yarn over

Tour de Fleece continued

2007-07-22T18:41:00.000-05:00

Well, slowly slowly I spun the rest of the fiber I posted last time. I had some brown and then some brown with white and blue striped through it. I spun them both up, with a bit of difficulty. I had to really predraft it down to about the thickness I wanted for the single itself.

Then I plied the brown and the striped together. It's pretty thick, but I like the end result. I only ended up with about 50 yards, so maybe I can use it for the cuffs of a jacket or sweater. Not much more than that...I'll try to snap a pic of the finished skein that'll be a bit more appealing.

I have some more carded fiber in a nifty purple and some combed merino in a melony/mango-y kind of color. That's up next!

T d' F day 1

2007-07-07T21:56:00.001-05:00

I'm off to a slow start on the Tour de Fleece... no surprise there. I got in about a half hour today et voila!

This is some of the fiber left from when I purchased my hand spindle. I'm having some trouble with it because it is very smooth and I can't seem to get the tension right. I think I'll need to do some better predrafting on what's left before I continue with it. Can anyone say "felt me?"

But a wider view to show off my equipment for the Tour (sans flash, and you can see my messy apartment in the background):

My Ashford Traditional, aquired "new in the box" for a pretty good deal via Ebay. The seller did fail to mention that it was actually new in 1983. It really hadn't ever been taken out or assembled, but the pieces were wrapped up in a New Zealand newspaper from Dec 1983! Quite a surprise. But I love it. It's so cute and, well, traditional!. I'm slowly getting the hang of things. I spun enough roving (kindly given to me by a friend with her own sheep) to knit up a shawl that I like to describe as "rustic." I'll have to post a picture soon.

So on with the Tour! Better luck tomorrow...

Abadon all hope, ye who enter here

2007-06-06T19:45:00.000-05:00

There will be no lofty promises of daily posting. I just get so horribly jealous of all the other lovely blogs out there in the knit-blogosphere and I can't bear to post myself. The gaping holes in time should be obvious.
But I have so much to show! I just got a spinning wheel and lots of fun fiber from a local shepherdess friend of mine! I want to brag about it!

How about a moderate promise to try? Will that help?

Red and not-so-red scarves

2007-01-23T20:49:00.000-05:00

I am proud to announce the completion of both the scarves I knit to donate to the Red Scarf Project this year. I think this is a super idea and hope it continues long into the future so I can have the chance after my holiday extravagance to feel like I'm giving back to someone.

The real red scarf is the Irish Hiking scarf, which if the gallery on the project page is anything to go by was a popular choice for the donations this year. I used Plymouth Encore which is squishy and soft and machine washable. Hooray! And I thought the burgundy was unisex enough. I think it shows the cables (done without a cable needle, also a new trick) very nicely.

The no-so-red scarf is the Arrowhead scarf from the holiday issue of KnitSimple. I thought the simple pattern was fun and deceptively complicated looking, which is always a bonus in a gift item. The grey and white make it a bit more dramatic than in the magazine which uses a light green and a variagated green. Also successfully unisex I think. Enjoy the slightly trippy optical illusional aspects of my photo! I'm trying to master the macro settings on the camera.

Fly, Icarus, Fly!

2007-01-19T18:38:00.000-05:00

Finally some pictures, posted through the glory of the bf's new laptop and wireless connection. La-dee-da.

I finished the Icarus maybe two weeks ago. I think I need an action photo to do it justice, so hold on for that. I used less than 1 skein of this lovely slightly varigated blue from handpaintedyarns.com. I was amazed to find not a single knot in it when I would it, too. Very nice. I absolutely recommend their yarns, and very reasonably priced, too.

The obligatory pre-blocking lace item close up. Pimply, no? Granted, the hundreds of stithes were all squished up together on a pretty short #4 circular needle.

This is still pre-blocking, but a wider view. I was, despite the dozens of other blog entries and articles and books I have read on the topic assuring me of this, simply amazed at how much the thing grew when I pinned it out. The blocking pics were not so great, since I used the biggest beach towel I had which happens to also be blue. But I'll try to get a pic on something more flattering to show the finished object.

And of course I must admit that this project definitely gave me the lace bug. As evidenced by the amount of lace weight yarn I have subsequently purchased off of Ebay.

soon my pretties

2007-01-14T15:54:00.000-05:00

I spent an inordinate amount of time today playing with posting a percentage bar along the sidebar here because suddenly it seemed very important. My html skills consist mostly of trial and error, so, that may have contributed to the lengthly interlude required.
I want to make a Finished Objects list also, since that would fall within my New Year's Resolution and prompt me to take more pictures. So, I think I'll spend too much time on that also.
Oh yeah, and then maybe I'll take some pics of things I'm actually doing to post as well. The bf is getting a laptop for his birthday, arriving via UPS any day, so that might help me in the long run, cause then I can post from the couch instead of hauling my lazy butt all the way into the study to get on the desktop.
Anyway... hopefully in the next few days a new, picture filled post.

Help! I've logged on to Ebay and I can't get out!

2007-01-02T11:00:00.000-05:00

I had this great idea of how I was going to save some money by limiting my fiber budget through the holidays, but somehow I have managed to make at least 4 Ebay purchases in the month of December alone.
And twice I got this wonderful "second chance" offer from a seller to purchase something I didn't even win. Now who can pass that up for goodness sake? It's like a gift, practically.
And each individual purchase seems like such a bargain, and with PayPal I don't even have to physcially touch my credit card each time. It is evil I tell you...EVIL!!!
And for some reason I'm buying all this lace weight yarn. Exhibit A: purple cashmere!!!
Do I have a need for shawls all of a sudden? I was guilt tripped by my mother for not having knitted something for my grandmother for Christmas, so maybe that can be a project for the rest of the winter.
OK. But the blog-o-sphere as my witness: No more Ebay until at least.... umm.... Feb?

New Year's Eve Eve

2006-12-30T19:09:00.000-05:00

To the knitblogging goddess:
I resolve in 2007 I will:

make better use of my digital camera.
take at least one picture of each finished object I knit, crochet, spin, sew or weave (if the loom ever gets assembled).
more carefully document my projects so I can stand a halfway decent chance of replicating my results if called upon to do so.
organize my stash.

I think it is totally reasonable that I am considering making only fiber related resolutions. Why set myself up for disappointment, right?At least if I fall short on these it will be fun trying!

So onward toward 2007. A new look (with the new Blogger) and a new outlook focused on regular postings and pictures for posterity.

two two two posts at once!

2006-10-09T20:52:00.000-05:00

As promised, some quick and dirty pics taken as soon as I walked in the door from work tonight. Sorry so sloppy and dark. I promise to be more careful with the camera in the future.
In order:

Socks: see how they seem like they fit me, not my size 11 shoe wearing father? But he has slim calves...maybe? He definately does not have my rocking polar bear pj pants, though.

log cabin: note how s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d the needle is at the top. This may soon become a problem.red sweater: I swear it stretches. And has a lovely rippley edge.

scarf: I chose the yarn cause it was acrylic and cheap, yet still soft and the stripeness is fun cause it makes it look hard and therefore I can charge more for the finished product.

fiddling

2006-10-09T18:37:00.000-05:00

So I've fiddled with my sidebars repeatedly, logging on probably a half dozen times since my last post and added absolutely nothing of my own.

The WIPs are as follows:

socks for my father: Ash Essential from KnitPicks with lovely not-too-girly two stitch minicables. My main concern is that despite how stretchy they seem, I can't imagine they will fit. Oh well, they won't be the first pair of hand-knitted gift socks that end up being a gift for me.
log cabin throw for the bf's sister: getting almost out of hand on the circular needles, but I'm trying to reduce stash by attempting to force myself to use all the yarn I bought for the project (Sugar'n Cream... cheap but I like it).
red sweater for me: Cascade 220 from the LYS in Brooklyn (not my LYS per se) where it was 10% off. Love the color, in 2x2 rib the amazing stretch is the most fun! So far, the Rebecca translation has been OK...
commissioned scarves: batch of 3 scarves commissioned by a co-worker after the scarf I knitted to raise money for our library was such a hit. Who knew? The first one is mistake ribbing, like the one for our sale. The other two will be something else because otherwise I will poke my eyes out with my #9s. They aren't exciting, but they are good TV knitting. Now I just have to figure out how much I can charge her for them without being embarrassed.

Now I must consult my Christmas list becuase I'm sure there are about 5 other projects I scheduled myself to work on in October. And I must dust off the camera and post some pictures of said WIPs becuase otherwise you all might think I was making this all up!

What I wish I was knitting...

photo update

2006-08-28T10:22:00.000-05:00

We had a great trip to NYC and I even managed to get in some yarn shopping. Cascade all 10% off at the cute yarn shop across from Dave's sister's place. I managed to tear myself out with less than $100 worth. Yikes.

I've been working on this Clapotis for my sister as a Christmas gift. I'm using a yarn from handpaintedyarn.com which I think is working out quite nicely.

As I think I mentioned, the best part is the dropping! And it really does look lovely with the variegated yarns (sorry for the blur):

It was pretty good car knitting since I don't have to read the pattern obsessively anymore. It's got a simple repeat broken up with stitch markers. I'm into the decrease section so the end is in sight, which is good since I'm on the last ball of yarn... hopefully my math was correct. Although that was the point of starting the Christmas knitting so early, so in case I fouled up something I'd have time to repair, reorder, reknit etc.

As for additions to my stash acquired in Brooklyn, they are all for me!! I have visions of Norwegian knee socks, a red turtleneck and some kicky purple striped toe up Fixation socks in time for spring. But none of this can commence until the Christmas rush is over. Any odds on how long that discipline will last?

travel plans

2006-08-25T09:15:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a crazy week during which I managed to knit, but not blog. I just couldn't seem to get to the camera to snap any pics. And it's too bad because I did some repair work on the sweater I've started knitting my mom for Christmas that I was quite proud of and would have liked to document. I know some people wouldn't have been particularly impressed, but it did involve dropping a stitch down about 15 rows of both stockinette and garter stitch (mutiply times 6 for the 6 times in one row I loused up the pattern without noticing). My crochet hook and I were pretty excited. I might once have been the type of knitter who left this alone thinking (rightly) that no one but me would notice. But this sweater is for my mom and I love her and so it should be as perfect as I can make it.

And this weekend we are driving up to NYC for a few days, so I am vowing to get it together on Monday before work and post a bunch of pics of my works in progress so I can do better at this whole blogging thing. It's a trial, I tell you.

mistake ribbing is no mistake

2006-08-19T09:20:00.000-05:00

I think it's Dr. Phil who says something about the insanity of repeating the same behavior over and over but expecting different results? Anyway, after about a bazillion do-overs (or swatches, yeah, let's pretend I was swatching!) on the green donation scarf, I settled on a mistake rib which looks all squiggly and nice and way more complicated than it actually is. And then, the true stroke of brilliance... let's make it a keyhole scarf so it only has to be 32" long! Haha! Eureka! Duty discharged, guilt assuaged, and still successfully avoided baking cupcakes!

I promise more work with pictures and a more attractive template. Tomorrow is Sunday and I don't work, so posting can be done from home rather than illicitly while I'm working the reference desk.

I am also working on a Clapotis as an early start to Christmas gift giving, which is going along swimmingly. I love dropping stiches on purpose! So pics of that to come, I think.

Sometimes I give up so easily

2006-08-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

I have to abandon the faux cables. I can't be squinting at the pattern right now. I'm not in the mood, and with a deadline for the scarf to be finished, I'm admitting defeat. I think I'll just move over to some bigger needles and do a basic rib and keep knitting for as long I can stand it, hopefully until I finish the ball of yarn.
I'm imagining :
XOOXXXOOOOXXXXXOOOOXXXOOX
(X=knit on RS, purl on WS, O=purl on RS, knit on WS)
ribbing repeated ad nauseum. I'll have to swatch it. A straight K2P2 might drive me batty before the end.

I do hate giving up on things, but why make myself miserable over a charity donation item. It sort of defeats the purpose. Maybe I should reconisder those cupcakes...

You can knit a cupcake, but no one's going to eat it

2006-08-16T10:36:00.000-05:00

The Friends group at the library where I work is sponsoring a bake sale/craft sale to raise money, which eventually trickles back down to the library, so I decided I'd rather knit than bake. This is the start of the scarf I plan to donate:

It is the "Green Faux Cable Scarf" from my free gift brochure in the Interweave Knits issue for Fall 2006. They look like real cables, right? I'm completely fooled. I'm trying desperately to memorize the 8 line pattern, but it's not that intuitive to me for some reason. The yarn overs and corresponding decreases move outward in a V shape, but I can't seem to just remember where, so it involves a lot of squinting at the pattern so far. But there are still 27 repeats to go, so I might get it yet.

I'm into the whole leafy look, especially in green yarn. And since I totally overviews this green tweedy stuff for a baby sweater (which was very cute, featuring frog shaped buttons), I should have plenty for the scarf without having to spend more money! And if I finish fast enough, maybe I can find another stash-busting project to contribute.

Who wouldn't want a scarf knit by their librarian, I ask you?

one small step...

2006-08-15T15:40:00.000-05:00

I am the queen of starting over. I have had at least two other blogs started and abandoned and then summarily deleted in embarrassment over the lack of posting. But today will be different. Today is one giant leap for blog-kind.
I drool over all the other knitting blogs, and think, I can do that. My WIPs can be artistically photographed. I have lots to talk (read:complain) about. I have a digital camera. (Well, my lovely and supportive boyfriend, Dave, has one that I gave him for Christmas last year. He lets me use it.) And questions.... I have lots of questions and hopefully I can work out the answers or fool someone into giving them to me.
So this will be the blog that sticks! Yarn-over it!