knitabit

First Koigu done

I finished the first Koigu sock Friday night. I am most pleased with it - I think it will be very comfortable to wear, too! (I saved this photo with a little bit higher resolution to show off the stitches better. Alas, the photo does not do justice to the beautiful Koigu colors or my knitting.)

I'm within an inch of the heel flap on the second one - yes, I have managed to get some knitting in this weekend!

Also on Friday, I got my replacement cords from Denise's Interchangeable Needles, along with this handwritten note:

Dear Karen,

Linda

Very nice, I thought!

I don't know if I'll continue obsessing on the second Koigu sock or if I'll pick up Lochinver again tonight. The weather is starting to get cool, and I'd sure like to have Lochinver done!

Blast from the Past #5

Here's yet another knitting effort but this time from the not-so-distant past, and this time knit by hand, not machine. I think I knit this in about 1999 - about the time I started getting the knitting bug again. I got the pattern out of a knitting magazine - I don't remember which one.

I was probably about 15-20 pounds heavier at the time I made it, plus this sweater is another victim of hanger stretch. Can you believe I went to all this effort using *acrylic* yarn? This is why you should never, NEVER use acrylic for garments. This thing is so fuzzy and pilly that it's now virtually unwearable.

After I made this sweater, I wore it quite a bit until I noticed a horrific flaw that bothered me so much I had to banish the sweater to the closet for good. Check out the cuffs:

Yes, that's right - one of them is 2x2 rib, the other is 1x1! I knit the whole sweater, seamed it together, and wore it for weeks before I even noticed.

I didn't do much knitting yesterday - had my nose in a book instead. This will likely be a low-knitting weekend as well. We have relatives coming from out-of-town, multiple birthdays to celebrate, people jumping out of airplanes with parachutes (I'm not kidding), a violin recital, soccer and football games - yeah, kind of a busy weekend.

Blast from the Past #4

Yet another machine-knit sweater, this one ca. 1994:

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of routinely hanging this sweater on a hanger all these years, and it's really stretched out of shape. The yarn is some sort of acrylic blend - my mom used to own and operate a shop for machine knitters, and when they sold the business, she walked away with a huge stash of yarn. So this was a cone she gave me.

Anyway, this is a sweater that - back when it had its shape - I wore quite often and got good use out of. I crocheted all the edgings on it - the photo doesn't show them off very well.

Lochinver still sits waiting for me - I've been too busy to sit down for the 30 minutes or so of pure concentration that will be needed to get all the stitch holders organized and off on the right track on the back yoke. So instead I've done the more mindless rounds on the Koigu sock.

Ooooooh, check out the vest at And She Knits Too. To die for.

Koigu Broadripple

Here's my progress on the Koigu sock, using Threadbear's Broadripple Pattern.

I didn't have time to get to my LYS yesterday - the kids are dropping like flies. They're passing around this fever/cold thing, and we're now four for four on that bug. My youngest will be home from school today; DH thinks he's got it now too. But I did get to Hobby Lobby and bought some yarn holders and picked up a copy of Buss' "Big Book of Knitting." There's some instructions in there for making neater neckline shaping; wish I'd seen them before I did the neckline on Lochinver. Am I going to rip it out? Heck no.

I signed up to be a member of TKGA (The Knitting Guild of America) and also enrolled in the Level 1 of their master knitting certification program. I'm doing the knit-along for this over at Sarah's site.

I have to go to the dentist today and I know they're going to tell me I need two root canals [insert high-pitched dentist-drill sound here].

Blast from the Past #3

Here is another machine knit sweater, ca. 1987. It's made of a tweedy yarn, don't remember the manuafacturer or the exact fiber content, except that it wasn't a natural fiber. This one I knit for myself.

Just like Blast from the Past #2, this sweater is too wide and too short. Both patterns were handknit patterns that I transferred over to the machine. I wonder if there's something about machine knitting that results in a different stitch/row relationship?

I'm down to the heel flap on the Koigu sock. It seems to be knitting up very quickly. I let Lochinver lie last night - I need to get some stitch holders today before I move to the back yoke. I also need another skein of Koigu...I sense another trip to the LYS! Maybe I can fit that in between dentist appointments for kid nos. 1 & 2 and piano lessons for kid nos. 3 & 4.

Socks are done!

I finished the little girl's Regia socks this afternoon:

My daughter is growing so fast, they'll probably fit for about two weeks before she outgrows them. I have a couple of nieces who will probably enjoy them as hand-me-downs.

I stayed up 'till after midnight last night working on Lochinver. I finished the front yoke, including both shoulder straps. I really REALLY like this pattern - I'm still not burned out on it yet.

That wasn't the only knitting I did yesterday. I brought along my Koigu yarn to the CSU vs. Miami Ohio game yesterday afternoon and knitted while sitting in the stadium! It was great, I could do an 18-stitch repeat of the Broadripple pattern between plays. This pattern is a good match to the Koigu yarn. I've got three or four inches of the leg completed. The pattern calls for three skeins of the KPPM yarn, and I only have two. So I hope they have some more of the same dye lot at the yarn store.

I am seriously considering joinint the knit-along at Sarah Peasley's blog. It's not a particular project - it's completing the Master Knitting certification program at The Knitting Guild of America. I've seen lots of differing opinions on various blogs and forums out there - but I think it's something I'd like to do just for me.

Blast from the Past #2

In an effort to make more frequent entries to my blog, I have photographed some of my really old knitting projects and will present them here for your entertainment over the next week or so.

Here is a sweater I knit for my husband (well, he was my boyfriend at the time, not yet my fiance even, if I recall correctly. This refutes that theory about the boyfriend sweater curse.) In the interest of full disclosure, I must reveal that this sweater was knit on a machine.

Machine knitting is faster (duh!) than hand knitting, but has several key drawbacks. First of all, you are imprisoned in whatever room the knitting machine is in, and (unless you like seeing all that hardware in the family room) you are cut off from all normal family social interactions. I suppose machine quilters and other sewing people deal with this just fine, but I feel that it's important to - if you're going to have an obsession - do it surrounded by family and friends as much as possible. Second, I find a lot of satisfaction with handling the yarn and knitting the stitches one by one, even if the progress is slow. For me, knitting is equally about process as it is about result. Finally, machine knitters have a much more limited repertoire of yarn types to choose from. However, I'm not much into the fancy and novelty yarns, so that doesn't represent too much of a drawback for me.

My husband still wears this sweater once in a while, although it has a couple of holes in it that need repair. The fit on this sweater is odd - it's too wide and too short. I can't remember if it was supposed to be that way, or if (more likely) my row/stitch gauge was off. Anyway, he has found it to be a good sweater to wear while skiing.

He deserves a new sweater! I got some yarn off eBay with full intent to make a nice new sweater for his birthday, but I'm not sure I like the yarn after all, and the pattern I started was too funky. Back to the drawing board.

Lochinver Progress

Here is some progress on Lochinver. I have completed half of the underarm gusset, and am now working on the front yoke. This has been so fun to knit! And I really like knitting in the round...don't you just hate it when you get the front side of a sweater done and then you have to do the back [insert Halloween scream here.] Granted, I'll still have to do two sleeves, but I think I can deal with that.

Some other newsworthy items of note:

- I have busted TWO of my cords for my Denise Interchangeable Needles. The first one, I attributed to being maybe a bit too rough in shoving my stitches around on the cord. But the second one seemed like just a spontaneous failure. I mailed the two of them back to Denise's today, I hope they treat me right. I do really like the needles, though - and especially the way they double as stitch holders.

- I had a reader ask me for directions on how to make the entrelac felted bag. Hmmm, will have to dig out my notes on that but it probably is worth writing down, even if just for my own records.

- I've decided I'm going to rip up the Koigu sock that's half done and use the Threadbear Fiber Arts Broadripple pattern instead. Seems like a more worthy use for the yarn, and they've posted a version of the pattern just for Koigu yarn.

- Starting to get itchy for my next project - it's definitely going to be something in fair isle. Did you see Wendy's site today, with the kit she ordered? Tempting...

In other corners of the web...

Still steaming along on Lochinver - halfway through the fourth stitch pattern, about 10 rows away from the underarm gussets.

My husband and oldest son drove to Johnstown this evening to take a look at a used motorcycle they're interested in. It's more than 20 years old, but in real good shape. They weren't sure about the asking price, so we looked on the internet to see what we could find.

We found a website by a guy in Sacramento that's totally devoted to this particular model of motorcyle. He uploaded the entire repair manual, he's got photos of various projects he's done to enhance the bike, he's got a discussion board for others who share his passion for this bike, links to parts suppliers, and continuous updates of eBay auctions. You know, you just gotta love the internet. How was it possible to fully indulge our obsessions before the advent of the www?

Blast from the past

Since my Lochinver has not progressed to a sufficiently photoworthy point since my last photo, I thought I would instead upload a photo of a sweater I knit more than 20 years ago.

It's made of acrylic yarn (*gasp* - I just didn't know any better at the time.) I made it for my little sister. At the time, I was in college and she was about 5 or 6 years old. The proportions on this sweater were never quite right - it was too skinny and too long, and believe me - she was a skinny little kid at the time. It also has a pretty heavy and stiff texture - probably too tight of a gauge, in retrospect.

In looking at it now, I'm pretty happy with my fair isle technique. As is still the case, the finishing (seaming, picking up stitches around neckband, etc.) leaves a lot to be desired.

I'll have my daughter try it on and see if it fits.

This gives me hope for successfully tackling a fair isle sweater this winter...

Weekend hamsters

We are all going to be hamsters on the weekends this fall - that means we're all going to be running around and around in our little wheels not going anywhere.

The three boys are all in sports for the next two months (football, soccer, and soccer) and of course their schedules are such that there are always at least two games happening simultaneously and sometimes all three. I am not a serious sport mom, so I can get a lot of sock knitting done during most games. (Anyway, my husband can do enough cheering for the two of us.) I am finishing up that little girl's sock (the second one) in Regia yarn - they are very cute.

Lochinver is still progressing each evening - not interesting enough for a new photo, in my judgment. I'm now at the start of the fourth stitch pattern, then I will get to start the underarm gussets which will be something new for me.

Can I just get something off my chest? Will someone please put a hit on the Arby's oven mitt on those annoying commercials? Everytime one of them comes on, I picture the Arby's executives sitting around a conference table with their p.r. firm discussing their new ad campaign and no one has the guts to stand up and say "what the hell are you people talking about, this is the most stupid fricking advertising mascot I've ever seen in my life." Worse than the Pillsbury doughboy, even.

A relaxing weekend

The first half of our Labor Day weekend was characterized by pouring rain - which makes for purrrrfect knitting weather. I am making nice progress on Lochinver:

I am truly loving gansey knitting. By the time I'm bored with a particular stitch pattern, I get to start a new one! The alpaca/wool yarn I'm using is probably a bit too soft for what's intended. It also has quite a few longer 'hairs' (much like mohair) that fuzz up the appearance just a bit. But I'm still very happy with it; it's very nice to knit with and I'm sure the finished product will be soooo comfortable. The gauge is working out right on the money, which is nice for a change.

I like the Denise needles, too. A couple of times, the needle has disconnected from the cable, but then again, I'm sure I was being a bit too rough when I moved the stitches around on the cable. A more gentle approach seems to have solved the problem.

By Monday, the rain had quit and we were able to enjoy ourselves up near Rocky Mountain National Park. We had the breakfast buffet at the Grand Lake Lodge - highly recommended. This was followed by a brief hike up to Adams Falls on the west edge of Grand Lake. A ridiculously easy hike, but fab views and little to no complaining from the small fry.

Looking around everyone's blogs today was so inspiring. (Although I did notice that all of the blogspot people were offline. More customers for TypePad, I'm sure.)

Today I finished up a huge re-design of a website that I'm responsible for at work. I had several coding problems that had me stymied all of last week, but I fixed them all today, and I'm feeling pretty smug about it, too. I'm a rank amateur & self-taught web designer. Putting this blog together has been part of my 'training' for the stuff I've added onto my other website. Here are the things I've learned this summer (well, to some degree at least): php, Dreamweaver, Fireworks (will let free trial version expire in favor of using other software I already have), putty ssh, mysql, hex color definitions, and ws_ftp. I will never touch Microsoft Front Page again. And if you know what's good for you, you won't either.