Anomaly Knits

Blame the yarn.

2011-03-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Knitters all start on the quest for fiber satisfaction the same way: They forge bright-eyed into the world of wool, delighted at the thought of creating something with nothing more than some string, two sticks, and their own wits. Whether the eventual goal is purely functional, such as dish towels, or tangible expressions of affection, as demonstrated by the myriad of baby items churned out despite the knowledge that they'll only fit for a week, all knitters begin at the same place...wondering if that's really how it's supposed to look.

While it's easy enough to find instructions on the building blocks of knitting, there are certain tricks that those learning on their own simply aren't exposed to. Every book and web site goes through the same how-to-start list, but neglects to mention some fundamental truths that, if noted, would spare many a would-be knitter hours of frustration and feelings of failure.

To fill the informational hole that causes so many to falter, here's the first item from a list of Things No One Tells New Knitters.

It's The Yarn's Fault.

Like many others, when learning to knit I went to the closest big-box craft store for supplies, including yarn. With absolutely no working knowledge on fiber in any form, I chose some 100% acrylic Lion Brand Homespun. The results were disastrous, and it wasn't until much later in my knitting career that I realized it wasn't my fault. The yarn itself was of an incredibly unforgiving nature--with no elasticity, the stitches were difficult to knit, and nearly impossible to see once worked. Even now, I can't stand the stuff (sorry, Lion Brand).

To anyone preparing to embark on the knitting journey, please save yourself the trouble of a poor yarn choice. Find yourself a nice, simple, light colored wool. Turn away from the sparkling distraction of the metallic ribbon and eyelash yarns, for they lead only to heartache and despair. Wool is truly the best for learning-the natural elasticity means you won't have to fight to get your needles through the stitches, and have more play as your hands figure out the best way to keep your tension even (more on that later). Wool is also feltable--that is, given the right conditions the fiber sticks to itself. Think of a sweater that accidentally gets thrown into the dryer. It comes out smaller, and the material no longer has any individual stitch definition; it's a solid, dense mass. While this doesn't seem like a plus initially, it makes a world of difference regarding how the stitches behave. Because of that natural "clinginess", wool is less likely to slip willy-nilly from your needles. If a rogue stitch does decide to hop loose, the surrounding work tends to keep it in place while you pick it back up, rather than letting it slide all the way down (dropping a stitch creates a run that is fixable but still a pain in the tookus).

The color and texture of the yarn also makes a much bigger difference than many would suspect. A light colored, evenly spun yarn makes it much easier to "read" your knitting--that is, look at the work to see the individual stitches to check for mistakes, etc. Knobby, schlubby yarns can be fun once you understand the basics, but make it impossible to see what you're doing as you learn, and darker colors are by nature more difficult to distinguish than lighter ones. That dropped stitch mentioned earlier is infinitely easier to spot and correct if it's plainly visible rather than hidden in a sea of nubby black fuzz.

It seems so simple once it's explained that it's almost easy to understand why experience knitters wouldn't think to mention it, but for those just beginning it's a critical detail that too often goes unsaid. The difference between a truly gratifying first knitting experience and feelings of failure and defeat that could turn one away forever lies in the yarn.

So to anyone out there struggling, beating themselves up over an acrylic eyelash scarf that just doesn't seem to want to work, that refuses to look right, that fights every stitch of the way, remember: It's the yarn's fault.

Transfer

2010-02-25T09:16:00.000-08:00

Brought over from my Myspace blog, since I'm afraid it will disappear into the ether as I continue to neglect said site.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Turkeys and birthdays
Current mood:enamored
Category: Life

Thanksgiving here was exactly what it needed to be for Harlan, Mom and myself, and that was LAZY. No time constraints, things plucked slowly along as we felt like doing and we spent loads of time on the couch between whiles. We even got crazy and baked a frozen pie a day early for my birthday (we're not big cake eaters, and when your birthday is one day off a major food holiday you get used to sharing it at a young age; no complaints) and nibbled on that while waiting for the turkey to finish roasting. Yum.

Then, Friday morning (yep, Black Friday, my birthday, and one I planned on staying holed up inside because the whole shopping craze freaks me out) I woke up to some strange belly activity. Starting around 4AM, I hopped in the shower and decided it was false labor. Sat and watched a bad movie on demand with the sound almost completely off so as not to disturb anyone else, since I wasn't quite comfortable laying down and couldn't get back to sleep right away, then tried the bed thing again. Come 10:30 or so, woke back up to much of the same, except this time the shower didn't have any effect. A flurry of activity ensued as Mom and Harlan flew around emptying the car, rigging up car seats, finding hospital bags and packing new ones and throwing new stuff in the already packed ones...then we went back to chilling out, more or less, because things at that point weren't far enough along to merit heading out.

Till about...Noon? Noon-thirty? Harlan called the midwife, and I about snapped when he tried to give me the phone mid-contraction (I was bent over the table in the hallway, unable to speak, and she apparently wanted to "hear me". Dunno what she was listening for, since I couldn't do much other than try and make myself breathe). Then it was time to go.
As an aside to anyone out there who's never been pregnant but might be some day---that car ride? You'll think it's the most uncomfortable thing EVER...till you actually hit active labor.

We got to the hospital, Harlan ran out for the wheelchair, I got in it and Mom went to park...and Harlan and I immediately found ourselves lost in empty corridors with nary a doctor in sight. The whole complex is linked up, so technically it's one big building...but were we went in, the elevator didn't go to the right floor. So we got out and found a different elevator...which ALSO didn't go to the right floor. It was funny then, and it's freakin hysterical now. We have a long and distinguished history of getting lost while going places we've already been, but I really think this one took the cake. We passed at least 4 empty nurses' stations before we stumbled on the correct set of elevators.

Once we got there...well...You know how it goes...Or if you don't, it goes like hours of contractions that get progressively worse, till you find yourself hollering into whatever you can find to shove your face against, be it the back of a chair, the bed, or your husband's stomach. (Good man.) I went from being kind of proud of myself, thinking "Okay, yes. This sucks. This sucks pretty hard, in fact. But it's not SOOO bad that I need to be making a big racket like they always show...This is going to be doable..." And it's a good thing I was still at that point when the nurse (henceforth referred to by Yvonne, which was her name) explained about the hour or so it takes to get the medication set up in case I decided I wanted it. I was still super-cocky at that point, but I definitely remember the point where I had to move to the bed to try some different positions to get my flipping cervix out of the way and thought, "Wow...I totally understand why people would want medication to get through this."

Another side note--The point where, if your cervix is posterior (there's basically a little lip that wont' get out of the way, therefore stopping the progression of labor and getting pinched and stuff), the nurse has to manually push it out of the way so things can get moving is the point where you realize the car trip weren't nothin'.

It's hard for me to say how quickly things progressed throughout the day--I was a little too preoccupied to track the hours. Yvonne was pretty much fantastic, and not only kept me moving around to different positions to keep things productive (despite my exhaustion--she just had the demeanor that made me listen instead of getting pissed off) was extraordinarily tolerant of my almost breaking her thumb ("Ana, honey, Yvonne has small children and you're going to break her thumb, I need you to let go.") Harlan was right there, making sure I had the numb hand so it wasn't such an issue, and even sat behind me at one point to help me out since I couldn't hang on to him with both hands otherwise. I actually pulled something in my shoulder trying before Yvonne got him set up in the bed with me. Mom was apparently pushing and breathing with me, though I was oblivious to it at the time; she was kind of the background support and providing necessary fanning and juice. You have not experienced cotton mouth until you've been in labor.
After about five hours, Garrett Cole made his appearance (6:05 PM) and I really couldn't do anything but look at him saying "Oh my god" when they put him on my chest. I did register very quickly that he wasn't a scary alien-baby, and then after they wiped his face a bit I realized he was actually a pretty darn good looking newborn. After a while, it was time to cut the cord, and I would've laughed if I hadn't been so exhausted when they looked at Harlan all expectantly. We both said "Noooo that's not necessary, but Grandma can do it if she wants!". They blinked a little, but went with it, and Mom did in fact cut the cord (...ew). I had to stay lying down while they put a few stitches in (I guess my "grunty pushes" weren't quite grunty enough) and Harlan got to snoodle the baby while they did the initial procedures. He weighed exactly six pounds, which everyone was amazed by (to the point where they insisted we take a picture of the numbers on the scale) and can stretch out to 18 3/4 inches. Yvonne and the others coo'ed over how tiny and perfect he was, especially how alert he was. Medicated babies don't stare at everyone around them with big, wide blue eyes, trying to figure out what the fuck just happened.

I had other things I was going to add, but it'll have to wait, as he just mew'ed from the bed. More to come.

In response to a comment regarding the pain:

The funny thing about it as far as pain goes--the instant he was out I was like "WOAH I feel better!" Renenbering it, it doesn't really stand out as having been bad despite being the single most physically demanding thing I've ever done...like, I have to try and step back for the logical, "Might not seem that bad now, but there was a reason I was screaming and (apparently) cussing the whole time."
Little Man is amazing though--totally worth it.

Ashes to ashes...

2010-02-25T09:12:00.001-08:00

The day before last was spent in the soon-to-be-nursery dragging the not-so-sucktastic (which would be a compliment to a vacuum--being sucktastic, that is) Bissell monstrosity around by the hose. The sawdust war has begun, and I'm not sure who won the first battle. While the huge piles in the windows and corners have been vanquished, the floor is still not quite the color it should be, and the aforementioned Bissell managed to express its displeasure at the extended usage (I was crawling around for over an hour) by falling over on me repeatedly. Kind of hurt, but I have to say I felt pretty darn accomplished at the end of it. Some of the unusual items I vacuumed include (in no particular order):

-the window

-a giant purple suitcase. Not Barney purple, more a deep eggplant. Very nice. I've been told it's not practical though, since it's bigger than standard checked-luggage allowed at airports...it will require further cleaning attention before we try and sell it.

-a normal-sized black suitcase

-TWO pack-n-plays, one of which was an expensive hand-me-down that I loathe, the other is one Mum picked up at a garage sale when I first told her I was pregnant. It has elephants, is adorable, and is considerably easier to assemble and break down than the pricey one.

-a wicker love seat. Sawdust definitely won round one on this one...I'll keep you posted as the battle rages on, as this was actually the point where I got depressed over the lack of progress and quit for the day. I don't want to talk about it.

-the yarn bags. I actually put the hose up to one or two balls to see if it'd help...it just made my Superwash Bamboo fuzzy. Crap...will have to re-evaluate yarn cleaning options.

-the saw and saw horse that caused the whole stinking mess in the first place (I couldn't drag it out of the room and through the house the way it was!)

So I've made some progress, to be sure, just not as much as I would have liked. I think I'll have to pull out the *new* Swiffer cover that I knit up and take it for a run in there to see how it fares against fine sawdust, because the vacuum is doing NOTHING to get it off the floor. Might use it on the walls, too...you never know.

I'd post the pattern for said Swiffer cover, except it's going to be an item we'll be making and putting up for sale. That's right folks (I like to imagine there are people out there reading this) we're going to be making all-natural soaps as well as all the washcloths, scrubbies, soap sacks, and other miscellaneous items you could possibly need to clean yourself and your home. It's very exciting. More details to come...

PS-After reading my last, slightly whiny blog, I feel like I should apologize (although again, I'm not sure there's anyone to apologize to other than myself). While the breakdown given was technically correct on many days, the truth is I was feeling particularly loathsome when I wrote that up so it really was much more "blah" than it ever should have been. Things really aren't that bad, and obviously sitting down to type up a blog isn't something that's going to make or break me regarding tasks in a day. Wah-fest is done, and shan't be repeated.

Failing

2010-02-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

This blog thing is not as easy to keep up with as I had imagined it would be. Heck, the baby isn't as easy to keep up with as I had imagined. Where I believed I'd have all sorts of spare time to have knitting fly freely off the needles while my darling child slept soundly beside me, the reality set in and kicked my butt about two months ago. Yes, he's a little dearheart, and seems to know exactly when Mommy is about to have some sort of meltdown so he can shoot me one of his big, goofy, gummy-mouthed smiles to avert the aforementioned pending disaster. But his sleeping time has become one of three things:

1-Nap time. Seriously. After the first few weeks of snatching 2-3 hour blips of sleep and functioning mostly on adrenaline, I thought I'd feel SPECTACULAR when the bullfrog started sleeping longer. Well, he has, and to be honest I feel worse now than I did before. Maybe it's because I'm hitting deep sleep and being wrenched back out of it before I've had half as much as I need, but I feel more run-down the more sleep I get.

2-Frantic Cleaning Time. Because as we all know, the dirt doesn't stop just because you want it to. Nor do the dishes wash themselves. (Why haven't scientists gotten on this one? I'm not talking dish washer, that requires loading and unloading and gets full. I want self-washing dishes that put themselves away.)

3-Cooking. This one isn't such a big deal, except when there's something on the menu that takes more focus and energy to put together than I can muster--usually because I skipped #1 to work on #2. I've come up with some tasty new things, and everyone is enjoying dinner time, but if I really work on this like I want to, it leaves a mess that loops back to #2 either that night or the next day, either of which--one again--interferes with #1.

Nap time eclipsed knitting time long ago, and I can't even get that in as often as I'd like. The house is still a happy little disaster and is never as clean as anyone would like, and there's still at least one night a week where I throw something frozen--usually fish--in the oven because I'm just too beat to consider anything else.

How do people do it when they're working full-time?? I hardly ever leave the house and I feel like I'm drowning in unaccomplished tasks.

I think what I'm going to try and do is set myself up a schedule. Yes, it's a little lame and will probably end up looking like those chores sheets parents set up for their kids, but I do well with lists. I'm sort of neurotic about them, actually, it's one of the many things that makes Ravelry so dangerous (but that's neither here nor there). I'm also going to be setting up a spreadsheet to plug in the month's grocery expenditures so we can figure out where all the money's going and get the spending under control. Having a weekly menu planned helps, and I had tried to set things up for Monday and Thursday shopping days, but life seems to interrupt way too often to make that work the way I'd like it to.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything on my computer that does spreadsheets. Not even Microsoft Word, let alone Excel. So the first order of business will be to get that straightened out...because there are all sorts of knitterly pursuits that could be documented as well.

So Far, No Good

2010-01-31T01:25:00.000-08:00

I've made a lot of fuss about wanting to get my stash organised this year, but so far my progress has been nil. I blame the ongoing construction, not only for my dismal lack of progress but for some several tears shed on behalf of the stash.

Several bags (hey, the cedar lined trunk isn't big enough fr everyone, so some had to go into bags...they're the good reusable ones though, I'd never be caught dead with plastic) were put into what will be the baby's room, when it's all said and done. This happened after the majority of the flooring was laid, after which there was a lull as Link waited for another box of said flooring to finish it off. It was one of those excruciatingly frustrating moments similar to nearing the end of a project only to find you don't have enough yarn to bind off...not pretty. After the flooring made it home, I never really stopped to consider all the stuff in the room because it usually takes the boys a while to get things moving.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I woke from a nap downstairs to find the floors complete...with the saw set up practically on top of a nigh-overflowing bag of yarn. The victory of a finished room was shattered by the layer of sawdust that's covering EVERYTHING. Yarn, love seat, pack-n-plays, you name it, it's all filthy. The chore I now have in front of me includes re-laundering anything that will fit in the washing machine, and doing my best to clean by hand anything that won't...including the walls.

The real heart breaker was the yarn though, since very little of what I have is washable. I stood there crying for a few minutes before flying into a raging fury and spent the rest of the day stomping around with a repeating litany of "Why didn't they TELL me they were doing the floor?! Or, heaven freaking forbid, think to MOVE THINGS OUT F THE ROOM BEFORE THEY STARTED SAWING?! Or cover it! We have miles of painter's plastic lying around, how hard would that have been?!" Not that righteous indignation has ever really gotten me anywhere, or magically removed depressing amounts of sawdust from a substantial amount of yarn.

This all happened last month, and as yet I've made no move to correct it. Why, you ask? Because now they're constructing WALLS. The mess makes me miss the good old days of floor installation. It's a good wall, necessary even, and the closet will make life appreciably easier once it's in. But for the time being, it's miserable and dusty and dangerous as lumber and furniture and scraps of drywall get shifted around a very tight space. I already have plans to move downstairs into the spare room with Garrett when sanding begins, because that's just going to be too much. I'll have to take some refuge yarn with me as well.

Pictures!

2010-01-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

-Will be up either later today or sometime tomorrow. I'm such a tease.

I did find the camera though, which is the first step in photo-documentation. I even took a few pictures. Not of everything, though, and dangit, I want it all!

Last night in a wine-induced tipsiness, I finished off the Seaweed I was working on so as to use it while running around for appointments today. I need to go back around the button holes to tighten them up a bit (apparently 2 stitches was too many to cast off-ah well) but other than that, I declare it perfect. The Cadena yarn from Knit Picks knit up beautifully, the color is exactly what I hoped it would be (not too orange, not too purple, and not too bright) and while it fit over the Little Man well, there's plenty of stretch for him to grow in to. I'm excited to make myself a matching hat, and maybe one for him too, since there will probably be enough yarn left and the last one I made him is now too small. Not trying to be stupidly match-y, but I'm working on a limited budget here.

Other than that, things are a mess because of renovations, but that's another post altogether as I now need to go change a diaper.

Success: A Delayed Report

2010-01-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

The pants are a total rockin' success, though it took some reworking and heartache to get them there. The folks on the Knitty boards saved my butt--or should that be Garrett's?--by recommending I cut the pants in half, pick up the stitches on either side, knit in the extra length, then graft the two sides back together. Certainly more time consuming than just picking up stitches...especially when you inadvertently splice into a short row...but despite the hours of extra work (yes, hours. What of it?) it really was worth it. The grafted seam is pretty much invisible, unless you're me and looking really hard for it, and the stretchiness has not been compromised.

They've had quite a bit of wear already, more as pants than soaker-longies since the fabric's not quite dense enough for my liking, and my only minor complaint is the alpaca's lack of memory--the waist band is a bit loose, but I can always weave a ribbon or something through to tie.

In other news, we found the camera! If I have time tomorrow around Mama Dorothy coming over to help me figure out diaper patterns, I'm going to take pictures of all my FO's to post. = ) Yay!

Pantsed

2010-01-07T05:25:00.000-08:00

Last night, after a few days of steady knitting, I completed the longies for Garrett. Thrilled at the prospect of having him wear them out tomorrow to show them to Jen, who provided the yarn, I did something that usually takes at least a week of procrastinating and not only grafted the crotch seam, but wove in all the ends as well.
Needless to say, I was feeling like some pretty hot stuff-I mean I did the short rows and everything. After waiting rather impatiently for the kiddo to wake up (it seemed mean to wake a baby just because I'm a nut) I excitedly rushed to try them on, loudly bragging on myself while fighting to get his silly little kicking feet through the leg openings. They looked good, no, great!

Till I picked him up and realized his diaper was hanging out the back...not a good quality in a soaker. The stupid rise isn't high enough, so now I have to try and pick up at the waistband and add another couple inches. It wouldn't bother me as much if it was garter or stockinette, but I'm afraid it's going to screw up my nice stretchy ribbing. I put a post up on the Knitty boards, so hopefully I'll get either reassurance or a different fix-it method.

Sigh.

The New Year

2010-01-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

2009 flew by, and so much happened it's sort of pointless to try and summarize it all here. To hit the major points of the last few months, all I really need to say is that Garrett is here, healthy, and an amazing little creature that leaves me awe-struck every time I look at him. It's enough to make me forgive the time he's cut out of my knitting (haha).

I've never been much for new year's resolutions, but I think this year I'm going to make an effort...there are other people who will benefit from my self-improvement, and while I might not be motivated enough to make changes for myself, I love them more than enough to at least try.

The big thing is to try and keep things better organized. We're still unpacking from the move, and aren't likely to be finished any time soon since the flooring in the baby's room isn't done yet. I refuse to unpack only to have everything covered in saw dust, so our room is still an obstacle course. Once we CAN unpack though, I want to try and find a place for everything, and to keep it there. I've been systematically opening boxes of clothing to try things on, and have ousted more than half of what I've seen. Between things not fitting properly after 9 months of pregnancy (the hips are wider and aren't likely to magically go back, so there's no point trying to keep pants that won't zip) and them just being old and worn out-I'm not keeping anything that was purchased in middle or high school-most of the things that I've been carrying around the past few years are better off in a thrift store than in my closet. As I slowly replace things, I'm going to try and make sure I have a slightly more adult wardrobe. I don't know what the heck I'm going to be doing in the coming year, but I do know I'm tired of feeling shlubby all the time. Garrett deserves to NOT look like he's the spawn of poor white trash.

As far as this all applies to knitting, I've already gone through my Ravelry projects and queue to remove things I'm not doing and tagged the queued items and moved them to favorites so the queue is ACTUALLY a working queue. I'm going to try and keep better track of all those bajillions of patterns I have marked, and am going to figure out the stash thingie to get the yarn under control. I have to go through everything I have, put it in there, and then go through and see what I can make on the queue or in the faves from what I already have. Money's just too tight to go out and buy more yarn every time I get the itch to cast on. I also need to finish frogging the sweaters I bought at the thrift store to salvage the yarn, which will increase the stash as well. Having it in Rav will help me keep track of the salvaged fiber contents as well (hopefully!).

Anyway, on to current projects. I have a skein of really pretty brown Berocco Ultra Alpaca that Jen sent to me via Harlan, which I've been eyeing and dying to cast on since it came home. I exercised a little self-control though, and (mostly) finished Mom's holiday stocking first. Granted, I still need to graft the toe and pick up the afterthought heel, but the main part is complete and really, it's not like it's going to get any use before next December anyway. The baby needs pants NOW! So I have my favorite Chiagoo bamboo needles poised and ready to go, after a bit of time looking over different soaker patterns I decided to splice a few together. Between the Spare Ribs pattern and the Curly Purly one, I think I'll get the fitted waist I want to reduce bulk and the stretchiness to let the kiddo grow into it a bit...not to mention the room for the various flat and prefold diapers that add all different amounts of poof to his butt. I'll keep you posted on how it goes, and if things work I'll put up the spliced pattern I came up with.

If things work the way I hope they will, I'm going to try some foot-up longies starting with the stay-put bootie pattern. The ones I made from the leftover Merino 5 are fantastic, but are going to be too small for him soon. We also have a definitive lack of pants, so I think it'd be a good idea to try some footies.

All this talk of soakers is too much--I have to go cast on now. But my other resolution is to post here at least once a week, just to keep my head straight. Maybe next time I'll bemoan my inability to find a suitable yarn for Mom's Zora.

Oh my

2009-11-19T05:17:00.000-08:00

I really am bad at this updating thing, aren't I? At least I can console myself with the knowledge that the reason for my distraction is baby preparation. In that vein, I'm pleased to announce that the nursery is at least one coat of paint closer to being complete. The green is on the walls, and I love it and am rather proud for having mixed it myself. I just need to put a little blue on the trim around the closets, and call it a day. Other than that, the footing is the only thing upstairs that still needs a coat of paint (didn't know the boys were coming to install it, or I would have painted it before it went down) and I can't physically crawl around on my hands and knees to do it right now. So until there's a little baby around to make things a little more difficult, the footing stays three different colors and I've decided to be alright with it. I've also taken apart all the hand-me-down baby stuff to wash it all, so the carrier and co-sleeper have both been cleaned up to my standards. Woot!

As far as the knitting is concerned, the little trousers I was so excited about last post? Frogged less than 24 hours into the project. After an hour or two of plucking slowly along with tiny yarn on tiny needles, I was already at the point where I was having to pep-talk myself over the perceived lack of progress---it just wasn't going anywhere fast, but I was willing to keep at it if only to try and make the super-cute mental image in my head an eventual reality.

That was up until the point where I realized with horror that I'd twisted the stitches. Fits of rage and frustration ensued (after at least two more rounds of "Maybe not! Maybe I just have the stitches squished funny!"), I ripped the whole thing back, and threw that tiny yarn back into the bin. At some point I'll fish it back out and probably try again, almost definitely holding the yarn double so it doesn't seem like such a fruitless endeavor (I like noticeable progress after hours of work, so sue me!) but for now I'm happy with other things...not including the substitute trouser-jumper things I've almost made out of horrible chunky acrylic. Worst. Yarn. Ever.

Between weaving in the ends of the baby moderne blanket (crochet edge worked out fine, and there's only two or three inches towards one corner where it's slightly less wide than the rest as I ran out of blue yarn) I whipped out a ridiculously cute little top-down hat, complete with a Techknitter TKIO boing at the top. Inspired, I also dove into my Ravelry favorites to go through the baby things I'd marked but done nothing with, and busted out a pair of Stay-Put Baby Booties. While the first one took a little bit longer than I'd like to admit, since it took me a while to figure out the best way to pick up from the sole (I was multitasking, damnit), once it was done I was able to fly through the second without even looking at the pattern. Amazing little moon-booties, and I'm not ashamed to say I'm more than tempted to make them in grown-up sizes. I can think of at least two people who might appreciate ridiculous moon shoe slippers, and I really did enjoy whipping those suckers out once the pattern clicked in my head.

Other things are afoot (hah) before that happens, however. The first of many yule stockings is nearing completion, Lauren's to be precise, and I had another one of those intensely gratifying "Aha!" moments when the theory of the Afterthought Heel snapped into focus. We're at the home stretch and I have to say, for my second fair isle project it's looking pretty darn snazzy. I can't wait until Harlan wakes up and I can ask him to figure out how to get the battery out of the camera so I can charge it and take pictures...and then ask him to figure out how to get them up on here.

What else is on the plate at this time...I have a big skein of camo-colored yarn to do a hat for Mom's school roommate that I think is really ugly, but hey. It's not going on my head, right? Elden also picked up some yarn for a pair of fingerless mitts, and I have a couple ideas for cabling to jazz up the charcoal. Boring color palette, but I'm hoping I'll be able to keep it interesting. He likes owls a lot, so I'm probably going to try and work the owl cable into it some how. Maybe do one with owls, the other like a tree-? Try and do the owl IN a tree? It needs more thinking, but there's hope that it won't be the most tedious, boring project ever.

Other than that...after throwing some baby stuff in a bag to take to the hospital, I'm filled yet again with an overwhelming urge to knit up a bunting. We have several of the little sack-shirt things, but they're all pretty light cotton. Good for general use, not so much for going outside in the cold. I might just have to set aside my aversion for man-made fibers and hit the stash for some of the gifted skeins of machine-washable acrylic, because I don't have the money to go find more superwash. It's looking like all other promised projects are going to get shuffled aside--again--while I frantically kick out another baby item. I figure acrylic for what's essentially going to be an outerwear kind of piece isn't too bad...not like a sweater or something where he's going to be in it all the time and be sweltered by it....See me trying to convince myself? It's going to happen regardless, but I still need to talk myself up to it. Another reason for Harlan to get up--my trunk-o-yarn is upstairs and there's no way for me to get at it quietly. Rats.

Pattern notes

2009-10-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be starting a pattern from the French Chic Baby Knits book I picked up. As I'm completely broke and don't have a snowball's chance in hell at getting the called-for yarns, I sucked it up and swatched the blue fingering-weight cotton from one of the SalvAl frogged sweaters. Gauge on US3 needles is about 7 sts per inch (I say almost because the 7th stitch just barely ooched up on the one inch mark) which puts me about where I need to be, I think.

Pattern as written calls for the front and back to be worked seperately, but I think that's just leaving myself open for a lot of seaming heartache...so here I go, my first attempt at altering a pattern to do it in the round. I'm not sure what the rules are as far as putting the pattern up here in its entirety so I can keep track of the measurements, so I'm just going to put little bullets where they are in the book and notate the changes that way.

*CO126 (63); finish as written
*K 54 (27) and leave on a spare needle, cast off 18 (9), K to end. Cont. on 54 (27) sts now rem on needle for one leg, finish as written

...Not as much math as I was really worried about, so I think I'll be alright if I put markers where the original counts were so I can keep them all straight and can keep myself going on these tiny needles with tiny yarn.

Repeat with me now: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

New Old Books

2009-10-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

The Husbeast and I have been ransacking the house since we've been here trying to go through all the piles of STUFF so we can get things ready for the baby. There's been a lot of shuffling things around, including a bunch of old books that have been doing nothing but gathering dust for the past 20 years or so. So we started going through them, got the OK from Mum on the ones we wanted to get rid of (so we didn't unknowingly oust some hugely important sentimental tome), and went up to a used bookstore that takes books for store credit.

Can I just take a minute to say....WIN!

I got a copy of Knitted Gifts, which is by the same lady who did Zen and the Art of Knitting. I loved that one, and will hopefully someday have it again (I lent it to a friend in Pittsburgh after teaching her to knit) so I'm excited for this one. It's kind of nice that it's a bunch of little short pieces--very handy for waiting rooms, which I've been seeing a lot of lately.

There's also French Chic Baby Knits, which seemed to transcend hours of Ravelry-induced baby-stuff-overload. It was like, "Here, it's a perfect simple romper just like you've been looking for but never quite nailed down. And a jacket or two, and some different booties and hats as well." Fan-flippin-tastic. The only issues are that A-it is French, so it admits early on that a lot of the yarns used aren't easily accessed outside Europe and B-it's an older book, so even the yarns that are in Ravelry have been discontinued. Ugh. Lots of fingering-weight stuff from the look of it though, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and whip out some gauge swatches. Siiiigh....it'll be worth it though, right?

The last one is A Passion for Color. The first half is on dying techniques using natural dyes, which is really the coolest thing ever and had me all excited in the store. The second half is a total trip...The patterns are HORRIBLE. Like, cartoon jester horrible, complete with poofy sleeves, a gathered waist and cuff with ginormous ruffles....Halloween costume worthy ridiculous stuff with CRAZY amounts of patterns going all over the place. The saving grace for the pattern half of the book is that some of the fair isle charts are pretty neat, so long as you take them individually. Throwing 15 on one garment? Total train wreck...but there were a good lot of them that I think will be awesome by themselves on hats and things.

All in all, very exciting...

As far as actual projects, the Moderne baby blanket is done save weaving in ends, including the crochet border I did since I don't have the book to see how it was actually supposed to be done. I just wish I could find a flipping tapestry needle--it's SO FRUSTRATING being so close to being done (on two projects, mind) and not being able to just wrap it up and finish.

Other than that...the only thing still on the needles right now is the mohair scarf. I want to start something new, but I can't quite decide what it should be. I'm torn between wanting to do baby things (which is sort of limited by what I have in the stash that's washable) and feeling like I should put things together to try and sell. Maybe I should just take already finished things out in the sun for a photo shoot tomorrow, and then let people look at pictures to order things rather than trying to guess at what they'll want. Mum stole my February Lady to take to school a while back, and people keep telling her to bring a portfolio of what I can do so they can order Christmas gifts...hmm....

Catching Up

2009-10-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I've used this blog; I admit that I usually default to the old Myspace blog when the mood strikes. I have, however, come to the conclusion that 99% of the people I know and have on Myspace don't give a hoot about knitting or yarn or any of that other good stuff. So it's all going here so I can get it out of my system.

Many things have been accomplished since we moved back to Virginia. Aside from weaving in the ends of my February Lady (still have no buttons, but it hasn't stopped me from wearing it), I whipped out a top-down raglan from some of the Lamb's Pride bulky we picked up at Autumn Moon Fest. $10 for 8 skeins...it still makes me all tingley to think about it. Yum. Granted, I'm not really thrilled with the look of the sweater, but part of that could be because I'm big and pregnant, so it stretches kind of weird over the belly. I'm not sure if blocking would really do anything, but then I've never properly blocked anything so it might be a good place to start.

I also did my first fair isle while on bedrest for a weekend, using the Endless Rose pattern. It's pretty much fabulous, despite a few little blips in the decreases where the yellow peeked out and shouldn't have. I didn't notice till I was about done, and at that point was still so damn pleased with myself I didn't care. I've definitely been enjoying having wearable knits, though I'm also desperately trying to figure out what I'm going to do for holiday knitting...Sue would definitely appreciate the hat. But I love the hat. But she would too, and I love Sue...Decisions, decisions.

Some of my recycled yarn got turned into another hat, pretty basic ribbed cap but using the decreases from Endless Rose (I really like how it looks). It's a boring cream hat right now. If I could only find my tapestry needle, I'd do a little viney embroidery over it to jazz it up. It's the first thing I made to put up for sale, but I can't really do anything with it till the stupid needle turns up (loose ends all over the place to weave in).

As far as current WIPs, the log cabin blanket I've been working on for the baby is still ongoing. I was considering frogging the project and using the yarn (Merino 5 superwash--it's squishy and delicious and I LOVE it; the fact that I got it on sale for less than five bucks a skein just adds to my affection) for a bunting. Harlan the Husbeast was against it though, apparently he's pretty fond of the blanket as it stands. So I'm leaving it alone...for whatever reason, it's been hard for me to pick up. I should probably get the heck over it though, since there's a chance baby Garrett is going to be here sooner than December and will need that wooly goodness.

The project that's had my attention for the past few days is the mohair lace scarf I'm working on for Becca. I started off with Branching Out, but the Kid Seta is an amazing varigated goldy yellow-orange-russet fuzzball of sunshiney loveliness and the pattern stitches got lost in the color variances. I wrestled through a pattern repeat or three (it helped me realize that patterns with 10 rows to keep track of aren't great for me--I get up and down too much, it's hard to keep track of where I am) before deciding it would be best to gently frog it and find a new pattern. Several chocolate chip cookies and an hour or so on Ravelry later, I decided on the Easy Lace Stole skinnied up to make the scarf. I was a little worried that it'd end up looking too simple and boring, but it does exactly what I wanted it to--show off the yarn. It's pretty much gorgeous, the mohair's got such a nice little halo thing going and the stitch pattern is basic enough not to get lost in the color changes. To say I'm pleased with it would be a bit of an understatement...I really am going to have to get myself some blocking materials before it's finished.

That's about it for wip's, except for poor Harlan's socks which still aren't done. There's approximately one and a half socks at this point, like a year after I started on them. At least I got the half-sock back on the needles and figured out where I left off on the pattern...right? That's a good thing, isn't it? ...I guess I should bump that up my list of priorities after the blanket.

Decisions, decisions...

2009-02-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of knitting at the computer. Husbeast set up a little round table with one computer on either side, so we can peek around and look at each other to make silly comments when necessary. This also leaves a lot of room for balls of yarn, scraps of yarn, and needles in various sizes. It's perfect; I can read my web comics, enjoy my super-geek online RPG, scan Ravelry, anything I want, and still get a few rows in here and there.

The problem is that The Puppeh thinks that any time either of us are sitting down, she belongs in a lap. Normally, this is a fantastic thing, because she really is a phenomenal little lap warmer. We don't have a cat, but she's smaller than most cats I've had anyway, so I figure she counts as a decent substitute.

Thing is? She hates the knitting.

Seriously.

She won't come into my lap if I've got the yarn in my hands. Tonight, I was working on Harlan's socks (the Harlot's Earl Grey pattern, if you must know, and yes I'm doing them two at once on one giant circ) and she just kept going from one side of the chair to the other, whining and whuffing and making all sorts of piteous little Puppy-people noises. It doesn't matter how I held the yarn up and away (because she has managed to get horrifically tangled in it), how I sit to make the lap nice and inviting, how many times I coo, "C'mon up, it's alright! Come ON!"...she simply will not.
She fusses and cries and paces around, but she won't come up until the knitting is down on the table.

I'm having a serious guilt issue here. I love the Puppeh. She's like my baby, complete with all the nasty vomit and potty issues (don't even get me started on the time she threw up inside my sweater...while I was wearing it).
But it's YARN. Really nice pretty yarn that, while splitty, is still making what look to be really pretty first-time-ever grownup socks. The stupid ribbing is taking me forever, because I'm just slow with that yet, but it's SO CLOSE to being done and getting to the good part! Work has been so hectic for the past week and a half I haven't had nearly as much time as usual to knit, and I feel like I just can't give up valuable time with the needles just because Bailey doesn't like sharing me with something else that's soft and fuzzy and nice.

Right now, we're compromising. She's sitting between my back and the back of the chair, keeping my kidneys warm and my hands free. I wrapped her up in the back of the sweater I started frogging a month or two ago and never finished. She seems to like that...like, if she can't successfully keep me from knitting, she can at least benefit from my obsessiveness by snuggling up in the materials.

...I really need to find the camera so I can post pictures. She really is about the cutest thing on the whole damn planet.

Entry, the First

2009-02-05T16:17:00.000-08:00

I've been toying with the idea of a strictly knitting blog for a while now, and I say strictly knitting because it's fairly obvious that every twenty-something out there already has a blog set up for ranting about daily grievances. I'm a procrastinator though, and generally full of self-doubt ("Who the heck would read my knitting blog when there's a Yarn Harlot out there?!").

I have to admit it though. Ravelry pushed me over the edge. I'd put it off for such a long time, I think because initially I was put off by having to apply for an invitation and wait (in addition to procrastinating, I'm also fairly impatient)...but I must say. Wow. I was completely blown away by everything on that site--the first day I think I just stared and clicked stupidly for hours, scrolling through things without actually doing anything with it. Amazing.

The best thing to come of it so far (aside from linking up my little sister in Virginia and having her bookmark patterns she likes in my account) has been a trade. Oh yes, all you unenlightened knitty folk out there. I said it. Stash Trade.

To start from the beginning...

I found the Notwoven Fingerless Mitts and began knitting them up for Harlan (teh Husbeast, for future reference) in Wool of the Andes firecracker heather. I'd invented a hat for him in the same, with a strand of AlpacaWare held throughout because he wanted the thing "really, really warm". I also liked how the dark brown quieted the red, because really, he's not a big red person. The hat, complete with ear flaps, turned out well enough for all intents and purposes. I'd like to grab it and frog it just so I could try and get the sizing a little better (not having done a gauge swatch, I have no room to gripe about it being a bit large), but despite the fact that he only wears it when prompted he refuses to let me have at the thing.

But I digress. I began the Notwoven mitts with the same two yarns, plucking happily along and without much concern as far as the status of the stash. I have an inordinate amount of WoTA hanging around, because let's face it, for $3 a skein I'm allowed to hoard and love it. I also wasn't concerned with the alpaca, since there's about a bajillion yards in each of those little skeins--I know, I wind all my balls by hand.

So there I was one day, knitting along while reading something or other, and I hit the end of the red. No problem, I think, and head upstairs to dive into the trunk (cedar-lined baby! Take that, moths!) to dig some more out.

Nada. Stricken, I started flinging old WIPs around, including the horribly failed sweater attempt that's being frogged for the umpteenth time (why don't I just find a damn pattern?).
Nothing.

I was out of the stupid yarn. After berating myself soundly for the better part of an hour while stomping around the house looking around and under every unlikely object I could find (hey, maybe Bailey thought it'd be fun to hide some of Mommy's yarn. Not that she ever has before, but I was desperate), I gave up, and sat down at the computer to brood.

Then the beauty of Ravelry struck. LauraMate, 6 skeins of WoTA in firecracker heather, will trade or sell. Due to lots of hiccups and stumbling blocks on my end, a few of those skeins went to other homes, but for 4 bucks and the cost of an apologetic "You. Are. Awesome!" greeting card to send with the money, I now have two lovely new skeins just waiting to be knit up.

Anyone on Ravelry who's looking to trade, know that Laura is amazingly awesome and totally worth doing bidniz with. I even got a spiffy little yarn card with a scarf pattern on it. ^.^

Joy.