I've been a bad blogger - FOs

Can't believe I've not posted. But I've been busy.

Item 1: White tomato.
I finished (all except for weaving in) of my white tomato. It's made w/ Plymouth 100% cotton. I dropped the needle size to US6 to obtain gauge (see below--they recommend a US8!?). And did my fingers get sore. Ouch.

Here's the specs of the yarn:

• 100% mercerized cotton medium weight yarn.
• Machine wash. Imported.
• 3.5 oz/100 grams/140 yard/128m hank. 18 stitches=4" (10cm)/size 8 (5mm) needles. The bummer part? There was a knot in every single hank! And when you're knitting in the round, where do you hide the joins? I did it on the side. What a pain. It was such a pain that I actually emailed PYC.

(the picture is wonky because it's sitting on our couch and I was leaning a weird angle.)

But it's finished. I made a size medium. I also had to rip out the neckline because it turned out floppy. The modification I made was that I was supposed to decrease between the markers and I actually also decreased 2 ribs on each side.

Oh, and of course, AFTER I finished it, I checked other tomatoes, only to find that maybe I should have made it in a cotton blend instead of 100% cotton. For the reason that every extra bump on your body apparently leaves its mark on the sweater. Darn. Oh, and it's very heavy. 100% cotton! what was I thinking.

specs:
yarn:6 hanks of Plymouth Fantasy Naturale Yarn in white
needle: US6
time:2.5 weeks? maybe?


Item 2: Zimmerman's Baby February sweater
This was done using 2 skeins of worsted weight Encore. I don't know about you, but knitting Encore after struggling with this cotton...it felt like butta! Well, I wasn't going to start my lace project (cashmere) yet...that would result in me never knitting w/ cotton again.

Anyway, again, much larger sweater since I used worsted instead of baby weight.
specs:

yarn: Encore 2 skeins red
needle: US6
time: May 20-May 27, 2007

mods: I followed the 'pithy' directions (and read alot of Zimmermaniac blog). I knitted the yoke as per spec, didn't like it, ripped it, redid it, ripped again, and well, ripped again when I realized you're supposed to be putting button holes in at the same time. I did decide that buttons don't have to come all the way down the front, and I liked the buttons only on the garter stitch yoke look. So, I ripped again and figured out how to put button holes into the yoke (not as easy as it seems since I didn't want them to hit right on top of the increases).

The sleeves are too long. I made one sleeve, then the other, and realized that they're too long. Will roll sleeve instead (and tack down w/ yarn). Hey, it's not like a's going to be wearing the sweater too soon. It will likely fit a 3 year old?

For her well-baby checkup, we found out that she's now a whopping 10% in weight. And she's at 20% in height, so no worries. Maybe she'll wear it when she's 5.

Item 3: An O.
Oh, I've been experimenting. I wanted to make a hoop out of yarn. So I went to check out the doknit (google the spelling, please) and had an epiphany. Well, of course.

I wanted a ring, not a donut, so I doubled up some acrylic (did I mention that the cotton so trashed me that all yarns not cotton was feeling fabulous?!) and knit this (yes, that cheerio in the middle is for size reference):

Specs:
needle: US6 dpns
yarn: acrylic yarn worsted weight doubled (surprisingly, maybe 1/2 skein)
time: a couple of hours? Most of the time was spent sewing it shut.

Mods: I increased the initial number of stitches. It uhm, turned out a bit larger than expected. When finished and stuffed, I had to double-check that A's head was larger than the hole so that it doesn't become some sort of hanging hazard (her head IS bigger, thank you). I also wanted it to be fatter, so that's what I did. When it was on the needles, the hoop looked normal size, but when stuffed and sewn, well, it's a tad large.

Item 4: a doknit
I figured I had to do it. But when following the directions, realized that yet again, I needed to modify. I used smaller needles, and decreased the cast on stitches. I also decided to do a normal cast-on instead of the fancier ones because when you sew it together, you can't see it.
When z&a's dad saw the finished doknit, he said, 'nice. what is it?'
When z saw it, he said 'cool. you made a donut'. (my very bright boy)

specs:
needles: US4 dpn
yarn: brown and tan acrylic yarn a smidgeon of each
time: the House season finale

Where's the picture? I gave it to A to play with and it's gone MIA.

I've been a bad blogger

Happy Memorial Day!

I've been not bloggering, but I have been knitting. Please stay tuned. I will post pics of FO's soon!

Happy Mom's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

For me, this has been a super good day so far. I got to sleep in (yes!) and z&a's dad took the children away to the living room. Then I went to the gym and did a gnarly spin class(not that kind of spin, the cycling one). Then I stopped at a garage sale and purchased a new to us jogging stroller for A. And when I got home, there was a wonderful card and lots of chocolates!


Knitting-wise, I'm working on a white tomato from 'No Sheep' without the stripe across the sweater. We'll see how it turns out...yes, I realize that I might as well go to Target and purchase a white top, but you know, this is more interesting. The yarn is a 100% merc cotton from Plymouth. And it's a pita to knit with, mainly because to get gauge, I've had to drop from a recommended US8 to US6 -- and I still have to tighten every stitch.

Zimmerman BSJ

I'd been meaning to make this sweater. I followed directions and here's what I ended up with.

Specs: Encore yarn 2 balls
needle size US8
time: April 29-May 3, 2007, seamed May 7, 2007

The wonky part- note the sleeves. Yes, both of them are like that. there's a delineation between the point where the sleeves are knitted and where they're added onto the sweater. It wasn't noticeable when knitted, but now that it's seamed up, argh!

I've still got to find buttons, but other than that, it's done. It also turned out much larger than I expected, oh well.

One final thing. I actually had to tear out both seams once because when I was done seaming, I realized that the neck opening was way way too small. So, it all got torn out and I pinned them to make sure that the neck opening was big enough.

Next up for Sparky A is the February sweater -- out of red Encore. I think I'll go down another size in the needle and hopefully, she'll actually be able to wear it this fall/winter

Picovoli II on Spinner

As soon as I got the cone holder working, I thought I had to knit something fast. I had in my stash Crystal Palace cotton on a cone and I thought I need myself a tank as the weather's getting warmer. I figured I'd make another picovoli since I'm not sure I have enough yarn. Since this is a top-down one piece pattern, I figure that I'll try it and if doesn't work, well, there's always the frog pond. Most importantly, I don't have to cut the yarn. I just have to knit round and round and voila! tank--OR--no tank and cone again.

Of course my gauge is off. Of course. Grumperina suggests a gauge of 22st/inch for this. I got 16 on this yarn. So, with my spidey powers, I worked out the calculations and cast on.

Here's the finished Picovoli:

Yarn: CP Monterey cotton
Amount used: almost the whole cone (420yds/cone)
needles: US8, US9
started 4/21/07
finished 4/27/07
Modifications: gauge mods and I switched to a larger needle after the waist shaping.

The only issue I had was that right at the end of this top, there was a knot in the yarn. I lost about a yard of yarn because I wanted to have the knot on the side.

The only other issue is this. I wore it today and it's dragging (the armholes have gotten larger). Oh, drats! I just finished weaving the ends in, so I'm not in a huge hurry to frog the thing and redo it. I may have to wear another tank underneath. Oh, well.

Edited to add: hmmm...don't think I'll try to take my own picture again...hmmm

Happy Birthday to Sparky!

Today is A's birthday! She turned ONE today. Can you believe it?! Yikes. Time has flown, she has flourished, and it's a year later.

Anyway, I'm planning her party this weekend, so I've got nada to show on the knitting front. Actually, I do. I've finished Picovoli II (will blog about it next week), I'm also working on a couple of knitterly items. But I'm waiting for my battery to arrive (and hoping it'll work) for my camera.

Do it yourself Cone Spinnerrette - a tutorial

I love cones of yarn. Not hanks, skeins, center pull balls...nope. If at all possible, I will buy the cone. Did I mention cones I like? Why do I like knitting from the cone? It gives the illusion that you have a never ending supply of yarn (you don't, and there have been times where I have run out). The yarn's all contained on the cone, you don't have to worry about losing that one ball of 16 you needed for a project. And they look so neat and tidy too. However, there's a downside to cones. You can unintentionally put a bias in the yarn. Putting a twist is okay when you're knitting with several strands held together, but when you're only knitting with one, well...

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and I had so far just winged it using a paper towel holder to hold my cones. Letting the cone spin on it's own is okay, but the McGuyver in me said there must be a better way. Remember that I met a knitter at the lacy knitter's guild a couple of months ago, and he showed me his cone holder? Remember? He told me that I could make one using a bearing and some wood. He also said I could get my husband or boyfriend to do the woodwork, but we won't go there--I love z&a's dad so much, but if I had asked him to build this for me...well, let's just say that as an engineer, he would have over engineered and spent several years mulling it over and then tried to make it better than I needed and then well, he's an engineer...I figured I could build this thing. The only difficult thing to get was the bearing. btw-they don't carry it at big orange store. Nor did I see it at Orchard. I found it at my local Ace Hardware. But I had to ask. And this will also be the most expensive part (at least for me) of the project. It was $7.99

I was thinking that I would have to buy a wooden disc, and a large dowel and a small dowel, then get a large drill bit and drill a hole on top, then pound a dowel the size of the inner hole of the bearing on to hold...ack! what a project. But I figured out a much easier way.

So, without further ado, here's my tutorial:

Unfortunately, I made it before I took any pictures, so this is a re-enactment.

Title: Yarn Cone spindle developed from simple vertical paper towel holder

Materials and Methods: General tools were used for this construction. A rubber wood paper towel holder (Local thrift store, CA) was dismantled and the screw from the center pole removed using standard procedures. . The screw from the guide pole was also removed with a wrench.The bearing was procured from Ace Hardware (figure 1).

Figure 1

The hole in the guide pole was enlarged using a drill and a drill bit of the same size as that removed from the main pole. The larger screw was screwed in (figure 2).

Figure 2

The top of the guide pole was whittled with an exacto knife to fit the circumference of the bearing(figure 3).

Figure 3

The original guide pole, now with the larger revised screw was replaced on the platform in the center. The spinnerette was assembled and tested. (figure 4, 5).

Figure 4 Figure 5

Swap-a-rama goodies

I finally discovered this thing called swapping. What a great idea. You've got some stuff that you got whenever, and now you see some stuff that you want that someone is trying to get rid of, and you exchange your stuff. How cool is that? Anyway, I went through a sock craze a bit back (peaked when pregnant w/ a) where I was acquiring sock yarn, sock knitting implements, etc. But now, even with all the lovely socks out there, I'm sort of not that interested. I might be interested in some of the cool lace socks, maybe...

So, anyways, I find folks that want my sock stuff and want to exchange other stuff (like lace yarn and funky patterns) for my sock stuff. Cool!


here's my cool swapped stuff. I think z&a's dad might think I bought this stuff, but I didn't. I got other stuff awhile ago and have shipped those away to get more different stuff. Although, I think that at this point, I may (gulp) have enough laceweight yarn (of all types) to last me for awhile. The only picture I don't have is the gossamer (Knitpicks) that I received. I've wanted to try Knitpick's laceweight, and when it was offered up, well, I had something to trade for it.

This yarn is Brown sheep cotton/wool laceweight. And the patterns are some vintage patterns. But I don't know if you can see the very very cool stitch markers that came with the patterns. They are gorgeous! That wasn't originally part of the trade, but she added them in since there was a discrepancy with swapped items. I love the stitch markers. I will definitely use them.

Bianca Fini

Milestones on this one.
1) a Finished Object
2) a sweater!
3) One that fits.
4) I like it
5)most importantly, one that I'll wear (in fact, it's already been worn, and I've not even blocked it)

Specifications:
Pattern: IK Fall 2006
yarn: Crystal Palace Flamme (100% merc cotton)
amount: less than 7 balls
Completion time: March 30, 2007-April 9, 2007
modifications: no major change*. 5 buttons instead of 6.


*I think the charts were incorrect. As written, there's an extra ridge in the lace pattern. I worked on the sleeves at the same time on the same needles and finished the first lace pattern, went on with the 2nd, realized it didn't look like the picture, and decided that was going to be my little modification. The first lace pattern has a ridge in the sleeves (not the yoke). It looked fine, so I just kept going, ignoring that one line and purled on the wrong side.

thoughts:
My gauge was off (smaller), so I made a large instead of medium. It's a tad big, could have made it in a medium. Would like to make the bottom as one piece instead of 3. Very annoying--that seaming the panels. Magically, the sweater actually fits, albeit a tad large, even with the row gauge definitely being off.

I did have another modification with the buttons. I found (in my button stash, no less), these cork resin buttons. See how perfect they are for this sweater? I even had six buttons, but I decided on five. Anyway, I had finished off the button loops for six and decided that the buttons were always going to be slipping out, so I only did 2 chains w/ crochet hook and I really like it.


Oh, yes. This sweater took me NINE days to finish! I'm straining trying to pat my own back...

Happy Easter Bunny!

Hope everyone had a really nice Easter. I could show you the aftermath of our celebration, but there would be lots of empty plastic eggs and colored foil...

Bianca

I've wanted to knit this sweater since I got the Winter 2006 IK. And I've procured several different types of yarns for this project. In fact, I've got several sweater's worth in different yarns...silk, cotton, wool, etc...

I just saw a pretty one in Cotton-ease when I googled it. Then I thought I'd make one in the new Cotton-ease...argh! Must make at least ONE first, before thinking about procuring more yarn.

Instead, I went into my stash and picked out CP merc. cotton (that's been discontinued). The color is similar to the one pictured here.

Anyhow, the gauge was off, so I am making a larger size. Altho', as I'm knitting it, I'm finding that maybe I got gauge, after all...hmmm...The way the sweater's constructed, I think a little wider isn't going to make a difference (I'm hoping).

The beginning of this sweater is ho-hum, just endless St stitches with a bit of shaping here and there. Will post pictures as it becomes more interesting. btw-- started this sweater March 30, 2007

My buttons picture

The Dorset buttons. You know you want to make some. They were fun to make and quite therapeutic. I'm trying to decide whether I need to make double the buttons...As you can see in this self-taken picture (or maybe you can't), I've got a set of buttons in every other hole. I'm kinda in a quandry. On one hand, these were fun to make and it would be fun to make a bunch more. On the flip side, these buttons eat yarn, I mean devour it. And on the third side of that coin(?), maybe I should make more buttons now in case I lose a set. But but what if I lose the extra ones I made, that would be a waste. And on the 4th side of the square(?), I still have enough silk yarn to make a head band or something so if I use it all up...ahhh, dilemma.

Belated pic of winnings

Sorry it's taken so long in posting, here's the picture of my winnings from Gilmore Girls KAL.

Thanks to Mandie!

Curved shawl edging done!

You may remember my dilemma about the Curved shawl from VLT -- you know, the fact that the edging looked all floppy and sloppy and such? Well, I spent some time poring through my VLT and Heirloom Lace and other lace books, only to decide that I liked the original edging for this shawl. What to do?

I decided that I'll just go down a couple of sizes in needles and see how that looks. Hey, if it looks dumb, I can always rip it out. (The wonderful part of the edging is that it's not actually connected to the body, so...if you feel the need to rip, no harm, no fowl.)

So, I went down to a US6 needle and sort of followed their pickup strategy. Since I'm now using a smaller needle, once in awhile I would join a third stitch to the body of the scarf (instead of the 2 into 1 suggested by the book). I forgot to do some simple math toward the end and didn't finish off a whole edging pattern, but it was close enough that I was totally okay with it.

Here's the finished shawl, and I think it looks purty. Did I ever give the specs for this shawl?
Specifications:
US9 for main lace, US6 for edging
Yarn: 70% angora 30% nylon in raspberry (amount? gee, 2 balls of yarn)
pattern: VLT curved shawl
time to finish: beginning of March to March 25 (blocked March 28)

Buttons buttons

Thanks Sarah for the suggestion about soldering the wire so that the buttons won't snag the yarn if wire is used to put the buttons together. The funny thing is that I actually own two soldering irons. And I've been thinking about soldering the joints on my markers so that the rings don't open up and catch. So of course I could just do the same with the buttons. My only concern was that short of using glass or metal beads, the buttons may melt (I'm not very proficient at soldering).

I went to the local craft/sewing stores to look at buttons, and honestly wasn't very inspired. Then I remembered reading Craftzine and seeing this . At the time, I was thinking, 'Yeah right. Make your own buttons by wrapping thread around a plastic ring. Someone has wayyy too much time.' The other thing I was thinking reading that article was 'Hey, that's what you do with those plastic rings'. Anywhoo, yep, guessed it. I made the Dorset Buttons for my Convertible. It didn't actually take that long, it just took a bunch of my leftover silk yarn. For directions on how to make these, follow my link.

And the best part? The buttons totally match without looking dorky and they aren't too heavy. I didn't want heavy buttons that would slowly stretch out the Convertible to become kimono sleeves!

I'll get z&a's dad to take a picture of me wearing it when I get a chance. Oh, the funniest thing was that when I was done, and modeling it for him, he told me he didn't get it, and why did I only make sleeves (as in, where's the rest of the sweater?!). There was also a comment about being a spider lady, but I let that one slide.

Knitty Convertible almost ready to go

Instead of working on the edging for the curved shawl, I finished convertible instead. I have been stressing about the length of the the thing...what a cliff hanger...will it or won't it be too long? will it be too wide? should I block before I'm finished to figure out the length? oh, what to do what to do?

Yeah, right. I'm going to preblock. That would just drive me batty if it still didn't turn out properly. I decided that if it didn't block out properly (either the sleeves are too wide or long), I'll just wear it as a summer shawl. And hey, I won't have to do the fiddly buttons. How many buttons do you need?

Without further ado, here's my finished convertible.

stats:
yarn: almost a cone of dk weight navy 100% smooth silk from colourmart
pattern: Convertible from Knitty (go look it up)
needles: US6
time: 3/6/2007 - 3/20/2007
finished size: 23in X 76in (a bit larger than expected, but oh, well, that's what happens when you don't block a swatch)
modifications: cast on 77 stitches and did 5 pattern repeats.

My thoughts: this yarn is steam set by colourmart and it cost $2 more than if you just ask them to wind the strands on a cone. Is it worth it? for me, it was this time. I've got some doubled silk yarn that I'd like to try and see how that goes. The only time I split the yarn was when I wasn't paying ANY attention -- and it serves me right.

So now I've got to think buttons. I was going to connect them via Knitty's suggestion using wire, but apparently, that's difficult to do and the wire sticks out and such. Instead, I'm almost thinking some sort of frog bead closure thing. a loop that a bead can toggle through. hmmm...when I have that done, I'll of course show it off. Until then, I've got a pretty darn nice summer wrap (at least it's sunny today).

Bubby for a Bubby

This gift is already gifted. This was for a lovely boy who just turned one at the beginning of the month. He's a doll. So I knit him a bubby.
This knit was fiddly. But cute. And it hurt my fingers knitting tightly. I am not a natural born tight knitter. (sigh) Remember, I'm the loosey goosey kind of gal.

The directions were followed, except that I used doubled Woolease with US5 needles. I did add a tail and a bellybutton. For the tail, I crocheted a chain of 4 and tied a knot and sewed it on. For the belly button, I used the yarn used for putting the tail on and came out through the front, and back into the back. Put a bit of tension there so that you got a little 'insie' and that was that.

I will have to make one of these for my little girl child too. I wonder if I can knit it and felt it to get that tightness?hmmm...I've got some lovely worsted weight 100% wool in a pink that I really shouldn't use for anything but toys. I may even try to make a dinosaur, for my boy z (but maybe not in pink).

Gift

I was reading the Gilmore Girls KAL and was inspired by Mandie's cabled purse to make this.
I followed the directions from this site after I got frustrated looking for spytastic.blogspot (this blog no longer exists?).

Anyway, here's the specs:
yarn: 100% wool doubled (LB's Fisherman's wool)
needles: US10 tight.
cable repeats: 7
time for completion: knit in one evening? Another day for lining.
dimensions: 11in width X 6in height (without the bamboo handles - small D style)
Hand sewn lining ( I am not a sewer and do not own a sewing machine*)
The handles were attached with whip stitch (I think that's what it's called)
1 yard of ribbon to finish it off.

*we have a little itty bitty one that I can't use properly.

Other than that, followed the directions. Cast on 38 stitches, etc. This was a fast knit. Reminder to self: must alternate lace knitting with instant gratification knitting.

So, I was looking for a gift for a 10 year old and couldn't find anything appropriate. I also wasn't going to knit her a sweater, don't go there. Anyway, I hope she likes it.

I still need to knit myself another purse. My Lucy is looking a bit frayed. Time for it to go back in the washer.

While looking for this cabled purse pattern, I came across some lovelies. However, I have some specific ideas. I really like to form from the doctor's bag from Knit2gether, but I want it felted. I am in the process of deciding what type of yarn to use. I may just use my old Paton wool yarn because I really like the green they have (not to mention I've felted so much with this yarn that I am finally getting an idea of the properties of the yarn. But who knows. Kinda like the one from IK, but maybe not the felted intarsia flowers. Pretty, tho'.

I can button!

Okay, I finally figured out the button thing. I likely tried to reinvent the wheel, but oh well. I now have listed destash and vlt.

Knitting Progress

I have too totally been knitting. See!
I really liked the funky Curved Shawl, and had wanted to knit it as soon as I got VLT. Of course, it took me a while to figure out the charting, especially the instructions in red (that would be the ones about the number of repeats per row...I still don't get that, and I've got a PhD! Okay, I didn't look at it too hard). The casting on using e loops -painful. but once I got going on this sucker, it was easy peasy (especially since it's a garter stitch lace). I could totally work on it while I was tired since you totally can tell when you've messed up.

Initially, I read in VLT how this pattern can be knit using much larger needles for a much looser and yet still very lovely lace. Well, judge for yourself. I used US9 instead of US6 for this fingering yarn (70%angora).

This is not blocked, in fact, it's not finished and here's why...I stopped knitting before the end of the pattern because I did not want a huge ginormous wrap, but a nice medium sized one. I then cast on for the edging, to find that using my needle size, the edging is over 3 inches wide and very loopy and not at all attractive. Which means that I need to actually (y'all gasp now) figure out my own edging! Oh, criminy!

That is why I started and am almost finished with this beauty. This is knit with Colourmart's dk weight smooth silk (they had their lace weight steam plied by somebody). The resulting yarn is absolutely divine and scrumptious and yes, that's the other reason I started on this instead. The yarn is super. And it's much darker than the over exposed picture shows. In real life, the color is much much darker, as in blackish, as in I can wear it as black. As for working with it, it's only a slight pain because it's plied by twisting their lace weight yarn and I've accidentally pulled on a strand or two. I think that's my only worry, that upon wear, it's going to get snagged.

specs (before I forget)
yarn: Colourmart
needle: US 6
pattern: Convertible from Knitty
modifications: yes. I cast on (5X13) for pattern plus the 6X2 edging is 77 stitches (hey, I did that without calculators or paper and pencil)

Folks on the intarweb said that if Convertible is too wide, then the shrug look is way too big. So I swatched (yes, me. I swatched) and figured out the width it should be. Of course, as I'm almost finished, I'm totally stressing about it being too narrow, resulting in my arms looking like sausages encased in intestine lining (wait, there's got to be a better metaphor), resulting my arms looking like a Christmas ham (you know, with the netting?), or like play dough being pushed out of an extruder? Okay, I'll stop now.

Actually, it will be fine (unless my arms get monstrously huge like from this show The Man With Exploding Arms I watched last night. ew. again. eww.). Without blocking, there's enough room, so with blocking, it'll be awesome. And if not? well, I'm not a shrug person anyway so I'll wear it as a scarf.