Topsy Turvy

I'm writing this a day late due to Great Doings that are taking place in my house.

The husband and I decided to finally lay hardwood flooring down in our bedroom, which of course means that we had to completely empty it out, and then when we popped off the trim, the paint needed redoing and then...

Let's just say it's a big job, and it seems intent on growing every time I turn around.

In other news, my closet is apparently a TARDIS, and I am a Time Lord.  And nearly 14 years is a long time to spend folding time, space, and stuff into one small area.  It is my fervent hope, desire, and intention to put back less than I took out.

My poor husband's poor office.  Also I can't find my pants.

When I got home from work on Friday most of our bedroom was in our living room (there are yarn shelves in my kitchen -- which frankly is the least traumatic part of all of this, as far as I'm concerned...though I can see where others might disagree.  If by "others" you mean "my husband" ... and I do.)

This part is pretty nice.  Easy access!

Saturday was for hauling out the old carpet, finding staples and nails and pulling them out, and CLEANING.  Dang that was a lot of funk in that room.

Sunday was painting, and today I am at work whilst my dear husband is at home slaving away with laying down the floor.  (I have no pity.  He likes it.  And this is all his fault anyway.  So there.)

Cutting in the ceiling.  Like a boss.

You'd think that all of this industry would leave little time for knitting -- and mostly you'd be right.

I did finish the first of my Double Gusset on Bottom Toe Up Socks (pattern by Carrie Ramirez).

For NEW TECHNIQUE TUESDAY I discovered that Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off is both surprisingly stretchy and a bind-off.  Discuss.  (I don't think it was really a Tuesday, but I did try a new technique.  I used this tutorial, based on the article in Knitty Fall 2009.)

I also knit the second of my Beer and the Voice socks with a great deal of vigor.  So much vigor, in fact, that I earned over 2000 steps on my Fitbit.  Without a word of a lie I was sitting on my couch like a great lump (well, a great knitting lump) when the "You hit your step count!" buzzer went off.  I've never noticed that happening before, and all I can figure is that I was being REALLY REALLY PRODUCTIVE.

These socks are not going to last me on the needles until February -- I am thinking I'll need to cast on another Vanilla pair just so I have some good purse knitting.

I worked a bit on my Denver Cowl, but it basically looks exactly like it did last week... only wider.  I won't bore you with another picture until there's something to see.

Tune in next week for exciting news about February is for Finishing!  And maybe even a Finished Object, if my VIGOROUS sock knitting continues.

And maybe a finished bedroom too, please G-d.

I'm in Love

I am pretty much in love with what I'm working on right now.

Isn't that a great feeling?  Both the Denver Cowl and the Cosy Stripes blanket are just so lovely I can hardly stand it.

The Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein that I'm using for my cowl is soft and bouncy (which makes that damn K3Tog, YO, K3Tog into the same three stitches maneuver infinitely more doable), and the colors just make my heart sing.

It's full of browns, blacks, greys, creams, and the occasional flash of peach or ice blue.  I couldn't be happier.

I'm using Stylecraft DK (a 100% acrylic yarn that totally does not suck) for my Cosy Stripes.  I'm actually using the color-pack that the designer put together, and in the order that she did hers in.  I'm essentially crocheting it from a kit.  And I LOVE it.  The colors are perfect, and the yarn is really (surprisingly) soft and pleasant to work with.  The pack is available here, in case you wondered.   I did the math and the exchange rate worked out that the yarn was $2.60 per 100g ball, shipping included.  That is such a reasonable price.   It's pretty much as far from shopping local as I could get, but I'm still delighted with it.

So those are my two main projects -- both started on January 1.

I've also been plugging away at my socks.   I finished up one of my Beer and the Voice socks (just what it says on the tin -- I cast them on so I'd have something vanilla to work on when I need stupid knitting).  Anyway, Sock #1 is done, and in an effort to stave off the dreaded SSS, I immediately cast on its buddy.  I decided to go for fraternal rather than identical.  Mostly because I couldn't be arsed to pull out nearly 2/3 of the color repeat to find the place to start, and partly because I like to shake up my not-quite-but-almost obsessive need for things to be matchy-matchy.

The second sock starts with the blue.

I'm also almost ready to start the ribbing on the first of my Double Gusset Toe-Up socks.  I'm trying new things, and continuing my quest for what Jasmin of the Knitmore Girls once called a "positive toe-up sock experience."

It looks a little weird, but I couldn't get the sock to lay right on two circs.

Slight segue -- I used to hate toe-up socks because my short row toes and heels looked like ass and the heels were invariably too shallow to fit well.    Long time friends of the show will remember that I was experimenting with this as far back as 2011.  I've recently knit the Mystik Spiral socks by Josh Ryks which use a version of the OMG heel.  That actually fits quite nicely, and so far so do the Double Gusset socks.  My horizons are gettin' broadened over here, y'all.

Of course, as happy as I am with current projects I'm already planning for what's next.  I plan to cast on either Brickless or Trillian soon, and I'm about to go wind yarn for a Color Affection shawl.  I'll be using Cascade Heritage sock yarn.    Koren and Jess both also have fingering weight yarns in Yellow, Red, and Brown so we're planning a wee "along."  Koren very wisely pointed that red bleeds like nobody's business, so a bit of swatching is in order.  I never swatch for shawls because I'm a rebel that way, but I will for this one -- I don't want to finish the entire thing and end up with Red all over my Yellow.

And last but surely not least, one of these beauties is destined to become a pair of Rivendell socks.   The green one on the left is Knit Picks Hawthorne in "Laurelhurst".  The blueish grey to the right is Rain's Obsessive Stichery.  It's the Fred sock base, in the "Lake on the Mountain" colorway.   I picked it up at Fiber in the Boro last year.

Oh, and one last thing -- did you notice the project bags in a couple of my pictures?  They are Erin Lane bags that I picked up at SAFF.   I love them to pieces, and they've rather inspired me to get back into my sewing room and to do some project bag sewing of my own.

Ripply Goodness

GUYS! GUYS! GUYS!  I totally finished my Neat Ripple afghan!  After I wrote my last post I went home and powered through the last little bit, got the ends woven in and tidied and managed to raise my total 2014 yardage count to over 10K.  Dang.  (Most of that additional 2,000 yards weren't actually worked during 2014, I feel compelled to clarify).

It's about 39" x 72".  I used 1.5 skeins of 6 different colors of Knit Picks Brava (bought back in 2012, so it was all Turkish).  I used a size K hook, which was way too big.  By the time I realized it, I was in blood too far stepp'd, etc. so I just carried on.  Next time I'll use a smaller hook.   I still have some old school Brava in stash so arguably there could be a next time.

It's squishy and cuddly and warm and lovely and I'm delighted with it.

On January 1 my two besties and I all sat around my kitchen table for several hours talking, planning, day-dreaming, and setting our intentions for the year ahead.  We've been doing this together for something like 15 years now, and it's become an important part of my yearly cycle.  This year we added something a little new.  In my last post I mentioned that I planned to cast something off and to cast something on both on New Year's Day.    All three of us did that together as we talked.   Koren worked on her delicious Malabrigo Cowl and Jess finished up her Endpaper Mitts and some socks on New Year's Eve.

I finished the Grace Lace Beret that I was making for Morgan.  (I used Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool from stash, and Size 8 needles.)

Google+ made this "auto awesome" montage for me.  I couldn't resist.

I also decided to bail on a project that I wasn't loving, so I had two things finished (frogging is a kind of finishing, after all).

So this is what I started:

The Denver Cowl in Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein in the "Coffee Break" colorway (this picture does not do justice to how delicious this yarn is.  DEE LISH US), and the "Cosy Stripes Blanket" by Lucy of Attic24.   It uses 15 different colors, and so far it is making me deliriously happy to work on it.  Each stripe I add changes the overall look and it is delightful.

What are you working on?

Looking Forward Looking Back

2014 was an outrageously productive year here at chez Woolly.
  

One of the main ways that I use the tagging features that Ravelry provides is to tag my projects with the year as I finish them.  (I don't worry about the year I started a project, mind you, just the year I finish it).   I have my projects organized by year of completion, and down at the bottom I get this neat little notice that tells me how many yards and how many projects are included.

In 2014 I knit 8,682 yards and 30 projects.  Dude.   Some of those projects are as small as 40 yard afghan squares, and the largest is my Alice sweater at 1100 some odd yards.

To offer some context around this, in 2012 I knit 2,743 yards in 9 projects.  2013 was better with 7,320 yards in 29 projects.

Anyway, I bet that's all pretty boring to anyone who isn't me.  The key take-aways here are that I knit a lot and that Ravelry is cool.   My 2014 list of finished objects is view-able here.

If I had to pick a favorite project for the year I would really struggle between choosing my Harvest sweater, Multnomah (knit at Multnomah falls, out of yarn spun for me by Jess!), or these mittens that I just finished up for Rhiannon for Christmas.

The Pattern is "How Cold is It?" by Drunk Girl Designs.
I used Palette yarn, and size 3.0 mm needles (size 2.5 in US terms).

Yeah, I am that mom.  Hashtag No Regrets.

Looking Ahead

I have big plans for 2015.  I know that I will be finishing a project (casting off) and starting another (casting on) on January 1.   Begin as you mean to go on, and all that.  I will finish things, I will start new things.  Also, I'm being very deliberate in choosing what I want to cast on.  I will be casting on one of the following projects  (this is Nurmilintu, the Denver Cowl, and Brickless.  The yarns pictured on the right are from my stash and what I will use.  The photos on the left do not belong to me).

I'm looking at two different themes for my 2015 knitting.   First, my motto is going to be "Wear what I knit, and Knit what I will wear."   My underlying theme is:  Intention.

I will be approaching my crafting decisions with Intention.  I will buy yarn because I actually want that specific yarn for a specific project (not just because it was on sale, or because "yarn good."  I will knit projects that bring me joy, and that I actually want to knit (not just choosing projects that will get crap yarn out of my stash).

It's going to be about consciously making the right decisions about how I spend my precious crafting time.

What are you planning for 2015?  Do you have any goals or themes for your year?  What did you do last year that you're most proud of?

GNOMES!

So this is mostly a ta-da! post about the Gnome Mittens by Spillyjane (if you don't know Spillyjane and like fair isle or happiness then you are seriously missing out).

Anyway, I promised my niece Sarah that I'd make her these mittens for her 24th birthday.  For those of you keeping score at home that momentous occasion took place in April of 2013.  Road to Hell, good intentions, etc. etc., yadda yadda.

I cast them on in March of 2013, made it as far as about here:

...and then I bailed on them.  I don't know what happened.  Maybe it was the rows that involve three colors at once (damned gnome beards) or maybe it was the parade of other knits that caught my eye.  I'm not sure exactly what it was but as the months went by Sarah was getting less and less patient with my bullshit.

Me:  ::posts picture of finished scarf::
Sarah:  Hey that's nice!  You know what else is nice?  Mittens with gnomes on them.
Me:  ::posts picture of finished sweater::
Sarah:  Wow,  you're really cranking out those knits!  Feeling like a little mitten knittin'?
Me:  ::posts picture of fourth finished sweater::
Sarah:  FOR THE LOVE OF G-D, WOMAN!

So anyway, last Saturday I picked up the first mitten and by the end of the night, it was done.  "Well," I thought to myself, "that was embarrassing."

I cast the second mitten on the next day and did a bit here and there during the week.  Yesterday, I sat down, put on some podcasts, and finished it up.   BOOM.

Gnome Mittens by Spillyjane
Needles:  Knitpicks size 3, 16" circs
Yarn: Various colors of Knitpicks Palette, raided from my bestie Koren's stash
Yardage:  184, estimated by weight of 40g

Next up, I'm working on finishing up a shawl that I'm lovingly referring to as "Not Socks Then," knit from a Patons sock yarn that stubbornly refused, through three tries and four years to become socks.

(And a quick update to follow-up my last post, all buttons have been sewn on, and I've worn all the sweaters I knit this summer except for Ardys.  I don't have the right outfit for that yet, or haven't figured out how to wear it or something.  I need a white Oxford button down.  I ended up buying new buttons for Myrna, as neither of the options I found pleased me.)

Button, Button! Who's Got the Button?

I do!

Now.

So, all the sweaters that I've declared "done" this summer?  Yeah, you guessed it.  "Done except for the buttons..."  Hey, give me a break, it was July, it's not like I was gonna wear a worsted weight wool sweater anyway.

Anyway, a couple of trips to my button box and the local Joann's Fabrics, and I think I'm set.

These wee little flowers are for Alice.  Simple and sweet.

I wanted something kind of funky and maybe a little rustic for Harvest.

(Ardys didn't actually need any buttons, so it really is done.)

And then there's my latest FO, Myrna.  She's still blocking (and still damp), so I can't do a full-on, modeled "TA-DA!" post yet, but here's a teaser shot:

My foot is totally hiding a stain in the carpet.  Move along folks,
there's nothing to see here.

I'm debating a couple of different button options.  I found these two in my button box:

Of the two, I think I like the white and gold better, but I'm not entirely sold.  I may end up back at Joann's before all is said and done.

(I hope none of you noticed that none of these pictures actually show actual buttons on actual garments...)

Summer of the Sweater

This has been the Summer of the Sweater.  Since May I've knit Harvest, by Tin Can Knits, Ardys, by Laura Aylor, and now Alice in Wonderland by Justyna Lorkowska.

That's three sweaters!

That's right, Alice is done, baby.  BOOM!

I would show you the front, but I haven't fixed the button band yet.
The front view's a bit ... revealing.

I am so pleased, and proud of this sweater.  It's my first time doing top-down set in sleeve construction--which wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it might be.  For the most part, the pattern was clear and well-written, though not for the faint of heart (or inexperienced).  There were a couple of places where it essentially said "keep doing what you ought to do in this spot..." so if you didn't know what you ought to do, you'd be kind of screwed.

I mostly did though, so that's alright then.

I used Knit Picks Stroll Tonal, which is a tonal sock yarn that has enough color variance to almost count as variegated.  I swapped out skeins every two rows to keep it from doing any weird flashing or pooling or what-have-you.  That seems to have worked pretty well, though it did make for a billionty ends to weave in.

Lessons learned:  I wish I'd made it a size smaller than I did. It's supposed to have negative ease, and it's a smidge loose throughout the bustular region.   I also decided to skip adding buttonholes to the front placket because I figured I'd never wear it open anyway.  I'm regretting that life-choice.  Not a major deal, but I wouldn't do it that way if I could go back in time and do it again.  

Project Specs

Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 6

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal, Canopy
Pattern:  Alice in Wonderland by Justyna Lorkowska
Started: July 22, 2014
Finished: August 30, 2014


So now what?

I don't have a sweater problem. You have a sweater problem.

P.S. Don't worry, Sarah -- your Gnomes are back on the radar.  

Wee Gnomes All in a Row

And This is Why We Block Our Knits

Blocking definitely helped.  Much better fit!

Finished! WendyKnits' Summer Mystery Shawl(ette)

Guys!  I finished a thing!  I know that's less of a cause for shock, alarm, or celebration than it would have been, say, four years ago.  But after four weeks of working on Alice almost exclusively it's nice to have something positive to report.

I started the Wendy Knit's Summer Mystery Knit-along on a whim.  I never finish the things, and often don't entirely care for them, but the spirit of along-i-tude swept me up and before I knew it I'd signed up and dug around in the stash.  (It should be noted that this happened right before or about the same time as my recent change in attitude about knitting.  This represents more of my old style and approach than it does what I'm trying to do now.)

Pros:  I could use old-growth stash on this, no problem.  So I got to feel virtuous.  The design included a "Knit According to Your Yarn" option that me use up every last drop of the skein.

That little tail there is straight up all that was left.

Cons: The size and shape I ended up with feels a little "old lady" to me.  (No offense intended to any ladies, old or otherwise.)   I tried it on before blocking and well it's okay.

I don't think I'd wear it like this?  I tried wrapping it up like a cowl.

G+ made me a fashion montage!  Alas, it did not also fix my hair.

That's a little better.

I've got it blocking now, and yoinked (technical term) on it some.  That'll open up the garter stitch, so I'll lose some squashiness (another technical term), but gain some length.

Summer Shawlette

Pattern:  WendyKnits' Summer Mystery Shawl 2014
Yarn:  Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet DK, bought at my local, The Knaughty Knitter
Needle:  Knit Picks Options Interchangeables, Size 7

Update on the Alice-Front

I'm to the bottom ribbing/patterning/hem thing-a-ma-jig.  The pattern has you shape the stockinette body of the sweater as an a-line.  The very bottom is a repeat of the faux-cable that makes up the front of the bodice. Five repeats of this bad-boy and Boom!

Let Us Observe a Moment of Silence

... for the Watergarden fair isle sweater.  Alas, poor knit, we hardly knew ye.

The Watergarden sweater is a men's fair isle sweater from Interweave Knits.  I cast it on back in 2008 out of Knit Picks Palette and got maybe, I dunno, 4-5" done.  And then I set it down and never, ever came back to it.

Long-time friends of the show will note that it has appeared in every single February is for Finishing post since.  And even as recently as this past February I was still protesting that I was gonna knit it someday.

Yeah, no.

There comes a time in every knitter's life when she needs to get a frickin' grip, and y'all that time has come and come again.

What with my new-found resolutions to knit things I'll really wear and a healthy dose of reality checking I realized that EVEN.  EVEN IF. I should ever actually finish the entire mostrosity of a sweater, I would never. ever. wear it.

So, after 6 years of protestation and hand-wringing I ripped that sucker out.

Now I just need to figure out what the heck to do with eleventeen tons of Palette.   A variation on Funky Grandpa perhaps?

Meanwhile, Alice carries on.  I'm a good 4" into the stockinette and am at the stage where the end is both in sight and so very, very far away.

Maybe a beer will help.

Go Ask Alice

Since I had that knitting epiphany I was talking about last week, I've started choosing my projects differently (which only follows after all, otherwise what's the point?)  I guess what I mean is that I am thinking about projects differently.   Time was I'd see a sweater and think "that looks like it would be awesome to knit" -- and don't get me wrong, that's definitely still a consideration.  But now I'm trying to stop and think "would that be awesome to wear?"

A subtle and important difference, methinks.

My current project is (I hope!) going to be both. I'm making Alice in Wonderland by Justyna Lorkowska. The construction is wicked clever. It's a fitted sleeve that's knit top-down. I feel confident that the designer is cleverer than I, but the pattern is well enough written that I'm doing alright.

This is my first stab at knitting an adult garment in fingering weight yarn.  I'm using Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in "Canopy" (it's much more variegated than I was hoping it would be.  I'm trying to be at peace with the occasional bit of pooling-weirdness.)  It's going a lot faster than I was expecting, but I'm still about to the point where I'm longing for a spot of worsted weight.

Project Specs

Needles: Knit Picks Options, size 6
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal, Canopy
Pattern:  Alice in Wonderland by Justyna Lorkowska
Started: July 22, 2014

A Knitting Epiphany

I've had a bit of an epiphany about my knitting.  I know you're dying to hear about it, so I'll tell you.

I've been a process knitter for pretty much my entire knitting "career" -- I'll pick a project based on how fun it would be to knit, whether I'd learn a new technique, or (and let's do be honest here) if all the cool kids were knitting it.

Now, there's nothing wrong with that.  I've learned a ton from this approach, and I'm sure I'm a better knitter today because of it.

But what have I got to show for it?

Let me give you an example -- we had an "along" in one of my Ravelry groups.  Everyone cast on and knit Zuzu's Petals by Carina Spencer, and I am SUCH A JOINER, so of course I'm all in.  Knitting along is fun! Plus, the pattern looks interesting!

Yeah but...

I pretty much hate it.  It was a waste of good Chroma, and looks weird on me to boot (I look like the world's most rainbowdy gila monster in this picture).  (I should note -- this is not intended to be a slight on the pattern itself.  The pattern is fine, it just wasn't a good match for me and certainly not in that yarn.  What was I thinking?)

Anyway.

Here's a counter example.  Hitchhiker by Martina Behm (and to be fair, also an "along" but a better chosen one for me.)
















Much more my style. I love this pattern and I've knit it twice.

I wore the heck out of this last winter.  It's my colors, and I have a tee-shirt and sweater that match it perfectly.  It's not just some weird thing I knit...it's actually part of my wardrobe.

And therein lies my epiphany.  What if I knit things I want to wear?  What if I considered what I was making in terms of how it would fit into my wardrobe and lifestyle?  What if I remembered that I could be knitting actual clothes.

Y'all, I'm becoming a product knitter.

Meet Harvest and Ardys.  (Ardys isn't blocked yet in this photo, so imagine it slightly more smoothed down and tidy).   I am looking forward to wearing them (as clothes!) this fall and winter.

February is Finished and Olympic Pride

From a strict "February is for Finishing" standpoint, I didn't do so well.  The Oregon Socks are the only things I finished that had been on the needles prior to February.   Ah well, I knew that my finishing would be sparse when I decided to cast on socks for the Olympics.

I finished my Olympic Pride socks on February 15, meaning they took just over a week to knit.  I'm not sure if it was the stripes, the concentration, the Olympic Magic in the air or what, but damn they went fast.

I left on a business trip on the 16th -- the day after I finished Olympic Pride, so I decided what the hell and cast on another pair to knit on the plane.  (Also, it was weird not to have any socks on the needles.)

Meet Olympic Pride II.   I didn't finish them during the Olympics (though I came pretty close -- I was on the heel flap of the second sock).   I did, however, wrap them up on February 28, which means that I knit 4.5 socks during the month of February.  I'd feel a little more badass, but I know that the plane trips contributed significantly to that number.

And then, because it was March 1 and I could (not that it being February had stopped me from casting socks on), I cast on a wee little sweater for my besties' daughter.  It didn't count against my total number of projects on the needles for long though, because I wrapped it up the next day.   Worsted weight baby sweaters are fast, yo.

I'm going out of town again tomorrow, so of course I cast some more socks on.  These are going to be Hermione's Everyday Socks when they grow up.

And lest you think I've forgotten all my old WIPs entirely, I spent the morning working on Multnomah.  I'm into 7 of 10 lace repeats and it's done.

So, that's what I've been up to.  Tons of Finishing ... just not much that "counts" if you're counting February...which I'm obviously not.

(Having just re-read all of that ... and having fixed some egregious mis-used homophone errors,  I realize this post sounds really choppy.   If you've actually read this far, thank you and I'm sorry.  I have been such a sporadic blogger for so long, I figure any post is better than none.   From my perspective, anyway.  I totally get why others might not agree.)

Knitting is Definitely Happening

As I mentioned before, I'm not following my normal "thou shalt not cast on in February" rules.  I really wanted to get in on knitting rainbows during the Olympic Games, so I decided to go for it.  It's my dumb arbitrary rule, and I can break it if I want to.

So!  I finished up my Oregon Socks (they deserve a post of their own.  They traveled all over Idaho and Oregon last summer).

And I promptly cast on my Olympic Pride socks.   I had a couple of balls of Felici Rainbow in my old-growth stash that I dug out for the occasion.

Please note:  I cast these on last Friday

They are practically knitting themselves, holy crap.  The pattern is Traffic Island Socks (a riff off of the ubiquitous Jaywalkers), and it's pretty much perfect.  I've modded them a bit to add afterthought heels, because a classic heel and gusset arrangement jacks up the stripes.

They are pleasing me greatly, and I'm hoping to have them finished before I leave for Connecticut on Sunday.  I'll need something else to knit on the plane, so I guess I'd better plan to cast on another pair of socks....