Sunday, April 13, 2008
Pattern: Pomatomus
Yarn: Sundara Yarn, Ltd Edition Aqua Over Lilac
Needles: US1 dpns
I decreased the shell pattern to a 10-stitch repeat, giving a total of 60 stitches overall.
* Also, you omit rows 10, 11, 12, and 13 of both charts. The pattern is now a 10-stitch by 18-row repeat.
Aside from a pair of socks, it's been a really unproductive week. I mean really. un. productive. I've had this stupid itchy dry cough that peaks between midnight and 5am, despite the barrage of syrups and pills. I'm all bloodshot, drugged up and still coughing. I don't understand the reflex of coughing when you have nothing to cough up. By the way, have scientist figured out why we yawn? And isn't it weird that cats do it too? Yawn, that is. But they don't cough. Now why is that. If you've ever seen a coughing cat please let me know.
PS Rambing Rose cardigan remains in a heap in the corner, waiting for me to just take the 30 minutes already to finish the button bands. I'm still not in the mood for it. I'm visiting my parents this week in ATL, so I might pawn the job off to my mother.
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks | Pomatomus
Monday, March 31, 2008
For I have just knit the ugliest pair of button bands ever in the history of knitting.
Don't come any closer. I am ugly.
Poor Rambling Rose. What did you do to deserve such inelegant, pigeon-toed button bands?
All I did was pick up the selvege (slipped stitches) along the front panels, like we do when we pick up the slipped stitches along the gusset of a sock heel. Why did it pucker so much here? Did the ribbing of the button bands pull the fabric in? Should I have gone up a needle size? Should I occassionally knit into the front and back of a few of the slipped stitches to increase the pick-up count? Will you do this for me?
As far as mistakes go, this is pretty fixable. Easily fixable. In all the time I spent screaming "EFF! EFF ME! EFF me in the effing HOOHA," I could have ripped out the bands and redid them three times over. But for some reason I just so don't want to do it. I don't want to figure out how to knit a smooth button band when it shouldn't have required any thought to begin with. You're supposed to simply pick up the slipped stitches and, the end! But no! Now I've got to experiment with RATIOS and different needle sizes and whatnot so I've tossed it aside for the moment. I am angry at it. I am angry.
I'm seeking a little therapy by knitting socks again.
Pomatomus (or the Best Sock Pattern Ever) in Sundara Yarn "Aqua Over Lilac"
I'll finish the cardigan once I'm feeling a little more rational.
Filed Under: Rambling Rose | Socks | Pomatomus
Friday, October 20, 2006
Well, they're gonna have to. I tried to knit something else, I did. A fast and easy pattern, but I was bored. I just didn't have the motivation to knit it, even though the sock yarn (Socks That Rock) are fast becoming my favorite. So I ripped out what I started and soon there will be another Pomatomus in this world. But for a man. Pomantomus. Heh heh.
Only 10 more days or so til we leave Santa Fe.
I have to admit I am starting to miss home a little. We went to see The Departed (aka The DePAAAHted. GREAT MOVIE by the way) recently and I can't believe I'm saying this but the Boston accents made me all homesick. The indescribable, almost unbearable, barely imitate-able unless you're from Boston, Boston accent. I thought about the state trooper and the city cop who live on either side of our cul-de-sac. They're accents are SO THICK and SO HORRIBLE, I always giggle and wretch at the same time when I hear them talk, but I miss them.
Those crazy Bwohston Myassachooosetts cwawps.
And I miss the boys.
Even if they may not miss me too much.
Filed Under: Cats | Socks | Pomatomus
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Pattern: Pomatomus, modified for anklets
Yarn: Koigu KPM, Dye code P823, one skein, plus just a tiny few yards of a second. So close to keeping it at just one!
Needles: US2 dpns
Shake your love. I just can't shake your love. Shake your love. I just can't shake. Your love.
I tried several times to knit something other than Pomatomus. Started various sock patterns, experimented with different stitches, only to rip them out and return to Poma. Why mess around when you've got something that works? Poma's beautiful shells flatter any yarn, and pair that with perfect levels of ribbiness and you've got socks the whole family can enjoy.
But WHO in the family will be receiving this? That is to be determined...
Again I knit this toe-up with the Sherman short row method. Same approach as for this pair, except this time I knit on US2 instead of 1.
I didn't like how the holes looked at the edge of the instep, so this time I replaced all the beginning YO's in Chart B with a ktfb (for the first YO on the first row I did a M1).
After working the toe, I did two repeats of Chart B, knit the heel, then did half a repeat of Chart A (rows 1-12 only), then knit 3 rows of 1x1 ribbing, then did the knit1-purl1 cast off with a tapestry needle.
So fast, so satisfying! I've knit Pomatomus so many times now that I can finally spell it correctly the first time around without having to look it up!
Thanks so much for the advice on how to neatly join a round. I will try this out later when I cast on for Jaywalkers. YAY!
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks | Pomatomus
Friday, July 14, 2006
The scene from last night:
I knitted for the first time at Fenway! I'm bashful about a lot of things but for some reason I'm not bashful about knitting in public. (I do draw the line at taking pictures of myself knitting in public though, especially at a jam-packed Red Sox game. How cooky would that have looked?)
I was knitting the mate to this:
YES it is the Pomatomus again and again and again, but now in anklet form. I bought the yarn while in Lenox a few weekends ago, and yes I said I wanted to take a break from the multicolored but I just could not say no to this purple and gold-flecked Mardi Gras colorway. I knit this anklet while on the train to and from Philly, and while sitting out waiting for the fireworks. Love the quick knits. This will be a Christmas gift.
So pleased to be starting the Christmas gifts early. Might as well put my sock craze to good use. Everyone's getting a pair!
 It occurred to me while at the game, staring at the Red Sox logo on the wall, that I should knit that. Red socks with the white toes and heels (pointed toes and gusset heels, see!). There are plenty of fans in the family who I think would get a kick out of Boston Red Socks - including my cousin in Taipei who is the BIGGEST Sox fan you'll ever meet. As is his new baby. Just not by choice at this point. Poor thing.
Filed Under: Life | Socks | Pomatomus
Friday, June 16, 2006
Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me.
Pattern: Pomatomus
Yarn: Koigu semi-solid in colorway I don't know, 2 skeins
Needles: Size 1
Maybe you are sick of seeing another pair of Pomatomii. I dong care. I love Pomatomus. It makes such lovely scallops.
Also, I am drunk.
 Why am I drunk? Because I am sad. I am compensating. I am supposed to be drunk in a lakehouse next to GOOSE POND in New Hampshire right now with my bestest friend from high school, before she leaves for Mozambique for years and years. But the stars were aligned against me today. I got up early this morning to finish up work, got a backpack ready, cut a bouquet-full of mint from the backyard for mojitos by the lake, got the car packed up, made sure I plugged the satellite radio correctly to all the orifices so I could listen to Howard on the way, blah blah blah, ready to go at 3pm. And then realized, Where is my wallet? Where is it? I can't find it. Wallet where are you?
I turn the house inside out all the while knowing I most likely left it on the train yesterday on my way back from jury duty. I hate you jury duty, civic privilege be damned. Let me tell you, I have actually been selected as a juror once and your right to a fair trial was totally dismantled by one that was SO uninteresting, with the lawyers SO bumbling and ineloquent, none of us had ANY idea what was going on. We never made it to deliberations (defendant ended up plea-bargaining, as he had incriminated himself during examination. Not that any of us had noticed), but if we had, oh god. Does a fair trial involve vacant blinking and blank stares and silence? I don't think so.
Luckily yesterday we were all dismissed, after hours and hours and hours of waiting around to die.
Pomatomus against Japanese paper.
Maybe that's why I like this pattern so much.
It reminds me these stylized clouds.
On the other hand I got to finish Pomatomus. Jury duty is good for knitting at least, if not for a fair trial. This chick sitting next to me, though, did not have knitting, nor a book, nor nary a hangnail to pick at. She just stared straight ahead the whole time, and let me tell you it drove. me. crazy. I don't know how many times I took a quick peek to my left see if she was doing anything to keep herself occupied, but her glassy eyes stared straight ahread. For five. Miserable. Hours. Shoot me!
After I ransacked the house for my wallet and called all credit card companies to make sure there were no funky charges in the last 24 hours, I finally went to North Station's lost and found to see if they had my wallet. And they did! YAY!
But it was locked up and the guy who had the only key was gone for the week. SUCK! No one else has the key? No one?
The guy behind the counter was very nice but totally unhelpful. "I don't agree with the policy, if it were up to me I'd give you your wallet right now, but he's a union man....a union man...a union man..."
He must have said this 5 times as if I would nod in sympathetic agreement, but I have no idea what signifance a union guy would have over being able to turn a key or not. I want my wallet now damnit! My license is in there! I have to make it to New Hampshire!
I walked out of the train station empty handed, and stopped at the usual liquor store for some rum, for my sad, uncelebratory mojito. I was frazzled and in need of a tall minty drink. But of course it was not to be! Of course this was the one day of all days I get carded!
I walked out of the liquor store empty handed. Had to get Duck to pilfer some alcohol for me, like some common tenth-grader.
Stars. And planets. All misaligned.
So Goose Pond in NH was a bust. I was/am sooo disappointed. There were to be loons (i love loons) and owls (i love owls) and grilling and drinking and a lake and stars. And my BFF.
I dig the tubular bind-off.
But not the nasty chicken skin legs.
But I have another pair of Pomatomus. I love these puppies. I knit them toeup.
Here are the details:
1) I provisionally casted on 30 stitches for the toe.
2) I short-rowed down to 10 stitches, then back up to 30.
3) After picking up the stitches from the provisional cast-on, I have 30 stitches for the sole, and 30 stitches for the instep.
4) I start knitting in the round, increasing one stitch at each end for the sole until I have 32 stitches, and one stitch at each end for the instep, every other row, until I have 36 stitches. So sole = 32 sts, instep = 36 sts.
5) I start Chart B on the instep for 2 full chart repeats.
6) Then I start the short-row heel on the sole, going down to 12 stitches, and then back up to 32. (2 chart repeats plus short row worked nice and snug for my size 6 US feet)
7) As I'm working the last row of the heel, I pick up 4 more stitches on the sole to get 36 stitches, and rearrange the stitches so to get 24 stitches on 3 needles. Then I start Chart A and work that for 3 pattern repeats.
8) I do 20 rows of ribbing for the cuff, and do a tubular (knit one, purl one) bind-off.
I'm wearing these now. They are comfy and snug and covered with cat hair already.
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks | Pomatomus
Monday, June 05, 2006
Ooooo I have so much to talk about today, so much to talk about. I don't know where to start. Lessee...
How about we tackle the oldest news first before it becomes stale bread. Or should I say, stale yeasty beer bread? Or should I say, stale, yeasty, IRISH beer bread?
When people say to me, "What nationality are you, Japanese? Korean? Russian? I just can't tell You People apart," I can now say without batting an almond-shaped eye, "I'm Irish."
Yes it's official, I am a citizen of Ireland, ba ha ha! Even though I went through all the proper channels to get this, it still seems totally wrong. I think the requisites should have at least been something like:
Applicants must 1) fry within 5 minutes in the sun or 2) fry within 10 minutes in the shade or 3) own all Riverdance videocassettes 4) avoid sushi.
[P.S. I was eligible for an Irish citizenship through marriage. Duck has been Irish himself for a dozen years or so. He was born in the US, his parents were born in the US, but his maternal grandmother was born in Ireland (and a distant cousin of Gregory Peck!). You can obtain citizenship if a grandparent was born in Ireland, and you have the birth certificate to prove it and other documentation that prove you are indeed related.
November 29 2005 was the last day they were accepting applications for post-nuptial citizenship, so I really wanted to get it done before the opportunity closed for good. Why not!?]
None of those apply to me, but worse I have never even set foot in Ireland. Not even for a layover. I am a fraud! I don't know who the president is! I don't drink Guinness and never freckle in the sun! I can take a Jameson on the rocks, but not without some mild gagging. And the Magners cider, it comes in a can that's so enormous, I get stage fright.
[Funny, in the rules it says you "must have had a period of one year's continuous residence in the island of Ireland immediately before the date of your application." Hm. I think they just made that up. There were a lot more rules that applied that aren't listed there.]
People ask me what I'm going to do with this citizenship, like it's the oddest thing to want to have. Hello, I'll get a passport, and then the key to the doors of all of EU will be mine!!! I can live and work in France as a citizen. Or Turkey. Or Greece. Who knows if I ever will, but having the option to someday exercize those options is a no-brainer.
PS The president of Ireland is Mary McAleese. So progressive! I should have known this.
***
Finally we get to some knitting. I feel I've slacked off a lot in knitting even though I still knit a bit everyday. I've just adopted an extremely scatterbrained process. I currently have about 4 projects going on, 2 of which could have been completed a long time ago if I could just focus on one thing at a time.
So, here is another half of what will one day become a second pair of Pomatomus (so I have a complete pair now, but mismatched). I so love this pattern. This one is worked in Koigu, toe-up with a short row heel.
With this half of a pair finished, I've gone back to finish the other half of my first pair. I hate this non-linear approach but it keeps me from getting bored with a yarn.
Remember me wanting to make a table runner/doily/something very lacy? I haven't forgotten about it. It took me awhile to settle on a yarn. I visited a yarn store with my mom last month in Atlanta, it had a 30% off sale on a laceweight cashmere/silk blend. Yummy. I bought 2 hanks with Rose of England in mind. But I hedged. Do I really want to use cashmere for a tablecloth? This was all supposed to be about process knitting so practicality shouldn't have mattered, but still...couldn't bring myself to start.
Later in Michaels I spotted a spool of cotton crochet thread and for $1.50, I thought what the hell, I'll give that a go.
 
Rose of England progress
I started Rose of England this weekend. It took several tries and I nearly gave up after the 1000th attempt of trying to get past round 3, but once I finally did, pretty smooth sailing! I made it to round 23 before I started running out of room on my supershort DPNs. I'm excited about this project though. The potential for mistakes are aplenty and I was convinced that, especially with no end-of-rounds stitch counts given - I'd find myself losing my place or missing a stitch here, there. It hasn't happened so far. The easy-to-read chart and written instructions are really helpful used together. And most surprisingly, working with cotton thread has been pretty decent. Once I get a pair of suitable circs I'll be on my way again.
***
Now I've saved the best for last. A couple of weeks ago a reader named Veronica requested a photocopy pattern swap which I happily (and hopefully not illegally) obliged. You know how I love one-for-one pattern swapping. I sent it off but instead of getting a pattern in return, I got two skeins of HANDSPUN 100% CASHMERE. Can you believe it? How generous is that? I love you knitting people! Come here, let's all get in a big circle and snuggle!
The yarn is gorgeous, scrumptious, edible, luxurious, beautiful, lovely lovely lovely, too lovely to knit with. She sent one 2-ply skein, but because that one turned out "flawed," (whatever!), she included another skein in 3-ply. Oh cashmere what have I done to deserve you? It came attached with a HANDSTAMPED multi-paged card. AND a handwritten letter. I was totally beside myself with glee, but also a little sheepish and embarrassed. So much handiwork and care, and all I did was make a few photocopies and lick a stamp. It doesn't seem fair, but I'll take it!
LOVE the personal card
The spinner of the glorious yarn lives in Seattle and that's all I can tell you. She doesn't have (or didn't include) a website to some online business and doesn't have (or didn't tell me) a blog. Too bad! Maybe she's working on it...?
Thank you Veronica for the incredibly generous gift! If you have a website and/or business, let me know!
Filed Under: Life | Socks | Pomatomus | Rose of England
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
A couple nights ago I was relaxing on my parents' bed, watching TV and knitting (another) Pomatomus sock, with Mouse the cat alongside keeping me company. Every now and then I'd stop to show her my sock progress and she seemed duly impressed.
"Cool huh, Mouse? Don't you wish you could knit?"
Then I left to go to the bathroom.
"I gave it a whirl while you were gone. Bored now."
I was gone for maybe two minutes.
So disrespectful.
Filed Under: Cats | Socks | Pomatomus
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Clearly something has happened and I now love socks, right, because how else do you explain this little pile, this little pile that some might call the beginnings of a stash, of sock yarn?
Regia Crazy Color in Bonbon and some Koigu
At the same time, why do I find myself again straining to finish the rest of my first PotamtowoasjfsPochahontas sock? (Maybe because I can't ever friggin remember what it's called??)
Look at my pretty pretty scales.
For whatever reason I am just determined to make a pair of socks. It. Must. Happen. Truth be told I'm enjoying Potomac quite a bit. Thumbs up on the merino sock yarn (so soft), love the twisted ribbing, love the scallops. My problem seems to be when I turn the heel, I feel like I'm on the home stretch, woooo yeah a finished sock is in sight! but really the party is only getting started. One is in for the long haul when one finishes the heel and the gusset, and is faced with finishing the rest of the foot. That part is murder on my psyche. It's where I am now.
But I will finish I will I WILL.
So what's up with the yarn stash, you ask. Well for one, I am super obsessed with self-striping yarn. Even though I'm not 100% about knitting socks, I am 100% about self-striping sock yarn. I approve of the concept. That you see up there is Regia Crazy Color in Bonbon! which I got on sale at littleknits.com. The good thing about this yarn, aside from the color which is like hundred million gazillion times better than the first sock yarn I bought, is that it's 6 ply. Yes my friends, read it and weep. I can knit fun socks in well-mannered stripes using #3 or #4 needles and my knuckles will be happy.
I also recently bought Koigu sock yarn. I will admit this was more of a "charity" than a gotta-have-it purchase. Sigh. Do I even want to get into this...? OK, long story short, I was out walking on NewburyStreet and decided to duck into N3wbury Y4rn$. (Sorry for the f'ed up typing but I don't want this page to come up on a search. Because I might say some sad things about the store. Henceforth I will refer to it as NY)
I go in this store, praying that there is at least one other patron in there so that I don't feel totally guilty if I walk out of there empty handed. Does that happen to you? Go into a tiny store, two pairs of eyes watching you, wondering what you'll do next, and you feel obligated to make some sort of move that will ultimately involve an exchange of money? Or am I the only sucker here?
95% of the time I go in, NY is devoid of patrons but stocked to the ceiling with yarn. On this day, the store was empty save for the owner, her daughter who was at the table planning her wedding, and her mother who was knitting. The owner's on the phone with a supplier, telling supplier to "hold my order on such-and-such because it has been so slow and I'm not moving inventory. I'm sorry to have to do this to you again."
A little family business without any business! It makes me upset.
So there's the Koigu sitting in my stash.
Seriously I don't understand what she's doing wrong. But something is amiss. W00Lcott & Co in Harvard Square isn't much bigger, isn't any better stocked than NY. But there are always people in there. I'm actually not a fan of W00Lcott because they never have what I'm looking for, and most of all, their inventory/cash register system is a bloody nightmare. Lady spent 20 minutes once trying to process a return of a single ball of yarn because she couldn't find it in the system, and this for Cashmerino Aran.
She's like, "I'm sorry, people just enter yarn names differently and so I'm having trouble finding it." I'm like, WHERE IS YOUR LASER BAR CODE READER? Why is there SO MUCH TYPING?
Anyway, what is NY doing wrong? Aside from arranging her yarn by color so it's hard to find shit? Can that be its only downfall? It's in a great location, center of town, steps away from the subway, coffeeshops, antique shops, and other fine stores like...Cartier and Burberry. Is that the problem? All the people roaming up and down Newbury won't give a little knitting store even a single glance, among all the 'glitz'?
Whatever the case, I'm not married to any one local yarn store in my area, so I might as well try to go to this one more often (I have definitely said this before). And curb the online purchases.
Maybe you area knitters could patron NY a little now and then too? You know, before your lunch date at the Armani Cafe?
In some fun, positive, feline news...Kitty has finally gotten with the program and started writing about her knitting endeavors on her blog. Check it out. It seems like just yesterday that she showed me a picture of her wobbly stitches, and now she's already making her first adult-cat sweater. And some other cool stuff. You just know that as a kitten she was the first in her litter to climb to the very top of the tree. Makes a mama cat proud.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Socks | Pomatomus
Friday, March 24, 2006
I'm a little sickly. Sniffle sniffle. I'm also a little bit riddled with ADD. I've only been doing a few rows of Cate per night. This should be a fast knit but the black yarn is putting me to sleep.
I haven't given up on socks just yet, trying out Thuja with some left over yarn from Cabled Toad on size 5 needles. This one was super quick. I also barely knitted a cuff. I was feeling good about knitting socks but alas, I became lazy and bored at the end and did a 3-needle bindoff instead of grafting the toes. There is only one Toad Sock.
Then I decided to do some stitch swatching from my Japanese stitch book. This stitch pattern always catches my eye.
 
Tufts of Grass Stitch (4 stitch repeat): k, k3tog but do not slip stitch off needle, yarn-foward, k3tog into stitch again.
You knit 3 together, but before sliding the stitch off the left needle, you do a yarn-over, and then knit into the 3 stitches again. The resulting stitch looks like a tuft of grass. I separated each of the grass pattern with a knit stitch, worked the next row straight, and then repeated the grass pattern again. It creates a nice sort of beveled diagonal this way. I also tried knitting more rows between the stitch pattern row. A different look, but also very pretty.
Maybe I'll use this stitch for a sock someday. I tell you I'm serious about getting my sock groove on. Check out my newest sock endeavor.
It's Potato. I mean Hippopotamus. I mean Pomatomus. Whatever it's called, it's all the rage. The sock yarn is from this seller on ebay. I still much prefer self-striping sock yarn above all others but I think the pattern looks that much more scale-like in this sort of variegated color. Makes it look all iridiscent, as scales are. I already made a mistake on this though, by starting the 1x1 rib with a K instead of a P. So the rib isn't lining up with the scale pattern. Oops.
Hopefully I can get something finished here. I'm still on the lookout for my next sweater project - perhaps a little cotton cardigan for spring. Speaking of cardigans, Kim Hargreaves is like, buck WILD about cardigans isn't she. They're pretty, but at the same time, they're boring. Collection after collection of cardigans, zzzzzzz...and all of them are like a variation of another, sometimes a not so subtle variation. Like the this cardigan from the spring collection looks nearly exactly like this cardigan from the first collection. She puzzles me.
Filed Under: General Knitting | Socks | Pomatomus
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