Success!

Well, sort of.

I managed to knit almost all the presents I planned on for my family — all that’s left is the felting on my mom’s French Press Felted Slippers and to actually knit my dad’s hat. I want him to design the hat with me, though, since he’s pretty picky, so I just wrapped the yarn and later, we’ll go through my Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries and design the hat together.

As everyone opens their gifts tomorrow, I’ll take pictures of the finished projects and post them to Ravelry in keeping with one of my goals for the new year: be more consistent about documenting my hand-knits!

I really loved the hat I knit for my younger brother. I used Fuchsia’s awesome new pattern, First Encounter, which is PERFECT for any situation that calls for a quick knit. I managed to knit up the hat while watching “Under The Greenwood Tree” and most of the first episode of “Wives & Daughters”, and it was quickly claimed by our cat Emma:

I love this pattern and the finished project. I wasn’t really a fan of cables before I knit my dream sweater but First Encounter has solidified my new love for them.

It’s strange to be finished with my knitting and my wrapping so early, but I decided to not stress this year and if it didn’t look like I’d be able to finish, I wasn’t going to worry. Now, I have almost four hours till the late Christmas Eve service at church, and I plan on spending it knitting something totally decadent and totally selfish — Bitterroot, from the newest Knitty!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Dream Sweater.

That’s right. I finally got off my rear and took pictures of my Farmer’s Market Cardigan. I originally wanted to have this finished to wear to Rhinebeck, but I figured out that goal wasn’t realistic and that I didn’t want to rush through and be disappointed in the results. I finished it on November 12th, almost two weeks ago, and I’ve barely taken it off since then.

Guest appearances from my inability to stay serious and my double chin.

Pattern: Connie Chang Chinchio’s Farmer’s Market Cardigan, from the Fall 2009 Interweave Knits.
Yarn: ShiBui Knits Merino Worsted in “Bark”, about 8 skeins, purchased from Eat. Sleep. Knit.
Needles: Size 8 24″ circular from my Knitpicks Options.
Mods: I made the 43.5″ size, which is at least one size too large for me. I wanted a slouchy cardigan for layering, though, and my gauge was a bit tight, so I worked a larger size than needed to compensate. I also only increased up to 46 stitches for the collar, instead of 49.

This really is my dream cardigan. The yarn is heavenly — the color of chocolate, silky and cuddly — and Connie’s pattern is genius. GENIUS, I tell you. I kept squee-ing to my boyfriend about all the little details of shaping and how amazing they were. She made me feel brilliant, just from knitting the pattern.

I finished up a cowl and a pair of Fetching, too — both from one skein of Madtosh Worsted in “Oxblood”, with which I am completely obsessed. I cast on 112 stitches on a size 6 16″ circular needle, worked six rows of garter stitch, then popped in the lace pattern from the Embossed Leaves Socks from the Winter 2005 issue of Interweave Knits for the cowl, and finished up with six more rows of garter stitch. It took me all of a day to knit up the cowl AND the Fetching — but they’re darned hard to photograph.

Most of what I have on the needles currently are projects meant for Christmas presents, so I have to keep those under the radar. I’m selfishly knitting myself another cardigan, high off the success of my Dream Cardigan — I’m working on the Bel Cardigan from the Fall 2009 issue of Knitty. I’m working it up in Madtosh Worsted in “Baltic”, and it is dreamyyyyy. Hopefully I can finish it over the long Thanksgiving weekend!

Cool Kid.

Check it, yo. Even with a day off in the middle of the week, I’m still too tired out to do anything on a Friday night. Tomorrow I’ll be stopping by the Twist Craft Fair for a little Christmas (and selfish) shopping. I’m tempted to blow my entire paycheck on Nervous System’s gorgeous jewelry designs, but a girl needs food — and yarn — money. I’m madly in love with their Branch Earrings. Someday!

After that, it’s paper-planning, Christmas knitting, and seeing 2012 with my roommate and some friends from work. It looks like it’s going to be a terrible movie, but if they pull the “animal in distress” card, I’ll be weeping into my popcorn.

I need to get moving and take pictures of some of my FOs — I’ve finished a cowl, Fetchings and a sweater (the Farmer’s Market Cardigan, to be precise!) and they’re all languishing, unrecorded. I’m actually wearing my cardigan now and have been since the moment I finished weaving in the ends. Connie Chang Chinchio is a GENIUS! I kept squee-ing over aspects of the design to anyone who would listen. She’s the sort of designer who makes you feel smart just by knitting her patterns.

Back to working on my newest pair of Monkey socks! I think this is my sixth pair and I’m still not sick of this pattern. I may even have a completed sock by tomorrow night — I plan on procrastinating very hard on these three papers and that will be very good for my knitting.

Sock-in-progress, Ishbel, and the almost-unseen Farmer’s Market Cardigan. Bonus peek at my Harry-Potter-reading boyfriend!

There and Gone Again.

My boss has been alerting me every time the sun comes out. Sad, isn’t it, that we have to celebrate when we see the sun?

I took advantage of a sunny afternoon to take a few FO pictures.

First up:

Pattern: Burnished Leaves Cowl by Chrissy Prange.
Yarn: Alchemy Synchronicity in Foxglove, purchased from Purl.
Needles: Size 6 circular.
Mods: None!
Ravelry Page

I love this pattern. LOVE IT. I managed to knit this up in two cold afternoons and I wore it through most of the spring, even if it didn’t match my outfit. All of the pictures of me wearing the cowl are sad demonstrations of my second and third chins, so any shots of me modeling my FO will have to wait.

The yarn, Alchemy Synchronicity, is heavenly. It’s a wool/silk blend, a perfect mesh of the warmth of wool and the sheen and drape of silk. I’m not used to knitting with yarn that has any silk content, so it was a little hard on my hands. The result was well-worth any discomfort (I’m also just a baby when it comes to sore hands, heh).

I also knitted up another pair of Monkey Socks, the most popular sock pattern on Ravelry — 9727 projects! Why am I even bothering to commemorate these?

Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A.
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock Yarn.
Needles: Size 2 DPNs.
Mods: I slightly shortened the heel flap, from 34 rows to 28. A lot of knitters have found that the heel flap is too long for them. I shortened the heel flap on my first pair of Monkeys, too.

I’ve found a new yarn obsession — Malabrigo sock! It’s so smooth and refuses to pill. I’d already worn these socks at least four times before getting around to taking pictures of them, and they look brand new!

Next up: pictures of two Ishbels, an Ishbel beret, stripey socks for my boyfriend, and an Aeolian shawl. This rainy weather is good for knocking out plenty of FOs!

What Summer?

I woke up at 7:30a today to see a somewhat-clear blue sky outside the window. I felt a crash of joy! — and then a sudden drop into despair. The entire western half of the sky was dark grey and full of looming rain clouds. As usual.

We haven’t had much of a summer here in New England. It’s been rain, rain and more rain. It’s been perfect weather to sit inside, read, and knit, but I haven’t been doing much of that. I’m taking a creative writing class three nights a week, and working 40+ hours on top of that. I’m always exhausted but luckily I only have three more classes to go, and then all of my evenings are free! I foresee much more knitting in my future.

I made a goal to read at least 30 books this summer. That’s not a huge goal for me; I read voraciously, all the time, anywhere. The class has absorbed a lot of my reading time, but I’ve decided to cheat and use the books I’ve read for the class towards my total. I’ve read about 18 books so far. I reread the Harry Potter series in preparation for the sixth movie, but since I’ve read them so many times before, I’m not going to count them towards the finished total.

There has been knitting; since February, I’ve finished up a pair of Monkeys, a February Lady Sweater, and an Ishbel. I started and frogged a pair of stripey Koigu socks for my boyfriend (his feet are spoiled), and currently have four rounds of ribbing done on them. I’m ashamed of myself; I haven’t kept up with any of my knitting goals for this year and I’m going to have to hustle my bustle to get them done.

I am pretty proud of that FLS, though.

Toe-Up Pomatomus Pattern.

I know I’m not the first person to make them, but I wanted to share my pattern notes for my Toe-Up Pomatomus socks. I cobbled them together from lots of different sources, and now it’s one of my my go-to sock patterns. Enjoy!

Toe-Up Pomatomus

I began with a provisional cast-on (using the directions found at Knitting at Knoon (http://www.knittingatknoon.com/provisional.html). I started with 36 stitches (half the number needed for the foot of the sock), and using the short-row method, decreased to 12 stitches.

Here’s how I worked the short-row toe (instructions taken from Wendy’s Generic Toe-Up Sock Pattern, found here.

1. Knit 36 stitches. Move the working yarn as if to purl. Slip the last, unworked stitch from the left needle to the right needle. Turn your work.
2. Slip the first, unworked, stitch from the left needle to the right needle. Purl the next stitch (you will have wrapped that first stitch around its base with the working yarn) and purl across to the last stitch. Move the working yarn as if to knit and slip last stitch. Turn.
3. Slip the first stitch and knit across to the last stitch before the unworked stitch. Wrap and turn.
4. Slip the first stitch and purl across to the stitch before the unworked stitch. Wrap and turn.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you’ve decreased to the desired stitch width of your toe – I decreased to 12 stitches. Want a wider toe? Don’t knit as many short rows. A narrower toe’s more your style? Knit a few more!

To finish working the toe and to create the little “pouch” for your toes, follow these steps (also taken from Wendy’s Generic Toe-Up pattern):

1. Knit across the 14 live stitches across to the first unworked, wrapped stitch. To work this stitch, pick up the wrap and knit it together with the stitch. Wrap the next stitch (so that it now has two wraps) and turn.
2. Slip the first (double-wrapped) stitch and purl across to the first unworked, wrapped stitch. Pick up the wrap and purl it together with the stitch. Wrap the next stitch and turn.

Continue working these two rows till you’ve increased back to 36 stitches across.

Now you’ll need to unzip that provisional cast-on and pick up those held 36 stitches. I recommend picking up each stitch individually first, instead of unzipping the entire row – it’s painstaking, but much better than trying to pick up dropped stitches. Make sure both your needles are pointing in the same direction if you’re using Magic Loop.

Next row, knit around the entire row to join the sides together. You’re now ready to begin the pattern!

On the 36 instep stitches, work Rows 1-22 of Chart B twice, then Rows 1-11 once more (knit the 36 sole stitches). I have a size 8.5 US foot, so you can adjust the pattern to fit your foot. The nice thing is that you can try the sock on as you knit – so you can stop at whatever row you’d like. Work till you’re two inches away from your heel. You’ll now work a short-row heel using the 36 sole stitches.

It’s easy to work a short-row heel – just follow the directions for making a short-row toe. Work as many rows as you want, depending on how wide or narrow you want your heel to be.

When you’ve worked all stitches and you have 72 live stitches once more, join for working in the round and continue with wherever you left off on Chart B – for example, if you stopped on Row 11 of Chart B, start with Row 12, working around on all 72 stitches.

If you stopped working on Row 22 of a repeat, begin your ankle stitches with Row 1 of Chart A. You’ll work the pattern repeat 6 times each row.

Work Rows 1-22 of Chart A for the desired number of chart repeats, until the sock ankle is the length you’d like. I knit two full repeats of Chart A for my sock ankle.

Next, work an inch of twisted rib – knit 1 tbl, purl 1, rep till end.

Finish with Russian Bind-Off:

1. Purl the first two stitches together.
2. Loosen the stitch.
3. Move the stitch from your right needle back to your left needle and purl the next two stitches together.
4. Repeat Steps 1-4 to end.

Weave in ends; block lightly if you’d like.

I’ve used Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino for every pair of Pomatomus (Pomatomi? Hm.) that I’ve knit. It’s slightly thicker than your average sock yarn — almost a light fingering weight — but I love the smooth hand and drape when knitting KPPPM with size 2 needles. I use Magic Loop when knitting from the toe-up, but you can easily adapt the pattern to use DPNs or two circs — whatever your preference!

Happy knitting.

Off To A Good Start…

Look at me, sticking to my goals! Maybe this semantics game is the key to my success.

I now present to you my first FO of 2009!

Pattern: Side Slip Cloche from “Boutique Knits”.
Yarn: Valley Yarns Deerfield, just over 1 skein.
Needles: Size 4 circular and DPNs.
Date Started: January 3rd, 2009.
Date Finished: January 4th, 2009.
Notes: I really enjoyed knitting this pattern! The directions were excellent, concise, and the pictures of the pattern give you a great idea of the finished project. The alpaca has just the right amount of halo but the silk content keeps it from shedding too much. It’s a quick, luxurious little project. I’ll probably make another one in black.

I feel a bit like Zelda Sayre in this hat, and that’s never a bad thing. Girlfriend was staying sassy, even during the Depression.

Just when I was feeling like my current success was a fluke, another FO popped up. Granted, this one was started back in 2008 and was meant to be a Christmas gift (sorry, Sean!), but an FO is an FO, no matter how you slice it.

Pattern: My own, a simple k2p2 ribbed sock, with contrasting heels and toes.
Yarn: Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in dark and light greys.
Needles: Size 2 circular for Magic Loop, and DPNs for turning the heel and working the heel gusset.
Date Started: December 18th, 2008.
Date Finished: January 9th, 2009.

Sean (my boyfriend) loves them, and I’m so glad they were finished in time to be worn on a very important day for him. I’ve started a second pair, in the opposing color scheme. There’s nothing like having a hand-made gift be received so happily. Sean is guaranteed to keep himself in hand-knitted socks for a long, long time.

One question: should these socks count towards my goal of knitting 16 pairs this year? I started them in 2008, but I finished them in 2009. What do you think?

That’s all I’ve got for today, but I’m working the new students’ orientation all this week, so I’m guaranteed to have some horror stories to share soon enough.

2009 Goals

I am notoriously bad at resolutions. I am so bad that by the end of January, I have broken them all, generally in a fiery, shameful tempest of failure that leaves me guilt-stricken until May. Not this year!

For 2009, I’m just attempting goals. If I get there, great! If not — I’ll keep trying! I’ll start here with my knitting goals, as this is still ostensibly a knitting/craft blog, and because I love planning what I’m going to spend the year knitting.

1. Knit at least four adult sweaters. I have yarn in my stash for approximately ten sweaters. Ten! I haven’t knit a sweater in years. Well, to be quite honest, Pasadena is quite close to being finished, if I stick with the pattern and don’t do any of my planned mods (cabled button bands, a hood). I just need to make up my mind and finish it. In any case, I want to knit at least four adult sweaters. I have several in mind for myself, and two in mind for my boyfriend. First up:
Interweave’s Woven Bands Pullover for my boyfriend. I’m intrigued by the construction and I love Cascade Eco Wool — a perfect match!

2. Knit at least 16 pairs of socks I always have at least one pair going, so this should be easy.

3. At least 8 pairs of those socks must be for me. Yay avarice!

4. Upload progress pictures of all my projects to Ravelry .

5. Design at least one large garment (sweater, shawl, skirt).

6. Submit at least one design to online magazines. Popknits, Knotions, Twist Collection, Knitty — the choices are varied and filled with talented designers. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t try.

7. Take a spinning class at WEBS. WEBS is within walking distance of my apartment, and I want to learn how to spin. This will have to wait till the fall, after I have some money saved up after working all summer.

8. Knit from the stash as much as possible. I think I may have alarmed my boyfriend when I dumped out my entire stash on top of him. It may have been the threat of asphyxiation, but just in case, I’m going to cut down on my yarn spending.

9. Update this blog at least once a week, about anything.

They’re all good goals, and I’m looking forward to accomplishing them. I’ve been knitting for almost five years, and I feel ready to challenge myself. My design goals are the most important ones I have this year, as vague as they are. My mom, who taught me how to knit, would be so proud to see my designs out there.

So there we have it, my 2009 knitting goals. Here we go!

Next up: my first 2009 FOs!

Friday Morning Malaise

Now, let me get this straight. It’s March 28th, and it’s snowing. It’s also somewhere in the 30s. I had turned off my heat two days ago to conserve energy, and when I woke up this morning, there was ice on the INSIDE of my windows. Oh, New England.

At least the chill meant that I was given the opportunity to bust out my finished Bird In Hand mittens! I got so many compliments on them at the bus stop. Kate Gilbert is a genius!

Pattern: Bird In Hand Mittens by Kate Gilbert.

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Red and White, one skein each.

Needles: Size 2 DPNS. I attempted to use Magic Loop but found that it was more comfortable to work this yarn on DPNS.

Mods: Absolutely none!

I didn’t post any in-progress pictures, not because I was camera-less for about two months (even though that is true), but because I was a very lazy blogger. Oh well! The mittens look so lovely at all stages of construction.

 

I should start to catalogue all my FOs by year. That’ll be my project for the weekend, since I have nothing else to do and the weather is going to be piss-poor.

More for my own amusement than for anything else, I’ve made a deal with myself to not buy any more yarn (swaps and sock yarn don’t count, obviously)  until I’ve finished all of my WIPS. I think that’s a fair deal, since I have so many!

Current WIPs
1. Laminaria Shawl
2. Embossed Leaves Socks (second pair)
3. Pasadena Cardigan
4. Odessa (sixth version!)
5. Hat and Fingerless Gloves set
6. Gryffindor colors hat

I know, I know, it’s not that long a list, but it feels insurmontable to me. Laminaria is almost finished, so I’m planning on finishing and blocking that this weekend, and then banging out the rest of Pasadena. I’ve let Pasadena languish for almost a month because I’ve run into a rough spot in the pattern which may or may not be a mistake, and I’m still waiting on a reply from Berroco. After waiting this long, I don’t think I’ll get one, so I may as well make up my own solution and finish it up. I need more cuddly cardigans!

I also found this little cross-stitch piece, hiding away in an old craft box. I think the last time I worked on it was when I was living in Ohio, which means this hasn’t been touched in at least 12 years! I’m going to head to Joann’s this weekend to see if I can find a matching blue floss to finish the border.

I guess that’s all for now! Back to account management and Laminaria. Stay warm!

Sometimes I crack myself up.

When the newest Knitty was released, I immediately jumped at the beautiful Laminaria. I had the yarn! I had the needles! I had the will!

I do not have the brainpower.

I’m sure some of you are shaking your heads: "But Bee! You’re an intelligent, witty young woman!"

I thank you for your faith in me, but it is not deserved.

To date, I have frogged the various sections of this shawl a record 17 times. I’m not counting all the times in which I tinked back twenty stitches here and there — I’m just counting all the times I had to go back one or more rows. I frogged the last repeat of the Blossom Chart six times. SIX TIMES. There was the fun moment during the third or fourth frogging session (I can’t remember exactly, I’ve repressed many of these memories) when I realized that my lifeline had somehow slipped out of the first thirty stitches of my row. Of course, I realised this as I am frogging back down to the lifeline. Frogging an extra four rows was a delight. I had to lay facedown on the floor, trying to remember how to breathe, for several minutes, before I was steady enough to sit up again.

I finally made it through the Blossom Chart, and started the edging yesterday. All went well till I reached the first of the double yarn-over rows. I was off by a few stitches, but I counted back, found my mistake, wrote a note on my pattern, and decided to leave it till this morning to fix. I figured I would just unravel back to my lifeline and start that part of the chart over.

I got to work this morning, sat down at my desk, and pulled out my Lam to frog. I happily grabbed my lifeline — and pulled it out.

I sat there for about ten seconds, blinking at the lifeline, with the slow realisation dawning upon me. I now had to tink back three rows. In lace. In alpaca. In tears.

It’s only 9:30am, but I’m going to go get a milkshake. It’s the least I can do for my broken heart. Hopefully, I haven’t become stupid enough that I have to be reminded to swallow.