Clogs, finally

I'm presently working on the felted clogs (for myself). I'm using Galway in blues. It's actually pretty easy once I wrote it out. I think that this is key. So, I had myself 2 skeins of dark blue and a skein of a lighter blue w/ speckles (I'll go look at the labels another day). I decided to make the women's size 8 for the following. I've used Galway yarns for felting before, and it seems to me that it felts at the last second AND shrinks much smaller. Plus, since I wear a 6-7, I thought, hey, why not. According to the pattern, I needed 600yds of yarn, 200 for top, 400 for bottom and trim. Well...as you may know, Galway skeins are 210yds/skein. Hey, 10 yds leeway, that's enough, right? Uhmmm, no.

The good thing is that this is a pretty easy and very fast knit. I knit one clog in one day and started on the other. That's where I ran into trouble...I ran out of yarn for the top! I'd bought this Galway at Skein Lane when they were having their ridiculously good sale. And it was 11pm when I ran out of yarn. I ended up ripping out row 35 down to row 32, and attached the dark blue as one strand. So now, there's a slightly different stripe at the end. I'm hoping it won't be too noticeable (and it's for me anyway...). I figure that if I run out of dark blue for the outer sole, hey, it's the darn bottom of the slipper, I'll deal and maybe get another skein (who cares if it doesn't completely match.)

I'll take a before and after felting pic when I finish the second clog.

Ofcourse z's asked for a pair in his size -- I'm not sure he'd actually wear it. I may make a pair for z's dad if he really likes mine. We'll see.

Again, I'd like to say that they are awefully easy to make and I'd recommend this pattern highly.

yeah, I didn't get coal

I've been bad. I've not been blogging. And worse yet, I can't even blame it on knitting...I only made one gift these past couple of months...a white scarf in feather and fan pattern. Yeah, not hard, and didn't take too long, but still...

and worse yet, I forgot to take a picture of it before I gifted it. Here's what I remember...the yarn was some white yarn (w/ angora maybe) and I used a size 9 needle (to get a more lacy look). I casted on 40 stitches and followed the pattern of 2 rows knit, 3rd row: knit 2, (k2tog)X3, (YO, k)X6, (k2tog)X6,(YO, k)X6, (k2tog)X3, k2. Row 4 knit (this is also the row I count to double-check that I didn't screw up the pattern).

It looked pretty darn good after blocking. And it was gifted to MIL. Hope she liked it.

Anyway, I didn't get coal for xmas...I got some very lovely presents.

Stupid cupcake!

Was set to go to SnB last night--really I was. I ate dinner early,and had gotten stuff together. We were getting set to go when z started saying his tummy hurt. I look over and he's spit on the hard wood floor (not looking good) in the living room. As I started to tell him (in super slo mo) 'noooooooo' he threw up. Poor little kid -- came out his nose too, and you all know how yucky that is. I told him to stay there and got paper towels to clean him and the mess up. After I clean him up, and in the process of cleaning up the floor, I ask him whether he's going to be sick again or not. There was a no -- right before the second vomit on the floor (this time in the dining room), followed by a third vomit, of course in a third location.

After all that, he said he felt better, but man, I wasn't going to risk taking him to SnB.

What does it have to do w/ cupcakes? Apparently, he had cupcakes at daycare yesterday afternoon 'cause it was a's birthday (he turned 2). Anyway, z seems to think that's what got him sick--and I'm inclined to agree...stupid cupcakes...

Rain and SnB

SnB was last night and saw several new folks. Always cool. I brought z so that z's dad could pick him up when he got into the island. We had to park relatively far away (around the block), but z had a grand time w/ his yellow slicker and g'loshes. We found big puddles that he could jump in --so I also got a bit wetter than I would have liked, but he really liked it. We got to Julie's Teas and ordered a hot chocolate. z really liked the hot chocolate. And when z's dad showed up, he also really liked the hot chocolate.

I remembered I promised to make my nephew a red DNA scarf and brought the yarn to work on that. However, cabling is not the best at SnB. After 6 rows of pattern, realized that I'm going to have to rip or tink it...ah well...

It was great seeing everyone. I think that SnB is the reason that I keep motivated to knit. I'm still trying to be good and not spend additional $$ on yarn. Instead, I'm trying to do some stash bashing...wish me luck!

Other uses for Kool Aid

Instead of Black Friday shopping, z and I made play dough using Kool Aid. I had packs of Kool Aid from fiber dyeing and figured hey, I don't have any food coloring (what kind of mom am I that I don't have food coloring?!) I'll make the dough w/ Kool Aid.

Here's the recipe:
Kool-Aid® Play Dough

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid
  
• 1/4 cup salt
  
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
  
• 1 cup water

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and Kool-Aid® in a medium pot. Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes. When mixture forms a ball in pot, remove. Knead until smooth. Put in a plastic bag and refrigerate.

I decided refrigeration is unnecessary. It turned out really well. We used Blueberry ('cause you know what z's fave color is) and followed directions.

All's I know is that I will likely never buy play dough again. This was way too easy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone!

Happy Turkey Day! Hope all gets lots of knitting done, turkey cooked (and eaten) and football watched.

Berta and Hilda

While in SD last week, one of the places on my list of food to eat was Berta's in Old Town. Now, you may be wondering, why there? sure, they're in Frommer's (but do I read that? no), so why go to SoCal and eat South American food (instead of Mexican which SD has a ton of). Well, I wanted to go to Berta's because it's owned by Hilda's sister (Berta). Now, you may not be aware of Hilda, but Hilda owned a wonderful South American restaurant in Eugene, OR. This would be the restaurant that we would pick for 'fancy schmancy' dinners like for birthdays, or if a guest speaker was coming into town.

Well, on a foggy night, z's dad, myself and z drove to Berta's and all was looking like it was maybe going to be okay when z decided he's had enough of this vacation stuff and decided to be a pill and have a major meltdown. We barely got through dinner. I ordered paella venezuela (my long-time fave) and z's dad got a chicken dish. And z? he had tortillas and that was it. He melted down. Fortunately, the place had emptied out a little and so as soon as z's dad was done eating, they went out to the car. The food? I thoroughly enjoyed mine. z's dad thought the chicken was overcooked.

The sad part was when I was talking w/ the waitress (Berta's daughter), and I mentioned that I came here because I used to go to Hilda's, I found out that Hilda closed down her restaurant over 5 yrs ago! Did I mention that an alternative to going to SoCal was to go to Oregon--but w/ the yucky weather (rain and cold in November), we opted to go to SoCal. But that would be one of the only reasons that I'd want to go back to Eugene--to eat at Hilda's.

Very very sad. But at least I got to eat really good SoAm food. If you're ever down in Old Town, I highly recommend Berta's.

Back from birthday vacation

Gone for a week in beautiful SoCal on holiday. And boy was it warm down there. I always forget about Santa Anas, as well as the coastal fog in San Diego...anyway, I had great intentions of knitting while on the drive south, but nope, knitting never came out of the bag. When you've got a 2 3/4 year old, you sorta need all hands and eyes ready to make sure there's no dashing into parking lots, streets, etc.

So, bottom line is that my knitting took a vacation with me.

It's my Birthday!

Wow! Can't believe I'm this old. sigh.

I did already get the happy birthday song from both z's dad (last night) and z (this morning). I'm just amazed that z, at 2 2/3 years old, can and does sing the happy birthday song, and insert the right name (momma) in the song. Maybe it's me, but you kinda think about how you don't really have memories of when you were 2, yet you have the cognitive abilities to memorize a song, and sing it, and alter it (in tune, sort of). Blows my mind.

We get to go do fun stuff today and this week, so I'll blog later.

Oakland yarn shop and food

Took a little trip to Oakland yarn shop yesterday, hoping for some creative knitting mojo...well, the good news is that I didn't purchase any yarn, but you know, I just wasn't that inspired...but I did stop at my favorite bakery Bake Sale Betty and finally got their fried chicken sandwich. Ohmyfriggingoodness, it's pretty darn good. Highly recommend. And the folks there are just so nice. I've gotten their super delicious scones from the Alameda Farmer's market, but they weren't there this week. sadness.

So, while I was in the Temescal area, went down to check out their brick and mortar store. The sample I got (they're super wonderful about giving out samples) was their lemon bar. If I can make lemon bars like that...my oh my.

Anyway, I did break down and get a pair of Addis of the right length for z's dad sweater. I'm hoping that the sweater will now knit itself.

Can you believe it? a post!

Well, I'm not sure when I'm going to get out of this knitting funk. But just because I haven't been knitting doesn't mean that I haven't been reading about knitting. Naw, not like knitting mags or books or anything like that (see, that would be constructive--seeing purty new things I could be knitting), nope. I've been reading knitting blogs. You know, marveling at how folks can crank out sweater after sweater after sock after sock. You all know that I still have that half finished sock in my basket...as well as z's dad sweater and z's two sweaters...(sigh)

But I was surfing a non-knitting site (cynical-c) and came across knitted zombies on flicker! How cool is that! The person that has the collection of knitted dawn of the dead characters also knitted Mr. Zippy, the monkey seen on craftster.org. (which I love and am planning on making uh, soon as I get my knitting mojo back). You know that the internet world is getting much smaller. Kinda like 6 degree of separation of Kevin Bacon, but in the 'e world'.

Me, I'm still working on the sweater...

Candy Coma

We went trick or treating and gave out candy...z got some good loot. Yummy. We haven't stolen any candy from him yet, but we shall...

We also had lots of kids come and trick or treat. Two interesting experiences. One was our first treater who ended up being an elderly asian lady not in costume w/ a bag asking for candy. How weird is that. She wasn't w/ anyone else (as in she didn't come to the door for a kid or anything). And she wasn't dressed up...yes, I know the difference between someone dressing up as an old lady verses an old lady. She didn't speak English, but when I offered candy, she nodded her head. Well, I gave her candy and wished her Happy Halloween.

My theory is that she didn't buy any candy and was going around collecting candy to give out at her house...what do you think?

The other experience was that we had a group of ~8 kids at the door and z was giving out candy and wishing everyone Happy Halloween (once in a while, he'd slip and say 'Trick or Treat'). Anyway, for whatever reason, z didn't give the girl in front of him any candy, and would give candy to the people next to her. As more and more kids came up the side and got candy, she gave a huff and left without any candy. She looked about 10 or so...hmmm...maybe she didn't like the selection. Oh, well.

It was all great fun. We carved pumpkins and put candles in them. We have seeds soaking right now for roasting today.

Knitting? well, didn't get around to doing any at all since I didn't want chocolate on my yarn!

Happy Halloween!

z's been sick...he got me sick...z's dad's also sick (unrelated illness)...on the knitting front, slow to no going on the sweater. I think I'll have to do a scarf for instant gratification. Alternatively, I should go and find z's costume from the basement so that he won't be incognito boy for trick or treating...

Bad me, not much knitting news

Well, I have been knitting, but using #5's to make a man's sweater in the round is kinda slow and boring. And so, I've been lugging it around w/ me and knitting a bit here and a bit there, but man, it's slow to grow. I may have to start (or finish) another project just to get some gratification.

z wants me to make him another sweater. And honestly, I'm almost done w/ his sky blue one. No, honestly...

Skein Lane

Finally went to pick up some yarn that I had ordered from Skein Lane today. I must have forgotten I'd ordered it since she's been calling me to come pick it up for awhile.

And found out that they're having a pretty cool sale. At the counter, you pick from a bucket and you get anywhere from 15%-30% of your purchase. I picked 20% -- how cool was that? I forget how long the sale's for, but it's pretty good if you were walking in thinking you're going to pay full price for stuff. Just a little bonus.

Actually knitting

The good news is that instead of tinking, I'm knitting. I've gotten a total of 1.5 inches done on z's dad's sweater. I'm trying to be careful about not having loose stitches and so, I'm going much slower on the knitting. The other thing is that I'm using some metal needles that I have and they're a tad slippery. I don't know if the knitting will be better if I switch to addis or if I go the other way and switch to bamboo.

z's dad sweater revisited

Couldn't sleep and woke up at 5am. The internet connection was being funky so what was a girl to do? Yep, frogged z's dad's sweater. You know the one that I've been working on since this summer -- the one that if you count the stitches, would have been completed by now if I hadn't had to rip it how many times already...

Wound up all the yarn and did yet another swatch, this time w/ #6 needles. You'll remember that I originally got gauge w/ #9 (recommended), and #8. But the knit fabric was too loose, so I went down to #7 and redid my math and started over and got through 2/3 of the body part only to decide that my gauge loosened up and the fabric is again too loose. And there it sat, sadly waiting while I learned to do cable and lace, and cleaned my house (okay, that's a lie), and read non-knitting books (which I'm only on page 175), and played w/ z, and did stuff w/ the family. Everything and anything except pick up the darn sweater.

So, I'm now using #6 needles and w/ my gauge of 4.5st/inch instead of 4 st/in, I'll be following the sweater pattern for an XXL (which if calculated correctly, should result in a men's medium).

I've connected the neck and now it'll be endless rounds of knitting and increasing for the raglan. Wish me luck!

Really should knit

But instead, I'm reading. Yes, I'm finally reading Harry Potter --The Half-Blood Prince. I really don't think I need to link you to it, y'all have already read it. The book actually originated from my nephew. He got it the day it came out (or maybe the next day), read it in a weekend, passed it to my MIL who also read it quickly, and then lent it to me...where the book has sat for several months, unread.

Well, am not speed reading since I don't have to, and am trying to enjoy it. I am finding it a tad slow, though.

Most Excellent!

I'm absolutely thrilled. I won a contest! yes. me. Most excellent. I read Two Sheep's blog and she had a contest (for her wedding anniversary). The contest asked readers to leave advice in her comment section on how to have a successful marriage. And guess what? I actually won. Okay, I didn't have pithy advice, but it was advice that has served us well. Pretty much say thank you for all the stuff that 'magically' gets done around the house. You all know you've got to thank those fairies.

June chose randomly and I was the big winner.

Thanks so much June! Now I'll have to figure out what to make w/ the beautiful yarn. (btw--her pic does the yarn much more justice than my pic).

Please let me know if you have any ideas as to what this gorgeous yarn should become...

Knitting Shanties and Elvis?!

So, I was reading knitlist and came across a post about this book: The Old Hand Knitters Of The Dales by Marie Hartley & Joan Ingilby and had to google it and found this website where goodness, they talk about how in the olden days, folks knitted for income and sat in the dark to save candle wax and yep, you guessed it, sang songs about knitting in the same style as sea shanties.

As you may know, when our SnB were meeting at Coffee for Thought, the sea shanties folks were also there the same night -- uhh, they were sometimes okay, but sometimes off-key, and a little annoying. All I can say is shh, don't tell the sea shanties folks that there are yarn songs too or they may decide to hunt us down and serenade us (again).

Here's an excerpt from the site:

'.....while far into the night
The housewife plied her own peculiar work,
Making the cottage through the silent hours
Murmur as with the sound of summer flies.'

But the other thing I found on the site is this.




knit Elvis wig

Ya know, I may just have to make it...or not. But how funny is that?!

Flora One Petal

I'm working on Flora from Knitty. (I don't have to link to it since y'all know about Knitty and Flora). It's so popular that two of us showed up at SnB Monday night making the same scarf. It'll be very interesting to compare ours since her's is double-stranded using a #8? while mine is single stranded w/ #10.5. I'm using GGH Lamour in purple for this scarf.

As I'm working the petals, I realize that I either need to go down in needle size or double the yarn since the petals are too floppy and holey. I decided on doubling the yarn. That's where I'm at.

Yes, this too will be a gift.

Fulling around w/ Lucy and Pink

I've felted both Lucy II and Pink. Here they are.

Pink:
1 skein of Galway, doubled. Felting took forever. 3X without much shrinkage, and last time shrank to present size.

I really liked the shape of the bag. I was a little worried about the 'wings' I got prefelting. But after felting, it looks very nice (if I must say so myself).

Now, I will have to figure out how to use the felting needle and felt some designs on the bag.





Lucy II (aka Brown Lucy):
Made with Patons wool. Less than 2 skeins of the primary brown color and bits of the green and black. Patons felts beautifully. This is 2x in the wash. It was completely felted after the first round, but it was a tad tall, so I washed it again. I may felt the brown bag again to see if I can get the height down a bit more. And the straps may need to be refelted since they sorta folded and felted together.

The thing I'm bummed about is that on the 2nd wash, I forgot to zip the bag and some papery stuff from the wash got onto the bag.

Here's the comparison shot pre and post felting.

Lucy II done

Observation: Knitting 40 inches of a strap is very boring using worsted weight yarn. It was much faster when I made the bag using Lambs Pride Bulky. However, Kitchener stitched the straps together, and am done. I've Kitchenered for a couple of other projects, and always had the SnB book open. And always had a problem after the 4th stitch. uhmmm, do you pull 2 and 4 stitch off the needle and start w/ fresh stitches? Do you count stitch 2 as stitch 1 of the next round? So, previously, I'd sorta winged it as I went.

With this project, I read through the instructions again, and looked and figures in other books, and I had an epiphany (or at least I've figured out a way to do Kitcheners that works for me). Very happy.

Here's Lucy II prefelting. She's quite large.

I think I need another scarf project. Flora from Knitty?

Knit and knit and knit in public

Well, I want to finish LucyII, so while waiting for my car to be fixed (sounding like a truck due to a hole in the muffler and squeeking like a banshee since I have no more brakes left), I hung out at Cafe Trieste (Annex) in Berkeley and worked on the strap... knit and knit and knit. 40 inches of knitting 17 stitches...my brain is numb. my fingers are even getting bored. But, I will perservere and finish the darn thing. Once the long strap is done, just the short strap. That'll be a snap. (I'm at about 36" by my crude measurements).

The coolest thing was that I was also reading. Yep, reading and knitting. Knitting and reading. And in public. However, I think that maybe part of the reason why I'm getting bored doing the strap is due to the book being a little slow. I'm reading ... gee, I don't even remember the title. Man, that's sad. It's the newest book by Deavers, the author of The Bone Collector. Made into a movie w/ Denzel and Angelina.

I'm sorry I haven't posted any pics, but I will have a before and after pic of Lucy II when I'm done.

Non-knitting blog related post

Well, we're finally doing it. We're upgrading the computer. When we bought it back in 2001--got all the bells and whistles that came w/ it, including a subwoofer. And yes, it's the best sound system in our house...So, we've ordered memory from MemorySuppliers.com. This company sells memory and they've got a very nice system set up where you can figure out the memory you need for your computer. Pretty painless. I wish I had found this site weeks ago. But, depending on when we install said memory (once it arrives in a week), I may be blogless (but not knitless). Hey, maybe I'll actually start something new, or finish a project...

Okay, here's my rant about this computer. At the time, it was state-of-the-art and all that. Using RAMBUS memory. Well, did you know that this is 'special' (insert $$$) memory? And that you need to apparently purchase specific brand or it doesn't work, they have to be installed in pairs, and on top of that, some companies have stopped making some of the memory. argh! And the final topper is that is we upgraded to lots more memory, we may as well just buy a brand new computer (w/ even more memory), 'cause that's how much it costs.

Well, I hope this works.

Inspiration at SnB

The thing about the SnB is not that I get any knitting done--actually, very little of my own knitting is done Monday evenings. Rather, it's a place where I get inspired. Kinda like a research conference (albeit much much smaller--last hematology meeting I attended was over 40,000 people), sometimes you go and talk about your stuff, but you mainly get to see what everyone else is working on, and that jump starts your work...

Anyway, I think I'll start the Fiber Trend clogs soon. I got the pattern ages ago, and got the yarn too, but just haven't gotten them on the needle. I think it's time.

The other thing about SnB is the Mexican Hot chocolate. mmmm. If you're ever at Julie's in Alameda, you gotta get one.

WIPs progress

Well, here's my current projects
1)I've got Pink, but she's not felting correctly -- can't needle felt until the bag's felted.
2) Brown Lucy -- just going round and round knitting. I'm at row 60 something of 100. And then there's the strap to knit
3) z's dad sweater that I've got to rip and start over (again)
4) scarf that I've been KIPing because it's small and very toteable. And I don't want to finish too aweful soon since I'll have to find another small project to tote around.
5) z's sweaters (yes, multiple) that I've got to figure out how long/big to make.

Maybe I'll start a new project...

Project Pink

Here's a picture of Pink prior to felting. I'm really hoping that the 'wings' kinda disappear when felted.

I've run it through the hot cycle 2x (along w/ stuff that needed washing) and it's not shrinking as expected. Either Galway doesn't perform like Cascade 220 or Lambs Pride, or it has to do w/ doubling the yarn. Either way, it'll have to undergo additional washings before block.

(and yes, I'm too bummed to take a picture, just use your imagination and look at the prefelted one -- sorta looks like that, just a tad shorter)

Beautiful Liesel

Okay, this is just darn too pretty not to post a picture. Yes, I'm very happy w/ my first real lace project.

Say 'click' take a pic

Blogger help desk says the problem is solved. So here's the pictures I promised. This is Brown Lucy, in progress. She's in brown and green w/ black. I originally had a rusty orange also, but had to tink it out after I realized it looked all commando camouflage meets deer hunting season... uh, no.

The uneven black was my foray into mosaic knitting. It's only a couple of rows. I hope it turns out.

Lucy II progress

I've been struggling w/ mosaic knitting, and trying to modify it for a small tester bag, etc. Well, after ripping and tinking how many times, decided I'll have to (gasp) follow the directions for an actual pattern and learn it correctly. In the meantime, I'm moving forward w/ my brown Lucy.

Well, I had a picture to show you, but blogger's not letting me upload pictures right now. I'm getting this message:

There were errors during upload.

The following images were not uploaded.

sucks.

Liesel blocking

I'm done w/ Liesel. Yeah! Well, this took longer than the weekend. I used almost 3 balls of yarn (3balls*80m)*1.09yds/m=260yds of yarn. I enjoyed making it and it was lovely yarn to knit with, but it's unlikely I will do another scarf w/ the same pattern. Maybe something else, later.

The cool thing about this scarf is that I was able to do the Russian join technique to connect the 3 balls of yarn...so ta da! no unsightly disruptions in my beautiful lace and more importantly, no yarn to weave in except for the beginning and the end. I will definitely use this technique again for my projects, even if it's not lace. (okay, not for my felted items, but for other stuff). I used a blanket under the scarf to retain the same width while blocking. I tried pinning it down, but I was getting these funky points along the sides of the scarf (which wouldn't be bad if that's the look you're going for, but for me, well, I wanted the pattern to be visible, but straight sides). And yes, it looks much better w/ blocking.

stats:
Liesel lace scarf pattern
start-9/20/2005
end- 9/28/2005
GGH Lamour corn 3 balls
#7 needles (bamboo interchangeables) - not metal

Remedial Mosaic Knitting

I watched Knitty Gritty, and I searched websites for mosaic knitting. I found the cool purse from Knitty (via diagonale), and trying to figure out how to do this type of knitting, well, I'm not wrapping my brain around it yet. I've ripped out my little bag a couple of times now...I think I'll use the Knitty pattern and make a much smaller bag as tester. Wish me much luck.

Lucy in the sky w/ mosaics

I started another Lucy bag, this time using the correct gauge yarn (Patons Merino) and correct needles (#10.5). But as I'm striping, I realize, gee, how boring. And short of spending more cash on Noro to make it even more interesting, I thought I'd do some mosaic knitting. Of course, I've never done this. I tried a stripe w/ mosaic then got paranoid about how it's going to felt up. Is it going to pucker? ack!

So, I'll step back and make a little tester bag first, a little cell phone cozy, perhaps? w/ mosaic designs...felt it, then decide if I'd like a big bag like that. To make sure it all works, will have to do it in the round.

It's too early to take a picture. When I get around to it, I will.

I'm comin' up so you better you better get this party started

So says Pink and so says my pink little bag.

This is a hot pink little ditty that is made w/ Galway double stranded. I only wanted a smallish bag, so I actually used my trusty yarn winder and wound up half from the center pull, and the other from the outside. I didn't cut the yarn, so that if I missed in my guestimate as to half a skein, it'll be okay. For this bag, I also added the flair on the sides so that the bag will flair out a little (I hope). I added purl rows on top and picked up a row at the bottom. I was running out of yarn, so I purled and cast off (is that the right term? -- Instead of putting a row of purls, then casting off, I casted off in purl). For the strap I modified the strap in my Lucy bag (row1:k, p3, k row2:knit) for 15 inches.

The plan is that after felting, I'll be finally able to test out my new felting needle that I got from Janis at Yarn! Can't wait, it'll be another learning experience.


As for Liesel, she's coming along to party too...

Comments, anyone?

So, I'm glad that knitting folks are interested in my knitting blog. But here's the thing...if someone posts a comment on the blog, should I post a comment in the blog? or should I try to email them directly? hmmm...'cause you know, if I comment in my blog, that would mean that I'm presuming that the original poster will also remember to go back to that one post to check to see if there were any replies.

Well, my apologies if it looks as if I've ignored your comment. Mostly I haven't. I've read your comments and have appreciated the fact that you've taken the time to leave me a comment...Embarrassingly, I haven''t gone back to all my previous posts to check if anyone's commented...I will try to rectify that. Give me a little time.

And I'm sure Blogger has some setting where it'll notify me if someone comments, but I haven't gotten that far into reading directions yet. I'm one of those people that does things Java-like-- JIT (Just In Time). I only learn how to do something if I need it. The upside is that I can have a cool blog in very little time, the downside is that I'm sure there are easier ways of doing things and I spend time reinventing the wheel.



Cheers!

Marker counters

Here's the marker counters I just made up. the rings are made by wrapping 20 gauge wire around a #10 needle, cutting them, and then hooking them together w/ a charm. Easy Peasy. I did 6 rings on one for the current lace pattern. As for the other, I need to make more rings to make it a worthwhile counter.

btw--the black tile underneath was made by etching dichroic glass (leaf) and fusing it to 2 layers black fusable glass (in a kiln). That would be my other new hobby I started last year.

I would highly recommend doing fused glass. I took classes at the Oakland Studio One. One word of caution, it's also a very expensive hobby.

Pic of Blue DNA hat

As promised, the blue DNA hat being modeled by grey bunnie. This hat took 1 skein of denim blue woolease.

z's dad's comment when I gave it to him and he tried it on was 'cool hat, it works!' Upon being asked what works, he said that his head was warm, and actually, given that it was an warm evening in the Bay Area, he was sweating.

I believe I have one more DNA item to go...the red DNA scarf for my nephew r.

Liesel lace - possible xmas present

This is the lace I'm working on. I was originally going to not post projects until later since it may end up being gifts. However, I thought it would b better to post it in real time, and if you think it may be a present for you, don't read the post?!

I found a pretty scarf pattern called Liesel that I'll make to 1) do a stash bust (okay, reducing stash by one skein should not be called busting, more like...stash slight de-enhancing) It calls for TLC Cara Mia, which I have yippee!) and 2) (yes, there is a 2) to hone my newly acquired lace skills.

There is a knitalong on craftster right now.

However, when I casted on w/ TLC, it looked blech (could be due to the color (off-white). I had some GGH Lamour in corn (wool/angora/nylon) that I'm going to use instead.

Doing this lace thing is reminding me of DNA cable. So far, I have to keep looking at the pattern to make sure I didn't mess up the pattern (it's a 10 row pattern). Lace is much more difficult than cable. You can tink cable pretty easily, but w/ lace, it's very challenging.

And the thing I did learn (oh, only after the knitting the pattern for awhile) was to take a pencil and draw a line to separate the stitches into blocks of five. You'd figure that w/ my many years of schooling (+20 yrs) and my great cognitive know-how, would have figured out pattern recognition w/ groups of 5 instead of counting each row...gee, brilliant. So, I would highly recommend doing this in the future. It's amazing how much easier it is to knit a lace pattern.

The other observation I have is that even tho' the pattern is 10 rows, if I stop anywhere but row 10, I forget and it takes quite a while for me to figure out where I left off. This caused me to go off and research a side project (which then led to me forgetting which row I stopped at). I have the fancy Clover counter that you push as well as the cheapy ones where you dial, but I found that with 35 stitches/row, I find it hard to keep changing the numbers. Anyway, I love this:
Marker Chain

so I have to take a break from knitting and make me some. What a great idea, stick your needle through the next hole of the marker chain when you come up to it.

Did I mention I love love love gadgets...

An additional observation about lace knitting is that you really need to put point protectors on the needles so that yarn doesn't slip

The final thing is that the pattern claims that you'd be able to finish in 4 hours, but w/ my lack of attention span, it's going to take me much longer...especially since I've been eyeing Blueberry on Knitty...

Another DNA hat and yet another project to start

I'm working on another DNA/coronet hat (in blue) for z's dad. The odd thing is that I'm running out of yarn, and I'm trying to figure out what happened. I'm using the same brand (Woolease), same gauge, same needles, same number of repeats, picked up the same number of stitches...the only difference is the color. So, there's a mystery afoot. Could it be that I was unlucky enough to pick up a ball of yarn that was returned by another person (that used a smidge of yarn)? Maybe the yarn got unraveled in the store and a sales person cut off the extra so that it wouldn't look bad? hmmm... very odd. I wouldn't think that a big company like Lion Brand would short yarn, but maybe?

Anyway, I hope I have enough to finish this hat.

Edited later...Yeah! there was enough. happy dance. hmmm...it looks exactly like the red one, but blue. I may add the pic in later.

I also found a pretty lace pattern that may end being a xmas present, so I casted on for this project. I'll stop now...

A bookmark to be proud of

I take it back. Definitely do bookmarks. They sure are pretty when you 1) use correct needles (bamboo or something that doesn't cause slippage) and 2) use something other than white crochet cotten.

Here's my rococo bookmark in gold lame thread. Tada! This thread is a cotton crochet thread w/ gold wrapped around it.

I do notice that using 1's instead of 2's is much better, and I may have to even look for 00's to make this look even better.

I'm now ofcourse looking to do more lace. BTW--this is the same pattern as the white crochet thread. True, this one is blocked, but I really think that this thread is a little stiffer and works up much better.

Did I mention I can't sew?

I realized that if I didn't install the zipper, J wasn't going to get his zip up the back sweater this last weekend. And how sad would that be...since he's growing so fast, I'm not sure how long he'll be wearing said sweater (I hope at least once). I kept thinking that maybe I'll rip out the bottom and sleeves, reknit the sweater parts, and THEN install zipper. Well, that didn't happen, so I was sewing the zipper in (in defeat) last Friday night. I'll make him another sweater when he gets older.

Super ugly sewing. But the outside looked really good! Maybe next time, I'll give myself a little time to actually accomplish this sewing thing. I did tell J's mom sorry about the really ugly sewing.

Specs:
-1 skein of navy blue yarn (acrylic for washing-I forget what type) and a bit of yellow for the pocket)
-16" zipper used
-followed pattern from internet (see post prior)
-made 6mo jacket and should have made a larger size.

Of course I only sew very infrequently, but MIL came by this weekend and gave me a whole bunch of fabulous sewing stuff. The coolest is this little wooden box. Inside the drawer, there's a little red book on sewing. I guess I'll have to work on this sewing thing...

Bookmark Observations

Well, I worked on the bookmark project and these are my observations:

-Knitting w/ string--not like yarn. If my tension's off and too loose, the thread falls off. If too tight, I can't do that sk2tpo that these lace patterns seem to all contain.
-Loose knitting, in this case, also results inbig giant loops that don't tighten up. No, I didn't rip, it was too small of a project, but man, did I tink and tink and tink.
-Knitting w/ white chrochet string makes it look like a doily or super cheap lace ribbon from 99cent store
-My gnat-like attention span makes it difficult to do lace pattern. Sure, I can do one stitch pattern round and round til the cows come home, but where I have to pay attention and count stitches, even tho' there's only 15, it's been a trial.

Well, here's a bookmark. It's unblocked and unstiffened.


Actually, here's my first attempt. I also tried different needles and found that Inox needles are too slippery for the white cotton. And I got bored w/ this pattern so I decreased and hoped to make a leaf-like pattern. But I think it looks like a spermazoid instead. I'm thinking that I may dye them next time I koolaid dye. Maybe if I dye and stiffen this guy, it'll look like a leaf (maybe?) Ha, instead of like a stiff green sperm?! Hey, don't even go there...


On that same experimental tract, I had some sock yarn so I tried this:
Sock yarn is much easier to knit with than string. But w/o blocking, you can't see the pretty lace pattern that I spent so much time on. And the striping really does take away from the bookmark. Finally, it's a tad thick and while it won't ruin the spine, your book may develop abnormal ripples (speculation of course).

So, in answer to whether this would be a good project for presents, I say that unless they're knitters that read, I'd knit them a scarf instead...more bang w/ less stress (at least for me). I must say I think it was the crochet thread I was using. Can thread be defective? On the other hand, lace w/ sock yarn was fun, so I shan't give up on lace altogher.

I really do need a good bookmark. So, I'll try again, maybe. Alternatively, I could crochet a bookmark or just make a book thong w/ ribbon and charms.

Winter's coming...

W/ the cost of natural gas predicted to skyrocket this winter, I thought I'd better get started on some wrist warmers for self. (And especially after our discussion at SnB).

I figure that when z and z's dad see's these cool things, they're going to want them too.
Again, no red, only blue. Altho' I'm a product of the UC system also (UCSD), I just don't have that weird thing w/ red like the Cal alums have--must have been due to the fact that we didn't have ANY rivals since we didn't/don't believe in lowering the academic caliber of the school by actually having a football team. This little ditty from UCSD newspaper explains why UCSD is the superior school and is pretty funny. (I even forwarded to z's dad).

Oh, right. I was talking about wrist warmers. I looked through my books and various websites for ideas and found that easy wristwarmers only have a hole for the thumb. I wanted a little more coverage (no thumb cleavage for me, thanks). I went w/Last Minute Knitted Gift's wrist warmers (neat pattern) and morphed it w/ DIYnet Knitty Gritty's mitten pattern. I could have chosen any mitten pattern, I suppose. Except that I actually saw that episode and thought gee, if I were to make mittens, I'd make those. But not in canary yellow, 'cause I'm a practical lass and a mom of a toddler...no way in yellow. And of course realizing that in the beautiful Bay Area, chances are that well, heavy mittens aren't necessary.

Since I was paranoid that I would run out of yarn (as a newish knitter, don't have a very good gauge on amt of yarn required), I had gotten 2 balls of cranberry for the DNA scarf that became the DNA hat. Well, I figured I'd make the wrist warmers to match the hat.

Specs:
-maybe a little more than 1/2 skein of Woolease cranberry
-cast-on date 9/15/2005
-end date 9/15/2005
-cast on 32 stitches and when starting, can't believe that little tube will fit your arm.
-pattern: 2X2rib, shifted every 4th row (don't know the name of the pattern, but I like it)
-From: Last Minute Gifts (and Knitty Gritty TV show) but longer than they suggest
-5 stitches with waste yarn for thumb. Picked up 2 stitches (one on each side) and knit in pattern for thumb.
-for thumb, I actually knitted a tester tube to see if my circulation would be cut off. But it felt okay.

So, they turned out fine. The biggest pain, as usual was weaving in the ends.

Lace to hold your place

At SnB on Monday, the Queen posed a challenge to me to make some lace bookmarks. She figured I have time, I could test it out and then could tell her if they're easy to make (too funny!). I have seen them on the internet and was interested in doing some anyway. At least one bookmark so that
1) I don't have to memorize the page number, 'cause you know I forget and skip pages of key information.
2) I won't use whatever is around to use as a bookmarker. Recently, it's been yarn pieces leftover from weaving in ends.
3) I stop (big gasp!) turning the corner of the page -- what a big no no for someone who was taught to take really good care of books. In fact, I had a really tough time in college highlighting in books. My solution? er, don't open a text book?!

Anyway, being the craftser generalist that I am, I already had crochet thread, at least in white. . So I dusted off my #2's (since I had gotten them for socks and you all know how successful I was in sockmaking). I then searched for some patterns and printed them out. Some of these free patterns were not printer-friendly since several cut off what may be critical parts of the lace pattern. As a novice lacer, I wish they would chart the pattern out too so that I could tell immediately that part of the pattern was missing. I guess I could chart it... So, the downside was that when I actually went to read the pattern (after casting on obligatory 15-22 stitches, that part of the pattern was cut off! ugh.

Will post findings later.

DNA Hat!

As Keanu says, whoa. It's taken me a month to do my scarf and I'm already done w/ the DNA hat?!

What...what...happened? Okay, worsted vs. sport yarn. uhmm. big difference. Didn't do the seed stitch nor the mini-cables and only enough repeats that it wraps around my very large head. I ended up making the hat even bigger so that I would have a continual DNA loop. It's really too bad that this project didn't start off being a hat, otherwise I would have done a provisional cast-on and would have had a beautiful seamless hat. Well, that didn't happen. It's a little wonky in the back. So, don't stare at the back of my head, okay?

As usual, I had to do some tinking after I tried on the hat. After 2 inches of decreasing, I realized that the hat was sitting on the top of my head like a big yarmulka. I wanted the hat to cover part of my ears (especially since that was the point of this hat). So, ripped and tinked all the way back to straight knitting. As I was reknitting the hat top region, I realized that I managed to decrease one section one too many times. Since only one section was off (and I figured this out when the sections were down to 4X8 sections), I decided that this hat wasn't worth another tink and finished it off. So what if I'm 5'2" and tall folks can stare at the spiral pattern on top of my head and realize one spiral is off. That's okay, it's hand made.

specifics:
Hat inspiration from Knitty Coronet hat
DNA cable from Two Sheep (see sidebar)
start date: 9/10/2005
finish date 9/13/2005
yarn: a little less than 1 skein Woolease (hey, the yarn was supposed to be a present for a 5 yr old)
color: cranberry
Picked up 96 stitches off the cable
Knit til I felt like decreasing
Decrease 1 round, knit 1 round for awhile, then every row decrease

I quite like it. Even z's dad wants one, but requested no RED! Ahh, you gotta love those Cal grads!

At the SnB...

At the SnB, saw Punk Rawk Purl's yet to be felted bag. Very very cool intarsia (in the round, no less!), and the great fun yarns being used to make shawlettes (and the sweater-shawl), am impressed. And the socks...what shall I say--I do get sock envy (or is that sock remorse), maybe I'll try again, with sock yarn that I like...I must be better about getting up and looking at other's projects, they're all so cool.

Finally, 'Thanks to Queen for the great knit animals book Knit a Square...

Is this Art? DNA gel

I saw this and had to share DNA Art. For that price, that picture had better be of MY DNA. And yes, you could just take yfgp (your favorite gel pic) to a printshop/delivery spot and get that printed up. I know that it costs about $90 if you want it poster-size in durable plastic (makes a great splat mat too).

As for scientific art, there's histology, EM, general microscopy, etc. Even organic chemistry is pretty cool 'cause they have all the funky oddly shaped handblown glasswear. Sorry to say this, but molecular biology usually only involves pipeting very small amounts of clear liquid into very small tubes...not at all very exciting. It's kinda like on CSI, a little pipetting, a little centrifuging (and don't get me started on all the movies/shows that don't balance tubes in the fuge), and samples into some magic box, and tada! results from the printer.

Anyway, DNA scarf -- that's Art.

What about this? Is this ART? It's z's genes. Literally, it's his karyotype. I think it's beautiful, and that's not just because I'm the proud momma.

Red DNA scarf for r

I purchased a skein of red Woolease for a DNA scarf for my nephew r last week or so. Since I finished my DNA scarf (SnaBI), I thought I'd make his. Since it's worsted weight instead of my sport weight DB, I opted to omit the seed stitch and fake cable edging. I knitted it w/ a stocking stitch edging (2 stitches). However, 5 inches into the project, realized that this will not look great for the scarf, I'm actually (gasp!) knitting too tightly using #7 and Woolease.

I was thinking of ripping the whole thing out, then remembered this hat and said hey, I hope TwoSheep won't mind me using the DNA cable for this hat (or something similar).

Anyway, that's what I'm working on.

DNA scarf (aka SnaBI) done!

Gee, this scarf took me a long time to finish. I had gotten the idea AND yarn for it back in February. And honestly, I was intimidated by cables. I had done a swatch of cabling from SnB book (or maybe it was some other beginners book) using the junkiest yarn I own. The yarn is some acrylic multi-colour thing. Anyway, I was intimidated.

Socks, dpn? no problem. Altho' I've yet to complete a sock project since I got bored w/ mine after turning the heel (and the fact that the self-striping sock yarn I bought isn't to my liking). So, that's sitting in my UFO pile. I'm thinking I'll frog it and make either a kid's hat (there's one in some book that looked cute using this yarn), or a bookmark.

Final stats:
3 and a little more of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino 340207
#4 (maybe should have used #3's)
maybe 13 + pattern repeats? Ends up being longer than I am tall.
6 1/2 months from start to finish. Actual knitting time: 1 month

Observations and things I learned:
how to read a chart
how to excel a chart to aid in chart reading
how I must suffer from some sort of chart amnesia since I have to continually refer back to the said chart (even after the 12th repeat).
how it's helpful (I guess) having years of experience working w/ DNA to know when your pattern has strayed?!


I would like to make it in worsted for my nephew r. He wanted a DNA scarf in red.

PB Jam

Holey Moley. Went to the PB Jam (like any other street fair deal in the Bay Area) and saw this girl had mini-booga bags for sale. Looked like Noro, but $89 each?!

Nonknitting but crafty

I'm one of the hosts for our friends' baby show(er) and went in search of invitations. Okay, there are sure some really dumb ones, and some really cutesy ones, and then there's the really expensive ones...here's what I ended up with:


Yes, I finally gave up and made the cards.

Estate Sales

It's a little sad going through estate sale stuff, but it's also very rewarding when you find this for a couple of bucks. It's 100%wool, so I'm going to dye it (looks a tad dingy), and then knit something wonderful, and then felt it. How cool will that be. And I may someday make a sampler afghan (yeah, right).

Sewing and Zipping

I knitted a zipper up the back sweater for a great little dude but didn't know how to sew the zipper on.

Now, I am definitely not the seamstress. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, I told my mother that I needed to make an American Indian squaw dress for class. My mother told me, there's the sewing machine. After much trials and tribulations and much much frustrations trying to sew the burlap cloth into something that would fit me (not to mention trying to use the machine on burlap -- no one told me about tension), my mother stopped by and her comment was "oh, I thought the dress was for a doll, well, I can help you". This was after many hours and many ripping out of the seams (and when I was finished). Well, from what I remember, moms helped all the other girls and while their dresses looked more like dresses, mine looked pretty darn cool, burlap sack and all.

I was also banned from using the said sewing machine for a couple of years, if I remember...pretty sure I broke it.

So, zipper. The Queen of our SnB sent me some great information about how to install a zipper. Gee, it's going to take me longer to sew on the darn thing than to knit it. Did I mention it was a one skein (okay 2 cause I used some accent color), knit in one piece hooded sweater. I had to seam the underarms since I used double pointed for the sleeves. It also took me a bit of time since I kept trying to incorporate the other color into the sweater as stripes. Here's the pattern for the sweater:Pattern

Happy Dance --Fall Knitty is up

This is the sweater issue. And I just looked through all the patterns. I would like to make saimus definitely, maybe arisaig or cinxia, and definitely bubby.

Ack! I've got z's daddy's sweater on needles, a present for our dear friend's baby, and a couple of sweaters for z, and my SnaBI on needles. Must free needles to knit more stuff!

What Not to Wear

Book Review-Loop-D-Loop
Oh, goodness! What an interesting book. Very innovative designs, funky and fun. Okay, being a mom, there are definitely some items (steek tank) that I would never make for myself, and I would never make that for anyone I know. However, the leaf sweater-- gorgeous. The ballerina top, definitely (w/ the modification of long or medium sleeves). Some of the other sweaters, beautiful.

So, besides the steek tank, my only beef is the puffy sleeve thing (2 different sweaters). I just watched "Glamour's 50 Biggest Fashion Do's and Don'ts" on E!TV (what a guilty pleasure) and I'm pretty sure that puffy sleeves and piratey shirts were definitely a don't (and at least in the top 20 since I only started watching then).

While watching, my burst out laughing moment of the countdown was the 'muffin top'. Maybe everyone has heard of this term, but not me...it's always bugged me when young ladies of today wear pants that squished their fat over the pants. Come on. Buy the next size up. It does not make you look sexy to be crammed into those pants. And if you do wear your pants like that--all muffin top like, I beg of you, please please wear a top that at least meets the pants.


'Hi, my name is z's momma and I am a fashion don't'
I must say that I am listed as a fashion Don't in that I really like my tie-dye shirt. I have one and we got z one so that we can spot him a mile away when we're out and about. So for my T-shirt, I got it as a freebie when I was a post-doc at Big Biotech, and that the design was supposed to be a peace sign in DNA helix and instead they forgot a bar and it's actually a Mercedes sign. Hey, I love this shirt!

Ring around the Posey

Since I've been spammed w/o giving out this site to knitting folks and friends, I decided to take the plunge and join a couple of rings and see how it goes. I think I much prefer any constructive comments instead of lame spam. So, cross fingers, and see if anyone's interested in what I'm doing.


Peace.

Hurricane Katrina

In case you've been living in as an ascetic in the caves or something, gas prices have been well, impressive. z's dad emailed these. And in case you didn't know, this is part of why gas is so expensive. And will be so expensive.

I shall try to do my part and try not to drive so much. I even rode my bike today.

Appropriate Name Change

I'm finding that I forget to pay attention and that for almost every project I've done, I've had to rip or tink. Oh, well.

z's dad's birthday

Well, good thing the sweater's going to be for xmas. It would have been nice had it been done already (and may have been, if only...yes, if only).

Yesterday was the birthday party and today's his actual birthday. Happy Birthday dear! What do you want for dinner?

Not much knitting got done this weekend due to party prep and party. I brought my knitting, but managed to leave it in the car and actually play hostess.

For party, made lavash sandwiches. Highly recommend for picnic parties. The only thing is that we discovered we did not break out the big giganto ginormous tub of potato salad and green salad. So folks ate junk food. They didn't complain, mostly I think 'cause they never get to eat this carp, ever.

Me-ow Me-ow hat

Got some cheapy yarn to make the Kittyville hat. Observation: I'm getting to be a faster knitter. Things I learned on this project: Norwegian Purl. Very cool. But only if that's all I'm doing 'cause it makes a twisted stitch and gets all wonky when you're doing seed stitch w/ NP. So instead, I had to knit into the back for the knit part of the seed stitch to untwist it. A little disconcerting 'cause I kept thinking that I was going to forget the REAL way to knit (especially since I originally did the twisted stitch for a couple of projects--unbeknowst to me).

I had the hat done sans ears and pom poms. I knit on the ears and had this exchange w/ z.

z: I don't like ears.
me: well, they're kitty ears 'meow'
z: I don't like kitty ears
me: well, then. they're tiger ears 'ROAR'
z: I don't like tiger ears
me: well, then. what type of ears do you like?
z: elEEphant ears!

My boy does love elephants.

How long do I have to knit 'til xmas?

That would be knitted items unless otherwise. Will start thinking about all the knitting that needs to be done. I'm pretty sure that my science friends would love a DNA scarf of their own, but man, I'm not done w/ mine yet!?

scarfs, hats, mittens, purses and maybe cozies...

Name change?

hmmm...so z's dad hasn't posted. I think I shall change the name of the blog and he can make 'guest appearances'.

I'm a tinking about

Well, z's dad tried on a couple of sweaters he owned and picked on that he said was the right fit for him. Well, I knitted round and round and then got to the arm splitting area and remembered that there's an additional 10 stitches in the arm pit area. Oh, Carpola! That means instead of making a large sweater, am now making some huge monster sweater. Wouldn't have worried too much except for the fact that well, I ordered enough yarn for a medium sweater, not a xxxlarge sweater. So I'm tinking. about 7 rows (sigh).

It sure is Tempting

Here's the pic of my Tempting. A couple of additional notes. I really like the decreasing, almost ragland-like...since I decreased so much. And it helped to decrease more in the back since I didn't like that gap thing going on.

I just have to find some ribbon that I like. I tried the LB Incredible (left over from my river rafting ribbon purse project) and altho' I like the ribbon, it was too thin for the top. Made it look all wonky. So, either I purchase big fat ribbon, or get some black thin ribbon. Also, I'm not too keen on that bow thing. Reminds me of a gift. Maybe I can just not it and not have the dangly loopy ribbon.

Dora the Explorer and Tempting

Last night, got some comp Dora tix at the Paramount. We've never done a live show based on a cartoon before...first, big giant long line as we came up - with lots and lots of small children ages 2-6? The line for Dora shirts, and other carp was equally long.

This is a live show w/ actors in costume. They were very nice tickets. Balcony front row. But a little loud. z loved it but we could tell it was a little overwhelming w/the sounds and lights and such.

Back to the silly actors in costume...I can just imagine the actor's pick up line in a bar.

"Hey, Baby, I'm in the 'theater'. I play the nongender neutered Boots the monkey." Or his fellow actor: "I'm Issa the Iguana, wanna turn my wheel?" (okay, for the wheel reference, you really needed to have seen the show)

Anywhoo, so, instead of working on Tempting...did I mention I casted on for Tempting at SnB? I decided from extensive reading of KALs, Knitty boards, and crafters.org that the sweater, in the wrong hands (or body) can end up making a person look dumpy. Gee, I don't want no stinking dumpy looking sweater that costs an arm and a leg. So, I did the unthinkable (gasp), I decided to use Wool-ease (in chocolate brown). I figured that I would make this sweater for $6.28 (w/o ribbon) and if I didn't like it, well, it's not a huge loss.

I put aside z's dad's sweater, and am finished! Will post pics next time. I made a medium, and in hind site, should have made a medium small. The folks weren't kidding when they said it stretches. The only thing I want to add is that I'm really glad that I decreased in the yoke (following Knitty board instructions). The other thing is that you really have to keep trying it on, even w/ the hassle of putting 1/2 of the stitches on waste yarn.

Specs:
pattern: Knitty Winter Tempting in medium
yarn: Lions brand wool-ease brown
amount: 3 skeins (made a bit longer and have approx.10 yds left of last skein)
needle size: 7 got gauge (I'm finding that 7's are what I have to use for worsted weight yarn)
start time: Aug 29 at SnB
finish time: Aug 31 at home

Husband sweater take II

I knitted and knitted and knitted and in a couple of days, got almost a third of it done...only to decide that I didn't like the gauge--even tho' I went down to 8's and the gauge is right on, the Cascade 220 is knitting up just way too loose. Did I mention a THIRD?! Well, I got z's dad's opinion, since he's the one that'll have to wear the thing, and he agreed. And then added that he hopes I won't blog about how he didn't like the knit and that I absolutely had to rip it out...I reassured him that I was already thinking the same thoughts.

I will go down another needle size or 2, and see how it looks.

Catapillar scarf

This is a gift for my 9 yr old niece. I asked Sarah (who's also 9) at the snb and she said scarfs are the bomb...so I made one in her one in pink and purple (her favorite colors) with wool and fun fur. one skein of Bernat's Fun Fur in pink purple and yellow(I think) andSirdar Super Nova. I hope she likes it. I think it looks like a catapillar.

Tonight is her Bday party. It'll be fun!

Later...I forgot to take a picture. But she did like her scarf.

Husband sweater

I started the husband sweater last night since I wanted some mindless knitting project (to go w/ my SnaBI -- which I do have to think). Did I mention I really like Cascade 220? It's a top down pull-over in the round.

But here's the thing, remember that I knit loosely? I made gauge w/ #9's but it looked really loose. After 4 inches of st stitch, frogged it and started it over w/ #8's. We'll see. Oh, and this was about 2am, an hour before z woke up and didn't want to go back to his bed. Knitting sweater 'til 4am, hoping he'd fall asleep, followed by a half hour of him screaming. Ahh, the joy of parenting a toddler....

The present for MIL - Little Red Hat purse

The purse can now be posted since it's been gifted. It was done w/ 1 skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky in purple. I used the pattern from book () and since I used bulky instead of worsted, I decreased the initial cast-on stitches to 26. Also, I wanted more flaring on the top, so added a few stitches. I used the flower pattern center for the button. I looked into real buttons for the purse, but they looked too juvenile or too Rococo. I also made a rose and leaf that I felted and sewed onto a pinback so that she can take it to her RH events or just have a plain purple bag when not. The rose is from Knitty.com Since her roses were not felted, I added an extra row or two (fearing too much shrinkage). I used Patons wool red and I had extra LP bulky green for the leaf. I hope she liked the bag.

I'm back blogging and knitting

Just got back from SoCal. I got a little knitting done. Worked on my SnaBI scarf and my string scarf. It's now on skein 3 of 4 and will be a decent size once blocked. Checked out Miki's CA Yarn Shop for about 5 seconds. What an amazing place. I couldn't figure out how the store was situated, but she had a lot of different types of yarns--and some look like they're really old. Wish I had more time...next time, tho'.

Speaking of my DNA scarf, I decided not to do the ribbing around the neck and to instead, continue in pattern until I either run out of yarn, or it's the length I want, which ever comes first. Also, my just turned 5 year old nephew wants one too. He wants it in red (likely for the Angels). I told him I'll make it after I'm done w/ mine. Note to self: make his w/ at least worsted weight yarn or it'll take as long as mine.

A wrinkle in time

Did you know that although it takes less than 6 hours to travel from the Island to Magic Mountain, it then takes almost that long to travel from MM to SoCal? At least it feels that way...

Very little traffic, good courteous drivers that move to the right lane as you speed by (and of course you move over as someone comes zipping down the 5.) THEN, you hit LA. Can you come to a complete stop? As Bob the Builder says "Yes you can".

So, whereas the Wrinkle in Time theory goes something to the effect of time is a string and time travel is affected by making a loop and shortening the length of string, I would equate time spent on the 5/405 as the reverse wrinkle in time. (note to self - check traffic before the drive.)

And I won't bore you w/ z's unfortunate chocolate shake incident. Another note to self. Do not think it's a bargain to get a medium malted crunch shake and then give it to a small child sitting in the back seat!

But we're down here now and I brought SnaBI, string scarf, and z's dad sweater. We'll see how much actually gets done.

Journal live or live LIVE!

I've been thinking about this for a bit. Do I put my blog in rings or not? hmm....

Yarn

I won't bore you with the fact that I'm starting an excel spreadsheet about my yarn. Or that I have way too many projects : babies I want to knit for (3) + other folks in addition to myself (x+1). However, here's the pic from the yard sale last weekend.

No more yarn!

SnaBI scarf

Many months ago, MIL and I went up to St. Helena to check out a couple of yarn shops. While there, I treated myself to Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino for a DNA scarf. At the time, I had not ever cabled, nor read a chart -- gee, I'm not ambitious or anything. Anywhoo, got 4 balls of this yarn w/o knowing anything about gauge or needle size or whether cabling would be good w/ this yarn.

Fast forward to now. I thought now's a good time to learn to cable and so I sarted the scarf. Not as bad as I expected, especially since I wrote out which row I finished and how it coordinates w/ the little twists (that go 1-4). I did finally have to epiphany and since z's dad was on the computer, I had him print out a chart of the rows and how they coordinate w/ the twists. And now, I just have to check off the rows I completed. I've now finished 2 complete patterns and it's going well, methinks. I'm hoping that I'll work on this scarf and actually be able to wear it sooner than later.

btw-it's named SnaBI for one of my favorite restriction enzymes (TAC|GTA)

I've read the DNA KAL and saw that folks finished versions of that scarf in record time. I'm shooting for being done by the end of this month (w/ other projects interspersed). We shall see. That pooled bit of yarn was the result of frogging over 10 rows because I purled when I should have knitted (where the bases interact). Oh, well.


On another front, I finished another pinwheel blanket, this one for our friends w/ a brand new baby. I forgot to give it to them today. This is good since I forgot to take a picture of it.

Oh my friggin gosh that's a lot of yarn!

Wanted to attend a yarn sale listed on craigslist. Got there and saw there was already a line (Hi Luba). But unlike other garage sales, everyone was pleasant and very friendly -- as yarn folks are, I presume. Anyway, rounded the little corner of the driveway to where the yarn was and 'Oh, my friggen gosh!' The sellers weren't kidding when they said there were ~50 bins of yarn. 50 BINS!!! We were given trash bags and told to pay them what they think the yarn's worth. I got 2 bags full...by the time I got up there, the seller could kinda eyeball it. I will post pics of everything once I have it inventoried. I am not going to need yarn for any projects for a really long time.

Holy macaroni!

call me bag lady.

I am so pleased with my bbl bag (basketball lucy) that I am itching to make another felted bag. I started a little bag from 'Bags: A Knitter's Dozen'. I wanted to use the skein of Lambs Pride Bulky in purple but they suggested 175yds of LP bulky on 10.5 needles. Ummm...I wanted to make a purple bag without buying more yarn. So, I knit w/ 15's since, well, I just did my bbl in the same and it felted beautifully. Well, I initially cast on 30 (vs. their 40 something) and after I got to the st stitch in the round, decided I wouldn't have enough yarn and it's way bigger than I wanted. So, frogged and started over. This time w/ 28 total...still to big...then 26. Did I forget to mention that M1 results in a big hole w/ 15's? Well, had to do a kfb instead and that looked much better. I also omitted one of the bottom round sets so that I did cast on, r1: purl, r2:K1,inc1, inc1,etc., r3:purl,r4:K2...,r5:purl and stopped there. I want a cute little bag. As I'm knitting up the round, I am also increasing every once in awhile so that I get a cute flair up top. We shall see.

Presenting Lucy aka basketball bag

I finished Lucy. The final prefelting dimensions: 21 inches in height and I forgot the circumference (maybe 30"). The straps were 41 inches and 12 inches since LP supposedly shrinks a tad more than C220. Lucy went into the zippered pillow bag that I got at Goodwill along w/ 2 old jeans. Added a squirt of Dawn dish liquid. At 2 hot washes (w/o the cold rinse), it looked pretty good. I did let it go 1 additional wash to shrink it a tad more. I had 3 different sized balls ready for the blocking. Ended up that the regular basketball was the perfect fit. I'm super pleased w/ the results since I wanted a big bag. My only concern it that it's going to look sloppy once I have stuff in it.

Thoughts on felting LP: much more fuzz everywhere. Good thing I had Lucy in a bag. I may still have to shave her-- pretty hairy. She was pretty completely felted after the 1st wash. I guess next projects I would make a tad smaller prefelting size then only wash once. This would save additional yarn for other projects.

Speaking of other projects. I will actually make a cell phone cozy that matches.

Having a ball! or not.

Got the pattern for this very cool felted bag (Lucy from Two Old Bags) that can be semi-spherical in shape once felted. I am using Lamb's Pride Bulky for this. Of course I started out not checking gauge, and got most of the body done before I got totally paranoid AND realized I hated the color stripe combination AND the broadness of the banding. So, frog frog frog. Took it down to the circular knitting (that would be frogging 14 inches) and checked the felting gauge. My felting doesn't seem to match the 'lunch bag' from Knit and Felt it too. They say 22in height becomes 12 inches. And I get 4 inches becomes 3 inches. Maybe I just didn't felt long enough. Anyway, I figure if I shoot for the final height to be ~12 inches post felting, will be very happy. I am now making small varied stripes with more of the main color and omitting the purple. I hope this works.

Loot!

Took z to garage sales this morning. He's great to take to garage sales. We met a Hannah this morning. Her mom was getting rid of some knitting stuff.
This is what I got in the bag:
#15 needles
#13 needles
#4 needles (bamboo) - the best part is that I almost got these yesterday since I desperately needed 4s.
#6 addi turbo (16in circ) - can you say score!?
#2 inox (40 circ)
#2 metal (16 circ)
2 crochet hooks (one carved wood)
notions bag
tape measure
scissors
hook rug needle and other misc. implements
wool yarn - for a thin mini clapotis in blue and gold?
wool blend yarn - going to make a scarf
baby acrylic yarn
homespun yarn
misc red heart, etc.

Sophie bag and felting

Here's the pic of Sophie before and after. I felted it in my new-to-me zippered bag 2X in hot smallest load. I still need to figure out some sort of clasp/closing system for the bag. As others on the internet have noted, it's a little thinner than I was hoping for and a bit floppy, but I really like it. I think that next one will be more decreases at the top to have a better shape.

Loosey Knitter

Working on Sophie. This is actually my first time working w/ Cascade 220. Surprisingly nice. Much better than the Encore I've used for z's sweaters.

One thing I've noticed is that I can't gauge properly. I went down to a 10 and still can't hit the 16st/10cm gauge. I've decided to forge ahead on this project since it'll be felted anyway. Again, I do hope (gee, sensing a trend here?!) that I have enough yarn...maybe I should rename this Blog 'just one more stitch' or 'please, let me have enough', or 'that's a passle of yarn', or 'I lost my gauge in San Francisco' instead of 'yarn and teotwawki' (especially since the oil part has yet to input in any info)...

Also, been lazy and not posted pictures since I've been wrestling w/ our internet access. Will post soon.

Toe

I did a lame z's mommadad manuever last Friday. I somehow was running in the house and managed to trip over a chair and get a nasty hardwood floor burn on the knee. (have no idea why I was running in my own house -- not even to pick up the phone). Okay. That hurt. Oh, and my ring toe (corresponds to ring finger) hurts, but not as much as the knee, so didn't think about it.

Yesterday morning, went to get the phone (not really running...guess I didn't learn my lesson) and jammed the same toe. Ouch. I've got to take a picture.

Still Clapping! Done.

My progress on the clapotis is slow but steady. I'm trying to figure out when to start decreasing and how big it'll be. My major stress is of course do I have enough yarn?! If I don't, does that mean that I'll have to frog it back and do over? oh, dilemma...

later...
After SnB (at Julie's Teas since Coffee for Thought closed down!), I was able to finish the Clapotis. Yippie. There was a couple of major stressor points when 1) I found out there was no way I had enough yarn to finish the decreases 2) I dropped an edge stitch (that wasn't meant to be dropped).

1) Made huge number of decreases and at the end, was left w/ less than 5 inches of yarn (I kid you not!) It looks alright, I suppose -- it's not like anyone's going to look that closely (I won't let them). I do like it quite a bit. Can't wait til it get's a tad cooler.

2) Done w/ the clapotis and showing to z's dad, when I realized that there were extra loose loops on one edge...what IS that?! upon closer inspection, realized that there's a dropped stitch. WTF! ugh! Used a crochet hook and hopefully hooked together all the loops. There were 3 columns worth ( = 15) and some were 2-4 rows down. What to do at the end? Tied the loops up and hid the ends. Will post pics tomorrow. (I'm not ripping that thing).

Back to CfT. What's w/ that?! Show up at SnB, get yelled at from across the street (it's okay, ended up being the knitters). Reading the sign -- their last day was yesterday. Does that suck or what? No warning what so ever. We sat on the benches for awhile to see if anyone else was going to show up. I wonder what happened to the sea shanty folks...

After much contemplation and thought (trying to figure out what was open on Monday nights), we headed over to Julie's Tea on Park and knitted there til 9pm. btw-wickedly good Mexican hot cocoa. I was trying to be good all day, and then this concoction with chile powder and whip cream...okay, maybe going to Julie's isn't such a bad thing. The gym is right across the street. I could go and knit and then go across the street and do some cardio on the orbital. Yeah, right. Well, maybe...

Clap on!

Me too me too...I wanna do a clapotis. Been trying to find a good yarn, thought about the knitpicks sock yarns, and at the yarn conference last week, saw hanks of sock yarn. Decided that this will become the clapotis. (Believe it or not, a project-associated yarn purchase). Restarted it 5-6 times 'cause I couldn't seem to get the edging correctly. Ended up writing the directions out -- note to self: Don't save paper by shrinking the instructions down to 2/page AND don't try to start the project after 11pm...

Oh, yeah! Kool-Aid Man...

Had to try this. Very cool. Hanked out some Fisherman's wool, went shopping for Kool Aid and tada! This is black cherry, blue berry, lemonade, and tamarin (brown). Nuked 2X 2min on high. It does have a funky smell. (I hope it's gone by the end of the day.)

Can't wait for it to dry so that I can knit something up and felt it.

Eleefant

I finished z's elephant, only to be told by him that he wants a blue cat...kids...
This was knit with Wool-Ease grey on #9's. The body is a combination of the cat (square) and the elephant (defined legs). The odd thing was that when I stuffed it, the legs/body looked better the other way. So that instead of longitudinal, it's actually sagittal. The trunk was knit w/ technique used to add the thumb onto a mitten (as seen on DIY the other day) by knitting 4 stitches with waste yarn and picking up extra stitches and knitting an I-cord. The trunk was originally even longer since I hadn't made the body yet and couldn't tell the proportions. It's still long, but oh well. Also, I should have put a weight in the behind section since he's front-heavy. His tail is a crochet chain. the yarn at one end used to sew his tail on and then woven into the tail.

I guess I'll go make him the blue kitty. Altho' I was looking at some of the furry yarns...I wonder how they would knit up?

MIL's So Called Scarf

I had been trying to think of a neat stitch to use for MIL's lovely green silk/wool scarf. At the yarn conference, we had admired a couple of scarves w/ and interesting stitch (looks like a bow or butterfly out of yarn -- not the islet butterfly stitch, but rather, a butterfly on top of the scarf). I searched high...I searched low...but to no avail. Couldn't find that stitch anywhere. Instead, came across this
Sheep in the City Blog. The funny thing is that the scarf pattern originally came from a Bay Area store (Imaginknit) -- go figure. Here's my rendition of the same stitch pattern, except I couldn't figure out how to knit to the back when you've got a psso, so I just YO and slipped both stitches out. Right or wrong, this is it. I guess the only other thing is that even though I swatched it a couple of times for the scarf width MIL requested, I swear it shrank. I'm hoping that either 1) she'll like a skinnier than requested scarf, or 2) I'll block it for her and it'll be the width she wanted. Either way, here it is OTN