Huge accomplishments

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So....I rule.

I've been prolific since my last post. The top is a lovely ladder yarn scarf done in Plymouth Eros, with a truly unGodly amount of fringe. I worked it in stockinette on size 8s, and it was more than a little painful at times. And slippery. But it's damn sexy and I actually had never done fringe before. Rock on. Oh, and that's our resident monkey, Stinky, modeling it.

Then, there's my funnel top, made with 3 yarns from Cascade 220 all held together. First time I've done that, too. And it's super-cute, too. I used the pattern in Hip To Knit.

Finally, wool mittens from Family Circle Easy Knitting. It was a good time, not cutting the yarn after every two rows. Definitely less of a pain, too. And, they fit much better than the yellow oven mitt(en)s.

So, the next project? A cabled hat on circular needles. Circular needles? Wrath of my existence. I kept screwing it up over and over and making twists and all of a sudden last night, they worked. And this weekend, I tried my first cable and got it. Woo hoo! I'll keep you posted.

Oh God, you will be mine!

My friend and I are putting together a Knitpicks order, figuring between the two of us, we can spend $30. I think it's really more of way to get us to limit ourselves from each spending $30, as oh my God, I so could do on sock yarn alone. And then I found this.
http://www.knitpicks.com/lobby.asp?WCI=Item_Display&itemid=40021
I don't buy yarn that I've never seen or felt before, but DAMN YOU KELLY PETKUN for making me drool and yelp with glee at all of your yarns. Damn you from the bottom of my bank account.

On a more exciting note (not that glorious balls of Simple Stripes aren't exciting), HOLY CRAP:


This is truly a great moment in The History of Man. Or maybe just The History of Jenna's Knitting. But still, HOLY CRAP INTARSIA. I cried a little with glee. I love my spontaneous moments of motivation... especially when they actually lead to something other than rage. And yes, that's the glorious dorm room. Note the yarn box in the background. That was cleaned and organized during my motivational fit, too. That motivational fit involved winding some floppity hanks, which provided me with an important life lesson: Berrocco Quest is the devil. Of course, she's an alluring beast and I'll end up making something terribly regrettable out of her.

And, and!

It's a children's hat I made without a pattern for Afghans for Afghans. And I made a pom pom. Lacking any cardboard whatsoever for a pom pom maker, I folded over duct tape a bunch of times and cut accordingly. It worked....

I finished some cotton socks, too, and I have a delicious funnel top on the needles, but I seriously ran out of the three yarns I'm triplestranding 2 damned inches before the end of the piece. And since it's on 15s, 2 inches isn't many rows. There was a lot of rage. If you have any shade of pink Cascade 220 hanging around, even if it's just ten yards, let's talk. Current project? Mittens in Lamb's pride Aztec Turquoise and Periwinkle, switching colors every 2 rows. With some Berrocco Quest on the cuff... alluring devil.

OMFG it's a Ribby!

So I've left this poor thing sitting in my knitting bag or on my couch at home, almost done save for a quarter of a front panel, languishing on a stitch holder since mid-July. Finally, the day before Labor Day, it was time. I grabbed the piece, grabbed the needles, frogged as necessary, remembered how to interpet my pattern notes, and finished that damn panel. I sewed, even though I didn't think I'd be able to put on the sleeves without trauma, assistance, and holy mother of GOD, I had my first sweater. I picked up the stitches for the collar and brought the darn thing to my Russian culture class to work on before the class started and mostly for attention. I skipped throughout the halls smiling and telling people "I have a sweater!" Many compliments and squealing and people being proud of me has ensued. More importantly, I'm proud of myself and knitted a garment I actually want to wear (see: halter top of doom and indecency). Life is awesome.

Click to enlarge, per the usual.

Epiphany.

I am really, really bad at seaming. Holy God.

Seaming up a penguin.....Badly....Pics to be posted eventually, if I remember to bring stuffing to school tomorrow. "Giant bag of Poly-Fil" is pretty low on the list of things I want to bring back on a bus from the mall with me. But I suppose I could try to dress it up like an obese child. Hmmm.

Ribbed For His Pleasure hat

It breaks my heart that my friend Ian has to walk all the way across campus every night just to entertain me (okay, and everyone else), so I told him I'd knit him anything he wanted. We came up with a dark green hat with all-over 2x2 ribbing. I still haven't gotten the hang of decreases on ribbing, but it looks pretty decent. Except most hat patterns I read said to knit for 7 inches before decreasing. It turned out a little long...

So, my quick solution? Just roll it up! I think it's still pretty fetching, though no pic because I can't get the blog/alignment to be equally attractive. ;)

More with the Magic Stripes

Hi Jason.

My mom wanted some socks, so I let her pick the yarn. I suggested something from KnitPicks, like some nice Dancing or something...no, she picks this. I warn her, it's not going to knit up as pretty as the ball is. Damn. I admit, they look much worse on the needles than they do on the feet. And she's happy, so that's what matters.

What I love about these is that I actually did one in a day. I worked on it during the wait/opening acts for the Backstreet Boys concert my aunt and I went to. So that just adds to my list of Amazing Places I've KIPped. But it took me forever to finish the second one. Just no ambition. Oh, and I haven't really been this productive today. I finished Muppet today, but these socks were done earlier.

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Pretty pink princess psocks

Hey, I needed continuity.

So, after feeling empowered by my Magic Stripes socks, I COed for some pretty pink socks for my best friend. It was a different gauge but I thought I knew enough that I could do it. And holy God, I did. I just followed basics and decided to make them a little shorter and have the leg entirely ribbed. Love it. Classic Elite Flash, Hot Tropic, a little over 2 hanks. Which sucks when you only bought 2 hanks. Of what is apparently the hardest yarn to find ever.

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The Muppet

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That's what my friends Zach and Emily call this heinous mess of Fun Fur. KR members know it as the scarf that spawned my letter of betrayl to the yarn. I simply know it as that thing that was wasting a stitch holder and in the bottom of my bag. I finally couldn't take it anymore today and finished it.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooocks!

NO FREAKING WAY.

I.

MADE.

SOCKS.

I never thought when I started knitting in January and crying over purling in March that I'd be making socks. But oh God, it was so easy. I'm so happy. I used Lion Brand's Magic Stripes and the pattern on the back of the label. I'm so giddy. The second one went so much faster, too. And it looks better. So happy.

Giant pic

Thanks to all my KRers. I couldn't knit it without you.

Stash/Stress Reduction Scarf

After regretfully trying to just knit off a hank and not wind it into a ball, and then crying over the tangled mess I had, I just wanted something simple to do. I was all set to grab some sock yarn from my knitting bag (I've never even made socks. That would have just not been relaxing.), but I saw my 17s and got inspired.

I've been trying to make this damned Joann's Sensations yarn into something other than a waste of money for some time now. When this involves the purchase of new tools, something seems wrong. I thought I'd make mittens. No pattern or anything. Obviously, I gave up after 2 rows.

So, what's every knitter's "this yarn has to die NOW" last resort? The good old scarf. I cast on 6 stitches, making it a little over 4 inches wide, and just knit until those 3 balls were gone. I found it was much easier to work with when I physically loosened every stitch after getting it on the needle, lifting up the yarn and pushing the bump behind it to the front. After that, I took some more Sensations yarn, Peacock, and made some trim. I had on shorts when I tried it on it, and it was tickling my knees. :oP But, there's 3.5 balls worth of stash reduction, and I made something in less than a day!

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Lolo looks like brains.

The final result: (I really need to find a better way to take pictures of this stuff):

Make the ribbing stop.

So I've been working on this Ribby Cardi. And after finishing the first sleeve, and having to do an extra 22 rows because apparently, 14.5 inches is not just as good as 17 inches, I've come down with a case of ribbing madness. I'm a pretty fast knitter, and sometimes I can find the process of ribbing addictive, but oh God, I've done so much. Gee, who'd think, with a project called the RIBBY CARDI. The worst part? The USO I'm dying to get to...socks with 3 inches of ribbing at the top.

I know I've been lazy about posting pics. So I have the back, one front panel, and one sleeve done. I have half of another front panel done - just need to get out to the LYS for a little more yarn - and I've gotten through a few inches of sleeve #2. I wanted this thing done by Saturday, but with working 4 days in a row and needing to go to the LYS, not to mention blocking...ain't happenning. It's heartbreaking. I know, it's a wool blend sweater in July. But still.

Ugh, maybe I'll get a few rows done during my breaks tomorrow. I hate just pacing around, checking sizes and folding. It's so much time that could be spent being productive...which is why I usually sneak down to the footwear section to get shoes for the kids (It probably bears mentioning that I work in the kids' department of a major ass catalog company's flagship store...I've gotten to speak 3 languages in one day.) because at least I can see tangible results for my efforts. Meh.

Knitting with black yarn, over something not entirely mindless, in a house with terrible light for nights on end...clearly, I hate my eyes and want them to die.

Holy crap.

I did NOT just spend almost $100 on yarn and needles I didn't need.... Yes I did. I feel no guilt. Especially for the quantity of items and the AMAZING quality. Willow's End, Boothbay Harbor, ME. Best. LYS. Ever. Missing from the photos: a pair of Susan Bates Silvalune 6s (the emergency needles that lead to all this), some Balene 17s (damn you, crazy bulky Joann's yarn), and some 16 inch Inox size 8 circs for future hats.

Berroco Quest, 100% Nylon

Trendsetter Yarns - Jupiter, 38% mohair, the rest all sorts of stuff

Wool in the Woods - Feelin' Fuzzy, 90% Kid Mohair and 10% Nylon, in Nothin' But Blues

Brown Sheep Company - Cotton Fleece, 80% cotton and 20% merino wool, in Limelight

Artful Yarns - Jazz, half wool half alpaca

Flash, 100% mercerized cotton, in Hot Tropic

More Flash, in Cool Mix

Making my first sweater

I bought the pattern off Chicknits, and I couldn't wait to get started. I'm making it with Plymouth Encore in magenta and Cascade 220 Superwash in black for the sleeves. Most of this was done yesterday, with about 3 inches the day before.

I enjoy knitting things that are seasonally inappropriate.

I made mittens! I used a pattern from 1959 from a book given to me by DBF's grandma...ok, I cheated and used 4s where I should have used 3s and sport where I should have used fingering, but whatever...I mean, it probably didn't help that I already have small hands and used a pattern for medium mittens. Oh well, I have some nice big mittens that will probably get stolen by a male friend :).



Now, back to my Chicknits Ribby Cardi! Jenna, and a real sweater...who'da thunk it?

Double. Pointed. Needles.

I still can't believe I can do this. And that I taught myself, without any of my knitting mentors from school guiding me along through the tears. Here's the ribbed cuff of mitten #1. It's actually pretty warm so far for just an acrylic sport weight yarn (as many KR members would guess, yup, Jenna's back at it with the godforsaken Microspun...) I thought about starting the six basic rows of straight up knitting, but God, I should go to bed.



Six little rows...argh, temptation.

Amazingly, this was once a chipmunk.

The pattern called for DK weight yarn and size 2 needles...Having neither, I opted to work with what I had - worsted and 8s. So my chipmunk was kinda sorta 13 inches long. I had only the body and a back leg and a half done before I put it down for other pursuits. I decided to pick it back up today, frogged the leg, remembering it had some issues, remade it, made the front ones, stuffed, made ears, put eyes on, and knit a long tail. But you know what? It just wasn't a chipmunk. It was something....like a capybara, or a...MOOSE. I re-did the tail, moved the ears to the side, and made antlers all of my own design. I absolutely love it.

It was a learning experience.

It was my first big project. There were measurements and gauging and so much focus. There were mistakes, oh God, were there mistakes, but it's actually done. I'm not as happy with it as I could be - it's a little short and I've already repaired a droopy chest, and I think the straps are a bit flimsy, but it worked out fine.

Except for that random 7 extra inches in the width.

Using measurements, math, and gauges. I have no idea. So the back is a little more stable than the flimsy front. I'll live.

Front:

Back:

Without the flash to show the glitter blobs:

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

so. sick. of this. WIP.

The blue halter is kicking my ass. It's heavy on my needles, itchy on my skin, and easily screwed up. I just want to get to 10 inches so I can bind off half and start shaping the....what would you call them...boob triangles?

I can't think of anything classier to do on a Sunday night.

God as my witness, I will finish the 10 inches by tomorrow night.

My first "big" project

I didn't feel like I'd be emotionally complete as a knitter until I made a garment of sorts. One visit to a LYS later, a blue halter top was born. All my own design, no pattern. 5 inches done so far.

Let's talk about SEX, baby...

Went on a Stash Enrichment eXpedition (we knitters are weird people) to Central Yarn Shop in Portland today. Needless to say, I have a copious amount of new yarn.

And a new WIP...a blue Ritz halter top. Oh God.

Sweet Jesus.

The 2005 Project List.

*Tie-Front Half-Sweater (current WIP)
*Garnet and Purple skirt
*That $^&@ Fun Fur scarf (mostly done)
*Purple and white blanket (still want to make a few more squares)
*Chipmunk (I feel bad for making a body and a leg and a half and putting it down)
*Penguin
*Polar Bear for my aunt
*Teddy Bear for my grandma
*Rainbow, orange/blue, and alligator mittens
*Learning how to make mittens in the first place
*Wavy scarf from SnB Nation
*Figuring out circular needles/knitting in the round

Excuse my sobbing.

My God, it's a...FINISHED OBJECT!

Piggy got finished a few nights ago, I've just been too lazy to upload the pics. Check him out:



Wee!

Well, Frankenpig has limbs.

I think the central problem right now is the lack of ears. Which I'd be making if it weren't 3 am.





Um, it's a learning experience?

AAAAAARGH

This pig is giving me so much grief. I'm pretty sure I've screwed up which legs go where, but they look terrible anyway. I refuse to listen to anyone who tells me that it doesn't look like an albino manatee. I really should have just bought pink yarn. Piggy currently has his bum ripped open so I could restuff him and try to make him look a little more like, oh, I don't know, A PIG.

SO MUCH KNITTING ANGST.

I am so excited!

My Gloucester Old Spot pig from World of Knitted Toys is coming along so well, thanks to all the help from my friends at Knitter's Review! I bought him some eyes at Joann's today. All that's left is the limbs, nostrils, and spots on his back. So excited!

Stash Enrichment.

For my birthday, I yielded a delightful trove of new knitting supplies: needles, both circular and bamboo, gift cards to my favorite knitting stores (ok, so those happen to be Wal*Mart and AC Moore, but I'm going to a small LYS soon!), wonderful pattern books, great little tools I should have bought myself months ago...I am emotionally complete as a knitter.

I went on a yarn run to WalMart today, hoping to find some basic yarn that was solid colored but soft. Yeah, good luck finding that at Wal*Mart. Oh, there was Red Heart up the wazoo, but I just can't see using that stuff as anything other than a steel wool subsitute after I knitted up my first scarf with it. So I ended up with a skein of Caron's Simply Soft, which it is, and 3 Bernat Softee Chunkys. They're okay, but not that great. I just needed some decent neutral colors for all my projects and Caron didn't have much. And hey, they were $1.47. I may be a knitter, but I am foremost a broke college girl.

So, my WIP for right now is a pig from Kath Delmeny's World of Knitted Toys...after I frog it once more because I couldn't handle increases on stockinette for some reason. But through my lovely tutors at Knitter's Review and the great videos on knittinghelp.com, I think I got this. I like the way they all showed me, as opposed to what my original knitting tutor had shown me, as far as being able to do it on stockinette, which just looks impossible when all you know how to do is increase on garter, taking a loop in the front or somesuch. Pictures will be posted when something finally forms.

My first teddy bear

This bear was made using size 4 needles and Lion Brand Micro Spun yarn in Lily White and Lavender. He was based off this pattern with some modifications. Although I made the snout and ears, I did not end up using them because the rectangular pieces were too hard to work with, and I had essentially sewn ears part of the head when rounding it out. I also gave him a bit of a waist and then sewed on individual legs instead of just giving him a sack-like body. My own color and yarn substitutions were also used, of course.

This little guy's been absolutely adored by everyone I've shown him to, and I hope you like him too :)