Sunday, April 02, 2006
Not a matching pair, but a pair.
The toes on the Pomatomus sock is a little crazy. It's very pointy/triangular and I've got dog ears. Hmm. These socks were looking real good and I was feeling great about them until the toes. Oh well, practice practice. I'll do less toe decreases with the mate.
I might give these away to my sister-in-law (who is a general sock lover) for her birthday and make one for myself in a solid color. Still not totally into the variegated colors, even for Pomatomus.
It's been a beautiful Spring weekend. Friday afternoon we went biking on the Minuteman Trail and I did my usual pit stop at W!ld & W00ly, which is just off the trail. I traded in the one skin of Regia Miniringel in that hideous rainbow bright colorway you see up there, for another Miniringel in a much less controversial colorway. They only had that one skein, but it'll be enough for a pair of low cuff socks.
Also tomorrow I think I'm going to exchange that lavender Koigu I purchased for one in greenish-yellow. Or something else. I have too many purpley/bluey yarn.
And tomorrow since I have to go into the office for a meeting, I will be 3 blocks away from Winzdor Bu++ons. Oh I know all about the WB. I think their yarn selection is starting to rival their button selection. Very impressive.
Filed Under: Socks
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
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
(The scene: Kitty's boyfriend has just had several wisdom teeth wrassled out of his mouth. He is swollen and groggy.)
Kitty: HAHA I've just employed some practice knitting to hold his ice packs in place.
Me: Oh yeah?
Kitty: I made a nice little tube the other day, just the right size for his head and two bags of frozen cranberries.
Me: Take a picture PLEASE. Then I will put it on website for all to see
Kitty: I have to ask permission... he's a little grumpy right now.
Me: I'll black out his eyes to protect his identity.
Kitty: I just asked permission and he flipped me off. I'll wait until he's asleep.
A few moments later...
Kitty: He's asleep now. Maybe it's camera time.
Me: Heh heh do it do it. Turn the flash off. Shhhhh.
Kitty: Just did it.
Sends photo...
Kitty's Brace Holds the Crans in Place!
Taken without consent due to unconsciousness.
Me: HAHAHA!
Kitty: HAHAHA!
Filed Under: General Knitting
Friday, March 17, 2006
Remember this, my knitting muse?
 
Left: Blouse from anthropologie. Right: Beginnings of Cate in Kidsilk Haze
This is progress from the last 3 weeks. Whadya think so far? Kinda sorta like the original? I spent 2 of that swatching about a dozen different patterns for the hem, all of them some type of lace, all of them abandoned because I just couldn't make up my mind which looked best. It was hard to judge with the black yarn. Then I reminded myself that the reason why I was drawn to this blouse in the first place was because of its minimalist straight lines. It was settled: plain ol' stockinette and reverse stockinette.
For the reverse stockinette rows in the hem, I held yarn double for more visible stripes. Same for the thick vertical stripes in the body.
I worked the hem in size 3 needles, then switched to size 6 for the body, which I will make a little long, and no shaping. I want it to drape some over the hem/obi. I might make this a boatneck too.
It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. Honestly at the start, after finishing the hem, I was feeling rather unenthusiastic about it. But as the fabric grows, so does my opinion of it.
And I've named this Cate, as in Cate Blanchett. I love that actress and the name. Simple and clean. Normally I'd say that "Kate" looks better than "Cate", but "Kate" now leads me to "Katie" which then leads me to "Tom" which then makes me think "crazy wackjob" and my knit deserves better associations.
In other news, I just discovered through my referral logs that I am a member of some "Southern Knit Bloggers" webring. How odd, considering I never signed up to join and I am not southern. Not at the moment. Not southern geographically anyways. (I grew up in various parts of the Deep South: Tennessee, Louisiana, Georgia)
I'm not politically southern either. Most definitely not religiously southern.
Nor linguistically, for that matter, although I did use to say things like "fixin' to," like "I'm fixin' to go to the store," but then I came up North for college and got laughed at.
Maybe I'm a little southern gastronomically speaking...but only for very NICHE southern dishes like boiled crawfish and beignets.
But Oh I'm DEFINITELY southern climatically speaking. Every single year around this time, when March rolls around, I begin hyperventilating because March up north heralds not the start of spring, but the start of THREE MORE MONTHS of cold, hard, barren and perhaps even snowy blizzardy weather. Spring is what, this Monday right? I'm going to be scratching my eyes out in 30 degree weather. Where are all the bees? Where is all the pollen? The wonderful faint scent of WISTERIA in the air? Not here my friends, not here. And then I threaten to move back south.
Sigh. If only Boston had Atlanta weather, or if only Atlanta looked more like Boston.
Filed Under: Cate
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
For the first time ever, all the winter sweaters, plus one Butterfly, that I've knitted are clean AT THE SAME TIME. I folded them all nicely and placed them together in my bureau and stepped back to admire. I usually don't treat them with this much respect. Like the rest of my clothes, they spend most of their time splayed on the floor.
1. Cabled Toad
I just made this, as you are aware. I've worn it four times already. Even though I was down on the collar at first, I do really like this sweater.
2. Electra
It saddens me to say this, but I must. I don't like you anymore. I picked out the wrong color combo for you. Also, after handwashing you carefully you have stretched to quite an unflattering size. Perhaps I will toss you in the dryer. Or give you away to my mother. Sorry dude.
3. Aimee
I handwashed Aimee too. It is fascinating that something so beautiful when dry could turn into something so horrible when wet, like that girl at the bottom of the well in The Ring, if she had dyed her hair punk. This stretched too. Next time I'll stick to dry cleaning.
4. Savanna
You're nearly a year old! I used Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky and it has held up really well, with minimal pilling and little stretch. Definitely one of my favorite sweaters. Dry clean only.
5. Butterfly
I've worn Butterfly to a couple of weddings. I'm looking forward to warmer weather so I can start wearing this again.
6. Aubergine Bolero
Guess what. DB Cashmerino Aran sucks. This is a pretty recent knit but unfortunately it's already collapsing on itself. With all the pilling and stretching, it looks pretty tattered and much older than it is. Aubergine Bolero is no longer allowed in public.
7. Apricot Jacket
I love you.
8. Simply Marilyn.
Happy belated first birthday to you, my sweet, first sweater. This one doesn't go out in public anymore either. Somehow I have less width on one side of the front panel, so it's sort of twisted around the waist area. It makes me giggle. I wear it around the house a lot though. I remember trying to seam the armholes for the first time and what a massive headache it gave me, and how I was convinced I would never manage to pull the whole thing together. How glad I am to have stuck it out.
9. Sweater with Diagonal Ribs. (Not pictured)
It was too bulky to fit with the rest of the sweaters, and also, too ugly, so ugly, lock it up in a dark corner forever ugly. Lion Brand's Kool Wool (discontinued now) does not stand up to wear. It's only a month older than Savanna but is 10000 times more pilled and ragged. Also it was my first attempt to seam capped sleeves (again a process I thought I'd never live through), and combined with such chunky yarn, even non-knitters can tell the SWDR is Not Quite Right. It is however, warm and squishy. Another great sweater to wear around the house. So there is still some love left.
How much love do your sweaters get?
Filed Under: General Knitting
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
How do you guys do it? How do you guys start a sock on a Friday night and have a finished pair by Saturday morning?
This lone sock took two loooong weeks. It just wouldn't finish! I think I despise working with size 1 dpns. I probably won't like size 0 or 2's. Which makes me think that my sock knitting days are over.
Just let it be known that my lack of fun while knitting this sock has nothing to do with the pattern. Besides the toothpick needles, it might have to do with the color of the yarn. But only slightly, really. I have some cashmere fingering yarn (I have no idea when/where I got them) that I had thought about turning into socks, like to wear on long plane flights or something, but I shiver now thinking about going through the process again and wrestling with tiny needles.
I'm happy to have made it through one though. At least the construction of socks themselves is no longer a complete mystery, even if the pleasure of knitting them eludes me.
Don't look directly into the light, Veebs!
DAMN it's so bright!
Filed Under: Socks
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Pattern: Natasha Cabled Pullover from Adrienne Vittadini Fall 2003, size xs
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa 501, 7 balls
Needles: US5 in rib, US6 rest of body, approx 26 st/4in in cable, stretched
I finished the Toad last week. The photo of this sweater in the book misleads. The collar doesn't flap wide open, nearly off the shoulders like mine does. Dirty, rotten photo. I see why they have the sleeves pushed up. It shifts the weight upward so that minimizes any pull downward on the neck. I am constantly adjusting the sleeves, tugging the bottom down, pulling at the collar to get this thing to stay on right.
 The wide-collared shirt makes yet another appearance underneath this sweater to keep skin exposure at a minimum. The distibution of weight on this sweater is all wrong. The problem I think has to do with the construction of the raglan sleeves. The stitches that make up the neck is distributed rather lopsidedly. Or, too little raglan decreases on the body, and too much raglan decreases on the sleeves. There were only 4 stitches on each sleeve that contributed to the final collar. As a result, the neck is more boatneck, but with that v-neck opening, the ends of the v-neck is pulled open by its own weight and folds over like a lapel. Does that make any sense?
The accidental lapels don't look TOO bad actually. At first I was like UGH! WTF! but then I thought, OK I can live with this. It looks a little interesting when the collar folds over slightly. I just hate having to readjust. If I don't tug at the sleeves the "lapels" will just keep opening up, until the thing is nearly off the shoulders.
Naughty, naughty toad.
The color isn't usually my style but I like it. And the cables are yummy. I went down 2 needle sizes, from 8 to 6, on the body and sleeves. It worked nicely for the body, but the sleeves were really tight. Maybe that's not such a horrible thing as it really shows off the cables.
I guess I'm happy with this. Not absolutely positively can't-sleep-at-nights THRILLED, but happy enough to wear it.
A wiggly cabled toad and a wiggly orange cat
Filed Under: Adrienne V | Cabled Toad | Completed Projects
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