Lilacknits

Ravelry

2008-10-15T13:22:00.002-06:00

Hey folks, sorry for the disappearance... again.. and for a really long time.... I seem to be stuck in ravlery. I'll let you know if I ever find my out.

Not much to say

2008-09-22T09:26:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts! I've been pretty busy painting the house and training the pup that I haven't been able to knit NEARLY as much as my sanity needs. Just the other day I found myself in a verbal argument with Fez.... It started with me calling him fat, he responding with some non-verbal that played through my head as an insult and then me insulting him again before I realized what was going on and laughed at myself.

I'm hoping to get the painting done before the end of October... I actually wanted it done before the beginning of October but my helpers (my family) thought a break might be in order and we aren't painting for the next two weeks. :( In my head we have nothing to do for the house after the painting, not for a while anyway. Get new carpet is first on the list and we have to save up some more money (how much does carpet cost anyway?) and make sure that Anya is sufficiently house-trained so that we can leave her loose during the day without having to worry about little 'accidents'. I know she can hold it all day, her crate is clean when I come home from work but on the weekends when she's loose with us home she has to pee more since she's not sleeping all the time.... The other night Michael and I left her in the laundry room with a baby-gate at the door... she wasn't there when we got home and the baby-gate was still perfectly upright! Not sure what the next step is from here....

Knitting... well I started the second sleeve to my pink summer cardigan, it is now sitting in the car for my stuck-by-a-train knitting. And I've been knitting a bunch more on the Irtfa'a shawl, nowhere near half of the border is done. I've also received the yarn for the rest of my Equinox Pullover. I'm really in a 'finishing' mood because I feel I've got too much stuff on the needles and I can't keep track of it all. Hopefully after I finish up a thing or two I can get back to some 'gift' knitting... that's what I'm calling it but I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't finish the projects in time for wearing this year...

Also, I had a 'photo shoot' with Anya this weekend, hoping I can sort through the pics soon and get a few posted.

Test knitting: The yarn has arrived

2008-09-04T15:25:00.003-06:00

As the title suggests, the yarn from Shivaya Naturals has arrived. In fact it came in on 8/28 and I had to be content with just staring at it until Sunday evening when I was finally able to cast on. (This is just meant to be a quick update during some very rare downtime)

Heather sent me Tussah silk in the colorway Dark Iris. That's the first project I cast on. As I was winding the skein into a ball, (I like to hold the yarn in my fingers before it gets to the ball winder) I noticed that the skein was so saturated it was dyeing my fingers. I love the color as-is and hope that the finished garment doesn't bleed enough to fade it. I decided to go with a wimple for this yarn. My lab gets pretty cold and it's not even fall yet... something to cozy up in would be welcomed come winter!

As I was knitting with this yarn I noticed that it's kind of 'crunchy'. So, I'm knitting along... going 'I don't know how I feel about this'..... and then I kept knitting..... Monday I picked it up again..... even though I KNEW I should really get started on the second test knitting yarn.... Looks like I actually do enjoy knitting with this unique yarn! Even now (I've started the other test knitting project, too) I still prefer to knit with this tussah. YAY, I'm glad that I can enjoy a yarn that it is 'green'!

Next, Heather sent me Spun silk in the colorway Camellia variegated. When I first got it I was kind of disappointed, I don't usually like to knit with variegated yarns unless it's for socks. (This might have been part of why I first cast on with the tussah) So I reluctantly turned this skein into a ball. As I'm sitting there winding it, this yarn bloomed! The variegation is so subtle, it's gorgeous. I'll try to remember to snap a pic of the ball before it gets too deformed from the lack of yarn in the middle.

Anyway, for this yarn I decided to knit a Tiger's Eye Lace Scarf, knitting the eyes twice so there are two sets per row. As the yarn is knitting up you can barely see any of the variegation and it's knitting up into a gorgeous color. I'm not sure if it's because I so enjoy the wimple project and it's yarn or if I'm just getting worn out on the lace projects, but this one isn't getting as much needle time.

ETA: It could also be the chart from which I'm knitting the pattern. It's not as intuitive or 'comfortable' to read from. This is despite the fact that I'm a chart person and the wimple pattern is only words... I'm still deciding what's going on with this yarn right now.

Irtfa'a update

2008-08-20T10:01:00.003-06:00

Ok, seriously people, this is getting insane. I thought that I'd have enough yarn to add a few extra repeats of the small feather pattern charts. So I did.
Then last night I'm sitting there, staring at my yarn and what I've knitted up thinking, "I could totally knit more small feathers and still have PLENTY of yarn for the rest of the shawl." But I was wise and instead of just continuing on my merry way, I decided to weigh out the yarn and the knitted product so far on a gram scale.

I looked up what the yarn weighed when it came to me (200g).

Then I weighed the knitted up product so far (85g)

Then I weighted the yarn I still have left to knit (115g)

We'll just ignore the fact that the needles added some weight to the knitted product because as we all know actual knit up yarn weighs less than its un-knit counterpart. ( I know, some physics violations here, but it's just true. Accept it and move on. I have.)

85 + 115 = 200

This means that I still have OVER HALF the yarn left. I could probably knit another 20 repeats of the small feathers and then drape a blanket around me on the deck (instead of my desired gorgeous shawl).

Rather than react in an irrational manner, I've decided to block part of the pattern out and see what dimensions I'm getting. Then I'll decide how to move forward. Seriously. Nuts.

SERIOUSLY!!

2008-08-15T09:17:00.002-06:00

If you haven't been to this new yarn shop that I'm obsessing over you need to get over there before I buy up all the lace-weight!

Me? A test knitter?!

2008-08-08T08:53:00.004-06:00

So, not too much has changed from the previous post.

I'm still chugging away on the small feather repeats of the Irtfa'a shawl, still enjoying it very much! It's finally starting to look like it's getting bigger... I should probably think about taking it off the needles and blocking part of it to see what kind of stretch I can get out of the pattern. Then I'll know more about if I need to add some repeats to get the size I want.

I've been working very diligently on that green sock I use to calm my nerves during traffic jams.

I've also cast on for Nancy Bush's Laila's socks from Folk Knitting in Estonia. I did that just last night because I've really been craving some more colorwork and at the same time wishing that I had more socks. I know I haven't finished the other pair but maybe I'll be able to finish these because the colorwork will keep me going? The only thing is I wasn't really pleased with the color choices I had in my stash... we'll see if I end up purchasing extra yarn for these guys....

But the real reason I'm posting is because I am going to be a test knitter for a new yarn-dyer out there! Shivaya Naturals. She does all natural dyeing and the yarns look delicious! I already bought a skein of Alpaca lace in Iris before seeing on Ravelry that she's looking for test knitters for ALL of her yarns! I quickly emailed her and we discussed my test knitting for both spun silk and tussah silk! I'm quite excited, but a little nervous too because she wants an honest opinion and I've never been in a position to tell a person how I feel about their products. But, there's a first time for everything and I've been wanting to test knit for patterns and yarns for a while now. She's asked that I post pictures of the yarns as they're being knit so that should be some good pressure to get a few more posts on the blog! Good news for everybody, I guess. :D

A general catch all of all the knitting I have to show

2008-07-31T18:20:00.003-06:00

Ok, before I forget: In the last post I mentioned the green sock knitting in traffic jams and that it only helped 'slightly'. It actually helps immensely and I'm often torn between wishing for traffic problems and getting home as quickly as possible! Since the sock is in the car, I have no pics. :( I have to carefully snap shots whenever I can (AKA: sleeping puppy) and that doesn't happen when I often have the energy to stage some shots or there is good light!

Um.... so first, an update on Irtfa'a:
(And yes, it is stretched between two plates, for those who were really looking.) This is coming along really well. The pattern is very clearly written and I've gotten to the main body of the shawl which means that the knitting should get done a lot faster now. My only concern is that I've barely put a dent in the 1700 yard skein that I bought because the shawl pattern said something like 1200 yds.... I'm wondering if I should be concerned that the gauge is wrong (even though I did swatch) and that I will need to rip back and start over...? I really like the way things are looking now though, so I might just continue as is and see if I'll need to add some extra repeats towards the end.

Also, apparently I never posted anything about a new shawl that I've started with some of the remains of yarn from the wedding shawl. It's the pattern from page 100 of Victorian Lace Today called 'Scarf with edging 21 and insertion25'.... An odd name, but that's what it says. This is intended to be a gift for someone and I wanted to get an idea of what the finished dimensions would be in this yarn, so I blocked part of it!
It's looking pretty good! I've decided to go ahead and add 2 more repeats to make it a total of 21 repeats (seems a better number) before I do the second border piece.

Also, I knit this shawl a long time ago with some yarn I got from the Estes Park Wool Festival. I've only worn it a few times and feel that it might do better in a different home. However, this shawl is overly long (even on me) and the intended recipient is at least a foot shorter, so I'll have to rip back and finish the shawl in much shorter dimensions. Not too hard since the edging consists of something like 5 or 6 rows of garter stitch.
I've been working on my Pink Summer Cardigan again and am almost finished with the first sleeve. I don't have any pics but I tried the sleeve on and all seems well. I'm mostly concerned about how long I should knit the sleeve before deciding that it's ready to be attached to the yoke of the cardigan... I've only knit one sweater before this and I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the shoulder seaming...

And finally, a pic of Anya who now weighs 15 pounds and is developing a BRIGHT orange spot on her head right between her ears. I think people give us strange looks when we are on walks, something to the tune of, 'What on EARTH did they do to that poor puppy?!'

In which I start a new shawl!

2008-07-20T16:59:00.003-06:00

I haven't been able to knit much, still. :( I've started taking some sock knitting (those bright green argyle-ish socks) with me to work. I keep it in my car and knit at any traffic jams or long lights. It helps only slightly.

But this last Saturday I received the yarn I ordered from The Colorful Sheep on Etsy.
Lately I have been CRAVING a fall-shawl. I envision myself wearing a gorgeous brown/gold shawl while spinning some luscious yarn up on the back deck one almost too-cold afternoon. (Most likely a cup of tea will be present.)

I have cast on for Irtfa'a. I love it! The pattern is so clearly written and I love working with this SOFT yarn. This will definitely be a knit to treasure through the knitting process as well as the finished product.

On a more surprising and upsetting note: Anya picked out a 100% felted wool bone from the all natural pet store. Here is the culprit:
This does not bode well for our relationship. :)

We've moved!! Updated

2008-07-09T09:29:00.002-06:00

We've gotten all moved in, at least the furniture is. There's quite a bit of work to do to make it my own, but I'm looking forward to it. Also... we got a puppy!!! You can check out some of the pics on my flickr page here.

ETA: Wow, things sure have been busy around here. Along with the move and the puppy I got my own project at work that I'm very excited about!

Of course the puppy likes my yarn because I'm playing with it. 'Why can't I play with it too, Mom?' she asks. SO, there hasn't been much knitting going on at the house. I did have a TERRIBLE craving to do some spinning on Tuesday night, and so I spun! Anya (the puppy) didn't mind. She was terribly interested in the fiber but once she got smacked in the head a few times by the wheel spokes, she showed MUCH less interest in that.

We've been spending the last several weekends ripping out wallpaper and general getting rid of the old owner's taste behavior (they had bad taste). The wallpaper was bad enough but there's some leopard-print wallpaper in the dining room... weird... anywho... My family (who's been helping with the wallpaper) can't wait to get it all out (hopefully this weekend) and move on to a new project, such as painting!

All is well in my little world, I've got plenty to keep me busy and I sleep hard at night... plus many smaller naps in-between.

During the move

2008-06-23T13:08:00.002-06:00

So this last weekend we started to move some things over to the house, namely books, clothes and .... yarn. It was really hard parting with the yarn. I know it's less than a 5 minute drive and most of the yarn I've barely glanced at in the last few months, but suddenly realizing that it wasn't going to be at my beck and call left me with a dark-pitty feeling in my stomach! I thought enough to leave behind my current shawl-like project (haven't I mentioned it?!) and that green faux-argyle sock I've been working on for SOOO long.

Last night I got a SERIOUS hankering to cast-on for a new project. An almost-going-out-of-my-mind hankering. Finally I just settled in to work on my green argyle-ish socks. Then I realized why I put it aside so long ago, it's to the heel shaping and I have to pay attention to it now. Then I realized I had sent the custom-written (by me) heel-shaping directions to the house!!! Oh dear...... I'm winging it now with the directions I used as a basis for the personalized directions. It is satisfying my need for some sock-work, but I have prepared myself for the realization that I might have to just rip the heel out when it really starts to look kinda of.... wonky.

We're scheduled to make the official move this coming Saturday, you'd think I wouldn't have gotten so crazy, but the lack of wool-y fumes seems to have driven me quite mad! :)

FO: Laminaria Shawl

2008-06-17T12:45:00.003-06:00

I LOVED this project! I'm not really sure what was so enjoyable about it but the pattern held my interest at all times. If I were to change anything, I would increase the first star chart length so that it was more of a design element rather than some preparatory stitch work. Also, I would knit this in some heavier yarn so that it actually some weight, something that would provide warmth in colder months. I think I can really see myself knitting this up again, a first for almost any project!

Gr... Argh....

2008-06-12T15:27:00.002-06:00

Sorry for such a long delay; I was waiting for a time when it was warm, not windy, still light out, and I was free so that I could do my shawl photo shoot and it still hasn't come!!

In the meantime, an update is in order.

I got these two packages on the same day!

This second present is a German published magazine in which a very talented designer used to publish some of his lace work. GORGEOUS!! I'll just have to pick out a pattern....
... and translate it to English...

I cast on for the Equinox Yoke Pullover from Interweave Knits a little while ago.... I messed around with the pattern for a VERY long time before I realized the easiest way to knit this would be in the round, bottom up. So I have now reached the yoke, where you set aside the main part of the sweater and get started on the sleeves. (I'm a little further along than the picture indicates, but the color is pretty accurate).
My first bit of colorwork in a sweater!! I'm a bit nervous. It also doesn't help that the sleeves are too narrow for circular needles.... DPNs and colorwork? I know I've done it before but this time it's serious (sweater serious)!

I also got to the same point on my pink cardigan some time last week during a gaming fest with some friends. The game was long and there were a lot of people playing so there was plenty of knit time just waiting to be used!

Coming soon: Laminaria pics

2008-06-05T08:33:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the delay on getting pics posted to the site, it's kind of dreary here right now, and RAINY. Two things that are not good for a lace shawl photo shoot.

I've worn both my wedding shawl and (today) my Laminaria to work and I have to say, it's quite fun! All my coworkers are jealous and protesting to steal it themselves, so it's always a fun day! :) It's nice to have some people who enjoy seeing what new knits I come up with.

What did everybody else do over the long weekend?

2008-05-29T10:34:00.003-06:00

I put an offer on a house on Saturday!!! And then I knit like mad on my Laminaria because I wouldn't know if the offer was accepted (we were competing with two other offers) until Tuesday at 6 pm! But it was accepted and we are now under contract for a gorgeous new home! Sweet!

Lace stretches!

2008-05-23T17:21:00.003-06:00

Well, I needed to decide if I should add on a repeat or two of the blossom chart and the best way to do that is to do with a little stretching!
This is picture is VERY close to the actual color of my yarn and gives a pretty good idea of what the dry stretched piece looks like. Each repeat of the pattern stretches about 1.75 in wide and a little over an inch long, dry. I'm thinking that once it's wet the shawl will stretch a little more but not too much. With that, I'm going to increase the repeats of the blossom chart from 8 (the pattern's number) to 10 to get about 3 more inches out of it. I bought a HUGE cone of this lace weight Jagger, so I think I can spare a few more repeats!

Filler

2008-05-22T08:59:00.001-06:00

I've been EXTREMELY monogamous with my Laminaria and so I only have crumpled up blue lace-y goo to show. ( I don't even have a pic of it...)

So, to stall until I can hopefully get a few pics this weekend, you can entertain yourselves with a few shots from my wedding, if you so desire!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilacknits1/

Getting back into the swing of things

2008-05-16T10:17:00.003-06:00

So we've been back for about a week and a half but I really delayed posting because I felt I didn't have much to say. We got married!!
And here's a shot of the shawl in action! (As always, click to biggify)
And I'm sorry to say that all knitting done while laying on the beach in Jamaica had to be frogged due to a user error (read: I didn't read the chart). I've been knitting up a storm on the Laminaria pattern from knitty in a gorgeous Blue-ish laceweight Jagger. Sorry that's all I've got so far!

Hey Guys

2008-04-18T09:58:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, again. I haven't been knitting very much, unless you count a few rows of stockinette on the pink cardigan during dancing with the stars..... I just haven't been drawn to knitting in the evenings like I used to be. I picked up a small cross-stitch kit from Joann's last week and have been making a little headway on that, but nothing I'm comfortable posting about. :)

I'm getting married in 8 days! I probably won't post again before the wedding but I might have a few pictures to show before we leave on our honeymoon for a week and a half. :) Thank you for being so patient!

Knitting Recession?

2008-04-09T16:10:00.002-06:00

So I tried on that shrug as I went... got the first sleeve done, sailed through the back and that second sleeve seemed to take FOREVER. Well I put on my little outfit and tried on the (almost finished) shrug to discover..... it DIDN'T FIT! The second sleeve was MUCH too short (read: 3/4 length) and the back was too long! I also just could not see how this *thing* was supposed to look like the finished picture with their placing of all the increases and decreases.... It died :(

I love the yarn and would like to knit up a shrug with it but with a more... intuitive pattern. Also, I decided the dress wasn't for me and I'll be returning it.

I haven't yet started the Interweave fair-isle sweater yet; I feel like I should finish up something a little more summery first. Enter the pink cardigan.

I haven't gotten a picture of it yet (the weather has been quite gloomy around here for a while now) but I am past the waist increases and will be working my way up the chest to the arms before I'll be seeing any adventure here.

It's no wonder a girl gets a little startitis with what's been going on around here! I started a new pair of socks. I decided I needed something small and mindless that would not offend me if I had to frog it. So I went with the 'Genteleman's Sock with Lozenge Pattern' by Nancy Bush in a nice spring green: Olive from Oriridraco! I love this yarn and this pattern! Even my mother commented on the gorgeous color. :)

I haven't been knitting very much lately and I really think its because of all the letdowns (even though there don't seem to be many) recently but I feel I'm on the mend! Pics to come later.

Drops (Wedding) Shrug

2008-03-28T08:18:00.004-06:00

WOW! My yarn from Webs came yesterday, they said they had shipped it on Tuesday! The Knitpicks order was also shipped Tuesday so we'll see how they compare.... Even though I think most people are already fully aware that Knitpicks shipping takes PHENOMENALLY long.

Here it is!
100% Egyptian Cotton
Here's a picture of it with the dress that I plan to wear for the pre-wedding informal dinner:
The 'white' in the dress is a bit more off-white and matches the yarn really well! I cast on for the pattern last night and have already gotten to the shaping for the back! LOVE this yarn and the pattern is (so far) proving easy enough.

New Projects

2008-03-25T08:10:00.002-06:00

So you guys know that I decided to get started on a wedding shrug and a summer cardigan, but I've also decided to start another project... I know, I know, I'm dangerous without a sizeable project on the needles, when will I learn?!

Since first seeing this pattern I have been in love with it and lusting to knit my own. Now that I have the experience of knitting on the Endpaper Mitts, I feel confident enough to tackle it! It's the cover of Interweave Knits Fall 2006. In fact so many others are lusting after it that I can no longer order a back issue of the magazine! On Friday I was able to but yesterday I wasn't.... what an odd time for a 2 year old FALL issue of a magazine to sell out... Anyway, I downloaded the PDF pattern for almost as much as the entire magazine! (I checked Ravelry for sellers... no such luck). I ordered the yarn from knitpicks on Sunday but haven't received the 'shipped' email and so you guys will have to wait a week or two to see the yarns I picked! (I didn't follow the 'recipe')

FO: Endpaper Mitts

2008-03-25T08:07:00.003-06:00

I finished these up Sunday night and wore them yesterday afternoon while it was still chilly in my house, I needed to warm my fingers up while working on my next project! I bound the stitches off of one of the mitts a bit too loosely and will either have to live with it or go back and try to redo it.... we'll see what happens because it is really bothering me.

I also have a picture of the inside of the color-work and judging from some other knitters desire to keep that a secret I'm pretty happy with mine!

Downtime Post

2008-03-20T10:08:00.003-06:00

So I've found that I have a little bit of downtime and think that a proper post is in order. This post will probably be kind of light in the photo department, so I'll try to make it as interesting as possible. :)

As you can see, I dove right in and started on some Endpaper Mitts. I tried a little 'headband' with some scrap yarns and a pattern I found on Ravelry. It was a horrible end product because it was purely for learning the technique but I felt very confident in my yarn handling and was ITCHING for a real fair-isle project. I have TONS of sock yarn and I know it'll never get used for socks, no matter what delusions I like to believe, so I grabbed two coordinating skeins and got started! I've finished that first mitt and gotten through the ribbing on the second. I really amazed myself with how even the stitches are and how stretchy the end product is.... Yesterday I found myself trolling around Ravelry looking for a Fair-Isle sweater to get started on! Good thing it's going to be so warm in the coming months, my Fair-Isle bug will be hindered if I can't immediately wear my product. :)

Also, that spring sweater I was working on sat on my table for almost a week until I realized that it's just not going to work. That shade of green isn't something that I have in my closet already and it's a bit.... pale to look good against my skin. I kept telling myself that maybe if I made a three-quarter sleeve button up sweater it would look better. I don't know how I was able to rationalize changing the sweater style as a means of negating the color... that one is still beyond me. However, I REALLY want to knit up a sweater and so I was disappointed that I'd bought all that yarn and can't do anything with it. I'm trying to sell it, as you also may have noticed.

I was moping around (only for a few hours) until I saw another project that has been neglected for QUITE some time:
The Lotus Blossom shawl! While I LOVE the pattern, the color isn't something I could see myself wearing in a shawl. Then I thought... I have plenty of the yarn, why don't I see if there's a sweater pattern I could use it for..... I went trolling on Ravelry again... and found this!

If you look at it on Ravelry a few others have knit it up and you can see that the yoke pattern is a bit lacy, something VERY appropriate for the spring/summer months that are fast approaching. Since the pattern is free I didn't feel to bad about downloading it and printing it out last night! BUT!! I don't think I am going to get started on it until I (start and) finish another project I thought of last night.

I was talking to my mom and she was thinking that the night before the wedding we could have a rather informal come-if-you-want dinner for the family that is coming in to visit from out of state. I already bought a dress that I could wear to some of the other wedding functions but it has short sleeves and I could see myself just shivering in the middle of a restaurant somewhere. Then I thought.......... shrug! That would be perfect, something quick and easy and warm but not too bulky. Ravelry shopping led to me finding a pattern by the same guys that gave me my last pattern: here. I felt a little bad about not picking the retro shrug in Lace style (because I've only knit one pattern from the entire book) but I rationalized that by saying it was too lacy, I need something warmer. Also, it helps that this pattern is free too!

I am currently in the process of looking for some off-white yarn to meet gauge and match the dress without appearing too yellow. Yellow next to my face REALLY washes me out and that would not be a good look the night before the wedding.

Wow, that's a pretty sizeable post, and a fairly conclusive update to what is going on in my world this week! Hope it satisfies you as much as it has me!

For Sale!

2008-03-20T09:57:00.002-06:00

So I've decided that the yarn I bought for my Spring sweater just isn't quite right for me. I but up 1000 yds of it and am trying to sell it or trade it away. If you know of anyone interested, shoot me a message!
The picture shows what the yarn looks like knitted up on size 4 needles. I have knit up 2.5 balls but will wash and re-skein for the buyer. All the other skeins have been wound into center pull balls on my ball winder. I should probably mention that it is Berroco Nostalgia colorway 6672

My Latest Obsession...

2008-03-18T12:04:00.002-06:00

Pic Updates

2008-03-12T10:24:00.003-06:00

So, here are the pictures that I promised!

Michael's Fingerless Gloves:
He insisted that I post this pic! This next picture shows a very close idea of the color:
Here is a good image of the finished project:
Ok, I hope that satisfies your need for pictures of the new project! I sure loved knitting with this yarn and the satisfaction of a quickly finished project was very empowering! I hope to knit up a similar pair (but without the fingers) for myself using some Olive yarn I bought from Abby.

I took this picture of my Nebula Ringwood socks over the weekend but they have since been knit up past the beginning of the calf muscle and cast off for a finished pair! Just in time for the supposed snow we'll be getting over the weekend. I LOVE everything about these socks: the yarn, the fit, the pattern. Can't wait to wear them!
Finally, this is my new project:
The spring sweater out of some yarn that I have still forgotten to check the contents on... and I just realized that I threw away the ball bands after winding them all into center-pull balls.... oops.

Anyway this yarn is knitting up very smoothly and quickly with great texture. My only concern is that the drape isn't very nice and that the sweater will take on a 'stiff' appearance once I finish it....

And, since it's been soooo long, a pic of Fezzy!

Wow... lost in knitting (and work)

2008-03-07T08:45:00.004-07:00

Sorry for such a long silence! My work has starting picking up again and I'm not complaining. I sure love what I do but when I get home I'm much too tired to take pictures or think about a blog post. I'll try to summarize what I've been up to since finishing my gorgeous shawl....

WOW! I just checked to see when I finished the shawl so I could use that as a reference point to the rest of my knitting... I didn't realize I haven't posted in close to a month!

Well not much has happened on the wedding front. I had my dress fitting (it took all of 15 min or so) and the seamstress claimed that it looked as if the dress had been made for me! All we had to do was shorten it! Thank goodness for that, it puts us under the budget we had set for alterations. We also went to pick put flowers. The lady helping us was very draining... she knew a lot about flowers but not a lot about how to tell people about them. It was very hard to imagine what she was telling me when I didn't know what flowers were called by what names. We finally got it all figured out and I kept thinking about the bouquet for a few days after, "Oh wow, those are perfect" type deal.

Knitting.... I started and finished Michael's Fingerless gloves. I haven't taken any pictures yet but I'll try to take pictures of everything this weekend. Michael says he likes them but I think they are way too tight....

I've been knitting on my own Blue Nebula Ringwood Socks. I've turned the heel in both of them and am just working my way up the leg now. (no pics yet!)

I've also started a Spring sweater (or so I'm trying to tell myself) from Louisa Harding's Modern Classics. I bought some yarn.... I can't quite remember what kind.... but it was from Webs, because that really narrows it down!

I think that's a quick recap of what's been going on at my place and I'll try to keep better track of the days passing!

FO: Lily of the Valley Wedding Shawl

2008-02-16T13:24:00.002-07:00

Michael took these pictures around 10:30 this morning and it's a good thing he did because it started getting cloudy shortly after! I think this shawl turned out wonderfully and I don't think that the coloring will be too dark when it's warn over my near-white dress. :)

PLEASE click to biggify! Blogger just isn't doing these pics justice the way they are.

AAAAAAAAHAHAHA!

2008-02-14T13:22:00.003-07:00

It's alive, alive!!!! That's right, I finished the shawl, cast off and blocked it last night. Now, if you've been living anywhere in the US recently you'll know that a new snow storm is moving across the mountains and plains today. If you live in Colorado you also know that yesterday was absolutely gorgeous and one of the best photo shoot days of the new year. I REALLY tried to get some lovely blocking pictures but it was late and in that nasty artificial light and NOTHING I took turned out. I'll try to get some decent pictures of it this weekend but I'm really expecting my wedding photographer to do a much better job. :)

As soon as I pushed the last pin into the carpet I went and got out my Nebula yarn, wound into yummy yarn cakes and cast on for my very own pair of Ringwood socks! Yesterday was indeed a good day.

Oh yeah!

2008-02-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

Check it out!------->
I've only got about 1.5 more rows and then the bind off for my shawl! I finally got a little motivation because on Monday I'm going for my first fitting with my dress and I'll be able to see if the two look good together and then decide how I feel about the green matching the rest of the wedding. And, I thought, that the point of a wedding is that the bride and groom stand out for that one day, right? Right!

Ugh!

2008-02-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

So, as you may have noticed there has been a lack of postage over the last week... But that directly correlates to the near lack of knitting that occurred during that same time. I told myself that I had to finish my wedding shawl before moving on to anything else. I've been very good about that, except now no knitting is getting done. I've linked the lack of desire to knit on the gorgeous shawl to the very distinct possibility that it is the wrong color. I took a swatch to my parents house last weekend to compare with the maid of honor's dress and the fabric that we're using in the centerpieces and the shawl is much more olive and too dark. I don't even know if I'm going to want to take it to the wedding!

Because I can't show the shawl to anybody (also a rule of mine) I told myself that knitting on the afghan I bought the yarn for way back when was ok. I'm knitting it up with the yarn doubled and have finished up one ball of the doubled yarn. Then I thought back to how much yarn I ordered.... I'm thinking that I don't have enough yarn to make a decent sized afghan... but we'll have to wait and see.

I REALLY want to start some socks! Should I continue being monogamous or should I try to satisfy my need for socks?

Yet another shawl update

2008-01-31T11:23:00.001-07:00

I finished the repeats last night and have decided on where to put the beads in the border!

Since I don't have a picture of the border yet and I don't want to get into copyright problems with other people's pics, you'll have to look at the shawl on knitpicks. Just click on more images and it will be on the first page in the top right corner. If you look closely you can see where there is a YO, K, YO repeat. Rather than place the beads on that precarious K between the two YOs, I think I'll place them in the center of the K, K2, K repeat that surrounds each YO group. I'm really excited!!

Also, you might have noticed that I now have the Ravelry progress bars for my projects. I thought this might be nice because I don't always update my blog but I'll slide that progress bar along whenever I'm on Ravelry. It comes in especially handy for long lace projects, at least I can SEE that there is progress going and I'm getting near the end. :)

Wedding Shawl Update

2008-01-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

I laid everything out and measured again and I really think that 14 repeats of the pattern should be sufficient. I don't want the thing to be too long and just get in the way of my day! I think if anything, shorter would be better and easier to manage and also draw less attention. :) SO I'm done with the 13th repeat and plan to finish the 14th tonight and then calculate how many stitches I need to be picking up for the border.

Thursday night is game night with some guy friends of Michael's so there won't be much knitting but then I'll have Friday night and some weekend time to get started on the border. I have no clue how long the border will take me or where I should put beads or if I should even put any on the border! Any advice from all you out there in the blogosphere? *puts hands to eyes and looks out at the vast beyond*

One more bit...

2008-01-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my Lily of the Valley wedding shawl again... I finished three repeats over the weekend to total 11. With the latest (and I've decided, final) math the entire body will be 17 repeats in length.

Yarn P*rn and an FO!

2008-01-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my mom's Ringwood Hose, they come up to the calf muscle and I tried them on to make sure they'd fit :) and man oH man am I going to have to knit a pair for myself. Not only did I finish these in (more or less 5 days, including work) but these are the best fitting pair of made yet! I kinda just made up my own pattern, knitting to fit my foot.

I cast on about 50 stitches around the toe (note: this is too many and made for a very square toe) and then knit up until I was past the big toe before starting the pattern. I didn't increase in the toe at all, I didn't increase until I reached about 1.5 inches from the end of the foot and started making the gusset. I increased 5 times with 2 stitches per 2 rows (one plain knit row in between). Then I followed the recipe for my toe up heel flap. I knit up quite a ways before beginning the calf increases (I tried to somewhat follow the leg directions) and increased as the pattern is written. I only knit about 27 rows of ribbing though, the 40 that the pattern calls for seemed like it might be a bit much.

I also received my yarn from Abby:
I also got some black that I really could not photograph, but you can visit her site to see any of these! I LOVE every color and have to tame myself into knitting up that blue I got from her a while ago first. I want my own pair of Ringwood Hose and that vibrant blue would be perfect.

Chinese New Year

2008-01-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

So one of my coworkers decided that she wanted to prepare a lunch for Chinese New Year and since we have a small lab (12 people in toto) we had, in my opinion, just the right amount of people!

Because everything took so long to prepare we didn't start the 'lunch' until 2:00, but it was well worth the wait:
Also, I've been making great headway on the socks for my mom and I love the pattern, yarn and fit!
I think I'm going to end up either keeping these for myself or making some for myself. My mom already knows I'm knitting these for her, she's seen them, and will probably not be happy if I chose the former. :)

Oh my goodness! I almost forgot to mention that my Grandma got her shawl and she said that she almost cried when she opened the box! Both her and her husband were shocked that I was able to knit something like that in 3 weeks! I made her day, and she made mine!

Ringwood Socks

2008-01-20T13:04:00.001-07:00

I have started some Gentleman's Half Hose in Ringwood from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. These are for my mom and I'm quite enjoying the pattern. It is a fast knit because there is only one K1, P1 row but it gives a lot of bang for your buck and I could see myself knitting this pattern up for myself. The yarn is Knitpicks Essential Tweed in Flint.; it is from that grab bag of sock yarn my mom got me for Christmas.

I know I've knit with Essential before but I'm really enjoying it this time! I was wondering if there was a large difference between the tweed the the plain essential.... there is! The tweed has less superwash wool in it that is replaced with donegal.... interesting that my feet (!!) could pick up on that... The yarn is very soft but still feels substantial and like it will wear well as a pair of socks. I really want to have this pair finished by the end of January but would love it finish them up this week!

I've been conversing with Abby about buying some more of her yarn, so stay tuned for some more of that yummy stuff!

Finally, but most importantly, the bad news from this last week. When I was still living with my parents we had two dogs, one of which I (more or less) took care of so I still refer to her as 'my dog.'
She will be 7 years old on Valentine's day. My mom told me on Tuesday that she was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma. On Wednesday my parents took her to the CSU canine cancer center to decide what to do. They decided to start a chemo regimen that will last for 19 weeks and the vets estimated that will give her 6 to 12 months. I plan to spend much of whatever free weekend time I have with her, and I would like to post as many pictures as I can.

FO: Grandma's Faroese Shawl

2008-01-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, there seems to have been an influx of bad news this week.

I finished the 6 rows and bound off on Tuesday night and the whole thing was blocked and dry
Wednesday evening. I knit this up on US 5's with Webs Mill Ends & Closeouts 2/4 Highland Tweed in Arctic. This is a 100% wool yarn that was shipped to me still with the spinning oils on it. I knit this up without washing and at first I thought the yarn was very scratchy but soon got used to it because I didn't touch anything else of a fibrous nature until I finished it. I washed the whole thing with eucalan and it did soften up a bit but it's 100% wool so it's still scratchy. I really didn't fall in love with the pattern and probably won't knit it up again.

I'm going to send this to my Grandma with a delivery confirmation so that she will still be surprised but I'll call her and ask if it's too itchy. If so, I'll have to make her another one!

I know, I know

2008-01-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

I know I promised to post finished, or at least blocking, photos of my Grandma's shawl but something quite negative happened yesterday... It was 10:00 pm and I had just finished the last row of the chart when I went to the computer to look up the 'correct' bind off method. I had 6 more rows of garter stitch!! And with the rate that the last chart took me that meant at least another 3 hours if you didn't count the actual binding off.

So, I'm going to knit like a fiend when I get home today and hope that I can block the thing tomorrow night. :(

Brief Update

2008-01-11T09:24:00.002-07:00

I've been churning away on the faroese shawl for my grandma and it looks very similar to the last picture I posted. I hope to cast off this weekend, so tune in on Sunday for an update! (I haven't picked up any other knitting since starting this shawl, I really want to finish it in time for my grandma to wear this year.)

Long post... includes wedding stuff!

2008-01-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll start at the beginning.

First, I got my Blue Nebula from Abby and I SWEAR it feels even better than the last batch I bought from her!
Can't wait to cast on for my own pair of blue socks, but I really should at least get started on my mom's! I finally decided on the Nancy Bush's Half Hose because it's got some interest but not so much that my mom won't wear them. Also, I think the tweed will look great in it!

Second, last night the man and I went to see Bugs on Broadway.
The gist of it is that a symphony plays all the music for various Warner Brothers cartoons, my favorite being 'What's Opera Doc?': the opera that Bugs and Elmer Fudd do starring the ENORMOUSLY fat horse! We had a blast!

Third!! (This is what I'm currently still excited about) I had a trial hair and make-up today for the wedding!

I think everything turned out REALLY well and can't wait for the real thing! These pics were taken back at my mom's after we did a rough redo of the hair because the stylist took it down for me at the place (WAY too many bobby pins for me to deal with if I don't have to. Also, ignore the jewelry it's just what I happened to have on).

And on a side note, I am currently a little over halfway through chart E on my Grandma's shawl. I thought I might be able to finish this weekend but I'm thinking that something more realistic would be by next weekend. :)

Lace update

2008-01-02T12:37:00.001-07:00

As the title suggests, there really isn't much to see on this blog lately. I've been plugging away on my Grandma's shawl and have begun Chart D (it goes through chart G). I'm really starting to feel the growth of the shawl now because I don't think I can get through more than 3 or 4 rows in an HOUR! And this is what I have to look at for my rewards...
Not exactly tempting, I know. I'm also a little concerned that the 100% wool characteristic of the yarn will not make a very friendly shawl. The swatch is kind of stiff and it's not particularly cozy. I've told myself that if I finish the thing and it's not something I would want to wrap around myself I'll have to scrap it and try to make something else out of the yarn.

On another note, I have here a picture of the new stitch markers that I bought at the LYS last week. Quite cute!
And finally, I have a picture of my finished scarf.
It was a fast knit with three strands, I'm estimating about 5 hours! I actually enjoyed this knitting, as much as I could with it being a scarf anyway, and plan to CO for the afghan using this pattern. Cross your fingers that I'll actually be able to finish the darn thing!

And one more tasty tidbit, I've ordered some more of Abby's yarn! Can't wait for this gorgeous blue to come! Of course I'll have to put a hold on my own blue socks until I finish the ones my mom has asked for.... I did start sort of looking for a pattern the other day...

Blocking measurements

2007-12-30T11:47:00.001-07:00

Well everything was dry last night when I went to bed so I unpinned the shawl and the swatch to let them assume their 'everyday' shape overnight.

The faroese swatch (on US 5's) measured in at 4.75 sts/in and 9 rows/in; the pattern calls for a gauge of 5 sts/in and 8 rows/in. That means the whole thing will be a little bit smaller than the pattern. This works out well for me because my grandma is much smaller than me and I thought the shawl was a bit on the large side for her.

The Lily of the Valley Shawl disappointed me :( I measured the entire width at 21 in, which is fine I don't have any problems with that. However, 3 repeats of the pattern is almost 10 in. That is an average of 3.33 in/repeat. Doing the math I will have to perform 17 repeats, compared to the 10 that the pattern calls for. This just brings me back to the original problem I had with the rows/in being so much higher than the pattern needed. I changed the needle size by 3 or 4 (I think) and when I did the first gauge measurement (on the swatch) it came out that I would only need to add 2 repeats. I think the shawl looks gorgeous and I'll still finish it; I'm just upset that, somewhere, something lied to me!

I (and most knitters, I would imagine) only do swatches because it's supposed to give you an idea of the finished dimensions of the garment. If this keeps happening you can bet I'll just give up swatching all together.

PS- Last night while the swatches were drying I worked on the one row scarf (in that unknown brown fiber) at a '3 ply' meaning 3 strands knitted together. I think I'm about half way and will have pictures at a later date.

How I spent my afternoon

2007-12-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

I went to my LYS in search of a good faroese shawl pattern to knit up using the Webs yarn for my Grandma. Even though I didn't find one I did come home with some much needed lotion, eucalan, stitch markers and a lace blocking kit!

I needed to block out a piece of the actual shawl to see how close I would be to its actual measurements when I finish the written pattern (this doesn't include any changes that I will make). Here's a pic for now, dimensions soon to come.
Also, Michael got a new grill for Christmas from my parents and just HAD to use it last night. Yes, we made steaks on December 28 on the VERY cold patio. And, yes, they were phenomenal! We haven't had steaks since the one time (that is a grand total of one time) we did at my parent's house this summer.
Since my shawl will be practicing its blocking technique tonight I think I will get started on the swatch for my Grandma's shawl. I will wash it in the new eucalan and hope I can get all the spinning oils off so that is soft and cozy for cuddling up in.

FO: Cabernet Socks

2007-12-25T19:35:00.001-07:00

I know it's really hard to see the cables but they turned out beautifully and I apologize for the late-night-fluorescent-light shot but I really wanted to get these up. I followed the Yarn Harlot's Early Grey pattern (on US 3's) almost to a 'T,' toe-up of course! I don't really like the pointier toe that most sock patterns seem to call for. With the Trekking socks I CO a much larger number of stitches (which I don't seem to have recorded: DOH!) and the toe is much rounder and comfortable for my wider than average feet.

This pattern kept me interested without requiring a chart kept by my side and I could see knitting it up again with fewer stitches around the foot so that the pattern will show up a bit more. I also could have continued much farther up the leg with pattern or ribbing because of the excess yarn in this skein. I finished these Sunday night and really just wanted to get back to working on my Lily of the Valley Shawl. Also, in the future I should make the ribbing on smaller needles. I would have done so with these socks except I didn't have enough size 2 needles on circs to do it with. :)

This yarn is LOVELY to work with and I have already contacted the dye-er about purchasing more. She's told me that she's currently stewing up some more colors in this similar base yarn so none of ya'll better be snatching it all up before I'm able to convince Michael that I really don't have enough sock yarn!

On our way to my parents house north of Denver this morning Michael and I got stuck behind 5 plow trucks as they cleared the road. Finally they turned around to go back and clear the other side of I-25 and this is what we saw:
An ENTIRELY empty north-bound I-25! Those of you living near the area know how very rare this is, so much so that I just HAD to take a picture!

One of the more knit-blog worthy items I received for Christmas from my parents was the neutral Knitpicks sock yarn sampler bag. I took individual pictures of the yarns and posted on Ravelry or you can view them through the previous knitpicks link.
My mother has requested a pair of socks made with the Flint Tweed! I didn't think that she really wanted knit items from me and when I suggested this package to her I didn't really expect to get it. I was also hoping to knit myself up a pair of blue socks...
Oh well, anything to fuel familial love of knit garments so that later in life I am not bogged down with too much knitting to store. :)

Also, I'm sure you are all aware of Webs' year end clearance sales on their yarn. Well... I'm sad to say that I actually bought something for myself in the few days before Christmas (the first day the sale started, to be exact) and received it yesterday:
You are looking at approximately 1984 yards of 2/4 Highland Tweed in the Arctic colorway. I got the the whole cone for 8 bucks and have absolutely nothing planned for it... This is 100% wool and seems a bit itchy, however the supplier says that it still has the spinning oil on it and that it will soften up after washing. When this large amount of yarn first arrived I was thinking a sweater but if it doesn't soften up enough in the wash I could make some GORGEOUS shawls out it. Come to think of it, my Grandma was talking about needing a shawl....

One last thing, I forgot to post a picture of the finished scarf for my sister. I finished it on Monday and wrapped it immediately and it really looks exactly like this earlier picture:

Half-way socks

2007-12-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Last night I had much more to show for all the knitting I've put in on my Earl Grey socks, I had just turned the heel Sunday night and have been very busy since. Last night I finally tried the socks on and found that the heel was much too big and I should have started it at least a half inch sooner... So I've ripped it back and just now getting ready to start the heel again. I have a few more good sized time chunks and am still very hopeful about getting the pair done by Christmas.... I shouldn't forget about my sister's scarf though (it hasn't seen any progress since I last posted :) This picture I took Sunday afternoon while there was still some decent day light:
Those cables are showing up quite nicely! I've contacted the person I bought this from about perhaps buying some more because I LOVE THIS YARN!

Link Happy

2007-12-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

This past week I've spent a lot of time on Ravelry queuing up patterns and making plans for my stash, I thought I'd post here to bring the blog up to date and so I don't forget what I planned!

I've frogged that boring brown garter stitch scarf because I know it was never going to get done. I had planned to use the Yarn Harlot's One Row scarf as a new pattern. It will be easier enough to remember and work on when I can't put all my attention on the scarf, but should draw me in enough to make me want to finish it. Now that I've been working on my sister's scarf with the yarn doubled and the bigger needles I think that even that might be a possibility. Another thing, I found a matching ball of yarn to the more tweedy one and might be able to include that as well.

I haven't touched the afghan since I last posted a finished repeat over a week ago. It's just too involved for me to make any significant progress on it and I think the overwhelming size is impeding my progress. I was really enjoying the Lotus Blossom shawl: the pattern and the end result are AWESOME. Then I found this pattern and I think that this could be a real contender for a do-able afghan. Another thought I've been having recently, my sister's garter stitch scarf is SOO squishy that maybe I could just do that for an afghan. However, I'm already pretty bored with the scarf and can't imagine finishing an entire afghan in that stitch. Maybe the Yarn Harlot's One Row scarf would be good for an afghan?

I've decided on a pattern for my Cabernet socks: another Yarn Harlot original, the Earl Grey socks. I found some GORGEOUS examples on Ravelry of some longer socks and in some pretty colors, here for those Ravelrous readers, that really sparked my lust. I know that I wanted some simple socks in a fairly solid colorway and I think that this might be them! I've even been feeling some inklings of having them finished in time to show off for Christmas... that might be laughable, but I'm going to give it a shot! I'm hoping for some GREAT stitch definition on those cables.

Christmas Knitting

2007-12-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

The yarn for my sister's hat and scarf finally arrived and I spent Monday and Tuesday night working on the Snowball hat from Interweave. My sister said that she didn't want the pompom on top so I finished it last night without one.
Now, I'm working on her scarf; just a simple garter stitch with the yarn doubled on size 15's. The flash is on and the picture is a little blurry but it's just garter stitch and this was the picture that best showed the color.
As you can see the two items aren't really a set. She had a scarf that she wanted me to match with a hat and then one can never have too many scarves, so I'm knitting this green one up.

My family hasn't really taken to my knitting enough for me to be overloaded with Christmas knitting, but a girl sure can hope!

Late post.

2007-12-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the late post, I sat down with my cup of tea at 2:30 to write but got distracted when the doorbell rang and this showed up:
and this:
Michael's chanukah gift to me. Needless to say I had to play with it a little:
That's Oriri Draco's yarn that she sent me a while ago. I kept telling myself that Christmas knitting was coming soon and that I should wait to get started on these until I had a ball winder and some time. WELL.... the yarn for the Christmas knitting still hasn't shown up and I got the ball winder... The cake is currently sitting on the coffee table awaiting a weak moment in my knitting emotions to pounce on a pair of needles for some toe up pomatomi.

Well that winding went so well and the end result was so yummy I decided to keep playing; two hours later and one pair of the devil's socks less I had this:
That one big one on the bottom left is what the whole thing started with. Everything else is some handspun that I tried to knit up into socks. The going was well until I realized that I'm not very good at colorwork, especially in the round when the end result should be stretchy. I'm not sure how I ended up with all those little balls of grey because I have a GORGEOUS picture of the finished yarn skeined up into one big one...

Anyway, I found some great Kelly green glass beads at... you'd never had guessed.. Hobby Lobby! I wracked my brain and Google trying to find nearby yarn stores that had good bead selections, then it was nearby bead stores. Those 'nearby' bead stores were at least 45 minutes out of my way and in places I don't normally go. Then... ( I finally came back to reality) I called my LYS for suggestions and they recommended a bead store in town. I went there, as well as another place down the street with no luck. They had nice bead selections but were geared more towards jewelry with higher prices and fewer beads. While I was out doing some Christmas shopping yesterday I saw Hobby Lobby and thought I'd give them a shot because I seemed to remember a better stock of beads than at Joanns. I'm SOO glad I did! I got what I believe will be MORE than enough beads for 8 bucks! They were having a 50% off sale on all Czech glass beads and had just the right color and size for my project.
I came home, ripped back to the appropriate row and got to beading right away:
(I think the picture is a little better if you biggify) I'm VERY happy with the result and finally feel like I can commit to the pattern enough so that it can be finished in time for the wedding. Then I'll decide if I should wear it :)

And, since I mentioned it yesterday, here is a picture of the scarf. I'm at a little over a foot.
And one last picture of unblocked lace.

Beaded Lily of the Valley!

2007-12-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

Today I FINALLY found some beads! And you'll never guess where! I've been working a lot on the Lotus Blossom shawl and that darned brown scarf so there really hasn't been much in the way of blog fodder. However, I plan to work on the Lily shawl with my new beads tonight and give you a full update (with pictures) tomorrow while it's storming it up outside. :)

Beaded Lily of the Valley?

2007-12-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

I haven't been knitting on my shawl at all lately because I have this nagging thought at the back of my head that I should replace the nupps with beads. I've looked all over google, ravelry, and flickr but haven't found anyone else who has recorded this change in their pattern so I've been nervous to make the switch. Until today. I decided that I can't knit the shawl up and wear it for the wedding if I'm going to keep having these nagging thoughts. I went to Joann's today with high hopes of finding some suitable beads. I'm not sure where these thoughts came from because when I got there they had a very limited selection and almost nothing that would match the shawl. I am still beadless and trying to plan a trip to a bead store some time soon (read: this weekend) so that I can put this nagging feeling to rest.

I'm hesitant to buy the beads online because I know absolutely nothing about bead sizing and what it means in relation to yarn. I plan on crocheting the beads onto the garment and this doubles the size of the yarn coming through the hole. Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm working with Bambu-7 yarn on size 7 needles.

I was having a lot of trouble with the saxon braid that runs through the middle of the green afghan I'm working on. I was trying to interpret all the written descriptions of the stitches into a chart but that just wasn't happening. Then, I found that Eunny had used this exact braid in a cable tutorial! The afghan is moving along smoothly now, I've got a full repeat done:

This year my sister and I decided to try something new for christmas gifts. She picked out some yarn that she liked and a hat pattern, then bought enough yarn for the hat and a scarf and gave it to me. The plan is to have a finished set of a hat and a scarf to give to her for Christmas... so far the yarn has not gotten to her house... I'm really starting to feel the crunch. I was planning on using those two projects as 'commute and at work' knitting because of their apparent portability. The other day I was thinking that I really could use a scarf because I have yet to knit one for myself. I dug through my stash and found two mismatched balls of brown yarn and thought that they were close enough to create some subtle striping in a scarf.

I've reserved this project for only while I'm away from home and just got started on it on Sunday night, this is what I have to show for it:
Probably around 6 or 7 inches.... just something to keep my hands busy at work while waiting for a procedure to finish.

This last Saturday Michael and I had plans with another couple to go up the mountain and bring home our first Christmas tree... We were all ready to go at 8 am and piled in the car with our blankets and layers and knitting... Driving down the road, we maxed at 20mph because the world decided to become one solid sheet of ice overnight. Within two blocks of our starting point we had seen 2 accidents involving at least 5 cars and they weren't just little fender benders. We are talking full on body repair work because the drivers didn't understand the severity of the ice. Needless to say, we did not continue our trek up the mountain and succumbed to buying our tree from a roadside lot.. Not that exciting but it sure is nice to have a fresh tree this year

*Please remember that you can always click on the image to see a bigger, clearer version!

FO: Trekking socks

2007-11-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

That's me wearing my first pair of finished socks. I found myself thinking... WHY on EARTH didn't I make some keepers before?! I love these socks, they keep my legs warm, at least the part that's always cold and this, in turn, warms my feet and the rest of my body! Next time though, I'll add some ribbing to the top because the darn things curl like mad from the picot cast off I did.

Now in Color!

2007-11-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

So I tried my socks on yesterday afternoon, as promised. This picture:
Shows how far I've come and how little more there is to go... In fact, when I had this ONE sock on yesterday I couldn't believe how soft and warm and cozy it was or that I had strayed from his pair for one second! As soon I finished the little photo shoot I sat right down and knit on these the rest of the night so add about 2 inches to the length of the sock for a more accurate idea of what they look like now. I'm almost finished, I'm not sure if I should keep knitting on them and make them as long as possible because my lower legs get cold as heck these days. There really isn't much yarn left but I think I could get another inch or two out of it, placing the CO edge well up my calf muscle which might cause problems with stretch because I'm not ribbing the tops. We will just have to wait and see.

This next picture shows how far I've come on my Lily shawl and how much better it looks than the first one. I forgot to take pictures of the swatches that led me back to the Lily but they are mostly for the Lotus Blossom and not entirely applicable here.
Yesterday Colorado got another dusting of snow and I took a few pictures from the window outside my 7th story lab! This one shows downtown Denver smack dab in the middle of one of the bigger clouds. That dark bluish black cloud that looks like it's in the background is actually hanging right around those buildings, it was REALLY neat, but I guess you just had to be there.
This is a gorgeous picture of classic Colorado winters, snow dusted pines!

No pictures

2007-11-28T09:51:00.001-07:00

I don't really have much to show you in the way of progress on my knits.

The socks seem to have taken a back perch on the 'knitting shelf' even though they could easily be finished in a night or two! The original plan was to use up all of the trekking but since I seem to have lost interest in them, perhaps I should just cast off a bit early. I've been trying them on as I go and had a destination in mind as far as height up the calf but they might be long enough as it is... I'll have to let you know, perhaps with a picture!

I spent Sunday and Monday evening knitting up various swatches that I actually cast off, washed, and blocked!! I knit up three swatches of the Lotus blossom shawl with needle sizes 7, 8, and 9. (I think) After doing this I realized.. I really want to make the Lily of the Valley shawl with this yarn and decided to try another swatch with a larger needle size to see what would happen. I made the swatch with the 7's and decided that I thought some of the yarn overs were too big. NOW I am knitting up the Lily of the Valley shawl with 6's, am through the first repeat and really seem to like the looks! YAY!! I think it'll all work out. I did the math and if I just add one repeat at the end the end result should be pretty similar to that of the book's.

Hopefully I won't be long at work today and can take some pictures that will please all of us. :)

Help end world hunger

2007-11-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

Freerice.com

This is a multiple choice vocabulary game where you match the meaning of the word to its mate. Each correct answer donates rice and increases the difficulty of the next word. It's free and a great way to improve your vocabulary a little bit at a time!

The arrival of gorgeous yarn is always anticipated..

2007-11-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

It came yesterday! I'm finding that capturing the true essence of yarn related items is very difficult to do at night. So the gorgeous yarn from Oriri Design arrived! It is somewhere between this :
And this:
I LOVE IT! So soft and pretty with its subtle variations; I think I'm going to bring it with me to Kansas and cast on for some toe up pomatomi as soon as I finish the Trekking socks. I'm hoping that the pattern will convert easily from top down because some of the ladies on ravelry said that they were having some trouble with it. If I can't convert the pattern, I'm sure that this yarn will look gorgeous just knit up with a general pattern.

On Sunday I did a little spinning since I had received some luscious brown alpaca fiber from the fiber club I joined earlier. I did not spin the alpaca because I had already started some camel/tencel that I got from the Estes Park Wool Festival and wanted to do a three ply which would use up 4 of the 5 bobbins I have. (Yes I went to the wool festival and yes I took many pictures fully intending to blog. However, those pictures of long since been deleted and I think I'll just blur over that blogerly indiscretion.)
Again, this picture was taken at night and doesn't capture the true essence of my yarn! The consistency is pretty darned good since I didn't put too much effort into it. Both skeins are from the same batt, just different ends and so one is darker than the other. The purple is truly more purple and the pink actually has some brown in it to tone it down. Both are quite pretty and soft and much less shiny than the flash would have you think. Also, I only had about 2 yards of singles left that I wasn't able to make into a three ply! I just split the batt into what I thought were three equal lengths and eye-balled the bobbins as I went along! That sure made my day on Sunday. I got about 200 yards of 3 ply that I would categorize as sport weight. I'm not really sure what I could do with that... One sock, a hat? Is that enough for a hat?

Speaking of hats, it's getting pretty cold outside and I didn't bring one! My ears are cold and I'm hankering to start a hat, we'll see what happens.

I'm BAAAACK!

2007-11-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

So lately I've been thinking about jumping back into blogging again. Things have calmed down at work and I have time to formulate a blog post every once in a while. I don't really want to blog when I'm at home because I'd much rather be knitting but I feel bad when I knit at work. I don't feel any remorse if I look busy aka blogging, so this might work! I take pictures when I'm at home, post them to flickr where I can use them for both the blog and ravelry, which I've become quite smitten with lately. :)

Recently I finished a pair of Log Cabin Socks (from Holiday Knits) for Michael because his feet get quite cold in the evenings. I made them toe-up, which seems to be my preferred method of late, and so the heel flap doesn't have the cable pattern on it. These took me about a week and a half! I'll try to get a picture of them on the recipient some time!
A side note, I imagine that many of my pictures will have to be taken with no natural light because I take them when I get home from work and after my workout, by then it's pretty dark!

Here is a picture of the socks I'm currently working on for myself. They are just a general toe up sock pattern made with Trekking XXL in 147 Burgundy. I've worked a bit more on them since this picture was taken on Friday and have passed the heel turn. I find that when I'm knitting both socks at the same time I am actually able to finish them, and in a decent amount of time too! I started these last weekend I think... I also really enjoy being able to try them on as I go, ensuring that most, if not all, of my work will come to fruition!

I decided that I would probably get cold shoulders at my wedding reception and, thus, should knit myself a shawl! I also thought that I would like to wear the thing after the reception and for some reason white did not seem the best choice. I went to Shuttles about 2 weeks ago and purchased a cone of Bambu in this green:

I had the idea of knitting something with a springtime theme, since the wedding is in April, and decided on Nancy Bush's 'Lily of the Valley' found in Lace Style. The stitch gauge works out fine, but the row gauge is almost HALF what it should be! I chose this pattern because I thought that it was fairly calm and wouldn't draw too much attention from my GORGEOUS dress. If I double the repeats to account for the decreased length I feel that the pattern would be too busy for the simple style I wanted. I started looking for another pattern..... And decided that the Lotus Blossom shawl might be a suitable substitute. That pattern has been ordered and is on its way, but I don't expect it before Thanksgiving.

After I finished Michael's socks, before Lace Style arrived and before I started on the Trekking socks, I learned just how dangerous it is to be without anything on the needles... That's why I bought that sock yarn, knowing full well that I have PLENTY more at home. That's also why I bought this sock yarn in cabernet... I was caught off-guard at work and put in the order so fast I sent it to the wrong address! It hasn't come in yet, but you can bet I'll take a picture as soon as it does. This new colorway in prosperity is also REALLY calling my name! Don't you snatch it up until I figure out what to do with myself!

At work, this is my baby:
For those who know a little bit about science, this is a Western Blot set up. For those of you who don't know much about science, it moves DNA from a gel to a piece of paper that can be manipulated a little easier.

I'll be going to Kansas from Wednesday through Sunday to visit some family and won't be able to blog then, so don't think I've abandoned you again!

And, in closing. The obligatory picture of Fez!

A miracle!!! A post!!!

2007-06-05T17:03:00.000-06:00

Wow, sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I had plans to finish another skein of yarn before posting and then I never finished it and the post never went up. So a lot of stuff has been going on around here. I think I'll limit this post to stuff I have pictures of and talk about my new job in a later post because not much has been going on on that front.

So.... I think I'll start with the rambouillet that I finished spinning up. I think it turned out WONDERFUL!
I don't plan to knit the pattern that came with it but I'm not quite sure what I should knit from it. I have a little over 600 yards of thin sock weight yarn. So, I'm thinking socks, toe-up and possibly little anklets. Then I was thinking that I should get a new sweater going because I scrapped the cardigan that I was working on and I was also thinking about knitting this up with that purple-y fiber that I bought quite some time ago. I thought that I should knit up a swatch of the rambouillet so that I could see what the gauge might look like with the purple-y merino if I modeled it after the grey.
I LOVED knitting with my own yarn. I can't wait to be able to make a whole garment out of my own hand spun yarn. Another thing I'm very proud of is this:
Yeah, the yarn has no extra twist at all! It's just laying there quite happily on the floor, in whatever shape I give it. All of this talk about my own yarn is reminding me of why I started this whole thing in the first place... I might just finish it up....

So that second skein of yarn I was trying to finish was the purple. That didn't happen. I have two full bobbins, I just need to ply them but I've really let it slip away from me.
Lets see... I finished the green ankle socks:
I really enjoyed the pattern and how quickly these knit up. But... I hate the yarn and the way these socks have hardly any stretch and the way they feel when I walk around. Apparently, I have sensitive feet. Huh. It's a superwash wool from knitpicks and has great stitch definition but I'm thinking that is it's only redeeming quality and it isn't enough to make me want to knit another pair of socks for myself out of this.
On the other hand, I am really enjoying knitting with the tofutsies. I'm also doing a toe-up sock and finding that I like it much more than top-down. I like how the toe looks and feels and I enjoyed knitting the turn of the heel much more than the other way and now this way I can see how much yarn I have to work with. However, I'm not sure how tall the socks should be so I think I'm going to have to go pick up another set of needles and knit from the other end of the yarn so that I can get the most out of my yarn!

I've been making a lot of progress on my shawl:

I love the way it smells and the feeling of the yarn as I knit it up.

I NEEDED a new sock book... preferably a toe-up book, but that doesn't exist so I had to 'settle' for this magnificent thing!
The plants have been growing, but no blooms. Everybody else's flowers are blooming and mine are just growing taller and green... I'm not if this means I'm a bad gardener but I continue to water them and wait.
I bought a new purse, it's soo cute! And a perfect spring purse to transport knitting around in!
I got a new haircut in preparation for my new job. I thought that perhaps I should try to thin some of the bulk out and look like a person rather than a head with a mop on it:
The other day Michael and I were running errands and we saw this:
It's a little blurry but that's because we were driving and this man was driving his motor cycle and the two cars had a hard time working together. Anyway, strapped to the front of this man is a small dog with rider goggles. Now at first I was shocked and thought that this man must be doing something cruel to the poor dog. But then I realized, if the dog was really that scared he would probably pee all of this man so the whole thing took on a much funnier mood.

And finally, some cute pictures of Fez:

Picture-less update in bullet form

2007-05-21T17:39:00.000-06:00

I did, indeed, trash the white acrylic piece of crap, and had a wonderful time doing it!
I finished my green ankle-high socks
I've started a new pair of toe-up socks out of the peachier of the two skeins of tofutsies
I plied up around 180 yards of the variegated yarn (it's currently hanging dry with a heavy weight - I got WAY too much twist in it and realized it after it was too late)
I really haven't made too much progress on the shawl.... I can't exlain why. I think I was just in the need of something of the garter stitch nature (read, the new socks)
I finished spinning up the first half of the Wooly Fiber club fiber and have to spin up the other half before plying.
I received a bunch of benefit booklets and the like from my new job, I start work on June 4th and my position is officially called 'Research Scientist'!!!

WARNING!

2007-05-18T18:00:00.000-06:00

I may be trashing the acrylic yarn sweater because Ive developed a very strong aversion to it. More to come later.

Obsession + A Job = Trouble

2007-05-16T14:44:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't been posting lately... I've been a little obsessed with my new projects. Plus, I had an interview with a company called Bionovo. The description of the position was too detailed for me to get a good understanding of what I would be doing and then they SHOCKED me with a group interview. I was so nervous I was damn sure I had failed the interview. Then I called them and harrassed them a few times because they were taking so long in getting back to me. I was certain they just didn't have the guts to tell me that I wasn't hired. The next day I got an email to go in for a second interview. Well when I got there one of my future coworkers said, "So I heard they offered you a position." Tthat was news to me, but it sure put me at ease! Woohoo!!! They're not sure when I'm going to start working because they have to get corporate in California to send me the necessary paperwork but it sure is a relief to have a job to look forward to. I'll tell you more about it later, perhaps after my first day. This post is dedicated to all my on-going projects.

First, I spun up some of that merino from morehouse. I'm not sure if you can tell the difference between this picture and the previous one but I really haven't put a dent in the fiber.
The wool actually has a little too much grease in it and I'm losing almost half of the fiber to preparations but its spinning up very strong. I'm forced to spin it a little thicker than I would like because it snaps on me if it's any thinner. But now that I see it in the picture, perhaps it's plenty thin. I plan to navajo ply it and knit up some socks for both Michael and my mother.
When I first got this wool I was using Fez's cat brush to prep the fiber and for some reason I decided that I needed something more appropriate for the project so I went out and bought this:
It wasn't until I got home that I realized this was a direct violation of the yarn diet... I really have no explanation as to why the diet completely slipped my mind. But I was VERY good in the yarn store, Michael was with me and he made sure that I only got what I went in for. I was sidetracked several times and each time he wacked whatever I picked up out of my hands. It was quite humorous and I'm sure the other women in the store heard my laughing.

I also received my first allotment of wool from my spinning club. It's 4 oz. of Rambouillet.
I've already spun up a decent chunk of the first ball before taking this picture.
Here's the yarn:
I'm quite enjoying spinning with this! I'm not sure if it's the fiber or the fact that I don't have to spend an equal amount of time prepping the fiber before spinning it. This I'm also having to spin up a little thicker because it's already been washed and doesn't have any grease in it to help hold the fibers together. But again, this is certainly something I love!

Last night I went to Michael's softball game and brought along my jaywalkers. The weather was a little chilly (even with me in my sweatshirt) so I thought that it would be a perfect time to get some work in. Also, I need to turn the heel on the second Hedera and I'm not confident enough in my skills yet to not keep referencing a pattern. Anyway, I was sitting there, watching Michael and his team warm up when I got recruited to play for another team on another field cuz they were short one girl. MAN I forgot how much I used to love playing softball. They said that they could probably use me every week so I'm thinking about doing that! The league runs through early June and then I'm thinking about joining a more local league in the fall (which is August through October)!

I made some good progress on the Jaywalkers last night while watching the X-files we received from netflix:
Since we're discussing socks, here is the progress of my second Hedera. And I really don't think I've got second sock syndrome with this. I've just been obsessed with other projects lately....
For example, here is the progress I've made on my shawl. And those of you who look close enough will notice that the pattern is not at all what I decided on in the last post.I was having such a hard time working out the way that it was supposed to look that I just gave up on it and found that I really liked the pattern on page 68 called 'A knitted veil in Pyrenees wool.' I like the fact that I don't have to think too much with it and should be able to have a nice end product. Don't get me wrong there is some necessary concentration when knitting the pattern, but it's not like I took several pieces of other patterns and tried to make them fit!

And last, but certainly not least, I treated myself to a visit to the yarn store in celebration of my recent employment! I got two skeins of tofutsies because they are quite cute and something I haven't knit with before. I was only going to buy two skeins of sock yarn, but then I spotted an older yarn harlot book and snatched it up!
This picture shows more accurately the peachy shades in the skein on the left.
Now I know that they are very similar in shades and colors, but they were really the only ones that I saw that I liked! Oh well, I'm quite certain that I won't be knitting them back to back. I really think that I'm going to just be knitting these in a simple ribbing or striping pattern as something that I can use to keep my hands busy when I can't fully concentrate on a pattern.

Also, I haven't done any more work on the two sweaters. I'm really contemplating ripping back the neck shaping on the front of the cardigan and making into something more 'me.' And I'm not too worried about finishing Rachel's sweater in time. I've just got the sleeves left and seaming, that shouldn't take too long with the way it's shaped and pattern for the sleeves.

Say what?!

2007-05-08T11:52:00.000-06:00

I got a delivery today from Morehouse Merino..... Gorgeous!
Since I love to spin in the grease I can just sit right down and get started! And to think, just last night I almost broke my fiber diet because I was really craving some dark wool to spin.
Only, I just realized that I don't have anything to card with. But at the same time I remembered that I prefer to spin up the individual locks. I still need to flick the ends, loosen up the fibers a bit. I do have several cat brushes and Maggie was talking about using a dog comb to flick the ends... I'll have to give it a shot.

On the other hand, last night I caved and decided that I'd had enough sweater knitting and was working out a pattern for a new shawl out of the dusty rose yarn I already bought. If anyone reading this has Victorian Lace Today I decided to go with the border from the Diamonds and Triangles shawl on page 150 and use the Trinity Stitch center panel from Half Square on page 126. I hadn't gotten to calculating gauge and how many stitches of the center panel I would need for the edging before the gorgeous fleece came.

I've been working pretty hard, trying to get back into my exercise routine and this morning I did some pretty intense leg work. That might be the deciding factor on how I spend my day!

(Also, I finished the front panel of Rachel's sweater yesterday... but nobody really cares. I know I don't.)

Setting in sleeves has certainly proved to be a pain!

2007-05-05T14:26:00.000-06:00

Well, my goal was to be able to set the sleeves in the cardigan today and finish up the ribbing around the neck. So I sat down with my yarn and needle and seamed and seamed. The armhole was matching up well, then on to the arm. I tried the cardigan on several times to make sure that everything was working out and looking ok. Other than being entirely wrong it seemed ok. :)
The whole thing looked too small and the buttons gaped when I buttoned everything up. I'm also a little disturbed with the way the shaping for the armholes was done up in the pattern.
Here, you can see what I mean. On the left side you can see where the armhole shaping begins and then there is a very steep 'ledge' of about 16 decreases to where the shoulder seaming occurs. What's up with that?! It makes for very odd cap shaping when the sleeve is set in, you can kind of see in the previous two pictures and this next one.
And then....
... if you look closer you can see that the sleeve is all wrong. It just isn't going to line up and give me a good sleeve. I'm going to have to rip it out and try to reset the sleeve. Bummer. Needless to say I'm a little aggravated and won't be continuing any further today. The fact that the whole thing just seems too small is not a motivating factor.

On the plus side, I finished the first 'anklet' sock Thursday night while I was waiting for Michael to get home from the midnight showing of Spiderman. From what he told me, I didn't miss much and had quite a bit more fun at home.
I love this sock! When I first tried it on after completion it didn't seem quite right for me. I've always worn those cheap white cotton socks that you get in bundles from the store and they're always a bit looser and breathable than the socks I knit up. But I think the stretchy lace and the ankle-height of these socks will allow me to ease into enjoying hand-knit socks, or at least I hope so.
Also, I've been getting a lot more spinning done than knitting. I've really been enjoying myself and intend to fill up this bobbin before plying. And, in case any are wondering, I've been not working on my sweater for Rachel. I told myself that I would only start the socks as a motivational project to finish this damned sweater. You know, knit a certain time on the sock and then an equal time on the sweater. That didn't happen and I've now got the yarn out beside me and have prohibited any spinning that I might want to do until I finish the front. Today is a less than fun day in lilac land.

Summer 2007 Interweave Knits

2007-05-03T20:35:00.000-06:00

I'm not going to lie... I'm a little disappointed. But what was I expecting when the cover displayed a long-sleeved, cable-yoked sweater? I was under the impression that the summer issue of most magazines displayed items that are traditionally, Oh I don't know, more SUMMERY?! I've always felt like there is an abundance of items to be knit for late fall through early spring and that I have a hard time finding great summer-time knits. I apologize for the no pictures but I couldn't figure out how to link directly to the patterns on their website. But seriously, I'm disappointed. There are 6 very warm looking sweaters, a pattern for knee-high socks (which I still love, it's not their fault they got clumped in the wrong issue!), hats, and a few patterns for shrugs and wraps that would work better in different issues. Despite the self-imposed yarn diet, I don't see many patterns that make me want to cast-on right away. Hopefully Spin-Off will come soon and fix this sinking feeling that I have about Interweave right now.

On the knitting front... I've gotten past the gusset decreases on my little ankle sock and have made no progress on Rachel's lace-y sweater. I have seamed my cardigan, all that's left is setting the sleeves. I hope I'll be done with the cardigan either tomorrow or Saturday. Pictures to come soon.

A week and a half...

2007-05-03T00:32:00.000-06:00

Until Anne sends out the first supply of fiber for her Wooly Wonka Fiber Club! I can't wait!

Crochet?! What?

2007-05-01T11:41:00.000-06:00

This is what my living room floor looked like Saturday night.
That blanket, it has been crocheted. I started it last summer after I did a little crochet experiment to see if I would like it. Apparently I liked it enough to go buy some cheap acrylic yarn and an afghan pattern book... I found the blanket with all the blue made up, just needing a border.
I realized that this would be a great house-warming gift for a friend that was moving to a new apartment on Sunday, so I finished it. Granted the weather is now consistantly in the 60s and 70s so she probably won't be needing the blanket, she liked it.

A little aside, I actually do enjoy crochet, just not with acrylic. I have a set of 5 hooks and a desire to produce more crocheted products. I've been toying with the idea of a granny-square afghan using just a few colors to match my living room. This would allow me to crochet a little bit every once in a while, just when I want a small change from knitting and granny squares are perfect for that! Does anybody think that is just incredibly dorky? Are granny-squares awful and not to be seen in a 20-something's apartment?

This same friend is getting married in late June and expressed a desire to knit up something to wear for her wedding. She's fairly new to the knitting thing (she didn't even finish her first scarf) so I said she probably shouldn't try to knit up a sweater and plan her wedding at the same time. Also, she really liked the whole idea of the lace hoodie I'm knitting for myself. Well, a little light went off and I decided to knit her a similar lace-y summer shirt. She's not a fiber whore like I am so she's perfectly fine getting acrylic knits. While I was looking through my stash on Saturday I found a whole whack of white acrylic yarn (don't ask) and thought there might be enough to make a sweater. If I run short I'm fairly certain I can run over to the nearest Walmart and pick up another skein. Anyway, this is the pattern. And here a shot of the finished back.
The pattern is knit on size 10.5 needles. That's HUGE! So while I should be able to crank this project out pretty fast, I hate it. I'm just slipping it in the knitting queue before my own lace hoodie.

I geuss that I prefer smaller needles, no matter the size of the project. Also, I HATE acryilic yarn! It's all stiff and scratchy and makes my wrist hurt to knit it up. Still, it'll be nice to get rid of all this acrylic. See, before I became a fiber whore I collected quite a bit of cheap acrylic yarn and this blanket as well as the white yarn relieves me of at least half of the acrylic cr*p.

Anyway, back to the picture of my floor Saturday night... You can also see my cardigan blocking. It took until Monday morning to dry because I blocked all the pieces in twos to make sure everything matched (sleeve on sleeve, front on front, and the back folded in half). Well, yesterday I set out to seam it and ... realized the eye of my needle was too big. I'm a little worried now because I've never seamed a sweater before and I think if I don't get started soon the sweater might be doomed to wander around in pieces forever! I noticed that my yarn store sells needles up by the register for 25 cents a piece. I'll pick one up when I'm in Boulder tomorrow for Wednesday knitting with Val and Maria.

Last night after binding the back off of Rachel's sweater, I was really craving some small needle knitting with something of more color. So, I pulled out my green sock yarn and swatched for Hedera.
I love this yarn! It's superwash/acrylic... But it's much softer than the 100% acrylic and the green is so pretty! I'll be knitting these up as ankle socks for some summer sock wear.

An update on my spinning activities. This is the variegated merino that I navajo plied.
I quite enjoyed this method of plying, especially when compared to triple-plying with three seperate skeins of yarn; trying to keep every single seperate and unknotted really stressed me out. While this skein is a little over-twisted, it is still quite soft and the overtwist really isn't a big deal. The thing that really gets me is the way all the colors were distributed after plying. I originally did not like the way the singles were spinning up when I pulled out the various colors and spun them seperate. So I switched to just spinning up a piece of the fiber, letting the colors do what they wanted. I think I've changed my mind again, the navajo plying would work best with the first method. I've started spinning with the first method again and hope to have another skein to show some time next week.

Also, I bought 2 lbs of black merino fleece from morehouse merino. I hope to see it in the mail soon!

Also, I've been really bad with Eye Candy Fridays, so here is a picture that I took at Rachel's new place. Such pretty blooms!

How I spent my evening

2007-04-28T01:40:00.000-06:00

Knit, knit, knit, knit....... food and liquor.... knit, knit, knit....

12:25 Fezzy tries to tell me that I need to stop when I finally cast-off the damn thing for the second time and it's still an inch short....
12:35 I didn't listen to Fezzy
1:45 The damn thing is done and tomorrow is busy day so I might not get to do as much work as I might like to.... I need to learn up on how to do seaming so that it looks good and then I have to do it as well as add a collar to 'finish' the cardigan.

Feeling Better

2007-04-27T13:47:00.000-06:00

Today I went and picked up the pictures that Michael and I took right after we got engaged. I didn't plan it that way but the photo place was advertising a really good deal so I signed up. Here's the two poses that I picked, I think we look quite cute together! This sure perked me up a bit.
So, while I had my camera out I went ahead and took pictures of other things. The yarn that I bought.. It's a cone of linen/cotton/rayon that I bought for $11 at Shuttles as opposed to buying the yarn the pattern suggests for $90 at the store where I bought it.
To use for this pattern in the magazine that I bought...

As well as the progress that I've made since learning that I used the wrong size needles to finish the last piece of my cardigan. (You'll notice that I remembered to switch to the red needles.)
I'm REALLY hoping to finish it for real tonight or tomorrow and move on to another project. This new yarn, while strikingly similar to what I'm already working with, is teasing me by peaking out of the yarn basket where I have banished it to while I'm finishing this darned cardigan.

Tada!!

2007-04-26T13:28:00.000-06:00

It's done!
But wait... weren't those red when I finished the last piece?
Yes, they were...
Double check.... this is way too small.
Ugh, I'm having a really bad day. I didn't get the job that was perfect for me and that I interviewed for flawlessly. I bought a magazine and some yarn yesterday, it's gonna have to wait for a happier mood.

Progress..... if you want to call it that

2007-04-24T17:37:00.000-06:00

Well, first things first. It's been raining ALL DAY!
My little seedlings love it, but they are not getting the brunt of the storm quite like the grass is.
I'm not too worried, that's the view from my second story apartment... the people below me however... They are sitting at the lowest point in the complex! And.... here come the big huge snow flakes!

I've been working on my cardigan quite diligently today.
I finished the button side of the front last night and cast on for the other side this morning, challenging myself to see how far I could get in one day. This is all I have to show.. I really think it's kind of pitiful!
And you know what could make it even worse? Maybe you could see it in the picture... What about now?
That's right the button band is on the wrong side! Oh the agony. I had even taken a small break to work on plying my variegated yarn. I finished the plying, skeined it, and set the twist all before realizing this horrible twist of fate.
I was clearly tempting the knitting goddesses when I realized that I was on the home stretch with my cardigan and thinking that I might be able to get this thing done by the end of the week. How frustrating. I think I might have to get started on some more spinning to relax me after this incident. I might also be going to a new yarn store tomorrow!

Weekend Update

2007-04-23T15:07:00.000-06:00

Friday night Michael and I went to see Trace Bundy, he plays acoustic guitar (and quite well I might add). He and Michael know each other quite well for a fan and a musician and I think it is due to the fact that every concert we go to Michael finds something to talk to Trace about. It's cute really. This concert was a benefit for Justice for Children International. It was quite an eye opener but I'd had a long day so all I wanted to do was knit and listen to some nice music.
Good news! I finally looked up the correct decrease for the jaywalker pattern and was able to knit some more on the socks during the benefit. I've still got quite a ways to go but I think I'm getting ready for the heel flap here.
I got a little work done on the cardigan since I last posted, just a few more buttons worth. My mom and I have been a little excited about wedding planning so not a lot of knitting has gotten done.
A little seedling update. They've grown! As green things tend to do. I'm a little worried though, not all of the pots have sprouted. The lavender hasn't but that's to be expected because it is a bit more substantial than the flowers. The other pot is just some posies I think. I've been treating all the pots equally so why this one hasn't sprouted is beyond me.
I'm not sure if you can tell in this next picture but someone (or something) has been digging in my pot! That 'big' sprout has been uprooted and the shadow is covering a small divot in the soil. Also, some sprouts on the right side of the pot (out of the picture) were covered in loose soil. I think the culprit could be some rascally squirrels! I knew there was a reason I didn't like them!
Today I had an interview for an entry-level position with Array Biopharma. It was my first interview since I graduated from college and I really think that it went well! While the position itself does not interest me, the company does and this company would much rather promote from within than hire from without. Also, I think that I would feel better about a higher up position if I really knew what the underlings were doing. If you are interested you can go to the website for more info on the company. I met with 5 people: The boss and 2 superiors as well as 2 people that I'll be on a little more equal footing with. I really liked all but one guy and he is the GMP guy... the one who is paid to be anal and psychotic about all the products that leave the building, so I geuss that is to be expected. I sure would like this position since A) I haven't had any other interviews, B) I am interested in the company, and C) this position would allow me to work a little bit with the various groups in the company and see what should be my next step in the corporate world.

I also experimented a little with navajo plying and I'm really starting to get the hang of it. More in the next update.

Cute little sprouts!

2007-04-19T12:11:00.000-06:00

A couple of my cute little seedlings sprouted over the weekend. I took this picture of them on Monday and they haven't changed much since.
Also, I finished both sleeves for the cardigan and have started adding buttons to one of the front panels.
I think I've forgotten to mention a couple of things on this blog. I have signed up for Anne's spinning club: The Wooly Wonka Fibers Spinning Club. Every couple of months Anne sends out 4 oz. of fiber along with directions on how to spin it up and a pattern that she wrote for the project. I think the first batch of fiber will be sent out around May 15 and Anne has told us that it will be rambouillet. I'm really excited for this because there will be a few non-wool fibers and I have yet to spin up anything but wool.

Today I plan to spin up some more of that variegated merino I bought a while back. I spun some on Tuesday night and realized that I'd forgotten how meditative it really is. I'm thinking I should really make more of an effort to spin at least 2 or 3 times a week. Also, I don't want this fiber to look like some extremely variegated yarn that was poorly matched or plied. I was thinking that it won't really look good plied with any other yarn, even an undied yarn. So I've decided to try my hand at navajo plying for this. First I have to finish up a good sized bobbin and then I'll post my efforts on the new plying technique.

Since I finished my shawl my fingers have been itching to get started on a new, more challenging project (the stockinette cardigan is pretty hum drum). Jenna's lace hoodie really moved me, so I think that will be my next large project. I just have to track down the pattern. I'm pretty sure that it's only in the Rebecca magazine, issue number 32. Well issue 33 is out now so I would have to special order it from most places.

Also, I've really been craving some sock knitting but my jaywalkers are so dark and heavy.
I want to work with some more spring-y colors. I have some cute green sock weight yarn that I bought from knitpicks quite some time ago.
Also, Val knitted up some cute little summery socks by simply ommiting the cuff and she said you could knit two socks from one skein! I haven't picked out a pattern yet but I'm thinking something kinda lace-y and free... maybe from knitty.com?

General Update-iness

2007-04-12T14:59:00.000-06:00

Ok, first things first, I'm going to explain the series of images posted a few weeks ago. You should briefly go and look at the pictures again because I think I lost them in my computer! I'll wait...

Ok, the first four pictures are a dye day that Val and I did with Stacy from Adoreknits. Her son is just the cutest!!
And her stash is just the biggest!! Holy moly! This isn't even all of it, and those big plastic bags in the back are full of fiber. Her stash is so big her son could dive into it and make yarn angels if he wanted. (He did dive, but there was a lot of fuss about this before he was able to successfully wreak havoc.)
The last pictures posted of the yarn are from when it was still drying, here are some images of the finished, skeined product.
These blue-ish skeins were my first few attempts at spinning and aren't perfect but Michael really likes the color so I'm thinking of knitting some simple socks from them.
With these red skeins I was trying to match the ones on the left to the ones on the right. The right side was stuff that was dyed and given to us during spinning class and I liked the color so I wanted to knit something from the yarn but there wasn't enough. As you can see, the colors really aren't anywhere near the same. The original yarn has some orange and brown in it while the new stuff is a deep, variegated red. I love it all. I'm thinking that I will save these to use in a hand-spun, dyed and knit afghan. I will continue to spin up un-dyed yarn and dye it various shades of red or brown and then knit up a rustic look afghan for my living room!
This stuff is a silk, merino blend that I bought off of a cone from Val and dyed that same day. As you can see it turned out a nice variegated sea-foam color! I'm going to knit a triangular shawl from Vintage knits with this gorgeous stuff.

The fifth picture is the finished back of my 3/4 sleeve cardigan. There has been some pretty good progress on that project too! What you see here is a finished sleeve and the cuff of the second sleeve. I'm probably going to need to pick up some buttons over the weekend before I can get started on the front panels. Any advice on how many buttons would be 'normal'?
The ball of mixed color merino is exactly that. I think it looks quite pretty in the picture and it's great in real life too. I'm just a little uncertain about how to spin it up! I first started by splitting off the various color segments and trying to spin them seperately to get a striping effect. That was HIDEOUS and I forgot to take a picture of it before I covered it up with some better stuff. This picture is with me just pulling off a chunk of fiber, pre-drafting it and then spinning it. It's quite difficult to picture and to see the details here but it's much better than my first attempts.
The last picture is, of course, the Yarn Harlot's most recent book. Well I've finished it by now and I must say that I loved it!! I loved her writing and the way it was presented with the interesting pictures. I also really enjoyed the 'letters' between various people that are spread throughout the book.
Now, on to some new stuff. Today is quite rainy and unfriendly. So, to cheer myself up a bit I went to Home Depot and bought some flower pots, seeds, soil, and plant food. I layed out some garbage bags and planted my seeds in the house.
In about 10 days I should start seeing some green shoots coming up through the dirt! For now I have to keep them inside because we are supposed to get even more snow and frost this weekend. BOO! Here you can see the seeds that I planted, I hope that I can actually grow the plants this summer!
Oh, and this man:
asked me to marry him!

FO: Cap Shawl

2007-04-11T12:20:00.000-06:00

Started: March 11, 2007
Finished: April 10, 2007
Yarn used: Knitpicks Shadow in Vineyard
Finished Dimensions: 46 in. diameter on US 5s
Pattern Dimensions: 76 in. diameter on US 7s
I really enjoyed knitting this shawl even though it is far from perfect. When I found a mistake I tried to fix it as best I could but I rarely ripped back if the mistake was only one or two stitches. A few times I misread the pattern and knit a whole row wrong, that I would fix. When I pinned the shawl for blocking it was already 2:30 am and I didn't care about getting the blocking perfect or trying to hide any mistakes because I know that I could always reblock and get the shape better if I wanted to. I really enjoyed the knitted on border, especially since I've been reading horror stories of picking up hundreds of stitches to graft a border on. EW!

I'm not sure if you can tell but the very center isn't quite the same as the one in the book. It's much more open... That's because when I was blocking I ripped the yarn attached to the center cast on and it wasn't even tied or stabilized! I'm worried about losing the whole shawl... that would be VERY unsettling. I took rash measures... I put clear nail polish on the center hole in an effort to save my lovely lace. I'll have to let you know how it holds up.

Well, I think that this is a little bit smaller than I would like. I knew that once I got it finished I wouldn't even wear it if it was as big as the book said it should be. I supposed it's good that it's smaller, but it's almost a little too small to wrap around me loosely. It's a little hard to describe without being able to show you. Right now I don't have anyone to take pictures of it on me, but I promise to post a few when I can get them.

So, I could see myself knitting this pattern again with a thicker yarn and bigger needles to make the whole shape a little bigger. While this was made out of merino wool it is not very warm. I think a thicker yarn would help make it warmer and that shawl would then be used in the early spring and late fall. As soon as I can get a photographer I will take pictures of me wearing the shawl to give you a better idea of the size.

Tune in tomorrow for an update on the cardigan and an explanation of the pictures posted on March 30th.

I FINALLY have updates!

2007-04-11T03:33:00.000-06:00

But it is 3:30 in the morning... I'm going to bed. However, I PROMISE that there will be updates made through the next couple of days with pictures and explanations of the pictures I posted in the last update. Sleep.... drool.....

Not feeling too bloggy lately...

2007-03-30T13:32:00.000-06:00

Since it is a Friday I thought I'd post some pictures of what I've been up to lately. And then it's straight back to my shawl... I'm trying to have it washed, blocked and ready to wear for my two year anniversary date on April 7th! It still just looks like a bunch of lace... but it has certainly grown. And now, the pictures.

Eye Candy Friday

2007-03-23T19:21:00.000-06:00

I was having a hard time trying to come up with some eye candy for today. I usually like to go outside and look for something exciting or pretty or whatnot. But I was really having a hard time thinking because it was all cloudy and things were really noisy! I thought that there were tons of planes flying around today. Then it hit me.... RAIN AND THUNDER!! I really like the afternoon rains that we get through out spring and really enjoy the smell and the dewy look everything gets afterward. So today I give you the best picture of the rain clouds that I could get without exposing my camera to possible water damage! Also, it's REALLY hard to get a picture of rain!

Apologies!!

2007-03-21T17:21:00.000-06:00

I just want to apologize to anybody who may have stopped by here recently and noticed that I haven't updated since Friday. I had a very LARGE lull in my knitting over the weekend. In fact, you might say that I didn't even TOUCH my needles! And then, I spent the last three days helping my mom paint her living room and bathroom, so there was no knitting there. In fact, after Monday I questioned whether I'd ever be able to knit again, my hands were so sore and cramped from rolling the very thick primer on the walls. My hands have recovered (mostly) and today was just light brush work over the first coat of paint for a little texture. Since there has been no knitting progress, there won't be any pictures. SORRY! I also thought that I could post pictures of the before and after of the living room and bathroom but my mom had gotten started before I arrived Monday morning. Boo :( Anyway, back to the point, I have a renewed taste for any and all knitting and spinning. I hope to spend ALL my time over the next few days participating in fiber-related activities and I will try to make some interesting progress so I'll be able to post some interesting pictures!

Added later: I ordered and received the matching skein of yarn from Knitpicks for my Alexander sweater... I geuss that means I should get to finishing it sometime soon. I'm not really feeling like working on it right now. I'm going to need to find a way to motivate myself to finish it!

Eye Candy Friday

2007-03-16T14:15:00.000-06:00

Not much to blog about since the post last night. I knit another inch of the cardigan and a couple more rows of the shawl. I realized that if I didn't get going on the next chart of the shawl I would get something similar to second sock fever. Speaking of socks, tonight I plan to work on my Jaywalkers while Michael and I drive a friend to the airport and then while we are out hanging with some friends.

So, for Eye Candy all I have to offer you is some pictures of Fez being Fez.

Progress!!

2007-03-15T22:23:00.000-06:00

I just finished chart A of the shawl and so I don't post yet another entry of no pictures, here is a picture of unblocked lace. As you can see, it is a slightly larger blob than the previous progress picture. Also, I wasn't too concerned about the quality of this picture because you really can't see much of the pattern anyway.
Yesterday Maria and Val and I got together to knit on our spring cardigans and I progressed about another 4 inches in the stockinette pattern of the back, almost to the arm decreases. Again, here is another boring picture of stockinette.
In slightly more interesting news, Michael and I took a walk yesterday when he got home from work and the whole experience was very surreal. We were walking down a neighborhood street near our apartment complex and saw this very small girl wandering down the middle of the street! She couldn't have been more than 5 years old! I started freaking out. Honestly, why is this tiny girl wandering around alone?! So we approached her as friendly as possible and asked her if she knew where her house was; she said 'Yes,' so we asked her if she could show us her house. She continued walking in the direction she was going, which was actually toward a very busy, non-neighborhood street. When we got to the corner we stopped the little girl and asked her if she was sure that her house was down here. She said 'No' and that her house was on the circle... or something to that nature.

The street that we were walking on was very circular so we turned around and went back the way we came. We ran into several people and asked them if they had seen her before and knew where her house might be; everyone said that she didn't look familiar. We had to walk very slowly because the poor thing wasn't wearing any shoes and had tiny legs and was walking as quickly as she could. Finally, a man asked us if she was lost and we said yes. He told us that she was his neighbor and that her father was looking for her. Turns out the father was driving this huge, bright red pick-up truck down the middle of the road. The neighbor flagged the father down and he BACKED down a good two blocks of the street going MUCH faster than he should have been on a neighborhood street. The father paused his truck just long enough for us to point down the street a little ways to the neighbor with the little girl who had wandered into a cul-de-sac. He barely acknowledged our presence.

Now I understand a terrified father isn't going to be thinking about much else when he thinks that his less-than-5 year old daughter is lost, but I would have liked some recognition. The neighbor that had talked to us just kinda laughed it off, too. The whole occurance seemed very odd. We didn't see the father driving back down the road toward his home as we continued our walk. The neighbor seemed to think that this was a normal occurance.

The whole thing just left me with a very sick feeling. Or maybe it was the migraine that was starting to come on.

I was supposed to go to Boulder yesterday to play poker with Michael but I had a raging migraine and had to stay home. I thought that it might be a good time to get some work on my shawl done, but I had such little control over the finer techniques needed to make the needles form the stitches. Eventually I happened on the theory that spinning might help my migraine. Spinning distracted me in a calm way from the migraine experiences but it did not make it go away. The action of drafting the fiber and forming yarn was something that I could manage with my very shaky hands and the continued motion of my feet and legs masked the general shakiness of my mind and body. I'll have to try spinning through a migraine again in the future!

And now I plan to work more on the cardigan while reading random blogs (this seems to be my new late night past-time).

Bummer..

2007-03-14T13:05:00.000-06:00

I didn't get anywhere near meeting my goal on the shawl yesterday. I blame it on the mess of trouble that I ran into around row 61. I have absolutely no clue what went wrong, but there were only a few spots of horrible hell that took me THREE HOURS to fix. I didn't want to rip back because it was like 4 rows of over 250 stitches in lace yarn and I thought that I would just make more problems than I would solve. Anyway, it's not perfect but I decided that I can live with it and have moved on. I'm really just trying to get as much done as possible during this 'just began a project' phase where I'm really excited and want to see how it turns out. Sorry, no pictures today. I'm updating this as I'm on my way out the door. And, really, who wants to see some more sorry pictures of a lump of lace-weight yarn when you can't really decipher the shape or pattern?

Just a little progress

2007-03-13T13:02:00.000-06:00

I've really been working hard on my shawl and cardigan. Not a whole lot to show in the way of pictures, but both are coming along beautifully!

Once I got the shawl going (I cheated with the cast on!) it just kept going and going. Now, when I say I cheated I mean that instead of knitting in the round with 4 dpns, I only used three. I split the stitches in half on two needles and knit off of them for a few rounds before adding the fourth needle. WOW did that make it easier!
I have completed the first 51 rows of the pattern and am setting my goal for the day at completing chart A which is through row 84. I'm a little concerned that I might not make it, seeing as how every 2 rows the round increases by 9 stitches. I know that doesn't seem like much but I'm supposed to end with 387 stitches on the 84th row. I've got about 234 stitches now... that's a lot of increases!

Now, as far as the cardigan goes I've knit about 5 inches on the back piece and am now ready for the increases.
And I am fairly pleased with the even-ness of my stitches. This is a much closer picture than people would have an interest in looking at a knit garment. Sorry for the boring pictures, but the I've really got to get back to the shawl if I have any hopes of meeting my goal!

...Nothing

2007-03-11T14:25:00.000-06:00

The title of this post tells you how much progress I've had on my shawl. That gorgeous thing that I can't wait to finish is proving VERY difficult to start. You have to do a circle cast on and then knit around 9 stitches with dpns. The pattern uses size 7 needles but I prefer the look of this yarn on 5's. I've decided it's not the size of the needles that is the problem, it's the size of the yarn! The yarn is so tiny and... well... lacey that it can't support the weight of the size 5 needles or even grip the needles enough for me to knit with! I'm certain that once I get past the join and the first two rows of the pattern I'll be able to make significant progress. But I spent 2 hours on it last night and this is what I have to show for it:
In lighter news, the blog got 10 views on Friday!! And none were from me! I realize that it might have had something to do with the two updates so I am going to try to update a little more regularly in attempt to 'get my blog out there'.

Also, thank you so much for all the positive reviews on my yarn!! It is the first batch that I am truly proud of. I realize that I never showed a picture of the blue triple ply skein, so here it is.
And... that's all I've got for you today.

Eye Candy Friday

2007-03-09T23:34:00.000-07:00

Another delivery came today!
It's the yarn that Maria, Val and I bought for our spring cardigans. Maria's will be in green, Val's in white, and mine in pink. I've already knit up a swatch for gauge and let me tell you, this stuff is awesome! It's 100% cotton from Webs and the swatch came out perfect and has such wonderful drape and minimal curling even in stockinette. I can't wait to cast on for this project! Maria is tweaking the pattern tons to make it fit just the way she wants it to and I was going to as well. But then I did a lot more measuring and got all ready to make some calculations but found that the pattern was perfect as is!

Here, is a picture of 250 yards of that orangey-red merino top I spun up. I think it turned out beautifully! Each strand has some red and some gold in it and overall the skein is pretty even! I took some pictures of the yarn in the daylight but they weren't true to the color, so I snapped this picture as a last resort and it came out perfect!
Happy Friday!

Rant #1

2007-03-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

I guess there comes a time in every blog's life when a rant pops up so, here it is:

Wednesday night Michael and I went to a bar to play poker. Now, this isn't the normal bar that comes to mind when you hear something about a bar in a rant. This is a classy cigar bar in Boulder, CO. The place has class and I'm actually very comfortable there by myself (I won't set foot in another bar without Michael and it takes a LOT of prodding to get me in one with him).

Anyway, I got knocked out of the game towards the end of the tournament and sat at the bar with a beer and a book. I was CLEARLY enjoying myself, completely absorbed in my murder mystery (because the murder had finally taken place). Then, a man who could have EASILY passed for my father started chatting me up. He wanted me to do a scratch ticket (like the lotto) for him. He seemed a little off.... he didn't smell like he'd had a lot to drink but he sure was acting like it. So I went ahead and did the ticket, and then another.... I had to keep telling him that it was ok if I didn't do another. Then I really tried to look involved in my book again, but that is really hard when you're trying to keep an eye out for an more offensive advances.

During the conversation he had asked me if I was Matt's girlfriend (the bartender) and I said no but my boyfriend was in the cigar room (because he was!). Then he said it didn't matter because I had to be somebody's girlfriend. I was thinking to myself, "Thank god, now he'll leave me alone." He pulled out another scratch ticket! UGH!

I was very uncomfortable and could see the bartender watching us, which made me think that he'd had trouble with this creep in the past. That certainly didn't make me feel any better, even if Matt was quite strong and capable of handling this guy. Also, I distinctly remember seeing this guy somewhere before. I also remember taking a path on a wide circle that wouldn't cross his path in any way possible. At this time, I was trying to send telepathic messages to Michael willing him to come out, but it never happened.

I was trying hard to politely get the man to leave and he was just NOT paying attention. I don't like to make a big scene and so I felt like I really didn't have a way out of this situation. I could feel this creep checking me out whenever I wasn't looking and didn't want to excuse myself to the bathroom as a means of leaving. I WAS TRAPPED!

I don't want this to sound like every other guy-bashing rant in the blogosphere, but I don't really know what to say. I don't think it's fair that women should have to feel like they need escort in order to be safe. I don't think it's fair that in order to prevent any untoward advances, women have to be accompanied by a man.

I was wearing jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt, don't tell me that I was attempting to draw attention. If anything, I had thought that there might be more men there than I was used to and that I should dress appropriately.

My mom said that if I had said that I was with somebody he would have left me alone, so clearly things have changed since she was having this problem. I'm extremely frustrated with this! Does anybody else have this problem? What do you do?

OO!

2007-03-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Geuss what came today?!

And I had just got confirmation that it was being shipped on Monday!

Also, earlier today I was contemplating frogging the shawl that I was working on and attempting something from Victorian Lace Today. I've really been eyeing the large and gorgeous Cap Shawl on page 25. I have 4 skeins of yarn with 440 yds each that I was going to make the Diamond Shawl with. That's around 1700 yds, perfect for this new project!! I told myself that I would need to find the right needles to knit this up on because I had to downsize a few sizes with the first shawl. This would best be done on the new set of Boye needles that would be coming in the mail and that I would definatly have to finish the sweater before I could start anything new... That is a lot harder to stick to now that the needles have arrived!

I came to the realization that I should start a different shawl last night when I was knitting up a little bit on the current shawl. The diamond pattern just really wasn't interesting me and I was yearning for something with more natural lines; lines like you can see in the central motif of this shawl.
I've been plugging away on the sweater and am almost half way done with this last piece.

And now I will leave you with a picture of Fez, since we haven't seen him on the blog for a little while.
I should also mention that I've spun up most of that orangey red merino top that I bought quite some time ago. I plan to finish it up tomorrow and then ply it with itself. I know there's probably not enough of it to knit something from it by itself. However, I could probably use it to make the heels and toes on a pair of socks with yarn dyed to match this stuff I've been spinning.

Late Eye Candy

2007-03-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, I didn't know that the problem I was having with the Jaywalkers was a normal occurance! Perhaps my problems with the first pair of socks that I knit for my grandma were a lot more normal than I thought... I geuss I'll just have to start thinking a bit more about my knits. And here I thought that socks were going to be a break from that whole step of thinking and just be a quick FO!

When I restarted my pair of Jaywalkers, I decided that I wanted a little less of a pooling effect and have been alternating balls on each row. I like this look much more.
I've really been enjoying knitting these up. Then I was talking to Val and Maria (my two knitting friends) and we ordered our yarn for the spring cardigans that we want to knit together. We are following the pattern from Glamour Knits and I have chosen a pale pink yarn. I will only be knitting a three-quarter sleeve in an attempt to make a more 'springy' cardigan than most. Now, this pattern is knit up on 2s or 3s, I can't remember which exactly. I don't have both of these needles, but the Boye needle set does. I own a Denise needle set that I have been less than happy with. I wanted to trade my set for a Boye, but that seems harder than I thought. I just bought a Boye set online but really need to unload my Denise set so that I can break even on the needles. Before I can sell my set I realized that I need to finish my McQueen Knockoff Sweater because of the slight differences in needles across manufacturers.

SO..... even though I really enjoy knitting up my Jaywalkers, I have got to finish my sweater so that I can get goin on a sweater that I'll be able to wear MUCH sooner. This whole thing makes me sad. I cast-on for the last piece of the four piece sweater on Friday and I finished the ribbing as well as most of the first diamond repeat. Now there are about 120 rows left. If I knit 12 rows a day I'll be done in 10 days.... The only problem with that is I tend to knit REALLY tight on this sweater and the pinky on my left hand tends to lose some sensitivity and it feels really wierd if I knit for too long. I'll try to knit 6 rows in the morning and 6 rows at night then. Hopefully I can finish the sweater without amputating my pinky!

I also want to start on an afghan that will displace the HUGE red fleece blanket that takes up too much space to keep out on the couch every day. I bought a book of afghans quite a while ago, before I really got into knitting so I figure I'll go ahead and knit another project from it. This is the one I had in mind:
I want to knit this in a rusty-reddish color so that I can add some, well, color to my living room. Right now I have a beige-y couch and have ordered a beige-y chair from Target (that will hopefully be coming today!!). When I ordered the chair I knew that it would match much better than the hideous green Popesan chair we have now, but I didn't realize that I would be losing a lot of color in the room and I need to make up for it.

And in leau of having missed Eye Candy Friday, here is a picture of my newly washed car, enjoying the long overdue sunshine! If you have been living in Colorado, you know that this is a rare sight lately.

AGH!

2007-03-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago I spent 7 HOURS trying to wind a skein into a center-pull ball to start on the Jaywalkers. It was a huge tangled mess; when I finally got to the end there was a really small tangle that I ended up just cutting and making two balls of. Finally, I could start my socks. I've really been needing to do some nice, painfree socks lately. So I've been knitting along happily for the last 2 days. This picture shows my progress:

Well. On a whim I tried it on last night. I couldn't get the damn thing over my heel! I even made the larger of the two sizes and my gauge is only a half stitch off. It's really hard to get the gauge with the zigzag pattern, but it really can't be that far off. I did some calculations and if I were to add another repeat (21 sts) that would give me about an extra inch of circumference. But I'm sitting here wondering if that's what I want. Shouldn't I be able to stretch the yarn over my heel!? Is it that the yarn doesn't stretch enough or perhaps that the pattern doesn't allow for as much stretch? Any help anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated!

A little painting

2007-02-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I got together with my mom, aunt and sister. We painted a few pictures to adorn the blank wall in my dining room. We only got through these two, but plan to paint a third in a similar style.

Then, Michael and I went for some 'refreshments' at Old Chicago.

I tried to post yesterday and encountered this:

So I spent the rest of the day working on my sleeve, or so I swore. I was distracted with bowling and several different games with Michael and a mutual friend. Finally, I finished my sleeve at 2 in the morning while Michael slept next to me. All in all, I had a wonderful weekend.

LYS VISIT

2007-02-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

So, as you could have bet, I went to the yarn store today. I decided that I didn't really NEED any new books so when I got there I made sure to make a beeline past the books and right to the fiber 'nook'. When I got there I knew for certain I'd have to get some colored fiber becuase they had clearly gotten a shipment of fiber since I last gave it a good look. I almost forgot to get some undyed fiber! In the end, I left the store with a pound of undyed merino top, a pound of purple merino top, and a niddy-noddy.
The purple in this picture has a lot more sheen than it does in reality, otherwise the colors are fairly accurate. I can't WAIT to get started spinning up that purple. But I really shouldn't forget about that reddish-orange merino top I bought a couple weeks ago. Can you see it? CLEAR ... over.... there?

How about now?

It's sitting with two finished skeins... what is it doing over there? I think if it could answer that question, the reddish-orange merino top would say, "Being ignored." I'm going to have to spin some of that up, lickety-split.

Before I took the Lendrum back to Maggie's shop this afternoon, I had to ply some yarn up because some of it was on a Schacht bobbin not belonging to me. This is what that dyed fleece looks like spun up. It feels naked in this form and, thus, does not photograph well. Here you can see the variations from green to dark blue, but it is really not as obvious as it should be.
This picture is of a triple ply between the dyed fleece, a washed fleece, and an unwashed fleece.
The picture is a little blurry, or at least looks that way because of the plying effects. But you can see the white and yellow-ish colors of the two undyed fibers in contrast to the dyed strand. I plan to over-dye this skein with a teal-ish looking green in effort to lighten the over all color of the yarn. I'm really pleased with how this first triple-plying project came out and will probably do more in the future!

I am a weirdo

2007-02-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

You know all that stuff about how I would never buy myself a Lendrum? Well......

Yeah... I'm a weirdo. I brought a Lendrum home after Dye Day and did quite a bit of spinning, trying to use up a bunch of fiber before I had to return the wheel the following Saturday. And the Lendrum just grew on me. Maybe I'm just a lover of all wheels. I think I could live with that. Anyway, this wheel serves the purpose of being a first wheel, is easily portable if I should decide to join a spinning group, and is less than half the cost of the double treadle Schacht. It sure sounded like a good deal to me!

I'm really happy with my purchase. If I had gotten the Schacht or the Lendrum, I wouldn't have gotten a choice in the finished look of the wood, so that was a toss up and you can bet that I'll be getting a Schacht in the future when I become a wheel collecter! :)

This morning I've had quite a lot on my mind. I need to return the Lendrum I was using for the class either today or tomorrow. I have plans with my mom for tomorrow, plans that will take up the whole day so I would have to return the wheel before then. But if I return the wheel today should I buy more fiber? If so, how much? I also need a niddy-noddy and a copy of the Sensational Knitted Socks that I was holding captive from Val for so long. But I also want the new book Favorite Socks. I've seen it and love most of the patterns!

Ok, wait. I just bought a new sweater book and have a couple sock patterns that I'm going to knit up. I geuss I won't buy the second book, but I really need the first!

If I do end up going to the yarn store today, I'll post about my purchases. Ok, now I can move on to Eye Candy Friday. If you live in Colorado, you will truly appreciate this weeks selection. I can't post just one, I'm too happy to see so many signs of light and life!

Tada!!! A post!

2007-02-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Aside from the knitting that I did yesterday, I spent the week not knitting. I did not touch a single fiber of anything from the Friday post to Thursday night during spinning class. I just had a hard week emotionally. All the dreary weather finally got to me and put me in a funk. I almost didn't go to spinning class on Thursday! But I'm much better now. And for future reference I'm really trying to keep this blog positive so that it will keep me excited with my fiber related activities. Now, on to the news.

I have known pure bliss. And it comes in the form of a functioning spinning wheel. When I got to class Thursday night I didn't know if I still wanted a wheel anymore. It was bad, I needed a very quick rescue. And I got it. Maggie plopped a Lendrum in front of me so that I could actually spin during class. As soon as the fibers started flowing through my hands and producing that gorgeous yarn, all the stress of the last week just started to melt away. I actually said to Val, "I feel as if I've just had a glass of wine." It was amazing. And I don't even like Lendrums. Maggie allowed me to take her floor model of the double treadle Schacht home for one last try, as long as I brought it back on Saturday.

When I got home I plied up all the yarn that I had left and spun a little more. I felt whole again. I'm not going to lie, I was schocked at how much of a difference having a wheel in my life made. I put in an order for the double treadle Schacht yesterday. The VERY sad thing is that it won't be in for another 5 weeks!

Yesterday was Dye Day and the last day of class. I returned the Schacht and brought home a Lendrum. Throughout the day we dyed 12 1/2 oz. skeins of our yarn using various natural dyes and mordants. I won't pretend to be knowledgable about the subject but I'll post the information for those who might want to know. We used a mix of red and white onion skins, osage orange, cochineal, and cutch as our dyes and iron, copper and alum as mordants. When I saw the finished products, I determined that I liked all of the alum yarns the most because they seemed the most different.

I don't think that I could really become interested in dyeing because I didn't really care to witness the VERY subtle variations between the different dyes.

Here is the rest of the yarn drying in my strainer. I wouldn't say that the colors in these pictures are entirely accurate but they can demonstrate the palate that we were working with.

We also dyed a fleece with blues and greens so that we would have something colorful to spin up for the last week. Here it is drying on my table. (It's very hard to take a good picture of fleece)

There is quite a lot of variance in the darkness and color of the fleece. I'm excited to get spinning with it! I also have my red/orange topthat I bought a couple weeks ago that I haven't started spinning with yet. I might actually wait until I get my own wheel to work with that. We'll see how much spinning happens before I have to return the wheel.

On the knitting front, yesterday I finished up the first sleeve of the sweater, finally!

I also put in some time on my shawl. I had forgotten how much I enjoy knitting up the lace and watching the pattern unfold as I move through the repeats.

Val and I also agreed to a yarn trade. She gave me two skeins of her Redwood Forest from KnitPicks in exchange for my one skein of Koigu. I couldn't really see myself knitting anything worthwhile out of only one skein of yarn and I needed more yarn for the Jay Walkers that I want to do. I can see myself getting started on the Jay Walkers this week or next week because I feel I could use a new, smallish project.

However, I have realized that I prefer to knit sweaters in pieces (so far) because I feel like I get finished products faster. There are definite feelings of accomplishment when I finish the front panel or a sleeve. We'll see how I feel when I have to do the first seaming that I've ever done in my life.

NEW BOOK!

Yesterday after class Val and Stacy and I went to Borders and Barnes and Noble looking for the newly released Fitted Knits book by Stefanie Japel. I LOVE IT! The book has both classic styles as well as modern, more fashion forward knits as well as some unique ideas. I won't be taking picture of the pictures of the patterns that I like because there just too many. Perhaps I could do a one a day or a one a post type thing.

Also, I had an interview with Kforce on Friday (they are a scientific staffing firm). At the end of the interview the recruiter actually had a position in mind for me!! Its with a growing company in Golden called LUCA Technologies. They are working with methane producing organisms in an attempt to find alternative sources for energy. The recruiter said that they have 30 people right now and want to have 90 by the end of September. SO, if they hire me they would be training me and most likely creating a position for me! I'm really excited and hope that they contact me soon for an interview!

Well, I think that covers everything. I will be looking for a simple cardigan pattern to knit up for the spring. I'm thinking of a pale pink cardi with elbow length sleeves with the possibility for some embroidered flowers. Or I might just do some cute buttons or a pin. We'll see what I can find!

Brief Hiatus

2007-02-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the last week or so when I haven't updated. There wasn't much going on until about Thursday when I experienced true bliss in the form of a functioning spinning wheel. I promise a full update on the recent events of my life sometime tomorrow! With pictures hopefully.

I may have made a mistake...

2007-02-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

Last night at spinning we learned how to ply our yarns. I really think that mine turned out pretty good, for a first time. I looked like a fool while doing it, what with all the strands getting tangled up and trying to keep the wheel spinning in the counter-clockwise motion and remembering to move the in-coming yarn to a new hook quite often so the bobbin would still be functional. But I'm pleased with the results! Now, I just have to wash it and let it dry before the dye-day (in two weeks or so).

But the mistake that I made was bringing home the single-treadle schacht:

I tried to ply the rest of my yarn the last night........ DISASTER! I finally let Fez take over, he seemed much better at it than me:

Note the incredibly happy look on his face as he lays amongst all that mess, yarn and bobbins and all. That was nowhere close to the look on my face at the time. I decided that perhaps I should fall back and re-learn how to spin the normal uncarded fibers on the wheel first. That is my goal for today: re-learn spinning.

As for closing remarks about the Ashford, which I didn't get to yesterday, I don't like it. As painful as it is for me to say, it's true. I'm in love with the double-treadle Schacht and if I'm spending that much on a wheel, I'd better be in LOVE with it. Wednesday night, with a new bobbin on the Ashford, I let the wheel do what it wanted. Well what it wanted was spider-thin lace weight yarn. I filled up a bobbin with said yarn, simply because it was the only way that the wheel and I could get along. There was no peace for me when spinning with the Ashford. If I tried to make the yarn that I wanted, the wheel fought me every step of the way. If I let the wheel do what it wanted, I was unhappy with the weight of the yarn being produced.

I also talked to Maggie last night, she convinced me that I should get the Schacht too.. :)

Then I convinced myself that I needed to be certain that the double-treadle was the one for me and that is why I brought home that trouble-some single-treadle.... thing.

I also brought home some gorgeous fiber, something with a little color because I felt like I might be losing my lust for spinning because of all the bland white-ness that I was working with.

I don't think you can tell, but there are subtle twinges of orange and yellow amidst all the red that should make for an interesting spin. I, of course, won't be spinning this beautiful stuff until I can get the hang of the single-treadle.

Now, onto a more knitting front: I have finished the front, or back, piece of my Alexander McQueen Knockoff. This piece is so long that it is difficult to get an accurate representation of the whole in one shot, so here are two:

And I apologize for the somewhat inadequate quality of these pictures. I had to take them quickly because this was coming soon:

He makes things a little more difficult than one might want and I didn't feel like fighting him today. Also, I think that those last three pictures will have to be my entry for Eye Candy Friday. They are quite hilarious if you play the 'movie' in your head.

WOW!!

2007-02-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

So today I was just clicking along... reading the many blogs that I like to read in the morning... I got to the Yarn Harlot and noticed that she had referenced an email I had sent her... I looked a little closer and she actually linked my blog!! This is VERY exciting for me! I, of course, HAD to click the link.... and then I came to that horrible picture that I took of my grandmother's socks on my way out the door. I thought, well that won't work! I'm trying to get more people to read my blog, not look at the worst picture they've ever seen and click away!

And so I give you.... a day in the life of Fez:

I've also been discussing things over with Val again, about spinning wheels that is. I haven't mentioned here how heart-wrenching this deciding on a wheel thing is. I used to be in love with the Ashford traditional simply because it was gorgeous. Then I spun on the Schacht for a week. I fell in love with that wheel, the one that I never thought I would like because it looked much too modern for my tastes. I feel like the Ashford isn't quite working with me when I spin, at least not the way that the Schacht did. And of course it isn't! It doesn't cost $900... unlike the other one. I could get either one, I have the budget. Actually, 'the budget' means the money that I got from various sources for graduating college. Anyway. I could get either the Schacht or the Asford and a new chair for the living room in which I could do my spinning. This is the chair that I want.

Val convinced me that I should get a wheel that I love in every way, one that won't fight me when I want to spin some yarn. I wouldn't want to buy, for example, a husband who just sat in the living room looking pretty instead of working with me to make my life better. I shouldn't settle for something like that in a wheel. It has been decided. And just for the record, this is more money that I will be spending in one place than I ever have before (not including education, living space, and cars).

Tada!!!

2007-02-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

I finished Grandma's socks yesterday, just before we left for my parent's house to watch the Superbowl:

This pattern was MUCH more enjoyable than the original pattern. I actually had no problem getting through the second sock, at least nothing related directly to the sock. I got out to the post office and mailed them today. She should get them by Wednesday if they don't lie on the automated post office machines.

During the superbowl I continued work on my Alexander McQueen knock-off... I'm not sure if the sizing is right. I do not have a short torso but it's looking as if the sweater is going to be longer on me than it looks on various other people who have provided pictures of their completed works. However, I think that I'll continue to work on it, finish the front, cast-off and block the first piece. I'd rather not scrap the project just yet.

I've done a little spinning since I last posted. Friday I spun some greasy wool and yesterday I spun some clean wool. As per my experiment, the only difference was the cleanliness of the wool. I really think that spinning greasy wool is easier to remove the slubs before they cause huge bumps in my yarn. In the future, I geuss I won't be cleaning my wool pre-spinning even though I hate teasing and carding the dirty wool.

Spinning Class #3

2007-02-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

As you can see from my late post yesterday, I got to bring home the Ashford Traditional! I didn't buy it, it's one of the wheels in rotation in the class. After spinning on the Schacht last week, I finally got used to it Wednesday night. I think I'm going to experience something like that with this wheel. Once I tried a new wheel I realized that I had actually grown to love the Schacht! I would love to own one, but they are a little too expensive for my budget. Anyway, we oiled the Ashford up in class last night but when I got it home it started to squeak REALLY bad. I'm going to take it back down to the yarn shop today and see if it just needs some more oil.

I also got some more wool last night! And since I am so excited to start spinning on the Ashford, I gave the wool a good washing when I got home last night. Here is a before and after picture:

Because I had already spun all of the clean wool throughout the week, I had to spin dirty wool during class last night. While I hated teasing and carding it, spinning it actually seemed to give me more uniform yarn than I had been getting with the clean wool. So I am going to try an experiment (this explains why only half the wool in the picture has been washed). I am going to spin with dirty wool today and then clean wool tomorrow. This will allow me to compare my carding and spinning abilities. I might just be getting better at carding, picking out the stuff that I know won't spin up well, or it could be something about the lanolin in the fibers that is giving me a more uniform yarn. But we'll find out!

And here is some Eye Candy Friday. I took this picture during one of our recent flurries. The snow is dry and dusty so I knew if I didn't get the picture right away, it wouldn't be there for long.

Geuss who....

2007-02-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

Another wheel possibility?

2007-02-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

I was randomly looking through blogs and found someone with a Kromski Minstrel that caught my eye, so I did a google search. These kromskis are within my price range and are actually very nice to look at! I think I even like these more than all the other options, aside from the Ashford! They still have that traditional appearance in their spokes but are more streamlined like more modern wheels. The only problem is I don't know anyone who supplies these locally so I wouldn't have the chance to sit down and play with one before I bought it.

Plying tonight?

2007-02-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight I have another spinning class. I'm not as excited for it as I should be. I suppose part of it is because of this damn SAD and part of it is because I'm out of wool. Val thinks that we'll be learning how to ply tonight so we won't be needing wool. Hopefully Maggie will give us some more wool, otherwise I'll have to buy some. I am getting tired of spinning up boring old clean fleece, so I might just go ahead and buy some dyed batts anyway.

I've also been thinking about spinning wheels again. Last night I made the realization that the Schacht that has spent the last week with me appears more beautiful than it did when I first brought it home. I looked through some spinning wheel suppliers again and composed a list of a few acceptable wheels.

These four are within my price range and met crude requirements of aesthetic beauty. I'm going to have to examine these wheels tonight and possibly try one or two to see if I can cross a few more off my list. The only reason I would not get the Ashford is if the orifice not being directly in the center of my body turns out to be a problem. Also, I was looking through various flickr.com albums and noticed that I would like a darkly treated ashford, it would probably go with my decor better. One more thing, I don't like the way that the Lendrum slants towards the spinner, over your legs, when treadling.

I probably should not make any decisions until I'm out of this SAD slump. I'll have to keep telling myself, "NO WHEEL. Don't you buy that!"