knit now, study later

Still alive and knitting!

2007-05-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

For a while I didn't knit. But recently the lace bug bit me and I started the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark in one of the Interweave Knits magazines.

Progress:

Yes, its orange. It's sock yarn. Not even the 100% wool kind, its got 25% nylon in it. I was desperate and didn't have any lace weight on hand.

Alive and knitting

2006-08-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in forever. Its not that I haven't been knitting much, its just that I haven't blogged much.

So of course, here are some pictures! Working on Baudelaire on the left there and Unknown Sock Pattern on the right. I haven't decided to make it boring old k3p1 rib or do the Twisted Sock Pattern from Knitpicks.

Pattern: Baudelaire from Knitty
Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss in Burgundy
Needles: size 2
Comments: Why oh why did I decide that I needed to make the large size. The sock is kinda loose. I think I may finish these and give them to one of my bigger foot friends.

Oh bother :(

2006-05-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

I wish I could go to this!

Calendar Highlight
This weekend in Washington, D.C., the Textile Museum is having its annual Celebration of Textiles festival. Learn about weaving, knitting, rug restoration, dyeing, and more with hands-on activities and demonstrations. Admission is free both days.

From Knitter Review's latest newsletter

I successfully dyed!

2006-05-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

I dyed these today and they are for sale at my etsy website

Succes! Success!

FO: Jaywalkers! and more!

2006-05-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

I finally finished them! aren't they beautiful?
Some stats and a picture!
Yarn: KnitPicks dye your own sock yarn (100% merino wool)
Dyed with varying strengths of Grape Kool Aid. Striping method found here
Yardage: 440 yards with a few left over.
Comments: Due to the diagonal stitches inherent in this pattern this sock is really inelastic. Its difficult for me to get on and off but is SO comfortable once its on. I didn't like the slip2together-knit-pass2stichesover, but it worth it in the end and gets easier as the sock goes on. Definitely would make again.

And now, some Lava Flow Socks from Sockbug. First time I tried the short row heel. I'm not really diggin' it, but there's a first for everything!

UPS dropped off a beautiful package for me today! My very own ball winder! yay! Time to make yarn cakes like a mad woman! I have to say though, this skein of yarn... the color is... less than desirable. It was my first experience with wiltons and I screwed up majorly by mixing tons of wrong colors.

Yarn! rawr

2006-03-29T20:53:00.000-08:00

You see this? I know you want this!

What you see here is...
2 skeins of Daffodil
2 skeins of Hydrangea
FOUR skeins of Star Gazer Lily (This colorway caught my eye... and then well, I looked around some more and that's why I have this huge sock stash now!)
2 skeins of Zinnia (didn't turn out quite as nice as I would have liked)
2 skeins of Gladious (was iffy when I bought it, but now that I have it in my hands, I. LOVE. IT.)
2 skeins of Fawn (to make Embossed Leaves Lace Socks Mk II)

I'm SOOO happy excited! :D I'm gonna finish my Jaywalkers quickly now so I can knit my next SEVEN pairs of socks! Here's where I am on those... almost done with sock one!

I see socks in my future

2006-03-22T02:33:00.000-08:00

My DBF just got me $40 worth of Knit Picks yarn. I'm in sock-land lately so it's ALL sock yarn! All of them are colors that are on clearance. I can't wait to see them and knit with them! They'll last me through the summer.

I have an FO to share!

Pattern: Broadripple from Knitty.com
Yarn: Paton's Kroy sock yarn that was green and then Kool-aid dyed in a different shade of green.
Needles: 5 double pointed size 2s
Notes: I really like this pattern. Its easy to work and very easy to memorize. The zigzag is really fun. One bad thing is that this sock has no stretch even though the yarn is 75%wool 25%nylon. I'm not sure if its the yarn or the pattern. This pair is a gift to my DBF's mom for her birthday! I hope she likes them!

Here's another picture of the stitches at the cuff. I really like it.

Not ten minutes after I finished the Broadripple socks, I cast on for Jaywalkers! From the first moment I saw this pattern I fell in love with it. I can definitely see me making tons of socks with just this pattern. This is what I've got so far!

The yarn, in case youre curious, is my own dye-creation. The super long hank (450+ inches around) was a pain to manage, but I really like the result!

Leaves socks, DONE!

2006-02-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

Here they are! enjoy! I'll have to get a better picture later. I'm not the greatest foot model in the world unfortunately.

Harlot's book

2006-02-17T21:33:00.000-08:00

Reading Harlot's book makes my knitting soul want to just sing and sing. There such a connection between me and the words. It makes me want to knit more. Buy more yarn, knit more socks, give more gifts, spread the love of wool around!

I'm working on the second sock right now, down to the foot now. Its the homestretch now. I stay at DBF's house last night and will tonight. It's my knitting escape hideyhole.

Embossed Leaves sock - just one!

2006-02-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

Hey all! I haven't updated in a while. Busy with school and day dreaming of suddenly coming into a lot of cash so I can drop everything and devote my days and nights to spinning, dyeing and knitting.

Anyway, I did a crashknit for a friend's bridal shower. I didnt even think about buying a present for her. I made two dishclothes using the Wheatfield pattern found on dishcloth boutique. They turned out really well. When she opened my present all the ladies at the party were like "ooo...ahh...amazing!" Even the grandmother asked me to knit her some. I think I will. It didn't take that long, about 4 hours.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it so you guys will have to use your imaginations.

Right now I'm working on Embossed Leaves Socks from IK Knits Winter. Its turning out sooo beautifully. I finished one sock and working on the second. When I'm done, I'll definitely post pictures of me prancing around in them :D

I put a few more listings on Etsy this weekend. Go check it out! :D

Learning to knit again - sigh

2006-01-29T06:38:00.000-08:00

The other day when I was giving DBF's mom a refresher course in knitting she mentioned how some of her stitches were twisted. I thought she had done something wrong so I knitted a few rows and compared it to her work. Exactly the same, with the twisted stitches. I couldn't figure out why.

Tonight, I looked up some stranding method videos on knittinghelp and I noticed that she somehow knitted differently. I took a look at the basic videos again. OMG.

It turns out I purl combined, but I knit continental which produces a twisted stitch.

I could correct my purl but I tried it on a bitty swatch and it was so tedious and slow. I decided to learn how to knit combined. Very sweet.

There's a whole thing about how decreases and increases are different due to the twists. I guess I'll have to learn those again.

Colors make me giddy - new yarn!

2006-01-26T16:45:00.001-08:00

These colors just amaze me. Its a wonder how I can get these colors with Kool-Aid. It makes me wonder what I can come up with if I used "real" dyes.

The last few skiens have a little dirty secret. The original yarn was from a frogged sweater... an Abercrombie and Fitch sweater! Here's my proof:

Yarrr! That was some nice booty over at Goodwill. I'm gonna head over to the one near here pretty soon. I also picked up a gray sweater with cables. Unfortunately, it fits me great and is very warm.

Here are some more yarns that I dyed yesterday. I am so in love. The colors, oh my!

I'm really on the fence about listing the first one on Etsy. If I do, it'll probably be at some exorbiant price (ten million dollars!) Okay, maybe not that much.

The second one I like. When I did this one, I followed the handpainting instructions I gleamed from a dye book at Borders. I'm a cheapy so I just read the books and make mental notes in my head.

There's also another one in the process of drying. A handpainted in the roving, handspun mini skein. I'm guessing its about 50 yds at most.

As for knitting, oh boy. Haven't done much of it (except making bitty swatches) I'm expecting the mailman to send some knitpicks my way. I ordered Shine in Butter and Green Apple to make a baby blanket for Ryan, Tiffany and the baby. I'm thinking about doing color work. Something simple but it'll be the first time I knit with two colors at a time.

*excited*

I take it back, its quite nice.

2006-01-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

I wrote earlier that the other two skeins were pretty crappy. However, after they dried, I balled them up and knit a short swatch, not bad! I kept thinking "I wanna keep knitting! I wonder how the color will change!"

Here are some pics! One is lighter and that's the one I like more. The shocking red-pink just isnt my thing.

What do you guys think? leave a comment! :)

Damn Beautiful

2006-01-24T01:30:00.000-08:00

I messed around with more Kool-Aid dyeing today. I decided to use blue, red and mix of the two (purple) BAD IDEA. The red was hideously bright and took over most of the skein. The blue was alright, but the purple... mmm, purple came out amazing.

Of course its more of a red than a purple because this red takes over all. I call this skein of 50 yds or so "Deeply Blushed."

I like it so much, I might not be selling it on etsy. I mean, hey! its 50 yds. what are you gonna do with it? xD I find that I just like dyeing yarn, skeining it and staring at it.

Mossy-tastic

2006-01-22T23:04:00.000-08:00

I decided to put my most recent creation on Etsy.com. I plan to do some more dyeing through the week. I made this really pretty pale green, yellow and beige yarn. When it came out, I was like "ultimate baby yarn!" Best part is that its machine-washable!

Anyway, onto the Mossy, here's a picture:

I'm more excited about etsy than anything else right now :D I added a link to my shop on the links list to the right.

As far as knitting is concerned, I've been a bit apathetic about it. I'm working on Glorianna on frogged sweater yarn, it looks really nice even without blocking.

I ordered some knitpicks Shine so I'm waiting for that to arrive to make a baby blanket for Ryan and Tiff's new one (due in June.)

I want some sock yarn to play with! I need to go buy some.

Grayurple yarn!

2006-01-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call it yarn. I call it a disaster. I spun the singles without enough twist and so when I plied, it because all loosey-goosey on me. I hate it, BUT...

I so LOVE the color! Sam helped with with the dyeing process. We used grape koolaid and didn't stir to even out the colors so it was splotchy as roving. After it was spun up though, very pretty colors.

Of course, the internet, computers, and your monitor may not accurately display its true colors, but here it is anyway!

On the spindle with some roving:

Here's the skien, its tiny! 56 yards only:

Obligatory close up. You can see all the fibers in the front, but the color is nicely represented here:

Corriedale Cross - plied!

2006-01-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a picture :D

This is the Corriedale Cross in the previous picture plied. I managed to fit all of those singles onto my hand to Andean ply it. It took a good hour and more to get it all done, but its done! yay!

Spinning Pictures!

2006-01-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

Pictures as I promised!

This is the brown Jacob roving I was talking about. See the supreme lumpiness? That is the work of a new spinner. I really like how it looks, but I dont have much of it. 24 yards I think. *sigh*

Here is my second attempt with natural Corriedale Cross which is fantastic to spin. it drafts really easy but then again, it might also be because I improved vast amounts. You see how everything is more even? IMPROVEMENT! *applauses* I worked on this one after re-reading instructions and sleeping on it. I can't wait to ply it. I'm not sure if I should Andean ply it cuz I dont know if it'll all fit on my hand! Eep!

Spinning - Firsts

2005-12-31T08:14:00.000-08:00

Ahoy thar in blogger land! I'm back for a little. Since the Dainty Bess, I've knitted a simple cream lace scarf for my BF's mom, taught my cousin how to knit (and how to spend $40 in one go at the lys! *grin*) Still working on the PoA HP scarf though. The gauge got real wonky or something, its about 10 inches wide! It looks like it'll be a really comfy scarf if I ever want to venture to the East coast during the winter times.

Anyway, for Christmas, Sam got me a spinning kit! *excited* I finally broke down and tried it out when everyone was out of the house. The yarn looks so .... horrible! hahaha. But I still like it in all its lumpy-ness. I'm spinning a brown Jacob roving right now, almost done. I managed to get two bobbin-fuls and I'll probably get one more. I didnt ply my first bobbin, but I did my second. It feels so much nicer than singles!

Pictures to come soon! I've been super lazy with the camera, and I think my mom would look at me funny taking crazy pictures of "just yarn." She already did raise an eyebrow when I left my twist setting bucket in the sink.

Knitting (and now Spinning!) New Years Resolutions:
1. Learn how to dye (kool aid and cake dyes at least!)
2. Make a large FO (sweater, pullover, cardigan)
3. Make more socks!
4. Knit in moderation around midterm and finals time.

I think that list will do for now. Happy knitting to all in 2006!

"Blocking Lace is Magic"

2005-12-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

I dont know where I read the phrase "Blocking lace is magic" but oh my, it is!

Look!

I'm so happy with it! This is Dainty Bess from the Elizabeth I scarves patterns available at Knitpicks using Knitpicks Essential yarn in Grass. (yeah, I know, sock yarn for shawl? wtfux, but it was the only color I took fancy upon) I used a size 5 circular needle. The finished pieces measured 56 inches long and 7 1/4 inches wide. Unblocked it was about 46 inches.

Anyway, I'm happy! time to start working on all those other projects :D

Dainty Bess nearing completion!

2005-12-15T02:13:00.000-08:00

One more repeat, then edging, then cast off.

Then its time for some magic! Blocking!

I hope it all goes well.

Went to the yarn shop today, but didn't pick up anything. Of course, about two hours after I've left the shop I realize I wanna make a bunch of things! I really need to write this stuff down.

Dainty Bess in action!

2005-12-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

I realize I've neglected this blog for a while. Sorry! I've been busy with finals and more finals. During my off moments, I pick up knitting Dainty Bess. I'm so-so with how its turning out so far. I nickname it "Frumply Mess" because that's what it looks like to me.

Here's a close up of the lace pattern. You can't see it at all unless you stretch it out a bit.

Well, that's the update I have for now. Gota get back to studying >_<

Poring Hat!

2005-11-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

Annie came back to Upland to spend Thanksgiving with her parents so we decided to hang out today since we hardly ever get to do so. We went to Phebie's Needlearts and I discovered the bargin bin! That's where the two seafoam colors come from. I'm deciding that I want to make a second Branching Out.

AND she brought me a birthday present! Yarn! The two small purple balls of rabbit ANGORA (*squee!*) and the boucle yarn! Its telling me to make it into something, but I have no idea what. (yet!)

Then, the two arcylic rolls I bought at Micheal's because the colors are perfect for the PoA Ravenclaw scarf that I want to knit. Its nice acrylic too! soft!

We also went to the Goodwill store and scoured it for froggable sweaters. Annie was actually there to buy clothes too, but not me. I was on a mission! I returned with two sweaters, one coat and one tank top. It was my first time frogging something and it was kind of a knotty nightmare. but I got through it! This is the yarn I got from the tank top, not too bad. Im thinking about making it into a bag, but I'd probably have to work on REALLY small needles. hrm... *back to brainstorming*

I made a poring hat! I didn't follow a pattern or anything. I just made a plain pink beanie top down and just duplicate stitched the eyes and blush. A poring is an adorable cute pink blob monster in the game Ragnarok Online There's an item in that game where youre wearing a poring on your head! Very cute!

New Yarn and FOs!

2005-11-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

I was greeted at the front door with two packages. Hurray for yarn! I went to a Jo Anns that I didnt know was in the area. Oh my goodness that place look like a tornado tore through it. I bought a super cute measuring tape sheep.
I also bought some stuffing and supplies (yarn needle and stitch markers)

Aaand, the moment you've been waiting for! Mittens and Socks! I made the mittens with wool I got from ebay, the colors on the listing was Sonoma, but I like calling it Dusky Rainbow. The socks are from Paton's sock yarn that I bought ages ago. I hope I'll make lots more socks. The first one came out a little loose, but the second one was tighter. The same number of cast on stitches, but with the more experience of knitting dpns, it turned out much better the second time around.

First Pairs - Socks and Mittenettes!

2005-11-14T04:29:00.000-08:00

I feel ultraproductive today =)

I finished my mittenettes with the new yarn I got from ebay AND...

I finished the other sock! Yay! I have a pair of mittens and a pair of socks now!

Pictures tomorrow!