| pot holders |
tuesday 03.02.2004 |
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g is moving into a real house. said she won't have a house warming party. i've always wanted to make pot holders for such an occasion. so, she's getting them, party or not.
house warmers
yes, one is bigger than the other. i thought i had cast on the same number of stitches but, alas, i couldn't count. i hate math. but i love garter stitch. look at those beautiful loop hangers! two stitch idiot cord a la elizabeth zimmermann!
this is the first time i've knitted with cotton yarn. novel how it doesn't stretch at all. it's surprisingly soft. nice naturally blemished colored yarn. i prefer this sort of unprocessed cotton to mercenized cotton yarn, which makes the yarn shiny. i can't imagine knitting much with cotton other than pot holders. it's a lot heavier than wool. i've never cared for cotton sweaters anyway.
pot holders, what an excellent gift idea. birthday, christmas, anniversary, the possibilities are endless! don't you think? |
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| good enough to eat |
friday 03.05.2004 |
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what's for dinner? why yarn, of course!
100% wool single ply hand painted. i'm a sucker for this sort of thing. don't look at it for too long. it's capable of draining entire paychecks within minutes. |
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| flat+bumpy |
thursday 03.11.2004 |
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last weekend i saw a sweater pattern in a yarn catalog that uses seed stitch. i had forgotten how textural seed stitch is. much nicer than garter and just as flat. so, i started a beanie with it using green lion brand acrylic/wool blend yarn.
free styling beanie
close up for no good reason
speaking of flat textural fabrics, here's something i crocheted and wore for new year's eve party 2004.
girly scarf
i used a fine wool/acrylic blend yarn for it. it's only about four inches wide. please don't ask me what the stitch is called. i can't read crochet patterns, much less stitches. |
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| saahhd |
saturday 03.13.2004 |
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got my yarn yesterday, finally. right off the bat i was disturbed by the re-used box and the unprofessionally scribbled addresses. no official business could pack their products so poorly. when i opened it, the skeins were undone in loose loops and were tossed together, no bags, no receipt. to top it off, the yarn looked nothing like the advertized description and image. how could it be?
as advertized
as received
i got on line and read the decription again. "Handpainted using a vivacious combination of great colours, Dry Orange, Redish Brown, Lime and Sapphire." to validate my overreaction, i asked rick for the color of sapphire. not that i banked on getting bright blue. i just wanted the lighter shades of non earth tone colors. the actual yarn has none of the lighter colors you can see in the top image. i swear they're two different yarns!
i sent two angry emails to the maker/seller. first i wanted to exchange it for the correct yarn. then, when i found out that half the yarn was tangled together and one skein was only half the weight it should be, i demanded a full refund.
this morning i got a professional response from the seller. he provided feasible explanations and refunded me in full. on top of it, he doesn't want the yarn sent back. free yarn. makes me regret having sent such angry emails.
another upset i had about the yarn was jg. he was completely taken with yarn's palette. he just couldn't see why i was so mad. times like this make me real happy that i'm stuck with this person for the rest of my life. |
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| some real knitting |
tuesday 03.16.2004 |
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yesterday i submitted my two hat designs to the author of the stitch-n-bitch book who is planning on a sequel. the call for submissions was forwarded to me by julia so i assumed that she was encouraging me to go for it. i had wanted to submit them to knitty.com but never got around to writing down the patterns. i still haven't done it but since the email called for images, i went for it.
it so happens that i am about to finish up another one of the seamless beanies. this is one of the two designs i sent for consideration. this is what it looks like when the knitting is done:
unfinished "seamless" beanie
folded into hat form
close up of live stitches to be weaved
tonight i'll be weaving the beginning and end edges together. this is the most difficult part of the making. there's a rhythm to weaving so it gets repetitive and easy. unfortunately, the first stitch is a barn burner because, in order to make it appear seamless, i have to immitate the knitted edge perfectly.
hopefully i'll be able to document the next steps clearly enough for pattern writing, if any one even cares.
the other pattern would be for the rectangular cat hat. that one also requires weaving but it's a lot easier in stockinette. i embroidered the cat face by pure imagination. i've never owned a cat. so, if i could create a recognizable cat face, anyone can. |
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| the professor |
friday 03.19.2004 |
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hahahahaha. i'm so happy! look at this!
cat hat action
isn't he dreamy? i think i'm going to swap spooky for the professor as the mascot. what do you think? |
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| scraf, australian for scarf |
monday 03.22.2004 |
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last week i managed to finagle a deal with q in which she agreed to contribute to this blog. yay!
so, ladies and gentlemen, i give you - drum roll - q!
the scraf
here is q's take on the scraf. what a terrific introduction!
"as much as i love knitting i can get bored of it easily especially when i'm working on a project like a sweater for several months. so i like to have a 'between' project which i can pick up and drop whenever i feel like it. these 'between' projects are always a scraf in one form or another. i love knitting scrafs because they are relaxing and portable - you can take them anywhere. i have taken mine on long business flights, while waiting for the doctor, dentist, dmv, and yes even at home depot as i wait for my husband to decide which bracket to use on the closet shelf. actually i have been known to carry a couple of scraf projects around - one in my bag (which is in the beginning stage, less bulky to carry) and one in the trunk of my car (almost done stage).
for this scraf i went back to the purest knitting pattern - a stockinette stitch. i have never done a scraf of this nature because stockinette is a taboo for 'scraf' because, as you know, it won't lie flat, it tends to curl around the edges. but as i worked through this scraf i began to enjoy the nature of this stitch. i used alpaca on 3-1/2 mm needles. the color was inspired by this very website - orange and brown, so warm! if you intend to work with this stitch, make sure you cast on twice the number of stitches you would like your overall width to be as the finished width will be reduced by the curling of the edges. stripe the color and length as you desire. and now that i have finished it i am ready to tackle another project."
close up "curl" detail
good stuff, eh? more knitting goodness from q tomorrow. stay tuned! |
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| q, continued |
tuesday 03.23.2004 |
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as promised, here are more of q's fancy knit work. this one is very impressive to me mostly because she has the ability to knit two things alike. i have knitted one mitten in my life and promptly gave it away before i had to knit another to match. for those of you who don't knit: yes, it is very difficult to knit identical garments!
see and be impressed:
identical booties!
and a beanie to boot!
add to the challenge, q used cotton, which is not a forgiving fiber because it doesn't stretch or give much. i'm very impressed with her stuff, from technique to color selection.
here's her take on her beanie and booties:
"here is some baby knits i did for a friend's niece. i got these patterns from debbi bliss* baby knits. the colors were purely his choice which i have to admit i fell in love with. all in all, i love knitting these so much that i've made four more sets since then."
*debbie bliss patterns are not easy. db is a poom so she can't help but uses the queen's english. her knit lingo looks like arabic to me. on top of that, her patterns are more often flawed than not!
when i talk to q, she makes knitting sound like chewing gum. and she's super modest about it. i admire that.
wait until you see tomorrow's blog! |
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| for missy dee |
wednesday 03.24.2004 |
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at q's request, i'm slowing down on showcasing her knit work this week. check back in a few days for her next piece.
so, today's blog will have to be another hat! quell the surprise!
some preface: i had always wanted to make missy a hat. i know her favorite color is green but could never find a yarn that would make a neat hat. two weeks ago i bought this 100 gram skein on ebay.* last week, i took this self patterning sock yarn for a test drive.
yarn: 75% wool 25% nylon
don't you just love the color cobination? greens, browns, and grays. i hope md will love it as much as i do.
it took me three tries to get the gauge and fabric thickness right. i had to double up the yarn by winding the skein into two separate balls before i could get the color sequences to jive.
the colors on both strands of yarn matched fairly consistently except for two instances when the color in one strand ran much longer than the other. i had to break one in order to match it with the other again. i have to admit, even though i knew i had to make the cut, it felt really wrong to take the scissors to the yarn. now i understand why ez grimmaced every time she did it.
it's a no brainer basic hat pattern, stockinette from brim to crest. if i didn't have to use double pointed needles for the decrease, this would be the easiest hat in the whole wide world! in the world wide web, too!
the hat was not finished (even though the knitting was done) but i had to seize the oportunity of jg wearing a contrast sweater to take these blurry pictures.
my favorite hat modeler
top view (note end yarn hanging undone)
decrease detail
i'm not a sock knitter. i've never tried it but i just know i'm not. one, i'm worthless with double pointed needles. two, i just can't handle tiny gauge. as for colors, i've knitted striped hats before and weaving in the ends was not fun. that's why i think sock yarn is where it's at!
*check it out. |
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| scraf, part ii |
tuesday 03.30.2004 |
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it's now tuesday. it's time an entry featuring another one of q's finished objects!
i really like the way this scarf looks. at first i thought it was crocheted because q said she was learning to crochet. i wonder if crocheting could create such a consistent lacey effect.
lacey scraf
pattern close up
from q:
"i found this beautiful alpaca yarn and bought 5 balls of it. it sat around a few months beofre i decided that i was going to make a scraf. the next decision was what pattern to use. because the yarn was delicate i wanted to make sure it was reflected in the pattern. i settled on the "feather and fan" pattern as it was light and airy, very much in tune with the yarn. for this project i had to knit with two yarns togther to get an adequate thickness and weight for the scraf. i used a 3mm needle. pattern are as follows: cast on multiples of 18sts + 2sts, 1st row knit to end, 2nd row purl to end, 3rd row k1 * (k2tog) 3 times, (yf,k1) 6 times, (k2tog) 3 times, rep from * to last st, k1, 4th row knit to end. rep these 4 rows. you'll find the ends will naturally sway creating a nice lacey end."
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