The product...

*warning* this post contains opinions and was written in stream of conscience form. read at your own risk.


There are two types of knitters in the world: product and process. There are shades of grey in everyone, but when it boils down to it, there are only two. I've found myself in the first category. I knit things because i want them. I don't look at something and think "oh, i wanna knit that." i see it and say "oh, i need that!" and then a few days (or weeks, sometimes months, i know some of you have reached years) i have it in my hot little hands. I am a process knitter when it comes to mittens. I think it's because they're why i started knitting. I used to think that process knitters just did it to knit. They didn't really care what they had when it was finished so long as they were knitting. I recently learned that this is not true. Grumperina said that she was no longer going to knit sweaters. I was a little sad because the stuff she comes up with is always perfect. It turns out that process knitters get bored! Some process knitters don't like knitting sweaters! I thought that process knitters were the sweaters knitters because sweaters have a lot of process involved. I guess it's up to us product girls (and guys) to knit the sweaters. I can see it. In the sweater process, unless it's intricate, it's miles of stockinette (if you were to knit a large sweater, you really could knit a mile of stockinette. isn't that cool to think? knitting a mile...) it's just something to think about

Green With...

...Envy. I think it's appropriate that my current 'main' project is green. I'm so jealous of all the people on ravelry!!! I keep thinking that i'm so far on the list (there are 2466 people ahead of me at this very moment) that ravelry will be open to everyone before i get invited in. They invite so few people a day. How did everyone hear about this before me? I feel like sitting in a corner and pouting...

What I've learned

I've been such a bad blogger. I've made so many posts but have left them as drafts because i'm too lazy about pictures. I think i'd be better at it if i wasn't over here suffering with dial up because my dad (i'm a young knitter, here) is under the impression that dsl is so expensive he's going to have to sell his kidney to get it.

So what' i've been up to has been sporadic. After giving all (and i mean all.) my attention to wheat ear for about 10 days, it's mayhem. So far I've knit a pair of gloves, have a fair isle mitten OTN, a new sweater, a crochet blanket that's going to be 100 squares of scrap yarn (i know that there will not be enough, but i keep on truckin' anyway), i have wheat ear un-seamed and half unraveled, and a whole bunch of other projects in mind. Like some socks. And i'm also getting a ball winder and swift for my birthday. And i'm getting a work project soon. Once i get that, it's back to project monagomy.

a bitter-sweet moment

well, mostly bitter. i finished my sweater. it's way too big. i'm thinking of ripping back to the ribbing and finishing up the decreases to the 140 in the pattern. but i really don't want to since it won't fit anywhere. I think my mistake was knitting the medium size. i thought the sweater was supposed to have 2 inches of negative ease everywhere, but since i'm a little busty but i have a narrow waist (38" bust, 33" waist) so the bust had 2" of negative ease, but the waist have about 5".

There will be no picture because i'm mad at the sweater.


Up next i'm going to knit the minimalist cardigan in the fall IWK. i'm going to again use cascade but i'm going to use green. I've noticed that i have a problem with pink. Expect to be seeing pictures and a KAL button soon.

Also, i'm knitting some more Ken Gloves!!! I'm knitting another pair for chico. This is such a clever pattern! I love the increase for the thumb gusset, i think i'm going to work it into my next design.

So close.... and yet so far

I'm onto the yoke of the sweater!!!! Looking back, i probably should have done this completely in the round, but this is my first sweater and i wanted to seam it to see if i could. The seams look amazing. i did an invisible seam. it is the only way i will seam from now on. One thing that i have noticed is that i will have to do about 18 cabled rounds before the yoke is long enough. i've done seven. luckily every 4 rounds the st. count is decreased by 8. but still. that's a lot of sts.

Project monogamy is starting to get to me. It's been over a week since i started and i haven't touched anything else. I felt like i was cheating if i opened a book! But i have so many projects in mind now.


Projects My Cheatin' Heart Has Been Flirting With:

• A Raspberry Beret, inspired by the Prince Song, in various colors including Romantic Raspberry, Cool Green, and Sophisticated Black
• Swedish Mittens of my own design in hand dyed wool
• Swedish Mittens of a pattern i've had in 'Sour Apple' green and the pink from the cabled mittens
• Entrelac Hat in Cashsoft DK (be still, my beating heart)
• The sweater i saw and fell in love with when i was winding the balls for the Wheat Ear sweater....

That and i owe my chico some gloves and i need to start working on christmas stuff!!!!!!! I think i'll have enough left over from my sweater to knit my cousin a sophie bag.

Getting close

I'm onto the right sleeve!!!! This is exciting! i started the sweater almost a week ago and it's nearly done!!!!!

here's a little peak.

i have the front, left sleeve, and back OTN right now. I want to stay up late to finish the right sleeve and do the yoke tomorrow. i'm excited!!!! my own concern right now is seaming. i want to seam it before i do the yoke, but i can't really block it on the circs. i know that i'm going to do an invisible seam but shirley temple only WISHES her hair was as curly as my sweater. I think that i'm going to put all the pieces on seperate needles or yarn and the block and seam.

Checking in

I'm done with the front and the back and i've started one of the sleeves. I started knitting the sleeves at the same time... but i got bored and switched. This sweater is going by quickly and i hope to have it done by the end of the week! I'm amazed. My first sweater and i'm almost done and it hasn't even been a week. I was so nervous to start one because it would take me months to finish! it hasn't even been a week and i'm onto the sleeves!!! I quite like this sweater thing...

BIG mistake (well not really, just letting the drama queen out)

So I totally jinxed myself with the sweater. While knitting it, i thought to myself "wouldn't it be cool if i could knit this sweater without ripping back once? i think that'll be sweet!" yea well...

I was so used to doing m1 inc. for the waist shaping and now that i've started the front it's back to k2togs... I did a make one instead of a k2tog!!!

I've tried to fix my mistake by dropping the three sts. in question (the m1 and the 2 that were supposed to be decreased) and fixing them to how they're supposed to be. it looks like this:

Craptastic.

Maybe it'll block out, i doubt it

This is the second thing i tried

I ripped back the stitches i just 'fixed' brought them both up to the current row, did a k2tog and then an ssk. it looks like this

much more likely to block out.

I think that since the back and the front are exactly the same, i might use this as the back. BUT there was a misbehaving cable on the back and i tried fixing it but it's still not completely fixed. I'm so glad i didn't rip back about 1000 sts.

Now i'm off to knit the rest.

Happy Birthday to me and EZ!

It was my birthday on thursday!!!! It was a good day, started with knitting, ended with knitting. My kind of birthday. And it was also Elizabeth Zimmerman's (Wikipedia says the 9th, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee says the 10th. I'm going with the 9th for my reasons.) I take it as a sign that i shall be and stay a knitter for a looong time. I got a lot of knitting done.











See how far i've gotten?




The real life color is lighter, this wasn't taken in natural light.










and this much.





Did i fool you?

this sweater thing is going pretty quickly. but then again i knit all. day. long. (bet you wish you could be me).





i want to have the front done by either tomorrow or saturday. wish me luck!!!!





Now go treat yourself to a cupcake in my honor.





P.S. I feel a little bit more connected to EZ because we both knit continental and a while ago i had to wonder when the last time i cast off was because i was mostly doing projects on DPN's. That and she lived in Wisconsin. I live in Minnesota. Small World.

The Plunge

I took it. I cast on for my very first sweater last night. It's not a baby sweater or a children's sweater, either. My first sweater is a full sized adult sweater. Complete with a yoke and lots o' cables. I'm so looking forward to it.

Here she is!

Not much, but it's mine.

Also, Mittens!!!!!

Free Pattern Alert!!!

Easy Peasy Mitten with After Thought Thumb

What you need: One Skein Cascade 220, 5 size 7 double pointed needles, length of similiar weight yarn (mercerized cotton recomended) Tapestry needle

Gauge 4.5stsX6rows for 1 inch. unblocked (blocking your swatch is recommended. just do it.)

CO 36 sts. and join (9sts. on each needle)

Mitten, Make 2:

k2p2 rib for 15 rows

*k8 inc1* rep 3 more times

k for about 2 1/2 inches

After thought thumb:

Needle 1

k2 k6 with small length of yarn, slip the six just knit back onto left hand needle and knit with MC again. k2

k rest of round

K all rnds until the mitten covers up your pinky (test this out by putting the mitten on where you would wear it normally.)

Dec. Rnds:

Rnd 1: *k8 k2tog* rep 3 times (36sts.)

Rnd 2: K

Rnd 3: *k7 k2tog* rep 3 (32sts.)

Rnd 4: k

rnd 5: *k6 k2tog* rep 3 times (28sts.)

rnd 6: k

Rnd 7: *k5 k2tog* rep 3 times (24sts.)

rnd 8: *k4 k2tog* rep 3 times (20sts.)

rnd 9: *k3 k2tog* rep 3times (16sts.)

rnd 10: *k2 k2tog* rep 3 times (12sts.)

rnd 11: *k1 k2tog* rep 3 times (8sts.)

rnd 12: *k2tog* (4sts.)

Break yarn leaving a good sized tail and draw through remaining stitches.

After Thought Thumb:

Pull out the length of yarn. There should be 6 sts. on the bottom and 5 sts. on top. Put the top 5 on one DPN and 3 sts. of bottom stitches on 2 seperate needles. started with the left needle on the bottom sts., k3, pick up and k 2 sts., k5, pick up and knit 2 sts., k 3. K all rnds until you can put the mitten on the the thumb part covers your thumb

k2tog all sts. to last 3 sts. k3tog. break yarn leaving long tail and draw through rem. sts.

weave in all ends and snug up any holes. block. wear with pride

P.S. this hasn't been proof read or test knit, proceed with caution!

back

So after being shaken by the bridge collapse (it turns out chico was on the bridge about 15 minutes before the collapse. scary stuff) i went away for the weekend. I went with chico and his family to the dells. It rained. But we went on the roller coasters that night anyway. I got some knitting done!

Finished: Mittens (No picture now, they're blocking and need their ends woven in)
Pattern: My own, really simple.
Yarn: Cascade 220
Start: Thursday, August 2nd
Finish: Sunday, August 5th
Thoughts? This pattern is an old stand by. I started it while waiting for my boss at the yarn store. I bought a set of needles and some yarn, did a swatch, and got going. I absolutely LOVE the needles i used for this. I bought a set of Brittany birch needles. Wow. The whole time i was knitting them i said to my chico "FEEL these needles!!! they're so light, yet sturdy! And look, NO LADDERS!!!!" He wasn't as enthusiastic as i was.
I also did a simple scarf out of Moda Dea Ticker Tape. I've wanted to try the yarn forever, but seeing as it was about 7 dollars for one little 67 yard ball, and it was something from Joann fabrics, i just couldn't buy it. But i saw it for 97 cents a ball and i bought 2!

Another project is a Fiber Trends Squirrel. Right now it's the shape of a peanut, but it's going to turn out so cute!

Remember the yarn next to my harry potter book? It's 4 inches of a hat right now. I want to finish it before i start any new projects, and seeing as i recently bought yarn like it was going out of style, and thoughts of a sweater dancing around in my head, it'll be done and sent of to some one in need soon.

Tragedy at home

As some of you already know, a major bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota Collapsed yesterday at around 6 PM. I live in a suburb of the Twin Cities and many of my family members and friends drive that bridge daily. My boyfriend was on the bridge not an hour before it's collapse. It seems right now that no one close to me was on the bridge at the time it collapsed, and i feel extremely lucky. This catastrophe is very real to me, seeing as it took place about 40 minutes from my home, and anyone i know could've been involved. I'm asking you, as a Minnesotan knitter, to help out in anyway you can. Even if you are no where near here, help out in other ways. Don't forget one charity or cause for another. If you can't help out here, help out in your own neighborhood. Knit hats for premies, give blood, donate money. There are still other tragedies that won't go away just because a new one has sprung up.

Thanks for your time. Keep Minneapolis in your heart.