Name change

I changed the name of the blog to be a teensy bit more anonymous. You can still find out my name if you try, but it's not so blatant.

I hurt my thumb, so no work on the lace. I can still knit, but the lace is incompatible with the band aid.

SAD is taking over my life again. Thanksgiving is over and I didn't knit hardly at all.

I started tons of projects using Malabrigo, to the point where it was unhappy. I was trying to win some yarn, but I failed. Who would have thought that I was incapable of starting more projects than other people?

I am working on a Mr Greenjeans that I like quite a lot. Also a jacket. My doubt-filled mystery green thing is about 1/2 way done. I don't think it's going to be ready for spring. There's always fall I guess. Actually I'm probably going to look into alternative distributions for it, even though it's made of knitpicks.

I ruined about 20 skeins of pakucho in a spectacular way. Photos are upcoming.




My knitting is starting to feel more like a chore again than fun. I think it's time for a break once I get the kids' sweaters done.

Tired Blood

I have anemia. It's not a huge deal, but I'm exhausted all the time. It's difficult to knit most of the time, so I'm way behind where I thought I'd be in everything.

I've been working on the Mystic Waters shawl when I can.



I finished the Tomato a while back. Here's a picture of it being modeled.



I started a sweater in malabrigo, in the color Cuarzo (It is purple. Why just Cuarzo and not Amatista?) It's a secret though. Shhh.. My secret green thing is progressing well too. Neither of these make for interesting blog things because there can be no pictures.

The sleeves, fronts and back are all finished on the Tilted Duster, but I'm having a hard time seaming it all together to pick up the skirt. I need very bright light in order to see where the needle should go, but I dislike bright light. I'm doing a little at a time when I can, but it's been pretty much relegated to the weekends because I have to bring home the kitty food. Also not terribly interesting for a blog, unless you want to see a pile of drab green. Do you?

I got a ball winder. It's a ton of fun now that I read the directions. I thought it was self explanatory, but I was wrong. I am wondering why they make the little arm guide thing swing around at all since it has to be in a certain spot to work correctly. Umm... Yarn cake is fun to make! Yay!

I'm having a serious problem with purchasing yarn, that is I can't seem to stop buying it. I went for a while without enough funds to buy anything beyond what I needed, and I'll admit I've gone a bit crazy since I got the new job. I think I may not buy any yarn for a year, with a few exceptions.

Exception the first: If I get to the point where I'm out of Noro for the Lizard Ridge, I can buy another skein. I had planned on doing one a month, but I haven't. So I'm going to just buy a new skein every time I finish one.

Exception the second: Clearance yarns or colors that won't ever be released again.

Exception the third: I run out of yarn. Of course, this isn't going to happen. I have enough yarn to keep knitting for the rest of my life.

Of course before I do that, I want to get enough yarn for Meg Swanson's phoenix sweater, The Mirepoix bodice and enough cotton or other summery yarns for 2-3 short sleeve tops, which are realistically all I wear here in CA 95% of the time. Even when it's cold enough for long sleeves outdoors, it's way too hot inside.

Then after that year, I'm going to try to keep knitting mostly from my stash for a while. There's tons of good yarn in it and I've got plenty of ideas on how to use it. There's really no need to keep buying more.

FOs and random crap from my head. Insomnia sucks and I'm tired but not sleepy.

Here is my Foliage



and a closeup picture of my fake-cami-enabled Tomato (registration required, I believe)



I am planning on having pictures of myself taken wearing this and various other FOs from my past this weekend. We shall see, since I'd probably rather just sit around in my pjs and knit.

I have joined the Mystic Waters Shawl KAL and we got the first clue today. Here is a picture of my progress.


(Colors not accurate. Colors are never accurate. Waspinator needs studio lighting)

I am truly impressed with this yarn. It's Lisa Souza hand-dyed Lace weight in the colorway South Pacific. I'll admit I was a little disappointed when I opened up the package because I had been expecting something more vibrant. However, after a little bit of knitting with it, I fell in love and it is now my favorite hand dyed yarn ever. So there.

Planned Posts for later

1) Tomato Analysis. Squishy seeds of wisdom for alterations, etc.
2) Tilted Duster. This is also being reworked heavily.
3) Laments of the Swish Superwash. There are many reports of felting. What of El Blokio's nephew's and niece's (why isn't there a non-gendered plural for them) things? And the sweaters I was planning on making for us?
4) What colors should I dye the silk for my Intoxicating. Seriously. I've got $200 of undyed silk right here just waiting for me to think of something.
5) I am going to marry malabrigo yarn one day. Just you watch. Forget the goats, this is the ultimate slippery slope argument.

Ravelry Rocks

I got in this past week and have subsequently been spending less time knitting and more time just reading the forums.

If you're not in yet, it's awesome. It'll all be public, but not until the waiting list is purged, so you'll get in faster if you go sign up, no matter what.

So many projects have been added to my list.

I love the technique for the Heere Be Dragone shawl. I might not ever make the pattern, but I bought it so I can see how it's done :)

These shoes are probably just what I need for the upcoming winter with hard floors.

There's also a mystery shawl KAL that I've joined. The pattern isn't out yet, but it's free, so I don't have to make that yet or at all if I don't want.

I finally finished the corset pullover I've been working on for...3 years? I haven't really been *working* on it that whole time, I had finished everything but one sleeve and stashed it away for about 2 years and 6 months. It's finally done (but not blocked). I've also started some gloves and the tilted duster.



Here's a picture of my one anemoi mitten that I have done. It's waiting until I care for a partner.

Free Pattern (Equinox)

My first ever free pattern! Yay! I feel odd calling it a pattern. It's a slightly modified lace pattern from the third Barbara Walker stuck in a box. I had to wet block this, steam blocking just wasn't working out. Since I don't cherish the thought of posing with wet mohair around my neck, it'll probably be a few days before there are pics of it being worn or draped over something. However, I wanted to put the pattern up for the equinox (not that anyone is likely to find it by then) so the picture is of it being blocked. In harsh light.

Equinox

Yarn: Alchemy Lone Star, 45% merino wool, 55% mohair, 145 yds/100g, Color: Equinox, 1 skein

note: I don't think that alchemy are making this yarn in their colorways anymore. Any yarn that's scarf-width when knit in this pattern should do just fine.

Needles: US 11 (8.0 mm)

Gauge: Not important.

Size: 7 inches x 60 inches when blocked



Pattern: CO 19 sts. Work 6 rows in garter stitch. Maintain 3 sts in garter stitch along each edge and work 7 repeats of Sunspot Chart. Work 6 rows in garter stitch. BO loosely. Weave in ends and block.

Stitch notes: k1, p1, k1: work 3 sts into the same stitch, double increase
Central dbl decrease: Slip 2 as if to k2tog, k1, pass slipped stitches over
inc 1: K1 into front of st, k1 into back of stitch

Too tired to edit aka How do people blog everyday?

I can't be bothered rearranging everything to flow. Here are my paragraphs (which I hope make sense individually) in the order I thought them up with no other connections. Except they're knitting/yarn related, of course. Anyways.)

Here's my striped version of the Everlasting Bagstopper. I've had about 5 single skeins of all hemp for about 2 years now. I started making a bag with one but it was filthy. I can't stand powdery textures (I won't touch newspaper if I can prevent it) so I stopped maybe an inch in. I actually threw out the one skein I had started, but kept the others, which I washed earlier this spring. A couple of them are now fantastically tangled, but I'm going to see if the wound blue one plus the leftover brown and tiny bit of yellow are enough to make another. I <3 my kitchen scale (that I bought for knitting...)


Yes that is a Barbara Walker book in there.


Now that I've knit something in hemp, I'm hooked. It feels so rough in your hands, but the finished fabric is smooth and stretchy.

Also the powdery thing has got me thinking.

1) I won't touch newspaper if I can avoid it. I also hate having my hands dirty or dry.
2) I have never gotten what the big deal about cashmere is. It feels dusty to me. I find silk and alpaca to be much nicer.
3) I have some Rowan calmer that I swear is dirty. I'm not sure how to wash those balls it comes in without turning all of it into skeins first. Sounds like a lot of work.

Here's a picture of what I've been calling my hybrid tomato.


I'll try to put something together about my size hybridization methods when it's all done so I'll have an example. For this, I CO for the largest size (I'm not playing around with the 23" cross back width. I has it), worked less increases so that I ended up working the bust and waist areas in the 3rd largest size. Now I'm working more increases so that it'll be the largest size again for my huge ass and hips.

I also have started working on my corset pullover again. I stopped a couple years back with only one sleeve to go after I worked about half of the second sleeve according to the pattern. Unfortunately, I hadn't worked the first one that way. I got frustrated and put it away. Using the finished sleeve as a reference, I managed to get nearly back to the point where I ripped it out.

I had been in the knitting doldrums, but finishing the bag lifted me right out. I'm going to go knit some more right now!

New yarn in store

Check it out :)

I'm especially proud of the halloween stuff. Even my bf says that it's cool.

Progress Sans Photos

So I've been knitting a lot this past week, but there's not a whole lot to take a picture of. The two things I have been working on the most are ones I'd like to submit to be published, so I can't really post anything here.

I've also got a lot of Tomato done, but it's basically just a large piece of dark brown cotton. Not very photogenic. It's also killing my elbow and wrists knitting cotton that tightly so I'm giving it a break in favor of alpaca, merino and kureyon. mmm.

I ordered more yarn to dye today. I also got a ledger to keep track of expenses and income. My guess is that the former will far outpace the latter unless there is luck. I'm trying to decide whether to go for a business license. It doesn't really seem worth all the paperwork.

Chaos

So...it was probably a bad idea to commit to blogging once a week in the middle of moving to a new city and starting a new job.

I'm back now and intend to stay that way.

Updates

1) I sold my first skein of yarn on etsy yesterday! W00t. It was a bit of a scramble to figure out how to ship it to the UK. It's super-expensive so I've had to up my overseas shipping rates. I wish I didn't have to charge for shipping, but it does cost money and I can't really afford to buy yarn for other people (which is what free shipping would amount to)

2) I bought the second skein of Kureyon for the lizard ridge afghan. Here's a pic.



3) I knitted a Spiderman sweater for my boyfriend's 3.5 year old nephew. I'm working on duplicate stitching all of the black webbing lines onto it, which is going to take forever.



4) I finished the front and back of the Gatsby Girl pullover from the Fall 2006 IK. It's kind of a strange one. The ribbing is squishy soft but the lace feels like rope. I think that it really needed to be worked at a much looser gauge with less repeats. I don't have the patience to rip it out to do that though. Hopefully it'll be softer once it's been washed.

I've been tempted to CO for the sleeves, but I think I'm going to take a break. I need to learn to be ok with unfinished projects and there are so many things that should be done for other people on more of a deadline.

4) I've been working on Knitty's Festive for a while now, but discovered that I had cast on the wrong amount for the fronts. I also somehow managed to drop the selvedge stitch and didn't notice for about 2 inches.



I'm also somewhat concerned/disappointed/avoidant about the fact that I don't think I have enough yarn to finish this top. It's so pretty and I was really looking forward to this one, more than most.

Anyways, I ripped the fronts out today



On the plus side, that means I can use the needle for....

5) New projects!

a) Tomato. I really like the way this pattern looks. Sandi on knitting daily moved the herringbone stripe down to her waist instead of at booby level. I'm going to pull out my copy of Big Girl Knits and consider their advice before I make a decision about doing the same.

I love the yarn I picked for this, the recommended Blue Sky Cotton but in spicy colors



The yellow is called cumin and I can almost smell the spice just looking at it...mmmm.

b) Pink Girly Cardigan. This is for Boyfriend's 9 year old niece but I haven't decided exactly how it's going to look. I had a few ideas, but they were discouraged by Uncle Boyfriend, because I guess 9 year olds would tend to catch loops an appliquéd flowers on stuff and rip them. Right now I'm thinking corrugated ribbing that ends in peaks for the edges and lots of stripes. I'm seriously considering taking the lizard ridge short row pattern and applying it to the sweater stripes. Then I'm going to embroider or duplicate stitch (or both) some flowers and butterflies onto it, probably using a shiny yarn.

I bought some Knitpicks Swish Superwash for this. I was very pleasantly surprised. It's softer than the Cascade 220 I used for the Spidey sweater and very squishy. I would have called it Squish Superwash, but I like that word. I think that making a kid's sweater will be a good way to test out the durability of it, which is the main issue I've had with Knitpicks stuff in the past. She'll be rough on it, but even if it gets wrecked, she'll outgrow it soon.



c) Bonsai Tunic. Speaking of shiny... I love the hand and the drape of the Bonsai yarn from Berroco, but I'm not sure I am prepared to wear something that has so much shine wrapped around it (it's not the bamboo that's shiny, it's the nylon wrapping). It's not just sheen. It's reflective and I'm a frumpy person. I was going to do a whole tutorial on how I changed it to fit me, but I'm now considering just ripping the whole thing out. I've decided to put it away for a few days and come back to it. I might decide that it's worth knitting after all just because I love the feel of the yarn in my hands. And, one day, I might well be brave enough to wear reflective hand knits in public.


I apologize for blurriness.

Who knew? I certainly couldn't tell from the IK pics or the others I've seen online. Not that I researched it thoroughly...

d) Monk's Travel Satchel I'm not happy with the colors I ordered for this, specifically I don't like the brown. I was thinking if I knitted it in black and brown, then I could have something that went with all of my outfits.



Still, I can get started on some of the pieces. I think I'm going to keep the black and the blue and maybe get a grey of some sort for color B. Maybe I'll make a second one with the brown and some other colors.

e) Others. I am designing a few sweaters. I debated with myself about whether I wanted to try to submit them to IK or something, but decided not to. I'm going to make them in my size, to fit me. I might be able to sell them to knitty or just offer them up on etsy, but my day job is stressful. I enjoy making patterns and I should keep it that way. That means no deadlines, not even seasonal ones.

That pretty much catches up on the knitting. I hope to keep up with it better in the future. It should be easier now that I'm moved into semi-permanent housing and have learned the routine at work.

Happy knitting!

Yarn for sale and Lizard Ridge

I've been knitting a bit, but lately I've mostly been dying yarn. I'm trying to sell it on etsy if anyone is interested. The pictures are pretty terrible. I need to work on that.

I started lizard ridge. Here's the first block.



I'm planning on buying a skein of Noro Kureyon and knitting a block once a month.

Dying

Yarn that is :p

My mom is working on an art quilt and wanted me to knit lace leaves out of silk for her to use on it. She sent me some recycled sari silk, but it was too thick for what she wanted and just looked like a tangled blob even after blocking. After a lot of confusion about what she actually wanted out of the leaves, I ended up getting some Debbie Bliss Pure Silk (in celery I believe) and dying it.

I didn't do anything fancy, just soaked the skein in vinegar for about 45 minutes, mixed up some food coloring, used a turkey baster to apply the dye and microwaved it until the liquid was clear.

It came out pretty well, I think...



I spent a few hours today doing the same to some fingering weight merino I've had laying around for about a year. The silk was much neater but I can't afford to do that all the time. I'm going to try to sell the sock yarn on Etsy. We'll see how that goes.

I've got two skeins of complimentary teal and pink. One of them got a black spot in the pink somehow, but I don't think it'll matter as much when it's knit up.



I've also done some black/rust/turquoise and I was trying to do grey, but it turned out multicolored and drab. I might still try to sell it, but I'm going to think about it. Neither of those have been rewound so I don't have good pics yet.

Blogging and Me

I can't blog. I've tried multiple times and never succeeded. I'm going to try again though. I want a place to talk about my knitting. I'd almost given it up, and I certainly hadn't been able to design anything in a while because of job stress. But I'm back at it and want a dedicated space to talk about it all. I may never get around to customizing the template or moving it to it's own server, but that's not really what blogging is about.

So I'm going to update at least once a week, even if it's just to say that I haven't done anything! So check back every Monday (for now, my schedule later might dictate that the day change but we'll see...) I need routine in order to get things done.