more lust

Okay, sorry right up front for having nothing to show you YET AGAIN. I didn't think that the same pair of socks in progress was interesting enough to shoot before just getting the FO picture.

What I will go on about today though is the discovery of lust incarnate: Knitpicks added a line of interchangeable needles that apparently have a finish as smooth as Addis, a point as sharp as my Denise needles, and a cord more flexible than Addis. The set comes in 9 sizes from US4-11 and they charge $60 for the set. I WANT. Check out this mini review by All Things Heather and also an unofficial review by Clara at Knitter's Review (scroll down). I wonder if it would be possible to add this to my wedding registry? Hmm, I'm guessing Macy's, BBB, and Amazon don't link to the Knitpicks site, huh?

today at boot camp...

So have you ever seen that early Buffy episode where Amy's mom switches bodies with her daughter and tries out for the cheerleading squad and hexes another competitor to spontaneously combust? Yeah, kinda like that.

Total exercise time: 56 minutes
AVG HR: 168 bpm
Peak HR: 230 bpm (I think this must be an error)
Time within 155-175 bpm: 31 minutes

In other news, I'm heading out of town for another couple of days, but I wanted to make sure I finished lengthening Hopeful before heading to Seattle. I'd seen on Jenna Adorno's blog that she sometimes goes to the Purlygirls meeting, so wouldn't it be cool if I wore one of her designs there and got to meet her? I think it's a much more wearable length now and looks like it flares less even though it's still the same shaping. I like it even if I'm having a bad hair day and can't take a reasonable picture...


I'm pointing at where the shirt used to end.

bonnie sweater

Okay, thanks everyone for your votes. It looks like Icarus is officially going to be blue. As Karen correctly pointed out, the last time I asked for a vote about the W-day, I managed to completely ignore the overwhelming majority and go with my own feelings. Thankfully, this time it matches what you guys think! Now, when will I actually be able to cast on for this? Oh yeah, I'm waiting for stitch markers before I can get started on anything remotely lace.

In the meantime, remember that Hopeful sweater I made last fall? The one that went through 8 incarnations of sleeves (and makes me wonder about my idea of picking up sts around the armhole and knitting the set in sleeves directly onto the body on the current VK hoody)? Well, I decided that it was definitely too short, so last night... off with its hem! I was too scared of the effect that the scissors were having to take a picture, so unfortunately, no images of knitting massacre to show here, but I think it will turn out just fine. Ask me again next week.

In more pictureless news- I went to WWKIP day outing in the park on Saturday. I'm of course a horrible blogger, so you'll have to visit Rain, Teresa, Janet's blogs to see what it was like. I should also warn you of the dangers of KIPing... you might get a really BAD sunburn! Of course, in true spaz fashion, I managed to burn just my knees and left shoulder and produced a nice defined line of sunburn along the side of my thigh. Which of course, is exactly why I'm not showing you.

Lastly, the title of this post. Go check it out. Apparently Eunny gets her inspiration from Go Fug Yourself, too! Ok, not. She's probably a whole lot more sophisticated than the spaz (C'mon... the words "Oh, I guess the New Yorker is probably a bit more highbrow than my US Weekly" actually came out of my mouth) as she actually has SEEN the Faye Dunaway movie from which this picture was taken. Her version is BEAUTIFUL in concept, but for this lazy knitter, out of reach at 8 sts per inch and cabling from waist to bust. i think if I actually get around to doing this sweater, I'll stick to the original inspiration and try in a chunkier yarn. As if sport or DK is all that chunky...

MIA... again

Yes, yes... I've been traveling once again, although this time not for the freedom killer event that's apparently less than 130 days away. Just a work trip this time, although I did at least get a chance to hang out with two of my ushers while away. They are REALLY enjoying the fact that I've asked my brother to be a bridal attendant. They'd like it even more if I asked him to be my matron of honor... I can see some teasing in his future.

Anyway, thanks IronSteph and Chrissy for your thoughts on my hummingbird heart. I keep trying to just do some walking with my heart rate monitor on and spend all but my warm up and cool down time in my training zone around 130-150. It's really hard though because it just doesn't feel like "work". I'm trying to persevere, but how long should I expect it to take before I can actually do more than just walk? Hmm, maybe this is why I don't like hikes over 9 miles...

So not much to report on the knitting front except that MJ has been making me obsess more over the Bonnie and Clyde sweater I mentioned a few posts back from Go Fug Yourself. MJ has been nice enough to explain smocking to me and I've been reading about top down seamless set in sleeve sweaters (I'm probably going to go with body and sleeves done simultaneously) in Knitting from the Top, so who knows... we might have a swatch on the horizon.

Okay, I lied. I cast on for the socks my grandfather requested a month ago while on the plane on Monday. It's boring stockinette with short row toes so far, so it's really not all that exciting of a picture. Another inch or so and then it's time to turn the heels. I decided to try the yarnover method of short rows this time since it really ticks me off that my wrap and turn method looks different on one side of the heel than it does on the other. This method is a bit more balanced, but it's MUCH looser for me and looks a bit more holey than the wrap and turn method.

One last thing... I don't think I clarified here about the Dream Swatch head wrap. I really do like the pattern - it's a great result for minimal effort and it knits up so fast. I liked the yarn with the pattern, it's just that I didn't have near enough to make it that great length that Wendy shows in her version so that it cascades down over your shoulders. After tying my shorty version on, I ended up with stumpy ends left over that just added bulk underneath my already poufy hair. I'll probably make this again when I have more yarn to dedicate to the project and make it long enough to double as a head wrap and skinny scarf for those slightly chilly spring and fall evenings. For now though... the yarn has been recycled and is waiting for another stashbusting project.

really, this truly is the last thing... I'm thinking of making the Icarus Shawl. Which do you think would work out better with my Dress: undyed merino or pale blue alpaca? I'm not sure I'd actually plan on wearing a shawl with my Dress, but for some reason, I'm feeling like it should at least not clash as long as I'm bothering to make it and leave my options open.

Decision point

First, thanks for the encouragement to keep on working out. I really truly do look like that after doing any sort of cardio. To answer Karen's question, I don't think 190 is good. According to most information I've read (this site seems to explain it best) it's best to stay in the 60-70% range for fat burning and 70-80% for cardiovascular improvement. Since I'm aiming for the latter and using the simple age formula, that would put my target range at closer to 133-152. Um, yeah. That's like walking down the street for me. Supposedly, I'm at "redline" and "should be cleared by a doctor" before doing this. Yeah. I'm only going to the doctor if I pass out and they carry me there. Um, did I mention I'm the worst patient when it comes to compliance?

Anyway, am I that ridiculously out of shape? I try not to think of it that way, and prefer to lump myself in with Lynda's husband: just one with a naturally fast ticker.

Okay, so after I picked myself up off the floor Wednesday night, I couldn't manage to do even the slightest bit of knitting. So despite the fact that I'd cast on for the VK Hooded Sweater about a month ago, I have been making miserably slow progress on it. I sat down last night after what felt like a well deserved rest, and finished up the back so I could have something respectable to show:

I think that's officially respectable progress. This sweater is actually pink unlike DF's UFO. Yes, I know. I'm stuck in Project Spectrum March these days.

Question now is: do I just follow the instructions and knit the sleeves flat? Or should I seam the shoulders and side seams and pick up stitches around the armhole and knit down from there like MJ and Karen B do? I'm leaning towards the latter given the fit I pitched on the finishing for the Twinset. And I just don't trust myself to not spaz when it comes time to set in the sleeves. Am I crazy?

Conversations with a Workout Spaz

So I started going back to the gym because I was feeling like something of a slug. Blame it on the wedding, but I feel like I should be in better shape for the special day. After all, people are supposed to let themselves go after the wedding, not before it, right? And let's face it, knitting isn't exactly working out. Of course, I like knitting a whole lot more than working out.

The problem I usually have with working out is that I never really learned how to pace myself. Go figure, I am a spaz! So I got a heart rate monitor. I strapped it on the first day I got it and wore it for several hours while working. On average, about 65 or so. Okay, that sounds about right I guess. But then I went to this boot camp class that my gym offers with the thing on. Five minutes into class after the first of infinite sets of jumping jacks, I look down at the watch: 170. Huh, I don't feel like I'm going to die... I must be okay still.

Instructor guy is supposed to be motivational, yelling at us all "drill sargeant" like, except he's a bit too smiley for that to work. So I'm certainly not afraid of him, and well, I don't find him to be terribly motivational either. He barks, "High knees! Keep them up! Higher! Higher!" I just think, "I don't see your knees going anywhere, mister." He screams, "We're losing weight here... work harder!" I'm smirking back at him, "You work harder! You look like you could be standing around eating a candy bar." I guess like my knitting, I have a hard time listening to someone else tell me what I should be doing. I'd rather do it my way.

At the end of class, I look back down at my heart rate monitor and note, max HR: 190. Well, at least I didn't pass out today. I wonder if this is normal?

As promised, a picture of my retarded looking Dream Swatch head wrap. Thrown in for good measure (we're into full disclosure here!), a visual of what an hour at a heart rate of 170+ will do to you:


DF found me on the floor for the rest of the evening. I just hope Molly treats me better...

Designing

I'm glad I'm not the only one lusting over the Bonne and Clyde sweater. If I could do it, I'd probably try to do it top down a la MJ's beautiful Gedifra cotton sweater. A slip stitch pattern over 2 rows to get the faux stripeyness going on, and well, since I don't really understand smocking, maybe a cable pattern might achieve the same effect? I've been looking through the BW fourth treasury of knitting that I got on sale from Stitches from the Heart (20% off of a Schoolhouse Press book - now that's a sale!) and I think there may be a cable pattern in there that might look a bit like smocking, but I don't think it'll draw in the waist that much. Hmm, I see a swatch in my future.

I ignored all of you (I'm a spaz, what can I say) and went with the Wendy's dream swatch head wrappy thing. I cast on for it on Saturday on the way down to Costa Mesa to go to the largest freaking Macy's I've ever seen... and I didn't even go to the main store! I finished it today, and well, it's sort of retarded looking. Not retarded as in I hate the stitch pattern or anything, it's just too short. I didn't weave in the ends, but I can't quite bring myself to rip it out either. When I get the energy up to take a picture, you too can vote for ripping out knitting and listening to your sage advice to knit Molly's Headband instead.

On the other knitting front, I've been off and on knitting the pieces of the VK Fall 2005 hooded pullover. The front is now complete up to where I need to start the armhole shaping. Except I had such a great time at SNB tonight that I just kept on knitting and forgot to stop to shape the armhole. Up next: fun with frogging furry yarn.

Oh yeah, and in case you've been wondering why I've been so spotty with my blogging, there's that wedding thing coming up (see sidebar). I'm about 4 and a half months away now, so apparently I'm supposed to be thinking about what gifts to ask for. With some 300 people invited to the wedding, I'm wondering if I'll need to rent out a small storage closet for the gifts since I already live in an apartment the size of a closet. or at least it feels that way with the amount of camping/climbing gear taking up the closet. Oh and I guess the yarn I have in case the sheep decide to stop growing wool probably isn't helping our cause.

And then I'm supposed to publicize all this to a website. I'm using blogger since weddingchannel.com is pretty limited in its ability to link to outside websites. My problem is this: why is it that every template I pick (I'm using Minima now) seems to eat the sidebar content on the individual post pages? This blog doesn't have that problem, but apparently I'm completely HTML inept. Anyone have suggestions?

Random lust

Okay, one of my favorite blogs to read has nothing to do with knitting.

*a hush falls over the crowd*

But I still have knitty thoughts while reading them. Take today's Go Fug Yourself entry. I saw the sweater from the old photo of Faye Dunaway and I just WANT TO MAKE it. Simple short sleeve crewneck with smocking to draw in the waist... that could be really cute in sport weight yarn...

No pictures today, but go check out Aija's (Quickeye) headwraps. I can't decide which one my leftover (from the Simply Lovely Lace Socks) Zen Yarn Garden pink yarn is destined to become. What do y'all think?

Hello from under the pile of FO

Well, I didn't think it would be two whole weeks before I'd post again, or else I would have apologized in advance for my unexplained disappearance. The road called once again and in addition to the week I spent in my hometown for work and coincidentally planning a little event in October, I also traveled to Florida for a meeting last week. Not much time for blogging, but lots of time for knitting.

First off, not much progress was made on the hoody the rest of the week I was home for event planning. I just finished the back of the sweater and have since cast on for the front and am not quite up to the section of ribbing at the empire waist. No pictures today since there are a bunch to follow, but how exciting is a piece of hot pink fuzzy back?

I just have to say, I think it's totally funny that everyone commented on the last post about finishing the second sock up in no time flat and maybe even give it away if I really don't like it after I finish the second. I don't think anyone noticed my use of plurals when referring to the socks that I was thinking of ripping back, or the 99% completion in the side bar. Yes, I was indeed considerig ripping out two almost complete socks in all my spazzy perfectionism. I decided against it, and now I present to you:


Simply Lovely Lace Socks
Pattern: by Karen Baumer in Interweave Knits Spring 2006
Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Superwash Merino (100% superwash merino wool, 250 yards.) ~80g of a 117g skein in color Passionfruit.
Gauge: 26 sts/4 inches on size US3 Addi Turbo circulars, 24" and 32".
Finished size: 4" from cuff edge to top of heel flap, 7" circumference, 9" from toe to back of heel when laid flat.

Started: May 5, 2006
Finished knitting: May 7, 2006
Finished: May 13, 2006

Notes:
Only a minor adjustment of decreasing one extra stitch on either side of heel gusset (by mistake, but it's okay since my feet are narrower than my ankles might suggest). Also started decreasing more frequently in toe shaping a bit earlier than the pattern would suggest since it looked like the toes would end up too long with their original shape. Also used twisted 1x1 ribbing for the cuff.

Discussion:
Mindless knitting at its best. Had to be the easiest lace pattern to memorize, though the K-tbl stitches between the yarn overs just about made me want to tear my hair out and slowed me down considerably. I couldn't decide if I'm sort of meh about these socks because they're sport weight and seem a bit chunky or if it's because the lace pattern looks like there's a column of knots running down the instep and cuff. Oh well, the Zen Yarn garden superwash is dyed beautifully and it's oh so soft. It does develop a bit of a fuzz to it after blocking, but I like it. Slipping the edge stitches of the heel flap made picking up stitches so much neater. I'll definitely have to try this on all future heel flap projects.

Previous posts on this project:
Legacy on May 9, 2006

Halley's Comet Hat
Pattern: by Marnie Maclean
Yarn: Cascade Sierra (80% cotton, 20% wool. 191 yards per 100g skein) 50 g in color 42.
Gauge: 18 sts/4 in in st st on size US8 DPN (Susan Bates aluminum)
Finished size (when flat): 8 inches tall with brim unrolled, 9.5 inches wide

Started and finished: May 18, 2006

Notes:
No modifications to pattern except yarn substitution.

Discussion:
I loved this pattern! Partially, this was because I managed to finish the hat in one plane ride to Florida which would have been really nice except that I made it too long and had to rip out some of the length. Even that was easy because the lace pattern was so straight forward.

The hat is a great lightweight summer hat and it'll be perfect for my great grandmother for the arctic air-conditioning. Yes, it's sort of a girlie color, but she deserves something nice is what I think. The pattern used exactly half a ball of Sierra, so now I have enough to make a second one for myself to match! Thanks Marnie for an addictingly quick and beautiful pattern.

In case you're wondering, the color is slightly dustier than shown in the photo of the top, and no, the socks and hat are not the same color. The socks are closer to a bubble gum pink but this doesn't show well in the shade.

And last and also least:

Magic Stripes Socks
Pattern: none
Yarn: Lion Brand Magic Stripes (75% wool, 25% nylon. 330 yards) approximately 40% of one ball in color Denim Stripe. Patons Kroy Sock Yarn (75% wool, 25% nylon, 203 yards) approximatey 40% of one ball.
Gauge: 8 sts/in in st st on size US1 Addi Turbo circulars 24" and 32".
Finished size: 5.25" from sole to cuff, 8.75" long, 6" circumference relaxed.

Started: May 19, 2006
Finished: May 22, 2006

Pattern notes:
Cast on 28 sts by Turkish cast on in CC. Worked short row toe on these 28 sts down to 12 sts. Worked one round plain then changed to MC. worked 28 sts of instep as *K2, K-tbl, P, k-tbl, K2* repeat to end. Worked sole sts in plain stockinette. Heel turned exactly as toe in CC. M1 corners where heels meet and decrease extra stitches away on next round to avoid holes. Worked cuff entirely in pattern stitch as established on instep until ran out of MC. Then switched to CC and worked one round even in stockinette, then 1x1 ribbing. Just before cast off, worked two rounds of "double-knitting": round 1 - Knit 1, wyib, sl 1 as if to purl, repeat; round 2: - wyib, sl 1 as if to purl, purl 1. Cast off using faux kitchener bind off or tubular cast-off.

Discussion:
This project was mostly intended to use up left over yarn. I did manage to do that, but I still have 8g or about 30 yd of Kroy sock yarn left over. Maybe I'll use that to tip some gloves or some other kind of contrast.

I listened to Brenda Dayne's Cast On Episode 22 the other day and she describes the 3.5 rules of knitting. One of them was Knit Crap. I think this one definitely falls into the Knit Crap category. It's kind of freeing to think that it's okay to knit Crap since it gives you an idea of what you really don't like.

In this case, I discovered that I don't like the way the twisted stitches on either side of purls looks. I did this originally because my knit stitches before purl stitches in ribbing inevitably look sloppy and loose so this definitely fixed that problem. But now the purl columns look WAAAY too wide in proportion. I would have done bettern to drop all of the twisted stitches. I also could have flown through this so much faster.

I also learned that I like 1x1 ribbing in twisted stitches for the crisp look, but I HATE weaving in ends with this kind of ribbing. Of course, if I wove in ends like a normal person, and didn't duplicate stitch my way to insanity, then it probably wouldn't bother me that much.

I also learned that I really don't like the link above for the tubular cast-off. It was just ridiculously confusing, and even after I thought I had corrected their seemingly erroneous instructions (they don't seem consistent from beginning with a knit vs. beginning with a purl), the cast off flares and just plain looks ugly. So, *gasp* I tried a different cast off for the second sock, and PEOPLE, the SOCKS DON'T MATCH and I'm okay with that. I definitely like the grafted bind off shown in the link above much better and will be doing this in all toe up socks with 1x1 ribbing from now on. The part where the tubular cast off people say to work 2 rounds of double-knitting? Yeah, that's crap. I don't see any reason to do this if you are working the grafted bind off, so I'll skip this next time.

Whew! What a long post! Thanks for hanging in there and I'm off now to go catch up on all 300 of the posts that I've been missing. Sorry in advance for not commenting on your blogs, but 300 posts!

Legacy

Energized by my quick completion of Blackberry, I cast on for a new sweater on Thursday night. Yes, I'm still casting on for wooly sweaters despite the fact that it's almost summer. I get cold easily, and well, summer in Los Angeles close to the coast is all of 10 degrees warmer than winter, so I'd have to swear off of sweaters entirely if I paid attention to the weather here. Thankfully, I get cold easily.

I'm loving the Filatura di Crosa Ultralight that I'm using for this sweater. It's soft and fuzzy and has no mohair content to make my eyes water. Plus, I got it for practically nothing from WEBS a while back. They still have the color I'm using for $30 a bag if you're interested.

And with a long plane ride ahead of me, I decided to start some socks as travel knitting. I finished knitting these on Sunday night, but I didn't graft the toe closed because I'm sort of feeling meh about these socks. What do y'all think? Should I rip them out and try something different?

I had a chance to visit with my grandparents this weekend. My grandmother took one look at the socks above and said that I should make her a pair like them for her. Only in cotton instead of wool because wool is too itchy and knee high since her knees always get cold. My grandfather was nice enough to only request crew socks, and my great-grandmother decided that socks like these are too cute for an old lady, but a lightweight hat would be nice instead. I'm thinking of using Marnie Maclean's Haley's Comet Hat pattern in Cascade Sierra. I'll try not to pick something "cute" and offputting for old lady sensibilities.

At the end of my visit, my great-grandmother took me aside and started to excitedly rummage through her drawers. Hands waving about and unintelligible Chinese flowing, she pulls out her collection of needles and her stashette. I have no idea what she was saying, but I at least understood that she's a knitter.

Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!

Before we move on to the best quickie ever, I'd like to give a shoutout to Lisa over at PurlThis. She was kind enough to send along a nice like RAK from the Knittyboard this week in response to my desperate plea for more sock yarn. Go check out her blog and the very cute pictures of her cats in their new kitty bed.

So remember how I needed something quick and painless after my seaming disaster? Well, Blackberry turned into just that. Well, quick at least, maybe not quite painless...


Blackberry
Pattern: Blackberry by Jennifer Thurston
Yarn: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky (100% wool, 109 yds). Just under 5 skeins in color Stout. Size 11 Denise Interchangeables.
Gauge: 11 sts/4in in stockinette
Finished size: 40" (includes overlap) at bust, 19" from collar to hem, 20" from underarm to cuff

Started: April 23, 2006
Finished: May 3, 2006

Notes:
Followed pattern almost exactly except that body was worked in one piece and arms were worked in the round. Body and sleeves were joined and worked in one piece to collar. Did not break yarn but instead continued picking up sts down right front, across bottom, and up left front to work ribbed edging. Total # of ends to weave in: 6. Priceless.

Discussion:
I was worried that this pattern would look ridiculous on me since I'm a small person and generally think that chunky yarn would overwhelm my petite frame. But looking at the pictures closer, I realized that the designer is about my size and she didn't look ridiculous, so I'd give it a go.

Converting the pattern from flat pieces to seamless wasn't that bad. I just had to keep a closer eye on where I was in the shaping of each piece and how that related to the shaping on the other pieces. Thankfully, everything pretty much lined up on the same rows, so that was a relief.

The only problems I ran into were the bobbles, which I mentioned before and my idiotic displacement. Dropping down those two columns of stitches and reworking the bobbles again worked pretty well, and I can't really tell that I moved my bobbles over except that the sts around the bobbles are a bit loose now. I'm okay with that. Did you hear me? I'm okay with the slight imperfection. I know. Go get some smelling salts.

What I'm less pleased with is the apparent growth of my sweater during blocking. I swear that I blocked my swatch and took my gauge after blocking. Still, my sweater turned out to be a whopping 2" larger around and 2" longer afterwards. Before I blocked it, it was this cute, cropped, fitted top with sleeves that just covered the backs of my hands. Now, they pretty much cover all of my fingers and even with a DPN to secure drastically overlapped fronts, it's still baggy under the arms. See this throwaway picture (DF said, "look constipated!" right before snapping the picture) for an idea of the actual sleeve length.

I'm okay with folding up the sleeve, but the width of the body just bugs me. I'm considering spraying the sweater down with a bit of water to get it sort of damp and throwing it in the dryer to see if it'll shrink a bit. Anybody have any suggestions? I know I don't want it felted...

Anyway, this sweater did turn out to be a very quick knit, which is quite satisfying. If I can get the size a bit better, I'll probably live in this sweater during the evenings (believe it or not, I do actually get cold during the summers at night!) I even have an untouched ball of yarn left over. I see a hat or mittens in its future if I have enough to go around. Do patterns always build in an extra ball of yarn just in case?

Previous posts about this project:
Quick, somebody toss me some nail polish!!! on May 03, 2006
a WIP or Two on April 26, 2006

Quick, somebody toss me some nail polish!!!

After all of the excitement with getting my sockapaloooza socks yesterday, I don't know what to do with myself. Knit some more, I guess.

When we last left off, I was frustrated with the tiny sweaters from the twinset and had to go do something still quick, but without seams this time. Blackberry in a traditional Elizabeth Zimmerman style. Well, my back and tiny sleeves have managed to grow significantly since their humble beginnings. Not quite the quick one week knit that I was hoping for, but anyway... the sleeves are just about ready to attach to the body. See?

Wait, what's that? Do those bobbles seem a bit wrong? Like maybe the ones on the right look just a little too far from the cable compared to the left? Um, yeah. They're a measly one stitch further to the right. With 17 inches of sleeve done on both sleeves that are identically WRONG, what would you do?

Now that you know what a normal person would do, what would you do if you were the Spaz? Clearly, the obsessive compulsive side would overrule any sort of rational thinking here that says no one's ever going to notice a one stitch displacement. Knit spazzing, of course, ensued.

The long and the short of it is shown below. The bobbles look a little bit wonky now, but I think blocking will fix most of that.

The sleeves are now attached and I'm just decreasing away. I'm still holding my breath to see if I managed to successfully translate a flat pattern done in pieces to a seamless pattern. I think I'm now purple, so what color comes after that?

Also, because I know some of you can share in my glee... I wrote to the publisher's general information address when I came across a perplexing issue with one of the charts in the Barbara Walker Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns hoping that they might have a book corrections page or something available. I got a response from a real person, and at the end it's signed simply "Meg". I'm sitting there wondering, wait a minute, did I just get an email from Meg Swansen? Holy Crap!

They're heeerre!

Lookee what I got in the mail yesterday... Yes, a package from my sockpal! Already! I was lucky enough to receive a package from my sockpal Beth and it was totally unexpected. For some reason, I had thought that the packages were supposed to go out in the mail today, not be received by today. Uh-oh. To my sockpal: I'm sorry I misunderstood... your package is on its way today!

I was so excited to get my package that it was all I could do to pause for a second between reading the card (from Boston, hey wait, didn't I just live there?) and pulling the socks on to take a picture. Sorry, I didn't manage to get the picture of them in the sock sleeve, but just imagine it's there... Anyway, the moment of truth...


They fit! They are probably a touch longer than I'd like, not enough to be bothersome at all, but I attribute that completely to my inability to measure my own foot. Overall, they're comfortable and they're a BEAUTIFUL color of blue TWEED with subtle specks of orange, green, and purple! How can Beth have guessed that I've been on a tweed kick lately and have recently come into 40 balls of tweed? I've never seen this pattern before, but it's a clean pattern with a small lace panel down the instep and along the sides of the cuff that really jazz up the sock without detracting from the super classic and oh so me understated tweed. Beth, you absolutely pegged me perfectly with these socks!

If you'll allow me to gush just a little bit more, it appears from Beth's blog that she started these only a couple of weeks ago, but she must be a master knitter because you'd never be able to tell that these were a fast knit for her. Absolutely no shortcuts taken here and as you can see from the closeups of the picot cuff, round toe, and heel that she knits beautifully.

The finishing is impeccable. I wouldn't normally show the inside of a sock, but it's just so well done that I felt it necessary to show off. How come I can't pick up stitches from the heel flap this well? If you're turning your head this way and that like I was after looking at this picture, the lower right corner is the leg and the top left corner is where the heel turn would be.
At any rate, thank you so much Beth for sending me such beautfiul socks. I LOVE them!

Is it normal that now I should feel a little less confident about my own socks? They're in the mail now, so there's not much I can do about it, but still...

Geez, finally!

The Twinset Plus
Pattern: loosely based on Shawl Collared Sweater by Debbie Bliss in Quick Baby Knits and Boat-Neck Sweater by Debbie Bliss in Baby Knits for Beginners
Materials: GGH Goa (50% cotton, 50% acrylic. 66 yards) in color 44, I call it salmon. About 4-4.5 balls each for sweaters and 1.5 balls for hat. Size US9 and US8 Addi circular needles.
Gauge: 3.5 sts/in
Finished size: 24" chest circumference, 12" long, 7" sleeve. Hat circumference ~21.5".

Started: March 27, 2006
Finished: April 27, 2006

Notes:
Hmm, well there are too many modifications to get into detail, but the main point of departure on both sweaters was the gauge. The original pattern for the Shawl Collared Sweater called for super chunky yarn at a gauge of about 10 sts/4 in. The original pattern for the boatneck sweater called for a gauge of 18 sts/4 in. I fell smack in the middle for both sweaters, so I essentially just knit to the finished dimensions on the boat-neck sweater ignoring the stitch count. For the Shawl Collared-Sweater, the smallest size was way larger than I wanted, so I just cast on the same number of stitches and went with it. I changed the neck shaping on the shawl collared sweater for fear of a Sputnik sized baby head not fitting through the scaled down neck opening. I also knit on the collar instead of knitting it separately and sewing it on.

For the hat, I had no other designs on the lonely ball and change of leftover yarn, so I just decided that Mom needed something to slap on on the days when taking care of twins leaves her no time to do her hair (so what's my excuse today?). So I just used the same gauge as I had on the sweater and cast on an appropriate number of stitches for my head figuring I'm about average and went with it. When it looked like I was going to run out of yarn and the it covered most of my head, I started decreasing 6 sts every round. Thankfully, I had enough yarn to close it up and not be a ridiculously short length.

Discussion:
Well, it's been a saga what with the seaming and the poor yarn choice to start with, but I'll just leave it at this: I sure hope mom and babies like their new stuff.

I'm sorry for the less than inspired photo shoot... we were sort of in a hurry as DF's dad was about to leave and I wanted him to take the sweaters back to DF's cousin so she could have them when she gets home from the hospital. We did get it all done in just under the wire (I was furiously weaving in ends while DF and his dad were visiting), but at least I'm on time!

And how did that hat sneak in there? It was nothing but a lonely ball of yarn in my leftover yarn stash just last night! Hmm, I guess that's what happens when you're 2/3 of the way through Da Vinci Code and feel some guilt about what to do with your leftovers but don't want to tear yourself away from reading.

I don't know why, but I didn't really enjoy this project all that much. Maybe because I'm selfish and I knew that I wouldn't get to use it. Maybe because it was stockinette and dropped shoulders. Maybe it was the serviceable but less than exciting yarn. Eh. I'm hoping they like it though and at least I can move on.

Previous posts about this project:
a WIP or Two on 4/26/2006
Anybody want a toy sausage? on 3/29/2006
So much for being regular on 2/16/2006

a WIP or Two

Wow, such an overwhelming response on the last post, maybe I'll try including pictures in this one...

So DF called me the other day and asked me why I hadn't posted in a while. I said, well, probably because I didn't have anything to show. He says, what do you mean, you've got two sweaters finished and started another!?! As if to say, if that doesn't count for much, exactly how much knitting do you need, woman?

I gently reminded him that while I finished the knitting and seaming, they were waiting for the ends to be woven in. Guess who had volunteered to do it during one of my seaming fits? Yep, gotta love DF! Of course, he figures that at least this way he can say that he helped out when we send it along to his cousin who just had her babies yesterday.

So in an effort to keep you guys interested and admit to all of the ugliness that goes into my knitting, I hereby present to you the twinset 99% complete except for a few errant ends to weave in. Okay, maybe it's more than just a few...

And DF was correct in saying that I started another sweater. I did. The decision came during a fit on Sunday night during my FOURTH night of seaming these !$%^* sweaters. My mistake was assuming that since a dropped shoulder sweater is probably the easiest sweater possible to seam, it shouldn't be a big deal. Except if you're an idiot like me. I was just fine until the final seam on my final sweater. Somehow it was about 2 inches shorter in the front than on the back. In horror I thought that the one side of the front was shorter than the other and I'd have to rip out the collar that I had already attached, rip out the shoulder seam and add a few more rows, and then put the collar and shoulder seam back in to get back to where I was. I decided gifts should not be abused prior to giving and calmly put it down.

I needed something instant gratification for myself. Something without seams to mess up. Something like Blackberry. I even happened to pick up some Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Bulky that day. (c'mon... it was on sale for 40%, it's okay to stash enhance when it's a discontinued yarn on super sale, right?)

Eek. It's raglan, but it's still knit in 5 pieces. Why oh why do the finishing gods test me?

Screw that, it's a raglan. It can be done in one piece, darn it. And so I began. Here's what I have so far... the fronts and back done in one piece up to the armholes and two sleeves done two at a time in the round. We'll find out soon enough if this was a good idea. Here's hoping it doesn't turn into a saga like some other raglan cardigans I know...

Sorry for the weird color in the pictures. It's been pretty gray out lately and we all know my skillz at photography. I still wanted to show the detail on the cable and bobble despite the awful color. Anybody know if it's normal to have a giant hole in the stitch before you make a bobble?

A Tale of Two LYS

Text heavy ramblings ahead... be warned!

I'm probably one of the worst offenders when it comes to not supporting my LYS. The problem I end up with is that I don't usually find the yarn that I want at a price that I think is competitive with what I can find online. I know, this is going to make it harder for LYS owners to make a living, and then where would I go to fondle yarn IRL? So I should make a conscious effort to go and show my support. So, in keeping with this theme, I dedicate an entire post to my LYS.

Starting it off on a good theme, I had the chance to meet up with Knittin' Mom Chrissy, Sknitty Jillian, and Chewy Spaghetti Khris over the weekend. If you've been keeping up with Chrissy, she was in town to take her kids to Disneyland, support Bill in his relay marathon, and of course, meet up with some fellow knitbloggers. I'm late to the posting party and wasn't a very good blogger having left my camera at home, so go check out Chrissy, Khris and Jillian's posts for more details. I'll leave it at this: We didn't get into any accidents on the 110 this time, we did manage to take the scenic route to Unwind in Burbank (which apparently includes the wrong freeway), we all found out that Jillian would make an excellent LYS employee as we all ended up with yarn in the end, and knitbloggers in general must be more advanced knitters than the general population.

Both LYS we visited on Saturday were quite nice, so Jillian is really good at picking out good spots to take people on yarn crawls. Closer to me, I am a devotee of A Mano Yarn in Venice. They have a reasonable selection of yarn at good prices, all kinds of needles and cute buttons and bag handles to finish your kntiting projects, and LOTS of books and back issues of magazines for inspiration. Best of all, they have a very helpful staff that will let you fondle for as long as you want uninterrupted, but they also give great advice when you need it.

Maybe I should get down to why I gave this post its title. I told a story on Saturday about my LYS that people felt should be posted far and wide. Or at least as far as my little realm of readers. A couple of weeks ago, I was charged with finding yarn by my co-workers for a blanket that several of us were to give to another co-worker as a surprise. The recipient has a small child already so I set out to my LYS in search of something nice (it's a gift and we're splitting it 4 ways after all) but still reasonably easy to care for.

I walked into A Mano as my first stop and set forth my question: what would be good for a baby blanket if you want it to be easy care and fairly soft? The staff there suggested 5 different yarns that were all machine washable and dryable as long as you don't leave it in the dryer until it's beaten to death. I happily took pictures of several color schemes and was on my way.

I walked into another LYS that is actually closer to my house, but I tend not to go there very often because I've always had sticker shock when I set foot in the door. I wanted to give it another try in the off chance that they might have a better color selection. I set forth the same criteria and the response was, "Well, if your recipient truly appreciates hand knit gifts, then she won't mind hand washing the blanket." I pressed on saying that I'd really like to give her the option to just throw it in the washing machine for convenience. The clerk's response was, "If you really want easy care, then what you should get is acrylic. And we don't sell that here." Nevermind that two of the yarns that I was suggested at A Mano were on the shelves (for a dollar more a ball). She didn't quite say Please Leave, but she may as well have.

I decided to turn around the next day and go back to A Mano and spend $100 on yarn for one project.

Anyway, the point of the story is that I highly recommend A Mano as my favorite yarn shop on the west side of LA. If you're ever in Santa Monica or Venice, stop by there and say hi to the nice ladies!

And now for my gratuitous photo of the post. I present you with two squares for the baby blanket. Three left to go for me! Yes, I know, sort of boring looking at really large swatches, but it all has to start somewhere. I would show you the back, except that they look exactly the same.



BTW, the yarn I ended up choosing is Mission Falls 1824 wool. A Mano doesn't carry 1824 cotton, but I'm sure that I'd have thought about it if they did since it's supposed to be great stuff. The wool version has a very high squishy factor, in fact, I got a gauge closer to 1520 the first time because I thought the yarn was so elastic. After adjusting the tension, I was right on the labelled gauge with the recommended needle size. Nice fabric in the end, and machine washable and dryable, so I highly recommend it!

Candy Cane Hat

Remember how I thought DF's sweater was too tight across the chest and so I riiiiiipped back to the armpits? Well, I was so disgusted with the negative progress that I didn't pick up the sweater again until Sunday night. I wanted to watch some silly girly movies, so I rented Fever Pitch and Just Like Heaven* and sat down for some good mindless knitting time. Mindless is right. After a whole movie, I discovered that I had managed to put the raglan decreases right back in where I had previously ripped out. I didn't have the heart to rip out just yet, so instead...


Candy Cane Hat
Pattern: by Penny Kolb in Handknit Holidays
Materials: GGH Samoa (50% cotton/50% acrylic, 100 yds) in colors Barbie Pink and Espresso. half skein each. Size US8 16 inch Clover bamboo circular needles.
Gauge: 19 sts and 26 rounds = 4 inches
Finished size: 18.5 inches circumference, about 8" from cast on edge to crown.

Started: April 15, 2006
Finished: April 16, 2006

Notes:
Cast on 90 sts instead and began decreasing for crown when I was panicking that I'd run out of yarn. Really, though. How many mods can you make to a stockinette stitch roll brim hat?

Discussion:
I was looking through my stash of yarn leftovers and decided that I could do something with that yarn from DL's bones hat. I weighed it and figured that I had a little bit more than one ball left. I'd seen people make hats out of one ball of Silk Garden, so I should be able to do the same with Samoa, right?

I picked this hat because I thought that the color work would help stretch my yarn as far as I could. I probably could have striped it as well, but that would require more weaving in ends than I'd want. I discovered that with Fair Isle, my gauge is tighter than my gauge swatch (in plain one color stockinette, *slap hands*) would say. Thankfully, I just wanted to use up my leftovers, size be damned!

I think the hat came out cute, if a little girly. Since it's easily too small for me or any other normal sized adult, I decided that it's definitely bound to be a gift for a friend's 3 year old daughter. Hopefully, her head isn't the size of Sputnik.

This post isn't picture heavy enough, so I'm taking a deep breath and showing you my floats. It's a good thing that there weren't that many yarn ends to weave in because I couldn't see much with all of the floats in the way! Kind of looks like a hypnosis wheel. Now if only you could rotate your head that way to get it spinning...



*Edited to add: I meant to comment on the movies. They were both enjoyable in that sappy sort of chick flick way. BUT, the standout in Just Like Heaven was the movie's eponymous opening theme. The original is by far my favorite song made in the 80's and to say that I like any remake of it is utterly amazing. But I LOVE it. Go check out Katie Melua's website for samples of her music. I sure will.

I'm sort of motion sick from the Vertigo picture above too.

Another one...

I'm on the bandwagon with the Wiki-meme.

After typing in birthday into Wikipedia, here are my 3's:

Events:
1948 - President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "mountaintop" speech.
1996 - Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is arrested at his Montana cabin.

Births:
1893 - Leslie Howard, English actor (d. 1943)
1924 - Doris Day, American actress
1968 - Sebastian Bach, Canadian musician (Skid Row)

Deaths:
33 - Jesus Christ, founder of Christianity (b. 8-2 BC [disputed])
1882 - Jesse James, American outlaw (b. 1847)
1998 - Rob Pilatus, American entertainer and criminal (Milli Vanilli) (b. 1965)

I think the most entertaining this about this meme is the summary that Wikipedia comes up with. I mean really, did they need to clarify "founder of Christianity"? And which part is disputed, the birth year (huh, I always thought it'd be 0 AD) or that he was the founder of Christianity? Oh yeah, and the Rob Pilatus one. I love that Criminal is one of the descriptors for him!

No knitting pictures here!

Random post today since I don't really have a lot of knitting content to speak of.

DF's zippered raglan: thanks for all of the reassuring comments about ripping back. I still haven't managed to pick up the sweater again as I'm still a bit depressed about it, but Chrissy's post yesterday reminded me of one of the other pictures from that photoshoot that I didn't use. I'm putting it in here since there were more than a couple of comments about how hot DF is (which I agree about). DF reads every comment on my blog and could barely fit through the door his head was so big thanks to his adoring fans. So for all of DF's fans, a picture for you.

*hiding* I love you, DF!


We went climbing this weekend again, and wouldn't you believe it, an actual picture was taken of me in front of the camera! Turns out some guy is writing a guide book for the Bishop, CA bouldering areas and was out this weekend getting photos for the book. Who knows... maybe I can get in the guidebook!



Knitty: I was so looking forward to the new issue. I even gasped for glee upon return yesterday, and went right to perusing all the patterns to find my next project. All I can say is: meh. The only thing that I may add to my to-do list is the new pair of socks by Cookie A. as a quick project. I still have Pomatamus to do, so we'll see how that goes.

Final note, I went on a yarn buying spree with some birthday cash from my parents. I picked up some Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed for the Blissful Jacket from the Fall 2005 IK. I just love winning auctions... Also, I'm thinking of buying some Rowanspun Aran in red for the Sunrise Circle Jacket by Kate Gilbert in the Spring 2006 IK. Anyone interested in splitting the bag with me? I'll have 6 balls (1200 meters) left over which is enough for the size 41" jacket.

Embossed Leaves Socks

Pattern: by Mona Schmidt in Interweave Knits Winter 2005/2006
Materials: Knitpicks Essential (75% wool/25% nylon. 231 yards) in color Grass (23695). Much less than 2 skeins - about 280 yards. 2 Size US1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circulars.
Gauge: 8.5 sts/in in st st relaxed.
Finished size: 6.5 in circumference, 7.5 in from back of heel to toe relaxed (and unblocked *slap on the wrist*). Nice and snug on my 8" circumference, 9" long, size US women's 6 narrow feet.

Started: March 19, 2006
Finished: April 3, 2006

Notes:
Followed pattern except I used a long tail cast on instead of tubular cast on since I didn't print out the tubular cast on directions. I also didn't meet gauge at all, but that's okay because my feet are smaller than the finished size in the pattern. I also only did 3 pattern repeats on the leg instead of 3.5 and I did a total of 3.5 pattern repeats on the foot instead of 4.

Discussion:
This was another nice lace motif to make for mindless knitting with beautiful results. This was my first attempt at a heel flap, and though I've never made socks for myself to have another heel type to compare the fit to, I think it fits just fine. I actually find the short row heel to be much easier to execute than picking up stitches on the side of the heel flap. I guess I'll just have to make another pair of socks for myself to see if the short row heel fits me better.

I also found that cutting the yarn after knitting the heel flap and before picking up stitches was a bit inconvenient. The next time I do a heel flap, I'll probably pick up sts on one side of the heel flap, knit around the instep sts and then finish picking up sts on the other side of the heel flap rather than cut the yarn. I hate weaving in ends unnecessarily, even if it's just 2 more. But for my first go at the heel flap and gusset, I thought I'd go ahead and try to actually follow the directions.

The toe is actually quite pretty. I wasn't sure if the extra work involved with this star/swirly shaped toe was worth it over a standard flat toe, but at least there was no kitchener involved!


I'll admit it, the socks are probably a touch too small, maybe by like 1/4 inch or so. But given that you had to end on a specific row to get the toe shaping to line up right, I'm okay with the guesstimate that I made. I actually like the fit since I'm pretty sure I won't have the bunching up in my shoes problem that I often have with athletic socks.

Oh yeah, and in case you were wondering how I guesstimated 280 yards used, I got a FOOD SCALE for my birthday. Pocket sized and perfect for estimating the amount of left over yarn. I think this means I have enough for some anklets...

Previous posts about this project:
Answers to burning questions on March 28, 2006