Knitting Epiphany

Google Sucks

2010-05-25T13:09:00.000-05:00

This is partially my fault for being a little too overzealous with my internet "spring cleaning," but I removed Friend Connect from my blog, and now almost all of my comments have been deleted! Boo, Google. Boooooo... And yes, I have been MIA for a year and a half, but it still ticks me off. I never even signed up for half of these Google products that have somehow wormed their way into my account. Oh well, maybe this is a sign for me to revamp this blog. We shall see.

In the meantime, here's a random pic from the "Knitting & Hot Chocolate: How to Knit a Marshmallow" event at City Bakery back in February.

48 Stitches

2008-09-05T16:39:00.001-05:00

Apparently I can't do math without a calculator...

That's supposed to fit around my upper arm. Yeah... 'nuff said.

(Let's hope it magically stretches out once I remove the provisional tail yarn. Keep your fingers crossed for me!)

Argosy

2008-07-31T15:21:00.001-05:00

Done! I finished this about a month ago, but never got around to posting... Anyway, here's an in-progress shot of the blocking. It really makes a difference!

Of course, it's the middle of summer and 90 degrees out, so it'll be a while before I can actually wear it. Consider this a soft unveiling. :P

Mitten Redux

2008-05-27T18:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, so here we have version... I've lost track of what version I'm up to... the latest version of the modified Axel Mitts. I think I have it perfected now, though it has yet to be blocked. And NO IRON this time! But something tells me I'm not going to have enough yarn to finish the second mitt, hmm...

Blockhead

2008-05-06T09:32:00.005-05:00

So apparently I've been blocking wrong all this time. If only I had paid more attention I would have known that you should NEVER steam ribbing!!! No wonder all my mitten cuffs expanded so much! I've been on a knitting hiatus, but when I start up again I have a couple of pairs of mitts to redo. :P

Oh, and since I feel obligated to include some pictures, here are the baby booties I crocheted for my cousin's adorable baby girl! I got the pattern came from a Japanese book. Luckily Japanese crocheters are big on diagrams. I was a little nervous about it coming out like the picture while in progress, but once it was done it came together pretty well. Yaaaaay... (Hopefully they fit!)

Forget Me Not!

2008-04-10T10:02:00.002-05:00

...said little Argosy.

"I'd be perfect for spring, if only you hadn't ignored me for three months!"

-_-

The problem with mittens...

2008-03-17T10:03:00.001-05:00

...is that you have to make two of them!

I'm happy to report that I finished my first camo mitt last night!. Whether or not I actually get the second one done is kind of up in the air. (See Exhibit A:)

Exhibit A. Has been in a state of 95% completion for weeks.

In theory it should be easier, since I have the pattern finalized (with a nice little crochet edging and everything) and figured out the button placement. But somehow the second one never wants to get done. It's totally a psychological thing because I feel like I got through an entire project, but then comes the realization that I'm only halfway through. Bah. Right now I'm wearing the one mitt in an attempt to give myself incentive to complete its mate. I was able to convince myself to get started on it this morning, but we'll see how it goes... ha.

Operation Button

2008-03-14T14:47:00.002-05:00

I've moved onto a new project. A fingerless mitt camo-along got started on Ravelry so I went out and bought some Red Heart camo yarn. I'm generally not a fan of their stuff, but it was either that or Bernat (which I would have preferred), and the Bernat camo looked more stripey than camo-y. So in the end I had to go with the Red Heart. I read somewhere that the yarn softens up if you wash it, so maybe it won't be so bad.

Anyway, here's what I have at the moment. I got sick of DPNs from the last fingerless mitts that I did (which I actually haven't finished yet... nor have I completed any of the projects from my last post... -_- ), so I thought it would be a cute idea to have it button up. I actually had this one completed and bound off everything, but I realized that I did the button-holes wrong!! So I unraveled about half of it and started again. Isn't it cute though? I'm glad that I decided to knit flat, because the edges have more of a camo look, versus the middle which just comes out stripey. This is actually my first time working with a striped yarn, so it's an interesting experience.

So yesterday I went button-hunting. Had to find the perfect buttons for my wristwarmers. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew I would know immediately once I found them. Made a trip to Daytona for size 8 DPNs and figured I might as well take a quick look around the store before heading over to M & J for their huge button selection. But just as I was about to leave, something caught my eye, and there you go, I found my buttons. Mission accomplished!

So Many Projects, So Little Time

2008-02-01T16:04:00.000-05:00

1. The reversible Rangers scarf is finally coming along slowly but surely now. But remind me never to do reversible anything bigger than a potholder. This is taking forever!!

2. I decided that one can never have too many fingerless mitts, so I did a search on Ravelry and thought the Axel mitts were really cool. The cuff idea is awesome! It's like the layman's convertible mittens, ha! But I wanted to knit from my stash, so I'm doing my own variation of it with good 'ol worsted weight yarn.

3. Also started Argosy a couple of months ago, but kinda forgot about it for a while... I also forgot to take pictures of it.

4. Short version of my lace-up armwarmers to match this scarf. I finished this a few months ago--though as you can see they're not really finished because I was to lazy to weave in the leftover yarn... -_-

Twinkle, Twinkle...

2008-01-10T14:39:00.001-05:00

This post is about 3 months obsolete, but oh well. I'm feeling lazy, so this will be a picture-driven post about the Anthropologie knitting workshop on 10/9/07 and the scarf that followed...

First off, free stuff! Woo hoo!
bag

yarn

needles

Then came the demonstration.

Notice the ginormous ball of yarn.

My not not-quite-as-giant ball of yarn.

After the demonstration there was free food and discounted shopping, but I don't have any pictures of that. On to the knitting!

This is the pattern for the Diamond Scarf, which is what we were supposed to make. Compare the 15 mm "Buffy" needles to the regular size 6...? 8... (eh, doesn't matter) circulars. That's right vampires, be very afraid.

Then I figured that since I didn't buy any extra yarn to complete this scarf, I would throw caution to the wind and make my own little one-skein scarf. I always wanted to try knitting lengthwise, and since it would really show up on the chunky yarn and I wouldn't have to deal with knitting 500 stitches on one row, that's what I did. But I still had to squeeze about 100 sts on that needle. That was a pain in the--

See what I mean??

But somehow I managed without stabbing myself in the process.

Ta da! With seed stitch border and everything!

Oh Bother...

2007-12-17T12:44:00.000-05:00

I had kind of put this aside for a while because I still didn't like the stripe widths, so I finally picked it up again today to do the dreaded frogging. I must have looked like a crazy person on the bus. But now for the really hard part...

How the heck do I untangle this mess??

Perfection to a Fault?

2007-11-14T16:47:00.000-05:00

Is it crazy that I'm taking this apart because I decided it's 4 stitches too narrow and ~~2 stitches~~ ~~4 st~~ 6 stitches too short on the bottom? (notice the different pattern versions in the background :P )

And look, it's reversible!

Sigh, can't finish a scarf if I can't even get it started.

But in the meantime, here are a couple of pics of a recently finished project: fingerless mitts to match my brown stripy scarf! These were done quick and dirty because it suddenly got cold a couple of weekends ago. Tried to recreate the XO pattern on the first attempt, but it looked too sloppy, so I stuck with a simple stockinette for the most part. Had just enough leftover yarn to make the mittens. They're a little worse for the wear now, but soooo warm. Plus, I can still knit while wearing them!

"action" shot :P

Catching up with...

2007-11-09T15:09:00.000-05:00

Whoops, way behind on this blog. October was a busy month for me... I think I've started and finished like 5 mini-projects since my last post. Here's one of them:

The one on the left was requisitioned over 6 months ago, but I finally got to it. It became a birthday present. :P

More to come...
fingerless mitts, scarves, and water bottle holders, oh my!

Where did the day go?

2007-10-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

I just wasted a whole day on Ravelry, oops. And I still only managed to fill in my stash (sans pictures) and needles. I haven't even touched the projects section yet. Did join some groups, wheeee! I'm so happy that there are hockey and Yankees fans that knit! Unfortunately, I have work to do and an exam to study for, so I probably won't be able to play with it much any time soon. But this is like OCD knitter's heaven!

In the meantime, here is my completed X's and O's scarf! Though it's more about random striping than XO's anymore. You can sorta tell that there are X's and O's in there... sorta... Nevertheless, here it is:

Next will be the new scarf I made this weekend! There's a little story to go along with it and everything. Hopefully I'll actually have time to post but my schedule is getting kinda hectic... It may be a while.

Ravelry

2007-10-12T21:12:00.000-05:00

I finally got into Ravelry! Woo hoo!!! I sound like I just got accepted to my dream school or something, haha. Won't be able to play with it until Monday, but I'm all set up now. My user name is cal236. Add me as a friend!

Mad skillz--or not...

2007-10-05T10:31:00.000-05:00

My knitting skills were put to the test this morning. Here's how the scenario unfolded...

Knitting away on the train.
Precariously balanced coffee cup on the seat next to me.
Sudden influx of people at popular stop.
Nowhere to put my coffee!
Holding coffee in my hand, looking at knitting.
Coffee yarn coffee yarn coffee yarn coffee--Coffee and yarn!

So yeah, I managed to do 2 rows--one purl then one knit--before I finished my coffee and my hand started cramping up. (Btw, it's a lot easier to knit like that than purl.) I've concluded that while it is possible to do, it is slow-going and could possibly accelerate carpel tunnel syndrome. But, you know, I can do it! Hurrah.

Then when I got to the office, as if the knitting gods wanted to remind me that I am still a spazz at heart, this happened...

"Hmm, why is there yarn on me? Coming from my bag..."

"Hey, there's a trail on the floor!"

"Still going..."

"Oh my!"

Upcoming projects:
-another knit (birthday) cactus
-armwarmers for G
-amigurumi kitty (once I can find eyes for the little guy)
-Juno! (assuming I have the patience for it and can find the pattern)
-Farmyard Frolics

Marked Progress

2007-10-04T15:24:00.001-05:00

4 1/2 days of knitting later and voila! 2/3 of a scarf! (Don't mind the weird curled edges. I'm hoping that'll disappear after some blocking.) Halfway to this point I stated wondering why my knitting was starting to feel so heavy. Then I looked down and realized I had a good chunk of scarf on my needles. Bulky yarn rocks!!

X's and O's

2007-10-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

Sometimes simpler is better. I wanted something more interesting than the same-old stockinette for my uber-soft Lion Brand cotton, but wasn't happy with the result. Maybe I've just been too fastidious for my own good lately, but even after spending days knitting and un-knitting and re-knitting and un-knitting again, I completely scrapped this design

in favor of a more streamlined version.

While I do like the random x's and o's that would be interspersed throughout the scarf, as well as the xo border, it all looked too sloppy. (Apparently, cabling has that effect on gauge.) So just when I decided I was on course with my scarf design, I ripped it all apart anyway. I do like the effect, but not for this scatf. The new design still has the cabled x's and o's border at the edge, but instead of purling in the primary brown color, I started my striping early.

I'm still not sure which border I like more, but this one works better with the rest of the pattern. However, the original one looks more distinctive... oh well. I also decided to go with random stripe widths this time--because it's just more fun to knit that way--and came up with a method of carrying the dormant (for lack of a better word) yarn strand up while knitting the other color. Unfortunately, as you can see in the 2nd picture above, the background color shows through on the side where the yarn is being carried, despite my efforts to hide it. Here's an image of the back view, since that probably shows what I'm doing better.

Call me crazy, but I'm still not feeling 100% on this scarf. Hoping that when I block it, everything will magically work out. I just have to make sure I don't go on another ripping frenzy. I refuse to do so! This yarn probably can't take much more abuse anyway. (Did I mention this organic cotton stuff has a tendency to shed/fall apart?) With luck, my next update will be about a nearly completed scarf.

Hello Goodbye

2007-09-21T11:20:00.000-05:00

So this pattern isn't going to work out with my baby cashmerino yarn either. Gauge is all wrong for the yarn... Texture is all wrong for the pattern... Nope, this pattern would be better paired with a different yarn.

But I did get something out of the experience... I learned how to do the I-cord cast-on! I love this cast-on. It's hard to capture on film/pixel/whatever, but it creates a nice smooth, rounded-puff edge. Very cute.

Goodbye Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. We're only parting temporarily, until I can find a suitable pattern to showcase your defined texture properly. Hello Lion Brand Nature's Choice organic cotton (In walnut and almond. How ...natural and organic-sounding :P ) I don't usually put any stock in the whole organic thing, but this yarn is SOFT. Like really, really soft. I will make a thick winter scarf out of you yet!

Wavering

2007-09-19T14:22:00.000-05:00

So I started knitting this yesterday after all. But now I'm not sure if I'm all that hot on this pattern anymore. Should I stick with it or find something else for my lovely baby cashmerino yarn?

An Equation

2007-09-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

+

=

Argosy?

Of course, this is all just a theory right now, which has yet to be tested.

Meow

2007-09-05T15:37:00.000-05:00

I am going to make this. :D Just bought the pattern, now to find some spare yarn and time...

Coasting

2007-08-31T10:31:00.000-05:00

Decided today would be the perfect day to unveil my "secret project" ...crochet coasters!! These were actually given to the recipient a couple of months ago, but, you know, whatever. :P I decided to go with a fruit(s basket) theme... Took some experimenting but I think I managed to get most of them to resemble fruits...

Apple:

Peach:

Blueberry:

And last but not least... Onigiri!!! hahaha

Bon Voyage!

2007-08-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

I finally sent out my House Hats last week. I actually finished these like 2 months ago, but I am a procrastinator, and before I knew it, it was two weeks before the deadline. The wee hats should be in the first leg of their journey to Warm Woolies.

Butterflies and Hurricanes

2007-08-17T11:59:00.000-05:00

The muse struck, so I started working last night and on the subway this morning. I just finished earrings V.3.1:

Yeah, not the greatest shot, but it's annoying when you can't see what you're trying to take a picture of. Since I'm wearing butterfly earrings today, I decided I just had to work in the Muse reference. Here's a better shot:

It makes me think of cows trapped in a tornado, haha. Completely unintentional, but if I ever find miniature cow beads, I'm totally doing it.

It's never too warm for...

2007-08-14T15:22:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's been a while. But I haven't been neglecting my knitting, just the blogging part. These babies took me about 3 weeks worth of commutes to finish. Had to tweak the original pattern to get the perfect fit, but that's what the test armwarmer was for. Next will be the mini navy blue wristwarmers version to match my navy blue scarf, once the yarn comes in. I'll have to make sure I have enough ribbon for that. Finding the perfect ribbon to go with these armwarmers was a real pain. There's a whole long story about having the perfect shade of burgundy, but being 1 or 2 feet short, and then discovering that the last of that ribbon was gone, and that the new spool at the store was a different dye lot and all wrong--but I won't get into that now.

(As an aside, bamboo needles are so much better to work with than aluminum. Made the first glove using a pair of aluminum DPNs and got fed up and bought Clover Takumi needles. I was holding out for a nice pair of circular needles, but apparently they don't make size 2 circulars, oh well.)

Nothing like a ball game...

2007-06-11T16:19:00.000-05:00

...for getting 3 solid hours of knitting done. Hockey would be best, but since it's June, I must watch baseball instead. In any event, my second attempt at my Harry Potter hat was much better than the first. Restarted shortly after my last post and then finished it off over the weekend. This was my progress somewhere toward the beginning of the Yankees game:

And then around the 7th or 8th inning:

Haven't gotten around to taking pictures of the finished product yet (which is very cute, I should note), but since that was such a quick knit, I decided to get started on a second one this morning. It seems fitting that I'll be spending my commutes alternating between knitting these hats and re-reading all the Harry Potter books.

The Knitting on the Bus

2007-06-08T11:08:00.000-05:00

...goes round and round. Except that it went round in the wrong direction!! My Harry Potter hat is off to a bad start. I forgot that dpn's can be tricky in the beginning. Stopped partway through a row and when I picked it up I somehow got the rows inverted. So I ended up going back and re-knitting the part I had just done and not finishing the remainder of the row. (Notice in the picture that the top section is a couple of rows shorter than the rest.)

Another thing I have to figure out is how to prevent this...

...from happening again. I'm knitting in the round, but the beginning and end of my rows are pretty darn far apart. Oh well, time to unravel.

Charmed Knits Knit-Along

2007-05-31T16:43:00.000-05:00

My knitting needles have been idle lately, so I've decided to use them toward a good cause through the Charmed Knits Knit-Along. Warm hats for those who need it most. Based on the colors in my stash, I think I'm gonna be making Ravenclaw hats. Or at least one hat. I'm hoping having a purpose will encourage me to complete this project. I have the blue, all I need now is orange. Gold is close enough to orange, right?

Test #1: Complete!

2007-05-18T12:29:00.000-05:00

Armwarmers test #1 is finished! I was so excited I didn't even bother blocking it or finding a ribbon. Leftover yarn works just fine. This is such a cute pattern; I can't get over it. Though I think I will have to tweak it a bit first before I move on to phase 2. I was a bit nervous while I was knitting, because although the pattern said that it would stretch, it just looked way to small to go around my arm. But it seems to be a good fit and I haven't even blocked yet. Though I do kind of feel like I'm losing circulation now... Of course I am, in effect, wearing a corset around my hand. Take a look!

Getting Warmer

2007-05-09T14:34:00.000-05:00

Here's my armwarmer progress report. Test armwarmer is coming along nicely. Good thing these things are small because it takes forever to knit with #2's. As an aside, trying to knit on the train with non-circular knitting needles is quite annoying. It's hard to avoid poking people when you're packed like sardines...

(I seemed to have gotten it dirty already, oops. This is why I like navy blue!)

Before and After

2007-05-07T16:17:00.001-05:00

I feel so accomplished; I actually did what I said I would, when I would! (Most of) my yarn has shed its previous home...

...in favor of a much more sturdy and organized locale. Unfortunately I couldn't fit all of it in, but I crammed in as much as possible, as you can see. Hopefully the lid won't pop on me.

And here's a bonus pic of the armwarmers I started yesterday. Not sure how far I'll get in these warm months, but I like the way it's coming along so far. It's basically a seed stitch border with stockinette for the main part, and a row of purl to separate them. I'm going with the cream color for my trial run because, well, it's thin and I had extra lying around. One of the Lion Brand baby yarns, nice and soft. Now to figure out what color ribbon to go with it...

Hidden Stash

2007-05-03T10:56:00.000-05:00

This is the current state of my yarn stash.

1. It's stuffed all the way in the deep, dark recesses of my closet.
2. It's a black box. I have no idea what I have anymore.

It's time to organize! I always thought of myself as having just a few skeins, but after years of buying "just a few" I recently came to the realization that I have an honest to goodness stash of yarn--and it's a veritable mess. But that will all change this weekend. Armed with a big plastic bin, I will take back the stash!

Knitting Slump

2007-04-24T13:34:00.000-05:00

Hi there. I've been a bit distracted lately, so I haven't devoted much time to knitting or blogging. I guess I'm just a seasonal knitter after all. I did find a blueprint for my next project in a very risque knitting book. A bit too much for me, so I'm just going to wait to borrow a copy from the library, but they have a lovely armwarmers/opera gloves pattern.

Actually, I wanted wristwarmers, but this makes for a good starting point. I'm gonna use navy blue to match my scarf--though technically I made the scarf to match the really cool imaginary wristwarmer pattern in my head. It was originally inspired by the lace-up fingerless gloves pattern in Leigh Radford's "AlterKNITS" but that particular pattern seemed ...sloppier than what I really wanted. I just love the lace-up part.

Tying up Loose Ends

2007-03-27T16:38:00.000-05:00

Another teaser pic. I just have to put the finishing touches on this and then I can get them all wrapped up and present-ed. But for now you can see the 95% finished product in action. Hopefully in my next set of pictures I'll be able to show the whole thing...

The Secret is Out

2007-03-21T10:39:00.000-05:00

...or "My secret project is not so secret anymore..."
...or Cotton Balls

So the pink yarn was kind of a decoy. Pink was just one of the many colors I wanted to play with. I love Bernat Cottontots--mostly for the vivid, fun colors, and also for the fact that it is cotton. Cotton is great for random little projects and crocheting. My only complaint is that it's a little hard to work with since it's not as smooth as wool, and this yarn has an extra string twining around it (there's probably an obvious term for this that I'm forgetting now), which is rough on the hands after a while. Gives a little bit of that rope burn feel if you go too fast. But did I mention I love the colors?

And here's a teaser pic of what came out of all this yarn. No, I can't give everything away just yet. I have to physically give it out first. Fun, fun, fun. I should make a set for myself--in which case I should write down the patterns, shouldn't I.

A mug to call my own

2007-03-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

Somewhere along the way this knitting blog has turned into a crafts blog. I'll try to get back on track soon, but I've been so distracted lately. I picked up one of the more recent distractions last night. The ceramic mug I painted a couple of weeks ago. Hastily painted, I should say, because we didn't get to the store until an hour before they were closing. I was a bit nervous about how the globbed on paint job would come out, but happily it turned out okay. And now my new mug will model for you.

"Panoramic" view:

An aerial shot:

And last but not least...

You may or may not have noticed the little splotch by the bottom of the handle. That's the...

...secret Kipper!

And then there was one

2007-03-09T12:55:00.000-05:00

Like I said a couple of posts ago, earrings and scarves just don't get along. Or is it earrings and hoods? Either way, on the way home last night I discovered that one of my earrings was gone. I was upset because this was the pair I made myself!! Not to mention this was the second earring I had lost in a span of maybe a week or a week and a half. My big comfy scarf pushes the hooks/posts out of my ears, sigh. So here's what I was left with.

Here was the one I lost last week. Luckily it was easily replaced after a trip to Express.

And there was a happy ending to this story as well. It just took a little more work, and the right supplies.

So far so good...

Success! I have a pair again! Apparently my jewelry-making skills haven't improved significantly from my first go at it, but at least that means they're pretty symmetrical.

Tasukete...!

2007-03-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

I want to make this, but I can't read Japanese... woe is me. Perhaps I can just figure it out by looking at the pictures...

By the way, I swear by Clover's Takumi needles.

Pink Ramen

2007-03-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

...at least that's what it looks like when you unravel knitting and crochet. I decided to start over, so I went on a yarn-pulling spree. It's surprising how much yarn that looks like for the size of the swatch I had. Oh well, the second time around is going to be much better. The results shall be revealed in due time...

Alternative Knitting Panel

2007-02-26T19:21:00.000-05:00

I'm finally getting around to posting about the Alternative Knitting panel I mentioned before at the Museum of Art & Design. Unfortunately, I missed the first 1/3 of the event, so as you can see, I didn't exactly have a good vantage point. I caught the tail end of the first panelist's presentation and that was probably the most interesting one. I did manage to look at some samples of David Cole's knitting with lead, kevlar, and other such fun stuff. I wish I had seen the lead knitting process...

The second person to speak was Takako Ueki of Habu Textiles--which I have been dying to go to--and she discussed knitting with stainless steel yarn (generally wrapped in silk) as well as paper and bamboo yarn. A lot more delicate than lead, but definitely much more feasible for someone like me. The interesting thing about the stainless steel yarn is that it retains shapes and--I may have gotten the details wrong for this--if you try felting it, the steel will start to show through the silk. The paper yarn sounds like it would turn out interestingly but I would be too afraid of it falling apart on me because I'm paranoid like that. Though supposedly they treat it or blend it with something else so that won't happen.

Lastly was the qiviuk person. We got to hear all about the plight of the arctic muskox. To be honest, this was around the time I started wandering around the exhibits (good thing too, because they closed everything up not even 5 minutes after the panel ended). I feel bad for saying that now because I did win the baby skein of yarn and all. So the last panelist was Linda Cortright, who is the editor of Wild Fibers Magazine. The muskox were a diminishing prehistoric species, but from what I gather (no pun intended... really) it seems that they're making a comeback now.

But, as I said, I missed a chunk of that discussion because I was busy taking these pictures. I apologize in advance for the poorly focused pictures. Apparently photography is prohibited in the museum, so I had to sneak these. Let's hope no one finds these pictures and tries to take them down...

No, that's not a stitch counter

2007-02-22T12:48:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so apparently earrings and scarves don't mix well. I had a little unbundling mishap when I got to work this morning...

Wait, here's a closeup.

Noooo! It's a yarn emergency!! Now, what I don't understand is how these things can hook themselves on so easily, yet be such an ordeal to remove. This probably the 5th time this has happened (same scarf, different earrings) and each time the earring won't let go without a fight. You can see the battle scars from this bout:

Not so bad from afar, but still...! I know it's there.

Qiviuk!

2007-02-20T15:44:00.000-05:00

Look, I won a mini ball of yarn at the Alternative Knitting panel last week!

Isn't it cute? It's a baby skein of qiviuk yarn. What, you ask, is qiviuk? Well, according to the official qiviuk site:

Qiviuk is the inner down of the Canadian Arctic Muskox. It is a fiber of exceptional quality. Noticeably softer and lighter than cashmere, and 8 times warmer than wool. The Muskox is one of the Arctic most valuable resources.

At the end of the panel (which I will write more about later, or at least about the exhibit) they raffled off about 20 to 30 of these little guys, plus 2 grand prizes of scarves made from this yarn, all donated by Jacques Cartier Clothier. Here are a couple of pictures to demonstrate the scale of the yarn ball. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the scarves, but they were beautiful. From my vantage point in the back of the room, they looked big and shawl-like. The yarn seems to knit up very finely and delicately. Speaking of knitting up, I have no idea what I'm going to make with my new yarn. I'm not sure that I'd even be able to get a complete wrist-warmer out of it. Oh well, we shall see...

Here it is sitting next to my PDA.

The specs.

And one last picture of it all snuggled up next to a big ball of yarn. "Awwww..."

(If you look closely at the pic, you can see a corner of the yet-to-be-revealed project I'm working on.)

A Secret Project

2007-02-14T12:54:00.001-05:00

Obscure hint #2:

This...

...will become something very soon.

Alternative Knitting panel tomorrow, yay!

Tea for One

2007-02-12T10:37:00.000-05:00

Here's a really obscure hint to what my next project will be...

Chocolate mint tea, yum! (Kind of weak but like chocolate tea, so I'm willing to overlook that fact) Okay fine, the truth is that I just thought the packaging was pretty and wanted to post pictures of it.

P.S. Bonus points for anyone that gets the title reference.

Brrrrr

2007-02-08T11:40:00.000-05:00

It's cold. Really cold.

But at least my scarf has been getting a lot of use!

Coming up next week... Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting - Alternative Yarns!

One-Hour Baby Booties

2007-02-01T10:38:00.000-05:00

So here are the baby booties I made back in the summer and forgot to post about. Got the pattern from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. It's a busy day for me, so I'll just let you look at the picture:

The Perfect Office Plant

2007-01-25T16:12:00.000-05:00

Does not require watering!
Does not require sunlight!

Can survive in any climate!

I present to you...

...the knitted cactus

(posed ever so elegantly in front of a stack of folders)

Type: knit
Stitch/Pattern: pattern found in "Funky Knits" by C. Meldrum & J. Marchington
Needle: size 6
Yarn: Lion Brand "Wool-Ease" (Seaspray)

Sure it doesn't add anything to the air quality in here, but at least I don't have to worry about it dying on me. (Yes, I have killed cacti before. Three to be exact.) And this was a very quick knit. It took all of, what, 2 hours to make? I had some green yarn I bought for a yet-to-be-made project (you'll hear that a lot from me) and was happy to discover that I already had the perfect beads waiting to be used in my little bead stash. It took me a while to hunt down the mini terra cotta pot though (to give it some authenticity, you know). If I get bored enough, I might make the other variety they have in the book. We shall see...

Pom-Pom Bears

2007-01-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

Not knitting exactly, but the little guys wanted to make an appearance.

I bought this little pom-pom making set in Chinatown a couple of years ago for a dollar or two and decided to play around with it. There's a mommy bear, a baby bear, and an estranged brother who is not in the picture. There's also a felt Piglet I haven't gotten around to putting together. One of these days...

Evening Out

2007-01-17T18:33:00.000-05:00

...or 'A Knitting Miracle'
...or 'The Wonders of Wool'

I was all set to write about my pink striped scarf and was planning to rant about the stripes being uneven--but they're not anymore! It's like magic. Basically, I finished the scarf last month and blocked it and everything. When I was working on the tassels, I realized that the stripes at one end of the scarf were noticeably wider than the other end. Apparently I'm a tighter knitter now than I was four years ago. It annoyed me very much, but my efforts to get the smaller side to stretch didn't do much good, and I decided there was nothing left to do but accept the imperfection and pretend it gave the scarf character.

So I grabbed the scarf today to take a picture of it in all its tassel-y glory. The tempurature suddenly dropped by 50 degerees so I've been wearing it the past couple of days. Of course I found myself critically eying the blocks of color, except now the two ends lined up perfectly! I guess I don't have enough knitting experience to be able to explain this phenomenon, but I can't complain. On to the pictures...

Rosy Striped Scarf
2002?/2003? - December 2006

Type: circular knitting
Stitch/Pattern: stockinette
Needle: size 6
Yarn: Lion Brand "Wool-Ease" (Blush Heather and Rose Heather)

As I mentioned, I did circular knitting to make this scarf, so in essence it's a big tube that's been flattened out. 420 rows of 64 knit sts. (it's much easier to count rows when you have blocks of color). One good thing about the double-layer is that I was able to hide the trail of yarn that formed from switching colors on the inside. And I added the tassels--using a crochet hook to pull the yarn through--to keep the two layers together. Aren't they cute?

The Unveiling

2007-01-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

So it would appear that I'm about a month late with this post. I'm a bit embarrassed since I don't even have 5 posts here yet. But what can I say, I'm a sporadic blogger and a sporadic knitter. That doesn't bode well for future knitting epiphanies, does it... In any event, I now present to you my finished scarf.

Navy Blue Knit Scarf
December 2006

Type: knit
Stitch/Pattern: stockinette stitch w/eyelet rows for ribbon (garter stitch border)
Needle: size 8
Yarn: Lion Brand "Wool-Ease" (Navy)

This is a good cold-but-not-bitterly-cold winter scarf. It's keeps me quite warm, but it's surprisingly thin and light, thanks to some help from an iron. (Which reminds me, I will need to write about my first forays in blocking at some point.) The best part--NO MORE CURLING!! I'm also happy with my color choice. Navy blue is a little bit of a departure for me. I usually go for lighter colors when knitting, but I've had an idea in my head for lace-up navy blue arm/wristwarmers for a while, and this was the companion scarf to go with it. I haven't even figured out how I'm going to make the wrist-warmers or exactly what I want them to look like, so the companion item ended up coming first. Funny how things turn out. (Not really.)

Stripes!

2006-12-13T16:08:00.000-05:00

Rosy Striped Scarf
2002?/2003? - unfinished

Type: circular knitting
Stitch/Pattern: stockinette
Needle: size 6
Yarn: Lion Brand "Wool-Ease" (Blush Heather and Rose Heather)

This is a project I've been working on for quite a few years now. The good news is I think that I'm almost done. I wanted something really warm and cozy and I still hadn't figured out a way around the dreaded curling problem, so circular knitting seemed the best way to go. Automatic double layer and no misbehaving edges to worry about! My circular knitting looks more like box knitting since I had to use double-pointed needles (they just don't make circular needles short enough!), but I think it's more fun this way. Plus it's much easier to keep track of where the rows start and end, not to mention the fact that it confuses the heck out of people on the train, ha.

P.S. I finished my other scarf on Monday! Pictures to come soon...

Just in time for the holidays...

2006-12-08T13:07:00.000-05:00

Navy Blue Knit Scarf
December 2006 - unfinished

Type: knit
Stitch/Pattern: stockinette stitch w/eyelet rows for ribbon (garter stitch border)
Needle: size 8
Yarn: Lion Brand "Wool-Ease" (Navy)

Started this about a week ago after a lot of tinkering with selvedges and borders and all that fun stuff. Finally decided to go with a plain-old stockinette stitch with a 4-st garter stitch border to prevent curling. I'm still having issues with the edges curling, so I'll have to look into blocking, and hopefully that will fix things. If you notice the eyelet holes in the second picture, that will be for the ribbon to go through. I'm aiming to finish this by next Tuesday; we'll see how that goes.

Crochet Baby Blanket

2006-12-08T12:09:00.000-05:00

This is something that I started back in August. Unfortunately, it's still in the same state it was when I originally posted this (but something new is on the way):

Baby Blanket
August 2006 - unfinished

Type: crochet
Stitch/Pattern: crosshatch
Needle: size G crochet hook
Yarn: TLC Baby (in White, Powder Blue, & Powder Yellow)

A friend of mine had a baby recently, so I've taken on the daunting task of knitting a blanket for the little guy. I usually stick to scarves, but I'm starting to branch out. I think of this as just a really wide tri-color scarf. I still have a long way to go and borders to add. (Haven't quite figured out what that will look like yet.) Hopefully I'll have the finished product ready by Christmas, but I'll be happy if this thing is done before the kid grows up.

(If you've noticed the baby booties in the first picture, that's something I'll get to in another post.)