Knitting Salad

A non-post post

2008-02-02T19:12:00.000-06:00

Does posting about not posting really count? Because this is my post about my lack of posts. I'm just writing to excuse my absence. To be honest I hardly knit at all through most of December and the beginning of January. And with Ravelry, my other blog, Facebook, Myspace, Gmail and blog reading going on I hardly had much "online-time" to post anyways. And don't get me started on my new friend BitTorrent and it's stash of Battle Star Galactica episodes (my heart goes pitter-pat)!

So I haven't posted. But I will...or I might... I've been knitting more recently anyhow and should have some things to share with you...if you're still out there...if you ever existed at all.

Well, Happy February anyways!

(Today would be my Grandpa's birthday if you still had birthdays after you passed...so go use a hammer or a tool, or go fix something in his honor, would you?)

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My thoughts and my prayers

2008-01-01T12:50:00.000-06:00

I've known Mara since we were young teens, or possibly earlier. Then, in college we were roomates for a year...well, a year cut short by her getting married. During our time together I got to know her and got to know her amazing family through her love for them. I spent some time with her and her mother through that year and saw one of the strongest similarities between mother and daughter that I have ever witnessed. And their relationship was not like any I've ever known. They are both strong, independent women with headstrong ideas and ideals.

Mara's mother, Stephanie, has a blog that I've been reading for several years. During the past few they have chronicled her knitting projects, her family gatherings, the birth and love affair she's had with her grandson Liam, and her struggle with pancreatic cancer.

Stephanie is now fading. Her family is with her, she is still lucid, and she is still knitting, but the time is short. I am honored to have known her and been able to follow along through her blog and those of her family members as they have taken this journey.

If you are of the praying sort, please keep the Dornbrook family in your prayers. They are an amazing, warm and loving family and deserve all the courage and comfort possible during this time.

YaY! now sleep.

2007-12-01T20:33:00.001-06:00

Finished with 51,523

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Nano Graph

2007-11-17T19:21:00.001-06:00

Nano Graph
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

I've passed the halfway point and am edging ever closer to the status quo.

Just in time

2007-11-01T17:14:00.000-05:00

I put the final touches on my blocking of my red lace doily just as the clock was switching over to midnight and marking the beginning of November, better known to me as Novel Month--where all knitting becomes a guilty pleasure as I procrastinate from writing.

This year's novel is a modern adaptation of the classic fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood (with perhaps just a bit of Hansel and Gretel mixed in). I'm very excited about it. If so inclined I might even share a bit with you all.

If any of you are or ever have been interested in writing a novel, now is the time to do it! It is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and a whole slew of people around the world will be happy to cheer you on, share their stories and share the misery of trying to crank out 50,000 words in a single month. You can find them at Nanowrimo.org. If you decide to try it let me know, I can always use more writing buddies.

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Finally!

2007-10-31T17:10:00.001-05:00

I'm finally binding off the edge of my big, red, lace doily. Soon it will all be over and I can move back on to quick, instant-gratification projects. Yay!

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Mantra Knitting

2007-10-19T11:47:00.001-05:00

Mantra Knitting
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

So I recently read "Eat, Love, Pray" and was really into the idea of mantras, and how they focus the mind and control the "monkey mind"--that has a tendency to wander. I've long said that I kind of like the more complicated lace patterns as they really keep me focused and when things get really stressful at work it is nice to concentrate on something that won't allow my mind to wander back to the stress. So as I thought about the similarity of repeating "Knit one, Yarn Over, Slip one, knit one, pass slip stitch over, etc..." over and over I thought it would be better to be using words that meant something. I Googled mantra knitting and found that some people were repeating the word "love" over and over while knitting something, hoping to infuse a bit of that spirit into the object knitted, but didn't find anything that really focused on the activity of knitting and mantras. So I made my own.

I thought first about the mantra I would want to repeat. I had been meditating on a few words recently : Humility, Love, and Patience.
Humility I thought was most like a knit stitch--the basic and unobtrusive, the most common and humble-ist of stitches. Love I thought would be to knit 2 together into one. Patience (and I laughed out loud when I thought of this) would be a slipped stitch--as one would be so patient that you would not knit it until later. But looking at these stitches I realized I'd have a decreasing pattern and I needed an increase stitch. A yarn over seemed the most likely increase and as soon as I thought of the opening created I thought "oh, like open and honest"

So: "Humble, Loving, Patient, Honest" became my mantra. I picked up stitches and, no knowing how it would turn out started knitting. I picked up rather randomly and ended up with one extra stitch at the end of the row which became a little bit more Humility. I turned the piece over and repeated my mantras, again with a stitch of humility at the end.

It worked beautifully and I continued knitting my mantras and repeating the words with each stitch until I had run out of yarn (it was a remnant and I had no idea how long it would last.)

It was really a great exercise and I now find myself using my mantra words while knitting other patterns that include the same stitches now--it adds even more peace and calming power to my knitting time. I highly recommend it.

Viking Chicken Helmet

2007-08-03T12:03:00.001-05:00

IMG_0491.JPG
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

I realized I never blogged this. I have a few better shots, but don't have them uploaded yet, so I'll have to add them later. The color is actually a lovely, heathered, pale pink with cream colored drumstick bones. There are tassels at the end of the braided tie-cords.

Coolest Project EVAH!

2007-05-16T21:38:00.001-05:00

Infant Yoda Hat
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

My most favorite FO of late and probably the coolest/geekiest thing I've ever knit!

I might make 10 more.

A combination of new yarns

2007-04-05T21:43:00.001-05:00

A combination of new yarns
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

So I thought I'd update on some of my new yarns since I don't have much Finished or In-Progress knitting to show you. These are some yarns I bought from Knitpicks.com and Handpaintedyarn.com

The thicker stuff will probably be used for felting while the violet is for a new Tivoli tee to replace the one I lost and the top two on the left are lace-weight yarns for some shawls or wraps.

Although I am working on something now I doubt there will be any progress pics, just a grand finale picture.

Oh and I'll try to post some of my finished swallowtail in-use as well.

In Knitting related news I went to Loopy for a book signing party last night and met Amy Singer of Knitty fame. She was really fun! Just the kind of knitter I'd want to hang out with! (although admittedly that is MOST knitters). Upon meeting her she instantly pointed at my wrap said "COZY!" and snapped a picture. Moments later she saw my knitting bag and insisted on another picture, so I was seeing spots the whole time I was yarn shopping.

YAY!

2007-04-05T21:31:00.001-05:00

My former college roomie Mara just had a beautiful baby boy named Liam! I'm so excited!

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Lily of the Valley Detail

2007-03-10T11:24:00.001-06:00

I'm so in love with the lily of the vally pattern. I don't know what it is about those nupps, and find it especially odd since I don't like bobbles, but am loving these nupps.

...I've been sitting around knitting murmering "nupp, nupp, nupp" over and over...is that bad?

Lily of the Valley Detail
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Swallowtail near completion

2007-03-10T11:23:00.001-06:00

Swallowtail near completion
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Swallowtail progress

2007-03-05T22:13:00.001-06:00

Swallowtail progress
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Here it is, almost finished with the tedious boring part

Detail

2007-03-05T22:12:00.001-06:00

Detail
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

I have a new camera ...

2007-03-05T22:10:00.001-06:00

Detail
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

So now it's time to share my current project: the Swallowtail shawl from the Fall 2006 Interweave

My blog has gone blind.

2007-02-15T15:39:00.000-06:00

Just an update to let you know that my purse, containing my digital camera, was stolen a couple of weeks ago so I won't have any photos to share with you for a while.

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I'm alive...really!

2007-01-25T01:19:00.000-06:00

So it has been a while since I've posted and I haven't taken too many pictures of what I've been knitting, but here's a taste. This is the Amelia Earhart cap. I've knit three of them now, including one with no ribbing in a thick fuzzy white yarn that is soon to have cute ears and long ties with pom-poms. Yay for cuteness!

I'm also working on a Swallowtail shawl from the Fall Interweave, and I started a poncho my grandmother requested.

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YaY! now sleep.

2006-12-01T00:59:00.000-06:00

50,000 words in about 15 wrigiting days. adn 6K today. I can't ype.My wrists hurt. i'm going ot bed now.

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Almost There

2006-11-29T22:24:00.000-06:00

In for the last shove. I've got less than 6000 words to go and about 25.5 hours left until the cutoff.

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Knitters in my novel?

2006-11-24T16:42:00.000-06:00

Why yes, there ARE knitters in my novel. But they're getting recruited for surveillance/intelligence work to infiltrate an organization with their clever chatting skills & use special devices hidden inside circular knitting needles.

I'm still working on what the motivation to take this huge risk of becoming spies would be for these knitters (a nice mix of 20-50 yr old women and one 29 yr old gay man). You want to help in a "choose your own adventure" sort of way?

So which of these cliche movie motivators do you think it is?

A) A member of their knitting circle is kidnapped by the bad guys and they must get involved to help save them (just about every kidnap or scary movie ever)
B) The knitters commit some crime for which they will be severely punished if they don't participate (Triple X)
C) Some bad guys are going to destroy the world, steal a nuke, etc., and no one is more qualified than their rag-tag team to stop them. (Armageddon)
or
D) They are (or are told) they are just the decoys, and have no real danger (but of course they do and save the day) (Spies like us)

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Recognized

2006-11-15T21:16:00.000-06:00

It felt so good to have someone I've never met recognize my knitting! How cool is that?

Thanks Katy!

(oh, and our Grrr photo will be up soon on Flickr, I've been a-noveling too much lately to upload)

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Kiri Finished

2006-11-08T10:44:00.001-06:00

Here she is! I wore it out last Wednesday when I finished blocking it.

Kiri Blocking

2006-11-08T10:44:00.000-06:00

All pulled out tight!

Kiri Knitting finished

2006-11-01T02:37:00.000-06:00

Binding off took ages, but I'm finally done, just 2.5 hours into the start of National Novel Writing Month.

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Kiri Progress

2006-10-31T02:37:00.000-06:00

KiriProgress
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

This photo is from a couple of days ago. I just started on the border pattern today.

So NaNoWriMo starts Wednesday. Plans are to finish the shawl before midnight Tuesday so that I can start NaNo without distraction.

Kiri Beginnings

2006-10-26T21:53:00.000-05:00

Kiri Beginnings
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Yes, a new project was begun. But I have a feeling I may end before Nanowrimo begins and may not pick up the needles much for the next month.

noposting=noknitting=noposting

2006-10-14T18:38:00.000-05:00

It's true. I haven't been posting OR knitting very much lately. This is partly because I've been busy with planning for the Chicago Lindy Exchange, partly because I have never caught the Startitis bug and am sorely lacking in Finishing Oomph for the few projects I've got on needles as well, and partly because I've had my mind geared towards newer things that aren't knitting.

In news outside the knitting world I've decided to try to join Big Brothers Big Sisters, I'm gearing up for this year's Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month --November) and I'm reluctantly accepting the onset of Fall. (Although this last one should have me knitting more)

I'm not dropping the needles, I'm just not picking them up as much. So if you want to see more frequent blog posts, check out my non knitting bloghere or check my profile as I'll likely start a blog for my new novel in November.

Knit on!

[edited to add...Wooohoo! this is my 99th post!]

Double-Knit Scarf

2006-09-14T17:52:00.000-05:00

Crew Scarf 1
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Crew Scarf 2
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

I know I haven't posted in a long while. That has had a lot to do with the fact that the project I have been working on the most is, although not a suprise, a present for my father that I didn't want him to see fully before receiving it.

It is a Double Knit scarf in Superwash wool. Double knitting (for those who don't know) is a way of knitting two sides of a piece at the same time, creating stockinette on both sides. If each side were a flat color this would create a long tube, but with any switches in color the two sides take advantage of working with two yarns at once by switching the yarns between the sides both binding the two sides together, and in most caseseconomically using yarn that would otherwise simply be stranded in intarsia work. The method is ideal for intarsia type projects where the second side is a perfect mirror of the front, and is only slightly harder (but still better than intarsia) on items like mine where the image on the other side is not a perfect mirror (although letters like "C" and "O" were mirrored and I was so thankful to start with them)

The finished scarf reads "Columbus Crew" celebrating my father's favorite soccer team. My brother informed me that a good "soccer scarf" should be able to act as a banner, so the words run lengthwise and it can be easily flipped back and forth to reverse the colors.

I've finished the scarf now, but I'll wait until he has received it to post the final photos.

Market Bag

2006-08-04T17:57:00.000-05:00

I realized that I hadn't posted on this and then posted saying I had "left over" yarn from a project I hadn't shown...oops! So I did this market bag with a pattern from Mag Knits for the body and my own variation for the top and handle.

The body is made with an interesting S1,K1,YO,PSSO pattern that not only looks great but has a great deal of stretch in the finished project (read I can fit all the Trader Joe's Frozen food I want in it!)

At the top I picked up fewer stitches than called for in the pattern and did a tunisian slip stitch pattern for a couple of rows to define a separation. The original pattern called for a garter stitch handle grafted in the middle. ICK!

Not only was I worried about how much the garter stitch would slip, but I really didn't want to have to have a graft line. I solved this in two ways: First I used a basic slip stitch pattern (slip every other stitch always with yarn held at the front) that looks a bit like a weave and then I used a circular silver ring I had stashed away in my tool box as both an excellent way to join two sides, and a place I can clip my keys onto while shopping (wouldn't want them falling through the holes.)

Tunisian Slip stitch around top of bag

Woven Slip stitch handle

Joining ring

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A few more pics

2006-08-04T17:52:00.000-05:00

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Entrelac

2006-08-04T17:44:00.000-05:00

Entrelac

After seeing someone else's project with a short repeat self-striping yarn, and realizing I had some extra, I decided to try out Entrelac, and thought it was interesting and fun...I'd never made something that ends up looking like a weave rather than a knit. I do feel much more confident at picking up edge stitches now and I got to experiment with all sorts of variations in K2tog.

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Ruby Red --an actual written post

2006-07-24T17:38:00.000-05:00

So I wanted to post the pictures of Ruby Red, but I didn't have the time or energy to really say much about it. Plus I hate what Blogger does to my mental state when I try to make the pictures and text line up in ways that I like while Blogger tries to line them up in ways I never even would have thought possible, probable, or least of all...desirable. Like for instance when it lines up pictures next to the previous day's written post. I frankly was not only amazed and irritated, I was so bewildered that after trying to resize the screen, open it in a different web browser, and then finally insert 50 rows of hard returns I went into the code and tried re-writing it in various configurations and with a few new < things > inserted. Of course the preview button does no good when it comes to the past creeping up on you, or at least prior day's posts, so 5 or 6 republished pages later I thought of the few people that might have RSS feed or something to my sight and all the terrible atrocities of malaligned, repetitive posts they were receiving in their mail and resigned myself to malalignity (if this word has not existed in the past it should have and does now).

So on to the part where I actually discuss the knitting...

I loved this project. I loved the cable cast-on and how it looked in the smooth cotton. I loved how I just kind of measured my shoulders, measured my swatch, did some calculations and then threw all that info out and cast on stitches until it seemed there were enough. I loved working the entire piece on circs, I loved making up a lace pattern on the point that I got to it and thought I should start, and I loved that every step of the way in making this piece I used my problem solving skills to just "figure out" what would be best.

A few things I didn't/don't like from this project: Worsted weight cotton yarn on size 4 bamboo needles= a bit hard on the hands; my sweater "twists" which I think might be the result of the ply of the yarn, as I know of no other reason why something knit in the round would pull continuously to one side; cotton yarn is no fun when weaving in the ends; the sweater only has about a 10-12 hour half-life before it cinderella pumpkins-out and becomes a big bag that continuously slides off my shoulders.

On to the details of the knitting (probably only interesting for the hardcore):

Pre-1.Buy 3 skeins Cascade Sierra cotton on sale at 40% off at Loopy in GORGEOUS colors! Re-read the Tivoli/Picovoli Tee pattern. Measure, calculate, and ignore all conclusions.

1.Cable Cast on (my favorite) until it looks about right (similar to # from Tivoli)
2a.A few rows of stockinette, establishing the 4 corners of the Raglan increases and accounting for my narrower shoulders and desire for lower neckline (longer sleeve depth)
2b.--note: later I dropped back to add 3x1 ribbing to the sides destined to become the front and back to prevent rolling, these ribs lasting for about 5 rounds while the sleeve portion only had about 3 rounds of stockinette and the rolling is slight and unnoticible on the sleeve portion so no ribbing was added.
3. Lace stitch is a YO,K2tog lattice stitch (staggered rather than stacked to create a diagonal pattern--basic rule being either always keep YO left or always right when K2togethering) but I alternated doing a round with knits and one with purl stitches to give a look a little bit more like a diagonal Purse Stitch--bumpy. If I were to do the shirt over again I would probably reverse the pattern on the other sleeve so the diagonals didn't go in the same direction on both...but I didn't on this one.
4. After the lace panels were long enough I did about 5 more rounds of stockinette on the sleeves and body then slipped the sleeve stitches onto holder yarn (note-I always make long loops of yarn for these holders so that I can slip my arms through them when test-trying on the shirt).
5. I did about 5 rows of short row shaping on the front side with increases on each row to create a curved arm hole opening in front and increase both the length of the front and the number of stiches without having a huge arm hole opening (this makes the back of the shirt's neckline a little lower than the front and seems to work well with the sleeves as well, as it seems as if the back of the shoulder is a little longer than the front anyhow)
6. I created a few cable cast on stiches under each arm and knit an inch or so before trying it on and making sure everything fit alright.
7. With the shirt on I placed markers aligning with the center of each breast and then matched those markers on the back of the piece (located center of back and counted stitches to each side to match distance in front)
8. A round or so after reaching the fullest part of chest did right and left sloping decreases at each marker decreasing center panel and leaving side stitches alone.
9. Decreased every third round until shirt fit snug
10. Few inches of straight stockinette and then began increases at same stitch markers, increasing to center every fourth round.
11. At hip size did another inch or so straight stockinette
12. *YO, K2tog* one round.
13. *K,P* three rounds creating 1x1 rib with purls under the K2tog stiches.
14. Split yarn in half (2plys)and BO in 1x1 rib pattern.
15. On the sleeves I came back and using a halved piece of yarn I did a *K1, BO, K2tog, BO* to bind off the edge and pull the cap sleeve around the shoulder without adding a visible edge. I then stiched the edge of the sleeve down about three stiches on front and back with the body of the sweater which further curved the sleevecap and made a smoother line with the armhole opening. The raglan increases made it easy to hide these stiches.

What fun! (I'm such a nerd)

There you have it!

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Ruby Red

2006-07-23T11:18:00.000-05:00

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Oops, long time no post...

2006-07-10T17:55:00.000-05:00

The reason for the gap is that I've been delaying the finishing up of several items. I nearly finished the Ruby Red top in about 3 days and then took a week and a half to finish binding off all of the stitches.

Today I finished binding off and gave it a good cold water bath and it is laying out to dry now. I also went ahead and finally washed my peach colored raglan lace top for its blocking as well.

Pictures of Ruby Red to come, I just need it to hurry up and finish drying.

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Ruby Red a take on the Green Gable

2006-06-29T21:25:00.000-05:00

There are some really cool things about Raglan tops...

A while back I realized that I had somehow lost my Tivoli shirt--the first real shirt/sweater that I had ever knit. I really liked the pattern and have been considering knitting it again.

Of course there would be changes, as I learned a bit from knitting the first one and a second one that I made with variations.

I've been loving the pictures of the "Green Gable" and thought I might do a Tivoli with a lace panel on the top like the GG has.

So when I came across a great deal on some Cotton/Merino Cascade Sierra at 40% off I bought 3 skeins and set to work the next day.

After getting to the portion where one would split the sleeve from the body I faltered. I'm not so sure I like the lace panel where it sits and think it might look better if I rotate the whole thing 90 degrees and use the lace as the cap sleeve.

Biding for time before making a decision I drop down every 4th stitch of the flat sections' panels to create a few rows of 3 by 1 ribbing to keep the edge from curling as much.

Then ran yarn lines through half of the stitches so I could "try on" my creation. What do you think the outcome will be?

Knitting Tips/tricks

2006-06-28T23:57:00.000-05:00

I went to a Knitting Meet-up group yesterday and found myself as the source of many a knitting tip. Now most of the things I know I've picked up from other knitters both in person and online, but as I came up with one today I thought perhaps I should share a few of these, or at least write them out for future reference.

So today's knitting tip/trick:

If you are like me, and are knitting in stockinette with cotton, or some other unforgiving yarn it is common to have some stitches tighter or looser than others. If it is a single stitch you can use your needle or a crochet hook to destribute the variance over several other stiches in the row. But if it is an entire row of stitches you will not be able to do this.

If you are like me (a lazy perfectionist) you will want it to look good, but without the extra effort of ripping back multiple rows to acheive this. I have my ways :)

A) The row is too loose
-->tighten each stitch to the right height gathering the yarn into an increasingly long loop as you go along. When you have completed the row and are at a good point to stop take the loop and either
1- if it is long enough to weave in the ends cut the loop and tie a loose knot and come back and treat it as if it is any other yarn join
2- if it is too short to weave the ends in separately, using a crochet hook, slip the loop through the back of several purl stitches then use a thread or split one ply off your working yarn to tie it in place to the back of a purl bump.

B) The row is too tight
--Knit to the center of the section that is too tight and drop a single stitch down (tink) to the offending row (it might help to mark the center stitch of the too tight row with a stitch marker or safety pin). Skipping that stitch as one rung of the ladder, and leaving the yarn stranded at the back side of your work, use a needle or crochet hook to knit up the remaining rows/rungs. Pull the fabric taught, and distribute the excess you have created over the stitches to the left and right of the skipped stitch (use needle or hook if necessary). If this does not create enough excess, repeat the procedure with stitches on spaced equally on either side of center, keeping in mind that the excess will distribute both left and right.

I'll try to post pictures of this as well when my camera battery is charged again.

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Tubey Problem

2006-06-26T22:21:00.001-05:00

So The Tubey has a problem...at least on me. I actually DON'T have a huge belly, but it makes me look as if I do. I was so close to finishing that I actually did, and I'll probably frog back to the last row of Burgandy around my chest and then add some lavender for an inch or so and then black the rest of the way down...but that's gonna have to wait until this fall, because I don't have the patience for it right now.

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Tubey

2006-06-24T12:47:00.000-05:00

Tubey
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

I may not have mentioned it, but I've been working on Tubey for a while now. It is a quick knit, but after finishing the shrug portion of the pattern it took me quite a while to get the oomph necessary to cast on for the body.

The body itself I started on Tuesday and I'm almost finished with it already (Saturday)...you've got to love a job that has you work an 11 hour day but only do a little over an hour's worth of work.

If you're going to do this pattern I have a couple of notes:
1--A lot of people have complained about having a loose, puckering back on the shrug portion...I know that my sholders are rather narrow and just "knit to fit" across the back, which was far less than the 19" called for. I actually ended up measuring from armpit to armpit across my back to figure out the length and then knit a few rows in each direction (as per the directions for a couple of inches and then using the provisional cast on and going in the other direction for a few rows) to check fit before proceeding.
2--Do a gauge swatch or use the section across the back as one to determine not only size, but how tight you want the fabric. The pattern called for a size 8 needle. I HATED how loose that made the fabric. I ended up knitting a little on the loose side with a pair of size 4 needles. When I started the body I tried again switching to the size 8s for the beginning (over my "lady lumps") and then graduated down to size 4 again over the next 5"-6".
3--If the top is too low or wide at the top don't tear back, just sew along the upper edge connecting the "sleeve" portion to the front portion for a few more stitches on each side
4--If you alter the size of stripes just try not to make any stripes appear the same width to get the same "look" as this sweater has--and remember that brighter and lighter colors expand (look bigger) and darker colors contract (look smaller) especially when placed next to each other. This is part of the reasoning behind why the pattern has smaller strips of the brightest colors.

Stash enhancement

2006-06-24T11:57:00.000-05:00

Stash enhancement
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Between my friends' recent presents & my own acquisitions I have had a lovely reds through purples stash enhancement in the last month

Top & Bottom left: Elann Sonata-Mercerized cotton
Center: Hemp for Knitting--100% Long fiber Hemp (from Rachael & Shannon for my birthday)
Right Top: Baba by Adriafil--Italian Virgin Merino Wool (from Katherine & Alex's trip to Italy)
Right Bottom: Peruvian Baby Silk-80%Baby Alpaca, 20% Silk

Lace Raglan Top Detail

2006-06-24T11:53:00.001-05:00

Lace Raglan Top Detail
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Lace Raglan Top back detail

2006-06-24T11:53:00.000-05:00

Lace Raglan Top back detail
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

You can see the increasing/decreasing detail in this one, and possibly the short rows if you look real close

Lace Raglan Top

2006-06-24T11:52:00.000-05:00

Lace Raglan Top
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Finished front

Picture updates

2006-06-19T17:17:00.000-05:00

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So far behind

2006-06-10T16:52:00.000-05:00

I've been knitting a lot, but hardly posting any of it, so I thought it was about time I shared a few pictures of what I've been working on. The current obsession is a raglan shirt from Elann.com's free patterns:

I've been wanting to do this one for a while, and once started, I've become so obsessed I've cranked out half of it in under a week.

I usually don't do patterns as written, or in the yarn it calls for, so although I've added paired decreases for waist shaping and am going to do my own lace patterning at the bottom, this project will probably look more like the original than most of my work.

The color is way off on these pictures, as it is much more an orangy/peach color. So this is how far I am:

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Knitting Blogs are everywhere

2006-05-31T12:24:00.000-05:00

Even popular enough to have been mentioned on Ze Frank's The Show apparently.

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Ribbit Ribbit

2006-05-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

What do you get when you combine a day off of work, a new ball winder, a trip to the Salvation Army, and a knitter? ....a whole lot of nice wool sweaters to frog (unravel)!

So I bought about 12 sweaters ranging in price between 90cents and 2dollars, and after giving my SnB friends the opportunity to take any of the ones that I didn't like and didn't fit me and save them from a cruel death, I set about frogging the remainder.

Check out the remains of a lovely, very fuzzy, loosly plied DKNY red & black sweater that will now be felting fodder:

The Red and Black sleeves are asking to be made into a bag, I'm probably just going to stitch in two side panels and a strap.

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Next winter should be fun

2006-05-21T18:39:00.000-05:00

As I continue to knit things for myself I realize how much cool stuff I'll have this next winter.

Who says that I should stop knitting winter wear now that it's spring? Why it just hailed the other day.... and just in time for the hail I finished one all-wool fingerless mitten.

I was pleased and suprised with how well it came out, especially since I just cast-on and started knitting and added increases as I felt appropriate and started the intarsia pattern where I thought it should be, and just kind of did the whole thing on the fly.

I'm sure the pattern could be better, but still, I'm pretty happy with it:

FOs & UFOs*...Look out Big Kids

2006-05-14T15:45:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I can give the big kids a run for their money...or at least their yarn.

So my green lace scarf was completed and blocked in just over 3 weeks (!!!) and I'm starting to consider considering myself a fairly good-paced knitter. I know that part of my speed is due to projects becoming all-consuming and my loyal work on that single project taking up as much of my time as possible when I'm inspired by it, but nonetheless I have been finishing a good number of projects this year--4 fairly complicated scarves, one felted bag and a couple of hats (six-plus projects finished in the first five and a half months ain't bad.)And I'm happy with my work.

Pictures will be up of the green lace scarf soon (I finally sent the camera in for repairs this week), but I'm still trying to decide if I want to leave the pattern as it is, or try to figure out something different for the end border. (It looks quite different from the beginning border right now, and I'm not sure I'm okay with that.) I'll be meeting with my knitting posse tonight and will be getting my feedback and making a decision about whether I 'cut the cord' and weave in the ends, or rip back and try something new with the border.

I've started work on the Tubey sweater and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my color combination! I keep holding it up and smiling and making my co-worker agree with me about its beauty (poor thing, she's so knittundated). I'm also overly anxious, so rather than finishing one sleeve and then picking up the provisional cast on edge and starting the second I'm 3/4 of the way through one sleeve and a little less than halfway through the second. It's quite possible I'll start the body before either sleeve has been finished. I'll share pics soon!

*FO= Finished Object
UFO= Unfinished Object

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Goodness Gracious....Great Balls of Yarn!

2006-05-05T17:07:00.000-05:00

Did I mention that my ball winder and swift came in the mail yesterday? No? Blame it on the tiredness....I was up until about 1:30 in the morning winding balls of yarn and then couldn't leave for work today until I'd wound about 3 more. I'm in love with the magic of a beautifully wound ball. I can't wait to go thrift store shopping and pick up some sweaters for unravelling!

In other news...Do you have yarn that you hate? I myself have a stash of inherited craft yarn that is not only hideously bright, and made of nasty acrylic, but it's also heineously scratchy. What is the point of using acrylic if it's going to be scratchy? So I've been wondering if I'd have to resort to massive God's Eye creationism, or to taking up making macrame hanging plant holders in order to rid myself of this yarn when I realized its perfect use...here it is the only thing that wouldn't complain about scratchy acrylics in way too bright colors...inanimate objects

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Keeping up with the big kids

2006-05-04T21:19:00.000-05:00

Every now and then I look at my stash, my finished objects, my blog and I feel....insufficient. I feel like I need to keep up with the rest of the pack. Although I try to tell myself that the majority of the pack has been at this whole knitting thing for 5-50 years and I haven't even been at it for a year and a half, it does little to appease my hunger for more. I think I want part of every outfit I wear to be something I made, and everytime I go out there should be something that someone, somewhere might ask "Oh, did you make that?"

Is it pride? jealousy? vanity? materialism? or just a strong competitive drive?

The more I think about it, the more I realize that it's none of the things I think it is. I think the truth of it is that I have a degree in Fine Arts for a reason, and knit and knit and knit and buy supplies as much as I like, even if I catch up with the Masons and the Dixons and the Rabbits and the Harlots, I still cannot fully fill my needs for creativity with knitting. I need more! I need non-functional objects, I need big things, and intricate things, and hard things and pointy things and rusty things, and FAR more texture than all the soft and beautiful knitting I do can ever provide.

I need to do more ART!

please note: this will probably not slow down my knitting much, but if you see the occassional strand of barbed wire thrown in with cashmere, now you'll know why.

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Meetup.com

2006-04-27T14:32:00.000-05:00

I met up with the Meetup.com Chicago Knitting Crew last night, and I must say I think that knitters must just be awesome people. This group was everybit as friendly as the Stitch n'Bitch crew I meet up with every Tuesday, and they had wine & cheese-its to boot!

So I met a bunch of people: Michelle (who offered useful job advice), Lynn (and later her husband Dan?), Dee Dee, Susan (the organizer), Roland (former Jaime student and token male knitter;) ), Sarah, Nikki (and her sparkling tank top), Shawn, Abby, Sam (the helpful and way cool Nina salesperson) and a whole host of other people whose names currently escape me.

Unfortunately their next event is an afternoon picnic that I won't be able to attend, but I look forward to "meeting up" with them again!

Nina was nice enough to offer the group a 15% discount during the event, so I scored some black Cascade 220 ($7/skein + 15% off) to start the Tubey Sweater from the Winter Knitty. I'm normally not too into stripes, or multiple colors, but I'm fairly excited about this one, and the colors I've picked out look great together.

It's funny that I picked colors fairly similar to the one's in the pattern, but I really was just looking at some scraps of the yarn I have and thought how nice a few of them looked together and then decided to use them for this pattern. It was much later that I saw the color picture again (my directions were printed b&w) and realized their similarities.

The colors:
Black--Cascade 220 (worsted)
Burgandy--Ebay Purchase/worsted merino wool
Dark Blue/Green--Cascade 220(worsted)
Light Lavender--Cascade 220(worsted)
Grass Green--Knit Picks Elegance (DK weight Alpaca/Silk blend)

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I thought it would never happen to me!

2006-04-21T18:38:00.000-05:00

I have been fairly resolute in my belief that I would never be sucked into two things in knitting...First, knitting socks--my reason for this is that I don't like my socks to be colorful, so it would simply be wasteful of me to spend time on something I would never enjoy. Second is the toothpick and dental floss lace knitting that I am certain is the cause of many a crowsfoot and adoption of reading glasses, as well as pointy old lady fingers and hysterical crying fits.

Well...I'm gettin' old...and aparently brave. I'm now knitting a lace-weight scarf in Knit Pick's Alpaca Cloud. I bought the yarn a long time ago, thinking I would strand it with other yarns in making things. It has patiently waited in my stash for a project to participate in since last fall and since I never ran across that project I was pretty much chalking it up as another ball of stitch markers and lifelines.

Flash to a few weeks ago when the Spring Interweave Knits magazine came out. I flipped through it, admiring several of the projects, but not especially in love with any of them. I noticed a lace scarf that I commented to a friend on, saying that you couldn't really see the pattern very well in the pictures they had posted.

A week or two went by, and on Easter Sunday I found myself stranded in Evanston with no plans for a few more hours, so I went to hang out at Barnes & Noble. I picked up the magazine again and flipped through it. I stopped short on the page with the Trellis scarf, and remembered a post on Flickr with a picture of a Trellis scarf that I had admired...then I realized that the pattern called for one ball of Knit Pick's Alpaca Cloud. The same Alpaca Cloud that I had six balls of slumbering away in my stash. It called for size 5 needles, which I have, and wasn't nearly as intimidating as some of the size 0's I had seen before. Now I'm not one to often use the EXACT same yarn as the pattern calls for, but what was this? Fate? Coincidence? a seven dollar magazine to use up only one four dollar ball of yarn? ...yup, it was Perfect!

So I bought the magazine (and a collection of stories and poems by Poe) and headed off for the evening.

On Tuesday morning I cast on with my new project, and by 6:30PM I knew I was going to be late to Stich n'Bitch because I had been too caught up in my knitting!

I'm still too chart dependant to work in most places with distractions and talking, and am so focused that I notice myself short on breath by the end of a row (59 stitches is too long to hold your breath for). But I must admit I find the results fascinating and addictive. I love that it just looks like a jumble until you stretch it out. I love that I've been able to fix mistakes without crying. I love the little lifelines and the fact that I can fit my entire project in a sandwich baggie.

I'm a lace knitter.

Unstretched

...

And through the magic of stetching (and hopefully blocking)

40 hours without my knitting!

2006-04-17T21:47:00.000-05:00

Can you believe I survived from Saturday evening until Monday afternoon without any of my works in progress? Well, I'll tell you, a lot of planning was done, charts were drawn, and magazines were bought in order to fill in for the knitting I left at work Saturday, and I realized I need a lot more projects on my needles to prevent this in the future.

Seriously, I was THIS close to driving the 34 miles to go pick up my knitting...that's bad.

Pictures!

2006-04-07T10:39:00.000-05:00

I took some pics with my cameraphone and uploaded them, so I thought I'd share. I've got a few of the finished skull & crossbones tote, and some of the new scarf (color is off on it, it is a pale, powder blue color in reality). Enjoy.

Close up of the Purse Stitch:

And for those that like to see the reverse side:

Wondering about the rest of my life

2006-04-06T12:44:00.000-05:00

Rather than have too much "other life" stuff overflowing onto my knitting blog I've started a second blog for random stuff. It can be foundhere if you're interested. (Although I should warn you that I'm starting off on a whiny note and I'm not sure where it will go from there)

Am I knitting?

2006-03-31T21:28:00.000-06:00

Oh, yes, and I'm knitting too! The current lap project is a powder blue lacy scarf out of a cashmere/alpaca blend. And I get to be the lucky recipient for this one. It's a pattern I designed myself, especially formulated not to use too terribly much yarn (I only have 3 balls) and yet still allow the softness and beauty of the cashmere to come through. I'll post pics soon!

In other news the X & O scarf was presented to my Sweden living friend this past week and she's off talking about it to everyone and wearing it everywhere. She is urging me to publish as well, but I think that might just be for the bragging rights.

"Done" as a catchall

2006-03-30T18:35:00.000-06:00

At my company I had to get used to all the abbreviations, the expressions, and the new vocabulary when I first started. It took much longer for me however to get used to what has been described to me as "New York Style" hurry talk.

I'm a rather talkative person, and am a big believer in being precise, and usually trying to be as clear as possible often necessitates (or at least is supported by) longer sentences with more words. Because of my wordy background it made it difficult for me to feel at peace with the fact that when I sent an email to a department in our corporate office asking for multiple things and often posing (what I thought were complex)questions and I would receive a one-word response:

DONE.

Was it all done? Or just the first query? Were my questions unnecessary and need I no longer worry about the problems? Do I need to check an make sure all the changes were done?

I eventually got used to "done" and now find it funny when it pops into my mind after someone or something presents a long list of questions or some complex situation that "feel" as if they need a detailed or explainitory response.

Done

2006-03-29T04:09:00.000-06:00

That irksome feeling at the edge of your mind

2006-03-29T03:04:00.000-06:00

Have you ever made a mistake in your knitting that you weren't sure you could fix?

No lifelines?

Lots of yarn overs?

Not sure if ripping back or tinking down was an option?

Have you ever had to let that mistake sit for HOURS before you could fix it?

Towards the end of SnB tonight I was gesturing and pulled my work back on my needles so that I could use the needle as a "prop"...I dropped two stiches in the middle of a row. It was in the middle of a Purse Stitch section (lots of YO, Purl 2Tog--on both sides kind of stuff). I tried to pick up, but it had dropped down two rows.

I tried to figure it out for about 10 minutes.

My cashmere/alpaca yarn started to fuzz out a bit.

I decided to drop down the ten stiches of purse stich for three rows and re-knit them.

I moved to a better lit seat.

I frogged back the section and picked up stitches and re-worked them.

I looked over the work.

Still something wrong, but now across an entire row, rather than right in the middle.

No time left I had to pack up and go. It's been 5 hours and I still haven't fixed it.

It's haunting my mind.

...I thought knitting was supposed to EASE stress. This is worse than worrying if I left the oven on and the water running combined! Get it OUT!

Yes, yes, I know the only way to make it stop.

I'm off to frog some more.

Car go "VROOM VROOM!"

2006-03-25T13:37:00.000-06:00

So this is my knitting blog and I don't normally wander about my life walking into the sections that include my dancing, my car, my job and other scenery, but since I brought up my car accident in a previous post, I feel justified.

My car has been in the shop for the last two weeks and I've been racking up the miles on a Suzuki Forenza (took it from a tiny 200 miles to a respectable 740 miles--yes, I commute that much). I knew before the accident that I was going to need work done on my exhaust as it had been making some noise for a couple of weeks. I had taken it in for an estimate and they had told me that it would be $300 for a new "Flex Pipe" and all the labor it would take to get the rusted one off and a new one on. I had put it off, as I didn't really have an extra $300 to blow and it wasn't too terribly bad.

The insurance agent had called and mentioned the exhaust problem and said it wouldn't be covered, as it was a pre-existing problem and said that I "really should get it fixed". I, of course, replied that with the $500 deductible for an accident that wasn't my fault in any way I was in even LESS of a position to have it fixed now. He gave me the name of a mechanic who he said might be able to "just weld it up temporarily". I figured it probably wouldn't hurt to take the number, and use it whenever I decided to have the work done.

WELL.....I went to pick my car up this morning. I waited while they fixed the glue on a side light. I cleared out my rental car. I got in my car and waited for them to open the garage door. I turned the key.

VROOOOOOOOM!

My exhaust now sounds like I'm driving some sort of monster truck with a straight pipe and no muffler. I'm guessing the accident sped the process up a bit, because it was DEFINITELY not that loud before the accident.

I drove to work today with thoughts of old ladies cowering and small children scurrying aside as I drove by. Even though I quickly adjusted to the power my Volvo has that my rental did not, I did not adjust as well to the growling roar of my exhaust, so everytime I punched the gas, I cringed a bit as well.

...There goes new yarn buying in the next month or two.

How unique do I need my work to be?

2006-03-16T14:28:00.000-06:00

So occassionally I do something like the Scull & Crossbones tote in which I don't mess with the pattern and make something exactly as told...but that's rather rare for me. And I work pretty hard at figuring things out in order to change patterns to suit my aesthetic. I like that they are unique and exactly what I want.

This is why I'm struggling with the idea proposed to me by several friends that I should *gasp* PUBLISH my patterns. It was brought up specifically with regards to the X&O cabled lattice scarf I did and I've been considering it for my green scarf and variation on the Tivoli as well.

So I'm still undecided on the issue of whether I want a bunch of other people having matching items, but I'm toying with the idea. In the meantime I had my brother take some pics of the scarves in question just in case. Here are a couple of preview shots:

Skull & Crossbones Tote Felted

2006-03-16T11:30:00.000-06:00

I was right to worry about the twisted stitches from the back showing, but partway into felting I used single stranded yarn to do a little ladder stitch to tighten up some of the gaps and not too much of the contrast color can be seen through now. Some of the stitch definition from the white still shows, but the black is completely felted with an occassional ribbed look where you can make out vertical columns of what were stitches.

I'll post pics, but you have to excuse their poor quality, as my camera phone is much less than ideal for all matters of quality, detail, color, exposure or focus (it does do an excellent job at forming perfectly rectangular blurry images however).

In other news my week looked like this:
Last Wednesday= haircut (slightly longer than shown in front--I had it tucked behind my ear)

Last Thursday= My car being hit while in a parking lot

Today = A 40 degree shift in weather--to a freak Mid March snowstorm

Skull & Crossbones Tote

2006-03-04T18:51:00.000-06:00

Every knitter should have a bit of the ol' Pirate spirit with her, right? So I was really excited when I saw the Skull & Crossbones tote bag pattern on HelloYarn.com a while back and ordered some Virgin Wool just for the project, and finally got to it this past week.

I started while at my parents house this past weekend, but left the Oh-So-Scary Intarsia work for Wednesday. I am happy to say that I have intarsia-ed without major injury or hairloss and feel all the better for it now.

I think the true test will be how well it holds up when I felt it tonight! I'm a little worried about some of those twisted and stranded colors showing through to the other side when it's felted, but no use worrying until there's actually a problem, right?

I'll keep you updated!

Must be that Olympic spirit

2006-02-24T21:37:00.000-06:00

I don't know how I'm doing it, but I've been zipping along through the green scarf that is meant to be a gift to my mom (who I'll be seeing on Sunday). At this rate I will probably have knitted too much by the time I get home. Who has put the wind in my fingertips? I'm loving it!...so much wind is there that I whipped out a hat as well this week!

Red XandO scarf finished!!!

2006-02-19T19:04:00.000-06:00

Just need to weave in some of the ends, block it, photograph it and send it to Sweden now!

Fun around Town

2006-02-06T14:03:00.000-06:00

So I had a friend visiting from Australia and I took a few days of vacation to be a tourist with him. I hadn't realized how much I missed my camera until I got ahold of his (also a Cannon, so I didn't have too hard of a time adjusting).

I took some great shots of Chicago that I thought I'd share here...

We had an inside joke about dolphins going on, and so when we saw some stuffed dolphins at the Field Museum we, of course, HAD to have pictures with them:

Long time no see

2006-01-13T20:19:00.000-06:00

So I've been quite remiss on my posting...and for fairly good reasons. First off there hasn't been a lot of knitting going on. Secondly, with my digital camera broken there hasn't been a lot of pictures of what knitting IS going on. Thirdly, it was the holidays and I have been busy.

So...

Projects:
-Scarf/belt for my Cousin Jaya finished and given at Christmas, no pictures taken
-New Sweater started, 1/2 way completed and abandoned for bad fit (too wide in the shoulders)
-Two scarves are still "In Progress"

Christmas sales made the stash grow quite a bit and I'm looking forward to using some of the pretty and soft new yarns I got...when the camera's fixed pics will be posted.

PHOTOS!

2005-12-10T14:26:00.000-06:00

Okay, I need to send my camera in to Canon, but I bought a card reader, so I can show you the pictures I took before, and the newer ones (of lesser quality) taken with my camera-phone.

Here are the two main patterns I'm using:

And here are the scarves at various states of progress:

Great news on the knitting front, Sad news on the picture front

2005-12-05T19:50:00.000-06:00

So my camera went comatose on me. I'm trying to find my warrentee information, as it's been less than 6 months since I got it, but for now I'm just sad and a little pissed. Battery is fully charged, but there is absolutely no response when you (try to)turn it on

And I had such great photos to share!!!

I'm working on two scarves right now, and both of them are shaping up to be quite beautiful! One is alpaca and silk and the other is pure baby alpaca. One is a deep wine red, and the other is called "Grass" and is a crisp, pale yellowish-green.

The red scarf has a seed stitch border, then a pair of paired lattice panels, then a center "X" and "O" cable worked in threes running up the center (three downs then three ups which form and "O" in the middle, then three downs forming and "X" in the center)

The green scarf has a broad moss stitch border and a spiral and latticework center panel

I have great pictures that I took before my camera died. I'd love to share them with you. Boo.

Buttons

2005-11-26T17:11:00.000-06:00

While home for Thanksgiving I spied my grandmother's button box and asked if I could go through it and pick out some for myself. She said I could and I stayed up until 1AM sorting buttons by color and materials (plastic, shell, metal).

My mom was proud to share her button stash as well and pulled out a rusty tin full of buttons the next day and sorted them with me.

So now I'm sinking further into knitting nerd-dom with a button stash. I photographed some of the more interesting ones last night.

These two were my favorite buttons. They are metal with a shell insert. Unfortunately the metal is pretty rusty, but I think I can get the majority of it off and then seal it and it should be fine.

More Buttons

These were my second favorite...so unique

A landscape of buttons is a beautiful thing

I'm ready for future cardigans and shrugs now.

Thou art mine enemy.

2005-11-16T18:25:00.000-06:00

Knit Picks, generous as thou may be, thou has diverted my knitting plans. How couldst thou split mine order and send half now instead of delaying the shipment, in its whole, for sake of those back ordered items? Why dost thou taunt me so? How canst I receive bulky weight alpaca/silk blends and NOT begin knitting them? Speakest thou...HOW?

It was an accident

2005-11-14T20:41:00.000-06:00

I didn't mean to go to WalMart and buy more yarn while thinking of all the babies being born...And that shopping list is shabby evidence, I mean, I certainly didn't get the bulb for my headlight that was at the top of the list, so who's to say the list had any resemblence of my premeditations at all?

So this little guy who started springing to life from my crochet hook and knitting needles will have to just live with the fact that he was an accident and know that I love him just as much as if I had planned him.
(Please ignore the oddness of his eyes, they are mearly templates of what I want to make for him. He'll be getting cute, brightly colored arms and ears soon too!)

Oh and those sketches...I'm sure those came later too.

Knit Picks...friend or foe

2005-11-12T18:51:00.000-06:00

They offer amazing prices, allowing me to buy almost twice as much as I might otherwise...and I'm not sure that's a good thing. I think that cost is one of the things that keeps me from knitting 24-7 and delving too deep into obsession.

Thankfully I ordered some things that were out of stock, so I can have a couple of weeks to anticipate them coming in and keep my pace a bit more restrained.
______________________

My co-worker mentioned today that my productivity had increased, and she couldn't believe how much I was getting done...procrastination= mother of all motivators for doing things that were much further down the list than the object of procrastination.--> Term paper= very clean bathroom, and clean dishes, Cleaning out the garage= finally organizing your books by subject and author, Novel to write= 2 completed knitting projects, 3 more started, cleaned out files, windexed windows and vacuumed floors at work.
____________________

Oh, so new projects that I'm looking at include:
Cropped Bolero Vest--although I'm still not sure how this could require 468 yards of BULKY weight wool...maybe they're hiding more in the back--maybe the back is entirely ribbed or something. Weird.

Next thought? Something fuzzy. I'm thinking of a bolero like the one sweaterbabe has up and that Linda just made (see her's in her blog-on my list), or the Grecian Plait sweater from Knitty, or the Spiderweb Capelet from SnB, or maybe just lacy, fuzzy scarves. Good times.

Back to novel writing.

My novel suffers, my knitting soars

2005-11-11T21:14:00.000-06:00

Procrastinating and knitting go very well together.

I finished my altered Tivoli/Picovoli Tee. More projects have been begun.

Okay, so my notes on the project...

*first off I should note that the gauge on this yarn was different than on the first so duplication with other yarns may differ.

Yarn: Lion Brand Microspun in Lavender
Pattern: Altered Tivoli Tee from MagKnits (Link on left)
Needles: US4 until the last 3inches of waist increases and then US5

I made a few changes based on how the first Tivoli/Pico attempt fit me...I cast on the same number of stitches but allotted more to the shoulder and fewer to the front and back. I didn't join and knit back and forth until the keyhole was the depth I wanted and did a garter rib for 4 rows along the edge (if I were to do it again I would have included increases in this, as it is slightly bigger than the stockinette that follows.)

The thinking on the alteration of the number of stitches for the neckline was that the last one felt too wide across the front and back and draped a bit, and I figured I would end up with the right number of stiches but a narrower width after the increases if I swapped the strap length for the panel width. I ended up doing a few more rounds of increases (until I had almost as many stitches to the front panel as in the original pattern) and it worked out alright, but I did end up with slightly wider arm hole openings (I tacked the sleeves down a bit when binding off though so it didn't change much).

When I got to the straight stitch portion after the waist decreases I did two repeats of a fir cone pattern (basically a round of YO,K1,YO,K3,SL1,K2Tog,PSSO,K3 then a round of K and then the same combo with the pattern shifted over 1/2 way ) and then quit switching between the two stich patterns to create vertical columns (which hide the increases I did better than the fir cones would have). I increased the needle size by one towards the end as well. I did garter rib for 4 rows around the bottom to match the top.

With the extra increase rounds at the top the cap sleeves were wider than on the original and came further over my shoulder. To make them fit better as a cap sleeve I left them live until I finished and then I knit across, picking up 3 stitches of the bottom of the armhole on each side and then reversed and bound off about 12 stitches of the base and then did * K2tog, K1* bind offs until I was about 12 stiches from the other end binding those off regularly.

I'm very happy with how it turned out, and only wish I had made it in a better yarn (this was just supposed to be a test run and I had the Microspun in my "this didn't work like I wanted it to" stash)

Experiments

2005-11-06T11:58:00.000-06:00

I'm loving the Reader's Digest Knitting and Crocheting Patterns Book I got and have been trying out samples of a few of the patterns. I've added a band of Fir Cones to the straight middle section of my second Tivoli/Picovoli Tee and am trying to decide what I'm going to do when I get to the point that I need to do increases. It wouldn't be an easy pattern to add into, so I'm thinking of adding gussets, or of just continuing the pattern in sections (like across the front & back and adding in at the sides)...We'll see.

Today I'm going to try to keep my knitting in the car so that I can actually get some work done on my novel. Wish me luck.

Knitting, Writing, and Reading

2005-11-03T18:22:00.000-06:00

So last night, while procrastinating from my novel writing I picked up my size 13s and some novelty yarns and started a knittin'. I finished off the novelty yarn I was using about 1/2 way through a scarf, so I'll have to go shopping if I want to finish it.

I haven't been working on my second Tivoli/Picovoli Tee for a while, but I have update pictures I can post later, as it's more than 1/2 way done now and looking to be a good learning experience for me. (Making up how to make cap sleeves should be interesting.)

And today...arriving at work I found the book I ordered on Amazon a week or so ago and spent several hours pouring over the patterns. It's the "The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Chrochet Stitches" by the Publishers of Reader's Digest. Lots of great patterns and techniques. I'm thinking of using the Fir Cone pattern or the Flickering Flame to make a Shawl/Scarf/Wrap thing for my mom out of a nice laceweight alpaca yarn I got from Knit Picks! I'm just going to compare the patterns to the Birch/Kiri pattern everyone has been working on to figure out the gauge I want to do it at.

But knitting really IS supposed to be put on the back burner while I novel this month! (I have a feeling it will be my best source of procrastination from novelling though)

Oh, so if you want to check out my novel go to The Life and Imminent Death of Simon Frank

Make new knits/but keep the old...

2005-10-26T16:47:00.000-05:00

So I've begun a new/old project. I'm doing a variation of the Picovoli Tee. I'm adding garter ribbing, a slit front, and a shorter span across the front and back of the shirt, and some short row shaping. I'm also considering adding some cap sleeves, or if I have enough yarn, 3/4 length sleeves. I have to knit fast because November is fast approaching and soon NaNoWriMo begins and my feverish knitting pace will be replaced by a feverish writing pace.

So you can look forward to pictures of knits being replaced by excerpts of my writing.

Updates of the "new" picovoli tee to come as soon as its photographable.

YAY!

2005-10-24T22:23:00.000-05:00

Guess what I finished already? Yup...one beautiful Picovoli T! And I love it! I can't wait to do another. I think I'll be using up some of my stash on this one!

And here are the pics (yes, I'm at work, and yes, I cut my head off on purpose...I have a cold and after a long day of work it shows.)

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine
Pattern: Piovoli/Tivoli (I did not do Picot edging)by Grumperina- on MagKnits (see Links)
Needles: Bamboo Size 4s, 19" & 29" circs
Completion time: Wednesday to Monday!
Alterations: Continued Waist increases in back until bottom edge to accomodate the booty.

Picovoli moves FAST!!!

2005-10-23T12:27:00.000-05:00

Pictures from Day 3

I finished the waist decreases on Day 3...this thing is so speedy I'm thinking I might have to make a couple more. I'm absolutely loving it, and already thinking of how I might easily alter it to suit me even better (although honestly I love the way it fits right now.)

So exciting, I should have a finished shirt in just another day or two (or maybe today if I get the time to knit at work) YAY!

Picovoli

2005-10-21T18:22:00.000-05:00

soon to be

I started on Wednesday afternoon, and I'm already almost halfway done! Woohoo!

Mmmm....Ball winding

2005-10-19T12:29:00.000-05:00

I admit: up until this point I've thought of knitting as a hobby, and something that I might eventually tire of and quit (although probably to return to from time to time). Last night I learned how wrong I was. After Stich-n-Bitch, my tuesday night knitting group, I begged a favor of one of my fellow knitters and returned to their place to wind down some skeins of yarn into balls. Not having a swift and ball winder I had plenty of skeins waiting, and had been delaying several projects while waiting to do this.

I arrived and emptied out a large lingerie bag full of yarn (mostly Cascade 220, and some laceweight alpaca from KnitPicks). I started with a lovely blue/green Cascade on one ball winder while Rachel started on the alpaca on a second ball winder. Winding big hanks of yarn into perfect, amazing center pull balls is incredible! When I pulled off the first ball and looked at it I gasped and got goosebumps. It was like the wonderment one feels when they look at a newborn. My friend looked at me and went "Oh yeah, SHE's a knitter"

Yeah, so I'm definitely a knitter, and I'll definitely be getting my own ball winder and swift at some point. And now I can use all my beautiful perfect balls to make beautiful (if not exactly perfect) knitted objects. Ahhhh....good times.

Humanity

2005-10-16T12:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, nothing to do with knitting today, mostly because I haven't picked up my needles in two weeks.

But every now and then I read something that I want to keep and read again and remember better. I found something like that today.

An extract from the diary of Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin DSO who was among the first British soldiers to liberate Bergen-Belsen in 1945.

Camp

I can give no adequate description of the Horror Camp in which my men and myself were to spend the next month of our lives. It was just a barren wilderness, as bare as a chicken run. Corpses lay everywhere, some in huge piles, sometimes they lay singly or in pairs where they had fallen. It took a little time to get used to seeing men women and childen collapse as you walked by them and to restrain oneself from going to their assistance. One had to get used early to the idea that the individual just did not count. One knew that five hundred a day were dying and that five hundred a day were going on dying for weeks before anything we could do would have the slightest effect. It was, however, not easy to watch a child choking to death from diptheria when you knew a tracheotomy and nursing would save it, one saw women drowning in their own vomit because they were too weak to turn over, and men eating worms as they clutched a half loaf of bread purely because they had to eat worms to live and now could scarcely tell the difference. Piles of corpses, naked and obscene, with a woman too weak to stand proping herself against them as she cooked the food we had given her over an open fire; men and women crouching down just anywhere in the open relieving themselves of the dysentary which was scouring their bowels, a woman standing stark naked washing herself with some issue soap in water from a tank in which the remains of a child floated. It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we men wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don't know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post mortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tatooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity

Source: Imperial War museum

And as much as it's a touching story and kind of gives insight into humanity, somehow it also just gives me that determination to really be an individual, to focus on who I am outside of society, and outside of what everyone sees me as.

Works in Progress

2005-10-01T15:26:00.000-05:00

So I received a lovely package of yarns from Knit Picks, and am getting ready to start the Picovoli Tee from Mag Knits, and a lacy Alpaca scarf or two. In the meantime I'm working on finishing a little fluffy yellow thing for a friend's baby-to-be (Jill Waltman-Brown). It is shaping up to be baby chick like, but it may have a few odd suprises as well. I haven't taken any pictures of it, but I will soon. I need to finish right away, as baby Brown will be here soon.

I'm busy working on all the stuff for the Windy City Lindy Exchange which will be going on next weekend, and don't have much time for anything else right now, but should be back to my normal life in a week and a half.

Revised Asana

2005-09-13T16:30:00.000-05:00

I actually love it so much I'm thinking about revising the pattern and making another one.

Please excuse the middle of the night hair and mirror smudging . :)

The death of Asana

2005-09-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

I completed all the fasteners and got the straps positioned on Asana last night. At that point I looked at it and decided I would never wear it. It just didn't fit me right. The back, right where the top band connected was buckling, the center band didn't really do much, and the lowest band was just too low and would constantly either be showing my underwear or the top of my pants above it. The sides in the back didn't come far enough around and made me look pudgy. I looked at the possibility of putting another fabric in the back--something strechy that would cover the hole, and decided I should take off the center tabs and see what that looked like. I took off the tabs and determined NOTHING would make this shirt work on me, and I would have to pretty much re-do the entire thing if I wanted this pattern to work.

SO...all is not lost. I took off the center tabs and began playing with the remaining I-shaped fabric. My bottom band was a lot longer and more loosely knit than my top band, and ties quite nicely into a knot, and the garter ribbing of the top band is really quite nice and has an interesting drape. I ended up making the piece into a kind of halter with a draping neckline. Think something like this, but not quite as low cut or tight. It's actually quite flattering on me that way, but the open back is pretty revealing, and I might wear a tank under it most of the time.

I actually like the fit of my "new" piece so much I'm thinking of ways to improve it, and purposefully make a pattern for it.
I'm planning on wearing it tonight, I'll post some pics later.

2005-09-11T13:31:00.000-05:00

So as Asana nears completion I needed a new project to start... And I've found one! I think it is always a good sign when you see that a few dozen people have all done the project and you've seen them, and they've had fantastic results. The Picovoli seems to have a high success rate (as shown here) I can't wait to get started and bought some yarn from Knit Picks last night in a lovely turquoise-->

Now I know it looks a lot like the yarn I used for Asana, but it IS darker, and besides, that color looks great on me :)

While shopping I also picked up some laceweight alpaca and am hoping to make a lacy shrug that will be suprisingly warm (if it lives up to alpaca reputation). ...I'm excited to be wearing llama fur, and am thinking I might let my mom borrow something made in alpaca to see if it bothers her (she's allergic to sheep's wool, but most people say she should be fine with alpaca). If she's alpaca tolerant I might be able to make her something that's actually warm and not just decorative this winter.

In Asana news: I've bought the ribbon for the straps and some small snaps that will accompany flat pant hooks in helping keep the back closed and somewhat neat looking. I'd probably be finishing it up today at work except I brought everything else I needed and forgot the yarn (d'oh). Plan to see finished pictures within the week.

Asana near completion

2005-09-02T16:53:00.000-05:00

All the pieces are finished and just need assembling and for me to decide about straps...I'm thinking of doing an attached I-Cord that would tie behind my back, but I'm also going to check out some fabric stores to see if I might find some nice matching tape to make my straps out of.

Here are all the pieces

A detail of the cable cast-on edge

Detail of top panel of garter rib

Too busy to knit?

2005-08-19T10:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, So I've been busy doing other things and haven't had a huge urge to knit away in garter rib to finish the Asana top. I did however start to crochet a very, very soft, light yellow animal-like form for a friend's soon-to-be baby. It started off as a bear until I realized that there was no way my friend would expect anything that traditional out of me anyhow, and so it will be a weird, round deally with little stump feet and pointy arms and some sort of a head (I haven't gotten that far yet). I think it will be cute and a looking a little like Pom Pom (character-www.homestarrunner.com)

In other news...

I just returned from a wonderful weekend of dancing and fun in Montreal. I was actually so prolific with my photo-taking that I've already filled my flickr account for the month. Photos can be seen here. My own personal theme for the weekend's photoshoot was "Grrr" and I made a host of unsuspecting friends play along. It's my favorite collection of pictures ever, and I'm thinking of doing a few more similar photo series. There are more pictures that I took in Montreal, but they'll probably wait until the beginning of next month to be posted.

One of my favorites things about travelling to Lindy Exchanges (see here for definition) is meeting people. Some whom I have met through forums and other online pages, and some with whom I am housed, and others who I meet during the course of the weekend. This weekend I met a bunch of people who I had conversed with on the Canadian lindyhopper's board (where I post regularly)--including not only some of the Canadians who post there, but some of the Australians as well, and I met a LOT of americans who were attending the exchange, and I was housed with a group of diverse people including an attendee from Korea, and one from Paris.

I don't often get to use my French (despite all of the classes I took up through my junior year of college), so it was really kind of interesting for me to pick up after all these years and try to force out my thoughts in the little vocabulary I can still reach in my brain. I could listen to people speaking and understand about 1/4 of what they said (more if they spoke slowly TO me, and I wasn't just listening in) and the majority of the time I could say 80% of what I wanted to in some manner before running across words that I just couldn't remember or never knew. What I found really exciting was that when I asked Sylvain (our Parisian roomie) about my accent, and whether I sounded American when I spoke French he told me he thought I had no real accent at all! I don't completely believe him, but it was Such a compliment!!! ...He also tried to convince me that I should move to Paris, that I could easily find a job there, and that I could "Practice your French all day, and I will introduce you to French men, so you can practice your French all night." :) LOL
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My crochet work did accompany me to Montreal, though it almost got left on the plane....okay, it DID get left on the plane, but a guy from across the aisle caught up with me on the walkway and got it back to me. The only work I got done with it was a small amount in O'Hare before leaving, and then it was neglected for the rest of the trip.
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The other thing I've been up to lately is looking for a new job. The longer I stay at this one, the more aware I am of how MUCH I need to leave it. I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, even though I'm at the top of my game and selling as much as ever. I also have growing problems with my boss, and find some of the things he does incredibly hypocritical and unethical. He controls scheduling and I've been working with an employee who not only creates more work for me, but will actually close the store and leave for hours at a time. If this is what the company is willing to put up with, I don't want to be a part of it. Plus they say you should leave while still at the highest point in your current company, and I don't think I'll be able to move up right now, and am getting frustrated enough to want to move DOWN and not be management any more. Hopefully the right opportunity will come along soon, and I'll recognize it when it does.
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Still "in progress"

2005-07-25T16:21:00.000-05:00

I'm still garter ribbing away at my ASANA. I'm almost finished with the upper part and then have to do the two tabs for the center back. It should be done in the next week or two and then I have to make some real decisions about straps and closures. Yuck.

I need a side project.

Felted Buttonhole Bag

2005-07-13T23:50:00.000-05:00

I finally uploaded a few pictures of the buttonhole bag I finished in March. The pattern for the bag can be found on Mason-Dixon Knitting (see links list)

Passing

2005-07-04T18:03:00.000-05:00

Today my Beloved Grandfather passed away. I can't possibly explain what amazingly noble soul he was and how much warmth, love, generosity and goodness he brought to this world.

Internet at home, such a priviledge

2005-07-02T02:23:00.000-05:00

I finally got Netzero to work on my home computer now that I have OSX. Yay!!!

I've been without home internet for about a year and a half and am so excited to be able to waste more time online and find last minute directions. I just wish I didn't have to work tomorrow so I could stay up late and be an internet bum. Shame.

But at least now I'll be able to blog from home AND work.

Brickish- the knitting series

2005-07-01T21:03:00.000-05:00

When life gives you:

synthic acrylics that are really scratchy in bright crafty colors... make ugly kitch cozies for things and people that don't need or want cozies. (I'm thinking of making one for the Mini Webber Grill that looks wrong sitting in our kitchen)

5 lbs of Chunky weight wool that is rough and won't felt ...experiment with hair dyes. (I never did have the courage to actually use that fire engine red on my actual head anyhow)

wool yarn that falls apart...felt.

More on Bricks

2005-06-29T21:19:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking of coming up with words like "blockonade" to describe the result of life giving you more than lemons. Any suggestions?

When life gives you ___________ ...make ____________.

When life throws you bricks....

2005-06-27T18:27:00.000-05:00

So when life throws you bricks...(lets just say, for rhetorical accuracy, with a series of loud slamming and crashes at 8:10 AM on a sunday through the second of your two glass front doors)... does one build a wall or some equally cheery, optimisitic drivel equivalent to lemondade? Or does one simply enjoy the basic goodness of using power tools and drilling into your beautiful wood surround glass door and slapping up masonite and two by fours that you had cleverly kept stacked along the living room wall for the past two years?

Yeah well I'm allergic to lemonade anyhow.

I must admit to feeling a bit vunerable and scared at how close we came to having our apartment broken into with us still there (though this actually didn't dawn on me until later in the day, but somewhere between drill bits, hammers and 2x4s I left behind those feelings for a bit of attitude that said, "go ahead, try something...I've got a chainsaw just waiting to be used"

I was thinking that the companies that do emergency board up services should also have a "rent a guard dog" service for people who were just broken into. I think I wouldn't mind a pacing mutt with a loud bark..just for a few nights until I have a real door again.

Asana

2005-06-24T20:54:00.000-05:00

So I've reached about the 1/2 way point on Asana. I'm pretty happy with how easy it is, but a little worried about what the finished product will look like. I'm not overly fond of the look for the K3Tog, and the cotton yarn seems to show tension differences over any individual stitch a lot more than I'm used to. I'm worried these will still show up after blocking. I'm also concerned that I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for fasteners yet. I don't like the idea of using Velcro because of the likeliness of snags, but with such a stretchy fabric there aren't a lot of options. Got any ideas?

Thoughts on getting older....

2005-06-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

So I was reading a forum today and came across an old thread on "what age do you see yourself marrying at (if at all)" and read an answer I gave responding to a couple of other posters who wrote:

QUOTE 1: If the person you are contemplating marrying is perfect for you now,then DON'T get married. The only thing you can be absolutely sure of is, that person will not be the same 20 years from now, and neither will you. You will end up wondering happened to perfection. If you are the type of person who doesn't adjust easily,then don't marry,and don't marry someone who doesn't adjust easily.

QUOTE 2: I like to believe that people generally become better persons as they age, and that if a marriage collapses later on, it's from a lack of foresight (or insight) in the early stages of the relationship.

My response:
I still like that movie quote that said something like "we both fell out of love with each other at various points, just neither of us at the same time" Although it is probably happiest when both people are working together, sometimes it's just a matter of faith and belief in the relationship to survive. I don't think you can ever forsee the future or fully prepare for every situation, but you can choose someone that is going to believe in your relationship as much as you do. And hopefully when hard times come or when one of you lacks faith, the other person is strong enough to carry on believing and the dynamic of your relationship allows the relationship to continue on.

I added my newest thought (which is most likely influenced by the birthday I just had)

I've tried on enough pair of pants that I don't believe in the perfect fit. I do believe in the flattering fit, the comfortable fit, the adjustable fit (it works with a few alterations or a belt), the fit that was perfect 3 years ago but isn't so much right now, the pair that are just so wild and crazy and fun that it doesn't matter how they fit, and the favorite pair that may not fit perfect but are just amazing anyhow.

I've also learned that when you finally find a pair that you think fit well and try to memorize all of the descriptors that make them fit well and try to find more the same size and style, none of the ones you find (if any) will fit the same. And even the pairs that I've loved have, over time, had to be re-stiched along certain seams, patched up in places or adjusted to fit a changing figure.

I always figured I would marry in my mid twenties. I'm past that now. I wouldn't say I'm looking for "the perfect fit"--I'm looking for the Right fit.

It's my Birthday!!!

2005-06-16T20:09:00.000-05:00

I love birthdays. Every year I think "it's not that big of a deal, birthdays are for the young" and every year I get excited, giddy and anxious the week of my birthday. They say people usually die within a few months of their birthday and theorize that it is because people anticipate and look forward towards the "milestone" of a birthday and that afterwards there is less to look forward to. I just wonder if the same would be true for people who knew this statistic. Would they be depressed by their forthcoming doom and die BEFORE their birthday?

Yeah, sometimes I think about death a little more than most. I remember thinking that being an honor student in highschool somehow increased my worth because they would memorialize "the honor student" who died an early death more on the news than some depressed loser kid who died and never made headlines.

But back to the birthday. Every year I make a little more money I spend a little more on my birthday present to myself and gifts to other people (not proportional though, but hey, they didn't EARN it). So this year I got a digital camera, but I didn't stop there....

You see, I couldn't decide between two items that I really wanted and "needed" I really wanted a digital camera to take pictures of my knitting, of my artwork, and to get back into photography--I had been really into it for a while, but found I took rolls more photos than I ever took to get developed.

In addition, for three years I had been eyeing the same miter saw, but always dispelled the idea of buying it because of its cost. At the same time I had several times wanted to do some sort of art project but felt like I couldn't because I didn't have the necessary tools.

So I found that digital cameras had finally gotten to the size, quality, ease of use, and price that I found reasonable and wanted to buy one. The price for the one I decided on was the same as the saw I had been "saving up for" for three years.

Solution:

I bought both.

Here's my new saw:



New Digital camera
2005-06-15T15:50:00.000-05:00
So now that I've got my new digital camera I can run around like a mad-woman photographing everything and sharing it with the world. So of course the first thing to share would be my most recent FO, my summer shawl. (Note: I still haven't blocked it)

So here goes:

The Ultra Close Up



The Overall



The Pattern



The Matador