Like I said in the personal journal, I'm taking off for a couple weeks on a trip. Expect lots of FOs when I return!

To do tonight:

Yep, Thursday again.

So tonight I'm going to:
--finish the armhole edgings on Shapely
--work on Eros
--decide what's going with me on the trip
--and maybe start Charlotte

Ambitious considering it's already 8, but since I slept all day (sick, not lazy), I think I have a chance. I started picking up stitches for one armhole before eating chicken soup, so I've got a start.

Alright, I am SO going down to Cityside (the LYS) tomorrow and picking up a Chibi needle. I'm weaving in interminable ends on Shapely right now so I can maybe start knitting the edging sometime tonight, and an angled tip would really help. If only there were some spell I could cast and *poof* all the ends would be invisible! I think every knitter dreams of such a spell, really.

Little tidbits of knitting info

Yay! Shapely now has both a complete front and a complete back! Now she needs complete seams. That's a project for tomorrow or Thursday or something.

Broke down and bought the pattern for Rogue. Those cables are so beautiful...and scary.

Balled all the yarn for Charlotte. (Koigu is gorgeous.) I'll start her this weekend.

I think I'm going to put the beaded scarf on hold until cooler weather. I just can't get motivated to work on it.

Hmm, what's next?

Took a couple FO pics tonight.


Grr. Apparently my camera's flash has issues with the color red. Anyway...this is my first crochet project ever. It's from one of those scarf kits they have at Craft World. It's made of Lion Brand Jiffy Thick & Quick in a red-based rainbow color, whatever they feel like calling it. You can see that my tension loosened way up as I kept going. The beginning of the scarf is way stiff, not scarf-like at all. (I was wrapping my yarn the wrong way as well.)


This is a knit string shopping bag from Plymouth Fantasy Naturale (100% mercerized cotton). The way it's hanging, it almost looks like a cute little cami. There's a pocket at the bottom that it tucks away into, but I still need to sew a button on. (Have I ever mentioned that I hate sewing?)


No, I'm not hiding on purpose. The hat really is that big. Next time I'll make the next size down. The yarn is Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (NEVER AGAIN!). Mom, this is the hat I want to make for Kimmy's son. I might have to size down the pattern though, I'll know after I see the kid and measure his head. I don't know how big infants' heads are.

There might be more pics later, I'm seeing the end of Shapely's back. (Then, the sewing. *cry*)

HOLY SHIT!!! I just turned a heel, and it was SO COOL how it worked!

Okay, the knitting geek is going back to the knitting now :-)

It's Thursday!

And I feel perfectly justified in spending tonight knitting. I think my project will be turning the heel on Practice Broadripple and getting through (at least partially) the waist increases on the back of Shapely.

And yes, I know that part of my UFO night ritual involves posting pictures of recent FOs. See, I can't do that tonight. It's not that there aren't FOs. It's that there's no camera. I accidentally left it in the Boy's car on Sunday after taking it to my mom's place to take pics of some porcelain she wants appraised, and then the Boy went back to where he lives and won't be back until tomorrow. So there will be pictures of a finished Huge Bucket Hat and a string shopping bag made of cotton, as well as possibly Tiff's scarf if I can get her to model it.

Off to knit! Update later.

Socks.

Why my sock is bad:
--I can't stand the color. It's just some random stash yarn that came with a grab bag I ordered.
--I can't get even tension for the life of me. It makes the sock look all pebbly.
--I cast on too tight, so the top edge pulls in.
--I can't see how this damn thing is going to fit around my pudgy ankle.
--This would look so much better in a variegated yarn, since the ripple stitch would be more obvious, but I chose a solid.
--I haven't gotten to the heel yet. That's gonna be the hard part.
--I can't think of a good way to store needle #5 when I'm not working on the sock. Somehow sticking it in the middle of the solidly wound ball of yarn isn't satisfying me.

Why my sock is good:
--No ladders!
--The pattern is incredibly easy to remember. The stitch repeat is conveniently the number of stitches on one needle.
--Working with DPNs is easier than I originally thought.
--I think my tension might be starting to even out.
--It's going quickly. With probably a total of an hour of work, I've got over 2 inches done.

Right now, the goods are good enough to outweigh the bads, despite having less of them.

I've got news!

DPNs are not teh evil. I'm doing fine with sock #1, and surprisingly enough, I don't even have any ladders going on the transitions between needles!

I'm a damn liar.

Alright. That crap I was spewing about trying to clean off my WIP list before the trip? Well, I just joined a sock knitalong. Broadripple from knitty.com, to be exact about the sock. I'm going to do this sock thing, dammit! Of course, that means starting another project....

Of socks and crocheted scarves

I don't understand my fascination with making socks. I'm scared to death of double pointed needles, because every time I finish a hat with them I feel so awkward. I don't screw anything up, but I feel like I will any minute. And once the snow melts, I don't even wear socks unless I absolutely have to. My toes are freed at the first opportunity. So why my obsession with learning to make socks? I have all this sock yarn that I haven't even touched, because I'm apprehensive about trying.

Yes, I know it's only pulling loops of yarn through other loops of yarn, and it's not dangerous like open heart surgery or anything. But in my warped little mind, socks are the thing you have to be able to make to be able to say, "Yes. I am a knitter." Sweaters? Bah. I'm making one right now. It's just a hell of a lot of easy knitting. You increase and decrease when you're making hats, and I've made a ton of those. Lace? No big deal. Yarn overs are easy. Color work? Not really interested yet. Socks. OMG. You have to use those tiny double pointed needles, you have to use tiny little yarn, you have to *gasp* turn a heel and use short rows...damn. I will not be a knitter until I've made a sock. Well, preferably a pair of socks. Until then, I am just a random person who knits a lot. There is a subtle difference.

And I finally figured out what the deal was with my tension on my crochet scarf. I was leafing through my "Learn to Crochet Fast and Save the World" (okay, that's not really the title) book and found that I was putting my yarn over the hook in the wrong direction. So I made an effort to do it right and lo and behold, my stitches are looser and the scarf feels like a scarf and not a piece of particleboard! Rawk. (I'm still amazed by the size of this hook...it's 15 millimeters! I don't have knitting needles that big!)

the beaded scarf

This thing feels absolutely phenomenal, and despite the slowness of knitting, it's knitting so smoothly and looks great.

So once it's done, where the hell am I going to wear it? I don't think these things through well at all.

Goals for tonight

-- Finish the waist decreases on the back of Shapely (on row 7 now since starting the decreases, the last decreases are on row 17)
-- Do a couple inches on the abandoned beaded scarf
-- Wind a few hanks of Fantasy Naturale into balls
-- Possibly work on Eros, but that's not a definite

It may seem late to add all this to my tonight list, but I slept in today, so I'll be up for a good 2-3 hours more tonight.

I've decided I'm not starting anything else until I've taken 2 things off the in-progress list (and no, Tiffany's scarf doesn't count since all I have left on that is weaving in two measly ends). Ideally, I'll clear the list and won't start anything else before the trip so I can start fresh. (I'm counting the Monday night I spend at my grandparents' before we leave as part of the trip...I'm such a cheater.)

List-in-progress of potential projects to bring on the trip

Kelly's scarf
Shapely (if it's not done)
Bistro top
Simple and Sleeveless (from Purl Stitch)
A couple random hats (bucket/stretchy mesh/etc.)
Charlotte
Kureyon felted ballerina slippers
Socks (?)

This may seem like a long list, but when it comes to knitting projects I'm very ADD. And I never know what I'm going to feel like working on, so even when I head to campus I pack two or three different projects. So this list may change between now and the 24th. Especially if I manage to scam some yarn from my mom tomorrow ;-)

The stash is out of control. I've ordered the Koigu for Charlotte....yarn diet begins NOW. Not tomorrow, not after I check Patternworks.com one more time....NOW.

NOW.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Note to self:

Next bucket hat, make a medium.

Well, guess who did absolutely nothing on UFO night!

That's right, I went out last night and by the time I got home, I didn't feel like knitting. Today I'm not letting myself knit until I get some good cleaning done, and I've made reasonable progress so far, but it's still gonna take a while.

Yesterday afternoon I started the back of Shapely, and the other day I bought yarn for the Bistro Top. Fantasy Naturale, like the other yarn I wanted to use, but in a medium pastel rainbow colorway. I'd link to the colorcard, but the variegateds aren't on it, just the solids. Bah! Bah, I say! Maybe I'll start that soon, or save it for a car project for the trip. With me, who knows? I'm also thinking of furthering my crochet knowledge and trying this pattern for a cloche hat I found. It didn't come with a picture, so I have no idea what it'll end up looking like, but it's worth a try, right? I bought a bunch of cheap-ass cotton at Wallyworld the other night, so if it doesn't work, I'm only out a couple bucks.

Good news and bad news

Which, since this is a knitting blog, is extremely relative.

The good news is, I have a completed front of a Shapely Tank! Wooo! After I bound off the straps, I held it up to myself and decided I needed a few more rows b/c the armholes seemed to end too high...so I got to rip out two bind-offs. That was fun *eyeroll* I completely screwed one up, but once the edging is knit on you won't be able to tell. I just discovered a Tank-Along...if I can't join with my already-in-progress tank, I'll just have to make another (maybe not the Shapely though...I'll be ready to try something new.)

The bad news is, I don't have enough of the Fantasy Naturale for the Bistro Shirt. In fact, I'm short by 50 yards. Gah. And I know for sure that the store where I bought it is sold out of that color, much less the dye lot.

I'm finally teaching myself how to crochet...well, let's be completely honest. It's finally clicking. Yesterday I bought one of those Lion Brand scarf kits that comes with the hook/needles and big bulky yarn. I didn't think crochet hooks came that big! Anyway, it's a simple single crochet scarf, which I'm assuming is the crochet equivalent of a garter stitch scarf, out of Jiffy T&Q. Fuzzy. A little fuzzier than I like, but whatever. Anyway, the scarf itself seems sort of stiff, super thick too, thicker than it would end up if the yarn were knit...is that odd, or is my tension way tight? (I know a couple people who read this crochet, so I'm hoping they can help!)

*drools*

I ordered my yarn for Charlotte from Threadbear today. Rob sent me a picture of my colorway and I just keep opening it and looking at it and drooling....and drooling some more. Kelly said it looks like candy. I just want the yarn to come so I can start making it. I got a couple of skeins of Koigu from an eBay auction the other day--it feels sooooo nice.

Stocked up on cotton yesterday for hats and headscarves and things. I think before my trip I'm going to make a teeny Bottoms Up Bucket Hat for Son of Cousin (son's name eludes me at the time....Taylor I think?) I've got a blue ombre that would be super cute. I just have to finish up the one that's on the needles at the time, as soon as the replenishment yarn comes from Central Yarn this week sometime.

Found a pattern in my collection for a cap sleeve collared thingie that I think would be gorgeous in the Plymouth Fantasy Naturale I have in my stash...provided I have enough. Otherwise....oh darn, trip to the yarn store. The cap sleeves actually make me happy, for once, because I've already sunburned my shoulders once this spring, and maybe a bit of covering can help the sunblock.

The pictues that were supposed to show up Thursday

This hat came from VKOTG's Caps and Hats. I made it with Wool-Ease, which is actually awesome yarn considering it's mostly acrylic. I took out one pattern repeat and every time I measured the gauge it was right AND I made a size smaller than my head, but it was still too big. It's not meant to be folded up like it is in the picture.


This was just me not checking gauge and using yarn that's probably a bit heavier than called for. It's the Gathered Hat from Hip To Knit, and if you look really carefully you might be able to see the cable sort of on the right (your left) side of my head. Probably not, because it blends in fairly well since I used tweed yarn. Another member of the Wool-Ease family here, this is the Thick & Quick. Forgive the flirtatious look. I always give the camera weird looks when I'm taking pics of myself.


Got this pattern from a knitblogger, Will Knit For Food (I'm too lazy to find the URL right now, I'll edit and add it in later). Made from one (almost) skein of Noro Iro. Still needs blocking...the brim won't roll after it's blocked, it'll sort of hang down.


Wrist warmer. There are two, but the other one looks exactly the same, so I figured you'd get the effect from seeing just one. From the same crappy Red Heart yarn as the Kittyville hat. Just a K1P1 rib rectangle seamed up the side with a hole left for my thumb.


Since Tiffany wanted to see my progress on this...The colors are totally inaccurate. For some reason my flash decided not to work, and I was standing between the chair and the overhead light. You can see the waist shaping on the right side (because I pinned it out so you could!) and the poofiness up at the top is caused half by being smushed onto the needle and half by the short rowing.


Goodness! Where does the bed end and the kitty begin? She's been in it almost constantly since I finished it Thursday, so I think it's safe to say that she likes it :-) It's the Princess Snowball bed from SnB, sandstone Fun Fur for the side and black for the bottom (which you can't see, b/c there's an Ayla in the way).