Sunday, December 25, 2011

Drive-By Post

Spinning Wheel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Well I always knew it would happen someday. For the first time, a Christmas present will not arrive in time for the big day. Well I feel I should clarify that it will arrive in Dallas....right about the time I'm leaving for Des Moines -_-. Ah well, at least the person it is intended for is of an age to understand the post office not delivering things on time.

As for my Christmas knitting, it is going....mostly ok. I got all of the knitting destined for people not in Des Moines finished and mailed Monday/Tuesday. I was feeling really good at that point. All I needed to do was finish a pair of simple color work socks. I have finally gotten to start on the second sock but only after having to rip back the cuff on the first one for being too tight, and then the toe for being too short, and then the heel for being too short thus being too tight. But I still have airport time and all day tomorrow to finish so unless I run out of yarn (which is actually a possibility) I should have something to give my Aunt.

I feel like maybe I should go and pick up that "Crazy Cat Lady" action figure too.....

Friday, December 9, 2011

Christmas Knitting

I'm starting to think that knitters are touched in the head. Why do we do this to ourselves? And why do we enjoy it? Nobody in my family NEEDS knitted things and yet here I am working to cram more projects in before the deadline. So here is the "hard" list:

Cat Socks: Not yet cast on. Will be done with some of my leftover sock yarn

Scarf for Grandma: Finished!!!!!! Done in Magnolia

Socks for Casey: About 2/3 done with the first sock




















Hat for Grandma: Going to alter cable pattern to match scarf. Not yet on needles.

Gloves for Kristen: Past the bobbles on the second glove!!! This is some of the yarn I dyed in my yarn dying class. Base is White Bear Silk/Wool sock yarn.




















At this moment in time I am on schedule! Of course now what I really want to do is spin -_-

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Finished my very first pair of knee high socks this week. The yarn is gorgeous and a joy to work with, the finished pattern is absolutely lovey, but by God was I glad to finally finish them :). Knit night on Thursday was spent doing the I-cord and wishing that it it would just magically go from 2" to the final 21". It isn't like I-cord takes particularly long, I've done it before! Thankfully the second sock did not give me nearly as much trouble as the first....which I frogged the toe, part of the foot, gusset, 6" of cuff, and the top multiple times. -_- And most of these problems were my own fault. So mew. Of course all of this means I'm praying to the knitting gods that they fit. My friend has MUCH thinner legs than I do so I've had to do my fitting on a large plastic cup I own. If they fit, I will hopefully be able to post some cuter pictures but here are the ones I took today before mailing them off.

Pattern Zum Dirndl by Yarnissima

Sunday, June 19, 2011

I have recently made the truly awesome discovery that I can, in fact, read and knit at the same time. And when I say read, I am not talking about following along with the subtitles on an anime or foreign film. I'm talking about opening up a blog, or article, or bit of fic and READING! Now when I run out of things I want to watch on television, or more likely when I'm between Netfilx deliveries, I have more options than finding something not horrible on cable ^_^. I am very limited to just knitting of course, nothing I have to look at to do, but still.

Now if only I could figure out how to knit and work out at the same time. :)

Friday, June 17, 2011

Doing the Lace thing

Well crud muffins! I was doing so well and now I get to have the pleasure of ripping back 2 rows. Which really wouldn't be so bad except for the little thing where there are 560 stitches to each row -_- I just really felt like there should be yarn overs in the pattern right there. *le sigh*
This is the pattern currently punishing me for paying more attention to Due South than it, Evenstar by Susan Pandorf in some lovely lace Madelinetosh Lepidoptr:



















I may possible be crazy but I am trying to get it along with a pair of socks and a scarf done by the 22nd of July. I am really hoping I can manage to get down to New Orleans one more time before I move and these are all gifts for people who live there. I think it is theoretically possible....maybe...
















Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Thought of the day:

"I'd rather be spinning"

Sunday, May 15, 2011

A Spinning Update

Last night after I rolled back into town from visiting with my family I discovered this lovely package under my mailbox:















That is 10 1oz hanks of yarn of 10 different wools! Now I can play around and see what types of wool I find easier to spin than others ^_^. So far I have discovered that Jacob is VERY slippery and the brown merino is working really well. I am in fact actually spinning and drafting at the same time with the merino. *is highly proud of herself*

Last weekend was a spinning Cinco de Mayo party at the yarn store. Despite spending an entire afternoon there, I didn't get a single picture. But I had lots of fun talking about yarn and watching other people spin. I want a wheel SO badly now, I think my father will be pleased. I also went ahead and picked up my very first braid. It is "Cold Sheeping" by Two if by Hand. I wasn't having a great deal of luck with it until I tried pre-drafting it before spinning it. And then I got this:














I might actually be able to make something with this! *squee*

Today I have been running around doing errands before I had down to Austin this coming week for a Revit class. Apple has a very cool store, but I don't think it should ever be a challenge to figure out where to pay. -_- But I prevailed and now have a brand new, fully functioning connector cable so I can charge and sync Dean again :)

Friday, April 29, 2011

Yarn Therapy

I am sad today. My T is leaving me for Pittsburgh! How dare she get excepted to grad school! ^_^ I am of course very, very happy for her, but I am going to miss her terribly. Who is going to watch soccer games with me now?

So in this frame of mind I went to the yarn store....as you might have guessed, I ended up walking out with more than I probably should have. In my defense, I really did think about only getting a sock pattern.

I picked up some ever so pretty Diadem by Alisha Goes Around, and some lovely blue Crock-O-Dye by Knit One Crochet Too
















It makes me very happy it only took half an hour of being posted on Facebook for both of these skeins to be claimed by friends ^_^ They are both destined to be socks at some point in the nearish future

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter

Omph! Jogging is hard and painful work....though much less painful once you figure out how to run correctly. Apparently I've been doing it wrong for years! Who new? Of course we will see how long this lasts as we get closer to summer in Dallas.

I've been working on both my spinning and my sock making recently. Finished up the pirate socks for Melissa:















I hope she likes them! Need to remember to shove them into the mail this week.

Also started these for Eileen:















Magic Mirror socks also done by Jeannie Cartmel. Apparently this is a month for toe up socks! I'm getting really comfortable with the Turkish Cast on.

And here ia a picture of some of my spinning! I am ridiculously proud of this yarn, in all its over spun glory
















Now I have to go be an adult type person and send out more resumes *sigh*

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Baby Steps

I have taken my first steps into the glorious world known as spinning. :) I am inordinately proud of this.






























Yes it is overspun, yes it is thick and thin yet still missing the art yarn mark, and no there is not really enough to do anything with. But it looks like yarn and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

oh sweet jesus it is hot! In a reversal of winter where in an attempt to save some money I keep the house at 50 most of the time (and that only so I wont freeze pipes), right now I am steadfastly refusing to turn on the A/C. Even with ceiling fans and UV film over most of the windows and the one window I don't worry about the cats escaping from open, I still have to abandon the living room around 1. 80 is simply unpleasant to do much of anything in. I am actually thinking about blowing up the air mattress tomorrow and sleeping on the porch.

This is all interfering with my knitting progress -_-. Maybe I can borrow one of the carrels at the library this week and do some work there. That should get me at least a few looks :)

Sunday, April 3, 2011

So apparently March = knitting slum, and I don't get it at ALL. Its March in Dallas for goodness sake, it isn't like it is all gray and cold here. Seasonal Spring Depression? *le sigh* So no, I did not get a lot of knitting done last month. With the exception of one hat, I think I finished 2 projects I had started in February. But hopefully that slump is done for awhile.

The hat is pretty, pretty. My dear dear friend T got excepted into grad school in Pittsburgh for archival studies and this weekend was her orientation. And I thought a new chapter in her life deserved a stylish new hat. Plus its Pittsburgh, it is still cold there. This also gave me an excuse to pick up some of the lovely Classic Elite Magnolia that I have been eying in the shop for months now. The pattern is a free one on Ravelry, Rylands Cabled Hat.















And yesterday I cast on a project I've been wanting to do for months. Over Christmas my cousin and I were looking at sock patterns to determine where her preferences lie (it is something so few people know about themselves and yet its very important to establish if you are a lace or cable or colorwork kind of person ^_^) So as we are browsing away, I come across this pattern by Jeannie Cartmel called Pirate Danger (Profile page, pattern at the bottom of the page and Ravelry Link) and I knew I had to do them for Melissa. But I figured I would be good and wait till I found the right yarn before starting them. And then one day I was in the yarn shop and there was this absolutely perfect Ella Rae Lace Merino (ok, I admit I always look at the Lace Merino. This will only be the 6th project I do with it. It isn't an obsession). So last night I put on some silly movies and did this:

Monday, February 21, 2011

I am not yet convinced that I am capable of knitting with two strands of yarn at the same time. I am currently trying (and the key word here at the moment is TRY) to make a baby hat for my dear friend Princess that involves double knitting. And, apparently, you can't do double knitting only using the English method.

So last night I watched a few videos and read a few tutorials and figured out how to knit Continentially. Which is slightly weird but not difficult although my gauge is definitely tighter at this moment. However, the minute I add that extra strand of yarn to either hand it all ends up going very wrong. Tension becomes a thing I can only dream of and somehow despite doing what the videos tell me, I am still carrying the yarn across the front. *pout*


P.S. Yes I also know that really what I need to do is sit down and practice for you know more than half an hour but I'm choosing to ignore that at the moment and hope it will all magically work out anyway

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Had a really lovely girls/spring cleaning weekend. T and I meet up with my friend Steph at a fantastic Italian place for lunch followed by a visit to the Kimball to see the Salvatore Rosa exhibit. While my dad didn't think these plans were exceptionally fun sounding, I had a ball. I so rarely get to indulge in lunches where champagne is served ^_^.

As is typical of T and I, we meet up in Plano which means I got another opportunity to knit in public places. This is generally an opportunity to practice my conversational skills with completely random people. I've run into fellow knitters, genuinely curiously people, and those who seemed to use it as an excuse to half ass hit on me. This trip was remarkable in that not one person said anything. Though at least a few did stare *grin*

I keep flipping between projects at the moment but I'm hopeful that I will get Casey's gloves done in time for her to use them this winter. Of course she lives in Boston so I think I've got a few weeks.















Spud and Cloe fine sock with Io by Asa Tricosa

Friday, February 4, 2011

I had decided recently that instead of buying new yarn, I would finish up all of my WIPs. This would both save me money and insure that people whose gifts I've started wouldn't have to wait years before getting their happy knitted thing. It was actually all going fairly well, until yesterday, when I filed my tax return and suddenly didn't feel quite so broke. I swear I only intended to buy some different green yarn for a baby hat and somehow I came out with enough yarn to do three new projects.

Here is some lovely Spud and Chole Fine Sock for Casey that will become a neat pair of gloves















And here we have some Jitterbug for Stephanie















And finally we have some Pagewood Farms for Eileen.














I feel I should point out that none of its for me. I'm sure that makes it better...somehow ^_^

Friday, January 28, 2011

I just successfully did my first spit splice! That is surprisingly cool. ^_^

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I hate it when the computers decide to remind you who holds the upper hand in our dependent and frankly rather abusive relationship. *sigh* So this morning I get to deal with an "infamous vista problem" and use my boss's laptop for the actual work I need to get done. I never enjoy using other people's computers, they feel so very personal and like I'm going through the other person's underwear drawer so something. This is probably really illogical but whatever.

In knitting news I finally finished up a pair of socks I've been working on since May of 2009 (at least according to Ravelry). 2009! Really? I don't generally suffer from second sock syndrome. I suffer from whatever it is that causes you to cast something on and then leave it partway finished for years. With this pair I finished the first one and then....nothing. Didn't cast on, didn't put the project in my queue, didn't even really look at the thing once that first one was done. But now they are a happy and rather pretty pair that will hopefully be sent off to J-buns (aren't college nicknames fun?) this week. They are Cookie A's Milo, done in some fabulous Handmaiden Casbah sock yarn in color Renaissance.














I really like the X's and O's on the back














Sunday, January 23, 2011

Well its been an interesting week, or at least the beginning of it was. I got a jury summons right before the end of the year, joy of all joys (please note the dripping sarcasm there). I knew it was going to be a long day when I found out that it was a criminal court and then it got really fun when we found out it was for a capital murder charge.... I was thankfully not chosen for that duty and got to spend the rest of the week doing boring things at work.

Due to the focused amount of knitting that I did before the holidays, I decided to pull my quilt out the bin and work on it for awhile.















Its done using Maxine Rosenthal's One Block Wonder techniques. All of the various blocks come from one fabric and when its all put together you get something really different and neat. Here is a close up of it:














This thing will of course taking me forever to finish but I do think its neater than shit. ^_^

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

So the holidays are over and I am back at work (blarg). I survived the hellishly long drive from Dallas to Des Moines and back (11 hours, each way), and got to experience riding Amtrak down to Austin for New Years. On occasion the holiday spirit confuses me greatly. I love Christmas I really truly do but it always shocks me how once it is over, ITS OVER. So much build up and then *wham*, happy times over please resume your regularly scheduled program. Despite that I had a lovely time with my family, indulging in all of our particular brand of family traditions. 21 people in the house this year, it was fantastic! (I feel I should note that they weren't all staying in the same house)

My parents decided to gift many knitting things upon me this year, which was fabulous not only because new knitting stuff is always good but also for confusing the crap out of the rest of my family. Have you ever tried to explain what a swift does? In a way that conveys to non-knitty/crafty people why you are excited to get one? I'm pretty sure I failed on that score though I was slightly more successful in explaining my glee over the blocking mats. The fact that I should never again find myself standing over my bed, armed with a hair dryer, at 2 o'clock in the morning, trying to get my sweater to dry so I can go to bed is deeply satisfying. ^_^

I will hopefully at some point get pictures of various people with their Christmas knitting and will post them here. Oh and I did finish the pink socks! At 10 o'clock on Christmas Eve, which isn't really all that bad. Though in order to do that I did end up knitting in some places I'd never done before. I'm sure the people at Acme Tools got a kick out of seeing a girl with obnoxious bright pink yarn stuffed in her coat pocket knitting away while her mother bought last minute Christmas gifts.

Hope the holidays were merry for everyone else!