Knitty Gritty Thoughts

Snowflakes and Such

Belated Christmas and Holiday wishes to you all!

On Christmas day I started something new, doesn't it look like a snowflake?  This is the Rona Lace Shawl from Knitpicks knit in Horizon Alpaca Cloud.  The yarn is so soft to work with - although the pattern is written out - no charts!  So I'm reserving judgement on that part until I finish =)  The only one I could find online that had been knitted up is over here and I did find some errata on it over here if you're interested.

One of my new year's resolutions knit-wise is to try new things.  I've never made a shawl in the round before so I guess that counts ;) !

We're headed out of town for a bit so I'm going to take a blog-break for a week or so while we're gone.  We're flying up to NJ for a family christmas celebration and I hope to take a train in to NYC to see some yarn shops - yum!

Best wishes and see you all soon!

Pass the Blah please.

I've been fighting the knitting blahs lately, I have no idea where my mojo went but can somebody help me find it please?  I have gone days without knitting which is so rare it's scary...even the hubby is asking me why I'm not knitting.

I think part of the answer is that I'm tired, feeling the weight of the holidays compress down on me.  There are big changes going on at work which leave me stressed out, and hubby has been gone for almost two weeks in the field leaving me home alone and feeling grinchy.  I feel like the holidays are for family and it's frustrating when one-half of my family is gone during this time.

I finally found a wee bit of mojo hidden in the form of some luxurious cashmere/merino blend that is becoming a scarf.  The yarn is so soft and the pattern so simple it's enjoyable to get back to my "knitting roots" so to speak.  The scarf is a bit of my own design, with a smidge of a stitch pattern thrown in for good measure.  I'm debating writing it up if anyone is interested.

The yarn was a really good deal, I picked it up at AC Moore on discount for 3/ball and it is very similar to Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, it even has a similar name, Cashmere Luxury Aran.

Sometimes when I lose my mojo I'll start looking for old things I've started.  Pulling things out of drawers, examining, thinking, are all very cathartic.  The item below is an old UFO, it's a sunburst sling bag made with 4, or maybe 5 skeins of Noro Silk Garden.  I ran into a seaming snafu when one end had way more to seam than the other and it ended up about 3-4 inches off.  Taking it back out I'm not sure if I'm in love with it...perhaps I should rip it and make a entrelac scarf instead???  Isn't this pattern gorgeous?  Anyhow as I've said my mojo has left me so I'm leaving it up to you...should I rip it or not? =)

I had a good weekend, we had a christmas party at our house and it was a lot of fun and helped me get more into the christmas spirit.  It was the first real party we've hosted in our home and it was a treat to put together all the food.  A friend came over the day before and we made sushi (both california rolls and kimbap (korean style) that were really yummy.  We had a smorgasbord of treats but my favorite was the chocolate fountain where there was plenty of fresh fruit (pineapples, strawberries and bananas) as well as pretzels to dip.  I think it was an instant favorite!

Have a great week everyone!

 

Not My Time.

I believe everything happens for a reason, that there is a right time and the right place for anything. If something isn't working out, I wait a bit, trying to be patient, for that time to come.

I had been having trouble with the second of these fingerless mitts- too many stitches, too few stitches, twisted cast on... even knitting around and around the wrong way, like a knitting blip stuck on the record player.  I waited.  I let them bide their time.  Then, I tried again. 

I waited until tonight.  All of a sudden the knitting was going so smoothly, they were practically flying off my needles.  And you know, I thought to myself "Finally, it's the right time." 

I kept knitting ferociously afraid to put them down, afraid to lose my place in the pattern and misplace my flow of stitches.  I kept at it all night and finally, just 5 minutes ago I cut the thread and pronounced them done!

Then I looked closer.

And you know what - I was wrong.  Argh!!!

Come on, be a square

Happy Halloween Everyone!  I'm not doing anything too exciting this evening, just staying home and handing out candy, no costumes for me!

I really could use your opinion though, I finally finished my last mitered square *sigh of relief.* They were getting really monotonous and I had to force myself to finish the last one.  This thing has been more than 6 months in the making.  I just took the last few off the blocking board this morning and started arranging them in different blocks...I'm having a really hard time figuring out how they should go together so I thought I would take a picture to look at objectively...here you go -

So, what do you think??? What would you move around, what do you like?  And don't let the pic fool you, it's not a large blanket but it will be 36x54 before the border, a nice baby/lapsized blanket.  Ok, honestly I had much more grandiose plans but I ran out of steam, and yarn =)

Miss Jemima

Jemima Sweater by Amelia Raitte
Time to knit: 2 months actual (3 months it took me to sew it together!)
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK (7 balls)
Size: 34" medium
Needles: Size 7 Addi's and size 6 Addi's
New Techniques: The tubular cast-on was well, totally tubular! =)  Used the instructions here...
Buttons: Simple celtic design from Joann's

Miscellany:
Great pattern and great sweater.  The instructions were fool-proof which is great for someone like me because this is only my second sweater, and my first with sleeves that need to be set into the neckline.  The twisted rib detail at the neckline is an important design feature, I neglected it the first time and it was too large and I had to rip-rip-rip.  Important lesson learned, trust the designer!

I love this sweater, it will be a staple in my closet for sure. It's the perfect lazy morning slip this on with a pair of jeans and go have a nice coffee at the corner coffee house type of top.  The only modifications I made was to make the body and arms longer as you can tell from the picture I had trouble calculating how long the arms needed to be and overshot it a bit and on the other end I would like the body longer.  I tried reblocking but didn't get the full length out of it that I would have liked.  I'm really tall (6'2) so I do this with all my knits.  I also sewed the button closure shut at the neckline, there was a little difficulty stabilizing the crochet so the weight of the yarn didn't drag it apart.  It probably is because I had to lengthen it, and caused it to sag with the extra weight.
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P.S. Excuse the old mirror on the wall self-pics, if you check them out you can see my new 'do.  I'm not sure if I'm digging it yet, I haven't had bangs since the 8th grade and I keep pinning them back because I hate when they're in my face.  It's bringing back some pretty scary memories =) =)

P.P.S  spent all weekend blocking mitered squares.  I haven't decided yet if it's a great idea or I'm just anal enough to wash each one separately and block it out in case the colors would happen to bleed.  I ran out of yarn and had to order 4 more balls from webs.  As soon as they get here I can get a move on finishing this thing!

After Project Ennui

First off, thank you all so very very much for all your lovely comments on the mystery stole.  I really enjoyed reading each and every one of them, thank you!!

There is a sort of post-project listlessness that always settles in when I finish a big project.  It's part of a what to knit next that sort of grips me and I dig through my UFO bin to see what's there and what I want to knit. 

The first thing I pulled out was my Frostrosen Mittens.  I finished the first in April of this year through a random method of stranding both colors through my right hand and dropping and picking up the yarn constantly.  It was messy and uneven and my very first try.  I decided to pick it up again and finish the pair, I'm on a bit of a chart kick right now.  I knit and knit all weekend long and finished up the cuff.  That's when I realized I had a very big problem - gauge.  Now that' I'm trying this two-handed double stranded thing my gauge tightened up significantly.  It looks great, but now I have one mitten that's too big and the other mitten too small....sounds like the 3 little bears doesn't it?  I didn't have enough yarn to knit 3 and it seemed too sticky to rip the old, so, into the random knits bin it goes.  I ordered some palette yarn from knitpicks to do another pattern but sadly, these mittens will never be finished, *SIGH* 

Oh, and I placed a order through knitpicks for some lace yarn, options needles and adamas pattern and their chart holder.  The one thing I wish they told you about the chart holder (you can see it inthe mitten pic) is that it requires you to use their very specific thicker magnets.  I can't use the magnets I already have from other magnet charts because with the fabric they won't stick.  Bummer!
In the meantime I swatched for some lovely lace "Artist's Gloves" fingerless mits, I picked up the pattern at stitches a few years ago.  It calls for Mongolian cashmere however I was able to sub Blue Sky Alpacas, DK alpaca for it.  I got gauge with US 5 and I'm knitting happily on my options needles, magic looped.  They are sooo soft!  I bought an extra skein (better to be safe than sorry) so I think it may turn into a matching cowl.  I did chart out the lace pattern, so if anyone who owns this booklet is interested in the excel file I'll be happy to send it to you.
Other than that, miter mania has bitten, again.  I took stock of my squares this weekend and figured out I need to make 9 more to finish up the blanket.  I dug through my mission falls cotton so see if I can glean that many out of what's left.  We'll see if I make it.   Here's a few more I made this past week (not necessarily being sewn in these color patterns.)

Last but certainly not least, I have been so lucky lately.  I won a copy of Summer 2006 Interweave (the one with icarus in it!) from the lovely Vanessa of Butterfly Knitter.  It just arrived in the mail yesterday, thank you so very much Vanessa I really appreciate it!

A Tisket a Tasket, a Trinket in my Basket!

Hi Everyone, surprise, this doesn't have a mystery stole picture in it!  I'm sure there's a few of you out there that would like to see something different today, I know I would!
Today it's all about Trinket by Kim Hargreaves.  I know I posted a pic a while ago of the lovely kit I ordered.  The kid silk haze is quite yummy, but a little fuzzy.  When I knit with it creates little puffs of fuzz that seem to find their way everywhere, including my nose, it makes me sneeze!  They give you 3 skeins to knit the scarf, 1 skein gained me about 25 inches of scarf, to date I've made it 35 inches, only 30 more to go!  The pattern itself is quite easy, I would rate it adventurous beginner.  The scarf itself is knit on a diagonal, and you switch between two needle sizes. 
Surprisingly, I'm knitting this on straights, even though I prefer circs and knit with little else.  I'm switching between Crystal Palace US 6 and Casein 2.75mm.  This is the first time I've knitted with Casein before, I found them at my LYS, Wild Fibre, I also picked up a set of casein double-points.  They have a slight smell to them that I can't quite figure out what it is, however they are smooth and flexible and easy to knit with. 
This project requires few accessories, I have a sheepy measuring tape and electronic row counter tucked into my bag but that's it, no stitch markers, nothing.  I love the little bag I'm storing it in, it's from Di over at Clementine's shoes.  She is amazingly talented, I had been drooling over her little box bags for a long time and when she offered them for sale, I bought one so quick she barely had time to post it up before I emailed her.  I've actually had it for a long time now, almost a year, but this is really the first time I talked about it.  Isn't it fun to find all this amazing talent on the internets?  I love purchasing items from fellow crafts-people, and have quite a collection growing.  In fact, I just received Orchid Bunny in the mail, a softie from Fiona at Hop Skip Jump.  I'll post pics of the little cutie next time.
Other than that I've been getting inspired to sew more often and found some cute little monkey fabric that seems to be all over blog-land lately.  Who can resist little sock monkeys???  I'm going to try to turn it into something fun this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Habu Bag

Thanks all for the wonderful comments on Seraphim and the Entrelac Wrap.  I used random.org for the winning number for the yarn and it was Karla!  Congrats Karla, I'll be emailing you shortly for your address.

Moving on...to make up for missing Friday's FO, I have the Silk Linen Shoulder Bag from Habu Textiles knit in Shosenshi Paper and Tsugumi Silk, purhchased from KPIXIE.  Similar to this link, but a smaller size.  It was a lovely knit, I ended up getting gauge on US 5 needles.   I started off with Addi's, thinking the metal would make it slippery and easy to knit.  It drove me nuts!  I finally switched to bamboo, *aaahhh* my hands just about cried with relief.  I knit it on Clover straights and the second half went much faster. 

Overall I knit the bag to pattern, only extending section "C" by a few inches to give me additional depth and storage space. 

When finished I steam blocked it, although the ends were still a little curly.  It was quick to seam, and easy to finish.  The pattern was written "Japanese Style" which was easy to follow, but different.  The majority of the knitting is done to schematic, and you have to reverse the shaping yourself, so I would rate the pattern adventurous beginner.

It's a good thing I have a lot of FO's to show, because I haven't done a lot of project knitting.  I've been casting on about a zillion things, but haven't made much progress on anything but Trinket from Kim Hargreaves.  I'm close to finishing up the first ball of kidsilk haze, and have 24 inches.  The instructions have you knit in pattern for 56 inches, so I'm almost halfway there plus the ruffled edging.

It was a rainy day yesterday, the perfect time to stay indoors wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea and knitting.   Later in the afternoon I worked on my Mailorder Project, a fun little needlecase with how-to's on embroidery stitches.  It was a fun flashback to my kid days, armed with a gluestick and some scissors!

Badcaul Socks

I have totally been loving all of Anna's socks that she's been designing, so when she came out with a collection of sock patterns for purchase I didn't even hesitate to click the "buy" button.  Here's one of the socks from the series, the "Badcaul" Socks knit in a gorgeous color of Koigu I've been hoarding for something special.  They're knit toe-up (my very first!) with the Magic Loop.  The color is actually more true in the second photo, gorgeous purples, pinks and blue with a little tan mixed in.  I tried cableing without a cable needle and royally failed. I found it hard to keep track of the stitches once I had to pull them off the needle and then rearrange them and knit in a different order.  The brittany cable needles are really light-weight and a great choice with socks, I didn't find it cumbersome once I got into a groove. These socks also answer another question, how much sock can you get out of a skein of koigu???  I have size 10 feet and knit and knit until the very end and I had less than a foot of yarn left.  They come up about a third of the way of my leg.  I also highly recommend this pattern if you've never tried knitting toe-up, the instructions were great and I had no problem with the short-row heel, well, except maybe for the holes (shhh! don't tell anyone).

One down, just one more to go!

Miter Mania

First off, I have to say a huge THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!! to everyone that posted to my knitting etiquette conundrum. Each and every word of support meant so very much to me, I am so very appreciative of this wonderful community of knitbloggers. Thank you!

I have to admit I've succombed to miter mania lately...it all started with all those lovely blankets the ladies at Mason Dixon Knitting kept displaying. They drew me in until I couldn't resist any longer. I considered it kismet, because just at that moment, the fab Christine was having a stash sale with some Mission Falls Cotton. That yarn fit the bill for what I wanted to make, nice pretty colors, machine washable, and Aran weight. (Fewer squares to make =) ) Hey, I said I wanted to make a blanket not spend the rest of my life doing it!

So, on Saturday the yarn arrived along with the new Mason Dixon Knitting Book, the new Yarn Harlot Book and Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker (for another afghan I'm craving to make, but hey, one at a time)

Squares are incredibly liberating because they go so incredibly fast (I clocked it about 1hr 20mins per square) AND, here's the best part... They let you experiment with color. I'm trying to be creative, and drop all my pre-conceived notions of color. IRL I only use blue's, green's black and tan so using yellow, pink and purple, even if it's just for a square opens my eye to possibilities.

So... here's my progress. These are knit on US7 needles (addi of course) and the cotton does make my hands hurt a wee bit, white worse than others. Why is that??? I find it so odd!

I've also been knitting on a few other things as well including my second sweater, Jemima, some badcaul socks with Koigu I've been hoarding and the Seraphim shawl with some hand-dyed yarn rounds out my WIP basket.

I finished up my very first Norweigan Mitten a few weeks ago and am just now getting around to post it. It was my very first stranded project and knitting with two hands was tough. I'm hoping it will get easier as I start the second one...I keep eyeing KaffeinatedKnits as motivation!

Oh, and hey did you know Grey's has a soundtrack?? I just had to order it off amazon!