Seized

I am once again seized by knitfever.

Since mid-July I have completed two coffee cosies, some coasters, and a cowl. I am midway through a shawl on giant size 17 needles.  I am also experimenting with the potato chip scarf.

I have urges to visit local yarn shops everywhere I go.  I bought some variegated yarn today. Why?  I don't know.  I have nothing to do with variegated yarns.  I have no desire to do anything fair isle, entrelac, or intarsia.  But when one is ill, one has symptoms.  And my symptom, evidently, is yarn consumption.

The recent seizure began with a mid-July vacation, when it occurred to me that I have time to knit in the car.  When a passenger, of course.  And this time riding in the car is time that I definitely cannot spend doing other "constructive" or work-y things, so why not?

Watch out.  Some ghetto-looking knit gift may be headed your way. I am out of control.

(Don't worry.  It won't last long.  It never does.)

Autumn fit

Discovering that my brother is expecting his second bundle of joy, I have a legitimate reason to knit again. Yaaaaaaaaaah! I picked out some yarn with my friend (he's a good friend to be so patient as to pick out yarn with me and give me opinions as a non-knitter!) and got started. At around the same time, the weather cooled down, and that was it. I'm well into another fit of knitting.

I started the blanket. I am 10% of the way done with it after 3 days. My friend expressed that he's been wanting a hat, and hey! suddenly I have yarn for a hat. (Maybe a halfdome variant.) I also have knit a coffee cup cozy, because when I start knitting I am crazy. And believe me, I have looked at every free hat and coffee cozy pattern available on the web before starting, and looked up every technique listed on each of those patterns. Really now. I'm sick.

I have nothing to show you yet, but soon I will. I do have to get my camera fixed first. In any case, reading my last entry I realize that I owe you all a pic:



Hee hee hee! No, I don't mind that the bunny is getting mauled a bit. The whole idea was to make a toy for the child to enjoy. Here's a better picture of the finished object.



Cute kid, eh?

So.

Why is it that all the best knitting websites and online magazines are Canadian?

Anyway, I finally finished my latest project. It's a big bunny, probably twice the size of my usual ones, in chocolate brown with a blue tail. It's for my friend's baby. Baby's probably nearly two months old now. I have no pictures of it as my camera is broken, but I have requested that my friend e-mail me a picture of the bunny with his new baby.

I have not started the sushi. Camodidi called and told me he is wearing the version of Halfdome I made for him, and that the nubbiny part is gone. I finished one of my wristwarmers. And that's it.

Knitting is for people who live in cold places and/or who have time to spare. Neither applies to me.

Sigh.

New project

I'm gonna do it.

I'm going to knit the sushi.

Never thought I'd get so far as to 1) be able to knit them, and consider the pattern rather simple, and 2) have the desire to knit such frivolous things.

But I like knitting, and I like sushi, and I have this great red rectangular plate and gold chopsticks that would be great for displaying them...

So I'm gonna do it.

oops

i forgot to mention.

i started knitting "fetching", fingerless gloves/wristwarmers. i think i started this in may. within a very short time i had made significant progress on one, and then something held me up-- the bindoff, i think. well i stumbled across the project this weekend, and finished the knitting on the left glove.

once i make the other one, i may wear them at work. however, they are black fingerless gloves. will they look punky? too punk for work?

i don't think i care, as long as it contributes to keeping me warm in the a.c.-frozen tundra of my workplace.

i fully plan on wearing my chevron scarf at work as well.

but not at the same time as the gloves. they won't match.

boo

just had my first bad experience with untangling yarn.

yes that is why i am up so late tonight.

note to self

okay, okay, so seeing t's knit post inspired me to take a look at the chevron stripe scarf that has long been dormant. i'm pleased with it in concept, but each time i put it down i forget the pattern, and the reference i have is incorrect. i have to figure it out every time i restart, using google searches and whatnot. this time i had to do some tinking back and re-knitting (had to bust out the crochet hooks for dropped stitches and everything) on top of the google searches and the knitting help website. blah.

so here's a note to myself. and now, may it be documented on my very blog, so that i will always know where to look for the corrected pattern and i don't have to waste as much time getting re-started!

row 1: k1, ssk (that's slipping first as if to knit, then as if to purl, just for consistency's sake)
[k9, sl2 tog k-wise, k1, psso] k9, k2tog, k1.

row 2: k1, *p1, k4, [k1, yo, k1], k4*, p1, k1

i'm sure one can do the centred double decrease however one pleases, but that's the way i've been doing it.

there. it's documented. [sigh of relief]

Gifted away

Howdy.

I finished Yarnboy's Halfdome! Immediately thereafter, I gave it to its intended recipient, Camodidi. I forgot to take a picture of it, so there's no FO picture to post.

Two issues came up in completing that project.

1) I've never had to do mattress seaming on reverse stockinette before. It didn't turn out quite perfectly, but Camodidi didn't mind and so neither do I. And now, after a little research, I know how to do it, but the hat is finished so-- too late!

2) The hat itself is slightly, well, acorn-y, because the last few stitches on top come to a little pointy nubbin, which sort of conflicts with the smooth half-dome effect I was going for.

Aaaanyway the point was to make a hat that fit Camodidi's giant head without making him look— as he puts it— like a sloth, as other knit hats do. Since he likes it, I am pleased.

So. Yay.

Oh, and next time I will definitely knit the thing in the round.

Knit tip

Perhaps I'm not far enough along in my life as a knitter to be offering tips, but I enjoy this so much I can't help but pass it on. Have people already figured this out?

If you're looking for a way to store your knitting needles, gift boxes made for wine bottles work pretty well.

See?



Okay that doesn't really show anything at all.

What about this one? It's a little washed out, but the other knitting props help set the stage. You can see some of my stash down below.



Hmm. Anyway they're pretty, and they're handy.

Just thought I'd share that.

halfdome

so here's my start on halfdome, which i was going to make for camodidi.


suddenly i realized that the colors are reminiscent of a certain football team.

i don't think i care though.

(it won't be ruffly; it's just that my needles are short for this project.)

oops

i have, quite literally, gauged incorrectly.

i'm making the cupcake hat for a certain little one, and i found this perfect pink yarn. it's pink, with little sprinkles of color that look like, well, sprinkles. how great is that?

well... maybe not perfect. i'm looking at this yarn. i need worsted weight; the label calls this one "bulky". only it looks too skinny. skinnier than worsted? i think so. but what of the label? i should have known better, but i got all indecisive because i like the color and the sprinkles so much. i figure, well, fine. i'll knit a gauge swatch and figure it out.

so i did. and drat. it's too small. so after some calculations i figure out i need to go with twenty extra stitches.

knit knit, purl purl, i finish two inches of 2x2 ribbing in the round on aluminum double pointed needles. i mention these because does synthetic yarn slip off of metal dpn's? yes. yay, i get to start the frosting! but something doesn't look right. this yarn really does not hold ribbing well, does it. and hmm... one side looks taller than the others. oh, crap. i bet i twisted.

i've knit plenty of things in the round and have never twisted before, but i guess there's a first time for everything. so. off the needles it comes, and i frog back to the twist.

okay. no biggie. here we go... oh wait. how big is this? so... i put it on my head. and it fits.

hmm. i know i have a peanut head and all, but it's GOTTA be bigger than a baby head.

so. i have to begin again.

anyone want an adult-sized cupcake hat?

out of control

okay, so i went a little out of control this past "break"-lette.

i started the cupcake hat.
i started the halfdome hat.
i worked quite a bit on the tempting sweater.
i did not make any progress on the chevron stripe scarf. there's something about stripes that is unappealing to me. by the time i get done with it the color scheme will be dated.

how many active projects is that now?
the four above, plus
one blue penguin,
one camo-coloured bunny,
and the stuff that needs to finish felting.

oh. is that really that bad?

don't answer that.

pics to follow.

update...

not yet... wait for it...

sort of an update

1. i picked up my scarf yesterday, just to look at it, and before i knew it, i'd added a stripe of the pink. i couldn't help myself. feeling guilty about neglecting the other work i have to do, i made myself stop knitting. but there it was, sitting there, so soft. so i wove in some ends.

2. while browsing shops with a friend, i came across a few missoni pieces. leaving the store, i said a sentence that came out all wrong, something like, "i can't believe i saw some missoni pieces...." and i stopped myself. what i meant was, i can't believe i saw some missoni chevron-patterned pieces that have the same color scheme as the chevron scarf i'm knitting. it kind of confirms that it's a good color scheme, which allows me to continue with it.

3. i finished my first pink bunny. i forgot to take a picture of it before i gave it away. but it is adorable, and all docile-looking (not as perky as my camo bunnies).

4. i officially don't have time to knit. so i do it on the sly, as mentioned in #1 above. um, implications? no one say the word "addiction" or anything of the sort.

Whining

Last year I picked up knitting to help pass the time.

Now I have no time to knit.

"No time to knit?" some of you may ask. I know, some people think it isn't possible, but with my sort of job it actually happens. I have the kind of job where you work ten to twelve hours on a good day, thirty hours on a bad one, and then when you get home you have "homework" to do.

So for reals. No time to knit.

My chevron scarf and the Tempting sweater lie forlornly in the bottom of my knitting basket. My bunnies are appendageless, awaiting just a few stitches, but alas. No time whatsoever.

I sort of regret taking up a new hobby only to abandon it, but not really. I look back on the things I've made and am mildly impressed with the magnitude and/or cuteness of some of the projects.

That's all I can say right now. Honestly, if I oughtn't be knitting then I oughtn't be blogging either. So, goodbye for now.

Hesitation

I am reluctant to continue with my scarf.

I'm itching to knit it, but hesitant to continue it. Know what I mean?

I've decided to keep this color scheme, but my last decision is whether or not I should change the width of the stripes.

So I am on pause until I feel certain enough to proceed.

This is me being hesitant (after a point) to solve problems.

Bah.

OMG

Sorry. I dislike that abbreviation too.

But you see, I was completely JOKING about the whole toilet paper cosy thing. As in, I was trying to think of the most inutile thing I could think of to knit. Does toilet paper really need to stay warm or look cuddly?

But OMG. They make them. And they're serious about them.

Suddenly I am paralyzed by a horrifying flashback of doll shaped crocheted toilet paper cosies in old ladies' houses from back in my childhood. The faint smell of rosewater and Pine Sol wafts in along with my memory. Yuck. Yeah, and I always thought those dolls were creepy weird. And they were always purple and white. How could I have forgotten?

Here's proof, I guess, that other kinds exist.




(images lifted from carol browne, jan-on-ice, and mk carroll)

and again.

OMG.

Obvious

Darnit. I cut my yarn to take a picture today. I don't know what I was thinking.

Anyway, you know I've been griping about not getting the right look. Two obvious things have come up for me.

1) Draw. I was thinking about knitting a bunch of sample swatches, and I've already done a lot of computer cut-and-paste with the photos of my scarf to try to figure out what different color patterns would look like. I just didn't think of getting out my crayons before. Duh.

2) Check this out. Right side,


Wrong side.


That's actually kinda close. It gives me ideas.

Basically, I'm not sure what I want anymore. Time to get out the crayons I guess.

What else I'm not sure about? If I'm going to make stripes THAT skinny, carrying up vs. weaving in even MORE ends— which, as you can see, I have not done at all yet. (I honestly do not know where my tapestry needles are right now.)

That's all for now. Do look at my previous post because it is pretty.

Not quite

This is the part where I tell you that what I was going for with the chevron stripe idea was the old Missoni look from the 1960's and 70's. You know the one? With the psychotic, luridly multi-colored, nearly eye-numbing zigzag patterns? I guess a little bit like this

or like this (the cup)

and like these.

(All the above are actual Missoni patterns, by the way.)

My problem was that I had an image in my head and did not study the real thing before I got started. My stripes are far too regular and perhaps even too harmonious. They are staid and boring. Or is it that I just haven't gotten very far yet and so my photos are really zoomed-in on the pattern? I may frog back and do a little of that visual disruption thing, or maybe even just start doing it from here, seeing how there doesn't seem to be a true order to the way Missoni did it.

Things brings me to an interesting point. I used to think this pattern was so tacky. Now I find myself trying to mimic it in my knitting.

I don't know what else to say about that, so I'll just leave you with this image.



Comments?

Striped

You know what?


I think I like it.

Addendum: Crud! Dang! and Gah and Bah! I just began to consider what the other end of the scarf will look like if I stay with this color repeat scheme. I don't think it will look right ending on the accent stripe followed by a brown border; perhaps I need to tuck the green accent stripe in the middle somewhere. Darnit, darnit, darnit... I will frog the whole thing if I need to re-order the colors...