Panic....

Um...Sunday? Why are you creeping up on me?

Remember all my complaints about grafting the Lace Leaf Pullover and how it was forming a line I didn't like because my tension was off? Well, I undid it. I put a lifeline in, pulled out the graft, and frogged the bottom half of my sweater.

The good news is I have one sleeve done.

The bad news is I don't have a bottom half of my sweater. And I'm flying to Boston tomorrow (if I'd been on top of it I would have seen who of the bloggers is out there - because really, how often do I go to the East Coast? Once a year, glad you asked). Which means alot of time on the plane. But with my wrists I don't think I can really knit nonstop.

It's going to be a photo finish. Assuming I remember my camera. Though since I tried to start my car by putting my key where my sunglasses are stored, I wouldn't hold your breath :)

Nah, it'll be ok. Those inches fly by, and the second sleeve doesn't have the leaf on it (like that really cuts down on knitting time). It'll be ok. Maybe I should leave work early and seam the other sleeve on, for peace of mind....

It's only 1:45...

Good luck to all you other knitting Olympians. It's looking good!

Knitting Olympics

I'm making good progress on the Lace Leaf Pullover - sadly, I didn't think to take any pictures yesterday. So you'll just have to trust me that I grafted the top and bottom together and have started to knit one sleeve. Would I lie about this?

I'm not entirely pleased with the grafting job. The first time I tried to Kitchner stitch it on the needles and it left a line of purl stitches. Then I tried it inside out - same problem. I dug out my Book of Finishing Techniques and looked up the KS - I was doing what it told me. However, they had an interesting illustration of what was actually going on - sewing through the stitches in a zigzag. So I strung in a lifeline and proceeded to sew. I like the results better, though I pulled a little too tight. Next time I make this sweater (if) I'm going to knit from the top down and add in the leaf at the bottom when I feel like it. No grafting for me!

In other Knitting Olympic news - the family I live with saved me this article from Time magazine:


I love that I've developed a reputation with them :)

meme Madness

I've been tagged by Sara and Teresa, so here goes:

Four Jobs You Have Had In Your Life:
1. Graduate student - going for a masters now!
2. Intern - five straight summers. Chevron and Intel.
3. Tutor - did for awhile to supplement my stipend, now I do it for rent. Sigh.
4. Student leader in a chemistry lab (*whip crack* Make that solution!)


Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
1. Lord of the Rings (any of 'em)
2. Harry Potter (mostly the 3rd)
3. Princess Bride
4. Monty Python? Muppet Movie? Good Will Hunting? Good Morning Vietnam?


Four Places You Have Lived (only 4?)
1. Bartlesville, OK years 0-17
2. Berkeley, CA years 18-um, 24
3. Santa Barbara, CA years 24-25
4. Los Angeles, CA years 25-now


Four TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
2. Family Guy
3. Gilmore Girls
4. West Wing


Four Places You Have Been on Vacation
1. Germany - family
2. New Mexico - 10 summers in a row
3. Oregon - lived there for awhile
4. Hawaii - intern perk


Four Websites You Visit Daily
1. Yahoo/Gmail - compulsive email checking
2. Fark
3. Comedy Central
4. Bloglines


Four of your Favorite Foods
1. Edamame
2. Anything with Nutella
3. Pistachio ice cream
4. Cheese


Four Bloggers You are Tagging:
Well, if you haven't done this then what are you waiting for?

Three names you answer to-
Kate
Katerina
sigh. Katherine. Only if forced. You will all note Katie is not on here, nor my family nickname. Guess.

Three parts of your heritage-
German - 1/2
Irish - 1/8
Random European - the rest

Three things that scare you-
Death
Lonliness
Heights

Three everyday essentials-
Tea
Petting Marie the cat
Guitar

Three things you are wearing-
Denim skirt
White shirt
Safety glasses (hey, I'm at work)

Three favorite songs [by artists I’ve been listening to a lot lately]-
Walk away - Ben Harper
Love you madly - Cake
Bm slide - Angela Lum, co author.

Three things about the opposite sex that appeal to you
Humor
Patience
Eyes

Three things that you want in a relationship-
Friendship
Understanding
Support

Three favorite hobbies
Knitting
Guitar
Photography

Three things to do before you die
Graduate
Travel selfishly

Three ways you are stereotypically female/male-
I like shoes
I get emotional and talk about it and analyze it
I believe ice cream and chocolate are therapeutic

Two truths and one lie, in no particular order-
I've fallen down the stairs on crutches
I was a ballerina for 10 years
I knit with opposite hands

3 people you are tagging-
Tag on people.

Knitting Olympics update

When I first joined the Knitting Olympics, I said I was going to make a sweater from Rowan. That's right, a full sweater on size 5 needles.

Um, insane.

When I looked at the signup page, it just said sweater next to my name. Telling me I could go ahead and change "Rowan sweater" to "Lace Leaf Pullover"

Which I did.

Then the tough decision - what yarn? I had some blue Cascade Pastaza set aside for Lucky, though in all honesty it's too thick for that sweater. So I decided to do a test swatch. Hmm, too thin. Ok, I'll order some from Handpaintedyarn.com. I found a colorway I liked, ordered it, wound it into balls, and did a test swatch. Perfect.

Then I started knitting. Ew. While the yarn looks pretty on its own, it's going to be ugly as a sweater.



So back to Cascade I went. Much better. Though knitting, drinking beer, and watching the 40-year old Virgin will make you misread pattern instructions - I had to rip out 10 rows of the top because I wasn't increasing along the shoulders as well. Oops!

A few links

Beadlizard's knitting advice - she makes some very helpful suggestions.

LA Times article on the SnB controversy.

And the Yarn Harlot on NPR about the Knitting Olympics

Found on Professor Knitwit - what kind of knitter are you?


You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer.
You are through those knitting growing pains and

feeling more adventurous. You can follow a

standard pattern if it's not too complicated

and know where to go to get help. Maybe

you've started to experiment with different

fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a

cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps

you prefer to stick to other people's

patterns but you are trying to challenge

yourself more. Regardless of your preference,

you are continually trying to grow as a

knitter, and as well you should since your

non-knitting friends are probably dropping

some serious hints, these days.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

While on break from knitting, I did a little sewing - here's a picture of the skirt I made:



And as I wait for my monomer to dry out, I've started working on my Lady E again - 5 balls down, 5 more to go!



I also notice I never posted a picture of the slippers I made for my mom:

The soles were improvised - I couldn't find any leather so I used the rubber grip mats for drawers. Seems to be working alright, though I like the look of leather better...

Go here to get your own.

Knitting? What knitting?

My mother has wrist problems, which in turn has made me oversensitive to wrist problems myself. Ie if my wrists start hurting, I stop knitting. Frustrating. So I haven't been doing much knitting this week (no Lady E progress!) Though I did join the Knitting Olympics with the hopes of knitting this:



I am offically crazy. Size 3 needles? Whoo boy....

I've been trying to finish up some UFO's (namely Clapotis), but with the length of the projects I had to throw in a quick one for some instant gratification:

A pocket creature (from Knitty) and a tea cozy (from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation). Using some yarn from the family and some Cascade Pastaza I had left over from my first sweater. I tried to modify the cozy pattern some to fit a smaller teapot, but the yarn was too bulky. Still, it was my first color knitting project, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out :)

With knitting verboten for the week, I switched to sewing and bought a couple of Vogue skirt patterns. Let's just say I'm not as curvy as the ideal woman (size 6 is a 23" waist to 32.5" hips, which makes my 4" waist to hip increase seem, well, boyish) and will have to see how it turns out. I bought some muslin and made up the front and back last night before crawling into bed with my cold/allergies. Today I'll finish seaming and see if I picked the right size. I'm learning some neat things (French seams!) and really like the flexibility of choosing my own fabric and details.

This weekend brings some much needed down time - I've resolved to not come into work and not work for the family (after all the drama there lately I need a break). Knitting and watching my Netflix rentals sounds just about right today!

meme

I've been tagged by bear mountain picnic - I hear this one has made the rounds, so here goes:

FOUR MEME

Four Jobs You Have Had In Your Life:
1. Graduate student
2. Intern
3. Tutor
4. Student leader in a chemistry lab (*whip crack* Make that solution!)


Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over:
1. Lord of the Rings (any of 'em)
2. Harry Potter (mostly the 3rd)
3. Princess Bride
4. Monty Python? Muppet Movie? Good Will Hunting?


Four Places You Have Lived (only 4?)
1. Bartlesville, OK
2. Berkeley, CA
3. Santa Barbara, CA
4. Los Angeles, CA


Four TV Shows You Love to Watch
1. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
2. Family Guy
3. Gilmore Girls
4. West Wing


Four Places You Have Been on Vacation
1. Germany
2. New Mexico
3. Oregon
4. Hawaii


Four Websites You Visit Daily
1. Yahoo/Gmail - compulsive email checking
2. Fark
3. Comedy Central
4. Bloglines


Four of your Favorite Foods
1. Edamame
2. Anything with Nutella
3. Pistachio ice cream
4. Cheese


Four Bloggers You are Tagging:
Well, if you haven't done this then what are you waiting for?

A true blogger moment

Last night as I rifled through my stash to take stock of my yarn (ie try to find yarn suitable for the Leaf Pullover I've seen around), I ran across some grey Cascade Pastaza. Enough to make, well, something out of...trouble was I couldn't remember what I was going to make. I knew I'd bought it with a project in mind, at the Yarn Lady no less.

I also knew I could look on my blog and figure it out. I'm not sure how I feel about that...

I'm still feeling a bit overwhelmed by my stash - frantically knitting to free some room in my oh-so-tiny studio. My studio that inspired my friend to comment, "Guess you can't be a packrat anymore."

Watch me try.

Still chugging along on Lady E for Sknitty's KAL. Started a sock. Branching Out, Claptois, Lace Leaf Socks, fingerless gloves, a random scarf. Plenty to work on still. And so many new projects I want to start - mostly sweaters, as the chemicals have attacked one of my favorites (this will teach me to wear clothes I like to lab). Knit knit knit knit knit.

Happy weekend!

Lady E

I gave in and started another new project (because the 10-odd projects I had going just weren't doing it for me) After a good week of knitting at night, at work, in cafes, I give you Lady Eleanor (10 tiers). Silk Garden, colorway 224, on US 9 needles (as opposed to the US 10.5 the pattern calls for). I'm concerned about the yardage on this - I've gone through almost 3 balls and only managed 10 tiers - I have 7 balls left for the remaining 25 tiers. It seems....close. But I'm loving how the varigated colors work into the blocks. One of my nannying charges was convinced I was switching yarn each time - eech - too many ends to weave in!

FBS #3 - Mom's birthday

All pinned out!

Whew. 2 down, 1 more to go (for Mother's Day). Last night I made a few knitting-related resolutions

1. Use up stash. Seriously. My place is small enough
2. Do not buy any more yarn until, a) I've used up my stash or b) Yarn Lady sale. Maybe.
3. Either use the knitting machine or sell it. My financial situation could use the improvement...
4. Rethink the idea of knitting for non-knitters. Often leads to frustration. With the exception of finger puppets...

I've been knitting, I swear

Finally done with Christmas knitting - onto birthday knitting! Here are some of the FO's, though not all....



Clockwise, from top left: OSW for Amy, yoga bag from Knitty for Michelle, simple grey socks for Dad, and FBS for Mom. Not pictured are muppet hands and another OSW (which, not too suprisingly, needs to be enlarged. Does anyone else have this problem with OSW?)

Not much to do at work today, just been reading. Planning on taking off soon to try and finish Mom's birthday present (considering her birthday is tomorrow, well, it's going to be late)

Happy New Year!

Still knitting

Is it really the 19th? Will I finish? Here's the list:

Dec 25th due date:
Pair of socks
Slippers to felt
Whip (before you start thinking too hard - it was promised as a joke for my friend and her band)
Muppet hands (aka fingerless gloves out of some seriously furry yarn)

Dec 27th due date:
FBS

Dec 30th due date:
OSW
Yoga bag

How is it that this list looks so managable? Why am I stressed? Perhaps all the other UFO's in the basket:
Branching out, Claptois, lace leaf socks, blanket, hourglass sweater, garter stitch sweater to re-neck, everything bag, ribbed scarf, rebecca lace sweater.....

Or maybe all the planned UFO's:
another FBS, 3 other lace shawls, 2 entrelac shawls, monster slippers, tea cozy, pocket pals, another red riding hood scarf, brioche hat, lace and tuck ensemble, rebecca skirt....

I have begun knitting on the walk to work again. If I go out to bars, I will bring the knitting with me. More so in hopes of disuading boys I wouldn't like anyways than in the belief I'll really get more knitting done. Knitting interferes with drinking! I have also finally figured out the basics of spinning (after much glaring at the instructions) Not that I'm good, but I made a foot of yarn :) And bought more roving. Sorry for the lack of pictures - I left my camera at home again.

I'm overwhelming glad to be done with finals forever. And one step closer to being done with school. It's such a relief to have direction and solid goals again instead of the ambiguity that is grad school. I will leave here. My knitting and I are off like a prom dress....

Perhaps not the best line to end on :)

Big times

Still frantically knitting - got my "learn how to spin" kit the other day - and still haven't learned how to spin (I'm a visual person) Haven't made it to SnB the past few weeks because I've been working (either with the family or at real work). I'm still in denial about Christmas. Sure, I'll get all my gifts done...

Right....

Things are good since I decided to finish up school (see my other blog of superfluous rambling about it). I'm hoping it'll combat all my problems at once - finishing up school means doing more work which means less time to sit at home and feel frustrated that my boyfriend is far busier than I am (and doesn't think we need to see eachother as often as I seem to think we do. Analytically, I can pin this as a response to my last relationship and its end in Feb)

So. Knitting will be back soon. Promise.

Lapse in posting

I have been frantically knitting and working the past few weeks, realizing that November is winding down (I know that when my birthday gets close I am in serious trouble if I'm still knitting Christmas gifts) Going out to dinner tonight and SF this weekend for my birthday (wonder if I can knit and eat at the same time?), home for a cancelled group meeting (argh), then back north to see my family for Thanksgiving (and my actual birthday instead of this week-long celebration).

In knitting news:

Backyard leaves arrived from Carolyn (please ignore my shiny face and messy room) I really love this scarf, the detail, the color. She did a wonderful job on it and I've gotten alot of compliments on it. Thanks Carolyn!

Started making some Fuzzy feet - no pics yet.


Finished my 'machine/handknit hybrid' sweater - here it is blocking. I'm not too impressed with it - in spite of all my calculations, it still came out a little short in the body (though the arms are fine) Because of the math headache in changing gauge, I decided to use customized graph paper and tracing to rewrite the sleeve pattern. I think this approach worked much better than all the math would have.

Lastly - I've read about spinning so much lately it was inevitible. I was browing the sale room at my LYS, waiting for my car to be ready, when I found it. A drop spindle for 50% off. Sigh. This only leads to more stash accumulation. :)

Socktoberfest

My one sock - I'm frantically knitting up the cuff of the second and will take another (more creative) picture later. I've really enjoyed this - it was my first time making my own pattern (toe up with short-row heel). Though it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be, I'm still pretty impressed with myself :)

If only research was this simple to enjoy...

Thanks for organizing this Lolly!



Update! I finished them! I'm still getting used to the mismatch of the stripes, but it's not sock yarn so I didn't expect them to match. They're nice and warm for this, um, not so cold October weather? Hmm. Perhaps I should move to a colder climate....



Socks get their own photo shoot.

So far I've knit a scarf and the front of a sweater on my machine - I'm not overly thrilled with my machine (it jams and drops stitches and all that when I try to decrease), but it definitely makes knitting stockinette go much faster. Overall, I like it. I'll include some pictures when I've blocked the scarf.

Additionally, I finally gave in and frogged the bind off on my mom's FBS - I have to block it still, but I think the points will be better this time around. In short, many pictures to come!

One down -

One (sock) more to go. I'll post pictures as soon as I remember to take them :)

Lots of knitting this weekend - I've been at home sick (haha, I typed sock) with a cold the past few days so I've put my sweater machine to use and churned out the front and half a back for a sweater. I still feel strange making something "machine knit." Then I look at all the yarn crammed into my tiny room and get over it. There are still plenty of things to knit by hand :)

Realizing I've got alot to do for my Christmas list:
2 shawls for mom
A few OSW's for friends
Some fingerless gloves for friends
2 pairs of socks for dad and possibly brother
That infamous sweater I had to frog and restart....maybe next Christmas....

Hmm...what am I doing at work when I have all this knitting to do?

FO's and Soctoberfest!

First off - a finished OSW (I think this is my third?) I'm still learning how to tweak the pattern - brilliant me figured out the stitches between the markers correspond to the shoulder-to-shoulder measurement - so if my guage is off all I need to do is figure out how many stitches match that measurement and STOP. Though I think her idea of 18 inches is smaller than mine....


Next - Hillary's Turtleneck Shrug for Stitch ya neck out

I've enjoyed working on this (no seams! How exciting!) though I was frustrated to run out of yarn despite being on gauge and having the amount of yarn the pattern called for. It'll go out in the mail soon.

Lastly, I joined Lolly's Soctoberfest
And learned how to do a figure 8 cast on - I have to say I like toe up socks now that I've done a pair (more so than the cuff down socks I learned on from Weekend Knitting) Seems easier to customize to your feet and yarn.