In all my listening to knitting podcasts and reading knitting blogs and perusing the knitter's review forum, I have come up with a number of things that I really, really want to do.
--Knit a lace shawl.
--Become a sock knitter.
--Knit something with Sea Silk.
--Knit something in whatever yarn anybody is gushing about or showing pictures of on their blog.
--Get some silk laceweight from Sundara Yarn.
And many more. Every time I see a yarn on the Yarn Harlot blog I SO TOTALLY WANT SOME. But I'm always stopped, either by the price or because I don't know what I would use it for so I'm afraid of not buying enough for what I need. I don't have any idea how much the average yardage is even for a pair of socks. I need more experience.
I looked up a few patterns for my friend's project and sent them to her along with yarn possibilities so that she could pick something and find a color she liked. I haven't heard anything back from her. I'm hoping she will pick Urban Necessity from MagKnits, but I don't know if she will like it or not. We'll see I guess!
Columns Scarf is at 31 inches and change. Sigh.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The best laid plans...
Don't turn out the way my flaky plans do.
The love heart slippers may be the first project that I will actually have to give up on. After finishing the first slipper, I looked at the remains of the skein and concluded that I did not have enough for a second slipper. I didn't think about it for a while, but I needed some other stuff so I started to order a ball of it and lo...it is gone. Shine Sport is still there, but the color Cloud is not.
Now my lonely unseamed sock that is too big for me anyway will never fit.
I ask you, what's a knitter to do?
(I e-mailed knitpicks hoping I had made a mistake - we'll see what I hear)
The love heart slippers may be the first project that I will actually have to give up on. After finishing the first slipper, I looked at the remains of the skein and concluded that I did not have enough for a second slipper. I didn't think about it for a while, but I needed some other stuff so I started to order a ball of it and lo...it is gone. Shine Sport is still there, but the color Cloud is not.
Now my lonely unseamed sock that is too big for me anyway will never fit.
I ask you, what's a knitter to do?
(I e-mailed knitpicks hoping I had made a mistake - we'll see what I hear)
Drumroll please...
So, what is the pretty object that my darling friend would like to have? That knitted item that shall be of sufficient loveliness to tide her over the period of scrimping and staving that students must endure?
"A really warm hat. And gloves."
I think maybe she missed the point of my offer. Still, I said I would and I will. I asked some questions about what she wanted out of these objects, and provided a couple of examples to see if any of them struck her fancy, including Urban Necessity and Oat Couture Tayberry Hat and Gloves. We'll see what she picks.
"A really warm hat. And gloves."
I think maybe she missed the point of my offer. Still, I said I would and I will. I asked some questions about what she wanted out of these objects, and provided a couple of examples to see if any of them struck her fancy, including Urban Necessity and Oat Couture Tayberry Hat and Gloves. We'll see what she picks.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Not how I planned
Saturday, I put six inches on the scarf, and thought gleefully about how wonderful it would be if I could get it up to 3 feet by the end of the weekend.
Unfortunately, I'm having trouble sleeping in the bed I am using while I house-and-dog-sit, so I didn't get very far on Sunday. A few feeble rows - I haven't measured but I bet it was less than an inch. I fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours instead. It's probably just as well as my right hand was starting to get grumpy again and I'd probably have had a claw by Sunday night if I'd accomplished all I'd cackled about possibly doing.
One of my friends just sighed (metaphorically speaking, it was a blog entry) about wanting pretty things (she is a student and only has enough budget for the practical, not the pretty, and sometimes not even that) and I gave her a bunch of links to pattern resources and said "here, pick something pretty, and I will knit it for you." I am alternately concerned that she will not like anything, and that she will pick something huge and/or complicated that will take me the rest of my life. I guess I will just live dangerously until I get a reply.
Unfortunately, I'm having trouble sleeping in the bed I am using while I house-and-dog-sit, so I didn't get very far on Sunday. A few feeble rows - I haven't measured but I bet it was less than an inch. I fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours instead. It's probably just as well as my right hand was starting to get grumpy again and I'd probably have had a claw by Sunday night if I'd accomplished all I'd cackled about possibly doing.
One of my friends just sighed (metaphorically speaking, it was a blog entry) about wanting pretty things (she is a student and only has enough budget for the practical, not the pretty, and sometimes not even that) and I gave her a bunch of links to pattern resources and said "here, pick something pretty, and I will knit it for you." I am alternately concerned that she will not like anything, and that she will pick something huge and/or complicated that will take me the rest of my life. I guess I will just live dangerously until I get a reply.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Curses!
My ball of the moss Swish DK is gettingn alarmingly skinny, and I'm no where near halfway through the scarf. I think I'm going to need another skein. The scarf is at 17 inches and while the nutmeg ball is still going strong, the moss ball is rapidly depleting.
How does this happen to me? Is there something I'm doing that causes me to use more yarn than is normal? Or do people just do a crappy job estimating the requirements for their patterns? It doesn't make sense that a pattern produced by a yarn retailer would UNDERestimate the amount of yarn that you need. In fact, I am suspcious that I will not need the second ball of nutmeg at all, or I will need very little of it. But the moss color is flowing through my fingers and into my scarf in an undignified hurry.
It is also looking unlikely that I will finish this scarf in time for BG's birthday. At an average of 3 inches a night, which is what I'm currently doing, it'll take me two weeks to finish, and I only have one. Odds are good that I can get more done in the next week since I will be house/dog-sitting and will have less in the way of cooking, cleaning, and every day life to get in the way, but it'll still take a miracle to get this done in time - and that's without worrying about running out of yarn.
I think I will have to order one more ball and hope a) they have the same dyelot available b) it arrives before I need it.
I'm starting to worry a little about the other projects I have on my list...did I buy enough yarn for them or am I going to run out again? Odds of them having my dyelot decrease over time, I expect. I may have to institute a one-extra-skein policy for my projects from now on where financially feasible.
How does this happen to me? Is there something I'm doing that causes me to use more yarn than is normal? Or do people just do a crappy job estimating the requirements for their patterns? It doesn't make sense that a pattern produced by a yarn retailer would UNDERestimate the amount of yarn that you need. In fact, I am suspcious that I will not need the second ball of nutmeg at all, or I will need very little of it. But the moss color is flowing through my fingers and into my scarf in an undignified hurry.
It is also looking unlikely that I will finish this scarf in time for BG's birthday. At an average of 3 inches a night, which is what I'm currently doing, it'll take me two weeks to finish, and I only have one. Odds are good that I can get more done in the next week since I will be house/dog-sitting and will have less in the way of cooking, cleaning, and every day life to get in the way, but it'll still take a miracle to get this done in time - and that's without worrying about running out of yarn.
I think I will have to order one more ball and hope a) they have the same dyelot available b) it arrives before I need it.
I'm starting to worry a little about the other projects I have on my list...did I buy enough yarn for them or am I going to run out again? Odds of them having my dyelot decrease over time, I expect. I may have to institute a one-extra-skein policy for my projects from now on where financially feasible.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Sideways progress
I did some work on the scarf for BG, but only a few rows at a time throughout the weekend. He was at my house in the evening on Saturday to watch a movie, and though I probably could have worked on the scarf without generating any questions, I decided not to take the chance. I hid it in my room and got out my Homespun Cape project instead. I almost hate to call it that because I am not using the Lion Brand Homespun to make it, but that's what the pattern is called. I am using Knit Picks Decadence in tan. Anyway, I got a couple of inches done on that, which was nice. Things I knit for myself tend to take a backseat to things I am knitting for other people, so working on something for me is a nice change. Also, it is a simple pattern and it is a nice break from the more complicated scarf.
I was a little aggravated because the yarn shed all over me as I was working it. This is an annoying feature in something designed to be worn over clothes. I'll just have to make sure to keep a lint roller on my person at all times, I guess.
I did take photographs of my WIPs but I have not been able to find my memory card reader to get the photos from my camera to the computer. I'm very frustrated. I know I have had it out since the move, and my computer has only been in a few places in the house. I have checked all of these places and everywhere else I can think of, but I can't find that darned reader. I may have to just get a new one. I'm really miffed, too, I got a nice picture that shows the texture of the columns scarf that I was really excited to post.
I was a little aggravated because the yarn shed all over me as I was working it. This is an annoying feature in something designed to be worn over clothes. I'll just have to make sure to keep a lint roller on my person at all times, I guess.
I did take photographs of my WIPs but I have not been able to find my memory card reader to get the photos from my camera to the computer. I'm very frustrated. I know I have had it out since the move, and my computer has only been in a few places in the house. I have checked all of these places and everywhere else I can think of, but I can't find that darned reader. I may have to just get a new one. I'm really miffed, too, I got a nice picture that shows the texture of the columns scarf that I was really excited to post.
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