Kniterary Club

the stars that give you vertigo

2011-11-12T12:51:00.005-05:00

A very simple post: socks! This is yarn that I dyed as a demo during one of my sock-dyeing classes...I believe it was years ago, when I was still in Minnesota. This yarn traveled around with me, and I just never quite got around to doing anything with it. I finally started these months and months ago, just before the great knitting block of 2011. These are simple socks, with the 1x1 ribbing continued down the foot for a better fit.

Though I never thought I'd get them done in time for fall...sometimes I surprise myself. Now I'm project-less, but have some new yarn that I'm pretty anxious to dig into. The cool weather certainly helps!

gonna tell them all just what i want

2011-10-29T14:10:00.004-04:00

Walter was born to be a model, and to prove to the world and the interwebs that CATS LOVE SWEATERS.

Maybe love is a strong word...but he didn't hate it, and kindly allowed me to pose him. He's absolutely adorable and somewhat not bothered by the fact that he's wearing a sweater.

There's a reason a cat is in this sweater instead of a dog. Our sad tale begins innocently- the sweater began its life as an adorable garment intended for Emmylou the dog. However, I threw it in the wash one day on what I thought was the cold-cold cycle...but it was set on warm, and when I pulled the sweater out it had felted and shrunk. :( I'm pretty ashamed to admit that this is the truth...

Now that Walter is through with it, the sweater will be given to a little Jack Russell who's a more appropriate size to wear it. I can't believe I shrank this, especially since I really really really know better, but I guess this happens to everyone at some point. Besides, who doesn't love a cat in a sweater?! We'll call it his Halloween costume.

and you're just there to kick it

2011-06-03T15:36:00.004-04:00

Last night, at about 11pm, I wove in the last end of my Caylix blanket. And then I cried with joy, invented a few new combinations of curses to hurl at it, and fell asleep with it wrapped cozily around me. That pretty much sums up making this afghan.

This was the first real crocheted thing I had ever attempted to make. Now I'm pretty good at it, but it still isn't as natural/addictive/soothing as knitting.

There's not a ton for me to say about this that isn't super technical. I think it's really pretty, but a little smaller than I had hoped...mine turned out to be about 40 x 49" at its widest points (my original gauge = accurate, hexagons are 4.5" across). It's also not super-warm because it's full of (intentional) holes. I guess this is a summer-y afghan?

Notes, changes, corrections (Ravelry project page, for comparison):

1. You actually need 98 hexagons. :( This was kind of a bummer for me to find out, since I had previously celebrated finishing all the &$%*# things. 24 each of hexagons A and B, and 25 each of hexagons C and D.

2. I decided that I didn't really like the star motif that was in the original pattern. (You can see a picture of it on the Ravelry page above, there isn't a detail picture in the published pattern book. :( ) Since I hadn't been able to anticipate this, I tried a few of them (chalking the oddness up to my crochet inexperience). I still hated them, so I opted to use the center section of the hexagon instead. To do this, follow the instructions for rounds 1 and 2 of the hexagons, using Barley/your substitution for Barley. After the first TR in the petal, slip a stitch on one side of the seam (on picots) between hexagons. Work the next two TRs, then slip a stitch on the other side of your seam. Repeat, and fasten off with a slip stitch. The purpose is twofold...it keeps the flower motif nice and flat, plus it reinforces the seam joining the picot edges. Each petal should attach on either side of each joined picot, a total of four times...which is a perfect fit!

2a. I did the same thing for the edge motif, you just won't join two of your TRs because there won't be anything to attach them to (yet).

3. Finally, I did two rounds of single crochet to edge the sucker. The one row looked a little feeble, and I wanted an extra reinforcement for the gap-filling. The second time around I worked three SCs in each picot point to preserve the wavy edginess.

3a. When you get to the space where your flowers are partially unattached, you're going to chain two, SC in the TR where you would normally slip a stitch, chain two, SC in the TR where you'd normally slip a stitch, chain 2, continue SC-ing until you get to another space. Repeat.

There! It's done. I will never make another one again, but if you want to I wish you all kinds of luck. Too many ends, too many pieces! It's really gorgeous though.

Finally, detail of my modified center motif. Enjoy your weekend, and happy summer!!

but you're such a fast walker

2011-05-20T15:39:00.004-04:00

After a long hiatus and a significant change in season, Kniterary Club returns! (Even though it's just me, I'm still calling it a club. It makes me sound more legit, right?)

Above are my second pair of picot socks. The first pair were not only adorable but useful- on cold winter nights, I wore them to bed! I had about half a skein of yarn leftover from a multifiber scarf (post forthcoming), and the yarn was too nice to leave languishing in my stash. Picot socks! What a great solution! I finished the first one on a roadtrip a few weeks ago, but then I moved and sort of forgot that I could knit and remembered how to pack instead. It happens. Now I'm happily the crazy person on the bus who furiously knits socks on her way to work. (It's totally worth the loss of face to have hand-knitted socks.)

Next up, my father's birthday present! I just re-read my Ravelry comments, and I had been so self-congratulating when I started these socks in December. I had been knitting birthday presents 6 months in advance, and before Christmas to boot! I had been SUCH A GOOD PLANNER! Well, I finished one sock and forgot about the pair until a week before his birthday. Frantic knitting (see above comment about buses) ensued.

The colors really are perfect- go blue!- but I can only imagine the trouble ArtYarns went to to produce this yarn. You can see the single green stitch in between blue and gold sections...I should try reproducing the colorway at home sometime just to see how spectacularly I fail.

The final sock pair I present is the infamous (to me and my knitting cohorts) Flying Circus socks. These were the magic wound-on-a-flying-saucer-we-promise-they'll-match socks. I can agree that they match, at least for the most part. The tie-dye pattern broke down in the foot each time...kind of disappointing, but it was a fun experiment. Silliness.

The best part about the spring/summer? Succulents. Best part about a new house? Enough sun for them to grow. Happy weekend, everyone!

through the frostbitten dawn

2011-03-12T09:03:00.004-05:00

I had a little bit of Rowan Big Wool to use up, and since I really wanted to be economical and use every last bit...I set myself a challenge. Plus I never wear hats, and I needed one for a skiing trip. This hat was actually started twice. The first time I used needles that were too small, so I had no hope of getting a hat out of the little bit of yarn I had left. The second time, I used size 11 double point needles and tried to keep the knitting really loose. It ended up being perfect! I had just enough yarn leftover to improvise a pom pom....with a cracker box as my form.

Notice the perfection in this picture: silly improvised tools, blueberry beer, and a game of Risk. (I lost the game, but at least I'm better at knitting than I am at world domination.)

And finally, my mittens!!! I knit these first, since I needed them more urgently. I think I knit these on size 8 needles so they'd be really dense and warm...which they are, the only problem being when you wash them. It seriously took them 3 days to dry out all the way. :(

Off for one last weekend of cross country skiing before (hopefully) spring arrives. And of course, I'll be wearing my fancy new striped mittens and hat!!

anything to make you smile

2011-02-15T18:47:00.005-05:00

Now that it won't spoil any surprises, I can blog about Christmas presents! This scarf, above, and mittens, below, were gifts for my mother. Like me, she's often cold...so mittens are a must when it's chilly outside, and more often than not, scarves serve as indoor AND outdoor wear.

It all started with a trip to Virginia in October. I knew Mom needed new mittens (the thumb on the old ones was wearing thin), and I was visiting my fabulous knitting teacher in Charlottesville...we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit The Needle Lady yarn shop! I promptly bought extravagant yarn for mittens: a skein of Classic Elite Alpaca Sox, a skein of Be Sweet Boucle Mohair, and a skein of Stacy Charles Luna (sparkly mohair). The three strands together look like the mitten above! They are incredibly soft and warm, and the colors combined perfectly into a nice, soft purple with just a hint of sparkle.

I had a whole bunch of yarn left over, so I tried to brainstorm a creative way to use it up (to avoid adding to my frighteningly large- and multiplying- stash). I had made myself a scarf similar to this over the summer, and because it was so light and warm (mohair and alpaca = win) I decided it would be the best use of the remaining mitten yarn.

The scarf turned out really well, too. Because I alternated rows of different yarns, the color blending didn't work out exactly the same as the mittens...but I think that's a good thing. They match, without being exactly the same. Hopefully Mom liked them! We certainly need things like this to keep us warm over the last few weeks of winter. I just lost my mittens, so I have to knit a new pair. :(

when you wake in the morning you'll be satisfied

2011-01-23T11:49:00.002-05:00

96!!!!

That's how many crochet octagon flowers there are in that pile. It's actually a disappointingly small pile, considering how long it took to make 96 of them...and how big that number seemed in my head. Oh well.

Here's the beginning of assembly, when the pile is arranged into neat, orderly rows. There are four different color schemes (B, D, C, A above, from L to R), and the schematic to assemble the whole thing is a bit daunting. You have to sew them all together, then fill in the open spaces with a new crochet pattern (I dread this a bit, considering how long it took me to get the octagons right), and finally you finish the whole thing off with a nice crochet edging. This is ridiculous.

I'm still hoping the final result is as amazing as I've built it up to be in my mind...

needing is one thing and getting's another

2010-12-30T16:12:00.002-05:00

Something quick and fun to round out the year. Remember my complaining about these silly socks? Actually it was more like the silly yarn. Either way, I was complaining.

I think I'm done with it...after being wound twice, I was ready to start knitting with the colorful end of the yarn rather than the washed-out, dirty-laundry-looking end. You can even see the colors pooling to create the tie-dye effect they [those tricky manufacturers] promised. I am kind of loving these and will love them.......even if they don't match.

Happy New Year!! Have a glass of champagne, and happy knitting!

thank you for your love

2010-12-20T14:43:00.004-05:00

I really, really love fair isle knitting. Like, really. It's addicting, once you get going; the colors make fascinating patterns and it feels like the rows just fly by. Plus you don't get stuck picking just one color...although you use two colors per row, you change the combinations so often that you can use up to ten colors for one of the stockings below. It's fabulous!

These stockings were actually started last spring/summer as gifts for two couples I knew who were getting married...I just had to wait until well after the gift-giving for an appropriate occasion to feature them. (Yay Christmas!)

The pattern is a free download (towards the end of the page) from Cascade Yarns, designed to use their worsted weight wool, Cascade 220. I was nervous about using wool...there's always the danger of moths finding something that's stored in a basement or attic or box for the majority of the year. And even though you don't wash stockings very often, if at all, I wanted to make sure these were super easy to take care of. I substituted Berroco's Comfort worsted in place of Cascade 220, and I think it was a great choice. The color range was more satisfying than other acrylic options (like Plymouth Encore), and I think it's slightly thicker too...so the stockings are more durable and the stuffers won't escape when it gets put to use.

I didn't quite know what to do to hang them...on the first set I did a braided cord, but it was kind of bulky. The second set I used a matching ribbon, which was much easier and still pretty. These were really fun to knit, and a great introduction to fair isle for those of you looking to venture into new techniques.

Merry Christmas, Kniterary Club!!

santa laughs this way

2010-12-12T11:04:00.005-05:00

It's snowing today! A lot!

I have to apologize for yet another long delay in posting. I really thought that I would be diligent about posts since I finished school, but I lied. A tragedy happened over Thanksgiving, right about the time I was getting ready to post again. My camera died, this time for real! Ever since the falling-from-a-tree incident, it had been acting a little temperamental and would occasionally give me warning messages out of spite. This time it seems to have quit for real...it won't focus, and the lens won't retract. This was its last photograph:

It was a pretty good way to go out, I think.

Anyway, the mittens! I finished a pair this weekend, and have to give them away on Christmas Eve...one more pair to go and I'll be all done with Christmas knitting. This might be the first year I actually reach all my gift knitting goals in time.

Here's what they're made of, and why I'm so excited about it. One of my family members is a vegan, and she doesn't wear wool. This yarn comes from Juniper Moon Fiber Farm, a cruelty-free farm where the sheep aren't slaughtered and they all have names. It's pretty awesome, and you can get a share of it (like a local produce share) if you buy in advance. Then you get a box of yarn when shearing season is over! Check out their website and order some for yourself! If you're a reader in Virginia (you know who you are!), you can visit the farm too. I think it might cost a gazillion dollars, but it's still a Virginia business to be proud of!

This is their Bulky yarn, colors Tangerine (left) and Lagoon Pond (right). One skein is enough to make a pair of mittens (knit densely at 4 st/in) with a bit left over (see the Tangerine ball, that's how much I have remaining). I really like the yarn...it's not super soft, but I haven't washed them yet either. The color selection is also somewhat limited, but pretty.

Anyway! Time to go play in the snow. Yay Christmas! To get you in the spirit, listen to this song: it's the best Bob Dylan I've ever heard.

a perfect day- before you know, it's gone

2010-11-19T18:55:00.004-05:00

The hardest part about this time of year is that I can't blog about anything I'm currently knitting...just things I have knitted. The months before Christmas are always dedicated to gift knitting, sometimes extending precariously late into Christmas Eve. (I really hope that's not the scenario this year...I've employed all my planning skills to avoid this.) The upside is, though, that I get to post about the above-mentioned gifts as soon as they are given!

Instead, you get a project that was actually finished way back in September. This is the Twin Cowl, so named as a joke (you know who you are) and because you can make two cowls (at least) out of the yarn. I used Rowan Big Wool because I wanted something nice, and the minute I saw the colors I knew they were perfect for what (and who) I had in mind.

Here's how you do it:

-Get a bunch of chunky yarn. The bigger the better! I used five colors, but you could use less.

-Get the biggest needles you can find.

-Cast on an odd number of stitches...on size 17 needles, I used 51 stitches. You want it to be about 20" wide (in rib), so make sure you have enough.

-Work in K1, P1 ribbing for 3" or so.

-Change color. Work 3", still in ribbing.

-Repeat above as many times as you want the cowl to be long. By the above calculations, mine's about 15" long, which gives you plenty of space for scrunchy, funky, snuggly, and fashionable impact.

-Cast off in ribbing.

You could knit this in the round if you felt so inclined, but I didn't have circular needles (at least size 17s) that were short enough. I kind of liked the idea of seaming it, though...but do what you'd prefer.

Also notable: the blog will hopefully return to more regular posting. I know I've promised this before and it's fine if you don't believe me, but I graduate in less than a month and all the big projects are behind me! Now I just need to learn how to find a happy balance between knitting and making oboe reeds...

like a pro i pack your dance floor

2010-10-30T10:28:00.003-04:00

It's Halloween weekend, which I swore I would boycott (so, so bad at costumes)...but when I found a tutorial about making a mustache, there was no choice but to do it. It perfectly completed my brother's costume! (It could have been a bit pointier, but oh well.)

I happened to have some really nice natural alpaca roving that I was saving for...well, whenever I decided to try to spin again. The mustache doesn't take too much, so I figured it was a worthy cause. It was really easy! You just stab it over and over until you have the shape you want, and then it'll be felted into a mustache shape. I sped the process along by washing it in warm water with some dish soap while rubbing it; I think it went a bit quicker and yielded a thicker, more secure piece of fabric.

Since it's alpaca, it was a bit fuzzy...but Paul had been concerned that it wouldn't be bushy enough, so I guess the fuzziness added to the ungroomed quality of Eugene Hutz. I trimmed it a little with scissors because it was too big and the shape wasn't quite right; one of the joys of felting is that it won't unravel or fall apart when you cut it. Pretty cool!

Add some eyelash glue and you're good to go!

a day without a trace of reason

2010-10-15T11:16:00.002-04:00

Well, these socks are half done...meaning I have one finished. I'm trying to force myself to knit through the second one (they're intended to be a Christmas gift, so I keep telling myself I have time and then Christmas Eve will roll around with 2" left to go). Luckily I have a trip to take this weekend, so I've loaded podcasts onto my iPod and am only allowing myself to bring this one project with. Now I have no choice but to finish them, right?

I really am happy with the pattern, though. The cabling pulls in a lot- they'll be snug socks- but the color is gorgeous and works really well with the cables. This is adapted-ish from the book Alt Fiber...basically I was being lazy and angsty about what cable pattern to use, and she has a nice, simple one. I was struggling with getting the ribbing to flow nicely into the cables.

Alright, time to go...hopefully knitting pictures will result from this weekend!

we don't dive, we cannonball

2010-10-10T14:36:00.003-04:00

Seriously, interwebs, cats in crochet hats don't work. My cat especially- I don't know how that artist got hers to sit still (although the poor thing doesn't look very happy about his/her hat).

It was my mother's birthday yesterday, and as a gag I thought it would be hilarious to make Kitty the above hat as a much poorer copy of the one from the Etsy artist. Since I took all of ten minutes to make mine and used entirely the wrong size crochet hook for the yarn, didn't weave in any ends, and made the saddest pom pom ever...I'm happy with it. Kitty is not.

She still runs away when I pick it up.

Lesson learned, cats do not like hats despite what Dr. Seuss (and the blogosphere) tells us.

the lights they fill the air

2010-09-21T22:06:00.006-04:00

Before we begin, I hope you all watched this video. It explains everything you are about to see. (Not to make it sound more exciting than it is, but...) Please realize that I suspected this was a bad idea before I even started; for my purposes of scientific experimentation, though, I had to follow instructions exactly. Ah, it was just a couple posts ago when I introduced this yarn, the faaaabulous FLYING SAUCER!

Here's the Flying Saucer in its proper setup (above). Well, sort of. (Excuse the somewhat odd pictures, I was at a cabin and had possibly enjoyed some tequila the night before...so I wasn't really up to par.) Anyway, I have stabbed a pencil through the center of the spool as instructed- well, they suggested a knitting needle but it is HARD to stab through that plastic spool, so really you'll actually need something much sharper (screwdriver?) and something quite forceful (hammer?) to get it through there. I blame tequila for my weakness. Anyway, let's go on, shall we?

Even with help, the simultaneous winding of two balls of yarn from the "proper" wobbly setup was just a disaster waiting to happen. (This is especially problematic if one of the helpers drank more tequila than the other the night before and is therefore much slower at winding.) We had to enlist a third helper to hold the pencil-dowel to regulate its twisting, spinning disastrousness. I really wasn't kidding about enlisting the knitting group, but I did exaggerate...three of us was only half, not all were needed! So we wound, patiently, and got this:

What? It's practically white! With accents of washed-out yellow! It was ugly. IS ugly. After all that, you get a ball of yarn that looks like dirty laundry? I then wound each ball AGAIN (this time on a ball winder, looks more professional) to get back to the pretty colors that had enticed me in the first place:

Ahh, much better! I wonder if I can get through each sock entirely before I get to the colorless length of yarn. I started knitting, and my patterning doesn't much look like the pictures. I don't really care, except I'm still pretending that this is a scientific-ish process and trusting what the label says it will do. They say the socks will knit into a very awesome, swirly pattern and that they will match! I don't know if I believe this. Stay tuned!

watch out for the paraphrase

2010-09-09T23:26:00.004-04:00

A split post, mostly a quick check-in with a couple works-in-progress! Above is a new sock, now in its second version...I started the first one and wasn't happy with how the ribbing flowed into the cabling. This pattern stitch is adapted from the book Alt Fiber by Shannon Okey. I'm going to wing the rest of the sock, but needed a good example of a cabled sock. (It's a cool book, you should check it out!) The yarn is Cascade Heritage Sock, color chosen by my father (who will be the recipient once I get my act together and get these done). I love working with the yarn- the colors are just phenomenal. Very subtle! One of the Yay!Knitters just bought another color of the same yarn, so it'll be interesting to see how hers works out.

And finally, an update on my crochet blanket odyssey...it's coming! This picture was taken at an early stage, Bob Cat making a guest appearance. These are the first 24 centers (out of 96, each octagon with 3 tiers), some of which have their second tier crocheted...there are so many to be done! More progress to come. Crocheting (now that I've figured it out) is fun!

c'mon now, let's bounce

2010-08-31T09:05:00.002-04:00

Knitters are weak people. Lovable and enthusiastic, but weak. And I am one of them.

Sock yarn like this was created for just such weak people. Socks are very easy to justify knitting (despite the 9 other unfinished projects you might have lying around) because you always need socks. You can never have too many. Every year for Christmas, each member of our family buys another new socks (or knits them, if I've been disciplined) so that everybody has new socks for the next year. Socks = practical.

The price of store-bought socks is actually roughly equal to the yarn cost to make them. This doesn't include labor (the knitting), but most knitters won't care. If you buy a pair of nice, Smartwool socks, you'll be spending up to $20. If you buy a skein of nice sock yarn, you'll be spending an average of $20. Socks = economical.

And finally, you generally need ONE SKEIN of sock yarn to knit a pair. This is by far the easiest part to justify when you're among knitters. Non-knitters will appreciate the above reasons, but for guilty knitters who buy TOO MUCH YARN, a one-skein, practical, economical project is very appealing. One skein of sock yarn is very easy to tuck away until such a time that you need it or can't stand to not knit with it anymore. Socks = justifiable.

Sock yarn manufacturers laugh with glee and rub their hands together every time they think about it. Really, I'm sure they do. And who can blame them? We're such easy prey. I walked into the Dutch Oven Yarn Shop a few weeks ago and saw this...I was instantly sold. I never even had a chance! The premise of this yarn (Schoppel Wolle's Flying Saucer, colorway Dr. Air) is that the two strands are dyed at the same time so your socks will match. OCD sock freaks, rejoice!

This was all well and good, until I tried to figure out how to wind the thing. Watch this video and laugh and cry- look how ridiculously clumsy it looks. And then their "get a friend, go faster!" should really be "oh shit! Our knitters are going to riot after this takes 9 hours and gets stuck in a knot- bring help!" I am planning to recruit the entirety of my knitting group, so those of you reading this, I'm sorry.

But really, yarn manufacturers, you can come up with any silly gimmick (functionality aside) and we will buy it. Don't worry.

nothin but cats and rocketships

2010-08-22T10:07:00.000-04:00

Insolence is completed! It took all of about five minutes to knit, but naturally I knit about 90% of it and then left it sitting for a while. I used Rowan R2 Rag (more background here) and ended up going with my first idea: a scarf with the fringe on the long side. I made it as I went along so it's not exactly uniform in length, but the scarf is so dramatic and chunky that I doubt anyone will point fingers at my slightly uneven fringe.

When I debuted this at knitting group last week, a very good question came up- what else could you knit this out of, especially now that R2 is discontinued? I think it would be pretty cool to knit this out of jersey fabric, which can be cut in a continuous strip so you could knit it like yarn. Old t-shirts would work too, as long as you weren't concerned with it being one color. After I recover from the very serious yarn shopping I did last weekend, I'll think about experimenting with this concept. It could be really cool in an Urban Outfitters, recycled-t-shirt way.

just two kids acting tough

2010-08-16T19:52:00.003-04:00

Cute cute cute.

Little picot-edged ankle socks!

When I saw this color at the yarn shop, I was instantly in love. The yellow was so vivid, perfectly variegated...I knew I wanted it. The little voice in the back of my head told me I was insane ("you have so much yarn already, plus I'm getting tired of repeating myself- so just quit it"), and then I went ahead and bought it anyway (little voice gives up: "oh, hell, I'm getting myself a drink"), then stashed it away in my closet for quite some time.

I knew I wanted it to be something obnoxiously cheery, or else ironically cheery. Maybe I'll find an ironic way to wear these socks, but I think using them to warm up icy feet in a Michigan winter is pretty literal.

Here's how you make a picot edge, ironic or no:

1. Cast on your stitches. It should be an even number, you can adjust once the edging is done if necessary. It will only be one stitch off, anyway!

2. If you're knitting in the round, knit (and only knit) for as many rows wide as you'd like your edging to be. If you're knitting flat, alternate knit and purl rows.

3. Once your edging is the desired height (mine was seven rows, ish), work as follows (this should be a knit row for flat knitters): *yarn over, knit two together* to end of round.

4. Knit, or knit and purl, for the same number of rows you did previously (seven, ish).

5. Next, make the edging come alive! As follows (with RS facing, flat knitters): put your needle through the first stitch as if to knit, then put your needle through the first stitch from your cast on row (flat and circular knitters both, make sure you're folding your edge so the stockinette shows!) and knit the two together. Continue in this fashion all the way around.

6. TA-DAH! Instant cuteness. Work the rest of your pattern as required/desired.

YOU CAN NOW KNIT PICOT EDGES ON EVERYTHING.

we will be victorious

2010-08-12T08:46:00.004-04:00

I did it! I have succesfully crocheted the main motif for this ridiculous blanket. Please note the adorable picot edging (equally adorable in both knit and crochet, which guarantees that everything I make from now on will be edged this way) that has the correct number (8!) of picot points. Also, the crochet is not all bunched up from my clutching, pulling technique, but is instead lying flat, with even tension. I AM SO EXCITED!

Next: colors. My bedroom is a jade green, and I think yellow is a really pretty accent. I'm worried about making this too loud, so the colors are going to have to be a little toned down. I like the combination above, but I just don't think it will work with my decor. Then again, I'm a renter and somewhat itinerant, so does it matter if it matches? Especially when I might have moved twice by the time I finish this, like I did with my last afghan?

Let's go yarn shopping!

every day's a different warning

2010-08-10T10:07:00.003-04:00

Moderate success! It's still not right, but it's an improvement. I ended up using a more appropriately sized hook and yarn that didn't split so much, so yay progress! Next step is to actually pick the yarn and colors I'll end up using, find a new crochet hook, and start assembling the 96 pieces this blanket requires. I might be crazy...

Now if I can only figure out how to end up with 8 picot edges instead of 4 on the last round, I'll know I'm golden.

and i know what a fake looks like

2010-08-08T11:10:00.004-04:00

Please take a close look at the picture above, then click here. I am a bad crocheter.

It was not a good idea to make a swatch before finishing my morning coffee...now I'm just frustrated.

Also, Berroco Comfort, the yarn I used above, is not really crochet-friendly (at least, in my opinion). It's a bunch of tiny little strands spun together...which is really great if you want a garment that won't pill when it's washed/worn/etc. However, for my novice crochet purposes, its splitting causes lots of anger, foul language, and wonky looking crochet.

Grr. Tonight I'll try another swatch, and hopefully it'll go better. This was a surprisingly negative post...but isn't that blanket gorgeous? If I can crochet like a maniac, I could have it on my bed for winter. (We won't consider the fact that classes start in about 3 weeks, thus consuming my life and eliminating knitting altogether.)

somewhere in your habitat

2010-07-20T18:41:00.002-04:00

We all have our days.

I hypothesize about this a lot- am I the crazy person here? Most of the time I decide that yes, I am. And I'm okay with it, so I go about my life as a crazy-but-okay-with-it person.

But today, as I look at what I'm wearing, I realize...this borders on too crazy. Check out all the yellow in that picture! I was carrying my ridiculous yellow bag, yellow sandals, drinking my lemon water in a yellow can, and knitting obnoxiously yellow socks. It is kind of a lot of yellow.

The only thing that made me feel better (and took attention away from the blinding sight of my accessories and knitting project) was that, while I was thus attired and occupied, a crazy old man wearing overalls and no shirt boarded the bus carrying only a grill. I felt immediately better: I had been out-crazied!

If you can see it, my newest knitting project is the yellow, picot-edged sock in the forefront of the photo. It's really very cute, if you can see it amongst all the yellow burning your eyes.

Otherwise, my knitting progress in the last few weeks can be seen above. Despondency set in, and even tequila didn't help. You can imagine the depths of my despair.

Thank god for knitting groups and yarn sales! Like I said, the tequila didn't really help the knitting slump...but if I had been alone, I might have resorted to self-destructive behaviors like cleaning a closet out of frustration. So thank you, YAY! knitters, for enduring my whining and trying, with limitless good cheer, to encourage positive progress.

They also found a yarn sale at Knit Around in Ann Arbor, so I went- and got yarn to dye, an insane pattern to start when I'm feeling, well, insane (which is like all the time), and the above book for $5. FIVE DOLLARS. Like seeing the crazier guy on the bus, a book always makes me feel better.

PS: Check out Sleigh Bells. They're loud and awesome. According to NPR (omniscient NPR!) their goal is to "blow up your speakers" for real, and is "one of the loudest live shows of all time." Those might not be exact quotes, but this is: "it's somehow both an aural assault and a piece of pop candy...I recently made the mistake of putting it on at 6:45 a.m., and I don't think they meant for me to do that." Go listen!

struck dumb but i'll give it a go

2010-07-06T19:59:00.002-04:00

Okay, I didn't knit this. Obviously. This is Prada's fall 2010 campaign, which is discussed here. And yes, that is a giant knit handbag. A knit handbag!!! A Prada knit handbag! I wonder what it's made of, and I wonder how we (I, you) could copy it. I kind of really want one.

I'm going to start plotting...join me! Share ideas. What materials could we use (not that Rowan R2 Rag, it has been claimed for a soon-to-be-posted project already)? Kniterary Club, this is your moment to shine!

i might be a fan of your insolence

2010-06-26T09:46:00.005-04:00

I really have been knitting, I promise you. I just can't show you what I've knitted....yet. So that's a great excuse to start new, ill-advised projects.

So: I have some 12 skeins of R2 Rag to use up. A few years ago, the Rowan yarn company decided to publish and manufacture a line of alternative books and yarns...aimed at young, wild knitters who wanted stylish projects to finish quickly. I guess that was me, because I'm one of the few people that bought both the books. It just intrigued me...sort of an American Apparel vibe to the modeling, and the garments were super-weird. Unfortunately, the clientele at yarn stores were just not ready for this and it didn't sell well. If you'd like to see what some of the projects are like: look on Ravelry.

I got a bunch of it at super-closeout price at Needlework Unlimited in Minneapolis and have been hoarding it ever since. It's weird, because I'm relatively sure that I'm one of maybe 3 people in the world who would consider this a treasure! I'm trying to think of things to make with it...it's pretty bulky and I have enough to make a pretty substantial garment. I was initially thinking of a scarf- knit lengthwise with fringe on the long side. (Like this.) Now I'm not sure, and I could knit a vest or a funky cardigan sort of thing...but I'm afraid that, with its bulk, that would look really lumpy. Suggestions?

are you ready, boots?

2010-06-18T17:56:00.003-04:00

Nature provides us such pretty things.

Alright, so I ended up stabbing them with needles...but it was for a good cause. If you live in Michigan you know it's been quite hot lately, which has kick-started my lemonade cravings. It also means drinks sweat ALL the time, and for the first time in my life I have a piece of furniture that I don't want water stains on. The best solution to any problem is one that involves yarn, sharp objects, and wool. Right? (For maybe the first time ever, no knitting was done for this post.)

So here's what you do to make your own coasters at home:

1. Take an old all-wool sweater and wash it- hottest water, longest agitation, lots of sudsy laundry detergent. Normally you would never do this on purpose, but if you've done it accidentally and have a sweater that would now fit a child, here's a useful way to make yourself feel slightly better about shrinking it. (Destruction with scissors is pretty cathartic too.)

2. Use a bowl and chalk to outline circles on the sweater, then cut. You can actually do any shape you want- felted wool won't unravel.

3. Put whatever object you want to outline down on the circle/square/whatever shape. If you can, secure it down somehow so you don't get a weird wiggly outline as you go around. If you're a better artist than I, freehand something.

4. Get your needle felting needles. This is where you could really, really hurt yourself. My needle is in the above picture at the top right, and it is sharp. VERY SHARP. Look at it compared to the blunt darning needle! I sort of laughed at the dire warnings on the package, but after using them once, my fear is real.

4. Needle felting needles are very cool (and dangerous! even cooler!). Basically, they're barbed (and sharp!) needles that agitate the wool layers together when you stab them. So you lay out the yarn and stab it repeatedly until the yarn totally sticks. The cool thing is that you can very loosely stab your design at first, then adjust or pull it out if you don't like it. Once you settle on a final design, just stab the hell out of it.

6. You're done! That's it. Really. It's so easy. I'll probably make a few more at some point and do something more complicated- but for now I can have my iced coffee AND protect my furniture. Mmm.

Kitty is, as usual, unhelpful. Bob doesn't care for knitting in the least (and was probably napping), but catnip or no, Kitty's there.

Finished! The variegated yarn actually suited the leaf coloring perfectly. It's usually easier to needle felt with roving (unspun wool) instead of yarn...but you can also unravel and fluff up your yarn for an easier time of things. Per usual, I was winging it.

Geranium and maple leaves.

if i'll ever be whole again

2010-06-11T08:59:00.003-04:00

Kitty tried to assist with this project...it was distinctly unhelpful.

If you've ever wanted to knit something even your cat will appreciate, though, this is how! Gather these things: a small square of cloth, a half-knit mouse body, catnip (mine is from a set of toys I bought that were already filled), and a little extra stuffing (which I didn't need).

Put the catnip in the cloth square and tie the top securely.

Stuff it in the mouse body!

Here he is! I was going to offer the pattern here, but the way I knit this particular mouse was pretty silly and I'm still trying to think of a good (read: coherent) way to describe this mouse's creation. I started with an i-cord tail and then increased to 24 stitches for the body, then decreased every other round for the nose. His ears are crocheted on afterwards, and the eyes are needle felted on. Try to improvise your own- it really doesn't have to be totally perfect, especially since this mouse's fate is to be licked to death by a blissed-out cat.

This mouse was sent off to a new home over the weekend, where he is being ripped apart by Otis the cat. : ( Poor mouse!

darling where's your soul

2010-06-04T10:08:00.004-04:00

This scarf was finished last summer, I just never got around to taking a picture of it...or should I say, never got around to pressing friends and relations into my service. It's just because they're really good at what they do- my brother puts my modest photography to shame.

The scarf is knit out of Berroco Mica, a yarn I raved and raved about last summer. It's a silk blend (so it smells kind of funny, but if you're a yarn geek like me you'll like it), and when knitted it has a nice shine and texture. This scarf is massive- it used 10 skeins! The crochet edging is my favorite...if you look closely at the bottom right you can see the little baubles (?) crocheted around. It was quite an obstacle to teach myself how to do that since crochet is NOT my forte, but a couple hours of NPR podcasts later I had my edging done.

The scarf itself is absolutely gorgeous. Norah Gaughan at Berroco (their head designer, artistic director, whatever, the word escapes me) is a genius. The only problem with this is that the yarn is SO heavy it kind of feels like you're choking when you wear it...this makes me really sad and also irrationally crabby at the same time. Does that happen to you when your clothes aren't fitting the right way? Anyway. Someday I might re-knit this scarf in a wool-silk blend so it wouldn't be so heavy, would still have a nice shine, and I could wear it in the winter. The pattern was fun to knit so it wouldn't be awful to do again, and like I said before, the edging is just adorable. Someday.

don't lose my composure in a high speed chase

2010-05-30T09:37:00.002-04:00

BIKE HAT! This project had to be classified as "mysterious" so I wouldn't give away the birthday surprise...but now it's done and my brother, The Bikemaster, has an appropriate hat. It was hard to get a picture of him in it since he was so fixated on assembling his latest bike (a fixed gear- ha, ha), but that's pretty normal.

I tried to ride it (in front of all his bike store friends) and almost killed myself...fixed gear bikes are NOT as "easy as riding a bike" at all. As his boss said after seeing a near bike wreck: "you do NONE of those things!" Oh well, I tried. This is why I don't ride bikes and stick with knitting.

Hat details! I used Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran since it was one of the few yarns that had a neon green color...and I was absolutely set on the BIKE! being that color. I probably should have knit this hat flat and sewn a seam up the back; I'm seam-averse so decided (kind of stupidly) to strand the yarn around the inside of the hat. It pulls a little bit in the blue half of the hat and I'm not completely happy about it, but I should have expected this to happen. Next time I'll use full-on intarsia and the hat will look lots better, I think.

Its beginnings:

Knitter's graph paper is one of my favorite things....I will never be without it!!

my half-breed odyssey

2010-05-22T14:59:00.004-04:00

A pair of wonky-ass socks.

Sock yarn is the sort of thing you can buy on impulse and have relatively few qualms about. It's one skein (usually) that makes a complete project; since it's created as sock yarn, you have a built-in purpose for it. I fell victim to this skein- it was named Zauberball (a great name!). The colors were/are awesome. It fell into the no-guilt-easy-project category. It seemed like a win-win.

I mean, I'm not totally dissatisfied with the results...they're just strange. If you're the sort of person who can embrace all-out randomness, this yarn is for you! Like, if you don't organize your sock drawer into pairs, or if you like to wear mismatched socks intentionally, this yarn was MADE for you. It was not made for me.

Anyway, the yarn itself was okay. I think it's sold mostly for the novelty and for buyers like me who snatch up sock yarn impulsively. The quality was okay, but the yarn is two-ply, and one of the plys (plies? whatever) changes while the other stays the same. I ran into several knots in the process of knitting the socks, which was distinctly displeasing...not only does it create more ends, but it disrupts whatever hint of organic transformation this yarn displays. How's that alliteration? Distinctly displeasing disruption of the display. There were also some odd fuzzy sections of yarn.

Bottom line: Zauberball has a cool name, neat colors, and was made to freak out OCD knitters.

learn to love what you are

2010-05-14T09:43:00.003-04:00

A quick post with a sock-yarn-multi-yarn-scarf-knitting news update. Or something. (Excuse me, I've had quite a lot of coffee.) I finally settled on a yarn combination...originally I had tried to highlight that neon green you see at the forefront, but it turns out that less is more- the chartreuse yarn I had chosen as an accent turned out to be completely overwhelming (and kind of ugly). I also abandoned the giant needles I'd been trying to use...13s were just not working. So Caitlin invents(ish) again! 10 1/2s, alpaca sock yarn and Habu steel wool yarn with a bit of Louisa Harding Jasmine (sparkly!) thrown in. 150-some stitches, knit a row with one, knit a row with the other, toss in Jasmine occasionally. Drink lots of coffee, knit faster!

they ask to behave, i pay them no mind

2010-05-10T07:58:00.006-04:00

First: happy Mother's Day! This is my mother, and this is her (finally finished!) sweater. This sweater was the subject of many a beleaguered posting...first I decided that the pattern wasn't good enough for me and changed the construction of the garment completely (OCD front-to-back agreement wouldn't have been perfect). This is what I do NOT recommend doing. You will be sorry! Then I nearly ruined the poor thing by trying to graft garter stitch purely by logic (again, do NOT do this, you will be sorrier). Disgusted, I had thrown the whole thing in the bottom of my knitting basket, hoping for a miracle. When I did decide to pull it out again, I RAN OUT OF YARN. This was the last straw, and bona fide despair set in.

I began to think of any alternative...a contrast collar would have looked tacky, no collar was terrible, I could maybe dye the sweater...like I said before, my solution is/was to send it to the basket. Get thee gone!

A miracle happened a few days later. A miracle. A scraggly little half-skein of this yarn turned up in my closet...it hadn't been kept with the rest of my Cotton Classic and was stuck in a knitting bag where I had previously kept this sweater. Oh, the joy was unimaginable when I finished the collar and wove in all the ends...and there was a sweater! A cute sweater, too! Even after all of that. I'm kind of ridiculously lucky.

It looks really good on Mom, and the color is right, too. :) Now time for cocktails in the yard!

i'm never to keen to leave this place

2010-05-05T09:34:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago I allowed myself to go yarn shopping, something I had denied myself for quite a while. I mean, it's kind of ridiculous to go shopping for MORE yarn when you have a whole closet full...but my intentions had been innocent. I had run out of yarn for a sweater I'm working on, and it's not my fault that they didn't have any more and I had to use my money on something else, right?

So this is what I ended up with! I couldn't resist the colors since they would be equally good for men's or women's socks. The yarn is made by Schoppel Wolle (a German company) and is called Zauberball. Isn't that a great name?! This is the thicker weight (closer to DK than traditional fingering/sock weight) but I'm still knitting it on size 1 needles. I like how it's knitting up, but as my mother observed "it's prettier in the ball than it is knitted." The color runs are pretty long, so you end up with kind of wonky looking stripe patterns. Oh well, it's still fun to work with!

I'm currently stalled on this project (knitting group tonight will help me get through this)- I'm afraid that I won't have enough yarn to do a complete pair and should (ha, ha, who does what they should?) knit contrasting heels and toes. Meh, I don't feel like going out to look for a contrast yarn (I'm usually disappointed with my choices, I'm too picky) so I'm just going to continue this ill-advised sock and you can read the frustrated "I-ran-out-of-yarn-oh-no!" posts later. Lucky you! (Kidding. (Just about the lucky you part.))

the gaudy side of town

2010-05-04T09:08:00.004-04:00

KNITERARY CLUB has been launched into the world of current technology! Pictured above (with a very silly pom pom) is my new laptop!!! It's been 8 years since I got a new computer, and as I write this post (no error messages, appropriate text-appearance-to-typing-speed, etc...basically this thing is fast) you cannot even begin to imagine my delight. I had trouble getting Blogger to upload photos today, but I expect it's a temporary problem that my behind-the-timesness caused. Alright, now for the knitting.

This is a very low satisfaction knitting post, I'm afraid. Since this is intriguing and mysterious, I can't really tell you more...but, I give you a pom pom! I have these really cool Clover pom pom makers, except I use them so infrequently that I often forget how they work. As a result, this pom pom is a little less awesome than they normally are...it fell apart while I was removing it from the pom pom device and I had to do my best to salvage what was left. Ha, pom pom fail!

They do have a larger pom pom maker...this one is about the size of, I don't know, your palm? A small apricot? But the bigger ones can be grapefruit sized!!! I must get one of these.

the balance is chasing after

2010-04-25T09:52:00.006-04:00

Finally, finally I knit a flower for these leaves! I knitted them so long ago...a year ago tomorrow, in fact, judging by the dates on the photographs.

They worked really well as embellishments for a gift...attached to a safety pin, this could be re-used, worn on a coat or something. My responsibility for this object's creative use ended after the gift was wrapped!

And of course, a button! They make everything better. I'm pretty sure my button obsession is getting out of hand, but they're inexpensive, quirky ways to make things look really cute. I'm still regretting the jar of buttons I left at a rummage sale years ago. NEVER pass up an opportunity to expand your button collection!

carried to ohio in a swarm of bees

2010-04-18T11:04:00.004-04:00

I don't normally shoot in black and white, but the colors outside were so vivid they overwhelmed my humble camera. The yarn is a beautiful color itself, but isn't yet an interesting knitted object. So...mystery and intrigue, you ask? I'm not sure that this post really constitutes mystery OR intrigue, but it's a surprise project that I can't write about in too much detail. Yet.

See? Bright! This yarn is Rialto, made by Debbie Bliss. It has since been re-labeled as Rialto DK vs. Rialto Aran, so watch your labels if you're buying it...the stitch gauge will steer you in the right direction. 22 st/4 in = DK, 18 st/4 in = aran. It's really pretty nice yarn, easy to work with and knits up well, it's just expensive...$8.95 for 100 yards! (And that's the DK weight, aran has less yardage for the same price.) It's almost exactly the same as Pure Merino by Berroco or Aurora 8 by Karabella. The yarn tends to split a tiny bit, so you have to keep your eye on it once in a while. Another plus: it's superwash, which means you can wash it in the machine without it felting. No dryer (it is wool, after all)!

I promise to become less elusive later...but I bought this yarn shopping yesterday and couldn't wait to knit with it!

when you mend the patches of my clothing

2010-04-11T13:38:00.006-04:00

Surprise! (Pretend to be.) More socks! These, however, present a new and fascinating problem...one has a hole worn through the heel! How to fix it more successfully (and more attractively) than this?

The answer was provided to me completely by chance. Like most knitting projects I'm ashamed of, I had tossed these into a closet. I didn't want to ruin them by with a half-assed repair attempt, so instead I ignored them. (Sounds familiar, I know.)

Knitting Daily rescued me! This is the first time I can say this- they send out (as implied by the name) daily knitting emails that are mostly obnoxious. I usually delete all of them while wondering WHY I signed up in the first place, but as my mouse hovered over the "delete" button, I realized this article could actually help!

I would link to the article here, but you have to sign up for Knitting Daily to see it. If you don't mind a gazillion new emails every day, by all means do so...otherwise, it's pretty easy to do without reading it. First, gather a darning needle, yarn, the item to be repaired, and something round-ish to stuff in the sock. I read about light bulbs, oranges, fancy darning eggs, real eggs...you know, anything vaguely round. I used a tennis ball from my well-loved Velcro Ball set.

So you stuff the roundish object in the sock, then sew (it doesn't have to be great, it's just an anchor) a square around the area to be repaired. Think of roping off a crime scene, you know? Then you're going to create a loom- didn't we all learn to weave in grade school?- by sewing across your crime scene to create vertical bars. Crime = jail time. Make sense?

Now weave back and forth through your bars to create a basket/rug/potholder sort of look. Make sure you alternate going under/over the bars (so says the article), but I think if you say "weave" most people would get it. I'm sorry if I'm wrong in assuming this. Think of this as Martha Stewart Goes to Jail, now you're crafting behind bars.

And ta-dah! Sock fixed. Now I can stop going home to see my Dad and evading his questions about these socks. Lesson: don't be afraid of wearing your socks or wearing THROUGH your socks...it's easy to repair. Really, really easy!

Of note: this is Smooshy sock yarn made by Dream in Color. The color is absolutely gorgeous...a blend of blues and blacks. The yarn was lovely to knit with, too! It's a little pricey, but totally worth it. If I find it again, I'm going to have to stash another skein away...

we're just kids on the run

2010-04-09T23:32:00.003-04:00

CAFFEINE + NEW YARN + NEW BOOK = KNITTING IDEAS!

(Think alternating knit rows on big needles for a light, airy, mohair-y, alpaca-y scarf.)

so what so what so what's the scenario

2010-04-05T12:14:00.003-04:00

You're probably wondering "hey, what the hell, you said this blog was BACK, now you disappear for another two weeks?" OK, you know, I don't blame you. But let me say that I found a couple really creative excuses.

Last Sunday I spent an entire day writing about Ludwig van Beethoven and the Prometheus Ballet. See, you're already bored! Naturally I was not going to share that with you.

Then this week got really busy and I didn't knit anything...so I didn't have anything to share (and besides, was really sad because I wasn't knitting anyway).

But to top it all off, this Sunday: I took pictures of my new yarn (see above, more on this later) and planned on posting yesterday evening to get back on my Sundays-are-for-blogging routine. My camera, however, had other plans and launched itself out of my jeans pocket (granted, I was in a tree at the time), bounced through some branches, and fell (intact) about 20 feet to the ground. I was impressed at this...until I tried to turn it on. It stubbornly refused. I whined, it dug its heels in and stayed dead.

This morning, though, my camera staged its own Easter resurrection...albeit after a few good whacks on the kitchen table...but huzzah! The blog is back, and only delayed half a day.

Anyway, amidst all these excuses, I went yarn shopping! I picked up a skein of Misty Alpaca sock yarn, because apparently I'm becoming a default sock knitter when I can't think of anything else to do. I really do love this color, though...I don't get to knit many super bright socks since I knit mostly for my father and brother. (Here I go again, whining.) I'm considering combination possibility for this yarn; maybe I'll attempt another multi-fiber sort of endeavor. We'll see. That lime green streak is really neat....

Stay tuned for more pathetic knitting stories as I inch towards completion on the sweater below. I ran out of yarn this week, so that was a fun development. :)

why am i here and who are you?

2010-03-21T11:18:00.003-04:00

Take a look at this girl, blithely knitting away, not a care in the world: she had the brilliant idea of knitting a whole sweater during a cross-country road trip to New York City.

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!

Because here we are, two years later. That "easy, quick!" sweater was still sitting in a tangled mess in my knitting basket, neglected. Naturally, during the course of aforementioned road trip, I objected to an instruction in the pattern. My obsessive-compulsive, perfectionist self balked at knitting a sweater side-to-side because the increases and decreases would not look identical! This is the point at which most people would move on and accept the VERY slight difference between these features, but no, not me.

Instead, I do what I normally do: ignore the problem, stash the sweater away, and sulk until I forget that it exists.

But the obsessive-compulsive side of me always wins. Always. Because this was an unfinished project! We can't have those! I just pulled it out and began the process of repairing/ripping/trying to figure out what that vacationing brain of mine was thinking all those months ago. I think I have a plan, so full speed ahead, time to finish this sweater once and for all!

READER POLL: should I overdye this sweater once it's finished? The color is a lot brighter than I had intended. I'll knit some swatches and dye those first, of course, but please tell me what you think!

if you're vaguely attracted to rooftops

2010-03-14T11:50:00.003-04:00

Oh, finishing a project! (In this case, half. But still.) These are exact replicas of the red version here, but my father is overdue for a new pair of socks and these had been on the needles for quite a long time. Shamefully long! Anyway. The yarn I used here is Berroco's Alpaca Fine. I just checked my posts and was surprised to find that I hadn't enthusiastically-manically expounded on this yarn yet...so here goes!

Lots of people are afraid (or extremely hesitant) to work with fine yarn. Alpaca Fine is fingering weight, so it's best knit on small needles. I knit my socks on size 0, although slightly looser knitters would have success on size 1. Since it's alpaca, the yarn tends to loft (fluff up) a little bit, so you can get away with knitting it on a larger size as long as you don't expect a super-firm fabric. I knit a swatch on size 3 needles and it looked fine! (Ha, ha- Alpaca Fine...OK moving on now.) One skein has 430 yards, which is more than enough to knit a pair of socks...even if the recipient has large feet! And the best part: it's only $10-11. Seriously! The yarn is amazing: a perfect blend of alpaca, nylon, and wool. If you haven't knit with it yet, go out and buy some NOW! You won't be sorry. And once you've started knitting on little needles, I don't think you'll go back...in some ways, it's actually more natural than knitting on bigger needles. Besides, you can go faster because it requires smaller motions from your hands! (If you don't like this yarn and/or my advice, I'm sorry...and accept the blame. Just send your leftover Alpaca Fine my way.)

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a clear picture today since it's a rainy, chilly spring day. Luckily the light worked in my favor. The snow is gone!

when the city clears and sun ascends

2010-03-07T16:57:00.005-05:00

After a very, very long (and inexcusable) absence, Kniterary Club has returned! Naturally I've finished a project that is ill-timed for the season, but since I love knitting and spring pretty much boundlessly equally, it's okay.

These mittens are knit from yarn I dyed myself last summer during the class I taught at Old Village Yarn Shop. I picked an alpaca-nylon blend, fingering weight yarn, figuring I would knit socks like I had with all my other home-dyed yarns. When my other mittens started to deteriorate from overuse, I knew what this yarn was destined to be. Since it was fingering weight, I had to hold it double-stranded with size 3 needles...I'm pretty patient, but knitting mittens on size 0 needles just wasn't happening that day. These turned out to be a perfect density, nice and warm, no drafts come in! Once they've been worn a bit, they'll felt just a little, and that will be ideal.

I used The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns as a guide, but changed a few things to customize these (although I liked my original mittens, there were a few minor upgrades I wanted to make). First, I made the cuff a lot longer; this way they'll stay tucked well under my coat sleeves. I started the thumb gusset a little later, too, and didn't increase quite as much. I was hoping the skinnier thumb would help the mitten feel a little less oversized. I was really happy with the improvements, but will have to wait till next winter for these to really prove themselves...which is TOTALLY okay with me! We're all so hungry for spring.

Now, concerning the blog: I will post when I can, what I can...but I'm back in grad school and time is precious! I've missed my knitting, though. Let's say I was in hibernation for the winter...

i am all in a ball in your front yard

2009-11-05T19:39:00.008-05:00

A very much belated post!!!

It's November, something I am desperately trying to comprehend. How does time fly by so quickly? Here's an appropriate post for chilly November evenings: a fluffy, warm, only-slightly-itchy mohair blanket.

This blanket was one of those never-ending projects. First of all, a blanket (or afghan- whichever you prefer- afghan is maybe more appropriate here) is a large project. It can also be a very tedious project, especially with a pattern as simple as this. It requires a certain tenacity to finish...which I didn't have, apparently...this took me two years!

But now that it's done, I adore it. Absolutely adore it. Mohair is a wonder fiber- soft, luxurious, and warm. This took two enormous hanks of mohair (500 yards each), made by Interlacements Yarns. I can't find the particular yarn I used on the website, though!! I used two colorways of mohair, alternating pairs of rows with each color. This made a beautiful colorway that reminds me a bit of a Monet painting. Every 14 rows, I threw in 6 rows of contrast yarn (in this case, a discontinued Noro yarn). The blanket was all garter stitch, and here's how you do it: cast on 3 stitches. Knitting every row, increase at the end of each row until you're a) half as far as you'd like to go or b) halfway through your yarn supply. If you want fringe, make sure you save some yarn aside OR cut it before you start. You will need lots of fringe...more than you would expect. Once you get to your decided halfway point (size or material-wise), start decreasing at the end of every row. Add your fringe on and you're done! World's easiest blanket.

I alternated skeins of yarn because the colors suited each other and I didn't want to wait to order the yarn. You could do this with scrap yarn, you could do random stripes, you could do an eyelet pattern....just follow the basic square shape (increase halfway, decrease halfway). You'll never want to wrap up in anything else!!

c'mon look me in the eye

2009-10-25T11:55:00.002-04:00

Over the summer I had an idea for a neckwarmer (why I think of these things in the 90-degree heat I do not know). It was during the period that Kniterary Club was meeting, so I had time to mull over yarn combinations, buttons, and the like. I came up with a very autumnal color set, but never started the actual knitting. (I guess the weather- and more pressing projects- got some sense through my head.)

Now the cool weather's here to stay, and with all the trees changing and a chilly breeze blowing around, I really want this neckwarmer to be done. Sitting right next to me is the ball of brown yarn, and the moment I'm done typing I will begin knitting! Hopefully my concept will become reality...I want a ruffled button band ornamented with flowers in yellow silk and leaves out of Ultra Alpaca Fine (as above, and below). I feel very Project-Runway-esque, except on a much smaller scale and with lots more time. Besides, I don't think Michael Kors or Nina Garcia will be critiquing my look....

A clearer picture below:

Are those buttons not fabulous?

everybody come down

2009-10-15T20:34:00.003-04:00

I think my IQ is dropping steadily lately...it's kind of frightening. In my last post, I described the sudden disappearance of my fish buttons- these aren't the only lost items that are keeping me awake in bed at night, wondering if, just maybe, those buttons might be stuffed in that COAT POCKET! Hmm...OK, I'm distracting myself again. In addition to the buttons, I've lost the power cord to my external hard drive, a skein of yarn, and a jacket. This is quite a feat considering the fact that I'm a neat freak, but we'll move on from here and let's hope my brain cells regenerate.

Another indication of my madness: I forgot to post about these socks way back in March when I made them! In the post titled "Knitting 911" from March, I write about repairing a pair of socks in the same colorway, but I never show pictures of the new, improved version. As mentioned in March, my brother is pretty hard on knitting (heavy use + bike accidents = destruction). I made him a pair of socks (in fact, my very first pair!) out of worsted weight wool. The colorway was called Mexico from Scholler+Stahl, I fell in love with it from the very start. There were two problems, though: one, the socks were nearly destroyed; and two, they were ridiculously thick.

This new pair was the perfect combination: lighter weight yarn but in the same colorway, an adapted heel, and better still, no holes! I knit the whole pair in about 11 days...which leads me to believe that my ideal knitting needle size is a 3...and used an afterthought heel. This allows you to knit a tube, throw in some waste yarn where you want the heel to be placed, finish knitting, and then go back in to insert a very simple heel in the space where the waste yarn was. I'm a big fan of the afterthought heel. If you want a contrast heel, the afterthought gives you a nice square insert for the second color instead of an awkward looking heel flap. (Symmetry suits those of us who suffer from OCD.) This is also a nice thing to keep in mind if you're worried about running out of yarn: knit the tube first, and if you have enough left, great- if not, you can use a contrast color and it won't look like you ran out of yarn by accident. Also, I think knitting the tube and inserting the heel later makes the knitting go by so much faster- you don't have all that tricky manipulation of the heel to navigate, instead you can fly right through, do the tricky bit at the end, and sit back satisfied to admire your socks.

Happy Friday and happy knitting weekend!!!

try this trick and spin it, yeah

2009-10-11T08:19:00.003-04:00

It's finished! Not quite as soon as I would have liked, but it's super cute and I can't wait to give it to the mother-to-be. Knitting baby things is so satisfying because the knitting goes so fast...10 inches and you've got a sleeve! This really would have been done in the weekend I had aimed for if the weather had cooperated...we were in Chicago and it was absolutely frigid outside, so no knitting got done or my hands would have frozen!!!

Funny story about this sweater (and me in general): these are not the original buttons I bought for this project. They look the same, yes...but the little plastic bag with the original five buttons is absolutely nowhere to be found. Those of you who know me well will understand how silly this is...I'm a little OCD about organizing and cleaning, so usually I know where everything is all the time. I fear that this time, though, I got a little overzealous in my cleaning and lost something instead of putting somewhere useful (or logical, apparently). I went to the yarn store right down the road and got SO lucky- they had a whole tube of the exact same buttons! I had originally bought the very last of them at a shop in Plymouth, MI. Phew! Bullet dodged.

I had planned the whole sweater around the adorable fish buttons!

all things go

2009-09-30T21:56:00.002-04:00

Thought I would squeeze in one quick blog post to end September...and with it, a knitting challenge...I'm traveling to Chicago this weekend (reference the song in this post's tags) and this baby gift needs to be finished ASAP. I've got the back and one half of a cardigan front done, all I have to do are the sleeves and another front (although this one will be a little slower, it's the band I have to place buttons in).

I'm using an all-acrylic yarn from Berroco called Comfort. I'm usually anti-acrylic, but this one knits up really softly and isn't too snaggy- my only issue is that the ends tend to get tangled around the working yarn and can be nearly impossible to separate. Otherwise, it's a lovely yarn...a good value, good wear, and it's machine wash and dry!

Check out those buttons...I'm in love. Little yellow fish!

more and more and more and more

2009-09-27T09:32:00.005-04:00

Good news or bad news first? Well...bad news is that I totally failed to keep up with KNITERARY CLUB through September. The good news is that I'm finally knitting again, and even better, I've finished something! Two things!

In all honesty, I should have finished the above project much sooner...I mean, come on, it's knit on size 17 needles! The diamond pattern was an easy 4-row repeat that I somehow managed to botch at least once a day. I had yarn left over (especially when I ripped out the sleeves of the sweater this was originally meant to be), so I made a hat. The hat is really simple, too...knit flat with a seam in the back. I originally thought I should imitate the diamond pattern in the hat too, but opted not to- when I started the hat I was at knitting group and was being a huge ditz and couldn't concentrate on complicated designing. (Unfortunately this seems to be the direction of my entire life at the moment, sigh.)

How many scarves do you really need? Probably not as many as I have...but I really can't wait to wear this out when it starts to get chillier (not toooo soon, I hope).

Also: I went yarn shopping and bought yarn for 3 projects! There should be no excuse for me from now on, the blog is back. I promise this time!

all the cities at the break of dawn

2009-09-01T18:13:00.005-04:00

Well, by now you've probably noticed that the blog has been on quite a long hiatus. It was a hectic month, so I decided to declare a vacation for the month of August (unannounced, naturally) and come back in September with more ideas, better ideas, etc.

Pictured above is my newest project. I bought this yarn (Cascade Magnum) intending to knit a Twinkle sweater with it. The sweater wasn't turning out like I wanted, so I ripped it out and decided that the yarn needed a new beginning. The Twinkle book has a cute scarf in it, so I picked that as its second incarnation. As you would expect, the knitting goes really fast. I seem to have a mental block about even simple yarnovers, so I kept missing them. This set me back a little, but I whipped up about a foot in half an hour. I think instant gratification is the solution for frustrated knitters!

I'm going to adapt a variation on this pattern for a hat I'm working on...which you'll see soon!

Thank you for reading, and happy September!

one day the sun will come out

2009-07-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

This is actually one of my more favorite projects and concepts...knitted letters sewn onto a canvas backing. Knitting is an art form, after all. This was my first attempt to use canvas, so the background ended up getting painted a flat black. I like the stark contrast anyway, I think it lends itself well to the word. For the letters, I used Louisa Harding's Grace Hand-dyed...half silk, half wool, all wonderful. I improvised the letters as I went, but they turned out okay.

I was going to use that acid green Grace with blue Colinette for another painting/knitting hybrid project, but that one didn't work out because the painted canvas stood alone. I'll try to photograph that one soon so everyone can see how it turned out, maybe I'm biased but I think painting is very, very cool. More to come?

I'm calling this "Unyielding Hope", a phrase Barack Obama used in his acceptance speech.

you could hope for substance

2009-07-29T21:02:00.005-04:00

Oh, and so the despondent tone of my knitting life continues. I've temporarily laid aside hopes of designing something for Berroco, it's just not happening right now. Apparently I can't create things on command? Sigh.

Instead, I'm reverting to old projects that I had left for dead. Last year this little shrug (begun as a gift for my mother) was my epic road trip knitting challenge. I drove from Minneapolis to New York City with some friends and decided (as if the fact I keep a knitting blog wasn't silly enough) to see if I could knit this sweater in the 22+ hours in the car. I didn't succeed, mostly because I was gawking at scenery and sleeping for part of the time....but anyway, back to knitting.

The pattern is really cool and was a store model at Needlework Unlimited. It's the sort of sweater that looks good on everybody regardless of body type. We made everyone try it on! Plus, it's knitted using Tahki Yarns' Cotton Classic, which is a fantastic yarn that's been around for years. Held double stranded, the knitting goes quickly!

You start knitting at one sleeve, then across the back and cast off at the other sleeve. The only seaming that's left is for the underarm (so about 8" total). I thought this was brilliant, except (there's always an exception with me, right?) the sleeves wouldn't match exactly because increases and decreases look different. You would increase on the first sleeve to achieve the length for the back, then decrease at the other side to form the other sleeve. Instead, I reversed shaping and knit the two sides separately, intending to graft them in the middle. This did not look good, I got frustrated, and I threw the whole thing in my closet for a year.

Instead of reknitting the whole thing, I'm going to take out the graft in the back...it's off center anyway. I'm going to fix it so there's a seam in the back center instead, pretend it's intentional, then knit on the collar and give it away just in time for summer to end. Knitters are such funny people sometimes, aren't they?

all night out on the run

2009-07-21T12:37:00.004-04:00

I decided it was finally time for a post, since it's been a while since I updated anyone on my knitting exploits.

Well, the bad news is that what you see above is about all I got done. I am suffering, it's terrible.

I mentioned that I was going up to the cabin for a couple of days to escape civilization and fight my knitter's block, but alas, all I managed to do was take a cool picture and get a bunch of mosquito bites. I knit a little swatch that I really hated (and have therefore not pictured), then gave up and went for a walk in the woods instead. After I got back to the city, I had a knitting meeting with Annie and managed to cast on for a hat. It's coming along now, but since it's on little needles it takes a bit of time to get anywhere with it. The problem with it is, though, that once I get done with the ribbing I have to decide what to do for the rest of the hat...NOOOO! Knitting really shouldn't cause this much angst.

I should just knit a baby sweater, I need a gift for an October baby boy.

time to believe in what you know

2009-07-16T10:46:00.005-04:00

I've been going through a knitting drought the past week or so and therefore have very little to show off. Of course I have tons of ideas floating around in my head, but haven't had the time or concentration to put them on needles. Luckily I was saved from this nearly-disastrous knitter's block by Berroco: they're having a design competition and the only requirement is that you use one of their sock yarns! I was like...allll over that. I've raved about Berroco's Ultra Alpaca Fine before, so this is the perfect opportunity to create more amazing knitwear using one of my favorite yarns.

These socks were knit over the winter, also using Berroco Alpaca Fine. They turned out beautifully, the yarn was lovely to knit with. They took quite a while as they were knit for large feet on size 0 needles, but it was well worth it. I've lately become partial to knitting on tiny needles! Over the next few days I'll be gone to the family cabin in Northern Michigan, so I'll log some knitting time and hopefully come back with a design that I could submit to the contest.

if you work it out, tell me what you find

2009-07-12T10:01:00.004-04:00

Earlier this spring, I had a particularly eventful weekend and twice ended up going to venues where you receive wristbands as you enter. I think we all know the material those wristbands are made out of- that indestructible paper/plastic hybrid that some postal envelopes are made out of- and I kept those wristbands on for a week at least. They looked artistically battered, and it was with great regret that I cut mine off so I wouldn't feel guilty wearing them at work. The other person I'd gone with kept his on much, much longer...although they looked very worn, they were mostly intact after weeks.

My unnatural attachment to these wristbands gave me ideas for knitting, naturally. When my original cuff bracelet came out a little too bulky, I re-designed it and used a utility cotton that made it both wearable and durable. I've since subjected these to constant use, I was curious to see how they would hold up in the shower, swimming, cooking, etc. The best part is that, although I don't usually take them off, I could remove them without ruining them if I needed to. I was so utterly delighted with the braided bracelets that I (naturally) wanted to make more.

Now we finally arrive at the purpose of this post: to introduce my eco-chic, recycled, reused pop-can-tab bracelet. Similar in size to a wristband, it can also be made in bright colors and can be worn everywhere and anywhere. I can't take full credit for this innovation, it was made to imitate a bag I own that's made entirely of tabs; my friend Emily (also my very first knitting teacher!) figured out how to crochet the tabs together. We promptly produced three bracelets which were worn with smugness befitting a clever and successful craft endeavor.

don't even know what i'll find when i get to you

2009-07-08T12:07:00.000-04:00

A few posts ago I featured a Fisherman's Cuff bracelet (here). It is a beautiful object, but is unweildy to wear. The problem is in the fastening. I had used a button AND a snap hoping to reduce damage to my precious button; coupled with the already bulky bracelet, the snap/button/bracelet sandwich was nearly an inch high! Besides that, I wanted to knit with something other than the Shibui Knits wool...it's gorgeous, but a wool cuff is a little impractical for summer.

Thus began another knitting adventure! I knew I wanted something natural-colored to imitate an aran fisherman's sweater. I also knew I wanted a cotton, silk, or similar (also natural) material so that the bracelet would be easy to wear in the summer heat...something that could stand vigorous wear and washing. The yarn also needed to be rather fine (DK weight or lighter) because I didn't want another bulky bracelet. I never really found anything satisfactory at yarn stores so started brainstorming possible substitutions...the hardware store!

I wandered around our neighborhood hardware for a while, looking down every aisle...gardening, no; kitchen, no; yardwork, no. Finally I found a salesperson and asked for string (cringing as I asked...I have met so many customers over the years who mistakenly say string instead of yarn and have gently corrected them). The lady gave me a strange look and pointed me in the right direction. Apparently I don't look like the sort of customer they normally get in a small-town hardware store. Then I found it: all-purpose cotton twine! $2.79 for 20 yards! A deal.

The string (cringe) worked perfectly! The bracelets are dense and much less bulky than the first, wool bracelet. The utility cotton wasn't really any different than working with cotton knitting yarn, although it wasn't quite as refined consistency-wise. I've been wearing the bracelets constantly for about a week now and they've held up very well (I'm going for the fashionably, intentionally distressed look eventually). These activities have included cooking, swimming, and showers...they're comfortable and hard-wearing. Perfect!

i would want to, i am game

2009-07-03T07:54:00.004-04:00

It is exactly what you think it is. Hilarious, right? A knitted traffic cone! When left to my own devices, I tend to think that ridiculous ideas = good ideas. Especially when knitting is involved.

The backstory: my brother and his friend are very silly people. I live with my brother, and came home one night to find a very large, bright orange traffic cone sitting in my bedroom doorway. They had obtained it at some point in the evening and brought it back to the apartment to contribute to the curiousity-shop decor. As I do with most things, I immediately wondered if it could be knit. It could, in fact! I'm still contemplating a life-sized cone, but in miniature it's even funnier.

Yarns used: scraps of Jamieson Shetland DK for the base, Debbie Bliss Merino DK for the body, and Mica by Berroco for the reflective stripes.

an afternoon that's never ending

2009-07-01T13:29:00.003-04:00

For whatever reason, I really like i-cord. I think it has so much possibility...whether it's as a bind-off, purse handles, or any other miscellaneous project...i-cord is simple but effective. This is a necklace of sorts, a fusion between a scarf and jewelry if you will. I have a substantial button collection, so I scavenged a few glass/faux pearl buttons, added a crocheted flower, and a few beads I had randomly lying around. The yarn itself is Louisa Harding's Grace Hand Dyed, you might remember it was purchased a few posts ago for my art-knitting fusion project. The art part of that project ended up being pretty cool all on its own, so the knitting got left off. This was fine with me, because who could complain about having a silk/wool hand dyed yarn left over?

Similar to the braided cuff, I think I'm going to try a few more and see if I can modify my design a little more. Knitted jewelry, to me, always looks a little chunky or too handmade (unless you use wire), so I'm experimenting in the genre. We'll see?

dc comics and chocolate milkshakes

2009-06-29T00:00:00.003-04:00

I've spent a proportionately large percentage of my life in class...even my extracurricular activities involved being instructed much of the time. As a result, I appreciate efficient and clear teaching; I also feel like I recognize it pretty readily. During my class time at TNNA, I became a huge fan of small projects that demonstrate skills needed to complete larger projects. Now that I'm writing this, I realize that this idea is so simple that it really shouldn't be novel. But it is! There just aren't small projects that correspond to larger, more time-consuming endeavors. Marianne Isager's wristwarmers were functional small projects that went along with her sweaters...above is Cat Bordhi's little...well, thimble? Bowl? Doll hat? It's a funny thing, in any case. It's really cool because it illustrates her heel turn method not once, but TWICE! Then you get to pick up and knit in the round to make a little bowl. How cool is that? Totally useless as an object, but pretty fun to knit. I'm always in favor of useless but educational knitting projects.

So...this ends the TNNA posting material. Spacing it out, it took what felt like a lot of posting to cover everything I learned! What a great experience. I can't say enough how much I like sharing ideas and discussing techniques and projects with other knitters. I always come away so inspired. Farewell, June- the summer continues to speed along.

although i lost my mind

2009-06-26T00:00:00.002-04:00

Last weekend I taught a yarn dyeing workshop at Old Village Yarn Shop in Plymouth, MI. It was a beautiful day outside and we had great fun experimenting with colors. We used Wilton Cake Icing Dye (which I've discussed in previous posts), and it's really easy to get super bright colors...but not so easy to get subdued, subtle shading! I'm improving with every try, this is one of my more favorite skeins.

Believe it or not, this actually used a combination of blue, teal, violet, and black. The black is especially unpredictable as it separates into its components pretty readily. As a result, you usually get something approximating black/grey if you're lucky...but more often than not you get purple and teal from it. I wanted to use this to my advantage, so I paired it with colors it naturally separates into.

You can see the bright pink on the string tied to it...yeah, that's out of the black dye as well. That color never appears in my skein (except maybe as an overtone here and there), but it's kind of funny. I'm trying to decide what to use this yarn for, maybe a scarf or mittens? Another random and strange article of clothing? In any case, I can't wait to knit with this!!!

we won't drown in the summer sound

2009-06-23T00:00:00.002-04:00

This is a cuff bracelet made of Shibui Merino Worsted, a superwash wool that knits beautifully and is lightly variegated if you get any color other than natural. I used a button I've had hoarded away (I tend to be compulsive about gathering buttons, as anyone will tell you). I got the yarn as a sample at TNNA, it is rather pricey if you buy it retail...so make sure the project is something special. In this case, I think I could knit about 15 bracelets from a skein. Depending on who you ask, this qualifies as a "special" application or is just a terrible waste.

My intention was to use a nautical theme, but I need to do more research on the subject. Really what I'm going to use ultimately is cotton cording from the hardware store and model them after either fisherman's aran sweaters or knotted bracelets (sort of like you would with hemp). This is just a prototype.

just a little bit caught in the middle

2009-06-20T13:50:00.000-04:00

Here are some swatches from my Columbus TNNA trip; I took a class with Danish knitwear designer Marianne Isager and these were the swatches I came away with. Marianne's knitting books (Knitting Out of Africa, Japanese Knits) offer inventive garments that are relatively simple yet include techniques that keep the knitting process interesting for more adept knitters. Marianne has designed a series of wristwarmers that correspond to each sweater, so you can try out a given technique before embarking on a whole sweater...but unlike gauge swatching, you'll end up with a finished object. I thought it was a brilliant idea, but unfortunately the patterns for wristwarmers weren't included in the published books.

Unlike the typical knitter, I don't mind swatches...as you can see above, I made lots of them! It feels like all I did was knit swatches and socks in Columbus. Plus lots of ripping! Anyway, swatches above are as follows: left and center, staggered drop stitch pattern- I thought this looked really cool and would make a beautiful scarf or stole. Of course I began knitting said scarf the very next day out of my pink experimental yarn, but decided to rip it out after all. It wasn't what I wanted for that yarn in the end. Then, on the right, a little mitred square. It's from a sweater inspired by the children's fairy tale "The Fir Tree"...so if you look again you can see it has a little tree trunk that starts at the bottom of the square.

I love Marianne's idea of using one inspiration for a series of designs, also the small project that links to a larger one. I came away with tons of ideas for my own knitting, walking away with my head buzzing. And that with very little caffeine!!!

columbus, uh oh

2009-06-18T13:45:00.006-04:00

Hello!

It's been a long time since my last post, and I offer my apologies. I was away in Columbus, Ohio for The National Needlework Association Trade Show and Conference- it was a very exciting opportunity to see all the designers' and distributors' new displays. I also got all kinds of new ideas in classes from Cat Bordhi, Marianne Isager, and the Ravelry team.

The best part about going on a trip is planning your knitting...but even better is when you're going on a trip FOR knitting. I was feeling a little discouraged by my knitting before I left, but luckily that all changed while I was there. Being surrounded by knitters always helps me overcome knitter's block! Shown above is new Trekking sock yarn that arrived at Needlework Unlimited just before the show...we couldn't wait to see what the yarn looked like knitted up and I was happy to oblige! The consensus is that it's sort of animal print looking, I think it's kind of like snakeskin. It's another unusual color combination- pink, brown, and chartreuse/yellow. It's very cool in person. I had conveniently just had a sock class with Cat Bordhi and am using her amazing heel turn that completely trounces my former short row heel.

stay awake to break the habit

2009-06-11T00:00:00.001-04:00

It has been a bad knitting week. My Berroco scarf/shawl (We Rarely Practice Discern) was finished last week, holding my attention right on through the not-so-bitter end (which even included crocheting bobbles ALL the way around- and I am a bad, bad crocheter). Rarely do I enjoy a knitting project so thoroughly; though the scarf is very lovely, I've thought about it and I don't think it was just the design that kept me so satisfied. I suspect I've become overwhelmed and needed to knit without purpose or design for a while. Think: meditative knitting, repetitive knitting, mindless knitting. Rectangular scarf? Perfect.

But now, on the eve of my departure to probably the biggest knitting event of my year, I have nothing to knit. Nothing! HELP! I will be at the TNNA trade show in Columbus, Ohio for five days with Needlework Unlimited. If this doesn't provide necessary inspiration, there's no help for me and I'll announce my retirement on Tuesday. A couple days ago, in a zombie-like state, I dug through my stash to find something, anything (muttering "must...have...knitting" to myself). Out of desperation, I coupled a long-stashed yarn (Blue Heron yarns' Metallic Rayon) with a cute pattern (Frock Camisole from Knitting Daily/Interweave Press). I really should have known better than to try and alter patterns in my mind-numbed state, but no, I had opinions and I had changes to be made! It was a rough start- I couldn't come up with a correct stitch count no matter how many times I tried, as a result the stitch markers were never in the right location. After much sighing and gnashing of teeth, I think they're finally right. (Note: this should not have been hard to do.)

I still can't tell you how many stitches are on that needle, my fear is that this will become a remarkably silly (and embarrassing) endeavor. My pathetic attempts at math are out of sight and on the bottom of the coaster in the previous post, next to the Loch Ness Monster. The only good decision in all of this: turning the math coaster over and placing a cup of coffee on it instead. Then all was right with the world.

you should know know know

2009-06-08T13:32:00.002-04:00

Monday's knitting quiz: what is this a knitted depiction of? Correct answer gets a prize. I promise.

*No fair if I've already told you! I know who you are and your vote won't count.

waging wars to shake the poet and the beat

2009-06-05T12:52:00.003-04:00

In lieu of actual content, I offer you photographs of yarn.

This yarn was purchased with the intention of making a short scarf that tucks through itself, sort of like this. (Actually, that picture is really cute.) So...I began knitting and it turned out to be nothing close to what I had imagined. I've now ripped the whole thing out. Meh. With the colors in this yarn it's just asking to be made into something leaf-inspired, but I just haven't arrived at the right design for it yet. I'm having knitter's block.

come on get higher

2009-06-03T12:50:00.005-04:00

Here is my mysterious project that was to combine two very dissimilar yarns: a silk DK (Louisa Harding Grace Hand Dyes) with super chunky wool (Colinette Point 5). I had planned to knit the silk at a very loose gauge and use the wool intermittently, then stretch the whole thing over a painted canvas. Well...I started knitting and was happy; I painted the canvas and was REALLY happy; then I tried to put the two together and it was just too much. The parts were so much better than the whole, so I'm scrapping the thing temporarily at least. I'm totally okay with it, though- I have yarn I can use for another project and I have a sweet canvas to hang on my wall. Another win-win.

People tell me all the time that they're not creative, that they're not good at mixing colors...the truth is, I don't think of myself as being particularly remarkable with the whole thing either. One of the best lessons I ever learned in knitting was that there are no rules. Hear that? NO RULES. I mean, there are guidelines (sort of like the pirate's rules, for those of you who like Pirates of the Caribbean). My thinking is that you should know "rules" (regarding gauge, needle sizing, fiber behavior) so that you know how to break them properly; or if not to break them exactly, at least where to bend them. Instead of saying no to a combination that you THINK would be bad, why not try it? That's how I arrived at my acid green/cerulean/violet combination above...and it works. Not everyone might like it and that's okay, just as long as you're not prohibiting yourself from taking chances that could make you happy.

That all being said, I'm going to go find a cup of coffee and a new knitting project. And if that means combining ridiculous colors and/or paint, all the better. You can chalk this whole post up to caffeine in my bloodstream if it helps too!

don't wanna dream if it won't come true

2009-05-31T00:00:00.012-04:00

The economy is bad. Waste not, want not, right? What happens when you want to a) support your local yarn store and b) need to use up a spare bottle of hair dye? A step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Shopping. I bought one hank of Plymouth Yarn's "Dye For Me"...a lovely alpaca/wool/nylon fingering weight yarn. I had planned on buying sock yarn from Skacel (also undyed, but similar to your average commercial sock yarn in composition) but then I saw this. I love Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine, and although this is spun a little differently, it is, compositionally, very similar...and with 477 yards per skein, I have some flexibility as to what I want to make.

Step 1.5: Continue shopping. I stopped at the grocery on the way home, and much to my delight they sell a "Value Vinegar" for only 56 cents! I don't know if you can see the price tag, but I think that is the single cheapest item I have ever purchased at a grocery store. Score! Probably not the best vinegar for cooking...but for my purposes it'll do just fine.

Step 2: Frighten your friends and roommate. I soaked the yarn in a 25% vinegar solution overnight. I had also happened to make bread dough earlier in the evening and was waiting for it to rise...so pictured above are the two of the most disgusting looking tupperware containers I could possibly have in my kitchen. They also smelled a little: yeast + vinegar = a bad combination. I guess it could have been worse; the weather was nice, I opened the windows and we survived.

Step 3: A dream deferred. I had purchased this pink hair dye in hopes of getting a few pink streaks put in...but alas, when you work at a job with dress code rules (meaning "no unnatural hair colors"), sometimes you have to postpone your dreams. Which means: when I give my 2-week notice, I'm scheduling myself for a hair appointment pronto. But for now, why waste that pink hair dye? I slathered it all over my new yarn and microwaved it! What was the worst that could happen?

Step 5: What have you learned? I have to say I was disappointed with the result (at first). I decided to rinse the yarn (based on directions from the dye bottle), and I'm glad I did...nearly ALL the color came out! I thought heat-setting it for 5 minutes in the microwave would make the yarn absorb a lot more color. I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed...and came away with a petal-pink, feminine, fluffy alpaca that is rapidly gaining my affection. Now I have to admire it every time I walk past, and I'm already mulling over its ideal application. I guess I'm not really a candidate for beauty school, but knitting I've SO got down.

urban landscape

2009-05-28T13:25:00.008-04:00

Half gloves are so useful: whether it's for biking, climbing chain-link fences, urban adventures, rural adventures, cool weather when mittens or full gloves would be too warm...

In short (like the fingers), these gloves are practical above all else. And pretty sweet.

You might recognize these socks as well...

my favorite words were the ones i couldn't spell

2009-05-24T14:20:00.005-04:00

One of my favorite things about knitting is the way you can use color: whether it's through fair isle patterning, combining novel colors, or beautiful hand-dyed yarns. Inevitably I was drawn to experiment with dyes myself...and by using Wilton Cake Icing Dye, I was able to create a few colorways of my own. I used single skeins of Kraemer Yarns' Jeannie, a wool/nylon sock-weight yarn that could be ordered au natural. These turned out pretty bright (especially the neon green one, I was limited by the colors I could mix with an introductory dye pack), but they're still quite attractive. At least...I think so! Sock yarn is a pretty safe way to experiment because you can get a whole pair out of a single skein. I knit a lot of socks (who doesn't?) and thus this is a win-win situation.

The other nice thing was that having all this sock yarn (and the need for knitted samples so I could show classes what their dye work would look like) forced me to knit lots of pairs of socks. In so doing, I discovered many details that comprise my ideal sock. No two pairs are alike, but by the third pair I was thoroughly satisfied with the design. Factors included length of cuff, ribbing placement on top of foot, toe shaping, heel method, etc. I'm just a little OCD.

Pictured here is my fearless photography supervisor...concentrating as any serious artist should. Most of the photos on this blog are my own, but in the coming days and weeks you'll see more of his photos posted. If you like biking- should I say cycling- check Cyclist 17's photo blog to see what landscapes via bike look like. He's just humoring me by helping with the yarn thing!

by all counts, a festive occasion

2009-05-20T22:58:00.000-04:00

My father's birthday sweater, modeled by the recipient himself...on his birthday! The picnic table is also handmade, homemade. Except, well, I didn't make it so I can't take credit for it at all. I can still say it's pretty cool and that we had a delicious birthday dinner served upon it, though. The sweater was perfectly appropriate, especially considering the weather on Sunday- it was cold! So we built a fire and cooked out, plus Dad got to wear the sweater and not be too hot.

It's amazing how quickly knitting gets done when you put yourself (or myself, as this case would be) on a deadline; by limiting myself to this one, singular project for a week, I got an unfinished project out of my closet and my Dad got a sweater that looks great on him and fits well. I still can't say enough about Pure and Simple patterns. Big, big fan.

I also have to thank, again, all my Kniterary Club attendees. You guys are fabulous. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to meet everyone and share ideas; I'm sure we will meet again and I can't wait to see what everybody will be working on. I really couldn't come up with ideas without inspiration from knitters around me! So, although the group itself is on hold for a while, I still feel like Sunday was a great day to celebrate birthdays, new friends, knitting, and spring. (That of course means sparklers.)

the first 100 days

2009-05-18T09:25:00.000-04:00

If you remember, this scarf was featured on my very first post. I wrote a little about the knitting and techniques that went into its design, but it's extremely difficult to photograph properly because it's so long! Finally, pictures that show the entire scarf.

I know the Obama-mania has died down some, and I also realize the dangers in knitting a dated object. However, I wanted to knit something to commemorate the historic election and an administration I was legitimately excited about. (For anyone who doesn't agree with my politics, it's still a pretty cool scarf and I don't mean to offend anyone.)

As far as knitting goes, this is knit double (meaning both sides at once), and the scarf is totally reversible. I used worsted-weight wool, combining Plymouth Galway and Cascade 220 to get the right colors. I charted the entire thing out before I started knitting, thinking that, in doing so, I would reduce the opportunity for error. Well...no...designing is inherently frustrating, but I would not wish this chart on anybody. Knitting the design on one side was hard enough, but reversing it on the other side at the same time was just ridiculous. I don't know if I would wish this upon anybody! But you bet I'll be wearing it no matter what year...if only because it's one of my proudest knitting acheivements...but I really hope it will be to show continued support of our administration. I still think that yes, we can.

test of endurance

2009-05-15T16:52:00.000-04:00

It's done! The sweater is done.

I did it with three days to spare, I am ecstatic that I can move on to the many projects that I've been thinking about (whilst knitting this sweater grudgingly and wishing I could be knitting any number of them instead).

Just wait till Sunday when I actually have time to start these projects in earnest- the combination of new knitting and coffee equals euphoria.

a sad announcement

2009-05-13T09:42:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a great couple of weeks for the Kniterary Club group...we've been meeting since March 1st at Old Village Yarn Shop. Sadly, this weekend (May 17th) will be our final gathering. Of course, my blog will go on...as will the concept and practice of Kniterary Club. It might relocate, recalibrate, re-think knitting and art, but there will always be large quantities of amazing yarn and always, always there will be coffee.

Above is a picture from May 3rd's Kniterary Club. I had received a request for a group project, so I came up with the idea to knit nametags! We all graphed our ideas and then used scrap yarns to knit them. I am always astonished to see how different people react to the challenge and how they realize their ideas. (It's also my philosophy that nothing can go wrong when you have a 50-pack of Crayola markers to share, either.)

See everybody on Sunday. Let's knit.

we rarely practice discern

2009-05-11T10:49:00.001-04:00

It was so pretty I couldn't help myself. Several weeks I've been admiring this yarn (Berroco's Mica, of previous omg-gushing post), and finally I have my hands on lots of it. This time it's the creamy off-white color, shown here gleaming in the morning sun. My love affair for this yarn is so bad that I walk by and pick it up, admire it, marvel at it, then set it down and walk away dreaming of all the things I could knit with it. Since I'm trying so so hard to be good and knit only one thing at a time, I put this away in my closet to knit later.

As Annie said this weekend, "Caitlin, you called yourself out!" on the sweater below...it's only just begun...I have resolved to finish ALL the projects I have lying around. This is partially because they just need to get done and partially because I'm OCD and want half-finished knitting projects gone. This doesn't apply to current, active projects...just projects that I've stuffed away in my closet, in baskets, et cetera.

So far the sweater challenge is progressing: sleeve #1 is done, collar is done, sleeve #2 = 3" knitted, buttons purchased. 6 days.

hey, look! an unfinished project.

2009-05-08T00:53:00.001-04:00

Look what I found!

Yeah, it's a mostly-finished sweater that really had no business sitting around as long as it did. I started this, like, two years ago now? That means I've packed this sweater up and moved it twice. This is unacceptable, and here's why (oddly enough, these are the same reasons it was never actually finished): it's easy to knit, all stockinette; it's a gift and SHOULD have been done within a reasonable time frame; and I'm not changing anything in the pattern, not a single thing! Wtf, right? Sometimes I really puzzle myself.

Here's the challenge: get this done by May 17th. 10 days!

Yarn used is Samoa, a half acrylic, half cotton blend by Muench Yarns. Normally I don't enjoy knitting with cotton, it just doesn't feel as nice as wool, alpaca, llama, etc. I feel my hands and arms getting more tired when I knit with it. The pattern is Pure and Simple's Neckdown Henley, as always P&S delivers a simple, user-friendly pattern that yields a very wearable garment (I don't mean that in the bland way that it sounds...P&S just provides great patterns for wardrobe basics, so even if you're a beginner you'll end up with a great sweater that you'll wear instead of hiding it away in your closet).

Wish me luck as I alternately drag my feet and knit furiously for the next few days.

feliz cinco de mayo!

2009-05-05T09:40:00.001-04:00

Here are a couple leaves that I knit up the other day...since these two I've knit at least five more. It's easy to knit one up in just a few minutes and there's something so pleasing about them, I can't stop myself from chain-knitting leaves. This raised the inevitable question from my friends and knitting cohorts- "what are you going to do with all those?" It's a perfectly valid question since I often knit things just because I can without having an application for such things.

The yarn I used is Berroco's Ultra Alpaca Fine, which is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It's a fingering weight alpaca/wool/nylon blend, nice enough to use in larger projects but still fantastic for socks. This yarn is a steal, too- it's only $10!

So what am I going to do with my fantastic alpaca leaves? Well, it's a surprise...but...it's going to involve the yarn pictured above. The brown is fair trade Eco Cotton from Debbie Bliss, the mustard color is Mulberry Silk by Louisa Harding. And those buttons...I have a weakness for buttons. They're going to be involved for sure.

moving along

2009-04-30T11:26:00.000-04:00

Finally, pink socks are done!

So now we say goodbye to April as well as the now-familiar sight of my perfectly-heeled, pink, striped socks. Sigh of relief.

Spring always holds endless possibilities; I'm looking forward to big plans and crazy ideas for the immediate future.

Thank you to everyone who reads this, and especially all the ladies who attend Kniterary Club, you guys are fantastic. See you Sunday! (Don't forget your homework...)

is...that...a ziploc bag? can i have it?

2009-04-28T10:26:00.000-04:00

This is what my knitting workspace looked like BEFORE I organized everything into miracle Ziplocs.

I mean, because really...without Post-It notes and Ziploc bags, I would not be able to function as a knitter. I would also be forced to class up and organize my knitting system, and we know that that just can't happen. Clearly.

But more importantly: KNITERARY CLUB HOMEWORK. At Annie's request, I have an activity planned. Plus this week we'll have a guest of honor, so everybody will have to be on their best behavior! Your homework is this: bring some needles and a couple colors of scrap yarn. You won't need very much. Also, if anybody has colored pencils, crayons, markers, or the like- please bring those as well.

i see the strings that control the system

2009-04-27T00:07:00.000-04:00

Spring finally feels like it's really, really here. I have my window open- and will leave it open- all night for the first time yet this year. With the arrival of spring, I have sprung into about a dozen half-thought-out, new projects. One of these will feature the above yarn: this traveled to me from Ireland (a previous post featured genuine Irish aran yarn, this is from the same trip). It's Colinette Point 5, a hand-dyed chunky wool. The colors are stunning, this picture doesn't do them justice...since there's a relatively small amount of yardage per skein, I will be combining it with the yarn shown below:

This is another hand-dyed yarn, Louisa Harding's Grace. It's half silk and half wool, I've had my eye on this color ever since our first Kniterary Club meeting (the yarn itself I have loved dearly since it debuted). It was such a strange color that I was at a loss to find an appropriate project...besides, variegated yarns always pose more of a challenge by nature. The combination of these two yarns will be epic- either an epic failure (and expensive, and sad) or an epic success.

Springtime + coffee = higher likelihood of ridiculous knitting projects. Isn't it great???

this has never happened to me

2009-04-21T11:00:00.000-04:00

A few things are taken for granted in my life. One is that I can usually find a way to appreciate any yarn. I mean this, too...for me, there is a purpose for all yarn (even Red Heart, yes, Red Heart). Sock yarn, especially- I mean, how can you go wrong with a pair of socks? Socks are usually the outlet for my crazy-colored-yarn fetish- it is less realistic to knit an entire sweater out of loud, self-striping yarn than it is to knit a pair of bright socks to warm up your feet in January winters.

That said: this yarn is ugly.

I just can't get over it, so I'm going to set them aside for a while. I have pink socks to work on anyway...plus, I'm falling into my rut of knitting socks instead of coming up with my own ideas or finishing larger projects that I have on the needles. It's a problem. Thoughts? Maybe I'm overreacting.

operation OCD

2009-04-17T10:35:00.000-04:00

Recently, a coworker asked if I could finish an aran sweater she'd had sitting around for months. Of course I said yes...and here it is, partially assembled. The sweater is a little unusual because it has saddle shoulders, but I figured it out pretty easily. After all, it is my job! Now I'm well into the collar knitting and then the rest of it should go pretty fast (just side seams and tacking down the collar...oh, and all those ends). As the owner of 5 partially finished sweaters, I completely sympathize with the "let somebody else finish this" mentality. Sometimes you just can't look at them anymore. (Especially if the project was arduous and/or annoying, the last bit of work can be torture.)

I'm keeping track of the time it takes me to get this done, so far sewing the shoulders and knitting the collar (halfway) has taken just over an hour and a half. The bad part is that I get far more anxious about working on other people's knitting projects than I do my own. I normally have a pretty cavalier attitude towards my knitting (a post regarding this to follow), but when it belongs to somebody else I get very afraid that something will go wrong. Unlike many things in my life, I am absolutely convinced that I am capable when it comes to knitting; however, finishing work catapults me into an entirely different level of OCD and I want it all to be perfect. Thus I spend lots and lots of time examining all my work to make sure it looks right. Wish me luck- so far, so good.

innovative solutions only get you so far

2009-04-14T12:37:00.000-04:00

I'm back to socks. Whenever I'm at a creative loss, I fall back on socks because knitted socks are just so amazing. Well, this pattern intrigued me and it was free on the Interweave sock page. (William Street Socks.) Plus I seemed to remember having two skeins of this Arucania Atacama in my closet. So...I fished a skein out and set off on socks. A few posts ago I was all pleased with myself because I had started from the toe up (and I remain as such)...but now, I am faced with several problems.

For starters, two skeins was never going to be enough to complete two full socks. I realized this pretty early on and was okay with the fact that the pattern would require further modification. Well then I get up to the ankle and realize there is NOT another skein!!!! This was very frustrating. I set the sock aside (punishment, you see) and came back to it several days later...then I added an i-cord bind off and the sock became a slipper!

Still, I'm very pleased with my adaptation. Lots of comments regarding this sock were concerned with the fact that the cabling on top is so bulky...I totally agree. These are definitely meant to be house socks.

This still does not remedy the fact that I have one sock and no materials with which to complete another. Hmm.

i'm such a heel

2009-04-13T12:16:00.000-04:00

This photo is SO EXCITING. I have been striving to achieve the perfect sock heel for as long as I've been knitting socks and this is the closest I've come yet!!! It's a short-row heel, which means there's no heel flap/picking up stitches to contend with. Unlike other short row heels I've tried, this doesn't leave holes from where you've turned the work. It's a snug fit as far as heels go, but since the sock is for me it'll work. I could easily modify it to accomodate a larger foot. AND this is great because it would be really easy to have a contrast heel that is aesthetically pleasing (meaning a nice wedge shape). With this design, it will also be much easier to replace the heel if it were ever to wear out. Oh, I am just so happy!

The heel featured above is from a free pattern that you can download here. Look for William Street Socks. Although the socks in the pattern are worked from the toe upwards, the heel is totally reversible and can be inserted into a sock regardless of the direction of knitting. A. Mazing.

springtime randomness and inability to focus

2009-04-09T13:45:00.000-04:00

I began knitting another sock...I know, I shouldn't, but I can't help myself. Unlike the ill-fated yellow socks and purple cabled socks, these show great promise and not once have I been tempted to rip them out. Admire the colors? Yes. They're so cool I almost regret spring's arrival...no, that's not true. Not even knitting could top my enthusiasm when you swap this:

For this (first dandelions of the year!!!):

So then I made a pie, mostly because I could. And since it took away time that I should and/or could have spent knitting, I've decided to include it. (FYI, for what it lacks in beauty it made up for in deliciousness. Kind of like squirrels. Although those of you who know me know I wouldn't eat squirrels anyway, no matter what the cuteness vs. deliciousness ratio would be.)

my hobby: artistic photos of knitting

2009-04-06T12:15:00.000-04:00

Here's the insert for the front of my sweater-vest! The colors worked out really well. Not much else to say knitting-wise today, I've set this project aside for a few days to knit socks so progress has been slow. Kniterary Club on Sunday was a lot of fun, we'll take a break for Easter next week but will return for knitting and mischief in general on April 19th! (For Easter, I plan on eating about a pound of jelly beans. And a chocolate bunny.)

this post sponsored by the letters O, M, and G

2009-04-03T10:12:00.000-04:00

Okay so I don't normally do this. But I found a new yarn that I love (I love it!) and I just can't keep it quiet anymore. It's Berroco's new yarn, Mica, which is a blend of silk, cotton, linen, and rayon. It gleams a little in the light, knits up nice and smooth, and is priced just right (only $8). Go out and buy some! Seriously! Or I will beat you to it.

I only have one partial skein because I bought it as an element for my waterfall vest. Since then I have been fantasizing about every possible application for more of it. Berroco offers some lovely pattern advice (some free) right here. I'm going to move on and stop gushing.....now.

But quickly...another funny comment about knitting goods. I usually knit in the round on Addi Turbo circulars, but I sprang for some Lantern Moon rosewood sock needles last year. They are very nice, smooth to knit with, etc etc, everything you'd expect from rosewood. Except they smell funny! It's kind of gross. Just FYI.

Anyway, it's a nice rainy day here in Michigan and this fosters great knitting/nesting instincts.

happy april 1st!

2009-04-01T11:50:00.000-04:00

It's been a frustrating week for knitting. I think that largely this is self-doubt or lack of confidence in my current projects, but this has definitely been a week of ripping everything apart. Starting with my newest acquisition: this super-bright sock yarn. Like all knitters, I am susceptible to buying random skeins of pretty sock yarn. You can always validate it by saying "oh, it's just one skein and it'll make a whole pair of socks!" while completely ignoring the reality of the situation: you will NEVER knit all the skeins you have stashed away. Never.

Anyway, I began knitting my new socks immediately. I had no business doing this, I just wanted something different to knit. Then I didn't like the pattern I was using. I didn't like anything about it. So I ripped it out and am back to the drawing board! In fact, I have exiled the ball of yarn to my closet for a while in an attempt to be reasonable and knit only what I have started already.

Well that worked for about five minutes. (Apparently I'm chronically dissatisfied AND suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder, no offense intended towards anybody. I blame coffee. Coffee? Where?) I began yet another pair of socks! This time I followed a pattern (available for free at Interweave Knits' website, look for William Street Socks) because I just needed somebody to tell me what to do. My mind clearly wasn't working on its own. Now I'm wondering if I screwed up the cables or if they're supposed to look like that, so I'm forcing myself to keep knitting and to stop being a perfectionist/doubting. However, I am feeling quite smug that I learned how to start a sock from the toe up. It's pretty freaking sweet.

Yarns shown: yellow is ONline Supersocke 100, purple is Arucania Atacama...which was a huge flop retail-wise but which I still really love. I don't know what that says about my taste...haha.

coffee + knitting =

2009-03-26T17:53:00.000-04:00

Haven't had a coffee-fueled idea in a while, but caffeine makes my brain whir at frequencies even I can't begin to comprehend. For some reason I was thinking about color wheels, and I cross-reference every thought I have with knitting. (You see where this is going, right?) A knitted color wheel!!! How sweet would that be?!

Also, would it be weird to request a 19th-century treatise on colour by Goethe from my local library? At least it would be translated from German. And it's 1400 pages long...

pretty baby sweater

2009-03-26T09:33:00.000-04:00

Here's the second baby sweater! I'm very pleased with it, finally...let me tell you, this sweater got more angst put into its design than was really necessary. It all started with me thinking I was all clever and could figure out any edging after the fact, so I just knit the basic sweater without any button bands, collar, etc. I thought it would be easy to pick out a contrast edging and knit something cute. At KNITERARY CLUB we tried (I swear) every single color edging, every single possible button...nothing looked good. And I mean nothing.

I left that day with a plan: I was going to knit a ruffle using a periwinkle contrast, then use orange buttons. (See below.) Seems like an okay idea, right? Well...if you edge the entire sweater in a ruffle it will look like a clown suit. I ripped out the ruffle edge and tried to knit a ribbed cuff...it looked so retro and so awful. So it was back to the drawing board. (I even got angry at the sweater for a couple days and stuffed it in my knitting bag and couldn't look at it.)

But then I was inspired, and came up with what I still credit as a genius idea: minimal edging (just one row of single crochet around the collar and down the front), and a cute flower sewn into the center with one button as the closure. And that was the winning idea!

speechless

2009-03-22T21:38:00.000-04:00

SHEEP.

Go here. Now.

OMG.

kc update #3

2009-03-19T09:44:00.000-04:00

Carrying on my theme of inspired knitting, the KNITERARY CLUB members brought pictures that they found interesting. We went around the store and selected yarns that we thought could be used to re-create the pictures. It was great fun, and look at some of the different colorways we picked out! One is a postcard with a Russian artist's painting on it, the other is a jewelry ad from a magazine. Two of us brought the free Eunny Jang pattern from Knitting Daily as a possible project for our color combinations! How funny is that?

further down the rabbit hole

2009-03-16T21:11:00.001-04:00

If you've come here for the answer, you'll have to wait...come see on Sunday.

knitting 911

2009-03-15T09:26:00.000-04:00

This is the first pair of socks I knit, ever. They were for my brother, and he's pretty hard on knit goods...which isn't a bad thing, that means he uses them...but it also means fixing some pretty interesting problems.

Since I knit these so long ago, I didn't have any more of the original yarn (worsted-weight self-striping wool). Since they're weird looking socks anyway, I figured why not fix them with even more bizarre colors? Okay, purple.

The fixing itself was a little tricky, I don't have a lot of experience with knitting repair; they came out okay and for now there will be no more unraveling! I did happen to have some DK weight yarn in the same color stashed away, so a new pair of socks is forthcoming. Votes on what the heel color should be?

thought process --> wait, what?

2009-03-14T14:17:00.000-04:00

Late it may be, but here is last week's KNITERARY CLUB update! I brought in a picture of a waterfall (see here) and wanted to combine yarns that were inspired by the colors and luminescence of the water. It was a group process, but we narrowed a large field of choices down to a very beautiful combination. Tomorrow at our meeting we'll all bring something- anything- that inspires us and play around with yarns that relate to that picture, object, literary passage, etc.

This has been a long time coming, but my Quail Purse is done! I am so happy with the result. Probably the rest of the world thinks I'm insane and/or that it's bizarre...but it's a good size to carry around and I succeeded in lining it! Sewing machine vs. Caitlin...1-1. Enjoy the beautiful weather and please, come knit tomorrow!

what would carrie bradshaw knit?

2009-03-09T09:03:00.000-04:00

My newest silly creation is a little wrist corsage inspired by Sex and the City; I love that show almost as much as Sarah Jessica Parker's character loves shoes! At one point, Carrie Bradshaw starts wearing corsages everywhere and with everything. I haven't figured out which season it is (it's about time to re-watch all the episodes again), but I wanted to imitate the idea. The flowers are crocheted and the wristband is knitted. I have to say that, as a knitter who resisted crochet for many, many years...I was being ridiculous. Knitters, go out and learn crochet! (And vice versa.)

This I included simply because it's funny- normally my OCD self wouldn't anything exist in such a state of chaos, but when I'm excited about knitting I just surround myself with all the yarn pertaining to my current projects (current meaning anything I'm thinking about, whether it's started yet or not).

Exciting: IKEA now sells mini versions of their shopping bags and they're perfect for holding knitting. Bonus: they're indestructible and only cost fifty cents.

tah-dah!

2009-03-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

So our first meeting of KNITERARY CLUB was last Sunday and we're meeting again this weekend (you should come, it's at Old Village Yarn Shop in Plymouth). We talked a little about basic knitting skills you should have/know and books that are helpful to have if you're a self-taught and/or adventurous knitter. My favorites are The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and both the Knitter's and Crocheter's Companion. I just think it's really important to have a go-to reference so that when (as inevitably happens) you're stuck on something at midnight and can't ask for help...you have something to turn to. After that, we knitted and talked about...knitting! I started playing around with Louisa Harding's yarns (sooooo pretty, all of them) and embarked on my newest design:

This is knit using Louisa Harding's Thalia...a really cool wool/acrylic ribbon with a tiny hint of metallic thread. I began randomly alternating between garter stitch and stockinette...which worked until I got halfway through and realized that I only wanted it to be MOSTLY random but mirror itself from the halfway point...which, naturally, I hadn't written down! So that was annoying. But I knit obsessively for basically a whole afternoon/evening and it was done the next day!

If you want to know where I got the idea...I reluctantly admit that I watch MTV while knitting and was fascinated with a neckwarmer that Chris Brown wore in his video for "Head of My Class". Plus those kids are amazing dancers.

this is the inane part

2009-03-05T16:24:00.000-05:00

So last night I had a dream that Knitty posted their new spring issue and I woke up really excited...until I realized it wasn't true. How sad.......on so many levels.