Category: Knitting

Knitting

#1’s Sweater

Jen4 Comments

Done!

  • Yarn: Knit Picks’ Wool of the Andes
  • Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple Child’s Tunic.
  • More details can be found on Ravelry.

#1 had forgotten one of the two (yes, two) sweaters he owned at a playdate, so I worked hard to get this sweater finished quickly. For a knitter’s kid, #1 was sadly deficient in the sweater department. Of course, since the cold weather has persisted, we ended up over at the second hand store the other day to pick up a couple of commercially made sweaters to round out his spring weather wardrobe, but this hand-knit is, by far, my favorite. (Naturally.)

I am still trying to claw my way out of a knitting slump and have been obsessing lately about knitting socks. I’ve enjoyed knitting this sweater and have three seven other sweater projects I want to cast on, but dudes, I need get some smallish projects going first. How about this? Or this? And maybe this? Well, onward it is!

doctor who · Knitting

Doctor Who Scarf, revisited

Jen3 Comments

A lot of people find my blog by web searching “doctor who scarf” or some variation thereof. For those who do not have access to the project information on Ravelry, I thought I’d do a post to briefly review it.

Vitals:

  • This is the pattern I used.
  • Size 10 needles
  • Yarn: Cascade 220 wool. To choose the colors, I took a print out of the pattern and a picture of the 4th Doctor and selected the colors that matched or were, at least, close. Sadly, the shop where I bought the yarn is now closed, but this OYS (online yarn shop) has “all colors in stock”.

I have to admit, this is not a project I would call “fun” or “stimulating” or “enjoyable”. It’s yards and yards garter stitch with random color changes and therefore, numerous ends to be woven in. I really had to force myself to get it finished. However, my husband was very appreciative and the look on his face when he donned the scarf for the first time was well worth the effort of sticking to the project.

My final thoughts on the project are here and you can read all my doctor who scarf posts here. Good luck, Doctor Who scarf seekers, and godspeed!

Speaking of Doctor Who, stop by tomorrow for a KI special in honor of Saturday’s series 4 premier!

Knitting

F is For…

Jen4 Comments

Fatigue, as in project fatigue, which seems to be going around, and is partly the reason I’ve been a boring blogger lately. The endless stockinette stitch on the sleeve of Isaac’s sweater does not make for interesting knitting or knitblogging. My husband has tragically enormous feet. I no longer need or want a Clapotis. I am considering giving up on the master knitter program. I am longing to cast on a new project, but am racked with guilt. Shouldn’t I finish my other projects first? I mean, I should at least finish the TKGA, right? I was going to try to have it in the mail by yesterday. Train-Zoom.

In addition to project fatigue, certain forum discussions over on Ravelry have been far more entertaining than my life and my knitting so I’ve been spending all my time there rather than living a life to blog about or even knitting on my boring projects.

Anyone else with project fatigue? What do you do when you are bored with the projects you are working on? Do you push through and reward yourself with a new project only when you’ve completed them? Or do you cast on a new project right away, and stuff your boring projects into the bottom of your knitting bag where they won’t bother you any more? Any ideas for an exciting project to get me out of my knitting slump?

Knitting · wip wednesday

WIP Wednesday 6

Jen

`

Now I’m off to the children’s museum! Cheers!

Knitting · life · random

A Funny Thing Happened at the Grocery Store

Jen3 Comments

Today, the gay cashier at Trader Joe’s said the matching sweaters I made for the boys were “faaa-bulous!”.

Knitting · TKGA

Master’s Monday 9

Jen6 Comments

For me, the hardest part about level one of the TKGA master knitter certification has been staying focused and motivated enough to finish it. This week, I spent a lot, and I mean a lot, of time, thinking about weaving in the ends of my swatches, or thinking about sitting down to flip through the stitch dictionaries, or thinking about doing something on my TKGA project. But in the end, I didn’t actually do anything. Instead, I finished these:

And then I cast on this:

And these:

(sorry about the crap photo)

I still hope to have my binder completed and sent to the guild by the end of this month, but I will really have to buckle down if I’m going to meet that goal. *sigh*

Knitting

How to Darn Socks

Jen9 Comments

Yarn Harlot Style!

Hold the socks over the garbage can.

Proclaim loudly, “Darn it!” and release.

Repeat as necessary.

I admit, this is a rather disappointing development, considering that the socks in question were only a few months old. However, I have now learned a hard lesson about taking care of hand knits, even if the yarn is “superwash”. In the future, I will still use my washing machine to wash my hand knits, but only on the soak cycle and with a wool wash like Soak or Eucalan (and bad me for abusing the socks the way I did).

Knitting · yarn

The Universe Loves Balance

Jen5 Comments

I couldn’t wear my favorite hand knit socks today and I was terribly sad.

  

But then I got a package in the mail and I wasn’t sad anymore.

 

See what I mean?

Knitting

Finished Object Friday and Contest Winner

Jen3 Comments

 (Click the image for project details on Ravelry)

Also, the winner of the Citchen Cabinet Contest, selected by this list randomizer, is Jen at Knitting Kitchen! Congratulations to Jen and thank you to every who entered. Sage decided on the bronze knob, although I have to say that after a while the bronze bar pull really grew on me. Hah.

Happy Leap Day, everyone!

Knitting · TKGA

Master’s Monday 7

Jen6 Comments

There had been a shameful lack of progress on my master knitter swatches lately. In all honesty, I think I was avoiding it. That is until I got this message from my friend (and co-masterknitterconspirator) via private message on Ravelry:

picture-2.png

and my competitive side took over.

WIP Wednesday? Too busy with the swatches to post. Also, it was the only thing I was working on. I finished 15 of the 16 required swatches in about three days and cast on the required hat.

Since I still need to do the knitter’s choice cable, I picked up a half dozen stitch pattern books at the library on Friday. Also, I requested this and this via inter library loan as research for the written work. So, finally some progress on the TKGA master knitter front. Yay! My goal is to have my package sent to the guild by the end of March. Which, barring any unforeseen circumstances, is reasonable and totally doable. :-)