Don't try this at home

It's picture time again.

I present to you Exhibit A:



Hooray for cell phone cameras. The earring on the right (buffalo horn!) belongs to a pair the bf bought for my birthday last year. I thought they were 4ga. So then he bought me a new pair (the earring on the left [green stone!]) for my birthday this year. I thought they were 4ga as well. Turns out the green plugs are slightly bigger than 4ga, and the spirals are slightly smaller. Probably closer to a 6ga. So, I needed to stretch my lobes a bit to fit the new plugs in.

Enter Exhibit B, which probably qualifies me for the Knitting Scouts' MacGuyver Level 2 badge: a #9 knitting needle!



After about 24 hours of on-and-off fiddling, the plugs barely fit in. As in, my ears hurt. But look! Happy ear!



Aside from the swelling, anyway.

So. It's kind of hard to write about what I'm working on right now, because it's almost exclusively Christmas presents (aside from the crappy-looking red I-cord I made to hang our stockings), and since I don't know who's all stumbled upon this, I don't want to ruin anything. Basically, I'm working on scarves, booze cozies, and I suppose I still owe the bf that pair of fingerless gloves.

Yeah. I finished one. I can't remember if I said that. A little too tight on his hand, though. So, that lonely glove sat around for a while, as my mind wandered to other projects. I finally decided last night that, hey, maybe I should frog it.



So sad. But I'll be adding a few extra stitches per row, so hopefully it'll work better. And I promise to let him try it on as I go along this time.

Oh, and then there's those socks.

I cast on about 90 stitches (for each sock) before discovering a better sideways sock pattern. As in, it includes directions for adapting the pattern to different foot sizes, gauges, and yarn weights. Brilliant! Before, I was just going to fudge it and hope for the best, but now I had written guidelines to help me not fudge it quite as much.

So, math blah recalculations blah realize that even with the small amount of colorwork I wanted to do, knitting both socks at once would be a horrible tangled mess.



One was bad enough.



So, that's frogged, too. I plan to try the Thuja socks, two at once. But first, I need to free up my #6 DPNs; luckily, the project currently owning those is speeding right along.


In other news, I've been yarn shopping when I really shouldn't be. I'm trying to plan a design for a cat bed/tunnel in my head, and I've picked up a few skeins of Red Heart any time I see a color scheme that would go well with what I already have.



...I can't tell if this is going to look awesome or terrifying in the end. I do know that I'm planning for some intarsia, and perhaps some double-knitting and/or fleece action. It'll rock.

And then I caved in, went to a yarn shop, and splurged.



Just a teaser for now. :)

(P.S. Don't worry - I washed the #9 needle thoroughly.)

Thoughts

I went downhill again yesterday. Long story short, I lost my temper at the cats, then instead of just sitting there and staring at the wall and being numb (okay, I did that for a little bit), I forced myself to knit. I got another row done on the sideways sock before realizing it'd be easier if I just started over (I'll explain this in a post later today), then worked on a wine cozy (it's another Christmas present).

And I felt a little better. Not just because I was knitting, but because I was knitting for someone else.

And that got me to thinking. I haven't really found my knitting niche yet, except that I tend to gravitate towards things that don't take too much yarn, like hats and scarves and cozies. But maybe my niche is meant to be charity knitting. Y'know, like knitting chemo caps and donating them to hospitals. Just thinking about doing that, about helping someone else in need, made me feel so much better.

...I think that's all I have to say on that subject right now. I didn't realize it'd been so long since the last time I posted, though... I have some pictures, I just need to organize them, and I'll update in a little while. Should probably do a bit of cleaning first, though.

Pattern: Cell phone cozy for him

I suppose I could finally get around to posting this pattern. Like I said, the bf started complaining that the back of his phone was falling off, so I made him a cozy... of my own creation, because I couldn't find a single pattern that was suited for a guy. The concept kinda weirded him out at first, mainly because he says he's the only person he knows who owns a phone cozy, but he's come to love it. The back stays on now, and he reports that it keeps his phone warm. So, yep.



Size: to fit your average-sized flip phone (i.e. not a Razr). You could always take measurements of your phone and knit a cozy to fit, though. The rib pattern's kinda stretchy, so keep that in mind.

You’ll need:
Cascade 220 – you won’t use anywhere near the whole skein. I used leftovers from a hat, and I still have a bunch left over. (Any worsted weight yarn will do.)
US #6 DPNs

Base: (worked flat)
CO 12 sts
P 1 row (WS)
Next row (RS): k1, m1, k to last st, m1, k1 – 14 sts
Work 3 rows in st st
Next row (RS): k1, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1 – 12 sts
P 1 row (WS)

K 1 more row on base. With a second needle, pick up and k 4 sts from side of base and 6 sts from the first half of the bottom of the base; with a third needle, pick up and k 6 sts from the last half of the bottom and 4 sts from the other side. 32 sts. Place marker to indicate beginning of round.

K 1 row

Tweed Mock Rib pattern: (from KnitPicks’ Scarf Patterns - scroll down to "download free pattern" for a whole pile of simple stitch patterns all bundled together into one happy .pdf)
Row 1: *sl 1 purlwise, k1, yo, psso k st and yo; rep from * to last st
Row 2: k all sts
^repeat these two rows for 3.25” (or desired length)
BO all sts; weave ends in. Be careful; don't screw up like I did (you can see the "seam" in the photo above). I suck at this step. If you suck too, go read the Fall '04 edition of Techniques with Theresa.
Put phone in, and tadah!

If you'd like to adapt this pattern to a phone that's a completely different shape, just make sure you have an even number of stitches when you're knitting in the round. If you have one of those creepy flat phones (or even a Razr), you could skip the base and seam the bottom shut... or, if you prefer knitting flat, just purl all stitches in Row 2 of the pattern, the way the KnitPicks pattern is written.

Another option is to make the cozy a wee bit larger - i.e. pick up five stitches from each side of the base instead of four - and felt it a wee bit. Not too much, though. Enough to shrink it a bit while still keeping the stitch pattern visible. Just make sure to use 100% wool yarn if you go this route.

So, there you have it... my first pattern! It's not much, but you gotta start somewhere...

(Comments would rock.)

(And I suppose I should note the usual copyright crap: I made this, don't copy it [except for your own personal use], don't try to pass it off as your own, don't make one of these cozies for profit, etc. Play nice. I know where you live. Okay, no, I don't. But still.)

News of all kinds

First, some good news: I received a magical box in the mail last week!



Yup, I finally cracked and placed a KnitPicks order. $53 (with free shipping!) for 25 skeins of yarn that I was totally not expecting to fit in a box that small. But anyway, here's the breakdown.



^16 skeins of Wool of the Andes for the Doctor Who scarf. I probably won't start it until after Christmas, due to all the other projects I have going right now, but at least the yarn's in my possession.



^Four more WotA skeins for a Christmas present.



^...and three skeins of Swish DK (two in Nutmeg) for another Christmas present.



^And, because a girl's gotta treat herself, two skeins of Telemark in what may be the Coolest Shade Ever. I'm so making fingerless gloves.


Now for some not-so-good news. I went way downhill yesterday. I've been dealing with depression for the past year+, and it keeps me from getting things done on my days off. Like dishes. Or knitting. Yesterday I zoned out and read a bunch of back articles on Knitty, and stumbled upon one about a guy who had a breakdown and found a way to use knitting to inspire himself to keep going, even if he couldn't actually pick up the needles. I was almost in tears as I recognized some of the same symptoms in myself. I don't want drugs or the subsequent side effects, though. I want to get through it on my own. I should note that I also read an article yesterday about zen knitting (although I don't think the word "zen" was used once in the article), as well as an article about a crazy way to knit two socks at once that made me actually want to knit socks.

Anyway, I found myself so numb at one point last night that I basically went full-circle: I was itching to knit. I wanted to prove to myself that I had been inspired.

Well, I didn't get much knitting done, but I did a lot of prep work. See, I want to knit a pair of socks. I found a few patterns I liked, but there was always something wrong: I wanted to use a different weight of yarn, I wasn't sure the recipient would like this stitch pattern, I don't even know the recipient's shoe size (and would feel kinda weird asking). So, I settled on a sideways pattern, took measurements of my foot and the bf's foot and averaged the numbers, and made gauge swatches. At first I thought I could use DK-weight yarn with size 0 needles.



It totally would've worked, except that common sense sinked in: there was no way I had enough yarn to knit at that gauge. (Not to mention that needles that small kinda scare me, because it would take so much longer to finish a project. Maybe that's why I haven't used them yet?) I was too lazy to look for my #3's, so I pulled out my #6's. Perfect. Measurements blah math blah find waste yarn blah blah. Time for the provisional cast-on:



I didn't think about how badly the white would photograph, so it's hard to tell, but you might be able to see how much of a pain this is. Knit one cast-on stitch, rotate the needle, knit one cast-on stitch with other yarn tail, rotate the needle back. Eek. No wonder I didn't get more than 20 stitches (for each sock) cast on before bedtime.

I should mention that my only previous experience with sock knitting is that I made one pedicure sock before I came down with second-sock syndrome, got bored, and moved on to something else. And now I'm knitting two at once, sideways, using a pattern adapted for a foot size I'm not even sure is right. Yikes. I'm up for the challenge, though. I'll keep my progress updated.


In what may initially seem like unrelated news, I'm also working on this scarf (from the same book as the Linked Rib):



It doesn't look quite as dramatically wavy as the scarves in the book, but it's still cool. And I'm learning about short rows while I'm at it. Score.

I think I'm going to keep working on those socks now - especially since I called in sick to work (again). My hands and brain need something to do.

Got some catchin' up to do.

Holy crap. Well, we actually have internet now. And then the camera cord went missing, and then I got a job I greatly dislike and haven't felt like blogging... yeah.

Anyway, I finally forced myself to sit down and finish the Marigold hat last week. I had started the Clapotis hat after freeing up a row counter, then realized I needed more stitch markers - most of which were sitting on my Marigold hat.
Ignore the bad hair; I had the day off and didn't feel like going out (not to mention that I just kinda shoved the hat on my head for the obligatory picture without making sure my hair looked okay).



Yep. Not as lacy-looking as the hat in the pattern, but I guess that's what happens when you use a furry yarn. I also tried blocking it to the right size (8" high), since it came out looking short, and it still ended up being kinda short. Not sure if that's due to the yarn combos or not, too. I still like how it came out, though.

And, like I said, I started the Clapotis hat. I realized that I like making/wearing hats more than I'm able to wear them. Stupid work. But anyway.



This yarn (Joann's Angel Hair) is kinda hard to knit with. It's definitely not the hardest - that award probably goes to Fun Fur being used by an inexperienced knitter - but the little angel hair strands like to knot together. Kinda like Fun Fur, actually. So, although I generally like the yarn so far, it's definitely something you'll want to use when you're sure of what you're doing, cause it's not getting unraveled.

Next project: the Linked Rib scarf.




And, you can clearly see (in both shots, no less!) where I screwed up and slipped stitches purlwise instead of knitwise. Or vice versa. I can't remember right now. That's probably a bad thing. I'm pretty pleased with how the color scheme is turning out on this, though. For some reason, I couldn't tell how crappy the variegated shades of Paton's would turn out, but after seeing this, as well as a knitted sample of another shade made by one of my coworkers, I have good faith in them.

Now for my other current project: what I'm calling the Paw scarf. A while ago, I started a scarf loosely based on another pattern, and the bf said it looked like Grover's paw, etc. Here's a reminder.



Well, ignore that, because I ripped it all apart. To make this!




It's a scarf, but with mitten-y ends! It came out quite a bit more paw-like than I was expecting, and I'm pleased with that. Once I finish, I may post the pattern here.

But first, there's another pattern I may post sooner, because I started a new project today (sigh) and finished it within a few hours. The bf came home on his lunch break and said the back of his cell phone was starting to fall off, so I decided he needed a cozy for it (even if he didn't seem that thrilled with the idea of having a phone cozy). I looked at a few patterns online, and very few were meant to fit flip phones, much less meant for a guy. (I did like the Poptart Razr cozy, though, even if I hate Razrs.) And, using some of the leftover green yarn from the hat I just finished, here's what I came up with:



Basically, a phone sock. That's not a seam at the bottom, though. That's where I somehow narfed up while weaving one of my ends in. And didn't notice until after I'd already cut the yarn tail, of course. Grr. Anyway, the bf liked it more than even he expected, except that he was the only person he knew who owned a phone cozy. I replied that that's what happens when you date a knitter, duh. But yeah, I wrote the pattern down, so I might post it sometime tomorrow.

In other news, I found a "pattern" for a car cozy, and I swear there was another link I wanted to share, but I can't remember. Shh, it's getting late for me these days.

Lastly, learning to knit is apparently hard work.



(Is this worthy of submission to Stuff On My Cat?)

Ah, internet leeching

I'm back! Kinda. We still don't have internet. Argh. $50/month is a ripoff, even for high speed.

Anyway, a quick update while we wait for laundry to finish so we can get away from the wood glue fumes. I've been trying to knit a bit here and there, in between unpacking (or lack thereof) and trying to keep the kittens from breaking things. I did buy a book, though.



I had started getting some crap for reading Stitch'n'Bitch over and over so many times that the edges were totally going curly, so I decided it was time for a new book. Pretty patterns! This is the main one I'm digging right now:



I dunno, I've been kinda getting into the idea of skinny, decorative scarves lately. Maybe not the best idea for Minnesota winters, but we'll see. Anyway, I was thinking of sacrificing the pink variegated yarn I had in mind for fingerless gloves and donating it to this project. Here's a reminder. (Hint: it's the one on the right.)



I also started working on another scarf, because I got bored with the other projects I'm working on. Again. I kept starting and ripping and restarting and reripping because I couldn't decide what I wanted to do or what yarn I wanted to use. But, I finally settled on something I based off of the scarf book's cover pattern:



You can kinda see how it gets skinnier at times. The bf said it looked like Grover's paw at first, so I thought about calling it the Paw scarf or something, but I might actually make a scarf with paws on the end. Like, little mittens or fingerwarmers or whatever. We'll see.

Okay. So then I went back to Joann's to pick up yarn for the Clapotis hat.



So I was about to start it, and I started looking for an unoccupied row counter. No luck. After a quick head count, I realized that all four of them were stuck in the middle of projects. Yikes. Maybe I should finish something? So, I tried finishing my Knucks.



Look at that crap. Totally doesn't fit me from the thumb down. For the thumb gusset, the pattern says to decrease stitches every third row; but if I did every other row instead, that would eliminate seven rows, which I think would do the trick. So, eventually I'll rip it out back to the thumb join. But for now, I think it's hat starting time.

Oh, and I picked up some Red Heart today to use for cat beds. The kittens seem to like hiding when they sleep, which means they sleep on the floor under the futon. The poor things need a comfier spot. So, I'm trying to think of ideas for a bed with a roof that won't flop over. And something that will be big enough to grow with them, and allow them to cuddle together like they always do when they're not mauling each other.

Okay, I think that's all for now. My goal is to find more time to knit coming up... and to actually get internet, so I can get a website started.

S

Dang! It's been a little while. I'm not always the greatest blogger.
I've been working on a bunch of related things in my blog-absence, though, so I'll split this into three categories: stuff, stash, and sites.


Stuff

For starters, it's beginning to look a lot like Knuck-mas:



Forgive my lame attempt at a song. I'm not planning on these for Christmas presents, anyway. I'm just hopped up on my first cappuccino in months (seriously, it's been that long.)

Anyway, these are an incredible pain! The pattern, at times, call for all the stitches to be placed on two needles. Anyone who's knit in the round knows that's nearly impossible to begin with - but then when you're asked to do K2tog's and ssk's at the same time? Holy crap. It might be easier if I had a set of five needles instead of four, like the pattern calls for. I'm really hoping I can get the pair done by Sunday, so I have a warm pair of gloves to wear at the train station before work, but I'm kinda thinking that won't happen. I may have some time at the bf's family dinner on Saturday, but I still need to finish packing and, y'know, move.

In other news, I restarted my Marigold hat. I thought I had previously posted a picture of at least the two yarns on here, but I guess not. So, one skein of Cascade Heathers in 2446 (scroll down about 2/3 of the way to see it) and one skein of Symphony in Mystic Purple (even though the picture looks almost nothing like the actual shade). Once upon a time, I had 3/4 of this hat done, but I kept screwing up the lace pattern somehow, so I would keep finding one less or one extra stitch in some of the repeats. I don't know if I was dropping stitches or forgetting to do yarn overs or what. But, once I found a repeat that was short two stitches, I was done - unraveled the whole thing and put it off for a while. I didn't want to discover later on that there were a ton of dropped stitches, because that would suck. Quite a bit, in fact.

But, anyway, I restarted it. I'm not far enough in for the lace pattern to really be visible yet, but at least you can see the colors:



Mmm. Pretty.

And, I already screwed up! Majorly! I did a [k2 p2] rib instead of a [k1 p1]. Yeah. Big difference in appearance. That's what I get for paying more attention to a movie than a pattern, I guess. Luckily, I remembered the way to reverse stitches, and I had a crochet hook with me. Unfortunately, I was five rows in at the time, and had to fix exactly half of the stitches, which meant 265 of the little jerks. It's all better now though.


Stash

I bought things. For cheap!



Walmart clearance bins. You can clearly see the savings. I don't know what I'll use this for yet - probably sweater trim or something - but it was too pretty to pass up.



Dollar store. Incredible and Trellis. Normally retails for $6 or so each. In other words, $12 will normally fetch two skeins. I got twelve skeins for that much. I've never knit with ribbon yarns before, so I might as well give it a shot, for that price. Look at my color combos! I'm so making scarves.

I also stopped by Joann's. I haven't been to one since I really started getting into knitting, so I figured I'd stop to see what their selection was like. Overall, I wasn't thrilled, although I did see a sock needle set - a pack of needles in sizes 000, 00, 0, and 1 - that I might need to get sometime. And some really cool yarn that came with no visible price tag. (Edit: Good thing I went back and tested that link, because Joann's apparently forgets your session and deletes your link. Rrr. So, go to the Joann's home page, search for "sensations angel hair," and choose the one that's not boucle.) I sometimes wish the internet had feel-o-vision so you could feel how soft. And I have a project in mind! Which brings us to the next section...


Sites

What started my web crawl: Knitting Pattern Central. Because I was told they had a pattern for a knitted Dalek. I totally need to make that.

From there, I also stumbled on a bunch of other sweet sites. Like the Anticraft. Holy awesome. Lookit: a hat, wire knitting, monster glasses, creepy gardening, and a tampon-holding robot. Okay, those last three have almost nothing to do with knitting, but still. I need them. I think I'm going to make a cat grass garden with a leg sticking out.

The mass pattern site also had a link for a Clapotis hat, which is based on the scarf/wrap of the same name. I need that the most! Hence the previously mentioned soft pretty yarn. Yes. Go back to the Joann's site, look at the pink/grey shade, and tell me that doesn't rock.

I also did some searching after seeing a cat with a Jayne Cobb hat. Voila, a pattern!


In completely unrelated news, we did a final check on our apartment today, and it rocks. New carpet, new fridge, new tub... yay! And I scored an interview for a job I actually feel qualified (and therefore comfortable) for. Rock on. The move is on Saturday, though, so I'll try my best to get some posting (and knitting) done in the coming week. You're cool if you read everything to this point. *cookies* And now I'm off to attempt making my own ringtone of the Fruity Oaty Bar song.

Hats and gloves and scarves (oh my)

As promised... a view of the hat!



It's knit with Cotton-Ease, which is incredibly soft - it almost feels like suede, in a way - but it's not quite as cool as I thought it would be. My yarn tends to twist itself up as I knit, which ordinarily I could kinda deal with, except that this yarn splits very easily. Especially the brown, for some reason. It seems like it'd be a good yarn for socks, if I purposely split it and knit with only two of four plies.


After obsessively knitting that, I started my Knucks! I had done my test swatches a while back, and thought that I would be knitting a medium. A thumb, half a pinky, and 40 minutes into Heroes later, and I realized I actually needed to knit a large. It helps that, not only am I knitting these with needles a size smaller than recommended, I'm using worsted weight yarn instead of the recommended DK weight. And that I just realized the latter last night. Lesson: if you're unfamiliar with a type of yarn, look it up in order to get the best substitution.

These gloves are still going to rock, though. I'm back to having two fingers done!



The only problem is that this yarn is tweed, and I tend to pick at pills, and tweedy things remind me of pills. Maybe this yarn will help me get over that.


Speaking of gloves, I finished the first of the bf's gloves, and I may have to pick apart the bound-off edge to make it a bit larger. That should be interesting...


In other news, I've been asked to take on a large project... my first client (sort of)! A friend of mine found a website that has patterns to knit the famous scarf from back-in-the-day Doctor Who, and wanted me to knit one as a gift for someone. Rock on. Luckily, it doesn't need to be done for quite a while, so I have some time to get a job so I can buy the yarn. Not to mention pick the colors. This scarf's got some odd colors to match up...


Oh, and we're not moving until next weekend now. Drat. More time to knit (and pack?), I guess.

Speedy Knitzolas

I have seriously never been so excited to knit something before. I was itching to start the Maze hat since my #3 needles freed up, but couldn't start until Thursday night, because I was at the bf's house and the yarn I bought for it was at mine. When I got home, I took as little time as possible getting my stuff reorganized (read: dumping it all on the floor) and started right in. I knit from 10pm-2:30am that night, then a good chunk of the day yesterday, and finally "finished" at 3am yesterday. I say "finished" because I still have to tidy up - adjust some stitches so they look even (color knitting is fun like that), weave in ends, and toss it in with a load of laundry. And the stitch adjusting is taking forever.

Even so, I don't think I've ever knit one thing in this short of a timespan. I also tried some new things! This was my first time doing color knitting. I learned that there is a indeed a right and wrong way to twist the two strands together in the back; at the bottom half of the pattern, I don't have any actual holes, but there's enough space between stitches at the end of every round that you can see the yarn twisting behind it. If that made sense.

This was also the first time I knit something where I had to change needle sizes partway through. No lie. When I first heard of this needle-changing technique, I totally didn't get it. I thought "change to larger needles" meant you had to take all your stitches off the smaller needle, then somehow shove the larger needle through each loop. I've gained some common sense since then.

Anyway, I'll get some pictures of this hat once I (a) totally finish it, and (b) get camera access sometime this week.

In other hat news, check out the hat in the "About the Designer" section. Holy awesome. I don't think I could ever pull it off, though - and I'm not just saying that because I don't have dreadlocks long enough to make pigtails. Even if I did, I don't think it would look right on me. But A+ for creativity to that girl. (And the yarn is pretty, too.)


I got myself into an experimenting mood tonight. I've been eyeing Modular Knits for a little while now, and thought I could figure out how to make that basic square shape on my own. After a couple tries, I got the basic setup down - except I had a line of gaping holes running diagonally down the middle. I thought I needed to slip stitches to do a short-row shaping kind of thing, but for some reason, those stitches always wriggled themselves loose. Maybe I don't need to slip stitches at all; maybe I just need to knit/purl in short row form? *shrug* Don't get me wrong, though, I still want the book; I just had a burst of creative energy [/cliche] and needed to do something about it. (I also apologize for not having a picture of this one. I reeeeally need my own camera. Hmm, there's something I should put on my holiday list...)


In completely unrelated news, the bf and I are moving on Saturday! So, posting may be sparse in the next couple weeks, as we clean, pack, move, unpack, train kittens, and attempt to find affordable high-speed internet. I'll try my best, though.

A hat, and another hat.

Try as I might have, there was no way I was going to finish my hat the other night. Last night was gaming night, and I barely finished in the 5.5 hour span. But, it's done!



...Eh. I think it would've looked better with the ribbon (as written in the pattern), just not on my head, as I've mentioned. I think part of it is that the yarn I used was stiffer than what the pattern called for. And it's cotton, not wool, so I'm not sure how blocking would work. (And yes, I'm aware there are some stretched stitches... that always happens when I knit in the round... I'll be fixing those.)

But, now that my size 3 needles are freed up, it's new project time! I'm going to start with the maze hat, since I just need the size 3's for casting on, then I'll move on to the Knucks I've been eyeing since I first contemplated teaching myself to knit. Yay!

In other news, the picture doesn't do it justice. I want to make it myself. I also want to make an awesome hat I saw yesterday: an earflap hat with really long earflaps. I can't even describe how cool it was.

I really need a sketchbook, so I can work out some of my ideas.