Kalamari Democracy

I've moved my blog

2010-04-18T07:28:00.001-06:00

Over here.

I haven't been posting alot lately

2009-09-20T06:07:00.003-06:00

Because I've been planning a wedding!

I'm bringing a lot of knitting projects on the honeymoon, and I have a lot of finished things from the past few months to show when I get back.

Guess what?

2009-05-26T06:51:00.002-06:00

I've been teaching myself how to crochet. I'm really enjoying it. The stitches are fast, and the granny squares and motifs are easy to memorize. My only problem is that I can't stop starting new projects. I've started 3 blankets, just because they are so much fun to work on. I've always wanted to knit a full sized afghan for my couch, but it was always a daunting task. So we'll see which one of these will actually get finished.

Shell stitch scarf

Ripple afghan

One big granny square afghan

Sock yarn granny square afghan

Meghan Sweater

I know I haven't posted yet this new year

2009-02-18T16:39:00.003-06:00

I was actually really busy finishing things,

And starting quite a few new things,

And buying new sock yarn.

But mostly I've been really busy with wedding planning. Russ and I have been engaged for a year now, so now its getting down to the last 6 months or so before the wedding, and actual planning and decision making needs to get done.

Real post later of my finished objects when I take some more pictures, its been too gloomy for a good photo shoot.

My first pattern for sale!

2008-11-13T09:13:00.006-06:00

Taliesin Mittens:
The motif was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's wheat stained glass windows, and they are named after his house and studio, Taliesin.

The mittens are worked with brown sheep nature spun fingering, a light fingering weight, in charcoal gray and sunburst gold.

They are done on size 2 (2.75 mm) and 3 (3.25 mm) needles. They are 7" in circumference, 10" long, and the pattern comes with complete charts.

$4.00

I get really caught up in Ravelry

2008-11-07T10:57:00.002-06:00

And I forget to actually post on my blog.

I've finished alot of things lately. Now that fall is here I crave smaller quick projects so that I can wear them right away. I always tell myself that I'll knit a fall sweater in July and August but it never happens because its so hot.

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl
Yarn: 84g of Lion Sock Ease in Lemon Drop (overdyed with tea to take the brightness out)
Started: Oct 27th
Finished: Nov 4th

Pattern: Fingerless mittens (my own pattern)
Yarn: Debbie Mumm Traditions in Heather Haze
Started: Oct 16th
Finished: Oct 17th

Pattern: Bears Hat (my own)
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in carrot and natural, Moda Dea Bamboo Wool in blue velvet
Started: Oct 15th
Finished: Oct 16th

Pattern: Stacked Eyelet Cowl
Yarn: Fiesta Baby Boom in Rusty
Started: Sept 23rd
Finished: Oct 13th

Pattern: Gluttony Socks
Yarn: The Unique Sheep Verve in Euonymous
Started: August 23rd
Finished: Oct 8th

Thrift store sweaters

2008-10-06T13:04:00.002-06:00

I picked up some really great sweaters at goodwill today. It actually wasn't that difficult to find 100% wool sweaters, and after feeling quite a few, I could pretty much tell. The plan is to felt these sweaters in the washing machine, and then cut them up to use as christmas stockings.

The best find was this blue sweater, which had nice colors, and a cute little snowflake button at the neck.

And this was the only label in the garment.

Another great find was this grey sweater, it even had new tags on it from the gap. It fits me a little loose, but I love it. I won't be felting this one, who could have wanted to give this away?

This green sweater is wool and angora, so I don't know if it will felt all that well.

This green monster was definitely wool and definitely hand made. Its an Icelandic style but says made in Greece. Bizzare.

This sweater was way too baggy on me at the sides, and cropped. Ill fitting all around, but the cabling is really nice.

FO: Noro stripe scarf and Icelandic Mittens

2008-10-01T20:23:00.002-06:00

Pattern: My own, 4 rows of 164, 2 rows of 188
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock, 1 ball 164, 40g of 188
Started: May 22nd
Finished: September 9th

Pattern: North Icelandic Mittens from Folk Mittens (ravelry link)
Yarn: Patons SWS in natural, Wool of the Andes in carrot and walnut
Started: July
Finished: October 1st

FO: Ariann

2008-08-17T15:09:00.002-06:00

Pattern: Ariann from Chicknits
Started: March 2007
Finished: August 16th, 2008
Yarn: 13 skeins Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in fern

One WIP Wrestling project down for the knitting olympics. Unfortunately I woke up this morning with a terrible pain in my right hand, and I have no desire to work on anything else at the moment. I probably won't be able to finish another project before the deadline, since I've decided to give my hand a rest, but I am glad that I finished this sweater up.

Knitting Olympics and Cat Birthdays

2008-08-12T09:21:00.003-06:00

Sam turned 1 year old last week, and Vala turned 1 about a month ago. Since we adopted them from an animal shelter, the actual dates are unknown. We got birthday cards for both cats from the vet, which I thought was really cute and nice of them.

The craft table is Sam's new favorite spot, and in typical cat fashion, she either lays on everything or pushes it out of her way.

I meant to post about the start of the Knitting Olympics, but I didn't get any knitting done on the first day. I completely missed the opening ceremonies, but I did find a great barbecue restaurant.

Day 2 was more productive. I finished the first sleeve of Ariann, and attached it to the body.

Day 3 I started the second sleeve, and also caught a really nasty cold.

Day 4 I continued on the second sleeve, but slept most of the day.

Today- Day 5, finished the second sleeve and attached it to the body, and I've begun the raglan decreases.

The WIP wrestling event has been a really great motivator for me. This sweater's body has been done for 2 years, and all but 6 rows of the first sleeve were done! I'm confident I can finish this as well as some other long forgotten projects.

Next up will be the mitered squares afghan. Only 27 squares left to go!

2008 Knitting Olympics!

2008-07-31T10:52:00.003-06:00

One of these things will get finished for the Ravelry Knitting Olypmics WIP Wrestling event.

Noro Kureyon Sock Scarf - Started May 22nd 2008

Modular Squares Blanket - Started March 25th 2007!!

Rainbow Boucle Blanket - Started May 17th 2008

October Frost - Started June 19th 2008

And the photoless February Lady sweater started July 6th. Hopefully I can finish all of them, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Originally I was going to attempt this fair isle sweater from a japanese knitting book,

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I could not finish it in 17 days, and I would make myself crazy trying. I even swatched and everything, and I have all but the main color of yarn for it in my stash. I'm going to be using leftover and stash balls of knit picks palette, as well as some brown sheep nature spun fingering that I got for the venezia pullover for christmas 2 years ago. No amount of swatching for that sweater was making me love it, unfortunately, and I felt bad abandoning yarn Russell bought me for a whole sweater. Some of that yarn went into the Ivy League vest, and some will be going toward this sweater, and I figure there's always mittens for using up the rest.

FO and a pattern: Garter Gradient Scarf

2008-04-26T07:59:00.003-06:00

Pattern: Garter Gradient Scarf (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Ivy, Teal, Green, Grass, and Mint (1 ball each)
Started: April 4th
Finished: April 23rd

Currently....

2008-04-22T08:09:00.006-06:00

Watching: X Files season 4

Listening to: Mother 3 soundtrack, Chitosedori by Pe'z, FUN FAIR by RIP Slyme, The Understanding by Royksopp, Alive by Daft Punk, Pimpoint by Soil & Pimp Sessions

Playing: Mother 3

Reading: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Knitting: The Patchwork Throw by Erika Knight from the book Classic Knits at Home. As soon as I saw the throw on the cover of this book, I ordered it. The book arrived while I was on spring break, and I had the time to knock out 9 hexagons in 3 days! The pattern calls for knitting hexagons with 3 or 4 colors of yarn in 4 different stitch patterns, but only half the blanket is knitted. The other hexagons are out of different wool and linen textured fabric. The idea of using textured fabric would be really cool, but I have no desire to sew fabric to knitting. So my blanket will be all knitted, and with a different yarn and stitch for each hexagon.

Click photos for full size images, and details about each stitch and yarn combo. Photographing each hex was a good opportunity to try out my new camera. The last 2 were taken with the macro setting, and the detail is amazing.

I also started a new scarf design that is nearly done.

Its knit with 5 green colors in knitpick's palette, and I plan on writing the pattern after the knitting and blocking is done.

Recap

2008-04-17T07:04:00.001-06:00

So... I haven't posted since before Christmas. Christmas break was a busy time, I got engaged January 11th, then I started the busiest semester I've ever done. Luckily this is the second to last semester of my baking degree, and I have about 3 weeks left. One of my classes ended last tuesday, and it was the most time consuming class I've ever had. The class is food and equipment purchasing, and the whole grade is one giant final project, which you work on all semester. I had to come up with a restaurant, write a concept, write a menu, write about 50 recipes, and then list all the food I needed to buy for the menu. Needless to say, a giant weight was lifted when I turned in my 300+ page binder.

My other classes are baking 3, which is pretty fun except the teacher is a megalomaniac, cake decorating 2, which is alot of fun, and restaurant accounting, which is the most boring class ever.

This is one of my pieces from my cake decorating class, everything but the base is made out of sugar of some kind, and its the piece I'm most proud of from my class. My chocolate piece turned out so ugly I don't even want to look at it.

Knitting wise, I've gotten alot done. I finished my Ivy League Vest.

I like this picture alot. Vala often tries to lay down or sleep inside something I'm currently knitting. But only when she's not trying to eat the yarn.

Pattern: Ivy League Vest from Interweave Knits Winter 07
Started: November 21st
Finished: March 12th
Yarn: Knit picks palette in ivy, teal, fawn, tan, twig, and cream; and Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering in nervous green. I needed less than one ball of each, but the pattern calls for 2 balls of most of the colors. The nervous green I used instead of the teal palette because it was too close in color to the ivy, so I used the teal for all of the ribbing.
Modifications: I really don't like the look of corrugated ribbing, so I just did plain ribbing, and I made the body about 2 inches longer than the pattern called for. It fits pretty well, but is still quite short for my liking, so I may rip out the bottom and knit more rows of ribbing.

Pattern: Plain toe up stockinette socks

Started: January 21st

Finished: February 26th

Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock, color # 188

Pattern Notes: These socks fit really well. They're quite snug when you first put them on, and as the stretch out they fit perfectly. I ended up with alot of yarn left over, so I weighed the socks, and I only used 51 grams! So I may make a lacey scarf or something out of the extra.

Another post is on the way about my unfinished projects.

Relaxation is...

2007-12-19T17:51:00.000-06:00

Actually finishing some things for once:

The Aran Watch Cap for my boss Diane.

The modified Triple Pattern Watch cap for my other boss Ann.

Lady Elanor Entrelac stole, which as you can see, is now a pillow.

Sitting by the Christmas tree

Knitting my Ivy League Vest

With some sleeping kittens

The kittens were spayed last Friday. I was prepared for them to be scared and hide like they were the first day we got them, but actually after a few hours of sleeping and looking obviously doped up, they were fine. If anything, they have become more affectionate. Sam, who used to be a bit solitary has now started following me into every room, and sleeping on my desk while I type or do homework.

But I have to say the most relaxing thing is it being the last day of finals, and not having to go back to work until January 2nd.

Distractions

2007-11-20T11:26:00.000-06:00

My central park cardigan is sooooo close to being finished, and yet its taking a whole lot of self control not to cast on 5 more projects. I've been trying to fool myself into thinking that I don't have that many things on the needles by changing the status from "in progress" to "hibernating" in my Ravelry notebook. That way when I log in I'm not confronted by the 15 things I cast on and abandoned this year.

I also can't buy anymore yarn for a while. I'm serious this time. I placed a webs order and got yarn for the DNA sweater, as well as some coned fingering weight wool for a fair isle sweater design I have in my head.

After a lot of notes and charting, I was able to come up with a really sweet looking cable design, and a pretty bitchin' swatch.

I also placed a Knit Picks order for the Ivy League Vest in the latest Interweave Knits.

I liked all the colors except "teal" (bottom left). That doesn't look like teal to me, but it did look like teal on both my work and home monitors. It isn't a big enough contrast from the ivy, so I substituted some nature spun fingering in nervous green from my stash for the swatch, and I love it. Its a nice khaki green.

I'm in love with this swatch and I'm trying really hard to finish the central park cardigan before I cast on. I plan on doing plain ribbing in ivy since I really don't enjoy the look, or the knitting of corrugated ribbing. I'm really excited about this vest, I may need to go buy a white blouse with puff sleeves to wear under it too.

Yarn Party!

2007-11-16T12:24:00.000-06:00

It looks something like this:

I can't leave any kind of knitting anywhere, the above photos are of yarn that was INSIDE A DRAWER, which must have been really hard to get out. Also I'm having quite a hard time photographing my projects. For every kittenless photo,

There are about 10 like this.

The good thing is that kittens sleep about 18 hours a day, no joke, so I was able to finish the body on my Central Park Hoodie (that is actually a cardigan.)

I did the whole body in one piece, and then did the collar and button bands. And I've been cruising along on sleeve one. I should have a finished cardi by December!

FO: Aran Stocking and Double Patterned Watch Cap

2007-11-03T19:22:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Triple Patterned Watch Cap from Hats On!

Yarn: Lion Wool in Natural, and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in River

Modifications: Instead of doing a stitch pattern under the brim, I opted for no pattern because I was running out of the blue yarn (which was part of a ball left over from the Brea Bag). And I changed the crown pattern to a simple lice stitch.

This hat is for one of my bosses for Christmas, and I'm really happy with how it came out.

Pattern: Aran Stocking from Handknit Holidays

Yarn: Wool Ease chunky in grass held double, and Wool Ease Thick and Quick in raspberry.

Knitting Goals

2007-10-18T10:50:00.000-06:00

Things to finish before Christmas:

Russell's turquoise socks

Ariann Sweater for my mom

This was started back in March and looks pretty much the same.

2 Christmas stockings for Russell and I

pattern from Handknit Holidays, knit out of wool ease chunky from my stash

Hats or Socks for my bosses Ann and Diane

For socks I'd have to find out their shoe sizes secretly, and hats would be easy, but I prefer socks. I haven't decided which I'd like to do.

EDIT: Ha! I forgot that Diane brings gym shoes to work out in, shes a size 8!

Finish at least one of the sweaters for myself

Elizabeth, The Central Park Hoodie, or Juno

Kittens!

2007-10-13T17:22:00.000-06:00

I am now the proud owner of 2 kittens. They were both lost several times over the course of the day and are both hiding in very ingenious places.

Behind the water heater:

Inside the drawer of the coffee table:

She climbed in from underneath, and is SLEEPING IN THERE. Crazy.

FO: Textured Tunic and Brea Bag

2007-10-09T11:42:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Textured Tunic from Fitted Knits

Yarn: Patons SWS in Natural Berry, 7 skeins

Started: September 8th

Finished: September 19th

Modifications: I didn't do the split neckline, and I modified the split hem to not have any side decreases. Initially I knitted the bottom as written, and it turned out kind of wonky, and puckered at the corners.

So I frogged the last few rows and reknit, and am much happier with it. The sweater fits me really well and I love the color, the only problem I have with it is its a bit hot and scratchy to wear. I wore it to school a couple of weeks ago and I think I should have waited for colder weather when I can comfortably wear a tshirt underneath.

Pattern: Brea Bag

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in River, 5 skeins

Started: September 29th

Finished: October 2nd

I made this purse for my mom and it was alot of fun. The worsted yarn is held double, and the cables are simple enough to go quickly, but still interesting to knit.

Sunday Morning Breakfast

2007-10-07T09:31:00.000-06:00

I don't normally eat a big breakfast (or at all normally.) For some reason I wake up really early on Sunday mornings and feel the need to be productive. Last Sunday I made brioche while Russell slept in, the brioche turned out ok, last time I made it I used a 6" cake pan and just put a mound of dough in with a smaller dough ball on top (which is kind of how brioche is supposed to look) this time I used a muffin pan to make individual portions.

I also made some fried potatoes, and I think I finally got them right. I boiled 3 small potatoes, and ran cold water over them to stop from cooking and put them in the fridge. Then when I was ready to use them I cut them into a large dice with some onions and fried them in a little oil. They turned out really great (normally I brown the onions before the potatoes have a chance to cook.)

My breakfast

Fried potatoes, grapes, and brioche.

Russell's

Fried potatoes, a cheeze omelette, and brioche.

FO and Pattern: Cabled Beret

2007-09-08T08:18:00.001-06:00

Started: September 5th
Finished: September 8th
Pattern: My Own, available here (pdf) CORRECTED 11/21/07 and 5/6/08
Yarn: 75g Nashua Creative Focus Worsted in Mint

August FOs

2007-09-01T08:55:00.000-06:00

Pattern: One Button Cardigan (my own, worked top down)
Yarn: Lion Cashmere Blend - Charcoal (14 balls)
Needles: size 8 circulars in 16" and 30"
Started: August 1st
Finished: August 30th

Pattern: Bias Scarf
Yarn: Nashua Vignette (4 balls)
Needles: 11 circulars
Started: August 4th
Finished: August 16th
Modifications: I worked less setup rows since I used chunky yarn instead of worsted.

MS3 Clue 3 done!

2007-08-07T13:09:00.000-06:00

This clue took much longer to knit because of moving.

FO: Harry Potter Book 7

2007-08-03T22:11:00.000-06:00

Started: July 30th
Finished: August 3rd

FO: Russell's Socks

2007-08-01T09:03:00.000-06:00

Pattern: My own ribbed toe up sock pattern
Yarn: Knit Picks Memories in Cape Cod
Started: June 15th
Finished: July 30th

MS3: Clue 2 finished

2007-07-12T08:06:00.001-06:00

I finished the last 2 rows of clue 2 last night, just in time for clue 3. I'm amazed at my progress.

Mystery stole 3

2007-07-09T05:49:00.000-06:00

Clue 1 cast on Friday night, and finished Saturday night.

Clue 2 started Sunday morning, and nearly finished Sunday night. I had to eventually put it down to go to bed, even though my brain kept thinking "one more row."

I have never made such progress on lace before. I think its the combination of not knowing what it will look like with the fact that each week has a deadline, and not a lot of knitting for each week (100 rows for clue 1, 50 rows for clue 2).

Hits and Misses

2007-07-08T08:14:00.000-06:00

I started the Wheat Ear Cable Yoke Pullover and knit it almost exclusively. I was a little bored with the stockinette tube that needed to be knitted until the fun cabled yoke would be reached. The yoke, while really interesting to knit and pretty to look at took way longer than I would have liked. I spent a few days doing nothing but knitting in my spare time to finish. The end result was a really nicely fitting boatneck, with a bit of curling at the bottom ribbing. So naturally I blocked it to fix the curling. The end result was a giant mess. All the stitches had stretched out and dried that way. the 41" top before blocking was now about 48" and a good 8" longer than before. The preblocked top came just over the waistband of jeans, and now covers my butt. Seriously. I was only able to fix one of the problems. I soaked the top again in water and didn't lay it flat to dry, but left it scrunched up, and when it dried the stitches were no longer stretched out, albeit a bit wrinkly.

So the end result, I'm not exactly happy, but no longer angry. It can be worn, as long as I tuck the neckline into my bra, otherwise it falls right off my shoulders. Next time I use silk I'll swatch more than a 4 x 4 square to see how much it grows. Or maybe avoid the words "silk" and "closeout".

Pattern: Wheat Ear Cable Yoke Pullover from Interweave knits summer 07
Yarn: 6 balls, and about 10 grams of a 7th of Bergere du Nord Belle
Started: May 15th
Finished: June 26th
Modifications: I knit short sleeves by starting at the cabling section, and also I knit the whole thing in the round.

My cold was a bit of a blessing

2007-05-19T14:01:00.001-06:00

I'm finally better, but while staying home from work this week feeling terrible, I finished the socks for my mom, and almost finished one of my Estonian Socks.

I cast this on back in February, knit the fair isle section, and then put it down until the other day. The rest of the sock flew by, and with a few days of knitting, I'm almost done.

FO: Regia Crazy Color Socks

2007-05-16T11:02:00.001-06:00

I finished my socks later on Monday. They are now blocked and ready to be gifted tomorrow night.

Mom socks

2007-05-14T07:17:00.000-06:00

I'm a bit of a procrasinator, in nearly every aspect of my life. I started these socks back in April for my Mom's birthday (or Mother's Day, depending on when I finished). I cast on and knit until after the gusset shaping in one sitting.

And then put it down for something else. It stayed exactly like this photo for nearly a month, until last Saturday when I finished up the one sock and started another, while sitting on the couch all weekend recovering from a cold. I'm amazed at what I can actually accomplish when I set my mind to it.

It also helps to have a fun project. I love the look of these socks, ankle socks with a picot cast on and a jaywalkeresque pattern, I hope my mom will love them as much as I love knitting them.

I love Patons SWS

2007-04-29T10:38:00.000-06:00

Pattern: my own

Yarn: Patons SWS in Natural Geranium

Started: April 27th

Finished: April 28th

This is a chemo cap my Mom requested for my Aunt who is finishing up her chemotherapy for breast cancer.

A sweater for Russell in the Natural Navy colorway,

And the Lady Elanor Entrelac Stole from Scarf Style in the Natural Blue colorway.

Things wilton icing dye is good for

2007-04-16T09:38:00.000-06:00

Dying icing of course (these are the flowers for my final wedding cake for my Cake Decorating class).

And dying yarn.

This was my first try at dying with wilton icing dye on knit picks dye your own sock yarn. I used about a teaspoon of Violet in a medium size pot, and the result was uneven with dark purple in places and magenta in others. At first I hated it and wanted to redye it, but after knitting a small swatched the varigation was really interesting.

This was my second try, using the knit picks sock yarn again, but this time I used a 5 gallon stock pot with 1 teaspoon leaf green and half a teaspoon lemon yellow. The result was more solid with small lighter sections. I absolutely love the color and I started knitting the Twisted Flower sock pattern by Cookie A.

The next batch was this Debbie Bliss Merino DK that I have had in my stash for almost 2 years. I've never been able to pick a project mainly because I wasn't really loving the color. I used a full 2 tablespoons of teal to dye all 9 balls, the result was amazingly even.

The yarn on the right is burgundy dyed over the color on the left. I had 3 balls of this gold nature spun sport, and it was originally intended for the Venezia Pullover by Eunny Jang, but the gold really didn't work with the other colors. The plus side is that I now have the perfect yarn for some Griffindor socks that I have been wanting to make for a while.

FO: Frieda

2007-02-28T20:31:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Frieda from Debbie Bliss' Alpaca Silk Book
Yarn: 13 skeins of Lion Cashmere Blend in Creme
Started: December 17th
Finished: February 28th
Modifications: I lengthened the body a bit, made the cables attatched on the sleeves (the pattern called for knitting the cable and side panels of the sleeve seperately and seaming them at the end), and I knit the turtleneck for 6 inches instead of 9 because I ran out of yarn and it looked ok.

Baggy sleeves aside, I love this sweater. The fit in the body is really nice, and its very comfortable. This is my second sweater in this month, and my second time using this yarn. It is so soft, and since I got it on sale back when I worked for Hancock Fabrics, I was able to score a good deal for cashmere.

Almost there

2007-02-26T10:20:00.000-06:00

My Frieda sweater is almost done. I finished the front on Friday, and worked on the last sleeve Saturday and Sunday. I was really worried about the fit in the chest, but when I tried it on it fit perfectly. My only complaint is how baggy the sleeves are in the upper arm. I contemplated rewriting the sleeve pattern, but that would also involve rewriting the armhole on the body, which I really didn't feel like doing. All that is left is to finish the turtleneck now.

I also finished a hat for my brother 2 weekends ago.

Yarn: Paton's SWS
Pattern: My own top down hat pattern with a knitted hem
Started: February 16th
Finished: February 18th

I love this yarn. Its a soy and wool blend, and is really wonderful. The striping is really good, and it comes in 85 gram balls, so all I needed was 1 ball for the hat.

FO: Madeline

2007-02-18T09:28:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Madeline from White Lies Designs
Yarn: Lion Cashmere Blend in light blue, I used all but 15 grams of the 12 balls I had.
Needles: size 9 circulars
Started: January 9th
Finished: February 13th

The only modifications I made were to shorten the sleeves and I changed the lace panel on the back a bit. The project was a really fun knit for the body, but when I finished that part, I was left with 3 balls of yarn to do both sleeves. So the sleeves were knit about half the length the pattern called for, which didn't end up being a bad thing, but for a while there I was constantly thinking I would run out of yarn.

After blocking, the whole sweater went from a 40" diameter to a 48", I assume because of all the garter stretching out, and the yarn itself I knew would get larger after blocking. I deliberately knit the 40" size instead of the 44" because of this, and I couldn't be happier with the fit. Its large but not too large, and the drape is really nice. The only thing left to do is get a decorative pin. Its currenly fastened with a safety pin which pulls the stitches a bit and needs to be adjusted every 20 minutes. I was so happy with the sweater that I wore it to work Wednesday, and everyone at work liked it too, 2 women wanting to know where they could get the pattern.

Tuesday we had crazy snow and so I spent most of the days in my pajamas working on Madeline and this guy:

The pattern is Henry from Jess Hutch's Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy. Its a pretty quick pattern. The yarn I had on hand lent itself to halloween, so my version of Henry is a pirate in a striped shirt. I'll knit him a little pirate hat too, once I figure that out.

Mom's hat finished

2007-01-28T23:32:00.000-06:00

I finished my hat just in time for her to leave for Utah on Wednesday. It turned out great, and I have enough yarn leftover to make myself a pair of mittens. The pattern is Hello Yarn's generic Norwegian hat pattern. I used a light worsted yarn on size 5s and got the recommended gauge.

The inside is just as nice, and the top decreasing turned out well for being done on the fly.

My Madeline Jacket is coming along nicely as well, this picture was taken yesterday, and I have since finished the lace part and started on the sleeves.

Last week before school starts again

2007-01-15T17:43:00.000-06:00

I've been doing some knitting. Alot of knitting actually. I have the back done on Frieda, and the front ribbing finished.

Then I started Madeline last Wednesday night when I couldn't sleep. The pattern is from White Lies Designs, my secret pal bought it for me over a year ago.

And I am now done with the body and onto the lace edging.

My Mom is going to Utah and wanted a warm hat, so Thursday we went to a new yarn shop in Glen Ellyn and picking out yarn to match her coat.

I love how its turning out. So much so that I want one for myself. The yarn is Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Worsted in Juniper and Ebony.

The local yarn store is going out of business so I snagged some great stuff: Dalegarn Baby Ull in charcoal grey, white, and teal (for socks),

5 skeins of Cascade 220 in a nice dark tealy blue,

And a copy of Rowan Classic Style 16. I want to make nearly everything in the book

Okonomiyaki recipe

2007-01-06T22:26:00.000-06:00

I've searched a few times for a recipe I like for okonomiyaki, only to be disappointed. So I thought I would share my own. This is what I had for dinner. It was delicious, easy, and made out of stuff I generally have on hand in my kitchen.

Batter Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 egg
3/4 cup chicken stock (or any kind of stock)

Other Ingredients:
I used shredded cabbage, carrots, and green onions in mine, but okonomiyaki means "grilled whatever you like" so really you could use any meat, seafood, or vegetable you want.

Step 1:
Combine flour, egg, and chicken stock in a bowl and whisk until combined.

Step 2:
Pour half of the batter onto a griddle pan, and shake and swirl the batter into a circular shape.

Step 3:
When the bottom starts to harden, add the vegetables to the top in a thin layer, and using the spatula press them into the batter.

Step 4:
When the bottom is cooked, carefully flip over and grill the vegetable side. Press down with the spatula to completely cook the vegetables.

Step 5:
I topped my okonomiyaki with tonkatsu sauce (which you can get at any asian supermarket and some regular grocery stores) and shredded nori. Other toppings are bonito flakes, mayonnaise, or ketchup.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-27T16:49:00.000-06:00

These mini sweater ornaments were the best last minute idea. I was knitting them up until we had to leave for Christmas eve but it was totally worth it. These three were for my Aunt Mary, Aunt Cate, and Aunt Lori.

This Christmas was a good one. Russell gave me the Victorian Lace Today book, and the yarn for the Venezia Pullover by Eunny Jang (I substituted Brown Sheep Company's Nature Spun Fingering for the Jameisons). Russell's parents got me the Barefoot Contessa At Home cookbook and Norsk Strikkedesign, and my brother gave me Knit 2 Together. Also I recieved 1 assload of other things not pictured here, the most awesome being a gift certificate for a new chair at lazy boy from my parents.

Norsk Strikkedesign is a great book, I reccomend it to everyone. I started the Arangenser on right away because I had the yarn for it, and I thought it looked amazing.

I've already finished the bottom hip sections (its split at the hem) and then the rest is worked in the round. I have about 1" done of the main body.

FO: Wave pattern ear flap hat

2006-12-17T23:27:00.000-06:00

I finished another earflap hat, this time for russell.

I also started a wide cable scarf with some yarn from the stash. The yarn is kool wool, and the recommended needle size is 9 or 10. I went up to an 11 to make a looser fabric, and to prevent tightness in the huge cable.

I've also been working on Hardangervidda a bit. I finished another ball on the body, and started a sleeve. Theres still alot of work on this one, but I figured I would switch off working on the body and the sleeves to keep it interesting.

I also casted on a sleeve for the Freida sweater from Debbie Bliss' Alpaca Silk book. I love this sweater. The first version was started years ago when I first started knitting. The front was knit out of a chunky weight yarn because I didn't care about gauge. When I got to the sleeves, I cared about gauge. Before all the increasing was done this sleeve could have fit a gorilla. So it sat in a bag for 2 years, and now I begin version 2 with a heavy worsted yarn (and a swatch).

I like hats

2006-12-09T21:14:00.000-06:00

They're fast to finish, use up those single skeins from the stash, and easy to work on anywhere. I was pretty sick a few weeks back, staying home from both work and school for a few days. In that time I made 3 hats!

The first was a hat for Russell. He loves teal and hexagons so I designed this:

The yarn is Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, 1 and a half skeins of Stream. The hexagon stitch pattern didn't really look like hexagons, but it has a nice texture none the less. He loves it and wears it nearly every day, and has now replaced the one I made him last winter (which I somehow forgot to blog about).

This hat was made in about a week last November out of 2 different skeins of kureyon he picked out.

The next hat I made was one for myself. The pattern is Knitty's Coronet, made out of less than one skein of purple cascade 220 tweed.

The pattern called for picking up stitches from the cabled band from the back. I thought to myself that it was a stupid way to do it, and so I picked up from the front. Upon finishing the hat I realised why they tell you to do it this way, so that you can fold the cabled band up. So much for following (or even reading) the directions. I did it my way and it worked, but I kinda would have liked a fold up band.

The last hat is for my little brothers birthday. I love the way it turned out, and a hat with chunky yarn only took 1 day to finish.

I asked Russell to model all these hats for me and whenever I try to take a picture of his face he makes what I like to call "the crazy eye".

Christmas knitting

2006-11-20T22:18:00.000-06:00

I've actually been getting alot of knitting done now that I don't have a paper due every week. After alot of contemplating I've decided to knit my mom something for christmas. My other ideas were way too ambitious but I'm happy with the project I've chosen. Its the cable front cardigan from vogue knitting holiday 04. I'm using wool ease chunky from the stash (yay) in wood, and its going extremely fast. I started the back on Thursday, finished it Saturday (with work, class, and playing the new xbox 360) and started the front Saturday and finished Sunday. At this rate I'm in really good shape, and should probably finish this weekend. The garter stitch band on the front needs a good block (which isn't really possible in the yarn I chose... boo) and its pulling the length down a bit.

I also started a christmas stocking for myself, and I'll knit Russell one when I'm done. Its knit with 5 colors of wool from my stash (I'm trying very hard) and I'm in love with the pink/green/blue/white/tan combo.

Finished: Green Striped Socks

2006-11-03T18:24:00.000-06:00

Pattern: My own toe up pattern
Yarn: Regia Crazy Color #05264, Jungle. I used all the yarn I could, a nice advantage of the toe up method.

After seeing what I can accomplish by only knitting one thing at a time, I'm going to knit more socks.

Progress on the green striped socks

2006-10-29T13:20:00.000-06:00

One sock done!

I was working on these socks at the same time on 2 circular needles, so I decided to take one off on Thursday and work on it by itself. The results are amazing! When I actually decided to focus on knitting one thing at a time, they get finished.

I worked them toe up using my own pattern on size 3s using Regia Crazy Color #5264. The cast on was 24 sts at the toe because of my wide feet, and they fit great. I ended up using a whole ball for one sock, hoping the tail would be enough to cast off.

The best part is that the other sock is worked up until the heel shaping, so I can finish that one in a couple of days also.

These are my first pair of socks. Now I've knit socks before, at least 5 different kinds without mates, but this is the first time I feel motivated enough to finish, and the first time they fit correctly.

I hate midterms

2006-10-25T15:16:00.000-06:00

I bought this yarn yesterday. I told myself I wouldn't buy more yarn until something got finished. But with the stress of midterms and changing jobs and all that junk, I really wanted it. Its Nashua Handknits Vignette in "Earth", and its quite possibly the prettiest yarn I own. I started making a scarf last night, and ended up finishing the ball earlier today between work and class.

So now I don't feel so bad about buying the yarn because this scarf is going really really fast. I must have forgotten how fast scarves are with all the complicated things I normally knit.

I also started and finished another mitten on Sunday. I like it way more than the white ones, so those might become a gift. The yarn is wool ease chunky in grass. Everything I've been making lately is some shade of green, like Russell's socks

and my corduroy jacket that I have to finish hemming.

I'm getting a little sick of school this semester, and its only half over. But at least midterms are over and maybe I can finish one of my projects.

FO: chunky mittens

2006-10-22T09:24:00.000-06:00

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Lion Kool Wool 2 skeins

This took about 2 days to knit (and about 2 to block because its been so cold). I wanted some fast mittens because it got so cold so fast. I think I might makes some more in green to match my other coat, maybe throw a cable on there. They were a really fast knit, kind of satisfying after knitting a jillion rows of stockinette on 5s for Hardangervidda.

I know I will get to 17" eventually, but its really boring to knit at the moment.

I have knitting ADD

2006-10-16T20:12:00.000-06:00

I can't seem to stop myself from starting new projects. As soon as something goes wrong or gets boring, I just move on to something else.

Almost everything in this photo was started in the last month. The mittens, swallowtail shawl, moccasin sock, and top down raglan have all been started in the last week. I really don't know whats wrong with me.

The bubble pullover is in about the same shape it was a week ago, and I have lost all the will to finish it.

I figured photographing everything on the needles would remind me not to start anything new. After taking the DNA sweater out, I want to work on it again. Its just as stunning as it was before (and in fact exactly the same since the last time I worked on it almost a year ago.) Its my longest WIP, and maybe it will be done this year.

I knew there was a reason to keep all those scraps

2006-10-03T15:25:00.000-06:00

Sweater Ornament

10/02/06 - 10/03/06
About 4 hours total including writing the pattern. Made using small scraps of leftover yarn.
I plan on making a lot of these for Christmas ornaments for my mom. I've started a Santa sweater this morning. I figure if I make at least 2 a week, which is really easy to do, I can give some to my aunts also. And I should head over to Michaels to get some wire to make tiny hangers.

I found this really cool looking journal at Walmart a couple weeks back. It was only $3 so I couldn't pass it up. Its lined and has perforated pages, perfect for a design journal, and much better than the loose leaf graph paper that I have been using that keep getting lost and wrinkled.

Too many modifications

2006-10-01T19:46:00.000-06:00

One sleeve done, one more to finish, and the neckline ribbing left. I decided to do the sleeves from the top down by picking up the armhole stitches and knitting down because of my problems with the sleeves as they were written. This presented another problem: by picking up all those stitches I had an upper arm that was too big, so I decreased every 6 rows until the ribbing needed to start.

Then I added this weird looking piece to the part where the top of the sleeve met the neckline to reduce the neck opening. It was falling off the shoulders before and it fits much better now. All in all I've found this pattern to be a little odd in the sleeve department, and alot of modifications had to be made so it fit right. I don't want to sound like I hate the sweater, because with the exception of the back, it fits really nicely.
I also started Hardangervidda 2 weeks ago, but it isn't anything special at the moment. The colorwork and ribbing at the bottom is all done, and now begins the 16 more inches of plain stockinette.

Stash yarn ideas

2006-09-18T08:18:00.000-06:00

Shawl collar jacket from Vogue Knitting Winter 05/06
Lion Cashmere Blend in Camel
I think this jacket is really nice, especially with the belt. My mom gave me one of her old belts, its brown leather with a big bronze colored buckle, it has potential to be really stylish or really garish.

Yarn - Lion wool in black, pink, and white
I'm planning on doing this in the round and making up the pattern as I go along.

Yarn - Lion sportweight in blue heather

Yarn- Lion wool ease in kelly green

Avast for my brother in lion wool ease (charcoal)

Finished: Lace Trim Bolero

2006-09-17T08:46:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Lace Trim Bolero - Vogue Knitting Summer 05
Yarn: 5 balls Debbie Bliss Merino DK
Started: sometime in June, worked on during my trip to Michigan for my cousins wedding, abandoned until yesterday.

It turns out all it needed was about 6 more inches of lace and some seaming. which was all done during Brazil (which Russell had never seen). The last time I saw that movie was when I was in middle school. Its one of my parents favorite movies, and after rewatching it later in life I can see why.

More progress has been made on the bubble pullover. I knit one of the sleeves on my knitting machine the other day, only to realize that the pattern's sleeve directions are total crap. It was way too long and too big around, yet the armhole was so small that my upper arm didn't fit comfortably. I think the problem with the pattern's sleeve is that you decrease to 1 stitch for the cap shaping. So the sleeve got ripped out and I cast some stitches onto a circular needle, and picked up the armhole for a top down raglan sleeve.

Its starting to look great. The bubble effect isn't apparent in front when I try it on, probably because my chest fills it out, but it bubbles like crazy in the back, like I have a turtle shell... don't really know how that is going to work. Russell suggested that I could keep a turtle back there... oh well.

I cast this sock on a few weeks back, so far its gorgeous. The center panel is a turkish design I found on a color chart website a while back. The outside panels I wanted to keep interesting but simple, so that they can be easily decreased for the calf shaping without ruining the pattern repeat. Its a little tedious but fun to admire.

Bubble pullover body finished

2006-09-12T12:19:00.000-06:00

8 pentagons finished, ribbing and sleeves left to go. The body looks a bit frumpy when I tried it on. I'm hoping it will look better with the ribbing and sleeves.

Fall 06 Knitty

2006-09-11T15:57:00.000-06:00

The new knitty is up and I have to say its more exciting than usual. I normally like patterns but never want to knit anything.

I think avast is exactly the cardigan I've been trying to design for my brother for christmas. I'm going to use Lion cashmere blend in a charcoal grey. All boys love grey and I think he'll really enjoy the softness of the yarn. I'll have to test wash a swatch to see how durable it can be because I know he won't be washing anything by hand.

The intolerable cruelty pattern is absolutely beautiful. The yarn color is lovely with the brown velvet ribbon, but I don't think I'd personally ever wear a knitted skirt because I just don't think they work well. The same design in a light burgundy satin would drape and wear much better.

I love the red herring socks. I was actually planning on making some brown and white herringbone patterned socks (it seems I have all the same ideas as the designers) but I dont enjoy the solid foot. I would continue the herringbone pattern into the foot, and keep the solid heel and toe for stretch and color contrast.

Progress

2006-09-08T21:34:00.000-06:00

As of 2 days ago: 3 pentagons

As of today: 6 pentagons

WIP: Bubble pullover

2006-09-03T19:39:00.000-06:00

I love the Knitting Nature book. A few weeks back I cast on for the cowl pullover using the knitting machine.

I knit the front, back, and left sleeve in one day. The right sleeve/cowl is knit in the round and steeked later. I was making it out of dark grey Lion Cashmere Blend, which was a lovely color and texture. Unfortunately I cast on the cowl/sleeve 6 times, and not once could I get it to work. It frustrated me to the point where I couldn't continue and it was frogged. I looked up the erratta for the book and could not find and for this pattern.

So yesterday I cast on for the bubble pullover and so far I love it. I took this picture this afternoon and I've finished the second pentagon and started the third. If I continue at this rate I'll have a new sweater in no time.

Sunday morning productivity

2006-07-23T10:03:00.000-06:00

I woke up way too early this morning and decided to teach myself how to smock. The result is this pillow:

I used 2 fat quarters. The first I cut down to a 16x16 piece, then drew a grid on the back side in chalk. I then used this tutorial to make the lattice smocking, which only took about an hour. Then I cut the back piece to roughly the size of the front, and then cut it square using a rotary cutter and mat. All that was left was to sew it up, stuff it, and hand stitch it closed.

Overall the easiest sewing project I've done in a while and only took about 2 hours. The finished result is a little small ( 8x8 ) so I'll give this one to my mom. But now that I know how to do it, I think I'll use the lattice smocking technique on some large pillows for my bed.

Only about a month away until I move out and I'm very excited. I should probably get started on sewing the duvet cover and curtains for Russell and my room.

Finished: River Stole (rowan 38)

2006-05-31T14:14:00.000-06:00

I didn't have a model, but it looks lovely on the grass. I love blocking lace, its like magic what a difference it can make.

Upcoming projects:

Austrian Patterned knee socks (cast on, waiting for better needles)
Somewhat Cowl (with long sleeves and a long cowl, the sewn cowl looks strange I think)
Hourglass pullover (knitpicks andean silk in lettuce)
Russell's DNA Aran sweater (my longest work in progress)
Brocade (in the round instead of flat, with waist shaping and raglan sleeves)

All done!

2006-05-30T09:23:00.000-06:00

It needs a good blocking, but its allll finished. Too bad its 90 degrees out or I'd wear it right now.

Note to self:

2006-05-29T22:42:00.000-06:00

Knitting machine needles do not work like hand knitting needles. Lets say for example that you want to knit fair isle. Normally fair isle is done with a needle one size down so the other color can't be seen through the stitches. My machine knits worsted up at a strange gauge (16 sts to 4" instead of 18-20) so I thought "hey I'll use the DK weight keyplate and get the same effect." Well... it was a disaster. The machine jammed several times, and each time I would yell at the machine "WHY? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?" It of course did not answer because its a bastard. So after the 5th time of fixing the stitches by hand after it jammed I decided to pull the work off the needles (rather violently) and I ended up sending needles flying everywhere. I carefully put all the needles back in their slots and the piece of plastic fit right back into place. Its like they made this machine easy to fix on purpose because they knew people would get angry at it and flip out.

So tomorrow I may attempt another fair isle pillow cover. I'll use the worsted keyplate and my damn gauge will be loose, and the pillow form may or may not show through the stitches. I think I'll just have to deal with it.

In other news my argyle vest is really close to being done. I have 4 rows left on the last armhole ribbing, yet I have no modivation at all. At least that damn v-neck ribbing is done. I tried it on and it looks so much better with the ribbing. I was quite worried my vest would be really stupid looking. I haven't had very much knitting modivation in general. My mom's river shawl is dangerously close to finishing... yet I just cast on a new lace shawl 20 minutes ago. Really I just want finished lace. I would love someone to knit lace for me so I could block it, cuz really thats the part I love best.

New projects

2006-05-13T22:13:00.000-06:00

I went to Mitsuwa the other day with a friend for lunch, stopped in their bookstore and was happy to find a Japanese knitting book on fair isle, and a book to help prepare me to pass the JLPT Level 3 test. Only I would be so excited about 2 very nerdy things: Japanese knitting patterns, and a book for studying.

Most of the patterns are written for a size 38" bust, which is 4 inches smaller than mine. I loved all the patterns, but my favorite was this really cute vest:

Theres another photo of it paired with a blazer, knee high brown boots, and a khaki skirt. So cute! It seems like my perfect fall outfit (yes I am aware that it is not fall, but I want to knit it now dammit.) So then the dillema: It's written for one size, which is too small. The gauge it called for was 26 stitches by 28 rows. So I thought I would be very clever and did some math. Let me just say that I would have never bitched so much about cross multiplying in school if I knew I'd be using it on a daily basis.

234 sts (their cast on amount) = ?(my cast on amount)
38" 42"

It seemed simple enough, so I began swatching. I'm good at picking out colors I like together, but once the amount of colors needed goes past 4, my judgement on what goes well together gets a little fuzzy. I needed 7 colors. I picked brown, camel, light grey, olive, pink, dark pink, and seafoam. I loved all those colors and hey, they were all from the stash! But sadly it was a hideous swatch and only 4 rows long. At least I figured it out right away. I broke out the Japanese dictionary to figure out what colors they used in the photo. My new swatch was much much better, I never want to use the reccomended colors but it worked in this case.

Somehow in the course of events, I got a smaller gauge than it called for. I used worsted yarn instead of dk, and 1 needle size up. I'm not sure how I got 1.5 more stitches to the inch, but instead of being dissapointed I refigured the cast on amount, and cast on. The whole vest is charted in the book but I was going to modify it and put shaping in it anyway. Besides, its a vest, I've done that, it cant turn out that bad.

Oh I almost entirely forgot. Once I got back from the mall I had a lovely package from amazon.com waiting for me.

I plan on making the norweigan stockins from Folk Socks (after I saw the awesome ones on Eunny's blog) and the Austrian patterned knee socks from Sock Socks Socks.

I like scarves

2006-05-03T09:53:00.000-06:00

Knitting machines are great for some things. One of those things is long stockinette pieces that are later seamed into tubes. I'm now the proud owner of a slytherin scarf and a dark blue / purple chenille scarf. Both of which took about 2 hours after seaming and tassles!I'm using the living room chair as a model because I am currently a dirty morning beast.

The chenille scarf took 3 balls of Lion Chenille that was on clearance, the slytherin scarf took EXACTLY 2 balls grey and 2 and a half of green. So thats around 8 balls from my stash GONE!

Knitting machines are cool

2006-04-27T00:24:00.000-06:00

So I got my bond knitting machine in the mail today, and I have to say... its alot of fun. Inital swatches were disasterous but after I got the hang of it, it went more smoothly. The first thing I had planned to make with my machine was a slytherin scarf, just because miles of stockinette is not something I enjoy by hand. The scarf was started and frogged I believe 3 times. It would start out really smoothly until all of a sudden 10 stitches would magically drop themselves. I blame this on it being really late and me being tired, so I will reattempt a scarf in the morning.

Almost FOs

2006-04-24T11:05:00.001-06:00

At about 2 am I finished knitting the fair isle portion of the vest! By 2:30 I had sewn the steeks, and by 3 I had cut them.I tried on the vest and it was a little tight, and I got really upset. I went to bed and woke up this morning and tried it on again. I was much happier this morning when realising that the tightness was minimal and could be fixed in blocking.

I've also started the river stole from rowan 38 for my mom. Its going really well, the pattern is easy to memorize and the Douceur et Soie I'm using is so soft and easy to work with.

Yay I'm almost there

2006-03-29T23:44:00.000-06:00

I'm dangerously close to being done but unfortunately dangerously close to running out of brown yarn. I really don't want to buy another ball just for the neck and sleeve ribbing, but I love the cascade 220 enough to make a sweater out of it. So as long as I need one more I might buy 5 and make something cool.

Yay for spring break!

2006-03-21T10:08:00.000-06:00

So I was thinking yesterday that it was strange that I didn't take any progress shots of my argyle vest. When I looked in my pictures folder this morning I saw that I did in fact take pictures, as well as pictures of other things, and never made a post.

According to the image properties, that photo was taken on February 23rd. I wonder why I didn't post it? Possibly because I had a cold when I started it, which should explain why I did about half the ribbing I was supposed to. I might pull it out and work in the other direction. So heres what it looks like today:

I'm only 3 rows away from the neck steeking and I am FRIGGIN PUMPED. I don't know why, because theres still one third of the knitting to do, I guess I'm excited about something different.

I bought the yarn for the northern lights mittens in about november and I did the ribbing and set it aside until about a month ago, when I picked it up again and knit like crazy on it. After all the sweaters I've worked on lately I totally forgot how fast mittens go.

Swatching: Part 2

2006-02-17T12:29:00.000-06:00

I'm so proud of myself for actually swatching. Normally I just knit a few rows and measure the gauge, or if I use the yarn called for I don't even swatch. But since both of my new projects are color work I really didnt want to be off on my gauge.

The argyle pattern is really cool and I'm really enjoying these colors together. I wanted to go with more of a pea soup / avocado kind of green, but I like this better. The brocade swatch doesn't look like much of anything, but gauge was more important than prettyness. What bugs me about that pattern is that its too complicated to do intarsia, and fair isle is also wonky because you have to carry the yarn as much as 30 sts in the center.

Mr. Robot is stuffed and has 1 arm, he looks kind of sad. I haven't started the other arm because I have a handful of yarn left and I'm anxious as to whether or not it will be enough yarn.

Adventures in swatching

2006-02-16T15:51:00.000-06:00

I bought the yarn for my Brocade sweater back in November, but because I was being good and finishing what I was working on then I never swatched. Well I did last night and let me tell you, my gauge was so on it was eerie.

Also after much searching on the internet and going to 3 different yarn stores, I found yarn for my V-neck vest. Its harder than you would think to find heavy dk weight yarn in 100% wool NOT superwash, especially in the colors I wanted. I ended up settling on cascade 220 in celery and brown.

The pattern calls for dk yarn on size 4 which gives a gauge of 22 sts / 4", so I'm going with a light worsted on 6 which will hopefully give me 22sts. I'm absolutely in love with the color combination, and I was so happy after leaving Kool Knits that I totally forgot that when you buy 4 hanks of cascade 200, you actually have to ball all that crap. About 5 minutes of going smoothly turned into this mess:

Finished: Rosedale United

2006-02-04T23:09:00.000-06:00

So last week my rosedale united sweater looked something like this:

After about a week of working slowly on the yoke, I managed to finish last night around midnight. I spent all of yesterday watching Red Dwarf or Saiyuuki and knitting. I wore it home from Russell's house and to work today, its very comfortable and warm.

Closeup on the gradient panel:

I'm very proud of this sweater, and out of the 4 I have made, this is the only one I can see myself wearing regularly. The Christmas sweater is only good for about 1 month a year, and the orange zip up cardigan is ugly and unflattering. Now that I've crossed one more thing off my list I'm debating on what to knit next.

Tentative lineup:

Demi from Rowan Vintage style (yarn- lion wool ease in chestnut heather)
DNA cable aran sweater for Russell (yarn- lion wool ease chunky in bay harbor) 25% done
Jaywalker socks for Harold's girlfriend Amy (yarn- bernat sox in jazz hot) 20% done
Print o' the wave lace stole (yarn- misti alpaca laceweight in brown)
Deep V Argyle Vest (no idea what yarn to use yet, I just bought the pattern)

holy crap

2005-12-23T00:20:00.000-06:00

my christmas sweater is done

the return of the dna sweater

2005-12-07T11:09:00.000-06:00

after almost a year haitus I've started working on Russell's DNA cable sweater again. I put it down in about march or april for whatever reason, I think I screwed up the armhole shaping, and haven't knit on it again until yesterday when I cleaned out my work in progress basket. It's much farther along than I thought, and since being more knowledgeable now then when I started the sweater (about january) all it needed was to be pulled back a few rows! Pardon the blurryness of the pictures, the only way to get the cables to show up is without flash. I'm very proud of this sweater, and I have vowed to finish it before winter is over. Also Russell asked if it would be ready in time for him to go back to school (I think he wants to show it off).

Also the last package from my secret pal was awesome, one of the sweet things being 2 balls of noro kureyon in color #164. Without knowing me my secret pal somehow knew I loved teal, green, and black. I wasnt a fan of the orange/yellow bit at first, but I think it breaks up the colors nicely. I started rosedale united with it, which is hard to photograph since its on circular needles that are way too small.

knitting!

2005-11-24T11:46:00.000-06:00

After seeing the new harry potter I think I'll attempt my first design project after the chrismas sweater is finished
I fell in love with this grey sweater even though I don't really like hermione.

I can even start knitting it out of the stash, and I was lucky to find this character model from the game detailing the sweater. The grey sweater from the movie had cables on the ribbing, which I think I'll do. I'll just do k4 p4 ribbing with a simple cable every other k4.Its really amazing that now that I knit I notice knitted objects way more. After seeing the movie my first comment to Russell was "did you see hermione / neville / fred and george / ginny's sweaters? they were awesome!" to which he replied "no, I didn't notice." But really there were some really great fair isle things in there, and everyone had great hats.

I'd also like to knit something like these for the winter.

It shouldn't be too hard, just a little math and figuring out how to continue the cables onto the ear flaps, probably doing a provisional cast on... which I hate doing. I also want to do these socks that were designed by eddie bauer, but that will take some more figuring out, drawing the color charts, and getting new yarn. I have so many projects I really can't justify buying more sock yarn, especially considering i have about 9,000 balls of sock yarn, and 1 pair of socks.

the back of the chrismas sweater is done!

2005-11-23T23:42:00.000-06:00

finally!

more hats!

2005-11-15T22:41:00.000-06:00

i finished logan's hat
unfortunately he thinks its too big
but fortunate for me i like it more loose so it doesnt ruin my hair

i also bought 2 balls of noro kureyon
russell picked out the colors for hats for himself
i didnt hate the colors but i didnt really love them until i saw it knit up
one is a grey/green and teal color way
the other is brown/tan/cream/grey

logan's hat

2005-11-10T09:49:00.000-06:00

some progress on the birthday hat:
close up of the fair isle:
this hat is going really well considering i cast on yesterday
now that im done with the stripes and the fair isle im not looking foreward to the rest of the hat
i'm so lazy

2005-11-08T19:44:00.000-06:00

so there i am knitting away on my reindeer sweater
there are alot of different yarns involved so i kept them all in my knitting tote
all of a sudden i can't pull any more black yarn
so then i see this:what the hell?
its caron simply soft
the kind where they make it an easy center pull for you
now i have a knotty mess
great
fuck you center pull balls

chrismas sweater progress

2005-11-07T01:18:00.000-06:00

one sleeve of the chrismas pullover knitalong is done. ann is way farther ahead than i am (she has 2 sleeves and the back done). its going well so far, i like the striping and the intarsia fair isle looks good.

id like to remake the freida sweater from the alpaca silk book. this time in the right gauge. unfortunately I CANT FIND THE BOOK. it is very sad. i know its in the house somewhere.. i bought some bernat denim style in off white for it, and because hobby lobby has cheap tempting yarn i bought 3 balls of infatuation in "bouquet". which is a really pretty antique rose color.

finally some finished things!

2005-11-07T01:06:00.000-06:00

sock on the left was made about... 6 months ago i think. sock on the right was made today! and! i cast on its companda! i think i'm finally getting over my second sock (mitten, sleeve, etc.) syndrome. we'll see if pink sock gets a mate. i doubt it because its ugly. what was i thinking?

orange zip up sweater is finally done! unfortunately the zipper was too short and my sewing job was less than awesome despite my meticulous pinning technique. it fits well but the knitting stretches SO MUCH that it makes everything hard to sew.

zip up cardigan

2005-10-19T18:51:00.000-06:00

i started this cardigan a couple weeks ago and have been knitting on and off
its from vogue knitting winter 04/05
its really amazing me how fast its knitting up

front pieces

back

its not a sweater but its a start

2005-10-11T09:27:00.000-06:00

the scarf is about 20" long and took about 45 minutes to complete

my mom says he needs a tail cozy and a ski cap
we also discussed tiny mittens but im not sure how to make mittens so tiny

new fair isle gloves

2005-10-07T19:38:00.000-06:00

I have started yet another fair isle project! (I swear I'll make 2 of these not like the mittens)

I took this picture monday night

probably about an hours work.

Then I took this picture tonight

and I worked all that just wednesday. They're going very fast and are really fun to knit. I'm going to do each finger in a different pattern. They'll be wacky but fun.

fall projects

2005-10-01T23:44:00.000-06:00

i started the charley sweater from rowan magazine #38 a few weeks ago

and an entrelac scarf

the sweater i dont plan on being done before it gets cold because i have too much going on
and the entrelac scarf may have to be a purse for how loooooooooong it takes to knit

hat i finished a few weeks ago

2005-09-29T10:37:00.000-06:00

its made out of wool ease chunky
pattern from stitch n bitch

2005-09-29T10:30:00.000-06:00

my dinosaur has no name

and no sweater yet

he will be very cold this winter