September 27, 2003
Hats
Don't ever, ever, ever mention, in a group setting, that you are making someone a hat. I have tacked on one more hat to the pile but the good news is that they are fast, fun and easy to make. I made the first one and it came out way too big, so I ripped it out and made a good one. I will post a picture when I get the person I made it for to model it. I had to combine about three hat patterns to get it. She wanted something with straight sides and no hem but flat across the top. So I combined a regular knit cap with a tam pattern and voila', it came out cool. It has a swirl pattern on the top but is otherwise quite plain. This actually worked out fine because I was using some leftover yarn from Jake's sweater. I hope she likes it.
The second cap is for a guy who wants something REALLY plain, more like a glorified yarmulke. I am using a DK weight yarn (actually, the varigated green leftover from Seth's sweater), so it should look nice also.
THEN, I get to start Eli's sweater. Guess what? He also wants something plain. This time I don't have to do rolled hems though, he is happy with ribbing hahahahaha.
I swear, after all these projects that are already planned (and all very plain for some strange reason), I am going to try something more complicated. I am getting pretty confident now. Looking around at <a href="http://www.exit109.com/~lsyoung/blog/">other knitting blogs</a>, confirms that I am but a mere toddler in the skill department. I am not sure which to tackle first, color or stitch. As a veteran crotcheter, stitch is usually easy to pick up as long as I read the directions outloud as each step is being done real time (if I try to read ahead, it sounds like gibberish to me and I have a tendency to abandon the project). Color has been a bit harder to switch over from crotcheting. You expect holes when you crotchet. Holes BAAAADDDD when you are knitting. I have also traditionally been pretty dang lazy when it comes to weaving ends and finishing in general.
Posted by DebC at 12:25 AM | Comments (2)
September 17, 2003
All done (well almost)
I finished Jake's sweater tonight but before I got a chance to finish the ends and block it, Jake pleaded to put it on. I like the sweater but not as much as I thought I would. It started out with this neat varigated color but when I changed the ball of yarn, it morphed into a lightening bolt pattern (that is what Jake calls it). To make matters worse, when I changed the ball again for the sleeves, it turned into a striped pattern. ARGH. Add to that fact, I am shaky on whether I like rolled hems or not but that is what Jake requested. I have to go back tonight and shorten the sleeves by about an inch to better fit Jake because he is desperate to wear it tomorrow. This also means that I will not be blocking it first. I am hoping that it won't be too big of a deal. I will block it tomorrow afternoon. It is still fairly warm here, just a little chilly in the mornings, so I know he will only have it on for less than an hour.
Posted by DebC at 08:39 PM | Comments (7)
September 12, 2003
Life is too short.
To work with crappy yarn that is. I have decided to cull my stash and get rid of all of the yarn that I don't like. Really. I have an antique sideboy in my dining room that is stuffed with knitting supplies. One entire side of it is floor to ceiling yarn. Some of it has been in my possession for nearly twenty years. In my former life I was a psychiatric technician for the Navy and used to work seven days in a row of nights. My job was to watch the patients sleep and try not to sleep myself. So, to help with the tedium, I used to take afghan requests from the guys who lived in the barracks. They were responsible for going to the store and buying the yarn they wanted (PRICE CHECK ON THE TAMPONS IN AISLE FIVE PLEASE). So, I now have lots of funky odd skeins in colors I would never ever choose and for some bizarre reason, most of it is Red Heart.
Last weekend, I put the finishing touches on two sweaters. One is a beautiful baby sweater for a coworker. I used Sirdar Silky Look, which is an absolute dream to work with. I had used it to make the same sweater (different stitch though) for Seth when he was born.
The other sweater is for a little girl that was born prematurely this summer. I adjusted the pattern to make the newborn sweater bigger and accidently made it about 12 months size. Hopefully she will double in size by November hahahahaha. I rummaged in my immense stash of yarn and found this awful multicolored baby yarn. It just felt bad on the needles, wouldn't slide easily, split, made this horrible *ritting* sound. Agh. As pleasureable as the Sirdar yarn was to work with, this yarn was a punishment. The sad thing is that I have about a dozen or so skeins of different colored/weight cheap yarn in my stockpile. The sweater actually turned out cute, with the sweetest little pink heart buttons. I decided after this project though, not to foist the yarn onto anyone else. I am thinking I will give it to the thrift store, I am sure someone would appreciate it.
Posted by DebC at 06:26 AM
September 10, 2003
Dreaming outloud
I am down past the armpits on Jake's sweater and I am pleased to say that it is going to fit him perfectly. It is so soft! I am using <a href="http://www.lionbrand.com/graphics/yarns/450-325b.jpg">Lion Brand "Jiffy", El Paso</a>. It *is* acrylic but it is so fluffy and soft. I have used the same pattern about four times now so I am getting pretty fast at it. The nice thing about a top down raglan is that I can adjust the sleeves and body if I need to when the boys grow. My children are skinny which is a good thing because I can't do anything about the width LOL.
I had a therapy session last night and <a href="http://peacefleece.com/adult1.htm">this was the result</a>. After all the kid/baby sweaters, I am finally going to make a couple of adult sweaters. I got the "old friend" kit in Latvian Lavender and the "Oversized Raglan Pullover" in Patience Blue (this one is for my ex believe it or not!). I fell in love with this company - <a href="http://peacefleece.com/catalog.htm">Peace Fleece</a>. Such a good message, such gorgeous yarn!
When I grow up (in 2 years, 1 month and 20 days), I would love to do something with fiber arts. I have been such a logical, practical person all of my life. I would love to just follow my heart. I know that I will not get rich doing it but I think it would be so fulfilling having a couple of animals (sheep or llama or other) that I could spin from and then have a shop with products from start to finish. <a href="http://www.spiraleyecreations.com/index.html">This woman</a> is living my dream apparently. Check out her picture gallery on how to spin and dye.
I was reading on the <a href="http://forums.about.com/ab-knitting/messages?lgnF=y&msg=13187.1">About.com Knitting Forum</a> that it is ILLEGAL to sell finished products made from someone else's pattern. WTF? So, I guess I have to put my brain in gear and invent some patterns. I can't imagine that some patterns are all that much different from others - how the heck can anyone tell unless it happens to be a unique design?
Posted by DebC at 06:25 AM
September 07, 2003
Welcome to my knitting blog!
I have been knitting like crazy lately and suddenly realized that I want to keep some sort of journal. This will be my place to share my projects, what worked and what didn't.
I live in Italy (I am in the US Navy) and have extremely limited access to yarn and supplies so I am ordering almost everything online. I was a little bit nervous at first but have really been lucky so far. I miss the touching part though. I recently moved to Sicily from Portland, Oregon. There are several great yarn shops there and I easily spent an hour at a time just putting my nose down into the yarn!
One of these days soon, I will learn to spin my own yarn like my hero Lynn. In the meantime, I am going to expand my knitting prowess. Right now, I am pretty much a beginner. I taught myself about two years ago and am still doing fairly simple stuff.
Right now, I have the most gorgeous yarn on my needles that is shaping up to be a top down sweater for my six year old.
Posted by DebC at 09:55 PM | Comments (5)