FO: Puff Ball Mittens

January 29, 2014 in knitting | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 comments

Project Number One in the latest batch of things for AnnaMarie: Thrummed mittens!

Pattern: Thrummed Mittens, Stuffed Mittens … or Fluffies
Yarn: CorgiHillFarm hand dyed DK Polworth
Fiber: Falkland (I’m pretty sure it’s Ashland Bay)
Needle: US 6/4mm dpns
Mods: I used the pattern as more of a guideline. I increased after the ribbing (because I wanted the cuff to fit securely and with my gauge, there was no way 36 stitches was going to be big enough), I did my own thing for the thumb and the top decreases.

THEY’RE SO FLUFFY I’M GONNA DIE.

It absolutely does not get cold enough here to justify making and wearing thrummed mittens for myself, but after making and trying on these ones, I am definitely making a pair. The Falkland makes them super soft inside and they’re hella warm, and I love them. I need them. NEED.

As mentioned above, I did some heavy modifying to the pattern. I mostly just used the thrumming chart, to be honest. I was a little disappointed the pattern did not contain instructions for making thrums, but I guess it calls for a commercial pencil roving, so you don’t really need one. I found this explanation by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee really helpful, though I think I made mind a bit longer as I was worried they would slip out of the knitting. All in all, though, the knitting and thrumming was super simple, and they kept me entertained the whole time I was working on them.

In life news: I am moving this Saturday, OMG. Signing the lease Friday afternoon. Y’all, I am SO, SO ready for this. Well, I’m not, I actually have a ton more packing to do plus I have to reserve a UHaul in order to move my bed/desks/bookshelves plus I have to buy internet (oh my god, cable companies are such a racket and internet is way more expensive than it should be). But still. It’s totally happening. EXCITE.

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FO: Boucle Cowls

January 27, 2014 in weaving | Tags: , , , , | 1 comment

I have had, for the longest time, some seriously ugly yarn in the stash. I have no idea where it came from (probably either from a yard sale or thrift store or something) but I’m pretty sure I didn’t buy it new. I hope. It was four skeins of Lion Boucle, two skeins in Parfait (Rav link, not my stash) and two skeins in Jelly Bean (same deal). In addition to the fairly hideous (IMO) colorways, it was also a mostly-acrylic boucle. Not for knitting. Not ever for knitting. But I wanted them OUT OF THE STASH ALREADY since I’m trying to work the stash back down to reasonable levels. So I wove them.


The colors are still pretty bad, but they did weave up hella fast, so that was nice. The warp is just crochet cotton, of which I have a substantial amount for someone who doesn’t crochet doilies. Both were made on Vergere, the LeClerc, on a 5.5 dent reed. Plain tabby weave, super fast.

 

The seam is the same I used on the last couple of these. Sew right sides together, then fold over and sew down the selvages. Probably five minutes of sewing each.

The above cowl I sent to my sister. I’m not sure where the other one is going. I probably won’t wear it, since I have enough scarves and cowls already, and if I didn’t, I have plenty of yarn and time to make something in colors and fibers I actually like. Another item for the nebulous gift box that doesn’t really exist. Maybe I’ll put it up on Etsy. That would be an excellent way to work down the stash–make scarves and sell them. That was the idea with some drawstring bags, and I have yet to actually list them in the shop. Bleh.

Anyway, I’ll probably make a bunch more of these cowls. I have some more boucle yarn (in a sunny yellow acrylic I got from Target years ago when I first started knitting). They’re pretty quick and fairly practical. And I do love weaving. : )

Barbie’s Dream House

January 24, 2014 in life, spinning | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 comment

I was definitely a doll kid when I was little. I had baby dolls and stuffed animals and Barbies, and I loved making up scenarios for them. I loved dressing up Barbie in all sorts of clothes. I had a hot pink Barbie car at one point, but I don’t think I ever had a big dollhouse. I’d have loved one when I was kid; hell, I’d love one now. It’s less about dolls now and more about a deep love of miniatures, but still. I don’t have a Barbie Dream House or any Barbies anymore, but I do have some yarn that brought Barbie instantly to mind.

I spun this up on Alexandra, my wheel, in just a couple of hours. Speaking of the wheel: about a month ago, I took a spinning lesson at Uniquities, my super fabulous Local Yarn Shop. I wanted some Official Instruction on how to set up the drive band and tensioning and stuff and, if there was time left over, to learn a little about corespinning. We decided to set up the wheel as a double drive. The difference between the bobbin ratio and the flyer ratio is pretty small, but it’s big enough to work. And I can finally tension everything properly, so plying isn’t a mess of too much twist. Anyway, I managed to get through some practice corespinning and moved over to the BFL I had started, but the drive band kept popping off! Because the wheel is a bit old and a bit wiggly, things tend to move around. The other day I really wanted to do some spinning, so I sat down and studied the situation and (I think) managed to mostly fix it so that doesn’t happen any more.

All that to say I spun up the Barbie yarn in no time flat and had absolutely zero tension problems, and it was wonderful.

The fiber in question is merino that I bought from the Spinner’s Hill booth and Maryland Sheep and Wool. It used to look like this:

SO PINK. I used a short forward draw and it just flew by. It’s a two ply and the bobbins matched up almost perfectly, even though I didn’t actually divide the fiber until I was about halfway through the first half. I knew I’d purchased four ounces, so I just measured off about two ounces and set it aside for the second bobbin. There were few enough singles on the second bobbin that I could wind them off into a modified Andean bracelet and continue plying with no real break in the yarn.

I got a total of 188 yards of about worsted weight, which is pretty typical. I actually managed to get all 4 ounces of finished yarn onto one bobbin while I was plying, and I have no idea how I accomplished that. I really love the finished yarn though. It’s pretty soft and super squooshy. Nice and dense. It will probably become mittens at some point. With that much bright pink, it’s perfect for cheering up dreary January days.

I really want to pull out some more merino and spin something very similar to this. This ends up being my default spin. I sometimes wish I could spin thinner and get more yardage (because fiber is expensive, and I want to get maximum knitting out of it), but the truth is, I just prefer knitting with worsted weight yarns. I’m going to try and remember this and not be too worried about yardage and getting the most bang for the buck. I tend to spend less than $20 (ideally under $15; I think this was $10 or $12) per 4 ounces, and getting to spin it, knit it, and then wear the FO is plenty of bang for that buck.

In life news: I am moving! Joe and I finally found a place of our own. It’s a little one bedroom and it’s a little more than we wanted to pay, but it’s a space of our own. We’ll sign the lease next week sometime and move in February 1st. I am SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS, you guys. It’ll be a little cramped, I think, but we’ll have our own kitchen and balcony and WINDOWS. LOTS OF WINDOWS.

There’s some furniture I need to get (some bookshelves for yarn storage, mainly; I’d like the Ikea Expedit ones, but they’re a bit pricey) and a LOT of packing to do, but it’s finally happening.

FO: Peacock Socks

January 17, 2014 in knitting | Tags: , , , | 2 comments

One of my goals for this year (besides eat less crap and maybe lose a couple pounds) is to be more consistent with blogging. I finish a lot of things, so it shouldn’t be a problem, and it’s not like I don’t have the time to write the posts. I just put it off, I guess. I’d like to be better about posting non-FO posts instead of just the parade of finished things when they come off the needles.

As such, here’s a finished object:


(Sorry the picture is sideways and crap; it was raining and I wanted to snap a couple of shots as quickly as possible)

Pattern: It’s a sock. Top down, flap and gusset heel, wedge toe
Yarn: Wild Hare Fiber Studio Hand Dyed Pinnacle Sock Yarn in Peacock Strut
Needles: Addi Sock Rockets, US 1. I love these needles, y’all.

These socks were, as usual, super simple to knit. They’re mostly mindless. The second sock was knit mostly in line for things (or while walking around) at Disney World this past Christmas. They came out a little too big (not sure why–my other 64 stitch socks fit okay; maybe I’ll go with 60 for plain socks next time) and a little short (that’s my own impatience), but on the whole, totally wearable.

Despite the fit issues, I really do like the socks. I ADORE the colors and the yarn was fabulous to work with. It’s pretty cottony (if that makes any sense), which is how I prefer my sock yarn. I bought the yarn a couple of years ago at a craft fair in Alexandria called Craftermath. It was definitely a splurge (I don’t usually buy indie hand dyed sock yarn), but it was totally worth it.

I have about 40g of the yarn left. It’ll probably (eventually) get turned into another pair of socks with contrasting ribbing, heels, and toes. Then I’ll have two pairs of super pretty socks. : )

In other crafting news: I know I said I wanted to post things other than FOs sometimes, but as it turns out, I’ve been making some quick things, so I actually have two more finished things to show off. By the end of the second post, I’ll probably have two more. (Look, worsted weight hats are really quick and so is weaving). Maybe I’ll throw in a WIP post for the sweater I’m working on. I’m sure you guys don’t mind the constant parade of pretty knits one bit, huh?

Kinda FO: Spatterdash

January 13, 2014 in knitting | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The final FO in this particular batch of things for AnnaMarie (for whom I knit everything and I don’t ever care cause I get to use the loveliest of yarns).

Pattern: Spatterdash from a recent Knitty
Yarn: Cephalopod Skinny Bugga in Flash Art Butterfly
Needles: US 1 KP fixed and a Kollage Square
Mods: None, knit as written

Now, you can probably tell by the above picture why this are only “kinda” an FO. They do not have buttons. AnnaMarie said she wanted to pick them out and would sew them on herself, so I just did the knitting. Which was totally fine by me. I don’t like sewing on buttons at the best of times, never mind when there’s a frillion of them. I’m cool just knitting.

The buttons are, by the way, the reason I probably won’t make these again for me. The knitting was fine if sometimes a little fiddly and okay, the method of doing feather and fan was different from what I’m used to, but in general, the knitting was perfectly lovely. But the buttons. I’m not sure I can handle sewing on all those buttons, much as I might want the finished object. If I did make these again, I would probably just sew the flap down and skip the whole business.

Anyway, it turns out I lied last time about the number of finished objects remaining (I forgot about some socks). I have two (probably three by the time this post goes up, let’s be honest here), so the FO train rolls on. And on.

FO: Endpaper Mitts

January 11, 2014 in knitting | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Part two of my vacation knitting! These are also for AnnaMarie.


(The oh-so-willing model is my brother, whom I roped in to helping me with pictures)

Pattern: Endpaper Mitts
Yarn: Cephalopod Skinny Bugga in Punchinello Butterfly and Bronze Moth
Needles: US 2s or 3s; I can’t remember
Mods: None, knit as written

Y’all, this pattern gave me fits. I have made it before with great success (until I accidentally felted them in the washing machine), but this time… I don’t even know. I made a total of three mitts, each completely finished and ends woven in, and I almost made a fourth. The first one came out fine. A little snug but fine. The second one had an extra repeat before the thumb that I some how failed to notice. The third came out way too big, though strangely in line with the second minus the extra repeat. Apparently after I finished knitting the first mitt, my knitting loosened WAY UP. Like WAY UP. At the point I finished the third mitt, I was COMPLETELY OVER THEM and wanted to knit ANYTHING ELSE, but I figured if Anna-Marie wanted me to redo them or one of them, I would. Fortunately, she said it was fine, which is good because there might have been bloodshed at that point.

You can’t really tell the size difference when the mitts are on. You can kind of see it in the above picture, but I stretched the smaller one a bit to make them appear to be the same size in the pictures. But they are definitely different sizes. I had wanted to knit some colorwork mittens, but this experience is giving me pause. Not a tremendous amount of pause, mind, since you know I tend to just jump right in to craft things. But still, pause.

When I was knitting these, I kept thinking the colors reminded me of ketchup and mustard. Neither of which I eat, but the colors are distinct. The pattern is pretty subtle, but still nice.

I have one more FO to show off and by the time I get there on the blog (since I delay the posts when I have a bunch of things to show off at once), I’ll probably have finished a sweater (worsted weight; started a sleeve yesterday) or seventeen sharks (okay, I only have three open orders, but still). Oh, I also have a weaving thing I need to finish up and maybe post about. So I guess it’ll be two more FOs (well, one is still a WIP but the weaving is all done). And then maybe I’ll try to get back on a regular posting schedule.

FO: Catkin

January 9, 2014 in knitting, life, swap | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Look, y’all. In my defense, I was out of town for two of the four weeks I didn’t post anything. Internet was spotty and time to post was even spottier (my mother, with whom I went on the trip, along with my younger brother, is sort of a nut about planning and doing things on our biannual trips to Florida to visit the grandparents). I did do a fair amount of knitting (what else are you going to do in an hour wait for Space Mountain?), which I can post over the next week or so. Today’s post is a shawl I finished on December 15 and apparently never got around posting about. Anyway.

Pattern: Catkin
Yarn: Cephalopod Skinny Bugga in Hermit Crab and Crown of Thorns Starfish
Needles: US 4/3.5 Knit Picks Options circular
Mods: None, knit as written

I made this for AnnaMarie as part of a swap. Ravelry tells me it took over a month to knit, but I’m sure I was working on other things besides. Although, to be fair, it does use almost two entire skeins of fingering weight yarn as it is (apparently) a square shawl with a neck hole in the middle. You can tell that it’s supposed to be square shaped by looking at people’s blocking pictures (or when you block the one you made, I guess). Maybe you can tell from the other pictures too, but spatial awareness and reasoning has never really been my strong suit.

I am highly doubtful I’ll knit this pattern again for myself, but it is quite lovely and I would like to have one. There are a whole host of two- or three-color shawls I’d like to have/make (Faberge, Catkin, Color Affection), but who knows when I would get to them. I certainly have plenty of shawls and scarves at the moment. (We won’t talk about how I just put up a WWFY post for a couple of big circular shawls.)

Catkin was pretty fun to make though. The different sections break it up so you never get bored, and once you get the hang of them, each section is pretty intuitive. Bugga, skinny or otherwise, was a delight to work with, as always. Such excellent colors that get in those yarns. And so soft.

If I ever do make one for myself, I’ll probably wear it delightfully sideways as in the picture above. It’s a little quirky, like me. I would like to knit another cape of some sort though as my other one gets plenty of wear. I’m pretty sure “cape” and “capelet” are just nicer ways of saying “poncho” for people who were scarred by the 70s, but that’s okay. They’re warm and comfortable and they stay where you bloody put them (I’m looking at you, shawls).

Let’s see. In fandom watching news, I have finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist (original and Brotherhood), and I’m pretty sure I never told you I’d started. I’m planning to do a sort of anime binge watch before Katsucon in February so I can get a lot more things. Previously I went to anime conventions cause they’re a fun excuse to dress up in costume (from any genre, really; I’ve seen cosplayers do everything from Anastasia to Star Trek to the Ancient Aliens guy) and be a big nerd in a group of big nerds. But I’m gonna watch some anime this go round so I get the full anime con experience. Next up on the list is Cowboy Bebop, which used to be on Cartoon Network all the time when I was in high school but I have never actually seen. Feel free to leave suggestions for others to add to the list. So far I’ve got Cowboy Bebop, Black Butler, Attack on Titan, and Inuyasha. And maybe Gundam Wing.

Anyway, in other news, I am still apartment hunting. I finally finished reading I Jedi, so Joe and I are going to move on to the Hand of Thrawn books soon. Oh, and you should all go check out the Harry Potter Medicinal Re-Read, wherein a bunch of people are re-reading the Harry Potter books and posting about their thoughts and feelings. My friend Kevin (of Made-of-Fail, for the curious) is a part, and I’ve done some editing for his posts. It’s a super fun project and a lovely, thought-provoking, and nostalgic read.

Birthday Sale

December 8, 2013 in life | Tags: , , , | 4 comments

Today is my birthday! Also, it’s snowing!

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I turn 24 today. To celebrate, you can take 24% off of my patterns. Just use the coupon code “birthdaybirthday” at checkout. If you knit quickly, there’s plenty of time to whip up some shark mittens before Christmas! Promotion ends midnight EST Monday 12/9 (which is Joe’s birthday).

FO: Big Blue Triangle

December 3, 2013 in knitting | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

I made a scarf! I’m not really sure where I found the time to knit 400 yards between all the sharks and stuff for AnnaMarie, but I guess I managed it.

Pattern: None–it’s a triangle. I did use a garter tab cast on though
Yarn: Berocco Ultra Alpaca, two skeins
Needles: US 10.5/6.5mm

Now, when I say I used two skeins, I mean I used two full skeins. I didn’t want any leftovers, so I kept a careful eye on how much I used. When I was winding the second skein, there was a break in the yarn that resulted in a second ball. I eyeballed it, decided it was probably enough for the yo row and garter border, and resolved to knit in pattern until I got there. As it turned out, that little ball was exactly the right amount. I had less than a yard of yarn left at the end.

As you might well imagine, two full 100g skeins makes for a good sized shawl. It’s kind of hard to tell in the picture, the wingspan is about five feet. It’s large enough to wrap around myself or tie like a shrug. I love it.

The yarn, incidentally, is fabulous. Super soft and warm. Fairly sheddy during the knitting process, but I’ve lived with cats (four cats, to be precise), so shedding doesn’t bother me at all. And it’s not as bad as the Plymouth Alpaca Primo I’ve worked with before. Ultra Alpaca is a bit out of my price range (seeing as my price range is about $25 for a sweater tops, which is usually just recycled yarn and the occasional Elann bag) and I think it’d be a bit warm for a sweater (at least where I live now), but I bet it would make a super hat. And it does make a lovely scarf/shawl).

Having cast this off, I have hella startitus and I want to make all the things, but I need to power through some shark mittens first. I’m grateful for the income, but still. I added it up the other day, and it turns out that I’ve knit 108 pairs of shark mittens since I started selling them. And that’s just sharks–there are also a couple of pairs of dinos that I’ve made. 108 pairs. That number just blows my mind.

FO: Christmas Cowl

December 1, 2013 in weaving | Tags: , , , , , | 1 comment

Another cowl! I made this one first, actually, but no matter. My sister asked me to make her an infinity scarf/cowl for Christmas, and I complied. (I say for Christmas, but it’s mostly just because she asked–I would have made one in February too).

Yarn: Acrylic? Joe’s grandmother actually gave it to me in the form of a half-knit sweater
Loom: Bergere
Reed: 5.5 dpi
Weave: Tabby (it’s almost always tabby here)

The weaving on this cowl took me a bit longer than the black one, but then I did put it down for a couple of days. It’s a pretty open weave so I had to be more careful about beating, and that’s sometimes more concentration than I’m capable after work. The bulk of the weaving was done on a Sunday. And the seam is the same as the other one.

My sister recently moved to North Carolina, so I expect her winters will be a bit milder than in Virginia (although Virginia Beach winters are frequently pretty mild too), so I thought the open weave would be okay. Plus I wanted to use the yarn. It’s a white strand with a metallic blue ply that makes the whole thing a sort of ice blue color from a distance.

Anyway, I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. I hope my sister likes it, but she’s notoriously hard to please. I figure she can always give it to her roommate or send it back to me or whatever. I enjoyed weaving it, and that’s what matters.