Squares. Lots of Them.

For years now I have wanted to make my own knit blanket for couch lounging.   But the idea of knitting something that huge, buying that much identical yarn, and let's face it - getting tired of the pattern was more than I could bear to start.

Instead I've decided to pull out my rusty crochet skills and go for the Babette Blanket from Interweave Crochet Spring 2006.   The original pattern calls for Koigu (fingering weight) yarn and made a lap sized blanket.   This just wouldn't do.  Besides, a whole blanket out of fingering weight?  Ouch.

So after much browsing of finished blankets on Ravelry I chose to use Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. Washable, lightweight, and most importantly, comfy.   I am using one ball of virtually every color ever made.   It took months to collect them all.





So far, I am loving it.  Once I remembered how to change colors in crochet the squares have gone quickly.   I'm trying to sew in the ends as I go, and I have a system set up to keep track of the squares.  (More on that in another post.)

The only challenge besides finishing another, oh, 400 of these, is to learn how to neatly sew crochet together.Quite a feat, since I can't really sew anything neatly.

Pool Knitting

It was H.O.T. here today. Almost painfully so, since we were sitting in metal grandstands trying to watch NHRA drag races in Joliet. As soon as we got home we immediately headed for the pool.

I tried something I've been thinking about all summer:





I am still so thankful, grateful, and surprised that we got this house.

Blocking the Swallowtail

I finished knitting my Swallowtail shawl in a haze of decongestant on Monday. I am so pleased with this project. As my first triangular shawl, I wasn't entirely sure how it was constructed. Logically I knew, each row increases from a central point, but my brain needs to see something before it believes it.

I sort of winged this entire project. I didn't use any stitch markers or lifelines, didn't highlight or write on the charts, didn't even use anything to mark what row I was on in the chart. I kept saying "I just want to get started, I'll fix that stuff up later". And then I was done. And it worked!

I broke out the blocking wires purchased almost a year ago at Stitches Midwest for the the time. Let me say, once i figured out how to pin and pull them to stretch the fabric, I will never block something without them again.

The yarn I used (Wisdom Yarns Poem Sock) is marketed to use as a sock yarn. Obviously, I guess. It is a loosely spun single with 25% nylon. It didn't seem like it would be very sturdy for socks and this suspicion was confirmed while blocking. My yarn tails were almost fragile while wet, and one kept disintegrating in my hands. Luckily I left them extra long. I was concerned about how aggressively I could block it without damaging any of the stitches, so I probably erred on the side of caution.


Here is the unblocked shawl:




Here is the bizarre milky purple color it turned the water while it was soaking:


What's up with that?


Blocking:


On old maroon towels, to avoid any chance of dying the carpet.


With cat anchor:


While still damp. Crazy cat loves water.

D'oh Nuts

I wanted to make this knit donut for my dad, only modify it to look like Homer's donut. Easy enough, right? Especially since I found the perfect colors of yarn. But my inability to simply follow a pattern as written and my horrendous sewing-up skills have made this little thing the most frustrating project I've done in a long time.

This was my first attempt:






Thinking about it now, it would have been better to use a provisional cast on, instead of trying to neatly and invisibly sew together the cast on and bind off edges.

Also, I didn't really pay attention to the gauge differences of the two yarns and the pink frosting ended up too high and poofy. The second attempt was not much better.

I think I need to just rip it out and start over. So now my urge to stuff it in a drawer and forget about it is conflicting with my desire to finish it by fathers day.

I feel completely untalented right now.

Movie Knitting

I have a sock in progress that I keep under the passenger seat of my car to solve a case of Extreme Boredom. (No, this does not include stoplights, trains, traffic, or anywhere else I should be paying at least a little attention. My brain doesn't shift gears that quickly.) It's been under there at least eight months, probably longer.

Last weekend I found the perfect spot to work on it - at a drive-in.





The double feature we saw was Night at the Museum 2 (which was pretty funny, but then I don't have the most sophisticated taste in movies) and Star Trek (which we had already seen once at the IMAX). It was a fun night.

Several people who have seen the car sock have asked me about the short circular needle. It is a 9" 0US Hiya Hiya. I like using it but it takes some getting used to. And by that I mean that it takes some getting used to every time I pick it up. The first dozen or so stitches feel awkward until I find the right grip, which is different then I typically hold needles.

I think this awkwardness is worth the benefits of using one short needle. I can just knit around and around without paying much attention or stopping to rearrange needles. I haven't reached the heel yet, but I am planning on trying a short row heel with the instep stitches sitting on the cord. Theoretically, I should be able to knit the entire sock on that one needle up to the toe decreases.

I'll post again on how it is working out once I reach that point.

In-Progress Roundup

I've gone on a yarn shopping binge recently (more on that to come) but I really want to finish up some lingering projects before I cast on anything new. Besides a sweater that I have been working on consistently for a week or so, my other projects in progress have been lingering for a while now. I think it is time for some decisions. Opinions or tough love welcome.
(Note: links go to Ravelry.)

1) Sedum Sweater


This has been my current go-to project for the past week. I am hoping to finish it soon - three cheers for bulky yarn!

2) Chevron Scarf


I've wanted to make this scarf for years. I've had the yarn for years. My desire to knit it only increased after seeing all of the colorful and beautiful finished scarves on Ravelry. I've held off starting it since I thought it would be a fun knit and didn't want the "fun" of it to be over. But. It isn't fun to work on. The colors are pooling even though I am using two different colorways, I have to use size 4 needles to get a fabric I like, and it is basically stockinette stitch so isn't it going to roll? I just don't know what to do. I know it probably sounds like a no-brainer that I need to frog this thing but I've imagined it knit for so long I'm having a hard time letting go of that dream. I suppose at the very least I need to rip out and restart one of the skeins a few yards in so the pooling stops.

3) Anastasia Socks


This is a project that looks good on paper. The yarn (Misti International Hand Paint Sock) is amazing soft and the colors are wonderful; the pattern is well written and attractive. I have 1.25 socks knit but I've stalled because it isn't much fun to work on. I know it sounds ridiculous but the yarn is almost too soft. It slips right thought my fingers and I get a cramp in my palm trying to keep even tension. I will finish them; I've done too much not too. Besides, I do love them and look forward to wearing them. I've almost cast on a few other pairs of socks but am forcing myself to finish these first or else they may never be done.

4) Perfect Periwinkle Turtleneck Tube Vest


I really want to like this. (Do I sound like a broken record?) My mom bought me the yarn (Cascade Sierra) specifically for this project. I think I shortened the turtleneck too much and I don't like how my increases look. So again, probably should frog the whole thing and start over. The biggest problem is I had to go down to a US5 needle to get gauge (and a nice fabric) and the cotton content of the yarn kills my hands if I work on it for any length of time. But, wouldn't it look cute with a white blouse and jeans?

5) Husband Scarf. No photo or link, since it hasn't progressed that far yet. I bought some Berroco Inca Gold to make a dressy scarf to go with his new black leather coat last winter. I had planned on use the Henry pattern from Knitty but couldn't be bothered to do the math to account for my thicker yarn. Besides, it looks a little fiddly to do with black yarn. He hasn't found any stitch pattern in my books that he likes as much as the Henry scarf. We are at an impasse.

WIP Wednesday

(This was supposed to post yesterday, so please pretend today is still Wednesday. I know, no one wants it to be Wednesday any longer than necessary but 'WIP Thursday' doesn't have the same ring to it.)

I feel as though life has been clobbering me good the last few weeks but things seem to have turned the corner and more of my brain is free to think about things other than basic survival. I usually do my knitting in the evenings, but lately I have just been sitting and staring at the TV like a zombie. Until I fall asleep on the couch.

I only have one real WIP right now, my Anastasia sock out of Misti Alpaca sock yarn.



I decided to put in a placeholder for an after-though heel, mostly because I couldn't come up with the perfect heel to use for this gorgeous yarn and couldn't be bothered to use my brain and look something up. (It's the white yarn on the back half of the fabric in the photo above.) Also, after seeing a photo of the sock I realized that the yarn is actually pooling a little and creating a spiral in the opposite direction of the lace pattern. Hmm. Not my favorite look ever, but it is subtle enough to pass.

My other WIP is actually some spinning I am planning to start tonight: 4oz Spunky Eclectic Club Feb '09 "New Day".




I want to make a hat and maybe mittens out of this since it matches my white and orange winter coat perfectly. I am going to try for a worsted weight two ply. So I guess this is my very first attempt to spin something into a predetermined yarn, instead of just however it happens to turn out. It will be a learning experience, at least!

WIPs and Buttons Revisited

I realized a few months ago that since Ravelry taken over a portion my life in the last year and a half I seem to have stopped posting about my projects in progress. I know that looking at half-finished projects gets a little old after a while but I miss the feedback I used to receive on things before they were complete. So I am going to make an effort to show what I am working on more often. (I'm thinking of "WIP Wednesday", ingoring the fact that I am writing this on Monday.)

I currently only have one project that I am actively working on, a Circular Shrug for myself using Bernat Denim Style (a cotton/acrylic blend). I have to say I love this yarn; it is nice and soft and stands up well to repeated washings.





It really doesn't look like much of anything in the photo, I know.

I am very close to finishing this. With a little luck (that I don't fall asleep in front of the TV) I can finish it tonight.

A project that has been started, ripped out, and abandoned in my knitting bag is a Henry Scarf from Knitty for my husband. I love the look of the finished scarf but the knitting seems a little daunting. It is a lengthwise knit scarf (as in, back and forth the long way) out of fingering weight yarn with a slip stitch herringbone pattern. I thought I'd tilted the odds of finishing it a little more in my favor by choosing a DK weight yarn (albeit a dark charcoal color) and reducing the number of stitches but it still seems like a beast to tackle. I'm having a lot of guilt about it though since my husband doesn't often want me to knit for him, and he can't find another scarf pattern that he likes as much. We'll see what happens. Maybe once I dive in I'll find a rhythm and it will go quickly after all.
__

Thanks to everyone who took my "button quiz" last week. My indecision on the buttons feels a little more justified since the vote between pink and yellow was split almost 50/50 the entire time. The pink ended up winning by ~15% and I think I am going to go with those.

Citrus Yoke, continuted.

Two things I have been thinking about on my Citrus Yoke Pullover are the edges and the collar.

The pattern calls for the edges to be plain stockinette which will obviously roll. I like the look of the plain stockinette edge – but without the roll. I realize this is not usually possible.

I thought about trying a different edge technique on the bottom and sleeve cuffs, such as some type of ribbing or a hem. I just didn’t think ribbing will suit the style of the sweater as much as a plain border and I really don’t need the extra bulk on a hem around my hips on a bulky sweater. I knocked around the possibility of decreasing stitches or using a smaller gauge yarn for the inside of the hem, as EZ recommended, but I still think it will be a little more bulk than I need.

So I ended the bottom of the sweater in plain stockinette and yes, it is rolling up like crazy. As I was knitting a sleeve the body had rolled almost halfway up to the yoke. Since the yarn is 50% microfiber my plan is to steam block the heck out of it and hope that it “kills” the yarn enough to control the roll. (Fingers crossed)

As for the collar, it is currently too high for my tolerance. And this is without doing any of the collar rows before the yoke increases! However, when I tug the yoke down my shoulders a little more the collar is perfect. Since my swatch loosened up a little upon washing I am going to hold off on changing the collar until the whole sweater is completed, washed, and blocked. If it is still too high I am going to pick open the cast on edge to rip out however much I need and then bind off at the new neckline.

I am going to try to finish this sweater by the weekend. I am looking forward to crossing another thing off my to-do list.

(I just re-read my last sentence. When did my life become solely about getting things done? Why do I need to finish it this weekend? So many self imposed, irrelevant deadlines. I think I need to slow down and smell the roses...)

A fast knit.

I have wanted to write this post all week, but either didn’t felt like turning my computer on after work or I’d turn it off before remembering to post. I feel like I have been stuck in a fog lately, where I can’t even get myself to do the things I want to get done. BUT. I digress.

I want a new sweater to wear this winter which usually means I should have started one in April. Instead, I am using a bulky yarn, GGH Aspen, and the Citrus Yoke Pullover from Interweave Knits Winter ’07. Amazingly this is the yarn called for in the pattern which is a first for me. It was an accident though, since I have had the yarn for years without knowing what do it with it. I purchased it on special at Knit Picks before Knit Picks only carried their private label. Does anyone remember when they had the “try it, you’ll like it” deals? The Aspen was one of them and I got it for about $1.80 a ball.

The sweater is going so quickly. I keep holding it up and saying “I can’t believe how big this is already!” This photo was taken after only two night progress; I am almost done with the body less than a week later.



The jury’s still out on whether I will actually look good in a bulky-yarn sweater.


The Citrus Yoke is supposed to be a turtleneck but I can not wear even a thought of a collar on my neck or I feel claustrophobic. So I have completely eliminated the lace repeat on the collar and jumped right into the increases after casting on. And you know what? I think it is still too high. I am going to wait until after I wash and block it for the first time but I might pick apart the cast on edge and rip out a few of the beginning rows to make it wearable.

Dublin Bay Socks

I am almost finish with Mom's Stitches Midwest 2007 Socks, Pair 2. (Yes, 2007 - that's not a typo.)





This is the second sock, shown here a few days ago hanging out with Capt. Ben Sisko. The yarn is Trekking XXL and I love the subtle color changes with the dark base color. It doesn't seem to be making wide stripes like some of the lighter Trekking merging-color yarns do, but it is still very pretty.

Not as fast as I’d hoped.

I cast on for the Perfect Periwinkle Turtleneck Tube Vest from Fitted Knits a week or so ago, thinking it would be a fast project. I suppose it could have been – for someone besides me. First off I decided to use Cascade Sierra, a cotton blend yarn. Even this amount of cotton is making my hands hurt. So that slows me down. But most of the problem is my own impatience. I wanted to shorten the neck because I am too claustrophobic to wear a turtleneck (seriously!) and decided that about an inch was “enough”. Now that I am looking at it, I don't think it's enough.





The way this top is constructed, the two sides of the neck form the entire shoulder area. (Does that make sense? Hopefully you can see what I mean in the photo.) I tried it on and it looks sort of funny. I need two or three inches of collar I think. That’s still less than the 5 to make it a turtleneck, so hopefully I won’t die wearing it.

Also, I don’t think I am doing the left lifted increases and right lifted increases correctly. I am getting some funky small holes along the increase lines that I don’t like. Not that they will matter when I rip it back to the collar. I just need to learn how to do them correctly for next time.

I had hoped to be finished with this project by now, not started over. I am still hoping to wear it to Stitches, so that leaves me 15 days to finish. (Stitches is in 15 days!! Hooray!)

Summer is in Full Swing

I’ve been busy lately. Not just with work like usual – but fun stuff too. Two weekends ago we enjoyed a Nascar weekend in Joliet. This was great because not only is the track close to my parents house so there are free accommodations and a short drive, but the race was at night so it wasn’t 50 million degrees in the stands.

Last Friday night, Steve and I went to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, IL. The fair was only open for three hours on Friday, and unfortunately it went by way too quickly. I spent most of my time trying out different spinning wheels. I think I have decided on the folding Lendrum. I just have to save my pennies now so I can have one sometime in the next decade!

While there were a lot of great vendors and things to see, I don’t think the fair was laid out very well or at least didn’t have good signage. There was a map in the program, but we just glanced at it and then wandered around. Just when we thought we had seen everything and were on our way out, we would turn a corner and found more booths. We ended up running out of time and not seeing a lot of the vendors. In fact, I didn’t realize until we got home and I was reading through the program that there were vendors on the second floor! (My bank account is grateful for this.)

I ended up with two skeins of yarn, which I will tell you about in another post, since this is getting a little long already.

After the fiber fair, we met some family down in the southern Illinois/St. Louis MO area. We all went to another Nascar Busch Nationwide race on Saturday night and spent a few hours Sunday exploring St. Charles, MO. I found a great yarn store and just had to stop by. (Isn’t that the first thing you do when staying at a hotel in a new town? Look up “yarn” in the phone book?)

It was called Knit & Caboodle and they had literally rooms of yarn, plus lots of books and patterns. I could have spent hours looking through all of the yarn, but since I was dragging 5 people with me (they were such good sports!) I picked out a pattern (Berroco's Beaujolais from booklet #255) and tragically left without any yarn at all. I’d love to go back some day.


I wanted an easy, mindless project to work on during the 5 hour drive to St. Louis. It is hard to concentrate, or even stay remotely comfortable, for any length of time with four tall adults squeezed into a Jetta! None of my current works in progress (which would be two – Mom’s broadripple socks and a sweater that I had just cast on for) fit the bill. So I found my ball of Malabrigo and started a scarf.





Because a wool scarf is what you are supposed to knit when it is 90 degrees F and you are crammed in the backseat of a car. Right?

Major Ugh.

I really thought I was going to finally finish my Something Red sweater this weekend. In fact, I did, but things didn't work out quite right.

The button band and collar turned out a little funky. I didn't pick up enough stitches down the front edges of the cardigan for the button band, and I think I did a few too many short rows on the back of the neck. It is a little too high on the back of my neck.





I did try it on while working on the button band but I was too lazy to put it on a string or second circular so I could stretch it out all the way. I did look like it would fit while it was bunched up along the circular I was using, honest! Oh well, that'll teach me.

While working the body of the sweater I slipped the end stitches so there was a nice chain of one stitch per two rows for me to pick up. This appeared to work out so perfectly, and I picked up exactly 200 stitches which is what the pattern called for. I was so psyched about how easy it was that it didn't even occur to me that maybe I should have more stitches, since I made the body longer than the pattern called for. Well, dang.

I was looking forward to starting something new once this was finished, and I was so close to shoving this in a closet and pulling out some new yarn. But I am a good girl, or realistic at least, and I know this will never get finished if I don't do it now.

So it's already ripped and the band picked up again. I ignored my slip stitch chain and used the standard pick up 3 out of 4 stitches. I am going to go down one needle size to make sure it doesn't flare out but it already looks better than before.

Winter in, um, June?

Remember the sock I started during our ill-fated camping trip? I finished the ribbed leg a few nights ago and stuck it over my hand just for fun. (Do you do that too?) I realized that I would make a great glove or mitten cuff. I've never made a glove before and have been wanting to for a while now.




I feel slightly silly knitting a wool glove in June - strange, since now that I think about it I didn't feel silly knitting a wool sock in June. But the plus side is that I will actually have a completed pair for wool gloves ready and waiting for winter.

I'm using the numbers from The Handy Book of Patterns , and sort of fudging things to fit the knitting I had already done.

Required Daily Knitting

It is been rare for me to sit still and knit during the last few weeks. I really should force myself to knit, write it on my calendar or set an alarm, since once I get going it is very relaxing and enjoyable. (But this is obviously news to no one.)

I have this strange thing where even when I feel like knitting the first few rows are difficult to get through. I have to force myself to keep going and not just put it down. Once I am over this hump, you’d have to pry it out of my hand to get me to stop. Bizarre, I know.

With that in mind, I have been knitting some and have photos to prove it!




These are my Mom’s Broadripple socks. She picked the yarn out at Stitches Midwest last August and I am determined to finish them before a year passes. (Aren’t I a good daughter?)

I am also close to finishing a super secret project, which I will be able to show in a few weeks. If you are on Ravelry and are curious, you can take a look here.

Moving update: Still have about a dozen packed boxes, and piles of stuff that need to be put somewhere, once I decide where somewhere is. I am afraid that if I don’t get my act together and finish all this soon, I’ll be walking around these boxes for the next year.

Too Good to Be True?

I finished the Trellis Scarf Monday night, and was extraordinarily impressed with myself for finishing in time and without any major problems or mistakes.

While blocking last night however I did uncovered a rather large problem.





Those three pins are holding three live stitches that started to unravel as I was blocking. It is a SK2P, or slip, knit 2 together and pass the slipped stitch over - a three stitch into one decrease. I must have dropped it while doing the knit 7 together in the following row.

Luckily I caught it before it became a huge hole. I'm not exactly sure how, since it is only a few inches from the cast on edge and I have been tugging on it for weeks to see the lace better. I'm also not entirely sure how to fix it but I've asked on Ravelry and a a number of people have already come to my rescue. I think I am just going to catch all three loops in a piece of the yarn, and then weave in the ends in opposite directions. I want to try duplicate stitching the ends in to hide them, but my duplicate stitch always looks like crap and would probably be more obvious than well-woven ends.

Does anyone have any other advice for me? I think I am going to tackle this after dinner tonight. Fingers crossed!

A hole in my lace.

I’m still here, knitting lace. Work has kept me busy lately, plus I really don’t have anything new to show except a few rows of the scarf a night.

(No new photo. It looks just like it did last time, only longer.)

I was making steady, happy progress until this past weekend when I discovered a large hole about two inches back. I somehow dropped a stitch without noticing since my count and the pattern was right on. Thankfully it had stopped running so it must have been a yarn over.

I have successfully (tediously) ripped back and fixed it but have lost all momentum. I picked it up last night and had to force myself to do two rows before giving up and putting it down.

Ugh. Gotta get the good feelings back. =)

Challenging yet fun.

I am going to write about this only because I don' t think my Mom looks at my blog regularly. (At all? Of course she is going to be reading this now I'm sure.)

I am making the Trellis Lace scarf from IK Spring 06 (on Ravelry) as a Mother's Day gift. Here is the start I have so far:





That little piece of fluff is about two weeks of work. I am on the 7th pattern repeat out of 23. I figure if I can finish a pattern repeat a night, it will be done in time. (I am currently two repeats behind schedule.)

Good thing her birthday is at the end of July - I can always claim it was supposed to be a birthday gift!

The pattern is actually very easy, except for the 7-into-5 decreases that happen every 8 rows. Those buggers slow me down considerably, and I usually give up on finishing my pattern repeat for the night when I hit one of those rows. I figured out a decent way of working them involving a tiny crochet hook and sliding the stitches down to the cable of the needle. I am going to try to take a photo or a video or something of how it works in case anyone is interested.

Spring, Maybe.

After an unseasonably late 12 inch blizzard hit us last Friday, the weather seems to have turned the corner to spring. (Did I say that a few weeks ago? I just got a sense of typing-déjà vu. Hmmm.) Daffodils are a sign of spring, right?





They are from my aunt, and the American Cancer Society's Daffodil Days. I have never had fresh cut daffodils before and they are just perfect. The color is gorgeous and they smell like spring.

I am a few rows away from finishing my first Everlasting Bagstopper. I picked up some pink woven webbing for the handles at Hobby Lobby last night. I can't decide on the best way to attach them. It obviously need to be sturdy and able to stand up to some abuse. I'm sure the best way would be to drag out my sewing machine but I don't think that is going to happen.