6 posts tagged “yarn”

Yesterday, I got a package.  Weee!  It's my yarn for my next sweater, which I carefully labored over what I wanted to pick. I'm making a Mr. Greenjeans with Blue Moon Fiber Arts "Socks that Rock Heavyweight" in Beryl, a beautiful dark greeny-blue slightly variegated color.

So of course, that meant hanks of yarn to wind into balls to make it usable.

I don't have a Swift or Ball Winder.  That's a big investment, and so I've wanted my craft money to go towards buying yarn and good needles instead.

Last time I turned a hank into a ball, I sat cross-legged and looped the ends around my knees and wound that way.  That's hard on my knees to be sitting that way so long, and it's easy to tangle still.  Before that, I dangled the yarn over the back of E's desk chair, but it just didn't stay where I wanted it to nicely.

Today's solution was my favorite yet.  I have this large wooden board that used to be a shelf in our garage, about 30" wide and 20" deep.  It's been a good lapdesk throughout college (it actually says my maiden name on the spine because I stored it in the dorm one year).  I wrapped it with one of my big towels that was in my guest room from the last time I blocked something, just to protect the yarn from snagging on the board.  Then I set it on my card table with several inches off the end of the table.  This was just perfect for hanging my hank, and I sat on my exercise ball in that room and bounced lightly as I gently and loosely wound a center-pull ball.  This was much better!

(I'd take a picture, but that room is such a disaster area, I don't think I could find an angle that was *safe* to shoot from!!!!)

The ball is still not as pretty as it would be from a ball winder, but it's okay.  Someday, maybe I'll get one and make pretty balls, but until then, this will work... 1 done, 3 to go (one is destined for socks, and the others are for my sweater).

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!

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. 

I've started on some projects and gotten yarn for other ones.  I had the beginning of the week off, so I spent more time on all of it this week anyhow :)

Some of the things in my last project post are definitely in the works now.

I'm working on a shawl for my mom from this kit.  I went ahead and ordered it with needles because I didn't have any 10.5's.  They sent me interesting novelty needles!  Also, this was the first time taking a hank and turning it into a ball.

It's been a while since I've made a knitting post (posts tagged "knitting")!

Recap of 2006: Back at the beginning of November, I had the idea to learn to knit so I'd have something to do when we were driving down to California on our trip.  I started with a long scarf, and knew I wanted to keep learning more.

When I was done with that, I quickly cast on for my next scarf, a softer one out of Lion Brand Homespun in Barrington.  I'm using a pattern from The New Knitting Stitch Library which is *p1, k1*, p1 on right side, and k3, *p3, k3* on the wrong side, using 18 stitches (stitch pattern is 6 stitches plus 3).  It's making long stripes, and with the homespun hides all patterns slightly so I wanted something slightly more interesting to try and show it more, and this works well. 

At the beginning of December, I decided I wanted to try and make some potholders for my mom's Christmas present.  3 is always the perfect number in my head, so I set out to make 3 different colored potholders using the Lion Brand pattern.  I originally got Lion Cotton in Poppy Red, Seaspray, and Sagebrush, but then I wasn't sure this was as much my mom as it could be.  So I decided I could make some for my Mother-in-law, too, and the Seaspray and Sagebrush were much more her.  I found some Sugar n Cream in Black and Americana Ombre for my mom and Seashore, great match for my mother-in-law's other colors. 

As I worked on these, my wrists got sore of pulling hard to work with 3 strands held together at all time, and I started trying out continental and that helps, but slowed me down some!

So I finished my mom's a few days before Christmas, and started in on my Mother-in-law's on Christmas morning.  I ended up finishing them once we were at their house, and telling her what I was doing.

Here's the finished sets, all tied up together with a crocheted chain, folded nicely to almost look like a heart in the center!  You can see them in process here, too (photos tagged "potholder")

That ended out 2006 nicely, with 1 scarf and 6 potholders finished and 1 scarf in process.

Where I'm at now: My scarf in progress is doing VERY well - it's over 60" when I measured it the other day (my first was 99", I'm trying to get to that same goal or somewhere near it.  If I sat down and knitted consistently on it, it would be done, but I'm using it as my fun knitting during TV because I have the pattern so memorized I can do it without thinking!

And then that comes to my newest project.  I really want an afghan.  I have one that's crocheted that a friend made me that is on our couch all the time, but I'd like to make one that I like.  So I figured this would be a good way for me to learn a variety of techniques.  I'm not quite as crazy as to start on Barbara Walker's afghan because 1-I don't like all the old patterns (created in the 70s or 80s) and 2-the squares are much larger than I prefer.   I've been pouring over stitch books like the aforementioned New Knitting Stitch Library, and now the Stitchionary (some of these were on the Lion Brand site to start with, but now I have the real book from the library), and I'm coming up with my own patterns and colors. 

I'll be using Lion Brand's Wool-ease this time.  So far, I have Forest Green Heather, Mushroom, Woods Print (a varigated color), and Dark Rose Heather.  I hope to get Cranberry, Avacado, Rose Heather, maybe Cocoa, maybe Purple (it's a really barney purple, so that doesn't quite match).  I've got 3 1/2 squares done.  First is Forest Green Heather in Small Diamond Brocade, Second is Mushroom in Purl Ridges, third is Woods Print in Simple Basketweave, and the one in process is Dark Rose Heather in Sugar Cubes.

To make it the size I'd like, I need 96 squares that are 6"x6" (which actually doesn't take too long to make depending on the complexity of the pattern).  I'm seeing this as a long-term project, and will always have something going in the background, I think.

My goals for early 2007 include finishing my scarf and continuing work onh my afghan squares, and purchasing the rest of the yarn for that.

I'd also like to make some things for the favorite kids in my life.  I'm not sure what yet, but at least a simple hat for Baby Leonard, and maybe a scarf for Leah.

Later on in 2007, I think I'd like to try socks.  I'm not sure if I'm good enough to do them yet, but I'd like to try.

As well as the actual knitting, I want to keep reading books about knitting and getting inspired.  Our library has a nice collection and I'm alternating my fiction reading with educational books, and I'll keep doing that until I run out.  I'm also enjoying TiVo-ing Knitty Gritty on it's special run on HGTV (We don't have DIY, where it's really from).  That's very inspiring.  Finally, continue growing my bookmarks and feeds for knitting blogs, wow there are some great people out there on the web who knit!

Oh, and blog more about my knitting, it sure is nice for me to see where I've come from and how I'm growing!