Knitty Gritty Thoughts

Happy Blogiversary!

I was going to talk about my progress on Ene today and then I just realized it's my blogiversary and I almost missed it!  It's been 3 years blogging already!  I don't even know how that's possible, where does the time go???

This past year I've been very lucky- I've "met" all sorts of wonderful knitters online and dearly enjoyed connecting with all of you!  I even finally got to meet a few of you in person!  I've also stretched my knitting skills, and even learned how to spin!  I even recently hosted my first knitalong!  I'm excited to see what the next year will bring!

So, in honor of my blogiversary I'm having a contest!  (What's a blogiversary without a fun contest!? =)) Leave a comment and tell me what you'd like to learn or improve on knitting wise the next year.  Do you want to learn how to do lace or socks or fair isle?  Have you been wanting to spin or make your first sweater?

I'll pick a commenter by random number generator, that person will get a sock-set with a skein of Colinette Jitterbug (the sock yarn that many of you were interested in last week) and a special hand-crafted by me sock project bag to go with it!  I'll make one for you based on your color/sock knitting preferences (DPNs or Circs), the one in the picture is just an example.

I'll leave this up here the rest of the week so the contest/comments close on Saturday at 8am EST.

Cheers and thanks again!  Here's to many more blogiversary's! =)
Keri

Stitches East??

A very random bit of circumstances will be placing me in VA for work around the time of Stitches East and I'm going to try to make it up there.  It's been years since I've been to a Stitches event, the last one was Stitches West.  Is anyone else going???  Wanna meet up??  Inquiring minds want to know! =)

(Real post coming soon, thanks for all your lovely comments on the smoke ring! =))

Smoke Ring - Finished!

Smoke Ring
Knit Time : two weeks
Needles: US 5 16" circular from knitpicks
Pattern by Susan, you can buy it here, but I bought it as a kit of the month, here.
Yarn: Hand-dyed zephyr in mourning dove.
If you want to see it on ravelry and my zillions of pictures, click here
Want more info?  My only other post on the smoke ring is here

Project Notes:  This pattern was well written and easy to follow, and I would highly recommend it if you're on the fence about it.  I'm not a big fan of the dropped stitch base, it's beautiful on the mannequin but not as beautiful on me so I think I might rip it out and put a simple edging on.  Also, many people have asked me how you wear something like this, well I tried to show you wearing it up (...and felt a little silly, there were many NOT flattering pics and it was hard to even find one to post.  *sigh* the things I do for you guys! =)) and down but for wearing this out in public I would definitely wear it down, like a cowl.  It's quite lightweight and warm and the colors are lovely.


Please excuse the bathroom photos - it's all I can do nowadays.

Here are some nupp tips for Leah who's been waiting for me to figure it all out for here before she proceeds on this project ;)  This was my first time doing nupps and I struggled at first.  I asked for some tips and besides the great one ("Don't do them!" =)) there are lots of other good tips in the comments if you find you must do them.

Here's a summary, hope they help! -

1)   The best way that worked for me was when I am forming the nupps I  pinch the base of the stitch that I am increasing into so that it won't tighten up.  The reason nupps are so difficult to knit into is because every time you increase it's pulling the stitch tighter and tighter.  If you alleviate it by pinching the stitch so it can't tighten this makes it much easier to knit back together on the next round.

2)  On rounds where you do this and it's still too tight I recommend slipping all the stitches to the right needle and back again, stretching them gently and loosening them as you go.

3)  Many people suggest using a crochet hook to push the stitches over (I didn't try this but I bet it would work)

Did I miss any other good ones?

Needle Review + Ene

I finally got to try the Harmony needles out on my current lace project and I have to say I like them.  I should say first of all that I think that as a knitter you are typically a metal or a wooden needle type of person.  I often find people gravitate towards one or the other as a matter of preference as their skills and projects evolve. 

In all fair disclosure- I am a metal needle knitter.  However, I have to say I wish knitpicks had some out with these earlier in my knitting career, the point and the joins are quite nice and they are very lightweight.  There is a bit of drag on the needle and the yarn which is to be expected because of the material. 

I compared it with my current needle on a lace project - both are US 6, on the right is an Inox and the left is the Harmony.  Can you see the difference in tips?  The harmony's are a bit more shapelier and make it easier to do lace gymnastics.  Ktog - easy!  SK2P - peasy!

I think if you like the feel of wooden needles in your hands you will like the harmony's.  I only found the varied, vibrant colors moderately distracting.  These would be great needles for those who do like a bit more grab when they're knitting lace (hands-down the best points on wooden needles I've seen so far except for the high-priced ebony's and the addi wooden ones which are pricey)  I was asking Marina what type of needles she uses to knit her gorgeous and awe-inspiring fair isle designs and she said she preferred wood so I think these needles would be great for FI and stranded designs as well, I plan to give them a try on my next stranded mitten knitting project.

So you might be wondering just how much a metal needle knitter I am?  I took a picture of my current circular needle storage method, a 1.29 plastic blue tub that I store all my needles in by size, smallest to largest and sub-sorted by length.  Very handy, I've tried a lot of methods but this works the best for me so far.  Isn't that a lot of needles?  Yeesh - looking at it makes me cringe a bit! =)  You'll notice it's mostly Addi's and Inox's with a few random others thrown in.

And you may have wondered what that gorgeous blue blob was?  It's Ene!  I started it on my trip and I love it!  The yarn is from Knitting Notions, it's kettle dyed yarn in azure, on size 6 needles.  I love the color, it's gorgeous!  I had a hard time capturing the vibrant shade of turquoise-y blue, it makes me feel like I'm swimming in the Caribbean.

Now where's my margarita??? =)  Happy Friday!

They're here! New Knitpicks!

The new knitpicks harmony needles are here!  They just arrived in my mailbox a few minutes ago and I wanted to share pics!  Have you heard of them?  They are a new line of wooden needles from knitpicks that interfaces with their existing options line.

I haven't knit with them yet, but I'll swatch up something and let you know how it goes.  My first impression?  They are lightweight, pointy, very smooth and the colors aren't garish or overpowering at all.  I think they'll do nicely!

And in other news I finished up a pair of plain vanilla socks with colinette jitterbug.  These were knit on 2.5mm over 64 sts and were my travel sock project this past summer.  I like them, they're very soft and the jitterbug is squishy and nice to knit with.  My two knit picks with this yarn are 1)  It's thicker than I expected so I really should have gone up a needle size but I didn't' have bigger needles on me and 2)  These skeins are very low yardage, for my size 10 feet I had to rip out back to the legs twice to get enough yardage to finish them up, just barely.  Overall, great yarn to knit with though and the colors rock!

-Saved by the.... Jenn!-

Remember last we saw my gorgeous fiber it had been eated and chewed up by my dogs??  Well lo and behold a little package surprised me in the mail on Saturday!  I opened it up and found this---

More fiber!  Isn't it gorgeous???  But where did it come from??? =)

Jenn did something so awe inspiringly thoughtful, I'm speechless.  Literally Speechless.  She heard of my plight and emailed miss Funky C herself asking her for more of the fiber so I could finish my project!  Carrie (Funky C) had only a few ounces left from the club, that was in her own personal fiber collection but she very generously gave it up to me so I could finish my project!  Jenn bought it for me and had it sent to me so I could finish!  Wowsa, thank you so much Jenn, and Carrie! (Jenn does make gorgeous stitch markers if you're in the market!);)  Now I'm really feeling the pressure to get this fiber spun up and knit into some really amazing mitts.

In fact I finished the first bobbin last night!

I turned my attention to my other fingerless mitt project on Thurs and Friday - my Orchid Mitts!  I made some progress, I did some initial swatching on 2.5mm and 3.0mm because I don't have 2.75's in my collection for magic loop.  I was a little wishy-washy on which needle size to use because gauge-wise they were both pretty close on.  But after I washed it and blocked it I decided to go with the 2.5's.

I made a good start after ripping once but I have to say I would definitely classify this pattern on the more challenging side of things, not because the lace pattern itself is difficult but I'm having a hard time following it.  I think it's because there is a lot of discussion on rearranging the stitches on the doublepointed needles and moving things around.  The pattern is written for DPN, and I knit magic loop but the same issue would be there for 2 circs as well.  I really have to take some time to visualize where the stitch pattern would be and where I'm inserting the thumb.  It is gorgeous though, isn't it?  Now that I'm on track with the pattern I'm really enjoying it!  And the yarn too - it's from fearless fibers!

In other news I took a small cooking class this weekend.  Williams-Sonoma offers free workshop cooking classes, the last class was how to make pasta from scratch which was really interesting, I'll post more on this later as I experiment.  Next class is pie crusts, can't wait!

Kerap

We interrupt my regularly scheduled train of thought (it was socks) for the minor derailment that greeted me as I arrived home last night. 

My dogs were a little 'too' happy to see me and the first thing I see when I close the door (besides my dirty floors) is fiber strewn across the floor....

I follow it up the stairs....

And find a half-filled bobbin from one of my other spinning projects chewed up on the floor.  Two guesses how they managed to get it up there- yes they carried it like a dog toy and yes it is covered slobber and no I don't think it's salvageable.

I had this big plan see- I had pics of this gorgeous new fall-like color fiber from Funky Carolina's fiber club.  I had pre-drafted it, put it in it's fancy little spinning basket and even finished up the first bobbin today.  I was all excited to finish it up, ply it together and get to knitting and designing a simple handspun mitts pattern for the fingerless mitts knitalong.

Any ideas what the heck I should do?  Is it salvageable or should I just cut my losses and hope I can eek a pair of mitts out of what I've gotten so far (about 2 oz)?

 

And don't let the pics fool you, the fiber is pulled and shredded to bits, felted in some spots from the slobber and covered in dog hair.

As for me, I'll be crying in the corner.  Well not really.  But I do reserve the right to be annoyed about this for at least a day or two.  Good ideas what I should do, please!? =)

Wednesdays are for spinning!

I've been working on my spinning as well.  I'm really amazed at how much better you can get so quickly when you're a beginner.  These skeins are way better than the last one! 

First I finished Tulips, BFL a fiber from Spunky's monthly fiber club.  It's approximately 278 yds, no idea of the WPI but I'm still trying to learn this thing.  I'm very very happy with the results, this is the most even I've spun to date and I think it just might be sockweight - hurrah!

Next we have another Spunky Club fiber, Celebrations.  This spun up into a sport weight, quite light and fluffy and with lots of bounce.  Approximately 230 yds.  If you're interested in seeing more versions of these fibers you can always check out the club blog.

Hurray to me for finally getting better at this spinning thing! 

PS - I'm going to SAFF this year, just got the day off work and signed up for classes.  Whose going??? I'd love to meet up!

Boy are my arms tired!

Well what can I say, I labored on Labor Day which isn't a great surprise to me - give me a long weekend and I mange to fill it with 3 days of work.  Give me a regular sized weekend and I manage to fritter away the time and have no idea what I managed to accomplish when it was over.

I mowed the lawn and managed to find a king-sized red ant hill that I mowed straight over.  Then the red ants proceeded to crawl all over me and bite me, and yes I have the scars to prove it - *sigh*.  I rototilled using a big heavy-duty real full sized tiller.  I pulled out old plants, bought new ones and put them in.  I hung drapes and purchased the fancy double-rods which I really like to spruce up my bedroom.  Likewise I bought new bedding (600 TC sheets!) to make my room more of a retreat.  I finished the smoke ring and blocked it although I have yet to figure out how to wear it and pulled out the ripple.  It was busy, but fun.

There are three things I absolutely hate to do - guess what they are?  Put together furniture, hang drapery rods and put up pictures.  I also think it's my hubby's job but since he's not around, guess who gets to be the boy?  Me!

I have to say though I was quite proud of myself for tackling those projects, I even hung robe hooks and hand-towel rings.  All in all a very productive weekend.  How was yours??

I have to say with this cooler weather I suddenly have the attention span of a gnat.  I keep flitting from one idea to another, the rest of the trip?  Yep I'll be posting about it, don't think I forgot, but I can't force myself to talk about it anymore right now, I need a break so I can talk about knitting!  And knitalongs!

Have you joined Fall Fingerless Mitts yet?  I know it's still hot out there and the last thing on your mind is warm hands but the seasons are changing quickly.  I like to be a good hostess so I'm having giveaways for each month of the knitalong.  There will be a spinning involved giveaway as well but this month it's two skeins of Koigu for Eunny's Endpaper Mitts and VERY luxurious lantern moon sox sticks in ebony.  Ebony, people!  Pure luxury I tell 'ya~ go sign up and join us and you could win! =)

I also promised to reveal my fingerless mitt project th is year.  I do have a couple of designs in the works, and Rachel read my mind when she said handspun yarn is perfect for fingerless mitts.  She's knitting a pair, I may write up a quick pattern for the group as well.  Great minds think alike! =)

My first project will be the orchid lace mitts from Anne at knitspot knit in fearless fibers lace weight merino in this color.  Very, very happy with Deb's awesome customer service - the yarn arrived super fast and I already wound it.  May cast on tonight if I can stop rippling!

I also won a very cool contest over at rohan knitter and she sent me the most lovely package!  Everything she picked out was perfect, a beautiful handknit dishcloth, burts bees (!) and fun little treats like soak wool wash and tea!  There was also these really cute little notebooks and stickers from martha stewart that I just loved and I'd never seen anything like it.
Thanks so much!

PS - don't be surprised if you see me blogging all the time all of a sudden - the bug has bitten, trying not to fight it!