Posts Tagged ‘lace’

More Christmas Knitting

{ 9 September 2009 @ 11:19 am } · { knit }
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I’m onto my third Christmas knitting project: a sweater for my cousin’s daughter. I’m kind of cheating with this one, as I’ve already made a smaller version of this pattern. Here’s a picture of it, although you’ll have to forgive its mis-shaped-ness; it’s been hanging out in my knitting bag for a few days and it got a little wrinkled.

This is Mable (again), this time with Cascade 220 Heathers. The color in the photo isn’t even close… I’m going to blame the green curtains I have on the windows for skewing it. The yarn is actually very dark blue, with a little green & purple mixed in. I’m working on the sleeves now, and have passed the lace at the cuffs and am on to the boring stockinette part.

The thing that’s been distracting me from the sweater is my newest lace project, “A Knitted Veil in Pyreneese Wool” from Victorian Lace Today. I’m using malabrigo lace weight yarn, and that coupled with size 4 needles makes for very slow going. I’m up to row 42, and it’s still only this big:

The only thing keeping me going is the knowledge that it will get bigger when I block it. Well, that and the fact that it’s so much fun to watch the pattern emerge. There is no end to my excitement of finishing a row and holding the piece up to check it out.

Oh yeah. I’m a girl of simple needs!

Summer Knitting

{ 5 September 2009 @ 11:50 pm } · { knit }
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In deference to my good friend Sharon’s protest regarding the viewing of woolie projects during periods of extreme heat, I’ve been indulging in some lightweight knitting. Although my latest project weighs barely more than a feather, it is rather slow going. Here is 24 rows of lace using malabrigo Polar Morn:

Even after 24 rows, it’s so little you can just barely see the pattern. The best thing about this particular bit of lace is that every row is knit, and every row is patterned, so it’s not boring. It did present a problem, however, at the very onset. I cast on 7 times, each time realizing after two rows that I’d miscounted and had 114, or 112, or 116 stitches rather than the 113 that I actually needed. This last time I actually had one extra, but figured out a way to remove it and retain most of my sanity and a tiny bit of my dignity.

I realize now that I should have set a coin on top of this bit of knitting to show just how little it is. That’s just going to have to wait though. My camera’s batteries are dead, and there will be no more photography happening tonight.

Anything but Orange

{ 2 August 2009 @ 12:55 pm } · { knit }
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Maybe, someday way WAY in the future, I will knit something orange again. But it won’t happen anytime soon.

Here is Jojo’s shawl, washed and blocking on my bed.

Technically, it’s just drying, as it is so huge that I cannot pin it evenly. I’ve managed to talk Jojo into seeing the charm of leaving the edges ruffly. In the end, it took 6 balls of KnitPicks Palette yarn in Sweet Potato to finish, and from tip to tip is about 8 feet wide and 3 feet long. I think my gauge might have been off a bit, but since I don’t have the book with me right now (it’s all the way out in the car, and I just don’t feel like getting it), I can’t say for sure that it ended up being bigger than it was supposed to be.

But you know what?

It’s done, and Jojo is happy with it, so I’m happy with it.

I’m going to celebrate by knitting on something anything else. For all those cheering me on from cyberspace, my knit night group, and Wisconsin, I thank you for your support!

I have the attention span of a gnat on crack…

{ 14 July 2009 @ 11:05 pm } · { knit }
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… or so it would seem. Last night, almost immediately upon publishing my post, the knitting fates gave me a smack up-side the head. I found an error four rows back (yes, those would be the four rows I did yesterday during my meeting and lunch) that was so weird I couldn’t just back up those few stitches and correct it. No, I actually had to remove all four rows.

Did I mention it was four rows? Oh, yeah, I suppose I did.

Anyway, I frogged back to my mistake, then carefully “reloaded’ my needle and knit just enough to ensure I had, in fact, corrected the error and that none of my stitches were twisted around (I simply REFUSE to have any twisted stitches in this sweater).

Then I put it away.

It’s not hibernating… it’s napping!

I swear that this time I’ll pick it back up faster. I promise not to vanquish it to the zip-lock bag of doom, nor to shove it to the bottom of my knitting bag.

But I did get just a teensy bit sidetracked. But it’s a gift for someone who isn’t expecting it. Those are my favorite kinds to give!!

Lace Poncho from Interweave Knits Fall 2005, in malabrigo buscando azul

I should mention that I’m not making it into a “poncho” as the name implies; rather, it will be a scarf. I added two repeats in the middle of the rows to make it wider because I’m using skinnier yarn and smaller needles (size 6). If you’re going to try this, I suggest using a larger needle to cast on. My cast on edge is a little bit scrunchy, but I’m not going to change it unless something tragic happens in the next couple of rows. This pattern is really easy to memorize, and it’s fairly simple to tell if you’ve screwed up (ask me how I know. I dare you) because of the way the little groups line up.

Well, I’m so tired I don’t have the will to knit – my eyes are barely open. Tomorrow, I’m going to work on the FLS again.

Isn’t it funny?

{ 6 July 2009 @ 6:30 pm } · { knit }
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Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. George Santayana

Apparently, I am one of those. I’ve come to the (slow) realization that I never knit a project once. Instead, I cast on and knit away for an inch (or, in this case, all the way to the toe of a sock), realize I made some sort of grievous error, then rip it back and start over. The only thing saving me this time is that the mistake happened after the heel, so I don’t have to go all the way back to the beginning.

(Unfortunately, the lovely Miss Jojo ran my camera’s batteries down to the nub yesterday, so you’ll have to wait until after dinner to see the photo of my disgrace and disgust)

Before…

…and after. I’m over it. See how I’ve matured?

I  actually noticed this trend with the evil shawl of doom, and took a moment to appreciate it. Although I have to do everything (at least) twice, the second time goes impressively well. Hopefully, the same will be true with this sock. I’d like to finish this installment of the Rockin’ Sock Club before the July shipment arrives!

I should note that this error is entirely my fault. The pattern is perfectly written. I simply can’t follow directions. This is not a new problem… My mom can probably dig up a report card from grade school that can attest to this being a long standing and ingrained issue.

Update: Focus Restored

{ 30 June 2009 @ 8:49 pm } · { knit }
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Ha! I’ll bet you thought the orange shawl had been forever abandoned. Well, I have refocused and am making steady progress. Here are some photos of the shawl, taken just moments ago…

 
Miles and miles and miles of orange...

Miles and miles (or so it seems to me) of orange…

I can only spread out one panel at a time, otherwise the rest of it will fall off the needles.

I have to admit that this afternoon, as I was sitting outside Starbucks racing to finish the row I was on before Sami finished her Kempo lesson, with Jojo cheering me on, I was a little chilly. So when I did finish the row (not before Sami finished her lesson, but before she returned with her lovely beverage), I tried it on. Even though this yarn is thin, and the fabric is holey, this is a toasty little shawl! I’d never understood the appeal of a shawl.  Until today.

I may need to make one for myself…although not any time soon. I need to do some little projects.

Well, that didn’t last long

{ 26 June 2009 @ 12:19 pm } · { knit }
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My focus is, to put it mildly, not so good. I believe it was Wednesday when I said I’d do my best to keep to just the shawl and the sock. Remember? Well.

Last night between work and Knit Night (when I really should have been hunting down something yummy to contribute), I went instead to a new to me yarn store. I really wasn’t looking for anything. I’d just never been to this one, and felt I should try it out. What a frustrating store! None of the yarn had price tags…I eventually stumbled across a price list, organized by the name of the yarn (Malabrigo Lace was under “Lace”) rather than brand, and some weren’t listed at all. Of course, this small inconvenience didn’t stop me from making a purchase. Observe…

malabrigo Lace in Butter

I bought two hanks, and then asked the clerk if she could wind them for me or, if she was too busy, if she’d let me use her winder to do it myself. That’s when it happened…I’ll not be returning to this store. 

Her response to my request was: “I have a swift you can use, but I don’t have a winder. You’ll have to wind it by hand.”

Huh? What kind of yarn store doesn’t have a winder? I’d just bought 940 yards of yarn, and was going to have to wind it by HAND? 

I know, this is kind of a wimpy response. Surely this is how people of yore wound their yarn. But 940 yards? I don’t mind winding some DK or worsted weight yarn by hand. Heck, I’ve even done my RSC yarn by hand. But that’s because I either forgot to have it done at the store or (in the case of the RSC yarn) it was mailed to me and I didn’t feel comfortable asking to use a winder at a store where I hadn’t purchase the yarn. 

After I’d wound one hank and was getting ready to leave, I asked her the question I’d been pondering for the half hour it took me to wind up all that yarn into a non-center pull ball (I lost control of my center pretty early in the process). “Why do you not have a winder? Did yours break?”

Her response:

“I am usually here alone, and can’t help customers if I’m always winding yarn.” OK, this is understandable, if not well thought out. Couldn’t she just have the winder available so if a customer needed some yarn wound they could do it themselves? I’ve used winders at other stores, where there was a single person working who was too busy to do it for me, and it wasn’t rocket science. You put the yarn on the swift, thread the end through the little loops, attach it to the slit of the winder, then turn the handle until there’s no yarn left on the swift. (At some point during our conversation, I even offered, if she had any in stock, to purchase a winder from her and donate it to all of her future customers) Then she gave me a withering look (maybe it wasn’t exactly “withering”…this misinterpretation could very well have been caused by my aching arms and the fact that her store was getting a trifle warm. I wasn’t exactly in my normal wool induced good mood), and said, “There’s nothing wrong with winding a ball of yarn by hand.”

I’m guessing she doesn’t use a lot of lace weight.

When we last saw Amy

{ 23 May 2009 @ 11:49 pm } · { knit }
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 she was sitting on her bed, admiring the many lovely skeins of yarn that had arrived via UPS. Tempted though she was to immediately start a project (a shawl for the lovely Miss Alex? a Latvian mitten? ), she knew she must finish the socks that she had already on the needles. 

“The socks are lovely too,” she thought. “I really would like to wear them to knit night next Thursday.  Dare I hope to knit that many rounds in just a week?”

She consulted the project sheet she’d made up for the socks, listing the total number of rows, the corresponding chart row, and which general section (leg, heel, gusset, foot) that row fell in. “Totally doable!” she quipped – to herself though, fearing the wrath of the knitting gods. She dutifully re-bagged the yarn and set it in the basket next to her bed.

This was obviously a mistake, as the yarn taunted her. “C’mon,” it said in a very sassy voice. “Just cast on the shawl. It’s six stitches – SIX!! How can that hurt? You know you can stop any time.”

“Well,” thought Amy, “that’s true. I’ll just do the cast on. Maybe the first row or two to make sure I understand the pattern. Then it’s back to the socks for me.”

Amy did more than just the first few rounds, but by Friday evening she was back at the socks. Saturday morning dawned and Amy consulted her project sheet.

“I really want to try those Latvian Mittens. I am intrigued by the braid at the cuff, and can’t wait to try my hand at knitting more than one color at a time. Alas, I don’t have any size 0 needles. I’ll go to the yarn store – after I’m done with the lovely socks – and pick some up. But wait! Today is Saturday. The yarn store is closed on Sunday and Monday. That means I’ll have to wait until Wednesday to go and get those needles. Surely I’ll be finished with the socks well before then. I know. I’ll go to the yarn store and get the needles today. I promise to myself that I will go in, nab the needles, and not even glance at any of the yarn. I won’t even sit down. Just the needles, ma’am. Then I will return home to work on those socks.”

She did, in fact, make a quick and painless trip to the yarn store, keeping true to her oath not to let her eyes wander to all the wonderful yarns that were there. Upon returning home, she set her needles and her socks down on the couch next to her. She picked up the socks, but couldn’t tear her thoughts away from the toothpick sized needles laying beside her. What will it be like to knit with something so delicate? Maybe just one row…

socks…compare to Thursday evening’s post, and you can see there’s been a bit of progress…

 here is 13 rows of chart 108 from “Latvian Mittens” by Lizbeth Upitis (with a bit of creative interpretation due to a combination of my inablitiy to either count properly or read a chart)

and my greatest transgression, about 37 rows of shawl

The next installment will have to wait until sometime on Monday, as tomorrow has been declared a knitting holiday.

Wait! before you get all excited, this means that due to the fact that my house has somehow exploded around me (read above and you’ll understand why) I will not be knitting at all tomorrow. Someone knit for me, please? I’ll live vicariously through you…

Lookit!!

{ 21 May 2009 @ 10:34 pm } · { knit }
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Guess what the UPS guy brought me today????

No, really. Guess!!

Wait. I’ll give you a clue.

Hmm. You probably won’t need anymore, but I’m so excited I’m going to give them to you anyway.

But wait, there’s more! Observe:

That’s about 15 skeins (more or less) of Palette Yarn from KnitPicks. With the exception of the Sweet Potato, which is earmarked to become a Half Hexagon Spider Web Shawl (from Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby, page 45), this yarn has aspirations of someday being made into a pair (not just a lonely single) of Latvian Mittens. I can’t wait to get started, but I feel I should make a little more progress on my socks, as I’m at the point right now where I always lose interest and start something new.


Rogue Roses Socks from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Rockin’ Sock Club, designed by the YarnHarlot


I have to tell you, I’m particularly pleased with the heel on these socks. I actually remembered to slip the first stitch of every row, and the result was so lovely that I’ll never forget again. Here, so I will never forget the joy of these heels, is a close up:

But wait, that’s not all!

This is the Wool of the Andes. That’s ten, count ‘em, TEN skeins. I don’t know what this wants to be yet, but I can’t wait to start it!

But first…

I must finish the socks.

Got my butt kicked…

{ 29 April 2009 @ 12:14 am } · { knit }
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Let me start by saying that I love knitting. I love it especially because the ability to make something with two sticks and some string eluded me for years. Many people tried to teach me, but until recently (less than a year ago), I just didn’t get it. Then one night, when I was incredibly bored and stuck in San Diego waiting for the girlies, I went to Michael’s and got some yarn and knitting needles, called my mom (she’s in Wisconsin, so there was no way to just pop in and request another tutorial), and asked her to explain “cast on” to me. In October, I knit a scarf as a Christmas gift for my aunt. Then I did a pair of mittens (they’re still not quite done). Then hats for the girls.

Then I got brave and bought the Habitat Hat pattern from Brooklyn Tweed (as an aside…this guy is amazing!!! I almost can’t stand going to his site because the stuff he knits is so incredible!). If you’ve not knit this yet, I highly recommend it. This was my first attempt at following a chart. OMG, I was so confused the first 3 times I started it!!! Then, all of a sudden like, it clicked. And let me tell you, as a very novice knitter I felt as though I was on par with… well, with my mom, my grandma, my aunts… all of the great artists in my family!! Full of confidence from just that one little hat, I moved on to more and more challenging projects, including a lace scarf from Victorian Lace Today – “Scarf with the No. 20 edging from “The Knitted Lace Pattern Book,” Thompson Bros., Kilmarnock, Scotland, 1850″.

 

Which brings me to this week. And my butt kicking.

First, winning for most times re-knit (all parts done at least twice) and longest on the needles, is my February Lady Sweater. (This woman’s is beautiful. Almost inspiring. Almost.) This was an exercise in how NOT to knit a sweater. Started March 16, I’d planned to have it finished by the time my family and I went to Wisconsin on April 7. This obviously didn’t work out, as it’s still not done. In fact, it has suffered a mind numbing setback, and I quite nearly decided to pull the whole thing out and knit a (very long) scarf. I initially bought just two skeins of Araucania Toconao just because I loved the color, then had to go back for four more because I decided it would be perfect for the February Lady Sweater, even though the swatch showed otherwise. After many false starts and do-overs, on Sunday evening I got to the point where I had only 2.5 rows left to go. And about 36″ of yarn. Can you believe I actually knit to the end of that 36″, hoping against all that is holy or reasonable that I would make it.  I didn’t. The next day, I saw that it was good that there wasn’t enough yarn, because I had very obvious stripes where I’d run out of three small leftover bits. I had one full skein (hank?) left, ready to go, but hadn’t used it because it was weirdly more saturated than all of the others. Last night, I pulled out the traitorous sleeve with grand plans to alternate my original (matching) yarn with the weird stuff. I didn’t get very far, because tomorrow is my day off and I’m going to go back to Two Sisters and Ewe to see if MAYBE they have a more compatible skein left. 

So, with that project on hold, I restarted (for the third time) the Hemlock Ring Blanket, again inspired by Brooklyn Tweed. I keep getting to about row 31 and lose a stitch. Are you surprised that I did the same thing this time? I’m not. Not even a little bit. I can’t stand the thought of doing those 10 rows of plain knitting again, so I’m going to tink it back and make copious use of my markers to prevent this from happening again.

Finally, we have the Rockin’ Sock Club socks. I didn’t join until mid-March, so I’m still on January’s mailing. My kits arrived while I was on vacation (and not working on my FLS), and I started them just as soon as I bought the right needles. And the book about doing two socks at once. And Cat Bordhi’s book on knitting socks on two needles. They’re very cool, but I think I made a mistake on the heel flap of one of them, and haven’t had the heart yet to tear it back. I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll find a mistake on the other heel flap, and will have to take yet another giant leap backwards.  

And so tonight I took some time off from knitting, got some laundry done, watched WALL-E with Max for the hundredth time (I love how excited he gets when he sees the space ship), and set up a cool new blog to record my frustrations on! Maybe tomorrow the knitting gods will smile upon me and hand over a matching skein of FLS yarn.

A girl can dream, can’t she?