Knitting Blue WIPs

I Got a Fever:

2009-06-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

Ohhh Lawdy, I've been bitten hard.

Sweaters. I must make more. Better ones. Cuter ones. Cardigans and pullovers both.

My first foray into the land of AdultSweaterWorld was a very poorly adapted attempt. I'm not even gonna sugar coat it: I made a baby sweater and then thought "pshaw, lemme just cast on more stitches, using a COMPLETELY different yarn and needle size, and eye ball the thing. I'm smart, so this should go swimmingly!"

You'd think I would have learned by now my whole "eyeballing" inability.

It's so hideous that it will never touch the light of my ravelry projects page! Badbadbadbadembarrasinglybad. But, I learned some techniques and absolutely learned from the experience . . .

Until the next time I cast on for a sweater :blush:

This one was via an actual Adult Sized Sweater Pattern, even. My Radiate (from knitty.com) Did I follow it? Since this is my blog, and ME we're talking about, you can safely answer "oh hell no." No swatch and liberal application of casting on stitches with zero regard to pattern sizing. Hi! I'm ajdury and I apparently don't learn from my mistakes!

Again, I learned some things (outside of how much of a dummy I am) but the nail in this sweater's coffin was that my 4 skeins are comprised of two different dye-lots. Before this sweater even started, I missed two opportunities to notice that little fact :blushingredder: Hi! I'm ajdury and I can't even be bothered to read ball bands!

I may be a damn dummy, and I may be doing things the hard way, but! I'm 98% done with my third, and final, "First Adult Sweater" and can't stop thinking about the next one to get on the needles.

This last one is (again with my inability to strictly follow a very well-written, well-executed and so good it doesn't need MY interpretation added to it) the fabulous Tomato sweater (originally on knitty.com).

My husband (who has witnessed every good/bad/inbetween thing I've ever knitted) and my two friends Alex and Sheila have all said very nice things about it. Hell, even I like it!

For now it's the best sweater I've knit to-date, but it won't be the best sweater I've ever knitted.

The sweater bug has bit me hard and all I can think about is making a better one next time, and an even better one after that.

I'm so smitten with sweaters that I'm going to do the following: 1) Swatch (don't faint), 2) follow directions (get off the floor!) 3) seriously consider a "pieced" sweater pattern (don't MAKE me get the defibrillator out!)

Whadda ya think about THAT? :bigproudcheesygrin:

About Those Kids I'm NOT Having:

2009-06-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

Was that a long enough "hang time" since the last post? :giggle:

Y'all have commented in multiple ways (personally and online) and my blog comments sum them all up nicely.

No, I haven't bumped my head, come up with a baby-bump or bumped on over to "Pregnant Women Are Smug-ville* (I'll leave that to others I'm oddly related to).

When I wrote of "All the cuteness there is out there", it was THE KNITTING stuff, Chickens!

Mike's niece, Ms. Ella-Gator is turning 4 in July, thus I've been knitting up several beach-themed stuffed animal/toy/things in anticipation.

You've all seen the parade of knitted fish, starfish, sun, mer-woman, the errant penguin (wrong ocean :blush:) and that octopus march across my ravelry project page. What you haven't seen, I'm guessing, is the gi-freak'n-normous amount of super a-dang-dorable knitted animal/toy items that are out there, floating through the intronets ether.

The web is just chock-full of knitted cuteness, lemmetellya.

Remember though, when I said I "wanted kids", I had a set limit. I wrote "Maybe around 3. I think I could handle three."

Again - that represents knitting. Three to knit for, LOL.

I already have the aforementioned Ms. Ella-Gator and the second slot has been taken by Suzanne's granddaughter, Ms. Ireland.

Who shall be the third? My hope is that the last one is a boy, to give me knitting variety! :grin:

You all do the difficult and thankless work of having and raising them. Me - I'll be over here in quiet and calm child-freedom, knitting cute things for you to wash puke out of.

* that video/song makes me belly-laugh every time I open it.

OMG, I SO Want Kids!:

2009-02-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

Well, not six, eight or fourteen, but some.

Maybe around 3. I think I could handle three.

All the cuteness there is out there has finally won me over!

We'll talk more tomorrow, okay?

Stay tuned.

Here's The Part Where I Babble:

2009-01-31T21:36:00.000-08:00

To steal a quote from Meghan's podcast, I'm just throwing some things here I don't want to forget about.

Given that tomorrow is The Big Day at our house - anticipated more than Christmas and Birthdays combined, and The Mike has invited about 10 of his nearest and dearest drinking buddies over to watch the game, I'ma be a bit busy once I wake up in the morning!

In no particular order, here's what I wanted to share:

Kath mentioned it first, but it bears repeating any chance we get! Set your televisions for this year's Puppy Bowl. You will die from all The Cute. I've watched it a few years now, and my hands-down favorite is the "water bowl cam". Yep. They have a camera under see-through water bowls. If you love dogs, this is the show for you tomorrow. Just don't blame me if it makes you want to run out and adopt a bunch of adorable puppies on Monday!

I've knit things, oh yes I have!:

The socks I prematurely set up for gusset decreases have been off the needles for several days now. Why no pictures? No good reason, frankly, but I'll fix that soon. How is it that they are too small when I freak'n tried them on as I knit them? The heel flap is not as long as I would have liked, and the foot part is too short, so they end up riding down my foot and I walk on the heel. Grrr. Yes, I know I could absolutely rip back and re-knit them, since I have plenty 'o yarn left over, but . . . well . . . I really want to use the leftover yarn to do some colorwork knitting with! There. I said it out loud :grin: I think this yarn would make an awesome "stained glass" looking knit if used in a stranded method.

I went totally out of my knitting comfort zone and 1) knit entirely from a pattern (except for adding a button hole, but that's it, I SWEAR!), 2) I seamed and 3) knit it for the granddaughter of an extremely accomplished knitter. EEK! It's like giving your stick figure drawing to Michelangelo's son.

(more pictures here and project info here)

Because tomorrow is going to be so busy, I'm frantically looking for a (relatively) easy project to throw on the needles while I watch the game. My current socks are on size 1s. Too dang small. I have zippy interest in knitting some garter stitch boring bland gag-me-with-a-dpn scarf. I'm midway through one fingerless mitt, but I don't think it's what I'm looking for. There are increases and counting. I'm thinking "hat on 7's or 9s". Once I make the guacamole in the morning, I'ma get the necessary items together to get the hat started.

Don't you all consider it The Mike's job to clean the house in the morning? It was HIS idea to invite all these people over AND they are all HIS friends . . . so . . .? Yeah, me too.

I'm *thisclose* to casting on for the Hey Teach! sweater. I have four skeins of this yarn in this colorway. Is it wrong that I think about knitting this in the round and deleting the sleeves, creating more of a tank-like item? Tell me the truth, people.

The only reason I didn't start swatching for it yesterday was because of all the Wasting Of Time I had invested in our current knitting-world mystery.

Speaking of that? HELLO to the four HUNDRED visits to my site in the last 30 hours!!! When I blogged it yesterday my view count was at the low 800s. If I'd known so many people were going to stop by my virtual home, I would have put out the good China and offered refreshments, LOL.

Here's another number for ya: 105

What it doesn't represent? My I.Q. (I think, but I'm not sure. Let's say it's not) My temperature. (again, not 100% sure since I don't own a thermometer, but I'm taking an educated guess). My weight. (the last time I was that weight, I didn't even know what "weight" was) The number of yarn balls/skeins/cakes in my knitting room. (hahahahaaaaaa! Not even close)

Want a hint? It has to do with this post. (In the spirit of full disclosure, Suzanne already knows the answer.)

If you guessed "number of total applicants for the job you recently interviewed for"? Winner!

One hundred and five. That is a huge number, people. I do not think I've ever interviewed for a job that had more than 30 people applying.

Even if I'm on the short list of "qualified" or maybe even "over-qualified" for the original payroll position, there has to be a goodly number in my same boat.

If you'd like me to eventually, one day, be able to afford yarn outside of Michael's and Joann's, please keep your fingers crossed that my 20 years of accounting office experience and expertise tips the scales in my favor.

No matter who they pick though, there will be 103 or 104 other people still looking for a job in this field. It's a terrible time all over.

Real Life Knitting Mystery:

2009-01-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

Do any of you knitters remember the sock pattern designer Gina Silva, aka Gigi Silva, aka Momma Monkey, aka Monkey Toes? How 'bout the name Socktopia?

Yeah, she has* a lot of aliases.

If you don't remember her from her patterns, maybe you remember the memorial write-up done back in February of 2008?

Wellllll, strange things are afoot people.

Seeing as how she passed almost a year ago, would it surprise you to see that her user account has posted forum comments as recently as 4 months ago?

The Lazy, Stupid and Godless group over on ravelry are hot on the case. Over at the rubberneckers group, they're talking about it too.

Seems Gina/Gigi/MommaMonkey has been busted and it's all coming to a head. Due to only so many hours in a day, I rarely read the Knitty boards anymore and haven't been over there in about a week or so and I missed the start of this groundswell.

Man. I just LOVE the internet! Go pop you some corn, gather up your knitting project and watch this latest mystery get solved.

(*I used "has" because I think she's alive and stone cold busted)

***eta***

I think post number nine in this thread is very hinky as well. How can a real life friend die, and you act as the liaison but the real life friend isn't really dead?

Oh, another of Gina's online personas

Curiouser and curiouser

***eta (again)***

The Miss Cissy Wordpress link I put up has, like every other site tied to her, just gone belly up. The blog I linked was very sparse - starting around December of '07 and ending around March/April '08. No one had, until me today, ever left a comment there. My comment was for her post around late Feb/early March 08 (just after her "demise"). She'd blogged about some kick-ass pink Doc Martins recently purchased . . . and her just-broken hand. Since I'd just gone swimming in all her Munchausen_by_Internet issues, the post brought to mind Charlton Heston's NRA quote. Because of all those swirling thoughts in my head, I wondered in my comment if her 'broken hand' was her 'dead broken hand'.

Ayup. I did. A few hours later the site went tits up.

Does Gina/Gigi/Momma Monkey/MissCissy think she's exempt from the power of Google Cache?

After reading the posts of all the people she burned in swaps, contests and product - both on ravelry and on the knittyboards? They deserved better.

Knowing that there was a "memorial" and charitable knitting in Momma Monkey's name as Gina watched? Just. Wrong. Wrong Wrong Wrong.

Quick, Rub My Belly:

2009-01-29T20:15:00.000-08:00

A big huge Thank You to two different bloggers.

Yesterday, I got an email letting me know I'd been randomly chosen to receive this book, via Shepard Susie's awesomely awesome blog/business.

I originally learned about raised bed gardening from Laurie, aka Crazy Aunt Purl and was, quite frankly, intrigued. At the time though, our back yard was the domain of our two dogs and really, just a large plot of dust.

Since our move to a much nicer back yard, and the loss of one of our dogs, I've been giving the idea some serious thought. We have blackberry bushes in one corner, and a tiered section already had the set-up to grow tomato plants (my all-time favorite food EVER!)

Then someone told me all about some bug that is inherent to tomato plants and right there I lost all desire to grow my own. I hate bugs. Like really really REALLY hate. Spiders don't bug me, but anything else just creeps me the hell out. One time (back when I was single) I spent a month sleeping on my living room couch because Moth-ra had taken up residence in my bedroom. I'd take on a masked intruder trying to steal my yarn before I will come within 10 feet of a creepy-crawly.

Then I went and won this book and so have resolved to deal with my bug-phobia.

That was yesterday.

This afternoon, I received an email from Wendy - another favorite blogger/designer. The woman knits like a soul possessed! Her F.O.s not only fly off her needles, she makes some stunning things - her own and others. How she knits so much while maintaining a job is beyond me, but definitely inspiring.

She just held a contest giving away a kit for the most interesting mittens and it was Love at first sight.

Like so much Love I might have entertained eating a bug to win it! Well . . . a small bug :grin:

I won the kit and no eating of bugs!

All this luck hitting me at once has gotten me contemplating whether I need to go buy a lottery ticket, lol.

Trust that I'm not a prize pig, entering contests every time I run across one. I read blog entries for the pure enjoyment of what they have to say/share and rarely leave comments. These two items were things I knew I would enjoy but just cannot afford to have at this time.

Now I'll go back to my relative obscurity - knitting my first pair of mittens while reading a book about gardening and community.

Maybe some of this new-found luck will rub off on you!

Thank you again to Susie and Wendy! Please check out their blogs/products if you aren't familiar with them (And if that's you? Get out from under that rock you've apparently been hanging out at!)

Happy Anti-Valentines Day:

2009-01-27T14:06:00.001-08:00

Now this is something I totally support!

Dabbled.org is holding their second annual "Dabbled Black Heart Anti-Valentines Day Contest". It's open to crafters of all types, and the interpretation of what "anti-valentines" means is left entirely to you to decide.

My evil little mind is already at work on submission ideas :mwuuaahahaaa:

The deadline for entering is February 12th and the (few) rules are in the post I linked.

Get to crack'n, my talented crafty friends!

Are You Kidding Me?

2009-01-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

Since I was in the area today, I finally hit up Cute As A Button.

If you're not familiar with the name OR the location, I don't blame you. They are located in Grover Beach, at Oak Park Road and Grand Avenue, right next to Stacked.

Once parked, the entrance is very inviting, with signage on some prop surfboards. Just inside and to the right, they have a carousel of A-damn-dorable aprons (which made me think of you CJ), sundresses and kid items. The walls and shelves have many sewn items as well, including purses and clutches. A chair held some knitted dog sweaters and other sewn items below them.

Weirdly, I didn't notice any buttons, which I thought they would have, given the name.

Anywho. I was totally weirded out when I realized the only other person in there was not just the employee, but said employee never acknowledged me and *get this* continued to curl her hair with a curling iron (hello "TGIF" at 4:30 pm) in the public mirror.

Weird. As. Heck.

I'm hoping the Hair Curler Chick isn't the owner and doesn't know what her employee is up to . . . yet.

Fabric? Yes

Cute Sewn Items? Yes. Unless you are a seamstress (and I wish I was because their stuff was CUTE!)

Cute Knitted Items? See above.

Customer Service? Oh Holy Mother of Fiber and Fabric No. No. No. No. No.

Because seriously. Who the hell gets ready for a Friday night out on the town at FOUR FREAK'N THIRTY in the afternoon? Oh, I know! Dumbasses that curl their hair with a curling iron, WHILE WORKING THEIR DAY JOB as the sun is still shining.

Never not going back until 1) she's fired or 2) their Out Of Business sale.

I hope it's #1 because the store is pretty dang interesting.

As I've heard my whole life (and failed at too) - You never get a second chance to make a first impression - Curling Iron girl.

Aww, Thanks Guys!

2009-01-21T19:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I think it went VERY well tonight, given that I interviewed for a freak'n hour and a half!

It's a husband and wife accounting firm - she's the tax side and he's the payroll side. They both interviewed me. He tested me on Word (pahleeze)and Excel, but no Quickbooks (which I know inside and out and it's how they do payroll) and she tested me on Lacerte (the program I know inside and out to process income tax returns).

My one failing in Excel was not knowing how to convert segments of time into a decimal base, but now I do :grin:

My one failing in Lacerte was not knowing what the '08 figure is for the maximum IRA contribution allowed. Other than that, I had to do a tax return for Married Filing Joint, 2 kids, one in college, an elderly parent dependent, husband with w-2 income, wife with own business, sold stock, had itemized deductions, depreciation and dividend income. I think I did okay, but couldn't print & proof my work, like I would do in real life.

I had boned up on the new payroll tax rates for '09 and the mileage rates for '08 but those weren't asked, LOL.

Fingers crossed, my friends. Times are tough all over and I'm not the only well-qualified fish in the unemployment pond anymore!

(Oh, and now my neck hurts from keeping my hair out of my face, since I'm so used to wearing it up, but . . . STILL LOVE IT!!!)

2009-01-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

lovelovelovelove LOVE it!

Nooo - not anything knitting related this time, sorry!

I made a 2008 resolution to get my hair cut and then did nothing to achieve that goal. Hell, I made many a resolution at the start of last year and hardly any were accomplished, It was (and continues to be) a rough period, but that's a post for another day.

This year I made ZERO resolutions and finally finally finally got my hair lopped off about an hour ago.

Roughly 14 inches in total, ifn'youcanbelieveit! Ayup. I had that much to spare.

This afternoon's Befores:

December 30, 2007 (YES! 2007!):

And Afters:

See that body and "style" in the after? That's air dried only. Zippy styling! No blowdryer or product at all. My hair has a natural wave to it that gets bogged down with 14 extra inches :grin:

I have a job interview this evening (wish me luck, ifyouplease) and being a girl, I know there's few things better than a fresh hairdo to give a shot to the 'ole self-esteem.

LOVE IT.

Bonehead Rookie Move:

2009-01-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

For the last few days, I've been working on the commissioned knit item previously mentioned, but then I hit a decision point, so I set it aside tonight, to continue on some "ME" socks that jumped on the needles a few days ago.

The last "for me" socks I worked on were some Plain Vanillas in a horrific color palette. Just eye-bleeding UG. LY. I talked about them here and showed the unfortunate color combo here.

Seriously. They were so butt-ugly it made me question my ability to comprehend color combos on the skein.

This current UFO of Plain Vanillas is from a different multi-colored skein and Holy Cow they couldn't be more different in acceptability!

Here's the skein balled up:

As I keep knitting on it, it reveals the most beautiful fall colors you've ever seen. Greens, yellows, reds, burgundys, and all color combinations in between. Just breathtaking, if I say so myself.

It's the only reason I have for my utter bonehead move tonight. After doing the heel flap, I completely omitted the heel TURN and instead went straight to the gusset decreases.

D'OH!

Luckily, I caught myself as I was situating the stitches evenly around the needles after the pick-up part.

Some days I worry that the Knitting Police are going to pull me over and impound my needles, once they run my fiber abuse history, LOL!

Flattering, No?:

2009-01-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

Back in the dark ages, when I joined ravelry, (if you can call June 2007 the dark ages, LOL), the only way you could upload your stash and project pictures was by first putting them on flickr.

I bet ravelry has been the single largest reason for membership over at flickr!

So anywho, although ravelry has changed and you don't HAVE to use flickr for stash/project purposes, many of us still do. In fact, I have a premium membership because of all that I enjoy from being a part of such an awesome photography site.

One of the cool things at flickr is finding other photographers in your area (much like how ravelry is awesome in helping you find other knitters in your area).

Here's the really neat thing that just happened! A local-to-me flickr member has been watching my parade of knitting pictures lately, and asked me if I would have interest in knitting her something for her daughter's birthday. FOR MONEY.

How awesome is that?

I know, I know, I know - commissioned knitting has its pit-falls. Most people don't comprehend the monetary value of a hand-knit. Even more people don't understand the fine distinctions between various fibers. Acrylic, to their eye and finger, is on par with any natural fiber and they don't *get* how knitting with some yarns can make a person die a little on the inside.

INSERT SNOOPY DANCE!

This person has let me guide them in yarn choices and didn't have any problem with my stated price for services rendered. How great is that? The icing on the cake is that it's an item I enjoy knitting. Not something like, say, a king-sized afghan in garter stitch.

My price was fair (given the item and the supply cost), it's something I enjoy making, and the recipient is extremely appreciative of my skill and is very excited about getting it.

A commissioned knit-piece made of Win. I love it!

Where I've Been & Where I'm Going:

2009-01-03T17:47:00.000-08:00

2008 was the year I really branched out in my knitting skills.

Partly (well, mostly) due to becoming friends with Suzanne. That woman is a knitting phenom! Not only is she inspirational, she's also a great motivator as well. One time, she off-handedly mentioned using the duplicate stitch to weave in ends. She kinda-sorta showed me and it has made a HUGE difference in my finishing.

Other big influences were: Hanging out with the Bakersfield knit bunch and the Visalia knit bunch, having CJ and SisterDi as good friends, finally discovering all the fabulous fiber podcasts out there, definitely getting to attend Stitches West with Suzanne and SisterDi, participating in the 2008 Ravelympics and HELLO! Ravelry in general. What a great knitting year it has been.

So, in '08 I worked on stranded-knit socks, finished a child's size sweater (albeit just a circle with sleeves, but still. . . ), understood and executed chart knitting, and really comprehended patterns for real and not just faked my way through. I got a lot of stuff knitted up last year and it's only made me more interested in expanding my experiences from here on out.

Here's where I'm headed during 2009:

Knit one entire ADULT-sized sweater from start to finish. I lean towards Hey Teach but that could change by the time I cast on.

Knit one large lace project. Lord knows, I have enough lace yarn stashed to knit 8 large projects at least! I started the Fiber Trends Seascape Shawl but put it down when The Mike started working less and being home more. It's too hard to concentrate with him around.

Learn to knit a patterned sock. That is all.

Learn to knit a toe-up sock. That is all.

Enter something in the fair in 2009, although this one scares me a bit, given some of the horror stories I've read about during 2008's fair season across the U.S.

Finish: these socks and these gloves and this pair of socks.

Keep on knitting: Socks for ME! Hats for ME! Stranded/colorwork knitting - it's my new knit addiction, LOL.

In all of this upcoming knitting activity, there is no doubt in my mind I'll be learning new techniques and skills, not just filling up time knitting stuff I already know how to do - lots and lots of learning, I'm sure, and I can't WAIT to get going on it all!

Zero Knitting Content:

2008-12-30T23:21:00.001-08:00

It's true, today's post has zippy knitting stuff.

Instead, I want to share a blog that I find absolutely knee-slapping funny.

It's called Bee's Musings and I highly recommend it to help lighten bad times and dark moods.

Just so's ya know though, it is chock full of off-color humor - my favorite kind!

She posted a music video of that song "Baby it's cold outside" that had me in stitches.

Click here if you dare!

I'm telling you though, you may never hear the song the same way again :grin:

Outside My Wheelhouse:

2008-12-29T23:49:00.000-08:00

Mike's great friend John has been dating a woman for quite some time (for him!) now. I've met her a few times and Mike has visited with her several more and REALLY likes her - in that he thinks she's a great addition to John's life. John can be a handful, but even I see that he's settled down and seems the most content I've ever known him, because of having her in his life.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer not too long ago, and has undergone surgery to get rid of the lump(s). Now she's in the chemotherapy stage of her treatment. When we visited them a few days before Christmas, she told us that she had just shaved her head because the hair-loss was getting too noticeable.

She was sporting a Santa cap, in the holiday spirit, and I didn't give her statement much thought, because hair - mine or other people's - really doesn't factor in my thoughts.

That evening, as I was taking a shower and lamenting the absolute ridiculousness of the length of my own locks, it hit me.

She doesn't get to shampoo her hair right now. Not brush it out or contemplate blow-drying it. She doesn't have the option of wearing it up or down. Nothing. All choice is gone for her at the moment.

Even though *I* think the hang-ups about a woman's hair are pretty dang dumb, it hit me that other people may still give part of their worth over to their hair, and the loss of it might affect them.

So I knit her a hat. I wanted her head to be warm, sporting anything more stylish and fit than a dumb Santa cap, and to minimize the discomfort she may have while living a hair-free live.

Lemme tell ya though, it was very hard deciding on a pattern. Not only do I have my own hat/head/hair hang-ups and ideas, there was much second-guessing of what another person would want to sport - even just in the privacy of their own home!

Plain beanie? Hello. PLAIN. Very Un-girlygirl.

Lacy Beret? Do they want peeks of their bald skull showing through? Am I projecting my own concerns?

Newsboy Cap/Baseball Cap replica? Some are very chic, but does the average banking professional want that?

Itchy Scratchy Wool/Alpaca blend - on a sensitive noggin? Not too sure on that one either.

Are you starting to see the self-doubt and gifting concern I was up against!?!?

It was very hard to pick something that I thought would not only keep her head warm (my original objective) but also wouldn't turn her off to hand-knits for all eternity.

Yet again, ravelry to the rescue. I won't bore you with the details of all the ways I cross-referenced my yarns to suitable patterns, but trust that I did that and more.

I eventually kept circling (and finally landed on) the Ring of Cables hat from Knit Picks. It's pretty similar to Knitty's Coronet and once I researched the yarns used, there was no doubt that my stashed burgundy Pastaza was a good fit. A little birdy named John let it be known that burgundy and black were the colors of choice for the recipient, so there ya go!

(it's less purple in real life, I promise)

M got her hat today and called to thank me profusely. She's nice like that :grin:

We got to talking, and I took the opportunity to ask her about particulars that I wasn't sure she'd be okay talking about . . . like . . .

Lacy pattern showing a bald head? Ayup. She loves the lacy.

Wearing in private only or for public outings? Both.

Another color she'd love to wear? M started out saying "red" which I got her to narrow down to "tomato red" versus "brick red" but then she changed it up and said what she'd really like is "Breast Cancer Survivor" pink. Her only concern in telling me her particular tastes was that she didn't want me to go out and buy a yarn "just because" I was knitting her something.

Oh, I would SO totally go buy it, but as luck would have it, I SO totally already own it!

Now, it's back to the pattern drawing-board.

Any suggestions?

The knitting options are:

Lacy
Beret
Not too much forehead covering
Not too much "extra" at the crown
A brim, although not a large one
Pink

What I Knit for Christmas:

2008-12-26T23:12:00.000-08:00

Now that the Holiday of Doom (tm) is over, I can divulge my knitting activities (although I'm not 100% done, but more on that later).

Unfortunately, my camera is MIA so pics will be up as soon as I locate the dang thing!

2 pairs of felted slippers for the in-laws

3 intarsia skull beanies for 2 BILs and a niece

1 matching beanie & scarf (done in horrid Moda Dea yarn) for wee-young niece

1 two-tone Coronet with a matching (in fiber and one of the colors of the hat) Falling Water scarf

6 soap socks to accompany handmade (by someone else) soaps

1 pair of Fuzzy Feet for my sis

2 "already knit and sitting in my F.O. stash pile" scarves

1 slouchy beret for my BFF. That her on-screen presence is "Queen of Curls" should explain why I went with "slouchy" and "beret" on her. She also got a neck-warmer thingymajig . . .

of which if knit . . .

7 neck-warmer thingymajigs and I only gifted one (see above).

Hands down, my absolute LOVE LOVE LOVE of the things I knit-gifted this year are my MIL's red felted clogs. They are So. Stink'n. Cute. and if they were for anyone else but her, I'm not sure I would have given them up.

My FIL's felted clogs were pretty good looking too, as were the skull hats I did.

Sheila's slouchy beret turned out really well also, thanks to Jollyewe's input and tips. I hope the coral/salmon color looks as good on her as I imagine. Her neckwarmer came from my never-ending skein of Lisa Souza's beautiful blue/green/purple alpaca blend. Sheila AND her sister saw me knitting with it and declared the colorway "Sheila's colors" . . . so what was I supposed to do? LOL.

Wee-young niece's hat & scarf were made in yarn that I knew she would love - Eden in the dark blue and light blue (grey?). It feels like (synthetic) rabbit fur. So very soft! Mike told me she kept petting the scarf and saying "soooooo soooooffft". More on her hat later.

My sis's Fuzzy Feet were bound off, felted and dried today. I dunno about this pattern though. From everything I read, they are supposed to be gargantuan socks felted down to a human foot size and I accomplished the 'gargantuan sock' part. Upon felting, they appear to be more like felted "bubbles" encasing the feet. There was no identifiable *shape* to them before felting. Pictures of the "before" just didn't look like my "before" and thus my "after" doesn't look like other people's "after" as well.

They are certainly functional enough that I would wear and enjoy them myself, but? You guys know what I mean. Are they what I want to represent my knitting acumen? That, I'm not so sure of. Where did I miss the shaping that should have been there, since my technical knitting was spot-on?

Which leads me to wee-young niece's hat (that matches her scarf). It didn't fit. At. All. Mike said it sat atop her head like a yarmulke (not that Mike's Bush-Okie family has ever seen one in living color, but I knew what he meant).

Mike's mom, my MIL, stated the obvious and said Wee-Young Niece is a McL and "hog-headed". No lie, hand-to-heart, that's what she said. Hog Headed. It's how those Bush-Okies talk.

Two other things:

The soap socks and corresponding handmade soaps didn't garner one mention from any recipient this year. Interesting.

Those other 6 neck-warmers I cranked out? I dunno. It just didn't feel right to give them as gifts. I definitely loved knitting them, and I've worn one or two myself and loved them alot, but . . . they felt like "those things". Items that are enjoyable from a knitter's perspective but wouldn't really be understood from a non-knitter-recipient's perspective. Much like legwarmers or the Clapotis or a lace project.

This year's knitted gifts - some amazing, some pretty damn good, some not-quites and all learning experiences.

Still left to knit:

MY BIL (on *my* family's side) want's a pair of felted slippers, and he deserves them.

A woman dear to Mike is being treated for breast cancer and has recently shaved her head, so I'm working on a worthy hat. I don't think she knows any other knitters and isn't sporting any "worthy" hats, so . . . now's my chance to represent us fiber fiends, lol!

Chart Knitting Rocks:

2008-12-13T00:42:00.000-08:00

This holiday knitting season has been the catalyst to get me into knitting from a chart, and now that I've done it I LOVE it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the charted knitting patterns!

Look what I can do:

One BIL hat almost finished in one day! Details will get up on ravelry later.

Ravelry: love (1 squillion)

2008-12-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

Something I *just* figured out on ravelry and I must must must share with y'all!

Free charts.

Not impressed? You should be!

This latest "lightbulb moment" happened when I was perusing the pattern pages for something appropriately goth/rock/macabre/bizarro in knitted form for my rocker BIL, The Elder.

Skulls were my first pattern search, and naturally the We Call Them Pirates pattern jumped right out at me (it helps that I remember when CJ posted her FO of one). Then my eyes caught the Skull Hat pattern, which interested me even more.

From there, I thought to myself "Self, I wonder if there is just a chart for something skull-like" and whoo boy did I hit the jackpot. I did a pattern search for "skull chart" and found The Lady Wyvern's awesome knitting charts! How freak'n adorable is her "winking skull" ??? Then, I happened upon the Domiknitrix's stunning (and large) full-scale skull chart. I don't even like skull stuff but from a knitting standpoint, these are rather cool!

That's when my lightbulb went off. I began wondering if these awesome (and free) knitting charts might just be the tip of the iceberg . . . and people? They are!

Feast your eyes upon all the free knit charts.

My queue has just exploded and I cannot WAIT until Christmas knitting for 2008 is done, so I can cast on for 2009. Funny how 4 hours ago I was dreaming of all the "ME ME ME" knitting to look forward to on December 25th and now I'm more excited about gift knitting than I've ever been :grin:

I hope you all find something inspiring to knit too.

I Couldn't Tell You:

2008-12-03T23:25:00.001-08:00

This holiday season, I have been bit extremely hard by the Crafting bug.

If I'm not knitting, then I'm hand-sewing. If I'm not hand-sewing, then I'm rubber-stamping.

Seriously, people.

Five years ago, if you had told me that I would want to knit more than I would want to read? I'da laughed so hard that tears would have rained down on the book I had in my lap at the time.

Two years ago, if you'da told me that I'd be hoarding yarn and pattern books/magazines like chocolate? I would wonder about your mental health.

A year ago, if you'da told me that I'd be breaking out a sewing machine soon? Well, I certainly would have thought you were off your rocker, as it were!

Things here at KBW are in full Crafty mode and while it surprises me a LOT, I couldn't be happier.

Once things get managed, from an organization standpoint, I will start cataloging all my crafty F.O.s, and believeyoume, there are a metric fiber ton of F.O.s.

I couldn't tell you where it has come from, but it's here and I LOVE it! Love, love, love!

Dipping Into the 401(k)

2008-11-10T16:50:00.000-08:00

It's been mentioned across the knitting world, how *stash* is like a yarn retirement account. You have it, in case 1) yarn becomes so expensive that you can't afford to buy more or 2) you become so poor you can't afford to buy more, even when it's available at an affordable price.

Lately, I fit into scenario #2, by my own choosing. This break I'm taking from Corporate has been FANTASTIC! Every day that slips away, I mourn its passing . . . until the next morning when I have all those hours ahead of me again.

While the lack of disposable (yarn) income is definitely sad, I'm ever so grateful that I've amassed quite the 401(k) safe-haven!

Truth be told, it's not like I completely forsook ANY yarn purchases these last four months or so. I've just been more particular and have changed up my hunting & gathering methods.

My stash gives me great comfort. I have several exceptional purchases hoarded away - malabrigo, cashmere, silk, etc. It seems I also have enough Cascade to felt a life-sized diorama of California and enough lace to canopy my county, LOL. There is sock yarn to cover the feet of the Miami Dolphin's first string as well as SO MUCH cotton that I think I could possibly give every Obama voter their own washcloth. For the most part, my stash has made an exceptionally nice LYS in my own home and I am so very thankful that I had the foresight to stock it well.

Once I get back into the working world, and start having disposable (yarn) income again, there are some changes I will be implementing this time around. For even though my stash rocks (and it really does), I've noticed some personal shopping habits that are counter-productive to creating a nice in-home LYS.

A) I've balked at "sweater quantity" buys. The cold hard truth has sunk in that I'm ready for sweaters. The making of - not just the wearing of.

B) Workhorse Yarns - get to know them and get to buying them. Cascade 220, Lambs Pride Worsted, and several sock yarns.

C) Save up to buy the good stuff - Enough with piddling away the little money on little purchases. I want The Good Stuff and if that means saving up for a bit, then that's what it means.

It's really been fun to hang out in my craft/yarn room, and to draw from my knitting 401(k) these last few months, but that time is about to be over and I've grown from the experience. The stuff I've knit, and the things I've experienced . . . they are all things I don't think I would have done if I didn't take this down time.

I'm so lucky to have a great 401(k) available :grin:

An Oldie But a Goodie:

2008-11-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

About 11 months ago, I was playing around with ideas on how to knit a pouch for a bar of soap. Something that would hold the bar, but also serve as a washcloth at the same time.

I fiddled around with different stitches and came up with what I think accomplished my goal of being "scrubby" in texture while being airy enough to let the soap foam escape and do its intended purpose of cleaning.

The reason I'm revisiting this idea tonight, is exactly the same reason I did it last year. Handmade soaps (of some DELICIOUS aromas, bytheway!) as holiday presents, but also with my knitting twist added in.

Today (and tomorrow) is the annual fall craft sale in Halcyon, California. A few years ago I bought some really neat soap at a craft festival at the Edwards Barn in Nipomo and have never forgotten how delish they were. The soaps languished in my craft room for a few years, but when I took on the handmade pledge last holiday season, they made perfect sense as presents.

Those soaps were a HUGE hit with all the recipients in the family! The knitted pouches? I'm not sure they really even noticed, lol, but that doesn't bother me in the least. Even after a few years (but carefully preserved) the soaps still smelled wonderful. Today, when I snagged some more, they smell as good as I remembered. Even The Mike picked himself out a cucumber one!

If you miss Halcyon's craft fair this weekend, the Nipomo (Edwards Barn) one is in two weeks and Lisa (the owner of The Soapdishes) said she'll be there too.

No matter where you get your handmade soaps ('cuz I hear good things about these too) I gift you with a basic Soap Sock pattern to truly make a handmade bar of soap yours!

Cut & Pasted from the original post (bad spelling and all):
*****************************************************************

Last night, I started the red soap sock and used the opportunity to refine my 'on the fly' pattern ideas. What I ended up with created the perfect texture for scrubbing with soap and I'm just pleased as punch! It was exactly what I was looking for.

A little voice in my head has me worried that what I concocted is really some already *known* stitch pattern (like the 'farfalolly stitch' or some such shit I'd never heard of, LOL), but if it is, it is, and oh well. Feel free to make fun of me and definately feel free to steal my made up pattern.

I used Elann's Endless Summer Collection - Connemara and size 7 dpns

Cast on 16, and knit 5 rows using 2 of the dpns.

With the remaining dpns, pick up and knit 3 stitches on both short sides and 16 on the long side for a total of 38 stitches as the base. (The bottom is created with the same technique as the Booga Bag pattern) ***

The stitch pattern is as follows:

Row 1 -
K1, P1 and repeat for all 16 stitches on long sides
K1 for each of the 3 stitches on the short sides

Row 2 -
P1, K1 and repeat for all 16 stitches on long sides
K1 for each of the three stitches on the short sides

Row 3 -
YO, K2Tog and repeat for all 16 stitches on the long sides
K1 for each of the three stitches on the short sides

Repeat rows 1 through 3 until pouch is as long as you want, then bind off.

For the drawstring I just could NOT bear doing a foot of I-cord so I picked up a dusty, hardly-ever-used crochet hook and winged it. I just crocheted a starting chain about 12 inches and then turned it to make it wider by doing a basic crochet stitch back across.

Weave the drawstring through the top-most YOs of the pouch, tie a knot on each end and voila. Done and Done.

It isn't the prettiest pattern ever written, but there ya go.

******************************************************************

In hindsight, I now see I never did post pictures of my F.O.s over on ravelry and I didn't even post the concept! Bad raveler!

Here are some pictures of the prototypes and the final pattern result:

*********************

*** A year later, I finally understand the provisional cast-on method and that's what I'm using this year.

"No on 8" Rally/Picnic in San Luis Obispo

2008-10-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

If you have interest, there will be a rally/picnic to get out the "NO ON PROP 8" word.

Details:

When: This Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 2pm
Where: Mitchell Park in San Luis Obispo (Santa Rosa and Pismo streets)

More information can be found by clicking here.

It's the least I can do to help my fellow Californians in their fight for legal equality.

Some WIP Pics:

2008-09-18T17:37:00.001-07:00

FINALLY!

This is the sock I'm doing in Lisa Souza's "Painted Desert" colorway:

The ball of yarn:

In one day, I cast on and finished one of the felted clogs from Fiber Trends. These are for Mike, and he's got size 13s. When I was researching other people's experiences with the pattern, I came across someone (sorry I didn't bookmark it) that wrote (knitting them up in size 15s) they looked, pre-felted like a sleeping bag for a toddler and I'm inclined to agree with her. They're ginormous!

One thing I didn't either read properly or intuitively know is that when you knit the sole, you're actually knitting it long-ways, and when done you fold it in half. After I was on my 91st stitch I could not understand how this narrow and long thing was supposed to fit my husband's fat-ass foot! I get it now, LOL.

You can see all the pictures here on flickr, and here's the set from Chick Flick night.

Current Going-Ons:

2008-09-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to jot down some of my knitterly happenings at the moment, so here goes!

I've been working on another pair of custom socks for myself. Trying to figure out exactly how to execute the individual elements that make the perfect sock is my goal.

One day (soon) I have to break out of the top-down start with my sock projects, but being a creature of habit, it's my go-to cast on. This pair starts with a 2x2 ribbing for 1.5 inches (maybe a touch less). I then increased between the two knit ribbed stitches to make a much larger leg portion.

One thing I've had to deal with is figuring out the marriage of more yardage in my sock yarn than ever before with my distaste of long socks.

The increase I've done this time is to create a "fatter" leg portion so that the length will slouch down when on. So far I'm liking the look and feel of where the sock is hitting me.

After I knit stockinette on these for several inches, I knit 2tog every third stitch and then made another 2x2 ribbing (1/2 an inch) that lands at my ankle.

I've knitted the basic slipped stitch heel, heel turn and gusset, then about another 2 inches of stockinette for the foot.

Currently I'm working 2x2 ribbing that will lay right around my arch, which is my personal favorite element in socks.

There are two things I'm not overly happy with - one within my skill and one outside of my control. The heel is probably going to be a tad short. I can live with it, but if that ends up being the case then I need to note it and learn from it.

The thing outside of my control is the color of this yarn.

Ugh. I'm not happy with it.

AT. ALL.

It was a beautiful skein of sock yarn, or else why would I have purchased it? I only buy beautiful yarn, don't'cha know :grin: Lisa Souza's SOCK! purchased at Stitches West '08, colorway "painted desert". Man was it beautiful on the shelf that day.

Knitted up? Oranges and purples and browns with flecks of white make stunning skies but they make yucko stripes on socks.

It's not Lisa. Her stuff is awesome and I'm so very happy with things I've knitted up of hers in the past. It's that I need to have better skills (and willpower, people!) when it comes time to purchase. All this sock knitting experience has opened my eyes to color play and how things actually knit up in real life. So much so that my sock yarn purchasing has been seriously curtailed.

I'm learning.

Other than this sock, I still have my ravelympic second sock to finish. All in good time.

Tonight I picked up Ruth down the road and we went to the Scarlet Skein in Atascadero for this month's "Chick Flick" night.

The store is *very* nice. Well lit, scads of great yarn and excellent pattern book/pamphlet choices. Oh, and the coffee pot thingie? Don't even get me started on how awesome that little piece of equipment is!

The owner Tracy not only has a great store, she's a wonderful hostess as well. She provided take-out pizza with various drinks and a few shop patrons provided excellent sides! Fruit salad, salad-salad and even cookies! When I go next time I am definately bringing something from home to share.

I got to see 'Becca again (she brought the chocolate chip and cranberry cookies . . . YUM!) and meet podcaster queen Ms. nevernotknitting as well. Guess what y'all. She really was 'never not knitting' the entire time, save for a little snack of pretzels she noshed on, lol. Lucky us, she brought this, this and this for us to fondle! I also got to visit with Jen again and pet her latest F.O. It's soft and airy like lace is, but it's also thick enough to provide warmth from chilly/foggy times around the ocean. She picked a great yarn for it.

What a fan-freak'n-tastic group! I look forward to many other visits to the Scarlet Skein. A great store with a great clientele for sure.

Pictures will follow pretty soon, I promise.

Knitting Fear-Less:

2008-09-16T00:22:00.001-07:00

There had to have been a tangible moment between just being scared of knitting as a newbie, knitting thinking I *got it* and finally being back to scared of knitting because I realized I don't *got it*.

This is that moment:

Ohhh, to have been so naive when I sewed up my last backing edge. I long for those blissfully unaware days again, LOL.

It is a beauty and I am very proud of it. Hell, it's my avatar on ravelry! The one thing I put out there to represent me as a first impression.

I just wish I didn't (knitting) know now what I didn't (knitting) know then. I'd do the whole thing over better, but probably STILL doubt myself. It's a knitter thing, don'tcha think?

Testing:

2008-09-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new ravelry-related blog.

Here there will be knitting content and general blather with rainbow kisses and lollipop dreams.

Enjoy and see ya 'round ravelry!