What's the sound of one hand clapping? Can the pope hear it when he takes a dump in the woods? And would that cause a tree to fall down?
It's DONE.
Done like the thanksgiving leftovers still in my freezer.
Done like the republican party with George.
Done like the extra 3 pounds I used to cart around on my chest.
Done like my bank account after Madrona.
Here it is:
It took me a YEAR. A friggin YEAR. But, a sock is done.
And there is no way I can repeat what I did.
See? Isn't that a cool first sock? It's pink and purple. My favorite colors (when I was six, so that's forgivable). I started on 2's and knit down to the heel, and figured out that a) I am a complete moron for trying the lace and faux cable pattern that is entirely lost in the busy yarn.
Notice the fine kitchner-ing of the toe.
The tag, you ask? Why the stitch marker lets me know when I started decreases. It's the "Seduction Socks" from interweave knits, but I got bored after I turned the heel, and started messing with it. Seriously messing with it. I heard I should do the bottom on 1's so it would be a tighter fabric and thus last longer. So I did that.
Then I knit about another inch or so and realized I should, say, check with the Yarn Harlot or Cat Bordhi or someone about when I should decrease, since they sort of know socks a bit better than me. You know, like people from Colorado know a bit more about snow than say, people from Barbados.
I would be Barbados in this example.
Anyway, I figured I should shape the sock a bit like a foot. No idea why I got that notion, but what the hell.
Then I knitted a bunch more and decided that probably it would go a bit faster if I stopped trying to do the pattern on the top.
See how it stops kinda way before the actual toe? Genius. Anyone can knit a sock, but it takes pure, unadulterated genius to completely fuck it up beyond the ability to repeat one's self.
It's a dobby sock. And yes, I will be punishing myself shortly.
It's going to do me in. If I were not in love with the yarn, if it were less silky, less varigated, if perhaps I didn't love my mother as I do, I swear I would throw this out the window.
Never. Do. Boring. Scarves. In. Laceweight.
Promise me?
I am to the decreases at last, and I see Rich's taunting face before me, daring me to finish it, telling me to suck it up, everyone else laughing, perhaps Daniel most of all because he knew it would frustrate me.
Here is my progress:
and here's more:
It is insufferable.
And yes, I began still more projects, scattered lifeless and nearly forgotten across my bedtable, with nothing quite so sad and neglected as my golding spindle. It is a sight to be seen.
And yet here I am blogging rather than thundering through one more 12 row section. As I must before I am allowed to do anything else.
On the other hand (well, actually on both), earlier I did get two repeats done on my eiffel
I am doing it in elann canapone, hemp, and no Dad, I am not breathing it in or smoking it. It is, however, leaving my hands rather black and I am glad not to be using wood or bamboo needles on it. I am doubling it up to get near gauge (I hope, if my swatch can be trusted, which yes, should have been larger, but at least I swatched in the round.)
And my incisions still hurt. And the methotrexate is wiping me out. And dh has the flu, and has kindly let me stay in the bedroom and suffers downstairs on the couch, poor guy, and I am not fit to nurse him myself, being so readily infected due to all the immune suppressants. Ugh.
He made me a new spindle which is brilliantly oxidizing purple, he discovered that if you leave it in the air long enough, it does not turn brown (as the bits in my rocking chair did) but stays purple, if you wipe mineral oil on it after it's had the chance to oxidize. I'll get a picture soon, perhaps with my new roving from Madrona, I got fleece artist....
Since Ravelry seems to be eating my "edit photos" on this project, I am trying to satisfy my need to flash it everywhere by posting it here.
Light Hyacinth malabrigo silky merino, #9's a G crochet hook (picot edging) and I just need to weave in ends, and maybe block a bit, and it'll come with me to Madrona.
This is the Best. Yarn. Ever.
Seriously.
An elderly man came up to me at the dr's office lobby and asked what I was making and proclaimed, "lovely... that is just lovely!" He didn't seem to be a knitter himself, but I daresay he'd lived with one at some point because he was really complimentary to it. :beam:
Until I am feeling well enough to get daylight pictures out of doors, of knitting in the wild, I apologize but all the pics are on my lap from my recovery bed. Being straight up isn't fun yet, and I try to do it as little as possible. If someone would be so kind as to shut the gravity down a bit in here, I would really appreciate it.
I am feeling unwell today, fever is back. Of course I discovered this after the dr office was closed, so we'll see.
I have crafting add right now, I've begun a ton of new projects (all on ravelry) and discovered to my dismay, despite actually having a rather extensive supply of different colors in the stash. Right now it seems all about purple and blue, which is ok but I do like other colors too.
In other news, apparently my sex life would be improved if I wore 3 inch heels. It says nothing about my feet and back though, and I do expect that the subsequent sacrifice of health in those areas would counteract by far any improvement.
So about the yarn...
I began a market bag after elann's usual lightening speed shipping, to help carry purchases at next weekend's Madrona festival. I don't feel well so it's going slowly compared to normal, but fast compared to many projects.
here was my start:
and you can see I have made some progress.
In other news, I am wishing I had 5 more skeins of Malabrigo in the matisse colorway to make the Printed Silk Cardigan in the new interweave.
The yarn is just so soft and lustrous and it really is even that much better than regular malabrigo. I know! Hard to believe, but everyone last night at Miro agreed. At $12 a skein, though, it's a bit out of my current budget to afford it right now.
So here's some more eye candy:
and
I have two of this last one, it's the matisse. The purple is (yes, I know, more blue and purple) light hyacinth. I said I would marry regular malabrigo if I could, and for the silky I think maybe some sort of fiber geek spok mind meld is where I'd go.
Go get some.
As Ferris Bueller said, "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking some up"
I've been in bed all day hardly up at all. Hardly even lifting my head up. My temp is 37.8 (sorry guys, our thermometer was in the bargain bin apparently because it only does metric. And "any day now" America will switch. Jimmy Carter said so in 1978. heh. Since I run low normally, this is a temp more of fever for me then it would be for someone else.
In other boob related news (sorry guys) I got to buy bras online. Trouble is, I don't know what size I am (yes, I did measure) because I am still swollen. So I got two, and we'll see, but that's what places like onehanesplace are for.
The bag project got a quick boost in my queue due to a thread recently on ravelry about plastic bags. I was appalled at how many folks were so blase, that they thought by reusing a bag once, it was very "green." These people by and large had never heard of biodegradable pet bags, and were flummoxed at the thought of living without a car and shopping. Perhaps they buy plastic bags which are sturdier but that made me laugh--who hasn't suffered a tear and groceries all over? I usually, in the odd circumstance that I don't bring my cloth bags in, make them repack bags in paper if they've neglected to ask me (we use them to carry recycling and non-meat food to our yard waste bin, and they are fully biodegradable and made of recycled material where we shop most often, but then again lately I use my own bags instead anyway).
The fever grows, ebbs and flows, and before I descend into complete rhyme, I suppose that is enough for now.
I am hoping I'll feel up to Madrona on Saturday.
I am so excited. I just ordered one skein of this:
They had 10. Someone restrain me from ordering the rest.
It's helping me heal... seriously!
(p.s. it's silky merino. YUM!)
EDA: I had turned on an authenticating for comments, trying to shut off spammers, and unfortunately it seems to have shut down everyone. I hate this software... I turned it off, so you should be able to comment now.
And EDA: that would be why I turned it off, 20 min later I had 4 spam comments. UGH. I'm leaving it on but may have to shut it off...
So I did get to knit, only a day after my surgery. Actually I did knit about 6 stitches on the day of, just 'cause I wanted to prove I could.
Then I finished my odessa the day after, so I would be able to enjoy cashmere and cover the very bad hair day hair.
Yeah, it's blurry. Blame dh, he took the picture ;-P
Now I need to get back to work on the other WIP's, especially mom's clap. Which I am not having fun knitting. I think this will be my one and only clap, which is a bummer because this yarn rocks (not to knit with, it's very splitty, but it's pretty. See how much fun pain meds can be? My next post may be in iambic pentameter).
We went to Little Knits!
So my knitting group from Miro decided we all had way too much money in our bank accounts, so we decided we needed to relieve them. I picked everyone up
because my too-big fuel-hogging car finally came into some good use.
When we got there, I think we scared Sue. Soon we were overcome by yarn fumes.
which you can tell, by looking at our overly happy faces. I think about everyone spent a bit more than anticipated, or in some cases, got such good deals they wound up with much more yarn than they anticipated. Yay big car! Boo spending too much! It was the fault of the sock yarn, which was really hard to resist. See?
silk and wool. Yummers.
and
and
also, the cashmere was hard to resist:
and it wants to be painted. It told me when it whispered, "buy me"
Also, I hit the sale room and got this:
which wants to be some kind of scarf or neckwarmer when it grows up. Okay, I told it. Hop on.
Scott almost recovered from the yarn fumes when Sue ran to grab a "silly hat" like his when the camera came out. Poor Scott. We think maybe his head shrank down a size, which makes it almost back to normal because when Cat Bohrdi told him he was too brilliant to knit from her book, it got VERY big.
Then Rita, who isn't worshipped enough, found a dog to do the job. Good dog, Mellow.
(bad dog, Scott!)
And then Sue took us to her secret underground lair. Which we were sworn to secrecy about, and I can only show a picture of us heading down there.
And then we went to the Alkai bakery and had food, before we lost Rich to hypoglycemia.
But the seahawks lost. Boo! (That was the scary part of the story, you can come out from under the bed now)
When we got home, the yarn and I showed off for dh. We didn't mention the credit card bill. Well, we maybe mentioned it because "not at all remorseful" was mentioned in relation to the dog (who bit dh while I was gone) and it was then that I mentioned yarn, and showed it off. Erm. Well. We don't need to look at the visa bill just now, do we?
Oh Ravelry, how you have stolen hours off the clock, bandwidth on our wifi, memory on my iphoto... and so much you have given me...
I finished Fetching, and they are! I am so sad that knitpicks decided to discontinue panache. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I hope they come up with something equally delicious...
Anyway here's the yarn:
and here is one, finished
Leftovers, that is...
well I *finally* got in to see the breast surgeon (her nurse admired my moebius wrap)
(this post copied from my post on knitty)
Anyway, so she agreed we should do something to figure out if they are "good" lumps or not. So tomorrow :( I have a core biopsy... which makes me feel like archeologists are going to be determining my KT boundary-- process is basically similar)
Don't know how long till we get results back, but if they are "clear" then I have to decide to a) keep them and name them b) get them vacuumed out (really! Seriously!) or c) freeze them until such a time as they, along with Walt Disney, can be revived. Or, maybe, just absorbed back into the ole body.
Funny thing is that the freezing thing, which is supposedly "nearly painless" (hah) isn't done in my very large city, instead I'd have to nearly hop the border (just barely not). Gives new meaning to "colder than a witch's tit" huh?
So any votes for what to do? If they are bad (and we agree that it's probably not likely) then I get no choices, really. Well, different, less fun choices :(
Best case scenario, I name them and have a reduction and the surgeon likely will take out the biggest anyway because of where it is.
If the insurance says no, I'll be collecting pink stash leftovers from everyone I know, and knitting the world's biggest tit and sending it to them. Stuffed with Bricks. COD.
in worsted, baby socks (nobody get excited, they are the "test" socks in Cat Bordhi's new book )
I made the little blue sky socks, and will upload a pic shortly. Whoops...one wound up with about 2 rows more...
Then, feeling triumphant, I attempted a toe-up Judy's magic cast-on.
Whoa. College graduate (with honors)? M.A.? Mostly PhD? Um, doesn't mean crap. You have been humbled by the magic cast-on.
I did, after about 5 million tries, sort of do it. With a couple mistakes. Thanks to a knittyhead who showed me this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhBIS0AhhQY
So, I called up my very cool spinning knitting genius of a friend and I say, let's get my hubby to watch the kids and we'll go see the Harlot.
Guess what the major concern was in that statement? Nope, not that our husbands would think we were insane (or perhaps they'd be hopeful that some harlot-esque behaviors would rub off on us)... it was the "leave the kids with..." since I have a special needs kid, and sometimes my son and his friend are a bit like pouring gasoline on a fire.
Yet, arrangements were made to put fairy princess across the street to play with her friend (trios are bad, you know). Food was put out so that said young people and male people wouldn't starve. Arrangements were made to get books to have signed...and one husband was bribed with chocolate chip cookies and off we went!
We got there later than we'd have liked due to brokering an arms deal at home and tending an injury (sigh).
Still, we got this close:
You might have an idea of how truly close we were if you knew that a) the bookstore guestimated that there were 400-500 people there and b) I had remembered my good camera instead of my crappy phone one
So we laughed, we cried, we enjoyed, we starved... we finished up and had wine... and two total *strangers* were absolutely fabulous (and not in a BBC way) and stood in line promising to call me if the line got down to the end so I wouldn't miss her (I'd left my friend and wine while I stood in line, and I wanted my books signed).
Here she is being kind and signing my two books:
and here, probably because I"d just explained that I was the one with a particularly lengthy explanation of statistics on her blog, she's got a "you *are* nuts, and not in a good way" look on her face. But there is, intermingled with her "nut" expression, the glorifyingly satistifed expression of yarn fondling--this was camel yarn I bought at the zoo (yes, the zoo! They have yarn there! And I put up a good show of pretending to my kids that it was for THEM that I went today).
Of course all of this made me so excited that I soon accidentally took a picture of my hand, which Steph agreed must appear here:
If I am ever blown to bits (probably could happen if, for instance, I buy silk and cashmere yarn at an astonishingly mind blowing price or, dare I suggest, get it FREE) you can identify me by my hand. So look closely.
And then, she was kind enough to appear in a picture with me, doubtless to help the police investigation of attempted homicide via statistics later. I swear officer, it was all just a misunderstanding. One mention of outliers and I couldn't help myself, but I swear I didn't mean any harm...
Hey look, I'm taller. See? See everyone (children) who mocks me? I'm taller than someone *famous* so there!
Make lingerie. Or something.
Elann.com's esprit and I started off with White Lies designer Joan Michael Mcsomething's knitted fishnet pattern from Stitch n bitch but it was a PITA so I bound off (not loosely enough, turns out, darn it) and crocheted free form for the rest. Voila!
A little elastic encased in the top to keep it up and don't ya wish your girlfriend could crochet like me?
Yes, I am hot. Er, or something. Definitely something.
Oh, and that spot on the carpet was left by our carpet cleaning machine. Works great, huh? Sigh.
My mom bought me beautiful noro (what is this stuff called? Ah well, I'll update later) and I made this necklace last night. Purty!
My car caught fire today.
while I was driving... I was trying to make it to the LYS and I smelled something odd... hoped it wasn't my car, and within 20 seconds the car was filled with smoke!
Thank heavens my kids weren't in there--
I stopped 50 feet from the LYS (lol) and the lady in the insurance place called 911 for me, I was trying to stop, roll down the windows, get into a legal parking spot (why the eff was that important to me? Sigh) AND put it in park... I got out and the entire inside was smoke-filled. I feel like my lungs are singed (the firefighters didn't offer me oxygen, wish they had).
So fortunately we got a flexcar membership last week. (!)
Dh got a car and brought the kids out and I was able to run my errands (and I know that you guys will in no way judge me when after the firefighters left, but before dh and the tow truck came, I ran up to the LYS still coughing and got the hairpin lace loom I was after)
And, as it turns out, the stupid car issue? The ahole who sold it to us a couple of years ago had a fancy stereo in it that he didn't want to give us with the car, so he'd gotten his "friend" to take it out and put the standard one in--and the idiot left the amp wire "hot" and we're very, very lucky that the entire car didn't melt down.
Oy.
scarf for Auntie (my kids started it. I did most of it on the loom. Ugh. Of course taking it off and finding needles and replicating the odd twistiness that is loom knitting would've been a bigger pain.
wand cozy
expecto patronum tshirt for dd (I also made a jelly legs jinx shirt for ds, but no pic of it)
Puffskein
and here are some non-HP things:
Circular needle holder
batik skirt I made from an old pareo, my favorite one
I've made two puffskeins (will post pics later) as well as a wand cozy for Sabrina and more book marks
So I started a stichionery belt, and need to rush through because I want the needles for something else ;-)
And I want to make the moorish beach tunic in the IC
and I'm still working on the lace of Marta, which I want to work on ITR until the arms
And I'm doing the back and bottom part of my soy silk shell as planned, but the gauge is the same as Isabella, so I'm going to try that for the neckline.
Man, I need more time and extra arms to knit. And crochet. Oh, I'm wrestling with crochet/knitting for the plastic bag tote. Sigh.
Getting ready for the big party...
I'm screnzy-ing, so knitting has taken a back seat. That, and I did ballet costumes. Thirteen.
But here, without ends woven in, is dd's Gryffendor book mark. She'll wake up tomorrow with it in her Goblet of Fire (book, not actual goblet)
My knitting group seems kaput. :=( That's another reason for the non-blogginess.
Anyway, here is one pink and purple sparkly scarf, guess who it's for?
Oh, and the ends are woven in now and fringe made, it looks very cute (bookmark, that is). I'll post pics if my digital camera survives tomorrow at the high school. Don't ask.
I'm way behind in bloggyness.
Here it is pre-felting:
and with someone helping me demonstrate how big it is
And blocking (though I took it off this box because I was impatient and wanted to use it... and so it's a bit wrinkly and I really should re-block it)
This plastic box usually holds office files, just so you get an idea of what size it wound up as.
Here's a sock, OTN (socks on 2 circs)
overdyed blue and black (now) yarn:
I'm doing my first Knitty trade, wish me well! I will mail my yarn out tomorrow. :-D
So my really cute knitting bag that my aunt got me for xmas 2 xmases ago (little more than a year ago, same day I learned to knit) is just too small for a sweater. Or sixteen projects all OTN at once. So I am making up my own knitting bag, with a base color of black, to hold more stuff.
So far I'm sticking with a rectangular base...
Here's the swatch with some novelties and other yarns I probably won't use because they felted so differently--
I cast on 40 sts on 10's with Peruvian Highland Wool in black... knit for about 9" or so in garter st, and bound off (I tried icord bind off but didn't like how it looked and it woudln't have matched up with applied icord, so I ripped and bound off normally). Then I did the aforementioned applied I and just finished a bit ago (2 days and since it's not complicated enough to keep my knitting ADD entertained, I taught myself to knit continental just 'cause. I'm still faster in English, but I can do both now).
Then I dyed yarn with dd, since I had some brown sheep and lamb's pride left over that I needed black and blue (lol) and she bought some yarn with her own money and wanted it pink, purple and blue. Pic of hers:
Anywhoo, I also dyed some silk I have black in part (it's magenta) and I may make Annie Modesitt's silk corset in it... we'll see...
So yarn is drying, and I am picking up sts to knit up as far as I can with my peruvian highland. I also have some cascade heathered and some purple/grey/blue souvenir yarn I got in Canada to put in--and probably a bunch more I don't even realize I have
Here it is, finally got the buttons sewn on... I like it fairly well. I do wish i'd added a few short rows in the bust. Oh well... this was using Elann.com's Adara :=D
Here is the front half of my "Simply Spring" top from the new Crochet! magazine...
I am stuck, however, on the back... front was done in about 2.5 days. :-D
Now hopefully it's just another case of "I can't actually read and understand this pattern because I have a migraine" (don't y'all get that? It's all good in the am) but who knows...
I am noticing an overly abundant amount of this color of blue in my work lately...
Like everyone else on the KAL, I wish I'd made a smaller size. It's gorgeous, but it has a bad habit of falling off my shoulders. I'm wondering what I can do to make it fit better. Continuing to overeat might solve *that* problem, but the ones it would create are far worse.
Satanic knitted bodice...
I went with the 3/4 sleeves since silk "grows" and with beads I was worried it'd grow too much... so I may wind up, in fact, with regular long sleeves.
It's sparkly
it's blue
and I need to go block it and weave in ends and photos soon! Yay!!!
So I made it a bit short because I was afraid of "growth" and like everyone else, I wish I'd made it slightly smaller...although I didn't short row the front at all and it does fit there pretty well.
The lace is murder on my hands, and the beading... I can't wait to be done.
I was hoping to finish today to wear it this weekend in Vancouver with my moms group, but sadly it didn't happen. Oh well.
The lace on the arm looks a bit higher than on the body; I decided to go ahead and do it even though it looked a teensy bit off, because the beading on the cuff will make it "sink." Even if it doesn't, that's ok... I am so never doing this again... this is all knit on 5's for the stockinette and 3's for the lace and purl ridges, and beading with DPN's on the sleeve (slippery ones) SUCKS BIG TIME HOOEY. So there.
this is for FIL for his birthday (in April, but I felt he got cheated at xmas). He teaches Shakespeare, so naturally I had to make this for him. Hopefully he'll forgive me for sending a wool and angora scarf to Arizona in March...
so many beads and so far to go...
I give you...the satanic knitted bodice (nearly to the bottom). I've picked up stitches around the neck and am also working on that, then the sleeves--but I fear running out of beads so I'm off to the store for more (hopefully they have them!)
A felted moebius basket...
I needed something to hold my meds (yes, I have a lot, sigh). So I used Cat Bohrdi's treasury of magical knitting and made this:
Added fringe when done (and a handle for easy carrying up and down the stairs:
went to the laundromat to felt since she recommended stopping it every minute to unhook the fringe from each other (what a pita!) and while waiting, dd and I learned how to use the nifty knitter loom and she made herself a bracelet (sorry no pics yet)
And here it is blocking--she recommended putting balloons in. Fun!
present for my sister's birthday:
moebius basket (will be felted) for my meds
yorick, for FIL
and my satanic knitted bodice, which I spent some time in the frog pond with this pm... six rows. Sob. Thank god for the lifeline!
Here it is thus far--I have 3" of lace I need to do, this is about 1" (not counting purl ridges). Lesson learned? Do NOT put your lifeline through your stitch markers. On the next row, it'll pull the lifeline up. And the next. And the next. And lifelines take a while to put in.
sigh.
A poll was taken at dd's ice skating, and people voted for beads (vote also taken last night at knitting), and that I use #3's. I need to check gauge. I am ready for purl ridges, but don't know exactly how many beads I need and have all I already have pre-strung.
And I don't have a long enough #11 circ to start my moebius felted basket
And I need a #3 circ
And my swatch was close for my knitted/crocheted soy silk/wool sweater from IC, but when I cast on and knit 3 rows of ribbing, it was WAY different. Like I could gain 50 lbs different. Damn.
Blogging may slow since I'm nanoedmoing.
knit-crochet swatch:
lace swatch, #3 needle is in the middle. This is the magenta silk I dyed, the satanic knitted bodice is actually blue and the lace will be in the blue too, I didn't swatch with it because I fear running out...
YAY me!
Ok, so there are a couple of unplanned "design features" and I should have trusted my instincts to make the hood part bigger. She hasn't tried it on yet but I think the hood will be a bit tight. Not that she'll ever wear it that way anyhow.
But yay! Done! And, I picked up stitches TWICE and most of them don't suck!
Ok, so I am befuddled.
This is dd's hoodie. The pattern is lion brand homespun hooded sweater...
The instructions say, for the hood part,
HOOD
With RS facing and larger needles, pick up and k 38 sts around neck, starting at right side of neck and leaving center 10 sts free. Work in St st for 9½"; inc 8 sts evenly spaced across first row 46 sts around neck. Placing half of Hood sts on second needle, work 3-needle bind off across Hood top seam.
Facing edging With RS facing and smaller needle, pick up approximately 59 sts around front edge of Hood. Work in k1, p1 rib for 4 rows. Work in St st for 4 rows. Bind off loosely on last row with larger needle. Sew rib/roll Front at center neck, overlapping center fronts (left over right for male; right over left for female).
(I left the numbers only for the size I'm making in, to make it easier to read)
Ok, my first thought is HUH?
They say starting at the right side neck edge. So my ? is, the edge of the 10 free sts (which is what I did in the pic) or the seam where the back starts? It doesn't seem logical to do that, which is why I did what I did. Ok, then it says I should pick up 38 sts. That isn't very many to go all the way around the neck edge--I *can* pick up (evenly) about 14 sts from the front marker to the shoulder seam. That would mean that I have to pick up another 14 on the other side, and you can see my concern that I'm picking up waaay more stitches than they said to...
I have half a mind to just wing it.
But if you are so inclined to help, that would be most appreciated!
To top it off (and picking up sts is hard and one of the things I suck most at), I have to pick up sts AGAIN to make the hood facing. They hate me, they really really hate me...
Knitpicks new cotlin line. Cheap! And purple! And soft! Hope the color doesn't fade easily. A knittyhead asked me to knit it up so I did a little non-beaded long-leaf lace... and it's looking spiffy. Maybe I'll frog and get some beads? I really must finish mom's first, it wouldn't be fair...
And knitty buds, please know this: I have ONE BRILLIANT SKEIN of shiny happy banana silk dh got me for Valentine's day (ok let's be realistic, he sent me shopping, but I love it! It fits! lol!) and instead of finding a funky ass belt to make from it, I knit purple lace.
Me likey.
my kareoke bluezzzz wasn't bluey enough
So here ya go. Any variations in color are entirely the fault of the 6yo who helped paint the yarn and are considered design features. So there.
This is still wet, it dried bluer (and lighter) than that.
I'm depressed. I spent a year (not continuously, obviously) on a stupid *#*@#Y&@*& jacket. A boucle jacket. With a rose. And a tie. And fringed edges. And I fitted. And fitted. And fitted more. And tried not to overfit. And thought it was ok. But the sleeve caps were effed up and now I'm hosed because this stuff is hard to pull stitches out (not to mention that I freakin lined the whole freakin thing. And I hate it. And I wanted to love it. I don't even love to hate it. And it's all because of my stupid freakin twisted quasimodo shoulders. I'm a freak.
And it's not beautiful. If I can stop crying over it I'll post a pic.
And I still need to line the sleeves of my stupid so-called bolero bed jacket that I might not wear to bed.
And I didn't get dd's sweater sewn. I friggin hate mattress stitch.
Hating life. But at least I have tickets to Betzina's and Pletch's fitting seminars next week. Maybe I'll be happy then.
All right, nobody loves those yarns. I get it. I donated them.
You know what? I apparently knit very slowly. It took me the entire game to knit this 9 x 7 square. Of course I was following Vickie Howell's blog-knit-in, and switching to the knitty gritty marathon occasionally, and my kids interrupted a dozen times, but still.
Oh, and here is my newly dyed yarn, knitted up on 7's with some sc and dc up top, and blocked:
Check it out... just more evidence that dyeing is an exercise in creative trust. When I put the dyes on, I was sure it was going to come out in colors I hated, but as it turns out, nope! Yay!
colors look muted and icky here
cooking
awww, how cute, it's first bath.
See how bright it turned out? I like bright... I like blues and purples... and no, I am not yet certain what I'm going to knit with it ;-) I have some other yarns in similar colors and knitty's dragonfly is calling me...
Ooh, look, pretty little yarn cake...
ok, maybe not that rich or famous, lol! We got to meet Vickie Howell, host of DIY's Knitty Gritty and get a book signed to my daughter... isn't she cute? Vickie too, of course! lol
We got to feel her new yarns too--much fondling, lol... milk fiber and cotton are YUMMY but my favorite is the bamboo/silk. The wool/hemp/soysilk is nice too. Wish I could afford some...
In other bloggy news, here's the simple stockinette instant-gratification type project I started up for dd, since the simple knitted bodice is actually the INSANELY TAKES FOREVER AND MAKES ME CRAZY knitted bodice. Good thing I love silk... and good thing I'm nearly to the lace and joining. It takes me an HOUR to do 1K row and 1P row. Agony on #4's. I thought briefly about doing the new thermal on knitty but it's on 2's and I will poke my eyeballs out with my knitting needles if I try that. So, no, for now.
and I hate how awful I look here. But here I am with Vickie, who is about exactly my height but weighs maybe half. :-) She's adorable and I LOVE her hair color...wish I could pull it off!
Felted hat, that is. Who knew yarn could sound so dirty?
Here's my test swatch which I foolishly forgot to measure, and since my pattern has no gauge, I am assuming I'm getting it right (I'm going to check the gauge from the label since it's a pattern specific to touch me)
Here they are, Miss America.
They're a bit tight (I'm having a bad immune flare and everything is swollen) so I'm going to block them a bit. I tried to cast on for my purple touch me hat but I need a size 7 circ, I have a 5 and I need bigger.
leftie
rightie
And here is peel. I have 1 3/4 balls left. I steam blocked what I have (about 76" and I need another 2 balls, minimum, I think. Damn. It's in time-out, I am tired of the wear on my hands with the wool allergy and it's too big for my knitting bag now.
As you can see, I cut a template and drew lines on it for a loose A line skirt, a more tight but still slight A line, and then I drew straight lines as per the peel specs, just to see what it is "supposed" to look like.
It is so freakin cold here, I have got to finish these soon. BRR! Arctic blast, go home!
Where's the W in global warming? Oh yeah, the dubya probably did away with our share of it. Perhaps he sent it to Iraq? Idiot.
I had made my sis some for xmas and they were so pretty I wanted some--and so with the Michaels gift card my cousin got me (thanks cous!) I got two skeins with the nice neutral silver punctuated with dark purple. I know she'd approve, she was always a purple girl too. I have 2 balls of touch me to knit a hat with, and I want to get on to that. Dang it's cold!
Here's how much snow we got. Not much, but the streets are ice rinks, esp further east than we are. We are close to the Sound, so it doesn't get as cold here or quite as much snow...
Oh, and finally (but not least!) here is a pic of the skein of sea silk in colorway "capri" my sis got me for xmas, and the pattern. YUMM!!! I wish I could put scent-a-matic into your computers so you could smell the yummy sea smell and touch-a-matic so you could ingest the unbelievable softness...
My other yarn related gifts were At Knit's End, which my darling son got me. Can you call him darling if he's technically 6 inches taller than you (and growing?) And then my dad gave me some money which I spent on knitting and crochet books and SILK AND CASHMERE. It is unbelievable. No pics yet but I'll get one soon.
Here it is, maybe at the halfway point? Perhaps not quite--I have 3 balls left of the kureyon, plus I will need to get some black wool. I've decided to alter the instructions, put in an elastic waist rather than drawstring, and I will use double (or triple?) crochet to join the sections (with black wool, so it breaks up the discontinuous stripes). I think this will look cool, even cooler if I could lose 30 lbs... but if I do the elastic waist, I can probably make it an A line skirt and won't have to re-knit anything if I do get to lose those lbs.
Day 3 treadmill. Phew. Now, if I could stop the sweets...
In other news I got my mom's old Bernina 180 artista for xmas. Yay! I made a ruffled shrug from panne velvet (white) but don't have pics yet. The thing is, I didn't fit it right, since I made it to be a bedjacket and things aren't, um, where they belong when you aren't wearing undergarments. Rats. I may line the sleeves and just wear it out instead, it's cute!
This is the one thing I didn't finish in time... well, the one yarn thing. I learned (repeatedly) a valuable lesson--put in lifelines when doing beads and lace!
knecklace from knitty for my mom
Santa hat needle protectors for the knitters
If you are on my christmas list, DO NOT READ THIS ENTRY! HEAR ME? HUH?
Go away.
You know who you are.
If you spoil your surprise, don't blame me.
Oh, and sorry gang, FSM not finished. Probably won't be until after xmas. Sigh.
I have 3 things left to knit and 1 to crochet. Ack!!!
FSM LIVES!!!
well, soon.
it's gifting time so posts may be sporadic...
here's one though:
RIght now I'm working on the flying spaghetti monster for our christmas tree--er, solstice shrub.
Hey, leave me alone or I'll set the pirates after you.
Argh!
Thank you Momma for the yarn...
Isn't it purdy? Fast to knit though the last lace bit about did me in with YO's and K2tog's, but the real beyotch was purling... still, once you get the cast-on, cool! This is from cat boghi's (sp?) website/book on magical knitting, it is a true moebius, as opposed (so she says) to the "oops I twisted the knitting before joining in the round"
knitted with elsebeth lavold's silky wool. MMMM silky wool...
I'm making govelets. :-) That's what dd calls them. Looky I made cables! I'm busy with another creative project this month, but I do need to make a few presents...
oops, I did it again... (ok I've ripped it three times now...)
I'm going to put in a lifeline as Suzy and Wendy suggested... better now than not having one and needing it!
I think I just love the colors though...yummy silk!
Oh, and peel progress:
See Daniel? It's a boy!
It didn't dye completely evenly. I hope it looks ok when I knit it up for dh. He might want rogue... but he's undecided. I think he thinks rogue would be ok. Oy!
I also overdyed a test strip of the sport weight wool my MIL gave me and it's a gorgeous darker blue--I think I will dye the entire bag, though varigation is calling me... I have sky blue (knitpicks acid dyes, used above on alpaca) and also sapphire, so I can play.
And *then* I have an entire EXTRA bag of the same stuff, worsted weight, and I tried kool-aid and then dharma procion dyeing that, but I still don't like it, it's dark teal. So hmm....
Hey, that's what dd calls them...
This is from craftster, special thanks to trillian42 from Knitty for the short row calcs and hand-holding. Also special thanks to Suzy for telling me I'm turning Japanese, she really thinks so. Japanese short rows, that is...
I'll type up the pattern with short rows sometime. Oh, double special thanks to Wendy for holding my hand while I made one. Damn that sounds dirty. Hee!
where's my knitpicks order? I'm WAITING.
I need to dye my yarn. Yes, need.
In other news, I am hoping to post pics of the dropped stitch vee tee today... I have a sleeve to finish and ends to work in and it's DONE BABY!
I tried it on, one sleeved and all, so I have pictures of that. They are fairly funny. :-P
dh still won't let me have another $58 for more alpaca. :-( this needs me. And this wants to move in and support me in my old age.
Alpaca is calling. Sniffle.
er, I mean cables...
damn, addictive...
but you didn't take my dye very well. My fault, I should've been patient and ordered acid dyes.
Pretty though, huh?
And look, I think I have a future yarn ho ;-)
Thank you Debbie Stoller!
Am I still a beginner? I guess until I intarsia. I use protection though, so probably that'll never happen ;-P
I tried knittinghelp.com, a favorite site, but they didn't really have much there... and all kinds of books and magazines which had cursory explanations... I was trying to learn by making a cabled necklace out of my fuschia silk... and I'm doing it! I've ripped back twice so far and need to go to bed. Freakin steroids...
Yay cables! Wendy and Suzy, you were right, they are easy--I just couldn't figure out at first if you were supposed to knit off the cable needle and on to the reg needle, and then if you were supposed to drop the cable needle till later. NOTHING said anything about that until good 'ole SNB...
Oh, and Wendy I did make ones too. Thank you for your patience! I hope to get back to the dropped v tee and do them tomorrow, back permitting. I did pick up and knit one sleeve of that, have the underarm stitches picked up ready to knit for the second sleeve, and then if I can finish the bottom, dare I suggest I might finish it before weather turns frigid?
OTOH I am NOT loving Melissa Leapman's cool crochet book. If the hot knits has as many errors, I may toss that one across the room too--so far I've tried a couple patterns mutliple times, and she has NO website (how dare she!) with errata, and I am frustrated. I just want to make a freakin stole to put across me while I annoy dh by knitting in bed, is that so rough? I bought this STUPID yarn that SUCKS to work with but it's really, really soft (bad schnauzer yarn) and did I mention it was cheap? JoAnn's angel hair. I wouldn't recommend it, but for a wool-allergic like myself, it really feels nice.
Oh, heads-up for November... I'll be at nanowrimo.org if you need me.
Ok so here it is thus far. I definitely need to add some sleeve room. Darn football player shoulders... but thanks to Trillian42 on knitty, I have short rows! I must admit, they weren't easy and there's a funky line where they are that bugs me, but not enough to rip it back. I mean sheesh, it took me about 6 tries... damn gazongas. Anyway, ignore the sexy tan and 6 pack abs. Bwahahaha! Don't hate me because I'm beautiful...
So the modifications I made were: I cast on several more stitches (ahem.... so I ate a cookie or two in my life), I added short rows with the splendiferous help of Trillian42 and Suzy, I added a single then double crochet trim at the top (and will on the ends of sleeves and bottom too), I "lowered" the bust as written in pattern because the girls just ain't that high anymore (and who needs a chin rest, anyway?), I am knitting about 10-20 more rows between the end of bust and beginning of yarn overs for the bottom V, and I put the cap sleeves on waste yarn instead of binding off because with my shoulders, I think it's far more flattering to have a regular short sleeve, so I'll be picking up stitches under the underarms and then knitting around for a while. You know, till whenever. Thanks, EZ, but you are wrong, it's knitting WITH tears, at least how I do it.
Well, it's here. It's not queer, and I'm not used to it.
I guess it's ok, even though mom warned me to knit the smaller size, it's still a bit bigger than I'd like. I'm going to block and see if that helps. It is surprisingly warm!
The blue didn't turn out as planned, but then again I gave up creative control. Must note for next time to have less water (and have to add) in the steamer, because the colors mixed a bit more than I anticipated. Isn't it GORGEOUS though? The sheen...that funky silk smell... I love dyeing!
Here it is on the hank-notice the soy silk & wool behind, the hanked is the 2 packets of kool aid color, the one in the ball is undyed... and I'm going to get more kool aid and darken it a bit.
Sorry online coffee gang, I can't make it tonight, I have to get bags packed, newsletter sent to printer, clean up, make food, clean out food, and doggie proof the kitchen. See you next week?
It's pathetic, I believe that nowadays I take more pictures of yarn than I do of my children.
I scored at a garage sale today, for $40 I got 2 bags of wool, some hand spun, and 3 smaller bags of silk. I dyed 2 hanks of the silk with ultraviolet, and that stuff is as unstable as nitroglycerin, you can never figure out what the heck you're gonna get. Like a bawx of chawklates.... (for some reason, the color IRL is more like picture 2, which is a bit of a bummer. Well I was perfectly happy with it, to tell the truth, till I saw this picture. I guess it's fine. :-))
the white is what the silk started as, see the purdy handspun next to it? Wool. Unfortunately as I frogged an incomplete sweater I rediscovered that my allergy to wool wasn't imaginary. I'm still sick hours later.
I tried to wind one hank but it got tangled up and I'm giving up for the night, hope I don't have to cut it.
Oh, and here's that present, all done...
This fascinates me...
Yeah, it was cheesy. Look though! Fun with kool-aid! Just think, with all the gallons I drank as a kid, my liver probably looks like this...
I was overdying some wool my MIL sent me (thank you!) and the green in the center is the color it started as... I dyed (going around like a clock) with cherry at 12, lemonade (not much change) at about 2, at 4ish is a new flavor that is just a teensy bit greener than it started ice kool, then grape, lemon-lime, and back up to the cherry again. Safeway was out of the blue but I'm going to get some today and figure out which color I should overdye the wool with... the green is nice but I think too yellow for me, the purple too "muddy" and the cherry wound up making it a bit too brownish-garnet for me I think, but I can always play around with amount of dye to wool and see what happens. I've also been thinking of dyeing it to match/compliment some other stuff I have, say, Natalie coat anyone? Or maybe Peel? Then I wouldn't have to sell a kidney for more noro...
Finally--after I'd nearly finished and had to rip back to row 3... Yay! Done!
Now, on to the negative ease tee
(and clapotis... oh how I hate thee...)
I was almost finished.
It was almost done.
And then I saw it. The error. The major, can't ignore it error. On row FREAKIN TWO.
Damn.
And you'd think I'd have learned by now, huh? Well I had to frog one more row again tonight. Two steps back, one step forward... hopefully I've got it now.
Hey don't judge me...
I'm hookin.
Rugs, that is. Rowan's R2, killer sale, and whaddya know, just the colors in my bathroom! Cotton so I can wash it (I have boys--don't ask) and here she is, all purdy and blocking. Nice rug. Nice, nice rug. Hear her purr? Now I won't have to shriek first thing in the AM when it turns cold (which should be, say, Monday in the Pac NW @@) and my tootsies will stay warm whilest brushing my teeth! Yay, me! Hey, and I made it up--I started trying to knit this rug that was a follow-the-yellow-brick road type of jobby, but damn if you didn't have to sew the WHOLE DAMN THING together and you know how I feel about seaming.
So crochet it was. Yay! Done!
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code
Sooome dayyy my sweater will be finished...
I'm no seaming prodigy (but Jenn, thanks for the thoughts) but damn if I am not making it not-totally-suck. I really hope I can finish this before I go to my mom's... it would be lovely to have a cardi to throw on...
Oh, and fear not, I am hoping to learn how to use this software better soon, get thumbnails up and links to other blogs of friends and cool funny people. This is my last week of work, and then I can focus on the backlog of stuff! Hooray!
Negative must be the description of how well I'd fit into such a tight sweater... this is she, before frogging...
I added some stitches, then added some more, then switched to 2 needle sizes bigger. Next time I photograph this hopefully it'll look better--special thanks to Trillian42 from knitty who is helping me figure out short rows. Yay! So long, and thanks for all the fish.
I suck a bit at picking up and knitting... but they turned out somewhat cute anyway, right?
I gifted them already, hope they fit. Of course nobody wants to find out since there's a @(*#)(@ heat wave right now! How dare they? Can't they see I knitted?
Looky! A finished not-so-zig-zaggy scarf! Yay! (ok this picture is just before I finished, so it doesn't look finished so you will have to trust me)
woot!
I also dc'ed around the ole pink silky wool neckline, and wove in some ends, now I need to sew in the sleeves and get crabs...er...no, that would be crab stitch around. Which I might skip. But I do need to do my button hole loops and buttons of some kind... I wanna be done! Waah! Sewing sides/sleeves is evil, I tell ya.
almost makes me want to...hold someone else's baby and then give it back! :-) I made these (well this one, the other is still on the needles) for my friend Mary who just had a baby girl. Aren't they adorable? I made a couple of mistakes, but yay me, I learned 3 needle bind off (LOVE IT!), picked up stitches (hated it!) and I did ribbing! For her pleasure!
I'm going to be making another pair for another friend...but later
how I love thee... let me count the times I've re-knit thee...
seaming sucks.... I ripped the seaming out after I took this pic, it was all lumpy and ugly and icky and I didn't want to hate it.
So I also got the two hanks of yarn (yay, same dye lot!) in the mail today so I am working on the last sleeve... I hope to finish in time to actually wear it before winter!
Oh, and here is the sleeve of my Elizabeth Zimmerman faking-it-and-making-it tshirt for Sabrina.
Yes Suzy, that's loads and loads of pink in my house. Hey, you aren't using your quota, so someone's got to!
I had to knit them. They made me. The little voices inside my head that said "must buy French bunny fur" and make baby booties. (Better those then more babies...)
Aren't they precious? I know, mine don't look like booties yet. Best of all, the toes are double knit so I get to learn a cool thing. Fingers crossed I'm doing it right.
Yum.
Ok, so each ball is 4 oz, looks like bulky weight, hand-dyed, bought on ebay when I was supersupersupernewbie and I've no idea on yardage. I'm trying to figure out what I can make to wear (don't want to felt it) so *I* won't look bulky.
Any guesses on yardage? Grazie!
He made me a swift... see? Ain't she purdy? She needs a bit of oil and he mumbled something about a different piece of hardware (screw loose, dear?) but I think she's lovely. :-D
I tried to use her on my alpaca/silk for clapotis, but dh, bless his heart, didn't sand well and I think I need either varathane or oil... to prevent the precious yarn from hopeless entanglement, I performed a yarn-ectomy and re-hanked it for the time being. Ah well. Soon, my precious...
I'll post pics later, I have to weave in ends, make the ties, and steam it a bit
YAY!!
edit: I'm such a blog whore. Here ya go:
Done, steamblocked, and, worn (pardon the elephant pose, I was at the zoo. Note to self: have taller person take photo as to appear more fit, camera at waist height is not flattering...):
View image
Looky, cute, huh? :-D
Thanks for the pattern, which can be found here:
http://www.myfeltedpatterns.blogspot.com/
thank you Knew Knitter!
Ok so here it is, re-lined (deeper pockets, ooh!), re-blocking as I type. Any advice on how to pick the eyelash? It doesn't look quite as nice post-felting. :=(
Don't mind the orbs ;-)
Yay, me! First sewn together yarn creation (besides my bag)
YAY!!
Edit: I took off the Laverne style "T" and there are a couple of holes--even though I lined it already, I am thinking I will take the lining out and re-felt one more time. Obsessive? Perhaps... but I want to really REALLY like it...
Ok, so it's a bit different than I expected, and I am a bit bummed that the eyelash got a bit matted down during felting and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to upend it... and I did crochet (hdc) a border up top, and my Laverne-ish "T" looks more like a seven...
But it's cute!
I made a lining with a remnant of a fairy pattern satin I lucked into, and made two pockets inside for keys and cell phone. Look how cute my phone looks!
So here we go: Pre-felting (odd pattern called not for I-cord, but knitted flat. I chose garter, mostly out of laziness at that point since I had to frog the handle twice due to dropped stitches (tip: never try to knit important stuff during your son's metal working class when he's using a blow torch for the first time).
Ok, and here is post-felting.
And here is the lining:
Ok so tell me what you think... do I need to post my stupid attempt at Laverne's initial? (well my initial, but in her honor. C'mon, say it with me, one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-schlameil-schlamazel-hafenpepper-incorporated!)
Ok, here's my stupid initial...
Fiber Gallery had the same dye lot! Yahoo! Who knew? I got one more skein of my turquoise soy silk and voila.
I have too many UFO's on the needles, but I work a row every day or so (at least)
I have 525 yards of turquoise soy silk. And some contrasting ribbony fun yarn. My pattern calls for this:
http://www.yarnmarket.com/yarn/Artyarns_Free-Silk_Top_with_Fur_Trim_Free-1756.html
which is 652 yards. So I'm a bit over 100 yards short.
This is what I've done so far:
I was thinking if I frogged it, I could redo the lace pattern in the novelty yarn. I do worry that it wouldn't show up very well though. My other option is to hope it comes out (I'm short waisted, so I measured myself and can fake it by shortening it a bit), or to search and phone call anyone carrying phoenix textiles soy silk turquoise in my dye lot. WWFSMD?
Any advice is appreciated!
oh, I should mention that the photo looks weird because I'm on circ needles but knitting flat (the back) and halfway through a purl row. Sorry!
And excuse the jammies.
Ok, so I finished my FIRST sweater. My first. Never done one before, yay me! Why oh why do they have only a bust measurement? I figured knitting would be easier to fit than sewing, after all, things STRETCH. Things are designed to go around ROUND parts.
Not so.
So I have a Donald Trump sweater. It's "uge" around my waist. I suppose I should be grateful that my waist is distinguishable from the gargantuan 'tas, but still.
So my friend says I should sew up the sides (on the sewing machine) and cut and trim the excess, and if I do so I think I should serge too. But I hate to do that. I suppose I'll beg for help from that lovely place at which I feel at home on the web--knitty.
Anyway here is the sweater. Pardon the jammies.
Oh, and before y'all tell me, I know I know, I'm supposed to learn how to do short rows. Sigh. Scary!
Life with a fiber freak who never shuts up.
Ode to Chenille
Doily toil-y fuzzy beast
Dutifully soft and meek
You fight and squeak against my needles
(Lest I forget and beg and wheedle)
Though I stress and swear and struggle
twixt my fingers you will snuggle
If by the end, all worn my hand
You remind me "Least I'm not a man."
