« September 2003 | Main | November 2003 »
October 15, 2003
I hereby proclaim Sweaterhag as patron goddess of In The Round
The yarn that I got in the mail yesterday is just beautiful! I wish I had taken a picture of it before I balled it up. Actually, did you know that MC Hammer's "Hammer Time" is the perfect yarn rolling rythym?! I stuck it on the backs of my dining room chair and the kids turned on the music (we dance a lot). Next thing I know, it was all done hahahahahahahaha.
Here are some photos from Lynn's blog from when she was dying it. I had drooled over it so much that Lynn took pity on me and sent some. I have been debating what to do with it and finally decided to make a scarf (I don't even own a scarf!). I looked in all my resource books for a lacy stitch to use an finally settled on the purse stitch. Somehow I screwed up the directions (imagine that) and instead of what I should have done, ended up with what looks like an open rib stitch. I can't find it in my books but I am sure I did not invent a new stitch. If anyone can identify it from the directions or the picture, I would love to know. Anyway, looks really good and is oh so soft. The back looks different but just as good as the front. I tried to take a picture of the backside but on camera, it looks just like the front. The difference is really that there is a horizontal rib instead of the vertical rib that is on the front (well, that was clear as mud!).
My invented pattern:
The yarn is somewhere between sock and sport weight, I wanted to use really big needles but unfortunately, the biggest I have are 10 (6mm).
Cast on 100 (or whatever you need gauge-wise to have an even number of stitches to make the scarf about 15 inches wide)
First row: knit
Second row: purl
Third row: K1, *YO, K2 together*, repeat between the asteriks until next to last stitch, K1
Fourth row: purl across
Repeat third and fourth rows until it is as long as desired
Second to last row: knit
Last row: purl
I am not sure if I will put fringe or tassles on the ends because I can't bear the thought of cutting this yarn.
Thanks Lynn!
Posted by DebC at 08:27 PM | Comments (1)
October 12, 2003
Well Foo.
I can't seem to get Eli's sweater started. Work, vacation and active toddler are in my way! We went to Lipari this weekend and I happened upon the coolest yarn in two different yarn shops. I have been ordering from the internet because yarn shops are rare over here (aside from a ball or two of run of the mill acrylic in fabric shops). Of course it may just be that I can't find them due to the language barrier. I had given up all hope. But lo and behold, I now have a reason (as if I needed one) to go back to Lipari. I have NO idea what I will do with any of it, but I just couldn't help it. It was all Italian made and mostly merino wool. I was pleasantly shocked at how cheap it was! It was between two and six Euro (roughly $3-8 American). I looked the yarns up online and they would have cost between $6-11 American! Woohoo. Now just have to figure out what to do with them.
Carezza wool boucle "Pumpkin"
Tropical Lane pale blue merino with little pastel bobbles (alright - who's next on my baby list?)
Avana cotton/acrylic - very strange texture, ten thread stands loosely twined.
Mondial Relax yellow merino/acrylic with Mondial Samoa cotton/acrylic ribbon that I will knit together (I think).
Anyway, back to Eli's sweater. I switched patterns to this top down one that you simply plug numbers in to get the correct size. Poop. I suck at math. For some reason, I can't get the measurements to come out even remotely right.
Posted by DebC at 10:52 PM
October 07, 2003
Hat City
Well, since my last entry I have completed another adult hat and one newborn hat. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the two adult hats before I gave them away but they turned out pretty well. Word of warning on using DK weight yarn though, it turns out very stretchy. The chunky, fake mohair yarn that was used in Jake's sweater was ideal.
The newborn hat was made to match the sweater for my friend Jamie's baby. It won't be here until December so Elmo had to model the set. I had 2/3's of a ball of Sirdar Silky left and got a wild hair to do a hat. It was a heartpounding race to the finish to see if it was enough. I bound off with a mere ten inches left. It doesn't get anymore victorious than that folks. I used the same seed stitch from the sweater and it was a constant battle to keep the holes aligned. I actually had this problem in the sweater but was successful for the most part. The back of the hat has one small section that is all hosed up (to me anyway, nonknitters will probably not notice). I swear I am knitting dyslexic. Anyway, as you can see, Elmo is modeling it for me. He is newborn size but unfortunately, his eyeballs are not optimally placed for hat modeling hahahahaha. We love you anyway "Melmo".
I am starting Eli's sweater now but am back to the drawing board for a pattern. I don't like the one I picked. I wanted a topdown, seamless raglan like the one I used for Seth and Jake. I actually had to alter that pattern to size it up and it was okay. I didn't want to take a chance at resizing it THAT much for Eli. I am going to try out this pattern. I bought that Sweater Wizard CD for creating sweaters but it doesn't seem to allow for one piece sweaters which really sucks considering how much I paid for the thing. I think I will go nicely suggest that they add that as an update. Speaking of this CD...nice program. Math is not my strong suit so I really appreciate just plugging in numbers. But the instructions are a pain in the patoot. I think I will alter the instructions to make them more sensible - it was really only the proportions that I was interested in anyway. And also, it seems to me, that for nearly $90 they should combine the Sweater Wizard and the one that makes charts. Really now. Those two programs in a mainstream computer program should only cost about $30 apiece. I think they are priced so high simply because they are not being mass marketed. Hmmm, maybe I will sugest that too.
Posted by DebC at 10:49 AM