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| Just in the nick of time! |
| Monday, April 30, 2007 |
So I got my sock pal info today and while thinking about what yarn to use I remembered that the wee tiny start up Neighborhood Fiber Company had the most perfect colorway (named "Brookland") - I ordered it just in time, too. To prep for festivals, they're (actually, I think it's just "She's...") closing down orders for a month, starting this Friday (but yay for being popular).
Now, to find the right pattern! |
posted by Amber @ 9:41 PM  |
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| Interweave preview! |
| Sunday, April 29, 2007 |
Summer 07 Interweave preview and yardage requirements are online!
http://www.interweaveknits.com/preview/2007_summer.asp
I think I'm loving the boot socks and the hats are the only things I'm really excited about from the preview, but maybe something else will be cooler in the big pictures... |
| posted by Amber @ 3:29 PM |
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| almostivoli |
| Saturday, April 28, 2007 |
I went on something of an interstate yarn hunt this morning. With a mere 15 rows left on my Picovoli sleeves, I ran out of yarn. So I called Stitch DC. Apparently I cleaned them out of cream color Cathay last year. [Back in the day when all this Cathay was going to be Spring Fling]). So I called Knit Happens. And bless the yarn gods, they had it! So off I went.
I almost never go to KH because I get lost and I can't parallel park. So I park in garages. But, bless the parking gods, there was an unmetered space right at the end of a block that I could just pull into!
So I went, I had a celebratory sandwich at Cosi [in honor of finding yarn and a parking space. The sandwich was very bad, by "Could I have a tiny bit more honey mustard" I did not actually mean "Could you put a big glob of honey mustard right in the middle, and not spread it out on the bread at all"], I got my ball (same dye lot!), I knit my 15 rows, and I bound off and I skipped back to my car.
I outsourced the sewing down of the picot hem to my mom (in exchange for a nice steak), and it still really, really needs a wash and block, in the worst way. I'm also considering dying it. Now that I have a whole extra ball to make swatches with, I'll have to read up on what (if anything) will dye Cotton/Silk/Microfiber. Let there be something, cream does not match my skin very well.
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| posted by Amber @ 3:30 PM |
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| Can there be too many Ribbi Cardis? |
| Monday, April 23, 2007 |
I spent most of the weekend knitting (Picovoli - it's divided into such great chunks. You can sit there and think "Well, I'll just finish the yoke. It's only 33 rows! Okay, I'll do the bust too, that's only 40 rows. Well, why not finish the waist decreases since I'm at it – only 27 rows. And then how can I not do the straight part of the waist? That's just 13 rows. Heck, why not do the hip increases – only 18 rows." My elbow cramped before I finished the last 10 rows and picot hem. So the body will probably be done tonight. Other scary things - the amount of cleaning I got done this weekend. Was there a time warp or soemthing?) But when I wasn't knitting, there was some stash assessment (I'm considering thinning the herd before MDS&W). I've been wondering for a while what to do with...
Cotton Ease. Original recipe.
I have two balls of purple – the oldest yarn in my stash! (Well, oldest yarn I bought. Inherited yarn from grandma doesn't count). And four (five?) balls in black. While browsing the internet this late last week, I saw a Ribbi Cardi done with 6 balls of Cotton Ease. I love my Shelridge Ribbi to death, so would a second one be so bad? (This was going to be a Tricot until I noticed the Tricot gauge - 4 st/inch! I can't get 4 st/inch with Cotton Ease!)
What about a third one?
I have four more balls of blue (I admit it, I bought out a Ben Franklin Crafts Cotton Ease stock one day) left over from my Sitcom Chic. Blue body + white sleeves (or white and light blue stripes). My mom likes my Ribbi, and she liked the color of my Sitcom Chic. (And she is making me a quilt, and has unwittingly agreed to making me a couple of skirts... I'm phasing her into handknits, as long as she promises to wear them. So far she has a sweater, a hat, and a crocheted scarf.)
I wonder if I'd be all Ribbied out by the time I got around to #3. That's a lot of Ribbi. I wouldn't do them in a row, but still. So a question for my readers (I'm up to 9 on bloglines! And I know there are others!)--
How many times have you made the same pattern (which pattern?), and how did that go for you? |
| posted by Amber @ 11:26 AM |
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| Another new start: Picovoli |
| Wednesday, April 18, 2007 |
Last night I was lamenting the fact that I had no yarn for the project I wanted to make right away (I caved in and bought the Simple Knitted Bodice - I tried with the specs I'd written down for my own knockoff version, and that failed, and I was clearly having a dim moment when I last measured my swatch - I wrote down 4.5spi on the tag, and when I remeasured last night, it was 5.5 spi. So woe, no yarn. Guess I'll add that to the list to take to MDS&W). And while lamenting I made a list of sweaters in various states of disarray (Samus, Rogue, Top-Down Lace Sleeve) and things I had swatches for, but had size/gauge issues still (Tricot, Kimono, Lucy in the Sky) and I almost added Picovoli to the latter list, until I found my swatch, measured, and realized, it was just right. No gauge-math needed!
Of course, I fall right in the middle of the sizes (at least for suggested ease of -2"). But you know, I think zero inches of ease will probably be just fine.
Of course, there are no pictures. Take my word for it that the picots look great (I did the provisional cast on, and after the yo-row I did two rows plain, then joined by unzipping my cast-on and putting the stitches on another needle, and then knitting one stitch from each needle together (much as one would do a three needle bind off, but without the bind off part). Terribly awkward to execute, but it looks really good - and with one less step in finishing later. |
| posted by Amber @ 8:55 AM |
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| Finally! |
| Friday, April 13, 2007 |
The cough medicine is wearing off and I'm having clear thoughts again!
It just occured to me that if I make Tricot as a cardigan (I like the half zip, but I'm not a half zip wearer. I'm a cardi wearer.) then I can do the body in one piece with no seams. (Well, no seams except for the sleeves - like I said, I'm off cough syrup and not having crazy thoughts like "I can do intarsia in the round with no problem!")
Yay for no seams.
Also: My Pomatomus is almost done. But it's Sock 1, not 2. (If you want to be technical, it's 2.1. With Sock 1.1, I got through the first repeat, and then stopped decreasing for like 4 rounds. Wasn't a good look. With all the twists and yarn overs, it wasn't good. And they were in Lorna's Laces, which was just too thin for the pattern. Sock 2.1 is koigu, and looks and feels much better.) |
| posted by Amber @ 9:43 AM |
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| Let's pull out the Freud |
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 |
Last night I had a dream that I dropped Samus off at the the tailor for a zipper, and she charged me $700 for it.
Sadly still not a dream: The day I thought it would be easier to do a provisional cast-on and then graft the top of Samus to the saxon braid edge, rather than pick up 160 stitches over 240 rows (I tried twice - I kept picking up 50 stitches over the first 100 rows. Not easier, in case you were wondering. I grafted the first twenty stitches to the edge, and it looks like crap. Now I'm thinking I'll go back, pick up those 160 stitches, knit one row, plus knit one row from my provisional edge, and try grafting those together. Unless someone has a better idea. |
| posted by Amber @ 10:17 AM |
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| Happy Easter! |
| Sunday, April 08, 2007 |
Foreground: Roza's Socks
Background: Nazareth |
| posted by Amber @ 1:55 PM |
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| This has the potential to be very bad... |
| Tuesday, April 03, 2007 |
So, some people having been telling about how great and wonderful is to spin your own yarn. And I've been resisting. First, because I don't really need so much more yarn, and second because the only local place that offers lessons (Springwater Fiber Workshop) has only offered spinning class on nights when I'm off learning about statistics. (Or when I'm on the other side of the world.)
So when they put up the summerish schedule, and the spinning class was on Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday... I couldn't really use reason #2. And although reason #1 is still perfectly valid, the fact that I don't need more yarn has never stopped me from buying it, so it may as well not stop me from learning to make it.
Still, it's a shame that the class isn't being offered before MDS&W. Then I could buy fluff. But if I buy fluff at MDS&W, and then it turns out I don't like spinning, then I'll have a bunch of fluff (and fluff takes up so much more space than yarn!) |
| posted by Amber @ 3:02 PM |
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| FO: The Shawl Collar Jacket |
| Monday, April 02, 2007 |
Pattern: Shawl Collar Jacket by Alexandra Virgiel
Yarn: Kathmandu Aran Tweed (Discontinued), Color 120. (85% merino, 10% silk, 5% cashmere) I think I used 10 and the tiniest bit of ball #11 out of the 14 balls I picked up at Richmond's Lettuce Knit. It isn't particularly "jackety" – much more traditional cardigan. But I used a lighter-than-called-for yarn, and if you used a chunky yarn, it would make a great early fall/spring jacket.
Time to knit: Two weeks! (February 2 – 15). Time spent sitting on the couch: One month. Time at tailor for the zipper: One week.
Mods: I knit the body in one piece (no side seams). After reading this post where Cara said that Nona suggested that sewing the sleeve into a tube before sewing to the body was easier, I tried it that way. Now, I've only done set in sleeves with the body in two (three, for cardi) parts before, so I don't know if the tube-to-tube was easier than flat sleeve-to-tube body, but it wasn't particularly hard, so I'm going to stay with the tube-to-tube camp. I also picked up stitches for the shawl collar part, rather than knitting the shawl collar separately, and then sewing it on.
Other thoughts: This is the greatest sweater ever. It fits like a dream, it's warm and squishy, and pretty much perfect in every way.
This is my 3rd finished sweater this year (but only the 2nd one to get a blog entry). I've also finished my top-down deep v-neck 3/4 length sleeve blue sweater, but it needs to be washed before it gets a blog post. |
| posted by Amber @ 2:00 PM |
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