We went to see the Star Trek movie this weekend, and needless to say, the yarn I ordered from WEBS did not arrive in time (I'm not complaining, they are totally taking a reasonable amount of time, I just didn't think to place the order soon enough).
So here I am, with absolutely no movie-suitable knitting, and a two-hour movie, and what on earth am I going to do?
I took my swatch. I need to swatch size 8, 7, and 6 at least so before we got to the movie I switched to the 7's, purled a row, knit a row with 7 yarnovers to remind me of the needle size, purled back across that row, and I was all set up for movie knitting.
Two hour movie, and a 50-stitch square of stockinette.
Yeah. Needless to say, this swatch is of a generous size. I actually put it down towards the end of the movie because I could feel that I was going to run out of yarn and I would either have to frog some of what I was doing or start a new ball for the size 6 needles. It was actually a really difficult decision, but I kind of hate knitting with Ramen-noodle-esqe frogged yarn, so I put it down. Fortunately, it was a really great movie, so I was only midly uncomfortable without knitting.
From now on I vow to always have a reasonable weight garter or stockinette piece for movie knitting. Meanwhile, my WEBS yarn is en route, which is good, because I still want to see Monsters vs. Aliens!
In other knitting news, this weekend was really busy so I didn't get a lot done. I did, however, get a lot UNdone. I frogged the yoke of my sweater as planned. I pulled out the yarn attached to the current ball by hand. I knew there was an entire other ball of yarn that would have to be pulled out, so I went upstairs, draped the sweater over a chair, stuck the end in my ball winder and just wound it right off the sweater. Then I took the sweater downstairs and frogged what was left.
I ended up frogging all the way back to the place where I had joined the sleeve. I hadn't intended to do this, but finally decided it would be the easier than trying to figure out when I had frogged enough and where the start of the round was and all that jazz. It was only two extra rows anyway. This turned out to be a very good thing because it was actually supposed to be 4 extra rows, but I was dumb and didn't realize (don't ask me how) that there was a different number for different sizes.
I've worked on the sweater some since then but I'm really sort of slogging along at this point. I'm ready for the sweater to be done. The weather's changing and it's warming up, so I'm not feeling the drive to work on it the way I did in the cold (strange but true). Also, it's getting heavy. I tried to work on it some last night, but I was watching the Caps game and had to switch to TV knitting when I missed two out of three goals because I stopped to count.
My WEBS yarn did arrive yesterday (one day too late for the movie! doh!) and I cast on for the Three-Scarf Ruana (rav link) and used that for my hockey knitting. I'm using Valley Yarns Northampton in a nice heathered light gray. Very pretty, utterly dull - perfect. 34 inches of garter stitch before I have to think at all. (I may be less excited about that 15 inches from now, but for now - thrilled).
The colrain lace and the silk alpaca lace are both very pretty and brought me much glee. But, I am doing nothing until I finish this sweater. I think Veronique (rav link) is up next. We'll see. I may not start anything else for a while, because I'm really feeling the lace bug at the moment. I want to get MS4 off my plate so I can start Hanami before the spring/summer are totally over.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Knit the way the wind blows
I got no spinning done on Tuesday after all, thanks to doggie-related issues. But, it was my fault, I put trimming their toenails off so long that I am really surprised the vet techs did not scold me when I finally took them in. I really just hadn't noticed they had grown so much. I wonder now that I didn't hear the difference - with newly trimmed nails, the pups have gotten much more stealthy. No more clicking across the hardwood floor!
Anyway, between that and an errand I had to run for my mom, I didn't get much of anything done Tuesday night. My sock in progress was in the car, I didn't have enough time or energy for lace, and likewise I didn't have any time or energy to rip out my sweater, so instead, I started a swatch.
I bought some Plymouth Royal Silk Merino from littleknits.com when they had it on closeout. I'd planned to use it for Eris, which I've been planning to knit almost since I started knitting, but I'm starting to question whether the color really fits it. I like it much better in the subdued colors that the models are knit in. On the other hand, there are sweaters like this one that would be very nice in that color. We'll see. I'll give it some more thought.
I feel like I have a problem right now project-wise, because I have broken my personal rule, that it is just fine to have several projects going on at once, as long as they are projects that take up different categories of knitting time. There's TV knitting, focused knitting (lace), travel knitting (easy to carry and easy to memorize), and social knitting (a little harder than TV knitting but not so complicated that I need to be glued to the pattern).
Right now I have on the needles:
--Water Turtles Shawl from Wrapped in Comfort - social knitting
--Phyllo Sweater - focused knitting
--MS4 - focused knitting
--Panda socks - somewhere between social knitting and travel knitting
--Moody Mansocks - currently at social knitting, will get back to travel knitting once the gusset decreases are done
--Swan Lake - focused knitting
--Beginner's Triangle - focused knitting
Now, I do very well when I only have one project going in a particular type of knitting time, but when projects start to compete for knitting time I get frustrated. Part of this is my fault, and part of it is due to the natrual progression of projects. The sweater was TV knitting for a long while but I have to pay attention to the yoke chart. It's not hugely complicated, but I have a tendency to get off by one or two stitches if I am not really paying attention. The heel turn and gusset decreases on a sock take enough counting that they're somewhat less mindless than the rest of the sock, so my socks very often stall when I get to the heel because I need a little bit of time to concentrate. I can knit the flap and do the heel turn itself pretty easily so that part is still social knitting, but I have to concentrate to pick up the stitches and set up for the decreases. Then it stays social knitting until the decreases are done (have to count and be mindful of which rows are decrease rows) and then when I'm done with those it's travel knitting again until I get to the point where I need to check the fit for the toe.
I've gotten quick enough at socks that these slowdown moments come sooner than I would liek them too, especially if it's just a plain sock.
The panda socks are a little less suited to travel knitting for me because I've had issues memorizing the pattern. I don't know why, it's not hard. It just doesn't quite stick in my head. So, I have to keep the pattern in my back to check when I need to, so they haven't gotten as much play as they could. Plus, the yarn is a little splitty and so requires a bit more attention.
All these sock issues shove the Water Turtles shawl farther down the queue since they take up social knitting time. Also, I'm not loving the shawl as much as I expected to so I am less motivated.
However, the profusion of lace on my needles is entirely my own fault. I got impatient and started things before finishing others, and resurrected some UFOs. I've moved Swan Lake into 'hibernating' status on my ravelry page for now. I'm not as enchanted with the beads I'm using as I thought I would be, and I have to think about whether I want to embrace it as it is or whether I want to frog what I have and go pick out different beads.
MS4 and the Beginner's triangle are very different projects; I need more focus for MS4 and not as much for the Beginner's Triangle. Working on Beginner's Triangle now has really shown me how far I've come, when I thought about how frustated I was when I first started that project. I think my mind has adjusted to reading charts now, so where before I could not understand the pattern and had to pay attention to every stitch in the chart, now I can look at it, understand the repeat, and just remember some key things I need to know to get me through the row. Also, I can 'read' lace now whereas I couldn't before, so I catch mistakes quicker because I can actually see when a yarnover is out of alignment.
So, I might be able to promote that shawl to certain social knitting situations - if I didn't have a billion other social knitting projects at the moment.
As if I didn't have enough going on, I'm also fidgeting around waiting for some new yarn to arrive. The SO got me French Girl Knits for my birthday and it JUST SO HAPPENS that Little Knits has the discontinued Rowan Kidsilk Night on sale and I'm going to make Veronique.
I also have plans to make the three scarf ruana from The Knitting Experience. You can see from the list above, that I have nothing in the 'tv knitting' category. I need some easy knitting that will not be over too quickly. This should totally cover it. Plus, I think the finished garment is neat. I hit up the WEBS anniversary sale for some more Valley Yarns Northampton. That was not actually on sale, but the Colrain Lace was. Then I also threw in some of the silky alpaca lace to get me in to discount range. Maybe a little overboard, but the yardage on all three yarns is criminal for that price. Love it.
My first experience with alpaca yarn was not particularly favorable. It shed EVERYWHERE and it was the wrong choice for the garment I was making, and it just generally didn't work out. The end product is stuffed in my closet huddled in shame under some pyjamas that are too small for me. But, I want the lace yarn to knit Anjou (again from FGK), and after deciding on the colrain I checked in on the ravelry discussion and saw some things that made me think I might need some halo for this project, so if that's the case I can go with the alpaca/silk instead of the colrain (merino/tencel).
On top of that, the SO's family got me the Hanami pattern and materials for my birthday, so that's sitting there tempting me, AND Pink Lemon is coming out with a new pattern for a lace stole-capey thingy that I've been waiting on anxiously.
Alas, there is no solution for me but to completely change my personality, throw caution to the wind and cast on as many projects as I want and care not whether and when they get finished - or to just motor through what's on my needles now as efficiently as possible.
Anyway, between that and an errand I had to run for my mom, I didn't get much of anything done Tuesday night. My sock in progress was in the car, I didn't have enough time or energy for lace, and likewise I didn't have any time or energy to rip out my sweater, so instead, I started a swatch.
I bought some Plymouth Royal Silk Merino from littleknits.com when they had it on closeout. I'd planned to use it for Eris, which I've been planning to knit almost since I started knitting, but I'm starting to question whether the color really fits it. I like it much better in the subdued colors that the models are knit in. On the other hand, there are sweaters like this one that would be very nice in that color. We'll see. I'll give it some more thought.
I feel like I have a problem right now project-wise, because I have broken my personal rule, that it is just fine to have several projects going on at once, as long as they are projects that take up different categories of knitting time. There's TV knitting, focused knitting (lace), travel knitting (easy to carry and easy to memorize), and social knitting (a little harder than TV knitting but not so complicated that I need to be glued to the pattern).
Right now I have on the needles:
--Water Turtles Shawl from Wrapped in Comfort - social knitting
--Phyllo Sweater - focused knitting
--MS4 - focused knitting
--Panda socks - somewhere between social knitting and travel knitting
--Moody Mansocks - currently at social knitting, will get back to travel knitting once the gusset decreases are done
--Swan Lake - focused knitting
--Beginner's Triangle - focused knitting
Now, I do very well when I only have one project going in a particular type of knitting time, but when projects start to compete for knitting time I get frustrated. Part of this is my fault, and part of it is due to the natrual progression of projects. The sweater was TV knitting for a long while but I have to pay attention to the yoke chart. It's not hugely complicated, but I have a tendency to get off by one or two stitches if I am not really paying attention. The heel turn and gusset decreases on a sock take enough counting that they're somewhat less mindless than the rest of the sock, so my socks very often stall when I get to the heel because I need a little bit of time to concentrate. I can knit the flap and do the heel turn itself pretty easily so that part is still social knitting, but I have to concentrate to pick up the stitches and set up for the decreases. Then it stays social knitting until the decreases are done (have to count and be mindful of which rows are decrease rows) and then when I'm done with those it's travel knitting again until I get to the point where I need to check the fit for the toe.
I've gotten quick enough at socks that these slowdown moments come sooner than I would liek them too, especially if it's just a plain sock.
The panda socks are a little less suited to travel knitting for me because I've had issues memorizing the pattern. I don't know why, it's not hard. It just doesn't quite stick in my head. So, I have to keep the pattern in my back to check when I need to, so they haven't gotten as much play as they could. Plus, the yarn is a little splitty and so requires a bit more attention.
All these sock issues shove the Water Turtles shawl farther down the queue since they take up social knitting time. Also, I'm not loving the shawl as much as I expected to so I am less motivated.
However, the profusion of lace on my needles is entirely my own fault. I got impatient and started things before finishing others, and resurrected some UFOs. I've moved Swan Lake into 'hibernating' status on my ravelry page for now. I'm not as enchanted with the beads I'm using as I thought I would be, and I have to think about whether I want to embrace it as it is or whether I want to frog what I have and go pick out different beads.
MS4 and the Beginner's triangle are very different projects; I need more focus for MS4 and not as much for the Beginner's Triangle. Working on Beginner's Triangle now has really shown me how far I've come, when I thought about how frustated I was when I first started that project. I think my mind has adjusted to reading charts now, so where before I could not understand the pattern and had to pay attention to every stitch in the chart, now I can look at it, understand the repeat, and just remember some key things I need to know to get me through the row. Also, I can 'read' lace now whereas I couldn't before, so I catch mistakes quicker because I can actually see when a yarnover is out of alignment.
So, I might be able to promote that shawl to certain social knitting situations - if I didn't have a billion other social knitting projects at the moment.
As if I didn't have enough going on, I'm also fidgeting around waiting for some new yarn to arrive. The SO got me French Girl Knits for my birthday and it JUST SO HAPPENS that Little Knits has the discontinued Rowan Kidsilk Night on sale and I'm going to make Veronique.
I also have plans to make the three scarf ruana from The Knitting Experience. You can see from the list above, that I have nothing in the 'tv knitting' category. I need some easy knitting that will not be over too quickly. This should totally cover it. Plus, I think the finished garment is neat. I hit up the WEBS anniversary sale for some more Valley Yarns Northampton. That was not actually on sale, but the Colrain Lace was. Then I also threw in some of the silky alpaca lace to get me in to discount range. Maybe a little overboard, but the yardage on all three yarns is criminal for that price. Love it.
My first experience with alpaca yarn was not particularly favorable. It shed EVERYWHERE and it was the wrong choice for the garment I was making, and it just generally didn't work out. The end product is stuffed in my closet huddled in shame under some pyjamas that are too small for me. But, I want the lace yarn to knit Anjou (again from FGK), and after deciding on the colrain I checked in on the ravelry discussion and saw some things that made me think I might need some halo for this project, so if that's the case I can go with the alpaca/silk instead of the colrain (merino/tencel).
On top of that, the SO's family got me the Hanami pattern and materials for my birthday, so that's sitting there tempting me, AND Pink Lemon is coming out with a new pattern for a lace stole-capey thingy that I've been waiting on anxiously.
Alas, there is no solution for me but to completely change my personality, throw caution to the wind and cast on as many projects as I want and care not whether and when they get finished - or to just motor through what's on my needles now as efficiently as possible.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Woe
Yesterday I got out the measuring tape and measured the yoke of my sweater so far. I had omitted the bottom row of diamonds in an attempt to compensate for my too-loose guage, since I was afraid it would end up much too long if I knit the pattern as written.
I've got about 18 rows to go in the yoke and it was looking kind of short when measured against my hand, so I got out the measuring tape and enlisted the SO to help me with the math. Then I refused to believe him, tried to work out how it would be okay, wondered whether I should just go the last few rounds and finish it and see what would happen, or if I should just give it up now and rip back. Finally he convinced me to put it on waste yarn and try it on. I did, and he measured to where he thought it would reach, based on our math. Verdict in. No doubting it now. The yoke is too short. I have to pull it out and do it the way it's written. I cannot begin to explain how this is so, but it is. SIGH.
Really I'm not as bothered as I could be. The yoke has actually been pretty quick to knit and fairly intuitive, allowing me to catch mistakes as I was making them rather than many rows later. What I'm really irked about is that I have to rip back so far that I will be back in the area where it was tight and difficult to knit because of the sleeves. grr.
I'm not sure whether I will rip all the way back to where I joined the pieces and redo it, or if I will just rip back to the two plain rows after the join and before the chart. I do have a couple of gaping stitches where I picked up stitches for the front shaping that I could take this opportunity to address, but then I would have to worry about things falling out further than they should, etc. I don't know. I'm going to spend time thinking about it. I'll be busy all the rest of this week except for tonight, and Tuesdays are for spinning, so I have some time to figure out how I want to handle it.
I've got about 18 rows to go in the yoke and it was looking kind of short when measured against my hand, so I got out the measuring tape and enlisted the SO to help me with the math. Then I refused to believe him, tried to work out how it would be okay, wondered whether I should just go the last few rounds and finish it and see what would happen, or if I should just give it up now and rip back. Finally he convinced me to put it on waste yarn and try it on. I did, and he measured to where he thought it would reach, based on our math. Verdict in. No doubting it now. The yoke is too short. I have to pull it out and do it the way it's written. I cannot begin to explain how this is so, but it is. SIGH.
Really I'm not as bothered as I could be. The yoke has actually been pretty quick to knit and fairly intuitive, allowing me to catch mistakes as I was making them rather than many rows later. What I'm really irked about is that I have to rip back so far that I will be back in the area where it was tight and difficult to knit because of the sleeves. grr.
I'm not sure whether I will rip all the way back to where I joined the pieces and redo it, or if I will just rip back to the two plain rows after the join and before the chart. I do have a couple of gaping stitches where I picked up stitches for the front shaping that I could take this opportunity to address, but then I would have to worry about things falling out further than they should, etc. I don't know. I'm going to spend time thinking about it. I'll be busy all the rest of this week except for tonight, and Tuesdays are for spinning, so I have some time to figure out how I want to handle it.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Catch-up
I figured out what happened to the photos that didn't upload two posts ago. Surprise, surprise - it was my fault. Anyway, here they are:
Spunky Eclectic Fiber Clubinstestines Fiber, colorway Myrtle:
On the wheel:
Proof that I did in fact knit two blackrose socks:
And the start of another pair of socks for the man, though they are now quite a bit more advanced:
Not sure I'm loving the green bits, though they look nicer in that photo than they do in person. I'm working on the heel flap for these socks now so this pic is pretty out of date.
Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club
On the wheel:
Proof that I did in fact knit two blackrose socks:
And the start of another pair of socks for the man, though they are now quite a bit more advanced:
Not sure I'm loving the green bits, though they look nicer in that photo than they do in person. I'm working on the heel flap for these socks now so this pic is pretty out of date.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Shell shocke
I've been waiting months for MD Sheep & Wool. I successfully made it through my yarn diet period so I could splurge without guilt. However, I also made a pact with myself that I would only buy stuff I actually liked & wanted, and not just go crazy because I could.
Unfortunately, this weekend was overshadowed by the events of the week. A coworker of mine, who just turned 35 and who has a wife and three little girls, died unexpectedly of a heart attack. It was a great shock to all of us that worked with him, and it made for a long, hard, sad week. The office took up donations to help support his wife and daughters, and I spent Wednesday night making a card to put them in.
I knew I wanted to do a black and white card and I wanted to use vellum, but I didn't know that I had any images appropriate, so I went to Angela's Happy Stamper and wandered around. They were very gracious even though I walked in right at closing. I saw the dandelion image and immediately picked it up. I found the sentiment soon after.
The dandelion is stamped with onyx staz-on on vellum, over white cardstock, matted on metallic silver. I fastened it with some black brads I had in my embellishment box. The sentiment was harder; I wanted to put it on vellum too because the white cardstock was too bright uncovered, but I couldn't figure out how to stick the pieces together without the adhesive showing through. As an experiment I picked up the white cardstock piece on which I had already stamped the image and I folded vellum around it and glued it on the back. It worked, but the vellum sort of bowed out a little. I thought it would still work though, and I stamped the sentiment on top just to see how I liked it. I had expected to throw the whole thing away if I liked it and redo a fresh one, but the sentiment on the vellum was just slightly offset from the sentiment on the cardstock and it made this nifty shadow effect, so I ended up using that piece and I was pretty happy with the way it looked.
For the inside image, I used a brayer and a Kaleidacolor pad (colorway was Fruitcake, I think) and then stamped black butterflies on the color. Then I stamped the three flowers on vellum and put it over top. I hadn't planned on this originally, but the colored butterfly thingy was a remnant from an earlier idea I had tried and discarded, and when I saw the three little puff flowers I thought of his three daughters, and so I kind of think of it as a little message of hope. We all grieve in different ways. I guess I deal by making crap. We ended up collecting so much money that we had trouble fitting it in the card, but I hope it made the gift even a little bit more meaningful.
His memorial service was Friday and after work a bunch of us went out to have dinner and just hang out. I didn't get home as early as I wanted and I was already tired to begin with (though it was a good and necessary uplift after a sad and difficult week). Needless to say, I started Saturday out a little subdued and already running on empty.
But, after my experience last year, I spent some time stalking the Ravelry board and taking notes on recommendations. I didn't want to go to the show and end up buying stuff I could just get online. This was well done because when I got there it was totally overwhelming. I kept wanting to veer off and look at things but I was dead determined to go to my chosen vendors first before looking at anything out. I wanted to go to:
--Journey Wheels (I was actually after some Franquemont Fibers batts, but I didn't see any and had too much to do to
--Jenny the Potter
--Carolina Homespun
--The Barefoot Spinner
--Kid Hollow Farm
--SpirtTrail Fiberworks
--Cloverhill Yarn Shops (they carry a number of indie dyers)
I think there were a couple of others but I think my rain-stained notes are still in the pocket of my jeans. As I said, I was looking for something unique. Fiberwise, my goal was to try some wool types that I have not tried before (not hard, considering that I have only been spinning for four months or so). If I was going to buy yarn, I wanted to buy yarn from independent dyers, or see if I could get a good deal on some exotic fibers. However, the only yarn I bought was from Kid Hollow Farm. I was really tempted by some laceweight cashmere in my budget, but it was only available in white and I decided to pass. I'm way too much of a klutz for a white lace cashmere shawl. I may take up dying sometime but if I do, I won't want to experiment on something like cashmere!
The haul includes:
3 skeins Mohair laceweight from Kid Hollow Farms, colorway persimmon. KHF does have a website but they don't advertise the laceweight. Also, they are a local Virginia farm. The label says fingering weight but it is definitely lace, and the bin it was in was labeled lace.
4 oz Hog Island Wool dyed slate grey from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. This is an endangered breed, as I understand, so I wanted to get some while I had a chance. It's also a native breed to Virginia and is currently kept on one of the local plantations here as a historical breed.
4 oz natural grey Jacob Wool from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. I bought this at the suggestion of a lady at the booth, who told me over the course of our conversation that these particular sheep are extremely pampered by their owner.
8 oz white Wensleydale cross from Little Barn. They weren't local but they did have some nice things and I had plenty of budget left.
8 oz natural light brown CVM. The label informs me that there are fewer than 1000 of these sheep worldwide.
I did visit Jennie the Potter's booth (kgd, I tried to convince your son to buy you one of the smaller yarn bowls she had that were less expensive than the large ones on the website, but alas, he was unmoved - he bought you this instead) and had a nice chat with a lady whose voice seemed familiar. She recognized my rav name on my button, and I totally plotzed when she introduced herself as Heather from CraftLit. I was nearing the end of my steam by this point and I don't even know what I said. I hope I wasn't too silly. She did ask me if I was going to the ravelry meetup and at the time I was thinking that I would, but I only got through a few more shops before I crashed so hard it was all I could do to get back in the car. I dozed all the way home and spend the rest of the day on the couch. I got up and went to church this morning, had lunch and came home and I've been on the couch ever since. I'm still so tired!
But, now I get to plot and plan and surf possibilities for the yarn I bought, and I'm looking forward to getting some of my fiber score on the wheel to see how it spins up. Today, though, I'm working as hard as I can on my sweater - I am really close to being done. I might have finished tonight if I hadn't spent so much time surfing the internet for patterns, and working on this blog post. Oops.
Unfortunately, this weekend was overshadowed by the events of the week. A coworker of mine, who just turned 35 and who has a wife and three little girls, died unexpectedly of a heart attack. It was a great shock to all of us that worked with him, and it made for a long, hard, sad week. The office took up donations to help support his wife and daughters, and I spent Wednesday night making a card to put them in.
I knew I wanted to do a black and white card and I wanted to use vellum, but I didn't know that I had any images appropriate, so I went to Angela's Happy Stamper and wandered around. They were very gracious even though I walked in right at closing. I saw the dandelion image and immediately picked it up. I found the sentiment soon after.
The dandelion is stamped with onyx staz-on on vellum, over white cardstock, matted on metallic silver. I fastened it with some black brads I had in my embellishment box. The sentiment was harder; I wanted to put it on vellum too because the white cardstock was too bright uncovered, but I couldn't figure out how to stick the pieces together without the adhesive showing through. As an experiment I picked up the white cardstock piece on which I had already stamped the image and I folded vellum around it and glued it on the back. It worked, but the vellum sort of bowed out a little. I thought it would still work though, and I stamped the sentiment on top just to see how I liked it. I had expected to throw the whole thing away if I liked it and redo a fresh one, but the sentiment on the vellum was just slightly offset from the sentiment on the cardstock and it made this nifty shadow effect, so I ended up using that piece and I was pretty happy with the way it looked.
For the inside image, I used a brayer and a Kaleidacolor pad (colorway was Fruitcake, I think) and then stamped black butterflies on the color. Then I stamped the three flowers on vellum and put it over top. I hadn't planned on this originally, but the colored butterfly thingy was a remnant from an earlier idea I had tried and discarded, and when I saw the three little puff flowers I thought of his three daughters, and so I kind of think of it as a little message of hope. We all grieve in different ways. I guess I deal by making crap. We ended up collecting so much money that we had trouble fitting it in the card, but I hope it made the gift even a little bit more meaningful.
His memorial service was Friday and after work a bunch of us went out to have dinner and just hang out. I didn't get home as early as I wanted and I was already tired to begin with (though it was a good and necessary uplift after a sad and difficult week). Needless to say, I started Saturday out a little subdued and already running on empty.
But, after my experience last year, I spent some time stalking the Ravelry board and taking notes on recommendations. I didn't want to go to the show and end up buying stuff I could just get online. This was well done because when I got there it was totally overwhelming. I kept wanting to veer off and look at things but I was dead determined to go to my chosen vendors first before looking at anything out. I wanted to go to:
--Journey Wheels (I was actually after some Franquemont Fibers batts, but I didn't see any and had too much to do to
--Jenny the Potter
--Carolina Homespun
--The Barefoot Spinner
--Kid Hollow Farm
--SpirtTrail Fiberworks
--Cloverhill Yarn Shops (they carry a number of indie dyers)
I think there were a couple of others but I think my rain-stained notes are still in the pocket of my jeans. As I said, I was looking for something unique. Fiberwise, my goal was to try some wool types that I have not tried before (not hard, considering that I have only been spinning for four months or so). If I was going to buy yarn, I wanted to buy yarn from independent dyers, or see if I could get a good deal on some exotic fibers. However, the only yarn I bought was from Kid Hollow Farm. I was really tempted by some laceweight cashmere in my budget, but it was only available in white and I decided to pass. I'm way too much of a klutz for a white lace cashmere shawl. I may take up dying sometime but if I do, I won't want to experiment on something like cashmere!
The haul includes:
3 skeins Mohair laceweight from Kid Hollow Farms, colorway persimmon. KHF does have a website but they don't advertise the laceweight. Also, they are a local Virginia farm. The label says fingering weight but it is definitely lace, and the bin it was in was labeled lace.
4 oz Hog Island Wool dyed slate grey from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. This is an endangered breed, as I understand, so I wanted to get some while I had a chance. It's also a native breed to Virginia and is currently kept on one of the local plantations here as a historical breed.
4 oz natural grey Jacob Wool from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. I bought this at the suggestion of a lady at the booth, who told me over the course of our conversation that these particular sheep are extremely pampered by their owner.
8 oz white Wensleydale cross from Little Barn. They weren't local but they did have some nice things and I had plenty of budget left.
8 oz natural light brown CVM. The label informs me that there are fewer than 1000 of these sheep worldwide.
I did visit Jennie the Potter's booth (kgd, I tried to convince your son to buy you one of the smaller yarn bowls she had that were less expensive than the large ones on the website, but alas, he was unmoved - he bought you this instead) and had a nice chat with a lady whose voice seemed familiar. She recognized my rav name on my button, and I totally plotzed when she introduced herself as Heather from CraftLit. I was nearing the end of my steam by this point and I don't even know what I said. I hope I wasn't too silly. She did ask me if I was going to the ravelry meetup and at the time I was thinking that I would, but I only got through a few more shops before I crashed so hard it was all I could do to get back in the car. I dozed all the way home and spend the rest of the day on the couch. I got up and went to church this morning, had lunch and came home and I've been on the couch ever since. I'm still so tired!
But, now I get to plot and plan and surf possibilities for the yarn I bought, and I'm looking forward to getting some of my fiber score on the wheel to see how it spins up. Today, though, I'm working as hard as I can on my sweater - I am really close to being done. I might have finished tonight if I hadn't spent so much time surfing the internet for patterns, and working on this blog post. Oops.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Taking Care of Business
My flickr uploader tool has decided to hate me so I didn't get pictures uploaded for a blog post yesterday, and only about half the pictures ended up uploaded today. But, whatever, I'm going with what I've got.
I spent this weekend tying up loose ends. I finished the blackrose socks. Pretend there is a picture of the pair here.
I got my sweater seamed and joined so that I could start the yoke knitting. I've done a little bit of work since this picture was taken, but it's gone rather slow.
Part of the problem is that the area where the sleeves are joined is really awkward to work at this point. I think when I get a few more rows away from the join, it will go smoother. I also have some gaping holes where I picked up stitches for the front shaping that I can't explain. I twisted the picked up stitches so those have closed up enough that they're not a big deal, but there is one stitch at the end of the front shaping that is huge. I'm going to have to do something about it at the finishing, though, I don't think there's anything I can do about it just now.
I cast on for the second panda sock, avoiding second sock syndrome which I was somewhat afeared would strike me since I had knit another pair since the first sock. It turns out I am anal enough that I wasn't even tempted to start something else.
Although, I did start another pair of socks for my big-footed man. It's in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock that I bought a long time ago and, frankly...hate. I don't really like it. It's not really a quality issue as it is a preference issue. These are 100% merino and yet the Happy Feet I just worked with, a merino/nylon mix, is softer and more pleasant to work with.
Anyway, pretend there is a picture of two or three measly rows of panda sock here.
I also finished chart 4 on MS4, which I didn't bother to photograph because it would look only a very little bit different from the picture in the last post. I realize this is not really tying up a loose end because I am neither finished nor even at the halfway point, but it makes me happy to check it off and it does count as progress toward tying up a loose end.
And, last but not least, I wove in the ends and blocked my hemlock ring blanket. There is one spot with some wierdly large stitches but you wouldn't notice if you weren't an anal knitter in the midst of blocking. And what really bothers me is, I can't figure out why this problem is there. I can only guess that I had too many yarnovers in that spot, discovered them on a later row, didn't want to tink back two whole rows to get to it (this was quite a ways in and the rows would have been quite long at this point), so I just dropped them and went on my merry way.
Anyway, I shall finish this post with a burst of glory, since those photos did, thankfully, upload.
You can see the blocking wires kgd and family gave me for my birthday in that photo. I did use them to get it stretched out initially, but found that my swoops were so big that they really needed to be individually pinned. However, the stretching process happened much more easily and evenly and if you want my blocking wires you will have to pry them from my cold dead fingers, and I will haunt you for the rest of your life. I'm just saying.
I hadn't snipped the ends yet so there are some threads running underneath the big yarnovers, but know they are not there in the finished project.
I had imagined it draped elegantly over the back of my couch all this time I was knitting it, but it did not occur to me that my couch has big poofy pillows instead of a smooth back, so...not quite so elegant as I had hoped. I did note last night that it looks much better from the front.
I spent this weekend tying up loose ends. I finished the blackrose socks. Pretend there is a picture of the pair here.
I got my sweater seamed and joined so that I could start the yoke knitting. I've done a little bit of work since this picture was taken, but it's gone rather slow.
Part of the problem is that the area where the sleeves are joined is really awkward to work at this point. I think when I get a few more rows away from the join, it will go smoother. I also have some gaping holes where I picked up stitches for the front shaping that I can't explain. I twisted the picked up stitches so those have closed up enough that they're not a big deal, but there is one stitch at the end of the front shaping that is huge. I'm going to have to do something about it at the finishing, though, I don't think there's anything I can do about it just now.
I cast on for the second panda sock, avoiding second sock syndrome which I was somewhat afeared would strike me since I had knit another pair since the first sock. It turns out I am anal enough that I wasn't even tempted to start something else.
Although, I did start another pair of socks for my big-footed man. It's in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock that I bought a long time ago and, frankly...hate. I don't really like it. It's not really a quality issue as it is a preference issue. These are 100% merino and yet the Happy Feet I just worked with, a merino/nylon mix, is softer and more pleasant to work with.
Anyway, pretend there is a picture of two or three measly rows of panda sock here.
I also finished chart 4 on MS4, which I didn't bother to photograph because it would look only a very little bit different from the picture in the last post. I realize this is not really tying up a loose end because I am neither finished nor even at the halfway point, but it makes me happy to check it off and it does count as progress toward tying up a loose end.
And, last but not least, I wove in the ends and blocked my hemlock ring blanket. There is one spot with some wierdly large stitches but you wouldn't notice if you weren't an anal knitter in the midst of blocking. And what really bothers me is, I can't figure out why this problem is there. I can only guess that I had too many yarnovers in that spot, discovered them on a later row, didn't want to tink back two whole rows to get to it (this was quite a ways in and the rows would have been quite long at this point), so I just dropped them and went on my merry way.
Anyway, I shall finish this post with a burst of glory, since those photos did, thankfully, upload.
You can see the blocking wires kgd and family gave me for my birthday in that photo. I did use them to get it stretched out initially, but found that my swoops were so big that they really needed to be individually pinned. However, the stretching process happened much more easily and evenly and if you want my blocking wires you will have to pry them from my cold dead fingers, and I will haunt you for the rest of your life. I'm just saying.
I hadn't snipped the ends yet so there are some threads running underneath the big yarnovers, but know they are not there in the finished project.
I had imagined it draped elegantly over the back of my couch all this time I was knitting it, but it did not occur to me that my couch has big poofy pillows instead of a smooth back, so...not quite so elegant as I had hoped. I did note last night that it looks much better from the front.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
There and Back Again
And knitting the whole way.
I flew to my parents' house last Monday and then drove with my mother for 10 hours to my grandparents' house (I know it doesn't make sense to fly and then drive, but if I had flown directly there my mom would have had to make the trip alone, and I figured, why not keep her company?) and boy were my fingers tired.
I knit almost the entire time I was away, in various situations. I did some work on MS4, and got through almost all of a chart:
(Jaggerspun Zephyr in Marine)
I finished the socks for my beloved sasquatch, and he was kind enough to model them for me:
(Plymouth Happy Feet)
And, I finished a pair of socks for me!
Unfortunately...It was not a pair of MATCHING socks. See, I had planned to work on the panda socks and take along a skein of Casbah as a backup, but it turns out I left the second ball of the panda yarn at home. So, I finished the first sock:
(Crystal Palace Panda Wool Prints in Raindrops on the Window from Pink Lemon Knits)
and then I went onto the Casbah (Hand Maiden Casbah Sock in Topaz). I had looked for a pattern and found the Blackrose pattern from Knittyspin on Ravelry. It seemed perfect, so that's what I used. I centered the pattern because I don't like to have to worry about which sock is the left sock and which sock is the right sock.
I finished one and I'm at the heel flap on the other.
They are gorgeous and this makes me happy because I nearly lost my mind trying to wind this yarn. I don't know if somebody at Fleece Artist or Colorsong was just messing with me or what, but I could not wind this skein to save my life. There it is, 10 p.m. the night before I leave, and I'm trying to untangle the disaster that is this yarn from my swift and winder, and every time I THOUGHT I had it, something else would snag up. Extremely frustrating. On top of which, there are more flaws in this yarn than in the previous skein of Casbah I worked with - fluffy bits sticking out here and there that refuse to lay flat but that you can't pull out without tearing up the neighboring plies. Ah, well - c'est la vie. If I hadn't tried to do it at the last minute I wouldn't have had any problems, I'm sure!
My mother actually said she would like a pair of fingerless mitts to keep her fingers warm while typing, so I'm thinking that I will make her a pair of the Blackrose mitts from the leftover yarn when I have finished my socks. Casbah is beautiful, velvety soft, washable, and durable (though my other pair of Casbah socks is sadly faded), and she will hopefully remember our trip when she looks at them.
I also worked on the lace shawl I started from A Gathering of Lace waaaaay back at least two years ago, the year I learned to knit. I made a mistake on it a while back and I didn't get around to fixing it until just a few days before this trip, so I took it with me. I started that shawl (Beginner's Lace Triangle) on my way to my parents' for Christmas the year I learned to knit and I have picked it up off and on since. It's astonishing how much easier it is now. I had so much trouble when I first started and now it's all so easy! I zipped along, hit the halfway point and on the flight home, I started the decreases (this shawl is knit from tip to tip, so you increase until "you are halfway out of yarn, or you are bored" and then decrease.
I don't think I will work on it much at home - I'm thinking it may become my game night knitting. It's a little complicated, but not so much that I think it will be a problem. We'll see. I'll probably take the topaz blackrose socks and see if I can finish them this week.
My aunt was excited by my knitting, so we found a LYS and went shopping. Souvenir yarn does not count against the yarn diet so I didn't feel too badly. Besides, technically my mother bought it for me since she gave me the money.
LSU sock yarn. I have no particular attachment to LSU, but it was dyed specially for the shop and I like to have something local to remind me of the trip, so that was my selection. If you're ever in Baton Rouge, I recommend Knits by Nana, they were very helpful to my aunt and they have a great selection of yarns, and Nana was careful to make sure we didn't feel rushed even though we arrived only half an hour before closing. Very nice. Go there!
Thus endeth my trip, and I'm now back home and exhausted thanks to a very late flight back. I should be in bed as we speak. Yes. Bed. Just one more row.
I flew to my parents' house last Monday and then drove with my mother for 10 hours to my grandparents' house (I know it doesn't make sense to fly and then drive, but if I had flown directly there my mom would have had to make the trip alone, and I figured, why not keep her company?) and boy were my fingers tired.
I knit almost the entire time I was away, in various situations. I did some work on MS4, and got through almost all of a chart:
(Jaggerspun Zephyr in Marine)
I finished the socks for my beloved sasquatch, and he was kind enough to model them for me:
(Plymouth Happy Feet)
And, I finished a pair of socks for me!
Unfortunately...It was not a pair of MATCHING socks. See, I had planned to work on the panda socks and take along a skein of Casbah as a backup, but it turns out I left the second ball of the panda yarn at home. So, I finished the first sock:
(Crystal Palace Panda Wool Prints in Raindrops on the Window from Pink Lemon Knits)
and then I went onto the Casbah (Hand Maiden Casbah Sock in Topaz). I had looked for a pattern and found the Blackrose pattern from Knittyspin on Ravelry. It seemed perfect, so that's what I used. I centered the pattern because I don't like to have to worry about which sock is the left sock and which sock is the right sock.
I finished one and I'm at the heel flap on the other.
They are gorgeous and this makes me happy because I nearly lost my mind trying to wind this yarn. I don't know if somebody at Fleece Artist or Colorsong was just messing with me or what, but I could not wind this skein to save my life. There it is, 10 p.m. the night before I leave, and I'm trying to untangle the disaster that is this yarn from my swift and winder, and every time I THOUGHT I had it, something else would snag up. Extremely frustrating. On top of which, there are more flaws in this yarn than in the previous skein of Casbah I worked with - fluffy bits sticking out here and there that refuse to lay flat but that you can't pull out without tearing up the neighboring plies. Ah, well - c'est la vie. If I hadn't tried to do it at the last minute I wouldn't have had any problems, I'm sure!
My mother actually said she would like a pair of fingerless mitts to keep her fingers warm while typing, so I'm thinking that I will make her a pair of the Blackrose mitts from the leftover yarn when I have finished my socks. Casbah is beautiful, velvety soft, washable, and durable (though my other pair of Casbah socks is sadly faded), and she will hopefully remember our trip when she looks at them.
I also worked on the lace shawl I started from A Gathering of Lace waaaaay back at least two years ago, the year I learned to knit. I made a mistake on it a while back and I didn't get around to fixing it until just a few days before this trip, so I took it with me. I started that shawl (Beginner's Lace Triangle) on my way to my parents' for Christmas the year I learned to knit and I have picked it up off and on since. It's astonishing how much easier it is now. I had so much trouble when I first started and now it's all so easy! I zipped along, hit the halfway point and on the flight home, I started the decreases (this shawl is knit from tip to tip, so you increase until "you are halfway out of yarn, or you are bored" and then decrease.
I don't think I will work on it much at home - I'm thinking it may become my game night knitting. It's a little complicated, but not so much that I think it will be a problem. We'll see. I'll probably take the topaz blackrose socks and see if I can finish them this week.
My aunt was excited by my knitting, so we found a LYS and went shopping. Souvenir yarn does not count against the yarn diet so I didn't feel too badly. Besides, technically my mother bought it for me since she gave me the money.
LSU sock yarn. I have no particular attachment to LSU, but it was dyed specially for the shop and I like to have something local to remind me of the trip, so that was my selection. If you're ever in Baton Rouge, I recommend Knits by Nana, they were very helpful to my aunt and they have a great selection of yarns, and Nana was careful to make sure we didn't feel rushed even though we arrived only half an hour before closing. Very nice. Go there!
Thus endeth my trip, and I'm now back home and exhausted thanks to a very late flight back. I should be in bed as we speak. Yes. Bed. Just one more row.
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