elvis needs...boats? - knitting

hsks5 and the secret project

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:27:25 -0700

Yay, my spoilee for HSKS5 got her package today!! I've also had a report from my spoiler that there's one in the mail for me now, too! Swaps are fun!

Since the veil of secrecy is now lifted, I can finally tell you about the so-called SECRET project! One of the requirements of this swap was to send a "handmade item" (a bag, a needleholder, or...something else, I don't remember). It was not required that this be a knitted item, but since I don't really have a place to put up my sewing machine and didn't have any other great ideas I decided to knit my spoilee a bag. I ran across the HP House Fair Isle Pouch Bag pattern and fell in love, so I ran with the idea.

As it happens this was my first completed Fair Isle project, and also my first lined bag. I was a bit worried during the knitting because no matter how careful I was with the floats, it contracted into a bumpy tube once it was a few rows away from the needles. I just kept hoping that blocking would fix it. So when it was done, I washed it and blocked it rather aggressively. Thankfully, blocking worked miracles and it came out GREAT!

(I didn't put any fringe on the bottom. I finished the bag late one night and frankly forgot. Then I decided I liked it just fine without.)

Here's one that shows the lining:

And, since knitters always seem to want to see the wrong side of Fair Isle, here's a shot of the inside before I lined it:

I followed the instructions for this bag pretty faithfully--with the exception of the fringe. I did make one major change, which was to use worsted weight yarn (Cascade 220--I'll have to look up the color numbers once I'm home again) rather than DK. I used a size 6 needle because I wanted the result to be pretty dense. Otherwise, I knit it as instructed and just let it turn out whatever size it wanted to be. I think it turned out around 11.5" x 14" post-blocking (Narcissa, can you verify that? I didn't write it down and only vaguely remember from measuring it for the lining). I used less than 1/4 yard of fabric for the lining. I sewed the lining completely by hand, which is something I haven't done for a long time (hand-sewing, I mean). I can't say that I love sewing by hand, but I am definitely proud of how the bag came out and I'm glad I went to the trouble.

I'll let you read about the rest of the swap kit over on Narcissa's blog, but I did want to mention one more thing. I had our wonderful local indie-dyer, Sharon of Stitchjones custom-dye a skein of her fantastic merino sock yarn in Slytherin colors. Here is the beautiful yarn she made for me to send on to my spoilee:

socks and flowers

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:17:13 -0700

The Summer of Socks 2008 KAL started on Saturday, so I decided to set aside the Atomic Toes socks (which frankly haven't been getting much attention anyway) in favor of something that will actually count for the KAL. So Saturday morning I cast on for Ziggy. I've also been trying to get the "Secret Project" finished (getting close!), so I haven't spent a whole lot of time on Ziggy yet. Here's my progress so far:

I absolutely love how this sock is turning out so far, despite my inexperience with Fair Isle. If you look closely there are definitely flaws, but overall it's looking pretty good. If I do say so myself.

Also, I LOVE how the colors are striping so far.

The other thing that's been grabbing my attention here and there is actually a crochet project. I was talking to Shannon at Twisted last week and somehow the topic of crochet came up. I haven't been doing much crochet in recent years, mostly because--in many cases--I prefer the results achieved with knitting. However, crochet is a lot of fun. It goes really fast, and you can make unusual things pretty easily.

Lately, I'd been sporadically looking for a somewhat specific project: a crocheted scarf, with a lacy, maybe flowery, look. Something that could be used in warmer weather than the rest of my scarves. I'd poked around Ravelry and had found some things that were kind of the right idea, but not quite IT somehow. I told Shannon about the idea, and she pointed me to the two issues of Interweave Crochet that were on the magazine rack.

There are a lot of cute things in those two issues! I was tempted to buy both, but settled on just getting the Spring issue. Because the Spring issue had THE PATTERN in it.

I think Shannon and another woman who was knitting at the front of the shop might have thought I was a little crazy, because I took one look at the Floral Lace Belt (Ravelry link) and said, "There's my scarf!"

So that night I went home and did a test of one of the hexagon motifs and got this:

Pretty, no? This is leftover Yarntini from my Twisted Sky Socks--I just wanted to see what it would look like in fingering weight and a larger hook (I used an H for this one). Only problem is that the hexagon was way too big--the scarf would be super wide at this size.

Then I tried lace weight yarn and a G hook:

I liked this one, too, and I think it would block out nicely (I just pinned it for the picture), but it was really fiddly in a way that I knew would make me not want to work on the project.

Next try:

Aha! This one, I love. I love the colors, I like the size (the scarf might still be a bit wide, but not so bad). This is Claudia Haindpainted sock yarn in the "Oops" colorway, with a G hook. It's also fingering weight, but it's lighter than the Yarntini. Between the lighter weight yarn and the smaller hook (a G is a full millimeter smaller than an H), the motif came out to a pleasing size.

I have four hexagons so far (did three very rapidly earlier this evening--crochet is really fun sometimes!), and I'm thinking I'll need 12 or 15. I'll figure it out when I get there. :)

fun day!

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:13:54 -0700

I had so much fun this evening that I almost don't remember work today. :D

Twisted had a Lantern Moon trunk show this evening, which was a lot of fun. I've never seen so many people in the shop! They brought so much stuff, it was amazing. And beautiful. I coveted lots of things, but satisfied myself with just one gorgeous bag.

I also got to meet Michele and see Adam's Lizard Ridge. (It's GORGEOUS! I can't wait to see mine all finished and sewn together.)

OH! And I finished the Sorta Charade Socks at work this morning!

After Nik picked me up at Twisted, we went out for a bite to eat at Mickey Finn's. By the time we got home it was starting to get dark out, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow to take pictures of both the socks and the new bag. And maybe some other stuff. For now, you have links to click. :)

Good night!

knitting firsts

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Sun, 25 May 2008 08:00:38 -0700

Emma asked us to post a "first" in knitting, and initially I couldn't really think of anything. I'm pretty adventurous, so there isn't much I've never tried. Perhaps my imagination is failing me, though. :D

However, I did recently learn a new technique which I used on my Twisted Sky Socks: knitting socks on two circular needles. Here they are again:

I love this technique so much that I've also used it for my latest pair, the Sorta Charade Socks:

These aren't quite finished yet--I'll get a much better picture once they are.

The Sorta Charade Socks are another first for me. I started out making a pair of the popular Charade Socks (I think you have to be on Ravelry to get the pattern), but ended up adapting that pattern to the sky architecture (used in my Twisted Sky Socks) from Cat Bordhi's book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters. Basically, I ended up taking the stitch pattern from Charade and putting into the Master Sky sock architecture from the book. Not quite an original design, but fun and unique!

oops, i kinda forgot

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:16:56 -0700

Yesterday was the first time I've missed posting something during the whole month of May. Between just being exhausted and then being up late watching American Idol (I had to see if David Cook was going to beat David Archuleta!), I just lost track and went to bed without posting. Oh well, I'm still doing quite well on my self-imposed "post once a day" goal.

This has been another of those crazy work weeks where I work way, way too late one of the days and then struggle to balance it out the rest of the week. And sleep enough to overcome it. I'll be going to bed very shortly in an effort to make Friday feel less awful than Thursday did.

Yesterday after work was nice, though--I left a little bit early and went to Twisted. Tammy and Kim joined me a while later and we chatted and knitted until Nik came to take me home. It was so nice seeing them! It's been ages.

My second Sorta Charade sock is well underway now--the leg is done, and I'm starting on the ankle. I've also been making a little progress on Mom's Follow the Leader shawl. I have a few things coming up that are going to pull my attention away from all these awesome works in progress, though, I think. I may finish the sock this weekend, but then I have things to work on for the HSKS5 swap (even though it's a sock KIT swap, there's still a handmade component to the swap--which, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about! I'm even looking forward to it, but it's yet another thing to add to a queue which is looking a bit daunting right now). And I'm taking a class starting next weekend, so I'll have a project to work on for that, too.

Oh well--I'm sure I'll figure out how to juggle everything. I just don't want Mom's shawl to keep getting shoved to the bottom of the list! Better work on it a bunch this coming week...haha.

on the street today

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:18:40 -0700

Around 4:00 this afternoon, I was sitting at a table on the sidewalk outside of Grand Central Bowl, waiting for Nik to pick me up. (We went on a work outing, bowling and food at Grand Central. That place is NICE!)

The weather was beautiful and I had 15-20 minutes to kill, so of course I was knitting. In fact, I was knitting this:

That's square #7 in progress, for my Lizard Ridge project. I've described this one as "clown colors." Heh.

So I was sitting there knitting, enjoying being outside, and a woman walked by (very quickly). On the way by, she said, "Pretty hat!"

Me: "... ... Thanks!"

Hat? I decided that it wasn't worth trying to correct her since 1) she was obviously in a hurry, and 2) I suppose the point was that she thought it was pretty, and it probably doesn't really matter whether or not she knows it isn't, in fact, a hat.

I was amused.

swaps, sock clubs & homework

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:28:00 -0700

I've had many, many opportunities to join sock clubs over the last few years, but have never succumbed.

Until this one came up and I could no longer resist. I just joined and I can't wait to see what they're going to come up with!

Another thing I've never done is participate in a swap of any kind. The main reason for my reluctance on those is that I worry that I won't be able to knit to a deadline--no matter how much time is given. I don't do well with deadlines and knitting, even when they're self-imposed.

But I just joined a swap, because it looked like it'll be a lot of fun and because it's a sock KIT swap, not a sock swap. There is a handmade component to the swap, but it's pretty flexible so I'm confident I'll be able to follow through. The swap I joined is Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap 5, a Harry Potter-themed swap with games and activities throughout the swap. Because I didn't want to create a whole separate blog for my "character," you're going to see blog posts popping up here that relate to the swap (I've only just got into the swing of things here--trying to maintain two separate blogs might have been overdoing).

As a new student at Hogwarts, I will have homework from time to time...

Oh, and I've been sorted into Ravenclaw. I get to spoil a Slytherin in this swap. Should be fun!

today's progress...

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:49:49 -0700

One complete Sorta Charade sock:

One nearly-complete Lizard Square:

A little bit of a baby sweater:

(I didn't actually work on this today, but I hadn't shown any pictures of it yet, so...)

home again

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:25:18 -0700

We're home, just finished watching both Lost and Grey's Anatomy from last week, and now it's time for bed. Today kind of flew by, but it was a nice Mother's Day.

Nik made breakfast for both me and Mom, and we enjoyed our ocean view for the morning and early afternoon until we decided it was time to head home. The drive was mostly pretty nice, but there was apparently a big accident outside Dundee which caused us to have to detour. What a backup. We crawled along for miles, but eventually made it to Newberg where we stopped for a quick bite to eat at Burgerville before parting with Mom (she was headed to Wilsonville, while we were headed home to SE PDX). Burgerville was giving out free strawberry shortcake for moms today--it was yummy! (Um. I'm not a mom, but Mom shared hers. :D)

My Sorta Charade sock is done but for the toe, so I expect to finish it tomorrow. Will try to get pictures to post tomorrow. Goodnight!

hey, where'd the sun go?

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Sat, 10 May 2008 22:08:10 -0700

As I mentioned in my last post, we're at Gleneden Beach for the weekend. It's apparently been sunny (if a bit cold) most of the week, but today? Alternately drizzly, foggy, misty, etc., all day. Gray, gray and more gray.

Oh well. I'd still rather be here looking at the ocean than home looking at the street in the rain. :D

All we did today was go into Newport for breakfast (at more like lunchtime). So I've been knitting most of the afternoon/evening, with a bit of reading thrown in. And visiting with Mom and Nik, of course. All in all, a very nice, relaxing day. Despite the weather.

I've made excellent progress on my Sorta Charade socks. The first one has a heel and I'm now working my way down the foot. I'll post photos tomorrow, probably. I also started the February Baby Sweater last night and am now through about three repeats of the lace pattern. Despite looking over the pattern before I started, I didn't notice that there was no mention of buttonholes until you get to the lace section. So...the garter stitch portion at the top has none. Oops. I've come up with an alternate plan for the buttons already, and I think it'll be fine.

I think it's supposed to rain more tomorrow, so there probably won't be any pretty Gleneden photos from me. Maybe I'll steal some more from Mom...

babies, yarn, and projects (oh my)

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:03:51 -0700

I think this post will be quick and picture-heavy...then I'm going to bed early, in an attempt to make up for the last couple of nights a bit.

Yesterday was fun. When I arrived at Twisted, I had a plan. One of my co-workers is pregnant and expecting a little girl in September, so I've decided it's time for me to finally do some baby knitting. In my blog-reading the other day I saw a sweater that Larissa just finished and thought, "oh, that might be the one!" And I wanted something pink, but not...TOO pink. So I went to the sock yarn wall (I was thinking fingering or sport weight) and landed at the Socks that Rock. I found this:

That's the color Pink Granite, which I really like with the subtle pinks and grays. I think it'll make a great baby sweater.

I brought it over to Emily and and asked her for a baby sweater pattern suggestion. She walked to the other side of the store and came back with a sweater on a hanger. It was the same one I'd just seen on Larissa's blog! (It's Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Sweater from the Knitter's Almanac, by the way.) So that pretty much sealed it for me. Emily convinced me to switch to the heavyweight STR (so nice that you can get Blue Moon's colorways in all sorts of different yarns and weights, isn't it?) to go with the pattern.

I also got these buttons for the sweater:

Now I just need the book!

Somehow, this also came home with me from Twisted:

That's more STR--mediumweight--in Atomic #6. Fell in love with the color at first sight.

When Nik and I got home from our evening out, there were two packages waiting for me. One contained 4 new skeins of Kureyon for my Lizard Ridge and this pretty sock yarn (I had to get it to get the order over the $25 minimum!):

The second package was from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, containing...I'm sure you can guess: More STR! These are all lightweight:

The Knitters Without Borders colorway. This is the one that got me to finally place an order with them. I'd missed the chance to get some when the Yarn Harlot was in town, so I decided to order it. So of course I ended up buying a couple more at the same time...

The Lucy colorway. (I'm a sucker for blue and brown together.)

Space Dust. There were so many beautiful colors to choose from that it was really hard to decide. This one really appealed to me, though.

So in one day, I went from no STR to five skeins in five colorways, in three different weights. Heh.

And, since I'm losing steam and really want to get to bed, just a couple more pictures.

My Charade-but-not-really-Charade sock, as of this evening:

(I'll explain the "not-really-Charade" part in another post soon.)

And Mom's shawl (Follow the Leader), about 34 rows in:

Oh, and I almost forgot. Hi Tammy! (I laughed when I saw your note on my BMFA invoice. :D)

the sun finally came out to play

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:33:34 -0700

So we took a few pictures yesterday. We were down in Tualatin, meeting Mom for lunch, but we were about half an hour early so we made a little side trip over to the little man-made lake in the center of Tualatin. For the first year and a half that I lived in the Portland area, I lived on this little lake. I miss the view and the geese, although I do like our house and living in SE Portland.

Nik and I ate dinner here on our first date:

That's Hayden's Grill, and those are people dining lakeside while enjoying the sun, as Nik and I did on our first date. It's on the south end of the lake; I lived in an apartment on the north end. (The path around the lake is only about 1/3 of a mile--all the way around--which is why I have a habit of referring to it as "the little lake.")

The purpose of our side trip, though, wasn't so much a trip down memory lane (although that's always nice!), but rather for these:

The Twisted Sky Socks, brilliant in the sunshine! (I love the brightness of those colors--and people's reactions to them.)

And, finally, Flair:

(Is my hair getting too long?)

And a bonus, since I grabbed it on the way out the door, too. My Dream in Color shrug, which I knitted, oh, last summer, I think, but never managed to take pictures of:

This shrug is from the Dream in Color Shrug pattern, and is knit in Dream in Color Classy (the color is Spring Tickle). I absolutely love this pattern, and this yarn. I still want to make another one.

Tomorrow is my loooong day at work. I'm hesitant to get my hopes up, but if today was any indication tomorrow should be one of the better processing Tuesdays. Which means I might be done by 6:30 instead of 8:30--at least so long as the day doesn't begin with a note like this. (That's from two weeks ago--scary start to the day.)

Unless I collapse from exhaustion by the time I get home tomorrow, I expect to be back with pictures of the in-progress Charade sock (pretty, pretty yarn!) and Follow the Leader shawl. Amazingly, I'm making decent progress on both. :)

2850 yards

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:43:42 -0700

Wow, that's a lot of yarn to wind at once. The Cherry Tree Hill was 2400 yards, making the biggest ball of yarn I've ever seen:

This is going to be a Follow the Leader Faroese Shawl for Mom. Actually, I've already started it and I'm a whole...11 rows in. :)

The sock yarn, Stitchjones Superwash Merino in the Dark and Divine colorway, was only 450 yards. That's nothing! Except that my arms were already tired from winding the lace yarn. Heh. Here it is:

This is, I think, destined to be a pair of Charade socks. I have not yet cast on for these, but I will soon. I'm contemplating doing two at once on two circs...

The sun has finally decided to grace us with its presence, so I hope to have some nice FO photos later on.

artichokes for dinner

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:14:36 -0700

I think I could eat artichokes every day of my life. This was tonight's dinner--along with some tater tots. :D

Well, the sun never did decide to show itself today so I didn't take any knitting-related pictures (thus the picture of my dinner instead). However, I did finish the Twisted Sky Socks! They're awesome and I love them. I have hope that the sun will shine enough tomorrow to get a decent picture.

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, and I have no gift for her because I have been completely uninspired. I do have yarn + pattern for a shawl for her, but haven't started it yet. It would be nice if I could come up with something before we take her out to lunch tomorrow...but I may have to settle for, "I'm working on something awesome for you!" (which means I really need to get it on the needles so I'm not also lying...haha).

The yarn is awesome, Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace in the color Green Mountain Madness (picture here). I also think the pattern I chose will be an enjoyable knit, so why haven't I started it yet?

I think...I'm intimidated by having to wind that humongous hank of yarn into a ball.

So, maybe that's what I'll spend the rest of the evening doing: winding yarn. I have the lace for Mom's shawl and a hank of sock yarn that also needs winding. (I finished one pair, time to start another, right?)

flair!

nospam@example.com (Michelle) — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:13:10 -0700

It's done, it's done, it's finally done! I took pictures, but the light was weird. So bear with me a bit here...

This one is pretty true to the color:

This one shows the texture, etc., better:

And here's a better look at the cute buttons:

Laid out flat like that, it looks a bit like a toddler sweater. It is quite short, but I'm also very short-waisted. It's possible that I should have made it an inch or two longer, but it's pretty cute and I think it'll work as is.

As soon as the weather cooperates (which should be TOMORROW, right?!) I'll get some outdoor and modeled shots so you can really see what it looks like.

Oh yeah, a couple of details...This is Wendy Bernard's Flair, made with Patons Classic Merino Wool in the color Leaf Green. It's been long enough that I don't remember how much yarn I used or many other specifics, really. (I know I had a surprising amount of yarn left over, but that seems to be an overarching theme with me.)

My Twisted Sky Socks are getting very close to completion as well--hopefully I'll be posting with FO pictures of them tomorrow. :)