My finger hurts!

Well, there hasn't been much knitting around here, the stockinette baby sweater of hell, worsted weight 75% acrylic 25% wool on size 3 and 5 needles. Did I mention the intarsia patch on size 3's that gets buttoned on the front? All the knitting is done, except for the button on thing, and it's making my right index finger hurt! I can't wait to get it done so I can move onto more selfish things. I'm also knitting an adorable trellis for my cousin's new baby, which is due soon!!! It's so cute, knit out of LB cotton ease in terra cotta. I'd rather work on that than the stupid baby sweater. I think once those two items are done I'm going to move onto projects for ME and feel guilt free.

It was a good yarn day

This morning after my attempts to surf the Internet for all things knitterly failed miserably I took it as a sign from the universe to give dyeing a chance. I had been meaning to try it for awhile but always put it off. I absolutely loved it. I dyed two skeins of yarn today, one worsted weight hank of cascade 220 in the crock pot and a ball of knit picks palette that I hanked up. The 220 turned out pretty, I dyed it green and blue with a hint of purple and for the most part I like how it turned out. It's a little murky in some spots and there's a bit of white left, but for one of my first dye jobs it turned out pretty well! I LOOOOOVE how the palette turned out. I used the cold pour dye method and dyed it red, orange, and yellow. Love. Right now they're drying and then I will take pictures of them hanked and then again after they're reskeined. To dye them I used food coloring. The cold pour was really messy, but only stained my fingers. I am definitely going to do it again!

I also bought some yarn today. I stopped by the store to pick up the cc220 to dye and a hank of Plymouth baby alpaca lace came home with me, too! It's a very pretty orange color and it will soon be a swallowtail shawl.

The new yarns from left to right: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Lace, color 996, Socks that Rock Lightweight, color 'Firebird' and 'Hot Flash'

Best of all? My STR came!!! I got two colors, firebird and hot flash, and I love them!!! I don't know what patterns I'm going to use for them. I know that monkeys would be a good idea, but EVERYBODY uses the monkey pattern with STR. Diagonal cross rib socks? I don't know... I need to get through my spring forward socks (done with #1, onto ribbing of #2) first. Then I want to finish my toe up anklets... And then I'm thinking my orange/red/yellow hand dyed creation should become either a pair of gloves or monkey anklets... And I have the itch to knit a sweater or five... And then I need to finish up the stupid baby sweater for work... So many projects, I need more hands!!!

Finito

The embossed leaves socks are done!!!




Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks By Mona Schmidt
Yarn: Two skeins of Plymouth Happy Feet
Modifications: None. If I make them again for my self I will add another leaf to the foot
Thoughts?: I really liked making these socks! They are perfectly knit! The pattern was a little weird, it had me break the yarn after the heel flap to rejoin it on the other side, which I didn't like but I did anyway. Also, the yarn wasn't right for the project. It was too fuzzy and I don't think I'll use it again. It also bled a lot while I was blocking them and stained my sink for a few days. For the price It's a good yarn but for quality... It's okay. Since these were a gift I won't get to see how they wear, but I hope they wear well.

I think I'll do the pattern again with a different yarn and a modified heel and foot. After those were off the needles a new sock went on almost immediately. The Spring Forward Socks (aka, the new monkeys) are almost half way done! I'm onto the foot of the first one. I'm a little worried if they're going to fit so I'm hoping the lace blocks out nicely and I have no idea how many lace repeats to do on the foot. Why do I have to have size ten feet!!! I think this is the universe evening things out, I get to knit small sweaters but I have to knit huge socks. I think once the second spring forward sock is all kitchenered nicely I'm going to cast on a sweater. I have a bunch that I want to do and I have yarn for at least 5 sweaters. An EZ pattern in malabrigo? We'll see...

Socks: 365

On flickr a lot of people are doing the self portrait 365 project where they take daily self portraits of themselves. I really want to participate, but I don't know if I can commit to it because: 1) I am a terrible photographer. 2) I'd have to get flickr pro... I want to but I don't know if I can justify it. 3) The cameras at my disposal suck. They're good for what I do but... yeah. So I came up with an idea, the 365 sock project. The idea is to knit a pair of socks, one row for every day of the year. This I think I can do. I've been thinking of a few rules so here are a few preliminary things

1. The cast on and row one is day one, row 365 and the toe of the second sock is day 365.
2. Cast ons, heels, and toes don't count as rows, they should just be done with the corresponding row for that day.
3. The socks should either be in stockinette stitch or ribbing except for the ribbing at the cuff.
4. Both socks should have 365 rows together. That means 182 rows on one sock and 183 rows on another, excluding the toes and heels. If you're OCD about it I guess both could have 183 rows, the extra being for luck
5. You WILL only knit one row a day except when you reach the heel and toe of the sock. If you miss a day you can make it up by knitting the missed rows on another day, but missing a day is not encouraged.
6. The 365 socks are meant to make you sit down for about 5-10 minutes a day, add another row onto your socks, and to think about the day. It's supposed to make the passing of time a little more tangible.
7. Pick your yarn according to how you want your year to turn out. Cooler colors for a peaceful year, warmer tones for a happy, passionate year, self striping for a year of change, pick a color that has special symbolism with you. Use needles you like and are willing to have in use for the year.

Well, those are the preliminaries. I'm thinking of a ravelry group, maybe a flickr group (for progress and finished socks) but it's just an idea I'm toying with. Thoughts?

To Do List...

On the lovely ravelry I have a queue about a mile long. I have 'knitting obligations' that seem never ending. I need a to do list...

1. Finish second embossed leaves sock (to the heel flap!)
2. Knit sample sweater and all the little button on patch things (from a knitter's dozen book, the kids' sweater one)and have it done by july 12th
3. Do swatches for my SCJ class (I'm doing another one!)
4. Freak out a bit because the SCJ is no longer a free pattern. ack.
5. Do last year's christmas knitting.
6. Start this year's christmas knitting.
7. Organize the stash, figure out future projects.
8. Knit spring forward socks. now.

that's not too hard, right?

Also, have you seen the twist collective site? I cannot wait, it comes out on August 1st. It's not a free online magazine but the designs are 'fair trade' and that makes me happy. I like it when the geniuses that bring me great patterns are earning enough money to keep doing it. It looks so high quality and amazing. I kind of wish it was a real magazine and not just an online deal so I could kiss it. Can. Not. Wait!

Well, I'm going to listen to my latest obsession, Lime and Violet! I must have socks that rock now.

12:30 P.M.- I'm buying some yarn for the new monkeys and since I love my aluminum sock needles but HATE how bendy they get, I bought a set of brittany sock needles that come in packs of six "just in case"

5:20 P.M.- Pulling thread through remaining sts. on my first embossed leaves sock. Break A needle.

*sigh...* This is why they come in packs of six.

When the going gets tough, the tough knit complicated cable charts and fair isle

I found that when things get a little hairy around here I like to get a really complicated project to keep my mind off of things. I usually go to fair isle when I get stressed but cables and charts also get the job done. Between planning a big party, graduating, and being rejected from a university I should have gotten into right away I was lucky to be stringing together coherent sentences. I had been in a knitting slump where nothing felt 'right' but these mittens changed everything.

Chevalier Mittens

Pattern: Chevalier by Tikru

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worstred in Pink

Time to complete: The first mitten took a little more than a day, the second took a little longer.

Mods: I mirrored the cables and I mixed up on the thumb so I just did it again and now it's a mod. I did the thumb increases every other row twice, every three rows twice, and then every two row twice and started the gussest one row later.

Thoughts: Wow. The cables are insane but the second time through was much easier. I really liked the pattern and there were no mistakes, just a travelling cable coming out of no where. This was a fabulous pattern paired with a fabulous yarn (but seeing as it's a single, I don't know how they're going to last!) yeilding fabulous results. Go and knit your own pair, now!

Another debut, well worth the wait: The sunrise circle jacket

Sunrise Circle Jacket

Pattern: Sunrise Circle Jacket By Kate Gilbert

Yarn: 6 Hanks of Cascade 220

Time to Complete: A little more than one month

Modifications: I knit the sleeves in the round and I added a picot edge

Thoughts: Perfect pattern. No mistakes. It fit and it looks great. I might do another. I gave it to my mom for her birthday and she loves it.

So what's up next? Well I'm almost done with a Dale hat and I want to knit some socks as thank you's. I really want to be selfish this summer and knit sweaters and socks and mittens and cowls for ME but I think I need to catch up on last year's christmas gifts and get started on this year's. BUT this is My hobby and it will be fun. Also coming soon a project I affectionately call the dumb fish.

Unfortunate news.

I did not get into the U. I have decided to appeal the rejection and I'm also going to fill out a transfer application immediately so I'll hopefully be there by spring semester. Because I am in the University of Minnesota system transferring will be much easier for me but whether I can do it right away as a freshman is the real trick. There has been some knitting going on, I finished the SCJ, started and finished a pair of chevalier mittens, and I finished my aunt's socks. My gauge changed from the first sock to the second so the leg on the second sock is a bit shorter! I don't think she'll notice though... Well, I have a party to help clean for and a graduation on Sunday.

Where'd I go?

Where have I been? Well, I am currently a high school senior and I am closing in on graduation! Not only am I dealing with the stresses and excitement that go along with graduating but my first choice college has not accepted me yet. They have not rejected me, either. This really sucks on many, many levels. I have not given up yet and I want everyone to think really, really good thoughts about it. Right now those of you 'in the know' are probably thinking "wait, didn't the deadline already pass?". Yes, it did, but the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (the college I'm madly, deeply in love with, just like every other high school senior) decided that since SO many people wanted to go there, they could impose a SECOND waiting list. I am currently on that. I was lucky enough that my back up school did the same thing and only had a priority date set for orientation (but I don't think I have to worry about that much because I'm in the music school there, but I don't think music is for me anymore and so getting into the U is really important, but that's for another post...). I have been waiting almost eight months to hear a final decision from the admissions people. This waiting thing is getting a little old, but I still feel a glimmer of hope. If good things come to those who wait then the best should come to those who wait 8 months. Especially if they are impatient, like me.

Please send every good vibe you can, and I'll send them right back!

-Becky

Just a quick update!

Elegant Rib Socks-I haven't touched them in awhile but they're to the point where I need to switch to the size 5 needles
Go With the Flow Socks-Past the heel turn and almost done with the gusset decreases
SCJ- Done! I'm sewing up the hems right now and there should be pictures and thoughts coming soon!
New Projects- The store wants me to do a sample which I want to have finished this week. After that I'm going to work on stuff I've been planning on doing for awhile and once those are done I'm going to get started on the marsielles pullover.

pictures to come soon!

Shepherd's Harvest!

Well today I went to the Shepherd's Harvest for the second year in a row. I went as an employee for the store and I got to sit at our booth for most of the day and people watch, sell some kits and patterns, and knit a little on the SCJ. It was a fun day, there was indeed some shopping. I got enough yarn to make a sweater and a pair of socks. My goal for the day was to find enough unique yarn to make myself a sweater and I found it! It wasn't the exact yarn I was looking for, since the vendor wasn't back again, and it is commercially available, but it is still unique yarn I have yet to find in a store around here. I bought 5 skeins of peace fleece, 2 in moscow magic pink, and three in perestroikan pink. I was really worried for awhile that 1,000 yards was not going to be enough for a sweater but then I realized it was aran weight and that I'm going to be okay!

Moscow Magic Pink

Perestroikan Pink

Along with the peace fleece I bought some Panda Cotton from the vendor next to us. I originally went over to her booth to buy some trekking xxl, but she was all out and I couldn't afford the austermann step (even though I really liked the colors and how it felt) since I had already bought the peace fleece and I could find the sockotta anywhere, so I went with panda cotton. I've heard about the panda wool, so I hope the cotton is just as good.

Panda Cotton, Sprite Green

Along with vendors, there were animal demonstronstrations. I wasn't able to catch any of these because I was inside manning the booth all day but I did see a big, puffy angora rabbit, lots of well behaved dogs, and a couple of sheep. It was a pretty busy day, but very cold. Nobody told me it was going to be that cold so I showed up wearing shorts and a half sleeved wool cardigan. I froze until my mom brought me jeans and my monkey socks. It was cold. It was a very good day and I hope I can go again next year.

P.S. Happy Mother's Day!

Hey, look! Something sparkly!

That's what it feels like. I'm about 8 rows away from the hem on the left front of the SCJ and I keep getting distracted. It's very easy to get distracted with ravelry around. I've found that crossing out each row after I've completed it really helps me keep my place. Each row has specific instructions about shaping. It's turning out really cool! The rows are starting to get really long but all things considered this is going by really fast. One thing that bothers me is the progress bars at ravelry. I can never figure out what percentage is done. I know that I could do all the math and go from there, but who has time for that? Socks are easy, once one is done you're half way done. Same with mittens. Hats are so quick they're usually done in a day or two anyways. But with a sweater, is the back the biggest chunk? Sleeves are usually quick but they're long and can get pretty big. What about fronts? Okay, I'm rambling now and I'm going to stop.

Pictures coming soon!

ETA: I just realized why the post title is even more relevant. Can this post get any more random?

May...

Happy May Day!!!

Beginnings of the Inga Hat

very springy

Are you serious?

Well, I went away for the weekend and I only managed to come back with 11 new skeins of yarn and 4 1/2 inches of a new sock. The SCJ is still just a back with most of a sleeve. The go with the flow socks just have a sad little heel flap. I started the elegant ribbed stockings from the favorite socks book. And I came back with yarn for 3 new projects and a dale book (the st. moritz book, my mom wants a hat). How does one come back with 11 skeins of yarn? Well, I saw some vibrant orange trekking xxl and since the colors at the shop are mostly natural and cool shades, I had to have it. My mom also got yarn for a St. Moritz hat (6 skeins of yarn for a hat. I do believe there will be a leftover-pallooza after that hat) and since I missed my senior prom to do an audition at a school I don't really like (I don't really want to go into that...) I got yarn for an inga hat. It's going to be pink and green and I'm going to leave out the middle section. Very cute. Well, I'm too lazy to take pictures now, so tomorrow there will be a yarn porn galore.

ETA: I came home with 12 balls of yarn. 4 for the inga hat, 6 for the st. moritz hat, 1 skein of trekking xxl, and a ball of regia silk to line my mom's hat. I have fallen deeply in love with the regia and I might try in vain to squeeze a pair of size 10 anklets out of the left overs.

Baby got back

So the back of the SCJ is now drying on the bed. I wanted to see how it looked blocked because it was so curly! But I've decided to keep the pictures of the blocked pieces a secret until after my mom gets it.

So here is the SCJ in all its curly glory(or lack there of):

The unblocked back of the Sunrise Circle Jacket

And some lovely back darts (I doubted the double decrease so much, but Kate Gilbert, you are truly a genius.)




And This:


This is the first rinse. It took 6 to get the water almost clear.

The water was opaque orange. I squeezed the fabric and dark orange water seeped out. 6 rinses. SIX! But it is sort of accurate, color wise...

And the go with the flow socks? The heel flap is a little bit longer... Nothing picture worthy. Just some holey grey tubes with a little flappy thing hanging down... I want to finish them before this weekend so I can take something NEW with me when I go out of town (I'm going with my mom so SCJ will have to stay back and watch the stash).

When did that happen?

The Sunrise Circle Jacket (from here on out the SCJ) is coming along at a good pace! I made it to the dart set up row. I kept feeling like the little bottom section was taking forever and then I looked down and it grew by a few inches in what seemed like seconds! It was the opposite of a knitting black hole!

Here's the bottom part of the back, photo courtesy of swingline (stockinette is so curly!!!) This is right before the darts on the back start.

Now you might be wondering what all those little holes are... Well, they're

Picots!

I decided to add a little something different to the SCJ and totally ripped off another raveler's idea of the picots looking like rays of sunshine (thanks for the idea!)! Instead of doing a knit row on the wrong side for the turn row I did a row of k2tog, yo across.

What's that about the go with the flow socks? There's a heel flap going on? but it's only a few rows long? And they've been on the needles how long? Weren't they a Christmas gift?

The answer to all these questions: yes... I will have them done soon, but my current goal is to have the back of the SCJ done by Tuesday.

Has anyone else ever gone from knitting a heavily cabled/patterned sweater to a pure stockinette sweater? It feels like hitting a wall because the cables stack up so quickly. I went from saying "well, I'll finish this row because I don't want to forget what I'm doing" to just putting this sweater down in the middle of a row. I think the Marseilles pullover will be welcome change from almost a mile of stockinette. But, the front and back of Marseilles are exactly the same, so we'll see.

Well, I have a very sexy date tonight with the SCJ. I hear it's going to get 'dart-y'.

Hey, what ever happened to that budget you had going on?

Because it has flown out the window...
Good thing I have an employee discount.

I broke down today and bought six more skeins of Cascade 220 for my Mom's Sunrise Circle Jacket. I plan on having it done in time for her birthday at the end of May.
Considering that the arm and its respective front are done at the same time I think it'll go pretty quick. I think the shaping will be the most interesting part. Well, I'm going to knit up my swatch tonight and then the fun will begin!

In my last post I briefly mentioned all the Christmas gifts I still owe people... Well, these are the Go With the Flow socks I decided to make for my aunt. I'm almost to the heel turn!!!

You can see the finished sock behind it (which I finished a couple of weeks ago). These are very cute socks, the pattern is a winner (interweave seemed to think so) but the yarn... There are more pills on this yarn than there are in a junkie's pocket. It's so soft, but very pilly and very splitty (I split a stitch on the first sock while picking up stitches for the gusset...it looked so icky...)

Well, I'm off to play with swatches!

So... what next?

Well, now that the lovely Sofia is off the needles and now residing on her hanger by the pure cotton for the next six months, something has gotta come next! I was thinking for awhile "maybe smaller projects, get christmas presents done (from this past christmas, I'm not smart enough to do stuff for next year already), a few small things" but instead I bought this yesterday:







Five Skeins of Cascade 220 in color numberf 7802. 1100 yards of pink woollen joy. What for you ask? Well, as soon as I can get my act together I'm going to swatch and cast on for the Marseilles Pullover by the lovely and talented Veronik Avery (I really think that The best of interweave knits really should have been called Veronik and Friends. She and Norah Gaughan dominated that book! [but for a good reason!])

I instantly fell in love with that sweater and how they modeled it is exactly how I would wear it. I have the outfit already (except the sweater of course. i 'have it' but it's still in non-knitted up form...)! I think I want to finish up my aunt's socks first and then maybe a few mittens that I owe people... you may see an indecent amount of fair isle pretty soon...

Hey Harlot!

I met the Yarn Harlot!!! The canadian knitting trollop made her way to minnesota again and I got to go to her talk and get my book signed!!! I really enjoyed it and I went with my mom (who laughed, even though she's not a knitter). It was a very fun night. Parking was 'fun'. The weather was 'fun'. Walking in the rain/snow/cold was 'fun'. Once we got their we got tickets (we were on stand by but luckily got tickets anyway) and the yarnery had a little shop set up with a lot of sock yarn and the prettiest color of malabrigo I have ever seen. I walked away (well, not literally, I paid for it) with a skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sock yarn in a very pretty color way. Pinks and greens and blues and darker colors, just a mix of everything! I expected the auditorium she spoke in to be bigger, but it wasn't (explains why all the tickets were gone so quickly). They had door prizes and the Von Yarnery family singers (very cute). Then Stephanie talked. It was hilarious, interesting, and education all at the same time! After, I waited until 10 p.m. to have my book signed because I didn't realize that the number system was thrown out the window (I had 109 anyway...). I could tell she was tired by them because my book is signed "to becky, stephanie pearlm" and then it is illegible. I got a picture with my camera but didn't have my picture taken so I don't think I'll be featured on the blog (but that's okay, it was late and everybody was tired). I was star struck by her. It's embarrassing to say, but I was so nervous to meet someone that I admire so much. While I waited for her to sign my book, I won a few door prizes! My mom won these knitter's greeting cards from I believe yarn girls (which she gave to me, being a non-knitter) and I won the Shibori felting book and a Habu kit for the silk lunch bag. The yarnery also gave out buttons and back packs but seeing as I work for a rival store I don't think I'm going to get much use out of a the back pack. All in all meeting the harlot was well worth driving in the bad conditions, walking in the cold, and waiting for a very long time. I can't wait for her next book to come out and I hope she comes back to the twin cities on her next tour.

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

...And what do mayflowers bring? Why pilgrims, of course!!!

Well, last week I spent a beautiful seven days in sunny Cozumel, Mexico! It was a great time, lots of sun burns (i applied, reapplied, and still got burned.) I finished up the second sock of my all but forgotten monkeys. I don't know why I didn't just sit down and do them!!! They're done and they turned out great.

Monkeys
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential in Grass (two different dye lots on each of the socks... shhh)
Started: Some time in october...
Finished: March 30th
Thoughts?: Great pattern, I can see why it's so popular. While knitting it the leg of the sock was very square and fun to look at but lies flat nicely when it's blocked. I did the usual 6 repeats of the lace on the leg and 7 repeats on the foot for my size ten feet. There were 13 repeats in all. The first sock I followed the pattern religiously but for the second not so much. I didn't follow her directions on how to pick up the heel sts. and the second sock looks much better than the first because of this. I am glad to have these socks done and maybe I'll do another pair in the future? who knows...

Also, I did some other knitting in mexico that should make its debut here on princess knits soon. I just have to figure out how to do some copy righting and do some designer magic. I <3 designing...

What shall the knitress do next... another pair of socks? mittens? catch up on all those christmas presents that have yet to be knit? more sweaters? We'll see...

ETA: I got the new yarnharlot book! I got it friday night after I arrived home and I have since read it cover to cover! I think this is one of my favorites along with knitting rules!