tightly wound loosely knit

New Arrivals

2009-02-24T14:41:00.007-05:00

The tightlywound household has been a tad bit chaotic lately, thanks to some new arrivals.

First of all, in mid-January -- TD and I "arrived" home. To a house. That we own. (Well, us and the bank.)

The move itself was less than spectacular, and we took every bit of the two weeks of "extra" time to get all of our crap out of the apartment, but we managed (without killing each other -- score 1 for our future). The house is in the same neighborhood where we were renting, and I couldn't be more pleased with the location. Both TD and I hate the 'burbs with a passion (largely because the idea of having to get into my car for EVERYTHING makes me want to weep), so I am glad that we were able to find something that we could afford in a prime in-city location.

We started settling in, and I started itching for another new arrival.

Less than a week of searching on petfinder.com, and we were approved to be the new forever home of this little golden retriever pup. We re-named him Ward (as in Hines). He is the cutest little guy in the world, particularly when he thinks he might get a treat.

I am a dog person, while TD is a cat person. Our plan had always been to get a puppy and a kitten relatively close in time so that they could grow up together. Well, when we went to pick Ward up from the shelter, there was a crate full of kittens in the entry. You can see where this is going, I'm sure.

We took home this little guy, too. His name is Woodley, and he is the sweetest, most people-friendly kitten I have ever seen.

As if that is not enough new arrivals -- our friends gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Valentine's day.

I thought that this new addition needed some handknits to help welcome her into the world. (Also, isn't this a knitting blog?) Luckily, I had a plane ride to and from Panama, and plenty of sock yarn scraps. She's also getting the previously-made BSJ (that matches the booties on the right), which I am sewing buttons on today (pictures to come).

So Starts My Love Affair With Colorwork

2009-02-06T10:33:00.004-05:00

Isn't she beautiful?

Pattern: Selbu Modern
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock, in colorway names that I have forgotten, purchased at Natural Stitches
Needles: US size 3

I should have gone up 1 or 2 more needle sizes because she's smaller than I would have liked. You can see that the colorwork is slightly distorted because it is stretched so much to block. I loved knitting it, though, and was actually impressed at how even my stitching is for a first-timer. The "guts" -- which I forgot to photograph -- actually look quite neat, too.

I love the kettle dyed Malabrigo for this project. The orange is nearly-solid, while the purple has a good deal of shade variation, which you can see in the "flash" photograph below.

She's pictured here during the blocking process (on a plate). It was so small that for a minute I thought it wasn't even going to stretch over the plate. Thankfully, with a lot of effort, I squeezed her on.

If I'm feeling brave later, I'll take some pictures of it on. I can't decide if it looks completely ridiculous or not. It's too short to cover my ears, though, so it definitely is not a below-freezing kind of hat.

This was my first time using Malabrigo sock, as well, at it lived up to all of my expectations. It really is as beautiful as the worsted weight Malabrigo. The twist is relatively tight and the yarn feels squishy. It is a pleasure to work with, and I see many projects in my future. Well done, Tobias!

cold weather, and cold weather knitting

2009-01-30T17:14:00.006-05:00

First of all, I'd like to congratulate Miss Tightly Wound (or, as I will henceforth refer to her, Mrs. TD elect) on her recent engagement and homeownership. I will take a teeny tiny bit of credit for helping pick out the ring (in fairness, he did most of the work, but I'm homeless, jobless, and single, so give me a break).

The good thing about a mid-winter move back north is that now I can actually WEAR my handknits. AND due to the aforementioned joblessness (but really, anyone need a moderately skilled, just out of grad school social worker?), I've been knitting up a storm. The other good thing about the move north is actually being able to go into a yarn store and touch things, not to mention talk to real, live knitters. Nothing makes me smile more then going into Kathy's Kreations in Ligonier and having Kathy Zimmerman tell me how lovely my Clapotis is.

Here's the not-so-short list of my recent cold weather inspired knits.

Pattern: Shifting Sands Scarf
Yarn: 2 skeins Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Continental Blue
mods: cast on 42 instead of 52 stitches

This was my first project with Malabrigo, and I'm totally smitten. Also - I followed the instructions linked from the pattern site to teach myself to cable without a cable needle. I think I've already forgotten how, but at least I know I'm capable of it now!

Pattern: Koolhaas
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Continental Blue

Despite the apparent difference in color, my Koolhaas was made with the same yarn as my Shifting Sands (there is no natural light in western PA these days, my friends, and my camera sucks...I'll try to do better, I swear).

I am especially sorry to not have a better picture of my lovely Druid mittens. Not only that, but I've completely forgotten what this yarn is. This pattern is, without doubt, slightly beyond my skill level. My mittens have several mistakes in them that I didn't notice immediately. Luckily, the mistakes are relatively unnoticeable to non-knitters. Better pictures will be forthcoming when I take some.

I have a few more things on the needles (they're repeats of my sisters projects...every time I see her and she's wearing one of her knits I think to myself, "I want that"). Upcoming: cozy cabled mittens and roman earflap hat.

I said yes

2008-12-22T15:21:00.003-05:00

(wouldn't you?)

Quick and Dirty Update

2008-12-16T14:10:00.004-05:00

Well, it has been a long time since you've heard from me. I know, it's shameful. I've been busy with work, house hunting, house buying (!!!), traveling to weddings, and life in general. Enough excuses, though! I'm glad that my sister has been able to pick up the slack and keep the blog afloat during my absense!

Speaking of my sister, Ms. Loosely Knit is deserving of some SERIOUS congratulations. She received her M.S.W. this weekend, and I could not be more proud!!!

(image shamelessly stolen from facebook, because I wasn't able to be there to take it myself)

What's that, you say? Oh, knitting!! Right-o. I plum forgot; this is a knitting blog.

Despite my prolonged absense from the blogosphere, I have not stopped knitting. In fact, I have been quite the busy knitter. I'll show you 2 FOs today that have been done for awhile and are fully integrated into the wearable knits rotation, and then maybe in 6 months I'll show you my current WIPs (just kidding -- I'll try to make it a LITTLE sooner than that)!

Amazingly, I actually have finished PAIRS of socks! Good thing, too, because the winter weather is certainly here, and wool on my feet makes me a happy girl!

Pattern: Madder Rib Socks, from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight, Pebble Beach (I love you STR, I really do)
Needles: US size 2 (and maybe US 1s for the heels and toes, although I really don't remember)
Modifications: Short-row heel (my first) -- quick, easy, and good for the varigated yarn to prevent pooling.

Pattern: Embossed Leaves from Favorite Socks
Yarn: J.Knits Miami colorway
Needles: US 2s, US 1s for heels and toes
Mods: Not a single darn one -- this pattern is perfect as is!

The Curse

2008-11-11T12:58:00.005-05:00

During my past few trips north, I spent quite a bit of time with an old friend. After seeing my knitting, he asked that I knit him a scarf. I basically never say no to these requests, I like knitting for other people. So after getting back to the Florida heat, I dug out some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (my favorite yarn for knitting for boys) from the stash and got to knitting. I managed to get the whole way through the scarf before having second thoughts.

Men's Cashmere scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts
Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky colorway 17032, charcoal

I'm not usually a superstitious person, but for some reason I can't manage to make myself send this scarf. I'll admit, this is far from being a sweater for a boyfriend, but just how far does the curse extend? Perhaps it's better to not knit for a potential new boy, some of you may remember the entralec scarf disaster of my sister's past (if not I suggest catching yourself up here). Although in my defense this does scarf did not take weeks of 8 hour knitting marathon days, nor did it have a hundred ends to weave in, I fear I may have actually learned nothing from my sister. We'll see if this thing actually gets sent or if it just sits in my apartment gathering dust.

In other news, I finished my friend Jedi's (her real name, no joke) hat. She had been asking for a hat for awhile, but I had some trouble deciding on a pattern that wouldn't be ludicrous for Florida. I decided on the ZigZag beanie from the Fall 2008 Interweave Knits. I sort of love the way it turned out, and may eventually make one of these for myself. The mohair is just light enough to be feasible for be wearing on the "cold" days in Florida.

GGH Soft Kid colorway 63, light blue

Up next: hats and scarves for myself, not just other people. In about a month, I'll have more free time than I've ever wanted, so perhaps there are some sweaters in my future (I just won't have any money to buy yarn).

2008-10-03T18:22:00.009-04:00

When things start to go to crap in my life, I knit. And boy have I been knitting. There's nothing like the sound of knitting needles clacking to bring me back to sanity (and, as a bonus, to irritate my now ex-boyfriend).

I'd been meaning to make Clapotis for quite some time, but hadn't been able to justify shelling out the dough for the Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb colorway I'd fallen in love with (I'm a poor grad student, good yarn is definitely a luxury around these parts). Luckily, major life restructuring was just the excuse I needed. I know every knitter and their brother (sister, friend, mom, etc.) already has a Clapotis, so I'm sure I don't need to tell you that by about half way through I was ready to give up on the k, k, k, kbl. I persevered, though, and I now officially have a new favorite knitted item.

Unfortunately, the lighting in my apartment is sort of crap, so the pictures don't do the colors in this justice (the colorway is 308 Huron).

In keeping with the theme of monotonous knitting, I decided to make a baby blanket for an expecting friend. She and her fiance decided they didn't want to know the sex of the baby, so I decided on a neutral yellow for the blanket. I do all of my yarn purchasing online (due to the lack of a decent LYS in my area), and I was moderately terrified when the yarn showed up. Seriously, the skein reminded me a little of baby puke. I decided to start knitting, anyway, and I actually think it looks lovely now.

Pattern: Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stitch 'N Bitch, knit on size 9 needles with Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino held double throughout (I recognize it's a little ridiculous to knit baby things with hand-wash only yarn, but doesn't every new mom deserve one ridiculous hand knit?)

The recipient of this blanket was born Oct. 2, and she basically makes me want to knit baby things until my fingers bleed. I mean really, look at that face.

Mia Jean

Coming up: lots of cold weather knitting for my inevitable post-grad move back north.

Wait a minute...

2008-07-15T20:38:00.009-04:00

...aren't there supposed to be two posters to this blog now? Wasn't there even a contest leading up to the big announcement of the new blogger in the family?

Yikes. Sorry about that. Here's the skinny on me: I'm Janet's baby sister, living and grad-schooling in south Florida. It's not what one might consider the ideal knitting climate, not to mention that basically everyone else that knits (and, well, lives) in this state is 65 and over, but I digress. Here's what happened - Janet suggested I join the blog after teaching me to knit and realizing that I had seriously caught the knitting bug. Seemed like a good idea at the time since I was knitting up a storm. Unfortunately all of a sudden things got serious at school and I barely had time to sleep let alone knit! The good news is I've recently picked up the needles again. The bad news is the projects on this end are still a little remedial, and my wit is only so-so. Hang in there, Janet's bound to blog again about her endless one-sock saga. In the meantime, here's what I've been up to.

Ah, yes. My very own Fetching. I absolutely adore this pattern. Mine are made in Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran, color 300102. I started them Friday afternoon and finished up on Sunday. Nothing like instant knitting bliss!

yarn: 6 skeins HTT Carloway Mills Shetland Aran in green

My Formal Boot Bag (From Bag Style), I'm embarrassed to say, I started in January. In fact, I finished the knitting in January! I even felted it practically immediately, which was no small task considering I hand felted. The bottom portion of the bag is knit with two strands, so while the top part felted pretty quickly the bottom took for-EVER. I love this bag, don't get me wrong, but I HATED finishing it. I don't particularly like any finishing, but anything that requires this much sewing is definitely not my thing (Maybe it's the pointy-ness of the needle, you have no idea how many times I poke myself when I don't have the luxury of the blunt yarn needle). Not to mention that my un-felted panel is probably not that straight due to my high-quality sewing. I love the way the tweed looks felted, but it lost a lot of size in the felting process. I went down a needle size on the un-felted portion to compensate, and I'm pretty excited about the finished product.

Now all I have to do is order a strap for it...

2008-07-09T16:02:00.002-04:00

You should be very proud of me.

Yes, I'm several inches into my SECOND Madder rib sock. Don't worry -- I'm shocked too.

The real problem that now I never want to knit with any other yarn besides STR. Unfortunately, there is that pesky issue of owning more sock yarn than I care to announce, and nearly all of it is non-STR, so I will have to get over it. I'm sure that one of the gazillion gorgeous colorways in my stash will be calling to me soon.

Speaking of those gazillion colorways: I have finally managed to procure my white elephant yarn! Neighborhood Fiber Co.'s Mount Pleasant colorway. If you're unfamiliar, all of Neighborhood Fiber Co.'s yarns are named after neighborhoods in D.C. For any new-ish readers out there, you may not know that I spent a very tulmultuous two years living in Mt.P. I found out about Neighborhood Fiber Co. about 2 days after I moved to Pittsburgh. I saw the Mt.P. colorway, and fell in love. I've been trying to get my hands on some ever since, to no avail.

For about a million reasons, I will never forget living in Mt.P. This may seem like a weird thing to say, but it's true: despite the fact that nearly all of my darkest moments happened in that neighborhood, I have nothing but the fondest of memories of those times.

Yes, I was horribly depressed. Yes, I made many mistakes. Yes, I came terrifyingly close to ruining my life. All true. But I didn't ruin my life. With a lot of help, I got myself (and my life) straightened out. I'm far from perfect, and there are still moments where I feel decidedly not-okay, but I'm hanging in there.

It kind of feels weird to talk about it --even in very general terms -- on the blog. The point is, that all the emotions I feel when I think of that time in my life, I feel about this yarn too. Boy, that sounds really crazy, doesn't it?

Anyway, I finally got my hands on some thanks to The Loopy Ewe.

Now: Go over to Earthchick knits. She's having an amazing contest, and if you're half as sappy as me, you'll get a little teary when you read why.

SSS SOS

2008-06-27T12:32:00.006-04:00

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't finished anything in months. I get to the 50% mark if it's socks, and then the project disappears off the radar.

I'll admit that I have a bad case of SSS. I'll tell ya what the problem is: I have too many beautiful sock yarns that I'm desperate to use. My knitting fantasies are practically endless.

Ooooh, I wonder how this Socks that Rock will knit up in the ribbed pattern? What's the buzz with Numma Numma? That J. Knits would make great Embossed Leaves! This colorway of All Things Heather is just begging to be on the needles! This Dream In Color Smooshy will look awesome as Pomatamus! Oh my god, could this Duet colorway be any more fabulous?

It's not all bad being constantly inspired by sock yarns. However, like many who have come before me, the enchantment seems to end with the finishing of the first sock. By then, I already know how the sKnitches looks in the Jaywalker pattern. I know that the Socks that Rock will stripe at this gauge, rather than varigate. I've already tried a short row heel or a star toe. The process knitter in me is satisfied.

However, the product knitter in me would like to eventually end up with some pairs of socks (thus far in my very short sock-knitting life: only my lorna's laces monkeys have mates). These three are still waiting:

Above: Plain Jain Stockinette socks in Online. The mate for this one is on the needles, and I've just turned the heel, so there is hope for a pair soon-ish.

Above: Ringwood Pattern Socks in Regia. I knit these on US size 0s, and they are awesome... but it took seemingly forever, which does not make me particularly excited to start the second one

Above: Jaywalker in sKnitches Bebop Sock. Love 'em, and have no idea why I'm not feeling particularly interested in making the second one.

I think it's clear that I ought to be working on the socks above. Instead:

Madder Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks (with my first short row heels) in Socks that Rock Lightweight, Pebble Beach. Okay, okay, I admit: I get the buzz about STR. The base yarn is pretty amazing. I was (very) worried about pooling, but while I would have perferred a more varigated look, the striping happening here is pleasant enough.

Also, I am all-but finished with my first EZ project:

Elizabeth Zimmerman is brilliant, and that's all I have to say about this. I did the I-cord bind-off for the first time, and am pleased with the result. Now, if I can just work up the courage to seem the thing.

Just Right Jaywalkers (worth the wait?)

2008-06-04T14:21:00.002-04:00

What's that you say? I'm supposed to both knit and blog? What do you think this is? I knitblog or something? Bah! Foolish readers!

In all seriousness, I had a long no-knit streak there for a couple months due to some high stress 80+ billable hour weeks at work which barely allowed me time to sleep, let alone time to do the finer things in life (like laundry or that pesky surgery I'm supposed to have). Unfortunately, while knitting was precisely the type of activity that I needed to be doing to keep myself sane, there was just no time. Such is the life of a first year BigLaw associate (particularly one who is staffed on a high profile criminal defense case that is at trial).

However, things have slowed (thanks to a sanity-saving grant of a stay pending appeal from the circuit court) back to a tolerable pace now, and I've been doing all that I can to get my life back on track. That includes getting back to knitting.

These are my "Just Right Jaywalkers":

They are "just right" by serious trial-and-error. Still burned from my first "way too tight" jaywalker experience, for my second attempt, I used much fatter yarn (sKnitches BeBop Sock, in the Plum Pudding colorway), size 2 needles, and the size large pattern. Predictably, this resulted in a hilariously big sock. Happily, I came to this realization quite quickly, and frogged well before it became a painful yarn-goes-into-timeout kind of experience. (See that? I can be taught!)

Attempt three was finally just right, if needlessly complex. I'm using size 2.75mm on the chevron parts, and 2.25mm on the stockinette and heel, and using the small 76 st pattern.

I love the yarn. I bought it directly from sknitches.com, but the Loopy Ewe has sKnitches listed as being in the next sneek-up, if you're lucky enough to grab some before it's gone.

TD, on the other hand, thinks that these are the ugliest things ever, describing them as looking like "little kid puke." Luckily, he doesn't have to wear them. But -- is he right? (Say it ain't so!) Has my good color sense failed me?

Tune in next time to find out how to tell if your significant other's father likes you (hint: wooly goodness), and see whether I can manage to actually finish a PAIR of socks before casting on for another single (I wouldn't hold your breath, if I were you).

And So it Goes

2008-03-17T17:13:00.005-04:00

Such a shame to have picked up a few new readers only to be almost immediately sucked into the darkest deapths of the work abyss. But sucked in I got, all the same, and there's no sense waxing poetic about it here, now.

Thanks for all of your kind words re: TD's father. He's finally back home in Maryland, and is on the slow journey to a full recovery.

Cheryl, of contest-winning fame contacted me today to say that she used her gift certificate to pick up some mmmMalabrigo. I'm glad, because it relieves a small bit of guilt that I've been having due to not pulling my weight in Malabrigo March (the months not over yet... I'll cast on soon, I promise)

Although there hasn't been much knitting going on this month, I somehow still have Lots To Report!

Before the whole work vortex thing struck, I had made some astoundingly good progress on the sock-knitting front (hospital waiting rooms are mighty good for this).

First, I started a jaywalker in Gypsyknits BFL:

After I got over the knitterly denial of this thing ever fitting on my foot (which, as you can see... took me all the way until the heel flap), I gave up and decided to work on something so easy that even I couldn't mess it up: stockinette socks! I erred on the large side after the jaywalker disaster, but I think they are going to be just fine.

I finished one stockinette sock in on-line on US 1s.

I'm made the leg quite long, and they are quite big around, so I'm moderately concerned that I'm going to run out of yarn on the second one. We shall see.

Then, I cast on for this beauty - the Gentleman's Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks (which, for those of us keeping track, I bought over a year before actually attempting my first sock).

I am heavily modifying the pattern to meet my preferences, gauge, and foot size - a feet that I'm feeling quite proud of myself for. I probably should get this finished before bragging too much... though I am cautiously optimistic that these will literally be the best pair of socks, ever.

I totally dig the color. It's Regia, purchased from Natural Stitches, and I'm using US 0s.

In non-knitting, but foot-related news, I've had a bit of a health issue as of late.

Do you see that odd bump below my pinky toe? That, my friends, is a bunionette or a "tailor's bunion". I have one on each foot, and they have never been more than a mild nuisance up until a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, they are now much more than a mild nuisance, and this is the kind of thing that will only get worse, not better. So, surgery it is.

But - bonus! I'll have a removeable cast for about 4-5 weeks for each foot. Can you say "who cares about single sock sydrome"?

And the Winner Is....

2008-02-18T14:20:00.002-05:00

Cheryl:) ! Cheryl, I left a comment on your blog - please email me so that we can get you the winnings!! Congratulations!! (also, as a side note - it appears that Cheryl is having a bad day. I bet she would appreciate some extra comments to chear her)

Jody asked what MY answers to the questions would be, so here goes:
1. Most loved handknit: My Clapotis (rav link). It is over-sized and warm, and it almost makes super cold days worthwhile. Close second is my Roman-Earflap Hat. I wear this thing constantly.
2. I most enjoyed knitting: My ZigZag Stripes Chevron Scarf (rav link). The colors are so pretty, the pattern is so simple, and I loved every minute of it.

On a much more somber note:

I meant to pick the winner over the weekend, but - as tends to happen- life got in the way. We've had a rough go of things chez tightlywound these past few days. A day of local skiing took a downward turn (horribly bad pun not intended), resulting in multiple emergency rooms, an extended hospital stay, and what will eventually be a very long road to recovery for TD's father, who sustained a very serious shoulder injury.

TD and I have been neither sufficiently rested nor caffeinnated since the accident. Fine for me, as I can review documents on minimal sleep (and there is ample coffee available at work). Less fine for TD, who takes the PA bar exam in less than 8 days.

Please send us warm thoughts.

Big Change, Big Contest

2008-02-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

Big Change

First, the announcement!

I'd like to welcome my sister, Loosely Knit (aka Laura), to the blog!

The universe alligned in such a way that this change seemed to be the perfect, inevitable step.
(1) I have a Big Girl Job, and don't have enough time to spend in the blogosphere anymore
(2) I taught my sister how to knit this summer, and she's a pro already
(3) My sister joined ravelry, and needed a screenname. A quick search told me that "looselyknit" was not taken (I'm "tightlywound" on rav)

And To Celebrate (and a flagrant attempt to get new readers) - A BIG Contest

I agonized over this for awhile. What to offer as the perfect prize? How to choose the winner?

In the end, I'm going for the easy "leave a comment to enter" route. Since we're nearing the big V-day, it's a lovey dovey theme. In your comment, just tell me:

1. Your most loved handknit (made by you or someone else)

2. The thing you've most loved knitting (whether or not you loved the finished piece)

I'll also ask that you do one other thing. We're going on the honor system here. If you're on Ravelry, go favorite something that you love that is made by a stranger-to-you and leave a comment for the person telling them why you love their knit. If you're not on Rav, leave a comment for a new-to-you knit blogger.

Let's spread the LOVE!

Now, the important part - THE PRIZE

In asking knittings what they really wanted (for blog prize purposes), I realized that we all love different things. Also, half of the fun is picking out the things that YOU love.

So, in that vein, I've decided that the prize will be:

a $100 gift certificate to your LYS!

I'll contact the winner to find out their preferred LYS. If you'd like, you can split the dollar amount between places, including online vendors (as long as they offer gift certificates).

So, go get that cashmere you've been drooling on for months. Buy the sock blockers you never treat yourself to. Finally make a Clapotis out of the real-deal Lion and Lamb. Stop using that lampshade as a swift. Or buy a sweater's worth of your favorite!

Love the yarny goodness!

Okay kiddos, go tell your friends.

Fine print:

Contest ends Friday, Feb. 15

Sorry Mom - in the interest of fairness, you cannot win

Winner will be chosen by a random number generator or by my boyfriend picking names out of a hat (depending on number of entries, and my boyfriend's agreeability next weekend).

ETA: dudes, crochet totally counts. We don't discriminate 'round here (on purpose). So when I say "handknit," I mean handcrafted with yarn ;-)

One finished sock

2008-02-04T16:17:00.001-05:00

it fits! well... kind of. I can physically get it on my foot, but getting the leg portion over my heel is quite a challenge. For the second sock, I cast on with 2 needles held together and then knit a row before starting the twisted rib... the LYS promises this will make a stretchier cuff, and it sure seems to be the case.

The LYS also promised to hold my hand if I decide to cut the top off and reknit the ribbing of sock #1. I think I'll see how sock #2 fits before attempting surgery...

In terms of the Big Giveaway Contest, stay tuned! I'm still conjuring up some prizes, though. I think it will be some sort of combo prize, hopefully something to please everyone! More details later in the week, I promise!

A Change is A' Comin' (also: I like knitting socks)

2008-01-30T17:44:00.000-05:00

If you don't care about my sock adventures, skip to the bottom for the Big Change teeser.

I managed to turn the heel, and have been proceeding without much fuss through the foot. There was a moment of temporary panic when a dpn came sliding out of my bag (and obviously off of the live stitches), but a calm closing of my office door, a deep breach, and quick remedial action (and luck that there were no yos involved) fixed that slight misstep.

I've also managed to break 2 bamboo dpns. I'm using my US #1s, which are metal Susan Bates cheepies, but I like them for their sturdiness and slickness. However, Monkeys are meant to be knit on 5 needles, and I've only got 4 metal ones. Since I had a bamboo set, it seemed silly to buy more metal ones (and my gauge isn't different enough to matter when it's just one needle), so I've been using 4 metal needles and one bamboo needle.

The first one broke when I was trying the sock on pre-heel turn. They are SNUG (probably slightly too snug). While they fit well on the leg and foot (measurements that I took and felt good about when deciding to go down to a size 1 for this pattern), they are very challenging to get on over the heel. I'm hoping that this will all come out in the wash (literally), but trying it on with a bamboo dpn still attached snapped that dpn right in half.

The second dpn broke right in my hand as I was knitting. I am obviously hard on needles, and after I break the other 3 bamboo size 1s, I suppose I will have to break down and shell out the couple bucks for a second set of metal size 1s (gasp! a couple of dollars! yes, I realize this is positively s-t-u-p-i-d given how much I spend on yarn without batting an eye, not to mention those lantern moon circs I love so much cost)

Anyway, it turns out that I like knitting socks. I am the queen of being late to bandwagons (see: Clapotis, Spring 2007), so please just hush up and let me have my moment, here.

In a moment of stress and weekness today at work, I made my second purchase from TLE - yes, more sock yarn. I also bought a sock blocker, which seemed like a good thing to have (and also scored me free shipping).

I bought:

CTH Sockittome in Moody Blues (destined to be Pomatamus socks, I think)
Gypsy Knits Red Hot Candy, mostly because they look like Valentines day :-) and
Lime & Violet Parcheesi, which I have been putting in my cart like twice a week for at least a month, and decided that if I like it that much, I get to have it (especially given that I have, ehem, actually almost knit an entire sock now)

And if you think that wasn't insane enough, I also ordered this. Because obviously having knit 3/4 of a sock qualifies me for that kind of insanity? Or maybe I just don't want to be late to a bandwagon for once?? I can't help it, I dig those leaves!

Also, a teeser: There is a Big Change in the works at Tightly Wound, Loosely Knit blogdom. There shall be much fanfare, celebration, and a Big Yarn Giveaway Contest* to go along with it. Get excited. Tell your friends. But don't hold your breath, the unveiling is next week. **

*Big Yarn Giveaway Contest is still in the conceptual stage. I'd appreciate some input! What knitting related thing do you reallyreallyreally want? Anything! A book, yarn, gadget, pattern, gift certificate? What? Pretend that the sky is the limit (it's not. I've still gotta pay rent and student loans, yo. But having never done a giveaway, and having reason to celebrate means the limit is somewhat closer to the sky than usual)... So seriously. Whatdayawant?

**Tightly Wound is not responsible for any passing out prior to Big Change unveiling

How I spent my Day Off

2008-01-22T16:28:00.000-05:00

That, my friends, is the entire leg of my Very First Sock (not counting the toe I knit about a year ago in the toe-up STR penis pattern. A toe is not a sock, and that one was ripped out right-quick, never reaching sock status).

In case you've been living under a rock, the pattern is Knitty's Monkey, and this is Lorna's Laces Super Sock in amethyst stripe - knit on US size 1 dpns.

Please forgive the mediocre photography. I couldn't wait to show you!

Yesterday's conversation:

TD: what's that you're knitting there?

me: a sock

TD: huh. Well, you have enough scarves. You don't have too many socks.

me: yes, that was sort of the idea. I'll ask that you hold your applause until after I have successfully turned the heel.

2007 FO Mosaic

2008-01-09T13:39:00.001-05:00

2007 FO Mosaic
Originally uploaded by janetmerlene

It took me a positively stupid amount of time to figure out how to make this mosaic.

But, I did it.... 23 (out of 24 - one was gifted prior to photographing) FOs of 2007

First FO of 2008 and Happy New Year!

2008-01-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Roman Earflap Hat, by Mintyfresh

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Merino DK, pink

Needles: US size 5 16" circ, and US size 5 dpns

After dragging my feet on this project for way to long thanks to the holiday knitting, I picked it back up yesterday and finished (I only had one earflap and the pom poms left to finish). Just in time since I awoke to a bit of a snowstorm...

Looking back at 2007, it's hard to believe what a year I've had. So many changes!

In 2007, I:

graduated from law school

passed the bar exam

started my first "real job"

started adult-ish things like a 401(k)

fell in love

moved to Pittsburgh

moved in with aformentioned love

traveled to: Detroit, Las Vegas, Ft Lauderdale, [Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Grand Cayman - on the cruise], Boston, and Chicago

was a bridesmaid in my best friend from High School's wedding

Knitting-wise, 2007 was a pretty big learning year. For the first time, I:

knit lace

took a knitting class

knit with beads

did the kitchner stitch

joined some bandwagons: Chevron Scarves and a Clapotis

knit a hat (then proceeded to knit many many more hats)

Like most, I have many goals for 2008.

(1) give up the snooze button (probably my worst habit)

(2) get back into shape/loose the weight that snuck up on me/stop wasting my gym membership. As soon as I figure out how to add something to the template to calculate miles run/walked this year, look for it in the sidebar.

(3) knit colorwork

Internet, Sminternet

2007-12-14T10:21:00.000-05:00

I've been reminded in no uncertain terms this week that it's really important to remember that there are consequences for your internet activities. People read what you've written - possibly more people than you realize - and they don't necessarily pick up on your sense of humor, sarcasm, or teasing.

In one case, I was the one who was stung by someone else's writing. In the other case, I was the one who did the stinging. (Apparently, karma is indeed a bitch.)

Anyway, the case where I was the hurtful one is the most bothersome to me. I never intended to be mean-spirited, but my actions were definitely construed that way. Particularly because I had just been on the other side of the fence on this issue, I'm troubled by my own lack of caution, and this has definitely been a wake-up call.

Oh, right. This is supposed to be a knit blog. Onward!

I'm almost finished with the One Row scarf... only a week late. Oops. Oh well, I think it will still be appreciated. Besides, it's more of a "thank you for being awesome" gift than a Christmas gift. I may finish at lunch today, if luck holds - I put my Chibbi in my pocket this morning to weave in the ends, just in case!

I've been neglecting the "me! me! me!" knitting in favor of gift knitting, and I don't see any end to that trend. My things-to-knit-before-Christmas list keeps growing... so much for my pledge of sanity this year. *sigh*

I want to knit something quick for my secretary to personalize the gift card/wad of cash I'll be handing to her. If I could get my hands on the Holiday Interweave, those garter mug cozies or the Koolhass hat (ummm, plus I want one of these for myself too) might be just the ticket, but so far I haven't had any luck. If I don't find it soon, I'll have to pick something else and just go with it. Boo.

Also, I haven't started TD's mom's hat yet. That on the "to do" this weekend - but I better get my butt over to the bead shop asap!

And, the kicker: I found out last night that my holiday plans now include meeting my cousin's baby for the first time ever (she's already like 8 months old)! It seems ashame to pass up the opportunity to knit some cute baby-wear! Maybe just a hat and mitten set? I've gotta do something!

Christmas is a'comin'

2007-12-06T15:14:00.000-05:00

Somehow, while I wasn't paying attention, the Christmas season hit. Yesterday, I realized that I hadn't done a lick of shopping yet. Yeesh. Not good!

I've been frantically remedying the situation with good ol' fashioned online shopping, and local bargain hunting in my "spare time" (read: lunch break).

Happily, my immediate female family members have taken a sudden (and glorious) turn to knitting. I like to think I'm inspirational. Anywho, this gave me an excuse to browse super fun knitting stuff!

And then the winter Knitty came out yesterday! Without giving too much away, let's just say that it gave me some wonderful gifting inspiration!

I'm also happy to report that I haven't gotten myself in too deep with the Christmas gift knitting, for the most part. There was a minute or two in, oh, about August, where I was sure I could knit everyone in my extended family a fantastic hand knit gift, but the sanity set in quickly.

I am doing one rush order, which might be completely impossible/insane:

The Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun scarf, for my "associate buddy" at work, who is pretty much wonderful. The idea was to finish this up in time for her Christmas party on Saturday, but seeing as I started on Tuesday, that maaaay have been a teensy bit optimistic. If I knit like a mad woman, I might just make it. We shall see... For the record, that's Manos in the wildflowers colorway on US #10 needles.

The only other Christmas Knitting I have on my plate is a hat for TD's mom. I wanted to do something kind of crazy, but I just don't think it's in the cards... so, I think another Odessa is on the way (is it weird to knit his mom the same hat that I knit for my own mother? am I going to evoke some sort of weirdo curse by doing this? thoughts?)

I just need to hunt down some fabulous beads to match the yarn that she picked out (a periwinkle Jo Sharp Silkroad DK tweed) over Thanksgiving. If there's time, I've probably got enough yarn for mittens to match!

In other news, TD looks REALLY good in a tux!

Long Time, No Blog

2007-11-21T09:22:00.000-05:00

Here's the quick catch-up on what I've been knitting:

Foilage:

Pattern: Foliage, Knitty Fall 2007

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in "Bobby Blue" purchased at Windsor Button in Boston

Needles: US size 7 dpns

Modifications: none! love it!

Notes: And so begins my love affair with Malabrigo yarn...

Cabled mittens:

Pattern: Cozy Cabled Mittens, free online from My Life's Work (discovered on Ravelry)

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted. I've forgotten the colorway already, but it's obviously purple!

Needles: US size 7 dpns

Modifications: The old version of the pattern had some errors, but they appear to have been corrected now.

Notes: LOVE these, the pattern is great with the Malabrigo. I wear them all the time!

Thermal Sweater:

Pattern: Thermal, Knitty Winter 2006

Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss in Dusk colorway

Needles: 3mm circs (US size 2 or 2.5, depending upon who you ask)

Modifications: none so far

Notes: This is a lot of waffle stitch.

Pink Ear Flap Hat:

Pattern: Roman Ear Flap Hat, free online from mintyfresh

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Merino DK in a pink colorway

Needles: US size 5 circ

Modifications: none so far

Notes: this is a little bit slow going because while knitting the brim with the yarn held double creates a lovely thick and warm fabric, it's hard on my hands. But I love the pattern and I know it will be worth it!

TD's no-frills charcoal hat:

Pattern: A Hat Fit For a Boyfriend, free online from Stephanie Likes To Knit (discovered on ravelry)

Yarn: Cascade Venezia, gray

Needles: US size 8 dpns

Modifications: not a single one

Notes: TD needed a hat. He requested charcoal gray, soft, and no frills. A walk over to Natural Stitches on their second day in business, and one day of knitting later, this hat was complete!

Steelers Scarf:

Pattern: High School Colors Scarf, free from A.D.D. Knitter (discovered on ravelry). Not to be confused with THE A.D.D. Knitter (apparently A.D.D. is common among we who knit! A quick google search tells me I'm not the only "tightly wound loosely knit" out there, either!)

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted (you may be noticing a pattern, no?), yellow and black colorways purchased from the newly opened Natural Stitches in Pittsburgh.

Needles: US size 8 addi turbo circ

Mods: none.

Notes: Here we go STEELERS, Here we go! p.s. I'm going to the game against Miami tomorrow!!

whew! I think we're mostly caught up now!

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Guest Blogging/Knitting

2007-11-13T17:13:00.000-05:00

My computer crapped out (for the millionth time), so even though I have updates saved in draft form, without the pictures, I feel like they are not worth posting.

The real world hasn't killed me, although it certainly is keeping me busy.

In lieu of an update on my own knitting adventures, I'm going to do some quasi-guest blogging today. Really, it's not guest blogging at all. It's me blogging about someone else's knitting. So it's guest knitting, I suppose.

Do you remember how I taught my sister to knit in Aug? Well, here are some FOs that she sent pictures of as of mid-September (yes, even my guest-knit blogging is out of date...)

I told you she was a prodigy...

Chevron Mania and My Last Week of Freedom

2007-09-12T21:11:00.000-04:00

The Chevron Scarf is just too alluring. Too addicting. Too amazing. Too dazzling. I couldn't help myself. I just love watching the colors melt together.

This version is knit with two skeins of Koigu on size 6 needles using Debbie Bliss' Zigzag Stripes scarf pattern from Scarf Style.

As usual, the camera isn't doing a very good job of capturing the vibrant beautiful colors. You'll just have to take my word on this one: It's a dream.

Okay, but this is going to be the last scarf for awhile. I have a closet full of beautiful scarves, all most all of which I'm madly in love with. I'm beyond that point as a knitter where I think it's lame to knit flat rectangles. As long as I'm enjoying those rectangles (and occasionally learning something new, anyway), who cares? Being realistic, however, I recognize that there is a limited number of scarves that one person can reasonably wear. I fear I may be rapidly approaching that number (even taking into account my very liberal definition of "reasonable").

So, what next?
Well, I cast on yesterday and blew through 2/3 of the Anthropologie-Inspired Caplet (total misnomer, the damn thing has sleeves.... which in my book makes it a cropped cardigan). I'm banking on the LYS having another skein or two of the Superchucky Cashmerino I'm using (but only bought just recently, so I feel good about my odds). I had enough yardage that the pattern calls for to make a "S-M", but the pattern length on my.... errr, rather well-endowed chest was comical at best. Let's just say I REALLY need another skein's worth of length unless I want the thing to stop mid-boob... which is really not the look that I'm going for, in the end.

After that?
Hats. I have an almost impossible to control urge to knit more hats. Probably another Odessa. Probably Santa Cruz. Definitely some mittens. Definitely as much stash-busting as possible.

Then? Sweaters. From Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits, which I've been salivating on for months now. I want to do an elongated version of the Puff-sleeved Cardigan. Maybe the Elizabeth Bennet Cardigan. Or perhaps the Cozy V-Neck Pullover? Ohh, and definitely the Back to School U-Neck Vest.

Right. Except.... except, back here in reality? Here in reality, I start My Very First Big Girl Job on Monday. Sure, it starts with a plane ride for knitting time. But something tells me that working for BigLaw might cut into my knitting time just a teensy weensy bit. Sigh. But in my dreams? In my dreams I'll have 4 new sweaters, 8 new hats, and 6 new pairs of mittens before Christmas. Oh, and I'll miraculously gain the ability to finish the Highland Triangle Shawl, too.

Wisp and Odessa

2007-09-09T17:37:00.000-04:00

The onslaught of FOs continues!

I finished knitting Wisp a couple of days ago, and got around to blocking her yesterday. God, blocking even the simplest lace is still a little slice of heaven.
I haven't decided if I'm adding the buttons or not. I like how she looks as-is, but if I can find some perfect shell buttons, I may give it a whirl.

Lest you think I've been perfectly disciplined and finishing only the UFOs on the needles, I present Odessa, which I cast on after finishing Wisp (but before finishing the entrelac scarf and the Dreaded Highland Triangle Shawl of Doom, of course).

Odessa was knit for my mother, but has already been gifted, so she's no longer a secret. This was my first go-around with beads, and I kind of love it. Happily, when I decided to knit Odessa for my mom ages ago, I hadn't decided on a color, so I bought beads to match 3 additional colors of dk weight wool in my stash... so, you know, if I want one for myself I could probably make that happen. Besides, it looks so cute on me, don'tcha think?

Now, if it would only stop being so freaking hot and humid! I'm SO ready for fall weather.

(Another) Finished Object

2007-08-28T14:47:00.000-04:00

In an astounding fit of knitting monogamy, I finished my striped version of My So-Called Scarf this afternoon!

When I started knitting this, I found the color combination to be a little bit wild, but fun. Now I kind of think it looks like 1976 puked all over my neck. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

As I've said before, although I like the look of this stitch pattern, I hated knitting it with this yarn. All of the yarn was thick 'n' thin, and split like crazy. The red handspun was the best behaved of the bunch. The purple and Cream colors were a pain in my ass. They were some of my first ever online yarn purchases (I was looking for a cheaper substitute for Manos for a sweater... should have just bought the real deal... live and learn).

The good news is that it's very warm, and I have a plain purple sweater I can envision possibly wearing it with in the fall. If not.... does anyone really dig the '70s and need a new scarf?

The best news is that in the past 2 days, I've gone from having 7 WIPs to having only THREE (including the HP scarf, which only needs to be re-blocked and fringed). Now, if I can just keep myself from casting on for anything new, maybe I can finish Wisp, the entrelac scarf... and (dare I say it?) the Highland Triangle Shawl...

Finished Objects/ Unfinished Apartment

2007-08-27T13:27:00.000-04:00

In an unprecedented onslaught of productivity yesterday while TD napped, I finished 3 (count 'em - THREE!) scarves.

Multi-Directional Diagonal Scarf:

Martha Scarf:

Simple Garter Stitch Scarf:

In my euphoria of having a manageable number of things on the needles, I even spent some time working on My So-Called Scarf. TD's Harry Potter scarf is done, but needs to be reblocked before I put the fringe on, either with waaaay more pins or blocking wire. As is, it's a bit... well, scalloped on the sides. Not really what I was going for.

As for the move, things are are still (more than) a bit of a mess around the apartment. We've reached the point where we can use all of the rooms for the intended purpose if we are careful to dodge all of the piles o' crap still all over the place.
At the center of the re-oganization process is the stash. Previously, the stash was hidden away in a special shoes and stash enormous closet. However, the doubling of the occupancy of the apartment does not permit an entire closet to be used for shoes and yarn (gasp!). The shoe situation (note that I refuse to call it a "problem" or an "addiction") has been handled with some teary throwing away of boxes and the purchase of several large shoe racks. The stash, however, has not been "handled". So the entire stash is currently sitting, in overflowing boxes and bags... right in the middle of the bedroom floor. Oy.

In other news, I am slowly, slowly, slowly working my way through the 266 posts on my bloglines since I've been gone. Even if I haven't managed to comment yet, I'm working on it!!

Back from Vacation/ The Big Move Part Deux

2007-08-16T14:20:00.000-04:00

I'm (sorta) back from vacation! TD and I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale, FL for a few days to visit my sister, and then took a 7 day Western Carribean cruise with ports of call in Grand Cayman, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico.

Here we are having finally boarded the ("fun") ship:

I didn't do a ton of knitting while gone because, despite carefully selected vacation knitting selections, I managed to leave behind a necessary needle for the "cruise knitting" and ran out of yarn on the "plane knitting". C'est la vie.

Here we are in Roatan, Honduras (where we actually managed to escape from the other 3,596 other people on the ship):

I am, however, halfway done with the muti-directional diagonal scarf, which is lovely. Pictures to come soon.

Since I was visiting my sister in Ft. Lauderdale and was woefully behind in getting her a birthday gift this year (Which was April 28... and also I never manage to finish anything I try to knit for her), I bought her the gift that keeps on giving: the gift of knitting! I got her Debbie Stoller's first Stitch 'n Bitch book, some size 10 addi bamboo straight needles, and 6 skeins of yarn to make a overzealous-airconditioning-combatting shawl.

I have to tell you, I think she's a bit of a prodigy. I gave her the gift, and then before giving any instruction, I jumped in the shower to wash the airplane grime away. By the time I got out she had mastered the long tail cast-on. Sheesh, I thought, I guess you don't need my help after all.
By the time we got back from the cruise, she was 4 skeins in to the garter stich shawl, which looked near-perfect.

I'm not back to Pittsburgh yet, though. I'm in DC (well, Northern VA, technically) helping TD pack up. I may not have mentioned this (I think I was afraid that if I wrote it down, he would change his mind), but (drumroll, please) TD is moving in with me. So, the next 10 days will be spent packing and tackling the second big move of the summer. Then we'll have a couple weeks to adjust to domestic bliss (?) before I start work in mid-September.

Whew! This has really been quite the summer!

2007-07-30T00:57:00.000-04:00

Fear not, I am alive!

The bar exam is over and done with. My worst nightmare came to fruition when my computer crashed the morning of the exam, and I was forced to take the essay portion by hand. I'll tell you, though: I handled it with more grace and poise than I thought I possessed. There was no crying, there was no panic, and there was no temper tantrum. I simply raised my hand, received the writing materials, got out my black pens, put in my ear plugs, and got down to business. I do not feel particularly good about how the exam went, but there is nothing I can do about it now and there is no way to know for sure until mid-October. So, for now, we wait, we relax, we vacation, and we knit!

Despite it all, I have been knitting!

I took a road trip down to Chapel Hill, NC for a reunion with my sorority sisters* this weekend. Since I was a passenger and not a driver, that meant well over 16 hours of uninterrupted knitting. I finished the knitting on the HP scarf.

I wove in the ends, and then it took a little bath for blocking.

The scarf was ridiculously long.

So I was counting on blocking it out to be fatter, but shorter.

We'll see if these dimensions hold after it dries.

I also cast on for my vacation knitting. I decided that wisp is a perfect vacay knit.

TD and I are visiting my sister in Florida and then taking a 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise. I can barely contain my excitement!

I'm officially on vacation until Aug 14, so I bid everyone in the knit blogosphere adieu until then!

*Side note rant: Think what you may of sororities in general, but do not be quick to judge. These girls remain among my closest friends to this day, and have always been some of the most intelligent and genuine people I have ever encountered. They blast the stereotypes right out of the water. Oh, except they can, indeed, drink like fish. Also, I was the president back in the day, so I'm a wee bit biased, but any group of girls who elects me (brains over beauty) can't be too bad!

Novelty Yarn, Nonsensical Knitting, More Ravelry, and a sign off for now.

2007-07-16T18:38:00.000-04:00

Did I just say novelty yarn? Uhhh huh. Shocking, I know. It's possible that all the studying has killed my creative brain cells in favor of understanding the Rule Against Perpetuity.

In fairness, the crazy lady at the LYS tried to talk me into buying this absolutely horrid furry yarn, too (I must have had "gullible" written on my forehead or something. she described the yarn as "misunderstood". it looked like a dead animal when you knit it up. That's not misunderstood, honey, that's just awful). I had the sense to realize that there was a reason that it was in the $2 clearance bin and that $2 is not a good deal for ugly dead-animal-like yarn. So, this is evidence of having retained some of my sanity.

And so, I present my novelty yarn scarf:

see, that's not so bad, right? I rather like it; i'm standing up in defense of this particular novelty yarn. Plus, on US size 15s in garter I knit half a scarf in like an hour during my study break. besides, this is an $8 scarf, and you can't beat that.
In case anyone cares, the yarn is called FFF Polar.

Now, the completely nonsensical knitting:

hello, baby things! Nevermind that I know zero babies. These are the mittens and beanie hat from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms, knit with Knit Picks Merino Style.

It's far too soon for my biological clock to be ticking, so I'm not sure what's up with this sudden urge to knit baby stuff. I guess just because it's small and quick to knit and gives me something to post on ravelry even though I don't have much time to knit these days.

It's really okay, though. Next summer, everyone I know is getting married. That means that by my calculations, in approximately 4 years, everyone I know (at the exact same moment, no doubt) will decide to start popping out babies. So, really, I'm just getting a head start on the gifts, here. Bring on the onslaught of babies, friends, I am sooo ready for you!

Okay, Ravelry has changed my knitting world. Seriously. It's freaking amazing. To me, the most useful thing is the ability to see what other people have done with a particular yarn or a particular pattern. I have a couple of yarns which have been just hanging out in my stash for seemingly forever, without any hope of a pattern. I type them into Ravelry and *poof* - project ideas abound! Similarly, there are patterns that I know I want to knit, but I'm not sure about one aspect (::cough:: forecast:: bobbles:: cough::) or want to substitute yarn and am not sure what would work, or whatever. Ravelry to the rescue!

Also, having just moved to Pittsburgh, the ability to find knitters here is so amazingly helpful. I had just finally started to get into the DC knitting scene when I moved away (hi Pia!) and so starting over again is not that awesome. Ravelry is definitely great in that regard.
And, crap, knitters are just so freakin' awesome; it totally rocks my world.

Now, sadly, I must sign off. The bar exam looms in one week, and I promised myself that I would sprint to the finish. That means no more blogging until after the whole dreadful affair is over. Wish me luck!! Or perhaps wish me knowledge of property law ;-)

Ravelry

2007-07-13T22:49:00.000-04:00

well, i finally broke down and used my ravelry invite... and it is, indeed, just as awesome as everyone said it was. i'm trying desperately to pry myself away, and if i fail the bar exam, i think this may be a primary reason.

so, go friend me! my user name is tightlywound :-)

i was playing around a little bit and decided to upload my "stash". i pulled everything out of my closet, out of the boxes and bags, and.... well, i'm sufficiently horrified.
i entered everything in, grabbed a calculator, and added up my yardage a la stash and burn. I have nearly 22,000 yards of yarn.
yeah. like i said... horrified.

and what's worse: i didn't even count the yarn that is currently attached to a WIP. oy...

Harry Potter

2007-07-12T20:28:00.000-04:00

I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yesterday afternoon. Oh, man! It was SO GOOD. Go see it immediately! Seriously! I am so bitter that I was born a muggle :-(

I went by myself, but took my knitting along and knit through much of the movie. I was working on TD's Prisoner of Azkaban scarf, so it seemed appropriate. It's really coming along nicely, and is just perfect for dark movie theater knitting since it's just straight stockinette in the round.

And look! it's starting to look like a real scarf, finally! It's going to be SO LONG when it's finished...probably 80 inches or so before fringe according to my calculations! I already know that I'm going to have to get more yarn.

Knitting, Fireworks, and a Flat Tire

2007-07-09T21:33:00.000-04:00

Happy Fourth, errr, Ninth of July!

I was out of town for the week, and, as usual, didn't get around to posting before I left...

So, for starters, here are some of the goodies that I picked up at the LYS last week, as promised:

For another chevron scarf (I think this time I'm going to use the zigzag pattern in scarf style), koigu!

I loooove these colors, and could hardly wait to start knitting this. unfortunately, after i cast on like 15 times and kept inexplicably messing up, i decided that it might be prudent to wait a bit and try again another day.

This is a really awesome colorway of Artyarns supermerino, which I had never seen before and couldn't resist. I'm making a multi-directional diagonal scarf which is easy as pie.

What's with all the lame-ass easy scarfs lately? Does it seem as if I'm no longer challenging myself as a knitter? I blame the bar exam, kiddos. That's all the challenge I can handle for the time being.

Oh, now here is something special. Let's call this picture "i should really buy an umbrella swift".

obviously, the skein of Cascade 220 was too large for my average lamp shade, so i decided to improvise with kitchen towels and pot holders. in case anyone out there is getting any ideas, it's worth noting that this contraption collapsed into disaster about 15 seconds after the photo was taken.

and, then, there's this: TD's Ravenclaw (book colors) Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban scarf
proof that i really did intend to post before i left, and a no-flash daylight photo:
and my current progress:
it's knit in the round on size 8 dpns with karabella aurora 8. it's a little slow going since it is a whopping 90 stitches around, but so far i'm pleased with it. only 10 more sets of stripes to go!

Speaking of TD, i spent the week with him down in DC. As usual, I didn't want to leave. God help me, I'm totally smitten. We spent the 4th at his parents house in Frederick, MD - birth place of Francis Scott Key, where we saw Blue Oyster Cult (more cowbell!) and a pretty impressive fireworks display.

This meeting of the parents went exceedingly well, and turned out to be extremely fortuitous later in the week when I found myself stranded on rt 270N about 5 miles outside of Frederick with a flat tire, only a donut spare, no tire shops open on Sunday evening, and no chance of making it back to Pittsburgh on the donut. As you might imagine, his parents found me returning for a second visit much sooner than expected.
It's a good thing that I really loved his parents, and they seemed to like me as well, otherwise this could have turned horribly awkward. Happily, it felt like the most natural thing in the world and was anything but awkward.

I think it is rare to find an amazing boy. It's got to be damn near impossible to find an amazing boy with an amazing family. It appears that I have hit the jackpot.

I hope they like handknits.

2007-06-28T20:37:00.000-04:00

oh.my.god.

okay, so i learned how to knit whilst in the lovely metropolis of washington, d.c. and as such, 98% of my lys experience is d.c. based. but, you see, everything in d.c. is expensive, especially real estate. that means it costs a boatload for the yarn shops to rent space, which means one thing: they are small. like, closet-sized. you couldn't park your car in some of them.

the thing about Pittsburgh is... well, it's dirt cheap. it didn't occur to me what that might mean for a lys until today. knit one is HUGE. i was not mentally prepared for that kind of utopia, my friends, and i was bad. i am not allowed to go back there for a long time. like, maybe not until i start making money and won't feel so guilty. or maybe i should go in often, but only take like $20 in cash each time until i gain some self-control.

i went in with a purpose: blue and bronze yarn for a harry potter scarf! i bought some karabella aurora 8 (my most favorite yarn in the world, i think) in blue and bronze (or, at least, the closest thing to bronze that exists in yarn, as far as i can tell. and don't tell me that any of that metallic novelty shit is yarn, i don't want to hear it).
while i was there, some other things maaaay have jumped into my bag as well. like maybe some koigu. and some artyarns supermerino. and some noro.
what? stop looking at me like that. didn't i tell you i was bad?

it's okay, i don't feel any buyers remorse. i took a lot of time looking (and touching) everything so i (1) truly love everything i bought, and (2) have a project in mind for all of it.

it's too late to get any good pictures, but i'll post some tomorrow :-)

2007-06-27T14:39:00.000-04:00

i know what you're thinking: "this girl has dropped off the face of the [knit blogging] earth."

and it's true, i have. this past month has been a big adjustment, and i needed to take time to deal with everything in my real life. that meant some time away from the blogosphere, but i hope that everyone can understand.

i even stopped knitting for 3 weeks or so. (i know, it astounded me, too).

however, i'm baaaaack! and i've got REAL KNITTING CONTENT.

as i mentioned below, i finished my clapotis!! i really do love it (so much so that i was willing to touch the wool/mohair in 90 degree weather just to get a picture of it. that look on my face below says "it's too hot for this"). i understand now why i was one of only like 4 knitters on earth who had not knit this pattern before. i already want to do another one (i'm thinking... lighter. sock yarn, probably. knowing me, i'll knit that one in the winter when it's 10 degrees below zero.)

i knit it in Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs & Butterflies (which I got for an awesome price during the big online Knit Happens sale a few months back. it figures... i move away, and they close their online store). it's a wool/mohair blend, so it's got a lovely halo (let's focus on the lovely halo, and not the fact that i had to drop each and every stitch by hand). the only modifications that i made to the pattern was to increase it's length (by doing additional straight section rows) because i had plenty of yarn do to so.
Awhile back, I also started this scarf:

it's a modified version of My So-Called Scarf. Obviously, i'm using three colors of yarn. Also, it's thinner than the original pattern called for (mine is 22 stitches across) because the pink/red yarn is one of the winnings from Faith's [not so] fugly yarn contest, and I wanted to be sure I could get enough length. The purple and cream colored yarn are stash busters - some of the very first yarn that ever went into my stash, actually. All three yarns are "thick and thin" so the scarf has a lot of great texture.

The "front" of the scarf is cool (lower half of the picture above), but I am actually even more taken by the purl side (top half). Although I like the result, I find this to be a particularly annoying knit (not surprising - I've started this pattern at least 3 times before and always end up abandoning it). I'm determined to finish this time, though, and have been making pretty good progress! I do love the color combination, despite the fact that I think it's best described as "looking like the 1970s puked all over my knitting".

In need of a more soothing knit, I cast on for this a couple days ago:

I've had the yarn to do this for ages (the orange is Suri Merino, the blue is Galway wool, both purchased at Kathy's Kreations in Ligonier, PA - my home town) but haven't been inspired to pick it up until now. Obviously, it's another entrelac scarf (I could do this pattern in my sleep at this point, I think). It's for one of my favorite (and most enthusiastic) Bucknellians who has been requesting an orange and blue scarf for quite some time now.

I'm also in the market for some Harry Potter scarf yarn for my boyfriend, TD (yes, like touchdown. finding him was, indeed, a touchdown. but i digress). He's been sorted into Ravenclaw (and prefers the books to the movies), so blue and bronze it is! although i bemoan nearly all aspects of the long distance relationship (sigh), it has been wonderfully good for my knitting because it's easy to chat with him on voip and knit at the same time.

2007-06-19T19:09:00.000-04:00

oh dear, a whole month without posting. bad blogger, no cookie!

here's the short version of the long-overdue update:
my computer miraculously fixed itself. the clapotis is finished. i'm all moved to Pittsburgh. studying for the bar exam totally blows.

yep, that pretty much sums it up. i promise to get back into posting, though :-)

2007-05-15T23:21:00.000-04:00

okay. i'm not dead. unfortunately, my computer is. that's keeping me from blogging, but happily, not from knitting.

i started my very first clapotis (i know, how late to this bandwagon am i?) about 2 weeks ago. i'm almost done, despite having adding a few extra straight knitting sections... which makes this an olympic-knitting-fast knit. that's mostly because i knit for 3 hours straight on my trip down to the bay last week after finals were over.

i took pictures. and the New Boy (he is not so new anymore, and really deserves a better name) has volunteered his computer for uploading and posting, which i may break down and take him up on. he thinks i'm cute, and totally tolerates the whole knit blogging thing. i think that he secretly really likes my nerdiness. i not-so-secretly like him.

in other news, graduation is next weekend, and the Big Move is now one week away. i'm super-freaking-out, but trying not to let it show too much.

2007-04-27T10:51:00.000-04:00

nevermind that i have a final in 3 hours... a quick post!

i finished Shannon's scarf, and i love it! i will definitely be making this pattern again. it's so fast, easy, and mindless-without-being-boring.

notice that despite the fact that there are only 4 ends to weave in, i still can't be bothered to do it before posting. i'll blame finals, but you know the truth. also, i'm having a hell of a time getting these colors to photograph accurately. it's prettier than it looks here.

it's quite long. i tried to get a picture of it on me so you could see just how long it really is. but, well, it's finals and i look... um, not that hot... which is weird because usually the glasses-on, wet-hair, t-shirt-and-jeans look is oh-so glam. this blurry one is the only one i can fathom posting on the internet, and it doesn't even show the length of the scarf (which comes down to my knees, in case you were actually wondering)
i can't decide whether or not to block it. i'm leaning towards lightly blocking it to open it up a bit, but it's also pretty just as is.

i actually did a new bind-off (yes, i always bind off the same way. :cough: lazy :cough:) so that the two edges match. it's a cable cast-on paired with a decrease bind-off (done by k2togtbl - apparently there are a plethora of options with the decrease bind-off).

and now the real reason that i felt absolutely positively compelled to post today:

WARNING: ROCKIN' SOCK CLUB SPOILER!!! IF YOU DIDN'T GET YOUR SHIPMENT YET AND DON'T WANT TO SEE, STOP READING NOW!!!!!

ohmygod, this is so beautiful and soft and lovely and i just want to pet it. i love it so much that i'm scared that i'll never knit it up. i will admit that i did not love the first yarn/sock pattern in the rockin' sock club, but this... this makes up for it. i do not think i have ever had such a reaction to yarn before. these are my colors. and the new STR, which 19% silk... on, dear lord, i'm in love.
as you might imagine, the picture does not do it justice.

the best part of this club is forgetting that you're in it, until one day (in the midst of your yarn diet, no less) you get this lovely, squishy little package and you think: what the hell, did i order yarn in my sleep? and then you open it and it's pure bliss (ie. yarn that you paid for a long time ago and had forgotten about).

2007-04-20T12:25:00.000-04:00

not a lot of knitting happening here at tightly wound because we have entered into our last-ever hellish law school finals period. not that i've done much work yet. but i'm buckling down today, really.

i have made some progress on Shannon's chevron-inspired scarf (i am a bad secret keeper and told her that i was knitting it for her last weekend. oops! thanks for reading, Shannon!). it is knitting up so quickly, i am basically astounded every time i look at how long it is already. it's already 42 inches long! not exactly the most seasonally appropriate gift, ever, sadly.

also, i'd like to apologize because i'm probably going to go MIA here for awhile. it's law school finals time, with the added twist of graduation and a move to follow. things are... well, let's just say "a bit hectic".

2007-04-16T13:10:00.000-04:00

Today I received my winnings from Faith's fugly yarn giveaway!!! I was slow with sending my envelope, but it was totally worth the wait! My favorite is the orange color - the yellow to peach to orange is just yummy, and I am just barely managing not to cast on something immediately.

This was my very first ever blog contest win! Thanks Faith!!!

In other news, I hate taxes.

2007-04-13T13:12:00.000-04:00

okay, i admit it. i might have been a wee bit perturbed that my fancy pants expensive camera stopped functioning less than a year into ownership (not to mention whilst in my final days of law school). indeed, i may have been even more concerned when the solution was to ship it off to some seemingly sketchy place in the Midwest, without any indication of when i might see my precious camera again. in fairness, the instructions were: put it in a reasonable sized box, use packing material, include your receipt and this case number and ship it to IL; it seemed sketchy. (i insured the crap out of the package and got delivery confirmation)

but i'll tell ya what: i shipped that package exactly one week ago yesterday. from the delivery confirmation, i know that it arrived in IL on Saturday. Today, my now fully functional camera arrived back on my doorstep. glory, hallelujah, i'm a believer!

here's the type of "quality" pictures my camera was taking before (this is my living room, in case you couldn't tell... ):

and here, my friends, are pictures taken today... and some actual knitting content!

(p.s. check out the chair that is modeling the scarf. yes, i own it. it came from my grandmother's living room, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die. my sister has the matching one. when my grandma moved into her condo, we claimed them immediately and have been basking in the awesomeness ever since.)

i finished the entrelac scarf yesterday (and have already worn it once... stupid unseasonably cold weather is good for something, i suppose). i love it. it's warm and swishy, and generally wonderful. it took more yarn than i ever would have guessed (although, it is a pretty wide scarf). I used about 5 and a half skeins of Artyarns supermerino handpainted. i'm not going to block it because i prefer the textured look of entrelac unblocked in a scarf (oh, and also i'm lazy).

this scarf went much faster than the last entrelac i tried... obviously size 7 needles and 3 squares across are faster than size 4 needles and 4 squares across... but also i'm waaaay faster at picking up stitches than i used to be (hurray for progress!) also, knitting in a handpainted yarn for color variance and weaving in 10 ends rather than knitting two colors and having to weave in 130 ends (oh, how i wish that was an exaggeration) was a big step in the right direction, sanity-wise.

immediately after i finished the entrelac, i did some bandwagon-jumping. i kept looking at the chevron scarf flickr group and salivating. then i saw this pattern, which is similar, but "pointy-er" and it was all over. besides, i left my newly purchased sock needle set at my parents house in PA, not to mention the fact that i had decided that i didn't want penis socks. so, that left the STR sock club yarn (and frankly, the colorway didn't excite me that much. it's lovely, really, just not very "me") with no intended purpose. i also had some cherry tree hill solid red sock yarn laying around (don't ask me why. i swear to you, i have as yet never knit a sock in my life).

anyway, i totally love the result. it's quite different than anything i saw on the flickr group (which makes me proud. i tend to see something i like and then copy it EXACTLY).

also, this is the progress after less than 1 day of sporadic knitting on size 4 needles. i realize it's a skinny scarf, but, man, either i'm getting faster or this baby just really flies off the needles!

2007-04-08T10:34:00.000-04:00

happy easter!

here's a picture of the newest member of my extended family:

doesn't that just make you want to go knit baby things until you can't move your fingers?

this little darling was the recipient of all of my baby knitting earlier this year

2007-04-07T17:18:00.000-04:00

New Boy v. Knitter: the trials and tribulations of dating and understanding your knitter

particularly funny: what it means to "watch a movie"

i remember in college when i first learned exactly what a guy really meant when he asked me if i wanted to watch a movie. i was completely floored (shocked, appalled, etc... oh, to be that innocent again...) by the knowledge that while a movie generally was playing in the background, the intent to watch was almost completely absent.

ask a knitter if she (or he) wants to watch a movie and they, too, usually have only a small interest in the actual "watching" (depending, of course, on how talented the knitter is or how simple the project is - heck, even i can look up from stockinette or garter).

now, pair these two interpretations of the very same phrase...
imagine being the new boy and settling in for the movie, only to find two sharp pointy sticks, clicking away menacingly, between you and the girl who is supposed to be resting her head on your shoulder.
this has to be the epitome of what i'll dub "knitting culture shock".

For starters, my New Boy actually wanted to watch the movie, so I don't want to go lumping him in with all the ridiculous college boys from my past. More importantly, he took the whole knitting thing pretty much in stride (although I've been slowly hinting at this whole "I'm always going to love yarn at least as much as I love any man" thing for awhile so he might have seen it coming). He only warned me that I was going to miss the physical comedic genius if I didn't look up at the screen.

2007-04-03T20:41:00.000-04:00

i have sad news: my camera is sick.
now, since my camera is less than a year old and cost me more than i dare admit on this blog, this makes me pretty darn angry. it all started about two weeks ago (at a bridal shower, so don't go getting any ideas that i dropped it in a puddle of beer and broke it; for once, this is not my fault), and it's just been a downward spiral from there.
i called the warranty 800 number. i have to send my camera to somewhere in the midwest for an unspecified amount of time, where they will either fix it, send me a new one, or send me a refurbished one (their choice). the good news is that it is in fact still under warranty and so it shouldn't cost me anything.

so, no new knitting pictures for awhile :-(
and no pictures make for a pretty darn crappy blog :-(

don't abandon me...

*sigh*

in much better news:

i kinda made knitting friends! Pia and I met on Sunday and went to SnB together. It was kind of comforting to be around people who discussed things like Maryland Sheep & Wool, gauge, knitting a sweater out of tiny needles and mohair, sock yarn on etsy, and new cast-ons like they are totally normal topics of conversation. (i mean, they ARE totally normal topics, but somehow my non-knitter friends seem to be less convinced of this obviously true fact).

i finally got my Knit Happens sale yarn yesterday! Something about having 30 skeins of yarn show up at your door really makes to look at your ever-growing stash and think "what on earth am i doing here?" so, no more yarn until Maryland Sheep & Wool. seriously. my favorite thing that i ordered was some Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs & Butterflies in the Vera colorway. It is pink & brown, and all-around fabulous. I only got 3 skeins (idiot), and so now I'm going to go in search of one more to make.... a clapotis. yeah, i am SO late to this party, I know. don't care, it's going to be gorgeous. i also got some cascade 220 and debbie bliss cashmerino for good measure.

i read the Yarn Harlot's new book in less than 24 hours. i am thinking about making everyone i know read it so they stop asking me about the pile of yarn.
i also bought Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits. I love it, but it's given me startitis... happily, i have yarn for at least a couple of the sweaters. i may pick another pattern to buy yarn for at Maryland Sheep & Wool... we'll see.

2007-03-29T00:12:00.000-04:00

there is something sublimely satisfying about entrelac. it has something to do with the lack of yo's, cables, or thinking of any kind. when you think about it, it's essentially just stockinette in more than one direction. there's no counting, there's no pattern following (well, at least not if you're just knitting until you run out of yarn). it's not a challenge. it's mindless sit-in-front-of-the-tv or on-the-bus-commute knitting.

normally, what i enjoy the most about knitting is the learning process. i love to teach myself new techniques. i love to learn it and then try to understand exactly what it does to the knitting.
but since i enjoy this learning/growing/challenge, it is a seriously nice change of pace to go back to the easy stuff every now and again. the nicest thing about entrelac is that it doesn't LOOK easy. non-Knitters (including the i-can-knit-a-garter-stitch-scarf knitters with a small "k") look at it and think, "wow, that looks hard". pshhh. don't tell any of the non-Knitters the secret, please.

i finally picked up a copy today of the Spring Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting. they are, in my opinion, the two best knitting magazines around. i'm interested to see what Eunny does with Interweave. it's created a lot of buzz on the blogosphere, i know. Yes, Eunny is young. But, frankly, she could knit circles around knitters twice or three times her age. And, well... I'm young. I think that Eunny has a sense of style that is no so out-there-trendy as to lack appeal to older crowds, yet still fresh and interesting to me as a 20-something knitter.

2007-03-27T16:02:00.000-04:00

I finally finished the triangular part of my shawl from Folk Shawls and my lace knitting class. I'm working up the gumption to pick up the stitches for the edging...

I also think that entrelac is going to save the blue and peach yarn... hard to say for sure since I'm only a row or so into it, but I feel optimistic :-) It is kind of fun and stripey, but not as boring as knitting something straight-up stockinette.

In other news, I cast on for a super-secret project. Knitters might recognize it, but I won't link to the pattern since the recipient is an occasional reader of this blog (I think). Anyway, I love love love the yarn, but am a bit perplexed with the gauge. I'm not a particularly tight or loose knitter. I often need to adjust by one needle size to get gauge, but usually nothing drastic. By all rights, this yarn should have been an exact sustitute for the yarn used in the pattern (in weight, yardage, and fiber content). Needles called for by pattern: US size 7. Needles I have to use to get gauge: US size 10.5! Wow, I'm glad I swatched!

This past weekend, I drove up to PA and listened to the stash & burn podcasts on my way (thanks, Pia, for introducing me to them!) They motivated me to resolve to stop buying yarn at least until Maryland Sheep & Wool.

And then the very next morning I got an email about a HUGE sale at the Knit Happens online store - everything was 55% off! Take a moment to let the gravity of that statement set in. FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT OFF EVERYTHING. Geezus, that's a good deal. We're talking about Cascade 220 for like $3. Cashmerino for less than $4.
So, um, my resolve faded, and then completely disappeared as I frantically put a boatload of yarn in my shopping basket (least it be grabbed up by others while I was deciding)... and then I just bought the whole damn lot of it.
So, apparently while the rest of you are knitting from your stashes, I'm doing my damndest to keep the LYSs and online retailers in business....

2007-03-19T10:49:00.000-04:00

one more shot of the fugliness, for good measure:

so now what am i going to do with all of this??? suggestions are welcome. i might try some entrelac (after the scarf episode, can you believe i even just typed that?) or it might be making the trip in to the "long term" stash...

this is the other yarn i picked up for a super-secret future project! It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, and... well, let's just say i can't stop touching it:

Also, let's all just take a moment to recognize that Janet is an idiot because she did not ask the lovely store with the lovely umbrella swift and ball winder where she spends unspeakable amounts of money to wind her skeins because they seemed "busy" during the anniversary sale (where she was spending unspeakable amounts of money...) so now Janet has an unspeakable number of unwound skeins of sport weight yarn.

2007-03-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

Saint Patricks Day means two things: Guiness and the Anniversary Sale at Knit Happens. I celebrated fully with Guiness yesterday, and I stopped by the sale this morning (okay, okay... so by "morning" i mean 1pm). I bought... well, more than I planned, as usual.

My most random purchase, by far, was this handpainted merino. It is a muted orange and blue, which those who know me will understand is a color combo that is close to my heart. In the skein, it's lovely. I liked it so much that i cast on immediately on the metro ride home for a swatch. In stockinette, the yarn was practically self-striping.

I decided to try it in a pattern from Scarf Style, using a pattern made for painted yarn called "Misty Garden" by Jo Sharp. It is lovely yarn, and a lovely pattern. However, it is clear that the two do not combine to make a lovely scarf.

Nevermind the pooling on each side of the scarf - I realize I could probably solve this issue if I alternated skeins. What I find more troublesome is that the middle portion (which is pooling-free) is... well, it's the ugliest thing I have ever knit in my life.

Now I remember why I never buy painted yarn. It looks SO lovely, but is such a challenge to make not look like crap in a knitted object. A little color variation is different - a few shades of blue that flow together is less complicated to deal with; but orange and blue? ugh. in the end, i don't want a scarf that looks like puke (come on, i know you were thinking it too).

2007-03-11T17:47:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Spring Break (VEGAS, BABY!), and have boatloads of work to do, so I'm going to have to make this as brief as possible...

Guess what FINALLY arrived last Monday (just in time to go on break with me)? My very first ever Rockin' Sock Club shipment!!

Before heading to Sin City, I stopped home in Ligonier, PA to see my folks. While there, I popped into the LYS, Kathy's Kreations to pick up some needles. The owner, Kathy Zimmerman, very generously agreed to sign her pattern in Lace Style and pose for a picture with me! (As a side note, should you ever find yourself in Western PA, be sure to stop in and see Kathy. Her store is as lovely as she is!)

I knit on the plane on the way down (on my TSA approved bamboo circs, of course) and made quite a bit of progress on the shawl. I'm hoping to finish the main triangle before class this Thursday. Right now I'm on row 113 (out of 172):

2007-03-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

this is kind of random, but i have decided to de-lurk on all of the knitting blogs that i obsess over. i feel a bit sheepish (tee-hee... SHEEPish. okay. i know. i'm lame.) about the fact that I literally check these blogs daily hoping for an update, but almost never ever say anthing.

also, i am kind of sad that i don't have any online knitting friends, which i recognize is my own fault for not putting myself out there. so, here i am world! please like me.

(this is me, de-lurking... and wearing Fetching, which I actually did the finishing on in the same day that I finished the knitting... which may be the first time that has ever happened. A glass of red wine makes finishing go faster, me-thinks)

2007-03-02T18:45:00.000-05:00

ugh, I ate too much chocolate today and now I'm cranky. Also I'm cranky because I got 29 rows into my lace shawl and then made some weird mistake that I couldn't figure out and ended up frogging the whole thing in frustration.

I did, however, finally finish something:
Sam's fingerless gloves, which, you may recall I finished knitting a couple weeks ago, and then just carried around in my bag pretending that the ends were going to weave themselves in, and now officially finished.

They look pretty good on my hands, don't you think? they feel devine, too. too bad it was like 65 degrees out today...

I needed a quick, portable knit, and I happened to have an extra skein of Cashmerino.... so I cast on yesterday morning and by this afternoon I present: Fetching!

I took a bit of a chance... I had only 1 skein + a few yards leftover from the scarf I made for my friend. The pattern calls for one skein, but notes that some people have needed extra. Since I bought the yarn in Pennsylvania and the dye lot was "5" I didn't have a lot of hope of getting more yarn and just thought I'd have to fudge it at the end if need be.

I made it on less than one skein without modifying the pattern at all... but man, it was close!
This is the leftovers (with sheep measuring tape for context):

I hope that I actually wear them. I'm not entirely convinced that I'm cool enough to pull off fingerless mitts. But they are pretty and soft and I can use my iPod while wearing them... so I'm willing to give it a whirl.

I made a purchase on Wednesday which has already changed my knitting life. After the one millionth time of digging through my bags o' stash hunting for needles, I reached my limit and bought:

Needle cases!
The larger one is Lantern Moon and is for my straight needles. The smaller is Elizabeth Austen and is for my circular needles (which I never imagined could actually be stored in an organized fashion). I love them both; they make me happy. Happy and organized!

Last night I took my very first ever knitting class. As a "self-taught" knitter, I was a little bit skeptical about the whole "class" thing, but after falling madly in love with lace knitting and deciding that there might not be enough online knitting videos in the world that could teach me how to fix that missed yarn over, I decided to take a class at Knit Happens by Michael Del Vecchio.
It was so fun! For starters, I was happy to find that not only am I not the most remedial knitter in the class... indeed, I might actually be the star student (as the only one who has ever done lace before). Anyway, before my head explodes, it is good to note that I'm not exactly a lace-knitting genius (um, which is why I'm in the class, right?)

In the class, we're making a shawl from Folk Shawls

Here are my swatches from class:

Not perfect, but not too shabby...

And here is the shawl that I worked on today... before I messed up and frogged it...

The nicest thing about taking a class is... you have HOMEWORK of the KNITTING VARIETY! I can't feel bad about doing homework, now can I?

2007-02-28T14:58:00.000-05:00

I have to tell you: I'm a bad sister.

am i the only one in the world who hates magic loop? because, i have to tell you... i hate it. with passion.
i have started a sweater for my sister so many times now that it boggles the mind. i have tried everything. i bought the most enormously long size 11 addi turbo needles ever created. i practice. i cast on. i get frustrated. i throw the damn thing in the corner and pretend that it doesn't exist. i feel guilty. i start over. i'm going on a hunt for f-ing size 11 dpns because i've truely had it.

my poor sister... she is 22 years old, living at home, doing social work with juvenile sex offenders (and you think your job sucks?), and to top it off i cannot for the life of me finish this damn sweater. i started it over a year ago. it was supposed to be for her 22nd birthday. if i don't give the poor girl a knitted finished object sometime soon, she may disown me permanently.

and it gets worse...

despite the apparent sweater disaster, i decided to knit her a second gift for her graduation (last may). would you believe that this lovely unfinished cable knit purse also haunts my dreams? let me tell you, it does. this time, it's not the knitting. the knitting has be finished for eons. no, it's the finishing. i'll admit it: i'm a crappy sewer. but, man... this takes crappy to a new level. it shouldn't be that difficult. i fold my rectangle of knitting in half, sew up the sides, attach the lining, and attach the whole damn thing to the circular handles. right-o. you should see this thing. i'll take a picture, but it's embarassing, so try not to judge me. the purse doesn't open. the sewing is sloppy and uneven.
i have to rip out all of the sewing and start over again.

in conclusion, you should be glad that i am not your sister.

2007-02-15T18:35:00.000-05:00

Pretty good knitting progress happening here - the fingerless gloves will be completed tonight (mark my words!) and I may even do the finishing right away (instead of waiting an eternity, like usual).
Pictures to come later this evening, or tomorrow morning at the latest.

A few other things happening in my knitting world:

(1) You've heard about the Blue Moon Fiber Arts bank disaster, right? Well, prior to this nonsense, I knew very little (okay, almost nothing) about the Rockin Sock Club. But, me being... well, easily angered on behalf of the fiber-loving world, as soon as I read about it I felt immediately compelled to put myself on the waitlist for the Rockin Sock Club. A bit of time passed, spots opened up, I shelled out $200+ (let's not talk about it), and now I'm a proud Rockin Sock Club member. Nevermind that I've never in my life knit a sock. For that kind of money, I damn well am about to become the most awesome sock knitter in the history of the world. I got the first email newsletter today, and the first shipment goes out sometime the week of Feb 26th.

(2) The Law Revue show cast is knitter-heavy. I love it. Tonight I'm going to try to get some pictures of all my happy little knitter friends to show you.

(3) I had to order a book for a paper I'm writing (okay, so, I probably really don't need the book, but I'm a nerd and I find myself suddenly incredibly interested in the Iran Hostage Crisis) from Amazon. Well, obviously I was going to order something else so that I qualified for super saver shipping. I, uh, ordered two somethings: Scarf Style (one quick skim through confirms that I love it already) and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Yarn Harlot: the Secret Life of a Knitter. These books arrived last night. It is now 7pm, and I had a full day of law school. I am on page 107 of the Yarn Harlot book because it is freaking hilarious.

Now, I'm giving Amanda a little bit of a shout-out here, because as far as I can tell, she's the only one reading my blog (i'm pretty okay with that. my sources tell me that the average readership of any blog is a whopping 1 person, so i'm right on par). This just means that I get to give my one reader a lot of attention and answer her comment in full.
I've never worked with Araucania Yarns, but I went to the website and they certainly look lovely. As far as picking a project, here's my suggestion: if you haven't fully explored the online knitting world, this would be a good time to do so. There are an absolute plethora of beautiful patterns available online for free. From my 30 seconds of googling, it seems like Pehuen is a cotton worsted weight yarn. That's good news because worsted weight is pretty universal - you could make almost anything out of it!

Where to start, you ask? Here are a few of my favorite places to look for patterns:
Knitty (check out the "archive" for patterns from past issues - they are categorized by type of item and also by difficulty level)
Mag Knits (same deal as above)

in terms of suggestions for what to knit, I think it depends greatly on how much of this yarn you have.
only one skein? this fingerless mitt pattern is a big hit in the knitting world, or try this head wrap. or, learn how to knit mittens on dpns (double pointed needles) with this super-easy mitten pattern!
a few skeins to work with? jazz up the boring scarf experience with some cables and the irish hiking scarf or natty. or try this short-row scarf (the pattern calls for bulky weight, but you will get a slightly narrower version by using worsted weight - luckily with a scarf, gauge is hardly important)

another good place to look for free patterns online is at some of the online yarn shops like knitpicks.com or elann.com - these retailers offer some free patterns to try to entice you into buying their yarns.

whatever you decide to knit, don't forget to tell me how it goes!

as for "how i got so good".... egad! you should see what some people can knit! i'm an adventurous intermediate knitter, at best, and almost completely self-taught (but thanks to Erin for getting me started!). to be honest, the thing that i love the most about knitting is learning new things, and i'm a bit "competitive". i use a lot of online tutorials (try: knittinghelp.com - they have awesome videos) and i try a lot of new things. sometimes, i get in over my head, but sometimes i surprise myself.

i am about to take a knitting plunge, though. i'm going to take a class. Michael Del Vecchio (of Knitting With Balls) lives in DC (he's in my knitting group!) and teaches a lace knitting class at Knit Happens. I think I'm going to sign up because I recently fell head over heals with lace, but I may have finally reached the point where teaching myself becomes counter productive; good old fashioned lessons are in order, I think!

wow, this is too long. i'll try to make it less boring by adding some pictures when i get home later!

2007-02-09T14:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, to make up for my recent slacking, this post is going to extra amazing (I promise!)

First and formost: A FO!

May I present - Branching Out!
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (possibly my favorite yarn in the world), colour: 300602, 3 skeins

Needles: US size 10, straight (some kind of wood, I have no idea because they were free...)

Pattern Modifications: none, except that I used heavier yarn and larger needles to make a more substantial scarf.

Notes: this is my very first lace project, ever. i adore it. the pattern was super easy, but interesting enough that I didn't want to gouge my eyes out or anything. i used a lifeline, because as a new lace knitter, i realized extremely quickly that i am too dumb to be able to fix mistakes.

Thanks to the lifeline, I am happy to say that this is a 100% mistake-free knit!

I particularly enjoyed blocking this scarf. Having never knitted lace before, I was kind of amazed at the awesome-ness of the blocking transformation. Here's a picture of the scarf half-blocked and half-not-blocked (it was so long that I had to block it in two stages):

This is a gift for my best friend, which is a good thing, because if it were for anyone else, I swear I'd keep it! It's officially ready to go :-)

Okay, next up: fingerless gloves for my roommate, Sam! I finished the knitting on the first glove, and am working on the second. I'm using this fingerless glove pattern, which I'm enjoying a lot. They look small, but they stretch a lot (I had Sam, who is a pretty big guy, try this one on and it fits just fine), which means that this pattern would fit almost any adult.

Sam picked the yarn himself (brave boy - I sent him into the LYS by himself with a paper that said "two 50g skeins of sport weight yarn"). It's Blue Sky Alpacas sport weight, which I adore knitting because it is gloriously soft. I'm knitting them with US size 5 addi dpns.

Onward! (I told you this was gonna be a good one!)
I'm still awaiting news on the birth of my soon-to-be second cousin. In the meantime, I've been slowly (painstakingly slowly, really) frogging my very first crocheted item. It's a blanket that is one enormous granny square, and you can read the whole story here, in my very first post. anyway, it's made out of acrylic, which is good for... oh, nothing... except baby items! also, this baby is being named after my grandma, and so I have this feeling like I need to take the yarn given to me by my grandma (who is, i imagine, smiling down from heaven) and use it to make one million baby items.

My plan is to knit a few things to send as a "welcome to the family" gift when she is born. Since that could be any moment, I should probably kick it into gear!

Okie. Now, I mentioned in my last post that I had been bad and ordered a lot of yarn. Well, lest you think I was exagerating:

Starting in the back row, left to right: 4 skeins of knitpicks crayon (probably for a baby sweater), 12 skeins of Shetland Aran (possibly for Stasky), 3 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora (lord knows, but I love this stuff), 6 skeins of Debbie Bliss merino dk (maybe a substitute for the brown in the Deep V Vest i've been planning, 12 skeins (in two different colorways) of elann.com Peruvian Baby Silk (no clue, but it's cheap, and I wanted to try it)
row 2: 4 skeins (in two colorways) of knitpicks Palette (probably for some mitts), 4 skeins of knitpicks merino style (also a possible substitution for the Deep V)
row 3: 8 skeins of knitpicks gloss (knitty's thermal)

2007-01-30T18:36:00.000-05:00

i've been on a yarn-buying rampage, and i must be stopped.
no, seriously.

less than a year ago, i had no stash. do you hear me? NO STASH. none.

today? today i pouted that my elann.com order still didn't arrive (it shipped over a week ago - from Washington state, which I realize is far away from Washington, DC... but still, I want my yarn and I want it now) and cheered myself up by ordering some knitpicks yarn which i plan to use to make.... well, this, for starters.

and then there is the LYS, which I should not be allowed to go anywhere near. last week i nearly shrieked with joy upon finding the exact color and amount of manos that i've been coveting to make my so-called scarf. and picked up one or two (okay, fine.... four) other goodies while i was there.

i promise that pictures will be forthcoming, but i'm holding them hostage until the following things occur:
(1) i organize my stash, which requires buying some sort of stash-holding containers because the two lovely baskets currently in use are no longer cutting it
(2) i finish blocking Kristen's branching out (i promise you, it's beautiful already)
(3) some of this internet ordered yarn actually shows up (do you hear me, usps? get a move on!)
(4) the fingerless gloves i'm making for my roommate look more like gloves and less like strange tubes of yarn.

don't even ask me how many projects i've got on my needles, let alone how many projects i've got brewing in my head.

2007-01-06T20:34:00.000-05:00

i have been avoiding posting for awhile because even thinking about drudging through everything makes me feel emotionally exhausted. i have a bunch of stuff to share, but i have a sneeking suspicion that i will run out of steam before i get through it all.

okay, here goes:

the entrelac scarf was finished in time for christmas, due in large part to several marathon 10+ hour knitting days. i put so much thought and effort into it that when i finished it i felt both relieved and let down. the let down wasn't due to the result, though; i think that it turned out beautifully.

i almost didn't give it to the intended recepient, as it is reasonably clear to me that he does not deserve it, but in the end i decided that if every detail was custom made for him that he should have it. importantly, i wanted him to have it. i was so worried that he wouldn't like it, wouldn't appreciate it, or wouldn't wear it. in the end, i suppose that it won't matter. the process matters, and i learned more than one important lesson from this process. most of those lessons had nothing to do with knitting.

jesus, i'm already emotionally exhausted. let's move on to something much happier (and much cuter): i've been knitting baby things (for my soon-to-be second cousin)! and holy crap they're cute!

take a look-see:

2006-12-22T19:05:00.000-05:00

the entrelac continues... i've finished 51 rows, and the end is in sight. it looks less like a potholder or a wall hanging and more like a scarf these days, which i take as a good sign.

the pictures are from earlier today, so they are a few rows shy of the current progress.

in other news, i was a bad, bad christmas shopper yesterday. i, uhh, found a LYS and well... my stash needs christmas presents too, right? it's a nice little shop called Knit Wits located in Greensburg, PA (near Westmoreland mall). i picked up some goodies that i needed (size 6 dpns, yarn needles, some yummy sport weight olive green Blue Sky alpaca for the stripes in my roommates' fingerless gloves that he requested and bought the main color alpaca) some goodies that i didn't technically need, but really wanted (sheep shaped measuring tape, nancy bush's knitting vintage socks, and louisa hardings natural knits for babies and moms), and some things that were blatant stash additions (debbie bliss cashmerino aran, which i made my very first sweater out of, and for which i will always have a soft spot)

2006-12-20T16:09:00.000-05:00

i'm turning to the knitting blogosphere because i know that no one else could possibly understand the plight of the average knitter 5 days before Christmas (especially if... say, that knitter undertook to knit an entrelac scarf on size 4 needles for the most important boy in her life about a week and a half ago - mid law school finals).

i have been knitting with reckless abandon for the past several days straight. i will finish this scarf. i will be victorious. i will even try to sleep every night between now and then. when he unwraps it, i will smile demurely as i lie through my teeth and tell him that it is "not a big deal".

i just finished my 37th row (1 row of squares = 1 inch). that leaves... 26 more rows to go, according to the pattern. since it takes me just about an hour to finish one row of squares... well, let's not think about this too hard, shall we?

the good news is that... well, forgive me for tooting my own horn here, but... it is really a beautiful scarf. the colors work wonderfully together. the entrelac is interesting without being overwhelming. the yarn is wonderfully soft, and should do a good job keeping any neck toasty warm.

i believe with all of my heart that he will like it. i also believe with all my heart that he will never understand how much of myself i put into this scarf. i am actually reasonably okay with that. i know - i know how much of myself went into the scarf. it is kind of my own little secret.

(pictures coming later)

2006-12-09T15:31:00.000-05:00

i'm not dead.... i'm just in finals.

having said that, i let myself have a bout of craftiness yesterday/today to celebrate having not died in my first two finals.

you can tell that it must be finals time, because i am clearly delusional. i found myself in the LYS last night looking for the perfect yarn for a gift for my quasi-boyfriend. yeah, i'm knitting something for someone who i feel compelled to use the term "quasi" when defining our status. i'm obviously insane.
on the other hand, i feel completely in over my head in the relationship in general, so the gift-giving might as well follow suit.

take a look-sy:

Now, astute readers will note several things.
(1) holy crap, janet is doing fair isle knitting. the mitten is "practice" - i learned this morning. i'm gonna frog it, because, despite getting the hang of it fairly quickly, i misunderstood the pattern for how to deal with the chart for the thumb gusset and it isn't quite right. i'm not going to lie, i feel a bit awkward holding 4 needles and two colors of yarn all at one time. i had to sit in total silence and concentrate good and hard. but it's not so bad once you get the hang of it. so, manly mittens, here we come.
(2) entrelac? janet is knitting entrelac??? yeah, i taught myself last night. i love it. except for the annoying picking up stitches constantly, it's damn easy, too.
(3) the really insane part: perhaps you can't tell from the picture above... but, well, that entrelac blob needs to eventually amass itself into a scarf. those are size 4 needles. and this is a christmas gift. yes, i decided to knit a scarf on size 4s with less than 3 weeks (not to mention 3 more finals) until christmas. i think that it's better if i not tell you how long it took to knit thoses 3.5 sections. so, for those keeping track, that's 2 new knitting skills, tiny gauge, 16 days until Christmas, and the possibility of envoking some form of the boyfriend-sweater-curse.

for those who are interested, the yarn is Karabella aurora 4 in colorways 8170 (dark blue) and 17 (bright blue)

2006-11-13T13:41:00.000-05:00

i am too poor to buy any more crafty stuff for the time being, but man, that never keeps me from browsing and dreaming.

here's my crafting wish list:
(1) sewing machine
(2) knitpicks options
(3) so very many knitting books (knitting vintage socks, one skein, scarf style, knit and crochet with beads, last minute knitted gifts.... i could go on for forever)

also... i was shocked today to find that *drumroll* i have a stash. that might sound silly, but i swear that i never considered myself a stash-er. i generally buy yarn with specific projects in mind, and then work my way through those projects; what i refer to as my "stash" is really just projects-in-the-waiting. somewhere along the way, however... all those skeins i bought from the sale rack or because i was only $15 away from getting free shipping, or whatever... they seem to have added up into a full-blown stash.
having made this realization, i broke down and organized the damn thing today. one of my (male) roommates came home mid organization while all the yarn was skattered all over the floor and i was furiously untangling a knotted skein. he raised an eyebrow and said in the most serious of voices, "your yarn seems to have escaped from its container."

2006-11-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

good news: the purse handles arrived on tuesday!
bad news: they are about twice the size that i envisioned them being (nevermind that the measurements were listed right on the website, but i was blinded by the extremely good price)

result: frogged the whole purse tuesday night, re-worked the entire pattern to make it MUCH bigger (so as not to look completely ridiculous on the larger-sized handles), and switched to US size 13 needles (had been using US size 10). i like the result so far. *sigh* i have knitted about 1/4 of the purse since starting over, and i suspect i'm going to have to go pick up another skein of yarn in order to finish.

the picture above is the progress on the new pattern next to the enormous handles - i think that it's going to be just fine. i should have taken a picture of the first version next to the handles to show you the comedy of the proportions, but i just started frogging in a blind panic.

2006-11-06T11:13:00.000-05:00

mmkay, i'm back.

the combination of weird medical problems (the details of which i won't get into here) and MPRE exam the past week kept me away from knitting and blogging, so i am happy to return!

here's what i've been working on: yes, i finished the Irish Hiking Scarf .
A reader (i think i might only have one, so maybe i should just say "the" reader) asked for the pattern, so it's linked. it is a really simple pattern from hello yarn (memorizable in about 5 seconds flat), and great for metro/bus knitting. i also think it would make an excellent first cable project.

Details: knit on US size 8 Addi Turbos with 4 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora (sorry, I can't locate the colorway at this moment...which is so weird since my stash is amazingly organized...err, nevermind)

i just cast-on for my sister's long-promised cable knit purse. i ordered bamboo circular handles online and they are supposed to come tomorrow, so i just need some fabric for the lining and some ribbon for the finishing touches. oh, and to finish knitting it. i'm making up the "pattern" myself for this one ("pattern" seems to be an overglorified term for a rectangle sewn up the sides). it's essentially my own take on (err, knock off) of this Margaret Nicole purse. I added more cables because... well, who doesn't love more cables??

As you can see from the photo below, i picked a yummy red color to match my sister's gorgeous red herringbone coat. So, the question is... what color for the ribbon & lining? I'm thinking cream colored ribbon and either some black&white gigham fabric or maybe some of that asian-print black&white stuff (it has a name, i'm totally blanking)? Or should i use lilac to match the shoes/purse/scarf i gave her last year for Christmas? What do YOU think?? Laur, if you're reading this -- start giving it some thought, this baby will be ready before Thanksgiving!

Ahh, and now we get to the project that has been the bane of my existance the past week or so: Miss Dashwood from Knitty. Perhaps when you are so perplexed by a cast-on that you have to consult your knitting list-serve before proceeding, it is a sign that you shouldn't do that particular project. Anyway, after finally overcoming the picot cast-on (which you can't even see in the picture because it rolls up, but it does look cute and was not, in fact, difficult), i made a discovery: i HATE bobbles. hate them. anything that requires me to knit and/or purl into 4 stitches at once is horrid, and a job not designed for my precious addi turbos (NOT sharp enough, not even close).

I am also perplexed because apparently i do not own size 6 dpns, which means i have to go buy some before i proceed. i have size 6 straight needles (why? why do i own any straight needles? i never use them. the other day i found some straight aluminum needles amongst my stash and became horribly confused until i realized they must be my very first pair of knitting needles. i got snobby right-quick with my needles). so, i guess i'm going to have to go the the LYS. this, of course, is a dangerous idea because every time i walk into my LYS, i come out with $50 worth of crap i didn't really technically "need".

The last thing consuming my time these days is not technically knitting, but it's crafty, so i'll include it without feeling too guilty. I'm working on an embroidered square for a baby blanket. it's got to be the easiest craft project in the world (except for my mom who has to put all the squares together to actually form a blanket). cute, right?

just one question: the idea is to embroider a square and then embroider your signature on it. which means i feel somewhat compelled to commit to a name to be called by this baby. although i am technically not this child's aunt (it's my cousin's baby), i kind of want it to call me aunt janet (lord knows my sister and i are not going to have children for a damn long time, so if i want to be "cool aunt janet" this might be my only shot). so i am tempted to sign the thing "aunt janet" except i probably won't for fear that the kid will think i'm mentally retarded and can't understand the familial relationship.

one last thing: i want a sewing machine. desperately. i've had one in my overstock.com cart for like 2 weeks now, and i can't afford it, but i am reasonably concerned that i might buy it anyway. it is so lovely, and imagine the things i could craft!! oh god, i can't buy it. can't can't can't. note to self: you are not a lawyer yet, you are a lowly law student living on student loans, stop buying stuff! but it's factory refurbished and it's a really good deal! and only $1 shipping! No, Janet, no. but, please? absolutely not.

2006-10-26T10:10:00.001-04:00

i've entered a new era of crafting: baby things. it's creeping me out and making me feel more girly than ever before, all at the same time.

my cousin is pregnant with a girl due at the end of Feb. she's the first one from my generation, so naturally we're all really freaking excited.
my mom called yesterday about the family tradition blanket. i was at the craft store yesterday anyway (in search of yarn needles, which i did finally manage to hunt down) and so i picked up the necessary supplies: floss, needles, and whatever that hoop is called that holds the embrodery tight. i should get my square in the mail tomorrow, and i'll bang that out and get it sent back home.

of course, i had to look at yarn while i was at the craft store (especially because it was all 25% off). i'm pretty much a yarn snob, but some projects are actually more appropriately done in acrylic-wool blend yarn (like, perhaps, baby things that are going to need to be washed one million times). anyway, i'm totally going to spoil this kid rotten with hand-knitted items because: (1) they are smaller and faster to complete, (2) the home-made-ness factor is always cute on kids, (3) small children have no choice but to wear ridiculous things (like, say, hats made to look like berry tarts), and (4) i can learn how to do new things without committing to the larger scale items.

so, i'm starting with the obvious: traditional baby booties and a winter hat... which i anticipate starting on this afternoon.

which brings me to my next point: the reason that something else can go on the needles this afternoon is because the IHS is oh-so-close to being finished. i've got 50 pattern repeats at the moment, and enough yarn for 2 more, at the most. i had been moderately worried that it wouldn't be long enough (my dad, the recipient, is a tall guy), but i think it's going to be just fine.
i also officially finished the fingerless gloves last night, and they are already being enjoyed by the recipient. i forgot to take a finished picture, but i can probably nab one of her wearing them.

i might man-up and go to SnB tonight. it's in cap hill, where i will be for work anyway. i should really stop being an antisocial knitter.

2006-10-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

two small snafus yesterday:

i was knitting on the bus (one might think i would be afraid to do anything on the bus other than hold on for dear life after last weeks fall on my tailbone... but one would have to know that i never learn lessons as quickly as might be prudent). somehow i managed to drop a stitch right in a cable row of the IHS. luckily, i realized it right quick in the next row, and had the problem solved with only a moderate amount of frogging necessary.

have i mentioned that i'm a law student? well, i am. a 3L, to be exact. a 3L with a post-graduation job, wireless internet in the classroom, and an addiction to knitting websites. no matter that the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Exam is in less than 2 short weeks, after the first hour of class, i was fully engrossed in knitting website bliss. About 45 minutes later, the law school gods sought revenge for my inattention: in a classroom of about 125 people, my chair spontaneously collapsed from underneath me. all 250 eyes turned toward me, and the professor stopped class to ask if "everything's okay back there?" i sheepishly picked myself up off the ground, trying to stop laughing, and moved to a new chair, where i went immediately back to looking at knitting websites.

2006-10-24T15:00:00.000-04:00

there is only ONE good thing about being stuck in the Detroit airport for over 10 hours on Sunday: lots of knitting progress on the IHS. I'm on my final (4th) skein of cotton angora, which means that the end is in sight.

also, while I was gone, my yarn for the deep v argyle vest came. i'm not sure how i feel about the brown. the color is called "cinnamon". the vest i have envisioned is more chocolate in color. luckily, i have to practice fair isle and i need to make a substantial swatch anyway, so i have time to think about how the colors look together. i may just throw the cinnamon in the stash and go in search of something else.

2006-10-20T10:55:00.000-04:00

i hit the jackpot at the LYS yesterday! I went to a location that I've never been to before (Stitch DC in Capital Hill), and was thrilled to find that it is triple the size of the shop that I've been to before (the location in Georgetown, where I always feel like I'm in someones way...because I always AM in someones way).

anyway... I found US size 11 47" addi turbos! i was convinced that i would have to special order it, but by some miracle they had exactly one in stock! i suppose this means that i have no more excuses for ignoring the sweater i am supposed to be making for my sister. It's done using magic loop, which I have not done before, and so far, I completely hate it. I convinced myself that a large part of the problem is my 32" needle. If I can't do it on this 47", then me and magic loop were just not meant to be and my sister is just going to have to settle for another design.

i also picked up some yarn for the steeking in the deep v argyle vest - a wool/mohair blend, as recommended. hopefully the merino that i ordered for it online will arrive soon and i can get to work! AND - i bought sock yarn. I refuse to be intimidated by those tiny dpns any longer. besides, it's socktober, after all. the IHS is going well.

I've just started my second skein of yarn, so I'm officially 1/4 of the way finished.

gratuitous close-up of the sock yarn
IHS progress
my new supplies :-)

2006-10-19T00:18:00.000-04:00

first of all, here are the (nearly) finished fingerless gloves. i swear that i tried to buy yarn needles today to no avail (sometimes my LYS is miserably understocked).

later in the evening, i was digging through my stash (which is in desperate need of some organizing) when i found some beautiful debbie bliss cotton angora that i bought on sale last spring, and had completely forgotten about.
i immediately cast on for my IHS and went to town. perfecto!

about two cable rows through i got the crazy idea to try to teach myself english style knitting. a couple rows and numerous twisted stitches later, i decided that a boring swatch of no importance would be a better way to learn. i've got to practice before trying the two-handed fair isle method for the deep v argyle vest! creepy desire to try new things aside, i'm pleased with the IHS so far. there is great stitch definition, and the cotton angora feels lovely. now, if only it would stop being 80 degrees in DC and start being appropriate scarf wearing weather!

2006-10-18T14:26:00.000-04:00

i am almost finished with the darn fingerless gloves that i started eons ago for a friend. this has taught me an important lesson about promising to knit things for friends: it is much better if you knit something without their knowledge, that way, if you take an enternity to finish it, they are none the wiser.
somehow, i've lost all my yarn needles (*shocking* when you consider i picked up and moved all of my belongings no less than 3 times this summer), so i can't weave in the ends until i rectify that situation. i took some pics last night, and will get them uploaded post haste.
unfortunately, the yumminess of alpaca seems to be a challenge to capture in photograph, even on my fancy new camera - i think in large part because the color is dark grey, which hides the stitch definition.

yesterday, i did two exciting things:

(1) finally bought the deep v argyle vest pattern from eunny. many things about the pattern are somewhere between moderately and extremely terrifying (including, but not limited to: (a) the fact that i've never done fair isle - don't worry, i'm going to practice first, and (b) the STEEKS - um, i'm sorry, you want me to cut my precious knitting?!? CUT?!?). however, i am confident that i'm up to the challenge, especially with eunny's painstakingly detailed and fantastically illustrated directions - seriously, if you've ever thought about buying this pattern - DO IT, it's amazing. it's probably the best $5.25 i've ever spent on on a pattern. i think i've settled on a chocolate and winter white color combo - doesn't that just sound devine? i can't wait to start!!

(2) signed up for the irish hiking scarf knit along. i actually had started the IHS the day prior with some crappy stash yarn, but i decided that i just can't do it with this blahhh acrylic. after working with the alpaca on those fingerless gloves, it feels like sandpaper. i also cannot bring myself to throw yarn away (despite the fact that this stuff clearly came out of some closet in my mother's house and was not even purchased by me in the first place), so back into the stash it goes. i'm ordering something yummy instead (merino, perhaps?) and doing it properly.

2006-10-17T13:13:00.000-04:00

The cold is starting to set in to Washington, DC once again. My friend has started nagging about her half-finished fingerless gloves. My stash is growing. I've got a brand-spanking new digital camera, that's begging for an excuse to take lots of wool-filled pictures. I've become completely disinterested in school and am looking for any means of procrastination.

It's clear that there is knitting to be done, my friends! A LOT of knitting to be done.

Before I start waxing poetic about my half-finished projects and getting giddy about new patterns, it seems appropriate to start from the beginning.

The beginning, it turns out, was a very long time ago. My first yarn experiences were at the side of my grandmother, Lilian, who taught me to crochet at as soon as I could reasonably hold a crochet needle. My first attempts were granny squares. They were tight, uneven, unseemly, and generally useless, but my grandma was delighted all the same. It was something special that she and I shared - I was the only grandchild willing to even try my hand at the craft.

My grandmother crocheted blankets ad naseum: comforters, throws, and even matching pillow covers. She used cheap acrylic yarn in bold, clashing, mismatched colors. She crocheted my sister and I matching (yet, somehow, distinct) comforters in bold yellow, red, blue, and green which we proudly displayed for years, and still find their home in my parents linen closet. The throw blankets that she crocheted are still my dads favorites, and you can still find him asleep in his lazy chair underneath one on any given evening, despite the fact that they are frayed, worn out, and clearly out of place in the otherwise well-decorated and modern living room.

My grandmother also crocheted delicate, beautiful lace. The table cloth that she made for my mother is stunning, and is considered so precious and irreplacable, that it is housed under a clear plastic cover when it is displayed in our dining room.

Under my grandmother's influence, I decided to crochet a blanket as soon as I had mastered the double crochet. I set out to make the biggest granny square in the world. I picked pastel colors, and when one color ran out, I started a new skein hapharzardly, buying more yarn as I went along. Somewhere along the way, I ran out of steam, and the half-finished blanket was put aside in favor of other hobbies. A year or so later, I picked it back up with renewed fervor before once again getting side-tracked, and so it went.
The gaps in time and skill level, in combination with the different yarn textures chosen practically guarenteed the uneven guage that resulted. The little girl decision-making guarenteed the awkwardly mismatched colors.
Eventually, age, self-awareness, and good sense caught up with me and I realized that this was one ugly blanket. This time, it went - still unfinished - into the closet for good.

Years later, in college, I was poor but blessed with more good friends than anyone deserves. This combination lead me to pick up the crochet needle once again, to churn out a gaggle of scarves for my closest friends for the holidays. Of course, I took on more yarn than I could handle and spent many late nights ignorning my school work and crocheting like a mad woman. Eventually, I enlisted the help of my mother (who had never crocheted much in my presence - she was more of a needlepoint woman - but had long ago mastered the craft sufficienly to make a scarf with the best of 'em) and between us, we finished more scarves that holiday season than I care to remember.

After the scarf debaucle, I was in no hurry to pick up the yarn again any time soon. It was not until I graduated and started law school that I gave another thought to picking up the needle(s) again. I moved to Washington DC, and was living with friends from college in the 'burbs. Law school, as one might imagine, was horrible, and in the evenings I wanted nothing more but to sit and vegetate on the couch - which I did frequently. One of my roommates also enjoyed a good vegetation session on the couch, but she always brought her knitting needles along.
I was immediately intrigued by this two-needle craft, but skeptical. One needle was hard enough, thankyouverymuch. I dragged out my crochet needle, and made an obligatory scarf with some old yarn.

My intrigue did not go unnoticed. That year for my birthday, my roommate Erin bought me my very first set of knitting needles and some wonderfully chunky yarn to learn on. She taught me how to cast on, knit stitch, and cast off. I was off and running!

About a year later, having created numerous knit scarves, I was craving something more.
I found the online knitting world, and I was immediately completely obsessed. I taught myself how to purl. I taught myself how to increase and decrease. I frogged. I learned new cast-on techniques. I learned how to cable. I frogged a lot. I found my very own LYS. I learned how to knit in the round on circs and dpns. I learned the lingo. I frogged a lot more.

In January, 2006 I made, and then subsequently kept a New Years resolution: enough scarves - I was knitting a sweater come hell or high water! Hell quite nearly came many times over, but I finished that sweater (and moreover: it fits, looks beautiful, and feels devine). I crossed the line between casual i-knit-flat-rectangular-items and fanatical i-knit-a-wearable-garment. Oh, the joy! Knitting world, I have arrived!

Now, nearly a year later, my obsession with knitting has not subsided. Moreover, my narcasistic tendencies have led me to believe that you, dear reader, want to hear about my knitting obsession!

I still consider myself a "beginner" knitter with much to learn (although with the stuborness to attempt any "expert" difficult pattern out there, if I like it enough). This blog may, indeed, include more failure than triumph. But I'm pretty okay with that. If you are too, I hope you stop back every now and then.