Startitis

Well, my birthday, and my boyfriend's birthday have both come and gone. I got a set of Knit Picks Harmony Options interchangeable needles from mom, a prequel to a series I've never read from dad ("The Alchemist's Cat"--it was actually pretty good), and....not...much...else. I've been wanting to order a pair of Doc Martens for myself, and I've been eyeballing their "For Life" ones, but haven't yet. And Knit Picks is having sales in anticipation of the holidays, which is tweaking me out a bit, because i shouldn't/can't buy more knitting stuff for a while yet.

So, I've been going through my stash, and seeing what i actually have--and developed a moderate case of startitis as a result. First, i was working on a pair of Jaywalker socks (Grumperina's design; available on Ravelry), using Knitpicks Felici sock yarn in the (discontinued) Alexandrite colorway--but i couldn't get them to fit properly, so they've been frogged, the yarn hanked and soaked to take out the kinks from knitting, and left to dry. I plan on trying again, and i'm sure the solution to my problem is a stupidly simple one, i just haven't hit on it yet. The yarn is so soft and nice though, and the thick striping looks wonderful in the zig-zag biasing of the socks--it just removes almost all stretch from the sock, and that's where my problem lies.

I still haven't finished the Equinox shawl; it's tucked away in the Silvanus bag. I also haven't finished the other fingertip-less glove; it's sitting on the altar next to my desk. Instead, i started another pair of plain socks (using Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's formula from Knitting Rules!) using Knitpicks Multicolored sock yarn, in the Jester colorway (it's pooling and zig-zagging strangely--not sure if i like it yet), I started a Flying Spaghetti Monster to top our tree, but have only gotten half a meat ball and half a noodly appendage. I've started a pair of Hurry Up Spring arm warmers from Stitch n Bitch Nation, and realized by the time i got to the start of the thumb gusset, that i screwed up the ribbing, by starting with a K2 instead of a K1. Frogged and re-started.

I made a little cotton pouch to hold rune stones using single crochet, and the 100-yen pouch as a base--i just made it bigger, because rune stones take up a lot more space than 100 yen do. I started cleaning/rearranging stuff in our apartment, and managed to find some things that had been missing in the process. No money, unfortunately--otherwise i think I'd have gone to Woolbearers in Mount Holly, NJ, and snagged something fuzzy and soft (except they are closed on Mondays....grumble). I finally bought Christmas cards to send out, so now i just need to go through and sign, address, and mail 'em all.

*sigh* and I'm hungry, but already had fast food for lunch. I may just go around the corner and grab a sandwich from the convenience store. Wawas rule.

Crossing Over to the Dark Side....

And not because of the cookies.

A lot has been going on in my life lately, most of it just messy. Lets see....

I've not made much progress beyond Clue 4 of the shawl.

I've made almost two fingertip less gloves--the second is still OTN, but almost done.

I made a hat and a pair of fingerless mitts for mom, which i didn't take pictures of before i gave away.

I haven't done much spinning lately; been too busy with other stuff, sadly. But i did get a picture of my spindle and some roving!

I've begun learning/self-teaching myself how to crochet.

And that, my friends, is the Dark Side. The one with the hook.

I had tried to learn crochet before; friends telling me "oh, it's sooo easy!", people on the Internet reassuring me that "it's easy", all the books and websites I'd been reading about it proclaiming "it's easy!" Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is most certainly not easy. at least, not for me. I find crochet to be very frustrating, even though I'm beginning to understand it better. I can't quite say that i like it yet, but that sense of triumph at making the simplest of squares--that was a very satisfying feeling.

I posted my triumph, tentatively pondering if i was actually "doing it right"--i know well enough that there is more than one way to hook a stitch, but the end result needs to look a certain way for it to be called crochet.

By the time i succeeded in making my little square, my eyes were incapable of focusing properly, my blood pressure had spiked, and i had come quite close to either impaling my innocent boyfriend (well, he was poking me with an afghan hook at the time), or hurling the miscreant, misbehaving hook in my hand, with which i was struggling to make the simplest of chains, and the simplest of stitches, through our very expensive television.

But, i showed my little square to the world, and so far, everyone who has seen it has said "yes, that is crochet." So I'm doing something right.

And then tonight, the phone calls and IMs began. Nothing to do with crafting, mind you, just my insane family deciding to reach out to me, and to one another, after a year. It's coming upon the anniversary of my grandfather's funeral, you see, and apparently they are all waxing sentimental about that. I'm just bugging out. I was already planning on holding a Samhain ritual, and making a point of remembering and honoring him and his spirit, but i don't know if I'm actually ready to go visit his grave yet. It's one thing to commune with his memory, another to visit his corpse.

I'm....going to go take up the hook again, and play with some variegated yarn, and try and lower my stress and blood pressure levels. And figure out how to read crochet the way i learned how to read knitting.

Spinning!

So! (been insanely busy with work, and then a vacation, and now back to insanely busy at work--been neglecting the interwebs)

I went to the Common Ground Fair this past week, and had a blast--soo many hippies! So much cool stuff! My boyfriend/fiance/thing bought a giant jar of pure organic unfiltered honey, and he's been plotting what to do with it. It's the most honey I've ever seen in my life, and we aren't really sure how much is there. Just that it is a lot of honey. And will probably be made into something delicious and alcoholic.

I meanwhile got to coo at some alpacas (they were very cute, but shy), petted a fuzzy goat--i think it was an angora, based on the curliness of the hair, and the softness of it's coat in general--and he looks like a picture of an angora. Tooled through the Maine Market, the various animal pens (saw some huge oxen, lovely horses, and some really funny-looking poultry), and of course, the Fiber Tent.

I wanted, but did not find any lace weight while tooling around (it likely was there, but i was just so overwhelmed with the soft yummy yarns i didn't spot it), and while i was sorely tempted by some angora-blend bunny-yarn, i actually did not buy any yarn. Instead, i announced my desires to learn how to spin, and bought a spindle (a Tom Forrester top-whorl), and 9.5 ounces of roving total. Right around two ounces of 100% Romney wool in a hand-dyed red, and 7 and a half ounces of a 70%-30% blend of Romney and mohair. The larger ball of roving was the most god-awful, hideous shade of Mountain Dew green imaginable (and it is named Mountain Dew), so of course, i had to buy it. *lol*

Meanwhile, the boyfriend managed to mortify and clear the fiber tent in about 5 minutes flat--we were looking at some yarn, and he was complaining about being hungry. He noticed that one of the farms had pictures of the sheep that the yarn came from, along with the animal's name. Fiber art stuff isn't really his idea of a fun time anyway, so in addition to being hungry, he was bored. So, he looks at a picture of one of the sheep, and says very loudly, "hmm, Herbert here is looking mighty tasty--i think he'll be my lunch." Another shopper immediately turned to us, aghast, "You shouldn't say stuff like that! I'm a vegetarian!" which just left a huge opening for him to continue. He grabbed a hold of a friend who was with us (and who happens to be short), and proclaimed her his twin sister, who is a vegetarian, and "look what happened to her!" Vegetarian shopper's jaw dropped, and we moved on to the next fiber layout, laughing.

Then he asks if cat hair can be spun as I'm looking at spindles--and immediately everyone within earshot turned and said, quite loudly, "YES!"--we were all amused, and he decided a cat-yarn sweater is probably a bad idea. Particularly since he has a mild allergy to cats.

Heh. So, spinning. I started with the red roving, and as i had absolutely no clue what i was doing, i started spinning the roving straight, without drafting at all, so i wound up with a single that was very thick, slubby, and loose. Then, thanks to YouTube, i learned about drafting, and also an article i found about hand-spinning with a top-whorl spindle, I've been creating thinner, more even, more finely twisted (but still full of slubs) singles.

At any rate, I've been enjoying myself, and hopefully will have some pictures to show soon.

So! I finished the knitting portion of Silvie today, and the seaming, and fudged the drawstring (because i just couldn't figure out what the heck the directions were trying to tell me to do with it), and have begun the felting process.

I don't have any pictures of the post-felting yet (the bag and strap are drying in the bathroom, and i may try felting them both more later), but i do have a pre-felting, post-knitting photo to share!


Bastet is of course, a brat. She insisted on lying on the bag the second i got everything laid out and the camera ready. And refused to move. But ,she does add some scale to the picture (considering she's shaped somewhat like a basketball).

The tape measure next to her runs from the top to the bottom of the bag, which is 18 inches. The bag itself in this state is very stretchy everywhere that isn't color work, and mildly stretchy everywhere that is color work. The strap is entirely seed/moss stitch, and is three feet long.

Things i learned while felting so far: I should have washed the yarn previously. Unfortunately, the evergreen bleeds, and of course, the cloud soaked up some of the excess dye--and now has a blue-green tinge. It's not bad, but it is not the off-white i originally had. However, the Knit Picks yarn does felt wonderfully, and gets fuzzy in the process.


I personally don't think it has shrunk too much (i haven't measured it yet to see for sure), but my boyfriend, Crazy Ivan, does think it has shrunk. Even so, i may run it through the process again later. It is a bit painstaking though; i don't have a washer or dryer of my own, and it costs $1.50 to run each individually if i use the washers and dryers the apartment complex has--and i have no control over the process if i do that.

So, i have to felt by hand. I used a five-gallon bucket, lots of hot water, some castille soap (Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap), and a brand new, clean plunger that has not (and will not) be used for anything else. I started by filling the bucket partly with water, squirting a bit of the soap in, and tossing the knitting in--and then plunging. A lot. Then scooping out the knitting and kneading and rubbing it by hand to push the felting process a bit further. then plunger again.

I also was using the "shock method" which involves swapping from hot to cold water; did that several times, and it helped encourage the yarn to felt. Once I'm satisfied with everything, I'll attach the strap to the bag.

bleh

I'm tired, and not feeling too wonderfully great from working all day in the heat. I probably didn't drink enough water, as is typical for me. And being outside all day, in a physically demanding job, well...it's not such a great idea to not drink enough water. I know this, but I've also always been pretty bad about keeping myself hydrated.

It also has been a somewhat rough, stressful week which just adds to my exhaustion. They changed the routes, added onto mine, but refuse to acknowledge that the changes they made means they've sucked up any downtime i may have had. So i keep arguing the point, they keep pushing ,and i keep pushing back. Meanwhile I'm waiting for my involuntary transfer to occur; we're overstaffed currently, and even though i have an assignment currently, it isn't permanent, and i am movable. Because it is being forced though, if something opens back up for me here in the next two years after i get pushed out, i can come back if i want to.

With all the stress and craziness, I'm sure some people would wonder, "why would she want to go back"--well, fact is, i know what I'm doing here, it is conveniently close to where i live, and i really don't want to have to start over somewhere new. Even though I'd be doing the same job, it would be in a completely different area, and one i am likely to be unfamiliar with, as well as it being a much further commute for me daily. And for all the stupid stuff that happens here on a daily basis, i know what i am doing and where i am going from day to day, week to week.

But, it is the weekend, and a holiday weekend at that! And thanks to a change in scheduling, next week will be an exceptionally short one for me; i have tomorrow and Monday off, work Tuesday through Thursday, and then have off Friday through Sunday. Of course, next week will be another long one, working Monday through Saturday, but it's worth the price for the relaxation time.

Enough about work.

Knitting: still working on Silvie; yes i know, I'm slow. The two sides are done, however, and the strap is past the halfway point. So far, I've used almost five of the balls of evergreen Wool of the Andes i bought, and only one of the cloud. I do still need to seam the bag halves together, and make the drawstring, but i am getting closer to those steps. Sorry, no pictures right now--I'm feeling lazy, and not particularly willing to dig out the camera, wherever it is.

( "®" currently indicates ravelry links; membership required to view)

Once i have Silvie finished, i have two (or five) other projects i want to start; there's the little Sheldon ® turtle for our friends' little boy-beast-child; they've moved out to Texas, so we sadly will not be seeing them often anymore. There's the Vernal Equinox Surprise ® shawl i want to make, and bought seven balls of Kroy sock yarn ("Winter Eclipse") to use making it (the swatch came out looking good), and there is also the Veil of Isis ® , which i bought more knitpicks yarn (shimmer hand dyed lace in "spice") to use when making it.

Yeah, that's only three projects there. I do have more in my mental queue, from a pair of fingerless mitts using stranded knitting to create a winter forest at night scene, a little knitted sheep with removable fleece, and the Reverie beret because although i made it once already, i learned that trying to finish a project (and weave in ends) while under the influence of NyQuil is a very bad idea. I was in the process of soaking the hat for blocking, when it began unraveling in my hands. And i was too out of it to be able to salvage it. So, i frogged it right then and there, and hung the yarn out to dry.

SOCKS!!

I *just* finished these a short while ago. I don't think i got the maths perfect this time around, but--they fit, and they are finished, and they are finally off my needles! Just a simple ankle sock in simple ribbing, using simple sock yarn--Red Heart Heart & Sole ("mellow stripes" colorway).

They are bright, happy colors, though Red Heart does need to work on their quality control a bit--see that section on my left foot, where there's some white stripes going on? those are supposed to be blue stripes. And yes, i know they aren't a perfect match; i didn't care about that so much, since i was making them for me, and they are only my second pair of socks, and I'm not fully 100% clear on the math of socks yet--I'm still making my heels and toes a bit too tight, and my ankles too loose. Math was never my strongest subject, but i tended to do better in applied math than abstract math even though as a leftie, I'm supposed to be abstract. I'll get there in the end.

Silvie is also coming along, but--no new pictures of him, again because he is a twin of the front half of the bag. I'm up to the top of his cheeks though. Hm, what else is going on....Eh, not too much--day off today, and I've pretty much just spent it sitting at my computer, listening to music on Pandora, reading posts on Ravelry and struggling with my socks. Note to self: size 0 needles are not your friend. Stick with the size 1s that are your friend.

Technology

So, i got a new phone. Not just any phone though, an Apple iPhone 3G. All in all, it is a nifty bit of technology, and I've been having fun browsing through the applications--there's a few available specifically for knitting, some paid, some free--I've snagged the free ones. *lol* Also managed to find free apps for Pandora radio, the local news, a selection of free books, and various apps related to health and wellness. Sooo much cool stuff!

I also just got myself a twitter account; now that i have this cool phone and all, why not, eh?

In knitting news, i am still working on Silvie, and have moved on to the back panel--which is going to look identical to the front panel. Sorry, no pics--but really, since it looks identical to the front, you can look at the pictures I've already put up of the front panel, and get the idea.

A thought on Sock Summit '09. No, i did not get to go. I wasn't planning on it anyway, but after seeing pictures on various blogs, Ravelry, and the Yarn Harlot's blog about the event, i am kind of sad i missed out--it looked like a total, and absolute blast! I am deeply impressed and amazed by what was accomplished, even with all the bumps along the way. I hope that another summit is planned for the future--there are rumors about 2011 being the next date--and i hope that, if there is a future event, i am able to attend. I don't quite know how I'm going to justify a sock convention to my boyfriend/fiancee, or the amount of money I'm likely to spend at such an event, be it in lessons or in yarn, but i have plenty of time to figure that out.

After all, he is encouraging me to go yarn shopping at a local shop with one of our friends, who we recently learned is a knitter. And he is planning on saving as much as we can for when we go to Maine, and to the Common Ground Fair. Knowing full well that i am going to buy yarn there--and possibly even raw fleece and a drop spindle, and learn how to spin. Well, okay. He may not know about that last part. But he does know i am going to be spending money on fiber, and is planning for it!

"Yarn? What yarn? These are my kittens..."
~~Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot, on stash management.

Still busy, even on vacation!

So, I'm off for two weeks--and today started the second week, going back to work next Monday. I haven't been very idle on my down time though, between cleaning the apartment (and having a friend who loves to clean is a major bonus!) and knitting up a storm. But, i have been enjoying myself, and i haven't been thinking about work too much, so I'd say, vacation is successful!

I've finished the front panel of Silvie, though the only recent picture i have is from where i was almost finished his face, as you can see here. Now, I'm working my way up the back panel, almost to the bottom border--and trying to decide if i want the back to match the front, and add another Silvie to it. I have enough yarn, so that's not an issue, but do i really want to do that much stranded knitting again? I think....maybe. I still have time to decide, and to be frank, it might be of a benefit to the final sizing of the entire piece when it comes to fulling/felting it later.

I also have finished (finally) the Third Monkey bag of Doom. The second one still lives in limbo, but that's because it doesn't have a recipient yet other than myself--and I'm not in any particular rush to finish it. All it needs is for the lining to be cut and sewn, and now that i have my sewing machine running well, and a new straight edge ruler to go with my fabric cutting board, i should be able to get all that done relatively easily. Because i was lacking that simple, stupid piece of acrylic, i couldn't cut a straight line to save my life. Also reconfigured my rotary cutter for left-handed use, so that helps with the straight lines too.

More pics:

The monkey bag:

Done in Red Heart Super Saver solids (acrylic, of course) for the majority of the piece; the monkey's brown hair was done in TLC (another acrylic with a slightly softer feel), the lining is 100% cotton with a print of palm trees on a sky blue background, and a blue 19" zipper at the opening.

The bag isn't intended as a real book bag, given that the straps are knitted, and likely have a lot of stretch to them, but the recipient is going to be using this to help carry her own stuff around at the beach and such--so her mom doesn't have to feel like a pack mule. I chose acrylic for the project in particular for its easy-care properties; this is something which can get used and dirty and washed, and still keep going.

And my beautiful beauty of a sewing machine:

She's a Singer, obviously, but she's MINE! Her serial number is AH932372, which tells me that she is one of 50,000 class 15 machines (she's a model 15-91) manufactured in the Elizabethport factory in Elizabeth NJ, November 29th, 1948.

I picked her up a few years ago, when someone local was having a yard sale--the machine had belonged to the woman's mother-in-law, if i recall correctly, and said mom-in-law was a seamstress by trade. I was told some of the history of the machine that way; the rest i learned via the serial number.

She was being sold because the husband did not have any particularly serious attachment to the machine itself--he had other things and ways to remember his mother--and his wife didn't know how to use it at all. Even though it had been a long time since i had touched a machine myself, i have a soft spot in my heart for these old Singers, and an interest in learning how to sew again, possibly even dabbling in quilting.

This machine is in beautiful condition, and after a bit of tinkering and replacing the power cord, runs like new! When i had first gotten ahold of her, the poor girl, although kept in good condition, was very dusty, and frozen tight--she was in serious need of a good oiling amongst other things, and her frozen condition was due to her being started up and run without being oiled up first. She came with the cabinet she is sitting in, a bench which needs a new seat cover, and the buttonholer accessory, which i have yet to tinker with. Partly because i am still learning my way around the machine itself; i don't want to dive into the various attachments that exist until i understand the basics of her, and the basics of sewing again. Fortunately, i was able to find not only a user manual for her online (she didn't come with one), but also a maintenance manual that shows how to fix just about every single part on the machine--particularly beneficial when it came time to take apart and re-assemble the tension knob correctly.

Updateyness

Yesh, i know it's been a while...it had been a very busy month!

First off, I hope everyone had a wonderful Lughnassadh yesterday if they celebrated, and a happy day if they didn't. *lol*


So, for quick updates--i finished the bat shawl early last month, but the only pictures i have of the finished thing are while it's laid out for blocking. I may re-block it again later, because it didn't hold it's shape the way i wanted it to, but. It is a shawl. It is finished. I love it. And i regret not snagging it on my way out for breakfast with my sweetheart this morning, because it was cold in Denny's.

Before blocking, laid out on my bed:

During blocking, pinned out on a couple of old towels, on my bed:

I also knit another shawl, a simple garter stitch rectangle, as a "feel better!" gift for one of my co-workers. He's been ill lately, and lost weight he really couldn't afford to lose (the man's already a bean-pole; now if he turns sideways, he disappears!), and a constant fever. I'm more concerned that he regain his health and feel better, stronger, more like his old self, than finding out what is making him ill--that's the doctor's job. No pictures of that shawl exist, but it is done in a dark grey colorway of Lion Brand Homespun ("Edwardian").

Lets see, what else. Oh, there's the hat that has been sent to the frog pond; I recently learned that a friend of ours is a knitter who is interested in developing her skills beyond knits and purls, into the realm of shaped objects (she wants to make socks), so she started with a hat. I bought some of the same yarn she's using, but in a different color, and worked on it to help show her the techniques she didn't know, or couldn't figure out from looking at pictures--mainly cabling and SSK. She finished her hat, i frogged mine--the yarn will go to something else, eventually.

I am still working on my fraternal twin mellow stripe socks; they are going to be the same size, but their stripes and colors don't match up correctly. Thus, they are not identical twins, but fraternal twins. That's still my "on the go" project, and really, it should be finished by now, but it's not a priority. I'm an inch or two from the toe shaping.

I also cast on for "Silvanus," the surprise design from the Anticraft October 2006 issue, "Fear Itself." And i have to say, stranded knitting is a lot easier than i thought it would be--with the bonus of few yarn ends to weave in. I'm still a bit concerned with how the felting of this bag will go, but i have high hopes.

Silvie from the front, work in progress--you can see the chart I'm working from in the top of the picture, and my favorite skully stitch markers that one of my Anticraft friends made for me, and gave to me in a trade.

And flipped over, showing the strands from the back. Janus the Cat decided to test it out as a pillow/blanket for her, and refused to get out of the camera shot.

I'm a bit further along on this now, but only up to his nose--in these pictures, i was at his bottom lip. Since it is storming out, i may go and simply work on him for a while though. If i just work on him, i may be able to get him finished, and start on the back of the bag before we go to the movies tonight, actually.

The Bat Shawl

So, I'm working on a triangle shawl, and it's my second attempt at making this thing. The pattern is from the Anticraft webzine, but there are errors in the pattern itself. Fortunately, the designer, and a number of others, have attempted to work through those errors, to correct the problems--but the pattern itself has yet to be updated on the Anticraft 'zine (due to the editors of the zine being caught up in real life stuff, mainly--other things have taken priority).





So, I'm playing around with my new digicam, trying to figure it out. I think i have succeeded.

These are my subtle brown bats, using Knitpicks Gloss (sock weight), in the Serengeti colorway. This yarn is a 70% Merino wool, 30% silk blend, and feels absolutely wonderful. I'll be starting the fifth row of bats, probably later today, and after that, the insanity of the border shall begin. That's where most of the problems with this pattern are located, so we'll see how it works out.

I'm off to go play with my camera now. *lol* I'm on Ravelry, and need to upload some pictures to my stash and projects pages.

Technique

OK. Expanding on the first post :)

Like i said, I'm a self-taught Standard Continental knitter, with some left-hand dominant modifications. This should not be confused with mirror knitting, or knitting backwards, in "true left hand" form. While i can knit backwards, it feels somewhat awkward for me, as it isn't something i do or have practiced with any regularity. I'm comfortable with the way I've learned to knit.

But, I do apparently knit differently than most people who knit standard Continental. First, there's yarn positioning. Everyone has their own methods, but usually the yarn is held aloft--above the needles and work. I hold my yarn lower than the needles and the work. I wrap around my middle finger most often, and will bring my fingers up and around, rather than using the needles to pick the yarn.

My left hand also does most of the work when it comes to forming stitches. I snag the front leg of a stitch on the right needle, usually by moving the left needle, and will move the left needle up and around the right to form the new stitch and drop the old one. The right needle stays fairly steady in my hand.

Yes, i will eventually, at some point, get pictures of all this, and add them in.

In the end though, my knitting looks the same as anyone else's--neat rows of stitches. It works for me, and gets the job done.

Until later!

First Post!

So, i finally broke down, and got myself a blogger blog. Primarily what I'm going to be talking about here will be my knitting, as per the title. First, introduction-type stuff.

I taught myself how to knit through books and a few videos online, and my method is a variant of Standard Continental. It's a variant because of how i hold the yarn, and how i manipulate the stitches--I'm left handed, and my left hand naturally wants to do most of the work, so even though i knit in a way that is similar to how most right handers knit continental--same direction and such--there are some differences.

I've also only been knitting a little over a year, but in that time have managed to complete a number of different patterns, all with varying levels of difficulty--from intarsia as one of my first projects, to the socks I'm knitting now. I refuse to allow any knitting to intimidate me, and will readily jump in and start knitting, even if i have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing--I'll learn as i go.

Unfortunately, it's now time for bed, a thunderstorm is brewing, and i can't continue at the moment--more later.