There has been almost no time for knitting or crafting the last two days. Still, I must check in to say I’ve nearly bound off half of one sock. Yeah. Now we see where the title comes from.
Stitching tomorrow. I’ll at least get a progress picture to show.
I went spinning at Out Post Days in Murphy with the crew. It was great fun. I asked a guy to take pictures and amazingly even though I was the one that handed him the camera he only got me in one shot. So, even though its not the most flattering picture it’s me at my wheel and that’s what I wanted.
So we have me, then Kathy, Judy, Pamela & Pauline.
I managed to fill a bobbin in one sitting. Something I’ve never done before. The lighting wasn’t the best, by the time I realized it it was too late to shoot again, so here’s a not so well lit picture.
So there, I did it. Tomorrow is homework day and probably some more work on my sister’s Doctor Who scarf. It’s sneaking up towards 75% done. Yay. It just has to be done before Halloween, I think I might make it.
I could wax poetic about how I got started in all this fiber stuff because of spinning but that’s a story for another day. Let’s just say this…spinning is a kind of nirvana that only other spinners can understand. For the record, I’m not speaking of the Buddhist definition of nirvana but the western definition.
nirvana – any place of complete bliss and delight and peace
Yep. That place. I find it often when sitting at my wheel. The crazy thing is that I know this and yet I ignored my wheel for over a year. I moved it to my craft room and there it sat, gathering dust.
No more though. She’s out in the living room and getting attention from me at least twice a week if not more often. As of yet I don’t know her name but I’m hoping to share some pictures of her tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Out Post Days at Murphy!
Now I’ve been telling people all week that my spinning group is going out there for the weekend, I’m just going Saturday, and they keep asking me what it is. The short answer is, I don’t know. But I hear there’s great pie. So I asked the internets and here’s what the mighty tubes had to say:
Pioneer skills and lost art demonstration, toad race, Soap making booths, horse hair braiding events, wall branding sessions, pine cone basket weaving, a pie shop, and Indian dancers are all featured at this two day event. All activities are free of charge.
So. That’s what Out Post Days at Murphy are. And I’ll be there. Spinning this.
This isn’t mine. It belongs to Diane. Here’s another attempt to show off the colors.
It is labeled as dyed halfbred with silk noils, raspberry. I’ve got 16 ounces of this beautiful fiber to play with. I think I’m going to go for something along the lines of a sport weight. One last picture? Okay…
There are so many colors in this beyond the main raspberry fiber. I can’t wait to see what it does on the wheel.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go oil my wheel and give her a bit of a rubdown with some Murphy’s Oil Soap. I think. I’ll have to make sure that’s what I should be using on her first.
With any luck, tomorrow I’ll have pictures of me spinning. Until then…
I remember the first time I saw it. I thought it was beautiful and amazing. I thought it was breathtaking. But most of all, I thought it was too hard. Looking back now I laugh. The part that scared me the most turned out to be nothing more than yo, k2tog for rows and rows and rows.
This is the shawl that I wear and The Muggles are amazed that I made. This is also the first totally impractical thing I knit for myself.
I finally got around to shooting it today. It was a nice but not to bright day out and I thought the fence at one of the properties I manage would be a good place to try to show it off. They aren’t the greatest photos but I like them.
I had to not edit this one as you can see Shalia the Wonder Puppy watching my every move in the upper left corner.
My amazing and generous friend Deb gifted me with a snowman cross stitch that she had been working on for years. I heart it with the heat of 1000 suns. I can’t take a decent picture of it to save my life and I’m not posting the crappy ones I do have. Someday I’ll show it off.
After she gifted me with this piece of art I had to do something to say thank you. At the time she was struggling with socks and I’m a pretty darned good sock knitter if I do say so myself, so I stole some yarn from her to knit up some socks.
This pair took me longer than it should have just because much of my knitting time these days is not in a setting where I can track rows and cable without dropping all my stitches.
The most important thing I learned from these socks was to buy and use tools you love. Until this pair I had been using either a plastic or metal cable needle. On a yarn crawl I found some fantastic rosewood cable needles and suddenly, I love cables!
The pattern is Paraphernalia by Taina Anttila. A free pattern by the way. When I first saw it, it took my breath away. I mean, look at these cables!
The cable itself was brilliant! I loved watching it form on the needles. The second sock went amazingly fast, knit almost completely in one day when I had a bunch of down time. It was intoxicating to watch the cable flow seemingly effortlessly row after row after row.
I did one less repeat on the leg than the pattern called for. I felt like the sock would have been too long. It turns out that was a good call because I would have run short on the yarn. I don’t have the label for this yarn so it’s going to just be forever listed as a brown wool sock yarn.
You can’t tell, because I only have one foot to shoot but the cable goes up the side of the foot so the right sock is mirrored by the left. I’d highly recommend this pattern. It was quite well written and a fun knit on top of all of that.
My dear darling Laura and I were discussing Sock Summit last night. I missed the first one due to major life upheaval and financial constraints. I will not miss the next one. We decided that we’d start planning now so that when July 2011 hits we are already ready to go.
And so, I’m putting this out there. Because nothing sucks more than making a promise to yourself in public and then not following through.
Until next time, here’s some proof I really do knit. 
It’s also proof that I’m not the worlds greatest photographer. At least they are in focus. These are the Dragon’s Breath socks that I knit out of Colinette Jitterbug. They were for me but they ended up a bit snug so I gifted them to my friend Laura for her 45th birthday.
I’ve been here. I just haven’t been updating. However, I’ve moved my domain to a new location and hopefully this will be incentive to post more often. Still working on the whole taking good pictures things.
So let’s get to what’s important, what’s on the needles.
Currently I’ve got a Maplewing Shawl started. An insane 522 stitches to start. It starts at the bottom and is beautiful and amazing. It’s in a beautiful green, brown and black yarn called Whisper. I’m on row 4. It takes about 45 minutes to get through one row so this will be a while.
I started a pair of socks for Deb. It’s some more of her yarn, this time Jitterbug I think. I’ve had a sock pattern in mind for this yarn every since I first saw it, just a simple basket weave but it will look super.
I’ve finally started a Clapotis for myself. I’m knitting that up in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Lace in an amazing colorway named Indian Summer. I’ve almost finished the first skein and I’m at the point in the pattern where I should be decreasing but I’m going on. Originally I was going to use both skeins but now I’m thinking part of the second skein might become a hat.
I just finished a small cross stitch for the bedroom that I need to trim up so I can hang it. It was my first plastic canvas cross stitch and it was quite fun. I’ve now started a my first linen project with a pattern from My Big Toe that will be quite fun.
I have some amazing silk cobweb and another cobweb that I’m going to be starting soon into more shawls. I just love knitting shawls!
Ok, it’s not my best title ever. However, after many months and tens of thousands of stitches, my Shipwreck Shawl is finally done. Not blocked mind you, but done.
I didn’t do the beads, I’m not a bead girl. The bind off gave me fits and got the whole project put in time out for a while. This weekend though, I looked at my summer of finishing projects board and I was down to just two. This shawl and the afghan that will not end. The afghan is getting tackled next but I’ll talk about that in a minute.
When I went to bind off the thing I looked around and found a couple of lace bind offs. I tried a couple of them out but as they included yarn overs on top of already existing yarn overs, when I tinked, ugliness ensued.
This Friday with the girls I untinked most of the issue which ended up being the last row plus some. When you consider that’s almost 1200 stitches you’ll see why that made it go to time out.
Last night after untangling my yarn (we won’t talk about that mess) I knit the second to last row back on. Then for good measure and because I had so much yarn left, I knit another one of those on. Then I knit the final row which is 5 million k1, yo. Give or take.
I started the bind off process again and was quickly unhappy with the results. I tried another lace bind off and was also unhappy with those results. Then I decided my problem was all those yarn overs. So I went around one more time, did I mention I had a LOT of leftover yarn in that last skein? This time with just knit stitches. That gave me a nice solid edge to cast off with. In the end I went with JSSO because I know it works and I didn’t have any more brain power to keep track of another bind off.
Countless hours and countless episodes of Heroes later, it’s done. How many freaking episodes are in season 3 of Heroes anyway?
I thought about blocking it but considering the hour I decided that could wait. Many times while I have been knitting this I have wondered where I’m going to wear it. Now that it’s off the needles and I can see it and hold it I can tell you…any where I think I can get away with it. It is beautiful. It is amazing. It’s huge and complex and I made it for me and I love it. It’s currently this odd little conglomeration of stitches stitting in a pile but even then you can see the beauty.
I remember when this project came out I loved it and I thought that there was no way I could knit lace like *that*. Oddly enough, the part I was most awed by was the simple netting of k2tog, yo in increasing needle sizes.
There will be more Pi shawls. Eventually there will be one of my own design.
But first, blocking. And pictures of it once it’s blocked. And socks. Lots of socks. I’m even getting ready to get my toes wet designing my own socks.
I have a post coming on the search for the perfect increase on the Lifestyle heel. That post has been cooking for a while now as I knit and reknit that heel. Hopefully the pictures I’ve taken will show adequately what I’ve been trying but if not, I have my notes.
Oh, that afghan. I’ve been knitting this afghan for longer than I want to remember. Actually, I’ve been saying I’ve been knitting it. Mostly it hibernates. I decided though, the other day, that I’m going to line the back of it with fabric. Then Kate suggested that I make that fabric flannel. Suddenly this project is more appealing to me. That and it’s the last thing to get off my summer of 2009 finishing list.
But first, more heel knitting.
There was something just not right about those socks. I was getting perfect gauge the pattern was coming out beautifully but it wasn’t right. I knit two full repeats and kept checking over and over. Perfect gauge. Measuring exactly what it should but it seemed too big. I tried it on. It fit but there was no negative ease.
So down a needle size I went. Perfection. Sure I’m not getting the gauge I was supposed to get but the sock fits and it looks great. I’m knitting this sock toe up and it was meant to be knit top down but that’s quite okay. It doesn’t detract from the beautiful pattern at all and I love the symmetry of knitting Dragon’s Breath in a fiery color. I’m about 1.5 repeats in. I have no idea how much sock I’ll get out of a single ball of Jitterbug but that’s the great thing about toe up construction.
I find myself dreaming of the day that I design socks on my own. I don’t know enough yet but one of these days inspiration will hit me. I can’t imagine coming up with anything new, there are just so many great designs out there. However, today at Ewephoria there was some sock yarn marked down 40% and I fell in love with a colorway that had only one skein, 218 yards. I came up with an idea based on a pattern that I’ve been liking but hadn’t found the right yarn for and then Mary came up with the *pow* to make it something even better. Now to see if I can make it work.
Last night might as well not have happened as far as knitting went. After putting together what would later be the most amazing roast I’ve ever cooked, I decided it was time to knit on my grey sweater. It’s a lovely top down cardigan from Vermont Fiber Designs. I love this designer because her stuff is really and truly plus size. Not those “Oh I’m so fat girls” but us really really big girls. The ones who see cute stuff and know that they better have good math skills if they want to knit it. This particular pattern goes up to a 7x for a finished size of a 72″ bust.
Anywho, back to my pain. I started this pattern in November, then found out I didn’t need the sweater ASAP as I thought I did so I put it on the back burner. I already had one oops under my belt starting this pattern. In the pattern I’d just finished knitting, which was from the UK, CO meant cast off. So when I was told to CO I blindly followed instructions for two rows before I thought it couldn’t possibly be right and looked at the abbreviations. Cast ON. Got it. At least I was only a few stitches in.
So last night I finished the back, which isn’t nearly as impressive as it sounds since you stop knitting the back on this sweater after you finish the armhole shaping.
I admit to not being one of those read ahead people. I’ve tried. I’ve read every word of a pattern and after a bit it all turns to mush in my head. I’ve got friends who can read a pattern and visualize it being knitted in their head. I’m not one of those types. Normally this isn’t a problem. I read each section and I do brilliantly. No really. I’ve got loads of knitting to prove it. Well, I don’t have it because its been for other people, but you get my point.
So as I’m doing the armhole shaping for the back I thought to myself that maybe I’d stop, cast on the fronts and then after the armhole shaping was done I’d join it all together to get rid of the side seams. I hate seaming. I refuse to knit any sleeve flat but that’s because the seam on my wrist annoys me to the ends of the world. I’ll do seams, just not on an arm. I decided that would be too much bother and that I really needed to get over this seaming thing so I continued with my armhole shaping. Then I saw that I was putting all of my back on some waste yarn (or in my case, capping my options cord and pulling out a new one) and starting the fronts. Fantastic! I don’t have to seam! But wait, there’s more. To start the front I picked up the stitches for the shoulder that I just did for the back. Another seam eliminated. VFD, I’m loving you more.
So I read over the next section a bit and started knitting. Then I got to the confusing part. I’m told to
continue in stockinette stitch working the armhole shaping as for back when the piece measures the same as for back to begin armhole shaping COMMA increase 1 stitch at the neck edge this row COMMA every 6 rows X times COMMA then every 4 rows X times COMMA
And that’s where I stopped. I didn’t notice that after that there was a comma. Yes. A comma. As any knitter worth their salt knows, you don’t stop reading until you hit a period. After that comma was this little tiny direction:
COMMA as follows: Work to last stitch, M1-L, k1.
So armhole shaping nearly complete I decide there must be more to read. Do I continue on? Do I stop the neck shaping which isn’t done yet and put this on waste yarn to do the left side? And I saw it. M1-L, K1. This little abbreviation means that I am to insert LH needle from front to back into strand between last stitch worked and next stitch, knit strand through the back loop and twist it. A slightly different increase than what I’ve been doing which is my standard increase as instructed by the amazing Elizabeth Zimmerman. It’s the increase I use when the way to increase isn’t defined. Ah, but it was defined. And it’s an increase that will lean. There’s one for the left side and one for the right side.
I sat there looking at the work I’d just done. I had to keep track of total rows knitted to know when to start the armhole shaping, then I’d had to track the rows of the armhole shaping to know when to change all while simultaneously keeping track of the neck shaping. It had been a painstaking and laborious process that I was so happy I only had to do one more time for the left side. Does it really matter that I didn’t do leaning increases?
Finally, I gave a sigh. In the end, it might not matter. I might be able to get by without having the leaning increases. But I’d always know. And I’d always wonder. Or even worse, I’d go on to complete the fronts and then when knitting the neck band find that this silly little missed instruction was intrigal to the whole neckline working out.
So I did the only thing I, as a Knitter, could do. I ripped it out. Back to those first 7 rows. Today, there is no picture. Just a pile of yarn waiting to be reknit. But I do have the satisfaction of knowing that this sweater will be knit correctly and that I’ve learned a very valuable lesson. No matter how many times you have to read and re-read and wrap your head around directions…don’t stop until you find that period!
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