knittergeek

I've moved!

2011-09-04T00:09:00.000-04:00

Keep following me at http://www.roguebibliophile.com/

Hope to see you there!

failfailfail

2011-08-25T11:36:00.003-04:00

Wow, I'm really astoundingly awful at maintaining a blog, aren't I?

I need to make up a real post (with pictures!) because I've actually been doing a lot of knitting recently. I just haven't been talking about it. Mostly it's been for Rina's Epic Wedding Shawl Adventure, which so far hasn't actually been much of an adventure at all. Which is good! "Adventures" usually involve lots of swearing and possibly throwing things across the room. So, yes, quiet is good.

I'm making one of the 100th anniversary EZ pi shawls for her, the one that uses the travelling vines pattern and the gull wings pattern with a ring of hearts around the edges. I'm just up to the second repeat of gull wings, so... somewhere between a third and halfway done? I don't know; I tried to run through rough stitch counts in my head but as we all know, I'm awful at math.

I'm pretty pleased with how it's coming out so far. Although, if I had to do it over again I'd probably go up a needle size to make it a bit airier and lacier, but I really can't complain. Of course, it is sort of hard to tell without blocking, because all unblocked lace looks like ass. So I may end up being happy with my needle size. I did swatch for this, but I made this mistake of swatching all the lace patterns together so it mostly looks like a garbled mess, and it's rather hard to judge how the finished shawl will look from that. The Big Day is November 5th, and I'm pretty sure I'll be done by then. I mean, I know how I am with deadlines and all, but I'm making good progress so far and I've got a little over two months. I can do this!

MOAR FAIL!

2011-05-02T23:31:00.002-04:00

So, as you may have figured out by now, I've abandoned my 52 books in 52 weeks goal thingy. This is both good and bad, however. Bad because I've completely abandoned posting reviews of them here. I ended up getting on goodreads.com and have been using that to keep track of it. The good bit, however, is that here I am at the beginning of May and I'm 39 books in. So I've upped my goal to 100 books . And since I don't fancy writing up that damn many reviews, ya'll will just have to live without. Shouldn't be too hard, since I don't think anyone reads this. (Except Jason. Hi Jason!)

Anywho, moving on...

I'm going to have to throw together an actual knitting post soonish. Haven't been knitting too much, but I've nearly completed a pair of socks. Woo socks!

MOAR BOOKS ARRRR

2011-03-28T10:24:00.004-04:00

Book 17: Alex and the Ironic Gentleman by Adrienne Kress

In most cases, juxtaposition is a good thing. It adds an unexpected twist or a fresh perspective to something that might otherwise be bland and boring. When it works, it works well. When it doesn't, we end up with a book like this.

Ten-and-a-half-year-old Alex is a precocious young lady who often possesses a greater degree of insight and maturity than the adults with whom she interacts. The story is told from a third person limited POV, centering on Alex, and the narrator could not be any farther from the heroine. The narrator reminds me of a hyperactive five-year-old, bouncing cheerfully between thoughts and ideas, picking up or abandoning trains of thought on a whim. I found it highly distracting. However, I can see how this might appeal to a much younger person. Though the book is categorized as Teen Fiction, it seems more suited to children.

Rating: D

Book 18: XVI by Julia Karr

This is the sort of distopian novel that Matched strove so hard to be. As with Matched, we have a young girl raised in a futuristic society whose eyes slowly open to the truths of her world. However, unlike the main character of Matched, the heroine of XVI actually has a reason for opening her eyes. The awakening isn't spontaneous, and thus makes sense to the reader and so feels more believeable. This novel also has a romantic interest, but it isn't the sole driving force behind the plot.

Rating: B-

Book 19: The Alchemist by Paolo Bacigalupi There is an incredible amount packed into such a small book. In less than a hundred pages, Bacigalupi manages to fit an incredibly detailed and well-developed world along with an intriguing plot complete with a number of twists. Yet it was short, saying what it had to say and having done with it. I am always in awe of authors who can successfully pen novellas and short stories, because, as a writer, I know how great the temptation is to drag it out, to add more plot with more twists and more details. But Bacigalupi is able to do what I've never been able to: he pares down an entire world to tell one chapter of one man's story. I loved this book, and will definitely be seeking out more by this author.

Rating: A

Book 20: Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You by Peter Cameron

Every so often we read the right book at the right point in our life, and it changes us. This is the right book, but unfortunately I read it at the wrong time. A poingant coming-of-age story, this is exactly the book that would have profoundly changed me if I'd read it a decade ago. As it was now, it was a thoroughly entrancing story of a young man's struggle to find his own feet beneath him and figure out which path they will carry him down. I absolutely cannot say enough nice things about this book.

Rating: A+

Book 16

2011-03-11T11:02:00.004-05:00

I selected this book based solely on the cover art. And, when combined with the title, who on earth could possibly resist?

Set in nineteenth century London, this novel is an interesting combination of science fiction, steampunk, and mystery, with a bit of fantasy and a touch of horror thrown in for good measure. Because the sci fi and steampunk distorts London to something far removed from what it actually was in the 1800s, Hodder appears to attempt to recapture some of that lost ambiance by mimicking the syntax and style of a novel actually written during that time period. However, I feel that he goes a bit too far with it so that some of the over-the-top exclamations and descriptions edge close to absurd. But this actually works for the book as a whole, as the entire setting is over-the-top enough to become close to absurd itself. This was undoubtedly one of the most interesting and unexpected books I've read in a while.

Rating: B

Books 12, 13, 14, 15

2011-03-09T18:19:00.002-05:00

Book 12 - Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

I really enjoyed this book. It started off a bit slow and gradually built up anticipation. The long build-up really worked well, and by about page 200 the story really took off with a bang and I had a difficult time setting the book aside at all. Marillier does a brilliant job of foreshadowing, and she sets (and sticks to) a slow but relentless build-up to the climax that I found to be very effective.

Rating: B+

Book 13 - Treachery in Death by J.D. Robb

To save on time, I'm just going to recommend my earlier review for previous book in the In Death series. I don't have anything new to say about the writing, but Robb is an absolute beast when it comes to pumping out the fiction.

Rating: B

Book 14 - Bar None: A Tale of Chilling Suspense, Apocalyptic Beauty, and Fine Ales by Tim Lebbon

A very intersting take on zombie apocalypse with a supernatural twist. At just under 200 pages it was a very quick read. The main character marks important moments of his life with different ales, much as other people do with songs, which I found interesting.

Rating: C

Book 15 - The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia McKillip

I loved this book. The world had depth, the characters were intriguing, and it was some of the most beautiful writing I've encountered in quite some time. The descriptions were phenomenal.

Rating: A

I feel like I fell down on these reviews somewhat, but I didn't sleep well last night so my brain is about fried. Might come back and edit later if I remember.

finally, some knitting!

2011-03-05T16:52:00.007-05:00

For a blog with the word "knitting" in the title, I sure haven't posted much about that lately! Haven't been doing much knitting lately, but there's enough to scrape together for a post to prove that I haven't completely abandoned my needles.

Sooo, let's go back. Waaay back, to shortly after the Christmas Knitting Marathon. As we left off, Jason's big stripy blanket was steadily growing bigger and stripy-er. I've actually kept up a decent amount of momentum on that, and am now more than halfway done with the striped portion of it. Then it'll be relatively fast to use up all the leftovers on a quick and easy dc border around the whole thing. Jason seems to like it so far, and I'm rather pleased with the progress.

New year's resolution re: The Stash is, erm, going. I've been mostly good about not adding to it. There was a point in late January when I did buy a little yarn. I scored two skeins of Dream in Color Baby yarn (in Happy Forest and Blue Lagoon) which I'm very excited about. At 700 yds of laceweight each, I'm pretty sure I can squeeze a pair of lightweight summer cardigans out of them. The third skein I didn't really have an excuse for other than I wanted it. Tosh sock in a lovely bronzy orange colorway aptly named Copper Pennies. I'd been eyeing it since the beginning of December and had heard such lovely things about Madeline Tosh that I had to give it a go. I'm planning to make an Age of Brass and Steam kerchief out of it, and that'll be one of my next projects, right after I finish my current kerchief/shawlette thingy.

I'd wanted to start using the Tosh Sock right away, but it was just before the Super Bowl and I'd already committed to going out to a bar with friends to watch. A bar that allows smoking indoors. So, it's perfectly understandable that I didn't want to take my lovely brand new skein of not-even-wound-into-a-yarn-cake-yet sock yarn into a bar where it would become stinky with cigarette smoke. Instead I rapidly wound up my two skeins of Knitpicks Imagination in Mermaid Lagoon, snagged the easiest pattern I could think of, and ran out the door.

The result is this partially-finished Baktus. Pattern is dead simple and works rather well for showing off the variegation of the yarn. I like how it's coming out, and really need to get it finished up so I can actually wear it.

As you can see, the colors are quite pretty. They're a bit more jewel-toned in person, but this is a decent shot of them. And aside from one patch of fairly unattractive pooling, they're spreading themselves out fairly evenly.

The other thing I've been working on is a hat. You may recall me whinging back in January about a hat. Yes, we're still dealing with that. After starting it over twice, because the designer couldn't be arsed to list a fucking gauge on her fucking pattern, I sat down and did the math on adding another column of cables. The numbers came out right, so I knit the brim, increased the extra 6 stitches to get up to the right number for cabling, and knit on. I didn't bother to try it on because I DID THE MATH. And the numbers I got told me that the hat should fit. SHOULD, of course, being the key word there. When I was halfway through the crown decreases, I went and tried it on.

AND THE HAT DOES NOT FUCKING FIT.

It's still too tight. Not uncomfortably so, but just enough that if I wear it for a little bit it begins to ride up and make me look like I've got the most gigantic oblong head ever. How do I know this? Because I've knit another hat that was just a smidge too tight and I don't wear it any more because I hate having to tug it back down every five minutes. (Also, I botched part of the lace on it, but that's neither here nor there.) I don't want another hat that I don't wear because I don't want to tug it back down every two minutes. And this one will be every two minutes. Why? Because, despite having six stitches less (at my gauge, that's just over an inch) than the body of the hat, the ribbed brim is, quite inexplicably, too loose.

So I give up. That's it. Obviously the universe does not want me to have this hat. So out came the ball winder, and I frogged that sucker with a vengeance.

The yarn is now in timeout so it can think about what it's done.

I'm next going to start on a sweater, since, ya know, I've committed to knitting 11 sweaters this year and (surprise!) haven't even started one. I'm going to take another crack at a top-down raglan and actually try using a pattern this time to see if it helps. And using the Top-Down Raglan Pattern Generator, which makes up a pattern based solely on math, hopefully will end up with a finished project that actually fits.

Books 9 and 10 and 11 (oh my)

2011-03-02T18:55:00.004-05:00

Book 9: The Romance of Tristan and Iseult - Published 1945, New York, NY

This is one of those stories that I've read a dozen times, and will probably read a dozen times more. This review is not going to address the story; rather, I will talk about this particular translation.

While this is not my favorite interpretation of Tristan and Iseult, I did enjoy it. It read less like a medieval romance (or indeed, a romance at all) and more like a fairy tale from The Brothers Grimm. As with any Grimm fairy tale, very little detail is given. The language is very plain. I thought it was very interesting to read this epic tale of treachery and battle and adventure and romance and suffering (oh the suffering!) and have the prose remain so stiff and detached throughout. It has the same feel as a Grimm fairy tale... I am especially reminded of "Briar Rose" (aka Sleeping Beauty) where the hedge of thorns that has grown around the castle is described, and it says how many suitors tried to break through the thorny barrier, only to have the thorns hold fast to them, "as it were with hands" and they could not break free. "They died wretchedly," is added almost as an afterthought.

Rating: B

Book 10: Naked Heat by Richard Castle

This is the second novel by the fictional character Richard Castle, which comes from the very awesome tv show Castle. For those who haven't seen the show, it's about a mystery writer who tags along with a homicide detective, seeking inspiration for his new series of books. The first one was entertaining enough that I picked up the second.

For a book supposedly written by a New York Times bestselling author (albeit a fictional one) the writing was pretty sloppy in parts. The writer/editor in me was constantly adjusting syntax and swapping diction in my head. It wasn't sloppy enough to really impact the enjoyability of the story (here's looking at you, Stephenie Meyer!) but it was just bad enough to be noticeable.

The story itself was pretty good. It had an over-the-top pulp fiction detective feel to it that I really dig. Whoever wrote the book did a great job of evoking feelings of that genre without going overboard on it. Mad love to them for it. Also, more love for the Firefly references.

Rating: B-

Books 11 and 11.5: Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English and Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know About Writing, both by Patricia T O'Conner

These were both pretty quick reads so I'm bundling them together in one review. As a writer, I am always looking for ways to improve my writing. The primary way I do this is by reading as much as I can. Occasionally I'll read books that are actually about writing.

Words Fail Me was, for the most part, unhelpful. The first section of the book focused on the methods for writing, overcoming writer's block, etc etc. I've already got my methods down, so that didn't do anything for me. The rest of the book focused on a lot of the nitty-gritty writing details of writing. Clarity, sentence structure, using strong verbs, so on and so forth. It's mostly things that I knew already, but it's good to be refreshed every once in a while. And as for the few things I hadn't realized, well, any improvement is welcome, no matter how small.

Woe Is I focuses exclusively on grammar. I am in kind of an odd position when it comes to grammar. I was never formally taught anything about grammar in all of my years of schooling. However, I am and have always been an avid reader and, as a result of learning grammar only by reading properly constructed sentences, my grasp of grammar is based solely on what "sounds right" to me as opposed to any of the rules or reasons behind it. So, it's intersting to me to read about why a correctly structured sentence is correct.

Both books were written with a straightforward attitude, a dash of humor, and (obviously) grammatically correct sentences abound.

Rating: B

Book 8

2011-02-18T09:44:00.003-05:00

Ah, Simon R. Green. Words alone cannot express the deep and profound expanse of my admiration for him as a writer, nor my deep and unabiding love for him as a reader. A Hard Day's Knight is yet another installment in his Nightside series, which, in this reader's humble opinion, has yet to grow stale. The constant parade of interesting and unusual characters coupled with Green's ability to do the unexpected keep it fresh while Green's history of killing off important characters adds just enough real danger to the tale.

This book in particular deals with Arthurian legend. I am a huge nerd about any and everything related to that particular subject, so I was particularly eager to get my hands on a copy of this book and see exactly how Green interpreted and then distorted those old tales. I was not disappointed.

Rating: A

Books 6 (for real!) and 7

2011-02-09T19:25:00.003-05:00

Book 6: Matched by Ally Condie

This is a young adult book. I admit it, I read young adult books. Some of them are very very awesome and perfectly able to be enjoyed by adults (Garth Nix, to name one. For all of you who have not read Sabriel I would highly recommend it!)

I read Matched because I noticed a lot of people at the Library requesting it, and was curious. Please don't make the same mistake I did.

General impression of this book is a cross between a poorly-written Giver and a watered-down 1984. It's about a young girl in a utopian society, her eyes are opened and she breaks free of the brainwashing. Yada yada, you know the drill. However, the characters have no depth, the dialogue is wooden, and the plot meanders aimlessly without accomplishing anything. The main character continuously makes little side comments about the way things used to be, etc etc, that are entirely inappropriate for a character who was raised in that society. Yes, I get that Condie wants to contrast how things are vs. how things were, but it's entirely unnecessary for the main character to do so; we know how things "were" because we, the readers, are living in that world now. Events happend with no foreshadowing and no buildup. Characters were introduced and then never mentioned again. There were inconsistancies galore. The nicest thing I have to say about this book is that it only took me 2 hours to read.

Rating: D-

Book 7: Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn

I enjoyed this book. The plot was light on the action, but the writing is solid, the characters were well-developed, and the descriptions were very good. The world was extremely well-developed. Though it wasn't much of a page-turner and I didn't eagerly await the next twist of the plot in between readings, I did find it overall to be a very pleasant read.

One thing that I especially liked a lot was that while it did edge close to the cliche of small-town gal grows up, embarks on adventure and does Great Things, it didn't quite fall into it. The main character starts out knowing that she's going to do Great Things because she comes from a long line of rich and powerful people, though she is in exile. She doesn't know how powerful she will become, but the potential is already laid out there. I found that somewhat refreshing, and it felt more believeable than "random child becomes a great hero." I will certainly be seeking out more of Shinn's work to read.

Rating: B+

Books 4, 5 and 6

2011-02-04T14:04:00.002-05:00

So far I'm still on track with this, even if I am falling down a bit on the blogging part.

No images, because I'm lazy.

Book 4: Indulgence in Death by J.D. Robb.

This book was predictable: someone is murdered, homicide detective gets put on the case, someone else is killed, the case unravels, someone else is killed, the stakes are upped! Bad guys are caught, the good guys win again. But the dialogue is always great, the details of each case are varried enough to keep the reader guessing, and it's just plain interesting to read. And as the 38th book in a series, I commend Robb for that going.

The "In Death" series is what I view as the literary equivalent of a summer action movie: it's fantastic for an afternoon's entertainment, but probably not worth revisiting once you find out who the killer is.

Rating: B+

Book 5: Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara

Not the best book I've ever read. The main character alternates between overly dramatic and forcibly blasé. I spent most of the book wanting to slap her, which hasn't happened since Bella Swan. It had that same fan-fictiony air about it, but the writing itself was solid, and the descriptions were pretty good. It's the first book of the series, but I didn't feel compelled to find the next one; in fact, I only skimmed the last 50 pages and feel that I didn't miss all that much. That's not a good sign -- your reader should NEVER be willing to "just skim" the ending you've spent the entire book building up to.

Rating: C-

Book almost-6: The Key: A Rachel Benjamin Mystery by Jennifer Sturman

I never start out with exceptionally high expectations when it comes to "chick lit." I sort of view it like watching something silly on tv: it's fluffy and entertaining and doesn't require a whole lot of mental processing to get through. I don't anticipate a complicated plot with tons of twists and turns, I don't expect deep and complex characterization. But there is never, ever, ever an excuse for bad writing. EVER. I quit reading this book about 20 pages in, when the main character meets her love interest and describes him as having "a regular-size nose, and normal-size eyes." WTF, normal-size eyes?? Is everyone else in this fictional city cursed with either itty bitty eyes or cartoonishly large ones? (if so, that's exactly the sort of thing that's important to tell your readers and makes all the difference.) Otherwise, it's just sloppy writing. Also, is eye color too much to ask for?

Book Three

2011-01-25T09:51:00.007-05:00

So far so good with this 52-book-in-52-weeks thing. I'm on schedule thus far, which is actually a little surprising. There's no doubt that I'm capable of reading that many books in a year -- hell, in college when I had tons of free time, I went through a book to a book and a half per day. It's more the matter of not only making myself keep to a schedule on it, but also keeping up with the commitment to blog about it as well.

Anyhow, book three...

Yep, same author from Dogs in the Moonlight. Though both deal with the fantastic, they were very very different books in all other respects.

One thing an author can always do to impress me (as a writer myself) is to, in separate works, maintain different styles and tones without compromising either their talents or their own "voice." Lake manages that beautifully, at least between these two books. That's something that I've always struggled with, and I've noticed in others as well. Even if you love an author, it's somewhat off-putting to hear the same voice coming out of the mouths of character after character in world after world. (Sorry, Simon R. Green, I love you but it's true...)

Unlike Dogs in the Moonlight, which added a dash of the supernatural to everyday people set against the gritty backdrop of rural Texas, Green is set in a mythical world. Yet somehow Lake manages to take that gritty realism and transpose it to his made-up world as well. In the very first pages, I could feel the unrelenting sun beating down on my head and taste the dust as I breathed. This continued for the entire book. The setting descriptions were amazingly detailed without being tedious or overwhelming or dragging down the plot. The thing I found most interesting about that was how exactly the details were conveyed. The story is told in First Person, but from an indeterminate amount of years later. The main character is reflecting back on her life, and while her overal tone is detached by the power of years, and in fact nearly clinical in its deliverance of amazingly detailed descriptions of events, the reader still cares. I found it an interesting trick to make the reader feel more passionately about the tale than the narrator does. To her these are just old memories; to us this is an exciting new story.

Another interesting thing about this story was the lack of a romantic sub-plot. It's very rare to read a story without any sory of love interest or relationship development being part of what moves the plot forward. Often, the main character's love interest is a large and important part of the plot. In this story, however, that is not the case. The main character does have relationships, but they are treated as something that just happens alongside the main action, and indeed are mostly not treated as the typical understanding of "relationships" at all, but as just a convenient opportunity for sex.

My only real complaint about this story was the ending. The climax of the story didn't feel any bigger or more spectacular than the events leading up to it. And the only way that I knew that that particular section of action was the climax at all was by the small number of pages left in the book. Very unsatisfying.

It was an interesting read overall, and while I probably won't be itching for a reread any time soon, I'll definitely be on the lookout for more by this author.

Rating: B

Book Two

2011-01-19T12:52:00.006-05:00

Since I was apparently on a short story kick, here's my second book:

This is a collection of short stories set in Texas, and themed around the supernatural. The book is divided into four sections: ghosts, angels, gods, and aliens.

The book started off strong with the short story from which the collection got its name, "Dogs in the Moonlight." I went into it with no expectations, having never read anything by Jay Lake previously, and so the twists and turns this tale took caught me completely by surprise.

The stories were told in first person, and the vernacular that Lake uses to tell the tales is strong enough to let the reader hear the blue-collar Texas twang of the characters, yet subtle enough that it doesn't interfere with the reader's ability to enjoy the story or force the reader to puzzle out what the everloving-eff is going on (I'm looking at you, Charles W. Chesnutt!)

I felt that Lake also did a good job of balancing between the supernatural and the mundane. There were enough of the nitty-gritty everyday details to keep the stories well-grounded, but it was mixed with events fantastical enough to make the story worth telling. The first three sections were very strong, but I felt that the portion about Aliens fell down, especially when it was forced to not only follow the previous three sections but also to end the collection. I found myself skimming most of the stories in that section, and felt that it would have been better served to be placed in the middle of the book and allow one of the other sections to serve as the conclusion.

Rating: C+

Book One

2011-01-19T12:03:00.003-05:00

I've decided that maintaining a separate blog for my reading will just be more of a headache than I'm probably willing to deal with, so I'm just going to keep track of it on here. After all, reading is inherently geeky, right? So there's half the title. I'll just throw in a knitting book every now and then and that'll all even out, yeah?

Okay, so, first book!

It's a collection of short stories themed around (you guessed it!) love gone awry. Some of them have happy endings, some are more Romeo-and-Juliet like, but all of them have romance as a plotline. I'd selected it because Neil Gaiman and Jim Butcher both contributed to this book.

I'm not normally one for collections of short stories, and anticipated reading the ones I wanted to read along with a few others, skimming through the rest, and that being the end of it. However, I actually ended up reading all but one of these stories, and enjoyed them all very much. Some were more bodice-ripper-romance-themed than I would have liked, but I was pleasantly surprised by most.

Jim Butcher: A short story set in his Dresden Files world. It addressed the unresolved romantic tension between Dresden and Murphy. As with all of Butcher's writing, it was just the right balance of entertaining dialogue and fast-paced action. A quick and enjoyable read.

Neil Gaiman: He is the most phenomenal writer of short stories that I have ever encountered in my two decades of reading. He can pack such a big twist into such a short story that I always need to take a minute, back up a page or so, and let my mind unbend itself. This story was no exception. Love love love.

There were a couple others that had Gaiman-esque twists to them, but most simply told an entertaining story. Nice, enjoyable read.

Rating: A-

FOs, WIPs, and plans

2011-01-17T15:03:00.004-05:00

So here we are, a little over two weeks into the new year, and so far things are going well. Work is nice, no drama has exploded in my personal life, and I've been pretty productive knitting-wise.

I've even got a FO already!

I got to meet my little brother's girlfriend when I was home for the holidays. I pretty much expected her to be a sweet girl, based on comments from my Nani and parents, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that she (like me!) is a great big Harry Potter nerd. We talked a bit about the series, and our favorite characters, and when I found out that her fave is Hermione, I knew I had to make her this hat. Still need to mail it off to her, but I think it'll be a great surprise to get in the mail. I'm looking forward to hearing her reaction to it.

The hat was a quick and easy knit. The pattern actually calls for a DK weight yarn, but I used worsted instead since I do tend to knit a bit tighter than average and I figured it wouldn't affect the finished hat overmuch. The end result is a pretty dense fabric that is very warm. I used Cascade 220 superwash in the colorway Ridge Rock.

In keeping with my New Years resolutions I used up the leftovers from Jon's scarf. Unfortunately, as with most well-intentioned things, it didn't work out quite as planned. I ran out of yarn just shy of the end and had to go buy a second ball to finish it off. So now I've got more grey yarn in the stash than when I started. I'll probably make another hat out of it or something. We'll see.

And speaking of New Years resolutions, I'm working on a lovely blanket for Jason. He liked the zigzag throw blanket for the sofa so much that I'm making him a larger one. Using Lion Brand Homespun (awful, splitty stuff, but it does make a soft squishy blanket -- plus, hey, it's cheap!) for it. I'm crocheting stripes, then will use whatever leftovers that aren't enough to make a full stripe as a border. It's working up pretty quick, and is mindless. Perfect for tv crafting.

Of course, the minute I laid it out on the floor to get a picture, all the cats instantly gravitated to it. Like furry little moths drawn to a warm and fuzzy flame. So, sorry, Jason. It looks like I'm not actually making the blanket for you.

And then just seconds after obligingly lining up for a nice picture, Yarneater (background) tried to make off with the remains of the skein, Kleptocat (center) began a valiant effort at eating the safety pins securing the pieces together for easy sewing, and Nuisance (foreground) flipped out for no discernable reason and rolled over while holding fast to the corner with his claws, thus turning himself into a kitty burrito. The blanket is recovering from this ordeal in its plastic WIP tub.

I've also got a project in the works for me, though it's not going at all as planned. I've been doing quite a lot of crafting for other people. First Christmas knitting, which was followed by the Hermione Hat and the epic stripy catnip blanket. I wanted something for ME. So, I browsed through Rav for a hat pattern, busted out that one lone skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky I've had sitting in the stash forever, and started knitting. What could go wrong? said I. Bulky yarn works up quick and the pattern is easy!

The pattern is indeed easy. However, the designer didn't list a gauge. Meh, I thought to myself, I knit a bit tighter than average so I'll just go up a needle size and it'll be fine! After the first pattern repeat, I thought it was looking a bit small, so I put it on a circ and tried it on. Damned thing wouldn't even fit over my head. Ripped it, increased the number of cast-on stitches and added an extra purl stitch on either side of the cabled columns. That should be fine, right? Yeah. I got up to the decreases and decided that I should probably try it on again just to be on the safe side. Well, it fits. Mostly. But it's pretty snug. Almost uncomfortably so. After some hemming and hawing, I just ripped it out a second time. What's the point of knitting a hat if it's something I won't end up wearing because I don't like the end result?

Quickie project has now taken me three days and a load of frustration. I'm going to reknit it AGAIN because I WANT THIS HAT DAMNIT. I'm probably going to add another cable column instead of more purl stitches, but need to sit down and work the math on it to make sure that I'm not going to be knitting this frigging thing a fourth time. I am irritated that I have to do this. The point of using a pattern to knit something is so I don't have to do the math myself, and all of this could have been avoided if the designer had just taken two frigging seconds to sit down with a ruler and her finished hat, and say "I got X number of stitches to the inch" on her pattern. Because the only way she could have gotten an adult-sized hat out of the numbers she posted is if she's an abnormally loose knitter, which would have also been nice to know.

In the meantime, I'm setting this aside because I can't look at the yarn without wanting to hurl it across the room. Probably later this week I'll go back to it.

I'm also doing one of those yearly challenges that pop up on Rav. Last year I kept seeing the 10 in 2010 shawlette challenge, and wanted to get in on that but didn't find out about it until late spring, by which point it was too late because I'm not that crazy all the time. Well, this year I joined up with the 11 Sweaters in 2011, because I need more sweaters. Of course, I haven't started knitting any sweaters yet, but hey, it's only the third week of the year, I've still got time. I have lots of plans for sweaters, so that's something, yeah?

I'm also planning on doing 52 books in 52 weeks this year. I've always wanted to do it, but back in college I was going through a book to a book and a half per day so 52 books in a year wasn't even remotely a challenge to me, so I never bothered. And then after graduating, I pretty much stopped reading at all (for shame!) so I didn't do it then. Well, this is the year, and I'm actually on track with that so far, so I think I'm going to post them on here just to keep myself motivated. But in separate posts. Yep.

another new year!

2011-01-01T12:08:00.002-05:00

The first of January is probably my favorite day out of the whole year. It's better than my birthday, better than Christmas, even better than Halloween! Waking up on January first feels like turning to a fresh page, and the air practically vibrates with all the possibilities contained in the year ahead. It's a new beginning, a chance to lay to rest all of the negative things of the previous year, and to select the positive things to carry forward with me. The last half of 2010 was very hard for me, and I feel relieved to be able to leave that behind.

Silly, I know, because logically today is just a day, like any other day. Yesterday, or tomorrow... they won't be any different. But today still feels special, almost magical, to me.

Anyhow, enough of my mawkish ramblings. Time for the fun stuff: end-of-year knitting numbers and resolutions!

So, this year saw a total of 34 finished projects for (an estimated) 7,880 yards of yarn. That puts me far ahead of both 2008 and 2009 in number of finished projects, and ahead of 2009 for yardage, but I still haven't beat my yearly best of 9,979 from 2008. I blame the afghans of that year, but have a couple in the works for this year so, who knows.

And jeez, another year or so of this and I may have to resort to making charts so it's not just a big jumbled block of text peppered with numbers. Bleh.

And the resolutions!

1. I need to be better about housekeeping. Now that I've got a job that doesn't leave me physically and emotionally drained in my downtime, there's really no excuse for letting clutter build up on the dining room table or for not managing to drag the vacuum around more than once a week. And laundry! I mean, the machine does the work for me, there's no reason to let it pile up at all.

(this is more or less the same as my resolution from last year. I did manage to get my crafting room very organized, so I'm leaving that bit out.)

2. Last year I'd also wanted to be more productive knitting-wise, and I'd say I accomplished that quite handily. This year, I'd like to at least maintain that same level of productivity. I'd also like to get more projects for Jason finished. He's so completely and totally supportive of my hobby, and for whatever reason his stuff always seems to drop down to the bottom of my priority list. There are several projects in the works for him that I'd like to get finished up in the first part of the year, and several more that I'd like to get done by the end of the year.

3. Last year I'd also wanted to work through half of my stash yarn. That resolution was naive and utterly unrealistic. I'd also resolved to only purchase one new skein of yarn for each two I knitted up from the stash. That also didn't happen. However, while my stash didn't exactly shrink by any noticeable amount, it also didn't grow noticeably either, so I'm chalking that up as a draw.

This year, I'm going to be a bit more realistic. I'm still going to try very had to use up more stash yarn, but I'm also not going to place any restrictions on my yarn purchasing that will probably just end up broken several months into the year. I only use birthday and Christmas money to buy it, and I've got it confined to a modest stack of plastic containers. As long as it doesn't get any bigger this year, I'll call that a win.

4. My eating habits are quite appalling. Genetics have blessed me with a metabolism that allows me to eat like total crap and still weigh in at well under 100 lbs. So while I am thin, I am probably also not as healthy as I could be. This year I figure it's high time to finally become an adult about it and start eating better. More veggies, cut way back on the soda, try to eat less pre-packaged stuff. I also want to make an effort to quit eating out quite so much by cooking more at home. This will have the added benefit of saving $$$ in the long run.

5. I would like to start exercising more. My last job had me very active, on my feet all day, hauling around large pots of soup, and putting large orders away. I used to enjoy looking at the order invoices for the net weights so I could say "Yeah, go me! I just shifted around a total of 1200 lbs!" Well, my new job has me sitting on my butt in front of a computer screen for most of the day. I've been learning to hoop dance, which is good cardio, but I need to do something to build up a little more muscle.

6. Last year I said I wanted to both read more and work on my writing more. Working at a library has kickstarted my appetite for new books, but I'm still not writing a lot. It's just hard to get motivated with Sarah not around anymore to read my work and keep me motivated or work as a sounding board for ideas and plotlines. But I really love writing and need to put more effort into it.

Overally, I think these are pretty realistic goals that I might actually stand a chance at achieving this year. So here's to hoping! I've got a good feeling about 2011.

Xmas knitting: continued...

2010-12-29T18:28:00.006-05:00

I suppose it wouldn't surprise anyone if I said that I was still working on my Christmas knitting, would it?

...

I thought not.

I did, however, finish the vast majority of what I'd set out to do. I knit a hat for my father-in-law, a cup cozy for my brother-in-law's lady friend, and finally finally FINALLY finished J-L's damn hat. And there were a lot of socks involved. Lots and lots of socks.

Because I'm kind of an idiot, I completely neglected to snap pictures of all of these things before I gifted them away. So, some were taken after the fact, and one was not taken at all. I don't know why I always forget to do this... Sigh.

So, first the hat. Plain top-down stockinette with a 2x2 ribbed brim. I used Jason as a model and knit it long enough to cover the ears. I knit it up in Malabrigo Rios in the Azul Profundo colorway, which is lovely without being girly. It was my first time working with Rios, and I definitely see what some people meant when they said it was "limp," especially when compared to the un-superwash-treated worsted. But it did knit up into a soft, firm fabric that looks like it will hold up better than the single-ply worsted. It wasn't quite as deliciously squooshy to knit with as the Twist, but still a pleasure. I will certainly be using it again!

Next up is the cup cozy. Brother-in-law's girlfriend had added a cup cozy from Etsy to her Christmas wishlist. The cozy had the little thumbs up thing from Facebook on it, along with the words "like this" embroidered onto a white felt background. The cozy itself was single-crocheted from blue yarn.

I took one look at that thing and said to myself "What the hell!? Charging $20 for that thing?!? It looks like a five year old did the embroidery!" The cozy itself, while much more neatly constructed, was flawed as well. It was basically a crocheted cup with a slit in one side for a mug handle to go through. I felt that having a crocheted bottom would make a mug wobbly and unstable, and it would only work on a certain-sized mug. So I made a knit version that could be used either with a mug or a to-go cup.

It's secured with two buttons. I wish I'd gotten a pic of the back of it because I'm rather proud of my solution to convert it between to-go cup and mug. For a to-go cup it simply secures with two buttons. For the mug, I knit up two short tabs, each with a button on one end and a button hole on the other, that can be used to make the cozy wider and to fit around the handle. I'm really quite pleased with the end result, and she really seemed to like it.

My other great big knitting conquest was J-L's hat. I hate this thing. I hated it from start to finish. I hated every stitch, every color change, every stupid bit of knotted fringe. I had an enormous tangled pile of yarn, I had issues getting the fringe even, I ran out of yarn, I now have a crap ton of yarn left over that I want to burn because my brain associates it with the nightmare that was knitting this awful thing.

But J-L loves it. I mean, loves it. And that makes every painful minutes spent fighting that thing worth it.

And lastly we have the ongoing sock invasion. I got it into my head to knit socks for Mom and Nani. And not just one pair for each, no, I wanted to knit TWO pairs for each! Of course I didn't finish. I had one pair each of the purple completed by Christmas Eve when we exchanged gifts, and one pair of the blue done by the time I left Tampa. I've got one and a half blue socks left to knit, and then they'll be mailed to their new home. Both Mom and Nani loved them, and the aran weight yarn makes them go pretty quick at only 3-4 hours per sock.

And just like that, the year is nearly over. Of course I'll put together my annual New Year's post (the one time of year my blogging is consistent!) on Friday. I'm eager to see how much knitting I've done as compared to last year. And also the annual tradition of making resolutions that I'll break in the coming months. :)

blargh, christmas

2010-12-18T22:47:00.003-05:00

Things have been pretty hectic around here in Yarnia. The last two Christmases were studies in knitting hell. So this year I said to myself, I've learned from my mistakes! I'm not going to knit anything for Christmas this year! Store-bought gifts are definitely the way to go! I love knitting for other people, really I do, but I'm awful at knitting on a deadline. It's stressful and hectic and it makes me feel like crap when I'm not able to finish on time because A) I drastically underestimated how long something would take, or B) something goes terribly horribly wrong causing me to take much longer, or C) all of the above.

Which is why, of course, here I am with less than a week to go until Christmas, frantically knitting away despite the fact that there is No Way in Hell that I am going to finish in time. I've prioritized which projects absolutely must be finished by Christmas, and which I've got a bit of wiggle room with and if I finish them a little late it won't be so bad. My mom and grandmother are getting two pairs of socks each (I made this brilliant decision on the 9th of December. yes, I'm absolutely off my rocker) and I've finished two pairs so far. So if I'm a little late with the other two pairs it won't be the end of the world. The other parts I won't go into detail on because I'm not sure who else does and doesn't follow my blog.

In other happier FO-news, I've gotten some great things taken care of. I've finally finished J-L's hat. That awful evil intarsia beast I've been complaining about on and off for the last year? Yeah. Done. Well, nearly done. I've just got to add braided tassels to the earflaps and felt the whole mess. I'll be posting finished pictures in a blog post of its own with probably a documentation of the whole sad tale.

I've also finished Jon's mitts and scarf. Still haven't presented them to him, because life keeps getting in the way. Namely, my work schedule and his finicky car. But they came out quite nice, and I'm very pleased.

I've also completed Abby's shawlette. I used the pattern Spring Thaw, and Malabrigo sock in the colorway Abril. Lovely yarn, lovely pattern. I did have some trouble starting it. The charts only show half of the shawl, and I didn't realize this at first, then couldn't figure out why the written instructions and charts didn't match up. Two froggings later, it finally clicked. The pattern was quite easily memorizable, and the yarn is a dream. I'm so in love with the color that I want to make myself something with it. Someday, after I downsize my stash quite a bit more...

Abby seems to love it. She's worn it several times since I gave it to her, which pleases me to no end. The best part of knitting for other people is seeing them use and enjoy what I make.

And that's probably why I'm sitting here, half-finished Christmas gift beside me. The thought of it being used and loved is what keeps me going.

and here we go

2010-11-10T18:37:00.004-05:00

Remember last post how I was whinging about this scarf that I was knitting that was taking FOR-EV-ER? Whelp, I finished it. I've currently got it pinned down to the blocking board and drying out, so hopefully it'll be totally done in the next few days and I can take some pretty pretty pictures of it.

In the meantime there's this crappy cameraphone shot of it stretched out. Ignore my messy crafting room.

Now do you see why I was whinging? It'd be one thing if it was just the scarf, but this sucker is knit in the round. It's warm and thick and squishy and I'm kind of in love with it. At some point I plan on knitting me a Hogwarts scarf in this same method, and I'm really super looking forward to it now. Pesky Cold Sheep. Sigh. Someday.

Anyhow! Scarf! The only downside was that the colorwork sections tended to pull in. But not by much, and I'm optimistic that the blocking will take care of it. Because blocking is magical and can fix everything. Almost anything. Well, some things. But I'm optimistic that this is one of them.

This was my first large project with colorwork in the round. The first end took me a week to do. The second only took half the time, it seemed like. Just took some getting used to, but once I fell into a rhythm it just flew.

The fingerless gloves that go along with these are nearly done as well. They just need thumbs. I wanted to wait until I could get my friend to try them on, since I've been tweaking the pattern to fit him better, and that didn't happen for a couple of weeks. However, that delay gave me time to finish up the scarf, so now I'll be able to present them both at once, yay!

It also just occured to me that I've been sadly negligent about posting FO pics here. Luckily I don't have all that many FOs to catch up on.

Firstly:

Apparition Socks. Test knit for a fellow raveler. Knit in Toefutsies in Vic-Toe-Rian which I scored on sale for half off. I'm not entirely pleased with them. The yarn is too "busy" and obscures the pattern, and the leg is a bit loose so it tends to scrunch up. Which of course further obscures the pattern. But the foot fits well, and I have knit some very lovely memories in these socks so they will not be banished to the frog pond. They will, however, probably be worn with jeans.

Secondly:

Munich Multnomah. Knit in Knipicks Imagination in Munchkin. This knit was something of an adventure. I, of course, waited until the last minute before my wedding/honeymoon trip to print out the pattern, and when I did I made the horrifying discovery that the English copy was unavailable and I couldn't read any of the translation languages. However, I picked the pattern originally because it wasn't complicated and thus would make perfect travel knitting, and I was able to cobble together a working pattern by stalking FO pics on Ravelry. I've worn it several times so far, and have gotten tons of compliments every time.

Thirdly: I FINALLY knit up my awesome Jayne hat, and have been proudly wearing it around the 'burgh. Cunning, ain't it?

After seeing me wearing knit items a couple of times, a coworker asked me to knit her something. She purchased the yarn and I'm doing the knitting in exchange for baked goods. She's a phenomenal baker, and I seem to recall the word "cupcakes" being involved in our negotiations. I'm knitting Spring Thaw in Malabrigo Sock (mmm, you see why it didn't take much to convince me to do this knit) in Abril. I am in LOVE with this colorway, and foresee myself doing another project in it for me.

So far it's been behaving itself quite nicely, which in of itself is a little suspect. Makes me wonder what might go wrong...

Oh, and a little update on Cold Sheep. I'm doing well so far, mostly thanks to Jason. Last week he bought me a couple of skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Burgandy so I've got enough to make a pullover with the leftovers of Mom's February Lady. And that's got me thinking about NaKniSweMo. And then I recall the spectacular failure of last year in which I didn't even manage to cast on.

I think I still might give it a go. I need to rip and reknit my Lichen, which I foolishly attempted while proudly waving a banner that read "I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' PATTERN!!" in great big glaring letters. It should be pretty obvious how that ended. Anyhow, I need to frog and reknit. It's a bulky yarn so it goes fast, and it's a top-down raglan sweater in stockinette so it's simple. Stay tuned for further adventures on that front...

WOLLMEISE!!

2010-10-06T18:32:00.001-04:00

I apologize for not posting. My apology comes with a picture of my Wollmeise haul and my stupid cat. That's Yarneater. Notice how she is lurking. She's an awful cat.

Not a whole lot is going on knit-wise right now. I'm working on a scarf for a friend that is taking for-ev-er. Um. That's really it.

I really need to knit more so I actually have something to blog about...

Cold Sheep

2010-09-15T18:31:00.002-04:00

I did something stupid. Something vastly, horribly, fantastically stupid. I made a bet. With Jason. About yarn.

Some of you can see where this is going. Those of you who can are probably already laughing.

See, it all began in Germany...

While on my honeymoon overseas I made the happy discovery that in Germany, there are yarn shop EVERYWHERE. And I mean that. We were there for just shy of two weeks, and we went into a total of nine yarn shops. Only one of them was intentional. (Wollmeise, but that is deserving of a blog post all its own.)

I thought it was interesting to see the differences between German yarn shops and American yarn shops. Shops in America are bigger, and tend to carry a little bit of a lot of things. German shops (at least I noticed from the ones I went into) were much smaller on the average, and didn't seem to carry as much variety. The biggest difference that struck me was that yarn shops in America seem to encourage knitters to go in and just hang out. I have yet to go into an American shop that doesn't have some assortment of chairs or sofas, more likely than not filled with some number of knitters just hanging out and doing their thing. None of the shops in Germany had any seating for customers inside. I'm still not quite sure why that was, but I thought it was an interesting difference.

The other happy discovery I made regarding knitting and Germany was that German yarn is way cheaper than yarn in the US. Of course, the yarns that were cheaper were mostly yarns manufactured in Germany, so I suppose it makes sense. All I know is I scored several skeins of ONline and Zauberballe for the equivalent of 50% off. And Wollmeise, of course. But that is deserving of a post of its own.

Amid all this craziness of abundant yarn shops and cheap yarn, I ended up making this phenomenally stupid bet. For the life of me, I can't remember exactly how it came up. All I remember is I was in Rothenberg ob der Tauber, clutching a bag stuffed full of cheap yarn, and telling my husband that I could go six months withuot buying yarn. I know, I know. I don't know what happened either.

Well, that was in August. The bet officially started in the beginning of September, and I'm now just over two weeks into it. There's not much actually riding on it (the winner gets treated to a fancy dinner out at the restaurant of their choosing) but it's still a bet, and I still want to win, if for no other reason than to prove to myself that I can say I'll do something and actually stick to it! Abandoned KALs aside, I want to show that I can follow through with something I say I'm going to do.

So far I've been doing quite well. Mostly because I haven't really had time to do much knitting, between starting a new job and having work done on the house. I've finished a pair of socks and a shawlette, and I'm about halfway through the second of the abandoned fingerless mitts that I really need to get finished up for my awesome friend. I have a couple of larger projects planned that will hopefully carry me through the bulk of the Cold Sheep time. (two afghans and a sweater)

The really awful time is going to come around Christmas when I'll have a little bit of money that is all mine to spend with no strings or guilty feelings attached to. Maybe I'll save my Wollmeise for that. :)

In the meantime, I need to get my shawlette blocked and photographed, and my socks photographed. Hopefully my next post will have some pretty pretty pictures.

i'm not dead

2010-09-09T19:05:00.002-04:00

I promise. Nor have I forgotten how to type, nor has my computer been kidnapped by evil computer-stealing aliens who have an irrational hatred for blogging. Although if the latter did happen, then I would have a very cool post ready to put up if/when I ever managed to get my compter back.

And for once my lack of posting doesn't stem from sheer laziness. I know, right?! Crazy!

And speaking of crazy, that pretty much sums up my life right now. A great big ball of crazy. Not all of it is the bad sort of crazy, but it's certainly not all the good sort of crazy either. Mostly it's just hectic. And, well, crazy.

I promise promise promise (see! a triple promise! I'm really serious!) that I will start posting again soon. I've got a lot to blog about, and I'm thinking that breaking it up into multiple smaller posts might be more doable than trying to hammer out one massive post. We'll see how that plan goes.

But for now, I'm still here. And still knitting!

Fo!

2010-07-22T17:41:00.000-04:00

I've been on something of a finishing streak lately. I finished my Saroyan, and my Tardis Cowl.

Saroyan first! I knit it up in Malabrigo Twist in Taureg. Now, my love affair with Malabrigo is a long and happy one. Malabrigo Sock is lovely and soft and drapy. The worsted is soft and fuzzy and warm. But oh, the Twist! It's so soft and squishy and the colors are lovely and I never want to knit with another yarn ever again! I want to make a great big blanket out of it and snuggle underneath it and never come out.

I had some measure of problems with this project. (surprise, surprise, yeah?) Accidentally left this sitting out one night and my stupid cats got ahold of it. Woke up to find yarn all over the floor of the bedroom, yarn leading out into the hall and down the stairs, yarn all over the downstairs of the house. Let me tell you, you don't really comprehend just how much yardage comes in a skein of yarn until you see it all spread out like that. Of course, then came the epic detangling session, during with Yarneater and Kleptocat continued to try to make off with it.

Because they'd eaten part of it, my estimations for when I needed to start the decreases were off and I ran out of yarn two repeats early. But I threw in some extra decreases then bound off early and the difference between the two ends is hardly noticeable when it's worn, so I'm satisfied.

I can't wait until it gets cool enough to wear it. It's way too heavy to get away with wearing now. Sigh.

Then I also finished my Tardis Cowl. I was a bit nervous to knit a cowl. I'd never made one before and wasn't sure if it was something I'd actually wear. Now that I've finished it, I'm so in love with it. Knit up in Malabrigo Sock in Persia. The buttons I bought came from Natural Stitches here in Pittsburgh.

Now I'm working on my silk shawl made in bribe yarn. It's so lovely, and I wish I could afford to knit in silk all the time. Knitting it on Knitpicks Options is something of a recipe for insanity, but I'm managing, and the finished shawl (so far) is well worth a little effort. Mmmm, silk.

ketchup!

2010-07-11T14:36:00.004-04:00

I really need to be better about blogging. I mean it this time. Really. Aw, hell, who am I kidding?

I've been in something of a knitting slump lately, which, quite logically, means that I've also been lacking in motivation to post in my blog about (*gasp!*) knitting! Since my triumph over the evil Quadrat, I've finished a grand total of.... one project.

Not to fear, however, I have also started a whopping six others. Yep, still me, still living down to expectations.

Project the first: Sweater! I picked up a few balls of James C. Bretty Marble Chunky in the rather lovely and subdued colorway Lichen. I got the fantastic idea into my head that I would knit a sweater without a pattern. Honestly, what could go wrong? I had this pretty mental image of a loose, comfy sweater I could throw on when I got chilly, and it would be soft and pretty and comfy and I would love it forever. I used my measurements to calculate my increases and decreases, and because I'm an idiot who didn't allow for any ease, the thing fits me like a second skin. But it's okay, really, because it's cute and has shaping, and my mental image of the finished sweater adjusted. Then I came to the sleeves. And because I'm also a lazy idiot, I decided I'd just knit them straight because I didn't feel like doing math. Did the first, and it looked like crap and fit like crap, so I ripped it out, and there my poor sleeveless sweater sits to this day, begging for sleeves. But by now, of course, it's the height of summer and I just don't feel like working on something I can't wear for months yet.

Project the second: Fingerless gloves for a friend. I started the first, and had to keep pausing to have him try them on. First one is now finished, second is cast on, I'm just lacking the motivation to keep going on it because, ya know, the whole summer thing makes me not want to work on winter stuff.

Project the third: Saroyan wrap. Bandwagon knitting for the win! This project actually started out with no small amount of promise. Knit in Malabrigo Twist in the colorway Taureg, it was fantastic. I loved the pattern, I loved the yarn, I loved knitting it. Then I left it out one night and Yarneater and Kleptocat got ahold of it. Let me just say this: you don't fully comprehend just how much yardage is contained in two skeins of yarn until you see said skeins of yarn spread out all over your floor. Both upstairs and downstairs floors. Yow. Saroyan, after an epic detangling session, is now sitting in timeout because, despite carefully calculating how many repeats I could get per skein, and the assurance that Other People on Ravelry made it with far less yarn than I started out with, I have three leaf repeats left, and quite definitely not enough yarn to finish it with. I'm not sure why I'm procrastinating on this. It's not as if waiting will make more yarn magically appear.

Project the fourth: Triangle shawl. Years ago I was given a skein of Artyarns Silk Rhapsody in an attempt to win back my friendship and support. (It was a rather good attempt, too. Any of you out there who would also like to buy my love, please take note.) Because it's much more expensive than any other yarn I've ever bought for myself, it spent quite a bit of time languishing on my shelf while I waffled on what exactly I would do with it. I eventually decided on a simply triangle shawl with yarn-over increases. This yarn is so fantastic, why hide it with a pattern? This one I'm actually savoring rather than procrastinating on. I'm only working on this when I'm in a good mood,because I want to have only positive memories attached to the finished project. (Unlike pretty much everything else I've ever made.)

Project the fifth: Socks! I started them, I lost interest halfway through the second pattern repeat. Same old story.

Project the sixth: Because I apparently am a glutton for punishment, and as if I didn't already have enough on my proverbial plate, I joined a KAL for the very lovely Tilting Tardis Cowl. We all know my track record with KALs, but I'm enjoying this one so far. I don't want to jinx myself, but this may be the one I actually finish! Fingers crossed!

Aaaaand if you made it through all that rambling, I feel that I should reward you with some pretty pictures. This is my one and only finished object. I modified the crap out of another Dane Shawl, and I'm really happy with the results. Yarn is Malabrigo Sock in colorway Persia. I ran out of yarn two and a half rows from the end, and ended up having to buy a second skein. I know, I know, having to buy more Malabrigo, how did I ever cope with such a tragedy?? But fear not, the remains of the second skein are slowly but steadily becoming my Tardis Cowl, and it looks lovely so far. I need more pics of my WIPs.

Anyhow, this shawl will soon find a new home with my very lovely mother-in-law, just as soon as I can get my lazy butt to a post office. Or the next time I'm in Tampa, whichever comes first.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Now to finish more things, and hopefully blog about my adventures knitting them!

quadrat

2010-04-06T21:52:00.003-04:00

I fiiiiinally finished my Quadrat. Finally finally finally. Like, this sucker is blocked, ends are woven in, and EVERYTHING!!

And! Most exciting of all! IT ACTUALLY FITS!!

Now I've started another sweater. Plain, top-down raglan in chunky yarn. After this cabledy madness, I needed something blessedly mindless. This definitely fulfills that. Mmmm, stockinette.

Ravelympics and other things I should have blogged about a month ago...

2010-03-26T22:05:00.002-04:00

Seriously. I fail at blogging. I don't know what the hell my problem with it is. I enjoy blogging, I just never do it. Le sigh.

So. In addition to failing at blogging, I also fail at Ravelympics. I came really darn close, though, and if several key things hadn't gone wrong (mostly my inability to follow a frigging pattern, but also a feline-related incident which was most certainly Not My Fault) I definitely would have finished. So while I don't get to claim success, the experience did teach me one very important lesson:

Monogamous knitting can be magical.

Yeah, that's right. I said it. I knit a sweater in a little over two and a half weeks. That's impressive for me. Really impressive. Like, scary-crazy-bust-out-the-party-hats impressive.

What's even more impressive is the sweater actually came out good. Like, really awesome I'm-not-ashamed-to-send-this-off-to-my-mother good. See??

Yeah, I wasn't making that up.

My knitting self esteem is at an all-time high.

I'm also chugging away at my Quadrat. I've got about 40 rows left on the sleeve, then blocking and seaming which will be a walk in the fucking park after all these rows of cabledy death. I've got high hopes of finishing it up this weekend.

Then April is going to be my WIP-wrasslin' month. I plan to get several of my larger outstanding projects finished up so I can start off my summer knitting with a clear conscience.

Along those same lines, I also spent most of the remainder of my Xmas money on yarn today. (and I actually kept to my resolution of not buying more than one new skein for every two I use up from the stash!) I picked up two skeins of Malabrigo Twist in Taureg, two skeins of Dream in Color Classy in November Muse, and one skein of Malabrigo sock in Persia. AND I have projects in mind for all of them! The twist will become a wrap for me, the Classy will be a cropped sweater, and the Malabrigo sock with become a shawlette for my mother-in-law.

For now I'm going to wander off back to my Quadrat. Almost there!

Ravelympics: Day Whatever

2010-02-21T08:38:00.005-05:00

So, I've been a bad blogger. I intended to update more about my Ravelympics project, but I ended up getting so frustrated with the damned thing that I could barely stand to keep working on it, much less tell others about it.

So, here's where we're at now:

Pretty decent progress, yeah? I anticipate knitting most of the remaining lace section today, and finishing it up along with the garter stitch border along the bottom by tomorrow (or Tuesday at the very latest) which leaves me most of next week to do the sleeves.

I feel very confident that I can finish it, especially considering that I lost three and a half days of knitting time to my own stupidity and lack of reading comprehension skills. I guess I should start at the beginning...

So, using my own bizarre logic and reasoning, I somehow came to the conclusion that knitting size XS at my smaller-than-specified gauge on my larger-than-suggested needles was indeed the right thing to do. In my defense, I knit tightly so I do generally have to go up a needle size or two to get the correct gauge. Well, clearly I miscalculated. After dividing for the arms and knitting a few inches, I tried it on. And crappity crapfuck, if I'd kept knitting I wouldn't have been able to give it to my mother as planned; I would have had to find someone whose arms are the same width as their torso. Needless to say, that doesn't fit a human being of any proportions, so I had to rip back.

I then spent the next day and a half ripping, picking up stitches, knitting for a bit, realizing I immediately divided for sleeves instead of knitting more, ripping, picking up, knitting, realizing I forgot to place third buttonhole, ripping, picking up stitches, etc etc etc ad nauseum.

Finally got it back on track by Thursday, after creating the strange lovechild of sizes XS and XXS and have been happily slogging through the mindless repetition of the torso. I really do enjoy this pattern and would love to make another one for myself. The lace is pretty but easily memorized, the sweater itself is coming out warm and squooshy, and even though it's a pain in the ass to switch skeins every two rows, so far the Malabrigo hasn't thrown any drastic color variations at me.

For the first time since I started this thing, I'm beginning to think that (barring me being an idiot and screwing up again) I'm actually going to finish this on time! Fingers crossed!

Ravelympics: Day 1

2010-02-13T16:14:00.003-05:00

So, believe it or not, I've actually got a decent start on this! I'm already worlds ahead of where I was for NaKniSweMo, but we won't talk about that.

I had my pattern all picked out.

I bought the appropriate amount of yarn.

My yarn is wound into balls. (hehe, balls...)

I swatched. Well, sort of. (okay, now this is sounding familiar) I knit a bit and it was coming out too small, so I'm knitting the next size up and it should be fine. I hope. Gauge swatches lie, anyhow.

I cast on during the opening ceremonies last night, and got a couple of hours in. I've put in a couple more hours so far today, and while it is driving home the fact that yes, I do knit slow as hell, I'm actually making decent headway on this. I'm about halfway through the raglan increases, whee!

Also, Malabrigo is soft and squishy and I think I never want to knit with anything else ever again. I loves it, even if it is kind of a pain in the ass to switch skeins every couple of rows. Most of the balls look like they're pretty close to the skein, but I have one that's sort of lighter and one that's noticeably darker despite the fact that I sat in the LYS for fifteen minutes comparing skeins of Burgundy and trying to pick the five that matched the best. I started with the lightest and the darkest in the hopes that the garter section would help to further disguise the dissimilarity in color, and it seems to be working so far.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this progresses well. I'm hoping to be done with the yoke by Monday, then done with the torso by the following Monday, which would leave me two days each for the sleeves, and two more days to do any finishing and blocking. When I first started, I thought there was no way I'd actually finish it in time, but now that I've got some amount of it done, I'm feeling optimistic again!

excuses, excuses

2010-02-07T15:01:00.006-05:00

So, I meant to blog more often. Really, I actually meant it this time. And then I got sick, and have spent the last week and a half fighting off what has to be the worst cold in the history of people getting colds. I've done a fair amount of knitting, and not much else.

I finished my socks.

And, yep, they fit perfectly. I didn't really follow a pattern for them, just cast on a few stitches more than I had for my 48-hour vacation socks. I almost wish that when I recklessly cast on for crap it wouldn't work out, because then I maybe wouldn't be encouraged to do it anymore. Instead, I go "well it worked out last time, it'll be find!" And sometimes that leads to massive, massive disappointment.

I've also been working on my Quadrat again. It seems to be more-or-less behaving itself. I'm up to the neckline, now. So... about a third of the way through it, if yarn usage is anything to go by. Exciting!

I'm also gearing up for the Ravelympics, which is also exciting. I'm going to attempt a February Lady Sweater. In, erm, 16 days? That should be fun. Or crazy. Or another chance to be laughed at for not even casting on. Right.

socks!

2010-01-24T17:23:00.002-05:00

I'm knitting a pair of socks from an aran weight yarn. I started them late Friday night and am already at the heel turn on the second sock. (and I've been particularly lazy with knitting this weekend, too!)

I may never knit socks out of fingering weight yarn again.

Erm, at least until I set eyes on something pretty and then just omfg have to have it. Because that pretty much always happens.

Sweater is still in time-out on the mantle. I'm going to tackle it when I'm on the high I'll get after finishing a pair of socks in a weekend. That's the plan. What could go wrong?

Uh, don't answer that.

happy post!

2010-01-21T20:57:00.003-05:00

So far 2010 is off to a rather good start. Let's review what I've done so far!

--Case for my netbook.

I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. I designed it myself, just by doing a rough gauge swatch and some quick math (which for once I didn't botch!) Big rectangle, with a droste pattern of alternating knits and purls on the front side. I used Lion Brand Hometown USA yarn for it, which is a super bulky acrylic, which is thick and smooshy enough to make an effective case.

--Mittens!

Do you remember a while ago when I went nuts for mittens and queued fifty bajillion patterns for mittens and then proceeded to not knit any of them? Well, this pattern isn't any of those patterns. But it is mittens, so I do feel that's a step in the right direction, at least.

They're actually the mittens that Bella (supposedly) wears in Twilight. I wouldn't know because I refuse to watch it, at least without several sarcastic friends and copious amounts of alcohol. Since that opportunity has yet to present itself, I've managed to abstain from the Robert Pattinson / Twilight mania thus far.

In light of my deep and profound dislike of Twilight, it's not unexpected that I swore to myself that I'd never knit these mittens, no matter how pretty I may think they are. However, I kept seeing them around Ravelry. And then I started seeing them around my LYS. And my obsession grew. Then I came to the horrifying realization that I had yarn sitting in my stash that would be perfect for them. And so here they are. Don't judge me.

--Lastly, I knit a little something for my kitty. See how much she likes it? Squee!

The reason I took the time to knit all these things when I could be working on my Quadrat is that my Quadrat is evil. EVIL.

I know, I know. My sweater is being mean to me. Huge shock. I know.

So. I swatched. Yep, actually swatched, not my usual method of half-assedly knitting a bit and going "eh, close enough!" I knit the ENTIRE square, and then I washed and blocked it, and measured again. Came out bang-on, so I started my sweater.

First off, let me say that the cable cast-on is the devil.

So are sweaters that come with SIX DIFFERENT FRIGGING CHARTS. I knit about thirty rows of the cabling before realizing that I'd switched charts B and D, and the cabling was coming out upside down and generally looked like crap. Before going through the trouble of dropping and reknitting those sections, on a whim I measured....

And.... wait for it....

My fucking gauge is fucking off. It's not coming out smaller, as one would assume with cabling and ribbing. No, it's coming out BIGGER.

So I rip, and start reknitting, and ten rows later I realize I've actually been knitting with one size 7 and one size 8 on my interchangeable circs. Rip, start again. I'm almost done with the sleeve, and I realize that I've made one very made mistake when I ripped. I was so obsessed with not having to cast on 110 stitches with the aforementioned cable cast-on that I didn't rip the nine rows of garter stitch. Which had to be knit in a smaller needle size. Since I went down a needle size, now the cable section and the garter sections are now knit in the same needle size.

Now, the cable section draws in, as cabling/ribbing is wont to do. Which means the garter section is now slightly wider than the cable section, and is now puckery. Which means I get to figure out a way to unravel that section and pick up all 110 stitches and reknit. Because I'm sure as hell not starting this sucker over AGAIN.

Stay tuned for further adventures. I'm sure they're coming.

off to a good start!

2010-01-03T00:30:00.003-05:00

So, 2010... so far so good! I've been super-productive knittingwise. It's kind of exciting!

Started off the new year by organizing my queue on Ravelry. It was already fairly organized to begin with, but I added tabs for easier searching, and moved my next month's worth of projects to the top with added descriptions, plans for what yarns to use, and finish-by dates.

I've (brace yourselves, now...) knit up a gauge swatch for Quadrat. Yes, a real gauge swatch. An actualy4"x4" square with a cute little garter border. And I'm going to wash it and everything, just like I'm supposed to. I know, I know. I'm kind of shocked too.

I've started on my first project of 2010: a case for my netbook. I'm about halfway through with the knitting portion, and then it just needs to be lined. I found the cutest fabric for that, stay tuned for pictures.

And, most excitingly, I've knit about three inches on the leg of Jason's socks. Remember those? The ones I started once upon a time and then shoved in a drawer and forgot about for a couple months? Yeah, those! Maybe I'll even finish the pair of them before springtime!

Let's hope I can keep this ball rolling!

happy new year

2009-12-31T16:12:00.004-05:00

Yep, it's that time again! Sitting back for a moment and reflecting back upon the last year. It's been a big one for me -- bought my first house, adopted a couple of beautiful Siamese kittens, got married... It's been a year of milestones for me.

I thought it'd been a big year for me knitwise as well, but I was surprised to learn that I was actually far less productive than I was last year.

2009 saw:
--22 total finished projects
--5961 yards of yarn used up

As compared to 2008...

--24 finished projects
--9,979 yards of yarn used up

I'd only finished two more projects in 2008, and for a minute I didn't feel so bad, until I realized that 3 of my 2008 projects were crocheted afghans. Yikes. I blame it on the fact that what with moving into my new house I lost a lot of knitting time. And the fact that I've just been lazy...

So, resolutions...

1. Keep more organized in all aspects of my life. Need to keep more on top of housework, and keep my knitting and yarn more organized.

2. I need to be far more productive knittingwise. I have several large WIPs I need to get done, and I have some projects I've had planned out forever that I'd like to finish up as well.

3. I want to work through at least half my stash this year. No more buying yarn I don't have a project in mind for, and I'm only allowing myself to buy one skein of yarn for every two I work though from my stash. Realistically, as long as I can get my stash to fit comfortably on its shelf I'll be happy.

4. I want to work on my writing more this year. I want to have my book finished by summer, and ideally have a good chunk of the first in the trilogy rewritten.

5. I want to read more. For some reason I've stopped reading as much as I used to and I really want to get back to that.

Here's to hoping 2010 is even better than last year!

minor update

2009-12-28T21:47:00.003-05:00

Onerva is done done done! It's currently pinned out, blocking. It's nearly dry, so hopefully tomorrow there will be some picture-taking before it goes off to its new home with Sarah. I'm so excited over this project -- the pattern is simple but elegant, and the yarn is just gorgeous. Hopefully she likes it as much as I liked making it.

Because I already got my yarn in, and because I'm an impatient little so-and-so, I started my Quadrat.

By which I mean I swatched.

Erm, by which I mean I started to knit my little 4"x4" square, lost interest halfway through, went "eh, I'm not quite getting gauge but the smallest size is going to be slightly too large for me so I'm just going to say it's close enough!" and started to cast on.

However, Quadrat outmaneuvered me. See, I knew I shouldn't be casting on because the reason I bought the yarn for this to knit it NOW is so that I could participate in a KAL for it. And casting on before the KAL begins sort of defeats the point of doing a frigging KAL in the first place. Well, Quadrat told me to cast on 110 stitches using a cable cast on.

The Cable Cast-On, ladies and gents, is the work of the devil at his finest. I thought that casting on in general was a pain in the ass. I thought that knitting lace was a form of torture. I thought that Intarsia was up there with dancing barefoot on hot coals and broken glass. The Cable Cast-On, my friends, puts them all to shame. I think I made it about ten stitches before the whole thing got so tight that I could barely cast on the next stitch, and then I thought about knitting that first row and how horrible that would be if it was already this tight just casting on. Ripped it out, started again.

Rinse and repeat about half a dozen times before I stuffed the whole mess into a bag and shoved the bag under my bed, and sat down to work a few blessedly mind-numbingly simple rounds on the leg Jason's sock.

Maybe in the meantime I'll actually swatch like I should...

happy christmas!

2009-12-25T14:01:00.002-05:00

Happy Christmas, all! Here's hoping that everyone's holiday is going well.

As for me, I'm enjoying a rather lazy Christmas Day with Jason's family. Mmm, Christmas.

I'm also still knitting Onerva. But really, who didn't see that one coming? I've only got another two or three repeats left. I don't really know for sure, since I'm just knitting until I run out of yarn, and I'm terrible at estimating amounts. I'm optimistic about having it done by next week. Then just blocking and it's done!

In other happy news, I got in my yarn order yesterday! Mmmm, Cascade Dolce is just as soft and pretty as the name implies. Nine skeins of it looks like it might not be enough. I know that it's MORE than enough, because the suggested yarn is 109 yards per 50 grams, and the Dolce has the exact same yardage to grams ratio. And because I'm paranoid I ordered a whole extra skein more than what I need. I'm going to worry about it until I actually start knitting and I see that it's not using up as much yarn as I fear it will. I wish I were better at judging amounts.

Anyhow, I couldn't resist balling up one of the skeins last night, and mmmm, so soft! I'm going to knit on Onerva today, and tomorrow I'll let myself play with the Dolce a bit. Because, believe it or not, I'm actually going to swatch for this thing. And I mean actually swatch, not the half-assed swatching I normally do. Exciting!

For now, back to knitting for me.

I've been bad

2009-12-17T19:51:00.007-05:00

I know I have. I am a bad, bad blogger. I suck. I know.

But! I offer you pretty pretty pictures in return for your forgiveness! Dane shawl is bound off, blocked, and already happy in its new home with Rina. I'm in love with it. I really want to knit another one. For myself. Which I would keep for me and wear all the time. Mmmm, love.

I also finally took pictures of other FOs I'd been meaning to photograph for a while now. My Silk Garden Kerchief, for instance. I'm really happy with how it came out. It's very warm, and I've been wearing it pretty often. I was slightly less than thrilled with how the colors came out, but it's since grown on me...

Then there's my Envy. This was half-finished for a while, but I finally got off my lazy ass and sewed the buttons on it so it's actually, ya know, wearable. I'm pretty happy with this as well. It's a pretty color that looks nice against my grey coat.

And this is my latest FO, which I am so so so happy with. It's for my friend Jon. It's a little big on me, but fits him well, and was very well-received. He put it on right away and went around showing everyone. He's been wearing it all week, which makes me feel all warm-and-fuzzy inside. Nothing like knitting something for someone and having them really appreciate it. Makes me want to knit tons of things for everyone! But I'm too lazy for that, really...

In other news, I'm still knitting Onerva. And still putting off finishing J-L's hat. (hence the blogging! nothing like a good lengthy picture-filled post to put off knitting something I don't want to knit!)

I'm also planning more projects. Yep. I know. Heard it already.

I'm in love with Quadrat from the latest issue of Knitty. Mmmm, boxy cabled sweater. AND I found the perfect yarn for it. I was planning on using Cascade 220 for it, but I stumbled across Cascade Dolce on sale for mega-cheap. Wool/alpaca/silk blend at half off? Don't mind if I do! I ordered it in Silver. Smallest size is for a 33" chest, so I'll be knitting it at a smaller gauge to take off an extra inch or so. I went ahead and ordered more yarn than I'd need for knitting the pattern as-is though, since the reason the Silver is on sale is that it's discontinued. That does make me a bit nervous, but hopefully it'll only serve to motivate me to knit this sucker straight off. That way if something goes horribly, terribly wrong (as it is wont to do) I'll still be able to get my paws on more yarn in that color. Hopefully.

Also in the works are plans for cabled socks, and a hat for Jason. He really liked the one I made for Jon, so he'll be getting one as well. In alpaca. Mostly because I want an excuse to play with alpaca. Also because I love him.

Mmmm, alpaca...

NaKniSweMo: Day 30

2009-11-30T10:24:00.002-05:00

So. Here we are at the very end of November. Remember that sweater I was going to knit? Yeah, didn't happen. I haven't even cast on for it. Hell, I haven't even swatched for it.

Yes, I know. I totally fail. Are we really all that surprised? Nope!

I imagine there must be some sort of hell for people like me.

On the plus side, I finished my Dane Shawl for Rina. I'm somewhat less than halfway through an Onerva for Sarah. J-L's hat is mostly finished. I've been dragging my feet on that because Intarsia is the devil and I would almost rather knit with redhot metal rods than knit Intarsia. I'm going to force myself to sit down and finish it once and for all when I get back to Pittsburgh. We'll see.

Let's talk about happy things! Let's talk about Onerva!

Ever since I saw the gorgeous one made by the infamous RandomCyn, I've had a minor obsession with it. She made hers with Malabrigo sock in the colorway Persia. What a coincidence! thought I, I've got some Malabrigo sock in the colorway Solis sitting in my stash right now! Because, hell, if I'm going to be a copycat I might as well go all the way!

I've done somewhere between a third and a half of this sucker, and my obsession has only grown. I want to make more of these things. I want to make one for me, and for my mother, and my cats, and the postman... I want to go to the LYS and buy out all the Malabrigo sock and knit this for the rest of my life! The pattern is just interesting enough to keep it from getting boring, but easy enough that I can knit while watching a movie and not have to rip back. And pairing it with Solis? Best idea I ever had! The deep green with just the barest touches of lighter green and blues makes me think of vines on a trellis. I love how it's coming out.

I'm so much in love that, aside from a few hours' urge to knit fingerless gloves, I've been completely faithful to this project thus far. Of course, it helps that I've been in Tampa for the week and it's the only project I brought with me. I considered doing my usual ordeal of taking extra yarns and extra patterns and extra needles. Then I stopped, and I thought about it for a minute. I knit slow as fuck. If I'm able to knit this whole damn thing in a week? Hell, I deserve to go to the Tampa LYS and buy more yarn and patterns and needles!! Of course, I didn't come anywhere close to that...

So, no pictures in this post, which I know sucks. I'll post again once I get back to Pittsburgh.

NaKniSweMo: Day 4-7

2009-11-07T14:38:00.007-05:00

Fuck intarsia.

I took a break on the shawl because yesterday was my brother's birthday, and I'd like to finish the hat I promised him back in August by the time he comes up here to visit me next Friday. It's a hat, a frigging HAT, knit in a bulky yarn. I'll have that knocked out in a couple of afternoons easy!

Let me tell you something, ladies and gents. The knitting gods do not appreciate cockiness. In fact, they take great pleasure in beating every last shred of smugness out of you, then they bludgeon out all your optimism just for good measure.

Hm, guess I should start at the beginning...

So way back in December, my brother decided that he wanted me to knit him a hat from a book of patterns I got for Christmas. It's a stockinette hat with earflaps and this fauxhawk made from felted yarn along the top. It's knit in the colors and pattern of a union jack. But he doesn't want it in red, white, and blue. Nope, he'd prefer if I knit it in red, yellow, green, and black. For the less mathematically inclined, three and four are different. Very different. Especially when we're talking about an intarsia pattern.

But, this is what he wants. And it's for his birthday. And I feel kind of guilty that I don't spend nearly as much time with him as I'd like to. So I rework the charts to have four colors instead of three. And then I swatch. And guess what! Cascade 128 and Brown Sheep Bulky aren't really the same thing! My gauge swatch came out waaaay too small. So I jump from size 13 needles to size 15. Still too small. In a stroke of genius, I hold my yarn double, and make gauge with the size 13s.

Fantastic! Except now I have to reskein all my yarn. Out comes the ball winder. I follow the pattern instructions, and divide it up into smaller balls. Midway through, I considered just floating the colors not currently being used along the inside of the hat, then realized that the finished hat would be way too thick. Finally got the balls divided up, and started knitting.

I had so many issues casting on for this stupid thing that after the third botched attempt, I gave up and just decided to use a provisional cast on for the whole thing since, hey, I'm going to be attaching earflaps to most of it anyhow, and I'll just bind off the extra live stitches later! I'm sure that'll be a disaster worthy of its own post, but we'll have that bridge collapse on us when we get there...

So, after an afternoon's worth of work, I get this:

But what you don't see is that it's attached to this:

As if this project wasn't already fucked from the get-go, I had a tiny feline helper decide that she needed to step in for some assistance when I got up for TWO FRIGGING MINUTES to use the bathroom.

As if that wasn't fun enough, while I was laying this out to take a picture of it I noticed that I completely botched the chart for the last bit of yellow before the red intersects. Rather than rip it out, I'm now trying to replicate my error on the top and on the left panel as well. (for what it's worth, it's not as bad as it looks in the picture, the stupid thing just won't lay flat because yay! stockinette curls like a motherfucker!)

Also, there are a bajillion ends to weave in, and have I mentioned how much I hate intarsia? Because I do. A lot.

Stay tuned for the further adventures of the hat from hell.

Oh, wait, what's that about a sweater? And something about the month of November and a big fat deadline on the 30th??

...

I have no idea what you're talking about.

NaKniSweMo: Day 2-3

2009-11-03T18:37:00.002-05:00

I didn't do any knitting yesterday. It was glorious.

I haven't done any knitting today either, but I have done some planning! I sketched out a rough idea for my sweater, and I plan on winding the hanks of yarn I've got for it. Then I will swatch (omfg yes i actually plan to swatch!) and come up with a more solid pattern idea.

I've finished the final repeat on my Dane Shawl, and it still seems a bit smaller than I thought it'd turn out. I'm debating whether I should just knit the edging and hope it blooms when I block it, or if I should go for another repeat. I think I've got enough yarn to go for a second repeat. Maybe. It'd be close. So, yeah, not really sure what to do. I'm leaning toward stringing a lifeline in on the last purl row of this repeat (omfg lifeline who are you and what have you done with biteyfish??) that way if I do come up short on yarn I won't want to scream and throw things and yank my hair out when I rip back. Yeah? Yeah?

But tonight will mostly be winding up my beautiful soft oh-so-pettable sweater yarn. Mmmm, yarn. It'll give me something to do while I watch V (which I am super-excited about!) And that counts as doing something for NaKniSweMo, right? Because really, two days without doing a darned thing for it is bad enough.

NaKniSweMo: Day 1

2009-11-01T19:28:00.002-05:00

So, today I didn't start. Big surprise there, yeah, I know. Today I wrote a page and a half. A rather good page and a half. Maybe I should have gone with NaNoWriMo anyhow...

But no, I've committed. I need to commit. I will knit a sweater.

I don't have a pattern for my sweater yet. I do, however, have yarn for it. A while ago I bought enough yarn to make a Thermal. Then I actually bothered to look at the pattern. The waffle pattern on it involves a lot of k2, p2-ing. I hate ribbing. Hate it with a passion. Knit an entire sweater with ribbing, in fingering weight yarn no less! I would go crazy. Absolutely certifiably crazy. So I need a new pattern.

Rather than do the logical thing and hop on over to Ravelry and search for sweaters that would work well with that yarn, I decided to make up my own sweater. I've only knit two sweaters, one of which I probably have to frog because it completely doesn't fit right, and I've never written a pattern for anything before. Really, what can go wrong?

Anyhow, I spent the evening working on my Dane Shawl. I'd really like to get this done well before Christmas because last minute gift knitting sucks. It's gotten a lot bigger, yay!

It's coming out smaller than the pattern suggests it should, so I'm putting in an extra pattern repeat. I'm nearly done with that, then just have to do the edging. It still seems rather small, and I have a surprisingly large amount of yarn left over, so I'm pretty much just crossing my fingers and hoping that it grows a lot when I block the everloving fuck out of it. We'll see.

I also really need to knit up J-L's hat. I've had the yarn for it for quite some time now, and he's coming up to visit the second weekend of November. It's bulky yarn, so it should go fast. Fingers crossed on that.

Then, yes THEN, I will start my sweater. Um. Yes. I suck. I know.

ah, November...

2009-11-01T11:36:00.003-05:00

November is an exciting month for me. The weather's just starting to turn, Thanksgiving's fast approaching and we all know that Christmas and New Year's Eve are right behind it. November has always been the Thursday of fall -- you're past the halfway point and it's almost the weekend! I love it.

A couple of very exciting things also take place in November: NaNoWriMo, and NaKniSweMo.

I had all of October to prepare for this, but on the few occasions I actually thought about it in more than just passing, I was sidetracked by a glorious mental picture of me sitting down on November 30th, putting the last touches on my shiny new novel while wearing my pretty new sweater. Hopelessly unrealistic, yes, I know.

Now it's November 1st and I've actually sat down and thought about it in more than just passing, and I've faced the harsh reality that there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to do both. And thus I have a choice. Knit a sweater, or write a novel? Both appeal equally much to me, and I have done an equal lack of planning for both of them. I fretted for a while, then it hit me that no matter which I chose, I'm probably not going to finish it by November 30th. That took some of the pressure off, but didn't make it any easier to choose.

My darling husband actually made the choice easy for me. While I was wibbling and waffling back and forth about it, he said to me, "Whichever one you do, you're not going to finish it in a month." (yes, he knows me so well!) "...so you should knit the sweater. See, if you do the book, you're going to have a half-finished book that you'll probably never look at again. But if you do the sweater, you're going to have a half-finished sweater that you're going to want to wear, and it may take you until February, but you'll probably end up finishing it."

In the face of such logic, I chose to do NaKniSweMo. Clearly.

progress!

2009-10-21T19:05:00.002-04:00

My Blue Afghan is going well. My Dream in Color shawl is going well. (still looks like unblocked ass, but I haven't screwed up the pattern. yet.)

It's funny how when all my knitting is behaving itself I have nothing to post about...

knitting blues

2009-10-08T19:12:00.006-04:00

Literally. The two projects I'm mainly working on now are blue. I'm really digging it right now, heck if I know why.

So. Anyhow. Last post found me whinging about how I have nothing to knit. Next time I start that crap again, I want someone to point me at this photo:

(please note the copious amount of blue yarn scattered throughout it)

And the next time I start up my Oh woe is me I've got nothing to knit! the appropriate response to that is "Horseshit! You have enough yarn to cover a queen sized bed. Put on your big girl panties and go knit some of it!"

Which is pretty much exactly what I've done. I've pulled out that one lonely skein of Smooshy I've been meaning to knit up, sat down at Ravelry and dug up an appropriate pattern for it. And then I picked up my needles and started knitting it

(swatch? what swatch? swatches are for the weak, baby, I live life on the edge!)

I'd love to say how much I love it and how happy I am putting this yarn with this pattern etc etc etc. I'm really loving the pattern; it's not too difficult, but looks pretty and complex and, well, lacy. I'm ecstatic over the yarn; it's gorgeous and soft and every bit as smooshy as its name implies it should be. But what's coming off my needles . . . well . . .

Frankly, it looks like ass.

Pretty colored ass, but ass nonetheless. To be fair, this is simply the nature of lace, and it's just a blocking away from becoming gorgeous lace, but right now I look at it and all I see is a garbled messy blob of pretty colored ass. And this right here is why I hate knitting lace. I don't mind following a chart. I don't mind counting stitches and desperately searching for where I missed that one damned yarn-over because my last row came up a stitch short. I don't mind actually having to concentrate at my knitting.

But I do dislike looking at what I'm knitting and going "this looks like ass."

I read somewhere that there are two types of knitters: those who do it for the process of knitting, and those who are motivated by the end product. I'm definitely the latter. The best part of knitting for me is the feeling of pride when I look down at my emerging project, and think to myself "hot damn, I made that!!" or "hey, look! I've knit another two inches!" With lace it's all about delayed gratification because it doesn't get pretty until all the way at the end when it's pinned to the blocking board.

But for now it's rekindled my knitting mojo, so I am grateful for that. Also, it's a gift for someone. Hopefully that will motivate me to keep going on it. Time will tell, I suppose.

I'm off to Virginia this weekend to visit Husband's grandfather. This will be the only project I take along. I'm curious to see how much I'll end up getting done on it. Stay tuned!

buh

2009-10-06T19:43:00.003-04:00

I seem to have fallen into another knitting slump. I've got several projects going, but none really seem to be catching my interest. I've recently started a blanket for Jason as well as a pair of socks, but I've been kind of eh on both of them; the blanket is a log cabin pattern done in half-double crochets, and the socks are 3x1 ribbing. Both are pretty mindless, which usually is exactly what I want while I'm watching tv in the evenings. But lately they just end up lying in my lap forgotten. I'm also working on that scarf for my mystery CAL. I love the way it's turning out, but the pattern is a bit to complicated for tv knitting, and I really don't like the way it's written. Urgh.

In other news, I finished my silk garden kerchief, but have yet to block it. I've finished my friend's birthday gift, but have yet to block it and sew the lining and button. I've finished all but the button band on my sweater, but seriously fucked up the seaming on the shoulders despite redoing it several times. I'm hoping a good blocking will fix it, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

(are we sensing a theme here??)

In other OTHER news, my LYS is having a pre-inventory sale. I made the mistake of stopping by last weekend and spent more than I intended to. Mostly sock yarn (whee!) but also some very pretty wool that was clearanced for just $1 a skein. Yeah, I made out like a bandit on that one. Normally buying yarn inspires me to knit, but I don't have a pattern in mind for the clearance yarn, and I really don't feel like starting another pair of socks when I've already got one on the needles that I don't really want to knit on.

I actually sort of feel like knitting a sweater, of all things. Which would be great except for the fact that I don't have a pattern picked out. I also would have to go buy yarn for it, which is normally a nice thing, but I just spent my fun-money for the month on, well, yarn.

I'm hopeless, aren't I?

Keep tuned in, kids, maybe I'll have something to post besides "i feel like knitting but don't feel like knitting anything i have, and I really shouldn't add to my stash even though i just bought more yarn. which i also don't feel like knitting right now." Hell, there might even be pictures.

yes, I know, I suck

2009-09-26T13:08:00.003-04:00

I honestly have no idea why I suck so hard at posting in this thing. I really need to be better about it.

But I return with some FO hotness in humble offering as a token of my guilt.

Finally got some pics taken of my River Tam Vest. It came out so much better than I though it would, considering there wasn't a very specific gauge given for it, and the instructions were only step-by-step for the side panels, and more akin to "helpful guidelines" for the rest of it. I took pretty good notes, and plan to type up my instructions for the rest of it at some point. Maybe later today depending on how motivated I am.

Also finished my Desperate Housewife Sweater. I used the Lion Brand Cropped Raglan Sweater pattern with some fairly heavy gauge modifications. But it fits and that's all I care about.

I used Knitpicks HW City Tweed in Lemon Curd, which is a lovely lovely soft smooshy yarn, which, I incidentally found the first time I wore it, also sheds like a white cat on a black couch. I also severely overestimated how much yarn I'd need for this thing. I bought 5 balls, and I used 2 1/2. I'm currently looking for a pattern to make with the rest of this lovely soft warm sheddy yarn.

I'm still working on my Silk Garden Kerchief. I've mostly been using it as a mindless-keep-my-hands-busy-so-my-brain-doesn't-wander-off project for during D&D, so it's only been getting about 4-5 hours of on-and-off attention a week. We'll see how long it takes me to finish the thing. Maybe by Christmas.

I've also started a mystery CAL, and so far, despite my track record of starting shit and losing interest shortly thereafter, I'm actually keeping up to speed on it. The group is on Part 4 and I am (gasp!) also on Part 4!! No pics of that, since it's a mystery. But I am using Fibranatura Yummy in Hawaiian Ocean and I really really like it. The pattern itself is enjoyable, though is pretty intricate and takes a fair bit more concentration than I'm really used to putting into projects lately.

I've got plans for a few more projects I'm going to be starting soonish. After the Silk Garden Kerchief is vanquished into my closet as a wearable garment, I'm going to start another triangle shawl for Rina. I've decided on Dream in Color Smooshy in Some Summer Sky for the yarn. I'm still looking for an awesome pattern for it.

I'm also going to start the pair of socks I've been promising Jason for about a year now, as well as a log cabin blanket in Lion Brand Homespun. The Ripple Afghan I made in it over a year ago has held up really well, but is too narrow for proper snuggling under, so I'm making a big Log Cabin blanket to replace it. I'm slowly stocking up on skeins thanks to Michaels gratuitous dispensing of 50% off coupons every time you make a purchase. It'll be in different shades of blues and greys. And I'll be crocheting it so it'll go fast!

I'm ALSO going to start a top-down hat in some delicious handspun I bought from a local spinner/dyer. Mmmm, check this out..

Seriously, how gorgeous is that??

2009-08-24T16:29:00.002-04:00

Oy, I really need to be better about posting in this thing.

I haven't really been doing anything. WWM09 worked out a lot better than I thought it would. I only cast on one new project in the entire month of July, go me! Finished my River Tam vest, though it still needs blocking and to have the ends woven in. Not much other progress to report.

Started on my Starry Night Kerchief, which I'm in love with. Yards and yards of deliciously mindless garter stitch. Mmmm, mindless. Also going to start a cropped sweater, once I make gauge for it. Yes, my other Sesame Sweater is still in pieces. No, I'm probably not going to be motivated to actually finish it until it gets cool enough to wear it.

Woo.

WIP Wrestle Mania!!

2009-07-04T00:36:00.003-04:00

So I'm jumping in on the WIP Wrestle Mania event on Ravelry. It might be nice to have some motivation to finish up old projects that have been lying around unfinished for waaaay too long. God knows I need it. And since this is only for the month of July, maybe I'll actually finish it! Unlike the ill-fated knitalongs I've tried to do.

Anyhow, I rounded up all my old WIPs and entered them into random.org, and the list they came up with is this:

binary scarf
ocean waves afghan
simple socks
beholder
granny afghan
river tam vest
salto socks
crochet tank
stripey sweater

Obviously, there will be some small amount of fudging this list. I need a big project for home, and a small project for when I'm out and about. So, the scarf and wavy afghan will be my home projects, and I'll just work my way down the rest of the list, starting with 3 and skipping 5 of course. Probably won't finish the afghan, if I even get to it at all. I've done another few rounds of the binary scarf, and all it's done so far is remind me just how much I hate colorwork. Ugh. I remember why I stopped working on it in the first place. But once I got it out again, I saw the way Jason was looking at it so I'll be [hopefully] finishing it before next winter. Fingers crossed on that one!

It's a good thing the River Tam vest has fallen somewhere toward the end of the list. I was working on that, and then realized last night that I've completely neglected to start the armhole shaping. My complete and utter lack of reading comprehension strikes again. So I've ripped out several rounds, and it's in time out until I get around to working on it again.

On a less-whiny note, I'm also participating in my very first swap ever, which I am super excited about. I had the day off work, so I did all my shopping for it while I was running errands today. Then I knit up something small but very awesome for the box. It needs a teeny bit of finishing, but then everything will be all ready to go. I'm fairly sure all the post offices will be closed tomorrow, so I'm aiming to get it sent out early next week. I technically have until the 17th to get it mailed, and it's quite a change to have something finished so far in advance of the deadline. Usually I'm rushing around at the last minute, scrambling to get everything all wrapped up. It's nice. I might have to try it more often. :)

It's been a little quieter lately, now that I'm mostly unpacked. I've actually had time for some amount of knitting recently. Still not nearly as much as I'd like, but more than I'd previously been doing in the midst of crazy packing/moving/unpacking craziness. Glad to be done with that! Also, kittens make knitting a study in patience. Woo.

It's late. I suspect I'm babbling. Should go to bed. Happy 4th of July, all!!

happy-go-lucky hat

2009-06-22T18:24:00.005-04:00

It's that time again! That's right! I finished another project! No, it's not a project on my Plan of Attack. Yeah, that Plan has pretty much fallen to the wayside. But it's cute! And so what if it's late June, I'm gonna wear it anyhow!

Unfortunately I now have no take-along project. And I'm pretty much back to seaming my soul-sucking sweater of suffering. Do. Not. Want.

Is it bad that I want to start anther project?

still here and still knitting!

2009-06-10T22:55:00.005-04:00

So, believe it or not, I'm still here, and still knitting. I'm moved into my new house (!!!) and more or less settled. The endless round of visiting family has abated (for now...) and my evenings are once again my own. So what have I been doing with them? Why, knitting, of course!

I finally finished up my Tequila Sunrise socks. Yep, at long last. I know. Just as it's too hot to wear handknit socks. But I loves them, and the temperature is supposed to drop a bit later this week, so I'll get some use out of them, at least.

Still seaming up my sweater. I've more or less lost interest in it at this point; I dislike seaming and weaving them ends, and hoo boy are there ever a lot of ends to weave in. Stupid stripes. Stupid me for thinking stupid stripes are cute. And the fact that now that it's summer I won't be able to even wear the thing for another few months has sapped the last of my motivation. I'm trying to force myself to do a little work on it every few days. At this rate, maybe I'll have it done by autumn... I'm not holding my breath, though.

I did end up buying more yarn recently. (Yes, I KNOW) But since it's for a gift, I'm pretending it doesn't count. J-L picked out some colors he liked, and I'm going to be knitting a bulky hat for him. I'd wanted to get it done before he left, but sadly I don't have needles big enough to make gauge with. So it'll have to wait until I can pick some up.

In the meantime, I've started a Felicity Hat with some Dark Horse Fantasy in Jade Green that I picked up for 40% off while getting yarn for J-L's hat-to-be. I figured some a short project of mindless stockinette that ends in a cute hat might do me good.

Plan of Attack? What Plan of Attack?

Also, most excitingly, I have picked up a couple of knitting helpers. They've been very diligent about performing such useful services as eating my needles and trying to make off with my yarn.

This is Ozymandias and her devious little sister, Pyewacket. I'm sure adventures will follow. In the meantime, though, aren't they cuuuuute?? :)

still alive!

2009-05-19T22:04:00.002-04:00

Nope, I don't feel fantastic and I'm certainly not doing science, but I am certainly still alive. I'm actually in the process of packing up my apartment (which has a lot more junk in it that I realized) and moving it all into my lovely new house!!

Unfortunately this doesn't leave a whole lot of time for knitting. Sadness. I know. Anyhow, just stopping in to say I'm still here, and I'll be back someday. Hopefully soon.

In other [related] news, yarn makes lovely padding for those odd spaces between things when packing. Now my yarn is all packed up, and mostly at the new house, and I miss it. I miss it so.

My as-yet-unfinished sweater is staring at me from its perch on the arm of the sofa. I suspect it may try to strangle me if I don't finish it soon. I'm almost done, I swear! Just have to bind off the collar, pick up and knit the button bands, seam, add buttons, and I'm done! With luck I may have it finished by the time the weather cools off again in the fall. ^^

eff-oh!

2009-04-30T16:21:00.004-04:00

Yep, that's right! My impatiens scarf is done done done! Well, not technically done - I'm still blocking it and then I have to weave in my ends. But I'm done with the knitting and that's good enough for me! Here is a pretty, sorta artsy picture that doesn't really show off either the yarn or the stitch pattern, but goshdarnit it's the only one I've been arsed to take so far so I'm tossing it up here anyhow.

Better pictures will follow as soon as I'm done blocking it. Because blocking is magic and makes the stitch pattern stand out rather than looking like a pretty colored garbled mess of yarn. Urgh. Stupid thing won't fit on my blocking board, so I'm forced to block in sections. Should be done by tomorrow, though!

And, because I wrote out a nice neat organized list, I've moved along to STEP TWO of my Master Plan. Just past the cuff on sleeve #2 of my Stripey Sweater of Intimidation. Then just have to knit up the collar and button bands, sew the blasted thing together and find buttons for it. Ya know, no biggie. Should have that done just in time for the weather to be too hot for me to actually use it. Cause that's my luck. Yep.

plan of attack

2009-04-12T14:29:00.003-04:00

So. I'm procrastinating again. Still haven't finished knitting the last sleeve of my sweater. Still haven't knit the second of my clownbarf socks. Started ANOTHER frigging project. Yep, I could no longer resist the siren call of the Ruca. Drastic measures are clearly called for. Thus, Plan of Attack.

Firstly, I will finish knitting my Lacy Spring Scarf. Because I've cast on for it, ya know. And all. Perhaps actually forcing myself to finish a project I've started will somewhat curb my startitis.

Secondly, I will finish that damned sweater. I hate it, and it hates me, and it just needs to get out of my WIP basket and into my closet.

Thirdly, I will finish my Valentine's Hat. Remember, the one I started on Valentines Day? Yeah, that one.

Fourthly, I will finish my second Clownbarf sock.

Fifthly, I will crochet up my lace vest that I've had planned for-effing-ever. Because I haven't crocheted anything in far too long.

Sixthly, I will use the remainder of that yarn, and the skein of Silk Garden I just bought (yes, I know) to make my Silk Garden Kerchief. Because after all that I'm going to need something mindless to recover with.

Seventhly, I'm going to knit something for Jason. Because it's been a while since I've made anything for him. Maybe the socks. Probably the socks.

And somewhere in all that I'm going to finally finish my Crocheted Tank. I've finally thought up a way to salvage it without ripping the entire bodice. I just have to undo a little of what I've done, and thus far I've been too lazy. Yarr.

So. This is my Plan of Attack. I'm now accepting bets for how long I'll actually stick to this. Personally, I give it a couple of weeks. I might make it to the "Secondly."

it's that time again...

2009-04-05T12:25:00.005-04:00

...when I realize "gee, haven't posted anything in a long while, maybe I should." Because, ya know, the whole point of a blog is to update it? And so far I'm pretty much failing at that.

So. Knitting.

The Stripey Sweater of Intimidation is going. The first sleeve has given me very little trouble, until I reached the end of the armhole shaping instructions and still had twice as many stitches as I should have. After puzzling over it and adding up how many stitches I've got and checking several times for errata, I've just kept decreasing and it seems to have come out more or less the right shape and length. I'm very tired of knitting this thing. It's been one problem after another for me, and I'm ready to have done with it.

I also blame the Stripey Sweater of Intimidation for me buying more yarn even though I shouldn't have. See, even though I obsessively double-checked my yarn amounts when ordering, I still didn't order enough. So I had to order an extra skein. I actually ordered two extra skeins, because with my luck I still won't have figured it correctly and I've got plans for a pair of fingerless gloves. Well, two pairs. And this yarn can go to one of those. And you can't just place an order for two skeins, so I also threw in two pairs of socks' worth of sock yarn. And a cable needle. I know, I fail.

While The Sweater was in time-out, I started another pair of socks. Yep, rather than knitting up the companion to one of the several orphans I've got lying about. I know, I know. I'm using Cascade Fixation. The yarn looked bright and cheerful online, then when I actually received it the skeins looked like garish clownbarf. Then when I started knitting the cuff the colors looked bright and cheerful again. The sky-blue and lilac blended perfectly with the yellow and orangey-red. In a fit of helpless optimism, I named them my Tequila Sunrise Socks. And they were pretty.

Until I hit the leg. Then the colors started doing odd things. They began pooling funny. And unattractively.

And I just let them, because, hell, I don't care anymore. Let them pool. As long as the stitch count is right and the pattern isn't trying to make me scream in frustration, I'm good. Of course, they couldn't pool consistently, oh no, that'd be too much to ask for. Now that I'm on the foot of the sock, they've settled into making stripes. STRIPES. Still, as long as the pattern is correct, I really don't care.

All of my knitting hates me. I have begun to accept this.

And following that line of thought, I'm going to share a conversation I just had with my darling fiance.

Me: I've finally found a pattern for that Araucania Ruca I've had for so long! It took me forever but I've finally found the perfect one, and now I want to cast on!

Him: Shouldn't you finish one of your other projects first?

Me: Yeah, maybe, but I want to make this.

Him: You know how it'll go. By the time you finall finish it you'll be so pissed at it you won't want to wear it.

Me: What?

Him: It happens every time. You'll screw up the pattern, swear a lot, throw it in the time-out corner for a month, rip and reknit a dozen times, and just get angry about the whole thing.

As much as I hate to admit, he really does have a point. Although he was wrong about one thing - it's a time-out basket not a time-out corner.

So, Ruca, you'll just have to wait your turn to drive me round the bend. That is, if there's anything left of my sanity by the time I finish this soul-sucking sanity-eating monster that's masquerading as a sweater...

somehow, i have angered the knitting gods

2009-03-19T22:49:00.003-04:00

I swear. I don't know what I've done to piss them off, or why the hell I deserve such punishment, but the knitting gods are smiting me with every possible bit of bad luck they can manage. Let's take a look at my Stripy Sweater of Intimidation!

--The ribbing is 24 rows, 12 in color A and 12 in color B. I knit 12 in color A and 14 in color B. Not a terribly big deal, and I'm replicating that error on all the pieces. Kind of annoying that I cannot frigging count.

--I then realized that the stripes are supposed to be 20 rows wide. I'm knitting them 24 rows wide. Still not a big deal, as I'm just knitting them all 24 now. So my stripes are slightly wider. So what. Still pretty annoying that I cannot frigging count.

--Halfway through the back I realized that I cast on four stitches too few. DESPITE counting and re-counting, and counting again obsessively. I still fucked up, and not by just a stitch or two. By FOUR. How the hell did I miss FOUR stitches??? My inability to count is getting somewhat ridiculous.

--Finished the back, moved on to the left front. I apparently store my brain in my butt when I'm knitting, because I just kept knitting along after finishing the increases, in a happy little fog. Snapped out of it to realize that I've knitted two and a half stripes past where I should have started the armhole shaping. This is what happens when I knit and . . . well, when I just knit, sadly.

--Knit the right front. Realized when I was about to bind off that instead of knitting the right front, I've actually been knitting another LEFT front. Much screaming and swearing occurred, and there may or may not have been a childish temper-tantrum followed by me storming off to the kitchen for a fortifying drink of the alcoholic variety to steel myself to rip back to the armhole.

I'm at somewhat of a loss for how else exactly I can screw this thing up. But I'm sure there's a way.

Last night I just cast on for the first sleeve. Stay tuned for further adventures.

my knitting hates me

2009-03-03T15:50:00.003-05:00

It's the only conclusion I have reached after the events of the past several weeks. I'm not sure what reason it has to hate me, but hate me it does. Suddenly and violently and all over the place.

Let's review.

There are my January KAL socks. Which, two months past the deadline, I still have not finished. I was knitting away at them, still very much within my self-imposed deadline, when I reached the toe decreases. What possessed me to stop and count my stitches, I don't know, but I did. And I discovered that somehow when I was decreasing the stitches for the gussets, I decreased too much. the sole of my sock was six stitches short because I, apparently, am an idiot who doesn't know how to count. I tried it on, and yep, it's noticeably tighter than its mate. I frogged the entire foot.

But I was not discouraged. I valiantly started knitting away at it again. An inch and a half later, I realize that I ripped back too far, and now it's hasn't been decreased enough. Because I'm an idiot who still doesn't know how to count. I ripped back again.

Frustrated with the sock, I put it in time-out. Then I went out and bought myself a skein of Malabrigo in the colorway Stonechat and cast on for a hat. I'm about halfway through the first lace panel, when I realize that I somehow, and I have no idea how, screwed it up. Ripped back. Put the hat in time out as well.

Moved on to my goofy orange hat. Screwed up the decreases, but luckily I caught the mistake three rounds in. Ripped back and reknit because damn it I was going to bloody well finish something. The rest came out all right.

Empowered by my recent victory I went back to the Spiteful Lace Socks of Hatred. Knit the foot, obsessively counting the stitches every other row. Ended with the correct number. Knit the toe. Realized that the toe of the first sock and second sock look very different. Consult the pattern. Realize that the pattern says decrease every other row. And, yep, I decreased every row. I'm an idiot, and somehow I managed to not catch it before I cut the yarn. Very nearly pitched the whole thing across the room in a childish temper tantrum. The sock is in time out again.

Considered going back to my stonechat hat. Remembered that my stonechat has already expressed its hatred toward me. It's still in time out. Cast on for my sweater instead.

I've been putting off this sweater for a long time. I was disappointed in it before I ever started it, because the yarn looked different online than in person. I thought I was ordering grey and brick-red yarn. Instead I was actually getting grey and brownish-red yarn. But after knitting it up, the color combination has grown on me. It's still not something I would have chosen intentionally, but I think that it works well. Take a look!

I'm almost done with the back, and while at first I thought I had broken the string of evilness, I was wrong. The stripes are supposed to be 20 rows wide. I've been knitting them 24 rows wide. Where I got 24 from, I have no idea. But I didn't discover that my stripes are too wide until I was halfway done with the back. The hell with it, I said, I'll have wide stripes. I don't care.

Then I discovered that not all stripes are 24. The first two after the ribbing were 24. The one after that was 28, and god knows how many the one after that would have been. Probably 38457298734 if I'd had my way about things. I ripped back. All stripes are 24 now.

I also just discovered (and may or may not have hurled my knitting away from me while swearing violently at it) that despite counting and re-counting and re-re-counting, I still cast on an incorrect number of stitches. Four too few. I just fudged the increases so at least the top half will have the right number. Did I mention I apparently suck at counting? I think a kindergartener could count better than I can. It's kind of pathetic.

But that's not true. It's just what my knitting wants me to think. It wants me to think I can't count and can't read a pattern to save my life. It wants me to doubt these basic skills I've mastered since grade school. To what end, I don't know, but it clearly has some clever, evil plot.

So, you see, my knitting hates me.

But that's okay, because right now I hate it back.

the cure to the knitting blues

2009-02-11T18:44:00.002-05:00

I've rediscovered my itch to knit. And, who knew, the answer was so astoundingly simply I'm surprised I didn't discover it before. I'm sure I'll pounce on it quickly from now on.

The way to kick myself out of a knitting slump, I've found, is to buy more yarn.

(two skeins of Crystal Palace Yarns Maizy in Neptune and one skein of On Your Toes in Sage Heather - both of which I bought on sale! $12 total for two socks' worth of yarn, go me!)

I know this sounds like a thinly-veiled excuse to further expand my stash, but it really worked. When I have a new skein of yarn, I immediately start thinking of what patterns would work with those yarns, and all the things I could make with them, and on and on, and then suddenly I want to make things with them, but to do that I have to finish what I'm making now, and bang! just like that I want to knit again.

And besides. Everyone knows that sock yarn doesn't really count as stash.

someone kick me out of this slump?

2009-02-08T00:29:00.005-05:00

Please? Someone? Anyone?

I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I've been in kind of a funk , as you may or may not have noticed since I fell off the face of the ~~world~~ internet recently. I wish I could report that I finished my hat, my socks, all six pairs of mittens I queued up, and the Stupid Striped Sweater of Intimidation, as well as saved the city from aliens and developed a cure for the common cold.

But alas, I have not done any of those things. In fact, let's just take a look at all the things I haven't been doing:

- I have not finished my January KAL socks.
- I have not cast on for my February KAL socks.
- I have not finished my goofy orange hat.
- I have not cast on for my Stupid Striped Sweater of Intimidation. Really, the name says it all there...
- I have not been blogging. (obviously)
- I have also not been doing most of the other things I normally can be found doing, including but not limited to: reading, writing, laundry, saving the city from aliens, etc.

I jest, I jest. But only that last bit. In fact, the only thing I've been doing recently is poking around Ravelry and queuing patterns like I have until tomorrow to list everything I'll knit in the next five years. In one night alone, I queued 13 different patterns for socks. Thirteen. I don't knit socks that fast. I'll probably never knit anything that fast. Thirteen different sock patterns, and that doesn't even touch all the other sock patterns I've already queued. I'm starting to think I've got some sort of problem. I wonder if there's some sort of help group for this sort of behavior...

And so this post isn't completely boring and whiny, here's a picture of my pink lace socks. Or, rather, my one pink lace sock that I completed over a week and a half ago. The second is languishing in my WIP basket, waiting to have its gusset stitches picked up. Which I've been procrastinating on because I can say with relative certainty that picking up gusset stitches is my least favorite activity, like, ever.

Not bad, eh? Now if I could just be arsed to finished its mate... ::sigh::

socks, hats and mittens

2009-01-19T20:45:00.008-05:00

So, my knitting is coming along. My pink lace socks are farther along, and I'm sure they'd be even farther along still if I'd worked on them at all since last Friday... I'm just past picking up the gusset stitches. The instructions at that point of the pattern didn't make much sense to me (possibly because I barely skimmed the pattern, went "that's not usually how I do gussets!" and then went along on my merry way doing the gussets as I've always done them.) I re-read the instructions after doing them my own way, and still don't quite get it. Something about k2tog in a place I don't recall ever knitting 2 together before...

Anyhow, socks!

Not a terribly good picture of the yarn, I'm afraid. It comes out looking far too orange-y. It's a really pretty pink in real life, and one day I swear I'm going to take a picture of this thing in natural sunlight. Although that might take a while because, oh yeah, I live in Pittsburgh, where the sun apparently abandons us every winter.

Anyhow. I'm probably not going to finish these socks by the end of January like a good little KAL participant would. And that's because I'm a horrible procrastinating project tramp. But oh, I have justifications. ~~And don't I always?~~

The reason I haven't touched the socks is because I was being responsible. Yes, I know. Me. Responsible. Ha. But I really was! See, Sunday was the Steelers game that determined whether or not they'd be playing in the Superbowl. (and they are hurrah go Steelers!! ahem...) For this game, the FH and I decided to go enjoy it at a local sports bar. Unable to be parted from my knitting for even a few hours, I had to take a project. Now, since I'd planned on having a few beers and have learned from my past drinking-and-knitting experiences, I wanted something simple to work on. And honestly, who wants to be caught knitting pink lace socks at a sports bar?? Nope, knitting a goofy bright-orange hat is faaaaar better. *eye-roll*

(yeah, I was real productive knitting-wise during that game, wasn't I...)

Yep, that's my skein of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Orange Creamsicle that I bought several months ago because I liked the color but had no idea what to do with it but that's okay because now I do and I really like the pretty things the colors are doing! Except, dirty dirty knitting tramp that I am, I now have no interest in my pink lace socks, and instead am itching to knit this hat. I'm on such a hat-making binge right now. It's kind of silly, but there we are. My addictive personality strikes again.

For whatever reason, in addition to hats, I also want to knit mittens. Why? I have no idea. I've never knit mittens before. Hell, I don't even ever wear mittens, and have previously had no desire to wear mittens. Yet I want to make mittens now. I went so far as to poke around Ravelry and queue half a dozen mitten patterns, most of which I'll never get around to making. Mittens mittens mittens. It's fun to say, but that still doesn't explain my obsession with the darned things. I'm probably going to make a pair out of one of the many skeins of yarn I've got lying about. Possibly the skeins of Bernat Berella 4 Ombrees in Terra Cotta Mist I've got. And then hopefully I'll lose interest in them entirely.

And speaking of yarn, I picked up another couple skeins when I was at Michael's the other day. Guess what I'm gonna make with it!

Go on, guess!! I'll give ya'll a hint: it's gonna be cunning!

stupid lace socks

2009-01-15T15:45:00.007-05:00

Yay! So I finished my on the fly hat last weekend, and then immediately jumped into a Foliage Hat from the Lamb's Pride bulky I bought. Imagine that! I went out, bought yarn, came home, and started a project with it. I know, I know, I almost fainted when I realized what I did. Yipes.

It came out more-or-less pretty. There's one section that I mucked up. I think I missed some YOs since two of the diamond leafy bits are sort of fused into one vaguely misshapen lump. I noticed my mistake five or six rows later, and, unwilling to rip them out, I simply dropped that section and reknit. It came out slightly less misshapen, but still wrong. Whatever. The lace pattern more-or-less hides the error, and when I shoved the hat under my non-knitting fiance's nose and demanded "What's wrong with this!?" he couldn't spot the error. So I just wear that bit in the back and try not to think too much about it.

Things I learned on this hat:

How to read a chart. I've never knit anything from a chart before, and this was a simple enough chart to read. Hurrah, I did it!
How to knit a hat top-down. All my previous hats have been cuff-up. I was thrilled at the complete and utter lack of casting on!
That working a simple bind-off on the ribbing of a top-down hat results in said hat not being over to fit over my head. A very painful lesson, but one I learned well.
The sewn bind-off is pure magic.

I've also cast on my first pair of socks for my knitalong. I'm using the Araucania Ranco Multy that I bought from simplysockyarn.com, and it is wonderful. Sturdy, but soft, and the mild color variation is just amazing. Love love love. I'm knitting the Blackrose Socks from the latest issue of Knitty, and I also love it, and I especially love the pattern and the yarn together. Unfortunately, I'm about to go frog about half of what I've knit of the first leg. See, it all began with a missed yarn-over...

I was admiring my three inches of sock leg, when I noticed IT. A solid bit where there should be a hole. Could it be? *gasp!* I missed a yarn-over! With a surge of dread I recalled when on the prior lace repeat, I'd ended up a stitch short. Unable to spot my error at the time, I just picked up an extra stitch and kept knitting.

Now that I'd spotted it, I couldn't stop staring at the error. Sure that I was being crazy, I shoved the sock under my fiance's nose and demanded "What's wrong with this!?" After peering at it for a moment, he pointed right where the yarn-over should be and said "Something looks funny right here... is it missing a hole?"

Arrrrgh! So I'm not crazy! Even my non-knitting fiance who can't spot the gaping holes or stains on his own socks, was able to see my glaring little error!! But alas, it was twenty rows ago and I really REALLY didn't want to drop those stitches down to fix it. Dropping a section of lace to add in my one little missed yarn-over isn't my idea of fun, and I'm so new at knitting lace I'd probably screw it up more. Oh well, I reasoned, that part of the leg will be under my pants, and who's going to be putting their face close enough to my feet to spot it even if I wear these socks with a skirt? So I kept knitting.

But I was so preoccupied that I repeated one of the lace rows an extra time. So the lace patterns on my socks go normal-normal-normal-too long-too short. Arrrrgh and double-arrrrgh! So I have to frog back the whole sock to fix that. And since I'm already going to be frogging, I might as well just rip back to where that stupid missed yarn-over was in the first place. *sigh*

Where I was:

(can YOU spot the missing yarn-over??)

Where I am:

Tragic, to be sure, but really, two inches was a small price to pay to be able to knit in peace. The error would have bothered me THAT MUCH. Yes. I know I'm neurotic.

Now I'm off to knit and continue watching Desperate Housewives. I think I can get back to where I was by the end of the evening...

sock yarn!

2009-01-10T15:25:00.004-05:00

My order from Simply Sock Yarn got in today!!! Eeeeeeee!!!! I also did a bit of shopping today...

From the left: two sets of double-points in size 10 and size 10.5 from Natural Stitches.

Center column: Dream in Color Smooshy in Some Summer Sky; Lamb's Pride Bulky (from Natural Stitches) in Red Hot Passion; Patons Kroy Socks in Bronzed Berry Stripes (on sale at Michaels); Cascade Fixation in Paint Bucket.

From the Right: Arucania Multy in Colorway 312; Noro (I chose the grabbag option on this, and am very pleased with the color chosen for me!); and last but not least, mmmMalabrigo Sock in Solis.

I'm so very very excited over all of this wonderful pretty yarny goodness. I'm very much looking forward to knitting up all these lovely socks (and my Red Hot Passion hat!)

I'm intimidated by my unknit sweater

2009-01-09T15:10:00.004-05:00

There. I said it. I admit it. The damned thing intimidates me.

I've had the yarn for my Sesame sweater for nearly four months now, and not done anything with it. I swatched in October. I swatched again earlier this week. And not just my usual half-assed version of swatching, in which I knit a few rows, get tired of knitting it, measure, come up wrong, and go "eh, it's close enough." Oh no. I actually swatched like They say you should swatch. I knit up my little 4"x4" square, complete with a few stitches of garter stitch on each side, and a few rows of garter stitch on the top and bottom so it'll lay flat. Then I measured. Then I washed the swatch. Then I dried the swatch. Then I measured the swatch. Then I measured the swatch again. And I came up spot-on.

I have my needles.
I have my yarn.
I have my pattern.
I have my cute little square that tells me I'm good to go!

Yet I haven't cast on for this thing yet. I'm coming up with all sorts of reasons for it, too.

"I need to finish this hat because it's on a deadline." Technically true. But I don't have to have it done for another two weeks. And when have I ever finished something early when I could drive myself mad knitting it the night before?

"I have so many unfinished projects. I should finish some of them before I start another." Ha. I can hear some of you giggling from here.

"But I've got the project for my KAL!" This is how we can tell it's getting bad. I found a pair-of-socks-a-month knitalong that I joined. The last one of these I joined, I didn't even make it through the first month. I'm sure this won't be any different, but it's a little worrying that I'm seriously trying to use it as an excuse.

Really, I just need to man up and start the darned thing. I've looked over the instructions, and they seem very step-by-step and clearly written out. The toughest thing about this is probably the seaming, and I won't have to worry about that til the end. So why have I not started it yet? I don't know. Best I can think of is I'm intimidated by it. I've built up the idea of knitting a sweater so much that I don't want to do it.

This is ridiculous. My first knitted project was a pair of socks. "Start with a scarf!" I was told. "But I don't want to knit a scarf, I want to knit socks!" I said. "But socks are hard," I was told. "I don't care, I'm going to knit them."

And that's how I've always done things - by being too stupid to realize that I can't.

So, I really have no excuse. I need to just jump in. I need to stop being a wuss and just knit it. .....after I finish my hat.....

blargh

2009-01-07T13:10:00.007-05:00

So, things have been a little stressful lately. I flew back to PA on Sunday night, and walked into my apartment only to find that my beautiful parquet wood dining room floor, which was perfectly flat when I left it, now is horribly warped. It goes up and down by several inches. Some of the boards are actually split and cracked, and it sags significantly when walked upon. Yikes.

What a thing to come home to! The appropriate people have been contacted, professional floor people are [hopefully] going to come take a look at it in the next day or so, and this whole mess is well on its way to being fixed. The only really good thing for me about this is that since we're renting, it's not our dime that's going to be paying to fix this. And this is something that seems pretty expensive...

On to happier things! I've finally gotten around to placing my yarn order. I have one from Knitpicks that's still being processed, and another from SimplySockYarn.com. There was a slight problem with that order - one of the colors I'd chosen had sold out just after I placed my order. But the owner sent a very nice email apologizing for the problem and offering either another color or to take that yarn off my order. I picked another color that I liked not quite as much, but will still be fairly happy with. Now I'm just eagerly awaiting the postman!

In between daydreaming about all the lovely things I'm going to make with my pretty shiny new yarn, I'm still working on my superwash hat. Finally took some pictures of it. I'm done with the cabling, and just have endless inches of ribbing before I start the crown decreases. Woo! I think the cabling came out nice, for something I made up on the fly. Simple, but pretty, and fairly well suited for a boy.

Apologies for the crappy pic. Would you believe I STILL can't find the charger for my camera's battery??

Anywho. I have to have this done within the next few weeks, so the recipient will be able to get lots of use out of it this winter. And we all know how great I am with deadlines... It's up in the air right now whether or not I'll finish it in time. I think I will, since this is the only thing I'm working on right now. But then again, we all know how great I am with knitting monogomously.

I swatched for my Sesame sweater last night, and am eager to start it. I'm holding off until I get my hat done. We'll see if that holds.

end of year stats

2009-01-01T21:48:00.004-05:00

So, out of curiosity, I sat down and calculated more or less just how much knitting (and crocheting) I've done this year. Since I don't have all of the FOs with me, I had to estimate a few of the stitch counts on various projects. I also didn't take into account projects or sections of projects I ended up frogging.

So, totals!

FOs - 24

Yardage - 9,978.6

Stitch count - 38,947

I'd also be interested to know just how many hours I've spent playing with yarn this year, but that's something I couldn't even begin to estimate. It's definitely a big number, though.

I'm going to try to keep better track of things this year, just to see how it compares with last year. Of course, I always start out the new year with all sorts of things I've said I'm going to do, and then lose interest a month or so in. Though I think I've been realistic in setting my New Year's Resolutions this year...

1. Try to keep my home a bit more organized. This means keeping on top of cleaning and laundry and such.

2. Keep in closer contact with family and friends. I'm usually pretty bad about talking to people. I think about my family and out-of-town friends almost constantly, but rarely take initiative in keeping up with them. I need to be better about this.

3. Finish more knitting projects than I start! Seriously. This probably won't happen, but I'm going to make a serious stab at it.

4. Be more consistent updating here!

Thanks for reading, all, and I wish you all lots of happiness and luck in the coming year!

boo

2008-12-31T17:35:00.005-05:00

So, my Christmas knitting is finally complete - the last item, Rina's Harry Potter socks, are finally done as of Sunday! Hurrah FOs!! I'm unfortunately going to have to mail them to her, but I need to find some other stuff to throw in the box as an I'm-sorry-I'm-a-horrible-procrastinator thing. Because, ya know, I am.

So to unwind from all that knitting (ha ha, get it, unwind!? ah, I'm lame...) I knit me up a pair of socks in a chunky yarn. And let me tell you, that is the perfect instant gratification project. It only took me 48 hours to whip up, and they're so cozy as house socks. Mmmm, socks.

And now, because I am a glutton for punishment, I cast on for my next project, which is also a gift for someone that needs to be finished on a deadline. Or rather, I'm in the process of casting on for my next project. I am 100 stitches into a total of 196. Yarrgh. I had to stop and take a break from it.

I know it sounds strange, but I actually really really dislike casting on, and starting new projects in general. Don't get my wrong, I have a chronic case of startitis, and I like having lots of projects started, but I don't really begin to enjoy a started project until I'm a couple dozen rows in. Yeah, I'm weird.

So. Anyhow. Hat. I'm making it out of Cascade 220 Superwash, because the recipient can't be trusted to not throw it in the washer and dryer and I want to avoid a very unfortunate felting incident. It's in color 856, a very pretty deep blue heathered with flecks of emerald green. Gorgeous. I'm knitting it up on size 6 needles, for a nice dense and [hopefully] very warm fabric. I'm sort of making up the pattern on the fly as I go. I've got some vague pictures in my head involving lots of ribbing and some cables. The ribbing is a must - I've discovered that ribbing is absolutely magical for ensuring a snug fit when one is knitting for someone who can't try on the project as it's being knit. (Hence the liberal use of 3x1 ribbing on Rina's socks.)

I really don't want to finish casting on for this, but I know I have to. Ah well. It won't be so bad once I'm finished casting on. The yarn is soft and smooshy, and I'm getting to use my new fabulous circular needles I got for Christmas. And oooh, they are everything I'd dreamed they would be...

Speaking of Christmas, I've continued to drool over yarns online that I'm looking to spend my Christmas money on that I always want to buy but won't because they're expensive. The only one I've thus far decided on is that skein of Malabrigo sock yarn, but I still have no idea what color. But I'm taking my time, and savoring all the decisions. I will also be making some less-indulgent yarn purchases. I've got several projects planned in Knitpicks yarn, which for me is the epitome of practical as far as yarn goes. Exciting!

::sigh:: Back to casting on with me...

merry christmas!

2008-12-25T20:51:00.004-05:00

So, um, yeah. This whole posting regularly thing. I suck at it.

The holidays have been insane so far. But despite that I do have some FOs to report.

Seamed my cupcake and it is cute! Yay!

The BTWNE is finally finally done!! And it came out really really nice! When I laid it out to take pictures of it, I was thinking to myself, "damn that came out well! I should make another one, I've got enough yarn left over-" And then reality kicked in and I remember how much I hated this evil thing while I was making it. So I think I'll let the memory fade a bit before jumping into that again...

Erm, and I swear the pics of it will be up soon-ish....

Harry Potter socks are still not done. I'm almost to the toe decreases on the second one. I'm a little sad I'm going to have to mail them to Rina, but I'm only human.

So. Christmas.

Evidently I've been a very good girl this year, because Santa brought me another skein of Harry Potter yarn in the Hedwig colorway, the Andean Chullo hat kit, and the set of Knitpicks Options interchangeable circular needles. Hurrah! Unfortunately two of the needles (one size 7 and one size 8) won't screw all the way down onto the cables so I'm going to have to call about that. ::sigh:: But I love them already!! They're sharp and shiny slippery and really, what else could one want with needles?

Santa also brough me Christmas checks cleverly labelled as from various relatives. I'm going on a yarn-buying spree. There's several items I've been wanting (mmmMalabrigo sock yarn...) and I think this is just the excuse I've been needing to get some. Pictures will come eventually.

ZOMG

2008-12-18T14:25:00.003-05:00

So, I've been neglecting this blog again, bad girl that I am. My life has been INSANELY BUSY lately. So busy, in fact, that it requires the use of ALL CAPS to emphasize just how CRAZY it really is. Yeah.

So, I've not made that much headway, unfortunately. I've finished the first of my mother's socks, but haven't cast on for the second one. I've also finished the first of Rina's Harry Potter socks, and just cast on for the second one last night. I'm about five rounds in, which, let's be honest, doesn't really count for anything. ::sigh::

The BTWNE is soooooooo close to ending. I have just FOUR MORE ROUNDS to do, and then I am done with that awful beast FOREVER.

I've also resurrected my amigurumi cupcake and am almost done. It just needs to be stuffed and sewn together. I might do that later tonight if I have two seconds to do it in. I thought about resurrecting my Beholder as well, but decided that enough is enough. I'm overambitious enough as it is. That little bugger can wait until January.

Now I am off to go crochet like a madwoman. I have delusions of finishing the BTWNE by tonight. Expect a picture-heavy post tomorrow, including the blanket from hell, a cupcake, Jason's hat, and the two first socks!

butter me up, cause i'm on a roll!

2008-12-09T09:42:00.003-05:00

Seriously. Well, not literally. But you know what I mean...

So. Jason's Binary Hat is complete as of Sunday night! I finished it up, wove in the ends, tossed it at him, and hurrah, it fit! He reports that the yarn is not too itchy (as I sorta feared) and that it keeps his ears nice and warm. He also looks very good in that shade of green. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of said finished hat, as he's been using it. I'll try to snap a couple of it tonight when he comes home.

I did make some modifications to this pattern. Instead of just reading the numbers 1-15 in order around the hat, I tweaked it so that it reads 3(.)141592653589793238 instead. Which, really, is just cooler. I also added an extra three cable columns, as well as six rounds to the bottom before beginning the cabling pattern, and another four rounds between the end of the cabling and the start of the decreases.

With that over and done with, I'm back to working on socks as my to-go project. Rina's sock-in-progress is now living in my purse, and I got another couple rounds done while out last night. I will be going to Florida for Jason's brother's graduation, and I hope to get the pair done this weekend. I'm nearly done with the first sock, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the second one will fly off the needles as this one has done.

The BTWNE is close to ending! I don't know how the heck this thing did it, but when I spread it on the floor I had something that was almost blanket sized. wtf, mate!? This things spends a month not growing, and then all of a sudden it's massive?? If I didn't know any better, I'd think this beast is foraging in my stash at night and devouring yarn on its own while I'm not looking. Probably my favorite fancy yarns, too, the bastard.

But I've decided that after another band of each color (9 rows total) it will be big enough to call complete. Right now it's 41.5" x 52" and the three rounds will add 8" in width and length, plus another bit for the border... so 50" x 61" is a pretty good size for a blanket. And thank goodness for that! I did almost three rounds on it yesterday, and if I can keep up that pace I'll be done in no time! And then I can give it away and be done with this monster forever! Bwahahaha!

Also, I have been given an early Christmas present! Many thanks to Kristin for the gorgeous skein of Artyarns Silk Rhapsody! I'm still trying to find a pattern pretty enough to do this yarn justice...

UFO month in a nutshell

2008-11-23T15:21:00.006-05:00

November is more or less over, with only a week to go. And with that said, I'm going to go ahead and conclude that UFO month has not only fallen flat on its face, but hopped valiantly up to its feet afterward to stumble around in a daze for a while before wandering off the edge of a nearby cliff.

After my rapid victory over the homespun beast (which I still have not woven the ends into) my hopes soared. Perhaps this will be the first time since I can remember, perhaps the first time ever! that I will actually do what I say I am going to do! But here we are, 23 days into the month, and... well, let's let the projects speak for themselves.

+ The BTWNE is still devouring yarn like a starving yeti, and has STILL not gotten perceivably bigger. Each round is taking longer and longer, so I'm sure the thing is growing at least some, but it sure as hell doesn't seem like it.

+ My mother's socks are not even halfway finished. I'm about 2 inches away from the toe decreases in the first one, so hopefully only another few hours of work there... I probably would have had it done by now had I for once in my life been able to read a pattern and then knit exactly what it says. I've probably done enough knitting to complete three socks by now, I've just had to undo most of it because it was, well, wrong. ::sigh::

+ I haven't even touched the following: Jason's binary scarf, the pair of socks for myself, my crocheted tank top, the bag that still needs lining, or any of the assorted partially completed amigurumi critters that have been lurking around my yarn stash for months looking like the Frankenstein scrap bin for a mad scientist with ADD.

I did, however, start and complete the binary cable hat for Jason. Unfortunately I either overestimated the stretchiness of cables, or underestimated the biggness of Jason's head, but either way it came out too small. I thought briefly on keeping it for myself, but then we would have identical hats and I refuse to be that couple that goes around matching. So it was sent to the frog pond, and I've been carrying the ball of yarn around with me in hopes of casting on again for it soon.

I also bought more yarn. Yes. I know. One skein of Cascade 220 Superwash in a gorgeous heathered blue-green for a hat for a friend, and one skein of Lamb's Pride Worsted in Orange Creamsicle for myself. Because, really now, who doesn't need a bright orange hat? My yarn diet, by the way, is pretty much over. I'm not going to try to delude myself any longer. Nope, it's gone the way of UFO Month.

I'm also going to go out on a limb here and say that with all my Christmas knitting, I'm probably not going to make much headway in Stash-busting Month either. With any luck, I'll finish what I actually need to finish for gifting, and truth be told, if that happens then I'll be one happy camper. I hope to get a good chunk of it done next week while I'm home for Thanksgiving.

Projects to be worked on at home, in a list, simply because I rather like lists:

+ My mother's socks. Because it's been too damned long. Probably won't finish them, but I can at least get her to try on the first one and see whether it fits her, or if I've just been knitting myself a sock without realizing. I probably will not start the second one until I'm home for Christmas.

+ Rina's Harry Potter socks. I've got high hopes for finishing these up over Thanksgiving. I'm going with a very plain pattern to show off the pretty stripiness of the yarn. I'm thinking a 3x1 rib on the leg, and possibly the instep. I'm getting 9 spi on it, so hopefully it won't take too long.

+ Jason's hat. It took me about three days the first time, but now I've really got the hang of it, and my pattern I'm SURE is correct this time. Though I'm making it slightly bigger, I've got high hopes of finishing it up within the same timeframe.

+ Superwash hat. Probably not going to get done on this trip, though maybe I'll get it started. Thinner yarn will be worked at a smaller gauge so it'll take longer to finish than I'll be home for. But my hopes remain high, and I'll probably get it done by Christmas. I hope. Maybe. Well, at least before it stops being cold.

I'm sure this is more than enough knitting to keep me occupied for six days. And if some miricle occurs and I actually finish all of it, well, they've got yarn stores in Tampa!

a slippery slope

2008-11-11T21:17:00.004-05:00

Cheating on one's yarn diet, I have discovered, is quite a slippery slope. After my fiber splurge over the weekend, I went ahead about bought another two skeins of sock yarn tonight. Because I figured, eh, it's on sale, it's nothing compared to what I already bought, and damnit I had a crap day and sock yarn fixes that. I am very clever at talking myself into things I want to be talked into.

Anywho, it's another two skeins of the Cascade Sassy Stripes, this one in bands of blue and teal. It's very pretty and I wanted it this weekend but felt bad to buy two pair's worth of socks of the same yarn in different colors, so I asked the FH to choose for me, and I went "aww" in disappointment when he didn't pick the blue one. Though I'm sure I still would have gone "aww" in disappointment if he hadn't picked the green one either. In any case, but tonight I'd have both so it wouldn't really matter, would it? I am an EXPERT at talking myself into things.

So tonight I went to my very first knitting group, and I'm definitely going to be going every week. It will be wonderful. Everyone there was very fun and friendly, and it was a pleasure to be among them.

I also fucked up my mother's socks AGAIN. Because I apparently cannot read a pattern to save my life. One of the ladies there was super-nice, and fixed them for me in a way that didn't involve ripping a dozen rounds. I learned some advanced mistake-correcting techniques, and learned to read charts. (and bought more yarn) All in all, the night was a success, and I can't wait for next Tuesday to come round. This is totally worth having to watch 90210 online for!

on heel turns...

2008-11-10T22:17:00.001-05:00

I just finished turning the heel on my sock.

Heel turns are magical.

That is all.

yarn pr0n

2008-11-10T14:52:00.005-05:00

Yep, that's right! Time for more showing off of the yarn! Apologies for the less-than-awesome pictures. These were taken with my phone, and it's way overcast today.

Here we have one skein of Lamb's Pride Worsted in Deep Pine (which is actually a brighter deep emerald-like color, not the washed out bluh the crappy picture implies.) It's for Jason's Binary Cable Hat. This is my attempt to put a little color into his winter attire. I figure I can trick him into wearing something a bit more colorful than his comfort zone seems to allow if the pattern is geeky enough.

Then there's a skein of 6-ply ONline Supersocke. The ball band is in what appears to be German, and the colorway as best I can figure it is just "1092." This will eventually be socks for Jason. I'd already bought two skeins of Knitpicks Palette for socks for him, but after starting to knit up my mother's socks, I realized there won't be enough yarn there to knit up socks for his great big man-feet. So here we are with this. He picked it out himself. This is a perfect example of his "comfort zone" of colors. ::sigh::

And last but not least we have two skeins of Cascade's Sassy Stripes. Again, the colors are much prettier than the picture implies. Because I have tiny feet and stick legs, I'm betting that I've got enough yarn here to make me a pair of knee socks. I intend for this to be my first attempt at toe-up socks. Probably won't get around to it until after Christmas, but until then!

So, yes, I did cheat on my yarn diet. Technically. But all the yarn was on sale. The majority of it is for gifts for someone else. And we all know that sock yarn doesn't really count as stash. So, all in all, I think I'm okay. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

In other fabulous news, my mother's socks (which you can see being neglected in the upper right corner of the photos) are coming along nicely. I finally hit the heel flap on the first sock and I'm a little alarmed at how long the leg is. It's definitely longer than I expected. I poked around pictures of other people's FOs on Ravelry, and some people's look as long as mine, while others look to be a good three to four inches shorter. I'm very confused, because I followed the pattern correctly. I figure I'll just keep going with it, mostly because I'll be damned if I have to frog this thing. It took me a ridiculously long time to do.

The BTWNE is still not ending. I didn't work on it at all yesterday, because I hate it and am avoiding it. I'll probably work on it some tonight during Terminator and Heroes. At least good tv makes its endless monotony bearable.

Tomorrow night I'm going to my very first knitting group ever! Natural Stitches here in Pittsburgh has a Ravelry group on Tuesday evenings, and I'm going to go. And it will be awesome.

arrgh

2008-11-08T21:03:00.006-05:00

I was at the LYS again today. In an uncharacteristic show of self-control, I walked out of there with nothing more than the size 8 dpns that I'd gone in there intending to purchase.

UFO month is, erm, coming along, I suppose. After my victorious FO on the second, I haven't really done much of anything else. I'm rapidly approaching the heel flap on my mother's socks. I've also fed the BTWNE anothe skein or so of yarn, though you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at it. It's like there's some yarn-sucking black hole hidden somewhere within its row upon row of mind-numbingly, eye-crossingly, soul-crushingly boring "3dc, ch1 ad nauseum." I am so so so frigging sick of this blanket that I'm sorely tempted to toss the damned thing out the window and just be done with it. I won't, though, because I am a stubborn little brat and no afghan will ever get the best of me, no matter how evil it is.

I may have cheated on my UFO finishing just the tiniest bit. But, as I ever so cleverly rationalized to myself, presents for other people don't really count. So I finally frogged my failed beret and reincarnated all that lovely soft baby alpaca goodness as the Binary Cable Hat for Jason. Except the lovely soft baby alpaca ~~goodness~~ evilness was having none of that. After some minor gauge issues and some half-assed pattern recalculations, I sat down to knit, and three wasted rows into the hat I discovered that the damned yarn is so fuzzy that it completely obscures the pattern. Probably for the best. My calculations were probably off anyhow. They always are.

I don't know if it was only trying to keep me from deviating on my path of UFO decimation or what. I can hear it chastising me now. "No, Leandra! No more projects until December! That's only three weeks away - can't you even make it three measly weeks without starting something new???" That might just be my conscience - that voice I occasionally hear that tells me that I don't need any more yarn. I generally don't listen to that voice.

But so far this yarn is 2 for 2 in failing to become hats. Maybe it doesn't want to become a hat. Or maybe it thinks it's above being knit - after all, it is by far the most expensive yarn I have. Or maybe it's just evil. Well, it better get its act together, or so help me I'll make mice out of every last scrap of the stuff and give them all to my kitties. You hear that, yarn? You better shape up or you'll spend the rest of your miserably existence being slobbered on, clawed up, and getting lost under the sofa.

Tomorrow is probably going to show me breaking my yarn diet. The LYS is having a sale (whee!) and now that I've got the binary hat on my brain, I need appropriate yarn for it. And some more sock yarn because that doesn't count as stash. And appropriate needles. And, um, stuff. Yeah

Anyhow, look forward to yarn pr0n tomorrow.

UFO month - day 2

2008-11-02T14:07:00.005-05:00

So my UFO month is off to a rockin' start. I FINALLY finished my throw blanket I'd started for my sofa waaaay back in April. The ends still need weaving in, but for all intents and purposes, it's done, woo! I am somewhat confused by the amounts of yarn I had left over. I had two tiny balls of the red and lighter green.... and then the ball of the darker green was as much as the other two combined. Which made me go wtf, there were the same amount of stitches per color, why the heck do I have so much darker green left over??? The only reason I can think of is that stupid blanket did it on purpose simply to confuse me. Perhaps as revenge for leaving it undone for so long? (in my defense, it was really hot here over the summer and i couldn't stand to have the thing on my lap)

I've been working more on my mother's socks. I want to have the first one done so she can try it on while I'm home for Thanksgiving. And then if it fits properly I'll whip up the second one. At least, that's the plan so far. I'm slowly approaching the halfway mark on the first sock. I'd be farther along in it, but I'm an idiot who can't follow a pattern to save her life and keep not cabling when I'm supposed to be cabling which has led to much swearing, tinking, and in one particularly unfortunate scene, about two inches being frogged. Bluh.

I'm also still trying to finishe the BTWNE, which is still not growing no matter how much yarn I feed it. It and I are going to get into a bit of a showdown later today. I've got a House marathon planned for this afternoon, and I'm hoping to get a few more rounds done on this beast.

I don't have any pictures today, because unfortunately the sun's not out and the flash on my camera makes everything look washed out and gross, but my FH, who knows me so well, bought me yarn yesterday. But Leandra, I hear you thinking, aren't you on a yarn diet? Well, it doesn't count if someone else buys it for you. And, as the ~~yarn pushing enabler~~ very helpful shoplady pointed out to me, sock yarn doesn't count as stash at all. So I am the very proud new owner of one skein of Opal's Harry Potter sock yarn in Tonks (which will be for my Harry Potter-obsessed cousin's Christmas present - yarn for presents doesn't count either, dontchaknow), and a skein of mmmMalabrigo in the Emerald Blue colorway which is just frigging gorgeous and reminds me of island lagoons. I can't touch either of them until my stash-busting month of December, but I don't care. Now I just need a pattern worthy of its beauteous beauty. I'm thinking maybe a neckwarmer of some sort...

post . . . . . gooooooooood

2008-10-30T16:23:00.004-04:00

In a fit of optimism, I have dubbed November to be UFO month. That's right, during the month of November, I am going to go on a project-finishing rampage. I certainly have enough UFOs lying about to keep me occupied for the whole month.

My fit of optimism quickly became a fit of delusion, as I followed that up by dubbing December to be stash-busting month, in which I will start AND FINISH all the projects that I've got yarn for but just, erm, haven't started. All my UFOs will of course be, by this point, completed.

In a following fit of sobering insight, I realize that I'll be lucky to get one or two projects done during November. Heck, if December goes well, I might get another couple done by Christmas, though I'm sure I'll cast on for many more now that I've given myself leeway to do so. Also, regardless of how UFO and Stash-busting months go, I'll still be buying more yarn after the new year, simply because that was the limit I've set for myself. *sigh* I have a suspicion that there will be another strict yarn diet in 2009.

Speaking of yarn, and yarn lust, I have recently stumbled across this: Harry Potter sock yarn. Words cannot describe the depth of my lust for this. It's Harry Potter. And sock yarn. Harry Potter. And sock yarn. Harry potter AND sock yarn. Together!zomg in one skein!!! I'm not quite sure how exactly it could get any more awesome than this. I'm rather partial to the Hedwig colorway, though the Draco is pretty nice too, as is the Ron, and the Tonks is pretty in a bubblegum-bright sort of way...

Even now, the naughty corner of my mind is whispering that surely a couple skeins of that couldn't hurt, seeing as how I've only got enough sock yarn in my stash for one more pair of socks. ~~Ignoring the two pairs I've already got on the needles, of course.~~ But I am not fooled. Yarn is yarn, and I have way too much already. Plus, the Opal is not exactly inexpensive at $23 per skein and part of the reason for my yarn diet was to save money. So instead I've added it to the mental list of yarn I'm going to spend my Christmas monies on. Yes, I've got a list. An actual written-down, I've-put-lots-of-thought-into-this, planned-out list. Why no, I don't have a problem... Why do you ask?

Eff-oh!

2008-10-22T16:27:00.005-04:00

That's right! Another finished project, go me!! I finished up that scarf I said I was thinking of.

Ta-da!

...just ignore the partially finished project graveyard on the bottom shelf there... why no, that's not at least half a dozen things I'm pretending are finished but aren't really. Like my Special Effects tote, which STILL needs to be lined, or... *ahem*

Anyhow. Moving right along.

See, I was sorting through some old papers and stumbled across some notes from the chemistry class I took freshman year in college, and mixed in with it was a handout of the emission spectra of various elements. My first thought, upon seeing them, was "oh hey, those are scarf-shaped! I bet I could crochet one up in no time!" And so I did. I botched the ending of it - two of the darker purple stripes are spaced too far apart - because I seem to have a complete inability to follow patterns. Although random measurements scribbled on a post-it don't really count as patterns, do they? Ah well. It came out nifty enough, and I figure most people won't be able to tell the difference...

Now I'm back to working on my afghan, henceforth to be referred to as The Blanket That Will Not End. Because it won't. I crochet and crochet and crochet, and the damned thing never seems to get any bigger. It's like it just eats my yarn and expects me not to notice. Well, I have noticed, you evil thing you! And it has become a battle. I'm armed with NINE MORE SKEINS of yarn. No blanket could eat that much without growing! It will become blanket sized if it's the last thing it does!

My mother's socks, however, are behaving themselves quite nicely ~~the little suck-ups...~~ They're taking longer, because they're worked on tiny little twig-needles, but they're pretty and coming along at the rate I more or less expected them to come along at. And did I mention they're pretty? Because they are. I love cabling.

My yarn diet is going better than I thought it would. I bought some yarn for my Hydrogen Scarf, but it was on sale and I only bought a few skeins so it doesn't really count. I placed another Knitpicks order, and there was not one lonely little skein of yarn on it! And if that's not willpower, then I don't know what is! Yarn, I can put off buying by making a mental list of all the lovely yarn I'm going to buy after Christmas when my diet is over. But a set of six sizes of sock needles on sale for $20?? Who could pass that up? Yes, yes, I know I already have the Harmony wood sock needles. But I've discovered that I dislike working with wood needles at that small a guage. I'm afraid I'm going to snap one of them, and then where would I be? So I ordered the nickel plated ones. Because they were on sale. Erm, yes.

Beyond that, nothing's really going on. I still need to swatch for my Sesame sweater, but I'm dragging my feet on it. That's going to be the project I work on while I'm home for Christmas, plus I've got this BTWNE that I HAVE to finish by mid-December, and the socks I really should finish by Thanksgiving. Plus Jason's binary scarf that still needs to be tinked back several rows... ::sigh:: Plus I'm in a bit of a knitting slump at the moment. Probably because I'm neither buying yarn nor starting a billion projects at once... Bluh.

bad blogger!

2008-10-10T09:16:00.002-04:00

When I first started this blog, I told myself I'd update it at least once a week. Well, we can all see how well that's gone...

It doesn't help that I've been pretty neglectful of my yarn habits as of late. I've fallen into sort of a slump, mostly due to my big evil gifty blanket. I'm a little shy of halfway through the stupid thing, and I just. don't. want. to. finish. It's like when you're running, and at first you're just flying along and thinking 'gee, I could do this forever!' and then all of a sudden you feel like you're slogging through mud. I know my second wind is coming, and if this is anything like other projects, I'll hit it when I'm coming up on the end of it. But for now, I'm having to force myself to work on it. Good thing there's still a couple months left until I've GOT to have it done...

My second pair of properly fitting socks are sitting on the back burner, were they've been since I finished the first one. For a while I was stuck between wanting to start the color pattern in the same place on both of them, but not wanting to waste a big chunk of yarn to get them to do so. Now, I'm thinking maybe it'd be best if I frogged the toe of the first one and did another quarter inch or so of non-decreasing rounds to make it a bit longer, because it's just a tiny bit too tight as it is. I like my house socks a little looser than I like my shoe socks. Mostly, I think I'm just making up excuses to explain away my SSS. Blah.

Birthday socks for my mother are coming along, though slowly. Since she's not here and I can't make her try them on as I go, I'm constantly doubting my measurements and going 'what if they don't fit?? These are taking forever, I don't want to send them to the frogpond! wah wah wah, whine whine whine.'

Jason's binary scarf has also come to something of a standstill. I accidentally entered the wrong byte in several rows down. Now, my mother always told me if I made a mistake and "you can't spot it from a running horse at ten feet, it doesn't matter." And it looks fine, and if you weren't actively looking for it you probably wouldn't see it. But the perfectionist part of me is screaming "there's a 0 where there should be a 1!!!" And it's going to drive me crazy if I DON'T fix it. But it's several rows of characters down and I really also don't want to rip all that out. *sigh*

In the meantime I've started a couple of different scarves, but ripped them out again after just a few inches. I don't actually need any new scarves, I'm just experimenting with different stitch patterns.

Though I do have a really good idea for a super-awesome and suitably geeky scarf that I think I'm going to work up fairly soonish. Maybe it'll break up the monotony of the big evil blanket and aaarrgh, more socks. Plus, it's crocheted and I haven't been crocheting much lately (other than my big evil blanket, of course....) Maybe this'll help get me back into it.

eff-oh!

2008-09-22T16:17:00.005-04:00

Yep, I finished a project! I just finished seaming up my very own Ribbed Lace Bolero. It took much longer than it should have, due to me being a complete scatterbrain. The first mistake I made [while drunk] cost me a good three inches of knitting. But then I just kept making mistakes. Or rather, I kept making the same mistake over and over and over.... See, I tend to knit while I watch tv or movies, and if I get too caught up in the show I'm watching *coughcoughTerminatorcough* then my knitting switches over to autopilot. Anyhow, I kept putting in yarn overs where there shouldn't be, and then not catching it for several rows. But now it's over and done with, and it came out cute! So yay!

Now the startitis bug is again nipping at me, and I'm just itching to start something new. I'm resisting, at least until next week. I'm forcing myself to actually work on the Christmas Blanket for the future in-laws. Because, see, I know myself. I'll put it off and put it off, and put it off some more until it's mid-december and I panic because holy crap! I have to crochet an entire blanket by Christmas!! So I'm going to give that my exclusive yarn-crafting attention until this coming Friday. I think I can finish off the first skein of each color, which will put me at a third of the way through the project. We'll see how that goes... *crosses fingers*

Already the naughty corner of my brain who doesn't give a flying cupcake about deadlines and only lives to have me start a dozen projects at once is whispering "but gauge swatches don't count! you're not starting anything, go on, just one little tiny swatch..." NO BAD BRAIN! I WILL NOT FALL FOR YOUR DIRTY, DIRTY SNEAKY TRICKS!!

So, blanket it is. Until Friday. Then I'm going to start probably two more projects. I absolutely need a Herringbone Neckwarmer to match my Calorimetry. Also, I've finally settled on a pattern for socks for my Mom. I think that Salto is just the thing. It's still not horribly complicated, it'll give me a chance to practice my cabling, and they're pretty. ^^

friends don't let friends knit drunk!

2008-09-12T16:46:00.000-04:00

Seriously, you'd think I'd learn. Every. single. time. I try to do any sort of yarny crafting while under the influence, it turns out horribly. There was the heel flap and heel turn I did on a pair of sock that I completely fucked up due to a lack of reading comprehension even more astounding than that which I normally exhibit, probably because of the half bottle of wine I'd consumed while I did it. There was the unfortunate attempt at cabling on my Twisted Maiden Fingerless gloves I did, also after about half a bottle of wine. My latest is on my Ribbed Lace Bolero, where I had to frog half of the lace section because I insisted on knitting after two beers.

As with my other drunken knitting mishaps, I have absolutley no idea what the hell I did, nor how I was able to knit on, oblivious to it, for another three inches. I blame the negative ease of the fabric so far. At least the lace part goes faster than the ribbing...

knit + croceht = win!

2008-09-08T23:38:00.000-04:00

Today I made a very very very awesome discovery. Or, rather, I made a very very very awesome observation. I've been equally eager lately to work on Jason's Binary Scarf, and the future in-law's Christmas blanket. So I've been switching between them. As in, will switch from one to the other and back again in a single tv episode. And what did I notice?

My hands don't hurt!

That's right, apparently by switching between knitting and crocheting, I'm able to play with yarn for far longer pain-free than I am by simply doing one or the other!! Finally, my impatience has done something good!

Now if only I could stop starting things... I'm resisting starting my Ribbed Lace Bolero, but only just...

yarn dieting

2008-09-06T18:34:00.000-04:00

Okay, very very quick update here.

First off, my needles got here!!! Oh. my. god. I am in love. It's like knitting with sunshine and rainbows and kittens. They are absolutely amazing and I want to knit all freakin' day with these things. All of them. At once.

Secondly, though much less enthusiastically, I have put myself on a very VERY strict yarn diet. No yarn, nada, not even one teensy little skein on sale for pennies even until after Christmas.

Thirdly, and the reason for the secondly, I bought more yarn. Yes, more. On sale. I picked up another skein of black for Jason's Binary Scarf. While there, I also picked up:

- 2 skeins of Lion Wool-Ease in Blue Mist. Love the color. It reminds me of oil with all the rainbowy prettiness. I think it'll be great for my second attempt at the Twisted Maiden Fingerless Gloves.
- 2 skeins of Patons Classic Wool Merino in Cognac Heather. And I've got just the project for this! I should be casting on for my very own Ribbed Lace Bolero in the next day or so.
- 3 skeins of Bernat Berella 4 Ombres in Terra Cotta Mist. The name is pretty stupid, but the colors are nice. They reminded me of fall, and for a dollar a skein, well, who could resist? I don't have a project in mind for it, other than the vague idea of maybe a hat and scarf set. Who knows...

Thirdly, and most recently, I just finished my Calorimetry. It was a fairly fast knit. I started it and knit most of it during last night's D&D session, which was fairly slow and more devoted to figuring out puzzles and riddles than actual combat and/or roleplaying. Finished the last quarter or so of it today during a couple episodes of Firefly. The button is my absolute favorite part of it...

Isn't he just adorable??? ^__^

I can't wait until it gets chilly enough to wear it. I've also got plans for a matching neckwarmer. I think that this Herringbone Neckwarmer pattern may be just the thing.

dear knitpicks - stop yanking my chain!

2008-08-31T14:47:00.000-04:00

Dear Knitpicks,

I was very excited to get an email from you. I opened it, hopefully expecting it to be the shipping notice of my latest order. However, I was very disappointed to find that it was actually an ad, letting me know that you are now selling Harmony straight needles. Except I ALREADY KNOW you sell Harmony straight needles. I ordered a set of my very own last Thursday. Sending me an ad for the very thing I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of was just cruel, especially since the ad included several photographs showcasing just how lovely these needles are.

No love til my package gets here,
Me

ketchup!

2008-08-31T10:13:00.000-04:00

Ketchup post! Stuff has happened, I haven't blogged about it, so here we go. This'll be quick, stay with me.

Twisted Maiden gloves are being sent to the frog pond. Got up to the thumb gussets on the first one, and decided that it's too tight, I did the math properly for figuring out if it would fit me, but neglected to take into account that armwarmers shouldn't fit like a second skin. Will be redoing them in a larger needle size at some point.
Finished one of my second attempt at socks, and it actually fits! Hurrah finishing something and it fitting correctly!! I've been putting off starting the second one because I have to make the yarn start in the same place on both so the patterns match. First one ended just after where the second should start. Other skein of yarn starts in *almost* the same place, but I'm going to have to take some yarn of skein A and splice it to the end of skein B to make it long enough to cast on with, and that involves pulling it out to see how long the pink and white section actually is and blah, I'm making this more difficult than it has to be. I could just cut it at the start of the next pink section, but I hate wasting things.
Finally got a good start on the blanket I'm making for the future in-laws for Christmas. I'd done the foundation chain, did half the first round and lost interest. Now I'm about twelve rounds in and though it looks more like a placemat than an afghan at this point, I like how it's coming out. Good choice in colors, go me!
My birthday present from aforementioned future in-laws came in!! They bought me the set of Harmony wood sock needles, and of course I had to use them right away. That's how I ended up finishing that sock. Oh, they're so lovely and I'm so happy and in love, and it was all it needed to convince me to go ahead and use part of my birthday money to order the set of 14" straights, and enough yarn to finish my Calorimetry. <3 <3 <3 I placed my order on Thursday, I'm hoping to get them by the end of next week. *fingers crossed*

i can't stop starting things!!

2008-08-25T16:36:00.000-04:00

Yep, that's right. I started yet ANOTHER project. This weekend my friend came to visit, and she wanted to start the Twisted Maiden Fingerless Gloves. She requested that I help her with it, which I agreed to. Then she pointed out that it'd go smoother if I simply worked along with her. I resisted, I really did. But I am weak, and gave in. So I picked up a lovely skein of Cascade 220 in Marine Heather I had slated for the 12" blocks for my CAL, and began knitting it up.

I only have a pair of size 6 dpns instead of the recommended size 8s, so I cast on 32 stitches and went from there. It's coming out rather nicely, and I really like how the cabling looks done at a smaller gauge.

The socks I were so gung-ho on finishing are now sitting in a heap with all my other UFOs, glaring forlornly at me. Well, it's their own darned fault they're there. Teach them to be stubborn....

I am weak

2008-08-20T15:07:00.000-04:00

I am. I swatched. There, I admit it. I grabbed a skein of that Swish DK and cast on. Then I went and hid in the computer room to knit it up where all of my other yarn and UFOs couldn't stare at me in their accusing way. I could just hear them in my head. "Why aren't you finishing us, Leandra, don't you love us anymore??" Shut up shut up shut up it was just one little tiny swatch I didn't mean to it just sort of happened it didn't mean anything I swear!

I feel like such a knitting tramp.

And in any case, it came out too small, and I don't have a pair of size 7s. Usually I'd say eh, close enough, but I figure for a sweater I should probably make more of an effort to make guage, what with my liking to actually be able to wear it and all...

After the swatching incident, I very meekly slunk back to the sofa and picked up my half of a neglected sock and kept working on it. And wouldn't you know, the damned thing got its revenge on me. I knit up the heel flap, and when I went to turn the heel I mysteriously didn't have the right number of stitches. It turns out that I'm making the sock in the second smallest size, but I knit the heel flap for the smallest one. Aaargh. Stupid sock. It did this to me on purpose to force me to pay more attention to it. Either that or I fail at reading comprehension.

blaargh, sickness

2008-08-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

Yep, so I'm sick today. Luckily, I wasn't scheduled to work today, so I ended up spending the day crashed on the sofa with some knitting. I spent the afternoon swatching* and knitting up my calorimetry. But Leandra! the more astute readers will say, You don't have a calormetry! Well, I do now. Or part of one, at least...

*Where swatching means casting on the required number of stitches, losing interest a few rows in, measuring it anyhow and going "eh, close enough" when it comes up a quarter of an inch short.

Now, I bought only one skein of Shamrock yarn in Beckett, and when it got here I thought to myself, Gee, self, this looks awfully small. But I shrugged and assumed that I would have been smart enough when ordering to check the amount of yarn the pattern called for and ordered accordingly. After all, I'm the one that always orders on the side of caution and picks up an extra skein so if I thought one was enough, well dagnabit, then one's enough.

Turns out I was only half-smart when ordering yarn. I ordered the recommended 50g of yarn, but the yarn used in the pattern is 93yd. Mine is only 82. Fuck fuck and doublefuck. Ah well, I thought. I knit a little tighter than the average knitter, and my gauge "swatch" came out a little short. Should be fine. So I knit. And by the time I got to here:

and the ball had decreased by a somewhat disturbing amount, I was forced to admit that, yes, I do not in fact have enough yarn. *sigh* Note the lovely, lovely way the colors of the contrasting strand are knitting up. Focus on that and not the ~~paperclip~~ stitch marker I've got sticking out the top of it.

The way I see it, I've got a few options. I can:

A - Keep knitting and pray that I've got enough.
B - Frog what I've got so far, cast on less stitches, do fewer repeats in the middle and pray that I'll have enough.
C - Buy more yarn and pray for the same or a matching dyelot.

Option A is clearly silly and will end in me investing a significant chunk of time in knitting something that will inevitably be frogged.

Option B is less silly, but could quite conceivably have the same end result.

Option C makes the most sense, but will inevitably end up in me buying more yarn I really don't need. Plus I've had my eye on those oh-so-lovely Harmony straights, and my mother just gave me check for my birthday and it really would make more sense to do that because then I'd get the free shipping and - no no no! Bad brain! Do not need!

So what am I sitting here doing now? Well, obviously I'm blogging. But why am I blogging? To avoid starting yet another project. See, when the calorimetry failed, I eyed the lovely stack of Swish DK and thought perhaps I should swatch it for my Sesame sweater. But I've fallen into that trap before. Swatching is only fun for the first few rows. Then the novelty of playing with a new yarn wears off, and I wind up starting the project. And I certainly do not need to start any more projects, as clearly evidenced by my Ravelry page.

See, Ravelry shows that I have five WIPs. Nine if you count my hibernating projects, most of which are hibernating just because I don't want a billion WIPs listed. Then throw in the other three smaller projects (amigurumi and a granny square) that I felt were too small and would be finished too quickly to warrent calling them WIPs, and of course the calorimetry I just started. And we might as well add to that the bag that I haven't woven the ends into and lined so I can't actually use yet (aka: it's not done, aka: WIP!), and the beret that's too big to fit a human head and I still need to try to salvage with a few rounds of decreases but I went ahead and listed it as completed anyhow because it was mostly finished and that's close enough, right? And what do we have? A grand total of fifteen. I have over a dozen projects I've started and not yet completed, and I'm wanting to start ANOTHER one?? What is wrong with me???

Even now, that seductive little voice in the corner of my mind is whispering, go ahead, just swatch it! that doesn't really count as starting...

Except I know where it would go! Bad brain, stop trying to lead me into knitting temptation!

I'm going to go keep working on my socks. Maybe if I finish another project in the next few days, I'll reward myself with just one little eensy swatch. That can't hurt, right?

mmmm, yarn

2008-08-18T15:29:00.000-04:00

IT CAME IT CAME IT CAME!!!! MY BOX IS HERE!!!

Naturally, I ran up the stairs to my apartment where I promptly shredded the packaging in my eagerness to get at the yarny goodness within. After ~~wasting~~ devoting about five minutes of my life to petting, I grabbed my camera to share it with the world.

Caution! Yarn pr0n ahead! May cause yarn-lust, especially to those on fiber diets!

Knitpicks Swish DK in Merlot Heather and Cobblestone Heather.

I ordered this for the Sesame sweater I'm planning on making. The yarn is a little more brownish than it looked online, but I like it and I think it still works with the grey.

Knitpicks Shamrock in Beckett.

I'm in love with the colors. Bought for my calorimetry.

Knitpicks Palette in Rainforest Heather and Ash.

For socks for myself and the fiance. Green is mine, grey is his.

Knitpicks Cadena in Leaf, and Knitpicks Andean Silk in Slate.

Not for me, sadly, but for a friend. The Andean Silk is very lovely and oh-so-pettable.

And last but not least we have the reason I try to avoid yarn stores. I went in to pick up some dpns for the socks I'm going to make, and ended up walking out with not only the needles but a $20 skein of yarn. I've heard lovely things about Noro, and have been curious about it for a while, but I *just* ordered a big box of yarn. I do not need MORE yarn. But I saw the colors, and so here we are.

Isn't it just lovely? The picture doesn't even begin to do justice to the gorgeous, gorgeous colors all twined into one disappointingly scratchy ball of yarn. But I've been told it softens in the wash, and I have high hopes.

Now that my yarn is finally here, what do I want to do with it? Why, knit it, of course! Never mind that I already have about a billion other projects going. Never mind that I know myself and that once I start I'll lose interest in a few weeks and start something else new and exciting. Hence why I am forcing myself to finish what I start at least reasonably close to when I start it.

I'm trying to be strong and resist the seduction of new yarn, but I am only mortal here...

startitis - i has it

2008-08-14T16:35:00.000-04:00

Yep, that's me. In one day, I started not one, not two, but THREE new projects. Yeah. Startitis - I has it!

Project the first: Another pair of socks. I had tons of yarn left over from my first pair of socks, so I cast on for a second pair. The first came out slightly too large, so I'm knitting these the next size smaller. What am I going to do with two pairs of near identical socks? I have no idea. Maybe I'll befriend someone with slightly bigger feet than me and give away the first pair.

Project the second: Binary scarf. I stumbled across this pattern while looking for something else, and decided that Jason just needed to have it. And since the Portal scarf I'd started for him way back in March had more or less fallen to the wayside, this would be a nice substitute. This is also my first attempt at colorwork in knitting. We'll see how that goes. I anticipate working like heck on it for about a week before putting it away indefinitely. Then a few months later I'll find a pattern I like better and the yarn will be frogged a third time.

Project the third: Granny square afghan. I've had this project planned for a while, and finally started hooking it up. It's supposed to be a Christmas present for my fiance's parents. I found the yarn on sale, and the colors match their living room. Only three and a half months to go until it's due. Hopefully I can make it in between trying to finish my billion other projects.

Startitis. I do indeed has it. I often wonder at people who only have one or two projects going at a time. Monogamous knitters. I marvel at them. I admire them and their monogamous ways. Even more revered are the people who have no stash. They'll go out, buy enough yarn to make one project, knit that project, and then go buy yarn for their next thing. The gears in my brain actually clunked and skipped a few turns at the thought of that. I'd love to ask how how how! they do that, but I've never actually stumbled across one of those people. Maybe they're a fairy tale, like Santa and the Tooth Fairy and people who don't like chocolate.

Me? I am a project tramp with a stash big enough to keep me occupied for the next couple of years.

In other stash-related news, my knitpicks order shipped!!! (Like I really need more yarn or more projects....) But my bff (a fellow knitter) and I split the order to get free shipping, and if the yarn is as lovely as the last batch I got, then it'll provide much-needed motivation to hurry up and finish the projects I've got cooking now so I can get started on new ones. (See? See how easily I lie to myself to justify buying more yarn and starting more projects??)

obligatory first post

2008-08-13T16:34:00.000-04:00

I mostly created this blog as a way to prattle on about my yarny ways without driving my friends batty. Expect lots of babble about yarn, knitting, crocheting, and lots of whining when I am expecting a box of yarn in the mail.