Friday, August 25, 2006

No Title Today

Well, when I haven't been in bed with the covers over my head, or in class, or in the car - I've been knitting. Sock #1 done:



I think next time I won't use so much ribbing with the space dyed yarn. It is much prettier in stockinette - see the bottom?



The bad thing about being sick is that I got zero exercise Wed. & Thu. I'm going to try to get it in tonight if I feel like it.

Next to begin: Knitted dinosaurs for Lorelei. I am slowly using up all the yard sale acrylic stashed about my house. It always comes in handy for something!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Ugh. Sick.

I am out of bed long enough to make some chicken noodle soup. And type a quick post while it heats.

On the needles:
I am making my own sock pattern and using some odd yarn - I don't even remember where I got it. It must have been on sale, because the label says $8.95 and if I paid that much for a ball of sock yarn, I'd remember it. I have two or three balls and the label says "Steinbach Wolle, Strapaz, Norweger Ringel." Whatever that means.
Have turned the heel and am decreasing along the instep on the first sock now. I have to remember that I did 45 rows before the heel flap - I really should be writing this down somewhere.

Also working on cabled fingerless gloves - another self devised pattern, and the earlier mentioned yoga socks. Pictures to come.

On the nightstand:
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill, Women's Work by Elizabeth Wayland Barber, Anasazi Boys by Neil Gaiman, and The Natural Child: Parenting from the Heart by Jan Hunt. I haven't started the Gaiman yet, I'm halfway through the other three.

On the stove:
My food! Gotta go.

Friday, August 18, 2006

What Am I Doing to My Child?

So, we have been out running errands and we pull up at the house. I tell Lorelei that I'm coming around to get her out of the car seat.
"Just let me finish this row," she says.
I say, "Okaaaay..."
"Three more stitches," she says.
I wait a second or two, until she says, "okay, I'm done."
We get out of the car and go in the house.

One of these days she'll be able to knit and she'll be saying it for real, I guess.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Success! (Finally!)

Well, the third of the fingerless gloves fit my SIL. I had her try it on, and once she confirmed that there would be no fingers added, she proclaimed it "really cool." Whew! I'm glad she likes it. I am up to the gusset on the second one, and when it's done I can play around with my yoga socks and Lorelei's Fuzzy Wuzzy Hedgehog. I am stuck on the yoga socks. When going from a 1x1 rib over 66 sts. to a 3x1 rib, do I decrease two or increase two to get a multiple of 4 stitches? Or do I have a lone one stitch rib in the middle of all the three stitch ribs? Hmmm.

The hedgehog I am doing is in yarn Lorelei picked out - fuschia, turquoise, variegated, honestly, it looks like someone puked up a candy shop on this yarn. Adding in old fun fur left over from making a project for Ernie.

Back to the glove!

Monday, August 14, 2006

Funky Scarf Swap Questionnaire

Let’s get the allergy part out of the way. Are you allergic to any fibers?
No.

Do you prefer any fibers over others?

I don't like acrylic, but some blends are nice. I really like alpaca. And wool. I haven't knit with linen yet, but hope to sometime. I like all natural fibers, but don't like the idea of a cotton scarf.

Thinking back to Scout’s post about what funky means to you, post an image of something that you think is funky!




Not as funky, but I like it:



I like the embroidery up the side.

Would you prefer funky yarn or a funky pattern?
Funky pattern

What are your favorite colors?
I like lime green, jewel tones, and bright or dark purple (more toward the blue side, not the red side). Pairings I like are lime green & hot pink, red-orange and turquoise, and bright jewel blue and silver.

What is your favorite piece of art?
I would have too hard a time deciding. I like Robert Rauschenberg, Dave McKean, Daniel Essig, the Pre-Raphaelites, Anne Geddes, and tons of others.

What colors would you never have up close to your pretty face?
I have no idea. Probably orange or yellow.

Would you prefer an actual scarf or a cowl?
I would prefer something that I didn't have to pull over my head.

When you wear a scarf do you prefer a wider/shorter scarf or a thin/long scarf?
Medium to thin width and medium to long length.

What is the climate like where you live?
North Alabama - cold enough for a scarf, but sometimes it would be more decorative than functional

Would you prefer a functional scarf (to keep you warm) or one just to funk-up your wardrobe?
One that would do both! Or one just to funk-up the wardrobe while using the cold as an excuse to wear it.

What else would you like your partner to know about you?
I am mostly a t-shirt and blue jeans type person, but I like classic / lacy / feminine stuff sometimes, too.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

New Life, New Projects

OTN:
1. the THIRD of the attempts at a fingerless glove that will fit my sil
2. a sampler - feather & fan & other patterns - it will eventually be a blanket for one of Miss Priss' stuffed animals, but I'm using it to play with patterns. Plus I'm mesmerised watching it - the yarn is SO ugly! Orange, peach, brown, and white. Very '70's acrylic. Yech. I keep thinking of 30 year old kitchen color schemes...
3. I cast on with the lovely brown & beige wool/acrylic blend from my vacation purchases, hoping to make a small bag. Well, I cast on too many stitches, the seed stitch at the top is wider than the knitting on the bag, and I think I'm going to run out of yarn. I may end up with a bag 8" in diameter and 6" deep - not even a bag, really. I see ripping in the future. But for now, I knit on!

The post title:
I have started a new program. Not a diet, but a program designed to help you change your habits gradually so that you can live 'in the real world' without constantly dieting. There are lots of tools and resources, and it's all free! I haven't seen anything like this for less than $20-$30 every month or two. If anyone's interested, send me your email and I'll send you an invite. Anything that has kept me motivated this long has got to be pretty good.

I discovered that I can wind yarn into balls while on the gazelle. Anything to distract me from the fact that I'm exercising!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Vacation Treasures - Image Heavy

First stop: Johnson City, TN


Yarntiques had everything upstairs 50% off. And I had a conversation with a large bird. Here is what I got there:


Three skeins of Charlevoix (America's Alpaca) 100% superfine alpaca in a tweedy blue/gray, and 5 skeins of Landcapes 70% baby alpaca / 30% silk - one in gray, one in a burgundy, and three in red. I also got:


Two skeins of Silky Wool - 65% wool / 35% silk. Just dying to be dyed! And all of these were 1/2 off!

Next stop: Purls Yarn Emporium in Asheville, NC:


The two skeins of Regia I got on my first trip. One for me, one for my mom. But I was hoping to find something with earthier tones (no blue) for her fingerless gloves, and since I fell in love with the brown & blue, I decided to keep it, too. Maybe I will make the yoga socks out of it. Or yoga socks out of the bright stuff and fingerless gloves out of the blue & brown. Yep, that sounds good.

I went back a second time for the light up needles. I had to think about them before deciding to buy them. I had to decide what size (I got 6's) and whether or not I really wanted to pay $15.95 for them. I did. The saleslady was very honest about them - tips aren't the best, too bright for using in movie theatres, but they will let you knit in the dark.


They aren't bad once you get used to them, and the good news is that you only have to have one on to see what you're doing. It doesn't matter whether it's the one you're knitting off of or on to, either.

The Louet Kid Mohair I bought because I had just bought some 6/0 seed beads to try beaded knitting for the first time, and I wanted something to go with them.

Next stop: Yarn Paradise, in Biltmore Village in Asheville.


Berroco cotton twist in a yummy purple / yellow-green that the photo doesn't do justice, Classic Elite Flash in a watermelony "Bee Balm" color, and my very first Noro - Sakura. Actually, it's my very first of all of these yarns because I am a budget knitter. I got to splurge because these were my vacation souvenirs!

But most importantly from Yarn Paradise - I finally got one of these:


I LOVE IT! It has lots of pockets inside, too:


...some of which I haven't even filled yet:


...not to mention the pockets on the front and the large pattern pocket on the back. I carry it more places than I do my purse!

We missed one yarn shop in Chattanoooga, but I was too tired to go anymore. We did find Great Balls of Yarn, though.


These were all half off, too. A ball of chunky wool/acrylic, a ball of Frog Tree 100% Merino wool, a ball of Artful Yarns candy, and a mystery ball in a ziploc labeled "Illusion." The last skein is what I decided on for my mom's fingerless gloves - she liked it. It is Artyarns Supermerino in an earthy green/brown.

And then a friend came over last night for a visit & brought me this:


(the yarn, not the child). I had actually been wanting to get some but had no need for it (yet). So now I have some! I had to let Lorelei in a picture because every time I emptied the stool of yarn to set up another photo, she would sit down and announce that it was her turn. She loves to be in front of a camera!

Another Quickie

So, I am still working on the (late) present for my sil. My brother has suggested these. I had made a pair of these out of my lone skein of koigu, and he thought she might like some in black, maybe with a skull and crossbones on them somewhere.

The only black yarn I have is a bit thicker than the koigu. So I swatched, and figured out that instead of casting on 48 sts, I needed to co 32. Did the ribbing, felt fine when I stuck my hand in, and so I finished it.

I was using dpns, so it would have been a pain in the butt to measure again. Heh. The finished 'wrister' is very snug on my hand, and I have skinny hands.

I have two theories: either my gauge changed (doesn't look like it) or the thickness of the yarn causes the material to be thicker, and therefore have a smaller diameter on the inside even though I got gauge. Even though I don't think that would account for much, it might be enough. I like the second theory better.

I am knitting one according to the pattern (watch it be too big!) and am going to let her try each on and decide what she wants. I'll keep the other pair.

I promise, pictures of vacation yarn scores to come.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Home!

We are home! We saw some beautiful sites and some wonderful shops. More details and pictures to come. My souvenirs are all yarn, except for a knitting bag and a pair of the light up needles. I also got a couple of books and some odds & ends. More pictures to come, too. Here is a sample:


And another:


I will post more when I have had a day or so to rest. Whew!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Quickie

I finished the ninepatch and a yellow and green dishrag before we arrived. I did the yellow & green on size 7's instead of the 6's I normally use, so it was more of a dishtowel. The kitchen was a sagey green, and some of the placemats had purple, so I used a sage green & a variegated green / purple for two ballband dishrags, one the reverse of the other. And they were all in use before I left! I would have taken pictures, but I didn't want to set off the in-laws' weirdness alarms.

Just had to pop in because I had finished stuff - and it was being used! I have to tell my mother... at least someone uses my dishrags!