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I didn’t go in to my volunteer gig today so I could get some work done for my occasional paid employment (shit I sell on Etsy). I’ve almost finished up a pair of shark mittens and I dyed up some wool for additional mittens and spats.
I just used black RIT dye in a bucket in the sink. I did four skeins then took them out to dry:
It’s damp outside so they’re on the kitchen table until my parents yell, in which case I’ll just hang them up in the shower or something.
All the yarn I dyed was recycled from thrift store sweaters, mainly from the Goodwill Outlet. I actually (or, well, my mother) found the RIT dye at the thrift too. I also used some leftover Dylon dye I’ve had for a bit. I probably paid less than $5 for the yarn, so it was a lot cheaper than buying WotA for mittens.
Because it’s so cheap to whip up, I’m considering offering kits for the mittens and spats. I’m not sure if people will be put-off because it’s recycled yarn and because it doesn’t have a “brand name”, but it’s just an idea. I’m not sure how much people charge for kits anyway. And I’d have to print up patterns. But I’d definitely appreciate another revenue stream.
Anyway, next time on Stitch, Brinn Stitch: Finished shark mittens. Maybe some spats (I forgot to photograph the last two pairs I made). Possibly Karlsro progress (it isn’t much, but I’ve been sneaking in stitches here and there).
I’m back to full-time job hunting, which basically means full-time knitting and watching Charmed (which is the latest sci fi/fantasy show I’ve gotten into. I love it; it’s like Buffy except sometimes the characters are happy and there are more witches). This means there is more time for knit blogging.
I recently finished up the last pair of shark mittens on order. They look like this:
I also started another knitting project for me (even though I have two others on the needles at the moment). As I mentioned the other day, it’s Karlsro in some recycled wool. I went down a couple of needle sizes, and this is my sleeve so far:
Don’t mistake it for a swatch. You know I don’t do that.
I also managed to do some dyeing the other day. I recently recycled some undyed wool from a thrift store vest, and I dunked it in some dye:
Colorway: Sharks. For knitting more shark mittens, obviously.
Colorway: Gradiation Experimentation. I rolled yp two 50g skeins into loose balls and dunked them in a bucket of purple kool aid for a bit. Voila, two gradient-dyed skeins. Not sure what to knit with them yet. Maybe a striped something or other. Thoughts?
The Ivy Sockettes are finished!
Pattern: My own, sort of. Toe up with a wedge toe and an odd short row/gusset hybrid heel thing.
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll (Essential) in Ivy. Pretty much used up the rest.
Needles: US 1
So these knit up pretty quickly and are a simple, utilitarian object. They will get a lot of wear throughout the seasons. The yarn is a good, solid sock yarn and I believe I have previously professed my love for it. It’s cheap and works up into nice, soft, sturdy socks.
The construction of these sockettes, on the other hand, was…special. Because I knit my Artichoke socks two at a time, the leftover yarn was already split into two balls, so I knit these two at a time too. Which worked out fine until I got to the heel. As it turns out, I divided my yarn unevenly, so I ran out of yarn on the first sock and had to use a tiny bit of different sock yarn. Which is annoying because I had plenty in the other ball after I finished the second sock.
I knit a mini-gusset into each sock. The first heel attempt was a short row heel which resulted in a too-wide heel and some Issues. So I ripped it back and moved the short rows more to the center and worked some decreases like in a regular flap heel turn to decrease the gussets out of the number of stitches on the back of the heel.
All in all, they came out pretty well and the fit is great–the gusset means they’re higher in the back of the heel and the shallow toe means the sock is hidden under most shoes. So yay. Sockettes are a perfect use for the leftovers after a pair of mid-calf socks and I think I might write up the pattern the next time I make a pair. Would anyone be interested in testing?
And I have, of course, started another pair of socks (Skew in KP Stroll Handpaints), so I suspect I’ll be knitting more sockettes soon.
PS: I am in DC for the week to move my sister into college and to visit my boyfriend, so posting might be spotty. I am planning to visit a new yarn store while I’m there though, so there’ll probably be a post about that.
Sooo my posts as of late have been mostly Finished Objects posts. But I have lots of time on my hands, so I do a lot of knitting. I kept meaning to write a WIP post for this sweater but then I finished other things, so I just posted about those instead. Anyway, I finished this top.
Pattern: Delphine from Interweave Knits Spring 2009
Yarn: Recycled 70/30 cotton/wool
Needles: US 4/3.75 KP options circ
Mods: Added a repeat or two to get a size between S and M, left out the split in the center front, and did the armhole picots in crochet.
So I’m pretty thrilled with this top. The fit is wonderful, it’s super cute and girly and will be perfect with skirts and over dresses. I love the ribbon and the neckline and the cap sleeves and the shaping and OH it is so cute.
The yarn I used, recycled from a short sleeved Old Navy tunic pullover, turned out to be perfect for this project. I didn’t swatch (I never do) and my gauge ended up being slightly bigger than the pattern, meaning the mods I made for fit worked out perfectly. Had I gotten gauge, it would have been a tic too small. The length is also exactly right, which is exciting since I have a long torso and most sweaters and written to be too short. But this one is just right!
This sweater is my seventh for the year, which means I am back on track for completing 12 for the year. I’m not sure that I will knit that many, but I do have the yarn and plans for at least six more sweaters. Not sure what I’ll start next (maybe more socks). I currently have a pair of thick hopefully thigh-high socks (I’m about mid-calf in them for a moment). But more on the socks later.
So the boyfriend is in town so I haven’t been posting, but I have been knitting! Convinced the boyfriend to help me with photographs, so the sweater I was knitting for a WWFY swap is finished and ready to be mailed off to its rightful owner.
Pattern: Karlsro from Noro Book One
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, seven skeins for the large
Needles: US 10.5 and 10, straights and KP options circular
Mods: None, knit as written
Despite the lack of clarity in the pattern (it’s not very well written and definitely not for beginners), Karlsro was a pretty easy knit and thanks to the huge gauge, knit up super quickly. It was mostly interesting enough to not be boring but simple enough that I didn’t have to concentrate.
This is obviously too big on me since I made a large and I am small, but it’s very stretchy. So I can sort of extrapolate how a small would fit. And since I get to keep the book the pattern is in, I can make another for myself, either in the Noro Kureyon I was sent for payment or in some recycled wool from an ENORMOUS brown sweater I got at the thrift.
As for the yarn: It wasn’t terrible. There was some VM and that was annoying. And there were a bunch of knots with color changes and that was annoying. But for the most part, the yarn did what I ecpected it would–it kinked up because it’s a single and the thickness varies quite a lot. But it’s reasonably soft and it does make a pretty sweater. Am I going to buy some for myself? Absolutely not. But I’m not racing to sell or trade the leftover either (though if you’re dying for four skeins of Silk Garden, we can discuss it).
My current knitting project is working on the Haruni I started a bit ago. I’m a couple rows into chart B. I also embroidered a thing, but I’m going to wait until I find a frame or big enough hoop before I photograph it.
Today was a WWKIP (World Wide Knit in Public) Day event at the D’Art center in Norfolk. I went and though I didn’t take any pictures (cause I don’t really know anyone and I feel weird about snapping random photos of people) I did have a lot of fun. I finished a pair of socks (which I’ll post about later) and worked on my WWFY sweater. I also got lots of swag!
A bag, some mags, a button, some samples of Miss Babs yarn, a Euclan sample, and some coupons/business cards. I’m never thrilled with Knitter’s, but there are a couple of cute things and there’s a dress in the Debbie Bliss mag I might make (out of cotton, not pure silk like suggested cause I’m not crazy).
There were probably about 50 people there total. I sat with a group of lovely women who welcomed me (as I’m sure I looked SUPER confused upon arriving, not knowing anyone there). Of COURSE I didn’t get their names, but they were lovely. I sat down, pulled out my sock to knit and started to flip through the Knitter’s mag. One of the women there (not at my table but wandering around) came over, saw me flipping through the mag and said, “Oh, I have to give you something! I’m with Knitter’s and you’re actually looking at the magazine!” So she gave me a Juniper Moon Fiber Farm button (yay!) and a tape measure.
Everyone who came got a ticket for a door prize drawing (there were a LOT of prizes), two if you brought a charity knit (I didn’t but I SHOULD HAVE). They drew a bunch of tickets every half hour or so. I had arrived at 12:45. I left at 4:45. I kept listening to the numbers–not mine, not mine. Finally, the Knitting Guild President (the sponsor of the event and the woman who was running things) said, “Is there anyone who’s still here that hasn’t won something?” I raised my hand.
I was the only one. She drew the last of the tickets and I did win (finally) but I was literally the last person to win anything. Gah. I won a book and some yarn:
I’m not crazy about either but I’m thinking I can trade the book and the yarn will probably be a shawl or scarf of some kind. I don’t especially care for the 47% acrylic, but I’ll deal. After all, I won it!
It was nice to hang out with other knitters who know what they are doing, can knit more than garter stitch and know what ssk, MadTosh, and US 6/4mm mean. I had a lot of fun and I will definitely be looking for more KIP events in my area next year.
So today I received in the mail a metric fuck-ton of yarn. A grand total of 21 skeins (plus a pattern book). Half Noro Silk Garden and half Noro Kureyon. Before you ask, no I didn’t buy it. And no, I don’t keep to keep all of it. I’ve started another WWFY trade. I’ll be knitting this sweater:
Out of this yarn:
And in return I get to keep the book, the leftovers and ten skeins of Noro Kureyon:
I’m pretty stoked about this trade. I’ve never worked with Noro before and I’ve heard some bad things about it. But I’ve balled up a few skeins of the Silk Garden and I kind of like it so far. It has a similar thick/thin/single texture to Lamb’s Pride (a yarn I LOVE) and the colors are pretty. I’ll be on the lookout for awkward color sequences and missing dye, but I haven’t seen any major problems (or major vm) in the 3.5 balls I’ve done so far.
I don’t anticipate this sweater taking long (it’s knit from side to side on freakin’ 10.5’s) so I’ll probably be taking a break from Haruni and my blue/red socks. I want to finish at least the first chart of Haruni before I start this sweater (as chart A is the perfect thing to knit while I’m watching SG1 on my computer–interesting but not hard).
I’ll let you know progress as I make it and I promise I’ll show WIP photos of the socks and Haruni soon.
Well, after a few weeks of knitting whatever the hell I wanted, I’ve decided to take on a couple more Will Work for Yarn trades. I’m also still knitting a sock. The sock, so far, looks like this:
Pretty simple, smooth going. But I’m putting it aside to work on soakers for a swap. The pattern in question is the adorable Turtle Butt soaker. The yarns in questions are a variety:
The mostly-knit one is one that I am finishing (the grafting and the leg cuffs). Then there’s a medium in black and pink and a large one in grey and blue/green. In return, I received a skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepard Worsted in Flames, a skein of my partner (SeptemberSocks)’s hand dye (same colorway as the blue/green above) and two colors (two and three skeins) of Alpaca Cloud (in Smoke and a darker grey). So yeah, I basically win. At least one of the colors of Alpaca cloud will become a giant shawl and we shall just see about the others.
Stay tuned for some swap stuff and the inevitable progress on the soakers. Also, I started a sewing project that I promise to show you at some point before it’s actually done.
When I said Lanesplitter was knitting up quickly, I meant it. It’s already done and I started it like, three days ago. And now I have a finished skirt to wear! For the winter, when it’s not too hot to wear a wool skirt.
Pattern: Lanesplitter from a recent Knitty.
Yarn: Recycled wool that I hand dyed.
Needles: US 10/6 mm
Mods: I skipped the waist band and threaded a crochet chain in the top. Better fit and I didn’t have to knit ribbing. Yay!
So, I love this skirt. Hand dyed yarn, thick yarn, big needles? HELL YES. Also, it’s super comfortable. And also really cute. I was worried how to yarns would work together, but it came out well. I wasn’t sure how I liked it all the way up until the end when it was done and I decided it was cute.
ALSO I managed to mostly line up the stripes and by mattress stitching instead of blanket stitching, it sort of looks seamless. The seam is pretty hard to see unless you’re right up on my butt, anyway. And few people should be that close to my butt.
In other knitting news, I started another pair of socks. And I found Vampire Knits at the library which means OF COURSE I am knitting the Prim Reaper Corset. I might even make a swatch.
In the past couple of days, I’ve finally gotten around to dyeing up some yarn I’ve been meaning to dye for a bit. I used my crock pot and easter egg dyes and Kool-aid.
The first yarn I dyed was a cream worsted weight wool I got from a recycled thrift store sweater. It was huge and cabled and the finished yarn came out of the crock pot looking BEAUTIFUL:
I used a packet of purple Kool-Aid and blue and red (and I think maybe a purple) tablets of Easter egg dye with a good splash of vinegar. I was going for a dark purple, but I love how it came out. I am already knitting this up into a Lanesplitter skirt with some wool I dyed last summer:
I like how the colors work together, though I didn’t at first. Worsted weight yarn on size 10 needles works up super fast, so I am already past the increase section and about halfway through the straight section even though I just started yesterday.
The other yarn I dyed was originally a yellow lace-weight cashmere. I don’t especially care for yellow, so I threw it into the crock pot with some blue and green Easter egg dye:
It’s lighter than I wanted but still pretty. The purple spots are where I accidentally threw in some Tropical Punch Kool-Aid. The packet is blue but the powder is red and I wasn’t reading especially closely, so… Still, I like how it came out, better than if had just been green. I was shooting for teal but this is more like grass and wild strawberries. I think it’ll look cool when it’s knit up.
I recently finished a couple of stealth FO’s for a swap, so I’ll have those for you in the next couple of days as well as Lanesplitter progress. I’m still working on my shorts but striped diagonal multi colored hand-dye is a lot more interesting knitting than solid colored cotton stockinette, so I’ve set it aside for a bit. I don’t expect it will sit too long before I finish it though–I’m about halfway up past the legs, so I have about two inches in the front and two inches + short rows in the back, then ribbing. It’s not a particularly time-intensive pattern, but I was feeling the itch of startitus so I cast on Lanesplitter.
I also started a large-scale sewing project, but more on that later. : )
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 