a splendiferous thing

2008-04-03T21:06:00.003-04:00

Wow! I posted on March 2nd. Amazing.

I have done very little knitting since then, as well. I sometimes look longingly at my knitting (some has been ripped out by our new puppy addition to the house) and then I go back to studying.

I have, however, found a good bit of time in the last couple of days to stare longingly at other people's nice yarn on Ravelry, and at the cute sweaters in the latest Interweave. sob I hate being broke. However, I guess it is the lot I've chosen for myself, all wanting to be smart and not work at that fckng grocery store forever, or any other retail establishment for that matter, or a secretary/admin assitant gig either. Although, the latter might be where I end up with a Master in Public Admin degree. HAH! I just put that one together all by myself. *snicker*choke* Sometimes I hate irony.

2008-03-02T00:22:00.003-05:00

So, uh, for those who actually read my ramblings: I am sorry for my absence. (Yeah, we all know it's not true but it's nice to pretend.)

I've been in school since January and haven't really had time to knit. I am pretty sure I want to pursue economics as a career. I think I sort of upstaged my macro professor and now I get the impression that I'm a pest. What kind of Fckd up is that?

Then there's the inflation occurring in my house and otherwise, which has left us with a rather small budget.

Shhhh. I bought some yarn. Plymouth Boku. It's 95% wool, 5% silk. It's not the highest grade swag ever, but it has lanolin in it and the little bit of silk makes it move fairly smoothly. It takes a little maneuvering to get used to it, but it comes out the other side of St. st. looking marvelous. It's all kinds of warm autumny colors beautiful and my mom better like it because those are her color requests and this is for her. Sometimes I like run-on sentences.

I had a request to make my font bigger; I hope my html wrangling worked.

2007-12-08T16:39:00.000-05:00

Ravelry is like crack. I already have a problem with looking up patterns and saving as many as I can with no regard as to when I will actually have the time to knit them or the dollars to buy all of the yarn they would require.

Another problem I have is that I don't like patterns. Nearly all of them I've encountered since I started crocheting and knitting have been wrong. The green and cream ripple? It gave the wrong number for the starting chain. No so cool when it calls for 200-something stitches. Adhering to knitting patterns is like watching The Sopranos: lots and lots of cursing, then some violence when I throw the whole project at the wall. I hate The Sopranos.

Now why in the hell would I spend hours (and dollars and paper) looking up and printing out patterns when I hate patterns?

I'm sure you do it too.

2007-12-07T22:12:00.000-05:00

I'm in a pretty good mood at the moment. It's odd. I've been rather depressed since my dad died on Memorial Day, then I lost my shitty job, etc. etc.

On the upside, all this bad stuff led to my husband acting like a husband is supposed to. Through a friend of the hub I met someone with the Dept of Labor who will probably help me get a pretty good job, ie something not in retail. How great is that? I'll actually have money for yarn and needles, and gas and food.

And here's a video that made me cry a whole bunch. If you know anyone in the Armed Forces it will matter to you, whether you are for or against the war.

2007-12-05T21:48:00.001-05:00

Since I'm putting this up everywhere, I think I should probably put something new here.

I haven't put anything here because I have only intermittent access to the 'net and I don't have a camera. Having a knitting blog is a little moot at that point, right?

I'm knitting on a fabric scrap and ticker tape handbag - this is turning out to be more a work of art than a knitted handbag. Everyone who looks at it remarks upon it. A lady in St*rbucks remarked to her toddler son, "Look at that...thing...she's knitting, son's name!" And I was in a dark corner. How entertaining, huh?

I got the scraps from the 2007 quilt show in St Paul from a vendor who sold them for the purpose of tying them together and knitting with them. So I finally did that, and went to town with the Moda Dea. And! And! And! I contacted a quilt store in town and they said they frequently have scraps left over that they will give to me for free!!! How exciting is that? Just imagine all the things I could knit with it.

Actually, there aren't many things because the fabric that comes out is really thick. But so many people remark on it, it makes me think that some people would buy it. What do you think, all you people who don't read my blog? Would you buy a knitted rag handbag? I'm going to put in an industrial looking parka zipper and somehow find the perfect handles.

What an exciting prospect.

2007-09-30T14:19:00.000-04:00

How about an organization of my thoughts? Yay!

On the go right now as I type:
Knit:
A log cabin afghan out of several acrylics I have around
A notions bag out of Caron Lime Green
A washcloth I need to bind off and mail away

Crochet:
A huge ripple afghan out of Caron Cream, Sage and Light Green

Planned:
Several knitted and crocheted toys
A zippered hoodie for a friend's baby
A larger pair of socks and some mittens for my cousin's baby
socks out of sock yarn I don't own yet
slippers for my brother with Caron wool-blend
socks for my father in law

This list is a very good reason to go to Knitpicks and spend the money for the interchangeables. And some DPNs. Hee. I feel so organized now.

2007-09-27T02:15:00.000-04:00

Wow, so it's been awhile. I've been doing lots of not knitting due to knitting-block, my dad passing away and lots and lots and LOTS of stress in my home life. But now upon discovering that it really IS easy to knit socks and lace, I am happy with the knitting again.

I have finished my first sock and I just finished the gussets on the other. The yarn is Baby Bee Sweet Delight Twist in Sherbet. It's a Hobby Lobby brand, I think. They were supposed to be for my size 8.5 or so feet, but somehow they turned out big enough for size 12 EEEE width Joe feet. He's said he'll wear them around the house, as they are more of a house slipper but they happen to be pink, orange, yellow and white. bwahahahahaha!!!

Joe thinks I'm an excellent genius for knitting in the round on straight needles (DPNS rather). :D I'll let him continue thinking it's a thing of great magic.

The other projects I claimed I was working on are still around somewhere. I need to get some more needles...really I need a set of Knitpicks options, and some of their DPNS. My needle collection is pitiful. Pitiful!! But I don't have the dollars for lots of knitpicks' sticks.

Socks are great and socks are fun, look out world, here I come. Or something.

My God I love knitting.

2007-04-04T12:38:00.000-04:00

I have conquered the light blue yarn! I'm making a Log Cabin Blanket with it, a la Mason Dixon Knitting, along with all the rest of the simply soft and ugly yarn I have. I'm thinking I'm going to give it to a charity because while everyone else thinks it's nice, I think it's UGLY. It's still fun to knit because I change color every thirty rows.

The notions bag is coming along slowly...I don't work on it as often as I really want to. You'd think I would want to finish it so I could sew it together but... Someone at my stitch'n'bitch told me to line it with a knit fabric so it would stretch, but isn't that against the point? I don't want the knitting to stretch out of shape, and it's going to hold notions, for pete's sake. I should put zippers on the inside for stitch markers and such...

I bought some colored pencils so I can design in color. Woo! I found some awesome brown and light blue polka dot fabric at the evil Walm@rt and it would be fun to represent that in my sketch book. Fantastically enough, the WM on the southern side of my county still has a huge fabric/crafts selection. That's great because it's the only crafty retailer in that area. I guess all of those latino people who live around there keep it going because I see them in that department all the time. Go Latinas!

I'm going to start using my sewing machine since I've been scrutinizing Craftster's Handbags boards and I have plenty of inspiration. I get frustrated because it doesn't look right, but the only way I'll get better is to do it, bleah.

Oh, and I made a monkey for J, since I call him monkey all the time. And apparently I haven't saved the picture on my computer, so I'll put it up later. My mom wants me to make her about ten of them. :-\

I bought some supplies for making my own knitting needles, as well. I would love to have some more wooden needles without paying $8 for them. I bought stain and black acrylic paint and polyurethane and now I'll end my run on sentence.

2007-03-20T01:22:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a great thirst for orange Fanta, I have nary a desire to sleep.

So, I've swatched with this spectacular lime green Caron Simply Soft so I can make a notions bag. This website made it really easy to measure. That is great, since the last time I swatched and measured, the project came out 3/4" LESS than I wanted. So here's my gauge, b/c I don't have any paper around. 5.263 rows per inch and 4.457 stitches per inch. And do you know, I have no idea what size needles I used. Isn't that great? I guess I should make some of those needle size tags like knitpicks sells.

I want my first sweater to be Sweet Rose from the most recent knitscene, and I want to use some kind of cotton/blend or linen/blend. Any rec's, please feel free to speak. I was thinking knitpicks shine, since my yarn budget is still in the acrylic range (cashmere taste, of course).

2007-03-11T01:53:00.000-05:00

I think I figured out why I have been apathetic towards crafting: this stupid light blue yarn I have. I tried knitting a great scarf idea on #7's, and realized that it was going to take me roughly 4 years to finish at the rate I was going. So I frogged the darn thing, put up the yarn and became disenchanted. I have decided to make an Irish Hiking Handbag with it instead. I'm going to learn how to decrease in a "U" shape so I can make unusual shaped gussets. I'll line it, too, and it will be a thing of great beauty. Anyone have ideas on this decreasing method? *Dec 2 in one row, paired at each end, knit next row*, repeat from * to * until desired width? Perhaps. Or start out with a few stitches and increase to desired width. I think the second would be better, so I can make it as long as I need. I have two skeins of this yarn, so I think I can make a pretty huge bag. Huzzah!! I will have a pretty project bag, yet! I have a multitude of fabric with which to line it as well.

I also am crocheting the aforementioned afghan and I have about 40 ends to weave in on it and I'm only 20 inches in. I have given many thought as to how I am going to finish this d*mned thing, and I have decided to continue on my current path, only weaving in the ends every row or two, as opposed to when I come to the end of a skein as I have done here. That green row on the bottom is actually the temporary top edge; the bottom edge is white. And the white is more of an off-white, not the near snow white that is pictured. I took the picture with the camera in my phone and it's a pretty darn good picture!!

/novella

2007-03-09T01:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, so where have I been since November? At home, really, doing lots of nothing. I have several projects going, and I am still obsessed with fiber crafts, but for some reason I feel bored with it. Damn my hobby-hopping tendencies!!

There's the ripple afghan I've started crocheting to get rid of this off-white Caron Simply Soft I have (Seven F-ing Skeins!!). I'm planning to sell it, though I doubt I'll get anything near what it will be worth.

Then there's the evil rose-colored hat I'm doing on dpn's; I've just started decreasing but of course I haven't even looked at it in weeks so I don't know where I am in the decreases and have forgotten what method I was using to decrease. I think I was doing a six decrease every row method, but I could be wrong.

Then I have this k2p2 scarf I'm doing in Patons Astra Fun'n'Games. It's so boring, but I love how it looks; the yarn is almost self-patterning and it's so pretty. Random patterns, I'd say.

And there's a "basket(?)" I started out of this goodwill yarn; it is currently a rectangle. Next task is to pick up stitches around it and knit until this horrible yarn is gone. I think it's that ramie stuff. It's not fun to knit with but I like the color enough.

And!! I'm rather excited about this one. A notions bag! I have lime green Caron simply soft and some perfectly shaded paisley blue fabric and a matching zipper somewhere, perhaps still at the store. I'm still deciding whether or not to have pockets inside. The swatch lies in wait in my project bag. Indeed, I feel it calling to me. "kreeee-ssssteeeee! Measure meeeeeee!"

Hey, I could frog the hat and make some socks. That is a good plan. That yarn is too ugly for a hat. I was going to make it for my new cousin but I wouldn't put that color on my hypothetical kid so...

All of this atrocious yarn was given to me by a wonderful woman from my stitchnbitch, who has now moved to the Carolinas somewhere. In the future, I will rethink free yarn. You think, "Hey, it's free, it has to be great, right?" No, you must not think this way, especially if this free yarn comes in a range of horrid colors and non-matching levels of spun-ness. And if it's cheap acrylic like Red Heart or Caron Simply Soft. I like them for crochet, but I really really despise knitting with them, with a fiery passion. Knitting with them makes me want to burn my needles.

Oh, I gave the 24 hour afghan to the recipient (a long, long time ago, actually) and she said, "I feel so special!!" Yay! Score one for me.

2006-11-21T21:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, so yes. I am experiencing this odd paradox. I really want to knit, but then I knit for 5 seconds and my attention wanders off somewhere else. So I look at knitting blogs and patterns and craftster knit boards and search for more free patterns to bookmark and it all makes me want to knit. hm.

A current project has me somewhat frustrated; I am making slippers for the dh. I measured his feet and did a swatch and measured it (because I want to avoid the first slipper tragedy) and the thing came out .75" less wide than it's supposed to be. Ok, fine, I'll just increase until it's the correct width. However, upon trying to increase I discover that I simply cannot do it without creating a hole, despite all of the instructions and directions telling me that it is possible to create hole-less increases. Even if I had begun at the correct width, I still was supposed to increase about halfway through the thing to make it wide enough to fit around the ball of his foot and instep. If I happen to have fans who know how to increase without holes, please instruct me.

Another project for my mom is great! I am making this thing (I will not name because she reads this sometimes) with this great yarn; it's so beautiful! I just need to spend time on it. hm

And, I need to start on the baby stuff for my new cousin before it's too warm out for her to wear them. I found this spectacularly loud color of Plymouth Encore Yarn that I will use to make her a hat, booties, and little mittens. There is another deep pink color that compliments the pink in the variegated I want to get to make her a hoodie or sweater with. The yarn to the right is so bright it almost glows. It's so fantastic.

I got this variegated wool from Lion that I'm going to use to make slippers for myself, but I'm not going to felt them.

2006-11-16T12:41:00.000-05:00

Yay! It's another finished object! It's a moss stitch potholder in sugar and cream cotton. The colorway doesn't have a name, so I'll call it popcorn. I used less than a skein. I don't know how long it took. I would say some hours. There are 30-40 rows; it took me a few minutes per row and some rows took longer. Now I need to make another one; you can't have just one potholder!

Knitting is so fantastic.

2006-10-22T17:41:00.000-04:00

My first finished object post! I have finished other items, but they are mostly scarves and hats; I think those are mostly practice, as opposed to real objects like sweaters. Unless you're making a cabled hat, in which case *applause!!* I have not mastered cables, nor even increases and decreases yet.

This literally took close to 24 hours to make. Each color took about an hour and there are 20 color changes. I used triple crochet throughout, even in the shell edge. It is about 39" x 31.5". I used Red Heart in pale plum, white, and baby pink.
It was so boring it was evil, but everyone says its fantastic so I guess that's all that counts, though it did take me about a month to finish.