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!

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)

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

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?

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

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)

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

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):

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

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).

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

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.

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

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....

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

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.

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

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

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".

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

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).

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

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.

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.

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.

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 ;-)

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!

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!

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!!