Stitch, Brinn, Stitch!

FO: Ravenclaw Sockettes

May 30, 2011 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, sockettes, socks | Leave a comment

Happy Memorial Day! I believe I mentioned these socks before. I used much of the left overs from the Ravenclaw-color socks I made.

Pattern: Made up as I went, heel-down this time.
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll, Shoreline Twist (blue and brown)
Needles: US 1 circular, magic loop

These are a wee bit shallow, but in general, I like how they came out. I now have two pairs of hand-knit sockettes so I can give my Bugga! pair a rest and I get to wear handknit socks in June. Yay! I do need to get new flats though–the one pair I have left is beginning to wear thin.

As I believe I mentioned before, I really like Knit Picks Stroll. It’s a good, solid sock yarn and it’s super cheap. Plus, this is such a great color and I get to show off my geeky love for Harry Potter in a subtle way (but I’ll tell just about everyone they’re Ravenclaw colors)

There isn’t a tremendous amount to say about these socks; they were a pretty simple knit and they’re a simple, utilitarian object. In other craft news, I am working on some felted things for a swap, still working on the shorts, and I’ve done some dyeing I dyed up two skeins in a blue/purple mottled color and I currently have four skeins of cashmere in the crock pot hopefully taking on a teal color. I’ll show you pictures of those things when the cashmere is finished. : )

Pungo Strawberry Festival

May 28, 2011 in life | Tags: animals, life, pungo, sheep, strawberry festival | 1 comment

Today was the first day of the Pungo Strawberry Festival, an affair celebrating strawberries, farmlands, and Virginia Beach. There are tons of food vendors, arts/vendor booths (mostly jewelry, embroidery/bags, and soap this year), and a 4H tent. I went with my sister and though we didn’t buy anything, we spent a lot of time in the 4H tent, which was filled with pigs, sheep, and cows. Fortunately, I remembered my camera this year (I forgot it last year).

These little guys (St. Croix) were only two months old:

There was also a section called the “Fun Barn” which was sort of closed off from the rest of the tent–for a donation of a dollar, you could pet chicks, ducks, goats, a sheep, a pony, and some pigs. There were also chickens and rabbits, but they were in small cages with small holes (and they didn’t get close enough to pet).

That’s my sister’s hand. The sheep had a heart on his head.

These little pigs were so cute! Their names are Jack and Jill.

Posing next to a grown up duck. He was super soft.

Petting a baby duck (well, that’s my sister’s hand). I got to hold one of these little guys (not in this picture, that’s some kid whose family owns the ducks) even though I wasn’t supposed to. He was super cute! That alone was worth my $1 plus $5 parking (though that was split between me and my sister).

We also saw lambs competing in an obstacle course. They didn’t like it very much though. It was pretty funny and the lambs knocked over the jump bars more than they made it through. Also, apparently lambs really hate having wet feet. Seeing children trying to get their lambs to put two feet in a little kiddie pool was pretty funny. They were Not Having It.

It was a pretty fun trip. My sister and I went to Skinny Dip (frozen yogurt bar) afterwards and drove around Pungo attempting to get back on the right road. More knitting stuff tomorrow or Monday!

FO: Lace Shrug

May 24, 2011 in knitting | Tags: FO, knitting, lace, pattern writing, shrug, yarn | Leave a comment

So I mentioned the other day (and possibly last week) that I was working on a lace shrug, and I finally finished knitting it and got it blocked and photographed.

Pattern: My own, which I’m working on writing up. It’s currently unnamed, so if you’ve got a suggestion, send it along! There might be a free pattern in it for you. : )
Yarn: Abundant Dyeworks Naturally Dyed Merino Sock (one skein, Scarecrow)
Needles: US 6/4 mm

So I originally meant to knit this on size four needles and then I grabbed the wrong ones to cast on, and now it’s on sixes. No matter, I rather like how the lace pattern opened up on the sixes. I think the shrug turned out pretty well-it was simple to knit but a really interesting looking result, and it will be a perfect layering piece for chilly summer nights or over-air conditioned office buildings. Stays on better than a shawl and looks cute to boot. : )

I really like the yarn I chose for this (though I admit it was mostly out of necessity; I didn’t have a lot that would work). It’s a two-ply superwash merino (so I wasn’t going to use it for socks) that I got from a WWFY trade–for the Manly Aran socks, actually. It’s soft and looks like it’ll hold up pretty well, so I think I’m going to recommend it for use in the pattern. I don’t usually specify a yarn (and really, any fingering weight wool or cotton blend would work), but this one is not too difficult to obtain and I really like it. Plus, what will be the smallest size of the pattern (the one I knit) can be made with one skein of yarn. It was close, but I made it, crochet border and all.

I’m going to list the pattern on Free Pattern Testers on Ravelry later today if you’d like to test. Or, I’ll announce here when the pattern is available.

In other knitting news, I recently cast on for a pair of shorts in Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton (it’s so soft). And no, knitted shorts are not weird. People think they are but they’re so comfortable. I wear the last pair I made all the time and they don’t sag or bunch at all. They’re super cute. This pair will be knit in pure cotton as opposed to cotton/acrylic, but we’ll see how it goes.

Oh, and in case you’re still wondering, I am still working on the Leah vest pattern. I don’t have the FO with me so I can’t measure length to finish it up, but I hope to get that written and out to testers within a week of my returning to Virginia Beach (I’m leaving DC on Thursday).

FO: Walk Away

May 21, 2011 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, life, socks, yarn | 1 comment

I finished the socks I started just the other day, possibly because I used a larger needle than I usually knit socks with.

Pattern: It’s a cuff-down sock. Regular toe, flap/gusset heel.
Yarn: Yarnbee Walk Away, colorway “For Kicks”
Needles: US *2*, a circular I bought at the Yarn Club, a new LYS in Virginia Beach

So these socks are knit a bit loose than I usually knit socks but the yarn is also very thick for sock yarn–it’s almost like a light sport weight. The socks are pretty comfortable and I suspect that once I toss them in the washing machine and dryer, they’ll tighten up a bit. They fit pretty well and the yarn is soft enough.

Knitting with the yarn was kind of a PITA though. It’s kind of like corespun–it’s wooly on the outside, but there’s a core thread of elastic/nylon and the two fibers stretch at different rates, so the wooly bit kept getting bunched up on the core thread. That was annoying. Also, the core shows through in a couple of spots.

On the whole, I’m pretty happy with the socks though. The color is quite lovely and I even got them to match! (Mostly–one is about a row ahead of the other.) I’m sure they will get lots of wear this winter when it is cool enough to wear mid-calf-high wool socks. Now I have three pairs like that!

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m on something of a sock kick lately. Currently I have another pair of footies (for flats) on the needles (from the Ravenclaw yarn). I’m also about halfway through a shrug I’m designing (and hoping to finish with 380 yards–it’s gonna be close). Got some real work done on grown-up things yesterday and tonight I’m off to a pedicure with my boyfriend’s mother and sister (which is lovelier than it might sound–I quite like them). Still have to figure out how I’m getting back to Virginia Beach next week, but right now, I’m just going to relax and try not to kick some poor woman in the face when she inevitably tickles my very ticklish feet.

FO: Wind and Sea Sunhat

May 20, 2011 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, hat, knitting, life, summer, sun hat, sunhat | 1 comment

So apparently I forgot to blog about this hat I made, which is sad because it’s totally awesome and I wear it all the time.

Pattern: Wind and Sea from “Knitting in the Sun” (preview on Amazon)
Yarn: Recycled Linen/Cotton blend
Needle: US 6/4mm
Mods: None, actually. I knit exactly as written.

Like I said, I completely adore this hat. It’s lightweight, blocks the sun and looks SUPER cute. It is really light so it tends to blow off of my head unless I hold it down if there’s a breeze, but I found that putting a stretchy headband (I have a Goody one) around my head over the hat keeps it in place (I didn’t figure that out until after the photoshooot).

The construction is quite interesting–it’s knit from the outside in and then millinery wire (or 18 gauge jewelry wire, which is what I used) is crocheted into the brim by sandwiching it in the channel of the crochet stitch. It was pretty awkward to do, but it basically blocks the hat for you, so I’ll take it.

I definitely love this hat, and I might make some more in different colors and also in thicker yarn. The yarn I used, a linen/cotton blend from a thrift store sweater, was thinner than the called-for worsted weight, so the spaces in the stitches are larger than they should be. I might try to make this again with kitchen cotton stripes since it knits up so fast (that way if the Sugar ‘N’ Cream doesn’t work and is too heavy I won’t be out a lot of time. I’m definitely going to try again though, perhaps in a thicker linen/cotton (or this yarn held double), but dyed a different color.

In other knitting news, I just finished the gusset of my most recent socks and am currently motoring down the foot. Good pictures are going to be difficult when I finish since it has literally been raining all week and will probably continue. I’m going to the zoo with Joe and a friend of ours on Monday though, so I hope the weather’s nice for that. I’d also like to get out to Lake Accotink before I leave (probably next Thursday, probably by train), but I’m not sure if the weather will cooperate. Though really what I need to do is buckle down and find a damn job so I can move up here permanently. Wish me luck (on the job thing and also the weather).

FO: Ravenclaw Socks

May 18, 2011 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, life, socks | 2 comments

As promised, here is an FO post!

Pattern: They’re toe-up socks. Short-row heel.
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll, Shoreline Twist (blue and brown)
Needles: US 1

There isn’t a tremendous amount to say about these socks. They fit pretty well and used surprisingly little yarn–I have about 40g left over, which is enough to make an entire pair of anklets at least. This is possibly because I didn’t make them as tall as I could have, but there comes a point where I get tired of knitting the legs of socks and decide they’re done. This is why I should knit socks cuff down–In the beginning of the socks, my knitting mojo isn’t spent knitting the foot and I can knit plain round rows longer. Then there’s the heel (fun) and then the foot has to be so long so my foot fits in it–there’s no halfway.

So that’s my sock philosophy, so to speak. Plus I haven’t quite figured out the toe-up flap/gusset heel, which I think fits a lot better than the short row heel I put into toe-up socks. Clearly I need to make more of Wendy Johnson’s patterns, which are usually toe-up and include a flap heel.

I’ve just recently started another pair of plain socks, this time cuff-down. More on that later. And in case you were wondering, I’ve made it to DC and to my boyfriend’s and have successfully packed most of the things away in my house in Virginia Beach. Still have to find a job and an apartment so I can get the hell out of dodge, but I’m working on that. Sort of. : )

Interview!

May 18, 2011 in blog | Tags: blog, interview, life, other people | Leave a comment

Hey everyone, Nessa interviewed me over at Mixed Martial Arts and Crafts. Go check it out! I’ll be back with an FO post later today.

This Week

May 12, 2011 in knitting, life | Tags: knitting, life, socks, wip, work in progress | 2 comments

Let me tell you guys, I am having a hell of a week. I’ve been out of college for less than a week and I have a ton of stuff to get rid of, to put away until I move out of my house, and a job to find PLUS I came back to Virginia Beach to find I had jury duty for June despite that I have no car, the court house is on the other side of town, and I’m planning to move out sometime in June. So yeah. It’s been a hell of a week.

Anyway, I’m going back out of town on Saturday (back up to DC where my boyfriend lives to look for apartments and jobs and other stuff), so I have to get everything out of the cars and the living room and into the attic and my bedroom PLUS pack for my week or two out of town.

All this to say (besides that like, I like to tell you guys about my life) that I have been doing some very very simple knitting:

Just a pair of vanilla socks in Knit Picks Stroll (blue and brown, like Ravenclaw colors). Nice and simple so I don’t kill anyone while I’m doing all of my packing and stuff. I also frogged the chunky cashmere sweater but I have to rewash the yarn, so I can’t use it yet. It is nice though. I think it’ll be a scarf or something.

Anyway, I’ll be back in a couple of days with an update if I haven’t been crushed by all of my stuff.

I win at thrift store!

May 9, 2011 in stash | Tags: life, stash, sweaters, thrift store, yarn | 2 comments

I do. I so win at thrift. I went to a thrift store near my house with my grandparents today (they’re in town after my graduation) and I TOTALLY SCORED. SCORED. I found five sweaters total, all for $2 (one was only a dollar):

Two to felt (cashmere! I’m going to make a lovely light blanket when I get enough sweaters)

And three to frog:

From top to bottom: Old Navy cotton/wool, worsted/bulky weight (this is the $1 one), a probably fingering weight nylon/viscose/angora/cashmere blend (probably will be a lightweight sweater for me) and the coup de grace, a worsted weight CASHMERE sweater. I found bulky cashmere! It exists! I’m so excited to work with it. The three froggable sweaters are currently soaking and I’m just going to machine wash the other two.

I also found some cute shoes for $4:

Not sure what kind of socks I’m supposed to wear with these (suppose it doesn’t matter if wear them under pants). Yay, thrift store!

May 8, 2011 in life | Tags: college, graduation, life | 2 comments

HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS, I GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE!!

And Joe did too. Back to yarn stuff tomorrow.