Sleeves!

So, I've got a vest. I finished knitting both fronts and the back's long done, so now I'm on the first sleeve. Sleeves always terrify me. I have skinny little arms. And a history of things going VERY wrong. Like the extra foot I ripped out of Mariah. Of course, that also makes me believe I can handle any cable pattern thrown at me. I have this weird fear with knitting, though. I don't want to put things together. Everything looks fine when it's just assorted pieces, but I never know if it really fine until I put it together. And that's when I tend to freak out. I'm not a great finisher, in that I just don't do it, so I don't tend to see problems as easily or actually fixable. I mostly just panic.

I know that's something I really need to overcome, in every sector of my life, really. So hopefully when the CPH is done, I'll actually go down to the drug store and get a cardboard display board so I can block the thing the way it should be done. I just can't stand the smell of wet wool (like old hot dogs) and I can't leave the room with the door open since I don't have a roommate anymore. I'll have to figure something out.

Blogging from work again. There was a staff meeting so my boss actually told me to "look busy" if I ran out of things to do. Jackpot. I wish I'd brought the sweater in the first place. I could have at least another inch by the time I'm out of here at 3.

Sneaking on at work

It's a boring life, being a secretary's secretary.

So I've been working on the Central Park Hoodie for about 2 weeks now. I finished the back on Sunday and the left front last night. And as I was working the right front, I got an e-mail about corrections. To the back and right front. It was too late and I was too lazy to rip, though.

I initially wasn’t sure about the pooling of the yarn – Plymouth Galway Paint. The persimmon seemed more prevalent on the ball, of course, and without it, I think the colors are a bit dowdy. But it’s working out well. I sometimes to slip or not slip a first stitch depending on if I want to start moving the colors around. I hate when the best color gets squeezed off to the edges.
The yarn is wonderfully soft. I loved using Galway for a felted bag I made, and a shrug I’ll never finish. I surprised myself by picking out a combination of reds, a color I usually hate, and a variegated yarn for a sweater, something I usually avoid like the plague.

I'll try to get pics up soon, now that I actually have my camera cord. I just never remember to charge the camera itself.

Socialization!

So, I went to my first ever Maine SnB today. I was watching the community access channel at 3 am, because that's just how punk I am, and there was an ad for "Library Knitters" at the town library on Saturdays from 1-3. Cha-ching. So I actually went today! The most awesome parts?

• I was the youngest person there by at least 25 years
• I taught a woman who could be my mom and had been knitting longer than I'd been alive (she had a 27 year old WIP with her!) how to connect DPNs for socks
• Everyone was fascinated by the fact that I can knit without looking
• They wouldn't leave until I finished my sock
• Did I mention the 27 year old WIP?

Basically, it was awesome. And of course, the library is closed next Saturday so I can't go again before going back to school.

It was also the grand debut of My So Called Scarf, which was very beloved. Definitely made the right call on the yarn. I wore it to my friend's house tonight and looked quite fab. Eventually I'll get a pic of it up.

My grandmother's socks are in progress. I finished one today and I should have the other by this time tomorrow. I like the yarn, but the color and pattern are just too old lady for me.

Old lady socks fit for... an old lady

So my grandma decided that I should make socks before I go back to school. Uh, okay. So we went to the LYS yesterday so she could pick out a yarn. For once, she didn't pick out the first thing she saw. I ended up with Rowan True 4Ply Bounty, a yarn who's very existence is dubious, according to the internet. Maybe because it has such a stupid name. (OH, BURN, ROWAN!) I love the feel of it, but she really picked out the most Old Lady Gray Blue shade she could. I'm working them in garter rib, which also looks henny to me.

She loves them.

I'm on the first sock, and I'm just now starting the foot. I've gotten into extending the leg pattern on to the heel flap, which is big for me, as I may never be bold enough to extend it to the top of the foot. My comfort zone: let me show you it.

And eventually, I'll find a mini USB around here to post pics of them, as well as the finished So Called Scarf.

Glitter Socks (FO) & My So Called Scarf (WIP)

I finished my socks and even worked in the yarn ends tonight! I really thought this would be one to be finished in the morning. It let me cast on for my next project, My So Called Scarf, which I of course found on Ravelry. There was a video posted in the comments that made the difference between success and tossing the needles across the room for me. I'm just a little concerned, because instead doing it in the admittedly beautiful Manos, I'm using some stashed impulse yarn, Patons Rumor. It's a color called Moonstone Heather, which is a shiny rainbow spun with black. It's got alpaca in it and looks great. I'm just afraid it's too busy to let you really appreciate the stitch work. So maybe I'll just have to make another one of these scarves later.... I really want to make this and also really want to use the stash yarn, so I think I'll just hope it shows up better, or let the detail be special to me, not the not-so-close world.

Going back in time

I absolutely love how my Glitter Socks are turning out. One is done and the other has a close-to-complete leg. But it makes me think about some of the socks in my drawer that I don't wear. I used to make socks really badly. Too baggy in the leg and no shape to them at all. Most of this is the fault of how I used to make heels. I used to do just a short row heel, no flap, no gusset, so it barely looked like they had a heel at all. They just looked like sacks. I'd really like to just frog the life out of them and redo them. But I still have so much sock yarn for original socks. I don't know. They're not getting any use just being in my drawer, and adding some pieces and probably length (they always looked longer on the DPNS because a lot of the leg gets sucked into the heel) would also use some scraps. It might be my next Really Big Project. Last January, I had sort of an epiphany about how bad all my socks were, and thus, my "Stop Being So Lazy" socks. All the parts they should have, plus a cable pattern. Ever since, my socks have been beautiful and I've been more open to risks. There's more to life than 2x2 ribbing.

These are the socks that changed me so. Yes, the heel is weird because I wanted to try something new that gave them a weird nipple. And one leg is a bit bigger because apparently, I couldn't fudge my gauge as much as I thought. I love how the ribs make the legs look so skinny.

How fab.

Okay, attempt #3 at a knitblog. Probably knitblog #3 to be abandoned. But I just joined Ravelry and I want to have blog entries on there, and I looked back on my other posts in the old blog, and just, bleh. And I misspelled my username. How horrifying. So, I have 4 things up on Ravelry, not that that's even close to the amount of socks alone I've finished, and it's looking decent. So are the socks I'm making right now. Some glittery yarn that I can't remember. I think the label looked like Plymouth Sockotta, but I don't think that's what it actually is. I charted the pattern in Excel, because I'm nerdcore like that. Fairly basic cabling, but I never used to do cables on socks so it's still a big deal for me. And if I ever locate a mini USB while I'm in Maine, before I go back to school, I'll actually put up a picture.

Big update

The aforementioned Flickr site has been upated, not only with my recent stuff, but with some previous work that never got photographed. One of my coolest recent FOs is this hat for my friend Aubin:



I've (of course) been making a lot of socks, as noted by the Stop Being So Lazy socks and these lovely ladies. On the needles right now is a fabulous exercise in destashing, a sweater I'm sort of self-designing in Cascade Quarto, a colorway I bought 3 balls of two years ago and promptly ignored. Here's the color - http://www.yarn-store.com/images/cascade/9433.jpg I'm sure I'll need more of it, but at least there should be at least 2.5 balls out of my stash after that's accounted for. Every little bit makes me feel better. And justifies new sock yarn.

YEEEEEEES.

I finally mastered Continental knitting!! I don't think it's faster yet, but I was already a speed demon with English. That being said, I feel like a god.

Expect a pic post

Okay, I've finished Mariah, and some bobble socks, and 3 commissions, and never posted about them. Such a bad knitblogger! So, when I'm finished with this scarf I'm making my mom (in the name of not dragging one more ball/WIP to school) I'll try to do some photography and be less lazy. Maybe Mariah's evil, evil sleeves (my KRers know them well) might get adjusted in the next two days. But probably not.

Hi Gail!

Oh my God oh my God oh my God

I'm about to seam Mariah. I think I'm gonna be sick.

Oh my sweet JESUS!

I actually just finished the second sleeve of Mariah. That means all the pieces are made, save for the hood, which I can't do until I do all the shaping. And oh God, am I scared about the shaping. I had a dream where I read the pattern and it actually said "you aren't ready for this."

That's not a good sign.

I hate crochet.

SO MUCH.

I can't do the "yarn over" all cool like everyone else in the damn world that crochets and make the hook do the work. I have to pull it with my hand. Which entirely defeats my purpose in crocheting. It looked fun and cool and fast and no, I'm some sort of special ed fiber freak. It took me MONTHS to learn to knit, and I can teach people in 2 minutes. I feel so stupid. Oh boy, I can make a chain. In a way that I don't like. That justifies the expensive book I bought, clearly.

I shouldn't be wasting my time with this, and instead, be agonizing over that Mariah sleeve.

Not gonna lie.

Chewing my own arm off so I don't have to make the second sleeve of Mariah is becoming an ever more appealing option. Right front is finished but I'm adding an inch to the left from and back, since I always find myself pulling the Ribby Cardi down. Really concerned about the lack of shaping and all the putting on holders. This yoke thing is scaring the crap out of me.

That's kind of a letdown

A few hours ago there was a 19 inch sleeve hanging off my needles. Now there's the woolen equivalent of an eyebrow. I mean, that means the sleeve is finished, but as soon as I finish, I'm back at the beginning again!

To be honest...

I really hate Mariah. I hate everything about the process of this goddamn pattern. I hate that THERE IS NO LOGIC TO ANYTHING and I hate I've metaphorically ripped out so much hair over this. Maybe I'm not good at math, but could someone tell me if I'm right here?

C0 46 stitches for a small.

K1.
Do two repeats of the pattern. It's a 22 stitch repeat normally, but for this pattern, you end a stitch early. So it's a 21 stitch repeat.
K2.

1 + 42 + 2 = 45.

NOT 46. NOT 46 AT ALL.

oh god someone out there has to have done this pattern and can help me.

Mmm, Willow's End

I was going to be good.

I wasn't going to buy more yarn until I'd destashed at least another ball or two.

I had two WIPs that had been untouched for nearly a month while I'd been on a reading spree.

And then my mom suggested we go up to Boothbay Harbor. Where the best yarn store in the world is.

$120.61 later, I had a couple more WIPs.


It doesn't have a brand name to it, but it was on sale and oh so alluring. 80% Merino, 20% silk. It might be a hat or something. I don't know. It's just so pretty.


They look like little Easter eggs. 100% "egyptisk bomull," which, in my limited knowledge of Norweigian, I think means "Egyptian cotton." It certainly feels like it. All of these will be for doing my own (for once) striping on socks.


"Mega Boots Stretch." I have no idea, but it's Lana Grossa, it's pink, black, yellow, and orange, and it's 70% virgin wool, 23% polyamide, and 7% "elite (PBT)," which I think means something. And looking at it now, apparently I spent $16.25 on it. And I kind of wish I hadn't. Oh well, excuse to quickly destash it.


Picture doesn't do it justice. Color Me soft cotton, in "Elegant," beautiful turquoise, seafoam, fuschia, and lavender.

Berroco Foliage - Russian Sage
Had to link to a big pic of this one from a commercial site, because no way could I do justice to something this beautiful. And how fitting that I picked up "Russian Sage" the day I finished Dr. Zhivago.

It was so great to be yarn shopping again. When I was in the store looking over the finger weight yarn, even just in plain solid colors, I was absolutely euphoric. The store owner asked if I was okay. I had to laugh when I realised I was just as giddy as when my boyfriend that I hadn't seen in a month visited on Sunday. But I haven't been yarn shopping for even longer, and my hands had been off the needles for a while when I took a break to read 4 books. But for the long ride, I picked up my Forever WIP, a pair of socks alternating between ribbing and stockinette every inch and a half. I bought some new size 2 DPNs in the shop because I couldn't deal with the bitty Brittanys I was talked into in another store. I need long needles, damnit! Also, toothpick size needles made of wood have a tendency to break when you jump off your roommate's top-bunk bed down on to the couch in a hurried attempt to find the phone. Fancy that! So we're switched to some metal Susan Bates needles.

I should be getting back to Mariah and that damn sleeve soon. Now, of course, I'm caught up in these socks. I did more in 24 hours than I did in months, so maybe they might even be finally done soon.

I did not know I could do this.

So far so good. I was afraid that the blank rows weren't supposed to be there, but in looking at other finished Mariahs further, I see I'm right. Hmm. I think I'd kind of prefer a more continuous pattern, but who am I to question these things. It's just such slow going...

It's a sweater!

Well, this was a learning experience. For instance, I learned:

*Sleeve cap shaping is not an option... if you like raising your arms.
*If you have your doubts about a yarn while it's in progress, chances are, you will when it's done.
*I have never owned a white sweater. Why did I think this would be any different?
*I need to give myself more credit. I designed a sweater!

So, without further ado, the sweater. It's done now, pending yarn end weaving, but there was only a row added to the neck after this was taken last night. It's resting on my lap like a kitty right now.

Oh, and that's no typo in the filename. Living in a college dorm and having mostly male friends, I took a lot of good natured ribbing (oh, bad Jenna) about the bobbles inside circles design.

Click to go up a size.