You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'knitting' tag.
It was a nice productive weekend. Yesterday I knitted my tail off and finished this:
It’s really stunning and I’m so excited about it. And, I even blocked it. I know, right? But blocking wires are my best friend.
And today I spun up the caldera batts into a lovely single:
I really loved this batt. It was a blend of romney, silk noils, tussah silk, bombyx silk, and viscose. It really spun up effortlessly. Now I just need to figure out what I am going to make with this. I only have 95 yards of heavy worsted. So, I’m thinking hat? Maybe?
And just for the record, my dog must be having quite the dream right now. All four of his paws are twitching frantically. Do you think he’s chasing squirrels? I hope he catches them. They’re stealing all of my birdseed from the feeders.
Today I’ve been trying to knit. And I say trying because I have been very unsuccessful at the attempt. I’ve screwed up the avalon scarf beyond repair. The only thing left to do is frog and start over. But I did try to knit a second avalon with some different yarn. I screwed it up on row 12 beyond repair also. I guess this is the knitting gods’ way of knocking me down after the merino triangle high that I was on this morning as I pulled out the blocking pins. So, looks like I’ll be giving it another go in a day or two.
I would like to start the absinthe socks though. And the cotton slouchy hat. Or maybe I should finish something that I’m already working on… like avalon.
Again, I’m so behind. But I’ve been making knitting progress. Lots of it. I’m just lacking in the spinning department lately.
I finished the Orchids and Fairy Lights hat. And I love love love it! The pattern called for Malabrigo worsted and size 7 needles. But I had this lovely Manos wool which really wanted to be this hat. I decided to use size 8 needles, as I have a large noggin. It turned out to be a good decision. The hat fits perfectly. Now, if it would only get cold again so that I can wear it… Oh, and this was my first knitted item with bobbles. I had always stayed clear of the bobbles as I wasn’t really sure that I was a bobble kind of girl. But I think that I might love them now. I definitely see bobbles on the horizon.
I also finished the swap gift for fabulous kikibowns. It’s the Emelia Lace Choker. It turned out to be a really easy lace pattern. I was plesantly surprised. And the yarn… Jaggerspun merino/chinese silk. It was the most wonderful laceweight yarn I’ve ever knitted with. I have plenty leftover, which is great. I want to knit more of these chokers. And I want to knit more of that yarn!
Now on to new projects.
First up is the Merino Triangle. I’m using the Shetland Triangle pattern. If there is such a thing as mindless lace knitting, this pattern would be it. I’m substituting a DK weight yarn (Louet Gems) for the fingering weight that was originally called for. I’ve also gone to a size 8 needle rather than the 6. This is definitely making the shawl a bit more substantial, which is nice. But this pattern is really letting this yarn shine. The Louet Gems is showing the stitch pattern so nicely. And this color is to-die-for! Cherry red. It’s just so vibrant!
And lastly, I’ve just cast on my summer KAL project that I’m knitting with kikibowns. It’s the Avalon scarf. She sent it to me (and the yummy yarn) as a part of the Eclipse swap. The yarn is called Twilight Inspired and is from The Fiber Gourmet’s etsy shop. I am one lace pattern repeat in and I’m loving this. I’m loving the yarn too. It’s giving the scarf an almost gothic feel.
Lots going on right now. And a busy week ahead of me. Lots to do, lots to do.
Lack of inspiration will not leave me alone. It’s haunted me all February and is now following me in to March. All I want to do is make pretty things. Really… is that so hard? But I sift through patterns and nothing looks enticing. The other night I was perusing my stash and nothing was singing to me. Not even the unspun fiber. I know that I have an annoying habit of letting my aesthetic shift every so often, and I think that it has just shifted. Previously I had been drawn to bright, saturated colors, variegated yarns, fingering weights, tiny needles and simple patterns that allowed the garish yarns to shine. But now everything that seems appealing to me is made of muted, earthy tones. Architectural patterns, rich, intricate cables and worsted to bulky weights are what I long for. Sadly, my stash is seriously lacking anything muted, earthy, bulky and worsted. And I’m still on the no yarn until April kick.
So, I’m trying to ignore what my heart wants to knit. And it hurts, actually. But, I know that it’s a necessity right now. I trudged back to my stash this morning and found some bulky novelty yarn that I had been ignoring for quite some time. Since my feet were cold, I decided that it wanted to be slippers. I set out with the lovely Amy March Slippers pattern, knowing that my loud, variegated yarn will probably murder the simple beauty of the pattern. And I was right.
BUT, there has been some good to come out of this. First and foremost, I have finally learned a toe-up method that does NOT involve a provisional crochet cast on. (And there was great rejoicing!) The figure-eight cast on (which can be found here, along with some crochet cast ons) just might be my new favorite thing. It was crazy easy and relieves me of all kitchner duties. And that’s a wonderful thing. Actually, I want to start a pair of toe up socks just so I can try this cast on again. But, with toe up socks comes another technique that still eludes me: the short row heel. I’ve tried to read tutorials on the short row heel, but apparently they are all written in a foreign language. Now, my slipper pattern actually had a little tutorial on how to complete the heel in the pattern. And it was still a foreign language to me. I tried. I followed the directions diligently, but it made absolutely no sense. I kept ending up with large holes and running out of stitches rows and rows before I should have. I finally just improvised and ending up making a heel that looks like a heel flap, only knitted in reverse. Now I just need some ribbon and lace to finish this one up and then I can move on to the second one.
In spinning news, I’m spinning the most luscious batt right now.
I received it in my most recent swap. It’s a Merino, cashmere, baby camel and silk bled. Hello, luxury. I’m going for a delicate lace weight as I have a lovely neck piece in mind for it. This stuff is seriously a dream to spin.
Still making progress on Lew’s yarn. I finished up the singles and have moved on to the plying. I’m so close. I just need to get out of this slump so that I can finish it up.
Life has gotten in the way lately. There’s been little progress on pretty much everything. It’s funny the curveballs that life throws you sometimes. But that’s enough about all of that. Time to get back to the fiber.
That being said… I don’t have much to offer tonight.
I’ve started a new brea bag for me.
The front and back panels are completed and the gusset is about 80% done. This time around I have a groovy leather handle that I purchased on last November’s holiday to South Carolina and lovely button from a knitting shop in Frankenmuth, Michigan that I picked up over my New Year’s holiday. So, all that’s really left is the blocking, seaming, and lining- which I am on top of this go around. And I’m in love with this design, for the record.
And in a stunning turn of events, Lew’s fiber and I have made up. I’ve spun through about an ounce of the 2 ounces left to spin into singles today. So, I’m in the zone and really hope to finish it all up this week. Once the singles are done, I’m home free. I can ply it up quickly on the kiwi, wash, whack, and send it on it’s way back to whence it came.
I’m skipping the superbowl this year. I know, I know. I’m unamerican. But it just seemed like more fun to curl up in my bed with my knitting, some hot chocolate, and the Firefly Complete Series DVD set. I’m 3 discs in and man, this show never gets old. But I thought that I would take a little break and update things on the knitting front.
I’ve had a lot of time to knit this week as the winter weather has pretty much extinguished any plans that I wanted to make. I’ve had 14 inches of snow until today, when the temps got above freezing and finally started to melt it down. I actually had to call off work one day because I got my car stuck in the driveway, and the last couple of days have been a pain because of high winds and crazy drifting. Ah, the joys of living in the middle of nowhere…
I’ve been working on my mother’s christmas socks and finally have the second one finished. Too bad I have to rip out half of the first one (back to where the heel ends) and redo it to fix the awkward sizing. So, still knitting away at that.
I’ve finally picked up Lew’s yarn again. We had words a few weeks back, and the spindle and I decided that we needed some time apart, so it’s been taking a break. But, we got together today and worked through some issues, so hopefully I can get back to it and have it shipped off to her soon.
Needing to fill the spinning void, I decided to hop back on my wheel and cranked out some pretty Spunky Eclectic BFL top this week. It’s called Hidden.
I was a little excited by it and it’s ended up being a nice fingering weight. I was thinking a cowl… but the EZ mitered mittens are also calling me. So, I guess we’ll see how the mood hits me.
I also picked up one of my snoozing projects on Friday night. The Juno stole has come back to life and I’ve made it through the lace pattern on the end and am now to the mindless portion. And I get to knit that section for a whopping 42 inches! Woo!
Here’s where I was this morning. Since then, I’ve been engrossed in the Firefly marathon and have added several inches to it. It’s so mindless that it’s perfect for a lazy movie day. Hopefully I can knock this out fairly quickly. I can definitely get some more knocked out tonight while I finish my marathon. Next up, the episode with Jayne’s cunning hat.
I’ve had a productive weekend. Thankfully. My knitting slump was a bit depressing. But I woke yesterday morning and made the decision that I was going to knit like the wind all weekend. First and foremost was finishing Mackenzie’s hat. And I did. I just don’t really… think it’s all that …good. The biggest problem was the yarn, which looked sweet and was really soft, but was LOOSELY thread plied, making it a splitty disaster to knit with.
It’s the design that my friend asked for, and I guess it’s not too bad, really. Although, my pom poms look a little sad. I’m going to give them another trim tonight before sending it off to it’s new home. I just hope that all fits well and that poor little Mackenzie doesn’t look ridiculous in it.
Next on the knitting list were the Bella Mittens. I’ve had one mitten done for a week or so and knowing there was another cold front moving in, I figured that I’d better finish them up so that I could finally have a pair of mittens that aren’t fingerless. (I don’t want my fingers to freeze and fall off!) So, I whipped up the second mitten in seemingly record time yesterday and now I have happy hands that won’t mind scraping the car windows at -2˚.
Now all I need is an onion spray-painted gold and an old orange truck to stand next to and then I’ll be instant Bella. Yeah, I’m a geek like that. I’m okay with it.
And since I can’t very well have mittens without a matching hat, I whipped up the Bella Hat, designed by the awesome Hollye.
I had just enough yarn left from the mittens for the hat, so all worked out well. Now I coordinate.
In reading news, I’m coming along with my 52 in 52 challenge. I’ve finished 4 books so far and will most likely finish up book 5 tonight. So, I’m right on track. I had hoped to get a little ahead of myself so that I could allow for extra time down the road for a couple of larger books that I have queued. But, I suppose that I have plenty of time to get ahead still. I try to give myself some time right before bed to read each night, but I’ve been noticing lately that it might not be the best idea to read vampire novels right before bed. They’re starting to affect my dreams.
Now I’m off to prepare dinner (sauteed artichoke hearts and asparagus with wheat pasta and feta) and then work on some fimo clay buttons that I’m making for a swap.
I’m such a blogging slacker.
I’ve been in a funk lately. But, honestly I get like this every January. I get restless, lose focus and motivation, and dwell on things that should not be dwelled on. But, as the days start to get longer and the air starts to get warmer, it passes through me and I become myself again.
I’ve been trying to keep myself busy with the “string” (as a friend called it) but my short attention span has me bouncing from project to project looking for something that will hold my interest for more than an hour. Progress has been made, just not on the projects that need progress. Par example, Mom’s Christmas socks. Oh yes, I’ve not finished them yet. I’ve been trying to knit on them tonight, but my mind is everywhere except for the socks. Mackenzie’s hat is so close. But kitchnering 128 stitches is seriously annoying, so it stays unfinished and Mackenzie’s head continues to be cold. I did finish the first mitten in my Bella’s mittens. And it looks pretty groovy.
But, I have no motivation to even start the second mitten.
At least I finished up the second cowl from the Jewel Cormo of Doom. The first one went off to find a home with Skye, and since there was enough yarn left, I made a second one for me.
I like things made with handspun yarns. There’s a rustic quality and a richness about them that you don’t always get with a commercial yarn. And that makes me happy. Plus it satisfies the deep-rooted need in me to make things. And what could be better than making something from something else that you’ve made?
I also need to get back on track with my book challenge. I’m slacking there as well. Eh, something tells me that I should just crawl in bed and sleep through the rest of January. February is always infinitely better anyway.
And who knows what it is with the windchill since the winds are gusting around 50-60 mph (EDIT: Per the local weather report, the windchill is -22). I’m damn cold. It’s a good thing that I knit because my stash can keep me warm when I don’t have enough blankets. I need to learn how to crochet because I need afghans. Lots and lots of afghans. Granny square afghans, in particular. Lew, I’ll be showing up on New Years with crochet hooks and a car full of acrylic. Be prepared.
I’m not feeling particularly loquacious today and there’s much to do (laundry, vaccuming, last minute gifts to package, swap cds to make, ridiculous amounts of music to back up, my desk to clean up, Mom’s Christmas socks to knit, and overflowing stash to organize). But a lot of knitting progress has been made this week. So, here are pictures. (Yes, lazy post.)
I just have to finish the above socks by Christmas. I’m on the first sock. We’ll see if it happens. I’m not sure. And I forgot to take a photo of my current spinning project which is some yummy HelloYarn fiber that belongs to Lew. I’m spinning it up for her. Here’s hoping there’s not a freak accident which causes the fiber to disappear. Lew would be sad…
OH! I almost forgot… Kikibowns and I had a little swap. I sent her some of my handspun and she sent me the most awesome bag ever created.
It is awesomeness. My handspun doesn’t even compare to how awesome this bag is. I forgot to take a photo of the other side of the bag: there is a felt bottle and pills made from buttons. You should all stalk her etsy shop when it reopens after the holidays.
Okay, enough of my self-absorbed ramblings. Laundry. Vaccuming.
I’m so behind. I’m behind in my blogging. I’m behind in my blog reading. I’m behind in my Christmas knitting. I’m behind with getting things in the mail. Gah. I need to catch up with all of you. If you blogged about anything that I need to read, let me know. My google reader is about to explode with unread blog posts and I just don’t know when I’m going to be able to catch up!
Okay, so where to begin…? Lots to share.
Progress has been made on a myriad of things. Probably the most exciting of which was my swap bag. I had never made a bag before, and being the overambitious knitster that I am, I decided that I was going to make the brea bag. And I was going to line it. It really wasn’t too terribly difficult. The knitting was a breeze.
I used Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool, double-stranded. I loved the natural color of the wool because I knew that it was going to show off the stitch patterns so well (and it did!). I even decided to knit a strap for it. The knitting went well. And then came the lining…
My sewing skills are not the greatest. Let’s face it… I can’t even thread the sewing machine. Why I thought that making a bag with a lining was a good idea is beyond me. However, astonishingly, all went well. I knew how to put the lining together in theory. It was the execution that had me a bit miffed. But thanks to the darling kikibowns, and her bag lining linky goodness, things started to click for me and I got the lining finished. I even lined the strap for extra support. I loved it. It got shipped away to its new home this week and I think that she liked it! Yay! I had purchased enough yarn and fabric to make a second bag for my sister for Christmas, but that got nixed due to time constraints. So after all of the holiday craziness is over, I’m going to tackle the second one for me. I’m selfish like that.
So, once the bag was done, I moved on to my Navajo Gems spinning project. This is Spunky Eclectic BFL and was super soft and lovely to spin.
Then it was time to work on the fingerless mitts for my sister’s birthday.
I made these after the awesome swap gloves that I received from Troismommy, using her Tourniquet pattern. I didn’t do the color change, as you can see that this yarn needs no additional colors added. :) But I really liked the design and fit of the ones that she made for me, so I wanted to make these in the same style. Hopefully my sister likes them. I’m going to be shipping them out this week.
Next on the list are 2 neckwarmers that are currently soaking in the sink, awaiting their moment on the blocking pins.
Followed by Macabre #2 which has finished its soak and is currently drying.
So, now that just leaves a few pairs of fingerless mitts, a pair of Bella’s Mittens, and a pair of socks. I can do this. Yes, I can.
But, seeing that it’s Sunday, it’s time for soup first.
This weekend has been a bit of a blur.
In non-fiber news, yesterday was the annual Battle of Mississinewa re-enactment. It’s actually a really cool event. This was my second year of attendance and I really enjoyed it.
There are muskets and cannons and militiamen on horsebacks and really ugly out-of-period fences to protect you from the pretend fire. The gunpowder leaves an odd scent in the air and clouds your sight with foggy smoke. Oh, and the cannons will render you temporarily deaf. After the battle, there’s the merchants’ village with so much wonderful food (frybread, chicken and noodles, corn on the cob, pork chops, brats, apple cider, kettle corn… just to name a few options) and vendors selling everything from silver jewelry, to handspun yarn, to hides and muskets.
And because they are all about authenticity, they even gave you a dead person hanging from the tree over the river.
I’m thinking that was meant to be a warning for the river pirates.
BUT
on to the fiber…
The lace ribbon scarf is blocked.
And a new lace ribbon scarf has been started. But this one is going to be for me.
And True Blood is tonight. All is right with the world.
