Check it out :)
I'm especially proud of the halloween stuff. Even my bf says that it's cool.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
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!
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!
Monday, July 9, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, July 2, 2007
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.
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.
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