Startitis Excuse

Hello everyone,

Today I am dangerously close to starting a new project. Why?  I had intended to finish the first glove from my Endpaper Mitts project yesterday, however I do not have the darning needle I need for the tubular bind off (it got left at my old place. )
I also can't knit on the sleekit mitts for the same reason, and even if I wanted to give interim another go, the yarn for that it also not here with me. So I concluded that I should start a new project with the yarn I have with me. I have some turquoise Tosh Lace just begging to be knit up, so I pulled out the old ball winder and swift



This yarn is destined to become the Bramble Shawl, because you can never have too many pretty lace shawls IMHO.





Of course, halfway through winding the yarn a little voice in the back of my head starting speaking. you know it said. You do have a perfectly good project you could be finishing instead, right?



I tried to ignore it, but the reality is that I DO have one, in all of it's beaded glory, waiting patiently for attention.

I don't know how long I can resist the temptation of gloriously plain knitting in the face of all of these impossibly small beads....

Monday Meh

Hello Everyone, Today I have more to say on the subject of crochet. For starters, that is a really weird word to say, I'm always spelling it wrong, and don't get me started on how many times I have referred to my crochet as "my knitting" this past week. Guess I can't get mad when other people get them mixed up anymore!

I finished my Hat (blog post pending ) and, eager to start on a new crochet adventure, I started these mitts with some Lorna's Lace I had on hand.




First I cast on 60 stitches like the pattern said. Since I was using a smaller hook than called for I figured I'd be set. No such luck.




Then I cast on 40 stitches. This fit much more snugly (to the point where it was a bit tight to get over my thumb)  However somewhere along the line I started adding stitches




Now I have almost 50 stitches.  Ack! I know this problem is related to the problem I had with my hat - not joining the next round consistently. Instead of a nice tidy line of joins I had this weird zigzag thing going on. While the mitt's joins seemed to line up much nicer, I must still be doing something wrong here to create new stitches. I fear that not only will I have to rip out and start (almost ) from the beginning, but I will have to COUNT to 40 every row until I figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Also. The pattern didn't specify exactly how to work the thumb, so I guessed. Does this look right?

I realized when I said that I had a book of 'fancy crochet patterns' that I didn't really specify what I meant. Just so that we're on the same page, it's this book.

I love pretty much everything in this book, but especially love the Shimmer beaded lace cape and the Visage Lace Beret

Anything But Swift

Dear Blog, 

Disclaimer: Let it be known that under normal circumstances the ball winder and swift combination is a very simple, fast, and rather fun way to wind yarn. I have on numerous occasions operated this set up successfully. Some of the pictures shown in this post may cause distress to knitters. View with caution.

On black friday, I may have had a slight black out, after which I regained consciousness with a credit card in my hand an an inexplicable invoice in my inbox. I'd feel a little guilty this close to the holiday season, but its not my fault. A good friend, (you know who you are), told me about the sale at eatsleepknit, and I got 25% off my order. Also, I only ordered yarn that 1.) I'd been planning to buy any way or 2) is for knitting for other people. I might blog about the total haul later, but of importance today are the two skeins of Shibui Sock. They are intended to be socks for my boyfriend, so there is no guilt in this yarn purchase. He has alternately been asking for either socks or a sweater for awhile and he's already been told he won't be getting a sweater. (yet.) He has also passed another crucial landmark. I prefer to only oblige hand-knit request if the person has

1.) given a fair attempt at knitting

2.) does some other kind of craft.

3.) has witnessed me knitting for a considerable amount of time and is thus able to appreciate the effort involved. 

This helps me stay friends with co-workers who often thoughtlessly ask for knitted items without really being aware of the level of commitment they are requesting. (Try knitting something for someone who has completely forgotten ever asking for the item by the time its done. So fun. ) 

All this to say that I pulled out my ball winder and swift, intending to quickly wind up some yarn before bed. And this is what happened.

,

There isn't a whole lot of space in my tiny barracks room for the swift, and I was also having unusual trouble getting the yarn to wind off smoothly. One jerk too many too hard, and the whole thing came crashing to the floor.

The little peg that goes through the center of the swift snapped in half and is now unusable.

I don't think the yarn was tangled in the actual fall, but in my delirium I picked it up and, trying not to weep, horribly mangled it. It took the better part of four hours to wind into a ball.

I eventually had to put it down and go to bed. But I was so upset that I couldn't sleep well. I knew I couldn't go to work until it was fixed. I wound the ball into a very loose messy looking yarn-cake. (doesn't work right without the swift. But I was determined to try.)  Then Aaron held the swift steady so that I could wind the second ball. It was still a little stubborn and I'm wondering if maybe I'm unwinding the skeins and putting them on wrong? 

Just to be on the safe side I also wound the skein of Tanis Blue Lable Fingering, and it worked fine. (mostly.) So it's still inconclusive as to if it was me or the yarn at fault. At that point I was using a pencil to replace the peg, and the wobbling meant the swift kept traveling across the desk.

Anyway. I've licked my wounds and am recovering from the trauma. Very little knitting got done today.

The Hideously Ugly Sweater--Vest Incident

Dear Blog,

Sometimes, when I tell people that I knit, I get this strange reaction. They wrinkle up their nose and think for a minute and then they make one of two observations.

1. Knitting is itchy


Or


2. They received a hand-knit item once and it was an ugly color/striped monster.


This makes me kind of sad because for me knitting has always been first and foremost an art, and art is supposed to be pleasant and pretty. I've never really understood how those hand-knit sweater disasters happen, and can only assume that the knitter responsible was either eccentric or color blind.


The itchy part is slightly more reasonable. Knitting has widely been considered a frugal, cheaper method of getting stuff and it's one of the tragedies of the craft that comfort is generally the first thing to be sacrificed.


 All this is to say that I have recently found myself in the novel position of having created an ugly sweater of my own. I'm not saying that I take back my previous judgment of other ugly-sweater knitters. But I do feel like I can sympathize with them a little.


I recently cracked open a box of my stashed yarn and discovered I had several skeins of chunky acrylic. I'm on a tight budget right now and haven't been buying any new yarn so it was really important to me to try to find some pattern to knit with it. The obvious first choice was a hat, which I tried. But something about it just looked really ugly (something about the epic level of shininess that is the main attribute of this yarn. )

I've had this sweater vest in my queue for a bit and have really wanted to knit it. It's just hard to tell if something like that will fit well or to know ahead of time which places in the pattern to modify. So I knit it.
 I didn't have enough yarn to knit it in one color. So it's striped. The design and construction of the vest makes the stripes a bit unfortunate. The colors also clash deliciously. See for yourself.


Pattern: Shawl Collar Vest

Needles:
 I forget. US 11 or 13? 

Yarn: Loops & Threads Cozy Wool (3) balls purple and (.5) ball orange.


Overlooking the obvious, its a very nice vest and I would really like to knit it again in a solid color wool. I'd probably make some modifications. Only knit 8 inches or so before picking up the stitches and in short just making things a tiny bit shorter. (maybe knitting at a tighter gauge.)
In the meantime, while I'll probably refrain from wearing it in public, I'm enjoying my hideous vest.



Cheers.

FO: NRS Sweater

Today's FO is the NRS - No Remorse Sweater.  It started out life hoping to be the Sideways Redux, but I realized that pattern was hopelessly too complicated for me and switched at the last minute. This pattern was pretty easy (Except for the whole button thing. More on that later ) and I would love to knit it again. Knit this with knit picks wool of the andes, which in hindsight is not really soft enough for a close-to-the-skien sweater. (Though fine for hats and the like.)



Yarn : Knit picks wool of the andes (about ) 4 balls
Needles : US5
Pattern : Safire
Cast on : Jan 2012
Cast Off : Nov 2012





Other than the slight itchyness, my only real complaint is that I managed to knit the top two button holes on one side of the sweater and the bottom two on the other side. No idea how that happened but it's making for some seriously awkward fastening. I may or may not ever put in the effort to figuring out a fix for this, since its really too itchy to wear anyway. The positive side of all this is that I can knit sweaters that fit me perfectly and that are good enough quality that I would wear them in public, so my sweater phobia is mostly gone now




obligatory boob shot?


Cheers
THEO

Stripes and the ways I loath them Part II

Hey blog.

I have a small, FO, that I'll be showing you later this week, but I thought I'd give you an update on my striped scarf first.



Still knitting it. Finished the 1st skien and now on a second. 1/3 of the way done. Woohoo!

I still hate this scarf.

Oh, I'm knitting a second scarf, for myself. I love it. I was showing it to a friend and gushing about how charming I thought it was, and he said to me. "I thought you hated striped scarves?"

Oh. 

Stripes and the ways I loath them

Dear Blog,

This is the scarf I started. A month ago. Notice how it's barely a third of the way done. Normally in this kind of situation, I'd complain about how busy I am, how I just can't seem to find enough time to knit, or I'm so exhausted that I fall asleep at the needles. But no. This time, I'm the only one to blame. This time, because I should have seen this coming.

You see blog. I had this idea. I graduate soon and I want to knit something nice for some of my teachers. I saw this sock yarn and thought that it would be perfect, and I could get started right away without having to go to a speciality store that sells lace-weight. I noticed that it was variegated self-striping yarn, and I briefly remembered that I absolutely hate stripy scarves. But I reminded myself that striped scarves are a classic accessory and most people like them.

Then, you know what I did? I looked for a pattern. I really really felt like knitting lace, and so even thought I don't like variegated lace, I continued. "It's not for me, and lots of people like variegated lace"

The pattern I picked had a combination of lace and cables. I love lace and cables combos. I think they are neat.

I think vertical cables with horizontal stripes are kind of retarded, and that only a blind confused drunk knitter in a dark movie theatre would ever think that those two things should mix, (Not that I'm judging you, if that happens to be your thing.)

But I thought, no biggie, I'm not knitting it for myself, right?

I think we all know the moral of this story. If a knitter isn't thrilled with it, she isn't going to be thrilled to knit it. Part of me feels like I should keep going, since I've already come this far, and lets face it, what else would I do with this yarn?

And part of me feels guilty that I'd be willing to knit something for someone else that I have such clear personal objections to.

So blog, I leave it to you. Forward or Frog?

Fists of Gauge

Hello blog,

Once again my nemesis, gauge, has foiled my knitting plans. And I'm still sitting here scratching my head as to how. In july I knit the pattern treads, Bernat satin, US 2 5 1/2 sitches to 1" gauge. The gloves fit....like you'd expect, all snug like except the tread pattern was maybe a smidge t0o long in the hand section.....but they were the right size everywhere else. My brother wanted a pair and so now.... I'm knitting the same pattern, same yarn, same plastic double pointed needles..... and you guessed it.

Noticeably bigger. Roomier. But this is where gauge has really blown my mind....when I measure it, I get the same gauge as my other pair. 5 1/2 stitches to 1". Now, I know that I'm not a math person. I'm so far from being a math person that even reading a ruler is sometimes out of my range of ability....... But seriously? No matter how many times I double-check, I still get the same gauge on both gloves, the gloves are still significantly different sizes, and I'm *still* scratching my head. I've checked over the pattern, I've cast on the right number of stitches, I'm doing everything correctly...... I just don't understand how this is possible.

In circumstances like these, the only option is to go to another knitter for advice. My knitting informant also checked my gauge, and she says that there is actually a 1/2

stitch difference between the two gauges....... which seems like a really inconsequential difference until you try the two gloves on.

Nemesis, you may have won this time, but I promise you; My day will come.

R.I.P

Riiiiiiiiiiiiip.

Shh. Did you hear that? That sound? Listen...

Riiiiiiiiiiiiip.

It's the scariest most terrifying sound....The stuff of nightmare's and knitter's ghost stories. A project moaning in it's last throes of death, as it sinks despairingly into the frog pound, unraveling at last, returning to it's base element. The dreaded R.I.P - I'm not talking about simply ripping back a little bit to fix a mistake, I'm talking about all out total unmerciful shredding. We're sending this thing to the stash and back.

At this point you may ask, what project has fallen prey to such an evil fate? Good question! Remember Hey Teach?

I knit it, I sewed it up. Yes I got gauge, but it simply didn't fit. Not going to lie, it was too big and nothing was going to change that. Rather than try to salvage the project, I've decided to completely frog it and knit something else instead. This isn't anything against the Hey Teach pattern, I liked it and may knit it again someday. but for now, I've been there, done that, and now I just want to move on.

The frogging process was hard. Harder than I thought, and I'm not talking emotionally here, I'm talking technically. I did way too good a job seaming - and for now on I'm TOTALLY going to go easier on the weaving-in, because I ended up having to just cut the yarn in places in order to get it to unravel. Yikes! Oh well. I've already cast on a new project with this yarn, fingers crossed it'll have more luck!

Gauge makes no sense

Ever notice how the math involved in gauge makes no sense?

Like, I knit Treads using worsted weight yarn. The pattern says size 5 needles for a gauge of 6 sts to an inch. The Bernat silky was a loose yarn, so somehow dropping 3 needle sizes worked out perfectly. Now here I am with some lion brand worsted trying to knit the same pattern again. At us2 I'm getting a measly 4 1/2 sts an inch, dropping down to 00's gives me only a 1/2 sts increase to 5 sts an inch. What? The majority of the people who knit this pattern did so using size 5 (or bigger!) ??? Is my personal knitting really THAT lose in comparison to other people? Is it really such a shock that Hey-Teach turned out too big for me despite frantic swatching? Am I just really dumb and doing something retarded with my ruler? Only time can tell. (Or, possibly, any knitting goddess that may or may not exist.)

Meh. /rant

In other news, incase anyone was wondering. Apparently, I am still a 12-year-old girl. Was at the mall the other day getting sibblings' hair cut and wondered into Claire's..... and had the teenage girl version of a 'kid in a candy shop' glee attack. I think I was hyperventilating at one point. I spent a lot of time freaking out over all of the zipper themed jewelry.... I scored this ring :

But there were dozens of variations on necklaces and earrings too. This was my first time seeing the zipper motif in jewelry, and I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. Of course, appropriate time was spent ogling the skull-and-cross-bones jewelry and the skeleton key necklaces, but those are all old hat compared to the zipper.

Oh, speaking of hats.

Ok. I think I'll stop now. Suffice it to say that, what started out as a chore (Mall, kids hair cut, remember? ) turned into an early Christmas for me. lolz.

Stitch Counts.

Hello Blog,

I appoligize in advance for the rather longish length of this post. I have to rant to you about how much I really, truly dislike my swallowtail right now. But first, something a bit happier.

Progress on the Cursed Scarf:

Not even halfway done with the scarf. Hurray!

And, look what I can do now...

New skill achieved!

I have been given crochet lessons by several different friends in the past, and attempted to teach myself, but it's been slow going for me. Last night I had yet another lesson and met some well-earned success ^_^ Now I just need to learn the names of the stitches I've just made, and how to read those confusing crochet patterns, and I'll be good to go!

And now, swallowtail.

Let me explain what happened. I was supposed to do 14 repeats of chart 2 and end up with 195 stitches, but instead I ended up with 208. Not noticing I started chart three and found that I had 6 stitches left over at the end of the row. I ripped back to the end of chart 2, thought about the merits of ripping an additional 6 rows or enlarging the shawl, and decided to keep going until I reached 255 stitches before starting chart 3.

Right now, I only have 218 stitches. HOWEVER. I feel like I have a problem. Deep deep in my bones I know there's a problem. I have an even number of stitches and yet I'm not coming up with too many or two few stitches at the end of each row, despite the fact that the pattern - and every note that I've read on ravelry - tells me that I need an odd number of stitches. I can't find a flaw in my knitting anywhere, but the numbers don't add up, I don't want to keep knitting only to have to rip back again, but what else can I do? I'm struggling to find an answer - one that I'm sure will be very simple and obvious - but until I do figure it out. I hate my knitting.

Until next time

Theo

Exorcism of a Cursed Scarf

I'd like to start today's post with a FO from last summer; my Dark Mark Scarf which I knit in a month to wear to the midnight showing of Harry Potter Movie the 6th. I love that scarf, I wore that scarf all winter and I have fond memories of knitting it. It was such an easy, pleasant, mistake-free project that this January I decided it was time to knit another one, this time for my brother.

I've been promising my brother, among other family members, their own dark mark scarves, so I went out and bought the yarn during winter break and cast on, only to discover that I had completely forgotten how to use the double knitting technique. What I failed to realize then was that the whole project had been seriously cursed, and what followed was not really my fault at all.

After frogging several times I hid the yarn in utter embarrassment. When school started up again I made several more attempts to start this project, I obsessively watched the double knitting tutorial at knittinghelp.com trying to spot what I was doing wrong, but without results. The scarf was cursed. Deeply, deeply, cursed.

I took some pictures to prove it.

Here after successfully casting on and starting the pattern (not as easy as it should have been ) I managed to switch the main color halfway through the row.

And here, you can see that what was supposed to be the start of the nose has become more of a staircase.

Today I finally wrangled the beast into submission, and have managed to get a whole 47 rows in without any major disasters, so whatever hex was on the scarf must finally have been lifted. Whew! To avoid ever experiencing this amount of pain again, here, for future reference, are the things that went wrong:

Gauge: Apparently, too tight a gauge is not good for double knitting, I went up from a US 6 to US 8

Stitch count : The original pattern says to cast on 31 stitches, since you're basically knitting two scarfs at the same time with double knitting, that number needs to change to 62. In addition, you'll be slipping the first stitch and purling the last stitch with both colors, so you need to add extra stitches. Final CO number should be 64.

Slipping the first stitch: It clearly says this in the instructions, but you need to slip the first stitch and then start the pattern beginning with a knit stitch. If you count the slipped stitch as your first knit stitch you will encounter serious problems. (Duh.)

Basic knitting/purling : When you knit, hold both colors in the back. When you purl, hold both colors in the front. Sounds simple in principle, doesn't it?

Now that that's been dealt with, I feel much more at piece with my Knitting.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Knitting the Gusset

I see knitting the gusset of a sock as crossing a wooden bridge. You know the type I mean. A rickety rope bridge spanning a deep ravine, wood planks horribly rotted. I stand at the edge, hesitating, gingerly putting one foot on the first plank, slowly putting my whole weight on it; Clutching at my needles with sweaty hands, reading and re-reading the pattern instructions. To me, knitting the gusset is a form of black magic; A dark evil that stitches together the satanic void that separates the heal from the instep. I fear crossing the bridge because rationality tells me that it is dangerous, it would mean stepping into that deep void and falling. But more than feeling afraid of failure or death, I fear that alluring bewitching quality of the gusset. By knitting it, am I baring my soul to this black art of sock knitting? Will I become possessed by the gusset? Turn into one of those knitters who only knits socks, who knits a pair a week? That thought terrifies me. What motivates my horror of the gusset is not it's complicated execution, or it's brilliant design, not a irrational fear that I might somehow be less of a knitter if I don't master and embrace it, but a simple truth. I have never heard any stories of gusset knitting gone wrong, nor read any warnings about the dangers of the gusset. In fact, many visible knitters tackle the gusset regularly and enthusiastically without any apparent discomfort. And isn't that proof enough? Surely something so hard and daunting would leave at least a few hapless victims along the way, the mere fact that those victims remain anonymous speaks to something dire. Only some kind of sock- conspiracy could cover something this huge up. All I'm saying is, once you start knitting the gusset you are in real danger of becoming a slave to the hand-knit sock, and those knitters who refuse to bow down? The mere fact that you never hear about them strongly suggests a horrible and violent end.

Too tired to knit?

Hello blog,

I had planned to be able to post triumphant pictures of a finished Jaywalker sock, joyous accounts of how I had cast on to the second of the pair, and elegant rants about my other love The dark mark scarf. I fully intended to have started and gotten at least 15 rows into the scarf by now. However, things have not gone according to plan. The Jaywalker stills needs to be kitchener stiched closed. Despite a firm rational understanding of how to do it, and knowing full well that it's not really that hard or that scary of a thing at all, I still deeply deeply dread kitchener stitch. I thought that I would start the dark mark scarf instead. I love that pattern and it would take the edge off of toe-finishing. However I seem to have completely forgotten how to do double knitting since my last go at the pattern. One side still has the purls poking through and the other side just looks like an incomprehensible mess; you can distinguish neither purl nor knit stitches, but only a snarly swirl of yarn on the back side. I've read and re-read the instructions multiple times, printed them, and come within a hairs breadth of highlighting them (maybe I should.) And yet I still can not find that crucial step that I am so obviously missing. Nothing is more frustrating than failing so miserably at a task that, in the past, you did easily in your sleep. I have no intention of giving up on this pattern, and I'm sure I'll feel remarkably dumb when I finally do realize what I've been doing wrong, but until then I've cast on yet another pattern. It's the Stacked Eyelet Cowl by Ami Madison. I'm knitting it using knit picks comfy sport in the most satisfyingly winter shade of green. The color is most excellent and the yarn itself is soft, and ever so smooth. I haven't really decide where I stand on cotton, weather I hate is passionately or delight in it, but I'm certainly loving this yarn to bits. Oh, and by casting on this I ended up on Ami's blog, and ended up reading the entire archive. Well written entertaining knitting and fiber blogs are getting kinda hard to find, but I enjoyed reading hers ^^;; OF course all of this to say that I may possibly be too tired, or too bored to knit. I've been listless all day. I don't feel like reading, or studying. Listening to music or audio books gives me head-aches, and there is nothing interesting to watch on hulu. So I've spent most of the day knitting in complete silence trying not to doze off. Sigh.
With any luck I'll have pictures and more satisfying tales of progress for you in my next post. So until then,

Cheers.
Theo

FO profiler : Nine-to-Five Socks

Hello Blog. Today I bring you the first in a trio of FO's. This one has been on the needles since March of 2009, the long belated socks knit for Sixer. Here they are now, modeled on her feet:





Pattern : Nine-to-Five Socks
Yarn: Berroco Comfort Sock (1 skien)
Colorway: 1757 (red)
Needles: US1/2.25 mm
Cast On date : March '09
Finished pair :January '10

This project took a long time to knit, and had it's fair share of trials. The first sock was pretty painful, I was new to sock knitting and those tiny tiny needles were difficult to maneuver around. I also mistakenly made the sock to fit my feet and had to un-knit a good inch and a half of the foot in order to make it more sixer-friendly.
The second sock started off OK. I memorized the pattern repeat which made it go much faster initially, but then school caught up with me and I inevitably shunned the sock in favor of easier, more fulfilling knits. I did continue to inch forward on it but I secretly didn't want to knit too far because I was fearful of starting the heel and doing the gusset; My two least favorite aspects of sock knitting. (Well, you know, after the DPN thing.) Finally with Christmas break I've been able to dedicate (most) of my attention to the sock, and sharing a room with sixer for a month does wonders for the motivation. Now it's done and I've even almost come to terms with the fact that DPN's are not the sum of all evil and it wont kill me to knit whole projects on them once and awhile. So long nine-to-five, I can't say that I'll miss you, but at least we can admire eachother from a distance. Maybe we can be penpals, even.




That's all for now. More soon.
Spoiler alert: The next FO is a brainmonster hat.

Bad days and religious conversion.

Hello blogverse.

I had a bad day today. In fact, I've been having bad days all week. I don't mean to complain, but I've definitely been off my game.
It all started when I finished blocking Hey, Teach and started attaching the first sleeve. That's when I discovered that I can't sew, that I'm not merely 'a little bad at finishing' but am actually at a disaster level of incompetence, and that no amount of video tutorials or desperate cries for help on the Ravelry forums is going to save me.I am going to have to find a real live breathing person to help me figure this out, which means I will probably have to drag myself to an actual yarn store, which I am loath to do. (I'm kind of a hermit, it's just my nature. )
The Hey, Teach fiasco was just the start of my downward spiral though, I went off my gluten free diet with all the subtly of a starving person and made myself sick within 3 days, my classes are boring, and I don't have enough (stimulating) homework. The fact that I have just written that last sentence in all seriousness is a little scary, don't you think?

But it hasn't been all doom and gloom. I've got some DK weight yarn and a faire isle hat pattern all picked out, all I need is the right needles and I'll be good to go. I started knitting a completely different hat to keep myself happy, and I knit it entirely in the continental style. I think I'm hooked ^__^ I'll be totally prepared to do two-fisted color work when the time comes. The hat in question is the Brainmonster hat, knit in some leftover Vanna's choice, and a few other scraps here and there. My room-mates all think it's awesome, and I have to agree with them.



pardon the horrible bathroom photo 0.o my camera is officially dead, and I am now using my trusty laptop's webcam for picture-taking.....