Second go around

I knit a lot when I'm stressed out, and looking through this blog I must be really stressed. Notice something in the picture? It's another FO! I got it done so fast that I didn't even get to list it before. That's the old Spiderweb Capelet from S'nB Nation, I'll spare you the details because this is the second one I knit up. I started it and finished it up today, all that's left to do is block it and lace some ribbon through it.

I'm not so sure what I'm stressed about. Maybe it's how quickly summer passed by and knowing that winter is just around the corner. Have I told you that I'm not much of a winter person? I really like fall, but there's something so sad about the leaves giving way to snow that I just can't get over. Fall always seems so fleeting, especially as the seasons get shorter according to some stores (I shouldn't be able to find plastic bats in August!). Winter brings snow and ice I refuse to drive in and x-mas which gets me down year after year. I love making and buying gifts for others, but there's something so anticlimatic about the actual day each year. Can I just skip it for this once?

Perhaps, if I knit up some arm-warmers then they will make fall last just a bit longer. I'll call them "hurry up fall armwarmers" (yep, I'm soo original) and use some lovely Diakeito Diamusee to cheer myself up. No Noro Kureyon for me thank you very much, it's just too scratchy. I think I'll also knit up a second sock in some bright caribbean blues in order to not look like a fool with one sock anymore. I'll also do some fall cleaning instead of the much hyped spring cleaning. Why clean up when everyone else is?

mini-klee

Wow, you get two posts and one and a half FO’s in one day! Aren’t you lucky, are you sick of me yet? Actually, I have two reasons for this post. One is the lovely scarf you see and the other is that I’m trying out this “blogger for word” app I downloaded a few days ago. So far I don’t get what the advantage is other than you don’t have to go online and I guess you get to use a real spell checker. I don't get how you add a picture to your post though.

A quick project run down:
Pattern: “klee scarf” 4x4 rib
Needles: US 6 (4mm) straights
Yarn: “Estelle” by A.L. de Sauveterre in Coco (1 skein)
Date Started: dont remember
Date Finished: 8.29.05

Love the color, love the yarn, I would run to get some more before the prices go up (cashmere prices are going up later this year). I think this yarn would make a gorgeous Clapotis, not the cheapest option but certainly luxurious (and isn’t that what knitting is all about?).

Oh, there will be some more of my stash on sale by tonight. If you are interested in some Colinnette Point 5, then guess what’s on sale. Sorry if this post seems rushed, but the boy got home and is hurrying me to get to the gym!

Half way to the caribbean

I so wanted to blog about this on Saturday, but all of a sudden I had an unexpected (but very welcomed) house guest for the weekend. I had to run around and buy ingredients for dinner, clean up the apartment, and then actually make dinner. I guess I could have taken a quick pic, but I've found that non-knitters and non-bloggers don't really understand the random photographing of a sock. Well, here she is, the requisite one sock picture every newbie sock knitter posts.

Cute, no? Ignore the super skinny foot please! Somethings I've figured out thus far, I don't like the cable cast on method, it's just too loose for me. I'll have to use another method for the second sock. I was thinking of using smaller needles, but I can't seem to find US 1 Clovers. I know they are out there, it's just that my freaking A.C. Moore likes to skip certain sizes (I like to use my 40% off coupons on needles). I also figured out that I was saying the exact thing I was being told about short rows, but in a totally different ways. I think short rows are one of those things you need the other person there for. That said I found what my mistake was, at least what I think it was; I don't think I was doing the skp decrease on the knit side....oops.

Now I have a couple of questions. Where do you measure to when figuring out how long to make the sock? When you are decreasing for the toes and you are going to graft do you move around your stitches/needles to get the start of the around away from the middle?

Something totally unrelated, do you guys have any suggestions for vacation spots? The bf and I want to go away for a few days in October, but just can't decide where. I suggested San Francisco since I've never been out west and I think it would be fun to go there and maybe Napa Valley, but the boy isn't too sure if he wants to fly. The other suggestion I made was Providence, RI, another town I've never been to though I have no clue what we would do there. So, are there any cool towns that are big enough to explore for a few days, have good food, and aren't in Pennsylvania or New Jersey you could suggest? Or out of the two I suggested, which one would you vote for?

I know of a trip I'll be making in the next two weeks, thankfully the boy finds Alpacas really cute. Who knew I would find a farm I could buy yarn from less than an hour away?!

I feel like Bubsy

What or who is Bubsy you ask? Back in the old days, the eighties, there used to be a game where it was up to you, Bubsy, to stop aliens (the Woolies) stealing all the world's supply of wool. “Balls” actually. Yep, that's right, they are stealing balls of wool! Who knew when I was a wee child that I would grow up still thinking I had to "save" the world's supply of wool, or any fiber really? I look at my stash and wonder how I ended up with so much. It's time to clean it up and at least get rid of the random skeins in there. No, I'm not throwing anything away, rather I'm going to knit up a bunch of stash busting projects before I start any fall knitting. Anything I can't or don't want to knit with will be put up for sale. So, if you would like to help protect the world's yarn supply, then you can check it out and email me or comment if you are interested. Right now I only have two different yarns up, but I'll also be selling some Colinette Point 5 soon enough. I'm not looking to get rich or anything, I'm no yarn store, though I play one on my blog. I accept Paypal (even credit cards with it) or checks.
update: the yarn has been rescued!

My latest rescue: two skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Candy Girl (my kind of girl!). I'll be casting on for the lovely River Stole sometime next week (remember what I said above, tiny projects first...geesh you are forgetful). I'll be using my lovely Clover Ivory needles, which are very much like Bryspuns I think. I love "candy girl", but now I wish I had chosen one of the new versions of KSH. I finally got to see them today at my LYS (fresh out of the box) and I have to say that kidsilk night is extremely lovely. It sparkles. SPARKLES!! So much yarn to rescue!

Whipped it up

Date started: 5.14.05
Date finished: 8.24.05
Pattern: Biased Tank by Teva Durham for knit.1
Yarn: Microspun in Fuschia and Silver Grey
Needles: US 4 Crystal Palace and US 6 Susan Bates

Can you believe that I finished this? Was it a hard knit? Nope. Is it so huge that it takes forever to knit up? Not really. Then why three months on a tank?! Oh please, let me explain already. Though this is quite the easy knit, I still managed to have some trials and tribulations with it. There's the super-splitty yarn, the one side that I had to rip and reknit, the 20 stips that I had to randomly attach, the pattern with no instructions, the agonizing over to sew or not, and my total ADD with this project (really, how many things have I finished since I started this?)

I finally figured out why my gauge was so off that I had to rip, want to know why? Well, Ms. Bates defines a US 6 as 4mm, but the wacky kids over at Clover decided to tack on an extra .25mm to that (they are crazy I tell you). I promise I didn't notice this difference till last week, when I couldn't find the original needles I knitted the front with (they were on the floor, next to my desk the whole time). Can I tell you that I hate the whole US sizes thing, I'm moving to millemeters!

Alright, let's talk about this pattern. There was no real need to mod this other than for sizing, I added a row to each stripe to add an inch to the bust. I used my trusty Singer to sew up the sides and a quick and dirty whip stitch to attach all those straps. Word of warning, don't try this on before you attach all those straps. Or at least don't judge the way it looks, I really thought this was going to be the dowdiest thing on me and that it should have gone the way of a pillow. But as you attach all the straps you gather bits here and there and it finally takes some sort of shape (there's absolutely no shaping in this tank). It is a pretty heavy top when you just pick it up by the straps, but once it's on it's not that bad. I just have to figure out why right strap is a lot floppier than the left. Other than that, I guess it's kinda cute.

Do I suck at socks?

Ok, you sock masters, I need your help. I'm humming along liking this sock knitting business (there I admit it, I kinda like it!) and I start turning the heel, but then I made a mistake...I started to think! Now, I believe I'm doing something wrong, but am I? This is where you come in my dears...

First, isn't it cute?! I think it's adorable, but anywho. You see that bunched up thing in the middle? That's apparrently a heel, so they say. Here you see me about to turn the work to the wrong side and wrap that stitch on the left on the middle needle. This is what the pattern states:

·»For Large size only, change to 3mm needles. Using Main Colour, knit first 30 stitches. Slide remaining stitches onto a holder. Starting with a purl row, work 21 rows of stocking stitch, slipping the first stitch of every row. Right side is facing for next row.

· »RS: Knit 20 stitches, SKP, turn
· »WS: Slip 1, purl 10 stitches, p2tog, turn
· »RS: Slip 1, knit 10 stitches, SKP, turn
· »Repeat last two rows until all stitches have been worked. Ensure right side is facing for next row.

I've been doing this for a few rows now, but it's this "all stitches have been worked" business that is worrying me. The short rows are only worked on the stitches that are on the middle and right needles, so what happens to the lonely needle that is on the left right now? When do I work those? Do I start short rows with those stitches and those in the middle? I need help I tell ya!

Any thing I'm worried about (and sorry for the bad pic here), but what happens to all those stitches on the holder? When do I start working those? Are these the "instep"?

This is just a gratuitous shot of another project I'm working on, the skinny scarf that for some reason I don't want to finish. The colors are just too pretty and the yarn too soft to stop!

edit: this is where I stalled before I went to the gym:

Do I just knit across (and working all stitches) or did I mess up in my short rows and have to rip back?

Why can't I sleep?

This is just a quick post because I want to sleep, but for some reason I can't. So here I am at almost three thirty in the morning, watching kids in the hall, trying to knit a sock, reading blogs (why does bloglines not pick up any feeds?), and ignoring the bias tank (it's sooo almost done, it just needs one more strap, I promise). umm yep, I'm trying to knit a sock. I see so many other knitters doing them, that I think I finally got sock envy. So far I ripped them once because I had ladders all over the place, this second go is a bit better though I can't get the handle of holding all those needles (what are you supposed to do with them?) and making sure things don't twist (since I have no clue how to hold five needles). I'll post a pic later in the day on how my progress goes. I told myself that if I stick with it and find that I like it, then I'll buy myself some official sock yarn. Right now I'm using some beautiful yarn that my Secret Pal sent me (yes, I'm very lucky).

And since I'm up, when I should be in my nice, warm bed, I decided to make a button (why not?!).

I know you have all been dying for an official knit fix button and now you can download it to fill your hearts desires. Now you can't say I never gave you anything!

The Singer Express

After ignoring the biased tank all weekend (I didn't want to deal with it and I was just too sick to even think about it) and being disappointed that the knitting fairies didn't stop by this morning, I finally offered this to the sewing gods. It took all of five minutes to seam both sides (why didn't I just do this last week?). Warning: If you follow the way the pattern is written, then you won't have an opening to fit through! Let me walk you through this...

Here are the two pieces post seaming with the front facing us. Do you like how the stripes are biased and actually match? The corner, that for some reason I cut off, is the lower left (this is important!). First, let me just say that this pattern does not tell you how to finish this top, other than saying to follow the picture to seam it and attach all million pieces to it. Considering that knit.1 is "supposed" to be for beginners, I found this kind of perplexing. Really, no stitch names? Nothing? Alrighty then.

"Using photo as guide, align the front and back pieces along the inc'd edges to form the side seams. Four stripes for each side for the side seams. Sew the side seams." In the picture above, the increased edges are the very bottom and the right side (next to the remote). Now, if you sewed four stripes on the bottom and the right, where would your waist go? You would be essentially closing this off and making a pillow! I did not spend all this time knitting for a pillow. Luckily I had pinned both sides together, which helped me notice this mistake before the needle did any damage. So what are you suppossed to do?

Pin from the lower left corner up four stripes, this will become your left seam. Now, on the other side pin four stripes as well, but on the opposite end. Say what? Yep, use your decreased edge as your seam, but not from the opposite corner. Notice how the top right corner (left in the picture) is flipped down (i.e. not seamed). Disregard those first two stripes, rather start counting your four stripes after those two. You'll be happy you did this, because you'll actually be able to put it on! You may have to sew some more, but since I haven't attached all the strips yet I'm not completely sure about this.

Who would have thought you needed an opening to actually make it a tank top?

Tank and stash progress

Being sick makes you do crazy things like, oh I don't know, finish knitting the bias tank. I really had to fight the urge to start something new, this was especially hard when weaving all the yarn ends. Now all that is left to do is attach all hundred pieces together and voila a tank top is born. Easy right?! Well, maybe it's my delirious state, but I can't find the ladder to seam the two sides with a mattress stitch. It's there somewhere, but being that it's the increase side and knit on a bias the freaking thing is hiding. So I'm thinking of just whipping out the old sewing machine and doing the two side seams quickly and painlessly (who am I kidding here?). What's stopping me? The fear that my knitting will break or that the splitty microspun will get stuck in the needle. Are there any objections out there to this insane idea? If anything happens, it will frustrate me more than sadden me.

In other news, I joined the River Stole KAL a couple of days ago after buying Rowan 38 (which I'm really enjoying by the way). Oh, did I forget to mention that I bought two skeins of Kidsilk Haze in Candy Girl? oops! So, um, yeah I'm just here waiting for the yarn. The start date is September first, so I have time to finish this and maybe another project on my list and hell why not start some more. Everyone knows how well I can handle multiple projects at the same time, right? (uncomfortable silence....)

I'm slowly adding stash pics on my stash site (you didn't think that was my whole stash did you?) and I'm noticing there are some things I probably won't be using. I'll post here and on the stash site (how sad is it that my stash has it's own blog?) what needs to go once I decide. Let me know if you are interested in anything through comments or email (same thing really).

That's all that has really been going on here in the last couple of days. Yesterday I was really sick and took a nap at 4 in the afternoon till the boy came home. I got dinner (soup and a grilled cheese sandwhich) out of that. The weird part was that I woke up wanting to knit socks. Now, I've never knit socks and I don't just have dpns laying around here, but I think I have the yarn I want to use (the claudia hanpainted my lovely sp sent me). I'm thinking of knitting up ankle socks but where do I get 2.5mm and 3mm needles? I have two 3.25 circs I could use though that doesnt help. Any ideas here?

The Post Man Rings Twice

What did my lovely letter carrier bring today while I'm up here suffering? Here's a clue: it's from Germany and it goes by one name. No, not dieter but rather Rebecca #30. Funny how a German magazine that was just published arrived here faster than an American magazine published last month. Moving on though, I'll post pics from the mag later, but I'll tell you now there are some huge misses. A lot of furry,bulky jackets and sweaters that I wouldn't knit. These are balanced out though by a few hits that I want to cast on for. I'll update this post with a full review,but for now you can go to their site to check it out and to download the web-exclusive patterns from this issue.

ok I'm back. I tried to find pics on the web of the patterns I like and loathe, but apparently no one has them up yet (and the Rebecca ones are very small). So I took it upon myself to take the pics. First one of my faves:

I really like this cap sleeve vest/sweater. It has an orangina vibe to it so I'm sure that's what's drawing me in. I also love the color and the little sleeves. This will most likely be the first thing I knit from this issue. Notice the color? Does it remind you of anything a certain someone knitted up not too long ago?

Ignore the girl on the left, I'm interested on the hard to see, black sweater on the right. For some reason they don't have a good view of this one, but it has peplums and it's knit with cashmere (just trust me on this). I don't get why it's part of a pirate theme, but I'm not German so I don't ask.

Isn't this a cute, delicate sweater? It would most likely look horrible on me, but I like the ribbing and shaping. It's not your boring, square sweater.

I'm still not sure about these two. I think I like their shapes, but the colors and those huge ass necklaces are kinda bothering me (and you can knit a ball-necklace for yourself as well!). So this is the, it's cute but I won't knit picture.

Ok, ready for the misses? I won't post them all so that you can get the pleasure of finding them yourselves, but I picked some gems.

hey look at me!! I'm this wide!!

I'm one with nature in my bulky dress.

No, I'm not pregnant. Why do you ask?

say what?

insert bear or bat joke here

Still on the fritz

I woke up hoping that I would feel better today, but it's the exact opposite. My throat feels tighter, I feel like that annoying kid from the medicine commercial..."it hurts when I swallow". The Chicken Pho I made last night was a big hit and we both felt better after eating it. For five minutes at least. We have a lot of left overs so tonight shall be another Pho night.

I haven't done any knitting today since I still had a few errands to run this morning. I snuck in a trip to the lys to get a rowan mag, but of course as soon as I decide I want to knit something from #37 the run out. I'll have to wait till the weekend to go to check another store. I was feeling all good leaving Woolplay without yarn and driving around thinking how I like driving a certain road when I almost met my maker! Some guy was driving on the wrong side of the road and wasn't slowing down. Mind you this is a one-lane each way road, so I have no idea what he was thinking. Thankfully he switched over to his lane quick enough, though I think it could have been a little faster. So not only was I feeling sick, but now I was scared shitless by the time I got to the store and parked. My friend felt so bad for me that I got to rummage through her stash! You have to love friends and pity. I got a couple more skeins of some yarn I already had so I can get started on a project and she gave me a skein of Rowan Polar, she knew I wanted to knit a hat with it (for some reason no one around here has really discounted it even though Rowan discountinued it).

Thanks for everyone who emailed me and commented, I should be feeling better soon I hope. I feel like I owe you some knitting content though, so here ya go:

Sylvie gave me persmission to post a pic of her purse pattern that I knit up last week. Do you like the plums in the pic? Get it?! Get it!? yeah, I'm lame.

Yarn: Cashmerino Aran less than 1 skein in grey and some leftover Nature Wool

Needles: US 8

Date Started: 8.11.05

Date Finished: 8.12.05

Pattern: The Isabeau Purse by Sylvie aka Chez Plum

This was a great pattern that I got to edit and try out before it went live. I used it as a mini stashbuster because I didn't have enough cashmerino for the whole purse, so I went through my leftover box and used some of the red Nature Wool from the Mini-Sweater. I have to say that I love the combination and that this purse now matches my shrug. Sylvie should be making this pattern available soon so I'll post some of the mods I made (yep, I modded it even while editing it, I'm like that!). The most obvious is the use of two different yarns, but I also used my sewing machine to sew the sides to the main body. (sneaky! sneaky!) I used mattress stitch to join the two sides of the handle together instead of a crochet hook (I just say no to hooks) oh and backstitch to join the one part of the handle to the body of the purse. This will all make sense once the pattern is live.

Ok, Im going to go knit and do laundry (how did I get stuck doing that?!).

Chatty Cathy

I'm usually a very quiet person, especially when I don't know many people. As I get to know someone I start talking more and more. In elementary school I was the kid that had their desk moved around the classroom so I would stop talking (this wouldn't start till half-way through the school year). This really wouldn't work though, since we always found a way to talk or eventually I got moved around so much that I ended up where I started from. When I started high school I hardly spoke, I didn't know anyone while everyone else had gone to elementary and middle school together. I spoke so softly that one guy got really annoyed annoyed with me in class while we were working in groups. I, and most people actually, never spoke to him again (trust me, it wasn't a loss). By eleventh grade though our AP Language teacher started calling us "Chatty Cathys", I got so annoyed at this that I went back to not talking. Yeah, that didn't last long. I retreated back in college; I made a friend here and there in classes, but once the semester was over I didn't see them again unless we saw eachother somewhere randomly on campus or we had another class together.

Why am I bringing this up? Ever since college, I didn't understand how you were supposed to make friends. There are work acquaintances, but that can be a little awkward if you ask me. Do you really want to hang out with people you are forced to be with during the day? Sometimes there is the diamond in the rough friend you do find at work, but they are rare to say the least. Somehow I've found myself finding friends online through knitting blogs or at knitting events. I love reading about what you guys have been up to, what you are knitting, and where you have been. I haven't been blogging as much for the last week or so not because I'm retreating, but because sickness plagues la casa de knit fix. Tom fell first with congestion and laryngitis. I was fighting it off until this weekend, when I started to get that scratchy feeling in my throat. Now I had whatever nastiness he has (who gets sick in the summer?!). Times have gotten so desperate that I'm making chicken soup from scratch, from scratch people! And not just regular chicken soup, but Chicken Pho. Even when I'm sick I am a foody at heart. I'll report how it comes out later.


There has been some knitting and some thinking about knitting going on. I'm trying to come up with a pattern for a small jacket/shrug that I saw at a store. I'm sure there's a pattern out there I could find if I searched for it. But I wanted to set a little challenge for myself and actually do it myself. I think I'm going to use some Rowan Ribbon Twist that is currently living as a wrap (it doesn't know yet that it's going to a trip to the pond). I just need to get the right length needles to get this project started. It's going to be nice and quick on 17's (or 19's), but right now I only have a 16" circ, when I think I need at least a 24" or 32". Do I spend the money or do I just squeeze the stitches on the 16"?

F.O Queen? Hardly! You guys are nuts!! I've just been trying to clear out the queue so I can get started on new projects. I want to finish so bad that I actually picked up the bias tank again, with the right needles this time. I'm ripping it out while I reknit, is that recycling or what? Right now I'm in the black hole that is the fifth stripe (stripes 5-8 are the slowest ones), but this should be done soon until I get to the hellish seaming. What else do we see here? Some Cascade that my lovely SP sent me, it's a felted bag kit that I can't wait to knit up. Next to that is a little purse I test knitted last week (I hope to be able to show you soon) that just needs a liner dropped in. There's also some Optimum DK that was frogged, I tried to make an aviator cap with it but this yarn is too drapey for it and the colors started to pool in weird places. Any suggestions on what I could use this yarn for? I have a little over 200 yds of it.

Oh! Did I mention that I finally received my Fall IK? Right after I cancelled my subscription no less. I was underwhelmed by it, so no losses there. I'm just waiting for the new Rebecca to get delivered and I'll probably head out sometime this week to get the Rowan and the summer one. I see myself cheating on my yarn diet soon, just warning you (and explaining why I'm trying to hurry in my knitting).

Patco Loop

Pattern: Paris Loop
Yarn: Gedifra Cicco in black (4 skeins)
Needles: US 17 16", US 13 16", US 9 24" Addis
Date Started: 7.18.05
Date Finished: 8.10.05

First off, let me apologize for the crappy picture. It's too dark and pixelated. I'll try to remedy that tomorrow while the sun is out.

This was a pretty straightforward knit, done while watching tv or riding the patco train to center city. There's not much to say here, other than I can't believe I knitted a poncho. Who knew I would really like it? Well, I do. There I admit it! The yarn is nice and soft and very stretchy. The piece is very light, so it's not one of those heavy, get-in-your-way ponchos. I'm happy, you should be too. : )

Tulle Bag

Pattern: Tulle bag (my own)
Yarn: Tulle from School Products
Needles: US 13 Clovers
Date Started: 6.20.05
Date Finished: 8.08.05

The sewing machine made a guest appearance today to help me finally take this bag off my UFO list. All I needed to do was sew up the sides and drop the lining in, why did it take so long? umm, I tend to be lazy and procrastinate, but I also wasn't sure how the machine was going to like the tulle. It was slow going to say the least, the foot kept wanting to get stuck in all the loops from the garter stitch. yikes! But I managed and it's finally done!

A pretty easy peasy project, just knit up a big rectangle and then whip out a machine and sew it up. I don't have the book this was inspired from, so I have no clue how she (erica knight) suggests to finish this. I didn't want to sew it too tight because the tulle stretches to say the least. I think I set it to 15 stitches at a middle tension. I cut the lining a little smaller so that it wouldn't exactly hit the bottom of the bag (that whole stretching thing) and only topstitched it to the tulle. I was done so fast that I decided to knit up a little tulle flower and glued some pink sequins to it. I still need to find pin for the flower so that it doesn't droop, right now it's just tied to the wired ribbon. I'm pretty happy with it and I can't wait to use it as a knitting bag.

Fini

Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool, 2 skeins

Pattern: Camisole Tube

Needles: US 5 and 9 Addis

Date Started: 8.01.05

Date Finished:8.04.05

I really thought I was going to finish this yesterday, but I didn't realize I had entered the blackhole of ribbing. Round after round I measured with no progress in site. It doesn't help that I have ADD when it comes to ribbing for a long stretch of time (sometimes even an inch is a long time). Oh, let me apologize right now for the crappy picture, I haven't made the straps yet and we had some weird code red ozone advisory thing mixed with a sudden storm in the afternoon. I wanted to take a pic outside, but it was so nasty! I'm sure you can understand. I'll try to get a pic of me wearing it tomorrow, straps and all.

What can I say about this pattern? It keeps you interested the whole time and it's in that perfect place, where it isn't too fast or too slow (though, I'm sure a lot of you could have knitted it faster than yours truly!). Looking back on it though, I wish I had lenghtened the body a bit before I went into the bottom ribbing. I don't think I have the body for a tube yet. There's my short torso combined with the boobs and the not so flat stomach, a few inches added to the stockinette section would have really helped me. I'll make sure to do that on the next one I make. I just have to decide what yarn to use next. I do love my Nature Wool, I believe that's been well documented, but I want something cooler for this heat. Blue Sky Cotton is calling my name, though I'm not sure if I want to go the cotton route.

If any of you decide to get this pattern when it's available, feel free to ask my any questions. Hell, if you have questions now I'll make sure to add the answers to this post. Just leave some comments and I'll get to them.

ps: I don't know why blogger is being so buggy tonight

edit 8.7.05: Sorry for the delay, but there was a new version of the pattern after I finished my tube. Still deciding if I should rip or start a new one. The all fixed up pattern is available for sale today. Hope you all like it!

Testing the waters

Just wanted to show what I've been up to since I didn't post my bi-weekly UFO report. Sorry the pic is so contrasty, but the sun kept coming and going. Anywho, the lovely knit you see above is the camisole tube from glampyre.com. It's been a fun knit, with some yo's, bobbles, and short rows thrown in there. The suggested yarn is Lana Grossa Basics Stop, which sounds like Lion Brand Micro Spun. I'm sure by now my lovely readers know my feelings towards this yarn, but if you don't then let's just say they are not very loving. The gauge for this pattern is 4 stitches to the inch on US 7's, so really a worsted yarn could work. I'm using Araucania Nature Wool in, what I call, grape. Want to know some other yarns you could sub with? Sure I'll tell you some that come to mind, Classic Elite Bamboo (though this could get pricey), Blue Sky Cotton, SWTC Phoenix and probably Karaoke. I'm almost done with the stockinette section and then I have to start ribbing again, so I should have a FO pic in the next day or so...stay tuned!

With a little help from my friends

My yarn stash grows!

It was a short lived victory indeed. I received all my swap yarn today, it was almost (almost!) overwhelming to get it all at once. I wonder what my mailman thought. I'll just show you all the goodies I got:


First, I lied, I didn't get this package today. I actually got it last week from Diana. Isn't it pretty? It's tweedy silk and I think I know what I'm going to make with it, but Ill never tell (well till I actually get to it!). Lucky for me she was destashing and knew of my fondness for all things red. I'll definately hit you back.


This package I did get today from Illanna. It's the second issue of R2 along with some yarn she hand dyed for me and a skein of Kureyon she snuck in there to trick me (I'll get you back for that!) Is she not the dyeing diva?

And look at this one! Sylvie and I had a little transcontinental swap (I use the word little loosely here), and somehow our respective mailman must've rushed it for us. I still can't believe I got this so fast. Look at all I got too! A bunch of wool, mohair, and alpaca along with the fall issue of Phildar (which I'm drooling over btw) and a cute little button I'm going to use for a little purse I'm knitting.

I swear I have to be one of the luckiest girls, to get home from errands and find these packages at my door!

My mini is complete

Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool (2 skeins) and Habu Bamboo
Needles: US 9 24", US 8 24", Us 8 16" all Addis
Pattern: Boobholder by Stefanie Japel
Date Started: 7.9.05
Date Finished: 7.31.05

Don't let the dates fool you, I didn't knit that whole time. I think there was a one or two week period that I didn't touch this project, I was either working on a test knit, healing my wounded hand, or just plain tired. I picked it up again this Friday after dinner and was surprised by how far I was into it, actually I went a little far. I knitted the 21 or 22 rounds Stefanie suggested for the body, but that was just too much for me. I had also done the yarn overs from the busty gal mods, but they were just too much and made the sweater pucker. I think because I added a few rounds to get the sleeves to meet, that I inadvertently got the length I needed without knowing it. So I ripped back and got rid of most of the yo rounds, when I found I still had to shorten it. I think I did somewhere between 12 and 15 rounds for the body before the garter ridge. I should have ripped more to get rid of all the yo's I did, I really didn't need any of them. To make the sweater a little tighter I switched to US 8's for the ridge.

Somehow the sleeves were now too big, actually they were huge! I can't believe that my arms got that much smaller from the gym in such a short time. The increase rounds probably had something to do with this (remember I kept my sleeves puffy) so I modded the sleeves to fit. I picked up the sleeves with US 8's and knit in the round. I started decreasing on round 4 and switched to garter stitch on round 9, basically halving the sleeves to keep them nice and tight.

I'll be sewing a button later today, but for now I used a vintage pin I had. I'll have to block the sweater first though to get it to lay flat and maybe tightening it up a little more.

The yarn was great to work with. I love the subtle color variations the Nature Wool has and it's not too scratchy at all. The bamboo helps to soften it up a bit and the color brightens it up. I probably won't be knitting with lace yarn for a while, it got really annoying to keep it from tangling. The only way I would do it is if the two yarns were wound together. I'll definitely knit one of these again, maybe with blue sky cotton and without the puffy sleeves. I'm already using Nature Wool in another project (which I'll show you later) so you know I highly recommend this yarn. The yardage is great, the colors are beautiful, and it's a really nice wool. One of the best things about it is that you can now find it at A.C. Moore making it easily accessible.

Just another little note, didn't I make the yarn look like this one? I need to get a job with a yarn co!

Late Sunday Countdown

Yet another boring post for the rest of you, but don't fret I have a good one coming up in the morning. But for now bare with me. Every other Sunday is when I check how much my stash has whittled by.

Let's start with the swaps (though these victories will be short lived once I have to count the yarn I get):
3 skeins of ggh angora
3 skeins mission falls 1824 cotton
3 skeins ggh aspen
1800 yds of lace weight bamboo that I handyed

woohoo all gone! ok now what have I actually used you wonder (if you actually stuck around this far):
2 skeins Aurcania Nature Wool
4 skeins Cashmerino Aran
1 skein of Tulle
1 skein of Gedifra Cicco
about 1000 yds of laceweight bamboo

I would count the handspun yarn and the mohair I attempted to use for that "scarf" I tried to finish, but since it's not officially done it will just have to wait.

I think I'm doing pretty good in this yarn diet, I already feel the Malabrigo that I'm going to buy at Loop to celebrate (is it bad I'm planning on celebrating with yarn?). Yep, I'm finally at wool!