Stockpiling

The other day in the pub I mentioned to a male friend that I was knitting a baby jacket. He looked a little perplexed then asked, "Where are you keeping all these baby things that you knit?" It took me a second before I realised that he thought I was stockpiling baby crap just in case. A Hope-someone-knocks-me-up-in-the-near-future Chest, if you will. I assured him that I give all the baby stuff away, that I'm not resorting to the turkey baster just yet, and we carried on drinking beer until the wee small hours. But it did tickle me to realise that my friends think I'm some kind of psycho-baby clothes hoarder...

Pattern: Presto Chango from Jimmy Beans Wool
Yarn & Needles: Cotton Ease in Pistachio, 1.5 balls. Knit Picks options size US9 (I've lost my US8s, otherwise I would have knit this on slightly smaller needles)
Verdict: Too cute. Maybe I should start "collecting".... My gauge and tension are both funky in cotton, wool is much more forgiving. But since I have about 20 more balls of cotton ease I've got plenty of yarn to practice on. I might make a few more fronts before I hand this over (mini-AnnaSara is due in August). I'm guessing that in a pinch the spare fronts could double up as burp cloths? Mommas, what do you think?

Cheerios, Baby Wipes and Poop

That's what I smell like after an evening of baby sitting for the cutest little bubba on the planet (except for all of y'all's bubbas of course, they are waaay cuter and such and so forth...) I'd be lying if I said I didn't really enjoy myself, but I did spend my "wages" on a rather large bottle of gin afterwards ;)

Other than the baby sitting, today has been a marathon of finishing. It might be the gin talking, but I think this photo is out of focus....


Pattern: Equestrian Blazer by Kate Gilbert, Interweave Knits Winter 2006. (Ravelry)
Yarn & Needles: Jojoland 100% wool, worsted Black. 8 balls, 880yards. Knit picks options size US7 (4.5mm). Don't use this yarn. It's cheap but it's nasty, like an $8 hooker but with less of a happy ending. Ooops, that's the gin talking again...
Modifications: I made the sleeves 3/4 length by casting on 10 more stitches than called for and increasing 6 times instead of 11 (CO 51 inc to 63 instead of CO41 inc to 63) and knitting 'til I felt like stopping for the sleeve caps, around 12-13".


Verdict: I'm not blown away for several reasons, not least the hooker yarn, but also the fit. In my head I still have the 25" waist of my youth, rather than the 26" waist of my late twenties (shocking, I know), so knitting the smallest size left me with an inch or so of negative ease around the waist. This pulls on the button more than is apparent in these photos. I think I might be able to fix it by re-blocking and stretching the body which would probably be easier than losing an inch off of my waist-al region. Also, the lapels just don't stay put even after a vigorous steam block so those puppies will have to be stitched in place adding another hour or so to the finishing time. I'm sure with the few fixes I have planned that this will become wearable if not perhaps my most favouritest thing in the world. You can't win all the time!

Happy Earth Day! Recycle your yarn!

So what is this boring, unphotographable knit? Once upon a time it was this:


But after careful deliberation (aka, two years and two apartment moves while still a WIP) it became this:


And now, it's this:


I'm not going to deny that I really, really dislike this yarn. But I'm stash busting and that means knitting up or getting rid of the crappy yarns. Despite having been washed during the re-skeining, the yarn dyes my fingers and sheds what I can only imagine are guard hairs. Four washes during blocking (Kookaburra, plain water twice and then a rinse with hair conditioner) and there is still yellow, piss-coloured gak coming out of the yarn. I know I could do a vinegar rinse but I'm past caring. The conditioner at least adds a touch of softness. Meh.

So why am I knitting it if I don't like it? I'm the kind of girl who always reaches into her closet to grab a black cardigan despite the fact that I don't own one. My black hoodie is as close as it gets and I'm really trying to break out of my jeans, t-shirt and a hoodie rut. Hence a nicely fitted black cardigan is just what the "what not to wear" doctor ordered. The pattern itself is clever and I have high hopes for the finished article, I'm just relishing the process with this one.

In less-meh news, I won yarn!

I was the lucky winner of one of the door prizes at the Sit n Knit New York party last night. Yum! Almost, almost makes up for the $10 charge for a bottle of beer.... ;)

Isobel

I've been spending a fair amount of time with one of my house mates recently, both of us on the couch with our knitting. She asked me the other day how I chose my next project, whether I'm thinking and planning the whole time I'm knitting one thing what I'm going to tackle next. I have to say that at the moment I'm being a very reactionary knitter.

I mentally plunge my hand into the lucky dip of my stash, pick a yarn and make something that fits. That's how Isobel got to be knit. I had a vague thought about making a little something to put in my mom's birthday package, recalled the 1 and a half skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, Ravelry-walked et voila! Isobel...

Pattern: Isobel form Cider Moon.
Yarn & Needles: Debbie Bliss Pure Silk. 1 1/2 balls of sage green on size US7 made a 49" scarf. Purdy :)
Verdict: Very easy, very pretty. If I was a scarf wearer I'd be tempted to keep it for myself. The yarn is divine, soft and light as a feather. Knit one!

And what's next? Possibly the most unphotographable, uninteresting WIP ever. Stay tuned...

True Story

I was at a moderately fancy dinner last night after a talk by Allan Brandt, the author of "The Cigarette Century" when the subject of knitting came up, you know, as it does. Two of the friends I was sitting with are knitters while the third, one of my house mates, isn't YET. We were blabbing away when I overheard a comment from the guys at the other side of the table... "It's like a meeting of Knitters Anonymous" over there!"

I quickly raised my right hand and said, maybe a little too loudly after three glasses of white wine, "Oh no, I am out and proud! I'm a knitter and I'm damned good at it!"

Those people may avoid me from now on.


Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina. I'm too lazy to find out where the pattern has gone to after the fall of magknits.

Needles & Yarn: Knit Picks US 1 1/2, Regia Kaffe Fassett #4257 2 balls.

One Week In The Making

Pattern: Drops Jacket.

Yarn & Needles: RYC Soft Tweed in Kingfisher, just short of 10 balls for the size small knit at the "Silke-Alpaca" gauge on size US9 Options.

Modifications: My modifications were mostly based on what I thought should have been the translation into English. Instead of "casting off" on stitch each side to decrease, I K1 (selvedge stitch) SSK and K2Tog K1 at the decrease edges. The same technique was applied at the arm holes to make a smooth edge for easier seaming. There are also four button holes although in the end I only used three of the pretty buttons I got from here.


Verdict: To be honest this is not a shape I would even look twice at in the store but, I like it! It reminds me of my German grandmother who was very much a lady. The cut and the collar make me think of the wool tweed jackets she wore in the photographs I've seen of her in the 50s and 60s. To me this equals class, it makes me feel ladylike and that doesn't happen very often!

The yarn was also a revelation. When I was knitting this into Inishbeg I really wasn't sold, I felt like I was knitting with fat strips of polar fleece. But, at this much tighter gauge and after a good soak in Kookaburra, the yarn has become gloriously soft, supple and has a pretty silk sheen. I think the entire bag of 10 balls cost $40 at a Webs closeout, it's just a shame they don't have any pretty colours left! Might have to stalk some people's stashes on Ravelry, but no! Stash-busting, remember....

I know just about anyone who's anyone has this pattern in their queue and I'm telling ya, just go for it! It's fast, pretty and dang, why the hell not?

Nearly There....

Do we like the new banner? Good :)

Today is my Daddy's 6oth Birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!

I was on course to, at the very least, match Jane's 5-day-sweater record until lab work took over, my oven broke and well, the instructions for the jacket collar went a bit squiffy. Should be finished by tomorrow though!

ETA: All the knitting is done and the collar is blocking as we type. If, IF it's dry at a reasonable point before midnight I may seam tonight! WOO! Oh but bugger, the buttons wont arrive for another day or two :(

Guess Who's Being a Crazy Lady?!

ME!

Fresh off the hemlock high I was flitting around in my stash, cruising ravelry and lo and behold... an almost complete sweater fell off my needles in three days.


This yarn (RYC Soft Tweed) used to be Inishbeg, but that knit was doomed to languish and was eventually rewound and re-marinated. Until Friday night. I swatched this way and that but couldn't get gauge for the bulky version of the infamous Drops Jacket, so I went down a couple of needle sizes and made the worsted gauge on US9s. Go figure.

So now it's Monday night, the fronts and back are knit and blocked, one sleeve is complete and give or take a day or two I should have a completed jacket. Oh and did I mention that my Thesis Proposal deadline is starting to loom? Procrastinate? ME?!

Rainy Day FO

Spider Girl!

Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket modified my Jared Flood (pdf).

Needles and Yarn: Knit Picks Options US7 (4.5mm), two 32" cables, 4 DPNs. Filatura Lanarota Chaco, Burgundy. 5 and a 1/2 balls. After a combination of wet and steam blocking with some fierce, fierce stretching the yarn has become soft, light and airy. Definitely considering making a garment with the 4 and 1/2 balls I have left.

Modifications: I charted additional repeats to 95 rows, but cast off at row 90 so as not to martyr myself to the cause.

Verdict: I'm so glad I cast this on. It's so very pretty, and makes an excellent cape for when I wish to play out my superhero fantasies. Admittedly I don't do this very often, or in fact, ever, but never the less when I do I will be set. My opinion of the yarn has changed with a severe blocking even though it did give me a friction burn on my tensioning finger (that's right, I was knitting so fast I burned myself with the yarn.)

The pattern itself become a little tedious by stitch squillion and one, but the short pattern repeat makes it managable in bite sized portions. The cast off took about four hours but I did have about a thousand stitches at that point.

Having completed my first ever substantial lace piece I'm not sure how many are in my immediate future. Blocking this was an absolute nightmare, my blocking board wasn't big enough to block more than three segments at a time meaning that blocking was spread out over three days. Pinning all those little frills was tortuous. But the finished result is lovely... Maybe I'll stick to knitting worsted weight lace for now. While wearing my cape. And maybe a mask.

Stalled Hemlock

Until I figure out how to block this thing in it's entirety there will be no FO :(

WAH!!!

I've run out of pins and blocking space and only half the blanket is pinned out! Oh no!