Archive for December, 2005
Let’s take a tour through my current WIPs, shall we?
The Starburst Shawl, AKA The most annoying project ever. For some reason, I decided to pick this project up again last weekend and I was *this* close to ripping the mother f**ker. Again. But that “again” is what is keeping this project alive. This poor yarn has been ripped and reknitted about four times. The first incarnation of it was the Lacy Kerchief Scarf from Summer IK. I had to rip that pattern about a quarter of the way through when I realized I was doing the pattern all wrong. Then, when I was a little over halfway done with it, I decided I didn’t like it. Too frilly for me. So I frogged. Then the yarn became the Sheer One Piece Shawl from the book Modular Knits. I decided I didn’t want to knit that pattern. I was lured by the more modular looking knits in the book. And so I began the Starburst Shawl. This pattern is very annoying, as I said. It requires lots of counting and making sure the exact number of stitches are on the needles at all times, or else the whole thing will get messed up. I can’t wait to be done with this! I’m really going to try and push through this pattern this weekend and have it done in the next few days. I need the needles for something else, anyway. The Starburst Shawl is being knit with Artyarns supermerino.
The Slytherin Scarf. I actually offered to make my husband this scarf way back in November, before Thanksgiving. We were on a hike at Riverside State Park, and it was really chilly out, and I wanted to be a nice wife and knit my hubby something. I suggested a Gryfindor scarf, but he wanted Slytherin, since he just HAS to go against the grain. I went right out and bought the yarn for it and got started on it. Then I got B-O-R-E-D. Then I put it down to work on something else. And it ended up staying down for quite some time. Until about a week ago when he asked, “where’s my slytherin scarf?” Oops. So I picked it up again and have been working on it a little bit at a time. At this rate it will be done by next winter. I am using Lion Wool-ease for this pattern (for the washability factor) and the pattern can be found here. I’m knitting the Prisoner of Azkaban version.
The Broadstreet Mitten, AKA Shitty Mitten. I knitted this the week my car was totalled, so it conjures up negative feelings for me. That’s probably why, when I finished it, I didn’t like it. I decided to put it aside for awhile. After taking a bit of a break from it, it doesn’t look so bad. I’m glad I didn’t just go and frog it straight away. I think I will knit the second one after all. The Yarn I’m using for it is Lorna’s Lace’s Shepherd’s Sock yarn in the Jeans colorway. The pattern can be found in Knitty’s fall 2002 issue.
Bay. All I can say is, “ahhhh…” I cast on for this project last weekend. I’m about halfway through the front. The pattern itself is kind of clunky. You have to knit the blue stripes with size 7 needles and the white parts with size 5 needles, and with the white you hold two strands together. However, the yarn is absolute heaven to work with. I can’t wait to wear this when it’s done. It’s going to be slightly sheer, so I bought some long sleeve t-shirts to wear underneath. Not much else to say about that. Except all of the hype about kidsilk haze is totally deserved.
The last thing I want to show you is not a WIP, but some new aquisitions to The Stash. I have 14 balls of Noro Kureyon that I’m going to use for Butterfly. This was my present from my inlaws. They gave me some cash for Christmas, enough to buy yarn for Butterfly, which I have been lusting after for a long time. I got the yarn at my LYS, Holy Threads. I also got some Knitpicks Andean Treasure in both green and purple. They will be used for the Ridged Helmet hats for both me and my hubby. I also got some Knitpicks Essential and Simple Stripesfor some socks in Knitting Vintage Socks.
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Mine was lovely. Have a safe and fun New Year’s Eve!
December 30th, 2005
Hello! Like how I stealthily knitted the Lace Leaf Pullover? heh, heh. It was really quite the quick knit. I took me a short few weeks to knit. I wore it to work the other day to lots of compliments. I’ve been wearing most of my wool sweaters lately and I think everyone is kind of surprised at how prolific my collection of handknit sweaters is. And I have to admit, I’m kind of embarrased by it. Maybe I should start knitting for other people…..Naw!
Speaking of selfish me-knitting. Here is a scarf I knit up with that Manos I got at Community awhile back. I followed this little pattern found here at Sheep in the City. I really like the woven look the pattern generates.
I am also enjoying the colorway, too. It pretty much goes with everything. This was my first experience with Manos. I liked it alright. The colors are beautiful. But it’s a little bit too unevenly spun for my taste. There were places where the yarn was, like lace-weight and then it would go back to being thick.
My husband has declared that he would like one of the ear-flap hats found in the newest issue of IK. The Ridged Helmet Hat to be exact. So I guess I will be making one of those as soon as the yarn gets here. I ordered enough to make myself one, too. I am also working on a Slytherin scarf for him too. I started it before Thanksgiving but got bored by all of the stockinette so put it down. He asked me about it the other day..oops! I guess I need to get on that.
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!
December 22nd, 2005
Presenting the Teva Durham’s Lace Leaf Pullover!
Pattern: Lace Leaf Pullover from Teva Durham’s book, Loop-d-loop.
Yarn: Rowan Plaid in Creeper. about 5.5 balls.
Needles: Size 11 Denise needles.
Started: Dec. 5th, 2005
Finished: Dec. 19th 2005.
As you can see from the picture of the back, I didn’t do a very good job of grafting the top and bottom together in the back. I don’t know what happened but I ended up with more stitches on the the bottom and had to ease it and it didn’t turn out looking fantastic. But maybe a little blocking will help.
For the button, I picked one from my granny mary’s old button coffee can. My mom has this really old coffee can that is full of old buttons that were my grandmothers. They are all really old and very cool. While I was in there I snagged some mother-of-pearl buttons of various sizes, too. I love the idea of using a vintage button of my grandmother’s on my knitted things. It makes me feel closer to her somehow.
I LOVE this sweater! Love it! I think it is my favorite sweater so far. The yarn makes it, though. Rowan Plaid is amazing. So soft and lovely to wear.
Hope you all have a fantastic week!
December 19th, 2005
Here is a scarf I whipped up for my MIL today for her Christmas present (or one of them). It’s made with Lion Brand Trellis yarn. Just one ball. It’s the standard, size 15 needles, cast on 15 stitches, knit in garter until out of yarn. And there is my Christmas tree in the Background! I am a lot less bah-humbuggy this year. I think it’s because I get to spend the holidays with my family for the first time in 8 years.
Karma tagged me for a fun meme!
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.
Here they are in the order in which I am into them. I’m also putting the band and the album down, fyi.
- All these things that I’ve done. The Killers.
- Burn the Witch. Queens of the Stone Age.
- Little Sister. Queens of the Stone Age.
- My Doorbell. White Stripes.
- I predict a riot.Kaiser Chiefs.
- Governator. Green Day.
- Beverly Hills. Weezer.
People I’m going to tag:
- Dianne from Daffodil Lane
- Heather from Pixestixknitz
- Ei from Ei Knit
- Cathi from In the Pink
- Andrea from Mellow Trouble
- Amanda from ETC.
- Winnie from Knitting Escapism.
Can’t wait to see what you girls are listening to! Don’t forget to trackback to this post if you have that feature turned on in your blog 
.
I wanted to say thank you for all of you cheerful comments in my last post. I was really down in the dumps last week. I’m still without a car, but things are going to turn out okay. I will probably have a car by next weekend.
Oh crap! Gotta Go! I’m missing Survior!
I have more knitting news to share. To Be Continued.
December 11th, 2005
Sorry for the crankiness, but my car was totalled last week. I think I’m entitled to at least one swear word.
So I finished one of my broadstreet mittens. And, frankly, I don’t like it. It’s a little too big, for one thing. And I hate the way this yarn pools on the shell. For the hand, I knitted with two skiens, alternating each row. That’s helped a lot, but it was a pain in the ass. I got lazy with the mitten shell and knitted from one skien and now the colorway doesn’t flow together very well. Plus, I don’t like these colors very well. They are depressing. The picture makes the colors look much better than they look in person. They are all gray and blue. It looks dingy. And with all of the snow we are having, it looks depressing.
So I am thinking about whether or not to knit a another one or just starting over with new yarn that I like better.
Got the new Interweave knits in the mail today. Not really hip on any of the projects in it this time. Maybe if I have a second look I will feel differently.
Like the projects in the new Knitty, though. I’m especially liking Tubey and Bristow. I’m really liking Tubey, actually. I may have to knit that one. hmm.
I am considering doing some major changes with this blog. I am thinking about moving the whole thing over to my other blog, Blatherskite, and making “Knitting” one of the categories. If people don’t want to hear me blather on about non-knitting content they could just subscribe to the”knitting”category.
I haven’t made any changes yet, but will let you know if or when I do. I hope it doesn’t bother anyone if I decide to move. Please, if you have an opinion one way or the other please let me know.
December 5th, 2005
The Starburst Shawl, AKA The most annoying project ever. For some reason, I decided to pick this project up again last weekend and I was *this* close to ripping the mother f**ker. Again. But that “again” is what is keeping this project alive. This poor yarn has been ripped and reknitted about four times. The first incarnation of it was the Lacy Kerchief Scarf from Summer IK. I had to rip that pattern about a quarter of the way through when I realized I was doing the pattern all wrong. Then, when I was a little over halfway done with it, I decided I didn’t like it. Too frilly for me. So I frogged. Then the yarn became the Sheer One Piece Shawl from the book Modular Knits. I decided I didn’t want to knit that pattern. I was lured by the more modular looking knits in the book. And so I began the Starburst Shawl. This pattern is very annoying, as I said. It requires lots of counting and making sure the exact number of stitches are on the needles at all times, or else the whole thing will get messed up. I can’t wait to be done with this! I’m really going to try and push through this pattern this weekend and have it done in the next few days. I need the needles for something else, anyway. The Starburst Shawl is being knit with Artyarns supermerino.
The Slytherin Scarf. I actually offered to make my husband this scarf way back in November, before Thanksgiving. We were on a hike at Riverside State Park, and it was really chilly out, and I wanted to be a nice wife and knit my hubby something. I suggested a Gryfindor scarf, but he wanted Slytherin, since he just HAS to go against the grain. I went right out and bought the yarn for it and got started on it. Then I got B-O-R-E-D. Then I put it down to work on something else. And it ended up staying down for quite some time. Until about a week ago when he asked, “where’s my slytherin scarf?” Oops. So I picked it up again and have been working on it a little bit at a time. At this rate it will be done by next winter. I am using Lion Wool-ease for this pattern (for the washability factor) and the pattern can be found here. I’m knitting the Prisoner of Azkaban version.
The Broadstreet Mitten, AKA Shitty Mitten. I knitted this the week my car was totalled, so it conjures up negative feelings for me. That’s probably why, when I finished it, I didn’t like it. I decided to put it aside for awhile. After taking a bit of a break from it, it doesn’t look so bad. I’m glad I didn’t just go and frog it straight away. I think I will knit the second one after all. The Yarn I’m using for it is Lorna’s Lace’s Shepherd’s Sock yarn in the Jeans colorway. The pattern can be found in Knitty’s fall 2002 issue.
Bay. All I can say is, “ahhhh…” I cast on for this project last weekend. I’m about halfway through the front. The pattern itself is kind of clunky. You have to knit the blue stripes with size 7 needles and the white parts with size 5 needles, and with the white you hold two strands together. However, the yarn is absolute heaven to work with. I can’t wait to wear this when it’s done. It’s going to be slightly sheer, so I bought some long sleeve t-shirts to wear underneath. Not much else to say about that. Except all of the hype about kidsilk haze is totally deserved. 
The last thing I want to show you is not a WIP, but some new aquisitions to The Stash. I have 14 balls of Noro Kureyon that I’m going to use for Butterfly. This was my present from my inlaws. They gave me some cash for Christmas, enough to buy yarn for Butterfly, which I have been lusting after for a long time. I got the yarn at my LYS, Holy Threads. I also got some Knitpicks Andean Treasure in both green and purple. They will be used for the Ridged Helmet hats for both me and my hubby. I also got some Knitpicks Essential and Simple Stripesfor some socks in Knitting Vintage Socks.
