Category: Knitting

grumble · Knitting

Frogged

Jen1 Comment

Remember this?

Yeah, I frogged that. I just had a hard time accepting the way the colors wanted to line up across a large number of stitches. So I frogged the crap out of that sock and cast on a baktus. Naturally, that was fine until I’d worked about an inch and then blech. So then I just wanted to see how many stitches I could get out of each color. It was something crazy tiny like 10 or 15 stitches per color. AAARGH. I am never ever going to make a long ass 15 stitch wide sock yarn scarf. And you know what I realized? This is just one of those colorways that looked gorgeous in the skein but that I hate knitted up. Once I got my head around that, I was able to just let it go. I balled it up and handed it to my friend Weaver at the park today. I’m sure that whatever she ends up making with it will be so fabulous that I’ll be pissed at myself for giving it to her, but at this point… Well, at this point it was all I could do not the throw the damn thing at her head.

Knitting · life · Zombies

So Many Plans

Jen4 Comments

Yesterday I cleaned the house. Really cleaned it, for the first time in a good long while, thanks to that dreaded fatigue I’ve been struggling with. I put stuff away, I pulled out appliances and wiped the counters behind them. The only thing I didn’t do, even though it’s long overdue, was clean out the fridge and wash it. I spent most of the afternoon and early evening on it, so by the time it was bedtime, I was pretty pumped, and bubbling with plans for today. As I lay awake, trying to fall asleep, I made a list of all the stuff I would do today:

Finish Laundry
Clean Bathrooms & Bedroom
Warp Loom
Wind off a bunch of yarn
Sew pants for E
Sew some drawstring bags
Clean off my desk
Do some NaNoWriMo prep work

I’m pretty sure at this point that my list was over-ambitious. It took me a really long time to fall asleep last night, and I didn’t sleep well. It was one of those nights where I was aware of trying to sleep (or being asleep) for most of the night. I was too excited about doing moar stuff!!! To top it off, I got up early. Blargh. I did do most of the laundry, which helped a bit with the mess in the bedroom, and I managed to tidy up the bathrooms too. I spent the rest of today trying, rather unsuccessfully, to nap. Everything else was just icing, but dammit, I like icing.

Ah well. How about some knitting then?

[ravelry]

I love this colorway from the Yarn Pirate, but when I got it up to the right number of stitches for my toe, it became kind of muddied. See how pretty it is right in the first 3/4″ of the toe? I wanted my whole sock to look like that. Hence the slip stitch pattern. It helps, but not as much as I would’ve liked.

[ravelry]

Catkin is coming along too, but since it requires all of the concentration forever, I haven’t really worked on it in a couple of days. Furthermore, it looks all bunched up and lumpy there because, clearly, my needle is too short. You’ll have to wait for the finished product to see it in all of its orange and turquoise glory. Yes, I did just say orange and turquoise glory. IT WILL BE GLORIOUS I TELL YOU!

 

Doozer · Knitting · random

Random Monday

Jen1 Comment

1. I’m such a big fat liar. I never stopped by here this weekend to post pictures of my knitting. Mostly it’s because this weekend was kind of weird and partly because I haven’t taken any pictures of knitting in a good long while.

2. I have knitted the first section of my Catkin, the section with the garter stitch stripes, and have moved on to the textured section which is a single color. It’s extremely slow going because I have to pay attention to the chart and literally cannot do anything else. I can’t watch TV or even attempt to carry on a conversation. Must. Focus. On the. Chart. Ugh.

3. I still have not blocked my sister’s shawl. 2 weekends ago, she came over and we were going to do it together, but we pretty much forgot all about it. And, as I said, this weekend was kind of weird so it still isn’t done.

4. I want to do it on the weekend so she can help me with it, because that thing is enormous.

5. I suddenly realized that I may not have enough pins for blocking it. Crap.

6. The NY S&W festival is this coming weekend. I have to be honest, my enthusiasm for going this year is waning. There isn’t really anything I want (or have to) buy there, and I can’t eat the food, so there is a whole other level of schlep involved which makes the idea of going much less appealing. Hrm.

7. I’m pretty sure that even if I do decide to go, I won’t be wearing a finished Catkin as I’d originally planned. The damn thing just requires too much concentration.

8. Here is a picture of Doozer in a box.

Adventures · Knitting

In Which I Plan How to Utilize Good Results of Something Before Those Results Have Occurred

Jen2 Comments

I finished up My sister’s shawl while we were on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.

(We had a positively lovely time, by the way. The Mister took the boys fishing

and we drove all around the island to look at all the lighthouses.

It was fun.)

I don’t have any pictures of the finished shawl just yet, either, because I still need to block the damn thing, but it is done. Done done done. Well, mostly done. And yes, I do have plans to knit a second one, but not for a while. I have a few things I’d like to do first. Namely this, which I have been obsessed with since the Yarn Harlot tweeted about it last month. I ordered the yarn for it before we left for MV, but it didn’t arrive in time for me to bring it with me. The plan today was to wind the yarn into cakes and do the swatch, but I’ve spent most of the day internet shopping for buttons. Ahem. Why yes, I do I realize that this is the knitter’s equivalent of counting your chickens before they’ve hatched. Shut up.

Also in the works is a pair of socks, which I cast on and frogged in MV.

I really like this colorway (Sweet Pea from the Yarn Pirate), but I didn’t like how it looked once I got the toe up to 72 stitches. Last night I cast on again for a smaller number of stitches.

Other projects planned include Bird in Hand mittens for Sis, some felted clogs for me me meeeee, and a sweater for the Mister.

Too bad I can’t stop shopping for buttons. I’m thinking of something from here.

Knitting · Lace

Slow Going

Jen6 Comments

Well, I’ve been working on the edge of the Blue Blossom shawl for a few days now. Man, oh man, is it tedious.

The thing is knitted on sideways and incorporates 3 of the shawl stitches into every repeat. I think that means I am doing 100 or so repeats of the edge (6 rows of about 9 stitches).

I’m trying hard not to stab myself in the eye.

free patterns · Knitting

YaYa Mitts

Jen4 Comments

I’ve had a pretty little ball of Classic Elite Inca Print in my stash for a long time now. I think it was the first alpaca yarn I ever purchased and, until now, I could never figure out what to do with it. Now that it’s officially the middle of August and with giftmas fast approaching, I finally thought of something to make with the Inca Print. YaYa Mitts!!

[ravelry]

These mitts will knit up quickly and with just 50 grams would make a lovely, inexpensive gift for anyone (with women’s size medium hands) on your list. Sadly, the Inca Print is now discontinued, but any DK weight yarn would work.

Materials: 50 grams of any DK weight yarn.
Size 5 needles

Cast on 36 stitches. (I found a great tutorial for casting on 2 at a time here.)
Work in 2×2 rib (K2, P2) for 1.75 inches

Thumb:
Knit 1, CO 8 stitches (I used the backward loop method), Knit 1, K2, P2 to the end of the round.

Thumb Gusset:
Rounds 1-4: K2, P2 to the end
Round 5: K2, P2tog, K2, P2tog, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Rounds 6-9: K2, P1, K2, P1, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Round 10: K1, P2tog, K1, P2tog, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Rounds 11-14: K1, P1, K1, P1, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Round 15: P2tog, P2tog, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Rounds 16-19: P2, K2 to the end of the round
Round 20: K2tog, K2tog, K2, P2

Continue to work in established 2×2 rib pattern until the mitt is the desired length or until you run out of yarn. BO loosely in pattern (I recommend JSSBO) and weave in ends.

Since I made mine on the short side, I have enough of the Inca Print to make a second pair!

cute kids · Knitting

Extinct Invertebrate, Knitted

Jen8 Comments

E5 has been on a sea-creature kick lately. It all started with seals and penguins, but has evolved into octopuses and other coleiods. When he found the ammonite fossil I keep in my desk drawer, he demanded a knitted version. Luckily there was already a pattern for one.

[ravelry]

As you can tell, he really likes it.

Knitting · life · Meh.

A Brief Update

Jen3 Comments

OMG you guys, I am insanely excited for tonight. I’m scheduled for a sleep study at the hospital where I’m to be evaluated for sleep apnea, the likely cause of this fatigue I’ve been struggling with. I’ll be hooked up to all manner of sensors and they will watch me sleep to see how it goes. Ooh, I can’t wait. I love that sciencey stuff. Also, my sleep doctor is incredibly nice, too, so that’s a bonus.

I’ve been knitting a little, and weaving too. I finished another dishcloth:

I love that colorway. So much fun and very cheerful. To top it off, I’m nearly done with my secret weaving project.

Now, I’m off to make dinner before heading over to the sleep lab. Cheers!

Knitting · Weaving

This is a post title.

Jen2 Comments

Hey, check it out, I remembered to get the photos I took off my camera! Michael’s had some exciting new Lily colorways the last time I was there, so I picked up a bunch of them. This one is the dishrag I have on the needles right now.

No, I don’t have a picture of the work in progress. How could you ask such a silly question? It’s almost as if you expect me to provide content for some sort of website or something. Well. We’ll have NONE of THAT nonsense HERE.

Also! There is this, which I started today and worked on it while Isaac was having his clarinet lesson. Check it out:

So there. Now get off the internet!

Knitting

Another Dishrag Down

Jen1 Comment

While I was out running errands with the boys yesterday, I finished up another of my traveling dishrags. As you can see, this one is a lovely variegated blue.

[ravelry]

You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for pictures of the new one.