Long Time, No Post

I haven't posted in four whole days. Wow. Well, it is because I was feeling a little frustrated with myself for reading about knitting and looking at knitting online and NOT ACTUALLY KNITTING. So I have progress to report:

1. Oisie's socks - the cable rib socks from an issue of Interweave Knits: One finished, 42 rows to go on the other one. I may finish tonight. Yay! Pictures to come.

2. Lorelei's sweater - a pullover from The Weekend Crafter: Knitting by Lark Books (warning: don't buy this book until you read my rant): Finished the back, undid the bind off on the front and did a three needle bind off to join the shoulders, picked up and knitted the neck, and wove in all loose ends except those at the patterning at the bottom, which I will weave in after I seam the sides. Tried it on her and it should fit this winter & next. It looks like a little tabard right now.

3. Finished unravelling the blue lambswool/angora thrift store sweater. I think it's going to be a cardigan for Lorelei.

What I didn't mention on #2 is that I also knitted almost half a sleeve on Lorelei's sweater, but I'm going to rip it all out. I thought the patterning in the pictures on the bottom of the sleeve was cute. It is more complicated than the patterning on the front and back. THERE ARE NO DIRECTIONS FOR THE PATTERNING IN THE BOOK. It says for the sleeves to do any pattern you like. Well, I like the pattern in the book. I (mostly) figured it out, but it looked like crap! That is because the FREAKING BOOK TOLD YOU TO USE THE SMALLER NEEDLES WHEN YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO! It says to cast on for the sleeves using the smaller needles and gives all the instructions, but neglects to tell you to switch to the larger needles, which should probably happen after the fourth row or so.

I should have known. The directions for the front told you (on 50 stitches) to knit across 31, put the last 19 on a holder, and then knit back and forth across the 31 sts, decreasing on each side every other row. Had I done that, I would have had one giant shoulder section and half of a huge neck located at the edge of the front. HELLO!?!? I decided what they meant to say was K across 19, put the center 12 sts on one holder, the next 19 on another, then knit back & forth across the first 19 sts, decreasing at each side every other row. Then do the same on the 19 sts on the other side. That seemed to work.

When I first hit that section, I tried to contact Lark books to find out if there was an errata sheet for this book. I haven't heard back from them yet. Oh, well. I now have half a sleeve to frog & redo. Plus lots of wasted yarn from cutting at all the color changes. Yech.

Morning Blog

I think I have become addicted to posting. Or blogging. Or whatever. Anyhow, I took a break from the organizing when I ran across this:



When I found it, it was one ball (the back), a front, and two sleeves. Now all I have left to frog is the second sleeve. It is a thrift store sweater in a size that I couldn't wear. It is also a lambswool/angora blend. Very soft! But I think the angora content may be a little lower than when I started. I kept getting little tufts of soft white fuzzy stuff floating through the air as I wound up the balls. I don't mind doing it by hand when it's that soft.

I need to decide what I'll make out of it. Something warm and against the skin, I think.

I am going to check and see if the thin crochet cotton I posted a picture of yesterday would work as the bubble curtain from the Mason Dixon Knitting book. I need something to go over the window in my back door. I still want to be able to see out, but I would like to cover the fingerprints and smudges (Windex? What's that?) and the stickers. If that won't work, I think I'll go with Terri's suggestion and make placemats.

Back to the pit...

Progress, Progress, Progress

I have made much progress in the yarn/fabric area downstairs. All of the furniture is where it goes, except for the loom, which is in the right room at least, and the loom's bench. I can see all of my yarn at a glance! I am debating whether or not to bag the wool to keep it safe. I will post pictures when I finish.

I also wound up some cotton. When I dyed the blue wool, the dyebath was not exhausted, so I threw in some crochet cotton still on the cardboard tube, hoping it would resist the dye in places. Well, it did:



One tube came out darker than the other, especially the half that was toward the outside. I wound them into balls today:



You can see how one is really dark on the outside and more varied on the inside. I don't know what I'll make with this - probably at least one headband, but then I don't know what. Maybe I'll try beading with it. Does anyone have any ideas? Is anyone reading this?

I think I need to wind some Sugar 'n Cream tightly onto a cardboard tube and throw it in a dyebath and see what happens. Hmmm...

Warning: This Post is Low on Knitting Content

I don't like to go so long without posting Knitting Content. Trust me, there is a little in this post.

Disclaimer: I know the black boxes in the following images look stupid, but while I did get permission to take these photos, I did not get the subjects' (or her mother's) permission to post them on the internet. Hence the boxes.

So, all day Saturday and Sunday we were at the park in Florence for Arts Alive. We were raising money for the Art Student Association. We are hoping to eventually raise enough to have The Guerrilla Girls come to campus to speak. Anyhow, we did face painting (with face paint markers! It was sooo easy!) and sticker / stamp art and hair wraps. I think the most money came from the hair wraps - $1.00 per inch, beads included.

On Sunday, Joe & Miss Priss went with me. She was our free advertising:



We expected to do cute little hair wraps on cute little girls, which we did:



What we didn't expect to do:



Beard wraps!



It was a lot of fun. And when we weren't working, Terri & I knitted & Lourie made jewelry. Overall, a much more pleasant weekend than I was expecting.

I also have moved most of my non-acrylic stash to the cubbies (pictures coming soon).

Whew! What a weekend!

Cupcake, a Couple of Irritants, and Major Stash Management

"CO however many stitches on dpns, arrange stitches equally among the needles, place marker and join for working in the round."

Okay, I followed that direction a couple of times for different projects. Each time it resulted in me having one less stitch marker. If you're using dpns, why do you need to place a marker? The intersection right above the cast on tail is the beginning of the round! And who can keep a marker on the end of a dpn, anyway? Those directions are just silly. Please, someone, correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe one of these days I will be halfway through a project and knitting karma will slap me down and I'll wish I had followed the directive, but I can't see why.

Something else I couldn't see why: knitted cupcakes. Sure, they're cute, but why? It seemed like a waste of energy. Until my two year old saw them on the computer screen. She now has this:



Technically, it's a FO, but since I began it today it doesn't remove anything from my WIP list. And I keep finding more WIPs.

I do know one thing. That purple yarn (which was picked out by my mother in law for her Christmas scarf - one of the WIPs) will not be used for anything else once that scarf is done. It is a sticky mess. And the pattern called for needles small for that yarn - US 9's. And I didn't have 9's, I only had 8's. And they were bamboo. I was muttering under my breath by the time I was done.

...and now, for more exciting news...

I have new cubbies in the basement! We are totally rearranging down there. The room that used to be the computer room (the laptop doesn't need its own room) will hold my huge honkin' floor loom. Which will open up space in my downstairs fabric / yarn area. In there will go this:



...to hold all my yarn and WIPs! Hopefully, it will all fit. The larger squares at the bottom will hold knitting & spinning books and the smaller squares will hold yarn, WIPs, unspun wool & other fibers, and probably a couple of boxes to hold my spindles and needles. Any books that don't fit on the bottom will go sideways on top. And there's more:



This one will hold my fabric. And I managed to get not one, but two viking ships in the background.

I forgot to mention that there are cubbies on both sides, so the yarn will be outside in the area with my big comfy green chair and Joe's chair & the TV, and the other side will face into my sewing area.

Unfortunately I have a lot of cleaning & organizing to do to get everything where it goes.

Fortunately, I have a happy daughter!

One FO...

Only a bib, but it's a FO:

Startitis

Well, I was waiting to post until I actually had something FINISHED. That isn't happening. I seem to have startitis.



That is the still unfinished warshrag, and two (count 'em, TWO) unfinished bibs from Mason Dixon knitting. And I don't even know anyone with a newborn. The pink one I will probably give to my sister-in-law, whose cousin is expecting. The other one I will probably keep until I need it for a shower gift.

I also wanted to make a felted knitting bag. Since I love accomplishing two things at once, I tried the mitered squares, also from Mason Dixon Knitting.



I will probably make one more like this and two more with a different solid color for the first side of the tote. The second side will be with two different solid colors and one different variegated color. The solid is two strands of Lamb's Pride worsted in Fuschia and the variegated is Lion Brand (Watercolor, I think). Then I will use one long strip to join the two sides and be a strap. This is assuming I ever complete it, of course.

In non-Knitting Content - check out what my strange child did:



It was freaky until she explained. "Look, Mommy! They're wearing glasses!"

If Jim Henson Made Dinnerware

These are from the One Skein book. They are very fuzzy. The bowls in the book weren't fuzzy. Maybe I didn't felt them enough? But I like the size and thickness they are now. Maybe I should try shaving them? They were to be part of my Mother's Day presents for my mom & grandmother. I'll still give them to them later today, but I think I am going to try shaving them first.

This is also part of Mother's Day 2006:



Yep, I better get to knitting. These are the warshrags from Mason Dixon Knitting. They are out of Sugar 'n Cream cotton. The pattern is quick to memorize and easy to knit. No wonder everyone on the KAL is cranking them out!

Doing the Happy Dance

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!! At least for the semester. We won't mention the incomplete that's due at the end of June.

As promised, here is a picture of the copper:



And I am trying to get 'warshrags' done for Mother's Day. This also allows me to participate in the Mason Dixon Knit Along - I love it when I can accomplish two things at once. So far I don't have very much done, but hope to get a good bit done tonight and Saturday:



I also wound the now dry denim dyed wool into balls. I think it will go lovely with the massive ball of red madder + rit wool that I dyed earlier. The picture colors aren't true - it is a navy blue and a burgundy! Now, if I can just find some wool in the house that I haven't dyed to go in between the two:



I also am trying to think of what to do with these wool singles. They were mordanted with alum & cream of tartar and the yellow is dyed with dyer's broom and the brown is black walnut:



Of course, I probably need to FINISH a project or two before I start anything new...

Three Days

Three days until finals are over!!! Then I can knit again. I did swap one of Oisie's socks to two circulars - much smoother going.

I also joined the Mason Dixon Knitalong. I plan to begin with dishcloths for Mother's Day.

I have also got some new books in the mail - One Skein, Loop de Loop, and Inspired Cable Knits (I think that's the name of it). I joined Crafters Choice, so these cost me very little and their prices are reasonable, even after shipping. I still haven't had the time to finish reading Unexpected Knitting, but it is a gem.

Okay, back to schoolwork!

Ugggh

...sick. Bad time, too, 'cause tomorrow's the last day of school before finals.

OTOH, I unravelled two scrubbies into little balls of coppery goodness. Must buy more.

I don't know if I'm going to have enough of the handspun to finish my headband.

I did finish my last Art History Survey test, though! One class, done!

Sorry so low on the Knitting Content. Will post more later.