finished things

Here's Rachel wearing the Anarchy Irony hat from The Happy Hooker. I finished the hat part last night, but then had issues with the anarchy sign. I ended up just freehand surface crocheting that part on. I think it's crappy but acceptable. Turns out I'm a very loose hooker. The pattern called for a size J hook, and to match gauge with my Simply Soft yarn, I had to use a size G. I found this hard to believe. I thought I must be wrong in the way I checked gauge, or something. So I read the instructions again, checked again, had to keep going down in hook size... weird. So for the first time in my life I'll have to learn to tighten up rather than hang loose. Damn you, crochet! You've flipped my world inside out!

I also finished my left armwarmer and the stripes don't match up with the right one but that's okay with me. And of course they're finished just in time for me to not need anything even remotely warm for at least half a year.

I'm updated! Oh boy!

This scarf is meant to be shaped like a fish. In retrospect, I should have continued the shaping more because right now it looks like a giant necktie. I plan to add some fins and eyes to make it look more fishy. It was just gonna be a plain old scarf, knitted garter stitch from some Yarn Bee Italia (100% nylon and 100% so soft!), but after I started the colors reminded me of koi. So it's a plain old garter stitch knitted scarf with some shaping to make it look like a tail and head. A little.

Here's my right armwarmer, which has been finished for a few days now. It's made of Moda Dea Sassy Stripes in Stormy (I think that's the name of the color), #6 DPNs, and the worksheet from the Snowball's chance in Hell armwarmers from the Anticraft.
Its mate is still in progress, but I'm actually working on it. Honest.






I've also been learning to crochet, and my first FO was a square for Warm Up America, which is boring so I'm not posting it and my second is also kinda boring but I consider it a HUGE success:
It was really simple to make, mostly just chaining and slip stitching. The pattern came from JPF Crochet Club, and more specifically, from http://www.jpfun.com/patterns/14misc/spidercattoy.shtml
So anyway, it was successful in that Banzai chased it down the stairs tonight, and we played with him with it in the kitchen and in the living room, and a jolly old time was had by all, then he went and took a rest by the door and Cutie, the Grumpy Old Man cat, who's 17 and a half in human years and like a million in cat years, came and played too! He batted at it and caught it in his paw and bit at it... It made my heart so happy! And for such an old cat, it was a lot of playing. Anyway, I'm happy, so happy. Gonna go now. And I really do intend to update this thing a lot more often... I'm just so bad at it.

bitter

No pictures.
Go cry about it.
I almost cried about it last night when I was happily knitting along on a sweater made of Lion Brand Homespun because darn it, I'm going to use that stuff up. I had my Denise circulars and things were just great till SNAP. Cable broke. Missed Arakawa's skating. I call this "Stitch and sonofabitch". So I had to do stuff to save the sweater and after that I felt pretty completely disheartened. And I don't even care about the olympics, I mostly do it because it's a way to hang out and socialize with mom and dad, so I'm not THAT bummed about having missed a figure skater, except she turned out to be the gold medalist. The fuels my theory that me watching is bad luck.
But that's beside the point.

I hate that yarn reviews, projects, everything everywhere is wool, wool, wool. Okay! FINE! I get that it's BETTER than the stuff I'm not deathly allergic to. I'm gonna cry about that too. Knitting world can kiss my aspartame.

So current knitting projects are:
1) get new cable for Denise Interchangeables.
2) Do that other crap I've been meaning to do.
The problem is I just don't FEEL like it anymore. Why bother? Plus I've noticed myself being too AR about my knitting. That's fine. I'm like that. But the reason I loved it when I started is because I'd make mistakes and that was OKAY. I could accept that I'm not perfect, I'm just a beginner. That's gone now and I don't know why.

It might be because of those overachieving knitters who start knitting one day and the next day they've created a custom sweater and have sold it for big bucks. I hate those people. Because YES, I'm jealous. FINE. Shut UP.

Banzai in the sink

WAAAAAY overdue (bonus: crappy layout!)

I made the "Headline News" Cabled newsboy cap from Stitch n Bitch Nation (which I got for Christmas) using some pretty and soft-feeling red yarn and lo, when I put it on it was like no time at all before my face got just ALL itchy and turned around the hairline. So I washed it and after that, the same thing happened. Clearly, wool + my face don't mix.
That hat found a home with someone at church, and I re-made it using some Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red. It's lovely and I wear it all the time. I plan to make another, probably in black.


This is a hat for Rachel made from Moda Dea Eden and using the only knitting pattern that they even HAVE for it on the website.
It isn't done yet; I still need to weave in ends and make the pompoms and the scarf to match, since I had to order more yarn of the "Apple" color for it. But Rachel wanted to wear it anyway. She's super awesome.


The Sweater. I'm determined to use this homespun! I'm doing it as a top-down raglan this time, so there are no seams, HOORAY! I still think it's pretty, if a little MUCH as far as number of colors per inch.








This is half a pair of "Warmer World Wristers" that I made both at the same time using the pattern from the Knitting Pattern-a-day calendar. I'd show both, but I needed one hand to take a picture and it's not like they don't look the same. They're made in Wool-ease. It itches a little. Maybe if I wash them that'll stop, or maybe I'm just that allergic to wool.

those damn armwarmers

i'm almost done with the "Snowball's Chance in Hell" armwarmers from theanticraft.com--all I have left to do is the ribbing at the end of the left one, and the thumb of same, and to weave in all those damn ends. Oh man. I'm dying. It's not FUN anymore. Anything that can gone wrong has, so I guess at least there are no more mistakes to make, but if I say that then I'll find some new ones. So I'll say I'm almost done and probably have only about 10 mistakes left in the damn things. Have I said damn enough today? It's how I feel. I feel damn.

Gifty!

I'm nearing completion on armwarmer #1 and have done the duplicate stitch of the first snowflake design:

That's my hand you see in the picture--all wrapped up in an elastic bandage because for reasons unknown, it started hurting a few days ago. My best guesses are that I slept on it funny or that I strained it trying to open something. Whatever happened, though, it sucks because it's been making knitting harder and slower. Mom says I should go to the doctor, but almost every time I go to the doctor, I regret that I did because they tell me something like, "Just take advil and rest it." and stuff like that, that I've already been doing. What a waste!
My aunt gave me a (belated) birthday gift a couple days ago, too: the knitter's handy book of sweater patterns and the knitter's handy book of patterns, as well as some money that will almost definitely go toward buying yarn. Yum, yum, yarn. I've already started making a drop-sleeve sweater from the book, because it's easy. And I have the homespun just sitting around after I frogged my horrendous previous attempt at a first sweater. Yes, I'm learning! I've learned that I really am just a beginner and I shouldn't push self too hard.
I'm knitting the sweater in the round instead of straight, so that I won't have to sew any seams, because seams are the devil.

Hurrah!

I've finished the sleeve for Rachel's DS! I can now say I pretty much love the Turkish cast-on. This was knit in the round on two #8 circulars. Rachel says it fits her portable game system "elegantly" and is "SO soft!"
I was thinking about waiting until Christmas to give it to her, as I'm not completely sure about these armwarmers, but she has the DS already, and needed something to keep it in.
Also, I realize that I take the worst pictures. Ever.

Froggy

I've now frogged Rachel's first armwarmer three times. Okay, I get it. The project is above my ability. But that doesn't give me any reason not to do it. The other project I'm working on for her, though, the sleevy thing for her DS, is coming along fairly well. I need to figure out what button to use to close the flap to proceed from here. I guess those are the only things I'm working on right now.

remember??

So, you remember how I said I gotta get me some Moda Dea Dream (no affiliation!) to make something for me? Remember that? Huh? Probably not, since I'm reasonably sure nobody reads this... but anyway, it was on sale this week for $3 at Michael's. Yummy! Yummy! Awww yeah! So now I have some and I'm planning to make a hat or something. You know. Something soft. I'll just start knitting and see how far it takes me. I got like five skeins. Mom and I also bought a bajillion skeins of Wool-Ease worsted, and yes, I know i'm not wool's biggest fan but it's dirt cheap and seems to be softer than plain old acrylic. And for a couple of newbie knitters like us, dirt cheap is the right price. Har har. I'm gonna make myself a sweater in Diet Coke colors (grey, white, black, and red)... Of course I need to finish up the armwarmers first but... uh. They just are going slowly. But I'm almost through with the knitting of the first one (with the easy part of it anyway), and now I need to do the thumb and the duplicate stitching and stuff. Only I can't do that yet because I'm not sure which is the front and which is the back. Also it's a little annoying because the instructions are written with the assumption that you're using five needles instead of four, which is cool, but I only have four #3 dpns so I have to do some extra math to figure out where increases and stuff go. It's not THAT big an obstacle, but enough to make me set it aside a bit more often than I might otherwise.

snuggles

So my cats found something to do with the aborted sweater that's been lying around:
A nice soft bed~! Also Banzai's been having a lot of fun playing with the yarn tail that's sticking out. It's almost as great as a twisty tie!


Work in progress: a pair of armwarmer for my sister's Christmas gift. It's the Snowball's Chance in Hell pattern from anticraft.com and so far I think it looks lumpy. But I enjoy the yarn (Sirdar Snuggly DK) as it's stretchy and soft... it has nylon and I think nylon is the best thing in the world. And it's not all ITCHY and SCRATCHY like animal fibers. I don't understand the "I only use wool!" Mindset people have, because to me it's like self-flagellation. I have ways to punish myself that don't involve knitting wool garments.
This is the progress I've made so far. I think I need to take a break and knit something with some big needles that will go fast and make me feel proud of myself.

Happy Birthday to me...

My birthday presents this year included:
The Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns
The 2006 Knitting Pattern-a-day Calendar
and the Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needle set.
Hooray!!!!
I had read various opinions on the Denise vs. the Boye set and had decided to go with Denise, though for the past several months I've been using a few individual Boye pieces that I'd bought at Hobby Lobby... WOW are the Denise ones better! They weigh less and the cables are so flexible! It's a billion times easier to work with them than with the Boye ones! Plus, the cables don't have to SCREW into the needle tips, and so they also don't screw out. Plus they're easier to get a grip on--the aluminum of the Boye needles is so hard to hold firmly while I try to screw the stupid little cables in, and it would be kinda nice to get some leverage on the needles themselves...
so anyway, that's my two cents.
I'm currently working on a case for Rachel's GB DS, and I'm using some Moda Dea dream that I grabbed at H.L. for a discounted price (missing the labels) and OMG this stuff is SO FREAKIN' SOFT that I definitely need to make something for myself out of it. Yummy yummy yarn.

The Sweater Mess

from far away it looks like less of a disaster, I guess, and I do like the stripey effect of the yarn even if I'm thinking that it looks pukey up close. I shouldn't have used Homespun... it's a mess to knit with and it's falling apart and the pattern tells me to pick up 143 stitches around the placket opening and there are not that many stitches there, so I'm unsure how to proceed. I'm following Mom's advice and setting it aside, working on something I currently hate less. It may be the time of year and the fact that I just keep aging (my 23rd birthday is TOMORROW) and have nothing to show for it, but I've had such a sense of "Why bother?" lately. And this damn homespun sweater ain't helping.

better late than never.... right?

Some photos of things I have knit! Hurrah! They're taken against my sheets which are soft and a solid color, but not the best background... I'll have to figure something out there.

I made these armwarmers for myself and called them finished but they're unusable as they are--I need to thread elastic through the ribbing at the top (I should have used a smaller size needle, but I FAILED!), and I need to do something about the part at the hand because I don't like the rolling up. So they're still a work in progress.











Legwarmers for my cousin Grace. She rides her bike to school every morning and likes to wear skirts rather than pants, so her legs get cold. I haven't gotten to see them on her yet. I made them of Wool-ease chunky, and did the whole thing in 2x2 ribbing because it's easy and stretchy. I hope they past muster!

sweater

I'm making a hooded pullover from the big fat knitting book mom got at costco, and it has me bind off like EVERYTHING. And that WOULD be okay, but have you ever tried picking up stitches from a bound-off edge in Lion Homespun? Egads. It's really freakin' hard. I don't think I'll do THAT again. If I ever make this sweater again, I will NOT bind off, I'll just put the stitches on another needle or a stitch holder. That's what they're FOR after all.

cthulhu!

I decided to make my cthulhu chullo because, damn it, for 1.77 a skein it's not like i can't afford to use the yarn on a frivolous project! Look, I started it. I plan to make i-cord tentacles. Oh, it'll be so great.

No pictures! OH!

yarn was on sale today, so I bought five skeins of homespun to make myself a new huge sweater because my old huge sweater, which I've worn for like ten years, is kinda falling all apart. So sad! But the new one is gonna be DAMN soft.
I also bought a skein of wool-ease because a) it was only $1.77 and b) I wanna make a hat. I'm thinking of doing the "Lady" hat at http://www.spunkyhats.com/boogie_3hat.htm but I'm also thinking, since I got a dark and kinda warmish green color (Loden), this might be a fun time to make the "Cthulhu chullo" I dreamed up a few weeks ago because I liked the way it sounded (am I shallow or what?) I would make it using http://flor.trix.net/chullo.htm for the reference on that hat and good ol' google for references on Cthulhu.
Also I figured nobody else would have one. But it's maybe a little beyond my abilities.
Yesterday mom bought one of the hugest books I've ever seen, by Leisure Arts. It has lots of pages. Heeee!

Little Green Bag

I'm putting up, as my first post in my knitting-only blog, a picture of my recently created knit hemp bag.