Snowball's Chance Summer armwarmers

Hello Blogverse, Theo here.




My knitpicks order came in today. Two projects worth of yarn, for Hey Teach! (Guess which color I picked.) and for the Armwarmer Project.





I've already started swatching for the arm warmers, but there's a lot of anxiety. Me and math don't really mix well and in order to do this project you have to measure your arm and put in all these numbers. What if I finish it and it ends up not fitting??? Uggh. Angst.

Anyway, I'd love to start swatching for Hey Teach!, but I've got to wait for my knitting buddy to get her yarn together so. Meh. Also, went to Michaels looking for yarn for my HP scarf but the only color they had in the red heart sport weight were pink and green. Pretty but Meh.

'cheers
Theo

soul of disaster

Hi Blog. Theo here. I'd like to report to you a tragedy. Brace yourselves.






So, I 'turned the heel' today, I was really excited because it's a big step and all, I read and re-read the instructions (unfortunately they are a bit vague, the pattern has already been unfortunate in other places as well) . I even watched two different videos on how to do it first.
so I get to the part where it says "knit the instep in pattern, p1 k4" and (after desperately googling to find out witch part of the sock the instep is. Seriously, is that common knowledge among normal people? ) I notice that in order for the pattern to show up on the outside of the sock correctly, I now have to k1 p4 - directly inverse of what the pattern states. Now, I know what your thinking, little red flags should have gone up at this moment, that yellow triangle hazard sign should have flashed passed, but no, no, I had to wait until I had crossed the instep and picked up the other side of the gusset to notice.






Do you see how in the top photo, there's a little row of bumps? A rather attractive row that rises above the knit stitches? That is showing up on the inside of my sock. It should be on the outside. How did this happen? I'm sure I followed the pattern correctly, but at some point I must have turned the sock one too many or two few times, and now I get to experience the joy of tinking back all of those little stitches and starting from scratch. This is a mistake too huge even for 'good enough' person like me to ignore. However (and rightly so, I think. ) I am way too mad to start this task now, so I'll fume for the rest of the night, read my Kanji book, and day dream about picking up a more intrinsically easy and relaxing hobby.

Until next time
Theo

Hard choices

Hello Blogverse, Theo here. 

Today I'm having a bit of trouble. I recently got some giftcards as an Easter present, and I fully intended on using them to buy yarn for Hey, Teach! the cardigan I've been planing to knit this summer. The trouble is that I had wanted to order knitpicks comfy in the lilac color, and it's sold out! I don't want to wait until July to order, I'd like to have this project to be knitting during midterms, (because there's so much stockinette stitch, it'll be very relaxing. Just what I'll need! )  The problem is I don't really care for the other color options. I want a bright, cheerful color but the colors are either too bright like October, or Marlin, or else they are too pastel for me, like the honey dew. I also don't want to get a dark color because.... spring should be lighter, right? I let Sixer talk me out of ordering the chocolate brown color , so for awhile I was considering blackberry..... but after all I think that's too dark too. So now I'm thinking about the silver sage....  I don't know what I'll do. Choices, choices! 

I'm also going to order some Shine sport weight to try to do the snowball's chance in hell arm-warmers.  I hope that the cotton knits up OK for gloves. I'd have preferred wool, but the exact color I want is in the shine sport, so that's what I'm getting.

Anyways, I've been wanting to try this pattern for ages but I couldn't wrap my head around the duplicate stitch. For some reason I just couldn't get it, no matter how many diagrams, tutorials, and even videos I watched explaining how to.  However the other night I ran across a blog post by purlbee that changed everything. It's the most amazing tutorial for duplicate stitch ever and I feel really empowered now. Thanks for that! 

'Cheers

Theo

One sock, and Post Harry Potter Recovery Knitting

Hello, Blogverse. Theo here.


Yeah, I know. It's my third post in one day. But, Shh! don't tell anyone.
I have two things I want to share with you. The first is my Sock-in-progress, and the second one is a little knitting project I'm working on in honor of the upcoming Harry Potter book 6 mutilation flick. (Yeah. Wow. maybe I should tone down that negativity...) 

First up : The sock. 

It's my 'first sock', and by that I mean, after doing a small-scale practice sock, knitting a mary-jane slipper, and completing a pair of socks in DK weight on size 7 needles; I am NOW knitting a sock with actual sock weight yarn. For the first time.

As you may have deduced by now I am  recovering from tragic sockphobia. 

I'd like you, dear 'verse, to witness my emergence as a bona-fide sock knitter, when the time comes. And that time is quickly approaching. 

Pattern : five to nine socks

Yarn : berroco comfort sock

Needles : US 1

so far so good. Almost ready to 'turn the heel' my palms get sweaty at the thought...

Second : Post-Harry Potter Recovery Knitting.

Yes, I am in Post-Harry Potter Recovery. What does that mean? It doesn't mean that I read Harry Potter once and am now trying to recover from it, or that I was once a rabid fan and am now trying to pretend I don't know who Ron Weasly is. What it is is recovery from the lack of Harry Potter.  With the exception of the 7th book, I have read all other copies at least twice, many of them three or four times, and my favorite, (book three ) seven or eight times. Now that there are no more Harry Potter books to look forward to I am at a deep loss. Do other books even exist? Are they worth reading? How many times can I re-read the series in one year and still be considered sane?  I am slowly, but surely, recovering from the absence of Harry Potter from my life. Slowly, but surely, erasing habits like, the constant urge to say "What house are you in? I'm a Ravenclaw!" at parties, or the desire to quote "nit witt, blubber, odment, tweak!"  while nodding sagely.  

Now, there is one obstacle to my path of recovery and that is the Harry Potter Movies. There are still two more left and despite my (rather strong and negative) feelings about this form of HP media, I have loyally been at every midnight showing, and plan to see the movie version through to the bitter end. 

Of course, you can't go to a midnight showing without some sort of fan wardrobe, I am planning on knitting myself a purple-and-black Dark-Mark scarf. I've knit this scarf twice already and while lovely, I would prefer a more in-your-face obvious design, therefor I have been experimenting with transforming the illusion-knit chart into one suitable for double knitting. 

All I need now is the yarn.

Cheers

Theo

Le slouch

Hello, Blogverse. Theo here.






This is a project I finished awhile ago and have been meaning to take pictures of.  (I apologize in advance for the poor quality. Taking pictures of your own head is an art form I have yet to perfect )
The pattern is Le Slouch; an amazing pattern that I adore. I did some modifications; seed stitch brim, and stockinette for the rest. The most important part though, is the yarn.  Hand spun by yours truely merino/tencel.  





Now, I tried my very very best to take in account for the gauge of the yarn and change up the numbers for the pattern accordingly, however, seeing as my hand spun was uneven and not a uniform weight... all of my best efforts were wasted and the brim is just a tad too wide. I'll need to use hair clips or bobby pins to keep it on. But still, I love it. 




'Cheers
Theo

New blog

Hello Blogverse. I am Theo. That's not my real name, that's my nick name. Theo. Nice to meet you.
I am a knitter. I already have a blog, but it's my personal blog. Knitting can be pretty personal, so I generally post about knitting on that blog. Plus, until recently I didn't really knit enough to need a separate blog for it. I still don't knit extremely allot, because I'm a college knitter, and even though knitting is good for procrastinating and reducing stress, it's bad for studying and grades in general. However, summer is coming up (MS&W. Zomg. ), and that means not only will I soon have oodles of time for knitting, it also means final exams. Final exams always make me knit. ALOT.

So, from here on out I'll be documenting my knitting triumphs and trials on this space. Thanks for stopping by and witnessing my madness.

'cheers
Theo.

PS. I'm on Ravelry too.