|
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
|
Jaywalkin'
(For the record, I think that jaywalking is evil. I have an unnatural hatred toward it.)
Like everyone and his/her brother's sister's mother's aunt's nephew's grandfather, I'm knitting the Jaywalker socks.
I'm using Trekking XXL in colorway 100, which I've noticed seems to have risen to some sort of mythical status. At least, I've seen several blog-mentions of it in tones of great reverence.
As you can see quite clearly, I purchased mine for $15.50. It has been sitting around waiting to be used for far too long. It's a lot less wild knit up than it is in the ball, but I'm pleased with the results. The yarn is certainly amusing.
My sister's second mitten is about halfway done, after only about an hour and a half of work. I feel so speedy!
The new year is a-comin'.
Last year I made the mistake of making absolutely no resolutions, and absolutely no goals, for 2005. I saved myself the trouble of beating myself up for not meeting any goals, but I'm now beating myself up for being a lazy hunk of jiggly flesh. My plans for next year may end up being a little overenthusiastic, but what the heck. The worst I can do is fail!
Most of my goals are going to be health- and fitness-related, but I'll certainly need to throw a knitting-related goal or two in there. I welcome your suggestions!
Tipper @ 9:47 PM * link
|
|
Monday, December 26, 2005
|
I got what I wanted for Christmas.
Really, all I wanted for Christmas was to spend a day knitting and doing pretty much nothing else. I got that chance today, and it felt good (although I also felt very lazy, but I am trying not to think about that).
As a result, the knitting and weaving in ends on the Fair Isle Jazz scarf are complete.
The striped ends will be folded over the fair isle sections and seamed. It also needs to be blocked, and tassles need to be added. I believe I'll be investing in a steamer for blocking purposes; I don't have the time, space, or patience to use the soak-and-dry -flat method for everything.
I finished one of my sister's convertible mittens yesterday. Since weather prevented us from getting together on Christmas Day, I have until New Year's Eve to complete the set. Piece of cake!
I used the Urban Necessities pattern, loosely. My gauge is much different and I changed so many other things it's hardly the same pattern anymore. I have two major gripes: picking up the stitches in the manner described leaves a weird ridge (why not pick up both legs of the stitch, instead of just the right one?) and the mitten decreases look a little sloppy to me. Instead, I decreased as I would for a sock toe and grafted the end.
However, I like the function of this thing so much that I'm going to rip out the fingers of these gloves and add a mitten top. The top of one of the fingers came undone, anyway, so I might as well send 'em all packing.
On knitting and charity
I had a "discussion" - if you could call it that - in the Live Journal Knitting Community about acrylic yarn, as used for goods for the homeless (and other such persons deserving of charity). It was prompted by someone saying - as I've heard often - that they have a bunch of crappy acrylic yarn (adjective theirs) that they inherited/found at a thrift store that they'd like to make into hats/scarves/blankets for the homeless/sick/pound puppies.
Now, what gets me is this - why do we see crappy acrylic yarn and think, "Oh, the homeless would LOVE this?" but we don't feel the same way about our wool? I live in Minnesota, and no matter what anyone attempts to convince me of, I remain unconvinced that acrylic provides any significant protection against the elements, especially if it's Grandma's plasticky stuff from 1974. When I first started knitting, I bought a hat/mitten set, made from standard-issue garish acrylic, from a little old lady at a church craft fair. "Oh joy!" I thought. "I have a handknit hat and mittens!" I tell you, they were worthless. It wasn't even winter and my head and hands froze. My hands froze mostly because the stuff was so itchy I couldn't stand to wear it. Why should we subject someone who has to live outdoors to this stuff?
"Wait," you say. "Wool isn't easily washable! And, you know, some people are allergic to it." No, wool isn't easily washable, but how much do you wash it, really? I'll wear the same sweater over and over, and I haven't washed my scarves or mittens or hats, well, ever. If washing is a problem, use superwash wool, or a blend. And the fraction of people who are truly allergic to wool is so tiny that it's almost moot. There is probably someone out there allergic to acrylic (I, at least, think some is scratchier than shetland wool). There are people allergic to anything. Would you not donate a wool sweater to the Salvation Army on the off chance that someone might be allergic? If you had to choose between itchy skin and freezing to death, which would you choose?
And, hey, isn't wool more expensive than acrylic? It is ever-so-slightly more expensive. Maybe it's not free, but you get what you pay for. The Fair Isle Jazz scarf in the pictures above was knit using Elann Peruvian Collection Highland Wool, which is a great yarn (I think it's soft enough for a sweater), at only $2.25 for 109 yards. You can find these deals everywhere.
Now, I understand that in some situations, acrylic is preferred. Maybe your local shelter requests things to be made out of acrylic (though I think it might be because of a lack of understanding of the properties of wool, and its inherent advantages over manmade fibers). Then go ahead - use it. But let's not have our first thought, when we encounter a bag of cast-off acrylic yarn from before we were born, to be, "Oh, what a great thing to knit for charity!" If you wouldn't knit it for yourself, why should you knit it for other people?
I made a sort of promise to myself last year to knit for charity in 2005; I failed desperately, unless you can count the five scarves I gave to a newly local family kicked out of New Orleans by Katrina. This year, make sure I put my money where my mouth is and donate some nice, warm wool items to the people who need them even more than I do.
Tipper @ 9:04 PM * link
|
|
Sunday, December 25, 2005
|
Christmas and knitting are friends.
Rejoice, for I have taken pictures (and found a setting on my camera that enables me to take pretty good indoor pictures - interestingly, it's the "indoor" setting. Who knew?).
Matthew and I opened presents tonight (just after midnight). I got some fiber-related things:
Knitting Over the Edge from Matthew and Knitting for Dogs from Sophie. (I want to make her the houndstooth hunting jacket.)
A tensioned lazy kate. Can you believe Matthew remembered that?
I got a few other things, but this is my favorite of those:
A vintage necklace/screw-back earring set that we saw at Brides of France; he went back and bought it for me! I'm going to wear the set at our wedding, and then countless times after that. It's very me.
It's still better to give than to receive, though.
Here are a few things I gifted/am gifting:
Socks for my future mom-in-law, made from KnitPicks Sock Garden in Morning Glory. They're deliciously soft.
My sister's sweater, in all its finished glory. The seams would look a heck of a lot better if my iron was cooperating; I can't get it to steam. This is also verMy soft; Merino Style is an excellent yarn, especially for the price.
One convertible mitten (sans mitten bit), for my sister. I'm using Araucania Atacama in color 501. I'm not liking it. The color's a little gaudy (why do I always insist upon handpainted yarn?) and it's definitely NOT worsted weight unless it blooms significantly. I'm using size 4 needles and it's still a little too loose for my tastes.
I'm particularly proud of this Joey Ramone, which I knit for Matthew. Why? I managed to keep it a surprise. It's difficult to do when you talk about knitting with your mate constantly, and when you don't get much time to knit when he's entirely absent.
Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays!
Tipper @ 12:01 AM * link
|
|
Saturday, December 17, 2005
|
And I wasn't even drinking!
I was gonna be all cool and churn out a Kate (for Matthew's five-year-old(?) step-sister) using some stash yarn. I cast on once and got partway through the first color section. "Wait," I said. "This can't be right." For some reason, I got it in my head that the yellow wasn't the main color. So, I cast on again, this time starting with my white floofy recycled angora (which has served me well time and time again; won't it make a perfect kitten?). Well into the third color change, I thought to myself, "Hey, this doesn't look like a kitten face at all." Know why? IT WAS A KITTEN BUTT.
I'm not exactly the smartest girl in the world sometimes.
I was lucky enough to get a copy of Jess Hutchison's Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy (they're sold out - again!), and it came in the mail today. So cute! Matthew has requested a robot. I'm partial to Spherey.
My JB19 also arrived in the mail, yesterday, and it makes me want to buy a bunch of Mohair Art. However, the sheer massiveness of my stash prevents such a move. I finally got smart and got rid of the yarn that was multiplying beside my main knitting spot, which Sophie tends to get into every single day (it took me a week to realize that she was, in fact, going to do it until I got rid of it). Now my funky green stool/chest thing contains works in progress and works in progress only, and I will only work on as much as will fit into that at one time. For now, there's a sizable number of projects:
handspun socks for Matthew
sweater to seam
socks that need their ends sewn in
argyle slippers for Matthew (actually, just the yarn, since Sophie managed to destroy my one inch of progress - not that it mattered because I was going to start over anyway)
yarn for sister's convertible mittens
yarn for Matthew's mittens/hat
one ball of Chamonix for swatching
my Fair Isle Jazz scarf
I have enough to keep me busy for awhile.
Knitting spotted in the wild!
Target has some knitting kits that are surprisingly nice. For $15.99, you can get a kit (each in two colorways) for a pillow, a scarf/hat set, and I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting a third thing. The yarn is decent (probably acrylic, but it's soft and in nice Target-y colors) and the projects look challenging. I was thrilled to find them, even though I have no use for them. Viva knitting!
I also saw a new knitting magazine put out by - I think - Vogue Knitting at Barnes & Noble. For the life of me, I can't remember the name, nor can I find anything about it online. It was on par with Family Circle Easy Knitting and the like - a lot of chunky, plain stuff. There was another new magazine on the shelf nearby - it looked interesting, as it combined sewing, knitting, crochet, and various other crafts with a retro flair. I would have purchased it, but the format is a little loud and chaotic and the things I was really interested in were just being referenced (i.e., cute coats, with the pattern being offered by Vogue as XXXXX).
Have you seen any new knitting things in the wild?
Tipper @ 8:32 PM * link
|
|
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
|
Congratulate me.
All of the pieces of my sister's sweater, save for the collar, are finished. After a good, hard blocking (can't we all use one of those?) seaming shall commence. Ah, how I love to seam! A little mattress stitch is a beautiful thing.
The only challenge is the collar. I'd like to do one that's double-layered (which is what the inspiration sweater seems to have), in seed stitch, and one that lies relatively flat. I'm guessing that if I pick up stitches for the collar, I'll have to do some decreases to a point, then some increases to match the original stitch count, and sew it down. Does that sound right? Am I missing something blatantly obvious?
The Chamonix won the race through the US Mail, so the Adrienne V. sweater will be the first of the two made. The color isn't exactly what I was hoping for, although I can't say the color on the monitor lied. It's more of a green-brown than a chocolate-brown, but I'll make it work. Even Matthew thought it was deliciously, buttery soft.
My latest crazy Christmas knitting idea is to make some headbands for my girl cousins (but, er... what about my BOY cousins??). There's panta and Nakiska that would serve those purposes quite well, yes. Boys are so much more difficult to please when it comes to knitting. What can you make them? Hats. Mittens. Large, complicated things, instead of the pretty little things like crocheted flower pins that you can give to girls. Stupid boys!
Tipper @ 9:43 PM * link
|
|
Sunday, December 11, 2005
|
14 days and counting
Here's a picture of my progress:
Okay, so that's an exaggeration, but I don't really think that getting a half inch past the heel turn of two plain stockinette socks is really progress. Fair isle jazz? No more progress. Sister's sweater? About five more repeats done.
The most notable knitty things I have done lately have been buying a bag of this in color 912, which is now sold out so I'm very glad I bought it even if I had to charge it and findding JB19 for $11 including shipping. My next sweater project will be either the Adrienne Vittadini deep rib v-neck pullover (in Chamonix) or Rosemoor (in kew green Jaeger Luxury Tweed), depending upon which arrives first, the yarn or the book.
I'm totally not feeling the holiday spirit this year, although I keep getting ideas for little gifts to give people. See, I really like knitting for people, and I will probably try to make something for every single person I know (or at least every relative) before the holiday pops up. Good thing I took the 23rd off of work, just in case I have last-minute knitting to do.
I really wish I could be like the many knit bloggers out there who knit absolutely constantly and have finished objects flying off the needles left and right. What's their secret? Maybe I expect too much of myself, what with the full-time job and housekeeping and four (am I crazy?) animals to look after. It's been very hard to knit when I have to get up every five minutes to drag the dog off of something she's not supposed to be chewing...
I hope y'all are achieving much more success in your holiday knitting than I am.
(Oh, I forgot - I also promised my sister some convertible mittens suitable for smoking - y'know, Cigar meets Broadstreet - in pink, which must be due by Christmas. She's spoilt.)
Tipper @ 5:55 PM * link
|
|
Sunday, December 04, 2005
|
No pictures, just babble
Who knew having a puppy was so much work? (Well, I knew, but didn't know.) Sophie is remarkably well behaved, aside from her tendency to gnaw on everything (including yarn - at least she has good taste) and the difficulty we have housebreaking her (we never catch her in the act so we're finding it difficult to make the distinction between in-house and outside-house pottying). She's really quite sweet and laid back. A basset's an excellent choice for us, I think. I even love her hound-dog smell.
I haven't had much time for knitting. I get a few rows in here and there - my sister's sweater is on its last piece, and that's been my bus knitting. I can knit one repeat in a bus ride. My fair isle jazz scarf is almost done with its "jazz," (update: I forgot I was posting, and I went back to knitting, and now it's done) though I gotta kick myself for making so many silly mistakes with it (like starting out with 11 stitches in one section, then going to 14, then to 13... what the hell?). But it looks okay, so I'm not ripping back. We'll call it improvisation.
Another gift was started: socks for my mom-in-law, using KnitPicks Sock Garden in Morning Glory. It's really soft, yummy yarn, but all of the colorways I've seen are extremely gaudy. This one is no exception. Luckily, my mom-in-law is a little gaudy.
Yesterday I splurged a little. I bought an Addi Turbo needle so I could do two socks on two circulars, along with four balls of Naturespun Sport for the argyle slippers in Weekend Knitting for me and my man (I have other colors to supplement those - he will have a blue/grey/black/white colorway, and I will have a pink/grey/white/black colorway). But the splurge was this: a hank of handpainted superwash merino sportweight yarn in "Plumlicious" by Claudia Handpainted. Oh, so soft, and I couldn't resist. But, heck, I just stopped myself from ordering a ton of Lorna's Laces from Little Knits (it's on sale, by the way).
...
I just started one of those argyle slippers. Man, is intarsia messy.
Fin.
Tipper @ 4:32 PM * link
|
|
|
