Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Oh it's been a long loooong time since I've had a finished sweater in my knitting portfolio. I've been trying though.
Here are 2 of the 4 skeins of heavyweight Socks That Rock yarn I bought to make the Rambling Rose Cardigan from the IK Winter 2006 issue. I think the magenta/pink cardigan in the magazine is a little jarring, a little not my style, too much cotton candy and Hawaiian Punch, like a junior varsity cheerleader threw up all over it. So I'll be taking the cardi towards more of an Edgar-Allan-Poe-ish direction: Pond Scum (pond scum!) and Haida, from the new Raven Series.
Here is a tunic sweater, knit in the round with Malabrigo worsted, that has been stalling at the underarms for several weeks now. I can't decide how to proceed next, mostly because I don't know what kind of sleeves I want...and also because I don't know what kind of new knitting technique I want to try. If any at all. Cast on more stitches for capped sleeves, and then continue knitting in the round? Divide for front and back, working separately, and then seam raglan sleeves to it? Long sleeves or short sleeves or 3/4 sleeves? Make it a vest? Steek it (eee no)? Yoke it? I just want to finish it with the least amount of thought as possible, really. Wish I had just done this from the top down.
Until I finish those up, I have a few things that will tie me over, cuz I just scored me my most favorite thing in the world: a sweater on sale at anthropologie.
Let's be honest here, it's still kind of expensive even with the mark down. anthropologie is like that, hit or miss with the styles and the prices. But let's be honest again: those 4 skeins of yarn cost more than this finished cardigan (which totally looks handknit, by the way), and Rambling Rose cardigan, assuming that it will actually turn out to my liking after spending 10,000 hours to knit it, does not have penguins for pockets now does it?
Filed Under: General Knitting | Tunic Sweater | Yarn Stash
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
All I need to do to finish Tate's sweater and get it - and Charlie - in the mail before Tate turns 30 is to do the miniscule amount of seaming necessary and to sew the collar to the front.
Peekaboo
I just keep putting it off!
Filed Under: General Knitting | Vestee
Monday, April 30, 2007
I like to knit. And to layer.
My outfit I wore this past weekend to a little house party,
topped off with a dash of Chevron Scarf.
Not all knitted projects work out the way you might initially envision it to,* but I don't think I would knit at all if I didn't like some of what I make enough to wear it out in public.
The Apricot Jacket is nearly two years old. It's practically vintage, and given the haphazard way I "sewed" on the buttons, I can't believe that small children haven't yet choked any! And how little the yarn has pilled! Go Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, go!
Do you wear what you knit?
* Some FO's that have departed to the Great Knitted Graveyard in the Sky:
Electra, due to poor color choice and ill fit (I gave it away).
Ballet Top from Loop-d-Loop, due to incredibly stretched-out fabric that led to unflattering drape.
Tank from Rebecca 29, due to undeniable fugliness. What was I thinking with that one?
Filed Under: General Knitting | Rebecca 27 | Apricot Jacket
Friday, March 23, 2007
I was flipping through last week's Improper Bostonian last week when came across on article about Spark - the local craft studio where you can get all your crafting groove on, including jewelry-making, paper crafts, and of course knitting, and do it all in a social, collaborative setting. I've mentioned Spark way back when, and even though I was really excited about its concept back then, I found that it just wasn't for me. Not much of a surprise is it?
But the real issue is everytime I go in, I don't exactly get a cozy, inviting vibe from the decor and general atmosphere. All the plastic bins and cubbie holes of scissors and rulers and various crafting materials remind me of a first grade classroom or an after-school daycare center. I would know, as I have been both in first grade and in a daycare center. May your children never know the horrors of the latter. I can still see Bobby in the corner eating glitter-covered glue or David sticking playdough up his runny nose, amongst other things. Little children can be so vile, especially when there's more than 50 of them in one room.
And the piles of dog-eared magazines laying the tables, meant for crafting inspiration, are also how your doctor's waiting room is decorated. It's very bright, clean, sterile, uncomfortable. No disrespect to Spark, mind you. It really is a cool place. My reactions are all very unexpected ones, and entirely my own.
So anyway, Improper did an article featuring Spark, and there was one line that really made my day:
"Knitting supplies include inexpensive, colorful lion wool for beginners..."
That one little phrase is just so rich! So delicious! Lion wool! LION WOOL, with a lowercase "L"!!!
Can you just picture a non-knitter reading this line, and thinking, "Lion wool? Wool made from lions? Is inexpensive? And colorful? And for BEGINNERS?"
I am sure they meant to write Lion BRAND Wool, which indeed is inexpensive, colorful, and for beginners (I guess? Whatever "beginner" wool means), and in large supply at Spark.
But then I thought maybe I was missing something. Maybe there is such a thing as wool culled from lions, the same kind of lions who are usually caked in dried blood from eating wildebeests all day, and who use their ribs as toothpicks afterwards. I mean I am still rather new to the knitting scene, learning new stuff all the time, so why not? You get nice wool from rabbits, goats, yaks, camels...why not a lion?
And I could imagine a lion's mane as very amenable to being made into fiber. Afterall it is thick, long and lush. I don't know if it's soft as I have never had the pleasure of petting a lion, but it couldn't be any more coarse than the hair of a yak? (Never petted a yak either though.)
After much thought - probably too much thought - I realized that lion wool just can't possibly be. Can you imagine the logistics of it? Keeping a farm full of male lions, next to your merinos and alpacas? Shearing lion wool? Would you tranquilize them first? What to feed them? So many questions, not enough money.
However there's a market for everything, so perhaps cultivating lion wool is not entirely out of the question. It could happen one day. I mean through sheer force of imagination man has taken seaweed and turned it into yarn. For crying out loud, how is lion not the next logical step?
Lion wool, lion wool...There is something very pleasing in that concept. A lion is a cat. A very big cat. I like cats. I like it when they purr. Mmmm. I can just picture it now: Scout or Hello Yarn carrying lion roving in their shops. It wouldn't be cheap, oh no, but imagine yourself spinning lion yarn - from a real live lion's mane! - by the fire. How old-fashioned and wildly exotic at the same time! And wouldn't you just love to knit your own pair of socks made from Sundara Yarn 100% superwash lionwool?
I am sure that someone, somewhere, someday, will make this lion wool dream of mine a reality. I myself would totally turn this blog post into a business plan, but alas. I am too busy organizing a penpal club.
Above: Artist's rendition of a sheep and lion farm, for the cultivation of fine wools.
Filed Under: General Knitting | WTF
Monday, March 12, 2007
I have had this annoying, inexplicable habit of buying single skeins of sock yarn, the ones that are no more than 175 yards and obviously not enough to make a full pair of socks. See this. And this. And also this. There are more bachelors and bachelorettes hanging out in the stash. When I approach that wall dripping with those Koigu colors, fighting the urge to grab every skein and stuff them in my mouth, I think to myself: Why buy two skeins in one color when for the same price you can have two skeins in two colors? More for your money! I'm so smart! Not a bad shopping practice in general, but when the whole point of buying sock yarn is to uh make socks, full-grown socks, which you now can't do because you don't have enough yarn, well then really how smart are you? I tried justifying my single purchases by convincing myself that I only wanted to knit anklets. But again. Wool anklets. What's the point? In the end you end up wasting. These Spring Anklets I made in that buttery Sundara yarn has been worn maybe all of five times in the last year.
So I'm totally loving this Chevron Scarf craze. It's the perfect way to use up the single skeins of sock yarn, and to pair up colorways that are not particularly matchy-matchy. In fact the less matchy the colors are, the better! I'm also trying to wean myself off of making socks, and the Chevron Scarf is the perfect in-between project. Still using yummy sock yarn but not making socks. Yay!
I'm using Sundara yarn in "Troubador" + Louet Gems Pearl in the lightest green. Instead of the fan-and-feather pattern I'm using this simple chevron pattern with eyelets:
Across 33 stitches:
RS rows: [k4, yo, k, yo, k4, double-decrease] twice, then k4, yo, k, yo, k4 (35 sts)
WS rows: p2tog through the back, p to last two stitches, p2tog (33 sts) Double-decrease is: slip 2 stitches knitwise together, k next stitch, pass the two slipped stitches over. This makes for a skinny scarf. For wider chevrons increase the 'k4' part to your liking.
After the first foot of the scarf I switched up the height of the chevrons by knitting 4 rows of one color and then 4 rows of the other. So it'll be 4x4 for the middle, and 2x2 for the ends of the scarf.
I'm using US3 needles on the fingering weight yarn, and as a result the fabric is loose, but not lacey, and the sides aren't curling in. Woot! Very pleased with how this is turning out so far.
P.S. I also finished the back of Kooch. Just the sleeves left...I see the light! Slow and steady wins the race, right?
Filed Under: Chevron Scarf | General Knitting | Rowan | Kooch
Friday, March 09, 2007
Look at us, so romantic and glamorous in the glow of the setting sun.
Oooo aaaah.
Why don't you knit us already?
Here is a skein of Sundara Yarn in "Troubador" on top of a skein of GEMS Pearl in a light green. I bought the Sundara Yarn waaaay back when pureknits was selling them. It's definitely vintage, and I still don't know what to do with it, having bought just one very inconvenient skein. I attempted this awhile back and decided I didn't want to knit socks with them. I still don't. I think it's about time I knitted something other than socks for a change.
I smell the heady scent of a Chevron Scarf...
Filed Under: General Knitting | Yarn Stash
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Happy Birthday Yarn Cake for everyone!
My first post two years ago today. I just started knitting and maybe you can tell that I was rather ecstatic over completing my first sweater (there was a lot of squealing). Two years later and knitting still gets me excited in that "eeeYAAAAAAAAAAH!" sort of way.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share your love of knitting with me!
Filed Under: General Knitting
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
What we have here is a skein Fleece Artist Merino Sock yarn in Autumn. I've been very curious to try it, and by the looks of it it will probably be no different than CTH, Koigu, et al.
I bought new yarn. Shut up. I just can't resist a good sale.
Game over! Thanks for playing!
Does it count though if I bought this yarn at the behest of a friend who wants socks for her birthday, which is this weekend, and since I'm way behind already these are going straight onto the needles and will therefore have no chance of marinating in the stash...or am I just making excuses at this point?
(PS: My own addendum to the knit-from-your-stash rules forbade yarn in ALL forms, so that included sock yarn, gifted yarn, and yarn to be gifted. Yes I have quickly realized these rules are seriously flawed. And they make no sense. If you were to gift me yarn, would I then have to decline it? 'Course not. That would be rude.)
Before the yarn could be wound, I took it back to my Fancy Pants Photography Studio so it could have its official portrait taken.
The yarn was subjected to many minutes of sitting very very still inside this state-of-the-art lighting box during the shoot.
But all that hard work in front and behind the camera is worth it.
Heh. I might have added another skein into my shopping cart... another FA sock yarn in Forest.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Yarn Stash
Thursday, February 01, 2007
A scarf came in the mail today! And here I am modeling it, with my new purple peacoat, indoors, because it's too cold - not to mention very unsafe - to go outside.
Thank you Elemmaciltur for sending this beauty over! He wasn't so into the So-Called Scarf he made, but I was, and half-jokingly commented that I would take it if he didn't think he could wear it. First, I need a scarf. Second, it's in a pattern that I've been wanting to knit myself, if I could ever yank myself away from knitting socks. Third and MOST excitingly, it's got my #1 all-time Never Realized It Was My Favorite Color Combination Until I Looked Around My House and Realized Everything Is That Combination color combination - green and purple! Purple and green!
OK so the colors are really more magenta and green, but close enough. I love it. Magenta is like a drop of blue away from being purple anyway. They all compliment each other very nicely.
By themselves purple and green are not my favorite colors. But I naturally gravitate to them when they're together. They're everywhere.
My purple peacoat, lined in apple-green goodness.
Ah purple and green. You're the perfect couple.
In my purple coat with my green-magenta-almost-purple scarf on my purple and moss couch in my green living room with purple curtains that's adjacent to my dining room. Which by the way is purple.
Thanks again Elemmaciltur for the beautiful scarf! It will be well-loved and well-worn.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Life
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
It's just useless. Utterly, completely useless. It's so less than useless it's usenil. Usezilch. Usekaput.
Mwahaha, I win! Again!
I simply cannot stop knitting socks.
I give up.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Socks | Child's First
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
In case you missed this really important headline, here's this morning's Breaking News from cnndotcom:
"The musical 'Dr3amgirls' led today's Ac@demy Aw@rds contenders with eight nominations, but was shut out in the best picture category for which it had been considered a potential front-runner."
Stunning. I mean. 8 nominations - but no best pic? I knew it - there is no god. I'm completely shattered.
Even so, I'm not quite as shattered as I was when I read this truly Breaking News-worthy breaking news from Nov 7, 2006. It's possible you fellow Americans might have missed this one because you stepped away from your desk to perform more pressing matters, like to refill your cup of coffee. Or to pee. Or to vote.
"Br!tney Sp3ars files for divorce from her husband...citing irreconcilable differences."
I caught it though. As soon as it happens, I know about it. Thank you cnn.
 Here's my own very exciting breaking news: Hatred for knitting by hand convinces handknitter to buy knitting machine.
Slow, torturous progress on my Kooch. I've decided it needs to be a given a more flattering name and will now call it My Albatross.
Waaaah you guys waaah. Finishing this is going to be a huge struggle. I want the coat a million times more than I want to knit it. After knitting with fingering weight yarn for so long, the chunky is doing a number on my hands, not to mention the return of Reynaud's on my ring and pinky fingers making chunky knitting that much more unpleasant. I've been fantasizing about a knitting machine more and more. If I had a knitting machine I'd use it in a heartbeat. If I had a knitting machine I'd have a sweater coat in another heartbeat. No more languishing as a WiP for a year...the whole thing would finally be done.
If I get one though would that be like going over to the knitting darkside? My mom has one and I always poo-poo it. Because isn't the fun of knitting doing the actual knitting? The yarn, the color of the yarn, the feel of the yarn through your fingers, the clicking of needles, the mechanics of it all motivate us more than whatever the outcome will be.
But not in this case! Stockinette stitch to infinity, scratchy yarn, chunky needles...Kooch is officially Not Fun to Knit. I have no tactile motivation; I just really really want to wear it.
This is where the practicality of hand knitting comes into play - as in, it's just not there! So to machine-knit or not to machine-knit...that is the question...
Filed Under: General Knitting | Rowan | Kooch | WTF
Monday, January 08, 2007
This is a well-fed red chest.
*burp*
Yarn is literally bursting out of the red red drawers that once you manage to wrestle a drawer open, the yarns are like RAAAAAAR IMAGONNAEATCHOO!!! I have more laying around in other cubby holes around the house, and probably still more in bags lurking in some corner of some closet that I've totally forgotten about.
Sometime between Saturday and Sunday, the yarn stash became unacceptable. I toss and turn at night thinking of my treatment of those poor yarns that are constantly being one-upped with newer, more exciting purchases. Sitting there, unloved, depreciating with every second. The madness! It must stop!
So I have deemed 2007 as The Year I Buy 100% No Yarn Ever At All I Mean It. There's that knit-from-your-stash-along going on that has some exceptions built in - sock yarn is ok, new yarns for a knitted gift is ok, etc. But because I am a SUPERHERO with amazing SUPERPOWERS, I can tell the world with full assurance that there will be NO EXCEPTIONS for me. Absolutely no more purchasing yarn in 2007. None. I won't even accept yarn for free.
The path to stash freedom is clear. I am George W Bush. I am Condi Rice. I am possibly very, very stupid. But nothing will shake this resolve. Do you see my hand? How it doesn't quiver, not even in the slightest? I don't even blink! It is because I am strong! I am determined!
(I am going to fail!)
But look, I've already made progress. I picked up a little something-something that has been in the WiP state for over a year. It's about time!
Hi. Remember me?
I can't wait until it's finished, so - yay! -I can move onto the other yummy yarns in my stash!
So this new year will be a good year, full of new socks and sweaters. But no yarn.
None.
Zero.
I mean it.
Really.
Hold me.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Yarn Stash
Monday, December 11, 2006
Behold. My Christmas knitting, actually completely and totally finished before Christmas! It's a Christmas miracle!
From top: Pomatomus anklets in Koigu
Jaywalkers in Yarntini
Red Sox in Baby Cashmerino
Cable Twist Socks in Socks That Rock
Since the Cable Twist Socks have not been given their official debut, here they are.
Then there's this, Ms. Clapotis, finished months ago...
No idea how to wear this, so hopefully my mother-in-law can figure it out! And wear it!
And I'm gifting the Mermaid Gloves as well.
Along with some other non-knitterly items, I am on time, on schedule, and 100% done with Christmas shopping. And I didn't step foot in a mall once! Let's dance! Or take more pictures!
Cleeeck!
From this post forward (actually from yesterday's post forward), all photos on this site shall be courtesy of my very advanced, rather heavy but TOTALLY AWESOME new camera and lens. Thanks - or no thanks! I'm broke! - to Kathy for getting this ball rolling. And many many thanks to brooklyn tweed for answering all my incessant emails with great info and advise. I've wanted a dSLR forever and ever but not too long ago they were for people who were either very rich or who were actual photographers. I wasn't any of those things, I'm still neither of those things. However technology keeps getting cheaper - and better - by the minute. And one of the funny side effects of knit blogging is the desire to not only become a better knitter, or even a better writer, but a better photographer as well. I don't know what's in store for 2007, perhaps not better knitting or better writing, but by Jove there will be better photos!
There will be!
Filed Under: Clapotis | Completed Projects | General Knitting | Life | Socks
Monday, December 04, 2006
So. I will not be posting a pseudo-pattern / explanation / guideline / thesis / whatever you want to call it for the Mermaid Gloves like I said I would. Steph was the first to make them, and it is her prerogative to share the details if she choses to, not mine. The boundary of intellectual property can be fuzzy one, and without thinking I might have crossed that line. At the end of the day I'm not out to step on anybody's toes, and that's all I have to say about that.
But, they really ARE the simplest things ever to make. If you can follow Chart A for Pomatomus, if you can knit something like a glove - or follow instructions for one - whether it be with full fingers or half-fingers or no fingers, like these Opera Gloves or Fetching or Eunny's mitts, then the Mermaid Gloves are a snap. All the elements are out there for the taking and the piecing together. Just give it a whirl!
I just got through saying I had no time to post and now here's another one. I'm always lying.
I'm always procrastinating too. Today sucks. It snowed this morning and I said "yes" to helping out a former client on work I thought would be quick but not only is it not quick it is just disgusting, filthy work and I want to stab my own face for agreeing to do this. My fault for saying yes to everything.
The sky has cleared, the snow is all gone, and I can see in the horizon the last remnants of an ice-cold sunset. Ever since coming back from Santa Fe, I find myself constantly evaluating the quality of the sunsets here. And you know what, they aren't that bad.
You just can't easily SEE them with all the trees and buildings in the way. The sky is smaller, the horizon is lower, the sunsets more confined. But they're lovely just the same.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Life
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
1) 2 skeins of Five Spice from HelloYarn
2) One skein sock yarn from HelloYarn
AH! This colorway just sold out?!
3) "MiamiInk" Razr. I'm not a huge fan of the Razr and I hate the user interface on Motorolas, but these are SEXY.
4) Dye kit from HelloYarn
5) Socks that Rock in Amber
6) Yarntini self-striping in Pure Fall
7) A chateau in France (optional)
8) A bunny rabbit
Filed Under: General Knitting
Thursday, November 16, 2006
A couple of weeks ago I got it in my head that if I didn't knit myself a pair of gloves then I will not be able to live. It is because of Steph's Mermaid Gloves that my life hangs in such a balance. They've been on my knitting radar since I saw them in March but I wasn't ready to knit gloves then. Oh no. How can you knit gloves when you're still deciding whether or not you hate knitting socks? But miracles of all miracles, I mastered the sock, I loved the sock, and even wrote a pattern for the sock.
And now I am ready for the glove.
Isn't it exhilirating, if a little bit nauseating, when trying something for the very first time? Like Steph, I scanned the entire internet for free glove patterns and I don't know, I can't read off screens very well. Everything was a run-on sentence. Nothing made sense. The brain was in agony.
So I flipped through every knitting book I had, trying to find a pattern for gloves, and BINGO! there it is in my very-neglected Loop-d-Loop book, a pattern for gloves with the ruffled cuffs. Hooray! I will just ignore everything except how to do the thumb gusset.
Shudder. That thumb gusset. But remember: you are only frightened of what you don't know.
Luckily the instructions in L-d-L are pretty clear and readable, and so even though I'm not 100% I'm doing this correctly, it would appear that I am making a thumb gusset.
If I pull these off, the gloves will be MY GREATEST CREATION EVER MWAHAHA! Thank you Steph for doing this first!
****
Now...onto a meme, from Lady Scout. I'm really bad at memes (have you ever seen me do one?). Just so you know.
1. How and when did you learn how to knit/crochet? Who taught you?
My mother is an avid knitter/crocheter/seamstress and I have asked her twice to teach me to knit. The first time I was 10. I was not ready to knit at 10. I had ADD (self-diagnosed twenty years later). There were other pressing matters like collecting Garbage Pail Kids and watching/pretending to be Jem and the Holograms. (Anyone out there in the same age group remember this?) So I retired from knitting after completing 3 rows.
Two years ago while at my parents' I spotted my mom's knitting basket. Something sparked and I asked her again to teach me how to knit. It was kind of out the blue, but maybe the feeling that knitting was becoming a not-so-strictly-geriatric hobby prompted me. All I know is at that moment I was ready. Actually the first thing she did was teach me how to crochet. Then how to knit. For the first two months all I did was crochet.
2. How has this craft impacted your life?
Well. My posture sucks. My hands are gnarled. I can barely see. I pretend to listen to my husband when he talks to me while I'm knitting. I pretend to care. (haha just kidding! i care. deeply. yes. so. what did you say?)
But I cannot stop. I've had many interests and hobbies over my lifetime, many many many, oh so many, and knitting is the ONLY ONE that I have stuck with, day in and day out. Voluntarily. I can watch TV and knit. Sit in a car and knit. Perform jury duty and knit. Work and as I wait for code to compile, knit. Every free second occupied by knitting! Time is never wasted! All the time I am productive, creative, fulfilled by knitting.
I am focused. I am never bored. I am never idle. And with one more thing to have in common, I am closer than ever to my mother.
3. Pick at least one person to talk about who you have met through the knit-world and why you are thankful to have met them.
Well this is easy. And slightly pathetic. I have met only one person through the knit-world, and she told me to write this:
"Scout taught you a lesson about having faith in humanity and trusting scary internet people you've never met... HA!"
Heh heh heh. It figures I have to drive across the nation to meet my first knitblogger. I'm very very glad we did, and afterwards I felt all gregarious and I told myself Once you're home, you will contact all the Boston area knitters you know of and have a sleepover! And then I don't know what happened. I got back home, the sun disappeared, and I reverted to all my mole-like ways. Sorry Scout!
So maybe I haven't met any one else in person, but there have been so many others who've done nice things without any prompting except that we have this crafting thing in common. For example:
- Bonnie sending a copy of Cafe Pasqual's cookbook, because she knew I was missing Santa Fe.
- Cirilia sending a skein of Regia yarn from her stash, after reading I had run out of that colorway for a complete sock.
- Veronica sending handspun cashmere after I spent $0.39 mailing her a pattern.
- Various readers sharing tips and advice, unsolicited.
- And all those who comment regularly even when I don't.
I'm in awe of the generosity, the thoughtfulness, and the time that people give to this knitting universe of ours. It's so cool.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Gloves | Mermaid
Saturday, October 21, 2006
HEE HEE LOOK!
taken from perezhilton.com
She was snapped in front of phildar! (Otherwise, who cares?!)
Filed Under: General Knitting
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Entrance fee to Bandelier = one skein of Koigu
Entrance fee to Pecos = half of skein of Sundara Yarn
You better be enjoying all this culture.
It's costing me a sock and a half.
***
Sterling silver and turquoise bracelet handmade by local artisan =
one skein of Yarntini + one skein Habu Silk Mohair
Lovely souvenir from Santa Fe...or more sock yarn?
***
Two fat burritos from the Santa Fe Baking Co. = one skein of Kidsilk Haze
That's one tasty bargain!
But then, KSH lasts longer...
***
Drinks, dinner and dessert for two at Mu Du Noodles = 10 (!!) skeins of Silk Garden from WEBS
I ordered the Vietnamese cod,
but I'm eating a pretty sweater.
Yes. These days, everything is in terms of yarn.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Travel | Santa Fe
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
On the left: GEMS Opal merino yarn in teal, bought at a lovely yarn store (Loop) in Philadelphia. They stocked a variety of colors but this one was the only I came away with. When faced with so much variety, I freeze instantly with indecision, until of course I get home, 500 miles away, and then do I think, Oh why didn't I get that or that or that when I had the chance? I'm wishing I picked up a skein of red to make my Boston Red Socks. This is some nice yarn.
On the right: Self-striping sport-weight yarn from yarntini in colorway "Three Rivers." Yay! I've been coveting yarntini's goods for awhile, admiring from afar...Finally broke down and asked her to dye me up some in sport-weight when all the stock from her store and pureknits were gone. That's of course when I wanted it the most. What a pretty, pretty skein, so pretty I could eat it.
So now that I have more than enough inventory (including these yarn here that I haven't yet touched - except for the blue Koigu) for Christmas socks, I have to go through the task of determining WHO is worthy of receiving socks made from which yarn. The obvious answer is ME, but me is not the right answer.
I started knitting another Pomatomus with the Opal, and since it's sport-weight, I had to adjust gauge and rewrote the chart to be a 8-stitch by 14-row pattern repeat (as opposed to a 12x22 pattern repeat). I decided I would finally do this one cuffdown for once.
Help me.
But look how ugly it is. I always have a problem joining the round after casting on. I can't avoid the little gap or a having a sort of tier form between the first and last stitch on the cast-on round. Usually I go back with a tapestry needle and sort of tighten it shut, but it still doesn't look clean, and this tier here is particularly bad and annoying. Waah.
I cast on long-tail, and usually doublestrand with the long tail for the first two stitches when joining the round...what else can I do neatly join a round?
Filed Under: General Knitting | Socks
Monday, July 10, 2006
Last weekend while Duck and I were in western Mass., we took his mother out for a lovely al fresco dinner at a restaurant in Lenox. Afterwards we took a stroll among the quaint little boutiques and finally ducked into one of the many antique stores lining the pretty, manicured streets. The store was empty, save for the owner who was reading a magazine on the couch. As we said a polite hello upon entering, she took one look at me, fell hopelessly, madly in love, and pounced!
WHY?
 Because I was wearing Butterfly! HA HA! (And funny, it was the first time I've worn it since October. I'd forgotten about it, for shame.) She seriously couldn't keep her hands off me - or the hem of Butterfly at least, and followed me around the store while I tried to browse and not feel incredibly self-conscious and embarrassed. But oh I was flattered.
We fellow knitters know how beautiful Butterfly is, how fabulous ALL of our knitting is, but don't you find that strangers are strangly immune to all of it? So to have this person's Good Taste Radar (heh heh) go off as soon as I walked into the room...She knew immediately that I had made it, was so enamoured with it, that she asked if I would make one for her store - where she also sells a little clothing and shoes - on consignment.
"But of course, it must be in a more average size," she said, illustrating the point by grabbing her own bosomy bosom, and I was like Ha ha ha! Then, Boo hoo hoo, yes I know I don't have any of that, stop comparing!
We didn't get into specifics besides size and color (neutral only, to keep it "simple and sophisticated"), so I have no idea what she would charge if I were to make one for the store, and how much of the cut I would receive. Materials for three skeins of KSH would already be at least $35-$45 depending where I buy them, and let's not even talk about labor, or I'd have to charge about $1,000 for Butterfly. (She also talked about making "neck and wrist ruffles." English is not her native language so I was a little unclear by what she meant, but I bet she's thinking of a ruffly s |