knit1frog2

not quite enough

There's something that I really like about receiving yarn in the mail.  I think it has something to do with the tidy look.  It provides a sense of calmness to the chaos that otherwise is my yarn collection.

ommmmmm.

I bought this to make the RibbyCardi. Have you heard of it? If not, you can find it here. I see that Elann no longer has the colors that I bought up on their site, and I just noticed something wrong. It felt like there was something 'off' when I ordered it, but now it's crystal clear. I bought the wrong amount.  In addition, I somehow had color dyslexia and reversed the colors! gah!!  Suddenly I feel ill.

sock it to me

Now this is some cutie yarn!  I found it whille perusing the sock yarns the other week.  Now that I have my spiffy card reader, posting is just so much easier!  la la la.  Shazam!  A new post!

boing!

This might be good sock yarn for Livvy!  Little feet probably take a small amount of yarn, but how cute would it be if we had matching socks?!  This yarn is so nice!  It's curiously springy, though doesn't that 3rd skein look a bit smaller than the rest?  Hmm.  There were 2 more skeins, but they didn't match this color lot.

Because I've been knitting on size US 1.5 dpns, size 3 look gargantuan to me!  It's comical really.  And just to shock my system more, I dug out my US size 19 straights to get back to reality.  Oh wait, now 1.5s seem reeeeeally tiny.  Maybe I shouldn't have done that afterall.

I stayed up late last night to finish off the first sockapalooza sock and to do a swatch of the yarn pictured above.  For once I didn't have to go to the larger needle.  I tend to knit on the tight side and generally just go up a size to whatever is listed in a pattern.  Size US3s were too loose.  I don't like to see the bar between the knit when you pull on the swatch.  US2s were nice albeit a little small, making it feel a little stiff.  I'll most likely end up going with US 2.5s.  I love that they have that in-between size to make it juuuuuust right.  Knitting with sproingy yarn is curious.  How tight or loose should you keep the yarn?  I don't want to loose any of the elasticity...it will be interesting to play with it.

オタク (otaku) desu

Wow, I picked up the pqi card reader from my mailbox, plugged it in and away I went.  No software to install or anything b/c XP is smart like that.  Holy cow does this make transferring pictures to my laptop a breeze!!  I'm so glad Jen's husband found it!  In case you're wondering, this is it.  It works like a charm and was only $9.99!  It's an 8 in 1 card reader and I'm not sure what's best, the price or the ease of use.  I say both!!  Newegg.com really was super easy and speedy to order from too.  (I'll admit it, I'm a geeky girl.)  Okay, now on to knitting news.

stash project holder

Awhile ago, I was looking for something to hold my yarn.  (If you couldn't tell, I really love green.  Not kelly green, I've never been too fond of that one, but the mossy greens, the celadon greens...love them!)  I found this container and thought it was so cute, I had to get it.  Well, after piling the yarn in, I saw that it could only hold about 3 projects worth, if that.  This didn't even come close to the stash I had accumulated in the past months!  Um, so now what?  More of these?  I'm not sure if I can even find them any more...and would I really want 4 of them in my room?  I'm not so sure about that.  How does everyone else tame their stashes I wonder...

Sockapalooza news!  I'm on the toe for the first sock and am quite pleased with it.  I know it looks long, but I'm going from what the measurements said in the email I received and am using the 'magic length' for that measurement.  Because my sockpal has larger feet than I do, it's hard for me to gauge if the size is correct...but away I knit!

left sock

I'm off now to return a library book, and um, to pay that afore mentioned fee for overdue books!

and oh how the money rolls in

While waiting for the sneak preview screening of Bride & Prejudice to start last night...I realized that in my messenger bag, were vouchers totalling $115 to use in various yarn stores.  What should I buy?  What should I make?  Any suggestions?

um...!!

I found this in one of my Rebecca mags...and I suddenly had a hankering to knit a manly striped sweater...ha!  Stripes!

Things at work have been hectic, so when I get home, I'm so tuckered I haven't had much time to knit.  With no knitting, comes no posting.  This of course, must change...you know it's bad when you don't even realize that you've left your knitting at work under your desk until you get back to work the next day and find it sitting there.

On technical news, I did order the USB memory card reader...so hopefully when that comes, it will be easier to upload pics and post!  Can't wait either...it won't be soon enough.

a kinda nice welcome

Saturday I went to pick up my mail and there was a nice surprise waiting for me: 

for a poncho?  yeah right.

I had signed up for the Rowan club awhile ago (mid-December actually) and the site said that there would be a welcome package, but the weeks would come and go and there was nothing.  I had already thought I got lost in the crowd and was going to call them on Monday, when much to my surprise, there it was!  The package from Rowan.  I received 4 skeins of Cork yarn!  But it was short the magazine that was supposed to come along in it.  bah.

I'd never make the item the yarn is actually intended for.  It came with a pattern for a small, ruffled capelet kind of concoction. My shoulders are too wide for such a thing and it definitely doesn't fit my personality.  I'd just look silly.  For those of you that know me, you know what I'm talking about.  For those of you that don't, imagine Buttercup the Powerpuff girl with a bow in her hair.  Right...it's just not going to happen.

After getting my hair cut, I wandered over to Weaving Works to see what might go with my newly received yarn.  I do have to say that I really like the texture of Cork yarn.  It's soft and fluffy and from the swatch there, looks like it would knit up fast!  I suppose it's a good thing that I only had 30 minutes before they closed.  It's the first time I've left a yarn store spending less than $100.  Though, 30 minutes in a yarn store just isn't right.

After some perusing today online, I think I've found what I'd like to make with the Cork yarn...this.

On Sockapalooza news, I had gotten all of the way down to the heel, turned it and didn't like the way it looked.  The color is quite nice, but the look wasn't what I wanted.  I'm going to try a different size of needle too.  If I didn't like it, my sockpal most likely wouldn't like it, so I'm gonna start over.  ribbit.

the bigger picture

I really hate to go so long without posting...so I thought I had better get something up here.  I was thinking the other night that it's funny, the only thing that I've made for myself is this hat from Rowan's The Bigger Picture: 

Of course, mine has stripes: smokey dark ones on a pink. What's with the stripes lately?  And what's with the pink?  I've been so into pink and I never used to be a pink girl.  I'll have to post a picture of it at some point. 

Speaking of stripes, I started my sockapalooza socks last night and they're knitting up quite well!  I am really liking the look, I hope my pal does too!  (I'll post pics of the sock progress soon too!)

I need to get one of those nifty card readers for my PC.  Ever seen them?  They have lots of slots for different memory cards in one tiny unit and it hooks to your USB port.  That way, I won't have to get all of the camera cables out, plug them all in, connect the camera to the PC wait for the two to recognize each other and take a nap while waiting for them to upload.  My PC and camera are old, so it's somewhat of a painful process.  I'll need to rectify that this year me thinks.  That and I need to figure out how to make a button for my site...

crowds

Everywhere I went today there were crowds.  Throngs of people were milling about.  Didn't they hear the winter-watch report?  Icy rain they said...weird warmness over the cold iciness thus providing even more slick conditions.  Well, apparently no one heard, everyone was out in full force today and I was among them.

The local library was packed, but notifications said that one of the knitting books that I had on hold was ready for pick up.  I returned three others that I had and wanted to pay what I owe for 2 overdue books, but um, the line was incredulous.  The library would have to wait for their $1.20.

I went to Uwajis and the overcrowded aisles there were almost comical.  Feeling all Japanese and stuff, I picked up a few staples and went home to make okonomiyaki (japanese pizza).  It's a great appetizer kind of thing.  Basically it's a pancake, with the red, finely cut pickled ginger, finely sliced nappa cabbage and baby shrimps all mixed in.  There is also some super finely sliced pork, cooked up ahead of time, that you place on top of it while it's cooking.  It mysteriously gets covered by the rest when you flip it over to cook the other side.  Then you cut it into quarters and dip it into the okonomi sauce.  The sauce alone is so yummy.  Wait, this is supposed to be about knitting.  Sorry about that.

SO...I went out today with the best intentions...really I did.  I went to pick up some yarn to make my nephew a red sweater. He wants red.  I had no red.  Why does he want red?  I walked in and immediately picked this up:

DB Cashmerino Aran
don't they look like tomatoes?

I really meant to leave with just that, just the red yarn. But what could it hurt to look around some? Uh huh.

An innocent perusing and look what I left with in my bags:

yikes.(9ea DB Cashmerino #600310, 2ea DB Cashmerino #300615, 2ea Regia #5220, 2ea Regia #5217, 1ea Dalegarn baby ull #0007, 2ea Jaeger Matchmaker 4-ply #0639, 1ea US3 32" circular addi-turbo, 1ea US6 32" circular addi-turbo, 1ea US7 32" circular addi-turbo, 1ea US3 dpn, 1ea US4 dpn, 1ea US5 dpn, 1ea Noro Kureyon #52, 3ea Noro Kureyon #92, 5ea Noro Silk Garden #201, 1ea Noro the World of Nature mag, 1ea Dalebarn mag #125)

And you can't even see the 4 skeins of sock yarn in the pile.  They're buried under the heap.  Okay, in my defense, I had bought Noro Silk Garden in #34 to make a sweater awhile ago, but when I made a swatch of it, it turned out to be a color that I knew wouldn't look good on me. This made me sad. While at Acorn Street today, I thought maybe I could find something to mix with it.  Maybe this would make it work! Really, that's all...no really!! Maybe I'll look for the receipt with the Noro #34 and exchange it.  Where did I put that?  Oh, and did I mention how crowded the yarn store was?  No?  It was packed.

doubleknitski

I'm currently working on the doubleknitski and it's been a nice knit.  Very relaxing in comparison to the darn harakiri scarf that's for sure!  I asked the patternmaker Alison what she does about the dreaded jog when knitting in the round when stripes are involved.  I quite liked her reply.  She just accepts it.  No finagling, nope, she uses it as a way to tell which is the back of the hat.  Though this isn't a great picture since the hat isn't laying flat, I tried to fix mine.  This was before I talked with her. 

yes, it's a Hello Kitty stitch marker.
it even says "too sweet" on the t-shirt.

Later, after decreasing and trying it on, it was clear that it needed a bit more length...so yes, look what was next...

*ribbit*

As you can see, I strayed from the pattern a bit, but I'm back on track and knitting along while hoping this swollen throat goes away.  I'm glad I made it through the week.

short rows, sockapalooza and swollen throat

It seems to come in threes, I'm not sure why.  So today, I'll talk about:

1.  short rows:

(orange is the purl-side, blue is the knit-side)

For the Weasley sweaters I used shortrows to shape the shoulders instead of stairsteps.  I have to say it was the best way to go!  No bulky, weird stairstep shoulder seams to try to sew together!  Using shortrows enables you to easily use a 3-needle bind-off for invisible shoulder seams!  I first learned of these when taking Susanna Hansson's Finishing class.  Another resource, if you're not in the area for one of Susanna's classes, is The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancy Wiseman. This book has a nice explanation of this process.  The diagram above is something I drew out to help me translate the technique.  From here on out, I'll always use it.

2.  sockapalooza:

I'm so excited to know who I'll be knitting socks for!  I have the yarn, but now I'm wondering, are we all using a particular pattern?  Hmm...

3.  swollen throats:

yuck.  I know.  I have one and I'm not thrilled about it.  I am so tired that I wasn't able to go to class tonight.  I wonder if I should go to the doc.  Sigh.  I barely have the energy to knit, and you know it has to be bad then.

(p.s.  It kind of freaks me out to get swollen throats b/c I no longer have my tonsils.  I didn't realize you could get a swollen throat from having a cold! (Interesting...)

It's Tuesday already?

Tuesday is Weasley knitalong day, so it's finally time to post the Weasley pictures!

(made with Rowan Felted Tweed in Midnight and Pickle
US6 needles)

Yes, see the little one below?  Livvy?  I finished her sweater in 3 days and my self-induced, crippling arthritis immediately got worse when she said, "Where's the O?" (her name is Olivia) upon receiving it. 

(note to self:  these kids have super long torsos so knit them extra-long sweaters)

Val, being the quick thinker that she is said, "H stands for Hermione!"  She seemed okay with that.  These sweaters really were fun to knit and I'm glad that I participated in the knitalong!  I also know now, to add at least 2" to the torso section when knitting something for these two...look how short they look! 

Oh, and it more than made up for it when my nephew wore his for 2 days straight after xmas!  He also took it to school on Monday for show-and-tell day.  Now, what to knit for them next?