New Year, New Adventures

I've decided to try something new in 2010. I used some of my Christmas money to buy undyed yarn and dye from Knitpicks.com and I plan to start dyeing my own yarn. I might even start tomorrow.

I got the box today, and I am very pleased with the texture of the yarn. I'm particular about yarn being soft, so I was very leery of buying yarn without the opportunity to feel it first. I ordered two different types of undyed yarn: a merino/nylon 75/25 blend, and a merino/silk 70/30 blend. Both are fingering weight, and are nice and soft, although the wool/nylon blend is actually softer than the wool/silk blend.

It will be interesting to see how the yarn takes dye. I have some ideas about the kinds of effects I want to create, and how I might get there. I imagine it will take some experimentation. I hope I bought enough yarn.

Christmas is Over...

... which means I now have time for blogging again. A lot has happened in the month and a half since I last posted. The new digital camera arrived, so I have pictures again. Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. I knit like a fiend in between, and finished four pairs of fingerless gloves for Christmas presents. I also knit myself a hat. I gave my dad the Celtic cross sweater, and he wore it for the next two days straight.

It's finally time for me to finish my own fingerless gloves, which I began several months ago. There are a lot of projects in my queue that I've put off until Christmas was over: a hat and mitts for my dad to match his sweater, a hat for Paul to match his brown cardigan, an MP3 player cozy and a journal cover for myself. I'd like to crochet Paul a cute afghan with a checkerboard on it, and the checkers to match. I also have a couple of "impulse" skeins of sock yarn that I need to decide what to do with. One is handspun that I bought at a local fiber festival; the other is Lorna's laces shepherd sock in a colorway that I couldn't resist.

On top of all that, I got some knit-related Christmas gifts that I will need to use as well. I used some of my Christmas money from my in-laws to buy undyed yarn, a ball winder, and a basic dyeing kit from KnitPicks. I also got a gift certificate to my favorite LYS. I promised the giver that I would use it to buy supplies to knit something for myself, but I may subtract the yarn I bought for the hat I just knit, since that was for me. Maybe it's cheating, but I will knit something for myself at some point soon, so that counts, right?

Anyway, the holiday was nice for my family, and I hope it was for everyone else, too. Now, back to knitting!

New camera on its way

So, I finally gave in and ordered a new digital camera. I realize this means that my old one will reappear, just as soon as I can no longer return the new one. But I really would like to be able to take pictures at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, I learned a lot from my first camera about what to look for in a digital camera. Plus, it was 3 years old, which is ancient in camera years. So, I'm pretty happy about replacing it for under $100. We'll see if I'm still feeling that way a month from now.

Hopefully, the new camera will arrive before next weekend, so I will be able to take new pics of my projects to post here.

In the meantime, I continue to knit furiously on my Christmas projects. I am making Paul's first stocking, knitting an ornament for the Chicks with Sticks club ornament swap, and knitting several Christmas gifts (can't give details right now; this is public after all).

Lost: camera

Serious bummer. I have not been able to find my camera in several days. I have searched all the obvious places, and the less-obvious places that I can think of. At this point, I'm just going to leave it to the universe to return my camera to me when it is ready. If it turns out I can't wait that long, I may have to go buy a replacement. But of course, I know that two days later I would find my camera, and be annoyed.

Those who remark upon items going missing in my presence know that I have a theory about this. (Actually, technically, it's not a theory. Not even a hypothesis. Just a si

Image via Wikipedia

lly notion. But let's not get technical.) Wormholes.

Yes, wormholes. Little wrinkles in the space-time continuum that can cause an object to move instantly from one location to another that is not connected to it in space as we know it. Wormholes are what cause objects to disappear from a location where you know you placed them, only to reappear in a totally absurd location five days later.

It has nothing to do with the notorious faultiness of the human memory. It's wormholes. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway, I hope some kind wormhole will return my camera to me before I break down and spend $150 on a shiny new one that I will not be willing to part with when my old camera returns. Thanks.

A miracle: no WIPs

I finished two projects today, leaving no works in progress (WIPs) on my official Ravelry project page. This is the first time it has happened since I started using Ravelry to keep track of my projects. Since I usually have two projects on the needles at any given, it's quite unusual for me to finish both so close together.

I'm feeling ambivalent about this. On the one hand, there's great pride in the accomplishments. Both projects turned out beautifully. (I don't have pics yet, but will take them soon.) On the other hand, it's a little bit sad not to have a project to turn to at the moment. My needles look forlorn and lonely.

Of course, they won't stay that way for long. I have so many projects queued up, both on Ravelry and in my own mind, that I can't wait very long to start something else. I just need to make up my mind which two projects to do next. There are several things I want to knit for myself. I think the fingerless gloves in laceweight alpaca will have to be the next thing I start. I also have some super-soft yarn I need to use to make baby caps. Then there's the mp3 player cozy and the journal cover I want to make for myself. But I probably shouldn't have two selfish-knitting projects at the same time. Decisions, decisions.

A Minor Disaster

I blame my husband for this, as for most things. If he had been helping me watch our two-year-old instead of napping this afternoon, this would never have happened. Really, my choices had nothing to do with it. That's what I tell myself. Don't disillusion me.

The disaster in question is miscrossed cables, about 6 rows back.

I really don't want to rip back that far, and correcting miscrossed cables is a real pain in the neck. I'd take it to the knit shop, but they're closed tomorrow. So I'll be setting aside my lovely cashmere wrap until I get another chance to go to the knit shop, which will be next Friday. Aaaargh!

I think my knitting feng shui is out of balance or something. I made a mistake on this beautiful wrap. I am entirely dissatisfied with the socks I am working on, and considering frogging them. And I have set aside a couple of projects to work on later. Meanwhile, I have friends popping out babies left and right, whom I am obligated to knit for. I have yarn (thanks to another wonderful yarn crawl yesterday, yay!) but no patterns chosen. This is not for lack of trying. I have looked through my pattern books and searched ravelry. I just can't seem to find the right patterns. Aaaargh!

I don't know why I am in a knitting funk right now, and I don't know how to get out of it, but I am open to ideas... (ie. help!)

Yarn Crawl Awesomeness!

Yesterday morning, I got together with several other members of our friendly local knitting and crocheting club for a "yarn crawl," which is like a pub crawl, but to yarn shops instead of pubs.

We went to two yarn shops, ImagiKnit in Tullahoma, TN and The Knit Kit in Shelbyville, TN. In between the shops, we grabbed lunch together at Applebees. I bought yarn and patterns at the first shop, but nothing at the second, primarily because I couldn't think of a specific project to use it for. I will probably go back there soon and buy yarn for a baby project for my friend Amy's new daughter. My Ravelry queue is getting out of control, though.

It was so much fun to see new yarn shops, feel all the nice yarn, and to spend the time with friends who also appreciate yarn and don't think I'm strange if I rub it on my face (because they've done it, too)! We shopped, we conspired to share patterns from an expensive pattern book, we ate, we talked, we even had an impromptu sock-knitting lesson in the car. It was a blast!

I can hardly wait until the next one, set for early September.

Every Way Wrap

I've revealed my sometimes-poor impulse control and the story behind this wrap in an earlier post on this blog. But sometimes poor impulse control isn't entirely bad.

I'm still really enjoying this pattern. The yarn I chose is so soft, it is a delight to knit with. It has become one of my favorite yarns of all time. As I knit, every now and then I just hold the work up to my face and brush gently... so nice! I can hardly wait to be done with the wrap, so I can wear it.

Meanwhile, I need to find a small project to take to work with me so I can knit during downtime. I'd like to make handwarmers, but I'd need to buy yarn, and I'm on a yarn diet at the moment, unfortunately. I have so much sock yarn, I really should pick some and a pattern and knit some socks. That idea's just not floating my boat right now. Maybe I'll go play in my stash until inspiration hits.

Sweater accomplished

I've done it! Finished my first project that I designed myself, the celtic cross sweater for my dad. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The picture above doesn't show the cross to its best effect, but it does prove that I have in fact finished it!

Having a new project I am so excited about really gave me the kick in the behind that I needed to finish this one, when the stockinette got too tedious. Otherwise, it might have taken until Dad's birthday (in November)!

Now I need to decide what to do with the design. I am considering posting it on Ravelry and debating with myself whether to charge for it or make it free. I've checked, and there are no similar patterns for sweaters on Ravelry. It took a significant amount of time and effort to create the design, and it seems to me that it deserves the respect of being paid for. On the other hand, as a pattern-buyer, I'm not sure I would want to buy a pattern that includes only one size. I think I may compensate for that by offering my suggestions in the pattern itself and email support for needs above and beyond that.

Well, that can wait. Time to start on that cashmere wrap...

The thrill of a new project

I am so excited right now about the newest project I have plans for. I just have to share.

I was hanging out at my favorite LYS, and the fall issue of Interweave Knits magazine had just arrived. On the cover it advertised an article about how to do cables without a cable needle, so I started flipping through the magazine. In the pattern section, I ran across several patterns that make use of reversible cables, which fascinated me. One of them is called the Every Way Wrap. Depending on how you wrap it, it can be a scarf, a shawl, a vest, or a cardigan. How cool is that?

Well, I decided right then and there that I was going to make that. I bought the magazine and I started looking at yarns. If it's going to go around my neck, it's gotta be soft, so I settled on a cashmere blend. There wasn't enough for the size I wanted to make in any one color, so I had to figure out what to do about that, and decided that a combination of light blue for the cables and dark brown for the moss stitch portion would be striking. I found some buttons that went with it, and pretty soon, I had all the supplies.

I work very hard to maintain self-discipline in situations like this. I have been working on this very ambitious sweater project for my dad for about a month and a half now, and I didn't want to abandon it to start on the new project. So I kept to my rule of having only two projects in progress at a time. I made a pact with myself not to start on the wrap until I finish my dad's sweater.

But it's so hard to resist! Wish me luck.

On being multicraftual

People who like crafts often like many different crafts. In the knitting and crocheting community, people who both knit and crochet are sometimes referred to as "bicraftual." Since I engage in other forms of crafting in addition to knit and crochet, I think of myself as "multicraftual."

There are many advantages to being multicraftual. You can use supplies and techniques from one craft to augment another. You can use a craft to make supplies for another craft. You can combine crafts in one finished work of art.

As far as I can tell, there is only one disadvantage to multicraftual status. I call it "I can make that" syndrome. I see something in a store or on a website, and it is lovely and I covet it, and it may be reasonably priced or it may be way out of my budget. But I think to myself, "I could make that," and I immediately start to think of ways I could improve upon it. Then, I will not buy the one I saw, even if it is reasonably priced and would take me hours of work to reproduce. If I think I can improve upon it, I will try to do so. Sometimes I succeed. More often, I spend a large amount of time and effort (and occasionally even money) thinking about the project, planning it, shopping for supplies for it, and then never get around to finishing it.

Lately, I have taken to asking myself whether I can truly do it better than the original and how long it would take me to do so. If I don't like the answers, then I am better off just buying it or forgetting about it entirely.

Designing my first sweater

I love cable knitting. I took to it immediately. After completing two projects, which used celtic knot designs, I decided I wanted to design something with a celtic cross on it. A sweater seemed perfect, and my dad seemed like the perfect person to knit for. He loves celtic crosses, and I know he will get good use from the sweater. Plus, he's a guy, which means no funky shaping is required on the sweater.

I looked on Ravelry for a pattern, but couldn't find one. I honestly don't believe there is any chance that I am the first person to design a sweater with a celtic cross motif on it. Maybe I messed up the search somehow. But in any case, I went ahead and drew up my own design.

I used graph paper to draw the cross first. I already knew a fair amount about celtic cross drawing from a book about the subject which I bought on a trip to Scotland. So that was the easy part (although it certainly impresses people). Then I knit a gauge swatch with the yarn I had chosen. I had knit a top-down sweater with raglan sleeves for my son, so I knew that the construction of such a sweater is very straightforward. I found a formula for the proportions of various parts of the sweater (neck, sleeves, cuffs, etc) based on the chest circumference, and I plugged in the gauge from my swatch and my dad's measurements to calculate the number of stitches I needed at each key point. A little more math to place the cross where I wanted it and figure out the rate of decreases on the sleeves, and I had a sweater pattern.

I am really impressed with how well it has turned out so far. I have done all but the sleeves. I have decided that I want to do them both at once on a long circular needle, a la magic loop. Only problem with that plan is that I don't have a long enough circular. But that just gives me an excuse to replace my current set of interchangeable needles with the Knitpicks options set I've been coveting for a while. As soon as it arrives, I will resume knitting, keeping my fingers crossed.

See one, do one, teach one

I got an unexpected chance to teach today, which is always fun. I am not a teacher by profession, and I really enjoy teaching people. (I say these things together because I believe they are related.)

Anyway, I went to my favorite LYS, having forgotten that they are closed on Mondays, and encountered two other knitters who had done likewise. We struck up conversation and they both mentioned that they were beginning knitters who were looking for a little help on their current projects. They seemed to have helped each other figure that out, but then they asked me whether I knit continental or American-style (holding the yarn in the left hand or the right, respectively). I replied that since I had learned to crochet before knitting, I had always held the yarn in my left hand. They were fascinated by this, and an impromptu teaching session with one ensued. She was a pretty quick study, and within about 30 minutes, had the basic idea.

I found I really enjoyed this unplanned little lesson. Positive feedback from students helps. I have no plans to attempt to become a knitting guru, but maybe someday I'll get a chance to do more teaching.

Photography for knitters

I recently ran across some posts on ravelry about photographing one's work to best effect. I had been getting decent photographs of my work, but not fabulous ones. The tips that I found most helpful were these:

1. Use natural daylight whenever possible. This means being patient and waiting until a nice sunny day (or lightly cloudly one). When impossible (ie you've got a deadline), use diffuse light by putting parchment paper over lamps, and positioning them around the work to be photographed.

2. Keep the background simple to avoid distracting from your work.

3. Don't use the zoom. Instead, hold the camera as close as possible to the work.

4. Photograph your work in use if possible. If it's a garment, have someone model it.

Using these tips, I took this picture of my most recent finished work, a crocheted shopping bag.

Frogging frustrations and new adventures

I had never before had to frog an entire project. Now, I've done so with two projects. Both because of failure to make a gauge swatch. The pair of lovely cabled socks I had started on wouldn't fit over my heels, so I had to frog them.

Last time I wrote, I swore I wouldn't change my ways and start making gauge swatches because of a single frogged project. Now that it's happened twice in a row, even such a stubborn fool as I can eat my words.

I have started on a new project, and my most ambitious adventure yet. I am writing my own pattern for a sweater, with a cabled celtic cross design. And, in an even bolder move, I have announced my intention to make this sweater for my father, and let him have a say in the yarn.

Taking Dad to the knit shop was fun. He was a little overwhelmed, but I guided him toward appropriate choices, and let him fondle a few skeins. Mostly, he just pointed out the colors he liked, and left the final choice to me.

This is by far the largest yarn purchase I have ever made. I hope it lives up to my expectations, and my father's!

Frogged for the First Time

I had to frog my first project last weekend. For those of you who are wondering what I mean by that, it means I ripped it out round by round, all the way to the beginning. the term "frogging" comes from the repetition of the phrase "rip it."

So what project did I have to frog? The yellow sweater I was making for Paul. I was about 80% done with it, and discovered that not only was it so big on him that it would probably fall over his shoulders, but I would also run out of yarn. So, I decided to start over with smaller needles.

I know why this happened, and what I should learn from it. I didn't make a guage swatch. If I had, I might have noticed that it was too large. But I won't learn from this. I usually knit so close to the guage, that it's not worth it to make a swatch. Having to frog a project probably won't change that. I'm stubborn like that.

So I started over, with smaller needles, and I'm about 40% done now. It's looking like the fit will be better, but it's hard to say whether I've got enough yarn. I have some ideas about what I will do if it runs out. I'm hoping I won't have to use them, but I can play it by ear.

Learning cable knitting

I decided I wanted to learn to cable knit. I love cable-knit things. I love celtic knots, and cable-knitting lends itself to celtic knotwork designs in knitting. So, I decided to try this small project I had run across: a cable-knit mug cozy.

As I expected, cable knitting takes some practice and some getting used to. It feels awkward at first, holding two knitting needles and a cable needle, and it's very easy to get confused as to which needle goes in front and which one you're supposed to be knitting from. And tinking cabled work is a serious pain in the neck.

But by the end of this small project, I pretty much had the hang of it, and it even got to be kind of fun. It inspired me to think of what else I can do with cables. I've sketched out a design to knit a celtic cross on a sweater. I think it will be very challenging, but worth it, if I can manage it. Before I attempt that, I think I'll do a plainer cable knit sweater, something small, like for my son.

Done with Prickly Pear socks, on to the next good thing

Another pair of socks, done. This is my fourth pair, and has by far the most complicated pattern I have ever attempted. They turned out about as nicely as I hoped, which is always a pleasant surprise.

My next project will be to learn how to knit cables. I will be making Knit Picks cabled mug cozy, a pattern available for free both on the Knit Picks site and on Ravelry. I anticipate that it will go pretty quickly. I may even make more than one. Once I feel comfortable with cable knitting, I plan to attempt it on some socks. I have not yet made up my mind as to which pattern I will choose out of several possibilities. None of the patterns I have is ideal to me, so whichever one I choose I will have to modify. I have never tried to convert a top-down sock pattern to toe-up, but I may have to for my next project. That will certainly be an adventure!

Top-down one-piece sweater

After I finished the moebius cowl, I decided to try out a new idea I had run across: making a sweater top-down in one piece. I combined that idea with another one: making your own sweater pattern based on a formula of proportions. But I didn't want to make an adult-sized sweater as an experiment, or even a child-sized one. So I made a sweater for my son's teddy bear.

I made a guage swatch, measured the teddy bear's neck, waist and arm circumferences, and did a little math. The whole thing took me less than a week. And since I used leftover yarn from another project, it didn't cost me anything either.

I think I'm ready to try this method on a sweater for my son now.

Moebius cowl progresses

This is the first time I have tried making anything in a moebius loop, and it's certainly an adventure. I have seen many patterns for knit moebius scarves, shawls or cowls. But to me, the real fun of making something in a moebius loop is following the edges around and around, which means it should be crocheted, not knit. (A moebius loop is a loop formed by twisting the edge one half turn before joining, which results in an interesting phenomenon: a three dimensional object that only has one side.)

I started making the cowl to use up some chenille yarn that I bought years ago and never made into the original planned project. I discovered that the reason I hadn't made the original project is that there wasn't enough yarn to make, well, much of anything. So my free project to use leftover yarn turned into a $33 project when I had to buy more yarn. I hate when that happens.

But the cowl is going well. I will probably finish it with a scalloped edge today. Which means I can start a new project! Yay!

Sock Innovations excitement!

I just got the new book Sock Innovations by Cookie A, and have already read halfway through it. I am really excited to try out some ideas it stirred...

...But first, I have five projects in line to complete. sigh

I try to maintain some self-discipline by working on no more than two projects at a time. I tell myself that I can't start a new project until I finish one of the two I am working on, so that way I have an incentive to keep working after the initial excitement of experimenting with a new project has passed. Why two at a time? Because if I get bored or frustrated with one, then I can move to the other for a while! It makes sense to me, anyway.

This whole self-discipline idea would be more convincing if I also had a limit on the number of projects I let myself buy supplies for. But that would take more self-control than I possess. I cannot go in a yarn shop and leave without buying something. That would be rude, right? Well, technically, I suppose I am capable of leaving without buying anything, it just hasn't ever happened that I can recall.