Knitting tool you won’t find at a LYS
But I think it would be cool if they would try selling these. No clue if they sell many though.
It is also quite handy for cooking and baking.
Remember those socks?
The pair that I was working on for my March or April UFO Challenge?
Yeah, those socks. This picture was taken at the beginning of May. I know kitchener stitch probably isn't that hard but I'm having the darn-dest time getting it started. FantasyLibrarian was kind enough to send me a couple pages from her knitting book on kitchener stitch but that still didn't help much. I've watched the video on Knitting Help, I've looked at my knitting books. Anyway, I think I will be making some phone calls to the LYS to get a private lesson.
And the exciting stuff. I went on a tropical vacation. Hopefully I will get around to sorting through the 150 or so pictures, deleting the duds and putting some online soon.
Needle found, better needles purchased
Today I made it to the LYS to check for my needle. It was sitting on the road right where I had parked my car! However it was a more than a little road worn, the tip was slightly bent, it was scratched up enough that the yarn would have snagged like crazy and the end had fallen off. So I headed into the LYS, let them know they no longer needed to keep an eye out for it and bought a new plastic circular needle of the same size. We compared
my old needle and the new needle with a gauge/size ruler and they seem pretty similar in diameter. The bonus…I already like the feel of this circular needle (Bryspun Bry-flex) right out of the case, the cord feels great and isn't kinked at all.
Fingers crossed that my next gauge swatch will prove this a favorable needle swap.
Knitting hiccup
Unfortunately I purchased a number of straight knitting needles before I figured out that I don't like working with them. Now I don't mind the short 10" variety but I do have a few 14" sizes. Using them isn't the end of the world, but I'm not nearly happy about losing one as I wish I could be.
Last night I went to my usual LYS knit-night and worked on the front of the sweater (my first vacation yarn project), stuck the needles in my bag as I left, walked to my car, got in my car, drove to a friend's house for some Firefly watching, pulled out the vacation yarn project and…only one needle (luckily the one with the work on it). I'd estimate that I've already knitted about 1/2 the sweater. I don't want to buy another set of plastic 14" needles, but the company (Lion Brand) doesn't make plastic US6 needles in any other format (okay I think they do make dpns, but my local big-box craft store doesn't carry them and dpns are the wrong tool anyway). So now I get to scour the internets and LYSs for a US6 plastic circular needle and hope it doesn't noticably change my gauge. Boo. The pattern recommends Pony needles, and IIRC they are plastic so at least there is hope.
I shall conquer the sock
Warning: this is probably in more detail than a non-knitter will be interested in, heck I'm not even sure if other knitters (successful sock knitters at least) will want to slog through this long post.
I have now knit 4 heel flaps and turned 2 heels*. I still don't have 1 sock to show for it. Yet a number of my friends who started knitting after me have successfully knitted socks. I'm sort of jealous.
Last May I went and bought my first skein of sock yarn and the LYS gave me a free pattern to go with it. She assured me that the pattern would work with the yarn so I didn't bother with a gauge swatch. Which might have been mistake #1 (but I figured, a sock will fit someone at some point). I started the leg band ribbing in May, I turned my heel some time last summer as well, but it felt so weird and I was pretty sure that I did something wrong. Then it sat waiting to be worked on during the fall, mistake #2. Then I borrowed the size 2 dpns for another project in December, mistake #3. So when I picked up the sock for the UFO Challenge I ripped out the heel and heel flap because I couldn't figure out how to pick-up the live stitches on the heel.
But the real downfall was the pattern. And my inability to read the pattern.
I re-knit the heel, and turned the heel with no problem. I started to pick-up the gusset stitches. This is where the pattern failed me.
So, frustrated I pull out my stitches and procede to make the Training Sock from Knitty. Other than a bit of laddering at the leg I had zero problems knitting this sock. Zero. The number of stitches at the side of the heel flap was exactly the number of stitches I need to pick up for the gussets.
Back to the original sock, why is this my fault? I messed up reading the heel instructions, I did *S1 purlwise, K1* across the right side rows and then *S1 purlwise, P1* across the wrong side rows. The pattern actually says to S1 purlwise, purl remaining sts on the row for wrongside rows. Doh. It also explains why I don't remembering having this issue last summer when I picked up the gusset stitches. Re-reading the Sock chapter in Knitting Rules helped me figure this out. I noticed that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee mentioned three types of heel flaps, I didn't knit any of them. So I looked at my pattern again and discovered it pretty much described the eye of the partridge heel. No wonder the stitches were so snug and hard to knit. No wonder it took SO many rows to get to 2".
But I figured this out after I knit 16 rows of heel flap #3. Which you might notice (photo below) is nowhere near 2" inches the pattern suggested. It is also not square which both Elizabeth Zimmerman (according to my Knitting Without Tears book) and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee say it should be. I'm glad I left in that life-line at the top edge of the heel, it made ripping out heel flap #3 slightly less painful. And I have a feeling that the 4th heelflap will be much easier to knit and everything will be downhill from here.
A finished object report
I managed to clear out almost 7 GB worth of stuff on my hard-drive! And was able to finally pull new photos off the camera. So now, in no particular order, what I've been working on lately.
Curtains!
The fabric wasn't my first choice, or even my second choice (since the first choice turned out to be mythical fabric of my imagination), but it was quite a bit cheaper than my second choice. I took a few shortcuts (like no pre-washing) since I don't actually anticipate using these curtains again (watch me eat my words) and I ended up using only half the curtain clips I purchases (umbra clips from Target in pewter or nickle). I ended really liking the fabric, I love the way the light filters through them yet they aren't actually sheer, I love the draping effect from the clip placement, I love how they push back to expose the whole window; And the color goes really well with the futon cover in that room (check the baby blanket photo). Small curtain tip: I made a cardstock paper jig to help me iron the right hem length (single fold with about 1/2" ironed under) and I will definitely do that in future curtain making ventures.
I finally conquered the seaming phobia just in time for 82 F high temps where he lives. Oh well, he can wear it next year.
Nephew's Blanket
I acutally finished this over a month ago (wrote an excited post pre-weaving ends in), it took me another month to weave in the ends, then another week to get up the nerve to throw it in the washing machine pre-blocking. I've stumbled a little when I discovered that some of the ends have frayed and showed up again. Any tips on how to combat this before I send it off to him?
Knitting Vocubulary, or the difference between a UFO and a WiP
First off, if you are a muggle as the Yarn Harlot so cutely says, UFO is an unfinished project and WiP is a work in progress. They sound deceivingly similiar, and in the hands of the right knitter they are quite similiar. But in the hands of many other knitters there is a vast difference between these two acronyms (if I, knitter for 1-3 years depending on how you count, can speak for the all knitters). It is all about intentions and determination to get to the FO (finished object).
This is a UFO, my first UFO of 2007 in fact. I stopped knitting it when I realized that there was simply no way it would fit on the head of an 18 month old. I know this because it is decidedly smaller than the hat I knit for an infant that fits on a 2 year old (if a bit short). And since it was already the beginning of February and I wanted to send S her mittens (notice the yarn, same skein) and wasn't in the mood to restart this project (considering the my UFO challenge project for January wasn't done yet…). So I declared it a UFO and decided to shove it in the closet and deal with it later, much later, an unknown later.
This is a WiP. It is my brother's christmas hat. The hat that 2/3 the way through he decided was too long and didn't like all that much. But after looking for yarn that said, "make me into a hat for your brother" for over a month I decided to just re-do it. I had already ripped the hat out so the yarn was nicely wound into two seperate balls just waiting for me. I pulled it out when I put the pink hat away. I am using the Tychus pattern from Knitty, except instead of casting on 38 stitches I cast on 32 stitches and adjusted from there. Honestly I sort of hate when I want to make my object in the same colorway as a pattern example, but Brother's school colors are red & white and he got a letterman jacket this year, so what is a sister to do but make his hat in red & white.
Of course a UFO can accidently be created as well. You get excited about a new project before finishing one on the needles, perhaps that new project and/or need to use the needles from that other WiP and suddenly it has been a few months and one WiP has magically turned into a UFO. These cute socks feel victim to UFO land in this manner (where are the needles? I scavenged them for Mittens v. 1.0). I think I even turned the heel, which is apparently a magical thing. However I have no clue how I did it and am pretty sure I did some stuff wrong (like the SSK bits). So I am going to rip out the heel and start over, being more mindful of what I am doing. This sock is my other February UFO challenge.
End of January Update
Okay, so it isn't January. The end of January had some pressing personal stuff to deal with. But now for some January UFO challenge updates. Can I add another excuse? Craft posts beg for pictures, and I just got to do a photo shoot at the earlier this week (guess it is a good thing the stuff has been waiting for me to get it to the PO).
I sent my Dad's christmas hat to him. I finished the hat in time to wrap it, but it turned out to be about 1" too long for his head. No one wants a hat brim that hits your eyelids, and the brim was not designed to be folded over, so I ripped it out and re-did it, but didn't finish before we returned home. Then it sat, waiting for me to check the length before weaving in the end. I checked the length a couple days ago and sent it to him yesterday.
Then there were S's mittens. Pair one was completed in early December but turned out to be way too small (the bottom of the cuff hit the heel of her hand I was told). After S's Dad brilliantly scanned the mittens with a ruler and detailed explanations of current fit by S's Mom I was able to start pair two in January. I finished the first mitten and was able to test-fit it on a local 2 year old, it worked. But I didn't have enough yarn for mitten #2. I went and bought new yarn and knit mitten #2, which of course didn't match mitten #1 but duplicate stitch would take care of that, until mitten #2 turned out not to be anything close to a mirror image of mitten #1. Are you still following? End result: 3 mittens knit, 2 mittens sent to S. I started a hat too but that definitely won't fit her so it is becoming my first UFO of 2007.
The baby blanket: I just finished skein #5 (or is it 6?) and row #142 this morning. 18 more rows to go :) No pictures until it is sent to my SIL. She requested I knit/crochet a blanket, so I'm witholding details until she gets it.
Sewing projects: Not entirely finished but my bedroom now has two, two curtains panels on the window. Yay! And ignoring the unfinished hem (I'm letting the fabric settle and then some) it looks lovely.
Now I get to decide what I want to cast-on next and as soon as the baby blanket is done, which UFO I will tackle next. Hmm, maybe I will let myself do three projects. One new cast-on for me, the hat for my brother (if I ever find yarn that will work for him) and the next UFO…
FO: Sewn Purse
This:
Has become this:
Okay, so it isn't quite done, I need to attach the strap (I'm waiting on a piece of hardware I think exists, to make the strap adjustable). I made this from two fat quarters and less than a fat quarters worth of light-medium weight interfacing I had in my mediocre stash. I picked up the d-rings when I found the fabric and realized it was just the fabric to make my little wallet-palm-cell-lip balm-tissue purse that I could wear when I was somewhere that carrying a purse would be too fussy (and had no safe place to store it). I made a perfectly sized cell-phone pocket and lip balm/keys pocket so those things wouldn't get buried at the bottom of the purse, a hazard of tall and narrow purses (please excuse the crummy interior shot, it is very hard to get with only two hands).
On the sweater front: I had narrowed it down to Something Red, Wicked and Blaze. I was leaning toward Something Red with the idea that I might, just might finish it by this summer and could then start on Wicked and have it ready by next winter :) Then today I stopped by my local craft emporium to pick up a piece of fabric for a secret project and saw decent yarn on sale, for $3/skein that I think would work for Tide. It is a narrow ribbon yarn, rayon, a little heavier and wider than what the pattern calls for (a very narrow ribbon yarn that is a poly/nylon blend) but they have the same gauge. It is very soft. And if I do this my sweater yarn would cost me less than $50 (maybe even $40). But it is a ribbon yarn and I'm not sure if I'm ready to go there again. I might pick up one skein for a couple test swatches…but I really need to decide and swatch soon, sigh there is so much knitting to be done.
1 sweater, 1 year
I want to knit a sweater. For me. In yarn I love working with. That doesn't cost a bundle in case it turns out to be a complete disaster. Maybe this is too much pressure for my first adult sweater? I am giving myself a year to do this so that should help.
But which pattern should I pick (this list is no particular order)?
Sonnet? I could pick any yarn and figure out the rest. I like that concept. I don't like how wide the neckline is for what seems like a cardigan and it is boxy.
Kyoto? Lots of seaming, which I've been avoiding like the plague. Seed stitch, which I alternately love and hate. It looks very boxy so it might not be the most flattering on short-short, kind of curvy me.
Something Red? (the long sleeve version I think). My favorite black fitted cardigan is dying a slow death. This could replace it (that is even about how I buttoned my black cardigan). I like all the details but the bit on the raglan sleeve join thingamabob. I didn't really want my first sweater to be in black.
Somewhat Cowl? Very pretty. And would show off necklaces I've been meaning to wear more often. And cleavage when I might not want to (like at work). The sleeves aren't quite long enough for it to feel like a sweater to me, but I think this is definitely going on my "some day" list, I'm just not sure about now.
Blaze? I thought this is the first sweater I wanted to make. But now I'm not sure, I think it is the piquant rating that scares me (and the angora in the yarn and the potential of a yarn sub gone wrong). I love the fitted look, the neckline (I love wearing shirts with this neckline). I might attempt the pattern stitch to see how that goes.
Wicked? Similiar neckline. I like the cable details and the pocket. It looks cozy but not bulky. But is a kangaroo pocket really the best look for me? I wonder how challenging it would be (the pocket, if I do the pocket, if I do the sweater).
Gigi? This has a very similiar look to a store-bought sweater I love. I always feel perfectly put together in that sweater. Does it need a bit of waist shaping though?
Tide? (if you click on the picture of the gold Tide you will get a pop-up of the less-cropped blue version…that is the version I'd do). I already own the book. I like the look, though it is yet again on the skimpy side to qualify as "sweater". I might have to swatch the ripple/wave pattern to see if I can handle it. And I need to research the yarn costs.
I've also heard good things about the Hourglass sweater…but I don't own that book and it isn't on the top of my "craft books to purchase" list. Or should I start by deciding what yarn I want to use and take it from there?
Anotheryarn Crafts 