Neophyte Knitter

Socks on Parade

That's right people...I have two FO's in the same week.  August is a rocking month for me.

Pattern: Charade from I May Be Knitting a Ranch House
Yarn: Knit Picks Memories in Flower Power
Needles: US 1's & US 2's
Knit: July 27- August 22, 2007

Not too many  changes to this.  I did change the pattern to toe-up (loosely using another toe-up pattern for the turning the heel).  Other than that I changed to a larger size needle on the leg since this was a tight fabric.  They don't fit me (although the foot did) so these will have to be a gift to someone who doesn't have size 10 feet and fat ankles.

Do you like my new wall decorations?  I decided that I would hang my sock blockers and whatever my latest socks were, they would become "art". 

And on the needles I now have two sweaters!

The first is the cover project from the new IK, the Tilted Duster from Norah Gaughan.  I am using Knit Picks Swish Superwash.  It's a really soft and cushy feeling yarn.  I am actually farther along than this picture implies.  I have both sleeves done and have sewed this pieces together and started the "skirt".  My only problem so far is that when I picked up the stitches for it, the numbers corresponded to a smaller size.  I decided to go with it since I wanted all the stitches to line up perfectly.  I will just do a few more increases if I need too.  Although setting the sleeves in after seems a little weird and the holes are big but I trust the designer.  I just hope there weren't some major fuck-up with the numbers.  That would make me really sad.

The other project will take me much longer.  It's the Ribbed Tunic by Mary Lynn Patrick in the latest VK, reprinted from 1998.  Not only is it tons and tons of ribbing but it's done with DK weight yarn on US5 & 6..  In my case that's Knit Picks Merino Style.  Still I am really excited about this.  I love the shape but I think I might shorten it a bit.  I don't like that much "tunic".  So far I have about 2/3rds of the a sleeve complete.  At least the ribbing is fairly mindless. 

Now I am off to enjoy my weekend.  I get to spend some time with my man who is finally back in town for a few weeks before jetting off again to London, Detroit, Malaysia....damn I wish I had more vacation time.  And money for plane tickets.

Starsky Debut

I finished Starsky this week.  And it fits!  And I like it!  And it's a cardigan so I will probably wear it a lot! This may well be a first for me.  I mean I have a few sweaters that I have knit that I will occasionally wear but nothing that gets the use/abuse I expect this one will.  When it's not 85-degrees out anyway.  I have no idea why knitting a wool sweater appealed to me in the middle of summer but this was relatively painless.

Project Information
Pattern: Starsky from Knitty Winter 2005
Yarn: Lion Brand Cape Cod - 10 Skeins
Needles: US 8's
Knit: July 12 - August 22, 2007

Modifications: I did a significant amount of work on this pattern to change all the numbers to utilize the gauge I was getting with this yarn.  And I changed the ribbing pattern at the bottom so it flowed into the cable pattern. So after my swatch but before I started (so unlike me), I set about to re-writing the pattern for me.  It took about 2 hours and there were lots of calculations, red ink and some cursing but in the end I had a clean set of directions with just my numbers on it (less confusion). 

From the beginning I decided to skip the belt for two reasons.  The first was that I was working a yarn that had no yardage listed on it.  It was an E-Bay purchase.  Even an e-mail to Lion Brand couldn't get me the information.  That's how old this yarn is.  So I had exactly 12 skeins and no more.  The belt was extraneous.  The second reason was that I didn't need the extra bulk around my middle.  I'm not that svelte.  So with no belt, it was a button fastening for me.

Actually it was seeing this project on Ravelry with buttons and loving it so much that finally convinced me to cast-on.  Since the shawl collar/band is knitted on after, it was easy to add button holes, though mine are vertical instead of horizontal.  The buttons themselves are a dark brown 1-1/4" wood button that I think complement the natural color spectacularly.  I sewed them on with thread and then went over that with the yarn so they are very sturdy.

I originally was going to have 4 buttons but after doing the whole thing and trying it on, I realized that I only needed three with the way the collar curled.  Luckily (or not), I had to rip back and redo the collar for another reason.  It was too short.  I did some searching and found a craftster thread where they talked about this issue with the larger sizes. I also found a post from the designer herself where she gave instructions for how to lengthen it by increasing the short rows.  The second time everything worked like a charm.

So now I have my first winter sweater!  I was so happy with it that  I now have two more sweaters on the needles!  And it is still in the 80's in SoCal.  It takes a special kind of craziness to knit with wool right now!

Breaking Out of the Shell

I have been a bit depressed lately.  It's nothing serious.  It's just something that happens when too many things get out of whack in my life - in this case my love life and my job.  I turn into a hermit for a few weeks (almost 6 in this case) staying at home all the time and avoiding my friends with a general feeling of malaise.  But I feel everything is on the upswing again with some serious relationship issues hopefully resolved (only time will tell) and some upcoming job changes (albeit still 2 months off) so now it's time to come out and start living again.

Tonight is my first thing.  I am meeting up with some people from college that I haven't seen in over 5 years.  We just lost touch but thanks to the Internet, we are meeting for cocktails tonight.  I wore a nice dress to work for the occasion.  And I have dinner plans with another pal later this week.  I sometimes forget how much work it is to be a good friend.  It takes effort.

Anyway, in cool knitting news, did you know Stephanie (aka the Yarn Harlot) is coming to Los Angeles on September 15th (more details here).  She will be downtown at the Central Library which is an amazingly beautiful building.  And since I need to branch out and actually meet some knitters in person, I made a reservation for 2.  Good thing too.  The lady said almost all the 230 seats have been taken. Don't know who my 2nd will be - maybe the man (so he can compare it to a magician gathering) or an old friend I am trying to convert to knitting.  Or a new friend.

Knitting continues.  I am so close to being done with Starsky.  I did end up ripping the whole collar back and redoing to to make it longer and to get rid of one of the button holes.  All I have to do is sew the damn buttons on.  The Charade socks are a bind-off away from being complete too. 

The new project in my life is the Tilted Duster (aka the cover of the new IK) which I am obsessively working on.  More than I should be thanks to some stupid mistakes. I'll give some more details on it soon.

Life is Tough

I have some personal issues that are keeping me pretty introspective these days and not leaving much desire for blogging.  I hope to have them resolved one way or another soon but to make it a better easier, my Friday Reviews on are official hiatus until after Labor Day.

But even though I am not blogging about it, lots of knitting is happening.  Partly because of those issues.  Knitting is my calmer and my escape.  And shopping (only knitting related).  And swatching.

Here's what I did this weekend.

I finished this hat and the next day mailed it off to one of Jon's friends in Northern Ireland.  She's gets such a special gift because she sends us DVDs of the new Doctor Who and Torchwood so we can see them months before they air in the US.  Shows which I absolutely love!!

I also did some finishing.  Actually lots of finishing.

And thanks to my favorite purchase - a new Ott-Watt Task Lamp, I was able to do all this at night.  So obviously this is Starsky.  She's pretty much all done but I need to do some mulling.  I think I need rip and redo the ribbed collar.  I want it longer at the top.  Also, I bought buttons but I actually have enough yarn left over to make the tie.  So I have some decisions to make before it joins the wardrobe officially.  Not that I need to worry.  It's 88-degrees here today.  I think I can wait a bit for a wool sweater.

I am so close to casting on for my next sweater.  I have two in the wings that I have the fiber for and I have even already swatched. And got spot on gauge the first time!  So I just need to chose which one to start first.  Hopefully more updates next week. 

82

82 steps.  That's the number I climb to work most days.  I don't know why I counted this morning.  The sad thing is that this is the most exercise I have been doing in a month.  Sigh.  But you didn't come here to listen to me whine about my severe lack of motivation.  Or the 20 other whiny things I could drone on about today.  I think PMS is hitting me especially hard at the moment.  That usually happens when the bf is out of town.  It makes me cranky to be alone and throw a little PMS in the mix and my inner bitch breaks out.  Of course I am never truly alone.  I have these two traipsing around after me.

My mood is good for knitting though.  All I want to do is sit on the couch and zone with all the awesome summer TV (Eureka, Closer, Saving Grace (Holly Hunter is amazing!!!), 4400, Psych, Monk ). That and my new found love for Netflix.  I had resisted for so long but caved recently.  Since the bf is gone, I am trying to get through all the girly flicks.  And the gruesome horror ones that I love.  He hates those.

So I finished one project.  Actually I finished it two weeks ago but the ends didn't weave themselves in until this week.  It's my Distrato scarf or as I like to think of it, my tangible memory of my European vacation last year since it's made with the yarn I picked up in Berlin.  Here's some brief project notes.

Pattern: Based on Zig Zag Scarf from Modular Knits
Yarn: Gedifra Distrato
Needles: US 7's
Knit: July 11 - August 6, 2007
Modifications: I did less zig-zag to accommodate the fur. And made it pretty skinny (3"x72").

I also finished my shawl.  It came out great and was such an enjoyable knit.  The lace pattern was soooo easy to memorize that it fairly flew off the needles.  No changes besides having to do a few more repeats to get the required size.  It was the blocking that was a pain.  I had a big furry thing to contend with.  And my board was about 6 inches to short so I had to do it in two phases. I like the smaller size but I really need to get a shawl pin to keep it on the shoulders. 

Pattern: Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style
Yarn: Brown Sheep Naturespun Fingering in Fuchsia
Needles: US 6's
Knit: July 15 - August 7, 2007

I have added it to my pile of "Need to Get Good Photos Of".  So far I have 4 projects in it.  All lace.  Lace is such a pain to get a good pic of for me.  If any one has any tips, shoot them my way.

I finally started the last Harry Potter yesterday. I had to wait an extra week to get the audio version from the library.  As I listened to the opening music, it was bittersweet.  I almost didn't want to start since soon the story will truly be over.

There's more to chat about...WIP's, some recent purchases and some work changes but i'll save it for another day.