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!

dishcloths and storage. the joys of non-homeownership.

I am really enjoying making the dishcloths! Well, dishcloth. So far it's just the one. But it is always nice to have a little project to work on when I have ten or twenty or sixty minutes to kill in the car. (No, I don't knit while driving, though I wish we had a train or lightrail or something I could take to work. All the Denver people who were on their way home from work while we were on our way to the Rockies game looked very relaxed and content on the lightrail reading books.)
Anyway, this linen yarn is a little crazy. As Charlie at AFY was winding it for me (by hand, after it jumped the spool!), a woman sitting at the work table commented how there is no give in the yarn and I didn't get it until I started knitting and realized there is no give in the yarn. (perceptive, aren't I?) It's also a lot rougher than I am used to and I think if I knit dishcloths for the duration of time I knit socks or sweaters in the evenings, I would rub my fingers raw, but I can handle it for an hour or less a day. I am really anxious to get this first cloth finished so I can throw it in the wash. Supposedly the yarn gets softer and softer with every washing, like the flour sack towels I embroidered for Grandma a few Christmases ago.
ALSO, Wes and I have come to the realization that we won't be out of this apartment by Christmas like we'd hoped, so I have taken on the task of making our apartment more livable and am actually decorating and organizing things a little better. My task for tonight while Wes is golfing with the boys (weird how he sees my girlfriend's boyfriends more than I see my girlfriends), is to drag out one of the bookshelves we originally stuck in the black hole of storage and use it to organize my knitting. With (over) three projects on the needles right now, I am spread out all over the living room, which Wes just loves. I ran to Target on my lunchbreak today and got some cute, cheap plastic bins that will fit perfectly on the shelves and are deep enough to hold, hopefully, a whole brown hoodie in progress. The lids snap on and have handles, so it will be easy to transport projects too, if, for example, I decide I want to take something larger than dishcloths on the road trip to San Francisco this weekend. (also at Target right now, totally amazing OFFICE products. I am now the totally proud owner of an "I *heart* Jim" mousepad and pens featuring Michael and Dwight-isms. LOVE IT.)

more new projects!!

soooooooooooooo guess who went to the yarn store today and got two skeins of fabulously cranky linen yarn (in colors 55 and 48) to make dishcloths from a new book I got at the library (yay free books! more money for yarn!). The book is appropriately titled Knitter's Stash, as I have now started my own little stash of current on-the-needles projects. They aren't even all listed in the sidebar to the left ... I think I would depress myself if I had them all listed. But most of these dishcloth patterns are about 60 stitches across and even with some fun lacy patters, I should be able to just whip out a few on lunch break knitting. All my other projects are sort of cumbersome and I don't really like dragging them out to my car every morning on the off chance that I'll have some free time to knit during the day. Then I bring everything back upstairs at the end of the day to work on while Wes watches baseball, or I am home alone knitting to avoid housework after eight hours of sitting in a cube. So, these dishcloths, which require no fancy tools (cable needles, etc), can just live in my car all the time, so I will never be without a project to work on while I'm waiting for Wes to meet me for dinner, or on a lunchbreak or I don't know what else, but it seems like I do a lot of sitting in my car.

P.S. Today the new knitty came out, just a day after I discovered all those new patterns at zepherstyle ... what are they trying to do to me??

bad timing for a new obsession

just after I finished outlining (mostly as a reminder to myself) all my current problematic projects on the needles and me without time to fix them all, I stumbled across zephyrstyle.com from one of my frequent reads (knitandtonic, where Wendy is making Juliet) and am now ready to quit my day job, never do housework and cast on for each of the funky, beautiful sweaters designed by the zephyrstyle ladies. not that I need a new knitting project to make me want to leave cubicle-world and forgo vacuuming ...

frogging and putting it off

have been taking a little break from knitting recently. partly this is because I have been too busy being on vacation in Colorado and attending two weddings in one weekend to knit too much lately. but mostly it is because all my "obligatory" projects (ones that are already started and really should get finished before I start new stuff) need some frogging and I am way too stubborn to give in to the frogging just yet. But here is the situation:
project 1, Sahara - I started to pull out the lace inset a couple weeks ago and gosh, I tied everything off really tight! what a stupid thing to do, even though I realized as I was binding off that I probably wouldn't like it the way that it was. so, I am afraid I will have to just cut my losses, literally, and cut through the lace inset and not worry about salvaging this bit of yarn. I can do it because I have a whole ball and a half left over with which to re-knit the inset, but it's more the principle of the thing.
project 2, Central Park Hoodie - you may recall that I was making good progress on this last fall until I had to stop and make Christmas presents, then I continued making good progress until it got hot and I put it away in favor of more weather appropriate projects, like Sahara. well, September is upon us, so it's time to get back into fall knitting. However, in the six or eight months or however long it's been since I put the cabled hoodie away, my tension has gotten looser (mostly, I think as a result of mom's shawl, which I intensionally held very loosely, and it carried over into my other projects). I made one sleeve last winter, but left the second one to do now and i am afraid that my second sleeve will be much bigger. I am afraid of this because: I started knitting Wes a pair of socks in March when I took the class from Lois. Even though I bought a huge skein of yarn, Wes has the biggest feet ever and I ran out of yarn halfway down the instep of the second sock. At the time, I had already made one sock for grandma out of the bittersweet yarn and was anxious to get the second one started, so I just put the stitches for Wes' blue sock on scrap yarn and started in on grandma's second sock right away. by the time I remembered to get more blue yarn, the heat made socks pretty far down on my priority list. But last week prior to our anniversary trip to Colorado, I decided I wanted to finish the socks for Wes, so I put the stitches back on needles, found the second ball of yarn and finished up Wes' blue socks. Now it is very obvious which sock was my second sock. not because you can see the join in the yarns (I actually have gotten pretty good at hiding the ends), but because half of the second sock has a noticeably looser gauge than the rest of the sock. since these socks are meant to be more like slippers for Wes, I don't think it will be a problem, but it has gotten me nervous for that second sleeve on the cabled hoodie. Especially because I am already using needles 2.5 sizes larger than the pattern instructs, thanks to my previous super-tight tension. I have half a mind to rip the whole thing out and start over on smaller needles (after doing a new gauge swatch, of course!). If I did start over, I would adapt my pattern to use some of the tips from the KAL, such as knitting the bottom in one piece and short rowing the shoulders.
project 3, knee socks - I cast on for these socks after I finished mom's shawl because I had been drooling over them since May, and had bought yarn and everything already, and needed a new easy-to-carry project. I cast on and had no problems adapting the dpn patterns for my two circulars and was making good progress on the complicated cable patterns. Once night after a long knitting session, I noticed that I had cabled the wrong way. Since the cables are so small, probably no one would notice if I left it, but I am trying to be a more conscientious knitter, so I started to un-knit my rows to re-do the project. Lois had shown me previously how to fix a wrong-turned cable without pulling out all the stitches after it, but I thought the twist was just one row down and it would be less of a hassle to just unknit one row. I realized too late that it was more like three rows down (darn tiny yarn is deceiving!), and I had royally screwed up the hourglass cable pattern in trying to get back to the one little cable that was twisted the wrong way. because the hourglass pattern is so complicated, it was very difficult to accurately pick up the stitches after I frogged back to before I made the mistake, so I ended up throwing a little tantrum and frogging the whole sock. After a week in Colorado, I was feeling better about it and cast on again on Thursday night, this time with no problems except I have misplaced my small cable needle, so have only been able to complete the top ribbing.
So now I am in protest. At least until Wednesday when Wes goes back to work for four nights in a row and I would rather knit cranky projects than vacuum.

Cabled Hoodie, round 2?

I have been very good lately. Despite a few stops to AFY (to sign up for intarsia and toe-up sock classes!), I haven't bought any new project yarn since the eyelet cardigan train project because I don't want anything to distract me from finishing up mom's shawl (could have finished it this weekend, but got distracted by Friday's Dodgers game ... whoops!) and since I hate ripping out work, I know if I have a new fun project to make, I will never rip and fix my Sahara lace inset either. However, it is now mid-August and there are back-to-school sales everywhere and I'm thinking it might be time to finish up the brown cabled hoodie. All that's left is one sleeve before I can start seaming, then I'll need to PU stitches for the hood and then the ribbing around the edges, so it should only take me a week or so if I really get to it. Maybe I could finish all three projects before Wes and I take off for Colorado at the end of the month? Is that too ambitious?
Anyway, I found a KAL for the cabled hoodie today and signed up. There are tons of tips and suggestions from other knitters who have completed the hoodie, and I wish I would have found this a long time ago! There are tips for short row shoulders and all sorts of things that I would love to do ... it's too late now for me, but maybe I'll find some good hood tips or something :)

stitch 'n bitch - argyle!!!!!

When I have a slow day at work, I often find myself searching for new knitting books or patterns. This is the case today as I searched Amazon to see if Debbie Stoller's new Stitch 'N Bitch book is out yet and imagine my happy happy surprise to see ARGYLE on the front cover! (I love argyle so much. I tell Wes all the time that I can't wait until we are rich so I can afford to shop at J. Crew and I have been searching in vain for almost a year for a flip-up argyle iPod case). The book doesn't come out until November, but I've already added it to my Amazon Wish List. It looks like the scarf may be double knit? which would be cool because I have read about it, but haven't ever tried that method. Lois has also mentioned that there will be a colorwork class offered at AFY in the fall, which I am planning to take and could be very helpful for the pictured pattern. I wonder if I could have a new argyle scarf in time for December in Washington DC??