Just a Quick Word

I'm about to shove off to bed, but before I do I want to pass the word to those that may not have caught wind of this yet.  There is a new online knitting magazine up and running.  The patterns are not free :(  but they are gorgeous enough for me to not care.  The articles are pretty informative, especially the one by Cat Bordhi and an amazing new way to knit a sock (I swear that woman could find a way to knit a bicycle into a sock!).  The layout is really cool too, you just click on the sidebar to "turn" the page.  Probably the most beautiful feature though (besides the lovely patterns) is the photography (ATTENTION: MAURA!!!!), they divide the sections of patterns up into themes, and.....you just have to see for yourself.  They're so much fun!

Anyway, this is my obsession: Wisteria.  I've been searching online for a yarn that will work that won't make the sweater be $60.  I think I can do Knit Picks Swish for about $40, but I don't know what the yarn feels like.  Has anyone used it?  Is it soft and "sweaterable"?  There are also a few other patterns that I want to make, but this one will be first (if I make any, that is). 

So there, go forth and drool!

7 Deadly Sins Shipment #3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just in case I didn't start this post low enough for anyone to not be spoiled if they stumble upon this, I'll give you a picture of my animal fitting this month's them quite well:

 

So yes, this shipments' theme was Sloth.  I was quite worried about this shipment given my disappointment in the last one, but I have to say I'm not really disappointed this time.  I'm not as ecstatic as I could be, but at least this shipment had some yarn in it, and the pattern (although I would probably pass it by if searching for something to make) looks like it took a really long time (not to mention a lot of math) to design.  It's not something I would normally like, but I think it could grow on me.  It also looks like it's going to be a heck of a lot more challenging than the last shipment.

The yarn is Unique Sheep Footprints.  50g of Studmuffin (brown) and 70g of Siesta Fiesta (multicolor), as well as 8g of black angora yarn for the inside of the earflaps.  The extras included were a row counter (for those to lazy to keep track), a club button, a note pad with a crazy colorful sloth on it, and some loose tea from Felicitea (green tea, chamomile, peppermint, and catnip), as well as a tea bag to put it in (the glass of Mango Lemonade did not come with the shipment, I was just to lazy to move it.  Just keeping with the theme!)

So while it's not what I expected, I'm happy about the challenge that the project will provide.  However, it's going to wait a little bit because I've started something else.

 

This is the Short 'N Sweet (ravelry link) from the Stitch 'N Bitch Happy Hooker book.  I'm making this with the same yarn that I made Blissful with, which didn't turn out as such for me, but will work great for Maura (once I finish putting the fasteners on it).  Also unlike Blissful, this one seems like it's going to fit me.  So far.  While working on this project, I've been neglecting this one:

This is the sock for Ray that I've been picking up between projects.  I'm not sure what is keeping me away from it, I think I may be a little burnt out on socks, but I really want to finish it them for him.  Yes, this is only the first one.  At this rate he MAY have them for Christmas.  We'll see.

Technical Difficulties

On Sunday I wrote a post on Live Writer about the last shipment of 7DS, full of pictures and everything. Something is wrong with the internet connection in our area and it's not letting me upload it at all. A technician is coming by on Thurs. to take a look at it. Hopefully they can do something about this, because it's affecting all three of our computers and also Ray's Xbox. Our connection is also really slow at times, one page took almost three minutes to load! Ugh! Ray thinks that maybe they're bandwidth shaping, but he did a download test on someone elses router in our building and they were going slow as well. I may just breakdown and take my computer somewhere with free wireless to upload the post. Sorry to keep you in suspense. ;)

Story Time

I wrote a short story for a contest for the yarn club I'm in (7DS, button on the side there).  The story had to be no more than 300 words (which mine is exactly) and had to end with the sentence "...and s/he saw the sloth wrap and dangle the scarf from its neck."  Sloth being the theme of this next shipment.  I found it challenging to keep the story under 300 words (I tend to ramble and over explain things), but did manage to do it.  My inspiration for the story (and it's macabre theme) came from my friend Jason who often writes anecdotal stories about cute insects and animals and their true nature.  So anyway, without further ado.......

Penelope, the praying mantis, and Midge, the sloth, were at their usual game. Penelope would run up to the very top of the tree and pick all the best fruits and nuts and place them on Midge’s belly, this way Midge could just hang around in her favorite spot all day. In return, Penelope got free run of all the insects and bugs in the tree. This made both of them very happy and plump.

One day, as Penelope was crawling around on Midge searching for parasites to eat she got some of Midge’s hair stuck on her legs. As she wound her legs around to try and free herself she noticed that certain movements made the hair fibers “lock” together. Being the curious and creative mantis that she was, she decided to collect some of Midges hair and repeat this motion to see what would happen. She quickly realized that doing this created a long piece of fabric.

Penelope decided to make a present for her friend Midge. She would make a strip of fabric out of Midge’s hair that she could wrap around herself. Penelope would call this strip of fabric a scarf. Midge would love it because Penelope worked so hard on it. And she did work on it. A lot. She soon became obsessed with making this scarf and was no longer bringing food for Midge.

This didn’t make Midge very happy. She was too lazy to get up for food and Penelope was right there, well-fed on insects. Midge reached out and picked up Penelope to put her in her mouth, scarf still in hand. She cried out, but to no avail. She made one last attempt to escape from Midge’s mouth and she saw the sloth wrap and dangle the scarf from her neck.

 

p.s.  I got the shipment today.  I shall take pictures of it and post my thoughts tomorrow. 

A Productive Weekend

 

First off, I'd like to thank everyone that commented on my last post.  It meant a lot to Ray and I to know that so many people were thinking of us and of Zombie too.  The house just isn't the same without her and I think even Sam (reluctant as they were to like each other) misses having her around.  Oh, she was such a sweetheart.

Well like a lot of grieving people, I tried to keep myself busy, so as to keep my mind off things.  Aside from going for several bike rides, breakfasts, dinners, and movies this weekend; I also worked on some knitting projects.

This is an inner tube from Ray's bike tire that went flat this weekend.  I had seen inner tubes made into straps for bags before, but just never had one lying around.  I attached it to the Spork Felted Courier Bag that I knit ages  a while ago and never got around to finishing.  Well, technically it's still not done.  I need to put the buckles on the flaps still, but it's a little closer.  And now I have a motive for finishing it too, this bag is going to be sold at the market.  I have a gajillion bags and I don't really need another one.  Plus the money will help to pay for Zombie's final medical bills.  Not the most cheery of causes, but necessary none the less.

In the there's-no-way-this-going-to-be-anyone-else's category of knitting news:

Ewww, what the hell is that?!!  And why would you want to keep it?!  Well, "that" is just over 100 yds of Malabrigo super bulky thick & thin (color: Rosa viejo) knitted into a scarf that kind of looks like a really pretty tape worm.  That is until you do this:

Ahhhhhh.  Much better.  This is the Alpine Cable Scarf from Andrea Tung's Hats, Mittens, & Scarves Deck.  It knits up really quick (which is good for the crazy person that decides she just has to knit a Malabrigo scarf in the middle of summer), and looks great once it is blocked.  I'm not sure how well it will keep it's shape once I'm wearing it for a while, but I won't have to worry about that for at least 3 more months (fingers crossed).

I've also started working on the second half of my Seven Deadly Ribs Wrist Warmers, and after trying to follow my own pattern realized that I am an idiot.  I totally had to fix the whole pattern, and it's still not quite how I want it.  However, I can live with it because it's pretty much my first real design pattern.  Plus I'm too lazy to go through and figure out how to make that crazy cable cross in the other direction (I have a feeling it would require starting the 1x1 rib with a purl instead of a knit.  Don't ask me why, apparently working on that pattern immediately turns off my brain and I can't even figure out the simplest repeat.)  I'll have pictures of those up when they're done and Maura has had a chance to photograph them properly.

Well, it's now late and my bed is calling.  Off to cuddle a kitty.

R.I.P.

 

Zombie (aka Zombers, Princess, & Zombelina)  1994-2008

 

She was tiny, bright-eyed, and could cuddle longer than any cat I know.  She loved her purple velvet pillow, and sitting in laps.  She purred like a motor boat stuck on high.  And she was oh so tiny.

She passed away peacefully at the vets office in the arms of the two people who cared for her most.

We'll miss you Zombie, you'll always have a special spot on our laps.

 

Then along came you

 

Hello again!  It's been a little while since the last post.  I know, you guys hear that a lot from me.  The truth is, I enjoy blogging I just don't enjoy the process.  Typing in a tiny window, inserting and resizing pictures (after waiting several minutes for them to download) and trying to drag them around in said tiny window.  I guess that is probably the most annoying part.  The pictures.  I love having them in my blog, but it's really annoying/time-consuming to insert them with the format that blogger uses. 

Enter:  Windows Live Writer!  It makes the whole process much easier and faster, well as far as I know anyway.  I haven't published this post yet, but aside from any problems with that then it will be awesome!  When I post, I'm posting on a template that looks just like my blog page (no more text not lining up with pictures because of sizing conflicts) and inserting pictures is as simple as selecting the file from my pictures folder.  There's also more options for customizing my posts as well, but I'll explore those later.  For now, I'm just glad to have fallen "in like" with my blogging experience again.

On to stuff!  The picture above is the basket that I made in a class with some friends of mine at Baskets of Yarn.  It was a lot of fun, and a little easier than I thought it would be.  It also took longer than I thought it would, but next time I will come prepared with some snacks or something.

In the basket is some gorgeous hand-dyed merino, Mirasol Hacho, that I picked up at Bella Lana when Ray and I went to Minneapolis in April.  I have no idea what it will be yet, although a few different ideas have floated by.  Any thoughts?  I have three skeins at 137 yds working up at 22 st in 4 in. on sz. 6 needles.  I've looked at Ravelry and most of the projects on there have been socks, baby clothes, or sweaters that I don't have nearly enough yarn for.  I could probably make a scarf or a few hats, but I wanted something a little more creative than that.  I may just need to wait until the Fall Knitty comes out, their warmer patterns are usually pretty good.

I have a few projects I'm working on that I would have pictures of, but we had really crappy weather this weekend, so the lighting wasn't that good.  Maybe next time!

Seven Deadly Ribs Wrist Warmers (Free Pattern!)

The Seven Deadly Ribs Wrist Warmer

I designed these wrist warmers with yarn that
I received from the Seven Deadly S(p)ins yarn
club. The cable contains seven twisted rib stitches, each one standing for each sin. The palm is basic stockinette stitch and there is some shaping above the wrist to really hug your hand. I used the picot bind off from the Fetching Fingerless gloves on Knitty, and it seems to give the right amount of "edginess" to the pattern.

Edited on 7/13/08: I must have been on crack when I wrote this, because I made a lot of mistakes. Actually I just made the same one over and over, but it definitely affects the pattern. I'll highlight the changes for anyone that has already printed this off. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. :)

Yarn: The Unique Sheep Pima Petite (100% Peruvian Cotton; 2 oz/150 yds) 1 skein, Peace

Needles: US 3 straight, or size needed to get gauge

Stitch markers
Cable Needle
Tapestry Needle

Gauge: 20sts and 32 rows = 4 in.

tbl- through back loop
ktfbl- knit through front and back loop
13-st rib RC- slip 6 st to cable needle, hold in back, [K1 tbl, P1] 3 times, K1 tbl, cont in rib from cn as foll: [p1, k1 tbl] 3 times.


Left Glove

CO 36 st. (leave a long tail for sewing up the side)
K1, P1 for 6 rows
Row 1: K3, [K1 tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K20
Row 2: P17, K3, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K3
rep rows 1 and 2; 3 times.

Cable Rows:
K3, 13-st rib RC, K20
P17, K3, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K3

Row 1: K3, [K1 tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K20
Row 2: P17, K3, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K3
rep rows 1 and 2; 3 times.

Increase Rows:
Row 1: K1, ktfbl, K1, [K1 tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K2, ktfbl, K15,
ktfbl, K1
Row 2: P18, K4, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K4
Row 3: K1, ktfbl, K2, [K1 tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K3, ktfbl, K16,
ktfbl, K1
Row 4: P19, K5, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K5
Row 5: K5, [13-st rib RC], K24
Row 6: P19, K5, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K5
Row 7: K5, [K1 tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K24
Row 8: P19, K5, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K5
rep rows 7 and 8; 4 times.
rep rows 5 and 6 once.
rep rows 7 and 8; 5 times.


Picot Bind Off:
BO 5 sts, [slip st on right needle back to left needle; CO 1 st using Cable Cast On, BO 6 sts] until all sts have been bound off.

Cut yarn with enough length to sew down to your thumb.

Fold piece in half, right sides together. Starting at the top, graft the sides together stopping after about an inch (or desired length). Weave in end. Using tail yarn, sew up from the bottom for about 2 in. (or desired length). Weave in end.


Right Glove

For the right glove, you can change the cable to be opposite from the other glove by holding the cable needle to the front instead of the back.
Since this is an odd numbered cable, this doesn't work like I thought it would. I'm fine with my cables going in the same direction, how about you?

CO 36 st. (leave a long tail for sewing up the side)
K1, P1 for 6 rows
Row 1: K20, [K1 tbl, P1] 6 times, K1tbl, K3
Row2: K3, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K3, P17
rep rows 1 and 2; 3 times

Cable Rows:
K20, 13-st rib RC, K3
K3, [P1tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K3, P17

Row 1: K20, [K1tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K3
Row 2: K3, [P1tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K3, P17
rep rows 1 and 2; 3 times

Increase Rows:
Row 1: K1, ktfbl, K15, ktfbl, K2, [K1tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K1, ktfbl, K1
Row 2: K4, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K4, P18
Row 3: K1, ktfbl, K16, ktfbl, K3, [K1 tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K2, ktfbl, K1
Row 4: K5, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K5, P19
Row 5: K24, [13-st rib RC], K5
Row 6: K5, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K5, P19
Row 7: K24, [K1 tbl, P1] 6 times, K1 tbl, K5
Row 8: K5, [P1 tbl, K1] 6 times, P1 tbl, K5, P19
rep rows 7 and 8; 4 times.
rep rows 5 and 6 once.
rep rows 7 and 8; 5 times.

Use Picot Bind Off to finish. Follow instructions from left glove to sew seam.

Block item and enjoy!!


This pattern hasn't been test knitted yet. Please let me know if anything is wrong or if the instructions are unclear.

Handling Wrath

A while ago I got the second shipment in the 7DS club. This time it was Wrath. A damn fine sin, it certainly has it's place. Especially in a yarn club themed around it and it's six other counterparts, right? Well, I thought so too, except the people in charge apparently didn't agree. I think they might have thought that Wrath was a little too "negative" (HELLO! It's a sin! It's supposed to be negative!), and decided that Wrath's opposite, Peace, would make a better yarn package.

Okay? Peace. What makes me feel at peace? Well, yarn. Lots of yarn, lots of soft, silky, fluffy, pretty, finger-petting good yarn. Hmmm, what else? Chocolate, coffee, sweaters, chocolate, wine, and yarn. Okay. A kit with lots of soft, fluffy yarn with a pattern for a small shrug or capelet, a little chocolate, a sample of coffee (wine might not pack well). Yeah, I guess that could work.

So, what is THEIR idea of Peace? Well, it's certainly not as much about yarn as mine is. It's more about baths (which I do find peaceful, just not in my tiny tub) and decaf tea. They did get the chocolate right though. That was a damn tasty chocolate sheep. All three bites of him. Anyway, so of course to relax with all this bath stuff sent to me by my yarn club; they supplied me with 150 yds of delicious pima cotton in a very pretty pale blue (not as much yardage as I would find peaceful, but they claim it will be made up for in later shipments) to knit a wash cloth (with a sheep on it of course) and a soap sack. Well, I'm just not the washcloth type, and if I use a bar soap, then I've taken to felting them.

What this means it that I had to come up with a use for this yarn and I wanted turn the theme back to where it was supposed to go, Wrath.


Behold! The Seven Deadly Ribs Wrist Warmers and Choke(r) on some Wrath! (clicky make biggy)































I made up the pattern for the wrist warmers, but the choker is from pieKnits site (she has some other really cute stuff too!)

I'll post the pattern for the wrist warmers in a separate post (I'm going to link this pattern to my ravelry and the 7DS forum, and while I spoke up about being unhappy about the shipment, I don't want to throw it in their faces in the form of a link to an alternative idea) with a few more pictures. I also haven't finished the second one yet and need to make sure that there are no major changes that need to be made to the pattern for the second one.

In other news, a while ago I signed up to be a test knitter for a vintage stitch pattern book that Lime & Violet (or someone affiliated with them) are putting together and just got an email today saying that I'm in! I'm pretty excited, it doesn't pay money but I get to keep any yarn left over. I'm definitely cool with that!

And speaking of getting paid....today I got a raise at work (a pretty substantial one too) and couldn't be more happy. I can now afford to pay all of my bills (on time even!), set some money aside in savings, and maybe even have a little left over to play with! My boss (and my job) kick ass!

Ok, I'm gonna go start another headband for the market this week. G'night!

Guess I kinda forgot.

Sorry about that. So the secret thing I was working on was a made-from-scratch red velvet cake for my friend Heather who is now living in Mankato, MN. We (read: The Thursday Night Knitting Group) were throwing her a surprise going away party and she reads my blog so I couldn't say anything about it. We held this party under the guise of an "assembly" party for the scarf squares that we have made for each other. Anyway here are some pictures (click on them to make them bigger) of all that fun:

















This is Heather with her cake and wearing her Kick-Ass Bitch Scarf, aka K.A.B.S. (so dubbed by me, just now. we came up with several different names for the project, but none of them seemed to stick. I think it's because they didn't have enough swear words in them ;) She is also posing with several spent bottles of wine, which we all helped to drink. And it was delicious.
















This is Maura with her scarf (my square is the one in the upper left side!) and Jason in the background looking suspicious about something. He must be talking to Karen! (just kidding Karen!)


















Janet, hiding among the greenery, modeling her scarf (mine is the blueish-green one).














Here's Betty, looking sooo cute! Just like her scarf!















Betty is helping Karen model her scarf (which matched her outfit beautifully!).

















And this is me with my scarf. It is very toasty and the weather was even nice(?) enough to give me several days to warrant wearing it. Joy!

And what's a good party without boys?!
















Here, Jason is showing us the proper use of a knitted pillow in progress. That's what I've been doing wrong!

















Matt is totally jamming out with his crochet self.


















Andrew (Betty's husband) watched us all be crazy and didn't judge us. He gets a huge medal for that alone!
















Max provided cuteness and tech support, he's quite efficient with the hunt 'n peck.

It was a very fun night and we're sad to see Heather go, but we know we'll see her again soon.

Ok, off to look up crochet patterns!