Sarge & Robbie Play Dress-up

Baaaaaaaaaaaack

2010-06-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am back, after a very long knitting and blogging hiatus, which is otherwise known as:

the worst 9 months of my life (no I was not pregnant)
working (my real job)
job hunt (it may as well be a full time job)
teaching (ditto)
being sick (doing all of the above kicked my butt)

Needless to say, I didn't have a lot of time. And when I did, I was too tired to do anything of note. Knit night was more of a social hour or a time to prepare lesson plans.

Good news! I found a faculty position at a primarily undergraduate institution in North Carolina.

We'll be moving there next month!

More good news! I've been knitting (and crocheting)!

I crashed a family friend's baby shower and made this in 5 days. Amazing I don't have arthritis.

And I made myself a scarf from Louet KidLin. I hated knitting with the stuff. But crocheting was very nice. I'm wearing it now. My office is ridiculously cold.

Entrelac

2009-11-01T13:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend at the South Bend Knitwork retreat (Ravelry link), we learned entrelac from KallieKY (Ravelry link). YAY!

This morning, I practiced my entrelac by starting Proposition - entrelac gloves! Actually, they were turning out quite lovely (ie, I can knit entrelac!).

But they were huge. Husband-wearing huge.

Will start again with less stitches. I also plan on alternating colors for each sweep across since the stretch of color is a little long. I think entrelac in the round might actually be easier than flat since you never have to make the side triangles!

Update!

2009-08-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

I have decided to pursue the current scarf using size 9 bamboo needles, which was my original intention. However, I was meeting with the South Bend Knitwork when I first cast on - my only 9s were metal. As pointed out in the comments from the former post - it is difficult to knit lace weight with larger needles. That problem is compounded with my inability to use metal needles to begin with (see below)! I need to invest in bamboo needles (that aren't dpn).

Digression: Several years ago I was at Erica's Craft and Sewing Center to buy circular needles to make my nephew a baby blanket. The saleswoman offered me two needles - Susan Bates and Addi Turbos. Being new to knitting, I certainly was not in the market for a $16 pair of needles and was already eying the Susan Bates. The the woman asked me how long I had been knitting. I admitted that this was my first "real" baby blanket. Rather abruptly, the woman took back the Addi Turbos and matter-of-factly stated "these are too fast for you!" I was taken aback (but relieved I didn't have to look cheap). Too fast? Fast forward to last summer... I was interested in learning how to makes socks using "the magic loop" so I headed in to Erica's and decided to splurge on Addi Turbos. They seemed to be the talk of the South Bend Knitwork and I didn't want to feel left out! I cast on my socks. Fail. OMG. They ARE too fast for me. How did the woman at Erica's know? *blush*

That said, the only bamboo needles on my person were size 3 dpn. I thought I'd give them a whirl. The scarf looks nice and is easy to knit - but perhaps my fuzziness/drop stitch problem was related to the tightness of the stitches. Last night I pulled out size 9 dpn (and capped off one end!) and cast on the scarf again. I've decided not to feel guilty by not knitting lace. Baby steps... first laceweight, then lace!

In response to Carol's comment: I believe I have eyed that scarf in the past. It is gorgeous and am considering making it once I find the perfect yarn. (both the KidLin and an Alpaca I used in the past were just too fluffy and I was worried the pattern would be lost)

Louet KidLin

2009-08-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

I took a trip to a not-so-LYS in Valparaiso to buy buttons this weekend. While I was there, I wanted to buy something for myself, as I usually give away most of my creations. I wanted laceweight yarn to make something lacy. A shawl would be nice, but that sounds too advanced. A scarf sounded nice. This is what I came home with. Louet KidLin.

I did a few Rav searches and found that I was really attracted to the Vertical Drop Stitch Scarf. And while I enjoy the pattern, the fuzziness makes it hard to drop the stitches (ironic, huh?). And I feel like I'm cheating - this isn't lace work at all! Does anyone have any alterate project ideas? I have 250 yards. Ergh. What to do!

Muguets (lily) Dishcloth

2009-06-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

I was inspired on Friday to make dishcloths. They are short, sweet, and a great opportunity to master simple lace patterns. This afternoon, we made a trip to Jo-Ann Fabric and found Lily Sugar'n Cream "New Super Size" on sale for 5/$10. Sweet deal. I bought 5 (and a Lindt truffle, yum).

I chose the Muguet pattern (You can't view it correctly in Firefox). I knitted through Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Without a Trace and Law & Order. Because I'm not comfortable knitting combination with lace, I forced myself to purl "correctly" while still knitting continental. It was slow going on the even rows! I am getting better at purling this way, but my stitches are a little looser than I'd like them to be. I have a ton of yarn left - I'm hoping to make a collection for my sister-in-law for Christmas.

Pea Pod

2009-06-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

I made the PeaPod sweater for baby Lydia. I think it turned out well, considering it was my first project requiring lacework from a chart. The pattern was written poorly and I made a noob mistake. I did not repeat the middle lace chart X times and knitting the end chart too soon. So I ripped back ~ 20 st x 10 row section of lace to repair it! I am so happy to have received a copy of this pattern and plan on making more!

If you have seen this pattern before, you may notice that the buttons are on the "wrong" side. That's what happens when left handed knitters follow a right handed pattern. Everything I make is mirror imaged, unless it is symetrical. But that's ok. Babies don't care where buttons are. I'm a member of a left-handed group on Rav. There was a whole debate on how left handers should knit from charts. If I read the chart like a right hander, I will get an identical, but mirrored, product. But some people have figured out you can knit the chart from left to right but swap K2tog for SSK and get the exact product (or something like that). I haven't tried it, but it should avoid knitting the state of Texas backwards, which happened to one of the group members, haha.

I am also a combination, continental knitter - but only some of the time. Meaning, I purl "wrong" (combination -this causes twisted stitches which I compensate for by knitting through the back loop) and hold my yarn in my right hand (continental). It's a very fast way to knit/purl! However, I didn't want to risk combination knitting while doing lace, so I learned how to correctly purl for the lacework and knitted English style. But switched back to combination/continental for the stockinette part! According to Rav lingo (link only available to Rav members), this makes me bistitchual.

Welcome!

2009-05-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

I decided to begin a strictly knit-related blog. Eventually, I will get around to editing and adding other content, such as side bar links. But for the time being, I wanted to say hello and begin posting projects! Sarge and Robbie are two of my oldest (and at one time, "favorite" stuffed animals). I haven't had the heart to donate them or stuff them into a storage box like the others. Since I tend to make a lot of baby items, they are the perfect mannequins.

Robbie is 24ish. Michelle T gave him to my when I was in kindergarten for my birthday.

My grandma gave me Sarge on Christmas Eve when I was almost 13. Because of traumatic events that night, I'm a little more attached to him than the usual stuffed animal.