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Day two of KCBW Round three! Today’s topic is a photo challenge. Set a scene or a story with a photo. Given that I am crap with photos and didn’t exactly plan ahead (which obviously I should have), I’ll just share the one photo I actually took while on vacation:
Yes, that is a terrible photo of Mr. Smee holding both my in-progress Carousel sock and his nose. I was going for a “hold my sock” photo a la Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and this is what happened instead. I guess that’s what happens when you take pictures with Disney villains. Next year I’ll have to go with a princess. Or some sort of furry character.
AWW YEAH day one of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week! Today’s post is all about COLORS. I like them. Especially jewel tones cause I’m a slob and it’s harder to stain dark colors. My stash would support this statement and so would my projects. Out of all the things I’ve made for me, there are only a handful made in light colors. There’s this:
and some other things. But my favorite knits are darker colors. Like my Girl Friday, my favorite sweater ever:
It’s kind of hard to tell judging from my projects what colors I tend towards because so many of them were for swaps where I didn’t choose the color. So going to my stash, for which I apparently did not select actual colors, there’s a lot of undyed/white/ecru/natural. That is because the vast majority of my stash is recycled yarn because I’m poor (and it’s fun) and that’s the most common color of sweater I find.
If I could get my stash to filter correctly, I would show you this pictorally buuuuuuuuuuuuuut I can’t. Possibly I should start adding the color family names when I upload new stash.
This is sort of a lame post but I got home yesterday and I had to work today and I can’t find my camera charger. So forgive me. At some point I’ll have pictures of the Hexagon Petal Tee, which is finished, and the Whedonverse swap package I received. At some point. And there are some KCBW posts and stuff.
I’m gonna go back to marathoning the X Files (I’m on season five and OH GOD I LOVE THIS BUT THE UST I AM DYING) and knitting. I’ll see you tomorrow.
I am participating in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week again this year! I have participated for the last two years and it’s a lot of fun. I love meeting new people and new blogs through the tag system. Fortunately, KCBW starts the Monday after I get back from Florida, so I won’t have to worry too much about planning my posts ahead.
If you have a blog, I hope you participate too! Information can be found on eskimimimakes.com. Topics include color, knitting for seasons, and a photography challenge.
In regular knitting news, I have finished all the hexagons, the neckline and 1.5 armbands on my swap Hexagon Petal Tee. I should finish it up in short order but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post about it. We’re going to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow, MGM/Hollywood Studios on Tuesday and Animal Kingdom on Thursday. It’ll be a busy week but fun I think.
I’m down to the last hexagon on my Hexagon Petal Tee but it’s too bulky to tote around Disney parks, so I started something smaller. I cast on for Clapotis in some recycled merino from a J Crew sweater. I haven’t done too much so far because I’ve been rather engrossed in a book (Insatiable by Meg Cabot, which is basically if Twilight was good), but I’ve got a bit:
I’ve been doing a lot of reading this week. I finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire and I’m waiting desperately for my hold on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest to be available. I’m reading them on my Kindle (which, by the way is amazing and love). I’m also reading the Castle tie-in novels, which are delightful, if transparent. I don’t even care. I am picturing all of the characters as the ones from the show (“Lauren Perry” is OBVIOUSLY Lannie and Ochoa is OBVIOUSLY Espo and that’s who I picture speaking). I finished the first one, Heat Wave, and am about halfway through Naked Heat.
On my reading list for the next couple of weeks is the rest of the Castle books, the Wrinkle in Time trilogy (I think I’ll actually understand them this go round) and the Hunger Games. I really want to get to the Hunger Games, but I bought the ebook trilogy so I’m reading my library books first. Impatiently.
Kind of paused on the X Files because I’m away from my internet, but chatter on that will resume when I get back to it.
So I’ve been working on this top for a WWFY swap. It’s a pretty easy knit once I figured out how to read the dang pattern. It’s going pretty quickly and I intend to make one for myself when I’m finished. Here’s what I got so far:
Here’s what the back looks like:
In life news, I am leaving for Florida tomorrow, where I will be for two weeks. I suspect I’ll get a lot of knitting done but I’m not sure I’ll be able to post as much as I’d like. So there’s that. I have several other things on the needles so I’m sure I’ll have lots of things to show off either while I’m gone or when I get back.
In fandom news, I am about halfway through season three of the X Files and I am LOVING. IT. UST for real, but it’s so good. I’m also about halfway through The Girl Who Played With Fire and I’m really liking that so far too. And yes, I will probably do some X Files crafts at some point. It’s kind of a thing now.
You know, I really don’t mean to go off the radar for weeks at a time. Anyway, I’m working on things. First up, socks:
I frogged the blotchy socks I was working on before (they were coming out too small) and restarted with the Carousel Sock pattern from the latest Knitting. The structure is really interesting and holds my interest for the entire sock. Plus you only have 12 stitches at a time, so that’s nice.
The next project is a Hexagon Petal Tee from the IK Spring 2011 in Tahki Cotton Classic. I’m making it for a WWFY swap except, as I have more than enough time, I received two back issues of IK, Inspired to Knit, and Whimsical Little Knits Two. Because you can never have enough knitting books, right? Right.
I’m sure I will have a full WIP post about this last project if for no other reason than I’ve restarted the damn thing five times. Apparently I have trouble with charts. IDEK.
It looks like this now (plus a few more rounds if I haven’t ripped it all out in frustration/inability to count when you read this):
Oh, and also, I bought a Kindle Fire. It is amazing and I’m currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I got through the library. Excite. Also, it’s fantastic for knitting patterns and charts.
I am knitting a pair of vanilla socks in a blotchy yarn. I’m not too concerned with how they look since I like making socks and I like wearing handknit socks. They look like this so far:
I have also started reading a knitting related book:
It’s about that woman that knitted Mary Tudor (the sweater) and wrote about it. I’m not that far in yet, but Adrienne Martini has a great voice, making her book very interesting (plus I like knitting).
I must confess I haven’t been doing a tremendous amount of knitting lately, mostly because my job leaves me exhausted and I need to be working on my Whedonverse swap package (one more thing and some finishing touches). I have a bit of time before that though.
Ravelry tells me I started this project in May. It is now March. For those keeping track at home, that’s a total of ten months. Which makes this little pair of shorts the project spanning the longest time period yet. Anyway, they’re done now.
Pattern: Studio Shorts
Yarn: Hobby Lobby I Love This Cotton (it’s like kittens, for real)
Needles: US 6/4 mm
Mods: Fewer hip decreases, probably more short rows. I don’t really know at this point.
They’re not really that wrinkly but it’s difficult to take a picture of your own ass/short-wearing section even with a tripod. And it was cold out, hence the tights. I suspect it will warm up soonishly and I’ll get a chance to wear them. They fit really well with the drawstring and they’re super comfortable. Hobby Lobby’s cotton is super soft, much nicer than kitchen cotton.
Now, anyone who’s followed this blog for any length of time will know that I’m a huge nerd. I love the recent Marvel movies (and I’m constantly disappointed I never got into comics as a kid) and I’m completely obsessed with all things Joss Whedon. Naturally, this means I’ll be going to see the Avengers at midnight when it opens. I’m thinking these shorts, green tights, green shirt, maybe some lurid green eyeshadow. Maybe green flip flops. Even though the Hulk is not at the top of my favorite Avengers (I really love Thor and Iron Man), it is the one I can easily dress up as. So that’s happening.
Knowing me, I won’t get around to uploading a WIP post about the socks I’m working on, so know that I’ve started a pair of blotchy vanilla socks in Premier Serenity Sock. I’ll probably be able to get two pairs out of the two balls I have, actually. I also started a sweater in crochet, but I’ve sort of put that aside for the socks, so more on that later.
I started knitting these socks on August 20 and finished them on March 3. That’s over six months. For one pair of socks. To be fair, I knit a lot of other things in that time, but still. Six months. The only other thing it took me this long to knit was my Featherweight, which I also put down for 4-5 months. And there’s those shorts I was working on that will probably have the same time jump. Anyway, socks.
Pattern: Skew from Knitty
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Handpainted in “Tea Party” about 60g.
Needles: US 1/2.25 mm
Mods: I did the cuff differently because I was done following directions at that point. I did the decrease short rows til I had 60 sts then did regular short rows til the sides were even, then did a 2×2 cuff.
I am always surprised about how much yarn it takes to knit a pair of socks for me. I consistently use around 60g of sock weight yarn, leaving me with a somewhat awkward left over amount. Though I suppose with two 40g leftover balls I can make a whole other pair, so I guess it’s nice that out of two skeins of sock yarn, I can get three full pairs of socks.
I really love the way these came out. The heel makes them a little tricky to get on, but once they’re on, they fit so well. The instep hugs my arch and the stripe of increases across the back sort of feels like a strap, holding the socks in place. They’re pretty awesome socks.
I’ll probably make them again because it’s a pretty easy, fun pattern. I think I’ll do stripes next time. Maybe I’ll even follow the pattern all the way through. Who the hell know? I’ll just knit all the things.
I can’t remember if I mentioned here that I joined a hat swap, but I did and I sent out the hat I made. My partner has received it, so I can go ahead and show it off here:
Pattern: Zombie Killer Slouch
Yarn: Recycled merino held double
Needles: US 8/5 mm
Mods: I did the straight section about an inch shorter, mostly because I was tired of knitting it.
I was surprised at how much yarn this took: It’s basically half a sweater. The yarn is fantastic though, soft with a firm twist that held up through frogging bobbles.
My partner appears to like the hat I made, so that’s another swap success at least on my end. I was worried it came out too big because it looked ridiculous on my head (but I have very short hair and the hat sort of swallowed me up). I based it on a pattern/picture she had on Pinterest, down to the color and everything, so that’s good.
Stay tuned for the completed Skew Socks, next time on Stitch, Brinn, Stitch!
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 