It's an illness really

I honestly never realized how much pink I have in my stash. It's a good thing this babe is a girl because I am finally getting a chance to use some of it up. On Christmas day I knit up this cute little bib (Ravel it). The edges roll and I used a yarn that was too large for the gauge, but overall I am happy with it.

I've also cast on for yet another bib in pink. (Ravel it) I will post pics as soon as I have it completed, which should be yet this week! I love how fast baby knits are!

At Long Last

The other day, I took a day off of work to do some things that required that I sit around and wait and wait and wait. I managed to underestimate the amount of time that I would be spending do absolutely nothing and quickly ran out of things to keep Caleb and myself entertained. He was able to watch Star Wars Episode IV from start to finish and could have watched another, but the battery died in the portable DVD player.


I didn't pack nearly enough knitting, but did grab my Monkeys, figuring it would be the perfect opportunity to finish them off. And it was. I still love the pattern and will definately knit it again.




Yarn: Sundara's sock yarn. A gift from Shan at Half Soled Boots.
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Mods: I added a stitch to each side of the repeat to accomodate my wide ankles.


These socks didn't really take that long to make, but they suffered from a long hiatus. Until about a week or two ago, I had no energy to do anything. And my house shows it.


Lately, most of my knitting has been focused on stuff for sale which has been somewhat tedious, but fun. I am working steadily, but as always, I wonder if I will have enough inventory to fill my part of the booth. If I can keep up the pace, I should be okay.

FO: Shetland Shawl

Just popping in for a very quick update. Any knitting lately has been of the dish cloth variety and I can't imagine that even die-hard knitters are really that interested in yet another pink variegated Grandma's Dishcloth. Even I am bored with them. But they sell, so what's a girl to do? I am also looking for a local person who makes soaps to pair up with the cloths at the craft fair in April. I've found a couple through Etsy and am looking to seeing/smelling the options!

Shetland Triangle is off the needles!

I lovelovelove this pattern and can easily see myself making it again in a variety of weights.





The color is somewhere between the values in the photos. I'm quite happy with how it all came out.

Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn Clark from Wrap Style by Interweave Press.

Yarn: Rowan Magpie in the Mexico colorway. Sadly, this lovely yarn has been discontinued. It is the same yarn that I used to make Twist.

Needles: KnitPicks Options Size 9

Started: February 2008

Finished: February 2008

I know it is the fir cone pattern, but when I looke at it all I see are candleflames which marry up beautifully with the rich burnt orange color of the wool. It is cozy and airy, lacy but substantial all at the same time.

Now, I just need to know how to wear it without looking like I'm 80 years old!

I am a knitter, honest!

I keep starting every post with an apology and a promise to start posting more after I finished the craft show.


The craft fair went really well. I sold out of the adult sized felted hats by mid-day on Saturday. They were so popular. I will be working really hard to get more of those done for next year. I will also be including a few accessories for them as well to make them more appealing. (I took one and pinned a broach on it so it looked like a cloche from the 20's. It was very cute!)


I received a couple of custom orders as well, so I've been scurrying to finish those up. The first hat I finished up already and when I called the person who ordered it, she canceled. I hate it when people are flaky like that. I put a lot of effort into getting it done quickly and then I get nothing for it. (Well, not nothing, since I can put into inventory for next year. But, still, it is pretty rude if you ask me.)

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I have an announcement.


Brace yourselves.


I have finished a pair of socks.

Not just any socks.

The socks that sucked the soul from me.

I have finished the Pomatomus socks.







I started these last summer. But I had a few problems with the yarn. It was knotted in at least 4 places and when I went to return it to the store, the hours on the card that I picked up when I purchased the yarn that week were wrong. Then the clerk was rude to me and said that I couldn't possibly have gotten the card there recently. She didn't even have the class to apologize when proven wrong either. (It was the last time I shopped there.)

Then, Eric got so sick and life fell apart. I knit on these while he was in the hospital and ever since they have left a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.


Then, when I decided that it was not fair to the yarn to let it languish in my WIP basket forever, I found this. I finally screwed up the courage to try and fix them this weekend. I decided to reknit the 2 rows that were damaged and just run a strand through all of the remaining loose stitches. I think it came out pretty well, all things considered.


Honestly, it is as if I was not supposed to knit these socks.

desperately seeking mojo

As I am sure is obvious - I have lost my blogging mojo. If found, please let me know. Rewards available.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record - life has been crazy. I finally reached my breaking point and left my job last week. This is good and bad. I get to spend some time with the family before Eric goes back to school at the end of June - good. But, we don't have health insurance at the moment - bad. I have more time to interview - good. None of my suits fit properly anymore - bad.

Overall, I am SOOOO much happier. It really is the best thing for our family even if the next bit could be a wee bit scary.

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Most of what I have been knitting of late has been for profit and I have been sewing quite a bit also. To date there are over 20 washclothes knit for the craft fair in November. I have also been working on a few other things. Now that I have a bit more free time I will try to post more regularly.

Voila

I know, three posts in one week. Contain youselves.

I finished up the weekend sweater on Monday after several attempts at the yoke and neckline.

I used the Handy Book of Sweater Patterns as a jumping off point. I didn't get all creative this time around, but, I did have to finagle a bit to get the fit just right. I still don't know if I am completely satisfied.

When I followed the recommended spacing for the yoke decrease rows of every 2", I found that it bound over my shoulders and was uncomfortably snug. So, I added another couple of rows between the second and third set of decreases. This helped tremendously.

I also started the neck shaping a bit sooner and added more short-rows. I like the look of the sweater but think that the front of the necklike is a bit too high. Because I was afraid of this, I didn't weave in the last end from the bind-off (loving the EZ sewn bind off, btw).

I work it out to my knitting group Tuesday, and it is sort of scratchy on my neck, so I have a feeling that I will be ripping the last set of decreases out and starting the neck shaping a bit sooner. All in all, I am pretty happy with it.

Branching out

Eric and I have been going back and forth over the wisdom of knitting for a craft fair and the consensus is that, economically, it doesn't make sense. The reality is that a washcloth takes one night to knit and I can sell it for about $5.00. Not a great return on investment. Felted hats take several nights to make and I can sell those for about $30.00.

On the other hand, sewing is fast. I mean really fast. So fast that I (and my professed hate/hate relationship with the d@mn machine) whipped this beauty out last night.


I might be hooked. I love this fabric, it is the most beautiful chocolate color with the bright blue and coral patterning.

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As promised, I have a picture of Eric's scarf, finally. I still have about 8" to go, but we are rounding the final bend and I am glad.

Off the needles

I am a lazy slub and have started writing this long before Twist is done because I know that once it is, I will write up a completely half a$$ed entry in my rush to post SOMETHING... Knitter, know thyself.

Twist - this is my own design, inspired, in part, by Wendy's Sizzle, but making it work for my numbers.

It is knit with an absurd amount of negative ease creating a very snug vest. In retrospect, I should have gone up one more needle size, but live and learn. My waist is fairly narrow and I didn't want to mess around with shaping which is why there is so much negative ease. I blocked it pretty severely so that it wouldn't constrict my breathing.

Yarn - Rowan Magpie in the Mexico colorway. Sadly discontinued. I used approximately 3-1/2 skeins. I could have added sleeves to make it a sweater, but I am way too lazy and have wanted a vest for a while.

The yarn bloomed nicely once I washed it. Losing any trace of scratchiness. I was able to block some extra length into it as well.




The pattern is simple: K1, P1, K4, P1, K1 for the right side rows. Wrong side rows, knit 'em as you see 'em. C4 front on the 6th row. I did a total of 160 stitches (I think) and have a 34" bust (I know this for sure). Each repeat is ~1" both vertically and horizontally.

I split for the neck at 13" or so and started the armscye shaping 1 inch later. Both the V and the armscyes are deep. The V for that oh so sexy office-wear look and the armholes to accommodate a shirt underneath so I don't itch myself to death or give anyone an eyeful of the girls. I wish I had split earlier so that the V was even deeper.

The ribbing is a K2P1, nothing fancy. I tried a couple of other options but wasn't pleased with the results. It took about 3 tries to pick up the right number of stitches for the neckline. Because I slipped the first stitch of every row, I was left with holes when I picked up just one stitch in each of the slipped ones. I ended up picking up one in each of the slipped stitches and then finagling to pick up one in between each slipped stitch. It came out to 3 stitches for every 4 rows and it is good enough.


Overall, I am pretty happy with how it came out. Not to bad for designing on the fly.