baby blue bear

Teddy Bear from Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby
Sublime Yarn Aran (cashmere, silk & merino)
size 4 addi turbos
started June 29, finished July 3, 2008

A friend of mine's sister had a baby in the end of June and I found this cute little bear pattern to make for the baby. I hope he likes it.

This thing is knitted in pieces - one for the head, two for the body, two arms, two legs, two ears and a snout. The directions don't tell you to sew the sides of the ears together, but that's what you do. Also, the snout looks better if you lose the cast on row when you sew it on. I had to sew it on twice to get it in the right spot and make it straight. Everything else is pretty straightforward.

I have had a request for a penguin, so that might show up next on here...maybe in another 6 months!

baby blue

déjà vu

Wow, it's been almost a year. I didn't knit a stitch the whole time. Funny, then that the next thing I made was a duplicate of a project from last year. Except last year it was green.

Here is another Christmas Baby Surprise Jacket:



Baby Surprise Jacket
Elizabeth Zimmermann
Lion Brand Thick & Quick Chenille
Buttons from JoAnne
Size 10.5 needles

This is a pretty fast project and it ends up being quite cute - though very christmassy.

I'm working on the Melon Shawl again, but not much more is done yet. I think I'll start posting more often again...

saltwater

Since I haven't been knitting very much, here' s another picture from the beach. To answer the comments from yesterday's post, I live near Clearwater Beach in Florida. Gleek was sort of right - it's on the West Coast of Florida. I live about a mile away from the beach, but I hardly ever go there. I was spoiled by the beach in Cornwall a few years ago, so now nothing compares. The water here is actually the Gulf of Mexico, so it's usually really warm in the summer and it feels like you're taking a really big salt bath, so it's not that fun. I also like huge waves (like in Cornwall), and there are hardly any waves here. I am jealous of Kendra - she lives in such a beautiful place.

I'm from DC, and when I moved down here three years ago I tried to figure out what I could knit and then just gave up. You can't wear hats or scarves here really, but I finally figured out that I should just make sweaters. It's always cold inside with all the air conditioning, so I wear lots of sweaters. Last night at the beach my hands were going to freeze off and it was only about 45 degrees outside - not really cold at all. I think my blood has become too thin from all the heat down here.

That sweater from yesterday is going to be of my own design I guess. It's really a copy of what I saw in JCrew, and I hope it works out. Alice - it is on small needles, they're 3mm. I'm pretty sure it's going to take forever.

slowly starting out

I finally started the Bearfoot sweater I've been thinking about since December. It's an odd choice of yarn for a sweater - wool, mohair and nylon sock yarn, but it's working. I couldn't bear to make a pair of socks that no one would see with this stuff. The colors are too beautiful to be hidden inside shoes. I'm sure that I could have similar colors in a different yarn of theirs, but nevermind. I am a little bit afraid of the mohair, after my brief encounter with KSH and the itchy nose situation, but so far it's going fine.

There was a sweater at JCrew with a beautiful big shawl collar (it was really a hood) that I loved, but it was made for those massively tall JCrew people, and was way too big for me. I forgot to save a picture of it from the website, and it is gone now. Anyway, I want to make a nice big shawl collar on this sweater. I don't think it will be hard at all (ha! We'll see about that one), at least it doesn't look like it will be hard.

It will have moss stitch edges and the collar will be in moss stitch, and the rest in plain stockinette. Hopefully it will look like it does in my head.

It's a nice break from the itsy bitsy cables. I do have to get going on the melon shawl for my mom, though. I was going to have it done by her birthday (today), but I gave up on that idea and haven't touched it since. She could have used it last week when it snowed.

Here's the sunset from earlier this evening. (I actually got my lazy self to the beach to take pictures instead of from my balcony :)

so jealous

I wish I was there.

Why can't it be cold in the winter?! At least 50 degrees like last winter. My mom called me in the middle of the day today and told me it was snowing. It was sunny outside my window, and hot, like every Sunday - no wait, like every day. I'm sure a lot of people would love to be where I am right now, but oh how I miss the cold weather. Maybe it will snow when I go up there in two weeks. :)

This is supposed to be about knitting, right? Well, weather sort of has to do with knitting, sort of. There will be knitting tomorrow - something new!

6944 stitches for 2 1/4 inches. What the hell am I thinking?



I'm certainly not complaining. I got myself into this, and for some reason it seems to be so much more work than the first little cardigan I made. Maybe I am just faster at lace than cables. Or maybe I just like lace better. I have no idea, and it really doesn't matter.

This is really just a poor excuse for a progress report. This is the only thing I've been working on, and I'm starting to think I should work on my melon shawl more instead - it seems to grow at a more rapid pace. I am afraid if I do that then I will never finish this little thing and the boy will be 10 years old and it will fit on his little sister's doll or something. (Of course he has no little sister right now, this is all made up, and I seriously doubt it will take me 9 1/2 years to finish a little baby sweater. So we hope.)

All I want to do right now is eat some chocolate - it has been two weeks since my last chocolate and I've got to last another two weeks. Some stupid thing my friends and I are doing - no sweets for all of January. But there is no prize at the end and no punishment for failing, so it is hard to explain why we are doing it. I think that my body is enjoying the break from all the torture it usually gets, as I am completely addicted to chocolate and sugar in general. I have been looking forward to oreos and ovaltine in February, definitely. :)

64 degrees

It's getting colder. Yay!

88 degrees

I got a new toy today:



I didn't have much to take pictures of before the sun went down, and the pictures of the sun going down were boring because it was mostly just cloudy and pretty much everything in the pictures were grey. Nevermind.

I've started a new sweater for Colin. It's from the same Dale pattern book as his first sweater, which apparently fit him soon after he was born, so I'm making his next sweater in the 12 month size. This means I have to finish it before September because he will be 12 months old then and it will probably be too small.



It will be a cardigan with cables - very preppy, which is sort of his style at this point (thanks to mommy). That's 224 stitches on size 0 needles. Yeah.

I used the Italian tubular cast on (thanks to Francesca) which is actually much easier and faster than the method that uses waste yarn and a provisional cast on. It did take a little while, but it was well worth it, as always. The yarn is Dale Baby Ull, just like before, so she can wash it. :-)

These little baby sweaters are supposed to be faster to make, but really it's just a trick. There are more stitches on this one than there were on my hybrid, and I've done about ten rows and it's not even an inch long yet. What the hell?

They do look cute in the end though.

I have been told that this is the warmest winter in Florida since the 1930s. It was 88 degrees yesterday, and at least 80 today. I was looking forward to some cool weather in January so I could wear my red sweater, but it's just too hot. I have the opposite problem than Kris - there is too much sun here. Maybe if this happens for a few more years they will call it global warming. We'll see.

I will end here with a funky cactus shot. I hope you enjoy it. :)

so this is the new year

I am so glad that 2006 is over. Happy New Year!

why do i get bananas? they're only good for one day

A little bit of progress has been made on the Melon shawl.



I can only knit so much at a time, and then I have to put it down. The colors are looking pretty interesting - I can't tell if I really like it or not. I think I do, though. My mom likes it so far, and that's what's most important.

I went to the yarn shop today and found the 4-ply cashmere on sale (again!), so I bought two skeins of black to use with my leftover red from the hybrid. I'm going to make it into a stripy sweater of some kind. I don't really like how much this yarn pills, but I love the yarn so much that I am willing to put up with it. (No pictures because everyone knows what black yarn looks like.)

I also bought some Manos for my friend for Christmas. She's a pretty new knitter and she wants to make a scarf like one she has already - a stockinette tube. I got her some addis, too, and I'm going to teach her magic loop. I really don't like knitting with the magic loop method, but it's worth learning, so she's going to learn it. I have no picture of the manos because I forgot to take one before it got dark. It's a pretty purply color - not exactly the shade she wanted, but it's close.

After today I have yarn waiting for four sweaters. Three of them I'm interested in making, the other one not so much. I'm not exactly sure what to do with that one, the front is nearly finished, but it is very time consuming and I don't like it very much. I guess it will just sit there with the rest of the yarn until I can be bothered with it again. I also want to make venezia right now, before the rest of them (look at this beautiful one, I'm so jealous). What to do?

happy festivus!

I hope everyone had a great day today!

very little knitting this christmas

The first week of my two week vacation is nearly over (it didn't actually start until Tuesday afternoon), and I have about two inches of knitting done. I gave up trying to figure out which shawl/scarf to make for my mom, so I just handed her the Victorian Lace Today book and had her choose. She chose the Melon pattern and asked for it to be 24 inches wide instead of 17, and maybe shorter than 72 inches. I'll probably keep it 72 inches long - that extra length is always nice.



The pretty purple Jade cashmere is turning into a melon shawl. The variation in colors looks okay - I think I will like it better when it is bigger. Right now it sort of looks like the colors faded in certain parts. I'm sure it will turn out okay, though.

My Christmas present was a new camera. The ever popular D50 (thanks to Jared). I think in another life I took lots of photos, because I have always loved cameras and taking pictures. The last three days I have been trying to remember how to use an SLR, and I have remembered most of what I learned. When I was about 13 I used to take my parents' Pentax to school and take pictures of all my friends, and I sort of learned how to use it on my own, mostly thanks to the light meter. I really have no idea how or why the pictures came out, but they were always beautiful with that camera.

Here are a few shots from the last couple of days:



A flower, the cat, self-portrait (practicing with the wireless remote!), and a silly picture of my dad (that camera really brought out his blue eyes).

I also got an interesting shot of our Christmas tree. I haven't figured out how to take nice pictures in the dark yet, but I thought this one was pretty neat:



In all my 23 years I have never had a real tree, though my mom tells me we had one when I was 3, but I don't really believe her. We have always had a fake tree with lots of semi-tacky ornaments, some antique ornaments, and lots of colored lights. My dad conveniently threw away the fake tree while he was cleaning out the garage (it was about 18 years old, it needed to go), so mom and I had to go buy a new one. While we were driving around last night my mom suggests we get a real tree! I was so excited. This morning we found a pretty nice one and it was only $40. My mom picked it out (which is only funny to me because she's Jewish), and I think she did a great job. I decorated it tonight with lots of colored lights, old ornaments and candy canes. I think it's cute.

I have been reading a great book on photography, so hopefully my pictures will get better. Maybe we will have a little bit of sunlight tomorrow and I can get some more knitting shots.

I hope everyone is having nice holidays!

festivus (don't mind us)

How annoying is this?



That Superyak is stupidly packaged, and oh it gets tangled so easily. I want to throw it in the trash, but I love the yarn so much, I am willing to spend half an hour fixing it. :-(

Please excuse the grumpiness tonight. I should probably not even post this, but I will because I want to remember how grumpy I actually am right now. See, I don't really like Christmas anymore and it is dangerously close to Christmas. I have been dreading this almost all year, and now that it's here I don't really know what to do with myself. It is all stupid, but grumpiness is always stupid. Maybe I should quit celebrating Christmas and start celebrating Festivus. I don't know if my family would go for that, though they might. I doubt it will help my grumpiness. I am looking forward to my Christmas present to myself. It's going to be good this year, and I'm getting it early, too - tomorrow. That will help with my grumpiness, for sure.

I just have to keep packing for my trip home and get the rest of my yarn in balls to take with me. How do you pack yarn for only a week and a half trip? I don't know what projects I'll feel like working on, so I am bringing a few options. The next post will have real knitting pictures, I promise. Something pretty I think. Definitely not anything in that black Superyak - there's been enough black around here lately.

Please don't mind us tonight, we'll be back to normal tomorrow.

sparkles

We had our office Christmas party last night and Santa showed up with some really nice presents for all the girls.



(The boys got cash and cigars :-)

Every year we have a great big party in a tent outside my boss' house. Inside the tent are Christmas trees, lights all around and tables with gorgeous flowers (this year there were red roses and white orchids, cala lilies and tulips). We have a delicious dinner and she always has a dance floor and music for after dinner. As always, it was a great time, and the surprise diamonds made it even better.

baby it's cold outside

Yak in Brioche stitch. Yak and Merino actually that looks just like oatmeal and feels like I don't know what - something nice and soft. It grew a lot after I washed it. This is before:



And after:



Prime Rib Watchcap by Elizabeth Zimmermann from Knitting Without Tears
Karabella Superyak - 50% Yak, 50% Merino in Oatmeal (I mean color #10150)
1 skein plus a little bit
Size 8 Addi Turbos
Took a couple of days - I really can't remember when I started or finished it actually. Sometime this week (yeah, this was a pretty crazy week).

This is really great yarn. It's very soft and knits up quite nicely. The lady at the yarn store here in Tampa knows how much I love cashmere, so she suggested I use the Superyak for some hats I wanted to make for my dad and brother. It is soft like cashmere, but it feels a bit tougher, and it's not as fuzzy (even though that top picture looks pretty fuzzy). I also like it for the men's hats because it has a manly look to it, but it's soft as butter and not at all itchy. It is supposed to be bulky weight and the sleeve says to use size 10. 5 needles. Elizabeth Zimmerman says to get the bulkiest yarn and fattest needles you can find to make the prime rib watchcap, so I thought this would be good. With size 10.5 needles the stitches were super loose and it was quite horrible. I went down to size 8 and it worked out well. I think size 10.5 needles would work well for stockinette stitch, or for something drapy like a scarf, but not for a hat. I wouldn't mind a sweater jacket out of this stuff, but it would be expensive. I'll stick to the hats for now.

This hat was knit flat on 60 stitches, but besides that I followed the directions. The prime rib stitch (also called brioche) is a nice open rib, and is more fun to make than regular ribbing. I could have gotten away with using only one skein, but I didn't know that it would grow so much after washing. I know that's why you're supposed to wash your swatches, but I always just rip them out and use that yarn to start knitting.

This one is for my dad, and I have some black Superyak for my brother. I'm still looking for a pattern to use for his hat and my hat. I was thinking of Odessa for me, or a modified version of it somehow. I still have no good ideas for my brother, besides a plain old hat in the round. I have some time to figure it out.

One more thing about the yarn - it comes in these weird hanks that don't fit on the swift. I had to hold it on my arm while I wound it, and made a little bit of a mess with the second go. I don't really understand why they make it this way, but at least it's not lace weight!

pretty lights on the tree

The Christmas Hybrid by Natalie, thanks to Elizabeth Zimmermann



Seamless Hybrid by Elizabeth Zimmermann from Knitting Without Tears
Jade Sapphire 4-ply Cashmere, about 1200 yards
Size 4 Addi's for the body, size 3 for the edges
September 24 - November 26, 2006
Finished Size - 36"

Named Christmas Hybrid because the yarn was a "Christmas present" to myself, and because it's red. Not just red, crazy red. The Seamless Hybrid is a recipe, not a strict pattern, but I'm sure people already know about it, so I won't go on too much. It really is seamless, though there is some grafting involved, but I love to graft - I think it's great fun.

I had to re-knit the back saddle and get rid of a few stitches by knitting two of the body stitches with one saddle stitch (this probably makes no sense, sorry), because the back ended up sort of bubbly. A little steam from the iron helped to fix that as well. I didn't fully block this sweater, but just steamed it a bit, which was enough to relax it a bit and make the decrease seams around the top look better.



I added shaping in the waist to get rid of about 5 inches, so it fits me pretty well. I don't like the collar, but I will do something with that one day when I have the energy to rip it all out again. I would like it to be wider and rounder - right now it is quite square. This is the third sweater I've ever made, so I don't really have all the fit and finishing tricks down yet. They get better every time, though.

I have almost 3 balls of this yarn left. I can't decide if I want to buy another color and make a stripy sweater (I was thinking black and red), or use it for something else. It pills like crazy, but it makes up for that with its softness. I bought a sweater shaver just for this one. :)

victorian

The Alpine Knit Scarf is complete:





Alpine Knit Scarf
Victorian Lace Today
Jade Sapphire 2-ply Cashmere, just over 800 yards
Size 4 addi turbos
60"x18" blocked
44"x18" before blocking
November 18 - December 3, 2006

The book says the pattern is from 1847, and was designed by a lady named Jane Gaugain. It is knitted as one piece, and the points on the edges are made during blocking. I made no modifications, but there is a tiny error on one of the charts. There is a knit square where there should be a purl square on the chart for the center, but it is very obvious. They call it a scarf, but I think it's really more like a stole. It's wide enough to wrap yourself in and keep your arms warm.

I used some leftover Koigu to help with the blocking. The pins weren't working on their own, so I tried the Yarn Harlot's method for the second time. It didn't work very well the first time I tried it, but this time it helped a bit. It makes me want some blocking wires for Christmas, or just to only make lace with all scalloped edges.



I can't believe I have to give this away -it is one of my favorite things I've ever made. The pattern is so pretty and the fabric drapes perfectly. I will have to make another and keep it for myself.

This is a Christmas present for my boss' wife, who is one of my favorite people in the world. Whenever I wear my Print o' the Wave, she always asks me to make her one. She has a very classic style, her clothes are all very simple, but when she decorates her house it is very opulent and rich, and she always likes things that look like they were from Victorian times. I think she'll like this piece, and it's black so she can wear it with nearly anything. We have a fancy dinner to go to next Saturday, so I'm going to give it to her early in case she wants to wear it to the dinner. They are going to London for Christmas, so hopefully she'll be able to use it there, too. She certainly won't get many opportunities to wear it here in Florida.

People (non-knitters) sometimes ask me how long it takes me to make things. I always sort of try to figure it out and say a few weeks, or a few months. One of my friends asked how many hours it took to make a pair of socks. I had no idea, because it takes me more than hours to do it, so I told him maybe ten or twelve hours, but I still have no idea. Because of this I tried to keep track of how many hours it took to make the scarf. I got to about 17 hours and then lost track, but I think I worked out it would take about 22 hours with the average time per repeat. So whenever people tell me I should sell my knitting, I just tell them it would be too expensive. I'm sure a lot of knitters have that conversation with people.

Here are some more pictures:





There are more on flickr, if you click on one of the pictures it will take you there. I don't think it's harder to knit black lace, but I think it's harder to photograph it.

I have too much to say and show for one day, so I will save the other things for tomorrow and then I can have two posts in one week instead of just one. :-D

yakety yak

Made a little trip to the yarn store today. I definitely got myself into trouble this time.


More Jade Sapphire 2-ply cashmere. This is for some lace for my mom. Can you tell that this is my favorite yarn ever? This will be the fourth project I've made with it.


Pretty Road to China - Alpaca, Cashmere, Camel, Yak, Soya. All in that little skein. The colors are very beautiful, I wish it was daytime so I could get a better picture. This is for a hat for me, which I will get to wear at Christmas when I go somewhere cold. I picked that color because it makes my eyes sparkle nicely.

(See the eggnog? Yeah, I know it's still November, but I love eggnog and have been drinking it already for the last two weeks. I think that's what makes people fat at Christmas - it's not just one day, it's a whole month!)


Karabella Superyak, for two hats: black for Mikey and tan for Dad. Yak is really pretty soft - this yarn is 50% yak & 50% merino. Yummy. It is bulky weight, so it will make some nice warm hats.


Last, Moutain Colors Bearfoot in a lovely brown and copper color. This is sock yarn, but I'm going to make a sweater out of it. I couldn't resist the colors - they are sort of metallic and shiny, like really pretty hair. This yarn comes in so many pretty multicolors, so one day I'll have to get some to make socks out of.

Most of this is for Christmas presents, and I do need a new hat for Virginia. The hats I have are all out of style now, and my favorite hand knit hat is from 1995 and is a bit too scruffy for me to wear now. I just want to start everything right away, but I have to finish the Alpine. I have one more repeat of the inside pattern and then three of the diamonds for the end. It is only now starting to get boring, so I would say it's been great knitting. I should have some pictures of it done by the weekend.

mrs. jane gaugain

May I present a sneak preview of the Alpine Knit Scarf:



This is an absolutely beautiful pattern. I noticed it when I first looked through Victorian Lace Today, but didn't like the garter stitch edging very much. The edging has definitely grown on me. I started the Myrtle Leaf Shawl (the picture in my previous post), but I think there is either an error in the pattern, or I just did something wrong. I tried it twice, but it didn't work out right - the leaves weren't forming properly. After seeing it knit up, I didn't like the pattern enough to figure out the mistake.

Then I started a new Print o' the Wave, but I wasn't excited about it in black - when I make another one of those I want it in a pretty Miami blue color. After looking through the book about five more times Sunday night, I settled on the Alpine. And then knit and knit and knit and it's nearly half done. There are 25 repeats of the diamonds by the time it's finished, and I have 11 1/2 done now. I like to keep track of things like that so I can see how much progress I am making. I also like to time how long it takes to finish a repeat of the pattern and see if I can do it faster each time. Right now it's about an hour and a half for each 16 rows. An hour and a half for only 16 rows! This makes me a little crazy, but it also helps me to keep pace and get the thing done on time. With all of the calculations, it's only 20 more hours of knitting. AH! :-) I have almost four weeks, though, so it will be no problem.

I was a little worried about time when I started, as the book says it's "experienced lace". It's not hard or anything, I think they just say that because the diamond border is patterned every row, so you have to pay more attention. I like it because it's making me more aware of how lace patterns are made, and why they have the yos on one side of the decrease sometimes and on the other side other times. There is an error in this pattern, too, but it's just slight. There is a k box where there should be a p box on the chart for the center pattern. (Sometimes I wonder if anyone proof reads these charts. I have heard Kathy talk about errors in patterns quite often, and if the patterns are test knit, then they should pick up the errors. They have all been knit because there are pictures of them in the book! I guess I just don't understand how that all works.)

Anywway, the red sweater is done, but I'm not thrilled about the neckline. I wore it today and it's better than I thought originally, but I'll probably end up fixing it during the Christmas break when I have time to think about it. It has quite a square shaped narrow neck after putting the edging on, and I think I would like it better if it was a bit wider. We'll see. By the way, does anyone know where to buy a sweater shaver?

PS Thanksgiving was pretty fun this year. I was an orphaned child and ate at my boss' house. I ate too much stuffing and could barely eat my turkey leg, and couldn't even get a bite of pumpkin pie in me. That stuffing was damn good, though. :)