*Knit Across The Row, Repeat From* Ad Nauseam

Between sweater sleeves and the Dr. Who Scarf (which I haven’t started but already feel the emotional weight of) I’m a little done with plain old knits. I’m going to break it up with a bit of bootee and hat (surprise) knitting. My husband’s cousin’s wife’s baby shower is early next month and will require something cute for oohing and aahing. But in the meantime:

Embroidery! Embroidery? Well, since Lauren has been making all these great embroidered gifts I thought I could too. This cheesy gem features one of those rare pink dolphins from the Amazon River (or LA). Witness my first real attempt at backstitch, not too bad for a first try. A little wobbly and not as even as I would like but HEY! check out that French knot eyeball. Pretty good eh?

My plan is to practice a bit and then embroider a simple knife diagram on an apron for my brother-in-law’s birthday. It’s not as strange as it sounds: we took cooking classes this winter (we’re both vegetarians who want to be able to make delish veggie dinners) and knife skills was part of the course. I learned both the Japanese and French style of cutting food. Fancy!

I’m still not sure about the placement, but I think the pocket would be nice. UNLESS!!! OH IDEA! I could flip the knife 180 degrees and boom! it will fit on the sternum. I may just do that since embroidering on the pocket would be rough. Thanks for the inspiration blog!

Now I just need to practice: dolphin pod or other twee critters?

 

Happy International Pipe Smoking Day

That’s right, it’s today.  Enjoy!

 

Lust Blinders

My friend Neil casually mentioned that he’s had a knitting machine locked in the trunk of his car for 2 years. Other than the immediate ‘why the hell would you possibly have a knitting machine’ reaction there was the ‘I MUST HAVE IT’ response. I’ve been lusting after it for over a year now. Sigh. It’s like a friend, my little knitting machine fantasy. I daydream about the crazy shibori experiments I could try and the silly photo blankets I could compose.

So I proposed to Neil. No, no, made a proposal to him to make a Dr. Who scarf in exchange for his knitting machine—which he TOTALLY isn’t using and should therefore just give me (ebay be damned!)

Here’s a glory shot of the yarn, minus 4 back ordered skeins, as proof of my intentions. The green is named ‘nervous green’  hee hee…don’t worry little yarn, I’ll be gentle.

ANYWAY, here’s the blinders part: I’m not entirely sure he’s accepted my offer. I mean, I know he wants a Dr. Who scarf, but is he willing to part with his random piece of trunk nostalgia?

In addition, I’ve never seen this knitting machine so it would be rather funny to knit a 20 foot long scarf for a hand-cranked I-cord maker. That’d be just my luck!

 

ceci n’est pas une valentine

Right now, while someone is out smokin’ and drinkin’ and carrying on at pipe club, I am here struggling in the last vain attempts at girlfriend perfection. I also kind of need to be writing an article for a professional journal that’s due on Friday, so that just shows you where my priorities are right now.

The inspiration:

The pipe bag:

Thanks goes out to this awesome lady, without her I would be making a big giant mess with needle and thread. Not that it’s not really messy or anything, but I shudder to think about what would have happened had I done it regular old embroidery-style.

Tomorrow I will try to have pics of the finished accessory! God help me.

 

What’s Going On?

Well, as mentioned last week I’ve conquered my confusion about the ‘magic loop’ method. I’m not going to give you a link for the method because nothing I found on the net made sense to me. I had a serious brain block and the only way to move forward was to just work it out for myself. It really wasn’t hard once I got past my assumptions. See below:

Well, that’s kind of a duh moment. Instead of knitting one item all the way around then moving to the next you will:
• knit half of item one
• knit half of item two
• turn your work to
• knit other half of item two
• knit other half of item one
Seems REALLY obvious now. I knew it couldn’t be as hard as I made it out to be. Sometimes I could just kick myself for being so blond.

If you’re interested, a couple more tips I learned the hard way:

1. cast on using DPNs and join to work in the round. Knit a row or two. Transfer half your stitches to one side of the circulars and half to the other side. IMPORTANT! make sure the tail of your working yarn is facing out toward the needle points. Repeat step 1 for the second item and just slide the first item back on the loop.

2. make sure you knit on the stitches closest to you (obvious right? Well I must’ve been having a moment because I ended up working 2 inches of rib then tried to knit some stockinette only to have to purl it because I was knitting on the wrong edge - see diagram above…)

3. idiot proof your end of row mark - again obvious but my brain is still mystified by the ML concept and needs extra help. I’ve placed an open stitch marker in the middle of the sleeve just as a “HEY! You are at the end of your row dear” reminder.

Anyhow, it’s great to finally conquer the two items on one circular technique! Go me! whoo hoo! And if I can do it you can also (or already do and haven’t bothered reading this far…)

Next time: Dr. Who!

 

Bag it for protection

I was going to post progress shots of the sleeves - but I’m not sure 2.5″ of sleeve really counts as progress.

So here is a little left over Christmas for your entertainment. My in-laws got me a Jordana Paige handbag - which is like the Kate Spade of knitting bags. Anyway, so far I’m enjoying it:

This is the Bella style in black. It’s pretty attractive and NOT leather which in my mind is a plus. I’m a little concerned about how the exterior will wear since it seems kinda fragile.

The inside is AWESOME! There’s a pocket just for your wound balls and loops to thread your yarn though so it’s less likely to get tangled. Best part about this is I won’t be dropping my ball and have it roll away on the subway platform/train (you know, like in an old school cartoon except with subway nastiness EW!).

Another pocket has space for all the little random bits that come with this hobby, DPNs, Chrochet hooks, whatever.

The bag doesn’t really close (maybe it’s because it’s still brand spankin’ new - I just busted it out today) and I’m afraid I’ll accidentally dump out something on the train. I carry too much knitting crap. Hopefully with this new bag I’ll be a little more streamlined. Streamlined for the new year. That’s me, all sleek and shiny. Well, on a really good day.

 

Laying Low

I’ve been in hiding lately. Too much going on? Sure. But mainly I’m trying to sneak up on this sweater I’ve promised to make my husband. Poor guy is sort of an unwilling participant. I can get a little intense and obsessive. And his natural response is to give me space to work out my obsession (which normally is great) however, I need a model damnit!

That’s where the sneaking up part comes in. If I don’t fantasize TOO much and worry and obsess it won’t be so bad. I’ve told you I cry just about every Halloween I make my costume right? Well imagine the pressure I’d put on myself for a garment worn more than twice?

Well it had better be worn more than twice! SEE THAT! That’s the attitude I don’t want to have.

So I’m going to breathe, take a step back,  remember that it’s a first sweater and therefore a learning process, and most importantly: not be a crazy lady.

Almost 220 yards of sweater goodness. Everything seems on track so far. That purple yarn on the bottom of the sweater is my provisional cast-on edge. Shortly I’ll begin the sleeves - shh! Don’t tell the sweater I’m making progress!

 

SOCKATTACK

The socks they just don’t stop!

Next up: TODDSOCKS.  Watch yo’self.

 

Knitting: The Dark Side

Deceit, addiction. Two things that tend to go hand in hand. Well in this case hand and hat:

My preliminary armwarmer. Kinda nice eh? Sort of an indigo color as per request. See that cable along the center? Subtle. Best part? This is my own pattern produced from an actual swatch I made! It could use delinting but over all it’s a success!

Right? Not so much. This is where I’m lying to you:

Behold! The abysmal laddering and shoddy join for the thumb casing. I have a terrible time with DPNs greater than U.S. size 2 - fabric ladders no matter how tightly I pull. I think it’s time to journey to the land of the Magic Loop. Well, I have no excuse for that thumb except that it was early Monday morning and I was still bleary eyed from living.

And behind the deception lurks the addiction:

Two little hats to boost my knitterly mood. Just something to take the edge off you know? Get me through the day.

A quick note about the second hat: it’s knit for a child whose initials are “S.A.I.L” so I went with a nautical theme. This hat reminds me of wooden lobster bouys or the Nautical Flag Echo (I am directing my course to starboard) This makes me glad in a big ole geeky way.

And Lia? If I ever get these armwarmers working I’ll be happy to make you a pair

Next up: a bit of sweater action. A very wee bit.

 

Proof, Stretching Before Your Eyes!

Over the holiday I got acquainted with this nifty bit of antiquity:

Any guesses what this might be? Ok, maybe it doesn’t qualify as antiquity, but it’s up there in years.  A hat stretcher!

There’s a New York City address on this so I could probably figure out when it was made. Right now it’s just diverting to have as a sort of objet d’art. 

And prepare yourselves for the mini-magnificance of the holiday hat trick:

Whee! That was fun, hats out of the system (maybe). Time to move on to my man’s sweater now.

Next: The armwarmers. I Swears.

Also,  TooBoo ladies, so good to see you yesterday!!