Blogging about knitting (mostly), stamping, gardening,
beading, and cooking
Ok everyone, get back to your
knitting!
--Fred (or George) Weasley
thursday, may 25, 2006
Angry at lace
I really haven't gotten far on my first lace-weight project, the Trellis Scarf from the Spring 2006 Interweave Knits. I managed to get through the 17-row border pattern ok, but now that I've reached the part in the pattern where you
need to knit 7 stitches together, do several yarn-overs, and end up with 5 stitches, I'm getting downright surly. One
problem may be that my needles aren't pointy enough.
The other problem is that I tend to knit tight, and trying to get these 7 stitches onto the right needle has really
been a nightmare. And to top it all off, after I finally managed to finish that first row, I didn't end up with the
right number of stitches at the end of the row, so now I have to rip it out. Argggh!
So this is the whopping progress I've made (I stopped in frustration at the point where the stitch count was off):
...in a fit of knitting. I actually knit something and completed it in a weekend without working on anything else
in between.
I saw this yarn on Friday while I was at Joann's using my 40% off coupon. I must be inspired right now by lime
green because the color was in everything I bought:
I remembered the cool washcloths from Mason-Dixon Knitting ,which I borrowed from the library, and decided that I had to use this yarn right away. I love how it turned out:
Notes: A fun quick knit! The pattern was interesting because it varied with each row but not so much
so that I wasn't able to watch tv while knitting. And it matches my blog!
For the second year in a row I was unable to be with my mom on Mother's Day :( I gave her a call yesterday and
she was doing work at home! I told her she should stop, but she's become quite adept at using her voice-recognition
software to create tables in Excel and she was on a role. (She just had surgery for arthiritis in her wrists.)
So, I couldn't be with her, but I emailed her a picture of myself wearing an "I heart mom" t-shirt that I picked up at
Old Navy last week. I also sent her these earrings in her favorite color, that I made earlier in the week:
I made these using beads and techniques I learned at The Bouncing Bead in La Mesa. The earrings match the bracelet that I made her for Christmas.
This may be my favorite knitting book ever. It is amazing. I had been waiting for Knitting Nature to be published and bought a copy as soon as I saw it. There are so many projects in here I want to make. Not
only are many of the projects beautiful, but they are constructed in such a way that makes them fun to knit.
All of the projects are based on a different shape in nature. The way Nora Gaughan has come up with her designs
is very similar to how I go about coming up with concepts for landscape designs. If the book pix don't show, click here.
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from CrissyPo tagged with nature. Make your own badge here.
I have already cast on for the Roundabout Leaf Tank which as I already had some of Berroco's Denim Silk yarn at home
(I have some for sale if anyone's interested!). The tank is knit in a long strip which spirals around the body so rows
are short and quick to knit. I've also joined the Knitting Nature knit-along.
Here is my progress so far with one of the leaf details. And in case anyone's wondering, I have also been
working on the Drop-Stitch Cardigan. The sleeves are almost done but I'm down to my last ball of yarn and think I may run out of yarn. This is particularly
frustrating because I picked this project because I had just the right amount of yarn for it!
So, I must have the best Sockapaloooza pal ever. My Sock pal Roberto (which strangely enough is my brother's name too) knit fabulous blue/green cotton socks that fit me perfectly and are
perfect for keeping my feet warm during cool San Diego evenings (an my favorite colors too!). Then, he sent me the socks
in a package chock full of goodies!
Check it out: socks (tied neatly with a match i-cord :), chocolate, stickers, bunny treats and even a cool knitted purse!
I leave you with a picture of bunny silliness. I think Domino is actually quite comfortable like this....
I finished my Sockapaloooza socks over the weekend while watching the first season of the Mary Tyler Moore show. How apropos. After a little Kookaburra Wash last night, they were wrapped and will be in the mail later today.
UPDATE: if you're curious to see how the "Sensational Knitted Socks" cuff-down
socks look like in detail, check out these close-ups.
I'm actually surprised that I got them finished right on time, because
I had no idea how long they would take. They are only my second pair of socks after all. Actually, based on how
fast otherfolks seem to knit socks, I think these took a really long time. I'll admit that part of the problem
is that I rarely knit for a long period of time at once. Mostly because I don't have that much time, but also because
my hands were cramping up when I did.
After knitting these, my goal is to spend more time knitting Continental style
to improve my speed. Practice, practice!
Sockapaloooza Socks
Pattern: Baby Cable/Rib 4-stitch
pattern
Source: Sensational Knitted
Socks
Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl
Fortissima Colori Socka Color (2416)
Needles: Susan Bates Circulars, US 2
Started: Feb., 2006
Finished: April 30, 2006
Notes: I modified the pattern which
has you alternate between Baby Cable and purl 2 so that the baby cable alternated with 2 stitchs of a rib pattern
instead. I found the directions in the book confusing a couple of times (for a new sock knitter, anyway) but overall
was really impressed with the book, especially the explanation of how to graft the toes which I think came out really well.
