2.25 FOs

The two refers to Stine's socks and the .25 to the half of the back of my flutter sleeve cardigan! I went with size 6 needles for the under-bust ribbing and when I measured it came out perfectly! The real test will be when I put it on, but of course won't know that until a lot more knitting is complete!

did they not consider MY needs?

having a little bit of frustration with the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan. Thanks to lots of good knitting time last week I have finished the back up to the under-bust ribbing! Unfortunately, the ribbing is supposed to be done with a needle that is four sizes smaller than the largest needle used to knit the body. since I am using a size 9 for the main body knitting, I needed a size 5 to knit the ribbing ... one of the few needle sizes I do not own. so, my project was put on hold for a few days until I could get to AFY on my way home from work today. imagine my surprise when I pulled up (just 10 minutes before closing, new job is a little farther away than my old job) and saw the closed sign on the door. now really, I shouldn't be surprised, AFY has been closed every Monday for the past two years, but really shouldn't they be open on the one day of the week that is convenient for me to stop by?
so, headed down to the local Michael's to see what I could find - while I was mesmerized by the spring silk flowers for 50% off, I was very disenchanted when I discovered that Michael's does not sell circular needles smaller than size 6. I have plenty of size six needles and plenty of size fours, but come on! what I really need is some size fives. I am bound and determined to get some knitting in tonight, so now I am faced with the decision of whether I should go a bit smaller or a big larger than recomended. normally I would go a bit smaller, but my lack-of-excessive-running gut is telling me to go a bit larger. if my brain could keep up, I could always knit one row with 4 and one with 6 and hope for the best, but I think I would forget and then it would look even weirder to have half the ribbing coming out to about a 5 and the other half (when I inevitably forget to switch at the end of a row) either too small or too big.

new sweater cast on!

Wes is back on night shift and since my new job is in the same city that he patrols, I had the brilliant idea to stick around until after his briefing and have dinner together tonight! I figured I'd be knitting at home anyway, may as well knit in my car, looking at the beach, and then get to see my handsome husband for a little while. It was a good use of time and I was so happy when I left work to know that I had lots of knitting time in front of me, instead of a drive. Traffic isn't too bad usually, but it's certainly better at 7:30 than at 5pm.
So, I made good progress today on the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from the Spring issue of Interweave Knits. I was frustrated while doing the gauge because the pattern calls for size 7 needles and I know I usually need to go up one or two sizes, but I wasn't able to get gauge with 10.5! but then I double-checked the pattern and realized that size 9 was perfect, so still two sizes above pattern, as usual.
Above is a badly lit picture (the yarn is actually a lovely shade of pink, not white as it looks) of my progress so far. It's 108 stitches across the back so taking a while to get lots of length, but I am already starting to decrease for the waist shaping. There aren't too many decreases though because in order to get the waist band, I'll just switch to a smaller needle size and do some ribbing to create the smaller waist. So far I am loving the yarn (Rowan - Calmer in shade 495). It is really easy to work with and creating a nice fabric.

general news and updates

so the last few months I have not been a very good blogger - that can be attributed to lots of reasons: we were out of town for two weeks, it was Christmas and New Year's, then I was a desperate housewife who only really had time to start on one pair of socks (Stine's Irving Park) before I got a new job at CKE Restaurants where I am blocked from blogging at work, unlike at my old job where the majority of blogging was done from work. so it will take a little extra effort to keep this up, but I have such great projects ready to start I want to share them!! I am almost finished with Stine's socks - just a few more inches on the cuff to go! Then I was seduced by Interweave Knits' spring preview a month or so ago and had to rush out to buy the new issue and yarn to complete the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan right away.
So, like I mentioned, Wes is back on night shifts now so I think tonight I will make my swatch for the Cardigan and make sure I have the right needle size and enough yarn to start this project. The socks can be finished in a couple more lunch breaks while looking out at the ocean from the bluffs of Carpinteria :)

My new lunchtime knitting view

It really is too hot to knit today but the ocean breeze makes it bearable :) so these are stine's socks that didnt get finished before i saw her for dinner last nite. But i have good motivation to finish them now that wes is back on nite shift

Hawaii socks done!

today I finished up another pair of toe-up socks ... again in Lorna's Laces and this time in Hawaii! I solved the too-tight at the top problem by casting off using size 10.5 needles ... a huge size difference, but it worked. The tops are perfectly stretchy. I didn't realize it would come off the needles so stripy. When they opened up the skein to wind it at AFY, half was pure white and the other half was a blend of the green, blue and purple, but I still like it. I had these in mind for Tia, not for anything special, just that I saw the colors and thought she would like it, so I hope she is pleased! We have the same size feet, so I didn't have to do any extra math to make the pattern work. Also in the picture is the start of another pair in Irving Park - Stine's choice for her socks. So far all I have is the toes on dpns, but plan to work on them the rest of the afternoon. One of the luxuries of not working right now :)

a month later

The day of my last post was my last day of work ... it's been almost a month but between the trip to DC and all the Christmas excitment I haven't really noticed until now. Today is the first day I am a little bored being at home and I've even gotten the apartment the most organized it's been since we moved in eight months ago.
So, I am ready to get into some good knitting and take advantage of this time off. I have to finish the Hawaii socks and then I would love to finish up the brown hoodie already.
P.S. the picture is Wes and I in DC both wearing headgear knit by me :) Wes in his celtic beanie and me in Calorimetry! The National Archives are behind us (where all the official documents of our country are stored - the Declaration, Constitution, etc).

you wanna hurry this up, Clark? I'm freezing my baguettes off.

been working on the hat for Wes a little more this week. Once I got past the bottom ribbing (hard in double-knit! lots to keep track of), it has been going pretty smoothly. Just follow the color-work chart visible in the picture to the left. That picture was taken on Tuesday at lunch - I was just starting the first row of colorwork. I have had time this week to knit at night and at lunch a couple of days, so I have made pretty good progress! Tuesday night Wayne came over and we just relaxed since everyone had to get up early for work and tests so I was able to get in a few rows. Last night was really mellow too - Wes and I watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (I still like Elf better!) and I kept knitting after dinner.
So after a few quality chances to knit (finally! I haven't had that much time all at once since we flew back from Austin in October), I am almost finished with the colorwork. The double-knitting isn't a problem as I switch between the two colors like I was worried about. I have a pretty good rhythm and it is coming along faster than i thought it would. I actually think it is easier to do colorwork in double-knit than in regular knit since you don't have to worry about where to carry the unused yarn across the back and if you're pulling too tight, etc. It all just gets worked at the same time. Since there are large sections of color as opposed to just a few stitches at a time like on the argyle scarf, I don't have to refer to the chart every other stitch which saves time too. Once the color is finished, it will just be straight double-knitting and decreasing rows to the end so it should be finished in the next few days, if I have time to work on it. We have a busy couple of days until we get on the plane Tuesday morning, but it snowed in DC yesterday (wedding day forecast is partly cloudy and a high of 43), so I have extra motivation to get this hat finished ASAP!

knitting for warmth

Wes and I fly to Washington DC in eight days! I am so excited for the vacation and the fun times we are going to have with Wes' brothers, sister and significant others (pictured from our 2005 trip to Kansas: Ashley, Wayne, Whitney, Jasmine, Warren, Wes, me. missing: Whitney's BF Goo) celebrating Warren and Jasmine's wedding :)
According to the 10-day forecast, our trip will be about the same temperatures it has been here the past few days which is COLD (to a native California girl and boy) and rainy. So, while I am very anxious for my argyle scarf (in turquoise and grey ... so pretty!) I need to focus a little more on keeping Wes warm too and he needs a hat! In the new Stitch 'N Bitch (for guys!), the pattern directly after the double-knit argyle scarf is for a double-knit beanie with a Celtic knot pattern.
I already had enough yarn because Wes had asked me to knit him a beanie last spring when the weather was unpredictable, but by the time i bought the yarn it was mostly warm so I never got around to it as I was distracted by Mom's shawl and learning to knit socks. But Wes liked the beanie pattern and I was excited to continue my venture into double-knitting, so I used the already purchased yarn and cast on for the Celtic Beanie. It took a long time to set up, but I got in a few good rows at lunch today while listening to my favorite Christmas CD in my car at the tennis club parking lot near work (also where we got married!). Not sure what tonight has in store for Wes and I but getting this beanie done before we land next Tuesday is definitely a priority. Socks (even the soclosetobeingdone hawaii toe-ups and all pairs planned for the lorna's laces order that arrived this week) are on hold until after DC.

In other exciting news ... this is my last week of work at Ehlert! Then DC, then Christmas, then ... ??? who knows! I have some things in the works, but nothing for sure yet.

perfect storage

I have always admired the needle pouches sold on websites such as StitchDiva, but they are so expensive! So, I decided to try and make my own and I asked Grandma to help me with the sewing machine stuff and making sure that my idea was even possible.
I had in mind a kind of tri-fold wallet with pouches, but didn't really plan it out until Grandma and I were at the fabric store.
I fell in love with the green corduroy for the outside and found the paisley fabric with similar green and it all came together! We had a little math mishap on how much paisley we needed, but other than that it came together pretty well! I am very pleased with the finished result, it cost less than $12 all together and loved spending some time with Grandma too! Since it folds flat it is easy to store with my project bins and I love not having to dig through bins of knitting odds and ends to find the right size needles. My next project will be for dpns ... but I don't have a master plan for that yet ...
Here are some pictures of the finished project (the lovely brown background is our new, super-comfy, amazing couch):





ta-dah!!! there are three rows of four pouches each, so I can hold twelve different sizes. I have a lot of duplicate sizes for socks, but I store them in the same pouch.


and an extra special THANK YOU to Grandma for putting up with my crazy ideas and letting me mostly figure stuff out for myself :) and of course for putting in all the sewing time! I had a really fun day - thank you!

argyle!!!!!

my book came!! I'm off for some lunchtime yarn shopping ... hurray!

sock portrait

finally a picture of some FINISHED socks! the all navy blue ones are Wes, I started that pair in my first "learn to knit socks class" last year and finished them just before we left for Colorado for our anniversary. it has been sooo cold the last couple of nights, so even though it was hot in Colorado and he didnt' need them, I am glad they are finished now!
the purple/blue/green ones are me and those are the socks I made in the "toe-up sock class" last month. I finished them a few weeks ago. I knit the two cuffs at the same time and got a little greedy on finishing up the whole ball of yarn, so the second sock to be bound off it a little tight at the top because I was running out of yarn. It's just a little hard to get on and off, once they are on it isn't too tight and they are sooo warm. Perfect for lounging on our new couch in handknit socks! :)

motivation ...

... to finish my brown hoodie

p.s. and I hope this goes on sale before we fly to DC!

finally finishing these socks

After a Saturday shopping excursion with Tia, I made it over to AFY to learn what I missed in toe-up sock class last week. Turning the heel on toe-up socks is way easy - I think I am going to make toe-up socks as often as possible!! Once I turned both heels, I put both socks on the same needles, so I could knit around and around until I run out of yarn, or I could be about done with this pair, pictured on the right, and use the leftover yarn to make matching socks for Taylor!! But if I keep making mine higher, they'll be warmer. It has been cold in our apartment the last few nights ... bring on fall!!

socks, interrupted

had an unexpected family emergency last weekend that preempted knitting classes and other activities for a few days. thankfully, everyone is understanding when sick grandmothers are involved so tomorrow I can go to AFY and meet with Karin to finish up learning about toe-up socks, even though I missed the official class last week. before we knew we'd have to fly to Texas, I had finished through the instep of both socks and was all set to start the heel. I am hoping Karin can also show me how to knit both socks at the same time when I meet with her tomorrow. My Lorna's Laces order from last week was placed with specific people in mind, and I also just promised to make socks for Renee, Kristina and their girls. Luckily the little girl's pairs will go quickly - I brought materials to cast on for Taylor's with me to Texas, but spent most of the waiting around time on Clessidra. I have just one and a half more cable pattern repeats (18 rounds total) to go before I start turning the heel on the first sock. These are taking such a long time due to the tiny needles, so I am anxious to get some worsted weight socks going too. I think I'll take a break from Clessidra tonight and cast on for Taylor's little pair and maybe practice knitting both at the same time too ... it's easier to try new things on little socks, because it doesn't take as long to start over.

instead of dishcloths ...

thanks to Lois at AFY for helping me get all the beautiful colors of Lorna's Laces I want to knit socks with! I stopped by last night and put in the order, so soon I will have way too much yarn hanging around my house! I think I might make worsted-weight socks be my new car-knitting project. The dishcloths are great for practicing lace (so maybe I can finally cast on for the Lucky wrap cardigan that I bought yarn for over a year ago?), but there is a definite chill in the air and I am about to dive head first into warm sock mode. Last night during The Office and Grey's (yeah TiVo!) I finished up through the gusset on my second toe-up sock for class on Saturday. I am hoping that Karin will show us how to knit both socks at the same time after we learn the heel shaping so that from here on out, all my pairs can be completed at the same time, which will ensure that both socks in the pair get made in a timely maner :)

want some socks?

went to the first of two Saturday classes this week to learn how to knit socks from the toe up, as opposed to the traditional cuff-down style. The pattern we are using is totally customizable for each individual person, so if you want me to make you a pair of socks, measure the length of your foot (stand on a tape measure and note how far it is from your longest toe to where your heel hits the ground) and around the widest part of your foot (where your foot connects to your leg) in centimeters. The measurements should be fairly close (mine are two cm off, which is more than usual. a lot of ladies in my class had the same measurements for each part of the foot). Don't forget to pick a color and send me your request :)

socks, socks and more socks!

another leg picture to show off my growing Clessidra. I have five more pattern repeats before I start turning the heel. This tiny yarn is taking a long time! I have another tiny yarn sock pattern I was going to alternate with this one so I don't get bored, but last night I went over to Marge's house to watch Grey's and Stine requested some socks, so I think I'll go back to making a pair or slipper socks on size 4s with my leftover bittersweet yarn for her as my alternate to tiny yarn socks. then she and Grandma can be twins!

Also, starting Saturday morning I am taking another class at AFY to learn how to knit socks from the toe-up! I have a few patterns I want to try that are toe-up, but like learning regular socks, I wanted to take the class first to be really sure I know what I am doing first. Check out this beautiful yarn I got to learn on! It is also Lorna's Laces (like bittersweet), but this color is called Lakeview. I already bought the pattern we'll be using in class and it looks like it is customizable to each foot, so probably I will make these socks for me, since I'll be the only one there to customize them for. I haven't made any socks for me yet, except clessidra, which is taking forever. the class socks are size 4s too, so shouldn't take long.

I <3 Organizing

Wes wants to get bowls of bubble-eyed goldfish to fill in the extra shelf space. I'd better hurry up and buy more bins and fill them with yarn! :) those fish creep me out! anyway, mostly I am happy to have some organization and to not have a blank wall anymore!! I still leave clessedra all over my chair, but at least all the other projects are put away. the before picture isn't even that bad because I cleaned on Friday. before that, there were all sorts of books and yarn scraps and other patterns under the little round table on the left. now the books are stacked and I have a folder to organize loose patterns.
the calla lily picture is way cheap at IKEA and I picked it because I had calla lilies at our wedding ... those are all wedding pictures surrounding the larger flower picture. awww ...

me + size 1 needles = BFF!*

here is the top of one Clessedra ... the result of lots of nights knitting. Probably this is normal because it seems like lots of socks are knit on size 1 or 2 needles, but I learned on size 4, so this is a little rough on me. however, I am loooving the pattern and I have gotten it memorized (a small feat in itself, though maybe not to remarkable if I tried to count how many hours I have actually been working on this), so I only need the chart for the hourglass cable that runs up the back of the leg, and even that is just to double-check since I now know what a pain it is to rip out while trying to keep all the stitches in the right place. but, it's fun to work on and here in SoCal it is still too hot for knee socks anyway, so I am not really anxious yet.
*Best Friends Forever!