I'd like to admit, since it took me a while to figure out the best way to pick up from the sole (I was multitasking, damnit), once it was done I was able to fly through the second without even looking at the pattern. Amazing little moon-booties, and I'm not ashamed to say I'm more than tempted to make them in grown-up sizes. I can think of at least two people who might appreciate ridiculous moon shoe slippers, and I really did enjoy whipping those suckers out once the pattern clicked in my head.
Other things are afoot (hah) before that happens, however. The first of many yule stockings is nearing completion, Lauren's to be precise, and I had another one of those intensely gratifying "Aha!" moments when the theory of the Afterthought Heel snapped into focus. We're at the home stretch and I have to say, for my second fair isle project it's looking pretty darn snazzy. I can't wait until Harlan wakes up and I can ask him to figure out how to get the battery out of the camera so I can charge it and take pictures...and then ask him to figure out how to get them up on here.
What else is on the plate at this time...I have a big skein of camo-colored yarn to do a hat for Mom's school roommate that I think is really ugly, but hey. It's not going on my head, right? Elden also picked up some yarn for a pair of fingerless mitts, and I have a couple ideas for cabling to jazz up the charcoal. Boring color palette, but I'm hoping I'll be able to keep it interesting. He likes owls a lot, so I'm probably going to try and work the owl cable into it some how. Maybe do one with owls, the other like a tree-? Try and do the owl IN a tree? It needs more thinking, but there's hope that it won't be the most tedious, boring project ever.
Other than that...after throwing some baby stuff in a bag to take to the hospital, I'm filled yet again with an overwhelming urge to knit up a bunting. We have several of the little sack-shirt things, but they're all pretty light cotton. Good for general use, not so much for going outside in the cold. I might just have to set aside my aversion for man-made fibers and hit the stash for some of the gifted skeins of machine-washable acrylic, because I don't have the money to go find more superwash. It's looking like all other promised projects are going to get shuffled aside--again--while I frantically kick out another baby item. I figure acrylic for what's essentially going to be an outerwear kind of piece isn't too bad...not like a sweater or something where he's going to be in it all the time and be sweltered by it....See me trying to convince myself? It's going to happen regardless, but I still need to talk myself up to it. Another reason for Harlan to get up--my trunk-o-yarn is upstairs and there's no way for me to get at it quietly. Rats.
As far as the knitting is concerned, the little trousers I was so excited about last post? Frogged less than 24 hours into the project. After an hour or two of plucking slowly along with tiny yarn on tiny needles, I was already at the point where I was having to pep-talk myself over the perceived lack of progress---it just wasn't going anywhere fast, but I was willing to keep at it if only to try and make the super-cute mental image in my head an eventual reality.
That was up until the point where I realized with horror that I'd twisted the stitches. Fits of rage and frustration ensued (after at least two more rounds of "Maybe not! Maybe I just have the stitches squished funny!"), I ripped the whole thing back, and threw that tiny yarn back into the bin. At some point I'll fish it back out and probably try again, almost definitely holding the yarn double so it doesn't seem like such a fruitless endeavor (I like noticeable progress after hours of work, so sue me!) but for now I'm happy with other things...not including the substitute trouser-jumper things I've almost made out of horrible chunky acrylic. Worst. Yarn. Ever.
Between weaving in the ends of the baby moderne blanket (crochet edge worked out fine, and there's only two or three inches towards one corner where it's slightly less wide than the rest as I ran out of blue yarn) I whipped out a ridiculously cute little top-down hat, complete with a Techknitter TKIO boing at the top. Inspired, I also dove into my Ravelry favorites to go through the baby things I'd marked but done nothing with, and busted out a pair of Stay-Put Baby Booties. While the first one took a little bit longer than I'd like to admit, since it took me a while to figure out the best way to pick up from the sole (I was multitasking, damnit), once it was done I was able to fly through the second without even looking at the pattern. Amazing little moon-booties, and I'm not ashamed to say I'm more than tempted to make them in grown-up sizes. I can think of at least two people who might appreciate ridiculous moon shoe slippers, and I really did enjoy whipping those suckers out once the pattern clicked in my head.
Other things are afoot (hah) before that happens, however. The first of many yule stockings is nearing completion, Lauren's to be precise, and I had another one of those intensely gratifying "Aha!" moments when the theory of the Afterthought Heel snapped into focus. We're at the home stretch and I have to say, for my second fair isle project it's looking pretty darn snazzy. I can't wait until Harlan wakes up and I can ask him to figure out how to get the battery out of the camera so I can charge it and take pictures...and then ask him to figure out how to get them up on here.
What else is on the plate at this time...I have a big skein of camo-colored yarn to do a hat for Mom's school roommate that I think is really ugly, but hey. It's not going on my head, right? Elden also picked up some yarn for a pair of fingerless mitts, and I have a couple ideas for cabling to jazz up the charcoal. Boring color palette, but I'm hoping I'll be able to keep it interesting. He likes owls a lot, so I'm probably going to try and work the owl cable into it some how. Maybe do one with owls, the other like a tree-? Try and do the owl IN a tree? It needs more thinking, but there's hope that it won't be the most tedious, boring project ever.
Other than that...after throwing some baby stuff in a bag to take to the hospital, I'm filled yet again with an overwhelming urge to knit up a bunting. We have several of the little sack-shirt things, but they're all pretty light cotton. Good for general use, not so much for going outside in the cold. I might just have to set aside my aversion for man-made fibers and hit the stash for some of the gifted skeins of machine-washable acrylic, because I don't have the money to go find more superwash. It's looking like all other promised projects are going to get shuffled aside--again--while I frantically kick out another baby item. I figure acrylic for what's essentially going to be an outerwear kind of piece isn't too bad...not like a sweater or something where he's going to be in it all the time and be sweltered by it....See me trying to convince myself? It's going to happen regardless, but I still need to talk myself up to it. Another reason for Harlan to get up--my trunk-o-yarn is upstairs and there's no way for me to get at it quietly. Rats.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Pattern notes
I'm going to be starting a pattern from the French Chic Baby Knits book I picked up. As I'm completely broke and don't have a snowball's chance in hell at getting the called-for yarns, I sucked it up and swatched the blue fingering-weight cotton from one of the SalvAl frogged sweaters. Gauge on US3 needles is about 7 sts per inch (I say almost because the 7th stitch just barely ooched up on the one inch mark) which puts me about where I need to be, I think.
Pattern as written calls for the front and back to be worked seperately, but I think that's just leaving myself open for a lot of seaming heartache...so here I go, my first attempt at altering a pattern to do it in the round. I'm not sure what the rules are as far as putting the pattern up here in its entirety so I can keep track of the measurements, so I'm just going to put little bullets where they are in the book and notate the changes that way.
*CO126 (63); finish as written
*K 54 (27) and leave on a spare needle, cast off 18 (9), K to end. Cont. on 54 (27) sts now rem on needle for one leg, finish as written
...Not as much math as I was really worried about, so I think I'll be alright if I put markers where the original counts were so I can keep them all straight and can keep myself going on these tiny needles with tiny yarn.
Repeat with me now: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
Pattern as written calls for the front and back to be worked seperately, but I think that's just leaving myself open for a lot of seaming heartache...so here I go, my first attempt at altering a pattern to do it in the round. I'm not sure what the rules are as far as putting the pattern up here in its entirety so I can keep track of the measurements, so I'm just going to put little bullets where they are in the book and notate the changes that way.
*CO126 (63); finish as written
*K 54 (27) and leave on a spare needle, cast off 18 (9), K to end. Cont. on 54 (27) sts now rem on needle for one leg, finish as written
...Not as much math as I was really worried about, so I think I'll be alright if I put markers where the original counts were so I can keep them all straight and can keep myself going on these tiny needles with tiny yarn.
Repeat with me now: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...
New Old Books
The Husbeast and I have been ransacking the house since we've been here trying to go through all the piles of STUFF so we can get things ready for the baby. There's been a lot of shuffling things around, including a bunch of old books that have been doing nothing but gathering dust for the past 20 years or so. So we started going through them, got the OK from Mum on the ones we wanted to get rid of (so we didn't unknowingly oust some hugely important sentimental tome), and went up to a used bookstore that takes books for store credit.
Can I just take a minute to say....WIN!
I got a copy of Knitted Gifts, which is by the same lady who did Zen and the Art of Knitting. I loved that one, and will hopefully someday have it again (I lent it to a friend in Pittsburgh after teaching her to knit) so I'm excited for this one. It's kind of nice that it's a bunch of little short pieces--very handy for waiting rooms, which I've been seeing a lot of lately.
There's also French Chic Baby Knits, which seemed to transcend hours of Ravelry-induced baby-stuff-overload. It was like, "Here, it's a perfect simple romper just like you've been looking for but never quite nailed down. And a jacket or two, and some different booties and hats as well." Fan-flippin-tastic. The only issues are that A-it is French, so it admits early on that a lot of the yarns used aren't easily accessed outside Europe and B-it's an older book, so even the yarns that are in Ravelry have been discontinued. Ugh. Lots of fingering-weight stuff from the look of it though, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and whip out some gauge swatches. Siiiigh....it'll be worth it though, right?
The last one is A Passion for Color. The first half is on dying techniques using natural dyes, which is really the coolest thing ever and had me all excited in the store. The second half is a total trip...The patterns are HORRIBLE. Like, cartoon jester horrible, complete with poofy sleeves, a gathered waist and cuff with ginormous ruffles....Halloween costume worthy ridiculous stuff with CRAZY amounts of patterns going all over the place. The saving grace for the pattern half of the book is that some of the fair isle charts are pretty neat, so long as you take them individually. Throwing 15 on one garment? Total train wreck...but there were a good lot of them that I think will be awesome by themselves on hats and things.
All in all, very exciting...
As far as actual projects, the Moderne baby blanket is done save weaving in ends, including the crochet border I did since I don't have the book to see how it was actually supposed to be done. I just wish I could find a flipping tapestry needle--it's SO FRUSTRATING being so close to being done (on two projects, mind) and not being able to just wrap it up and finish.
Other than that...the only thing still on the needles right now is the mohair scarf. I want to start something new, but I can't quite decide what it should be. I'm torn between wanting to do baby things (which is sort of limited by what I have in the stash that's washable) and feeling like I should put things together to try and sell. Maybe I should just take already finished things out in the sun for a photo shoot tomorrow, and then let people look at pictures to order things rather than trying to guess at what they'll want. Mum stole my February Lady to take to school a while back, and people keep telling her to bring a portfolio of what I can do so they can order Christmas gifts...hmm....
Can I just take a minute to say....WIN!
I got a copy of Knitted Gifts, which is by the same lady who did Zen and the Art of Knitting. I loved that one, and will hopefully someday have it again (I lent it to a friend in Pittsburgh after teaching her to knit) so I'm excited for this one. It's kind of nice that it's a bunch of little short pieces--very handy for waiting rooms, which I've been seeing a lot of lately.
There's also French Chic Baby Knits, which seemed to transcend hours of Ravelry-induced baby-stuff-overload. It was like, "Here, it's a perfect simple romper just like you've been looking for but never quite nailed down. And a jacket or two, and some different booties and hats as well." Fan-flippin-tastic. The only issues are that A-it is French, so it admits early on that a lot of the yarns used aren't easily accessed outside Europe and B-it's an older book, so even the yarns that are in Ravelry have been discontinued. Ugh. Lots of fingering-weight stuff from the look of it though, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and whip out some gauge swatches. Siiiigh....it'll be worth it though, right?
The last one is A Passion for Color. The first half is on dying techniques using natural dyes, which is really the coolest thing ever and had me all excited in the store. The second half is a total trip...The patterns are HORRIBLE. Like, cartoon jester horrible, complete with poofy sleeves, a gathered waist and cuff with ginormous ruffles....Halloween costume worthy ridiculous stuff with CRAZY amounts of patterns going all over the place. The saving grace for the pattern half of the book is that some of the fair isle charts are pretty neat, so long as you take them individually. Throwing 15 on one garment? Total train wreck...but there were a good lot of them that I think will be awesome by themselves on hats and things.
All in all, very exciting...
As far as actual projects, the Moderne baby blanket is done save weaving in ends, including the crochet border I did since I don't have the book to see how it was actually supposed to be done. I just wish I could find a flipping tapestry needle--it's SO FRUSTRATING being so close to being done (on two projects, mind) and not being able to just wrap it up and finish.
Other than that...the only thing still on the needles right now is the mohair scarf. I want to start something new, but I can't quite decide what it should be. I'm torn between wanting to do baby things (which is sort of limited by what I have in the stash that's washable) and feeling like I should put things together to try and sell. Maybe I should just take already finished things out in the sun for a photo shoot tomorrow, and then let people look at pictures to order things rather than trying to guess at what they'll want. Mum stole my February Lady to take to school a while back, and people keep telling her to bring a portfolio of what I can do so they can order Christmas gifts...hmm....
Monday, October 26, 2009
Catching Up
It's been ages since I've used this blog; I admit that I usually default to the old Myspace blog when the mood strikes. I have, however, come to the conclusion that 99% of the people I know and have on Myspace don't give a hoot about knitting or yarn or any of that other good stuff. So it's all going here so I can get it out of my system.
Many things have been accomplished since we moved back to Virginia. Aside from weaving in the ends of my February Lady (still have no buttons, but it hasn't stopped me from wearing it), I whipped out a top-down raglan from some of the Lamb's Pride bulky we picked up at Autumn Moon Fest. $10 for 8 skeins...it still makes me all tingley to think about it. Yum. Granted, I'm not really thrilled with the look of the sweater, but part of that could be because I'm big and pregnant, so it stretches kind of weird over the belly. I'm not sure if blocking would really do anything, but then I've never properly blocked anything so it might be a good place to start.
I also did my first fair isle while on bedrest for a weekend, using the Endless Rose pattern. It's pretty much fabulous, despite a few little blips in the decreases where the yellow peeked out and shouldn't have. I didn't notice till I was about done, and at that point was still so damn pleased with myself I didn't care. I've definitely been enjoying having wearable knits, though I'm also desperately trying to figure out what I'm going to do for holiday knitting...Sue would definitely appreciate the hat. But I love the hat. But she would too, and I love Sue...Decisions, decisions.
Some of my recycled yarn got turned into another hat, pretty basic ribbed cap but using the decreases from Endless Rose (I really like how it looks). It's a boring cream hat right now. If I could only find my tapestry needle, I'd do a little viney embroidery over it to jazz it up. It's the first thing I made to put up for sale, but I can't really do anything with it till the stupid needle turns up (loose ends all over the place to weave in).
As far as current WIPs, the log cabin blanket I've been working on for the baby is still ongoing. I was considering frogging the project and using the yarn (Merino 5 superwash--it's squishy and delicious and I LOVE it; the fact that I got it on sale for less than five bucks a skein just adds to my affection) for a bunting. Harlan the Husbeast was against it though, apparently he's pretty fond of the blanket as it stands. So I'm leaving it alone...for whatever reason, it's been hard for me to pick up. I should probably get the heck over it though, since there's a chance baby Garrett is going to be here sooner than December and will need that wooly goodness.
The project that's had my attention for the past few days is the mohair lace scarf I'm working on for Becca. I started off with Branching Out, but the Kid Seta is an amazing varigated goldy yellow-orange-russet fuzzball of sunshiney loveliness and the pattern stitches got lost in the color variances. I wrestled through a pattern repeat or three (it helped me realize that patterns with 10 rows to keep track of aren't great for me--I get up and down too much, it's hard to keep track of where I am) before deciding it would be best to gently frog it and find a new pattern. Several chocolate chip cookies and an hour or so on Ravelry later, I decided on the Easy Lace Stole skinnied up to make the scarf. I was a little worried that it'd end up looking too simple and boring, but it does exactly what I wanted it to--show off the yarn. It's pretty much gorgeous, the mohair's got such a nice little halo thing going and the stitch pattern is basic enough not to get lost in the color changes. To say I'm pleased with it would be a bit of an understatement...I really am going to have to get myself some blocking materials before it's finished.
That's about it for wip's, except for poor Harlan's socks which still aren't done. There's approximately one and a half socks at this point, like a year after I started on them. At least I got the half-sock back on the needles and figured out where I left off on the pattern...right? That's a good thing, isn't it? ...I guess I should bump that up my list of priorities after the blanket.
Many things have been accomplished since we moved back to Virginia. Aside from weaving in the ends of my February Lady (still have no buttons, but it hasn't stopped me from wearing it), I whipped out a top-down raglan from some of the Lamb's Pride bulky we picked up at Autumn Moon Fest. $10 for 8 skeins...it still makes me all tingley to think about it. Yum. Granted, I'm not really thrilled with the look of the sweater, but part of that could be because I'm big and pregnant, so it stretches kind of weird over the belly. I'm not sure if blocking would really do anything, but then I've never properly blocked anything so it might be a good place to start.
I also did my first fair isle while on bedrest for a weekend, using the Endless Rose pattern. It's pretty much fabulous, despite a few little blips in the decreases where the yellow peeked out and shouldn't have. I didn't notice till I was about done, and at that point was still so damn pleased with myself I didn't care. I've definitely been enjoying having wearable knits, though I'm also desperately trying to figure out what I'm going to do for holiday knitting...Sue would definitely appreciate the hat. But I love the hat. But she would too, and I love Sue...Decisions, decisions.
Some of my recycled yarn got turned into another hat, pretty basic ribbed cap but using the decreases from Endless Rose (I really like how it looks). It's a boring cream hat right now. If I could only find my tapestry needle, I'd do a little viney embroidery over it to jazz it up. It's the first thing I made to put up for sale, but I can't really do anything with it till the stupid needle turns up (loose ends all over the place to weave in).
As far as current WIPs, the log cabin blanket I've been working on for the baby is still ongoing. I was considering frogging the project and using the yarn (Merino 5 superwash--it's squishy and delicious and I LOVE it; the fact that I got it on sale for less than five bucks a skein just adds to my affection) for a bunting. Harlan the Husbeast was against it though, apparently he's pretty fond of the blanket as it stands. So I'm leaving it alone...for whatever reason, it's been hard for me to pick up. I should probably get the heck over it though, since there's a chance baby Garrett is going to be here sooner than December and will need that wooly goodness.
The project that's had my attention for the past few days is the mohair lace scarf I'm working on for Becca. I started off with Branching Out, but the Kid Seta is an amazing varigated goldy yellow-orange-russet fuzzball of sunshiney loveliness and the pattern stitches got lost in the color variances. I wrestled through a pattern repeat or three (it helped me realize that patterns with 10 rows to keep track of aren't great for me--I get up and down too much, it's hard to keep track of where I am) before deciding it would be best to gently frog it and find a new pattern. Several chocolate chip cookies and an hour or so on Ravelry later, I decided on the Easy Lace Stole skinnied up to make the scarf. I was a little worried that it'd end up looking too simple and boring, but it does exactly what I wanted it to--show off the yarn. It's pretty much gorgeous, the mohair's got such a nice little halo thing going and the stitch pattern is basic enough not to get lost in the color changes. To say I'm pleased with it would be a bit of an understatement...I really am going to have to get myself some blocking materials before it's finished.
That's about it for wip's, except for poor Harlan's socks which still aren't done. There's approximately one and a half socks at this point, like a year after I started on them. At least I got the half-sock back on the needles and figured out where I left off on the pattern...right? That's a good thing, isn't it? ...I guess I should bump that up my list of priorities after the blanket.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Decisions, decisions...
I'm a big fan of knitting at the computer. Husbeast set up a little round table with one computer on either side, so we can peek around and look at each other to make silly comments when necessary. This also leaves a lot of room for balls of yarn, scraps of yarn, and needles in various sizes. It's perfect; I can read my web comics, enjoy my super-geek online RPG, scan Ravelry, anything I want, and still get a few rows in here and there.
The problem is that The Puppeh thinks that any time either of us are sitting down, she belongs in a lap. Normally, this is a fantastic thing, because she really is a phenomenal little lap warmer. We don't have a cat, but she's smaller than most cats I've had anyway, so I figure she counts as a decent substitute.
Thing is? She hates the knitting.
Seriously.
She won't come into my lap if I've got the yarn in my hands. Tonight, I was working on Harlan's socks (the Harlot's Earl Grey pattern, if you must know, and yes I'm doing them two at once on one giant circ) and she just kept going from one side of the chair to the other, whining and whuffing and making all sorts of piteous little Puppy-people noises. It doesn't matter how I held the yarn up and away (because she has managed to get horrifically tangled in it), how I sit to make the lap nice and inviting, how many times I coo, "C'mon up, it's alright! Come ON!"...she simply will not.
She fusses and cries and paces around, but she won't come up until the knitting is down on the table.
I'm having a serious guilt issue here. I love the Puppeh. She's like my baby, complete with all the nasty vomit and potty issues (don't even get me started on the time she threw up inside my sweater...while I was wearing it).
But it's YARN. Really nice pretty yarn that, while splitty, is still making what look to be really pretty first-time-ever grownup socks. The stupid ribbing is taking me forever, because I'm just slow with that yet, but it's SO CLOSE to being done and getting to the good part! Work has been so hectic for the past week and a half I haven't had nearly as much time as usual to knit, and I feel like I just can't give up valuable time with the needles just because Bailey doesn't like sharing me with something else that's soft and fuzzy and nice.
Right now, we're compromising. She's sitting between my back and the back of the chair, keeping my kidneys warm and my hands free. I wrapped her up in the back of the sweater I started frogging a month or two ago and never finished. She seems to like that...like, if she can't successfully keep me from knitting, she can at least benefit from my obsessiveness by snuggling up in the materials.
...I really need to find the camera so I can post pictures. She really is about the cutest thing on the whole damn planet.
The problem is that The Puppeh thinks that any time either of us are sitting down, she belongs in a lap. Normally, this is a fantastic thing, because she really is a phenomenal little lap warmer. We don't have a cat, but she's smaller than most cats I've had anyway, so I figure she counts as a decent substitute.
Thing is? She hates the knitting.
Seriously.
She won't come into my lap if I've got the yarn in my hands. Tonight, I was working on Harlan's socks (the Harlot's Earl Grey pattern, if you must know, and yes I'm doing them two at once on one giant circ) and she just kept going from one side of the chair to the other, whining and whuffing and making all sorts of piteous little Puppy-people noises. It doesn't matter how I held the yarn up and away (because she has managed to get horrifically tangled in it), how I sit to make the lap nice and inviting, how many times I coo, "C'mon up, it's alright! Come ON!"...she simply will not.
She fusses and cries and paces around, but she won't come up until the knitting is down on the table.
I'm having a serious guilt issue here. I love the Puppeh. She's like my baby, complete with all the nasty vomit and potty issues (don't even get me started on the time she threw up inside my sweater...while I was wearing it).
But it's YARN. Really nice pretty yarn that, while splitty, is still making what look to be really pretty first-time-ever grownup socks. The stupid ribbing is taking me forever, because I'm just slow with that yet, but it's SO CLOSE to being done and getting to the good part! Work has been so hectic for the past week and a half I haven't had nearly as much time as usual to knit, and I feel like I just can't give up valuable time with the needles just because Bailey doesn't like sharing me with something else that's soft and fuzzy and nice.
Right now, we're compromising. She's sitting between my back and the back of the chair, keeping my kidneys warm and my hands free. I wrapped her up in the back of the sweater I started frogging a month or two ago and never finished. She seems to like that...like, if she can't successfully keep me from knitting, she can at least benefit from my obsessiveness by snuggling up in the materials.
...I really need to find the camera so I can post pictures. She really is about the cutest thing on the whole damn planet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
