Damned if it didn't happen again.

Sorry about that.....
So, how about an update?


First, the cooking side:

Pictured on the left, two pounds of strawberries sliced up and I-don't-know-how-much frozen berry mix from Trader Joe's, covered with about a quarter cup of honey.
This was placed in the slow cooker, put on low and stirred occasionally over a 4-6 hour time.

The result is a tart and tasty fruit compote that can be added on top of anything.
It is even better warm, but you can chill or freeze it to keep it around.
Bonus: Add some cream cheese and use it as a spread on biscuits.

It has been received with much love by my partner. Often, with a quick request for more.

During the time I have not been blogging (or knitting), I have been studying photography.
I have a facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MariMixedArts
There is an etsy page for signed prints, as well as other sites for direct ordering prints.

While I have not been knitting, I have been moving (again).
And happily, I have acquired a new bed that has drawers attached. And those drawers fit all my yarn with room left over.

I believe this means I need more yarn.
You agree, don't you?

A confession

I recently took up several scarf projects.

Three scarves of the same pattern, same needle size, and in the same color but different yarn (so not *really* the same color, but still...).
I am done with one, half way on the other and have already wound the skeins for the third.

This project, which has the side benefit of showing off how different yarns handle cables, is so that I can having something to work on at work. The shawl I am working on has reached a point in the pattern that interruptions by customers could have a dangerous outcome. Not that I have been knitting the shawl at home either. I figure I just need a little break before tackling the next section which has nubs (a new technique for me).

During all of this, I decided I should make a scarf for an old friend. You know, a light something to knit when watching TV, because the shawl needs no distractions, you see. So I asked him what his favorite color was. I picked a super simple pattern that had a great texture and would be just fine for a guy. Then I settled on a yarn from my stash, because knitting from stash is very important and makes any project justifiable.

It is a very nice yarn. Soft and thick with layers of color qualities! Absolutely gorgeous! I had two skeins in the requested blue, two in brick red and two in bright red. In two days I knit up the scarf. It is perfect. The pattern, with one adjustment for knitting without turning, came out even better than I could have hoped for in this fluffy yarn. The scarf has already received acclaim for those who have come in contact with it. This scarf is everything one could love about a non-lace scarf.

Well, almost everything. The one thing it is not, is mine.

I have already promised it out. It ships this weekend. Soon it will travel 1500 miles away and hopefully be appreciated and not regifted. (I will hunt him down and do serious damage to him if this scarf ends up in the possession of another.)

So now I have four skeins of this yarn in colors I dare not wear. They can not fix this problem.

There is a fix though. A very simple one. One that even comes with a bonus of the words "SALE"......

So yeah. Yarn diet? That was so last year.... right?

Dusting off and restarting

Well, hasn't this been another long silence.
Here it is only hours away from August.

The good news: I have started knitting again and have even finished a couple of items!

The promising news: I have become away of a lack of photographs or decent upkeep on the tracking of my yarn stash on Ravelry, and there for in life, and I have a desire to correct this.

The it-could-go-either-way news: I finally ordered my first ever set of blocking mats and blocking wires (and the Knitted Lace of Estonia book, but that was because I was only $5 away from free shipping and it was on sale). So far only the book and the blocks have arrived. The eventual blocking of my first full size lace shawl is still a future thing.

The not-exactly-bad news: I have no idea where I am going to start from to pick back up on the blogging, or really the writing in general. Currently I am undergoing 'blank white page' syndrome. Hey, at least I got this post out, right?

So now I will write up a few teaser points.

1) I am on the third part of a matching three piece set. That is a hat, a scarf and gloves (the gloves are the part I am working on casting on currently).

2) I got some new yarn. Always a bonus!

3) The writing up of patterns is going to happen. Some free, some not. Interested?

4) I will be studying up on and doing some beading work soon. Technically, the project is very much past due, but the technical skills have not been actually acquired yet.

Ok, so that was more than a few points. Not bad for someone working on getting back in the knitting-and-blogging saddle, eh?

A quick free gift pattern!

Having taken a long vacation from the blog, I now return with the gift of a free gift knitting pattern!



Behold! The Scrap Yarn Bags!

First step, find scrap yarn. You don't want a large ball, but you want more than a yard of it.

Next, figure out what needle size is recommended for the yarn. If you can't find this information, don't sweat it, just grab a size US6.

Next, cast on.

You can cast on as few stitches as you want.
On average, I am not casting on more than 20 stitches for a dk weight yarn and no more than 15 stitches for worsted weight.

Knit 1 row.

-Now, if you want to do a drawstring closure, a bit of math is needed. You are going
-to want 4 holes. So divide your number of stitches by four. If you end up with a
-left over stitch, save it for the end of the row. If you have two left over
-stitches, add a "k1" to the beginning of the row. Your final number, minus 1 stitch -becomes X.

*kX, k2tog, yo*; Repeat four times and knit any remaining stitches.

-For example, on my 15 stitch bags the yarn over row was: *k1, k2tog, yo; repeated 4
-times, knit last 3 stitches.

From here on we will stockinette until we are nearly out of yarn!
-If you would like, you can change between two different yarns every two rows.
-So you will knit two rows of yarn A, then switch to yarn B and knit two rows, then repeat.

Once you are nearing the end, you will repeat the yarn over row.
Knit one more row.
Now cast off!

The easy part is complete and you should have a rectangle.

Fold the rectangle in half so the yarn overs meet up and the purl side is facing out.
Now you have a choice, you can whip out a needle and thread and sew up the sides, or practice some crochet and seam the sides with a chain using any remaining yarn you have or maybe even some other yarn of a complimentary color.

The last part is finding a ribbon or taking other scrap yarn to make an i-cord for the drawstring.

These can be whipped up very quickly and make great use of left over yarn. Each one will make a different size. Sometimes you will think the bag is at risk of getting too big, so you just move to the last steps, cut off the remainder and save it for another bag. (Note that I made three in the picture and they are all the same yarn, but different sizes.)

What do you do with the finished bags? Why make gifts of them!

* Put gift cards in them and hand them out.

* Put some change or small amount of money and give them away.

* Fill them with potpourri or some cotton balls that have been dipped in scent or sprayed with perfume, then stick them in a personals drawer, or in the boxes in storage or give them to friends who need to freshen up closets, drawers or storage.

* Write wishes or dreams or what-have-you on to some paper, put the paper in the bag and set it free.

There are lots of things little bags can be used for, but remember these are little HAND MADE bags, so are great for gift ideas.

Enjoy!

Two years and some erratic postings

It is hard to believe that I started this blog two years ago, and yet as of next month, that will be exactly the situation.

Admittedly there has been a great reduction in posting here, and over at my regular blog as well. I have my reasons but they sound suspiciously like excuses when put to paper or else wise shared, so I will keep them safe and strong in my mind.

I have been knitting.
Really!

When I haven't been doing other things.

I think that I am having an issue of only knitting for other people right now, having really large UFO's and not knowing what I would knit for myself if I was going to.

I did finish the purse. When last you heard of it the knitting was done and the sewing had yet to be started. Last month I cut the fabric. Last week I did the sewing and attached the handle (incorrectly, it turns out). Then, having decided that 1.5 skeins of left over Rowan Summer Tweed was a bit much, I decided to make an accessory. So I made a simple necklace. I might still make a bracelet, we shall see.


I am happy to report that the mittens got made and, while huge amounts of unwanted snowfall prevented the hand delivery, they did make it to my friend's mom. Thrumming was easy enough, though there was a bit of a learning curve before I found how I wanted to stick the thrum into the stitch. Plenty of online sources about how to make thrums, but until you do it yourself it is just a vague bit of fiddly pictures and words.

Shortly after the gloves I made the matching hat. I can post a picture of the scarf that the hat matches, but not the hat as I have unfortunately developed the habit of giving away the finished product without taking pictures. In most cases I have been able to arrange a photo later, like the situation with the purple scarf for my other friend. (See, I have more than one!)

In even older knitting news, the Surprise Stuff Toy is down to the body section which requires making more stitches and therefore more knitting than just what is there. The airy scarf and the drop stitch scarf are unmoved from their current stage. I think the airy scarf may have frogged itself, but I haven't gone looking for them and they haven't come looking for me and that is just how it is with them right now.
The Icarus shawl received a bit of attention back in February, but then I realized I had no idea where I was in the pattern and I am going to have to rip back so that I can move forward. This idea is not pleasant and as such the shawl is being treated to the silent treatment until we can get some couples counseling going on.

In the meantime I have been working on a stripped scarf for a coworker. He picked out his colors and said he wanted stripping that wasn't too plain. So I worked out to vary the stripes in a spectrum style. It is over half way done and if I really put myself into I could get it down this week or next. The scarf has the advantage of being sized to take to work and be knit. The Surprise Stuffed Toy is very large and the stuffing has a tendency to make fly aways that spread like milkweed seeds upon the breeze. This would not be appreciated in the office.

I have been able to maintain not buying more/new yarns. Excepting of course the $60 skien of light fingering weight silk in gorgeous colors of purple, gold and green. That totally doesn't count.

So, that is our catch up for today.
See you again next post (which hopefully will be sooner than later this time).

Three Crazy Days

When my friend told me that our local Pride event was coming up, I knew what I had to do. She told me on Thursday and the event was on Sunday.

As soon as I got home, I cast on for the Northern Lights shawl with my Mini Mochi in Rainbow.




I dedicated myself to the project.
No other projects received a single stitch nor a second glance. Not that the neglected projects in my life are surprised by this treatment. Goodness knows they have gotten good at being left alone. I expect that any day now those projects will start knitting themselves.

It was my first full chart/lace chart knitting.
On the second day of knitting this project, I had to call my LYS for help. They were wonderful and, although we never came up with an answer, I found out it was my own mistake that was solved by simply knitting that segment three times.



I decided to keep it at one skein because as I was reaching the end of my first skein, the long color repeats were turning out not to be long enough. I feared bad pooling ruining the project.
As it was, I was seeing colors come in at one side and were nearly gone by the time I knit back to that section. The yarn goes across colors as smoothly and gracefully as I have ever hoped to see in yarn. This means that while I was seeing the yarn go from yellow to orange, put in perspective with the rest of the project, it still looks like the colors are stretching all the way across.
I knew it wouldn't last, so I did not carry on to a second skein.

So I made it a Shawl-ette.
Of course, this also means I was able to complete the project with time to spare.
It was a wonderful coincidence that probably saved me from bulling through even though I knew it was better to keep it small.
I have never owned a shawlette before.

Honestly, I could have probably squeezed out one more row, but I didn’t want to risk it. There have been too many times that I have run out of yarn in mid-cast off or had to make the last few stitches tighter to stretch the yarn just that much more.
This time I did not do that. I saved myself and I am proud of my restraint.
I knit row 85 and then did a very loose cast off.

I think it is nice.

Random bits about my yarn....

Right now I am more interested in yarn than in knitting.

It is a good thing I am on a stash diet right now, or else I would be in trouble. This is the kind of mood that leads a person to buying a bunch of single skeins of yarn that don't go together and have no immediate projects to pair with.

It is precisely this mood that got me with the stash I have now.

Ravelry shows me at 109 currently stashed yarns, but Ravelry doesn't know about the 6 unlisted yarns that are arrayed beside me. Nor the bags of unidentified yarns from other people destashing label-less fibers.

Since my roomie is an artist and I have taught him to knit, I think I shall eventually spread out those yarns (after locking up the cats for the duration) and play a game of Mix and Match the Yarn!(ntm) to see what we can come up with.

--

I cast on for the Windmill Bag, as mentioned on my twitter feed, and am almost done. Mostly this has been an at work project.
New trick learned with this project: I-cord bind off
New lesson (re)learned with this project: Sometimes 20 stitches of one yarn is wider than 20 stitches of another yarn.

The good news is that this project totally counts as destashing! I am using up yarns that I have had lying around. They are mostly partial skeins and at one point I ran out of yarn for one panel, so I had to frog a finished knit to reclaim the yarn. It was painless since the finished item in question was a limited use single mitten to go over a wrist cast for my roomie. He certainly did not mind the deconstruction.

--

I still have not quite decided what to make with my 100% Alpaca yarns. I bought the two skeins together, a perfect pairing of color and weight, and every time I think I know what to make with them I think of something else.
They are so soft and cuddly that I want to make a pillow from them, but then I think a cowl would be better since the weight is light enough, yet if I make gloves I will have them on my hands and rub them against my face anytime I want! Oh, the possibilities!
It can be hard to have such nice yarns, le sigh.

--

The secret surprise knitted stuffed toy has stalled yet again. It has grown to an awkward and bulky size, and I really just need to admit to myself that it is not going to get less awkward and bulky as I reach the body area and then the legs. It will always be awkward to knit, but that is part of the challenge. I should embrace this fact and knit on. Really I should. But wouldn't it be easier just to knit some nice lightweight lace?
At this rate, my friend will be getting this gift in time for Christmas. Gah!

--

A while ago I tried laying out my stash and sorting it by color. I then packed it pretty much away in the color groups. While I can appreciate art and make correct suggestions about colors, I do not yet grasp the color wheel theory. Re-organizing my stash was a step in this direction. Baby steps, Bob, baby steps.

--

I am still trying to work out a way to store and display my yarn on my walls without having to make a bunch of holes. I am thinking of trying to find some of those coffee cup wall racks, replacing the posts with thinner and more fragrant woods so that I can ball yarn and stick them there.

I think it would work really well.
Where do you find those racks now-a-days?

--

I actually have not gotten my spinning wheel out yet since MSW. I know, bad me. It is just that I have been so busy or cranky (and we know we shouldn't spin when cranky) or feeling too self conscious to spin in front of my roomie.

I will get the wheel out today. I promise. If only for a little bit. I was doing good last time and I intend to keep up that progress! I will not hold myself back any longer!
Just as soon as I finish this post.
And catch up on some blogs.
Oh, and there is an Indian Fest going on down the road....

The big reveal...

I did mention that there would be some big news that I would be sharing with you.


I had asked a question a few posts ago and while I did not get any answers, I did end up making a decision. I had some help from a non-knitting friend who has been the recipient of several knitted items, and yet he gave me the best answer I could hope for.





He said:
"I think you should do what is going to make you happiest, and I think the spinning wheel would do that."




After a bit of research I ended up picking the Kromski Sonata as being the best folding spinning wheel for my money. I ordered it from The Woolery and I got free shipping, free bag (included), a free extra bobbin and a free Niddy Noddy (which I have no idea what it is for, yet).
Not a bad bit of shopping if I do say so myself.


My first run of spinning with it left me in a not so happy spot, but I am told that is normal for a first time run alone. I am looking forward to learning the art of the spinning wheel and making beautiful yarns to knit. I have only to find mini/toy sheep that naturally shed their wool and are able to be housebroken for living in an apartment. Then I can have the whole circuit of fiber life.

Now what?

As I mentioned before, I finished the red scarf.
Then I finished the green scarf.

I have cast on for the second sock, but progress is a bit slow. The math question was solved with "subtract one stitch per inch", so I am going to get this bit finished.
I am still working on the blanket and the laundry soap bag should be finished after a few more weeks (remember, I am only knitting on the bag when I am at the laundry mat).

This means I only have three projects in process.
For some people, this would be enough. Many would say it is more than enough. To me, it means I need to get planning my next project. I don't think I am feeling like a productive knitter if I have less than half a dozen or more projects stacked up. It means it takes longer to finish any given one, but if timed correctly I can get a whole week of FO joy, one right after the other.

So I have been flipping through patterns again, going through my stash and trying to pair things up. I think this is the part of knitting that is the most fun. I have some really, really nice yarn stashed up and there are some great patterns out there and sorting through them all fills me with hope and inspiration and almost lets me forget that on this second day of March everything outside is covered in ice.
As I am typing this, it has started snowing again.

While I was moving through patterns and looking at my Project Queue '09, I started eying the shawls I have lined up. They are top down, but apparently top down means the last rows are even longer as you knit down and up the triangle sides, which kind of goes against my idea of purpose of top down shawls (which is shorter rows as you reach the bottom tip). In general, the starting section confuses me a lot. A really really lot. I shall be needing help to translate what the pattern wants me to do.
Thus, I started looking at different patterns for some of the other yarn I have. I looked at a very nice beret/tam had done in entrelac, which I have yet to try.
Then I got to looking at knitted bags and such and queued up a market bag for some aran weight cotton yarn I have. The pattern is nice and just about screams for some improvisation. Which lead to me thinking about designing.
I do plan on being a designer and I need to increase my knitting skills to get there. I also need to get done with other patterns I need knit up and write out. For example, I have a few variations on my wine bottle that I want to work on. I want to make some adjustments to the pattern and see if I can make more and better wine bags.
This got me thinking that maybe I need to make a list of knitting skills I need to practice and things I need to learn to knit:
Entrelac
Drop Stitch variations
Color work
Sweaters
Top down shawls
Gloves
Cables

I am considering re-doing my Project Queue '09. As long as I knit from stash and have a minimum of one project per month (which I am already a bit ahead on), then I will be keeping to the original plan.

The other day I was lamenting to my friends that I have yet to actually knit myself a warm scarf. (So far I am planning on keeping the silk scarf, but it is not warm, really.) Of course, my knowledge of knitting has improved enough that now I can't settle for just a garter stitch scarf. Nor will I knit myself a scarf of a pattern that I have already done a few times. I think, in order to make a scarf I will be happy with keeping, it will have to be a self designed scarf.
And it will need a matching hat.
Perhaps even gloves to go along.

I think on my next day off, pending it is not a beautiful weather day that begs for outdoor exploration, I am going to pull out all my yarn and reorganize it.
I also need to recount my knitting needles as I seem to be missing some.
This will be an all day affair.

-----

Stay tuned: Big news coming later this week!

A bit better

I am feeling a bit better now. Still not sure what was going on, but since then I have quit smoking, increased my exercise routines and finished the Red Bunny Scarf (which was supposed to be a Raspberry Bunny Beret, but alas there is no yarn left).

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me to get a picture of it. So that part will have to wait.

The last two days of working on this project were FULL days of knitting. Wednesday I took it with me to the optometrist and work, garnering around 7 hours of knitting. Thursday I took it with me to laundry and then worked on it at home, for 4 more hours of knitting that was nearly uninterrupted. Then I gave it a rough steam blocking and some tassels.

The scarf was bagged for the trip and I turned to my stash to figure out what project I was going to take with me. I always take knitting with me to her house so that I can stay busy while her husband flips restlessly through TV stations and her and her son are in the kitchen cooking.
This time though, a strange thing happened.

I wanted to grab a project to knit, but I wanted to not knit for a bit.

I was worn out.
Tired and arm-sore of knitting.
Needing to take a break.

Yet.... I wanted to work on something.
Sigh.

In the end I took nothing with me. I enjoyed the respite and managed to get control of the remote, thus stabilizing the tube for a while.

Yes, she loved the scarf and I told her about how to care for a hand knit object of Angora.
Before we left, I took a moment to pet the yarn. It was supposed to be a hat and was even cast on and knit up to be a hat! Due to a sizing error it was frogged all the way back and somehow ended up not being a hat. Nor being mine.
It was one of my cherished yarns and I shall miss it.


I am on a stash diet this year, so I will not run out and try to buy more bunny. I shall try to stick with knitting from stash.

I shall also dream of owning my own yarn store, thus eliminating the need to have a stash diet.

---------

In other news I am now facing a new problem.
This issue is a tough one and I know that being vented on a knitting blog will lead to some bias in any responses received.

I got my tax returns.
I got a bonus from my job.
In short, I have fire in my pants. Near the pocket. Um, nevermind.

I have a couple of choices.

I can get a new and FASTER scooter like this! This would be very, very welcome and would provide a lot of improvements.


OR-

I could get something like this:


OR-



I could continue saving for the trip my friends and I are planning, in which we shall fly out to either Malta, Sicily and such or Athens, Mykonos and Santorini.



Please don't misunderstand, I am not rich yet. I simply have a knack for finding great deals, and I know I can arrange this trip to the Islands for around $1k per person (which means saving twice as much before leaving). This is the same as the amount we planned on for our trip to St. Paul, Minn.

How do I choose?

------------

I also have another question for you.
As I still have not replaced my sock knitting book, I am lacking sock knitting math.
Can anyone tell me what the formula is?
I know it starts:
X = sts per inch.
Then it goes something like:
foot=50% of X
leg=??% of X
And there are other parts too.

Help?

Scarves for the sake of it

Mentally, I am in a weird place right now.

In knitting terms it means that I am not working on the projects that are on needles. I think they understand this in their little fibers as they are all sitting quietly on the sidelines, waiting patiently. The blanket, the sock, the curtains and such have all become silent witnesses to my simmering mind.


That is not to say I am not knitting.
Rather, it means that instead of having a diversity of patterns in my mind, I am focusing on the last pattern I have memorized. I have added a garter border to the Isobel pattern so that I can avoid blocking and can easily get away with a thicker yarn.


Years ago I started knitting and I asked my Grandma what her favorite color was. She likes green, a deep forest-y green. I told her I would knit her a scarf.
I have cast on and am a good ways in.

A few days ago, my roomie's mother sent me a text asking if we were still alive or had forgotten her. The "mother's guilt" did not stop there. When we talked on the phone she mentioned that she was still wearing the scarf I had knit her years ago. (Which was actually a project she was supposed to do but she couldn't get into knitting and had me knit if for her. She was taking a class and happily displayed the scarf as her own.)

The fact is, it was my first fun fur scarf on size US15 needles and started the craze as all kinds of co-workers saw it and wanted one of their own. It really is a flimsy, strangely colored scarf and not one of great pride. The nice thing is that size US15 needles and thin novelty yarn hide all possible gauge issues.
But I know the truth.

So today I cast on another Isobel-variant scarf, this one with the borders and one less repeat, in my red Classic Elites Yarn-Lush. I picked the red yarn because red is her favorite color and it was either the beautiful angora that was going to be a hat for me or the Dark Horse Fantasy yarn that I am hoping to make a sweater or vest with (as soon as I learn this color thing.)
Marvel at the wonder of "mother's guilt" and how it can part a knitter from good yarn!

Sure, I could have gone out and purchased more yarn, but a) I am really trying to cut down the stash b) if I get this done with one skein I might still get away with a small hat for me (it will have to be knit top-down for safety.)
Besides, I know I still have other precious yarns.

My knitting right now will be simple scarves of the same pattern with minor variations because I don't think I could handle any thing else right now. The stitch repeat in this pattern is fast. The fact that it is a scarf with 37 sts per row (31 sts on the red scarf) also helps make it relatively fast. Quick easy projects for me right now. I think I am needing the comfort of productivity and visible results to sooth me.

I am re-learning why so many knitters start on scarves and stay with them for years. There is a lot of options with scarves, really. There is a whole bunch of little changes you can make to increase ones skill or even just to play around with. Most people love scarves and they are easily adapted to many other tasks, besides warming necks. You can decorate an room with scarves and you can make them any size you want.

Scarves are like the dogs of the knitting world; loyal and unconditionally loving
us, even if we say mean things. The scarves wait for us while we go off to work on other things and are right their waiting for us when we want adventure or relaxation.

Scarves are typically not very demanding projects. They tend to be friendly, cuddly projects (unless it is a deviant pattern or it is paired with a deviant yarn) that welcome you to knit at your own pace and try different things as you go.

For example: This scarf pattern has happily allowed me to get more practice knitting backwards (which, for me, means moving stitches from left to right). When I did my variation to add a garter edging with the green scarf, I finally got to learn how to purl backwards, incorrectly and then correctly. I can now comfortably knit either way. With the red scarf, I practiced yarn overs from left to right and was rewarded with proof that I now get how other people wrap their yarn on the needles. Some day, I'll figure out what most people are talking about when they say clockwise/counter-clockwise, but not today.


When my brain begins to feel better I'll get back to work on my existing projects, the Project Queue of 2009 and perhaps even get that second sock cast on. Right now, it is better that I don't think of all of those things.
Better for me, the simple unconditional love of the scarf.

Moving forward, Stitch by Stitch

The Isobel Scarf is not a difficult lace pattern.
It is actually well behaved and even asks permission before leaving the table.

So why have I not finished it yet?

While the pattern is a model lace pattern, the yarn is the rebellious, pouty sister.

The silk yarn is moody and sometime does not want to make a stitch. If you attempt to make her, she throws a temper tantrum and you end up having to frog back the row to figure out where the missing stitch is, only to find out no stitch is missing but rather that the silk is hiding stitches.
Rather than politely ask to be excused from the table, like the lace pattern, the silk yarn slowly slides down her chair until she can escape under the table.
The lace pattern keeps her appearance neat, while the silk yarn pulls her own hair until there are knots.
The silk even tried to get the lace in trouble. There is two missing rows several repeats back. The lace has a increase/decrease row paired with a purl row. There are three pairs that make up a set, or half the repeat. The change being that one set is increase/decrease and the other set is decrease/increase. I have a spot where there is only two repeats in the set. Overall, hardly noticeable to the credit of the lace pattern.

Thus, I am about halfway. I am really guessing on the progress as there is no specific amount of rows. The only trick is to leave enough yarn for fringe.

A good start to the New Year

As was mentioned in my last post, I have 12 projects lined up for 2009 that are Strictly Stash.

The first one, carrying a 9 day deadline, was completed on day five.
Due to the fact that the project remains at work, and I only had my cell phone with me, the following picture is not particularly well shot. You will just have to clarify it with your imagination.

With no further ado, I present a 100% stash and 100% acrylic scarf designed to look like a letter "N":



Notice the use of Boa to make an impression of calligraphy.

This means I get a relatively early start on my next project.
I will be making the Isobel Scarf using Debbie Bliss Pure Silk (that I purchased in Minnesota).

Already it is prepped and ready for travel:



See? Everything I need is nicely in the bag.
Yarn, check.
Needles, check. (I grabbed the circulars, size US8)
Knit book with pattern written out, check.
Pen for tracking progress, check.

All in one little bag! Marvelous, simply marvelous.

It is going to work with me today so I can cast on and begin working on it.
Allow me to say, in rolling the two skeins for a center-pull ball, I actually found myself wishing for a ball winder.
Why?
Because this was the most difficult yarn to ball. Even more difficult than my shiny metallic Filatura Di Crosa Night, a beautiful yarn that tangles worse than anything.
The Silk qualified as more difficult due to:
A) Expectation.
It is silk! It should not constantly knot up. Seriously. I expected it to slide gently against itself and move easily. This was so not the case.
On the other hand, I expect the Night to tangle. A lot.
B) The Twist.
This is not a yarn that will just slide through your fingers. No, it has a strong twist, so as you go along parts of it start curling up as if you were spinning it yourself. This complicated matters a bit.
C) The Hour.
I did the winding after work.
Which means between the hours of 1am and 3am.
D) The Contradiction.
It is silk. Wonderful, soft and silky (good description, no?). It was a pleasure to touch, to caress and to run my fingers through.
And yet, like hair of the same feel, it had knots and tangles. Pleasure ruined in fits and starts. One moment of touching it and saying "YES! Oh so soft!" and then like the crack of ice, suddenly finding my fingers wrapped in strong blockades.
It was very frustrating.

That aside, the knitting hopefully will go much smoother and it will be a very luxurious scarf.

The year end review

Let's look at what I knit in '08:

A single sock (now up to 2 singles),
the Pompon Beret from Simply Baby,
a scarf for a friend (2x's),
a cane grip cover,
the Drops Alaska Headband,
the Nautie (2x's),
a ramen packet holder,
the Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth,
the Coffee Sling,
the Wine Bottle Gift Bag (2x's)
a knit cap,
a shawl for a friend's kid,
a shawl that got perma-frogged,
some ankle warmers,
a two row scarf (finished on the last day of the year),
and a willie warmer.

Still in progress:

the Ripple Afghan,
one more sock,
the curtains,
the laundry soap bag,
and a teddy bear.

Not only do I plan on finishing those projects, but I have queued up a project a month for next year with the intention of stash busting for those projects.

They include:

a letter "N" for work using random red yarns,
the Sugar Plum Shrug using ShibuiKnits Silk Cloud,
the last minute "purled" beret using Classic Elite Lush,
the Luna Moth Shawl using The Purled Llama Paloma,
the Gail (lace shawl) using The Purled Llama Paloma,
the Tweed Beret using Mission Falls 1824 Wool,
the Kiri (lace shawl) using Rowan Kidsilk Aura,
the Airy Scarf using Rowan Kidsilk Aura,
the Tiger Eyes Lace Scarf using Malabrigo Yarn Lace,
the Super Simple fast and easy chunky hand-knit beret using Lion Brand Wool-ease Chunky,
the Isobel (lace scarf) using Debbie Bliss Pure Silk,
the Reversible Cable Scarf using Lion Brand Wool-ease Solids and Heathers.

I did 16 projects in '08 and I plan on finishing at least 18 projects in '09.

If I stay on track, it will be a great knitting year!
Tonight, when I get home, I will be having a drink and I will cast on for the Letter "N" (it has a due date after all).

So my hope for you is that your new year is everything you truly want it to be.

Party as Promised

Well, I was going to post this after the party, but I was tired. The next day I had to work and since then I just have been trying to catch up with various things.

Thus follows my report of the Yarn For Breakfast's First Annual Christmas Party and Gift Exchange.


First, the spread. There was tasty food and more tasty food. The picture I took was premature as more dishes arrived a bit later. My favorite was the peanut butter and chocolate cookies, for which I managed to get the recipe.

I brought pastry wrapped cheddar smokies which were actually made by me with no spotter in the kitchen to guide me or prevent me from melting random kitchen items. I am no cook. Baking is a skill I fluent with, but with cooking my vocabulary is limited and often requires a translator. I was very proud of the results of my cooking as the food was tasty and no cutting boards were accidentally destroyed in the process.

Back on December 2nd I aired out my tale of woe as concerns the sock. I told you of how I had ripped it back and left you with a mental image of a tangled pile of yarn next to a partial sock. What I forgot to mention when regaling you with my pain was how limited my pick-up-stitches skills are. Picking up 2x2 ribbing with size US1 needles was beyond me.
I put out a cry for help as the only thing I could think of would be to rip back the entire leg to the stockinette section as I could not thread a lifeline in the ribbing nor find the purl stitches.
My plea was answered by Carly. I promised a gift for whoever got the stitches back on the needles. She told me no such gifts were needed, but I feel she earned it after spending quite a bit of the party tucked away with a bright light working with those size US1 needles quietly concentrating on getting the sock back to a workable state. I had picked up some traditional German Christmas cookies, Domino Stones. They are made with layers of soft gingerbread, creamy persipan and fruit jelly coated in a rich bittersweet chocolate. A barely worthy reward for someone who is willing to do what I myself could not make work.

Diligently she worked and lo, the sock was ready for rows. We needed to complete a row or two to make sure all stitches were accounted for. I told her she could, but as I knit backwards it would probably be best if I did the first row. She was fine with that, but curiosity got to her and she watched me knit the row and asked how she would be able to knit a row for me without making a gap or messing up the stitch orientation. I told her she would knit with the needles on the far side of the sock purling the stitches that were purl oriented to her and knitting the knit ones. Because she would be knitting from the inside it would actually be going the same direction and me knitting from the outside. She asked to try and I handed over the sock. It was an easy success and I got to show that left-handed knitting is easily swappable with right-handed knitting. It was very nice.


Then came the gift exchange. We drew numbers and picked up gifts, then came the opportunity to steal other gifts BEFORE unwrapping the gift. I think this was the best version of the gift stealing I have ever experienced. We had much thieving and still had the surprise of what was in the gift at the end. Several gifts were stolen three times around, the max stealing. This was caused partially because knitters with gifts of yarn can't help but talk about the yarn and so many of us knew that there was some very nice yarns even if we didn't know how much or what else was in the package.
My contribution was named "Most Creative" gift. My gift was two skeins of Cascade yarn and custom designed cookies to match the yarn (plus one cookie that matched a yarn which I have). The yarn was nice, but everyone was taking with the cookies. I had gone to the Cookies by Design store in our area and taken some yarn with me. I talked with the person there and requested cookies that matched and they did an absolutely wonderful job! They even did the labels and the variegation to perfection! They had given me a sample cookie and it was so very tasty. In the gift, I included their catalogs in case someone wanted to see about ordering some.


Myself, I got the perfect gift. See, I wanted the yarns I saw other people had landed. I really did. Yet, each time I caught myself with gift envy I reminded myself of my stash at home and my roommate's comments when I had come home with more yarn after shopping for the party.
No, I didn't need more yarn. Rather, I needed something to replace the knitting bag I used to have. My friend Carolina had crocheted for me a mini-backpack complete with straps. Large enough to hold a large skein and a project. She even put a little pocket on the front and a flap lid with a crocheted button enclosure. This whole thing she made from plastic bags. It was stain resistant, easily cleaned and a great example of recycling. It was perfect, until one of my cats decided to chew off the button and a strap and put a hole in it. When I packed up my knitting to take with me to the party, I had put my projects in this little paper bags I have collected from yarn shops. In a sense, I was brown-bagging it to the party.
I needed a replacement. So when I opened my gift, it was to find the thing I needed more than yarn, a knitting bag! Add to that a super bonus WIP bag! I have been wanting one since I first saw it but have either never found one or was not really sure I would use it. Currently, it is holding the ripped remains of the sock as I work to finish it a second time. The WIP back has prevented me from having to wind the yarn and I know that I could use any ball that will fit in there and yarn won't go bouncing around the room.
Immediately I began loading my projects into the bag and the sock into the WIP bag(which now travels with me to work and back. I take calls while working a sock and can keep the yarn below the desk with no worry about it causing problems.) My roommate does not care for the colors of the bag. When he told me this I told him I could have ended up with more yarn and he shut up quickly. He is learning to accept little wins.

Coming soon:
Knitting for male genitalia is not hard.

New to the Stash

Well, today I went and bought more yarn.

Why, you might ask?
Is it not enough that I have yarn stacked around me, in boxes, in dresser drawers and in bags in the closet?

Apparently not.

Thought to be fair, I had to go get yarn today because I needed to secure my gift for the gift swap at the Christmas party Yarn For Breakfast is having. Pictures of yarn for the swap may or may not be included in this post. Wouldn't want to give it away, now would I?


Unfortunately the store I went to was having a sale of half off on half of the store. This meant that I could buy a yarn that was normally $43 for only $21.50.
How was I to resist? I mean, we are talking 2480 yards of fingering weight (though everyone says it is lace weight) yarn for the lowest price one may ever find on such a product!


Admittedly, the sock yarn was not really needed, though the price was very nice. The silk I needed since I already have one skein. All in all, I think I did rather well at keeping my purchases to a minimum.
Edited to Add: Here's this for fate. The skein of Shibui Silk Cloud I got is the EXACT dye lot match to the one I already had! None of the skeins that I had to choose from when I was at the store were of matching dye lots and I figured I won't be able to guess which one matched the one at home. I did. I got it right. :-D

A few weeks prior, I had purchased some Allure. It was a required purchase for a specific project. The baby yarn was just to try it out and the glow in the dark yarn was really curiosity. I am not sure why I grabbed two skeins of it.

The problem with big projects.

As I mentioned, oh so recently, I am working on a blanket that is being made of very shaggy, soft yarn. I made comments styling myself as boldly knitting regardless of errors or confusions.
Sounds nice, doesn't it?

I have revised my plans.

I shall still knit the blanket with the shaggy, soft yarns. I will still make use of 12 skeins of said shaggy yarn, a full 924 yards of fabric. I shall still be using the Ripple Afghan pattern.

Yet, rather than boldly knitting it up, I shall be working on it only when I can get 4 rows in at a time. The reason for this is that the shaggy, soft yarn does not lend itself to visible stitch definition. Thus, if I put it down and walk away, I have no idea where I am when I come back to it.
The four rows make up 456 stitches. 114 purl stitches, 228 knit stitches and 108 increase/decrease stitches (with 6 stitches of border on that row).

Some mistakes will be invisible, but too many will make for problems. This is not project for frogging. Having to knit back to the same spot on this blanket could end up landed me with a hatred for shaggy and soft things. I can not imagine life would be so great without shaggy and soft things.

Thus my blanket will not be traveling much. It shall remain in one space to be worked in set intervals with no distractions allowed. That is the problem with big projects. They will be slow moving and, in some cases, require scheduling the knitting time.

I figure quarantining the blanket during it's gestation is only for the best.

A wonderful knitting weekend.

Two short days make up the weekend, and mine have been pleasantly busy yet allowing for time with my yarn.

Saturday started with coffee and Ravelry. It is relaxing and nice to wake up in this way.

After catching up with the groups online I turned on a Cast On (episode 60, which I have been meaning to listen to, but life sometimes declines to give me an hour of free time) and went to work on my Autumn Blanket (aka, the ripple afghan). I got some progress done, though most of it was in the logistics area (more on that in the next post).
By then my roommate showed signs of being alive. I took the sock and put it on waste yarn then gave him the option of sitting down for a fitting or me removing the foot. For whatever reason, he believes his foot works best attached to the rest of him. During the fitting I learned a few things (mostly that I could have waited a few more rows before starting the ribbing) but it was fitting. He feels it is a bit snug overall. I told him when it was done it would be dampened and blocked on his own foot. He agreed, which shows his lack of understanding for the situation.
I then put sock back on needles and knit a couple of rows, mostly to assure the sock that it still had growing to do.
My friend Bill came over, since the outside temps were not scheduled to be nice at all, so we could pile into his large and warm car for our day's events. He was wearing a scarf that was one of the first I had ever knit. It is not a pretty scarf, but I am happy to see him using it. So happy, I decided to reward him with his pick from my stash for a new scarf.
At first he was reluctant. He actually likes the awkward purplish-pink fringe-less garter stitch scarf.
I told him he could, of course, still keep it. I was merely offering to make a better one.
He said it worked just fine at keeping his neck warm and had been doing so for several years now.
While touched that an item made with my own hands would inspire such dedication (even though it was given to him for lack of a recipient rather than as an intended gift), I was also a bit frustrated at this dedication when he knows I can make even better things now. I told him he did not have to give up wearing the scarf, but I felt it was time for him to have one that suited him better.
Once he was assured again that the old scarf was his to keep and wear as he liked, he agreed to pick out new yarn.
I directed his options to variegated fibers and told him he had to pick two. Eventually two were found, though it was actually a bit challenging. You would think, for all the yarn I have that there would be more than two skeins that go good together! Either way, I was glad to have that sorted out.

Then our group was off to a wine and beer tasting event at Grape and Gourmet. We sampled 19 different wines and 9 or so different beers. They also had food treats to try out and we did. After that we went to dinner at Big E's Deli in Virginia Beach. They have an amazing hamburger, with a pile of freshly sliced ham on top. It is so good!
When we got back on the road, it was time to go to our bi-monthly poker game.
While we were there, I got in several rows on the sock and Kellie, who deals the cards but does not play the game, worked on crocheting a blanket in between hands.

Today, laundry day! (As per usual).

Rather than work on the Laundry Soap Bag, which is what I am supposed to be doing during laundry time, I decided to cast on and start working on Bill's New Scarf. I think it is going to look very nice.

In the time it took for the wash cycle to end, I realized I needed to rip back and start over. The bottom edge was curling way too much. I transferred the clothes to the dryer and started over. I think I got a pretty good bit of progress in, despite some girl barking at me about how she knits, or well, crochets really but she hasn't done it in years and all and having a guy come over to talk. I have to say, his English is rather good for someone only in the country for a year. I did seem a bit unhappy about the turn of the conversation when he asked if I liked to dance and I said I liked to dance with girls. Things at the laundry mat have gotten interesting.

Clothes were returned home and I sped off to find some lunch, then I came home ready to tackle some of the messes that can be considered the tracks of my roommate. Dishes were washed, the kitchen floor swept and mopped, the living room, hall and my room were vacuumed, a pot of water was set boiling to bring the humidity of the apartment back up to reasonable levels, laundry was put away and a bit of straightening up in my room completed.

This means that the rest of the night can be dedicated to knitting on my Autumn Blanket and also on the scarf. Completed rows will be celebrated with small bits of chocolate, my feet will be propped up while my roommate makes dinner and the rest of the evening will be spent in relaxation.

Accomplishment and joy are my feelings regarding this weekend. I do believe I have had a balance two days, allowing for social events, new experiences, tasks completed and knitting through out.
I don't ask for much, really, but I am very thankful when things work out just right.

Tying up the ends, the conclusion of my trip

On Wednesday, September 3rd, I finally got my chance to visit The Yarnery.
Remember in the last post I said it came highly recommended?
I can easily understand why.

Admittedly I did not get a chance to visit any of the other stores in the Twin Cities, but I figure there will just have to be another trip in the future. St. Paul was lovely and the people were wonderful.

My traveling companions were trying not to visibly drag their feet when we got to The Yarnery, but were failing miserably at hiding their reluctance. I found the solution before started looking for parking. Right across the street is a bar that Bill used to visit often when he lived in St. Paul. He even told us the story about how a drawing of him ended up on the walls.
I directed the boys to stay at the bar while I merrily jaunted across the street for fiber. They were thrilled!

I was as well.

Now, don't get me wrong. They are good boys and they try to be supportive of my yarn addiction, but having them in a yarn shop without the promise of receiving a custom made item is uncomfortable. They stand around and try to fake smiles. They know nothing of yarn and seem uninterested in learning much of anything on the subject. It was decided that, in the event of global economic collapse, I would be in charge of spinning and knitting all sorts of things for the home and for trade. Thus, they don't have to burden themselves with the information.

Now, I admit, I failed to take a single picture of the store. I am not sure how I would have remembered to, since the first thing to be seen walking into the store was a wall of lace weight yarn.

Seriously, they put a whole wall of it opposite the front door. Your eyes are forced to rest upon gorgeous skeins of skinny yarn in all colors and textures immediately.
I probably stood with the door and my mouth open, drooling slightly, for more than five minutes.

Then I was rescued by a most wonderful lady, who will hopefully forgive me for forgetting her name. I explained, while letting my eyes wander briefly from the lace to other yarns, that I was from out of state and how I came to hear about the store.
We chatted a bit and she provided me with a tour of the marvelous store, explaining how each section was arranged by yarn weight. She saved the best for last, that being the wall of yarn on sale.

Before long I had an arm load of yarn. I did try to be careful, truly. After all, my stash at home had already surpassed a hundred different yarns, some of which I do not even know what they are.

I picked two skeins from the lace weight wall, Malabrigo Lace in two colors and from the sale wall I got two skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk (at an absolute steal of a price) and two skeins of Rowan Lurex Shimmer (I could not resist the shiny purple yarn at such a great price).

I made my purchases and, floating on a fiber high, drifted back across the street to check on the boys who were left at the bar.

They were smiling and having a great time even though the pictures had been taken down from the walls and Bill was unable to show us the one of him.
We had reservations for dinner down the road and so had to head out fairly quickly. I took a moment to show off the yarn, even they can appreciate silk and shiny things, and mentioned how very little all that yarn and a large circular knitting needle cost.

Piller looked at Bill and said he was wrong.
Wrong about what, I asked.
He said that he had been telling Bill it was the best yarn shopping trip ever since he was able to spend it in a bar but, now that he knew how much I had spent, he no longer thought that.

I withheld from pointing out how many times he has spent more that I had on comic books, figuring it would only confuse the issue.
Silly boys.

----

There is one last thing to mention about my trip, and that would be what I was knitting while on vacation.
You didn't believe that I went a whole week without moving yarn across needles, did you?

Before we left I had started on the My Favorite Shawl pattern, which I had picked up at the local yarn shop Ewe Knit Kits & Yarn. It is a fairly easy pattern that involves knitting a shawl sideways.

The pattern calls for 500 yards of DK or Worsted weight yarn. I used The Purled Llama's Sol, a worsted weight yarn with rather bright colors of orange and green. The yarn puts me to mind of crayons and kid drawings, which is a bit more colorful than most of my yarn. I love color, but have rarely knit with anything very bright. This was my attempt to get past that.

The yarn is, accordingly, 550 yards.
Which should be more than enough for the shawl.

While we were in St. Paul, I would knit more rows on it every morning. By the time we were to pack for our drive back, I had reached the halfway point. This is decided by measuring the shawl from the middle of your back and then draped forward to verify the desired length has been reached.
I knew we had a longer drive back that we did up, because we were not going to take the toll roads. So I took my knitting with me into the car and knitted nearly non-stop, only pausing when there was no sunlight to see by. For some crazy reason, it took almost twice as long to get back as the trip up. I had two whole days to knit. I reached the end at dusk the second day.

That end was not the finish of the shawl, but rather the end of the yarn.

This yarn is not the kind that has dye lot numbers. Each hank is individually dyed and therefore unmatchable to any other skein. Add to that the purchase time was many months back, so there would certainly be no match, I could not finish the shawl through adding on yarn.
Nor was I going to take some random other yarn (which my stash is mostly darker or more muted colors) and finish it that way. Nope, wouldn't work.
The boys tried all these suggestions and more. I think they were worried about being trapped in a car with a disgruntled knitter who had a cache of pointy sticks at her feet. One suggestion was to cast off there and call it an artistic interpretation.
It was not a bad idea, but I wanted a warm shawl. A blanky that I could get away with carrying around in public. I was more than twenty rows from the end. It would have looked like it had been amputated.

With a deep breath I put the project aside.
No tears, no screaming. I even managed to minimize the twitching.
A master of calm, that is me.

When I got home, I frogged the whole thing back.
Marked the midway point, in case I decided to try again.
And rewound it into a ball.

It will now sit in a basket and think about what it wants to be. Until it has a clear answer, that yarn will not be touched. It is officially grounded until further notice.

I know, it was probably my error. I should have marked the middle of the skein before I started knitting it. I probably made it too big, or perhaps my needles should have been another size up from what I was using.
But if you just push such arguments aside, if only for a moment, then we come to the real point.
My vacation knitting project failed. Really, all of my stitches were perfect and well developed.

I have had many successes, that was the first project to not end well at all. I have removed the evidence of this, and now all that remains of it is this post which I will bravely place on the internet.

Eventually the yarn will be something and it will work out better. In the meantime, I shall focus on other things. It is such a minor thing really.
Thus I will not document the things I said to the yarn as I was ripping out all those stitches. Most of them weren't fit for human consumption anyway.

This ends my vacation posts.
Coming soon: "Quick knits for cold ankles"
Or "Projects that do as they are told"

More Yarn related goodness from my trip

On the morning of my second day in St. Paul, I did some quick searching online. I had traded messages with Franklin Habit before I left. He suggested I visit The Yarnery while I was in town. I made it clear to my traveling companions that there would be yarn shopping during our stay and they accepted this the same way an international traveler accepts having to go through customs.
My online searching turned up a limited time yarn shop that would easily be on our way to other destinations. Thus, when Monday rolled around and we were off to see the RNC hubbub, I casually exclaimed, "Oh, look! A random yarn shop!"
At least I think it was casual. I don't think my companions bought it for a second.

We were quickly greeted by very friendly staff and I even got a guided tour!

A guided tour was needed, as this event was a two week special hosting of five different yarn stores in one.
Five.
In one.

There was much yarn!

I went room to room fondling yarns and testing the patience of my friends. In order to prevent them from reaching full grumbling stage, I quickly turned the tables on them. Doing what any smart knitter would do in this situation.
I turned to Piller and said, "Which sock yarn do you want your socks made out of?"
"Huh?"
"You said you wanted hand knit socks, so pick a yarn."
"I don't know which yarn is sock yarn."
I encouraged him to follow and pointed to a floor to ceiling collection of appropriate fibers.
"Pick one."

This bought me more time and gave me an excuse to walk away with a new skein. He chose the ONline Supersocke 100 Sierra Color 77 in a neat purple-type color. Shown here divided and balled.

I withheld casting on for this sock until I was safely back in Norfolk with my expert knitting friends from Yarn for Breakfast to help guide me. I have made precisely one sock before. Not a pair, just one single sock.
It was very nice not counting that the rib pattern failed and half of it knitted inside out due to a confusion on turning the heel. The reason it is a single sock was because a) it wasn't proper sock yarn to begin with and b) there was not enough yarn to do a second sock.
This time I am doing a toe-up with my own cast-on, no particular pattern and I will be doing an afterthought heel, which will allow me to not mistakenly flip my knitting around half way through.

My gauge is currently showing as 10sts/inch. Piller has large male feet.

This may take a while.

There is more knitting goodness from my trip to come, but you will just have to tune in next time for it.