On names, part 2

I did get a chance to visit with my grandparents last week and get a bit more information out of them about names. Turns out that they gave DH a name while they were on a naming roll after successfully coming up with something quite nice for Baby Buddha.

So for DH, they gave him the name Wang-Aun. Which when I first asked what it meant, my mother told me, well Wang, that's just a name. And Aun, well that means "peace". Which yields - that's right - peaceful wang. I'll tell you what... DH certainly is no peaceful wang. If anything, that wang is pretty darned aggressive.

But then my grandparents clarified that Wang can be translated into Brilliant - not like supa smaht or anything, but more of the "awesome" variety as one might observe in England. I like that much better, Brilliant Peace.

Does your name have any special meaning?

That's right... it's auntie spaz to you

And I must say... my nephew has just the cutest little buddha face I've ever seen. Baby Buddha was born early early early on Wednesday morning about 10 days early.

And the best thing about a brand new baby? Little baby toes... I can make socks for those pretty quickly, right?

Tagged

Well, I've been tagged by Kate for a meme, so here goes. I think this is a variation on the 7 things meme, except that it's 8 things. Okay, here goes.

Players start with eight random facts about themselves.

People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have an unnatural fascination with cute furry animals. DH couldn't help but be amazed at my capacity for giggling at the thought of sheep! running! in a row! on a hill! while we were in a country where sheep outnumbered people 20:1.
2. My favorite food is bacon. Wrap any food in bacon and it's immediately better. I can only imagine bacon wrapped bacon, but that might be a bit much.
3. Despite my love for all pork flavored foods, I'm doing my best at eating vegan at least some of the time. Now ask me how well that's going.
4. I have an addictive personality - witness the binge knitting that goes on around here, and in case you haven't noticed, a nosedive in my knitting output since the acquisition of a certain video game which I'm too embarassed to even talk about. Don't tell DH that I'm waiting for this to come out...
5. I don't really have a favorite color, but it appears that I tend to knit only in pinks, reds, purples, blues, and greens. Hmm... That pretty much just leaves black and white out, now doesn't it? Oh wait, there's still yellow and orange. Um, okay, there must be a reason why I always had a giant stack of yellow, orange and brown construction paper left over in elementary school.
6. My memory is not what it used to be. I used to memorize everything from my driver's license number, to all my credit card numbers, to my car's VIN, to my friends' SSN. That last one, let me tell you, used to freak people out. Now I can't even seem to remember my DH's birthday!
7. I've never *knock on wood* been to the hospital. Well, work doesn't count, does it?
8. I've never had a favorite number. But if I were an actual traditional and therefore superstitious Chinese girl, then I'd be extrememly happy to be ending on an 8th random fact about me. As it were, I just ran out of interesting facts considering I did the 100 things meme a couple of years ago and not much has changed.

Anyway, who to tag? How about recent visitors to chez spazalot?
1. Batty
2. Dave
3. Faith
4. Jo
5. Carol
6. Aura
7. Sara
8. Annette

And because it's been so long since I've posted an FO - a shift from the days when I'd just post the next FO when it was done, or maybe even save up 3-4 of them at a time - the lowdown on Christmas gift number 1.


Peek-A-Boo Cloche
Pattern by Mona Schmidt in Lace Style
Materials: Reynolds Soft Sea Wool (100% wool. 162 yd per 50g) 35g in 320 (purple) and 45g in 221 (charcoal)
Gauge: 7.5 spi
Finished size: About 19" circumference

Started: July 9, 2007
Finished: July 15, 2007

Discussion:
Not much to say here. It went really slowly because of the game I was(am) playing non-stop, punctuated here and there with fits of Harry Potter 6 reading. The pattern is perfectly written and I love the idea of a two layer hat where the contrasting layer shows through. I just wish that I had picked more contrasting colors. You can barely see the purple underlayer peeking through the charcoal top layer.

Reynolds soft sea wool has a whole lot of twist to it and feels not unlike Koigu. I haven't washed it yet, but if it similarly softens up in the wash, then I'm in love! And how could you not? The yardage for the price is ridiculous! It also has a slightly textured feel to the fabric when knit up even in stockinette.

How do I hate me... let me count the ways!

I quickly solved the problem of having nothing on the needles and decided that the 4 for me, one for you problem has gone on for too long and I cast on for the peek a boo cloche on Monday night. Here we have it, and also progress on our heirloom tomatoes as well!
I've just turned the brim to start knitting the outside lace part and I'm loving the whole idea of a dual layered hat of contrasting colors. I can swap out the lace pattern (assuming I can figure out the decrease thing) and I'll have a whole new pattern! Great idea Mona!
BTW, those are lady bug stitch markers made by Kate. Aren't they too cute?

Anyway, but that's not why I'm apparently masochistic. Re-reading that last post and planning for hats for everyone for Christmas is sounding a bit like I hate myself. But even better, how about this: An ENTIRE lace sweater made from fuzzy unphotographable black yarn that needs to be seamed. Pshah! More pain please!

extra ravelry invite

okay, so apparently I was a touch on the anxious side when I first found Ravelry. I put my name in the queue twice. So if anyone out there hasn't signed up for Ravelry yet, leave a comment and make sure you specify your email address and I'll forward my invite to you.

Purple Rain Socks

Purple Rain Socks
Pattern: Based on stitch pattern #222 (Tiny Scales) in Vogue Stitchionary vol. 1
Materials: Socks that Rock Lightweight (100% wool, 370 yd per 4oz skein) 1 skein in Purple Rain colorway. Size US0 Addi Turbos.
Gauge: about 10 spi
Finished size: 6.25" leg from top of heel shaping to cuff, 7.25" circumference, 8.75" heel to toe.

Started: June 12, 2007
Finished: July 8, 2007

Discussion:
I needed a stitch pattern that would minimize any pooling inherent in handpainted yarn because let's face it, this spaz doesn't deal well with unpredictability. I'm far too square to just let it all hang out. So I thought that the Tiny Scales stitch pattern worked well for the handpainted yarn so that it highlighted the changes in the color while not being too busy to get lost. Just enough texture to make it interesting, but not too taxing either so that I couldn't read HP5 at the same time. :-)

In the end, this stitch pattern has no elasticity whatsoever, so precise fit is an issue here. I just hope that this sock will not shrink when I wash it! But, it's also a super dense fabric, so I expect that come winter time, my toes will be extra toasty in these babies. Too bad that's another 6 months away...

Also, can it be that I have nothing on the needles right now? Nothing cast on at all? I think my next project will be Lacy Waves, the Norah Gaughan sweater or the Peek-A-Boo Cloche by Mona Schmidt both from Lace Style. I'm even considering getting a head start on my holiday gift knitting. At least the hat could qualify for both. Or maybe Odessa if I could figure out how to get the beads on the yarn. What do y'all think... a flock of hats for everyone I know for Christmas?

Sahara... take two

Thank you everybody for the really kind words on my Sahara. Given the positive response on the last post, you're probably all going to think I'm a nutter (sorry, been re-reading/listening to too much Harry Potter lately) when I report what I've been up to.

So DH thought that the top didn't look bad per se, just a bit like a hippie top - a smock if you will. That wasn't the look I was going for and I decided that it was because the neck border just extended too far down the front of the sweater. I knew correcting these issues would require a lot of ripping and I didn't like the idea of all that work being unravelled.

But, in classic Spaz fashion, I couldn't take it anymore. On July 4, I celebrated my independence the only way a knitter could. I ripped back an FO. I ripped out the neck trim and ripped back the bottom all the way to the third waist decrease. This is before stitches are cast on for the bottom of the neck and the piece is started in the round. So I ended up spacing my decreases evenly apart, every 6 rounds, thus removing about 2 inches from the total length and raising the neck line up about 2 inches. I tacked together the front a bit higher and the result: a slightly more petite sweater that I'm much more comfortable wearing. Even if no one else can tell the difference and you're all calling for a straight jacket.



Let me also say that if you don't wash your frogged ramen yarn before re-using it, your stockinette is going to look like total crap. But take heart, at least in this case everything evened out nicely after a quick soak and I really can't tell that this was ripped out and reknit. Well, except that I like it more now.

Sahara

Wow, this is the most posts this year on a single project. I must have felt guilty after the Destash blog people said I didn't post enough.


Sahara
Pattern by Wendy Bernard available at Stitch Diva Studios
Materials: Plymouth Royal Bamboo(100% bamboo. 93yd per 50g ball) 330g in color 24. Size US7 and US5 Knitpicks Options.
Gauge: About 5 spi.
Finished size: 29" bust, 25" waist, 23" length when laid flat

Started: June 25, 2007
Finished: June 30, 2007

Modifications:
I spaced out the waist decreases and increases to be every 6 rows for the first 3 decreases, then every 8 and added one more set of decreases/increases. I omitted the shirt tail hem and knit the bottom straight for 8 rounds before starting the diamond rib pattern.

Discussion:
I'm not terribly happy with how my yarn substitution came out. The bamboo itself has a great sheen to it and is silky and cool to the touch. It was a touch annoying because with the pointy tips of the KP Options, I ended up splitting the 12 2-ply strands quite often. I had envisioned that 3" of negative ease would be stifling, but in this yarn, it feels almost loose. I probably could have gotten away with knitting the next size down. I also didn't know that this would grow so much vertically when worn. Laid flat, the garment is the same dimensions as the schematic shows, but worn, it's almost tunic length and the neck line is at my navel. I suspect, however, that this might be a row gauge issue. I thought that I was getting the same row gauge, and so followed the directions row by row instead of measuring. Damn that lying gauge swatch!

If I were to make this again in this yarn, I'd probably shorten everything up. I'd probably also add in a bit of shoulder, back of neck, and armhole shaping to give this more of a set-in sleeve look. As it is, it fits me more like a modified drop shoulder sweater as my actual shoulder width is closer to 12" compared to the sweater's 14".

I should point out, however, that the pattern as written gives very good results without all the fuss of this extensive shaping. The only reason I consider adding shaping is because I just plain like doing it. It helps keep my attention.

But what do y'all think? Is this a keeper for me or should I find someone who's taller and more long waisted than me as a lucky recipient?

on babies and names

Since I have absolutely nothing to show you today as my Sahara is still blocking (yes, I finished it on Saturday - I had a bit of a knitting binge while DH was away last week), I have only one random thought to share. Babies are freaking everywhere.

First of all, I'd like to give a little plug for my friend Peggy who is trying to start a career as a doula. I had no idea what a doula was before Peggy started talking about it, but they sound like great resources for expectant mothers. I'd also have to say that Peggy is probably the best person to have around when you're giving birth because, let's face it, having your nether parts exposed to strangers as you're in the worst pain you could imagine leaves no room for niceties. Peggy is one of the straightest talking people I've met, with a real warmth to boot, so I think this combination will serve her well in this chosen career. Go check out her website, Little Bird Birth.

Next, my brother and sister-in-law are nearing the arrival of my nephew. They're either undecided on a name, or being secretive about it as they haven't shared anything with me. The closest thing I have to a name for him is the name my grandfather gave him. See, my grandfather on my dad's side gets to name all the kids who have his name. So what's his name? Well, for lack of being able to spell in Chinese, it's Wah-Sun. Or as my parents would say, Watson. Good thing that's going to relegated to middle name status or this poor kid will end up with too many Sherlock jabs. As with all Chinese names, there is a literal meaning - his name means something along the lines of "problem-free Chinese person". Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, eh? But hey, that's a whole lot better than the literal translation of my Chinese name, "precious flower peasant". ugh, I'll stick with Jen thanks.

Can't wrap this

I'm such a child of the 80's. Now I have samples of Superfreak going through my head and images of a man wearing ginormous pants with a crotch down to THERE side stepping across my television screen. But there's a point here - I can't short row wrap and turn. For example:

My purple rain socks (again, what a nod to one of my lingering favorites artists from the 80's) are just past the heel turn. Being that I found just the right number of stitches to avoid any kind of pooling whatsoever, I wasn't keen on the idea of doing a bunch of increases for the gusset and ruining all that perfect distribution. So short row heel it was. But I've decided that no matter what I do, one side of the short row heel always looks a bit looser, wonkier than the other - in this picture it's on the right foot. Maybe I'm just anal, but I can see it, and it bothers me at least until I'm finished knitting.

Exhibit two: I had a marathon night listening to the Goblet of Fire and I made it through the shirt tail short rows on Sahara. I've always had trouble picking up wraps on the opposite side from when I originally wrapped, but it has never been more evident than on this piece. There's just way more holes than there should be. I may have to go back and rip out the hem and redo this. As it is, I forgot to change needle sizes on the border anyway, so I'm thinking that maybe the border will neaten up on the correct needle size.

Anyway, I leave you then with well wishes for the upcoming weekend (oh, it can't come soon enough... my DH comes home!) and progress pics on my only two remaining WIPs. I got sick of seeing zero progress on the Mason Dixon baby sweater and the Ram's Horn Jacket, so they're officially gone now. I will also go on record saying that I'm hoping that the neckline closes up a bit after putting the border on Sahara...

An actual WIP

It's occurred to me that I've gotten away from showing any progress whatsoever on this blog, as if these projects just materialize out of thin air. Some have even commented on the speediness of these items. I have a very good explanation for that. I've been knitting A LOT. In the past 2.5 weeks, I've been on a plane for over 20 hours and sitting in airports for probably 6-8 more hours and then staying in a hotel room for several nights in a row. Of course I'll have my knitting to keep me busy, and so, yes, I make quite a bit of progress. Plus, DH is out of town, so I can indulge in the knit addiction when he's not around while listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks for the first time. I find them quite enjoyable!

Anyway, so I thought I'd actually show you something in progress. I cast on for Sahara last night in Plymouth Royal Bamboo. This is the first time I've tried bamboo before, and I'm liking it so far. It doesn't seem all that different from knitting with cotton except that it doesn't feel as dry. The shininess and cool to touch properties are quite enjoyable. And boy does this stuff DRAPE.

Of course, I hope that all of these things are good qualities for Sahara. So far, the instructions have been pretty basic. I was sort of surprised that there wasn't more shoulder, neck, and armhole shaping in a garment described as "pinpoint fit." But hey, if it turns out the same, I'm all for eliminating the fussiness! So here I am after joining the fronts to the back after the armhole shaping.


Lastly, thanks everyone for the postive feedback on my Coachella. I'm planning on wearing it later today, so here's hoping it holds up to a few hours of wear.

Coachella

Coachella
Pattern: Coachella by Fathom Harvill in Knitty Summer 2007
Materials: Knit One, Crochet Too Wick(53% Soy, 47% polypropylene. 120yd per 50g ball) 190g in Avocado. Size 7 and 9 Knitpicks Options.
Gauge: About 4.25 spi.
Finished size: 26" chest when laid flat

Started: June 20, 2007
Finished: June 23, 2007

Modifications:
I spaced out the waist increases to every 8 rows instead of every 4. I reversed the armhole shaping on the upper front so that it was k1, ssk, work to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1. I picked up stitches around the armhole (1 for every cast on or bound off st, and 3 for every 4 rows), worked 2 rows in twisted stockinette and bound of.

Discussion:
A quick and easy knit. Well, except if you count that I cast on for this in the next larger size at a smaller gauge (4.75 spi, slightly looser than the labelled gauge as the pattern suggests) and had to rip it out after deciding that it was just way too stiff. I was already at the point where the fronts and backs were rejoined.

The mod about the armhole finishing I thought was necessary because I tried this on without it and ended up feeling like I was a bit too exposed. Putting in a few rounds at the armhole helped to prevent the armholes from stretching out way too much and added a 0.25-0.5 inches extra coverage. So yes, I am wearing a racerback bra in this picture, and it seems to stay relatively put.

My only issue with this top is that in the smallest size, it appears that the front drape is just a little bit too much. I'm not sure how I would modify this at all, but I wonder if one could cast on a touch fewer stitches at the neckline and gradually increase to the correct number of stitches by the time you get part way through the armhole shaping.

I knit this up in Wick mostly because it was already in my stash. I had picked it up at a 75% off sale in Hollywood a couple of months back, so it was the bargain basement price of $8 for all their remaining Avocado balls. I had no idea what I was going to make with this, but I knew because of the polypro content that I wanted it to be a tank for those ridiculously hot days when the Santa Ana winds are blowing.

My thoughts on Wick: well, it's kind of stretchy, and it has a chained construction to it. So it feels like there's a thread or something wrapping the core and I was constantly snagging that thread. It didn't pull back into place, so if you're planning to use this yarn, I might suggest being careful not to stab the yarn, or use your blunter needles. I had a hard time maintaining gauge because of the slight stretchiness of the yarn, but most of it seemed to come out in the blocking. Which, I might add, for a yarn composed of absolutely nothing animal related, it smelled remarkably like a wet dog while taking a bath. Go figure.

Ten years ago...

Ten years ago, I had just graduated from college and was driving cross country to settle in to my first job in what I had affectionately referred to as the armpit of America. I was a synthetic organic chemist way back then, which basically meant that on my performance evaluation, if I hadn't blown anyone up that day, I was meeting expectations. Let's just say that I didn't always meet expectations.

This week, I was back in the armpit, commuting up and down Route 1 and marvelling at just how unwilling New Jersey drivers are at letting you in their lane even when you're signalling. I was struck by how how weird it was to be back in the same place starting a new job once again. Only this time, it was ten years later and Hong Kong wasn't in the midst of being handed back to the Chinese and I'm not in any particular danger of hurtling hot silicon oil and shards of glass at anyone.

Lest you worry, no, I'm not moving to the Garden State... I was just there for the training.

The point being that I started my new job this week! It's going well - or at least as well as one can expect when all you're talking about is the company vision and how to log in to your computer. But oh, how I missed the pizza. As much as I love the food in LA, I still haven't found pizza here that rivals the pizza at D'Italia's. Sigh.

Anyway, having travelled to the east coast two weeks in a row now, I have managed to get in quite a bit of knitting time what with 10 hour airport/airplane wait times each way. So, I cast on for Coachella earlier this week, ripped it out a third of the way through, and then cast on again on Wednesday and finished it today. Here it is blocking and I'll try to get a pic sometime soon when it's dried and I can find a bra to wear underneath it.

And since I haven't posted WIP pictures in about 30 thousand months, here's the texture stitch I had mentioned before for that hank of irresistible STR Purple Rain. Also, you may notice that there's no pooling of any sort at this sock's 68 stitch size... happy dance!

A bit o' pron

So apparently, it IS all about blogging more. As soon as I blogged about how much I really wanted my Ravelry account, I got my invitation to join. So. freaking. psyched. It's amazing of course that I'm actually posting because all I really want to do is surf Ravelry all night long and upload all of my projects and find people to stalk and be a general groupie. Anyway, if you're already on Ravelry, come find me and be my friend! I'm of course, the Knittingspaz.

So DH and I have been partaking of the Santa Monica Farmer's market the past two weekends after listening to a lot of the Good Food podcast. Something about shopping directly from the people who grow your food makes me feel that much better. Anyway, we've discovered Camarosa strawberries, and they are well worth the $2.50 per pint price tag. So YUM.

And after blogging 4 FO last week, I suddenly found myself without anything significant on the needles. So what's a yarn ho to do? Why go and check out the anniversary sale over at A Mano of course! I picked up an obscenely lovely hank of Socks that Rock in the Purple Rain colorway (at 25% off!) and started swatching over the weekend. I think I've found the perfect stitch pattern for variegated socks in the Vogue Stitchionary volume one. I already cast on, but decided to rip out the cuffs and start them toe-up so I can use up as much of this loveliness as I can.

And of course, since I promised to make DH sweat for my craft...

Not Quite Seamless Hybrid Shirt Yoke Sweater
Pattern: Based on recipe by Elizabeth Zimmerman in Knitting Without Tears
Materials: Fare Baruffa Settembre (100% wool. About 130yd per 50g ball) 375g in a navy/English tan heathered color - sorry, I don't have the ball band in front of me. Size 6 and 7 Addi Turbo needles.
Gauge: 5.25 spi on US6 in the round, 5 spi on US7 in the round, 4.75 spi on US7 flat, and 5 spi on US6 flat
Finished size: DH sized! about 42" chest

Started: April 29, 2007
Finished: June 8, 2007

Modifications:
Well, since EZ doesn't exactly see fit to tell you exactly what to do, I say the whole thing is a mod. Maybe even an original pattern!

Discussion:
This one was NOT a labor of love. In fact, I'd say that there was almost no drama at all in the knitting of this sweater. At the time that I purchased this yarn - at the Yarn Lady bag sale eons ago - I had already envisioned a polo shirt style. I then decided to add in the graduated ribbing at the side seams to fake side seam shaping and also emulate DH's favorite variable ribbed Capilene shirts. So before I started knitting, I had already sketched out what I wanted and used EZ's recipe as a guide and voila, a finished object.

The good: I like the shirt yoke back, the easy collar and split neck and the wonderful heathery hue.

The bad: the construction of the shoulders - think turning a heel - leaves a proportion of 2 rows at the saddle to 1 stitch for the front and back. That's way more rows per stitch than one normally would use if say picking up stitches, so the first time I knit the back neck according to EZ's instructions, it puckered like mad. I changed the back neck so that it was just a flap and then seamed this to the held stitches for the back. I know this doesn't really make sense, but if you really want to know, I'll draw you a diagram.

The take-home: Seamless sweaters have definite advantages - like weaving in the ends and calling it done after casting off. But seamed sweaters I find just lay better. If feels like you have more control over how the parts fit together even though I find the seaming process time-consuming and a bit of a pain in the ass. So for now, I like both. I can go either way. I guess that makes me bi-seam-ual.

OMG - sorry for the bad pun. I am most definitely my father's daughter.

FO Catch up part 2

In miscellaneous rants, I tried to sign up for the destash blog because frankly, our apartment is just not large enough to accomodate two people's passions for collecting. His: wine and whiskey. Hers: yarn, yarn, and more yarn. And then soon to be added... fabric! I've on the verge of catching the sewing bug, but as there are two small hurdles in my way, I've managed to resist the urge to start a fabric stash. Those small hurdles being 1. a sewing machine and 2. the ability to sew and actually, 3. the discretionary cash to blow on said stash. Pshah, I say! Small details for those who are truly obsessed. Now, where can I score some nice fabrics in the LA area?

OH yeah, back to the rant. They said that if I increase my posting then I could join because I'm just not a prolific enough blogger. I beg to differ. I just like to save it up and put it all in one big post. Like today's where I'll amaze and shock all of you with how much I have managed to keep as a surprise.

Before that though... I must say, WHERE'S MY RAVELRY ACCOUNT? Kate showed me the Ravelry website a month ago and I was all, holy CRAP this is the place for me. Myspace and the like just don't appeal to me, but a place where everyone talks about knitting, and a site that ORGANIZES all your knitting is right up my alley. But really, a month to wait for something so spectacular? I only wish they'd let non-members peruse, but not post or comment and whatev.

Finally, long overdue FO postings. I've been lazy about picture taking, so forgive the crappy pictures.

Eyelet Blouse by Mari Lynne Patrick
Pattern in Vogue Knitting Winter 2006/7
Materials: RYC Cashcotton DK (35% cotton, 25% nylon, 18% angora, 9% cashmere. 142 yds per 50g ball) 250g in magenta. ??? needles. I'm guessing size 5 since I don't remember swatching. (slap!)
Gauge: 22 sts/4 in
Finished size: 32" bust

Started: March 27, 2007
Finished: April 17, 2007

Modifications:
Narrowed the yoke. Added decreases at the bottom of the V neck edging so that the neck edge would lay flat. Raised the neckline by crocheting the fronts together a bit higher than the pattern indicates. Apparently, the girls just don't fill out the bustline as much as the designer had intended. Knit the edging on the sleeve at the cast on instead of as an afterthought edging.

Discussion:
The backs, fronts, and sleeves flew by without a hitch. It was just the yoke instructions that killed me. Either I didn't read them correctly, or the instructions were wrong. But I ended up taking out a few rows across the back neck so that I could seam the yoke to the back without major poufing. There's still a little bit, but I can at least live with it now. Also, setting in the sleeves was a bit of a challenge and they're a bit uneven at the first stitch of the cast off row, but again, I'm dealing with it.

The one thing I'm having trouble dealing with right now is that I find the sweater slightly itchy. The yarn is soft as can be, but dang it if I think I might be sensitive to angora! Another note about the yarn, it sheds like crazy and I end up with unsightly white tufts coming off under the armpits. Yuk!

But the fit is good and the design is flattering, so this one's a keeper.



Milan Jacket by Louisa Harding
Pattern in Natural Knits for Babies and Moms
Materials: Misti Cotton (83% cotton, 17% silk. 191 yds per 100g) 175g in Olive Khaki (7032). Size US8 Addi Turbo needles.
Gauge: 18 sts and 22 rows/4"
Finished size: 12.5" from shoulder to hem, 23" at chest, 8" sleeve from shoulder seam to cuff.

Started: April 17, 2007
Finished: April 21, 2007

Modifications:
none, except if you count the totally wrong gauge!

Discussion:
Perfect example of playing the gauge game. Jillian did a very nice post a couple of days ago about changing gauge in your knitting, so go check out her post if you haven't already. Whenever I do this, I take it one step further than what Jillian mentions. I'm usually changing whole dimensions with yarn substitutions, so I figure that this should apply to length as well. So I usually calculate out the instructions that say "Knit until piece measures..." and figure out how many rows they mean and just knit that many rows to keep the proportions the same.

Anyway, I cast on for the 6 month size with my larger gauge and ended up with almost the exact measurements for the 12 month size by following the instructions for the smallest size. Worked like a charm.

Okay, so this sweater isn't EXACTLY finished as I'm still in search of buttons, but what the heck, I'm on a roll here.

There would be a posting for the knitting that was done from April 21-28, except that the twist front top from VK Spring/Summer 2005 done in Knitpicks Salishan (red clay if you must know) was too ugly to even picture. It has since been RIPPED! If you do want to knit this pattern, I recommend not only achieving gauge, but doing so with lots of drape at that gauge. Otherwise it looks like crap. I'd also recommend calculating out a different sleeve cap and armscye shaping than the pattern recommends as I've never seen set in sleeves that look like narrow triangles before, and unless you have triangular shaped shoulders and no biceps, it just doesn't work.

Also, somewhere in here, I cast on for DH's hybrid sweater short sleeved polo based on a pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears. The knitting was finished on this last night, but the ends need to be woven in and a good blocking is in order before an FO picture with DH sweating to death in his wool sweater in June can be taken.

Ripple Weave Socks by Charlene Schurch
Pattern in Vogue Knitting Fall 2006
Materials: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (100% wool. 420yd per 4oz hank) 3.4 oz in Northern Lights. Size 0(!) Addi Turbos 24 and 32".
Gauge: 10 sts/in
Finished size: 7.2 in circumference and 9 in long

Started: May 4, 2007
Finished: May 20, 2007

Modifications:
Only repeated 2 full charts on leg instead of stated 7. What were they thinking? 5 additional repeats would be obscenely long, given that 2 already measured 5" from the cuff to the top of the heel flap, and I didn't have THAT much yarn left over...

Discussion:
These socks look a lot like the Pomatomus Socks, but I don't think they're quite as pretty. There seem to be a lot of random holes between repeats that I suspect may cause undue wear patterns in the sock. But, the twisted 1x1 rib throughout is quite nice, and even though there's a bit of flashing going on in the sock, I can actually deal with it. If I do go on to make the P socks, I'll probably replicate the twisted rib on the toe of those as well.



Basic Mittens
Pattern in Handy Book of Knitting Patterns by Ann Budd
Materials: Knitpicks Decadence (100% superfine alpaca. 131 yds per 100g ball) 75g in Winter Berry. Size US9 circular needles.
Gauge: 4 sts/in
Finished size: 8" hand circumference and 8" from cuff to finger tip.

Started: June 3, 2007
Finished: June 3, 2007

Discussion:
Talk about instant gratification... these mittens didn't even make it onto the On the Sticks section of the sidebar! One evening of movies later and the leftovers from my MIL scarf became a matching set of mittens. I would have liked to knit these one needle size down so they'd be a bit denser, but I was concerned about how much yarn I had. Turns out I had enough left over that it shouldn't have been a problem. I'd also recommend not using alpaca for mittens (at least not this one anyway) as it seems to shed a lot and it doesn't seem hard wearing enough to be appropriate for something as chunky and utilitarian as mittens. Just my opinion though.

Whew! And if you're still with me, thanks! Another FO posting is apparently due, as if this weren't enough. I'm also thinking 2.5 months worth of FO's is not a good thing to try and tackle all at once. Maybe those Destash blog people have a point...

long belated honeymoon album

I've been blathering on and on about how behind I am in blogging, so here's the latest update:

My honeymoon album is finally up with draft captions. Go check it out.

I will be starting a new job in mid June, so that means that I'll be posting even LESS often (if that's possible) due to the hefty travel load. But it's a good career move for me and it should offer some new challenges. Very excited about that.

My clavinova is a bit dusty... but I can almost play Linus and Lucy now and I'm working on a Joplin piece. I took 12 years of classical piano as a kid, so these kinds of songs just weren't included in my repertoire. I'm even considering dabbling in some Elton John (Your Song in all its cheesiness still works on me).

I've been knitting quite a bit. I've still yet to post a baby sweater for my nephew, the eyelet blouse from VK Winter 2006/7, a twist front blouse that didn't have the drape required and so was ripped out AFTER seaming (hear the groan on this end), a pair of socks that look suspiciously like Pomatomus socks, and I've started a polo shirt for DH of my own design.

So I guess it's been busy on this end... must be a good start to summer!

FO Catch up part 1

Okay, so I've been admittedly absent from the blogosphere, but to make up for the past month, I'm going to show you some stuff that I've been working on. Only a little it for now because I don't seem to have the attention span anymore.


Ebb & Flow Socks
Pattern: by Cat Bordhi in Vogue Knitting Fall 2006
Materials: Knitpicks Essential (75% wool/25% nylon, 231 yds per 50g ball) 50g in Grass, 50g in Fawn. Size US4 Addi Turbo 24, 32".
Gauge: 6.25 sts/in in St st.
Finished Size: to fit women's size US7 feet.

Started: March 12, 2007
Finished: March 15, 2007

Modifications:
None really except for the misguided yarn sub. I did only 3 pattern repeats for the cuff instead of the 7 called for.

Discussion:
There's nothing particularly wrong with these socks except that well, the pattern calls for doubling up fingering weight yarn and using 200g of sock yarn for the whole pattern. I only had this stuff in the stash, and I figured that it could be okay. Well, I think it sort of ended up looking like cat barf, but I needed a whole lot less of it that I thought I would. So now with the leftovers, I'll be able to make some boot socks for my dad. I think it'll be a bit more appropriate for him as he's ex-Army than these were for my great-grandmother. I thanked my stars when I finished these and got a good look at how god-awful they were that my g-grandma is practically blind. But then she went and had her cataracts removed and can see again. Drats! Foiled again!

Anyway, if I were to do it over, I'd have just used one strand of DK weight yarn instead of fingering doubled up. The doubled up yarn made the lace tops (yes, that's supposed to be lace, not crappy textured stuff) way too stiff. And mixing two different colors was a bad idea as the lace pattern was completely lost in the marled look of the sock. The construction of the sock was interesting (putting the gusset on the top of the foot), but I didn't like the way the heel looks, so it's not something I'd repeat. Oh well, knitting fug every now and then isn't a bad thing. I only wish I were a process knitter so that I could be more satisfied with what I've learned instead of wishing it came out prettier.

I also churned out a couple of hats out of leftover yarn. The one on the left is from leftover TLC Cotton Plus (maybe 15g)from my nephew's blanket. The one on the right is 50g of Cascade Pastaza from when I made the Buttonhole bag. Both were churned out in a day.

I'm in this one for you and one for me mode right now. I figured that while I'd like to be a totally selfish knitter, with the number of other events I have to knit for, I can't totally ignore everyone else. So that's why next time, I'm showing you another one for me (the eyelet blouse from VK Winter 2006/2007) and one for you (actually, my nephew - the mandarin collar sweater from Natural Knits for Babies).

Almost famous

Remember a roadtrip a few months ago where I got some random guy to take pictures of me climbing? This, BTW, never happens because, DH is always spotting, so who's gonna wield the camera? Anyway, we're up at Bishop again a few weekends ago, and what do we find? I'm almost famous! Huzzah!



Yup, that's me front and off center and to the left a bit on page 72 in the new Bishop Bouldering Guidebook. The guidebook itself is beautiful and well photographed. Couldn't ask for more. I fully support everyone going out and buying a copy. And of course, bookmarking page 72.

Woo-hoo!

Yup... happy birthday to me again... or at least belatedly.

Surprises

My dad likes surprises. He once unwrapped one of my Christmas presents to take out the real gift and wrap it up in a different box after he figured out that I had taken a peek inside the package. He couldn't stand me not being surprised on Christmas morning. The best part for him though was chronicling the whole humiliating affair for all to see what a bad little 13 yo I was. He'll gladly show you the pictures if you ask.

So when my brother announced that his wife was expecting, he didn't want to know the gender of the baby. I say screw that! I wanna know! Well, the surprise didn't last long because apparently my mother had to just blurt it out. It's a boy! I'm going to have a nephew!

So much for that surprise, but I still like good surprises. Like DH springing a Galen Rowell print on me as a wedding gift (it's the one with 2 emperor penguins greeting each other). But, since this is a knitting blog, I have knitted surprises for you too!


Nephew's Log Cabin Blanket
Pattern: Log Cabin knitting in Mason-Dixon Knitting
Materials: TLC Cotton Plus (51% cotton, 49% acrylic. 168 yards per 100g ball) 1 ball each in spruce, cream, mint, yellow and kiwi. Size 7 Addi Turbos 32"
Gauge: Irrelevant!
Finished size: 25" x 32"

Started: February 19, 2007
Finished: March 10, 2007

Great, mindless knitting. The yellow in there sort of bothers me, but this project was great in that I could control just how much yarn I could use. I used up all of the Spruce and Cream, but I still have a little of the mint, yellow and kiwi left over. I'm okay with that as I'm sort of growing a mini Cotton Plus leftover stash that I think will turn into a crazy striped baby sweater.

Indigo Ripples Skirt
Pattern: by Kat Coyle in Interweave Knits Spring 2007
Materials: Elann.com Sonata (100% mercerized cotton. 116 yards per 50g ball) 6 balls EXACTLY in color Deep Olive. Size US6 Addi Turbo 24" and 32" needles.
Gauge: 22 sts and 30 rows/4"
Finished size: 26" waist, 34" hip and about 23" long

Started: February 24, 2007
Finished: March 6, 2007

Modifications:
Increased in stockinette section every 4 rounds for 3 sets of increases, then every 8 rounds until there were 14 sts fewer than called for. Omitted last purl round on ruffle before binding off. Changed bind off to purl 2, *transfer 2 sts back to left needle, then p2tog, p1* repeat to end. Did not do i-cord tie.

Discussion:
Y'all know how I like to live on the edge. Well, I was stash diving and found that I had almost enough DK weight cotton to make the smallest size in this pattern. I figured that with the tendency of cotton to stretch out as you wear it and with the hip measurement being a few inches larger than I needed it to be, I'd be fine if I just didn't increase as much and eliminated enough stitches to contstitute one repeat in the lace section.

Well, the skirt turned out to be a bit clingier than I think it was intended, but as I wear it, it does seem to stretch out as I predicted and it will be fine. I was happy to get the rush towards the end where I joined in my last ball of yarn as I started the ruffle, and I discovered the ruffles eat up yarn like nobody's business. I had to eliminate the last row before the bind off and I ended up with absolutely no leftovers. I think maybe 5 yards if you count all the excess I trimmed off when joining in new balls at the side.

If I had to do it again, I probably would have eliminated the last 10 rounds of lace to shorten the skirt up a bit as I'm short and it currently falls to just on the knee and I like my skirts a bit shorter than that. I may also have added in a bit more length to the stockinette section as the lace can be a bit revealing and not for the faint of heart. And certainly not for anyone who wants to bend over. If you ever worry about coverage on your rear, definitely lengthen the stockinette section. I'd also skip the waistband instructions and just do a hemmed waist band with elastic inserted. I think that would be a much cleaner finish, though I do like the brown suede ties I used here instead of the i-cord.

I would caution anyone who's thinking of doing this... I think the yarn requirements (at least for the smallest size) are not very generous. If you substitute like I did, give yourself a bit more yardage than they call for in the pattern unless you like to live on the edge like I do. I was smug thinking that I'd have leftover when I didn't have to join in the last ball until I started the ruffle. But just know that the ruffle took the entire 116 yards in that ball! Here's a pic of the lace pattern detail and the ruffle.

Okay, they weren't really knitted surprises, just I hadn't posted about either of these projects and then Pouf! they were finished. Well, no need to go into the gory details on such straightforward projects, right?

BTW, today's walk with a bit of running in it was 5.5 miles and took 1:08:15. Same time as last week's long run. I'm actually pretty pleased with myself here as I was pretty dumb in my selection of time of day to do this. When the Santa Ana winds are blowing in LA making it about 85 out and you're planning on running on concrete with little shade, do you think it's wise to start your run around noon?