Knitty Gritty Thoughts

Ripple... Complete

I wanted to change the tone and talk about something happy today - my finished ripple!  This FO brings me so much joy, it was a long time in the making.

It took me a long time to find the perfect yarn, order the perfect colors, and even LEARN to crochet.  This is my first real crochet FO and it's so special to me on so many levels.  I'm really happy that I was able to take on something like this, teach myself crochet, and be able to complete the blanket in less than a year.  That is nothing short of miraculous to me.

It took a really long time to do - and I dropped it back in it's basket many a time, starting to get bored with the pattern. I  had originally started making what I thought was a lap blanket size, but due to my no-crochet knowledge, ended up with something to cover my queen size bed!  Yes, this is a queen size spread, in DK yarn(!) and if I even think about doing it again, please stop me =)  grab the yarn and hook out of my hand will you? =)

This was an exercise in persistence, I ran out of yarn many a time and had to order more.  If I had realized how much yarn I was going to use on this giant monster I probably would have stopped, but I'm glad I didn't. I wanted to chose a yarn that was superwash, had a big color palette, and would be durable (wool).  I dreamed about making something that would be a heirloom for the ages, something that would be loved, enjoyed and best of all -USED- for decades to come.

What did I learn?  Check your gauge even if it's crochet to make sure you're not making the biggest ripple blanket known to man!  Find a yarn you love and stick with it.  Find a good crochet hook (I love my clover soft hook) and make sure it's comfortable, you're going to be using that sucker for a long time.

Here it is in it's natural habitat - on the back of the couch, where I hope it stays for a long time to come. (Clicky all pics for big)

So what's next for crochet?  Now that I've tackled this, my next goal is to make this blanket, out of all my own handspun (scroll down), maybe in the next decade or so!  Now that's a project! =)

Project details
Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool DK
Hook: Clover 4mm
Number of balls for yarn: Approx 30
Initial Chain: ~220
More questions?  You can read all about my ripple musings here

Thanks everyone! =)
 

A Retrospective

Thanks everyone for your awesome and totally overwhelming blog wishes!  You made my day!  =)  It was so nice to hear from everyone, sometimes when you get into the grind of creating and blogging you become so focused on the day to day that you miss the big picture.  And that is that I have indeed been doing this blog thing for 3 years, and it's definitely a commitment.  Those of us who have been blogging for any amount of time know how much effort and time is involved to take pictures, write up projects and join in the community.

Being around so long has definitely given me a different perspective.  When I first started, the knit blog-o sphere was so small there were only a few hundred active knitting blogs.  It was such a small community that is seemed like a small town, where everyone knew everyone else.  We didn't have all these fancy online retailers or all these beautiful indie yarn dyers.  Very few people spun, and no one took breathtaking photos like these.  There was no ravelry, no one had ever heard of blue moon and socks weren't popular yet.  Can you imagine?! =)

I remember my very first knitalong, Katie hosted it when she was pregnant with AJ, the bear-along.  I never did finish that bear! =)  Katie and Alisha and Cath and Erica and Lolly were some of my very first blog friends who are still around blogging today.

Along the way some other good blog friends have moved on, and I think it's wonderful the way this community has grown.  Nowadays I am constantly browsing to find new to me blogs as it keeps expanding.  It blows my mind that there are 15 THOUSAND people on ravelry with 15 THOUSAND more people in line, whoa!

Anyhow you came here for the winner right?  The random number generator told me it was ......

......Qutecowgirl!

Congrats!

I loved reading all of your answers and found myself adding more items to my list.  I want to learn how to dye, try steeking, improve my colorwork and improve on spinning this year.  I'm also want to organize my stash which means I'll be having a stash sale here shortly.

I guess you'll have to wait til next year to see how I do on my goals! =)

Meanwhile you may have noticed I've been a bit MIA on blogs and email lately.  I have a pinched nerve in my left arm that is making it really hard to sit at a computer, type or even knit, ouch!  I'm sure it has something to do with my stress level, they're building houses next door and behind my lot and the hammering starts at 6am right outside my bedroom window and usually culminates in the construction workers littering all over my lawn, big trucks blocking me in my driveway, throwing constructions debris in my back yard and the dogs barking wildly at them whenever they are let outside to stretch their legs.  *Sigh* we've all got a little house-fever.

So I tried to knit to make some progress on ene but it hurt too bad so it's on time out (Now's your chance Beth!  How is yours coming??=))

I tried to crochet on the ripple blanket and that was moderately better...

...it's getting so big and rippley!

And finally I moved on to sewing which seems to hurt the least right now so I started piecing my first quilt.  I'm a little nervous because I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll figure it out.

Isn't the fabric lovely?  It's from purl, they do color toned fabric bundles.

And finally, today is a big milestone for me.  When I was a child I used to horseback ride.  I grew up around horses and competed in hunter/jumper dressage in junior high/early high school.  As I grew up I got away from it and it's been almost 12 years since I've been on a horse for more than a casual trail ride.

Today I'm going to my first lesson in more than a decade, and I'm so proud of myself for realizing that it would make me happy and going for it.  I love horses and I love riding so much, I'm so eager to start again.  Life is all about circles isn't it??  Here's to new/renewed experiences! =)  Wish me luck, hope I don't fall off! =)

Now with 150% more ripples!

Betcha some of you were wondering where the ripple blanket had run off to?  In checking in my archives I haven't talked about this thing for about almost two months now and with good reason really, there hadn't been any progress.  I had run out of yarn of one of the colors mid row so I was stuck in limbo until I ordered another refill of rowan pure wool dk.  That brings our sum total of balls purchased to well .......  too many really.  I think 32.  I don't even want to think about how much this blanket is going to cost me by the time I'm done so I'll look at how yummy it is instead....

Yumm....ripples....
For some reason I was in a crochet mood this weekend, rather than working on Mystery Stole, I devoted myself to rippling - it was fun!


Happy Monday!

I'm Here, I'm Here!

Well hello there, long time no chat! =)  I'll update ya'll on the home sitch at the bottom but first I want to talk about knitting! =)  Suprise, suprise, huh?

First off, I finished the knee socks - they still rock.  However, I DO NOT rock the knee socks.  I tried, really I did, but these things make my legs look like big barrels.  And everytime I walk, they start to fall down.  The woven in elastic at the cuff helped a bit but I just didn't add enough negative ease, shame on me!  I may try to shrink them in the wash however if that doesn't work out it's doubtful that these will ever see the light of day.  I will however sleep in them because they would be oh so cozy in the wintertime.

STR Knee Socks in "Midsummers Night" (2 skeins) with contrasting heels and toes in "love in idleness"(1 skein)
Needle Size - 2.5mm magic loop
Pattern - Generic Knee sock pattern, very easy to follow.
Time to Knit - 2 months or so.  Good, easy stockinette, throw 'em in your purse project.
Interested in more info?  All posts about the knee socks here.

Contrasting heels and toes, yum.

I also purchased the often written-about new selbu knitting book, and immediately ordered satakieli from Schoolhouse Press to make the mittens pictured above (that's cream and brown in case you can't tell.)  I keep wavering back and forth between mittens or gloves, mittens or gloves.  Which would you do?  The book itself is lovely, filled with lots of patterns and impeccably charted.  My only wish is that some of the pics were in color.

I also had a lovely swap with Miss Rfg, to introduce her to the world of swaps!  She sent me the loveliest of packages, yummy koigu, chai, chocolate a lovely zippered pouch which has instantly become my project accessory bag for the ripple blanket, it holds all my extra crochet hooks!  And don't forget the yummy fabric, wow!  Aren't those colors gorgeous?!?  Thank you so much for a lovely swap!  PS - if you're interested in seeing what I sent her, go check it out.  I made another Shim+Sons Inspired bag, similar to the one I made Amanda and I love them both very much, it was hard to mail them off to their new homes!  Oh!  And go read about her post office snafu - it's rather funny! =)

These pics are for Stacia (she knows what I mean! =)) Who has patiently awaited another ripple update.  It's growing and I still love it, however I have almost ran out of yarn.  I have 5 balls left of the main colors but need to add some more contrasting colors in so I'm waiting to see what colors I want to pick and if elann will get anymore.  Check out all those ends, can you believe it?  I haven't woven a single one in yet.

Anyhow so home-wise/life-wise, let me update you in bullet points since I've already typed waaay too long. =)

• My house is closing next Monday
• No, I do not have a house to live in yet or really know where I am going
• I think I'm moving in with one of my SIL's (Hubby's family is amazingly supportive)
• Still don't know where I'm buying a house yet, it keeps changing every minute
• I've seen so many houses I feel like I can't remember what any of them look like
• All of my stuff is moved out of my home, however I have a blowup mattress and a lawn chair.  Guess where I'm typing this from?  Living the high life, huh? =)
• My grandma went into ER for emergency surgery, she is very weak and not doing well.  This makes me very sad as we are very close.

I think that's it.  I'll keep you all updated and try not to be such a stranger as things wind down! =)

Well Hello There!

Hi Everyone - betcha didn't expect to wait so long to hear from me now did you?  I certainly didn't expect to leave that last post up so long, life certainly has gotten the better of me lately.

There have been lots of things happening lately- I am a total introvert so when the going gets tough, the tough get quiet! =)

To start off, minor but yet annoying was that my internet was down for about two weeks (thanks Comcast!)  And then I took on a second, well technically third job.

Then the company I work for was "acquired."  As you can expect in these types of things, many people were let go immediately, some are on board only for the transition and some lucky ducks got jobs with the new company.  I was one of the lucky few, however I've been away from home, travelling and spending time in the new corporate office all last week meeting everyone and getting a feel for the company.

On top of that we are packing up our house, finishing renovation projects, painting and getting ready for it to sell.  I have no idea where I'm moving now, the last planned location was Raleigh however my new company would prefer me to work in the corporate office which may mean I'm relocating to Virginia instead.  That area of VA has a higher cost of living than GA as you can imagine so I'm testing the waters, looking at houses and see what comes of it.  The house isn't "on the market" yet however we've had a few showings and may actually get an offer this weekend.  I'm ready to sell but yet I'm so not ready to sell at the same time.  I better find someplace to live, fast!

Oh, yea and did I mention that hubby is leaving in less than two weeks for Iraq for his second tour?  He has been home on leave before he goes, so I'm trying to spend my free time with him.  And of course he will be gone longer as well, since they've upped the deployment time to 15 months.

I work hard for a balanced life and things are a wee bit off kilter right now.  Things will right themselves (they always do) but until hubby leaves, I'll be online only sporadically.  I do deeply appreciate all your friendly thoughts, checking in on me, and the hugs.  They keep me sane and smiling in any and all situations, keep 'em coming! =)

Until then, here's what I've been working on...I packed up all my yarn (sob!) so I'm stuck with finishing my WIP's.  Ripple Blanket and the STR knee sock are getting top-billing right now.  My love for the knee-sock has come back in full force and I can barely put the darn thing down!

Ripple me this, ripple me that.

Thank you so much for all the info, advice and support on my satellite internet conundrum...many of the people who responded brought to light my greatest fears, potential big issues/spotty connection.  So...it may mean that I need to find another favorite house that has high speed internet.  I think we're going to trek up there this weeked to look at more housies. 

Are you utilizing your local library for knitting books?  I was at the library a few weeks ago and spotted many books I've been wanting read, including an afghan book, finishing techniques and this little gem, look at the bottom right cover, it says Starmore!  I've heard a lot of buzz on the internets about this particular designer and her books are usually pretty expensive.  I can't say if this is an expensive one or not, however it did have a lot of interesting designs in it.  Very 70's style including full on knitted baby outfits.  It had a lot of good history of Scandinavian Knitwear that was fun to learn about too.  Hey - you learn something new everyday, right?

Progress on the ripple is progressing, it's just starting to get big enough that I'm having a hard time to fit it all in one frame for a photo.  I've been debating about how long it should be...how long do you like your blankets?  Long enough to cover your toes?

I'm spotted a color pattern when I was taking pics....doesn't the ripple colors look suspiciously like the mitered blanket colors?  Hmm??  Oh well, can't teach an old dog new color tricks. =)  I do it subconsciously. =)

Above are my last few sewn items before I had to pack up my sewing machine for the pending move.  It's a set of matchy zippered pouches/artists cases for my boss' kids.  (See miss RFG, this is photographic proof I tackled that darn zipper! =))  Aren't they cute?  The boys has twistable crayons and the girls twistable colored pencils.  I didn't even know they made twistable color pencils (found all the accessories at Target.)  The interior of the girls is a kaffe fasset print that I just love.  If you look closely at the buttons you can tell that they match the theme too, fun!

As I pack up I'm coming across a lot of yarn I can't use so I think I will start posting a "free yarn friday" or something like that and put it up for giveaway.  Just a heads up if you think you would be interested.

Have a great day!

Ripple, ripple

Is it just me or is the time changing kicking anyone elses behind???  My sleep schedule is waaay off, I'm tired all day and wide awake at night!  So- I'm just popping in for a minute to show you the yummy yarn that was waiting for me when I got back into town. 

It's for the ripple blanket and I ended up choosing rowan pure wool dk from here.  My number one reason for choosing it was the incredibly large palate of colors to choose from, there's something like 40 colorways, all gorgeous.  Plus it doesn't hurt that it's a brand new yarn from Rowan which I'd been dying to try out.

As most of you know I've been looking all around for the perfect yarn for this blanket, I wanted it to be superwash, number one.  Number two it had  to have a large availability of colors.  I was flexible on whether it was a dk or worsted weight.  And finally, I had to actually be able to ORDER a large variety of colors and that truly is the tricky part.  My other runner up was cascade 220 superwash that also comes in a large variety of gorgeous colors, however I could not find a store on the web that stocked even more than a few of them together, I would have had to order from like 5 different places!  Anyhow - I was lucky to stumble on the place I ordered from, they were very helpful getting me a few colors that were out of stock and best of all they give you discounts off the final order (10%<100 or 15%>100) (no affil by the way, just happy customer) that dropped the prices close to what I could get it off ebay for, and they carried a ton of colors which was the clinching point.

I ordered 14 balls to start, and I used the duvet cover below as my color inspiration for the blanket.  The yarn layout is also inspired by Jane's pretty posings.  I did pretty good on the colors, ordering them sight unseen- except for the two random balls at the top.  Can you see the bright green and burgundy?  What was I thinking!?!?!  I think they'll be able to work themselves in somewhere, we'll see how it goes.

I've started rippling already, ~220 stitches with a 4mm hook is giving me a blanket that almost covers the top of my queen bed.  Starting it was the biggest pain, I almost gave up crocheting into the base chain, however after that it's been smooth sailing -er- rippling.  Very easy pattern and easy to memorize as well.

This is fun!  Don't forget to visit the knitalong for lots of other pretty blankets!