Not yay for lace

Um...so wow it's been a while since I dropped in here. I guess it doesn't matter since the only two people that read it don't even really need to, lol!!

So let's see...Foliage was and still is a total disaster. I tried three needle sizes (getting smaller each time) and the fucking hat was WAY WAY WAY too big on every attempt. Granted, I have a stupidly small head for an adult, but this thing was gigantor. It wouldn't even fit Logan. :p I gave up on it. I love the hat, the pattern itself was easy and I could probably do it in my sleep at this point, but it was getting ridiculous. I am not knitting a hat that was written for size eights on size fours because then it's just going to look totally jacked up. Yes, I know...take out a lace repeat, duh!!! Well, my little anti-lave brain says, "if it's that much trouble, fuck it". And there we stand on Foliage.

Since that time, I completed my purple Edgar, my re-worked pink SWS hat, a pair of wrist warmers from the Noro Cash Iroha that Logan got me for my birthday and a black Bukkit hat. That was all in a month, too! I was on a roll.

Since then, I have knit on one thing: a Lady Eleanor stole. Mom came to visit for Frouth of July and when she saw Brandi's, she had to have one. It was decided that this would be her birthday present. Now, let's all stop and chuckle at the thought of me being able to actually afford the yarn for a Lady E.....everyone done, up off of the floor, tears wiped away? Good. Now that we have come back to my reality of a gas bill that eats up nearly half of my monthly income, I will admit that Mom did buy her own yarn. I know, you must be thinking...wow some birthday present that your mom had to pay for herself! True, not my proudest moment, but anyone that has knit one of these will recognize that the time and dedication that it takes to make one of these monsters if most definitely a gift in and of itself. And it's one hell of a gift, trust me. Right after mom left, I whipped out a quick bukkit hat for her in a gorgeous shade of green and sent that off to keep her somewhat satiated until October (her birthday). On July 27th I cast on the infamous entrelac stole. I finished knitting it today. I still have a lot of work to do on it...blocking, fringe and weaving in. Sometimes I stop and think that this project took up so much of my knitting time, but to be honest, I never knit much during the summer. It's just too hot and I am rarely inspired. Considering the weight and warmth of this thing, I am surprised that it is done already. There were a few weeks that it had to go away; just looking at it made me sweat. Now it is done and I am very very proud of it. It is beautiful and I cannot wait to see it totally done. I think Mom will look beautiful and elegant in it.

Now...I have another Eleanor to knit. Insanity, I know. It will only be half of a real Eleanor and I have until Christmas to finish it. It will my godmother's Christmas gift from both my mom and I (yes, she bought the yarn, I am doing the grunt work). We decided on a similar, but more muted color palette in Kureyon for this one and I've decided to work it on larger needles. I think it make it lighter and I can get more out of my limited yarn (the yarn store was short one ball from the number that I really wanted).

On top of all of this...I have to start figuring out my Christmas knitting. I successfully worked B into a panic about this tonight as well. I'm a good friend like that. I can't be alone in my frantic race to the Christmas finish line!! I was just being encouraging and helpful...yeah...that's it.

Happy knitting!

yay for lace?

Anyone who knows me, in a knitterly way, knows that I am not a fan of knitting lace. The amount of frustration is way too disporportional to the amount of satisfaction that I get from it. Actually, I've never gotten any satisfaction from it. It just makes me mad. I love seeing other people knit lace because it is gorgeous and I do envy a few things that I'll never make for myself, but in the end it's just not worth it for me.

 

Last night I decided to cast on Foliage from knitty. I've had it in my Ravelry queue for a while but haven't been motivated to do anything about it because it's lace. Granted, it is lace with a worsted weight yarn which redeems it a little bit, but not enough to make me really eager to try it out. I've even had the yarn since before I found the pattern!! I don't know what got into me last night, but I decided that it was time. On tv night, no less (and let's not forget that it's a TOP DOWN lace hat). A recipe for disaster and needles being hurled across the room, once would think. In fact, I saw just that thought flash across B's face when I divulged my less-than-intelligent plan.

 

Still, I merrily wound my yarn and packed it into my WIP basket with my needles and dropped it off in front of the couch, waiting for 8pm to roll around. We settled in to watch our shows and I cast on. Five rows in and I've fucked it up already. No surprise there. Froggity froggity. Completely distracted by tranny bitches and sad losses on ANTM, I hot back to it. By the end of ANTM, I had half of the crown done and only had to tink back twice!! I looked down at my hands and thought "where the hell did this come from?". So I kept going. By the end of the night, I had the crown done and the first lace pattern repeat done. Not once did I have the urge to catapault the project from my sight or even get frustrated.

 

So....kinda yay for lace. I love the pattern and the hat is just so damn cute. I think I just might be ok with it. But don't start thinking that I'm going to be eyeing any other lace for a very long time.

In desperate need of focus!

I am in such a scatterbrained mood with my knitting. I busted out that bucket hat, which was good because I've been very ADD since I finished my Clap. I'm still working on my Edgar but summer makes it so hard to stay focused on winter projects. The problem is that there isn't much warm weather stuff I want to knit. I really really need to get started on my Rogue so that I can wear that this winter. I need to actually swatch...the right way, lol. I have so much yarn that I don't know what I want to do with most of it yet and I can't afford any new yarn so my options seem to be limited but I think I'm just being lazy.

I need to clean out my WIP basket and get it back to it's original intent. I need to re-wind a couple of balls that are left over from recent FOS, measure and record them so I can figure out what I want to use them for. I should have enough of my Dream in Colors left over from my Bucket Hat to make matching wristwarmers. I promised Garrett I would make myself a pair of mittens so that my hands would stay warmer in the buggy.

I just need to focus and get myself organized so I'm more motivated to get started on new projects.

<3 on all sides

How could my birthday have been any better. Ok, well, besides the obvious having my mom and Wendy here with me. Almost as good....more yarn!!! Yes, more yarn. Never enough yarn. And a very cool story to go with it.

Mom sent me a birthday card. I knew there was going to be $100 in it and I really wanted to try and get more of the Artyarns that B got for me. It was just so beautiful and incredibly perfect. I got home from work on Monday, picked up my card and money, called Harmony and had her set aside the last skein so I could pick it up. On my way to the shop, I called mom and thanked her and told her that I was on my way to pick up the yarn. I got to the shop and talked to the owner for a bit and she showed me some fun stuff before I wandered off into the yarn for some serious shopping. As I was sitting on the shop floor, surrounded by a dozen hanks of yarn, the owner got a call that sounded a little strange from what I heard through my daze. I thought maybe it was B calling to have me pick something up for her and to pay with her credit card over the phone but she didn't say anything to me once she hung up so I just forgot about it. I picked out a yarn for the Better Bucket Hat and another pretty yarn that I wanted to try. I went to check out but I had to wait for her to finish running the credit card she had taken over the phone. She rang me up once I was done and gave me the total. As I was getting my money out she goes "Oh! but you have this $50 gift certificate that your mom just called and bought!!". So awesome. She's the best mom ever.



I decided to make a mini-clap out of the Artyarns. Well, more like the yarn decided. It's beautiful. The yarn is a dream and the colors are gorgeous knit up. I'm almost done with it, but I have to break into the second hank for the last five rows, of course. I also found a matching wristwarmer pattern that I'm pretty excited about. They won't be warm, but they match. I don't really like the Clapotis hat, so I don't know that I will make a hat to go with the set. I might just see if I can figure out a headband pattern to go with it.

I think I found a pattern to use for the Noro Cash Iroha that Logan picked out for me as well. To top it all off, I found a website to buy Travertino!!! I ordered it on Wednesday and it should be here early next week. I have something to make with all of the new yarn I've gotten and that's really neat. I can't wait to start new projects!

Kitten is loving the Artyarns too...

Birthday Bounty!!!!

Ok, I am super tired but I had to show off my new yarn. So this will be short, but very very sweet! I got my Cash Iroha and blue/brown haindpainted colorway that I have been dying for for MONTHS!!!!! (btw, these were both from B and Logan's present) :D I are be happy happy gurl!

Srsly....

Is he not the most adorable thing you've ever seen??? The hat's pretty damn cute too, hehe. I love knitting for him;he gets so excited and he's so appreciative. It really makes you want to knit more when people are so gracious about it. He actually wears them too. I really liked this pattern and I'll probably make more in different colors. I got my Superwash wool from KnitPicks and I started a new BF hat for Garrett. I really like the yarn so far; it's really soft and nice to work with. I'm looking forward to seeing how it holds up to his abuse and washings. I love KnitPicks. Great yarn, even better prices. I'll be able to make him hats to last him years with that yarn, lol.

I've been on a bit of a kick the last couple of weeks. I've finished a couple of hats, my pink and black gloves and a bunch of washcloths. I've been making little fishy washcloths!!! They are so cute; I'm going to make a bunch of them for the X-mas box. I also made a cute lace-panel soap sack. I've got a bunch of cotton and those are great little instant gratification projects. I'm going to look around for other soap sack/washcloth patterns so I have a bunch of them for little stocking stuffers.

Along with Garrett's Superwash yarn, I got some yarn on clearance from KnitPicks. I definitely need to order color cards for the yarns because my monitor is off enough to make a difference. Two of the colors, I don't really like. I might use them for gifts, but I might check out the swap thread on Ravelry and see if I can just trade with someone. I'd rather get something that I like than try to use colors I don't really like. I guess we'll see.

Lessons Learned and Injuries Sustained

Lesson Learned: Don't knit a hat that needs to maintain any sort of actual shape or fit a head after being worn twice out of Simply Soft, or any pure acrylic. Garrett's hats are now more of a beret/rasta hat that fall off of his head when he bends over. I get the feeling that I've blogged about this before but I'm posting from gmail so I can't check. I asked around on Ravelry and my suspisions were confirmed that acrylic was the culprit. Of course, the most obvious answers are the ones you always miss, lol. Superwash wool! Duh!!! He can get it dirty and wash it all he wants and it's cheap enough through KnitPicks to replace somewhat frequently. Or, he can just pay for the yarn, ha! I've got a couple of skeins on order (yay for clearance!!) and I'm excited to try it out. I've never used Superwash so it will be fun to try something new. Garrett really loves the hats I knit for him and that's so much fun. It makes me want to knit for him even more!

 

Injuries Sustained: I attempted to chop off my thumb on Tuesday night. I was not sucecssful but I did come away with a pretty gnarly cut! I've been showing it off to everyone. Well, those that will look at it, that is. B and Logan refused to indulge me this time. It was great; I was cutting very wet potatoes (I know, I'm a genious) and one flew out from underneath the knife and narrowly escaped being butchered by sacrificing my thumb in it's place. I briefly checked it out and it was bleeding a lot and pretty deep but didn't appear to need stitches or any immediate medical intervention so I stuck it under cold water to get it all rinsed out. Nurse B assisted in the procurement of the advanced medical supply located conviently in the kitchen to aide in staunching the blood flow (that's a paper towel, btw). I noticed that it wasn't slowing down after a minute or two so I took a closer look. This is the cool part, but skip it if you're weak of stomach (ahemWendyahem). Turns out that I had cut through my thumbnail, which had then gotten lodged inside of the cut on the fingertip. My first thought; "Damn...I'm going to have to pull that out of there. That sucks.". Suprisingly, it didn't hurt and was relatively easy to get out. That helped the blood slow down so I threw a band aid on and went back to dinner.

 

I haven't tried knitting with my injured thumb yet and I have no idea if it's going to be a problem. I really hope not; I have a lot I want to work on. Can I knit through the pain?? I guess we'll find out soon enough!

While the boy is away, the mouse will knit....or not...

Yeah, so that whole theory about getting a ton of knitting done with Garrett gone didn't really work out. I got some done, but not nearly as much as I expected. I did finish Logan's scarf. He really likes it and it looks really good on him. Of course, I finished it a week before it warmed up too much to be wearing heavy wool scarves, lol! Oh well; it'll keep until next winter.

I was so happy with the hats that I made Garrett. They look great on him and he really liked them. In fact, he wore them almost constantly. But, there's a big problem. I made them out of Simply Soft and they've stretched out so much that they fall off of his head!! I asked around on ravelry and the consensus is that it's the yarn that's a problem. I am going to try wool and see if that works better. I was using Simply Soft so he wouldn't have to worry about getting them dirty or washing them. I got a good suggestion to try superwash wool. I think that's a really good idea because I don't want him to have to worry about giving it back to me to to wash. I have one halfway done in Patons' Merino so if he wants a white one, I'll give that to him and see how he likes it. Of course, I'm looking at other patterns, but so far this one is still my favorite.

I finally got my second pink and black glove started so that should be done soon. Then I'll just have to put a button on my headband and the set will be finished.

I've got a lot on my list, but I'll get it all done eventually!

Where do you go...my lovely? I wanna know....ohohohoh...I wanna know

So...I think that this week and a half with Garrett gone and out of contact is going to be interminably long so of course, knitting to the rescue to ease those lonely nights and occupy and sad and lonely heart. What a great solution, sit on the couch and knit with B. Get in some good girl time and get some serious knitting done.

So, where exactly have the past two nights gone? I have been so busy with the gym, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, working out my finances and phone calls up the ass that I haven't touched my knitting since Sunday!! I got more knitting done in two days at the shop than I have in the past two nights. What the hell? This is not working out as I planned....

Snow Buggy Bunny

I get to go out wheeling with the guys this weekend. How totally excited am I? A lot. We went out for a little bit this past weekend and I thought that my nose was going to fall off. Going 30mph in an open buggy in 25 degree weather will do that. Knitting to the rescue, as is so often the case.

 

I'm knitting myself and balaclava style face mask/helmet liner. I need to bust some major ass on it to have it done by Satruday, but that shouldn't be too hard. I got some Cascade 220 in black, but I want to make one or two more to match my boarding jacket. I need to take it with me to find a matching shade of red so it doesn't look awful, lol. I think I'll probably end up doing a black one with some red designs on it. Maybe some red Norwegian snowflakes. That would be awesome.

*grumble*

ok, so only a few more days without internet. I can do it. I mean, I have no choice, lol. With the absence of my ever-growing queue at my disposal, I have been unable to pare it down in the past two weeks, as I intended. But, all of that dedicated knitting time has not gone to waste!

 

I finished my "A Scarf Askew" and blocked it! That was actually a lot of fun. It's the first real blocking that I've done and it turned out great. I was a little worried about the edges scalloping, but a little tug after the pins were taken out fixed that and left a beautiful, straight edge. It really made the diagonal rib pattern pop out but it thinned out the scarf a lot. I'm not sure if I like that. If I make another one, I might not block it as hard and let the fibers stay relaxed. It did add the little bit of length that I needed though. The biggest challenge....convincing Cookie that it wasn't some neat new toy and that SITTING on the pins probably wasn't a great idea. *sigh* I also whipped up a matching hat. My decreases are awful, but probably barely noticeable to all but the highly trained knitter so it stays as is. I still have a good amount of yarn left over so I think I will make a new Headband out of it.

 

I started a new "Hat Fit for a Boyfriend". I'll finish that up tonight; they knit up soooooo quick. There's going to be a lot of them in the X-mas box, lol. It's been a great stash buster and I really love the way they look.

 

I've been forced to re-visit my pattern books for ideas and projects. Going through my SnB books, I realized that there's a lot less that I want to make now than when I got them. Well, that's not totally true; the Son of SnB still has a lot of novelty for me. I did start a new 'Warm Fuzzies" to use up the Moda Dea Dream that I bought for that pattern. I started a black one, but I don't know if it's even worth it to use anything but basic ribbing. It's so dark and fuzzy that you can't see the mock cable pattern and that's what I loved so much about the one that I made in light blue for Pat. So, I might just rip it out and do a 3x1 rib on it. I also CO for the "Basic Cable" hat in SnB Nation. I think it's cute and I am hoping that Garrett will like it in plain black. It's a little more interesting than the hats he usually wears. If not, it might just be mine or for the X-mas box, lol!.

 

All in all, it hasn't been an unproductive couple of weeks so I'm happy!

Knitting in the Stone Age

I guess B and Logan took our wireless network with them to the other side of the world. I have no idea what happened but it hasn't been working since the day after they left. I'm now relegated to checking my e-mail at work or on my phone at home. That's it. That's the extent of my internet access for the next week and a half. No Ravelry...yes, you heard me.......NO RAVELRY. No patterns, no notes, no timekilling....nothing. I'm quite frustrated actually because there is a LOT of knitting that I was going to get done during thier trip because I'm pretty much just sitting around the house alone every night.

 

So, now I'm knitting like they did before the internet came along. I'm working some patterns from memory and making some up. I've got a couple of pattern books that I need to use anyway. I have a couple of really simple things that don't really need a pattern and thank god I have the pattern for Danica memorized so I can finish Logan's scarf! Yeah, yeah, I know people have been knitting for centuries without the internet, but you know what? I'm a new generation and I like my craft being globally connected and I miss it!

Shop Talk

I went over to Garrett's last night; he was working on his frriend, Andy's, buggy. I took his hat with me and gave it to him. I was totally blown away at how much he liked it. He tried it on and it looks really good on him. I'm going to make a vouple more in some different colors and yarns. I told him that I made it out of a durable yarn (Simply Soft) and that it took me all of four hours to knit, so he coulld throw it in the washer and beat it up all he wanted since I can just bust another one out. In fact, this one that I am working on now might just be the backup, lol! The best part is that he bragged about it to Andy!!! Here we are, hanging out in the shop, all greasy and dirty, boys farting all over the place, Boomer trying to drink anti-freeze and Garrett keeps talking about the hat I made him and how impressed he is with my knitting and making Andy acknowledge my skill in my craft. LOL! It was sooo cute and it made me feel really good. I am so happy that he liked it so much. :)

I can't think of a clever title at the moment..

I just finished my Quant from the new Knitty. I had to change the pattern to fix a few things that I didn't like. That was actually a lot more fun than I expected. I usually find fixing patterns to be pretty intimidating and tedious. This was just enough for me to learn some new things and feel very accomplished and a lot happier with the resulting FO. I think I would like to try it in a yarn that has shorter color repeats; I think it would make it more interesting.

I noted a lot of this in my pattern notes on Ravelry but the SWS has pretty much no elasticity and after a couple of hours of working with it, my hands start to ache. I'm actually really surprised that so many people have used it for The Headband since a stretchy yarn really makes it, but it seems to be really popular. *shrug*

I really really really need to bust ass on Logan's scarf. I've played the "I just need something really quick so I can feel accomplished" game for too long. I also need to fix Blaine's glove. I need to get them back from him so I can make sure that I make it right this time, lol! I'm having some serious second glove syndrome on my pink and black wristwarmers. I need to just get that done too. I'm going to be so mad if I keep avoiding it and I don't get to wear that set this winter. So much knitting to do!

I have to give credit where credit is due...this was all B's idea. She mentioned that she was going to make small, fast knitted items and put them away in a box to use as random X-mas presents. Just little things that are easy or quick patterns to try out or things that came out fine, but just aren't something to keep. So, I stole the idea, lol! I'm going to do the same thing. I think I just finished my first donation to the box with my Quant today. I like it and it's really pretty, it just doesn't look great on me. It was fast and fun and it gave me a chance to try out the pattern so in the box it goes!

Knitting Nazi v. Gym Nazi

Who will triumph??? Stay tuned!!

 

B is having some...issues with finishing her 1x1 ribbing on her second glove. She only has a few rounds left but it's so horrifically annoying to her that she just can't seem to make herself do it. So, we made a deal. I am going to be knitting Nazi tonight and make her work those last few rounds so she can really get to work on the glove that she adores so much. Tomorrow night, she's going to play gym nazi on me. LOL! True friends.

 

I had some serious knitting ADD on Sunday and didn't really get anything done. Well, my three hour nap didn't really help matters. lol. I didn't start my second glove or Blaine's fix-it glove. I barely worked on Logan's scarf, I started and ripped out a hat in SWS, then I started a Quaint in the same SWS, but I don't know if I really like it, so I might rip that out and modify the pattern a little bit.

 

So, tonight it knitting, knitting, knitting!

So happy

I have been so incredibly happy with my knitting the past couple of weeks. My headband turned out so cute. I still need to put a button on it so I can actually wear it, lol. I finished the first glove to go with it and I am really happy with it. I'm going to start on the second one today. The yarn is so great; I forgot how much I loved that yarn. It is so soft and this colorway is so adorable.

I worked on Logan's scarf on Friday night. It's coming along. It really is a quick pattern for coming out looking so complicated, lol. I'll work on that a little today too.

I splurged a little and bought some new yarn yesterday. Michael's was having a sale on all of their yarns so I got four skeins of SWS. I've been wanting to work with it some more so I figured I might as well get it while it was on sale. I got two skeins of the black and grey to make a matching hat/glove set. I'd like to eventually get enough of the same color to make a scarf as well, but that gets expensive fast, lol. I got a really pretty pink and green and a blue and brown. I am really excited to make a couple of cute hats out of them.

I have so much that I want to knit!!! I want to do it all today!!!

Me me me me me!

Even though I have been working on Logan's scarf and I have every intention of finishing it asap, it's been so nice to relax with my knitting. I do enjoy working on a deadline in almost every aspect of my life, but I also like the freedom of not having any with my knitting right now. I am really succumbing to my flightiness though, lol. I've been meaning to start a Calorimetry (forthwith known as Headband by unanimous vote in the Ford/Fahey knitting household) in this gorgeous new yarn that I got in the mail over the weekend. I am going to make a small headband and then use what I have left to make some wrist warmers. I think it'll be a super cute set. I'm going to use the pink and black (I got B a hank of this for X-mas) first. I don't know what I am going to make with the purple yet.