O HAPPY NEEDLE!

iPod Touch Cozy

2011-06-13T18:01:00.006-04:00

Call it a cozy, a sock, a case, a protective bag, whatever. I improvised this for my husband a couple years ago when he got his Touch, but managed to not write it down anywhere. For my birthday I got a Touch, and of course I need a cozy, too! So here is the recreated pattern.

Materials: Bernat Felting (Patons SWS) less than a skein; probably any feltable wool would work
Needles: US 10 (6.0 mm) long circular for magic loop OR 2 circulars OR dpns
Sizes: ; two sizes
Gauge: 4sts per inch; size of pouch AFTER felting and before adding closure 2.375 in. x 4.5 in. (5 in. x 3.5 inches)

Using Judy's Magic Cast On, cast on 20 (36) stitches (10(18) on each needle). Begin knitting in the round by your preferred method. Work in stockinette until pouch measures 5 1/2 to 6 inches. Bind off. You're ready to hand-felt the pouch now before working the top/closure. (Pouch to this point used 24g/33 yds. of yarn.)

I recommend hand-felting: it really doesn't take that long and gives you the most control over the finished size. Machine-felt this only if you're really going to babysit that machine and check your cozy for size every couple minutes! Fill one sink or large bowl with HOT water and a little dish soap. Fill another with COLD water. Neither of these need to be very deep, just enough to submerge the item. I make sure my HOT water is very hot by using the hottest water that will come out of the tap and then adding some boiling water to it. I definitely advise wearing thick rubber gloves like you would wear for washing dishes! Take your cozy and plunge it into the hot soapy water and rub it vigorously between your gloved hands for a while, 30 seconds to a minute at the most for this first plunge.

Once you've agitated that thing for a while, squeeze the extra water out and then plunge it into the cold water. You can agitate it if you like; I'm not sure if the cold water agitation matters. The shocking is what's important.

Already starting to look a bit fuzzed. On to more agitation in hot--rub, rub, rub vigorously--squeeze and then plunge in the cold.
Lather, rinse, repeat and you'll quickly start to see the individual stitches disappear. You need to start keeping an eye on size at this point.
Stitch definition is pretty much gone and I think it's about the right length. Roll the item up in a towel and squeeze so you can be relatively sure it's just damp when you get it near your iPod/Phone; I hear they don't like water!

Length looks just about perfect at this point! We'll be adding some length in the finishing part, but for now we need to let the pouch dry completely. This one might be a little wider than I'd like, but it will allow room for the earbuds to be snug in there too. If you don't want as much room width-wise, cast on 34 or 32 stitches. If you want more room at the top, knit till it's 6 inches or longer. I quit when I did because I was running out of yarn and in fact finished the top with another colorway of SWS.

Once the cozy is dry, pick up an even number of stitches around the top. This can be a little difficult, but with a sharp dpn and maybe the help of a crochet hook, you can do it without too much trouble. Knit 5 or 6 rows, depending on how much room you want at the top. On the next row (k1, k2tog) all the way around. Knit the next round. You now have the eyelets for the drawstring. If you were lucky in the picking up round, you ended up with an even number of eyelets, but I've only managed this 1 out of 3 tries; two of my cozies have an extra hole. Bind off.

Cast on 3 stitches. Work an i-cord to your desired length. My blue/green one is about 12 inches. Weave in ends and thread the cord through the eyelets. Enjoy your iPod/phone cozy!

And for the amusement of those who know me well and know of my limited proficiency in the arena of Maths, I present my scratch paper:

Time for something new

2010-01-27T15:17:00.003-05:00

It's been ages since I posted anything to this blog. Ravelry does so much of what I originally did here. It tracks everything about my knitting projects, not to mention the groups inspire half of what I'm doing anyway. I'm particularly devoted to the Harry Potter Knit-Crochet House Cup group. Basically, the founders of the group put together a way to bring knitting smack into Hogwarts. All the members playing in a particular "term" are sorted into the four houses. Each term is three months long. I've already played two terms, so this term I am a third-year Gryffindor. There are six "classes" for which we may submit items knitted, crocheted, or spun during the month. This month, for instance, I submitted homework in Transfiguration (transfigure your ravelry queue from a disorganized mess to an organized project planning resource), Divination (figure out which type of palm you have and make something to keep yours warm), Potions (focusing on aconite, craft something either dangerous or that would delight Dumbledore), Arithmancy (an item illustrating the Droste effect), Charms (the rictusempra charm--craft something to tickle someone or that tickles the professor's funny bone), and Defense Against the Dark Arts (make something that represents a resolution you know you can keep). Each assignment earns 15 points for Gryffindor house. I'm also attempting two OWLs this term: Arithmancy, multiples option in which I propose to finish 8 individual socks in three months; and Muggle Studies in which I attempt to knit a sweater to help me blend in with the Muggles. Each completed OWL is worth 150 points for the house. There's also Quidditch going on, but I haven't played except in my first term. This whole idea is fabulous, and I so much enjoy taking part. I know it's somewhat silly, but as a fan of Harry Potter, I can't help but love it.

In life in general, my son with autism continues to perform well academically and struggle somewhat behaviorally and socially. He's such a smart little stinker. His latest obsession is with Star Wars and Legos and the combination, Lego Star Wars. When he's not wanting to play it on the Wii, he's making ships and setting up elaborate scenes with his Legos. It's interesting to us that his favorite character of the entire saga is Anakin. Because he watched the movies from Episode 1 through Episode 6, he gets that the whole thing is about Anakin, not Luke and Leia as it always seemed to those of us who started with Episode 4. The Clone Wars show on the Cartoon Network helps with that, too, of course, since Anakin and his padawan are the heroes of that show.

Now that the kids are home from school for the day, I really must end this post and get on with the homework battle. I'll post some pictures of my HPKCHC homework when I get a chance.

Oh dear Lord.

2008-02-12T16:17:00.009-05:00

It's been almost 5 months...ahem...scratch that...more than 9 months since my last post. (I've started this post many times.) A lot has happened both knitting-wise and otherwise. My Daddy passed away. Since he'd retired, he played Santa Claus for the local hospital where he volunteered, for the Salvation Army, and for various friends around town. He died on Dec. 6th, the Feast of St. Nicholas Day. I don't think I will ever be able to express how much I still miss him and always will. If I write very much more on the subject, I'm liable to dissolve into a nasty, snotty mess so that will have to be enough said on that subject. Obviously, the holidays were less than jolly, though much bad behavior was excused with "Daddy would have wanted me to do that." He was quite a joker. I have been doing relatively well, but then my birthday came and Father's day, and I found myself in another very sad place thinking about him A LOT again. I know it will hurt less eventually, or that is what I tell myself anyway. The lit up crystal thing was a gift from our playgroup. He had played Santa Claus for the every one of the playgroup's Christmas parties.

Moving on. Let's see what else I wrote back in January or February when I started this post.

Knitting-wise I've been VERY busy since September, but some of the things posted in September haven't really changed all that much. That pillow cover is still in about the same spot. The frou frou cardigan is only about 1/3 of the way through the sleeves which isn't much farther at all. The Mystery Stole, aka Swan Lake stole, was completely abandoned when I decided I needed the needle it was on and discovered that about 2 inches worth of stitches had been dropped mysteriously while it was languishing in its project bag. Since the repair of such is likely to require complete absence of children in the house, lots of time, and possibly much cursing, it is completely in time-out for now. EDIT*** Not anymore! I finished that sucker. I'll put pictures of it in the next post. It's up in the closet and I don't want to drag it out right now.***
The baby socks and the slipped-stitch rib socks were finished. I have pictures of the baby socks, but not the slipped-stitch rib socks. They were low ankle socks as requested by my MIL. They were meant to be a birthday gift, but, as they weren't finished until after New Year's and her birthday was Dec. 4, they were quite belated. ***Here ends the text I started originally. Jeez, I never even described what's in these pictures! There are Rose's purple felted clogs on the top left, Mom's socks on the top right. Directly to the left is Jess's felted purse (a Sophie bag), and to the right are Tommy's not-so-horcrux socks. He wanted ankle socks so I had to modify that pattern. Now let's see if I can get some more Christmas present pix in here cuz there were lots more!

Ok, these are Shadow Box socks from Knit Socks! They are just plain old Wool-ease in heathered rose or something like that. Below the Shadow Boxes is the One Row Scarf in some Debbie Mumm yarn from Joann's. I don't remember the name of the yarn or the name of the colourway. It was pretty cool. Next we have some dishcloths for my stepMIL. One is the petal dishcloth and the other is a crocheted star dishcloth also from the Dishcloth Boutique.

I am going to quit on this post for now. I can't remember what else I've worked on since Christmas--other than finishing that Mystery Stole and countless socks--so I will post again soon. I promise! Hey, I have spinning stuff to post too (yes, I've been assimilated) so I really will post again soon. ;-)

Works in progress and things I forgot

2007-09-20T14:30:00.000-04:00

There are some things in progress and a few items that slipped my mind when I was posting yesterday.

Let's start with the Finished Objects. First up we have a Gryffindor bookscarf. I joined the Harry-thon Knitalong group on ravelry.com. As we reread the novels from 1 through 7, we have projects that go along. There are three options for each year, but I chose to go with a Hogwarts: A History project which just required something in house colors, something about Hogwarts, or even school supplies. I didn't want to take on a big project so I was delighted to find the pattern for this bookmark.It is knit in a tube on size 0s using DMC Pearl Cotton 5. It was the first thing I'd ever knit on size 0 needles so it could count as a First-years Boat Ride (something you've never done before) project too. I haven't quite decided on a project for year 2.

Next we have my slight dishcloth binge. This is the Petal dishcloth from dishcloth boutique. I had this yarn with which I'd started a garterlac dishcloth, but I just didn't enjoy it. I don't think the yarn is particularly pretty or anything. So I just wanted to use it up and be done with it. Petal is actually the one that used up the very last. I had to use some extra orange cotton to finish it off.
This was the first cloth I started to try to use this up and get it out of the stash. I've made 3 or 4 of these now. It's the Four-corners dishcloth from Abigail at 1870 Pearl. The pattern is in her sidebar.This is a granny's favorite dishcloth that has been on the needles for a long time. I started it to help a friend learn to knit. I finally started decreasing it so I can get it off the needles. I'm tired of carrying it around in a half-finished state. Here ends the dishcloth binge. For now.This is the current state of my Mystery Stole which all mystery-stole-knitters now know as the Swan Lake stole. I've been stuck a few rows from the end of clue 3 for far too long. It's just a pain because I really can't work on it with the kids around. There's too much chance of them bumping me and knocking stitches off the needles, not to mention trying to referee their spats while trying to keep my place on the chart. I've had to do surgery on it a couple times already when a stitch got dropped a few rows. It was very nerve-wracking and I don't want to have to do that again!I'd like to take a break here for a short rant about blogger. They REALLY need an "undo" button, much like the one in Excel, where if you accidentally delete something, you hit "undo" and it's back. While trying to get rid of what appeared to be a space, I deleted the granny's favorite photo and had to re-upload it. What a PITA! The ability to drag and drop the photos in the compose view is definitely an improvement (or a neat discovery if that's something you've always been able to do), but an "undo" button would be great too.

This WIP will be a pillow cover. It's from Speed Knitting. I've been looking for something to do with this yarn for years now. It didn't want to be a Big Sack Sweater. It didn't want to be a Very Cropped Top Hoodie. So far it's doing all right as the pillow cover. We'll see if it behaves and actually gets completed. I have something like 8 skeins of this yarn so maybe I can get two pillow covers out of it. The pattern is pretty mindless since you knit across on the right side then k1, p1 across on the wrong side. My hands apparently don't like the bulky yarn though; I'm having a little bit of a tendonitis flare-up and my hands just feel tired when I'm working with it. The yarn is Wool-ease chunky. I've lost the label so I don't know the colorway.
This is my Froufrou cardigan for MEEEEE!!! I made one as a Christmas gift last year and have wanted to make myself one ever since. The yarn is Wool-ease worsted in Forest Heather which is actually a much darker green. I can not get the color to photograph true. Anyway, it's my crochet project for when I need a break from all the knitting.

Other things going on in my world right now: 1. Ds is doing great in kindergarten. I was so anxious for him and it turns out he's doing fine!
2. My dad's doing ok. Still on chemotherapy and his appetite is therefore suffering. It's hard to get him to talk much lately so I usually try to talk to my mom sometime after I talk to him to find out what's REALLY going on. Turns out he fell six times last week. SIX! He's very stubborn and I know it's humbling to have to use the walker, but if he doesn't use it, he falls! He has to learn everything the hard way. Now he's using the walker more and falling less.
3. My dd started preschool and loves it. She has two little girls she hangs out with the whole time. Having her in preschool two mornings a week and ds in kindergarten every morning has given me a few precious hours to myself. Ah!
4. The addition is finally coming along! After being completely stalled for two whole months, we had to fire the first contractor and go with a more reliable one. Unfortunately, besides being difficult to contact, the first contractor also seems to have cut some corners so some work has had to be redone. *sigh* We're definitely learning some life lessons on this project. Currently, the exterior is almost completely done and the interior is getting close. Drywall has to be finished, repairs to the existing house drywall need to be done, trimwork and doors hung, electrical finish work (i.e. put the fixtures and switches in), then the carpet will be the very last thing and it will be livable! Woo hoo!
5. I am eagerly awaiting my package from my ravelry.com Footballalong group swap! This is my first ever swap, and I hope it is a good experience. I enjoyed shopping for my spoilee. I hope she likes what I sent her! I had an email from my spoiler the other day saying she hadn't made it to the post office by the deadline, but she'd be sending it out that day. I'm stalking the mailbox! I'm in a couple of fantasy leagues related to this group too. I think I'm 1-1 in both of them.
Keeping my housework and laundry under control is about all else that's going on around here. Wow. Two updates in two days. Don't get used to it!

Finally a real update!

2007-09-19T09:05:00.000-04:00

This will be a photo heavy post. I know I said I'd update Monday and Wednesday mornings because of the lack of children those mornings, but I'm finally getting around to it now. I actually updated Ravelry yesterday too so it helps that I already have all my photos ready to go.

It has been a knitting-busy summer; I've just had lots of other stuff going on too. I didn't join the Summer of Socks, but I have done a lot of sock knitting. Below we have the Feather and Fan Socks from Socks, Socks, Socks. I mentioned these back in May and June. I didn't finish them till the end of July.
Speaking of July, at the county fair my Monkey Socks won Champion in the Adult knitted clothing category. The yarn is Mama E's C*eye*ber Fiber Softee Sock in the Mean Girl colorway. I absolutely loved this yarn. I can't decide what to do with the leftovers.Because of the way you move pictures around in this, things are in kind of random order. These are the most recently finished socks. They are Priscilla's Dream from Favorite Socks. The yarn is Knitpicks Parade.
These are Ruffled Ribs baby socks from the Better -than-Booties Baby Socks pattern from Interweave Knits. One down, one barely started, but they go fast. They're tiny.
In progress we have the slipped stitch rib socks done toe-up. This is one of the six-stitch patterns from Sensational Knitted Socks. If they turn out ok they will be a birthday or Christmas gift for my mother-in-law; if they don't turn out as well as I hope, they'll be mine.These are the Waving Lace Socks, also from Favorite Socks. The yarn is Schaefer Anne. I don't know the name of the colorway. My dear sweet husband bought this yarn for me on his recent trip to Nashville. Since I didn't get to go, I told him he had to bring me back yarn. I told him, "Just walk in and tell them you need handpainted sock yarn. They'll help you out." When he picked this out, it was still in the skein. He's disappointed with how it's knitting up; it was REALLY pretty in the skein, but he doesn't think it's as pretty with the colors all jumbled up. I still think it's pretty and it's certainly heaven to work with. I'll be buying me some more Schaefer Anne!

Getting back to the county fair, these entries also did well. My Sherwood sweater made for my ds last fall. I might pick up the edges of the arms and knit some more length onto them so he can wear it this winter too. It won Reserve Champion in the children's knitted clothing.
My Sophie Bag I made last fall won Champion in the felted/fulled category.

There has been some stash en- hance- ment, but I swear it wasn't my fault! The Tofutsies on the right was a birthday present. I started a pair of socks with it, but didn't care for how it was pooling so I'm waiting for it to tell me what it wants to be. I'm considering another pair of Monkey socks because I really enjoyed that pattern.

The rest of these yarns came home from the Knit Out and Crochet 2007 held at the Metropolis Mall in Plainfield. The Tuscany Grande was in a scarf kit door prize along with size 17 needles. The Fleece Artist Sea Wool was actually someone else's door prize. I was teaching this extremely nice older lady to knit--actually "reminding" would be a better term; she had knitted before--and she gave me her sock kit door prize as a thank you for teaching her. I thought that was extremely nice of her and it was completely unexpected. I've heard a lot of good things about Fleece Artist, but this is the first time I've even seen it. I am trying to resist winding it into a ball because then I'd just want to cast it on and I have too many projects going right now. (I'll address WIPs in the next update.) I don't know the name of the colorway, but I'll probably try the pattern that was on the label. There were also some extremely bendy sock needles in the kit, but I don't like dpns so I may never use them. I can not be blamed for the Caron Fling on the right. It was in the registration package. It will probably make a perfectly nice scarf for someone for Christmas.

Screw it.

2007-09-11T14:15:00.000-04:00

You know what? It's been a long time since I updated, but I don't care. Screw it. I don't have much time to spend on this today either. I'm slating Monday and Wednesday mornings for official updating with pics and everything (both kids will be in school those mornings...BWAHAHAHA!). Really, I've had a whole lot going on this summer so blogging just hasn't been a priority.

In catching up with the blogs I read on google reader (love that!), a couple of them had lists of either things for which they were thankful or silly little things that make them happy. Here's my list of 5 things for which to be grateful today:

1. I'm healthy. No major aches and pains to complain about. No diseases as of yet. Woo hoo!

2. My kids are healthy. A little quirky perhaps, but on the whole very healthy little boogers. If only they'd eat veggies. *sigh*

3. I am married to one of the best men ever. Really, I don't think I tell him nearly enough how much I appreciate him. He's truly one of the best people I've ever known.

4. Knitting/crocheting. It's rhythm relaxes me and makes everything seem right. And if it's not working I can always frog the project and knit/crochet it again or turn it into something totally different! Case in point, the Big Sack Sweater which was frogged to become the Very Cropped Top Hoodie which has now been frogged to become a pillow cover without a fancy name. (Maybe I'll provide links if I feel like editing this post tomorrow. Don't count on it.)

5. Knitting podcasts. Laundry is folded much more quickly and painlessly if I can zone out to a podcast while I'm folding.

What 5 things are you thankful for today?

Finally got started on MS3!!!

2007-07-13T07:54:00.001-04:00

My yarn finally arrived on Thursday. I was a little leery about using black, but it turns out to be a heathered black with bits of blues and greens. It's quite lovely. I've only wound up one skein into a ball so far.
I only got the first 50 rows done yesterday. This pattern is a challenge. It is the most complex lace chart with which I've worked, and placing those darn beads is quite fiddly. My almost four-year old likes to sit on the edge of my chair when I'm knitting and hold my hair or just lean on me. I can NOT stand for her to be there when I'm doing a beading row. The little tiny hook, trying to catch all the strands of the laceweight, and not drop anything is a bit more than I can handle when she gets to jiggling her feet or wiggling around.
Above is the gauge swatch. It turned out a bit airy, but I think it will work. I liked it much better after blocking it out.

In FO news, I finished the Forest Canopy Shawl out of Koigu KPPPM. This is a horrible picture so just imagine a better one until I can get a better one taken. Ugh.
The WIPs are still going, but I haven't been working on them diligently. I've been distracted with lace. The feather & fan socks are still stalled out on the cuff. I did several rows on the Bellatrix socks while the kids played at the park, but didn't make very much progress. When I get caught up with the Mystery Stole 3, I'll devote more time to the socks. They're really my out and about projects more than sitting at home projects.

FiberArts club was awesome on Wednesday. We had three brand new people, one of whom decided to join the homemakers' club. One of the others was already a member of another extension club but wants to learn to crochet and/or knit. The third for now will probably just be one who comes to sit and knit rather than join homemakers.

2007-07-10T09:17:00.000-04:00

*sniff*

That's me sniffling away since dh gave me his heinous virus. I've got it much more mildly than he did, but then that's typical. I have a kick-ass immune system, and his immune system is about as strong as an hour old kitten. So I'm just sniffling a lot, raw throat from that lovely post-nasal drip, and running a low fever. I'll live.

I started another pair of socks, the Bellatrix pattern from July's Socktopia. It's a pretty quick knit so far. I have four more pattern repeats to go before I get to the heel, but I've been distracted trying to finish my Forest Canopy Shawl. I have 8 1/2 rows to go. I should be able to finish it today if I just sit down and do it. I'd love to have it blocked before the FiberArts club meeting tomorrow; however, I also need to clean the house and get to the grocery store before then, so maybe I won't get it done and blocked, especially if I can't get myself off the computer.

The Mystery Stole yarn still hasn't arrived. I'm hoping for today or tomorrow. It only has to come from one state over. Even though I chose the cheap shipping option, I wouldn't think it would take too long. I picked up beads for it yesterday. I hope they'll look good. I had trouble finding the 8/0 beads locally; there just weren't many choices in color. I'll try the ones I got, and if I hate them, I'll just rip back and do it without beads.

Shipped

2007-07-07T08:42:00.000-04:00

My midnight heather Alpaca Cloud for Mystery Stole 3 has been shipped. The shipping date: Two days from now. There must be some kind of wrinkle in the space-time continuum at Knitpicks.

So much going on

2007-07-06T13:08:00.000-04:00

I just haven't felt like updating so now my blog is sadly neglected. Let's see if I can do a top 10 things-going-on-to-distract-me-from-blogging list:

1. My dad has cancer. This really sucks. I can't say too much about it, or I will get really upset.

2. My mildly autistic ds has been enrolled in a study at the Christian Sarkine Autism Center at Riley Hospital for Children. We just found out he was on the placebo--good news because it means the recent improvements we've seen in him (which have been subtle but are definite) are just a result of his maturing and reaping the benefits of speech therapy and preschool. He now starts phase II of the study and goes on the medication. I'm somewhat excited, but also a bit trepidacious as I know that I need to be on the watch for real side effects now. I'm hoping that he will be communicative about any discomforts he may experience. The drug is an antibiotic previously used at large doses to treat tuberculosis. Decades ago when tuberculosis was more of a problem, it was noted in the schizophrenic (and some other mentally ill population which I can't currently recall) population that their symptoms of social withdrawal were improved. The results of the initial study of this drug in small doses with children with autism were encouraging enough to implement this slightly larger study in which my ds is participating. We are specifically looking for improvement in speech and social engagement.

3. Point #1 above seems to have the effect on me of withdrawing into reading and knitting to avoid thinking about the possibility of losing my dad so my housework--as well as the blog--is suffering. Short of making and sticking to my to-do lists, I don't know what to do here.

4. Ravelry. When I am on line, I'm either on ravelry or . . . .

5. Google reader. Reading blogs. I love it, but it is kind of a timesuck. And then that darn Yarn Harlot seduced me into. . . .

6. Mystery Stole 3. It's a knitalong where participants are given a supplies list and then given only parts of the pattern every week. It's all I can do not to call knitpicks customer service and scream, "Why is my order still pending?! It's been over 12 hours since I placed the order!! Get a move on!" *blush*

7. Sock knitting. I finally finished the Monkey Socks out of Mama E's C*eye*ber Fiber in the Mean Girl colorway.

Still working on the Feather & Fan socks in Tofutsies.

Started Priscilla's Dream Socks from Favorite Socks. These don't look like much yet.

I also have four or five patterns for socks in my ravelry queue (oops! make that six), and I'm sure I'll add more. It may be a Very Socky Christmas this year. *wink*

8. I keep thinking about casting on for my stripey sweater. It'll be a set-in sleeve top down following the procedure outlined in Knitting from the Top by Barbara Walker. I really want to make it, but I'm chicken to cast on and mess it up. What a goofball I am!

9. The four-corners dishcloth. (Pattern link in the linked blog's left sidebar.) I've finished two and I'm partway through a third. They're very fun to work.

Yes, that is a CONE of red, green and white Sugar n Cream. I don't know what I was thinking. Well, I do, actually. I thought I'd make dishcloths for everyone on our Christmas list, gather them up to look like bows, and attach them to the packages. Corny as hell, eh? Yeah, it didn't happen either.

10. Forest Canopy Shawl. The yarn is Koigu KPPM? KPPPM? I have no idea how many P's should be in there, and I don't feel like going to look at the label. It's multicolored. It's pretty. It's been moving along pretty quickly, though I know it will slow down as the rows get longer. I'm enjoying it very much. I just hope the two skeins I have are enough, or I will have to make modifications.
I can't wait to finish and block this puppy. It doesn't look like much here, but it's going to grow so much and be so lacy and beautiful when it's blocked!

And that's what's been keeping me busy lately. I'll try to keep up with the blog a little better.

Another quick and dirty c&p post

2007-06-20T08:54:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm cheating and copied and pasted this entry from the Sybermoms Stash KAL blog. This blog needed an update, and I hadn't posted these footies here. I did have to reload the photos, but otherwise it's a completely plagiarized post. If I can plagiarize myself, that is.
These are my toe-up footies with baby cables. They are basically exactly what I intended when I bought the yarn. I followed the toe-up method outlined in the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. It already used my favorite short-row heel method, and the toe was pretty simple too. I did them two at once also, though I did the first couple rows on dpns then I transferred them to the 32" KP circular and used magic loop. They seemed to take forever, but at least they were both finished at the same time. I used Lang Jawoll Cotton Jacquard. Oddly enough, it didn't become a stash yarn till May. *blush* I guess I just don't like my stash yarns that much. The last three projects I started were done with yarn purchased on free days in April and May. I only bought the one skein of the yarn intending to get a pair of footies out of it. If my feet had been much longer I wouldn't have made it. In the picture above you can see all that was left of the yarn after binding off! They are perhaps a bit lower on my heels than I would prefer, but they stay on and they feel great!

In other progress, I have one and a half Monkey socks done. I just started the second feather-and-fan sock. In the planning stages I have a striped set-in sleeve sweater from the top down using yarn that has been in the stash for 3+ years, plus a ball I picked up at the LYS anniversary sale last week. It counts as a birthday present since I bought it the day before my birthday, and dh has referred to it as my birthday yarn. I also am making it a goal to finish the VCTHoodie that I started back when it was still wintery out. Dh ordered a new camera which should come next week, and in the mean time he has somehow managed to repair one of the camera disks. I expect to spend much of the weekend and next week photographing my stash and WIPs to add to Ravelry.

Big Dummy

2007-05-31T10:24:00.000-04:00

I jammed my thumb while closing the windows on the porch last night. I don't think it's broken; it's probably just sprained or strained. I used a little too much force upward to make sure the window closed, and wow, did it hurt! I have pretty good range of motion. It's odd what hurts: putting the lid on a Tupperware cup, pulling up a zipper, when I try to lean on that hand while putting together ds's train track on the floor. It does NOT hurt when knitting. This is great news because I've started a third pair of socks. I'm over a third of the way through the foot of the feather-and-fan pair, and halfway through the cuff of the second monkey. I was flipping through my summer IK and decided to try the toe-up method featured in this issue. I'm doing them toe-up and two at once. I did the first step for each sock on dpns, then slipped them to my 32" size 1 circular, and I'm really enjoying them. The pattern calls for a 2x2 rib once you get to the patterned part, but I'm going to do that rib as a baby cable. These are just going to be footies to wear around the house. I think anyway. We'll have to see how far the yarn takes me. I am using Lang Jawoll Cotton Jacquard in a brown/grey/teal colorway.

Now for a few pictures. This is what I'll call an heirloom rose. It's off a start from a rose my mom brought up from our house where I grew up and I think it may have come from the farm where she grew up. It only blooms once, but it is just covered in blooms. It has that old-fashioned rose scent. I love the way it has taken over this fence. Anyway here is another view. The bush inside the fence is an old-fashioned lilac. It was a disappointment this year. I thought its buds were bitten by the late freeze, but then no, they looked like they would open. Then we got a long dry and hot spell and the buds dried up. *sigh* The roses don't appear to be affected by either the freeze (though I did have to cut them back severely this spring) or the dry spell. This red one, Showbiz, always looks great and does well until it gets hit with black spot. This yellow one is Sunflare and though it doesn't look like much now, you can see it is loaded with buds. The last pic is the first bloom of Pretty Lady. She will be covered with blooms shortly too.
I can't believe I almost forgot to show off my baby bluebirds! This is them on Monday afternoon. I haven't checked on them since, but momma bluebird has been busy in and out of the box keeping them fed.

grumble Damn camera! grumble

2007-05-30T08:36:00.000-04:00

I didn't think it would take us this long to decide on a new digital camera. Sorry about the lack of updates. I'm *this* close to buying a $20 kids' camera for myself just so I can take pics for my blog. There are some pics of my roses on the camera disk that the computer won't read, but dh has to recover them using the laptop, so any updates just have to wait. I finished the monkey sock from the previous update and I'm about four repeats through the cuff of the second one. (Imagine pictures here. That's all you're going to get for a while. *sigh*)

I also knit a feather-and-fan sock through the cuff, heel, and gusset only to discover that it wouldn't go over my heel. So it's been frogged, the yarn went in time out for a day and a half, and then I cast it on again using bigger needles. I really like this pattern. It's easy, it's pretty, and it's going really fast on the bigger needles. *grin* I'm almost done with the heel flap now. The yarn is Tofutsies in a pink, turquoise, green colorway. I've been trying to figure out of what it reminds me. I think of childhood candy whenever I look at it. Sweetarts, maybe? I posted the yarn in a previous post so you can go look at it and tell me what you think, though the colors don't show as well in the skein. (Ooops. I posted the yarn on the Sybermoms Stash KAL blog, not this one. Here's a link to that entry.) When I was knitting it on the smaller needles, the turquoise was pooling more so it looked mostly blue. This redo is pooling the green more. It looks a lot different, but I still like it.

I have made NO progress on anything else. It doesn't help that my other projects are on BIG needles and I do NOT like working with BIG needles (i.e. 11s and 19s). I've been trying to teach myself to throw in the style of the Yarn Harlot. Someone (I can't remember which blogger now) had video of the Harlot on her blog. She was so amazed at the speed that she slowed it down and narrated how she thinks Stephanie achieves such speed. Anyway, I can't do it and it's frustrating. I like my method even if it means I have to take breaks now and then for the tendinitis to calm down. (I generally can't manage more than a day or two without knitting, so it doesn't get a whole lot of opportunity to calm down.)

I would like to make the sweater on the cover of the Summer Interweave Knits, but with short sleeves. I have 7 skeins of artyarns supermerino so I think I would probably have enough if I start the sleeves right below the yoke. What I'd like to try is doing a provisional cast on and working from the yoke upward, then going back to the body and working till I run out of yarn. I just don't know if that would work.

SHEness, and The Muggles just don't get it.

2007-05-14T11:53:00.000-04:00

I am a SHE--Sidetracked Home Executive for those unfamiliar with the term. It always seems that things never really get done at my house because I'm easily sidetracked by something else when I'm in the middle of doing something. That is, when I'm not playing hooky by knitting or reading anyway. For example, yesterday dh and I were very busily cleaning up the house for our Mother's Day cookout which we were hosting. I was in the middle of cleaning the pit next to my chair where UFOs go to die when dh mentioned that I might need to check on the bluebirds in the bluebird house because he'd seen a broken egg and maybe some predator had gotten to them. So I got righteously indignant at the thought of some stinking raccoon killing my bluebirds the first stinking year any clutched in that box and marched outside with my stepladder (I'm short) to check the box. The birds were fine. Momma bluebird flew out of the house when she heard me approaching and all five eggs were fine and accounted for. So I headed back to the house past my irises whereupon I remembered that I needed to replace the irises in the vase inside the house, so I got some scissors, headed back out, and cut some irises. And bleeding hearts. And Johnson's Blue geranium. Oh, and some columbines. I finally finished refreshing the bouquets in the house, so I got back to business cleaning in the bathroom and needed to get some more toilet paper to restock the cabinet. So I trotted off to the laundry room where the spare TP is kept. I remembered whilst there that the laundry in the dryer needed to be jerked and hung and the remaining laundry dried. So I did that, interrupting dh so he'd bring me some more hangers in the process. Then I decided to throw the kids dark clothes in the washer, intending to bring down more darks from upstairs to fill the load. Many minutes later after straightening the laundry room, I remembered for what I'd gone there in the first place and headed back to the bathroom to finish cleaning it only to recall that I was actually in the middle of cleaning the pit next to the chair before any of the bluebird/flowers/bathroom/tp/laundry room craziness began!

So that's why I never seem to get anything done. I get lots of tiny steps done toward accomplishing things, but then I'm sidetracked by something else. Right now I should be working on the monkey sock, but I was folding laundry and folding my yarn over cable socks when I remembered that I forgot to tell my mom how to care for her socks I gave her (they're NOT superwash wool) so I called her. We chatted for a bit about Purdue day tomorrow (homemakers' choral festival) and she mentioned that she didn't think my MIL was planning to get over here to watch the kids at the time that *I* thought she would be getting over here. So then I had to check in with dh via IM to make sure his mother was in fact going to be here when she was needed. And then of course since I was in the computer room, I had to check my email. Then I remembered I wanted to write this blog entry so I started on that. The dryer buzzer went off reminding me that I'd forgotten to jerk and hang the damp shirts I'd gotten out of the dryer earlier. So I went to do that and now I'm back. This SHEness is exhausting! And that darks load I was going to start yesterday? Just started it about an hour ago. *sigh*

On to how The Muggles don't get it. The Yarn Harlot frequently refers to non-knitters as "muggles" so I'm going to co-opt her use of it here. The muggles in my family tolerate my love of yarn and obsession with knitting. They wear and use the handknit items with which I gift them. Or some of them do. My mother appreciates the knit socks anyway, though I'm not sure she really uses the felted bags all that much. Anyway, I was knitting away on the monkey sock with my Mama E's C*eye*ber Fiber yarn in the Mean Girls colorway that I picked up at Threaded Bliss a few weeks ago. (It is really unseemly just how much I love this yarn--the softness! the colors! the perfect variegation! I just love it a little too much perhaps.) So being taken with the yarn as I am, I trotted out to the patio to display its loveliness for the admiration of my mother, MIL, and SIL. "Look how pretty this yarn is! Isn't it just so pretty?" I exclaimed, expecting their faces to light up with the delight I feel when admiring it.
I expected at least that someone would reach out and want to feel how soft it is and admire the colors more closely. Nope. Each of them just said, "Yeah, it's pretty." Much in the way one might comment on the weather, "Yeah, it's sunny." *sigh* Yarn is so unappreciated by the muggles. They just don't get it. I didn't even bother to get out Lilac the Tapdancing Midget yarny goodness from Lime & Violet's etsy shop for them to look at. They wouldn't understand why I love it.

Oh, yeah. I finished the Horcrux socks last week too. See the lightning bolt? The pattern is based on the speculation that Harry Potter's scar may be the last Horcrux. We shall see in just a few months whether the speculation pans out. The yarn is Lang Jawoll colors. The pattern is one of the Six Sox Knitalong patterns.

And these are the socks I gave my mom yesterday, the Springtime in Paris socks which also happen to be a Six Sox Knitalong pattern. One is inside out because you can wear them either way. Inside out the pattern is supposed to look like little Eiffel Towers. Worn stockinette side out it's supposed to look like the drops of spring rain dripping down the window of your hotel room in Paris. The yarn is Knitpicks Sock Memories in Grandma.

Short n Sweet

2007-04-02T16:53:00.001-04:00

. . .is done and blocking. That is all.

Just for AMG

2007-04-01T09:24:00.000-04:00

This picture is for a knitter at Sybermoms who just got this same yarn in a swap. Not the greatest picture, but I was trying to be quick.
I worked on these till I got them to the same point so I can now work on one repeat on one sock, then one repeat on the other. Of course right now I'm not working on them at all since I have to finish Short n Sweet, the Lotus Blossom Tank, AND sew a skirt by next week at this time. *twitch*

A quick C&P

2007-03-14T12:28:00.000-04:00

I know I haven't updated in a while, but I just posted this to the Sybermoms Stashalong Blog so I thought I'd see if a cut-and-paste would work. IT DID! Woohoo! Twice the posts for half the work!

This post is going to be photo-heavy and prose-light.
First is the sock froggie blanket--a variation on the sock monkey blanket in The Happy Hooker. I'm glad it's done. I don't care if I ever crochet/knit with mint green and pale yellow again. It doesn't lie perfectly flat, but I'm not worried about it. I'm hoping to have it in the mail to my friend later this week.

Springtime in Paris socks. To the left we have the detail shot flipped over so you can decide if the supposed-Eiffel tower details look anything like Eiffel towers. To the right is the progress on the sock so far. This has gone very quickly and is making me a convert to the magic loop technique.

The yarn-over cable socks. I have darn near perfectly matched up the stripes and am at nearly the same point so as soon as sock #2 is caught up to sock #1 I will be able to work them semi-simultaneously so they finish at the same time. I will be so glad to get these finished as I HATE HATE HATE the dpns.

This is the Lotus Blossom Tank. I'm about 2/3 of the way through the 4th lace repeat. I want to have it done to wear on Easter with the Short and Sweet (I think that's the name) bolero/shrug thingie from The Happy Hooker. The tank is in Shine Sport and I will be ordering Shine Worsted for the bolero thingie. And I need to make the skirt I intend to wear with them. Sure, I'll be done by Easter. No problem. *twitch*

Ok, these aren't knitted, but I like this so I wanted to post it. It's a Roll Your Own needlecase from SnB but modified for dpns. I like it. Too bad I hate the dpns so much.

Wow. I really need to post more often.

2007-02-17T09:32:00.000-05:00

I'm way behind. I finished Shedir. It ended up taking me a little over two weeks. The side picture doesn't really do it justice I think. The cabling is much prettier on, and the star on top is a very nice detail. I learned to cross the stitches without a cable needle. If I'd continued using the cable needle, I think it would have taken twice as long to complete. I'm really glad to have finished it, and I'm pretty proud of it. I don't know if it qualifies as more complicated than Sherwood, but it was a bit of a challenge. The chart was actually pretty easy to read. I put in markers to separate the repeats. I think I would have gotten lost and screwed it up if I hadn't used the markers.
This is the lovely star pattern on top. I couldn't get a good picture of it on, so I had to stuff it with a small knitting bag to get the picture. That's why it looks like it has strings hanging off even though it is entirely completed at this point. I'm just really proud of this project. I would actually consider making this again. It was enough of a challenge to keep me entertained, and it progressed rather quickly. I would, however, use a different yarn. The yarn is natura Advantage 100% Deluxe Acrylic, 3 ply sport weight. I don't know if this yarn is still manufactured since I bought it over 15 years ago, tried to learn to knit, then happily forgot about it. I did enjoy taking pictures of my dd wearing the hat. I couldn't get any good phots of the details of the hat while she wore it, but I think her expression in this photo is priceless! She's such a stinker.

What else have I been working on? This stripey sock! It's a pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I did the heel differently; it's the same heel used in the baby socks I made a couple months ago. I find the yarn-over/backwards yarn-over method much easier than the wrap & turn method. I like doing this toe-up too. I think these socks will actually fit me! I need to get me a digital scale so I can measure out the yarn till there's only 50 grams left and make sure I have enough for the second sock. I still haven't figured out the stripe repeat yet. It started with orange stripes, then THREE pink stripes, then THREE orange stripes, and now it's been TWO stripes the rest of the way. What gives? How does this make sense? I keep thinking at some point I'll run into a section of three stripes again, but so far that hasn't happened. How am I supposed to make them match? I don't know if I can have totally not matching socks. I think that would bother me a lot. We'll see. I will be taking a break from the socks for a little while since my wrists started bothering me this morning. Darn teeny needles.

The other project that I've been spending a considerable amount of time with is the Very Cropped Top Hoodie from Magknits. I'm using the yarn from my frogged Big Sack Sweater. Rather than making it a truly very cropped top, I put the body on waste yarn so I can pick it back up and add length after I make sure I have enough yarn to finish both sleeves. It might not end up being a hoodie at all if I run out of yarn. No biggie.

If you're wondering how the Lotus Blossom Tank is going, just scroll down a couple entries. It still looks like it did. I just can't bring myself to work on a summer top when there's several inches of ice/snow on the ground.

Progress

2007-02-08T08:39:00.000-05:00

I have been working on things since my last post. In this shot you can see the cabling on Shedir. The color in this picture is not at all true. The actual color is flat black, hence the inability to see any details in the previous picture of this project. It's more fun to work on now, and I'm learning some new techniques for crossing stitches without using a cable needle. It's still not automatic, but it's easier than using the cable needle.

Here is the sock. It's coming along nicely. I think I only have about an inch before starting the short rows for the heel. It's hard to tell with the dpns since I can't try it on as easily as if it were on 2 circulars. I might have to put some waste yarn in it to try it to make sure before I start the heel. I'll rip it back if I turn the heel too soon and redo it, but I'd rather avoid that if I can. Once I get to the ankle on this sock, I'm going to do the other sock of the pair up to the same point so I can make sure they end up close to the same length. I'd hate to have a short one because I ran out of yarn.

Any of the other stash projects that are in progress have experienced NO progress over the last few days. I cast on the Very Cropped Top Hoodie with the yarn unraveled from the Big Sack Sweater. It doesn't look like much yet so I chose not to photograph it yet. I will leave you with a picture of my knitting chair:

2007-02-02T19:08:00.000-05:00

You are Milk Chocolate

A total dreamer, you spend most of your time with your head in the clouds.
You often think of the future, and you are always working toward your ideal life.
Also nostalgic, you rarely forget a meaningful moment... even those from long ago.

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

Stash WIPs

2007-02-02T08:46:00.000-05:00

I'm participating in a Stashalong with others in the craft forum at Sybermoms. The idea is to avoid buying yarn as long as possible. Probably every knitter/crocheter has a stash of yarn they've bought for projects that were abandoned, projects that were never started, leftovers from completed projects, yarn we fell in love with at the store but for which we couldn't find the perfect project, etc. If you click on the link, you can go to the blog for the Stashalong. As a result I have a lot of projects on the needles that are from yarn that's been in my stash.

This is the Lotus Blossom Tank from the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I'm about halfway through the third lace repeat. I think this will be very pretty when it's done, and it's been fairly interesting to work on. The yarn is Knitpicks Shine sport in Cream. I had originally made the Honeymoon Tank from this yarn, but decided it was too bare for me. Just not my style. I'm thinking this one will be much more me. I love working with Shine. It's not as hard on my wrists as most cotton yarns, and the modal gives it a beautiful sheen. This is also the first official stash project cast on from scratch.

These socks were cast on well over a year ago. I can't remember exactly when. I originally started them for a pair of boy-girl twins. Sadly, I'm sure those babies have outgrown them by now. I had completed one of the blue socks on dpns, decided that it would take forever and I'd likely get bored before completing four socks on dpns, and cast on the second blue and first of the pink onto 2 circulars. Then I got bored. The truly pitiful part of this is that I got bored with only 5 rows to go before the toe shaping. These took me no time at all to finish. I will hang my head in shame for leaving these OTN for so long when they were really so close to completion.

This is a hat for a friend who has cancer and expects to be losing her hair shortly. It is from the special breast cancer issue of Knitty. The name of the pattern is Shedir, and it is the second in the issue. You'll note from the picture that it's a lovely cap with several cable crossings, none of which you can see in the picture of my work thus far. I hate working with black, but my friend requested black. I will deal with it. Maybe I'll get an OTT-lite for Valentine's Day out of this. (Yes, that's a hint if you ever read my blog, sweetie!) I'm taking a break from it right now to work on. . .

Toe-up Socks! These are the yarn-over cable socks from Sensational Knitted Socks
by Charlene Schurch. The yarn was an impulse buy when I was picking up a second ball of yarn for the Branching Out scarf for stepMIL. I haven't figured out the striping pattern yet. I thought it would go from maroon/orange to maroon/pink to maroon/yellow, but it went back to maroon/orange before the yellow showed up. Interesting. It's a cotton/wool blend yarn. So far it is not bothering my wrists too much. I started those yesterday and that's how much I had finished yesterday afternoon. I thought I'd do them on dpns for a change, and I really just don't like them! I'll stick with them since the only other size 1s I have are a knitpicks circular which I could use for magic loop, but I would hate it if it turned out to be slightly a different size.

As it is these next socks are on a susan bates size 2 (2.75 mm) and a knitpicks size 2 (3.0 mm). I'm hoping that won't matter too much. I hate hate hate hate hate these socks. They began as doubleknit socks a la extreme knitting. Once I'd mastered the technique, I got bored with it. It also seemed to hurt my hands, but that might be the yarn since it's 100% acrylic. (The self-striping seduced me, and I neglected to check the fiber contents on the label.) I'm bored with them, and I think they're going to come out too big since the nasty acrylic doesn't seem to have much stretch at all.

That actually is it for things on the needles at present. I'm not counting the Big Sack Sweater from Stitch n' Bitch because it will be frogged. I discovered that I already had a sweater almost identical to it. Dh had given it to me a few Christmases ago. It's oversized, has raglan seaming, and has a rope cable going up the center front just like the Big Sack Sweater. The only differences would have been the color and the rolled edges of which I'm not a huge fan anyway. The only other thing actually on a needle is the dishcloth which I've discussed before. I haven't felt like throwing lately, so I haven't worked on it.

The best thing about all of these projects? None of them have a deadline so I don't have to be monogamous with any of them. I think that will work out nicely.

You can only imagine my frustration.

2007-01-21T08:35:00.000-05:00

Dh fixed the camera disk. I can take pictures again. So yesterday I took sixteen knitting-related photos. I decided to save them to the computer so I could work on an obscenely long and photo-loaded entry that would make those with dial-up weep into their cereal. . .or whatever. Imagine my frustration when I insert the disk into the computer, and the computer recognizes the disk, but insists there is nothing there. 0 items. 0 bytes. WTF?! I took a deep breath and removed the disk from the computer. Put it back in the camera. Viewed my photos on the camera. They are still there. The computer can insist the disk is empty all it wants but I know better. When dh awakes, I will assign him the task of figuring out how in the blazes I can get the photos on the blog when the computer doesn't think there are any. (He still hasn't taught me HTML.)

I just can't do it.

2007-01-19T13:15:00.000-05:00

There has been no break in knitting. I may be doing a little less than usual overall, but I certainly haven't stopped. I wear my ugly wrist things pretty much all the time which I think helps. I finally broke out of ribbing and into the plain stockinette part of the extreme socks. I'm finding it much easier to just use both hands instead of one of those thimbles that separates the yarns. I'm still not adept at throwing and tend to just drop the right-hand yarn completely when I do the left-hand stitches and pick it back up when I need it again. I'm changing my left-hand technique a little too. After watching Cat Bordhi on the Knitty Gritty, I've picked up her little thing she does with her middle finger to help wrap the yarn rather than doing so much scooping/picking with the needle by the right hand. Maybe it's saving some strain on the right wrist; who knows since I have to throw with the right anyway every other stinking stitch. I like the concept of double-knitting the socks and being finished with them both at the same time, and there's the whole mystique of the Extreme Knitter, but honestly it's kind of a pain in the rear. Next time I'll just do two on two circulars if I want to do them at the same time. But hey, I can say I've done it.

The Lotus Blossom Tank is coming along nicely. I'm about halfway through the third lace repeat. If I make the medium size, I'd be able to move on to the stockinette after the fourth repeat. I'm leaning toward the medium, though it will give me NO ease in the bust, because I'm using cotton yarn which has NO memory, and the last tank I made with this yarn just didn't fit well even when made to specifications for my size. We'll see what happens.

I still haven't dug out the baby socks on two circulars. I don't know why I have such a mental block about those things. I think it's the guilt of knowing the babies for which they were intended are going on two years old and will never wear these socks. Some other babies will have to get these socks. Maybe I'll pull them out this afternoon just to finish them and be done with them. Or maybe I'll finish the dishcloth. It would give me more practice throwing. I'm feeling very "attention-span-of-a-gnat" with regards to my projects today. So far I've done one row on the dk socks, not even a full row on the LBT, and I'm dying to dig out something else to work on. Tsk. Maybe I'll just completely thumb my nose at the knitting altogether and do a froggie blanket granny square!

Now I've done it.

2007-01-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

Maybe too much handwork yesterday. Personally, I think it was the crocheting that did me in. Anyway, when the boychild woke me up at 4-something a.m. coughing--at which point I felt compelled to leave my bed, get him a drink of water, a dose of cough syrup, and more water despite the fact that he was actually pretty much asleep and may not have been too bothered by the coughing--while trying to get back to sleep, my wrists started throbbing. Throbbing might be too gentle a word. They were actually sharp pains at the time. They took turns too. First it was the left, which didn't want to stop no matter what position I lay in. Then the right joined in and at some point took over completely for the left. The right was still throbbing when I woke up this morning. That's why I'm blaming it on the crocheting.

Yesterday, I made two froggie faces (well, actually heads...they're still faceless at this point) and two granny squares for the froggie take on the Sock Monkey Blanket. (Link to modifications posted on craftster in a post below) Since crocheting involves mainly the right hand, I'm blaming the froggies. Yes, I worked on a couple knitting projects yesterday (the Lotus Blossom Tank and the double-knit socks), but I don't think I completed even a row of the tank and only 2 or 3 rows of the socks. How could the knitting be to blame? No, it's gotta be the crochet's fault. All the years in which I did nothing but crochet set me up for this. Maybe I'll start referring to this wrist problem as "an old crocheting injury" in the way that a man might refer to his limp as an old football injury. I'm sure it would shut up all the inquisitive cashiers, librarians, anybody-I-run-into-on-a-daily-basis from continuing their inquiry into "what happened to your wrist" when they notice the really unattractive wrist support thingies that I use. (No, really. They're ugly. Except my right one is a darker tone, more of a tan color, and my left is black. They help some.)

Anyway, the dear, dear husband is begging me to take a week off again. (I only made it 4 days last time I vowed to take off a week.) Perhaps I can use the time to spiff up this blog and add lots of fancy links and buttons. We've decided to tape American Idol tonight (dh can't STAND to watch the early rounds) and spend the now free time to teach me HTML which he says he knows like the back of his hands. I will take copious notes in the hope that I won't have to IM dh at work or dear friend Laura to help me when I get stuck and strange things happen to my blog. Or things disappear from it. Really, they need a detailed "blogger for dummies" help site. The blogger help section just isn't that helpful to me.

DH will also work on the camera tonight if I have to fashion a cattle prod from knitting needles and extension cords. With luck we'll have some pictures and REAL knitting content tomorrow.

Ugh.

2007-01-11T12:24:00.000-05:00

I played with upgrading my template last night, and I lost some of my buttons and links and things. :( I haven't figured out how to fix it yet. Hopefully soon. As far as I know, the camera is still not working so still no pictures. I am eight and a half rows into the lotus blossom tank. I really like it so far. Granted, eight and a half rows aren't all that far, but I'm enjoying the lace. I still haven't washed my swatch for the other sweater, but as soon as I throw in another load of laundry, it's going in! That's all for now. Maybe this afternoon while DD is napping and DS is at school I will work on the blog template again and see if I can figure out how to put my buttons and links back in. *sigh*

Not much to post.

2007-01-10T17:47:00.000-05:00

In the interest of posting every day (which hasn't happened thus far), I will babble on about not a whole lot.

I washed and blocked the armwarmers and they are MUCH softer. I don't think they will itch at all. Since last night, I finished a gauge swatch for the Evening Star Top from the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. I'm using Artyarns Supermerino color 208. I picked up seven hanks at the Mass Ave Knits after-Christmas clearance sale. So far the gauge looks like it will work out, but I'm actually going to bind this off and wash and block it to make sure. I've never actually done that with a swatch! I also cast on for the Lotus Blossom Tank from the same issue. I'm making it in Knitpicks Shine Sport in Cream. I recycled the Shine from the Honeymoon Camisole (knitty) that I made last spring/summer. I just didn't care for the fit or how bare it made me feel. I will probably also work on getting gauge for the Frou frou Cardigan from The Happy Hooker out of Lion Brand Wool-ease. Yes, I already made one of those, but it was a gift. This one's for ME!

I met with my local SnB/FiberArts club at Beanzie's today. We had a good time hanging out and working on stuff. One of my friends from the group is moving to Ohio next week so this was her last meeting. I cast on and completed a couple of rows of the Lotus Blossom Tank. Leslie worked on a hotpad. Mary, who knits for charity during the month of January, finished up a couple hats that she started on her knitting machine at home. She will donate them to the Wheeler Mission. We are working on finding local charities for which to make things. We have donated 25 dishcloths to a local group that works with low-income families, teaching them how to stretch their dollars more nutritionally. They will use the dishcloths as some kind of reward or incentive for the families with whom they work. I can't fully express how much I enjoy this group AND the coffee shop. It's such a nice little haven and relaxing time.

Armwarmers finished.

2007-01-09T19:25:00.000-05:00

But no pics. We got trouble in River City. . . with regards to the camera disk anyhow. The camera keeps beeping at me, so I put the disk in the computer to clear off some pics. The computer tells me the disk is not formatted; do I want to format it? Oops. Troubles like I said. I will have to sic dh on the problem.

Anyway, the armwarmers are ok. They are pretty and all, but I'm not sure I like them. They are snug around the base of my thumbs and the tops come up just far enough to be annoying when knitting or typing. Also, the yarn is a bit scratchy on the insides of my wrists. I'm going to wash and block them and hope that alleviates some of the troubles, but if it doesn't, I may just have finished a pair of armwarmers (really, they're wristwarmers, they don't go very far up my forearms at all) that I may not wear. Ah well. Time to swatch my Artyarns Supermerino I got at the Mass Ave after Christmas sale and see if it will work for what I want to do with it.

Those armwarmers...

2007-01-07T09:09:00.000-05:00

...just are not going to match. Here they are after one day.
At this point I had considered pulling more yarn out of the second skein to see if I could find a color point wherefrom I could continue and the stripes would match. I pulled out quite a lot and it didn't seem to be matching up at all, and I didn't want to completely unwind the skein so I decided to just continue. Maybe they wouldn't be too far off. I'm sure they'll be pretty anyway. After knitting a bit yesterday morning and during the Colts game last night (for some reason I feel my knitting is tied to how well they play. For several games I didn't knit because it seemed whenever I would pick up my knitting, they would start playing badly. After the late season losses, I started knitting during the game again and they're playing better. Go figure. Yeah, I know, I'm a crazy fan, but I digress.), we have these totally not matching armwarmers:

Nowhere near matching:

Still haven't reached a point where the two skeins overlap in color changes. These are the same dyelot, but I've learned a valuable lesson about SWS: if the two skeins, even of the same dyelot, look very different, matching stripes will prove nearly impossible. I didn't have this problem with the other SWS projects (admittedly all felted Sophie bags so, well, with felting not much matters anyway) so I didn't anticipate the problem with this one. If you look at the two skeins though, they look quite different, and I probably should have thought ahead. Anyway lesson learned. While the flash highlights the sheen of the yarn, it is washing out the pattern, so here's a picture in natural light:
My mother-in-law watched the game with us last night and asked what I was making. I explained they were armwarmers. Neither she nor dh appreciated the charm and benefits of armwarmers. They just don't get it. *sigh*

What a blecky day.

2007-01-05T18:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, maybe I'll just try for every other day with this. The every day thing just isn't working out. I would have pictures of knitting stuff to post, but on top of the rest of the yucky day, the camera batteries died. I've been working on the Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers from SnB Nation. I spent way too much time redrawing the chart so I wouldn't have to try to figure out how to reverse the pattern for the second one on the fly. I'm working on them both at the same time on two circulars. I'm using Patons SWS in the natural blue colourway. The stripes are not matching up at all so far. I'm hoping I'll like them anyway. I don't relish the idea of ripping one out to redo it for matching stripes.

Ds is getting over being sick with just an occasional cough. DD is in full on coughing mode. Dh has spent most of the last 48 hours in bed. Why am I the only one in this house who is ever well??? It's not fair.

I went to yoga this morning. That kicked my butt. I'll be lucky to be able to move tomorrow to head to yoga again. :( Actually, I really enjoy yoga. I attended the Saturday class last week and it was fairly low key and not real hard. Today was a different teacher and this was TOUGH yoga. Once I get into better shape I think I'll really enjoy the class. Today was just very challenging and I probably worked a little too hard.

Today has to be one of the yuckiest days weather-wise too. It wasn't terribly cold, but it rained, rained, rained all day long. Dh has gone back to bed so I'm entertaining the little darlings till bedtime. One hour, 20 minutes to go.

Meh.

2007-01-03T18:33:00.000-05:00

I can do the English knitting. I still don't like it, but I can do it. I'm about halfway through the dishcloth.

I remembered one of the other things I wanted to blog about. We are on day 2 of "no kids tv during the day." WOO HOO! They haven't even asked for Blue's Clues, Dora, or Diego or any of their other annoying friends. (DD did get a mini-fix when we stopped by Nanny's house. She watched a show and a half on Noggin.) I am letting them watch videos, either movies that we own or videos from the library, but even then they haven't watched many. They didn't even ask for any today until after 5 pm! This isn't really a New Year's resolution or anything like that. I just didn't turn on the tv yesterday morning, and they never asked for me to turn it on. It went so well yesterday--they played fairly nicely, they cooperated, they were sweet!--that I decided to go for two days. DS turned on the tv and cable box this morning, but the "home" channel is one of the music stations so I just left it on all morning. They continued to play nicely! DS was feeling better so he went to school today, and DD and I ran errands this afternoon. It is so nice not to have those babbling animated characters carrying on in the background of my day all. day. long. *sigh*

Oops. Already missed a day.

2007-01-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

I have a good excuse. My kids were both sick yesterday. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

The scale has already gone down a couple pounds so I'm feeling a little better on the weight front. My short-term weight loss goal will be 140 by June 1st.

Knitting-wise, I spent yesterday finishing up the second of these darling wee socks for a friend's new baby.
They are the cable rib "better-than-booties" baby socks from Interweave knits I think summer 2005. They can be found here. I made these on size 1s (I don't have anything smaller.) with Katia Mississippi 3, a cotton/acrylic blend. I don't know why I insist on knitting with cotton; it always hurts my wrists. Oh well. I may be making another pair from this pattern for another pregnant friend, but she's not due for a while so they can wait. I also need to get her opinion on frogs cuz this (scroll down) is just too darn cute!

My knitting plans for today are mainly to work on my English knitting since it may be less strain on my wrists. I figure if I could actually DO it, then when my wrists are sore, I could continue knitting without causing more strain. Maybe. We'll see how my theory pans out. I'm just working on a grandmother's favorite dishcloth to practice. I started it continental a few weeks ago, so it should clearly demonstrate how much my tension will differ between methods. I've been stubbornly resisting the English knitting because it seems so much more awkward and "busy" for lack of a better term. Continental is so compact with smaller movements, but I'm afraid the smaller movements are what's causing the wrist trouble in my right hand. :(

It seems like I had more stuff floating around in my brain about which to blog, but I can't think of it right now. I'll come back later. Maybe two entries today will make up for missing yesterday. *wink*

A New Year

2007-01-01T10:41:00.000-05:00

2006 was a good year. My ds really blossomed at his developmental preschool and you can almost carry on conversations with him now. He still uses a lot of stock phrases, but he really makes an effort to express himself and tell us what he's thinking, seeing, experiencing. He is surprisingly empathetic. He cried while watching Lady and the Tramp because he was so sad for the "poor doggies" in the dog pound. He recognizes when others are angry, happy, sad, frightened also. I'm hoping his expressive communication will continue to catch up to his peers.

His sister is continuing in her "very three" phase. She vacillates between extreme sweetness, obedience, and kindness and extreme stubbornness, defiance, and imperiousness. We're hoping that she will mature this year and become less egocentric; her sheer adorableness saves her some days because she is a darn cute little booger!

Dh and I are planning to lose weight and get healthy in 2007. We've joined a local recreation center where he can play basketball and work out and I can take yoga and aerobics classes. The holidays really did a number on me. In posting goals for my Flylady group I originally planned to lose 10 lbs. by summer, but I think I'll have to up that to 20 considering my holiday weight gain. We'll see what the scale says on Wednesday. Today's scale reading was NOT GOOD. I won't count it as official though because I've always done my weigh-ins on Wednesdays. There could be a huge difference between now and Wednesday. (That's me being highly optimistic . . . or just in denial!)

My local Flylady group challenged us to post our goals for 2007 so I will post those here also:
Career--continue as self-taught knitting student extraordinaire and branch into my own designs; continue as Home Executive for my family
Financial--continue to handle paying bills for the family; sock away some of my "yarn and coffee" transcription money rather than spending it almost immediately on yarn and/or coffee
Spiritual--prayerfully consider transferring membership to Kingsway, join Psalm 100 choir, spend daily time in scripture reading/prayer
Physical--lose 10 lbs. by summer, 15 lbs. by next year at this time; continue yoga at Bburg rec. center; try aerobics classes at BRC
Intellectual--continue to read a lot; pay attention to news
Family--spend more time reading to the kids and playing with the kids; spend more time talking with Scott
Social--continue as President of the home extension FiberArts Club; continue as codirector of home extension chorus, possibly taking on more directing responsibilities; meet with Flysisters at least once a month; go to more playdates with the kids

I'll have to check back in periodically on those.

Now for some crafty content. Here are some pictures of finished objects:
First up, a Sophie bag in its pre-felted state. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it post-felting so you'll have to use your imagination. This is the Natural Plum colourway of the SWS. The colors are SO bright; the picture doesn't do them justice. It turned out just gorgeous! This was a gift for my mom who swears she'll use it, but I highly doubt it. She's one of those people who carry everything but the kitchen sink in their handbags, and the Sophie just is nowhere near big enough for that after felting.

Next up a Branching Out scarf made from King Cole Luxury Mohair. I'm not sure if I took this picture before blocking or after. This was a gift for my dh's stepmom. She seemed to really like it. I was pleased with it, though the variegated yarn gets in the way of the lace pattern a bit.

Frou frou cardigan from Stitch n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker in Plymouth Encore worsted. I'm not quite happy about the collar. I couldn't get it too lay right even after blocking, and I didn't find out about the errata for the book till I was over halfway done so I had to work out the decreases in the fronts to match the length of the back. The recipient was thrilled with it anyway.

Ds in his Sherwood sweater from Knitty. He just looks so darn handsome in this sweater! It was worth all the headaches and wrist aches.

This is not the best picture for showing off her sweater, but here's a good picture of dd with her grandfather.

One other resolution/goal: to post a blog entry every day. I very well may fall short of that, but I'll be happy if I can post at least three a week. Happy New Year!

Just some babbling, no pics.

2006-12-11T10:16:00.000-05:00

I'm just kind of going to babble here. I have no pictures of FOs to post, though I have finished stuff. My MIL has borrowed our digital camera so I'm just screwed with regards to posting pics. I finished ds's Sherwood sweater. He looks so handsome in it! I crocheted dd a red sweater within about a day and a half. I used the Sweet pattern from crochetme.com and Jiffy yarn by Lion Brand. I am not a fan of that yarn. It just gets fuzzier and fuzzier every time it's worn, and since she's three, I have to wash it after every wearing which just contributes to the fuzz and pilling. I finished and felted another Sophie and now I'm really kinda irritated about the camera cuz I'll be gifting the Sophie tonight and won't have taken a picture of it. :( Those double-knit socks in the previous post? I had to frog them and restart them. I had crossed yarns all the way back in the first row. *twitch* They are maybe an inch done since restarting. The double-knitting goes very slowly, and since I mastered the technique, I just haven't felt like working on them. Of course the amount of Christmas knitting/crocheting that I'm doing doesn't help the matter. I desperately want to cast on something for myself (socks!), but I have to finish three other projects first: a froufrou cardigan (from The Happy Hooker), yet another Sophie bag out of SWS, and a Branching Out scarf. I wouldn't post pics of them anyway since they're Christmas gifts, and although I don't think any of the recipients are blog readers, I wouldn't want to take the chance. This is the second Branching Out I've done, and I am enjoying it much more the second time around. I understand the construction of lace better (although I don't think I've really done anything else lacey). I don't have to follow the pattern as closely now. I can see which decrease I need to do based on which way the line of stitches should lean. It's just easier now that I'm more experienced.
I did a lot of tatting this weekend. It's the time of year for gifting tatted snowflakes. I finished five and intend to make probably one or two more. They are stiffening as I type. This year I branched out into a couple of beaded patterns. They weren't any more difficult than the beadless ones; I just had to string beads onto the ball thread before winding the shuttle. I'm going to look for some more beaded patterns on the internets.
We have surprisingly gotten a LOT of our Christmas shopping done already. We are completely finished with the kids, and as always seems to happen, they are getting too much! *sigh*

Non-knitted FOs and Knitting WIPs--Take 2

2006-11-05T17:49:00.000-05:00

Take 2 because I had this post 3/4 of the way done and the power went out. *twitch* Of course I had not saved a draft.
Let's start with a non-knitted FO. I finished this TATTED doily about five years ago, but I didn't get the ends woven in until a few weeks ago. Since I started the FiberArts Club, I now have a couple more experienced tatters from whom to get ideas. The method one tatter showed me for weaving in the ends was much better than the method which I had tried previously. This doily does not have decorative picots; the only picots were those used to join the chains and rings together.

You can see from this closeup that the lack of decorative picots makes the doily look like it is made of cording. I think it's beautiful and a good example of why someone would want to tat. This is the photo on the homepage of the FiberArts club.

This is the monthly dishcloth knitalong project for November. It's a turkey. I think we have one more day of rows before he's done.

This is ds's Sherwood sweater from the Fall issue of Knitty. I have finished the body and the braided rib pattern on the sleeve. Now it's just ribbing till the sleeve is finished. Then I have to do another sleeve. *sigh*

Here is a closer pic of the braided rib pattern.

The sweater project also inspired this:
My larger interpretation of the GoKnit pouch. The sweater had gotten large enough that I could no longer stuff it into my GoKnit pouch so I totally copied it and made an identical bag only larger and from not as good quality ripstop nylon. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my GoKnit pouch and probably would have bought the bigger version if I weren't an incredibly impatient person. Once I found out they had ripstop nylon at Joann's, I was there buying it and all the notions necessary to replicate the pouch in the larger version. Now my GoKnit pouch can move onto a smaller--and more appropriate to its size--project: extreme knitting socks knitted one inside the other (doubleknitting method) as described in the Extreme Knitting article in the Fall Knitty.

And here's a closeup of the extreme socks with my new toy, a Norwegian knitting thimble.

I'm actually using the same yarn for both socks, but I didn't stress about trying to get perfectly matching stripes. I figured for this project, it would be easier if the yarns didn't match up perfectly so I can clearly see which yarn I need to knit each stitch, especially since I'm learning a whole new technique with this doubleknitting thing.

Lots o' dishcloths and sweater progress

2006-10-21T17:36:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been busy the last couple weeks working on my little boy's sweater and finishing up some dishcloths. Here's the sweater:

It's coming along nicely, and I've just divided into front and back at the underarm so what you're seeing is the bottom half of the sweater.

Here are a couple of ballband dishcloths:

I decided to show them together because I don't particularly care for either one individually, but they look nice as a set. It's a fun and easy pattern. I think they come out a little bigger than I'd prefer.

This is the garterlac dishcloth:

The pattern can be found at http://criminyjickets.blogspot.com/2006/07/garterlac-dishcloth.html. It was a lot of fun to make. I expect to make lots more of them.

This is this month's mid-month knitalong dishcloth:

It may not look like much here, but it is illusion knitting. You can see here:

. . . it's a candy corn. Clever, eh? I can't take credit for the pattern, just the knitting.

Monthly Dishcloth KAL and new WIP

2006-10-05T14:50:00.000-04:00

It's a cat!!!

I may be a nerd, but this really was fun. Only 8 rows a day and then the project rests the rest of the day. The next one calls for black, orange, yellow and white yarn. An intarsia candy corn on a black background?? I would think that's too challenging for a dishcloth, but I can't figure out anything else!

The newest WIP is a sweater for my dear, dear son. It is Sherwood from the Fall 2006 issue of Knitty.

It's only a couple inches, but I'm liking it so far. The yarn was cheap acrylic/rayon blend Caron Simply Soft tweed. I don't know that he would have been a good risk for wool anyway with his sensory issues, and this will be easy care as well.

Dishcloth KAL and speedy knitting/felting

2006-10-03T12:42:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I am a total nerd and joined this monthly dishcloth knitalong group. But it's fun! They only send out 8 or so lines of a pattern per day so you don't know what the finished product will look like till it's done. Here it is afer the first two days:

And after the third day (today):

I was thinking yesterday that it might be a cat, and today I'm relatively sure it will be a cat. We'll see!

This is my sophie bag pre-felting. I picked up some of Patons SWS (Soy Wool Stripes) Friday, played around with a swatch Friday night, decided to do a Sophie bag, cast on Saturday morning, finished the bag part by Saturday night, finished the handles on Sunday during the Colts game, and felted it Sunday afternoon. I am amazed at the speed with which I did this. The SWS is so pretty! The colors fade into each other very nicely, and it feels nice too.

This is the bag after felting. I only ran it through the washer on hot/cold once. It could maybe handle a little more felting, but I like it this size. I thought I might give it away for Christmas, but I like it an awful lot and don't know if I can part with it.

Yes, there has been knitting this summer.

2006-09-28T11:52:00.000-04:00

Three pairs of socks, a purse, a sweater and some cell phone cozies.

This pair is the basic sock pattern in Cat Bordhi's "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles." In retrospect, I didn't really need this book and I find it annoying that she doesn't give more detailed instruction on some things. I think she fibbed on one of her socks too; I swear the winged foot socks look like they have a short-row heel in the picture, but the instructions are for a heel-flap. Anyway, I really liked the pattern. This is actually the second pair I made from this pattern. Imagine these in stripes of pink, blue, and green instead of red, yellow, and blue. I gave that pair to my mom before taking a picture. What was I thinking? I hadn't originally intended them for her, but they turned out a little small for me.

These are from a Leisure Arts publication, "Learn to Knit Socks," available at your local Joann's probably. The pattern is This Little Pinky. There's a bit of a lacy thing going on in the leg. This is the pair the first of which was pictured in an entry back in June. I constructed them totally differently. The first was a traditional, cuff down, heel flap pattern. On the second one I started at the toe and did "Cat's turned toe" from SSOTCK, worked the foot normally to the heel, taught myself to do a short-row heel with the help of an online tutorial, then worked up the leg and used kind of an invisible, almost kitchener stitch-like bind off. I don't know what the official name for the bind off is, but I found it on knittinghelp.com.

This is Lucy Bag #5. I still haven't located #1. This is the one from Paton's Classic that I intended to replace #1 since I can't find it.

These are cell phone cozies. I adapted a pattern from a kids knitting book. Then I adapted it further to start from an invisible cast on and knit it in the round rather than flat with seamed sides. Don't like seaming. The yarn is Knitpicks Memories in Red Hat. I specifically picked this colorway because I intend these to be sold at the extension homemakers' holiday festival this year, and lots of the extension homemakers are Red Hat ladies. Other members of the extension chorus are making more of these in other colors and also in crochet instead of knit.

And the sweater. I liked this pattern. It was in a little Paton's ad booklet in Vogue last fall or winter. The pattern called for Paton's Divine, but I used Joann's Sensations Angel Hair. It turned out ok. It's very warm so it will be more of a jacket type sweater for wearing outside this fall rather than a cozy wearing around the house sweater. I learned that I really don't like seaming. I will either stick to in the round sweaters or adapt them for minimal seaming. I just need a little more experience. I could not have made up the adapting as I went along because this yarn did not frog well. Trust me.

Gettin' busy with the ball winder or Raiders of the Lost Acrylic

2006-09-18T11:46:00.000-04:00

So I was making grocery bag "yarn" yesterday and had the ballwinder out. My acrylic stash--or part of it...if I'm being honest there are probably 6-10 skeins of acrylic in the downstairs closet with the "good" yarn--started calling to me to be organized and rescued from moldering away in a bin in the master closet. Most of this stash of yarn I've had for 10 years or so--let's call them "the crochet years"-- back when I was still doing almost all crochet and no knitting:

This is the stash after much time with the ballwinder:

Some lovely UFOs I came across along the way:

My dear friend Rebecca, when she found out she was pregnant with her son (I think he's about 9 now), was into all the latest research about stimulating babies' eyes with black and white and polka dots. I was asked to make a baby blanket with black and white. *twitch* I made two attempts. I tried, Beck, I really tried! See, here's the proof!

I'm thinking about sending these to her so she can make something out of them. Maybe a doll blanket for her daughter. I think either one would make a nice stole; they're just long enough. Anyway, I'm going to send her the guilt and get it out of my house! That poor baby never did get an afghan from me. :(

I was going to make this scrap yarn afghan for a friend and use up all the scraps in my stash. The pattern was going to require I make 803 little squares. Yeah, I got bored. In the "after" shot above there's a Payless Shoe Source bag stuffed with the squares and the yarn for joining. Pictured here are a completed strip of squares and a strip in the process of being joined together.

These are some strips I started when I got tired of the little granny squares:

The only things I completed the first time I tried to learn to knit were dishcloths. This square is the only thing I completed the second time I tried to learn to knit. It was supposed to be just one square of an entire afghan of squares. Yeah, it's still the only square.

I found this square that was supposed to be part of an afghan. I think I'll make the leaves, add a border and sew it to the back of the above knitted square. Instant seasonal pillow cover!

Things I've learned from this endeavor:
1. I have an embarrassing amount of white and off white yarn.
2. I bought THREE balls of acrylic sport weight yarn to make that garter stitch scarf back when I first tried to learn to knit. WTF am I going to do with THREE balls of acrylic sport weight yarn? IN BLACK?? I have sworn off black altogether so this creates a bit of a quandry. If anyone wants some sport weight acrylic black yarn, give me a holler.
3. I actually used to do some pretty good work. I should crochet some more. But not with acrylic.

Little brag

2006-06-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

I finished a sweater in LESS than a week! Ok, it wasn't knitted, but I still did it. This is Cupcake from "Stitch n' Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker." Though I've crocheted many, many afghans, I have never found a pattern for a crocheted garment that was the least bit appealing. Until now. There are at least two other sweater patterns in this book that I will probably make at some point. I made the sleeves first--they went SO quickly!--then worked on the back mostly during the car trip to and from the family reunion Saturday, finished up the back and started the front on Sunday, dawdled along on the front Monday and Tuesday, finished up the crocheting of the front and sewing on Wednesday, and completed the finishing touches on Thursday morning. The only alteration I made to the pattern was to take out a couple of inches of the length for two reasons: 1. I'm terribly shortwaisted and didn't want a tunic, and 2. I was using yarn originally purchased for another project and wanted to be sure I had enough to make it. I will never finish that picovoli I started, and ya know, it just really doesn't bother me!

Fun with the ball winder

2006-06-14T09:33:00.000-04:00

Since my dad made me my swift, I've been itching for some free time (and empty counter space) to set it up and wind the hanks from knitpicks. First though, here's me in a hat I made for dh, that I SWEAR I got gauge on before starting, followed the pattern measurements no matter how crazy they seemed at the time, and ended up with a hat that won't fit ANYONE's head. Dh tried to suffer with it cuz he knows how hard I worked on it, but eventually he had to break the news to me that it just wasn't going to work. Really, it's absurdly big. Check out this picture of it on me. Note how far up I have it folded, and it still comes to my chin.

So it's being frogged and wound back into a ball. Maybe it will have a new life as hats for two people. Heck, there might be enough yarn in the thing to make matching hats for the whole family! Anyway, here it is after frogging and winding.

On to the yarn from knitpicks. It is Sock Memories in Grandma--lovely name for yarn...not! Anyway, I had tried to wind it after getting my winder and before getting the swift. I don't recommend it. Here's the set up with the swift and winder.

Two of these things are not like the others. Two of these things are kind of the same. Two of these things are lumpy and funny-looking. And now we'll play our game. It's time to play our game. Which two balls were wound using the swift, and which two were wound with much frustration off my hands, the furniture, strung around the house, etc.? I think you know. ;)

The ball winder is really a lot of fun. I can't wait to wind all the loose skeins I have lying around.

UFOs/OTNs

2006-06-10T09:39:00.000-04:00

Here are lots of things I've started. Colors may not be true. I toook these photos by the light of this overcast, rainy morning. First we have the Lucy bag I started this morning as a birthday present to myself.
Next up, the baby socks that have been on the needles forever. Yes, I am working on two different socks at one time. At the time I started these, they were going to be for boy/girl twins. Then I got tired of the project so they've been in limbo forever. If I ever get to working on them again, I'll at least have one pair done pretty quickly, but then another whole sock to work on. *sigh*
This will some day be a picovoli. The yarn is Knitpicks Shine in blush. When I cast it on, I had just finished a honeymoon cami also in Shine and I think I was just tired of working with that yarn! I'll get back to this one eventually.
The blasted X-back tank. This stuff would be fine if I just could keep from sticking the blasted needles through it. *twitch* This project may turn into a dress for dd.
And here we have the one sock, destined to be 1/2 of a pair for an undetermined period of time, especially if the carpal tunnel keeps acting up. I'd post the pic of it on my foot, but it makes my ankle look fat, and my ankle is NOT fat, dammit!

I may post some FOs later today to redeem myself cuz I have finished stuff, really, I have!

Other Garden Pictures

2006-06-09T09:29:00.000-04:00

I thought it'd be a nice idea to post some pictures that are NOT roses. This first one is the shade garden in front of the living room window. Those are fern leaf bleeding hearts and hosta 'striptease' and primroses mainly. You can't really make out the mini-hostas in this picture. All the way to the right in front of the bush is a heuchera 'amber waves' that greens up no matter what exposure I give it. I'll probably move it again.
This one is technically the roses, but I thought I'd post it for context. We refer to it as the rose garden. It was very hard to fit it all in.

This was supposed to be a perennial garden, but I removed the monarda when it started taking over, voles got my columbines and coreopsis, and the coneflowers just didn't come up this year. The catmint has taken over and is very pretty. The picture doesn't do it justice. Those things sticking up are irises past their prime. I don't know if I got any pics of them when they were blooming. I'll have to look.

This is a shrub rose that came with the house and the orange lilies that also came with the house. I like the lilies, but I've never been a big fan of the rose. It's very thorny. I cut it all the way back this spring when I pruned the roses. It will get quite large if allowed.

This is what's left of the above-mentioned columbines. I managed to get some seed pods off this one the year before the voles got it. I had this white one, a red and white one, and a blue and white one, all this little dwarf size, and I just loved them. Yeah, that's my foot in there to give perspective on how small they are. The little pink flower is a hardy geranium that I thought had died but must have set seed before perishing.

Yet more roses

2006-06-09T09:15:00.000-04:00

More roses in no particular order. Most of these I haven't posted previously. Most of the ones I've previously posted are now past their prime. :(
This is the old-fashioned rose on the fence and my little helper who can't stand for me to walk around the yard without her. This rose is a very pale pink and smells just like a rose should smell--not spicy, not citrusy, not sweet, just like a rose.

This one is Showbiz, a floribunda and the only truly red rose I have.

This is JFK, a white hybrid tea and not a great one. The edges of the petals brown before the blooms are even completely open. It is not a favorite and will probably be replaced eventually.

This is supposed to be Climbing Peace, though I don't think it's a true climber. The canes don't even get very long. Queen Elizabeth is taller than this one has ever gotten. Oh well. It's pretty--the picture doesn't do it justice. It's a pretty pale yellow blushed on the edges with pink.

I have posted pics of Pretty Lady's blooms, but this is what the bush looks like in full bloom. It is just covered! I love it!

This is Queen Elizabeth. She looks particularly stately right now with several blooms open. She's about 5 feet tall too.

Three rose posts in one day? Inconceivable!

2006-05-29T21:55:00.000-04:00

It's amazing what a very hot, humid Midwestern day will do to roses. If you haven't looked at the other rose posts below go do that now. I took those pictures between 8 and 10 a.m. I took this next group of pictures around 7 p.m. this evening. Some of the roses look quite different.

Ok, remember that pretty lavender rose Sterling Silver at the bottom of my first rose post. (Scroll down; you'll find it.) It was just beginning to think about unfurling it's beauty. This is it after a day in the sun.
This next one is Pretty Lady, most of whose buds were not even really thinking about opening this morning.
Remember that Double Delight bloom with all the red, the center of which was still tightly furled? Here it is this evening. QUITE different.
These next two are Queen Elizabeth, a grandiflora. This first one was nowhere near even beginning to open this morning.
This one completely unfurled was only slightly open, not even as much as the one above. By end of day tomorrow it will be done. :(
I couldn't get any good pictures of my old-fashioned rose on the fence. It's still mostly buds, but the few that were looking like they might open today or tomorrow? Completely spent to the point of dropping petals in less than a day! I am NOT happy. >:( How can I enjoy them when they're done so quickly? :( *sigh*

More roses

2006-05-29T08:42:00.000-04:00

Here is the other Golden Celebration. It so far has stayed much bushier than the other so we don't use a trellis with it.
This one is Scentimental, another floribunda.
It has a fairly strong scent, though it's not nearly as strong as Golden Celebration. The flowers can vary greatly. Some seem to be white streaked with red, while others are predominantly red streaked with white. I included closeups to show the variation.

More to come as more of the roses open.

Lots of Rose Pictures

2006-05-29T08:25:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited! My roses are starting their first flush of blooms! I feel like a proud mama! This first one is Sunflare, a floribunda.

I love this one. It rarely gets black spot or other rose diseases. It will be covered with these pretty yellow blossoms practically all summer long. It's actually a lot smaller this year than it was last. There was a lot of winter dieback this year, probably because I was lazy and didn't get out the cones last fall. Oops.

Next we have a closeup of Golden Celebration, an Austen rose. It smells heavenly!

And a picture of the whole bush. I have two of these. This one is growing very vertically so we gave it a trellis. The other one has stayed more bushy, though the canes will get pretty long by summer's end.

This is Double Delight. It's showing a lot more red today. Yesterday it showed more white, but the weather has been so hot and humid that I'm sure the colors of blended roses are going to vary greatly. It smells wonderful!

This is Sterling Silver. I thought I was going to lose this one, but it perked up pretty quickly this spring. I had to cut off the winter killed canes all the way to the ground, but it still made it.

Apparently, I can't add more pictures to this entry so I'll have to start another entry for more pics.

Plant pics

2006-04-23T09:46:00.000-04:00

My mini-hosta Pandora's Box with a quarter:
And opening up a leaf to show detail:

Crocheted Yoga Mat Bag--Pics and pattern

2006-03-01T12:37:00.000-05:00

This is the yoga mat bag I created my very own self. I started yoga classes and didn't have anything in which to carry my mat. Namaste from knitty.com would have taken forfrickingever to make, I don't own SnB Nation and didn't want to buy it for one pattern, and all the other crocheted mat bag patterns I've seen on the net are just, well, kinda ugly. So I pulled some cotton yarn from my stash and set to work on my own. I wanted something more open and airy so it would be pretty and so my mat could breathe. (I don't know if yoga mats need to breathe, but it seemed like a good idea to me.)
Materials:
4 1/2 oz. Sugar n' Cream cotton yarn; color midnight magic
Crochet hook size I
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Pattern stitches:
Beginning V-stitch--ch 4, dc in same st as beg ch-4
V-stitch--(dc, ch 1, dc) in indicated stitch

Starting at the base of the bag:
Ch 4, join with slip stitch to form a ring.
Rnd 1: Ch 3 (counts as first dc in this and every round), 7 dc into ring, join with sl st to top of beg ch-3. (8dc)
Rnd 2: Ch 3, dc into same stitch. 2 dc in each dc around. Join. (16 dc)
Rnd 3: Ch 3, 2 dc in next dc, (1 dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc) around. Join. (24 dc)
Rnd 4: Ch 3, dc in same stitch, 2 dc in each dc around. Join. (48 dc)
Rnd 5: Ch 3, dc in back loops only in each dc around. Join. (48 dc)--turning round. This and the rest of the rounds will form the tube of the bag into which the rolled up mat resides.
Rnd 6: Beg V-st in first st, (skip next 2 dc, V-stitch in next dc) around, join in 3rd ch of beg ch-4. (16 V-sts.)
Rnd 7-33: Sl st into first ch-1 sp, beg V-st, (V-st in next ch-1 sp) around. Join in 3rd ch of beg ch-4.
Rnd 34: Ch 3, (dc in ch-1 sp, dc in next 2 dc) around. Join to top of ch-3. (48 dc)
Rnd 35: Ch 1, sc in same st, sc around. Join. Do not finish off! Continue with strap.

Strap: Ch 70. Avoid twisting chain. Slip stitch to top of beg ch-3 on round 4. Sl st in next 2 dc (the last two dc in round 4--you're working backwards from the beg ch-3--email me if this is confusing). Turn and work 1 dc in each chain stitch back up to the top of the bag. Sl st to round 35 and across the stitches at the top until you are two stitches on the other side of the chain. Turn and work 1 dc on the opposite side of the chain in each stitch back to the base of the bag again. Sl st in an adjacent st on round 4. Finish off and weave in ends.

I was going to try to add photos to illustrate the top and bottom of the strap and show you that, yeah, they're not pretty, but they work, but blogger is not cooperating. I've tried uploading the pics three times and they're not showing up. Oh well.

I added a drawstring to mine. You can just make a chain about 20-24" long and thread it through the dc on round 34. Enjoy!

More FOs!

2006-02-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

Since I finished dh's sweater and got the ends woven in, I thought it was time to post pictures of it (and him). Blanket disclaimer: I didn't feel like trying to figure out how to crop, etc. these pictures so just suffer with all the wasted space, ok?
Here he is just looking studly (I think).

And here he is doing Joey's jazz hands. He'll hate me for putting this one on the blog, but I LOVE this picture of him!

This is my mom's Lucy Bag I gave her for Christmas. My first intarsia project and I did it in the round! I made this bag with Paton's Classic Merino. It felted beautifully! I made another Lucy Bag for my some-time-in-the-future SIL out of a gorgeous very dark green Cascade 220, but I didn't get a picture. What was I thinking??

That's it for now. I'll leave you with a picture of my current WIP/Knitting Olympics project:

Olympics start tonight!

2006-02-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

I'll be casting on my Knitting Olympics project during the broadcast of the opening ceremonies. I have officially finished dh's sweater so there will be no guilt in starting a new project. Ok, I still have lots of ends to weave in, but I'm done knitting it!

I made the Olympic Team!

2006-02-09T08:44:00.000-05:00

The Knitting Olympics, that is. I will be making a shrug to wear with my Easter dress. It will be made of a loverly 50/50 silk and wool blend yarn in a very pretty pink. You can check it out at the Team Sybermoms blog. Scroll down to the entry entitled "Frick's Project." The idea of the Knitting Olympics is to choose something that it would be a challenge for you to finish in the 16 days of the Olympics, cast on during opening ceremonies, and bind off sometime before the closing ceremonies end. As proof that knitters really are taking over the world, there are now more knitters signed up for the Knitting Olympics than athletes competing in the real Olympics. Check it out here: Yarn Harlot's official Knitting Olympics Page

I will need to finish dh's sweater some time in the next 36 hours. I'm on the last few inches of the second sleeve so it shouldn't be a problem if I can just get some time to sit and knit.

Entries to come: Pics of dh's sweater, FO's I forgot to post yesterday, my crocheted yoga mat bag and pattern that I WROTE MYSELF! Yeah, I'm a little proud of myself on that one. Over 20 years of crochet experience, and I finally wrote a pattern. I'll babble more on that when I post the pattern.

Finished objects!!!

2006-02-08T15:41:00.000-05:00

Finally posting pictures of some finished objects. Since I still haven't fully figured out how to move things around in these posts these will be in random order.

Large blue Lucy Bag made from Plymouth Galway.

This is the most recently finished object, my Bella Scarf from Knitpicks made with Knitpicks Suri Dream in lilac. I love it and secretly think to myself that everyone who passes me says to themselves, "Wow! What a pretty scarf! I wish I had a scarf like that!"

I made this cell phone sock a while ago. It's from a pattern in one of those kids' learn to knit kits you can get at bookstores. I kind of memorized the pattern while watching my ds play with the Thomas trains at Barnes & Noble then went home and made this with a small amount of Sugar n' Cream leftover from another project. It's ok. It's one of the first things I made. I usually have it looped around so it's hanging on the inside of my bag, then I hook my keys and sunglasses to the cell phone sock's strap which hides under the short strap of the Lucy Bag. Very convenient.

The blue shawl mentioned below in the post about finishing the scarf from hell. I made it with Patons Divine from this pattern. It's pretty big. I'm 5'4" and the point hangs almost to the back of my knees. Here's some detail:

Yeah, I'm a pitiful blogger.

2006-02-07T16:44:00.000-05:00

Sorry about that. I just never take the time to do it and usually get frustrated when I try. I can't figure out how to do the links, I can't get my pictures where I want them, etc. Is there a tutorial for this? Later this week when ds is in school and dd is napping, I promise I will try to update with some actual finished objects. Really. No, really!

And because I'm still trying to figure out how to format posts...

2005-07-23T16:31:00.000-05:00

Hell, I don't know how to put things where I want them. I wanted the yarn by itself and then the in progress pic and then the finished pic, but they didn't come out in that order, and I don't feel like trying again. Anyway, as for the Lucy Bag, I really enjoyed making this one! Here's the yarn, the bag partially done, and then completed and felted. I love how it came out sort of a heathered purple! I used Cascade 220 Quattro.

I'm working on another one in a sort of purply blue--I don't know why I seem to be stuck in purple mode. I didn't realize when I picked it up that it was so purple! Anyway, it's Plymouth Galway, one of the recommended yarns in the pattern for the Lucy Bag. I'm excited to see how it turns out. The finished bag in the pictures is not all that big, but it'll hold the essentials. The one I'm currently working on is supposed to be quite a bit bigger. We'll see how it turns out. When I get a chance I'll take pics of the shawl. I forgot to do it this time.

I'm entering this first bag in the county fair open class domestic arts whatever-you-call-it. They didn't have a category for accessories so it's entered under Other in the knitting category. It felted so nicely that you can't even tell it's knitted! I'm just really impressed with felting! It was a lot of fun!

And a few weeks later....

2005-07-23T16:12:00.000-05:00

I finally get back to post pictures and announce the completion and felting of the Lucy Bag! First of all, the scarf from hell. This thing, like I said before, is probably around 20 feet long. I'm 5'4", it almost touches the ground on one side of me, loops down below my knees and almost touches the ground on the other side. I am so glad this monster is done!

Scarf is finished!

2005-07-08T08:08:00.000-05:00

I finished the Dr. Who Scarf aka the Scarf From Hell. I will post pictures later today. I credit the trip to Nashville during which dh wouldn't let me drive. Seriously, lots of knitting time on the trip there and back. The grandparents occupied the kiddos quite a lot too allowing me to knit while there. I don't know what I was thinking when I packed, but I didn't include anything long-sleeved and I was FREEZING in their house! Their thermostat was set at 69 F for crying out loud! So I took a break from the scarf for a while on Sunday and crocheted a shawl real quick. Pictures of that to come also. I've also made a couple of cell phone socks since starting this scarf just cuz I needed a freaking break from the thing. Seriously. It's a 20 foot long scarf done entirely in garter stitch. You do the math. (Ok, it wasn't 20 feet long before stretching, but it was pretty darn freaking long!) I started on my Lucy Bag yesterday. It's coming along nicely. Only 70 rows to go on the body of the bag, then I start the straps. I can't believe it's going so quickly!

2005-04-24T19:41:00.000-05:00

the scarf from hell

Update on the scarf from hell

2005-04-24T18:32:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm finally updating this blog. I've been working on a Dr. Who replica scarf for my brother since just before Christmas. This thing will probably be around 15 feet long when it's finished. It's extremely mindless being entirely made of garter stitch. If it didn't change color so often I would have lost interest ages ago. The pattern can be found here.

Woo hoo! I have a blog!

2005-04-02T10:24:00.000-05:00

My brother has been bugging me forever to start a blog. He even tried to set one up for me, but I didn't have a clue what to do with it. I hope to post progress on knitting, crochet, etc. projects here. I'll probably have a few vents about personal stuff or rants about political stuff that pisses me off. Anyway, enjoy!