Can we fix it?

Of course! Probably my favorite thing about knitting is that if you just look closely enough at the fabric and know the basic mechanics of what it took to make that fabric, you can fix just about any problems. Or at least that’s how lucky I’ve been so far. My crochet-hook-fu has been getting stronger and stronger to the point where I can fix a mixed up knit/purl ten rows down and not totally ruin the sock. I like fixing little problems.

 Sadly, I ended up with a pretty big problem when it came time to do the toe on the Toujours Pur sock. The pattern includes a standard toe, but *once again* my standard toe came out silly looking and ill fitting. The sock itself is gorgeous so there was no way I could let it lanuish with a terrible toe. I went through all my reference books (I’m obsessed with reference books like dictionaries and encyclopedias and how-to manuals) and discovered the “round toe.” After some creativity with stitch count, I got the sock down to 64 total stitches and followed the instructions in More Sensational Knitted Socks from there. One can never have too complete a reference library, if you ask me.

One place my reference library *can’t* help, however, is with my ginormous house sweater. I’m using some old Wool-Ease Chunky in Charcol to make a quick pullover for around the house. The gague of 2.5 sts to the inch is *killing* me. I ended up on 17s to make this beast. But the fabric is coming out just how I’d hoped and I’m up to the part where I need to make the sleeves….And here’s where the problems come in. First of all, I don’t have another set of 17s I can work a 20 stitch cast on from. There’s the addis I’m using on the obdy and that basically has surgical tubing for a cord…not so much gonna happen with the magic loop, and I’m not even sure size 17 dpns exist. That’d be quite a sight…But I’m gonna give it my best seeing how the 17 tips and 40″ cords I just ordered for my Options do. If that fails…I can use my hated bargin bin 17s with the gnarly plastic cord of doom and do a two circular trick. Yuck.

Even if I do manage to knit the sleeves there’s still the matter of attaching them; a process spelled out only in the vaguest of terms in “The Opinionated Knitter” and not much more clearly in the Hurry Up Last Minute pattern from Knitter’s Almanac that I’m using. I’ll do some more internet detectiving before I throw in the towel and annoy a message board with my plees.

Lastly, I’m making a lace…thing. It’s the ultimate in simplicity but it’s really teaching me the structure of lace. The pattern itself consists of a mind boggling 132 repeats of faggoting (I feel like I need to apologize to a couple of friends just for typing that), after which you attach a simple border. I don’t know how to do any of that stuff, so even though it’s not exactly the more eye catching of lace pieces, it’s a valuable learning lesson…one that, clearly, I haven’t gotten very far with. Picked the red while I was in a Project Spectrum-y mood and I still like it. I don’t own enough of the deeper, hotter end of the color chart. The icky pink acrylic (it actually squeeks!) making an appearance in this pic and the house sweater above, is not meant to be included. It’s just my least splitty, most easily visible waste yarn. I made some regretable choices as a beginning knitter.

I have a bumpy head

But in a good way! I got through all the trinity stitch and bound of for a great looking hat a few days ago.

 

This is a really good pattern with a very clever four stitch decrease that is almost invisible on the hat itself. It blends perfectly without interrupting the pattern. Think I went to the straight up k2tog decreases a little early because the cap gets pointy and weird if I don’t lay it right. But when I do it looks very nice, is very comfortable and warm to wear, and best of all it fits my head snugly. Malabrigo is, as usual, fantastic and I feel like this was the perfect colorway for me to dip my toe in to the red-spectrum. Remember that song from the 90’s called “Blue?” My tastes are kind of like that, but without the repetative techno beats and French vocalists.

I’m also hard at work on the Hartshorn Vest. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, but the result seems to be coming out vest-shaped so I’ll run with it. I’m about to start the v-neck on the front and still have the whole back to do. Don’t have a CLUE how it’ll fit, but if nothing else I’ll be able to say I made it all by myself with only the cable having been prewritten. Let’s just wait and see, shall we?

And socks are on the move as well! The pattern for Toujours Pur is beautiful. I pick that adjective carefully and really mean it. There are cool sock patterns, nifty sock patterns, clever sock patterns, cute sock patterns, pretty sock patterns and many many more. This pattern, when combined with the yarn, is beautiful. Like a pair of old fashioned elegant lady’s stockings. I’m already thinking of getting some elastic to sew in to the cuffs (which are a nice break from the k2 p2 norm, by the way) so I can make them nice and tall. I always end up with so much leftover anyway that I might as well try to get the most I can out of this.

Here’s the deal. I *love* turn of the century style. I like looking at fashion from when women wore pretty things and it wasn’t weird or “Ooo you must be going somewhere fancy tonight.” Victorian style had layers and an overall prettyness that I really appreciate…even though I can’t bring myself to come anywhere close to it. Chalk it up to not wanting to buck the social norm too much and laziness.

Along those lines, I treated myself to a new book: Victorian Lace Today. I’ve got some nice red-ish Zephyr and I’m going to make the Victorian Ruby scarf. I’ve read plenty of charts before, so once I figure out the actual grafting and turning techniques, I think I’ll be okay with it. It seems like half the battle with lace is figuring out how to read a chart. Or maybe I’m just trying not to psyche myself out too much. Whatever. I figure I’ll start the lace after I finish the Hartshorn vest, which seems like it might actually be in the near future.

Breathing Fire

Goblet of Fire socks are done!

The pattern worked perfectly and the few alterations to size I made in terms of foot length made a huge difference in how well they fit under shoes. I got probably a third of the sock done just during the Super Bowl (Go Giants!), and finishing them off on Monday was a cinch. One thing I’m less than pleased with is the toe. I wish I could figure out how to get my top-down toes less square and more rounded. It’s not that they’re uncomfortable to wear, but I feel like they look a bit strange. Still, good socks and I cast on for Book 5’s socks right after the last end was sewn (mmmmm…silky blue awesomeness….)

BUT, I’ve been sidetracked. It’s Project Spectrum season and I’m getting started with the FIRE. That cabled vest is still on the needles (it’s a big project in DK wieght yarn, okay?), but I wanted some more red…something firey…and a hat. It’s been more than a month since my last hat and that’s just not kosher in my world.  I didn’t buy new yarn for the ENTIRE month of January! Just stash! It’s awesome! Clearly I could go buy new now! I know it’s a pathetic excuse but seriously it’ll be going right back out of the stash asap. Malabrigo Chunky in Amoroso seems like the perfect set of Fire colors to really kick in this band of the spectrum. The pattern I chose was the Trinity Stitch Beret from Craftster and I would just like to chime in that Trinity Stitch is the DEVIL. Only my Options Needles’ pointyness is the only reason I can get three chunky stitches all purled together. Still, it looks awesome and I’m looking forward to getting some pictures up.

Oh and the Hartshorn vest! It’s still being worked on. In fact, I fudged my way through some bust increases recently, so the split should be coming up in about an inch or so. My biggest worry is that it’s going to be weirdly big. Not only did I factor in about two inches of positive ease with my calculations, but I’ve also been losing weight. Pilates classes are fun, but they can muck with your knitting calculations.

Lastly, I’m a moran and missed the fact that I got tagged by the “7 Facts Meme” again at the end of January! I gotta pay more attention to stuff like this. So here are my 7 facts:

• - I am capable of keeping a secret unto death
• - One of my favorite things to do in my free time is aquire new skills. I collect skill sets like some people collect baseball cards. I collect basic foreign language skills, hobby skills, and life skills. Of each of these catagories, I still want to learn German, embroidery, and how to tie good knots
• - I have never once been on a calorie counting diet plan
• - It pretty much takes spitting in my food in front of me and then calling someone around me a nasty name to get me to be unkind to waitstaff.
• - One of my biggest pet peeves is when people who don’t know how to use a piece of technology will not ask for help and instead keep flailing and failing until they break something.
• - No matter how little makeup I’m wearing, I always worry that it’s too much
• - I have a compulsion that causes me to lock things a minimum of twice before i can securely walk away from them. This has lead to me driving well out of my way to double check house-locks and hitting my car lock button keychain thing a record 10 times.

STILL don’t know 7 bloggers but I *can* tag..

Melissa (though she’s probably still busy with the big move)

Jody (who got me the first time)

And of course, Marie! (who I finally noticed isn’t in my blogroll making me realize just how stupid the whole “use the internet explorer history link” thing is)

Like the wind

Wow. One evening in front of the TV can do marvelous things for one’s project load.

Hanukkah started this past week so I know I need to have Jason’s hat done soon. I started the Marsan Watchapfor him a almost a week ago, but the monotony of the twisted rib just wasn’t holding my attention. All I wanted to do was make the pretty socks out of my pretty Prisoner of Azkaban sock yarn. I decided to make a toe up sock with a simple knit-purl pattern on the instep (I wear jeans so no one would have ever seen the side details on Carrie’s pattern, and the super cute sole designs would have driven me up a wall). I really liked the idea behind the Foxglove sock architecture (I know I said I wasn’t gonna try any more New pathways for awhile but…well I guess I lied), and the fountain design really caught my eye. So I sized up my feet and came up with a really great looking, great fitting sock. That’s the part you see in the picture.

 And then I tried to turn the heel. Disaster and failarity ensued. The thing still goes on  a foot, but frankly I think I can fix my mistake and make it look right if I could only make myself rip back. Gotta thread in a lifeline and get back to before I totally mucked up the heel. I still like the pattern and the yarn is GORGEOUS, but this heel is unacceptable. I want these socks to look right, damnit!

So since I’m building up the courage to do all the ripping back on the sock, I needed something little to occupy my hands. Welcome back Marsan Watchcap.  I don’t know why I was so bad about working on this. The pattern makes a handsome hat, and Mission Falls wool is quickly becoming my go-to yarn for hats. It comes in a bazillion colors, it’s superwash, warm, soft, and holds up well in the face of near constant use (just ask my Glaistig hat). It was great to just have one simple stitch pattern to work on while cozied up under a blanket (the Clashtastic Log-Cabin LIVES!) and a whole bunch of DVR’d Mythbusters and that Tin Man miniseries that they had on Sci-Fi (not nearly as good or bad as I thought it would be. Entertaining story, moved along at a good pace, and appropriate acting from everyone but Zooey Deschanel. Seriously, I know she can act but she was very clearly NOT happy to be there and it showed). Now I’m about ready to do the crown decreases. With any luck I’ll have this done next week.

Good news and bad news

Well the Heir of Slytherin Coriolis socks are done. And somehow I made all the same mistakes on the second one as the first. The coriolis band is NOT supposed to be on the sole of the foot, but something about how I placed the markers  and made the heel totally screwed it up. I mean…the socks aren’t BAD. They still got on a foot and the yarn in very nice. For my first ever toe-ups, I’m really supprised that they are even foot shaped. But now they’re dona and I know I have a long way to go in my knowledge of sock knitting before I try another New Pathways pattern. If nothing else, these socks taught me that socks on circulars are deffinitely faster than DPNs and not as scary as it seemed.

I finished the Heirs on the heels of receiving the Prizoner of Azkaban yarn. LOVE. I was thinking about what I wanted to do with it and I was all set to use the enclosed pattern…and then Momma Monkey came out with Freya. Won’t this yarn look AMAZING with that pattern? The color changes going up the cables…I always feel bad when I don’t use the enclosed pattern, but I really really really love this yarn and I really really love this pattern.

Lastly, Thanksgiving has come and gone. NOW the Christmas gift fever has really caught me. I made crazy progress on the Prime Rib Scarf, I have the yarn all set to cast on for Jason’s Marsan Watchcap…and then there’s the baby sweater. Remember the BSJ I was making for little Ryan. Well I saw her on Thanksgiving. There is no WAY that sweater gonna fit. Oh well. I wanted to make the February Baby Sweater anyway….

A happy knitter

I’m feeling really content with my knitting right now. That’s a nice feeling. I did my first ever true stash-dive project and made a quick beret out of some leftover Skye Tweed I bought last year for $2 a ball. Sale yarn, good project, using up stash. That’s a happiness trifecta for me. I used the Le Slouch pattern, and I think it’s pretty good looking. I like the yarn, and the color goes well with a lot of things I own. This pic’s kind of a cop out, but I hope to get an actual wearing shot up soon. Didn’t have time this morning.

I’m also finally past the hesitation stage on my poor Heir of Slytherin socks. They just didn’t fit and no amount of stitch shifting was going to save them. I still really liked the coriolis idea, so I figured out the master numbers and I’m going to be making the Master Spiraling Coriolis to fit my crazy ass feet. P.S – The Whirlpool toe? fits really well but was murder to start. My figure 8 cast on was terrible. I’m gonna have to sew that up with the yarn tail. Feels nice to have a pair of socks back on the needles, finally.

Lastly, today I hope to begin spinning up the blue roving I bought. I think it’ll look nice with the yellow, and then I can try to ply using my ultra-high-tech Lazy Kate:

My motto is: If it can be built, a reasonable facsimile of it can be made out of carboard.

Now that’s more like it

The little sojourn in to sewing did good things for me. Now I’m back to knitting happily and making things that I think are coming out nice.

First off, I am so super proud of the second Monkey sock I made. I wanted to try and make a full pair of socks before the end of Socktober…and I won!

Three days of solid Monkey only work. When knit in the proper gauge, Lorna’s Laces feels great. Too tight and it’s like leather on your feet, but this is just right for me. Size 2’s are pretty much my magic needle for sock gauge. So much so, in fact, that I didn’t feel any buyer’s remorse over picking up two small circulars in size 2.

Knitting socks on circular needles is really…different. I got so used to all the stop and start of DPNs that I’m getting a little lost on these circs. It’s faster, no doubt about it, and I think I’m really getting the hang of it. Not that I picked a great pattern to try this brand new technique out on.

Here are the second Potters Covers socks so far. The toe up thing has been pretty fun, and the Coriolis shaping is nifty…but confusing. I’m getting a bit nervous about how long these are going to be. The pattern looks perfect for my foot length, but I’m worried I messed something off and I’m not increasing at the right rate or something. That being said, the snakey cable going around the gusset is really entertaining to me. I’m thinking about jazzing it up a bit once I get to the leg (adding some extra twists, things like that).

I’m also still working on Christmas gifts. I have three rows left on the BSJ that I can’t seem to make myself do. It’s three freaking rows! Not that hard! But I’m being all weird about it because once I bind off, I need to learn applied i-cord…::shudder:: Maybe I should have saved the breaking of new ground for a non-gift project…probably won’t fit the kid by now, anyway…. But the other gift I started is wonderfully easy, and also comes courtesy of EZ. My cousin Mike asked for a black scarf for Christmas. I don’t think he was serious, but I said “sure” and I meant it. I gotta say that the Prime Rib stitch is like magic. It even made the rather limp Paton’s Shetland Chunky I’m using feel thick and full, plus it’s a fun stitch to do. I kinda want a scarf for myself in this stitch. Maybe I’ll use up some of my noro to make a stripe scarf in this stitch. Mindless enough to go quickly, but still looks pretty cool.

Lastly, I’m back in love with Odessa. Sure, I messed up on the beads a bit, but effect of the hat is still intact. This picture does not do the color justice. It’s more of an icey blue, and with the little pearl beads (huge pack of them cheap at Michael’s) I think it looks great. The RYC Cashsoft is so nice, too…

Knitting is fun again!

All new fun

I may not have gone to Rhinebeck, but in terms of yarn related fun I’ve had a pretty awesome few days.

I went back out to my alma mater, Bucknell University, for Homecoming weekend on Friday, getting back yesterday. Now I had all sorts of serious stuff to do there in addition to fun, but I’d brought along my Monkey socks for sitting around time (which I knew there was going to at least be a little bit of), so I knew I wouldn’t be going an entire weekend without knitting. When dropped my car off downtown, I decided to take a walk in the pouring rain toward my friends’ house…not really thinking of the fact that I was literally on the opposite end of town and I hate being out in the rain. About halfway there, I was looking for anywhere I could pop in and waste time just to dry up a bit. What do you think I found?

A yarn store. There was a freaking LYS in my college’s town, and I find it two years after I graduate. Fantastic. The really interesting thing is that it’s more of a spinning store than a yarn store. Not sure we even have one of those out here where I live. I went in and saw all the pretty roving and tops on the wall and I got that spinning curiosity back again. “Why not,” I figured. “It’s just a little drop spindle and a handful of roving. It’s not gonna break the bank.” The woman who owns the shop was great! When I asked about beginner spinning kits, she offered to give me a quick crash course with the roving she was working on. She dealt with my hang ups about the whole “omg the spindle is spinning must keep up while maintaining a death-grip on the roving” and the dog that hung out with her was very cute and chill. She was a really good teacher, and eventually I ended up with this:

 ”Look, ma! Beige Kuyeron!”

That would be my snarky way of saying that my width is a mess. I go from embroidery thread to Burly Spun in less than 2 inches…but is was so much fun! As soon as I figure out how to get the above shown “yarn” off the spindle, I plan on doing some more practice with the little ball of roving I picked up along with the spindle. The owner sells roving from her own sheep. How cool is that!? The roving I bought and the stuff on the spindle is from a sheep named Karma, who has very soft wool and has gotten a little lighter with age apparently (the yarn on the spindle is older than the roving I bought). Mad About Ewes in Lewisburg is definitely going on my list of “places I have to go whenever I visit school.” Man…now I wanna try spinning again…

BUT! There is much else to discuss. Tops on the list is the fact that I got my newest sock club yarn shipment. The Chamber of Secrets colorway is very cool and I found myself so stoked about the pattern that I had to cast on right away. It really didn’t feel like a choice so much as a necesity. Kind of like breathing. Maybe I should have waited, though, since I didn’t have the called for two circs to make the toe-ups. But I’m stubborn and didn’t think there was anything that I couldn’t do on my DPNs, even if it was going to be my first time trying toe up socks…

In hindsight, the really long DPNs might have been a poor decision….

And yet I did manage to turn this pin-cushion in to a toe. And, while I’m at it, an instep. The pattern uses this crazy snaking increase and there’s a cool cable pattern that follows it. Very fun to make, but with one Monkey done I really need to focus on that pattern so I can get a full pair done before the end of the month…

 …but I want to spin…

So bad it’s good

Okay so designing socks is a bit harder than I thought it would be…

I tried mocking up the lace pattern I wanted to use in the round, but it wasn’t working quite right I haven’t figured it out yet. And since this is going to take more experimentation and time, I decided to cast on another prewritten pattern of socks…because heaven forbid I stop making socks right now.

I call them my Pretty Princess Socks because honetly this is the girliest colorway ever. EVER. And the super femme lace pattern leaves them looking double girly. But I like how it’s turning out. Sometimes you just need to feel Pretty. They’re the Waving Lace socks from Favorite Socks using Lorna’s Laces I’ve had sitting around for like a year, knit on size 1s (of which I have two sets). This makes me very happy because it leaves my 2s free for another pair. Frankly I need more DPNs, but I think it would be wise to hold off on that Knitpicks order until I figure out how much of last week’s paycheck is still left after paying my parking ticket and my latest Etsy purchase.

Let me just say that I tried really really hard not to buy more sock yarn. Frankly, I don’t need it. I still have two pairs’ worth of Knitpicks Essential, another pair of Lorna’s, two things of Pallette that I can use for socks, and the next sock club shipment should be coming in a week or so. I do not need, by any stretch of the imagination, more sock yarn.

So clearly I bought enough for two more pairs.

I’d been drooling over the stuff at Shelby’s Designs for awhile, but managed to restrain myself…until last night when I suddenly found my check card in my hand and a printed receipt in my printer. If I had completely lost my mind I probably would have bought like another three (these colors are seriously beautiful), but I managed to make it out of the store with a bill that was less than my parking ticket (grumblegrumble). For the rationalization portion of the post, won’t Grindylow look awesome as a pair of Pomatomus? As for the Dolores Umbridge colorway…what can I say? I really want a pair of offensively pink socks

Speaking of questionable fashion decisions (see what I did there?), I got back to sewing last night. There’s a new book out called Bend the Rules Sewing that I picked up the other day and it got me really excited about tackling the sewing machine again. It’s the kind of book that tells you “calm down, it’ll all be fine, people have been doing this for over a century, and look at all the fun things you can make!”. I needed that. So without any help at all, I put some rick rack on my skirt apron pattern that I’d cut out over a month ago.

    

Isn’t it beautiful? And by “beautiful” I mean “hideous.” And by “hideous” I clearly mean “awesome.” I can’t wait to wear this sucker for Thanksgiving <3

Sock Madness

Must. Knit. More. Socks.

I finished the Owl’s Flight socks early this morning and they are beautiful.

I love the colors, I love the yarn, I love the pattern and I love how they feel. These socks are more than enough to cement in my mind that I love knitting socks. Just look at these! It’s a hand knit object that I can wear every day! That really means something. It’s not always cool out enough to wear a sweater or a hat or a scarf. But socks? I wear socks all the time, year round (I have a hang up about being barefoot. It’s a really long story, but suffice it to say the only times I’m barefoot by choice is in the shower or down the Shore). And you know what? If I’m going to wear socks all the time, why not make them special. I’ve used that term a lot with these socks, but it’s the best description for them. I wish you could see the lace pattern a bit better, but since my camera sucks, I’m afraid I can only really show you the pretty pretty colors that Carrie put together. Aren’t they great?

This pattern proves to me that knitting is something I’m actually good at. I read my knitting, I repaired dropped stitches, I followed a lace chart, I compensated for my choice of a different heel, my kitchener stitch toe is great. I’ve really found something I’m good at, enjoy doing, and can make something great.

And since I cannot stop making socks now, I’m gonna wreck myself against a difficult task: I’m gonna design my own toe-ups. I’m swatching tonight and using the Universal Toe-Up formula from Knitty. Since I don’t want to make these too plain, I’m going to incorporate a little lace pattern from the first Barbara Walker Treasury. The one I picked has a nice little story to it (I love storytelling, but that’s for another blog). It’s a lace pattern from a pair of stockings worn by Queen Elizabeth the First, and since I’ve always had an interest in my namesake I think it’ll be cool to try and knit a pair of socks with “her pattern” in it.