7 posts tagged “ravelry”

I just realized I didn't knit at all today.  Usually, I sit down at some point and just chill and work on a project, but somehow, I got busy and didn't.

But I did start planning my next projects.  I know a few of the gifts I'll be working on for the holiday season already, and so I was sketching those out and picking out colors.  And then a few days ago, I drew a beautiful project of what I want to work on for myself.

I'm behind on picture taking - my ravelry profile isn't quite up to date with my 3 latest projects.  I did get a bunch of the stash photos I took last month up, so that's closer to accurate (although my last Knit Picks shipment isn't in the list yet).  I still need to get the perfect ribbon for my cami, and maybe I'll find that this weekend.  I'd like to go to World Market for something, so maybe I'll hit the Michael's on that side of town to see what selection they have.

So right now, I'm working on a lace wrap of my own design, and finishing my jaywalker socks.  I'm not sure what socks I'll work on next after these are done,  I have several skeins waiting for me to pick a pattern for them.

I've got a few knitting books right now that need to be recorded and returned to the library, too.  I hate to give them back sometimes because I'd like to keep them around, but I know these ones have waiting lists. 

This is really random, and it's been a while since I've made this scatter-y of a post about anything, so I think I'll click Save before I change my mind!

Even though it's the end of January, it's never too late to write up my knitting recap from the holidays, right? :)

For Christmas, I planned a variety of knitting projects to go with my gifts.  Since this was something I was going to enjoy, not feel pressure with, I kept thinking of other ideas along the way of things I could gift instead of my knitting if I didn't get it done.  But actually, I ended up making additional knitted gifts because I got done *faster* with most things that I thought.

Happy Clapotis Scarf.  For a gift for my mother-in-law, I wanted something fairly light because she's in CA, and so a regular warm scarf was not going to be great.  I didn't think I had the time to do a full clapotis wrap, but I found a scarf sized version that looked more usable.  And then for the yarn, I did some research (Knitty Boards, membership required to view) because I wasn't as excited about the chunky look from the scarf pattern, and the Lion and Lamb that the wrap had was nice but not from a yarn store I normally shop at.  I found that Knit Picks had some great colors of their Shimmer, and I was sold, it had beautiful color options and was baby alpaca and silk which seemed like it would be light.  Then I found someone on Ravelry (CaseyK's clapotis) who had used the same yarn and colorway triple stranded, and that looked like a really nice weight, so I went with that.

Actually knitting this was a joy.  I had so much fun figuring out the stitches and anticipating when the next drop happened.  It curled up a bit while knitting, but then blocking it made all the difference in the world, the drop ladders turned out all straight and perfect and much more beautiful than I thought.  I would seriously consider making myself a full Clapotis wrap if I could think of somewhere to wear it.

Stripey Anastasia Socks.  For my mom.  I thought she might be the only person who would appreciate socks, and plus with our drawing names, I wasn't sure who I would get to have enough time for this project.  I knew that she had slightly smaller feet than me (and in hind sight, I probably still should have made them a little less long), and so that helped for knowing what measurement to use.

I found the yarn before picking a pattern.  When I saw the Felici yarn from Knit Picks when they introduce it, I knew the Firefighter colorway was totally her.  So then I just had to find a pattern that would work okay with this yarn and be a little more interesting than just straight stockingette.  The Anastasia pattern had a spiral that was reversed on the 2nd sock, and that looked like fun to knit (it was). 

I started these when I first got the yarn, but then did them slowly alongside all the other gifts, so it was the last thing finished of my gifts.  They blocked up really nicely, although my k2tog/yo and ssk/yo aren't exactly the same size, so the holes on the 2nd sock are slightly bigger, and that was a little sad.  It's certainly not as noticeable when the socks are on.

Chocolatty Armwarmers and Scarf.  For Lisa, who works in the family business in an office/warehouse that is cold.  I figured she could use these armwarmers when driving and typing in the cold.  I saw someone on Ravelry (lixolux) a while back that had armwarmers with plaits (braids) instead of the fancy flowery cable from the pattern, and I really liked that.  My Stitchionary comes in handy for that, and I'd used the plaited cable on an afghan square already, so I knew I could do it. And I was more comfortable this time around with doing cabling without a cable needle, which came in handy!

And then instead of looking for the suggested Noro online, I found some people making things out of the new Debbie Mumm yarn, which I could get at Jo-Ann's w/o stressing about finding a real yarn store.  This yarn was not great to knit with, but the finished product was pretty good.  The repeats in colors weren't the same anywhere in the 2nd skein so I had to do a lot of work to make them look the same. 

These were such a fast knit that as I got to the end of my holiday knitting, I decided to make a really skinny scarf to go with them.  I did it in the same rib as the armwarmers, and every once in a while, I put the plait cable in.  I made it nice and long and I enjoyed trying it on for photos :)

Pink stretchy Ballet Slippers and Legwarmers.  For my niece, Leah, along with other ballet themed presents.  My original plan for knitting for her was to make mittens.  But then once I got further in my shopping, it seemed like it would be more fun to give her something more ballet-ish.  So I tried to use my purchased skein of Swish Superwash to make ballet slippers (Twinkle Toes from Knitty), but I ran out of yarn too fast after the first one.  I didn't want to wait to get more, so I did some searching and found people making them with Cascade Fixation, which I knew I could get at Craft Warehouse, and in pink was going to be more happy anyhow.

I love the construction of these.  I've finally gotten very comfortable with short rows, and so this was easy.  I made the ties a little longer, but I still wish I'd gone further, they didn't wrap around twice like ballet slippers very easily.  The stretchy yarn was fun to work with, and they really did strech well.  Of course, this made them look little in the package!  I think I could have made them a little bigger and had them work for longer, but I made the kids size already, so I was scared I was overthinking it.

Then when I was shopping for the Cascade Fixation, I thought I'd also get some yarn and make some stretchy legwarmers to go with.  I used the Fixation held with a variety of other worsted weight yarn (Wool-Ease, the Swish Superwash, and some Knit Picks Twist I picked up on clearance).  They didn't quite come out as strechy as I'd hoped, and it took me a little longer due to wanting to weave in ends as I went but not detatch yarn.  I should have done them on dpns, but I was trying to get a feel for using circular needles on small diameters, so this also took me a lot more adjusting than I wanted.  Overall, I wish I'd made them a little bigger and even maybe just with the fixation instead of stripes.

Baby slip-stitch mittens.  For my nephew, Leonard.  I wanted to make him something to keep him warm, but thought he might just pull a hat off and a scarf would be hard to keep on too.  I found several patterns for mittens that were thumbless, for babies, and that seemed like a nice idea.  But the more I looked, the less happy I was with any one pattern.  I ended up combining details of multiple patterns and going ahead with thumbs.

Also, I found patterns with some sort of neat stitch patterns on them, and I liked those, but I was worried about getting his little fingers caught.  So I came up with a slip stitch pattern that looked like it was fair isle instead.  This made for a nice warm and pretty mitten.  I had a hard time with getting the placement of the thumb right and the length of the mitten to actually look like the length of his hand.  It took quite a few tries to get it right, but I really like how it turned out in the end.  The thumb was stripey to keep the bulk of the fabric down, and that looked super cute.

The thing I was most disappointed with was my i-cord.  I still don't feel like my i-cords are very even, and I tried to jazz this one up with alternating the colors, which made for ends to weave in and potentially look funny after some wears.

But the best thing was Leonard wearing the gloves around his neck from the i-cord on Christmas Eve.  Even if he doesn't wear them much, that picture in my head was worth it!

Note: This is the fourth in a series of posts looking back at 2007, in some key areas of my life that were important to me.

I knitted this year.

Everything I finished my first year of knitting (2006) was very basic.  I'm ending out 2007 with a ton more knowledge and skill under my belt.  I well exceeded my goals, which I found were setting the bar pretty low in the grand scheme of things!

I learned what to look for when purchasing yarn and how to substitute.  There were 3 different online stores (KnitPicks on many occasions, TheLoopyEwe, and Little Knits) that I've ordered from, as well as the local craft stores, branching out from only really knowing about Lion Brand and Lily's Sugar 'N Cream at the beginning of the year.  I'm starting to learn about combining colors, with some success and some turning out less than what I expected (Leah's pinwheel sweater was a success, but my in-process heart socks aren't as perfectly color coordinated as I hoped).

In mid-January when Vox introduced Groups, I created the Knitting group.  Even though I'm not as active in adding content as I wish, the great thing about this is that you don't have to do much to make your content part of the group, and there are a lot of people who are members (around 375 right now), so it's really a fun way to browse people who are knitting on Vox.  (I still like to zoom through people who tag things as "knitting" and invite them to the group whenever I can!)

Starting in March, I began going to the library's knit-in every 2 weeks.  I tried to bring easy projects I was working on at the time and found myself enjoying the company even when the discussion was not usually about knitting.  I became known as someone who had a basic grasp on knitting and towards the end of the year when I joined the Friends of the Library (the group that puts this on), they made me a leader of the group as well.  I've helped people who didn't know how to knit yet, and contributed to knitting discussions as well.  It feels good to be part of this!  

The roundup:  4 pairs of socks (and almost a 5th), 2 sweaters, a doll with a full wardrobe (among my very favorite thing I knit this year), a turtle, booties, 2 bibs, 2 hats, 3 scarfs, 2 shawl-like scarfs, 10-15 dishclothes, a potholder, 2 different pairs of slippers, armwarmers and legwarmers, mittens, part of two afghans, border and several squares of a patchwork afghan, and probably some other small things.

Ravelry: I did some tracking of my progress on my blog,  but many of my knitting projects were gifts, and needed more privacy.  Enter Raverly (my profile, if you have an account), a new site this year for tracking projects, stashes, and more.  For the first few months they were around, I helped on the forums quite a bit and helped with bug tracking.  I'm still watching a few groups, but mainly I'm using it to track my projects and my queue, as well as inspiration for new projects!  Super awesome site, if you aren't on the waiting list, get your name on there!

Media: I've read a lot of books about knitting, above my skill level to try and start absorbing what's out there.  I've purchased books about knitting for reference and patterns.  Watched Knitty Gritty on HGTV for as long as they had it, and this was so helpful to see visually how things were held.  Listened to knitting podcasts inspired me to think about knitting too.

Techniques: My colorwork experience has grown, attempting fair isle, multiple colored slip stitch patterns, stripes, and a little intarsia, as well as plenty of projects that used multiple colors and were seamed together.  I've also tried entrelac, and short rows, and plenty of different shaped pieces.  Some i-cords, but not as neat as I'd like them to look yet.  I've adjusted patterns, and come up with my own and even written them out in a readable fashion.  Different bind offs and castons, and plenty of increases and decreases.  I've used straight needles, circular needles (interchangable), and double pointed needles.  I'm still not an expert at all of these things, but I feel great for having tried so many things that I can work to improve!

My holiday knitting that I planned is going so well!  I'm very close to getting it done, and I added a few more small things to go along with my stuff in the meantime.

Happy Clapotis scarf: Done for quite a while now.  I finished 2 weeks ago at the knit in.  The blocking went SO well on this, it opened it up so well. 

Stripey Anastasia socks: I'm almost done with the second one, about another inch of the pattern and then the top rib.  I did a lot during National Treasure (the first one) and so when I think of them, that comes to mind.

Armwarmers for my sister: These were done when I wrote my first post.  I added on the idea of gifting a really skinny scarf to match, and I'm about a 1/3 done after working on it for an hour last night at the knit in and a little more during Pushing Daisies.

Mittens for my nephew: These actually took longer because I did the first one at least 3 times to get a pattern I liked and to make them proportional.  They are done, and I actually should put up the pattern because they LOOK like fair isle, but they are a slip-stitch pattern so there aren't floats to catch little fingers on.

Slippers for my niece: These are done, started over in Cascade Fixation.  I decided to add on some legwarmers, since she's having a ballet themed gift box.  One of the two is done, with Cascade Fixation and one other strand of worsted weight yarn held together for random stripes.  I don't think I'll make the stripes match between the two, just make 'em random.

I need to upload photos, I've taken a lot along the way, and then not done anything with them, oops.  I've been busy knitting instead of uploading, I suppose :)

At the end of last week, I got my shipment of yarn from KnitPicks so I could work on holiday knitting, yay!  Here's what I'm working on:

Clapotis scarf for my mother-in-law.  This is the skinnier version of the real clapotis, because they are in CA and having a full shawl seems silly-hot.  I'm using Shimmer, which was on sale, from Knit Picks.  I'm 3 drop stitch rows in now.
    I might also make a lacy bookmark out of the leftover yarn...

Stripey Anastasia socks for my mom.  This spiraling eyelet rows makes it a little more interesting to knit than plan stockingettes... I'm using Knit Picks Felici in Firefighter because my mom's been a fan of black and red for many years.  I am about a third of the way through the first foot, toe-up.

Armwarmers for my sister.  I used a pattern out of Stitch 'N Bitch Nation but a different cable on it.  Using the new Debbie Mumm's Traditions yarn from Jo-Ann (kinda like a noro but less colorful) I wanted the color repeats to be the same, and that was a bit difficult because I couldn't find the same repeat in the second skein, so I pieced it together a bit and only ended up using the one skein.  These are done and the ends are all woven in, but no photoshoot yet!

Mittens for my nephew.  He's little, these will go fast.  I swatched for a slip stitch pattern to make use of two colors to make it more interesting without too many floats inside to catch his little fingers in.  I'm not going to do a thumb because I think he'll just get it stuck.  And I'll make an icord that attaches them together.  Using Knit Picks Swish Superwash.

Slippers for my niece.  These will be the twinkle toe pattern from knitty to make ballet-like slippers.  If I have extra time, I may try for some legwarmers, too, since I'm going for the ballet theme.  My plan right now is to use Swish Superwash, but I might try to find some cascade fixation instead so they are more adjustable to her feet.

I have a few preliminary pictures on ravelry, but nothing complete yet.  I'm quite overwhelmed with how many photos I have waiting to be uploaded right now, so I need to deal with that too!

So what are you knitting for the holidays?  Do you have a good start yet?

I've been knitting these pink socks for quite a while now, as my alternative project to whatever else I'm working on at the time.  I was thrilled by the yarn when I got it, and knitting it up was just as nice.

Pink Socks
Started: early May, 2007
Finished: September 5, 2007
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Iris Garden
Needles: Knit Picks dpns, size 1
Pattern: Knitty's Universal Toe-up Sock Formula

This is the smallest yarn and needles I've used yet, and my first pair of toe-up socks.  I love toe-up, I think this is definitely the way I'll try to go in the future (that being said, I have some top-downs on my needles already!)  I feel like a better sock knitter after making these because of the time involved in doing such little stitches.  The short row heels with wraps made a lot more sense now that I've done short-row dishclothes, actually.

I definitely like the "leaves of grass" pattern that I picked from the Stitchionary better than my first try of the hearts.  I just had too many difficulties with p4tog with these fine stitches.  I just did it on the leg, but if I had it to do again, I would have done it on the top of the foot too.

They fit nice.  The first sock was a little long , and so I reduced the length by like 1 or 2 rows on the second.  They still look the same, but one will not bunch as much in my shoe as the other! 

I wore them for the first time to the library the day I finished them (moblog post) to show to my knitting group, because they'd seen how long I was working on them because they were the best portable project I had for a while!

Here's a few more pictures of the progress.  If you are on Ravelry, the project page is here.

I definitely would use this pattern and this yarn again.  It's all good stuff!

I've just been too tired and busy actually knitting to write about what I'm doing.  So here's a preview.  I also have pictures on my camera because I've been diligently taking in-process photos, but they just aren't on my computer yet to even upload!  I'm also quite behind on actually reading the knitting group and other Vox updates, and I miss being my normal comment-y self.

• I finished one big secret project.  Beautiful, I'd like to take a few more pictures.  It's even blocked and in tissue!
  
• I started and finished a pair of socks with one of my discount yarn finds.  The colors aren't really as exciting as I'd hoped, but it was my first try at customizing the size of socks.  I've got the pattern I used on this scrap piece of paper that's such a mess I should scan it in so you can see how my brain works. ;)  I did the first one on my days off around my birthday and then was a little slower on the second.
  
• I did a few squares for my afghan and got a new book for my birthday with more ideas.
• I started on another big-ish secret project that I can't stop touching.   I love love love it: the yarn, the pattern, my progress, the whole thing.
  
• I went to the yarn store (okay, just Michael's, no where fancy) and got some on-sale cotton (4 for $5), some extra wool-ease for charity squares, and one skein just for me hopefully to become some sort of a needle holder.
• I've been to several more knit-ins at the library.
• I'm swatching for the next pair of socks and trying to find a pattern that I want to use.  I think I'll try toe-up so I can make them as long of a leg as possible, probably using the equations from Knitty's Universal Toe-up sock formula, but I'd like a pattern in the leg.  Possibly a heart lace, which I swatched on bigger yarn to try and figure out how to make it work well with the smaller yarn (Lorna's Laces).
• I'm beta testing Ravelry.  No, I don't have invites, and No, I don't have enough content to show off yet.  I'll play more and let ya know.  It's very neato, they should somehow link up and use photos from Vox instead of just Flickr :D

I'm struggling on how much to write about my knitting on my public blog and how much to just put in the group.  I really like having all my posts here publicly for searching so I can tell crafty people my blog URL is kristine.vox.com and have them find my knitting stuff, but I hate to "spam" my neighborhood who may not all care about the details of a project.  Tough one.