Thursday, December 23, 2010

Successfully made the long trip up from Dallas to Des Moines yesterday. 12 hours of solid driving in a car with no cruise control is surprisingly painful, and I love my naproxen so very much. I finished ALL of my required Christmas knitting and got the required pieces in the mail in time for everyone to get it before the holidays. ^_^ Now I'm trying to finish my cousins socks before presents are opened on Saturday. These, thankfully, are in no way a surprise except in that she might get them this weekend. I'm doing













....we shall see.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Ahhhhhh the smell of wet wool in the morning! ...which you know, is really not my favorite smell. But I have finished ALL of my Christmas knitting! *happy dance* Now I've just got to work on all the various socks I've got on needles that I've promised to various people.
As I was getting dressed this morning I happened to pull these out of the drawer:



















These are my very first pair of socks. They are gone in Opal self-stripping using Ann Norling's pattern #12. When I started these the only things I'd ever knitted were scarves (no pattern, must me playing around with knits and purls) and most of a baby blanket with cables. I'd never worked with double points. I'd never worked in the round. I'd never picked up stitches or done a decrease. But I figured it out and that joy and sense of accomplishment at finishing something that has a real, honest to God purpose, is what keeps me knitting. So yes, these socks are what took from someone who knew how to knit, to a true Knitter. ^_^

Monday, December 6, 2010

Ahhhh winter has come to Dallas (and yes I'm very well aware that its been winter in most of the rest of the country for at least 2-3 months now). And this morning as I'm rushing to my car trying to balance everything, it dawns on me: its really, really stupid that a knitter, who not only knows how to make gloves but has in fact just finished making a pair of a friend, does not have a pair of her own. -_- Owwwwwww my hands hurt!!!!!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

I'm so thankful for new anime. Especially stuff with a good dub (bad dubs are unwatchable and its harder to watch something subbed when your constantly having to refer to a chart). My knitting was in danger of stalling out this week. Not so helpful to be all hyped to knit during work hours and then want to fall directly into bed the second I get home. And so K's gloves are now this far along:
This is the second glove so I've just got about half the index finger and the thumb, and then just some ends to weave in and then to give it a bath. I find it very easy to make gloves for K since our fingers are exactly the same length except for the pinky (her's are just slightly longer than mine). Tonight is PJs and Pearls at the yarn shop so I will definitely make some progress so hopefully I can make my goal of finishing these by Friday (my evil friend brought over a new RPG to play and its proving to be as fun as promised, so now there is competition for my attention). Wish me luck!

Monday, November 29, 2010

The knitting gods are testing me, oh yes indeed. Thankfully just on the one project. Not going to discuss it now for fear of smiting. *nod nod*

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

*head desk, head desk, head desk* Now really dear. Turning this:



















Into this:














And then back into this:



















Does not really help your knitting schedule. Especially since I may have to frog this back again if I can't find beads that match it. *sigh*

Friday, November 19, 2010

Argggggg!!! Stop adding things to your Christmas to-do list! No, no bad Katie! Stop browsing Ravelry. Stop going through your stash. Definitely stop feeling up the yarn at the Shabby Sheep and thinking about who might like it. If architecture school taught you ANYTHING it was that you cannot bend time (and oh Lord were there times when I wished I could). 5 projects, 5 weeks with nothing insane like a sweater is doable. IF you finish what you've currently got on needles, then - and only then - can you add something new. *stern mom look*

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Wow. Totally managed to fall off the face of the internet there. Life was kind of soul sucking for a while and I was out of town for a bit to visit family and now I'm hopefully back! I've been knitting lots lately. I finished my very first sweater. And it fits. Me, the person it was intended for ^_^
I used Mirasol's Wach'i which is a cotton yarn. I really liked the way it worked up and its particularly nice for Texas. I have actually worn this out in public a few times which is really good because I was afraid that I wouldn't after it was done. I like the look of sweaters, I just very rarely like me in them. I feel like I look the sausage stuffed in casing. You never fell pretty when that image is running around in your head.

I entered the beaded shawl of doom in the Texas State Fair this year and took home an honorable mention. I normally enter food in the fair and discovered that entering handmade items makes me much more nervous. I have lost so, so much more than I have ever won that I would think I'd get to the point where I'd be all blase about it but apparently not.

I also discovered Ella Rae's Lace Merino this summer which I love so beyond the telling of it. I want it all and I want to roll in it. I have done three projects in it so far and am thinking I might be able to use it in a fourth sometime soon.

Here we have the socks I made for the fair (didn't win) done in Cachoeira with Girl's Night Out:



















This is the scarf I made for T with Playground using the Stained Glass Lace Scarf. Is it surprising that architects are drawn to patterns based on building elements....nope, not at all



















And finally I'm working on these amazingly cool socks for my mom for Christmas. The pattern is Mirror Mirror by Janel Laidman. I never do colorwork. I've got a partially done pair of socks stuck in the bin that I started probably 5 years ago and until this last month that was the extent of the colorwork I'd done. I've now started these and made a Tam using Jared Flood's Beaumont that I gave to Dani. I recognize that its not the technique I have a problem with so much as I tend to think of the patterns as Ski Chalet Chic. These are definitely not that.



















I really need to stop starting new projects until I finish up some of the ones I've got on my needles. At least those that I plan on giving as gifts. I really don't want a repeat of the year I was up till 2 pulling out waste canvas from the cross-stitched sweatshirt I'd made my aunt. Which was then made worse buy having to wrap everything after that. I've never learned the trick of warping time and architecture school would have taught me that if it could be done.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Cotton Palozza

Weeeeeeeeee! I am taking a break from the lace and making REALLY cute things in cotton. It's like a treasure trove of pretty colors. I was browsing Ravelry, like ya do, and stumbled across this gem of a pattern. Penelope the Empathetic Monster by Rebecca Danger. Now a former professor of mine just had a little girl a couple of months ago and I thought this would be perfect for her. And then I showed it to Elf and she immediately said she wanted a blue one. So my knitting plans for this holiday weekend are all set up. I'm also doing a simply bunny toy that I did for P's son a while back. Its based off a free pattern from lion's brand but I use the alterations found on Erika's blog. I find the square head of the original pattern a touch creepy. I also don't like it when the bunny's arm are untied. *shudder* P agrees with me so I'm not the only one. ^_^

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Black Shawls of Doom

Oh happy day! I have finally finished the second Curved Shawl by Jane Sowerby that my coworker ordered for her sister. This one turned out much better than the first, what with reading the chart correctly and doing double joins all along the edge instead of singles like I did last time. The first one really did turn out fine, it just didn't look quite like it was supposed to.

Now I just have one more shawl to make for her. Thankfully I convinced her that a different pattern would be good because I think if I had to do this pattern again, I'd scream (nothing wrong with the pattern its just kinda boring after the first one and tedious after the second). Originally I was supposed to make her 1 Curved Shawl and 2 Myrtle Leaf Shawls, both from Victorian Lace Today. And instead I've done 2 Curved Shawls (the sister decided to give one to a friend and I got to make her another) and 1 Myrtle Leaf, which took forever and bored me to tears by the end of it. I'll admit, I had to rip back 10 full rows of the thing cause of my not reading the chart correctly. That sucked....a lot. So instead of the Myrtle Leaf I'm doing the North Roe Shawl by Dodlie. It has a similar leaf motif, is smaller, and does not have a picked up border *thumbs up* Its going well and is an easy pattern to memorize (this of course completely belies the fact that I had to completely rip back the first repeat of chart 1). I'm hoping to capitalize on my finishing jag and get this one done by the end of next month. And then I can work on things with color!!!!!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

USA wins Group

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The shawl is done!!!!!! It took almost exactly two months to finish from cast on to final blocking. The final bead count was roughly 9,500 ^_^. And, and my picture of the shawl is now featured on Ravelry, which I am sooooo very excited about.

I won't be able to gift my cousin with it until I head to my parents from my birthday next month, but I figure that gives me plenty of time to show it off to absolutely everyone I know :)

I have been in a finishing mood as of late, which I know means I need to work on projects as fast as possible before it packs its bags for greener pastures. Of course the thing I want to finish the most I don't have anymore yarn for. Thankfully I just need one more skein of Bristol in black, which is very easy to find, but now I must throw myself on the tender mercies of the post office. Move faster damn it!

I could also justify starting two other shawls, one because I'm being paid for it (not a lot but whatever) and the other because...well its new yarn and a cool pattern. Except in both cases I need a size 7 circular needle.....WHICH I DON'T HAVE! So again I am waiting for things to arrive in the mail. *sigh* I love knit picks needles and they are cheap, which is a really good thing right now, but really if it weren't for the money I would have just gone out and bought an Addi needle (stupid job, start paying regularly again *kick*). So instead I'm working on these for M:







































Cross-Country Socks by Ingrid Hiddessen done in Mini Mochi Intense Rainbow.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

a PSA

I will come right out and say it: I REALLY dislike glassed in porches. I mean seriously, your walking down the sidewalk and you look over and you can just tell that that was never the intent of the design. Its ugly, ugly, ugly. And this is because they were installed by a contractor and not a design person (this is not to say that people who design for a living do not make ugly things, because they most certainly do). I think what annoys me even more is that I have, on occasion, see a very well done filled in porch. So its not a law of nature that says they have to be bad, just a law of window department of your local mega hardware store. Take a little time and effort people. Its your house, and generally the entrance to your house, so take a little pride in it and do something nice!

This rant was brought up by a project I'm working on. Client is moving the entrance of their house and I am working out how to make it stand out. A glassed in porch was suggested as a potential solution....ummmmm no. Thankfully my idea of a wrap-a-round porch looks many times better.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Kitties and a ton of beads

My kitties do NOT think I should sleep in on the weekends. 7:45 comes around and there is suddenly a lot of meowing and stomping all over me. Its so incredibly difficult to ignore their pointy little feet digging into my side. -_- Maddex has also picked up this fun new trick of sitting on the back of the couch and putting his claws into my scalp. Why?!?!

I'm down to the edging on my beaded shawl. I just have to pick up another, oh 765 beads. Which puts the total bead count for this thing in the range of 10,000 to 9,500 beads....Yes I'm well aware that people think I'm nuts. ^_^ I can't wait to see what this looks like when its all blocked out. I am so lucky to have crafty friends. T only smiles a bit when I ask her if I can come over to borrow her carpet. But then I taught her the joy of piecing, the process of taking big pieces of fabric and cutting them into little pieces of fabric and then sewing them together to make a big piece of fabric. Of course if her mother comes over that could be interesting to explain. See I do most of my blocking on my bead, but since this thing, unblocked, is as big as mine last shawl finished.....I really don't think its going to fit. And so a trip to Plano is in my future.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

I'm so very proud of myself today. Actually got up at 7 this morning to go bike riding. I will admit there were a few moments in there after I made the alarm stop yelling at me that I came really close to just going back to sleep. But instead I hauled my ass around the neighborhood for about 50 minutes. ^_^ I now have grand plans to get up early every other day and ride my bike before work....we will have to see how long I manage that for.

The sweater continues along nicely, if a little slower than I would like (this is my fault, not the sweaters). This is turning out to be a perfect easy knit for me. Not too complicated but also with just enough going on that I don't get bored. I recently made a pair of socks for a friend that had 6 inches of ribbed cuff. I thought I was going to scream. But yes, this seems to be the sweater equivalent of the Cable Rib Socks.

Friday, May 28, 2010

its always weird watching ads with the sound off

I hate swatching, I really, really do. I just want to jump right into a project and swatching feels like getting tripped up at the start of a race (not that I do any racing, since a lot of that involves runnig). So its probably a good thing that I mostly make shawls and socks. But I've decided to attempt to make an actual sweater this time so I'm going to have to suck it up and make one. I'm going to try making Primrose Path by Angela Hahn. Its pretty and lacy and doesn't appear overly constrictive which is what I hate most about a lot of sweaters. I do not want to feel like the filling of a sausage when I'm wearing one. ^_^ I'm using Mirasol's Wach'i in Bright Teal. Pretty pretty.

Of course the reason I've started a new project at all is because the bead store is currently out of the beads I need to continue the shawl I'm making for my cousin. This thing has seriously eaten my brain. I haven't worked on anything else in the last month and a half. I've got a chart and half to go and I've put 5,000 beads into it and I need another 3,500 (I did the math before going shopping this time). Yes I full recognize that many people would not consider this fun.

Taking these photos has also made it apparent that I either need a new camera or some more instruction so that the colors come out more accurately. But thats for another day, so I'm off to finish swatching.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

An intro...of sorts

Some days its just not worth gnawing through the leather straps.