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April 22nd, 2009
11:12 am - Socks, and even more tank musings
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!
( Socks, socks, socks for my feet, with lots of pictures )
And more on the tank top saga...
( More patterns, as if I needed more )
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April 21st, 2009
11:07 am - It's hot, so there must be knitting
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. :)
( Knitting obsession: high, along with the temperature )
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 ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nathaniaapple's Stained Glass Socks....
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December 6th, 2007
04:12 pm - I dream of Jeanie
(I wish I could claim the cleverness for the subject line...but that would belong to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) 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*
( Status, otherwise )
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September 11th, 2007
August 12th, 2007
09:27 pm - So, I'm re-inventing the wheel, but...
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. :)
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January 18th, 2006
02:20 pm - Once again, I blame Ezzy
A pattern link for the Print O' The Wave Stole, and it's also Ezzy's fault for making me think that this might be a good use for the two skeins of KnitPicks Shadow in Lost Lake that I got from plath_blogspot during SP6.
*grumble* :)
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December 20th, 2005
01:54 pm - Link post: Kepler
I blame Ezzy and her SP for this:
Kepler sweater
Mmmmmmmmm. Caaaaaables.
(Funny thing is, I think I know the person in the photograph at that link. I think she goes to commuKNITy)
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December 6th, 2005
10:18 am - Dithering with the best of them
I spent most of last night fighting with the end of the next major part of Xmas Project #3. For as close as I was to being done with it, it should not have taken as long as it did. (There will be more discussion of this under a locked post, so if you're curious, make sure you're on my friends list and logged on to your account to read it!)
But the primary thing that has occupied my crafting brain cycles is the hat portion of the book!Ravenclaw hat/scarf/gloves set. Contemplation this weekend revealed that although the scarf is the easiest thing to transport and work on, it is, in actuality, the least needed item of that set to prepare myself for the Wintery Wastes from Whence I Came. I'm not really concerned about the gloves being done on time, since 3-4 days should finish those up; however, little fiddly fingers with wee DPNs are not something I really want to work on at home hockey games, of which I have three this week.
But, what of the hat? Considering it, I decided that it would not be that difficult to work on at hockey. But it would require some prep-work, to rescue needles to knit it with from one of the other two projects, the scarf or the gloves, (which, incidentally, has made me realize that I unintentionally have a crapload of US:4 needles: two sets of circs I believe 16" and 12", 8" DPNs, and 5" DPNs)...and also a pattern.
I'd intended to use the hat pattern in The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, but further pouring over it revealed that it was intended for stockinette, and I wasn't sure how knitting it in k1p1 rib would affect sizing--I had gauge, but it was unstretched ribbing, and doing a 1:1 translation might produce a hat that fit but had no 'grip' because the ribbing would stretch more than the stockinette fabric, or something, which was my fear. A few years ago, I'd found a free ribbed hat pattern (PDF), but digging that out showed it was a k2p2 rib. I then proceeded to dig around in Google and found Pismo, which from reading seemed to be knit from an even thinner yarn than DK (maybe fingerling or even laceweight); described a cast-on that, in gauge, was only 18" in circumference while I measured my head at about 23 1/2"; but I liked how it did the decreases, and I can brandish math with the best of them.
Forty minutes of work with the pattern and the calculator, I'd come up with something I thought would work for what I wanted, printed it out, then went to bed.
Only to realize, trying to fall asleep, that I'd been wrong all this time. Would I *really* wear a tuque? I have a lot of long hair and styled bangs, both of which a cap would muss. For weeks now, I'd been hung up on the idea of a hat, and hadn't even considered the feasibility of wearing one. What would likely be better utilized would be an earwarmer headband, one that could be slipped under my bangs, cover my ears, and around the back of my neck, under my hair if it was down or away from a bun or braid if it was up. If I need to cover my head more fully, there is the scarf, or my new coat has a hood.
So, then I started considering how I would construct such a headband: single layer like a hat brim without the rest of the hat? I decided I did want the double-thickness, for warmth. Fair Isle? No real reason to. Double-knit? I considered doing this, just to experiment with it, but discarded it as being way more work than I wanted to do. I then realized I could do the seamless doughnut through a combination of knitting in the round and grafting the cast-on and cast-off rows together. I also toyed with the idea of doing the 'inner' part completely in the silk/alpaca Elegance, but decided not do because I'm not sure how it'd feel (probably nice, but...), and because I have to make sure I have enough Elegance to finish the scarf.
What I decided on was something knit in the round and folded over, and fully reversible. So while I crunched numbers to come up with the pattern, I felt like a doofus that I didn't discard the hat idea earlier.
( My preliminary headband pattern )
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December 5th, 2005
12:13 pm - Random commentary for a cold December day
I finished up a rather significant chunk of work on Xmas Project #3 this weekend, thanks to UFO Night at commuKNITy, several hours of crafting time and an SVR Christmas tea I attended with shadowhwk, and another Social Knit at commuKNITy. I am so close to completing another major component of it, I can taste it. I have these wild dreams that I might finish it by this weekend, but I think that hope is only going to survive until it encounters home hockey games tomorrow and Thursday night.
Part of the reason I want XP #3 done is so I can have a hope in hell of finishing up the book!Ravenclaw PoA hat/scarf/gloves set before I depart for the wintery wastes of Illinois in just over two weeks. I got to a point in the first glove where I added in the CC 'bronze' stripes, and I think they'll do. I'm ready to do the pinkie finger, and I'm liking it very much so far.
Reason #3 that I'm glad I've learned how to knit my own gloves:
I've discovered through trial-and-error that although I was under the impression most of my adult life that I have 'big hands', I actually don't: by circumference, it seems my hands run somewhere between a women's small and medium; I just have inordinately long fingers. Knitting gloves for myself means I can custom fit the fingers. Go me!
I'm 99.9% of the way done with Xmas Project #1 now. I have about 5 minutes of work left on it, that I really should sit down and do so I can say I'm 100% of the way done. :)
jesshartley posted something on her blog this weekend referring to something called a Magic Scarf. And although I have no desire to knit it for myself, the fact that she is in love with them but refuses to learn the 'complicated process' of creating them piqued my interest and presented me with a challenge. She later posted a link to a pattern for it. I don't actually know if I want to knit one. But it currently fascinates me.
Thanks to a yarn sale at commuKNITy and djinnj's worshipfulness fannedness, I picked up five skeins of Rowan Cashmerino Aran in black to make a scarf inspired by one Remus Lupin wears in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie (pattern here, along with pictures after blocking). I don't know what I'll do with the scarf once it's done, but I like it a lot.
Other acquisitions over the weekend: two sets of 5" DPNs. One set is US:4's, to do the fingers of the Ravenclaw gloves, and the other are US:0's to make HP Bookscarves, because those scarves are so small and skinny that normal 6" needles are way too much for them, too.
Although, now that we've determined the PoA/GoF scarves are ribbed, I may make up my own ribbed pattern for the latter, which would (a) negate the need for DPNs altogether and (b) allow me to sell them at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) lumos2006 without requiring getting permission from the person who came up with the tube scarf pattern. Things to consider.
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November 17th, 2005
01:41 pm - Indulging in selfishness for a good cause
I really wanted to work on Xmas 2005 Project #3 at the hockey game last night, but it's reached a point where although portable, it is not currently a good hockey game project. Project #2:The Project Strikes Back never was, so I faced last night with a bit of dismay: do I dare start a new project to tempt with its evil? And if so, which one?
I had three viable options:
1) Cast-on for socks out of the Meilenweit Fantasy yarn my Secret Pal sent me back in October.
2) Cast-on a gauge swatch out of the Elann Baby Peruvian Cashmere for a pair of fingerless gloves.
3) Cast-on for the PoA book!Ravenclaw hat/scarf/gloves set I want to make for myself
The final winner? #3, mostly because I decided I didn't want to deal with DPNs at a hockey game last night.
But before I could do #3, I had to figure out a pattern for my planned DK-weight, k1p1 rib scarf. And to figure out a pattern, I had to sit down with my stitch and row gauge and do some algebra, based on vlamidala's pattern at Atypically.net worsted weight stockinette scarves.
What I came up with was this:
PoA DK k1p1 rib Hogwarts scarf pattern
It's still without the yardage requirements, but copage is in order until I have a chance to finish it. :)
After a false start involving doing a provisional cast-on before realizing, "hey, dummy, you're knitting this flat, not in the round, and you're not going to be sewing the ends of the scarf together, so why don't you frog that crochet cast-on and do a cable cast-on like you'd intended, which you *did* do for the gauge swatch. Okay?", I zoomed along quite nicely on it, getting through the first 24 of 36 rows in the first block of MC.
I then did the math and realized that at 58 sts per row knitted flat, even though I'm using thinner, DK weight yarn, I'm still going to be knitting fewer overall stitches (43,616) than for the worsted weight stockinette tube scarf (50,490) with the same calculated width and length [totals include cast-on and a 1:1 stitch bind off]. If there is slowness, it's going to be because of having to knit back and forth and doing the k1p1 rib stitching.
The problem now? Resisting the temptation to continue working on it when I *could* possibly work on either of the two Xmas Projects.
"I'm an oak, alright."
(UPDATE: Managed to make myself work some more on Xmas Project #3 over lunch. Go me!)
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September 27th, 2005
08:58 am - Oh, dear
I am in crush.
Ivete Tecedor's Tramonto, pattern available here.
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August 31st, 2005
August 30th, 2005
August 19th, 2005
06:55 am - Calvin Klein's got nothing on me
Two more rows done on Peacock Feathers and some small work done on the PoA scarf--I'm barely a day ahead of things on the latter now.
But, still, I continue to obsess about lace patterns.
zog_knits's latest post had me finding the Forest Path Stole from the Summer 2003 IK, an entrelac project which, being lace, piqued my interest. I've never done entrelac, only heard of it as a technique, so now I'm curiously poking at it. Between that pattern and the Grecian Cowl Pullover which I really like the look of, I wound up buying both that issue and the Fall 2003 issue for the Byzantine Bazic, Cafe Bastille Cables, and the Leaf Coat.
If I ever do the Forest Path Stole, I also found a couple of tips pages:
* IK Summer 2003 Corrections includes errata for the pattern
* One persons tips-and-tricks for when she did Forest Path
That last link also a link to a Shetland lace pattern, Spider Queen, and someone else posted a real neat looking lace shawl pattern by the same designer as Spider Queen, Alcazar, the Moorish Palace, that totally put me in mind of the Middle East and therefore bellydance and therefore ebonlock and aelfsciene. And I'm whimpering over the Tempelhof Airlifter and Legends of the Shetland Seas shawls.
Window shopping is a perfectly acceptable past time.
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August 18th, 2005
10:17 am - More projects than I know what to do with
My horoscope for this week is particularly apt:Born under the sign of the Bull, my friend Sarah is a stupendously creative person. The flow of fertile intuition never seems to stop. She attributes this blessing, which is also a bit of a curse, to her relationship with an imaginary friend she calls Eliza. "Eliza is mostly my mysterious and helpful muse, but sometimes she fills me up with too much good stuff," she says. "She can give me so many insights, ideas, and inspirations that I feel like I'm going to explode." [note: emphasis mine] In the coming week, Taurus, I suspect your experience will resemble Sarah's. Would you like to know the best way to ensure the abundance doesn't turn into excess? Make room in your life for a flood of invigorating changes. Nathania's (purls_beyond) finished picture of her Birch shawl has me exploring making a similar one. It's out of Rowan Knitting Magazine 34 out of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. Wouldn't it be lovely in a shade of green (like Meadow) or brown (like Villain)? Or maybe something like Knitpicks' Gossamer in Leprechaun or Trail, although maybe the lace pattern would get lost in the variegated yarn.
Although I'm also admiring the recommended Gossamer pattern, the Twin Peaks Faroese Shawl.
I'm not planning on ordering anything until I'm done with Peacock Feathers and well on my way through the Pacific Northwest Shawl, but....
Yep. Feeling like I'm going to explode. :)
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July 13th, 2005
01:53 pm - No more inspiration needed
Harry Potter PoA-style scarf bookmarks
They're so ky00t!
If I wasn't already neck deep in projects, I'd be tempted to try to crank a few of them out before Saturday.
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June 24th, 2005
05:22 am - Falling into a heaping pile of DOOM
So, after my post from yesterday signaling my near surrender to the lace-making craze, someone on knitting ohsohelpfully posted the link to Fiddlesticks Knitting's shawls and stoles.
Now, sure, I could've found it myself if I'd tried, but there's one thing to have to do the work to find it, and another to have someone present it RIGHT HERE and clicking on the link.
It didn't take very long for ezzycrafts and I to co-enable ourselves up to a tenative plan to do a Peacock Feathers knitalong--this was aided some, on my part, by the fact that I know kightp is also coveting this (so, kightp, you maybe interested in a knitalong? :)
The Fiddlesticks website sells the recommended yarn (Jaeger Zephyr Wool-Silk) for an egregious but what seems to be 'usual' $12.40/2 oz, 630 yard skein; TheKnitter.com sells it for a far more reasonable $8 per skein.
Alternatively, ezzycrafts suggested Knitpicks Shimmer, at a bargain $4.99/50g (440 yards). Although, hmm, in doing the math, it'd take three skeins of the Shimmer for $15 or two skeins of the Zephyr Wool-Silk for $16 (unless, of course, I do my usual 'buy one more skein just to make sure', which would take it up to $20 and $24, respectively). My only reservation about using the variegated Shimmer is wondering if the intricacies of the lace pattern would be 'lost' in it. Ezzy suggested the Turquoise Splendor colorway; but I think peacock feathers would also look pretty cool in Grape Hyacinth (which would also have the advantage of not looking like Ezzy's if she decided to go the Turquoise route :).
Lastly, for aelfsciene:
I love you, hun, but but not this much. :)
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June 23rd, 2005
05:58 am - I believe I may be doomed
I've been avidly reading the wendyknits blog feed for a while, and she has declared Summer 2005 the 'Summer of Lace'. Between her, keyboardbioknit, craftywazsgirl, kightp, and to a certain extent ezzycrafts...really, it was only a matter of time.
And then someone posted a free pattern for a Fishtail Lace Scarf. Originally, you were only supposed to be able to get to it if you joined the Summer of Lace Yahoo! group. But there were problems with that, so the designer made it available directly.
It's a sign, right?
So, I'm posting to signal my imminent surrender, as well as a personal bookmark to the pattern so I can know where to find it at home.
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