Surprise!

It’s finished!

Poor Baby Surprise Jacket has languished in the bottom of my knitting basket for a year now, only waiting for a seam. Just one seam! Fold and sew, that’s all it needed. And yet… there it lay. And in the end, I didn’t even seam the shoulders, I single crocheted the back and front together because that is how much I detest seaming garter stitch. But it’s done, and all it took was an attack of finishitis combined with a house guest coming in the next few days to get my act together. No, I’m not expecting the Knitting Police to stay for the weekend, but cleaning up the craft area (i.e. the space around my couch) got swept up into the general cleaning the apartment mania I have going on today and there you have it. A finished object.

I suppose it’s not entirely complete. A quick look through the button box revealed no appropriate buttons, and since this little garment clearly doesn’t have a recipient… oh well. Maybe the next time a baby is born in my general vicinity, I’ll go find some cute rainbow-y buttons and have a gift ready to go. Until that time, I’ll call it done.

I used some left over Noro Kureyon (the same stuff pictured in my header) and left over Cascade 220. Huzzah for stash busting! Even when it takes over a year. From what I recall, I enjoyed knitting this little jacket. The pattern was a little mind-bending at times, but there’s plenty of help to be found on Ravelry or blogs. Some of my picked up stitches were kind of gnarly (and I’m sure I don’t have to point them out), but I’m sure there are ways around that which I over looked. Other than that, I really can’t remember. But, look! Rainbows!

I should behave now and get off the computer and start studying. The ORLEA is three weeks away and I haven’t even looked the math study materials yet. Gulp.

Mmm, honey.

 

The knitting goes on, never fear. But I’ve lately had the urge to start sewing again. Over the summer (I think), I got the idea to do a honeycomb quilt. And after looking at honeycomb quilts, variations thereof and, most importantly, discovering how much effort goes into constructing a honeycomb quilt top, I’ve scaled back my goal from a full sized quilt to a pillow cover. A 12×12 square I might actually finish in my life time (huzzah!). So I spent last Friday afternoon tracing and cutting out dozens of tiny hexagons for paper piecing and maybe this afternoon I’ll start cutting some fabric. I do have to study for an enormous test, and go grocery shopping, and I’d like to play some banjo, but I digress!
If anyone’s interested, I used this template (PDF alert) from this site for the hexagon, and explored this site for some history and ideas for my design, and will be using this method for construction. I’m going all scrap quilty with this one, and don’t have a plan for a design. Just grab what comes out of the basket and stitch it together.
Hmm, looking at my photo, I might have to swing by the quilt shop before I start and get a few more fat quarters for variety. It’ll be the scrapiest!

It’s an Update! Alert the Media!

Eleven months. Really, kid? Really? Yes, really.

I’ve heard it’s bad blog etiquette (blog-iquette?) to apologize for a long absence, but this time I have a good excuse and don’t mind sharing.

I lost my will to blog in rather dramatic fashion about this time last year when I started to have some rather persistent pain in my right arm, and crafting came to a near screeching halt. No more knitting, no more embroidery, no more felt work. Just sadness and physical therapy. And a lot of crappy movies on Netflix. Hence, I had very little craft to blog about on my craft blog and quite a lot of whining and anxiety I don’t think any reader feels cheated out of missing. Without getting into any sordid details, no, the arm is not better but the issue is being worked through, and I’m taking wee steps back into crafting. I hadn’t realized how much I depended on creating and planning and doing for stress relief and personal fulfillment until I could hardly do anything anymore. Seems rather obvious with the amount of projects I was working on at any given time that taking that away would effect me in a negative way, but — here I am getting into the very same maudlin conversation I attempted to steer away from for the past year. So, you get the idea.

Things that are still the same: still living in the tiniest apartment on Earth, still in the same job, still loving my city, still smug in my handknits during the ridiculously cold winter.

Things that are different: started playing the banjo, baking my own bread, making my own yogurt weekly, my dear Chrissy married and moved far from me, became an internet reverend for said nuptials, sewed some clothes with a fancy pants sewing machine and plan on designing more, and started the process of getting my teaching credential to fulfill my destiny as a civil servant.

I have started knitting again, though admittedly far less than I used to and at a much slower pace. I have to take frequent breaks and watch how long I knit at a time. I did some knitting for Christmas, which I didn’t document with photos and I think I’ll just let float off into the ether at this point. Shall we start fresh? I have two secret projects (shh) awaiting gifting, so I can’t share those quite yet, but I do have one small project just for me in the works. (Imagine a small half-circle shawl on a circular needle in brownish-purple Malabrigo Sock yarn.  My iPhone camera leaves much to be desired, and the photo I took looked fine on the screen, but pretty awful once I uploaded it to Flickr.) It’s a shawlette based off EZ’s Pi Shawl from Knitter’s Almanac. I’m knitting until I run out of yarn and I have no idea how I’m going to finish the edge. Can’t wait to find out.

Anyhoo, it’s good to be back. Enjoy some Bruce.

 

 

Christmas in March

The last of the Christmas knitting is finally complete. Kris requested fancy mittens for Christmas, and I was happy to oblige. Except that Christmas mittens became New Year’s mittens, became Valentine’s Day mittens, and have ended up being St. Patrick’s Day mittens.

This is the third pair of mittens I’ve knit from Selbouvotter, and I’ve been pleased with the results every time. I’ve seen vague rumblings online about some of the patterns in the book not being authentic Selbu mittens, to which I toss my opinion into the ring: PFFT. Three successful pairs of mittens, a book full of beautiful designs and clear graphs with a bonus history section; I’m a happy girl. I suppose my goal is good looking, functional mittens rather than historically accurate mittens, but I can’t complain. I love that book! Some knitting books I’ve had buyers remorse over, but not that one.  End soap box speech here.

The only complaint I have with these mittens is my own knitting. Do you see the problem? I can. The mitten on the right is clearly larger than the mitten on the left. How did that happen? I have no idea. I used the same needles (Crystal Palace US size 2), and cast on the second mitten IMMEDIATELY after completing the first. I’m serious. I broke the yarn, looped it through the live stitches, picked back up my needles and cast on the second mitten. Didn’t even get up for a drink of water. How can my tension be so far off from one minute to the next??? And of course, I didn’t notice the difference until I finished the second mitten, lay it on top of the first one and cursed loudly and creatively.I’ve never had this sort of problem before, all of my mittens and socks and sleeves have all come out the same size. It’s a mystery. I suppose one can only meet with a certain level of success before the knitting gods decide to strike to keep us humble. Le sigh. I asked Kris if she minded lopsided mittens, and she said no, but I think at that point she just wanted her mittens already.

For this pair, I used some Baby Ull from the stash and used every bit of the dark grey. I’ll have to knit some more mittens to get rid of the massive amount of Knit Picks Palette I have stocked up, but that will have to keep for a little while.

And now I have to point out my arch nemesis in any pair of mittens or gloves. The thumbs. (Dun dun duuuuuuuuh!) I don’t know what it is about picking up stitches for the thumb that makes my eyes cross. Hate it. Hate!  And especially with these patterned thumbs, where matching up the patterning is not required but keeps me from hating the mittens forever because they are flawed. (Flaws! Flaws!) I’d rather rip out the thumb ten times than have a thumb and palm pattern that doesn’t match up. Yes, I realize and embrace my anal retentive qualities and knitting is where they manifest the strongest. It brings out excellent mittens, so I don’t worry about it too much.

But after 3 months, ripping out and starting over completely once, waiting a month to get up the intestinal fortitude to deal with the thumbs, and a barrage of four letter words that would make a trucker blush, a beautiful pair of mittens exist and now have a loving home.

Pardon my dust…

I’m doing a little house cleaning on the blog, so if things look out of place or have disappeared, do not fret. All will be well soon.

Nothing but garter stitch for miles and miles….

No matter how many projects I have going, knitting, sewing, embroidery or anything else, I like to have one plain stockinette or garter stitch project going. I’m very good at cultivating bad habits and my newest one is not being able to concentrate while reading if I’m not knitting at the same time. I have a great little metal thingy I blogged about before that holds my books open while I read and if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t get anything read, which isn’t much. My professors would weep if they knew this English major’s reading habits. Any-hoo, that would be the reason behind all of the stockinette socks and hats and such on here. I like my charts and colorwork and lace, but when I want to read or watch a movie with subtitles, stockinette all the way. So, even though I really, really need to finish up the thumbs on Kris’ Christmas mittens, which are now going to be St. Patrick’s Day mittens, I’m knitting miles of garter stitch instead.

I’ve been planning on knitting Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket for two years or more, but never managed to get around to it. For the uninitiated, the “surprise” part refers to the fact that the jacket looks like a garter stitch amorphous blob until folded up origami-style and viola! Baby jacket! Not “surprise, you’re having a baby” or a surprise left by a baby, as has been speculated by non-knitting friends when they ask what I’m knitting. And, no, I have not yet learned to just say “a baby jacket” in response to that question.

I had planned to use the leftovers from my striped Noro scarf from a few winters ago. I had two balls of Noro Kureyon and some gray Brown Sheep Lambs Pride worsted I thought would look nice together and there would be enough for a jacket. As an aside, this BSJ is for a theoretical baby. I’m not having a baby, no one in my immediate vicinity is having a baby and I wouldn’t put Noro on a baby. This is just for the process. Anyway. As you can see in the picture above, there is lovely rainbow-y Noro, but no gray Lambs Pride. And that’s because I couldn’t find it. My stash now consists of two Rubbermaid containers of odd balls of yarn, and I can’t find a gray skein of yarn. Lame. I found some black Lambs Pride I had planned to make a felted bag out of, which project is now out of the question as I now live in an apartment with a coin laundry and lived at home with free access to a washing machine when I planned that project. My quarters are precious, I plan to keep them. So I cast on in the black, didn’t like the stripe pattern I had started and ripped out. Cast on again, messed up the decreases, ripped out again. Cast on, knit all the way to the beach and back two Saturdays ago, and realized just how ugly the yarn combination was, and ripped again. I rooted around in the stash and found some cream colored Lambs Pride, cast on, and quickly realized that I was running out of yarn and wouldn’t make it to the end of the project. This little jacket’s purpose in life is to rid me of stash, so buying more cream colored Lambs Pride isn’t an option. Back into the stash, and I came up with a cream colored skein of Cascade 220, which I don’t remember what I bought for, so now it’s a BSJ.

I’m really liking the cream and rainbow combination here, and I like the reverse side better than the right side. I’m not sure how it’s going to be seamed up, but I’m fairly sure I can use the reverse side as the right side.

Just as a note about the pattern, it’s written just as pithy as the rest of EZ’s other patterns, and it would be a good idea to have a passing acquaintance with her writing style and patterns before casting on. Also, there is a Baby Surprise Jacket group on Ravelry that is rife with information and there’s also a KnitWiki article with some helpful hints. KnitWiki! I had no idea it existed.

Also, Portland is the best at many things, graffiti included.

Now it’s off to cook up some vegan stuffed pasta shells. Mmmm.

Anyone feel like talking about my socks?

Since I’ve been holed up in my apartment for the last 48 hours with a sore throat and head cold, I thought why not talk about my socks to interrupt the tedium of cooking split pea soup (a new recipe, I like my old one better) and jamming out to pop music, as much as one can jam while the pressure in the sinuses steadily builds.

I managed to finish up all my Christmas knitting, save one notable project, on time and I think most recipients were pleased. My nephews liked their matching sweaters and now I have blackmail for life (evidence on Flickr and Ravelry). In the midst of all the holiday knitting, I completed a project I had been wanting to do for years now. Introducing, the cleverly named Kilt Hose.

What makes these kilt hose and not just kneesocks? Probably the top section and my say so. I didn’t construct them in the traditional way, I used my own basic go to toe-up sock pattern for the feet and legs, then knit the top section separately and grafted it on to the sock.

The lace pattern comes from Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose and Knickerbocker Stockings by Veronica Gainford, which has surprisingly little information on how kilt hose are actually constructed. I wouldn’t call this a beginners book at all. If anyone is looking to use this book should already know their way around a sock, hence the toe-up business I did. What the book does contain are some great designs for stocking toppers, like the Horseshoe Lace pattern above, and tips on the proportion of stockings.  Veronica isn’t going to teach you how to knit a sock, but she will teach you how to make them pretty.

Detail of the increase section on the calf. This was the part that gave me the most trouble. I was knitting the stockings to fit me tightly so I could avoid putting elastic in the top to keep them up, and that lead to knitting the legs far longer than I thought I needed to, and many fitting sessions.

This unfortunate picture has the best representation of the yarn color out of the whole set. I used Oregon Red Clover Honey from Socks That Rock, which is a nice durable yarn, but a little too thick for this purpose. I’d heard chattering online before about STR being too thick and I never understood it until now. There’s just a little too much weight to the yarn. Still, I think the color is lovely, and I’d use STR again, just not for kneesocks or anything with a lot of detail to it.

A note about the photos: It seems that the way WordPress and Flickr talk to each other has changed in the time I’ve been away from the blog (serves me right, I know), so I’m not entirely sure that clicking on the photo will link you back to my Flickr set like it does in previous posts. If anyone wants to view the photos on Flickr or see any of my new photos (I’ve been updating there, too) there is a link on the sidebar and I will continue to figure out how to get those links working. Gah! Technology!

I have fallen into a black hole of bad TV and Christmas knitting.

It’s true.  I had the best of intentions to keep posting my projects, and then October came and a harebrained plan to finish all of my Christmas knitting before November. Riiiiiight. One week left of October and all I have complete are two toddler sweaters for the Nephews and one pair of socks which will be finished by tonight. I’ll make the Christmas deadline, but not my personal deadline. Boo.

Other than that, life is…. boring. Bad television and bad movies and not a whole lot of brain exercise going on. I’m on a slight mission to change that, and hopefully that will mean a little more content on this poor, neglected blog. I know blogs are being abandon all the time in favor of other platforms, but I like the idea of my own little online project journal/ brain dumping ground. Wee little blog, I think I’ll keep you. And I also realize that now I live in Portland among other crafty types, I have actual people to discuss my projects and joys and successes and abject failures with, and once I’ve gotten that out of my system, it’s just not as urgent anymore. There’s not the pressing need to take pictures, organize my thoughts, upload and type. Again, maybe that will change once I funnel some energy into being a smart girl.

And again with the plans….

It seems I keep announcing my arrival over and over again.

Yes, yes. It has been awhile. I did remember you, dear blog. But I must confess it was at the prodding of several people, who I was not aware even READ this thing, that brought me back.

Summertime was slow for crafting, as summertime often is, but I managed to finish a few things. My Ravelry page was sadly not up to date and my Flickr languishing, but I rectified that over the weekend. With the help of Chrissy, I documented some FO’s from the past few months (and a Christmas present from last year!) in Laurelhurst Park on Sunday, right before the torrential rains started. Here’s a smattering of photos. (Be dynamic!)

Here’s the Tomato sweater from No Sheep for You. I renamed it the Mac and Cheese sweater because… do I have to spell it out? I used Blue Sky Cotton and size 6 needles and beyond that I can’t really remember, since I finished this back in March. It hasn’t seen much action this summer, since the cotton is warmer than one would imagine. But fall is almost here (huzzah!) and I can see myself reaching for this one in the morning quite often.

And here we have the lovely Chrissy modeling Elaine’s Blouse from Interweave Knits Winter 2008. I knit it for myself and wasn’t pleased with the fit, nor was I inclined to rip it out and try again. I think this was a case of me wanting the sweater to be my style, rather than it actually being my style. Happens all the time. *sigh* Anyway, it’s much more Chrissy, so it’s found a happy home (I think). I used Garnstudio Drops Silke-Tweed and size 7 needles and a lot of soul and will power to sew on the 11 buttons down the back twice.

Selbu Norwegian Mittens (NH #7) from Selbuvotter. Amazing book. I highly recommend it if you have any interest at all in stranded colorwork. These were Chrissy’s Christmas present from last year, folks! Slacking Stacey, that’s me. I used Regia sock yarn and wee little size 1 and 0 needles, and more bits of my soul to get the thumb pattern to match the palm. I’m making another pair right now, and am all finished, but for the thumbs. I believe I have met my Waterloo in mitten thumb form.

Plain jane stockinette socks in Rio De La Platta sock yarn. Toe up, Judy’s Magic Cast On, short row heel, and sewn bind off. Pretty much my generic sock pattern, but with psychedelic rainbow colors, I prefer to keep the stitching plain. My feet will be happy and colorful this winter. I call them my Jerry Garcia socks.

As usual, details can be found on my Ravelry page. That brings me up to date on finished objects.Kind of. Not really at all. These are just the ones I’m thinking about right now.

Yesterday I did spend some time planning out my Christmas knitting (it involves matching sweaters for my nephews!) and reknitting the yoke of the Rambling Rose cardigan that I’ve been working on again after almost a year in the UFO pile. So the crafting continues….

As for tonight, I think I’ll knit a little on a new scarf for a co-worker (I’m making the rounds through Cubicle Land) and watch a some movies.

When life brings you the Drama Llama, make yarn.

And oh, how I have been trying to this week. Life, that raging harpie with a capital L, has dumped a steaming pile of unsolicited drama into my otherwise peaceful existence and I’m just waiting for it all to go away. And to keep myself busy, I am knitting.

A word of advice: Anyone out there who does not wish to sob like a little baby should not watch Rachel Getting Married.  Consider yourself warned.