margit's knitting adventures

The Blog is Moving!

2006-12-07T08:23:00.000-08:00

And it has something to do with what's in this box...

Check out the new blog at fiberfiend.com/blog to find out what's in the box! And to continue reading about Margit's Knitting (and Spinning!) Adventures!

Some Scarves

2006-12-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

Here's Holiday Scarf #2 in Moda Dea Tutu

It kind of looks like snow... it's the same 20 stitch 2 x 2 ribbing pattern I used on the Aerie scarves.

And here, sound the trumpets, is my hand-dyed handspun soy silk entrelac scarf!

Yay! And a closeup!

P.S. I got some Lorna's Laces in Black Pearl at the after Thanksgiving sale at Purlescence...

Mojo's 4 months old!!

2006-12-03T23:46:00.000-08:00

Mojo turned 4 months old today. He weighs 25 pounds! That means I don't think he's going to get as big as I had initially thought and hoped. Jezabelle was 44 lb. at 4 months. He's a sweetie though, and I'm sure however big he gets will be plenty big enough.

Since I last posted about Mojo, he's been to the dog park a few more times, and he made some new friends...

He frolicked around with Siena...

He got a little muddy...

We all took a nap (Lilla was in her crate)...

We started putting him and Siena in the same crate overnight...

Mojo started digging in his water dish, getting quite wet, so we gave him a new water delivery system (like a giant gerbil feeder)...

I let him explore the empty dog food bag while I watched through the window, prepping his food (putting kibbles in chew toys)...

And he plopped down in the grass...

We noticed he has webbed feet, which probably confirms that he is part Yellow Lab. We had dinner with some friends for Thanksgiving, and one of their friends said he has Blue Heeler eyes, aka Australian Cattle Dog eyes, which could explain 3 other things: pointy ears, heel biting, and small size.

So, now I think he's a Yellow Lab/Australian Cattle Dog/Rottweiler mix. I think he'll be 50 lb. at 1 year and 60 lb. as an adult. Next month, I think he'll be 33 lb!

Sweater Woes

2006-12-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

The sweater is almost done. You know what sweater I'm talking about. I absolutely love it. But, I've just about run out of yarn, and it's not quite done yet. Since realizing I am going to run out of yarn, I have contacted 4 different online vendors to purchase one more ball. They all have websites that say they sell this yarn (Lana Grossa Due Chine), and they're all out of stock in the color I need (and most other colors as well). I've posted on Knitters Review. It's my last hope...

I'm in quite a pickle here, because 1) I wanted to sell this pattern, so I now have to find a new different yarn that will work at approximately the same guage and knit another sweater in that yarn before finalizing the pattern and putting it up for sale, and 2) I really really love this sweater and really really want to finish it and wear it!!!

Booooooo!

[Added later, but before posting]
OK, so I picked a new yarn and I'm excited to knit another sweater. I really love the pattern, so it will be awesome to have 2 sweaters in different yarns and colors. Plus this way I will follow my pattern directions (once I write them up in a bit more orderly fashion) and see if my directions are good or not.

In other news, I'm knitting an entrelac scarf with my handspun soy silk, which I will post a picture of soon. I started another holiday scarf, but put it on hold. I figured out what pattern to use for my nephew's baby blanket. I haven't spun anything in almost 3 weeks... and Mojo will be 4 months old tomorrow, so I'll post more pictures of him then too!

Also, my mom loves her new socks.

(You see where I get my love of big dogs.)

And I did say I'd post pictures of Siena modeling my latest scarf, the only holiday knitting I've completed so far...

Doesn't she remind you of Greta Garbo?
She's definitely got flare...

A little sock yarn and fiber for your viewing pleasure

2006-11-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

I used my coupon at Purlescence and picked up some Claudia Handpainted (Walk in the Woods, Jungle from Left to Right), and some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (Pioneer, Mt. Creek, from Center to Right)

I also picked up some Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks Merino/Tencel fiber, which might just get its chance on the spinning wheel sometime very soon...

Mojo Madness

2006-11-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

[Picture-heavy puppy post. If you hate puppies, don't scroll down.]

It was a momentous week in Mojo's life, as he made his first trip to the dog park.

He was a bit terrified...

but he made some new friends...

Siena wasn't too happy about having to share the back of the car with Mojo...

but there is plenty of room for them in the back of my new (pre-owned) dog mobile...

Mojo also made it up on the couch, without the impetus of the devil vacuum cleaner.

He convinced Siena to play with him a bit...

And we've started trying to teach him to leave Lilla alone...

Sometimes Siena just wants to be left alone too...

Somehow Mojo didn't gain any weight this week (or I weighed him at the wrong time of day), so he was 19.5 pounds at 15 weeks. He did grow 2 inches taller since the last time I measured him 2 weeks ago, so he's now 14.5 inches tall. He's still 17 inches long. He has started biting our heels, so he definitely has some herding dog in him. His ears are still getting perkier. So, I still think he's a Rottweiler/German Shepherd/Lab mix, and that he'll be 70 lb. at 1 year and 90 lb. as an adult. I'm going to go for 23 lb. again as my guess for next week's weight.

Knitting and Spinning Progress

2006-11-16T22:38:00.000-08:00

I finished the first Moda Dea Aerie scarf, in an off-white color, which will be a holiday gift.

I wove in the ends this evening -- I'll have Siena model it tomorrow.

I started a second one too... in a light blue color.

Yay, I'm using up stash!

When I was out with Mojo the other morning, when it was sunny after pouring all day long the day before, I noticed this...

and thought it was pretty darn cool.
No, my fence is not on fire.
Water was evaporating off of the wet fence.
(Isn't my neighbor's house ugly?)

In the world of spinning, I was surprised on Tuesday when I started spinning up the bamboo I dyed earlier this year.

How did this

turn into this

?

Every time I look at it, it amazes me.

Because of the all of the colors, and because I only have 4 oz., I initially thought I would make bamboo sock yarn, and knit myself a pair of bamboo socks. However, Cookie said that bamboo socks probably wouldn't be very flexible, and suggested I make something lacy. Since it's coming out in varying shades of purple, I might just leave it as singles, and do just that.

Hand-dyed handspun soy silk yarn!

2006-11-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

Yay! I finished spinning the soy silk single on Saturday at Linda's knitting/spinning retreat (which was awesome). I finished plying it just now!

This was my progress plying yesterday...

This is the yarn on the bobbin, after Navajo Plying.

Here it is, all skeined up!

And here are the gratuitous close-ups...

Did I mention I LOVE it?!

Mojo at 14 weeks!

2006-11-11T10:41:00.000-08:00

Mojo had a big first this week. Not his first tooth. Not his first step. It was the first time (and only time so far) he jumped on the couch. Randall's been trying to get him to jump on the couch with the lure of freeze-dried liver. Nope. He stands on his hind legs with his front paws on the couch, but doesn't jump up. What, you ask, made Mojo jump on the couch? I was vacuuming. He was terrified. He had nowhere else to go!

Here we are, Siena, Mojo, and I, all on the couch... one happy family...

Except Siena gets a bit grumpy when Mojo's on the couch...

Another amusing tidbit, which I find quite humorous and adorable, is that Mojo's ears are standing up more now.

When he sits down and looks up, they even stand up all the way!

Maybe he is a German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix after all! Although I still think he has some lab in him. He also sometimes has a furrowed brow, which can be seen in German Shepherds. He now weighs 20 lb! Next week I think he'll weigh 23 lb!

Rules Schmules!

2006-11-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

So, I cast on 3 new projects in the last week. I know I said I would get down to 5 WIPs before starting a new one, but, well, I like starting new things. After finishing so many things in October, it's time to start lots of new things in November. Sounds reasonable, right? (I still haven't put that zipper in my Rowan Plaid Cardigan, but I think I want to find the ends, unweave them, rip out the sleeves, and re-knit them.)

First, I tried casting on for a washcloth 3 or 4 times with different stitch patterns. This is the most recent one. I still don't like it. The pattern looks good in the picture, but that's in a solid color. It doesn't really work with the variegated yarn, so I think I'm going to rip it out and start over for the 5th time. I decided I might make washcloths for some of my family members for the holidays when I was at Michaels a few weeks ago buying Wilton's Icing dyes for dye-fest and the Sugar n' Cream was on sale for $0.99/ball. I bought 10 balls, thinking that if I never did anything with them, it was only $10! (slightly more with tax) ...anyhow, we'll see what I come up with.

Next, I started a sweater. I drew a picture of what I want the design to look like at least 6 months ago. I got the yarn, Lana Grossa Duo Chine, on my birthday. Here's what I've got so far...

You'll have to wait to see what comes next!

Lastly, in terms of knitting, I needed a project I could do while watching movies, etc., so I started a 2x2 ribbed scarf in some ridiculously soft nylon yarn I got at Michaels a while back. I finished the first ball of yarn, so that's half the scarf, since I only have 2 balls. I think it will be a decent length.

Then, in the world of spinning, I finally untangled all of my homepun, wound it into a skein, set the twist, and let it dry. The results: sock yarn!! And quite a bit of it too, I might add.

I actually think there's enough here to knit up 3 pairs of socks (my sized socks). What do you think I'll be casting on next?

Mojo at 13 weeks!

2006-11-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

At 13 weeks, Mojo weighs 17 pounds, he's 12.5 inches at the shoulder, and 17 inches long.

He LOVES playing tug-of-war.

Sometimes he loses...

I still think he's a Rottweiler/German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix and that he's going to be white, tan, and black when he grows up. I think he'll weigh 70 pounds at 1 year and 90 pounds as an adult...

Siena still doesn't really approve of him...

He started this new thing this week -- digging in the plastic planter we keep dog toys in. It's pretty hilarious.

Next week I think he'll weigh 19 pounds!

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T20:05:00.000-08:00

We had some of my coworkers and their kids over this weekend to carve pumpkins...

This is my pumpkin!

This pumpkin was Randall's, but he didn't want to carve it, so I used an extra ghost pattern and carved it...

I did meet all of my Socktoberfest goals... although not as neatly as I would have liked...

My bobbin got full, so I tried to unload some yarn...
Something went horribly wrong, and it got unbearably tangled! This, might I emphasize, is AFTER 2 hours of detangling effort.

(I'm really not good with the whole tangled yarn thing.) I might note that I was interrupted by trick-or-treaters quite a few times.

I really don't know what to do. Randall thinks I should cut out the tangle and THROW IT AWAY! I can't do that. I spent so much time making that yarn!! How could this happen?!?!

Oh, yeah, Happy Halloween!

Socks Done!

2006-10-30T19:37:00.000-08:00

I finished my RPMs!

Pattern: RPM from knitty.com, modified to CO 45 sts for my large guage with medium weight STR.

Yarn: Socks That Rock in Moss Agate, medium weight

Needles: US 2

Woohoo!

You might notice major pooling in the gusset, green on this side...

...and orange on this side!

They were fun and fast to knit!

I also polished off some baby socks for my coworker, whose son was born on Friday!

To recap my Socktoberfest Goals:
1) Dad's socks: Done!
2) Mom's socks: Done!
3) My 2nd RPM: Done!
4) Spin enough sock yarn to knit a pair of socks: Plying in progress!
5) Nephew's baby booties: Done!
6) Coworker's baby socks: Done!

Only one goal left! And I think I'm about halfway done with the plying... (the wheel is safe from Mojo on the couch... at least for a few more days!)

We've got yarn, folks!

Mojo is 12 weeks old!

2006-10-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Here he is, looking fierce!

Trying to get up on the couch!

Mid-run with floppy ears!

With a stick!

With a rubber chicken!

At 12 weeks, Mojo weighs 15 pounds, he's 12.5 inches at the shoulder, and 16 inches long.
He's getting these lighter strips of fur on his shoulder blades...
I still think he's a Rottweiler/German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix and that he's going to be white, tan, and black when he grows up. I think he'll weigh 70 pounds at 1 year and 90 pounds as an adult...

His rump and tail are still getting darker...

Next week I think he'll weigh 18 pounds!

Progress on the wheel and the needles

2006-10-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

So, I finished one bobbin of red superwash singles for my sock yarn. Now I just have to spin the other bobbin and ply them together, and I'll have yarn!

However, I haven't been making any progress on the 2nd bobbin, because I started spinning my soy silk!!! I love this stuff SO MUCH! Once I'm finished spinning it up, I'm going to navajo ply it into a 3-ply yarn. I can't wait!

In other news, I'm down to the foot of my 2nd RPM sock!

To recap my Socktoberfest goals:
1) Dad's socks: Done!
2) Mom's socks: Done!
3) My 2nd RPM: on the foot!
4) Spin enough sock yarn to knit a pair of socks: One ply done (out of 2)!
5) Nephew's baby booties: Done!
6) Coworker's baby socks: haven't started yet

Also, zipper in sweater: not yet

I'm sure I'll be down to the wire, and I might not meet all my goals, but I just have to spin that soy silk!!!

Dye-fest!

2006-10-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Cookie and Kristi came over for a good old-fashioned dye party. We used Wilton's Icing Dyes on a wide variety of fiber...

In this sink we have (top to bottom): Cookie's laceweight 95% merino/5% cashmere yarn, my mystery fiber (which we think is wool with tencel in it), and Kristi's merino.

In this sink we have: Kristi's superwash merino on the left, my soy silk on the top, and my mystery wool on the right.

Here is my mystery wool (started out gray) dyed, wrapped, and ready to microwave.

Here is my mystery fiber (wool with tencel?) that I dyed.

Here is my mystery fiber (wool with tencel?) that Kristi dyed for me. It turns out that 250g of fiber needs to be dyed in 2 batches... who knew? So, since I had 5 batches of fiber to dye, Kristi had 2, and Cookie had one, Kristi helped me out and dyed one of my mystery wool/tencel batches (while Cookie knit her sock).

Here's my soy silk.
(Rainbow!)

This is my 2 packets of mystery wool (started out gray).

Here is my mystery fiber (wool with tencel?) that I dyed, being rinsed in the sink.

Here is my mystery fiber (wool with tencel?) that Kristi dyed, being rinsed in the sink.

Here is my soy silk, very wet still...

Here's Cookie's yarn.

Here's my mystery wool, quite wet still...

Here's Kristi's merino, almost dry!

Here's my wool/tencel mystery fiber that I dyed.

Here's my wool/tencel mystery fiber that Kristi dyed.

Fiber snails!!!

Here's my soy silk, which dried MUCH slower than all the wool.

Cookie's yarn all done.

Kristi's merino all done. Check out her blog for more pictures...

Here's one batch of mystery wool (started out gray).

I'm going to spin the above batch of mystery wool and the mystery wool to the left, and then ply them together to make sock yarn.

This is my mystery wool/tencel batch that I dyed.

This is the mystery wool/tencel batch that Kristi dyed for me. I think I'm going to spin these separately into sock yarn.

Here at last, we have my soy silk...

I LOVE it!

It's so shiny and soft, I want to spin it right now!!!

Mom's socks done!

2006-10-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

I finished my mom's socks, one month before her birthday!

That's a first.

Pattern: RPM from knitty.com with modification for opposite spiral direction on 2nd sock.
Yarn: Knit Picks Sock Memories in Gladiolus.

Siena tried them on.

So did I. Her feet (my mom's) are a half size smaller than mine...

I hope she likes them!

Here's an update on my Socktoberfest Goals:
1) Dad's socks: Done!
2) Mom's socks: Done!
3) My 2nd RPM: On 4th repeat of leg
4) Spin enough sock yarn to knit a pair of socks: Started!
5) Nephew's baby booties: Done!
6) Coworker's baby socks: haven't started yet

Also, zipper in sweater: not yet

Mojo is 11 weeks old!

2006-10-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Mojo, for the second time, got to take a ride around the neighborhood in Lilla's backpack...

However, he tried to escape! So, I had to carry him the rest of the way home. He'll just have to wait until his last puppy shot to go exploring now...

Siena actually decided to play with Mojo!
Mojo tried to play with Lilla when she was in her crate... Lilla seemed a bit like she wanted to play too, but judging by Mojo's excitement, I'm sure she was glad she was in her crate.

Here he is all super cute.

Here he is playing with Siena again.

He fell asleep with his nose through his crate.

His face is starting to widen...

He's getting big!

And he's getting darker...

every day!

He currently weighs 13 pounds, he's 11 inches at the shoulder, and 16 inches long.

I still think he's a Rottweiler/German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix and that he's going to be white, tan, and black when he grows up. I think he'll weigh 70 pounds at 1 year and 90 pounds as an adult...

And next week I think he'll weigh 16 pounds!

Homespun!

2006-10-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

Homespun
in
the
wild!

Roving: Blue Faced Leicester from Deep Color Studio, dyed by yours truly with Kool-Aid and RIT dye

In honor of Socktoberfest (or something like that), Kristi came over to drink beer and spin sock yarn! That would be the beginnings of my red superwash wool from Yarn Place. You'll have to check out her blog for her Sheep 2 Shoe progress.

Sock Yarn Stash! 50g progress & Finished Baby Booties!

2006-10-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my tiny sock yarn stash. Top left is Cherry Tree Hill, clockwise from that is Socks That Rock in Blarney Stone, Knit Picks Palette in Black, STR in Puck's Mischeif, Knit Picks Memories in Gladuolus (I got 3 skeins for my mom's socks because the pattern called for it, but I'm totally not even going to come close to using 2 skeins), leftovers from my dad's socks and my first pair of socks (see Q&A below), and Knit Picks Dancing. In the middle is some Knit Picks wool I dyed with Kool-Aid.

Some of this yarn will soon disappear, as the ball on the right will become the rest of my mom's second sock and the ball on the left will become my second RPM sock. However, I'm sure I'll have leftovers of both.
Here is how much sock I got from one 50g ball of Knit Picks Sock Memories! See one 50g ball in the photo above and imagine how much left over I will have.

Now it's time for the Socktoberfest Q&A:

1) When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I started knitting my first sock in January 2005 and finished it about a week later. I taught myself from Cat Bordhi's book, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.

2) What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time?

The second sock took me quite a while longer...
You can see the pair here. The pics of the first sock were taken right after I finished it. There's a good story about how Randall proposed to me by tying my engagement ring to some yarn in the middle of that skein... I've worn them a number of times and they've gotten a bit fuzzy, particularly in the heel.

3) What would you have done differently?

Finished the second sock sooner!

4) What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

Socks that Rock and Knit Picks Sock Memories, so far.

5) Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

I've only knit them on 2 circulars, and I like it that way.

6) Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

I've only knit heel flaps.

7) How many pairs have you made?

Well, I'm done with 2 pairs of adult socks. I've also made 2 pairs of baby socks, some baby booties, one RPM for me, one RPM for my mom and a second one through part of the gusset, and a Pomotomous just about to the heel. If you're curious, just look though the sidebar on the right side of the webpage for socks and click on the links.

Speaking of the baby booties, I threaded the ties through and attached pom poms to the ends, stuffed them in an envelope with 2 stamps and I'm putting them in the mail today.

Fiber Stash!

2006-10-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here is my whole fiber stash, to date. Most of this fiber I bought in the last week.

Here is all my dyed fiber. From left to right we have 8 oz. of red superwash wool I got from the Yarn Place on Friday. It was very difficult for me to not buy any laceweight while I was there. Next up we have 4 oz. each of merino and then corriedale I got from Carolina Homespun at Stitches in February. It's laughable that I thought I would spin these on a CD drop-spindle. I'm hoping to make all of the above into sock yarn.

Lastly, on the right, we have 4 oz. of bamboo I got from Deep Color at Stitches and then dyed with RIT dye. I have no idea how difficult that's going to be to spin, how thick I want to spin it, or what I'm going to make with 4 oz. of bamboo...? Suggestions are welcome!

Here we have all my undyed fiber. I think I'm going to dye some of this before spinning, and some after spinning. Since I have boilable plastic bobbins, Kristi suggested I could spin 2 or 3 plies, dye them, and then ply them together to make some pretty nifty yarn. So, I think I'm going to try that, probably on some of the merino, top left. That is one whole pound of merino I got with my spinning wheel at Carolina Homespun. Moving counter-clockwise, the entire bottom row of fiber I also got at Carolina Homespun. Bottom left is 250 grams of mystery fiber #1, which Kristi and I think is wool with tencel. It's from Louet in Great Britain. Bottom middle is mystery fiber #2, which I'm guessing is also 250 grams of some kind of wool. It's quite soft. On the bottom right we have 250 grams of Cashgora Top, also from Louet. This is apparently from a mixed-breed of Cashmere and Angora (mohair) goats. And I apparently got an amazing price at $10/lb! Too bad I had no clue and they didn't have more! It is very soft!

Moving on to the top right and middle, both of which I got from the Yarn Place on Friday, the top right is
8 oz. of 95% merino/5% cashmere, super soft, and the top middle is 8 oz. of soy silk, also very nice and soft.

I can't wait to spin and dye or dye and spin this fiber up!

Purlescence Grand Opening!

2006-10-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Purlescence Yarns opened today!

Here's the storefront with the ribbon before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Here is the sign on top of the building (which just showed up very recently). I live mere blocks from this store, so I walked there once last week with Siena and Lilla when the bookcases were shelveless and yarnless.

Then Kristi and I stopped by there on Wednesday for a few minutes before spinning and helped put price stickers on yarn (the sign still wasn't there then). Cookie has some great pictures from that night. It's been fun to see the progress.

You can also see delicious yarn pictures on the store's blog. I'm sure they'll post about the grand opening sometime soon (and I should be in a picture or 2).

Here's a close-up of the ribbon before cutting.

Here's the actual ribbon cutting.

And this is the very delicious Blue Moon Socks that Rock that is now mine. I had to have the strongest willpower ever to resist buying more yarn.

But patience will pay off as I got a free magnet and a coupon to come back next month for $10 off a $50 purchase!

The colorway is
Puck's Mischief.

Socktoberfest!

2006-10-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

I officially joined Soctoberfest!

I have 6 goals for Socktoberfest:

1) Finish Dad's socks and mail them in time for his birthday. Progress: Done!

They've even been happily received!

Yarn: Knit Picks Parade
Color: Checkers
Pattern: 2x2 ribbed socks modified from Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on 2 Circs book
Needles: US 2

2) Finish Mom's socks by the end of the month (her birthday is next month).

Progress: One sock done! Second sock has opposite spiral pattern (harder than you would think) and I just started the gusset.
Yarn: Knit Picks Sock Memories
Color: Gladiolus
Pattern: RPM from Knitty
Needles: US 2

It looks so different inside out that I had to take a picture.

3) Finish my second RPM sock in STR
Progress: Well, the first one's done, right?

4) Spin enough sock yarn to knit a pair of socks (this is by far the hardest goal)
Progress: I bought a spinning wheel! And I'm practicing... (and I've bought fiber!)

5) Finish up my nephew's baby booties and mail them off to him. Not quite socks, but pretty close.
Progress: I'm done knitting and felting and making one pom pom. I just need to re-make the eyelet holes, thread the ties through, make 3 more pom poms, and attach 4 pom poms to the ends of the ties.

6) Another coworker of mine is having a baby at the end of this month, so I'll be knitting another pair of baby socks...
Progress: Haven't even decided what yarn to use!

Lastly this month (nothing to do with Socktoberfest) I plan on sewing the zipper into my Rowan Plaid short-sleeved cardigan. The sweater has been blocked, so all I have to do is pin and sew. I'm really not into basting.

Here's a (not so great) detail of the top front where the zipper is going to go -- you can kind of see the lace and cable pattern.

Mojo - 10 weeks!

2006-10-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

Mojo is 10 weeks old. The other day he snuggled up with Siena on the couch and she let him! This is quite remarkable considering how many times she has growled and snarled at him when he gets too close to her.
This is about as close as they usually get. Note the rubber chicken in the background. I think those things are both Siena and Mojo's favorite toys. There's a hula hoop too. Randall was trying to get Siena to jump through the hoop last week...

(Added later: rubber chicken pictures!)

Isn't Mojo cute!?! At 10 weeks he weighed 11 pounds. At 9 1/2 weeks (4 days earlier) he weighed 9 pounds. I'm going to chart his growth progress. Randall suggested that each week I project what I think he will weigh the following week, at one year (ok, I added this one because it's sooner to measure than the next one), and as an adult. Additionally I shall predict what kinds of dog I think Mojo is, and what colors I think he'll be as an adult.

Ok, so I think next week, at 11 weeks, he will weigh 14 pounds. At one year, he will weigh 75 pounds, and as an adult he will weigh 90-95 pounds. Previous to this week I thought he was a Yellow Lab/Rottweiler mix. The picture to the left was taken on Thursday.
The picture to the left was taken today (Saturday).
It seems EVERY DAY he gets more black hair along his spine, so now I think he's a Rottweiler/German Shepherd/Yellow Lab mix. I think he'll keep the white on his chest and tips of 3 paws, keep the tan on his head, and have a darker back and tail with some tan but mostly black.

SPINNING!!!!

2006-10-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

Kristi came over to SPIN yesterday!! We're going to try to make this a weekly thing so we have some dedicated spinning time...

My wheel looks so tiny compared to hers! SO much fun!!! (You can see Siena the couch potato lying next to me.)

Here is my second bobbin of home-dyed homespun yarn!

And here is my setup to ply my singles into actual YARN!!!

How exciting! (If you're me.)
(Ignore the tangled mess that happened when I had to stop plying to stop Mojo from eating the carpet.)

Here's a shot of what I was plying last night. I finished spinning just before Kristi left and I stayed up way too late trying to ply all the yarn while Mojo got into trouble and I had to stop many times to get him to play with his toys and not eat stuff. I still have more to ply and then I have to set the twist and wind it into a ball before knitting...

Oh, and here's my very first handspun that I spun on Kristi's wheel and she so kindly plied, set the twist, and skeined for me. I have no clue what to do with this small amount of very unevenly-spun yarn...

Felted Baby Booties!

2006-10-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

So, I felted the baby booties for my nephew. I think they might actually fit him now.

However, they were supposed to have ties through eyelets near the top with pom poms on the ends so you could tie them on so they won't fall off. The eyelets I knit in closed up during felting.

As I see it, I have two options. The first is to try to re-create the eyelets and thread the ties through (I already crochet-chained the ties and made one of the four pom poms for the ends). The second is to forget about the ties and just hope they don't fall off as is. What do you think I should do?

New Additions

2006-10-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

Meet Mojo!

This weekend saw not one, but two life-changing additions!

First is Mojo,
our new puppy!
He's a Rottweiler/? mix.

Smiley Dog Rescue, who we adopted him from, thinks he's a Rottweiler/Shepherd mix, but I think he kind of looks like a lab, although he does have some black on his back and tail.

Here he is with the other two dogs! They're still learning to get along...

Secondly, after once again spinning on Kristi's wheel (a Lendrum), this time while Kristi and Siena hung out on the couch...

Kristi and I went up to Carolina Homespun (where she got her wheel) and I bought a SPINNING WHEEL!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

It's a Majacraft Little Gem 2!

AND, the dogs even let me spin! without trying to eat my wheel or my fiber!! Mojo was a little scared at first, but then he relaxed...

And here's my hand-dyed Bluefaced Leicester homespun!!!! Remember when I dyed this roving??

Done Knitting Plaid Cardigan

2006-10-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

So, I've divided the "On the Needles" sidebar into projects actually physically on the needles and those that are unfinished, but are not currently occupying needles. I still hold that the combined total of these two catagories will be less than 5 items before I start anything new, with the exception of socks for my mom's birthday (in November).

With that said, I finished knitting the Rowan Plaid short-sleeved cardigan yesterday. I used up all 4 balls of yarn, with about a foot to spare. I did not add bands because I'm putting in a zipper and it's already large enough around (and I didn't have enough yarn). There are some aspects about it that I really like and others (THE SLEEVES) which I don't.

I've considered ripping the whole thing out, or just the sleeves. I already had to rip out one sleeve and re-knit it because the ribbing was too tight. The ribbing at the bottom of the sweater is too tight too. But the thing that is so weird about the sleeves is the under-the-arm room -- there's a lot of extra fabric there (yarn which could have been better used elsewhere), but I swear I followed the Sweater Wizard pattern exactly for the sleeves (I diverged elsewhere and added a lace and cable pattern on each side of the front and back). When I bought the yarn (40% off) at Knitting Arts they printed out a pattern for me so I could see how much yarn I needed. The pattern said I was 36 yards short, which was fine, because I don't need button bands. Anyway, I'm not taking pictures until I sew in the zipper, because somehow I think that will make things all better...

Dad's socks done!

2006-10-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

I finished up my dad's socks tonight. No pictures until his birthday! Next up I think I'll try to finish the Rowan Plaid short-sleeved cardigan for myself.

WIPs: Palau Pomatomus and Thistle Lace Shawl

2006-09-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

My Palau Pomatomus sock is going well. I'm on the last repeat before the heel.

Since I finished blocking the doily I had the lace bug pretty bad, so I started in on the cashmere Cookie and Kristi got me.

I'm making the Thistle 'Balmoral' Dinner Cloth (i.e. shawl) from the Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting.

I've also been working on my dad's socks. His birthday is 2 weeks from today. I just started the foot of the second sock (top down), so I think I should have no problem finishing them in time to send them in time to get there before Friday the 13th (his birthday)! I won't post any pictures until he's received them just in case he checks the blog (I don't know if he does -- I kind of doubt it, but he's much more internet-savvy than my mom, and she might ask him to show her sometimes...)

Also, since realizing I currently have 11 projects "on the needles," or rather, unfinished, I decided I should pare that down a bit. So, I'm not going to start any new projects, except for my mom's birthday socks (her birthday is in November) until I have less than 5 unfinished projects. That probably means no one's getting Hanukkah knitting gifts this year (except my nephew), but that's ok, because it kind of got a little out of hand last year.

FO's: Doily, Baby Socks, and Monkey!!!

2006-09-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the doily blocking...

After blocking...

And it's now 10.5" in diameter! It was about 8" before.

Here's a silly picture of Claire's monkey in the baby socks.

Here are the baby socks for my coworker's new baby boy (they're fraternal -- I love it!)

Here's Claire's monkey, all ready to go!

And here's Claire running around with her monkey! She's quick!

I think she likes him...

Underwater!

2006-09-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

You can't knit underwater (at least not easily), but you sure can see some cool things! Here are some of the hundreds of underwater photos I took while diving in Palau!

This is in a WWII Japanese wreck.

This is a Lion Fish.

This is an anemone fish -- a close relative of the clownfish (Nemo).

This is a Moray Eel.

This is a school of Pyramid Butterfly Fish.

This is a lobster!

This is a starfish.

This is a gorgeous dive called Blue Holes.

Here are some sharks...

This is actually a snorkelling trip to Jellyfish Lake, where the jellyfish have lost their ability to sting. Super cool.

Here's Randall diving down with the jellies.

Here's me and an anemone (complete with anemone fish!)

This is Randall and a giant sea fan (soft coral).

This is one of those puffer fish.

This is a Mandarin Fish.

This is a Harlequin Sweetlips.

This is a giant clam.

Here are some shots of the coolest thing we saw -- a Manta Ray. It had a 12-13 foot wingspan and was 8-10 feet from nose to the beginning of its tail.

Yarn Harlot!

2006-09-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

I'm finally caught up with posting from the honeymoon (except some underwater photos coming soon).

So, it was really cool to meet Stephanie, the Yarn Harlot, at Full Thread Ahead last weekend. It was also nice to see all the knitters, have lunch and knit before (and during) the event.

Here she is, checking on her crowd photos, determining the Los Altos knitters are not blurry.

And we weren't!! Since I was sitting in the middle, I'm in both of the photos she took (sitting between Cookie and Randall, who won a prize for being the only male knitter who taught himself how to knit-- $20 to Full Thread Ahead, with which he bought himself some alpaca to knit the Danica entrelac scarf).

Here Stephanie is simultaneously knitting and making us all laugh (not at the knitting, at the jokes!).

And here my Palau Pomatomus sock got to meet her and I got to hold the traveling sock!

It was a fun great distraction. I'm really glad I got to see her! She was hilarious.

P.S. I'm wearing the sweater I knit on the honeymoon...

Lizards!

2006-09-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

There were lots of lizards in Palau, of many varieties. They were pretty loud, especially these two in their courtship ritual.

Doily and Palau Pomatomus

2006-09-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

I knit a doily as a wedding present for my cousin while we were in Palau. I wanted to try a German pattern out before I make a shawl using one. I was going to make the doily that is the center of the shawl I want to make, but I accidentally read the wrong chart and made a different doily instead. That's ok because I like it!

Since I didn't bring any size 2 DPNs (and didn't own any at the time), I started on circulars with the correct pattern, but messed up because I had a translation wrong, so I ripped it out. I didn't really like the way the center was coming out either, so I tried again with toothpicks instead, with a pretty nice resulting center (although on the wrong pattern, but as I said before, that's ok).

I still need to block it...

And as you can see, it's about 8 inches in diameter before blocking.

The last project I started on the honeymoon was pomatomus socks out of the Palau-inspired yarn my Dye-O-Rama buddy dyed for me.

They really did match the scenery...

Except at sunrise

or sunset

Sunday August 27th (Palau time) - A Good Day for Finishing

2006-09-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

Written in Palau, posted now! (last one)

To my surprise, I didn't knit at all while we were living on a boat for a week, diving all day long. Diving takes a lot out of you, especially once you start getting cold. In 7 days I went on 27 dives and a snorkeling trip. It was exhausting, but great! I took 2.74 GB of photos with my underwater camera (Randall took a few of those on one or 2 dives). Anyway, it was an awesome week and this past week has been great too, in a very different way. We've been relaxing a lot, sleeping a ton, reading, and I've been knitting too! We went on a hike to see a waterfall and we went on a little trip to see stone monoliths and carved faces.

Here are some photos of the hike to the waterfall...

The old Japanese railroad...

The waterfall itself...

Here are some photos of the stone monoliths...

I love this tree!

An ancient carved face!

Today I finished up all the monkey parts I can for Claire's monkey. I ran out of dark colored yarn on row 21 of the tail, so I need more Blue Sky Alpaca sport weight in dark brown before I can finish the tail and the backs of the ears, and sew all the dark brown pieces together. I finished all of the light brown pieces with plenty of light brown yarn to spare, but I'm waiting until I get home to sew any of the pieces together so I can stuff them at the same time.

Today I also finished up my Knit Picks Twist Picovoli-like short-sleeved sweater (Twist Tank). The color is Cotton Candy. I changed the gauge (size 6 needles) and added ribbing at the bottom so the fabric doesn't curl up like it does on my original Picovoli (both are without the picot edging). Anyway, I love it! And I can wear it on the trip!

Yesterday I started a pair of socks for my dad. They're very simple 2x2 ribbing socks, but that's what he wants and it's going pretty quickly. Top down I've got a little more than 4 inches done so far on one sock.

Having finished up 2 projects today, I think it's time to start something new...

Some critters on the beach

2006-09-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the critters we saw on the beach in Palau...

Photos from our first week in Palau

2006-09-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

When I said it was pouring rain our first week in Palau, I meant it.

Additionally, I saw a pineapple growing in the wild for the first time...

And we saw a nice sunset or two...

Friday August 11th (Palau time)

2006-09-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

Written in Palau, posted now!

Yesterday was a good knitting day. In the morning I knit an arm for Claire's monkey stuffed animal and in the early evening I knit the other arm. In the afternoon, we sat on the beach and I started the Twist sweater. I knit for almost 4 hours and finished a ball of yarn. I tried the sweater on and I like it so far! We had tuna for dinner again. The tuna here is amazing!

This morning I woke up with a kink in my left arm. I assume it's from knitting but it's kind of weird, more of a range of motion issue than anything else. When I move my arm in certain ways my left forearm muscle hurts like hell. The good news is it's partially sunny today! We saw our first glimpse of blue sky yesterday, but it was fleeting. This morning looks much better, although it's still mostly cloudy. The bad new is Randall thinks he has bronchitis or pneumonia or something aweful in his lungs. I think we're going to visit the medical center in a bit... in the meanwhile, I've been doing a bit of reading and I started knitting the body of Claire's monkey stuffed animal, nice and slowly.

Thursday August 10th (Palau time)

2006-09-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

Another post written in Palau, posted now!

Well, first I got a head cold on Sunday and now Randall has it too. Yesterday it wasn't quite as rainy as the other days here so far, so we did get to sit outside for a while. I knit 2 legs for Claire's monkey stuffed animal.

On Tuesday we got a ride downtown to an internet cafe that I think had a dial-up connection which really didn't work wireless. After trying to send an email to my parents for a half hour I logged onto one of their machines that was plugged in and waited 3 minutes for gmail to load. After that we ventured out into the pouring rain to buy an umbrella (our most valuable purchase yet) and grab lunch at the local Mexican restaurant. It was pretty good. We walked around quite a bit in the afternoon while the rain mostly stopped. We checked out the 2 dive shops we're considering diving with and we had an awesome tuna dinner.

Tuesday August 8th (Palau Time)

2006-09-12T18:48:00.000-07:00

I wrote this post from Palau, but didn't have fast internet to post it.

Hello!

I'm in Palau! It's pouring rain here (there's a tropical storm passing though) but I'm glad to be here! I had a nice few days in Guam where Randall and I got Nitrox certified (so we can breathe higher percentages of oxygen while diving and stay down longer at a given depth). We also decided to buy our own SCUBA gear (the stuff we didn't already have) since the price was right and we're planning on going diving a ton in the next month.

We went on 4 dives in one day in Guam (part of the deal for buying our own gear was a discount). On the dives we saw lots of fish, a shark, and 2 octopi! One of the octopi was really cool because it changed colors when it moved to camoflage with the rock. We saw lots of Lion fish on one dive-- they were really pretty. I also saw an eel.

The past 2 days we've been relaxing indoors because of all the rain. We're hoping it will clear up soon so we can enjoy the beach and go diving!!

So far I finished the back of the Cabled Cardigan on the plane ride from Houston to Narita (Tokyo -- a 12 hour 45 min flight) and I finished one RPM sock in Socks that Rock Moss Agate (started on the same flight -- these 3 photos were taken in the Narita airport --

and finished in a hotel lobby protected from the tropical storm rain and wind). I started some lace from a German pattern (in same lobby) but I messed up so I ripped it all out when we got back to our bungalow. With all the traveling and now all the rain, I'm getting some good knitting time in!! (although I haven't knit on the beach yet-- too wet and windy).

You can see there was some pretty major pooling in the gusset...

In loving memory...

2006-09-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

I'm back!

The honeymoon was awesome and I got a lot of knitting done.
I will definitely post underwater pictures and knitting pictures soon.

However, when I came back yesterday I also came back to the horrible news that one of my dogs died yesterday morning (the 3 of them stayed with my parents while we were gone). So, this post is dedicated in loving memory of Jezabelle. I will forever miss her warm and wooly hugs (and scarf modeling).

I saved some of her fur when I brushed her over the past few months hoping to spin it someday... I'm glad I'll have something tangible to remember her by...

Siena and Lilla should be arriving with my dad any minute now... it will be good to see them.

P.S. I saw the Yarn Harlot today. It was really fun and uplifting, although because of my sleep deprivation and funk, when I finally got to meet her I didn't have anything interesting to say. At least I brought my Palau Pomotomous sock and I got a photo. I'll post that with some other stuff soon...

A suitcase full of yarn

2006-08-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

So, I didn't have time to finish the Rowan Plaid cardigan before I left...
But, I did take a picture of my suitcase full of yarn (not including yarn in my carry-on), which I thought I'd share here from Houston since we have a 27 hour layover and high-speed internet access. (The Red Heart is for Randall's crochet.)

Also, I cut 11" off my hair on Sunday so I'll share some before and after shots just for kicks. I'm donating the hair I cut off to Locks of Love. It's a good reason to get a hair cut.
The only picture I've had taken since I cut my hair was at Bobaknit right afterward. That's me holding Abigail's son so she can pack up her knitting. Randall thought it was amusing.

P.S. Right now (literally while I'm waiting for photos to upload) I'm working on the Debbie Bliss cabled zippered cardigan.

Unfinished Business

2006-07-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

This is the second-to-last post I plan on before the big trip. (The last post is for when I finish the Rowan Plaid cardigan tomorrow.)

First off, Rowan Plaid short-sleeved cardigan for myself. This has been a quick knit. You'll see what it really looks like when it's done.

Next up is the baby blanket I started for my nephew a while ago. All that's there so far is the border and the beginning of the background. I have great plans, but I'm not sure when I'll get to them...

Lastly we have the unfelted baby booties. Why is the one on the right so much larger than the one on the left? They were knit with the same needles.... We'll see what happens after felting. What's left is felting, threading those crocheted strings through the eyelets and making pom poms to attatch to the ends of them (and attaching said pom poms). I have until it gets cold to complete and mail them.

Yarn from Anika, Cookie/Kristi

2006-07-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

This is the yarn my sister Anika sent me for my birthday (granted I didn't get it until May, I think). First we have TONS of Lion Brand Wool-Ease for me to knit her Basset Hound Charlie a sweater. He gets cold in the winter. He is HUGE (granted my newphew is still pretty small)! This will be a major undertaking. I think there might be enough leftover yarn for me to knit my nephew a matching sweater... hee hee hee!

She also sent me some Patons Pooch yarn, which I might make a scarf or a pillow or something out of.
She also sent a ball of Kidsilk Haze in black which she thought of using as a necklace to display a pendant, but which didn't work out for her. I'm going to bring it on the honeymoon since it's so small. Perhaps I will knit something with it.

Lastly we have 3 balls of luxurious cashmere lace weight that Coookie and Kristi gave me for my bridal shower, along with the Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting. A photocopied pattern from that book is coming on the honeymoon for this yarn.

Dye-o-Rama and KSKS!

2006-07-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

I already showed you the yarn I sent to my dye-o-rama pal. The yarn I received is awesome! I'm going to bring it on the honeymoon! I can't believe how well my dye-o-rama buddy Lyme matched my "perfect colorway," which I named "Blue Lagoon" after a photo of Palau, where I will soon be! How fitting that I should knit socks from this yarn while basking in the glory of the islands themselves. Thank airlines for airline miles.

In other news, I received my KSKS kit earlier this week from Cathy and it's awesome too! She went with a beach theme and did a great job! She sewed me a reversible bag in blue and green, which I'm totally taking with me (my regular knitting bag is too large and warm to carry around -- it's felted). She sent along Wendy Knits with a toe-up sock pattern. She got me Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn, yay! I've never knit with Cherry Tree Hill but it looks and feels great, so I'm excited. There were some yummy sweet-tarts as well (Lyme got me some of those too), and Cathy (I think) made me stitch markers with sea shells and beach colors! So cute. Everything except for the book is coming with me on the honeymoon.

Lastly for this post, I finished up my KSKS kit last night to send off to my buddy. I totally made up the pattern for the bag as I was going along, but I love it! Something I didn't realize until I was done is that you can fit needles in the side of the bag between the straps! I had contemplated sewing the ribbon together so it would just have one strap, but I ended up not doing it and I love the "secret pocket" result!

Spinning!!!

2006-07-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Time for more marathon blogging before I go...

So, when Alyssa and I were at Stitches in February, we picked up some very simple drop spindles and tried to learn how to spin. Here is a picture of the "lovely" yarn I spun with my CD and dowel spindle.

On Monday, I went over to Kristi's and tried spinning on her wheel! While it was a bit frustrating, and I definitely need more practice, I really think I want to get a spinning wheel!!! My husband (it's going to take a while for me to get used to calling him that) said I could use some of the wedding gift money to buy a spinning wheel in the fall, once I learn how to spin a bit better so I can make an informed decision about which kind of wheel to buy. Here's the roving I bought at Stitches... just waiting to become yarn!! I dyed the roving that in this picture looks white (check it out) and if you look closer in the second picture, the already-dyed roving is really gorgeous. It's going to be a while before I spin that.

Knit Picks!!!!

2006-07-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

Knit Picks is having a huge sale right now (most of the stuff has sold out already) so I bought a few things, some of which I'm going to take with me on my honeymoon.

First, what I'm not taking -- Main Line in dusty lavendar and ink, to make 2 sweaters (most likely for myself) in the fall. Main Line is 70% cotton, 30% merino, so it's lightweight but soft. Should be perfect for California.

Next I got some Cotton Candy Twist, which is a cotton-viscose-acrylic-nylon blend. This is going to be the other sleeveless sweater project I take with me.

Lastly, this is some of the lace weight yarn I'm bringing on the trip, Gossamer merino in Sunrise. It's going to be a lovely shawl. The other 2 lace projects are a doily out of my leftover shawl yarn and another shawl out of some wonderful cashmere I'll post a picture of tomorrow.

Planned Sweaters, Poncho, Shawl

2006-07-28T23:47:00.000-07:00

Oh My! Even more planned projects! I took all these photos a long time ago and I want to catch up on blogging before I take off an knit all kinds of fun stuff on my honeymoon.

This first batch of yarn, Filatura Di Crosa Mirto, a cotton, linen, viscose blend, is for a striped sweater from the original Stitch n' Bitch. I bought this yarn at the Knitting Arts sale last year with the other stuff I just posted about.

I previously posted my progress on Randall's sweater, but I never showed all the yarn for it. It's Lana Grossa Numero Uno -- I bought it at Uncommon Threads on my birthday this year (in January).

I also bought gray-blue and red Lana Grossa Due Print (blue-gren) and Chine (red) yarn, which I plan on knitting into two sweaters for myself. I've already desined the red sweater and I'm very excited about it. I look forward to starting it in September when I return.

This is Patons Katrina in black and Allure in a burgundy color. I stated making my mom a ponch out of this last year but the Katrina is ridiculously springy and elasticy and it ended up very uneven, so after I was about halfway done I ripped it all out. I'll try it again sometime. The pattern is in Knit Ponchos, Wraps, & Scarves.

I was considering making a quick shawl out of this Crystal Palace Party for the wedding before I realized I wanted something more traditional and elegant. I think I will still make a shawl out of this yarn eventually...

Planned Socks & Xmas Wreath

2006-07-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Xmas in July?

My mom made me this crazy yarn wreath last year, which I hung in my window for a while. She told me I could dismantle it and use the yarn, but my stash is sufficiently large and I don't have any projects in mind for the yarn so I think I might keep the yarn wreath around for at least another year, perhaps longer...

This Knit Picks Dancing is definitely coming with me on the honeymoon. I'm not sure yet what pattern I will use but it's one of the 9 pairs of socks I'm bringing along...

I was going to make a fair-isle pair of socks with this Knit Picks Palette yarn, but I never got around to designing it, so I'm going to give the 2 purple balls to my KSKS pal in her kit. She said she likes bright colors, including purple, so I think she'll like it. It should work well in the pattern I'm sending in the kit, Cookie's latest Baudelaire socks.
Since I now believe I'm only going to need 2 skeins of Sock Memories to make my mom's socks, I'm going to use the black Palette and the 3rd skein of Sock Memories in Gladiolus to make another pair of socks on the honeymoon, one of the mosaic patterns from Sensational Knitted Socks.

Planned Sleeveless Sweaters

2006-07-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

I bought the yarn for these last September at Knitting Arts' Anniversary Sale... (I think it was all 40% off)

The red and green are Crystal Palace Mikado Ribbon. I'm taking the green on the honeymoon to see what I can come up with, most likely based on Picovoli.

The light blue is Crystal Palace Shimmer. It has some sparkles in it.

The darker blue and medium blue railroad-tie type yarn is Crystal Palace Choo Choo

The purpley stuff is Crystal Palace Merino Frappe. I plan on making a lacey tank out of this from Knitter's Stash.

Here's a close-up so you can see the cool colors.

Stash - Part 3!

2006-07-28T22:29:00.000-07:00

1) Furry Yarn. The two light blue and red and black balls on the top of the image are Mustachio. The black and white ball just below to the right is Crystal Palace Squiggle, which I used as trim on Anika's purse. Along the right side in white, red/black, orange, and blue is Bernat Boa. On the left is Bernat Disco in black and blue with sparkles. Everything else is Lion Brand Fun Fur. I'm not sure what to do with all this. I might use some of it for trim on felted bags in the future. I also was thinking of knitting some very furry stuffed animals...

2) Fizzy Yarn. Most of what we have here is Crystal Palace Fizz and Fizz Stardust (with sparkles). There is some white Patons Cha Cha at the bottom and some Trendsetter Binario blue railroad-tie yarn to the right of that, left over from mom's fuzzy scarf. Going counter-clockwise from there is Plymouth Flirt in red, Crystal Palace Splash in red (some of the softest yarn ever), Crystal Palace Whisper in a light blue and orange (even softer). To the left of that is some ribbon left over from mom's fuzzy scarf and below that is Moda Dea Wild! in blue-green colors, which is also unbelievably soft. Top Center is Paton's Allure in teal. To the left of that are 2 midnight blue balls and 1 red ball of Berroco Crystal FX, which is super sparkly. I used some of the red on the first felted purse I ever made. I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the fizz...

3) (Mostly) Super Yummy Yarns. Ok, on the top left is some white Patons Divine, which has mohair in it and is actually quite itchy, which I know from the sweater I knit with it. The sweater is also super warm so I've only warn it once while on a skiing trip. Go figure. I live in California. At the top is some cool yarn my sister gave me for my birthday, Cascade Bollicine Revolution, 90% merino, 10% polyamid, which I used for my Palm Pilot Cover. There's plenty left for a scarf (maybe corkscrew?). Clockwise from that is some orangey Moda Dea Wild! (again super soft) which I was thinking of making a scarf out of. Clockwise from that is some white Moda Dea Tutu, also very soft, with some sparkles (another scarf project). The other 4 balls are seriously the softest yarn I own -- Moda Dea Aerie. I think the light blue will be a scarf for me and the white will be a gift scarf.

Stash! Part 2

2006-07-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures a long time ago, but never got around to posting them...
Wool!! (and alpaca)
1) Bulky Wool! I was thinking of making a felted purse with the variegated blue yarn in the front (Crystal Palace Iceland). The 4 balls in the middle (one navy blue is very small) are left over from my fair-isle cardigan, all Crystal Palace Iceland. The red and dark blue on the left are Crystal Palace Merino Frappe, very fuzzy furry yarns. The red at top right (Rowan Big Wool) is left over from a hat Randall made me and Randall's hat. The striped blue next to it (also Rowan Big Wool) is left over from Randall's mom's mittens. The purple and blue are Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky left over from Viviane and Stefan's monster slippers, respectively.
2) DK weight wool and sportweight alpaca, and sock weight superwash wool. At the top left you can see the leftover yarn from my socks. I also knit my nephew socks from this yarn, but I still have more! Below that are Rowan yorkshire tweed in blue and Rowanspun dk in white (both wool). The rest (2 green, 2 red, 1 blue) are Frog Tree sport weight alpaca. The blue and green are what I used for my nephew's baby booties.

3) Cascade 220: worsted weight feltable wool. So many colors. I have made felted purses, a hat, and a tea cozy out of this yarn. What next?
4) Dale of Norway worsted weight light blue: I really like light blue. I bought this yarn around the same time I bought the light blue Karabella Aurora 8 light blue I'm going to use in a sweater. I thought about using this as a stripe in a sweater too, but there must be other options... I could combine it with Cascade 220 in a colorful sweater, or I could felt it...
5) Karabella Aurora 8 leftovers (worsted weight): This rich blue and purple are left over from dad's striped hat. I learned to love this yarn making that hat and bought more later to design myself a sweater. What shall I do with these scraps?

Palm Pilot Cover

2006-07-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

I got a palm pilot about a month ago and quickly knit up this cover for it. I knit a rectangular strip and then sewed the seams together with an attached i-cord.

Super Old News

2006-07-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of a collaborative baby blanket Pauline (far left), Kandice (far right), and I (center left) knit for our coworker Melissa's (center right) baby Riley last December. I knit the cabled part in the middle of the blanket. Pauline knit the pastel lace on the left, and Kandice knit the blue garter stitch panel on the right, her very first knitting project! Pauline put them all together with a border.

And here are some pictures of Kandice's daughter Kacelyn with the turtle I knit for her 1st birthday last year. She'll be 2 next week.

In the last photo you can see her pointing out his eye.

Old News - Sandra's Scarf

2006-07-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Sandra's scarf which I finished last month...

I think Siena preferred the banana scarf...

but Jezabelle looks cunning in this one...

I'm Married!!

2006-07-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

The shawl finally had its grand debut...

and I got married barefoot on the beach. It was a bit foggy, but it was wonderful.

P.S. My mom wore the shawl I knit for her too...

KSKS

2006-06-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

I've decided to join the Knit Sock Kit Swap. It sounds like a lot of fun. I will just have to get my act together before I leave on my honeymoon. That's ok. I've got 6 weeks, and I'm done with school now. After graduation this weekend, all I have to worry about for the next month is the wedding.

Anyway, for my swap buddy, I'll answer the questions asked, that I didn't already answer in this post...

The (modified) Questionnaire:

1) Are you a new sock knitter? How long have you been knitting socks?
Not really. I started my first sock in January of 2005, but I've only knit 2 pairs so far. That's going to change on the honeymoon, since socks are the main type of project I'm going to bring. I can't really see knitting much else on the beach.

2) What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn? Superwash wool is what I've used so far. I really like being able to throw them in the wash, and my feet are usually cold. Although, cotton would probably be good for summer socks.

3) Where do you usually knit socks? Anywhere! I just mentioned I'll be knitting them on the beach soon (August) as well as on airplanes, in airports, and on a boat. My last pair I kept in the car so I could knit them whenever I found myself somewhere with some spare time.

4) How do you usually carry/store small projects? My last pair of socks I stored in a ziploc bag, but the bag got holes poked in it from the needles... not the best option.

5) What are your favorite sock knitting patterns? I've only knit plain socks so far from the top down. I really want to try toe-up on my next pair.

6) What are your favorite sock knitting techniques? I love 2 circular needles for socks.

7) What new techniques would you like to try? Like I just mentioned, toe-up.

8) Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting? Like I just mentioned, 2 circulars.

9) Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? Mmm... cashmere. I would love to knit a cashmere sweater.

10) If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Me? I think I would be worsted weight, mostly wool with a bit of alpaca?

Dye-O-Rama

2006-06-08T16:25:00.001-07:00

This is what I'm sending to my dye-o-rama buddy tomorrow.
First you can see my supplies... some Kool-Aid mixtures, vinegar, and gloves (so I didn't dye my hands blue for 3 days like last time)...

Then you have the dyed wet yarn...

Then you have the dry skein from one angle...

And the other side...

And finally in a center-pull ball, ready to be sent off to my dye-o-rama buddy so she can make some nifty self-striping socks!

Baby Booty

2006-06-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the baby booty I knit for my nephew last weekend. It's way too big so I'm going to felt it, after I make the other one. Then I'll make the crochet ties and pom poms. Check out Pauline's pattern. It's super cute, but if you knit like I do, you'll probably want to size it down.

Peacock Wedding Shawl

2006-06-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

It's the moment you've all been waiting for. Pictures of the finished shawl.

I don't think I'm going to block it, because I really like the waviness of it and I'm afraid that will disappear with blocking. It goes really well with my dress, which is now complete and in my possession. No pictures until the wedding though, since Randall sometimes looks at my blog...

I'm done!

2006-06-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my peacock wedding shawl last Thursday while in Boise visiting my new nephew. I also made a baby booty for him using Pauline's pattern, but it's WAY too big (I think it would fit a 3-year-old) so I think I'm going to felt it to shrink it down a bit. Pictures to come soon!

On to the Edging!!

2006-05-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

I'm really in the home stretch now. I've completed 4 rows of the edging chart, so I am going to start row 231 this afternoon at Bobaknit. There are only 250 rows. That means I have 20 rows left (plus the crochet chain cast-off), which means that I only have 10 right side rows left. I've started a new chart, Stitches to Go!, which only has one data point on it today (10,606), so it will debut next week. Here are the old standards. As you can see, I'm still pretty far ahead of my goal (>4,000 sts).

To my dye-o-rama buddy,

2006-05-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here are my answers to the Meme:

Questions specific to this swap:
*Your favorite colors? Blue, Green, Purple
*Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)? Sock
*Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? Multicolored for socks!
*If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn? Any of the above.
*Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)? Whatever, as long as it's pretty soft and durable.
*Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it? Blue Lagoon

*What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along? Getting to trade yarn!

General yarn/fiber questions:
*Have you dyed yarn/fiber before? Yes, twice.
*If so, what’s your favorite dye and method? I like squirting dye on with squirt bottles. I like both Kool-Aid and acid-based dyes -- it depends on what you're going for. They're very different but both nice. (I really like the RIT worsted I dyed last weekend because it's so rich in color.)
*Do you spin? I'm learning.
*Have you knit socks before? Yes, but amazingly only 2 pairs so far (one of them baby socks).
*Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too? Just socks so far.
*What are some of your favorite yarns? Socks that Rock and Lana Grossa Fantasie (I've knit with these); Cherry Tree Hill, Blue Mountain Spinnery, and Lorna's Laces (I've coveted all three but I've never had any).
*What yarn do you totally covet? See last question.
*Favorite patterns? I really want to learn toe-up 2 at a time so that I can knit until I run out of yarn (I like tall socks).
*Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? Addie Turbos (circs)

Nothing to do with knitting/yarn/fiber in any way but seemed kinda fun:
*Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Sweet Tarts
*What’s your favorite animal? Orangutan
*Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages? Yes! I have 3 dogs at home and a fish (a beta named Fred after Fred Astaire) at work. My dogs are an 8-year-old Kuvasz named Jezabelle (107 lb), a 14 (almost 15)-year-old Papillon named Lilla (6 lb), and a ? (maybe 6)-year-old Siberian Husky named Siena (50 lb, we got her from one of the many Husky rescue groups in the bay area almost 2 yrs ago). Jezabelle and Lilla I got as puppies and my parents took care of them for 6 years while I was in college and living in apartments that wouldn't allow Jezabelle. We've had all 3 together for almost a year now since my fiance and I bought a house.

*If you were a color what color would you be? Blue-Green (like a lagoon)
*What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? I love cornflowers and the moon.

*Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. "If you don't try, you'll never succeed."

*Do you have a wishlist? Yes. You can check out my knitting book wishlist here. I have many more books on a private "thinking about it" list, but these are the books I really want.

Dying Part 2

2006-05-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

Alyssa and I spent last Saturday dying the second half of our yarn from Knit Picks and our roving from Stitches, mostly with RIT dye. We used a bit of Kool-Aid on our wool roving and Alyssa dyed her sock yarn with Kool-Aid.

First we have our setup:

Next, let's look at the roving...
Here we have Alyssa's wool roving before steaming.....

and when dry.

Here's Alyssa's bamboo roving when dry:

Here's my bamboo roving being dyed and my bamboo roving when dry:

Here's my wool roving:

Next, let's look at the yarn...
Here we have Alyssa's sock yarn, dyed with Kool-Aid.

Here's Alyssa's worsted weight yarn:

Here's my worsted weight yarn, first ready to be steamed, then when dry:

Here's all our yarn and roving drying in my backyard:

Progress!!

2006-05-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here is where I'm at! I'm nearing the home stretch (the edging)! First we have the progress plot. which shows that I'm finally once again above the red line goal curve.

Then we have two pictures of the actual shawl. In the close-up with flash you can see that I have some big feathers done, and in the larger shot without flash you can see the pattern around the big feathers and where the medium feathers transition into the big feathers near the bottom of the picture.

Lastly, we have my estimation of where I am in the overall shawl. Only about 70% of the stitches are done, but I'm pretty close to the edge. The end is in sight...

I passed my goal!!!

2006-05-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

I will post pictures and plots tomorrow...

Woohoo!

2006-05-07T19:17:00.000-07:00

I really need to study for my 2 midterms tomorrow, but I just had to post because I just joined my second ball of yarn for my shawl (using the Russian Join). I am now only 263 stitches behind my original schedule of 500 stitches/day. I definitely have a big feather (and then some) so I will try to take pictures and post them tomorrow. I also tried posting dying pictures yesterday but had difficulty uploading the pics with blogger, so I'll have to plug in tomorrow instead of trying it wireless. Until then, study study!!!

3700 stitches!

2006-05-04T22:42:00.000-07:00

I knit 3700 stitches today!!! That's a full 828 more than any other day so far. Yay. I'm so glad I got to work in the lab today, because I knit 6 rows while running tests. Then I went to Bobaknit and knit 4 more rows! That's 10 rows today! Only 60 more rows to go! I almost have a full big feather, so a picture will be in order soon. Now I'm only 3499 stitches behind my original goal. Another day like today (hah! very unlikely) and I'll be back on track!

>50%!

2006-04-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

I have passed the 50% mark with my shawl!!! =) And I can definitely tell that I am past the medium-sized feathers and into the beginnings of the big feathers. Once I have an entire big feather, I will post a picture. In other news, Alyssa and I dyed the rest of our yarn today (minus the skein of sock yarn I'm saving for Dye-O-Rama). It looks awesome, but it's still drying, so I'll take more pics and post about it soon when it's all dry. We used RIT dye for most of the yarn and a bit of leftover Kool-Aid on some too.

Visual Progress

2006-04-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

I believe I am about to start the big feathers... I've decided that I am going to try really really hard to knit (at least) 2 rows per day from now on. If I knit 2 rows per day I will catch up to my goal in about a month. That sounds pretty good to me. Doesn't it look like I'm so far in this picture??? Well, I'm about 44% done. I just finished row 166 of 250 rows, but in terms of stitches, I'm only 44% done. Back to homework...

Baby Socks!

2006-04-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

These super cute tiny little baby socks are for my future nephew, due on May 23rd!

Shawl Progress

2006-04-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

So, I'm still behind (today it's 5,663 stitches), as you can see in my updated plots, but I think I'll make it. I'm pretty consistently behind, and have been since midterms last quarter, but I've never been more than 7,000 stitches behind. My current status is 25,337 stitches, or 40.3% done. I'm supposed to be at 31,000 stitches, or 49% done.

For those who are curious what the shawl is looking like these days, here is a picture of the whole thing bunched up and a close-up where you can actually see some feathers.

Kool-Aid Dying!

2006-04-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

Alyssa and I dyed a bunch of Knit Picks dye-your-own yarn with Kool-Aid a few weeks ago. Here are some lovely pictures... First we have Alyssa squirting dye on her sock yarn (mine is in the foreground).

Next up, we have my worsted weight yarn steaming on the stove.

Then we have a picture of our worsted weight yarn being washed in the sink.

After that is a picture of us holding up our worsted weight yarn.

Then you can see our yarn hanging to dry. Isn't it gorgeous!?!?!

Then we have the dry hanks of yarn. First is my worsted weight (blues, green, purple) and Alyssa's worsted weight (reds and yellow/orange).

Then you have our sock yarn, first mine, which has pinks in it, then Alyssa's which is blue-green.

P.S. I just heard about and I can't wait!!

Wedding Dress!

2006-03-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

I had the first fitting of my wedding dress last Friday. I know it's not knitting, but there isn't much to show on my shawl progress, so here's my dress!! (Esther Garcia is the amazing designer and seamstress -- she did this from watching the movie a few times!!)

First we have front, side, and back views.

Then there are two pictures of the trim pinned on with pins in the front where Esther is going to take the dress in a bit. The final fitting will be in June!

R's Sweater and Banana Scarf!

2006-03-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

Here are two pictures of my banana yarn scarf, which I finished while watching lecture online last quarter...

Siena is a very good model.

And here are some pictures of Randall's sweater. I decided to construct it like the FLAK sweater, so it has saddles and I'm almost done with the back to the armhole. It's a bit squished at the top (which is actually the bottom) on the needles, but it stretches out straight.

Finals...

2006-03-22T09:32:00.000-08:00

I really should be working on a take-home final or studying for a final tonight right now, but I just thought I'd update quickly since I haven't posted in a while. I have only worked on my shawl 1 of the last 11 days, although I did knit 2,672 stitches that day (I was on an airplane). However, I did start a sweater for Randall, which was going to be a surprise, kind of (he knew I bought the yarn but didn't know I started), but then I showed it to him because I wanted to make sure he likes it before I get too far... anyway, finals will be over tomorrow and then I will go on a knitting binge, so expect lots of posts next week!

Midterms are Over!

2006-03-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm about 2,055 stitches behind now... after catching up the past few days. You can see that midterms and the aftermath have prevented me from knitting recently. Since I'm going on a business trip over the next week (the week before finals) I'm hoping to catch up on some knitting in airports and on planes. Then finals will hit, but then I'll go visit my parents for spring break and knit all day long for a week! I have high hopes for Spring Break...

School is kicking my butt

2006-03-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

As you can see here, I knit 2 rows on Monday and 2 rows on Saturday and none in between. What a sad knitting week. I'm now officially behind schedule. Hopefully this week will be better. I have 3 problem sets, but no midterms, and one of my classes was cancelled one day. So, I vow to go to Thursday night Bobaknit this week. Last week I didn't get to go, but 3 of my knitting friends did (who wouldn't have been there without my having convinced them it's awesome and they should go). So, that makes me feel better.

Progress on Wedding Shawl & Banana Yarn Scarf

2006-02-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

As tempted as I am, I won't show another plot of my shawl progress until next weekend. I don't want to go too crazy with it (although I am plotting it every day now). I'm happy that my status line is above the goal line now as it has been since 2/20. However, I haven't shown a picture of my progress in a week so I thought I would show that. There's a picture of the whole thing so far (I'm using interchangeable needles so I just unscrewed one of the needles and added on a length of cable in the middle to take the picture).

And then there's a close-up of the new exciting medium-sized peacock feathers I'm starting in on now. You can see in the image in Wednesday's post that I'm a bit farther out than I was then, just starting on the medium-sized feathers, which I'll be doing for quite a while...

Also, when I'm too tired to knit lace (and in the car last night on the way too/from dinner) I've been knitting my banana yarn scarf. I really love this yarn, even though it changes from super bulky to lace weight in thickness very quickly all the time. It's crazy. But it's shiny and I love it. I'm glad I'm only making a scarf out of it. It's going super quickly.

Since I'm such an Enginerd

2006-02-24T08:37:00.000-08:00

I decided I'd plot my progress, at Randall's suggesion (he's Enginerdier...). Here it is! I'm not exactly certain all the numbers are correct as I just went by how the pen markings on the (photocopied) chart appeared to differ for the days between the first day (I know I did 13 rows that day) and 2 days ago. However, I can't be far off and from now on the progress will be calculated per day. Sorry it came out so blurry. I'll have to figure that one out next time...

500 stitches per day!!!

2006-02-22T20:08:00.000-08:00

Since Randall was so lovely as to roughly calculate how many stitches there are in the Peacock Shawl (based on the area of a triangle) while I was knitting last night, I had to do the exact calculation today. I think there are 62,491 stitches in the shawl. I might be off by a few stitches, because I thought it increased 4 stitches every other row, but that puts you at 498 stitches for the last row while it says there are 495 stitches in that row. This is very minor. At most I think I'm off by 4 stitches.

Anyway, since I just finished row 70 (of 250, that sounds so great! 28% of the rows done!), I've completed 4,897 stitches to date (I marked on the image where I think I am, a la Cookie during the Knitting Olympics). I'm getting married on July 15th, which is 142 days away (crap! that's soon!). That means that I have to average 406 stitches per day to finish the day before my wedding. Now, I'd like to finish a little before that so I don't get too stressed out about it right before the wedding, because I'm sure I'll be stressed out about other things. That means I should aim for an average of 500 stitches per day, which would allow me to finish 26 days before the wedding.

Since I cast on last Monday 2/13, my current average is 490 stitches per day. If I knit 2 more rows tonight before bed, I'll be on track... However, I will be receiving 2 take-home midterms tomorrow... but, I plan on knitting at least 1,000 stitches per day over Spring Break. I also can't help but work on other projects! Particularly the FLAK! Maybe I must cease all other knitting. But Sandra's birthday was 11/1 and her scarf is getting awefully late... (although she picked the yarn and she waited until mid-December to pick it). Hmm... what to do? (Quit my job, drop out of school, and knit all day long??)

Stitches Haul!

2006-02-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

Here's what I got at Stitches West on Saturday!

First we have the softest yarn ever, malabrigo merino worsted (looks bulky to me) in Indigo. I can't wait to make a sweater out of this! I got it from the Webs booth.

Next we have STR! (Socks that Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts) By the time I got there, first thing on Saturday, they didn't have any lightweight sock yarn left, so I got medium weight in Blarney Stone (on the left) and Moss Agate (on the right). Last night I broke down and wound up the Blarney Stone and started a pair of toe-up socks (my second pair of socks, first toe-up pair). Because the yarn is medium weight, the sock started out way too big and I frogged it back to fewer stitches and continued on... (2/22 note: I didn't like the toe seam and they were still too big, so I frogged it all, and put it aside until the honeymoon... did I mention I'm bringing a whole suitcase full of yarn on my honeymoon? =D)

Then we have recycled sari silk yarn, which Alyssa and I are going to make shawls out of. If there's enough yarn left over, we want to make purses too.... this was from the Yarn Place booth (new knitting store in Sunnyvale!).

Lastly, I bought banana yarn. Yes, made out of banana plants! I LOVE IT! It's not soft, but it's sooooo shiny! I love the way it drapes. I had to start a scarf with it... it's quite a big longer than in this picture now, even though I took the picture yesterday.... (no homework because of midterms = more knitting! ...at least for a few days)

Wedding shawl begins

2006-02-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

I have started my peacock wedding shawl in Jaggerspun Zephyr (merino & silk) on size 4 needles. This is the top center of the shawl. I'm on row 55 of 250, but you increase 4 stitches per row, so while I have just over 100 stitches per row now, you end with 495 stitches in the last row! I decided to count how many stitches I've done on this shawl, and now I'm up to 2,913 stitches! I'm afraid to calculate how many there are in total just yet. I have until July... =)

Here you can see what it will look like when it's done (except in white)! I also went to Stitches yesterday and got some very yummy yarn! I'll have to take pictures and post them some other day (along with the rest of my stash!).

Ready for FLAK Part 6!

2006-02-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

I finished the front of my cardigan to the sleeve depth. I didn't take out any stitches because I'm going to use a zipper closure. You can see in the close-up how the 2 halves of the circle cable in the middle will come together with the zipper in between.

FLAK progress

2006-02-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

Someone suggested trying out the Donegal tweed double-stranded, so I did. I didn't like the super firm fabric it created in my mini-swatch. You can see the comparison to my single-stranded swatch here.

Here's my FLAK back so far. I have about 1 more inch to go, and then on to the front! I haven't been able to knit as much as I'd like to recently because being a full-time grad student and a half-time engineering employee at the same time is possibly even more stressful than it sounds! I'm using farrow rib for the filler stitch on the sides. I decided to put only one purl stitch in between the cables because I didn't like how stretched out my cable swatch was. You can see the comparison between my sweater and my cable swatch. I like the sweater better. Also, for the middle horseshoe cable, I made a circle cable instead.

Wedding Shawl

2006-01-29T16:19:00.000-08:00

So, I received the mock-up of my wedding dress last week and I finally decided on a shawl to knit to go with it. I'm going to be making the Peacock Feathers Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting in Jagger Spun Zephyr yarn. I ordered myself the pattern and yarn yesterday (my birthday). I also went to Uncommon Threads for their big sale and bought too much yarn, but that's another story.

First you have Ginger Rogers in the dress, dancing with Fred Astaire in the movie Swingtime. Then you have the front and back of my dress mock-up. Last is the shawl. I'm going to knit it in white. I can't wait for the pattern and yarn to get here! I have about 5 1/2 months to go!

Picovoli

2006-01-22T16:47:00.000-08:00

This is the first sweater I ever made. I finished it in September 2005. I used Lion Brand Microspun on size 6 needles. The free pattern is by Grumperina from the August 2005 issue of MagKnits and can be found here.

Better pictures of Experimental Raglan

2006-01-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

Here's the third sweater I made, the Experimental Raglan, in better lighting. You can see details about yarn, etc. in this post.

Fairly-Easy Fair-Isle

2006-01-22T15:58:00.000-08:00

Here's the second sweater I made, Fairly-Easy Fair-Isle: closed, open, and from the back. This sweater is from Stitch n' Bitch Nation by Debbie Stoller. It's called the Fairly Easy Fair Isle. I chose very different colors and used Crystal Palace Iceland yarn, a bulky icelandic wool which I got at 40% off. I used size 10 1/2 needles. I finished this sweater in October 2005. It is very warm - good for wearing while walking the dogs at night and in the morning.

WIPs - Cabled Zippered Cardigan, Sandra's Scarf

2006-01-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

I've been making some progress on my cabled zippered cardigan back.
Here you can see some pictures of what it should look like when it's done. It's from Debbie Bliss's Cottons for All Seasons. More about the sweater can be seen in my first post here.

Also, I'm slowly making progress on Sandra's farrow rib scarf. More info. here.

Shawl, hat, and scarves for Mom & Dad

2006-01-21T15:26:00.000-08:00

First off, you can see I finished the purple and cream shawl for my mom on Wednesday. You can see details about it and Siena sitting on it here.

Then we have some older projects: a scarf for my mom, a scarf for my dad, and a hat for my dad.

Donegal Tweed - washing

2006-01-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

For those who are interested, this is the yarn I washed on the bottom of the picture, re-wound into a ball, while the unwashed cone is on the top of the picture. And then there is a close-up of the unwashed yarn on top and the washed yarn on the bottom. It fluffs up a lot, but it's still quite thin after washing.

Felted Slippers! And Crazy Hat!

2006-01-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Here are some finished pictures of Stefan and Viviane in their felted monster slippers! And Stefan in his crazy hat! The pre-felting pictures can be seen here. I hope to get a closer picture of the finished slippers from Stefan one of these days...

FLAK Swatch #2 and Donegal Tweed, Washed & Dry

2006-01-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

Here is my second swatch after washing, blocking, and drying. First is the whole thing, then we have the center cable section, then the braid, and finally the filler stitch. You can see how much softer it looks than before washing, in this post. For some reason I think I like the first filler stitch swatch on size US6 needles (bamboo circs) better than the filler stitch on this swatch, which I used US5 metal circular needles on. Since the stitch guage is the same after blocking, I think I'm going to use the bamboo US6's for the saddles with the washed yarn and see how that looks... Oh, also, I'm making a cardigan for the FLAK and I decided to do a cable with circles instead of a staghorn in the center of the center cable and divide that in half with a zipper. I also transcribed the honeycomb cable pattern (on either side of the braid) incorrectly when I wrote out the whole swatch cable pattern in Excel with a knitting font, so the "honeycombs" are actually tiny s-curves instead of honeycombs at this point. I'll fix that on the real thing...

Here is a picture (and a close-up) of the hank of donegal tweed I unwound from the cone and washed. It's almost dry. You can see it fluffed up a lot after washing. The before washing picture is in this post. I can't wait for it to dry so I can start my saddles!!

Experimental Sweater Done!!

2006-01-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

I finished my first knitted object in 2006! It's my experimental raglan, which you can read more about in this first post.

FLAK - washing swatch, yarn

2006-01-18T17:40:00.000-08:00

So, I just washed my second swatch. I also unwound a large hank of the donegal tweed off the cone with the help of my switft and washed that too. Here's a picture of the hank before washing. I will post a picture of it and the second swatch after they dry, probably tomorrow or Friday. Then I will start knitting the sweater, beginning with the saddles, using the washed yarn if it looks good, which I think it will!

FLAK Swatches

2006-01-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

So, I was disappointed in how thin the Donegal Tweed is, which I'm planning on using for the FLAK. I made my first swatch, the filler stitch swatch, with farrow rib on size 6 needles. I then washed and blocked the swatch (and got guage), and while the yarn did fluff up a lot, it's still a bit wimpy.
Then I made the second swatch, the cable swatch, with size 5 needles. Here are some pictures. I have not yet washed and blocked it. First is the whole swatch, then a close up of the the center cable, then the braid and wave cables, then the farrow rib filler stitch. To learn more about the FLAK, click on the FLAK button in the right sidebar.

Stash - Part 1

2006-01-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

I am going to show you my entire yarn stash! If you see something you like, let me know! If you think a certain yarn should become a certain something, let me know! I think my stash is too big right now. Even though I have many projects planned, it will be nice to plan projects for the rest of my yarn.

Here is the first installment...

1) Cottons : Here we have some burgundy and yellow Sugar n' Cream in worsted weight (I also have some blue somewhere) and several blues and greens (left over from turtle and Mr. Stegs), red and orange Cotton Classic in DK weight (I bought this to make stuffed animals).

2) Acrylics: Here we have the Red Heart rainbow left over from Lilla's sweater and the cat toy. Above that we have Lion Brand Micro-Spun in lilac left over from my Picovoli sweater. Above that we have the white Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted with little sparkles in it (see detail picture) left over from Anika's lace scarf. To the left is some multi-colored chenille left over from a scarf I wove in high-school and some red chenille left over from Viviane's hat.

3) Acrylics - Lion Brand Homespun. This is all Homespun, a bulky acrylic yarn. The Williamsburg blue I bought way too much of for Claire's baby blanket. I need an idea for what to do with the 6 skeins I have left. You can see the color better in the close-up.

The lighter blue yarn at lower right is left over from my fluffy cuf f mittens. The pink I don't know why I have. The multi-colored one with purples and oranges is left over from Nhyx-Selene's hat.

4) Acrylics: Bulky! Here we have Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick n' Quick in burgundy, black, red, and green.

The red and some black are left over from dad's scarf. Randall was talking about crocheting a blanket out of the burgundy and black, but I don't think that's enough yarn for a blanket...

5) Acrylics: Fuzzy! Here we have some fuzzy soft worsted weight acrylics.

The green and black are TLC Amore, left over from Stefan's alien illusion scarf and crazy hat. The purple is from Anika.

More planned projects

2006-01-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

Apparently I can't put more than 5 photos in one post, so here are 3 more planned projects.

This is some very soft blue sky alpaca sport yarn in tan and brown for a monkey stuffed animal for my (almost) niece Claire.

After dad heard about Oni's fingerless gloves with mitten flaps he put in a request for some of his own. I'll be using this Cascade 220 in red and variegated red.

Lastly here are 9 skeins (some are underneath) of Red Heart in multiple colors. I was going to learn how to crochet and crochet a blanket out of this, but I got too frustrated. Luckily Randall volunteered to jump in and do the project, so he's got the 10th skein and a hook in hand...