Confessions of a Craft Addict

Walking the earth, just like Caine (*)

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:15:22 GMT

The "Shaped Triangle Shawl" by Katie Nagorney and Ann Swanson, from A Gathering of Lace,
knit in 100% silk laceweight handdyed by Fiber Fiend in the 'Mother Earth' colorway. Ravelry link

Back in February, I was sent to India for three weeks by my employers, working U.S. hours. It meant spending a lot of time on weekends being up at 3am with only my laptop, knitting, and the sound of the Bay of Bengal rumbling against the beach near the cottage I was staying in.

I had wanted a new project to take with me. One that would pack small, be complicated enough to engage me, and be unlikely to be completed during the three weeks, although with the possibility it might if I was really dedicated to it. I had several sock projects to switch to if I wanted something less thinky or fiddly. Lace seemed to fit the bill.

I hadn't wanted to use laceweight yarn. I'd wanted something slightly larger, fingering, or maybe even sportweight, but nothing available at the Shop really called to me, until I remembered the Handmaiden Sea Silk in my stash. Digging in the bin of laceweight yarns, I stumbled on the Mother Earth--and love was re-born.

I have this thing for laceweight silk yarn. I can't help myself.

purls_beyond and kiyowara_miyuki suggested the pattern, one Nathania had done before: simple enough that the pattern can be memorized and won't be lost in the variegation of the dyed yarn, complex enough to require a measure of attention.

During my stay, the shawl captivated me, the work growing and growing in leaps and bounds, even after a major mistake and tinking back 10-12 rows to correct it, after realizing one of the charts was heavily flawed and having to dig out the errata--thank goodness for in-room wireless Internet, even in India.

Then I returned home and progress...stilled. Or came to a screeching halt, if you're me.

Until about a month ago. I love having multiple projects on the needles, but didn't love the feeling of imbalance on getting them completed. New projects always, always spring up and demand my attention, causing some projects--like laceweight silk shawls--to be pushed aside to the point of languishment. Or not being finished.

I devised a system for myself to address that. Came to terms with it. Went zen. It means that few of my projects are finished with any kind of alacrity, but that they should get finished.

For this one, it means working on it one night a week, Wednesdays, the night of long standing tradition when a few of my friends and I gather to watch movies or TV from DVDs. One night a week where I am all but guaranteed to have several hours for knitting, when I will be at home where it is easier to work on it.

So for the last month, the shawl has grown. Slowly, quietly, one pattern row at a time. Nine rows for the rest of the body, it will likely take me the summer to do that. Then the edging, applied.

But there's no rush. At least this way, it's getting closer.

(*) - I read this morning that actor David Carridine was found dead today, and now "Kung Fu" is stuck in my head. No irreverence is intended.

Falling into a Gray Area

Fri, 29 May 2009 04:02:31 GMT


Before	After

I'm at a point in my knitterly education where I'm in a gray area: I can reach a point in a pattern where an eyebrow is quirked, a puzzled look crossing my demeanor, and I think, "That doesn't look right...".

Experienced knitters frequently tell new knitters "trust the pattern", but I think it's just as frequent that the experienced knitters know when not to.

Sometimes, I can identify what the problem is and correct it myself, as I did with the actual shaping of the Sahara pictured above. I figured out all on my own how many actual decreases I wanted to do from bust to waist, converting the placement of those decreases from the row gauge of the pattern yarn to the row gauge of my chosen yarn, Classic Elite's All-Seasons Cotton (discontinued), and again with the hip increases, and was quite pleased with myself for doing so.

But sometimes, I can recognize there's a problem, might even identify what it is, but be uncertain of the best way to fix it.

The latter frustrates the hell out of me.

In this case, it was the nature of the so-called 'waist' decreases. I tried the shell on Saturday evening, just after I'd finished the three decreases I'd decided to use and the little nagging voice inside my head said "That doesn't look right..." Why were the decreases on the front and back of the garment, rather than on the side? Why were the decreases so bloody obvious? Is the front supposed to gap that much? Did I make the wrong size? And, perhaps the biggest problem I had: why the hell do the 'waist' decreases start at the widest part of my bust? That makes no sense.

But I talked myself out of frogging back to move the decreases to the sides, and bulled my way through the hip increases to the point where the final hem shaping would begin, then tried it on.

Again, those questions went through my head. Poke-poke-poke, you're not happy about this. You need to fix it.

Except I didn't know the best way to do it.

Frustrated and obsessing, I kvetched about it to kiyowaramiyuki and nathaniaapple, who looked at the photos with the pattern, identified the placement of decreases and increases as "princess seaming", and agreed with me that the initial decreases were in a dumb place. (Which I will qualify as "...for anyone with actual boobs.")

I brought it into the Shop yesterday and had a consult with Kiyowara while wearing it, and the expression on her face when she saw it on me validated all those doubts, which was reassuring. But more importantly, she has the skill and experience to be able to look at a design and a garment on a real person and recommend the changes to be made.

In this case:

Modifying the 'waist' decreases to start where, on the current garment, the second decrease exists--which is below the largest part of the bust. Where the body and the garment is starting to taper into the waist. Y'know, where it should be.

Still doing the same number of decreases, but the three will be in the number of rows/distance between where the 2nd and 3rd decreases ~~are~~ were.

Modifying the ssk decrease to instead be a "slip as to knit, slip stitch back to left-hand needle, k2tog", because the normal ssk is creating a pull in the stitches making it look like a YO. This is likely, she explained, due to the nature of cotton yarn vs. wool, and this semi-twisted decrease should close the gap up.

Adding some additional rows into the center panel to prevent undue stretch in the fabric across the bust. Because the gap is just too wide, possibly due to me picking the wrong size (although the fitting through the shoulders, waist, hips, and the overall length of the piece look okay). We discussed a couple of options, from doing some increases along the neckline to add an inch to each side, down towards the bottom, to doing short rowing within the decorative lace panel which will be filling in the gap. I'd originally been resistant to the former, wanting to go with the latter, but I think upon further reflection I prefer the former idea as being more invisible.

And, finally, because I think it'll make me happier rather than Kiyowara actively recommending it, all the decreases and increases are going into the sides of the garment rather than the front and back. The 'seams' are just too frakking obvious in the predominately cotton yarn, and even if they're still visible on the sides, I think they'll look more normal as side seams.

I struggled with the necessity, but I want to have something I'll actually be happy about and wear. My second biggest regret is that it meant undoing two entire weekends of work, but there was something oddly cathartic about the way I did it. I took the outside end of the ball I was currently working on, hooked it up to my ballwinder, and re-wound the ball, outside in. Then I kept going, ripping the hell out of the shell straight onto the winder, until a monster yarn cake was formed (of about 4-5 skeins). It took about 10 minutes, thereby once again proving that the universe tends towards greater entropy. :P

Stitches are picked up, and I'm ready to start over again come Saturday. *sigh*

But I still wish I could've figured it out sooner and fixed it as I went.

My eyes, they bleed

Wed, 20 May 2009 21:13:09 GMT

After too many times thinking this, I have to post it.

"Fug lives, and thy name is Maggie Jackson (Ravelry link)."

Some examples:

Most unfortunate trim placement ever

Raquel Welch would've been comfortable in this 'evening dress' in One Million Years B.C.. But who else would wear it?

Seriously, woman. WTF.

AWOL

Mon, 18 May 2009 16:18:05 GMT

I'm close to finishing up some projects: the Leyburn socks (my version), a small size Tulip Sweater, and I did finish the Ribby Shell (my version) I was working on, so what happens?

My camera, which I intended to take photos with this weekend, went AWOL. Missing. Gone. *Poof*.

So, they're really pretty, and maybe I'll get to post photos of them someday. Maybe this is just what I needed to get an upgrade on my ancient 4 megapixel camera.

Besides, you didn't really want to see pictures of my WIP, which are the Shaped Triangle Shawl in Fiber Fiend's Silk Laceweight in a variegated colorway called 'Mother Earth' (reds, browns, and greens) (because we all know unblocked lace looks like a pile of speghetti noodles) and Sahara in plain, unadorned cream.

Socks, and even more tank musings

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:12:20 GMT

Look what the knitting floon has done! Motivation to take photos of the socks I've finished recently. And since I realize I haven't blogged about anything since last June, some other socks, too!

Flaming Stained Glass Socks

Pattern: Stained Glass Socks by nathaniaapple, available from Purlescence Yarns
Yarn: 1 skein Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock-Lightweight (Shadow), 1 skein Cockscrow. Actual usage was about 2/3rds of a skein of Shadow (MC) and maybe half of the Cockscrow (CC)
Size: Women's US:10's, which for me is a 9.5" length foot.
Needles: 3.0 mm (US:2), 2.75 mm (Pattern calls for 3.25 (US:3) and 3.0 mm (US:2))

Notes:
A fairly simple Fair Isle pattern, for those that might be interested in dabbling in colorwork and are comfortable with socks. Seeing the vivid contrast between the black and fiery oranges and yellows was its own motivation to working on these.

I failed my pattern reading roll--for reference, the cuff is supposed to be five bands of the corrugated ribbing, not three. Still, the mistake led to a synergistic decision that I need more ankle socks to wear during the summer, so I was not unhappy with it.

My one major recommendation would be: GAUGE SWATCH. I didn't, feeling fairly confident in my needle re-sizing off pattern, and flubbed it pretty badly. I wound up re-knitting the entire foot of the first sock because it was much, much too big initially. I probably should've used 2.75mm and 2.5mm (US:1).

Also: although knit toe down, the toe should begin far sooner than 2" from the end of the foot that is standard for cuff-down patterns. There are a lot of stitches needing to be decreased, given that it's Fair Isle, so I think 2.5 or even 3" would be a safer bet. The pattern (at the moment) doesn't specify when to start the toe.

I also shortened up the heel flap considerably from the 3.5" recommended for the large size down to my usual 2.5"--you do want to make sure you have enough space in there to be able to get your foot into the sock, but the combination of knitting a shorter cuff -and- using a needle-size too big gave me no problems with this.

Panda Silk Arrowhead Socks

Pattern: Based off Wendy Johnson's Detailed Toe-Up Sock Pattern by wendyknits, and the Arrowhead Lace pattern from Sensational Socks.
Yarn: 2 skeins Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Silk Print
Size: Women's US:10's, which for me is a 9.5" length foot.
Needles: US:0 (2.0 mm)
Gauge: 9 sts/inch

Notes:
I'm not as happy with these socks as I was hoping, but I'm happy they're done. I wanted something a little more complicated to work on and went for a lace pattern that I thought would work okay with the busyness of the yarn's varigation. I think that part worked, but I don't know if I entirely like the lace pattern itself. It was, however, an easy pattern to memorize after a few repetitions.

Like the yarn, though. It's soft and thin and only a teeny bit splitty, even with the bamboo content. Plus, it has bamboo content!

Seal-Point Lucy Socks

Pattern: Based on the Lucy Socks by wendyknits, using her Fingering Weight, Toe-up Socks with Gusset Heel pattern
Yarn: 1 skein Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock-Lightweight (Lucy), all; 1 skein Rowan 4 ply Soft (Brown), partial with a lot left
Size: Women's US:10's, which for me is a 9.5" length foot.
Needles: US:0 (2.0 mm), US: 1 (2.25 mm)
Gauge: 8 sts/inch on the US:0's in the STR

Notes:

Devised at a time when the STR skeins were a titch shorter than they are now, I still like the idea I came up with: knitting brown "points" onto the socks out of the Rowan, to mimic those of the Siamese coloration the yarn was originally based on, in order to coax a bit more length out of the socks from a single skein of the STR. I think it worked out rather nicely. :) These come to about mid-calf on a tall woman.

The Rowan is a bit thicker than the STR, so was knit on the US:1 to a rather firm fabric; the STR was knit on US:0's.

And I'm told that they're now the favorite socks of the person I knit them for. :)

Generic STR Silkie Socks

Pattern: Based on Wendy Johnson's Detailed Toe-Up Sock Pattern by wendyknits
Yarn: 1 skein Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock-Silkie Sock (Chapman Springs)
Size: Women's US:9's
Needles: US: 1 (2.25 mm)
Gauge: 9 sts/inch

Notes:

I loved this yarn the moment I laid eyes on it. It sat in my stash, making me happy, until I came to the decision to make handknit socks for a friend of mine who complained of being cold in her office all the time.

Incredibly I got 9 sts/inch gauge using this yarn: I almost never get 9 sts/inch! So I adjusted Wendy's pattern accordingly. Simple stockinette around, short row heel, 15 rows or so of ribbing at the cuff.

And the recipient loves them.

Hobgoblin Leyburn Socks (WIP)

Pattern: Leyburn Socks by MintyFresh
Yarn: 1 skein Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock-Lightweight (Hobgoblin)
Size: Women's US:10's (9.5" long foot)
Needles: US: 1 (2.25 mm) (pattern calls for US:2's)

Notes:
As made famous by the yarnharlot. I love this pattern to little pieces at the moment.

Since I hadn't seen it described anywhere, yes, it really does go amazingly fast, and I believe the reason is that it is, cunningly, at heart actually a stockinette sock, coupled with the fact that the diamonds are created by Fair Isle-like floats across the outside of the fabric--and you are slipping 60 stitches out of 72 every four rounds, meaning you're only knitting 12 stitches every four rounds. Fast!

The pattern itself is shown with photos of a dark purple yarn, which is pretty, but Internet and LYS consensus is that this pattern shows best in a highly variegated yarn, like the Hobgoblin I'm knitting it in. Then, the floats really pop in contrast to the stockinette field underneath it.

And more on the tank top saga...

I made the mistake of doing more pattern trawling yesterday, and I think I have a few more options on the tank pool, with one in particular rising to the fore.

Sahara ($$$, Stitch Diva) - (short-sleeved version) The pattern calls for a novelty yarn for the yoke, but I've seen plenty of examples of this on Ravelry where it seems to be done in the same yarn as the body. This one is winning to be done first, as I think I want to use the Classic Elite Four Seasons yarn (the white cotton-wool blend) for this. I think there's enough detail at the neckline to make it visually interesting despite the white-cream color.

Picovoli (Free, Grumperina) - A nice, simple t-shirt-like pattern, I think this would be pretty good for the variegation of the multi-hued Fiber Fiends linen. However, I'm not sure if I'm prepared to knit with this yarn, yet, especially since I think I will be awfully close on the yardage I have on hand given what the pattern calls for...and that's only if I hit gauge, which I'm not sure I can do in the linen given my memory of swatching it last year. So, time to do another gauge swatch, this time, oh, making sure to note the size of needle used along with the sts/inch, and wait for another skein of the yarn to come in from special order.

Silken Scabbard ($$$, Stitch Diva) - (short-sleeved version) Cables! Cables! I suspect this would probably look good in the eggplant Takhi Cotton Classic but mostly it's: cables!

It's hot, so there must be knitting

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:07:38 GMT

Ahoy, there. I know it's been a while since I posted. Not that I haven't been knitting, but I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not a knit blogger. Most of what updates I have been making have been going onto Ravelry (User: alix), but that's just project notes and photos when I can get around to taking them.

However, I started writing a 'real' blog post about my evening last night, realized it was mostly knit content that most of my friends list wouldn't give a crap about and thought 'you know...I have a blog for that purpose'. So here I am. :)

It's gotten damn hot here in the San Francisco Bay Area this week, with temperatures into the 90's the past three days. And with it has come the resolution to finish my first summer knitwear project: a Chic Knits Ribby Shell I've been working on for almost two years now.

(Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel, in the black and teal colorways. This photo was taken a while ago)

I don't know why I've been so slow to work on it...but there you go. Other projects keep leaping--ooo, shiny!--into my awareness, and between that and poor project time management, I've only now gone back to finishing it up. Sad thing was? When I pulled it out on Saturday, I realized I'd finished the back and had only the V-necked front to go. That's pretty pathetic.

Except, it couldn't possibly be that easy. Oh, no. Because as I neared completion of the front right side, kiyowaramiyuki and nathaniaapple looked at it and said "That armhole's not nearly long enough." And, sure enough, it wasn't--somehow or other I'd shorted the back a full inch, inch-and-a-half of length for the armscythe.

There were some unladylike words. And then some unladylike muleheaded stubborness, with a determination to bull my way through this and get it done. Yesterday lunchtime at Purlescence featured me ripping out the bindoff on the back and picking up the stitches to add the length; last night saw me finishing that up. I have to weave in ends (which I HATE) and seam up the straps, and it will be DONE.

But my brain has already progressed to starting a new, similar project, thanks in part to this abominable heat. Digging into my stash, I discovered I had a white cotton blend yarn I'd picked up to make some kind of tank or shell with at a Shop sale--on top of the Tahki Cotton Classic (in Eggplant) I'd succumbed to on Saturday and the Fiber Fiend Linen Yarn (in Peacock) that I'd actually been on the search for. So, I have options.

The whole point in pulling out the linen yarn, though, was that I'd knit a test swatch of it last year and noticed that it bled dye like crazy during the blocking process. I hadn't felt up to dealing with it back then, which is why it had been stuffed back into my stash to marinate some more. This whole "want to knit more tank/shell tops" drive goosed me into the process of tackling that--which involved seeing if there was anything I could do to further set the dye (google 8-ball says: no), and when that failed to pan out, how to deal with it, which was to soak it in a bathtub full of hot water repeatedly until it stopped releasing dye--which took three cycles. During that process, I went through almost as many cycles of fear-spikes followed by relief that thank god this is not a yarn I have to worry about felting. :)

Before I could do that, though, I had to re-skein the one hank I'd balled up, which meant finding the niddy noddy buried somewhere in the sea of knitting paraphanelia and yarn (I found it in the tub of sock yarn). Thank goodness for good knitting friends and a packrat nature!

So the linen yarn is hanging up in the bathtub drying in what is projecting to be another scorcher of a day. Gauge swatching will commence this evening on all three yarns, and then I have to decide which one I'm going to use and for which project. Current candidates include:

Soleil (free, Knitty, Spring 2005)

Sizzle ($$$, Knit and Tonic)

Ballet Camisole (free, Ravelry link, formerly a MagKnits pattern)

Shapely Tank Top (free, White Lies)

Chickami ($$$, the wide straps version, another Chic Knits)

Decisions, decisions...

Maybe posting here will get me off my arse to photograph my recently completed socks, especially since, as far as I know, none exist out there as yet for nathaniaapple's Stained Glass Socks....

Recent knitting-related items acquired

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:28:48 GMT

A few months ago, I had what I considered to be a stroke of genius for esmerel's birthday gift this year. One of those knitting-related things that I thought she'd really like and probably wouldn't just buy for herself, that wasn't yarn (both of which we're trying to cut back on): clear shoes to show off her hand-knitted socks.

However, after discussing it with the Purlescence gals, I was on a mission to find a very specific type of clear shoes: ones that would breathe. The biggest argument against the ones I was previously aware of, the Regia Transparent Boots, is that there was no ventilation, so your feet perspire, moisture accumulates, and soon you're walking around in soggy socks in clammy boots.

One page I found was ShoeBuy.com. Another was NexTag.com. I wound up buying a pair of clogs for her.

A week later, wendyknits posted about her new Skechers Cali Surfers. *facepalm*

I'm sharing this latter one especially because that's the pair I wound up buying (and if I had to do it over again, I probably would've gotten those for Ezzy). I like the fact that they're closed toe and closed heel, and they're remarkably breathable, although I have had a little bit of condensation towards the end of the day. They're still on-sale for only $15/pair with free shipping if you're willing to sign up with their shoe club.

If you're interested. :)

(Although in looking for links, I just found Clear Converse lo-tops. They have the same drawback as the Regia shoes (unvented->hot), but there you go if you think it's your favorite option

Another clear shoe summary page: Zappos.com, which found via this post on knitting earlier this week).

The other thing I picked up was based on an idea I saw someone else implement. I thought it was such a great idea, I copied.

Marking tags with string - For labeling my gauge swatches. Because I have a gauge swatch I did a little over a month ago now, and I can't remember what needle I used to knit it in. Which makes it completely useless now that I'm almost ready to knit the yarn. Write the needle used and what the yarn is and attach it to the swatch, and it's permanently marked.

White key tags for finished items being provided as a gift. The key ring allows you to attach it securely to the item somehow (maybe through a stitch), and the metal-rimmed tag gives you a place to write down fiber content, size (if applicable) and on the back, brief care instructions.

Oh, for the cleverness of knitters.

Zen and the Art of Frogging

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:33:30 GMT

There was a time when the thought of having to rip out a sock would reduce me to a state of 'Bored now!' If I had to do a major frog job on a sock, it generally got tossed back into the sock stew that is my stash bin until I could come to terms with losing that many hours of work.

Somewhere in the last four months, I've gone through a conversion. Gone zen. Made my inner peace with sock frogging. Because I haven't knit a sock since the Thraven Lenore sock back in February that I haven't had to rip a significant chunk out of: I had to completely rip out most of a sock with the Blue Parade when I had the wrong gauge; I ripped and re-ripped the heel of the Panda Cotton Socks while I experimented with one I was happy with, in addition to swatching lace patterns for the cuff, on the sock itself, until I settled on one I liked; and I ripped back about half of a finished cuff on the Chocolate Cherry socks until I figured out they actually fit. And I've barely batted an eye in doing so.

I think some of it is attributable to the fact that I'm not just following a pattern any more. I'm going off the beaten path into the realm of customization that requires a certain amount of trial and error, and a willingness to know when to cut my losses and backtrack.

It's not perfect. I have two pairs of 'finished' socks that are patiently waiting on additional work from me--the Blue Parade socks to decide whether or not I can live with the fact that I forgot to put matching increases on the calf of the second sock, and last year's Rockin' Sock Club Knee High to a Grasshopper socks, in which I need to pick out the bind-off and rip back the ribbing to add elastic into the top of the cuff so they'll frakking stay up on my leg.

But I comment on this at all because I wound up ripping back from nearly the heel to toe on my latest pair of socks, a variation of Wendy Johnson's Lucy Socks, because of a random comment someone made at Purlescence on Monday: "Those look bigger than I would expect a sock to look." Well, that was because I figured the STR Lightweight ~= Claudia Fingering in terms of gauge, and it wasn't.

Oops.

I could've switched to the smaller needles (US: 0 vs. the US: 1's I'd started on) and just kept going, but then the foot of sock #1 would be a different size than sock #2, and I couldn't tolerate that. So, out it came.

Rip. There goes almost a week of work.

Breaking radio silence with actual content: Everything Else

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:43:16 GMT

I haven't just been doing socks, it's just that socks are easier to knit and finish. Here's everything else I've been working on, some of which are actually done.

(Again, some of this is copy-and-pasted out of my Ravelry notes.)

(IMAGE HEAVY UNDER THE CUTS)

----

Project: Jumbo Crayons Unoriginal Hat
Pattern: An Unoriginal Hat, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (yarnharlot)
Yarn: Blue Moon Leticia (100% handspun merino), colorway "Christmas Balls"
Needles: US:10 DPNs
Pattern notes:

This was an incredibly easy knit for anyone familiar with DPNs and the concept of cables. I cast on for it an evening after work, worked on it for a couple hours that night and the following day, then finished up with another hour of work the 3rd day. I worked it without a cable needle, simply slipping and manually manipulating the stitches for the crossovers back onto the left-hand needle before continuing on my merry way.

The original pattern calls for 7.0mm needles; since there is no US equivalent to that, I went down a millimeter size (to 6.0mm) since I tend to knit loosely. Using US:10’s, the hat still easily fit a woman’s head, and might have still been a little long in the crown (the brim came down to the eyes of the human model who agreed to wear it for me). I had roughly a yard of yarn leftover when I was done.

The Christmas Balls colorway seems to have a lot more white in it than when it’s knit up. In the Leticia yarn, I kept gleefully announcing “It’s like Jumbo Crayons!” Because that’s what the melange of bright, primary colors with the bulky, single-ply yarn reminded me of.

Verdict:
This was a gift for a friend who was going through a rough time at the time, knit in early April, when it was still cold and snowing where she lived. I seized on it because it was a quick knit and suspected she was the type of person who would like a fun, colorful hat. Fortunately, I was correct, and it was much appreciated.

-----


Finished shawl	From behind

Being blocked	Modified edging close-up

Project: Blue Jay Brick Shawl
Pattern: Blue Jay Shawl, by Alison Jeppson-Hyde
Yarn: Blue Moon Geisha (70% Kid Mohair/ 20% Mulberry Silk/ 10% Nylon ), colorway "Blue Brick Wall"
Needles: US:7 24" circular
Pattern notes:

When this book came out, I was originally drawn to the Redwood Burl Shawl. But one day, I suddenly decided I wanted to use the Geisha, which was a birthday gift spearheaded by lynthia, and this pattern seemed the most suited to it that I liked.

The pattern calls for yarn sized (3), which according to the legend in the book, is “DK or light worsted”. Geisha is a fingering weight.

The finished shawl of the pattern was approximately 6 oz. of yarn and the materials list calls for 5 skeins of alpaca at 150 yds per skein, but there is no weight by skein to estimate on which side of the 5 skeins 6 oz. is.

Since Geisha comes in an 8 oz. skein (more than the 6 oz. of the pattern shawl), the main body of the shawl is comprised of rows of equal length (384 sts) from yoke to bind-off, the ability and encouragement by the author to do extra pattern repeats (20 rows) to increase the length, I decided I was going to make it bigger.

I weighed the skein of yarn right before starting the first pattern repeat of the body and again at the end of the repeat to estimate the amount of yarn by repeat. Knowing that, I could decide how long I want to make the shawl and be better prepared not to run out of yarn. :)

The original pattern called for three repeats. Doing the math (above), I calculated I would have yarn to do just shy of 6 repeats (not including the edging). To leave myself enough yarn to do the edging, I settled on 5 pattern repeats

For the edging, I opted to do the following after the completion of the 5th pattern repeat:

I did four more rows (2 pattern rows, 2 rows of purl-backs) of the pattern. For the pattern rows, I completed the points of the diamonds started during the 5th pattern repeat, but knit across the pattern where it would have you begin the next diamond.
I then knit two more rows in stockinette.

I illustrated what this looks like in close-up on the fourth picture, above, while t was being blocked.

To bind-off, I switched to the US:13 as recommended in the pattern, but on the stitch corresponding in the same column to the last YO of the final set of diamonds, I switched back to the US:7 needle and added a three-stitch picot to the bind-off.

Verdict:

I love it, for as much as it drove me kind of nuts to knit it. The 384 stitch rows meant it wasn't a project I could work on in short windows of time, but had to sit down for a half an hour or more to work on.

If I was to do this pattern again, I think I would make the following changes, based on my own experience and consulting with a designer friend:

A heavier yarn. I think it would look better in a sport-weight, rather than the fingering weight of the Geisha. This would also decrease the number of repeats needed and therefore the time needed to knit it.
Modify the last two rows of stockinette stitch to garter, to prevent the ever-present curling.
Add heavy beads to the picot to help weight the edging down.

Amazingly, I seem to have been the first person in Ravelry to finish this pattern. o.O

This started out being for me, but I decided midway through it to make it a holiday gift for windrose. Although she lives in humidity laden Florida, I know she frequently was chilled in winter, and what better thing to send my love than a Wrapped in Comfort shawl in a soft, fuzzy yarn for her to curl up in on her diva bed? It was late getting it to her, but she forgave me all sins upon receiving it. :)

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Shell body	Gusset close-up

Project:Cascade Pima Tencel Sharks Ribby Shell
Pattern: Chic Knits Ribby Shell by Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel (50% Pima Cotton / 50% Tencel), colorways black and teal
Needles: US:3, US:6
Pattern notes:

Zzzz. Pretty darn simple. Knit in the round, the variation I'm knitting, with flat front and back panels, begins with a bottom edge of non-regular ribbing on the US:3 needles, then switches to the US:6 for the rest of the body.

It's 200+ stitches of black mostly stockinette, with 2x2 ribbing on each side. For most of the body. Zzzzz. It's taken me a while to knit this far (this was cast-on in June 2007) because it was so blasted boring.

It got exciting around the bust area, where I decided to add short-rowing to accomodate my "frontal real estate", which I'd never done before. I worked with kiyowaramiyuki to figure out the math for that, then went to town (the second photo is a close-up of the short-row gusset worked into the ribbing on the left side of the shell).

A couple of inches above the fullest part of the bust, I switched to the teal--I really like teal, but I didn't want to wear that much really bright, unbroken teal. I combined it with the black because I like that color combination (Go Sharks! :), but also because I thought the black would be more forgiving to my "earth goddess curves".

I've reached the point on it where I'm to the armholes, and need to cuddle up with the pattern to figure out what I need to do next to start the straps.

Verdict:
Incomplete. I'll wait until I'm finished to pass judgement.

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Current progress, with investigative cat	Drop-stitch close-up

Project: Manos Silk Clapotis
Pattern: Clapotis, by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend (70% Merino, 30% Silk), colorway "Stellar"
Needles: US:7 24" circular
Pattern notes:

I just can't leave any pattern alone anymore. My modifications on this one:

I am using purls_beyond’s idea of converting the dropped stitches from stockinette stitch to effectively a rib (purling on the knit side, knitting on the purl side). This creates a visual and tactile marker where this particular stitch is, but allows me not to have to use stitch markers. The stitches on either side are still done in pattern (k tbl on the knit side and purled on the reverse side).

I have added an extra stitch into the stockinette field, increasing it from 5 to 6 stitches wide. To keep it in pattern, it meant increasing the number of rows in the pattern parts 2-4 by two, total. This was intended to make a wider ‘scarf’, more a shawl.

I estimate I'm a little over halfway done at this point, but as I'm kind of making this up by the seat of my pants, I'm not sure.

Verdict:
Still out, but I love this yarn. The silk mades it easy to the touch and it feels great to work with. I also love the wider stockinette field between the dropped stitches, it just feels a little more substantial for the shawl I'm aiming for.

Also, I love the colorway, but that's the whole reason I had to buy it. :)

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Gague swatch | After Clue #1, using Chart C

Project: Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl
Pattern: Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl, by Renee Leverington
Yarn: Skacel Merino Lace (100% handspun merino), colorway #669 (teal)
Needles: US:2 circulars, two 24"
Pattern notes:

I don't know if anyone reading this is doing this or not, but I'll pretend as if people might be concerned about spoilers and continue to put the photos as hyperlinks instead of in the posts. Be warned if you check my Ravelry page for this project, there are no such niceties. :)

This is a mystery knit-a-long, so I know very little about this pattern as yet. The pattern designer (Renee) revealed up-front that the original design is a 60" circular shawl, the pattern of which will be presented in five clues; the fifth clue will also include instructions on how to make it bigger, if people so desire.

I've never done a mystery knit-a-long, so the idea intrigued me when technocowboy alerted me to it. I had the yarn in stash, another gift yarn from esmerel, so I decided to jump on the idea.

I've also never done a circular shawl, so this is an adventure, as well. It had me learn how to do a magic cast-on to start a small circle, a variation on the magic cast-on which can be used to start toe-up socks. It's pretty wifty.

It's also got me knitting lace in the round on two-circs--thank goodness for the practice knitting two-circ socks!--although I could've used DPNs to start with. In retrospect, I'm nervous that perhaps I should have, as I see noticably looser stitches at the 'gaps' between the two needles, that I'm hoping hard will fix itself in blocking.

At this point, only Clue #1 has been released, but I'm finished knitting that portion and ready for when Clue #2 is released.

Verdict:

Magic 8-ball says: Check back later.

Breaking radio silence with actual content: Socks

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:10:47 GMT

First off, if you haven't read it yet, go read Franklin Habit's "A Reminder for All of Us". It really resonated with me, especially today, as I've been feeling very vaguely out of sorts and out of place, but with friends feeling even more like what he describes. It touched me, and I want to share.

That wasn't what I was going to post about, though. I was going to post a 'hellooooo', and I know it's been forever since I posted (four months!) but there hasn't been much to report. I've come to grips recently with the fact that my desire to knit far outstrips my capacity to do so, so although I want to be working on about ten different projects right now, I can feasibly only work on two at a time (although I consider myself at four right now. No one said I was 100% logical).

But! One of the things that had been preventing me from posting was that I'd been dilly-dallying about uploading photos. I don't know why this seems like such an AWESOME CHORE to me, but it usually does (right up until the time I do it. And then I remember that it's not. Then promptly forget again.)

What I have for you today is part one of two of "What I've been up to since last I posted": the Sock Edition.

(Some of this is copy-and-pasted out of my Ravelry notes. Unlike some crafters, I'm not going to expect everyone has a Ravelry account, though. :)

(IMAGE HEAVY UNDER THE CUTS)

----


Finished Sock	Cuff close-up

Project: Thraven Toe-Up Lenore
Pattern: Based on Lenore, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (yarnharlot), originally a 2007 Blue Moon Rocking Sock Club offering
Yarn: Blue Moon Socks that Rock Lightweight, colorway "Thraven"
Needles: US:1 DPNs
Pattern notes:
This was the second time I knit this pattern (the first time was using the original RSC yarn, in the 'Lenore' colorway--no photos). The pattern is written for a cuff-down sock. I improvised and turned it toe up.

With the help of chloesparkle_fd, the skein was split evenly into two balls, so I could knit until the yarn ran out.

Cuff: This was actually knit first. I'd found another person on Ravelry who had also converted to toe-up, who'd noted that this pattern is, in fact, unidirectional. Her suggestion? Graft it onto the rest of the sock. Seeing the reason in this, I knit the cuff as written in the pattern, then transferred it to a piece of waste yarn *before* the last plain knit row. The rationale for this is that the grafting will become the plain knit row.

Toe: Short row toe, as I learned from Wendy Johnson's generic toe-up sock pattern

Foot: In pattern for Lenore.

Gussets & heel: As written from Wendy Johnson's Fingering Weight, Toe-up Socks with Gusset Heel pattern, retaining the Lenore lace pattern on the in-step.

I wasn't entirely happy with how this heel looked after it was done; it felt backwards to me, or perhaps rotated 90-degrees from where I thought it should be. Rather than have the U-shaped curve of the heel turning on the bottom of the foot in the cuff-down socks I was accustomed to, that U-shape was situated on the back of the heel, over the Achilles tendon.

It bothered me, but I didn't have the bandwidth or the desire to figure out how to fix it to be the way that I wanted it to be, so I continued on.

Calf: In pattern for Lenore.

Grafting: When I was just about out of yarn, but had adjudged I had at least 36" of yarn left (i.e., greater than 4 * 8"--the circumference of the leg), I used the Kitchener stitch to graft the cuff to the rest of the sock.

Now, I've grafted many things together: toes of socks, shoulder seams of sweaters, Shetland lace. But I'd never grafted anything in the round before.

What I discovered after the first sock is that if I just do it like normal (front stich #1, back stitch #1, fs #1, drop fs #1 off needle, bs #1, drop bs #1...) it leaves a hole in the fabric between stitch #1 and the last stitch. To correct this, on the second sock, instead of dropping fs #1 and bs #1, I actually transferred those over to the *end* of the circular row (becoming, in effect, the last stitches). I continued grafting around, then included them in the grafting again--essentially grafting them a second time. This served to close up the hole.

Verdict:
I love these socks at an unholy level. The pattern was pretty good (so good, I knit two pairs in a row--something I almost never do), and I love love love the colorway of the yarn. Thanks, esmerel!

----

Project: Basic Ribbed Toe-up Socks in Parade
Pattern: Improvised, but based heavily on Wendy Johnson's Fingering Weight, Toe-up Socks with Gusset Heel
Yarn: KnitPicks.com Parade (discontinued), in colorway 'Blues' (75% wool/25% nylon), sportweight, one of the yarns I received during Secret Pal 6
Needles: US:3 circulars
Pattern notes:
These were my first foray into socks on two-circular needles. I started out trying to knit this on US:1 needles, but a combination of reaching the ankle of the sock and nearly running out of yarn in the first of only two skeins I had and an unhappiness with the tight, coarse feeling fabric resulted in me frogging and re-starting these on US:3's.

I am much happier with them now, and as you can see from the lovely model on Ezzy's leg, they reach to about mid-calf.

The toe was knit from the toe-seam up similar to the Magic Cast-on method, although the actual method followed was documented in the Knee High to a Grasshopper (RSC 2007 #2) pattern. I did it this way rather than the short-row cast-on method in order to retain the self-striping pattern of the yarn. (Next time, I'm going to use the magic cast-on because it is the shit, now that I've done it for another project).

The rest of the sock was knit based loosely on the Wendy Johnson pattern, but as this was a sport weight yarn, I had to improvise a little. Instead, I kept in mind a factoid kiyowaramiyuki had relayed to me from Cat Bordhi, that the important thing was to increase 50% of the stitches in the gusset when you're doing the heel. Based on that, I was able to "make shit up" and I think it worked out fine.

The instep of the foot and all the way around the calf is a simple 2x2 ribbing, with a sewn bind-off (scroll down to the end of that page for a description of how to do it), that I learned how to do with one of the other Rockin' Sock Club Socks last year.

Verdict:
I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, once I managed to nail down the correct needles and figured out the heel all by myself. They're a gift for someone so they'll have to tell me what they think of them to be certain.

Also? Really dig two-circ method of sock knitting. I'm a convert, although I haven't yet drunk the kool-aid.

-----

Project: Panda Cotton Lace Sock
Pattern: Improvised again, but again based on Wendy Johnson's Fingering Weight, Toe-up Socks with Gusset Heel
Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, in colorway "Night Lights" (Fingering weight, 59% bamboo/25% cotton/16% elastic nylon)
Needles: US:2 circulars
Pattern notes:

The only kind of socks I've been in the mood for since the Thraven Lenore has been ones that have simple (to my brain) patterns. This one fit the bill, plus the yarn made me so happy I just had to start knitting it the day I bought it.

The toe again was cast-on using the modified Magic Cast-on method. The foot was knit in stockinette to 4" short of the heel, rather than the 3" of Wendy's pattern. I did the gusset rows as normal, which was another 3" of the foot--leaving 1" left.

In that 1", I finally tackled the problem I had with Wendy's heel shaping to try to duplicate the U-shaped heel turn on the bottom of the heel, rather than the back. It helped that I got a chance to discuss it with kiyowaramiyuki before I launched into it, confirming my logic behind it.

I had a foot that was 60 stitches around. After the 30 rows of gusset increases, I had 30 stitches on the instep needle and 60 stitches (+50%) on the heel needle.

I knit in 40 stitches on the heel needle, then turned, using those middle 20 stitches (20 unworked stitches each on the right and left side) to knit 10 short rows, doing a wrap and turn (w&t) for each one, leaving one stitch unworked on on the end of each row, down to 10 stitches. This was the remaining 1" of the foot.

I then knit around, picking up the w&t's, back to the beginning of the heel needle.

To turn the heel, I knit in 16 stitches and began a slip-stitch heel, decreasing the gusset stitches on each row with a ssk (RS) or p2tog (WS) on each end of the row while always maintaining the same pattern/number of stitches in the heel itself. It worked out perfectly to be the correct number of rows (28-30) for a 2 1/2-2 3/4" heel and gave me the heel type I like.

I then decreased down to 56 stitches for the calf, and did a 2x2 lacy rib that I'm sure is not original but I made up without looking in a book:

Row 1 (pattern row): (p2, yo, k2tog) * 14 repeats
Row 2-4: (p2, k2) * 14 repeats

I finished on Row 2, then did a picot bind-off, except that mine doesn't look nearly as good as the one demonstrated in that link because I didn't follow those directions. Next time, I will.

Verdict:
I should've decreased the stitches on the calf a little more--it's still a little loose.

Also, I'm kind of disappointed in the yarn colorway. Since it's cotton and bamboo, I went ahead and threw them into the washer and dryer, using cold water and low heat--and the black seems to have bled considerably and muted the ultrabright colors. The photo I linked to above shows the sock after two washes next to a third skein of the yarn I bought (same dye lot), and I think it illustrates the contrast between the original yarn and the post-washing yarn. I'd been drawn to the yarn because of that vivid contrast, and I've lost that in the sock. Meh.

-----

Project: Chocolate Cherry Feather & Fan Socks
Pattern: Wendy Johnson's Generic Toe-Up Feather and Fan Sock
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Fingering, in the "Chocolate Cherry" colorway (Dye Lot: 1)
Needles: US:1 DPNs to start, switched to US: 1 circulars to finish
Pattern notes:
This was technically my first foray into toe-up socks. Most of the first sock was completed during a weekend of knitting in March 2007, before I dove into the Rocking Sock Club and did the "Inside Out" (RSC 2007 #1) socks.

For the record, I hate those socks. Among other things, it was a major factor leading me to an erroneous belief that a short-row heel wasn't compatible with my foot shape (high arch). Given this fact and that the RSC sucked up my sock knitting time, the feather&fan socks were put into hibernation for 15 months, because I couldn't bring myself to frog them.

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago. I was going on a short trip (long weekend), and was just about done with the Panda Cotton socks. I knew I needed another pair of socks to work on, and this yarn, which I loved, called to me, wanting to finally be knit up. I dragged them out and started to frog them--actually probably ripped out about 15-20 rows of the cuff before I thought "Wait a minute. I should actually see if they don't fit me or not." I'd initially been working them on DPNs, and couldn't try them on.

I pulled the sock on, and it fit just fine.

Cursing good-naturedly while at the same time cheering like crazy, I carefully picked up the stitches (somehow, I had stopped frogging right after a pattern row, meaning I was picking up Row 3 of 3 of stockinette knitting--convenient!) on the DPNs, went out and invested in some US:1 circulars, and gleefully continued knitting on the first sock after the Panda Cotton socks were completed.

I deviated from the pattern somewhat to do 12 rows of 3x3 ribbing at the top instead of taking the feather&fan pattern all the way up, and once again did a sewn bind-off.

Technically, these aren't completed yet, as have about 20 rows left on the second sock, but they should be done by tomorrow at the lastest.

Verdict:
The yarn itself is good, but what drives me over the moon for this is the colorway. These are so my colors, and I love the combination of cherry red and milk chocolate brown.

The pattern itself is pretty easy to memorize, so it made a good "brainless" but interesting looking sock for me to work on right now.

Tomorrow: Everything else I've been working on.

Well, I feel stupid now, but at least I'm not alone

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:00:26 GMT

My last post which included the rant about how much yarn I had left after the first Lenore sock? Yeah, well, I'm kind of dumb.

Seems that somewhere along the line, Blue Moon started making Lightweight skeins (at the very least) in 4.5 oz. skeins--aka 128 grams, not the "traditional" or expected 100g skein for its size. Everyone at Purlesence expressed surprise at this, too.

If anything, my skein was light, because the finished sock was 50g (50g + 72g=122g).

But, yeah. If I'd known that, I would've been golden to do the full 6" of cuff called for in the pattern. And if it had been a 100g skein, I would've been right in my decision to short-change the cuff.

*facepalm*

Anyway. I've decided for my next sock project, I'm going to to Lenore toe-up using a skein of Thraven (teal and black), also from the Socks that Rock 'Raven' series, esmerel gifted me with at Christmas for myself. Combine my knowledge of constructing toe-up socks with the Lenore Lace pattern and the toe-up Jaywalker heel (from the 'published' pattern, not my homebrew), and I should be golden. The only concern I have is that the scallops on the top edge of the cuff may not take well to being reversed, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it!

Cuff down socks are beginning to drive me batshit

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:38:39 GMT

Let's see why.

There was the pair of socks I made my father, when I ran out of yarn just after the heel turn on sock #2.

Now suitably paranoid, there was the socks I knit myself from Austermann Step (Petrol) where I had about a third of the skein remaining when I was 'done' (and wished, after the fact, I'd knit the cuff longer).

There was the first pair of Jaywalkers, knit from Socks That Rock--Lightweight, where I ran out of yarn 2" from the second two (and used the leftover Austermann Step to finish the sock off).

Now? I finished the first of the 2007 Rocking Sock Club Lenore socks. Having the experience with the Jaywalkers that the STR Lightweight tended to be a little 'short', and knitting US:10 socks, I skipped a repeat on the cuff in order to ensure I had enough yarn left.

After finishing the first sock, I weighed the remaining yarn:

72g

Off a skein that supposedly started at 100g.

There may have been some swearing.

Two things came of this. From here on out:
1) I am always going to weigh my skeins of STR before beginning a project.
2) I am going to try at all costs to do toe-up patterns, or to convert a cuff-down to toe-up if at all possible.

BLAH.

Personal bookmark, and sharing!

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:34:43 GMT

From a link found on wendyknits:

Tutorial on making knitting graph paper with Excel

This is timely for me. I've been sucked into the vortex of quick-and-easy knit projects (read: instant gratification, or as close to it as knitters can get) and knitting out of my stash, by spooling off sets of cabled fingerless mitts out of aran yarn.

First one I did was Slumberland's Warm Braid Cable Wristwarmers, from two strands of Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in the Rosehip colorway leftover from my Mountain Colors Elegant Textured Shawl (which I'm not sure I ever posted the picture of):

So jazzed up from the quick turnaround (I finished them in a weekend), I launched myself into a series of mitts based on Michelle Szeghalmi's Evangeline, knit from some Rowan Cashshoft Aran I had previously bought for a scarf I'm not going to make now. 8) I've done a set 95% faithful to the original pattern, and two since then changing it up because I didn't quite like how the first (or second) one came out.

But while I was knitting the second set, I started getting ideas of introducing fair isle into the cabling, then creating my own cabling pattern for it, and...well, I may have gone temporarily insane, because it would probably need to be done in fingering weight and would be anything but a quick knit.

Except I knew I needed knit graph paper if I was going to do it. :)

I dream of Jeanie

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:12:15 GMT

(I wish I could claim the cleverness for the subject line...but that would belong to purls_beyond)

I am in serious, *serious* project crush.

Jeanie

The Winter 2007 Knitty just came out yesterday. Soon as I saw the pictures, I fell. Hard.

I'm not the only one, though. I added it to the Ravelry pattern database yesterday morning. This afternoon:

3 projects, in 816 queues

Baaaa, I say.

Must resist buying yarn...must resist buying yarn...*cries*

I finished the Sharks Pomatomus socks

I cast-on and am plinking my way through the second Knee High to a Grasshopper (Rockin' Sock Club 2007, Project #2) sock. Although the socks don't excite me, one of them is done, and I realized in that brief window of time after the Pomatomus socks were completed and when I started this one that if I didn't do it *right now*...it was never going to get done. And it seemed a waste to let the finished one never have its mate. And so, I work on it, looking forward to when it will be done and I can start a different sock project.

And since I apparently haven't mentioned it yet, I cast on a project from Alison Jepson-Hyde's Wrapped in Comfort using the skein of Blue Moon Geisha (Blue Brick Wall) I was gifted with for my birthday. I've decided to make it my only Yule gift, so no more on this as yet. :)

This has meant that the Faroese-style shawl and Ribby Shell are pretty much mothballed for the nonce.

What a little Ravelry will get ya...

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:08:53 GMT

Photos. As in, spent a good chunk of the afternoon (in between a minor re-org of the craft stash area) taking photos of my latest yarn acquisitions and WIPs, and getting them uploaded to Flickr and from there, to Ravelry.

Flickr: The Stash

And then the WIPs

These are the toe-up Jaywalkers I beat my head bloody against, done in Claudia Handpainted Yarns Fingering, colorway: Sharks

The Sharks Pomatomus socks, or sock, really, since this is just the first one. :) Done in the same yarn as the Jaywalker (close-up of the pattern)

The Faroese-Style Shawl, in Blue Moon Silk Thread, colorway: Spinel. This photo is a good representation of the color (and the close-up of the lace pattern photo is not :)

Oh, look, it's black stockinette. Or, pretty much so. The Cascade Pima Tencel Ribby Shell. If you look closely, you might be able to pick out the ribbing that goes along sides, on the left-hand side of the fabric in the photo.

ashcake, if the Toast parts in those photos don't convince you... :)

| |
Toast immediately appropriated the Jaywalker sock when I put it down to shoot

This thing still on?

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:32:43 GMT

Yep, I guess it is. :)

Just a quick pop in to say I'm still here and I am still knitting. Is anyone surprised there are no photos (yet)? And I came to realize that photos are what make a knit blog. Something to ponder.

Posting to say I've join the herd, and I'm on Ravelry: username is 'alix' (my preferred nom du Net, and surprisingly it was available!)

What I've been working on:

I've finished the toe-up Jaywalker socks I mentioned in my post a couple months ago, done in the Claudia Handpainted Sharks colorway (top)

I've started a pair of Pomatomus socks in the same yarn. One sock done, and a couple inches in to sock #2.

Still occasionally plinking away at the Ribby Shell. It's several inches of black almost-stockinette stitch, even if I took photos, you wouldn't see any changes in it. :)

The Mountain Colors Elegant Textured Shawl, in that colorway in fact, although my reds are a lot deeper than the picture. After months of doing socks in fingering weight yarn and 260 stitch rows of DK and let's please not forget lace on what is almost silk thread, I was craving a project that would knit up quickly in big yarns and even bigger needles. I've been lusting after that kit since Purlescence got it in last January, and with a sudden cold snap hitting the area earlier this month, it was time to do it. The pattern is a mindless double-row garter stitch (P-K-K-P) and knits up hella quick.

More on this later once I finish it, which should be no later than this weekend. :)

Note to self: Scheherazade

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:51:22 GMT

Scheherazade stole & Storyteller Socks

So, I'm re-inventing the wheel, but...

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:34:00 GMT

seltsame pointed out in comment on my last post that someone had already done a toe-up pattern of the Jaywalker socks.

*facepalm*

However, doing this has engaged my stubborn streak. I went back to the drawing board this morning, and based on the original, flawed interpretation of the toe-up heel, my gauge, and what I knew it needed to do/what the heel should look like, I came up with a second version which added a helluva lot more rows on the heel turn (18 compared to 8) and consequently also picking up stitches in the heel flap (32 rows vs. 16).

But according to the measurements taken having just re-started the calf, is dead-on: a foot of 9.75", and a heel flap of 2.75".

Victory is mine!

lynthia, you may want to print out the other pattern, though. It'll probably be easier, but we can check that next week. :)

Mini-rant on designing

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 05:22:36 GMT

I'm in the process of converting Grumperina's Jaywalker pattern to a toe-up design. I'm trying to fold together Wendy's short row toe with the Jaywalker patterning and the toe-up gusset and heel flap of the second RSC 2007 socks.

It's been fun knitting along and discovering places where I could improve or fix the next time, and cheerfully fixing or making notes to fix later.

Except today, I finished turning the heel...and it is so not working. The heel doesn't seem like it's turned sharply enough, and the heel flap is only 1.25" long.

I'm going to have to tink back just about everything I finished today and start over. But not before checking Wendy's new toe-up pattern, which supposedly includes a version of the gusset heel which she may have converted to her fingerling weight (8 sts/in) gauge, which would likely make it work for this.

*sigh* I enjoy this though, right?

In lieu of anything pretty...

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:55:21 GMT

I never did get the post I intended to make posted.

But, to save my other friends from my crafting natterings....

I mentioned in my last post having four potential projects to start: the Faroese-style lace shawl out of Blue Moon Silk Thread in Spinel, a highly modified (but simpler) version of the Tiger Swallowtail Shawl out of Angora Cottage 100% handpainted silk yarn in Night Dreams, Bambuzzled in Blue Moon Bambu in Sea Breeze and the Ribby Shell in Cascade Pima Tencel (black and teal).

I wound up doing the Bambuzzled first. Project comments: The pattern was dead easy--I had the lace repeat memorized after the gauge swatch, which I did wind up doing. However, it was dead easy. I got bored of it very quickly, but given that I was on a self-imposed deadline to finish it in about three weeks, I couldn't put it down to work on anything else.

I wasn't entirely happy with the finished project. Although I liked the purple, greens, and blues in the skein, knitted up, it came off as too pastel'y to me and in the lace pattern, too busy. I also find the stole too narrow for my tastes, nor long enough. I think I had half of the second skein left when I was done; I'd be tempted, if I was to do this pattern again, to make it one to two lace motifs wider and longer. However, doing so might require going into a third skein which would be $$$.

I also did start the second 2007 RSC sock, the Knee High to a Grasshopper sock in their new Silky Sock in the Take a Walk on the Wild Tide colorway. I was blessed enough to be gifted with a second skein of it for my birthday, so I launched myself into doing the knee-high version. I finished the first sock last week.

Project comments: The toe cast-on was a bitch on DPNs. Not impossible, but I'm sure it'd be much easier on two circulars, as the pattern calls for. Once into the pattern, doing it on DPNs is fine, I just placed markers where the pattern thinks the circular needles should be (begin & end) because everything it references in the pattern is dependent on that orientation.

This was another mind-numbing pattern in a bad way for me. It's alternating rows of p2tog/yo and yo/p2tog that I felt I had to pay just enough attention to that I couldn't zone out on it, afraid I would offset the repetitions and screw everything up.

Maybe this makes me a bad sock knitter.

But I do love the heel flap and gussets on a toe-up sock. Yay!

Miscellany:

I've also cast-on for the Ribby Shell, which is currently my mindless "don't want to think while I knit" pattern at the moment. I love the feel of the Cascade Pima Tencel while I'm working. I'm roughly 4" into the body so far.

...and the Faroese-style shawl is on needles as of yesterday. I decided I needed something mildly challenging after all the repetitious stuff the last couple of months. I love Addi Lace needles, which I'm using a pair of for this project.

Lastly, I actually finished something else in the past month, a PoA-style Hufflepuff sweater that from checking my old posts, I started working on in June 2006 knit from KnitPicks Andean Treasure in Mystery for the body, and Merino Style in Crocus and Coal for the 'house' stripe around the waist and cuffs. I think I'd finished most of it by August 30th, but a combination of ends to weave in, alpaca in 90+ degree weather, and no clear goal to have it done by served for me to shove it aside for a while.

I laughed when I pulled it back out and realized I'd had maybe two ends left to weave in when I'd quit, although knitting up the neckband took most of a day. Got it blocked out, then spent about a week seaming it up. There are pictures, I just need to get them off my camera and uploaded.

I'm pretty happy with it, though. It's a touch roomy, but given that I'd based it on measurements taken of me about 15 pounds ago and how very large my other two sweaters-for-myself were, I'm ecstatic by how well it does fit. Good length in the body. The sleeves are a little long, but they don't hurt to be pushed up.

I'm getting closer!

A teaser for the post I plan...

Fri, 25 May 2007 22:30:29 GMT

FINISHED! FINISHED I SAY!

As in, I finished the first pair of socks from the 2007 Rockin' Sock Club, only three months after the package was sent out. :P Tomorrow, I find time to ball up the yarn for the second pattern so I can gauge swatch and start them.

I'm suffering from project ADD and poor impulse control this month. With the assumption of switching between RSC socks and a "weekend" project, I currently have four patterns clamoring to be worked on: the Faroese-style lace shawl out of Blue Moon Silk Thread in Spinel, a highly modified (but simpler) version of the Tiger Swallowtail Shawl out of Angora Cottage 100% handpainted silk yarn in Night Dreams, Bambuzzled in Blue Moon Bambu in Sea Breeze (a colorway so new, it's not on the web yet), and the Ribby Shell in Cascade Pima Tencel (black and teal).

So what am I going to do? Put off the Faroese shawl until July, since I have no hope of finishing that before the end of June (a self-imposed deadline--more on this), rip out the first version of the Tiger Swallowtail Shawl (more on this later, too), gauge swatch for Bambuzzled and the Ribby Shell...and then dither.

Longer post with pictures coming this weekend!

Alert the media

Fri, 11 May 2007 16:05:15 GMT

I finished something last night.

No, really.

The first of the RSC 2007 socks. Not the pair, just the first one. I cast-on for it shortly after St. Patrick's Day. God damn, I am slow.

Sitting at Purlescence yesterday nearing the end of the cuff, I commented, "They should've called the pattern 'Seasick'."

Although I like the moss-green and dark grey of the colorway, together they remind me of the sickly thunderstorm clouds that warned this child of the Midwest of oncoming tornadoes. It is not a 'pleasent' color combination, although I like it okay. Then you get into the cabling on the cuff, weaving assymetrically into and away from each other vertically through the horizontal striping of the yarn, and...yeah. Looking at it too closely can make you a little queasy.

But then I finished it! And tried it on.

Now, this is the first sock I've ever finished with a short-row heel, and I already had to rip the cuff back half its length (40 of 75 final rows) when it was clear I couldn't get the sock on with the cuff knit on US:0's. But the US:1's are only a little better--I really had to wrestle with the sock to get it over my arch and heel. I think this is a suggestion that this heel may not be a good choice for my foot--something I was already concerned about after discussions with Sandi about this pattern and its viability on her own feet which, by description, sounds similar in structure to my own.

The nice thing is that once the sock is on, the cuff fabric is firm enough that its not going to slouch, a problem chloesparkle_fd commented she'd noticed several other RSC members having.

I've decided that I am not going to re-do the cuff again. I'm going to go ahead and knit the second sock exactly like the first, and if putting the socks on and taking them off becomes an aerobic activity? So be it. I may not wear them that much anyway.

Argh

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:18:49 GMT

I'm about 40 rows into the calf of the first RSC 2007 socks (yes, the second packages were shipped and arrived end of last week. I'm slow. Shut up :)...and although I was able to get the sock on after finishing the heel, I don't think I can get it on now with the calf. The cables are just too damn tight.

*(@*(#*@#(@#

Because I need to be even further behind, I think I'll be frogging back 40 rows at the game tonight so I can switch to US:1 needles. :P

Content-lite update post

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:53:25 GMT

No pictures, I just feel like posting a status report!

I've made some progress on the double-knit checkerboard blanket...but not nearly enough. I can hear you laughing, esmerel, it's okay. :)

I've also not made a lot of progress on the first 2007 Rockin' Sock Club socks: I *just* turned the heel on the first sock today. The new kit comes out in, what, two weeks? Aie.

(Although I have blazed through almost all the cuff on the first of the chocolate cherry feather-and-fan socks when I was working on that last month instead of the RSC socks)

However, I did complete a gauge swatch for the Faroese-Style Lace Shawl. Given that it's 40-something stitches wide and 51 rows long (a repeat of Chart B) and can only be worked on at home, I'm feeling pretty good that it was done over the course of a couple of weekends.

However, even knit on US:3 needles, the stockinette, non-lacy diamonds aren't nearly dense enough in my opinion--especially not dense enough to really show off the subtle color variations in the yarn, which was one of the goals in this. So, after doing "hold my hand!" at Sandi today and consulting with her, she confirmed my suspicion that I'd be best served going down to a US:1 Add-Natura needle...of which they were out of. So, placed an order, and I can't work on this any further until that comes in.

So I can go back to this vague hope of at least finishing the socks before the next kit comes in, since there's no frakking way in the world I'm finishing the blanket before Sprout comes in. ;)

Because I'm insane, but in an evil genius kind of way

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 02:21:09 GMT

I finished up the Pacific Northwest Shawl.

But that's not why I'm insane.

I'm insane because although I haven't yet blocked it, I've been struck with new inspiration for lace.

It is my habit that whenever I go to Purlescence, I peruse the current yarn stock. Sometimes I visit some of my favorite stuff that I don't want to actually buy, or don't want to buy yet.

A couple of weeks ago, that was a visit to the silk yarn section and their small selection of Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Silk Thread (100% silk laceweight). "No one seems to be buying it," Sandi lamented. "I think because there is no sample of it knitted up."

Yes, that's all it takes.

Two skeins (2,500 yds) of Spinel later, I was in search of a pattern. I finally decided on the Faroese-Style Lace Shawl out of The Best of Knitter's Guide that I borrowed from esmerel

With Sandi's blessing, I set out to knit it. Although first, I got the wonderful chloesparkle_fd to ball it up.

Then both of them dropped the anvil on me. "You're going to want to go outside in on this, not from the center," they warned. Sandi further advised, "And you'll also probably want to orient it so the yarn is unwinding vertically, not horizontally, or you'll introduce twist into the yarn. Your best bet is to go buy a free-standing toilet paper holder from Bed, Bath, and Beyond and put the skein on that."

Do you know how much those things cost, though? The cheapest I found at BBB was $29.99. Going to a local hardware store (OSH), the only one they had was $49.99. Good gravy.

I thought I'd made a steal, picking up a free-ended towel rack on clearance for $8.99, but I quickly realized in attempting to do the gauge swatch yesterday that that wouldn't work either: I really needed the center core going through the skein to be able to freely rotate for this to work.

However...I was in OSH. A hardware store. And I am a clever monkey.

Step #1:
Assemble the components.
* 1 poplar board ($4.49)
* 1 'Colonial' brand toilet paper holder ($3.99)
* 1 bottle 'Lock-tite' brand glue gel, previously purchased for another "by gum, I'm going to fix this myself" project (~$4)

Step #2:
Glue toilet paper holder to poplar board. I could've used the screws, but my power drill has been power-less since losing the power cord in the last move, and I've never gotten around to fixing it. The Lock-tite is a Super Glue-like adhesive that works on wood.

I made sure to space the two sides out so that the tube rod could rotate freely.

Step #3:
Allow to dry for several hours.

Step #4:
Take it for a test drive.

And there's the yarn porn as well: one of the skeins of Spinel.

Total cost: $12.49, or $8.49 if you discount the multiple-use glue.

There's about half as much space left on the board going unused. I'm waffling between finding someone with a power saw to simply remove the excess bit off the end or maybe glueing a basket to it to hold the shawl (or future shawls) when I'm not working on it. The board makes it easy to transport everything around and I may even be able to find somewhere to store it temporarily other than my coffee table when not in use.