Silly Groundhog...

Hey Robin,
All I gotta say is:

Spring!

Later :)

Sock off!

...the kneedles that is.

Hey Robin!
I finished #1 of the Vinnland set (or the Greenman Socks as I named the project on Ravelry.... how could I NOT?) and luuuuurve it. It's a pain-in-the-butt to cast off but wow the results. I mean, have you ever seen instructions to graft a hem to itself?? As in kitchener-stitch of a single edge. It's a new one for me and I was a little unsure that the designer knew what she was saying here... but I had trust so I followed the well-written instructions and lo-and-behold!

Here's the set up for grafting the ribbing... which by the way is hiden so well as part of the pattern... it's breathtaking... anyway, you move the purl stitches to a back kneedle and the knit stitches are on the front. then you kitchener the ribbing TO ITSELF! I was so weirded out by the whole thing but LOOK:

Isn't that a pleasing result?? It's my second toe-up sock, but since the first was an infant-sock I really don't count that one so much...

My main issue is since I was in "kitchener mode" i ended up binding it off too tight so it was trying to choke my calf. However with a little maneuvering it fit fine. See?

Ooooh Aaaaah...

I can't wait to have a pair!

Later!

Progress!

Hey Robin!
It's been a while since our return from vacay and I tell ya, going from the cold to the warm is easy, but returning to the cold FROM the warm? Not so great. I'm having the major post-vacation-bluuuuuuues! Howcome B.B. never sang about THAT?

In the bright side I got a teeny-bit of knitting done on the trip and have since progressed far enough to warrant a photo. Meet Vinnland:

Hello!

Vinnland is wonderful. The yarn is wonderful (Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock in Douglas Fir colorway) the pattern is wonderful. It's all good. It's so good I had to take a break from the goodness for some "simple". Meet Mary Jane's Pithy Hat:

I had actually gotten this far (about 8") on the vacay when i realized i was reading something entirely wrong and it was looking like something the neighbor's cat had caught on it's tail. Not good. It has since been RE started and aaaaaah. The yarn is from eBay and is very much like a Malabrigo (mMmmmmm) and the colors are lovely and make me think of Spring. That can't be a bad thing.

Right?

Sometime I will describe to you the intense anxiety that comes with adorning yourself with a sock that is still on 4 dpns. It's an experience let me tell ya... Oh and did I mention that the Yarn Harlot is nearby... breathing my air? Wish I could go see her!! She'll be back in April tho... wahoo!

Later! (Oh and Happy Chocolate Day to you too!)

A change in tension

Hey Kate!

The gauge for the lovely Dragon Scale Mitts requires a swatch in the pattern stitch, so I decided to just knit away with the size 3 circular kneedles and the Blue Sky Alpaca Sport and hope for the best. Well, the best didn't happen. I always used to knit too tight before, but after switching to Continental knitting and after reading EZ's advice about not knitting tightly, I'm now knitting looser than normal gauge.

So down to size 2 I go. The problem is that I don't have size 2 circular kneedles and my size 2 DPNs are just too slippery with which to knit that lovely Alpaca. So I'm just going to have to get me some Harmony fixed circular kneedles in size 2. I know, it's a hardship.

In the meantime, I am knitting a pair of Fetching in Patons SWS. I'm not liking this yarn for the mitts so much, but I really just want to finish it and it's not too bad. I think I'm just spoiled by the Alpaca.


I'm using size 4 Harmony Options -- size 6 and 5 both were turning out too big. This seems to be just right, though it could be a little tight.

I know, I could just switch back to throwing... but, well I can't. Now that I have the hang of German/Continental knitting, it's all I want to do. I'll only throw when I've got a bunch of purls in a row. It's just faster and more natural for me.

That's all I got for now.

Later!

Robin

Harlot may be on to something...

Hey Robin!
As this might be my last post for a week (depending upon my willingness to plunk down in front of the laptop while I am at Disneyworld... what are the chances?) I decided to cram as much stuff in this post as I can.

Got another FO!
Allie's "Strawberry bag" based on Daisy from Debbie Bliss Junior Knits. With changes of course. I can't say i like her idea of a good time... too much sewing man! I changed the purse part to be knit in the round and decided not to change the kneedle size when knitting the stockinette lining. I reduced a couple of times to make sure there was no puckering inside the bag. Although the green inside DOES look a bit like a sour apple candy :) Feast your eyes:

I haven't sewn the little flowers on yet, i want to wash the bag first. I hope that's not a stupid idea. The bag is Lily cotton in strawberry and hot green? (hot lime? i cant be bothered to get up and go look at the ball band sorry) and the flowers are from the Elsbeth Lavold Hempathy (rose) which i used to make Karin's Adornment. It worked nicely for these little things! I can now understand why the Harlot was so obsessed with the leaves! The flowers were right addictive and it was all i could do not to make 3 more for the other side (I really must move on to something else... really). I'll use a little of the green to sew them on with a French Knot like DB suggested.

OK and since i will be gone so long I have some promised yarn pr0n. Here goes:
Wendee of Hazel Knits fame managed to sequester one last hank of the Greenlake for me. Woohoo! Thanks Wendee!! Ain't it wonderful to see? I must have the perfect pattern for it. maybe I will use this for Vinnland... hmmm... tough one.

Then there's this for this:

I don't think I have to tell you how difficult it is not to take this with me on the trip. But it's going to be bloody-hot (in the 80's and i am currently acclimated to the 30's) so i am going to play smart and take a sock. Or maybe a hat..

Finally, today i got my Uraguayan wool (no it isn't MmmmmMalabrigo, but it's close) purchased on eBay from the manufacturer I think, for excellent price. Though it took way-long to arrive, it is quite nice! The aqua will probably become Loafers for my Aunt (who i will get to see this week but who probably won't get her loafers while i am there... i'm just not THAT fast!). And the green yellow... i have no idea why i bought that. I thought there was some pink in there. That's what I remember, anyway I think it might become a koolhaas or a Pithy Hat. What do you think?

I think i just want to roll around in it for a while...

I hope that is suitable to hold you until next week! :D
Later!

No really. Do over.

Hey Kate!

I'm working on about 2 and a half hours' sleep right now, FYI. And yes, I had to start the sweater over again last night. I discovered that it was twisted which, as you know, is a fatal flaw in a circular garment.


When I pulled it off the kneedles, I discovered that it was also too big. It seems that while my gauge was just fine this time, my measuring of the spousal unit's favorite sweater was not so fine. I was off by 4 inches somehow. How hard is it to use a tape measure anyway?

So now I've begun again and I've cast on 150 stitches on size 10 kneedles. Hopefully, this one will stick.

Emme seems to have the TV knitting pose down just right.


Later!

Robin

Do over!

Hey Kate!

So anyway, last night I started worrying about how big my stitches were coming out on the EZified Skully. I consulted with the recipient and we agreed that I should go down to 10 1/2 kneedles instead of the 11s I was using.

Now, as you know, the whole point of a swatch is to see what your gauge is with particular kneedles, yarn and your own style of knitting. I had decided to read the gauge of my initial Skully attempt. You know, the one that I knitted straight instead of circular, knitted on Boye kneedles instead of the Harmony, and knitted using English instead of Continental. Yes, I'm brilliant. So, when I pulled the EZ Skully off the kneedles, I discovered that my gauge was just a wee bit off, unless I was knitting for a horse.


So, I swatched a little tube on the 10.5 kneedles and discovered that my gauge was 3 stitches per inch. (I had calculated the previous gauge at 3.5 stitches per inch. Obviously, it was more like 2 stitches per inch.) This is still a little big, but the Spousal Unit isn't really looking for a tight fabric, so I'm going with it for now. Once I get a few rows past the border, if I still feel it's too loose, I'll begin again with size 10s.

I started again by casting on 150 stitches and am halfway through the garter stitch border.


Knitting without tears of laughter seems to be a difficult task for me.

Later!

Robin

Widdle Footwets!

Hey Robin!
OMG i had no idea when i started just how cute these things would be. I gotta say: first baby socks and it may be addicting. I might follow-up every pair of adult socks with a pair of plan ol' baby socks. I will then have a stash of baby socks for everyone we know who has a baby. Like Mason-Dixon Kay, i may shed baby socks as I walk down the street.

Did you have any idea that a 10 sided die was the almost the same size as a newborn baby leg?? And no comments about the fact that I have percentile dice on my desk thank you.

They are so simple to do, and these were my first short-row heel! I didn't like them at first. You know that. But having to do two on each sock i started to get the hang of it. Now I know why knitters are always asking how to close up the holes in their heels. I never had holes when I did the heel-flaps! I just didn't get it! Now I get it... and now I have to go find those helpful tips on exactly how to do that. How DO you close up a gap created by a k3tog?? The word wants to know!

The pattern i used for these plain stockinette ones is called Hunca Munca. Free pattern, with three variations that are really great (I'm going to do the little cabled one with some plainer yarn that i have laying about). Mostly-easy to understand, though I really think there might be a better way to write the short row heel instructions... but she did better than I would have! I mean no criticisms! Anyway, soon i will cast on the second pair since these are for new twin boys!

Don't you just wanna choke they are so cute?

Cuteness aside, I have a new obsession. I am going to need socks to knit on my vacation (Disneyworld! w00t!) and i decided on these in my Lorna's Laces Douglas Fir color way. This is the shepherd sock yarn she makes and o. my. gawd. Um... yeah nice yarn there. Trouble is I am knitting them on my rosewood sock kneedles from latern moon. I heart rosewood. The mere act of swatching is making me all aquiver. The greeny-blue and the rosewood together, these two were a match made in heaven. I only hope the gauge comes out right because I had my heart set on this pattern... i mean, she uses a reference to the Green Man! How could i not make these??!! It's like FATE!

Yarn Fate!

Laters.

Skully Talk

Hey Kate!

So I've been working on the Skully for some time now. That is the Ravelry link to the skull-sleeved sweater from Stitch 'n Bitch. It's for the Spousal Unit and I had originally planned to get it done for Christmas, but as you can see I failed. You see, I hate sewing and I'm not too fond of doing stockinette straight, either. So I've decided that even though I've knit a quite a bit on the front (see below), I'm going to EZ it.

So instead of knitting a bunch of pieces and sewing them together (ew), I've cast on an EZ seamless sweater. I will still use the Skully sleeves (though in the round), but I will be making an EZ raglan sweater otherwise. I'm using Cadena (my yarn of choice, lately) in Coal and Natural. Of course, I'm using size 11 of my new Harmony kneedles which I love far more than what is healthy. I've cast on 161 stitches, which should make quite a large sweater -- I'm hoping.

I'm not following EZ's complete directions, however, (which, in fact, is following her directions since she says to change pattern directions) because I knit in the garter stitch border rather than going back and adding it later. Not only will that mean less finishing later, but it also means that the sweater won't curl up on me during the long stockinette stretches.


It makes great knitting for watching TV on the couch while whimpering about how I'm still sick. The Spousal Unit also makes sure to remind me to knit if I let my hands fall during interesting parts.

I'll keep you up to date on my progress.

Later!

Robin

The prodigal project

Hey Kate!

I finally dug out the Lacy Top and unsewed the backward panel. After re-sewing it and all the other little pieces, it was a lot of fun crocheting the border. The yarn was Knitpicks Shine Worsted, which is very yummy though it does split very easily. And I used an I crochet hook, not that it matters very much. Crocheting is just so much less kneedle dependent than Knitting. I use a cheap metal hook and love it, but I am such a kneedle snob.



From now on, before I fall in love with a pattern, I must look at how it's made. This one had too much sewing and it requires a snap (which I don't have) to make up for poor design. In crocheted goodies, this is what I like to stitch, not things like this lacy top.

Regardless, it is adorable. It's big on Emme, but that was as intended.

Later!

Robin

My pet washcloth

Hey Kate,

Still ill. But happily TCM plays lotsa good movies uncut and without ads. Great for comfort knitting.

Technical details: The yarn is Blue Sky Organic Cotton and the kneedles I used are the Harmony options, size 7 in the 24" size. When the circle got too small, I just switched to Magic Loop knitting instead of switching to DPNs. So convenient. So easy.

But now that I've finished my washcloth, I don't want to use it. I just put it on my chest and pet it while I sit at my computer or watch more movies. Is that weird? Maybe I shouldn't have posted about this. I'll probably regret this when I'm more lucid.

Later!

Robin

Comfort knitting

Hey Kate,

I'm still under the weather so I'm comfort knitting. Making soft cotton petals is very therapeutic. And then there are always Dragonscale mitts when I'm feeling ambitious. Dragons are cool. (By the way, I'm linking to Ravelry from now on. Anyone who is interested in the patterns should join up anyway.)

When I got the camera out to take this picture, Emme followed me around shouting, "Cheese!" The things you learn on Sesame Street...


That's all I got.

Later!

Robin